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A DICTIONARY
i
OF
aPilSTIAN ANTIQUITIES,
BEING
A CONTINUATION OF THE 'DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE.'
EDITED BY
WILLIAM SMITH, D.C.L., LL.D.
AND
SAMUEL CHEETHAM, M.A.,
PROFESSOR OF PASTOKAr, THEOLOGY IN KING'S COLr.FGF,, LONDON.
IN TWO VOLUMES.— Vol. I.
ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVISGS ON WOOD.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1875.
///
LIST OF WRITERS
IN THE DICTIONAEIES OF CHEISTIAN ANTIQUITIES
AND BIOGEAPHY.
NAMES.
Eev. Churchill Babington, B.D., F.L.S.,
Disney Professor of Archaeology in the University of
Camhridge ; late Fellow of St. John's College.
Eev, Henry Bailey, D.D.,
Warden of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, and
Honorary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral ; late Fellow
of St. John's College, Cambridge.
Eev. James Barjiby, B.D.,
Principal of Bishop Hatfield's Hall, Durham.
Eev. Edward White Benson, D.D.,
Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral ; late Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
Eev, Charles Williaji Boase, M.A.,
Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.
Henry Bradshaw, M.A.,
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge ; Librarian of the
University of Cambridge.
Eev. William Bright, D.D.,
Canon of Christ Church, Oxford ; Eegius Professor of
Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford.
The late Eev. Henry Browne, M.A.,
Vicar of Pevensey, and Prebendary of Chichester Cathedral.
ISAMBARD BrUNEL, D.C.L.,
Of Lincoln's Inn ; Chancellor of the Diocese of Ely,
Thomas Eyburn Buchanan, M.A.,
Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Eev. Daniel Butler, M.A.,
Eector of Thwing, Yorkshire; late Head Master of the
Clergy Orphan School, Canterbury.
iv LIST OF WRITERS.
INITIALS. NAMES
J. M. C. Eev, John Moore Capes, M.A.,
of Balliol College, Oxford.
J. Ct. C. Rev. John Gibson Cazenove, M.A.,
late Principal of Cumbrae College, N.B.
C. Eev. Samuel Cheetham, M.A.,
Professor of Pastoral Theology in King's College, London,
and Chaplain of Dulwicli College ; late Fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge.
E. B. C. Edward Byles Cowell, M.A.,
Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Cambridge.
J. LI. D. Rev. John Llewelyn Davies, M.A.,
Rector of Christchurch, Marylebone ; late Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge.
C. D. Rev. Cecil Deedes, M.A.,
Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford.
W. P. I). Rev. Willtam P. Dickson, D.D.,
Regius Professor of Biblical Criticism, Glasgow.
S. J. E. Rev. Samuel John Eales, M.A.,
Head Master of the Grammar School, Halstead, Essex.
J. E. Rev. John Ellerton, M.A.,
Rector of Hinstock, Salop.
E. S. Ff. Rev. Edmund S. Ffoulkes, B.D.,
Late Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.
A. P. F. The Right Rev. Alexander Penrose Forbes, D.C.L.,
Bishop of Brechin.
W. H. F. Hon. and Rev. William Henry Fremantle, M.A.,
Rector of St. Mary's, Marylebone ; Chaplain to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury.
J. M. F. Rev. John M. Fuller, M.A.,
Vicar of Bexley.
C. D. G. Rev. Christian D. Ginsburg, LL.D.
W. F. G. The late Rev. William Frederick Greenfield, M.A.,
Master of the Lower School, Dulwich College.
A. W. H. The late Eev. Arthur West Haddan, B.C.,
Rector of Barton-on-the-Heath and Honorary Canon of
Worcester Cathedral ; formerly Fellow of Trinity
College, Oxfoid.
E. H. Rev. Edv/in Hatch, M.A.,
Vice-Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford.
LIST OF WRITERS. V
INITIALS. NAMES.
E. C. H. Kev. Edwards Comerford Hawkins, M.A.,
Head Master of St. John's School, Leatherhead.
L. H. Eev. Lewis Hensley, M.A.,
Vicar of Hitchin, Herts ; late Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge.
H. Kev. Fenton John Axthony Hort, M.A.,
Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge ; Chaplain to
the Bishop of Winchester.
H. J. H. Rev. Henry John Hotham, M.A.,
Vice-Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
J. H. John Hullah,
Late Professor of Music in King's College, London.
W. J. Eev. William Jackson, M.A.,
Late Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford ; Bampton
Lecturer for 1875.
G. A. J. Eev. George Andrew Jacob, D.D.,
late Head Master of Christ's Hospital, London.
W. J.J. Eev. William James Josling, M.A.,
Eector of Moulton, Suffolk ; late Fellow of Christ's Cullege,
Cambridge.
L. Eev. Joseph Barber Lightfoot, D.D.,
Canon of St. Paul's ; Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity
in the University of Cambridge; Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
E. A. L. E. A. Lipsius,
Professor in Ihe University of Kiel.
J. M. L. John Malcolm Lddlow, M.A.,
Of Lincoln's Inn.
J. E. L. Eev. John Egbert Lunn, B.D.,
Vicar of Marton, Yorkshire; late Fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge.
G. F. M. Eev. George Frederick Maclear, D.D.,
Head Master of King's College School, London.
S. M. Eev. Spencer Mansel, M.A.,
Vicar of Trumpington, Cambridge : Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
W. B. M. The late Eev. Wharton B. Marriott, M.A.,
Of Eton College; formerly Fellow of Exeter College,
Oxford.
G. M. Eev. George Mead, M.A.,
Cliaplain to the Forces, Dublin.
LIST OF WRITERS.
F, M. Rev. Frederick Meyrick, M.A.,
Eector of Blickling, Norfolk ; Prebendary of Lincoln
Cathedral; Chaplain to the Bishop of Lincoln; late
Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
W. M, Rev. William Milligan, D.D.,
Professor of Biblical Criticism in the University of Aber-
deen.
G. H. M. Rev. George Herbert Moberly, M.A.,
Chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury; Rector of Dunst-
bourne Rouse, Gloucestershire.
H. C. G. M. Rev. Handley Carr Glyn Moule, M.A.,
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
I. R. M. John Rickards Mozley, M.A.,
late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
A. N. Alexander Nesbitt, F.S.A.,
Oldlands, Uckfield.
P. 0. Rev. Phipps Onslow, B.A.,
Rector of Upper Sapey, Hereford.
G. W. P. Rev. Gregory Walton PennethornK, M.A.,,
Rector of Ferring, Sussex ; late Vice-Principal of the
Theological College, Chichester.
W. G.F.P. Walter G. F. Phillimore, B.C.L.,
Lincoln's Inn ; Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln.
E. H. P. Rev. Edward Hayes Plumptre, M.A.,
(sometimes Professor of New Testament Exegesis in King's College,
P.) London; Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral; Vicar of
Bickley ; formerly Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.
DE Pressense. Rev. E. de Pressense,
of Paris.
J. R. Rev. James Raine, M.A.,
Prebendary of York ; Fellow of the University of Durham.
W. R. Rev. William Reeves, D.D.,
Rector of Tjnan, Armagh.
G. S. Rev. George Salmon, D.D.,
Regius Professor of Divinity, Trinitv College, Dublin.
P. S. Rev. Philip Schaff, D.D.,
Professor of Theology in the Union Theological Seminary,
New York,
W. E. S. Rev. William Edward Scudamore, M.A.,
Eector of Ditchingham ; late Fellow of St. John's College,
Cambridge.
J. S. Rev. John Sharpe, M.A.,
Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.
LIST OF WRITERS. vii
INITIALS. NAMES.
B. S. Benjamin Shaw, M.A.,
Of Lincoln's Inn ; late Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge.
E. S. Kev. Egbert Sinker, M.A.,
Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge.
I. G. S. Eev. L Gregory Smith, M.A.,
Eector of Great Malvern, and Prebendary of Hereford
Cathedral ; late Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.
J. S — T. John Stuart, LL.D.,
Of the General Eegister-House, Edinburgh.
S. Eev. William Stubbs, M.A.,
Eegius Professor of Modern History, in the University of
Oxford; Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
C. A. S. Eev. Charles Anthony Swainson, D.D.,
Norrisian Professor of Divinity in the University of
Cambridge, and Canon of Chichester Cathedral; late
Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.
E. S. T. Eev. Edward Stuart Talbot, M.A.,
Warden of Keble College, Oxford.
E. St. J. T. Eev. EicHARD St. John Tyrwhitt, M.A.,
Late Student and Ehetoric Lecturer of Christ Church,
Oxford.
E. V. Eev. Edmund Venables, M.A.,
Canon Eesidentiary and Precentor of Lincoln Cathedral ;
Chaplain to the Bishop of London.
W. Eev. Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D.,
(sometimes Canon of PeterboroTigh ; Eegius Professor of Divinity in
B. F. W.) the University of Cambridge ; late Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
H. W. Eev. Henry Wage, M.A.,
Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, and Professor of Ecclesiastical
History, King's College, London.
G. W. Eev. George Williams, B.D.,
Eector of Eingwood, Hants ; late Fellow of King's College,
Cambridge.
J. W. Eev. John Wordsworth, M.A.,
Prebendary of Lincoln ; Examining Chaplain to the Bishop
of Lincoln ; late Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.
W. A. W. William Aldis Wright, M.A.,
Trinity College, Cambridge,
E. M. Y, Eev. Edward Mallet Young, M.A.,
Assistant Master of Harrow School ; Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
H. W. Y. Eev. Henry William Yule, B.C.L., M.A.,
Eector of Shipton-on-Cherwell, and Vicar of Hampton
Gay, Ox on.
\IIH
IX
PREFACE.
This Work is intended to furnish, together with the ' Dictionary of
Christian Biography, Literature, and Doctrines,' which will shortly
follow, a complete account of the leading Personages, the Institu-
tions, Art, Social Life, Writings and Controversies of the Christian
Church from the time of the Apostles to the age of Charlemagne.
It commences at the period at which the ' Dictionary of the Bible '
leaves off, and forms a continuation of it : it ceases at the age of
Charlemagne, because (as Gibbon has remarked) the reign of this
monarch forms the important link of ancient and modern, of
civil and ecclesiastical history. It thus stops short of what we
commonly call the Middle Ages. The later developement of Eitual
and of the Monastic Orders, the rise and progress of the great
Mendicant Orders, the Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the
Hagiology and Symbolism, the Canon Law, and the Institutions
generally of the Middle Ages, furnish more than sufficient matter
for a separate book.
The present Work, speaking generally, elucidates and explains
in relation to the Christian Church the same class of subjects that
the ' Dictionary of Greek and Eoman Antiquities ' does in reference
to the public and private life of classical antiquity. It treats of
the organization of the Church, its officers, legislation, discipline,
and revenues ; the social life of Christians ; their worship and
ceremonial, with the accompanying music, vestments, instruments,
vessels, and insignia ; their sacred places ; their architecture and
other forms of Art ; their symbolism ; their sacred days and seasons ;
the graves or Catacombs in which they were laid to rest.
We can scarcely hope that every portion of this wide and varied
field. has been treated with equal completeness ; but we may venture
to assert, that this Dictionary is at least more complete than any
attempt hitherto made by English or Foreign scholars to treat in
one work the whole archaeology of the early Church. The great
X PEEFACE.
work of Bingham, indeed, the foundation of most subsequent. books
on the subject, must always be spoken of with the utmost respect ;
but it is beyond the power of one man to treat with the requisite
degree of fulness and accuracy the whole of so vast a subject ;
and there is probably no branch of Christian archaeology on which
much light has not been thrown since Bingham's time by the
numerous scholars and divines who have devoted their lives to
special investigations. We trust that we have made accessible
to all educated persons a great mass of information, hitherto only
the privilege of students with the command of a large library.
In treating of subjects like Church Government and Ritual it
is probably impossible to secure absolute impartiality ; but we are
confident that no intentional reticence, distortion or exaggeration
has been practised by the writers in this work.
It has been thought advisable not to insert in the present work
an account of the Literature, of the Sects and Heresies, and of
the Doctrines of the Church, but to treat these subjects in the
'Dictionary of Christian Biography,' as they are intimately con-
nected with the lives of the leading persons in Church History,
and could not with advantage be separated from them.
It has not been possible to construct the vocabulary on an
entirely consistent principle. Where a well -recognized English
term exists for an institution or an object, that term has generally
been j)referred as the heading of an article. But in many cases
obsolete customs, offices, or objects have no English name; and
in many others the English term is not really co-extensive with the
Latin or Greek term to which it seems at first sight to correspond.
The word Decanus (for example) has several meanings which are not
implied in the English Dean. In such cases it was necessary to
adopt a term from the classic languages. Cross-references are given
from the synonyms or quasi-synonyms to the word under which any
subject is treated. The Councils are placed (so far as possible)
under the modern names of the places at which they were held, a
cross-reference being given from the ancient name. In the case of
the Saints' Days, the names of the Western saints have been taken
from the martyrology of Usuard, as containing probably the most
complete list of the martyrs and confessors generally recognized in
the West up to the ninth century ; the occurrence of these names
in earlier calendars or martyrologies is also noted. In the letters A
and B, however, the names of Saints are taken principally from the
' Martyrologium Romanum Vetus,' and from the catalogues which
bear the names of Jerome and of Bede, without special reference
PREFACE. xi
to Usuard. In the case of the Eastern Church; we have taken
from the calendars of Byzantium, of Armenia, and of Ethiopia,
those names which fall within our chronological period. This
alphabetical arrangement will virtually constitute an index to the
principal martyrologies, in addition to supplying the calendar,
dates of events which are fixed — as is not uncommonly the case in
ancient records — by reference to some festival. The names of
persons are inserted in the vocabulary of this Work only with
reference to their commemoration in martyrologies or their repre-
sentations in art, their lives, when they are of any importance,
being given in the Dictionary of Biography,
Eeferences are given throughout to the original authorities on
which the several statements rest, as well as to modern writers of
repute. In citations from the Fathers, where a page is given without
reference to a particular edition, it refers for the most part to the
standard pagination — generally that of the Benedictine editions—
which is retained in Migne's Patrologia.
At the commencement of this work, the Editorship of that por-
tion which includes the laws, government, discipline, and revenues of
the Chur(;h and the Orders within it, was placed in the hands of
Professor Stubbs ; the education and social life of Christians in those
of Professor Plumptre ; while the treatment of their worship and
ceremonial was entrusted to Professor Cheetham; all under the
general superintendence of Dr. William Smith. As the work pro-
ceeded, however, a pressure of other engagements rendered it impos-
sible for Professors Stubbs and Plumptre to continue their editorship
of the parts which they had undertaken ; and from the end of the
letter C Professor Cheetham has acted as Editor of the whole
work, always with the advice and assistance of Dr. William Smith.
In conclusion, we have to express our regret at the long time
that has elapsed since the first announcement of the work. This
delay has been owing partly to our anxious desire to make it as
accurate as possible, and partly to the loss we have sustained by
the death of two of our most valued contributors, the Kev. A. W.
Haddan and the Kev, W. B. Marriott.
X/l
DIOTIONAEY
OP
CHEISTIAN ANTTOTTTTTlT.s
EREATA.
Page 9, Col. 2,
15, ,
> ^,
, , 35, ,
, 2,
,, 78, ,
, 2,
,, 104, ,
, 1.
, , 145, ,
, 1,
,, 153, ,
, 1,
,, 213, ,
, 1,
,, 237,
, 2,
,, 350, ,
, 1,
, , 364, ,
, 2,
,, 396, ,
, 2,
, , 424, ,
, 1,
, , 623,
, 1,
Line 32 from top, for Confession, Penitence, read Exomologesis.
, , 8 , , , dele AcTisTETAE [Ctistolatkae].
, , 9 , , , for Chronology read Era.
, , 16 , , , for pressing read preserving.
9 , , , for Holt Orders read Desertion.
8 & 9 from top, for Clermont, Council of, read Gallican Councils.
, , 25 from top, for Orange read Orleans.
, , 42 , , , for Eucharist read Priest.
, , 20 , , , for Fkibur read Tribur.
, , 8 from bottom, for Education read Schools.
. . 25, 24 , , , for Paschal Ctcle read Indiction : deU Golden Numbers.
, , 31, 30 , , , for Akvebnense read Gallican Councils.
, , 31 from top, for Penitence read Penitentiary.
, , 27, , , , for year -day read year-date.
diately after the death of Constantine. The
earliest iustauces are an aureus nummus of Con-
staatius (Banduri, v. ii. p. 2'J7, Numismata Imp.
Romanorum, &c.) ; and another golden coin bear-
ing the effigy of Constantine the Great, with the
words " Victoria Maxima." Constantine seems
not to have made great use of Christian em-
blems on his coin till after the defeat of Lici-
nius in 323, and e.spocially after the building
of Constantinople. (See Martigny, s. v. Numis-
matique.')
The use of these symbolic letters amounts to
a quotation of Rev. xxii. 13, and a confession of
faith in our Lord's own a.ssertion of His infinity
CHRI.ST. A.\T.
antiquity at Lucca (Borgia, Be Cruce Veliterna,
p. 33). For its general use as a part of the
monogram of Christ, see Monogram. It will be
found (see Westwood's Palaeographia Sacra) in the
Psalter of Athelstan, and iu the Bible of Alcuin ;
both in the British Museum. [R. St. J. T.]
AARON, the High Priest, commemorated
» Boldetti: "Quaiitoallelettere Aandu.non v'hadubbio
che quel primi Cristiani le presero dall' Apocalisse."
He goes on to say that it is the sigrf of Christian, not
Arian, burial; and that Arians were driven from Rome,
and e.xchided frooi the Catacombs. Ariiighi also protests
that those cemeteries were " baud unqiiam heretico schis-
maticoque commercio poUutae."
xfi
DICTIONAKY
CHEISTIAN ANTIQUITIES,
A
AAEON
l-2l
\
J
A apd W. (See Rev. xxii. 13.) Of these
symbolic letters the o) is always given in the
minuscular form. The symbol is generally com-
bined with the monogram of Christ. [Moxo-
GRAM.] In Boldetti's Ossenazioni sopra i ciiiiiteri,
&c. Rom. 1720, fol. tav. iii. p. 194, no. 4, it is
found, with the more ancient decussated mono-
gram, on a sspulchral cup or vessel. See also
De Rossi (Liscriptions, No. 776), where the letters
ai-e suspended from the arms of
the St. Andrew's Cross. They
are combined more frequently
with the upright or Egyptian
monogram. Aringhi, liom.
Subt. vol. i. p. 381, gives an
engraving of a jewelled cross,
with the letters suspended
by chains to its horizontal arm, as below. And
the same form occurs in sepulchral inscriptions
in De Rossi, Inscr. Chr. Rom.
t. i. nos. 661, 666. See also
Boldetti, p. 345, and Bottari,
tav. xliv. vol. i.
The letters are found, with
or without the monogram, in
almost all works of Christian
antiquity ; for instance, right
and left of a great cross, on which is no form or
even symbolic Lamb, on the ceiling of the apse
of St. Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna, circ. A.D.
675. They were worn in rings and sigils, either j
alone, as in Martigny, s. v. Anneaux, or with
the monogram, as in Boldetti, ms. 21-31, 30-33.
On coins they appear to be first used imme-
diately after the death of Constantine. The
earliest instances are an aureus nummus of Con-
stantius (Banduri, v. ii. p. 227, Nmnismata Imp.
Romanorum, &c.) ; and another golden coin bear-
ing the effigy of Constantine the Great, with the
words " Victoria Maxima." Constantine seems
not to have made great use of Christian em-
blems on his coin till after the defeat of Lici-
nius in 323, and especially after the building
of Constantinople. (See Martiguy, s. v. Numis-
matique.')
The use of these symbolic letters amounts to
a quotation of Rev. xxii. 13, and a confession of
faith in our Lord's own assertion of His infinity
CHRIST. ANT.
and divinity. There is one instance iu Martial
(^Epig. V. 26) where A, Alpha, is used jocularly
(as A 1, vulgarly, with ourselves) for " chief" or
" first." But the whole expression in its solemn
meaning is derived entirely from the words of
Rev. xxii. 13. The import to a Christian is
shewn hj the well-known passage of Prudentius
(Hymnus Omni Hora, 10, Cathemsrinon, ix. p.
35, ed. Tiibingen, 45) : —
"Corde natus ex parentis ante mundi exordium,
Alpha et fi cognominalus, ipse tons et clausula,
Omnium quae sunt, fuerunt, quaeque post futura sunt."
The symbol was no doubt much more frequently
used after the outbreak of Arianism. But it ap-
pears to have been used before that date, from its
occurrence in the inscription on the tomb raised
by Victorina to her martyred husband Heraclius
in the cemetery of Priscilla (Aringhi. i. 605).
It is here enclosed in a triangle, and united with
the upright monogram. See also another in-
scription in Fabretti {Inscr. antiq. expUcatio,
Rom. 1699, fol.), and the cup given iu Boldetti
from the Callixtine catacomb, tav. iii. no. 4, at
p. 194. From these it is argued with apparent
truth that the symbol must have been in use
before the Nicene Council." No doubt, as a con-
venient symbolic form of asserting the Lord's
divinity, it became far more prominent after-
wards. The Arians certainly avoided its use
(Giorgi, Be Monogram. Christi, p. 10). It is
found on the crucifix attributed to Nicodemus
(Angelo Rocca, Thesatirus I'ontifciarura, vol. i.
153, woodcut), and on a wooden crucifix of great
antiquity at Lucca (Borgia, Be Cruce Vcliterna,
p. 33). For its general use as a part of the
monogram of Christ, see Monogram. It will be
found (see Westwood's Palaeographia Sacra) in the
Psalter of Athelstan, and in the Bible of Alcuin ;
both in the British Museum. [R. St. J. T.]
AAEON, the High Priest, commemorated
» Boldetti: "Quantoalle letiere.\andu), non v'hadubbio
che quei primi Ciistiani le presero dall' Apocalisse."
He goes on to say that it is the sigif of Christian, not
Arian, burial; and that Arians were driven from Rome,
and excluded from the Catacombs. Aringhi also protests
that those cemeteries were " baud unqiiam heretico schis-
maticoque commercio pollutae."
2 ABACUC
Miaziah 1 = March 27 (^Cal. Ethiop.). Deposition
in Mount Hor, July 1 {Mart. Bedae, Hieron.). [C]
ABACUC. (1) Habakkuk the Prophet, com-
memorated Jan. 15 (Martyrologium Bom. Vetus,
Hieron., Bedae). ■
(2) Martyr at Rome under Claudius, a.d. 269,
commemorated Jan. 20 {Martyr. Horn. Vetus).
[C]
ABBA. [Abbat.]
ABBAT. (Abbas or Abha [-cfw], a^^as,
a00a, in low Latin sometimes Abas, Ital. Abate,
Germ. Abt, from the Chaldee and Syriac form of
the common Semitic word for Father, probably
adopted in that form either by Syriac monks,
or through its N. T. use.) A name employed
occasionally in the East, even so late as the 10th
century, as a term of respect for any monks
(Cassian., Collat. i. 1, A.D. 429; Seg. S. Columb.
vii., A.D. 609 ; Jo. Mosch., Prat. Spir., a.d. 630 ;
Epiphan. Hagiop., Be Loc. SS., a.d. 956 ; Byzant.
auth. ap. Du Cange, Lex. Inf. Graec. ; Bulteau,
Hist. Mon. d'Orient, 819 : and, similarly, aPISd-
Slov, aPPaSiaKiov, ^evSdfi^as, KXiTrrd^^as, for
an evil or false monk, Du Gauge, zd.) ; and some-
times as a distinguishing term for a monk of
singular piety (Hieron., in Epist. ad Gal. c. 4 ; in
Matt. lib. iv. in c. 23) ; bat ordinarily restricted
to the superior of a monastery. Pater or Princeps
Monasterii, elective, irremoveable, single, abso-
lute. Replaced commonly among the Greeks
by 'Apxip-avSpirns [Archimandrita], 'Hyov-
fjiivos, or more rarely Koivo^idpx'ns ', the first
of which terms however, apparently by a con-
fusion respecting its derivation, came occasion-
ally to stand for the superior of more monas-
teries than one (Helyot, Hist, des Ordr. Mon.
i. 65) : — extended upon their institution to the
superior of a body of canons, more properly
called Praepositus, Abbas Canonicorum as op-
posed to Abbas Monachorum (e. g. Cone. Paris.
a.d. 829, c. 37; Cone. Aquisg. II. a.d. 836.
canon, c. ii. P. 2, § 1 ; Chron. Leod.) ; but varied
by many of the later monastic orders, as e. g. by
Carmelites, Augustinians, Dominicans, Servites,
into Praepositus or Prior Conventualis, by Fran-
ciscans into Gustos or Guardianus, by Camaldu-
lensians into Major, by Jesuits into Hector : —
distinguished in the original Rule of Pachomius,
as the superior of a combination of monasteries,
from the Pater, Princeps, or Oeconomus of each
and from the Praepositi of the several families of
each. Enlarged into Abbas Abbatum for the Ab-
bat of Monte Cassino (Pet. Diac. Chron. Casin.
iv. 60 ; Leo Ostiens., ib. ii. 54), who was vicar of
the Pope over Benedictine monastei-ies {Privil.
Mcol. I. Papae, A.d. 1059, ap. And. a Nuce ad
Leon. Ostiens. iii. 12), and had precedence over
all Benedictine abbats {Priml. Paschal. II. Pajyae,
A.D. 1113, in Ihdl. Casin. ii. 130; Chart. Lothar.
Imp., A.D. 1137, ib. 157). Similarly a single
Abbat of Aniana, Benedict, was made by Ludov.
Pius, A.D. 817, chief of the abbats in the empire
{Chron. Farf. p. 671 ; Ardo, in V. Bened. c. viii.
36): and the Hegumenos of St. Dalmatius in
Constantinople was, from the time of St. Dal-
matius himself (A.D. 430), &px<^v or iraTvp
fiovacTTjpiccv, Abbas Univeisalis or KaOo\iKhs,
Exarchus omnium monasteriorum in urbe regia
{Cone. Constant, iv., a.d. 536, Act i. ; Cotic.
Ephes. iii. a.d. 431 ; and see Tillem., Mem. Feci.
xiv. 322 and Kustath. in T'. EtU>jc/i. n. 18, Jo.
ABBAT
Cantacuz. i. 50, Theocterictus m V. S. Nicefae, n.
43, quoted by Du Cange). Transferred im-
properly sometimes to the Praepositus or Prior,
the lieutenant (so to say) of a monastery, Abbas
Secundus or Secundarius {Reg. S. Bened. 65 ; and
see Sid. Apoll. vii. 17), the proper abbat being
called by way of distinction Abbas 2Iijor {Cone.
Aqnisgr. A.D. 817 c. 31). Transferred also, in
course of tirne, to non-monastic clerical offices,,
as e. g. to the principal of a body of parochial
clergy (i. the Abbas, Gustos, or Rector, as distin-
guished from ii. the Presbyter or Capeilanus, and
iii. the Sacrista ; Ughelli, Ital. Sac. vii. 506, ap. Du
Cange) ; and to the chief chaplain of the king or
emperor in camp under the Carlovingians, Abbas
Castrensis, and to the Abbas Curiae at Vienne
(Du Cange) ; and in later times to a particular
cathedral official at Toledo (Beyerlinck, Magn.
Theatrum, s. v. Abbas), much as the term car-
dinal is used at our own St. Paul's ; and to the
chief of a decad of choristers at Anicia, Abbas
Clericulorum (Du Cange) ; and later still to the
abbat of a religious confraternity, as of St. Yvo
at Paris in 1350 and another 'in 1362 {Id.).
Adopted also for purely secular and civil officers,
Abbas Populi at Genoa, and again of the Genoese
in Galata (Jo. Pachym. xiii. 27), of Guilds at
Milan and Decurions at Brixia ; and earlier still,
Palatii, Clocherii, Campanilis, Scholaris, Esclaf-
fardorum (Du Cange) ; and compare Dante
{Purgat. xxvi.). Abate del Collegio. Usurped
in course of time by lay holders of monasteries
under the system of commendation [COM-
MENDa]; Abbas Protector, Abbas Zaicus, Arcld-
abbas, Abba- [or Abhi-^ Comes, denominated by a
happy equivoque in some papal documents Abbas
Irreligiosus ; and giving rise in turn to the Abbas
Legitimus or Monasticus {Serm. de Tumulat. S.
Quintin., ap. Du Cange), as a name for the abbat
proper (sometimes it was the Decani, Contin.
Almoin, c. 42 ; and in Culdee Scotland in the
parallel case it was a Prior) who took charge ot
the spiritual duties. Lastly, perverted altogether
in later days into a mock title, as Abbas Laetitiae,
Juvenum, Fatuorum, or again Abbas Bejanorum
(of freshmen, or " Yello-w Beaks," at the univer-
sity of Paris), or Cornardorum or Conardorum (an
equally unruly club of older people elsewhere in
France), until " in vitium libertas excidit et vim
dignam lege regi," and the mock abbats accord-
ingly " held their peace " perforce (Du Cange).
The abbat, properly so called, was elected in
the beginning by the bishop of the diocese out of
the monks themselves (with a vague right of
assent on the part of the people also, according
to Du Cange); a right confirmed at first by
Justinian {Novell, v. c. 9, A.D. 534-565); who,
however, by a subsequent enactment transferred
it to the monks, the abbat elect to be confirmed
and formally blessed by the bishop {Norell. cxxiii.
c. 34). And this became the common law of
Western monasteries also {Reg. S. Bened., a.d.
530, c. 64 ; Cone. Carthag,, a.d. 525, in die Ilda ;
Greg. M., Epist. ii. 41, iii. 23, viii. 15; Theodor.,
Poenit. II. vi. 1 in Wasserschl. p. 207 ; Pseudo-
Egbert, Poenit. Add. in Thorpe, ii. 235, &c. ; —
"Fratres eligant sibi abbatem," Aldhelm ap. W.
Malm., De G. P. v. p. Ill), confirmed in time by
express enactment {Capit. Car. M. et Lud. Pii,
1. vi., a.d. 816), — " Quomodo (monachis) ex se
ipsis sibi eligendi abbates licentiam dederimus;"
— Urban. Pap. ap. Gratian, cap. Alien, cans. 12.
AB13AT
qu. 2 ; and so also cap. Quontam Disl. Ixix.—
enforcing the episcoyial benediction, from Cone,
Nicaen. ii., a.D. 787, c. 14. So also Counc. of
Cealchyth, A.D. 785, c. 5 (monks to elect from
their own monastery, or another, with consent of
bishop), but Counc. of Becanceld, A.D. 694, and
of Cealchyth, A.D. 816 (bishop to elect abbat or
abbess with consent of the " family "). And
forms occur accordingly, in both Eastern and
Western Pontificals, for the liem-dictio re-
spectively of an Hegumenos, or of an Abbas, both
Jloiiac/iorum and Canonicoruin, and of an Abba-
tissa (see also Theodor., Poenit, II. iii. 5, in
Wasserschl. p. 204, &c. ; and a special form for
the last named, wrongly attributed to Theodore,
in Collier's Beconls from the Ordo Jiom., and
with variations, in Gerbert). An abbat of an
exempt abbey (in later times) could not resign
without leave of the Pope (c. Si Ahbatem, Bonif.
VIII. in Sext. Deer. 1. vi. 36) ; and was to be
confirmed and blessed by him (Matt. Par. in an.
1257). A qualification made in the Benedictine
Eule, allowing the choice of a minority if theirs
were the sanius consilium, necessarily became a
dead letter from its impracticability. Bishops,
however, retained their right of institution if not
nomination in Spain in the 7th century {Cone.
Tolet., A.D. 63o, c. 50); and the Bishop of
Chalons-sur-Marne so late as the time of St.
Bernard {Epist. 58). See, however, Caus. xviii.,
Qu. 2. The nomination by an abbat of his suc-
cessor, occurring sometimes in special cases (e.g.
St. Bruno), and allowed under restrictions {Cone.
CabiUon. ii., A.D. 650, c. 12 ; Theodor., Capit.
Dachcr. c. 71, in Wasserschl. p. 151), was ex-
ceptional, and was to be so managed as not to
interfere with the general right of the monks.
So also the founder's like exceptional nominations,
as e. g. those made by Aldhelm or Wilfrid. The
intei'ference of kings in such elections began as a
practice with the system of commendation ; but
in royal foundations, and as suggested and pro-
moted by feudal ideas, no doubt existed earlier.
The consent of the bishop is made necessary to
an abbat's election, " ubi jussio Regis fuerit,"
in A.D. 794 {Cone. Franco/, c. 17). The bishop
was also to quash an unfit election, under the
Benedictine rule, and (with the neighbouring
abbats) to appoint a proper person instead {Beg.
Ben. 64).
Once elected, the abbat held office for life,
unless canonically deprived by the bishop ; but
the consent of his fellow-presb3'ters and abbats is
made necessary to such deprivation by the
Council of Tours {Cone. Turon. ii., a.d. 567, c. 7 ;
so also Excerpt. Fseudo-Ei/berti, 65, Thorpe ii.
107). And this, even if incapacitated by sickness
(Hincmar ad Corbeiens., ap. Flodoard. iii. 7).
Triennial abbats (and abbesses) were a desperate
expedient of far later popes. Innocent VIII.
(A.D. 1484-1492) and Clement VII. (a.d. 1523-
1534).
Like all monks (Hieron., ad Eustic. 95 ;
Cassian., Collat. v. 26 ; Caus. xvi. qu. 1, c. 40 ;
Dist. xciii. c. 5), the abbat was originally a lay-
man (" Abbas potest esse, et non presbyter :
laicus potest esse abbas ;" io. de Turrecrem., sup.
Dist. Ixix.) ; and accordingly ranked below all
orders of clergy, even the Vstiarius (Dist. xciii.
c. 5). In the East, Archimandrites appear to
have become either deacons at least, or .com-
monly priests, before the close of the 5th century
ABBAT 3
(inter Epist. Hormisd, Pap., a.d. 514-523, ante
Ep. xxii.; Cone. Constantin. iv., a.d. 536, Act i.),
although not without a struggle : St. Sabas, e.g.,
a.d. 484, strictly forbidding any of his monks
to be priests, while reluctantly forced into the
presbyterate himself by the Patriarch of Jeru-
salem (Surius, in Vita, 5 J)ec., cc. xxii. xxv).
And Archimandrites subscribe Church Councils
in the East, from time to time, from Gmc.
Constantin., a.d. 448. The term 'A^PaSoirpeir-
^vrepos, however, in Komocan. (n. 44, ed. Co-
teler.), appears to indicate the continued ex-
istence of abbats not presbyters. In the West,
laymen commonly held the office until the end
of the 7th century, and continued to do so to
some extent or other (even in the proper sense
of the office) into the 11th. Jealousy of the
priestly order, counterbalanced by the ' absolute
need of priestly ministrations, prolonged the
struggle, in the 6th century, whether Western
monasteries should even admit priests at all. St.
Benedict, a.d. 530, hardly allows a single priest ;
although, if accepted, he is to rank next the
abbat {Reg. 60). Aurelian of Aries, a.d. 50,
allows one of each order, priest, deacon, sub-
deacon {Reg. 46). The Ecgula Magistri (23)
admits priests as guests only, " ne abbates ut-
pote laicos excludant." St. Gregory, however,
A.D. 595, gave a great impulse, as to monastic
life generally, so in particular, by the nature of
his English mission, to presbyter (and episcopal)
abbats. And while Benedict himself, a layman,
was admitted to a council at Rome, A.D. 531, as
by a singular privilege (Cave, Hist. Litt. in V.
Bened.) ; during the next century, abbats occur
commonly, 1. at Councils of State, or in Councils
of abbats for monastic purposes, in Saxon England
and in France ; but 2. in purely Church Councils
in Spain. Theodore (about A.D. 690) repeats
the continental canon, inhibiting bishops from
compelling abbats to come to a council without
reasonable cause {Poenit. II. ii. 3 ; Wasserschl.
p. 203). And in one case, both Abbates pres'
hytcri, and Abbates simply, subscribe a Saxon
Council or Witenagemot, viz.. that of Oct. 12,
803 (Kemble, C. D. v. 65), which had for its
purpose the prohibition of lay commendations ;
while abbesses occur sometimes as well, e. g. at
Becanceld, a.d. 694 {Anglo-Sax. Chron.), and
at London, Aug. 1, a.d. 811 (Kemble, C. D. i.
242). Lay abbats continued in England a.d.
696 (Wihtred's Dooms, § 18), a.d. 740 (Egbert's
Ansuj. 7, 11), A.D. 747 {Counc. of Clovesho, c. 5),
A.D. 957 (Aelfric's Can. § 18, — abbats not an
order of clergy). In France, an annual Council
of abbats was to be summoned by the bishop
every Nov. 1, the presbyters having their own
special council separately in May {Cone. Aure-
lian. i., A.D. 511 ; Cone. Autisiod., a.d. 578 or
586, c. 7). Abbats, however, sign as represen-
tatives of bishops at the Councils of Orleans, iv.
and v., A.D. 541, 549. But in Spain, abbats
subscribe Church Councils, at first after and then
before presbyters {Cone. Braear. iii., A.D. 572 ;
Oscens., A.D. 588; Emerit., a.d. 666; Tolet. xii.
and xiii., a.d. 681, 683) ; occurring, indeed, in
all councils from that of Toledo (viii.) a.d. 653.
From A.D. 565, also, there was an unbroken
succession of presbyter-abbats at Hy, retaining
their original missionary jurisdiction over their
monastic colonies, even after these colonies had
grown into a church, and both needed and had
B 2
4 ABBAT
bishops, although undiocesan (Baed., H. E., iii.
4, V. 24). And clerical abbats (episcopal indeed
first, in Ireland, and afterwards presbyteral —
see Todd's St. Patrick, pp. 88, 89) seem to have
been always the rule in Wales, Ireland, and
Scotland. In Ireland, indeed, abbats were so
identified with not presbyters only but bishops,
that the Pope is found designated as "Abbat
of Rome" (Todd's St. Patrick, 156). Most con-
tinental abbats, however (and even their Frae-
positi and Decani) appear to have been pres-
byters by A.D. 817. These officers may bestow
the benediction ("quamvis presbyteri non sint";
Gmc. Aquisgr., A.D. 817, c. 62). AH were ordered
to be so, but as yet ineifectually, A.D. 826 {Cone.
Rom. c. 27). And the order was still needed,
but was being speedily enforced by custom, A.D.
1078 (Com. Fictav. c. 7: " Ut abbates et decani
\_aUter abbates diaconi] qui presbyteri non sunt,
presbyteri fiant, aut praelationes amittant ").
A bishop-abbat was forbidden in a particular
instance by a Council of Toledo (xii., A.D. 681,
c. 4), but permitted subsequently as (at first) an
exceptional case at Lobes near Liege, about A.D.
700, (conjecturally ) for missionary purposes among
the still heathen Flemish (D'Achery, Spicil. ii.
730) ; a different thing, it should be noted, from
bishops resident in abbeys under the abbat's
jurisdiction (" Episcopi monachi," according to
a very questionable reading in Baed. //. E. iv.
5), as in Ireland and Albanian Scotland, and in
several continental (mostly exempt) abbeys (St.
Denys, St. Martin of Tours, &c.), and both at this
and at later periods in exempt abbeys generally
(DufCange, voc. Episcopi Vagantes: Todd's St.
Fatrick, 51 sq.) ; although in some of these con-
tinental cases the two plans seem to have been
interchanged from time to time, according as the
abbat happened to be either himself a bishop, or
merely to have a monk-bishop under him
(Martene and Durand, Thcs. JVoi: Awed. i.
Pref. giving a list of Benedictine Abbatial bishops ;
Todd, ih.). In Wales, and in the Scottish sees
in Anglo-Saxon England (e.g. Lindisfarne), and
in a certain sense in the monastic sees of the
Augustinian English Church, the bishop was also
an abbat ; but the latter office was here ap-
pended to the former, not (as in the other cases) the
former to the latte'-. So, too, " Antistes et abbas,"
in Sidon. Apoll. (xvi. 114), speaking of two abbats
of Lerins, who were also Bishops of Riez. Pos-
sibly there were undiocesan bishop-abbats in
Welsh abbeys of Celtic date (Rees, Welsh SS.
182, 266). Abbats sometimes acted as chore-
piscopi in the 9th century : v. Du Cange, voc.
Chorepiscopus. The abbats also of Catania and of
Monreale in Sicily at a later period were always
bishops (diocesan), and the latter shortly an
archbishop, respectively by privilege of Urban II.,
A.D. 1088-1099, and from A.D. 1176 (Du Cange).
So also at Fulda and Corbey in Germany.
We have lastly an abbat who was also ex
officio a cardinal, in the case of the Abbat of
Clugny, by privilege of Pope Calixtus II., A.D.
1119 (Hug. Mon. ad Fontium Abb. Ciun., ap.
Du Cange).
The natural rule, that the abbat should be
chosen from the seniors, and from those of the
monastery itself {Reg. S. Scrap. 4, in Holsten.
p. 15), became in time a formal law {Decret.
Bonif. VIII. in 6 de Elect.— Ahhat to be an
already professed monk ; Capit. Car. M. et Liid.
ABBAT
Pii, i. tit. 81, " ex seipsis," &c., as above quoted ;
ConcH. Rotom., A.D. 1074, c. 10) : although the
limitation to one above twenty-five years old is
no earlier than Pope Alexander III. {Cone. La-
teran. A.D. 1179). In the West, however, the
rule was, that "Fratres eligant sibi abbatem
de ipsis si habent, sin autem, de extraneis "
(Theodor., Capit. Each. e. 72, in Wasserschl. p.
151 ; and so also St. Greg., Epist. ii. 41, viii. 15) :
while in the East it seems to be spoken of as a
privilege, where an abbey, having no fit monk
of its own, might choose a ^evoKovpirris — one
tonsured elsewhere (Leunclav. Jus Graeco-Rom.
p. 222).
Repeated enactments prove at once the rule of
one abbat to one monastery, and (as time went
on) its common violation (Hieron. ad Rustic. 95 ;
h'eg. S. Scrap. 4, and Regulae passim; Cone.
Venetic., a.D. 465, c. 8 ; Agath., A.D. 506, cc. 38,
57 ; Epaon., a.d. 517, cc. 9, 10 ; and so, in the
East, Justinian, L. I. tit. iii. ; De Episc. 1. 39 : and
Balsamon ad Nomocan. tit. i. c. 20. — " Si non per-
mittitur alicui ut sit clericus in duabus ecclesiis.
nee pr.Tfectus sen abbas duobus monasteriis
praeerit "). No doubt such a case as that of
Wilfrid of York, at once founder and Abbat of
Hexham and Ripon, or that of Aldhelm, Abbat
at once (for a like reason) of Malmesbury, Frome,
and Bradford, was not so singular as it was in
their case both intelligible and excusable. The
spirit of the rule obviously does not apply, either
to the early clusters of monasteries under the
Rule of St. Pflchomius, or to the tens of thou-
sands of monks subject to the government of
e. g. St. Macarius or St. Serapion, or to the later
semi-hierarchical quasi-jurisdiction, possessed as
already mentioned by the Abbats of St. Dalma-
tius, of Monte Cassino, or of Clugny, and by
Benedict of Aniana. Generals of Orders, and
more compact organization of the whole of an
Order into a single body, belong to later times.
The abbat's power was in theory paternal, but
absolute — " Timeas ut dominum, diligas ut pa-
trem " {Reg. S. Macar. 7, in Holsten. p. 25 ; and
Regulae passim). See also St. Jerome. Even to
act without his order was culpable {Reg. S.
Basil.}. And to speak for another who hesitated
to obey was itself disobedience {Reg. passim).
The relation of monk to abbat is described as
a libera servitus {Reg. S, Orsies. 19, in Holsten. '
p. 73); while no monk (not even if he was a
bishop, Baed. H. E., iv. 5) could exchange mo-
nasteries without the abbat's leave {Reg. passim),
not even (although in that case it was some-
times allowed) if he sought to quit a laxer for
a stricter rule {Peg. FF. 14, in Holsten. p. 23 ;
Gild. ap. MS. S. Gall. 243, pp. 4, 155) ; unless
indeed he fled from an excommunicated abbat
(Gild. ih. p. 155, and in D'Ach., Spicil. i. 500).
In later times, and less civilized regions, it was
found necessary to prohibit an abbat from blind-
ing or mutilating his monks {Cone. Franco/.
A.D. 794, c. 18). The rule, however, and the
canons of the Church, limited this absolute power.
And each Benedictine abbat, while bound exactly
to keep St. Benedict's rule himself (e. g. Cone.
Avgustod. c. A.D. 670), was enjoined also to make
his monks learn it word for word by heart {Cone.
Aquisgr., A.D. 817, cc. 1, 2, 80). ' He was also
limited practically in the exercise of his authority
(1) by the system of Fraepositi or Friores, elected
usually by himself, but " consilio et voluntate fra-
ABBAT
trwn " (^Beg. Orient. 3, in Holsten. p. 89 ; Heg. S.
Bened. 65), and. in Spain at one time by the
bishop {Cone. Tolet. iv. a.d. 633, c. 51); one in a
Benedictine abbey, but in the East sometimes
two, one to be at home, the other superintending
the monks abroad {Reg. Orient. 2, in Holsten.
p. 89) ; and under the Rule of Pachomius one to
each subordinate house ; a system in some sense
revived, though with a very different purpose, in
the Priores non Conventuales of the dependent
Obedientiae, Cellae, &c., of a later Western Abbey ;
and (2) by that of Decani and Centenarii, elected
by the monks themselves (Hieron. ad Eustoch.
Epist. xviii. ; Reg. Monach. in Append, ad Hieron.
0pp. V. ; Reg. passim ; see also Baed. H. E. ii. 2),
through whom the discipline and the work of the
monastery were administered. He was limited also
from without by episcopal jurisdiction, more effi-
ciently in the East {Gone. Chalc, a.d. 451, cc. 4,
8, &c. &c. ; and so Balsam, ad Avmoonn. tit. xi.,
"Episcopis raagis subject! monachi quam monas-
teriorum praefectis "), but in theory, and until
the 11th century pretty fairly in fact, in the
West likewise {Reg, S. Bened. ; Cone. Agath., a.d.
506,0. 38; Aurelian. I, A.D. 511, c. 19; Epaon.,
A.D. 517, c. 19; Herd. a.d. 524, c. 3; Arelat. v.,
A.D. 554, cc. 2, 3, 5 ; and later still, Cone. Tail.,
A.D. 859, c. 9; Rotomag., a.d. 878, c. 10; A^l-
gxistan., A.D. 952, c. 6; and see also Greg. M.
Epist., vii. 12 ; x. 14, 33 ; Hincmar, as before
quoted ; and Cone. Paris, a.d. 615 ; lolet. iv. a.d.
633 ; Cahillon. i. A.D. 650 ; Herutf. A.D. 673, c. 3,
in Baed. H. E. iv. 5, among others, putting restric-
tions upon episcopal interference). The Fi-euch
canons on this subject are repeated by Pseudo-
Egbert in England {Excerpt. 63-65, Thorpe, ii.
106, 107). Cassian, however, in the West, from
the beginning, bids monks beware above all of
two sorts of folk, women and bishops {De Instit.
Coenob. xi. 17). And although exemptions, at first
merely defining or limiting episcopal power, but
in time substituting immediate dependence upon
the Pope for episcopal jurisdiction altogether, did
not grow into an extensive and crying evil until
the time of the Councils of Rheims and of Rome,
respectively A.D. 1119 and 1122, and of the self-
denying ordinances of the Cistercians {Chart.
Chirit. in Ann. Cisterc. i. 109) and Premonstra-
tensians, in the years a.d. 1119, 1120, repudiating
such privileges but with a sadly short-lived
virtue, and of the contemporary remonstrances of
St. Bernard {Lib. 3 De Consid., and Epist. 7, 42,
179, 180); yet they occur in exceptional cases
much earlier. As e. g. the adjustment of rights
between Faustus of Lerins and his diocesan bishop
at the Council of Aries, c. a.d. 456 (which se-
cured to the abbat the jurisdiction over his lay
monks, and a veto against the ordination of any
of them, leaving all else to the bishop, Mansi,
vii. 907), a parallel privilege to Agaune (St.
Maurice in the Valais), at the Council of Chalons
a.d. 579, and privilegia of Popes, as of Hono-
Tius I. A.D. 628 to Bobbio, and of John IV. a.d.
641 to Luxeuil (see Marculf., Formul. lib. I. § 1 ;
and Mabill., Ann. Bened. xiii. no. 11, and Ap-
pend, n. 18). Even exempt monasteries in the
East, i.e. those immediately depending upon a
patriarch, were subject to the visitatorial powers
of regular officials called Exarahi Monasteriorum
(Balsam, in Nomocan. i. 20 ; and a form in Greek
Pontificals for the ordination of an exarch, Ha-
bert., Archierat., Pontif. Grace, o'jserv. i. ad Edict.
ABBAT 5
pro Archimandrit. pp. 570, 587), exercised some-
times through Apocrisiarii (as like powers of the
bishops through the Defensores Ecelesiarum) ; and
even to visitations by the emperor himself (Justi-
nian, Novell, cxxxiii., cc. 2, 4, 5). The Rule of
Pachomius also qualified the abbat's power by a
council of the Jilajores Monasterii, and by a tri-
bunal of assessors, viri sancti, 5, 10, or 20, to as-
sist in administering discipline {Reg. S. Pack.
167, in Holsten. p. 49). And the Rule of St, Bene-
dict, likewise, compelled the abbat, while it re-
served to him the ultimate decision, to take
counsel with all the brethren (juniors expressly
included) in greater matters, and with the Seni-
ores Monasterii in smaller ones {Reg. S. Bened. 2,
3). The Rule of Columbanus gave him an un-
qualified autocracy.
The abbat was likewise limited in his power
over abbey property, and in secular things, by his
inability to interfere in person with civil suits ;
which led to the appointment of an Advocatus,
Yicedomnus, Occononms, Procurator {Cod. Can.
Afrie. A.D. 418 (?), c. 97; Justinian, lib. i. Cod.
tit. 3, legg. 33, 42 ; Cod. Theodos. lib. ix. tit, 45,
leg. 3 ; St. Greg. Ejnst. iii. 22 ; Cone. Nicaen. ii,
A.D. 787, c. 11), revived with greater powers
under the title of Advocatus Ecclesiae, or Monas-
terii, by Charlemagne {Capit. A.D. 813, c, 14 ; and
Lothar., Capit. tit. iii, cc. 3, 9, 18, &c.) ; who from
a co-ordinate, frequently proceeded to usurp an
exclusive, interest in the monastic revenues. The
abbat also was required to give account of the
abbey property to both king and bishop, by the
Council of Vern (near Paris) A.D. 755 ; while
neither abbat nor bishop separately could even
exchange abbey lands in Anglo-Saxon England,
but only by joint consent (Theodor., Poen. II. viii.
6, in Wasserschl. p. 208).
Within the abbey and its pi-ecincts, the abbat
was to order all work, vestments, services {Reg.
S. Bened. 47, 57 ; Regulae passim) ; to award all
punishments, even to excommunication {Reg. S.
Bened. 24 ; Leidrad., Lugdun. Arch., ad Car. M.
ap, Galland., xiii. 390, restoring to the Abbat of
Insula Barbara, " potestatem ligandi et solvendi,
uti habuerunt praedecessores sui ;" Honorius III.
cap. Dilecta, tit. de Major, et Obedientia, desiring
a neighbouring abbat to excommunicate refrac-
tory nuns, because their abbess could not ; and see
Bingham), or to the use of the " ferrum abscis-
sionis " {Reg. S. Bened. 28). He was also to be ad-
dressed as "Domnuset Abbas" (i6. 63). And while
in the East he was speciallv commanded to eat with
the other monks {Reg. PP. 11, in Holsten. p. 23),
the Rule of Benedict (56) appoints him a separate
table " cum hospitibus et peregrinis," to which
he might, in case there was room, invite any monk
he pleased. The Council of Aix a.d. 817 (c. 27)
tried to qualify this practice by bidding abbats
" be content " with the food of the other monks,
unless "propter hospitem ;" and some monas-
teries kept up a like protest in the time of Peter
Damiani and Peter the Venerable ; but it con-
tinued to be the Western rule. He was ordered
also to sleep among his monks by the Council
of Frankfort a.d. 794 (c. 13). The abbat was spe-
cially not to wear mitre, ring, gloves, or sandals,
as being episcopal insignia — a practice growing
up in the West in the loth and 11th centuries,
and (vainly) then protested against by the Coun-
cil of Poictiers a.d. 1100, and by St. Bernard
{Epist. 42) and Peter of Blois {Epist.QQ ; and see
t;
ABBAT
also Thoiii. Ciintiprat., De Apihus, i. 6 ; Chron.
C'asiii. iv. 78). But a mitre is said to have been
granted to the Abbat of Bobbie by Pope Theodo-
ras I. A.D. 643 (5m//. Casin. I. ii. 2), the next
alleged case being to the Abbat of St. Savianus
by Sylvester II. A.d. 1000. A staff, however, but
of a particular form, and some kind of stockings
('' baculum et pedules "), were the special insig-
nia of an abbat in Anglo-Saxon England in the
time of Theodore A.D. 668-690, being formally
given to him by the bishop at his benediction
{Poenit. II. iii. 5, in Wasserschl. p. 204). And the
staff was so everywhere. He was also to shave his
beard, and of course to be tonsured (Cone. Bitu-
ric. A.D. 1031, c. 7). His place of precedence,
if an ordinary abbat, appears to have been finally
fixed as immediately after bishops, among prac-
lati, and before archdeacons (see, however, Decret.
Greg. IX., lib. ii. tit. 1, cap. Becernimus) ; but
the list of our English convocations from Arch-
bishop Kemp's Register A.D. 1452 (Wilk. I. xi.
sq.), though following no invariable rule, appears
usually to postpone the abbat and prior to the
archdeacon. In Saxon England, he shared in like
manner with the king (as did an abbess also) in
the '' wer " of a murdered " foreigner " (^Laics of
Lie, 23; Thorpe, i. 117). The abbat also was
not named in the canon of the mass (Gavant. in
I,'u'>r. Miss. P. iii. tit. 8 ; Macr. F.F., Hierolex, in
Can. Missae), except in the case of the abbat of
Monte Cassino (Ang. a Nuce, in notis ad Leo.
Ostiens. ii. 4). But an anniversary was allowed
to be appointed for him on his death (e. g. Cone.
Aquisgr. A.D. 817, c. 73). He was forbidden (as
were all monks, at least in France) to stand
sponsor for a child (Cone. Autissiod. a.d. 578, c. '
25 ; Greg. M., E^ist. iv. 42), with a notable ex- i
ception, however, in England, in the case of Abbat
Robert of Mont St. Michel, godfather to King !
Henry II.'s daughter Eleanor (Rob. de Monte ad
an. 1161), or to go to a marriage ( C'o?ic. Autissiod.,
ih.) ; or indeed to go far from his monastery at
all without the bishop's leave {Cone. Arel. v.
A.D. 554) ; or to go about with a train of monks
except to a general synod (Cone. Aquisgr. A.D.
817, c. 59). He of course could not hold pro-
perty (although it was needful sometimes to pro-
hibit his lending money on usury, Pseudo-Egbert.
Poenit. iii. 7, in Thorpe, ii. 199); neither could
he dispose of it by will, even if it accrued to him ■
by gift or heirship after he became abbat (^Eeg.
PP. 2, in Holsten. p. 22) ; but if the heirship
was within the 4th degree, he was exceptionally :
enabled to will the property to whom he pleased i
(Justinian, lib. i. Cod. tit. de Episc. ct Cler. c. !
33). Further, we find bishops and archdeacons
prohibited from seizing the goods of deceased
abbats (Cone. Paris. A.D. 615 ; Cabillon. i. A.D.
650). And later wills of abbats in the West are
sometimes mentioned and confirmed, but prin-
cipally in order to secure to their abbeys pro-
perty bequeathed to those abbeys (see Thomassin).
Privileges of coining money, of markets and tolls,
of secular jurisdiction, began certainly as early
as Ludov. Pius, or even Pipin (Gieseler, ii. p. 255,
notes 5, 6, Eng. Tr.). Others, such as of the title
of prince, of the four Abbates Imperii in Germany
(viz., of Fulda — also ex officio the empress's
chancellor — of Weissenberg, Kempten, Murbach),
of the English mitred baronial abbats, and the
like, and sumptuary laws limiting the number of I
their h'jrses and attemlants, kc, belong to later
ABBAT
times. An abbat, however, might hunt in Eng-
land (Laics of Cnut, in Thorpe, i. 429). An abbat,
or an abbess, presiding over a joint house of
monks and nuns, is noted by Theodore as a pecu-
liar Anglo-Saxon custom : — " Apud Graecos non
est consuetudo viris feminas habere monachas,
neque feminis viros ; tamen consuetudinera istius
provinciae" (England) '"non destruamus"(Poe«(Y.
II. vi. 8, in Wasserschl. p. 208). The well-known
cases of the Abbesses Hilda and Aelbfled of Whitby
and of Aebba of Coldingham are instances of the
latter arrangement (Baed. //. E. iv. 23, 24, 25,
26) ; and the last of them also of its mischievous-
ness (Id. ib. 25). Tynemouth and Wimbourne
are other instances. But the practice was a Celtic
one (e. g. St. Brigid ; see Todd, St. Patrick,
pp. 11, 12), not simply Anglo-Saxon; and with
Celtic monastic missions, penetrated also into the
Continent (e.g. at Remiremont and Poictiers), and
even into Spain and into Rome itself (so Jlontalem-
i bert, Monks of West, vol. v. p. 297, Engl. Tr.).
[ It is, however, remarkable, that while instances
of abbesses ruling monks abounded, abbats ruling
' nuns rest for us upon the general assertion of
Theodore. And the practice, while it died out on
the Continent, was not restored in England after
the Danish invasion. In the East there was a
rigorous separation between monks and nuns.
And where two such communities were in any
, way connected, a special enactment prohibited all
but the two superiors from communication with
j one another, and placed all possible restrictions
upon even their necessary interviews (Peg. S.
I Basil, in Holsten. p. 158). St. Pachomius esta-
blished the double order, but put the Nile be-
I tween his monk.i and his nuns (Pallad., Hist. Laus.,
I cc. 30-42).
Interference by abbats with the ministrations
of parochial clergy could scarcely exist until ab-
bats were presbyters themselves, nor did it ever
(as was naturally the case) reach the extent to
which it was carried by the friars. We find,
however, an enactment of Theodore (Poenit. II. vi.
16, in Wasserschl. p. 209), prohibiting a monas-
tery from imposing penances on the laity, " quia
(haec libertas) proprie clericorum est." And a
much later and more detailed canon, of the 4th
Lateran Council (a.d. 1123), forbids abbats to
impose penance, visit the sick, or administer
unction. They were authorized in the East, it
presbyters, and with the bishop's leave, to confer
the tonsure and the order of reader on their own
monks (Cone. Nicaen. ii. a.d. 787, c. 14). And
they could everywhere admit their own monks
("ordinatio monachi" — ^Theodor., Poenit. II. iii. 3,
in Wasserschl. p. 204). But encroachments upon
the episcopal office, as well as upon episcopal in-
signia, gradually arose. Even in A.D. 448 abbats
were forbidden to give a.-wocTT6KLa.(Conc. Constan-
tin., — corrected by Du Cange into iTTi(TT6\ia =
commendatory letters for poor, and see Cone. Au-
relian. ii. c. 13, and Turon. ii. c. 6). But by a.d.
1123 it had become necessary to prohibit gene-
rally their thrusting themselves into episcopal
offices (Cone. Lateran. iv. c. 17). And we find
it actually asserted by Sever. Binius (in Canon.
Apostol. ap. Labh. Cone. i. 54e, on the authority
of Bellarmine, De Eccles. iv. 8), that two or more
" abbates iufulati " might by Papal dispensation
be substituted for bishops in consecrating a
bishop, provided one bishop were there ; while
Innocent IV. in 1489 empowered an abbat by
ABBAT
nimse'f to confer not only the subdiaconate, but
the diaconate.
The spiritual abbat was supplanted in Wales
(Girald. Cambr., Itin. Camh., and repeatedly) and
in Scotland (Robertson, Early Scotl. i, 329, 339),
by the end of the 8th and so on to the 12th cen-
tury, by the Advocatus Ecclesiae (confused
sometimes with the Oeconomus, who in Welsh
and Irish monasteries was a diti'erent officer, and
managed the internal secular affairs, as the other
did the external), called in Scotland Herenach, in
Ireland Airchinneac/i, who was originally the lay,
and gradually became also the hereditary, lessee of
the Termon (or abbey) lands, being commonly the
founder or his descendant, or one of the neighbour-
ing lords ; and who held those lauds, receiving a
th:'rd part of their value in the first instance, but
who is found as an hereditary married lay abbat
during the period named ; e. g. Crinan, the Abbat
of Dunkeld, who was grandfather of Shakspeare's
Duncan, and one Dunchad, also Abbat of Dunkeld,
who died in battle A.D. 961. The case was the
same at Abernethy and at Applecross. The spi-
ritual duties devolved upon the bishop and a
prior. See also Du Cange (voc. Advocatus), for
a similar process although to a less degree on the
Continent. In Ireland, the Comarb, or similar
hereditary abbat (or bishop), retained his spiritual
character (Todd, St. Patrick, pp. 155 sq.). The
lay abbats in Northumbria, denounced by Baeda
(Epist. ad E/bert.), were simply fraudulent imi-
tations of abbats in the proper sense of the word.
An entirely like result, however, and to as wide
an extent during Carlovingian times as in Scot-
laud, ensued abroad from a different cause,
viz., from the system of commendation [COM-
menda]; which began in the time of Charles
Martel (a.d. 717-741, being approved by Cone.
Leptin. a.d. 743 ; Co7ic. Suession., a.d. 744 ; and
see Baron, in an. 889, n. 31), with the plausible
object of temporarily employing monastic re-
venues for the pressing needs of warfare with
Saracens, Saxons, or other heathens, care being
taken to reserve enough to keep up the monas-
tery proper. The nobleman, or the king himself,
who led the troops thus raised, became titular
abbat. And in Carlovingian times, accordingly,
most of the great Frank and Burgundian nobles
and kings, and sometimes even bishops (e. g.
Hatto of Mainz, A.D. 891-912, who enjoyed the
reputation of holding twelve abbeys at once),
were titular abbats of some great monastery, as
of St. Denys or St. Martin, held for life or even
by inheritance ; the revenues of which were soon
diverted to purposes less patriotic than that of
supplying the king with soldiers (see a short
list by way of specimen in Gieseler, ii. p. 411,
note 1, Eng. Tr.). In the East a like system ap-
pears to have grown up, although hardly from
the same origin, some centuries later ; John, Pa-
triarch of Antioch, at the beginning of the 12th
century, informing us that most monasteries in
his time were handed over to laymen (x'^P^'^''''''-
KapioL — beneficiarii), for life or for two or thu-
descents, by gift of the emperors; while Balsamon
{ad Cone. Nicaen. c. 13) actually condemns him
for condemning the practice. Later abuses of the
kind in the West, as in the time of Francis
I. of France or of Louis XIV., need here be only
alluded to.
(Bingham ; Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d'Orient ; Du
Cange; Ant. Dadini, Ascetic, seu Origg. Rei Monas-
ABBESS 7
tic. ; Ferraris ; Helyot, Hist, des Ordr. Mon. ; Her-
zog ; Hospinian, De Monach. ; Macri FF., Hiero-
lexic. ; Martene, De Antiq. Monach. liitibus ; Mar-
tigny ; Montalembert, Monks of the West ; Tho-
massin, Be Benefic. ; Van Espen.) [A. W. H.]
ABBATISSA. [Abbess.]
ABBESS. (Abbatissa found in inscript. of
A.D. 569, in Murator. 429. 3, also called Anti-
stita and Majorissa, the female superior of a body
of nuns ; among the Greeks, 'Hyou/ieVrj, 'Apx'-
fxavSp7ris, Archimandritissa, Justinian, Novell.,
'Afi/xa? or mother, Pallad., Hist. Laus., c. 42, in
the time of Pachomius, Mater monasterii or moni-
alium, see St. Greg. M., Lial. IV. 13 [where
" Mater " stands simply for a nun] ; Cone.
Mogunt. a.d. 813; Aquisgr., a.d. 816, lib. ii.).
In most points subject to the same laws as ab-
bats, mutatis mutandis ; — elective, and for life
(triennial abbesses belonging to years so late as
A.D. 1565, 1583) ; and solemnly Admitted by the
bishop — Benedictio Abbatissae (that for an abbess
monasticam regulam profitentem, eapit. ex Canone
Theodori Anglorum Episcopi, is in the Ordo Eo-
manus, p. 164, Hittorp.); and in Fi-ance re-
stricted to one monastery apiece {Cone. Vern. a.d.
755) ; and with FraejMsitae, and like subordinates,
to assist them {Cotic. Aquisgr., a.d. 816, lib. ii.
cc. 24-26) ; and bound to obey the bishop in all
things, whether abbesses of Monachae or of Cano-
iiicae {Cone. Cabillon. ii. a.d. 813, c. 65) ; and sub-
ject to be deprived for misconduct, but in this
case upon report of the bishop to the king {Cone,
Francof. A.D. 794) ; bound also to give account of
monastic property to both king and bishop {Cone.
Vern., A.D. 755) ; entitled to absolute obedience
and possessed of ample powers of discipline, even
to expulsion, subject however to the bishop {Cone.
Aquisgr. A.D. 816, lib. ii.) ; and save only that
while an abbat could, an abbess could not, excom-
municate (Honorius III., cap. Dilecta, tit. de Ma-
jor, et Obedientia) ; neither could she give the veil
or (as some in France appear to have tried to
do) ordain {Capntul. Car. M. an. 789, c. 74,
Anseg. 71); present even at Councils in England
(see Abbat, and compare Lingard, Antiq. i.
139 ; Kemble, Antiq. ii. 198 ; quoted by Mont-
alembert, Monks of West, v. 230, Engl. Tr.).
While, however, a bishop was necessary to
admit and bless an abbat, Theodore ruled
in England, although the rule did not become
permanent, that a presbyter was sufficient in like
case for an abbess {Foenit. II. iii. 4, in Wasserschl.,
p. 203). The limitation to forty years old at elec-
tion is as late as the Council of Trent ; Gregory
the Great speaks of sixty {Epist. iv. 11). An
I abbess also was not to leave her monastery, in
France, save once a year if summoned by the
king with the bishop's consent to the king's
presence upon monastic business {Cone. Vern.
a.d. 755 ; Cabillon. ii. a.d. 813, c. 57). Neither
was she even to speak to any man save upon
necessary business, and then before witnesses
and between the first hour of the day and
evening {Cone. Cabillon. ii. A.D. 813, cc. 55,
56). For the exceptional cases of Anglo-Saxon,
Irish, or Continental Irish, abbesses ruling
over mixed houses of monks and nuns, see
Abbat. It was noted also as a specially
Western custom, that widows as well as virgins
were made abbesses (Theod., Foenit. II. iii. 7, in
Wasserschl. p. 204). [A. \V. IL]
8 ABBEY
ABBEY. [Monastery.]
ABBUNA, the common appellation of the
Bishop, Metran, or Metropolitan, of Axum, or
Abj'ssinia, or Ethiopia, not a patriarch, but, on
the contrary, appointed and consecrated always
by the patriarch of Alexandria, and specially
forbidden to have more than seven suftVagan
bishops under him, lest he should make himself
so, twelve bishops being held to be the lowest
canonical number for the consecration of a patri-
arch. In a Council, if held in Greece, he occu-
pied the seventh place, immediately after the
prelate of Seleucia. (Ludolf, Hist. Ethiop.
iii. 7.) [A. W. H.]
ABDELLA, martyr in Persia under Sapor,
commemorated Apr. 21 (^Martyr. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ABDIANUS, of Africa, commemorated June
3 (Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ABDON, Abdo or Abdus, and SENNEN,
Sennes, or Senxis, Persian princes, martyred at
Rome under Decius, A.D. 250, are commemorated
July 30 {Marty rologiutn Bom. Vet.,Bedae, Adonis).
Proper office in Gregorian Sacramentary, p. 116 ;
and Antiphon in the Lib. Antiphon. p. 704.
It is related (Adonis Martyrol. iii. Kal. Aug.)
that their relics were translated in the time of
Constantine to the cemetery of Pontianus. There
Bosio discovered a remarkable fresco, represent-
ing the Lord, seen from the waist upward emerg-
ing from a cloud, placing wreaths on the heads
of SS. Abdon and Sennen (see woodcut). This is
' iriNr7!,';>infi^''«ii!n''''''^;ii!|pi,,,,^,ji|iini:ii|i,
Ab.iun and Sennen. (Fiom the cemetery of Pontianus.)
in front of the vault enclosing the supposed
remains of the martyrs, which bears the inscrip-
tion [DEPOSiTipNIS DIE. The painting is, in
Martigny's opinion, not earlier than the seventh
century. It is remarkable that the painter has
evidently made an attempt to represent the Per-
sian dress. The saints wear pointed caps or
hoods, similar to those in which the Magi are
sometimes represented; cloaks fastened with a
fibula on the breast ; and tunics of skin entirely
unlike tlie Roman tunic, and resembling that
given to St. John Baptist in a fresco of the
Lord's Baptism in the same cemetery of Ponti-
anus (Bottari, Scultura e Pitture, tav. xliv.).
Some account of the peculiar dress of Abdon and
Sennen may be found in Lami's treatise De Eru-
ditione Apostoloi'wn, pp. 121-166.
The gesture of the Lord, crowning the martvrs
ABJURATION
for their constancy, is found also on the bottoms
of early Christian cups [Glass, Christian],
where He crowns SS. Peter and Paul, and
other saints (Buonarruoti, Vasi Antichi, tav.
XV. fig. 1, and elsewhere); and on coins of the
Lower Empire the Lord is uot unfrequently
seen crowning two emperors. (Martigny, Did.
des Antiq. chretiennes.~\ [C]
ABECEDAEIAN. The term « Hymnus " or
" Paean Abecedarius" is applied specially to the
hymn of Sedulius, "A solis ortus cardine."
[Acrostic] [C]
ABEECIUS of Jerusalem, i(raTv6(TToKos
davfiaTovpyhs, commemorated Oct. 22 (Cal.
Byzant.). [C]
ABGARUS, King, commemorated Dec. 21
(Cal. Armen.). [C]
ABIBAS, martyr of Edessa, commemorated
Nov. 15 {Cal Byzant.). [C]
ABIBON, invention of his relics at Jerusa-
lem, Aug. 3 {Martyrol. Bom. Vet.). [C]
ABILIUS, bishop of Alexandria (a.d. 86-96),
commemorated Feb. 22 {Martyrol. Bom. Vet.);
Maskarram 1 = Aug. 29 {Cal Ethiop.). [C]
ABJUEATION-denial, disavowal, or re-
nunciation upon oath. Abjuration, in common
ecclesiastical language, is restricted to the renun-
ciation of heresy made by the penitent heretic
on the occasion of his reconciliation to the Church.
In some cases the abjuration was the only cere-
mony required ; but in others it was followed
up by the imposition of hands and by unction.
The practice of the ancient Church is described
by St. Gregory the Great in a letter to Quiricus
and the bishops of Iberia on the reconciliation
of the Nestorians. According to this, in cases in
which the heretical baptism was imperfect, the
rule was that the penitent should be baptized ;
but when it was complete, as in the case of the
Arians, the custom of the Eastern Church was
to reconcile by the Chrism ; that of the Western,
by the imposition of hands. As, however, the
mystery of the Chrism was but the Oriental rite
of Confirmation, the practice was substantially
identical. (On the question of Re-baptism, see
Re-Baptism, Baptism.) Converts from the
Monophysites were received after simple confes-
sion, and the previous baptism was supposed to
take effect " for the remission of sins," at the
moment at which the Spirit was imparted by
the imposition of hands ; or the convert was re-
united to the Church by his profession of faith
(St. Greg. Ep. 9, 61). A similar rule is laid
down by the Quinisext Council, canon 95, which
classes with the Arians, the Macedonians, Nova-
tians and others, to be received with the Chrism.
The Paulianists, Montauists, Eunomians, and
others, are to be re-baptized ; to be received as
Christians, on th^r profession, the first day, as
Catechumens the second, and after they have
been allowed a place in the Church as hearers
for some time, to be baptized. In all cases, the
profession of faith must be made by the pre-
sentation of a libellus, or form of abjuration, in
which the convert renounced and anathematized
his former tenets. After declaring his abjura-
tion not to be made on compulsion, from fear or
any other unworthy motive, he proceeded to
nnathematize the sect renounced, by all its
ABLUTION
names ; the neresiarchs, and their successors, past,
present, and future ; he then enumerated the
tenets received by them, and, having repudiated
them singly and generally, he ended with making
profession of the true faith. (Bandinius, Monu-
menta ii. 109-111. But for the whole subject see
Martene and Durand, De Antiquis Ecclesiae Biti-
hus II. liber iii. ch. 6 ; Mj. de levi et de vehementi,
later date. See Landon's Eccl. Die.) [D. B.]
ABLUTION. A term under which various
kinds of ceremonial washing are included. The
principal are the following : the washing of the
head, as a preparation for unction in baptism,
and the washing of the feet, which in some
places formed part of the baptismal ceremony
[Baptism] ; the washing of the feet of the poor
by exalted persons, which forms part of the cere-
mony of Maundy Thursday [Feet, washing of];
the lustral ceremony which preceded entrance to a
church [Caxtharus; Holy Water]; and the
washing of the priest's hands at certain points
in the celebration of the liturgy [Aquamanile ;
Hands, washing of]. [C]
ABORTION. — The crime of procuring abor-
tion is little, if at all, noticed in the earliest
laws. It is a crime of civilization : the repre-
sentative of the principle which in a barbarous
state of society is infanticide. The oration of
Lysias which was pronounced on occasion of a
suit on this subject is lost, so that it cannot be
decided whether the act was regarded by the
Athenians as an oflence against society, or merely
as a private wrong. It is in the latter aspect
that it is chiefly regarded in the civil law. The
child unborn represents certain interests, and his
life or death may be beneficial or injurious to
individuals : thus, it may have been, that a
father, by his wife's crime, might lose the jus
trium Uberomm. The case quoted from Cicero
pro Clunntio (Dig. xlviii. 19, 39), in which a
woman was condemned to death for having pro-
cured abortion, having been bribed by the second
heir, is clearly exceptional. The only passage
in the civil law in which the crime is mentioned
without such connexion, is a sentence of Ulpian,
in the Pandects (Dig. xlviii. 8, 8, ad legem Cor-
neliam de Sicariis), where the punishment is
declared to be banishment. The horrible preva-
lence of the practice among the Romans of the
Empire may be learned from Juvenal.
It was early made a ground of accusation by
the Christians against the heathen. Tertullian
denounces the practice as homicidal. " Pre-
vention of birth is a precipitation of murder,"
Apol. ix. Minucius Felix declares it to be par-
ricide.
The Council of Ancyra (a.d. 314) having men-
tioned that the ancient punishment was penance
for life, proceeds to limit it to ten years ; and
the same space of lime is given by St." Basil, who
condemns the practice in two canons, ii. and viii.,
alleging the character of the crime as committed
against both the mother and the oi!spring ; and
declining to accept the distinctions drawn by
the lawyers between the degrees of criminality
varying with the time of the gestation. The
Council of Lerida (324) classes "the crime with
infenticide, but allows the mother to be received
to Communion after seven years' penance even
when her sin is complicated with adultery. The
Council in Trullo condemns it to the "pfnancr |
ABSTINENCE 9
of homicide. Pope Gregory III. in the next
century reverts to the ten years' penance, al-
though he differs from St. Basil in modifying the
sentence to a single year in cases where the
child has not been formed in the womb ; this is
based on Exod. xxi., and is countenanced by St.
Augustine, in Quaestiones Exodi, in a passage in-
corporated by Gratian.
There is thus abundant evidence that the crime
was held in extreme abhorrence, and punished
with great severity, as pertaining to wilful
murder, by the canons of the Church. By the
Visigothic law (lib. VI. tit. iii. c. 1), the person
who administered a draught for the purpose
was punished with death. [D. B.]
ABRAHAM. (1) the patriarch, comme-
morated Oct. 9 {Martyrol. Bom. Vet.). Also on
the 23rd of the month Nahasse, equivalent to
August 16. {Cal. Ethiop. ; Neale, Eastern Church,
Iiitrod. pp. 805, 815.)
(2) Patriarch and martyr, commemorated
Taksas 6 = Dec. 2 {Cal. Ethiop.). [C]
ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB are
commemorated by the Ethiopic Church on the
28th of every month of their Calendar. [C]
ABRAXAS GEMS. [See Abrasas in
Dict. of Christ. Biogr.]
ABREHA, first Christian king of Ethio-
pia, commemorated Tekemt 4 = Oct. 1 {Cul.
Ethiop.). ^0.]
ABRENUNTIATIO. [Baptism.]
ABSOLUTION (Lat. Ahsolutio). (For Sacra-
mental Absolution, see Confession, Penitence.)
1. A short deprecation which follows the
Psalms of each Nocturn in the ordinary offices
for the Hours. In this usage, the word '" ahso-
lutio " perhaps denotes simply " ending " or " com-
pletion," because the monks, when the Nocturns
were said at the proper hours of the night, broke
otF the chant at this point and went to rest
(Maori Hierolexicon s. v.). In fact, of the " Ab-
solutiones" in the present Roman Breviary, only
one (that " in Tertio Nocturne, et pro feria iv.
et Sabbato ") contains a prayer for absolution,
in the sense of a setting free from sin.
2. For the Absolution which follows the intro-
ductory Confession in most Liturgies and Offices,,
see Confession.
3. The prayer for Absolution at the beginning
of the office is, in Oriental Liturgies, addressed
to the Son : but many of these liturgies contain
a second " Oratio Absolutionis," at some point
between Consecration and Communion, which is
addressed to the Father. For example, that in
the Greek St. Basil (Renaudot, JAt. Orient, i. 81),
addressing God, the Father Almighty (6 06oy,
6 Uar^p 6 UavTOKparup), and reciting the pro-
mise of the Keys, pr-nys Him to dismiss, remit
and pardon our sins i^&ves, &<p€s. (Tvyx'ipv'^oy
illMv). Compare the Coptic St. Basil (/j. i. 22).
4. The word " Absolutio " is also applied to
those prayers said over a corpse or a tomb in
which remission of the sins of the departed is
entreated from the Almighty. (Maori Hiero-
lexicon, s. V.) [C]
ABSTINENCE. Days of abstinence, as they
are called, on which persons may take their
meals at the ordinary hour, and eat and drink
what they please, in any quantity so that they
10
ABUNA
abstain from meat a]one, belong to modern times.
Anciently, fasting and abstinence went together,
as a general rule, foi'med parts of the same idea,
and could not be dissevered. There may have
been some few, possibly, who ate and drank in-
discriminately, when they brol^e their fast, as
Socrates (v. 22, 10) seems to imply ; but in
general, bayond doubt, abstinence from certain
Ivinds of food was observed on fasting days wften
the fast was over, " abstinentes ab iis, quae non
rejicimus, sed differimus," as Tertullian says
(Z>e Jejun. 15). Thus it will be more properly
considered under the head of fasting, to which
it subserved. [E. S. F.]
ABUNA. [Abbuna.]
ABUNDANTIUS, of Alexandria, commemo-
rated Feb. 26 (Mart. Hicron.). [C]
ABUNDIUS. (1) Martyr at Rome under
Decius, commemorated Aug. 26 (Mart. Rom. Vet.
ct Bedae); Aug. 23 (Mart. Hieronym.).
(2) The deacon, martyr at Spoleto under Dio-
cletian, Dec. 10 (Martijrol. Bom. Vet.). [C]
ACACIUS, martyr, commemorated May 7
{Cal. Byzant). [C.]
ACATHISTUS (Gr. a(ca9io-Tos). A hymn of
the Greeli Church, sung on the eve of the fifth
Sunday in Lent, in honour of the Blessed Virgin,
to whose intercession the deliverance of Constan-
tinople from the barbarians on three several oc-
casions was attributed. Meursius assigns its
origin more especially to the deliverance of the
city from Chosroes, king of the Persians, in the
reign of the Emperor Heraclius (626). It is
called oLKadiffTOS, because during the singing of
it the whole congregation stood, while during
the singing of other hymns of the same kind
they occasionally sat. (Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. ;
Keale's Eastern Ch. Introd. 747 ; Daniel's Codex
Liturg. iv. 223.)
Francis Junius wrongly supposed this use of
the Acathistus to commemorate the journey of
Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. (Macri Hicro-
Icxicon, s. V.)
The word Acathistus is also used to designate
tlie day on which the hymn was used. (Sabae
Typicum, in Suicer, s. v.) [C]
ACCENTUS ECCLESIASTICUS. One of
the two principal kinds (accentus and concentus)
of ecclesiastical music.
1. The consideration of this subject is encum-
bered by an especial difficulty — the popular, and
now all but exclusive application of the word
'■ accent " to emphasis, stress, or ictus. Accent,
however, claims and admits of a much wider
application. Ben Jonson " speaks of accent as
being "with the ancients, a tuning of the voice,
in lifting it up, or letting it down," — a defini-
tion not only clear and concise, but thoroughly
accordant with the derivation of the word
" accent," from accino, i. e. ad cano, to sing to.
We are all conscious of and aftected by the
varieties of accent'' (in this, its etymological
and primitive acceptation) in foreign languages
spoken by those to whom they are native, as
well as in our native language spoken by fo-
reigners, or (perhaps still more) by residents of
ACCENTUS ECCLESIASTICUS
parts of Great Britain other than our own. The ]
Scottish, Irish, and various provincial accents, |
are not so much the result of diflerent vocaliza- ]
tion (i.e. utterance of vowel sounds) as of the i
dift'ereut gradations in which the Scotch, Irish, I
and others, " tune their voices."
2. The Accentus Ecclesiasticus, called also mo-
dus choraliter legendi, is the result of successive
attempts to ensure in Public Worship uniformity
of delivery consistent with uniformity of matter \
delivered ; so as, if not to obliterate, at least to ;
hide individual peculiarities under the veil of a j
catholic " use." It presents a sort of mean be-
tween speech and song, continually inclining to- '
wards the latter, never altogether leaving its i
hold on the former ; it is speech, though always
attuned speech, in passages of average interest
and importance ; it is song, though always dis-
tinct and articulate song, in passages demanding
more fervid utterance. Though actually musical
only in concluding or culminating phrases, the 1
Accentus Ecclesiasticus is always sufficiently iso- i
chronous to admit of its being expressed in musi-
cal characters, a process to which no attempt
(and such attempts have been repeatedly made)
has ever succeeded in subjecting pure speech.
3. Accentus is probably the oldest, as it is cer- J
tainly the simplest, form of Cantus Ecclesiasticus. '
Like most art-forms and modes of operation ,
which have subsequently commended themselves
on their own acco mt to our sense of beauty, it
grew in all likelihoo-^ out of a physical difficulty.
The limited capacity of the so-called " natural "
or speaking voice must have been ascertained at
a very early period ; indeed its recognition is
confirmed by th6 well-known practice whether '
of the ancient temple, theatre, or forum. The old ]
rhetoricians, says Forkel, are, without exception,
of the same way of thinking ; and we may, from
their extant works, confidently conclude, that :
neither among the Greeks nor the Romans was i
poetry ever recited but in a tone analogous to |
that since known as the ctccentus ecclesiasticus. i
The Abbe du Bos'* too has demonstrated that ^
not only was the theatrical recitation of the
ancients actually musical — " un veritable chant,"
susceptible of musical notation, and even of in-
strumental accompaniment — but that all their ]
public discourses, and even the,ir familiar lan-
guage, though of course in a lesser degree, pai-- !
took of this character. ,
4. The advantages resulting from the employ-
ment of isochronous sounds (sounds which are
the result of equal-timed vibrations) would be-
come apparent on the earliest occasion, when a
single orator was called upon to fill a large
auditorium, and to make himself intelligible, or
even audible, to a large assembly. So, too, for
simultaneous expression on the part of large num-
bers, these advantages would at once make them- i
selves felt. In congregational worship a uniform ]
(technically, a " unisonous ") utterance might '
seem as essential, as conducive to the decency
and order with which we are enjoined to do "" all ■
a English Grammar, 1640, chap. viii.
I' " Esl in dicendo etiam quidara cantus obscurior."
Cicero, drat. IS, 57.
"= " Die alten Spvach- and Declamations-Leliver sind
samnitlicli eben derselben Meiuung, und wir konnen aus
Ihren hinterlassenen Werkcn mit dcm hochsten Grad von
Wahrscheinlichkeit schliesscn, dass sovvohl bei den Grie-
clien als Rijmern die meisten Gedicbte mit keiner andern
als mit dieser Art von Gesang gesungen weiden sein."—
Forkel, Allgem. Gcfchidtti: der Musik, ii, 153.
"1 lxijlixio)is stir la l-'oesie. &c.
ACCENTUS ECCLESIASTICUS
things," as is that still more essential uniformity
expressed in the term Common Prayer, without
which, indeed, congregational worship would seem
to be impossible. " Accent," says Ornithoparcus,
" hath great affinity with Coucent, for they be
Brothers : because jS'otims, or So^md (the King of
Ecclesiastical Harmony), Js Father to them both,
and begat one upon Grammar, the other upon
jMusick," &c. (He) "so divided his kingdome,
that Concentus might be chief Pailer over all
things that are to be sung, as Hymnes, Sequences,
Auti phones, Responsories, lutroitus. Tropes, and
the like : and Accentus over all things which are
read ; as Gospels, Lectures, Epistles, Orations,
Prophecies : For the functions of the Papale
Kingdome are not duely performed without Con-
cent," &c. " Hence it was that I, marking how
many of those Priests (which by the leave of the
learned I will saye) doe reade those things they
have to reade so wildly, so monstrously, so
faultily (that they doe not onely hinder the de-
votion of the faithful, but also even provoke
them to laughter and scorning, with their ill
reading), resolved after the doctrine of Concent
to explain the rules of Accent ; in as much as it
belongs to a Musitian, that together with Con-
cent, Accent might also as true heire in this
Ecclesiasticall Kingdome be established : Desiring
that the praise of the highest King, to whom all
honour and reverence is due, might duely be
performed." *
5. The Accentus Ecclesiasticus, or modus cho-
raliter legendi, must have been perpetuated by
tradition only, for many ages. That the rules
for its application have been reduced to writing
only in comparatively modern times does not in
the least invalidate its claim to a high antiquity.
On the contrary, it tends to confirm it. That
which is extensively known and universally ad-
mitted has no need of verification. It is only
when traditions are dying out that they begin to
be put on record. So long as this kind of reci-
tation was perfectly familiar to the Greeks and
Eomans there could be no necessity for " noting "
it ; not till it began to be less so were " accents "
(the characters so called) invented for its pre-
servation,— just as the "vowel-points" were
introduced into Hebrew writing subsequently to
the dispersion of the Jews. The force and accu-
racy of tradition, among those unaccustomed to
the use of written characters, have been well
ascertained and must be unhesitatingly admitted ;
their operation has certainly been as valuable in
music as in poetry and history. Strains incom-
parably longer and more intricate than those now
accepted as the ecclesiastical accents have been
passed on from voice to voice, with probably but
trifling alteration, for centuries, among peoples
who had no other method of preserving and
transmitting them.
(3. The authorities for the application of the
Cantus Ecclesiasticus are, as we have said, com-
l)aratively modern. Lucas Lossius,f a writer
frequently quoted by Walther, Kock, and other
more recent musical theorists, gives six forms of
cadence or close, i.e., modes of bringing to an
end a phrase the earlier portion of which had
been recited in monotone. According to Lossius,
ACCENTUS ECCLESIASTICUS 11
accent is (1) iinmutahilis when a phrase is con-
cluded without any change of pitch, i.e., when it
is monotonous throughout ; (2) it is medius v.'hcn
on the last syllable the voice falls from the
reciting note (technically the dominant) a third ;
(3) gravis, when on the last syllable it falls a
fifth ; (4) acutus, when the " dominant," after the
interposition of a few notes at a lower pitch, is
resumed ; (5) moderatus, when ^e monotone is
interrupted by an ascent, on the penultimate, of
a second ; (6) interrogativus, when the voice,
after a slight descent, rises scale-wise on the last
syllable. To these six forms other writers add
one more, probably of more recent adoption ;
(7) the finalis, when the voice, after rising a
second above the dominant, falls scale-wise to
the fourth below it, on which the last syllable is
sounded. The choice of these accents or cadences
is regulated by the punctuation (possible, if not
always actual) of the passage recited ; each par-
ticular stop had its particular cadence or cadences.
Thus the comma (distinctio) was indicated and
accompanied by the accentus immutabilis, acutus,
or moderatus ; the colon (duo puncta) by the
medius; and the full stop (punctum quadratum
ante syUabam capitalem) by the gravis.
7. The following table, from Lossius, exhibits
the several accents, in musical notation : —
(1) Immutabilis.
Leo - ti - o E - pi's - to •
(2) Medics.
lae sane- ti Pau - li.
et o - pe - ra - tur vir - tu - tes in vo - bis :
(3) Gravis.
Be - ne - di- cen-tur in te oni-nes gen-tes.
(4) AcDTCS. (5) Moderatus.
^
Cum spi - ri - tu coe - pe - ri - tis i
(6) IKTEEKOIJATIVUS.
ex op-e-ri-bus le-gis an exau-di-tu
(7) Finalis.
ni - ma me
The examples given by Ornithoparcus are similar
to the above, with two exceptions — (5), the 31ode-
ratus, which in ' His Micrologus' appears thus :
" Andreas Ornitlioparcus, His Microwgu
hy John Dowland. 1609. P. 69.
' Krotemala Muskae I'mclicae, 1590.
Jl - lu - mi - iia - re Je - ru - sa - lem.
I And the Interrogativus, of which he says : " A
' speech with an interrogation, whether it have in
the end a word of one sillable, or of two sillables,
or more, the accent still falls upon the last sil-
lable, and must be acuated. Now the signs of
such a speech are, who, which, what, and those
which are thus derived, whi/, wherefore, when,
how, in what sort, wlicthcr, and such like."
ACOESS
Quanlas ha- be - o In - i -qui- ta-tes etpec-ca-taf
" To these are joyned verbes of asking ; as,
laske, I seeke, I require, I searche, Iheare, I see,
and the like."
Some variations too fi-om the above, in the
present Roman use, are noticed by Mendelssohn : K
e.g. in the Gravis, whei-e thei-e the voice rises a
tone above the dominant, on the penultimate,
before fallinEf : —
changing the cadence from a fifth (compare 5)
to a sixth ; and in the Interrogativus, where the
voice falls from the dominant (also on the penul-
timate) a third :^
To the accentus belong the following forms, or
portions of offices of the Latin Church:'' (1)
Tonus Collectaruin seu Orationurn, (2) Tonus
Epistolarum et Evangelii, including the melodies
to which the Passion is sung in Passion Week.
(3) Tonus Lectionum solemnis et luguhris ; Pro-
phetiarum et Martyrologii. (4) Various forms
of Intonation, Benediction, and Absolution used
in the Liturgy. (5) Single verses. (6) The
Exclamations and Admonitions of the assistants at
the altar. (7) The Prefaces ; the Pater Noster,
with its Prefaces ; the Benediction, Pax Domini
sit semper vobiscum. [J. H.]
ACCESS. 1. The approach of the priest to
the altar for the celebration of the Eucharist.
Hence the expression " prayer of access " is used
as equivalent to the Eux'/ "^vs irapaffrdaeoos, or
prayer of the priest's presenting himself at the
altar, in the Greek Liturgy of St. James (Neale's
Eastern Church, Introduction, i. 360).
2. But the expression " prayer of access," or
" prayer of humble access," is more commonly
used by English liturgical writers to designate
a confession of unworthiness in the, sight of God,
occurring at a later point of the service ; gene-
rally between consecration and communion. So
that the " prayer of humble access " corresponds
to the "Prayer of Inclination " or "of bowing
the neck " in the Greek Litui-gies. Though
words more expressive of " humble access "
occur in other places ; for instance, in the Greek
St. James, where the priest declares : iSoii irpos-
ijXdov Tw deicf) rovTO! Kal eirovpavlcf fj.vffT7jpi(fi
ovx ds &^ios inrdpxoiv (Daniel's Codex Lit., iv.
88); in the Jlozarabic, "Accedam ad Te in
humilitate spiritus mei " (/6. i. 71) ; or in the
" Domine et Deus noster, ne aspicias ad multitu-
dinem peccatorum nostrorum" in the Liturgy of
Adaeus and Maris (76. i. 176). Compare Con-
fession, [C]
ACCLAMATION. 1. A term applied by
opigraphists to certain short inscriptions, ex-
pressed in the second person, and containing a
s Re.isebriefe aus den Jahren 1830 bis 1832, p. 167.
li Rhau, JUvchiridion, 1538 ; quoted by Arrey von
Oommer; Koch's Mu&ikaliscUes Lexikon.
ACLEENSE CONCILTUM
wish or injunction ; as, VIVAS IN DEO (Mura-
tori, ITiesaurus Vet. Inscrip. 1954, no. 4). By
far the greater part of these acclamations are
sepulchral [EpiTAPif], but similar sentences are
also seen on AMULETS, on the bottoms of cups
[Glass, Christian] found in the Catacombs, and
on GEMS. (See the Articles.)
2. The term acclamation is also sometimes
applied to the responsive cry or chant of the
congregation in antiphonal singing. Compare
Acrostic (§ 5) ; Antiphon. [C]
ACCUSERS, FALSE ; HOW PUNISHED.
— Those who made false accusations against any
person were visited with severe punishments
under the canons of several councils.
In Spain. The Council of lUiberis (a.d. 305
or 306) refused communion even at the hour ot
death (" in fine," al. " in finem ") to any person
who should falsely accuse any bishop, priest, or
deacon (can. 75).
In France. By the 14th canon of the 1st
Council of Aries (a.d. 314) those who falsely
accuse their brethren were excommunicated for
life (" usque ad exitum "). This canon was re-
enacted at the 2nd Council held at the same
city (a.d. 443), but permission was given for the
restoration of those who should do penance and
give satisfaction commensurate with their
offence (can. 24). See also Calumny. [I. B.]
ACEPSIMAS, commemorated Nov. 3 {Cal.
Bt/iant.) ; Nov. 5 (^Cal. Armen.) ; April 22
(_i¥art. Pom.). [C]
ACERRA or ACERNA. (The latter is
possibly the original form, from Acer, maple.)
Acerra designated, in classical times, either the
incense-box used in sacrifices ; or a small altar, or
incense-burner, placed before the dead. (Smith's
Diet, of Greek and Poman Antiquities, s. v.) And
in ecclesiastical latinity also it designates either
an incense-box or an incense-burner ; " Area
thuris, vel thuribulum, vel thurarium." (Pajjias
in Ducange's Glossary s. v. ' Acerna.')
It is used in the rubrics of the Gregorian sa-
cramentary (Corbey MS.) in the office for the
consecration of a church (p. 428) ; and in the
office for the baptism of a bell (p. 438) ; in
the latter in the form Acerna : " tunc pones in-
censum in acerna." In both cases it designates
an incense-burner or Thurible (q. v.). [C]
ACHAICUM CONCILIUM.— Two synods
of Achaia, in Greece, are recorded : one, A.D. 250,
against the Valesians, who, like Origen, inter-
preted St. Matth. xix. 12, literally; the other, in
359, against the followers of Aetius. [A. W. H.]
ACHILLEA S (or Achillas), bishop of Alex-
andria, commemorated Nov. 7 (Martyrol. Pom.
Vet.). [C]
ACHILLEUS, the eunuch, martyr at Eome,
May 12, A.D. 96. (Martyrol. Pom. Vet., Hier.
Bedae). [C] '
ACINDYNUS Q Kk'iv^vvos) and companions,
martyrs, A.D. 346, commemorated Nov. 2 {Cal.
Byz.). [C]
ACEPHALI [Vagi Clerici ; Autoce-
PHALl].
ACLEENSE CONCILIUM (of Aclea =
" Field of the Oak," supposed to be Ayclif5'e, in
Durham; Raine's Priory of Hexlmm, i. 38, note),
(i.) A.D. 781 (Flor. Wig. in M. H. B. 545), Inii
ACOEMETAE
782 (Angl.-Sax. Chr. and H. Hunt., ib. 336,
731). (ii.) A.D. 787 (Kemble, C. J)., No. 151).
(iii.) A.D. 788, Sept. 29, in the year and month of
the murder ofElfwald of Northumbria, Sept. 21,
788 (Wilk. i. 153 ; Mansi, xiii. 825, 826). (iv.)
A.D. 789 (^Angl.-Sax. Chr., M. H. B. 337 "a great
svnod "), in the 6th year of Brihtric, King of
Wessex (H. Hunt., ih. 732). (v.) A.D. 804 (Kemble,
C. D., No. 186). (vi.) A.D. 805, Aug. 6 {id. ib.,
Nos. 190, 191). (vii.) A.D. 810 (id. ib., No. 256).
Nos. ii., v., and vi. probably, and No. vii. cer-
tainly, were at Ockley, in Surrey ; or, at any
rate, not in the Northumbrian Ac'lea. Nothing
more is known of any of these synods, or rather
Witenagemots, beyond the deeds (grants of lands)
above referred to, in Kemble. [A. W. H.]
ACOEMETAE, lit. the " sleepless " or " un-
resting " (for the theological or moral import of
the term v. Suicer, Thesaur., Eccl. s.v.), a so-called
order of monks established in the East about the
middle, rather than the commencement, of the
5th century, being altogether unnoticed by
Socrates and Sozonien, the latter a zealous chro-
nicler of monks and monasteries, who bring their
histories down to A.D. 440 ; yet mentioned by
Evagrius (iii. 19) as a regularly established order
in 483. Later authorities make their founder to
have been a certain officer of the i'npei-ial house-
hold at Constantinople named Alexander, who
quitted his post to turn monk, and after having
had to shift his quarters in Syria several times,
at length returned to Constantinople, to give
permanence to the system which he had already
commenced on the Euphrates. The first monas-
tery which he founded there was situated near
the church of St. Mennas. It was composed of
300 monks of different nations, whom he divided
into six choirs, and arranged so that one of them
should be always employed in the work of prayer
and praise day and night without intermission
all the year round. This was their peculiar cha-
racteristic— and it has been copied m various
ways elsewhere since then — that some part of
" the house," as Wordsworth {Excurs. viii. 185)
expresses it, " was evermore watching to God."
Alexander having been calumniated for this
practice as heretical, he was imprisoned, but
regained his liberty, and died, say his biographers,
about A.D. 430 — it might be nearer the mark to
say 450 — in a new convent of his own founding
on the Dardanelles. Marcellus, the next head of
the order but one, brought all the zeal and
energy to it of a second founder ; and he doubt-
less found a powerful supporter in Gennadius,
patriarch of Constantinople, A.D. 458-71, a great
restorer of discipline and promoter of learning
amongst the clergy. Then it was that Studius,
a noble Roman, and in process of time consul,
emigrated to Constantinople, and converted one
of the churches there, dedicated to St. John the
Baptist, into the celebrated monastery bearing
his name, but which he peopled with the Acoe-
metae. There was another monastery founded bv
St. Dius, in the reign of Theodosius the Great,
that also became theirs sooner or later, to which
Valesius {Ad. Ewj. iii. 19 and 31) adds a third
founded by St. Bassianus. It may have been
owing to their connexion with Studius that they
were led to correspond with the West. At all
events, on the acceptance by Acacius, the patri-
arch succeeding Gennadius, of the Henoticon of
the emperor Zeno, and communion with the schis-
ACOLYTES
13
matic patriarch of Alexandria, their "hegumen,"
or president, Cyril lost no time in despatching
complaints of him to Rome ; nor were their
emissaries slow to accuse the legates of the Pope
themselves of having, during their stay at Con-
stantinople, held communion with heretics. The
ultimate result was, that the two legates, Vitalis
and Misenus, were deprived of their sees, and
Acacius himself excommunicated by the Popes
Simplicius and Felix. Meanwhile one who had
been expelled from their order, but had learnt
his trade in their monasteries, Peter the Fuller,
had become schismatic patriarch of Antioch, and
he, of course, made common cause with their op-
ponents. Nor was it long before they laid them-
selves open to retaliation. For, under Justinian,
their ardour impelled them to deny the cele-
brated proposition, advocated so warmly by the
Scythian monks, hesitated about so long at Rome,
that one of the Trinity had suffered inthe flesh.
Their denial of this proposition threw them into
the arms of the Nestorians, who were much in-
terested in having it decided in this way. For,
if it could be denied that one of the Trinity had
suffered, it could not be maintained, obviouslv,
that one of the Trinity had become incarnate.
Hence, on the monks sending two of their body,
Cyrus and Eulogius, to Rome to defend their
views, the emperor immediately despatched two
bishops thither, Hypatius ancl Demetrius, to
denounce them to the Pope {Pagi ad Baron.,
A.D. 533, n. 2). In short, in a letter, of which
they were the bearers, to John II., afterwards
inserted by him in Lib. L Tit. "De summaTrini-
tate " of his Code, he himself accused them of
favouring Judaism and the Nestorian heresv.
The Pope in his reply seems to admit their hete-
rodoxy, but he entreats the emperor to forgive
them at his instance, should they be willing to
abjure their errors and return to the unity of
the Church. With what success he interceded
for them we are not told. During the iconoclastic
controversy they seem to have shai-ed exile with
the rest of the monks ejected from their monas-
teries by ConstantineCopronymus(/'agi ad Baron.
A.D. 798, n. 2) ; but under the empress Irene the
Studium, at all events, was repeopled with its for-
mer alumni by the most celebrated of them all,
Theodore, in whose surname, " Studites," it has
perhaps achieved a wider celebrity than it ever
would otherwise have possessed.
In the West a branch of the order long held
the abbey of St. Maurice of Agaune in Valais,
where they were established by Sigismund, king
of Burgundy, and had their institute confirmed
by a Council held there A.D. 523. For fuller de-
tails see Bonanni's Hist, du Clerg. sec. et reg. vol.
ii. p. 153 et seq. (Amsterdam, 1716); Bulteau's
Hist. Monast. d' Orient, iii. 33 (Paris, 1680);
Hospin, De Orig. Monarh. iii. 8 ; Du Fresne,
Gloss. Lat. s. V. ; and Constant. Christian, iv. 8,
2; Bingham's Antiq. vii. 11, 10. [E. S. F.]
A(:OLYTER-ACOLYTHS— ACOLYTH-
ISTS ("AkoAou^oi). One of the minor orders
peculiar to the Western Church, although the
name is Greek. In the Apostolic age, the only
order which existed, in addition to those of
bishops, priests, and deacons, was that of dea-
conesses— widows usually at first, who were em-
ployed in such ministrations towards their own
sex as were considered unsuitable for men, espe-
cially in the East. But about the end of the 2iid
14
ACOLYTES
or early in the 3rd century, other new officei-s
below the order of the deacons were introduced,
and amongst them this of Acolytes, though only
in the Latin Church as a distinct order. In the
rituals of the Greek Church the word occurs only
as another name for the order of sub-deacon.
The institution of the minor orders took its
origin in the greater Churches, such as Rome
and Carthage, and was owing partly to the sup-
posed expediency of limiting the number of dea-
cons to seven, as first appointed by the apostles,
and partly to the need which was felt of assist-
ance to the deacons in performing the lower por-
tions of their office; of which functions, indeed,
they appear in many cases to have been impa-
tient, regarding them as unworthy of their im-
portant position in the Church. Tertullian is the
earliest writer by whom any of the inferior order
is mentioned. He speaks of Readers, De Praesci
c. 41. It is in the epistles of Cyprian that the
fuller organization of these orders comes before
us (JEpp. xxix., xxxviii., Ixxv., &c.). It is also
stated by his contemporary Cornelius, Bishop of
Rome, that the Church of Rome at that time
numbered forty-six presbyters, seven deacons
seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolyths, and fifty-
two exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers (Ostiarii).
None of these inferior orders, according to St,
Basil, were ordained with imposition of hands
but they were simply appointed by the bishop
with some appropriate ceremony, to certain sub-
ordinate functions of the ministry such as any
Christian layman might be commissioned by
episcopal authority to perform. The form of
ordination employed in the case of Acolijtes is
thus prescribed by a canon of the 4th Council of
Carthage. " When any Acolythist is ordained, the
bishop shall inform him how he is to behave him-
self in his office ; and he shall receive a candlestick
with a taper in it, from the archdeacon, that he
may understand that he is appointed to light the
candles of the church. He shall also receive an
empty pitcher to furnish wine for the Eucharist
of the blood of Christ." Hence it appears that
the Acolyte's office at that period consisted chiefly
in two things, viz., lighting the candles of the
church and attending the officiating priest with
wine for the Eucharis't.
The Acolyte of the ancient Western Church is
represented in the later Roman communion by
the Ceroferarius or taper-bearer, whose office con-
sists in walking before the deacons or priests with
a lighted taper in his hand.
Both in the East and West the minor orders of
ancient times were afterwards conferred as merely
introductory to the sacred orders of deacon and
presbyter, while the duties which had formerly
belonged to them were performed by laymen. In
the 7th century the readers and singers in the
Armenian Church were laymen — in the 8th cen-
tury the readers, and in the 12th the ostiarii
and exorcists were laymen in the Greek Church.
Before the year 1300 the four orders of acolyte,
exorcist, reader, and ostiarius began to be con-
ferred at the .same time in the Western Churches.
Not long afterwards it became customary to re-
lease the clerks thus ordained from discharging
the duties of their orders, which were entrusted
to lay clerks. The Councils of Cologne and Trent
vainly endeavoured to alter this custom ; and
,aymen continue generally to perform the offices
of the ancient orders in the Roman churches to
ACROSTIC
the present day. In England the same custom has
prevailed ; and the minor orders having for some
centuries become merely titular, were disused in
the Reformation of our Churches.
Fuller information on the subject of the minor
orders may be found in Field's Book of the
C/ncrch, h. v. c. 25 ; Bingham's Antiquities, b.
iii. ; Thomassin, Vet. et Nov. Eccl. pars I. lib. ii.
See also Robertson's History of the Church and
Palmer's Treatise on the Church of Christ. [D.B.]
■ ACONTIUS, of Rome, commemorated .Tulv
25 {Mart. Hicron.). [C.]"
ACROSTIC. CAKpoffTix'is, aKpoffTixtoy,
aKp6aTLxov, Acrostichis.) A composition in
which the first letters of the several lines form
the name of a person or thing. The invention is
attributed to Epicharmus.
We find several applications of the Acrostic
principle in Christian antiquity.
1. The word Acrostic is applied to the well-
known formula Ix^vs. [See IX0TC.]
2. Verses in honour of the Saviour were fre-
quently written in the acrostic form ; Pope Da-
masus, for instance, has left two acrostics on the
name Jesus {Carm. iv. and v.), the former of
which runs as follows :
" In rebus tantis Trina conjunctio mundi
Erigit humanum sensum laudare venuste :
Sola salus nobis, et mnndi suninia potestas
Venit pecoati nodum dissolvere fructu.
Summa salus cunctis nituit per saecula terris."
The same pope, to whom so many of the in-
scriptions in the Catacombs are due, composed
an acrostic inscription in honour of Constantia,
the daughter of Constantine. This was origin-
ally placed in the apse of the basilica of St.
Agnes in the Via Nomentana, and may be seen in
Bosio, li'oma Sotteranea, p. 118. And inscrip-
tions of this kind are frequent. Lest the reader
should miss the names indicated, an explanation
of the acrostic principle is sometimes added to
the inscription itself. For instance, to the epi-
taph of Licinia, Leontia, Ampelia, and Flavia
(Muratori, Thesaurus Novus, p. 1903, no. 5) are
added these verses, which give the key :
" Nomina sanctarum, lector, si forte requiris.
Ex omni versu te litera prima docebit."
So the epitaph of a Christian named Agatha
(Marini, Fratelli Arvali, p. 828), ends with the
words, " ejus autem nomen capita ver[suum] ;"
and another, given by the same authority, ends
with the words, " Is cujus per capita versorum
nomen declaratur." Fabretti {fnscnpt. Antiq. iv.
150) gives a similar one, "Revertere per capita
versorum et invenies pium nomen." Gazzera
(Iscrizione del Fiemonte, p. 91) gives the epitaph
of Eusebius of Vercelli, in which the first letters
of the lines form the words EVSEBIVS EPIS-
COPVS ET MARTYR; and another acrostic
epitaph (p. 114), where the initial letters form
the words CELSVS EPISCOPVS (Martigny,
Diet, des Antiq. Chre't. 11).
We also find acrostic hymns in Greek. Several
of the hymns of Cosmas of Jerusalem, are of
this kind ; the first, for instance (Gallandi, Bi-
bliotheca Fat. siii. 234), is an acrostic forming
the words,
XptfjTos /3pOTa>0et? rjv OTrep ©eb? fJ-^i'JJ'
3. Those poems, in which the lines or stanzas
ommence with the letters of the alphabet taken
ACROTELEUTIC
iu order, form another class of acrostics. Such
is the well-known hymn of Sedulius, ''A solis
ortiis cardine," a portion of which is introduced
in the Roman offices for the Nativity and the Cir-
cumcision of the Lord ; and that of Venantius
Fortunatus {Cann. xvi.), which begins with the
words " Agnoscat omne saeculum." St. Augustine
composed an Abecedarian Psalm against the Do-
natists, in imitation of the 119th, with the con-
stant response, "Omnes qui gaudetis de pace,
modo verum judicate."
4. A peculiar use of the acrostic is found in
the Office-ljooks of the Greek Church. Each
Canon, or series of Troparta, has its own
acrostic, which is a metrical line formed of the
initial letters of the Troparia which compose the
Crnon. To take the instance given by Dr. Neale
(Eastern Church, Introd. p. 832); the acrostic
for the Festival of SS. Proclus and Hilarius is,
— €77T0ts a^Arjrat? 0"e7rTbf €t9(/)6p(o |Lte'Ao9.
The meaning of this is, that the first Troparion
of the Canon begins with 2, the second with E,
and so on. These lines are generally Iambic, as
in tlic instance above ; but occasionally Hex-
ameter, as,
Thv 'N LKrj<j>6pov ois VLKyi<p6pou acr/xacri. /neATrto.
They frequently contain a play on the name of
the Saint of the day, as in the instance just given,
and in
Aiopoi' 0eou (re TTa(Xjxd.KCLp Jlaiep (re'jSaj,
for St. Dorotheus of Tyre. The Trojiaria are
sometimes, but rarely, arranged so as to form
an alphabetic acrostic, as on the Eve of the
Transfiguration (Neale, u. s.).
5. The word aKpoarixia, in the Apostolical
Constitutions (ii. 57, § 5) denotes the verses, or
portions of a verse, which the people were to
sing responsively to the chanter of the Psalm,
" 6 Aahs TO, a/fpocTTixia inroipaWeroi." The
constantly repeated response of the 136th Psalm
("For His mercy endureth for ever"), or that
of the ' Benedicite omnia Opera ' (" Praise Him,
and magnify Him for ever"), are instances of
what is probably intended in this case. Compare
AxTiPHON, Psalmody (Bingham's Antiq. xiv. 1,
§ 12). [C]
ACROTELEUTIC. [Doxology; Psalmody.]
ACTIO. A word frequently used to desig-
nate the canon of the mass.
The word " agere," as is well known, bears in
classical writers the special sense of performing
a sacrificial act ; hence the word " Actio " is ap-
plied to that which was regarded as the essential
portion of the Eucharistic sacrifice ; " Actio dici-
tur ipse canon, quia in eo sacramenta conficiuntur
Dominica," says Waiafrid Strabo {De Rebm Ecol.
c. 22, p. 950, Migne). Whatever is included in
tlie canon is said to be " infra actionem ;" hence,
when any words are to be added within the
canon (as is the case at certain great festivals),
they bear in the liturgies the title or rubric
" infra actionem ;" and in printed missals these
woi'ds are frequently placed before the prayer
"Communicantes." Conqiare Canon. (Bona,
de Rebus Liturgicis, lib. ii. c. 11; Maori, Hiero-
lexlcon, s. v. " Actio ".)
Honorius of Autun supposes this use of the
word " actio " to be derived from legal termino-
logy. " Missa quoddam judicium iniitatur ; unde
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES 15
et canon Actio vocatur " (lib. i., c. 8) ; and " Canon
. . . etiam Actio dicitur, quia causa populi in eo
cum Deo agitur" (c. 103). (In Du Cange's
Glossary, s. v. •' Actio.") But this deri^Tition,
though adopted by several mediaeval writers,
does not appear probable. [C]
ACTISTETAE. [Dict.of Biogr. s.v."Ctisto-
latrae."
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES.— The in-
fluence of Christianity on social life was seen,
as in other things, so specially in the horror
with which the members of the Christian Church
looked ou the classes of men and women whose
occupations identified them with evil. Among
these were Actors and Actresses. It must be re-
membered that they found the drama tainted by
the depravity which infected all heathen society,
and exhibiting it in its worst forms. Even Au-
gustus sat as a spectator of the "scenica adulteria "
of the " mimi," whose ■ performances were the
favourite amusement of Roman nobles and people
(Ovid, Trist. ii. 497-520). The tragedies of
Aeschylus or Sophocles, or Seneca," the comedies,
even of Menander and Terence could not compete
with plays whose subject was always the " vetiti
crimen amoris," represented in all its baseness
and foulness {Unci.). What Ovid wrote of " ob-
scaena" and " turpia" was there acted. The
stories of Mars and Venus, the loves of Jupiter
with Danae, Leda, and Ganymede, were exhibited
in detail (Cyprian, De Grat. Dei, c. 8). Men's
minds wei-e corrupted by the very siglit. They
learnt to imitate their gods. The actors became,
in the worst sense of the word, effeminate, taught
"gestus turpes et molles et muliebres exprimere"
(Cyprian, Ep. 2, ed. Gersdorf. 61, ed. Rigalt).
The theatre was the " sacrarium Veneris," the
" consistorium impudicitiae " {Ibi-I. c. 17). Men
sent their sons and daughters to learn adultery
(Tatian. Orat. adv. Grace, c. 22 ; TertuU. De
Spect. c. 10). The debasement which followed
on such an occupation had been recognized
even by Roman law. The more active cen-
sors had pulled down theatres whenever they
could, and Pompeius, when he built one, placed
a Temple of Venus over it in order to guard
against a like destruction {Ibid. c. 10). The
Greeks, in their admiration of artistic culture,
had honoured their actors. The Romans looked
on them, even while they patronised them, witli
a consciousness of their degradation. They were
excluded from all civil honours, their names were
struck out of the register of their tribes ; they
lost by tlie " minutio capitis" their privileges as
citizens {Ibid. c. 22 ; Augustin. De Civ. Dei, ii.
14). Trajan banished them altogether from
Rome as utterly demoralized.
It cannot be wondered at that Christian writers
should almost from the first enter their pro-
test against a life so debased.'' They saw
in it part of the "pompae dfaboli," which
they were called on to renounce. Tertul-
» Augustine, who in his youth had delighted in the
higher I'orms of the drama {Confess, iii. 2), draws, after
his conversion, a distinction between these (" scenicorum
tolerabiliora ludorum ") and the obscenity of the mimca
(De Civ. Dei, ii. 8).
b No specific reference to this form of evil is found, it
is true, in the N. T. The case had not yet presented
itself. It would have seemed as impossible for a Christian
to take part in it as to join in actual idolatry.
16
ACTOES AND ACTRESSES
lian wrote the treatise already quoted specially
against it and its kindred evils of the circus and
the amphitheatre, and dwells on the inconsis-
tency of uttering from the same lips the aimm
of Christian worship, and the praises of the
gladiator or the mime. The actor seeks, against
the words of Christ, to add a cubit to his stature
by the use of the Cothurnus. He breaks the
Divine law which forbids a man to wear a
woman's dress (Deut. sxii. 5). Clement of
Alexandria reckons them among the things
which the Divine Instructor forbids to all His
followers (Paedagog. iii. c. 77, p. 298). In course
of time the question naturally presented itself,
whether an actor who had become a Christian
might continue in his calling, and the Christian
conscience returned an answer in the negative.
The case which Cyprian deals with {Ep. 2, ut
supi'ci) implies that on that point there could be
no doubt whatever, and he extends the prohibition
to the art of teaching actors. It would be better
to maintain such a man out of the funds of the
Church than to allow him to continue in such a
calling. The more formal acts of the Church spoke
in the same tone. The Council of Illiberis (c. 62)
required a "pantomimus" to i-enounce his art
before he was admitted to baptism. If he re-
turned to it, he was to be excommunicated.
The 3rd Council of Carthage (c. 35) seems to
be moderating the more extreme rigour of some
teachers, when it orders that " gratia vel recon-
ciliatio" is not to be denied to them any more
than to penitent apostates. The Codex Eccles.
Afric. (c. 63) forbids any one who had been con-
verted, " ex qualibet ludicra arte," to be tempted
or coerced to resume his occupation. The Coun-
cil in TruUo (c. 51) forbids both mimes and their
theatres, and ras ettI <rKr]vaiv opxvo'fts, under
pain of deposition for clerical, and excommuni-
cation for lay, offenders. With one consent the
moral sense of the new society condemned what
seemed so incurably evil. When Christianity
had become the religion of the Empire, it was
of course, more difficult to maintain the high
standard which these rules implied, and Chryso-
stom {Horn. vi. in Matt., Horn. xv. ad Pop. Antioch.
Hum. X. iu Coloss. ii. p. 403, i. 38, 731, 780),
complains that theatrical entertainments pre-
vailed among the Christians of his time with no
abatement of their evils. At Rome they were
celebrated on the entrance of a consul upon his
office (Claudian in Cons. Mall. 313). On the
triumph of the Emperors Theodosius and Arcadius
the theatre of Pompeius was opened for perfor-
mances by actors from all parts of the Empire
(Symmachus, Epp. x. 2, 29). With a strange
inversion of the old relations between the old and
the new societies, the heathen Zosimus reproaches
the Christian Emperor Constantine with having
patronised the mimes and their obscenity. The
pantomimes or ballets in which the mythology
of Greece furnished the subject-matter (Medea
and Jason, Perseus and Andromeda, the loves of
Jupiter), were still kept up. Women as well
as men performed in them (Chrysost., Horn. vi.
in Thess.), and at Rome the number of actresses
was reckoned at 3000. The old infamy adhered
to the whole class under Christian legislation.
They might not appear in the forum or basilica,
or use the public baths. And yet, with a strange
inconsistency, the civil power kept them in their
degradation rather than deprive the population
ADRIANUS
of the great cities of the empire of the amuse-
ments to which they were so addicted. If
the Church sought to rescue them, admitting
them to baptism, and after baptism claiming
immunity from their degrading occupation, it
stepped in to prevent any such conversion, ex-
cept in extremis (Cod. Theodcs., De Scenicis, xv.).
Compare Milman's History of Christianity, book
iv. c. 2 ; Chaste], p. 211. Perhaps the fullest
collection of every passage in Christian antiquity
bearing on the subject is to be found in Prynne's >
Histrv/mastix. . [P.]
ACUTUS, martyr at Naples, commemorated
Sept. 19 (Marty rol. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ACUS (accubium, or acuhium, acicula, spina,
spinula). Pins made of precious metal, and, in
later mediaeval times, enriched with jewels, for
attaching the archiepiscopal (or papal) pallium
to the vestment over which it was worn, i. e. the
planeta or casula (the chasuble). The earliest
mention of these known to the present writer is
in the description given by Joannes Diaconus of
the pallium of St. Gregory the Great. Writing
himself in the 9th century, he notes it as a point
of contrast between the pallium worn by St. Gre-
gory and that customary in his own time, that
it was nullis acubus perforatum. Their first
use, therefore, must probably date between the
close of the 6th and the beginning of the 9th
century. For details concerning these ornaments
at later times, see Bock (Gesch. der liturg, Ge-
wander, ii. 191). Innocent III. {De Sacra
Altaris Mysterio, lib. i. cap. 63) assigns to these
pins, as to every other part of the sacerdotal
dress, a certain mystical significance. "Tres
acus quae pallio iniiguntur, ante pectus, super
humerum, et post tergum, designant compas-
sionem proximi, administrationem officii, destric-
tionemque judicii." [W. B. M.]
ADAM AND EVE are commemorated in
the Ethiopia Calendar on the 6th day of the
month Miaziah, equivalent to April 1. The
Armenian Church commemorates Adam with
Abel on July 25. (Neale, Eastern Church, Introd.,
pp. 800, 812.) [C]
ADAUCTUS or AUDACTUS. (1) Martyr
at Rome, commemorated Aug. 30 (Marty rol.
Pom. Vet., Hieron.). Proper collects in Gre-
gorian Sacramentary (p. 127), and Antiphon in
Lib. Antiph. p. 709.
(2) Commemorated Oct. 4 (M. Ilieron.). [C]
ADDERBOURN, Council near the (Ad-
DERBURXENSE CONCILIUM), A.D. 705 ; OU the
River Nodder, or Adderboiirn, in Wiltshire ; of
English bishops and abbats, where a grant of
free election of their abbat, after Aldhelm's
death, made by Bishop Aldhelm to the abbeys
of Malmesbury, Frome, and Bradford, was con-
firmed (W. Malm., De Gest. Pont. r. pars iii., p.
1645, Migne ; Wilk. i. 68). [A. W. H.]
ADJUTOR, in Africa, commemorated Dec.
17 (Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ADMONITION. [Monition.]
ADRIANUS. (1) Martyred by Galerius in
Nicomedia, commemorated Sept. 8 (Martyr-ol.
Horn. Vet., Hieron. Bedae) ; -\ug. 26 (Cal.
Byzant.) ; Nov. 6 (M. Hieron.).
(2) Martyr, Natale March 4 (Mart. Bedae)
ADULTERY
(3) July 26 (M. Hieron.).
(i) August 8 {Cal. Armen.). [C]
ADULTERY.— We shall attempt to give a
general account of laws and customs i-elating to
[his topic, dwelling more fully upon such as
elucidate the spirit of their several periods, and
upon the principles involved in disputable points,
Dur outline breaks naturally into the three fol-
lowing divivions : —
1. Antecedents of Christian jurisprudence in
Church and State on adultery.
2. Nature and classification of the crime.
3. Penalties imposed upon it.
Our quotations from Eastern canonists when
compared with civilians are made from the older
Latii. versions ; on occasion the Greek phrases
are added. In imperial laws the Latin is com-
monly the most authentic. These are numbered,
first "the Book of Codex, next Title, then Law;
but in the Digest, where it is usual to subdivide,
the Title is distinguished by a RonTan numeral.
I. Antecedents of Christian Jurisprudence in
Church and State on Adultery. — Respecting the
germs of future differences as regards this and
connected subjects traceable in the Apostolic
times, Neander has some useful observations
{Planting of the Christian Church, Bohn's ed. I.
246-9 and 257, 261). Many circumstances, how-
ever, kept down these tendencies to opposition.
In an age of newly awakened faith, and under
the pressure of persecution, living motive took
the place of outward law. The revulsion from
heatlien sins was strong, and filled the souls of
converts with abhorrence, while the tender sym-
pathy of their teachers urged men to control
themselves, succour the tempted, and pity the
fallen. "I am overwhelmed with sadness,"
writes Polycarp to the Philippians (cap. xi.),
" on account of Valens who was made presbyter
amongst you, because he thus knows not the
place which was given him." This man had
fallen into adultery (see Jacobson in loco). "I
grieve exceedingly both for him and for his
wife, to whom may the Lord grant true repent- i
ance. Be ye therefore also sober-minded in this
matter, and count not such persons as your ene-
mies ; but as suffering and wayward members
call them back, that you may save the one Body
of you all. For so doing ye shall establish your
own selves."
Clement of Rome, unlike Polycarp, had no
special example to deal with ; his warnings are
therefore general. In Up. i. 30 and cap. 6 of
the 2nd Up., attributed to him, adultery is stig-
matized among the foulest and most heinous
sins. His exhortations and promises of forgive-
ness (i. 7, 8, 9, 50) are likewise general, but
their tenour leaves no doubt that he intended to
invite all such sinners to repentance. The same
declarations of remission to all penitents and
the loosing of every bond by the grace of Christ,
occur in Ignat. Ep. ad Philadelph. 8 ; and are
found in the shorter as well as the longer recen-
sion (see Cureton, Corp. Ignat. p. 97). In these
addresses we seem to catch the lingering tones
of the Apostolic age ; and all of like meaning
and early date should be noted as valuable testi-
monies. De I'Aubespine (Bingham, xvi. 11, 2)
asserted that adulterers were never taken back
into communion before the time of Cyprian, and,
though Bishop Pearson refutes this opinion, he
CHRIST. ANT.
ADULTERY
17
allows that respecting them, together with mur-
derers and idolaters, there was much dispute in
the early Church. Beveridge also {Cod. Can.
vii. 2) believes that its severity was so great as
to grant no such sinners reconciliation except
upon the very hardest terms.
Of this severe treatment, as well as the differ-
ence of opinion alluded to by Pearson, we see
various traces ; yet the prevailing inclination
was to hold out before the e3'es of men a hope
mingled with fear. Hermas {Pastor Mandat. 4, 1
and 3) concedes one, and but one, repentance to
those who are unchaste after baptism ; for which
mildness and a reluctant allowance of second
nuptials, Tertullian {De Pudicit. 10) styles this
book an Adulterers' Friend. Dionysius of Co-
rinth, writing to the churches of Pontus on
marriage and continency, counsels the reception
of all who repent their transgressions, whatever
their nature may be (Euseb. iv. 23). Thus also
Zephyrinus of Rome announced, accoi-ding to
Tertullian, "ego et moechiae et fornicationis
delicta, poenitentia functis dimitto ;" and though
quoted in a spirit of hostility and satire, this
sentence, which forms a chief reason for the
treatise {De Pudicit.), probably contains in sub-
stance an authentic penitential rule. Of Tertul-
lian's own opinion, since he was at this time a
Montanist, it is needless to say more than that,
differing from his former views, not far removed
from those maintained by Hermas (cf De Peni-
tent. 7-10), he now held adultery to be one of
those sins not only excluding for ever from the
company of believers, but also (cap. 19) abso-
lutely without hope through our Lord's inter-
cession. Exclusion from the faithful was, how-
ever, insisted upon in such cases by some
Catholic bishops. Cyprian {ad Antonian.), while
himself on the side of mercy, tells us how cer-
tain bishops of his province had, in the time of
his predecessors, shut the door of the Church
against adulterers, and denied them penitence
altogether. Others acted on the opposite system ;
yet we are assured that peace remained un-
broken — a surprising circumstance, certainly,
considering the wealth and intelligence of that
province, and the importance of such decisions
to a luxurious population. Cyprian hints at no
lay difficulties, and simply says that every
bishop is the disposer and director of his own
act, and must render an account to God (cf also
Cypr. De Unitate, several Epistles, and Cone.
Carthag. Proloquium). Hence the determination
of one bishop had no necessary force in the
diocese of another. So, too, the acts of a local
council took effect only within its own locality,
unless they were accepted elsewhere. But the
correspondence of bishops and churches set
bounds to the difficulties which might otherwise
have arisen, and prepared the way for General
Cou jcils — see, for instance, the fragment (Euseb.
v. 25) of the early Synod at Caosarea in Pales-
tine— its object being the diff'usion of the Syno-
dical Epistle. United action was also much
furthered by the kind of compilation called
Codex Canonum, but the first of these (now
lost) was formed towards the end of the 4th
century. See Dion. Exig. np. Justell. I. 101, and
Bevereg., Pand. Can. Proleg. vii.
The passages already cited show the strength of
Christian recoil from heathen sensuality. In his
instructive reply to Celsus (iii. 51) Origen coin-
18
ADULTERY
pares the attitude of the Church towards back-
sliders, especially towards the incontinent, with
that fueling which prompted the Pythagoreans to
erect a cenotaph for each disciple who left their
school. They esteemed him dead, and, in pre-
cisely the same way. Christians bewail as lost to
God, and already dead, those who are overcome
with unclean desire or the like. Should such
regain their senses, the Church receives them at
length, as men alive from death, but to a longer
probation than the one converts underwent at
tirst, and as no more capable of honour and
dignity amongst their fellows. Yet Origen goes
on to state (59-64) the remedial power of Chris-
tianity. Taken together these sections paint a
lively picture of the treatment of gross trans-
gressors within and without the Christian fold.
On the passage in his De Oratione, which sounds
like an echo of Tertullian, see foot-note in Dela-
rue's ed., vol. i. 256.
Christians might well shrink from what they
saw around them. Licentious impurities, count-
less in number and in kind, were the burning
reproaches, the pollution, and the curse of
heathendom. It is impossible to quote much on
these topics, but a carefully drawn sketch of
them will be found in two short essays by Pro-
fessor Jowett appended to the first chapter of
his Conmientary on the Romans. They demon-
strate how utterly unfounded is the vulgar
notion that Councils and Fathers meddled un-
neces^arily with gross and disgusting oftences.
With these essays may be compared Martial
and the Satirists, or a single writer such as
Seneca — unus instar omnium — e.g. " Hinc de-
centissimum sponsaliorum genus, adulterium,"
&c., i. 9 ; or again, iii. 16, " Nunquid jam ulla
repudio erubescit postquam illustres quaedam
ac nobiles foeminae, non consulum numero,
sed maritorum, annos suos computant ? et
exeunt matrimonii causa, nubunt repudii ? . . .
Nunquid jam ullus adultcrii pudor est, postquam
eo ventum est, ut nulla virum habeat, nisi ut
adulterum irritet? Argumentum est deformi-
tatis, pudicitia. Quam iuvenies tam miseram,
tam sordidam, ut illi satis sit unum adulterorum
par?" &c. In Valerius Maximus we hear a
sigh for departed morals — in Christian writers,
from the Apologists to Salvian, a recital of the
truth, always reproachful, and sometimes half
triumphant. Moreover, as usual, sin became the
punishment of sin — Justin Martyr, in his first
Apology (c. 27 seq.), points out the horrible con-
sequences which ensued ft-om a heathen prac-
tice following upon the licence just mentioned.
The custom of exposing new-born babes pervaded
all ranks of society, and was authorized even by
the philosophers. Almost all those exposed, says
Justin, both boys and girls, were taken, reared,
and fed like brute beasts for the vilest purposes
of sensuality ; so that a man might commit the
grossest crime unawares with one of his own
children, and from these wretched beings the
State derived a shameful impost. Compare Ter-
tull. Apologet. 9, sub fin. Happy in comparison
those infants who underwent the prae or post
Oatal fate, described by Minucius Felix c. 30. To
Lactantius (^we may remark) are attributed the
laws of Constantine intended to mitigate the
allied evils of that later age, cf. Milman {Hist.
Christ, ii. 394). "We," continues Justin (c.
29), " expose not our offspring, lest one of them
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should perish and we be murderers; nay, the
bringing up of children is the vei-y object of our
marriages." There are passages to the same
effect in the Ep. ad Diognet. c. 5, and Athenag.
Zegat. p7-o Christian, (c. 33 al. 28), and thus
these early apologists adduce a principle laid
down amongst the ends of matrimony in the
Anglican marriage - service. They no doubt
utter the thought of their fellow Christians
in opposing to the licence of the age the purest
parental instincts, and " these are perhaps in
every age the most stringent restraints upon
adultery.
The standard of contemporary Jewish practice
may be divined from the Dial, cum Tryphon,
cc. 134 and 141. The Rabbis taught the law-
fulness of marrying four or five wives, — if any
man were moved by the sight of beauty Jacob's
example excused him, — if he sinned, the prece-
dent of David assured his forgiveness.
Surrounding evils naturally deepened the im-
pression upon Christians that they were stran-
gers and pilgrims in the world, that their aim
must be to keep themselves from being partakers
in other men's sins ; to suffer not as evil doers,
but as Christians, and to use the Roman law as
St. Paul used it, for an appeal on occasion — a
possible protection, but not a social rule. Hence
the danger was Quietism ; and they were in fact
accused of forsaking the duties of citizens and
soldiers — accusations which the Apologists, par-
ticularly Tertullian and Origen, answered,
though with many reserves. The faithful
thought that their prayers and examples were
the best of services ; they shunned sitting in
judgment on cases involving life and death, im-
prisonment or torture, and (what is more to our
purpose) questions de pudore. On the admission
of Christians to magistracy as early as the An-
tonines, cf. Dig. 50, tit. 2, s. 3, sub fin., withGotho-
fred's notes. Traces of their aversion from such
business appear in some few Councils ; e. g. Elib.
56, excludes Duumvirs from public worship
during their year of office. Tarracon. 4, forbids
bishops to decide criminal causes — a rule which
has left its mark on modern legislation. Natu-
rally resulting from these influences, was a
higher and diffused tone of purity. Obeying
human laws, believers transcended them, Ep. ad
Diognet. 5, and compare Just. Apxil. I. 17, seq.
with 15. He speaks emphatically of the in-
numerable multitude who turned from license
to Christian self-control. The causeless divorce
allowed by law led to what Christ forbade as
digamy and adultery, while the latter sin was
by Him extended to the eye and the heart. In
like manner, Athenagoras {Leg. pro Christ. 2)
asserts that it was impossible to find a Christian
who had been criminally convicted — and that no
Christian is an evil-doer except he be a hypocrite
—32, 33, al. 27, 28, that impurity of heart is
essentially adultery, and that even a slightly
unchaste thought may exclude from everlasting
life. He says, as Justin, that numbers in the
Church were altogether continent ; numbers, too,
lived according to the strictest marriage rule.
Athenagoras goes so far (33 al. 28) as to pro-
nounce against all second marriages, because he
who deprives himself of even a deceased wife by
taking another is an adulterer. Clement of
Alexandria (Paedag. ii. 6) quaintly observes
that " Non Moechaberis " is cut up by the roots
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through " non concupisces," and in the same
spii'it Commodian (^Instruct. 48) writes
" Escam muscipuli ubi mors est longe vitate :
Multa sunt Martyria, quae fiunt sine sanguine fuso,
Alienuni non cupere," &c.
Compare other passages on adultery of the
heart, Lactant. Instit. vi. 23, and Epit. 8 ; Greg.
Nazianz., Horn. 37 al. 31 ; and later on, Photius,
Ep. 139 — a remarkable composition.
Another safeguard from licentiousness was
the high valuation now set upon the true dignity
of woman not only as the help-meet of man but
as a partaker in the Diyine Image, sharing the
same hope, and a fit partner of that moral
union in which our Lord placed the intention
and essence of the married state. Clement of
Alexandria draws a picture of the Christian
wife and mother (^Paedag. iii. 11, p. 250 Sylb.
and Potter's Gr. marg.); of the husband and
father, {Strom, vii. p. 741). Tertullian before
him, in the last cap. ad Uxorem describes a truly
Christian mai-riage — the oneness of hope, prayer,
practice, and pious service ; no need of conceal-
ment, mutual avoidance, nor mutual vexation ;
distrust banished, a freeborn confidence, sym-
pathy, and comfort in each other, presiding over
every part of their public and private existence.
This language derives additional strength
from Tertullian's treatment of mixed marriages.
Those contracted before conversion fall under 1
Cor. vii. 10-17 (cf. ad Uxor. ii. 2), yet their
consequences were most mischievous. He tells
us (ad Scapulam 3) how Claudius Herminianus,
whose wife became a convert, revenged himself
by barbarous usage of the Cappadocian Chris-
tians. A mixed marriage after conversion is a
very great sin, forbidden by 1 Cor. vii. 39 and 2
Cor. vi. 14-16, and Tertullian ad Uxor. ii. 3
condemns those who contract it as " stupri reos "
— transgressors of the 7th Commandment.
Addressing his own wife, he proceeds to describe
its serious evils to a woman. When she wishes
to attend worship her husband makes an appoint-
ment for the baths. Instead of hymns she hears
songs, and his songs are from the theatre, the
tavern, and the night cellar. Her fasts are
hindered by his feasts. He is sure to object
against nocturnal services, prison visits, the kiss
of peace, and other customs. She will have a
difficulty in persuading him that such private
observances as crossing and exsufflation, ai-e not
magical rites. To these and other remarks,
Tertullian adds the sensible arguments, that
none but the worst heathens would marry
Christian women, and how then could believing
wives feel secure in such hands ? Their hus-
bands kept the secret of their religion as a
means of enforcing subjection ; or, if dissatisfied,
nursed it for the day of persecution and legal-
ized murder. Their own motives were of the
baser kind — they married for a handsome litter,
mules, and tall attendants from some foreign
country ; — luxuries which a faithful man, even
if wealthy, might not think proper to allow
them. This being the early experience of the
Church, we are not surprised to find mixed
marriages forbidden in after times sub poena
adulterii.
We cannot here pass over a history told by
Justin Martyr in his Apol. ii. 2, and repeated
by Eusebius iv. 17, respecting which the learned
Bingham has been led into a remarkable mis-
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19
take, copied and added to by Whiston in a note
on Antiq. xv. 7, 10. A woman married to a
very wicked husband, herself as drunken and
dissolute as the man, became a convert to the
faith. Thoroughly reformed, she tried to per-
suade him by the precepts of the Gospel and
the terrors of eternal fire. Failing in her at-
tempts, and revolted by the loathsome and un-
natural compulsion to which her husband sub-
jected her, she thought repudiation would be
prefei-able to a life of impious compliances. Her
friends prevailed upon her to wait and hope for
the best, but a journey to Alexandria made her
husband worse than before, and, driven to des-
pair, she sent him a divorce. Immediately he
informed against her as a Christian ; a blow
which she parried by presenting a petition for
delay to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who
granted her request. Upon this her husband,
thirsting for revenge, accused her teacher in
religious truth, and had the satisfliction of seeing
three lives sacrificed in succession to his ven-
geance.
Bingham (svi. 11, 6) cites the narrative as an
instance of a wife's being allowed by the Church
to divorce a husband on the ground of adultery.
But the valuable writer, led perhaps by Gotho-
fred {Cod. Theod. vol. i. p. 312) has here erred in
a matter of fact, for Justin takes some pains to
show that the woman's grievance was not adul-
tery at all. Fleury (iii. 49) has apprehended
the truth with correctness and expressed it with
delicacy. The like case is discussed by an author
long called Ambrose in his comment on 1 Cor. vii.
11 {Amhros. op. ed. Benedict., tom. ii. appendix
p. 133 E-F), and he determines that, under the
given circumstances, a woman must separate
from her husband, but she must not marry again.
The Imperial law also provided a remedy, Cod.
Theod. 9, tit. 7, s. 3. It is certainly noteworthy
that, in telling this brief tragedy, neither Justin
nor Eusebius says a word against the wife's seek-
ing relief from the heathen custom of divorce.
Yet its license was condemned on all sides. The
founder of the Empire strove to check it ; and,
had the aggrieved woman lived under the first
Christian emperor, that resource would have
been denied her. Clearly, circumstances justi-
fied the wife, but it would seem natural to have
mentioned the danger of doing wrong, while
pleading her justification. We, in modern times,
should say that such cases are exceptional, and
the inference from silence is that similar wicked-
ness was not exceptional in those days, and was
treated by the Church as a ground of divorce ;
a mournful conclusion, but one that many facts
render probable, e.g. the Imperial law above
cited.
From these antecedents our step is brief to
laws for the repression of incontinency. The
natural beginning was for each community to
follow simply the example of St. Paul (1 Cor.
V. and 2 Cor. ii.), but, as converts multiplied, it
became necessary to prescribe definite tests of
repentance which formed also the terms of re-
conciliation. Such rules had for one object the
good of the community, and in this light every
offence was a public wrong, and is so looked
upon by canon law at this day. But penitence
had a second object — the soul's health of the
offender — and thus viewed, the same transgres-
sion was treated as a moral stain, and censured
C 2
20
ADULTERY
according to its intrinsic heinousness, or, in few
words, the crime became a sin. This idea, no
doubt, entered into the severe laws of Christian
princes against adultery, and is an indication of
ecclesiastical influence upon them. Framers of
canons had in turn their judgment acted upon
by the great divines, who were apt to regulate
public opinion, and to enforce as maxims of life
their own interpretations of Scripture. Some-
times the two characters met in the same per-
son, as in the eminent Gregories, Basil, and
others ; but where this was not the case, theo-
logians commonly overlooked many points which
canonists were bound to consider.
Church lawgivers must indeed always have
regard to existing social facts and the ordinary
moral tone of their own age and nation. They
must likewise keep State law steadily in mind
when they deal with offences punishable in civil
courts. That they did so in reality, we learn
from the Greek Scholia ; and hence, when divorce
is connected with adultery (particularly as its
cause), the Scholiasts trace most canonical
changes to foregoing alterations in the laws of
the Empire. The reader should reproduce in his
mind these two classes of data it he wishes to
form a judgment on subjects like the present.
We have called attention to the license which
tainted prae-Christian Rome. Of the Christian
world, homilists are the most powerful illustra-
tors, but the light thrown upon it by canons is
quite unmistakable. The spirit prevalent at the
opening of the 4th century may be discerned
from its Councils, e.g. Gangra ; one object of
which (can. 4) was to defend married presbyters
against the attacTis made upon them ; of Elib. 33,
and Stanley's account of the later 1 Nic. ^{Eastern
Ch, 196-9). Gangra, 14, forbids wives to desert
their husbands from abhorrence of married life ;
9 and 10 combat a like disgust and contempt of
matrimony displayed by consecrated virgins,
and 16 is aimed against sons who desert their
parents under pretext of piety, i.e. to become
celibates, something after the fashion of " Cor-
ban." An age, where the springs of home life
are poisoned, is already passing into a morbid
condition, and legislative chirurgeons may be
excused if they commit some errors of severity in
dealing with its evils. But what can be said of
the frightful pictures of Roman life drawn, some-
what later, by Ammian. Marcell. xiv. 6 ; xxvii. 3 ;
and xxviii. 4 ; or the reduced copies of them in
Gibbon, chaps. 25 and 31, to which may be added
the fiery Epistles of Jerome (jxissim), and the
calm retrospect of Milman (^Hist. of Christ, iii.
230, seq.)? Can any one who reads help reflect-
ing with what intensified irony this decrepit
age might repeat the old line of Ennius —
Mulierem : quid potius dicam aut verius quam mulierem ?
Or can we feel surprised with Aaolent efforts at
coercing those demoralized men and women ?
Gibbon, in giving an account of the jurispru-
dence of Justinian, saw that it could not be
understood, particularly on the topic of our
article, without some acquaintance with the
laws and customs of the earliest periods. To
his sketch we must refer the reader, adding only
the following remarks : —
1. His opinion upon the barbarity of marital
rule has found an echo in Hegel (see Werke, Bd.
ix. p. 348, seq.). F. von Schlegel, tliough in his
ADULTERY
Concordia highly praising the conjugal purity of
ancient Rome, had already (Wet-ke, xiii. 261, 2)
blamed that rigid adherence to letter and for-
mula which pervades the system. To such cen-
sures Mommsen is thoroughly opposed. In book
i. chap. 5, he views the stern simplicity of idea
on which all household I'ight was founded as true
to nature and to the requirements of social im-
provement. In chap. 12 he points out how the
old Roman religion supplemented law by its
code of moral maxims. The member of a
family might commit grievous wrong untouched
by civil sentence, but the curse of the gods
lay henceforth heavy on that sacrilegious head.
Mommsen's remarks on religious terrors agree
well with the very singular restraints on divorce
attributed by Plutarch to Romulus. The im-
pression of ethical hardness is in fiict mainly
due to the iron logic of Roman lawyers. Father,
husband, matron, daughter, are treated as real-
istic universals, and their specific definitions
worked out into axioms of legal right. Yet in
application (a fact overlooked by Schlegel) the
summumjus is often tempered by equitable allow-
ances, e.g. a wife accused of adultery had the
power of recrimination. Dig. 48, tit. 5, s. 13, § 5 ;
and cf August. De Conjug. Adulterin. ii. 7 (viii.)
for a longer extract, and a comment on the re-
script. Such facts go far to explain the course
pursued by Christian lawgivers.
2. On the vast changes which took place
after the 2nd Punic war Gibbon should be com-
pared with Mommsen, b. iii. cap. 13, pp. 884—5,
But neither of these writers, in dwelling on
the immoral atmosphere which infected married
life, point out any specially sufficient cause why
Roman matrons showed such irrepressible aA^i-
dity for divorce with all its strainings of law,
its dissolution of sacred maxims, its connection
with celibacy in males, and a frightful train of
unbridled sensualities. Perhaps the only true
light is to be gained from a comparison with
ecclesiastical history. We shall see that in
later ages of the Church there came about an
entire reversal of earlier opinions on the crimi-
nal essence and the very definition of adultery,
and that the ground of complaint at both periods
(Pagan and Christian) was one and the same ;
the cause, therefore, may not improbably be one
also, viz., the inadequate remedy afforded to
women for wifely wrongs. Some particulars
will be found in our second division, but the
question opens a wide field for speculation, out-
lying our limits, and belonging to the philoso-
phy of history.
3. The parallel between Church and State
ought to be carried further. Imperial Rome,
looking back upon the Republic, felt the de-
cadence of her own conjugal and family ties,
and wrote her displeasure in the laws of the
first Caesars, So, too, when the nobleness of
apostolic life ceased to be a substitute for legis-
lation, it sharpened the edge of canonical cen-
sure by regretful memories of the better time.
The same history of morals led to a sameness in
the history of law, the State repeated itself in
the Church.
4. Gibbon has a sneer against Justinian for
giving permanence to Pagan constitutions. But
those laws had always been presupposed by
Christian government, both civil and spiritual.
The emperors amended or supplemented them,
ADULTERY
and where bishops felt a need, they petitioned
for an Imperial edict — e.g. the canons of three
African councils relating to our subject, and
noted hereafter, in which the synods decide on
such a petition. Then, too, the opposite experi-
ment had been tried. The Codex Theodosianus
began with the laws of Constantine (cf. art.
Theodosius in Bid. Biograph.); but when Jus-
tinian strove to give scientific form to his juris-
prudence he found that completeness could no
way be attained except by connecting it with
the old framework ; and, as we have seen, Gibbon
himself felt a similar necessity for the minor
purpose of explanation.
Our plan here will therefore be to use the
great work of Justinian as our skeleton, and
clothe it with the bands and sinews of the
Church. We gain two advantages : his incom-
parable method ; and a stand-point at an era of
systematic endeavour to unify Church and State.
For this endeavour see Novell. 131, c. 1, held by
canonists to accept all received by Chalcedon,
can. 1 (comprehending much on our subject), and
Novell. 83, extending the powers of bishops on
ecclesiastical oftences. His example was after-
wards followed by the acceptance of Trull, can. 2,
adding largely to the list of constitutions upon
adultery ; cf. Photii Nomocanon, tit. i. cap. 2, with
Scholia, and for the difficulties Bev. Pand. Can.
Proleg. viii., ix. For harmonies of spiritual
and civil law as respects breaches of the 7th
Commandment see Antiochcni Nomoc, tits. xli.
and xlii., and Photii Nomoc. tit. ix. 29, and tit.
xiii. 5 and 6. Both are in Justellus, vol. ii.
After A.D. 305 the Church was so frequently
engaged in devising means for upholding the
sanctity of the marriage tie that every step in
the reception of canons concerning it forms a
landmark of moral change. Such an era was
the reign of Justinian ; it was an age of great
code makers — of Dionysius Exiguus aird Joannes
Antiochenus. Numbers of local constitutions
became transformed into world-wide laws ; the
fact, therefore, never to be overlooked respecting
canons on adultery, is the extent of their final
acceptance.
We now come to Division II., and must con-
sider at some length the definition of adultery
strictly so called. On this point a revolution
took place of no slight significance in the great
antithesis between East and West. Details are
therefore necessary.
II. Nature and Classification of the Crime. —
Neglecting an occasional employment of the words
promiscue (on which see first of following refer-
ences), we find (Dig. 48, tit. 5, s .6, § 1, Papinian),
"Adulteriura in nupta committitur stuprum
vero in virginem viduamve." Cf. same tit., 34,
Modestinus, and Dig. 1, tit. 12, s. 1, § 5, Ulfnan;
see Diet. Antiq., and Ih-issonius do Verb. Signif.
1, s. V. for distinctions and Greek equivalents.
The oflending wife is thus regarded as the real
criminal ; and her paramour, whether married
or unmarried, as the mere accomplice of her
crime. She is essentially the adultera, and he,
because of his complicity with a married woman,
becomes an adulter. If the woman is unmarried,
the condition of the man makes no difference —
the offence is not adulterium.
This was also the position of the Mosaic code
— see Lev. xx. 10, compared with Deut. xxii. 22.
It is not easy to perceive how the law could
ADULTERY
21
stand otherwise when polygamy was permitted ;
cf. Diet, of Bible, in verbo. Espousal by both codes
(Roman and Jewish) is protected as qinsi wedlock
(Dig. 48, tit. 5, s. 13, §_ 3, Deut. xxii. 23, 24).
So likewise by Christian' canons, e.g. Trull. 98.
" He who marries a woman betrothed to a man
still living is an adulter." Cf. Basil, can. 37.
Both in Scripture language and in ordinary
Roman life the legal acceptation of the crime is
the current meaning of the word. Hosea (iv.
13, 14) distinguishes between the sins of Jewish
daughters and wives ; and the distinction is kept
in the LXX and Vulgate versions. A like dis-
tinction forms the point of Horace's " Matronam
nuUam ego tango ; " cf. Sueton. Get. 67 " adul-
terare matronas." Instances are sufficiently com-
mon, but, since (for reasons which will soon
appear) it is necessary to have an absolutely
clear understanding of the sense attached to the
word adulterium { = fi.oixeicC) during the early
Christian period, we note a few decisive re-
ferences from common usage. Val. Max. (under
Tiberius) explains (ii. 1, 3) adulteri as " sub-
sessores alieni matrimonii." Quintilian (under
Domitian) defines, Instit. Orat. vii. 3, " Adulte-
rium est cum aliena uxore donii coire." Juvenal
may be consulted through the index. Appuleius
(under the Antonines), in the well known story
Metamorph. ix., describes the deed, and refers to
the law de Adulteriis.
Chi-istian writers seldom explain words un-
less used out of their curi'ent sense, and when
they do so, the explanation is of course inci-
dental. We find an early example in Athena-
goras, De Jtesur. Mort. 23. al. 17, where in
treating of bodily appetites occurs a designed
antithesis. On the one side " legitimus coitus
quod est matrimonium " — on the other, "incon-
cessus alienae uxoris appetitus et cum ea consue-
tude— rovTo yap iffri notxeia." Another early
instance is in the Shepherd of Hermas, Mandat.
iv., which thus begins: "Mando, ait, tibi, ut
castitatem custodias, et non ascendat tibi cogi-
tatio cordis de alieno matrimonio, aut de forni-
catione." We have here a twofold division like
Papinian's above quoted, but instead of opposing
stuprum to adulterium (implied in alieno Matri-
monio), he employs " fornicatio," an ecclesiasti-
cal expression when it has this special meaning.
Origen (Levit. xx., Homil. xi.), in contrasting
the punishment of adulterei-s under the Mosaic
and Christian dispensations, assumes the same
act to be intended by the laws of both. This
passage has often been ascribed to Cyril of Alex-
andria, but Delarue (ii. 179, 180) is clear for
Origen. Arnobius (under Diocletian) writes, lib.
iv. (p. 142, Varior. ed.), " Adulteria legibus vin-
dicant, et capitalibus afficiunt eos poenis, quos in
aliena comprehenderint foedera genialis se lectuli
expugnatione jecisse. Subsessoris et adulteri
persona," &c.
The canonists, Greek and Latin, use criminal
terms like ordinary authors without explanation,
and obviously for the same reason. But on our
subject the meaning is generally made certain
by (1) an opposition of words resembling the
examples before quoted ; (2) by the case of un-
married women being treated in separate canons ;
or else (3) by a gradation of penalties imposed
on the several kinds of sin.
In the latter half of tlic 4tli century we have
again exact ecclesiastical definitions. They are
22
ADULTERY
very valuable, because given by two of the
greatest canonists the Church ever produced,
and also because they were accepted by can. ii.
Trull. Gregory of Nyssa thus distinguishes (ad
Letoium, resp. 4), " Fornicatio quidem dicatuv
cupiditatis cujuspiam expletio quae sine alterius
fit injuria. Adulterium vero, insidiae et injuria
quae alteri afFertur." This antithesis is substan-
tially the same with that in the Digest, but
Gregory so states it because (as his canon tells
us) he is replying to certain somewhat subtle
reasoners who argued that these acts of inconti-
nence are in essence identical — a theory which
would equalize the offences, and, by consequence,
their punishments. The arguments are such as
we should call verbal, cfj. what the law does
not permit, it forbids — the non proprium must be
alienum. He answers by giving the specific di-
vision made by the Fathers (as above), and main-
tains (1) its adaptation to human infirmity, (2)
the double sin of adultery, and (3) the propriety
of a double penitence. With Gregory, therefore,
the canonist pi-evails over the theologian — he
refuses to treat the crime merely as a sin.
In Basil's canon ad Amphiloch. 18 — which is
concerned with lapsed virgins — who had been
treated as digamists, and whom Basil would
punish as adulterous, we find an incidental defi-
nition : " eum, qui cum aliena muliere cohabitat,
adulterum nominamus."
Basil's important 21st canon is summed by
Aristenus : " Virum, qui fornicatus est, uxor pro-
pria recipiet. Inquinatam vero adulterio uxorem
vir dimittet. Fornicator, enim, non adulter est,
qui uxori junctus cum soluta" (an unmarried
woman) "rem habuerit." Here, again, is the
old opposition (as in stuprum and adulterium)
the logical essence of the crime turning upon
the state of the woman, whether married or sole.
But a clause of great value to us is omitted by
Aristenus. Basil considers the fornicatio of a
married man heinous and aggravated ; he says,
" eum poenis amplius gravamus," yet adds ex-
pressly, " Canouem tamen non habemus qui eum
adulterii crimini subjiciat si in solutam a Matri-
monio peccatum commissum sit." This clear
assertion from a canonist so learned and vera-
cious as Basil must be allowed to settle the
matter of fact, that up to his time Church law
defined adultery exactly in the same manner as
the civil law.
It is to be remarked, too, that Basil's answer
addresses itself to another kind of difficulty
from Gregory's, that, namely, of injustice in the
different treatment of unchaste men and women.
No objection was of older standing. We almost
start to hear Jerome (^Epitaph. Fahiolae) echoing,
as it were, the verses of Plautus ; cf. the passage
(^Mercator, iv. 5) —
" Ecastor lege dura vivont niulieres,
Multoque iniquiore miserae, quam viri ....
.... Utinam lex esset eadem, quae uxori est viro."
Yet no writer tells more pointedly than Plautus
the remedy which Roman matrons had adopted
(^Amphitr. iii. 2) —
" Valeas : tibl habeas res tuas, reddas meas."
As to the legal process by which women com-
passed this object, it was probably similar to
their way of enlarging their powers respecting
property and other stich matters, on which see
Mommscn, book iii. 13.
ADULTERY |
V/'e now note among divines a desire to im- i
press upon the public mind the other, i.e. the.
purely theological idea that all incontinent,
persons stand equally condemned. They appear
to reason under a mixture of influences — 1. A
feeling of the absolute unity of a married couple,' •
a healthy bequest from the first age ; 2. Indig- J
nation at marital license ; 3. Desire to find a |
remedy for woman's wrong ; 4. The wish to ]
recommend celibacy by contrast with the " ser- '
vitude " of marriage.
Lactantius (as might be expected from his '
date) fixes upon points 1 and 2. He finds fault
with the Imperial lavv^ in two respects — that
adultery could not be committed with any but a i
free woman, and that by its inequality it tended i
to excuse the severance of the one married bodyj
Instit. vi. 23. "Non enim, sicut juris publicij
ratio est; sola mulier adultera est, quae habet !
alium ; maritus autem, etiamsi plures habeat, a
crimine adulterii solutus est. Sed divina lex ita i
duos in matrimonium, quod est in corpus unum^ i
pari jure conjungit, ut adulter habeatur, quis-;
quis compagem corporis in diversa distraxerit." '
Of. next page — " Dissociari enim corpus, et dis-
trahi Deus uoluit." It would seem therefore
that this Father would really alter the ordinary,;
meaning of the word aduiterium, and explain the
offence differently from its civil-law definition.
He would extend it to every incontinent act of j
every married person, on the ground that byi
such an act the marriage unity enforced by our
Lord is broken. It is true that another view'
may be taken of the words of Lactantius. They.'
may be considered as rhetoric rather than logic,*
both here and in Epitome 8, where the same!
line of thought is repeated; but this is a ques-:i
tion of constant recurrence in the Fathers, andi
reminds us of Selden's celebrated saying. The;
student will in each case form his own judg-i
ment ; in this instance he may probably think:
the statement too precise to be otherwise than"
literal. '
The same must be said of Ambrose, whose
dictum has been made classical by Gratian. Yet
it should be observed that he is not always con-:i
sistent with himself, e.g. {Hexaem. v. 7) he lays
it down that the married are both in spirit aud<
in body one, hence adultery is contrary to naturcil
We expect the same prefatory explanation as
from Lactantius, but find the old view : " Nolite
quaerere, viri, alienum thorum, nolite insidiarij
alienae copulae. Grave est adulterium et naturae
injuria." So again, in Luc. lib. 2, sub init., he
attaches this term to the transgression of an
espoused woman.
The celebrated passage, one chief support of a
distinction which has affected the law and lanr.
guage of modern Europe (quoted by Gratian,'
JJecret. ii. c. 32, q. 4), occurs in Ambrose's Defence
of Abraham (Be Mr. Pair. i. 4). We give it aSj
in Gratian for the sake of a gloss: "Nemo sibil
blandiatur de legibus hominum " (gloss — quae^
dicunt quod adulterium non committitur cum'
soluta sed cum nupta)"Omne stuprum adulte-f
rium est : nee viro licet quod mulieri non licet.
Eadem a viro, quae ab uxore debetur castimonia.l
Quicquid in ea quae non sit legitima uxor, com-
missum fuerit, adulterii crimine damnatur.",
This extract sounds in itself distinct and con-|
sccutive. But when the Apology is read as a
whole, exactness seems to vanish. It is divided]
ADULTERY
into three main he.ads or defensiones : 1st, Abra-
ham lived before the law which forbade adultery,
therefore he could uot have committed it. " Deus
ia Paradiso licet conjugium laudaverit, non adul-
terium daranaverat." It is hard to understand
how such a sentence could have been written in
the taoe of Matt. xix. 4-9, or how so great an
authority could forget that the very idea of con-
jugitim implied the wrong of adulterium. 2ndly,
Abraham was actuated by the mere desire of
offspring ; and Sarah herself gave him her hand-
maiden. Her example (with Leah's and Rachel's)
is turned into a moral lesson against female
jealousy, and then men are admonished — " Nemo
sibi blandiatur," &c., as above quoted. 3rdly.
Galat. iv. 21-4, is referred to, and the conclusion
drawn, " Quod ergo putas esse peccatum, adver-
tis esse mysterium ; " and again " haec quae in
figuram contingebant, illis crimini non erant."
We have sketched this chapter of Ambrose be-
cause of the great place assigned him in the
controversy of Western against Eastern Church
law.
Another passage referred to in this Q. " Dicat
aliquis," is the 9th section of a sermon on John
the Baptist, formerly numbered 65, now 52 (Ed.
Bened. App. p. 462), and the work of an Am-
brosiaster. But here the adulterium (filii testes
adulterii) is the act of an unmarried man with
his ancilla (distinguished from a concubina, Be-
cret: I. Dist. 34, " Concubina autem," seq.), i.e.
a sort of Contubernium is called by a word
which brings it within the letter of the 7th
Commandment.
Perhaps Ambrose and his pseudonym, like
many others, saw no very great difference be-
tween the prohibition of sins secundum literam
and secundum analogiam — as, for example, idola-
try is adultery. It seems clear that he did not
with Lactantius foi-m an ideal of marriage and
then condemn whatever contradicted it. His
language on wedlock in Paradise forbids this
explanation.
Looking eastwards, there is a famous sermon
(37, al. 31) preached by Gregory Nazianzen, in
which he blends together the points we have
numbered 2, 3, and 4. He starts (vi.) from the
inequality of laws. Why should the woman be
restrained, the man left free to sin ? The Latin
version is incorrect ; it so renders KaTairopveveiv
as to introduce the later notion of adulterium.
Gregory thinks (inore Acsopi) that the inequality
came to pass because men were the law-makers ;
further, that it is contrary to (a) the 5th Com-
mandment, which honours the mother as well as
the father ; (b) the equal creation, resurrection,
and redemption of both sexes ; and (c) the mys-
tical representation of Christ and His Church.
A healthy tone is felt in much of what Gre-
gory says, but (ix.) the good of marriage is de-
scribed by a definition far inferior in life and
spirituality to that of the pagan Modestinus,
and (in x.) naturally follows a preference for the
far higher good of celibacy. The age was not to
be trusted on this topic which formed an under-
lying motive with most of the great divines.
Chrysostora notices the chief texts in his
Expository Homilies. For these we cannot afford
space, and they are easily found. We are more
concerned with his sermon on the Bill of Divorce
(ed. Bened. iii. 198-209). " It is commonly called
adultery," he says in substance, " when a man
ADULTERY
23
wrongs a mra-ried woman. I, however, affirm it
of a married man who sins with the unmarried.
For the essence of the crime depends on the con-
dition of the injurers as well as the injured.
Tell me not of outward laws. I will declare to
thee the law of God." Yet we encounter a
qualification : the offence of a husband with the
unmarried is (p. 207) /xoixflas erepoi/ elSus.
We also find the preacher dwelling with great
force upon the lifelong servitude (SouAeta) of
marriage, and we perceive from comparing other
passages that there is an intentional contrast
with the noble freedom of celibacy.
Asterius of Amaseia has a forcible discourse
(printed by Combefis, and particularly worth
reading) on the question: "An liceat homini
dimittere uxorem suam, quacunque ex causa ? "
The chief part of it belongs to our next division,
but towards the end, after disposing of insuffi-
cient causes, he enters on the nature of adul-
tery. Here (as he says) the preacher stands by
the husband. "Nam cum duplici fine matrimo-
nia contrahuntur, benevolentiae ac quaerendorum
liberorum, neutrum in adulterio continetur. Nee
enim affectui locus, ubi in alterum animus
incliuat; ac sobolis omne decus et gratia perit,
quando liberi confunduntur." Our strong Teu-
tonic instincts feel the truth of these words.
Asterius then insists on mutual good faith, and
passes to the point that the laws of this world
are lenient to the sins of husbands who excuse
their own license by the plea of privileged
harmlessness. He replies that all women are
the daughters or wives of men. Some man
must feel each woman's degi-adation. He then
refers to Scripture, and concludes with precepts
on domestic virtue and example. The sermon
of Asterius shows how kindred sms may be
thoroughly condemned without abolishing esta-
blished distinctions. But it also shows a gene-
ral impression that the distinctions of the Forum
were pressed by apologists of sin iijto their own
baser service.
Jerome's celebrated case of Fabiola claims a
few lines. It was not really a divorce propter
adulterium, but parallel to the history told by
Justin Martyr. The points for us are the
antithesis between Paulus noster and Papini-
anus ( with Paulus Papiniani understood )
and the assertion that the Roman law turned
upon dignity — i.e. the matrona as distinguished
from the ancillula. Jerome feels most strongly
the unity of marriage, and joins with it the
proposition that the word Man contains Woman.
He therefore says that 1 Cor. vi. 16, applies
equally to both sexes. Moreover, the same
tendency appears, as in Chrysostom, to de-
press wedlock in fiivour of celibacy. Marriage
is servitude, and the yoke must be equal, " Eadem
servitus pari conditione censetur." But the
word adulterium is employed correctly ; and in
another place (on Hosea, ii. 2) he expressly
draws the old distinction — " Fornicaria est, quae
cum pluribus copulatur. Adultera, quae unum
virum deserens alteri jungitur." «
Augustine, like Lactantius, posits an idea of
marriage (Z>e Genesi, ix. 12 [vii.]). It possesses a
Good, consisting of three things — fdes, proles,
» The inmipta who offends cum vivo conjugato Is not
here made an adulteress ; Jerome's remedy might hiivn
been a specific constitutiun.
24
ADULTERY
sacramentum. " In fide attenditur ne praeter vin-
culum conjugale, cum altera vel altei'o concum-
batux-." But {Quaest. in Exod. 71) he feels a
difficulty about words — " Item quaeri solet utrum
moechiae nomine etiam f'ornicatio teneatur. Hoc
enim Graecum verbum est, quo jam Scriptura
utitur pro Latino. Moechos tameu Graeci nonnisi
adulteros dicunt. Sed utique ista Lex non solis
viris in populo, verum etiam feminis data est "
(Jerome, supra, thought of this point); how
much more by "non moechaberis, uterque sexus
astringitur, .... Ac per hoc si femina
moecha est, habens virum, concumbendo cum
eo qui vir ejus non est, etiamsi ille non habeat
uxorem ; profecto moechus est et vir habens
uxorem, concumbendo cum ea quae uxor ejus
non est, etiamsi ilia non habeat virum." He
goes on to quote Matt. v. 32, and infers " omuis
ergo moechia etiam fornicatio in Scripturis
dicitur — sed utrum etiam omnis fornicatio
moechia dici possit, in eisdem Scripturis non
mihi interim occurrit locutionis exemplum."
His final conclusion is that the greater sin im-
plies the less — a part the whole.
Augustine's sermon (ix. al. 96) De decern
Ghordis is an expansion of the above topics. In
3 (iii.) occurs the clause quoted Decret. ii. 32, q.
6. (a quaestio wholly from Augustine) — "JS'on
moechaberis: id est, non ibis ad aliquam aliam
praeter uxorem tuam." He adds some particulars
reminding us of Asterius. On the 7th Com-
mandment, which Augustine calls his 5th string,
he says, 11 (ix.), " In ilia video jacere totum pene
genus humanum ; " and mentions that false
witness and fraud were held in horror, but (12)
"si quis volutatur cum ancillis suis, amatur,
blande accipitur ; convertuntur vulnera in joca."
We cannot pass by two popes cited by Gra-
tian. One is Innocent I., whose 4th canon Ad
Exup. stands at the end of same c. 32, q. 5. " Et
illud desidei'atum est sciri, cur communicantes
viri cum adulteris uxoribus non conveniant :
cum contra uxores in consortio adulterorum
virorum manere videantur." The gloss explains
*' communicantes " of husbands who commit a
like sin with their -wives. But this may or may
not mean that they sinned cum conjugatis, and
the words " pari ratione," which follow, to be-
come decisive must be read with special emphasis.
The other is the great Gregory, quoted earlier
in same q. 5. The passage is from Greg. Mag.
Moralium, lib. 21, in cap. Jobi xxxi. 9; and as
it is truncated in quotation, we give the main
line of thought, omitting parentheses : " Quam-
vis nonnunquam a reatu adulterii nequajuam
discrepet culpa fornicationis (Matt. v. 28, quoted
and expounded). Tamen plerumque ex loco vel
ordine concupiscentis discernitur (instance). In
personis tamen non dissimilibus idem luxui-iae
distinguitur reatus in quibus fornicationis culpa,
quia ab adulterii reatu discernitur, praedicatoris
egregii lingua testatur (1 Cor. vi. 9)." The dif-
ference between the two sins is next confirmed
from Job. It is easy to see that the old juridical
sense of adulterium. is not taken away by these
expository distinctions.
We now come to the event which gives signi-
ficance and living interest to our recital of
opinions. The canon law of Rome took ground
which allied it on this as on other questions
with what appeared to be the rights of women.
Its treatment of cases arising out of the 7th
ADULTERY
Commandment widened the separation of East
and West, and left a mark on those barbarian
nations which owed their civilization or their
faith to pontifical Rome. Our business here is
only with a definition, but canonists followed
civilians in working their doctrine out to its
more remote consequences, and some of these
would form a curious chapter in history.
The essence of the pontifical definition is not
that a wife is the adultera, and her paramour
the adulter, but that the offence be committed
"cum persona conjugata," whether male or
female. Hence it comprehends two distinct
degrees of criminality. It is called simplex in
two cases, " cum solutus concumbit cum conju-
gata, vel conjugatus cum soluta." It is called
duplex " cum conjugatus concumbit cum conju-
gata." These distinctions are taken from F. L.
Ferraris, Proynpta Bibliot/wca (ed. 1781), in verbo.
They rest upon the Decretum as referred to by
Ferraris, part 2, cause 32, quaest. 4. But the
extracts we gave from qs. 5 and 6 should not be
neglected.
The Decretum, according to C. Butler (Ilorae
Juridicae Suhsecivae, p. 168), is made up from
(1) decrees of councils, (2) letters of pontiffs,
(3) writings of doctors. But on our subject the
last-named is the real source— e.gr. q. 4 is from
the moral and doctrinal writings of Augustine,
Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory I. ; q. 6 wholly
from Augustine. This is a very noteworthy
fact, since it tends to confirm a conclusion that
canonists had, previously agreed with the civil
law so for as concerns its definition of the crime.
Gratiau would never have contented himself with
quoting theologians if he could have found
councils, or canonical writings accepted by coun-
cils, to support his own decisions.
Such, then, is one not unimportant antithesis in
the wide divergence between East and West. It
would form an interesting line of inquiry (but
beyond our province) to use this antithesis as a
clue in those mixed or doubtful -cases of descent
where the main life of national codes and cus-
toms is by some held homesprung, by others
given to old Rome, and by a third party derived
from Latin Christianity.
Through all inquiry on this subject the stu-
dent must bear in mind that a confusion of
thought has followed the change in law ; e.g.
Ducange, Glossar., s. v., commences his article
with a short quotation from Gregory of Nyssa's
4th can. ad Let. (explained above), but the sen-
tence cited contains the opinion, not of the
saint, but of the objector whom he is answering.
Ducange proceeds to trace the same idea through
various codes without a suspicion that he has
begun by applying to one age the tenets of an-
other. The difficulty of avoiding similar mis-
takes is greater than at first sight might have
been anticipated. In the Dictionnaires of Tre-
voux, Furetiere, Richelet, and Danet, avoutrie
or adidtere is explained from papal law or Thom.
Aquin., while the citations mostly give the older
sense. In Chaucer's Persone's Tale we find the
same word (^avoutrie') defined after the civilians,
but soon after he mentions " mo spices " (more
species) taken from the other acceptation. John-
son gives to adultery the papal meaning, but his
sole example is from pagan Rome, and most
modern English dictionary makers are glad to
copy Johnson. A still more striking instance
ADULTERY
of confounded explanations occurs in a remark-
able dialogue between the doctor and his friend,
vol. iii. 46, of Crolver's Boswell.
The natural inference is that the above-men-
tioned authors were not conversant with the
great change of delinition undergone by the word
adultery and its equivalents. But when those
who write on the specialties of church history
and antiquities quote Fathers, councils, jurists,
and decretals, they ought in reason to note how
far the common terms which their catenae link
together are or are not used in the same sense
throughout. This precaution has been generally
neglected as regards the subject of this article,
— hence endless confusion.
Immediately upon the nature of the crime (as
legally defined) followed its Classification. By
Lex Julia, 48 Dig., i. 1, it was placed among
public wrongs. But a public wrong does not
necessarily infer a public right of prosecution ;
see GoVhofred's note on Cod. Theod. 9, tit. 7, s. 2.
— "Aliud est publicum crimen; aliud publica
accusatio." For Publica Judicia, cf. Dig. as
above and Institut. Justin. 4, 18, sub init.
Under Augustus the husband was preferred as
prosecutor, next the wife's father. The hus-
band was in danger of incurring the guilt of
procuration (lenociniuni) if he failed to prose-
cute (48, Dig. V. 2, § 2, and 29, sub init. ; also
9, Cod. Just. 9, 2). He must open proceedings by
sending a divorce to his wife (48, Dig. v. 2, § 2 ;
11, § 10 ; and 29, init.). Thus divorce Avas made
an essential penalty, though far from being the
whole punishment. By Nocell. 117, c. 8, pro-
ceedings might commence before the divorce.
Such prosecution had 60 days allowed for it,
and these must be dies utiles. The husband's
choice of days was large, as his lihellus might
be presented " de piano," i.e., the judge not sit-
ting "pro tribunali" (48, Dig. v. 11, § 6; and
14, § 2). The husband might also accuse for 4
months further, but not "jure mariti," only " ut
quivis extraneus" (Goth, on 11, § 6). For ex-
ample, see Tacit. Ann. ii. 85 ; Labeo called
to account by the praetor (cf Orell. note),
for not having accused his wife, pleads that his
60 days had not elapsed. After this time an
extraneus might intervene for 4 months of avail-
able days (tit. of Dig. last quoted, 4, § 1).
If the divorced wife married before accusation,
it was necessary to begin with the adulterer (2,
init. ; 39, § 3). The wife might then escape
through failure of the plaint against him (17,
§ 6). He was liable for five continuous years
even though she were dead (11, § 4; 39, § 2),
and his death did not shield her (19, init.), but
that period barred all accusation against both
oftenders(29, § 5; and 31 ; also 9, Cod. J. 9, 5).
Under Constantine, a.d. 826 (9, Cod. Theod. 7, 2,
and 9, Cod. J. 9, 30), the right of public prose-
cution was taken away. The prosecutors were
thus arranged : husband ; wife's relations, i.e.
father, brother, father's brother,mother's brother.
This order remained unaltered (see Balsam. Scliol.
in Bevereg. Pandect, i. 408, and Blastaris Syn-
tagma, p. 185).
The Mosaic law, like the Roman, made this
oftence a public wrong, and apparently also a
matter for public prosecution ; compare Deut.
xxii. 22, with John viii. 3 and 10. As long as
tho penalty of death was enforced, the husband
could not condone. But in later times he might
ADULTEKY
25
content himself with acting under Deut. xxiv. 1-
4. See Matt, i., 19. [Espousals count as matri-
mony under Jewish law even more strongly than
under Roman ; compare Deut. xxii. 23, seq., with
48, Dig. V, 13, § 3]. See also Hosea, ii. 2, iii. 1,
and parallel passages.
By canon law all known sins are scandals, and
as such public wrongs ; cf. Gothofr. marg. annot.
on Dig. 48, tit. 1, s. 1 ; Grat. Becret. ii. c.^6, 9, 1 ;
J. Clarus, Sent. Bee. v. 1, 6; and on Adultery,
Blackstone, iii. 8, 1, and iv. 4, 11. This offence
became known to Church authorities in various
ways; see Basil 34; Innocent ad Bxup. 4; and
Elib. 76, 78, Greg. Kyss. 4, where confession
mitigates punishment. A similar allowance for
self-accusation is found in regard of other crimes,
e.g. Greg. Thaum. cans. 8 and 9.
The Church agreed with the State in not
allowing a husband to condone (Basil, 9 and
21), and on clerks especially (Neocaesarea, 8).
Divines who were not canonists difl'ered consi-
derably. Hermas's Pastor (Mandat. iv.) allowed
and urged one reconciliation to a penitent wife.
Augustine changed his mind ; compare Be Adal-
terin. Conjug. lib. ii. 8 (ix.) with Bctractat. lib.
i. xix. 6. In the first of these places he hesitates
between condonation and divorce ; opposes for-
giveness " per claves regui caelorum " to the pro-
hibitions of law " secundum terrenae civitatis
modum," and concludes by advising continence,
which no law forbids. In the latter passage he
speaks of divorce as not only allowed but com-
manded. " Et ubi dixi hoc permissum esse, non
jussum ; non attendi aliam Scripturam dicentem ;
Qui tenet adulteram stultus et impius est "
(Prov. xviii. 22 ; Ixx.).
A public wrong implied civil rights ; therefore
this offence was the crime of free persons (Dig.
48, tit. 5, s. 6 init.). " Inter liberas tantum per-
sonas adulterium stuprumve passas Lex Julia
locum habet." Cf. Cod. J. 9, tit. 9, s. 23 init. A
slave was capable only of Contubernium (see Ser-
vics and Matrimonium in Diet. Antig.). Servitude
annulled marriage (Dig. 24, tit. 2, s. 1), or rather
made it null from the first (Novell. Just. 22. 8, 9,
10). " Ancillam a toro abjicere " is laudable ac-
cording to Pope Leo I. (Ad Bustic. 6). That
Christian princes attempted to benefit slaves
rather by manumission than by ameliorating the
servile condition, we see from the above-quoted
Novell, and from Harmenop. Proch. i. 14 ; the
slave (sec. 1) is competent to no civil relations,
and (sec. 6) his state is a quasi-death.
Concubinage was not adultery (Dig. 25, tit. 7,
s. 3, § 1); but a concubine might become an adult-
eress, because, though not an uxor, she ought to
be a matrona, and could therefore, if unfaithful, be
accused, not jure niar-iti, but jure extranet. Yor
legal conditions, see Cod. J. 5, tit. 26 and 27, Jtist.
Novell. 18, c. 5 ; also 74 and 89. Leo (Nov. 91)
abolished concubinage on Christian grounds. For
the way in which the Church regarded it, cf.
Bals., on Basil, 26, and Cone. Tolet. i. 17 ; also
August. Qwwst. in Genesim, 90, De Fid. et Op.
35 (xix.), and Serm. 392, 2. Pope Leo I. (Ad
Rustic. 4, cf. 6, as given by Mansi) seems to make
the legal concubine a mere ancilla ; cf. Grat.
Decret. I. Dist. 34 (ut supra) and Diet. Antiq. s. v.
We now come to much the gravest conse-
quence of a classification under public wrongs —
its eflect on woman's remedy. By Lex Julia, the
wife has no power of plaint against the husband
26.
ADULTEEY
for adulteiy as a public wrong (Cod J. 9.
tit. 9, s. 1.). Tliis evidently flows from the de-
finition of the crime, but the glossators' reasons
are curious. She cannot complain jure inariti
because she is not a husband, nor jure extranei
because she is a woman.
The magistrate was bound by law to inquire
into the morals of any husband accusing his wife
(Dig. 48, tit. 5, s. 1 3 § 5). This section is from an
Antonine rescript quoted at greater length from
the Cod. Gregorian, by Augustine, De Conjug.
Adulterin. lib. ii. 7 (viii.). The husband's guilt
did not act as a compensatio criminis. In Eng-
land the contrary holds, and a guilty accuser
shall not prevail in his suit (see Burns, Eccl.
Law, art. " Marriage."). But the wife's real
remedy lay in the use of divorce which during
the two last centuries of the Republic became
the common resource of women under grievances
real or fancied, and for purposes of the worst
kind. There is a graphic picture of this side
of Roman life in Boissier's Ciceron et ses Amis ;
and for the literature and laws, see " Divor-
tiura " in Smith's Diet, of Antiquities. Bris-
sonius de Funnulis gives a collection of the
phrases used in divorcing.
Constantine allowed only three causes on
either side — on the woman's these were her
husband's being a homicide, poisoner, or violator
. of sepulchres (jCod. Theod. 3, tit. 16, s. 1 ; cf. Edict.
Theodor. 54). This law was too strict to be
maintained ; the variations of Christian princes
may be seen in Cod. J. 5. tit. 17. Theodos. and
Valentin. 1. 8, added to other causes the hus-
band's aggravated incontinency. Anastasius, 1.
9, permitted divorce by common consent ; this
again " nisi castitatis concupiscentia " was taken
away by Justinian in his Novell. 117, which (cap.
9) allowed amongst other causes the husband's
gross unchastity. Justin restored divorce by
common consent.
The Church viewed, the general liberty to re-
pudiate under the civil law, with jealousy ; cf
Greg. Naziauz. Epp. 144, 5 (al. 176, 181), and
"Victor Antiochen. on Mark x. 4-12. But it was
felt that women must have some remedy for
extreme and continued wrongs, and this lay in
their using their legal powers, and submitting
the reasonableness of their motives to the judg-
ment of the Church. Basil's Can. 35 recognizes
such a process ; see under our Div. III. Spiritual
Penalties, No. 2. Still from what has been said,
it is plain that divorce might become a frequent
occasion of adultery, since the Church held that
a married person separated from insufficient
causes really continued in wedlock. Re-marriage
was therefore always a serious, sometimes a cri-
minal step. [Divorce.]
Marriage after a wife's death was also viewed
with suspicion. Old Rome highly valued conti-
nence under such circumstances ; Val. Max. ii. 1,
§ 3, gives the fact ; the feeling pervades those
tender lines which contrast so strongly with
Catullus V. ad Lesbiam —
" Occldit mea Lux, meumque Sidus ;
Sed caram sequar ; arbores que ut alta
Sub tellure sues agunt amoves,
Et radicibus impUcantur imis :
Sic nos consociabimur sepulti,
Et vivis erinius beatiores."
Similar to Val. Max. is Herm. Mandat. iv. 4.
Gregory Nazianz. (^Hmn. 37, al. 31) says that
ADULTERY
marriage represents Christ and the Church,
and there are not two Christs ; the first mar-
riage is law, a second an indulgence, a third
swinish. Against marriages beyond two, see
Neocaes. 3, Basil, 4, and Leo. Novell. 90. Curi-
ously enough, Leo (cf. Diet. Biog.) was him-
self excommunicated by the patriarch for marry-
ing a fourth wife. [Digamy.]
III. Penalties. — We are here at once met by u
very singular circumstance. Tribonian attri-
butes to Constantine and to Augustus two suspi-
ciously corresponding enactments, both making
death the penalty of this crime, and both inflict-
ing that death by the sword. The founder of
the Empire and the first of Christian emperors
are thus brought into a closeness of juxtaposi-
tion which might induce the idea that lawyers,
like mythical poets, cannot dispense with Kpo-
nyms.
The Lex Julia furnishes a title to Cod. Theod. 9,
tit. 7 ; Dig. 48, tit. ; and Cod. J. 9, tit. 9 ; but in
none of these places is the text preserved, and we
only know it from small excerpts. The law of
Constantine in Cod. Theod. 9, tit. 7, s. 2, contains
no capital penalty, but in Cod. J. 9, tit. 9, s. 30,
after fifteen lines upon accusation, six words
are added — " Sacrileges autem nuptiarum gladio
puniri oportet." The word " sacrileges " used
substantively out of its exact meaning is very
rare (see Facciolati). For the capital clause,
ascribed to the Lex Julia, see Instit. iv. 18, 4 ; but
this clause has been since the time of Cujacius
rejected by most critical jurists and historians, of
whom some maintain the law of Constantine,
others suppose a confusion between the great em-
peror and his sons. Those who charge Tribonian
with emhlemata generally believe him to have
acted the harmonizer by authority of Justinian.
On these two laws there is a summary of the case
in Selden, Uxor. Ebr. iii. 12, with foot references.
Another is the comment in Gothofred's ed. oi' Cod.
Theod. vol. iv. 296, 7. Heineccius is not to be
blindly trusted, but in Op. vol. III. his Syll. xi. De
Secta Triboniano-mastigum contains curious mat-
tei-, and misled Gibbon into the idea of a regular
school of lawyers answering this description.
The passages in Cujacius may be traced through
each volume by its index. See also Hoffmann,
Ad Leg. Jul. (being Tract iv. in Fellenberg's
Jurisprudentia Antiqua) ; Lipsii Excurs. in Tacit.
Ann. iv. ; Orelli, on Tacit. Ann. ii. 50 ; Ortolan,
Explication des Instituts, iii. p. 791 ; Sandars,
On the Institutes, p. 605 ; Diet. Antiq., " Adult-
erium " ; and Diet. Biog., " Justinianus."
The fact most essential to us is that prae-
Christian emperors generally substituted their
own edicts for the provisions of the Lex Julia,
and that the successors of Constantine were
equally diligent in altering his laws. Histo-
rians have frequently assumed the contrary ;
Valesius' note on Socrates, v. 18, may serve by
way of example. The Church could not avoid
adapting her canons to the varied states of civil
legislation ; cf. Scholia on Can. Apost. 5, and
Trull. 87, besides many other places. The true
state of the case will become plainer if we briefly
mention the different ways in v/hich adultery
might be legally punished.
1. The Jus Occidendi, most ancient in its ori-
gin ; moderated under the Empire ; but not taken
away by Christian princes. Compare Dig. 48, tit.
5, s. 20 to 24, 32 and 38, with same 48, tit, 8,
ADULTEEX
s. 1, § 5 ; Cod. J. 9, tit. 9, s. 4 ; and Pauli Becept.
Sentent. ii. 26. This right is commou to most
nations, but the remarkable point is that Roman
law gave a greater prerogative of homicide to the
woman's father than to her husband. For a
similar custom and feeling, see Lane's Modern
Egyptians i. 297. The Jus Occidcndi under the
Old Testament is treated by Selden, De Jure Nat.
et Gent, juxta Discip. Ebraeor. iv. 3 ; in old and
modern France, by Ducange and Ragueau ; in
England, by Blackstone and Wharton. There is
a provision in Basil's Can. 34- directing that if a
woman's adultery becomes known to the Church
authorities either by her own confession or other-
wise, she shall be subjected to penitence, but not
placed among the public penitents, lest her hus-
band, seeing her should surmise what has occurred
and slay her on the spot (cf. Blastaris Syntagma,
letter M, cap. 14). This kind of summary venge-
ance has often been confounded with the penalty
inflicted by courts of law, e.g. its celebrated as-
sertion by Cato in A. Gell. x. 23, though his words
" sine judicio " ought to have prevented the mis-
take. Examples of it will be found Val. Max.
vi. 1, 13 ; the chastisement of the historian Sal-
lust is described A. Gell. xvii. 18 ; many illustra-
tions are scattered thi'oUgh the satirists, and
one, M. Ann. Senec, Controv. i. 4, is pai'ticularly
curious.
2. The Household Tribunal, an institution
better known because of the details in Dion.
Hal. ii. 25. The remarks of Mommsen (i. 5 and
12), should be compared with Mr. Hallam's phi-
losophical maxim {Suppt. to Middle Ages, art. 54)
that the written laws of free and barbarous
nations are generally made for the purpose of
preventing the infliction of arbitrary punish-
ments. See for the usage Val. Max. ii. 9, 2, and
A. Gell. X. 23, in which latter place the husband
is spoken of ts the wife's censor, a thought which
pervades Origen's remarkable exposition of Matt.
XIX. 8, 9, compared with v. 32 (tomus xiv. 24).
The idea itself was likely to be less alien from
the mind of the Church because of the patri-
archal power which sentenced Tamar to the
flames, and the apostolic principle that " the
Head of the Woman is the Man." It is plain,
however, that all private administration of jus-
tice is opposed to the whole tenour of Church
legislation. But perhaps the most pleasant ex-
ample of the Roman Household Court best shows
the strength and extent of its jurisdiction. Pom-
ponia Graecina (Tacit. Ann. xiii. 32) was so tried
on the capital charge of foreign superstition,
and the noble matron, an early convert, as is
sometimes supposed, to Christianity, owed her
life to the acquittal of her husband and his
family assessors.
3. A far more singular penalty on adultery is
mentioned. Tacit. Ann. ii. 85, Sueton. Tib. 35, and
Merivale, v. 197. It consisted in permitting a
matron to degrade herself by tendering her name
to the Aediles for insertion in the register of pub-
lic women. Tacitus speaks of it as "more inter
veteres recepto," and looks back with evident
regret upon the ages when such shame was felt
to be an ample chastisement. His feeling is
shared by Val. Max. ii. 1. A like custom sub-
sisted before 1833 among the modern Egyptians,
(see Lane, i. 176-7), difl'ering only in the fact that
the degradation was compulsory, a custom curi-
ously parallel to a narrative of Socrates, v. 18,
ADULTERY 27
(copied by Nicephorus, xii. 22), who says that
there remained at Rome, till abolished by the
Christian Emperor Theodoslus I., places of con-
finement called Sistra, where women who had
been caught in breaking the 7th Commandment
were compelled to acts of incontinency, during
which the attention of the passers-by was at-
tracted by the ringing of little. bells in order that
their ignominy might be known to every one.
Valesius has a dubious note founded chiefly on
a mistake, already observed, as to the constancy
of Roman punishments. They really were most
variable, and here again Egypt offers a parallel,
cf. Lane, i. 462-3. Kiebuhr {Lectures on Soman
Hist. i. 270) thinks the unfixed nature of penal-
ties for numerous ofi'ences in Greece and Rome a
better practice than the positive enactments of
modern times. We now pass to
4. Judicial Punishments. — Augustine ( Civ. Dei,
iii. 5) says that the ancient Romans did not in-
flict death upon adulteresses (cf. Liv. i. 28, x.
2, XXV. 2, and xxxix. 18 ;) those who read Plautus
will find divorce described as their usual chas-
tisement. The critics of Tribonian generally be-
lieve that Paulus (Sentent. ii. 26, 14) gives the
text of the Lex Julia. It commences with the
punishment of the woman, and proceeds to that
of her paramour on the principle before noticed
of the adultera being the true criminal, and the
adulter her accomplice. After Constantine,
though the civil law maintains this ancient
position, there is an apparent inclination to punish
the man as a seducer — a clearly vital alteration,
and due pi-obably to Christian influences.
Augustine places the lenity of old Rome to-
wards adulterous women in contrast with the
severities exercised on Vestal virgins. His state-
ment is not necessarily impugned by those who
rank adultery among capital crimes (e.g. Cod. J.
9, tit. 9, s. 9), since by some kinds of banishment
"eximitur caput de civitate," and hence the
phrase " civil death " (see Dig. 48, tit. 1, s. 2 ;
tit. 19, s. 2 ; tit. 22, s. 3-7). Emperors varied
from each other, and from themselves. Augustus
exceeded his own laws (Tacit. Ann. iii. 24). Ti-
berius was perverse (ibid. iv. 42). Appuleius,
under the Antonines, represents the legal penalty
as actual death, and seems to imply that burn-
ing the adulteress alive was not an unknown
thing (3Iet. ix. ut supra). Of Macrinus it is ex-
pressly stated (Jul. Capit. 12), " Adulterii reos
semper vivos simul incendit, junctis corporibus."
Alexander Severus held to a capital penalty (Cod.
J. 9, tit. 9), as above. Paulus was of his council
(cf. Ael. Lamprid. 25), a fact favouring the sup-
position that the section (Becept. Sent. ii. 26, 14)
which mentions a punishment not capital must
represent an earlier law. Arnobius, under Dio-
cletian (see Diet. Bioq.), speaks of adultery as
capital (iv. p. 142, ed. Var.). With the above
precedents before him, the reader may feel in-
clined to distrust the charge of new and Mosaic
severity brought against Constantine and his
successors in chap. 44 of Gibbon, vol. v. p. 322,
ed. Milman and Smith.
Whether the disputed penal clause of Con-
stantine be genuine or not, by another law of his
(Cod. J. 9, tit. 11) a woman offending with a
slave was capitally punished, and the slave burned.
Constantius ami Constans (Cod. Theod. 11, tit.
36, s. 4) enacted " pari similique ratione sacrilcgoa
nuptiarum, tanquam manifestos parricida.s, in-
28
ADULTERY
suere culeo vivos, vel exurere, judicautem opor-
teat." Compare Diet. Antiq. art. Leges Corneliae,
" Lex Pompeia de Parricidiis," and for burning,
Pauli Sentent. Eecept. \. 24. Baronius (sub fin.
Ann. 339) has a note on " Sacrileges," — a word
which placed the male offender in a deeply criminal
light. The execution of the sentence was en-
forced by clear cases of adultery being excepted
from appeal {Sent. Eecept. ii. 26, 17), and after-
wards XCod. Theod. 9, tit. 38, s. 3-8), from the
Easter indulgence, when, in Imperial phrase, the
Resurrection Moi-ning brought light to the dark-
ness of the prison, and brolce the bonds of the
transgressor. Yet we may ask. Was the Con-
stantian law really maintained? Just thirty
years later, Ammianus (xxviii. 1) gives an ac-
count of the decapitation of Cethegus, a senator
of Rome ; but though the sword was substituted
for fire, he reckons this act among the outrages
of Maximin, prefect of the city ; and how easily
a magistrate might indulge in reckless barbarity
may be seen by the horrible trial for adultery
described by Jerome {Ad Innocent.'), in which both
the accused underwent extreme tortures. Again,
though the Theodosian code (in force from A.D.
439) gave apparent life to the Constantian law,
yet by a rescript of Majorian (a.d. 459) it is
ordered that the adulterer shall be punished " as
under former emperors," by banishment from
Italy, with permission to any one, if he return,
to kill him on the spot {Novell. Major. 9). That
death in various times and places was the penalty,
seems clear from Jerome on Nah. i. 9 ; the Vandal
customs in Salvian, 7 ; and Can. Wallici, 27.
Fines appear in later Welsh, as in Salic and
A. S. codes. For these and other punishments
among Christianized barbarians, see Ancient Laws
of Wales; Lindenbrogii Cod. Leg., Wilkins, vol. i.,
Olaus Mag. de Gent. Septent. XIV. ; and Ducange
s. V. and under Trotari.
For Justinian's legislation see his 134th Novell.
Cap. 10 renews the Constantian law against the
male offender, extends it to all abettors, and in-
flicts on the female bodily chastisement, with
other penalties short of death. Cap. 12 contem-
plates a possible evasion of justice, and further
oflences, to which are attached further severities.
Caps. 9 and 13 contain two merciful provisions.
Leo, in his 32nd Novell, (cited by Harmenop. as
19th), compares adultery with homicide, and
punishes both man and woman by the loss of
their noses and other inflictions. For a final
summary, cf Harmenop. Proch. vi. 2, and on the
punishment of incontinent married men, vi. 3.
Spiritual penalties may be thus arranged — 1.
Against adultery strictly so called (Can. Apost.
61 al. 60). A convicted adulter cannot receive
orders. — Ancyra, 20. Adultera and adulter (so
Schol., husband with guilty knowledge, Routh
and Fleury), 7 years' penitence. — Neocaesarea, 1.
Presbyter so ofl'ending to be fully excommunicated
and brought to penitence. — Neocaesai'ea, 8. The
layman whose wife is a convicted adultera can-
not receive orders. If the husband be already
ordained, he must put her away under penalty
of deprivation. — Basil, can. 9. An unchaste wife
must be divorced. An unchaste husband not so,
even if adulterous ; this is the rule of Church
custom. [N.B. — We place Basil here because ac-
cepted by Trull. 2.]— Basil, 58. The adulter 15
years' penitence; cf. 59, which gives 7 years to
simple incontinence, and compare with both can.
ADULTERY
7 and Scholia. — Gregor. Nyss., can. 4, prescribes
18 years (9 only for simple incontinence). — Basil,
27, and Trull. 26, forbid a presbyter who has
ignorantly contracted an unlawful marriage be-
fore orders to discharge his functions, but do not
degrade him. — Basil, 39. An adultera living with
her paramour is guilty of continued crime. This
forbids her marriage with him, as does also the
civil law. Cf. on these marriages Triburiense, 40,
49, and 51. — On intended and incipient sin, com-
pare Neocaesarea, 4, with Basil, 70 (also Scholia)
and Blastaris Syntagma, cap. xvi. — The synod of
Eliberis, though held A.D. 305, was not accepted
by any Universal Council, but it represents an
important part of the Western Church, and its
canons on discipline are strict. The following
arrangement will be found useful. Eliberis, 19.
Sin of Clerisy. (Cf. Tarracon. 9.)— 31. Of young
men. — 7. Sin, if repeated. — 69. Of married men
and women. — 47. If habitual and with relapse
after penitence. — 64. Of women continuing with
their accomplices ; cf. 69. — 65. Wives of clerks.
— 70. Husbands' connivance (F. Mendoza remarks
on the antiquity of this sin in Spain). — 78. Of
married men with Jewesses or Pagans.
2. Against Adultery as under Sjjiritual hut not
Civil Law. — Both canonists and divines joined with
our Saviour's precepts, Pi'ov. xviii. 23 ; Jer. iii. 1
(both LXX); 1 Cor. vi. 16, and vii. 11-16 and 39.
They drew two conclusions: (1) Divorce, except
for adultery, is adultery. Under this fell the
questions of enforced continence, and of marriage
after divorce. (2) To retain an adulterous wife
is also adultery — a point disputed by divines, e.g.
Augustine, who yielded to the text in Proverbs
{Retract, i. xix. 6). These divisions should be
remembered though the points are often blended
in the canons.
Can. Apost. 5. No one in higher orders to
cast out his wife on plea of religion. This is
altered as regards bishops by Trull. 12, but
the change (opposed to African feeling) was not
enough to satisfy Rome. It must be remem-
bered that, though divorce was restrained by
Constantine, whose own mother had thus suf-
fered (see Eutrop. ix. 22), his law was relaxed
by Theod. and Valentin, and their successors,
and it was common for a clerk, forced into conti-
nence, to repudiate his wife. Trull. 13, opposes
the then Roman practice as concerns priests and
deacons, and so far maintains, as it says, Can.
Apost. 5. — The Scholia on these three canons
should be read. For the Roman view of them
compare Binius and other commentators with
Fleury, Hist. Eccl. xl. 50. Cf. Siricius, Ad Himer.
7; Innocent I. AdExup. 1, Si-ad Ad Max. et Sev. ;
Leo I. Ad Rustic. 3, and Ad Anastas. 4. See also
Milman, Lat. Christ, i. 97-100. The feeling of
Innocent appears most extreme if Jerome's asser-
tion {Ad Dcmetriad.) of this pope's being his
predecessor's son is literally meant, as Milman
and others believe. — Can. Apost. 18, al. 17.
On marriage with a cast-out wife ; cf. Levit.
xxi. 7. — 48, al. 47. Against casting out and
marrying again, or marrying a dismissed woman.
"Casting out" and "dismissed" are explained
by the Scholiasts in the sense of unlawful repu-
diations. Sanchez {De Matrim. lib. x. de Divort.
Disp. ii. 2) quotes this canon in the opposite sense,
and brings no other authority to forbid divorce
before Innocent I.; indeed mDisp. i. 12, he says,
" Posterior (excusatio) est, indissolubilitatem ma-
ADULTERY
tiiinonii non ita arete in primitiva Ecclesia in-
tellectam esse, quia liceret ex legitima causa,
apud Episcopos provinciales probata, libellum
repudii dare." F. Mendoza makes a like reserve
on Eliberis, 8. It is to be observed that Latin
renderings of Greek law terms are apt to be am-
biguous ; e.g. " Soluta " is sometimes used of
a dismissed wife, sometimes of an unmarried
woman. — Basil, Ad Amphiloch. can 9. The dictum
of our Lord applies naturally to both sexes, but
it is otherwise ruled by custom [i.e. of the
Church, see a few lines further, with Scholia ;
and on unwritten Church custom having the
force of law cf. Photii Nomoc. i. 3, and refer-
ences]. In the case of wives that dictum is
stringently observed according to 1 Cor. vi. 16 ;
Jer. iii. 1, and Prov. xviii., latter half of 23
(both in LXX and Vulgate). — If, however, a di-
vorced husband marries again, the second wife is
not an adultera, but the first ; cf. Scholia. [Here
the Latin translator has mistaken the Greek ; he
renders ovk olSa el Svvarai by " nescio an possit,"
instead of " nescio an non " — so as to give the con-
trary of Basil's real meaning.] A woman must
not leave her husband for blows, waste of dower,
incontinence, nor even disbelief (cf. 1 Cor. vii. 16),
under penalty of adultery. Lastly, Basil forbids
second marriage to a husband putting away
his wife, i.e. unlawfidly according to Aristenus,
Selden, Ux. Ebr. iii. 31, and Scholia on Trull. 87.
On like Scripture grounds Can. 26 of 2nd Synod
attributed to St. Patrick, commands divorce of
adulteresses, and permits husband to remarry. —
Basil, 21, assigns extra penitence to what would
now be called simple adultery (then denied by
Church custom to be adultery), i.e. the incon-
tinency of a married man. Divorce is next
treated as a penalty — an offending wife is an
adulteress and must be divorced — not so the hus-
band ; cf. can. 9. Basil, unlike Gregory of Nyssa,
does not justify in reason the established custom.
— 35. Alludes to a judgment of the sort men-
tioned by Sanchez and Mendoza, and referred
to above. — Can. 48. Separated wife had better
not re-marry.
Carthage, 105 ap. Bev. (in Cod. Ecd. Afric.
102). — Divorced persons (i.e. either rightly or
wrongly repudiating) to remain unmarried or
be reconciled, and an alteration of Imperial law
in this sense to be petitioned for. This breathes
a Latin rather than an Eastern spirit, and is the
same with 2 Milevis (Mileum), 17 (repeated Cone.
Afric. 69), cf. 1 Aries, 10, and Innocent I., Ad
Exup. 6. The case is differently determined
under differing conditions by Aug. de Fid. et
Oper. 2 (i.) compared with 35'(xix.).
The Scholiasts hold that the Carthaginian
canon was occasioned by facility of civil divorce,
but superseded by Trull. 87. Innocent III., with
a politic regard for useful forgeries, ordained that
earlier should prevail over later canons (cf
Justell. i. 311), but the Greek canonists (as here)
maintain the reverse, which is likewise ably up-
held and explained by Augustine, De Bapt. II. 4,
(iii.), and 14 (ix.).
Trull. 87, is made up of Basil's 9, 21, 35, and
48. The Scholia should be read — but they do
not notice that, when it was framed, divorce by
consent had been restored by Justin, Novell. 2
(authent. 140). They are silent because neither
this Novell, nor all Justinian's 117 were insorteil
in the Basilica then used : his 134 alone repre-
ADULTERY
29
seuted the law (see Photii Nomoc. XIII. 4, Sch. 3).
— Trull. 87, is so worded as to express desertion,
and therefore implies a judicial process, without
which re-marriage must be held mere adultery
(see on this point, Blastaris Syntagm. : Gamma,
13). The " divine " Basil, here highly magnified,
is elevated still higher in Blastaris, Caus. Matrim.
ap. Leunclavii Jus Graeco-Boman. p. 514.
This canon closes the circle of Oecumenical
law upon adultery, and on divorce, treated partly
as its penalty and partly as its cause. The
points of agreement with State law are plain ;
the divergence is an effect of Church restraint
upon divorce, which, if uncanonical, easily led to
digamy, and formed per se a species of adultery.
According to canonists (Photii Nomoc. I, 2, Schol.
2), Church law, having a twofold sanction, could
not be resisted by Imperial constitutions.
As the ancient mode of thinking on adultery
is alien from our own, it seems right to refer
the reader to the vindication of its morality by
Gregory Nyss. (Ad Let. 4). — Gregory is by no
means lenient to the incontinency of married or
unmarried men with single women ; 9 years of
penitence with all its attendant infamy made up
no trifling chastisement. But he held that the
offence of a married woman and her paramour
involves three additional elements of immorality
— the treacherous, the specially unjust, and the
unnatural ; or, to put the case another way, he
estimated the sin by the strength of the barriers
overleaped by passion, and by the amount of
selfishness involved in its gi-atification. So, in
modern days, we often speak of an adulteress as
an unnatural mothei-, and visit her seducer with
proportionate indignation. Thus viewed, spuri-
ousness of progeny is not a censure by rule of
expediency, but a legal test of underlying de-
pi-avity.
This section may usefully close with examples
showing how the ancient position has been over-
looked as well as resisted. We saw that Car-
thage, 105, and its parallels forbade marriage
after divorce, whether just or unjust, and that
the view of its being adultery had gained ground
in the West. Now, three earlier Eliberitan canons
uphold the other principle. Can. 8. Against re-
marriage of a woman causelessly repudiating.
9. Against re-marriage of a woman leaving an
adulterous husband. 10. Against marriage with
a man guilty of causeless dismissal. From this
last canon, compared with 8 and 9, it appears
that the husband divorcing an adulteress may
marry again, which by 9 an aggrieved wife can-
not do ; cf. the parallel, Basil, 9, supra. Cote-
lerius, note 16, 3, to Herm. Fast. Mand. iv.,
quotes cans., 9 and 10 as a support to the pseudo-
Ambrose on 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11, and construes
both to mean that the man is favoured above
the woman under like conditions. He is fol-
lowed by Bingham, xvi. 11, 6, as far as the so-
called Ambrose is concerned. But we have suf-
ciently proved that Church custom did not per-
mit incontinency to be held a like condition
n husband apd in wife. The pseudo-Ambrose
himself misleads his readers — his law agrees
with the Basilean canon, but not content with
la3nng down the law, he goes on to reason out
the topic — the man's being the head of the
woman, &c. The Western Canon ascribed to St.
Patrick {supra) seems a remarkable contrast to
the Latin rule. The fact is equally remarkable
30
ADULTERY
that at no further distance from Eliberis than
Aries, and as early as A.D. 314, it was enacted
by Can. 10 that young men detecting their wives
iu adultei-y should be counselled against mariy-
ing others during the lifetime of the adulteresses
(cf. Kantes 12). Most curious to us are the de-
crees of Pope Leo I., Ad Nicet. 1, 2, 3, 4, which
allow the wives of prisoners of war to marry
others, but compel them to return to their
husbands under pain of excommunication should
the captives be released and desire their society.
Such instances as these and some before cited
illustrate the various modes of affirming an iron
bond in marriage, and of resisting the law on
adultery, and on divorce as the penalty of adul-
tery (afterwards received in TruUo), ere yet the
opposition formed an article in the divergence
01 Greek and Latin Christendom. With them
should be compared the extracts from divines
given under Division H. supra, which display in
its best colours the spirit of the revolution. For
other particulars, see Divorce.
3. Constructive Adultery. — The following are
treated as guilty of the actual crime : — Trull. 98.
A man marrying a betrothed maiden ; cf Basil,
37, with Schol.,\and Dig. 48, tit. 5, s. 13, § 3 ;
also Siricius, Ad Him. 4. — Elib. 14. Girls seduced
marrying other men than their seducers. — Basil,
18. Consecrated virgins who sin and their para-
mours ; cf his 60. These supersede Ancyra, 19,
bv which the offence was punished as digamy.
See on same. Trull. 4 ; Elib.l3 ; Siric. Ad Him. 6,
Innocent, J^ii TVrfr. 12 and 13. Cyprian, ^cZ PoHi-
jion., pronounced it better they should marry —
the offender is " Christi Adultera." Jerome, Ad
Demetriad. sub fin., perplexes the case for irre-
vocable vows by declaring, " Quibus aperte dicen-
dum est, ut aut nubant, si se non possunt conti-
nere, aut contineant, si nolunt nubere." — Laod.
10 and 31, accepted by Chalced. i. and Trull. 2,
forbid giving sons and daughters in marriage to
heretics. Eliberis, 15, 16, 17, enact severe penal-
ties against parents who marry girls to Jews,
heretics, and unbelievers, above all to heathen
priests. 1, Aries, 11, has same prohibition, so too
Agde, 67. By Cod. Thcod. 16, tit. 8, s. 6 (a.d.
339), Jews must not take Christian women ; by
Cod. Theod. 3, tit. 7, s. 2 (a.d. 388), all marriage
between Jew and Christian is to be treated as
adultery, a law preserved by Justinian {God. J.
1, tit. 9, s. 6). Some suppose this phrase simply
means treated as a capital offence, but Elib. 1,5,
mentions the risk oi adidterium animae. The pas-
sage in TertuUian, Ad Ux. ii. 3, "fidcles gentilium
matrimonia subeuntes stupri reos esse constat,"
&c. (cf. Division L supra) shows how early this
thought took hold of the Church. Idolatry
from Old Testament times downward was adul-
tery ; and divines used the principle 1 Cor. vi.
15, 16, and parallel texts, to prove that marriage
with an unclean transgressor involved wife or
husband in the sinner's guilt. Compare Justin
Martyr in the history cited Division I., Cyprian,
Testimon. iii. 62, and Jerome, Epitaph. Fabiolae.
It would appear therefore that law was thus
worded to move conscience, and how hard the
task of law became may be gathered from Chal-
cedon, 14. This canon (on which see Schol. and
Routh's note, Opusc. ii. 107) concerns the lower
clerisy ; but the acceptance of Laodicea by Can.
1 had already met the case of lay people. See
further under MarriaCxE.
ADVENT
The Church was strict against incitements and
scandals. Professed virgins must not live with
clerks as sisters. See SuB-iNTRODUCTAE. On
promiscuous bathing. Trull. 77, Laod. 30 ; the
custom was strange to early Rome, but practice
varied at different times (se« Diet. Antiq. Bal-
neae). On female adornment, Trull. 96, and com-
pare Commodian's address to matrons, Inst. 59,
60. — Elib. 35, forbids women's night watching
in cemeteries, because sin was committed under
pretext of prayer. Against theatricals, loose
reading, some kinds of revels, dances, and other
prohibited things, see Bingham, xvi. 11, 10-17,
with the references, amongst which those to
Cyprian deserve particular attention.
For the general literature on Canon Law see
that article. Upon civil law there are excellent
references under Justinianus, Diet. Biogr., with
additional matter in the notes to Gibbon, chap.
44, ed. Smith and Milman, and a summarv re-
specting the Basilica, vol. vii. pp. 44, 45. " We
may here add that Mommsen is editing a text of
the Corjms Juris Civilis ; and the whole Russian
code is now being translated for English publica-
tion. There is a series of manuals by Ortolan
deserving attention : Histoire de la Legislation
romaine, 1842 ; Cows de Legislation penale com-
paree, 1839-41 ; Explication des Listituts, 1863.
Gothofredi Mamuxle Juris, and Windscheid's
Lehrbuch d. Pandektenrechts (2nd ed.) may be
useful. An ample collection of Councils and Ec-
clesiastical documents relating to Great Britain
and Ireland is being published at Oxford. Re-
ferences on special topics have been fully given
above, and will serve to indicate the readiest
sources for further information. Curious readers
will find interesting matter in Saint Edme, Dic-
tionnaire de la P^nalite ; Taylor, On Civil Law;
and Duni, Origine e Progressi del Cittadino e del
Governo civile di Roma, 1763-1764. [W. J.]
ADVENT {Adventus, NriTTfia tS>v Xpiarov-
yevyuv), is the season of preparation for the
Feast of the Nativity, to which it holds the like
relation as does Lent to Easter. As no trace of
an established celebration of the birth of our
Lord is met with before the 4th century [Na-
tivity], no earlier origin can be assigned to the
ecclesiastical institution of Advent; the state-
ment otDnvamd {Eationale divin. off .vi. 21), which
makes this an appointment of St. Peter (unless,
like other statements of the same kind, it means
only that this was an ordinance of the see of St.
Peter), may rest, perhaps, on an ancient tradition,
making Christmas an apostolic institution, but
is contrary to all historical testimony, and devoid
of probability. Expressions which have been
alleged on that behalf from TertuUian, St. Cyprian,
and other early writers, are evidently meant, not
of "Advent " as a Church season, but of the
coming of the Loi-d in the fulness of time. A
passage of St. Chrysostom (Horn. iii. ad Eph.
t. xi. 22 B), in which Kaiphs tt)? irpocrShov is
mentioned in connection with ra 'EirLipavia (t. e.
the ancient Feast of Nativity and Baptism) and
with the Lenten Quadragesima, speaks, as the
context manifestly shows, not of the season of
Advent, but of the fit time (or rather fitness in
general) for coming to Holy Communion (comp.
Menard on Libr. Sacram. S. Gregorii ; 0pp. t. iii.
col. 446). Setting aside these supposed testi-
monies, and that of the Sermons de Adventu,
ADVENT
ADVENT
31
alleged as St. Augustine's, but certainly not his,
we have two homilies In (or De) Adcentu Domini,
de eo quod dictum est, sicut fulijur coruscans, &c.,
et de duobus in lecto uno, by St. Maximus, Bishop
of Turin, ob. 466. In neither of these sermons
is there any indication of Advent as a season,
any allusion to Lessons, Gospels, &c., appro-
priated to such a season, or to the Feast of
Nativity as then approaching. And, indeed, the
lact that the " Sundays in Advent " are unknown
to the Sacramentary of Pope Leo of the same age
sufficiently shows that this season was not yet
established in the time of Maximus. Among
the Homilies (doubtfully) ascribed to this
bishop, edited by Mabillon (J/ms. Ital. i. i. pt. 2),
one, hom. vii., preached on the Sunday before
Chri-Stmas, simply exhorts to a due observance of
the feast, and contains no indication of any
ecclesiastical rule. Even in the Sermons de
Adventu, formerly ascribed to St. Augustine
now generally acknowledged to have been
written by Caesarius, Bishop of Aries, ob. 542 (S.
Augustini 0pp. t. v. 210,' Ben. Append, n. 115,
116), there is no distinct recognition of Advent
as an established observance. In these, the faithful
are exhorted to prepare themselves, several days
(ante plures dies), foi the due celebration of the
Nativity, especially of the Christmas Communion,
by good works, by guarding against anger and
hatred, by modest hospitality to the poor, by
strict continence, &c. Still there is no indi-
cation of the length of time so to be set apart,
nor any reference to Lessons, Gospels, or other
matters of Church usage. The preacher urges
such preparation, not on the ground of Church
observance, but as matter of natural fitness :
" Even as ye would prepare for celebrating the
birth-day of a great lord by putting your houses
in order," &c. " Ideo ab omni inquinamento
ante ejus Natalem multis diebus abstinere de-
betis. Quotiescumque aut Natalem Domini aut
reliquas sollemnitates celebrare disponitis, ebrieta-
tem ante omnia fugite," &c. And so in the
second sermon : " Et ideo quotiescumque aut dies
Natalis Domini, aut relUiuae festivitates adveniunt,
sicut frequenter admonui, ante plures dies non
solum ab infelici concubinarum consortio, sed
etiam a propriis uxoribus abstinete : ab omni ira-
cundia," &c. There is indeed a canon cited by
Gratian {Decretal, xxxiii. qu. 4) as of the Council
of Lerida, A.d. 523, prohibiting all marriage /rom
Advent to Epiphany. But this canon is known
to be spurious, and does not appear in the
authentic copies (see Brun's Concilia, t. ii. 20).
A similar canon of the Council of Macon, (a.d.
581, ibid. 242) is undisputed. This (can. ix.)
enjoins that from the Feast of St. Martin
(Nov. 11) to the Nativity there be fasting
on Mon<lay, Wednesday, and Friday of each
week, and that the canons be then read ; also
that the sacrifices be offered in the quadragesimal
order. (Subsequent councils, after our period,
enjoin the observance of this Quadragesima S.
Martini as the preparation for Christmas, corre-
sponding to the Lenten Quadragesima before
Easter.) It does not appear what were the
canons appointed to be read, relating, of coui-se,
to the observance of these forty days before
Christmas; only, it may be infevred that such
canons were, or were supposed to be, in exist-
ence, of earlier date than that of Macon (in the
preface to which council it is said these enact-
ments are not new : " non tarn nova quam prisca
patrum statuta sancientes " &c.). In the second
Council of Tours (a.d. 567), the fast of three
days in the week is ordered (can. xvii.) for the
months of September, October, and November,
and from (1) December to the Nativity, omni
die. But this is for monks only. St. Gregory,
Bishop of Tours, in De Vitis Patrum, written
between 590 and 595, alleges that Perpetuus,
Bishop of Tours (461-490), ordered "a deposi-
tione B. Martini usque ad Nat. Dom. terna in
septimana jejunia." This may have been one
of the prisca statuta appealed to ; but no trace
is extant of any such canon, either in the First
Council of Tours, a.d. 460, or in any other Latin
council before that of Macon. It seems, from all
that is certainly known, that Advent took its place
among Church seasons only in the latter part
of the 6th century. When the Nativity had
become established as one of the great festivals,
it was felt that its dignity demanded a season of
preparation. The number of days or weeks to be
so set apart was at first left to the discretion of
the faithful : "ante plures dies, multis diebus, '
as in the above-cited exhortation of Caesarius.
Later, this was defined by rule, and first, it
seems, in the Churches of Gaul. Yet not every-
where the same I'ule: thus the oldest Galilean
Sacramentary shows three Sundays in Advent,
the Gothic-Gallican only two (Mabillon, Mus.
Ital. t. i. pp. 284-288 ; and de Liturg. Oallicana,
p. 98, sqq.). But the rule that the term of pre-
paration should be a quadragesima (correspond-
ing with that which was already established for
Easter), to commence after the Feast of St.
Martin, which rule, as has been seen, was not
enacted, but reinforced by the canon of Macon,
581, implies six Sundays ; and that this rule ob-
tained in other Churches appears from the fact
that the Ambrosian (or Milan) and Mozarabic
(or Spanish) Ordo show six missae, implying that
number of Sundays ; and the same rule was ob-
served (as Martene has shown) in some of the
Galilean Churches. The Epistola ad Bibinnum
falsely alleged to be St. Augustine's account of
" the offices of divine worship throughout the
year " in his diocese of Hippo (see Bened. Ad-
monitio at end of 0pp. S. Augustini, t. ii.),
also attests this for Churches of Gaul, if, as
Martene surmises, this was the work of some
Galilean writer. It should be remarked that
this writer himself makes the ordo adventus
Domini begin much earlier, at the autumnal
equinox, Sept. 25, as being the day of the
conception of St. John the Baptist, and so the
beginning of the times of the Gospel. "Sed
quia sunt nonnulli qui adventum Domini a festi-
vitate B. Martini Turonensis urbis episcopi
videntur insipienter excolere, nos eos non repre-
hendamus" &c. This Quadragesima 8. Martini
seems to have originated in Gaul, in the diocese
of Tours, to which it was specially recommended
by the devotion paid to its great saint ; an
additional distinction was conferred upon his
festival in that it marked the beginning of the
solemn preparation for the Nativity. So far, we
may accept Binterim's conclusion {Denkwiirdig-
keiten der christ.-kathol. Kirchc, vol. v., pt. i., p.
166): the rule — not, as he says, of Ad vent, but — of
this Quadragesima is first met with in the diocese
of Tours. If, indeed, the Tractatus de Sanctis
tribus Quadragesimis, " unde eas observari ac-
32
ADVENT
cepimus, quodque qui eas transgrediuntur legem
violent " (ap. Cotelcr, Monum. Eccl. Gr. iii. 425),
be, as Cave (^Hist. Lit.) represents, the work of
that Anastasius Sina'ita who was patriarch of
Autioch, 561, oh. 599 ; this Quadragesima, under
another name (" Q. S. Philippi," or " Fast of the
Nativity "), was already observed in the East.
But the contents make it plain enough that its
author was another and much later Anastasius
Sinaita, who wrote after a.d. 787. The ob-
servance of the "Quadragesima Apostolorum,"
and "Quadragesima S. Philippi" (the Feast of
St. Philip in the Greek Calendar is November
14) is enjoined upon monks by Nicejshorus,
Patriarch of Constantinople, 806. This fast of
40 days befoi-e Christmas seems to have been
kept up chiefly by the monastic orders in Gaul,
Spain, Italy, (Martene De Bit. Ant. Eccl., iii.
p. 27); it was observed also in England in
the time of Bede {Hist. iii. 27; iv. 30), and
much later. It was not until the close of the
6th century that the Church of Rome under
St. Gregory received the season of preparation
as an ecclesiastical rule, restricted, in its proper
sense, to the four Sundays before the Nativity
(Amalarius Do Eccl. Off. iii. 40, A.D. 812, and
Abbot Berno, De quibusdam rebus ad Missam
pertiiientibus, c. iv. 1014) ; and this became the
general rule for the Western Church throughout
the 8th century, and later. And, in fact, four is
the number of Sundays in Advent in the Sacra-
mentary of Gregory {Liber Sacrament, de circulo
anni, ed. Pamelius ; and in the Lecfionarium Bo-
manura, ed. Thomasius). But other and older
copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary (ed. Menard,
1642, reprinted with his notes in the Benedic-
tine 0pp. S. Gregorii, t. iii.); the Comes, ascribed
to St. Jerome ; the Sacramentary of Gelasius, ob.
496 (a very ancient document, but largely in-
terpolated with later additions); the Antiquum
Kalend. Sacrae Romanae Eccl. ap. Martene. Thes.
Anccdot. t. V. (in a portion added by a later hand) ;
the Pontifical of Egbert, Archbishop of York, ob.
767 ; a Lectionary written for Charlemagne by
Paul the Deacon (ap. Mabillon) ; and other MSS.
cited by Martene (m. s. iv. 80, ff.), all give five
Sundays. Hence, some writers have been led to
represent that the practice varied in different
Churches, some reckoning four, others five Sundays
in Advent — an erroneous inference, unless it could
be shown that the first of the five Sundays was
designated "Dominica Prima Adventus Domini."
The seeming discrepancy is easily explained.
The usual ancient names of the four Sundays,
counted backwards from the Nativity, are : Do-
minica i., ante Nat. Domini (our 4th Advent),
Dom. ii.. Dom. iii., Dom. iv. ante Nat. Domini.
To these the next preceding Sunday was prefixed
under the style Dom. v. ante Nat. Dom., not as
itself a Sunday in Advent, but as the preparation
for Advent. So Amalarius and Berno, u. s.,
and Durandus : "In quinta igitur hebdomada
ante Nat. D. i)ichoatur praeparatio adventus . . .
nam ab ilia dominica sunt quinque officia domi-
nicalia, quinque epistolae et quinque evangelia
quae adventum Domini aperte praedicant." The
intention is evident in the Epistle and Gospel
for this Sunda}', which in the Sarum Missal is
designated "dominica proxima ante Adventum,"
with the rule (retained by our own order from
that of Sarum), that these shall always be used
for the last Sunday before Advent begins.
ADVENT
After the pattern of the Lenten fast. Advent
was marked as a season of mourning in the pub-
lic services of the Church. The custom of
omitting the Gloria in Excelsis (replaced by the
Benedicamus Domino}, and also the Te Deum and
Ite missa est, and of laying aside the dalmatic i
and subdeacon's vestment (which in the 11th I
and 12th century appears to have been the j
established rule, Micrologus De Eccl. Obs. c. 46 ;
Rupert Abbas Tuit. de Div. Off. iii. c. 2), was
coming into use during the eighth century. In
the Mozarabic Missal, a rubric, dating probably
from the end of the 6th century {i.e. from the i
refashionment of this ritual by Leander or Isidore j
of Seville), appoints : " In Adventu non dicitur j
Gloria in Excelsis dominicis diebus et feriis, sed i
tantum diebus festis." And Amalarius, o6. 812 !
{De Offic. Sacr. iii. c. 40), testifies to this custom
for times within our period: " Vidi tempore
prisco Gloria in Excelsis praetermitti in diebus '.
adventus Domini, et in aliquibus locis dalmaticas " : .
and iv. c. 30 : " Aliqua de nostro officio reser- ;
vamus usque ad praesentiam nativitatis Domini, (
h. e. Gloria in Excelsis Deo, et clarum vesti- '
mentum dalmaticam ; si forte nunc ita agitur \
ut vidi actitari in aliquibus locis." The Bene- !
dictine monks retained the Te Deiimin Advent as '
in Lent, alleging the rule of their founder. The I
Alleluia also, and the Sequences, as also the j
hymns, were omitted, but not in all Churches. [
In the Gregorian Antiphonary, the Alleluia is
marked for 1 and 3 Advent and elsewhere. In
some Churches, the Miserere (Ps. li.) and other ;
j mournful Psalms were added to or substituted ^
for the ordinary Psalms. For lessons, Isaiah ]
was read all through, beginning on Advent '
. Sunday ; when that was finished, the Twelve '
Minor Prophets, or readings from the Fathers, |
especially the Epistles of Pope Leo on the Incar- 1
nation, and Sermons of St. Augustine, succeeded. j
The lesson from " the Prophet " ended with the
form, " Haec dicit Dominus Deus, Convertimini ad ]
j me, et salvi eritis." '
In the Greek Church, the observance of a season .
I of preparation for the Nativity is of late intro- ;
duction. No notice of it occurs in the liturgical
works of Theodorus Studites, ob. 826, though, j
as was mentioned above, the 40-days' fost of St.
Philip was enjoined (to monks) by Nicephorus,
A.D. 806. This TiaaapoLKovraiifj.fpov, beginning
November 14, is now the rule of the Greek
Church (Leo Allat. de Consensu iii. 9, 3). Codinus
{De Off. Eccl. et Curiae Constantinop. c. 7, n. 20)
speaks of it as a rule which in his time (cir.
1350) had been long in use. The piece De Tribus
Quadragesimis above noticed, ascribed to Ana- j
stasius Sinaita, Patriarch of Antioch, shows that, |
except in monasteries, the rule of a 40-days' fost j
before the Nativity was contested in his time j
(A.D. 1100 at earliest). And Theodore Balsamon,
A.D. 1200, lays down the rule thus:— "We ac- j
knowledge but one quadragesima, that before j
Pascha ; the others (named), as this Fast of the :
Nativity, are each of seven days only. Those '
monks who fast 40 days, viz. from St. Philip '
(14 Sept.), are bound to this by their rule. Such
laics as voluntarily do the like are to be praised
therefor." Bespons. ad qri. 53 Marci Patriarch. !
Alex., and ad interrog. monachorum, app. to •
Photii Nomocanon. In the calendar formed !
from Evangelia Eclogadia of 9th century our 4
I Advent is marked " Sunday before the Nativity,'
ADVOCATE OF THE CHURCH
while the preceding Sundcays are numbered from
All Saints = our Trinity Sunday. (Asseraanni
Kalend. Eccl. Univ., t. vi. p. 575.) The term
"Advent" is not applied to this season: the
KvptaKT) Tris SeuTf'pas TlapovcTias is our Sexa-
gesima.
In the separated Churches of the East, no
trace appears, within our period, of an Advent
season ; unless we except the existing Nestorian
or Chaldean rule, in which the liturgical year
begins with four Sundays of Annunciation {evay-
yeKicr/xov), before the Nativity (Assemanui Bi-
hliotheca Orient, t. iii. pt. 2, p. 380 sqq.). This
beginning of the Church year is distinguished as
Risk phenkito, i.e. initium codicis, from the Rish
.viarmoto, i.e. new-year's day in October. The
Armenian Church, refusing to accept 25th De-
cember as the Feast of Nativity, and adhering to
the more ancient sense of the Feast of Epiphany
as including the Birth of Christ, prepares for
this high festival (6th January) by a fast of 50
days, beginning 17th November.
The first Sunday in Advent was not always
the beginning of the liturgical year, or circulus
totius anni. The Comes and the Sacramentary
of St. Gregory begin with IX. Kal. Jan., the
Vigil of the Nativity. So does the most ancient
Lectionarium Gallicanum ; but the beginning of
this is lost, and the Vigil is numbered VII., the
Nativity VIII. Hence Mabillon {Liturg. Gallic.
p. 98, 101) infers that it began with the fast of
St. Martin (or with the Sunday after it, Dom.
VI. ante Nat. Dom.). One text of the Missale
Amhrosianum begins with the Vigil of St.
Martin (ed. 1560). The Antiphonarius of St.
Gregory begins 1 Advent, and the Liber Re-
sponsalis with its Vigil. But the earlier practice
was to begin the ecclesiastical year with the
month of March, as being that in which our
Lord was crucified (March 25); a trace of this
remains in the notation of the Quatuor Tem-
pora as Jejunium primi, quarti, septimi, decimi
mensis, the last of which is the Advent Ember
week.
Literature. — De Catholicae Ecclesiae divinis offic.
ac tninisteriis, Rome, 1590 (a collection of the
ancient liturgical treatises of St. Isidore, Alcuin,
Amalai-ius, Micrologus, Petr. Damianus, &c.);
Martene, De Ritihus Ant. Ecclesiae et Mona-
chorum, 1699 ; Binterim, Die vorziiglichsten
Denkwiirdlgkeiten der christ.-katholischen Kirche,
Mainz, 1829 (founded on the work of Pel-
licia, De Christ. Eccles. Primae Mediae et No-
vissirnae Aetatis Politia, Neap. 1777); Augusti,
DenkwUrdigkeiten aus der christlichen Archdo-
logie, Leipzig, 1818; Herzog, Real-Encyclopadie
fiir protestantische Theologie u. Kirche, s. a. Ad-
ventszeit, 185.'t ; Rheinwald, Kirchliche Archd-
ologie, 18:i0 ; Alt, Der ChristUche Cultus, Abth.
ii. Das Kirchenjahr, 1860. [H. B.]
ADVOCATE OF THE CHURCH (Ad-
vocatus, or Defensor, Ecclesiae or Monasterii ;
l,vvStKos,''EKSiKos : and Advocatio = th(i office, and
sometimes the fee for discharging it): — an eccle-
siastical officer, appointed subsequently to the
recognition of the Church by the State, and in
consequence (1) of the Church's need of pro-
tection, (2) of the disability, both legal and re-
ligious, of clergy or monks (Can. Afost. xx.,
Ixxxi. ; Const it. Apostol. ii. 6 ; Justinian, Novell.
cxxiii. 6 ; and see Bingham, vi. 4) either to plead
CIIHIST. AXT.
ADVOCATE OF THE CHURCH 33
in a civil court or to intermeddle with worldly
business. In its original form it was limited to
the duties thus intimated, and took its origin as a
distinct and a lay office in Africa {Cod. Can. Eccl.
Afric. c. 97, A.D. 407, " Defensores," to be taken
from the ^^ Scholastici ; " Cone. Milevit. ii. c. 16,
A.D. 416 ; Can. Afric. c. 64, c. A.D. 424) ; but re-
ceived very soon certain privileges of ready and
speedy access to the courts from the emperors
(Cod. Thcod. 2. tit. 4. § 7 ; 16. tit. 2. § 38).
It became then a lay office (defensores, distin-
guished in the code from ^^coronati" or tonsured
persons), but had been previously, it would seem,
discharged by the oeconomi (Du Cange). And, as
it naturally came to be reckoned almost a minor
order, so it was occasionally, it would seem, still
held by clerics (Morinus, De Ordin. ; Bingham).
The advocatus was to be sometimes asked from
the emperors (authorities as above), — as judices
were given by the Praetors ;— but sometimes was
elected by the bishop and clergy for themselves
(Cod. lib. i. tit. iv. constit. 19). The office is
mentioned by the Council of Chalcedon, cc. 2,
25, 26, A.D. 451, and is there distinguished both
from the clergy and from the oeconomus ; by Pope
Gelasius, Epist. ix. c. 2, A.D. 492-496 ; and by
Maxentius (Resp. ad Hormisd.) some S'.'ore of
years later. But it had assumed a much more
formal shape during this period, both at Con-
stantinople and at Rome. In the former place,
as protectors of the Church, under the title of
'EKK\r]<n4K5iK0i, there were four officers of the
kind : i. the irpooTiK^iKos, who defended the
clergy in criminal cases ; ii. one who defended
them in civil ones; iii. 6 rov B^/iaroy, also called
the ir^oiTJiroTras ; iv. 6 ttjs 'E/c/cArjo-ias ; increased
by the time of Heraclius to ten, and designed in
general for the defence of the Church against
the rich and powerful (Justinian, Edict, xiii., and
Novell. Ivi. and lix. c. 1 ; and see the passages
from Codrinus, Zonaras, Balsamon, &c., in Meur-
sius, Gloss. Gr'aecobarbarum, voc. "EkSikos, and in
Suicer), They appear also to have acted as
judges over ecclesiastical persons in trifling cases
(Morinus). They were commonly laymen (su
Cod. Thcod. as above) ; but in one case certainly
(Cone. Constantin., A.D. 536, act. ii.) an skkXtj-
(TifKSiKos is mentioned, who was also a pres-
byter; and presbyters are said to have com-
monly held the office, while later still it was held
by deacons (Morinus). In Rome, beginning with
Innocent I. (a.D. 402-417, Epist. xii. ed. Con-
stant) and his successor Zosimus (Epist. i. c. 3),
the Defensores became by the time of Gregory
the Great a regular order of officers (Defensores
Romanae Ecclesiae^, whose duties were — i. to de-
fend Church interests generally ; ii. to take care
of alms left for the poor ; iii. to be sent to held
applicants from a distance for Papal protection ;
iv. to look after outlying estates belonging to
St. Peter's patrimony (S. Greg. M., Epistt. pas-
sim). There were also in Rome itself at that
time seven officers of the kind, called Defensores
Regionarii (Ordo Roman.), each with his proper
region, and the first of the seven known as tin?
Primicerius Defensorum or Primus Defensor (St.
Greg. Epistt., passim). St. Gregory certainly
marks them out as usually laymen, yet in some
cases clerics, and generally as holding a sort of
ecclesiastical position. And the other Popes who
allude to them (as quoted above), are led to do
so while treating the question of the steps and
1)
34 ADVOCATE OF THE CHURCH
delays to be made m admitting laymen to holy
orders, and feel it necessary to say that such re-
strictions apply " even " to Defensores. See also
St. Gregory of Tours, De Vitis Patrum, c. 6.
The great development of the office, however,
took place under Charlemagne ; who indeed, and
Pipiu, were themselves, KaT i^ox^v, '■'■Defensores
Ecclesiae Romanae." And the German emperors
became, technically and by title, Advocati et
Defensores Ecclesiarmn (Charles V. and Henry
VIII. being coupled together long afterwards as
respectively eccfesi'ae, and/c?e«, defensores). It was
then established as a regular office for each church
or abbey, under the appellations also occasionally
of Mundiburdi (or -hiirgi), Pastores Laid, and
sometimes simply causidici or tulores ; to be nomi-
nated by the emperor [Leo IX., however, as Pope
appointed (Du Cange)], but then probably for a
particular emergency only (Car. M. Gapit. v. 31,
vii. 308); and usually as an office for life, to
which the bishops and abbats were themselves
to elect {Cone. Mogunt. c. 50, A.D. 813, — all
bishops, abbats, and clergy, to choose "vicedo-
minos, praepositos, advocatos, sive defensores;"
Cone. Hern. ii. c. 24, A.D. 813, — " Ut praepositi et
vicedomini secundum regulas vel canones con-
stituantur;" and see also Cone. Roman, cc. 19,
20, A.D. 826, and Cone. Duziac. ii. P. iii. c. 5.
A.D. 871), but "in praesentia comitum " (Legg.
Longohard. lib. ii. tit. xlvii. § 1, 2, 4, 7), and from
the landowners in their own neighbourhood (cap.
xiv. ex Lege Salica, Romana, et Gumbata, — " Et
ipsi [advocati] habeant in illo comitatu propriam
haereditatem ; " and in a capitular of A.D. 742,
we find mention of a " Graphio," i. e. count, " qui
est defensor," Morinus, De Ordin., P. III. p. 307) ;
and this, not only to plead in court or take oath
there (sometimes two advocati, one to plead, the
other to swear, Legg. Longohard. ii. xlvii. § 8),
but in course of time to hold courts (placita or
media) as judges in their own district (Du Cange,
but A.D. 1020 is the earliest date among his
authorities), and generally to protect the secular
interests of their own church or abbey. The
Advocatus was at this time distinguished from
the Vicedomnus, sometimes called Major Domus,
who ruled the lay dependents of the Church ;
from the Praepositus, who ruled its clerical de-
pendents ; and from the Oeconomus, who (being
also commonly a cleric) managed the interior
economy of its secular affairs ; although all these
titles are occasionally used interchangeably. He
was also distinct from the Cancellarius, whether
in the older sense of that term when it meant
an inferior officer of the court, or in the later
when it meant a judge (Bingh. III. xi. 6, 7).
Two circumstances however gradually changed
both the relative position of the Advocatus to
his ecclesiastical clients, and the nature of his
functions ; the one arising from the mode in
which he was remunerated, the other from the
mode of his nomination. 1. He was paid in
the first instance at this period by sometimes an
annual salary, with certain small privileges of
entertainment and the like ; also, by the third
part of the profits of his judicial office (Tertia
pars bannorum, emendarum, legum, compositionum,
sn. " placitorum ad quae ab abbate vocatus fue-
rit," Chron. Sen. lib. ii. c. 5, in D'Ach. Bpicil. ii.
C13, ed. 1723 ; tertius denarius) ; but commonly
and finally by lands held from the church or
abbey, a third of their value belonging to himself
ADVOCATE OF THE CHURCH'
as his portion. And the growth of the feudal
tenure, in addition to other obvious influences,
gradually converted him through this last cir-
cumstance from a dependent into a superior,
from a law officer into a military one, and from
a beneficiary into an owner, and sometimes into
an usurper outright. In the Ordo Romanus, is
an Ordo ad armandum Ecclesiae Defensorem vel
alium Militem, beginning with a benedictio vexilli,
lanceae, ensis (p. 178 Hittorp., about the time of
Charlemagne). His suhadvocatus, let us add (the
number of whom was limited by various enact-
ments), was to be paid in one instance by the
receipt, from each vill of the ecclesiastical pro-
perty, of one penny, one cock, and one sextarius
of oats. 2. The nomination to the office, resting
originally Avith the Church itself or with the em-
peror, was usurped gradually by the founder,
and as an hereditary ajipanage of his own estate ;
whence followed first an usurpation of the Church
property by the lay ^dlfOca^MS, and next an usurpa-
tion by the same officer of the right of nomi-
nating to the church or abbey. And fi-om the
latter of these has arisen the modern use of the
word advoti-son, which now means exclusively
and precisely that right which the original advo-
catus did not possess ; the jics patronatus no
doubt being attached to the founder of a church
from the time of the Council of Orange (c. 10)
A.D. 441, and of Justinian (Novell. Ivii. c. 2, cxxiii.
c. 18), A.D. 541, 555 ; but the combination of
foundership with the office of advocatus being an
accidental although natural combination, belong-
ing to the ninth and following centuries. The
earliest charter quoted by Du Cange, in which
mention is made of an election (in this case of an
abbat) " asseusu et consilio advocati," is a " pri-
vilegium Rudolphi Episc. Halberstad.," A.D. 1147.
But in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, the officer
analogous to the lay advocatus had usurped the
position and the very name of abbat long pre-
vious to the 12th century [see Abbat]. And
instances of similar usurpation abroad may no
doubt be found of a like earlier date (see Robert-
son's Early Scotland). The advocatio of a bishopric
seems to have included, at least in England, the
custodia (i. e. the profits) of the property of the
see, sede vacante ; but wss a distinct right from
that of nomination to the office, the '■' dignitas
crociae" (as e.g. in the case between the Welsh
Lords Marchers and the English Crown, the former
claiming the custodia but not the nomination) :
although the two became in England combined
in the Crown. There does not, however, appear
to be evidence, that this particular usurpation
was laid to the charge of advocati abroad during
the Carlovingian period ; although the system of
lay abbats, commendataries, &c., and the usurpa-
tion of such offices by kings and nobles, led to
the same general result of usurpation, there
also, by the lay, over the ecclesiastical, func-
tionary. Councils in England put restrictions on
these usurpations of lay domini, advocati, &c., as
early as the Council of Beccanceld, A.D. 696 X 716
and of Clovesho, A.D. 803 (Councils III. 338,
Haddan and Stubbs ; Wilk. i. 56, 167). Abroad,
the first canon on the subject is that of Rheims
(c. 6), A.D. 1148, followed among others by
the Councils of Salzburg (c. 24), A.D. 1274 and
(c. 12), A.D. 1281. But a check upon them
was attempted as early as the 10th century by
the Capetian dynasty in France.
ADVOCATES
The title of Fidei Defensor, attached to the
Crown of England, and so strangely inverted from
the special intent of its original Papal donor, may
be taken as the last existing trace of the ancient
Advocatus or Defensor Ecclcsiae. Unless (with
Spelman) we are to give an ancient pedigree to
churchwardens, and find the old office still in
them. (Bingham ; Du Cange ; Meursius, Gloss.
Graecobarbar. ; Morinus, De Ordinat.; Tho-
massin.) . [A. W. H.]
ADVOCATES, NOT TO BE OEDAINED,
— Amongst the laws which imposed restraints
upon the clei-gy was one which forbad them,
except in certain specified cases, to act as advo-
cates before civil tribunals ; since it was con-
sidered that any such interference with worldly
matters would be inconsistent with the words
of St. Paul (2 Tim., ii. 4 " No man that war-
reth \inilitans Deo"] entangleth himself with the
affairs of this life : " see St. Ambrose, De Off.
Minist. 1, 36 ; and Gelasii Papae Epp. 17, sec.
15). For this reason the 3rd Council of Car-
thage (a.d. 397) in its 15th canon prohibits all
clerks from becoming agents or procurators.
The prohibition is repeated in the 3rd canon of
the Oecumenical Council of Chalcedon (a.d. 451),
but with the proviso that secular business may
be undertaken by the clergy when the bishop
directs it for the protection of Church property,
or of orphans and wndows who are without any
one to defend them. This exception was in Liter
times extended to the poor and all others who
came under the designation of " miserabiles
personae." So likewise were monks forbidden by
the 11th canon of the Council of Tarragona
(a.d. 516) to undertake any legal business ex-
cept for the benefit of the monastery and at the
command of the abbot.
In France the above-cited provisions of the
Council of Chalcedon were repeated by the 16th
canon of the Council of Verneuil (a.d. 755) and the
14th canon of the Council of Mayence (a.d. 813).
There are many other canons which prohibit the
clergy from mixing themselves up with worldly
matters, and which therefore forbid, though
not in express terms, their acting as advocates.
There are also several imperial constitutions
to the same effect, as, for instance, one of Theodo-
sius II. (a.d. 416) which he afterwards repeated
in the Codex Theodosianus, a.d. 438 (16. tit. 2.
42), and which was also inserted in the 1st book
(tit. 3. s. 17) of the Codex Rcpetitae Fraelectionis
of Justinian (a.d. 534).
_ Similar provisions are to be found in the 34th
title of the Liber novellarum of Valentian III.
(a.d. 452), and in the 6th chapter of the 123rd
novell. of Justinian (a.d. 541).
(Thomassinus, ^'etus et nova Ecelesiae Disci-
plina, De Beneficiis, Pars III. Lib. 3, cap. 17-19 ;
Bouix, Tractatus de Judiciis Ecclesiastic-is, Pars
I-, 3, 4-5). [I. B.]
AEDITUI. [Doorkeeper.]
AEGATES, Saint, commemorated Oct. 24
(Mart. Bedae).
AEITHALAS. (1) Deacon and martyr, com-
memorated Nov. 3 {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Martyr, commemorated Sept. 1 {lb.). [C]
AEMILIANUS. (1) Saint in Armenia, com-
memorated Feb. 8 (Martyrol. Bom. Vet., Hieron.).
(2) Confessor in Africa, Dec. 6 {Mart. R. V.). \
AFFINITY
35
(3) Confessor, Jan. 8 {Cal. Byzant.).
(4) Bishop of Cyzicum, Confessor, Aug. 8
(^6.). [C.]
AEMILIUS. (1) Martyr in Africa, comme-
morated May 22 {Marti/rol. Mom. Vet.).
(2) Of Sardinia, May 28 (/6.).
(3) Commemorated June 18 {Mart. Hieron.).
[C]
AER. [Veil.]
AEEA. [Chronology.]
AFRA, martyr in Rhaetia, commemorated
Aug. 5 {Martyrol. Bom. Vet.); Aug. 6 {M.
Hieron.). ["c.]
AFFIDATIO {affiance, Spenser; Fr. fiun-
^ailles), betrothal. It appears doubtful whether
this term came into use within the first nine cen-
turies of the Christian era. It seems rather to
belong to the period of fully developed feudalism.
The earliest example quoted by Du Cange, from
the synodal statutes of the Church of Liege in
ilartene's Thesaurus Kovus Anecdotorum, is in-
deed of the year 1287. The forms given in
Martene's work, De Antiquis ecelesiae Bitibus
(see vol. ii. pp. 136, 137), in which the word
occurs, from the rituals of Limoges and ot
Rheims, are palpably more modern yet, to judge
from the passages in French which are inter-
mixed in them. [J. M. L.]
AFFINITY {adfinitas), a relationship by
marriage. The husband and wife being legally
considered as one person, those who are related
to the one by blood are related to the other in
the same degree by affinity. This relationship
being the result of a lawful marriage, the per-
sons between whom it exists are said to be related
in law ; the father or brother of a man's wife
being_ called his father-in-law or brother-in-laic.
The distinction between affinity and consanguinity
is derived from the Roman law. The kinsfolk
{cognati) of the husband and wife become re-
spectively the adfines of the wife and husband.
We have borrowed the words afiiinity and con-
sanguinity from the Roman law, but we have no
term corresponding to adfines. The Romans did
not reckon degrees of adfinitas as they did of
consanguinity {cognatio) ; but they had terms to
express the various kinds of adfinitas, as soccr,
father-in-law ; socrus, mother-in-law.
It has resulted from the Christian doctrine of
marriage that persons related by affinity have
been always forbidden by the Church to marry
within the same degrees as those who are related
by blood. The Council of Agde (506) particu-
larises the forbidden degrees as follows (Can. 61) :
— "A man may not marry his brother's widow,
his own sister, his step-mother or father's wife,
his cousin-german, any one nearly allied to him
by consanguinity, or one whom his near kinsman
had married before, the relict or daughter of his
uncle by the mother's side, or the daughter of
his uncle by the father's side, or his daughter-
in-law, i.e. his wife's daughter by a former
husband."
This canon is repeated almost verbatim in the
Council of Epone, and again in the second Council
of Tours (566). The same prohibitions are also
specified in the Council of Auxerre (578).
Certain spiritual relations have been also in-
cluded within the prohibited degrees. This re-
striction, however, was first mtroduced by
D 2
36
AFFUSION
Justinian, who made a law (Cod. Just. lib. 5,
tit. 4, de Xnptiis, leg. 26) forbidding any min
to marry a woman for whom he had been god-
father in baptism, on the ground that nothing
induces a more paternal affection, and, therefore,
a juster prohibition of mai-riage, than this tie,
by which their souls are in a divine manner
united together.
The Council of Trullo (Can. 53) extends the
prohibition to the mother of the godchild : and,
by the Canon law afterwards, those spiritual
relations were canned still further, so as to
exclude from marrying together even the bap-
tiser and the bajrtised, the catechist and cate-
chumen, <ind various other degrees of supposed
.spiritual affinity. Such restrictions, however, of
course, could not be maintained in practice, and
the dispensing power of the Pope was accordingly
extended to meet the necessity. (Bingham ; Gib-
son's Codex ; Thorndike ; Wheatly, On Common
Frai/er.) [D. B.]
AFFUSION. [Baptism.]
AFRICAN CODE. [African Councils.]
AFRICAN COUNCILS. Under this head
we must include whatever Councils were held in
Africa — no matter at what places, only distinct
from Egypt — for this simple reason : that so many
of their canons were so soon thrown together in-
discriminately and made one code, which, as
such, afterwards formed part of the code received
in the East and West. On this African code a
good deal has been written by Justellus {Cod. Eccl.
Afric, Paris, 16 14-, 8vo.), who was the first to pub-
lish it separately, Bishop Beveridge (Synod, vol.
ii. p. 202, et seq.), De Marca (Diss, de Vet. Coll.
Can. c. iv.-xi.), and the Ballerini in their learned
Appendix to the works of St. Leo (torn. iii. De
Antlq. Col. Diss., pars I. c. 3, 21-9), but a good
deal also remains unsolved, and perhaps insoluble.
Several of the canons contained in it have been
assigned to more Councils than one, and several
of the Councils differently dated or numbered by
<iiff"erent editors or collectors. Perhaps the best
edition of it is that published in Greek and Latin
by Mansi (tom. iii. pp. 699-843). Not that it
was originally promulgated in both languages,
though, as Beveridge suggests, the probability is
that it had been translated into Greek before the
Trullan Council of A.D. 683, by the second canon
of which it became part of the code of the Eastern
Church. As it stands in Mansi, then, it compre-
hends, first, the deliberations of the Council of
('arthage, A.D. 419 ; then the canons of the same
Synod to the number of 33 ; then " canones di-
versorura conciliorum ecclesiae Africanae " — in
the words of their heading, the first of which is
numbered 34, in continuous series with the pre-
ceding, and the last 138. However, in reality,
the canons proper ought to be said to end with
the one numbered 133, at which point Aurelius,
Bishop of Carthage, who presided, calls upon the
Council to subscribe to all that had gone before,
which is accordingly done ; he signing first, the
primate of Numidia second, the legate from
Kome, Faustinus, Bishop of Potenza, third, St.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, fourth; and the other
bishops — 217 or 229, according to the reading
selected — in order ; and after them all the two
presbyter-legates from Rome, who sign last.
This done, the day following, a letter in the
name of the whole Synod was addressed to Boni-
AFRICAN COUNCILS
face, bishop of Rome, to be despatched by the three
legates. This is given at length, and numbered
134. It acquaints him with their objections to
the " commonitorium " or instructions received
by the legates from the late Pope Zosimus, par-
ticularly to that part of it bearing upon appeals
to Rome in conformity with some supposed canons
of Nicaea, which they had not been able to find in
any Greek or Latin copy of the «cts of that
Council in their possession, and therefore beg him
to send for authentic copies of them at once from
the Churches of Antioch, Alexandria, and Con-
stantinople. This course they had already taken
themselves, while recommending it to him ; and
what follows as canon 135 proves to be a letter
from St. Cyril of Alexandria to the same bishops,
telling them that in conformity with their re-
quest he has sent them, by his presbyter Inno^
cent, faithful copies of the authentic Synod of
Nicaea, which they would also find, if they looked
for them, in the ecclesiastical history : he does
not say by whom.
In the same way canon 136 is a letter from
Atticus, patriarch of Constantinople, telling them
that he too sends them the canons as defined by
Nicene Fathers pure and entire, by their mes-
senger Marcellus the sub-deacon, as they had re-
quested. We can hardly suppose the Synod to
have been sitting all the time that it must have
taken these messengers to go and return. Next
a copy of the Nicene Creed follows, and is num-
bered 137. It had been already recited and ac-
cepted, together with the Nicene canons, in the.
previous deliberations of the Council, before the
resolution to send for authentic copies of both
had been carried out. Caecilian, who was Bishop
of Carthage at the time of the Council of Nicaea,
and had attended it, had brought back with him
copies of its creed and canons in Latin, which had
been preserved with great care by his Church
ever since. What follows in the last place, and
is numbered 138, cannot have been written
earlier than A.D. 422, it being a letter addressed
to Celestine, the successor of Boniface, who died in
that year, " our beloved lord (Sea-rrSTrt) and most
honoured brother," as he is styled, in the name
of Aurelius and others wliose names are given
(St. Augustine's is not one) and the rest of those
present in the universal Council of Africa, in
which they tell him that the canons of which his
predecessor had spoken were nowhere to be found
in the authentic copies of the Nicene decrees just
received from the East ; and, further, that in no
Council of the Fathers could they find it defined
that " any should be despatched as it were from
the side of his Holiness," as had been attempted in
this instance. If the last, or 20th Council, as it is
called, under Aurelius, therefore, has been rightly
assigned to A.D. 421, — and Aurelius opens its pro-
ceedings by saying that, for reasons well known
to his audience, it had been suspended for the
space of two years, thus connecting it with the
Council of A.D. 419, — either it must have sat the
year following as well, or there must have been
a 21st Council under Aurelius the year following
to indite this episTie, which, as has been observed,
could not have been done till the accession of
Celestine had become known in Africa, that is,
till towards the end of A.D. 422. And with it this
collection of the canons of the African Church is
brought to a close. Dionysius Exiguus, in his
edition, heads them appropriately " the Synod of
AFRICAN COUNCILS
the Africans at Carthage that enacted 138
canons," meaning of course the Synods of A.D.
419-22 considered as one, where they were
passed or confirmed (Migne's Patrol., torn. 67,
p. 161 ct seq.). Not but there are other collec-
tions extant containing fewer or more canons
than are included in this. For instance, the
Spanish and Isidorian Collections begin with the
Synod of Carthage under Gratus, A.D. 348, and
end with the Synod of Milevis, A.D. 402, making
eight Synods in all, one of Milevis and seven of
Carthage (Migne's Patrol., torn. 84, pp. 179-236).
In Beveridge (Synodic, i. p. 365-72) the synodi-
cal letter of a Council of Carthage as far back as
A.D. 258 (or 256 according to others) under St.
Cyprian, is printed in the form of a canon, and
placed, together with the speeches made there by
him and others, immediately before the Ancyran
canons, as though it had been one of the provin-
cial Councils whose canons had been accepted by
the whole Church, which it was not. Earlier far
than either of them is the compendium of eccle-
siastical canons, African mainly, 232 in all, by
Fulgentius Ferrandus, deacon of the Church of
Carthage, seemingly drawn from independent
sources (Migne's Patrol., tom. 67, p. 949-62).
Then earlier still than his were the two books
produced by Boniface, Bishop of Carthage, at the
Synod held there by him A.D. 525, as having
been discovered in the archives of that church,
one volume containing the Nicene canons in part,
and those which had been passed in Africa
before the time of Aurelius ; the other volume
called " the book of the canons of the time of
Aurelius," in which, according to the Ballerini,
nine of the Synods of Carthage under Aurelius,
and some others of Milevis and Hippo, were con-
tained (Mansi, viii. p. 635-56). Finally, there
is a " Breviarium canonum Hipponensium "
printed in Mansi, with the comments of the
Ballerini upon them, supposed to have been
passed in the Synod held there A.D. 393, at
which St. Augustine was present, but as a
priest ; and afterwards inserted in the Council of
Carthage, held four years afterwards under
Aurelian, amongst its own, and evidently con-
firmed by the 34th canon of the Synod of A.D.
419, as proposed by one of the bishops named
Epigonius.
The argument drawn by the Ballerini, after
elaborately comparing these collections, is unfa-
vourable to the title given by Justellus to the
.138 canons above mentioned of the African code :
.still as designating those canons alone which
have been received generally by the East and
West, it cannot be called meaningless ; and this
fact having been made patent by his publication
of them, it remains as a matter of antiquarian
interest solely to determine what canons belong
to what councils. The general account seems to
be that there are sixteen Councils of Carthage,
one of Milevis, and one of Hippo, whose canons
were received and confirmed by the Council of
A.D. 419 besides its own (.Johnson's Vade Mecnm,
ii. 171); but it is beset with difficulties. The
two canons interdictiag appeals beyond the sea —
28 and 125 according to the Latin numbering,
and doubtless 23 and 39 were passed with the
same object — have been attributed to a Synod of
Hippo by some ; but the 22nd canon of the
second Synod of Milevis, A.D. 416, to which both
Aurelius and St. Augustine subscribed, reads
AFRICAN COUNCILS
37
identical with one of them, and the 34th canon
of a Council of Carthage two years later with the
other. It is of more practical importance to
ascertain whether they steer clear of the Sardican
canons, as some maintain ; or were framed in
antagonism to them, as others. The Sardican
canons, it has been said, allowed bishops to appeal
to Rome ; the African canons forbade priests and
all below priests to appeal to Rome. The African
fathers carefully abstained from laying the same
embargo upon bishops : nay, they undertook to
obsei've the canons cited by Zosimus as Nicene,
till authentic copies of the Nicene canons had
been obtained from the East. There can be no
doubt whatever that all this is delusive. In the
discussion that took place on the canons cited in
the " Commonitorium," some were for observing
them, pending the inquiry; St. Augustine among
the number. But when Aurelius called upon the
Council to say definitively what it would do, the
collective reply was: "All things that were en-
acted in the Nicene Council are acceptable to us
all." And to no more could they be induced to
pledge themselves. Then as to the canons, which
if they did not frame, they confirmed subse-
quently ; the 28th, according to the Latin num-
bering, is: "It was likewise agreed that presby-
ters, deacons, or any of the inferior clergy with
causes to try, should they have reason to com-
plain of the judgment of their bishops, might be
heard by the neighbouring bishops with consent
of their own ; and such bishops might decide
between them ; but should they think they ought
to appeal from them likewise, let them not ap-
peal to transmarine tribunals, but to the primates
of their provinces, as has also been frequently en-
acted in regard of bishops. But in case any should
think he ought to appeal to places beyond the
sea, let him be received to communion by nobody
within Africa." The words "sicut et de episcopis
saepe constitutum est," are found in all manu-
scripts of this canon, as it stands here. They are
wanting in the 125th. And the meaning is
clearly, that there had been earlier canons in
abundance passed for regulating episcopal ap-
peals ; for instance, the 6th canon of the Council
of Constantinople, where it is said that bishops
should be brought before the greater Synod of
the diocese, in case the provincial Synod should
be unable to decide their case. And nothing had
occurred to induce them to legislate further for
bishojvs. The present controversy had originated
with a simple priest, Apiarius. Accordingly their
canons were directed to prevent priests and all
below priests in future from doing as he had
done. In short, they told Celestine that " the
canons of the Nicene Council left all, whether
inferior clergy or bishops themselves, to their
own metropolitan ; it having been wisely and
justly considered there that, whatever questions
might arise, they ought to be terminated in their
own localities." Which was in effect as much as
telling him that the genuine Nicene canons were
in flat contradiction, upon each point to those so
designated by his predecessor. Canon 125 is
identical with the preceding, except that it omits
the clause " sicut et de episcopis," &;c., rtnd men-
tions the African Councils as another legitimate
tribunal of appeal besides the primates. Canon
23, that " bishops should not go beyond the sea
without leave from their primate," reads verv
like another outpouring of their sentiments on
38
AFRICAN COUNCILS
the same subject ; and canon 39, that " no pri-
mate should be called a prince of priests, or pon-
tiff," seems almost borrowed from the well-
known invective of St. Cyprian against Stephen.
Such, then, is the language of some of the canons
of the African code, fairly construed, to which
the assent of Eome as well as Constantinople has
been pledged. And " it was of very great autho-
rity," says Mr. Johnson {Vade Mecum, ii. p. 171)
m the old English Churches; for many of the
" excerptions " of Egbert were transci'ibed from
it.
It only remains to set down the different
African Councils in the order in which they are
generally supposed to have occurred, with a run-
ning summary of what was transacted in each ;
referring generally for all further information to
Mansi, Cave, Beveridge, Johnson, De Marca, the
Art de verifier les dates, and the Ballerini. Num-
bering them would only serve to mislead, at least
if attempted in any consecutive series. Cave, for
instance, reckons 9 African between A.D. 401 and
603, and as many as 35 Carthaginian between
A.D. 215 and 533 ; but among the latter are in-
cluded 6 (between A.D. 401 and 410), which he
had already reckoned among the 9 African.
Carthage, a.d. 200,217 — Supposed to be one
and the same, under Agrippinus, in favour
of rebaptizing heretics.
A.D. 251 — Under St. Cyprian ; decreed
that the lapsed should be received to com-
munion, but not till they had performed
their full penance.
A.D. 252 — Against Novatian, who denied
that the lapsed were ever to be received to
communion again ; and Felicissimus, who af-
firmed they were, even before they had
performed their penance.
A.D. 254, 255 — Doubtful in which year ;
under St. Cyprian, in favour of infant bap-
tism.
A.D. 256 — Under St. Cyprian, approving
the consecration by the Spanish bishops of
Felix and Sabinus in place of Basil and
Martial, — two bishops who had purchased
certificates, or "libels," of havipg sacrificed
to idols, and declaring that Stephen, Bishop
of Rome, had interposed in favour of the
latter unreasonably, from having been
duped by them.
A.D. 256 — Another held in the same year
— or there may have been sevei-al — in fa-
vour of rebaptizing all who had received
heretical baptism, when St. Cyprian uttered
his celebrated invective against Stephen.
The question was finally ruled in the 7th
of the Constantinopolitan canons. This is
the Council whose synodical letter is
printed by Beveridge in the form of a
canon, immediately before those of Ancyra.
It is given in Mansi, i. 922-6 ; but the
speeches belonging to it follow 951-92,
under the head of "Concil. Carthag. iii.
sub Cypriano episcopo ;" what purports to
have been the second being given p. 925,
and all three supposed to have been held
A.D. 256.
ClRTA, A.D. 305 -To elect a new bishop in
place of one who had been a " traditor ;"
that is, had surrendered copies of the Scrip-
tures to the Pagan authorities, to which all
AFRICAN COUNCILS
present, when they came to be asked, how-
ever, pleaded equally guilty.
Carthage, a.d. 312— Of 70 Donatist bishops
against Caecilian, bishop of that see,
A.D. 333 — under Donatus, author of the
schism ; favourable to the " traditores."
A.D. 348 — under Gratus; its acts are
comprised in fourteen chapters, of which
the first is against rebaptizing any that
have been baptized with water in the name
of the Trinity. This is probably the Council
whose canons are invoked in canon 12 of
the African code.
Theveste, a.d. 362— Of Donatists quarrelling
amongst themselves.
African, a.d. 380— Of Donatists, in condem-
nation of Tichonius, a Donatist bishop.
Carthage, a.d. 386— Confirmatory of the
synodical letter of Siricius, Bishop of Rome.
Leptes, a.d. 386 — Passed canons on disci-
pline.
Carthage, a.d. 390 — Formerly regarded as
two sejjarate Councils, under Genethlius,
Bishop of Carthage; made 13 canons, by
the second of which bishops, priests, and
deacons are required to abstain from theii
wives and observe continence. Mansi prints
what used to be regarded as a second
Council of this year twice, iii. pp. 691-8
and 867-76.
A.D. 393 — Of Maximian's (Donatist
bishop of Carthage) supporters against
Primian (another Donatist bishop of Car-
thage).
Hippo, a.d. 393— At which St. Augustine dis-
puted " de fide et ■ symbol© " as a pres-
byter.
Cabarussi and of the Caverns, a.d. 394 — Of
the same on the same subject.
Bagais, a.d. 394 — Of Primian's supporters,
against Maximian.
A.D. 396 — One canon only preserved ;
against translations of bishops and priests.
Byzatium, a.d. 397— Confirming all that had
been decreed in 393 at Hippo.
Carthage, a.d. 397 — Called the 3rd, either
reckoning that under Gratus as first, and
that under Genethlius as 2nd ; or else
supposing two to have been held under
Aurelius previously in 394 and 397, and
making this the 3rd under him ; passed 50
canons, among which the "Breviarium
canonum Hipponensium " is said to have
been inserted (Mansi, iii. 875, and the
notes).
Carthage, a.d. 400 — Called the 5th under
Aurelius; of 72 bishops; passed 15 canons
on discipline (Pagi, quoted by Mansi, iii.
p. 972). Yet, p. 979, Mansi reckons a first
African Council m 399, and a 2nd and 3rd
in 401, which he calls 4th, 5th, and 6th
Councils under Aurelius, in the pontificate
of Anastasius.
MiLEVis, a.d. 402 — To decide several points
artecting bishops.
Carthage, a.d. 403, 404, 405 — Mansi makes
3 African Councils of these ; a 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd, in the Pontificate of Innocent,
or 8th, 9th, and 10th under Aurelius, for
bringing back the Donatists to the Church
(iii. pp. 1155 and 1159).
a.d. 407, 408, 409— Called bv Mansi
AFRICAN COUNCILS
4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Africau Councils in
the pontificate of Innocent, the 5th and
tith being regarded by him as one, or the
11th, 12th, and 13th Councils under Aure-
lius — all incorporated into the African
code (iii. p. 1163).
Carthage, a.d. 410 — Against the Donatists —
probably the 14th under Aurelius.
A.D. 411 — Great conference between the
Catholics and the Donatists ; Aurelius and
St. Augustine both taking part on behalf
of the former ; 286 bishops said to have
been present on the Catholic side, and 279
on the Donatist, yet 313 names are given
on the latter side. There were three dif-
ferent stages in the proceedings. (Mansi,
iv. pp. 269 and 276.)
A.D. 412 — In which Celestius was ac-
cused of Pelagianism and appealed to the
Pope, probably the 15th under Aurelius.
CiRTA, A.D.412 — In the matter of the Donatists
— published a synodical letter in the name
of Aurelius, St. Augustine and others. Sil-
vanus, primate of Numidia, heads it.
African, a.d. 414 — Of Donatists.
Carthage, a.d. 416 — or the 2nd against the
Pelagians: probably the 16th under Au-
relius : composed of 67 bishops : addressed
a synodical letter to Innocent of Rome,
condemning both Pelagius and Cplestius.
iVIiLEVis, a.d. 416 — Called the 2nd of Milevis
against Pelagius and Celestius — composed
of 60 bishops — published 27 canons on
discipline — addressed a synodical letter to
Innocent of Rome, to which was appended
another in a more familiar tone from
Aurelius, St. Augustine and three more.
Tisdra, a.d. 417 — Passed canons on disci-
pline.
Carthage, a.d. 417, 418 — Against the Pela-
gians— regarded as one, probably the 17th
under Aurelius.
Hippo, Suffetula, Macriana, a.d. 418 —
Passed canons on discipline preserved by
Ferrandus (Mansi, iv. 439).
Thenes, a.d. 418 — Published nine canons on
discipline.
Carthage, a.d. 419 — Attended by 229, or,
according to other accounts, 217 bishops ;
and by Faustinus, Bishop of Potenza, and
two presbyters as legates from Rome. Its
proceedings have been anticipated in what
was said on the African code. It would
seem as if it really commenced in 418,
and extended through 419. Pagi supposes
33 canons to have been passed in the
former year, and but 6 in the latter
(Mansi, iv. 419) ; and Mansi seems even to
make two synods of it, calling one a 5th
or 6th, and the other a 7th Council of
Carthage (against tjie Pelagians, he pro-
bably means), and yet evidently reckoning
both together as the 18th under Aurelius.
From 419 it seeme to have been adjourned
to 421, and then lasted into 422 at least,
as has been shown above ; this adjourned
council was therefore in reality the 20th
under Aurelian, though sometimes headed
the 18th, as being one with the council of
which it was but the adjournment. Then
the 19th under Aurelius is the title given
iu Mansi (iv. 443) to one held in the
AGAPAE
39
mterim, a.d. 420, to determine certain
questions of precedence amongst bishops,
possibly the missing 6th against Pela-
gianism.
Numidia, a.d. 423 — In which Antonius, a
bishop of that province, was condemned.
Carthage, a.d. 426— At which Leporius, a
French presbyter, cleared himself from
Pelagianism.
Hippo, a.d. 426 — At which Heraclius was
elected successor to St. Augustine at his
nomination.
A.D. 427 — Said to have passed canons
29 and 30, in the Latin numbering of the
African code (Mansi, iv. 539).
African, a.d. 484 — To render account of their
faith to King Hunneric, when it appeared
that of 475 sees, 14 were then vacant : 88
had been deprived of their bishops by
death, and most of those who survived
were in exile (Mansi, vii. pp. 1156-64
and the notes).
Byzatium, a.d. 507 — To appoint new bishops
in place of those who had died or been
exiled.
JuNCA, a.d. 523 — under Liberatus : to con-
demn a bishop of the province of Tripoli
who had usurped a church not in his
diocese : St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe,
being one of those present.
Carthage, a.d. 525 — under Boniface ; when
two volumes of the canons were found, as
already described (Mansi, viii. 635-56).
African, a.d. 533— Sent a synodical letter to
John II. of Rome by Liberatus, deacon of
the church of Carthage, so well known for
his writings.
Byzatium, a.d. 541 — Sent a deputation to
Justinian, and legislated on discipline.
African, a.d. 550 — Excommunicated Vigilius
for condemning the three chapters.
Suffetula, a.d. 570 — Passed canons on dis-
cipline, some of which are preserved.
African, a.d. 594 — Against the Donatists,
probably for the last time.
Byzatium, a.d. 602 — To examine certain
charges made against Clement the pri-
mate.
Numidia, a.d. 603— To examine the case of
Donadeus, a deacon, who had appealed
from his bishop to Rome.
Byzatium, Numidia, Mauritania, Car-
thage, a.d. 633 — Against Cyrus, Pyrrhus,
and Sergius, the Monothelite leaders.
Byzatium, Numidia, Mauritania, Car-
thage, 646 — Against the Monothelites :
the councils of Byzatium, Numidia, and
Mauritania addresse'd a joint synodical
letter: and the Bishop of Carthage a
letter in his own name to Theodore,
Bishop of Rome : all preserved in the acts
of the Lateran Council under Martin I..
A.D. 649. [E. S. F.]
AGABUS, the prophet (Acts xxi. 10), com-
memorated Feb. 13 {Martyrol. Jiom. Vet}; April
8 {Cal. Byzant). [C]
AGAPAE.— The custom which prevailed in
the Apostolic Church of meeting at fixed times
for a common meal, of which all alike partook
as brothers, has been touched on in the Diet, of
the Bible [Lord's Supper.] It had a precedent
40
AGAPAE
in the habits of the Esseue communities in
Judaea (Joseph. Bell. Jvd. ii. 8), and in the tpavoi
of Greek guilds or associations ; in the Charisties
of Roman life (Ovid, Fasti, ii. 616), in the
<TV(r(TtTta of Crete, in the (peiSiTta of Sparta.
The name apparently was attached to the meals
towards the close of the Apostolic age. The
absence of any reference to it in 1 Cor. xi. or
xiii., where reference would have been so natural,
had it been in use, may fairly be taken as nega-
tive evidence that it was not then current. The
balance of textual authority inclines in favour of
aydirais, rather than ctTraTois, in Jude v. 12,
and perhaps also, though less decidedly, in 2 Pet.
ii. 13, and we may fairly assume (without enter-
ing on the discussion of the authorship and date
of those epistles) that they represent the termi-
nology of the Church in the period from A.D. 60
to A.D. 80. The true reading of 1 Pet. v. 14
(eV <pt\ri/xaTi ayainii) cannot be disjoined from
the tact that there was a feast known then or
very soon afterwards by that name, at which
such a salutation was part of the accustomed
ceremonials. Soon the name spread widely both
in the East and West. Ignatius (t;d Svvjrn. c. 8),"*
for the Asiatic and Syrian Churches, Clement
for Alexandria {Paedaq. ii. p. 142), TertuUian for
Western Africa {Apol. c. 39), are witnesses for
its wide-spread use.
It is obvious that a meeting of this character
must have been a very prominent featui'e in the
life of any community adopting it. The Christians
of a given town or district came on a fixed
day, probably the first day of the week (the
"stato die" of Pliny's letter to Trajan, Epp. x.
96), in some large room hired for the purpose,
or placed at their disposal by some wealthy con-
verts. The materials of the meal varied ac-
cording to the feeling or wealth of the society.
Bread and wine were, of course, indispensable,
both as connected with the more solemn com-
memorative act which came at some period or
ether in the service, and as the staple articles of
food. Meat, poultry, cheese, milk, and honey,
were probably used with them (August., c.
Faust. XX. 20). Early paintings in the cata-
combs of Rome seem to show that fish also
was used (Aringhi, Roma Suhtcrran. ii. pp. 77,
83, 119, 123, 185, 199, 267). Both the fact of
its being so largely the common diet of the poor
in Syria (Matt. vii. 9, xiv. 17, xvi. 34), and
the associations of Luke xxiv. 42, John xxi.
9 (to say nothing of the mystical significance
attached to the word j'xflus as early as Tertul-
lian), would naturally lead Christians to use it
at their " feasts of love." The cost of the meal j
fell practically on the richer members of the
Church, whether it was provided out of the
common funds, or made up of actual contribu-
tions in kind, meat ov fruit sent for the purpose,
or brought at the time. At the appointed hour
they came, waited for each other (1 Cor. xi. 33),
a There is a suggestive difference, indicating a change
in language and practice, between the shorter and longer
texts of the Jgnatian Epistles in tbis passage. Jn the
former the writer claims for the bishop the sole prero-
gative of baptizing, or ayi-rrriv woielv. In the latter the
word Trpo(r</)e'pcii' is interpolated between them. The
Agape is distinguished, i. e. from the "Supper of the
Lord," with which it had before been ideiitilled ; and the
latter, thus separated, is associated with a more sacrificial
terminology, and placed before the social feast.
AGAPAE
men and women seated at different tables, per-
haps on opposite sides of the room, till the bishoj>
or presbyter of the Church pronounced the
blessing (^ev\oyia). Then they ate and drank.
Originally, at some time before or after'' the
rest of the meal, one loaf was specially blessed
and broken, one cup passed round specially as
" the cup of blessing." When the meal was over,
water was brought and they washed their hands.
Then, if not before, according to the season of the
year, lamps were placed (as in the upper room at
Troas, Acts xx. 8) on their stands, and the more
devotional part of the evening began. Those
who had special gifts were called on to expound
Scripture, or to speak a word of exhortation, or to
sing a hymn to God, or to " Christ as to a God"
(Plin. 1. c). It was the natural time for intel-
ligence to be communicated from other Churches,
for epistles from them or their bishops to be
read, for strangers who had come with (iriffrSKai
crva-TaTiKol to be received. Collections were
made for the relief of distressed churches at a
distance, or for the poor of the district (1 Cor.
xvi. 1; Justin. M. Apol. ii. ; TertuUian. ApoL c.
39). Then came the salutation, the kiss of love
(1 Pet. V. 14), the " holy kiss" <^ (Rom. xvi. 16),
which told of brotherhood, the final jn-ayer, the
quiet and orderly dispersion. In the ideal Agapae,
the eating and drinking never passed beyond the
bounds of temperance. In practice, as at
Corinth, the boundary line may sometimes have
been transgressed, but the testimony of Pliny in
his letter to Trajan (1. c), as well as the state-
ments of the Apologists, must be allowed as
proving that their general character at first was
that of a pure simplicity. The monstrous
slanders of " Thyestean banquets " and " shame-
less impurity" were but the prurient inventions
of depi'aved minds, who inferred that all secret
meetings must be like those of the Bacchanalian
orgies which had at various periods alarmed the
Roman Senate with their infinite debasement
(Liv. xxxix. 13, 14). At Alexandria, indeed, as
was natural in a wealthy and luxurious city,
there seems to have been a tendency to make
the Agape too much of a sumptuous feast,
like the entertainments of the rich, and to give
the name to banquets to which only the rich
were invited. Clement protests with a natural
indignation against such a misapplication of it
by those who sought to " purchase the promise
of God with such feasts" {Paedag. ii. 1, § 4, p. 61).
It seems probable from his protest against the
use of flutes at Christian feasts (Paedag. ii. 4, p.
71) that instrumental music of a secular and
meretricious character had come to be used instead
of the " psalms and hymns and spiritual songs"
(Eph. v. 19, Col. iii. 16) which had been in use,
without accompaniment, at the original Agapae.
Clement, however, permits the employment of
the harp or lyre.
At first the practice would naturally serve as a
•> Chrysostom (Bam. 27 and 54, on 1 Cor. xi.), followed
by Theodoret and Theophylact in loc, and most liturgical
writers, say " before," but obviously under the influence
of later practice, and the belief that the Kuchari?t could
not have been received otherwise than fasting in the time
of the Apostles.
"^ We may probably think of some order like that which
attends the use of a " grace-cup " in college or civic feast ;
each man kissed by his neighbour ou one side, and kissing
in turn him who sat on the other.
AGAPAE
witness and bond of the brotherhood of Christians.
Rich and poor, even master and slave, met together
on the same footing. What took place but once
a year in the Roman saturnalia was repeated in
the Christian society once a week. But in pro-
portion as the society became larger, and the
sense of brotherhood less living, the old social
distinctions would tend to reassert themselves.
The Agapae would become either mere social
entertainments for the wealthy, as at Alexan-
dria, or a mei-e dole of food for the poor,
as in Western Africa (Augustin. c. Fauslum
XX. 20), and in either case would lose their
original significance. Other causes tended also
tD throw them into the back-ground. When
Christians came to have special buildings set
apart for worship, and to look on them with
something of the same local reverence that the
Jews had had for the Temple, they shrank from
sitting down in them to a common meal as an
act of profanation. The Agapae, therefore, were
gradually forbidden to be held in churches, as
bvthe Council of Laodicea (c. 27), and that of 3rd
Carthage A.D. 391 (c. 30), and that in TruUo
much later "* (a.d. 692). This, of course, to-
gether with the rule of the 3rd Council of Carthage
(c. 29), that the Eucharist should be received
fasting, and the probable transfer, in consequence
of that rule, of the time of its "celebration" from
the evening to the morning, left the "feast of
love " without the higher companionship with
which it had been at first associated, and left it
to take more and more the character of a pauper
meal. Even the growing tendency to asceticism
led men who aimed at a devout life to turn aside
fastidiously from sitting down with men and
women of all classes, as a religious act. So
Tertullian, who in his Apology had given so
beautiful a description of them, after he became
a Montanist, reproaches the Church at large
with the luxury of its Agapae, and is not ashamed
to repeat the heathen slander as to the preva-
lence in thym even of incestuous licence {De
Jcjun. c. xvii.). One effort was made, as by the
Council of Gangra, to restore them to their old
position. Those who despised and refused to
come to them were solemnly anathematised (c.
11). But the current set in strongly, and the
practice gradually died out. Their close con-
nexion with the annual commemoration of the
deaths of martyrs, and the choice of the graves
of martyrs as the place near which to hold them,
was, perhaps, an attempt to raise them out of
the disrepute into which they had fallen. And
for a time the attempt succeeded. Augustine
describes his mother Monica as having been in
the habit of going with a basket full of provi-
sions to these Agapae, which she just tasted her-
self, and then distributed (Con/ess. vi. 2). And
this shows the prevalence of the practice in
Western Africa. In Northern Italy, however,
Ambrose had suppressed them on account of the
disorders which were inseparable, and their re-
semblance to the old heathen Parentalia, and
Augustine, when he returned to Africa, urged
Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, to follow the
example {Ejdst. xxii.). The name, indeed, still
lingered as given to the annual dedication feasts
AGAPE
41
<* The significance of the reversal of the prohibition
at so late a date, is that it shews that the practice still
lingered.
of churches at Rome in the sixth century (Greg.
M., Epp. ii. 76), and the practice left traces of
itself, in the bread, blest as distinct from conse-
crated, which, under the title of EuLOaiA, was
distributed in churches, or taken from them to
absent members of the congregation, (2) in the
practice, prohibited by the Apostolic canons (c.
3), and by the Council in Trullo (c. 28, 57, 99)
of bringing to the altar honey, milk, grapes,
poultry, joints of meat, that the priest might
bless them there before they were eaten at a
common table. The grapes appear, indeed, to
have been actually distributed with the ayia, or
consecrated elements, while the joints of meat
are mentioned as a special enormity of the
Armenian Church. (3) Traces of the Agapae
are to be found lastly in the practice which
prevailed in Egypt, from the neighbourhood of
Alexandria to the Thebaid, in the 5th century,
of meeting on the evening of Saturday for a
common meal, generally full and varied in its
materials, after which those who were present
partook of the " mysteries " (Sozom. H. E.
vii. 19 ; Socrates, H. 'E. v. 22). The practice,
then, noticed as an exception to the practice
of all other Churches (comp. Augustin. Epist.
ad Jan. i. 5) was probably a relic of the primi-
tive Church, both as to time and manner, when
the Lord's Supper had been, like other suppers,
eaten in the evening, when an evening meeting
on " the first day of the week" meant, according
to the Jewish mode of speech, the evening of
Saturday, when the thought that " fasting" was
a necessary condition of partaking of the Supper
of the Lord was not only not present to men's
minds, but was absolutely excluded by the
Apostle's rule, that men who could not wait
patiently when the members of the Church met,
should satisfy their hunger beforehand in their
own houses (1 Cor. xi. 34).
The classification of Agapae, according to the
occasion on which they were held, as (1) con-
nected with the anniversaries of martyrdoms
[comp. Natalitia], (2) as Conmtbkdes [comp.
Marriage], (3) as accompanying funerals
[Burial], (4) as at the dedication festivals of
churches [Dedications], must be looked on as
an after-growth of the primitive practice of
weekly meetings. Details will be found under
the respective headings.
We have lastly to notice the probable use at the
Agapae of cups and plates with sacred emblems
and inscriptions, of which so many have been
fouud in the Catacombs [Glass, Christian], and
which almost suggest the idea of toasts to the me-
mory of the martyrs whose Natalities were cele-
brated. " Victor Vivas in Nomine Laureti "
(Buonarrott. Plate xix. fig. ,2), " Semper Refri-
geris in Nomine Dei" {Ibid. xx. 2), "IIIE
ZH2A12 EN ArA0Ol2, DULCIS ANIMA VI-
VAS, BIBAS (for Vivas) IN PACE," are ex-
amples of the inscriptions thus found. In the
judgment of the archaeologist just referred to,
they go back to the third, or even to the second
century. The mottoes were probably determined
by the kind of Agape for which they were intended
(comp. Martigny,art. Fonds de Coupe.). [E.H.P.]
AGAPE. (1) Virgin of Antioch, commemo-
rated Feb. 15 and March 10 (Mart. Hieron.).
(2) Virgin of Thessalonica, commemorated April
3 {Martijrol. Rom. Vet.).
42
AGJAPETI, AND AGAPETAE
(3) Martyr, April 16 (Cal. Bymnt.).
(4) Daughter of Sophia, Sept. 17 (/6.).
(5) Virgin, commemorated at Rome Aug. 8
{M. Hieron.).
(6) Virgin, commemorated at Heraclea, Nov.
20 (J/. Hkron.). [C]
AGAPETI, and AGAPETAE, respectively,
men who dwelt in the same house with dea-
conesses, and virgins who dwelt in the same
house with monks, under a profession of merely
spiritual love ; the latter of the two akin to
(TvvfiaaKTOt, and also called a.'5iK<pa\ : denounced
by St. Gi-eg. Naz. (Carm. III.), by St. Jerome
{Ad Eustoch. and Ad Oceanian, — " Agapetarum
pestis "), by St. Chrysostom (Pallad. in V. S.
Chn/s. p. 45), by Epiphanius (Hacr. Ixiii., Ixxix.),
and' by Theodoret (/« Ejnst. ad Philem. v. 2) ;
and forbidden by Justinian (Novell, vi. c. 6), and
others (see Photius in Nomocan. tit. viii. c. xiv.
p. 99). (Du Cange, Meursius in Glossar., Suicei-.)
The Irish Kules and Penitentials severely con-
demn a like practice : see e. g. Reg. Columban.
ii. 13. And the " second order of saints," in
Ireland itself (according to the well-known
document published by Ussher), " abnegabant
mulierum administrationem, separantes eas a
monasteriis," owing apparently to the abuse
arising from the practice when permitted by
" tlie first order." See Todd, Life of St. Patrick,
jip. 90-92. (See avv^iaaKroi..) [A. W. H.]
AGAPETUS or AGAPITUS. 1. Comme-
morated March 24 {Mart. lUeron., Bedae).
(2) Of Asia, April 12 {Mart. Hieron.).
(3) The deacon, martyr at Rome, commemo-
rated with Felicissimus, Aug. 6 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Hieron., Bedae). Proper office in Gregorian
Sacramentary, p. 118, and Antiphon in Lib.
Antiph., p. 705.
(4) Martyr at Praeneste, commemorated Aug.
18 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae). Proper
ofHce in Gregorian Sacramentary, p. 123, and
Antiphon in Lib. Antiph. p. 707. [C]
AGAPIUS. (1) The bishop, martyr in Nu-
midia, commemorated April 29 {Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(2) And companions, martyrs at Gaza, March
15 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AGATHA or AGATHE. (1) The virgin,
martyr at Catana, passion commemorated Feb. 5
{Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Cal. Byzant.).
Another commemoration, July 12 {M. Hieron.).
One of the saints of the Gregorian Canon. Proper
office for her Katalis in Gregorian Sacramentary,
p. 25, and Antiphon in Lib. Antiph. p. 665.
(2) Commemorated April 2 {Mart. Hieron.).
[C]
AGATHANGELUS, martyr, commemorated
Jan. 23 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AGATHENSE CONCILIUM. [Agde.]
AGATHO. (1) Martyr at Alexandria, com-
memorated Dec. 7 {Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(2) Deacon, April 4 {Mart. Bedae).
(3) Commemorated July 5 (76. et Hieron.). [C]
AGATHONICA of Pergamus, commemo-
rated April 13 {Mart. Bom. Vet.). [C]
AGATHONICUS, martyr, commemorated
Aug. 22 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AGATHUS, commemorated May 8 {Mart.
Hieron.). [C]
AGAUXE, COUNCIL OF (Agaunensk
AGE, CANONICAL ;
CoxciLitJM), April 30, a.d. 515, 516, or 523 ; of !
sixty bisiiops and sixty nobles, under Sigismund, ]
King of the Burgundians ; established the " Laus
Ferennis " in the monastery of Agaune (or St.
Maurice in the Valais), then also endowed with ]
lands and privileges. Maximus, Bishop of Geneva, ]
heads the signatures ; but Avitus, Archbishop |
of Vieune, is supposed to have been also present i
(Mansi, viii. 531-538). [A. W. H.]
AGDE, COUNCIL OF (Agathense Coxci-
LIUM), in Narbonne, a.d. 506, Sept. 10 or 11;
of 35 bishops from the South of France ; in the
22nd year of Alaric, (Arian) King of the Goths ;
enacted 73 canons in matters of discipline ;
among other things, forbidding " bigami " to
be ordained ; commanding mamed priests and
deacons to abstain from their wives ; fixing 25
as the age of a deacon, 30 as that of a priest or
bishop, &c. It was assembled " ex permissu
domini nostri gloriosissimi magnificentissimique ■
regis," sc. Alaric; without any mention of the '
pope (Symmachus), save as mentioning his vear ';
in the title (Mansi, viii. 319-346). [A. W. H.] •
AGE, CANONICAL. The age required by i
the canons for ordination. In the case of bishops, "
it appears to have been the rule of the Church
from early times that they should be thirty j
years old at the time of their ordination. This j
rule, however, was frequently dispensed with,
either in cases of necessity or in order to pro- I
mote persons of extraordinary worth and singular '
qualifications. It may be questioned whether '
this rule was observed from the days of the
Apostles, as it is nowhere enjoined in St. Paul's I
Pastoral Epistles or elsewhere in the New Testa-
ment. And in the so-called Apostolical Consti- I
tutions, which may be taken as expressing the j
system of the Eastern Church as it was es-
tablished about the end of the third century,
fifty is the age required of a bishop at his ordi-
nation, except he be a man of singular merit, '
which may compensate for the want of years. ;
The age of thirty is required by implication ■
by the Council of Neocaesarea, A.D. 314, which !
forbids to admit any one, however well qualified, i
to the priesthood, under thirty years of age,
because the Lord Jesus Christ at that age be-
gan His ministry. The Council of Agde (Con-
cilium Agathense) forbids the ordination of
bishops or priests under thirty years of age.
By this rule, as enacted by the above-named
councils, the ordinary practice of the Church
has been regulated. The deviations, however,
in special cases have been numerous, and for
these a warrant may be found in the case of !
Timothy, whose early ordination as Bishop of
Ephesus is inferred from the Apostle's admo- j
nition, — " Let no man despise thy youth " (1 \
Tim. iv. 12). We learn from Eusebius, that
Gregory Thaumaturgus and his brother Atheno- \
dorus were both ordained bishops very young ; '
€Tj viovs &fiL(po}. It is probable that Athanasius
was ordained to the see of Alexandria before he •
was thirty. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, as all I
authors agree, was ordained at the age of twenty- -J
two, A.D. 471. ^
In later times, boys of eleven or twelve years
of age have been ordained to the episcopate by
papal dispensation ; but this abuse was unknown
to the ancient Church.
Presbyters, like bishops, might not be ordained
AGENDA
before the age of thirty. Justinian, indeed,
enacted that none should be a presbyter before
thirty-five; but the Sixth General Council of Con-
stantinople reduced it to the old period, appointing
thirty for a priest and twenty-live for a deacon.
Which ages were also settled in the Saxon Church,
as appears by Egbert's Collection of the Canons
then in force in this country.
The councils of Agde, 506, of Carthage, 397,
of Trullo, 692, of Toledo, 633, all prescribe
twenty-five as the minimum of age for a deacon ;
and, according to Bingham, this rule was very
nicely observed, so that we scarce meet with an
instance of any one that was ordained before this
age in all the history of the Church. For this the
Council of Toledo cites the Levitical precedent.
In the Greek Church the age of thirty is still
prescribed for a priest, and twenty-five for a
deacon. In our own Church, the first Prayer-
book of Edward VI. prescribed twenty-one for
deacons, twenty-four for priests. The present
rubric is a provision of Canon 34.
(Bingham, n. 1, xx. 20 ; Landon's Manual of
Councils ; Comber's Companion ; Frayerhook in-
terleaved.) [D. B.]
AGENDA (from agere in the special sense of
performing a sacred act). A word used to desig-
nate both the mass and other portions of Divine
service.
1. In the plural. — The second Council of Car-
thage (390) speaks of presbyters who committed
a breach of discipline, in that " agant agenda " in |
private houses, without the authority of the
bishop (Canon 9). Innocent I. {Epistola ad De-
centium, § 3, p. 552, Migne) speaks of cele-
brating other agenda, in contrast with the con-
secration of the mysteries.
2. The plural form "agenda" came in time,
like " Biblia," to be considered a singular femi-
nine. For instance, St. Benedict in his Rule, c.
13 (p. 291), speaking of the morning and evening
office, says, " Agenda matutina et vespertina noii
transeat."
3. The word "agenda" is not nnfrequently
used absolutely to denote the office for the dead.
This may not improbably be the case in the
canon quoted above by the II. Cone. Carthage ;
and it is certainly used in this sense by Venerable
Bede, when, speaking of local commemorations of
the dead, he says, " Per omne sabbatum a presby-
tero loci illius Agendae eorum sollenniter cele-
brantur " (Vita St. Augustini, in Ducange s. v.).
Compare Menard's note in his edition of Gregro/'i/'s
Sacrarnentary, p. 482. (Ducange's Glossary, s. v.
" Agenda "). [C]
AGNES, or AGNE (ayvi,). (1) The virgin,
martyr at Rome. Her Natalis, which is an an-
cient and highly-honoured festival, is celebrated
Jan. 2\{Mart. Eom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae) ; Octave,
Jan. 28 (i6.). Proper office for the Natalis in
the Gregorian Sacrarnentary, p. 23, and Antiphon
in Lib. Antiph. p. 664. By Theodorus Lector
(Ecloga ii.) the deposition of her relics is joined
with the deposition of those of Stephen and
Laurence (see Greg. Sacram. p. 304, ed. Menard).
She is one of the saints of the Gregorian Canon,
where her name appears in the form Agne.
Tillemont {Me'm. Eccl. iv. 345) conjectures
that the second festival on Jan. 28 commemorates
the apparition of St. Agnes to her parents eight
days after her death.
AGNUS DEI
43
Her remains are said to have been buried in a
praediolum belonging to her family on the Via
Nomentana. The crypt dug to receive them bo-
came the nucleus of the famous cemetery of St.
Agnes. Two churches at Rome are dedicated to
St. Agnes, one of which is said to be that built
by Constantine at the request of his daughter
Constantia, and is certainly one of the most an-
cient basilicas in Rome. In early times, it was
customary for the Pope to be present at the fes-
tival of St. Agnes in this church, in which
Gregory the Great delivered several of his homi-
lies {e.g. in Matt. c. xiii., Ho7n. 2); and in this
church still, on Jan. 21, the lambs are blessed,
from the wool of which the Pallia destined for
archbishops are to be made.
In the illustration, taken from an ancient
glass vessel, the doves on each side bear the two
crowns of Chastity and of Martyrdom. This
representation illustrates the verse of Prudentius
{Feristeph. xiv. 7),
" Duplex corona est praestita martyri."
Representations of St. Agnes are found very fre-
quently on glass vessels iu the catacombs ; only
St. Peter and St. Paul are found more often so
represented. When alone, she is generally placed
between two trees ; sometimes she is at the side
of the Virgin Mary ; sometimes between the
Lord and St. Laurence; between St. Vincent
and St. Hippolytus ; between St. Peter and St.
Paul.
(2) There is another festival of St. Agnes on
Oct. 18 {Mart. Hieron.). Tillemont (1. c.) con-
jectures that this was instituted in commemora-
tion of the dedication of some church in her
honour. (Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. chre't. p.
22 ff. ; the Abbe Martigny has also written a
monograph. Notice historique, liturgique, et arche'o-
logiquo sur le Culte de Ste. Agnes. Paris et
Lyons, 1847.) [C]
AGNITUS, commemorated Aug. 16 {Mart.
Hieron.). [C.J
AGNUS DEI. The versicle " Agnus Dei, qui
toUis peccata mundi, Miserere nobis," is generally
spoken of as the " Agnus Dei."
1. A reference to the " Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world," was intro-
duced (as was natural) into some of the liturgies
at an early period. Thus in the Liturgy of St.
Chrysostom, during the breaking of the bread,
the priest says, MtAiferai Koi Siaue/tC^rai 6
44
AGNUS DEI
aij.vhs rod &fov (Neale's Tetralogia, 176) ; and m
that of St. James, after breaking and signing
with the cross, tlie priest says, 'iSe 6 ajxvhs tov
@eov, o Tibs TOV Uarphs, 6 aipwu tV afxapTiav
TOV KOfffiov, (TcpayiaaSels virlp ti)s tov K6ff/j.ov
Cairis Kal ffcoTTjpi'as (Pj. 179). And in the ancient
" Morning Hymn " [Gloria in Excelsis]
adopted both iu Eastern and Western Liturgies,
the deprecation is found : 'O a/j.vhs tov @eov,
'O Tlhs TOV IlaTphs, 6 aipwu ras aixaprias tov
K6(Tfxov, 'EXerjcrov 7iiJ.as.
2. At the Trullau Council (692) it was decreed,
among other matters, that the Lord shoukl no
longer be pictured in cliurchos under the form of a
lamb, but in human form (Canon 82). The then
Pope, however, Sergius I., rejected the decrees of
this Council (though its conclusions had been
subscribed by the Papal legates), and Anastasius
the Librarian (in Baron., an. 701, vol. xii. 179) tells
us that this Pope first ordered that, at the time
of the breaking of the Lord's body, the " Agnus
Dei " should be chanted by clerks and people.
Some think that Sergius ordered it to be said
thrice, where it had previously been said only
once ; others, as Krazer (De Liturgiis, p. 545),
that he ordered it to be said by the whole body
of the clergy and people, as being a prayer for
all ; not, as previously, by the choir only. How-
ever this may be, the evidence of the Ordines
Eomani I., II., and III. (Mabillon, Museum Itali-
cum, li. pp. 29, 50, 59), and of Amalarius of
Metz, shows that in the beginning of the 9th cen-
tury the choir alone, and not the priest at the
altar, chanted the " Agnus Dei ;" and this was
the case also when Innocent III. wrote his trea-
tise on the " Mystery of the Altar." The Ordines
Komani do not define the number of repetitions of
the versicle ; but Martene {De Bitihus Ecdesiae,
lib. i., c. 4, art. 9) proves from ancient documents
that the threefold repetition was expressly en-
joined in some churches — as in that of Tours — •
before the year 1000 ; and in the 12th century
this custom prevailed in most churches. Subse-
quently, probably from about the 14th century,
the " Aguus Dei " came to be said in a low voice
by the priest with his deacon and subdeacon. In
later times, says Innocent III. (^De sacro Altaris
Mysterio, i. 4, p. 910, Migne), as trouble and ad-
versity fell upon the Church, the response at the
third repetition was changed into " Dona nobis
pacem ;" in the church of St. John Lateran
only was the older form retained. When
the substitution of " Dona nobis pacem "
was made is uncertain ; it is found in no
MS. older than the year 1000. The reason
which Innocent gives for the introduction of the
prayer for peace may perhaps be the real one ;
but it is not an unreasonable conjecture that it
had reference to the " pax," or kiss of peace,
which was to follow.
3. Gerbert {De Musica Sacra, i. p. 458) men-
tions among ancient customs the chanting of the
" Agnus Dei " by the choir during the time that
the people communicated, before the antiphon
called "Communio" (Daniel, Codex Liturgicus,
i. 148).
4. The " Agnus Dei " was sometimes interpo-
lated with "tropes;" for instance, the following
form is quoted by Cardinal Bona from an ancient
missal, the date of which he does not mention :
"Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, crimina
tollis, aspera mollis, Ag7nis honoris, Miserere nobis.
AGNUS DEI
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, vuliiera
sanas, ardua planus, Agnus amoris. Miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, sordida
muiidas, cuncta foecundas, Agnus odoris. Dona
nobis pacem " {Ve Behus Liturgicis, lib. ii. c. 16,
p. 473). And Rupert of Deutz has the addition,
" Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, Miserere nobis "
(Daniel, Codex Lit. i. 142).
5. In the Ambrosian rite the " Agnus Dei "
occurs only in masses for the dead ; where, after
" Dona nobis pacem," the words are added, " Re-
quiem sempiternam, et locum indulgentiae cum
Sanctis tuis in gloria " (Krazer, De Liturgiis,
p. 637).
6. A legend preserved by Robert of Jlount St.
Michael (in Bona, De Eeh. Lit. lib. ii. c. 16) tells
how, in the year 1183, the Holy Virgin appeared
to a woodman at work in a forest, and gave him
a medal bearing her own image and that of her
Son, with the legend "Agnus Dei, qui tollis pec-
cata mundi. Dona nobis pacem." This she bade
him bear to the bishop, and tell him that all who
wished the peace of the Church should make
such medals as these, and wear them in token of
peace. [C]
AGNUS DEI. A medallion of wax, bearing
the figure of a lamb. It was an ancient custom
to distribute to the worshippers, on the first
Sunday after Easter, particles of wax taken from
the Paschal taper, which had been solemnly
blessed on the Easter Eve of the previous year.
These particles were burned in houses, fields, or
vineyards, to secure them against evil influences
or thunder-strokes.
In Rome itself, however, instead of a Paschal
taper, the archdeacon was accustomed to pro-
nounce a benediction over a mixture of oil and
wax, from which small medallions bearing the
figure of a lamb were made, to be distributed to
the people on the first Sunday after Easter, espe-
cially to the newly baptised. {Ordo Bmnanus I.
pp. 25, 31 ; Amalarius de Eccl. Off. i. 17, p.
1033 ; Pseudo-Alcuin, de Div. Off. c. 19, p. 482.)
In modern times this benediction of the Agiius
Dei is reserved to the Pope himself, and takes
place in the first year of each pontificate, and
every seventh year following.
The Paschal taper was anciently thought to
symbolise the pillar of fire which guided the
Israelites, and the Agnus Dei the Passover Lamb
(Amalarius, u. s. c. 18 ; compare the Gregorian
Sacramentary, p. 71; " Deus, cujus antiqua
miracula in praesenti quoque saeculo coruscare
sentimus").
A waxen Agnvs Dei is said to have been among
the presents made by Gregory the Great to
Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards (Frisi,
Memorie di Monza, i. 34) ; but nothing of the
kind is mentioned by the saint himself in the
letter (Epist. xiv. 12, p. 1270) in which he gives
a list of his presents. One was found in 1725 in
the church of San Clemente on the Coelian Hill
at Rome, in a tomb supposed to be that of
Flavins Clemens a martyr. This Agnus is sup-
posed, by De Vitry (in Calogiera's Baccolta,
xxxiii. 280), to have been placed in the tomb at
the translation of the relics which he thinks took
place in the 7th century.
An Agnus was frequently enclosed m a case or
reliquary ; and some existing examples of such
cases are thought to be of the 8th or 9th ccd-
AGRICIUS
tuiy. A very remarkable one, said to have
belonged to Charlemagne, is among the treasures
of Aix-la-Chapelle ; but the style appears to be
of a much later age than that of Charlemagne
(Cahier and Martin, Melanges d'Archeoloqie,
vol. i. pi. xix. fig. D.). [C.]
AGRTCIUS, Bishop of Treves and confessor,
deposition Jan. 13 (JIart. Bedae). [C]
AGRICOLA. (1) In Africa, martyr, com-
memorated Nov. 3 (If. Hieron.).
(2) Martvr at Bologna, commemorated Nov.
•27 t^Mart Bom. Vet.).
(3) Saint, Natale Dec. 3 (if. Bedae).
(4) In Auvergne, Dec. 9 {M. Hieron.).
(6) At Ravenna, Dec. 16 (if. Hieron.). [C]
AGRIPPINA, martyr at Rome, commemo-
rated June 23 {Cal. Byzant). [C]
AGRIPPINENSE CONCILIUM. [Co-
logne, COUXCIL OF.]
AGRIPPINUS, of Alexandria, commemo-
rated Julv 15 {Mart. Hieron.); Jakatit 5 = Jan.
oQ (Cal. Ethiop.).
AINOI. [Lauds.]
AISLE. [Church.]
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, COUNCILS OF
(Aquisgraxexsia Coxcilia) : — i. a.d. 789 ; a
mixed synod held under Charlemagne in his
palace, which enacted 82 capitulars respecting
the Church, IQ ad monachos, 21 on matters of a
mixed kind (Baluz., Capit. i. 209). — ii. a.d. 797 ;
also under Charlemagne, and consisting of bishops,
abbats, and counts ; at which 11 capitulars were
made respecting matters ecclesiastical and civil,
and 33 " de partibus Saxoniae." The canons (46)
of Theodulph, Bishop of Orleans, "ad parochiae
suae sacerdotes," are appended to this council
(Baluz., Capit. i. 250 ; Mansi, xiii. 994-1022). —
iii. A.D. 799; also under Charlemagne, and in
his palace, of bishops, abbats, and monks, where
Felix of Urgel was induced by Alcuin to re-
nounce the heresy of Adoptianism (Mansi, xiii.
1033-1040, from Alcuin, ad Elipand. i., and the
Vita Alcuin.).— \y. A.D. 802, October ; also under
Charlemagne, of bishops, priests, and deacons,
who then took the oath of allegiance to him
(Mansi, xiii. 1102). — v. a.d. 809, November;
also under Charlemagne, upon the question of
*he Filioque ; which sent messengers to Pope
.eo III., and was insti-ucted by him to omit the
^ords from the Creed, although the doctrine
itself was de fide (Mansi, xiv. 17-28). The later
Councils of Aix are beyond the period assigned
to this work. [A. W. H.]
ALB (alba, tunica alba, tunica talaris, poderis,
Jinca, supparus, su'mcula, camisia ; see also Sti-
CHARIOX).
§ 1. The word and its derivation. — The Latin
word alba, the fuller expression for which is
tunica alba, first appears, as the technical de-
signation of a white tunic, in a passage of Vopis-
cus, who speaks of an al'm subserica, or tunic
made of silk interwoven with some other mate-
rial, sent as a present, circ. 265, a.d., from Gal-
lienus to Claudius {Hist. August. Script. Tre-
bellius in Claudio, p. 208). The same expression,
alba subserica, occurs more than once in a letter
of the Emperor Valerian. The word survives in
the Fr. " aube," as in our own " alb." The cor-
ALB
45
respondmg Italian word "camice" is derived
from " camisia " (see below, § 3).
§ 2. Ecclesiastical use of the word, and of the
vestment. — There are two uses of the term in
ancient writers, between which it is not always
easy to distinguish. When used in the singular
it has generally the technical meaning above no-
ticed, that of a white ^MHjc. But in the plural
the phrase in albis, and the like, may either
mean " in albs," or, more vaguely and compre-
hensively, " in white garments." Context only
can determine which is meant.
The first recorded instance of the technical
use of the term, as a designation of a vestment
of Christian ministry, occurs in a canon of the
African church {Concil. Carthag. iv. can. 41),
dating from the close of the 4th century. That
canon prescribes that deacons shall not wear the
alb except when engaged in Divine service. " Ut
diaconus tempore oblationis tantum, vel lectionis,
alba utatur." This probably implies that bishops
and presbyters, but not deacons, were allowed
to wear in ordinary life a long white tunic, re-
sembling that worn in divine service. Other
early canons, on the subject of ecclesiastical
habits, show, as does that last quoted, that there
was a general tendency on the part of the dea-
cons, and other yet inferior orders, to assume the
insignia which properly belonged to the higher
grades of the ministry. "Human nature " had
found its expression in such and the like ways in
the early church as in later times.
This conjecture as to an alb being worn by
bishops and presbyters even in ordinary lite
(from the time of" the " Peace of the Church "
under Coastantine), at least on occasions when
"full dress" was required, is confirmed by the
remarkable mosaics in the church of St. George
at Thessalonica. These date in all probabilitv
from the 4th century. Among the personages
represented, all of them in the more stately dress
of ordinary life, there are two only who are
ecclesiastics, Philip Bishop of Heraclea, and the
Presbyter Romanus ; and the dress of each is so
arranged as to show the white chiton (or tunic),
though an outer tunic of darker colour is also
worn. In this respect their dress differs from
that of the other figures, which are those of lay-
men. These mosaics are figured in the Byzantine
Architecture of Texier and PuUan (Lond., 1864).
That an alb was so worn, more or less generally,
by presbyters, at least in some parts of the West
in later centuries, appears clearly from such a
direction as that of Leo IV. in his Cura Pastor-
alis: "NuUus in alba qua in suo usu utitur
praesumat missas cantare." This direction is
repeated almost verbatim in the Capitula of
Hincmar of Rheims (1882), and in the Disciplina
Ecclesiastica of Regino, abbot of Prume, in the
following century.
§ 3. Primitive forms of the Alb. — In the earlv
ages of the church the alb of Christian ministry-
was of full and flowing shape, and distinguished
in this respect from the closely-fitted funic of
Levitical priesthood. St. Jerom'e {Epist. ad Fa-
biolam) follows Josephus {Antiq. Jud. iii. 7) in
dwelling particularly on this distinctive charac-
teristic of the Levitical tunic ; and in order to
convey to his readers an idea of its general ap-
pearance, he is obliged to refer them to the linen
shirts, called camisiae, worn by soldiers when on
service. More than four centuries later, Amala-
46
ALB
rius of Metz quotes this passage of St. Jerome,
in his treatise De Ecdesiasticis Officiis (lib. n.
cap. 18); and expressly notices the fact that the
Christian alb differed from the poderis, or fuU-
leni^th tunic of Levitical ministry, in that, while
this last was strictum, closely ritted to the body,
that of the church was largum, full and flowing.
With this statement the earliest monuments ol
ministering vestments quite accord. The albs
(if they be not rather dalmatics) worn by
Archbishop Maximian and his attendant clergy
in the Ravenna mosaics (see Vestiarium Chris-
tiamm, PI. xxviii. ; and under vestments), and
in a less degree, that assigned to the deacon in
the fresco representing Ordination in the
cemetery of St. Hermes at Rome (Aringhi, Soma
.-u'jt. torn. ii. p. 329); and again those worn
under a planeta by Pope Cornelius of Rome and
St. Cyprian of Carthage in frescoes ot (probably)
the 8th century (De Rossi, Eoma Sott. vol. i. pp.
298-304) all agree in this respect. In these
last, particularly, the albs (possibly DALMATICS,
q. V.) worn under the planeta, have sleeves as
large as those of a modern surplice.
But while this was, no doubt, the prevailing
form, we have pictorial evidence to show, that,
in the ninth century certainly, and in all proba-
bility at a considerably earlier time, a difterent
form of alb was in use side by side with the first.
Considerations of practical convenience deter-
mined this, as had been the case, we may well
believe, in the case of the Levitical priests. If
these latter, in the discharge of their sacrificial
duties, would have been not only incommoded
but endangered by wearing full and flowing linen
garments, so were there occasions, particularly
the administration of baptism, when large and
full sleeves, like those of the ordinary alb or
dalmatic, would have been inconvenient in the
highest degree to those engaged in offices of
Christian ministry. We find accordingly, in an
illumination dating from the 9th century (see
woodcut in the article baptism), that the priest
in baptizing wore a closely fitted alb, girded.
This is, we have reason to believe, the earliest
example in Christian art of an alb so shaped ;
but in later centuries, as the "sacred vest-
ments" continually increased in number, the
alb, which was worn underneath the rest, was
gradually more and more contracted in form ;
and at the present time the alb, technically so
called, is a closely-fitting vestment, girded,
nearly resembling that of the priest in the plate
just referred to.
§4. Decoration of the a?6.— Like other vest-
ments which, in primitive times, were of white
linen only, the alb was often enriched in later
times in respect of ornament, material, and
colour. Details as to this are given by Bock
{Litnrgische Gewander, ii. 33) and by Dr. Rock
(C/mrch of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 424 sqq.). The
most common ornaments of the kind were known
as parurae (a shorter form of paraturae), which
were oblong patches, richly coloured and orna-
mented, attached to the tunic. Hence a distinc-
tion between cdba parata, an alb with " ap-
parels " (technically so called), and alba pura,
this last being the " white alb plain " spoken of
in the first Prayer-book of Edward VI. These
nlbae pc.ratae date, according to Professor Weiss,
from the close of the lOth century (Kostum-
..... ' of I
ALEXANDRIA
ecclesiastical use. Ornaments like in kind to
these apparels had long been in use for the richer
albs worn by persons of high secular rank. They
were called Paragaudac, from a Syriac word of
similar import. See Casaubon's note on the pas-
sage of Trebellius referred to in § 1. [W.B.M.]
ALBANUS (1) (St. Alban) or Alciniis
(Mart. Bicron.) and his companions, martyrs in
Britain, commemorated June 22 (3fart. Horn.
Vet., Hieron., ct Bedae).
(2) Saint, commemorated December 1 (M.
Bedae). [^^0
ALBINUS. (1) Bishop and confessor, com-
memorated March 1 {Mart. Hieron., Bedae).
(2) Martyr, June 21 {M. Bedae). [C]
ALCESTEE, Council of (Alnense Con-
cilium), A.D. 709 ; an imaginary council, resting
_olely on the legendary life of Ecgwin, Bishop
of Worcester, and founder of Evesham Abbey, by
Brihtwald of Worcester (or Glastonbury) ; said
to have been held to confirm the grants made
to Evesham (Wilk. i. 72, 73; Mansi, xii. 182 -
189). Wilfrid of York, said to have been at the
council, died June 23, 709. [A. W. H.]
ALDEGL^NDIS, virgin, deposition Jan. 30
{Mart. Bedae). [C-]
ALDERMANN. [Ealdorman.]
ALEXANDER, (1) martyr under Decius,
commemorated Jan. 30 {Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(2) Commemorated Feb. 9 {Mart. Bedae).
(3) Son of Claudius, martyr at Ostia
18 (*.).
(4) Bi-shop of Alexandria, Feb. 26 {lb.) ; April
10 {M. Hieron.).
(5) Of Thessalonica, Feb. 27 {M. Hieron.).
(6) Of Africa, March 5 {M. Hieron.).
(7) Of Nicomedia, March 6 {M. Hieron.).
(8) With Gains, March 10 {Mart. Bedae).
(9) Bishop of Jerusalem, martyr, March 13
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae).
(10) Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine, March
28 {Mart. Rom. Vet.) ; Mar. 27 {M. Bedae).
(11) Saint, April 24 {Mart. Bedae) ; April 21
{Hieron.).
(12) The Pope, martyr at Rome under Trajan,
May 3 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae). Named in tlie
Gregorian Canon, Antiphon in Lib. Antiph. p. 693.
(13) Martyr at Bergamo, Aug. 26 {Mart. Rom.
Vet.).
(14) Bishop and confessor, Aug. 28 (Jo.).
(15) " In Sabinis," Sept. 9 {lb. et Hieron.).
(16) Commemorated Sept. 10 {M. Hieron.).
(17) In Capua, Oct. 15 {M. Hieron.).
(18) Patriarch, Nov. 7 {C'al. Arm£n.) ; Miaziah
22 = April 17, and Nahasse 18 = Aug. 11 {Cal.
Ethiop.).
(19) Bishop and martyr, Nov. 26 {M. R. \ .).
(20) Martvr at Alexandria, translated Dec.
12 {lb.). ' [C-]
ALEXANDRIA, CATECHETICAL
SCHOOL OF. The school thus described occu-
pies an exceptional position in the history of the
Feb.
Lvjide,
p. 667). But this is true only
Christian Church. Everywhere, of course, there
was instruction {Kar-hxv<^i^) of some kind for con-
verts [Catechumens] ; everywhere, before long,
there must have been some provision made for
the education of Christian children. That at Alex-
andria was the only one which acquired a special
reputation, and had a succession of illustrious
ALEXANDRIA
teachers, and affected, directly and indirectly,
the theology of the Church at large. The lives
of those teachers, and the special characteristics
of their theological speculations will be treated
of elsewhere. Here it is proposed to consider
(1) the outward history of tlie school ; (2) its
actual mode of working, and general influence on
the religious life of the Alexandrian Church.
(1.) The origin of the Alexandrian school * is
buried in obscurity. Eusebius (//. E., v. 10)
speaks of it as of long standing (ef apxaiov
edovs), but the earliest teacher whom he names is
Pantaenus, circ. A.D. 180. If we wei-e to accept
the authority of Philip of Sida (Fragm. in Dod-
well's Dissert, in Iren. Oxf. pp. 488-497), the
honour of being its founder might be conceded
to Athenagoras, the writer of the Apologia ; and
this would carry us a few years further. But the
authority of Philip is but slight. His list is
manifestly inaccurate, the name of Clement com-
ing after Origen, and even after Dionysius, and
the silence of Eusebius and Jerome must be held
to outweigh his assertion. Conjecture may look
to St. Mark (Hieron., Cat. 36), with more proba-
bility, perhaps, to Apollos, as having been the first
conspicuous teacher at Alexandria. Pantaenus,
however, is the first historical name. He taught
both orally and by his writings, and, though his
work was interrupted by a mission to India, he
seems to have returned to Alexandria, and to
have continued teaching there till his death.
First working with him, and then succeeding
him, we have the name of Clement, and find him
occupying the post of teacher till the persecution
of Severus, A.d. 202, when he with others fled for
safety. The vacant place was filled by Origen
(Euseb. H. E. vi. 3), then only eighteen years of
age, but already well known as a teacher of
grammar and rhetoric, and as having studied
profoundly in the interpretation of the Scriptures.
It is probable, but not certain, that he himself
had attended Clement's classes. As it was, seekers
after truth came to him in such numbers that he
renounced liis woi'k as an instructor in other
subjects, and devoted himself to that of the
school which was thus reopened. Clement may
possibly have returned to Alexandria, and worked
with him till his death, circ. A.D. 220. Origen
himself left soon afterwards, and founded, in some
sense, a rival school at Caesarea. Of the teachers
that followed we know little moi-e than the names.
Philip of Sida (I. c.) gives them as Heraclas,
Dionysius, Pierius, Theognostus, Serapion, Peter,
Macarius, Didymus, Rliodon. Eusebius (i/. E.
vii. 32) names Pierius as a man of philosophical
attainments at Alexandria, and mentions Achillas
more distinctly as having been entrusted with
the SiSacTKaAeTuv there under the episcopate of
Theonas. He further speaks of the school as
existing in his own time (circ. a.d. 330). Theo-
doret (i. 1) names Arius as having at one time been
the chief teacher there, and Sozomen (H.E. iii. 15)
and Rufinus (//. E. ii. 7) name Didymus, a teacher
wiio became blind, as having held that post for a
long period of years (circ. A.D. 340-395). During
the later years of his life he was assisted by
Rhodon as a coadjutor, who, on his death, re-
* It may be worth while to note the names by which it
18 described: — (1) to t^? Kar/jxiicrea)?, or to riov lepuiv
\6yiav StSao-icaAeiov, Huseb., H. E. v. 10, vi. 3, 26 : (2) to
lepbi/ hi£aaK(x\eiov rwf iepwi' naSruJudToiu, Sozom. iii. 15 :
(3) Kcclesiastica Sclwla, Hieron., Cat. c. 3H.
ALEXANDRIA
47
moved to Sida, where he numbered among his
pupils the Philip from whom we get the list of
the succession. This seems to have broken up the
school, and we are unable to trace it further.
(2.) The pattern upon which the work at Alex-
andria was based may be found in St. Paul's
labours at Ephesus. After he ceased to address
the Jews through his discourses in the synagogue
he turned to the " school " (o'xoA'J;) of Tyrannus
(Acts, xix. 9). That " school " was probably a
lecture-hall (so the word is used by Plutarch, Vit.
Arati, c. 29), which had been used by some teacher
of philosophy or rhetoric, and in which the apostle
now appeared as the instructor of all who came to
inquire what the " new doctrine " meant. Some-
thing of the same kind must have been soon
found necessary at a place like Alexandria. With
teachers of jjhilosophy of all schools lecturing
round them, the Christian Society could not but
feel the need of lecturers of its own. Elsewhere,
among slaves and artisans it might be enough to
hand down the simple tradition of the faith, to de-
velope that teaching as we find it in the Catechises
of Cyril of Jerusalem. The age of apologists, ap-
pealing, as they did, to an educated and reading
class, must have made the demand for such teachers
more urgent, and the appearance of Pantaenus as
the first certainly known teacher, indicates that
he was summonea oy the Church to supply it.
In a room in his own house, or one hired for the
purpose, the teacher received the inquirers who
came to him. It was not a school for boys, but
for adults. Men and women alike had free access
to him. The school was open from morning
to evening. As of old, in the schools of the
Rabbis, as in those of the better sophists and
philosophers of Greece, there was no charge for
admission. If any payment was made it came, in
the strictest sense of the word, as an honorarium
from grateful pupils (Euseb. H. E. vi. 4).
After a time he naturally divided his hearers
into classes. Those who were on the threshold
were, it is natural to think, called on, as in the
Cohortatio ad Graecos of Clement, to turn from
the obscenities and frivolities of Paganism to the
living and true God. Then came, as in his Paeda-
gogiis, the " milk " of Catechesis, teaching them
to follow the Divine Instructor by doing all
things, whether they ate or drank, in obedience
to His will. Then the more advanced were led
on to the " strong meat " of ^ eiroiniKr) deupia
(Clem. Alex., Strom, v. p. 686, Pott.). At times
he would speak, as in a continuous lecture,
and then would pause, that men might ask the
questions which were in their hearts (Origen,
in Matt. Tr. xiv. 16). The treatises which
remain to us of Clement's, by his own account
of them, embody his reminiscences of such instruc-
tion partly as given by others, partly doubtless
as given by himself. We may fairly look on
Origen's treatises and expositions as having had
a like parentage. (Comp. Guerike, De Schold
Alex.; Hasselbach, De Schola Alex.; Redepen-
ning's Origenes, i. 57, ii. 10 ; and Art. Alex-
a.ndrinisches Catecheten Schule, in Herzog's JReal.
Encyclopadie ; Neander's Church History [Engl.
Translation], ii. 260, et seq.) [E. H. P.]
ALEXANDRIA, COUNCILS OF. There
were no councils of Alexandria proportionate to
its situation as the marine gate of the East, or to
tiie fame of its catechetical and eclectic schools,
48
ALEXANDRIA
or to its ecclesiastical position, as having been
the second see of the world. And the first of
them was held a.d. 230, under Demetrius, in a
hasty moment, to pass judgment upon one of
the most distinguished Alexandrians that ever
lived, Origen : his chief fault being that he had
been ordained priest in Palestine, out of the
diocese. His works were condemned in this,
and he himself excommunicated and deposed in a
subsequent council ; but both sentences were
disregarded by the bishops of Palestine, under
whose patronage he continued to teach and to
preach as before.
A.D. 235 — There was a synod under Heraclas,
who is said to have appointed 20 bishops ;
one of whom, Amraonius, having betrayed
the faith, was reclaimed at this synod.
A.D. 263 — This was a synod, under Dionysius,
against the errors of Sabellius ; in another,
Nepotianus, a bishop of Egypt, and Ce-
rinthus iell under censure for their views
on the Millennium.
A.D. 306 — under Peter ; against Meletius, a
bishop of Lycopolis, who had sacrificed to
idols, and was therefore deposed.
A.D. 821 — Against Arius, who was deposed in
two svnods this year under Alexander.
A.D. 324 — Against Arius once more ; but this
time under Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, who
haa been despatched to Alexandria to
make enquiries, hj Constantine.
A.D. 328 — When St. Athanasius was conse-
crated bishop. (On the date, see Mansi,
ii. 1086.)
A.D. 340 — In favour of St. Athanasius. De-
puties were sent from the council to Rome
and Tyre in that sense. Its synodical
letter is given by St. Athanasius in his 2nd
Apology.
A.D. 352 — Called "Egyptian;" in ftivour of
St. Athanasius again.
A.D. 362 — under St. Athanasius, on his return
from exile, concerning those who had
Arianised. It published a synodical letter.
On its wise and temperate decisions, see
Newman's Arians, v. 1.
A.D. 363 — under St. Athanasius on the death of
Julian ; published a synodical letter to the
new emperor Jovian.
A.D. 371 — Of 90 bishops, under St. Athanasius :
to protest against Auxentius continuing in
the see of Milan. This is one of those
called " Egyptian."
A.D. 371 — under St. Athanasius tlie same
vear; to receive a profession of faith from
Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyi-a, which turned
out orthodox.
A.D. 399 — Against the followers of Origen,
who were condemned. Part of its synodical
letter is preserved in that of the emperor
Justinian to Mennas on the same subject
long afterwards.
A.D. 430 — under St. Cyril against Nestorius ;
' where St. Cyril indited his celebrated
epistle with the twelve anathemas.
A.D. 457 — under Timothy, surnamed Aelurus,
or the Cat, at which the Council of Chal-
cedon was condemned. This was repeated,
A.D. 477.
A.D. 482 — At which John Tabenniosites was con-
secrated bishop ; he was ejected at once by
the emperor Zeno, when Peter Moggus re-
ALEXANDEIA
turned, and in a subsequent synod tne I
same year condemned the 4th council,
having first caused a schism amongst his
own followers by subscribing to the He-
uoticon (Evag. iii. 12-16).
A.D. 485 — under Quintiau, to pronounce Peter
the Fuller deposed from Antioch.
A.D. 578 — The last of those called Egyptian ;
it was composed of Jacobites, to consider i
the case of the Jacobite patriarch of
Antioch, Paul. '
A.D. 589 — under Eulogius ; against the Sa-
maritans.
A.D. 633 — under Cyrus, the Monothelite pa-
triarch : the acts and synodical letter of
which are preserved in the 13th action of
the 6th general council. This is the last i
on record.
The interests of the Church History of Alex-
andria are so great, that a few words may be
added respecting its patriarchate.
The patriarchate of Alexandria grew out of thp
see founded there by St. Mark, " according to the
constant and unvarying tradition both of the East ^
and West " (Neale's Patriarch of Alex. 1. i.) ; to
which jurisdiction was assigned, as of ancient
custom appertaining, by the 6th Nicene canon,
over " Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis." This was, ;
in eifect, what was already known as the Egyp-
tian diocese, being one of five placed under tlie
jurisdiction of the praefect of the East, and com-
prehending itself six provinces. Of these, Au- '.
gustanica was subdivided into Augustanica prima, ,
and secunda : the first stretching upon the coast :
from Rhinocorura on the borders of Palestine to
Diospolis on the east of the Mendesian mouth of
the Nile, with the second immediately under it
inland ; Egypt proper was likewise subdivided '
into prima and secunda, of which secunda |
stretched westwards of the same mouth of the \
Nile along the coast, with prima lying imme- j
diately under it inland. Then Arcadia at Hep- I
tanomis, forming the 3rd province, lay under i
Augustanica secunda and Aegyptus prima on \
both sides of the Nile ; and south of this Thebais,
or the 4th province, whose subdivisions, prima
comprehended all the rest of the country lying ,
north, and secunda all the country lying south
of Thebes, included in Egypt. Returning to- j
wards the coast, westwards of Aegyptus secunda, I
the 5th province, Libya inferior or secunda, was
also called Marmarica ; and to the west of it
was the 6th province, Libya Pentapolis, also ;
called Cyrenaica. The ecclesiastical arrange-
ments in each of these provinces have yet to be
given. For this purpose the " Notitia " pub-
lished by Beveridge (Synod, ii. 143-4) might
have been transcribed at length ; but as the sites
of so many of the sees are unknown, their mere
names, which ai-e often uncouth and of doubtful
spelling, would be devoid of interest. It may ■
suffice to enumerate them, with their metropolis i
in each case. Thus Augustanica prima con- ' 1
tained 14 episcopal sees, of which Pelusium wai 5
the metropolis ; Augustanica secunda 6, at the .'
head of which was Leonto ; Aegyptus prima 20,
at the head of which was Alexandria ; Aegyptus
secunda 12, at the head of which was C.ibasa
The province of Arcadia contained 6, under the
metropolitan of Oxyrinchus : but 7 are given
subse'juently, corresponding to the 7 mouths of
the Nile, of which Alexandria is placed fii-st.
ALEXANDEIA
There wpve 8 sees in Thebais prima, under the
metropolitan of Antino ; and twice that number
in Thebais secunda, under the metropolitan of
Ptolemais. Libya secunda, or Marmarica, con-
tained 8, under the metropolitan of Dranicon ;
and Libya Pentapolis 6, at the head of which
was Sozuza. Tripoli was a later acquisition, in-
cluding 3 sees only. They may have been placed
under Alexandria subsequently to the time of
the 4th Council, when all to the west of them
lay in confusion under the Vandals ; and possibly
may have been intended to compensate for those
two sees of Berytus and Rabba bordering on
Palestine, of which Alexandria was then robbed
to swell the patriarchate of Jerusalem on the
south-west (Cave, Ch. Govt. iv. 11). The list of
sees in Le Quien (^Oriens Christianus, vol. ii. p.
330-640), illustrated by a map of the patriarch-
ate fi'om D'Anville, agrees with the above in
most respects, only that it is shorter.
Alexandria had been synonymous with ortho-
doxy while St. Athanasius lived ; shortly after
his death, however, the next place after Rome,
which it had ever enjoyed from Apostolic times,
was given by the 2nd General Council to Con-
stantinople. For this it seemed to have re-
ceived ample compensation in the humiliation
of the Constantinopolitan patriarch Nestorius,
at the 3rd Council under St. Cyril ; when the
want of tact and perverseness of his successor
Dioscorus enabled the more orthodox patriarchs
of Jerusalem and Constantinople to help them-
selves at its expense, and obtain sanction for
their proceedings at the 4th Council. For a
time, it is true, Rome peremptorily refused as-
senting to them ; and charged their authors with
having infringed the Nicene canons. But Alex-
andria lalling into the hands of those by whom
the doctrinal decisions of the 4th Council were
called in question and even condemned, Rome
naturally ceased taking any further steps in its
favour ; and under Jacobite patriarchs princi-
pally, and sometimes exclusively, Alexandria
gradually came to exercise no palpable influence
whatever, even as 3rd see of the world, on the
i-est of the Church. Le Quien reckons 48 patri-
archs in all, down to Eustathius, who was con-
secrated A.D. 801, but several of them were
heretical ; and there were num.erous anti-patri-
archs, both heretical and schismatical, from time
to time disputing their claims. The ' Art de
verifier les Dates ' makes this Eustathius the
66th patriarch. Dr. Neale makes him the 40th.
and contemporary with Mark II., the 49th Jaco-
bite patriarch.
There were several peculiarities connected
with the see of Alexandria, which have been
variously explained. One rests upon the autho-
rity of Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria in the
10th century, and of St. Jerome. The words of
Eutychius are as follows : " St. Mark along with
Ananias ordained 12 presbyters to remain with
the patriarch ; so that when the chair should
become vacant, they might elect one out of the
12 on whose head the other 11 should lay their
hands, give him benediction, and constitute him
patriarch ; and should after this choose some
other man to supply the place of the promoted
presbyter, in such sort that the presbytery
should always consist of 12. This custom con-
tinued at Alexandria till the time of the patri-
arch Alexander, one of the 318 (Fathers of
OimiST. ANT.
ALEXANDRIA
49
Nicaea) who forbade the presbyters in future to
ordain their patriarch ; but decreed that on a
vacancy of the see, the neighbouring bishops
should convene for the purpose of filling it with
a proper patriarch, whether elected from those
12 presbyters or from any others." Eutychius
adds, " that during the time of the first 10 patri-
archs, thei-e were no bishops in Egypt ; Deme-
trius the 11th having been the first to consecrate
them." (Taken from Neale, p. 9.) This per-
haps may serve to explain the extreme offence
taken by r)emetrius at the ordination of Origen
to the priesthood out of the diocese, if a priest
in Alexandria was so much more to the bishop
than a priest elsewhere. It may also serve to
explain the haste with which Alexander insti-
tuted proceedings against Arius. The passage
of St. Jerome seems conclusive as to the inter-
pretation to be given to that of Eutychius.
This Father in an epistle to Evagrius, while
dwelling on the dignity of the priesthood, thus
expresses himself: "At Alexandria, from the
time of St. Mark the Evangelist to that of the
bishops Heraclas and Dionysius (in the middle
of the 3rd century), it was tlie custom of the
presbyters to nominate one, elected from among
themselves, to the higher dignity of the bishopric ;
just as the army makes an emperor, or the dea-
cons nominate as archdeacon any man whom they
know to be of active habits in their own body."
{Ibid.). St. Jerome would be talking nonsense,
if the 12 of whom he is speaking had been
bishops themselves; that is, of the same rank
as their nominee was to be. Hence the theory
of an episcopal college, to which Dr. Neale seems
to incline, falls to the ground at once. On the
other hand, it seems unquestionable that St.
Jerome must have meant election, not ordina-
tion, from the marked emphasis with which he
lays down elsewhere that presbyters cannot or-
dain. Otherwise, from the age in which Euty-
chius lived, and still more the language in which
he wrote, it would hardly be possible to prove
that he meant election only, when he certainly
seems to be describing consecration. But again,
if there were " no bishops in Egypt during the
time of the first ten patriarchs," how could epis-
copal consecration be had, when once the patri-
arch had ceased to live ? To this no satisfactory
answer has ever been returned. Eutychius,
though he lived in the 10th century, may be
supposed to have known more about the ancient
customs of his see, in a land like Egypt, than
those who have decried him. And certainly,
though we know there wei-e bishops in Egypt
under Demetrius, for two synods of bishops
(Phot. Bibl. s. 118 and Huet. Origen. i. 12), we
are told, met under him to condemn Origen ; it
would be ditficult to produce any conclusive
testimony to the fact that there were any epis-
copal sees there, besides that of Alexandria, be-
fore then. The vague statement of the Emperor
Adrian, " Illi qui Serapim coliint Christiani sunt ;
tit devoti sunt Serapi, qui se Christi episcopos
dicunt," sjieaking of Egypt, clearly warrants no
such inference, standing alone ; nor does it ap-
pear to have ever been suggested that each of
the first ten patriarchs consecrated his suc-
cessor during his own life-time. Yet there was
a strange haste in electing a new patriarch of
Alexandria, that seems to require some expla-
nation. The new patriarch, we learn from Libe-
50
ALEXIUS
ratus, always interred his predecessor ; and be-
fore doing so, placed his dead hand on his own
head. Can it have been in this way, during
that early period, extraordinary as it may seem,
that ejiiscopal consecration was supposed to be
obtainel, as it were, in one continuous chain
from St. Mark himself? The position of the
patriarch after consecration was so exceptional,
that it would be no wonder at all if his consecra-
tion dift'ered materially from all others. In
civil matters his authority was very great ; in
ecclesiastical matters it was quite despotic. All
bishops in Egypt were ordained by him as their
sole metropolitan. If any other bishop ever per-
formed metropolitan functions, it was as his dele-
gate. The Egyptian bishops themselves, in the
4th action of the Council of Chalcedon, professed
loudly that they were impotent to act but at
his bidding ; and hence they excused themselves
from even subscribing to the letter of St. Leo
while they were without a patriarch, after Dios-
corus had been deposed ; and that so obstinately,-
that their subscription was allowed to stand
over, till the new patriarch had been consecrated.
The patriarch could moreover ordain presbyters
and deacons throughout Egypt in any number,
where he would ; and it is thought profcable
that the presbyters, his assessors, had power given
them by him to confirm. All the episcopal sees
in Egypt seem to have originated with him alone.
As early as the 3rd century we find him called
" papa," archbishop in the next, and patriarch
in the 5th century, but not till after St. Cyril.
In later times, "judge of the whole world " was
a title given him, on account of his having for-
merly fixed Easter. On the liturgies in use in
the Egyptian diocese. Dr. Neale says (General
Tntrod. i. 323-4), " The Alexandrine family con-
tains 4 liturgies : St. Mark, which is the normal
form. St. Basil, St. Cyril, and St. Gregory. . . .
St. Mark's was the rite of the orthodox Church
of Alexandria. . . . The other three are used by
the Monophysites. St. Basil (i. e. the Copto-
.Tacobite) is the normal and usual form ; St.
Gregory is employed in Lent ; St. Cyril on festi-
vals. . . . Why the first of these liturgies bears
the name of Basil " is uncertain. " It is not
possible now to discover its origin, though it
would appear to have been originally Catholic ;
to have been translated from the Greek into
Coptic, and thence after many ages into Arabic.
The liturgy of St. Cyril is to all intents and
purposes the same as that of St. Mark . . . .
and in both that, and in the office of St. Gregory,
the first part is taken from the normal liturgy
of St. Basil." Both the proanaphoral and ana-
phoral parts of the Copto-Jacobite liturgy of St.
Basil, together with the anaphoral part of that
of St. Mark are given in parallel columns farther
on in the same work. And the Copto-Jacobite
patriarchal church at Alexandria, said to be the
burial-place of the head of St. Mark, and of 72
of the patriarchs, is described there likewise, p.
277. Between the two works of Dr. Neale
already cited, and the Oriens Christianus of Le
Quien, everything further that has yet been
discovered on the subject of this patriarchate
may be ootaiued. [E. S. F.]
ALEXIUS, b &v6pa>wos Tov &eov, comme-
morated March 17 (Cal. Byzant.); July 17
(Mart. Rom.). [C]
ALIENATION
ALIENATION OF CHURCH PRO-
PERTY. — In treating of a subject like that I
of the alienation of Church property, the canons
and other authorities cited as evidence of the
law concerning it might either be arranged ac- 1
cording to the various descriptions of property ]
to which they refer, or else the entire legislation |
of each church and nation might be exhibited in
chronological order apart from the rest. The
latter plan has been here adopted, both as being ]
more suitable to a general article, and also ;
because in matters of church order and disci- '
pline the canons of councils were not in force
beyond the limits of the churches in which they '
were authoritatively promulgated.
The alienation — by which is to be understood
the transference by gift, sale, exchange, or per- '
petual emphytiusis » — of Church property [see '
Property of tjie Church] was from early times
restrained by special enactments. i
It is a much debated question amongst Ca- I
nonists whether or not alienation, except in ex-
traordinary cases, was absolutely prohibited in
the first ages of the Church, by reason of the j
sacred character impressed upon property given
for ecclesiastical purposes, and by that act dedi-
cated to God (see Balsamon in can. 12, Cone. VII. '
ap. Beveridge I'and. Can. i. 303). As, however,
the property of the Church must in those times
have consisted only of the offerings and oblations ]
of the faithful, which were placed in the hands \
of the bishops,'' it would appear most probable ;
that they were free to make such use of it as
they might think would be productive of the ,
greatest benefit to their several dioceses. ;
The general law of the Church has been well
epitomised in the Commentary of Balsamon (ap. I
Beveridge Pand. Can. ii. 177). " Unusquisque j
nostrorum Episcoporum rationem administi-a- 1
tionis rerum suae Ecclesiae Deo reddet. Vasa
enim pretiosa Ecclesiarum, seu sacra, et reliqua ',
Deo consecrata, et possessiones irnmobiles, non \
sunt alienabilia, et Ecclesiae servantur. Eccle-
siasticorum autem redituum administratio secure ;
credi audacterque committi debere illis,-qi(i statis i
temporibus sunt Episcopi." Its history, as it is |
found in the councils of different churches, has ■
now to be traced. " i
In the East. — The earliest canon which refers I
to the subject is the 15th canon of the Council '
of Ancyra (a.D. 314), which provides that the \
Church (on the expression rh KvpiaKhv see Beve- I
ridge, Adnott. in loc.) may resume possession of '
whatever property the presbyters of a diocese
may have sold during the vacancy of the see ; <
but this canon does not limit any power which j
the bishop himself may previously have possessed, '
and is simply an application of the well-known '
rule " sede vacante nihil innovetur." ,
The Council of Antioch (a.d. 341) has two ^ '
canons, the 24th and 25th, bearing upon this :
" On the nature of this tenure see Smith's Dictionary ,,
of Greek and Roman Antiquities, sub voce, ' Emphy- |
teusis.' It may be described in brief as the right to use
another person's land as one's own, on condition of culti-
vaiing it, aTid paying a fixed rent at fixed times.
b 'The oath now taken by bishops consecrated accord-
ing to the Roman ordinal, contains a clause relating to
the alienation of Church property. In what words and
at what time a clause of this nature was first introduced
into the ordinal is a question which has given rise to
much controversy.
ALIENATION OF CHURCH PEOPERTY
51
question, which are either imitated from the
39th and 40th Apostolic Canons, or have been
imitated by the authors of that collection [Apos-
tolic Canons]. The 24th directs that Church
pi'operty, which ought to be administered subject
to the judgment and authority of the bishop,
should be distinguished in such a way that the
presbyters and deacons may know of what it
consists, so that at the bishop's death it may not
be embezzled, or lost, or mixed up with his private
property. That part of this canon in which
reference is made to the duties imposed on pres-
byters and deacons is not contained in the Apos-
tolic canon. This omission would seem to point
to the conclusion that this council is later in
date than the 39th Apostolic canon ; and Beve-
ridge {Cod. Can. i. 43) draws the same inference
as to the date of the 40th Apostolic canon from
its not making mention of oi rwv aypHv Kapirol,
words which are to be found in the 25th Canon
of Antioch. By the 25th canon it is provided that
the Provincial Synod should have jurisdiction in
cases where the bishop is accused of converting
Church property to his own use, which was
also forbidden by the 37th Apostolic canon,
or managing it without the consent {/xri /xera
•yvdifjiris) of the presbyters and deacons, and also
in cases where the bishop or the presbyters who
are associated with him are accused of any mis-
appropriation for their own benefit. Here again
it will be noted that the eflect of this canon is
to make provision for the better and more care-
ful management of Church property, and that it
does not abridge any right of alienation which
the bishop may have before possessed. It must,
however, be observed that the power of the
bishop to manage (xfipiC^'") Church property (an
expression which would doubtless include the
act of alienation) is qualified by the proviso that
it must be exercised with the consent of his
presbyters and deacons.
The 7th and 8th canons of the Council of
Gangra (the date of this council is uncertain,
some writers placing it as early as A.D. 324, and
others as late as a.d. 371 : see Van Espen,
Dissertatio in Synodum Gangrensem, Op. iii. 120,
ed. Lovan. 1753, and Beveridge, Adiwtt. in id.
Cone, who inclines to the opinion that it was
held a short time before the Council of Antioch,
A.D. 341), prohibit under pain of anathema all
persons from alienating {SiSovai e^w ttjs eKKArj-
ffias) produce belonging to the Church, except
they first obtain the consent of the bishop or his
oeconomus, or officer entrusted with the care of
Church property.
The enactments contained in the second Coun-
cil of Nicaea (or as it is generally styled the 7th
Oecumenical Council) a.d. 787, will be more con-
veniently considered below.
The African Church seems to have found it
necessary to place special restrictions upon the
power of alienating Chui'ch property possessed
by bishops under the general law. By the 31st
canon of the code known as the Statuta Ecclesiae
Antiqua, promulgated (according to Bruns, Ca-
nones, i. 140) at the 4th Council of Carthage
(a.d. 398), the bishop is enjoined to use the pos-
sessions of the Church as trustee, and not as if
they were his own property ; and by the next
canon all gifts, sales, or exchanges of Church
property made by bishops without the consent in
writing ("absque conniventia et subscriptione ")
of their clergy are pronounced invalid. In the
31st canon there are further provisions against
the unauthorized alienation of Church property
by the inferior clergy. If convicted in the
synod of this offence they are to make restitu-
tion out of their own property.
Again by the 26th (ap. Bev. 29th) canon
of the Codex Ecclesiae Africanae promulgated
a.d. 419, which repeats the 4th canon of the
6th Council of Carthage ( a.d. 401 ), it is
ordained that no one sell the real property be-
longing to the Church ; but if some very urgent
reason for doing so should arise, it is to be com-
municated to the Primate of the Province, who is
to determine in council with the proper number of
bishops (i.e. twelve) whether a sale is to be made
or not ; but if the necessity for action is so great
that the bishop cannot wait to consult the synod,
then he is to summon as witnesses the neigh-
bouring bishops at least, and to be careful after-
wards to report the matter to the synod. The
penalty of disobedience to this canon was de-
position. By the 33rd canon (ap. Bev. 36th)
presbyters are forbidden to sell any Church pro-
perty without the consent of their bishops ; and
in like manner the bishops are forbidden to sell
any Church lands (praedia) without the privity
of their Synod or presbyters. (See on these
canons Van Espen, Op. iii. 299, &c. ; and the
Scholion of Balsamon ap. Bev. Band. Can. i. 551.)
Passing from Asia Minor and Africa to Italy,
the earliest provisions with reference to alienation
to be found in the councils are in the council held
at Rome by Pope Symmachus in A.D. 502. The
circumstances under which the canons of this
council were passed (and which relate solely to the
question of alienation) are thus described by Dean
Milman : "On the vacancy of the see [by the death
of Pope Simplicius, A.d. 483] occurred a singular
scene. The clergy were assembled in St. Peter's.
In the midst of them stood up Basilius, the
Patrician and Prefect of Eome, acting as Vice-
gerent of Odoacer the barbarian King. He ap-
peared by the command of his master, and by
the admonition of the deceased Simplicius, to
take care that the peace of the city was not
disturbed by any sedition or tumult during the
election. ... He proceeded, as the protector
of the Church from loss and injury by church-
men, to proclaim the following edict : ' That no
one under the penalty of anathema should alie-
nate any farm, buildings, or ornaments of the
churches ; that such alienation by any bishop
present or future was null and void.' So im-
portant did this precedent appear, so dangerous
in the hands of these schismatics who would
even in those days limit the sacerdotal power,
that nearly twentj' years after, a foi'tunate occa-
sion was seized by the Pope Symmachus to annul
this decree. In a Synod of bishops at Eome the
edict was rehearsed, interrupted by protests of
the bishops at this presumptuous interference of
the laity with affairs of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. ^
The authenticity of the decree was not called '
in question ; it was declai'ed invalid as being"
contrary to the usages of the Fathers enacted
on lay authority, and as not being ratified by
the signature of any Bishop at Rome. The
same council, however, acknowledged its wisdom
by re-enacting its oi-dinances against the al'ienn-
tion of Church property " {History of Latin
Christianity, vol. i., p. 221, 2nd ed'.). On this
E 2
^
S
52
ALIENATION OF CHUKCH PROPERTY
Council Boehmer notes that it has not more
authority than belongs to it as a Council of
the Italian Church, and that therefore its decrees
(which go far beyond any yet promulgated else-
where) were not binding upon other Churches.
Previously, however, to this date Pope Leo the
Great (a.d. 447) had written to the bishops of
Sicily and forbidden the alienation of Church
property by the bishops except for the benefit of
the Church, and with the consent of the whole
clergy {Ep. 17). Pope Gelasius also (a.d. 492-
40G), writing to Justinus and Faustus (who were
acting in the place of their bishop), directed the
restitution of all property belonging to the
Church of Volterra which had been alienated up
to that time ; and in another letter he forbad
the appropriation of Church lands for the pay-
ment of anv particular stipend (Fragg. 23 and 24,
ap. Thiel)."
In the history of the Gallican C/iurch the
earliest reference to alienation is to be found
in a letter from Pope Hilarus (a.d. 462) to the
bishops of the provinces of Vienne, Lyons, Nar-
bonne, and the Maritime Alps, in which he pro-
hibits the alienation of such Church lands as are
neither waste nor unproductive (" nee deserta
nee damnosa ") except with the consent of a
council (Ep. 8 sec. ult.).
The Council of Agde (a.d. 506) contains seve-
ral canons on alienation. The 22nd canon, while
declaring that it is superfluous to define any-
thing afresh concerning a matter so well known,
and a practice forbidden by so many ancient
canons, prohibits the clergy from selling or
giving away any Church property under pain of
being excommunicated and having to indemnify
the Church out of their private resources for
any loss, the transaction being at the same time
declared void. The 26th canon inflicts the like
punishment on those who suppress or conceal or
give to the unlawful possessor any document by
which the title of the Church to any property
is secured. The 48th canon reserves to the
Church any property left on the death of a
bishop, which he had received from ecclesiastical
sources. The 49th canon repeats almost in the
same words the above cited 31st canon of the
Statuta Ecdesiae Antiqua ; the 53rd canon pro-
hibits, and pronounces void, any alienation by
parish priests ; while by the 56th canon abbots
are forbidden to sell Church property without
the bishop's consent, or to manumit slaves, " as
it would be unjust for monks to be engaged in
their daily labours in the field while their slaves
were enjoying the ease of liberty."
The 1st Council of Orleans (a.d. 511) places
all the immoveable property of the Church in
the power of the bishop "that the decrees of the
ancient canons may be observed" (canons 14
and 15).
Pope Symmachus, A.D. 513 (who died A.D. 514),
in answering certain questions put to him by
Caesarius, Bishop of Aries, forbids Church pro-
perty to be alienated under any pretence, but
he permits a life rent to be enjoyed by clerks
worthy of reward {Ep. 15).
By the 5th canon of the 1st Council of Cler-
mont (a.d. 535) all persons are excommunicated
who obtain any Church property from kings.
In the same year Pope Agapetus writing to
Caesarius, Bishop of Aries, says, that he is "un-
willingly obliged to refuse the bishop permission
to alienate some Church lands, " revocant nos
veneranda Patrum manifestissima constituta,
quibus specialiter prohibemur praedia juris ec-
desiae quolibet titulo ad aliena jura transferre "
{Gone. Gall. i. 240).
The 12th canon of the 3rd Council of Orleans
(a.d. 538) allows the recovery of Church pro-
perty within 30 years, and ordains that if the
possessor should refuse to obey the judgment of
the Council ordering him to surrender, he is
excommunicated.
The 23rd canon renews the prohibition against ;
the alienation of Church property by abbots or j
other clergy without the written consent of the j
bishop ; and by the 9th canon of the 4th Council ]
held at the .same city (a.d. 541) it is provided j
that Church property which has been alienated >
or encumbered by the bishop contrary to the
canons shall, if he has left nothing to the
Church, be returned to it ; but slaves whom he
may have manumitted shall retain their freedom,
though they must remain in the service of the
Church. The 11th, 18th, 30th, and 34th canons
contain further provisions on the subject. '
The 1st canon of the 3rd Council of Paris
(a.d. 557) is directed against the alienation of
Church property, but this canon, as well as those ;
next mentioned, would appear to refer to seizure
by foi-ce jather than to possession by any quasi- \
legal process. Alienation is forbidden by the 2nd
canon of the 2nd Council of Lyons (a.d. 567).
In the 2nd Council of Tours (a.d. 567) there ^
are two canons — the 24th and 25th — relating to |
the recovery of Church property from the hands
of unlawful possessors.
In Spain the Council held a.d. 589 at Nar-
bonue, which in its ecclesiastical relations must
be considei-ed in Spain (Wiltsch. Gcog. of the
Church, i. 100), prohibits the alienation of Church
property by the inferior clergy, without the con-
sent of the bishop, under pain of suspension for
two years and perpetual inability to serve in
the church in which the offence was committed
(can. 8).
By the 3rd Council of Toledo (held in the same |
year), can. 3, bishops are forbidden to alienate i
Church property, but gifts which, in the judg- [
ment of the monks of the diocese, are not detri- !
mental to the interests of the Church cannot be '
disturbed ; by the next canon bishops may
assign Church property for the support of a
monastery established with the consent of his |
Synod.
By the 37th canon of the 4th Council of 1
Toledo (a.d. 633) the bishop is permitted (sub- \
ject to the confirmation of a Provincial Council) j
to redeem any promise of reward made for ser- ;
vices to the Church. •
The 9th Council of Toledo (a.d. 655) contains 1
provisions very similar to the above cited canons ;
of the 3rd Council held at the same place. ':
In England, Archbishop Theodore of Canter- •'
bury (a.d. 668-690) forbids abbots to make ex- ';
changes without the consent of the bishop and
their brethren {Poenitcntiale — De Ahhatihus).
The E.rrerjtiones ascribed erroneously to Arch- . ;
bishop Egbert of York (who held that metropo-
litical see from A.D. 732 to 766) declare that
gifts, sales, or exchanges of Church property by
bishops without the consent and written per-
mission of the clergy shall he void (cap. 144).
The Poonitentiale, also attributed wrongly to the
ALIENATION OF CHUECH PEOPEETY
same prelate, permits exchanges between mo-
nasteries with the consent of both communities
(addit. 25).
The last Council which passed canons on the
subject of alienation during the period covered
by this article, is the 2nd Council of Nicaea (the
" Seventh Oecumenical Council ") held A.D. 787.
The 12th canon making mention of the 39th
Apostolic Canon forbids the alienation or transfer
of Church lands by bishops and abbots in favour
of princes or other secular potentates ; and it also,
like many of the canons hereinbefore cited, pro-
hibits bishops from appropriating any ecclesias-
tical property to their own use or to that of
their relatives. Even when the retention of any
Church lands is unprofitable they may not be
sold to magistrates or princes, but to the clergy
or to farmers ; and these again may not sell them
to magistrates, and so contravene the spirit of the
canon. Such deceitful transactions are invalid,
and the bishop or abbot who is guilty of taking
part in them is to be deposed. — See the elaborate
SchoUon of Balsamon on this canon, ap. Bev.
Fund. Can. i. 303.
Having now gone through the principal
canons passed by the ecclesiastical assemblies of
the first eight centuries, there remain to be consi-
dered the laws by which the Christian emperors
limited the power of the Church as regards the
alienation of its property.
Constantine the Great had in a decree of the
year A.D. 323 (sees. 16, 18) assured to the
Church the safe enjoyment of its property, and
had commanded the restitution as well by the
State as by private individuals of all such pro-
perty as they might have got possession of; but
it does not appear that there was any imperial
legislation concerning the alienation of Church
property until after the promulgation of the
Codex Theodosianus in a.d. 438.
The Codex Repetitae Fraelectlonis promulgated
by Justinian in December a.d. 534 contains in
the 2nd title of the 1st Book various provisions,
made by his predecessors and re-enacted by him,
on the subject of alienation.
In the 14th section there is a constitution of
the Emperor Leo (a.d. 470) which prohibits the
Archbishop of Constantinople, or any of his
stewards (oeconomi) from alienating in any way
the land or other immoveable property or the
coloni or slaves or state allowances ( civiles
annonae) belonging to his Church, not even if all
the clergy agreed with the Archbishop and his
steward as to the propriety of the transaction.
The reason given for this stringent law is that
as the Church which is the mother of Religion
and Faith, is changeless, her property ought to
be preseiwed also without change. Any trans-
. actions completed in defiance of this constitution
were void, and all profits resulting therefrom
were given to the Church. The stewards who
were parties to the act were to be dismissed, and
their property made liable for any damage which
might arise from this infringement of the law.
The notaries employed were to be sent into per-
petual exile, and the judge who ratified the pro-
ceeding was punished by the loss of his office
and the confiscation of his property. There
was, however, an exception made to this rule in
tlie case of a usufruct, the creation of which
was permitted for a term of years or for the
life of the usufructuary. (The editions of the
53
Juris Civilis generally contain after this
section a series of extracts from the Novells on
the same subject.)
The 17th section contains a constitution of the
Emperor Anastasius to which no precise date
is affixed by the commentators, but which must
have been promulgated between the years A.D.
491 and 517 (Haenel, Indices ad Corjnis Legum
ah Imp. Rom. ante Just, latarum, p. 82, Lipsiae
1857). This constitution, like the last cited,
applies solely to the Church of Constantinople,
and relates to monasteries, orphanages and
other eleemosynary institutions whose property
might in cases of necessity be sold, exchanged,
mortgaged, or leased in perpetual emphyteusis ;
provided that the transaction be eflected in the
manner therein prescribed and in the presence
of the civil authorities and the representatives
of the particular body whose property is about
to be dealt with. It is, however, decreed that if
there be moveable property (the sacred vessels
excepted) sufficient to meet the sum required,
the immoveable property shall not be touched.
In the 21st section is given a constitution of
Justinian himself (a.d. 529) in which he forbids
any sale or other alienation of sacred vessels or
vestments except only with the object of re-
deeming captives (and, according to some edi-
tions, relieving famine) ; " quoniam non absur-
dum est animas hominum quibuscunque vasis
vel vestimentis praeferri."
The rule which permitted the sale or melting
down of Church plate for the redemption of
captives is one of great antiquity. Its propriety
is nowhere more eloquently defended than in
the following passage from the 2nd Book of
St. Ambrose Be Officiis Ministrorum (cir. A.D.
391) "Quid enim diceres ? Timui ne templo
Dei ornatus deesset ? Responderet : Aurum Sa-
cramenta non quaerunt ; neque auro placent,
quae auro non emuntur. Ornatus sacramento-
rum redemptio captivorum est. Yere ilia sunt
vasa pretiosa, quae redimunt animas a morte.
lUe verus thesaurus est Domini qui operatur
quod sanguis Ejus operatus est. . . . Opus
est ut quis fide sincera et perspicaci providentia
munus hoc impleat. Sane si in sua aliquis deri-
vat emolumenta, crimen est ; sin vero pauperibus
erogat, captivum redimit, misericordia est." He
concludes by directing that vessels which are
not consecrated should be taken in preference to
those which have been consecrated ; and that
both must be broken up and melted within the
precinct of the Church (cap. 28). The supreme
claims of charity over all other considerations are
insisted upon in the same strain by St. Jerome
(^Ep. ad ISepotianum, A.D. 394) and St. Chrysostom
(Hom. 52 in St. Matthaeum), while at the same
time the proper respect due to the sacred vessels
is always emphatically enjoined, as, for example,
by St. Optatus, De Schisnuite Donatistarum vi. 2.
An example of the precautions taken against the
abuse of this privilege is to be found in one of
the letters of Gregory the Great (vii. 13) in
which writing (a.d. 597) to Fortunatus, Bishoj)
of Fano, he gives permission for the sale of
Church plate in order to redeem captives, but
directs, with the view of avoiding all suspicion,
that the sale and the payment over of the
money received therefrom should be made ia
the presence of the " defensor."
Passing to the Novells of Justinian — the 71 h
54
AIJENATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY
Novell (a.d. 535) relates to the question of
alieuatioii of Church property, and professes to
amend and consolidate the then existing laws,
and to extend their operation to the whole of
^he empii'e. In the first chapter the alienation,
either by sale, gift, exchange, or lease on per-
petual emphyteusis, of immoveables or quasi-
immoveables belonging to churches or eleemo-
synary institutions, was forbidden under the
peTialties prescribed by the above-cited consti-
tution of Leo.
Under the 2nd chapter alienation is permitted
in favour of the emperor when the proper forms
are observed and ample compensation made, and
when the transaction is for the public benefit.
The reason given for this exception is not with-
out significance. In the Latin version it is as
follows : " Nee multum differant ab alterutro j
sacerdotium et imperium, et res sacrae a com-
munibus et publicis ; {juando omnis sanctissimis
ecclesiis abundantia et status ex impei'ialibus [
munificentiis perpetuo praebeatur." ]
The third and four succeeding chapters con-
tain regulations for the lease of Church estates
by emphyteusis. Their provisions are too ela-
borate to be set out at length, but may be |
briefly stated thus : " The usual conditions of J
these emphyteuses are for three lives — that
of the original emphyteuta and of two of his |
or her heirs, being children or gi'andchildren, j
or the husband or wife of the emphyteuta if i
there be a special clause to that efl'ect (though
about this power there is some doubt) in suc-
cession. Thus the duration of the lease is in- ,
determinate and contingent. The contract was '
invalidated by default in payment of the quit
rent (canon) for two instead of for three years
as was the case with lay emphyteuses " (Colqu-
houn, Roman Civil Law, § 1709).
The 8th chapter renews the prohibition against
the sale, pledge, or melting down of Church
plate, except with the object of redeeming cap-
tives.
The 12th chapter sanctions the abandonment
of all contracts made on behalf of the Church
for the acquisition by gift or purchase of un-
profitable land.
The 40th Novell (pi-omulgated the following
year, " a.d. 536) gives to the " Church of the
Holy Resurrection " at Jerusalem the privilege
of alienating buildings belonging to it, notwith-
standing the general prohibition contained in
the 7th Novell.
The 46th Novell (a.d. 536 or 537) relaxed the
law against the alienation of immoveable Church
property when there was not sufficient moveable
property to pay debts owing to the State or to
private creditors. But this step could not be
taken excejjt after investigation by the clergy,
the bishop, and the metropolitan, and under a
decree of the "judex provinciae."
The 2nd chapter of the 54th Novell (a.d.
537) permits exchanges between ecclesiastical
and eleemosynary corporations, but the Church of
St. Sophia at Constantinople is excepted from
the operation of this law as it is also from that
of the 46th Novell.
The 55th Novell (a.d. 537) forbids alienation
made ostensibly in favour of the emperor, but
really for the benefit of private individuals. It
■ilso permits churches and other religious bodies
(\\-\i\\ the exception of the ("huvch of St. Sophia)
to lease their lauds to one another in perpetua;
emphyteusis.
The 65th Novell has i-eference to tlie alienation
of property belonging to the Church of Mysia,
but being only of local importance it need not
be further considered.
In the 67th Novell (a.d. 538) the number
of persons appointed under the 46th Novell to
enquire into the propriety of any alienation is
increased by the addition of two bishops chosen
by the metropolitan from his Synod.
The 10th chapter of the 119th Novell (a.d.
544) permits the alienation by the emperor of
Church property which had been transfei-red to
him.
The last of the numerous edicts promulgated
by Justinian on the alienation of Church pro-
perty is contained in the 120th Novell (a.d.
544) in which he again undertakes the task of
consolidating the law on this subject.
The first four chapters concern only the
Church of Constantinople. The alienation of
immoveables is forbidden, except in favour of the
emperor.
The 5th chapter relates to the property of
other Churches. The provisions thei-ein con-
tained, and those contained in the previous
chapters on emphyteusis are thus briefly sum-
marized by Colquhoun (Soman Civil Lav:, §
1709): — "The 120th Novell was promulgated
by Justinian in order to modify the rigour of
the prohibition against creating perpetual em-
phyteuses on ecclesiastical property by restrict-
ing it to the estates of the Church of Constanti-
nople, leaving the property of other Churches to
be regulated by the common law. It is, how-
ever, very doubtful whether or not the emphy-
teusis on Church property can be perpetual
without the express stipulation for a term. Nor
does the prohibition appear to be absolute even
as regards the Church of Constantinople, which
had permission to grant perpetual emphyteuses
in cases where it owned ruined edifices without
the means of restoring them. The Novell fixes
the amount at a third of the revenue whicli
such edifices produced before their then ruined
state, payable from the date of the emphyteu-
tical title, or at a half of the revenue which the
buildings actually produced after their restora-
tion. What is doubtful with respect to the lay
is clear with regard to ecclesiastical emphyteusis,
viz., that they must be reduced to writing. As
before, the contract was invalidated by default to
pay the quit rent for two instead of three years,
as was the case with lay emphyteuses. The
point open to discvission, in respect to lay emphy-
teuses, of whether the rent in arrear may be
recovered and the expulsion of the tenant also
insisted on, is clear in the case of ecclesiastical
emphyteuses in the affii-mative. Lastly, the
Churches enjoyed a right of resumption entirely
exceptional to the common law when the estate
accrued ' aut in imperialem domum, aut in sac-
rum nostrum aerarium, aut in civitatem aliquam.
aut in curiam, aut in aliquam venerabilem ali-
am domum.' This right of resumption applied
equally in the case of all transmission of the
right, whether inter vivos or mortis causa, with-
out reference to the title of acquisition, and the
time for its exercise was two years mstead of
two months as in lay cases."
The remaining chapters of this Novell relate
ALIENATION
to the exchange of ecclesiastical property and
the sale of immoveables and Church plate for
the redemption of captives. The provisions
therein contained do not differ in any important
particular from the previous laws above cited on
the same subject, and they need not be repeated.
The provisions of the Civil Law (which have
now been examined) have been usefully arranged
by the glossator on the Corpus Juris Civilis,
Nov. 7 and Nov. 120 (ed. Lugd. 1627). Im-
moveable property belonging to the Church can-
not be alienated under any circumstances if it
fall within the following classes — 1. If it had
been given by the emperor (Nov. 120, 7). 2. If
the thing to be alienated is the church or mo-
nastery itself (i5.). 3. When the proposed trans-
feree is the oeconomus or other church officer
((').). 4. When the property was given to the
Church subject to a condition that it should
not be alienated (Nov. 120, 9). 5. If the pro-
posed transferee be a heretic (131, 14). But
subject to the above restrictions, immoveable
property may be alienated under the following
circumstances, Aaz. : — 1. For debt (Nov. 46).
2. By way of emphyteusis for a term (var.).
3. In exchange with another church (Nov. 54, 2).
4. If the transferee be the emperor (Nov. 7, 2).
5. For the redemption of captives (Nov. 120, 9).
On the other hand moveable property can be
freely alienated if it be for the advantage of the
Church that such a step should be taken. The
exception to this rule is in the case of Church
])late, which cannot be alienated except for the
redemption of captives (Nov. 7, 8 and Nov. 120,
10), and for the payment of debt when it is not
necessary for the proper performance of Divine
Service (Nov. 120, 10).
The Barbarian Codes contain, as might be
expected, many laws directed against the forci-
ble seizure of Church property, but such acts
can hardly be considered to fall under the head
of alienation. There are, however, a few pro-
visions on the subject anterior in date to the
death of Charlemagne.
By the 3rd chapter of the 5th Book of the
Leges Visigothorum (cir. a.d. 700 : see Davoud
Oghlou, Histoire do la Legislation des Anciens
Germains, i. 2) if any bishop or clerk alienate
by sale or gift any Church property without the
consent of the rest of the clergy, such sale or
gift is void, unless it be made according to the
ancient canons.
Again in the 20th chapter of the Lex Alain-
manoriiin (which in its present shape was pro-
bably comfjiled about the beginning of the 8th
century — see Davoud Oghlou, op. cit. i. 304) the
inferior clergy are forbidden to sell Church lands
or slaves except by way of exchange.
In the collection entitled Capitularia Begum
Francorum there is a Capitulary of the date a.d.
814, forbidding all persons whatsoever to ask
for or receive any Church property under pain of
excommunication (6, 135).
There are also two Capitularies v.'hich are
probably not later in date than the one last
cited. By the first of these presbyters are for-
nidden to sell Church property without the con-
sent of the bishop (7, 27); to which in the
second is added the consent of other priests of
good reputation (7, 214).
(The following authorities may be consulted :
— Da Rousseaud de la Combe, Hecucil de Juris-
ALLELUIA
55
prudence Canonique [Paris 1755], sub voce Alie- I
nation ; Boehmer, Jus Ecclesiasticum Froteitan- \
tium [Halae Magd. 1738, &c.] in Decretcd. III. 13 ;
Ferraris, Bibliotheca Canonica [ed. Migne], sub
voce Alienatio; Sylvester Mazzolini da Prierio
[Lugd. 1533] sub voce Alienatio ; Redoanus, De
Rents Ecclesiae non alicnandis [printed in the 2nd
part of the 15th volume of the Tractatus Uni-
versi Juris, Venice, 1584]; and the Commenta-
tors on the above-cited passages from the CorjMs
Juris Civilis, and on the following passages from
the Corpus Juris Canonici, Decreti Secunda
Pars, Causa xii. Quaestio 2 ; and Decretal, lib.
III. 13). [I. B.]
ALLELUIA (Greek ' hKK-riXovia). The litur-
gical form of the Hebrew rT""!??!!, " Sing ye
praises to Jehovah ;" a formula found in Psalm
117, and in the headings of several Psalms, espe-
cially Psalms 113-118, which formed the "Hal-
lel," or Alleluia Magnum, sung at all the greater ,1
Jewish feasts. Alleluia and Amen, says the
Pseudo-Augustine {Ep. 178, ii. 1160, Migne), J
neither Latin nor barbarian has ventured to
translate from the sacred tongue into his own ; \
in all lands the mystic sound of the Hebrew is
heai-d.
1. It is thought by some that the early Church
transferred to the Christian Paschal feast the
custom of singing Psalms with Alleluia at the j
Paschal sacrifice ; and this conjecture derives ]
some probability from the fact, that in the most i
ancient sacramentaries the Alleluia precedes and
follows a verse, as in the Jewish usage it precedes
and follows a Psalm. Yet we can hardly doubt
that the use of the Alleluia in the Church was
confirmed, if not originated, by St. John's vision
{Apoc. 19, 6) of the heavenly choir, who sang
Alleluia to the Lord God Omnipotent. By the
4th century it seems to have been well known as
the Christian shout of joy or victory; for Sozo-
men {H. E. vii. 15, p. 298) tells of a voice
heard (an. 389) in the temple of Serapis at
Alexandria chanting Alleluia, which was taken '
for a sign of its coming destruction by the Chris- |
tians. The victory which the Christian Britons,
under the guidance ofGermanusof Auxerre, with j
their loud shout of Alleluia, gained over the J
pagan Picts and Scots (an. 429) is another instance
of the use of Alleluia for encouragement and
triumph (Beda, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. c. 20,
p. 49); and Sidonius Apollinaris (lib. ii. Ep. 10,
p. 53) speaks as if he had heard the long lines of
haulers by the river side, as they towed the
boats, chanting Alleluia as a "celeusma," to make
them pull together. These instances are of course
not altogether tree from suspicion ; but they
serve to show that in early times the Alleluia
was regarded as a natural expression of Christian
exultation or encouragement.
2. A special use of the Alleluia is found in the
liturgies both of East and West. In most Eastern
liturgies, it follows immediately upon the Chk-
Rumc Hymn, which precedes the greater En-
TRAXCi; ; as, for instance, in those of St. James,
St. Mark, and St. Chrysostom (Neale's Tetralogia,
pp. 54, 55). In the Mozarabic, which has many
Oriental characteristics, it is sung after the
Gospel, while the priest is making the, oblation :
" Interim quod chorus dicit Alleluia, olTerat saccr-
dos hostiam cum calice " (Nealo's Tetrahigia,
p. 60). In the West, it follows the GUAiJUAL,
ALLELUIA
50
and so immediately precedes the reading of tha
Gospel. In eai'ly times it seems to have been
simply intoned by the cantor who had sung the
Gradual, standing on the steps of the Ambo, and
repeated by the choir ; but before the 8th cen-
tury the custom arose of prolonging the last syl-
lable of the Alleluia, and singing it to musical
notes (Ordo Romauus II., in Mabillon's Museum
ItaUcum, vol. ii. p. 44). This was called jw'jjYa-
tio. The jubilant sound of the Alleluia, however,
was felt to be fitting only for seasons of joy ;
hence its use was in many churches limited .to
the interval between Easter and Whitsunday.
Sozomen, indeed (//. E. vii. 19, p. 307) seems to
say that in the Roman Church it was used only
on Easter-day ; but we cannot help suspecting
that he must have misunderstood his informant,
who may have used the word " Pascha " to de-
note the whole of the seven weeks foUo'wing
Easter-day ; for St. Augustine distinctly says
(£•/;. ad Janarium; Ep. 119 [al. 55] p. 220
Migne) that the custom of singing Alleluia dur-
ing those fifty days was universal, though in
several churches it was used on other days also.
In the Rule of St. Benedict (c. 15, p. 297) the
use of Alleluia in the responsories of the mass
seems to be limited to the season from Easter to
Whitsunday ; but soon after Benedict's time it
was probably more common in the West to inter-
mit its use only from Septuagesima to Easter.
For at the end of the 6th century, Gregory the
Great writes to John of Syracuse (^Epist. ix. 12,
p. 940) that some murmured because he (Gregory)
was overmuch given to following the customs of
the Greek Church, and in particular because he
had ordered the Alleluia to be said at mass
beyond the Pentecostal season (extra tempora
Pentecostes) ; so far, he continues, is this from
being the case, that whereas the Church of Rome
in the time of Pope Damasus had adopted,
through Jerome's influence, from the Church of
Jerusalem the limitation of the Alleluia to the
season before Pentecost, he had actually inno-
vated on this Greek custom in ordering the
Alleluia to be said at other seasons also. This
seems the most probable sense of this much-con-
troverted passage, as to the reading and intei-pre-
tation of which there is much difference of
opinion. (See Baronius, Ann. 384, n. 27, vol. v.,
p. 578 ; and Mabillon, Museiun ItaUcum, ii. xcvii.).
The 4th Council of Toledo (canon ll)oi-ders that
(in accordance with the universal custom of
Christendom) the Alleluia should not be said in
the Spanish and Gaulish churches during Lent —
an injunction which seems to imply that its use
was permitted during the rest of the year. The
same canon (in some MSS.) also forbids the Alle-
luia on the Kalends of Januarj', " quae propter
errorem gentilium aguntur," but on which Chris-
tians ought to fast.
The intermission of Alleluia during a particular
season is expressed by the phrase " Alleluia clau-
sum " (Du Cange, s. v.).
3. We have already seen that St. Benedict
prescribed the use of the Alleluia in the respon-
sories of the Mass from Pasch to Pentecost. He
prescribed it also in the ordinary offices (Eegula,
c. 12, p. 286). From Pentecost to Ash- Wednes-
day, however, it was to be said in the nocturnal
office only with the six last Psalms: "A Pen-
tecoste autem ad caput quadragesimae omnibus
aoctibus cum sex posterioribus Psalmis tan-
ALL SAINTS
tum ad nocturnas dicatur" (^Boguht, c. 15, p.
297).
In the Roman arrangement of the ordinary
offices, the Alleluia follows the " Invocation " in
all the hours ; but from Septuagesima to the
Thui'sday in Holy Week the verse, " Laus tibi
Domiue ; Rex aeternae gloriae," is substituted.
4. We learn from Jerome {Ep. 27 [108], § 19,
p. 712, ad Eustochium ; cf. 23 [38], § 4, p. 175)
that the sound of the Alleluia summoned monks
to say their offices : " Post Alleluia cantatum, quo
signo vocabantur ad collectam, nuUi residere
licitum erat."
5. It was chanted at funerals ; as, for instance,
at that of Fabiola (Jerome, Ej}. ad Oceanum, 30
[77], p. 466) ; at that of Pope Agapetus in Con-
stantinople (Baronius, ann. 536, § 64, vol. ix.,
p. 544).
This usage is found in the Mozarabic rite, and
perhaps once existed in the ancient Galilean (Ba-
ronius, ann. 590, § 39, vol. x. p. 485).
(Bona, De Divina Psahnodia, c. xvi. § 7 ; J>e
Rebus Liturgicis, lib. ii., c. 6, § 5 ; Krazer, lie
Liturgiis, p. 419.) [C]
ALL SAINTS, Festival of {Omnium Sanc-
torum Natalis, Fosthntas, Solemnitas). — In tJie
Eastern Church a particular Sunday, the first
after Pentecost, was appropriated in ancient
times to the commemoratiou of all martyrs.
Chrysostom, in the 'EyK(vfj.iov its rohs ayious
nduTas Toi/s ev oKcii tw kSvijlw /xapTvpriauvTas.,
says that on the Octave of Pentecost thej- find
themselves in the m.idst of the band of martyrs ;
irapeAajSei' rifxas /j-aprvpcov x^P"^ (0pp. ii- 711):
and there is a similar allusion in Orat. contra
Judaeos, vi. (0pp. ii. p. 650). This Festival of
All Martyrs became in later times a Festival of
All Saints, and the Sunday next after Pentecost
appears in the Calendar of the Greek Jlenologion
as KvpiaKT] toiv 'Ayiwv iravTccv. The intention
in so placing this commemoration probably was
to crown the ecclesiastical year with a solemnity
dedicated to the whole glorious baud of saints
and martj'rs.
In the West, the institution of this festival
is intimately connected with the dedication to
Christian purposes of the Pantheon or Rotunda
at Rome. This temple, built in honour of the
victory of Augustus at Actium, was dedicated
by M. Agrippa to Jupiter Vindcx, and was called
the Pantheon, probably from the number of
statues of the gods which it contained, though
other reasons are assigned for the name.
Up to the time of St. Gregory the Great, idol-
temples were generally thrown down, or, if tliey
were suffered to remain, were thought unworthy
to be used in the service of God. Gregory
himself at first maintained this principle, but in
the latter part of his life, thought it would con-
duce more to the conversion of the heathen if
they were allowed to worship in the accustomed
spot with new rites (see his well-known letter
to Mellitus, in Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii. 30 ; 0pp. vi.
p. 79); and from this time, the principle of con-
verting heathen fanes to Christian uses seems to
have become familiar. In the beginning of the
7th century, the Pantheon remained almost the
solitary monument of the old heathen worshiji
in Rome. In the year 607 Boniface III. obtained
from the Emperor Phocas the important re-
cognition of the supremacy of Rome over all
ALL SAINTS
other churches ; and in the same year his suc-
cessor, Boniface IV., having cleansed and restored
the Pantheon, obtained the emperor's permission
to dedicate it to the service of God, in the name
" S. Mariae semper Virginis et omnium Mar-
tyrum :" {Liber Pontif. in Muratori, Rcr. Ital.
Scriptores, iii. 1, 135). This dedication is com-
memorated, and is believed to have taken place,
on May 13. On this day we find in the old Ro-
man jiartyrology edited by Eosweyd, " S. Mariae
ad Martyres dedicationis dies agitur a Bonifacio
Papa statutus." Baronius tells us, thjat he found
it recorded in an ancient MS. belonging to the
Church itself, that it was first dedicated " In
hoflorem S. Mariae, Dei Genetricis, et omnium
SS. Martyrum et Confessorum ; " and that at the
time of dedication the boues of martyrs from
the various cemeteries of the city were borne in
a procession of twenty-eight carriages to the
church. {Martyrol. Horn. p. 204-.) The technical
use of the word " confessor " seems, however, to
indicate a somewhat later date than that of the
dedication ; and Paulus Diaconus (Jlist. Lorvjo-
bard. iv. 37, p. 570) tells us simply that Phocas
granted Boniface permission, " Ecclesiam beatae
semper Virginis Mariae et omnium Martyrum
fieri, ut ubi quondam omnium non deorum sed
daemonum cultus erat, ibi deinceps omnium fieret
memoria sanctorum," and the church bears to
this day the name of "S. Maria dei Martiri."
This festival of the 13th May was not wholly
confined to the city of Rome, yet it seems to have
been little more than a dedication-festival of the
Rotunda, corresponding to the dedication-festivals
of other churches, but of higher celebrity, as the
commemoration of the final victory of Christianity
over Paganism.
The history of the establishment of the
festival of All Saints on Nov, 1 is somewhat
obscure. Tlie Marti/rologium Bom. Vet., al-
ready quoted, gives under " Kal. Kovembr." a
" Festivitas Sanctorum, quae Celebris et gene-
ralis agitur Romae." The very terms here used
show that this " Festivitas Sanctorum " was a
specially Roman festival, and it was probably
simply the dedication-feast of an oratory dedi-
cated by Gregory III. " In honorem Omnium
Sanctorum." But in the 8th century, the ob-
servance of the festival was by no means con-
fined to Rome. Beda's Metrical Martyrology has
" Multiplicl rutilat gemma ceu in fronte November,
CuDctorum fulget Sanctorum laude decoris."
In the ancient Hieronymiaa calendar in
D'Achery (Spicileg. tom. ii.), it appears under
Kal. Novemb., but only in the third place ;
" Natalis St. Caesarii ; St. Andomari Episcopi ;
sive Omnium Sanctorum." The list of festivals
in the Penitential of Boniface gives " In solemni-
tate Omnium Sanctorum ; " but the feast is not
found in the list given by Chrodogang (an. 762),
or iu Charlemagne's Capitulary {0pp. Caroli
Magni, i. 326) on the subject of festivals. It
appears then to have been observed by some
chuixhes in Germany, France, and England iu
the middle of the 8th century, but not univer-
sally. It was perhaps this diversity of practice
which induced Gregory IV., in the )'ear 835, to
! suggest to the Emperor Lewis the Pious, a ge-
i neral ordinance on the subject. Sigebert, in his
I Chronicon (in Pistorius, Script. Germ. tom. i.),
t tells us under that veai", ''Tunc moncutcGre-
1
ALL SOULS
67
gorio Papa, et omnibus cpiscopis assentiontibus, I
Ludovicus Imperator statuit, ut in Gallia et
Germania Festivitas Omnium Sanctorum iu Kal.
Novemb. celebraretur, quam Romani ex instituto
Bonifacii Papae celebrant." (Compare Adonis
Martyrol. ed. Rosweyd, p. 180.) It would seem j
from this, that the festivals of May 13 and I
Nov. 1 had already coalesced on the latter day,
and that the one festival then observed was
referred to Boniface IV., who, in fact, instituted '
that of May 13. The time was perhaps chosen j
as being, in a large part of Lewis's dominions, i
the time of leisure after harvest, when men's '■
hearts are disposed to thankfulness to the Giver ,
of all good. From this time, All Saints' day be-
came one of the great festivals of the Church, j
and its observance general throughout Europe.
It probably had a Vigil from the first, as be-
fore the time of its genei-al observance a Vigil
and Fast preceded the great festivals of the j
Church, It may, perhaps, have had an octave -j
from its first institution in Rome itself; but this |
was not the case in other churches, for an octave i
of All Saints does not seem to be found in any j
calendar earlier than the loth century. Proper j
collects, preface, and benediction for the " Natalis >
Omnium Sanctorum " are found in some, but not I
the most ancient, MSS. of the Gregorian Sacra- '
mentary (p. 138).
(Baronius in Martyrologio Bornano, May 13 -;
and Nov. 1 ; Binterim's Denkwurdigkeiten, vol,
V. pt. 1, p. 487 tr. ; Alt in Herzog's Beal-Ency- ,
clopddie, i. 247.) [C] ;
ALL SOULS, Festival of {Omnium fide-
Hum defunctorum memoria or commemoratio).
Very ancient traces of the observance of a day '
for the commemoration of "the souls of all
those who have died in the communion of the 1
body and blood of our Lord " (according to j
Cyprian) appear in the Fathers of the Church. I
Tertullian {I>e Corona Militis, c. 3) says,
" Oblationes pro defunctis annua die facimus." |
And to the same effect he speaks {De Exhort.
Castitatis, c. 11, and De Monogmn. c. 10) of
annual offerings (oblationes) for the souls of the 1
departed. These were probably made on the an-
niversary of the death, and were especially the
business of surviving relatives. So Chrysostom
{Horn. 29 in Acta Apost.), speaks of those who
made commemoration of a mother, a wife or a
child. Similarly Augustine {De Cura pro Mor-
tiiis, ch. 4).
It appears from an allusion in Amalarius of |
Metz (before 837) that in his time a day was j
specially dedicated to the commemoration of all <
souls of the departed, and it seems probable that '
this was the day following All Saints' Day.
Amalarius says expressly {De Eccl. Officiis, lib. |
iii. c. 44) " Anniversaria dies ideo repetitur I
pro defunctis, quoniam nescimus qualiter eorum i
causa habeatur in altera vita." And in c. 65, 1
he says " Post officium Sanctorum inserui of- j
ficium pro mortuis ; multi enim transierunt de
praesenti saeculo qui non illico Sanctis conjun- j
guntur, pro quibus solito more officium agitur." j
The festival of All Souls is here regarded as a
kind of supplement to that of All Saints, and |
may very probably have taken place on the
morrow of that day. But the earliest definite '
injunction for the observance of a commemoration
of all souls of thn departed on Nov. 2 apjicar.s tn
58
ALMACHICS
be that of Odilo, Abbot of Clugny, in the 10th
century. A pilgrim returning from Jerusalem,
says Peter Damiani (Vita Odilonis, 0pp. ii. 410),
reported to Odilo a woful vision which he had
had on his journey of the suffering of souls in
purgatorial fire ; Odilo thereupon instituted in
the churches under his control a general com-
memoration of the souls of the faithful departed
on the day following All Saints' Day : " per
omnia monasteria sua constituit generale de-
cretum, ut sicat primo die Mensis Novembris
juxta universalis Ecclesiae regulam omnium
Sanctorum solemnitas agitur ; ita sequent! die |
in psalmis, eleemosynis et praecipue Missarum j
solemniis, omnium in Christo quiescentium !
memoria celebraretur." This order was soon
adopted, not only by other monastic congrega-
tions, but by bishops for their dioceses; for
instance, by the contemporary Bishop Notger of
Liege {Ghronicon Belgicum, in Pistorius's Scrip-
tores German, iii. 92). The observance appears,
in fact, in a short time to have become general,
without any ordinance of the Church at large on
the subject.
But even after the observance of a commemo-
ration of All Souls on Nov. 2 became common,
we find {Statutes of Cahors, in Martene, The-
saurus Anecdot. iv. 766) that in some places the
morrow of St. Hilary's Day (Jan. 14), and in
others the morrows of the Octaves of Easter
and Pentecost were appropriated to the special
commemoration of the souls of the departed j
(Binterim's DenkwUrdigkeiten, vol. v. pt. 1, p.
492 ff.). [C]
ALMACHIUS, martyr at Rome, commemo-
rated Jan. 1 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae). [C]
ALMS ('EXiTifjioawri, non-classical in this
sense, either word or thing ; although for the
thing, see Seneca, De Benefic. vi. 3, and Martial,
Epigr. V. 42 ; and for the word also, Diog. Laert.
V. 17 : first found in the special meaning of alms in
LXX., Dan. iv. 24 [27 Heb.], where the original
reads "righteousness;" so also Tobit xii. 9, xiv.
11 [and elsewhere], Ecclus. iii. 30, iv. 2, vii. 10,
xxix. 15, 16, XXXV. 2). Alms i-ecognized as a duty
throughout the 0. T., but brought into promi-
nence in the later Jewish period (cf. Buxtorf,
Floril. Hebr. p. 88; Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. in
Matt. vi. 2, Luc. ii. 8), when they were formally
and regularly given in the synagogues ( Vitring.
De Syn. Vet.) to be distributed by appointed
officers, as also by putting them into certain
trumpet-shaped alms-boxes in the temple, called
■ya^o^vXaKia (Le Moyne, Not. in Var. Sac. ii.
75 ; Deyling, Observ. Sac. iii. 175 ; distinct from
the ya(o(pv\a.Ktov or treasury of St. Luke xxi. 1).
They were regarded also as a work specially
acceptable to God (Prov. xix. 17, xxii. 9, &c. ;
Tobit, and Ecclus., passim ; St. Luke xi. 41, Acts
X. 2). In like manner they became in the Chris-
tian Church —
I. A fundamental law of Christian morality
(St. Matt. X. 42, xix. 21, xxv. 35 ; St. Luke xii.
33 ; Acts ii. 44, iv. 34-37, xi. 29, 30 ; Rom. xii.
13, XV. 25 ; 2 Cor. viii. 12, ix. 7 ; Gal. ii. 1, vi.
10 ; Ephes. iv. 28 ; 1 Tim. vi. 18 ; Hebr. xiii.
16; 1 Pet. iv. 8, 9; 1 John iii. 17), so tho-
roughly reoognized as to make it both super-
llnous and impossible to enumerate patristic
allusions to it. Special tracts on almsgiving,
by St. Cyprian, De Opere et Elecnuos. ; St. Greg.
ALMS
Nyss., De Pauperibus Amandis Oratt. II. St.
Greg. Naz., De Pauperum Amore Orat. ; St. Basil
M., Serm. de Eleemos. inter Seimon. XXIV. ; St.
Ephraem Syrus, De Aw.ore Pauperum ; St. Leo
M., Sermones T'J. De CoUectis et Eleemos.; St.
INIaximus, Ad Joann. Cubic. EpAst. II. {De Elee-
mos^ ; and among the sermons attributed to St.
Chrysostom, one De Jejun. et Eleemos., and three
De Eleemos., &c. (and see a collection of patristic
citations in Drexelius, De Eleemosyna). Even
Julian the Apostate, c. a.d. 351, bears testimony
that the almsgiving of "the Galileans" over-
flowed beyond their own poor to the heathen
(Epist. adArsac, Epist. xlix.; and compare Lucian,
as quoted below); and thinks it expedient to
boast of his own kindness (Ad Themist.). Com-
pare also such notable examples as those, e.g.,
of Pope Soter as described by his contemporary
Dionysius Bishop of Corinth, c. a.d. 160 (ap.
Euseb. H. E. iv. 23); of Pauiinus of Kola; of
Deo Gratias Bishop of Carthage towards Gen-
seric's captives (see Milman, L. C. i. 205, and
Gibbon); of Johannes " Eleemosynarius," Patri-
arch of Alexandria, A.D. 606-616: and the oc-
currence of such expressions as, " Hoc praestat
eleemosyna quod et Baptisma " (St. Hieron. in
Ps. cxxxiii.), " Christian! sacrificium est eleemo-
syna in pauperem " (St. Aug. Serm. xlii., from
Heb. xiii. 16); or again, that almsgiving is the
"characteristic mark of a Christian,"— xapa/c-
T-npiariKhv XpKTTtavoii, and that it is /j-riTvp
aya.irr]i, (pap/xaKov a/xapTrffidTuiu, KAifxa^ fls rhu
ovpavhv iarrjpiyij.ivyj (St. Chrys. in Heb, Horn.
xxxii., and in Tit. Horn, vi.); or again, that
" res ecclesiae " are " patrimonia pauperum."
n. An integral part of Christian worship (Acts
ii. 42, vi. 1 ; 1 Cor. xvi.l ; 1 Tim. v. 3, 16) : alms
for the poor, to be distributed by the clergy (Acts
xi. 30), being a regular portion of the otierings
made in church, among those for the support cf
the clergy, and oblations in kind for the Church
services (Justin M., Apol. I. p. 98, Thirlby ; St.
Greg. Naz., Orat. sx., Opp. !. 351 ; Constit.
Apostol. iv. 6, 8; St. Chrys., Horn. 1. in S.
Matth. Opp. vii. 518, Ben. ; Cone. Gangrens.,
circ. A.D. 324, c. 8 ; for the East : — St. Iren.,
Adv. Haer. iv. 18 ; St. Cypr., Da Op. et Elecm.,
203, Fell; Tertuli., Aiol. 39; Arnob., Adv.
Gent, iv., in fin. ; St. Ambros., Ep. xvii. Ad
Valent. Opp. ii. 827, Ben. ; Cone. Eliber., a.d.
304, cc. 28, 29 ; Cone. Carthag. iv., a.d. 398,
cc. 93, 94 ; Optatus, De Schism. Donat. vi. p. 93,
Albaspin. ; Cone. Matiscon. !!., a.d. 585, c. 4 ;
Horn, cclxv. in Append, ad S. Aug. Opp. v. ;
Pesp. Greg. M. ad Qu. Aug. ap. Baed. H. E..
i. 27 ; for the "West : Psalms being sung, at least
at Carthage, during the collection and distribu-
tion, St. Aug. Petract. ii. 11); and this as a pri-
vilege, the names of considerable donors being
vecited (Constit. Apostol. iii. 4; St. Cj^i:, Epist.
ix. al. xvii., Ix. al. Ixii. ; St. Hieron., in Jerem. xi.
lib. ii., in Ezech. xviii. ; St. Chrys., Mom. xviii.
in Act. : Gest. Caecil. et Felic. ad fin. OpAati p. 95),
and the offerings of evil-livers, energumeni, ex-
communicate persons, suicides, and of those at
enmity with their brethren, being rejected (St.
Iren., Adv. Haer. iv. 34; TertulL, De Praescrip.
30 ; Constit. Apost. iv. 5-7 ; St. Athan., Ep. ad
Solitar., p. 364, ed. 1698 ; Epist. ad Bonifac. in
App. ad Opp. S. Aug. ii. ; Cone. Herd. a.d. 524, c.
13; and Aitissiod. i., a.d. 578, c. 17 : tiip Irish
synods assigned to St. Patrick, c. 12, Wilk. i. 3,
ALMS
auii c. 2, ib. 4- ; and St. Ambrose, Optatus, and the
Councils of Lerida and Carthage, above quoted ;
or later still, Capit. Hcrard. Archiep. Turon.
116, in Baluz. Capit. 1. 1294, and repeatedly in
the Cajiitiilaries). There was also an alms-box
(ya^o(pv\a.Kiov, corhona, see St. Cypr., De Op. et
Eleemos., and St. Hieron., Ejnst. 27, c. 14), placed
in the church for casual alms, to be taken out
nonthly (TertuU. Apol. 39). And Paulinus
{Epist. 32) speaks of a table (rnensa) for re-
ceiving the offerings. Collections for the poor in
church both on Sundays and on week days are
mentioned by St. Leo the Great {Serm. de Col-
lectis). The poor also habitually sat at the
church door, at least in the East, to receive alms
(St. Chrys., Horn. xxvi. De Verb. Apost., Horn. i.
in 2 Tim., Horn. iii. De Poenit.).
III. An institution having a formal list of re-
cipients, mainly widows and orphans (St. Ignat.,
ad Pohjcarp. iv. ; Constit. Apost. iv. 4, &c.) ; or,
upon occasion, martyrs in prison or in the mines,
or other prisoners, or shipwrecked persons (Dion.
Corinth, ap. Euseb. ff. E. iv. 23 ; TertulL, De
Jejun. 13 ; Lucian, De Morte Peregrin. § 11, Op.
viii. 279, Bipont. ; Liban., A.D. 387, Orat. xvi.
in Tisamen., Orat. de Vinctis, ii. 258, 445, ed.
Reiske): and special officers, as for other directly
ecclesiastical functions, so also for managing the
Church alms, viz. deacons {Const. Apost. ii. 31,
32, iii. 19; Dionys. Alex. ap. Euseb. H. E. vii.
11 ; St. Cypr., E/jist. xli., and xlix. al. Iii., Fell. ;
St. Hieron., Ad Nepot. Epist. xxxiv.) ; and among
women, deaconesses, commonly widows of ad-
vanced age {Constit. Apost. iii. 15 ; St. Hieron.,
Ad Nepot. Epist. xxxiv. ; and Lucian and Libanius
as above). See also Tertullian {Ad Uxor. ii.
4 and 8) for the charitable works of married
Christian matrons.
IV. These arrangements were supplemented
when necessary by special collections appointed
by the bishop (TertulL, De Jejun. 13), after the
pattern of St. Paul, for extraordinary emer-
gencies, whether at home or among brethren or
others elsewhere ; e. g. St. Cyprian's collection
of " sestertia centum millia nummorurn " for
the redemption of Numidian captives from the
barbarians (St. Cj'pr., Epist. Ix.) ; mostly accom-
panied by fast days (TertulL ib. — and so, long
after, Theodulph, A.D. 787 {_Capit. 38], enjoins
almsgiving continually, but specially on fast days),
but sometimes at the ordinary Church service
(St. Leo M., De Collectis) : a practice which grew
sometimes into the abuse which was remedied by
the Council of Tours (ii. a.d. 567, c. 5), enact-
ing that each city should provide for its own
poor, and by Gregory the Great, desiring the
Bishop of Milan to protect a poor man at Genoa
from being compelled to contribute to such a
collection (St. Greg., Epist. ix. 126). See also
St. Hieron., Adc. Vigilantiuni.
The a7ci7roi also may be mentioned in this
connection (1 Cor. xi. 20, Jude 12 ; TertulL,
Apol. 39 ; Constit. Apost. ii. 28 ; prohibited
Cone. Laod., a.d. 364, c. 5, and see Cone. Quini-
sext. A.D. 762, c. 74; and under Agapae). Also
the leycSi/es or ^ecoSoxe^a (St. Chrys., Horn. xlv. in
Act. Apostol. ; St. Aug., Tract, xcvii. in Joh.
§ 4); the ■irrcoxoTpo(pf7a, managed by tlie "kA»j-
piKol or a.(priyov/j.{voL rwv tttoix^'i-'^v " {Cone.
Chalced. A.D. 451, c. 8 ; and Pallad., Hist. Lavs.
v.); the YTjpo/coueia, the yocro/cu^era (Pnllad., V.
Chrys. p. 19), the opcpavorpocpfla : of which the
ALMS
59
names explain themselves (and see abundant re-
ferences in Suicer, sub voce., and Justinian also
enacts laws respecting such institutions and the
clergy who manage them), and which came into
being with the Christian Church. E. g., the
^ao-iAeias of St. Basil at Caesarea stands as a
notable example of a Christian hospital, at once
for sick and strangers (St. Basil. M., Epist. 94;
St. Greg. Naz., Orat. xxvii. and xxx. : Sozom. vi.
34), with its smaller oilshoots in the neighbour-
ing country (St. Basil. M., Epist. 142, 143) ; and
so also the hospital of St. Chrysostom, with his
advice on the subject to the faithful of Con-
stantinople (St. Chrys., Horn. xlv. in Act. Apost.
0pp. ix. 343) ; and the Xenodochium founded
" in portu Romano " by Pammachius and Fabiola
(St. Hieron., Ad Ocean. Ep. Ixxxiv.). Add also
the alms given at marriage and at funerals (St.
Chrys., Horn, xxxii. in S. Matth.; St. Hieron.,
Ad Pammach. de Obitu Uxor. Ep. liv. ; Pseudo-
Origen., Comment, in Job. lib. iii. p. 437 ; St.
Aug., Cont. Faust, xx. 20; and see Bingham).
Our own Council of Cealchyth, in A.D. 816 (c.
10), directs the tenth of a bishop's substance
to be given in alms upon his death. The Mani-
chaeans appear to have refused alms to needy
persons not Manichaeans on some recondite prin-
ciple of their connection with the principle of
evil, for which they are condemned by St. Aug.
{De Mor. Manich. ii. 15, 16) and Theodoret
{Haer. Fab. i. 26).
There was apparently no specified rule for
division of ecclesiastical revenues, originally of
course entirely voluntary offerings, anterior to
the 5th century ; the bishop being throughout
their chief administrator, but by the hands of
the deacons (see e. g. St. Cypr., about Felicis-
simus, Efjist. xli. ; and Cone. Gangr., c. 8, and
Epiphan, Haer. xL, condemning the Eustathians
for withdrawing their alms from the bishop or
the officer appointed by him). In the Western
Church in the 5th century (setting aside the
questionable decree of the Synod of Rome under
Sylvester in 324) we find a fourfold division of
them : 1, for the bishop ; 2, for the clergy ; 3,
for the poor ; 4, for the fabric and sustentation
of the churches. Or again, for 1. Churches;
2. Clergy ; 3. Poor ; 4. Strangers. This origin-
ated with the Popes Simplicius {Ejnst. 3, a.d.
467) and Gelasius (in Gratian Cans. 12 qu. 2,
c. Sancimus, a.d. 492) ; is mentioned repeatedly
by St. Gregory the Great at the end of the 6th
century {e.g. Ep. iv. 11, v. 44, vii. 8, xiii. 44:
Resp. ad August., &c. ; — and see also Cone. AureL
I. c. 5), was varied in Charlemagne's and Lud.
Pius' Capitularies (i. 80, Baluz. 718), as re-
garded voluntary offerings, into two-thirds to
the poor and one-third to the clergy in rich
places, and half to each in poor ones; but was
repeated in the old form by the Capd. of Charle-
magne himtelf respecting tithes (Baluz. i. 350)
and by the Counc. of Worms, a.d. 8G8, c. 7 ;
Tribur., A.D. 895, c. 13 ; and Nantes, A. D. 895 (:-■),
c. 10 (if at least this last is not to be referred
to the Council of Nantes in 658).
The special office of Elecmosynarius or Almoner
occurs in later times, afterwards the name of
the superintendent of the alms-house or hospital,
but at first a distributor of alms : both in monas-
teries (described at length by Du Gauge, fi-om a
JIS. of St. Victor of Paris), although the office in
tiie older Egyjitian monasteries belonged to tli<?
60
ALMS
oeconomus, under the special name of SiaKovia
(Cassian, Collat. xviii. 7, xxi. 9) ; and afterwards,
in England at least, as an officer attached to
each bishop {Cone. Oxon., a.D. 1222 ; Lyndw.,
Provinc. i. 13, p. 67) ; and lastly to the king, as
e.g. in England, and notably to the Kings of
France (see a list in Du Cange).
in the history of doctrine, the subject of alms-
giving is connected — I. With the notions of com-
munity of goods, voluntary poverty, and the
difficulty of salvation to the rich ; the current
voice of fathers, as e.g. Tertull., AjmI. 39, Justin
M., AjmI. i., Arnob. Adv. Gent. iv. in fin., magni-
fying the temper indicated by to twu <pi\ei>v
irdvra Koivd, while others, as St. Clem. Alex.
(Strom, iii. 6, p. 536, Potter), rejected its literal
and narrow perversion (see also his tract at
length, Quis Dices Salvetur) ; which perversion
indeed the Church condemned in the cases of the
Apostolici or Afotaotitae (St. Aug., De Haer. xl.
0pp. viii. 9 ; St. Epiphan., Haer. Ixi.), and of the
Massalians (St. Epiphan. Haer. Ixx.), and again
m that of the Pelagians, who maintained that
rich men must give up their wealth in order to
be saved (so at least Pseudo-Sixtus III., De
Divitiis ; and see St. Aug., Epist. cvi. ad Paulin.,
and Cone. DiospoUt. § 6, A.D. 415). Compare
Slosheim's Diss, de Vera Nat. Commun. Bono-
rum in Eccl. Hieros. II. With the relation of
good works to justification; alms and fasting
standing prominently in the question, i. as com-
paratively outward and positive acts, ii. as being
specially urged from early times as parts of
repentance and charity {e. g. Hermas, Pastor
X. 4 ; Salvian, Adv. Avarit. ii. p. 205 ; Lactant.,
Div. Instit. vi. 13, torn. i. p. 470 ; Constit. S.
Clem. vii. 12 ; St. Ambros., De Elia et Jejun.
XX. ; St. Chrys., Horn. vii. de Poenit. § 6, 0pp.
ii. 336 C). " Date et dabitur vobis," found its
answer in the repeated occurrence of the words
((?. .'/. St. Caesar. Arel., Hom. xv. ; St. Eligius, in
nia ii. 15, ap. D'Ach., Spicil. ii. 96). "Da, Do-
mine, quia dedimus ; " but the whole doctrine
derived its colour in each case from the succes-
sive phases of the doctrine of merit. III. With
(in time) the idea of compounding for other sins
by alms, a feeling strengthened by the imposition
of alms by way of satisfaction and of commuta-
tion of penance. The introduction of the practice
is attributed to Theodore of Canterbury, c. A.D.
700, but upon the ground only of the Peniten-
tials hitherto falsely attributed to him ; while the
abuse of it is severely condemned by the Coun'^il
of Cloveshoe, A.D. 747 (c. 26), and by Theodulph
(Capit. 32, A.D. 787). Its grossest instance is
probably to be found in the ledger-like calcula-
tion of the payments, by which " powerful men "
could redeem their penances, in Eadgar's canons,
in pn. (Thorpe, ii. 286-289), about A.D. 963.
See also Morinus, Dc Poenit. lib. x. c. 17, who
treats tlie question at length. IV. With alms
for the dead. See Cunc. Carth. iv., A.D. 398, c.
79 ; St. Chrys., as before quoted, and Bingham.
See also for later times, Car. M., Capit'. v. 364,
.ip. Baluz. i. 902.
Plough-alms in England (eleem. carucarum,
SM-aehwissan), viz., a penny for every plough
used in tillage, to be paid annually fifteen days
after Easter (Laws of Eadgar and Guthrun, a.d.
906, c. 6 ; Eadgar's Laws i. 2, and can. 54, a.d.
959 and 975; Ethelred's, ix. 12, a.d. 1014:
Cnut's, 0. 8, c. A.D. 1O30 ; Pectit. -^itig Pers., § de
ALTAR
Vilkaiis), were rather a church due than alms
properly so called. As was also St. Peter's
penny, Elcemos. S. Petri. And Libera Eleemo-
syna, or Frank-Almoign, is the tenure of most
Church lands from Saxon times (viz., tenure
on condition, not of specified religious services,
but of Divine Service generally), although now
incapable of being created de novo (Stat. Quia
Emptores, 18 Edw. I.). See Stephen's Blackstone,
i., Bk. n. Pt. i. c. 2, in fin. [A. W. H.]
ALNENSE CONCILIUM. [Alcester,
Council of.]
ALTAR. — The table or raised surface on
which the Eucharist is consecrated.
I. Names of the Altar.
1. Tpdire^a, a table ; as rpairefa Kvplov, 1 Cor.
X. 21. This is the term most commonly used by
the Greek Fathers and in Greek Liturgies ; some-
times simply, fi TpdireCa, as the Table by pre-
eminence (Chrysost. in Ephes. Hom. 3), but
more frequently with epithets expressive of awe
and reverence ; fivariKii, irvev/xaTiK-fi, cpo^fpa,
(ppiKTrj, (ppiKuSrjS, PaffLKtKT), aOdvaros, lepd, ayla,
Oeia, and the like (see Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v.).
St. Basil in one passage (Ep. 73, 0pp. ii. 870)
appears to contrast the Tables (rpawe^as) of the
orthodox with the Altars (Qvffiaarripia) of Basi-
lides. Sozomen (Eccl. Hist. ix. 2, p. 368) says
of a slab which covered a tomb that it was
fashioned as if for a Holy Table (licnnp fls hpav
elrjcr/feiTO rpdire^av), a passage which seems to
show that he was familiar with stone tables.
2. Qvciacrrripiov, the place of Sacrifice ; the
word usad in the Septuagint for Noah's altar
(Gen. viii. 20), and both for the Altar of Burnt-
sacrifice and the Altar of Incense under the
Levitical law, but not for heathen altars.
The word Qvcnatrriipwv in Heb. xiii. 10, is
referred by some commentators to the Lord's
Table, though it seems to relate rather to the
heavenly than to the earthly sanctuary (Thomas
Aquinas). The Ovaiaffrripiov of Ignatius, too
(ad Philad.4; compare Magn. 7; Trail. 7),
can scarcely designate the Table used in the
Eucharist (see Lightfoot on Philippians, p. 263,
u. 2). But by this word Eusebius (Hist. Eccl.
X. 4, § 44) describes the altar of the great
church in Tyre, and again (Panegyr. sub fin.) he
speaks of altars (Qvcriaffriipia) erected through-
out the world. Athanasius, or Pseudo-Athana-
sius (Disp. cont. Arium, 0pp. i. 90), explains
the word rpdneCa by QvaiaaT-rtpLov. This name
rarely occurs in the liturgies. @v(na(TT^piov
not unfrequently designates the enclosure within
which the altar stood, or Bema (see Mede, On the
Name Altar or ©vaiacrr-hpiov, Works, p. 382 ff.).
3. The Copts call the altar 'lAaa-T-fiptov, the
word applied in the Greek Scriptures to the
Mercy-Seat, or covering of the Ark [compare
Arca] ; but in the Coptic liturgy of St. Basil
they use the ancient Egyptian word Pimaner-
schoouschi, which in Coptic versions of Scripture
answers to the Heb. nitD and the Greek Bvffia-
irTrtpiov (Renaudot, Lit. Orient, i. 181).
4. The word Bwfios (see Nitzsch on the
Odyssey, vol. ii. p. 15) is used in Scripture and
in Christian writers generally for a heathen
altar. Thus in 1 Maccab. i. 54, we read that in
the persecution under Antiochus an "abomina-
tion of desolation" was built on the Temple-altar
ALTAR
{Qva-iaffT-fipiov), while idol-altars {Bw/xol) were
set up in the cities of Judah ; and, again (i. 59),
sacrifices were ottered " iizl tov Bto,u^y hs itv ^irl
rod @vcria(TTT]plov." The word Boo/xos is, how-
ever, applied to the Levitical altar in Ecclesias-
ticus 1. 12, the work of a gentilizing writer. It
is generally repudiated by early Christian writers,
except in a figurative sense : thus Clement of
Alexandria (^Stwm. vii. p. 717) and Origen (c.
C'lilsum viii. p. 389) declare that the soul is the
true Christian altar (Bai^os), the latter expressly
admitting the charge of Celsus, that the Chris-
tians had no material altars. Yet in later times
Bcafios was sometimes used for the Christian
altar; Syuesius, for instance (Karao-Taffis, c. 19,
p. 303), speaks of flying for refuge to the
unbloody altar (Bto/xoV).
5. The expression " Mensa Domini," or " Mensa
Dominica," is not uncommon in the Latin Fathers,
especially St. Augustine (e.g._Sermo 21, c. 5, on
Ps. Ixiii. 11). And an altar raised in honour of
a martyr frequently bore his name ; as " Mensa
Cypriani" (Augustine, Sermo 310). The word
" mensa " is frequently used for the slab which
formed the top of the altar (v. infra).
6. Ara, the Vulgate rendering of Bai^ps (1
Maccab. i. 54 [57], etc.), is frequently applied
by TertuUian to the Christian altar, though not
without some qualification ; for instance, " ara
Dei" (de Oratione, c. 14). Yet ara, like Bcojuos,
is repudiated by the early Christian apologists
on account of its heathen associations ; thus
Minucius Felix (Octavius, c. 32) admits that
" Delubra et ai-as non habemus ; " compare Arno-
bius (adv. Gentes vi. 1) and Lactantius {Divin.
Instit. ii. 2). In rubrics, Ara designates a port-
able altar or consecrated slab. (Macri Hiero-
lexicon, s.v. " Altare.") Ara is also used for the
substruotm-e on which the mensa, or altar proper,
was placed ; " Altaris aram funditus pessum-
(lare " (Prudentius, Peristcph. xiv. 49). Compare
Ardo Smaragdus, quoted below.
7. But by far the most common name in the
Latin Fathers and in Liturgical diction is altare,
a'" high altar," from altus (Isidore, Origines, xv.
4, p. 1197; compare alveare, collare). This is
the Vulgate equivalent of 6v<na<rTripiov. Ter-
tuUian (de Exhort. Castitatis c. 10) speaks of the
Lord's Table as " altare " simply ; so also Cyprian
(Epist. 45, § 3, ed. Goldhorn), who, by the
phrase " altari posito," indicates that the church-
altar in his time was moveable ; and who, in
another place (Epist. 59, § 25), contrasts the
Lord's Altar (" Domini Altare ") with the " ara "
of' idols. So again (Epist. 65, § 1) he contrasts
" aras diaboli " with " Altare Dei." So Augus-
tine (Sermo 159, § 1) speaks of "Altare Dei."
Yet Cyprian speaks (Ep. 59, § 15) of "diaboli
altaria," so uncertain was the usage. In the
Latin liturgies scarcely any other name of the
altar occurs but altare. The plural altaria is
also occasionally used by ecclesiastical writers,
as invariably by classical authors, to designate
an altar ; thus Caesarius of Aries (Horn. 7) says
that the elements (creaturae) to be consecrated
" sacris altaribus imponuntur." (Mone's Griech.
u. Lat. Messen, p. 6.)
The singular " altarium " is also used in late
writers : as in the Canon of the Council of
Auxerre quoted below, mass is not to be said
more than once a day, "super uno altario."
Altarium is also used in a wider sense, like
ALTAR
61
0v<Tia(Tr-nf>iov, for the Bema or Sanctuary; so
also altaria.
8. In most European languages, not only of
the Romanesque family, but also of the Teutonic
and Slavonic, the word used for the Loi-d's Table
is derived, with but slight change, from altare.
In Russian, however, another word, prestol, pro-
perly a throne, is in general use. [C]
II. Parts composing altars. — Although in strict-
ness the table or tomb-like structure consti-
tutes the altar, the steps on which it is placed,
and the ciborium or canopy which covered it,
may be considered parts of the altar in a larger
sense, or, at least, were so closely connected with
it, as to make it more convenient to treat of
them under the same head.
The altar itself was composed of two portions,
the supports, whether legs or columns, in the
table form, or slabs in the tomb-like, and the
"mensa" or slab which formed the top.
The expression " cornu altaris," horn of the
altar," often used in rituals (as in the Sacrament.
Gelasianum 1, c. Ixxxviii.), appears to mean
merely the corner or angle of the altar, no known
example showing any protuberance at the angles
or elsewhere above the general level of the
mensa, although in some instances (as in that iu
the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista at Ravenna
hereafter mentioned) the central part of the sur-
face of the mensa is slightly hollowed. By the
Cornu Evangelii is meant the angle to the left of
the priest celebrating, by Cornu Epistolae that to
the right. These phrases must, however, it would
seem, date from a period subsequent to that
when the Gospel was read from the ambo.
III. Material and form of altars. — It is admitted
by all that the earliest altars were tables of
wood ; in the high altar of the church of S. Gio-
vanni Latei-ano at Rome is enclosed an altar of
the tomb-like form, the mensa and sides formed
of wooden planks, on which St. Peter is asserted
to have celebrated the Lord's Supper, and at
Sta. Pudenziana, in the same city, fragments of
another are preserved to which the same tra-
dition attaches. [Arca.]
This shows an ancient belief that altars were
of wood. And there is abundant proof that in
Africa at least the Holy Table v.-as commonly of
wood up to the end of the fourth century.
Athanasius, speaking of an outrage of the Arians
in an orthodox church (Ad Monachos, 0pp. i.
847), says that they burnt the Table (i^vXivrt
yap ^jv) with other fittings of the church. Op-
tatus of Mileve, describing the violence of the
Donatists, mentions their planing afresh, or
breaking up and using for firewood, the Holy
Tables in the churches of their rivals (De Schis-
mate Donatistaruin vi. 1, p. 90 ff.) ; and St. Augus-
tine (Epist. 185, c. 27) declares that they beat
the orthodox Bishop Maximinianus with the
wood of the altar under which he had taken
refuge. In England, at a much later date, if we
may trust William of Malmesbury (Vita S.
Wulstani, in Pe Gestis Pontif. Angl. iii. 14),
Wulstan, bishop of Worcester (1062-1095), de-
molished throughout his diocese the wooden
altars which were still in existence in England
as in ancient days, " altaria lignea jam inde a
priscis diebus in Anglia." Martene (De Antiq.
Eccl. Ritibiis i. 3) and Mabillon (Acta SS. Ber^-
dict. Saec. vi., pars 2, p. 860) have shown that
wooden altars were anciently used in Gaul.
62
ALTAR
Yet there is distinct evidence of the exist-
ence of stone altars in the fourth century.
Gregory of Nyssa {Do Christi Baptismate, 0pp.
iii. 3G9) speaks of the stone of which the altar
was made being hallowed by consecration. To
tlie same eft'ect St. Chrysostom (on 1 Cor. Hom.
20). And stone became in time the usual canon-
ical material of an altar. I'he assertion that
Pope Sylvester (314-335) first decreed that
altars should be of stone rests upon no ancient
authority (Bona, De Reh. Lit. i., c. 20, § 1).
The earliest decree of a council bearing on the
.subject is one of the provincial council of Epaona
(Pamiers in France) in 517, the 26th Canon of
which (Brun's Canones ii. 170) forbids any other
than stone altars to be consecrated by the appli-
cation of Chrism.
As this council was only provincial, its decrees
were no doubt only partially received. The
14th chap, of the Capitularies of Charles the
Great, A.d. 769 (Migne's Patrologia, xcvii. 124),
orders that priests should not celebrate unless
"in mensis lapideis ab Episcopis consecratis."
This seems to mark a period when the use of
wooden altars, although disapproved of, was by
no means unknown. In the Eastern churches
the material of the altar has been deemed a
m.itter of less importance, and at all times dojvn
to the present day altars have been made of
wood, stone, or metal.
Assemani {Bibl. Orient, iii. 238) cites a Canon
of a Synod of the Syro-Jacobites, held circa A.D.
908, which orders the use of fixed altars of stone,
and the disuse of wood; he adds that in the
churches of the Maronites and of the Jacobites
the altars were sometimes of wood, sometimes
of stone (compare Neale, Eastern Ch. Intr. 181).
In some instances at the present day pillars of
stone are used to support a mensa of wood.
This change of material was in some degree
occasioned or accompanied by the adoption of a
different type of form, that of the tomb. Such
adoption has been usually accounted for by the
supposition that the tombs in the Roman cata-
combs known as " arcosolia " were used during
the period of persecution as altars. These arco-
solia were forn^ed by cutting in the wall of the
chamber or oratory, at a height of about three
feet from the floor, an opening covered by an
arch. In the wall below this opening an exca-
vation was made sufficiently large to receive one
or sometimes two bodies, and this was covered
by a slab of marble.
" Such tombs would evidently furnish suffici-
ently convenient altars, but there appears to be
some deficiency of proof that they were actually
so used during the period of persecution, to
which, indeed, the far greater number are by
some centuries posterior. Some writers assert
that up to the time of St. Sylvester the only
altars in use were wooden chests [compare
Arca] carried about from place to place where-
ever the Roman bishop had his habitation.
Whether this opinion be or be not well-founded,
it is certain that traces of altars occupying the
normal position, viz., the centre of the apse, have
been found in the oratories of the catacombs.
Bosio and Boldetti state that they had met with
such, the one in the cemetery of Priscilla, the
other in that of SS. Mai'cellinus and Peter, and
Martigny {Diet, des Antiq. Chret. p. 58), adds
that ho had been shown bv the Cav. de Rossi in
ALTAlt
the cemetery of Calixtus the traces left by the
four pillars which had supported an altar. The
date of the altars in question does not, however,
appear to have been clearly ascertained.
It was, however, not only in Rome that the
memorials of martyrs and altai-s were closely
associated; the 83rd Canon of the Codex Can.
Ecd. Afric. A.D. 419 (in Brun's Canones, i.
176) orders that the altaria which had been
raised everywhere by the roads and in the fields
as "Memoriae Martyrum," should be overturned
when there was no proof that a martyr lay
beneath them ; and blames the practice of erect-
ing altars in conseauence of dreams and "iuanes
revelationes."
In the Liber Pontificalis it is stated that Pope
Felix I. (A.D. 269-274) " constituit supra sepul-
cra martyrum missas celebrari," but perhaps the
most ciear proofs of the prevalence of the prac-
tice of placing altars over the remains of martyrs
and saints at an 'early period, are furnished by
passages in Prudentius, particularly that so often
quoted {Feristeph., Hymn XI. v. 169—174):—
" Talibus Hippolyti corpus mandatur opertis
Propter ubi apposita est ara dicata Deo,
Ilia sacramenti donatrix mensa eademque
Gustos fida sui martyris apposita,
Servat ad aeterni spam judicis ossa sepulcro
Pascit item Sanctis tibricolas dapibus."
The practice of placing the altar over the re-
mains of martyrs or saints may probably have
arisen from a disposition to look upon the suffer-
ings of those confessors of the faith as analogous
with that sacrifice which is commemorated in
the Eucharist ; and the passage in the Reve-
lation (chap. vi. V. 9), " I saw under the altar
the souls of them that were slain for the word
of God," no doubt encouraged or instigated the
observance. The increasing disposition to vene-
rate martyrs and their relics fostered this prac-
tice, by which, as Prudentius says {Peristeph.,
Hymn. III. v. 211)—
" Sic venerarier ossa libet
Ossibus altar et impositum."
And it took firm root in the Western Church ;
so much so that a rule has long been established
that every altar must contain a relic or relics,
among which should be one of the saint in whose
honour it was consecrated. [Consecration of
Churches; Relics.]
This practice, no doubt, conduced to the change
of material from wood to stone, and also to a
change of form from that of a table to that of
a chest or tomb, or to the combination of the
two. The table-form seems to have been still
common in Africa in the early part of the 5th
century : for Synesius (Karao-Toins, c. 19, p.
303), says that, in the terrors of the Vandal
invasion, he would cast himself beneath the
altar, and clasp the columns that supported it.
The annexed woodcut furnishes an example of
the combination of the table-form with the
tomb-form. It was discovered in the ruins of
the so-called basilica of S. Alessandro on the
Via Nomentana, about seven miles from Rome,
and may with all probability be ascribed to the
fifth century. The mensa is a slab of porphyry,
the rest is of marble. The small columns were
not placed as represented in the woodcut at the
time when the sketch from which it is taken
was made ; they were, however, found close by
ALTAR
the altar, and there can be little doubt but that
they were originally so placed. Beneath the
altar is a shallow cxcMvatiou lined with marble,
ALTAR
63
mmm?,
ALEXAMDROOaiCATV
Altar of S. Alessandro on the Via Notneutaim.
in which the bones of St. Alexander are believed
to have been deposited. The square opening in
the cancellated slab was probably used for the
purpose of introducing cloths [Brandea], which
were laid on the tomb of a saint, and afterwards
preserved as relics. A part of the inscription on
the front has been lost: what remains reads "et
Alexandro Delicatus voto posuit dedicante Aepis-
copo Urs . . " The name wanting at the begin-
ning is supposed to be that of Eventius, also buried
in the same cemetery. Ursus is believed to have
been bishop of Nomentum.
The altar in the sepulchral chapel at Ravenna,
known as " SS. Nazzaro e Celso," is an example
of the simple tomb-lilse form. The chapel was
built about A.D. 450, and this altar may be of
about the same date. According to the Rev. B.
Webb (^Sketches of Continental Ecclesiology, p.
429) it is composed of three slabs of alabaster
supporting a mensa ; on the ends are carved
crosses ; on the front is a cross between two
sheep ; and on each side of it the device of a
crown suspended from a wreath. It is shewn
iu the engraving of the chapel in Gaily Knight's
Eccl. Arch, of Italy.
In the somewhat earlier mosaics in the bap-
tistery of the cathedral of Ravenna, altars are
represented as tables supported by columns with
capitals ; the tables are represented red and the
columns gold, indicating perhaps the use of por-
phyry and gilt bronze as tlie materials. Nor,
although the tomb-lilce form eventually became in
the Western Church the ruling one, was the table-
form disused, for examples of it of a date even as
late as the thirteenth century are still extant.
i^^^^^i-gssf^i
Alt4ir, from Axiriol
A variety of the table-form, in which the
a is supported by only one leg, is shown in
the accompanying woodcut. This altar was
found in the neighbourhood of Auriol, in the
department of the Bouches-du-Rhune, in France,
and may be attributed to the fifth or sixth
century.
Martigny {Diet, des Antiq. Chret., p. 59) men-
tions other examples in which the mensa is sup-
ported by five columns, one being in the centre.
One of these found at Avignon is supposed to
have been erected by S. Agricola (dec. A.D. 580).
Another, in the Muse'e at Marseilles, he attri-
butes to the 5th centui-y, and a third he says
exists in the crypt of the church of St. Martha,
at Tarascon.
In the baptistery of the cathedral of Ravenna
is an altar composed of a mensa with two columns
in front, and a quadrangular block of marble, in
which is a recess or ca^•ity now closed by a
modern brass door ; the front of this block has
some decoration of an architectural character, a
small cross, doves, ears of wheat, and bunches of
grapes. This central block would appear to be
an altar (or part of one) of the 6th century. A
very similar block is at Parenzo, in Istria, and is
engraved in Heider and Eiselberger's Alittelalter-
liche Kunstdenkmale des Oesterreichischen Kaiser-
staatcs (i. 109) ; the writer of that work is,
however, disposed to consider it not an altar but
a tabernacle.
Mr. Webb (Sketches of Cont. Ecclesiology, pp.
430, 440) mentions two altars at Ravenna, one
in the crypt of S. Giovanni Evangelista, the other
in the nave of S. Apollinare in Classe, of the same
form as that of the baptistery of the Cathedral
described above, and seems to consider this ar-
rangement as original ; but says of the altar of
the baptistery that it was the tabernacle of the
old Cathedral. He remarks that the mensa of
the altar in S. Giovanni is not level, but slightly
hollowed so as to leave a rim all round.
Many notices of altars may be found in the
Liher Pontificalis (otherwise known as Anastasius
Bibliothecarius de Vitis Pontijicum) as that Pope
Hilarus (A.D. 461-467) made at S. Lorenzo f.
1. m. " altare argenteum pensans libras quadra-
ginta," that Leo III. (a.d. 795-816) made at S.
Giovanni Laterano " altare majus mirae mag-
nitudinis decoratum ex argento purissimo pensans
libras sexaginta et novem."
In these and in the numerous like instances it
is either expressly stated that- the altar was
decorated with gold or silver, or the quantity of
the metal employed is evidently quite insufficient
to furnish the sole material ; but we are not told
whether the altar was constructed of stone or of
wood.
In a mosaic at S. Vitale, at Ravenna, dating
from the 6th century (engraved in Webb's Cont.
Eccles. p. 437), an altar doubtless is represented
as standing on feet at the angles, and therefore
of the table form. It has, according to Mr.
Webb, an ornamental covering of white linen
with a hanging beneath.
The annexed woodcut taken from the same
work (p. 440) shows an altar similarly re-
presented in a mosaic in S. Apollinare in Classe
at Ravenna. This church was commenced
between 534 and 538, and dedicated between
546 and 552, but much of the mosaic was not
executed until between 671 and 677 (Hiibsch,
Altchristlichen Kirchen).
Paul the Silentiary, in his poetical description
64
of St. Sophia at Constantinople, as rebuilt by
Justinian (between A.D. 532 and A.D. 563),
describes the altar as of gold, decorated with
precious stones and supported on golden columns.
This has of coui-se long since been destroyed,
but there still exists an altar of almost equal
splendour, though of the other type, viz., that of
the tomb, and more recent by three hundred
years. This is the high altar of S. Ambrogio, at
Milan, made in a.d. 835, measuring 7 ft. 3 in. in
length and 4 ft. 1 in. in height, the mensa being
4 ft. 4 in. wide. The front is of gold, the back
and sides of silver. It is covered with subjects
in relief in panels divided by bands of ornament,
and many small ornaments in cloisonne enamel
are interspersed. The subjects on the back are
chiefly incidents in the life of St. Ambrose ;
those of the front are Christ seated within an
oval compartment within a cross, in the branches
of which are the symbols of the Evangelists,
figures of tlie Apostles being placed above and
below. On the right and left are subjects from
the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles. On the
ends of the altar are crosses in compartments,
surrounding which are angels in various attitudes
( t iloiation It la iepie»ented m the wocdcut
Altar of S \mbrog o at "Milan
Two examples of the tomb-like form, of stone
and of earlier date, may be seen in the lateral
apses of the basilican church which foi-ms part
of S. Stetano at Bologna. These perhaps date
from the 7tli or 8th century. On one are a cross
and two peacocks, and an inscription in honour
of S. Vitalis ; on the other, figures of a lion and
a stag or ox. It is not clear whether these were
construcljed to serve as altars, or are tombs con-
verted to that use ; but the first seems the more
probable suggestion.
The account given by Ardo Smaragdus, in his
life of St. Benedict of Aniane (Act. Sanct. Feb.
vol. ii. die 12, p. 614), of one of the altars con-
structed by the latter in the church of that place
(in A.D. 782 ?), is, though somewhat obscure, too
remarkable to be passed over; the altar was hol-
low within, having at the back a little door; in
A.LTAII
the cavity boxes (capsae) containing relics were
preserved on non-festive days. This "altare,"
wliich was the high altar, was so constructed
(in altari . . . tres aras causavit subponi) as to
symbolize the Trinity.
It is difficult to find the date at which it
became customary to incise crosses, usually five
in number, on the mensa of an altar; they do
not appear to exist on the mensa of the wooden
altar in S. Giovanni Laterano at Rome, which is
no doubt of an early date, on that of the altar of
S. Alessandro, near Kome, or on those of the early
altars at Ravenna, or Auriol, or even on the altar
of S. Ambrogio. Crosses are however found on
the portable altar which was buried with St.
Cuthbert (a.d. 087). The veiy fragmentary
state of this object makes it impossible to deter-
mine with certainty how many crosses were on
it. Two are to be seen on the oaken board to
which the plating of silver was attached, and
two on the plating itself, but it is quite possible
that originally there were five on each. In the
order for the dedication of a church in the
Sacramentary of Gregory the Great (p. 148),
the bishop consecrating is desired to make
crosses with holy water on the four corners of
the altar; but nothing is said of incised crosses.
The practice of making below the mensa a
cavity to contain relics, and covering this by a
separate stone let into the mensa, does not appear
to be of an early date. [Consecration.]
IV. Structural accessories of the altar. —
Usually, though not invariably, the altar was
raised on steps, one, two, or three in number.
From these steps the bishop sometimes preached ;
hence SiJonius Apoll., addressing Faustus, Bishop
of Riez, says (Carm. XVI. v. 124), —
" Seu te conspicuis gradibiis venerabilis arae
Concionaturum plehs sedula circumsistit."
Beneath the steps it became customary, from
the fourth century at least, at Rome and wherever
the usages of Rome were followed, to construct
a-small vault called confessio ; this was originally
a mere grave or repository for a body, as at S.
Alessandro near Rome, but gradually expanded
into a vault, a window or grating below the altar
allowing the sarcophagus in which the body of
the saint was placed to be visible. [Confessio.]
In the Eastern Church a piscina is usually
found under the altar (Neale, Eastern C/iurc/i
Introd. 189), called X"'''> X'"'^'*"' '^^' more com-
monly Q6.\a(raa or 6a\aaai5iov. What the an-
tiquity of this practice may be does not seem to
be ascertained, but it may have existed in the
Western Church, as appears from the Frankish
missal published by Mabillon (Liturg. Gall. iii.
§ 12, p. 314), where, in consecrating an altar,
holy water is to be poured " ad basem." So the
Gregorian Sao'amentary, p. 149.
The altar was often enclosed within railings of
wood or metal, or low walls of marble slabs ;
these enclosures were often mentioned by early
writers under the names " ambitus altaris,"
" circuitus altaris ; " the railings were called
*' cancelli," and the slabs " transennae." Some
further account of these will be found under the
words.
Upon these enclosures columns and arches of
silver were often fixed, and veils or curtains of
rich stutFs suspended from the arches : they are
frequently mentioned in the Lib. Pontif., as in
i
J
ALTAR
the instance where Tope Leo III. gave 96 veils,
some highly ornamented, to be so placed round
the " ambitus altaris " and the " presbyterium "
of St. Peter's at Rome.
V. Ciborium, otherwise umbraculum, Gr. ki-
^ipiov. Ital. baldachino. — Down to the end of
the period with which we are now concerned,
and even later, the altar was usually covered by
a canopy supported by columns, the ciborium.
The word is no doubt derived from the Greek
Ki^cipiov, the primary meaning of which is the
cup-like seed-vessel of the Egyptian water-lily.
It does not appear when the ciborium came
first to be in use, though this was probably at as
early a date as that in which architectural
splendour was employed in the construction of
churches. Augusti quotes Eusebius (^Vit. Const.
M. lib. iii. c. 38) as using the word KtPiipiov
when describing the church of the Sepulchre at
Jerusalem, and connecting it with the word r^fxt-
(Tcpaipiov ; but in this there seems to be a mistake,
as neither word occurs in cap. 38, while in cap.
37 the latter occurs in connection with ice<p-
a.\atov: by which last it would seem that the
apse was meant.
Paulinus of Nola has been thought to allude
to the ciborium in the verses {Lib. ii. LJpig. 2) :
" JMvinum veneranda tegunt altaria foedus,
Compositibque sacra cum cruce martyribus."
AliTAR
(55
Veils are mentioned by St. Chrysostom {ITom.
iii. in Ephes.) as w ithdrawn at the consecration
of the Eucharist, and it is probable that these
were attached to the ciborium in the fashion
represented by the accompanying woodcut,
where a ciborium is shown with the veils con-
rcaling the altar. This representation, taken
CHRIST. ANT.
from Messrs. Texier and Pullau's work on By-
zantine Architecture, is found in the mosaics
of St. George at Thessalonica, works certainly
not later than a.d. 500, and perhaps much
earlier ; the authors are indeed disposed to refer
them to the era of Constantine the Great.
Ciboria are not mentioned in the Liber Pon-
tificalis in the long catalogue of altars erected in
and gifts made to churches erected in Rome and
Naples by Constantine, unless the " fastigium "
of silver weighing 2025 lbs. in the basilica of St.
John Lateran was, as some have thought, a
ciborium. Much doubt, it must be remembered,
has been thrown on the trustworthiness of this
part of the Liber Pontificalis, nor does any men-
tion of one occur until the time of Pope Symma-
chus (498 — 514), who, it is stated, made at S.
Silvestro a ciborium of silver weighing 120 lbs.
Mention is made in the same work of many
other ciboria ; they are generally described as of
silver or decorated with silver. The quantity of
metal varies very much : one at S. Paolo f. 1, m.
is said to have been decorated with 2015 lbs. of
silver, that of St. Peter's, of silver-gilt, weighed
2704 lbs. 3 oz., and that at S. Giovanni Laterano
only 1227 lbs. All these were erected bv Pope
Leo in. (795-816). The last is described as
" cyborium cum columnis suis quatuor ex
ai-gento purissimo diversis depictum historiis
cum cancellis et columnellis suis mirae magni-
tudinis et pulchritudinis decoratum." The
"cancelli" were, no doubt, railings running from
column to column and enclosing the altar. The
ciborium in St. Sophia's, as erected by Justinian,
is described by Paul the Silentiary as having
four columns of silver which supported an
octagonal pyi'amidal dome or blunt spire crownea
by a globe bearing a cross. From the arches
hung rich veils woven with figures of Christ, St.
Paul, St. Peter, &c.
Ciboria were constructed not only of metal,
or of wood covered with metal, but of marble ;
the alabaster columns of the ciborium of the
high altar of St. Mark's at Venice are said to
have occupied the same position in the chapel of
the Greek Emperor at Constantinople. They
are entirely covered with subjects from Biblical
history, sculptured in relief, and appear to be of
as early a date as the fifth century ; but perhaps
the earliest ciborium now existing is one in the
church of S. Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna,
which is shown by the inscription engraved upon
it to have been erected between a.d. 806 and
A.D. 810.
Various ornaments, as vases, crowns, and
baskets (cophini) of silver, w^ere placed as deco-
rations upon or suspended from the ciboria;' and,
as has been already said, veils or curtains were
attached to them ; these last were withdrawn
after the consecration but before the elevation of
the Eucharist. These curtains are mentioned
repeatedly in the Liber Poritif. as gifts made by
various popes of the seventh, eighth, and ninth
centuries, e. g., " Vela alba holoserica rosata
quae pendent in arcu de cyborio numero qua-
tuor," given to S. Maria Maggiore by Pope
Leo III. (A.D. 795-816).
It does not appear when the use of these veils
was discontinued in the Western Church ; in the
Eastern a screen (eiKovoa-Taffis) with doors now
serves the like purpose. Some of the ciboria at
Rome, according to Martignv (Art. Colombe
F
00
ALTAR
Eucharistiqiie), having a ring fixed in the centre
of the vault, from which he conceives a receptacle
for the host to have been suspended. [Peei-
STERIUm]. No ciborium now existing at Rome
seems to be of earlier date than the twelfth
century, but the practice of suspending such
receptacles is no doubt much earlier.
Martigny is of opinion that besides the cibo-
rium, the columns of which rested on the ground,
there was sometimes a lesser one, the columns oi
which rested on the altar, and that these last
were more properly called ".peristeria," as enclos-
ing a vessel in the form of a dove, in which the
host wn« contained. [CiBORiUM, TuRRiS, Pern
VI. Appendages of the Altar. — In ancient times
nothing was placed upon the altar but the
Altar-cloths and the sacred vessels with the
Elements. A feeling of reverence, says Mar-
tene (de Antiq. Eccl. Bit. i. 112), permitted not
the presence of anything on the altar, except the
things used in the Holy Oblation. Hence there
were no candlesticks on the altar, nor (unless on
the columns, arches, and curtains of the ciborium)
any images or pictures. Even in the ninth cen-
tury we find Leo IV. (an. 855) limiting the objects
which might lawfully be placed on the altar to
the shrine containing relics, or perchance the
codex of the Gospels, and the pyx or tabernacle
in which the Lord's body was reserved for the
viaticum of the sick. (D<? Cum Fastorali, § 8,
in Migne's Patrologia, cxv. 677.)
The Book of the Gospels seems anciently to
have been frequently placed on the altar, even
when the Liturgy was not being celebrated
(Neale, Eastern Cli. Introd. 188). An example
may be seen in the frescoes of the Baptistery at
Ravenna (Webb's Continental Ecclesiology, 427).
With regard to the relics of saints, the ancient
rule was, as St. Ambrose tells us (Ad Marcel-
linam, Epist. 85) " Ille [Christus] super altare . .
isti [martyres] sub altari ;" and this was the
practice not only of the age of St. Ambrose, but
ALTAR
of much later times, even up to the middle of
the ninth centuiy, as Mabillon (Acta SS. Be-
nedict. Saec. iii. Praefatio § 105), assures us ; for
the anonymous author of the Life of Servatius
of Tongres says expressly that the relics of this
saint, when translated by command of Charles
the Great, were laid before the altar, as men
did not yet presume to lay anything except the
sacrifice on the altar, which is the Table of the
Lord of Hosts. And even later, Odo of Clugny
tells us (Collationes ii. 28) that when Berno
(an. 895) laid the relics of St. Walburgis on
the altar, they ceased to work miracles, resenting
the being placed " ubi majestas divini Mysterii
-nlummodo debet celebrari." The passage of
Lho IV., quoted above, seems in fact the first
ermission to place a shrine containing relics on
lie altar, and that permission was evidently not
I accordance with the general religious feeling
t that age.
In the early centuries of the Christian Church,
he consecrated bread was generally reserved in
vessel made in the form of a dove and sus-
II uded from the ciborium [Peristerium], or
icrhaps in some cases placed on a tower on the
altar itself (Liber Fontif., Innocent I. c. 67, and
Hilary, c. 70). Gregory of Tours (De Gloria
Uiirtyiiiin i. 86) speaks distinctly of the deacon
t,\kmg the turris from the sacristy and placing
it on the altar, but this seems to have contained
till' unconsecrated elements [TuRRis], and to have
I I en placed on the altar only during celebration ;
imr does the reservation of the consecrated bread
III the turris, capsa or pyxis on the altar appear
t(i be distinctly mentioned by any earlier autho-
iity than the decree of Leo IV. quoted above
(Bmterim's Denkwiirdigkeiten, ii. 2. 167 ff.).
No instance of a Cross placed permanently on
the mensa of an altar is found in the first eight
I cnturies, as we should expect from the decree
(if Leo IV. The vision of Probianus (Sozomen,
Hist. Eccl. ii. 3. p. 49) shows that crosses were
seen in the sanctuary (BvffiaffT-fjpiov) in the
fourth century ; the cross was found on the sum-
mit of the ciborium, as in the great church of
St. Sophia at Constantinople (Paul the Silentiary,
Descrip. S. Sophiae, Til [al. ii. 320]), and, in some
churches both at Rome and in Gaul, suspended
from the ciborium over the altar (Gregory of
Tours, De Gloria Mart. ii. 20), but not on the
mensa of the altar itself. A cross was, however,
placed on the altar during celebration. Sec
jSacrayn. Gelas. i. 41.
The third Canon of the Second Council of
Tours (an. 567, Bruns's Canones ii. 226), " ut
corpus Domini in altari non in imaginario ordine,
sed sub crucis titulo componatur," which has
been thought to mean, that the Body of the
Lord should not be reserved among the images
in a receptacle on the reredos, but under the
cross on the altar itself, might possibly refer to
a suspended cross; but it is probably rightly
explained by Dr. Neale (Eastern Ch. Introd. 520')
to mean that the particles consecrated should
not be arranged according to each man's fancy,
but in the form of a cross, according to the
rubric.
Tapers were not placed on the altar within
the period which we are considering, though it
is a very ancient practice to place lights about
the altar, especially on festivals. [Lights.]
Flowers appear to have been used for the
ALTAR
festal decoration of altars au least as early as
the sixth century ; for Venantius Fortunatus
(Carmina viii. 9) says, addressing St. Rhadegund,
ALTAR
67
■ Texii
^•ariis altaria festa coronis."
They appear as decorations of churches as
early as the fourth century.
Vil. Number of altars in a C/mrch. — There was
in primitive times but one altar in a church, and
the arrangements of the most ancient Basilicas
testify to the fact. (See Pagi on Baronius, ann.
313, No. 15.) Eusebius {Hist. Heel. x. 4, § 45),
in the description of the great church at Tyre,
mentions only one altar. St. Augustine (on
1 John, Tract. .3) speaks of the existence of two
altars in one city (civitate) as a visible sign of
the Donatist schism. But his words should per-
haps not be taken in their literal sense ; for in
the time of St. Basil, there was more than one
altar in Neo-Caesarea ; for he, speaking (Hom. 19,
in Gordium) of a persecution of Christians in that
city, says that " altars (dvcrtaffT^pia) were over-
thrown."
The Greek and other oriental churches have
even now but one altar in each church (Renau-
dot. Lit. Orient, i. 18'2) ; nor do they consecrate
the Eucharist more than once on the same day
in the same place. They have, however, and have
had for several centuries, minor altars in irapeK-
KArjfTiai or side-chapels, which are really dis-
tinct buildings. Such side-chapels are generally
found where there has been considerable contact
with the Latin Church (Neale, Eastern Church,
Introd. 183).
Some writers, as Martigny (Diet, des Antiq.
Chre't., art. Autel), rely upon the " arcosolia "
or altar-tombs in the catacombs as pi'oving the
early use of many altars : two, three, and more
such tombs are often found in one crypt, and in
one case, a crypt in the cemetery of St. Agnes
near Rome, there are as many as eleven arco-
solia (Marchi, Man. delle Arti prim. Crist., tav.
XXXV., xxxvi., xxxvii.), ei^ht of which, according
to Padre Marchi,' might have been used as altars
(p. 191); but there seems to be generally a
deficiency of proof that such tombs were actually
so used, nor is their date at all a matter of
certainty in the great majority of cases.
It would appear probable that the practice of
considering the tomb of a martyr as a holy place
fitted for the celebration of the Eucharistic
sacrifice, and such celebration as an honour and
consolation to the martyr who lay below, led first
to the use of several altars in a crypt in the
catacombs where more than one martyr might
rest, and then, when the bodies of several martyrs
had been transferred to one church above ground,
to the construction of an- altar over each, from
a wish to leave none unhonoured by the celebra-
tion of the Eucharist above his remains. Such
ideas were prevalent as early as the beginning of
the fifth century, as may be seen in the writings
of Prudentius (Peristeph. Hymn. XI. v. 169-
174; Hymn. III. v. 211), Pope Damasus, and St.
Maximus, Bishop of Turin (Sermo LXIII. De na-
tali sanctorum; v. Marchi, p. 142 et seq.). At
that period, and indeed long after, the disturbance
of the relics of saints was held a daring and
scarcely allowable act, and was prohibited by
Theodosius and much disapproved of by Pope
Gregory the Great ; nor was it until some cen-
turies later that the increasing eagerness for the
possession of such memorials was gratified by the
dismemberment of the holy bodies.
It has been contended that more than one
altar existed in the Cathedral of Milan in the
latter part of the fourth century. That St.
Ambrose more tlian once uses the plural "al-
taria" in connection with the church proves
nothing, for "altaria" frequently means an
altar; but in describing the restoration of the
church to the orthodox (an. 385), after the
attempt of the Arians to occupy it, he has been
understood to say that the soldiers rushing in
kissed the altar : hence it is argued that, as they
could not reach the altar of the Bema or sanc-
tuary, which was closed to the people, there
must have been at least one altar in the nave.
But the words " milites irruentes in Altaria os-
culis significare pacis signum " (ad Marcellinim,
Ep. 33) seem rather to imply that the soldiers
rushing into the Bema signalized by their kisses
the making of peace. Altaria is used in the
same sense, as equivalent to " sanctuary," in the
Theodosian Codex. [Altarium.] However this
may be, at the end of the sixth century we find
distinct traces of a plurality of altars in Western
churches. Gregory of Tours (De Gloria Mar-
tyrum i. 33) speaks of saying masses on three
altars in a church at Braisne near Soissons ; and
Gregory the Great (Epist. v. 50) says that he'
heard that his correspondent Palladius, bishop
of Saintonge, had placed in a church thirteen
altars, of which four remained unconsecrated
for defect of relics. Now certainly Palladius
would not have begged of the Pope, as he did,
relics for his altars, if the plui'ality of altars
had not been generally allowed. Moreover, tlie
Council of Auxerre of the year 578 (Can. 10;
Bruns's Ganones ii. 238) forbade two masses to
be said on the same day on one altai-, a prohi-
bition which probably contributed to the multi-
plication of altars, which was still further acce-
lerated by the disuse of the ancient custom of
the priests communicating with the bishop or
pi'incipal minister of the church, and the intro-
duction of private masses, more than one of
which was frequently said by the same priest on
the same day (Walafrid Strabo, De Beb. Eccl.
c. 21). Bede (Hist. Eccl. r. 20) mentions that
Acca, bishop of Hexham (deposed an. 732), col-
lected for his church many relics of apostles
and martyrs, and placed altars for their vene-
ration, " distinctis porticibus ad hoc ipsum intra
muros ejusdem ecclesiae," placing a separate
canopy over each altar within the walls of the
church. There were several altars in the church
built by St. Benedict at Aniane (Acta Sanctorum,
Feb. ii. 614).
In the seventh and eighth centuries the num-
ber of altars had so increased that Charlemagne,
in a Capitulary of the years 805-6 at Thionville,
attempted to restrain their excessive multiplica-
tion. See Capitula infra Ecclesiam, c. 6 (Migne's
Patrol. 97, 283).
This was not very effectual, and in the ninth
century the multiplication of altars attained a
high point, as may be seen by the plan of the
church of St. Gall in Switzerland [Church],
prepared in the beginning of that century. In
this are no less than seventeen altars. The
will of Fortunatus Patriarch of Grado (dec.
c. A.D. 825) also affords proof of the increase in
the number of altars then in active progress: in
68
ALTAR
one oratory he placed three altars, and five others
in another {Marin. Com. dei Veneziani, t. i.
p. 270).
VIII. Places of Altars in Churches. — From the
earliest period of which we have any knowledge^
the altar was iisually placed, not against the
wall as in modern times, but on the chord of the
apse, when, as was almost invariably the case,
the church ended in an apse ; when the end of
the church was square, the altar occupied a
corresponding position. St. Augustine therefore
says {Seriiio 46, c. 1.) " Mensa Christi est ilia in
medio posita." The officiating priest stood with
his back to the apse and thus fliced the congre-
gation. In St. Peter's at Rome, and a very few
other churches, the priest still officiates thus
placed; but though in very many churches,
particularly in Italy, the altar retains its ancient
position, it is very rarely that the celebrant
does so.
That such was the normal position of the altar
is shown by many ancient examples, and by the
constant usage of the Eastern churches. The
ancient rituals invariably contemplate a detached
altar as when, in the Sacramentarij of Gregory,
m the order for the dedication of a church (p.
148), the bishop is directed to go round the altar
(vadit in circuitu altaris), or in the Sacramentary
of Gelasius where the subdeacon (L. 1, cxlvi.)
is directed, after having placed the Cross on the
altar, to go behind it (vadis retro altare).
Exceptions at an early date to the rule that
the altar should be detached, are of the greatest
rarity, if we except, the tombs in the catacombs,
which have been supposed to have been used as
altars. It is possible, also, that in small chapels
with rectangular terminations, as the chapel
of St. John the Evangelist, annexed to the bap-
tistery of the Lateran, the altar may for con-
venience have been placed against the wall.
When, however, it became usual to place many
altars in a church it was found convenient to
place one or more against a wall ; this was done
in the Cathedral of Canterbury [Church], where
the altar enclosing the body of St. Wilfrid was
placed against the wall of the eastern apse ;
another altar, however, in this case occupied the
normal position in the eastern apse, and the
original high altar was placed in the same
manner in the western apse.
In the plan of the church of St. Gall, prepared
in the beginning of the ninth century, the places
of seventeen altars are shown, but of these only
two are placed against walls.
In a few instances the altar was placed not on
the centre of the chord of the arc of the apse but
more towards the middle of the church ; such
was the case in S. Paolo f. 1. m. at Rome, if the
altar occupies the original position. In this in-
stance it stands in the transept. In some other
early churches at Rome, the altar occupies a posi-
tion more or less advanced. The Lib. Pontif. tells
us that in the time of Pope Gregory IV. (a.d. 827-
844) the altar at S. Maria in Trastevere stood in
a low place, almost in the middle of the nave (in
humili loco paene in media testudine), the Pope
therefore removed it to the apse, and the altar
at S. Maria Maggiore seems to have been in the
time of Pope Hadrian I. (a.d. 772-795), as
appears from the account in the same book of the
alterations, effected by that Pope in that church.
It is thought by some tliat in the large circular
ALTAR
or octagonal churches of the fourth and fifth
centuries, as S. Lorenzo Maggiore at Milan, and
S. Stefano Rotondo at Rome, the altar was placed
in the centre.
In the churches of Justinian's period con-
structed with domes, there is usually, as at St.
Sophia's Constantinople and S. Vitale, Ravenna, a
sort of chancel intervening between the central
dome and the apse ; when such is the case, the
altar was placed therein.
I X . Use of Pagan Altars for Christian purposes.
— Pagan altars, having a very small superficies,
are evidently ill suited for the celebration of the
Eucharist ; nor would it appear probable that a
Christian would be willing to use them for that
purpose ; nevertheless, traditions allege that in
some cases pagan altars were so used (v. Mar-
tigny art. Autel), and in the church of Arilje in
Servia, a heathen altar sculptured with a figure
of Atys forms the lower part of the altar.
(Mittheil. der K K. Central Comm. zur Erfor-
schung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale, Vienna,
18(35, p. 6.) Such altars, or fragments of them,
were, however, employed as materials (par-
ticularly in the bases) in the construction of
Christian altars. Instances are stated by Mar-
tigny to have been observed in the churches of
St. Michele in Vaticano and of St. Nicholas de'
Cesarini at Rome.
X. Portable Altars (altaria portatiUa, gesta-
toria, viatica} are probabl}"^ of considerable anti-
quity ; indeed, it is evident that from the time
when the opinion prevailed that the Eucharist
could not be fitly celebrated unless on a conse-
crated mensa or table, a portable altar became a
necessity. Constantine the Great (Sozomen, Jlist.
Eccl. i. 8) carried with him on his campaigns a
church-tent, the fittings of which no doubt in-
cluded a portable altar, as the participation of
the mysteries is especially mentioned. Bede
{Hist. Eccl. V. 10) tells us that the two Hewalds,
the English missionaries to the continental
Saxons (an. 692), took with them sacred vessels
and a consecrated slab to serve as an altar (tabu-
lam altai'is vice dedicatam) ; and bishop Wulfram,
the apostle of Friesland (before 740), was accus-
tomed to carry with him on his journeys a. port-
able altar, in the midst and at the four corners
of which were placed relics of saints (Jonas in
Surius's Hist. Sanctorum ii. 294). The portable
altar of St. Willebrord is described by Brower
{Annal. Trevirens. an. 718, § 112, p. 364); it
bore the inscription: "Hoc altare Willebrordus
in honore Domini Salvatoris consecravit, supra
quod in itinere missarum oblationes Deo offerre
consuevit, in quo et continetur de ligno crucis
Christi et de sudario capitis ejus." This, how-
ever, is probably not a contemporary inscrip-
tion, and the genuineness of the I'elic may pei-
haps be doubted. St. Boniface also carried an
altar with him in his journeys. And the monks
of St. Denys, when accompanying Charles the
Great in his campaign against the Saxons,
carried with them a wooden board, which, covered
with a linen cloth, served as an altar (Anonym us
de Mirac. S. Dionysii i. 20, in Mabillon, Acta SS.
Pen. saec. iii. pt. 2, p. 350).
These portable altars seem to have been in
almost all cases of wood. Not until the latter
part of the eighth century do we find instances
of such altars being made of any other materi.al.
The capitulary of 796 (quoted above) seems to
I
I
I
ALTAR
enjoin the use of stone tablets for portable as well
us fixed altars. Hiucmar, bishop of Reims {Ca-
.pitulare lii. c. 3 ; in Hardouin's Concilia v. 408),
foi'bids any priest to celebrate mass except on a
recrular alLar, or on a " tabula ab episcopo conse-
crata," which table might be " de marmore vel
nigra petra aut licio honestissimo." If the read-
ing be correct, the last term certainly seems to
indicate a consecrated cloth [Antimensium] of
very rich material ; though some (Binterini's
Denkiciirdigheiten iv. 1, lOG) connect "licium"
with "sublicius," and suppose that it means a
thick piece of wood. An " altare portatile " is
said to have been given by Charles the Bald to
the monastery of St. Denys at Paris, square in
shape, made of porphyry set in gold, and con-
taining relics of St. James the Less, St. Stephen,
and St. Vincent {ib. 107).
A portable altar of wood is preserved in the
church of S. Maria in Campitelli at Rome,
which is said to have belonged to St. Gregory
Nazianzen, but it does not appear to have 'a
legitimate claim to so high an antiquity. Pro-
bably no earlier existing example is to be found
than that which was found with the bones of
St. Cuthbert (dec. A.D. 687) in the cathedral of
Durham, and doubtless belonged to him : it is
now preserved in the chapter library. The an-
nexed woodcut will render any detailed de-
ALTAR CLOTHS
69
Purtable Altar of St C
scription needless: it measures G inches by 5|,
and is composed of wood covered with very thin
silver : on the wood is inscribed in hoxor . .
S. PETRV . . and two crosses. The sense of the
letters on the silver has not been satisfactorily
made out (v. St. Cuthbert, by James Raine,
p. 200). A similar portable altar is recorded by
Simeon of Durham {3Ionumenta Hist. Brit. p. 659
d) to have been found on the breast of St. Acca,
i Bishop of Hexham (ob. A.D. 740), when his body
; was exhumed more than 300 years afterwards.
1 It was of two pieces of wood joined by silver
j nails, and on it was cut the inscription, " Alme
' Trinitati agie Sophie Sanctae Mariae." Whether
I relies were placed in it, the writer adds, is not
1 known.
The " taboot " still in us'i in tlie Abyssinian
churches is a square slab of wood, stone or metal,
on which the elements are consecrated, in fact, a
portable altar. [AucA.]
In the Greek Church the substitute for a port-
able altar was the Antimensium.
For the consecration of altars, see Consecra
TiON OF Churches.
XI. Literature.— '&QsiA&% the works quoted in
this article, the following may be mentioned : —
J. B. Thiers, Dissertation sur les Frincipaux
Autels, la Cloture du Chceur et les Jube's des
Eglises : Paris, 1688. J. Fabricius, De Aris Ve-
terumChristianorum: Helmstadt, 1698. G.Voigt,
Thysiasteriologia, seu De Altar ibus Veterum Chris-
tianorum : Ed. J. A. Fabricius ; Hamburg, 1709.
S. T. Schonland, Histor. Nachricht von Altdren :
Leipzig, 1716. J. G. Geret, De Veterum Chris-
tianorum Altaribus : Anspach, 1755. J. T. Trei-
ber, De Situ Altarium versus Orientem: Jena,
1668. Kaiser, Dissertatio De Altaribus Porta-
tilibus : Jena, 1695. Heidelofl", Der Christl.
Altm-: Nurnberg, 1838. [A. N.]
ALTAR CLOTHS Qinteamina, pallia or
palLio altaris. In Greek writers, "Af.i.(j)ia, aficpi-
aa/xara, iita.jx(\)ia, a,TrXcifji.aTa, evSvrai, and in
authors " infimae aetatis," rb KardaapKa, and rb
TpaTTf^ocpopoy). Cloths of different kinds, and of
various materials (in the earliest ages, probably
of linen only), must have been used in connection
with the celebration of Holy Communion from
the very earliest times. They were needed
partly for the covering of the holy table, and of
the oblations, and of the consecrated elements
[Corporale] ; partly also for the cleansing of
the saci-ed vessels, and the like [Mappa], The
first of these uses, of which we have now
more particularly to speak, is referred to by St.
Optatus, Bishop of Milevis in Africa (circ. 370
A.D.) as matter of general notoriety. " Who is
there," he asks, " among the faithful, who
knows not that during the celebration of the
mysteries the wood of the altar is covered with
a linen cloth ('ipsa ligna linteamine cooperiri,' "
De Schism. Donat. lib. vi. c. i. p. 92.) With
this we may compare the allusion made by
Victor Vitensis {De Persec. Afric. lib. i. cap. 12).
Writing in the year 487, he says that Genseric,
the Vandal, some sixty years before, sent Pro-
culus into Zeugitana, and the latter required
the vessels used in holy ministry, and the books,
to be given up; and when these were refused
they were violently seized by the Vandals, who
" rapaci manu cuncta depopulabantur, atque de
palliis altaris proh nefas ! camisias (shirts) sibi
et femoralia faciebant." In the 6th century
St. Gregory of Tours speaks of an altar, with
the oblations upon it, being covered with a silken
cloth during the celebration of mass. " Cum
jam altarium cum oblationibus pallio serico
opertum esset " (Hist. Franc, vii. 22 ; compare
Mabillori, Liturgia Gallicana, p. 41). A little
later in the same passage he speaks of one claim-
ing right of sanctuary in the church, and laying
hold on the " pallae altaris " for his protection.
It is remarkable that at Rome no mention is
found of any pallia altaris among the many do-
nations to churches recorded by Anastasius, till
after the close of the 6th century. Writing of
Vitalianus Papa (sed. 658-672), Anastasius says
that in his time the Emperor Constans came to
Rome and went to St. Peter's in state, " funi
II
70
ALTAR CLOTHS
exercitu sue," attended by his guards, the clergy
coming out to meet him with wax tapers in their
hands ; and he offered upon the altar " pallium
auro textile," or, accoi'diug to another reading,
" pallam auro textilem," after which mass was
celebrated (Anast. Bihl. 135, 1.15; Migne, P. C. C.
torn. 128, p. 775). The same writer, speaking
of Zacharias Papa (^sed. 741-752), says that he
" fecit vestem super altare beati Petri ex auro
textam, habentem nativitatem Domini et Salva-
toris nostri Jesu Christi, ornavitque earn gemmis
pretiosis." The earliest monument in the west,
showing an altar (or holy table) set out for the
celebration of "mass," is of the 10th or 11th
century (^Vestiarmm Christianum, PI. xliii.), one
of the frescoes in the hypogene church of S.
Clemente at Eome. The holy table is there
covered with a white cloth, which is pendent in
front, but apparently not so on the two sides.
A richly ornamented border, several inches in
breadth, appears on the lower edge of this " lin-
tcamen " (if such be* intended) as it hangs down
in front of the altar.
The allusions in Greek writers of early date
correspond in character with those above quoted.
In the collection of Canons Ecclesiastical (Si'i'-
ray/xa Kavdvcav) formed by Photius o*' Constan-
tinople, the earliest in date, bearing upon this
point, is one of the so-called " Canons of the
Apostles " (Kav. 73) to this efl'ect : " Let no one
alienate for his own private use any vessel of
gold or of silver, which has been set apart for
holy use " (aytaadey), " or any linen " (u66vr]v) ;
and the inference we naturally draw that the
'•linen" here spoken of has reference to altar
linen (perhaps also to ministering vestments)
is confirmed by the subsequent language of the
First and Second Councils of Constantinople. In
Canons 1 and 10, after quoting the " Canon of
the Apostles" above mentioned, the Council
identities the 666vr] of that earlier canon with
71 (Tsfiaafxia t7}s aylas Tpaire^ris eVSurifj, " the
sacred covering of the holy table." On the other
hand a passage of Theodoret, which has been
alleged (Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chre'tiennes,
in voc. ' Autel ') as proving the use of rich cloths
for the altar early in the 4th century, has pro-
bably a very different meaning from that attri-
buted to it. The word Ouaiacrr-rtpioi' in early
ecclesiastical Greek is more frequently used in
the sense of the whole space immediately about
the holy table, the " sanctuary," than of the
" altar " itself. When therefore Theodoret states
(Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. xxix. al. cap. xxxi.) that
at the consecration of a church at Jerusalem, in
the time of Constantine the Great, Siettoo-^erro
TO &i1ov dv(na<TT7)piov ^aaiAiKo'is re Trapcama-
(Tfxaaiv Ka\ K€ifj.7i\ioLs XidoKoW-riTOLs xP'^coh, the
reference is in all probability to rich curtains, or
" veils," hung about the sanctuary, not to altar-
cloths properly so called. Much more certainly
to the purpose is a passage of St. Chrysostom
(Horn. 1. al. li. in Matt. cap. xiv. 23, 24), part
of a homily originally delivered at Antioch, in
which he draws a contrast between the cover-
ings of silk, often ornamented with gold (xpuco-
Traa-ra iTnl3\rifj.aTa), bestowed upon the holy
table, and the scanty covering grudgingly given,
or altogether refused, to Christ in the person of
His poor members upon earth. Among the Acts
of the Council of Constantinople, held in the year
536, is preserved (Labbe's Concilia, by Mansi,
ALTARIUM
torn. ix. pp. 1102, 3) a curious lettei drawn up
by the clergy of the church of Apamea in Syria
Secunda. They complain of the iniquitous con-
duct of Severus, bishop of Antioch, and of their
own bishop Petrus ; and amid many grave charges
brought against the latter, one is that owing to
the gross carelessness (worse than carelessness is
charged by the letter) with which he celebrated
the Holy Liturgy, the purple covering of the
altar was defiled {Karexp^ffe iTTixTixaTi rod ae-
TTTOv OvffLaffTripiov ti]v aXovpyiSa). In the 7th
and 8th centuries we find evidence that these
richer coverings of the altar were in some cases
adorned with symbolic ornaments and with pic-
tures of saints (^apaKTrjpes ayiwv), which in-
curred the condemnation of the Iconoclasts, who
carried them away together with images and
pictures of other kinds. So we learn from Ger-
manus of Constantinople, early in the 8th century
(Scti. Germani Patriarchae de Sanctis Synodis, &c.
apud Spicileg. Bom. A. Mai, tom. vii. p. 62).
On the other hand, in times of grievous public
calamity, we read, in one instance at least, of the
altar as well as the person of thebishop and his
episcopal throne being robed in black. So Theo-
doras Lector records of Acacius, patriarch ot
Constantinople : Ka\ iavrdv koI tov Opovov Koi
TO 6vaiaiTT7]pL0v jj.i\avo7s ivSv/nacriv T)fx(pucFev.
In the later liturgical offices (see Goar, Euchol.
Grace, pp. 623, 627, sqq.), and in writers such
as Symeon of Thessalonica (circ. 1420 A.D.), we
find mention of an inner covering of linen, known
as KardaapKa, and of a second and more costly
covering without. Patriarch Symeon makes
further mention of four pieces of cloth on each
of the four corners of the altar. "The holy
table hath four pieces of woven cloth (reaaapa
fiepr] ixpoLffixaTos) upon the four corners thereof;
and that because the fulness of the Church was
formed out of all the quarters of the world ; and
on these four pieces are the names of the four
Evangelists, because it was by their instrtlment-
ality that the Church was gathered, and the
Gospel made circuit of the whole compass' of the
world. But the [inner cover] called KardaapKu,
has an outer covering (Tpaire^o<p6pov) imme-
diately above it. For here is at once the tomb,
and the throne, of Jesus. The first of these cover-
ings is as it were the linen wherein the dead
body was wrapped ; but the second is as an outer
garment (Trepj/SoArj) of glory according to that
of the psalm, said at the putting on thereof,
' The Lord is king : he hath put on beauteous
apparel' " (Symeon of Thessalonica, apud Goar,
Euchol. Graec. p. 216). Of the two words here and
elsewhere employed as the technical designation
of these two altar-cloths, the first, KardaapKa,
was originally used of an inner chiton, or tunic,
worn " next the skin " (^aTa aapKo). Thence its
secondary usage as a compound word (to Kard-
ffapKo) in speaking of any inner covering, as here
of an inner covering, of linen, for the holy table.
The use of the word rpaTreCo(p6puv, as a desig-
nation for the more costly outer cover, belongs
in all probability to a comparatively late date.
The word does occur in eaidiei;, writers, but in a
wholly different sense, and one more in accord-
ance with classical analogy. [W. B. M.]
ALTAEIUM (compare Altar). This word
is sometimes used to designate not merely an altar,
but the space within which the altai' stood. For
ALTINO
instance, Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours, feuilt a |
basilica in honour of St. Martin, which had I
" fenestras in altxrio triginta duas, in capso vi-
ginti ;" " ostia octo, tria in altario, quinque in
capso" (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc, ii. 14-).
Ruinart remarljs upon the passage that by " alta-
rium " we are to understand the presbytery, by
" capsum " the nave. Compare Mabillon, de Lit.
Gall. i. 8, § 1, p. 69. [Bema.]
The plural " altaria " is also used in a similar
sense ; as by St. Ambrose in the passage {Epist.
33) quoted under Altar ; and in the Theodosian
Codex, where (Lib. ix. tit. 45, De Spatio Ucclesi-
astici Asyli) it is provided : " Pateant summi
Dei templa timentibus ; nee sola altaria," etc.
The equivalent word in the Greek version is
duaiaffrrtpLa.
The same extended sense is found in some
modern languages, e.g. in Portuguese " altar
mdr " (great or high altar) is used in the sense
of choir or chancel (Burton, Highlands of the
Brazil, i. 128). [A."N.]
ALTINO (near Aquileia), Council of (Al-
TiNENSB CoxciLiUM), A.D. 802; considered as
fictitious by Mansi (.xiii. 1099-1102); said to
have been held by the Patriarch of Aquileia to
appeal to Charlemagne for protection against the
Doge of Venice. [A. W. H.]
ALYPIUS, Holy Father, commemorated Nov.
26 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
A'MA{Amula, Hama, Hamula ; compare Germ.
Ahm, Ohme).
" Amae vasa sunt in quibus sacra oblatio con-
tinetur, ut vinum Amula, vas vinarium.
Amulae dicuntur quibus ofiertur devotio sive
oblatio, simile arceolis" (Papias, in Ducauge's
Glossary, s. v.). The vessel in which wine for
the celebration of the Eucharist was oflered by
the worshijjpers.
The word Ama is used by Columella and other
classical authors, but the earliest instance of its
use as a liturgical vessel which has been noticed
is in the Charta Cornutiana of the year 471
{Mabillon de Be Dipl. vi. 262), where " hamulae
oblatoriae " are mentioned. " Amae argenteae "
are mentioned in the Ordo Bomanus I. (p. 5)
among the vessels which were to be brought
from the Church of the Saviour, now known
as St. John Lateran, for the Pontifical Mass
on Easter-Day ; and in the directions for the
Pontifical Mass itself in the same Ordo (p. 10),
we find that after the Pope had entered the
senatorium or presbytery, the archdeacon follow-
ing him received the amulae, and poured the
wine into the larger chalice (calicem majorem)
which was held by the subdeacon ; and again
(c. 14, p. 11) after the altar was decked, the arch-
deacon took the Pope's amula (compare Araa-
larius, Ecloga, 554) from the oblationary sub-
deacon, and poured the wine thi-ough the strainer
(super colum) into the chalice [Chalice] ; then
those of the deacons, of the primicerius, and the
others. Whether the " amae argenteae " are iden-
tical with the " amulae " may perhaps be doubted ;
but at any rate the amulae seem to have been
church-vessels provided for the purpose of the
olfertory. Among the presents which Pope Ad-
rian (772-795) made to the church of St. Adrian
at Rome, the Liber Bontificalis (p. 346) mentions
"amam unam," and also an "amulani offertoriam "
AMBITUS 71
of silver which weighed sixty-seven pounds.
They were, however, often of much smaller size,
and the small silver vessels (see woodcuts) pre-
served in the Museo Cristiano in the Vatican
are deemed to be amulae. They measure only
about 7 inches in height, and may probably date
from the 5th or 6th century. Bianchini in his
edition of the Lib. Pontif. has given an engraving
of a similar vessel of larger size. On this the
miracle of Cana is represented in a tolerablv
good style. Bianchini supposes this to be of
the fourth century.
the Vatican Museum.
The material of these vessels was usually
silver, but sometimes gold, and they were often
adorned with gems. Gregory the Great {Epist.
i. 42, p. 539) mentions " amulae onychinae,"
meaning probably vessels of onyx, or glass imi-
tating onyx. [A. N.]
AMACIUS, bishop, deposition of, July 14
{Mart. Bedae). [C]
AMANDUS, Bishop and confessor. Katalis,
Feb. 6 {Mart. Bedae)-, translation, Oct. 26 {Bj.).
His name is recited in the Canon in one MS. of
the Gregorian Sacramentary. (See Menard's ed.
p. 284.) [C.l
AMANTIUS. (1) Martyr at Rome, com-
memorated Feb. 10 {Mart. Bom. Yet.).
(2) Of Nyon, commemorated June 6 {Mart.
Hicron., Bedae). [C]
AMATOE, Bishop of Auxerre, commemorated
Nov. 26 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
AMATUS, confessor, commemorated Sept. 13
{Mart. Bedae). [C]
AMBITUS, compAss, in music. {Toni dcbi-
tus ascensus et descensus.) The compass of the
earliest Church melodies did not in some instances
reach, in few did it exceed, a fifth. " Principio
cantilenae adeo simplices fuere apud primores
Ecclesiae, ut vix diapente ascensu ac descensu
implerent. Cui consuetudini proxime accessisse
dicuntur Ambrosiani. Deinde paulatim ad Dia-
pason deventum, verum omnium Modorum sys-
tema." (Glareanus, Bodeoachordon, lib. i. cap.
xiv.) In Gregorian music the octave was the
72
AMBITUS ALTARIS
limit; the four authentic scales [Authentic]
moving from the key-note to its 8ve, the four
plagal [Plagal] from the 4th below the key-
note to the 5th above it. In later times this
compass (ambitus) was much extended. A me-
lody occupying or employing its whole compass
was called Cantus Perfectus; falling short of it,
Cantus Irnpcrfectus ; exceeding it, Cantus Plus-
quamperfectus. Subsequently other interpre-
tations (such as the course of modulation per-
mitted in fugue) have been given to the word
ambitus. With these we are not now concerned.
(Gerbert, Script. Mus. ; Forkel ; Kock, Mus.
Lex.) [J. H.]
AMBITUS ALTAEIS ('UpaTeTov, Renaudot,
Lit. Orient. 1. 182). This expression is some-
times used, as apparently by Anastasius (Lib.
Fontif. in Vita Sergii II.), for the enclosure
which surrounded the altar. Pope Sergius II.
(A.D. 844-877), he says, constructed at St. John
L/iteran an " ambitus altaris " of ampler size
than that which had before existed.
It would seem that it was, in some cases and
perhaps in most, distinct from the presbyterium
or " chorus cantorum ;" and according to Sarnelli
(^Antica Basilicographia, p. 84) there was usually
between the presbyterium and the altar a raised
space called "solea." Various passages in the
Lib. Pontif. — e.g. those in which the alterations
made by Pope Hadrian I. (a.D. 772-795) at
S. Paolo f. 1. M., and by Pope Gregory IV. (a.D.
827-844) at Sta. Maria in Trastevere, are de-
scribed— show that the position of the altar and
the arrangement of the enclosures were not alike
in all cases. It seems not improbable but that in
the lesser churches one enclosure served both to
fence round the altar and to form the "chorus."
In the plan prepared for the church of St.
Gall in the beginning of the 9th century (v.
woodcut, s. V. Church) an enclosure is marked
" chorus," and a small space or passage intervenes
between this and an enclosure shutting off the
apse, within which stands the altar. This is at
the west end of the church ; at the east end the
apse is in like manner enclosed, but the enclosure
of the " chorvis " is brought up to the steps
leading to the raised apse without a break. A
small enclosure is shown round all the altars,
except those which are within the enclosures of
the apses.
It appears not unlikely that the square en-
closure in the church at Djemla in Algeria
[Church] may be such an " ambitus ; " Mr.
Fergusson considers this enclosure a cella or
choir, and says that it seems to have been enclosed
up to the roof, but that the building is so ruined
that this cannot be known for a certainty. A
choir enclosed by solid walls would be a plan so
anomalous in a Christian church that very
strong evidence would be required to prove its
having existed. The building in question may,
from the purely classical character of the mosaic
floor, be safely assigned to an early date, probably
anterior to the fourth century.
It is doubtful whether any early example of
an "Ambitus altaris" now exists. We may learn
from the Lib. Pontif. that they were usually of
stone or marble, no doubt arranged in posts or
uprights alternating with slabs variously sculp-
tured, and pierced in like manner with the
presbyterium at S. Clemente in Rome. The Lib.
AMBO
Pontif. tells us of the Ambitus which as above
mentioned Pope Sergius II. constructed at St.
John Lateran, that he "pulchris columnis cum
marmoribus desuper in gyro sculptis splendide
decoravit : " many fragments of marble slabs
with the plaited and knotted ornament charac-
teristic of this period are preserved in the
cloister of that church, and may probably be
fragments of this " Ambitus."
In the richer churches silver columns bearing
arches of the same metal were often erected on
the marble enclosure, and from these arches hung
rich cui tains, and frequently vessels or crowns
of the precious metals ; repeated mention of such
decorations maybe found in the Lib. Pcmtif., and
a passage in the will of Fortunatus Patriarch of
Grado (Hazlitt, Hist, of the Ecpublic of Venice,
vol. i. App.), who died in the early part of the 9th
century, describes a like arrangement very clearly
in the following words: "Post ipsum altare alium
parietem deauratum et deargentatum similiter
longitudine pedum xv. et in altitudine pedes iv. et
super ipso pariete arcus volutiles de argento et
super ipsos arcus imagines de auro et de argento."
This expression "ambitus altaris" may per-
haps also sometimes stand for the apse as sur-
rounding the altar. [A. N.]
AMBO (Gr. "A/x^oov, from ava^aiveiv). The
raised desk in a church from which certain
parts of the service were read. It has been
also called irvpyos, pulpitum, sflggestus. By
Sozomen (Eccks. Hist. ix. 2, p. 367) the ambo
is explained to be the " /Sfjjua raiv avayvwarSiv "
— the pulpit of the readers. From it were read,
or chanted, the gospel, the epistle, the lists of
names inscribed on the diptychs, edicts of bishops,
and in general any communications- to be made
to the congregation by presbyters, deacons, or
subdeacons ; the bishop in the earlier centuries
being accustomed to deliver his addresses from
the cathedra in the centre of the apse, or from a
chair placed in front of the altar ; St. John Chry-
sostom was, however, in the habit of preaching
sitting on the ambo (eirl rod &fx^ojvoSf Socrates
Eccl. Hist. vi. 5), in order that he might be
better heard. Full details as to the use of the
ambo will be found in Sarnelli {Antica Basilico-
grafia, p. 72), and Ciampini ( Vet. Man., t. i. p.
21 et seq.); but the examples which they describe
are probably later by several centuries than the
period with which we are now concerned, and
the various refinements of reading the gospel
from a higher elevation than the epistle, and
the like, are probably by no means of very early
introduction. Two and even three ambones some-
times existed ; one was then used for the gospel,
one for the epistle, and one for the reading of
the prophetical or other books of the Old Testa-
ment (Martigny, Bid. des Antiq. Cliret.). In the
old church of St. Peter's there was, however,
but one, which Platner (Bescfu-eibung von Pom)
thinks was a continuance of the ancient usage.
Something in the nature of an ambo or desk no
doubt was in use from a very early period.
Bunsen (Basiliken des Christlichen Poms, p. 48)
expresses his opinion that the ambo was origin-
ally moveable. In the earlier centuries much of
the church furniture was of wood, and the am-
bones were probably of the same material.
Wherever a " presbyterium " or " chorus can-
torum " (i.e. an enclosed space in front of tlw
AMBO
altar reserved for the use of the inferior clergy)
existed, an anibo was probably connected with it,
being placed usually on one side of the enclosure.
Where no " chorus " existed, the ambo was pro-
bably placed in the centre.
At St. Sophia's in Constantinople the ambo con-
structed by Justinian stood nearly in the middle
of the church, but more towards the east. A full
account of it is given by Paul the Silentiary in a
poem in hexameter verse upon it. From this we
learn that it was ascended by two flights of
stairs, one from the west, the other from the east;
and that it was covered by a canopy resting on
eight columns. It was constructed of the most
precious marbles, and adorned with gold and
precious stones. The area at the top of the stairs
was sufllciently spacious for the coronation of the
Emperor, and the space below enclosed by rail-
ings was occupied by the singers. During the
services the gospels and epistles were no doubt
read from the raised part.
Pope Pelagius (555-559) erected an ambo in
St. Peter's (Lib. I'ontif.), and in the cathedral of
Ravenna are the remains of one erected by
Archbishop Agnellus (558-566). This last is
ornamented with figures of lambs, peacocks,
doves fishes, &c , within panels, the design and
execution being pool « nd lude
Ambo of & ApoUinare Nnovo at Eai
The ambo represented in the woodcut is in the
church of S. ApoUinare Nuovo at Ravenna, the
date of its erection has not been ascertained
with certainty, but it would seem not impro-
bable that it formed a part of the original fittings
of the cliurch built between A.D. 493 and a.d.
525. The pillars on which it is now elevated
wei-e doubtless added at some later period, when
it was arranged in order to be employed as a
pulpit.
AMBEOSIAN MUSIC 73
The ambones in S. Clemente at Rome are of
different periods : the smaller and earlier may
perhaps be of the same date as the chorus with
which it is connected (6th century ?), but there
is some difference in the character of the work.
The larger dates probably from the 12th centuiy,
as no doubt does also that in S. Lorenzo f. 1. M. at
Rome. The circumstance upon which the Abbe
Martigny {Diet, des Antiq. Chret.) relies as prov-
ing the high antiquity of this last, viz. that a
part of its base is formed from a bas-relief relating
to pagan sacrifices, cannot be considered as having
much weight, as a part of the superstructure is
formed from a slab bearing an early Christian
inscription, and as the whole style and character
of the work are so evidently those in use at Rome
during the 12th and 13th centuries.
The lesser and earlier ambo at S. Clemente has
two desks — one, the most elevated, looking towards
the altar, the other in the contrary direction ;
the later ambo has a semi-hexagonal projection
on each side, and is ascended by a stair at each
end. This latter plan seems to have been the
more usual ; the ambones at Ravenna and those at
Rome of the 12th and 13th centuries are all thus
planned.
In the plan for the church of St. Gall (c. A.D.
820), the ambo is placed in the middle of the
nive but near its eastern end, in front of the
enclosure marked " chorus," and is within an
t nclosure.
A tall ornamented column is often found at-
tiched to the ambo ; on this the paschal candle
w as fixed. This usage may have existed from
m early period, but perhaps the earliest existing
f xample of such a column is one preserved in the
museum of the Lateran at Rome, which however
lb probably not older than the 11th century. It
lb engraved by Ciampini ( Vet. 2Ion., t. i. pi. xiv.).
According to Sarnelli (^Ant. Bus. p. S-l), the
word ambo is the proper expression for the raised
platform or chorus cantorum ; he however gives
no authorities for this use of the word. [A. N.]
AMBROSE. (1) Bishop of Milan, confessor,
commemorated April 4 (^Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron.,
bcdae); Dec. 7 {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Bishop, commemorated Nov. 30 (ilart.
Hieron.). [C]
AMBEOSIAN MUSIC, the earliest music
^ed in the Christian Church of which we have
IV account, and so named after Ambrose, bishop
t' Milan (374-398), who introduced it to his
ncese about the year 386, during the reign of
mstantine.
The notions prevailing among musical and
ther writers respecting the peculiarities of
\mbrosian music are based rather on conjecture
than knowledge. It may be considered certain
that it was more simple and less varied than the
Gregorian music which, about tv/o centuries
later, almost everywhere superseded it. Indeed
it has been doubted whether actual melody at
all entered into it, and conjectured that it was
only a kind of musical speech — monotone with
melodic closes, or AcCE^'TUS Ecclesiasticur,
a kind of music, or mode of musical utterance,
which Gregory retained for collects and responses,
but which he rejected as too simple for psalms
and hymns. On the other hand, it has been
argued more phiusibly that, to whatever extent
the Acccntus or Modus ckomlitcr legendi may
74 AMBROSIAN MUSIC
have been used in Arabrnsian music,- an element
more distinctly musical entered largely into it ;
that a decided cautus, as in Gregorian music, was
used for the psalms ; and that something which
might even now be called melody was employed
for (especially metrical) hymns. That this me-
lody was narrow in compass [Ambitus], and
little varied in its intervals, is probable or cer-
tain. The question however is not of quality,
but of kind. Good melody does not of necessity
involve many notes ; Rousseau has composed a
very sweet one on only three (^Consolations des
Miseres de ma I '«<?, No. 53).
The probability that this last view of Ambro-
sian music is the right one is increased by the
accounts of its effect in performance, given in
the Benedictine Life of St. Ambrose, drawn from
his own works, wherein one especial occasion is
mentioned on which the whole congregation sang
certain hymns with such fervour and unction
tliat many could not restrain their tears — an
incident confirmed by an eye-witness, St. Augus-
tine. "How did I weep,", he says, "in Thy
hymns and canticles, touched to the quick by
the voices of Thy sweet attuned Church ! The
voices flowed into mine ears, and the truth dis-
tilled into my heai't, whence the aftections of my
devotions overflowed, and tears ran down, and
happy was 1 therein."" It is difficult to attri-
bute to mere "musical speech," however em-
ployed, such effects as these, even upon the
rudest and least instructed people, a fortiori, on
persons like Augustine, accomplished in all the
learning and the arts of his time. The hymns
and canticles must surely have been conjoined,
and the voices attuned to a sweeter and more
expressive song. " Dulcis est cantilena," says
Ambrose {Op. t. i. p. 1052) himself, "quae nou
corpus effeminat, sed mentem animamque con-
firmat." Whatever its properties, its usefulness,
or its dignity, no one would apply the epithet
dulcis to the Accentus Ecclesiasticus, or speak of
it, or anything like it, as cantilena.
That neither Augustine nor any contemporary
writer has described particularly, or given us
any technical account of, the music practised by
the jMilanese congregations of the end of the 4th
century, however much we may regret it, need
hardly cause us any surprise. We are very im-
perfectly informed about many things nearer to
us in point of time, and practically of more im-
portance. Augustine has indeed told us in what
manner the psalms and hymns were sung in the
church of St. Ambrose, and that this manner was
exotic and new.^ But of the character of the
song itself — in what the peculiarity of the Cantus
Aiiihrosianus consisted — he tells us nothing. Pos-
sibly there was little to tell ; and the only pecu-
liaritv consisted in the employment in psalmody
of more melodious strains than heretofore —
strains not in themselves new, but never before
a " Quantum fl^vi in liymnis et canticis tuis, suave
sonantis !■>. I'-i.i' i !i m VMiilms commotus acriter ! Voces
illae influclKii-t ui: ilni- m i-~, ot eliquabatur Veritas in cor
meurn ; et exu' s;iKil>jt indf affectus pietatis, et currebant
lacrimae, et bene inilii eiat cum eis." — S. Augustini
Confessionum, lib. ix. cap. vi. c. 14.
b "Tunc bymni et psalmi ut 'canerentur' secundum
morem oricntaUum partiuiii, ne populus maeroris taedlo
contabesceret, institutum est; et ex illo in bodieniura re-
teiitum, multis jam ac pene omnibus gregibus tuis, et per
cetera ovbis imitanlibus."— Co?;/., lib. ix. cap. 7-15.
AMBROSIAN MUSIC
so employed ; for, " in the first ages of Christi-
anity," says St. Isidore, "the psalms were re-
cited in a manner more approaching speech than
song."'= In this view most writers on Ambrosian
music have concurred ; that it was veritable
song, in the proper musical sense of the word,
not musical speech or "half-song;" and that,
not only was it based on a scale system or tona-
lity perfectly well understood, but that its
rhythmus was subject to recognised laws. S.
Ubaldo, the author of a work {Disquisitio de
cantu a D. Ambrosio in Mediolanensem ecclesiam
introducto, Mediolani, 1695) especially devoted
to Ambrosian music, says expressly that St. Am-
brose was not the first to introduce antiphonal
singing into the West, but that he did introduce
what the ancients called Cantus Harmonicus, on
account of its determined tonality and variety of
intervals, properties not needed in, and indeed
incongruous with, musical speech. With this
Cantus Harmonicus was inseparably connected
the Cantus lihythmicus or Metricus ; so that, by
the application of harmonic (t. e. in the modern
sense, melodic) rule, a kind of melody was pro-
duced in some degree like our own. That Am-
brosian music was rhythmical is irrefragably at-
tested by the variety of metres employed by
Ambrose in his own hymns, and that such was
held to have been the case for many centuries is
confirmed by Guido Ai-etinus and John Cotton
(11th century).
The first requisite of melody is that the sounds
composing it be not only in the same " system,"
but also in some particular scale or succession,
based upon and moving about a given sound.
The oldest scales consisted at the most of four
sounds, whence called tetrachords. The influ-
ence of the tetrachord was of long duration ; it
is the theoretical basis even of modern tonality.
Eventually scales extended in practice to penta-
chords, hexachords, heptachords, and ultimately
octachords, as with us. . The modern scale
may be defined as a succession of sounds con-
necting a given sound with its octave. The
theory and practice of the octachord were fami-
liar to the Greeks, from whose system it is
believed Ambrose took the first four octachords
or modes, viz. the Phrygian, Dorian, Hypolydian,
and Hypophrygian, called by the first Christian
writers on music Protus, Deuterus, Tritus, and
Tetrardus. Subsequently the Greek provincial
names got to be misapplied, and the Ambrosian
system appeared as follows :
Pectus or Dorian.
These scales differ essentially fr-om our scales,
■^ "Ita, ut pronuntianti vicinior esset, quam psalleutl."
-IM OJnc, cap. vii.
AMBKOSIAN MUSIC
major or minor, of D, E, F, G, which are virtu-
ally transpositions of one another, or identical
scales at a higher or lower pitch, the seats of
whose t^yo semitones are always in the same
places, — between the 3rd and 4th and the 7th
and 8th sounds severally. Whereas the Greek
and Ambrosian scales above are not only unlike
one another (the seats of the semitones being in
all different), but they are also unlike either our
modern typical major scale of C, which has its
semitones between the 3rd and 4th and 7th and
8th sounds, or our typical minor scale of A,
which has one of its semitones always between
the '2nd and 3rd sounds, another between the 5th
and 6th or the 7th and 8th, and in its chromatic
form between both.
Modern Typical JIajok Scale.
Modern Typical Minor Scale..
Chromatic Forii.
:i^
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ambrosian scales
or tones thei'efore are not what we now call
"kevs," but "modes," diflering from one another
as the modern major and minor modes differ, in
the places of their semitones. Melodies there-
fore in this or that Ambrosian " tone " have a
variety of character analogous to that which
distinguishes our major apd minor modes so very
widely. Thus tenderness is the popular attri-
bute of the minor mode ; strength and clearness
are those of the major. In like manner one
Ambrosian tone was supposed to be characterised
by dignity, another by languor, and so on.
The rhythmus of Ambrosian melody is thought
by some to have consisted only in the adaptation
to long and short syllables of long and short
notes. " Of what we call time," says Forkel
{Gesch. der MusHi, ii. 168), — the proportion
between the different divisions of the same
melody, — "the ancients had no conception."
He does not tell us how they contrived to march
or to dance to timeless melodies — melodies with
two beats in one foot and three in another, or
three feet in one phrase and four in another, nor
how vast congregations were enabled to sing
them ; and if anything is certain about Ambrosian
song it is that it was above all things congrega-
■ tional.
Whether Ambrose was acquainted with the
use of musical characters is uncertain. Probably
he was. The system he adopted was Greek, and
he could hardly make himself acquainted with
Greek music without having acquired some
knowledge of Greek notation, which, though in-
tricate in its detail, was simple in its principles.
But even the invention, were it needed, of cha-
racters capable of representing the compara-
tively few sounds of Ambrosian melody could
have been a matter of no difficulty. Such cha-
racters needed only to represent the pitch of
these sounds; their duration was dependent on.
AMEN 7o
and sufficiently indicated by, the metre. Copies
of Ambrosian music-books are preserved in some
libraries, which present indications of what may
be, probably are, musical characters. Possibly
however these are additions by later hands. It
is certain that, in the time of Charlemagne, Am-
brosian song was finally superseded, except in
the Milanese, by Gregorian. The knowledge
of the Ambrosian musical alphabet, if it ever
existed, may, in such circumstances, and in such
an age, have easily been lost, though the melo-
dies themselves were long preserved tradition-
ally. [J. H.I
AMBROSIANUM.— This word in old litur-
gical writings often denotes a hymn, from S.
Ambrose having been the first to introduce
metrical hymns into the service of the Church.
Originally the word may have indicated that the
particular hymn was the composition of S.
Ambrose, and hence it came to signify any hymn.
Thus S. Benedict, in his directions for Nocturns,
says, " Post hunc psalmus 94 (Venite) cum anti-
phona, aut certe decantandus." hide sequatur
Ambrosianum : Deinde sex psalmi cum anti-
phonis." Also, S. Isidore de Divin. off. lib. i.
c. 1, § 2, speaking of hymns, mentions S.
Ambrose of Milan, whom he calls " a most illus-
trious Doctor of the Church, and a copious com-
poser of this kind of poetry. Whence (he adds)
from his name hymns are called Amhrosians,"
(unde ex ejus nomine hymni Amhrosiani appel-
lantur). ' [H. J. H.]
AMEN (Heb. |0X). The formula by which
one expresses his concurrence in the prayer of
another, as for instance in Deut. xxvii. 15.
1. This word, which was used in the services
of the synagogue, was transferred unchanged in
the very earliest age of the Church to the
Christian services [compare Alleluia] ; for the
Apostle (1 Cor. siv. 16) speaks of the Amen of
the assembly which followed the evxapicrria, or
thanksgiving. And the same custom is traced
in a series of authorities. Justin Martyr (Apol.
i. c. 65, p. 127) notices that the people present
say the Amen after prayer and thanksgiving ;
Dionysius of Alexandria (in L'useb. H. E. vii. 9, p.
253, Schwegler) speaks of one who had often
listened to the thanksgiving (^vxapiffTio), and^
joined in the. Amen which followed. Cyril of
Jerusalem {Catechismus Mystag. 5, p. 331) says
that the Lord's Prayer is seeded with an Amen.
Jerome, in a well-known passage (Prooemium in
lib. ii. Comment. Ep. Gal., p. 428) speaks of the
thundering sound of the Amen of the Roman
congregations.
2. The formula of consecration in the Holy
Eucharist is in most ancient liturgies ordered to
be said aloud, and the people respond Amen. Pro-
uably, however, the custom of saying this part
of the service secrete — afterwards universal in
the West — had already begun to insinuate itself
in the time of Justinian ; for that emperor ordered
(Novella 123, in Migne's Patrol, tom. 72, p. 1026),
that the consecration-formula should be said
aloud, expressly on the ground that the people
might respond Am£n at its termination. [Com-
pare Canon.] In most Greek liturgies also,
« This is explained as " omnlno protrahendo et ab uno
aut a pluiibus morose" or as "in directum sine Anti-
phoiia." Martmc Oe Ant. Man. rit., Lib. I. cap. ii. 22.
7t)
AMENESIUS
when the priest in administering says, " awiJia.
Xpiarov," the receiver answers Amen. So, too,
m the Clementine Liturgy, after the ascription
of Glory to God (Apost. Const, viii. 13, p. 215,
Ultzen). (Bona, l>e Rebus Liturgicis, 1. ii. cc. 5,
12, 17.) [C]
AMENESIUS, deacon, commemorated Nor.
10 {Mart. Bcdae). [C]
AIMICE (Amictus, Humerale, Superhuinerale
or Ephod, Anaboladium, Anaholagium, Anagolai-
uin). § 1. The word Amictus is employed in clas-
sical writei-s as a general term for any outer
garment. Thus Virgil employs it {Aen. iii. 405)
in speaking of the toga, ornamented with purple,
the end of which was thrown about the head by
priests and other official persons when engaged
in acts of sacrifice. (See for example " the
Emperor sacrificing," from the column of Trajan,
Vest. Christ, pi. iii.) The same general usage
may be traced in the earlier ecclesiastical writers,
as in St. Jerome, and in Gregory of Tours, who
uses the word in speaking of a bride's veil. St.
Isidore of Seville (circ. 630 A.D.) nowhere em-
ploys the word as the designation of any par-
ticular garment, sacred or otherwise. But in
defining the meaning of anaboladium (a Greek
word which at a later time was identified with
amictus as the name of a sacred vestment), he
describes it as " amictorium lineum femiuarum
quo humeri eperiuntur, quod Graeci et Latini
sindonem vocant." (Origines, xix. 25.) With
this may be compared St. Jerome on Isaiah, cap.
iii., where in referring to the dress of Hebrew
women, he says, " Habent sindones quae vocantur
amictoria." This usage of " amictorium," and
its equivalent " anaboladium," in speaking of a
linen garment worn by women as a covering for
the shoulders, will prepare us for the first refer-
ence to the "amictus" as a vestment early in
the 9th century, when it is compared by Eabanus
Maurus (such seems to bn his meaning) with the
"superhumerale" of Levitical use {De Instit.
Cler. Lib. 1. cap. 15). Eabanus, howevei-, does
not use the word " amictus," though he seems
evidently to refer to the vestment elsewhere so
called. Amalarius of Metz, writing about the
same time (circ. 825 A.D.), speaks of the " amic-
tus" as being the first in order of the vestments
of the Church, " primum vestimentum nostrum
quo collum undique cingimus." Hence its sym-
bolism in his eyes as implying " castigatio vocis,"
the due restraint of the voice, whose organs are
in the throat {De Eccl. Off. ii. 17.). Walafrid
Strabo writing some few years later (he was a
pupil of Eabanus), enumerates the eight vest-
ments of the -Church, but without including in
tliem the amice {De Reh. Eccl. c. 24.). But in all
the later liturgical writers the vestment is named
under some one or other of the various designa-
tions enumerated at the head of this article.
As to its use in this country there is no evidence
till nearly the close of the Saxon period. It is
not mentioned in the Pontifical of Egbert. In
a later Anglo-Saxon Pontifical (of the 10th cen-
tury. Dr. Eock says,) among the vestments
enumerated occurs mention of the " super-
humerale sen poderem," an expression which has
been supposed to point to the amice, though the
use of " poderis," as an alternative name, seems
to make this somewliat doubtful. ((Quoted by
AMICE
Dr. Eock, Church of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 465 ;
from the Archaeologia, vol. xxv. p. 28.)
§ 2. Shape of the Amice, its Material, and orna-
mentation. The amice was originally a square or
oblong piece of linen, somewhat such as that
which forms the background in the accompany-
ing woodcut, and was probably worn nearly as
shown in Fig. 1, so as to cover the neck "and
shoulders. Early in the 10th century (a. D. 925)
we hear, for the first time, of ornaments of gold
on the amice. {Testaiuentuin Eeadfi Episcopi in
Migne's I'atrologia, tom. cxxxii. p. 468, " caligas
et sandalias paria duo, amictos [_sic'] cum auro
quattuor.") This ornament was probably an
"aurifrigium" or " orfrey." From the 11th
century onwards the richer amices were adorned
with embroidery, and at times even with pre-
cious stones. These ornaments were attached to
a portion only of the amice, a comparatively
small patch, known as a plaga, or panira («. e.,
paratura) being fastened on (see Fig. 4 in wood-
IraoH^|y.nicua
pJ5 crucifix" <i>e(i.f!
.•lIVM-l-lMiMWMIvli
Fig. 4.
cut) so as to appear as a kind of collar above the
alb (see Fig. 3). An example is given of late
date, to show the shape of the parura, as, from
the nature of the material, very early amices
are not extant. These parurae were known in
later times as " collaria " or " colleria " (see
Eock, Ch. of our Fathers, i. 470).
§ 3. IIoio worn. — All the earlier notices of
the amice are such as to imply that it was worn
on the neck and shoulders only. Honorius of
Autun (writing circ. 1125 A.D.) is the first who
speaks of it as being placed on the head. " Hu-
merale quod in Lege Ephot, apud nos Amictus
dicitur, sibi imponit et illo caput et collum et
humeros (unde et Humerale dicitur) cooperit, et
in pectore copulatum duabusvittis ad mammillas
cingit. Per Humerale quod capiti imponitur
spes caelestium intelligitur." {Qemma animae, i.
c. 201.) It appears to have been temporarily
placed on the head (as shown in Fig. 2 of the
above woodcut) till the other vestments were
arranged, after which it was turned down so
that the parura might appear in its proper
place. To this position on the head is to be
referred its later symbolism as a liehnet of
AMICUS
salvation. " Amictus pro galea caput obnubit."
Dui-andi Rationale iii. 1. For other symbol-
isms see lunocent III., De Sacro Altaris Mysterio,
i. cc. 35 and 50. (The woodcut above is from
Dr. Bock's Geschichte der Uturgischen Gewdnder,
B. ii. Taf. ii.) [W. B. M.]
AMICUS, confessor at Lyons, commemorated
July 14 (J/ari. Hiercm.). [C]
AMMON. (1) Commemorated Feb. 7 {Mart.
Uicron.).
(2) Commemorated Feb. 9 (Jf. Hicron., Bedae).
(3) 'Afi/xovv, the deacon, with the forty women
his disciples, martyrs, commemorated Sept. 1
{Cal. Byzant.).
(4) Commemorated Sept. 10 (J/. Hieron.,
Bedae).
(5) Martyr at Alexandria, Dec. 20 {Mart.
Rom. Vet, Bedae). [C]
AMMONARIA, martyr at Alexandria, com-
memorated Dec. 12 {Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
AMMONIUS. (1) Martyr, Jan. 31 {Mart.
Hieron., Bedae).
(2) Infant of Alexandria, commemorated Feb.
'12 {Mart. Rom. Vet.).
(3) Commemorated Oct. 6 {M. Hieron.). [C]
AMOS, the prophet, commemorated June 15
{Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AMPELUS of Messana, commemorated Nov.
20 {Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
AMPHIBALUII or AMPHIBALUS. § 1.
This word appears to be confined to Gallican
writers. And this fact, coupled with its Greek
derivation, pointing as this does to a very early
period for its introduction, is noticeable, as one
among many instances of diversities of usage
in minor matters, characteristic of the Gallican
church, and indicating an origin distinct from
that of other western churches.
§ 2. Form of the vestment, and its prevailing
use. There are three passages to which refer-
ence may here be made as determining all that
can with certainty be known with regard to
the vestment now in question. St. Remigius,
Archbishop of Aries, dying about 500 A.D.,
left to his successor in the see " Amphibalum
album pasclialem," a white amphibalus for
use on Sundays and high festivals. (For
' paschalis ' see Ducange in voc.) We cannot
here conclude with absolute certainty that it
is of a vestment for church use that he is
speaking, though the context seems to imply
this. (The quotation is from the Testamentum
8. Remigii Remensis, ajmd Galland, Bihliothec.
Pat., tom. X. p. 806.) But in the passages that
follow this meaning is beyond doubt. In a life
of S. Bonitus {alias S. Bonus), f circ. 710, a.d.
written, as it is supposed, by a contemporary
{Acta Sanctorum Januar., d. xv. p. 1071 sqq.), we
are told that the saint was much given to weep-
ing even in church ; so much so, that the upper
part of his amphibalus, which served as a cover-
ing for his head, was found to be wet with the
tears he shed. " Lacrimarum ei gratia in sacro
non deerat officio ita ut amphibali summitas, qua
caput tegebatur, ex profusione earum madida
videretur." This " upper part " of the amphi-
balus was evidently a kind of liood (like that of
AMPULLA
77
the casula), separable, m some sort, from the
rest of the garment. For the saint is repre-
sented as appearing after death, in a vision, to a
certain maiden, devoted to God's service, and
sending through her a message to the " mother "
of the neighbouring monastery, bidding her keep
by her (no doubt as a relic) that part of his
amphibalus which covered his head. " Ut par-
tem amphibali mei qua caput tegitur, secum re-
tineat."
Even in this passage, however, though it is
evidently spoken of as worn in church, and
during the " holy office," it does not follow that
a sacerdotal vestment, distinctively so called, is
there intended. The mention of the hood (or
hood-like appendage) as worn over the head
points rather to use in the choir. But in a
fragmentary account of the Gallican rite, of un-
certain date, but probably of the 9th or 10th
century, the word amphibalus is used as equiva-
lent to the " casula," then regarded as specially
belonging to sacerdotal ministry. " The casula,
known as amphibalus," the writer says, " which
the priest puts upon him, is united from top to
bottom . . . it is without sleeves . . .
joined in front without slit or opening
' Casula, quam amphibalum vocant, quod sacer-
dos induetur {sic), tota unita . . , Ideo
sine manicas {sic) quia sacerdos potius benedicit
quam ministrat. Ideo unita prinsecus, non scissa,
non aperta,'" &c. (See Martene, Thesaurus
Anecdotorum, tom. v.)
From the above passages we may infer that
" amphibalus " was a name, in the Gallican
church of the first eight or nine centuries, for
the more solemn habit of ecclesiastics, and par-
ticularly for that which they wore in offices of
holy ministration. Having regard to its (pro-
bably) Eastern origin, and to its subsequent iden-
tification with the casula, we shall probably be
right in thinking that it resembled in shape the
white phenolia, in which Eastern bishojjs are re-
presented in mosaics of the 6th century, in the
great church (now Mosque) of St. Sophia at
Constantinople. For these last see the article
Vestments (Greek), later in this work, and
Salzenberg's Altchristliche Baudenkmale, plates
xxviii. and xxix. [W. B. M.]
AMPHILOCHIUS, bishop of Iconium, com-
memorated Nov. 23 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AMPIDIUS, commemorated at Rome Oct. 14
{Mart. Hieron.). [C]
AMPLIAS, " Apostle," commemorated Oct.
31 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AMPODIUS, commemorated Oct. 11 {Mart'.
Hieron.). [C]
AMPULLA (Probably for amh-olla, from its
swelling out in every direction), a globular ves-
sel for holding liquid. In ecclesiastical language
the word denotes —
1. The flasks or cruets, generally of precious
metnl, which contain the wine and water used
at the altar. The word "pollen," used in some
districts of Germany to designate these vessels
(Binterim's DenhvurdigJiciten, iv. 1. 183) is pro-
bably derived from " Ampullae."
When the custom of making offerings of wiae
for the Holy Communion ceased, ampullae seem
to have taken the place of the larger Amai;.
78
AMPULLA
The notiou of the ampullae themselves having
been large vessels is probably founded on the
ancient etymology, "ampulla, quasi vas am-
plum ;" an etymology which Walafrid Strabo
{Be Beb. Ecd. c. 24)\idapts to the facts of his
own time by reversing it, " ampulla quasi parum
ampla." The first mention of ampullae as altar-
vessels, appears to be in the Liber Pontificalis
(c. 110) in the life of John III. (559-573), who
is said to have ordered that the oratories of the
martyrs in the city of Rome should be supplied
with altar-plate, including ampullae [al. amulae]
from the Lateran church.
2. More commonly the word ampulla denotes
a vessel, XrjKvOos, used for holding consecrated
oil or chrism. In this sense it is used by Optatus
Milevitanus (contra Lonatistas ii. 19, p. 42),
when he tells us that an "ampulla chrismatis"
thrown from a window by the Donatists mira-
culously remained unbroken. In the Gregorian
Sacramentary (p. 65), in the directions for the
benediction of Chrism on the " Feria V. post
Palmas," or Thursday in Holy Week, " ampullae
duo cum oleo" are ordered to' be prepared, the
better of which is to be proi^ented to the Pope.
[Chrisji.]
By far the most renowned ampulla of this
kimd is that which was said to have been brought
by a dove from heaven at the baptism of Clovis,
and which was used at the coronation of the
•Frank kings. Hincmar, in the service which he
drew up for the coronation of Charles the Bald
(840), speaks of the first Christian king of the
Franks having been anointed and consecrated
with the heaven-descended chrism, whence that
which he himself used was derived ("caelitus
sumpto chrismate, unde nunc habemus, perunc-
tus et in regem sacratus"), as if of a thing well
known. In Flodoard, who wrote in the' first
half of the 10th century, we find the legend fully
developed. He tells us {Hist. Eccles. Eemensis,
1. 13, m Migne's Patrol, vol. 135, p. 52 c.) that
at the Baptism of Clovis, the clerk who bore the
chrism was prevented by the crowd from reach-
ing his proper station; and that when the
moment for unction arrived, St. Kemi raised his
AMULETS
eyes to heaven and prayed, when " ecce subito
columba ceu nix advolat Candida rostro deferens
ampullam caelestis doni chrismate repletam."
This sacred ampulla (the " Sainte Ampoulle")
was preserved in the abbey of St. Eemi, at Reims,
and used at the coronation of the successive kings
of F'rance. It was broken in 1793, but even
then a fragment was said to have been preserved,
and was used at the coronation of Charles X.
The ampulla represented in the woodcut, from
Monza, is said to be of the 7th century. It is
of a metal resembling tin, and has engraved
upon it a representation of the Adoration of the
Magi and of the Shepherds, with the inscription,
eAeON EYAOY ZcoHC TojN AricuN XPICTOV
TOnojN, having been used for pressino- Holy
Oil. [Oil, Holy.] " [c]
AMULETS. The earliest writer in whom
the word occurs is Pliny {H. N. xxix. 4, 19 ; .xxx.
15, 47, et al.), and is used by him in the sense of
a " charm " against poisons, witchcraft, and the
like (" veneficiorum amuleta "). A Latin deriva-
tion has been suggested for it as being that
" quod malum amolitur." Modern etymologists,
however, connect both the word as well as
the thing with the East, and derive it from the
Arabic hammalet (= a thing suspended). The
practice which the word implies had been in the
Christian Church, if not from the first, yet as
soon as the Paganism and Judaism out of "which
it had emerged began again to find their wav
into it as by a process of infiltration, and the
history of amulets presents a strange picture of
the ineradicable tendency of mankind to fall back
into the basest superstitions which seem to belong
only to the savage bowing before his fetiche.
Man has a dread of unseen powers around him- —
demons, spectres, an evil eye — and he believes
that certain objects have power to preserve him
from them. That belief fastens sometimes upon
symbolic forms or solemn words that have once
served as representatives of higher thoughts,
sometimes upon associations which seem alto-
gether arbitrary. When the Israelites left
Egypt, they came from a people who had car-
ried this idea to an almost unequalled extent.
The scarabaeus, the hawk, the serpent, the
uraeus, or hooded snake, an open eye, outspread
wings, with or without formulae of prayer,
deprecating or invoking, are found in countless
variety in all our museums, and seem to have
been borne, some on the breast, some suspended
by a chain round the neck. The law of Moses,
by ordering the Zizith, or blue fringe on the gar-
ments which men wore, or the papyrus scrolls
with texts (Exod. xiii. 2-10, 11-17; Deut. vi.
4-9, 13-22), which were to be as frontlets on
their brows, and bound upon their arms, known
by later Jews as the Tephillim, or when nailed on
their door posts or the walls of their houses as
the Mesusa, sought, as by a wise " economy," to
raise men who had been accustomed to such
usages to higher thoughts, and to turn what had
been a superstition into a witness for the truth.
The old tendency, however, crept in, and it seems
clear that some at least of the ornaments named
by Isaiah (iii. 23), especially the D'E^TIp, were of
the nature of amulets {Bib. Diet. Amulets). And
the later <pv\aKT-i)pLa of the N. T., though an at-
tempt has been made by some archaeologists to
explain the name as tliough they reminded
AMULETS
meu <pv\a(T(T€iv rhv vofxov (Schottgen) were,
there can be little doubt, so called as "pre-
servatives " against demons, magic, and the evil
eye.'' Through the whole history of Rabbinism,
the tendency was on the increase, and few Jews
believed themselves free from evil spirits, unless
the bed on which they slept was guarded by the
3Icsicsa. Mystic figures — the sacred tetragram-
maton, the shield of David, the seal of Solomon —
witli cabalistic words, AGLA (an acrostic formed
from the initial letters of the Hebrew words for
"Thou art mighty for everlasting, 0 Lord";,
Abracalan, and the like, shot up as a ranis after-
growth. Greelv, Latin, Eastern Heathenism, in
like manner, supplied various forms of the same
usage. Everywhere men lived in the dread of
the fascination of the " evil eye." Sometimes in-
dividual men, sometimes whole races (e.g. the
Thibii of Pontus) were thought to possess the
power of smiting youth and health, and causing
them to waste away (Plutarch, Sympos. v. 7).
And against this, men used remedies of various
kinds, the 'Ecpeffia ■ypaixixara, the phallus or
fascinum. The latter was believed to operate as
diverting the gaze which would otherwise be
fixed on that which kept it spell-bound (Plu-
tarch, I. c. ; Varr. de Ling. Lat. vi. 5), but was pro-
bably connected also with its use as the symbol
of life as against the evil power that was working
to destroy life. It is obvious that superstitions
of this kind would be foreign to Christian life in
its first purity. The " bonfire " at Ephesus was
a protest against them and all like usages (Acts
xix. 19). They crept in, however, probably in
the first instance through the influence of Juda-
izing or Orientalizing Gnostics. The followers
of Basilides had their mystical Abraxas and Jal-
dabaoth, which they wrote on parchment and
used as a charm \_Chr. Biogr. art. Basilides].
Scarabaei have been found, with inscriptions
(Jao, Sabaoth, the names of angels, Bellerman,
Uher die Scarahaeen, i. 10), indicating Christian
associations of this nature.'' The catacombs of
Rome have yielded small objects of various kinds
that were used apparently for the same purpose,
a bronze fish (connected, of course, with the
mystic anagram of IXQTfS), with the word
SriSAIS on it, a hand holding a tablet with
ZHCE2, medals with the monogram which had
figured on the laharum of Constantine (Aringhi,
Romi Subterranea, vi. 23 ; Costadoni, Del Pesce,
pi. ii., iii., 19 ; Martigny, s. v. Foisson). In the
East we find the practice of carrying the Gospels
(j8t;8Aia or fvayy^Xia fxiKpd) round the neck
as (pu\aKT7)pia (Chrysost. IIoui. Ixxiii. in Matt.) ;
and Jerome (in Matt. iv. 24) confesses that
he .had himself done so to guard against disease.
When the passion for relics set in they too were
employed, and even Gregory the Great sent to
Theodelinda two of these (^i/Aa/cr-^pia, one a cross
containing a fragment of the true cross, the other
a box containing a copy of the Gospels, each with
Greek invocations, as a charm against the #s'il
spirits' or lamiae that beset children (Epp. xii. 7).
In all these cases we trace some Christian asso-
» This is distinctly stated in the Jerusalem Gemara
(Beracli. fol. 2, 4). Comp. the exhaustive article by Leyrcz
on ' Phylakterien' in Herzog.
•> The mention of " the horns of the Scarabaeus " as an
amulet by Pliny (B. iV. xxviii. 4) shews how widely the
old Egyptian feeling about it had spread in the first
ci'Utury of the Christian era.
ANAGNOSTES 79
ciations. » Symbolism passes into superstition.
In other instances the old heathen leaven was
more conspicuous. Strange words, trepiepyoi
XapaKTrjpes (Basil, in Ps. xlv., p. 229 A), names
of rivers, and the like (Chrysost. Horn. Ixxiii. in
Matt.), "%a<Mrae" of all kinds (August. Tract vii.
in Joann.), are spoken of as frequent. Even a
child's caul (it is curious to note at once the
antiquity and the persistency of the superstition),
and the iyKdhiriov evSvfj.a became an kyK6\Tnov
in another sense, and was used by midwives to
counteract the " evil eye " and the words of evil
omen of which men were still afraid (Balsamon,
in Cone. Trull., c. 61). Even the strange prohibi-
tion by the Council just referred to of the practice
of " leading about she bears and other like beasts
to the delusion (nphs iraiyviov) and injury of the
simple," has been referred by the same writer
(ibid.), not to their being a show as in later
times, but to the fact that those who did so car-
ried on a trade in the (j>v\aKT7)pia, which they
made from their hair, and which were in request
as a cure for sore eyes.
Christian legislation and teaching had to carry
on a perpetual warfare against these abuses.
Constantine indeed, in the transition stage which
he represented, had allowed " remedia humanis
quaesita corporibus " (Cod. Theodos. ix. tit. 1(5,
s. 3), as well as incantations for rain, but the
Council of Laodicea (c. 36) forbade the clergy
to make <pvXaKT7ipLa, which were in reality "Secr-
ficoTTipia for their own souls." Chrysostom fre-
quently denounces them in all their forms, and
lays bare the plea that the old women who sold
them were devout Christians, and that the prac-
tice therefore could not be so very wrong (Horn.
viii. in Coloss. p. 1374 ; Horn., vi. c. Jud. ; Horn.
Ixii. p. 536, in Matt. p. 722). Basil (I. c.) speaks
in the same tone. Augustine (I. c. and Senn. ccxv.
De Temp.) warns men against all such " diabolica
phylacteria." Other names by which such amulets
were known were irepiairTa. ■KepidfXfx.aTa. We
may infer from the silence of Clement of Alex-
andria and Tertullian that the earlier days of the
Church were comparatively free from these super-
stitions, and from the tone of the writers just re-
ferred to that the canon of the Council of Laodicea
had been so far effectual that the clergy were no
longer ministering to them. [E. H. P.]
ANACHOEETAE. [Hermit.]
ANACLETUS, the pope, martyr at Rome,
commemorated April 26 (Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ANACTORON (^KvaKTopov from avaKToip),
the dwelling of a king or ruler. In classical
authors, generally a house of a god, especially
a temple of the Eleusinian Demeter or of the
Dioscuri ; also, the innermost recess of a temple,
in which oracles were given (Lobeck's Aglaopha-
mus, i. pp. 59, 62). Eusebius (Fanegyr. c. 9)
applies the word to the church built by Constan-
tine at Antioch, whether as equivalent to /Sain-
XiKT), or with reference to the unusual size and
splendour of the church, or with a reminiscence
of the classical use of the word, is difficult to say.
(Bingham's Antiquities, viii. 1. § 5.) [C]
ANAGNOSTES— LECTOR-READER.—
Tertullian is the earliest writer who mentions
this office as a distinct order in the Church (De
Praescr. c. 41). It would seem that, at first, tlie
public reading of the Scriptures was performed
80
ANANIAS
mdifierently by presbyters and deacons, and pos-
sibly at times by a layman specially appointed
by the bishop. From Tertullian's time, how-
ever, it was included among the minor oi-ders,
and as such is frequently referred to by Cyprian
{Epp. 29, 38, &c.). It is also one of the three
minor orders mentioned in the so-called Apos-
tolical Canons, the other two being the viroSid-
Kovos .and the ^dXTfis. The Scriptures were
read by the Anagnostes, from the pulpitum or
tribunal ecclesiae. If any portion of the sacred
writings was read from the altar, or more pro-
perly from the bema or tribunal of the sanc-
tuary, this was done by one of the higher clergy.
By one of Justinian's Novels it was directed
that no one should be ordained reader before
the age of eighteen ; but previously young boys
were admitted to the office, at the instance
of their parents, as introductory to the higher
functions of the sacred ministry (Bingham,
Thorndike). [D. B.]
ANANIAS. (1) Of Damascus (Acts ix. 10),
commemorated Jan. 25 (Mart. Rom. Vet.'); Oct.
1 {Cal. Byzant.); Oct. 15 (C. Armen.).
(2) Martyr in Persia, April 21 (Jfar!!.i?om. Vet.).
(3) Martyr, with Azarias and Misael, Dec. 16
(Tb.); April 2.3 (Mart. Bedac); Dec. 17 (Cal.
Byzant.). [C]
ANAPHOKA. ('Ava(f>opd. The word aua-
(pipnv acquired in later Greek the sense of
" lifting up " or " offering : " as aya(pepeiv 0v-
alas, Heb. vii. 27 ; 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; a.va<p4peiv eii-
Xapiariav, €vcprifj.iav, So^o\oyiav, Chrysostom in
Suicer, s. v. 'Avatpopd was also used in a cor-
responding sense ; in Ps. 1. 21, [LXX], it is the
equivalent of the Hebrew H^'y, " that which
goeth up on the altar.")
1. In the sense of "lifting up" Anaphora
came to be applied to the celebration of the
Holy Eucharist ; whether from the " lifting
up" of the heart which is required in that
service, or from the " oblation " which takes
place in it; probably the latter.
In the liturgical diction of the Copts, which
has borrowed much from the Greeks, the word
Anaphora is used, instead of liturgy, to designate
the whole of the Eucharistic service, and the
book which contains it ; but more commonly its
use is restricted to that more solemn part of the
Eucharistic office which includes the Consecration,
Oblation, Communion, and Thanksgiving. It be-
gins with the " Sursum Corda," or rather with
the benediction which precedes it, and extends
to the end of the office, thus corresponding with
the Preface and Canon of Western rituals.
The general structure of the Anaphorae of
Oriental liturgies is thus exhibited by Dr. Neale
(Eastern Church, Introduction, i. 463).
The Great Eucharistic Prayer —
1. The Preface. [SnKstnn Corda.]
2. The Prayer of the Triumphal Hymn. [Pkefaiie.]
3. The Triumphal Hymn. [Sanctus.]
4. Commemoration of our Lord's Life.
5. Commemoration of Institution.
TliC Consecration —
6. Words of Institution of the Bread.
7. Words of Institution of the Wine.
8. Oblation of the Bodj' and Blood.
9. Introductory Prayer for the Descent of the
Holy Ghost.
10. Prayer for the Change of Elements.
ANASTASIS
The Great Intercessor// Prayer —
11. General Intercession for Quick and Dead.
12. Prayer before the Lord's Prayer.
13. The Lord's Prayer.
14. The Embollsmus.
77(6 Communion —
15. The Prayer of Inclination (ra; Ke^a.Xa'; kAi-
16. Td ayia rots ayi'ois and Elevation of Host.
17. The Fraction.
18. The Confession.
19. The Communion.
20. The Antidoron ; and Prayers of Thanksgiving.
This table exhibits the component parts of the
Anaphorae of all, or nearly all, the Eastern litur-
gies, in the state in which they have come down
to us ; but different parts are variously de-
veloped in different liturgies, and even the order
is not always preserved ; for instance, in the
existing Nestoriau liturgies, the general inter-
cession is placed before the invocation of the
Holy Ghost, and other minor variations are found.
The principal of these will be noticed under their
proper headings.
It is in the Anaphorae that the characteristics
are found which distinguish different liturgies
of the same family ; in the iiitroductory or pro-
anaphoral portion of the liturgies there is much
less vai-iety.' "In every liturgical family there
is one liturgy, or at most two, which supplies
the former or pro-anaphoral portion to all the
others, and such liturgies we may call the normal
offices of that family ; the others, both in MSS.
and printed editions, commence with the ' Prayer
of the Kiss of Peace,' the preface to the Ana-
phora " (Neale, Eastern Church, i. 319). Thus,
when the liturgy of Gregory Theologus or of
Cyril is used, the pro-anaphoral portion is taken
from that of St. Basil ; the Ethiopian Church has
twelve liturgies, which have the introductory
portion in common ; the numerous Syro-Jacobite
liturgies all take the introductory portion from
that of St. James ; the three Nestorian from
that of the Apo.stles. Further particulars will
be found under Canon and Communion.
2. The word h.va.(popd is sometimes used iu
liturgical writings as equivalent to the a.i]p or
Chalice-veil ; and has found its way in this sense,
corrupted in form (Nuphir) into the Syrian
liturgies. (Renaudot, Lit. Orient, ii. 61.) [C]
AN ASTASIA. (1) Martyr under Diocletian.
Her Natalis, an ancient and famous festival, falls
on Dec. 25 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae).
Her name is recited in the Gregorian Canon.
The proper office for her festival, in the Gre-
gorian Sacram. (p. 7), is headed, in Menard's
text, Missa in Mane prima Nat. Dom., sire S.
Anastasiae ; and is inserted between the Missa
In Vigilia Domini in Nocte and the Missa In Die
Natalis Domini. The titles in the other MSS.
are equivalent. In the Byzantine Calendar she
is .commemorated as (papfiaKoXvrpia, dissolver of
spells on Dec. 22 (see Neale's Eastern Church,
Introd. 786).
(2) Of Rome, Scrtofidprvs, commemorated Oct.
29 (Cal. Byzant.). [C.I
ANASTASIS.— The Orthodox Greek Church
commemorates the dedication of the Church of
the Anastasis by Constantine the Great ('EyKai-
via Tov NaoO rris aylas tov XpiffTov /cat Qeov
Tji.i.Sii' ' Avaardaiois) on Sep. 13. (Daniel, Codex
ANASTASIUS
Liturgicus, W. 2(58.) This festival refers to the
dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
or of the Resurrection of the Lord, at Jerusalem,
A.D. 335. (Eusebius, Vita Constantini, iii. 26 ff.)
A similar name was given to the room where
Gregory of Nazianzus preached at Constantinople,
afterwards converted into a magnificent church.
(Gibbon's Eomc, iii. 367, ed. Smith.) [C]
ANASTASIUS. (1) The monk, martyr in
Persia, commemorated Jan. 22 (^Cal. Byzant.,
Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron.).
(2) Saint, April 1 QIart. Bedae).
(3) The pope, April 27 {Mart. R. V., Bedae) ;
Oct. 28 (^Cal. Armen.).
(4) Saint, May 2 (Jf. Bedae).
(5) The Cornicularius, martyr, Aug. 21 {Mart.
B. v.).
(6) Commemorated Aug. 26 (Jf. Hieron.).
(7) Bishop, Oct. 13 (if. Bedae, Hieron.). [C]
ANATHEMA, the greater excommunica-
tion, answering to Cherem in the Synagogue,
as the lesser form did to Niddui, i.e. Separation :
this latter is called a^opi(r/ubs in the Constitutions
of the Apostles.
The excision of obstinate offenders from the
Christian fellowship was grounded upon the
words of Christ — " If he will not hear the Church,
let him be as a heathen man and a publican."
So St. Gregory interprets them — " let him not
be esteemed for a brother or a Christian " — " vi-
delicet peccator gravis et scandalosus, notorius
aut accusatus et convictus " ; being reproved by
the bishop in the public assemblies of the Church,
if he will not be humbled but remains incorri-
gible and perseveres in his scandalous sins —
" tum anathemate feriendus est et a corpore Ec-
clesiae separandus" (St. Gregory in Ps. v.), and
St. Augustine (Trac£ xxvii. in Johan.) vindicates
this severity of discipline on the Church's part
in such a case — " quia neque influxum habet a
capite, neque participat de Spiritu Christi."
This application of the word Anathema to the
" greater excommunication " was warranted, in
the belief of the ancient Church, by St. Paul's
use of it (Gal. i. 8, 9), and the discipline itself
being distinctly warranted by our Lord's words,
as well as by other passages in the New Testa-
ment, the anathema was regarded as cutting
a man off from the way of salvation ; so that
unless he received the grace of repentance he
would certainly perish.
A milder sense, however, of the word Ana-
thema, as used by St. Paul, has not been without
its defenders, both among our own Divines as
Hammond and Waterland, and by Grotius. The
latter wi-iter, commenting on Rom. ix. 3, gives
the following interpretation : " Hoc dicit : Velim
non modo carere honore Apostolatus, verum
etiam contemptissimus esse inter Christianos,
quales sunt qui excommunicati sunt."
And as to the effect of the Ecclesiastical Ana-
thema— it is maintained by Vincentius Lirinen-
sis that it did not bear the sense of cursing
among the ancient Christians, as Cherem did
among the Jews.
It is certain, however, that the word Ana-
thema is uniformly employed by the LXX as the
equivalent of Cherem ; and it can hardly be
questioned, therefore, that where it occurs in
the N. T. it must be understood in the deeper
sense — as relating to the spiritual condifion —
CHRIST. ANT,
ANGHOK
81
and not merely to exclusion from Church privi-
leges, whatever may have been the force subse-
quently attached to the word, as expressing the
most solemn form of ecclesiastical excommuni-
cation. On this point and on the history of the
woi-d in general, the reader is referred to Light-
foot on Galatians ; Thorndike, vol. ii. 338 ; Bp.
Jeremy Taylor (Buctor Luhitantium) ; J. Light-
foot, Be Anathemate Maranatha. [D. B.]
ANATOLIA, martyr, commemorated July 9
{Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ANATOLIUS, bishop, commemorated Julv 3
{Mart. Bom. Vet.). [C.]
ANAXARBE (Synods of), a.d. 431, to con-
firm the deijosition of St. Cyril, and those who
held with him. Another was held there two
years later, as at Antioch, to make peace with
St. Cyril. [E. S. F.]
ANCHOR (AS Symbol). The anchor is an
emblem very frequently used, from the earliest
ages of Christianity, in symbolism. As the anchor
is the hope and often the sole resource of the
sailor, the ancients called it sacred; to weigh
anchor was, " Anchoram sacram solvere." St.
Paul adopts an obvious symbolism, when he
says (Heb. vi. 19) that we have hope as " an
anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast ;" so
that, in its special Christian sense, the anchor
would seem to be an emblem of hope.
By the early Christians we find it used, some-
times with reference to the stormy ocean of
human life, but more often to the tempests and
the fierce blasts of persecution which threatened
to engulf the ship of the Chui-ch. Thus the
anchor is one of the most ancient of emblems ;
and we find it engraved on rings, and depicted
on monuments and on the walls of cemeteries in
the Catacombs, as a type of the hope by which
the Church stood firm in the midst of the storms
which surrounded it. In this, as in other cases,
Christianity adopted a symbol from Paganism,
with merely the change of application.
The symbols on sepulchral tablets often con-
tain allusions to the name of the deceased. The
Chevalier de Rossi {De Monum. IXGTN cxhih. p.
18) states that he has three times found an
anchor upon tituli bearing names derived from
Spes or iXirls ; uj)on the tablet of a certain
ELPIDIVS (Mai, Collect. Vatican, v. 449), and
upon two others, hitherto unpublished, in the
cemetery of Priscilla, of two women, ELPIZVSA
and Spes. In some cases, above the transverse
bar of the anchor stands the letter E, which is
probably the abbreviation of the word 'EAtt^s.
Further, we find the anchor associated with the
fish, the symbol of the Saviour [IX0T5]. It is
clear that the union of the two symbols expresses
" hope in Jesus Christ," and is equivalent to the
formula so common on Christian tablets, " Spes
in Christo," " Spes in Deo," " Spes in Deo
Christo."
The transverse bar below the ring gives the
upper part of the anchor the appearance of a crtix
ansata [Cross] ; and perhaps this form may have
had as much influence in determining the choice
of this symbol by the Christians as the words of
St. Paul. The anchor appears, as is natural, very
frequently upon the tombs of martyrs. (See
Lupi, Sever ae Epitaphium, pp. 136, 137 ; Boldetti,
Osservazioni, 366, 370, &c.; Fabretti, Inscrip-
G
82
ANCYEA
tionum Explic. 568, 569 ; and Martign)-, Diet,
des Antiq. Chre't. s. v. ' Ancre.') [C]
ANCYEA. — Two synods of Ancyra are re-
corded ; the first of which stands at the head of
those provincial synods whose canons form part
of the code of the universal Church. It was
held under Vitalis of Antioch, who signs first ;
and of the 18 bishops composing it, several
attended the Nicene Council subsequently.
Twenty-five canons \yere passed, about half of
which relate to the lapsed, and the rest to dis-
cipline generally (v. Beveridge, Synod, ii. ad L).
The date usually assigned to it is A.D. 314.
Another synod met there, A.D. 358, composed
of semi-Arians. They condemned the second
Synod of Sirmium, accepted the term homoi-
ousion,, and published 12 anathemas against all
who rejected it, together with a long synodical
letter. Another synod of semi-Arians was held
there, A.D. 375, at which Hipsius, Bishop of
Parnassus, was deposed. [E. S. F.]
ANCYEA, THE SEVEN VIEGINS OF,
are commemorated by the Armenian Chiirch on
June 20, as fellow-martyrs with Theodotion, or
Theodorus, of Salatia, the first Bishop of Ancyra
of whom we have an}' account. (Neale, Eastern
Church, Introd. p. 800.) [C]
ANDEGAVENSE CONCILIUM. [.An-
gers, Council of.]
ANDELAENSE CONCILIUM. [Axde-
LOT, Council of.]
ANDELOT, COUNCIL OF (Andelaense
CONCiLiUJi), near Langres ; summoned by Gun-
tram, King of Orleans (at a meeting to ratify a
compact, also made at Andelot, between himself
and Childebert, Nov. 28 or 29, 587), for March 1,
A.D. 588, but nothing further is recorded of it, and
possibly it was never held at all (Greg. Turon.,
Hist. Fr. ix. 20; Mansi, ix. 967-970). [A.W.H.]
ANDOCHIUS or ANDOCIUS, presbyter,
commemorated Sept. 24 (Mart. Hieron.,
Bedae). [C]
ANDEEAS. (1) Martyr, commemorated
Aug. 19 {Mart. Horn: Vet.).
(2) King, Hedar 16 = Nov. 12 (Cal. Ethiop.).
(3) The general, with 2953 companion mar-
tyrs, commemorated Aug. 19 (Cal. Byzant.).
(4) Of Crete, oawixapTvs, Oct. 17 {Cal.
Byz.). [C]
ANDEEW, Saint, Festival of. — As was
natural, the name of the " brother fisherman "
of St. Peter was early held in great honour.
He is invoiced by name as an intercessor in the
prayer "Libera nos " of the Roman Canon, with
the Virgin, St. Peter, and St. Paul; and his
principal festival was anciently placed on the
same level as that of St. Peter himself (Krazer,
De Liturgiis. p. 529). His "Dies Natalis," or
martyrdom, is placed in all the Martyrologies,
agreeing in this with the apocryphal Acta Andreae,
on Nov. 30. It is found in the Calendar of Car-
thage, in whicli no other apostles are specially
commemorated except St. Peter, St. Paul, and
St. James the Great ; and in St. Boniface's list
of Festivals, where no other apostles are named
except St. Peter and St. Paul (Binterim's Eenk-
wiirdigkeiten, v. i. 299). The hymn " Nunc An-
dreae solemnia," for the festival of St. Andrew,
is attributed to Venerable Bede. Proper offices
ANDEEW, SAINT
for the Vigil and Festival of St. Andrew are
found in the Sacramentaries of Leo and Gregory.
In the latter (p. 144) there is a clear allusion to
the Acta (sei; Tischondorf's Acta Apost. Apocry- I
pha, p. 127 ), where it is said that the saint franlily j
proclaimed tiie truth, " nee pendens taceret in j
cruce ; " and in the ancient Liber Responsalis, I
which bears the name of Gregory, is one equally
clear to the same Acta in the words of St. An-
drew's prayer, " Ne me patiaris ab inipio judice ]
deponi, quia virtutem sanctae crucis aguovi " (p. ]
836). A trace of the influence of these same Acta
is found again in the Gallo-Gothic Missal (pro-
bably of the 8th century), jjublished by Mabillon,
in which the " contestatio," or preface {Liturgia
Gall. lib. iii. p. 222), sets forth that the Apostle,
" post iniqua verbera, post carceris saepta, alii- ;
gatus suspendio se purum sacrificium obtulit.
. . . Absolvi se non patitur a cruee . . . turba
. . . laxari postulat justiim, ue ])ereat populus i
line delicto ; interea fundit martyr spiritum." 1
The .■\rmenian Church commemorates St. Andrew '
with St. Philip on Nov. 16. i
The relics of the apostle were translated, pro- j
bably in the reign of Constantius, though some 1
authorities place the translation in that of Con- |
stantine (compare Jerome, c. Vigilant ium, c. 6,
p. 391, who says that Constantius translated the
relics, with Paulinus, Carm. 26, p. 628), to Con- !
stantine's great "Church of the Apostles" at
Constantinople, where they rested with those of
St. Lulce ; the church was indeed sometimes
called, from these two great sunts, the church \
of St. Andrew and St. Luke. Justini in built j
over their remains, to which those of St. Timothy
had been added, a splendid tomb. i
The Martyrologiurn Hieronymi places the trans- i
lation of St. Andrew on Sept. 3, and has a
" Dedicatio Basilicae S. Andreae " on Nov. 3 ; but '
most Martyrologies agree with the Martyro-
logiurn Romanum in placing the translation on
May 9. Several Mai'tyrologies have on Feb. 5 '\
an " Ordinatio Episcopatus Andreae Apostoli," in j
commemoration of the saint's consecration to \
the see of Patras (Florentinus, in Martyrol. \
Hieron. p. 300 ; Baronius, in Martyrol. Romano, \
Nov. 30, p. 502 ; Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. i. 320,
589 ; Binterim's Benkwilrdigkeiten, v. i. 503, fif.).
As was natural in the case of so distinguished
a saint as the first-called Apostle, churches were
dedicated in honour of St. Andrew in early times.
Pope Simplicius (c. 470) is said to have dedicated '■
a basilica at Rome in his honour (Ciampini, Vet. *
Monum. i. 242) ; and somewhat later (c. 500) ' .'
Pope Symmachus converted the " Vestiarium !
Neronis " into a church, which bore the name ^
" S. Andreae ad Crucem." This was not far from ;
the Vatican (Ciampini, De Sacris Aedif. p. 86).
Later examples are frequent.
The representation of St. Andrew with the
decussate cross (X) as the instrument of his -
martyrdom belongs to the Middle Ages. In i
ancient examples he appears, lilie most of the
other apostles, simply as a dignified figure in
the ancient Roman dress, sometimes bearing a
crown, as in a 5th-century Mosaic in the
church of St. John at Ravenna (Ciampini, Vetera i
Momimenta, torn. i. tab. Ixx. p. 235), sometimes
a roll of a book, as in a 9th-century Mosaic
figured by Ciampini (u. s. torn. ii. tab. liii.
p. 162), whei'e he is joined with the favoured
disciples, SS. Peter, and James, and John. [C]
ANDKONICUS
ANDRONICUS. (1) Saint, April 5 {M.
Bcdae).
(2) May 13 {M. Hieron.).
(3) " Apostle," with Junia (Rom. xvi. 7), com-
memorated May 17 {Cal. Byzant.) ; inveution
of their relics, Feb. 22 (75., Neale).
(4) Commemorated Sept. 27 (il/. Hieron.).
(5) "Holy Father," Oct. 9 {Cal. Byzant).
(6) Martyr, commemorated Oct. 10 {Mart.
Hieron.'); Oct. 11 (J/. Rom. Vet.); Oct. 12 (Cal.
Byzant). [C]
ANESIITS, of Africa, commemorated March
31 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ANGARIENSE CONCILIUM. [Sanga-
RiKNSE Concilium.]
ANGELS and ARCHANGELS, in Ciipjs-
TiAN Art. The representations of angels in
Christian art, at various periods, reproduce in
a remarkable manner the ideas concerning them,
which from time to time have, prevailed in the
Church. In one and all, however, we may trace,
though with various modifications of treatment,
an embodied commentary upon the brief but ex-
pressive declaration concerning their nature and
office which is given in the Epistle to the Hebrews
(i. 14). Worship or service rendered unto
God {Xeirovpyia),^ and work of ministration
(Sio/coj'i'a) done on God's behalf to men, these are
the two spheres of angelic operation suggested in
Holy Scripture, and these, under various modifi-
cations ^ curiously characteristic of the successive
ages in which they are found, come before us in
a series of monuments extending from the fourth
to the close of the 14th centui-y.
§ 2. First three Centuries. Existing monu-
ments of early Christian art, illustrative of our
present subject, are, for the first 500 years, or
more, almost exclusively of the West, and, with
one or two doubtful exceptions, all these are of
[ a date subsequent to the " Peace of the Church,"
' under Constantine the Great, and probably, not
I earlier than 400 A.D. As a special interest
attaches to these earliest monuments, it may be
j well here to enumerate them. The earliest of them
[ all, if DAgincourt's judgment {Histoire, etc. vol.
I V. Feinture, PI. vii. No. 3.) may be trusted, is
j a monument in the cemetery of St. Priscilla,"
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS
83
* Heb. i. 14. \eiTOvpyiKoL Trfeu/xara aTrotrreWofxeva et9
SiaKonav. The distinction of the two words noticed
above is lost in our English version. It is well brought
out by Origen, cont. Celsum, lib. v. (quoted by Bingham,
Avtiq., book xiii. cap. lii. J 2, note 2). See this further
illustrated in the description of woodcut in $ 6 below.
•> Absent (almost, if not altogether) fur the first four
centuries (see ^ 2), they subserve purposes of dogma (} 3)
in the 5th century ; they are Scriptural still, but also in
one case legendary (} 4) in the 6th. From that time for-
ward canonical and apocryplial Scripture and mediaeval
legend are mi.\ed up together. We find them imperial
• in character, or sacerdotal and liturgical, as the case may
I be ; while in the later middle ages even feudal notions
! were characteristically mi.xed up with the traditions con-
I ceming them derived from Holy Scripture. (For this last
see Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art, 3rd edit. vol. i.
; p. 95, quoting from II Perfetto Legendario.)
j ' The Abbe' Martigny (^Dictimnaire, &c. in vnc. ' Anges ')
j speaks with evident doubt of the date assigned to this
j fresco. D'Agincourt himself in his description gives no
I particulars a.s to the source from which his drawing was
I derived. Neither earlier nor later antiquaries know any-
thing of its history. And this being so, an unsupported
opinion as to its date, resting on the authority of D'Agin-
dating, as he thinks, from the second century.
It is a representation of Tobias and the angel. !
(This same subject, suggestive of the " Guardian ^
Angel," reappears in .some of the Vetri Autichi, ^
of the 4th and 5th century.) Another fresco of
early but uncertain date in the cemetery of
St. Priscilla (Aringhi, B. S. ii. p. 297) has been
generally interpreted as representing the Annun-
ciation. The angel Gabriel (if such be the inten- ]
tion of the painter) has a human figure, and the
dress commonly assigned to Apostles and other |
Scriptural personages, but is without wings, or ,
any other special designations. With these ,i
doubtful exceptions, no representations of angels,
now remaining, are earlier than the fourth cen- |
tury, and probably not earlier than the fifth. ]
§ 3. Fourth and ffth Centuries. There was an
interval of transition from this earlier period,
the limits of which are indicated by the Council
of Illiberis,'' A.D. 305, on the one hand, and on
the other by the Christian mosaics of which we
first hear ^ at the close of that century, or early
in the nest. The first representation of angels
in mosaic work is supposed (by Ciampinus and I
others) to be that of the Chui-ch of S. Agatha at . J
Ravenna. These mosaics Ciampinus admits to be J
of very uncertain date, but he believes ' them to
be of the beginning of the 5th century. (See his j
Vetera Monumenta, vol. i. Tab. xlvi.) The first j
representations of the kind to which a date can j
with any certainty be assigned, are those in the ij
Church of S. Maria Major at Rome, put up by j
Xystus in. between the years 432 and 440 A.D. |
In those of the Nave of this Church (Ciampini '
V. M. tom. i. Pll. 1. to Ixiv.) various subjects from <
the Old Testament have their place ; and amongst '
others the appearance of the three angels to
Abraham (PL li.) and of the " Captain of the ;
Lord's Hosts" (by tradition the archangel
Michael) to Joshua (PL Ixii.). But on the I
"Arcus Triumphalis"s of this same Church, (
there is a series of mosaics, of the greatest pos-
sible interest to the history of dogmatic theology;
and in these angels have a prominent part.
This series was evidently intended to be an em-
court alone, carries but little weight. The same subject is
reproduced in the Cemetery of SS. Thraso and Satuminus
(Perret, vol. iii. pi. .'jxvi.).
d The 37th canon forbids the painting upon walls the
objects of religious worship and adoration. " Placuit pic-
turas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur et adoratur
in parietibus depingatur." Roman writers, for obvious
reasons, seek to explain away the apparent meaning
of this prohibition. As to this, see Bingham, C. A.,
book viii. cap. viii. } 6.
« PauUinus, bishop of Nola, early in the 5th century,
describes at much length in a letter (Ep. xii.) to his friend
Severus the decorations with which he had adorned his
own church. His descriptions accord closely with some
of the actual monuments (sarcophagi and mosaic pictures)
of nearly contemporary date, which have been preserved
to our own time.
f The form of the Nimbus here assigned to our Lord
seems to indicate a later date.
g By the "triumphal arch" of a Roman church is
meant what will correspond most nearly with the chancel
arch of our own churches. It was full in view of the
asspml)led people on entering the church. And for the
first six centuries (or nearly that time) it was reserved
exclusively for such subjects as had immediate reference
to our Lord ; more particularly to His triumph over sin
and death, and His session as King In heaven. See
farther on this subject Ciampini, V. M. tom. i. p. 193, sqq.
G 2
84
ANGELS AND AltCHANGELS
bodiment in art of the doctrine decreed just
previously in the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 4H1.
The angels represented in the scenes of " The
Annunciation," the Worship of the Magi (see
woodcut'' annexed), and the Presentation in the
Temple, are here made to serve to the declaration
of what had just before been proclaimed, viz. :
that He who was born of Mary was not a mere
man in whom the Word of God might afterward
take up his abode,' but was himself God, as well
as man, two natures united in one person. The
angels throughout are represented as ministering
as it were in homage to a king. Even in the
Annunciation, not Gabriel only is represented,
but two other angels are seen standing behind
the seat on which the Virgin Mary is placed.
Of these Ciampinus rightly saj's, that they are to
be regarded as doing homage to the Woi-d then
become incarnate. " Duo illi .... astant, sive
Gabrielis asseclae, sive Deiparae custodes, aut
potius iucaruato tunc Verbo obsequium ex-
liibentes." They embody, as he observes, the
thought expressed by St. Augustine. "All
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS
angels are created beings, doing service uiito
Christ. Angels could be sent to do Him homage,
(ad obsequium) could be sent to do Him service,
but not to bring help (as to one weak or helpless
in himself) : and so it is written that angels
I ministered to Him, not as pitying one that needed
I help, but as subject unto Him who is Almighty."
I (S. Aug. in Pscil. Ivi.)
[ § 4. Sixth Century. Between 500 a.d. and
600 A.D., the following examples may be cited :
I the triumphal arch of the Church of SS. Cosmas
j and Damianus at Rome (Ciampini T". M. torn. ii.
Tab. XV.) circ. 530 A.D., and fifteen years later the
mosaics of S. Michael the archangel at Ravenna,
ihid. Tab. xvii.). In the apse of the tribune is
a representation of Our Lord, holding a lofty
j cross, with Michael r. and Gabrihel (sic) 1. On
the wall above, the two archangels are again
I seen on either side of a throne, and of one seated
thereon. These two bear long rods or staves,
but on either side are seven other angels (four r.
and three 1.) playing upon trumpets. There is
here an evident allusion to Rev. viii. 2, 6, " I saw
Worship of the Magi, fixm S. Maria Major at Rome.
the seven angels, which stand before God, and to
them were given seven trumpets." Com p.
Ezek. X. 10, Tobit xii. 15, and Rev. 1. 4; iv.
5. (Ciampini V. M. ii., xvii., comp. Tab. xix.)
Michael and Gabriel appear yet again on the
arch of the Tribune of S. ApoUinaris in Classe
(ihid. Tab. xxiv.) ; and there are representations
of the four archangels, as present at the Worship
of the Magi, in the S. ApoUinaris Kovus (ihid.
Tab. xxvii.) towards the close of that century.
To this period also is to be assigned the diptych
of Milan," which is remarkable as containing an
t For further particulars as to this see $ 15 below.
> See Cyril. Alex. Epist. ad Monachos, in which the
patriarch of Alexandria, the chief opponent of Nestorius,
represents In these terms the doctrine condemned at
Ephesus.
k Figured and described in Bngatl, Memorie di S. Celso
Martire, Append. t<ab. i. and ii. The particular group
above referred to is figured in JIartigny, Dictionnaire, &c.,
under ' Annonciation.' The whole diptych is published
In facsimile of fictile ivory by the Arundel Society.
embodiment (probably the first in Christian art) |
of legends concerning the appearance of Gabriel i
to the Virgin Mary, derived from the Apocryphal j
Gospels.
§ 5. From 600 to 800 A.D. Art monu- ;
ments of this period are but few in number, j
For examples, bearing upon our present subject, ',
see Ciampini V. M. vol. ii. Tabb. xxxi. and J
xxxviii. and D'Agincourt,"" Feinture, tom. v., ,
PI. xvi. and xvii. They contain nothing to call i
for special remark, save that, in the 8th century .!
particularly, the wings of angels become more
and more curtailed in proportion to the body;
a peculiarity which may serve as an indication of
date where others are wanting. One such ex-
ample in sculpture, of Michael and the Dragon, is
referred to below, § 10.
§ 6. Eastern and Greek Representations. Early
monuments of Christian art in the East are un-
^ See also his pi. x. and xii., containing frescoes of lat?
but uncertain date from the catacombs.
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS
fortunately, very rare, the zeal of the Iconoclasts,
and at a later period of Saracens and Turks,
having been fatal to many, which might other-
wise have been preserved. The earliest example
in (jrreek art is a representation of an angel in
a MS. of Genesis in the Imperial Library at
Vienna, believed to be of the 4th or 5th century.
It is figured by Seroux D'Agincourt, Pcintxire,
PL xix. It is a human figure, winged, and with-
out nimbus or other special attributes. The
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 85
tiery sword, etc., spoken of in Gen. iii. is there
represented not as a sword, in the hand of the
angel, but as a great wheel ° of fire beside him.
Next in date to this is an interesting picture of
the Ascension, in a Syriac MS. of the Gospels,
written and illuminated in the year 586 a.d. at
Zagba in Mesopotamia. We have engraved this,
as embodying those Oriental types of the angel
form which have been characteristic of Eastern
and Greek art from that time to this. It
will be seen that the Saviour is here repre-
sented in glory. And the various angelic powers
.appear in three diflerent capacities. Beneath the
feet of the Saviour, and forming as it were
a chariot upon which He rises to Heaven, is what
the Greeks call the Tetramorphon. The head
and the hand of a man (or rather, according to
Greek tradition, of an angel), the heads of an
eagle, a lion, and an ox, are united by wings that
are full of eyes (comp. Ezekiel i. 18). On either
side of these again are two pairs of fiery wheels,
" wheel within wheel," as suggested again by the
description in Ezek. i. 16. These serve as
symbolic representations of the order of angels
known as "thrones" (comp. § 7 below), and of the
cherubim. Of the six other angels, here repre-
sented in human form, and winged, four are min-
istering to Our Lord (^Xiirovpyovvres), either by
active service, as the two who bear Him up in
" Compare the mosaic of the S. Vitalis at Ravenna
(Ciamp. V. M. ii. tab. xix.), in the upper part of whiclj
two angels are seen upholding a mystic " wheel." Ciam-
pinus, apparently without understiinding what was the
symbolism intended, rightly describes it in the words
(p. 72) " duo angeli .... quandam rotam prae manibus
teiieutes."
ANGELS AND AKCHANGELS
their hands, or by adoration, as two others who are
offering Him crowns of victory {crriipavoi). Two
others,''lastly, have been sent on work of ministry
to men (comp. note " above), and are seen, as
St. Luke's narrative suggests, asking of the
eleven disciples, "Why stand ye here gazing
up into heaven?" and the rest. (The central
fio-ure of the lower group is that of the Virgin
jfary.)
§ 7. The Celestial Hierarchy of Dionysius.
The best comment on the picture last described is
to be found in the 'Celestial Hierarchy' of Diony-
sius. The whole number of celestial beings are
to be divided (so he tells us), into three orders, in
each of which a triple gradation is contained. In
the first order are contained the "thrones," the
seraphim and cherubim. And these are con-
tinually in the immediate presence of God, nearer
than all others to Him, reflecting, without inter-
vention of anv other created being, the direct
effulgence of His glory. Next to these, and of
the second order, are dominions, authorities,
powers {Kvpi6T>\Tis, e^ova-iat, Svydfieis), forming
a link between the first and the third order. To
these last (principalities [apx"']i archangels,
and angels) he assigns that more immediate ex-
ecution of the divine purposes in the sphere of
creation, and towards mankind, which in the
belief of religious minds is generally associated
with the idea of angelic agency.
This teaching of Dionysius, regarded as it was
both in East and West as of all but apostolic
authority, has served as a foundation upon which
all the later traditions have been built up. And
this language, with the additional comments
quoted in the next section, will give the reader
the key to much that would be otherwise obscure
in the allusions of Greek fathers, and in the
forms of Greek art.
§ 8. Angels in later Greek Art. The language
of the 'Epfj-riveia Trjs C<^ypa(piKrjs, ° or ' Painter's
Guide' of Panselinos, a monk of Mount Athos in
the 11th century, may be regarded [see under
Apostles] as embodying the unchanging rules of
Greek religious art from the 8th century to the
present time. Taking up the division quoted
above, the writer says, as to the first order, that
"the thrones are represented as wheels of fire,
compassed about with wings. Their wings are
full of eyes, and the whole is so arranged as to
produce the semblance of a royal throne. The
cherubim are represented by a head and two
wings. The seraphim as having six wings,
whereof two rise upward to the head, and two
droop to the feet, and two are outspread as if for
flight. They carry in either hand a hexapteryx, p
inscribed with the words 'Holy, Holy, Holy.'
It is thus that they were seen by Isaiah." Then,
after describing the " Tetramoi-phi," he proceeds
to speak of angels of the second order." These
are dominions, virtues, powers. "These," he
says, "are clothed in white tunics reaching to
the feet, with golden girdles and green outer
robes. 1 They hold in the right hand staves of
" Obtained by M. Didron in MS. at Mount Athos, and
published by bim in a French translation.
p The " flabellum" or " fan" of the Greeks was called
efaTTTe'pvf, as containing the representation of a six-
winged seraph. The " thrones," represented as wheels
(with wings of flame), described by Panselinos, may be
Been in the second of the illustrations of this article.
1 Outer robes. " Ues Stoles vertes," says M. Didron.
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS
gold, and in the left a seal formed thus ^ ."'
Then, of the third order, (principalities, arch-
angels, angels), he writes thus. "These are
represented vested as warriors, and with golden
girdles. They hold in their hands javelins and
axes; the javelins are tipped with iron, as
lances."
§ 9. Attributes of Angels. There are tv^^o
sources from which we may infer the attributes
regarded as proper to angels iu early times ; the
description given of them in the treatise of
Dionysius already quoted, and the actual monu-
ments of early date which have been preserved
to our times. As to these Dionysius writes tha,t
angels are represented as of human form in regard
of the intellectual qualities of man, and of his
heavenward gaze, and the lordship and dominion
which are naturally his. He adds that bright
vesture, and that which is of the colour of fire,
are symbolical of light and of the divine likeness,
while sacerdotal vesture serves to denote their
office in leading to divine and mystical contem-
plations, and the consecration of their whole life
unto God. He mentions, also, girdles, staves or
rods (significant of royal or princely power),
spears and axes, instruments for measurement or
of constructive art (ra yeooixiTpLKo. Kal tskto-
viKo. ffKevT]), among the insignia occasionally
attributed to angels. If, from the pages of
Dionysius, we turn to actual monuments, we find
the exact counterpart of his descriptions. They
may be enumerated as follows : — 1. The human
form. In all the earlier monuments (enumerated
above, §§ 3, 4), angels are represented as men,
and either with or without wings. In this
Christian art did but follow the suggestions of
Holy Scripture. But St. Chrysostom expresses
what was the prevailing (but not the universal)
opinion of early Christian writers, when he says
{De Sacerd. lib. vi. p. 424 D) that although
ano-els, and even God Himself, have ofttimes
appeared in the form of man, yet what was then
manifested was not actual flesh, but a semblance
. assumed in condescension to the weakness of
mankind^ (ou (TapKhs a\iideta aWa crvyKaTa,-
/Bao-is). Both in ancient and in modern art
examples are occasionally found of angels thus
represented as men, without any of the special
attributes enumerated below. 2. Wings. As
heavenly messengers ascending and descending
between heaven and earth, angels have, with a
natural propriety' as well as on Scriptural
But we suspect that in the original he found o-ToXat, a word
which Greek writers never use in the technical sense ot
"Stoles" (the ecclesiastical vestment known as stola in
the West since the Hth century).
r This is what was known in mediaeval times as the
" Signaculum Dei," or Seal of God. Such a seal is repre-
sented in the hand of Lucifer before his fall, in the Horlvs
Ddiciarum, a MS. once in the Library of Strasbourg.
8 With this agrees the language of TertuUian, De Eesur-
rectione Carnis. cap. Ixii. : " Angeli aliquando tanquam,
homines fuerunt, edendo et bibendo, et pedes lavacro por-
rigendo, humanam enim induerunt superficiem, salva
intus substantia propria. Igitur si angeli, Jacti tanquam
homines,in eadem substantia spiritiis permanserunt," &c.,
Similar language reappears in other Latin Fathers.
t Comp. Philo, Quaest. in £xod. xxv. 2n, al tov Oeov
na<T<xi aui-dneis 7rTcpo<i>vovai. t^? ii'o, wp'o? tov Harepa
6Sov vX.xoj^^""' " ""'' e<|..e>evac. And very beautifully
elsewhere he speaks of the angels as going up and down
between heaven and earth, and conveying (SiayveV'
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS
authority," been represented in all ages of the
church as furnished with wings. We may add
that this mode of expressing the idea of ubiquity
and power, as superhuman attributes, had pre-
vailed in heathen art from the earliest times,
and that in East and West alike. Examples of
this in Assyrian art are now familiar to us.
Similar figures are found in Egypt. They were
less common in classical art. Yet Mercury, as
the messenger of the gods, had wings upon his
feet ; and little winged genii were commonly repre-
sented in decorative work, and thence were trans-
ferred (probably as mere decorations) into early
Christian " works of art. As to the number of
these wings, two only are to be found in all the
earlier representations. We do not know of any
example of four, or of six wings, earlier than the
9th century, though the descriptions given in Holy
Scripture of the "Living Creatures" with six
wings, and the four-winged deities of primitive
Eastern art, might naturally have suggested
such representations. As to later representations
of cherubim and seraphim, and the like, see
below, section IL 3. Vesture. The vesture
assigned to angels, in various ages of the Church,
has ever been such as was associated in men's
minds with the ideas of religious solemnity, and
in the later centuries, of sacerdotal ministry. In
Holy Scripture the vesture of angels is described
as white (Matt, xxviii. 3 ; John xx. 12 ; liev. iv.
4; XV. 6),y and in mosaics of the 5th and 6th
centuj-ies, at Rome and Ravenna (where first we
ean determine questions of colour with any
accuracy), we find white vestments generally
assigned to them (long tunic and pallium), ex-
actly resembling those of apostles. But in
mosaics, believed to be of the 7th century (St.
Sophia at Thessalonica)^ angels have coloured
himatia (outer robes) over the long white tunic,
and their wings, too, are coloured, red and blue
being the prevailing tints. And these two
colours had, long ere that time, been recognised
as invested with a special significance, red as the
colour of flame, and symbolical of holy love
(caritas), blue as significant of heaven, and of
heavenly contemplation or divine knowledge.
And in the later traditions of Christian art (from
the 9th century onwards)" these two colours
were as a general rule assigned, red more espe-
cially to the seraphim as the spirits of love, and
blue to the cherubim as spirits of knowledge or
of contemplation ; while the two colours com-
bined, as they often are found, are regarded as
Xovcrai) the biddings of the Father to His children, and
the wants uf the children to their Father.
" See the passages in Fjcodus, Isaiah, and Ezekiel already-
referred to ; and compare the expression in Rev. xiv. 6, of
an angel flying (weroixevoi) there.
^ For examples see Aringhi, /?o?na Subterranea, torn. i.
pp. 323, 615 ; torn. ii. p. 167. Compare p. 29, where similar
figures, without wings, are introduced in an ornamental
design.
y See Ciamplni, V. 31. il. pp. 58 and 64. He speaks of
" tunicae " and " pallia " as being white ; and of " stoles "
(really stripes on the tunic), and wings of violet.
' Texier and PuUan, Byzantine Architecture, pi. xl.
Compare the curious picture of the Holy Family, a bishop
(or other ecclesiastic), and two angels, from Urgub, figured
in plate v., where the robes of the angels are white, their
wings blue and reddish yellow.
" " The distinction of hue in the red and blue angels we
find wholly omitted towards the end of the 15th century "
(Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art).
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 87
suggesting the union of the two qualities of love
and knowledge, the perfection of the angelic
nature. It should be added that the vestments
of angels have not unfrequently such ornament
appended to them as was of ordinary usage from
time to time in ecclesiastical dress, viz., coloured
stripes on the tunic, in the earlier centuries,
afterwards oraria or stoles, and even "omophoria,"
the distinctive insignia of episcopal office in the
East. 4. The Nimbus. In the early Greek MS.
already noticed, § 6, and in one or two early
representations in the catacombs at Rome, angels
are represented without the Nimbus. But from
the middle of the 5th century onward, this orna-
ment is almost invariably assigned to them.
[Nimbus.] 5. The Wand of Power. Only in
exceptional instances during the first eight cen-
turies, are angels represented as bearing anything
in the hand. Three examples may be cited, in
mosaics,'' of the 6th century, at Ravenna, in
which angels attendant on our Lord (see § 3)
hold wands'^ in their hands, which may either
represent the rod of divine power, or, as some
have thought, the " golden reed " — the " mea-
suring reed," assigned to the angel in Rev. xxi.
15, as in Ezek. xl. 3. The representations of
archangels, particularly of Michael, as warriors
with sword, or spear, and girdle, are of later date.
6. Instruments of Music. One early example
has been already referred to (§ 4) of a Ravenna
mosaic, in which the " Seven Angels" are repre-
sented holding trumpets in their hands. In the
later traditions of Christian art, representations
of angels as the " Choristers of Heaven " have
been tar more common, various instruments of
music being assigned to them.
§ 10. Michael. — The archangel Michael is first
designated by name in mosaics of the 5th cen-
tury, at Ravenna (Ciampini, vol. ii. pi. xvii. and
xxiv.). And in other cases where we see two
angels specially marked out as in attendance on
our Lord, we may infer that. Michael and Gabriel
are designated. For the names of these two
alone are prominent in Holy Scripture. And
according to a very ancient tradition, traced back
to Rabbinical belief, perpetuated as many such
traditions were in the East, and thence handed
on to Western Christendom, these two arch-
angels personified respectively"* the judgment
^ Ciampini, T. M. ii. tab. xvii., xix., and xxiv. Com-
pare in his plate xlvi. of vol. i. the mosaic at S. Agatha,
which we believe to be of nearly the same date.
" Jn the church dedicated in the name of the archangel
Michael at Ravenna, in the year 545, an indication of
special honour is given to liim by the small cross upon his
wand, whith is wanting in that of Gabriel (Ciamp. V. M.
ii. tab. xvii.).
d In yet other traditions the mercy of God, and more
particularly His healing grace, is ministered by Raphael,
riiere is great variety in the older Jewish traditions.
According to one (Joma, p. 37, quoted by Biihmer in
Herzog's Encycl.), when the three angels appeared to
Abraham, iVIichael, as first in rank, occupied the central
place, having Gabriel, as second, on his right hand, and
Raphael, as third in rank, on his left. This place on the
right hand of God is elsewhere assigned to Gabriel, as
being the angel of his power (comp. Origen, Trepl apxutv,
i. 8), and to Raphael that on the lelt (near the heart), as
being the angel of His mercy. And again in Pliilo (Qtiaest.
in Gen. iii. 2-1), the two cherubim on either side of ihe
mercy-seat represent respectively the messengers of the
Wrath, and of the Mercy, of the Lord (comp. Exod. xxxiv.
5-7).
8« ANGELS AND AECHANGELS
and the mercy of God, and were therefore fitly
placed, Michael, as the angel of power, on the
right hand, Gabriel, nearer to the heart, on the
left hand. For the special traditions concerning
" St. Michael," his appearances in vision at
Mount Galgano in Apulia, to St. Gregory the
Great on the mole of Hadrian, now the castle of
St. Angela, and to Aubert, Bishop of Avranches
in 706, A.D., at "Mount St. Michel" in Nor-
mandy (to this our own St. Michael's Mount
owes its designation), see Jameson's Sacred and
Legendary Art, pp. 94 sqq. The oldest ex-
ample in sculpture of St. Michael treading under
foot the dragon (see Rev. xii. 7, 8), is on the
porch of the Cathedral of Catana, believed to be
of the 7th century. [Figured above.] Later
pictures often represent St. Michael as the angel
of judgment, holding scales in his hand, in which
souls are weighed.
§ 11. Gabriel (Heb. " Man of God,") as the
messenger more especially of comfort and of good
tidings, occupies a prominent place in the New
Testament, as announcing the birth both of John
the Baptist to Zacharias and of our Lord to the
Virgin Mary. (In apocryphal legend he is repre-
sented as foretelling to Joachim the birth of the
Virgin Maiy.) In the language of Tasso he is
" I'Angelo Annunziatore." Though only twice
(as far as I have observed) designated by name
in early Christian Art (Ciampini, V. M. ii.. Tab.
xvii. and xsiv.), j'et in the various pictures of
the Annunciation, which are many, it is he, of
course, who is to be understood. By a singular
tate, having been regarded by Mahomet as his
immediate inspirer, he is looked upon in many
parts of the East as the great protecting angel
of Islamism, and, as such, in direct opposition to
Michael the protector of Jews and Christians.
§ 12. Raphael (Heb. the Healer who is from
God, or "Divine Healer") is mentioned in the
book of Tobit as " one of the seven holy angels
which go in and out before the glory of the Holy
One," cap. xii. 15. Through the influence of
this beautiful Hebrew story of Tobias and
Raphael, his name became associated in early
times with the idea of the guardian angel. As
ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS
such he is twice figured in tlie Roman catacombs,
and allusions to the same story are frequent
in the Vetri Antichi. [Glass, Christian.] In
mediaeval Greek art the three archangels already
named ai-e sometimes represented together, de-
signated by their initial letters M, r, and P,
Michael as a warrior, Gabriel as a prince, and
Raphael as a priest — the three supporting be-
tween them a youthful figure of our Lord, him-
self represented with wings as the "angelus"
or messenger of the will of God. (Figured iu
Jameson's S. L. A., p. 93.)
§ 13. Uriel. (The Fire of God.) The fourth
archangel, named Uriel in Esdras ii. 4, has be«n
much less prominent in legend and in art than
the three already named." He is regarded as
charged more particularly with the interpreta-
tion of God's will, of judgments and prophecies
(with reference, doubtless, to Esdras ii.). These
"archangels" of Christian tradition are to the
Jews the first four of those "Seven Angels" who
see the glory of God (Tobias sxii. 15); the other
three being Chamuel (he who sees God), Jophiel
(the beauty of God), and Zadkiel (the righteous-
ness of God). But these last three names have
never been generally recognised either in East or
West. And in the first example of the repre-
sentation of these Seven Angels in Christian art
they are distinguished from the two archangels
Michael and Gabriel, who hold wands, while to
the seven, as already noticed, § 4, trumpets are
assigned. (Ciampini, V. M., ii., pi. xvii.)
§ 14. Seraphim and Cherubim. These two
names appear, the first in Isaiah vi. 2 (there only),
and the latter in Exodus xxv. 18, where tuo
are spoken of, and in Ezekiel i. 4-14, who speaks
of four (compare the four " living creatures "
of Rev. iv. 6). They have been perpetuated iu
Sfcrapliim and Clierubim
Christian usage, and the descriptions given of
them in Holy Scripture have been embodied
(those of the cherubim or four " living creatures,"
first, and somewhat later those of the seraphim)
in Christian art from the 5th century onwards.
They were regarded (see above § 9) as the spirits
of love and of knowledge respectively. For fuller
details concerning the two in Holy Scripture see
e From the name ot Uriel being little known, the fourtn
archangel is designated in some mediaeval :
(Jiimcsuii, & and L. AH, i). 92) as " St. Cherubin."
ANGELS OF CHURCHES
'Dictionary of the Bible.' In art they do not
appear as Angel forms, with any special modi-
fication of the ordinary type, as far as we have
observed, in any earlier representation than that
of the Syriac MS. already described and figured.
Later modifications of this oldest type may be
seen in Jameson, S. and L. Art, p. 42 sqq.,
from which the cut given above is taken ;
D'Agincourt, Sculpture, pi. xii. 16 (the diptych
of Eambona, 9th century), Peinture, pi. 1. 3
(Greek MS. of 12th century). Cherubic repre-
sentations of the four " Living Creatui-es" will
be separately treated under Evangelists.
§ 15. The Illustrations to this Article. Great
interest attaches to the mosaic of Xystus IIL,
which forms the first of the illusti-ations to this
article, from its bearing upon the history of
doctrine, . and especially of the cultus of the
Virgin Marv, and as restorations made in the
time of Benedict XIV. (1740-1758) have pro-
duced considerable changes in the mosaic here
figured, it will be well to state the authority
for the present representation. The only pub-
lished picture of the mosaic in its older state
(that here reproduced), is a very rude engraving
in Ciampini, Vetera Monumenta, i. p. 200, Tab.
xlix. In some important particulars of archaeo-
logical detail his engraving varies from the care-
fully drawn and coloured pictures, from which
the illustration above given has been taken. But
in the general arrangement and outline of the
figures the two are in accord. The coloured
drawings of which we speak, form part of a col-
lection (in two large folio volumes) which was
made by Pope Clement XI. when Cardinal
Albano. These, with a number of other volumes
containing classical antiquities of various kinds,
were purchased at Rome by an agent of George IIL,
and are now in the Royal Library at Windsor.
The second of the illustrations (from a Syriac
MS.) is from a photolithograph, reproducing the
outline given by Seroux d'Agincourt, Peinture, pi.
xxvii. That author speaks of it as " caique' sur
I'original," and from a comparison with an exact
copy made from the original by Professor West-
wood, we are able to vouch for the perfect accu-
racy of the present illustration. [W. B. M.]
ANGELS OF CHURCHES— Bishops. It
does not appear that the bishops of the Primitive
Church were commonly spoken of under this
title, nor indeed did it become in later times the
ordinary designation of the episcopal office. In-
stances, however, of this application of it occur
in the earlier Church historians, as, e. g., in So-
crates, who so styles Serapion Bishop of Thomais
(Lib. iv. c. 23). The word Bydel also, which is
Saxon for angel or messenger, is found to have
been similarly employed (see Hammond on Rev.
i. 20). But though no such instances were
forthcoming, it would prove nothing against the
received interpretation, as it may be considered,
of the memorable vision of St. John, recorded in
the first three chapters of the Apocalypse, in
which he is charged to convey the heavenly
message to each of the seven churches through
its " Angel." It should be remembered that
the language of this vision, as of the whole
book to which it belongs, is eminently mystical
and symbolical; the word "Angel," therefore,
as being transferred from an heavenly to an
earthly ministry, though it would very signifi-
ANGELS OF CHURCHES
89
cantly as well as honourably characterize the
office so designated, could yet scarcely be ex-
pected to pass into general use as a title of
individual ministers. By the same Divine voice
from which the Apostle receives his commission
the "mystery" of the vision is interpreted.
" The seven stars," it is declared, " are the
angels of the seven churches; and the seven
candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven
churches." The symbol of a star is repeatedly
employed in Scripture to denote lordship and
pre-eminence (e.g. Num. xxiv. 17). "There shall
come a star out of Jacob," where it symbolises
the highest dominion of all. Again, the actual
birth of Him who is thus foretold by Balaam is
announced by a star (Matt. ii. 2 ; cf. Is. xiv. 12).
Faithful teachers are " stars that shall shine for
ever " (Dan. xii. 3) ; false teachers are " wander-
ing stars " (Jude 13), or " stars which fall from
heaven " (Rev. vi. 13, viii. 10, xii. 4). Hence it
is naturally inferred from the use of this symbol
in the present instance that the "angels" of the
seven churches were placed in authority over
these churches. Moreover, the angel in each
church is one, and the responsibilities ascribed
to him correspond remarkably with those which
are enforced on Timothy and Titus by St. Paul
in the Pastoral Epistles. Again, this same title is
given to the chief priest in the Old Testament,
particularly in Malachi (ii.7), — where he is styled
the angel or messenger of the Lord of Hosts,
whose lips therefore were to keep knowledge,
and from his mouth, as ft-om the oi-acle, the
people were to " seek the law," to receive know-
ledge and dii'ection for their duty. To the chief
minister, therefore, of the New Testament, it may
be fairly argued, the title is no less fitly applied.
By some, however, both among ancient and
modern writers, the word " angel " has been
understood in its higher sense as denoting God's
heavenly messengers ; and they have been supposed
to be the guardian angels of the several churches
— their angels — to whom these epistles were ad-
dressed. It is contended that wherever the
word angel occurs in this book, it is employed
unquestionably in this sense ; and that if such
guardianship is exercised over individuals, much
more the same might be predicated of churches
(Dan. xii. 1). Among earlier writers this inter-
pretation is maintained by Origen (Hom. xiii. in
Luc. and Hom. xx. in Num.) and by Jerome (in
Mich. vi. 1, 2). Of later commentators, one of
its most recent and ablest defenders is Dean
Alfoi-d. But besides the obvious difficulty of
giving a satisfactory explanation to the word
" write " as enjoined on these supposed heavenly
watchers, there remains an objection, not easily
to be surmounted, in the language of reproof and
the imputation of unfaithfulness, which on this
hypothesis would be addressed to holy and sm-
less beings, — those angels of His who delight to
" do His pleasure." So is it observed by Au-
gustine (Ep. 43, § 22) : " ' Sed habeo adversum
te, quod caritatem primam reliquisti.' Hoc de
superioribus angelis did non potest, qui per-
petuam retinent caritatem, unde qui defeceruut
et lapsi sunt, diabolus est et angeli ejus."
By presbyterian writers the angel of the
vision has been variously interpreted : — 1. Of the
collective presbytery ; 2. Of the presiding pres-
byter, which office, however, it is contended was
soon to be discontinued in the Church, because
90
ANGERS
of its foreseen corruption. 3. Of the messengers
sent from the several churches to St. John. It
hardly falls within the scope of this article to
discuss these interpretations. To unprejudiced
readers it will pi'obably be enough to state them,
to make their weakness manifest. It is difficult
to account for them, except as the suggestions of
a foregone conclusion.
On the other hand, as St. John is believed on
other grounds to have been pre-eminently the
organiser of Episcopacy throughout the Church,
so here in this wonderful vision the holy Apostle
comes before us, it would seem, very remarkably
in this special character ; and in the message
which he delivers, under divine direction, to each
of the seven churches through its angel, we
recognize a most important confirmation of the
evidence on which we claim for episcopal govern-
ment, the precedent, sanction, and authority of the
apostolic age. (Bingham, Thorndike, Archbishop
Trench on Epp. to Heven Churches.') [D. B.]
ANGERS, COUNCIL OF (Andegavense
Concilium), a.d. 453, Oct. 4; wherein, after
consecrating Talasius, Bishop of Angers, there
were passed 12 canons respecting submission
of presbyters to bishops, the inability of
" digami " to be ordained, kc. (Slansi, vii. 899-
90'2). [A. W. H.]
ANGLICAN COUNCILS {Concilia Angli-
canci) ; a designation given to English general
councils, of which the precise locality is un-
known; e.g. A.D. 756, one of bishops, presbyters,
and abbats, held by Archbishop Cuthbert to
appoint June 5 to be kej^t in memory of the
martyrdom of St. Boniface and his companions
(Cuthb. ad Lullum, intr. Epnst. S. Bonif. 70 ; Wilk.
i. 144 ; Mansi, xii. 585-590) ; A.d. 797 (Alford),
798 (Spelman), held by Ethelheard preparatory to
his journey to Rome to oppose the archbishopric
of Lichfield (W. Malm. G. P. A. lib. i. ; Pagi ad an.
796, n. 27 ; Mansi, xiii. 991, 992). [A.^Y. H.]
ANIANUS. (1) Patriarch, commemorated
Hedar 20 = Nov. 16 {Gal. Ethiop.).
(2) Bishop ; translation, June 14 {Mart. Bedae,
Ificron.) ; deposition at Orleans, Nov. 17 {M.
Hieron.). [C]
ANICETUS, martyr, commemoi-ated Aug.
12 {Gal. Bijzant.). ' [C]
ANNA, the prophetess, commemorated Sept. 1
(Ado, De Festiv., Martyrol.) ; Jakatit 8 = Feb. 2
{Gal. Ethiop.). [C]
ANNATES ; lit. the revenues or profits of
one year, and therefore synonymous with first-
fruits so far ; but being, in their strict auc
technical sense, a development of the Middle
Ages, the only explanation that can be given of
tiiem here is how they arose. Anciently, the
entire revenues of each diocese were placed in
the hands of its bishop, as Bingham shews (v. 6.
1-3), who with the advice and consent of his
senate of presbyters distributed, and in the
Western Church usually divided them into 4
parts. One part went to himself; a 2nd to his
clergy ; a 3rd to the poor ; a 4th to the mainte-
nance of the fabric and requirements of the
diocesan churches. Of these the 3rd and 4th
were claimants, so to speak, that never died ;
but in the case of the two former, when offices
bscame vacant by death or removal, what was
ANNE
to be done with the stipend attaching to them,
till they were filled up ? Naturally, when en-
dowments became fixed and considerable, and
promotions, from not having been allowed at all,
the rule, large sums constantly fell to the dis-
posal of some one in this way ; of the bishop,
when any of his clergy died or were removed ;
and of whom, when the bishop died or was re- \
moved, by deposition or by translation, as time
went on, but of the metropolitan or primate at
last, though, perhaps, at first of the presbytery ?
And then came the temptation to keep bishop-
rics vacant, and appropriate " the annates," or i
else require them from the bishop elect in return j
for consecrating him. It was but a step further
in the same direction for Rome to lay claim to
what primates and archbishops had enjoyed so '
long, when the appointment of both, so far as
the Church was concerned, became vested in
Rome. But, on the other hand, it is equally :
certain, that had the primitive rule, founded as
it was in strict justice, been maintained intact,
each parish, or at least each diocese, would have
preserved its own emoluments, or, which comes ;
to the same thing, would have seen them applied i
to its own spiritual exigencies in all cases. The 'i
34th Apostolical canon, the 15th of Ancyra, and
the 25th of Antioch, alike testify to the old rule i
of the Church, and to what abuses it succumbed. i
Still, De Marca seems hardly justified in ascrib- ;
ing the origin of annates to direct simonv {De
Concord. Sac. et Imp. vi. 10). [E. S". F.]
ANNE {"Avva, HSn). Mother of the Virgin ;
Mary. July 25 is observed by the Orthodox i
Greek Church as the commemoration of the ''
" Dormitio S. Annae," a Festival with abstinence I
from labour {dpyia). The same day is said to have j
been anciently dedicated to S. Anne in the West |
also, and the feast was probably transferred in the j
Roman Calendar to the 26th (the day on which j
it is at present held) from a desire to give
greater prominence to S. Anne than was possible |
on S. James's Day. In the Greek Calendar, also, i
Joachim and Anna, " 0f OTrart^pss," have a festival '
on Sep. 9, the day following the Nativity of the
Virgin Mary. Both the Armenian and the Greek
Calendars have on Dec. 9a" Festival of the Con- I
ception of the Virgin Mary," or (as it is called
in the latter) 'H (rvWrji\iis ttjs ayias koX deoirpo-
fx-OTopos "Awns, i. e. S. Anne's Conception of
the Virgin, koI yap avr^ 6,TTiKvrj(Ti T'jjr vir\p ;
Koyov Toy Koyov Kv-ficraaau. In the Ethiopic, ,
" Joachim, avus Christi," has April 7 ; and on ,'
July 20 is commemorated the " Ingressus Annae
Matris Mariae in Templum " or " Purificatio '}
Annae." (Daniel's Codex Liturgicus, . tom. iv. ; |
Alt's Kirchenjahr.) There is no evidence of any i
public recognition of S. Anne as a patron saint
until about the beginning of the 6th century, ;
when Justinian I. had a temple built in her '
honour, which is described by Procopius {De j
Aedijic. Justin, ch. iii.) as 'upo-n-peir4s re Kal
ayaarhv oAcos eSos "Avvrj ayia, '' whom," he
adds, "some believe to be ixrjTepa QeoroKov and
grandmother of Christ ; " and we are informed
bv Codinus that Justinian II. founded another in
705.
Her body was brought from Palestine to Con-
stantinople in 740, and her " Inventio Corporis "
was celebrated with all the honour due to a
saint. [C] j
ANNOTINUM PASCHA
ANNOTINUM PASCHA. In the Grego-
rian Liber Eesponsalis, and in some MSS. of the
Sacramentary, following the Dominica in Alhis
(First after Easter), we find an office in Pas-
cha Annotina. That it was not, however, in-
variably on the day following the Octave of
Easter is shown by Martene (quoted by Binterim,
V. i. 246), who found it placed on the Thursday
before Ascension Day in an ancient ritual of
Vienne. And it is mentioned in later autho-
rities as having been celebrated on various days,
as on the Sahbatum m Albis, the Saturday after
Easter-Day.
As to the meaning of the expression there are
various opinions. Natalis Alexander (^Hist. Feci.
Diss. ii. qiiaest. 2), with several of the older au-
thorities, supposed it to be the anniversary of
the Easter of the preceding year. If this anni-
versary was specially observed, when it fell in
the Lent of the actual year it would naturally
be omitted, or transferred to a period when the
Fast was over; for the services of the Fascha
annotinum were of a Paschal character, and con-
sequently unsuited for a season of mourning.
Probably, however, the nature of the Fascha
annotinum is correctly stated by the Micrologus
(c. 56); Annotine Pascha is a term equivalent
to anniversary Pascha ; and it is so called because
in olden time at Rome those who had been bap-
tized at Easter celebrated the anniversary of
their baptism in the next year by solemn ser-
vices. Honorius of Autun, Durand, and Beleth,
give the same explanation, which is adopted by
Thomasius, Martene, and Mabillon. To this call-
ing to mind of baptismal vows the collects of
the Gregorian Sacramentary (p. 82) refer. The
words of the Micrologus, that this was observed in
olden time (antiquitus) seem to imply that even
at the time , when that treatise was written
(about 1100), it had become obsolete (Gregorian
hacram. Ed. Menard, p. 399 ; Binterim's Denk-
wiirdigkeiten, v. i. 245 ft'.). [C]
ANNUNCIATION. [Mary the Virgin,
Festivals of.]
ANOINTING. [Unction.]
ANOVIUS, of Alexandria, commemorated
July 7 {Mart. Hieron.).
ANSENTIUS. Commemorated August 7
{2Iart. Ilieron.). [C]
ANTEMPNUS, bishop, commemorated April
27 {Mart. Micron.). , [C.]
ANTEPENDIUiNI (or Antipendium), a veil
or hanging in ft-ont of an altar. The use of such
a piece of drapery no doubt began at a period
when altars, as that at S. Alessandro on the Via
Nomentana near Rome [Altar], began to be
constructed with cancellated fronts: the veil
hanging in front would protect the interior
from dust and from profane or irreverent curio-
sity. Ciampini {Vet. Man. t. ii. p. 57) says
that in a crypt below the church of SS. Cosmo
e Damiano at Rome there was in his time an
ancient altar " cum duabus columnis ac epistilio
et corona; nee non sub i]iso epistilio anuli sunt
ferrei e quibus vela pendebant." (Compare t. i.
p. 64.)
In the 7th and 8th centuries veils of rich and
costly stuffs are often mentioned in the I.th.
Pontif. as suspended "ante altare," as in the
ANTIMENSIUM
91
case where Pope Leo III. gave to the chu.-ch of
St. Paul at Rome •' velum rubeum quod pendet
ante altare habens in medio crucem de chrysoclavo
et periclysin de chrysoclavo," a red veil which
hangs before the altar, having in the middle
a cross of gold embroidery and a border
of the same. It is possible, however, that in
this and like cases the veil was not attached to
the altar, but hung before it from the ciborium
or from arches or railings raised upon the altar
enclosure. [A. N.]
ANTEKOS, the pope, martyr at Rome,
commemorated Jan. 3 {Mart. Pom. Vet.,
Bedae). [C]
ANTHEM. [Antiphon.]
ANTHEMIUS, commemorated Sept. 26 {Cal.
Armeti.). [C]
ANTHIA, mother of Eleutherius^ comme-
morated April 18 {Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ANTHIMUS. (1) Bishop, martyr at Nico-
media, commemorated April 27 {Mart. Rom.
Vet.).
(2) Presbyter, martyr at Rome, May 11 (7^6.
et Bedae).
(3) Martyr at Aegaea, Sept. 27 {Mart.
R. v.). [C]
ANTHOLOGIUM CAvQoUyiov), a compi-
lation from the Paraclotice, Meuaea, and Horo-
logium, of such portions of the service as are most
frequently required by ordinary worshippers. It
generally contains the olHces fur the Festivals of
the Lord, of the Virgin Mary, and of the prin-
cipal saints who have festivals {riov eopra^o-
fx^vaiv ayioiv) ; and those ordinary offices which
most constantly recur. (Neale, Eastern Church,
Introd. 890.) This book, which was intended to
be a convenient manual, has been so swollen by
the zeal of successive editors, that it has become,
says Leo Allatius, a very monster of a book. {De
Libris Ecclesiasticis Graecorum, p. 89.) [C]
ANTIGONUS, of Alexandria, commemorated
Feb. 26 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ANTIMENSIUM, a consecrated altar-cloth,
"cujus nomiuis ratio haec est, quod ea adhibeant
loco mensae sive altaris " (Bona, De Lebus Lit.
I. XX. § 2). This seems the natural derivation,
especially if, as Suidas says (in Suicer's Thesaurus
s. V.) the word was a Latin one, meaning a table
placed before a tribunal {-Kpo SiKaffTT]piou /cei-
IJ.iv7]). Nevertheless, the Greeks always write
the word avTijxivaiov, and derive it from /xivcros,
a canister (Neale, Eastern Church, Introd. p. 186).
These Antimensia were, and are, consecrated
only at the consecration of a church (Goar's Eu-
cho'logion, p. 648), when a piece of cloth large
enough to form several antimensia was placed on
the altar, consecrated, and afterwards divided
and distributed as occasion required. "Relics
being pounded up with fragrant gum, oil is poured
over them by the bishop, and, distilling on to the
corporals, is supposed to convey to them the
mysterious virtues of the relics themselves. The
Holy Eucharist must then be celebrated on them
for seven days, after which they are sent forth
as they may be wanted " (Neale, u. s. p. 187).
As to the antiquity of these ceremonies it is
difficult to speak with certainty.
Theodore Balsamon (in Suicer, s. v.) says that
these Antimensia were for use on the Tables o/
92
ANTIOCH
Oratories (tcSj/ tvKTnpioov), which were probably
for the most part unconsecrated ; and Manuel
Charitopulus (in Bona, u. s.) says that they were
for use in cases where it was doubtful whether the
altar was consecrated or not. They were required
to be sufficiently large to cover the spot occupied
by the paten and chalice at the time of conse-
cration.
The Syrians do not use these cloth antimensia,
but in their stead consecrate slabs of wood, which
appear to be used even on altars which are con-
secrated (compare the Ethiopic Area [Arca]).
The Syriac Nomocanon quoted by Kenaudot {Lit.
Orient, i. 182) in the absence of an Antimensium
of any kind permits consecration of the Eucharist
on a leaf of the Gospels, or, in the desert and in
case of urgent necessity, on the hands of the
deacons. [C]
ANTIOCH, COUNCILS OF. Cave reckons
only 13 Councils of Antioch between A.D. 252
and 800, at which date the first vol. of his Hist.
Litcraria stops : Sir H. Nicolas as many as 33,
and Mansi nearly the same number. Numbering
them, however, is unnecessary, as there are no
first, second, and third Councils of Antioch as of
Carthage and elsewhere. They may be set
down briefly in chronological order, only three
of them requiring any special notice.
A.D. 252 — under Fabian, against the followers
of Novatus (Euseb. vi. 46).
— 264, 269— On their dates see Mansi i.
1089-91 : both against Paul of Samosata,
who was also Bishop of Antioch after De-
metrian (Euseb. vii. 27-9). For details,
see below.
— 331 — Of Arians, to depose Eustathius,
Bishop of Antioch, for alleged Sabellianism
(Soc. i. 24).
— 339 — Of Arians, to appoint Pistus to the
see of Alexandria, to which St. Athanasius
had just been restored by Coustautine the .
— younger {TAfe of St. Athanasius by his
Benedictine editors).
— 341 — known as the Council of the Dedi-
cation : the bishops having met ostensibly
to consecrate the great church of the
metropolis of Syria, called the " Dominicum
Aureum," the only council of Antioch
whose canons have been preserved (Soc.
ii. 8). For details, see below.
— 345 — Of Arians : when the creed called
the " Macrostiche," from its length, was
put forth (Soc. ii. 18).
— 348 — Of Arians : at which, however,
Stephen, Bishop of Antioch, himself an
Arian, was deposed by order of Constantius
for the monstrous plot organised by him
against the deputies from Sardica (New-
man's Arians, iv. 3, 4).
— 354 — Of Arians : against St. Athanasius.
— 358 — under Eudoxius : rejected the words
Homoousion and Homoiousion equally :
but "without venturing on the distinct
Anomoean doctrine " (Newman's Arians,
iv. 4).
— 361— To authorise the translation of St.
Meletius from Sebaste to Antioch. A
second was held shortly afterwards, by the
same party, to expel him for having made
proof of his orthodoxy.
— 363 — Of semi-Ariaus : addressed a sy-
ANTIOCII
nodical letter to the new emperor Jovian,
as had been done by the orthodox at Alex-
andria. St. Meletius presided, and signed
first (Soc. iii. 25).
A.D. 367— Creed of the Council of the Dedica-
tion confirmed.
— 379 — under St. Meletius: condemned Mar-
cellus, Photinus, and Apollinaris. Ad-
dressed a dogmatic letter to St. Damasus
and the bishops of the West, who had sent
a similar one to St. Paulinas.
— 380 — For healing the schism thera : when
it was agreed that whichever survived —
St. Meletius or St. Paulinus — should be ac-
cepted by all. Here the tSixos or synodical
letter of the Westerns was received (at
least so says De Marca, Explic. Can. V.
Concil. Const. A.D. 381, among his Dis-
sertations). St. Meletius signed first of 146
others. St. Paulinus, apparently, was not
present at all. A meeting of Arians took
place there the same year on the death of
their bishop Euzoius, when Dorotheus was
elected to succeed him (Soc. iv. 35, and
V. 3 and 6).
— 389 — To prevent the sons of Marcellus,
Bishop of Apamea, trom avenging his
murder by the barbarians.
— 391 — Against the Messalians.
— 424 — or, as Mansi thinks (iv. 475) in 418 :
at which Pelagius was condemned.
— 431 — under John of Antioch, condemning
and deposing St. Cyril and five others
(Mansi, 5, li47).
— 432 — under John also ; for making peace
with St. Cyril : after which he in this, or
another synod of the same year, condemned
Nestorius and his opinions.
— 435— Respecting the works of Theodorus
of Mopsuestia and Diodorus of Tarsus
lately translated into Armenian.
— 440 — On the same subject : occasioned by
a letter of Proclus, patriarch of Constanti-
nople.
— 445 — under Domnus : in which a Syrian
bishop named Athanasius was condemned.
— 448 — under Domnus also : when Ibas,
Bishop of Edessa, was accused ; but his
accusers were excommunicated.
— 471 — At which Peter the Fuller was de-
posed, and Julian consecrated in his room ;
then Peter, having been restored by the
usurper Basilicus in 476, was again ejected
by a synod in 478 on the restoration of
Zeno.
— 482 — At which the appointment of Ca-
leiidio to that see was confirmed ; but he
in turn was ejected by the emperor Zeno
in 485, and Peter the Fuller restored, who
thereupon held a synod there the same
year, and condemned the 4th Council.
— 512 — at which Severus was appointed
patriarch.
— 542 — Against Origen.
— 560 — under Anastasius: condemning those
who opposed the 4th Council.
— 781— under Theodoric : condemning the
Iconoclasts.
Of these, the two synods A.D. 264 and 269
against Paul of Samosata were conspicuous both
from the fact that the accused was bishop of the
city in which they were held, and from the novel
ANTIOCH
character of their proceedings. They came to
the steru resolution of deposing him, yet had to
apply to a pagan emperor to enforce their sen-
tence, who, strange to say, did as they requested.
No such case had occurred before : it was the
gravity of their deliberations and the justice of
their decisions tliat caused them to be respected.
With the first of them, as we learn from Eu-
sebius, there were some celebrated names as-
sociated. Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappa-
docia, the well-known advocate for re-baptising he-
retics with St. Cyprian, St. Gregory the wonder-
worker, and Athenodorus his brother, the bishops
of Tarsus and Jerusalem, and others. Dionysius
of Alexandria was invited, but sent excuses on
account of his age ; declaring his sentiments on
the question in a letter addressed to the whole
diocese, without so much as naming the accused,
its bishop. Those who were present exposed his
errors ; but Paul, promising amendment, man-
aged to cajole Firmilian, and the bishops sepa-
rated without passing sentence. At the second
council, having been convicted by a presbyter
named Malcliion, occupying the highest position
in the schools of Autioch as a sophist, he was
cut off from the communion of the Church ; and
a synodical letter was addressed in the name of
those pi'escnt, headed by the bishops of Tarsus
and Jerusalem — Firmilian had died on his road
to the council— and of the neighbouring churches,
to the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, and the
whole Church generally, setting forth all that
had been done in both synods, as well as all the
ftilse teaching and all the strange practices — so
much in harmony with what is attributed to
the sophists of Athens in Plato — for which Paul
had been deposed, also that Domnus, son of
Demetrian, his predecessor in the see, had been
elected in his place. Still, condemned as he had
been, Paul held his ground till the emperor
Aurelian, having been besought to interfei-e, com-
manded that " the house in which the bishop
lived should be given up to those with whom
the bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome com-
municated as regards dogma." This settled his
fate once for all.
The remaining council of Antioch to be spe-
cially noticed is that of the Dedicatio a.d. S-il.
It was attended by 90 bishops, says St. Atha-
nasius, or by 97 as St. Hilary. Of these but 36
are said to have been Arian : yet they carried
their point through Constantius so far as to
substitute Eusebius of Hems for St. Athanasius,
and, on his hesitating, to get George or Gregory
of Cappadocia sent out to be put in possession of
the see of Alexandria without delay.
Not content with this, they got their 12th
canon levelled against those who, having been
deposed in a synod, presume to submit their
case to the emperor instead of a larger synod,
averring that they deserved no pardon, and
ought not ever to be restored again. In this
way the restoration of St. Athanasius to Alex-
andria by Constantine the younger was virtually
declared uncanonical and his see vacant. To
this canon St. Chrysostom afterwards objected,
when it was adduced against him, that it was
framed by the Arians. Lastly, they managed to
promulgate four different creeds, all intended to
undermine that of Nicaea. Yet, strange to say,
the 25 canons passed by tliis council came to be
among the most respected of any, and at length
ANTIPnON
93
admitted into the code of the Universal Church.
They are termed by Pope Zacharias " the canons
of the blessed Fathers;" by Nicholas I, "the
venerable and holy canons of Antioch ; " and by
the Council of Chalcedon " the just rules of the
Fathers." Hence some have supposed two
councils : one of 50 orthodox bishops, or more,
who made the canons ; another of 30 or 40
Arians, who superseded St. Athanasius (Mansi, ii.
1305, note). But canon 12 plainly was as much
directed against St. Athanasius as anything else
that was done there. On the other hand, it laid
down a true principle no less than the rest ; and
this doubtless has been the ground on which
they have been so widely esteemed. Among
them there are five which cannot be passed over,
for another reason. The 9th, for distinctly
proving the high antiquity of one at least of the
Apostolical canons, by referring to it as "the
antient canon which was in force in the age of
our fathers," in connexion with the special
honour now claimed for metropolitans — on which
see Bever., Sijnod. ii. ad loc. — canons 4 and 5, for
having been cited in the 4th action of the Council
of Chalcedon, or rather read out there by Aetius,
Archdeacon of Constantinople, from a book as
"canons 83 and 84 of the holy Fathers ;" and
likewise canons 16 and 17, for having been read
out in the 11th action of the same council by
Leontius, Bishop of Magnesia, from a book as
" canons 95 and 96 ; " being in each case the
identical numbers assigned to them in the code of
the Universal Church, thus proving this code to
have been in existence and appealed to then, and
therefore making it extremely probable, to say
the least, that when the Chalcedonian bishops in
their first canon " pronounced it to be fit and
just that the canons of the holy Fathers made in
every synod to this present time be in full force,"
they gave their authoritative sanction to this
very collection. Hence a permanent and in-
trinsic interest has been imparted to this council
irrespectively of the merits of its own canons in
themselves, though there are. few councils whose
enactments are marked throughout by so much
good sense. [E. S. F.]
ANTIPAS, Bishop of Pergamus, tradition-
ally the " angel " of that church addressed in
the Apocalypse, commemorated April 11 {Cal.
Byzant.). [C]
ANTIPHON— (Gr. 'AvTl(t>wvov: Lat. Anti-
phona : Old English, Antefn, Antem [Chaucer] :
Modern English, Anthem. For the change of
Antefn into Antem, compare 0. E. Stefn [prow]
with modern Stem. French, Antienne.^ "An-
tiphona ex Graeco interpretatur vox reciproca ;
duobus scilicet choris alternatim psallentibus
ordine comniutato." (Isidore, Origines vi. 18.)
There are two kinds of responsive singing used
in the Church ; the Responsorial, when one singer
or reader begins, and the whole choir answers in
the alternate verses ; the present Anglican prac-
tice when the Psalms are not chanted ; and the
Antiphonal (described in Isidore's definition) when
the choir is divided into two parts or sides, and
each part or side sings alternate verses. Of
these forms of ecclesiastical chant we are now
concerned only with the second, the Antiphonal.
We shall endeavour, as brietly as may be, to men-
tion (1) Its origin. (2) The different usages of
the term " Antiphon." (3) Its application in the
94
ANTIPHON
Missal, and in the Breviary; pointing out as
they occur any peculiarity or diti'erence of usage
between the Eastern and the Western Churclies.
I. Its origin may be found in the Jewish
Church. For we read (1 Chron. vi. 31 &c.), that
David divided the Levites into three bands, and
" set them over the service of song in the house
of the Lord, after that the ark had rest. And
they ministered before the dwelling-place of the
tabernacle of the congregation with singing,
until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in
Jerusalem ; and then they waited on their office
according to their order." It appears further
that the sons of the Kohathites, under " Heman a
singer" (v. 33), stood in the centre while the
Gershomites, led by Asaph, stood on the right
hand, and the Merarites, led by Ethan (or Jedu-
thun), on the left. These arrangements, and the
further details given in 1 Chron. xxv. clearly
point to some definite assignment of the musical
parts of the tabernacle and temple worship.
Some of the psalms, moreover, as the xxiv. and
the cxxxiv. appear to be composed for antiphonal
singing by two choirs.
It appears on the evidence of Philo, that this
mode of singing was practised by the Essenes.
Speaking of them he says: "In the first jslace
two choirs are constituted ; one of men, the other
of women. They then sing hymns to the praise
of God, composed in diflerent kinds of metre and
verse — now with one mouth, now wnth anti-
phonal hymns and harmonies, leading, and direct-
lug, and ruling the choir with modulations of
the hands and gestures of the body ; at one time
in motion, at another stationary ; turning in one
direction, and in the reverse, as the case requires.
Then, when each choir by itself has satisfied
itself with these delights, they all, as though
inebriated with divine love, combine from both
choirs into one."
Pliny appears to allude to antiphonal chanting
when, in a well-known passage (JEpist. x. 97), he
says that the Christians sing a hymn to Christ
as God, "by turns among themselves" (secum
invicem).
The introduction of antiphonal singing among
the Greeks is ascribed by an ancient tradition to
Ignatius of Antioch (Socrates, Eccl. Hist. vi. 8),
who saw a vision of antiphonal chanting in
heaven. And this tradition probably represents
the fact, that this manner of singing was early
introduced into Antioch, and spread thence over
the Eastern Church.
We learn from S. Basil that it was general in
his time. He says (Ep. ccvii. ad Cleric. Neo-
ciiesar.) prefacing that what he is going to speak
of are the received institutions in all the churches
(tol vvy KeKparriKSra iQt] izaaais tats rod ©eoD
e/f/cA.7)(riais ffvi'ifiSd eVri Kal (rvjx(puva), " that the
people, resorting by night to the house of prayer
at length, rising from prayer, betake
tliemselves to psalmody. And now, divided into
two parts, they sing alternately to each other
(5ix?l Siavefx-^QivTis, avTii^dWovffiv a.Wi\\ois . .).
Afterwards they commit the leading of the
melody to one, and the rest follow him."
Theodoret {Hist. Ecclss. ii. 19) ascribes the
introduction of antiphonal singing to Flavian
and Diodorus, who, while still laymen, he says,
were the first to divide the choirs of singers into
two parts, and teach them to sing the songs of
David alternately (oSrot irpwroi, Sixfj 5ie\6vres
ANTIPHON
Tovs Twv \paW6i>Twv xofovs, in SiaSoxvi' aSeip
ri]v AaviSiXTji' idiSa^ov fxeXcvSiai/), and then he
adds that this custom, which thus took its rise at
Antioch, spread thence in every direction.
In the Western Church the introduction of
Antiphonal singing after the manner of the Ori-
entals (secundum morem Orientalium), is attri-
buted to S. Ambrose, as S. Augustine says
(Confess, ix. c. 7, § 15), and he gives as a reason,
that the people should not become weary.
A passage, indeed, is adduced from Tertullian
(ad Uxor, ii.), from which it is argued that the
practice of alternate singing was in vogue before
the time of S. Ambrose. It has also been con-
tended that Pope Damasus, or again Caelestiue,
was its originator in the Western Cliurch. As
these opinions do not seem to be generally adopted,
and as the arguments by which they are sup-
ported may easily admit of another interpreta-
tion, it does not appear to be necessary to occupy
space by discussing them here.
II. The word Antiphon, however, has been
used in several diftereut senses.
1. Sometimes it appears to denote the psalms
or hymns themselves, which were sung anti-
phonally. Thus Socrates (Hist. Eccl. vi. 8) calls
certain hymns which were thus sung "Anti-
phonas." When the word is used in this sense
there is generally a contrast expressed or implied
with a " psalmus directus," or "directaneus."
" Psallere cum antiphona" is a phrase much
used in this connexion, to which "psallere in
directum" is opposed. Thus S. Aurelian in the
order for psalmody of his rule, " Dicite Matu-
tinarios, id est primo canticum in antiphona :
deinde directaneum, Judica me Dcus. ... in
antiphonS, dicite hymnum, Splendor paternae
gloriae." It is not quite certain what is meant
by these two expressions ; tae general opinion is
that " psallere cum (or in) antiphoniJ," means to
sing alternately with the two sides of the choir ;
and "psallere directaneum" to sing either with
the whole choir united, or else for one chanter to
sing while the rest listened in silence (this latter
mode of singing, howevei-, is what is usually
denoted by " tractus ;") while some think that
" psallere in " or " cum antiphona" means to sing
with modulation of the voice ; and that " psallere
directaneum" denotes plain recitation without
musical intonation. Thus Cassian (De Instit.
Coenoh. ii. 2), speaking of psalms to be sung in
the night office, says, " et hos ipsos antiphonarum
protelatos melodiis, et adjunctione quarumdam
modulationum ;" and S. Benedict directs that
some psalms should be said " in directum," but
many more "modulatis vocibus." A third
opinion is that "psallere cum antiphona" means
to sing psalms with certain sentences inserted
between the verses, which sentences were called
antiphons, from their being sung alternately
with the verses of the psalm itself. Of this
method of singing we shall speak more fully
presently. In opposition to this sense, " psallere
directum" would mean to sing a psalm straight
through without any antiphon ; and it may be
remarked that the " psalmus directus," said daily
at Lauds, in the Ambrosian office, has no Anti-
phon. The expression " oratio recta " seems also
to be used in much the same sense.
2. The word Antiphona » is also used to denote
» " A distinction is made by liturgical writers betweea
ANTIPHON
a sacred composition, or compilation of verses
from the Psalms, or sometimes from other parts
of Scripture, or several consecutive verses of the
same psalm appropriate to a special subject or
festival. This was suug by one choir, and after
each verse an unvarying response was made by
the opposite choir ; whence the name.
Compilations of this nature are to be found in
the old office books, e.g., in the Mozarabic office
for the dead, where, however, they are called "a
Psalm of David," as being said in the place of
psalms in the Nocturns ; and they have this pecu-
liarity, that each verse (with very few excep-
tions) begins with the same word. Thus the
verses of one such "psalm" all begin with "Ad
te ;" those of another with " Miserere ;" of
another with " Libera ;" of another with " Tu
itomiue," and so on. They are also found in the
Ambrosian burial offices, where they are called
Antiphonae, each verse being considered as a
separate Antiphon, and are headed Antiph. i.
Antiph. ii. and so on. The Canticles, which were
appointed to be said instead of the " Veuite" in
the English state services, there called "hymns,"
and directed to be said or sung " one verse by
the Priest, and another by the Clerk and people"
(j. e. antiphonally), are of this nature.
3. The word " Antiphona" denotes (and this
is the sense in which we are most familiar with
its use), a sentence usually, but by no means
invariably, taken from the psalm itself, and ori-
ginally intercalated between each verse of a psalm,
but which, in process of time, came to be sung,
wholly or in part, at the beginning and end only.
We shall speak more at length on this head pre-
sently.
4. The word "Antiphona" came to denote
such a sentence taken by itself, and sung alone
without connexion with any psalm. These Anti-
phons were frequently original compositions.
(We thus arrive at our common use of the word
anthem as part of an Anglican choral service.)
Antiphons of this description are of common
occurrence in the Greek offices.
As an example take the following from the
office for the taking the greater monastic habit
(toC fj.eyd\ov axhl^oLTOs). In the Liturgy, after
the entrance of the Gospels, the following Anti-
phons {^ AvTi(p(ava) are said : —
Ant. 1 . " Would that I could wipe out with tears the
handwriting of my offences, 0 Lord : and please Thee by
repentance fur the remainder of my life : but the enemy
deceives me, and wars against my soul. 0 Lord, before 1
finally perish, save me.
" Who that is tossed by storms, and makes for it, does
not find safety in this port ? Or who that is tormented
with pain and falls down before it, does not find a cure in
this place of healing? 0 thou Creator of all men, and
physician of the sick, 0 Lord, before 1 finally perish,
save me.
" I am a sheep of Thy rational flock ; and I flee to Thee,
the good Shepherd ; save me the wanderer from Thy fold,
0 God. and have mercy on me."
Then follows " Gloria Patri " and a " Theoto-
kion,"' which is a short Antiphon or invocation
addressed to the B.V.M. as "Theotokos." Then
Antiphon ii., after the model of the first, but in
ANTIPHON
95
antiphona, and antiphonum, the neuter form denoting
antiphons of the nature here described ; and the feminine
a sentence or modulation sung as a prefi.x or adjunct to a
given psalm ' quasi ex opposito respondens.' " — Goar, Euch.
p. 123.
two clauses only. So after another " Gloria "
and " Theotokiou," Antiphon iii. in one clause.
in. We shall now refer to the principal uses
of Antiphons in the services of the Church.
1st. In the Liturg)^, or office of the Mass.
We will take the Greek offices first. In these
(and we will confine ourselves to the two Litur-
gies of SS. Basil and Chrysostom) before the lesser
entrance {i.e. that of the Gospels) 3 psalms, or
parts of psalms are sung with a constant re-
sponse after each verse. These are called re-
spectively the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Antiphon, and
each is preceded by a prayer, which is called the
prayer of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Antiphon respec-
tively.
The Greek liturgical Antiphons consist each of
four vei-sicles with its response, though occasion-
ally, as on Christmas Day, the third Antiphon
has but three ; that " Gloria Patri " is said after
the first and second Antiphons, but not after the
third. (This is doubtless because the office passes
on immediately after the third Antiphon to other
singing with which we are not now concerned.)
In the first Antiphon the antiphonal response
is always the same, and is that given in the
cases quoted ; in the second it varies with the
day to the solemnity of which it has reference ;
it always begins with the words " Save us," and
ends with " Who sing to Thee, Alleluia " {aomov
VIJMs . . . ypaAAovrds ffoi 'AAAijAouta); in the
third it varies likewise with the day, but is not
of so uniform a type. It is, as a rule, the same
as the " Apolyticon," an Anthem which is sung
near the end of the preceding vespers. That
after the "Gloria" in the second Antiphon, in-
stead of repeating the proper response of the
Antiphon "0 only begotten Son and Word of
God," &c., is sung as a response. (This invoca-
tion occurs in the office of the " Typics.")
Other compositions, which are virtually Anti-
phons, are found in Greek offices, and will be
spoken of under their proper heads ; see Conta-
KION, ThEOTOKIOX.
We turn now to the Liturgies of the Western
Church.
The three Antiphons of the Greek Liturgies
correspond both in structure and position with
the single Antiphon of the Western Church.
The chant which the Church uses at the begin-
ning of the Mass is commonly called " Introitus,"
or " Antiphona ad Introitum," from its being
sung Antiphonally when the priest enters upon
the service, or mounts to the altar ; for both ex-
planations are given [Introit], It still retains
its name of " Introitus " in the Roman missal ;
and the word " Introit " is frequently used among
ourselves at the present day with a similar mean-
ing.
In the Ambrosian Liturgy the corresponding
Antiphon was called " Ingressa " for the same
reason ; while in the Mozarabic and Sarum Litur-
gies it was called "Officium." In the Galilean
rite it was called " Antiphona " or " Antiphona
ad praelegendum," or " de praelegere."
The institution of the Antiphon at the Introit
is almost universally ascribed to S. Caelestine,
who was Pope A.D. 422, and who is said to have
borrowed this kind of singing from S. Ambrose,
and to have appointed that the cl. psalms of
David should be sung antiphonally before the
Sacrifice, which was not done previously, but
only the Epistles of S. Paul and the Gospel
96
ANTIPHON
were read, and thus the Mass was conducted.**
In the account given by S. Augustine (de Civ.
Bel, xxii. 8 sub fin.) of a Mass which he cele-
brated, A.D. 425, there is no mention of such an
Introit. After speaking of certain preliminary
thanksgivings (as we should say occasional) for
a recent miracle, he says, " I saluted the people "
when silence was at length established, the
appointed lections of Holy Scripture w^re read
as though that was the beginning of the Mass.
It seems, however, doubtful what we are to
understand by the singing of Psalms thus insti-
tuted by Caelestine — whether an entire Psalm,
varying with the office, was sung, or only cer-
tain verses taken from the Psalms, and used as
an Antiphon. The former opinion is held by
Honorius (Gemma anmae, 87), who says that
" Caelestine appointed Psalms to be sung at the
Introit of the Mass, from which (de quibus)
Gregory the Pope afterwards composed Anti-
phons for the Introit of the Mass with musical
notations (modulando composuit.)" Also by
Priscus in his " Acts of the Popes," and by Cardi-
nal Bona.
The latter opinion is held by Micrologus
(cap. i.), and by Amalarius (De Eccl. Off. in.
5), who, in explaining this addition of Caeles-
tine's, says, "Which we understand to mean
that he selected Antiphons out of all the Psalms,
to be sung in the office of the Mass. For previ-
ously the^Mass began with a lection, which cus-
tom is still retained in the vigils of Easter and
Pentecost."
It has again been argued with much" force that
it was customary to sing Antiphons taken from
the Psalms at the Mass before the time of Caeles-
tine.^ S. Ambrose {de Myst. cap. 8) and the
writer de Sacr. (iv. 2) speak as though the use
of the verse " Introibo," &c., at the Introit were
familiar. So, too, Gregory Nazian. says, When
lie (the priest) is vested, he comes to the altar
saying the Antiphon " I will go unto the altar of
God """(Introibo ad altare Dei). It is also noticeable
that some of the verses said to have been used as
Antiphons in early times differ somewhat from
Jerome's version. This is strong evidence that
the use of Antiphons at the Introit was anterior
to the time of Caelestine. However this may
be, Caelestine may well have so organized or
altered, or developed the custom, as to be called
its inventor. And on the whole the more pro-
bable opinion seems to be that he appointed en-
tire Psal\iis to be sung before the Mass and that
afterwards Gregory the Great selected from them
verses as an Antiphon for the "Introit," and
others for the " Responsory," ^ " Offertory," and
" Communion," which he collected into the book
which he called his Antiphonary. In support of
this view it may be observed that the Respon-
sory &c. (which are really Antiphons, though
the Introit soon monopolized that name) are
often taken from the same Psalm as the Introit.
The form of the Antiphon at the Introit was
as follows. After the Introit, properly so called,
a psalm was sung, originally entire, but after-
•> Liber pontijicalis in vita S. Caclestini. See also the
• Catalogue of the Roman rontiffs, April, vol. i. (Henschen
and Papebroch).
c Vide Radulph. Tungrcns. De Can. Obscrv. prop. 23.
Cassian, Instit. iii. 11.
d Afterwards known as the "Gradual." In the Anti-
phonary it is called " Responsorium gradalo."
ANTIPHOJJ
wards a single verse with " Gloria Patri." The
Introit was then repeated, and some churches
used to sing it three times on the more solemn
days.
The Introit in the Antiphonary of S. Gregory
is taken from the Psalms, with a few exceptions,
which Durandus (Hat. iv. 5) calls " Irregular
Introits." These Introits, taken from other parts
of Scripture, are in all cases followed by their
appointed " Psalmus." There are also a few In-
troits which are not taken from any part of
Scripture. Such is that for Trinity Sunday in
tlie Roman and Sarum missals.
" Blessed be the Holy Trinity, and the undivided
Unity ; we will give thanks to It, fur It has dealt merci-
fully with us."
And that for All-Saints Day in the same Missal.
" Let us all rejoice celebrating the festival in honour
of all the Saints, over whose solemnity the angels rejoice,
and join in praising the Son of God."
These non-scriptural Introits, however, are
mostly, as will be observed, for festivals of later
date, and are not found in Gregory's Antiphonary.
A metrical Introit is sometimes found. Thu.s
in the Roman Missal in Ma.sses, " in Commemora-
tione B.V.M., a purif. usque ad pasch." the
Introit is : —
Salve, sancta Parens, enixa puerpera llegem,
Qui coelum terramque regit in secula seculoruni.e
Psalmus. — Virgo Dei genetrix, quem totus non capit orbis
In tua se clausit viscera factus homo.
Gloria Patri.
Here the " Psalmus " is not from the Psalms,
which is Tery unusual, though this is not a soli-
tary case. That of Trinity Sunday is another.
The lines are the beginning of an old hymn to
the Virgin, which is used in her office in various
Breviaries.
The different Sundays were often popularly
distinguished by the first word of their " Officium,"
or " Introitus." Thus, the first four Sundays in
Lent were severally known as, " Invocavit,"
" Reminiscere," " Oculi," " Laetare." Low Sun-
day as " Quasimodo," and so in other cases.
So too we find week days designated, i.e. Wednes-
day in the third week in Lent called in Missals,
"Feria quarta post Oculi." In rubrical direc-
tions this nomenclature is very frequent.
The Ambrosian " Ingressa " consists of one un-
broken sentence, usually but by no means always,
taken from Scripture, and not followed by a
"Psalmus," or the "Gloria Patri." It is often
the same as the Roman "Officium." It is never
repeated except in Masses of the Dead, when its
form approaches very nearly to that of the Ro-
man " Introitus."
The form of the Mozarabic " Officium " though
closely approaching that of the Roman " In-
troitus" differs somewhat from it. The Anti-
phon is followed by a " versus," corresponding to
the Roman " Psalmus," with the " Gloria Patri,"
before and after which the second clause alone of
the Antiplion is repeated.'
Durandus (Bat. lib. iv. cap. 5) and Beleth (De
Dlv. Off. cap. 35) state that in their time a
Tropus was sung, in some churches, on the more
solemn days before the Antiphon.
e The line is thus given in the Roman and Sarum.
Missals. It was probably read " in secla seclorum." ;
f This is the Roman manner of repeating the "Ke-
sponsories'' at Matins.
ANTIPIION
We now come to that use of Antiphons with
which we are probably most familiar — as sung
as an accompaniment to Psalms and Canticles.
In general terms an Antiphon in this sense is
a sentence which precedes a Psalm or Canticle to
the musical tone of which the whole Psalm or
Canticle is sung, in alternate verses by the oppo-
site sides of the choir which at the end unite in
repeating the Antiphon. This sentence is usually,
but by no means universally, taken from the
Psalm itself, and it varies with the day and
occasion. Originally the Psalm was said by one
choir, and the Antiphon was intercalated between
each verse by the opposite choir : whence the
nime. Ps. 136 (JJonfitemini) and the Canticle
" Benedicite " are obvious examples of this
method of singing. Indeed in Ps. 135 (v, 10-12)
we have very nearly the same words, without
what we may call the Antiphon ("for His mercy
endureth for ever"), which occur in Ps. 136 with
that Antiphon inserted after each clause, and
the " Benedicite " is often recited without the
repetition of its Antiphon after every verse.?
Pss. 42 and 43 (^Quemadmodum and Judica), 80
(Qui regis Israel), and 107 {Confitemini) will at
once suggest themselves as containing an Anti-
phonal verse which is repeated at intervals.
There are many examples of this earlier use of
Antiphons in the Greek Services. For instance :
at Vespers on the " Great Sabbath " (i. e. Easter
Kve), Ps. 82 {Deus stetit) is said with the last
verse, "Arise, 0 God, and judge Thou the earth,
for Thou shalt take all heathen to Thine inheri-
tance," repeated Avith beautiful application, as an
Antiphon between each verse.
Again, in the Office for the Burial of a Priest,
Pss. 23 (Doniinus regit me), 24 (Domini est
terra), 84:(Quam dilecta), are said with ''Alleluia,
Alleluia," •» repeated as an Antiphon between
each verse. Here the three Psalms are called
respectively the first, second, and third Anti-
phons.
It appears that in the Roman Church the same
custom of repeating the Antiphon after each
verse of the Psalm originally prevailed. In an
old mass, edited by Menard, in the Appendix to
the Sacramentary of S. Gregory, we read, " An-
nuente Episcopo, incipiatur psalmus a Cantore,
cum Introitu reciprocante." •
Amalarius, too {De Ordine Antiphonarii, cap.
iii.), speaking of the Nocturns of weekdays, has
the words, " Ex senis Antiphonis quas vicissim
chori per singulos versus repetunt." We have
evidence that this custom was not obsolete (in
places at least) as late as the 10th century, in the
life of Odo, Abbot of Cluny, where we are told
that the monks of that house, wishing to pro-
long the office of the Vigils of S. Martin (Nov.
11), when the Antiphons of the office are short,''
ANTIPHON
97
e E.g. iu the Lauds of the Ambrosian Breviary, and in
a still more compressed form in the Mozarabic Lauds ;
where the word "Benedicite" is omitted from the begin-
1 liing of each verse after the first..
I *> The use of " Alleluia " on this and on similar occa-
j sions of mourning (e.g. during Lent) is different from the
: usage of the Western Church.
I » This seems to point more to the mode of singing the
Introit than Psalms in the daily office.
'' The circumstance of their frequent repetition has
been susrgestcd as a reason why the Antiphons to the
I I'salms in the daily office are, as a rule, so much shorter
; than that at the Introit of the Mass.
, CHRIST. ANT.
and the nights long, till daybreak, used to repeat
every Antiphon after each verse of the Psalms.
W^e find also, in a letter by an anonymous author
to Batheric, who was appointed Bishop of
Eatisbon, A.D. 814 (quoted by Thomasius), the
writer complaining that he has in the course of
his travels found some who, with a view to get
through the office as rapidly as possible, that
they may the quicker return to their worldly
business, recite it " without Antiphons, in a
perfunctory manner and with all haste" ("sine
Antiphonis, cursim, et cum omni velocitate " ).
Theodoret also relates (Hist. Eccl. iii. 10) that
Christians, in detestation of the impiety of
Julian, when singing the hymns of David, added
to each verse the clause, " Confounded be all they
that worship carved images."
A familiar instance of this older use of an
Antiphon is found in the " Reproaches " (" versi-
culi improperii" or " improperia ") of the
Roman Missal for Good Friday.
These are Gregorian : the introductory rubric
as it stands in the Roman Missal is cited, as it is
so precise as to the manner of singing them. It
runs thus : " Versiculi sequentes improperii a
binis alternatim cantantiir, utrosque choro simul
repetente post quemlibet versum Popmle, &c." "'
Sometimes metrical hymns were sung anti-
phonally after this manner. Thus at the " Salu-
tation of the Cross" the verse of the hymn
" Fange lingua," which begins " Crux fidelis," is
sung in the Sarum rite at the beginning, and
after every verse of the hymn, the rubric being —
" Chorus idem repetat post unumquemque versum.
" Crux fidelis inter omnes," &c.
(. . . Sacerdotes cantent hunc versum seqiientem.)
" Pange lingua gloriosi proelium certaminis," &c.
Chorus—" Crux fidelis," &c.
And so on. So also before the Benediction of
the Paschal Candles on Easter Eve, according
to the Sarum rite, the hymn " Inventor rutili "
is sung in the same manner, with the first stanza
repeated antiphonally after each stanza.
A variation of this form of antiphonal inter-
polation is when the interpolated clause itself
varies. The following is a striking example : —
On the morning of Easter Eve in the Greek
office, the following Antiphons (rpoirdpta) are
said with Ps. IIP, "saying" (as the rubric
directs) "one verse ((rTLxof) from the Psalm
after each troparium." These are known as to.
" Blessed art Thou, 0 Lord, 0 teach me Thy statutes.
Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, and walk
in the law of tlie Lord."
"Thou, 0 Christ, the Life, wast laid low in the
grave, and the angelic hosts were amazed, glorifying
Thy condescension "
" Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek
Him with their whole heart"
"0 Life, how is it that Thou dost die? How is it
that Thou dost dwell in the grave? Thou payest the
tribute of death, and raiscst the dead out of Hades."
"For they who do no wickedness walk in His ways."
"We magnity Thee, 0 Jesu the King, and honour
Thy burial, and Thy passion, by which Thou hast sav<>(l
us from destruction."
And so on throughout the whole Psalm.
In the same manner at the burial of- monks,
the blessings at the beginning of the Sermon on
"> The rubricil directions with respect to the " Tnipro-
pcria" in the Mozarabic Missal are very full.
H
98
AXTIPHON
the Mount (oi ixaKapKT/xoC) are recited with a
varying antiphonal clause after each, beginning
from the fifth.
As an example from the Western Church, we
may refer to the following, which belongs to
Vespers on Easter Eve. It is given in S. Gre-
gory's Antiphonary, with the heading Antiph. and
Ps. to the alternate verses.
Antiph. " In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene,
and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." Alleluia.
Ps. " My soul doth magnify the Lord."
Antiph. " And behold, there was a great earthquake, for
the angel of the Lord descended from heaven." Alleluia.
Ps. " And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
And so the Magnificat is sung with the suc-
cessive clauses of the Gospel for the day used as
Antiphons after each of its verses.
The missal Litanies which are said in the Am-
brosian Mass on Sundays in Lent, and the very
beautiful Preces with which the Mozarabic
Missal and Breviary abounds, are so far anti-
phonal that each petition is followed by an un-
varying response. Their consideration, however
interesting, .scarcely belongs to our present
subject.
The repetition of the Antiphon after each
verse was called " Antiphonare." In the old
Antiphonaries we frequently find such directions
as "Hoc die Antiphonamus ad Benedictus" or
simply "Hoc die antiphonamus." The word
" antiphonare " is explained to mean to repeat
the Antiphon after each verse of the Canticle.
The " Greater Antiphons " (i. e. " 0 Sapientia,"
&c.) are directed to be sung at the Benedictus,^
with the rubric, "Quas antiphonamus ab In Sanc-
titate ;" which means that the repetition of the
Antiphon begins from the verse of which those
are the first words.**
At a later period the custom of repeating the
Antiphon after each verse of the Psalm dropped,
and its use was gradually limited to the beginning
and end of the Psalm. A relic of the old usage
still survives in the manner of singing the
" Venite " at Nocturns, in which Psalm the
Antiphon is repeated, either wholly or in part,
several times during the course of the Psalm.
It remained a frequent custom, and more par-
ticularly in the monastic usages, at Lauds and
Vespers on the greater feasts to sing the Anti-
phon three times at the end of Benedictus and
of Magnificat, once before Gloria Patri, once
before Sicut erat, and once again at the conclu-
sion of the whole. This seems to have been the
general use of the Church of Tours; and the
Church of Rome retained the practice in the
12th century, at least in certain offices of the
festivals of the Nativity, the Epiphany, and S.
Peter. It was called " Antiphonam triumphare,"
which is explained by Martene (^De Ant. EccL
Bit. iv. 4) as " ter fari." Antiphonam levare,^ or
imponere, means to begin the Antiphon.
Other variations in the manner of singing the
Antiphon are mentioned by other writers. Thus
n This differs from the later (and the prespnt) -practice,
according to which these Antiphons are said to the Mag-
nificat at Vespers.
o This is the manner in which the " ixcucapitrfiLoC " men-
tioned above are recited. The first four are followed by
no antiphonal sentence.
p Compare our English use of the word to raise.
ANTIPHON
we are told i that sometimes the Antiphon was
said twice before the Psalm ; or at least, if only •
said once, the first half of it would be sung by ;
one choir, and the second half by the other.
This was called " respondere ad Antiphonam." ■" ;
It appears that this method of singing the j
Antiphon was confined to the beginning and end I
of the Psalm or Canticle. When repeated during ]
the Psalm, the Antiphon was always sung by one
choir, the other taking the verse.
The repetition of the Antiphons was in later
times still further curtailed, and the opening
words only sung at the beginning of the Psalm I
or Canticle, the entire Antiphon being recited at 1
the close. Still later, two or more Psalms were 1
said under the same Antiphon, itself abbreviated i
as just stated. This is the present custom of the \
Roman Breviary. When the Antiphon was taken
from the beginning of the Psalm or Canticle,
after the Antiphon the beginning of the Psalm or ,
Canticle was not repeated, but the recitation was '
taken up from the place where the Antiphon i
ceases. For instance, the opening verses of the
92nd Psalm are said at Vespers on Saturday in
the Ambrosian rite in this manner : —
Ar\t. " Bonuni est." I
Ps. " El psallere nomini Tuo Altissime," &c. |
"Gloria Patri," &c. I
Ant. " Bonum est confiteri Domino Deo nostro."
Where the recitation of the Psalm begins with
the verse following the Antiphon, though the ;
opening words only of the Antiphon are said at
the beginning.
On the more important festivals the Anti- ,
phons at Vespers, Matins, and Lauds (but not at -j
the other hours), were said entire before as well I
as after the Psalms and Canticles. These feasts j
were hence called " double ;" those in which the t
Antiphons were not thus repeated, " simple." j
There are a few peculiarities in the use of
Antiphons to the Psalms and Canticles in the '
Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites which may be
mentioned.
1. The Ambrosian Antiphons are divided into
simple and' double. The simple Antiphons are j
said in the same manner as the Roman Antiphons j
on days which are not " double." They are ]
always so said whatever be the nature of the J
feast. In Eastertide the Antiphon is said entire
before the Psalm, and instead of its repetition
at the end, " Alleluia, Alleluia," is said. ]
The double Antiphons consist of two clauses, j
the second being distinguished by a V. (i. e. ■cersiis), \
and is said entire both before and after the ,
Psalm. The following is a specimen which is
said to be one of the Psalms on Good Friday: — I
Ant. duplex. " Simon, sleepest thou.' Couldest not thou ]
watch with me one hour ?" |
Y. " Or do ye see Judas, how he sleeps not, but hastens |
to deliver Me to the Jews ?"
These double Antiphons occur occasionally and
irregularly on days which have proper Psalms, j
q By Amalarius, De Eccl. Off. iv. 7.
' In the Vatican Antiphonary we find the follnwing
direction on the Epiphany:— "Hodie ad omnes Antiphonas
respondenms," and so in other instances. Jn a MS. of the
church of Rouen the antiphon before and after the " Mag-
nificat " at first Vespers of the Assumption is divided into
four alternate parts between the two sides of the choir,
and after the "Gloria Patri" is again sung by both sides
together.
ANTIPHON
Thus on Wednesday before Easter, out of iiinc
I'salms, one was a double Antiphon ; on Thurs-
day, out often, none, and on Good Friday, out of
eighteen, one ; on Christmas Day, out of twenty-
one, four ; and on the Epiphany, out of twenty-
one, six. Festivals are not divided into " double "
and " simple " as distinguished by the Anti-
phons.
2. The Mozarabic Antiphons are said entire
before as well as after their Psalm or Canticle.
Occasionally two Antiphons are given for the
same Canticle.' They are often divided into two
clauses, distinguished" by the letter P,' in which
case at the end of the Psalm the " Gloria " is in-
tercalated between the two clauses.
Of the nature of the sentence adopted as an
Antiphon little is to be said. It is, for the most
part, a verse, or part of a verse, from the Psalm
it accompanies, varying with the day and the
occasion, and often with extreme beauty of ap-
])lication. Sometimes it is a slight variation of
the verse ; or it is taken from other parts of
Scripture ; sometimes it is an original composi-
tion, occasionally even in verse. E. g. in the
3rd Nocturn on Sundays between Trinity and
Advent in the Sarum Breviary :
To Ps. 19 {Coeli enarrant),
" Sponsus ut e thalamo pi-ocessit Cbristus in orbem :
Descendens coelo jure salutifero."
The Antiphons for the Venite are technically
called the Invitatorta."
The corresponding Antiphons of the Eastern
Church need not detain us, as they are less pro-
minent and important, and present no special
features. They are always taken from the Psalm
itself, and are said after the Psalm only, and are
prefaced by the words Koi TraKiv (and again),
and are introduced before the " Gloria Patri."
Thus Ps. 104- (^Benedic anima mea) is said
daily at Vespers. It is called the proocmiac
Psalm ; and the Antiphon at the end is —
And again.
" The sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest
darkness that it may be night.
" 0 Lord, how manifold are Thy works. In wisdom
hast Thou made them all."
"Glory be," &c. " As it was," &c.
Antiphona Post Evangelium. — An Antiphon
said, as its name indicates, after the Gospel, in
the Ambrosian rite. It consists of a simple un-
broken clause, and is sometimes taken from the
I Psalms or other parts of Scripture ; sometimes
it is composed with reference to the day. One
I example will show its form, that for the C'Am^o-
I phory or return of Christ out of Egypt (Jan. 7).
I " Praise the Lord, all ye angels of His ; praise Him all
His host. Praise Him sun and moon : praise Him all ye
stars and light."
There is nothing corresponding in the Roman
Monastic and Sarum Missals, in which the Gospel
ANTIPHON
99
" We do not feel sure whether in these cases it is in-
tended that both Antiphons be used at once, or a choice
given between the two.
« It does not seem quite clear what this 1'. represents.
Probably it stands for I'salraus.
" The Roman is taken rather than any other Breviai-y
as giving a short form. The Inviiatories of the Sarum
Breviary are nearly the same for the weekdays. Fur
ordinary Sundays there is a greater variety, which would
have made them longer to quote, without adding to the
v.-.liie of the illustration.
is immediately followed by the Greed. In the
Mozarabic office the Lmtda followed the Gospel.
(The Creed, it will be remembered, is sung after
the consecration.)
Antiphona ad Confractioneni Panis. — An Anti-
phon said in the Mozarabic Mass on certain days
at the breaking of the consecrated Host.* It
occurs for the most part during Lent, and in
votive Masses. Also on Whitsunday and on
Corpus Christi. It is usually short and said in
one clause. Thus from the 4th Sunday in Lent
{Mediante die Festo), up to Maundy Thursday
{In coend Domini), and also on Corpus Christi,
it is —
" Do Thou, 0 Lord, give us our meat in due season.
Open Thine hand, and fill all things living with plcn-
teousness."
In the Ambrosian Missal the Confractorium
corresponds to the Antiph. ad Confrac. There
is no Antiphon appointed at the same place in
the Roman and Sarum Missals.
Antiphona in Choro. — An Antiphon said in
the Ambrosian rite at Vespers on certain davs.
It occurs near the beginning of the office, before
the Hymn, and is said on Sundays, and at the
second Vespers of festivals. It is also said at
the first Vespers of those festivals which have
the office not solemn 7 (o'fficium non solemne) and
of some, but not of all, " Solemnities of the Lord."
It is not said at first Vespers of a Solemn Office.
This is the general rule, though there are oc-
casional exceptions. It varies with the days, and
is usually a verse of Scripture, in most cases from
the Psalms, and has no Psalm belonging to it.
Sometimes it is an adaptation of a passage of
Scripture, or an original composition. Thus, on
Easter Day, we have —
Ant. in ch. Hallel. Then believed they His words,
and sang praise unto Him." Hallel.
Antiphona ad Crucem. — An Antiphon said in
the Ambrosian rite at the beginning of Lauds
after the Benedictus. It is said on Sundays
(except in Lent), on Festivals which have the
"Solemn Office" (except they fall on Satur-
day), in " Solemnities of the Lord " (even
though they fliU on Saturday), and during
Octaves. It is usually a verse from Scripture,
but sometimes an original composition with very
much of the character of a Greek Tpundptov, au(i
always ends with Kyr. Kyr. Kyr. (i. e. Kyrie
eleison, sometimes written K. K. K.). It is said
five times, the Antiphon itself is repeated three
times, then follows Gloria Patri, then the Anti-
phon again, then Sicut erat, and then the Anti-
phon once more. On Sundays in Advent, except
the 6th, on Christmas Day, the Circumcision,
and the Epiphany, it is said seven times, i. e., is
repeated five times before the Gloria Patri.
« In the Mozarabic rite the Host after consecration is
divided, as is well known, into nine parts, which are
arranged on the paten in a prescribed order, which it
would be foreign to our present purpose to describe. In
the Eastern Church the Host is broken into four parts by
tlie Piicst, who recites an unvarying form of words. But
this is not an Antiphon, and therefore beyond our pro-
vince.
y Festivals are divided in the Ambrosian rite into i'o-
Icmnities of the Lord (Solemnitates Domini), and those
which have the office solemn (oflicinm solemne), or not
solemn (oflicium non solenme).
IJ 2
100
ANTIPHONAEIUM
Thus on Ascension Day —
Ant. ad cruceni quinquies. " Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven ? As ye have seen Him
go into heaven, so shall He come." Hallel. Kyr. Kyr. Kyr.
" Ye men," &c.
" Ye men," &c.
" Glory be," &c.
" Ye men," &c.
" As it was," &c.
" Ye men," &c.
An Antiphona ad crucem, apparently recited
once only, often occurs in the Antiphonary of
Gregory the Great, after the Antiphons of Ves-
pers or Lauds. The early writers on the offices
of the Koman Church make no mention of it, so
that it was probably peculiar to the monastic
rites, which more readily admitted additions of
this nature. It has been conjectured that the
monastic orders derived it from the Church of
Milan.
Antiphona ad Accedentes or ad Accedendum. —
An Antiphon in the Mozarabic Mass, sung after
the Benediction, and before the Communion of
the Priest. They do not often change. There
js one which is said from the Vigil of Pentecost
to the first day of Lent inclusive, one which is
said from Easter Eve to the Vigil of Pentecost.
In Lent they vary with the Sunday, that for
the first Sunday being said on weekdays up to
Thursday before Easter exclusive. ' The first of
these whiclj is said during the greater part of
the year, is as follows : —
" 0 taste and see how gracious the Lord is." Allel.
AUel. AUel.
V. " 1 will always give thanks unto the Lord. His
praise shall ever be in my mouth." P. Allel. Allel. Allel.
V. " The Lord delivereth the souls of His servants ;
and all they that put their trust in Him shall not be des-
titute." P. Allel. Allel. Allel.
V. "Glory and honour be to the Father, aiid to the
Sou, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end." Amen.
P. Allel. AUel. AUeL
In the Apostolical Constitutions, Ps. 24 (Beue-
dicam), from which this Antiphon is taken, is
appointed to be said during the Communion, as
it is in the Armenian Liturgy during the dis-
tribution of the Azymes.^ (During the com-
munion of the people another Canticle is sung.)
S. Ambrose alluded to the practice in the words
" Unde et Ecclesia videns tantam Gratiam, horta-
tur, Gustate et videte."
The second Antiphon, that used between Easter
and Pentecost, has reference to the Kesurrection.
It is adapted from the words of the Gospel nar-
rative, and we need not quote it.
That for Thursday before Easter is much
longer, and is broken into many more antiphonal
clauses, and is an abstract of the Gospel narra-
tive of the institution of the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper. Those in use during Lent are of
precisely the oi-dinary form.
There is nothing in the other Western Liturgies
which exactly corresponds to this Antiphon.
The Roman and Sarum Communio, and the Am-
brosian Transitorium, which are the analogous
parts of those offices, are said after the Recep-
tion. [H. J. H.]
ANTIPHONARrUM (also Antiphonale, An-
tiphonarius, Antiphonarius liber), an office book
of the Latin Church, containing the Antiphons
' These corresiwnd to the French ;jain bini. [Kulogiae.]
ANTIPHONAEIUM
and other portions of the Service, which were
sung antiphonally.
The name Antiphonarium is applied to such
books by John the Deacon, in his Life of Gregory
the Great, who says that that Pontiff" was the
author of Antiphonaries. The complete collec-
tion, however, of Antiphons and Responsories,
known by the general name of Antipihonariurry
or Eesponsorium, was usually divided into three ,
parts in the Roman Church. i
Amalarius writes : * "It is to be observed
that the volume which we call Antiphonarium
has three names ^ (tria habet nomina) among
the Romans. That part which we term Gradual
(Gradale) they term Cantatory (Cantatorium);
which is still, according to their old custom, in
some churches bound in a separate volume. The
following part they divide under two headings
(in duobus nominibus). The part which contain.^
the Responsories is called the Eesponsorial (Re^
sponsoriale) ; and the part which contains the
Antiphons is called the Antiphonary (Antiphon-
arius)."
As to the name Cantatorium, we find in the
" Ordo Romanus I." (§ 10) the direction :— *
" After he [the Subdeacon] has finished reading
[the epistle], the singer (Cantor), with the Canta-
tory, mounts, <= and sings the Response." And
Amalarius {De Eccl. Off. iii. IG) says: "The
singer holds the Tablets (Tabulas)," where the
word Tabulas is thought to mean the same thing
as Cantatorium, i. e. the book itself.
The derivation of these words is obvious. The
book was called Cantatorium from its containing ;
the parts of the Service which were sung : Oradale, '
Gradalis, or Graduale (Gradual or Graile), from j
their being sung at the steps of the am bo or j
pulpit ; and Tabulae in all probability from the i
plates in which the book was contained, and \
which appear to have been of bone, or perhaps I
horn. Amalarius, in the context of the passage i
quoted, says that the tabulae which the Cantor \
holds are usually made of bone (solent fieri de |
osse). i
By whatever name this book was known, il |
contained those portions of the office of the Mass 1
which were sung antiphonally, and was the first ■
of the three divisions above alluded to. The
second part, the Re sponsoriale, contained the :
Responsories after the lessons at Nocturus ; and
the third part, the Antiphonarium, the Antiphons |
for the Nocturns and diurnal offices. |
The three parts together make up what is ;
generally understood by the Antiphonale or An-
tiphonarium. The book is also sometimes called \
the Official Book, or tlie Office Book (Liber ofii- '
cialis. A MS. of the Monastery of St. Gall, of!
part of an Antiphonary and Responsorial of the •
usual type, is headed " Incipit officialis liber ").
It seems also to have been occasionally called the -'
Capitular Book (Capitulare). In a MS. of St. ;
Gall, of apparently about the beginning of the '
llth century, we find the direction, " Respon- :
soria et Antiphonae sicut in Capitulari habetur ;"
and though, according to the aid Roman use of
words, '■^Capitulare" means the Book of Epistles
and Gospels, the context in this place necessitates i
« De ord. Antiph., Prologus.
b I.e. consists of three parts, as the context shows.
■= i.e. the Ambo or its steps, for the custom would seem
3 have varied.
ANTIPHOlSrAEIUM
the meaning of Antiphonary. The word occurs,
moreover, throughout the MS. in the same
sense.
Antiphonaries are sometimes found in old
MSS. divided into two parts — one beginning
with Advent, and ending with Wednesday or
some later day (for the practice is not uniform)
in the Holy Week, and the other comprising
the rest of the year. Sometimes, again, they
were divided into two parts, containing respect-
ively the services for the daily and the nocturnal
offices. Among the books of the Monastery of
Pisa (Muratori, Ann. Ital. iv.) we meet with
" Antiphonnrios octo, quinque diurnales, tres noc-
turnales," and in an old inventory of the. church
of Tarbes " Antiphonariiim de die " and " Anti-
phonarium de node are mentioned. We have
thus to distinguish between —
(1.) The Antiphonarium (properly so called),
which contained the Antiphons for the Nocturns
and daily office.
(2.) The Liber Responsorialis ct Antiphona-
rius, frequently, and in the Roman Church
usually, called for brevity Antiphonarium, which
comprised the contents of the last-mentioned
hook, together with the Responsories, originally
divided into two distinct parts, but afterwards
united into one, and arranged in order of
sequence.
(3.) The Antiphonarium, otherwise called Gra-
dmle, Gradale, or Gradalis, and which contains
those pqrtions of the missal which are sung anti-
phonally. This is what is called by some Canta-
torium.
Those which are most frequently met with are
of classes 2 and 3,
2. As to the origin of Antiphonaries, — St.
Gregory the Great is, as we have stated, usually
considered to have been the author of Antipho-
naries. It is, however, maintained by some,'' and
with much reason, that as the use of Antiphons
and Responsories in the Roman Church was older
than the time of Gregory, it is likely that books
of Antiphons and Responsories existed likewise
previously, and that that Pontiff merely revised
and rearranged the Antiphonal and Responsorial
books he found in use, much in the same manner
as he recast the old Sacranwntary of Gelasius
into what is now universally known as the Gre-
gorian Sacramentary.
It has been also questioned by some whether
Gregory, the reputed author of Antiphonaries,
may not be Pope Gregory II. A.D. 715. But as
the title of the Great was not ascribed to Gregory
I. till long after his death, ^ the argument founded
on the absence of that title, which is much relied
on, does not seem of great force.
The Roman Antiphonary, substantially, we
may suppose, as Gregory compiled it, was sent
by Pope Adrian I. (a.d. 772-795) to Charle-
magne. The received story is that the Pope
sent two Antiphonaries to the Emperor by two
singers (Cantores) of the Roman Church.^ Of
!these, one fell ill on his journey, and was received
at the Monastery of St. Gall, to which monastery
ANTirHONAEIUM
101
d As by Thomasius, Opera, iv. p. xxxiv.
» In the writings of Bede, Gregory of Tours, &c. &c.,
he is called B. Grrgorius, or Gregorius Papa, or Gre-
goritis EccUsiae Doctor, but not Gregorius Magnus.
f It was after this, according to Thomasius (h'p. i. ad
Schcnk), that the Antiphonary was divided into the luuls
above named.
he left an Antiphonary. The other book reached
its destination, and was deposited at Metz. This
Antiphonary was held in high estimation, as we
learn from St. Bernard, who says that the early
Cistercians, who could find nothing more authen-
tic, sent to Metz to transcribe the Antiphonary,
which was reputed to be Gregorian, for their
use. It is also said that the clergy of Metz
excelled the rest of the Gallic clergy in the
Roman Church song (Romana Cantilena) as much
as the Roman clergy excelled them.
A Roman Antiphonary was also sent by Pope
Gregory IV. (a.d. 827-844) to the then Abbat of
Corbie, whicli was known as the Corbie Anti-
phonary ; and as this often varies from that of
Metz, it is inferred (as is probable) that cei-tain
changes and variations between different copies
had by that time crept into the Antiphonary as
compiled by Gregory,
After the Gregorian Antiphonary was intro-
duced into France, it soon underwent many addi-
tions and modifications.
Walafrid Strabo, who lived in the 9th century,
says that the Church of Gaul, which possessed
both learned men and ample materials for the
divine offices of its own, intermingled some of
these with the Roman offices. Hence a great
variety in the usages of the dift'ereut French
churches, on which we need not touch.
3. As examples of the contents of these books,
we will give a sketch of two.
(1.) The Antiphonary for the Mass, or Gra-
dual, attributed to St. Gregory. This is headed
" In Dei nomine incipit Antiphonarius ordinatus
a St. Gregorio per circulum anni."
This title is followed in the St. Gall MS. by
the well-known lines —
"Gregorius Praesul meritis et nomine dignns,
Unde genus ducit Summum conscendit Honorem," etc.
The book contains the various Antiphons sung
at the Mass for the course of the ecclesiastical
year, divided into two parts ; that for the Sun-
days and moveable feasts, and that for the Saints'
days. The first part, corresponding to the Tem-
porale of the Missals, has no special heading. It
begins with a rule for finding Advent (that it
must not begin before V. Kal. Dec, or aft^r
III. Non, Dec), and then proceeds with the
Sundays and Festivals in their course, beginning
with the first Sunday in Advent (Dom. 1™» de
Adventu Domini), giving for each day the Station,
the Antiphona ad Introitum, with the tone for
the Psalm ; the Eesponsorium Gradale, the Trac'
tus, when it occurs ; the Antiphona ad Offerenda,
and the Antiphona ad Conimunionem,e each with
its verstis ad repetendum, and the last with its
psalm also.
In the arrangement of the year, there is little
to be noticed. The Sundays during the summer
are counted from the Octave of Pentecost, and
are called Dominica prima post Octavos Fente-
costas ; and so on until the 5th, which is called in
some MSS. Dominica prima post Natale Aposto-
lomm}^ the numbering from the Octave of Pente-
cost being likewise continued till Advent. After
six of these Sundays post-Natale, &c., comes
e These are now called respectively the Gradual (Gra-
dualc, or Gradale), the Offertory (Offertorium;, and the
Camnamion (Communio), and the last two are shortened
into a single verse.
h i.e. SS. I'etcr and I'iuil.
102
ANTIPHONAEIUM
Dominica prirrui 2Mst St. Laurentii,' and so on for
six Sundays more, when we come to Dominica
prima post S. Angeli,^ of which last set of Sun-
days seven are provided. Trinity Sunday does
not appear, but the last Sunday before Advent is
called " de SS. Trinitate, [«/.] Dmn. xxiv. post
Octav.-Pentec. ; and the Antiphons are those now
used in the Roman Church on Trinity Sunday,
i.e., the Octave of Pentecost. The Festival of the
Circumcision does not appear, the day being called
Oct. Domini. There is also a second office pro-
vided for the same day, according to an old prac-
tice, called variously In Natal. Sanctae Mariae
t)r De Sancta Maria in Octava D"', or Ad hono-
rem Sanctae Mariae.'"
The offices for Good Friday " ad crucem ado-
randam," and the Reproaches (called here simply
Ad crucem Antiphond) and that for baptism on
Easter Eve, as also Various Litanies and other
occasional additions to the usual office, are found
in their proper places.
The second part is headed " De natalitiis
Sanctorum," and corresponds with the Sanctorale
of later books. It begins with the festival of St.
Lucy [Dec. 13], and ends with that of St. Andrew
[Nov. 30]. This is followed in the St. Gall MS.
by offices for St. Nicholas, the Octave of St.
Andrew, St. Damasus [Dec. 11], and the Vigil of
St. Thomas, and one for the Festival of St. Thomas,
which differs from that previously given. There
are also a variety of occasional and votive offices.
The Festival of All Saints is found in some
MSS. There is one Festival of the Chair of St.
Peter in one of the St. Gall copies on Jan. 18,°
and one in three MSS. on Feb. 22.° There is no
addition in either ease of the words Romae or
Antiochiae, and both are not, it seems, found in
the same MS.
As a specimen of the arrangement, take the
first Mass for Christmas Day, that in media nocte
or in gain cantu.
"VIII. Kalendas Jamiarii
Nativltas Domini nostri Jesu Cbristj;;
Ad Sauctam Mariam.
Antiphona ad Introitum. ■
Doniinus dixit ad me, Filius mens es tu.iEgo Uodie
geuui te. [Dominus dixit.] '. :
Ton. ii. oia, euonae. ' '
Ps.1. Quare fremuerunt gentes? et populi meditati
suntinania? [Dominus dixit] [Gloria^' Dominus dixit]
V' ad repetendum. Postula a me, ef dabo tibi gentes
haereditatem tiiam, et possessionem tuam terminos terrae.
[Dominus dixit.]"
Then follow successively the Eesponsorium
gradale, the Antiphona ad offerenda, and the
Antiphona ad Communionem, each with its
versus, and the last with its psalm and versus ad
repetendum. All these Antiphons are repeated
in the manner whicli has been explained in the
article on Antiphons ; and as they are of the
' i.e. Aug. 10.
^ i.e. Michaelmas, as we should say.
m This has been put forward as an argument for the
Gregorian authorship of this Antiphonary, as it is said
that St. Gregory was in the habit of celebrating two
masses on this day, the second of which was " de Sancta
Maria."
" This corresponds with the present festival of the
Chair of St. Peter at Rtyme.
» This corresponds with the present festival of the
Chair of St. Peter at Antivrh.
ANTIPHONAEIUM
ordinary form, it does not seem necessary to set
them out at length here.
(2.) As an example of an Antiphonary for the,
canonical hours, we will take the Antiphonary of
the Vatican Basilica. It is a MS. with musical
notation differing from that adopted later. It
represents the use of the Roman Church in the
12th century, and may be considered as embody-
ing the substance of the Gregorian Antiphonary,
together with some later additions. It is headed
— " In nomine Domini Jesu Christi incipit Re-
sponsoriale et Antiphonarium Romanae Ecclesiae
de circulo anni juxta veterem usum Canonicorum
Basilicae Vaticanae St. Petri." It begins with a
calendai;, with the usual couplets of hexameters
at the head of each month, and then, without
any further title, proceeds with the Antiphons
at the first Vespers of the first Sunday in Ad-
vent, and thence onwards throughout the course
of the year, giving the Antiphons at Nocturns
and all the hours; and the Responsories after
the lessons at Nocturns. These Antiphons and
Responsories are so nearly the same as those in
the present Roman Breviary that it is unneces-
sary to quote more than the following specimen
of the manner in which they are set out : —
" Dominica i. de Adventu Domini.
Statio ad Sanctam Mariam Majorem ad Praesepe.
Istud Invitatorlum cantamus eo die ad Matutiiiuni
usque in Vigil. Natal. Domini, exceptis Festivitatibus
Sanctorum.
Kegem Tenturum Dominum, venite adoremus. Venite.
In i. Nocturno.
Ant. Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Mariam Virginem
desponsatam Joseph. I'sal. Beatiis vir. Quare fremu-
erunt. Domine quid. Domine ne in.
Ant. Ave Maria, gratia plena, benedicta tu inter muli-
eres. Psal. Domine Deus meus.i Domine Dominus
noster. Confitebor. In Domino confido.
Ant. Ne tinieas Maria, invenisti gratiam apud Domi-
num; ecce concipies et piuies Filium. AUeluja. Psal.
Salvum me fac. Usquequo. Dixit insipiens. Domiue
quis.
V. Ostende nobis Domine misericordiam Tuam.
H. Et salutare Tuum da nobis."
Then follows a long rubric, directing how the
Responsories should be sung, and then the three
well-known Responsories : —
(1) Aspiciens a longe, &c.
(2) Aspiciebam in visu noctis, &c.
(3) Missus est Gabriel, &c.
The lessons are not indicated ; but the Re-
sponsories are usually taken from the book which
is being read in its course. Thus, on the Octave
of Pentecost the Books of the Kings p were
begun ; and we have the rubric, " Historia
Regum cantatur usque ad Kalendas Augusti,"
followed by a series of Responsories taken or
adapted from those books for use during that
time.i
The Antiphons, &c., for ordinary week days
(Feriae) are given after the Octave of the Epi-
phany. On days on which there are nine lessons,
nine Responsories are given. According to the
present Roman custom, the ninth is replaced by
Te Deuni on those days on which it is said.
There is also an Antiphonary of this description
p Including what we call the Books of Samuel.
1 The older Roman custom was to sing in the Octave
of Pentecost and during the following week Respcjnsories
from the Psalms (de Psalmista) after that from the Kings.
ANTISTES
attributed to St. Gregory, which exists at St.
Gall. It is headed by an introduction in verse,
which begins thus —
" Hoc quoque Gregorius Patres de more secutus,
Instauravit opus, auxit et in melius.
His vigili Olerus mentem conamlne subdat
Ordinibus, pascens hoc sua corda favo."
(and so on for 14 lines.)
The MS. bears the heading — "Incipiunt Re-
sponsoria et Antiphonae per circulum anni."
These are in the main identical with those in the
Antiphonary just mentioned, but are arranged
with reference to the monastic distribution of
psalms and lessons.
Towards the end of the Antiphonary is a large
number of Antiphons, given for the Benedicite,
the Benedictus, and the Magnificat respectively.
In a portion of an Antiphonary (" ex vetus-
tissimo codice MS. raembranaceo Palatino signato
num. 487 in Bibliotheca Vaticana, in quo conti-
neutur vetustiores, germanioresque libelli Ordinis
Romani "), containing the service for Easter
week, one or more of the Antiphons to the
psalms for each day is given in Greek, but
written in Roman characters, the others remain-
ing in Latin. Thus at Vespers on Easter Tuesday,
the Antiphon to Ps. cxii. is thus given —
" Alleluja. Piosechete laos mu to nomo mu : clinate to
us liymon is ta rhimata tu stoniatos mu.
V. Anixo en paiabolaes to stoma mu : phthenxomae
pioblemata aparches. " ■■
Those to the other psalms at the same Vespers
are in Latin.
This may suffice to explain the general nature
of Antiphonaries. The consideration of the many
points of interest which their details present is
beyond the scope of this article. [H. J. H.]
ANTISTES.— This title appears to have
been common to bishops and presbyters in the
Early Church. As the name " sacerdos " is com-
mon to both estates in respect of the offices of
divine service which were performed by both,
so in respect of the government of the Church
in which they were associated, we find them
designated alike, sometimes as " Presbyters " as
marking their age and dignity — sometimes in
respect of their " cure " or charge — as " antis-
tites," Trpoeo-TtuTcj, praepositi. Thus in the first
canon of the Council of Antioch, a.d. 341, the
bishop and presbyter are both expressly classed
among the irpoiaTwTes, and the corresponding
title of "Antistites" is evidently extended to
the second order of the ministry by St. Augus-
tine QSenn. 351 de Foenitentid), as follows: " Ve-
niat (peccator) ad antistites, per quos illi in
ecclesia claves ministrantur, et . . . a praepo-
sitis sacramentorum accipiat satisfactionis suae
modum." Here it is plain that "antistites in
ecclesia " are not the bishop alone, but the bishop
and the presbyters. This usage of the word
agrees with that of Archisynagogus in the
Jewish synagogue, and may have been suggested
by it. (Thorndike, Priinitive Government of
Churches, voL i. p. 34.) [D. B.]
ANTONICUS, saint, commemorated April 19
{Mart. Bcdac). [C]
' npoaexfre Aao? ftov Tip voixto /nou ' <cAt'i/aT€ to o8s
v^lav eU TO, piiftara to? crTOjitaTos ixov.
avoi^u) iv irapa^oAats to (TTOjaa /xov, 00tyfo,uat irpo-
^AiijuaTO air' apxfi';.
APOLLONIUS
103
ANTONINA, martyr, commemorated June
10 (Cal. Byzant., Neale). [C]
ANTONINUS. (1) Abbat, Jan. 17 {M.
Hieron.).
(2) Martyr at Nicomedia, May 4 {M. Hieron.).
(3) Martyr at Apamea, commemorated Sept. 2
{Mart. Rom. Vet.) ; Sept. 3 (Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ANTONIUS. (1) The hermit, Jan. 17 {Mart.
Bedae, Cal. Byzant., Armen.).
(2) Martyr at Rome, commemorated Aug. 22
{Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(3) In Piacenza, Sept. 30 {M. Hieron.).
(4) In Caesarea, commemorated Nov. 13
{Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ANYSIA, martyr of Thessalonica, commemo-
rated Dec. 30 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
APER, bishop, commemorated Sept. 15 {Mart,
Bedae, Hieron.). [C]
APOCREOS {'ATr6Kp€ws).—T:he Sunday in
the Orthodox Greek Calendar, which corresponds
to our Sexagesima Sunday, is called KvpiuKrj
'Air6Kpews, because from it the abstinence from
flesh begins, though the more strict observance of
the Lent fast does not commence until the follow-
ing Sunday. [Lent.] The whole of the preceding
week is also named from this Sunday, and is a
kind of carnival. (Daniel, Codex Liiurgicus, iv.
214 ; Suicer, Thesaurus, s. v. 'A.-K6Kpews.) [C]
APODOSIS CAtto'Soo-is).— When the com-
memoration of a Festival is prolonged over several
days, the last day of this period is called in the
Greek Calendar the "Apodosis" of the Festival.
For instance, on the Thursday before Pentecost
is the Apodosis of the Ascension (aTroSi'Sorat ^
'Eoprrj Tijj ' hva\-r]\\/iQis). In this case, and in
some others (for instance, the Exaltation of the
Cross and the Transfiguration) the Apodosis
coincides with the octave ; but this is not always
the case. Sometimes the period is more than an
octave ; Easter-day, for instance, has its Apodosis
on the eve of the Ascension : but generally it is
less ; the Nativity of the Theotokos (Sept. 8), for
instance, has its Apodosis Sept. 12. (Neale's
Eastern Church, Introd. 764 ; Daniel's Codex
Liturgicus, iv. 230.) fC]
APOLLINARIS. (1) Bishop, martyr at
Ravenna, commemorated July 23 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Bedae). Antiphon for Natalis Sancti Apol-
linaris in Liber Antiphon. p. 704.
(2) Commem6rated Aug. 23 {Mart. Bedae).
(3) " Avernus," Sept. 26 {M. Hieron.).
(4) Bishop, Oct. 5 {lb. et Hieron.). [C]
APOLLINARIUS, martyr, commemorated
June 5 {Mart. Bedae). [C]
APOLLONIA, virgin, martyr at Alexandria,
commemorated Feb. 9 {Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
APOLLON, bishop and martyr, commemo-
rated Feb. 10 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
APOLLONIUS. (1) Commemorated March
19 {Mart. Bedae).
(2) Of Egypt, commemorated April 5 {Mart.
Rom. Vet); Dec. U {Gal. Byzant.).
(3) Presbyter, of Alexandria, April 10 {Th. et
Hierun.).
(4) Senator, martyr at Rome, April 18 {!h.
et Bcdac).
104
APOSTASY
' (5) Commemorated July 7 {Mart. Bcdac et
Bieron.).
(6) Gommcmorated Dec. 23 (if. Micron.). [C]
■ APOSTASY (airo(7Ta<ria, apostasia, pracvari-
catid) is of three kinds. 1. Apostasy a fide, or
perfidiae ; 2. Apostasy a religione ; 3. Apostasy
ah ordine suscepto. Of these the two last will
be more appropriately considered under the
articles MoNASTiciSM and Holy Orders.
Apostasy a fide is the voluntary and com-
plete abandonment of the Faith by those who
have been made members of the Church by
baptism. It is voluntary, and herein to be dis-
tinguished from the sin of the lapsed [Lapsi],
who fall away through compulsion or the fear
of death ; it is also complete, and consequently a
graver crime than heresy, which is the denial
of one or more of the articles of the Faith, but
not an entire rejection of the Faith itself. Lastly,
Apostasy is an abandonment of the Faith, and
therefore an offence which could only be com-
mitted by members of the Church, by those
who had in baptism taken the soldier's oath to
■fight under her standard. For this reason apos-
tates were accounted to be betrayers of their
Master's cause, and deserters from the ranks
in which they had sworn to serve. " Praeva-
ricatores eos e.\istimamus, qui susceptam fidem
et cognitionem Dei adeptam relinquunt ; aliud
pollicitos, et aliud nunc agentes " (St. Hilar.
Pict. in Fs. 118, vers. 119).
It would also appear that catechumens were
by some considered capable of committing the
sin of apostasy (Cod. Theod., De AjMstat. xvi. 7, 2),
although their guilt was not so great as that of
the baptized apostate.
Apostates a fide were of two classes : those
who became Jews, and those who became Pagans.
Of the former class there were those who entirely
abandoned the Christian Faith, and who there-
fore were properly called apostates ; and those
who did not altogether reject it, but mingled to-
gether Christianity and Judaism, and, as it were,
made for themselves a new religion. Such were
the Coelicolae, Cerinthiani, Ebionaei, Nazaraei,
Elcesaei, and Samsaei. There were others, again,
who were also called apostates, who, without
embracing any distinctive Jewish doctrines, ob-
served parts of the ceremonial law, such as rest-
ing on the Sabbath, or who kept the Jewish
feasts and fasts, or consulted Jews with the
object of procuring charms for the cure of sick-
ness.
And, secondly, there were those who volun-
tarily abandoned Christianity and returned to
heathenism. And persons, who without going
to this length, accepted the office of flamen, or
who attended sacrifices (except in the discharge
of duty), or joined as actors, stage players, or
charioteers in the heathen games, or who sold
animals or incense for sacrifice, or manufactured
idols and the like, were considered to have be-
trayed their faith and to be guilty of a sin almost
as gi-ave as that of apostasy, and to merit the
name of apostates (Devoti. Inst. Can. iv. 3;
Bingham, Antiq. xvi. 6, 4).
The crime of apostasy was punished in the
same way as heresy, though it ^yas a graver
offence. There are also special enactments in re-
ference to it, both in the qanons of Councils and
in the constitutions of the Christian emperors.
APOSTASY
By the 11th canon of the Oecumenical Council
of Nicaea (a.d. 325), those who had voluntarily
denied Christ, if they gave proof of hearty re-
pentance, were admitted for three years amongst
the audientes. For the next seven years they
were permitted to become substrati, and were
obliged to leave the church at the same time a?
the catechumens. After the expiration of this
term they were allowed to join as consistentes in
the prayers of the taithful ; but two years had
still to elapse before they were permitted
to make oblations, or to partake of the Holy
Eucharist ; then they were said f\de7i> eiri rb
TfAfiov (cf. Beveridge, Fund. Can. Annotationes
in loc, and Bingham, Antiq. viii, 3 ; xviii. 1).
These provisions were an amelioration of the
earlier discipline of the Church, as we learn from
St. Cyprian (a.d. 252). " Apostatae vero et de-
sertores vel adversarii et hostes et Christi Eccle-
siam dissipautes, nee, si occisi pro nomine foris
fuerint, admitti secundum Apostolum possunt
ad ecclesiae pacem, quando nee Spiritus nee Eccle-
siae tenuerunt unitatem " (St. Cyprian, Ep. Iv.
ad fin.).
By the 63rd (or 64th) of the Canons of the
Apostles, clerks who went into synagogues to
pray were deposed and excommunicated ; and if
laymen committed a like offence they were ex-
communicated (on the interpretation of this canon
with regard to the question whether or not clerks
were to be excommunicated as well as deposed,
see Beveridge, Fand. Can. Antwtationes, in loc).
The same punishments were by the 65th (or
66th) canon inflicted on clerks and laymen who
fiisted on the Lord's Day, or upon any Sabbath
Day except the Great Sabbath, Easter Eve ; and
by the 69th (or 70th) canon, those were included
who observed Jewish fasts or feasts, or (canon
70 or 71) who gave oil for consumption in syna-
gogues or heathen temples.
By the 11th canon of the "Concilium Quini-
sextum," or "in Trullo " (a.d. 691 or 692), the
clergy and laity were forbidden — the former under
pain of deposition, and the latter under pain of
excommunication — to eat unleavened bread with
Jews, or to have any friendly intercourse with
them, or to consult them in sickness, or even to
enter the baths in their company.
In Africa, by the 35th canon of the 3rd
Council of Carthage (a.d. 397) " Apostaticis con-
versis vel reversis ad Dominum gratia vel re-
conciliatio non negetur."
In the East, by the 29th canon of the Council
of Laodicea (a.d. 365, according to Beveridge)
Christians were forbidden to Judaize (lovid'c^nv)
under the penalty of anathema. By the 37th
and following canons of the same Council they
were forbidden to be present at Jewish or Pagan
feasts.
In Spain, the Council of f^liberis (a.d. 305 or
306) contains several provisions for the suppres-
sion and punishment of apostasy ; for example,
by the first canon persons of full age, who after
baptism went to a heathen temple and sacrificed
to an idol were refused communion, even at the
hour of death. By the 46th canon of the same
Council apostates who have not been guilty of
idolatry are admitted to communion after ten
years' penance ; by the 49th the blessing of the
fruits of the earth by Jews is forbidden, and
those who allow that ceremony to be performed
are cast out altogether from the Church. Upon
APOSTASY
this canon Hefele (C'o}iciliengeschichte, i. 148) ob-
serves : " In Spain the Jews had become so nu-
merous and powerful during the early ages of the
Christian era that they believed they might ven-
ture to attempt to convert the whole country. . .
There is no doubt that at that period many
Christians in Spain of high standing became con-
verts to Judaism."
Again, by the 59th canon of the 4th Council of
Toledo (a.d. 633), apostate Jews who practise
circumcision are punished ; but (canon 61) their
children, if believers, are not excluded from suc-
cession to their property. The next canon (62)
forbids any intercourse between converted Jews
rnd those who remain in their old faith ; and there
are several other canons which show that apos-
tasy to Judaism was still a prevalent crime in
Spain ; as, for instance, the 64th canon, which
ordains that the evidence of apostate Jews should
not be received in a court of justice.
In the French Councils there are several canons
relating to apostasy. By the 22nd canon of the 1st
Council of Aries (A.D. 314) it was forbidden to
give communion to apostates who sought it in
sicifness, until they were restored to health, and
had exhibited proper evidence of their repent-
ance.
By the 12th canon of the CouncU ofVennes
(a.d. 465) the clergy were forbidden to attend
Jewish banquets or to invite Jews to their own
tables — a prohibition which was repeated in the
40th canon of the Coiincil of Agde (a.d. 506), and
extended to laymen by the 15th canon of the
Council of Epone (a.d. 517), and also by the 13th
canon of the 3rd Council of Orleans (a.d. 538),
and the 15th canon of the 1st Council of Macon
(A. D. 581).
In the collections of the Imperial Law — the
' Codex Theodosianus ' (which was promulgated
A.D. 438) contains various provisions made by the
Christian emperors for the punishment of apos-
tasy. Constantine the Great ordained (a.d. 315)
that apostates to Judaism should suffer " poenas
meritas " (CW. Tlieod. xvi. 8, 1), which were de-
fined by Constantius (a.d. 357) to be the confis-
cation of the property of the offender {Cod.
Theod. xvi. 8, 7). They were deprived by Valen-
tinian the Younger (a.d. 383) of the jus testandi,
but the action upsetting the will had to be
brought within five years of the death of the
testator, and by persons who had not in his
lifetime known of his offence, and remained
silent {Cod. Theod. xvi. 7, 3). Apostates to Pa-
ganism were deprived by Theodosius the Great
(a.d. 381) of thejMs testandi (Cod. Theod. xvi. 7,
1); but another constitution ofthe same emperor,
promulgated A.D. 383, made a distinction be-
tween the baptized (Christiani ac f deles) and
catechumens {Christiani et catechumeni), and the
latter were permitted to execute testamentary
'lispositions in favour of their sons and brothers
german. By this constitution it was further pro-
vided that apostates should not only be unable,
with the foregoing exceptions, to bequeath pro-
perty by will, but should also be incapable of
receiving property under the will of another
person (Cod. Tlieod. xvi. 7, 2). One day later
Valentinian the Younger promulgated through-
out the Western ]£mpire the constitution cited
above, which applied to all classes of apostates
alike {Cod. Theod. xvi. 7, 3). By a constil ution
of the year of I fhs same emperor ordained tliat
APOSTLE
105
baptized apostates professing Paganism should be
deprived of the right of bequeathing by will, of
receiving property under a will, of bearing wit-
ness in a court of justice, and of succeeding to an
inheritance. They were also condemned " a con-
sortio omnium segregari " (on the meaning of
this expression see the note of Godefroi, in toe),
and were dismissed from all posts of civil dignity.
It was also declared that these penalties remained
in force even though the apostate repented of
his sin — " perditis, hoc est sanctum Baptismum
profanantibus, nullo remedio poenitentiae (quae
solet aliis criminibus prodesse) succurritur " {Cod.
Theod. xvi. 7, 4-5). Arcadius (a.d. 396) extended
the power which his father Theodosius the Great
had given to apostate catechumens to make cer-
tain testamentary dispositions, and ordained that
all apostates, whether baj^tized or catechumens,
should have the power to bequeath property to
their father and mother, brother and sister, son
and daughter, and grandson and granddaughter
{Cod. Theod. xvi. 7, 6). The last constitution
contained in the Codex Theodosianus under this
title is a very severe enactment of Valentinian
the Third (a.d. 426), abrogating the provisions
ofthe above-cited constitution of Valentinian the
Younger of the year 323, as tar as it related to
apostates to Paganism. Under its provisions a
person could be accused of apostasy at any time,
although five years may have passed since his
death, and it was immaterial whether the accuser
had or had not been privy to the offence. Apo-
states were also prohibited from disposing of
their property by will and from alienating it by
sale or gift {Cod. Theod. xvi. 7 ult.). The " Para-
titlon " prefixed to this title in the edition of
Godefroi (Leipsic, 1736, «Sjc.) gives a brief but
very useful summary of its contents.
The '• Codex Repetitae Praelectionis " promul-
gated by Justinian in December A.D. 534 contains
a title, " De Apostatis " (Lib. i. tit. 7), the first
four Sections of which relate to this subject, and
consist of extracts from the " Codex Theodosi-
anus."
The first section re-enacts the constitution of
Constantius (A.D. 357), by which the property of
apostate Jews is confiscated {Cod. Theod. xvi. 8,
7). The second section contains that part of the
constitution of Valentinian the younger (a.d.
383), which limits the time in which an accusa-
tion of apostasy could be brought {Cod. Theod.
xvi. 7, 3). In the third section the constitution
of the same emperor (a.d. 391) is re-enactetl,
which is contained in the Codex Theodosianus (xvi.
7, 4), and is cited above. The fourth section re-
peats the enactment of Valentinian the Third
(a.d. 426), by which very severe penalties were
inflicted on apostates {Cod. Theod. xvi. 7 ult.
cited above). It appears, therefore, that the le-
gislation of Justinian was not more tolerant than
that of his predecessors in its treatment of this
offence.
Although beyond the limits of this article, it
may be noted that the title of the Decretals re-
lating to apostasy is the 9th title of the fiftli
book ("De Apostatis et Reiterantibus Baptisma ").
The subject is also considered by St. Thomas
Aquinas {Summa Theol. 2-2, quaestio 12). [I. B.]
Al'OSTATE (aTroo-Tarr/s, apostata, praevari-
cator). See Ai'OSTASr.
APOSTLE {in IIo,jiolo>jj). The word 'Atto
106
APOSTLES
(TToXos is used in the Greek Calondaf to designate
not only those who are called Apostles in the
New Testament, hut the Seventy Disciples and
others who were companions of the Apostles,
strictly so called. It is applied, for instance, to
Agabus, Rufus, Asyncritus, and others, supposed
to be of the Seventy (April 8) ; and to Ananias
of Damascus (Oct. 1). But the Apostles, in the
naiTower sense, are distinguished from others to
whom the title is applied by some epithet or
description. For instance, Nov. 30 is described
as the Festival tov ayioi/ ivdo^ov koX iTav€v(pi)-
fjiov 'AttocttoKov 'AvSpeov tuv npaiTOK\-i)Tov,
K.T.K. ; SS. Peter and Paul are described by
the terms ■irpojTOKopv(paloi, in addition to the
epithets applied to St. Andrew. It is noteworthy
that the Constantinople " Typicum " e.xpressly
forbids St. Peter to be called the Apostle o/\fiome,
APOSTLES
inasmuch as he was a teacher and eulightener ot
the whole world ; and it hints that if any place
is to be connected with his name, it should be
Antioch (Daniel, Codex Lit. iv. 261).
The term 'IffawoaToXos, the equal of the
Apostles, is applied to
1. Bishops supposed to be consecrated by
Apostles ; as Abercius of Hierapolis (Oct. 22).
2. Holy women who were companions of the
Apostles : as Mary Magdalene, Junia, and Thekla.
3. Princes who have aided the spread of the
Faith ; as Constautine and Helena in the Ortho-
dox Greek Church, and Vladimir in the Russian
Church.
4. The first preachers, or " Apostles," of the
Faith in any country; as Nina, in the Georgian
Calendar (Neale, Eastern Church, Introd. p.
7(31). [C]
The Twelve Apostles on thrcnes, with Oar Lord in
APOSTLES IN CHRISTIAN ART. § 1. j
In representations of the Twelve, antecedent to j
the year 1300 a.d. or thereabouts, only slight
variations of treatment are to be observed,
whether in Eastern or in Western monuments.
It will be convenient to speak separately of these
two classes.
§ 2. Of the Eastern and Greek Churches. —
Eastern monuments of an early date are very
limited in number, owing to the destructive zeal,
first of the Iconoclasts, and afterwards, in many
eases, of the Turks. And among these the only
representations of the Twelve Apostles known to
the present writer are the following. In an early
Syriac manuscript of the Gospels written at
Zagba in Mesopotamia in the year 585 A.D., now
in the Library of the Medici at Florence, is a
picture of the Ascension, in which twelve (not
eleven only) Apostles are represented, the Virgin
Mary standing in the midst of them (see this
figured under Angels). Of about the same date
are some mosaics in the church of St. Sophia at
Thessalonica, figured by Texier and Pullan in
their ' Byzantine Architecture,' pi. xl., xli. Se-
parate representations of many of the Apostles
will be found among the illuminations of the
Menologium Graecorum of the emperor Basil.
These, though of considerably later date (10th or
11th century), are all but identical in character
with those above mentioned. Indeed the reli-
gious art of the Greeke, as everything else per-
taining to religion, has been stereotyped once for
all from the close of the 8th century until now.
" Greek art," says M. Didron, " is wholly inde-
pendent of time and place. The painter of the
Morea reproduces at this day art such as it was
at Venice in the 10th century ; and those Vene-
tians again reproduce the art of Mount Athos
four or five centuries before. The costume of
tlie personages represented is everywhere and
at all times the same, not only in shape, but
in colour and drawing, even to the very number
and size of the folds of a dress." For in the eyes
of the Greeks, at all times, religious art has been,
what one of the Fathers of the Seventh General
Council described it — not a matter to be regu-
lated by the inventive power of painters, but by
the prescriptions and tradition of the Church
(Labbe's Concil. torn. vii. col. 831).
§ 3. Early Monuments in the West. — Repre-
sentations of the Apostles in monuments of early
date, still existing in Italy and in France, are
very numerous, and of very various kinds ; as,
for exam jile, in mosaics, frescoes, marble sarco-
phagi, and even in smaller objects of art, such
as vessels of glass or ornaments of bronze. The
principal works in which these are figured or de-
.scribed are enumerated in § 12 below.
APOSTLES
§ 4. Costunw and Insignia. — lu all the early
monuments above referred to, whether of the
East or of the West, in which the Twelve are
represented, almost exactly the same costume
and insignia are attributed to them. Only St.
Peter and St. Paul [see Paul and Pkter below]
have any special attributes. The dress assigned
to them is a long tunic reaching to the feet (with
rare exceptions, which are confined, as far as the
writer knows, to some of the Roman catacombs)
and with a pallium {IfxaTiov) as an outer gar-
ment. The insignia by which they are designated
are a roll of a book (volumen) generally in the
left hand, indicative of their office as Preachers
of the Divine Word, or a chaplet (corona}, also
held in the hand, significant either of the Mar-
tyr's crown, or of what is but a slight variation
of the same idea, the crown of Victory which
the Lord bestows upon them who contend faith-
fully unto the end. The scroll above spoken of
is sometimes replaced by a codex or book of the
more modern form (this latter is generally the
distinctive mark of a bishop). In the mosaics of
St. Sophia at Thessalouica above mentioned (§ 2)
the roll is assigned to some, the codex to others,
while others are represented without either.
[For an example of the codex assigned to an
apostle in Westei-n Art, see Ciampini, Vet. Mon.
torn. ii. tab. xliii., a monument of the 9tli cen-
tury.] They are occasionally represented as seated
on ' thrones ' or chairs of state (see woodcut, p.
106) in reference to their delegated authority
(compai'e Luke xxii. 30) to rule in Christ's name
over the Church. And in one mosaic, probably
of the 5th century, in the church of St. John in
Fonte at Ravenna, all the Twelve wear a kind of
tiara or peaked cap, suggestive of the thought
that the office of the Apostles in the Church
corresponds to that of the High Priest under
the Law. [See further under Tiara.] This
monument is engraved by Ciampini, Vet. Hon.
torn. i. tab. Ixx.
§ 5. Names of the Apostles in early Monuments.
— In early representations of the whole number of
the Twelve the addition of names to each is
of very exceptional occurrence. The only ex-
ample known to the present writer is that of a
mosaic referred to above in the church of St.
John m Fonte at Ravenna. The arrangement
there is a circular one, the figures being so dis-
posed that St. Peter and St. Paul occupy the
principal position, while the names, and figures,
of the rest occur in the following order: An-
dreas— Jacobus — Joannes — Philipus— Bar-
TOLOMEus — Simon — Judas Thadeus— Jacobus
MI — Mateus— Thomas. It will be observed that
the number Twelve is obtained, after insert-
ing the name of St. Paul, by omitting that of
Mathias. This last omission is generally made
in similar enumerations of the Twelve in later
centuries.
§ 6. Mode of representation. — In Western mo-
numents of the first eight centuries (the period
with which we are here principally concerned)
tlie Twelve are almost invariably represented as
standing, or as seated, on either side of our Lord,
who is either figured in His human person, or
(much more rarely) symbolically designated. In
either case He is distinguished from the Apostles
themselves by conventional designations of higher
dignity. And in the case of the Apostles them-
selves symboliciil designations sometimes take the
APOSTLES
107
jilace of any more direct representation, while in
other cases, as on many of the sarcophagi, the
two modes of representation are combined.
§ 7. Direct representation — In many early mo-
numents (see under Paul and Peter) there has
been an evident attempt at portraiture in the
case of the two " chief'est Apostles." Of the rest,
some are represented as of youthful appearance,
and beardless, others as bearded, and of more ad-'
vanced years. But beyond this no special tradi-
tionary rules of representation can be traced in
early monuments.
§ 8. Symbolical designation. — Of the symbols
employed to represent the Twelve, the most
common is that of twelve sheep, adopted (so it
has been thought) with reference to those words
of Our Lord, " Behold I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves." These twelve sheep are
commonly represented six on either side of Our
Lord (personally or symbolically represented),
who is generally seen standing upon a rock,
whence flow four streams. To such a repre-
sentation Paulinus refers (in his Epist. xxxii. ad-
dressed to his friend Severus, bishop of Milevis
in Africa ; Migue, P. C. C. torn. Ixi. p. 366) in
speaking of his own church at Nola in Campania.
He is writing circ. 400 a.d.
".Petram superstat Ipse petra Ecclesiae,
De qua sonori quatuor fontes meant,
Evangelistae, viva Christi flumina."
The two groups, each of six sheep, are generally
represented as issuing from two towers repre-
senting Betnlehem and Jerusalem, the cities of the
birth and the passion of Our Lord, the beginning
and the end, as it were, of that Life upon earth,
of which the Apostles were the chosen witnesses.
Another symbol, founded also, in all probability
on words of Our Lord (" Be ye . » . . harmless as
doves," Watt. x. 16) is that of twelve doves. Pau-
linus, bishop of Nola, in the letter already quoted,
speaks of a mosaic picture on the roof of the apse
of his church, on which was represented, inter
alia, a Cross surrounded with a 'Corona,' a circle
of light, to use his own words, and round about
this Corona the figures of twelve doves, emblem-
atic of the twelve Apostles. Beneath this picture
was the following inscription, descriptive of its
meaning : —
" Pleno coruscat Tiinitas niysterio :
Stat Christus agno ; vox Patris caelo tonat ;
Et per colunibam Spiritus ,-anctus Quit,
Cruoem corona lucido cingit globe,
Cui coronae sunt corona Apostoli,
Quorum figura est in columbarum chore."
A representation " of the Twelve, nearly an-
swering to this description, forms the frieze of an
early sarcophagus preserved in the Museum at
Marseilles, and figured below (after Millin, Voy-
ages, etc. plate Ivi. 6). Yet other symbols are
occasionally used in designation of Apostles, but
these, as being less capable of definite inter])re-
tation, are rather accompaniments of personal
« A. crucifix with twelve doves upon the four portions
of tlie cross ilsolf, in the apse of the church of Kt. Clcniput
at Rome, is of the 13th century. So Didroii, in the Jnnales
Archaeologiniies, torn. xxvi. p. 1 1. This cross is figured by
.\ilcgranza, Spiegazionc, &c., torn. i. p. 118.
108
APOSTLES
representations of the Twelve, than substitutes
for them. Such are palm trees, vines, and other
trees, to which a mystical reference was given
iu Christian art as well as in early Christian
literature. St. Hilary of Poitou, commenting on
Matt. xiii. (the parable of the ' Sinapis ' or Mus-
tard Plant), sees in the seed committed to the
ground, and then springing up therefrom, a type
of Christ, and in the branches of the tree, put
forth by the Power of Christ, and embracing the
whole earth beneath their shade, a type of the
Apostles, branches to which the Gentiles, like
birds of the air, should fly from the world's
troubling storms, and find rest. St. Augustine
uses nearly similar language in reference to the
same parable. {Sermo in Festo S. Laiirentii.~)
And this traditional application aftbrds a pro-
APOSTLES
bable interpretation of the small bush-like trees'"
which are seen associated iu some early frescoes
with figures of Our Lord and the Apostles. The
symbolism of the vine resulted naturally from
the words addressed to His disciples by Our Lord
(" I am the vme : ye are the branches," Joh. xv.
5). The palm-tree, as the recognised symbol of
victory and of triumph, was suggestive of the
same thoughts as those indicated by the victor's
chaplet (corona) which Apostles often bear in
their hands, or have bestowed upon them by a
hand from heaven.
Yet one other symbol may be referred to,
unique of its kind, adopted, so it has been inge-
niously suggested,"^ by some poor man who could
not by any other more elaborate means express the
Christian faith and hope in which he rested. On
the walls of the cemetery of St. Callixtus is an
inscription, in rude characters, much such as
that here given : —
JAAAAAA/^"^ A AA A AAJ
The central letters of the inscription are believed
to represent the A and d, which frequently occur
in early monuments as symbols of Our Lord ;
while the twelve letters on either side signify
the twelve Apostles, who in early monuments,
and especially on sarcophagi, are frequently re-
presented, six on either hand.
§ 9. Later conventional designations of the
different Apostles. — Christian art ' in the West
for the last five centuries, or rather more, has
assigned special attributes to each one of the
Twelve, most of them having reference to late
traditions concerning them, unknown to the early
Church. These traditions, by their late date,
lie beyond the range properly embraced by the
present work. But for the sake of comparison
and contrast with the older representations above
described, it may be well very briefly to notice
them. For fuller particulars, the reader should
consult Didron's Manuel d'Iconographie (see be-
low § 12) and Jameson's Sacred and Legendary
Art.
§ 10. As Anthers of separate Articles of the
Creed. — Probably the earliest of these later modes
(after 1300 A.D.) of designating the several
Apostles, is that of assigning to each (written on
a scroll held in the hand) the particular article
of the Creed of which each was, by tradition, the
author. (For the tradition as to this authorship,
see Durandi, Rationale, lib. iv. cap. xxv.) In the
cathedral church of Albi (Didnm, Manuel d'Ico-
nographie, p. 304) the Apostles are represented
in this manner.
§ 11. Distinguished by special Insignia. — As
an example of yet another mode of designating
the Apostles individually, we may refer (with
M. Didron) to a series of enamels by Leonard
Limousin in the chuixh of St. Peter at Chartres.
The Twelve are there represented with the fol-
lowing insignia : — St. Peter with the Keys ; St;
Paul with a Sword ; ^ St. Andrew with a Cross,
saltier-wise;e St. John with a Chalice ;'" St. James
the Less with a Books and a Club -j^ St. James the
Elder with a Pilgrim's Staff,'' a broad Hat •> with
scallop-shells, and a Book;e St. Thomas with an
Architect's Square;' St. Philip with a small
b As, for example, in that of our Lord as the giver of
the Divine Word, with two Apostles on either side, in the
cemetery of St. Agnes at Rome. Aringhi, R. S. torn. ii.
p. 329 ; figured also in Testiarium Christianum, pi. xii.
c Lupi (Antonmaria), i3isse)ta«ione, &c. Faenza, 1785,
4to. ; torn. i. p. 260.
d As the instrument by which he was believed to have
suffered martyrdom : or (so Durandus, Rat. i. cap. iii. 16)
as a soldier of Christ, armed (so he probably would suggest)
with " the sword of the Spirit."
e " En sautoir;" the " crux decussata," shaped like an
X, and generally known as St. Andrew's Cross. In Greek
Martyrologies (and in one or two Western examples)
St. Andrew is depicted as crucified on a cross of the ordi-
nary form. See the Menologium Graecorum, vol. i. p. 221
(Nov. 30).
t Originally perhaps with reference to the words (Matt.
XX. 23), " Ye shall indeed drink of my cup." For the later
legendary stories of a poisoned chalice given to him, see
Jameson, S. and L. Art, vol i. p. 159.
K Equivalent to the scroll (see $ 4) of primitive
Christian art.
h All the insignia here mentioned are assigned to St.
James (the St. lago of Spanish legend), as the patron of
pilgrims. The pilgrimage to Compostella, the reputed
place of St. lago's burial, was a favourite object of medi-
aeval devotion.
i In allusion to a beautiful legendary story (Jameson,
.S'. and L. A. p. 246), in respect of which St. Thomas Is
recognised as the patron of architects and builders.
APOSTLES' FESTIVALS AND FASTS
109
Cross, the staff of which is knotted like a reed ;•'
St. Matthew with a Pike (or Spear);-" St. Ma-
thias with an Axe;™ St. Bartholomew with a
Book° and a Knife ;" St. Simon with a Saw."
§ 12. Authorities referred to. — In the follow-
ing section are enumerated the principal works
in which the monuments above referred to are
figured or described. For the Syriac MS. re-
ferred to in § 2, see the Bibliotheca Medicea of
S. E. Assemanus, Florentiae, fol. 1742. For the
Greek Monuments, see Texier and Pullan, Byzan-
tine-Architecture, fol. London, 1864. The Meno-
logium Graecoi-um referred to in § 2 was published
at Urbino, 3 vols. fol. 1727. And on the subject
of the later Greek Religious Art generally, see Di-
dron, Manuel d'Iconographie Chre'tienne, Grecque,
et Latine, Paris, 1845. (This is a French trans-
lation of the 'Y-pfx-qveia rfjs ((iiypa(piKrjS, or
'Painter's Guide' of Penselinos, a monk of Mount
Athos in the 11th century, and the recognised
authority in the school of Greek Art which has
its centre in the same " holy mountain " to this
day. It is enriched with very valuable notes by
the editor. For what relates to the Apostles,
see p. 299 sqq.) For early monuments at Piome
and Ravenna — Ciampini, Vetera Monumenta,
Romae, fol. 1699 ; and for those of the Roman
Catacombs more particularly — Aringhi, Boma
Subterrajiea, 2 vols. fol. Romae, 1651, or Bottari,
Sculture e Fitture sagre, etc., Romae, fol. 1737 ;
Perret, Catacombes de Borne, 6 vols. fol. Paris,
1851 (not always to be depended on in matters
of detail); Alemannus, rfe Barietinis Lateranen-
sibus, Romae, 4° 1625 ; and for ancient ornaments
in Glass, chiefly from the Roman Catacombs,
Garrucci, Vetri ornati, etc. Roma, 1864. For
monuments at Verona, Maffei, Verona Illustrata,
fol. 1732 ; and at Milan, AUegranza (Giuseppe),
Spiegazione e Biflessioni, etc., Milano, 4" 1757.
For early sarcophagi at Aries, Marseilles, Aix,
and other towns in France, the chief authority
is Millin, Voyages dans les De'partemens du Midi
de la France, 8° and 4° Paris, 1807-1811. One
monument of special interest, that of the Sancta
Pudentiana at Rome (the figures of the Twelve,
ten only of which now remain, are believed with
good reason to be of the 4th century, though
the upper part of the mosaic is of the 8th) may
best be studied in the coloured drawing and
description given by Labarte, Histoire des Arts
Industriels, etc., vol. iv. p. 166 sqq., and the
Album of Flates, vol. ii. pi. cxxi. This mosaic
is also represented in Gaily Knight, Ecclesias-
tical Architecture of Italy (London, 1842), vol. i.
pi. sxiii. [W. B. M.]
APOSTLES' FESTIVALS AND FASTS.
— I. Festivals. — 1. In the Afostolical Consti-
tutions (viii. 33, § 3) we find abstinence from
labour enjoined on certain " days of the Apostles"
(tos fi/xepas raiv qlttocttoKijiv apyetTaxrai'), but
k " Petite croix de roseaux." So Didron. A leferonce
to Jameson's S. and L. A. p. 242, and to the drawing tliei e
given, suggests tbe e.^planation abuve given. The shape
described is that of a traveller's staff; and tlie emblem
marks the apostle as a preacher of Christ trucilied to
distant nations.
"" See note <■, preceding page.
» See note S, preceding page.
o According to Western tradition he was sawn asMider ;
but in the Greek representation of his martyrdom ho
is affixed to a cross exactly like that of our Saviour
(Jameson, vol. i. p. 253).
what these days were does not appear, though
the injunction to abstain from labour betokens
a great festival.
2. As the services of Easter week, following
the evangelic narrative of the events after the
Resurrection, placed a commemoration of the
solemn sending and consecration of the Apostles
(St. John XK. 21-23) on the first Sunday after
Easter, this day appears to have been sometimes
called " the Sunday of the Apostles." This
Sunday was one of the highest festivals in the
Ethiopian Calendar (Alt, Christliche Cultus, ii.
33, 184).
3. In the West the commemoration of all the
Apostles was anciently joined with that of the
two great Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul ; and
this festival appears to have been, at the time of
its first institution, the only festival in honour
of the Apostles ; for we find in the Missae for
that festival in the Leonine Sacramentary
(Migne's Fatrol. vol. 55, p. 44) an " oratio super
oblata," which runs, " Omnipotens sempiterne
Deus, qui nos omnium apostolorum nierita sub
U1UI tribuisti celebritate venerari." And this
seems to have been the case also when the
" Epistola ad Chromatium" quoted by Cas-
siodorus (in Leonine Sacram. p. 44) was written ;
for we there read that the Apostles were com-
memorated on one day, " ut dies varii non
videantur dividere quos una dignitas Apostolatus
in coelesti gloria fecit esse sublimes."
4. It was no doubt from this close connection
with the Festival of SS. Peter and Paul (June 29)
that the Festival of the Twelve Apostles CXvva^is
Twv SciSeKa 'AiroffrSKwv} came to be celebrated in
the orthodox Greek church on the morrow of
that festival — June 30 — as it is to this day.
This is a great festival, with abstinence from
labour {'Apyia).
5. In the Armenian calendar, the Satuiday of
the sixth week after Pentecost is dedicated to the
Twelve Holy Apostles, and their chiefs, Peter
and Paul ; and the Tuesday in the fifth week
after the elevation of the Cross is dedicated to
Ananias of Damascus, Matthias, Barnabas, Philip,
Stephen, Silas and Silvanus, and the Twelve
Apostles. (Alt, Christliche Cultus, ii. 242, 256.)
6. The Micrologus tells us (c. 55) that on
May 1, "invenitur in Martyrologiis sive in
Sacramentariis festivitas SS. Philippi et Jacob;
et omnium Apostolorum." The existing Mar-
tyrologies and Sacramentaries, however, men7
tion no commemoration on May 1, beyond that
of SS. Philip and James ; but the mention of a
commemoration of all Apostles may have arisen
from the " Deposition" of the bodies of SS. Philip
and James in the "Basilica omnium Apostolo-
rum." (Binterim's Denkwilrdigkeiten, v. i. 365 ;
Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexicon, xii. 57.)
7. The 15th of July is in the Roman calendar
the Feast of the "Division of the Apostles,"
(Divisio SS. Apostolorum). This was probably
intended to commemorate the traditional event
related by Rufinus (//. E., i. 9), that the Apostles,
before leaving Jerusalem to begin their work of
preaching the Gospel to all nations, determined
by lot the portions of the world which encli
should evangelise. By others, however, the
Feast is supposed to commemorate tlio " Divisio
ossium Petri et Pauli." The legend to which
this refers is as follows: — The remains of St.
Peter and St. Paul were placed together after their
110
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
martyrdom, aud when Pope Sylvester, at the
consecration of the great church of St. Peter,
desired to place the sacred remains of the patron
saint in au altar, it was found impossible to dis-
tinguish them from those of St. Paul ; but after
fasting and prayer, a divine voice revealed that
the larger bones were those of the Preacher, the
smaller of the Fisherman ; and they were con-
sequentlv placed in the churches of St. Peter
and St. Paul respectively. (Ciampini, de Sacris
Aedificiis, p. 53, quoting Beleth, Explicat. Divin.
Offic. 0. 138.)
II. Fasts. — 1. As early as the Apostolical
Constitutions (v. 20, § 7) we find the week fol-
lowing the octave of Pentecost marked as a fast.
The intention of this probably was, as no fast
was allowable in the joyful season between Pasch
and Pentecost, that men should endeavour to
3-ender themselves fit recipients of the gifts of
the Holy Spirit by subsequent mortification.
This fast was afterwards extended to the eve of
the Festival of SS. Peter and Paul, and as it
now filled the whole space between the " Apostle
Sunday " and the great commemorations of the
Apostles on June 29 and June 30, it came to be
called the "Apostles' Fast," NrjCTeio tojc ayiwu
'ATToaT&Kav. (Augusti, Handbuch der Christl.
Archaologie, iii. 481.)
2. There is a collect for a Fast in the mass
already referred to in the Leonine Sacramentary.
This, perhaps, indicates that an extraordinary
fast, instituted in the time of St. Leo for the
relief of Rome, or for some other reason, con-
curred with the Festival of All Apostles. (Note
in the Leonine Sacram. Migne's Patrol, vol. 55,
p. 44.)
III. Dedications. — A church {VlapTvpiov), de-
dicated to the Twelve Apostles, second in
splendour only to that of St. Sophia, was built
at Constantinople by Constantine the Great, who
intended it for the place of his own sepulture
(Eusebius, Vita Constantini, lib. iv., cc. 58-60).
He also dedicated at Capua, in honour of the
Apostles, a church to which he gave the name of
Constantinian (Liber Pontif., under ' Sylvester,'
Muratori Scriptores, iii. 1). The ancient church
at Rome dedicated to the Apostles, is said to have
been begun by Pope Pelagius I. (555-560), and
completed by his successor John III. (560-573).
(Ciampini, de Sacris Aedif. p. 137.) [C]
APOSTOLUS, the formal missive of the judge
of a lower court, whereby a cause was trans-
ferred to a higher court to which appeal had
been made from him. See Justinian, Cod. vii.
62, &c. &c., and under Appeals. [A. W. H.]
APOSTOLICiAL CANONS. About 500
A.D., Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman monk of great
learning, at the request of Stephen, Bishop of
Salona, made a collection of Greek canons, trans-
lating them into Latin. At the head of this
collection he placed 50 canons, with this title,
" Incipiunt Regulae Ecclesiasticae sanctorum
Apostolorum, prolatae per Clementem Ecclesiae
Romanae Pontificem." At the same time, how-
ever, Dionysius says in the preface to his work,
" In principle itaque canones, qui dicuntur Apos-
tolorum, de Graeco transtulimus, quihus quia
plurimi consensum non praebuere facilem, hoc
ipsum vestram noluimus ignorare sanctitatem,
quamvis postea quaedam constituta pontificum
ex ipsis canonibus assumpta esse videantur."
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
These words obviously point to a difference of
opinion prevailing in the Church, though it has
been doubted by some whether the dissentients
spoken of rejected the canons altogether, or
merely denied that they were the work of the
apostles. And with regard to the last clause, it
is much disputed whether previous popes can be
shown to have known and cited these canons.*
Hefele denies that " Pontifices " means Popes, aud
would understand it of bishops in their synodical
constitutions.''
The subsequent course taken by the Church of
Rome in relation to these canons is not altogether
clear. In the last decade of the 5th century
Pope Gelasius published a decree De Libris non re-
cipiendis, and in the text of this decree as it now
stands in the Decretum Gratiani there appears,
amongst other rejected works, ' Liber cauonum
Apostolorum apocryphus.' But it is said that
these words are not found in the most ancient
MSS. of the deci-ee, and Hincmar of Rheims, in
speaking of it, expressly says that Gelasius is
silent as to the Apostolical Canons. Moreover,
Dionysius, who was by birth a Scythian, does not
seem to have come to Rome until after the death
of Gelasius, and consequently his collection cannot
have appeared at the time of the decree.<=
Hefele therefore thinks that the words in ques-
tion were for the first time inserted by Pope Hor-
misdas (514-523), when he republished the decree
' De Libris non recipiendis ' (^Conciliengeschichte, i.
TIO)."* If so, the point is not very material. It
is clear that Dionysius, in setting forth a later
collection during the popedom of Hormisdas (of
which the preface alone is now extant) left out
these canons. He says : " Canones qui dicuntur
Apostolorum et Sardicensis concilii atque Afri-
canae provinciae quos non admisit universitas, ego
quoque in hoc opere praetermisi, &c." *
» Bishop Pearson contends that Leo, Innocent, and Ge-
lasius himself, refer to them ( Vindic. fgnat., part i. cap.
iv.) ; but this has been as strongly denied. Bickell thinks
that Dionysius may have had in view expressions of
Siricius (,Ep. ad Div. Episc, anno 386) and Innocent {Ep.
ad Victvic, anno 404), which, however, he conceives him
to have misunderstood (G'esch. des Kirchenrechts, p. 74).
Von Drey seems to think the canons were not known at
Rome till the version of Dionysius ; but Hefele observes
that they might have been known In their Greek form.
Dionysius in his preface says that he had been exhorted
to the work of translation by his friend Laurentius, who
was " confusione priscae translationis offensus." Does this
point to an existing version of the canons, or is it to be
understood of the other matters contained in his col-
lection ? The latter seems most in accordance with the
received theory.
b See his ConcHiengeschichte, vol. i. p. 767. But unless
it can be limited to Eastern bishops, this view would
equally admit that the canons so quoted or relied en must
have been known in the Western Church.
<^ Dionysius says in his preface : " Nos qui eum (Ge-
lasiuni) praesentia corporal! non vidimus." This in itself
would not be conclusive as to the decree, though the only
alternative would be to admit that the canons were known
at Rome before Dionysius's translation. Bishop Pearson
seeks to throw donbt on the decree ( Vindic. Ignat., part i.
cap. iv.) ; but much of his reasoning is not inconsistent
with the theory of Hefele.
d So too, apparently, Bickell, vol. i. p. 74.
^ Cited in Bxkell (i. 75), who also meutions that they
were omitted from the Spanish collection of canons in the
7th century, with these words: "Canones autem qui
dicuntur Apostfilorum, scd quia eosdem nee sedcs apos-
tolica recipit, nee SS. patres illis consensum praebuerunt.
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
At all events it must be taken that the Church
of Rome at the present day does not accept these
canons as of apostolic authority. Though the
citations made by Gratian under the head " De
auctoritate et numero Canonum Apostolorum,"
are not very consistent v/ith each other, yet the
latest canonists speak more distinctly.
" Canoues illi non sunt opus genuinum aposto-
lorum, nee ah omni naevo immunes ; merito tamen
reputantur insigne monumentum disciplinae Ec-
clesiae per priora secula," says M. Icard in his
Praelectiones Juris Canonici at St. Sulpice (pub-
lished with the approbation of the authorities of
the Church) in 18G2, and he then cites the Gela-
sian decree declaring them apocryphal.
Nevertheless great attention has been paid to
them. Extracts were admitted by Gratian into
the Decretum, and, in the words of Phillips (' Du
Droit ecclesiastique dans ses Sources,' Paris, 1852)
'■' ils ont pris rang dans la legislation canonique."
But we must return to the 6th century.
About fifty years after the work of Dionysius,
John of Antioch, otherwise called Johannes Scho-
lasticus, patriarch of Constantinople, set forth a
ffvvTayjxa Kav6vtiiv, which contained not 50 but
85 Canons of the Apostles. And in the year 692
these were expressly recognized in the decrees of
the' Quinisextiue Council, not only as binding
canons, but (it would seem) as of apostolic ori-
gin.f They are therefore in force in the Greek
Church.
How it came to pass that Dionysius translated
only 50 does not appear. Some writers have
supposed that he rejected what was not to be re-
conciled with the Roman practice, s But, as
Hefele observes, this could hardly be his motive,
inasmuch as he retains a canon as to the nullity
of heretical baptism, which is at variance with
the view of the Western Church. Hence it has
been suggested that the MS. used by Dionysius
was of a different class from that of John of An-
tioch (for tliey vary in some expressions, and
have also a difference in the numbering of the
canons), and that it may have had only the 50
translated by the former. And an inference has
also been drawn that the 35 latter canons are of
later date> Indeed, according to some, they
are obviously of a different type, and were pos-
sibly added to the collection at the same time
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
111
pro eo quod ab haereticia sub nomine Apostolorum com-
positi dignoscuntur, quamvis in eisdem quaedam inve-
niuntur utilia, auctoritate tamen canonica et apostolica
eorum gesta constat esse remota et inter apocrypha
deputata."
' 'ESofe KoX toCto t^ o.yia ravrr) (TVi'oSo) KaWiiTTa. re
Kal OTTrovBaioTaTa, uitne fJLei'eiv Koi (xtto tou vvv ^e^aiou;
Kal acT'^aAets Trpbs i/(uxt«'i' Bepaveiav Kol larpeCav naSuiv
Tous vTTo Twv TTpo Trjjuuii' ayt'wi' KaX fx(LKapC(jjv vraTepoiv
SexOevTai; Kai Kvpto^eVra?, aAAo. p.r)V Koi napaSoB^VTa?
rjiJ.iv ocojLLaTt Ttoi/ aytoiv Kal ivSo^tjv a7ro(r7oA(oi' oySorj-
KovTo. ireVre Kavova^. Can. II., cited in Ultzen, Pref.
r.ix.
Beveridge argues that the word ovoij^aTi shews that,
while their validity as canons of the Church was admitted,
their apostolical origin was not decided. Contra Hefele,
Concilievgesch. i. 768.
The additional 35 canons in the collection of Scho-
lasticus have not been iti any way recognized by the
Church of Rome.
g As, for instance, De Marca; and see AylifTe's Parergon,
Jntrod., p. iv.
•• See on this subject, Hefele, i. 768. Scholasticus says
there were previous collections containing 85.
that the canons were appended to the Constitu-
tions.'
It is time to come to the Canons themselves.
Both in the collection of John of Antioch and in
that of Dionysius they are alleged to have been
drawn up by Clement from the directions of the
Apostles. In several places the Apostles speak in
the first person,'' and in the 85th canon Clement
uses the first person singular of himself.
Their subjects are briefly as follow: — '
I & 2 (I. & II.). Bishop to be ordained by two
or three bishops ; presbyters and deacons, and the
rest of the clerical body by one.
3 & 4 (HI.) relate to what is proper to be of-
fered at the altar ; mentioning new corn, grapes,
and oil, and incense at the time of the holy ob-
lation.
5 (IV.). First-fruits of other things are to be
sent to the clergy at their home, not brought to
the altar.
6 (V.). Bishop or presbyter or deacon not to
put away his wife under pretence of piety.
7 (VI.). Clergy not to take secular cares on
them.
8 (VII.). Nor to keep Easter before the vernal
equinox, according to the Jewish system.
9 (VIII.). Nor to fail to communicate without
some good reason.
10 (IX.). Laity not to be present at the read-
ing of the Scriptures without remaining for
prayer and the Communion.
II (X.). None to join in prayer, even in a
house, with an excommunicate person.
12 (XL). Clergy not to join in prayer with a
deposed man as if he were still a cleric.
13 (XII. & XIIL). Clergy or lay persons, being
under excommunication or not admitted to Com-
munion, going to another city not to be received
without letters.
14 (XIV.). Bishop not to leave his own diocese
and invade another, even on request, except for
good reasons, as in case he can confer spiritual
benefit ; nor even then except by the judgment of
many other bishops, and at pressing request.
15 (XV.). If clergy leave their own diocese,
and take up their abode in another without con-
sent of their own bishop, they are not to perform
clerical functions there.
16 (XVI.). Bishop of such diocese not to treat
them as clergy.
17 (XVIL). One twice married after baptism,
or who has taken a concubine, not to be a cleric.
18 (XVIIL). One who has married a widow or
divorced woman, or a courtesan or a slave, or
an actress, not to be admitted into the clerical
body.
» So Bickell, i. 86 and 235. For the Constitutions, see
the next article.
k Beveridge however contends, from the variations and
omissions in MSS. and versions, that the introduction of
the first person is a mere interpolation of late date, in
order to promote the fiction of apostolic origin {Cod. (an.
in Cotel., vol. ii; p. 73, Appendix). Ses instances in
Canons XXIX., L., LXXXII., LXXXV. The various read-
ings may be seen in Ultzen's edition, and in Lagarde's
Ediq. Jar. Kccles. Antiquiss.
I The numbering varies. Thus Canon III. of the Greek
text is divided into two by Dionysius. The Arabic nu-
merals represent the order in Dionysius ; the Roman that
in the Greek of .Johannes Scholasticus. Cotelorins, ag.Tiii,
gives a (lifferwit iiumhering, making the canons only 76
in all.
112
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
19 (XIX.). Nor one who has married two sis-
ters or his niece.
. 20 (XX.). Clergy not to become sureties.
21 (XXI.). One who has been made a eunuch
by violence, or in a persecution, or was so born,
may be a bishop.
22 (XXII.). But if made so by his own act,
cannot be cleric.
23 (XXIII.). A cleric making himself so, to be
deposed.
24 (XXIV.). A layman making himself a
eunuch to be shut out from Communion for three
years.
25 & 26 (XXV.). Clerics guilty of inconti-
nence, perjury, or theft, to be deposed, but not
excommunicated (citing Nah. 1, 9 ovk e/c5i/c?]<re's
Sis €7r2 rh aiiTb).
27 (XXVI.). None to marry after entering the
clerical body, except readers and singers.
28 (XXVII.). Clergy not to strike offenders.
29 (XXVIII.). Clergy deposed not to presume
to act, on pain of being wholly cut off from the
Church.
30 (XXIX.). Bishop, &c. obtaining ordination
by money to be deposed, and, together with him
who ordained him, cut off from communion, as
was Simon Magus by me, Peter.
31 (XXX.). Bishop obtaining a church by
means of secular rulers to be deposed, &c.
32 (XXXI.). Presbyters not to set up a sepa-
rate congregation and altar in contempt of his
bishop, when the bishop is just and godly.
33 (XXXII.). "Presbyter or deacon under sen-
tence of his own bishop not to be received else-
where.
34 (XXXIII.). Clergy from a distance not to
be received without letters of commendation, nor
unless they be preachers of godliness are they
to have anything beyond the supply of their
wants.
35 (XXXIV.). The bishops of every nation are
to know who is chief among them, and to consi-
der him their head, and do nothing without his
judgment, except the affaii-s of their own dio-
ceses, nor must he do anything without their
judgment.
36 (XXXV.). Bishop not to ordain out of his
diocese.
37 (XXXVI.). Clergy not to neglect to enter
on the charge to which they are appointed, nor
the people to refuse to receive them.
38 (XXXVIL). Synod of bishops to be held
twice a year to settle controversies.
39 (XXXVIII.). Bishop to have care of all ec-
clesiastical aflfairs, but not to appropriate any-
thing for his own family, except to grant them
relief if in poverty.
40 (XXXIX. & XL.). Clergy to do nothing
without bishop. Bishop to keep his own affairs
separate from those of the Church, and to provide
for his family out of his own property.
41 (XLI.). Bishop to have power over all eccle-
siastical affairs, and to distribute through the
presbyters and deacons, and to have a share him-
self if required.
42 (XLII.). Cleric not to play dice or take to
drinking.
43 (XLIII.). Same as to subdeacon, reader,
singer, or layman.
44 (XLIV.). Clergy not to take usury.
45 (XLV.). Clergy not to pray with heretics,
still less to allow them to act as clerarv.
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
46 (XLVI.). Clergy not to recognize heretical
baptism or sacrifice.
47 (XLVIL). Clergy not to rebaptize one truly
baptized, nor to omit to baptize one polluted by
the ungodly,™ otherwise he contemns the cross
and death of the Lord, and does not distinguish
true priests from false.
48 (XLVIIL). Layman who has put away his
wife not to take another, nor to take a divorced
woman.
49 (XLIX.). Baptism to be in name of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, not of three eternals, or
three sons, or three paracletes.
50 (L.). Baptism to be performed by three im-
mersions, making one initiation — not one single
immersion into the Lord's death.
LI. Clergy not to hold marriage or the use of
meat and wine things evil in themselves, or to
abstain on any other than ascetic grounds.
LII. Bishop or presbyter to receive, not to re-
ject penitents.
LIII. Clergy not to refuse to partake of meat
and wine on feast days [as if evil, or on other
than ascetic grounds].
LIV. Clerics not to eat in taverns except on a
journey.
LV. Clerics not to insult bishop.
LVI. Nor presbyter or deacon.
LVII. Nor to mock the maimed, deaf, dumb,
blind, or lame, nor must a layman do so,
LVIII. Bishops and presbyters not to neglect
their clergy or people.
LIX. Nor to refuse succour to the needy
clergy.
LX. Nor to publish in the church as sacred
works forged by the ungodly in false names.
LXI. Those convicted of incontinence or other
forbidden practices not to be admitted into the
clerical body.
LXII. Clerics from fear of Jew or Gentile or
heretic denying Christ to be excommunicated, or
if only denying that they are clerics, to be de-
posed. On repentance, to be admitted as laymen.
LXIII. Cleric eating blood, or things torn by
beasts, or dying of themselves, to be deposed, on
account of the prohibition in the law. Laymen
doing so to be excommunicated.
LXIV. Cleric or layman entering synagogue of
Jews or heretics to pray, to be deposed and ex-
communicated.
LXV. Cleric in a struggle striking a single
blow that proves mortal to be deposed for his
precipitancy. Laymen to be excommunicated.
LXVI. Neither cleric nor layman to fast on
Sunday or on any Saturday but one."
LXVII. Any one doing violence to an unbe-
trothed virgin to be excommunicated. He may
not take another, but must keep her, though
poor.
LXVIII. Clergy not to be ordained a second
time, unless when ordained by heretics, for those
baptized or ordained by heretics have not really
been brought into the number of the faithful or
of the clergy.
LXIX. Bishop, presbyter, deacon, reader, or
singer, not fasting in the holy forty days, or on
the" fourth and sixth days, to be deposed, unless
m /. e. baptized by heretics. Heretical baptism is
styled not an initiation, but a pollution. See Apost.
Cmist. vi. 15.
" Namely, that before Easter day. Apost. Const, v.
IS and 20.
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
suffering from bodily weakness. Laymen to be
excommunicated.
LXX. None to keep fast or feast with the
Jews, or receive their feast-gifts, as unleavened
bread and so forth.
LXXI. No Christian to give oil for a heathen
temple or Jewish synagogue, or to light lamps at
their feast times.
LXXII. Nor to purloin wax or oil from the
Church.
LXXIII. Nor to convert to his own use any
consecrated gold or silver vessel or linen.
LXXIV. Bishop accused by credible men, to be
summoned by the bishops ; and if he appear and
confess the charge, or be proved guilty, to have
appropriate sentence ; but if he do not obey the
summons, then to be summoned a second and
third time by two bishops personally ; and if he
still be contumacious, then the Synod is to make
the fit decree against him, that he may not ap-
pear to gain anything by evading justice.
LXXV. No heretic, nor less than two wit-
nesses, even of the faithful, to be received against
a bishop (Deut. 19, 15).
LXX VI. Bishop not to ordain relatives bishops
out of favour or aftection.
LXXVII. One having an eye injured or lame
may still be a bishop, if worthy.
LXXVIIL But not one deaf, dumb, or blind, as
being practical hindrances.
LXXIX. One that has a devil not to be a cleric,
nor even to pray with the faithful, but when
cleansed he may, if worthy.
LXXX. A convert from the heathen or from a
vicious life not forthwith to be made a bishop ;
for it is not right that while yet untried he
should be a teacher of others, unless this come
about in some way by the grace of God."
LXXXL We declare that a bishop or presbyter
is not to stoop to public [secular] offices, but to
give himself to the wants of the Church (Matt.
6, 24).
LXXXIL We do not allow slaves to be chosen
into the clerical body without consent of their
masters, to the injury of those who possess them,
for this would subvert households. But if a slave
seem worthy of ordination, as did our Onesimus,
and the masters consent and set him free, let him
be ordained.
LXXXIII. Clergy not to serve in the army, and
seek to hold both Roman command and priestly
duties (Matt. 22, 21).
LXXXIV. Those who unjustly insult a king or
ruler to be punished.
LXXXV. For you, both clergy and laity, let
there be. as books to be reverenced and held holy,
in the Old Testament — five of Moses, Genesis, Exo-
dus, Leviticus. Numbers, Deuteronomy — of Jesus
the son of Nun, one ; of Judges, one ; Ruth, one ; of
Kings, four ; of Paraleipomena the book of days,
two ; of Esdras, two ; of Esther, one ; of Macca-
bees, three ; of Job, one ; of the Psalter, one ; of
Solomon, three — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
'Songs ; of the Prophets, thirteen ; of Isaiah, one ;
of Jeremiah, one ; of Ezekiel, one ; of Daniel, one.
Over and above is to be mentioned to you that
your young men study the Wisdom of the learned
Sirach. But of ours, that is of the New Testa-
ment, let there be four sospels, Matthew
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
113
/. e. unless he be designated as such in some special
*ray by the hand of God. Beveridge refers to the case
of Ambrose.
fiHRIST. ANT.
Mark's, Luke's, John's ; fourteen epistles of
Paul ; two epistles of Peter ; three of John ; one
of James ; one of Jude ; two epistles of Clement ;
and the regulations addressed to you bishops
through me, Clement, in eight books,P which it is
not right to publish before all, on account of the
mysteries in them ; and the Acts of us, the
Apostles.
The above is merely the substance of the
canons in an abridged form. It will not of course
supersede the necessity of referring to the origi-
nal in order to form an exact judgment. For the
sake of brevity the penalties have been in most
cases omitted. They are usually deposition for
the clergy, excommunication for laymen.
Turrianus attempted to maintain that these
canons really are what they profess to be, the
genuine work of the apostles. Daille, on the
other hand, contended that they were a produc-
tion of the middle or end of the 5th century.
Against him Bishop Beveridge entered the field ;
and in two treatises of great learning, acuteness,
and vigour, 1 sought to show that though not the
work of the apostles themselves, they were yet
of great antiqiiity, being in substance the decrees
of primitive Synods convened in different places
and at different times during the latter part of the
2nd, or at latest the earlier part of the 3rd cen-
tury. And he further thinks that during the
3rd century they were brought together and
formed into a collection or Codex Canonum,
which was recognized, and cited as of authority
in the Church. '
Bishop Pearson also holds the canons in a col-
lected form to have been in existence prior to the
Council of Nice ( Vindic. Ignat. part i. caj). iv.
in Cotel., vol. ii., append, p. 295). '
It will be well to endeavour to give some
samples of the evidence which Beveridge adduces
to show that the tanons are quoted at all events
from the first part of the 4th century down-
wards.
George of Cappadocia buys the favour of the
Praefect of Egypt, and is thrust into the bishopric
of Alexandria. Athanasius thereupon says, toS-
ro Tovs iKK\f]ffia(TTiKovs Kav6vas TrapaXvtrer (ad
ubique orthod. c. 1, p. 945). The reference, it is
alleged, is to Apost. Can. 30 (xxix.) and 31 (xxx.)
p Viz. the Apost. Constitutions. See next article.
1 'Judicium de Canonil.us Apostulicis,' to be found in
Cotel. I'atres Apost. vd. i. p. 432, edit. 112i ; and ' Codex
Canonum Ecclesiae Primitivae illustratus. Ibid. vol. ii.
Appendix, p. i.
r ' Judic' in Cotel. vol. i. pp. 436-441 ; and see CoJ.
Can. in Cotel. vol. ii. Append, pp. 8-10, et alibi. lie
appears to think that in many cases they may represent
apostolical traditioiis. They wore called "apostolical"
from this feeling, and also because framed by apostolical
luen. He allows, however, that they were probably col-
lected by divers persons, some of whom put together
more, some fewer. Hence Dionysius found only 50 in
the Codex from which he translated, while Scolasticus
found 85. Hincmar of Hheims is cited by Beveridge as
en his side ; but it would seem that he looked on the
Apostolical Canons as collections of aposlolical tradi-
tions mads by pious persons, rather than as decrees of
synods. He speaks of them as " antcquam episcoi)i concilia
libere inciporent cclebrare, a devotis quibusque coUectos.'
See Cod. Can. in Cotol. vol. ii. App. p. 12.
9 The question of the collection, however, stands on
veiy different grounds from that of the antiquity of pfr-
ticular canons, and the two points should be kept separate
in investigating the subject.
I
114 APOSTOLICAL CANONS
Basil, in his letters to Amphilochius (which
hive themselves obtained the authority of
Canons in the Greek Church) says a deposed
deacon is not to be excommunicated, St6Ti
apxoui? eCTi Kauwv tovs airb l3a6fiov TreTTToi/cd-
Tos, rovTCf) ij.6v(f> rqj Tpoxqi ttjs KoXdcreccs vivo-
pd\K€ff6ai. Reference alleged to be to Apost.
Can. 25.'
Again he says, rohs Siydfiov^ iravre^ws 6
Kavuiv rys virripeaias a,Tv4K\€i(Tf. Comp. Can. 17.
Once more he says, the Church must SovXeveiv
d/cpt/Seiot Kav6va)y, and reject heretical baptism.
See Apost. Can. 46.
The Council of Nice, Can. 1, while treating
self-inflicted mutilation as a bar to orders, says :
— lia-irep 5e toCto TrpdSijA.oi', Srt trepl raiv eTrjTi]-
Sev6vTa}V rh Trpay/j.a Kal TuAfxuVToiv iuvrovs
4KT(fXV€iv iip-qrai' oiirois elf TiJ/es virh ^ap^apwv
^ Z^ffTzoTWv ivvovxiff^V'^O'V, iiipiaKoivTO 5e aAAcos
ai,ioi. TOVS ToiovTovs eis K\i]pov TrpocrifTai 6
Kuviiu. Reference alleged to Can. Apost. 21
and 22.
Again Can. 2 says, that things had lately been
done irapa. tov Kavova rhv iKKKi\(na(TTiK'bv, to
correct which it enacts that no neophyte is to be
made a presbyter. The reference is alleged to
be to Apost. Can. Ixxx.
Can. 5 says : — KpaTeLToi r) yvwixt] Kara rhv
Kav6va rhv iiayopivovra tovs vcp' eTepaiv airo-
^\7\diVTas, ixp" eTfptiiv fji.ii TrpoaUaQai. Comp.
Can. Apost. 13 (xii. and xiii.) and 33 (xxxii.)
Again, Can. 9, concerning the ordination of
known sinners, treats it as irapa KavSva, and
says, TovTovs 6 Kaviav ou irpocrliTai. See Can.
Apost. Ixi.
Can. 10, concerning such as are ordained in
ignorance of their having lapsed, says : — tovto ov
TvpoKpivei Tip Kav6vL TCfi iKKKriffLaffTiKw' yvai(T-
64vTes yap Ka&aipovvTai. Bev. thinks the re-
ference is to Can. Apost. Ixii., and that the
Council of Nice found it needful to extend the
rule to those who had lapsed before ordination.
Can. 15 and 16 restrain the clergy from
moving from city to city, a practice which it
calls (Tvv7]Qeia izapa Thy Ka.v6va, and speaks of
.such persons as /irjre Thv iKKXriffiacTTLKhv Kavova
eiSoTis. Comp. Can. Apost. 14 and 15.
The Synod of C4angra, held in the middle
of the 4th century against the Eustathians, after
passing several canons on matters more or less
similar to those treated in some of the Apost.
Canons, declares that its object has been to con-
demn those who bring in novelties, — Trapa Tas
ypacpas Kal Tovs fKKKriaiaffTiKovs KavSvas.
The Council ofConstantinople, a.d. 381, speaks
of a iraXaios Ofafxhs, as well as the Nicene
Canon, for bishops to ordain in the f-irapxia or
ecclesiastical province to which they belong.
Bev. finds in the mention of " provinces," a re-
ference to the authority of Metropolitans, Can.
Apost. 35 (xxxiv.).
Not long afterwards a synod at Ctirthage says :
— o apxa7os tvttos ^v\ax6i]<T^Tai, 'iva fxr) riTTOves
Tpiwv Tuv opiadfVTwv els x^V''"'"'''^'' 'ETiff/co-
irwv apKeaciiffiv. Comp. Can. Apost. i.
t Daille, and his ally, " Observator" (who seems to have
been Matt, de la Roque) contend that the context shews
that Basil cannot have meant to allude to the Apostolical
Canons. Beveiidge replies at length (^Cod. Can. 38, 39).
Bickell takes the same view as Daille {Gesch. dcs Kirchen-
rechts, i. 83, note), but without noticing the arguments of
Beveridge.
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
The Council of Ephesus, 431 a.d., sent three
times to suiumon the accused bishop, Nestorius, ■
to appear, saying, that it did so in obedience t^ I
Kavdvi, and afterwards informed the Emperor of j
the course taken, — rwu Kav6vo3v TrapaKeXevo-
fxivoiu rf TpiTj) K\ri(rei TrapaKaKeTffdai Thv airei-
QovvTa.
And in like manner at Chalcedon, 451 A.D., ,
upon the third summons sent to Dioscoi-us, the j
bishops who were the bearers of it say that \
the Council sent them to him : — Tp'iT-qv ^5tj '■
kXtjctlv Tavri]!/ iroiovfi.ivT) KaTo. tt]v aKoKov- i
6iav Twv ayiccv Kav6v(iiv. Compare Can. Apost. j
Ixxiv. -:
At Ephesus a complaint was made against the '
Bishop of Antioch for trying to sii.bject to him-v
self the island of Cyprus : — " Contrary to the -I
Apostolic canons and the decrees of the most 'i
holy Nicene Synod." Comp. Can. Apost. 36:'
(xxxv.)
We may now perhaps pause in our extracts,/
from Councils and Synods, as we are approaching :
a period about which there is less dispute : but
we must go back to the Nicene times in order to. '
cite one or two individual testimonies. Alex- i
ander, bishop of Alexandria, writes that Arius, !
though excommunicated there, was received by
other bishops, which he blames, — rcf fiT^Te tov
' AtroaToXiKdv KavSva tovto avyxoDpeTv (apud
Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. i. c. iv.). See Can. Apost.
13.
About the same time Eusebius, declining to be '■
translated from Caesarea to Antioch, Gonstantine
the Great writes to praise him for observing tos re i
ivToXas tov 0eoO Kal Thv ' AiroaroAiKdv Kavova, i
Kal TVS iKKX-ncrlas (Euseb. Vita Const, iii. 61).
The reference is alleged to be to Can. Apost. 14, j
while iKKXriaias is said to allude to the 15th •:
Canon of Nice.
Again, during the reign of Constantine, Pope "
Julius, writing of the deposition of Athanasius i'
and the intrusion of Gregory into his see, declares f
it to have been done in violation of the Canons i
of the Apostles. See 2nd Apol. of Athanasius. ;1
The reference is asserted to be to Can. 36 (xxxv.) i
and Ixxiv. (Gregory being an untried lay-i|
man.)" j
Once more, in a provincial synod at Con- I
stantinople, 394 a.d., it was determined that the '
deposition of a bishop must not be merely by two
or three bishops, — aWa irXeiovos (rvv6Sov ^'^((x!}, <
Kal Twv Tr\s ivapxias, KaOiiis Kal ol ' Airoa-ToXiKol
KavSvfs StwpiffavTo. The allusion is said to be 1
to Can. Apost. Ixxiv. ^
Of late years not much has been done by I
English scholars in the way of original investiga-
tion into the subject, but German writers have
given a good deal of attention to it during the
present century, and have arrived at I'esults
widely diflerent from those we have just been '
considering. Among these Von Drey and Bickell
stand conspicuous. The former seems to con-
sider that the first 50 canons were collected in :
the early part of the 5th century, partly out of i
decrees of post-Nicene Councils, partly out of |
the so-called apostolical constitutions ; and that ,
the other 35 were added subsequently, probably
« If this could be considered to be proved, it would;
settle the point that the Canons were known at Rome,
and refen-ed to by popes before Dionysius's version of
them. And if the LXXIVth be really intended, it would ;
show that more than 50 were then recognised. ■'
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
at the beginning of the 6th century, when the
whole 85 were appended to the constitutions."
Bickell while adopting a similar theory does
not press it so far. He believes the collection to
have been made out of like materials to those
specified by Drey, but to be not later than the
end of the ^th century ; and holds that the apos-
tolical canons were quoted at Chalcedon (instead of
being in part derived from the decrees of that Coun-
cil as Drey would maintain), and possibly also at
Ephesus and Constantinople, 448 {Gesch. des Kir-
chenrechts, vol. i. p. 83 ; see also Hefele Conci-
liengesch., vol. i. p. 771). Both Von Drey and
Bickell agree in denying the position of Beve-
ridge that the collection was made not later
than the 3rd century^ and was composed out of
bond fide previous canons then existing. And
they meet his citations by denying that Kavwv.
OefffiSs and such like words always imply what
we call a canon, and by alleging that they are
used in early times of any generally received
rule in the Church. Thus Kavtiiv airoarToKiKbs
might either i-efer to some direction of the Apos-
tles contained in the New Testament, or to some
ecclesiastical practice supposed to have been
ori'jinated by them, and to have their authority.
Thus Clem. Rom. speaks of rov oipiff^iivov ttjj
KtLTovpyias avTov Kavova (^Ep. i. 41), and it is
not to be supposed that he can here allude to
any synodical decree. Comp. Iren. Ad. Haer. i. 9 ;
Polycrates, apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. v. 24 ; Clem.
kl.'Strom. i. 350, vi. 076, vii. 753, 756, 764 (see
also the instances in De La garde Bel. Jur. Eccl.
Ant. pref. p. vi.). Accordingly Bickell would
thus intei'pret (as Daille' had done before him)
the use of the words Kav^v and KavoviKos vof^os,
in canon 15 of Neocaesarea, and in canons 13, 15,
18, of Niec.y So also Cornelius Ad Fahium
.APOSTOLICAL CANONS
115
^ The following table gives what he supposes to be the
original of the various Canons : —
1., 11., VI., VII., XVII., XVllI., XX., XXVL, XXXIII.,
XLVI., XLVII., XLIX., LI., LII., LIII., LX., LXIV., are
all taken from the Apostolical Constitutions ; the first
bix books of which he considers as of latter half of 3rd
century.
LXXIX. is from the 8th book, which is later, but
before the year 325.
XXI.-XXIV., and LXXX., are taken from the Nicene
Decrees.
VIII.-XVI., and XXVIII., and XXXl.-XLl., from
those of Antioch.
XLV., LXX., LXXI., from those of Laodicea.
LXXV. from those of Constantinople, A D. 381.
XXVIl. from those of Constantinople, a.d. 394.
XXIX., LXVII., L.XX1V., LXXXL, LXXXIII., from
those of Chalcedon.
XIX. from Neocaesarea.
XXV. from a canonical letter of Basil.
LXIX. and LXX., out of the supposed Epistle of
Ignatius, Ad PhilcuMph.
About a third of the Canons Drey treats as of unknown
origin. The subject matter of many of them he considers
may be more ancient, but not in the form of canons.
As to tlie distinction .'aid to be apparent between the
first 50 Canons and the residup, see Bickell, i. 86 and 236.
y For an examination of these instances from a con-
trary point of view, see Beveridge iCod. Can. lib. i. cap.
xi.). But the reader should notice that in Nic. Can. 18,
he inexactly translates i^anep oiire 6 xaviiiv ovre -q crvv-
ijflEia Trape'SiuKe by " noc canoiiem ncc coiisuctudinem
esse," and neglects the words ;rapd Kavova Kal napa tol^lv
at the end of the Canon. He understands the Canon of
Neocaesarea, that there must be seven deacons, Kara toc
(cai/ovo, to allude to Acts vi. (the written law of Scrip-
(Euseb. vi. 43) Kara rou ttjs iKKK7)a'ias Kavova,
and Firmilian Ad Cyprian.(ef. 75) and Cone. Are-
lat. canon 13, " ecclesiastica regula," and comp.
Euseb. vi. 24. Bickell also thus interprets .the
letter of Alexander to Meletius, and that of
Constantine, which as we have seeTi(ante, p. 114)
Beveridge takes as allusions to the apostolical
canons.
In short Von Drey and Bickell maintain that
the instances brought forward by Beveridge are
not really proofs that the set of canons called
apostolical are there quoted or . referred to, but
rather that allusion is made to broad and gene-
rally acknowledged principles of ecclesiastical
action and practice, whether written or un-
written (see Bickell, i. p. 2, and p. 81, 82, and
the notes).^ But they go further and proceed
to adduce on their side what they consider to be
a positive and decisive argument. Many canons
of the Council of Antioch, A.D. 341, correspond
not only in subject but to a very remarkable
degree in actual phraseology with the apostolical
canons. Yet they never quote them, at least eo
nomine.
The following table gives the parallel cases : —
Antioch I. compared with Can. Apost. VII.
J. (VIII., IX., X.,
" (XI., XII., XIII.
III. ,, ,, ,, XV., XVL
IV. ,, ,, ,, XXVIII.
V. ,, ,, ,, XXXI.
VL ,, ,, ,, XXXIL
VJI., VIII. ,, ,, ,, XII., XXXIII
IX. ,, ,, ,, XXXIV.
XIIL ,, ,, ,, XXXV.
™-.} „ ,. .. XXXVL
XX. ,, ,, ,, xxxvn.
XXI. ,, ,, ,, XIV.
xxn. ,, ,, ,, XXXV.
XXIII. ,, ,, ,, LXXVl.
XXIV. ,, ,, ,, XL.
XXV. ,, ,. ,, XLK
On this state of facts Von Drey and Bickell
maintain that the apostolical canons ate ob-
viously borrowed from those of Antioch, while
Beveridge argues that the converse is the case.
The argument turns too much on a close com-
parison of phrases, and of the respective omi.s-
sions, addition.s, and modifications, to admit of
being presented in an abridged form. It will be
found on one side to some extent in Bickell, vol.
i. p. 79, et seq., and p. 230, et seq. (who gives
ture). Some might possibly contend that tlie words of
the Epistle of Alexander (sijpj-a, p. 114) refer to 2nd Epist.
John 10. He also deals with a Canon of Ancyra (Can.
21), which mentions that 6 Trporepo; opos refused com-
munion, except on the death-bed, to unchaste women
guilty of abortion. This Beveridge argues does not mean a
" Canon " at all, but rather a decision of Church discipline.
Hefele, on the other hand, thinks it alludes to a Canon
of Elvira, refusing the sacrament to such even at death
{Conciliengesch. i. 208).
2 To a certain extent, Beveridge discusses this theory
when put forward by " Observator " (see Cod. Can. lib. i.
c. ]l,p. 44), and appears to contend that Kaviov is not used
for unwritten law, at all events by Councils in their de-
crees. There certainly seems some apparent distinction
drawn in Nic. Can. 18, oi/re 6 Kaviav ovre 7) avvTi)8iia
TrapdSuiKe.
<<■ It will be observed that all the Apostolical Canong
except one, for which parallels are here found in the
Antioch decrees, fall within the first 50 : and the parallel
to the LXXVlth Canon is very far-fetched.
I 2
116 APOSTOLICAL CANONS _
the references to' the corresponding parts of Von
Drey's work) ; and on tJie other, in- Beveridge's
■ Codex Canonum, lib. i. cap. iv. and cap. xi., and
elsewhere in that treatise.''
As a general rule the apostolical canons are
shorter, the Antioch canons fuller and more ex-
press : a circumstance which leads Bickell to see
in the former a compendium or abridgment of
the latter, but which, according to Beveridge,
proves the former to be the brief originals, of
which the latter are the subsequent expansion.
Beveridge observes with some force that
though the apostolical canons are not quoted by
name, the canons of Antioch repeatedly profess
to be in accordance with previous ecclesiastical
rules, whereas the apostolical canons never men-
tion any rules previously existing. "= Still the
same question must arise here as in relation to
the canons of Nice, viz., whether the allusion
really is to pre-existing canons of councils, or
whether the terms used are to be otherwise ex-
plained. And as regards the silence of the apos-
tolical canons as to anything older than them-
selves, it must be recollected that any other
course would have been self-contradictory. They
could not pretend to be apostolic and yet rely on
older authorities. Hence even had such refer-
ences been found in the materials of which they
were composed, these must have been struck out
when they wei-e put together in their present
shape.
The synod of Antioch lying under the re-
proach of Arianismi, it may seem improbable that
any decrees should have been borrowed from it.
To meet this objection Bickell urges that though
the Antioch clergy were Arian, the Bishop Me-
letius was not un-orthodox, and was much re-
spected by the Catholics. And he throws out
the theory that the apostolical canons, which
shew traces of Syrian phraseology, may be a
sort of corpus canonum made at that period in
Syria, and drawn up in part from the Antioch
decrees, in part irom the apostolical constitutions
(which shew like marks of Syrian origin), and
in part from other sources. ■* This work, it is
conjectured, Meletius brought with him when
he came to the Council of Constantinople (where
he died) in 381 A.D., and introduced it to the
favourable notice of the clergy : a hypothesis
which is thought to account for the apostolical
canons being cited (as Bickell thinks for the first
time) at the Provincial Synod of Constantinople,
A.D. 394.
The opinion of Hefele may be worth stating.
He thinks that though there is a good deal to be
said for the theory that many of the apostolical
canons were borrowed from, those of Antioch,
b The suggestion is there made that the Council stu-
diously re-enacted certain ortliodox canons, in order to
gain a good reputation, while they thrust in here and
there a canon of their own so framed as to tell against
Athanasius and the Catholics, See Cod. Can. lib. i. cap. iv.
ad Jin.
c However, it is to be observed that the 37-39 Canons
of Laodicea, which closely resemble the LXX. and LXXI.
Apostolical Canons, do not in any way refer to them,
though on Beveridge's theory the A post. Canons must
have been in the hands of the Fathers of Laodicea.
■i In Can. XXXVII. the Syro-Macedonian name of a
month, Hyperberetaeus, occurs in connexion with the
time for the autumnal synod. Similar nimes of months
occur in Ap. Const, v. 17, 20, and at viii. 10. Evadius,
Bishop of Antioch, is prayed for as " our bishop."
APOSTOLICAL CANONS •;
i
the converse is quite possible, and the point by j
no means settled. In regard to the Council of
Nice, it would appear, he thinks, that it refers
to older canons on the like subjects with those •
which it was enacting. And it is by no means j
impossible that the allusion may be to those
which are now found among the apostolic canons, ;
and which might have existed in the Church
before they were incorporated in that collection.
This view he thinks is supported by a letter from
certain Egyptian bishops to Meletius at the com-
mencement of the 4th century ,« in which they I
complain of his having ordained beyond the ]
limits of his diocese, which they allege is con-'
trary to " mos divinus " and to " regula eccle-
siastica ; " and remind hini that it is the " lex
patrum et propatrum. ... in alienis paroeciis j
non licere alicui episcoporum ordinationes cele- !
brare." The inference, Hefele thinks, is almost j
irresistible that this refers to what is now the I
o6th (xxxv.) Apostolical Canon. And at all i
events he appears to hold with Bickell that the ■
apostolical canons are referred to at Ephesus,
Constantinople (a.D. 448), and Chalcedon. But :
such a view falls short of that of Beveridge.
Coming to the internal evidence, we find great j
stress to have been laid by Daille^ Von Drey,
Bickell, and others on the contents of the canons, as •
distinctly marking their late date. Thus the 8th
(vii.) (as to Easter) is in harmony with the pre-
sent interpolated text of the apostolical consti-
tutions, but is at variance with what Epiphanius |
read there, and with the Syriac didascalia (see j
infra, pp. 122, 123). It relates to the settlement of i
a particular phase of the Easter controversy which '
did not, according to Hefele, spring up until :
the 3rd century (ConciUengcsch. i. 303 and 776).' j
Moreover, if known and recognized previous to .|
the Council of Nice, it seems extraordinary that |
this canon should not have been mentioned in
Constantine's famous letter to the Nicene Fathers ,
on the Easter Controversy (Euseb. Vita Const, iii.
18-20).
Canon 27 (xxvi.) hardly savours of a very j
early time. On this canon Beveridge (Annot. iri
Can. Apost., sub Canone xxvi.) cites the Council |
of Chalcedon (a.D. 451), as saying that in many .
provinces it was permitted to readers and singers
to marry ; and understands it of those provinces
in which the apostolical canons had been put in '
force, they having been, he says, originally passed
iji different localities by provincial synods. (See
also his Jud. de Can. Apost. § xii. inCotel. vol. i.
p. 436.) This seems to derogate somewhat from |
the general reception which he elsewhere appears
disposed to claim for them. So limited an opera- ]
tion even in the 5th century is scarcely what was
to be expected if the whole collection had been
made, and promulgated a century and a half be- j
fore.
The 31st (xxx.), the Ixxxi., and Ixxxiii., all
appear to speak of a time when the empire was
Christian (see Hefele, vol. i. p. 783, 789 ; Bic-
kell, i. 80.).g
e Given in Routh, Rel. Sacr. vol. iti. pp. 381, 382
f If Hifele's view on this subject be accept xi, Beveridge
must be held to have confused the special point here ruled
with other questions in dispute in the Easter controversy
(Coci. Can. lib. 2, c. iii.).
8 Von Drey, however, points out that it is difficult to
suppose a council under the empire would set itself so
openly against the emperor's interference. If so, some
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
The 35th (xxxiv.), recognizing a kind of metro-
politan authority, has also been much insisted
on by Yon Drey and Bickell, as well as by Daille,
in 23root' of an origin not earlier than the 4th
century (see contra, J3ev. Cod. Can. lib. 2, cap. v.).''
The 46th suggests the remark that if it were in
existence at the time of Cyprian, it would surely
have been cited in the controversy as to heretical
baptism. It agrees with the doctrine of the apos-
tolical constitutions vi. 15, and according to some
has probably been taken thence. Beveridge indeed
observes that Cyprian {Epist. to Jubajanus) does
rely on the decree of a synod held under the
presidency of Agrippinus (see Jud. de Can. Ap.
§ xi. and Cod. Can. lib. 3, cap. xii.). This de-
cree he seems to think may be the original of
canon 46. If so, however, it would seem to shew
the local and partial character of the apostolical
canons, for we know that the Roman Church
held at this very time a contrary view (Comp.
the admissions of Bev. in Jud. de Can. § xii.).
Again, other orders besides bishop, priest, and
deacon appear in the clerical body. We have sub-
deacons, readers, and singers (canon 43).' Though
the second of these is found in Tertullian, the
first and last are not to be traced further back
than the middle of the third century.
Not to mention other instances, it may in con-
clusion be observed that much contest has taken
place over the list of canonical books in the last
canon, and as to the reference therein to the con-
stitutions. Beveridge thinks that the variation
iu that list from the canon of Scripture as eventu-
ally settled, is a proof that it was drawn up at
an early date and before the final settlement
was made. But at the same time he (somewhat
inconsistently) is inclined to take refuge in the
theory that this last canon has been interpolated.
Here again it would be vain to attempt an
abridgement of the argument (see Cod. Canon.
lib. 2, 0. ix. and Jud. de Can. Apost. § xvi. et seq.)
Before concluding, the opinions of one or two
other writers must be mentioned. Krabbe thinks
that at the end of the 4th or early in the 5th
century, a writer of Arian or Macedonian ten-
dencies drew up both the 8th book of the consti-
tutions and the collection of canons, the former
being composed out of precepts then in circulation
under the Apostles' names, with many additions of
his own, the latter out of canons made in different
placer, during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, with
sui^port might be hence gained for the theory that these
canons (iu the present form, at all events) did not really
emanate from any council.
•> Beveridge observes that the Apostolical Canon merely
speaks of tov npioTou kTvidKoirov, whereas the corre-
sponding Canon of Antioch has to:/ iv rp /liijTpoTroAct
TrpoeiTToiTa i-nidKonov ; the latter being in conformity
with the name metropolitan. This name did not arise till
the 4th century ; and he therefore thinks the Apostolical
Canon is proved to be the older of the two, and to be
before that era. Moreover the Canon of Antioch pro-
fesses its enactment to be Kara toj/ ap^at'oTepoi/ <cpa-
■n)(Tai'Ta ex ruiv Trarepwi' rnxiav Kavova. It may be worth
"l'->iving that there is no trace of a primacy, among
I'i-li' ps in the Apostolical Constitutions, even in 'their
pivscTit state.
' Sometimes we find only a general expression, as In
Can. 9 (.viii.), which runs e'i tis eTri'o-KOJros r} Trpeo-jSuTepo?
[^ SittKovos ij eK Tov (caraAoyou toO lepaTi/coC ; the latter
words comprehending the other orders, and being appa-
rently strictly equivalent to the phrase rj oAws roO Kara-
'Adyou Tuii/ KAvjpiKwi/ in Can. 15.
APOSTOLICAL CANONS 117
the mterpolation of the 7th and 85th canons
forged by himself (see Ultzen, p. xvi. pref.).
Bunsen attaches much importance to the apos-
tolical canons. He regards them as belonging
to a class of ordinances which were " the local
coutumes of the apostolical Church," i. e. if not
of the Johannean age, at all events of that imme-
diately succeeding. Yet such "never formed
any real code of law, much less were they the
decrees of synods or councils. Their collections
nowhere had the force of law. Every ancient
and great church presented modifications of the
outlines and traditions here put together; but
the constitutions and practices of all churches
were built upon this groundwork " (Christ, and
Mankind, vol. ii. 421). Our apostolical canons
served this purpose in the Greek Church. The
fiction which attributes them to the Apostles is
probably ante-Nicene (vol. vii. p. 373) ; but they
are now in an interpolated state.
Internal evidence shews, he thinks, that the
original collection consisted of three chapters : —
I. On ordination.
II. On the oblation and communion.
III. On acts which deprive of official rights
or offices.
These comprise, with some exceptions, rather
more than a third of the whole. To these, he
says, were appended, but at an early date —
IV. On the rights and duties of the bishop ;
and subsequently when the collection thus ex-
tended had been formed —
V. Other grounds of deprivation.
Canons 6 (v.), 27 (xxvi.), he considers from
internal evidence to be interpolations. Relying
on the fact that the Coptic version (to which hs
attaches much weight, calling it " The Apos-
tolical Constitutions of Alexandria ") omits
canons xlvii., xlviii., xlix., 1., he treats these
also as of later date. Canon 35 (xxxiv.) ho
appears to consider as a genuine early form of
what subsequently became the system of metro-
politan authority.
Coming then to what he styles " The Second
Collection, which is not recognized by the Roman
Church," i, e. to the canons not translated by
Dionysius, he says they " bear a more decided
character of a law bogk for the internal dis-
cipline of the clergy, with penal enactments."
Canon Ixxxi. is a repetition and confirmation
of one in the first collection, viz., xx. compared
with 31 (xxx.). This and canons Ixxxiii., Ixxxiv.,
are post-Nicene. The canon of Scripture also is
sjjurious, as contradicting in many points the
authentic traditions and assumptions of the early
Church. It is wanting in the oldest MS., the
Codex Barberinus (Christianity and Mankind,
voj. ii. p. 227).
Ultzen, though modestly declining to express-
a positive judgment, evidently leans to the view
of Bickell that the Autiochene decrees were
the foundation of many of the canons, and re-
grets that Bunsen should have brought up again
the theory of Beveridge, which, he considers,
"recentiores oinnes hujus rei judices refuta-
verant " (Pref. p. xvi. note, and p. xxi.).
There are Oriental versions of the apostolical
canons. As Bunsen has observed, the Coptic and
Aethiopic (the former being a very late but
faithful translation from an old Sahidic version,
see Tattam's Edition, 1848) omit certain of the
canons relating to heretical baptism. Except in
118
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
this and in Can. Ixxxv. they do not differ in any-
important degree ^ Some account of these ver-
sions, and also of the Syriac, may be seen in Bickell,
vol. i. append, iv. He considers even the last-
named to be later than our Greek text, and that
little assistance is to be derived from them (see
p. 215); others, however, as Bunsen, rate them
highlv. The subject deserves further inquiry.
To attempt to decide, or even to sum up so
large a controversy, and one on which scholars
have difiei-ed so widely, would savour of pre-
sumption. It must suffice to indicate a few
points on which the decision seems principally
to turn. The first question is. Can we come to
Beveridge's conclusion that a corpus canonum
corresponding to our present collection, and pos-
sessing a generally recognized authority, really
existed in the 3i-d century ? If so, much weight
would deservedly belong to it.
But if an impartial view of Beveridge's argu-
ments should be thought to lead merely to the
conclusion, that a number of canons substanti-
ally agreeing with certain of those now in our
collection, are quoted in the 4th century, and
presumably existed some considerable time pre-
viously, we find ourselves in a dift'erent position.
In this case the contents of our present col-
lection may possibly be nothing more than de-
crees of synods held at different and unknown
times,-! and in different and uncertain places, not
necessarily agreeing with each other, and not
necessarily acknowledged by the Church at large,
at all events till a later period.™
Again, if our present collection as a whole be
not shewn to be of the 3rd century, the question
at once arises when and how it was made, and
whether any modification or interpolation took
place in the component materials when they were
so collected together."
If it be to be looked upon as a digest of pre-
existing canons brought together from various
sources, it is necessary to consider how far the
fact that any particular canon is authenticated
I' In Can. LXXXV. the Copiic omits Esther from the
O. T. and puts Judith and Tobit in place of Maccabees,
and after mentioning the 16 Prophets, it goes on : " These
also let your young persons learn. And out of the Wis-
dom of Solomon and Kstber, the three Books of Maccabees,
and the AVisdom of the Son of Sirach, there is much in-
struction." In N. T. it adds the Apocalypse, between
Jude and the Kpistles of Clement, and says 'nothing what-
ever about the eight books of ■> eg ulat ions. "The Acts"
are merely mentioned by that name, and follow the
Gospels in the list.
' Some may, no doubt, be of an early date : thus Von
Drey admits the probable antiquity of Can. 1, Can. 10 (ix.),
Can. 11 (x.), and others. See notes to the Canons in
Hefele's Conciliengeschichte, vol. i. Append. ; and comp.
Bickell, vol. i. pp. 80, 81.
™ Beveridge speaks of the Apostolical Canons as the
work " not of one but of many synods, and those held in
divers places" {Cod. Can. lib. 1, cap. ii.). He thinks
that the name of the month Hyperberetaeus in Can.
XXXVII. shews that Canon to be oi Easta-n origin;
wliile he argues that the rule as to Easter in Can. VII.
proves that Canon to belong to the Western Church,
inasmuch as the rule in question does not agree with the
Oriental practice {Jiid. de Can. s. 12 ; and see s. 27).
n As to admissions of interpolations, see Bev. Jud. de
Can. ad finein, and Cod. Can. in Cotel. vol. ii. Append,
pp. 10, 73, 114. Nor can it be forgotten that, in the only
^;happs in which ve Icnow of their having been collected,
they are introduced by the untrue pretext of being the
words of the Apostles dictated to Clement.
APOSTOLICAL CANONS
by being cited at Nice or elsewhere, in an;
degree authenticates any other canon not s
cited. For unless some bond of connexion cm
be shewn, two canons standing in juxtaposition
may be of quite different age and origin.
These considerations have been principall;
framed with reference to the ai-guments of Beve
ridge. Of course if the views of Von Drey b
adopted, any importance to be attached to tl!
canons is materially diminished. Up to a certaii
point Beveridge certainly argues not only witi
ingenuity but force, and his reasoning does no
seem to have received its fair share of attentioi
from Von Drey and Bickell." Still, after allow
ing all just weight to what he advances, a carefu
consideration of the points just suggested, ma;
perhaps tend to shew that it is not difficult t
see why controversialists of modern times hav
not ventured to lay much stress on the apos
tolical canons.
But there is another reason for this. N
Western church can consistently proclaim thei
authority as they now stand. Protestant churche
will hardly agree, for instance, to the rule tha
one who was ordained unmarrjed, may not after
wards marry, nor will they recognize the Mac
cabees as a canonical book ; while the canon
which require a trine immersion in baptism, am
the repetition of baptism when performed b;
heretics, will not be accepted by either Protest
ant or Roman Catholic.P
It may be proper to add that the canons her
discussed are not the only series extant whic^
claim apostolical authority.
Thus, for instance, besides the AiaTa|eis rai
ayiwv aTro(TT6\cov irepl x^^poToviatu, Sia 'Itt
troXvTuv and Ai Siarayal ai Sia KATj^eVroj kc
KavSviS €KKK7]0iaaTiKo\ Tciv ayiwv airoiTToXai
(both of which will he treated of in conuexio
with the Apost. Constitutions), we have certai
pretended canons of an apostolic council at An
tioch (the title being rov ayiov Upofidprvpo
nafi(t>i\ov €K TrjS fv 'AvTiox^'^f 't^v aTro(n6Aai
ffVVoSoV, TOVr' kffTlV iK TOIV (TWo'SlKUlV avTU}
Kav6vaJi' fiipos twv vtt' aurov evpedevrwi' ets t^
'Hptyevovs Pi^\io6r}K7]v). They are in Bickel
i. 138, and Lagarde, Ji'elig. Juris Eccles. p. 18.
We also find another set of apostolic canon
(opos KavoviKhs Tuiv ayiwv airo(TT6Kwv^ als
published by Bickell, i. 133, and Lagarde, p. 3
(and of which the latter critic says that it i
" nondum theologis satis consideratum ") ; 'an
yet again a curious series of alleged apostoli
ordinances (many of which resemble parts c
the apostolical constitutions), in three ancien
Syriac MSS., one translated into Greek by Lagard
(Bel. Jur. Eccl. p. 89), and two into English, wit
notes, by Cureton, in ' Ancient Syriac Documenti
o Yet it is certainly remarkable that, when we fin
hear of these Canons, the question seems to be whethe
they are apostolic or apocryphal. The view that the
are an autlientic collection of post-apostolic synodic;
decrees does not seem to have then suggested itself.
P Refined distinctions have indeed been drawn to quo
lify the apparent sense of some of tliese Canons (see Be>
Cod. Can. in Cotel. vol. ii. Append, p. 100, and p. 130)
but the difficulty attending them has probably had il
share in preventing their full recognition. Hefele speak
of the Canon on Hereticiil Baptism as contrary to tli
Roman rule. Can. LXVI. is also contrary to the disc
plinc of Rome; but not being in the first 50, it is hel
apocryphal,
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
119
relating to the earliest establishment of Christi-
anity in Edessa,' &c., with preface by W. Wright,
Lond. 18G4-. It appears that in Cod. Add. 14,173,
fo). 37, in Brit, Mus. this document is quoted as
" Canons of the Apostles."
It is not perhaps a wholly unreasonable hope
that further researches into the ecclesiastical
MSS. of Syria may be the means of throwing
more light on the perplexing questions which
surround alike the apostolic canons and the apos-
tolic constitutions, both of them, in all proba-
bility, closely connected in their origin with that
Church and couutry.i
Authorities. — Ceiduriatores Magdeburg, ii. c. 7,
p. 544, &c. Fr. Turrianus, Pro Canon. Apost. et
Epp. Decret. Pontif. Apost. Adversus Magd. Centur.
Defensio (Flor. 1572, Lutetiae 1573), lib. i. P. de
Marca, Cone. Sacerd., iii. 2. J. Dallaeus, DePseud-
epigraphis Apost., lib. iii. Pearsoni Vindic.
/gnat, (in Cotelerius, Patr. Apost., vol. ii. app.
p. 251), part i. cap. 4. Matt. Larroquanus in
App. Obs. ad Pearsonianas Ignatii Vindic. (Rotho-
mag. 1674). Beveregii Judicium de Can. Apost.
(in Cotel., Patr. Apost., edit. 1724, vol. i. p. 432).
Beveregii Adnotationes ad Can. Apost. (Ibid. p.
455). Codex Canonum Ecclesiae Universalis Vin-
dicatus a Gul. Beveregio (Ibid. vol. ii. app. p. 1,
and Oxford 1848.) Brunonis Judicium de Auctore
Canonum et Const itutionum Apostolicor'um (Cotel.
vol. ii. app. p. 177). Proleg. in Ignatium Jac.
Usserii (Ibid. vol. ii. app. p. 199), see cap. vi.
Regenbrecht, Diss, de Can. Ap. et Cod. Ecc.
Hisp., Ratisb. 1828. Krabbe, De Cod. Can. qui
Apost. dicuntur, Eitt. 1829. Von Drey, Neue
Untcrsuch. iiber die Konstit. und Kanones der
Apost., Tubingen 1832. Bickell, Geschichte des
Kirchenrechts, Giessen 1843, vol. i. Hefele, Con-
ciliengeschichte, Freiburg 1855, vol. i. append.
Bunsen, Christianity aiid Mankirui-, Lcndon 1854.
Ultzen, Constitutiones Apost., Suerini 1853, pre-
face § 2. De Lagarde, Reliquiae Juris Ecclesi-
astici Antiquissinuw, 1856. [B. S.]
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS. The
.npostolical constitutions consist of eight books.
Their genei\al scope is the discussion and regula-
tion (not in the way of concise rules, but in
diffuse and hortatory language) of ecclesiastical
affairs. In some places they enter upon the
private behaviour proper for Christians; in
other parts, in connexion with the services of
the Church, they furnish liturgical forms at
considerable length." A large share of the
whole is taken up with the subjects of the sac-
raments, and of the powers and duties of the
clergy.
At the end of the eighth book, as now com-
monly edited, are to be found the apostolical
canons. These we have already treated of in the
previous article.
The constitutions, extant in MSS. in various
libraries,** appear during the middle ages to have
been practically unknown. When in 1546,
9 Bickell, however, warns us that the fruits of such
researches must be used with caution, on account of the
uncritical way in which various pieces are put to-
gether in these MSS. (vol. i. p. 218).
» These belong especially to the question of Liturgies,
and will not therefore be considered at length hero.
•> An account of the MSS. is given in (jltzen's edition,
and by Lagarde in Bunsen's Vhriit. and Man., vol. vi.
p. 35.
Carolus Capellus, a Venetian, printed an epitome
of them in Latin translated from a MS. found in
Crete, Bishop Jewell spoke of it as a work " in
these countries never heard of nor seen bel'ore."
(Park. Soc, Jew., i. 111.) In 1563 Bovius pub-
lished a complete Latin version, and in the same
year Turrianus edited the Greek text. It is not
expedient here to pursue at any length the
question of subsequent editions, but it may be
as well to mention the standard one of Cote-
lerius in the Patres Apostolici and the useful and
portable modern one of Ultzen (Suerin, 1853).
There is also one by Lagarde, Lipsiae, 1862.
The constitutions profess on the face of them
to be the words of the Apostles themselves
written down by the hand of Clement of Rome.
Book 1 prescribes in great detail the manners
and habits of the faithful laity.
Book 2 is concerned chiefly with the duties of
the episcopal office, and with assemblies for
divine worship.
Book 3 relates partly to widows, partly to the
clergy, and to the administration of bapti.sm.
Book 4 treats of sustentation of the poor, of
domestic life, and of virgins.
Book 5 has mainly to do with the subjects of
martyrs and martyrdom, and with the rules for
feasts and fasts.
Book 6 speaks of schismatics and heretics, and
enters upon the question of the Jewish law, and
of the apostolic discipline substituted for it, and
refers incidentally to certain customs and tradi-
tions both Jewish and Gentile.
Book 7 describes the two paths, the one of
life, the other of spiritual death, and follows out
this idea into several points of daily Christian
life. Then follow rules for the teaching and
baptism of catechumens, and liturgical pre-
cedents of prayer and praise, together with a list
of bishops said to have been appointed by the
Apostles themselves.
Book 8 discusses the diversity of spiritual
gifts, and gives the forms of public prayer and
administration of the commitnion, the election
and ordinations of bishops, and other orders in
the Church, and adds various ecclesiastical regu-
lations.
This enumeration of the contents of the books
is by no means exhaustive — the style being
diffuse, and many other matters being incident-
ally touched upon — but is merely intended to give
the reader some general notion of the nature of
the work.
From the ("ime when they were brought again
to light down to the present moment, great
differences of opinion have existed as to the date
and authorship of the coastitutions.
Turrianus and Bovius held them to be a
genuine apostolical work, and were followed in
this opinion by some subsequent theologians, and
notably by the learned and eccentric Whiston,
who maintained that (with the exception of a
few gross interpolations) they were a record of
what our Saviour himself delivered to his
Apostles in the forty days after his resurrection,
and that they were committed to writing and
were sent to the churches by two apostolic
councils held at Jerusalem, A.D, 64 and a.d. 67,
and by a third held soon after the destruction
of the city.
On the other hand Baronius, Bellarmine and
I'etavius declined to attach weight to the Con-
120
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
stitutious, while Daille and Blondel fiercely at-
tacked their genuineness and authority.
Whiston's main argument was that the early
Fathers constantly speak of SiSac-KaXia ano-
(TToKiKi], 5tari|ei$, ZinTayai, Ziard.yiJ'-o.Ta rSiv
o.Troar6Kwv., km'iiiv ttjs XeiTovpyias, Kavwv ttjs
aXriOeias, and so forth, which is true ; but he
has not proved that these expressions are neces-
sarily used of a definite book or books, and far
less, that they relate to what we now have as
the so-called Apostolical Constitutions.
It will be well to look at some of the chief of
these passages from the Fathers.
We may begin with the words of Ireuaeus in
the fragment first printed by Pfafl'iu 1715. oi
To'is SevTepais tuiv aTroffToAoov Siara^ecTi iraprj-
KoAovdriKOTes XcraaL top Kvpiov nav iTpoiT(popav
h> -rf] Kaivij Sia8r]Kri KadearTiKevai Kark to
MaAox'ou K. T. A.
Professor Lightfoot is disposed to see here a
reference to the apostolical constitutions, but
does not recognise the Pfaflian fragments as
genuine.'^ (Lightfoot On Epist. to Fhilipjnans,
London, 1868, pp. 201, 202.) But if the genu-
ineness be admitted, the reference is surely in
the highest degree vague and uncertain. There
is no evidence that the ordinances spoken of
(whatever they were) were to be found in any
one particular book— still less is there anything
to identify what is spoken of with the apostolical
constitutions either as we now have them, or
under any earlier and simpler form. Moreover,
it appears singular that if the CDnstitutions were
really what the writer was relying on, he should
not quote some passage from them. Instead of
this, he goes on to cite the Revelation, the Epistle
to the Romans, and the Epistle to the Hebrews,
almost as if these contained the 5ioTa|6is in
question. What is meant by the word Sevrepai
it seems very difficult to say with certainty.
Origen speaking of fiisting (in his 10th Homily
on Leviticus) says, " Sed est et alia adhuc re-
ligiosa [jejunandi ratio], cujus laus quorundam
apostolorum Uteris praedicatur. Invenimus enim
iu quodam libello ab apostolis dictum, Beatus
est qui etiam jejunat prae eo ut alat pauperem.
Hujus jejunium valde acceptum est apud Deum
et revera digne satis : imitatur euirn Ilium qui
animam suam posuit pro fratribus suis."
The terms in which Origen introduces this
citation do not seem very appropriate to such a
work as the Constitutions, nor in point of fact
do the words (which seem meant as an exact
quotation) occur in it. There is indeed (Book
V. 1) a general exhortation to fast iu order to
give the food to the saints, but the passage has a
primary reference (at all events) to raints im-
prisoned on account of the faith. There is, there-
fore, a considerable divergence between the words
in Origen and those in the Constitutions; and
we are hardly justified in seeing any reference to
the latter in the former.*
« Hilgenfeld appears to take a lilce vipw, both as to the
Apostolical Constitutions being inteudeu, and as to the
passage not being genuine. {Nov. Test, extra Canon, recept.
Fascic. iv. pp. 83, 84.) Bunsen thinks the Fragment ge-
nuine, and that it refers to some early " Ordinances," not
necessarily the same as we now have : Christ, and Man.,
vol. ii. p. 39?, et seq.
<• Prima iiicie. too, " literae quorvndam, aiiostoloiuni " is
not an apt designation of a work professuig to njucsent
the joiut decrees of all.
A later treatise entitled ' De Aleatoribus,' of
unknown date and authorship, erroneously as-
cribed to Cyprian, refers to a passage " in doc-
trinis apostolorum," relating to Church discipline
upon oft'enders. Here again no effort has suc-
ceeded in tracing the words of the citation either
iu the constitutions or in any known work.
There is, indeed, a passage of a similar effect
(Book ii. c. 39), but the actual language is not
the same ; and a similarity of general tenor is
not much to be relied upon, inasmuch as the
subject in hand is a very common one.
We come now to Eusebius. In his list of
books, after naming those generally allowed, and
those which are avTiXi-y6fj.ivoi, he goes on, — " We
must rank as spurious (yodoi) the account of the
' Acts of Paul,' the book called ' The Shepherd,'
and the ' Revelation of Peter,' and besides these,
the epistle circulated under the name of ' Bar-
nabas,' and what are called the 'Teachings of
the Apostles' (Twj' d7ro(rT(SA.coi/ o.l \ey6fievat Si-
Sa)(al}, and moreover, as I said, the ' Apocalypse
of John,' if such an opinion seem correct, which
some as I said reject, wdiile others reckon it
among the books generally received. We may
add that some have reckoned in this division the
Gospel according to the Hebrews, to which those
Hebrews who have received [Jesus as] the Christ
are especially attached. All these then will be-
long to the class of controverted books." (Euseb.
Hist. Ecd. iii. 25.)
The place here given to the SiSctxot (even
supposing them to be the constitutions) is in-
consistent with their being held a genuine work
of the Apostles. It speaks of them, however, as
forming a well-known book, and from the con-
text of the passage, they seem to be recognised
as orthodox ; but there is nothing to identify
them directly with our present collection.
Athanasius, among books not canonical, but
directed to be read by proselytes for instruction
in godliness, enumerates the Wisdom of Solomon,
the Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobias,
and what he styles ^i^axv KaKovfi.ev7) tcov airo-
aroXav. The same remarks obviously apply to
this Father as to Eusebius (Op. S. Athan. i. 963,
Ed. Bened.).
The language of neither of them indicates that
the work in question was looked upon as an au-
thoritative collection of Church laws. Lagarde
denies that either of them is to be considered
as quoting any book of our constitutions, laying
much stress on the distinction between 5i5axai
and 5iaTa|6iy or ^laTayai airoaroKojv. (Bunsen,
Christ, and Man., vol. vi. p. 41.") Bunsen, how-
ever, himself is inclined to see here a real refer-
ence to a primitive form of the constitutions.
{Tbid. vol. ii. p. 405.)
We now come to Epiphanius, who, writing at
the close of the 4th century, has numerous
explicit references to the Siaralis of the Apostles,
meaning thereby apparently some book of a
similar kind to that which we now have. His
view of its character and authority is to be found
in the following passage : —
"For this purpose the Audiani themselves
[a body of heretics] allege the Constitution of
the Apostles, a work deputed indeed with the
e In this work Lagarde writes under the name of
Boetticher, which he has since changLd lor family reasons
Iu L;,irarde.
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
121
majority [of Christians] yet uot worthy of re-
jectiou.f For all canonical order is contained
therein, and no point of the faith is falsified, nor
yet of the confession, nor yet of the adminis-
trative system and rule and faith of the Church."
{Hacr. 70, No. 10 ; comp. also Ibid, No. 11, 12 ;
75, No. 6 ; 80, No. 7.)
But when we examine his citations, we find
that none of them agree exactly with our present
text, while some of them vary from it so widely,
that they can be connected with it only by the
supposition that they were meant to be made ad
seusum not ad literam. Even this resource fails
m a famous passage, immediately following that
just cited, where Epiphanius quotes the consti-
tutions as directing Easter to be observed ac-
cording to the Jewish reckoning,^ whereas in our
present copies they expressly enjoin the other
system. (See Book v. 17.)
lu a work known as the ' opus imperfectum in
Matthaeum,' once ascribed to Chrysostom, but
now considered to have been the production of
an unknown writer in the 5th century, there is
a distinct reference to "the 8th book of the
apostolic canons." And words to the efi'ect of
tliose quoted are found in the second chapter.
Another citation, however, in the same writer
cannot be verified at all.
It is not necessary to pursue the list further.
From this time forwards references are found
which can be verified with more or less exactness,
and in the year 692 the council of Constantinoijle,
known as Quinisextum, or the Trullan council,
Ijad the work under their consideration, but came
to a formal decision, refusing to acknowledge it
as authoritative on account of the extent to which
it had been interpolated by the heterodox.
It appears then that we must conclude that
there is no sufficient evidence that the Church
generally received as of undoubted authority any
collection of constitutions professing to have
come from the Aim^tlr^ fluiusL'lves, or at least
to be a trustworthy iJiiuiiti\o record of their
decisions. Even Epipliauius bases his approbation
of the work of which he' speaks on subjective
grounds. He refers to it, because he thinks it
orthodox, but admits that it was not received as
a binding authority. Yet had such a work
existed, it should seem that from its practical
character it must have been widely known, per-
petually cited, and generally acted upon.
Indeed that the so-called apostolic constitu-
tions, as they now stand, are not the production
of the Apostles or of apostolical men, will be
clear to most readers from their scheme and con-
tents. " Apostles," says the author of an article
on the subject in the ' Christian Remembrancer '
in 1854, " are brought together who never could
have been together in this life : St. James, the
greater (after he was beheaded), is made to sit
in council with St. Paul (Lib. vi. c. 14), though
elsewhere he is spoken of as dead (Lib. v. c. 7).
Thus assembled, they condemn heresies and
heretics by name who did not arise till after
' Tr\v TuiV anoiTToXtov Sidra^LV, oixrai^ fi^v T0t5 ttoA-
, Aois ec aix^LKiKTif, a\A' oiiK aSoKt/iOi'.
B 'Opifoucri -yap iu Trj aVTrj iiarajei ol a7ro(rToAot int-
Y^eis fir] {p-q(j)L(^riT<;, oAAa woniTe orau ol aSeA(|)0(. iip.ui' oi
e(C T^s TrepiTOfi^s- huer' aiiTiov a/j.a iroulTe. And lie adds :
Hapa Tot5 ctTTocTToAot? fie TO pr^TOf fit' 6/xdt'OLaf ezi t(|>t:'peTat ,
uis CTrifiapTupoOtri Ae'yoi'TCS ore Kaf re TrAarijflioO'i, iJi-rfii
va-lv fieAeVu.
their death (Lib. vi. c. 8) ; they appoint the
observance of the days of their death (Lib. viii.
c. 33), nay, once they are even made to say
' These are the names of tiie bishops whom we
ordained in our lifetime ' (Lib. viii. c. 47)."
Most persons will also be of opinion that there
is a tone about the constitutions themselves
which is by no means in harmony with what we
know of apostolic times. Thus for instance, the
honour given to the episcopate is excessive and
hyperbolical.
ovTos [i. e. 6 eTTicTKOTros] vfxaiu PaffiXevs Kul
Svudarris- ovtos vjxSiv iTTLy^ios ©eos fjnTO. @€6u,
OS 6<peiAei TTJs Trap' ii/xoiv tl/xTis arroAai^eii' (citing
Ps. Ixxxii. 6 and Exod. xxii.-xxvJii. in LXX.).
'O yap iwiaKOTTOs irpoKad^^iadco v/j.wv oos @€ov
d|ia riTiiJ.rifJ.evos, rj Kparel rov K\T]pov Kal rov
Xaov irauTOS apx'ei (Book ii. 26 ; comp. also
Book ii. 33).
And in Book vi. 2 we read : —
64 yap 6 fiaaiXevaiv ineyeipSixiVOS KoXaireais
a^ios, K&t' vios fi, Kav (piXos- Trdacp fnaWov u
Upevcriv iiravKndfxivos ; "Otroi yap iepcoawii
/SamAe/as d/xeivaiv, ivepl xpvxv^ ex"'^"'" '''^''
aySiva, roffovTw ku] ^apvripav exei rrjc npno-
piav 6 ravTT) To\fir]ffas avrofXfj.aTi7v, fjirep 6 rfj
^aaiAeia.^
A system, too, of orders and classes in the
Churcli stands out prominently, especially in the
8th book, of which there is no trace in the ear-
liest days (see Bickell, vol. i. p. 62). Thus we
have subdeacons, readers, &c., with minute direc-
tions for their aj^pointment. Ceremonies also are
multiplied. The use of oil and myrrh in baptism
is enjoined (Book vii. 22), and the marriage of
the clergy after ordination is forbidden (vi. 17).
We must therefore feel at once that we have
passed into a different atmosphere from that of
Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, and that
the connection of Clement's name with the work
must be a fiction, no less than the assertion that
he wrote its contents at the mouth of the apos-
tles. Even those who think that they trace
something like the origin of such a system in the
letters of Ignatius must allow that it is here
represented in a state of develojjment which
must have required a considerable period of time
to bring about.
The questions, however, still remain : —
To what date are we to assign the work in the
form in which it now exists ?
Can we show that it was in any degree formed
out of pre-existing materials ?
Bishop Pearson"' and Archbishop Usher regard
the variations between the citations of Epipha-
nius, and what we read in our present copies of
the constitutions, as conclusive evidence that
there have been alterations and interpolations on
a large scale since the time of that Father, and
the latter of these writers thinks that the same
falsifier has been at work here, who expanded the
shorter epistles of Ignatius into the so-called
longer epistles, J
1' CoDip. U.sber, in Cotel. J'atr. Apost. vol. ii. p. 220,
edit. 1724.
i Vind. Ignat. Part i. c. 4 pmpe fin. And scp tlie
opinion oF Hpvi'vidm-, Cod. Can. lib. 2, cap. i.x.
j Cdl.!. I'<:ii-. .1/1, \wl. li. Append, p. 22S. Biclccll lias
colic, i-'l M' i:i>i iiiirs <ii CMrrespondencc in phraseology
Ijctuccr llir l-iiai.an l',iM>t!i'S and the Oonstitulions as
tiny htaiid, wliich the reader may refer to in order to
e.\aniine the piobuljility of the latter theory {lUidi. dcs
122
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
According to Pearson, we should probably
attribute the work in its existing form to about
the middle of the 5th century, while Usher re-
fuses to place it higher than the 6th century. If,
on the other hand, we could suppose that Epipha-
nius quoted loosely, and that the book which he
had may, with occasional exceptions, have re-
sembled in substance what we now have, ^ we
should be able to put its antiquity somewhat
higher. But whatever conclusion may be come
to on this point, there is no satisfactory evidence
to warrant its being assigned to any period suffi-
ciently early to make it, as it stands, an authority
as to apostolic usage.
But the question still remains. Can we trace
its composition, and in any degree identify the
materials out of which it has been put together ?
That the work was a pure and simple forgery
is improbable. Such was not the course which
matters took in early days ; nor would the mea-
sure of acceptance which it obtained be easily ac-
counted for on this theory.
Moreover it contains passages which seem
manifestly to belong to an early age. Thus in
case of quarrels the Christian is recommended
to seek reconciliation even at a loss to himself,
Kal ytt^ ipxfcrd(>> firl KpiTTjpLov iOviKov (book ii.
c. 45) — words which at all events savour of a
time before the empire was Christian. So again,
the secular judges are said to be idviKol Kal ov
yivdxTKovTts dedrrira. So also martyrdom and
persecution ou account of Christianity are spoken
of as by no means exclusively belonging to the
past (see Lib. 5, init. et alibi).
And to mention but one more point, the charge
of Arianism, which was at one time freely brought
against the constitutions, and used to prove that
they had been corrupted, if not forged, by here-
tics,' has in later days been sometimes made the
ground of an opposite inference. It is thought by
some modern writers merely to show that the
phrases excepted against date from a time before
the conti'oversy arose, and when therefore men
spoke with less of dogmatic exactness. ™
Perhaps it is possible to go even a step further,
at all events, by way of not unreasonable conjec-
ture. We have seen that Whiston relied on a
number of places in which the early Fathers
speak of SiSaxai, SiSacr/caAiai, 5iaTa|ets rtSi' ano-
(tt6\q>v, and some years before Whiston wrote.
Bishop Pearson (in his Vindiciae Ignatianae)
had suggested the idea that, so far as such ex-
pressions really referred to any specific woi-ks at
all, they were to be understood of smaller, more
ancient, and more fragmentary treatises, of a
kind not rare in the Primitive Church, professing
to contain the words of the apostles or of aposto-
lical men on matters of doctrine and Church
order. Some of these were the production of here-
tics, some were of an orthodox character. Those
which related to doctrine were called didascaliae.
Kirchenrechts, vol. i. p. 58, note). Pearson takes a some-
what different view, Vind. Ignat. ubi supra.
k Comp. Bickell, i. pp. SV, 58, note. Epiphanius, how-
ever, never quotes from the 7th or 8th books, which on
any theory are doubtless of later date.
1 See fur instance Le Clerc, in Cotel. Patr. Apnst. vol. ii.
App. p. 492, ct seq.; and Bruno, ibid. p. 177, et seq.
Indeed Photius and the TruUan Council had insinuated
the same accusation {RibUoth. Can. ivz, 113).
■" See Bickell, p. 58, note, p. 61, and p. 69, note. Cuuip.
BuU, Oef. Fid. A'ic. lib. 2, c. 3, ij 6
those which gave rules of ritual or discipline,
Stard^eis or Constitutiones. These woi-ks, written
at different times and in different parts of the
Church, furnished (as Pear.son supposes) the mate-
rials to the compiler, who, with many altei-ations
and interpolations formed out of them our present
constitutions ( Vindic. Ignat., Part i. c. 4).
Other critics have spoken in terms which seem
rather to point to a gradual accretion, added to
from time to time to express the Church system
as developed, and modified at the periods when
such additions wore respectively made. Thus
Lagarde says, " Communis virorum doctorum fere
omnium nunc invaluit opinio, eas[Con.stitutiones]
saccule tertio clam succrevisse et quum sex ali-
quando libris absolutae fuissent, septimo et octavo .
auctas esse postea " (^lieliq. Juris Eccles. Antiq.
1856).
That the work as we have it is a composite
one is indeed manifest enough " from the general
want of internal unity, method, or connexion ;
the difference of style in the various portions, and
sometimes statements almost contradictory ; the
same topics being treated over and over again in
different places ; besides a formal conclusion of
the end of the sixth book, and other indications
of their being distinct works joined together "
(^Christ. Rememhr. ubi supra).
In the Paris Library is a Syriac MS. called the
Didascalia or Catholic doctrine of the 12 Apos-
tles and holy disciples of our Saviour. It con-
tains in a shorter form much of the substance of
the first six books of the constitutions, but with
very great omissions, and with some variations
and transpositions.
Its contents were printed in Syriac by De La-
garde (without his name) in 1854: and the same .
critic, in the 6th vol. of Bunsen's Christianity and
Mankind, has published, 1st, our present text,
with what he states to be the variations of the
Syriac ; and 2nd, a shorter Greek text or ' Didas-
calia Purior,' founded on the Syriac."
Bickell, who, however, when he wrote had
only seen extracts, thought this Syriac MS. 'a
mere abridgement of the larger work, and there-
fore posterior in date to it, and adding little to
our knowledge.
But Bunsen {Christianity and Mankind, vol i. p.
X.), Lagarde {Eel. Jur. Eccl. Ant. pref., p. iv.), and
the author of the article in the Christian liemem-
hrancer 1854, all agree that we have here an
older and more primitive, if not the original
work. Hilgenfeld says, " Equidem et ipse Syria-
cam Didascaliam ad hujus operis primitivam
formam propius accedere existimo, sed eandem
nunquam mutatam continere valde dubito."" He
concludes, on the whole, " tertio demum saeculo
didascalia apostolica in eam fei'e formam redacta
esse videtur, quam Eusebius et Athanasius nove-
rant, quam recensionem a nostris constitutionibus
apostolicis valde diversam fuisse antiquissima
decent testimonia, praecipue Epiphanii. Ea autem
° It does not seem, however, that this literal'y repre-
sents the Syriac. For one of the passages given by Hil-
genfeld (see infra), which undoubtedly e.xists in the Syriac,
is not to be found in the 'Didascalia Purior.' It is much
to be regretted that neither Lagarde nor any other Oriental
scholar has published a literal translation of the Syriac
text. ,
o His own view is that the Apostolical Constilutions
sprang from an Ebionite source, allied to that which jiro-
duced the Clementine Recognitions.
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
123
etiara a Syriaca didascalia quamvis cognata
saeplus discedunt." He thinks that the Syriac
appears not to bo very consistent on the subject
of the calculation of Easter. It seems, however
(from the translations which he gives), that it
contains a passage agreeing in substance with what
Epiphanius quotes as to keeping Easter by the
Jewish method(ante p. 121) : "Ihr sollt aber begin-
nen dann, wenn cure Briider aus dem Volk [Israel]
das Pascha halten, weil, als unser Herr und Lehrer
mit uns das Pascha ass, er nach dieser Stunde von
Judas verrathen wurde. Und um dieselbe Zeit
haben wir angefangen, bedriickt zu wei'den, weil
er von uns genommen war. Nach der Zahl des
Mondes, wie wir ziihlen nach der Zahl der gliiu-
bigen Hebraer, am zehnten im Monat, am Montag
haben sich die Priester und Aeltesten des Volks
versammelt " u. s. w., and subsequently — " Wie
also der vierzehnte des Pascha fallt, so sollt ihr
ihn halten. Denn nicht stimmt der Monat, und
auch nicht der Tag in jedem Jahre mit dieser
Zeit, sondern er ist verschieden." p
Tliis is worthy of serious attention, as an argu-
ment for the antiquity of this Syriac work.
It would seem that it must at all events be ad-
mitted that the original work from which the
Syriac was taken consisted of six books only.
The 7th and 8th books, as they now stand, formed
no part of it.
The same is the case with an Aethiopic version
translated by Mr. Piatt. This also, though said
to be very loose and of little value as a guide to
the original text, is a witness to the fact that
there were but six books when it was made. The
like is true of the Arabic versions, of which some
account was first given by Grabe, and of which
two MSS. are in the Bodleian, i
Not only do these facts tend to isolate the first
six books from the 7th and 8th ; but the formal
conclusion which occurs at the end of the 6th
even in our present Greek, and the style of the
contents itself, furnish internal evidence in the
same direction.
It has therefore been contended that the
kernel out of which, to a great extent, the first
six books sprang was a shorter book called
SiSacr/caA-ia riv airoarSXaiv, of which the Sj-riac
version furnishes a fair idea, if not a really pure
text.
And as none of Epiphanius's citations are made
from the two last books, it is suggested that we
may have here something like a key to the work
as it was in his time, the 7th and 8th books hav-
ing been added since. "
Coming to the 7th book, we must notice that
its first thirteen chapters or thereabouts exhibit
:i :,'reat similarity, both in matter and expression,
to the first part of an ancient tract printed by
I'-ickell from a Vienna MS., and entitled Al Sia-
Tuyai al 5ia K\r]fxevTos Kal KavSves iKK\r](TLa<TTi-
I' SeeHilgenfeld, Xovum Test, extra Can. recept. Fasci-
iilu:; iv. p. 79, et seq. (Lipsiae, 1866.)
'I I'here are in the Arabic five chapters not in the
' The fact that there is no Oriental version of the eight
I . reck books as a whole, has been reUed on to shew that
I hey had not been united together in one work up to
I he year 451, when the Egyptian, Aethiopic, and Syriac
I liurches were severed from the communion of the Greeks
aid Latins (Christ. Remembr., 1854, p. liVs). The same
a\ilhority is inclined to date the Didascaly in the latter
iurt of the 3rd centmy.
Kol rSiV ayiujv airo(rT6\a>v, ' This tract professes
to contain short and weighty utterances by the
apostles (who ai-e introduced as speaking success-
ively) on Christian morals, and on the ministers
of the Church.' An Aethiopic version (for it is
extant in Coptic, Aethiopic, and Arabic) calls it
" canons of the apostles which they have made
for the ordering of the Christian Church." " It
is the piece which Bickell and others after him
have called " Apostolische Kirchenordnung."
It is assigned by him to the beginning of the
3rd century.* The same date is given in the
article on the subject in Ilerzog's Encyclopddie.
where it is treated as a document independent of
the constitutions. Bunsen, removing the dra-
matic form and presenting only the substance of
the piece, considers it to be in fact a collection of
rules of the Alexandrian Church. This view,
however, is warmly disputed by the writer in the
Christian Eemembrancer (1854, p. 293), who
contends that its whole garb, style, and lan-
guage show that it was not an authoritative
work, but was the production of a pious writer,
who arrayed in a somewhat fictitious dress what
he sought to inculcate. It is more remarkable for
piety than knowledge ; for though the number of
twelve apostles is made out, it is by introducing
Cephas as a distinct person from Peter, and by
making him and Nathanael occupy the places of
James the Less and of Matthias. St. Paul does
not appear at all — a fact, perhaps, not without
its bearing on conjectures as to its origin.
It should be observed that the language of the
first part of this tract, and of the 7th Book of the
Constitutions, coincides to a great extent with the
latter part of the Epistle of Barnabas, leaving it
doubtful whether it was taken thence or whether
the transcribers of that epistle subsequently in-
corporated therewith a portion of this treatise.
Borrowing and interpolation must, it would
seem, have taken place on one hand or on the
other, and, as in other cases, it is difiicult to de-
cide the question of originality.
Upon this state of facts the writer in the
Christ. Rem. argues that this tract furnished
materials for the first part of the 7th Book of
the Constitutions. He also thinks that it is it-
self the work refei-red to by Eusebius and Atha-
nasius under the name of SiSax^ tcoi' airo-
(tt6\wv. We have seen already that the title
in the Greek varies from that in the Aethiopic,
and it is urged that (considering the subject)
there seems no reason why it may not also be
suitably designated 'Teaching of the Apostles.'
Now in an old stichometry appended to Niceph-
orus' chronography,>' but perhaps of earlier date
than that work, the number of lines contained
in certain works is given, and from this it would
appear that the 'Doctrina Apostolorum' was
8 Bickell, vol. i. A pp. I. It will also be found vi
Lagarde's Rel. Juris Eccl. Ant, p 74.
<■ It is the former of these points alone in which the
likeness appears between this work and the 7th Book of
the Constitutions.
" See Bickell ubi supra; and i. p. 88.
« It mentions only "Readers" in addition to the three
orders of the ministry; and as 'rerlnlliaii does the same
{De Praescr. Ilaer., c. 41), this is thouglit a ground for
attributing it to his epoch (Bickell, vol. i. p. 92). See
also Hilgcnfcld, A'ou. Test, extra Can. rec, Fasciculus iv.
lip. 93, 9 1.
y A production of the 9th century.
124
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
shorter than the Book of Canticles, and that a
book called the ' Teaching of Clement,' was as
long as the Gospel of Luke. Hence, if the ' Doc-
trina ' of this list be the same as that of Euse-
bius, it must have been a book very much
shorter than our present constitutions, and one
not far differing in length from the tract of
which we have been speaking; while the 'Teach-
ing of Clement ' (a larger work) may be a desig-
nation of the earlier form of our present first
six books — in short, of the Didascalia. Euffinus,
in a list otherwise very similar to those of
Eusebius and Athanasius, omits the 'Teaching
of the Apostles,' and inserts instead ' The two
ways, or the Judgment of Peter.' Assuming
that the ' Doctrina ' is the tract we have been
discussing, reasons are urged for supposing that
it reappears here under a different title. We
have already seen that the Greek and Aethiopic
give it two different names, and its contents
might perhaps render the designation in Euf-
finus not less appropriate. For St. John, who
speaks first, is introduced as beginning his ad-
dress with the words, "There arc two ways,
one of life and one of death ;" and St. Peter in-
tervenes repeatedly in the course of it, and at
the close sums up the whole by an earnest ex-
nortation to the brethren to keep the foregoing
injunctions. Such is the hypothesis of the
learned writer in the Christ. Rem.
Hilgenfeld, it may be mentioned, has independ-
ently arrived at a conclusion in part accordant
with the above. He argues strongly that the
treatise published by Bickell is that spoken of by
RuflSnus under the name of ' Duae viae vel Judi-
cium Petri,' but does not apparently identify it
with the ' Doctrina Apostolorum ' of Athanasius.
He thinks the book was known in some form to
Clemens Alesandrinus, and agrees that great part
of it passed intii the 7th Book of the Constitu-
tions (see Hilgenfeld's Novum Test, extra Canonem
Receptum, Lipsiae 1866 ; Fasciculus iv. p. 93).
We now come to the 8th Book. Extant in
several Greek MSS. (one being at Oxford) are
large portions of the matter of the earlier part
of this book, not however connected together
throughout, but appearing in two distinct and
apparently separate pieces. The first of them
is entitled ' Teaching of the Holy Apostles con-
cerning gifts ' (xapi(r,uaT&)r), the second 'Eegu-
lations (Siarafeis) of the same Holy Apostles
concerning ordination [given] through Hippo-
lytus ' (irepi x^ 'po'^'oi'twi' ^la 'IttttoAutov). The
two together, as just observed, comprise a very
large proportion of the 8th Book, but are not
without some omissions and several variations
from it. In that book as we have it, the two
portions represented respectively by these sepa-
rate treatises stand connected by a short chapter,
containing nothing of importance, and seeming
to serve only as a link.
Hence it has been suggested that we have in
the treatises in question an older and purer form
of the 8th Book, or rather the materials used in
its composition. The ' Regulations ' are also in
existence in Coptic (indeed there are two Coptic
forms differing from each other and from the
Gi-eek by additions and omissions and probably
in age), in Syriac, Arabic, and Aethiopic, the
text being in many cases a good deal modified.^
8 Tlie Syriac and Coptic form part of the coUectious
Bunsen ti-eated these as a collection of AleX'
audrian Church rules, and Mewed tlie por-
tions common to them and to the 8th Book of
the Constitutions as in a great degree derived
from a lost work of Hippolytus Trepi x'*/""^/""'
Ta-r^ {Christ, and Man., vol. ii., p. 412).
On the other hand Bickell argues that the
tracts in question are nothing more than ex-
tracts from the constitutions, more or less
abridged and modified. He relies, for example,
on the fact that in one of these treatises no less
than in the text of our 8th Book, St. Paul (who
is introduced as a speaker) is made to command
Christian masters to be kind to their servants,
" as we have also ordained in ichat has preceded,
and have taught in our epistles." This he con-
siders to be a clear reference to what has been
before said in the constitutions on the same sub-
ject (Book vii. c. 13).
Lagarde expresses a similar view, and draws
mentioned infra, p. 125. See also Christ. Semembr.,p. 2i0,
as to anotlier Syriac MS., and comp. p. 283.
^ The inscription on the statue of Hippolytus at Eome
mentions among his works nepl xapttr/ixdrtor aTrocTToAtKtj
jrapdSoats. It is not clear whether the Trepl \ap. was
one treatise and ourotrT. napaS. another, or whether tlie
whole is the title of one work. See Bickell, p. 60, note.-
As resrards the -n-epl ;^ei,poToi'iioc, Bunsen considers it to
li r ' I' ■ II til" subject of much interpolation, and regards
in: ill ; spcct to have been like that of the Consti-
1 1 1 1 i>. I I : . s, the composition of which he describes
ill w ui di w uiili quoting in relation to the general subject :
" Here we sue the very origin of these Constitutions.
Towards the end of the ante-Nicene period they made
the old simple collections of customs and regulations into
a book, by introducing different sets of ' coutumes,' by a
literary composition either of their own making, or by
transcribing or extracting a corresponding treatise of some
ancient father. Thus the man who compiled our Vth book
has, as everybody now knows, extracted two chapters of
the ancient epistle which bears the name of Barnabas.
The compiler of the 8th book, or a predecessor in this sort
of compilation, has apparently done the same with the
work of Hippolytus on the Charismata" {Christianity
and Mankind, vol. li. 416). Elsewhere, in the same work,
he expresses an opinion that the old collections of customs
here spoken of were themselves made at a much earlier
time — perhaps in the 2nd century — and express the prac-
tice of various great churches ; and that the consciousness
of apostolicity in that primitive age justifies, or at least
excuses, the fiction by which they were attributed to
Apostles, — a fiction which deceived no on", and was only
meant to express an undoubted fact, viz., the apostolicity
of the injunctions as to their substance (vol. ii. 399).
Ascending still a step higher, he believes that the mate-
rials employed in these old collections were of all but
apostolic times. The oldest horizon to which we look
back as reflected in them is perhaps the age immediately
posterior to Clement of Home, who himself represents the
end of the Johannean age, or first century (see vol. ii.
p. 402). To Bunsen's mind, full of faith in the power
and tact of subjective criticism, this means more
than to the mind of theologians of the English school.
He believed in the possibility of applying the cri-
tical magnet to draw forth the true fragments of steel
from the mass in which to our eyes they seem inex-
tricably buried. He thus speaks of the subjective
process by which he makes the first step upwards: —
" As soon as we get rid of all that belongs to the bad
taste of the fiction, some ethic introductions, and all occa-
sional moralising conclusions, and generally everything
manifestly re-written with literary pretension ; and lastly,
as soon as we expunge some interpolations of the 4th and
5th centuries, which are easily discernible, we find our-
selves unmistakeably in the midst of the life of the Church
of the 2nd and 3rd centuries " (vol. ii. p. 405 >.
APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
125
attention to the circumstance that in one part of
the Munich MS. of the -jrepl x^^poroviSiv, there
is a note which expressly speaks of what follows
as taken out of the apostolical constitutions.''
In conclusion, it may be remarked that all
such researches as those we have been consider-
ing as to one piece being the basis or original of
another, are beset with much difficulty, because
certain statements or maxims often recur in
several tracts which (in their present state at
all events) are distinct from each other, though
sometimes bearing similar names. Lagarde points
out {Bel. Jur. Eccl. Ant., preface p. xvii., and
Bunsen's Christianity and Mankind, vol. vi. p. 38,
39) that there once was a Syriac collection in
eight books equally professing to be the work of
Clement, yet far from being identical -with our
present Greek constitutions, though here and
there embracing similar pieces. Passages which
Lagarde deems to be extracts from the 2nd and
3rd Books have been edited by him in Syriac
from fragments found in the same Paris MS.
(Sangerm. 38) which contains the Syriac Didas-
calia"^ (see his Eel. Jur. Eccl. Ant. Syrian. 1856).
He has also translated them into Greek (see his
Bel. Jur. Eccl. Ant. Graece, p. 80, and Pref.
p. xvii.).<i Then again, there is an Egyptian col-
lection,^ also in eight books, the relation of which
to the abovementioned Syrian Octateuch is dis-
cussed by Lagarde {Bel. Jur. Eccl. Ant. preface,
and Bunsen's Christ, and Mankind, vol. vi. p. 39).
We have thus endeavoured to present a sketch
of some of the leading theories which have been
put forward as to the apostolical constitutions.
Did space pei-mit it would not be difficult to add
others. Krabbe appears to have thought that
Eusebius, Athanasius, and Epiphanius knew the
first seven books, and that they were composed
in the East not long after the time of Cyprian
(the seventh being a kind of appendix to the
others), and probably by one author, whose object
was to model the Church on a Levitical pattern,
and who perhaps described not so much what
existed as what he desired to see. At a later
period (end of 4th or beginning of 5th century)
the 8th Book was added, embracing divers pre-
cepts which were commonly supposed to be apos-
tolical, together with much from the writer him-
b Lagarde, Eel. Juris Eccl. Ant., Preface, p. viii. ; and
see also, ibidem, a theory as to the name of Hippolytus,
as connected with the treatise.
<> 'I'his must not be confonnded with the Syriac Didas-
calia previously mentioned, from which it is quite
distinct.
d Matter closely agreeing with these fragments, though
not in quite the same order, and connected with nmch
that Is additional, is also found in a MS. of the 12th cent,
in the Cambridge Univ. Library. This MS. (brought by
Buchanan from Southern India) contained eight books of
Clementine Constitutions placed at the end of a Syriac
Bible ; but it is now in a dilapidated state. It may be
that the Paris fragments are extracts from it, or, on the
other hand, this MS. (as the later of the two in date) may
possibly contain a subsequent development. It may be
hoped that further attention will be paid to it by Oriental
scholars. Its existence seems to have been unknown to
Lagarde.
« Of this Egyptian collection, the first two books arc
printed in a Greek version by Lagarde in Bunsen's CIn-ist.
and Mavlcind, vi. 451 ; and see Bunsen's analysis of the
collection, ibid. vii. 372. Another Coptic MS. was trans-
ited by Dr. Tattam in 1848. There is a. notice of it in
tlie Vhriit. Rcmembr. for 1854, p. 2S2.
self, probably an Arian or Macedonian. Thi:T
second writer probably is responsible for many
intei'polations in the previous books.'
Von Drey again, who spent much labour on
the subject, advocated the view that the treatises
of four distinct writers are combined in our pre-
sent work. The first six books, he thought,
were written after the middle of the 3rd century,
to teach practical religion, and were adapted for
catechumens. The seventh is probably of the
date of A.D. 300, and treats of the mysteries for
the use of the faithful alone. The 8th Book is
a kind of pontifical of some Eastern Church, being
full of liturgies for the use of the clergy. It
dates perhaps from the 3rd century, but has
been altered and adapted to the state of things
in the middle of the 4th. Athanasius, who
speaks of the StSaxv KaXovjxivrj rHv a-KoffToXwv
as fit for recent converts desirous of instruction,
is to be taken as referring to tl]e six first books.e
But before the time of Epiphanius the eight
books were joined as one work.
Interesting as such inquiries are, they cannot
at present be considered as having removed the
question of the origin and date of the apostolical
constitutions out of the class of unsolved problems.''
The majority of scholars will perhaps decline to
say with confidence more than that the precise
age and composition of the work is unknown,
but that it is probably of Eastern authorship,'
and comprises within itself fragments of very
different dates, which we have no certain mean*
for discriminating from one another, and which
have undergone great modifications when in-
corporated with the rest. The consequence is
that, as it stands, the work cannot be deemed to
reflect a state of things in the Church much, if
at all, prior to the Nicene age."*
Nor can it be said ever to have possessed, so
far as we know, any distinct ecclesiastical au-
thority. We are in the dark as to its author-
ship, and there is no such proof of its general
and public reception at any period as would
seem needful to establish its validity as an autho-
ritative document. There are indeed signs of a
common nucleus of which various churches seem
to have availed themselves, but in adopting it into
their respective systems they modified it in re-
lation to their respective needs, with a freedom
hardly consistent with the idea that it was en-
titled to very great veneration.
Authorities. — F. Turrianus, Proocm. in Lihr.
f When, however, a very late date is attempted to be
assigned, it should be remembered e contra that, as ob-
served by Bickell, metropolitan authority does not appear ;
and if we hear of asceticism (in book viii.), there is no
metition of monasticism.
g While, on the other hand, the 85th of the Apostolical
Canons perhaps refers to the 7th and »th when it speaks
of the Apostolical Constitutions as &MTaya\ a? ov XPV
Sjjfxocroeueti/ cttI Trai'Twt' fita to. er aurat? fj.v<JTiKa..
h See the words of Lagarde in Bunsen, Christ, and
Manic., vol. vi. p. 40.
' See Bickell, vol. i. p. 63, who assigns several grounds
for this conclusion. It is worth notice that throughout
the Constitutions the Church of Eome never occupies any
position of priority or pre-eminence.
•' The age of the Syriac Didascalia is of course another
question. It demands fuller consideration, which it can
hardly receive from scholars in general until it has been
literally translated. According to the ' Didascalia Purior'
in Bunsen, it is not free from very hyperbolical language
in relation to the clergy.
12G
APOSTOLICUS
dementis Rom. dc Const. Apost., kc. Antv. 1578.
Joh. Dallaeus, De I'seudepigraphis Apost., lib.
iii. Harderv. 1653. Jac. Usserii, Diss, de
Ignat. Epist. (in Cotel. Patr. Ap., vol. ii. app.
p. 199, &c. Edit. 1724). Pearsoni, Vindic. Ignat.
(in Cotel. Patr. Ap., vol. ii. app. p. 251). Part I.
chap. 4. Brunonis, Judicium (Ibid. p. 177).
Cotelerii, Judic. de Const. Apost. (Cotel. vol. i.
p. 195). J. E. Grabe, Spicileg. Patr. Oxen.
1711. J. E. Grabe, Essay upon tico Arabic MSS.
Loud. 1711. W. Whistoa, Primitive^ Christianity
Recived. Loud. 1711. Krabbe, JJber den Ur-
sprung und den Inluilt der Ap. Const. Hamb.
1829. Von Drey, Neue Untersuchungen iiber
die Const, &c. Tubingen 1832. Rothe, Anfdnge
der Christl. Kirche. Bickell, Geschifhte der Kir-
chcnreclds, vol. i. Giessen 1843. Ultzen, Const.
Apost. Sueriui 1853. Bunsen's Cliristianity and
Mankind, London 1854. Christian Remembrancer
for 1854. De Lagarde, Reliquiae Juris Ecclesi-
astici Antiquissimae, 1856. Idem, Si/riace 1856.
Hilgenfeld, Novum Testamentum extra Canonem
receptum. Lipsiae 1866 ; Fascic. IV. The Ethiopnc
Didascalia ; or, the Ethiopia version of the Apos-
tolical Constitutions, received in the Church of
Abyssinia. With an English translation. Edited
and translated by Thomas Pell Piatt, F.A.S.
Loudon, printed for the Oriental Translation
Fund, 1834. The Apost. Constitutions ; or, the
Canons of the Apostles in Coptic, with an English
Translation by Henry Tattam, LL.D., «S:c. ; printed
for the Oriental Translation Fund, 1848. [B. S.]
APOSTOLICUS, a title once common to all
bishops (the earliest instance produced by Du
Cauge is from Venantius Fortunatus, 6th century,
addressing Gregory of Tours, Prolog, to V. S.
Martini and elsewhere ; but none of his quota-
tions use the word absolutely and by itself, but
rather as an epithet); but from about the 9th
century restricted to the Pope, and used of him
in course of time as a technical name of office.
It is so used, e.g., by Rupertus Tuitiensis, 12th
century (Z>e Divin, Offic. i. 27) ; but had been
formally assigned to the Pope still earlier, m
the Council of Rheims A.D. 1049, — "quod solus
Romanae sedis Pontifex universalis Ecclesiae pri-
mas esset, et Apostolicus," — and an Archbishop
of Compostella was excommunicated at the same
council for assuming to himself " culmen Apo-
stolic! nominis " (so that, in the middle ages,
Apostolicus, or, in Norman French, VApostole or
I'Apostoile, which = Apostolicus, not Apostolus,
became the current name for the Pope of the
time being). Claudius Taurinensis, in the 9th
century, recognizes the name as already then
appropriated to the Pope, by ridiculing his
being called " not Apostolus, but Apostolicus," as
though the latter term meant Apostoli cUstos :
for which Claudius's Irish opponent Dungal
takes him to task. (Du Cange ; Raynaud, Contin.
Baronii.) [A. W. H.]
APOSTOLIUM ('A7roo-ToA.€:oy), a church
dedicated in the name of one or more of the
Apostles. Thus Sozomen {Hist. E-rl. i\. lit, p.
376) speaks of the Basilica of St. Vvtw at Koine
as TO Ylirpov airo'cnoKiiov; and the saiiic wi'iti'r,
speaking of the church which Kufinus built at
the Oak (a suburb of Chalcedon) in honour of
SS. Peter and Paul, says that he called it 'Airo-
aToX€Lov from them {Hist. Eccl.xiu. 17, p. 347).
[Martyrium, Propheteum.] [C]
APPEAL
APOTAXAMENI (o7roTo|ci^€i'oO— renun-
ciantes, renouncers, a name by which the monks
of the ancient Church were soriietimes designated,
as denoting their renunciation of the world and
a secular life, e.g. in Palladius Hist. Lausiac,
c. 15, and Cassian, who entitles one of his books,
De Institutis Renunciantium. (Bingham, book vii.
c. 2.) [D. B.]
APPEAL {Appellatio in reference to the
court appealed to, Provocatio in reference to the
opponent ; ecptais in classical Greek, verb in
N. T. iTriKa\f7crdat), a complaint preferred before
a superior court or judge in order to obtain due
I'emedy for a judgment of a court or judge of an
inferior rank, whereby the complainant alleges
that he has suffered or will suffer wrong. We
are concerned here with ecclesiastical appeals
only. And they will be most conveniently dis-
cussed if — distinguishing between 1, appeals
fi'om an ecclesiastical tribunal to another also
ecclesiastical, and 2, appeals from an eccle-
siastical to a lay tribunal, or vice versa ;
and further, as regards persons, between (a)
bishops and clei-gy, to whom in some rela-
tions must be added monks and nuns, and (;8)
laity — we treat successively, as regards subject
matter, of I. Spiritual Discipline properly so
called, II. Civil Causes, and III. Criminal ones.
It will be convenient also to include under the
term Appeal, both appeals properly so called,
where the superior tribunal itself retries the
case ; and that which is not properly either
revision or rehearing, where the jurisdiction of
the superior tribunal is confined to the ordering,
upon complaint and enquiry, of a new trial by
the original, or by an enlarged or otherwise
altei'ed, body of judges ; and that again which
is properly a mere revision, where the case is
revised by a higher tribunal but without sus-
pending sentence meanwhile ; and, lastly, the
transference also of a cause from one kind of
tribunal to another not co-ordinate with it, as
e.g. from lay to spiritual or vice versa, which, if
the first court have completed its sentence,
practically constitutes the second into a court of
appeal to its predecessor. It is necessary also
to bear in mind the difference between a friendly
interference, such as brotherly love requires on
the part of all bishops if any fall into heresy
or sin, but which implies no formal authority
of the adviser over the advised ; and an arbitra-
tion, where the arbiter, who may be any one,
derives his authority from the mutual and free
consent of (properly) both parties, but (as will
be seen) in certain cases sometimes from the sole
action of one ; and an appeal, where some defi-
nite superior tribunal may be set in motion by
either party, but has in that case exclusive as
well as compulsory jurisdiction ; and the yet
further step, where (like the intercossio of the
Tribuni Plcbis) the superior court or magistrate
has the power of calling up the case for revision,
and of suspending sentence meanwhile, suo motu.
An appeal, however, of whatever kind, implies
the legality in the abstract, and assumes the
fact, of the jurisdiction of the court appealed
from as a primary court. And it becomes need-
ful, therefore, here to assume, although it is
no business of this article either to detail or
to prove, the extent and limits of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction in the first instance; in order clearly
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to set forth the various checks in the way of
appeal placed in such case upon that original
jurisdiction. On the other hand, the limitation
of the subject to the period antecedent to
Charlemagne, excludes from consideration the
whole of the elaborate fabric built up by the
Canon Law of later times, mainly upon the basis
of the False Decretals. And we have nothing
to do, accordingly, with that grand innovation,
whereby, in the West, the entire system of purely
ecclesiastical appeals (and, indeed, of justice) was
in effect perverted and frustrated, viz., the right
gradually allowed of appealing immediately from
any ecclesiastical tribunal, high or low, upon
any subject great or small, to the Pope at once ;
nor yet with the elaborate disputes upon the
nature and limits of majores causae (the phrase,
however, dating from Innocent I.); nor with
the encroachments of the highest or of other
ecclesiastical tribunals upon those of the State ;
nor with the celebrated Ap2xl comme d'Abus in
medieval and later France ; nor with such
questions as the legitimate effect of the clause
ajjpcllatione remota or postposita in a Papal
brief; nor with the appeal from the Pope to a
General Council, present or future ; or from the
Pope ill-informed, to the Pope well-informed :
nor again, on another side of the subject, with
distinctions between appeals judicial or extra-
judicial, or from sentences definitive or inter-
locutory ; nor with the system, at least as sub-
sequently elaborated, of Apostoli (certainly not
derived from j^ost appellationeni) or letters di-
missory, whether reverential, refutatory, repo-
sitory, testimonial, or conventional, whereby
the under court formally transferred the cause
to the upper one ; nor with the fatalia appel-
latlonum, scil., the fixed times wilihin which an
appeal must be laid, carried to the upper court
by means o{ Apostoli. prosecuted, and concluded;
nor, in a word, with any other of the elaborate
details of the later Canon Law upon the subject.
Our attention must be confined to the system
so far as it was worked out under the Koman
Empire, and renewed or modified under that of
Charlemagne.
L 1. Spiritual jurisdiction in matters of dis-
cipline over clergy and laity alike, rested in the
beginning both by Scriptural sanction and by
primitive practice with the bishop, acting, how-
ever, rather with paternal authority and in the
spirit of mutual love, through moral influence
on the one side met by willing obedience on the
other, than according to the hard outlines of a
(ixed Church law laid down in canons ; although
such canons gradually grew into existence and
into fulness, and the ultimatum of excommuni-
cation must have existed all along as the punish-
ment of obstinate or repeated transgression. The
Apostolic canons, however (xxxvii. and Ixxiv.),
recognize as the then Church law, and the Nicene
Council (a.d. 325) formally establishes, the au-
thority of the synod of each province as a court
of (revision rather than) appeal from a single
bishop : enacting, that " excommunicate clerks
and laymen shall abide by the sentence of their
bishop," but that, " to prevent injustice, synods
of the bishops of a province (eTrapx'") shall be
held twice a year, in order that questions arising
on such subjects may be enquired into by the
community of the bishops ; a sentence of excom-
munication, if confirmed by them, to hold good
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127
until a like synod should reverse it" (Cone. Nic.
can. 5) : such right of appeal being apparently
the common law of the Church, and the Council
interfering only to secure it by requiring synods
to be held with sufficient frequency. And this
right, as respects presbyters and all below pres-
byters, was recognised and confirmed by Cone.
CartL, A.D. 390 can. 8, and A.D. 398 can. 29,
66, Cone. Milev. a.d. 416 c. 22, for Africa ; by
Cone. Vasens. a.d. 442* can. 5, and Cone. Venet.
A.D. 465 can. 9 (" Episcoporum audientiam, non
secularium potestatum," in this last instance),
for Gaul and Armorica; by Cone. Hispal. a.d.
590 cc. 5, 9, for Spain; and by Cone. Antioch.
cc. 6, 11, A.D. 341, directed both against the Pope
and against appeals to the Emperor (adopted into
the canons of the Church Catholic), and by the
Council of Constantinople in 381, cc. 2, 3, 6, for
the East. The last-named Council also in effect
limited the right of appeal from above as well
as below, by forbidding all bishops rals virepopiois
iKKXrjffiats eirievai, and by establishing each pro-
vince in an independent jurisdiction (Cone. Con-
stantinop. c. 2).
a. Confining ourselves first to the case of clergy,
the right of the bishop to judge his brethren or
his clerks, was further limited, in that part of
the Church where Church law was earliest and
most formally developed, viz., Africa, by the
requirement of twelve bishops to judge a bishop,
of six to judge a presbyter, of three to judge a
deacon (Cone. Carth. A.D. 348 can. 11, a.d. 390
can. 10, A.D. 397 can. 8). And a dispute be-
tween two bishops was still later referred by the
(African) Council of Mileum a.d. 416 (can. 21),
to bishops appointed by the metropolitan. In
the East, and generally, bishops (and presbyters)
would seem to have been left by the Nicene
canon merely to the natural resort of an appeal
from one synod to another and a larger one, viz.
to the metropolitan and bishops of the next pro-
vince ; which is the express rule laid down in
Cone. Antioch. a.d. 341, cc. 11, 12, 14, 15, and
in Cone. Constaiitinop. A.D. 381, can. 6. So also
canon 13 of the collection of Martin of Braga.
But between the Nicene and Constantinopolitan
Councils and that of Chalcedon in 451, a further
modification took place in accordance with the
settlement of the several Patriarchates, whereby
the appeal was made to lie from the bishop to
the metropolitan with his synod, and then from
him to the Patriarch ; with the further claim
gradually emerging on the part of the Bishop of
Rome to a right of supreme judicial authority'
over the entire Church. (But whether the sen-
tence was to remain in force pending the appeal
seems to have been a doubtful question, variously
settled at diffei-ent times and places ; see Bal-
samon in Can. Afric. 32.) The first step was
that, in the West, of the Council of Sardica, A.D.
347, intended to be oecumenical but in result only
Western, and not accepted as authoritative either
by the Eastern or even by the African Churches :
which attempted to make the system work more
fairly, and perhaps to escape reference to an Arian
Emperor, by giving presbyter or deacon an ap-
peal to the metropolitan and the comprovincial
bishops (can. 14 Lat.), and by enacting with re-
spect to bishops, in the way of revision rather
than appeal, that, whereas ordinarily they should
be judged by the bishops of their own province,
if a bishop thought himself aggrieved, either the
128
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bishops who tried him or those of the neighbour-
ing province should consult the Bishop of Rome ,
and if he judged it right, then the comprovincial
or the neighbouring bishops should by his ap-
pointment retry the case, with the addition (if
the complainant requested it, and the Bishop of
Rome complied with his request) of presbyters
representing the Bishop of Rome, who were to
taka their place in that capacity among the
judges (can. 4, 5, 7) : no successor to be appointed
to the deposed bishop pending such new trial. The
choice of the Bishop of Rome as referee (to decide,
however, not the case itself, but whether there
ought to be a new trial) has some appearance of
having been personal to Julius the then Pope (as
was the subsequent grant of Gratian to Pope
Damasus), to whom the right is granted by name
in the Greek version of the canons (so Richerius
and De Marca) ; but certainly it was determined
to the see of Rome, not through previous prece-
dent, or as by inherent right, but as in honour
of the one Apostolical see of the West, — " in
honour of the memory of St. Peter." It was in
fact giving to the Pope the right previously
possessed exclusively by the Emperor, save that
the latter would refer causes to a Council. Prior
to 347, the case of Fortunatus and Felicissimus
A.D. 252 (striving to obtain the support of Pope
Cornelius against their own primate St. Cyprian,
and eliciting from the latter an express assertion of
tlie sufficiency and finality of the sentence passed
upon them by their own comprovincial African
bishops, St. Cypr. Epist. 59, Fell)— and that of
Marcian, Bishop of Aries A.D. 254 (whom the
bishops of Gaul are exhorted to depose for Nova-
tianism, St. Cyprian interfering on the sole
ground of brotherly episcopal duty to urge them
to the step, and asking Pope Stephen to inter-
fere also, but solely on the like ground. Id. Epist.
68),' — and those of Basileides and of Martial,
Bishops respectively of Leon with Astorga and of
Merida, also A.D. 254 (deposed by the Spanish
bishops as having lapsed, and of whom Basileides,
having deceived Pope Stephen into re-admitting
him to communion, and into "canvassing" for his
restoration, was rejected nevertheless by the
Spanish, seconded by the African bishops. Id. Epist.
67) — sufficiently shew that while the Nicene
canons only confirmed and regulated the ju'e-
viously established and natural principle of the
final authority of the provincial synod, that of
Sardica introduced a new provision, although one
rather opening the way for further extensive
*changes than actually enacting them. In 341,
also, the Council of Antioch, representing the
East, repudiated the same Pope Julius's in-
terference on behalf of St. Athanasius (Spzom.
iii. 8 ; Socrat. ii. 15) and passed a canon
against the return of a deposed bishop to his see
unless by decree of a synod larger than that
which had deposed him (can. 12); as well as
against appeals of deposed bishops to emperors,
unsanctioned by the comprovincial bishops: canons
adopted into the code of the whole Church. In
the West, however, the Sardican canon became
the starting point of a distinctly marked ad-
vance in the claims of the Bishop of Rome,
although not without opposition on the part of
the Church, nor, on the other hand, without
political suppoi-t from the Emperors. In 367 a
Council of Tyana restored Eustathius of Sebastea
to his see, among other grounds, on the strength
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of a letter of Pope Liberius ; but tlie proceed-
ing was condemned in strong terms by St.
Basil the Great {EpAst. 263 § 3). In 378, the
Emperor Gratian added State sanction — at least
during the Popedom of Damasus, and in reference
to the schism of the antipope Ursicinus — to the
judicial. authority of the Bishop of Rome, but in
conjunction with six or seven other bishops if
the accused were a bishop himself, and with an
alternative of fifteen comprovincial bishops in the
case of a metropolitan, the attendance of the
accused bishop at Rome to be compelled by the
civil power {Cone. Horn., Epist. ad Gratian. et
Valentin. Lnpp. a.d. 378, in Mansi, iii. 624, and
the Rescript appended to it of the same Em-
perors ad Aquilimim Vicarium). In 381, how-
ever, the epistle of the Italian bishops (including
St. Ambrose) to Theodosius, claims no more re-
specting Eastern bishops in the case of Maximus
(deposed by the Council of Constantinople), than
that the voice " of Rome, of Italy, and of all the
West," ought to have been regarded in the matter.
But in some year between 381 and 398 (see
Tillemont, Mem. EccL), although Theodoret (v.
23) seems to place it under Innocent I. in 402,
Flavian, accepted by the East, but rejected by
Egypt and by Rome and the West, as Bishop of
Antioch, was summoned by the Emperor to go
to Rome to be judged there by the Bishop of
Rome, but refused to submit; and was finally
accepted by the Pope, to whom he sent a depu-
tation of bishops, at the intercession of St.
Chrysostom, but without any pretence of trial.
In 404-406, Innocent's interference to procure
St. Chrysostom's own restoration to his see, even
to the extent of withdrawing communion from
St. Chrysostom's opponents, proved as great a
failure as Pope Julius's like attempt on behalf
of St. Athanasius (Sozom. ■N'iii. 26-28. and the
letters of St. Chrysostom and Pope Innocent in
Mansi, iii. 1081-1118); although the mean pro-
posed was not a trial by the Pope but a general
Council. While St. Chrysostom himself at the
same period affirms the old principle, that causes
must not vtrepopiovs (AKicrOat, dAA' ev Ta7s fwap-
Xi'ais TO, Twv iirapx^iv yv^va^iadai (in Mansi, i/>.).
But even in the Western Church at the same
period the Roman claim was admitted with diffi-
culty, and only gradually and by continual strug-
gles. Innocent I. indeed declared that, "si majorcs
causae in medium fuerint devolutae, ad seder.i
Apostolicam, sicut syuodus statuit" (meaning, of
course, but exaggerating, the Sardican canons)
" et vetus sive inveterata consuetudo exigit, post
judicium episccpale referantur " (Epist. 2 ad
Victric). But in actual fact, 1. in Africa, A.D.
417-425, the appeal to Pope Zosimus of the pres-
byter Apiarius, condemned by his own Bishop,
Urbanus of Sicca, whom the Pope summoned to
Rome to be judged, and on refusal sent legates to
successive Carthaginian Councils to enforce his
claims, was in the first instance provisionally com-
promised, by a temporary admission of the Papal
authority (Ejiist. Cone. Afric. ad Bonifac. Papain
A.D. 419, in Mansi, iv. 511), on the ground of the
canons of Sardica, alleged by the Popes (Zosimus,
Boniface, Celestine) to be Nicene; but on the
production of the genuine canons of Nicaea from
Constantinople and Alexandria, was absolutely
rejected {Epist. Cone. Afric. ad Caelestinum a.d.
425, in Mansi, iv. 515): whilst the canon (22)
of Mileum, a.d. 416, which is repeated byCarth-
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Rginian Councils down to a.d. 525 (Mansi, viii.
644), assigns presbyters and all below them to
appeal, *' non ad transmarina judicia sed ad
primates suarixm provinciarum ; ad transmarina
autem qui putavei-it appellandum, a uullo intra
Africam ad commuuionem suscipiatur ;" and the
Cod. Can. Afric. 18 Gr. 31 (a.d. 419), adds to this
— "sicut et de Episcopis saepe constitutum est,"
the genuineness of which last clause is suppoi'ted
by Tillemont, De Marca, and Beveridge, although
denied by Baronius. It seems certainly to have
been inserted in the canon by some African coun-
cil of this period. At the same time, while the
gloss of Gratian on the word " transmarina " —
'• nisi forte ad Romanam sedem appellarerit " —
is plainly of the kind that as exactly as possible
contradicts its text; it is evident by St. Augustin's
letter to Pope Celestine in 424 (Epist. 209), that
applications from Africa in a friendly spirit to
Rome in disputes respectiag bishops, both to
judge and to confirm others' judgments, and this
not only during the provisional admission of^he
Papal claim (as in the case of the Bishop of
Fussala), but before it, had been frequent. It is
hard to believe, in the face of the precisely con-
temporary and unmistakeable language of the
assembled African bishops at the close of the
controversy respecting Apiarius, that such ap-
plications could have been in the nature of formal
appeals ; although the case of Pope Leo I. and Lu-
picinus, A.D. 446, shows the Papal claim to have
been still kept up (St. Leo, Epist. xii. al. i. § 12).
2. In lUyria, — whereas, in 421, the Emperor
Theodosius had decreed that doubtful cases should
be determined by a council, "non absque scientia"
of the Bishop of Constantinople {Cod. Tlicod.
xvi. tit. 2. s. 45), — in 444, Pojje Leo I., insisting
upon the canons apparently of Sardica, and as
part of the Papal measures for securing the
whole of lUyria to the Roman Patriarchate,
commanded appeals ("caussae graviores vel appel-
lationes ") from Illyria to be brought to Rome
(St. Leo, Epist. X. § 6). And 3. in Gaul, in 445,
the same Pope, overthrowing tlie decree of Pope
Zosimus in 418, which had constituted Aries
the metropolitan see of the province, insisted on
rehearing at Rome in a synod the causes of
Bishop Projectus and of Celidonius Bishop either
of Vesontio or of Vienne, whom Hilary of Aries
had deposed, and carried the point, although with
strong opposition from Hilary (St. Leo, Epiist.
X.). Pope Hilary, however, 461-462, Epist. xi.,
respecting the Metropolitan of Vienne and Aries,
refers his authority as Bishop of Rome to the
"decreta principum." And undoubtedly a decree
of the Emperor Valentinian III., in the year 445,
•definitely assigned to the Pope, not simply an ap-
pellate jurisdiction, but the right of evoking causes
to Rome smo motu, by enacting that " omnibus pro
lege sit quidquid sanxit vel sanxerit Apostolicae
sedis auctoritas, ita ut quisquis Episcoporum ad
judicium Romaui autistitis evocatus venire neg-
le.xerit, per moderatorem ejusdem provinciae
adesse cogatur" (Cod. Tlicod. NovcU. tit. xxiv.,
Suppl. p. 12). An ultimate appellate jurisdiction
teas also given at the same period, but by Church
atithority, viz., by the general council of Chalce-
don in 451, to the Bishop of Constantinople : the
I order of appeal being there fixed from bishop to
metropolitan and synod, and from tlie latter to
I the particular Patriarch or to the Bishop of Con-
stantinople (Cone. Chalc. c. 9).
CHRIST. ANT.
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129
The Eastern rule appears to have henceforward
remained the same ; except that Justinian a.d.
533, confirming the canon of Chalcedon in other
respects, dropped all special mention of the
Bishop of Constantinople, but enacted in general
that an appeal should lie from bishop to metro-
politan, and from metropolitan alone to me-
tropolitan with synod, but that from the synod
each Patriarch should be the final court of
appeal in his own Patriarchate, as final as was in
civil cases the Praefcctus Practorio (Justin. Cod.
vii. tit. 62. s. 19) ; although no cause was to come
to him at once unless in the form of a request
that he would delegate it to the bishop, who was
the proper primary tribunal (Id. i. tit. 4. s. 29 ,
7. tit. 62. s. 19 ; l^ovell. cxxiii. 22). A law of Leo
and Constantius in 838 (Leunclav. Jus Gr. Pujin. II.
99) likewise declares the patriarch to be the apx'?
of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whose decision, there-
fore, is final, unless indeed he chooses to review it
himself And so also, apparently, the 8th General
Council of Constantinople A.D. 870 (Act 10, cc.
17, 26). It is to be added, however, that in the
case of any one under the degree of bishop,
and in cases not ecclesiastical, the bishop was
the primary judge, but from him the case might
be taken to the civil judge, the Emperor deciding
if they differed ; but in the case of a bishop, the
right of appeal to the patriarch enacted by
Justinian is final (Justin., Novell. Ixxxiii. 12.
cxxiii. 21, 22).
In the West, the changes in the matter relate
to two points, to the fruitless attemjjts of the Popes
to obtain appellate jurisdiction over the I^ast,
and to their more successful efforts to secure their
Western claim of the like kind under the altered
laws and policy of the new Barbarian rulers of
Europe ; efforts which may be said to have
finally secured success under the Carlovingians,
in the popedom of Nicliolas I. about 858. and as
confirmed by the false Decretals, first used by
Nicholas in 864 (Gieseler). For the former, in
449, Flavian no doubt ajjpealed from Dioscorus
and the Ephesine Latrocinium nominally to the
Pope, but Leo's own lettei to Theodosius in con-
sequence (St. Leo, Epist. 43 al. 34, and 44 al. 40 ;
Liberat. lircv. 12, in Mansi, ix. 379), shows that
the tribunal of appeal contemplated by even the
Pope himself, was a general council (see Quesnel
and Van Espen). In 484, however, Felix II. in a
synod at Rome, as the issue of a long dispute,
during which, among other steps, he had sum-
moned Acacius of Constantinople to be tried at
Rome upon the strength of the canons of Sardica,
misnamed Nicene, made an open schism with the
East, which lasted 40 years, by excommunicating
and deposing Acacius (Mansi, vii. 1054); a sen-
tence wliich, it need not be said, was disregarded.
In 587, Pelagius II. seems to have confirmed the
sentence of acquittal passed by a tribunal at
Constantinople, summoned by the Emperor, in
the case of Bishop Gregory of Antioch, while
protesting against the title of universal bishop
applied by the same authority to the Bishop of
Constantinople (St. Greg. M., Epist. v. 18; Eva-
grius, vi. 7) ; a protest renewed, as every one
knows, by Gregory himself But this implied
no formal superiority over Eastern bishops.
And the claim unhesitatingly advanced by Gre-
gory— "De Constantinopolitana ecclesia quis earn
dubitet Apostolicae sedi esse subjectam" (St. Greg.
M., Epist. ix. 12) — was assuredly not admitted by
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the Church of Constantinople itself. Further
on, the Council in Trullo in 691, repeated uot
only the 3rd canon of Constantinople in 381,
but the 28th of Chalcedon in 451, which latter
equals Constantinople to Eome (Cone. Quinisext.
can. 36) ; and also the 17th of the same Council
of Chalcedon (/'>. 38), which involves the 9th of
the same council, viz., that which (as above said),
so regulates the course of appeals as to put the
patr'arch of a province with an alternative of
the Bishop of Constantinople as the ultimate
tribunal. The dispute which a century after
issued in the great schism, cut short the narrowev,
by absorbing it in the broader, controversy. For
the West, however, matters proceeded more suc-
cessfully. Gelasius (492-496), while allowing
ihe subordination of the Pope to a general
council approved by the Church, asserts posi-
tively (^Epist. 13), that the see of St. Peter " de
omni ecclesia jus habeat judicandi, neque cui-
quam de ejus liceat judicare judicio," and that
" ad illam de qualibet mundi parte canones ap-
pellari voluerint, ab ilia autem aemo sit appellare
permissus." In 503, although the Arian Theodoric
appointed a commission of bishops, under the presi-
dency of a single bishop (of Altino), to judge of the
disputed election of Symmachus to the Popedom,
ami although Symmachus in the first instance
admitted their jurisdiction, and both parties
appealed to the judgment of Theodoric himself;
yet 1. a Roman synod {Synodus Palmar is) both
sanctioned Symmachus's election without pre-
suming to make enquiry, and declared the inter-
ference of laity in Church elections or property
to be against the canons (Mansi, vlii. 201, sq. ;
Anastas. Lib. Pontif. in v.Sjjmmachi); and 2. Enno-
dius of Ticinum, in 511, formally asserted in an
elaborate document the absoluteness of the Papal
power, and especially that the Pope is himself
the final court of appeal, whom none other may
judge (Mansi, viii. 282-284). And at the end
of the century Gregory the Great assumes as
indisputable that every bishop accused is subject
to the judgment of the see of Rome (Epist. ix.
59). During the following period, however, —
while the sutlering African Church, retaining her
privilege untouched, but as a privilege, under Gre-
gory the Great, yet practically gave up her an-
cient opposition a few years later (Epist. Episc.
Afric. ad Papam Theodorum, in Act. Cone. Lat-
eran. A.D. 649, Mansi, x. 919), — the European
Churches were practically under the government
of the kings, although the theoretical claims of
the Popes remained undiminished. The Irish
Ciiurches, indeed, were still independent of the
Pope, the end of the seventh century being the
close of the Celtic schism, except in Wales. In
Saxon England, the proceedings of both kings and
synods in the appeals of Wilfrid (678-705),when
the Pope reversed the judgments of English
synods on Wilfrid's complaint, showed on the one
hand a feeling of reverence for the Pope (e.g. the
Council of Nidd, A.D. 705 [Eddius 58] did- not
repudiate the Pope's decree, but the testimony of
Papal letters, which might be forged, as against
the viva voce evidence of Archbishop Theodore) ;
but on the other, disregarded such decree in
practice, by enforcing that precise severance of
Wilfrid's diocese against which he had appealed.
And the Council of Cloveshoo, A.D. 747, pointedly
limits appeals to the provincial council, and no
f\irther (can. 25). In Spain, although Gregory
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the Great interfered by a legate authnri^
tatively in tavour of deposed bishops, viz.,
Stephanus and Januarius, on the ground, first,
of Justinian's law as being their Patriarch, and
if that was refused, then by the right of the see
of Rome as head of the Church (Epist. xiii. 45),
yet in 701 or 704, King Witiza, in a Council of
Toledo, expressly forbade appeals to any foreign
bishop (Cone. Tolct. xviii.). And a little earlier,
admission into Church communion was declared
dependent on the will of the Prince (Cone. Tolef.
A.D. 681 c. 3, and 683, c. 9). The Kings in effect
were in Spain supreme judges of bishops ( Cenni,
De. Antiq, Eecl. IJisp. ii. 153, quoted by
Gieseler). In Gaul, the cases of Salonius,
Bishop of Embrun, and Sagittarius, Bishop ot
Gap, deposed in 577 by a synod of Lyons, re-
stored by Pope John III. on appeal, but by per-
mission and power of King Guntram, and then
again finally deposed in 579 by a Council of
Chalons (Greg. Turon., Hist. Franc, v. 21-28),
leave the Papal claim iu a similar state of half
recognition to that iu which it stood in England.
And in the ensuing century the Royal authority
here also practically superseded the Papal. In
615, the administration of ecclesiastical disci-
pline is made subservient to the king's interces-
sion (Cone. Parif. c. 3, as confirmed by Chlotarius
II.). And many instances of depositions of bishops
occur without appeal to the Pope, beginning
with that of Saffaric of Paris, deposed by a
second synod there, to which he had appealed
from a former one, under King Chilperic, a.d.
555. Gregory the Great, indeed, renewed the
ingenious expedient of appointing the Bishop of
Aries his vicar to decide such causes in Gaul, in
conjunction with twelve bishops ; and yet even
so, most of such causes were decided without
eveu the presence of the Papal vicar (De Marca,
vii. 19). The Capitula of Hadrian I., sent to
Ingilram of Metz in 785, introduced the first
great innovation upon preceding rules, by enact-
ing (c. 3) that no bishop should be condemned
unless in a synod called " Apostolica aucto-
ritate ;" and again, that, if a deposed bishop,
whose primary tribunal was the comprovincial
synod, appealed from it to Rome, "id observandum
esset quod (Papa) ipse censuerit" (c. 20, 23, and
Epitome Capit. A.D. 773). But they contained
also the African prohibition of appeals ad trans-
marina judicia (see Gieseler). And while the Ca-
pitulary of Aix in 789, repeated more expressly
by the Council of Aix in 816 (cc. 73, 74), repeats
the Nicene and Antiochene (341) canons without
the addition of those of Sardica, the Capitularies
as collected by Benedict Levita contain also the
Sardican canons. For bishops, then, Charlemagne
allowed the appeal to Rome for a new trial,
the comprovincial synod being still held to be
the proper tribunal for such cases : and an appeal
being also allowed to more numerous episcopal
judges if dissatisfaction were felt with those
originally appointed by the metropolitan, and,
again, from them to a synod (Capit. vii. 413),
or again, from a suspected judge to another (ib.
vii. 240, and Add. iii. 25, iv. 18, sq.) : — see
aipit. V. 401, 410, vi. 300, vii. 102, 103, 314,
315, 412, Add. iii. 105 :— but left the ordinary
and direct right of a proper appeal to the Pope,
and the condition of his prior consent to the trial
of an accused bishop, sufficiently unsettled to lead
to the great disputes of the fo!lowin.<j period, of
APPEAL
which tlie case of Hincmar and Bishop Rothad
is the primary case. The Carlovingian Princes,
indeed, deposed bishops in synods, just as they
elected them, without any reference to the
Pope. But the Papal power gradually in-
creased. And while Gregory IV., in 835, and
Leo IV., about 850, expressly claim a proper
appellate jurisdiction, Pope Nicholas I., 85^-807,
on the strength of the False Decretals, may
i)e said to have finally established the claim
in its fulness. Even in 791, however, the synod
of Friuli asserted for the Patriarch of Aquileia
the right, that even no presbyter, deacon, or
archimandrite be deposed, in his Patriarchate,
without consulting him (can. 27) : the same right
which Hadrian claimed universally for the Bishop
of Rome. As regards all below bishops, the
Council of Frankfort in 794, can. 6, re-enacts the
order of appeal from bishop to metropolitan, i.e.,
to the provincial synod, but no further ; and, in
addition, orders the civil magistrate (Comes) to
act as assessor, and to refer to the Emperor all
cases too hard for the metropolitan. And Capit.
iii. 1, A.D. 812, includes bishops also among those
who are to bring their disputes to the Emperor
for settlement.
In sum, appeal from a bishop or bishops to his
neighbouring brethren, under their metropolitan,
i.e., fi'om one or few bishops to many, was
the Church's common law; the appeal termi-
nating there, until the law of Valentinian in
445 for the Bishop of Rome, the canon of Chal-
cedon in 451 for the Bishop of Constantinople
and patriarchs generally, and the law of Jus-
tinian in 533 for all patriarchs without dis-
tinction, allowed further appeal from bishops to
their patriarchs : the Bishop of Rome, however,
alleging also for his right the nari'ow and in-
sufficient basis of the canons of Sardica, and cus-
tom, and in time also the broader and sentimental
ground of the privilege of St. Peter. The False
Decretals first established in the West, in its full
meaning, the absolute both appellate and imme-
diate jurisdiction of the Popes as of Divine right, in
the 9th century, during the Papacy of Nicholas I.
It remains to add, that the Cyprian, the Armenian,
the Georgian, the Bulgarian, and the Ravennate,
claims, to be autocephalous, were simply rem-
nants of the older condition of things before the
existence of patriarchates, ditfering from each
other only in the fact that the Cyprian right
was actually tried and confirmed by a general
council.
p. The above canons for the most part leave
laymen to their original right of appeal to a
provincial synod, according to the canon of Nice.
And this was plainly their right, generally
speaking, throughout ; and is confirmed (as above
said) by the Council of Frankfort in 794. In
Africa, however, where the right of appeal was
more jealously guarded than elsewhere, it was
enacted at one time {Cone. Carth. A.D. 397 can.
18, and A.D. 398 can. 22, 23) that the bishop of
the place " agnoscat et finiat" the causes of all
below presbyters, although in no case " absque
lir;ieseutia clericorum suorum." Hincmar, in the
:*tli century, limits the same class of appeals to
tlio provincial synod, protesting only against any
furtlier right of appeal in such cases to the Pope.
I. 2. The interference of lay tribunals in causes
■'liiritual, after the Emperoi-s became Christian,
bulungs properly to other articles. Questions of
APPEAL
131
faith and such as were purely ecclesiastical, as it
is sufficient here to state upon the unqualified
testimony of Gothofred (^Comment, in Cod. TlieoL
16. tit. 2. s. 23, quoted by Bingham), were left
ordinarily to bishops and synods, by laws reach-
ing from Constantius to Justinian (e. g. Novell.
Ixxxiii., cxxiii. 21). And the law of Honorius
in 399 {Cod. Tlwud. 16. tit. 11. s. 1), among others,
which expressly denies any proper right of
Church courts to civil jurisdiction, affirms also
that causes of religion as properly belong to
them. When, however, either questions of faith
or private causes became of political importance,
a qualified and occasional practice of appeal to
the Emperors from spiritual tribunals naturally
grew up. Our business is with the latter, i.e.
with judicial cases. And here it may be said in
brief, tliat the Emperors throughout claimed and
exercised a right of ordering a new trial by
spiritual judges ; the choice of whom so far
rested with themselves, that they took them if it
seemed good from another province than that of
the parties accused or accusing. So Constantino
dealt with Caecilianus in the Donatist contro-
versy, appointing fii-st Melchiades of Rome and
three Gallic bishops to judge the case at Rome,
and then, upon the dissatisfaction of the Doua-
tists, commanding a synod to rehear it at Aries
(without the Pope at all) in 314. The precise
question, however, was one of discipline more
than of belief. And Constantino disclaimed all
right of appeal from the episcopal tribunal to
himself. So also Bassianus of Ephesus, and
Eusebius of Dorylaeum, asked letters from the
Emperor Marcian, that the Council of Chalcedon
in 451 might judge their appeals. And at a
somewhat earlier period Theodosius in a like
case transferred causes from one province to
another (De Marca, De Cone. Sac. <t Imp. iv.
3). So also Theodoric appointed bishops to de-
cide the case of Pope Symmachus c. A.D. 500,
although, after commencing the case, they ulti-
mately refused to judge the Bishop of Rome,
save by a merely formal judgment. And the
Council of Mileum in 416, while condemning to
deprivation any appellant to a civil tribunal,
excepts the case of those who ask from the
Emperor " episcirpale judicium." On both sides,
however, this middle course was occasionally
transgressed. Bishops sometimes asked the
Emperors themselves to decide their appeals :
e.g., even St. Athanasius, while in his Apol.
ii. expressly repudiating the Emperor's power
to decide such a cause, yet, after the Coun-
cil of Tyre had deposed him, requested the
Emperor nevertheless, not only to assemble a
" lawful" council of bishops to i-ehear the case,
but as an alternative, ■^ Kal ahrhv Se^aadai
rriv airoXoyiav (Socrat. i. 33). And the Council
of Antioch accordingly, in 341, took occasion (as
above said) to prohibit all applications to the
Emperor except such as were backed by letters
of metropolitan and provincial bishojis, and to
insist upon the restriction of fresh trials to " a
lai-ger synod ;" canons repeated down to the
days of Charlemagne, and adopted by the Church
at large, although repudiated as Arian by
St. Chrysostom and by Pope Innocent I., wlien
quoted against the former. And about a.d. 380,
Suljjicius Sevcrus, again, affirms that he himself
and his fellow bishops had done wrong in allow-
in" Priscillian to appeal to the Emperor, and
K 2
132
APPEAL
lays it down tliat he ought to have appealed to
other bishops. Yet both Pope Symmaclius and his
opponent Laurentius requested the Arian Lom-
bard Theodoric to decide between them. On
the other side, when mentioning a very late
case, where the Emperor transferred a cause of
a spiritual kind from the Patriarch Luke of Con-
stantinople, A.D. 1156-1169, to a civil court,
Bnlsamon (in can. 15 Syn. Carthag.), while
alfirming this to be against the canons, yet ad-
mits that a lay co-judge might rightly be asked
of the Emperor. And Justinian (AortV/. cxsiii.
21) reserves indeed a right upon appeal of as-
signing judges, from whom an appeal lay "se-
cundum legum ordinem," i.e. ultimately to the
rracfectus Prcwtorio and Quaestor Palatii (Cod.
7. tit. 62. s. 32); but ecclesiastical causes are
expressly excepted from such appeal. On the
other hand, Arcadius and Honorius expressly
prohibit appeals from councils to themselves ;
unless, indeed, this refers only to civil and
criminal causes. The Carlovingian Emperors
(as we have seen above) reserved an appeal to
themselves in difficult cases from the metro-
politan, in causes of presbyters and all below
them ; besides appointing the civil magistrate
as assessor to the metropolitan in the first in-
stance. And in the case of Leo IIP a.d. 800,
when Charlemagne convened a synod at Rome to
investigate accusations against that Pope, the
bishops appointed declined to act, on the ground
that it was the Pope's right to judge them, and
not theirs to judge the Pope (Anastas., in V.
Leon. IIP).
II. We pass next to civil causes : and the
jurisdiction of bishops in these, whether lay or
clerical, is of course, as a coercive jurisdiction,
purely a creation of municipal law. As founded
upon 1 Cor. vi. 4, it could not have been until
the time of Constantine more than a voluntarily
conceded power of arbitration, whereby both
plaintiff and defendant, being Christians, agreed
to be bound (see Estius, adloc.y But upon prin-
ciples of Christian love and of avoiding scandal,
the decision of such cases became the common
and often the inconveniently troublesome busi-
ness of bishops : e.g., of Paphnutius (see Euffi-
nus), Gregory Thaumaturgus (St. Greg. Nyss. in
Vita), St. Basil the Great (St. Greg. Naz. Orat.
20), St. Ambrose (Epist. 34), St. Augustine (Pos-
sid. in Vita), St. Martin of Tours (Snip.' Sev. '
Dial, li.): and is recognized as their work by
St. Chrysostom {De Sac. iii. 18). The Apost.
Constit. ii. 45-47 regulate the process. St.
Cyprian (Adv. Judaeos iii. 44), speaking of resort
to the bishop and not to the secular court as the
duty of Christians, may serve as a specimen of
the feeling upon which the practice rested. And
while Socrates (vii. 37) speaks of Bishop Syl-
vanus of Troas as declining it either for himself
or his clergy, it is recognized even by the Council
of Tarragona in 516 (c. 4) as extending to pres-
byters and deacons also. The practice was
changed from a precarious to a recognized and
legal institution by Constantine. Either party
to a suit was allowed by him, not in form to
appeal from magistrate to bishop, but to do so
in effect ; in that he gave to either the power to
choose the bishop's court in preference to the
magistrate's, the bishop's sentence to stand as
good in law as if it were the Emperor's (Euseb.,
De V. Constantini, iv. 27 ; Sozom. i. 9) ; and if
APPEAL
the law at the end of the Theodosian code Is
(as Seldeu, and, among later writers, Haenel
and Walter [see Robertson's BccJtet, p. 80] think,
but Gothofred denies) his, then took the still
further step of empowering either, without the
other's consent, and whether the cause were
actually pending or even already decided by the
civil court, to claim a rehearing in the court of
the bishop (Extrav, de Elect. Judic. Episc. Cod.
Theod. vi. 303).
o. This power was enlarged in the case of the
clergy into a compulsory jurisdiction, the Church
forbidding clergy to take civil cases in which
they were concerned before any other tribunal
than the bishop's {Cone. Carth. a.d. 397 c. 9,
Cone. Milevit. a.d. 416 c. 19, Cone. Chalc. a.d.
451 c. 2, Cone. Venetic. A.D. 465 c. 9, Cmic.
Cabillon. i. A.D. 470 c. 11, Cone. Matiscon. a.d.
582 c. 8), while the Empei-ors permitted and
ratified episcopal jurisdiction between clergy in
civil cases, and where both parties agreed to the
tribunal (Valentin. III., Novell, de Episc. Judieio,
xii. Gothofr.). And Justinian in 539 gave civil
jurisdiction outright to the bishops over the
clergy, the monks, and the nuns, subject to an
appeal to the Emperor in case the civil judge
decided differently to the bishop (Novell. Ixxix.,
Ixxxiii., cxxiii. c. 21). The law also of Constan-
tius, in a.d. 355, refers all complaints against
bishops without distinction, and therefore civil
as well as criminal, to an episcopal tribunal
(Cod. Theod. 16. tit. 2. s. 12); which Justinian
specifies into a regular chain of appeal to metro-
politan and patriarch, unless in one exceptional
case, where either the Praefectus Praetorio per
Orientem, or "judges appointed by the Emperor,"
are to decide (Novell, cxxiii. cc. 22, 24). If a
layman, however, were a party to the suit, it
rested with him to choose the tribunal.
/8. With respect to laymen, indeed, generally,
the law of Constantine, if it ever did go to the
length of allowing a transfer of the cause at the
will of either party, and at any stage of the suit,
was soon limited. Arcadius and Honorius A.D.
408 require the consent of both parties (Cod.
Justin. 1. tit. 4. s. 7, 8). And both they, and
Valentinian III. A.D. 452, expressly allow a lay-
man to go if he chooses to the civil court, and in
all cases and persons require the " vinculum com-
promissi," and the "voluntas jurgantium," as a
prior condition to any episcopal (coercive) juris-
diction at all ; expressly laying down also that
bishops and presbyters " forum non habere nee de
aliis causis pi'aeter religionem posse cognoscere "
(Cod. Theod. 16. tit. 11. s. 1 ; and Valentin. IIL,
as before cited). Justinian, however, appears to
have gone further. 1. He granted to the clergy
of Constantinople a right to have all their pe-
cuniary causes, even if a layman were con-
cerned, tried in the first instance by the bishop ;
and only if the nature of the case hindered him
from deciding it, then, but not otherwise, before
the civil court (Novell. Ixxxiii.); and 2. he ap-
pointed the bishop generally co-judge with the
civil magistrate, and with an appeal from the
latter to the former (Novell. Ixxxvi.). And both
in Cone. Carthag. A.D. 399 c. 1 (Cod. Can. Afric.
5), and in Justin. Novell, cxxiii. § 7, Cod. 1. tit.
3. s. 7, and Cod. Theod. 11. tit. 39. s. 8, provi-
sion is made to pi-otect a bishop or clergyman,
who had thus acted as judge, from being subse-
quently molested by a discontented party to the
APPEAL
suit, who should summon him to give account
of his judgment before a secular tribunal.
The law of Constantine in its widest form, and
as applying to laity as well as clergy, is alleged
to have been revived by Charlemagne {Capit. vi.
•281), expressly as a renewal of the (extreme)
Theodosian enactment, but very serious doubts
are thrown on the genuineness of the re-enact-
meut : viz., that "Quicuuque litem habeat, sive
])ossessor sive petitor fuerit, vel in initio litis vel
decursis temporum curriculis, sive cum negotium
peroratur sive cum jam coeperit promi sententia,
si judicium elegerit sacrosanctae legis Antistitis,
illico sine aliqua dubitatione, etiam si alia pars
refragatur, ad Episcoporum judicium cum ser-
moue litigantium dirigatur : . . . omues itaque
causae, quae vel praetorio jure vel civili tractan-
tur, Episcoporum senteutiis terminatae, perpe-
tuo stabilitatis jure firmentur : nee liceat ulterius
retractari negotium, quod Episcoporum senten-
tia deciderit :" — thus interposing an absolute
right of appeal in civil causes for either party,
whether lay or clerical,, at every stage of the
civil suit, from the civil judge to the bishop, and
forbidding appeal from the latter (see also Capit.
vii. 306, and Gratian, Becrci. P. II., c. xi. qu. 1
cc. 35-37; and Hallam, Middle Ajes, ii. 146,
11th ed.). At the same time it is obvious, by
Cone. Franco/. A.v. 794 c. 6, above referred
to, that an appeal to the Emperor himself was
allowed, even from the metropolitan, in all civil
cases. The joint jurisdiction of bishops and
aldermen in Saxon England belongs to a different
subject.
III. In criminal cases, this article is not con-
cerned to define the limits and nature of the
exemptions or privileges of clergy, beyond the
brief statement that, 1. Clergy, and in particu-
lar bishops, were exempted from civil tribunals
by the Emperors in criminal cases, provided that
first the delicta were Icvia, and next the con-
sent of the plaintiff' if a layman were obtained ;
and 2. Episcopal intercession for criminals, all
along looked upon as a duty and regarded with
favour, received a civil sanction at the liands of
Justinian; while Heraclius a.d. 6'28 formally
committed jurisdiction over the criminal offences
of clergy to the bishops, to be judged " Kara
rovs Bfiovs Kav6vas" (Leunclav. Jus Graeco-
Jtom. i. 73). In relation to appeals, we have
only to mention, that Justinian, in criminal
cases of clerks, appoints the bishop and civil
judges to act together, with an appeal to the
Emperor {Novell, cxxiii. c. 21); the civil judge
to try the case, but within two months, and
the bishop then (if the accused is condemned)
to deprive {Novell. Ixxxiii.) ; and that in the law
of Heraclius, just mentioned, occurs the well-
known phrase — that if the case were beyond
canonical punishment, then the bishop should
be directed, "T^y towvtov toIs ttoAj-
i| TiKols & p xov (T I IT ap aS tS 6 (T 6 a I, ras
\ ToTy TjixeTepois Siajpifffievas v6/j.0is rifxcopias
, uiroo-XTjcro'/^ecoj'." And in such cases, therefore,
the cause was thenceforth transferred from the
spiritual to the lay tribunal. So also Justinian
{Xnvell. Ixxxiii.) requires the convicted criminal
ilcrk to be first deposed by the bishop, and then,
lint not before, virh ras raiv vSfxoiv yiveaOai
X^^pas. Under the Carlovingian empire, the
I A/Kicrisiaritis or Archicaprllanus acted as the
1-mperor's deputy in the final decision of clerical
APSE
133
causes of all kinds, the Emperor being the ulti-
mate judge in these as in secular ones {Cone.
Francof. a.d. 749 c. 6 ; and see for Cappelkmi
under the Franks, Walafr. Strab., De Beh. Eccl.
c. 31).
(Besides the works of De Marca, Richerius,
Quesnel, Thomassin, Van Espen, and Church
Historians, such as Fleury, Neander, Gieseler:
and Beveridge, Bingham, &c. among ourselves,
the works of Allies and of Hussey, on the Papal
Supremacy, and Greenwood's Cathedra Petri,
Lond., 1856, sq., may be referred to ; also, He-
benstreit, Hist. Jurisd. Eccl. ex legg. utriusque
Cod. illustrata, (Lips. 1773), Schilling, De Origine
Jurisd. Eccles. in Gausis Civilibus (Lips. 1825),
and Jungk, De Originibus et Progressu Episcop.
Judicii in Causis Civilibus Laicorum usque ad
Justinianum, Berlin 1832-8, referred to by
Gieseler.) [A. W. H.]
APPROBATION OF BOOKS. [Censok-
SHip OF Books.]
A*PRONIANUS, martyr at Rome, comme-
morated Feb. 2 {Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
APSE, the niche or recess which terminates
a church at the end near which the high altar
is placed. This feature existed in the basilicas
or halls of justice constructed by the Romans,
the tribunal for the presiding magistrate having
been placed in the centre of the arc forming the
apse.
In the earlier centuries the apse was almost
invariably semicircular, in some churches and
particularly in those which would appear to
date from the third or eaidy part of the fourth
century the apse is internal, so that the building
has a rectangular termination. Sta. Croce in
Gerusalemme, at Rome, has this plan, though it
is doubtful whether this was the plan adopted
when it first became a church ; but in Italy it is
very rarely found ; in Africa and in Asia it seems
to have prevailed, pai'ticularly in the earlier
jjcriod : the basilica of Reparatus at Orleansville,
in Algeria, believed to date from a.d. 252 ; the
churches at Deyr Abu-Faneh near Hermopolis
Magna, at Hermouthis (Erment) in Egypt, at
Ibrihm in Nubia, at Pergamus, and Ephesus, are
all thus planned. [Ciiukch.]
In the basilica of St. Reparatus there is a se-
cond apse, also internal, at the other end of the
building ; this is believed to have been added
about the year 403.
In the churches built in the fifth century in
the East three apses are often found, the aisles
as well as the central nave being so terminated ;
in the following century this j)lan, the so-called
parallel triapsal, was introduced into Italy and
churches at Ravenna, as St. ApoUinare in Classe,
built A.D. 538-549, (though with a peculiar mo-
dification), and the Duomo at Parenzo (a.d. 542),
exhibit it. In the eighth and ninth centuries it
appears at Rome, as in St. Maria in Cosmedin (a.d.
772-795), and a few other churches.
The transverse-triapsal plan, that in which
there are three apses, one projecting from the
end, and one from each side of the building, is
rarely found in churches of the usual basilican
plan, or in any anterior to the sixth century. It
occurs (with some modification) in St. Sophia's,
Constantinople, and in other churches for which
tiiat building served in some degree as a moilel,
and in the eleventh and twelfth centuries is com-
134
APTONIUS
mon in Germany. It is, however, found at Rome
in oratories, even in the fifth century, as in that
of St. John the Baptist opening from tlie bap-
tistery of the Lateran, built by Pope Hihirus,
cir. A.D. 461, and that of Sta. Croce, built by the
same pope, but now destroyed.
About the year 800 churches in Germany were
constructed with an apse at each end : the greater
church at Reichenau, in the Lake of Constance,
begun in 816, has a semicircular apse at one
end and a square recess at the other ; the jilan
jirepared for the church of St. Gall in the begin-
ning of the ninth century shows a semicircular
apse at each end.
The altar was usually placed in the chord of
the arc of the apse, the cathedra or chair for the
bishop in the centre of the arc against the wall,
while a stone bench, or a series of such, one
above the other, afforded places for the clergy.
At Torcello, near Venice, there are six such
ranges. Apses so fitted appear to have l)een
called "apsides gradatae." [Church.] [A. N.]
APTONIUS, commemorated May 23 (^Mart.
Hieron.'). [C.]
APULEIUS, disciple of Peter, martyr at
Rome, commemorated Oct. 7 {Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Hedae) ; in Rheims MS. of the Gregorian Sacra-
nientary (see Menard's ed. p. 418).
AQUAMANILE (other forms, Aquamanl-
lium, Aquanianiis, Gr. Xtpyi^ov), the bason
used for the washing of the hands of the cele-
brant in the liturgy. The aquamanile with the
urceus are the bason and ewer of the sacred
ceremony.
In the Statuta Antiqua called the " Canons of
the Fourth Council of Carthage " {Canon V.), it
is laid down that a subdeacon should receive at
Ills ordination from the hands of the archdeacon
an aquamanile (corruptly written " aqua et man-
tile") as one of the emblems of his office. Com-
pare Isidore, De Eccl. Off. ii. 10. And these di-
rections are repeated verbatim in the office for
the ordination of a subdeacon in the Gregorian
Sacramentary (p. 221). In the Greek office, the
subdeacon receives x^pvi^ui^icnov koX fj.avSv\iov,
where the word x^P^'/Soleo-Toi/ perhaps includes
Itoth urceus and aquamanile (Daniel's Codex Lit.
iv. 550).
In the Vrdo Romanus I. (p. 5), the acolytes
are directed to carry an aquamanus (among other
things) after the Pope in the great procession of
Easter-Day.
Aquamanilia of great splendour are frequently
mentioned in ancient records. Desiderius of Aux-
erre is said to have given to his church " aqua-
manile pensans libras ii. et uncias x. ; habet in
medio rotam liliatam et in cauda caput homi-
nis;" and Brunhilda, queen of the Franks, offered
through the same Desiderius to the church of
St. Germanus " aquamanilium pensans libras iii.
et uncias ix. ; habet in medio Neptunum cum tri-
dente " (Krazer, De Liturgiis, p. 210). Compare
LTkcicus. [C]
AQUILA. (1) Wife of Severiauus, martyr,
commemorated Jan. 23 {Mart. Rom. Vet.').
(2) Husband of Priscilla, July 8 (76.) ; July
U{Cal. Byzant.).
(3) Martvr in Aralna, Aug. 1 {Mart. Rom.
Vet.). ' [C]
AQUTLEIA, COUNCIL OF (Aqoiliessk
Concilium). I., iV.n. jHI, provincial, although
ARCA ARCULA
the Easterns were invited, St. Ambrose being the
most imjiortant bishop prcL^cut ; summoned by
the Emperor Gratian, to try the cases of Bishop
Palladius and Secundianus, who were there con-
demned for Arianism (Mansi, iii. 599-632).
II. A.D. 553, Western or rather provincial, on
behalf of the three chapters. It rejected the
Oecumenical Council of Constantinople of A.D.
550, and thereby severed the Aquileian Church
from the Church Catholic for over 100 yeai's
(Baed., De VI. Aetat. ; Mansi, ix. 659). III.
A.D. 698, a like Synod for a like purpose (Baed.,
ib. ; Paul. Diac, v.- 14 ; Sigebert in an. ; Mansi,
xii. 115). [A. W. H.]
AQUILINA, martyr, commemorated June 13
{Cal. liyzant.). [C]
AQUILINUS. (1) Martyr in Africa, Jan. 4
{Mart. Hieron., Bedae).
(2) Commemorated Feb. 4 {M. Hieron.).
(3) Of Isauria, commemorated May 16 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae).
(4) Presbyter, May 27 {M. Hieron.).
(5) Saint, July 16 {lb.); July 17 {M.
Hkron.). [C]
AQUISGRANENSE CONCILIUM. [Aix.]
ARABICUM CONCILIUM. — A council
was held, A.D. 247, in Arabia against those who
maintained that the soul died with the body.
Origen went to it, and is said to have reclaimed
them from their error (Euseb. vi. 37). [E. S. F.]
ARATOR, commemorated April 21 {Mart.
Hieron.). [C]
ARAUSICANUM CONCILIUM.[Orange.]
ARCA, ARCULA. 1. A chest intended to
receive pecuniary offerings for the service of the
church or for the poor (Tertullian, Apologeticus,
c. 39). Of this kind was probably the " area
pecuniae," which Pope Stephen (an. 260) is said
to have handed over, with the sacred vessels, to
his archdeacon when he was imprisoned {Liber
Pontif. c. 24); and such that which Paulinus
Petricordius says (in Vita S. Martini, lib. iv. ap.
Ducauge) was committed to the charge of a
deacon chosen for the purpose. The box from
which priests received their portions is described
as " arcula sancta " by Marcellus ( Vita S. Felicts,
c. 3).
2. It is used of a box or casket in which the
Eucharist was reserved : thus Cyprian {De Lapsis,
c. 26, p. 486) speaks of an " area in qua Domini
sacramentum fuit," from which fire issued, to
the great terror of a woman who attempted to
open it with unholy hands. In this case, the
casket appears to have been in the house, and
perhaps contained the reserved Eucharist for the
sick.
3. Among the prayers which precede the Ethi-
opic Canon (Renaudot, Lit. Orient, i. 501) is
one " Super arcam sive discum majorem." The
prayer itself suggests that this area was used
for precisely the same purpose as the paten,
inasmuch as in both cases the petition is that
in or upon it may be perfected (perficiatur) the
Body of the Lord. Renaudot (p. 525) seems to
think that it may have served the purpose of an
Antimensium (q. v.).
It does not appear, however, that its use was
limited to the case of unconsccrated altars ; and
wliou we remember that the Copts applied the
term iKaarriptov to the (.'hristiau altar (Kenau-
AECADIUS
dot, i. 182) it does not seem improbable that
this area was an actual chest or ark, on the lid
of which, the Mercy-Seat, consecration took place.
It is worth noticing that chests are said to have
been anciently used as altars in Rome [Altar].
Dr. Neale (Eastern Church, Introd. p. 186) says
that the tabout or ark of the Ethiopic Church _ is
used for the reservation of the Sacrament. Major
Harris's informant {Highlands of Ethiopia, iii.
i:i8) declared that it contains nothing except a
]tarchment inscribed with the date of the dedi-
cation of the building. [C]
AECADIUS. (1) Martyr, commemorated
Jan. 12 {Mart. Bom. Vet.X
(2) Martyr in Africa, Nov. 12 (75.). [C]
AKCANI DISCIPLINA [Disciplina Ar-
CANl].
AECHANERIS, commemorated at Rome
Aug. 10 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
ARGIIBISIIOP.— The earliest use of this
title was probably the same as that with which
we are familiar in the Modern Church, viz., as
designating a metropolitan or chief bishop of a
])roviuce. Afterwards, however, as the hierar-
chical system of the Church was further extended
to correspond with the civil divisions of the
Roman empire, it became appropriated to the
higlier dignity of patriarch. Thus, according to
Bingham (ii. 17), Liberatus {Breviar., c. 17) gives
all ithe patriarchs this title of archbishops, and,
he adds, so does the Council of Chalced'on fre-
quently, speaking of the patriarchs of Rome and
Constantinople under the name of archbishops
also. About the time of Constantine the empire
was divided into dioceses, each of which contained
many provinces. This division, like the earlier
one of provinces, was also adopted by the Church ;
and as the State had an exarch or vicar in the
capital city of each civil diocese, so the Church,
in process of time, came to have her exarchs or
patriarchs in many, if not all, the capital cities
of the empire. These patriarchs were originally
called archbishops, which title had therefore a
much more extensive signification than it has at
j)resent. The principal privileges of the arch-
bishops of that period were — 1. To ordain all the
metropolitans of the diocese, their own ordination
being received from a Diocesan Synod ; 2. To con-
vene Diocesan Synods and to preside in them ;
3. To receive appeals from metropolitans and from
Metropolitan Synods ; 4. To censure metropoli-
tans, and also their suffragans when metropolitans
were remiss in censuring them. The Patriarch or
Archbishop of Alexandria had from very early
times some peculiar privileges within his diocese,
but originally all patriarchs were co-ordinate, as
well as mutually independent as regards actual
power, though some had a precedence of honour,
as those of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and
Jerusalem, to whom the canons gave precedence
of all others.
For " Archbishop " in its later and present sig-
nification, see Metropolitan. [D. B.]
AECHUEACON. — 'ApxiS^dKouos, 'Apx«-
SiaKoov, 'Apxi^evirTjs (Catal. Patriarch. Constant.
10:506, aj). Mai Script. Vet. iii. 243, though per-
haps somewhat late), Archidiaconus, Archidia-
con, Levita Septimus {Joannes Sccundus, Vit. Grcjj.
Max. 1. i. c. 25).
! 1. Oriijin of Name and OjHicc— That tiicro was
AECHDEACON
1^5
from the first a primacy among deacons, as there
appears to have been among presbyters, and as
there was aftei-wards among bishops, is more a
matter of conjecture than of historical certainty.
It is reasonable to suppose that some one deacon,
either the senior in oilice or the most eminent in
ability, took the lead of the rest, as St. Stephen
appears to have taken the lead of the seven tirst
deacons (whence the Menologium gives him the
title 'Apx'SiaKocos) ; but it is uncertain when
this became a part of the regular ecclesiastical
order. The name is sometimes given by later
writei's to prominent deacons of the first four
centuries ; for example, St. Lawrence, who had
evidently some precedence over his brother
deacons, is called archdeacon by St. Augustine
{Serm. de Biversis, cxi. ca]). 9 ; Sanctus Baurentlus
archidiaconus fuit) ; and Caecilian of Carthage is
called archdeacon by Optatus (1. i. p. 18, ed.
Paris, 1679). But other writers describe the
office by a periphrasis ; for example, Theodoret
{H. E. i. 26) uses the phrase 6 tov xopov rSiv
iiaKovwv Tiyovfjievos to describe the position —
which was evidently equivalent to that of an
archdeacon — of Athanasius at Alexandria ; and
there is the negative evidence that neither the
name nor the office is mentioned in the Aposto-
lical Constitutions (although some have supposed
the phrase 6 Trapeffruis T(fi apxtepel Slolkovos, in
ii. 57, to refer to it), and that Cornelius {ap.
Euseb. H. E. vi. 43) omits the archdeacon from
his list of Church officers at Rome. The first
contemporary use of the title is, in the Eastern
Church, in the old version of the acts of the
Council of Ephesus (Labbe, Supplem. Concil. p.
505), and, in the Western Church, in St. Je-
rome {e.g. Ep. xcv. ad Rusticum). After that
period it is in constant use.
In both East and West the title appears to
have been restricted to the secular clergy ; the
first in rank of the deacons of a monastery
seems to have had, in the East, the title of
■KpooToZicLKovos (but not univei-sally, for Joannes
Climacus, Seal. Barad. p. 58, also uses the title
cipx'Sici/ca!!/ of a monk) ; a deacon in a similar
position in the West seems to have had, at least
in early times, no special designation.
II. Mode of Appointment. — The mode of ap-
pointment varied with particular times and
places. At first, and in some places perma-
nently, the deacon who was senior in date of
ordination appears to have held the office, with-
out any special appointment, by right of his
seniority. That this was the usual practice at
Constantinople is clear from the answer of Ana-
tolius to Leo the Great in the case of Andrew
and Aetius. Leo, probably having the use of
the Roman Church in his mind, assumes in his
letter of remonstrance to Anatolius that the
latter had appointed {constituisse) Andrew arch-
deacon. Anatolius replies that, on the ordina-
tion of Aetius as presbyter, Andrew had suc-
ceeded him as archdeacon in regular order {noii
provectus a nobis sed gradu faciente Archidiaconi
dignitate honoratus — S. Leon. Mag. Op. vol. i, p.
653, ed. Paris, 1675). But, on the other hand,
Sozomen speaks of Serapion as having, been ap-
pointed by Chrysostom (Sf apxi^i-aKovov avrov
Kareffrria-e — //. E. viii. 9), and Theodoret notices
that Athanasius was at the head of the deacons,
tiiough young in years {vtos t^v 7)\LKiav), which
could hardly have been the case in so large a
136
ARCHDEACON
church as that of Alexandria if the rule of
seniority had been followed. St. Jerome has
indeed been sometimes quoted to show that the
practice at Alexandria was for the deacons to
fleet their archdeacon, but the hypothetical
form of the sentence (" quomodo si ... .
diaconi eligant de se quem industrium noverint
et Archidiaconum vocent ") makes it difficult to
use the passage as an assertion of an existing
tact. In the West there appears to have been a
similar diversity of practice. The phrases which
are sometimes used (e.g. by Joannes Secundus,
17^. S. Greg. Max. i. 25, " levitam septimum
ad suum adjutorium coustituit ") seem to show,
what might also be expected from the nature of
tlie case, that when the archdeacon became not
so much the first in rank of the minor officers
of the Church as the bishop's secretary and dele-
gate, the bishop had at least a voice in his ap-
pointment. But there is a canon of a Gallic
council in A.D. 506 {Cone. .Agath. can. xxiii.,
Mansi, viii. 328) which strongly asserts the rule
of seniority, and enacts that even in cases in
which the senior deacon, propter simpliciorem
iiaturam, was unfit for the office, he was to have
the title {loci sui nomen teneat), although the
burden of the duty devolved upon another. In
later times, howevei-, it is clear that the right of
appointment rested absolutely with the bishop.
III. Number, and Duration of Office. — It is clear,
both from the statement of St. Jerome {Ep. xcv.
ad Susticum, " singuli ecclesiarum episcopi, sin-
guli archipresbyteri, singuli archidiaconi ") and
from the invariable use of the singular number
in the canons of the councils which refer to the
office, that for several centuries there was but
one archdeacon in each diocese. When the
number was increased is not altogether clear.
The increase seems to have been a result partly
of the increase in the number of rural parishes,
partly of the difficulty of dividing dioceses
which were coextensive with civil divisions.
The fact of the Council of Merida (a.d. 666)
having directly prohibited the appointment of
more than one archdeacon in each diocese seems
to indicate that such a practice had been con-
templated, if not actually adopted {Cone. Emerit.
can. X., Mansi, si. 81) ; but the first actual re-
cord of a plurality of archdeacons occurs a
century later in the diocese of Strasburg. In
774, Bishop Heddo divided that diocese into
three archdeaconries {archidiaconatus rurales),
and from that time there appears to have been
throughout the West — except in Italy, where the
dioceses were small — a general practice of re-
lieving bishops of the difficulties of the admi-
nistration of overgrown dioceses by appointing
archdeacons for separate divisions, and giving
them a delegatio (ultimately a delegatio perpetua)
as to the visitation of parishes. Thence grew
up the distinction between the " Archidiaconus
magnus" of the Cathedral Church and the
" Archidiaconi rurales." The former was at the
head of the cathedral clergy, whence in much
later times he was known as the provost (prae-
positus) of the cathedral, ranking as such before
the archpresbyter or dean. The latter had a
corresponding status in their several districts ;
they were usually at the head of the chapter of
a provincial town, and they had precedence, and
perhaps jurisdiction, over the " Archipresbyteri
rurales," who were at the head of subdivisions
AECHDEACON
of the archdeaconries, and corresponded to modern
" rural deans." There was this further diti'er-
ence between the two classes, that the rural
archdeacons were usually priests, whereas the
cathedral archdeacon, even so late as the 12th
century, was usually a deacon.
Originally, the office was limited to deacons ;
an archdeacon who received priest's orders
ceased thereby to be an archdeacon. Proofs and
examples of this are numerous. St. Jerome
says (in Ezech. c. xlviii.) that an archdeacon
" injuriam putat si presbyter ordinetur." Anato-
lius made his archdeacon Aetius a presbyter in
order to get rid of him, of which proceeding
Leo the Great, in a formal complaint to the
Emperor Marcian on the subject, says " dejec-
tionem inuoceutis per speciem provectionis im-
ple\it " (S. Leon. Magn. Epist. 57, al. 84) ; and
Sidonius Apollinaris speaks of an archdeacon
John who was so good an archdeacon that he was
kept from the presbyterate in consequence (" diu
dignitate non potuit augeri ne potestate posset
absolvi" — lib. iv. ep. 24). It is not certain at
what date presbyters were allowed to hold office
as archdeacons ; probably the earliest certain
evidence on the point is that which is afforded
by Hincmar of Rheims, who (A.D. 874) addresses
his archdeacons as " archidiaconibus-presbyteris "
(Mansi, xv. 497).
IV. Functions. — At first an archdeacon dif-
fered only from other deacons in respect of pre-
cedence. In the churches of the East he was
probably never much more. Individual arch-
deacons attained to eminence, but not by virtue
of their office. Their office gave them such
privileges as the right of reading the Gospel in
the cathedral {e.g. at Alexandria ; Sozomen, vn.
19), and of receiving the sacred elements before
the other deacons (Joannes Citri, Eesp. ad Cabasil.
ap. Meursius, 67. Gracco-Barh. s. v.); but they
appear to have had no administrative functions,
and at Constantinople, so unimportant did the
office become, from an ecclesiastical point of view,
that at last the archdeacon became only an officer
of the Imperial court (Codinus, De Off. Constant.
c. xvii. 38).
It was different in the West. Partly from the
fact that the deacons, and especially, therefore,
the senior deacon, wei-e the administrative offi-
cers of the Church ; partly from the fact that
the senior deacon had been from early times es-
pecially attached to the bishop, the office, which,
even in the time of St. Leo, was called the " offi-
ciorum primatus" (S. Leon. Magn. Ep. 106, al.
71), assumed an importance which at one period
was hardly inferior to that of the episcopate
itself.
The functions of the office may conveniently
be distributed under two heads, according as they
grew out of the original functions of the diaco-
nate, or out of the special reLation of the arch-
deacon to the bishop.
(1) The archdeacon seems to have had charge
of the funds of the Church ; e.g. both St. Am-
brose and St. Augustine, in speaking of St. Law-
rence, speak of him as having the " opes ecclesiae"
in his custody (S. Aug. Serm. de Divers, cxi.
c. 9); and St. Leo describes the appointment of
an ai-chdeacon by the phrase " quem ecclesias-
ticis negotiis praeposuit " (S. Leon. Magn. Ep.
85, al. 58).
This involved the distribution of the funds to
AECHDEACON
the pool-; St. Jerome speaks of the archdeacon
as " mensarum et viduarura minister " (S. Hie-
ron. in Ezech. cxlviii.), and the 4th Council of
Carthage prohibits a bishop from attending to
the " gubernationem viduarum et peregrinarum "
himself, but orders him to do so "per archi-
presbyterum aut per archidiaconum " (IV. Cone.
Garth, can. xvii. ; Mansi, iii. 952).
Aftevv/ards, if we are to trust the letter of
Isidore of Seville to the Bishop of Cordova,
he appears to have distributed to the clergy of
the several orders the money which was oHered
for their support at the communion (Isid. Hisp.
Ep. ad Luidifr., Op. ed. Paris, 1601, p. 615).
(2) The archdeacon had the " ordinatio eccle-
siae," that Is, the superintendence of the arrange-
ments of the cathedral chui-ch and of divine
service. He was " master of the ceremonies."
As such he had (a) to keep note of the calendar,
and to announce the fasts and festivals (Isid.
Hisp. ibid. ; cf. the phrase " concionatur in po-
pulos " of Jerome in Ezech. c. xlviii.). (/8) He
had to correct oflences against ecclesiastical order
during divine service ; for example, at Carthage
a woman who kissed the relics of an unrecog-
nized martyr was reproved (correpia) by Caeci-
lian (Optat. i. p. 18). Probably this was a duty
of the archdeacon in the East as well as in the
West ; at least it is difUcult to account for the
origin of the unseemly scuflle between Meletius
and his archdeacon at Antioch (Sozom. H. E. iv.
28) unless we suppose that the latter was exer-
cising a supijosed right. (7) He had to see that
the arrangements of the Church for divine ser-
vice were properly made, and that the ritual
was properly observed. Isidore of Seville {ibid.')
assigns to him in detail, " cura vestiendi
altaris a levitis, cura incensi, et sacrificii
necessaria sollicitudo, quis levitarum Aposto-
lum et Evangelium legat, quis preces dicat."
(5) The same authority, or qnasi-authority, may
be quoted for his having also charge of the
fabric of the cathedral church : " pro repa-
randis diocesanis basilicis ipse suggerit sacerdoti "
{ibid.).
(3) The archdeacon had to superintend and to
exercise discipline over the deacons and other
inferior clergy. This was common to both East
and West ; and as early as the Council of Chal-
cedon we find it stated that a deacon (Maras of
Edessa) had been excommunicated by his arch-
deacon {h.K0ivd>v7]r6s kcTTi Tif ISicfi apxiStaKovctj :
but the bishop, Ibas, who is speaking, goes on to say,
oiiSe ifiol icTTiv aKoiuwvrjTos, which seems to im-
ply that the bishop and the archdeacon had co-
ordinate jurisdiction over deacons : Mansi, vii.
232). A curious instance of the extent of their
authority is afforded by a canon of the Council
of Agde, in Gaul, which enacts that " Clerici qni
comam nutriunt ab archidiacono etiamsi nolu-
erint inviti detondeantur " {Cone. Agath. can. xx. ;
Mansi, viii. 328). This ordinary jurisdiction of
an archdeacon over the inferior clergy must bo
distinguished from the delegated jurisdiction
which he possessed in later times. The canon
of the Council of Toledo which is cited in the
Decretals as giving him an ordinary jurisdiction
over presbyters is confessedly spurious (Mansi,
iii. 1008).
(4) This power of exercising discipline was
combined with the duty of instructing the in-
ferior clergy in the duties of their office. The
AECHDEACON
13^
4th Council of Carthage enacts that the ostia-
rius before ordination is to be instructed by
the archdeacon. Gregory of Tours identifies the
archdeacon with the " praeceptor " {H. F. lib.
vi. c. 36), and speaks of himself as living at the
head of the community of deacons {Vit. Pair. c.
9). The house of this community appears to
have been called the " diaconium " (" lector in
diaconio Caeciliani " — 02}tat. lib. i. c. 21), and is
probably referred to by Paulinus when he says
that he lived " sub cura " of the deacon Castus
(Paulin. Vit. Ambros. c. 42).
(5) As a corollary from these relations of an
archdeacon to the inferior clergy, it was his office
to enquire into their character before ordination,
and sometimes to take part in the ceremony
itself. Even in the East it is possible that he
had some kind of control over ordinations, for
Ibas is said to have been prevented by his arch-
deacon from ordaining an unworthy person as
bishop (/f&)Au9els TTopa ToC TTiuiKavra apxiSia-
k6vov aiiTov — Cone. Chale. act x., as quoted by
Labb^, iv. 647, e., but Mansi substitutes Trpcc-
fivTfpo V — vii. 224). In the African Church the
archdeacon was directed to take part in the
ordination of the subdeacons, acolytus, and
ostiarius (IV. Cone. Garthag.; Mansi, iii. 951).
Throughout the West his testimony to charac-
ter appears to have been required. At Rome
this was the case even at the ordination of pres-
byters ; but Jerome speaks of it as " unius urbis
consuetudinem " (S. Hieron. Ep. ci. al. Ixxxv. ad
Evang.). In later times the archdeacon enquired
into the literary as well as into the moral quali-
fications of candidates for ordination ; but there
is no distinct authority for supposing this to
have been the case during the first nine cen-
turies ; the earliest is that of Hincmar of Eheims,
in 874, who directed his archdeacon-presbyters
to enquire diligently into both the "vita jet
seientia " of those whom they presented for ordi-
nation (Mansi, xv. 497). In one other point they
appear in some places to have conformed to later
practice, for Isidore of Pelusium {Ej}. i. 29) re-
proves his archdeacon for making money from
ordination /ees {airh TifjiTJs x^'POTovLooy).
2. The second class of an archdeacon's func-
tions were those which grew out of his close
connection with the bishop. The closeness of
this connection is shown as early as the 4th
century by St. Jerome, who says of the " primus
ministeriorum," i.e. the archdeacon, that he
never leaves the bishop's side (" a pontificis
latere non recedit " — Hieron. in Ezech. c. xlviii.).
This expression has, without any corroborative
evidence except the indefinite phrase of the
Apostolical Constitutions (quoted above), been in-
terpreted exclusively of his attendance upon tlu;
bishop at the altar. It is probable that this is
included in the expi-ession, but it is improbable
that nothing else is meant by it. The mass of
evidence goes to show that while the arch-pres-
byter was the bishop's assistant chiefiy in spi-
ritual matters, the archdeacon was his assistant
chiefly in secular matters.
(1) He was attached to the bishop, probably
in the capacity of a modern chaplain or secre-
tary. He transacted the greater part of the
business of the diocese ; for example, St. Leo
speaks of the office as involving "dispensationem
totius causae et curae ccclesiasticae " {Ep. Ixxxiv.
al. Ivii.). He conveyed the bishop's orders to the
138
AECHDEACON
clergy ; for example, wheu John of Jerusalem
prohibited Epiphanius from preaohiiig, he did
so "per archidiaconum" (S. Hieron. Ep. xxxviii.
al. Ixi.). He acted as the bishop's substitute at
synods ; for example, Photinus at the Council of
Chalcedon (Mansi, vi. 567). Compare the canon
of the Council of Trullo, in 692 (Mansi, xi. 943),
which forbids a deacon from havang precedence
over a presbyter, except when acting as substi-
tute for a bishop, and the canon of the Council
of Merida, in 666 (Mansi, xi. 79), which expressly
disapproves of the practice. Ordinary deacons
were sometimes called the " bishop's eyes,"
whence Isidore of Pelusium, writing to his arch-
deacon, says that he ought to be " all eye "
(oAos b(p6a\^hs ocpiiKds vwdpxetv — Isid. Pel.
Up. i. 29).
(2) In somewhat later times he was dele-
gated by the bishop to ^^sit parishes, and to
exercise jurisdiction over all orders of the clergy.
There is no trace of this in the East. It grew
up in the West with the growth of large dio-
ceses, with the prevalence of the practice of ap-
pointing bishops for other than ecclesiastical
merits, and with the rise of the principle of the
immanity of ecclesiastical persons and things
from the jurisdiction of the secular power. But
it is difficult to determine the date at which
such delegations became common. The earliest
evidence upon which reliance can be placed is
that of the Council of Auxerre in 578, which
enacted that, in certain cases, a parish priest
who was detained by infirmity should send "ad
archidiaconum srmm," implying a certain official
relation between them. More definite testimony
is atlbrded by the Council of Chalons in 650,
which expressly recognises his right of visiting
private chapels (" oratoria per \'illas potentum "
— /. Cone. Cabill. can. 14 ; Mansi, x. 1192). A simi-
lar enactment was made at the second Council
of Chalons, in 813, which, however, censures the
exacting of fees for visitations (" ne census exi-
gant" — //. Cotic. Cabill. c. 15). In later times
this " delegatio " became a " delegatio perpetua,"
not revocable at the pleasure of the bishop who
had conferred it ; but that such was not the case
during the first nine centuries is clear from the
letter of Hincniar to his archdeacons (quoted
above), and also from tlie fact that Isidore of
Seville, whose authorit)'', or quasi-authority,
was so frequently quoted to confirm the later
[iretensions of the archdeacons, only speaks of
their visiting parishes " cum jussione episcopi."
The rise of the separate jurisdiction of the
archdeacon is still more obscure. In the 6th
century we find him named as the bishop's as-
sessor in certain cases (I. Coiic. Matisc. can. 8,
Mansi, ix. 933; II. Cone. Matisc. can. 12; Mansi, ix.
954) ; but there is no trustworthy evidence in
favour of the existence of an "archdeacon's
court " within the period of which the present
work takes cognizance.
(3) In the East, during the vacancy of a see,
the archdeacon appears to have been its guardian
or co-guardian. Chrysostom writes to Innocent
of Rome, complaining that Theophilus of Alex-
andria had written to his archdeacon "as though
the church were already widowed, and had no
bishop "(uJo-Trep ^5rj xvpovffrjs rrjs eKKXtjaias Ka)
ovK fX'>'^<^VS iiriffKo-Koi' — Mansi, iii. 1085) ; and in
the letter which the Council of Chalcedon wrote
to the clergy of Alexandria to inform them of the |
ARCHIMANDRITE
deposition of their bishop Dioscorus, the arch-
deacon and the oeconomus are specially named.
In the West it is not clear that this was the case ;
but sometimes the archdeacon was regarded as
having a right of succession. Eulogius (ap. Phot.
Bibl. 182) says that it was a law at Rome for the
archdeacon to succeed ; but the instance which
he gives, that of Cornelius making his arch-
deacon a presbyter, to cut off his right of suc-
cession, is very questionable, the date being
earlier than the existence of the office. No
doubt, many archdeacons were chosen to succeed,
but the most striking instances which are some-
times quoted to confirm the statement of Eulogius,
those of St. Leo and St, Gregory, were probably
both exceptional.
(An amusing blunder identified the archdeacon,
who was sometimes called not only " oculus epis-
copi," but '■'■ cor episcopi " with the chorepiscopus
or suffragan bishop ; the blunder, which has been
not unfrequently repeated, seems to be traceable
in the first instance to Joannes Abbas de trans-
kdione reliquiarum S. Glodesindis, quoted in H.
Vales. Adnot. ad Thcodoret, i. 26.) [E. H.]
ARCHELAUS, or ARCHILLAUS, com-
memorated Aug. 23 {3fart. Bom. Vet). [C]
ARCHIMANDRITE i&pxo^" ^^s fidvSpas,
praefectus coenobii), lit. ruler of " the fold "
— the spiritual fold that is — a favourite me-
taphor for designating monasteries in the East,
and very soon applied. As early as A.D. 376
we find St. Epiphanius commencing his work
against heresies in consequence of a letter ad-
dressed to him by Acacius and Paul, styling
themselves " presbytei's and archimandrites,"
that is, fathers of the monasteries in the parts of
Carchedon and Beroea in Coele-Syria. Possibly
St. Epiphanius omits to style them " archiman-
drites " in his reply, because the tei'm was not
yet in general use. " But at the time of the
Council of Ephesus the Emperors Theodosius and
Valentiniau received a petition from "a deacon
and archimandrite," named Basil (Mansi, tom. iv.
p. 1101). At the Council of Constantinople, A.D.
448, under Flavian, 23 archimandrites affixed
their signatures to the condemnation of Eutyches,
himself an archimandrite. Sometimes the same
person was styled archimandrite and hegumen
indifferently ; but, in general, the archimandrite
presided over several monasteries, and the hegu-
men over but one. The latter was therefore sub-
ject to the former, as a bishop to a metropolitan
or archbishop. Again, there was an exarch, or
visitor of monasteries, by some thought to have
been inferior to the archimandrite, by some supe-
rior, and by some different only from him in
name. But if it is a fact that archimandrites
were admitted to their office by the patriarch
alone, though he, of course may have sometimes
admitted the others as well, it would seem to
suggest that they occupied the highest rank in
the monastic hierarchy, analogous to that of pa-
triarch amongst bishops. According to Goar
{Euchol. p. 240) archimandrites had the privilege
of ordaining readers, which the ordinary hegumen
had not ; but he has omitted to point out where
this privilege is conferred in the form of admis-
sion given by him further on (p. 492). King
(p. 367), in his history of the Greek Church, re-
° Both letters are prefixed to bis work.
AECHINIMUS
gards archimandrite as the equivalent for abbot,
and hegumen for prior, in the Western monas-
teries ; but he can only mean that the offices in
riach case were analogous. Rarely, but occasion-
ally, bishops and archbishops themselves were
designated archimandrites in the West and East.
For fuller details, see Suicer, Thescmr. Eccl. s. v. ;
Du Fresne, Gloss. Grace, s. v., /j.dvSpa ; Habert's
Pontifical. Eccl. Graec. p. 570, et seq. [E. S. F.]
ARCHINIMUS, confessor, commemorated
March 29 {3fart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ARCHIPARAPHONISTA ('Apx"rapa(j)a)-
vi(JTT!)s), a principal officer of the Roman
" Schola Cantorum," [Cantor] called also
'• Quartus Scholae." It belonged to his office to
name the chanters who wei'e to sing the several
parts of the service in a Pontifical Mass {Ordo
Iloinanus, I. c. 7 ; III. c. 7) ; to go before the pope,
and place for him a prayer-desk before the altar
{(). H. I. c. 8); and to bring to the sub-deacon
the water for use in tlie celebration of mass
(6>. R. I. c. 14). [C]
ARCHIPPUS, the fellow-labourer of St. Paul
commemorated March 20 (^fart. Rom. Vet.) ; as
" Apostle," Feb. 19 (^Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AROHISUBDIACONUS.— This is a word
which occurs in the canons of the synod of Aux-
erre {Synod. Autissiodor. can. 6 ; Mansi, ix. 912),
but apparently not elsewhere. If the reading be
genuine, it would appear that in some dioceses
the subdeacons as well as the deacons had their
primate ; but it is pi-obable that the reading
should be subarchidiaconum, which may have
been another name for the officer known to the
Greeks as 6 Sevrepevocv, and to some Western
dioceses as secundarius. [E. H.J
ARCH PRESBYTER. (apxnrpecPirfpos,
Sozom. H. E. viii. 12 ; but the ordinary Greek
term was irpwToirpecr^vTepos, which is found ap-
plied to the same person in the corresponding
passage of Socrates, H. E. vi. 9 ; cf. also Phot.
Bibl. 59, in the account of the irregular synod
against Chrysostom, and Mansi, vii. 252, from
which it appears that the word was found iu
some versions of the acts of the Council of Chal-
cedon ; in later times = wpojToirdiras, Codin. De
Off. Eccl. Const, c. i. ; arcMpresbyter, S. Hieron.
Ep. scv. ad Rustic.)
The origin of the office is not clear ; after the
permanent establishment of the distinction be-
tween the episcopate and presbyterate it appears
that the senior presbyter had certain recognized
rights in virtue of his seniority ; but there is no
evidence of his having had a distinct name until
the close of the 4th century, when we find it, as
quoted above, in Socrates.
For some time the name, when given at all,
seems to have been given as a matter of course
to the presbyter who was senior in date of ordi-
nation. But the assertion of Gregory Nazianzen
(Orat. xliii. 39) that he refused riju twv irpca-
Purepaiv irpoTifj-riaiv, which Basil offered him,
and the phrase of Liberatus {Brcv. c. xiv.) "qui
[see Diet, of Chr. Biogr. art. DioscORUS OF
Alkxandria] et eum [Diet, of Chr. Biogr. art.
Protj:rius] archipresbyterum fecerat " seem to
show that in some places in the East the bishop
had the power of making a special appointment.
In the West, however, this was regarded as a vio-
lation of the regular order, for St. Leo (^Ep. v.
al. xvii.) finds great fault with Dorus of Beue-
ARCOSOLIUM
13{
ventum for giving precedence (he does not use
the word archpresbyter) to a newly ordained
presbyter over his seniors.
At first there appears to have been only one
archpresbyter in a diocese (cf. S. Hieron. Ep. xcv.
ad Rustic, " singuli ecclesiarum episcopi, singuli
archipresbyteri, singuli archidiaconi"). He took
rank next after the bishop, all of whose functions
he performed during the vacancy of a see, and
some of them, e.g. baptism, during the bishop's
temporary absence. It has been held that he
had also a right of succession, but this is hardly
proved. With the increase in the population in
the large dioceses of the West and the growing
difficulty of subdividing them, on account of their
identification with civil divisions, began the sys-
tem of placing an archpresbyter (arch, ruralis')
in each of the larger towns, who stood in the
same relation to the clergy of the surrounding
disti-ict as -the archpresbyter of the cathedral to
the rest of the clergy of the cathedral. The
first mention of these rural archpresbyters is in
Gregory of Tours {Mirac. i. 78, ii. 22). Their
duties may be gathered from various canons of
Gallican and Sjianish councils. The Council of
Tours, in 567, enacted that subpresbyters were to
be liable to penance if they neglected to compel
the presbyters and other clergy of their re-
spective districts to live chastely (Mansi, i.x. 797).
The Council of Auxerre, in 578, inflicted a similar
but heavier penalty on them if they neglected
to inform the bishop or the archdeacon (the first
instance of such a subordination of rank) of
clerical delinquencies ; and also enacted that
" saeculares " who neglected to submit to the
" institutionem et admoniticncm archipresbyteri
sui " were to be not only suspended from ecclesi-
astical privileges but also to be fined at the king's
discretion (Mansi, ix. 797). From Can. 19 of the
Council of Rheims, in 630, it would appear that
certain feudal rights of seigniority had begun to
attach to the archpresbytei's, in consequence of
which the office was being held by laymen
(Mansi, x. 597). The Council of Chalons, in 650,
enacted that lay judges were not to visit monas-
teries or parishes, except on the invitation in the
one case of the abbot, in the other of the
archpresbyter (Mansi, x. 1191).
The name dccanus, which was given to the
archpresbyter of the cathedi-al, and decanus ru-
ralis, which was given to the archpresbyter of a
country district, as also the struggle for pre-
cedence between the archpresbyters and the
archdeacons, in which the latter were ultimately
victorious, belong to a later period. [E. H.]
ARCHIVES. [Registers.]
ARCOSOLIUM. This word is derived by
Martigny {Diet, des Antiq. Chre't.) from " arcus,
an arch, and " solium," which according to him
is sometimes used in the sense of sarcophagus.
Some inscriptions, and particularly one now in
the cortile of the Palazzo Borghese (Marchi,
Mon. delle Arti Christ, priniit. p. 85), which runs
thus, " Domus eternalis Aur. Celsi et Aur. Ilari-
tatis compari mees [leg. comparavimus] fecimus
nobis et nostris et amicis arcosolio cum parieti-
culo suo in pacem," make mention of it, and it
has been supposed to denote those tombs hewn
in the living rock of the catacomb.s at Rome (and
elsewhere), in which there is an arched ojiening
above the jjortiou reserved for the deposition of
140
AKCOSOLIUM
the body to be inteiTed, the grave being dug
from above downwards into the reserved portion
below the arch.
There seems, however, some reason for doubt-
ing whether the attribution of the word is
correct, and whether we ought not rather to
understand by it the sepulchral chambers or cu-
bicula in which the great majority of these
tombs are found.
It is difficult to understand how one tomb of the
kind could contain moi'e than about five bodies,
even if two were placed in the grave below, and
three in loculi cut in the wall under the arch ;
while the inscription quoted above would seem
to imply that a much larger number were to be
placed in the arcosolium made by Aurelius Cel-
sus; but it maybe that these persons were all men-
tioned in order that the right of interment of rela-
tions or friends might not be disputed if claimed.
It is not clear how or where the parieticulum
or partition could be placed. Martigny says
that the arcosolia were divided into several com-
partments by these walls, but does not explain
in what way. If the word mean merely the
tomb, parieticulum would probably mean the
wall included under the arch.
The word may really be derived from " area,"
a sarcophagus, and " solium," which among other
meanings has that of a piscina or reser\ oir in a
bath, and in mediaeval Latin of a chambei Tgne-
rally ; it may thus denote a vault contxmmg
sarcophagi.
■ In the tombs of this kind the receptacle foi fl
corpse was sometimes covered by a slab of m u I
or sometimes a marble sarcophagus is msei t
In a few cases the sarcophagus, projects toiw u I
into the chamber, and the sides of the iich ai
continued to the ground beyond the sarcoph igu
Such slabs or sarcophagi have been suppos< i
to have served as altars during the period of ] c
secution, as being the resting-places of samts i
martyrs, and in some instances this m\j h\.\
been the case ; but the far greater numbei of the
tombs are no doubt of later date, and simply tii
monuments used by the wealthier class I h
bishops and martyrs of the 3rd century -weie
may be seen in the cemetery of Callixtus (on th
Via Appia near Rome), placed, not in these ' ii
cosolia " or " monumenta arcuata," but in smij 1
" loctili," excavations in the wall just Hi
enough to receive a body placed lengthwi e (\
De Rossi, Roma Sott. Crist, t. ii. tav. i ii in )
It seems hardly probable that, when such illu
trious martyrs were interred in so humble \
manner, more obscure sufferers should be moie
highly honoured ; this consideration seems to
aflbrd ground for the supposition that, where a
saint or martyr of the first three centuries has
been placed in a decorated tomb, such a memorial
IS to be attributed not to the period of the ori-
ginal interment, but to the piety of a later time.
In the 4th and 5th centuries the humble "locu-
lus" was altered into the decorated "monu-
mentum arcuatum," and the whole sepulchral
chamber in many cases richly adorned with in-
crustations of marble, with stucco, and with
])aintings. An excellent example of this is afforded
by the chamber in the cemetery of Callixtus, in
which the remains of the Popes Eusebius (309-
311) and Miltiades (or Melchiades, 311-314)
were placed, a part of which is represented in
the annexed woodcut.
AKCOSOLIUM
In the walls of this chamber are three large
"arcosolia," in front of one of which was a
marble slab, with an inscription by Pope Damasus
commemorating Pope Eusebius (v. De Rossi, t.
ii. tav. iii. iv.-and viii.). The whole chamber
has been richly decorated with marble incrusta-
tions, paintings, and mosaics. These decorations
it would seem reasonable to assign to Pope Da-
masus, who undoubtedly set up the inscription.
Another inscription by Pope Damasus, found in
the crypt of St. Sixtus in the same cemetery, tes-
tifies the desire then felt to lie in death near the
remains of holy personages, and at the same
time the awe and respect felt for them in these
words —
" Hie fateor volui Damasus mea condere membra
Sed cineres timui sanctos vexare piorum."
This pious awe gradually diminished, and loculi
are found excavated above, below, before, at the
side of the sepultures of confessors and martyrs.
Hence the formulae "ad sanctos," "ad martyres,"
" supra sanctos," "retro sanctos," "ante sanctos,"
often found in inscriptions in the catacombs. A
good instance of this practice may be sefj. over
the tomb of Pope Eusebius, where a painting re-
presenting the Good Shepherd has been cut
thiough in oidei to foim \ loculus
the Ceraet ry of Calliitus.
Loculi so excavated within the arch of the " ar-
cosolia " are, however, too common to be always
accounted for in this manner, and in many in-
stances were no doubt intended for the children
or near relatives of those who lay below.
In the year 1859, in the cemetery of St. Cal-
lixtus, an unviolated "arcosolium" was disco-
vered : in this a marble sarcophagus was found,
in which lay a body swathed in numerous bands
of linen exactly in the manner shown in the early
representations of the raising of Lazarus.
These "arcosolia" were often decorated with
paintings, either on the front of the sarcophagus
or on the wall above it. Examples may be found
in Perret's work on the 'Catacombs,' vol. i.
pi. Ivii.-lxx. One of the most remarkable in-
AEEA
stances is the tomb of St. Hermes in the cata-
combs neai" Rome called by his name.
Tiie tombs of this class are more usually found
in the " cubicula," or small chambers, than in
the galleries of the catacombs: in the former, two,
three, or more are often found. Martigny seeks
to draw a distinction between those found in the
" cubicula," which he thinks may often or gene-
i-ally be those of wealtliy individu.ils made at
their own cost, and those in the so-called chapels
or larger excavations, which he thinks were con-
structed at the general charge of the Christian
community. In one such chapel in the cemetery
of St. Agnes near Eome there are eleven such
tombs. Kostell (^Beschreibung von Bom, by Bunsen
and others, vol. i. p. 408) gives it as his opinion
that such chapels, specially connected with the
veneration of martyrs, do not usually date from
an earlier period than the 4th or 5th century.
The work of the Cav. de' Rossi on the catacombs
(Roma Crist. Solterranea) will no doubt when
completed throw great light on all these ques-
tions, which cannot be satisfactorily solved except
by that union of the most careful and minute in-
vestigation, and candid and impartial criticism,
which that learned archaeologist will bring to
bear upon them.
Examples of tombs of the same form may be
found in structures above ground at a much later
date : two such are in the walls of the entrance
to the baptistery at Albenga, between Nice and
Genoa, a building probably not later than the
7th century. One tomb is quite plain, the other
decorated with plaited ornaments in the style
prevalent circa 800. [A. N.]
AREA. I. A space within which monuments
stood, which was protected by the Roman law
from the acts of ownership to wliich other lands
were liable. Such areae are freijuent by the
side of most of the great roads leading into Rome,
and letters on the monument describe how many
feet of frontage, and how many in depth, belong to
it. The formula is, IN-FR-P IN-AG'P. . . .
i.e., "In fronte pedes — ": "In agro pedes — ."
The size of these areae varied much ; some were
16 feet square, some 24 feet by 13 ; a square nf
about 125 feet each way seems to have been
common; the example in Hoi-ace (Sat. i. 8, 12)
gives us 1000 feet by 300 ; and some appear to
have been even larger than this ; one of Gruter's
Inscriptiones, for instance, (i. 2, p. cccxcix. 1),
runs, " Huic monumento cedunt agri pui-i jugera
decern." So large a space was required, not for the
mausoleum which was to be erected, but in some
cases for the reception of many tombs, in others
for the performance of sacra, which were often
numerously attended (Northcote and Brownlow's
Roma Sotterranea, pp. 47 f.).
On a monument or a boundary stone of the
area was engraved a formula indicating that this
plot was not to pass to the heirs of him who set
it apart for sepulture. This was generally
H'M-H-N-S. i.e., "Hoc monumentum haeredes non
sequitur " (Orelli's Inscriptiones, No. 4379). The
Cvjrresponding Greek form was, "to7s K\7]pov6-
iioii aov ovK iiraKoXovdriffei rovro rh fivT^fielov "
(Bockh's Corjyiis Inscriptionum, No. 3270).
In the Roman catacombs care has evidently
been taken lest the subterranean excavations
should transgress the limits of the area on the
surtace (Northcote, u.s. 48).
ARLES
141
This reverence of the Roman law for burial-
places enabled the early Christians, except ill
times of persecution or popular tumult, to
preserve their sepulchres inviolate. The areas
about the tombs of martyrs were especially so
preserved, where meetings for worship were held,
and churches frequently built. Tertullian (Ad
Scapul. 3) tells us that when Hilarianus, a perse-
cutor, had issued an edict against the formation of
such areae, the result was that the areae (thresh-
ing-floors) of the heathen lacked corn the follow-
ing year. So the Acta Proconsularia of the trial
of Felix (in Baronius, ann. 314 § 24) speak of the
areae," where you Christians make prayers "(ubi
orationes facitis). These areae were frequently
named from some well-known person buried
there; thus St. Cyprian is said to have been
buried "in area Candidi Procuratoris" (Acta
Mart. S. Cypriani in Ducange's Glossary s. v.). In
the Gesta Purgationis Caeciliani (Ihid.'), certain
citizens are said to have been shut up " in area
martyrum," where, perhaps, a church is intended.
Compare Cemetery, Martyrium.
II. The court in front of a church [Atrium.]
(Bingham's Antiquities, viii. 3 § 5.) [C]
ARELATENSE CONCILIUM. [Arles.]
ARETHAS and companions, martyrs, com-
memorated Oct. 24 (Gal. Byzant.). [C]
ARGEUS, martvr, commemorated Jan. 2
(Mart. Rom. Vet.). ' [C]
ARICION, of Nicomedia, commemorated
June 23 (Mart. Ilieron.). [C]
ARIMINENSE CONCILIUM. [Rimini.]
ARISTARCHUS, disciple of Apostles, com-
memorated Aug. 4 (Mart. Rom. Vet.); "Apostle,"
April 15 [14, Neale], (Gal. Byzant.). [C]
ARISTIDES, of Athens, commemorated Aug.
31 (3lart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ARISTION, one of the Seventy Disciples of
Christ, commemorated Oct. 17 (Mart. Rom.
Vet.). [C]
ARISTOBULUS, "Apostle," commemorated
Oct. 31 (Gal. Byzant.). [C]
ARISTON, and others, martyrs, comme-
morated July 2 (Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ARISTONICUS, martyr, commemorated
April 19 (Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ARISTONIPPUS, commemorated Sept. 3
(Mart. Ilieron.). [C]
ARISTUS, commemorated Sept. 3 (Mart.
Bedac). [C]
ARLES, COUNCILS OF (Arelatensia
Concilia). — I. a. d. 314, summoned by the
Emperor Constantine to try afresh the cause
of the Donatists against Caecilian, Bishop of
Carthage, — a cause " de Sancti Coelestisque
Numinis cultu et fide Catholica ;" because
the former complained that the judgment given
at Rome in 313 by the Pope and certain Gallic
bishops (whom Constantine had appointed to try
the case there), was an unfair one. The emperor
accordingly summoned other bishops, from Sicily,
Italy (not the Bishop of Rome, he having been
one of the former judges), the Gauls (which
include Britain), and Africa itself, to the number
of 200 according to St. Augustin, to come to
Aries by August 1 to retry the case. The sum-
142
ARLES
mous to Clirestus of Syracuse (Mansi, li. 4C6,
467, from Euseb. x.) desires him to bring two
presbyters and three servants with him at the
public expense. And the letter of Constantine
to the Vicarius Africae (ib. 463-465) claims it
as the emperor's duty to see that such conten-
tions are put an end to. The sentence of the
Council, adverse to the Donatists, is likewise
to be enforced by the civil power {Rescript.
Constant, post Synodum, ib. 477, 478). But Con-
stantine in the same letter expressly disclaims all
appeal to himself from the " judicium sacerdotum"
(ib. 478). The Synod also announces its judg-
ment and its canons to Pope Sylvester, in order
that " per te potissimum omnibus insinuari," re-
gretting also the absence of their " frater dilectis-
simus," who probably would have passed a
severer sentence. The canons begin with one
enacting that the observance of Easter shall be
" uno die et tempore," the Bishop of Rome " juxta
cousuetudinem " to make the day known. They
include also among other regulations a prohibi-
tion of the rebaptizing of heretics if they had
been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity ;
an exhortation (" consilium ") to those whose
wives had been guilty of adultery, not to marry
another " vivcntibus uxoribus;" a requirement
to the consecration of a bishop of eight bishops,
if possible, but of three at the least ; and a con-
demnation of those " sacerdotes et Levitae," who
do not abstain from their wives. The Council
was purely a Western one, and of the emperor's
selection, although St. Augustine {De Baft. cont.
Bonat., ii. 9, and elsewhere) calls it "universal."
Among the signatures to it, according to the
most authentic list, are the well-known ones of,
" Eborius Episcopus de civitate Eboracensi pro-
vincia Britannia; Restitutus Episcopus de civi-
tate Londinensi provincia suprascripta ; Adelfius
Episcopus de civitate Colonia Londinensium " («. e.
probably. Col. Legionensium i.e. Caerleon on Usk);
" exinde Sacerdos presbyter, Arminius diaconus "
(Mansi, ib. 476, 477). There were present, ac-
cording to this list, 33 bishops, 13 presbyters, 23
deacons, 2 readers, 7 exorcists, besides 2 presby-
ters and 2 deacons to represent Poj^jc Sylvester.
J I. A.D. 353, of the Gallic bishops, summoned
by the Emperor Constans to condemn the person
of St. Athanasius (but without discussing doc-
trine) under penalty of exile if they refused,
Paulinas, Bishop of Treves, being actually exiled
for refusing (Sulp. Sever., ii. ; Hilar., Libell. ad
Constant.; and Mansi, iii. 231, 232).
JII. A.D. 452, called the second, which com-
jiiled and reissued 56 canons of other recent Gallic
Councils respecting discipline (Mansi, vii. 875).
I'ossibly there had been another in 451 (Id. ib.
873).
IV. A.D. 455, commonly called the third, pro-
vincial, determined the dispute between Bishop
Theodorus and Faustus abbat of Lerins, by de-
creeing that the right of ordination, and of
giving the chrism, kc, pertain to the bishop,
but the jurisdiction over laj-men in the monas-
tery to the abbat (Mansi, vii. 907).
V. A.D. 463, provincial, convened by Leontius,
Archbishop of Aries, to o])j)ose Maniertinus,
Archbishop of Vienne, who had encroached upon
the province of Aries (Mansi, vii. 951, from St.
Hilary's Epist.).
Vi. A.D. 475, provincial, under the same Leon-
tius, to condemn the error of "predestination."
ARRHAE
The books of Faustus, De Gratia Dei, &c., were
written to express the sense of the Council, and
the Augustinians condemned it as semi-Pelagian
(Mansi, vii. 1007).
VII. A.D. 524, commonly called the fourth,
provincial, among other canons on discipline, ap-
pointed 25 as the age for deacons' orders, and 30
for priests' (Mansi, viii. 625).
VIII. A.D. 554, commonly called the fifth, pro-
vincial, chiefly to reduce monasteries to obedience
to their bishop (Mansi, ix. 702).
IX. A.D. 813, under Charlemagne, enacted 26
canons respecting discipline, and among others,
that the Bishop " circumeat parochiam suam
semel in anno"(c. 17), and that "Comites,judices,
seu reliquus populus, obedientes sint Episcopo, et
invicem consentiant ad justitias taciendas " (c.
13 ; Mansi, xiv. 55). [A. W. H.]
ARMARIUS, in monastic establishments, the
precentor and keeper of the church books. Ar-
marius is continually used by Bernard (in Ordine
Cluniaccnsi, &c.) for Cantor and Magister Cere-
moniarum.a [J. H.]
ARMENIA, COUNCIL OF.— A council
was held in Armenia, simultaneously with an-
other at Antioch, A.V. 435, condemning the
works of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, and Diodorus
of Tarsus, lately translated into the language
of Armenia and circulated there (Mansi, v.
1179). [E. S. F.]
ARMOGASTES, confessor, commemorated
March 29 (Mart. Mom. Vet.). [C]
ARMORICA, COUNCIL IN, a.d. 555, to
excommunicate Maclou, Bishop of Vannes, who
had renounced tonsure and celibacy on the death
of his brother Chanao, Count of Brittany (Greg.
Tur., Hist. iv. 4 ; Mansi, ix. 742). [A. W. H.]
ARNULPHUS, confessor, Aug. 16 {Mart.
Bedae) ; July 18 (if. Hieron.). [C]
ARONTIUS, commemorated Aug. 27 {Mart.
Hieron.). [C]
ARRIANUS, martyr, commemorated Dec. 14
{Cal. Byzant.). [C]
ARRHAE, OR ARRAE SPONSALITIAE,
also Arrhaho, Arraho, earnest money on be-
trothal. The practice of giving earnest money
on betrothal, of which ti-aces are to be found in
all parts of the world, has its root evidently in
the view, common yet to many savage races, of
marriage as the mere sale of a wife, to which
betrothal stands iu the relation of contract to
delivery.
Among the Jews, as will be seen from Selden's
treatise, De Uxore llehraica (Book ii. cc. 1, 2,
3, 4), betrothal was strictly a contract of pur-
chase for money or money's worth (although
two other forms were also admitted) ; the coin
used being, however, the smallest that could be
had. The earnest was given either to the wife
herself, or to her parents. It could not be of
forbidden things or things consecrated to priestly
use, or things unl.awfuUy owned, unless such as
might have been taken from the woman herself;
but a lawfully given earnest was sufficient to .
constitute betrothal without words spoken. In
■> Pi-aecentuv et Avmarius : Armarii nompii ohtirmit, eo
quod in ejus manu solet esse liibliol'neca, q\iae tt in alio
nomine Aimarium appellatur.— iiHcarioe.
ARRHAll
strict cousisteucy with the view of marriage as a
purchase by the man, it was held that the giving
of earnest by the woman was void. And when,
at a hiter period, the use of the ring as a symbol
of the earnest crept into Jewish betrothals from
Gentile practice, so carefully was the old view
preserved that a previous formal inquiry had to
be made of two witnesses, whether the ring
oflered was of equal value with a coin.
The first legal reference among the Romans
to the arrha on betrothal, and the only one in
the Digest, belongs to the 3rd century, — i.e. to a
period when the Roman world was already to a
great extent permeated by foi'eign influences, —
at this time chiefly Oriental. It occurs in a
passage ■ from Paul us, who flourished under
Alexander Severus, 223-235 {Dig. 23. tit. 2.
s. 38). The jurist lays it down that a public
functionary in a province cannot marry a woman
from that province, but may become betrothed
to her ; and that if, after he has given up his
office, the woman refuses to marry him, she is
only bound to repay any earnest-money she has
received, — a text which, it will be observed,
applies in strictness only to provincial function-
aries, and may thus merely indicate the ex-
istence of the practice among subject nations.
Certain it is that the chapter of the Digest on
betrothals {De Sfonsalibus, 23. tit. 1) says not a
word of the arrha ; Ulpian in it expressly states
that " bare consent suffices to constitute be-
trothal," a legal position on which the stage
betrothals in Plautus supply an admirable com-
ment.
About eighty years later, however — at a time
when the northern barbarians had already given
emperors to Rome — the arrha appears in full
development. Julius Capitolinus — who wrote
under Constantiue — in his life of Maximinus
the younger (killed 313), says that he had
been betrothed to Junia Fadella, who was
afterwards married to Toxotius, " but there
remained with her royal arrhae, which were
these, as Junius Cordus relates from the testi-
mony of those who are said to have examined
into these things, a necklace of nine pearls, a net
of eleven emeralds, a bracelet with a clasp of
four jacinths, besides golden and all regal vest-
ments, and other insignia of betrothal." » Am-
brose indeed (346-397) speaks only of the
symbolical ring in relating the story of St. Agnes,
whom he represents as replying to the Governor
of Rome, who wished to marry her to his son,
that she stands engaged to another lover, who
has offered her far better adornments, and given
her for earnest the ring of his affiance (et
aunulo fidei suae subarrhavit me, Ep. 34). To
a contemporary of Ambrose, Pope Julius I. (336-
352) is ascribed a decree that if any shall have
espoused a wife or given her earnest (si quis
desponsaverit uxorem vel subarrhaverit) his
brother or other near kinsman may not marry
her (Labbe and Mansi, Concil. ii. 1266). About
a century later, the word arrha is used figura-
tively in reference to the Annunciation, considered
as a betrothal, by Peter Chrysologus, Archbishop
of Ravenna in 433, as quoted by Du Cange, in
verbo.
In the days of Justinian, we see from the Code
ARRHAte
145
» A few words of the above passage have greatly
clsed commentators.
that the earnest-money was a regular element in
Byzantine betrothal. It was given to the in-
tended bride or those who acted for her, and
was to be repaid in the event of the death of
either party (Cud. 5. tit. 1. s. 3, Law of Gra-
tian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, A.D. 380),
or of breach of promise by the woman ; in
the latter case, indeed, the woman sui juris, or
the father, mother, grandfather or great-grand-
father of one under age having to pay an equal
additional sum by way of penalty ; though a
woman under age was only bound to simple re-
payment, as was also the case in the event of
any unlawful marriage, or of the occurrence
of some cause unknown at the time of betrothal
which might dispense the woman from fulfilling
her promise. The fourfold penalty of the earlier
law was still, by the one now quoted, made
exigible by special contract {Ibid. 5, Law of Leo
and Anthemius, A.D. 469). Simple restitution
was sufficient in case, after betrothal, either party
chose to embrace a religious life (1. tit. 3. s.
56 ; Nov. 123, c. xxxix.) ; or in case of diversity
of religious faith between the betrothed, if dis-
covered or occurring after betrothal, but not
otherwise {Code, 1. tit. 4. s. 16, law of Leo and
Anthemius, A.D. 469).
It is difficult not to seek for the reason of this
development of the arrha within the Roman or
Byzantine world of the 6th century in some
foreign influence. Accordingly, if we turn to
the barbarian races which overran the empire
from the end of the 4th century, we find almost
everywhere the prevalence of that idea of wife-
buying, which is the foundation of the betrothal
earnest ; see for instance in Canciani, Leges Bar-
barorum Antiquae, vol. ii. 85, the (reputed) older
text of the Salic law, tit. 47, as to the purchase of
a widow for three solidi and a denari^cs, vol. iii.
17, 18, 22 ; the Burguudian Law, titles xii. 1
and 3, xiv. 3, and xxxiv. 2 ; vol. v. 49, 50 ;
the Saxon Law, titles vi. 1, 2, 3, xii. xviii. 1, 2,
&c., or (in the volume of the Becord Commission)
our own Laws of Ethelbcrt, 11, 83; Ine, 31.
And in the regions overspread by the Prankish
tribes in particular, the arrha, as a money
payment, is visible as a legal element in be-
trothal. Gregory of Tours (544-595) repeatedly
refers to it (i. 42 ; iv. 47 ; x. 16).
In the earlier writers there is nothing to
connect the betrothal earnest with a religious
ceremony. Nor need we be surprised at this,
when we recollect that, in the early ages of
Christianity, marriage itself was held by the
Roman world as a purely civil contract ; so that
Tertullian, enumerating those ceremonies of
heathen society which a Christian might inno-
cently attend, writes that " neither the virile
robe, nor the ring, nor the marriage-bond (neque
annulus, aut conjunctio maritalis) flows from
any honour done to an idol " {De idoloL, c. 16).
And indeed the opinion has been strongly held,
as Augusti points out, whilst disclaiming it, that
church betrothals did not obtain before the 9th
century. The earliest mention of a priestly
benediction upon the sponsi appears to occur in
the 10th canon of the Synod of Reggio, a.d. 850
(see Labbe and Mansi, Concil. xiv. p. 934) ; and
it is not impossible that that confusion between
the sp07isus and maritus, the sponsa and uxor,
was then already creeping into middle age Latin,
which has absolutely prevailed in French, where
144
ARRHAE
^poux, spouse, are synonymous with mari and
feinrne in the sense of uxor. In a contemporary
document, the reply of Pope Nicolas I. (858-
867) to the consultation of the Bulgjarians, the
question whether betrothal was a civil or reli-
gious ceremony remains undecided ; but as he
pi-ofesses to exhibit to them " a custom which
the holy Roman Church has received of old, and
still holds in such unions," his testimony, though
half a century later than the death of Charle-
magne, deserves to be here recorded, bearing wit-
ness as it does expressly to the betrothal earnest.
" After betrothal," he says, " which is the
promised bond of future marriage, and which
is celebrated by the consent of those who enter
into this, and of those in whose authority they
are, and after the betrother hath betrothed to
himself the betrothed with earnest by marking
her finger with the ring of affiance, and the be-
trother hath handed over to her a dower satisfac-
tory to both, with a writing containing such con-
tract, before persons invited by both parties,
either at once or at a fitting time (to wit, in
order that nothing of the kind be done before the
time prescribed by law) both proceed to enter
into the marriage bond. And first, indeed, they
are placed in the Church of the Lord with the
oblations which they ought to offer to God by the
hand of the priest, and thus finally they receive
the benediction and the heavenly garment."
It will be seen from the above passage that
whilst Pope Nicolas recognises distinctly the
practice of betrothal by arrha, symbolized
through the ring, yet the only benediction
which he expressly mentions is the nuptial, not
tlie spousal one.
It has been doubted in like manner whether
clitirch betrothals were practised at this period
in the Greek Church, and whether the form of
betrothal in the Greek Euchologium is not of
iaie insertion. Tiiat at the date of the last quoted
authority, or say in the middle of the 9th cen-
tury, the Greek ceremonies appertaining to mar-
riage differed already from the Roman appears
from the text of Pope Nicolas himself; his very
object being to set forth the custom of the Roman
Church in contrast to that of the Greek (consue-
tudinem quam Graecos in nuptialibus contuberniis
habere dicitis). Now tlie striking fact in refer-
ence to the form of the Euchologium is that in it
the earnest or appa^wv is not a mere element in
betrothal, but, as with the Jews, actually consti-
tutes it — a practice so characteristic that it can
hardly be supposed to flow otherwise than from
ancient usage. Here, in fact, the words appa^wv,
appa^wuL^eaOat, can only be translated " be-
trothal," " betrothing." The formula, repeated
alternately by the man and the woman, runs :
'■ So and so, the servant of God, betroths to him-
self (apfia^ooyi^frai) this handmaid of God in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, now and ever, and world without
end. Amen." The prayer is in like manner :
" Look upon this Tliy servant and this thine
handmaid, and confirm their betrothal {(TT7]p7^ov
Tov appa^wva avroov) in faith and concoi'd, and
truth, and love. For thou, Lord, didst show us
to give the earnest and thereby to confirm all
things." And the heading— wliich may indeed
well be more modern — is " service for betrothal,
otherwise of the earnest."
The most therefore that can be concluded on
ARSENIUS
this still doubtful subject seems to be this
1st. That the earnest-money on betrothal, sym-
bolizing as it clearly does the barbarous custom
of wife-buying, must essentially have been every-
where in the first instance a civil, not a religious
act. 2. That the practice was unknown to an-
cient Greek and Roman civilization, and was
especially foreign to the spirit of the older
Roman law. 3. That it was nevertheless firmly
rooted in Jewish custom, and may not impro-
bably have passed from thence into the ritual
of the Eastern Church, where, as with the Jews,
the giving of earnest constitutes the betrothal.
4. That it was very generally prevalent among
the barbarian tribes which overran the Roman
empire, and seems from them to have passed into
its customs and its laws, making its appearance
in the course of the 3rd century, and becoming
prominent by the 6th century in Justinian's
Code, at the same time when we also find its
prevalence most distinctly marked in Gaul, and
as a Prankish usage. 5. That no distinct trace
of it in the cei-emonies of the Church can how-
ever be pointed out till the later middle age,
although it may very likely have prevailed in
the Eastern Church from a much earlier period.
It follows, however, from what has been said
above that whatever may have lingered in later
times of the betrothal m-rha must be ascribed
to very ancient usage ; as in the formula quoted
by Seiden from the Parochial of Ernest, Arch-
bishop of Cologne and Bishop of Liege, which
includes the use, not only of the ring, but also,
if possible, of red purses with three pieces ot
silver, " loco arrhae sponso dandae." Our own
Sarum ordinal says in reference to betrothal :
" men call arrae the rings or money or other
things to be given to the betrothed by the be-
trother, which gift is called suharratio, particu-
larly however when it is made by gift of a ring."
And the two forms of Sarum and York respec-
tively run as follows : (Sarum) " With this ring
I thee wed, and this gold and silver I thee give ;"
(York) " With this ring I wed thee, and with
this gold and silver I honour thee, and with
this gift I honour thee." The latter formula
indeed recalls a direction given in one of the two
oldest rituals relating to marriage given by Mar-
tene, De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, vol. ii. p. 127
(extracted from a Rennes missal, to which he
ascribes about 700 years of antiquity, or say, of
the 11th century), entitled, " Ordo ad sponsum
et sponsam benedicendam," which says that
" after the blessing of the ring in the name of
the Holy Trinity .... the betrother shall hon-
our her (the betrothed) with gold or silver ac-
cording to his means " (honorare auro vel argento
prout poterit sponsus).
As respects the use of the ring in betrothal,
see further under Ring, and also Betrothal.
(Augusti, Denkioiirdigkeiten, vol. ix. 295, and
foil, may be consulted, but is far from satis-
factory. Bingham, Antiquities, book xxii. ch.
iii., confounds together everything that can be
confounded. Sehlen, Uxor Hehraica, book ii.,
remains by far the best single source of re-
ference.) [J. M. L.]
ARSENIUS. (1) 6 iJiiyas, May 8 {Cal By-
zant).
(2) Confessor, July 19 (Mart. Bedae).
(3) Martyr, commemorated Dec. 14 (Mart.
Rom. Vet.X [C]
ARTEMIUS
ARTEMIUS. (1) Husband of Candida,
martyr, at Rome, commemorated June 6 (^Mart.
limn. Vet.).
(2) MeyaAo/xapTvp of Antioch, Oct. 20 (Cal.
Byzant). [C]
ARTEMON, commemorated Oct. 24 (Cal.
Armen.). [C]
ARVERNENSE CONCILIUM. [Cler-
mont, COUKCIL OF.]
ASCENSION DAY: (Asccnsio and Ascensa
Domini ; dies festus Ascensionis : eopTTi rris
ava\ri\f/ea)s ; v ovaATjiJ/is and T]fj.epa avaX-n^pifMOs).
This festival, assigned, in virtue of Acts i. 3, to the
fortieth day after Easter-day, is not one of those
which from the earliest times wore generally ob-
served. No mention of it occurs before the 4th
century, unless an earlier date can be made good
for the "Apostolic Constitutions," or for the pas-
sages in which mention is made of this festival —
Lib. V. 19 : " From the first day (Easter-day) num-
ber ye forty days to the fifth day (Thursday), and
celebrate the Feast of the afaX-qipis tov Kvpiov,
Ka9' ^v Tr\7}pu(ras Tracrav o'lKovofiiav Koi didra^iv
a.vri\6f, K. T. A.." : viii. 33, "On what days serv-
ants are to rest from work : r^v avaK-nipiv apyei-
rcucrav Sta rh ir4pas ttjs kotoi Xpttrrhv oIkovo-
fxias." Origen (c. Cels. viii. 362), names as holy-
days generally observed, besides the Lord's Day,
only Parasceue (Good Friday), Pascha (Easter-
day), and Pentecost. No others than these are
mentioned by Tertullian. Of sermons preached
on this festival, the oldest seems to be one extant
only in a Latin version, ap. Sirmondi 0pp. Va)-ia,
t. i. p. 39, which he and Valesius, on insufficient
grounds, assign to Eusebius the Church historian;
Cave, and later writers, to Eusebius of Emesa.
Its title is de Besurrcctione et Ascensione Domini,
and the preacher dwells chiefly on the Resurrec-
tion ; but the opening words show that it was
preached on Ascension Day : " Laetantur quidem
coeli de festivitate praesenti, in qua Dominum
suscepere victorem." Next, perhaps, in point of
antiquity, is one by Epiphanius (t. ii. 285, ed.
Petav.). In the opening, he complains that the
greatness of this festival is not duly appreciated,
though it is, to the others, what the head is to the
body, the crown and completion. First, he says,
is the Feast of Incarnation ; second, the Theopha-
nia ; third, the Passion and Resurrection. " But
even this festival brought not the fulness of joy,
because it still left the risen Lord fettered to this
earth. The Pentecost, also, on which the Holy
Ghost was communicated, contains a great, un-
speakable joy. But to-day, the day of the
Ascension, all is filled with joy supreme. Christ,
opening highest heavens, &c." It is, of course,
only with a rhetorical purpose that Pentecost is
here named before Ascension. There were in-
deed heretics, Valentinians and Ophites (Iren.
i. 1, 5, and 34 ad fin.), and other Gnostics (repre-
sented by the Ascensio Esaiae, Aethiop.), who
assigned a period of eighteen months to our
Lord's sojourn on earth after the Resurrection ;
and besides, there are traces of a belief among
the orthodox that the bodily presence of the
risen Lord with his disciples, from time to time,
was continued during three years and six
months (Eus. Dem. E%\ viii. 400 B. ; Browne's
Ordo Saeclorum, p. 82 f.) ; but certainly the day on
which the Ascension was celebrated was, in all
the churches, the fortieth after Easter-day. Of
CHRIST. ANT.
ASCENSION DAY
145
about the same time, is a sermon by St. Gregory
of Nyssa, remarkable for its title : Eis rrfu
XeyofjLfvrjv t<£ intxaipiv tcvv KaTnraSdKwv tdd,
'ETrio-aifojueVTji', tJtis (cttlv 7] a.vd\ri\l/is tov K.
■>]/j.u!V '1. X. Bingham, Augusti, Rheinwald, Alt,
and others, explain this as eoprr] rrjs €7ri(ra>fo-
fievris cpvffews avOpoDwivr]? (or iwl (Tw^ofiivrj cpvcrei
dvOpanrivp), with reference to the crowning work
of redemption in the glorification of the Manhood.
The name, marked by Gregory as local to Cap-
padocia, is not retained in the Greek calendai",
but it occurs in the title of St. Chrysostom's
19th sermon on the Statues (ad pop. Antioch., t,
ii. 188 Ben.), tt? KvpiaK^ ttjs 'E.Tr i(7w(oiJi.ivns, al.
'SooCofj.tvTis. Leo Allatius (de Domm. et Ilebdoni.
Graecorum, § 28), who evidently knows the
designation only from these two places, says that
the Sunday is the fifth- after Easter, the Sunday
of Ascension week. Tillemont (see the Bene-
dictine Praefat. t. ii. p. xi. .sqq.) infers from the
place of this sermon in the series between S. 18,
preached after mid-Lent, and S. 20, preached
at the end of the Quadragesima, that it was
delivered on Passion Sunday, 5 Lent. But
Chrysostom's own recital in the first sermon de
Anna (t. iv. 701 A.) clearly shows that the 19th
sermon is later by " many days " than the
21st, preached on Easter-day : see the Bene-
dictine Monitum, prefixed to the sermons on
Anna, and also (for Montfaucon's final conclusion)
Vit. Chrysost. t. xiii. 128 sqq. ed. Par. Ben. 2.
Hence it appears that the Sunday 'Eiriaw^o-
fj.4vr\s cannot be, as Savile (t. viii. 809) supposes,
the octave of Easter, dominica in alhis, and it
seems most probable that Leo Allatius is right in
making it the Sunday of Ascension week. In
this case, the term 'ETrio-co^OyueVrj belongs to the
Feast of Ascension. Baumgarten (Erliiut. des
Christl. Alterthums, p. 299 ap. Augusti) takes
it to mean any day specially retained for solemn
celebration over and above the great festivals ;
in this sense, or rather, perhaps, in that of "a
holiday gained or secured in addition," it will be
suitable to the Feast of Ascension as one of recent
introduction, regarded as a welcome boon espe-
cially to servants and labourers. On the Feast
itself, Chrysostom has one sermon (t. ii. 447), of
uncertain date. The celebration was held e|co rrts
TTiiXeous : this, which was the established rule fw
Good Friday (Serm. de Coemet. et de Cruce, t. ii.
397), was here done on a special occasion, in
honour of the martyrs whose remains the bishop
Flavian had rescued from impure contact, and
translated to the martyrium called Romanesia
outside the walls. It does not follow that an
extramural celebration or procession was the
established practice at Antioch on Ascension-day,
as some writers have inferred from this passage.
In the sermon de b. Philogonio, preached
20th Dec. 386, St. Chrysostom (t. i., 497 C),
extolling the dignity of the approaching Feast of
Nativity (then of recent introduction), says :
" From this the Theophania and the sacred
Pascha, and the Ascension, and the Pentecost
have their origin. For had not Christ been born
after the flesh. He had not been baptised, which
is the Theophania; not crucified, which is the
Pascha ; had not sent the Spirit, which is the
Pentecost." Here the words koI ij avdXrjypts are
clearly an interpolation. The three ancient
festivals, he would say, are Theophania, Pas-
cha, Pentecost: they require Nativity as their
L
146
ASCENSION DAY
ground. So in Serm. 1 de Pcntccoste (t. i. 458)
— also of anknown date — ^he enumerates as the
three leading festivals, Epiphany, Pascha, Pen-
tecost, with no mention of Nativity or of
Ascension, although p. 461 he refers to the As-
cension as an event : " for, ten days since, our
nature ascended to the royal throne," &c. But
in another, the second de Pentecoste (ib. 469), he
says : " Not long since we celebrated the Cross
and Passion, the Resurrection, after this, the
Ascension into heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ."
On the whole, it would seem that, so far as
Dur sources of information go, the institution of
this festival, in the East, dates at earliest from
the middle of the 4th century.
Nor do we find it earlier in the Western
Church : there is no mention of it in Tertullian,
SS. Cyprian, Ambrose, Hilary, or in the canons
of the early councils. In St. Augustine's time,
indeed, the iisage was so well-established that he
speaks of it as universal, therefore of Apostolic
institution. In the Epistle to Januarius, liv. [rd.
cxviii.] (t. ii. 123, sqq. Ben.), he ranks it with
Pascha and Pentecost. "Ilia autem quae non
scripta sed tradita custodimus, quae quidem toto
terrarum orbe servantur, datur intelligi vel ab
ipsis Apostolis vel plenariis conciliis. . . com-
niendata atque statuta retineri, sicuti quod
Domini passio et resurrectio et ascensio in caelum,
et adventus de caelo Sp. sancti, anniversaria
solemnitate celebrantur," &c. (He does not
name the Nativity, this was well understood to
be of recent institution.) Beverege, Cod. Can.
Vindic. c. ix. puts the argument thus : — " What-
ever is universal in the Church must be either
Apostolic or ordained by general councils ; but
no general council did ordain these festivals,
therefore they come to us from the Apostles
themselves." On the authority of this passage
of St. Augustine, liturgical writers, Martene and
others, have not hesitated to conclude that the
Feast of Ascension is as old as Pascha and Pente-
cost. In the silence of the first three centuries,
we can, at most, accept the passage as testimony
to matter of fact, that at the end of the 4th
century Ascension-day was generally kept; as in
the second of his five Ascension-sermons (261-
265, t. V. 1065 sqq. Ben.), St. Augustine says, § 3,
" Ecce celebratur hodiernus dies toto oi'be ter-
rarum." From this time, certainly, the observ-
ance of the day was general in East and West.
But it does not appear to have ranked with the
highest festivals, which were Nativity, Easter,
and Pentecost (Concil. Agathense, a. 506. can. 63,
and Aurelianense 1, a. 511, can. 25). As a feast
of r jcondary order, it ranked, in the Latin Church
with Epiphany and St. John Baptist's-day (comp.
Concil. Agath. can. 21). In the Eastern Church
it was celebrated with solemn extra-mural pro-
cessions— possibly as early as St. Chrysostom's
time at Antioch, though, as before observed,
this is not necessarily implied in the passage
cited ; in Jerusalem, to the Mount Olivet, on
which the Empress Helena had erected a church.
Bede says that the celebration there was almost
as solemn as that of Easter; it began at mid-
night, and with the multitude of tapers and
torches the mountain and the subjacent land-
scape were all ablaze (de loc. sacr. c. 7). . Else-
where, the procession was to the nearest hill or
rising ground, from which at the same time a
benediction was pronounced on the fields and
ASCENSION DAY
fruits of the earth. In the Western Church this
procession and benediction were transferred to
the Rogation-days ; and when Gregory of Tours,
ob. 595 {Hist. Franc, v. 11), speaks of the
solemn processions with which Ascension-day
was everywhere celebrated, perhaps he means
only processions into the churches. Martene
describes one such as held at Vieune, in France.
The archbishop, with deacon and subdeacon,
headed it : on their return to the church, they are
received by all standing in the nave ; two canons
advance towards the cantors: Cant. Quern quae-
ritis'l Canon. Jesum qui resurrexit. Cant.
Jnm ascendit, sicut dixit. Canon. Alleluia.
Then all proceed into the choir, and mass is cele-
brated. There was also, on this day, in some
churches (in others reserved for Pentecost) a
service of benediction over loaves provided for
the poor, and also over the new fruits of the
earth.
The vigil of Ascension was kept by some as a
fost, as an exception to the ancient rule, rigidly
maintained by the Greeks, and long contended
for by many of the Latins. "Hoc [paschal i]
tempoi-e nullius festi vigiliam jejunare vel
observare jubemur, nisi Ascensionis et Pente-
costes." (Micrologus, de Eccl. Observat. c. 55.)
Isidore of Seville (610) (de Eccles. Off. c. 37)
acknowledges no fast whatever between Easter
and Ascension-day : he holds that all fifty days
to Pentecost are days of rejoicing only ; but some,
he says, on the ground of our Lord's words, St.
Matt. ix. 15, "Can the children of the bride-
chamber mourn," &c., kept fast on the eight
days from Ascensiin to Pentecost. The extended
fast of three days before Ascension, which
Amalarius (de Eccl. Off. iv. 37) calls triduannm
vigiliae Ascens. jejunium (apologising, as do other
early liturgical wi-iters, for that institution as
an innovation upon the known ancient rule of
East and West) came but slowly into general
observance in the Western Church. Especially
was this the case in Spain. " Hispani, propter
hoc quod scriptum est," says Walafrid Strabo
(823) (de rebus Eccl. c. 28), "" ' Non possunt filii
sponsi lugere quamdiu cum illis est sponsus,' infra
quinquagesimam Paschae recusantes jejunare,
litanias suas post Pentecosten posuerunt, quinta,
sexta et septima feriis ejusdem hebdomadis eas
fiicientes." Accordingly, in the Spanish collection
of the Canons, the wording of those relating to the
Rogation fast is altered. In Cone. Aurelian. i. can.
27, the title, "De Litaniis ante asc. Domini cele-
brandis," is made, " Ut Litaniae post Dom. asc.
celebrentur ;" and in the body of the Canon,
for " Rogationes, i.e., Litanias ante asc. Dom. ab
omnibus ecclesiis placuit celebrari ita ut prae-
missum triduanum jejunium in Dom. ascensionis
festivitate solvatur," the Spanish codex has,
" Rog., i.e., lit. post Asc. Dom. placuit celebrari,
ita ut praem. trid. jej. post Dom. asc. solemni-
tatem solvatur ;" and the next canon which
pronounces censui-e " de clericis qui ad litanias
venire contempserint," is made to affect only
clerics who refuse to come ad officium, ad opus
sacrum generally.
The Mosarabic Order does not even recognise
a vigil of Ascension, though it has one for
Pentecost.
Thei-e was no octave of Ascension; the fol-
lowing Sunday is simply Dominica post Ascen'
sionem.
I
ASCENSION DAY
(Binterim, Die vorziiglichsien Denhp. der Christ-
Kathol. Kirche, B. v. th. i. 253-256. Augusti,
Denkw. der Christl. Archaologie, B. ii. 351 sqq.
Rheinwald, Die Kirchliche Archaologie, 204 sq.
Horn, Ueher das Alter des Himmelfahrtsfestes, in
JAturg. Joiirnnl, v. J. H. Wagnitz, 1806.) [H. B.]
ASCETICISM. The difficulty of tracing the
liistory of asceticism in the early ages of Christi-
anity arises in part from scantiness of materials,
but chiefly from the circumstance that this and
the cognate terms have been used in two senses,
one genera], one more specific. These two signi-
fications, and this enhances the difficulty, cannot
be strictly assigned to different periods, being
not infrequently synchronous; nor is it always
easy to distinguish one from the other merely by
the context. The neglect of this important dis-
tinction and the vehemence of partisanship have
complicated the controversy on the origin and
growth of asceticism ; some writers contending
that Ascetics as an order are coeval with
Christianity, some denying their existence alto-
gether till the 4th century. Neither statement
can be accepted without sdme qualification. The
following attempt at an historical sketch of
asceticism among Christians, in its earlier phases,
is based on a collation of the principal ))rissages
in early Christian writers bearing on the suliject.
The principle of asceticism, and this is allowed
on all sides, was in force before Christianity.
The Essenes, for instance, among the Jews, owed
their existence as a sect to this principle. It was
dominant in the oriental systems of antagonism
between mind and matter. It asserted itself
even among the more sensuous philosophers of
Oreece with their larger sympathy for the plea-
.sui-able development of man's physical energies.
But the fuller and more systematic development
of the ascetic life among Christians is contem-
poraneous with Christianity coming into con-
tact with the Alexandrine school of thought,
and exhibits itself first in a country subject
to the combined influences of Judaism and of
the Platonic philosophy. Indeed, the groat and
fundamental ]irinciple on which asceticism, in its
narrower meaning rests, of a two-fold morality,
one expressed in " Precepts " of universal obliga-
tion for the multitude, and one expressed in
" Counsels of Perfection " intended only for those
more advanced in holiness, with its doctrine that
the passions are to be extirjintcd rather than
controlled (Orig. J^p. ad Horn. Lib. iii. ; Tertull.
de Pallio, 7, 8 ; Clem. Alex. ,Strom. iv. 529, vi.
775) is very closely akin to the Platonic or Py-
thagorean distinction between the life according
to nature and the life above nature, as well as to
their doctrine of the supremacy of the contem-
plative above the practical life, and is more
naturally deducible from this source than from
any other (Porphyr. de Abstinent. ; Eus. //. E.
ii.'l7). In fact the ascetics of the 3rd and 4th
centuries loved the designation of philosophers
(Rosw. Vitae Pair. pass. ; cf. Greg. Nyss. Orat.
Oatech. 18 ; Soz. H. E. i. 13). At the same time
it must be noted that the Church uttered its
protests from time to time against the idea of
there being anything essentially unholy in matter,
and its cautions against excessive abstinence.
Thus Origen insists that the Christian reason for
abstinence is not that of Pythagoras (c. Celsum
V. 264); and the so called "Apostolic Canons "
(51, 53) while approving asceticism as a useful
ASCETICISM
147
discipline condemn the abhorrence of things in
themselves innocent as if they involved any
contamination (cf. Eus. //. E. v. 3).
During the 1st century and a half of Chris-
tianity there are no indications of ascetics as a
distinct class. While the first fervour of conver-
sions lasted, and while the Church, as a small and
compact community, was struggling for existence
against opposing forces on every side, the pro-
fession of Christianity was itself a profession of
the ascetic spirit ; in other words, of endurance,
of hardihood, of constant self-denial (cf. Acts ii.
44; iv. 34, 35). Thus, even at a rather later
date, Clemens of Alexandria represents Chris-
tianity as an &ffK7)(Tis (Strom, iv. 22 ; cf. Minuc.
Fel. Oct. cc. 12, 31, 36). Similarly the term Ls
applied to any conspicuous example of fortitude
or patience. Eusebius so designates certain
martyrs in Palestine (de Mart. Pal. 10), a region
into which monks, strictly so called, were not
introduced till the middle of the 4th century
(Hicnm. Vit. Jfilar. 14), and Clemens of Alex-
andria, calls the patriarch Jacob an aincTjT^j
(Paedagog. i. 7). This more vague and more
general use of tlie wor<l appears again and again
even after the formal institution of monachism.
Athanasius, or whoever is the author, speaking
of the sufferings of the martyr Lucian, in prison,
calls him "a great ascetic " (Synops. Scr. iSacr.).
Cyril, of Jerusalem, calls those who, like Anna
the prophetess, are frequent and earnest in
prayer "ascetics" (Catcch. i. 19). Jerome ap-
plies the word to Picrius for his self-chosen
poverty, and to Serapion, Bishop of Antioch
(Scr. Ecc. 76. 41) ; and Epiphanius to Marcion
because, pi-ior to liis lapse into heresy, h« had ab-
stained, though without any vow, from marriage
{H'lrr. xlii.). Cyril of Alexandria uses &ffKr]ais
.-IS (M|ni\;ilfnt to self-denial (in Joan. xiii. 35) in
till' -^iinic way as Chrysostom speaks of virtue as
a disci]ilinfi (Horn, in Inscr. Act. Ajnsfol. ii. )3).
So far there is nothing to prove the existence of
an ascetic class or order bound by I'ulcs not
common to all Christians.
For about a century subsequent to 150 A.n.
there begin to be traces of an asceticism more
sharply defined and occupying a more distinct
position ; but not as yet requiring its votaries to
separate themselves entirely from the rest of their
community. Athenagoras speaks of persons
habitually abstaining from matrimony (Apol.pro
Chr. xxviii. 129 ; cf. Irenaeus ap. Eus. //. E. v.
241 ; cf. Dionys. Alexandr.). Eusebius mentions
devout persons, ascetics, but not an order, wlio
ministered to the poor (de Mart. Pal. cc. 10, 11),
and calls Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, an
"ascetic" (H. E. vi. 9). Tertullian uses the
term " exercitati " or disciplined, (de Ptiecr. 14),
but, apparently in reference to students of Holy
Scripture. Clemens of Alexandria styles the
ascetics iK\fKTu>v eKKeKTOTffioi " more elect than
the elect " (Horn. " Quis Dives 1 " 36 ; cf. Strom.
viii. 15) ; and Epiphanius in a later century
speaks of monks as oi ffirovSaioi or " the earn-
est" (Expos. Fid. 22; cf. Eus. H. E. vi. 11).
just as the word "religious" came in the mid-
dle ages to be restricted to those wlio devoted
themselves to a life of more than ordinary strict-
ness. This increasing reverence for austerities
as such is seen in most of the sects,, which were
prominent in the 2nd century ; only with the
exaggeration whit'h usually characterises move-
L 2
148
ASCETICISM
ments of the kiml. The Montanists prescribed
a rigorous asceticism, not for their more zealous
disciples only, but for all indiscriminately. The
Syrian Gnostics, the followers of Saturuinus and
Basilides, the Encratitae, the disciples of Cerdo
and Marcion in Asia Minor and Italy, all car-
ried the notion of there being an inherent pollu-
tion in the material world, and of it being the
positive duty of Christians to shun all contact
with it, to an extent which left even the Church
doctrine of asceticism far behind (Ii-en. adv. Haer.
i. 24 ; Epiphan. Haer. 23). How far their prac-
tice corresponded with theory is doubtful. The
proneness of human nature to a reaction into
excessive laxity after excessive austerities hardly
admits of exception, and gives probability to the
allegations made by the orthodox writers of
flagrant licentiousness in some cases.
The middle of the 3rd century marks an era in
the development of Christian asceticism. Antony,
Paul, Ammon, and other Egyptian Christians not
content, as the ascetics before them, to lead a life
of exti-aordinary strictness and severity in towns
and villages, aspired to a more thorough estrange-
ment of themselves from all earthly ties ; and
by their teaching and example led very many
to the wilderness, there to live and die in almost
utter seclusion from their fellows. The Great
Decian persecution was probably the imme-
diate occasion of this exodus from the cities
into the desert ; not only by driving many to
take refuge in the desert, but by exciting a spirit
which longed to emulate the self-renunciation of
the martyrs and confessors. But it was probably
the influence of the Alexandrine teaching, as has
been already suggested, which had fostered the
longing to escape altogether from the contamina-
tions and persecutions of an evil world. It was
no longer, as in earlier days, only or chiefly from
external enemies that a devout Christian felt
himself in danger. As Christianity widened the
circle of its oj)erations, it became inevitably less
discriminating as to the character of those who
were admitted into the community ; and the
gradual intrusion of a more secular spirit, among
Christians, first forced those who Avere more
thoroughly in earnest to aim at a stricter life in
the world, and then thrust them out of the world
altogether. Eusebius bears witness to this
Alexandrine influence on Christian asceticism in
a remarkable comparison of the ascetics of his
own creed with the Therapeutae in Egypt (H.E.
ii. 17 ; Soz. H. E. i. 13). There seems to have
been something in the climate and associations of
Egypt (as in Syria) which predisposed men thus
to abdicate the duties and responsibilities be-
longing to active life. The exact position which
these Therapeutae occupied is uncertain. Pro-
bably they were in existence prior to Christianity ;
are not to be confounded with the Essenes ; but
were chiefly, though not exclusively, Jews.
From Philo's account (de Vita Contempl. pp.
892-4) it 'seems clear, at any rate, that this
manner of life resembled in many respects that
of the Christian ascetics in the desert. They
dwelt in separate cells not far from one another ;
renounced their possessions ; practised fastings
and other austerities; and devoted themselves
partly to contemplation, and in part to study. In
this last point their example was not imitated by
their Christian anti-types in Egypt. They seem
to have been imbued with the mystical spirit of
ASCETICISM
Alexandria. Their name signifies that they gave
themselves either to serve God, or, more proba-
bly, to cultivate their own souls and those of
their disciples. (Eus. H. E. ii. 17.)
Hitherto Christian asceticism has been in-
dividualistic in its character. About the middle
of the 4th century it begins to assume a corporate
character. Naturally, as the number of recluses
increased, the need was felt of organisation.
Pachomius is generally regarded as the first to
form a "Coenobium," that is an association of
ascetics dwelling together under one supreme
authority (Hieron. Heg. Pack. ; cf. Graveson Hist.
Eccl. i. 116). A fixed rule of conduct and a
promise to observe the rule were the natural
consequences of forming a society. But the
exaction of an irrevocable and lifelong vow be-
longs to a later phase of asceticism. James of
Nisibis speaks of ascetics practising a rigid celi-
bacy {Senn. 6tus). The term ascetic begins now
to be nearly equivalent to monastic. The so-
called " Apostolical Constitutions," which are
generally assigned to this period, enumerate
" ascetic's," but not " monks " among orders of
Christians (13). The Koyos affK7)TiKhs of Basil
of Caesaraea is on the monastic life. So &(TK-q(ns
is used by Palladius (^Hist. Laus. Proem, c. 46,
&c.) ; in canons of the Council of Gangra against
excessive asceticism (12, 13), and by Athanasius
in his life of Antony. Athanasius calls the
two disciples who waited on Antony acTKOvnevoi,
" learning to be ascetics." 'Actktjttjpi'oj' in So-
crates (i/. E. iv. 23) means what is now called a
monastery ; dtrKijTijcr) KaXv^r], a monastic cell
(Theodoret, //. E. iv. 25). At that time fj-ovaa-
T-qpiov was, as the word literally expresses, .t
separate cell ; affKriTtiplov a common dwelling-
place under the rule of a superior, in which those
who desired, according to the idea of the age, a
yet higher stage of perfection, might be trained
and disciplined for absolute seclusion (Greg.
Naz. Or. XX. 359). In the middle ages the word
" asceterium " was altered into " arclsterium
or " archisterium " (Du dingo, s. voce).
In the beginning of the 6th century the widow*
and virgins who were oflScially recognised as such,
are designated affKrjTpiai (Justinian, Nocell. cxxiii.,
43). At a later period the word means a nun :
and is the Greek equivalent for " sanctimoni'alis,"
or " monialis " (Phot. Nomocan. Tit. ix. 1 p. 207).
'A(TKr}TpioT is a later form for a.aK-r\Tris.
The history of asceticism, after the institution
of monastic societies belongs to the history of
MOXASTiciSM. There it will be seen with what
marvellous rapidity this development of Christian
asceticism spread far and wide from the deserts
of the Thebaid and Lower Egypt ; how Basil,
Jerome, Athanasius, Augustine, Ambrose, were
foremost among its earliest advocates and propa-
gators, and how Cassian, Columbanus, Benedict
and others crowned the labours of their prede-
cessors by a more elaborate organisation. It is
enough here to endeavour to trace the gradual
and almost imperceptible process by which as-
ceticism, from being the common attribute of
Christianity, became in course of time the dis-
tinctive speciality of a class within the Christian
community.
(Besides the writers quoted already, see Bing-
ham, Origiiies, bk. vii. Paleotimo, Summa Anti-
quitatum, lib. vii. Gluck's Attescrrae Urigines^
Eei Monasticae. Mamachi, Costumi del primitivi
ASCHAIMENSE
Christiani. Disscrtatio de Ascetis praef. S. Jac.
jVis. Serm. vi. Claudii Salmasii Kotae in Tertull.
de PalUo.) [I. G. S.]
ASCHAIMENSE CONyiLIUM.— A coun-
cil was held, a.d. 76.5, at Ascheini, under Tas-
silo II., Duke of Bavaria, that jjassed 15 decrees
on discipline. [E. S. F.]
ASCLEPIADES, bishop and martyr, com-
memorated Oct. 18 {Mart. Eom. Vet.). [C]
ASH WEDNESDAY. [Lent.]
ASIATICUM CONCILIUM. — A council
was held, a.d. '21:5, in Asia Minor against Noetus,
but at what place is uncertain. [E. S. F.]
ASINARII (Tertull. Apol. c. svi.), a term
of reproach against the early Christians. That
the Jews worshipped an ass, or the head of an
ass, was a current belief in many parts of the
Gentile world. Tacitus {Hist. v. 4) sa^-s that
there was a consecrated image of an ass in the
temple, the reason for this special honour being
that a herd of wild asses had been the means of
guiding the Jews, when they were in the desert,
to springs of water. Plutarch {Sympos. iv. 5, 2)
tells virtually the same story. Diodorus Siculus
says (lib. xxxiv. Frag.) that Antiochus Epiphanes
found in the temple a stone image representing
a man sitting upon an ass; but on the other
hand Joseph us (c. Ajjion. ii. c. 7) adduces the
fact that no such image had been found in the
temple by any conqueror as an argument for the
groundlessness of the calumny.
The same belief appears to have prevailed in
reference to the early Christians. It is men-
tioned by both Tertulfian {Ad Nat. i. 14 ; Apol.
xvi.) and Minucius Felix {Octav. 9 and 28), but,
though referred to in later times, appears to
have died out in the course of the 3rd century.
(The fact mentioned by Servetus, De Trin. Error.
C. 16, that he heard the same reproach made by
the Turks against the Christians in Africa is
probably to be connected with the mediaeval
"Festival of the Ass" rather than with the
earlier calumny.)
• The origin of the reproach has been a subject
of various speculations : — (1) It has been con-
sidered to have arisen somewhere in the Gentile
world, and to have been applied to the Jews
before the Christian era. On this hypothesis
various explanations of it have been given.
Morinus {De Capite Asinino Deo Christiano,-Dord-
recht, 1620) thought that there was a confusion
between the two words Chomer {~\dh), which is
used (?) for the "pot" of manna in the temple,
and Chamor ("llDri), which means a " wild ass,"
and that this confusion was confirmed by the
appearance of the pot of manna with its two large
ears. Hasaeus {De Onolatria olim Judaeis et Chrts-
tianis impacta, Erfurt, 1716) thought that the
use among the Jews (? more probably late Sama-
ritans) of the word "Ashinia" ( = "name") for
the more sacred word "Jehovah " may have sug-
gested the perversion "asinus" to the Roman
soldiers; and Heinsius {De Laudc Asini, p. 186,
ed. 1629) thought that the ovpavds which the
Jews were reputed to worship (" nil praeter nubes
et coeli numen adorant," Juv. Sat. xiv. 97) was
corrupted into oVos. (2) It has been considered
to have arisen in Egypt, and on this hypothesis
two explanations have been given. Tanaquil
Faber {Ujnst. i. 6) thought that it was a corrup-
ASTERISCUS lA'i)
tion from the name of Onias, who built a Jewls-i
temple at Heliopolis; and Bochart {Hierozoic. i.
2. c. 18) thought that the Egyptians wilfully per-
verted the expression "Pi iao" ( = " mouth of
God ") into " Pieo," which in an Egyptian voca-
bulary edited by Kircher signifies "ass." (3) It
has been viewed as a calumny of the Jews against
the Christians, which was reflected back upon the
Jews themselves. In favour of this view it is
urged that Tertullian distinctly speaks of it as a
Jewish calumny; and against it is the prevalence
of the story in writers whom a Jewish calumny,
however industriously spread, would hardly
reach. (4) It has been regarded as having
originated from the use of the ass as a symbol
by some Gnostic sects. That the ass was thus
used is clear from the statement of Epiphanius
(c. Haeres. 26, 10 ; see also Origeu, c. Gels. vi. 9).
Between these various hypotheses it is hardly
possible, in the absence of' further evidence, to
make a choice ; the question must be left un-
decided. A slight additional interest has been
given to it by the discovery at Rome, in 1856, on
a wall under the western angle of the Palatine,
of a graffito, which forcibly recalls the story
mentioned by Tertullian. The apologist's words
are {Ad. Nat. i. 14) — " nuper quidam perditissi-
mus in ista civitate, etiam suae religionis de-
sertor, solo detrimento cutis Judaeus °. . . pic-
turam in nos proposuit sub ista proscriptione
ONOCOETES. Is erat auribus canteriorum et
in toga, cum libro, altero pede ungulate, Et
credidit vulgus infami Judaeo." The graffito in
question represents an almost similar caricature,
evidently directed against some Christian con-
vert of the 2nd century. Upon a cross is a
figure with a human body wearing an interula,
but with an ass's head. 'On one side is another
figure lifting up his head, possibly in the attitude
of prayer. Underneath is written AAEHAMENOs
SEBETE ©EON ("Alexamenos is worshipping
God "). The form of the letters points to the
graffito hnwing been written towards the end of
the 2nd century, about the very time at which
Tertullian wrote (see P. Garrucci's article, with
a copy of the graffito, in the Civilta CattoUca,
serie 3, vol. iv. p. 529). This graffito is now
preserved in the library of the Collegio Romano
in Rome. r£_ |£ -i
ASPERGILLUM. The brush or twig used
for sprinkling Holy Water [HoLY Water]. It
anciently was, or was said to be, of hyssop, a
plant supposed to possess cleansing virtues, from
its use in the Mosaic law, and the well-known
reference to it in the 51st Psalm. Thus, in the
Gregorian Sacramentary (p. 148) the bishop in
the consecration of a church, sprinkles the altar
seven times with hyssop. The modern French
name Goupil indicates that a fox's brush was
some time used as an aspergillum. {Goupil for
Vulpicula, Ducange's Glossary, s. v.). [C]
ASPERSION. [Baptism.]
ASS, WORSHIP OF THE. [Asixahii ]
ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN
MARY. [Mary the Virgin, Festivals of.]
ASTERISCUS (sometimes called Stellula by
Latin writers). To prevent the veil from dis-
turbmg the particles arranged on the discus or
].aten, in preparation for the celebration of the
hucharist, St. Chrysostom is sai.l tohnvo invented
two siuall arches to support it. Tlios,., when
150
ASTEKIUS
placed so as to cross each other, resembled a star,
and hence were called hffT^p or affT-npttrKos, the
star ; hence the priest, placing it over the paten,
is directed to say, " And the star came and stood
over where the young child was." In modern
times the arches are riveted together at the point
of intersection, but so loosely as to admit of one
arch being turned within the other for con-
venience of carriage. See woodcut. (Neale,
Eastern Church, Introd. 350 ; Daniel, Codex
Liturgicus, iv. 336, 390.) [C]
ASTEEIUS, martyr, commemorated March 3
{Mart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
ASTORGA, COUNCIL OF (Asturicense
Concilium), a.d. 446, condemned certain Mani-
chees, or Priscillianists (Cave ; Mansi, vi. 490 ;
but omitted by Labbe). [A. W. H.]
ASTKOLOGEES. No element of heathenism
was more difficult to eradicate than the belief
that the stars in their courses influenced the
lives of men, and that the destinies of individuals
and of nations might be foretold by those who
studied their combinations. Under the names of
Chaldaei (as representing those who were more
famous than any other people of the ancient
world for their devotion to this study), Mathe-
matici (in popular language this had become the
exclusive meaning of the word), Apotelcsmatici
(as dealing with the a.-Kore\€<rfx.aTa, or influences
of the stars), Genethliaci (as casting horoscopes
of the positions of the planets at the hour of
birth), they were to be found in every city of the
empire. They became on many grounds objects
of suspicion to its police. They were cheats and
impostors ; they brought in the foreign, eastern
superstitions of which Roman magistrates stood
in dread ; they might at any time play into the
hands of political rivals by pi'edicting their suc-
cess as the favourites of heaven. The annals of
the empire accordingly present a series of edicts
against them. They were banished from Rome
by Agrippa and Augustus (Dion. Cass. xlix. 43,
Ivi. 25), by Tiberius (Tacit. Ann. ii. 32 ; Sueton.
Tiber, c. 36), by Claudius (Tacit. Ann. xii. 52),
by Vitellius (Sueton. Vitell. 14). The frequent
repetition of the measure shews how ineradicable
was the evil. Sometimes the emperor himself,
Vespasian, in his eager ambition (Tacit. Hist. ii.
78), Domitian, in his restless suspicion, yielded
to their influence. Otho's murder of Galba had
been prompted by their counsels. Over the
minds of most men, and yet more, of women,
they exercised an unbounded sway (Juven. vi.
553-568), often in proportion to the notoriety
which they had gained by being mixed up in
political or other mysteries, and were on that
account expelled from the city.
Christian feeling was opposed to the practice
ATHEISTS
on other grounds. It belonged to the system
of demon-worship and lying magic, which Scrip-
ture had forbidden. The astrologer was a child
of the devil. His art had come down from the
Egyptians and Chaldaeans (Clem. Alex. Strom.
i. ie, p. 132). It substituted the idea of des-
tiny for that of the providence of God, and
tampered with the sense of responsibility by
leading men to impute their vices to the stars.
(August, de Civ. Da, v. 1 ; Tract, in Ps. Ixi. ; da'
Mathem. ; Greg. Nyss. Ep. contr. Fatuin ; Tertull.
de Idol. c. ix. p. 156.), Some teachers pointed to
the case of Esau and Jacob, born in the same
hour yet with such diiferent destinies, as a proof
that the system was false (August, de Boolr.
Christ, ii. 21). Some conceding that the heathen
world was subject to these influences, favourable
or malignant, held that baptism placed men in
another region in which they were set, and that
the " new birth " annulled the horoscope that
was cast for the first nativity. The action of
the Church was in accordance with the teaching
of its chief writers. The burning of the books
of those who used " curious arts " in Acts xix.
19, served as a precedent. Mathematici were to
give up their books to the bishop, or to burn
them (Constit. Apost. i. 4). Clergy of all orders
were forbidden to practise the art under pain of
excommunication (C Laod. c. 36). In two or
three instances the operation of the laws con-
nects itself with memorable names. Aquila, the
ti-anslator of the Old Testament, was said to
have been expelled from the Church on the
charge of being an astrologer (Epiphan. de Mens,
et Pond. § XV. t. ii. p. 171, but the narrative is
hardly more than a legend). Eusebius, of Emesa,
had to contend against the suspicions to which
his love of science exposed him, that he was
addicted to the /x^pos airoTfXeafjiaTiKhv of astro-
logy (Sozom. //. E. iii. 6). It was one of the
crimes imputed to the Priscillianists of Spain
that they had revived the old superstitions of
the Mathematici, and had taught men that the
several parts of their body were under the con-
trol of the signs of the zodiac (August, de Haer.
Ixx.) [E. H. P.]
ASTURICENSE CONCILIUM. [Astorga.]
ASYLUM. [Sanctuary.]
ASYNCEITUS, "Apostle," commemorated
April 8 {Cal. Byz.). [C]
ATHANASIUS (1) Bishop of Alexandria;
Natale commemorated Jan. 18 {Cal. Byzant.) ;
Jan. 26 and June 6 {Armen.); May 2 {Mart. Rom.
Vet.) ; Dec. 20 {Mart. Bedae) ; translation, May 2
{Cal. Byzant.) ; commemoi-ated Maskarram 13 =:
Sept. 16, and Ginbot 7 = May 2 {Cal. Ethiop.).
(2) Presbyter, Oct. 11 {Mart. Bedae, Hicron.).
ATHEISTS {iadsoi), a name of reproach
which was applied to the early Christians. The
absence of material symbols of the Deity, of sac-
rifice, of temples, and of almost all the external
observances which constituted the religion of
contemporary heathendom, naturally induced a
popular cry that Christianity was a new form of
atheism. The cry was repeated by Jews as well
as by Gentiles (see Justin Mart. c. Tryph. cviii.).
It was a leading cause of the general animosity
against the Christians and the apologists were
at some pains to i-efute it (see especially Athenag.
Letjat. pro Christ. 3 and 4). The following are the
ATHENAGOEAS
chief allusions to the calumny outside the writings
of the apologists :— Eusebius {H. E. iv. 15) tells
us that the formula in which Polycarp was de-
sired by the proconsul to abjure his faith was
aipe Tovs adeovs. Dion Cassius (Ixvii. 14) relates
that Flavius Clemens, the uncle of Domitian,
whom some writers have identified with Clemens
Romanus, and who was no doubt a Christian,
was put to death for atheism. Lucian {Alexahd.
Pseud, c. 25, cf. c. o8) says that Pontus was full
aefo)!/ Koi Xpi(TTiavwv. Even so late as the 4th
century we find Licinius accusing Constantine of
having embraced tV o.6eov 56^av (Euseb. Vit.
Const, c. 15) ; and Julian summed up his objec-
tions to Christianity when he described it as
adeoTTiTa (Julian, Ep. ad Arsac. ap Sozom. H. E.
V. 16). But by that time the Christian fathers
had already begun to turn the tables upon their
adversaries and atheism became a reproach, not
of Paganism against Christianity, but of Chris-
tianity against Paganism (see Clem. Alex. Pro-
trcpt. p. 11). [E. H.]
ATHENAGOEAS, with ten disciples and
five priests, commemorated July 23 {Cal.
Aniwn.). [<^-]
ATHENOGENES, martyr, and ten disciples,
commemorated July 16 (Cal. Byzant.). [C]
ATRIUM, the court attached to churches
. the earlier centuries. It was usually placed
before the front of the church, and surrounded
by porticoes. In the centre of the open area
a fountain, or at least a cantharus [CAN-
THARUS], a large vessel containing water for ab-
lution. This fountain was sometimes covered
with a roof and surrounded by railings. The
atrium was in the earlier ages considered an im-
portant, almost indispensable adjunct to at any
rate the larger churches. Eusebius describes
(Eccles. Hist. x. 4, § 39) the atrium with its
four porticoes in his account of the church built
by St. Paulinus at Tyre ; and atria dating from
the 5th century existed at St. Peter's and S.
Paolo f. 1. M. at Rome. Examples, though not
dating from the period with which this work
is concerned, may be seen in several churches
at Rome, as S. Clemente, S. Cecilia, and others,
and indeed elsewhere. In the ruins of the basi-
-ica of S. Stefano, in Via Latina, the atrium, in-
stead of occupying its normal place, is placed by
the side of the apse, the reason probably being
that the Via Latina ran past the apse, and that
those who wished to enter the church from that
great thoroughfare would thus pass through the
atrium. Where, however, no important street
or public building prevented the architect from
fully developing his plans, the atrium, it should
seem, during the whole period treated of in this
■work (and indeed until a later period), in Italy
at least, and probably elsewhere, formed a part
of every important church. [A. N.]
ATTIGNY, COUNCILS OF (Attiniacen-
8IA Consilia), held at Attigny (Attiniacum), a
town of France, on the river Aisne, N.E. of
Rheims. — I. A.D. 765, provincial, under Pipin
(Mansi, xii. 674).
II. A.D. 822, at which the Emperor Louis did
public penance, "de omnibus quae publice perpe-
ram gessit," and especially for his cruelty to
his nephew Bernard (Mansi, xiv. 403).
III. A.n. 834, November, under Ludovicus
Pius, a synod of "the whole empire," passed
AUDIENTES
151
some canons on behalf of the Church, and re-
ferred a criminal cause, brought before them
by the emperor, to the state tribunal (Mansi,
xiv. 655). [A. W. H.]
ATTINIACENSE CONCILIUM. [At-
tigny.]
AUBEETUS or AUTBEETUS, bishop
and confessor, commemorated Dec. 13 (Mart.
Bedae). [C]
AUCTOE, bishop, commemorated Aug. 9
(Mart. Bedac). [C]
AUDACTES, martyr, commemorated Oct. 24
(Mart. Bom. Vet.). [C]
AUDACTUS. [Adauctds.]
AUDAX, martyr, commemorated July 9
(Mart. Bom. Vet.). [C]
AUDIENTES ( AKpow/xei-ot). Two stages
have to be noted in the history and significance
of this word. Down to the time of Novatus and
the consequent development of the penitential
system of the Church, it is used as equivalent
to catechumen. The Audientes are those who
are present in the Church, but are not yet bap-
tized, and who therefore, in the nature of the
case, were not present during the passages of
the Fideles, or the yet more sacred service which
followed. They heard the psalms, the lessons,
the sermon, and then left (Tertull. de Poenit.
c. vi., vii. ; Cypr. Ep. 13). At Carthage they
were placed under the special care of a catechist
or Audientium Doctor (Cypr. Ep. 31). The trea-
tise of Augustine, de catechizandis rudibus, was
written for such a catechist, and shews fully
what was the nature of the instruction given.
The word seems to be used with somewhat of
the same vagueness by Augustine (Serm. 132).
There is no trace at this period, if indeed at
any time in the West, of a distinct position for
them in the place where Christians met for
worship.
In the East, however, we find from the time
of Gregory Thaumaturgus onwards a more syste-
matic classification, and that one made subser-
vient to an elaborate penitential system. The
Audientes are the second in a graduated series of
those who, as catechumens or members of the
Church, have fallen, and need to be restored.
Outside the Church stood the Flentes (KAaiSfifuoi)
mourning over their guilt, catching only the
indistinct sounds of what was passing within,
exposed to sun or rain. Then within the
narthex, the portico in one sense outside the
church, but communicating with it by open
doors, were the Audientes (Greg. Thaum. Can.
xi.). They might stay there and listen, like those
who bore the same name in the older system, till
the sermon was over. Then the deacon bade
them depart along with the unbelievers (Const.
Apost. viii. 5), and they had not the privilege of
joining in any prayers. After a year thus jiassed
they came within the church, as Fiectentes
(yovvKKivovres), joining in the prayers up to
the commencement of the proper Eucharistic
service, but kneeling in their contrition. Lastly,
they became Consistentes ((TvvnTrdfj.fi'oi), stand-
ing with those in full communion with the
Church, but not yet admitted themselves to that
privilege. Such was the ideal system laid down
by the Council of Nieaea (c. xi.), elaborated by
Basil (Can, sxii., Ixxv.), and more or loss acted
152
AUDIENTIA
on throughout the churches of the East. It
brought with it, in the risk of degradation from
a higher order to one of shame and dishonour,
from the position of full membership to any one
of them, a system of secondary punishments the
actual effect of which it is not easy to estimate.
[Catechumens; Penitents.] [E. H. P.]
AUDIENTIA EPISCOPALIS. This
forms one of the heads or titles in the first book
of Justinian's Codex, and is there used in rela-
tion to an authority, not only in spiritual but
also in certain secular matters, conferred upon
the bishops of the Church. In conjunction with
the temporal magistrates, they were empowered
to take part in managing the revenues of cities,
the guardianship of young pei'sons, and various
other matters of a civil natui-e (see Guizot, Hist,
of Civilisation in Europe, Lecture II., as to the
influence which the Church thus exercised in
society). But the phrase more especially de-
notes the power given to the bishops of hearing
and deciding disputes as to temporal rights in
certain cases. Thus we find {Cod. i. tit. 4. s. 8)
" si qui ex consensu apud sacrae legis antistitem
litigare voluerint, non vetabuntur. Sed expe-
rientur illius in civili duntaxat negotio, more
arbitri sponte residentis, judicium ; " and {Ibid.
s. 9) " Episcopale judicium ratum sit omnibus,
.qui se audiri a sacerdotibus elegerint ; eamque
eorum judicationi adhibendam esse reverentiam
jubemus, quam vestris deferri necesse est potesta-
tibus, a quibus non licet provocare, &c." Two
limitations appear on the face of these passages ;
— 1. That the matter in controversy must be of
a civil character, no criminal cases being to be
thus decided. 2. That both parties to the dis-
pute must voluntarily agree to have their cause
thus tried. The result therefore is to make the
bishop an authoritative arbitrator, whenever the
parties submitted themselves to his decision.
This repeats what had been previously autho-
rized by Arcadius and Honorius (see Theod.
Codex. De Jurisdict. ii. 1), and by Valentinian
III. ; and, indeed, was perhaps little more than
an acceptance and recognition on the part of the
state of a custom which had long prevailed in
Christian communities, of bringing their disputes
before their Christian superiors instead of before
heathen judges,, in accordance with the words of
St. Paul (1 Cor. vi.). At one period, however,
there is some ground to believe that the secular
power of Rome was inclined to go much further.
According to Eusebius {Vit. Const, iv. 27) and
Sozomen (i. 9), Constantine ordained that either
party in a dispute of a civil nature might select
the bishop as his judge, even against the will of
the other party ; and that the episcopal decision
should be conclusive, and should be executed by
the temporal authorities. This compulsory set-
ting aside of the ordinary tribunals of the Roman
Empire at the pleasure of either litigant, did not
long endure, and seems to have been superseded
by the more moderate principle adopted by Arca-
dius and Honorius. Indeed the learned commen-
tator Gothofred, who is followed by Bingham
{Antiq. ii. 7, 3), doubts whether Constantine ever
really made any such decree. Later writers,
however, have not shared these doubts (see
Herzog, Eeal. Encycl. sub voce, " audientia Epis-
copi."). This alleged decree was in later ages
revived in the west, being then attributed to
Theodosius. In that form it was accepted by
AUGUSTINUS
Charlemagne {Capit. vi. 3G6), passed into the
collections of laws, and finally found its way into
the Decretum of Gratian (Part II. causa xi.
quaest. i. 35). Innocent III. lays stress upon it
(Decretal. Greg. i. lib. 2, tit. i. 13), and indeed
in this shape it was well calculated to minister
to the Papal pretensions. [B. S.]
AUDIFAX, martyr, commemorated Jan. 20
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Ilieron.). [C]
AUDOENUS or AUDOINUS (St. Ouen),
bishop of Rouen, commemorated Aug. 24 {Ifart.
Hicron.). [C]
AUFINUS. Natalia in Africa, Oct. 16 {MI.
Hicron.). [C]
AUGENTIUS-. In Africa, Jan. 4 {Mart.
Hieron.). [C.]
AUGULUS, bishop and martyr, comme-
morated Feb. 7 {Mart. Bedae, Hieron.). [C]
AUGUEIES. [Divinations.]
AUGUSTA, virgin, commemorated July 28
{Mart. BcdaeX [C]
AUGUSTALIS, commemorated at Aries,
Sept. 7 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
AUGUSTINE'S OAK, Conferences at, be-
tween Augustine of Canterbury and the British
bishops: — I. In A.D. 602 or 603, and probably
at Aust on the Severn, or some spot near to it,
with a view to induce the British bishops to give
up their Easter Rule, and to co-operate with
Augustine in preaching to the Saxons. The first
conference (Baed. ii. 2) was only preliminary
(Augustine, however, working a miracle at it,
ace. to Bede), and led to — II. A more formal
conference shortly after, in the same year, at the
same place, at which seven British bishops were
present, with " many learned men," especially
from Bangor monastery (near Chester), then
under Dinoth as its abbat. On this occasion
Augustine limited his demands to three, con-
formity in keeping Easter, and in the baptismal
rite, and co-operation in preaching to the Saxons :
suppressing, if Bede's account is complete, all
claim of the jurisdiction which Gregory the Great
had bestowed upon him over the British bishops,
and saying nothing of the tonsure ; but disgust-
ing the Britons by refusing to stand up at their
approach — a token, according to the words of a
certain anchorite whom they had consulted, that
he was not a man of God, and therefore was
not to be followed. The conference accordingly
broke up without any other result than that of
drawing from Augustine some angry words,
which unfortunately came true a dozen years
afterwards, when he was dead, in the slaughter
of the Bangor monks at Chester (Baed. ih.). The
baptismal differences have been conjectured by
Kiinstmann to relate to trine immersion, by
Dr. Rock (upon the better evidence of the
Stowe Missal) to have referred to the washing
of the feet which the Britons are supposed to
have attached to baptism ; but both are con-
jectures only. For the date, locality, and his-
tory of these conferences, see Haddan and Stubbs,
Cowicils, iii. 40, 41. And for the well-known
" Answer of Dinoth," which is plainly the
work of some mediaeval Welsh antiquary, see
ib. i. 122. [A. W. H.]
AUGUSTINUS. (1) Martyr at Nicomedia,
commemorated May 7 {Mart. Ram. Vet., Hieron.').
AUGUSTODUNENSE
(2) Bishop and confessor, Apostle of England,
Jlay 26 {Martyrol. Bedae, Adonis).
(3) Commemorated at Rome Aug. 22 {M.
Ilicron.).
(4) Bishop of Hippo, confessor, Aug. 28 (Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hiei-on., et Bedae). In Mart. Hieron.,
under May 26, " in Africa Agustini Episcopi ;"
under Aug. 28, " Ipono regio Depositio Agustini
Episcopi ;" so that May 26 seems to have been
given to St. Augustine of Canterbury at a date
later than that of Mart. Hieron. His name is
recited in the Gregorian Canon.
(5) Presbyter, Oct. 7 {M. Bedae).
(6) " In Cappadocia Agustini Episcopi," Nov.
17 'JI. Hieron.). [C]
AUGUSTODUNENSE CONCILIUM.
[AUTUN, COUXCIL OF.]
AUGUSTUS. (1) Of Alexandria, Jan. 11
{M. Hieron.).
(2) Martyr, commemorated Slay 7 (Mart.
Bom. Vet.).
(3) Confessor, commemorated at Bourges, Oct.
7 (31. Hieron.). [C]
AURELIANENSE CONCILIUM.
[Orange, Council of.]
AUREOLA. [Nimbus.]
AURELIUS, commemorated April 26 (Mart.
Hieron.). [C]
AUSTERIUS, commemorated Oct. 19 (Mart.
Hieron.). [C]
AUSTEEBERTANA, abbess, commemo-
rated Feb. lU {2Iart. Hieron.). [C]
AUTHENTIC. The sounds connecting the
final (in Gregorian music) with its octave, or a
melody in which they only are employed, were
called Authentic, in contradistinction to those con-
necting the 4th below the final with its 8vc, the
5th above it, which were called Plagal (v. Plagal).
In Ambrosian music authentic scales only were
employed, and of these only four ; the Phrygian
(D— d), Dorian (Iv— e), Hypolydian (F— f), and
Hypophrygian (G — g) of the Greek system. The
Aeolian (A — a) and the Ionian (C — c), subse-
quently added to the number of the church
scales (tones or modes), were subjected to the
same classification. Authentic scales are cha-
racterised by the harmonic division (6:4: 3)
of their octaves ; e.rj. C — g — c ; the plagal by the
arithmetical division (4:3:2); e. g. G — C — g.
Authentic melodies are thought to have gene-
rally greater dignity and strength than plagal.
A good modern example of the former is the
well-known German chorale Ein feste Burg ist
unser Gott, and of the latter our Evening Hymn,
attributed to Tallis; and it would be difficult
to find in pure melodic music better examples
of the sublime and the beautiful. But the tune
known in England as the Old Hundredth (essen-
tially plagal) certainly contravenes this theory
in a very striking instance and manner.
The relations of subject and answer in the
modern tonal fugue (as when C — g are " an-
swered" not by g — d but by g — C) obviously
grew out of the division of scales into authentic
and plagal. [J. H.]
AUTISSIODORENSE CONCILIUM.
[AuxERRE, Council of.]
AUTOCEPHALI (AuTO/ce^oAoi, from ahrhs
and Ke^aKr]), a name given by canonists and in
AUTOCEPHALI
153
the Notitiae — 1. To Metropolitans who remained
independent of Patriarchs after Patriarchs were
established, i. e., who then continued still to be
what all Metropolitans originally were. So the
Cyprian archbishop (Cone. Ephcs. A.D. 431, act.
vii. ; and again, as late as Cone. Trull. A.D. 691,
can. 39, at a time when the Cypriots had fled
from Cypr'js itself, and had taken refuge in the
'ETrapx'" 'E\\r)(T7r(i«'Tios) : to whom Balsamon
joins the archbishops of Bulgaria and of Iberia
(Georgia). The privilege had been given to the
former of these two by Justinian. (See, how-
ever, Le Quien, Oriens Christ., vol. i. 9'6.) The
latter would seem to have been at first reckoned
as subject to the Patriarchate of Antioch, and
then to Constantinople; but from A.D. 450 he
styled himself avTOKe<paKos, and appears to have
been considered as such (Malan, Hist, of Georg,
Ch. 35, 196, &c.). The Armenian Church is also
so styled in the Notitiae (see Bingh. II. xviii. 2) ;
but it would rather appear to have claimed to
be in itself a patriarchate, inasmuch as Nerses
its second bishop, present at Cone. Constantin.,
A.D. 381, styled himself Patriarch and Katho-
licos of Armenia, as did thenceforward his suc-
cessors (Malan, Life of Gregory tlie Illuminator,
27). Ravenna in the west is also said to have
arrogated the privilege of '' autocephalism," and
only to have surrendered it under the pontifi-
cate of Pope Bonus, A.D. 676-679. Roman (and
Welsh) Britain, which is usually adduced as
another western instance, and which undoubtedly
had no relations to the Roman patriarchate or
any other for three centuries (400-700), — as
neither had Celtic Ireland nor Columban Scot-
land,— was rather a case of bishops who still
remained without a metropolitan, the legends
of the archbishoprics of Caerleon or of St. David's,
or indeed of any archbishopric in the island at
all except as an honorary and unmeaning title,
being without any historical authority whatever.
The epithet is applied to Britain only by late
controversial writers.
2. A nam.e given to a class of bishops who
came to exist in the 9th century in the eastern
patriarchates, as Constantinople, Jerusalem, An-
tioch, who were dependent directly upon their
patriarch without the intervention of a metro-
politan, and who might be more accurately (and
sometimes were) called archbishops or metropo-
litans themselves, only without suffragans (see
authorities in Bingh. II. xviii. 3).
3. The name migld be applied, on the same
principle upon which it is attached to metroj)o-
litans whose independence survived the establish-
ment of patriarchs, to bishops whose independence
survived the establishment of metropolitans. But
the origin of metropolitans was too early and too
universal to allow of any ancient authority sig-
nalizing possible temporary exceptions of this
kind by a name. The British bishops, however,
appear to be (substantially) a case in point.
And Valesius, although inaccurately in point of
fact, has applied the name to the Bishop of Jeru-
salem before that Bishop became himself a
patriarch (Bingh. ih. 4).
4. No doubt also the name might be applied,
as Bingham suggests, to any case where there
happened to be only one bishop in the country,
as in Scythia in the time of Sozomen.
Acephalus ('AKfcpaXos) is said to be sometimes
used for Auioccphalus.
154
AUTONOMUS
(Bingham ; Brerewood, Patriarch, Oov. of
Ahc. C/i. ; Cave, Dissert, on Gov. of Anc. Ch. ;
BeveriJge, Pandect. ; Du Cange ; Meursius ;
Suicer.) [A. W. H.]
AUTONOMUS, commemorated June 24 (Ca^.
Arnwn.). [C]
AUTUN, COUNCIL OF (Augustodun-
ENSE Concilium), a.d. 670, under Bishop Leo-
degar, passed some canons respecting monks,
and one enforcing the Athanasian creed (Mansi,
xi. 123). [A. W. H.]
AUVERGNE, COUNCILS OF. [Clee-
MOXT, Council of.]
AUXENTIUS, holy father, commemorated
Feb. 14 {Cal. Byzant.) ; July 28 {Mart.
Ilieron.). [C]
AUXEEEE, COUNCILS OF (Autissiodo-
REXSiA Concilia). L a.d. 578, diocesan, where
the bishop, with his 7 abbats, and 34 presbyters
and 3 deacons, passed 45 canons, and among
others, one requiring a synod of abbats every
November and of presbyters every May (Mansi,
ix. 911).
II. A.D. 841, provincial, gathered by the Em-
perors Louis and Charles to consult respecting
the slaughter in the war between them, for which
a three days' fast was appointed (Mansi, xiv.
786). [A. W. H.]
AVE MARIA. [Hail Mary.]
AVITUS. (1) Bishop, deposition, Feb. 5
(Mart. Hieron.).
(2) Presbyter, commemorated June 17 (Mart.
Bcdae).
(3) Confessor, June 23 {lb. et Hieron.). [C]
AZARIAS, martyr, with Ananias and Misael,
commemorated Dec. 16 {Mart. Rom. Yet.); April
23 {Mart. Bcdae) ; Dec. 17 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
AZYMB. [Elements.]
B
BABYLAS. (1) Bishop, martyr at Antioch,
A.D. 253 ; commemorated Jan. 24 {Mart. Pom.
Vet., Hieron., Bedae); Sept. 4 {Cal Byz.).
(2) Saint, Natale, June 11 {M. Bedae). [C]
BACCANCELDENSE CONCILIUM.
[Bapchild, Council of.]
BACCHUS. (1) Secuudicerius, martyr, A.D.
290 ; commemorated Oct. 7 {Mart. Pom. Vet.,
Cal. B,/z.). (2) " Passio S. Bacchi," Sept. 25
{M. Bedae). [C]
BACULUS. [STAFF.]
BAGAJENSE CONCILIUM, Donatist, at
Vagais or Bagais, in Numidia, A.D. 394, where
310 bishops, under Priraian the Donatist Primate
of Carthage, condi'mned IMnximian, the Catholic
bishop of that citv (St. Aug. Cont. Crescon. iii.
53, V. 10, 0pp. X. 465, 490 ; Tillemont, M. E. vi.
165 ; Labb. ii. 1154). [A. W. H.]
BAGAN, virgin, commemorated with Eu-
gjuia, Jan. 22 {Cal. Armen.). [C]
BAHED. The name of a fast in the Ethiopic
Ciilendar, observed on Ter 10 = Jan. 5 (Neale,
Eastern Ch. Int. p. 810). [C]
BALANCE (Symbol). The balance appears
sometimes upon Christian tombs, A sepulchral
BALANCE
stone from the cemetery of St. Cyriac (Aringhi,
Poina Subt. ii. 139) displays this instrument in
conjunction with a crown ; it may also be seen
upon a mai-ble slab taken by Bosio from a
cemetery of the Via Latina (Aringhi, ii. 658),
accompanied by a house, a fish, by a doubtful
object which has been taken wrongly for a can-
delabrum, and by a mummy set up in a niche.
A monument of the same nature reproduced in
the work of M. Perret {Inscript. No. 37) repre-
sents a balance with a weight (see woodcut). De
Rossi {Poma Sott. T. i. p. 86) notices another
example in the church of St. Cecilia at Rome.
Balance with weigli
tbe Catai^cmbg.
Some antiquaries, as Mamachi {Origincs v. 98)
have supposed that the balance is symbolical of
judgment or justice. And it is true that it is
found, doubtless with this signification, on coins
of Gordian, Diocletian, and other emperors of
pagan Rome. The mediaeval artists again have
frequently made use of this idea. We may see
it, for instance, in the tympanum of the great
doorwav of Notre Dame in Paris, and in that of
the cathedral of Autun, where it may be con-
sidered as a translation in sculpture of the wordi
of the Apocalypse (xxii. 12). But in the first
two instances which we have mentioned, and
which are almost the only examples transmitted
to us by Christian antiquity properly so called,
it is important to observe that mention is made
of the contract entered into between the pur-
chasers of the tombs and the fossores Montanus
and Calevius: VRSICINVS ED QVINTILIANA
SE BIBI (vivis) CONPARAVERVNT LOCV A
MONTANV. II CALEVIVS BENDIDIT (ven-
didit) AVIN TRISOMV.
It is therefore more natural to suppose that
the balance symbolises purchase and sale, per aes
et libram.
Sometimes upon tombs the balance is simply
indicative of a trade, as for example on the slab
of a Roman moneyer found in the cemetery of
St. Priscilla (Marini Papiri diplom. p. 3.">2) :
AVR. VENERANDO. NVM || QVI. VIXIT.
ANN. XXXV II ATILIA. VALENTINA.
FECIT II MARITO. BENEMERENTI. IN. PACE.
Bronze balances were found in a Frankish se-
pulchre of the Merovingian period by the Abbe'
Cochet {Sepuli. Gauloises, p. 253 and following),
where in all probability they indicated the tomb
of a monetary officer, or fiscal agent, or accountant
of some kind. This is rendered almost certain
by the fact that a balance in the Faussett col-
lection {Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 43 ; pi. xvii.
fig. 1, 2, 3), was found in the same tomb with a
"louch-stone " for the trial of metals. Another,
found like the preceding in an ancient tomb in
Kent, is described and figured by Mr. Roach
Smith in Collectanea Antiqua, vol. iii. pp. 12-14;
BALBINA
pi. iv. fig. 1 (Martignv, Diet, dcs AnUq. Chrift.
p. 67). " [C]
BALBINA. (1) Virgin, martyr at Rome,
A.D. 130 ; commemorated March 31 (^Mai-t. Rom.
Vet., Bedae).
(2) Natnle, Oct. 6 (J/. Bedae).
BALDEGUNDIS, deposition at Poictiers,
F(;b. 11 (^Mart. Hieron.).
BANNER. [Labarum; Vexillum.]
BAPCHILD, COUNCIL OF (Baccancel-
DENSE Co.NCinuji), Or rather Witenagemot.
(1) Between A.D. 696 & 716, at Bapchild, near
Sittingbourne, in Kent ; a Kentish Witenagemot,
at which abbesses and presbyters, as well as
bishops and abbats, were present, and where the
celebrated Privilege of Wihtred was enacted,
granting to the Kentish metropolitan a free
election in the case of abbats, abbesses, priests,
and deacons. The date cannot be precisely
determined; and is further confused by a dis-
crepancy between the Canterbury Register and
the Texius Roffensis on the one hand, and the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle on the othei-, respecting
the dates of Gebmund and Tobias, successively
bishops of Rochestei-. Spurious forms of the
Privilegium extend it to the election of bishops
and to the whole of Saxon England. See Haddan
and Stubbs, Councils, in. 238-247. — (2) a.d. 798,
if at all ; said to have been held under Kenulf,
king (not of Kent, but)of Mercia, and Archbishop
Athelard, with bishops (two lists, both spurious),
abbats, and an archdeacon ; and to have prohi-
bited lay interference with churches and mo-
nasteries, in compliance with a mandate of Pope
Leo III. The decree, however, is verbatim that
of the (genuine) Council of Cloveshoo of A.D. 803,
from which also one of the lists of bishops is
partially talien (Kemble, Cod. Dipl. 1018, 1024,
Wilk. i. 162 ; Haddan and Stubbs, Counc. iii.
517). The copy in Reg. A 1 at Canterbury,
howevei-, has no signatures. [A. W. H.]
BAPTISM. This Article -is arranged as
follows : — I. Tei-ms used to designate Baptism.
II. The Order of Baptism in various Churches.
III. The several Parts of the entire Ritual, viz. :
Consecration of the Water; Interrogations and
Responses (Renunciation and Profession); Pre-
paratory Unction ; Unclothing of the Catechu-
men ; the Immersion ; the Baptismal Formula ;
the subsequent Ceremonies, viz. : the Kiss, the
lighted Tapers, the white Garments, the red
and white Thread, the Chaplet, and the washing
of Feet. IV. At what times, in what places,
and by whom, Baptism was administered ; with
what matter, in what mode, and at what age.
V. Graphic representations of Baptism. VI. Li-
terature. The subject of Sponsors, and that of
Baptismal Names, are treated separately in their
alphabetical order.
I. Terms used to designate Baptism.
§ 1. Ba-TTTifeij' and derived words. The moaning
of this verb is not, as commonly asserted, identical
with that oi^oLirreiu, to "dip," but presented this
idea under special modifications characteristic of
the various ages in which it was employed. In
classical usage it was commonly used meta-
phorically in speaking of one " drenched " with
wine, "overwhelmed" with misfortunes, and
the like. Polybius uses it (iii. 72) in speaking
of troops passing through water which reached
BAPTISM
155
up to their breasts : fidXii 'iais ruv fiacrruv
ol irefot 0aTrTi^6fj.evoi Sie^aivov. In the Canon-
ical 13ooks of the LXX it occurs but once
in speaking of Naamau either "washing" or
"dipping " himself in the Jordan (1 Kings v. 14).
In the Apocrypha, in speaking of one washing
herself (e/SaTTTi'feTO i-jrl rrjs xriyrj^, Jud. xii. 7)
at a spring ; and again (Ecclus. 24, 37 al. 29) of
one washing himself after touching a dead body ;
both cases having reference to ceremonial puri-
fication. In the New Testament it is occasionally
used metaphorically (Matt. xx. 22 ; Mark x. 38,
39 ; Luke xii. 50). But it generally has reference
either to Jewish ceremonial purification (Mark
vii. 4 ; Luke xi. 28), or to Christian Baptism.
§ 2. AovTpbv, or T^riyri, lavacruin, fons. These
terms (laver and font) have reference, like the
last noticed, to the outward circumstances of the
Baptismal Rite. Aovrphv, the Latin lavacriim,
means literally, " what serves for washing the
body," that is, either the vessel, or the miter so
used. St. Paul twice (Eph. v. 26, and Tit. iii. 5)
uses the word in reference to baptism. In Justin
Martyr it appears as an evidently technical de-
signation of baptism (rh Xovrphv iroiovvTai, Apol.
I. c. 79), and from that time onward the word is
repeatedly used. The terms 777777) and fons,
meaning a spring, or a pool fed by a spring, date
as technical terms from the time when either
natural pools (see § 39) in the open air, or bap-
tisteries supplied, as was commonly the case, by
natural springs, were made use of for the purpose
of Christian baptism.
§ 3. Terms expressive of doctrine. — The most
common of these doctrinal designations are those
which have reference to the idea of Regeneration
— in Greek avajivvriffis, and more rarely izaXiy-
ysvecria and dsoyiveais, in Latin rcgeneratio,
secunda or spiritualis nativitas, renasci, and re-
nascentia. Terms of regeneration had Ijeen used
in a figurative sense both by classical authors
and by Hellenists, such as Philo and Josephus,
before they were adopted into the language
of Christianity. They served to express the idea
of an entire change of condition, as for ex-
ample the passing out of a state of misery, of
slavery or of subjection, into a state of well-
being, of freedom and of independence. (See
Wetsteiu on Matt. six. 28 ; Trench's Si/nonyms of
N.T. pp. 71, 72. Add Tertullian, de Bapt. c. 5.)
The Rabbinical use of such terms more directly
illustrates the Christian meaning of these words,
but the ultimate date to which that use is to
be traced is open to doubt. , (See Lightfoot on
John iii. 4 ; 0pp. tom. ii. p. 610, fol. Kotterdami
1687; Schoettgen, Hor. Heb. i. p. 704, Dresdae
4, 1733 ; Carpzovii Annotationes in Th. Goodwini
Moscn et Aaronem, Francofurti 4, 1748,' lib, i.
cap. iii. § vii.)
§ 4. '2<ppayls, Signactdum, &c. Baptism is
not unfrequently spoken of as "the seal," or
more fully " the seal of the Lord," (Clemens
Alex.), and that partly perhaps with reference to
the language of Holy Scripture (2 Cor. i. 22,
Eph. i. 13, and iv. 30). But other thoughts were
also connected with the term, as e.g. that of the
sign of the cross (this being more especially the
seal) being the seal of the Christian covenant or of
the "spiritual circumcision." (St. Cyril. Ilieros.
Cotech. V. Mera ti]v iriffTiv Ttjv ■irv€VfiarLK)]u
\afj.Pavofj.ei' acfipaylSa, 'Kyioi Xlfev/jLaTt Sia rov
KoiiTpuv ■mpiTtfj.vofj.ivoi.) Hence further modi-
156
BAPTISM
fications of the same idea, such as " Character
Dominicus," the mark impressed by the Lord
(St. Augustine de Bapt. c. Donat. lib. vi. cap. i.
and Ejnst. 184 bis, c. vi. § 23, Migne, tom. ii.
p. 803); Seo-rroreias (nj/j-eiaxTis, a mark indicative
of ownership or dominion (St. Greg. Naz. Or. xl. ;
compare St. Isaac of Armenia, quoted below,
§ 101); or again the Nota Militaris (St. Augus-
tine de Bapt. lib. i. cap. iv.), r) rov (rrpariuirov
(Tfppayis (St. Chrysostom in ii. Cor. Hmn. iii. ad
lin.), the mark put upon soldiers to ensure their
recognition.
§ 5. Tei-ms of Initiation or Illumination. — The
idea of baptism being an initiation {fj.vricris,
/xvcTTayooyia, TfAer?)) into Christian mysteries,
an enlightenment {^wriafihs, illumiuatio, illus-
tratio) of the darkened understanding, belonged
naturally to the primitive ages of the Church,
when Christian doctrine was still taught under
great reserve to all but the baptized, and when
adult baptism, requiring previous instruction,
was still of prevailing usage. Most of the Fathers
interpreted the cpaiTLcOtvrfs, " once enlightened,"
of Hob. vi. 4, as referring to baptism. In the
middle of the second century (Justin M. Apol. ii.
KaAeZTai Se tovto rh KovTphv (pcoriafxbs ws (pw-
Ti^onivwv TTjV Sidvoiav tSiv ravra fj.ai'BavSi'Tcov)
we find proof that " illumination " was already
a received designation of baptism. And at a
later time (St. Cyril Hieros. Catech. passim), ol
(poiTi^ofXivoi (illuminandi) occurs as a technical
term for those under preparation for baptism,
ol (pwTKrdiVTis of those already baptised. So oi
afxvrjToi and ol fj.efj.vr]fj.euoi, the uninitiated and
the initiated, are contrasted by Sozomen, //, £.
lib. i. c. 3.
§ 6. Modern terms. — In most of the modern Eu-
ropean languages the words expressive of baptism
are derived directly from the Latin baptizare, and
testify to the ftict of Latin having been in the
Western Churches the one ecclesiastical language
almost to the exclusion of all others. But there
is one notable exception. The German taufen,
to " baptize," akin to our English " dip," has the
same technical meaning as baptizare, and recals
the time when on the conversion of the German
tribes baptism was as a rule performed by "dip-
ping " (see § 92), and when not Latin, but as far
as possible the mothei'-tongue of the converts
was employed in the baptismal offices. Our
countryman, St. Boniface, in his Statuta (Mar-
tene, de Ant. Ecc. Bit. tom. i. p. 48) desires that
the catechumens be taught to make the Renun-
ciations and Confessions of Faith in Baptism " in
^jsa lingua qua nati sunt," and directs any pres-
byter to leave the diocese who is too pi-oud to
obey this direction.
II. The Order of Baptism in various Churches
of tlie East and of the West.
§ 7. Described by Justin Martyr. — The earliest
description of the actual rite of baptism is that
given by Justin Martyr in his first Apology (cap.
Ixxix.), which dates from the middle of the
second century. " We will now relate after what
manner we dedicated (Ji.ve6itKap.iv) ourselves unto
God, when we were new-made through Christ
(^KaivoTvoLri&ivTis 5ta tov X.). So many as are
convinced, and believe the truth of what we
teach and affirm, and who promise to be able to
live accordingly, are taught both to pray, and
with fasting to ask of God remission of their past
BAPTISM
sins, while we join with them in their prayers
and in their fast. Then they are conducted
by us to a place where there is water, and
they are regenerated {kvaytwoivrai) after the
same manner of regeneration as that in which
we ourselves were regenerated. For they then
make their ablution (rh Xovrphv iroiovvTai) in
the water, in the name of God, the Father and
Lord of the Universe, and of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, and of the Holy Ghost. For Christ said :
'Except ye be regenerated (iav pj) avaytvvridrJTe)
ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.' "
§ 8. It will be seen that the description here
given is without full details concerning the rite
itself, as was natural in one writing concerning
a Christian Sacrament to persons who were not
Christians themselves. But we may trace clear
allusions to the prefatory instruction and guid-
ance of the catechumens — to the baptismal pro-
mises or stipulations — to a place of baptism apart
from the ordinary place of assembly for the
faithful (^&yovTai v(j>' 7)pwv evda vSup fcrn). We
find also the baptismal formula, " In the name
of the Fathei-, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,"
though with slight interpolations which are pro-
bably due to the need of some explanation in
addressing a heathen audience on such a subject.
§ 9. Bitual described by Tertullian. — About
fifty years later than Justin Martyr, and about
the close of the second century, we find evidence
in the works of Tertullian of the nature of the
baptismal rite as observed at that time. He
speaks first of the Preparation of the Catechumens
immediately before Baptism — saying that they
should be frequent in prayer, with fasting and
kneeling (then a penitential attitude), and watch-
ing, and with confession of all former sins.
" Ingressuros baptismum, orationibus crebris,
jejuniis et geniculationibus, et pervigiliis, orare
oportet, et cum confess! one omnium retro delict-
orum, ut exponant etiam baptismum Joannis.
Tinguebantur, inquit, coufitentes delicta sua"
{DeBapt. c. 20). § 10. He describes the solemn
renunciatioH of the devil and his pomp, and his
angels, distinguishing the renunciation made at
the time of baptism from that made some time
previously in the church (on admission as cate-
chumens). (" Aquam adituri ibidem, sed et ali-
quanto prius in ecclesia sub antistitis manu,
coutestamur nos renuntiare diabolo et pompae et
angelis ejus." De Cor. Mil. c. 3.) He speaks then
of other " responses " made by the baptized while
standing in the water, alleging these as an ex-
ample of custom founded on tradition only, not on
any express direction of our Lord. (" Dehinc ter
mergitamur amplius aliquid respondentes quam
Dominus in evangelio determinavit." Ibid. See
below, § 93.) § 11. The words (ter mergitamur)
just quoted, and those of the treatise De Bapd. c. 1,
" in aquam homo demissus et inter pauca verba
tinctus," have reference to the Trine Immersion
then customary (see below, § 49) and the use
of the woi-ds implicitly prescribed in Matt, xxviii.
19. These points he more exactly determines
elsewhere. (" Novissime mandans ut tinguerent
in Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum, non in
unum : nam nee semel sed ter, ad singula nomina,
in personas singulas tinguimur." Ado. Praxeam,
c. 26.) § 12. Among the traditionary customs,
Tertullian mentions the tasting of a mixture
(concordiam) of honey and milk on leaving the
font (" Inde suscepti lactis et mellis concordiam
BAPTISM
praegustamus." De Cor, Mil. c. 3). But there is
uo let'ercuce to this in his treatise de baptismo, so
that it may not improbably have been of occa-
sionai or local usage only in his time. § 13. The
anointing with a consecrated (benedicta) oil, and
the imposition of hands by the bishop, which
followed upon baptism, is spoken of as being
intimately connected with the actual baptism.
In the font, according to his view, we are wUshed
from sin, and so prepared for the reception of
the Holy Spirit. (" Non quod in aquis spiritum
sanctum consequamur sed in aqua emundati sub
Angelo Spiritui Sancto praeparamur .... An-
gelas baptismi arbiter superventuro Spiritui
Sancto vias dirigit ablutione delictorum quam
fides impetrat obsignata in Patre et Filio et
Spiritu Sancto .... Exinde egressi de lavacro
perungimur benedicta unctione .... Dehinc
manus imponitur per benedictionem advocans
et invitans Spiritum Sanctum." Be hapt. cc. 6,
7, 8). The evidence of Tertullian on other points
will come under notice later in this article.
§ 14. Ritual at Jerusalem, A.D. 347. The
Catecheses of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, delivered in
Lent, a. 347, picture to us in tolerably full
detail the ceremonial usages there customary in
his time. Throughout Lent (^Gatech. i. naaapa.-
Kovra 7}fj.epas oii crxoAofeiy Trj Tpomvxfl ; and
again Teffcrapa/coi/Ta T]iJ.(pS>v exeis fiiTavoiav) the
catechumens assembled day after day in the
church of the Anastasis {Cat. siv.) for prayer,
and for catechetical instruction. § 15. And at
the close of Lent, on the " Sabbath," or Easter
Eve, as the evening {Myst. Catcch. i. /cot' €Kelv7]v
Tov PairTLff/xaTos tt/i' ecnrepav. Compare Chry-
sost. in 1 Cor. Ifom. xl., where he speaks of t7]v
iaTr4pav kKeip7]v, that evening in which baptism
is solemnized) closed in upon the holy city, those
to be baptized assembled in the outer chamber
of the baptistery {ds rhu ■KpoavXiov tov /SaTrritr-
TTipiov OLKOv, Myst. Cat. i.) and facing towards
the west, as being the place of darkness, and of
the powers thereof, with outstretched hand,
made open renunciation of Satan. § 16. Then
turning them about, and with face towards the
East, " the place of light," they exclaimed, " I be-
lieve in the Father (€is Thv IT.) and in the Son,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in one baptism of
repentance." § 17. This said, they went forward
into the inner chamber (oIkos) of the baptistery,
and (^Myst. Cat. ii.) put off the garment (chiton)
wherewith they were clothed, and being thus
naked were anointed with oil from head to foot.
§ 18. After this preparatory unction they were
led by the hand to the font itself, and then each
one was asked, "Dost thou believe in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost ? " and they, in answer, witnessed the
saving confession of their ftiith, and dipped them-
selves thrice in the water, and thrice lifted
themselves up from out thereof; and so set
forth, by symbol, the three days' burial of the
Lord, and his Resurrection ; and the saving
water was to them at once death and life, at
once "a tomb and a mother." § 19. Then, on
coming forth from the water, they were clothed
with white garments, significant of the purity
and brightness of that spiritual vesture with
which they were ever henceforth to be clothed
{Myst. Cat. iv. in fin.). § 20. Afterward, as
Christ, coming up out of the waters, was
anointed with the unction of the Holy Ghost,
BAPTISM
15-
descending upon Him in bodily shape as a dove,
an unction, not bodily but spiritual, so the bap-
tized, when made partakers of " the anointed,"
ai-e themselves "anointed" with a holy oil "on
the forehead, the ears, the nostrils, and the
breast; and while the body was thus touched
with material ointment, the spirit was sanctified
[or 'consecrated,' ayia^erai] by the holy and
lifegiving Spirit" {Myst. Cat. iii.). § 21. Holy
Communion. After this followed holy communion,
of which all the newly baptized were partakers,
therein becoming " of one body and of one blood "
with Christ {avcrcTwiioi. koI (jvvaLjxoi lov XptaTov),
and there partaking of a heavenly bread, and of a
Gup of salvation, that sanctify both soul and body
(/6. iv.). § 22. Fsalms and lights. Under the
figurative language employed by St. Cyril in his
prefatory address, we may see evident allusions to
the accompanying ceremonial of the great Easter
rite. This was celebrated, as we have already
mentioned, on the eve, and during the night
(jTore jxev v/mu Sei'lj? 6 6ebs eKeivrjv T7)f
vvKTa K.T.X., Praefatio) preceding Easter day.
And the use of artificial light, thus rendered
necessary, was singularly in harmony with the
occasion, and with some of the thoughts most
prominently associated with it (see § 6 above).
It would be difficult to imagine any scene more
moving than that pictured to us iu the pages of
St. Cyril, when on the eve of the Saviour's
resurrection, and at the doors of the church of
the "Anastasis," the white-robed (§ 19) band
of the newly baptised was seen approaching from
the neighbouring baptistery, and the darkness
was turned into day (t5 ckStos tJ) 7]/j.fpo(t>aves,
Praefat. ad Catech.) in the brightness of unnum-
berecl lights. And as the joyous chant swelled
upwards, " Blessed is he whose unrighteousness
is forgiven, and whose sin is covered," it might
well be thought that angels' voices were heard
echoing the glad acclaim, " Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin, and in
whose spirit there is no guile." {ore vfiHv aud^v-
Tuiv, i. e., after your baptism, ol ayy^Xoi t-Kicpai-
vi](Tovaiv, MaKapioL wv a<j)46r]ffav, k.t.A., Prae-
fat.)
§ 23. Other Eastern rdes. In Egypt. The
order of baptism which we have traced above as
observed at Jerusalem in the year 347 A.D., bears
a close resemblance in all its more important de-
tails to those of which we find record elsewhere.
The limits of this article do not admit of our-
quoting these in full. For the order followed in
the Egyptian Church, see the Constitutiones Eccle-
siae Aeijyptiacae, § 46 seqq., published by La garde
(al. Botticher) in his I'eliqidae Juris Ecclesiastici
antiquissimcte. It will be found also in Bunsen's
Christianity and Mankind, vol. vi. p. 465, seqq.,
in a Greek translation by Lagarde from the
Coptic original. With this, which may probably
date from the 4th or 5th century (not as a MS.
but as a rite), may be compared the Ordo Bap-
tismi oi Severus, Patriarch of Alexandria in the
7 th century {Biblioth. Max. Patrum, Paris, fol.
1654, torn. vi. col. 25), and, for a much later
time, see Vansleb, I/istoire de I'Eglise d'Alex-
andrie, Paris, 1677, cap. 21, p. 80.
§^24. In Aethiopia. The Ethiopic rite must
originally have resembled that of Alexandria.
Our first detailed accounts of it come to us from
the Jesuit missionaries {Bibl. Max. Patr. as
above, torn. vi. col. 57, seqq.). Witli their state-
158
BAPTISM
ments, which coming from various quarters
appear at times somewhat inconsistent with
each other, may be compared the account given
by Ludolf in his Historia Aethiopica, lib. iii.
cap. vi.
§ 25. The Descriptions of the Eite given by
Dioni/sius, the so-called Areopagite (Ecc. Hier.
lib. ii.), and in the Apostolical Constitutions,
cannot be assigned with certainty to any par-
ticular date or locality ; but they afford interest-
ing points of comparison with the ritual de-
scribed elsewhere.
§ 26. Western Rites. The only complete
Ordines Baptismi of any early Western churches
are the Roman and the Gallican. The Roman
may be traced with slight variations in the
sacramentary attributed to Gelasius (Mignr,
Patrol, torn." 74, p. 1105, and Muratori, Liturg.
Rorr/m. Vct.\ and that of Gregory the Great
(ed. H. Menard). Many variations of the Gallican
Ordo Baptismi are given by Martene {De Ant.
Ecc. Bit. tom. i. Part 1), and of these we select
one example as being of exceptional interest.
§ 27. The Gotho-Gallican Rite. The earliest
of the Gallican Ordines Baptismi is probably
that sometimes described as the Gothic, as
having been in use in the Visigothic Church.
The order commences with a prefatory address,
remarkable for the figurative language employed,
which is utterly unlike that to be met with in
any other known ritual, and in which we ma}^
probably see traces of the peculiar circumstances
under which Christianity was first introduced
into Gaul. " Standing, dearest brethren, on the
bank of this ciystal-clear fount, bring ye from the
land to the shore new-comers to ply the traffic
whereof they have need (mercaturos sua com-
mercia). Let all who embark on this voyage
make their way over this new sea, not with
a rod [' virga,' probably with reference to
Moses and the Red Sea], but with the cross ;
not with bodily touch, but with spiritual appre-
hension; not with traveller's staff, but in sacra-
mental mj'stery (non virga, sed cruce, non tactu
sed sensu, non baculo sed sacramento). The
place is small but full of grace. Happy hath
been the pilotage of the Holy Spirit. Therefore
let us pray tlie Lord our God, that He will sanc-
tify this fount, and make it a laver of most
blessed regeneration in remission of all sins ;
through the Lord." § 28. The Collect then
follows, being a prayer for the benediction of
the font. " God who didst sanctify the fount
of Jordan for the salvation of souls, let the angel
of thy blessing descend upon these waters,
that thy servants being bathed (perfusi) there-
with may receive remission of sins, and being
Ijorn again of water and the Holy Spirit, ma_v
devoutly serve thee for ever ; thi'ough the Lord."
§ 29. The Contestatio. " It is meet and right.
Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Initiator of the
Saints, Father of all Unction, and author of a
new sacrament through thine only Son our Lord
God ; Who, through the ministry of water be-
stowest in place of the riches of the world (' atde
divitias mundi,' evidently from the Greek avTL
ToD -nXovTov ToO k6(t/j.ov) thine Holy Spirit ;
Thou that providest the waters of Bethgsda
through the healing operation of the Angel ;
Who didst sanctify the channel of Jordan by the
worthiness of Christ thy Son ; have regard, 0
Lord, to these waters prepared for the doing
BAPTISM
away of the sins of men; grant that the Angel
of thy fatherly love (pietatis tuae) may be pre-
sent to this holy fount ; may he wash off the
stains of the former life, and sanctify a shrine
wherein Thou mayest dwell, causing them that
herein shall be regenerated to grow and be
strengthened evermore in the inner man (procu-
rans ut regenerandorum viscera aeterna florescaut,
probably iVa OdWrj eh Thv alaiva to (TirKdyxya
■iSiv avajfvvuifj.fywv'), and bestowing that true
renewal which is of baptism. Bless, Lord God,
this water that Thou didst create, and let Thy
healing power (virtus tua) descend upon it.
Pour down from above Thy Holy Spirit, the
Paraclete, the messenger [angel] of truth. Sanc-
tify, O Lord, these waters as thou didst the
streams of Jordan ; that they who go down into
this fount, in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, may be found
worthy to obtain both pardon of sins and the
on-pouring of the Holy Spirit, through our Lord
Jesus Christ, Who with (apud) Thee and the
Holy Ghost is blessed for evermore." § 30.
Consecration v:ith Chrism. " Then thou makest
a cross with chrism, and sayest : I exorcise
thee, thou water of God's creation ; I exorcise
thee, the whole army of the devil, the whole
power of the adversary, and all darkness of evil
spirits ; I exorcise thee in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to whom the Father
hath subjected all things in heaven and in earth.
Fear and tremble, Thou and all the malice that
is thine : give place to the Holy Spirit, that all
who descend into this font may have the laver
of the baptism of i-egeneration, unto remission of
all sins, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who
will come unto the judgment seat of the Majesty
of His Father with the holy angels, to judge
thee thou enemy, and the world, through fire,
for evermore." ^?>\.. Insufflation. "Then thou
shalt breathe (see § 42) three timrs upon the
water, and put chrism therein in the form of a
cross, and say : ' the on-pouring of the salutary
chrism of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that this may
be made a fountain of water springing up unto
life eternal.' Amen." § 32. The interrogations
and the baptism. " While baptizing thou shalt
make the interrogations (dum baptizas inter-
rogas : see below, § 43) and say : ' I baptize thee
(naming him) in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, unto remission of
sins, that thou mayest have eternal life. Amen.' "
§ 33. Unction. " While touching him with
chrism thou shalt say : ' I anoint thee with the
(chrism) unction of holiness, the clothing of im-
mortality, which our Lord Jesus Christ first
received, bestowed by the Father, that thou
mayest present it entire and undiminished before
the'judgraent seat of Christ, and mayest live for
ever and ever." § 34. The washiwj of feet.
" While washing his feet, thou shalt say : ' I
wash thy feet, as our Lord Jesus Christ did
unto his disciples. Do thou the like to strangers
and pilgrims, that thou mayest have eternal
life.'" § 35. The clothing. " While putting the
garment upon him thou shalt say : ' Receive this
white garment, which thou mayest keep and
present (quam perfcras) before the judgment
seat of our Lord \Tesus Christ.' " § 36. The
collect. " Let us pray, most dear brethren, our
Lord God, for these his neophj'tes, now baptized,
that when the Saviour shall come in His ma-
BAPTISM
jesty, He will cause them whom He hath
regenerated of water and the Holy Spirit to
be clothed for ever with the garment of salva-
tion ; through the Lord." § 37. Another collect.
'• For these who are now baptized, and crowned
(see § 65) in Christ, on whom our Lord hath
deigned to bestow regeneration, we pray thee.
Almighty God, that they may preserve undefiled
unto the end the baptism which they have
received ; through Our Lord."
§ 38. Peculiarities of this Rite. — There is strong
internal evidence that this rite in its present
shape is a translation mto debased Latin of an
older Greek original. There are many parts
of it of which the sense can onl)' be guessed by
fii-st translating it back into Greek, word for
word, taking Latin, such as that of the translator
of Irenaeus, as a guide in so doing. And this
fact, coupled with that of the metaphors in the
opening address being taken wholly from the lan-
guage of trade and of navigation, bears out in
a remarkable manner the conclusion to which
other independent evidence points, viz., that
Christianity was introduced into Gaul through
Greek missionaries, and in connection with the
great line of commercial traffic of which Mar-
seilles was the chief western entrepot, and the
cities of Cyzicus, Phocaea, and Alexandria the
principal eastern ports. It has another point
of interest for English readers, viz., that there
are strong grounds for believing that the primi-
tive British and Irish rites were based on the
old Gallican use, of which that just quoted
presents, probably, the oldest example now re-
maining.
§ 39. British and Irish Bites. — No complete
Orclo Baptisini appears to have been preserved
which will illustrate the primitive usage of the
British and Irish Churches. Incidental notices
of the latter in ancient documents serve to de-
termine many points of detail which will be
noticed in their place. The fullest of these, and
one which is of great interest on many grounds,
is the story told by Tirechan (6th century) in the
Book of Armagh, concerning St. Patrick's bap-
tising the two daughters of King Laoghaire at
the pool of Clebach in Connaught. For this, see
Todd's Life of St. Patrick, p. 452.
§ 40. Spanish Bite. — Such details as can now
be determined concerning the primitive baptismal
rite in Spain are contained in a treatise of St.
Ildephonsus of Seville (7th century), Be Cojni-
tione Baptisini. Further particulars may be
inferred from Isidoi-e of Seville Be off. Eccl.
lib. ii. cap. 24 ; and from the Mozarabic Liturgy,
attributed by some to him. That Spanish usage
in the 4th century ditfei-ed in some respects from
that of Rome, is indicated by the letter of
Siricius of Rome to Himerius Tarraconensis. See
below, § 73.
III. Betails of the Ritual of Baptism.
§ 41. Theodulf, bishop of Orleans, just at the
close of the 8th century, wrote a treatise Be
Ordine Baptismi (Migne's Patrol, cv. 223).
in which he describes the complicated Ritual
practised in Western Churches in his own time.
Taking his description as a basis, but omitting
here the notice of such points as will come
Tinder separate discussion in other articles, we
may proceed now to. describe separately the main
features of the order of baptism as they had been
BAPTISM
150
developed in the 8th century, viz., the Conse-
cration of the Water, the Renunciations, the
Profession of Faith, the Immersion with accom-
panying Interrogations, and the subsequent
ceremonial.
§42. Consecration of the Water of Baptism. —
This consecration is first mentioned by Tertullian
{de Bapt. c. iv.) as brought about by invocation
of God. St. Cyprian {Epist. Ixx. ad Januar.),
speaks of the water " being cleansed beforehand
and sanctified by the bishop (a sacerdote) ;" and
a Council held at Carthage under him, speaks of
this sanctification being brought about (prece
sacerdotis) by the bishop's prayer. St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, Catech. iii., speaks of the water re-
ceiving power and being sanctified iipon invo-
cation of the Holy Spirit and of Christ. St. Basil
the Great {de Sp. Sancto, cap. 27) reckons the
blessing of the baptismal water among the
traditional customs derived from the Apostles.
Fi-om St. Augustine, however (de Bapt. lib. vi.
c. 25) we learn that the "Invocations" were not
regarded as essential to the validity of the sacra-
ment. In St. Augustine first (m Joann. Evang.
Tract. 118 ad fin.) we hear of the sign of the
cross being made at this Invocation. Oil also,'
poured crosswise, was used, at least in some
churches, in the consecration of the water. (Dio-
nys. Areop. Be Hier. Eccl. cap. 11; Severus
Patriarch. Alexandr. Be Ordine Baptismi, Bibl.
Patt. Max. t. vi. p. 25.) To the same eflect the
Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great and the
early Gallican Rite already quoted in § 30.
This ceremony, and the baptism of an infant
by immersion, are represented in the engraving
below, which is from a Pontifical of the 9th cen-
tury. A further ceremony, used as time went
on, was Exorcism accompanied by Insufflation,
or breathing upon the waters. See § 31 above,
and Martene, Be A. E. R. torn. i. pp. 63, 64.
The Ldcrrogations arid Responses.
§ 43. Renunciation and Profession.— The two
portions of the Order of Baptism next to be con-
sidered, viz., Renunciation followed by Profession
of Faith, are often classed together in early
writers under the designation of the Interro-
gationes et Rcsponsa, eirepaiTr,<reis Kal a,iroKpi<Tets,
in reference to the formulae of question and an-
swer by which both one and the other were ex-
pressed. These phrases had their ultimate origin
probably in an exceptional word (iitfpwTnixa,
an answer formally made to a question formally
put) used by St. Peter (1 Pet. iii. 21) in speaking
of baptism. This was a word of technical legal
use, having reference especially to foi-ms of co-
venant stipulation. And this, with very slight
modification only, appears as a received technical
160
BAPTISM
term of the baptismal ceremonial in the middle
ot" the 3rd century. At that time there were
forms of inteiTogation and response recognised as
of " legitimate ecclesiastical rule " in Africa
(Tertullian, above, § 10; Cyprian. Epist. Ixx. ad
Janiiar.), in Egypt (Dionysius apud Euseb. //. £.
lib. vii. c. 9), in Cappadocia (Firmilianus apud
Cyprian. Opj). Baluz. Up. Ixxv.), and at Rome (i6.).
§ 44. 2he ceremonial of Benunciation. — The
Catechetics of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, when com-
bined with allusions incidentally made by Dio-
nysius, St. Basil, and others, put before us very
vividly the ceremonial with which these renun-
ciations were made. St. Cyril {Cat. Myst. i.)
.iddressing the neophytes, says, " Ye entered in
first into the outer chamber of the baptistery,
and standing with your faces to the west ye heard
how ye were bidden to stretch forth the hand
with a gesture of repulsion (aTTwdovvra ra^
Xf'ipas, Dionys. Areop. Eec. Hier.), and ye re-
nounced Satan, as though there present before
you . . . saying, ' I renounce thee, Satan ' . . .
Then, with a second word thou art taught to
say, ' and thy works ' . . . and then again thou
sayest, ' and [his] thy pomp.' And afterward
thou sayest, * and all thy worship ' {Karpeiav) . . .
When thou hadst thus renounced Satan, breaking
altogether all covenants with him, then . . .
turning from the west toward the sunrising, the
place of light, thou wast told to say, ' I believe
in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
and in one baptism of repentance.' " From Dio-
nysius we learn further that before making this
renunciation the catechumen was divested of his
upper garment, and standing barefoot, and in
his chiton (shirt) only, made three separate
renunciations in answer to questions put to
him [this is implied, but not so distinctly stated
by St. Cyril], and then being turned toward the
east was bidden to look up to heaven, and with
uplifted hands (ras x^'^po's avanivavTa) to de-
clare his allegiance unto Christ (crvvrd^aaOai
Tw Xpicrr^), and after so doing he again, in
answer to questions put to him, thrice made
confession of his faith.
§ 45. Words used in Benunciation. — These are
given with more or less of detail, according to
the use of various churches, by the following
writers after Tertullian and Cyprian already
quoted : — St. Cyril, Catech. Myst. i. ; St. Basil,
be Sp. S. capp. xi. and xxvii. ; St. Chrysostom,
Horn. xxi. ad Pop. Antiochenum ; Liber Saci-am.
Gelasii apud Martene, De A. E. B. i. p. 65 ;
Isidore Hispal. De Eccl. Off. lib. ii.' cap. 20 ; and
St. Ildephonsus, DeCognit. Bapt. cap. iii. ; Ephraem
Syrus, De Abrenuntiatione, &c. (Opp. ed. Voss,
2"fol. Romae 1589, t. i. p. 199). For the Galilean
usage, see Martene, as above, torn. i. p. 64. The
mode of making the Renunciations, and the
woi'ds employed, are very fully described in the
treatise De Sacramentis, attributed to St. Am-
brose, but of uncertain date and of doubtful
authenticity. In the Baptism of Infants the
Renuntiations and the Profession of Faith were
made by the Sponsor.
The Profession of Faith.
§46. Baptism "in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," involves
in its very nature a profession of Faith. And of
the formal Declaration of Faith made in Baptism,
we may see the first trace, probably, in Acts
BAPTISM
viii. 37 (si sana est lectio). Fuller details will
be found in Tertullian, De Bapit. c. vi. and De
Corona Mil. c. iii. ; in St. Cyprian, Ep. Ixx. and the
letter of Firmilian published with St. Cyprian's
works (^Ep. Ixxv.). A comparison of the many
passages in later writers referring to these In-
terrogations and Responses, leads to the con-
clusion, that this profession was originally a re-
citation of the Creed, assented to with a " Credo "
by the Catechumen, much as in our own bap-
tismal service now. The form, however, varied
according to the gradual enlargement of the
original Creed, and special questions were some-
times added having reference to prevailing here-
sies or schisms in particular Churches. Ex-
amples will be found in the Missale Gallicanum
quoted by Martene {De Ant. Ecc. Bit. t. i. p. 65)
and in the Ordo iii. ibid. p. 64.
TJie Preparatory Unction.
§ 47. Without entering at length upon the
subject of " Unction," which will be treated in
a separate article, it may be well to note here
that in many documents dating from after the
close of the 3rd century, we find allusions to an
Unction preceding Baptism, in addition to that
which was given (see § 58) after Baptism. Nei-
ther Justin Martyr, nor Tertullian, nor St. Cy-
prian, say anything of such a preparatory Unction.
But this is spoken of in the Apostolical Consti-
tutions (lib. iii. 0. 15), even in the earliest form
in which they have been preserved to us, and by
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech. Myst. ii.). This
last gives us as a fixed date the year 347 A.D.
The use may of course have been even earlier
than this at Jerusalem and elsewhere. But in
Africa we may infer that it had not been intro-
duced even at the close of the 4th century, as
St. Augustine nowhere alludes to any such rite;
and, what is more, in one passage {Sermo ccxxvii.
in die Paschae ; al. De Diversis, 83) he dwells
with much emphasis on the fact (necessary to
the argument he is pursuing) that the Unction
of Christians follows after their baptism. Among
books of doubtful date, which contain allusions
to this particular rite are the "Recognitions,"
ascribed, though falsely, to St. Clement of Rome
(lib. iii. c. Ixvii.); the Besponsiones ad Ortho-
doxos (Qiiaest. 137, ed. Ben. p. 501, E. 7) falsely
attributed to Justin Martyr ; the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchy of Dionysius, the so-called Areopagite
(see § 39, above) ; and the Constitutions of the
Egyptian Church already referred to.
■ I7ie Unclothing of the Catechumens.
§ 48. A comparison of all the evidence leads
to the conclusion that the catechumens entered
the font in a state of absolute nakedness. See
particularly St. Cyril, Hieros. Myst. Catech. ii. ad
init. ; St. Ambrose, Serm. xx. (Opp.t. v. p. 153,
Paris, 1642), and Enarrat. in Ps. Ixi. 32 (BB.
t. i. p. 966) ; St. Chrysostom, ad Ilium. Cat. i.
(Migne, tom. ii. p. 268). Possibly a cincture of
some kind (quo pudori consuleretur) may have
been worn, as indicated in some mediaeval works
of art. But in any case, the question arises,
considering the great numbers, of both sexes and
of all ao-es, baptised at one time, how could the
solemn "celebrations at Epiphany, Easter, or Pen-
tecost have been conducted with decency and
order ? The explanation of this difficulty seems
to lie in the construction of the ancient bap-
BAPTISM
tisteries, in which the actual KoAvfi^riOpa, or
pool, occupied the centre of a much larger
chamber, from which it was in a measure sepa-
rated by rows of surrounding columns. If we
suppose the intervals of these columns to have
been occupied at the time of baptism by cur-
tains, it is easy to imagine how the necessary
arrangements could be made without difficulty,
the more so, as the custom was for the baptism
of men to take place fii-st, that of women after-
wards. And that curtains were so used we may
infer with some certainty from the following
facts. St. Gregory of Toui-s, in his well-known
description of the baptism of Clovis and his fol-
lo'vers, speaks thus of the preparations made at
the baptistery for the occasion (^Hist. Franc, lib.
ii. c. xxxi.). " The open spaces of the church
are shaded (or are darkened, adumbmntur) by
coloured hangings, and fitted up with white cur-
tains ; the baptistery is duly arranged, balsams
diffuse their scent, burning liglits are gleaming,
and the whole enclosure of the baptistery is be-
dewed with a divine fragrance," &c. Similar
arrangements to these we find extemporised some
centuries later by St. Otto in Pomerania. He
himself baptised boys in one place, while the
grown men and the women respectively were
baptised in separate places by others. Large
vessels were let down deep into the ground,
the edge i-eaching upwards, above ground, to
the height of the knee, or somewhat less. These
were filled with water. And round these cur-
tains were hung on " columellae," probably stout
poles, and attached to a rope. A further ar-
rangement is described in the following terms :
" Ante sacerdotem vero et comministrOs, qui ex
una parte adstantes sacramenti opus explere ha-
bebant, linteum fune trajecto pependit quatenus
verecuudiae undique provisum foret." (S. Ottonis
Vita, lib. ii. c. 15, apud Surium, 2 Julii.)
The Immersion.
§ 49. Triple Finmersion, that is thrice dipping
the head (Kaddirep tv Tivi rdcpui t£ v'Sari Kara-
SvovTtav riixwv ras KeipaKas, St.Chrysost. in Joan,
iii. 5, Hum. xxv.) while standing in the water,
was the all but universal rule of the Church in
early times. Of this we find proof in Africa
(Tcrtullian c. Praxeam, cap. xxvi.), in Palestine
(St. Cyril Hiero. Catech. Myst. ii.), in Egypt
{Omstitt. Eccl. Acfjypt. see above, § 23), at Anti-
ocli and Constantinople (St. Chrysostom, Jfom.
di; Fide, t. ix. p. 855), in Cappadocia (St. Basil
l>e Sp. Scto, c. xxvii. and St. Gregor. Nyssen. De
J'''i/it. vSart iavTovs kyKpiirrofiev . . . Koi rpirov
rovTo TToiricravris). For the Roman usage Ter-
tullian indirectly witnesses in the second cen-
tury; St. Jerome {mIv. Lucifer, cap. iv. t. iv.
]'. -94) in the fourth ; Leo the Great {Epist. iv.
'■/ Fpisc. Sicul. c. iii.) in the fifth ; and Pope Pela-
uiiis {Epist. ad Gaudent. apud Gratian. Distinct.
iv. cap. Ixxxii.), and St. Gregory the Great
(Fjiist. i. 41, ad Leandruni) in the sixth. Theo-
ilulf of Orleans witnesses for the general practice
of his time, the close of the eighth century {De
Ordine Baptismi, cap. xi. sub trina mersioue in
foutem . . . descendimus). Lastly, the Aposto-
lical Canons, so called, alike in the Greek, the
Coptic, and the Latin versions (Can. 42 al. 50),
give special injunctions as to this observance,
saying that any bishop or presbvtor should be
deposed wlio violated this rule.
CHRIST. ANT.
BAPTISM
161
§ 50. Single Immersion. — While trine immer-
sion was thus an all but universal practice, Euno-
mius (circ. 360) appears to have been the first to
introduce simple immersion " unto the death of
Christ" (Sozomen. B. E. lib. vi. c. 26; and
Theodoret. Haeret. Fab. iv. § 3 ; Schultze, t. iv.
p. 356). This practice was condemned, on pain
of degradation, by the Canon. Apost. 46 [«/. 50].
But it comes before us again about a century
later in Spain ; but then, curiously enough, we
tind it regarded as a badge of orthodoxy in oppo-
sition to the practice of the Arians. These last
kept to the use of trine immersion, but in such
a way as to set forth their own doctrine of a
gradation in the three Persons. Hence arose,
and long continued, a diversity of practice in the
orthodox Churches,- some following one rite and
some another. Gregory the Great (Epist. i. 41),
when his advice upon the subject was asked by
Leander bishop of Hispala, replied that either
simple or trine immersion are allowable, the one
setting forth the Unity of Godhead, the other
the Trinity of Persons. But under the special
circumstances of the Spanish Churches, and in
view of the fact that trine immersion was there
specially the usage of heretics, he thought they
would do well to hold to simple immersion. But
the matter was still unsettled some twenty or
thirty years later. At the Council of Toledo (the
4th, held a.d. 633) the practice suggested by
St. Gregory was laid down as the rule of the.
Spanish Churches, and from that time onward,'
though triple immersion has been the prevailing
practice, yet both canons of councils and writers
on ritual questions have maintained the legiti-
macy of simple immersion. (See Martene, De
A. E. E. lib. i. cap. i. art. xiv. § viii.)
T/te Baptismal Formula.
§ 51. Not less necessary to a valid baptism
than the use of water was the pronouncing of
the words prescribed by implication by Our
Lord, in Matt, xxviii. 19, "I baptize thee in the
name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." With the slight exceptions noticed
below there has been at all times, and in all
Christian Bodies, a practically universal assent
as to the use of these " Evangelical Words," as
they are called by St. Augustine. In this we
find complete assent between the Churches of
the East and of the West. Tertullian, in reference
to this, appeals, not to any ecclesiastical tradi-
tion, but to the direct command of Our Lord,
" Lex tinguendi imposita, et forma praescripta :
'Ite, inquit, docete nationes, tingentes eos in
Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti ' " (Be
Bapt. c. 13. Compare his treatise Ado. Praxeam,
c. 26, quoted in § 11). St. C3'prian, fifty years
later, uses similar language in his Epist.
Ixxiii., ad lubai. p. 200. And St. Augustine
(de Bapt. lib. vi. cap. 25) assei-ts that it was
easier to find heretics who rejected baptism
altogether than to find any who, giving baptism,
used any other than the generally received for-
mula. The use of this form was no less care-
fully maintained in the East. The 41st of the
" Canons of the Apostles " orders the degradation
of any bishop or Presbyter who baptized other-
wise than according to the commandment of the
Lord €(s narepo Kol tihv koX " Kyiov Uvivfxa.
Didymus of Alexandria (ed. Vallars. 1735,
vol. ii. p. 130), St. Basil (Dc Sp. Scto, caj). 12,
JVI
162
BAPTISM
torn. iii. p. 23), and others, speak of Baptism
as invalid if not given with these words.
§ 52. Apparent exceptions. In the language
of Holy Scripture itself authority seems, at first
sight, to be found for a certain variety of ex-
pression in giving effect to the command of Our
Lord. Thus, in the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles we find expressions such as baptizing
" in the name of Jesus Christ," Acts ii. 38 ; '• in
the name of the Lord Jesus," ihid. viii. 16 ; or
simply " in the name of the Lord," ihid. x. 48.
But in all probability these are only to be re-
garded as compendious expressions, equivalent in
meaning to a statement that the persons in
question received " Christian Baptism." And
the apparent exception afforded by the language
of Justin Martyr, quoted above in § 7, is proba-
bly apparent only, and not real. Addressing
himself as he there does to persons unacquainted
with Christian Doctrine, he somewhat amplifies
the actual formula, which would otherwise have
been unintelligible to a heathen, and speaks of
Christians being baptized " in the name of God
the Father and Loi-d of the Universe, and of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit."
§ 53. Beal Exceptions. On the other hand we
find evidence, even as early as St. Cyprian's
{Einst. Ixiii.) time, that there were some who
maintained that it was sufficient to administer
" in the name of Jesus Christ." St. Ambrose
favours this opinion, if the treatise De Spirltu
Sancto (lib. i. cap. Ill) be really his. In later
times this same opinion was formally maintained
liy more than one authority. The Council of
Frejus, a. 792, and Pope Nicholas I. in his
Eesponsa ad Bulgaros, all maintain more or less
emphatically the validity of such a formula.
Directly contrary to this is the decree of the
Syuodus Londinensis, held in the year 605, by
Augustine of Canterbury, Laurentius, Justus,
and Mellitus. There, as we learn from a letter
of Pope Zacharias to St. Boniface, it was decreed,
that anyone who had been " washed " without
invocation of the Trinity had not the Sacrament
of Regeneration. The omission of the name of
any one person of the Trinity was held to be fatal
to the validity of the rite (Wilkins, Concilia,
p. 29). St. Ildephonsus of Toledo {De Cognit.
Baptismi, lib. i. c. 112), circ. a. 663, uses similar
language. " Quod si omissa qualibet Trinitatis
persona baptismum conferatur, omnino nihil
egisse baptismi solemnitas deputetur nisi tota
Trinitas veraciter invocetur." For the opinions
of the Schoolmen on this question see Martene
De A. E. B., lib. i. cap. i. Art. xiv. 20. And for
those of vai'ious theologians at the time of the
Pieformation, and subsequently, see Augusti
Denhciirdigkeiten, vol. vii. p. 239.
§ 54. Slight variations. The passages above
quoted shew that all the earlier Church au-
thorities, almost without exception, speak of the
use of the words " In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," as
absolutely required. Yet it is worth noting that
it was an essential not a literal identity of ex-
pression that was required. The main point of
faith in the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity
being secured, slight verbal variations in the
formula were not regarded as of vital importance.
Indeed the usage of various churches was not
absolutely identical. Thus while in most cases
the identical words of Our Lord els rh ovo/j.a rod
BAPTISM
Uarphs Koi Tov tlov koI rod ayiov Uvevfxaroi,
were exactly reproduced (in Latin Ritual " In
Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti "), thi;
words eis rh uvofxa, " in nomine," were in some
churches omitted. The formula, as given by Ter-
tullian (§ 11) and in the Apostolical Constitutions
(lib. iii. c. 14), serves to exemplify this omission.
Elsewhere additions were made to the formula,
as thus ; " In nomine Patris, Amen ; et Filii,
Amen; et Spiritus Sancti, Amen." The cor-
responding Greek words are the formula of the
Greek Church to this day. In the Gothic missal
already quoted in § 32, we find " In nomine
Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti in remissionem
peccatorum, ut habeas vitam aeternam." In an
ancient Gallican Missal, there is still greater
variation, " Baptize te ci-edentem in nomine
Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti ut habeas vitam
aeternam in saecula saeculorum," or again,
"Bapti'/o te in nomine Patris etc., . . . unam
habentium substantiam, ut habeas vitam aeternam
et partem cum Sanctis." Again Martene {De
A. E. R. tom. i. p. 31, § xix.) quotes the for-
mula once in use at Cambray, in which the
words " Ego te baptizo" were altogether omitted,
and the ministrant said only, "In nomine Patris
et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." Hugo de
St. Victor, Peter Lombard, and others, held this
to constitute a valid baptism ; Pope Alexander
III. decided in a contrary sense. This was in the
year 1175 A.d. About 400 years earlier, Za-
charias (Martene § xix.), then Roman Pope, had
formally to decide whether Baptism given by an
ignorant Priest " In nomine Patria Filia et
Spiritua Sanctua " was valid or no. St. Boni-
face had decided that such baptism was in-
valid, and was for rebaptizing a child who
had so received it. But he was opposed by two
other bishops (Virgilius and Sidonius) whose
opinion was endorsed by the bishop of Rome on
appeal made to him. "If" (so he wrote) "he
who so ministered baptism did so not by way of
introducing error or heresy, but only through
ignorance of our Roman speech spoke with .i
broken utterance, we cannot consent to any re-
petition of the baptism so conferred."
§ 55. Eastern and Western Forms. One dif-
ference there is between the mode of employing
the " Evangelical words," which is characteristic
of Eastern and of Western Churches respectively.
In the West, with very rare exceptions only, the
personal office of the ministrant has been made
somewhat prominent by the formula ^^ I baptise
thee (Ego baptizo te) in the name " etc. But in
the Eastern use this is not the case, the third
person being employed, ^anTi^irai 6 SeTva (some-
times 6 5ov\os rov 6eov, adding the name) els rb
uvofjLa K. T. A.. " Such au one " (naming him), or
" The servant of God, N. or M. is baptized in the
name," &c. The exceptions among Eastern
Churches are very few. The Coptic Formula
(Abudacni Historia Jacobitarum seu Copitorum,
Oxon. 1675. J. E. Gerhardi, Exercit. de ecclesia
Copitica, 1666) is in the first person, " I baptize
thee in the name of the Father, Amen ; I baptize
thee in the name of the Son, Amen ; I baptize thee
in the name of the Holy Ghost, Amen." And the
Nestorians (Badger's Nestorians andthcir Bituals)
of Syria, though their own older formula agreed
with that of other Eastern Churches, adopted
also that prescribed by the Roman Church, ex-
pressed in the first person. A more remark-
BAPTISM
able exception to the usual Eastern practice is
that of the Aethiopian Church, if it really were
as described. Alvarez, one of the Jesuit Mis-
sionaries, states in one place that the form they
employ is "I baptize thee in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
And Ludolf (who has no sympathy with these
Roman authorities when he thinks thenj moved
by prejudice) states that in the ritual books of
the Ethiopians he had never been able to find
any other formula. On the other hand there
were others of the same Jesuit Mission who spoke
of the great variety of forms which they found
in use, obliging them to rebaptize. See Ludolf,
Hist. Aethiop. lib. ili. cap. vi.
Subsequent Ceremonial.
§ 56. The ceremonies subsequent upon the
actual baptism are commonly (as by Bellarmine,
de Bapt. lib. i. cap. 27) reckoped as five in num-
ber, the Kiss, the Unction of the Head (distinct
from the Unction in Confirmation), the lighted
Taper, the white Robe, the Tasting of Milk and
Honey. To these may be added the Washing of
Feet, and the Chaplet on the head, which found
place in the Ritual of some early Churches.
§ 57. The Kiss. We first hear of this as a
customary practice in Africa in St. Cyprian's
Epist. l.xiv. (al. liv.) ad Fidum. St. Augustine
quotes the passage (contra duas epist. Pelag. lib.
iv. cap. viii. §§ 23, 24) in a way which shews
that the usage had been maintained to his own
time. It is expressly presci'ibed (to be given by
the bishop first and afterwards by the assembled
faithful) in the ritual of the Egyptian Church
§ 50. (See above § 23 of this Article), and in St.
Chrysostom (Sermo 50 de util. leg. script, tom.
iii. p. 80 I.) we find proof of a similar usage.
§ 58. The Unction of the Head. No trace is
to be found in the earliest records of more than
one Unction after baptism, viz., that given in
Confirmation by the bishop. Its introduction is
attributed, by Roman tradition, to St. Sylvester,
bishop of Rome, from 314 to 335 a.d. See
further under Unction.
§ 59. The Use of Lights. We have already
seen that in the 4th century certainly, and pro-
bably therefore in yet earlier ages, baptism was
administered after dark (generally late on Easter
Eve). In this, as in so many other cases, what
was perpetuated in late Christian usa^e for
doctrinal or symbolical reasons took its rise in
considerations of practical convenience or neces-
sity. References made to the use of Lights by
St. Cyril Hieros., have already been alleged
(§ 22). And to the same effect, though with
more of detail, is the language of St. Gregory
Nazianz. Orat. xl. " The station that thou shalt
take before the great bema (of the church),
after thy baptism, is a foreshadowing of the
glory that shall be from heaven ; the psalmody
wherewith thou shalt be received is a prelude
of the hymns that thence shall sound ; the lamps
that thou shalt kindle set forth in mystery that
procession of many lights wherewith bright and
virgin souls shall go forth to meet their Lord,
having the lamps of faith bright and burning."
With these passages compare Ambrosius, de
lapsu virg. sac. c. 5 ; Marcus Gazensis, ad Arca-
dium Imp. apud Baronium ad ann. 401 ; Gregor.
Turon. Hist. Franc, lib. v. c. 11 ; St. Gregory
the Great, Lib. Sacram. de sabbato sancto : Al-
BAPTISM
163
cumus, de Div. off. de sabbato sancto; Amala-
rius, de eccl. off. lib. i. c. 18 ; Rabanus, de Inst.
Cler. lib. ii. e. 38, 39 ; St. Ivo, of Chartres, de
Sacramento Ncophytorum ; and the Ordo Bap-
tismi xviii. in Martene, de Ant. Eccl. Bit. tom. i.
p. 78.
§ 60. The wearing of white garments (\evKet-
fxovilv or \afj.Trpo<popi7v in Greek writers) by
the newly baptized was of universal custom
both in West and East, and this was continued
throughout the week to the Lord's Day
immediately following, thence called the "Do-
minica in albis depositis," the KvpiaKrj rris
SiaKaLvnalixov (Goar, Euchol. Grace, p. 373) of
the Greeks. I5y their colour these garments
were significant both of innocence and of jov
(Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, p. 182, n.
19), and by their material, which was generally
linen, they were associated with the idea of de-
liverance from death (Philo de Somniis, p. 597.
Paris, fol. 1640, and Jerome, Epist. ad Fahiol.
0pp. tom. ii. p. 574. Paris, fol. 1693). The
allusions to this practice in early writers are in-
numerable. It will suffice here to state a few
particulars as to the various vestments of which
we find mention.
§ 61. The Alb. The outer garment, vestis
alba, or simply " alba " (q. v.), Xaixirpa or Aeuwrj
f(T0iis, or ifji^coTiov, was probably not unlike
that worn in early times as a vestment of holy
ministry. In some instances we hear of this
being kept as a memorial of baptism, to serve as a
covering for the body after death (Antonini Mart.
It inerarium : "induti sindones . . . quas sibi ad
sepulturam servant.") So Constantine the Great,
dying shortly after his baptism, was buried /xer
avToiv Twv ffKpcoTiwv, in the garments which
he had then worn (St. Germanus Patriarch.
De Sanctis Synodis etc. apud Spicil. Rom. A.
Mai, tom. vii. § 14). And so Probus Anicius in
his epitaph (Bosio, Horn. Subt. p. 47) is described
as one, " Qui nova decedens muneris aetherii
vestimenta tulit." At other times these white
garments were presented to the Church. This
is implied in the story of Elpidophorus and the
Deacon Maritta, told by Victor of Utica (De
Perscc. Vandcd. lib. v. Bibl. Patr. 3Iax. tom.
viii. p. 699). For the use of the poor they were
provided gratuitously, as e.g. by Constantine
the Great (Surii Vit. Sanctorum, in S. Syl-
vestro, die 31 Dec), and by Gregory the Great
{Epjist. iv. 16 ; and vii. 24).
§ 62. The Sahanum. "This word (in Greek
aa^avov) as originally used meant either a large
wrapper for covering the body immediately after
bathing, or a towel used for drying it. The
same word is occasionally used (as by Victor
Uticensis) in speaking of baptismal vestments,
and it is used in the Greek Church to this day.
A letter is extant from Pope Paul I. in which
he thanks King Pepin for having sent him the
" Sabauum " used at the baptism of the king's
daughter Gislana. It is not clear whether this
is identical with the " alba " or no.
§ 63. The Chrismale. This was a piece of
white linen tied round the head, and intended
to retain the chrism upon the head throughout
the week " in albis."
§ 64. TIte twisted thread. In the Armenian
rite, as still celebrated, there is a curious relic
of the primitive customs in regard of baptismal
dress. We here read [Translation, unpublished,
M 2
164
UAPTISM
BAPTISM
by the Rev. S. C. Malan] of the priest " twist-
ing the thread." And the Catholicos (bishop)
Joseph, in his Russian translation of this order
of baptism, enlarges this rubric as follows:
"While the choir sings, the priest takes two
threads, one white and the other red, in remem-
brance of the water and the blood that flowed
from the side of the Sariour of the world. He
lifts them up under the holy cross, and lays them
at last upon the catechumen or child to be bap-
tized." There can be little doubt that this is a
last trace of former white baptismal robes with
red embroidery. This hypothesis is confirmed
by some references in ancient authors. A MS.
at Turin, of unknown authorship and date [from
internal evidence it appears to the writer to be
of the 11th century], thus describes the " chris-
male." "Induitur deinde chrismali neophytus,
scilicet alba veste quae instar cappae lineaecapu-
tium habet, quo caput quasi quadam mitra ope-
ritur, et filo rubeo supersuitur." Durandus too
{Rationale Die. Off. lib. vi. c. 82), mentions a
custom still existing in his time (13th century)
in Narbonne, that the white garment of the bap-
tized had sewn upon it a red band like a ' co-
rona.' And the same combination of colours
was still preserved in the usage of the Ethiopic
Church two centuries ago (Ludolf, Hist. Aethiop.
lib. iii. cap. 6), and may be traced back in Africa
to the 5th century of our era. Victor of Utica
{de Pers. Vand. lib. ii.) speaks of the white
robe as " purpura sanguinis Christi decoratam."
§ 65. The Chaplet (corona or aT4(pa.vos). The
earliest certain reference to this as worn by
Neophytes is in the ritual of Alexandria de-
scribed by Patriarch Severus in the 7th century.
" Then (i. e. after baptism and unction) he takes
the baptized to the altai-, and gives them the
sacrament of the Eucharist, and the priest crowns
them with garlands" {Bibl. Max. Fatr. Paris
1()54, torn. vi. p. 25). This usage was still main-
tained at Alexandria 200 years ago. Vansleb,
describing their baptismal ritual, writes as fol-
lows. The piiest, " trempe dans I'eau du bap-
teme la couronne et la ceinture de I'enfant qui
a e'te' baptise, et lui met cette couronne sur la
tete, et il lui ceint les reins de cette ceinture,"
&c. {Hist, de I'Eylise d' Alexandrie, Paris 1677,
12). Allusions to a similar rite, on very slight
grounds however of what is probably merely
metaphorical language, have been imagined in
the Gotho-Gallican Missal (baptizati et in Christo
coronati), in St. Chrysostom, Catech. I. ad Illu-
minandos {orau StdSrifia [not a chaplet, but a
royal crown], avaSriariade tUv TjAiaKoiv aKTivoiv
(paiSpoTfpas ^xov naprdxoOev iKin}Sci(Tas Aa^u-
TrriSdvas), and Catech. II. rhy crrfcpavov rrjs
SiKci.ioavi'T)^, a quotation from Scripture.) A
pas-.age of Gregory Nazianz. {Oratio xxiii. ad
i7iit.), quoted by Augusti for this usage, has
certainly nothing whatever to do with bap-
tism, as an examination of the entire context
will conclusively shew. The " crowns " there
spoken of are the words of public encomium
wherewith St. Gregory welcomes Heron, a con-
fessor of the faith, comparing him to one who
has conquered in the arena.
§ 66. Tasting of milk and honeii. This sym-
bolical usage, like many others, originated in a
prevailing metaphor. '' Quid ergo lac et niel ? "
asks Barnabas. " Quia nimirum infans lacte et
melle vivificatur, sic et nos fide promissionis et
verbo nutrimur." Tertullian in more than one
passage (see § 12 above, and adv. Marc. lib. j.
c. 14) ; Clement of Alexandria {Paedag. lib. i.
cap. vi.); the Third Council of Cai'thage, can.
24 ; the Constitutions of the Egyptian Church,
§ 51 ; St. Jerome {adv. Lucifer. 0pp. torn. ii.
p. 180, and in Esaiam. cap. Iv.) ; and the Leonine
Sacramentary (Muratori, Liturg. Rom. Vet. tom.
i.), all allude to the tasting of mingled milk and
honey after baptism. The rite is again men-
tioned by Macarius Bishop of Memphis, circ. a.
756, and was still preserved both in Alexandria
and in the Ethiopic Church two hundred years
ago (Vansleb and Ludolf, referred to above).
§ 67. Pedilavium. The washing of feet. A
peculiar custom prevailed in the early Galilean
ritual, of a symbolical washing of the feet of the
newly baptized, having reference to the action
of our Lord recorded in the Gospel of St. John
(xiii. 1-16). The so-called Gothic missal,
and another early Gallican missal (Martene, De
A. E. R. tom. i. pp. 63, 64), both contain refe-
rences to this as a recognized part of the bap-
tismal ritual. In the first, see above § 34, im-
mediately after the application of the chrism,
we read, " Dum pedes ejus lavas, dicis, ' Ego
tibi lavo pedes. Sicut Dominus noster Jesus
Christus fecit discipulis suis, tu facias hospi-
tibus et peregrinis ut habeas vitam aeternam :' "
(then follows the impositio vestimenti). In the
second of the two documents, a collect is given
" ad pedes lavandos," which follows, as before,
immediately upon the " Infusio Chrismae."
" Dominus et Salvator noster Jesus Christus
ap>;stclis suis pedes lavit : Ego tibi pedes lavo,
ut et tu facias hospitibus et peregrinis, qui ad
te venerint. Hoc si feceris habebis vitam aeter-
nam in saecula saeculorum. Amen."' In yet a
thii'd Gallican sacramentarj' (Mabillon, Mus. Ital.
tom. i. and Martene, De A. E. R. tom. i. p. 64)
the same rite is noticed, but is placed after the
clothing with the " Vestis Candida," instead of
immediately before as in the two earlier MSS. ;
and there is a slight variation in the terms of
the collect prescribed. From two treatises of
doubtful authenticity attributed to St. Ambrose
{De Sacram. lib. iii. c. 1 and De Myster. c. 6),
it has been inferred that the rite was in use at
Milan. In the first of the two passages the
writer, whoever he was, mentions that the rite
in question was not of Roman usage. No traces
of it are now to be found in the Ambrosian
ritual. Allusions to a similar rite after baptism,
occurring in the works of St. Augustine, are
not, as might be thought, a proof of a similar
usage in the African Church. They occur in a
sermon {Detemfore 160) which on other grounds
had been judged not to be St. Augustine's, but
to have been composed by Caesarius Archbp. of
Aries (t540). He quotes the words of a Gal-
lican missal still extant (Martene, De A. E. R.
p. 64): " Secundum quod ipsis in baptismo dic-
tum est, Hospitum pedes lavent," &c. The
48th canon of the Council of Illiberis, forbidding
the practice (neque pedes eorum [qui bapti- .
zantur] lavandi sunt a sacerdotibus vel clericis),
marks probably a previous attempt to introduce
the observance in some parts of Spain, in imita-
tion of the usage elsewhere existing. No traces
of the rite ai'e now anywhere to be found in con-
nection with the administration of baptism. But
a ceremonial, similar in its origin, in which the
BAPTISM
Pope takes part, forms one ot' the observances of
the Hoi}- Week at Rome to this day.
IV. At vhat times Baptism u-as administered.
§ 68. In the Apostolic Age no special times
were appointed for the administration of bap-
tism, this being determined by the vary-
ing circumstances consequent, in the nature
of things, on the first establishment of the
faith. The first administration of Christian
baptism, properly so called, was on the first
Christian Pentecost (Acts ii.), when some
3000 persons gladly receiving the words of
Peter were at once baptized on the same day
(vcr. 41). The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts viii.),
wheu Philip, taking occasion from the prophecy
of Isaiah (cap. liii.), had taught him the glad
tidings of Jesus, was straightway baptized in
water by the way side. The jailor at Philippi
(Acts xvi.), when the word of the Lord had
been spoken unto him (ver. 32) by Paul and
Silas, was baptized vith all his household while
it was night (vei-. 33 compared with vei-. 25).
And neither in Scripture nor in any of the ear-
lier Christian writers before Tertullian, is any
trace to be found of the setting apart of any
special season as more suited than others for the
administration. This greater liberty of the
Apostolic times is often alluded to by early
fathers, when dissuading men from the indefinite
deferring of baptism under pretext of observing
the fixed times" appointed by the Church for its
more solemn administration.
§ 69. Special seasons spoken of b;/ Tertullian.
The first mention of any particular season as
being set apart for solemn administration of bap-
tism, is found in Tertullian {de Bapt. c. sis.)
writing about the close of the 2nd century.
" Pascha " {i. e. Easter), he says, " oflers a more
solemn season for baptism, for then was fulfilled
the Passion of the Lord into which we are bap-
tized .... And afterward Pentecost " (('. e. the
whole period from Easter to the day of Pente-
cost) "' is a lengthened time for the preparation
of the waters (ordinandis aquis). Therein was
the Resurrection of the Lord celebrated among
the disciples, and the grace of the Holy Spirit
bestowed, and the hope of the advent of the
Lord suggested." But in mentioning these as
times when baptism was administered with more
than usual solemnity, he is careful to add, that
"every day is the Lord's .... no hour, no
time, unsuitable for baptism ; the solemnity may
08 less, but in the grace given there is no diver-
sity." Other references to these two periods,
or one of them, as specially observed for the
solemn administration of baptism, will be found
in St. Jerome, St. Gregory Nazianz., St. Chry-
sostom, and other writers both in East and West.
§ 70. B ifjtism at Epiphani/. Beside the two
seasons of Easter and Pentecost, there were not
a few churches in which the Epiphany festival
was observed in the same way. Towards the
close of the 4th century, Siricius Bishop of
Home stated (Epist. ad Himerium, Labbe, Concil.
t. ii. p. 1018), that all Churches agreed with
that of Rome in an exclusive observance of
Easter and Pentecost. But in this he was mis-
taken. Many Eastern Churches, and not a few
in the West, which by origin or by subsequent
intercourse came under Eastern influence, ob-
served Epiphany (traditionally the time of our
BAPTISM
165
Lord's baptism in Jordan) as a season for solemn
administration of baptism. We find evidences
of this in the churches of Cappadocia (St. Greg.
Nazianz. Orat. si. fxlvw ra (po'To), at Antioch,
but before St. Chrysostom's time (this by in-
ference from a comparison of St. Chrysostom's
Catechesis I. ad Illuminandos ; Migne, t. ii. p.
268 ; De Baptismo Christi, ibid. p. 433, seqq. ;
and Horn. HI. in Ephes. i. ibid. t. xi. p. 25); at
Jerusalem (lypicum S. Sabae, quoted by Valesius
on Theodoret. Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 27 ; and the
Itinerariuin, Antonini Martyris) ; in Africa
(Victor Uticensis, Be Fersec. Vandal, lib. ii. in-
ferred from his mention of baptism when " appro-
pinquabat jam futurus dies .... Kalendarum
Februarium ") ; in Spain and Sicily (Siricius ad
Hiiuerium, already referred to, and Leo, ad Epis-
copos Siciliae, Labbe, Concil. t. iii. p. 1297) ; in
Gaul (see Martene, de A. E. E. lib. i. cap. i. p.
2) ; in Ireland (St. Patricii .... Si/nodi, Ca-
nones, &c., ed, T. P. Villanuova, Dublini 1835 ;
Wilkins, Concilia, p. 26, can. xix. These canons
are of late date in their present form, but pre-
serve some genuine traditions).
§ 71. Other days were observed in some
churches. Thus we hear of " Natalitia Christi,"
or Christmas, in Spain and in Gaul (see Martene,
as above), and of Festivals of Apostles and
Martyrs, in Spain (Siricius ad Himerium'), in
Campania, Samnium, and . Picenum (Leo M.
Epist. 136), and of the Festival of St. John
Baptist (Gregor. Turon. Hist. Franc, cap. 9).
All days were allowable for the more private
administration in cases of pressing necessity from
sickness or other causes.
§ 72. Roman usige, however, w^as much more
strict in this particular than that of other
Western Churches. And with the zeal for ritual
uniformity which has ever been characteristic of
that Church (Gregory the Great a notable ex-
ception), her bishops, and a series of councils
more or less under Roman influence, made re-
peated efibrts to confine the solemn administration
to the two seasons of Easter and Pentecost.
§ 73. Papal decrees to this effect, directed to
churches of the Roman obedience, are those of
Siricius (385-398), in his epistle (Labbe, Concil. ii.
p. 1018) to Himerius, Bishop of Tarraco, in
Spain; of Leo the Great (440-461), writing to
the bishops of Sicily (Labbe, Concil. iii. p. 1297);
of Gelasius (492-496), to the bishops of Lucania ;
Gregoiy II. (715-731) to the clergy and people
of Thuringia, and Nicolas I. in his J.esponsa ad
Bulgaros, cap. 69. It is curious to find the same
Roman tradition seeking to assert itself in England
many centuries later, in the face of a superstitious
belief on the part of some that it was perilous to
have children baptised at those times. So we
learn from the language of Otto, Cardinal Legate
at the Council of London, a. 1237 ("NonnuUi in
Anglia periculum suspicantur si praefatis diebus
pueri baptizentur." Wilkins, Concil. p. 650).
§ 74. Councils. Identical in effect with the
decrees last quoted are the canons of a series of
provincial councils, extending from the 0th to
the 13th century. The earliest of these is the
Council of Gerunda, in Hispania Tarraconensis,
a. 517. With this agree the Councils of Autis-
siodurum (Auxerre), a. 578 ; of Moguntia (Ma}'-
ence), a. 813, can. 4, and again, a. 847, can. 3;
of Paris (Parisiense vi. a. 829, part 1. cm. 7);
i of Meaux (Meldcuse, a. 84.5); of Worms (Woima-
BAPTISM
tiense, a. 868, can. 1) ; of Tribiir, or Teuver,
near May ence (Triburiense, a. 895, can. 12); of
liouen ( Rothomagense, a. 1072, can. 23) ; of
Winchester (Wintoniense, a, 1074, can. 7); of
London (Londinense, a. 1237).
§ 75. Imi.erial and otiier authorities were not
wanting from time to time to enforce a practice
which popes and provincial councils were thus
continually enacting. The capitularies of Charle-
magne, a. 804, direct "ut nuUus baptizare prae-
sumat nisi in Pascha et Pentecosten, excepto
infirmo." To the same effect are the capitularia
collected by Benedictus Levita (lib. 1, n. 171).
" Ut baptismus non fiat nisi statutis temporibus
id est Pascha et Pentecosten, nisi iufirmitas inter-
oesserit." And lib. ii. n. 171 : " Ut nullus bapti-
zare praesumat nisi per duo tempora, id est vigilia
Paschae et vigilia Pentecostes, praeter mortis
periculum." Bishops sometimes made this ob-
servance matter of special injunction to the clergy
at their ordination (St. Hildephonsus Ve Cogn.
Baptism!, lib. i. c. 108; Rodulfi Archiepisc. Bitu-
ricensis Capitular, n. 20 ; Ratherii Veronensis
Episcopi Synodica, apud Martene, Spicilegium,
torn, ii.), or desired parish priests to enforce this
duty upon their people from the pulpit (Otto,
Cardinalis, apud Wilkins, Concilia, p. 650).
§ 76. Later usage. — The limitation of baptism
to one or two special periods in the year was of
advantage in the first four centuries, or there-
abouts, when the baptism of adults, requiring
previous instruction and preparation, was still of
prevailing usage. But this limitation no longer
served any important end, when under the changed
circumstances of the church the baptism of adults
was rare and exceptional. And accordingly these
restrictions have long ceased to be observed in
churches both of the East and of the West.
Places of administering Baptism.
§ 77. Originally no limitation of place was
observed. Water by the roadside (Acts viii. 36-
38), private houses (Acts ix. 18), or a prison
(Acts xvi. 29, 30), were all made use of for the
purpose. And in sub-apostolic times we find
proof of the same freedom from all limitation.
See Justin Mai-tyr, quoted above, § 7 ; Clementis
Eecog. lib. iv. c. 32, and lib. vi. c. 15; Tertullian
de Bapt. c. 4. To the same effect are the tradi-
tionary stories, in early Hagiologies, of baptisms
performed in private houses, in prisons, in the
public road. See the lives of St. Laurentius
(Surii Vit. Sand, die 23 Julii), of St. Apollinaris
(iiiiil. die 10 August), and of the Deacon Cyriacus
((•/-/(/. die 16 Jan.). It is not till the close of the
.'ird century that we meet with any mention of
baptisteries properly so called, and under the
name " baptisterium " (See the story of St. Cyri-
acus apud Suriam, die 16 Jan.). [Baptistery.]
Baptism, by whom administered.
§ 78. In the first fice centuries, or there-
abouts, the rule and the practice of the Church
was, that the solemn celebration of baptism,
whether at Epiphany, Easter, or Pentecost, should
be presided over by the bishop. The earliest
authorities bearing upon this subject are, St.
Ignatius, ad Smyrn. cap. 8 ; Tertullian dc Bapt.
c. 17 ; Consttt. Apost. lib. iii. cap. xi. (bishops
and presbyters to baptize, deacons being in at-
tendance upon them) ; St. Gregor. Nyssen. Orat.
xl. (Paris, Morell, fol. 1630, tom. i. p. 656) where
BAPTISM
I baptism by bishops and presbyters is spoken of
Council of llliberis, a. 313, can. 77, decreeing
that if a deacon baptise any one, without either
bishop or presbyter, the sacrament must be "com-
pleted" afterwards by the benediction of the
bishop ; St. Jerome, adv. Lucifer, c. 4 (saying
that neither Presbyter nor deacon have the right
of baptising without direction from the bishop,
though even laymen are frequently allowed to
baptise if necessity so require). In the 5th and
6th centuries we find at one time (Gelasii Papae
Kpist. ad univ. episc. and Isidor. Hispal. Off. Eccl.
lib. ii. c. 24), a declaration that bishops and pres-
byters are the only proper administrators (cases
of necessity excepted); at another (Concil. Hispal.
ii. a. 619, can. 7), the vindication of the supreme
right of bishops in this matter, in depreciation
of that of presbyters. Of the practice of the
Eastern Churches at this time we find an indi-
cation in a letter written by the people of Edessa
at the time of the Council of Chalcedon, a. 451,
and inserted among its Acta. In it they beg that
Abas, their bishop, will return to them as soon
as possible, on account of the approaching Easter
Festival, his presence being required for the
instruction of the catechumens, and for those who
are found worthy to receive holy baptism. More
remarkable is a somewhat similar letter (quoted
by Martene Be A. E. R. tom. i. p. 7), in which
certain of the clergy in Italy write to Constanti-
nople, begging that the emperor will allow
Dacius, bishop of Milan, to i-eturn to his diocese
after an absence of fifteen or sixteen years, giving
as a reason that almost all the bishops custom-
arily ordained by the Bishop of Milan were now
dead, and an immense multitude of people died
witnout baptism (quia cum pene omnes episcopi,
quos ordinare solet, .... mortui sint, im-
mensa populi multitude sine baptismo moritur).
It is worthy of note in connection with this that
from the time of St. Ambrose to that of Cardinal
Borromeo, if not later, the traditions of the
Church of Milan have maintained in a variety of
ways the special office of the bishop in the admi-
nistration of baptism. Paulinus, writing (circ.
420) the life of St. Ambrose, says that St.
Ambrose had with his own hands baptised more
persons than five succeeding bishops. And in
the Caeremoniale Ambrosianum, published by
Cardinal Borromeo (Martene, p. 7), it is stated
that the archbishop administered baptism solemnly
twice in the year, at Easter and at Pentecost,
and also at other times throughout the year in
the event of any adults, converted from unbeliefj
being presented for baptism.
§ 79. In later centuries. The provision last
mentioned will of itself serve to suggest why it
was that as time went on the personal action of
the bishop, as the recognised administrator of
baptism, became gradually less and less ; while
that of presbyters, deacons, and even of clergy
of the minor orders, was continually increasing.
From the time when the baptism of adults be-
came the exception rather than the prevailing
rule, and when, from the wider extent of the
Church, the number of the children brought to
baptism was continually increasing, the older
practice of the Church gradually changed. It
was revived at a later time by missionary bishops,
such as our own countryman St. Bonifece in
Germany, or St. Otto of Bamberg in Pomerania
(_Hist. S. Bonifacii and Hist. S. Ottonis, lib, ii.
BAPTISM
c. 19, quoted by Maiteue De Ant. Ecrl. Bit. lib. i.
cap. i. art. iii.). But with exceptions such as
these last, exceptions which prove the rule,
the tendency in most Churches, from about
the clcse of the 5th century, was to make
the administration of baptism of less prominent
importance; and the part taken by the bishop
himself became gradually less and less. In the
Gregorian Sacramentary, not the bishop, but
presbyters, are spoken of as being in a special
sense the ministers of baptism (ministri baptismi).
And even at the more solemn ceremonies of the
Easter Baptism at Rome and elsewhere, the
bishop merely inaugurated the ceremony by
baptising a few himself, leaving the rest to
presbyters, to deacons, or if need were to acolytes.
{Ordo Romanus apud Mabillon Mus. Ital. t. ii.,
and Martene De A. E, B. t. i. p. 8, col. 2.)
§ 80. Lay Baptism. Tertullian (de hapt. cap.
17) and St. Jerome (adv. Lucif. cap. 4 ; see above,
§ 78) say, in efiect, that for a layman to baptise
is not contrary to essential Christian principles,
though contrary to ecclesiastical order. And
such practically has been the judgment of the
Church in all later times, forbidding lay baptism
as a rule, but recognising it in cases of necessity.
See as to this the Council of Illiberis, a. 313,
can. 38. In late mediaeval times the practice of
lay baptism became very common. See, as illus-
trating English usage in this matter, the Council
of Durham (between the years 1217 and 1222;
in Wilkins, Concil. p. 575) and the Council of
Oxford, a. 1222 (ibid. p. 59-i).
§ 81. Baptism by Women. The question
whether women may lawfully baptise is first
adverted to by Tertullian. Nothing can well be
stronger than his language, diluted though it be
by some later writers into the assertion that
women may not "publicly baptise in the church.".
After saying (de bapt. cap. 17) that in cases of
perilous necessity laymen should not hesitate to
give baptism, he goes on to say that women,
though they took upon themselves to teach,
would scarcely, with all their presumption,
attempt to create a right to administer baptism,
unless indeed some strange beast arose like to
one that formerly had been. That former one
sought to do away with baptism ; some successor
might perhaps seek to confer baptism herself.
Compare De Virgin, veland. cap. 9, and De
Praescript. cap. 41 . The Apostolical Constitutions,
lib. iii. cap. 9 ; Epiphanius, Haeres. 70 ; and the
Fourth Council of Carthage, a. 398, canon 20
(" Mulier, quamvis docta et sancta, viros in con-
ventu docere, vel aliquos baptizare, non prae-
sumat "), are all to the same effect. Isidore of
Hispalais referred to (by Augusti, Denim, p. 115)
as saying that persons baptised by wonven are not
to be rebaptised. And Joannes Moschus (Pratwii
Spirituale, cap. 3) says that it is contrary to the
canons for women to baptise, yet makes an ex-
ception for ca.ses of the last extremity. Even as
late as the 12th century .we find Hugo de S.
Victore speaks of it as still with some a disputed
question whether baptism by women was valid.
§ 82. Baptism by Heretics. The question of
the validity or otherwise of baptism by heretics
is one which was forced on the attention of the
Church in the 3rd century by the Donatist Schism.
The dissension thence arising between St. Cyprian
(supported by all the African bisho]is and by
several of the Eastern Churches) and Steplicii
BAPTISM
167
Bishop of Rome, is on many grounds of great
importance to early Church history. But this
lies beyond the scope of the present article. The
final settlement of the question was based upon
the principle that the unworthiness of the minis-
trant cannot mar the act of God, or as was said,
that the wickedness of the sower affects not the
vitality of the seed. Hence the question of re-
baptising or otherwise was for the most part
determined simply by the question whether the
essential elements of baptism were wanting or
no, viz. : water and the words prescribed by our
Lord. If these were employed the baptism was
regarded as valid, though irregular, and the
person so baptised was admitted into communion,
if on other grounds found worthy, after impo-
sition of the hands of the bishop.
§ 83. Baptism by Pagans and Jews, and excom-
municate persons, has been held to fell under the
same rule as that last stated. But opinions have
not been altogether at one upon this point. See
the authorities quoted by Martene, De A. E. B.
lib. i. cap. 1, art. iii.
§ 84. Bapjtism administered in sport. Perhaps
the strongest illustration of the feeling of anti-
quity in this matter is afforded by the story told
by Socrates (Hist. Ecc. lib. ii. c. 16) and by
Ruffinus (Hist. Ecc. lib. i. c. 14). When Atha-
nasius was a boy, so the story is told, he was
playing with some young companions on the
shore at Alexandria. The bishop, Alexander by
name, happened to be looking on from a distance
as they played, and observed, to his astonishment,
that they were imitating the ceremonial of
baptism, Athanasius acting as " boy-bishop," to
anticipate a phrase of well-known Mediaeval
usage. "On diligent inquiry," we translate now
the words of Ruffinus, " both from those who
were said to have been baptised, as to what they
had been asked and what they had replied (the
i-mpooTTjffets and the a-KOKpirrei^, above, § 43),
and from him also who had put the baptismal
questions, when the bishop found that all things
had been duly performed according to the ob-
servances of religion, he conferred with his clergy
in council, and is said to have decided to this
effect, that, as water had been poured upon these
persons after the interrogations and responses
had been duly made, their baptism ought not to
be repeated, but only be made complete by tlie
customary sacerdotal acts (adimplere ea quae a
sacerdotibus mos est). Doubts have been raised
as to whether such an occurrence ever actually
took place ; but whether the story be true or no
it serves equally to illustrate the feeling of the
Church at the time the story was first told.
§ 85. Baptism self-administered. To make this
subject complete, it may perhaps be added that
on one occasion the question arose whether bap-
tism self-administered was valid. The question
was decided in the negative by Pope Innocent 111.
on the ground that there is an essential distinction
of person between the baptiser and the baptised.
The Council of Nismes (a. 1283) embodied this
decision in one of their canons: "Si quis se ipsum
baptizaverit talem non esse baptizatum ecclesia
judicabit."
With lohat matter Baptism was administered.
§ 86. Of water as the material element. Water
from natural associations has ever been associated
with ideas of life in the minds of most cultivated
168
BAPTISM
nations. And to Heathens (Tertullian. de hapt.
c. 5), as well as to Jews, it was associated not
in thouglit only, but in actual ceremonial usage,
with ideas of religious purification. This was the
material element employed in the Baptism of our
Lord, this that was united in mention by Him
with the Name of the Spirit, when speaking
(.John iii.) of the gift of a new spiritual birth.
And this accordingly from the first Christian
Pentecost (Acts ii.) to this time, has been re-
garded in all parts of Christendom and at all
times as determined by divine appointment to
be the material element in the administration of
Baptism. The few exceptions to this statement
which require notice are the following.
§ 87. Baptism by fire. Philastrius of Brescia
(De Haeres. n. viii. apud Biblioth. Patr. Galland.
torn. vii. p. 489), and St. Augustine quoting him
as an authority {De Haeres. cap. lix. BB. torn,
viii. p. 20 s. 7), speak of Seleucus and Hermas as
founders of a Sect of which one characteristic
was their maintaining the only true baptism to
be " Spiritu et igni." And in an anonymous
Treatise on Heretical Baptism we read of some
who, by what means is not known, produced an
appearance of fire on the baptismal water, iu
order to complete what they thought necessary
for Christian Baptism. And so again Irenaeus
and Clement of Alexandria speak of certain
heretics (Carpocratians and Heraclians) who
branded a mark upon the ears of their disciples,
this being in their eyes the true sealing (ff(ppayi-
Cetv) witii the Holy'Chost.
§ 88. Baptising with wine and the like. The
authority of a bishop of Rome, Siricius (a. 384
to 389), or according to others of Stephanus II.
or III., has been claimed for the assertion, that
Baptism iu wine is valid though not to be allowed
except in cases of the last necessity. The facts
concerning this, much disputed by Koman Ritu-
alists, may be determined by comparison of the
following authorities : Antoninus Augustinus de
emendatione Gratiani, p. 200. Baluzius, JS'otae in
Anton. August, p. 431. Martene de Ant. Ecc.
Hit. lib. i. cap. i. Art. xiv. Bertini de Sacrament.
Vindob. 1774, p. 507. Harduini Dissert, de bap-
tism/) in vino. Others mingled wine with water
and were condemned {Excerpta Egberti, a. 750
in Wilkins, Concil. p. 104) for so doing.
§ 89. Baptism idth sand. In one case, for
which Joannes Moschus is the earliest authority,
the question arose not as a mere abstract dispu-
tation, but in reference to an actual matter of
fact, whether baptism in sand be legitimate or
no. In the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
a certain Jew was travelling in company with
some Christians through a dry and desert coim-
try, when he was seized with grievous illness ;
and being apparentl}' at the point of death
begged his companions to baptize him. They
replied that there was neither priest nor water
at hand, and that without these baptism could
not be had. " But being earnestly adjured not to
refuse him, they divested the man, and sprinkled
him three times with sand instead of water,
saying that they baptized him in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." Upon this, (so the story proceeds) his
strength was miraculously restored, and on their
return, Dionysius, then Bishop of Alexandria,
being consulted on the subject, decided " Bapti-
zatum esse Judaeum si modo aqua denuo per-
BAPTISM
funderetur," in other words that the only thing
wanting to his Baptism was the element of water,
with which he was to be " perfusus." Autho-
rities for this will be found in Joannes Moschus,
Pratum Spirituale, cap. 176 (De la Bigne, Bi-
blioth. Patr. torn. ii. pp. 1132, 1133), in Nice-
phorus {Hist. Ecc. lib. iii. c. 37) ; and the story
is told in detail by the Magdeburg Centuriators,
who are quoted by Bingham {Antiq. book xi. c.
2, § 5).
§ 90. Baptism with milk. Benedictus Abbas
Petroburgensis (in Gehtis Henrici II. ad ann.
1171, edit. Hearne tom. i. p. 38) states that a
custom prevailed in the early Irish Church of
baptizing the children of the rich in milk. Oc-
casional references are found elsewhere to such a
practice. See Michelet, Histoire de France, vol.
i. p. 263. Note.
§ 91. Figurative expressions. Phrases such as
" the baptism of blood,' meaning martyrdom ;
" Baptism with fire," meaning either martyrdom
(as in Euseb. H. E. lib. vi. c. 4) or gifts of the
Holy Spirit (as St. Cyril of Jerusalem, iu three
different passages) ; the Baptism of Tears, mean-
ing Repentance (as in Isidore of Seville and
others), are merely metaphorical expressions,
l)caring indeed upon primitive Doctrine, but not
in any way upon primitive Ritual to which this
article is limited.
Modes of administering Baptism (by Immersion,
Affusion, Aspersion).
§ 92. Tmmersion. Passages already quoted in
this article will have sufficed to show that the
ordinary mode of Baptism in primitive times, at
least in the case of adults, was that the Cate-
chumen should descend into a Font of water
(whether natural or artificial), and while stand-
ing therein dip the head thrice under the water.
See §§ 11, 18, 49.
§ 93. Affusion. Yet there are not wanting
indications both in literature and in art of an-
other usage, viz., that of the- bishop or other
administrant pouring water out of the hand, or
fi-om some small vessel, on the head of the bap-
tized. Thus we meet more than once in Latin
writers with the expression " perfusus " applied
to tlie Catechumen (see §§ 28 and 89 ; and aqua
infusa § 84). And it is to be noted that the
word ^aTTTi^eiv, which is used in Greek Ritual
in speaking of the act of the ministrant, might
be used with perfect propriety of such a pouring
of water upon the head and body as that now in
question. One common mode of bathing among
the ancients was the pouring of water from
vessels over the bodv, as we may see in ancient
liepressntation of Bajt m f 1 1 11 i
•\ ISP pamtings (compaie OMd's descii])tion of
Diana's bath, where her attendants '" urnis capa-
cibus undam Eifundunt "). And it is remarkable
that in almost all the earliest representations of
BAPTISM
Baptism that have been preserved to us, this is
the special act represented. Such appears to be
the representation in the fresco from the Ceme-
tery of St. Calixtus here engraved.
In the picture of Our Lord's Baptism in the
Baptistery of St. John at Ravenna (Ciampini
Vet. Mun. tom. i. Tab. Ix.x.) dating probably
from about the year 450, our Lord is standing
in the Jordan, the water reaching to the waist,
and the Baptist is standing near, as if upon the
bank, and pouring water from a shell, or from
some small vessel, upon the head of our Lord.
And there is a similar representation, varying,
however, in some of its details, in the Church of
S. Maria in Cosmedin, also at Ravenna (Ciam-
pini Vet. Mon. i. Tab. xxiii.), the Mosaics of
which are said to date from the year 553 a.d.
And it would seem probable on a review of all
the evidence, that in primitive times, while adult
Baptism was still of prevailing usage, the two
modes hitherto described were combined. The
dipping of the head under water took place, in
some churches certainly, so we find clearly
stated, during the final Interrogations. And
where this was the case we may infer that the
" Aflusio " or " Perfusio," the pouring on of
water by the Ministrant, took place during the
pronunciation of the formula. This hypothesis
of a double _ use explains some difficulties in
ancient authors, more particularly in the Trea-
tise De Sacramentis attributed to St. Ambrose,
and in the Egyptian Ritual already referred to.
And it.= probability is confirmed by the fact that
in the Armenian Order of Baptism even to this
day the double usage of Immersion and Affusion
is maintained. There the actual administration
is described as follows : The priest asks the child's
name, and on hearing it, lets the child down
into the water, saying, " This N. servant of God,
who is come from the state of childhood (or
from the state of a Catechumen) to Baptism, is
baptized in the Name of the Father and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." .... While say-
ing this the priest buries the child, (or Catechu-
men) three times in the icater, as a figure of
Christ's three days' burial. Then taking the
child out of the water he thrice pours a handful
of icater on his head, saying, " As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. Hallelujah. As many of you as have
been enlightened by the Father, the" Holy Spirit
is put into you. Hallelujah." (From an unpub-
lished translation by the Rev. S. C. Malan.)
§ 94. Affusion and Aspersion in clinic Baptism.
In one case of very common occurrence in early
times, viz., that of the Baptism of the sick under
fear of approaching death, the administration
was necessarily by Affusion or by Aspersion. And
in the middle of the third century we find the
question formally raised, by one of the African
bishops,- whether persons so baptized (clinici, or
as they were also called grabatarii, baptized on a
sick-bed) could be regarded as " legitimi Chris-
tiani," could be supposed, in other words, to have
received baptism in a legitimate and regular
manner. The manner in which Cyprian replies
to the enquiry (Cypriani Epist Ixxvi. al. Ixix.
ad Magnum) shows that no formal decision had,
to his knowledge, ever been given previously on
the question. He judges of the question sub-
mitted to him to the best of his own ability
(quantum concipit mediocritas nostra), and cx-
BAPTISM
109
presses an opinion that the mode in which t!ie
water was applied was a matter of minor im-
portance, provided that Faith was not wanting
on the part both of Ministrant and Recipient.
In the ninth century Walafrid Strabo speaks of
Baptism by Affusion, " desuper fundendo," as ex-
ceptional only {De Eeh. Eccl. cap. 26). Not till
the 13th century (Augusti Denkwiirdig. cap. ix. §
11) do we find proof that Affusion or Aspersion
had become the rule of the Western Church.
The older practice is maintained in the East to
this day.
Age at ixhich Baptism iras conferred. (Infant
and Adult Baptism.)
§ 95. Infant Baptism. St. Irenaeus. Direct
evidence of the practice of Infant Baptism first
occurs in St. Irenaeus, who was born, probably, in
the year 97 A. D., and who had sat at the feet of
Polycarp, the disciple of St. John. In his book
against Heresies (lib. ii. cap. 39 al. 22) he says
that our Lord came (into the world) in order
that through Himself He might save all men,
infants, and little ones, and children and youths
and elders, even all who through Him are horn
again unto God. No unprejudiced interpreter,
acquainted with the forms of speech habitually
employed by Irenaeus himself, and by the early
fathers generally, will doubt that when Irenaeus
thus speaks of infants and little ones, as well as
others of more mature age, being " born again
unto God," he refers to the fact of their being
baptized. (For Irenaeus' own usage see particu-
larly adv. Ilaer. lib. i. c. 18 ets i^apv-qaiv rov
^a-Kriffjxaros TrfS els dehu avayevyi^fffois, and cap.
xix., where authority to baptise is described as
" potestas regenerationis in Deum.")
§ 96. Tertullian was of full age before the
death of Irenaeus, and in knowledge of antiquity,
and of the usages of the Church, was second to
none then living. And he gives absolutely con-
clusive proof that Baptism of Infants was a com-
mon practice of the Church in his own time,
towards the close of the second century. With
characteristic freedom he expresses his own
opinion that the practice might wisely be
altered, stating reasons for his opinion (de Bapt.
c. 18). But he nowhere says one word to im-
ply that the practice of his own contemporaries
was an innovation upon the earlier usage of the
Church.
§ 97. Origen. We have testimony no less
decisive from Origen as to what was the tradi-
tionary practice of the more Eastern Churches.
He was born probably in the year 186 A.D. and
was a disciple of Clemens Alex, and an inheritor
of his great learning. His language in several
passages shows not only that Infant Baptism was
a recognised practice of the Church i-n his own
day, but that in his belief (and no man knew
more of antiquity) had been equally so from the
time of the Apostles. See his Horn. viii. on Le-
viticus (Oberthur t. vi. p. 137) and Horn., xiv.
on St. Luke (t. xiii. p. 335), where he argues
that infants must have original sin, "else why
are they baptized ? " — and his comment in Ei>.
ad Rom. lib. v. c. vi. (ecclesia ab apostolis tradi-
tionem accepit etiam parvulis baptismum dare).
§ 98. Other early evidence, but indirect and
inferential only, has by some been cited (Bing-
ham (J. A. book xi. ch. iv. §§ vi. vii.) from Cle-
ment <if Rome, and from Justin Martyr. More
170
BAPTISM
conclusive than these is an expression of Clemens
Alex, in the second centmy, when {Po.edaq. lib.
iii. c. 11) he speaks of tS>v i^ vSarwu avacnTwfii-
vwv TraiSi'coj', tlie children that are drawn u]) from
out of the water, iu a context which shows clearly
that it is of Baptism that he speaks.
§ 99. Jewish Prosehjte Baptism. — In order to
complete the subject of the evidence for Infant
Baptism, it may be well to refer to the argu-
ments based on the analogy of Christian Baptism
botli to the Proselyte Baptism of the Jews,
which was given to infants as well as to adults,
and to the rite of circumcision, administered on
the 8th day after birth, and only in exceptional
cases to adults. For the first of these, the Bap-
tism of Proselytes, the argument from analogy
is exceedingly strong, on the assumption that
the practice in question really existed before the
Apostolic age. Lightfoot (on Matt. iii. and John
iii.) and many other Hebraists assume the pre-
existence of the Jewish rite without doubt. To
the present writer there appear to be the
strongest grounds for this opinion. But among
Continental scholars at the present time the
prevailing opinion appears to be opposed to that
of Lightfoot. A summary of the arguments
on either side, and full references to the best
authorities, will be found in Carpzovius Anno-
tationes in T. Goodwini Mosen et Aaronem. Fran-
cofurti, 4, 1748. See particularly the Notes
on Lib. i. cap. iii. § vii. For additional authori-
ties see the Bibliographia Antiquaria of T. A.
Fabricius, p. 385.
§ 100. The Analogy of Circumcision (adminis-
tered as this was in infancy) with Christian
Baptism, is recognised both in Scripture (Col. 2.
ii.) and in early Christian writers, as Justin
Mart3'r, Dud. cum Ti-yp. lud. ; St. Irenaeus adv.
Huer. lib. iv. c. xxx. (this, however, open to dis-
pute). In St. Cyprian's time so close was this
analogy considered by some as to cause doubt
whether in view of " eiglith day circumcision "
any day earlier than the eighth were allowable
for Christian Baptism (Cypriani Epist. lix.). St.
Gregory Nazianz. expressly appeals to this as
analogous to the practice of Infant Baptism
{Orat. xl. de Bapt. p. 658).
§ 101. Adult Baptism. The genei-al conclu-
sion, resulting from an impartial investigation
of all the evidence now available, appears to the
present writer to be, that in the first four cen-
turies of Christian History adult baptism was,
from a variety of concurrent causes, the pre-
vailing practice. Yet that during the same
period infants were always baptised without
delay if in apparent danger of death. But in
the absence of such danger their baptism was
deferred to the time of solemn baptism held at
Epiphany, Easter, or Pentecost. And it is pro-
bable that in many cases Christian parents may
have shared, and have acted on, the opinion ex-
pressed by Tertullian in the second century, and
l)y Gregory Nazianz. in the fourth, and thought
it well to defer the baptism of children, cases
of grave sickness excepted, till they were able to
make answer on their own behalf to the inter-
rogations of the ba})tismal I'ite (see Gregor. Naz.,
Orat. xl. He urges the baptism of infants in
case of danr/cr, and yet shortly after advises the
deferring their baptism in other cases till they
were three years old). In tlie year 450 or there-
abouts, we find evidence that in Svria, if not
BAPTISM
elsewhere, the baptism of infants was regarded
as not allowable only but matter of absolute
duty. (St. Isaac the Great in Assemani Bibl.
Oriental, t. i. 221. " Let the lambs of our flock
be sealed from the first, that the Robber may
see the mark impressed (§ 4) upon their bodies
and tremble. Let not a child that is without
the seal (§ 4) suck the milk of a mother that
hath been baptized .... Let the children of
the kingdom be carried, from the womb, to
baptism.")
V. Baptism as represented in Ancient Art.
§ 102. Direct JRepresentations. Of two modes
in which we find baptism represented in ancient
art, the first, that of direct representation, is
confined to a very limited number of examples.
The earliest, probably, is one of those engraved
for this article (see § 93) from the cemetery
of St. Calixtus at Rome, and believed by De Rossi
to be of the second century. It serves to illus-
trate what has been said above of what appears
to have been one customary mode of administer-
ing the rite, viz., by pouring water from the
hand, or from a small vessel held in the hand,
upon a person standing in shallow water. Two
Mosaics, at Ravenna and at Rome, in which the
baptism of our Lord is represented, have been
already described (see § 93). Another similar
representation is painted in fresco on the walls
of a chamber in the cemetery of Pontianus,
originally used as a baptistery ; and yet another
in the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin, at
Ravenna (the Mosaic said to be of the 6th cen-
tury), figured in Ciampini, Vet. Monum. i. p. 78.
Millin {Midi de la France) has engraved {Atlas,
PL Ixv. 11) a peculiar representation of this sub-
ject from a sarcophagus. With this may be
compared that on the diptych of Milan,. figured
and described by Bugati {Memorie di S. Celso, p.
282), and reproduced in facsimile by the Arundel
Society. No other such representations are
known to the present writer, dating certainly from
any period antecedent to 800 a.d. But two very
curious representations were engraved by Ciam-
pinus in his Monum^nta Vetera (tom. i. p. 16)
of Sarcophagi, to which he attributed a very
great antiquity. In the first is represented the
baptism of a king and queen (their rank being
indicated by a Royal crown on the head of each),
and these he supposes to represent Agilulfus and
his wife Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards,
baptized, as he thinks, in the year 590. On the
other sarcophagus a somewhat similar scene is
represented. A man somewhat advanced in
years kneels to receive baptism, which is admi-
nistered by affusion only, water being poured
upon his head from a small vessel, which has
been filled evidently from one of larger size (not
unlike the upper part of a modern English font)
which stands near. Ciampinus supposes (but on
very slight grounds) that the event represented
is the baptism of Arrichius, second Duke of
Beneveutum, a contemporary of Gregory the
Great, circ. 591 A.D. It is remarkable that in
both these scenes the ministrant of the baptism
has the distinctive dress of a layman, while all
the other men represented are designated by an
ecclesiastical ora monastic dress. The real date
of these sarcophagi must, however, be regarded
as extremely uncertain. To the 12tli century
belongs a fresco m the church of St. Lorenzo,
BAPTISM
at Rome (ibid. torn. i. Tab. vi.), vepresentiug the
baptism of St. Romanus, by St. Laurentius. This
embodies the tradition alluded to by Walafrid
Strabo in the 9th century. " Notandum non
solum mergendo verum etiam desuper fundendo
multos baptizatos fuisse, et adhuc posse ita
baptizari si necessitas sit, sicuti in passione B.
Laurentii quendam urceo allato legimus bap-
tizatum. Hoc etiam solet evenire cum provec-
tiorum granditas corporum in minoribus vasis
homiiieni tingi non patitur." The baptism of
two adults by St. Paul, represented in the same
plate (from a chapel in the church of S. Puden-
tiana) is probably of the same date. To the
same period is to be assigned the representation
of the imaginary baptism of Constantine by St.
Silvester, formerly on the fagade of St. John
Lateran, at Rome (Ciampini deSac. Aedif. tab. ii.
fig. 4). The picture engraved below is from a
BAPTISM
171
sea, into the light of the heavenly habitation."
And to come somewhat nearer home we find
St. Patrick and his nephew Secundinus fre-
quently employing the same language in re-
ference to the missionary work in which they
were engaged. The former says in his " Con-
fession," " Valde debitor sum Deo qui mihi
tantam gratiam dedit ut populi multi per me in
Deum renascerentur et postmodum consum-
marentur .... Idcirco oportet quidem bene et
diligenter piscari, sicut Domiuus praemonet
dicens, venite post me, faciam vos fieri piscatores
hominum." And Secundinus, speaking of St.
Patrick :—
" Dominus ilium elpgit ut doceret barbaraa
Nationes, et piscaretur per doetrinae retia,
Ut de saeculo credentes traheret ad gratiam,
Dominumque sequerentursedem ad aetheream."
Baptismal Ceremouy, from a Poutiflcal of the Ninth Ceutury,
I'niitifical of the 9th century, now in the S.
Minerva Library at Rome. It represents the
li.ijjtism of an infant and of an adult, and it is
rLMuarkable that the latter
ucaring a tunic in the font,
sit ion to the conclusions drawn from literar , _
'■\ i'lence, noticed above in § 48. The en- I
uiMving in § 43 is from the same WS., or "i
lather from an exact copy in the collection
"f Pope Clement XL, now in the Royal
Library at Windsoi*.
§ 103. Sumhoiical Eepresentation. From
a very early period indeed, the practice ob-
tained of representing baptism symbolically
under a figure due, probably, in the first
instance, to an expression recorded in Mark
i. 17 ("I will make you fishers of men"),
and to the parable wherein our Lord com-
|iares the heavenly kingdom to a net en-
closing fish both bad and good. A well-
known passage of Tertullian will suffice for
illustration of this symbolical meaning.
" Nos pisciculi secundum piscem nostrum
in aquis nascimur, nee nisi in aquis per-
inanendo salvi sumus." We smaller fishes,
alter the example of our Ichthus, are born
Ml water, and only by continuing in the
u iter do we remain safe {de Bapt. c. 1).
\\ '• find the same figure in a passage of St.
Hilary (/ft Matthacuin, ed i5en. torn. lii.
I'- ')79), in which he says that in tin;
wonts recorded in Matt. iv. 19, "The future
ua.rk of the Apostles is set forth, in draw-
in:4 forth men, like fish from out of the
This symbol of the fish is of frequent occurrence
in the Roman catacombs, and in various
parts of France. The writer has observed in
manuscripts, and in ecclesiastical monuments
of various kinds at Autun, Clermont Ferrand,
and at Paris, a peculiar application of this
symbol, which has not hitherto, to his know-
ledge, been either described or explained.
Two fishes are represented in close proxi-
mity, attached the one to the other by a
string which issues from the mouth of one,
and attaches to the head of the other. This
is in all probability a Christian adaptation
of an old Celtic symbol familiar to the
Gauls in Pagan times. Their God of Elo-
quence was represented with a golden cord
issuing from his mouth, and entering the
ear of one to whom he is supposed to speak.
And so in the Christian symbolism of Gaul
at a later period. He who spake as never man
spake, is represented under the well-known figure
of an IX0TC or Fish, drawing to Him by^the
power of His Word one who is himself (in the
epresented as j language of the Autun inscription) IX0rOc
This is in oppo- OTPANIOT TENOC, the offspring of that liea-
Capilal from lUo Cbun h of St. Ocrmalii cics Pn
172
BAPTISM
venly Fish. This represent<ation may be seen,
over the western doors of the cathedral at Autuu,
in a MS. Bible (11th century probably) in the
public libi-ary at Clermont Ferrand, and on the
capital of a column in the baptistery of the
church of St. Germain des Pre's at Paris. There
also appears a modification of the fish symbol,
which is probably unique in its kind. Figures are
r.epresented which are half-man and half-psh, with
their hands clasped upon a fish, which is rising
upwards through the water, as shown in the
accompanying woodcut. The church in which
this capital is still to be seen is, even in its pre-
sent state, the oldest in Paris. When it was
built in the 11th or 12th century in place of a
church, originally built six centuries before, the
capitals of many of the older columns were pre-
served, and emploj'ed in the construction of the
present building. And on these, as on other
grounds which cannot now be stated in detail,
there can be little doubt that this representation
dates, in origin at least, from the very earliest
period of the Gallican Church. (See Marriott's
Testimony of the Catacombs, 4'C; p- 1-42, sq.)
YI. Literature.
§ 104. — It only i-emains to mention briefly the
chief sources of information upon the various
matters treated in this article. Details as to the
primitive ritual of baptism are to be sought in
the various authors and treatises already quoted
or referred to. See particularly §§ 27 to 40.
Among modern authors, who have treated of the
Kitual of Baptism, may be mentioned Hugo
Menardus, whose notes on the sacramentary of
St. Gregory the Great abound with instruction
upon this as upon other matters of which he
treats. The treatise of Edmond Martene, Dc
Antiqiiis Ecclesiae Eitibus, part i., is full of infor-
mation as to Western usages, and gives, what is
of especial value, a large collection of the earliest
" Ordines Baptismi." But he shows little ac-
quaintance with Greek authors, and his references
to them, and occasionally to Latin writers, are
uot always exact. Goar, in his Euchologion
Graecorum, gives full details of the latei' Greek
rites, ami his notes upon these, illustrating
modern usage from the older writers, are
valuable. Bingham (Antiquities, book xi.) does
not appear to have investigated the early ritual
of baptism very thoroughly, but the later
editions of his treatise are of use as containing
in the notes full citations from the original text
of the various authors whom he quotes. The
Treatise of Augusti, Archciolo;jie der Taufe, form-
ing vol. vii. of his Denkwiirdigkeiten aus der
ChristUcher Archdologie, contains more, and more
exact information, than any of the older writers
on the subject. And it is also valuable as giving
lists of writers who have treated either of bap-
tism generally, or of special questions in con-
nection with it. Binterim has given {Die Vor-
■ ziijlichstcn Denkwiirdigkeiten der Christ- Catho-
lischen Kirclie, vol. i. pt. 1) a fair account of the
ceremonies of Baptism, with abundant citations ;
and an essay on Baptism in Wine, Milk, and Sand
{Denkw. ii. pt. i., pp. 2-34). [W. B. M.
BAPTISM, Angel of. Tertulliau in his
treatise de Baptismo, cc. 5 and 6, speaks of an
angel who rs present at baptism (baptismi
arbiter), and who prepares the waters of the
BAPTISM
font (aquis in salutem hominis temperandis adest
— aquis mtervenit), and under whose auspices
men are prepared, by the cleansing of the font,
for the following gift of the Holy Spirit (in aqua
emundati sub angelo Spiritui Sancto praepara-
mur). His language is not inconsistent with a
belief that this may have been a mere individual
speculation of his own, rather than a doctrine
generally accepted in his time. No parallel to
this language has hitherto, as far as the writer
knows, been alleged from any other early writers.
But in more than one of the early '• Ordines
Baptismi " there will be found expressions, de-
rived, in all probability, from this very passage of
TertuUian. See the Article Baptism, § 29,
where there is the same allusion as in TertuUian
to the angel at Bethesda (angelum aquis inter-
venire si novum videtur, exemplum futuri prae-
cucurrit. Piscinam Bethesdam angelus inter-
veniens commovebat de Bapt. c. 5). With
this compare the " Collectio " of the Gotho-Gal-
lican Missal. " Descendat super has aquas angelus
benedictionis tuae," and again " qui Bethesdae
aquas angelo medicante procuras ange-
lum pietatis tuae his sacris fontibus adesse dig-
nare." So too in the Liber Sacramentorum of
Gelasius Papa (Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Bit. tom.
i. p. 66), " Super has aquas angelum sanctitatis
emittas." [W. B. M.]
BAPTISM, Iteration of. CAyaBairrtCuy.
Denuo bapt iz are ; baptismum iterare.) It has
always been held, as matter of theory, that
baptism once really conferred can never be really
repeated. And yet, from the 2nd century to the
present time, questions concerning the repetition
of baptism have continuall}^ arisen, and have been
determined upon other considerations than that
of the abstract principle just stated. Yet the
principle itself was always maintained. Those
who rebaptized heretics did so, as St. Cyril
Hieros. says (Ca^ecA. i. ol a'lpeTiKol ai/aPaTTTi^ovTai
iireiSr) to irpSrepov ovk i)v ^aTTTifffia), on the
ground that the former (reputed) baptism was
not really baptism. And baptism administered
in cases where the feet of previous baptism was
open to doubt, was defended in terms which imply
that any conscious or intended repetition of
baptism would be matter for grave condemnation.
(Non potest in iterationis crimen devenire, quod
factum esse omnino nescitur. Leo M. Epist.
xxxvii. ad Leon. Ravenn. Labbe t. iii. p. 1326).
But the abstract principle was wholly inadequate
to the solution of the more difficult question,
" what constitutes valid baptism ? "
§ 2. Baptism by Heretics. — Among the ques-
tions thus left open the most important was
whether baptism given by heretics and schis-
matics was to be regarded as valid or no. This
question came prominently before the Church in
connection with the Donatist controversy in the
3rd century. St. Cyprian, supported by many
bishops in the East, maintained that baptism
given "outside the Church" (extra ecclesiam),
i.e. by schismatics or by excommunicated here-
tics, was not to be accounted valid, and was
therefore to be repeated (in theory, given for
the first time), in the case of penitents seeking
reconciliation with the Church. Similar ques-
tions had to be determined in respect of the
Marcionites, Paulinianists, Arians, Eunomians,
and others.
S 3. Ultimate decision. — The ultimate result of
BAPTISM
the controversy concerning rebaptization was the
acceptance, in the West absolutely, but with
more of reserve in the East, of the principle that
the validity of the Sacrament depended upon ad-
ministration in accordance with Christ's Institu-
tion (i. e. with water and the " Evangelic words ")
without regard to the orthodoxy or otherwise of
the administrator. This doctrine finds decisive
expression in the language of St. Augustine
{contra I'etil. de unico baptismo, c. 3). "Si de
ipsa Trinitatis unitate dissentientem haereticum
iuvenlo, et tamen evangelica et ecclesiastica regula
baptizatum, intellectum hominis corrigo non
Dei violo sacramentum." And again in speak-
ing of baptism given by Marcion, " Si evangelicis
verbis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti
Marcion baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat
sacramentum, quamvis ejus fides sub eisdem ver-
bis aliud opinautis quam catholica Veritas docet
non esset integra, sed fabulosis falsitatibus in-
quinata." The Council of Aries (a. 448) for the
reasons stated by St. Augustine, allowed the
baptism of the Bonosiani as valid, but rejected
that of the Photinians. And the precedents thus
established have been followed in the West, ever
since, with scai-cely any exceptions. See Baptism
§§ 82 to 89. But in the Eastern Churches the
difference of tendency indicated in what has been
already said may clearly be traced in other cases.
St. Cyril liieros., as we have already seen, says
simply that " Heretics are rebaptized," as their
baptism is not really such. And with this ac-
cords the language of the Apostolic Canon, quoted
by Photius {Syntagma Canonum : Spicil. Eoni. A.
Mai, torn. vii.). "If a bishop or presbyter re-
baptize one who has true baptism (rhv kuto,
aXrjOeiav exovra ^oLTrricrfxa), or if he refuse to
rebaptize one who has been defiled " («'. e. by
a pretended baptism — compare St. Athanasius
quoted below) " by the ungodly, let him be re-
garded as making mockery of the Cross and of
the Death of Christ, and not distinguishing
priests {l^pias) from pretended priests." With
this St. Athanasius agrees both iu doctrine and in
expression. The Arians, he says {Orat. ii. cont.
Ariaii. BB. tom. i. p. 510) are in peril as to the
fulness of the Sacrament itself. " The baptism
they bestow must be (&\\o av eit) — tailing short
of absolute assertion) alien from the truth, even
though out of regard to what is written" [in
Holy Scripture] "they make pretence of naming
the Father and the Son." And again to the
same effect (ibid. § 43) speaking of other heretical
bodies which do 'but utter the divine names (in
the Formula of Baptism), but without a right
intention, and without salutary faith, the water
that they bestow is, he says, " without profit
(a\ucnT6Aes), being destitute of true godliness, so
that he who is sprinkled {pavTi^ofievov) by them
is rather defiled in ungodliness than redeemed
with the ransom of Christ." This aKua-ne\es,
"without profit," reminds us of the recurrent
formula of St. Augustine, in speaking of heretical
baptism, when followed by repentance and re-
ception into the Church. In heresy men may
have baptism, though they have not (per qiiod
utile est) its beneficial effect. On repentance and
conversion, " prodesse incipit ad salutem," that
baptism " begins to avail unto salvation," which
before availed only to condemnation {Be Baptismo
c. Donat. lib. i. cap. xii., lib. iv. capp. iv. and
KV., lib. V. capp. V. and viii., and xviii. &c.).
BAPTISTEEY
173
A tone like that of Athanasius may be traced in
the decisions of various Eastern Councils quoted
by Photius. After the " Canon of the Apostles "
already quoted, there follows Canon 29 of the
Council of Nicaea, which orders the rebaptizing of
the followers of Paulinus. It has been conjec-
tured (by St. Augustine first, De Haeres. c. 44)
that this was because of some defect in the
formula which they employed. This is very pro-
bable, but there is nothing in the language of the
canon to imply this. Forty years later, at the
Council of Laodicea, a distinction was made.
Canon 78 directs that Novatians or Photinians
and Quartodecimans are to be received back on
conversion, with chrism and imposition of hands,
and then adds, "Moreover we rebaptize, as
heathens ('EAA^ray) Manichaeans, Valentinians,
and Marcionists." See further Canons on the
same subject in the Syntagma Canonum of
Photius.
§ 4. Bebaptizing in case of doubt. — The second
class of cases involving the question of iteration
of baptism was that of children whose baptism
was matter of doubt. This question was formally
bi-ought before a Synod at Carthage (the Fifth,
a. 425) in reference to children redeemed from
slavery, and who could neither themselves recol-
lect, nor had witnesses to testify, whether or no
they had been baptized. It was determined
"absque uUo scrupulo eos esse baptizandos ne
ista trepidatio eos faciat sacramentorum purga-
tione privari." This canon was re-enacted by
Cone. Carthag. vi. a. 525 : and in the East, in
almost identical terms, by the Quinisext Council
(Constantinople a. 691). It appears again in col-
lections of mediaeval canons, and amongst othei's
in those of Theodore, Archbp. of Canterbury, in
the Excerpta of Egbei't of York, and the Syntagma
Canonum of Photius. The hypothetical form of
baptism, " //"thou art not already baptized." &c.,
was apparently unknown till the 8th century.
The earliest example of it is found in the Statuta
of St. Boniface, Archbp. of Mayence (Martene
De Bit. Antiq. Ecd. t. i. p. '59). "Si do
aliquibus dubium sit utrum sint baptlzati absque
ullo scrupulo baptizentur : his tamen verbis
praemissis : non te rebaptizo, sed si nondum es
baptizatus ego te baptizo in nomine Patris et
Filii et Spiritus Sancti." Cases of doubt arising
from other causes have been noticed under
Baptism, §§ 80 to 89. [W. B. M.]
BAPTIST, NATIVITY OF. [St. John
Baptist, Festivals of.]
BAPTISTERY (Lat. Baptisterium, Greek
BawTicTTiipiov, also Domus illuminationis, (pccri-
arripLov), the building or chamber set apart for
the celebration of the sacrament of baptism.
The receptacle for the water was called in Latin
" piscina," in Greek " KoXv/x^ridpa," and more
rarely by some other names, as virov6fxos, lava-
crum, natatoria. Besides the receptacle for the
water a baptistery was furnished with an altar,
for the practice existed from a very early period
until the 10th century, and perhaps even later
(v. Martene, De Antiq'. Ecd. Bit. t. i. p. 153), of
allowing the newly baptized, even if infants, to
partake of the Eucharist. In the earliest ages
the administration of baptism was confined to
the principal church of the diocese ; and this
practice still exists at Florence, Pisa, and else-
where in Italy. Pope Marcellus (a.d. 304-309)
174
BAPTISTERY
is said, in the Ia'k Pontif., to have appointed
twenty-five "tituli" in Rome "as though (quasi)
dioceses, on account of the baptism and penance
of many." Many passages in the Lib. Tontif.
shew that baptisteries existed attached to many
of the minor churches down to the 9th century,
and it is probable that every parish church in
Rome had its baptistery. The existence of many
baptisteries in one city was, it would seem, al-
most or quite peculiar to Rome.
As, during the earlier centuries, immersion,
either alone or accompanied by aspersion, and
not merely sprinkling, was deemed to be the pro-
per mode of administering the rite (v. Martene,
De Antiq. Eccl. Bit. t. i. p. 135), a large recep-
tacle for water was required; and as Easter,
Pentecost and the Epiphany were seasons specially
appointed for baptisms, and large crowds of
people were therefore attendant at those feasts,
it became necessary to pro-inde a spacious apart-
ment in which the sacrament might be adminis-
tered. When on Holy Saturday St. John Chry-
sostom was attacked, three thousand men had
been baptized, and many more, both men and
women, fled, who were still waiting to undergo
baptism (Chrysostom, Epist. ad Innocent. ; 0pp.
iii. 518, ed. Montfaucon ; Palladius, Vita Chry-
sost. c. 9). The presence of the " piscina," or re-
ceptacle for water would have been inconvenient
in a church, and all the space of even a very large
edifice would be required, at the great festivals
above mentioned, by those attending the solemn
services of those occasions. From these circum-
stances the practice of constructing a building
distinct from the church or basilica very natu-
rally arose, and though we have no existing
baptisteiy which can be referred to any period
earlier than the 4th century, nor indeed any dis-
tinct account of the building of one before the
time of Constantine the Great, it seems highly
probable that where in Asia or elsewhere churches
had been built at earlier periods they were' ac-
companied by baptisteries. In the earliest ages
a river or a pool may have served as a place of
baptism, and indeed the spot in the Jordan whete
our Saviour was baptized by St. John is said to
have been lined with marble and resorted to by
crowds on the eve of the Epiphany (v. Martigny,
J)ict. des Antiq. Chret., art. Baftistere).
That Easter was still in the 8th centurv
chosen as a peculiar season for baptism at Rome
is shewn by a passage in the.Zj6. Pontif. in the
life of Hadrian I. (772-795). This Pope, we are
told, repaired the Claudian Aqueduct, which
supplied the baths of the Lqteran palace and the
baptistery of the church, and from which, it is
added, many churches were supplied on the holy
day of Easter. Charles the Great, by a capitu-
lary of A.D. 804, ordered that baptisms should
take place only at Easter and Pentecost.
Passages in the writings of TertuUian {l)e
Coron. Mil. c. 3) and of Justin Martyr {A^wl
i. c. 61) shew that baptism was not administered
in the church, but that the place of baptism was
without it. Such places of baptism are believed
to have existed in the catacombs at Rome ; in
one of these, in a cemetery known as the Ostri-
anum. nOt for from the church of St. Agnes on
the Via Nomentana, St. Peter is traditionally
said to have baptized. The spot was known as
" ad Nymphas S. Petri," or " fons S. Petri "
(v. De Rossi, Boma So't. Crist., t. i. p. 189).
BAPTISTERY
Boiaetti believed that he had discovered more
than one of these baptisteries ; but Padre Marchi
says expressly (lion, delle Arti Crist. Prim., &c.,
p. 222) that the only " battisterio cimiteriale "
known at the time that he wrote (1844) was
that in the cemetery of St. Pontianus. This
(engraved in PI. xlii. of Marchi's work) consists
of a small cistern or " piscina " supplied by a
current of water. The piscina would appear to
be between 3 and 4 feet deep and about 6 feet
across ; it is approached by a flight of steps,
between the base of which and the water is
a level space about 5 feet wide, on which the
priest or bishop may ha\-e stood while performing
the rite. There seems to be no trace of an altar,
nor, indeed, any fit place for one. Above the
water is a painting representing the baptism of
Our Lord, and on another side, and partly hidden
by the water, a painting of a cross adorned with
gems and throwing out leaves and flowers from
its stem. Two lighted candelabra rest upon the
arms of the cross, and an alpha and an omega
hang suspended from them by chains. [See
A and <a, p. 1.]
The lighted candelabra are no doubt in allusion
to the divine illumination of the soul attendant
on baptism, whence baptisteries were often called
(paiTiiTTTipia, as has been remarked above.-
This baptistery has been noticed at some
length, as although the date of the pamtings
which decorate it cannot be fixed with any cer-
tainty, it is perhaps one of the earliest examples
now remaining of a chamber set apart fcr the
performance of this rite.
Of the construction of baptisteries in the time
of Constantine the Great we have abundant proof.
The anonymous pilgrim of Bordeaux, who visited
Jerusalem c. A.D. 334 when speaking of the basilica
which Constantine had just built at the Sepulchre
of our Lord says, that by its side were reservoirs
for water, and behind it a bath where children
were " washed " (balneum a tergo ubi infantes
lavantur), that is, no doubt, baptized. Eusebius
evidently includes a baptistery aniong the Exedrae
of the church of Paulinus at Tyre, and Paulinus
of Nola {Ep. 12, ad Severum") says that Severus
built a baptistery between two basilicas. Cyril
of Jerusalem speaks of the baptistery as having
a porch or anteroom, irpoavKios oIkos, where the
catechumens made their renunciation of Satan
and Confession of Faith, and an iffwTepos oIkos,
the inner room where the ceremony of baptism
was performed. This shows that a well-con-
sidered plan for such buildings then existed.
Constantine is usually said to have built the
baptistery of the Lateran, and the Lib. Pontif.
contains a long detail of the magnificence with
which he decorated it. Niebuhr understands by
the account, which is not without obscurity, that
the walls of the baptistery were covered with
porphyiy and that the piscina was of silver, five
feet in height ; the water is said to have flowed
into this receptacle from seven stags of silver
and a lamb of gold. On the right hand of the
lamb stood an image of the Saviour, of silver,
five feet high, and on the left one of St. John the
Baptist, of^the same size and of the same metal.
In the middle stood columns of porphyry bearing
a " phiala " of gold, weighing 52 lbs., in which
the Paschal candle was placed. As, however, the
expression which Niebuhr interprets to mean
the building or baptistery, is "fons sanctus," and
BAPTISTERY
the expression " fons baptisterii " occurs imme-
diately .afterwards, it may be doubtful whether
the meaning of the passage is not that the build-
ing (*.('. the baptistery) was constructed of or
covered with porphyry, but that the piscina which
it contained was of porphyry covered with silver.
Niebuhr and several other writers have ques-
tioned whether this part of the Lib. Fontif. can
be relied on as historical ; the erection of images
of the Saviour and of St. John the Baptist is cer-
tainly not in accordance with the practice of the
Church at that period, and, in conjunction with
other statements of a doubtful nature, must throw
considerable doubt upon the trustworthiness of
the account of the buildings and donations of
Constantine which the book contains. There is,
however, no doubt but that Constantine erected
a basilica witliin the Lateran palace, or at least
converts 1 sinno hall of the palace into a church,
and a baptistery in all probability formed a part
of the group of ecclesiastical buildings. It is
generally believed that the existing baptistery
owes its form (though it has undergone many
alterations and been much added to), to Pope
Sixtus III. (a.D. 432-440). He is said by the
compiler of the Li'). Fontif. to have added, as a
decoration to the " fons," the porphjiy columns
which Constantine had collected, ind maible
'' epistylia ;" by which we should under-
stand not only the capitals but the aichi-
ti'aves, as those now there are no doubt
antique, and have inscribed upon them six-
teen verses referring to baptism (punted
in the Fesch. v. Fom., bd. iii. abt. 1 )
which are doubtless those which the Li >
Fontif. alludes to, though by a coiruption
of the text they are said to ha\e bei u
placed not on the architraves but on tliL
columns.
The building as it now exists is an octi-
gon about 62 feet in diameter, in the centie
of which are eight columns of poiphvi}
carrying antique capitals and architiaves,
lesser columns are placed on the aichi-
traves, and support the roof. This octa-
gon is entered from a large portico with
apsidal ends which may answer to the
■KpoavXios oJkos mentioned by C}iil ot
Jerusalem.
Hiibsch (Alt. Christ. Kirchcn) asseits
that the walling as well of the octagon a->
of the portico to a height of about 50 teet beai s
the stamp of the Constantinian period.
Another very remarkable building at Rome is
no doubt of the period of Constantine, but it is
uncertain whether it is to be regarded as a bap-
tistery or as a sepulchral church. This is the
circular church close to St. Agnes, on the Via
Nomentana, known as Sta. Costanza. The Lib.
Pontif. (in vita S. Silvestri) says that Constantine
built " basilicam Sanctae Martyris Agnetis " and
" baptisterium in eodem loco ;" and, as no trace
of any other baptistery has been found near the
place, this church has been usually taken to be
the baptistery mentioned in the above-quoted
book. No trace of a " piscina " has however, it
would seem, been noticed; the building was
certainly the place of sepulture of one or more
I members of the Imperial family ; and it appears
! doubtful whether at that period it would have
4 j been deemed right to bury in a basilica or a
i baptistery any person, of rank however exalted.
BAPTISTERY
175
A building very similar to this, the circular
church at Nocera dei Pagani, known as Sta. Maria
Maggiore, was no doubt constructed for a bap-
tistery, as it possesses a large and apparently-
original piscina. It is a circle about 80 feet in
diameter, with an apse of about three-fourths of
a circle in plan, projecting from one side. Thirty
columns arranged, as at Sta. Costanza, in pairs,
support arches on which rests a dome, and the
aisle has barrel vaults. The piscina in the centre
is circular and about 20 feet in diameter and
nearly 5 feet deep ; within are two steps or
benches running round the whole circumference,
and there is a raised wall or parapet round it,
octagonal on the exterior. This parapet was
decorated on the outside with slabs of marble
bearing incised patterns, and upon it stood eight
columns, which perhaps once supported a canopy;
three only of these columns now remain (v.
Hiibsch, Alt. Christ. Kirchen, PI. xvii. xviii.). The
date of this building is not known from any his-
torical data, but it may perhaps be attributed
with probability to the 5th century.
Another baptistery, which, though probably
considerably older than that at Nocera, has the
piscina arranged in a very similar manner, is
that at Aquileia. It is now in luius, but the
annexed woodcut copied tiom the engiaxing in
Baptistci \ at Aquilei%
the Mtttelalterliche Kunstdenlmale des QSstet t ei-
chischen Kaiser staates, by Heider and Eitelberger
(bd. i. s. 119), will give a good idea of the manner
in which a baptistery at the period was arranged.
The piscina is hexagonal, and would seem to have
one step and a low paraj)et wall on the outside,
and two steps in the inside. The authors of
the above-quoted work, however, state that the
number of steps is five, meaning probably that
any one ascending from the floor and descending
to the bottom of the piscina would mount two
steps and descend three. In the eastern angle
of the octagon is a small apse.
This baptistery is entered by a vaulted passage-
like building in three compartments, which bears
the name of " Chiesa dei Pagani," and probably
served as a place of assemblage and instruction
for the catechumens before they were admitted
to baptism. It appears to have had an upper
stfii'v, which may have been set apart for women,
as tliere is ground for believing that such a
17G
BAPTISTERY
separation of the sexes was practised in the bap-
tisteries or the apartments connected with them.
No one of the baptisteries of this period has
come down to the present time in a more un-
altered condition than that of the Cathedral of
Ravenna, known, like many other baptisteries in
Italy, as S. Giovanni in Foute.
It was, if not built, at least renovated and
decorated by Neon, archbishop from A.D. 425 to
430, as an inscription (v. Ciampini, Vet. Mon.
t. i. cap. XXV.) formerly existing within it testi-
fied, lliibsch (^Alt. Christ. Kirchen) expresses an
opinion that the decorations now existing may be
considered as for the most part, if not entirely,
BAPTISTERY
the work of Neon. The occurrence of a mono-
gram, which may be read Maximianus (Arch-
bishop of Eavenna in the time of Justinian), of
an inscription in the mosaics, which appears to
refer to Theodoric the Great (Webb, Contin.
Eccles. p. 428), and very close similarity in the
patterns of the marble inlay on the walls to
those in St. Sophia's at Constantinople, and in
the Duomo at Parenzo, in Istria, lead to the con-
clusion that the work of decoration was only
gradually executed and not completed until the
middle of the 6th century.
As will be seen by the plan annexed, the build-
ing is an octagon, with two niches or apsos ; it
Baptistery at Kavenna (horizontal sections),
measures about 40 feet in diameter. Recent j This baptistery aflbrds one of the best examples
excavations have shewn that there were origin- of the internal decoration of tlie period, carried
ally four apses. In the centre is the piscina, | through the whole of a building, now existing in
i
Baptistery at Kavenna (Elevation).
which, according to Hiibsch, is probably original.
The semi-circular indentation in one side, in which
the priest stood while baptizing, is remarkable.
LA
9:/
I
Baptistery at Eavenna fVertical Section).
Europe; the architectural arrangement
understood from the elevation and the
The columns and arches are of marble,
will be
section,
and the
BAPTISTERY
lower part of the walls is lined with the same
material in long slabs ; above this are panels of
"opus sectile," marqueterie in porphyry, ser-
pentine, marbles of various colours, and brick.
Beneath the ai'ches carried by the upper range
of columns are figures of saints (?) executed in
stucco in low relief, as to the age of which there
is some ditfereuce of opinion. The dome is
covered with mosaic ; in the centre the baptism
of our Lord is represented, round this the twelve
Apostles, and below them a range of eight com-
partments, in each of these are alternately two
cathedrae placed under canopies with an altar
between them, and two tombs of an altar form
st.inding under canopies, between which is what
seems to represent a slab or low tombstone lying
on the ground, over which hangs a mass of drapery
supported on ornamental posts. The meaning
of these representations has not been clearly
explained ; the cathedrae and altars have been
supposed to symbolize a council, but this leaves
unexplained the signification of the tombs; the
altar-tombs appear to stand for tombs of confes-
sors or martyrs, as wreaths appear to crown them
and lilies or palm branches to spring from them;
the tombs over which the draperies hang are
thought by Ciampini (t. i. p. 178) to represent the
tombs of bishops. The intention may have been
to symbolize the whole Church, the cathedrae
standing for living bishops, the tombs for saints
and bishops deceased.
The church now called S. Maria in Cosmedin,
in Ravenna, was also once a baptistery, having
been built (it is believed) in the time of Theo-
doi'ic for the use of the Arians ; it is circular in-
ternally, octagonal externally, with a small round
ended apse projecting from one of the sides and
a loggia of three arches from another. It is co-
vered by a dome, on which are mosaics represent-
ing the baptism of our Lord and the twelve
Apostles. These are believed to be of later date
than the original building.
The baptistery of St. Sophia's, Constantinople,
which no doubt is that erected by Justinian, has
a portico or narthex, and is rectangular exter-
nally, with a rectangular projection containing
an apse ; internally it is octangular, with on the
ground-plan four niches (besides the apse) on
four of the sides ; the upper story is octangular,
with a large window in each side. It is placed
near the south-west angle of the cathedral, facing
■westwards (Salzenberg, Baudenkmale v. Constan-
tinopel, pi. vi.). ' At Parenzo, in Istria, the bap-
tistery stands in fi'ont of the duomo, and con-
nected with it by a square atrium, which last
position was one frequently adopted.
The preceding examples will give a sufficient
idea of the form, arrangements, and decorations
of baptisteries down to the 6th century. One
•curious example, which perhaps should be attri-
buted to the 7th, is the baptistery at Poitiers :
this is in plan an oblong, with an apse projecting
from one of the longer sides ; this apse is straight
lined, but not rectangular on the outside and
five-sided within. Two large arches in the end
walls make it probalde that niches existed en-
tered by them. A building of later date has
been added on the side opposite to the apse, so
,that the form of the original entrance cannot now
jbe determined. The piscina, nearly in the centre
i"f the oblong, is octagonal. The architectural
dccoiation is partly original and partly made up
CHRIST. ANT.
BAPTISTERY
177
from old materials ; what is original is rude, but
has something of a classical character (v. Gail-
habaud, Mon. A71C. et Mod., t. ii.).
The baptistery at Albenga, between Nice and
Genoa, is octangular externally, but within semi-
circular ; three rectangular niches are formed
in the thickness of the wall, and on the eighth
side was the entrance. It is roofed by a dome, in
the drum below which were tight windows,
which were filled with slabs oi' marble pierced in
patterns of circles and crosses. The vault of the
niche opposite the entrance and the wall at its
back have been covered with mosaic; the labarum,
doves, and a lamb can be distinguished. No re-
mains of the piscina are now to be ti-aced, but a
perfectly plain cylindrical font stands in one of
the niches. Those architectural details which
are original, e.g. the slabs in the windows, are
very rudely executed, and the building is pei-
haps not earlier than the 7th or even the 8th
century.
About A.D. 750, Cuthbert, archbishop of Can-
terbury, erected a church to tlie east of his
cathedral, and almost touching it, to serve as a
baptistery, and for other purposes (Edmer, Vita
S. Breiji-cini, Ang. Sac. t. ii. p. 186). It was
dedicated in honour of St. John the Baptist.
During the 8th and 9th centuries baptisteries
continued to be in full use in Italy, as we may
learn from the Lib. Pontif., where mention is
made of the building or rebuilding of five bap-
tisteries attached to churches in Rome, between
A.D. 772 and A.D. 816. In one of these cases,
that of S. Andrea Apostolo, rebuilt by Pope
Leo III. (795-816), we are told expressly that
the place was too small for the people who
came to baptism, and that the Pope therefore
built a circular baptistery "amiila largitate,"
that he also enlarged the "fons" and decorated
it with porphyry columns round about.
llartigny {Did. dcs Antiq. Chret.) expresses an
opinion that in France the practice of placing
the baptistery first in the portico and then in the
interior of the church, began in the 6th century;
but the passage in the Hist. Franc, of St. Gregory
of Tours (1. ii. chap, sxi.), to which he refers,
seems hardly sufficient to prove this statement.
St. Gregory himself states that he constructed a
baptistery " ad basilicam" (apparently of St. Per-
petuus, at Tours), and the baptistery at Poitiers
was evidently a separate building. The baptistery
at Fr<5jus, which according to Texier and Pullan
{By-:. Arch.) was built in 810, is also a detached
structure.
In Germany and Italy baptisteries were built
as detached structures down to a much later
date ; but this was not an invariable practice,
for in the plan for the church of St. Gall
[Church'], prej)ared in the beginning of the
9th century, there is no detached baptistery, but
a circular " fons," about six feet in diameter, in
the middle of the nave towards the west end of
the church, suri'ounded by a screen.
It has been seen that the earlier baptisteries
were, if not circular, octagonal; it is uncertain
whether these forms were adopted merely from
reasons of convenience, or as symbolical. The
circular form was that almost invariably adopted
for a sepulcliral chapel or memorial church, and
the immersions, with which the rite of baptism
was in the earlier centuries invariably performed,
were considered as typical of dying to the world.
N
178
BARBARA
The octagonal form is said to have been adopted
as typical of perfection.
The piscina was usually octagonal, but some-
times hexagonal, and sometimes circular. In
Lusitania, we are told by Gregory of Tours (Be
Gloria Martyrum, 1. i. c. 23), it was customarily
constructed of variegated marble in the form of
a cross.
Of baptisteries in Asia or Africa we have but
little information. Texier and Pullan (Byz. Arch.
p. 14) however state that small baptisteries are
frequently found adjoining ancient churches in
the East ; and Count de la Vogiie' has given a
drawing and plan of one at Deer-Seta, in Central
Syria (Arch. Civ. et Relig. en Syrie, &c. pi. 117),
of au hexagonal form, which would appear to be
of the 6th century. It has the peculiarity of
three doors, one in each of three contiguous sides ;
in the centre was an hexagonal piscina, with a
column at each angle.
Mr. Curzon (Monast. of the Levant, cap. 131)
describes as entered from the vestibule of the
church of the White Monastery (or Derr Abou
Shenood) in Egypt, a small chapel or baptistery,
25 feet long, arched with stone, with three niches
on each side, and a semicircular upper end, the
whole highly decorated with sculptured ornament
of very good style. This, as well as the adjacent
church, are said to have been built by order of
the Empress Helena.
Besides being used for baptisms, baptisteries
were used as places for assemblies. Cuthbert,
archbishop of Canterbury, is stated to have built
the baptistery mentioned above, in order that it
might serve for " baptisteria, examinationes
judiciorum," and also that the bodies of tlie
archbishops might be there buried (Anglia Sacra,
ii. 186).
This practice of burying in baptisteries, though
prohibited at an earlier period (as by the 14th
Canon of the Council of Auxerre in 578), was
common before burial in the church was allowed.
Many of the archbishops of Canterbury were
buried in the baptistery from the time of Cuth-
bert, who built it, until a.d. 1067, when it was
burnt. In the original entrance to the baptistery
at Albenga are two tombs in the fashion of the
" arcosolia " of the Roman catacombs, as early as
the 8th or 9th centuries.
Baptisteries appear to have been in the earlier
ages (at least in the West), almost always dedi-
cated under the invocation of St. John the
Baptist. [A. N.]
BARBARA, virgin, martp- in Tuscany, circ.
200 ; commemorated Deo. 16 (Mart. Horn. Vet.);
Dec. 4 (M. Hieron., Cal. Byzant.); Oct. 8 (Cal.
Annen.y [C]
BARBARIANS, BISHOPS FOR. In ordi-
nary cases the election of a bishop required the
consent or suftrage, not only of the clergy of the
diocese over which he was to preside, but of
the faithful laity also. This rule, however,
could obviously be applied only to countries
already Christian. When a bishop was to be
sent out to a distant or barbarous nation, it was
required by the Council of Chalcedon, Can. xxviii.,
that he should be ordained at Constantinople,
io which city, as the New R.ome, equal privi-
leges with "the Elder royal Eome," were now
to lie assigned. The Bishop of Tomi in Scythia,
is au instance of a missionary bishop thus or-
BARNABAS
daiued, and commissioned by the Patriarch of
Constantinople — the consent of the people to
whom he was sent to minister being, of necessity,
dispensed with. In the previous century it is re-
corded by the Church historians that Athanasius
ordained Frumentius at Alexandria to be Bishop
of the Ethiopians, when, as Bingham remarks, "No
one can imagine that he had the formal consent,
though he might have the presumptive approba-
tion of all his people." [D. B.]
BARCELONA, COUNCIL OF (Barci-
NONENSE Concilium), provincial. (1) a.d. 540,
of Sergius the metropolitan and six suffragans,
passed ten canons upon discipline (Labb. v. 378,
379).— (2) A.D. 599, Nov. 1, in the 14th year of
King Recared, under Asiaticus, metropolitan of
Tarragona, and eleven suffragans, against simony,
probably in compliance with the representations
of Gregory the Great (Baron, in an. 599, § 23,
fi'om Gregory's letters). It also forbad ordina-
tions per saltum ; and ordered, in the election of a
bishop, a choice by lot from two or three candi-
dates, to be nominated by the " clerus et plebs "
of the diocese, and presented to the metropolitan
and bishops (Labb. v. 1605, 1606). [A. W. H.]
BARCINONENSE CONCILIUM. [Bar-
celona, Council of.]
BARDINIANUS, martyr in Asia ; comme-
morated Sept. 25 (Mart. Hieron.). [C]
BARNABAS, ST., Legend and Festival
OF. There is a ti-adition that he became a
believer after witnessing the miracle wrought
by our Lord at the pool of Bethesda, and that
he was one of the seventy disciples. (Eusebius,
Hist. Eccl. i. 12, and ii. 1.) It is also said that
he was the first preacher of Christianity at
Rome, that he converted Clemens Romanus to
the faith and that he founded the churches of
Milan and Brescia. But these and other state-
ments about him may certainly be regarded as
unworthy of credit. There is however a general
agreement of testimony about the time, place
and cause of his death. From very early times,
in the Western as well as in the Eastern church,
he has had the credit of martyrdom. It is
believed that he was stoned to death by the
Jews of Salamis in Cyprus about the year 64
A.D. Tradition says that his death took place on
the 11th of June and that he was buried at a
short distance from the town of Salamis. No-
thing however seems to have been heard of his
tomb until about the year 478 A.D.
The discovery of his body is fully related in
the Eulogy of St. Barnabas, written by Alexander,
a monk of Cyprus, about the beginning of the
sixth century. After giving an account of the
martyrdom and burial of Barnabas, this writer
asserts that in consequeuce of the many mira-
culous cures that liad occurred in the neigh-
bourhood of the tomb the spot had been called
the "place of healing" (tSttos vyieias). But
the cause of these miracles was unknown to the
Cypriotes until the discovery was made in the
following way. Peter the Fuller, Patriarch of
Antioch,''a man who had been very successful in
creating dissensions, was endeavouring to bring
Cyprus" under his episcopal sway, on the plea
tliat the Word of God in the first instance was
carried from Antioch to Cyprus. The Cypriotes
resisted this claim on the ground that their
church had from the time of its founders been
BARTHOLOMEW
inilepemlent of the see of Antioch. Anthemius,
the Bishop of Cyprus, a timid and retiring pre-
late, was scarcely a match for an opponent so
able and experienced as Peter. But he was
encouraged by Barnabas himself who appeared
to him several times in a vision. At the saint's
bidding he searched a cave in the neighbourhood
of the TOTTos vyieias, and found a coffin con-
taining the body of Barnabas and a copy of St.
Matthew's Gospel. He proceeded to Constan-
tinople, where the dispute was heard before the
Emperor Zeno, and in support of his claim to
remain independent he announced that the body
of Barnabas had lately been discovered in his
diocese. On hearing this the emperor gave his
decision in favour of Anthemius, bade him send
at once to Cyprus for the copy of St. Matthew's
Gospel, and as soon as it arrived had it adorned
with gold and placed in the imperial palace.
After conferring great honours on Anthemius,
the emperor sent him back to Cyprus with
instructions to build a magnificent church in
honour of Barnabas neav the spot where the
body was found. This oraer was strictly carried
out, tho body was placed at the right hand of
the altar and the 11th of June consecrated to
the memory of the saint. {Acta Sanctorum :
Junii xi.)
However ready we may be to reject this
account of the finding of the body of Barnabas,
there is every reason to believe that in the
Eastern Church these events were the origin of
the festival. No church however was built to
the saint's memory at Constantinople. It is also
remarkable that from early times the day was
kept in the Eastern Church in honour of Bar-
tholomew as well as of Barnabas. When the
second saint's name was added is quite uncertain,
but there are good grounds for believing that
the day was originally sacred to Barnabas only.
In the Menologium Basilianum, edited by com-
mand of the Emperor Basil in the year 886 A.D.,
the day is tho joint festival of the two saints.
At what time it was first observed in the Western
Church is very doubtful. Papebrochius asserts
that the festival was not kept In Eastern earlier
than in Western Christendom, but he has not
proved this statement. The day occurs as the
Feast of Barnabas in the calendar of the Venerable
Bede, so that unless this be one of the additions
made after the author's death, we may conclude
that the day was observed in the Western
Church in the 8th century. It does not how-
ever occur in all the old service-books. In the
Martjirologium Bomanum it appears as the Fes-
tival of Barnabas only.
; The principal account of the ti-aditions con-
1 cerning Barnabas is the work above referred
! to, Alexandri Monachi Laudatlo in Apost.
\ Barnahani; in Migne's Patrol, Series Graeca,
'; vol. 87, col. 4087; Surius, Vitae Sanctorum,
j Janii si- [W. J. J.]
j BARTHOLOMEW, bishop ; commemorated
i with Pachomius, Taksas 11 - Dec. 7 {Gal.
; f'thiop.) [C]
! BARTHOLOMEW, ST., Legend and Fes-
' TIVAL OF. The New Testament tells us but
' little of this Apostle, and there is an equal
i absence of any great amount of early trust-
! worthy tradition. He is by some, with a great
' show of probability, identified with Nathanael,
BARTHOLOMEW
179
for the arguments as to which derived from
scripture, see DiCT. Bibl., under Bartholomkw,
Nathanael. It may be further remarked in
favour of the Identification that in such a matter
Eastern tradition is more to the point than
Western (considering, that is, the scene of this
Apostle's labours and martyrdom), and that the
former uniformly identifies Nathanael with Bar-
tholomew. For example, from the Armenian
and Chaldaean writers cited by Assemani {Bihl.
Or. vol. iii. part 2, p. 4), e.g. Ellas, bishop ot
Damascus, and Ebedjesu Sobensis, we may infer
that Nathanael was in those churches included
among the Apostles, and viewed as one with Bar-
tholomew ; in fact, Assemani remarks, " Bartho-
lomaeum cum Nathanaele confundunt Chaldaei "
(ibid. p. 5). Moreover in martyrologies and
calendars, both of Eastern and Western Churches,
the name of Bartholomew is of constant occur-
rence, while that of Nathanael is ordinarily
absent, which would be strange on the hypo-
thesis of a difference between the two. It must
be allowed, however, that the Egyptian and
Ethiopian Churches seem to identify Nathanael
with Simon the Canaanlte, for in their Meno-
logies and Calendars, edited by Job Ludolf
(Frankfort, 1691), there is no mention of Simon
the Canaanlte, but on July 10 is " Nathanael the
Canaanlte " (p. 3o). In Greek ]\fenologies also,
under the days April 22, May 10 is a similar
Identification, as also in the Russian Calendar for
the latter day.
The general account given by tradition of the
labours of this Apostle is to the effect that he
preached the gospel, using especially that by
St. Matthew, in India, where he suffered martyr-
dom by beheading, having been, according to some
writers, previously flayed (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. v.
10; Jerome, Be viris Illustr. 36, vol. ii. 651, ed.
Migne. Cf. also Ado's Lihellus de festiv. SS.
Apostolorum in Migne's Patrol. Lat. cxxiii. 185).
In the appendix De vitis Apostolorum to Sophro-
nius's Greek version of the De viris Illustribus,
allusion is made to the Apostle's mission 'lySoix
rots KaXoufiiuoLS evSaifxoffiv, which might pos-
sibly refer to Arabia Felix, and it is added that
he suffered in Albanopolis, a city, of Armenia
Major (Jerome, vol. ii. 722). The latter state-
ment is also found in several other writers (e.g.
Theodorus Studita and Nicetas Paphlago, -vide
infra: and the Martyrologies of Florus and
Rabanus), generally in the form that the Apostle
suffered through the machinations of the priests,
who stirred up Astyages brother to the king
Polymius whom Bartholomew had converted.
See further the Pseudo-Abdias's Acta of this
Apostle, published by Fabriclus (Godex Pseude-
pigrajohus Novi Testamenti, vol. i. pp. 341 seqq.).
The tenor of the tradition as to the disposi-
tion of the relics of St. Bartholomew is on the
whole consistent, though not altogether free from
difficulties. Theodorus Lector, a writer of the
sixth century, tells us {Gollectan. 2. In Magn.
Bihl. Pair. vol. vi. part 1, p. 505 ed. Col. Agr.
1618) that the Emperor Anastasius gave the
body of St. Bartholomew to the City ofDaras in
Mesopotamia, wlilch he had recently founded
(circa 507 A.D.). Wo next find that before tho
end of the sixth century, a translation had been
effected to the Lipari islands (cf. Greg. Turon.
De Gloria Martyrum, i. 33). Thence in 809
A.D. the relics were transferred to Beneventum,
N 2
i«0
BARTHOLOMEW
and finally in 983 A.D. to Rome, where they lie
m a tomb beneath the high altar in the church
of St. Bartholomew in the island in the Tiber
(See Ciampini, De Sacris Aedificiis &c., vol. iii.
pp. 58, 66, who refers to a temporary transference
of the relics to the Vatican Basilica in con-
sequence of an overflow of the Tiber during the
Episcopate of Paul IV.). For these statements
we may refer, in addition to the writers cited
above, to a panegyric of Theodoras Studita
(ob. 826 A.D.), translated into Latin by Anasta-
sius Bibliothecarius, and published in D'Achery's
Spicilegium (vol. iii. pp. 13 seqq.) ; to an oration
of a certain Joseph, possibly Joseph Hymno-
graphus, a contemporary of Theodorus Studita
{Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. v. pp. 43 seqq.) ;
and to a panegyric of Nicetas Paphlago (Com-
befis, Auctar. Nov. Patrum, i. p. 392).
It would seem that not before the eighth cen-
tury did the previously existing festival com-
memorating the collective body of the Apostles,
held upon the day after the "feast of St. Peter
and St. Paul, develops itself into festivals of
individual Apostles ; consequently it is in writers
of the eio-hth and ninth centuries that notices are
to be loolced for of a festival of St. Bartholomew,
which would appear to have originated with the
Eastern Church (for the notices in Latin writers
are later), probably with that of Constantinople.
Of this, indeed, the encomiastic orations of Theo-
dorus and Nicetas are evidence, and we further
have a direct statement on the part of the latter
(§ 2) to the effect that the festival of this Apostle
\vas then annually celebrated.
It will of course follow from what has been
said that in the more ancient Sacramentaries
(e. g. those of Gelasius and Gregory) in their
original form there is no trace of a festival of
this Apostle, nor indeed is there in any Latin
writer for a considerable time after their date.
As to the special day or days on which this
festival was held, very great diversity exists in
ancient Martvrologies and Calendars :— thus in
the Calendar 'of the Byzantine Church, we find
on June 11, " Bartholomew and Barnabas," while
on August 25 is the " Translation of Barnabas
the Apostle and Titus the Apostle : " the Arme-
nians held the feast on February 25 and December
8, as may be seen in the two Calendars given
bv Assemani {Bibl. Or. vol. iii. part 2, p. 645).
The Ethiopic or Abyssinian Church again com-
memorates St. Bartholomew on November 19
and June 17 (Ludolf pp. 11, 31). In the Arabian
Calendar the name occurs several times, some-
times alone, sometimes with the added title
martyr, and on November 15 and June 30, with
the addition Apostle (Selden, £>e Syncdriis Ve-
terum Ebraeorum, bk. iii. c. 15, pp. 228, 243, ed.
Amsterdam, 1679). It is explained in the Greek
metrical Ephenierides that the one day (June 11)
cominemorates the martyrdom Ij/SeKar?? ffTuv-
poiaav ificppova BapeoXonalou ; and the other
(August 2.^-.), the finding of the relics, ahf vUvv
f-AKa^L -Kiix-KTTi BapBoXoixaTe e<pevpov—on which
latter day several Calendars associate him with
Barnabas", c. g. in the Pictorial Moscow Calendar
prefixed by Papebroch, together with the pre-
ceding, to the Acta Sanctorum for May, vol. i.
Cf. Assemani Calendarium Ecclesiae Universae,
vol. vi. pp. 420, 541.
The ancient Latin Martyrology which bears
the name of St. Jerome follows the Greek in
BASIL
the double announcement, and on June 13 has
" In Perside natalis S. Bartholomaei Apostoli ; "
on Auo-ust 24, " In India natalis S. Bartholomaei
Apostoli " (vol. xi. 463, 472). The later Mar-
tyrologies content themselves with a notice on
August 24 or 25 : ibr example, those of Bede
(MiVne, Patr. Lat. xciv. 604), and the amplifica-
tion" of this by Floras {ib. 1015), of Rabanus
Maurus (*. ex. 1164), of Wandelbert {ib. cxxi.
608), of Ado (ib. cxxiii. 167, 335), and of Usu-
ardus (/6. cxxiv. 393).
We subjoin the notice of the day as given m
the Metrical Martyrology of Wandelbert,
" Bartholomaeus nonam exornat retinetque beatus,
India quo doctore Dei cognovit honorem,
Herculis et Bacchi insanis vix eruta sacris ;
Nunc ilium fama est varia pro sorte sepulcri,
Acolium Lipare Benevenli et templa tenere."
With regard to the relative importance of this
festival,' Binterim (Denkwurdigkeiten, i. 445)
refers to Schulting, who gives an extract from an
old English Missal which contained a special pre-
face for St. Bartholomew's day, and he adds that
before the middle of the tenth century this
festival was viewed in England as of consideraljle
importance. It is not certainly known whether
the vigil is coeval with the festival ; in most
Calendars, however, drawn up before the middle
of the tenth century the vigil is wanting, while
it is marked in later ones.
We have already called attention to the fact
that the date of the rise of this festival is such
as to preclude its appearance in the ancient
Roman Sacramentaries in their original form.
In the various later accretions, however, of
Gresory's Sacramentary, is a collect, &c., for this
day '(said first to occur in the Cod. Gemeticensis,
of about the year 1000 A.D.) on which the
collect of our own prayer book is based. (Migne
Patrol. Ixxviii. 138.)
The name of Bartholomew has apparently not
been a favourite with the writers of pseudony-
mous literature. Traces, however, of writings
bearing his name are not altogether wantmg.
Thus Jerome {Prol. in Comm. in S. Matt, init.,
vol. vii. 17) refers to an apocryphal gospel
bearing the name of Bartholomew, doubtless the
same c1)ndemned by a Council held at Rome in
the episcopate of Gelasius, " Evangelium nomine
Bartholomaei Apostoli apocryphum " (Migne
Patrol, lix. 162) and this also may be that re-
ferred to by the Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita,
OvTco yovv 6 e^los 'QapQoXojxaiis 4)T)(n, Kai
■KoXK^v TTjf eioKoyiav ilvai Koi i\axiffrriv Kol
Th evayyeXiov irKaTV Kal fxeya, Kol avdis ffvv-
TeTixvfJi4voviMystica Theologia, c. 1 § 3). Finally,
in the Apostolic Constitutions (lib. vni. cc. 19,
20) is given under the name of the Apostle Bar-
tholomew the regulation as to the appointment
of Deaconesses. L^*- ^-J
BASIL, LITURGY OF. [Liturgy.]
BASIL. (1) Holy Father and Confessor
under Leo the Iconoclast ; commemorated Feb. 28
(Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Presbyter of Ancyra, martyr under Julian ;
commemorated March 22 {Cal. Bijzant.).
(3) Bishop of Parium, is commemorated as
" Holy Father and Confessor," April 12 (Cal.
Byzant.). , t- • •
(4) Bishop of Amasea, martyr under Licimus,
April 12 (Cal. Byz.).
BASILEUS
(5) Tlie Great, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappa-
docia, commemorated June 14 (^Mart. Rom. Vet.) ;
May 23 {Mai^t. Hierm.) ; Jan. 1 {Cal. Byzant.) ;
Nov. 12 {Cal. Armen.) ; Ter 6 = Jan. 1 {Cal.
Etiiiop.'). A standing figure of St. Basil, after
ancient precedents, is given in the Benedictine
edition of his works ; a head in Spizelius's Aca-
dcmia Vetus C'hristi, and in Acta SS. June, torn.
ii. p. 936. [C]
BASILEUS. (1) Martyr at Rome under
Gallienus; commemorated March 2 (^Maj-t. Bom.
Vet.).
(2) " In Antiochia Basillei et aliorum xxx
wartyrum " Dec. 22 (3fart. Ilieron.). [C]
BASILIANI. [See Diet, of Chr. Biogr.
Art. Basilius.]
BASILICA (sc. aula, aedes). This word in
its classical acceptation signifies a hall suited for
or employed as a court of justice or a place of
meeting. Such buildings, often of great size and
.splendour, existed in every Roman city ; they
were usually oblong in plan, sometimes with,
sometimes without ranges of columns dividing
the space into a nave and aisles ; at one end was
usually a semi-circular apse (v. Diet, of Greek
and Roman Antiq., Art. ' Basilica ; ' Bunsen, Die
Basiliken des Christ. Boms.). When Christianity
became the religion of the state, these buildings
w^ere found to be so well adapted to the cele-
bration of public worship that some were by
some slight modifications fitted and used for the
purpose, and the new buildings constructed ex-
pressly to serve as churches were built almost
universally on the same model. Hence basilica
came to be used in the sense of church by the
writers of the fourth and later centuries without
any regard for the form or size of the building.
Earlier writers use " dominicum " in Latin, or
KvoiaKbu in Greek, and some other names
[Church]. Eusebius, in his account of the
'church built by Constantine at Jerusalem, calls
it 6 liaffiXeios veivs, and the nave ^acrlXeios
oJkos. The use of the word " basilica " as
meaning a church seems to have arisen gradu-
ally, for the anonymous pilgrim who, in 333,
wrote an itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem,
wnen he says that a " basilica " had been built
at the Holy Sepulchre by Constantine, adds
the explanation, " id est dominicum." Mabillon
(Op. posthu/n., t. ii. p. 335) says that it has been
satisfactorily shown that in the writings of au-
thors who wrote in Gaul in the 6th and 7th cen-
turies " basilica" is to be understood as meaning
the church of a convent, cathedral and parish
churches being called " ecclesiae ;" the writers of
other countries do not observe this distinction.
I Seven churches at Rome — S. Pietro in Vati-
cano, S. Giovanni Laterauo, Sta. Maria Maggiore,
Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, S. Paolo fuor le
IMura, S. Lorenzo in Agro Verano, and S. Sebas-
tiano — are styled basilicas by pre-eminence and
enjoy certain honorific privileges.
Basilicula is used by St. Paulinus (Epist. xii,
ad Sevcrum) and by A vitus Vieunensis {Epist. vi.)
for a chapel or oratory.
The word basilica is found in the Salic Law
(tit. 58, c. 3, 4, and 5) in the sense of a monu-
ment erected over a tomb, apparently the tomb
of a person of high rank. With the Franks they
appear to have been constructeil of wood, as
mention is made of their being burnt. Ciampini
BATH
181
has engraved {Vet. Mon., t. i. tab. xlv.) two mo-
numents which in his time existed in the jiortico
of S. Lorenzo in Agro Verano at Rome, which
he conceives to have been basilicae or basiliculae.
One may be described as a model of a temple
with four pilasters on each side, and without a
cella. It has a somewhat elegant and almost
classical character. The other would seem to
have been only the lower part of a monument ;
it has three fluted pilasters in front, with an
open space behind them. These pilasters carry
a base of many mouldings of somewhat classical
character, upon which rest the bases of two plain
pilasters. Ciampini gives no hint as to the date
of these monuments.
Tombstones of very early date may be found,
in which the top is ridged like the roof of a
house and carved with an imitation of tiles or
shingles ; one (engraved in Fosbroke's Encycl.
of Antiq., vi. 1, p. 132) at Dewsbury, in York-
shire, may be as early as the 7th or 8th century.
Tombs in the form of chapels of early date still
remain in Ireland (Petrie, Bound Tovers and
Architecture of Ireland, p. 454), and did exist at
lona, and probably at Glastonbury and elsewhere,
such structures are no doubt instances of what
the Salic Law calls " basilicae " [Tomb].
The word Basilica is used in the Vulgate (c. fj.
2 Chron. vi. 13) for the court of the Tem])le ;
hence Christian writers occasionally use the
expression " basilica ecclesiae," as equivalent
(seemingly) to the Atpjum or fore-court of a
church. (Binterim's Denkicurdigkeiten, iv. i.
24.) [A. N.]
BASILICLES. (1) Martyr at Rome, with
Rogatus and others, under Aurelian ; comme-
morated June 10 {Ma7-t. Rom. Vet.).
(2) Martyr, with Polymachus and others,
under Diocletian, June 12 (M. Hieron., Bedae).
This saint has a proper collect, &c., in the
Sacram. Greq. (p. 105), " pridie Idus Junii," i. e.
June 12, with Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius. An-
tiphon in the Gregorian Lib. Antiph. p. 699. [C]
BASILIDIANS. [See Diet, of Chr. Biog. Art.
Basilides.]
BASILISCUS, martyr under JIaximian, A.D.
308; commemorated May 22 (C'a/. Byzant.);
March 3 {M. Rom. Vet.). [C]
BASILISSA, wife of Julian, martyr at An-
tioch, A.D. 296 ; commemorated June 9 {Mart.
Rom. Vet.); May 20 {Mart. Hieron.); March 3
{Cal. Byzant.); Nov. 25 {Cal. Armen.). [C]
BASILLA. (1) Virgin-martyr at Rome un-
der Gallienus; commemorated May 20 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae).
(2) Commemorated Aug. 26 {M. Hieron.).
(3) In Antioch, Nov. 23 {M. Hieron.). [C]
BASKET. [Canistrum.]
BASSUS. (1) Saint of Africa, Natale, IMarcli
19 {M. Bedae).
(2) Saint, Natale, Oct. 20 {M. Bedae).
(3) In Heraclea, Nov. 20 {3Ia7-t. Hieron.). [C]
BATH. Baths in the earlier Christian cen-
turies were in such frequent use, that they were
almost necessary adjuncts to houses of a superior
class. Moreover, a practice existed that cate-
chumens should bathe before baptism, and priests
on the eve of certain festivals and other occa-
sions. We therefore find that baths, Aovrpa,
are mentioned among the adjuncts of the Church
182
BATHING
of the Twelve Apostles, built by Coustautiue at
Constantinople (Euseb., Vit. Const., 1. iv. c. 59).
They are also mentioned in the Codex Thcod,,
b. IX. tit. 4, among the buildings and places in-
cluded within the precincts of churches.
The anonymous pilgrim of Bordeaux, who was
at Jerusalem c. a.d. 333, says that a " balneum "
was placed behind the basilica, built by Constan-
tine over the Sepulchre of our Lord, but as he
adds the words " ubi infantes lavantur," it is
probable that he speaks of a baptistery, or of
the piscina of a baptistery.
The Lib. Pontif. frequently mentions baths in
connexion with churches. Pope Hilarius (a.d.
461-467), we are told, built the "balneum" of
St. Stephen, and in the life of Pope Hadrian I.
(772-795) mention is made of a bath at the La-
teran palace, and of another near St. Peter's ; at
this last we are told the poor who came to receive
alms at Easter were accustomed to bathe. Some-
times these baths were made sources of profit,
as Pope Damasus (A.D. 367-385) is stated to have
built or given a bath near the " titulus," S. Lo-
renzo in Damaso (which he had created), which
bath yielded 27 solidi. Martigny {Diet, des
Antiq. Chret.) mentions other instances of bishops,
— as St. Victor of Ravenna, in the 6th century, and
Auastasius II. of Pavia — who erected or adorned
b;iths for the clergy; and in the 7th, of St. Aguel-
lus of Naples, who made an ordinance obliging
the priests under his authority to bathe on cer-
taiu days, and made a foundation to furnish them
with soap at Christmas and Easter. Certain hot
baths at Pozzuoli he states are still known as
" fons episcopi."
In an enclosure near the apse of the ruined
church of S. Stefano, in Via Latina, near Rome,
discovered in the year 1858, is a small reservoir
(v. woodcut under Church), which has been con-
sidered to have been a bath. It seeras, however,
possible that it may have been the piscma -of a
baptistery, or, if the area in which it stands was
the atrium of the church, the place of the foun-
tain or cantharus. [A. N.]
BA.THING. The common use of baths
throughout the Roman Em]ure presented to
Christian converts a special difficulty and danger.
Tlie liabits of the time had given a marked pre-
ference to the thermae or hot-aii- baths such as
we now know as " Turkish," and neither these
nor the halneae (swimming or plunge baths) were
to be had in their own houses. To give these
up was to sacrifice comfort, and, it might be,
health, and yet to go to them was in many cases
to run the risk of moral contamination. The
feeling of the older Romans, which hindered even
a grown-up son from bathing with his father
(Cic. Do Off. i. 35 ; Valer. Max. ii. 17), had died
out, and in the thermae of all large cities were
to be found crowds of men and boys, frequently
of women also, sitting naked in the tepidirium or
Laconicum. It lies in the nature of things that
in a society corrupt as was that of the Empire,
this, even without the last-named enormity, must
liavo brought with it many evils, foul speech and
fouler acts. It might have seemed at first, as if
those who were seeking to lead a purer life would
have had to renounce the habit altogether, as
they renounced the obscenities of the mimes,
and the ferocities of gladiatorial shows.
It is noticeable, however, that the rigorism of
BATHING
early Christian life never readied this point.
Doubtless, in every city, there were establish-
ments of diflerent grades, and the Christian could
choose those which were conducted with greater
decency. Probably, too, before long, as the em-
ployment was not a forbidden one. Christians
would be found to enter on it and reform its evils.
The public baths at Rome which were established
by emperors or placed under magisterial control,
were free from the grosser evils of the mixture of
the two sexes ; and it is recorded to the honour
of many of the emperors who were, more or less,
under the influence of a higher culture, that they
sought to check them. Hadrian (Spartianus, p.
25), Antoninus Pius (Julius Capit. p. 90), Alex-
ander Severus (Lamprid. c. 42), are all named as
having taken steps to put down the lavacra
mixta, which were so flagrant an outrage on all
natural decency. As it is, though the practice,
like most others in the common routine of life, is
but little noticed unless where its accompaniment
calls for censure, we find traces enough to show
that the most devout Christians did not think it
necessary to abstain from the public bath. It
was in the "baths" of Ephesus that St. John
encountered Cerinthus (Euseb. //. E. iii. 38).
Tertullian, with all his austerity, acknowledged
that bathing was necessary for health, and that
he practised it himself (AimL C. xlii.) Clement
of Alexandria {Faedag. iii. c. 9), lays down rules,
half medical and half moral, for its use. It
formed part of the complaints of the Christians
of Lugdunum and Vienna, and was mentioned by
them as the first sign of the change for the
worse in their treatment, that they were ex-
cluded from the public baths (Euseb. //. E. v. 1).
Augustine narrates how on his mother's death,
led by the popularly accepted etymology of
^aXaveiov (as if from jSaXAeiv aviav) he had
gone to the thermae to assuage his sorrow, and
found it fruitless ("ncque enim exsudavit de
corde meo moeroris amaritudo." Confess, ix. 32).
The old evils, however, in spite of the reforming
Empire, continued to prevail, probably in worse
forms in the provinces than in the capitaL
Epiphanius mentions KovTpa avSpoywa as com-
mon among the Jews of his time {ffaer. 30).
Clement describes the mixture of the sexes as
occurring in the daily life of Alexandria {Paedag.
iii. 5) ; Cyprian as in that of Carthage {de Cult.
Virg. p. 73) ; Ambrose as in that of Milan {do
Off. i. 18) ; and both plead against it with an
earnestness which shows that it was a danger
for- Christians as well as heathens. Even those
whose sense of shame led them to avoid the
more public exposure, submitted to the gaze
and the cares of male attendants (Clem. Al. /. c;).
It is even more startling to find that it was
necessary, after the conversion of the Empire, to
forbid, under pain of deposition, the clergy of all
orders from frequenting baths where the sexes
were thus mingled (C. Laod. c. 30 ; C. Trull, c.
77). Offending laymen were in like manner to
come under sentence of excommunication. Gra-
dually the better feeling prevailed, and the lava- j
era mixta fell into a disrepute like that of houses ,
of ill fame. It was reckoned a justifiable cause
of divorce for a wife to have been seen in one i
(Cod. Justin. V. tit. 17 de Repud.). j
Another aspect of the practice remains to be |
noticed. Traces meet us here and there of a dis- j
tinctly liturgical use of bathing, analogous to the ;
BAVO
nbhitions of Jewish worshippers- and priests, as
pr.'liminary to solemn religious acts, and, in parti-
cular, to baptism. The practice existed among the
Essenes (Joseph. Vit. c. 2), and there may probably
he a roference to it in the " washed with pure
water" of Heb. x. 22. Tertullian (de Orat. c.
xi.) condemns as superstitious what he describes
as the common custom (" plerique superstitiose
curant") of washing the whole body before
every act of prayer. In "Western Africa there
was a yet stranger usage, which Augustine cha-
racterises as " pagan," of going to the sea on the
Feast of St. John the Baptist, and bathing as in
his honour (^Serm. cxciv. de Temp. 23). As pre-
paratory to baptism, it was, however, recog-
nised. The catechumens who were to be admit-
ted at Easter had during the long quadragesimal
fest abstained from the use of the bath; and
there was some risk in such cases, wlien large
numbers were gathered together for baptism by
immersion, and stripped in the presence of the
Church, of an uucleauliuess which would have
been offensive both to sight and smell. Here,
therefore, the bath was brought into use (August.
Epist. 54), and the balncator attended with
his strigil, and his flask of oil and his towels,
after the usual fashion (Zeuo Veron. Invit. ad
font. vi.). It may be noted, as implied in this,
that the employment was among those which
it was not unlawful for Christians to engage in.
It was probably for this purpose, as well as for
the use of priests before they celebrated the
eucharist, that Constantine constructed baths
within the precincts of the great church which
he built at Constantinople (Euseb. Vit. Const.
IV. 59), and that they were recognised as import-
ant, if not essential, appendages to the more
stately churches, and were entitled to the same
privileges of asylum {Cod. Theodos. ix. tit. 45).
Popes and bishops followed the imperial example,
and constructed baths in Rome, in Pavia, in Ra-
venna, and in Naples. A full account of their
structure and use is to be found in Sidon. Apol-
, liuar. JEpp. ii. 2. (Comp. the monograph De
I sacris Christianorum balneis, by Paciandi. Rome,
1758.) [E. H. P.]
' BAVO, Saint, of Ghent (died 653), Natale,
' Oct. 1 (Mart. Bedae, Adonis in Appendice). In
j the Reims MS. of the Gregorian Sacramentary,
the commemoration of SS. Bavo, Germanus, and
j Vedast, is joined with that of St. Remigius. [C]
i BEADLE. \_An.g. Sax. Bydel, a messenger.]
An inferior officer of the Church answering to the
modern beadle, is possibly referred to in a Canon
of the Council of Chalcedon (a.d. 451) under the
name of irapaixopapios . In the Roman Church
the officer was called mansionarius. By Gregory
the Great he is also styled Custos Ecclesiae — whose
business it was to light the lamps or candles of
the church. Later critics, however, have given a
different interpretation of irapafxavapios. Thus,
Justellus explains it by " villicus," a bailiff or
steward of the lands ; and Bishop Beveridge (Not.
in Cone. Clia.lced. c. 2) styles him " rerum eccle-
siasticarum administrator," which would have
the same meaning (Bingham, iii. 13). [D. B.]
BEARDS. The practice of the clergy in
•incient times in respect of wearing beards was
I in conformity with the general custom. Long
I hair and baldness by shaving being alike in ill-
j repute as unseemly peculiarities, the clergy were
BELFRY
183
required to observe a becoming moderation be-
tween either extreme. To this effect is the
Canon of the 4th Council of Carthage — Clericus
nee comatn nutriat nee barbam radat. The con-
trary practice, however, having obtained in tlie
later Roman Church, it has been contended by
Bellarmine and others, that the word radat was an
interpolation in the Canon. But this allegation
has been disproved by Savaro, on the testimony
of the Vatican and many other manuscripts : and
it appears further, from one of the Epistles of
Sidonius (lib. iv. Ep. 24), that in his time it was
the custom of the French bishops to wear short
hair and long beards : his friend Maximus Pala-
tinus, who had become a clergyman, being thus
described — " Habitus viro, gradus, pudor, color,
sermo religiosus : turn coma brcvis, barba pro-
lixa," &c. (Bingham, b. vi. c. iv.) [D. B.]
BEASTS, IN SYMBOLISM. [Svmbolism.]
BEATITUDES. In the Liturgy of St.
Chrysostom, the Beatitudes (ij.aKaptffij.ol) are
ordered to be sung by the choir on Sundays,
instead of the third Antiphon (Daniel's Codex
Liturgicus, iv. 343 ; Neale's Eastern Ch.. Introd.
390). Goar (Eucliologion) seems to have been
uncertain of the meaning of the word, or of the
practice of the Church ; for he writes that these
ficcKapiff/xoi are "hymni sanctorum beatitudinis
memoriam recolentes ; vel poti'us eae beatitudines
de quibus S. Matthaei V. ; vel tandem pia
viventium vota pro defunctorum requie." Dr.
Neale takes them, no doubt rightly, for the
Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. [C]
BEATRIX, martvr ; commemorated July 29
(Mart. Horn. Vet., Bedae). The Mart. Hicron.
has under July 29 " Veatrix ;" July 28, " Bea-
trix ;" and again " Beatrix," July 30. The
Corbey MS. of the Sacram. Greg, has a comme-
moration of S. Beatrix (with S. Felix and others)
on July 29. Antiphon. in Lib. Antiph. p. 704. [C]
BELFRY (High-German, Bercvrit, Bervrit,
a tower for defence ; Low-Latin, bertefredum,
battefredum, belfredum, &c. ; Italian, bettifredo, a
sentry-box on a tower; Old French, berfroi ;
Mod. French, beffroi; Eng. belfi^y, the corrupt
etymology of which has limited the application,
see Wedgwood's Diet, of Eng. Etymology, i. 142).
The place in which bells hang. Berfredum is
also found used for the structure of timber on
which a bell is hung, in German Glockenstuhl.
In common parlance belfry and its equiv-alents
are used for the whole tower in which bells
hang.
The earliest examples of bell-towers connected
with churches appear to be those of Ravenna :
that of S. Francesco Hiibsch atti'ibutes to the
beginning of the 6th century, and those of S.
Giovanni Battista and S. Apollinare in Classe to
the middle or latter jiart of the same century.
Of the towers at Rome he thinks that those of
Sta. Pudenziana and S. Lorenzo in Lucina may
be in part at least of the 7tli ; but no docu-
mentary notice of bell-towers has been found
earlier than that in the Lib, J'ontif. of the
"turris" built by Pope Steplien III. (a.d. 768-
772) at St. Peter's, in which he placed three
bells " to call together the clergy and people
to the service of God." (This passage is given
by Ducange, but does not appeal- in all e<litions
of the lib. I'ontif.) Pofw Leo IV., Uie same
184
BELL
book informs us, built ii campanile at S. Andrea
Apostolo, and placed there a bell with a brazen
hammer. C-^- ^-J
BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE. [Ex-
communication.]
BELLS. L Names of Bells.— The name cam-
pnnuiii or campana is commonly said to have been
given to bells, because they were invented by
"Paullinus of Nola in Campania. Paullinus, how-
over, who more than once describes churches,
never mentions bells, and the more probable sup-
position is, that bells in early times were cast
from Campanian brass, which Pliny {Nat. Hist.
xxxiv. 8) describes as the best for such a purpose,
and so received the name campana or campanuin.
The word nola can scarcely be derived from the
citv Nola, and is perhaps imitative of the sound,
like the English " knoll."
The word which we have in the form clock
(compare Irish clog, French dochc. Germ, glocke)
was adopted in later Latin, both in the neuter form
cloccum ( Vita S. Bonifacii, in Act. Sand. June,
torn. i. p. 472) and the feminine clocca (Bonifacii
Kpistt. 9 et 75); the latter is the usual form.
The " Anonymus Thuanus," quoted by Binterim
{Denkwiird'xw 1. 290) gives the form cloqua for
a turret-bell (cloquam turris).
lignum (Ital. segno, old French seint, whence
tocsm) is the most usual word for a church-boll
from the 6th century. In some cases it appears
to designate not a bell, but some other kind of
semantron. (Ducange's Glossary, s. v. ; Rosweyd,
Vitae Patruin, Unomast. s. v. p. 1056.)
Small bells, such as were rung by hand in the
refectories of monasteries, were called tintinna-
bula; and the still smaller bells which were
sometimes appended to priestly vestments, were
designated tinniola, from their tinkling sound.
(Ducange, s. v.) Tintinnum seems to have been
sometimes used for a larger bell (see Tat win,
quoted below).
The word skella, skilla, scilla, squilla, or cs-
quilla (Ital. squilla, Germ, schelle) is also used for
a small bell : see below. In the Tahularium of
St. Remi (quoted by Ducange) a " schilla de
metallo " is mentioned as well as " signum
ferreum."
Other designations occasionally found are acs,
aeramentum, le'ies, muta, KdoSav.
II. Use of Bells. — For the purpose of annoimcing
meetings of Christians in times of persecution a
messenger was employed [Cursor]; in quiet
times future services were announced by a deacon
in time of divine worship; in some parts of
Africa a trumpet seems to have been employed
to call the people to their assemblies.
After the time of Constantine some sonorous
instrument, whether a clapper [Semantron] or
a bell, seems to have been generally employed to
give notice of the commencement of Christian
assemblies. The word " signum " in Latin writers
is probably used to designate both these instru-
ments, and it is not always easy to say which is
intended. Gregory of Tours {Hist. Franc, ii. 23,
J). 73) mentions a " signum " as calling monks to
matins, in the time of Sidonius Apollinaris ; and
elsewhere {Do Mirac. S. Martini, ii. 45, p. 1068)
he mentions the " signum " (signum quod com-
moveri solet) as if it were something swung like a
bell. vSo Venantius Fortunatus {Carm. ii. 10)
speaks of the " signum " of the principal church
BELLS
in Paris calling to prayer. St. Columba is said, iu
the life by Cumineus Albus {Acta SS. Junii, torn,
ii. p. 188, c. 10), to have gone into the church when
the bell rang (pulsante campana) at midnight ;
and Bede {Hist. Eccl. iv. 23) mentions that at
St. Hilda's death, one of her nuns at a distance
from Whitby heard suddenly the well-known
sound of the bell which roused or called them to
prayer when one departed from this world. These
testimonies seem to show that bells of considerable
size were used in England, at least in convents,
as early as the 6th century. Tatwin, archbishop
of Canterbury (731-734) in some verses " De
Tintinno " (Hook's Archbishops, i. 206) speaks of
a bell " superis suspensus in auris " hastening the
steps of the crowd. The Excerptiwies attri-
buted to Egbert {canon ii.), enjoin " ut omnes
sacerdotes horis competentibus diei et uoctis su-
arum sonent ecclesiarum signa."
St. Sturm when dying (an. 779) ordered all
the bells (gloggas) of his convent to be rung
(Eigil's Vita S. iSturmii, c. 25, in Migne's Patrol.
cv. 443).
In Gaul we have already seen that " signa "
were used as early as the 6th century. At a
later period, Flodoard {Hist. Semens, ii. 12)
tells us of the miraculous silence of two of the
bells of a Gascon church in which St. Rigobert
(•|-749) was praying. We cannot, of course, in-
sist upon all the details of this narrative as if
they were literally true, but the account shows
at any rate that Flodoard (about 950) took fos
granted that in the 8th century the great
churches in the Gascon territory had many bells,
which were rung at certain hours; and that
even country churches had more than one, for
the two silent bells had been stolen from a
country church ; moreover, the bells must have
been of considerable size, for the narrator speaks
expressly of their loud sound (his altisone re-
boantibus). It is worth observing, too, that he
uses the words campanae, nolae, and signa as
precisely synonymous.
By the time of Charles the Great, in fiict, the
use of church-bells seems to have become common
in the empire. Charles encouraged the art oi
bell-founding, and entertained bell-founders at
his court. Among the most famous of these was
Tancho, a monk of St. Gall, who cast a fine bell for
the great church at Aachen. (The Monk of St.
Gall De Gestis Caroli, i. 31.) He asked for 100
pounds of silver as alloy for the copper, from
which we infer that the bell may have weighed
400 or 500 pounds.
Bells appear to have been held in especial re-
gard by the Irish ecclesiastics of the fifth and
succeeding centuries. Their bells seem to have
been chieflv hand-bells ; but Dr. Petrie {Round
Towers of "Ireland, p. 383) says that " it is per-
fectly certain that bells of a size much too
large for altar-bells were abundantly distributed
by^St. Patrick in Ireland, as appears from his
oldest lives." Sinall of Cill Airis, m the tri-
partite life of St. Patrick supposed to have
been originally written in the 6th century, is
called campanarius. Hand-bells are preserved,
which are attributed to Irish Saints or ecclesi-
astics from the 5th century downwards. They
seem to have been reckoned among the most
necessary insignia of a bishop : thus in the an-
notations of tirechan, in the Book of Armagh,
we are told that Patrick conferred on Fiac the
The Bell of St. Patrick.
BELLS
ilerjree of a bishop and gave him a box or satchel
cnntaining a bell, a " monster " (i. e. a reliquary),
a rrozier, and a " polaire " or ornamental case
for a book (Petrie, p. 338). The earliest of these
bells and the most highly
venerated is that known
as the 'Clog-an-eadhachta
Phatraic,' — the bell of the
will of Patrick, — given to
the church of Armagh by
St. Columba ; this is of
quadrangular form, of
tliick sheet iron, sis inches
HLjh, tive inches by four
at the mouth and dimi-
nishing upwards, with a
loop at the top for the
hand (v. woodcut). It is
kept in a splendidly orna-
mented case, made for it between a.d. 1091 and
1105.
Many other such bells are in existence, as the
li.ll of St. Gall, in the Treasury of the church
Hi' St. Gall in Switzerland; the bell of St.
^I.'gue (d. A.D. 624), in possession of the Primate
lit' Ireland, &c.
In the 9th century, according to Dr. Petrie
(Hound Toicers of Ireland, p. 252), the quad-
rangular form which is found in all the early
bells began to give way to the circular. The
early bells are usually of iron, but one of bronze
in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy,
which has been ascribed to St. Patrick, in con-
sequence of its being inscribed with the name
" Patrici," is of bronze, as are some others.
In the East, church-bells were of later intro-
duction. No mention of them in the East ap-
pears to occur until Orso, duke of Venice, towards
the end of the 9th century, gave twelve large
bells of brass to ]\Iichael (or Basil) the Greek
emperor, who added a bell-tower to the church
of St. Sophia at Constantinople for their re-
ception. (Baronius, in Augusti's JIandbuch, i.
402.) [A. N.] and [C]
We gather from the above examples that from
the 6th century at least bells were used in the
West, first in convents, afterwards in churches
generally, to summon worshippers to the various
services, and to give notice to the faithful of the
passmg away of one of the brotherhood. Details
of the manner of making and hanging these bells
are altogether wanting.
Besides these uses, we find that bells were
anciently used by the Western Church in proces-
sions. For instance, the rubric of the Mozarabic
Missal (p. 166, ed. Lesley) directs that a boy
ringing a hand-bell (esquillam) should precede
'the procession which bore the Eucharist to the
Sepulchre on Maundy Thursday.
Another ecclesiastical use of small bells is the
following : — Benedict of Aniane (see his Life
by Ardo, c. 8, in Ada SS. Febr. torn. ii. p. 612)
ordered a squilla to be rung in the monk's dor-
mitory before the signum of the church rang for
the nocturnal " Hours."
It is generally agreed, that there is no trace
within our period of the practice of ringing either
a small bell or the great bell of the church at
the elevation of the Host. The ancient Irish
hand-bells may probably have been used in pro-
cessions, or in monasteries for such uses as those
described above.
BELLS
185
The belief that the ringing of bells, whether
the great bells of a church or hand-bells, tended
to dispel storms is of considerable antiquity. The
origin of this belief is traced by hagiographers to
St. Salaberga, who lived in the beginning of the
7th century. The story is, that a small bell
attached to the neck of a stag, was brought from
heaven to St. Salaberga, for the relief of her
daughter Anstrudis, who was terrified at thunder.
This belief is expressed in the lines
" Relliquiae sanctae Salabergae et campatia praesens
Expellunt febres et ipsa tonitrua pellit."
See Mabillon's Acta SS. Sened. saec. ii. p. 414 ;
BoUandist Acta SS. Sept. torn. vi. p. 517.
This supposed property of dispelling storms is
alluded to in the services for the benediction or
" baptism " of bells.
III. Benediction of Bells. — It is probable that
from the time that bells first became part of the
furniture of a church, they were subjected, like
other church-furniture and ornaments, to some
kind of consecration. Forms for the benediction
of a church-bell {Ad signum ecclesiae henedicen-
duni) are found in the Reims and the Corbey
MSS. of the Gregorian Sacramentary {Sacrain.
Greg. ed. Menard, p, 438) to the following effect.
After the benediction of the water to be used in
the ceremony, Psalms 145-150 (Vulg.), were
chanted ; meantime the bell was washed with
the holy-water, and touched with oil and salt,
by the officiating bishop, who said at the same
time the prayer, beginning, " Deus, qui per
Moysen legiferum tubas argenteas fieri praece-
pisti ; " the bell was then wiped with a napkin,
and the A ntiphon followed, " Vox Domini super
aquas " (Ps. xxix. 3, Vulg.) ; the bell was then
touched with chrism seven times outside and
four times inside, while the prayer was said,
"Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui ante arcam
Foederis, &c. ; " it was then fumigated with
incense within and without, and " Viderunt te
aquae " (Ps. Ixsvi. 16) was chanted ; the service
concluded with the collect " Omnipotens Domi-
nator Christe, quo secundum assumptioueni
carnis dormiente in navi," &c. Both the verses
and the prayer allude to the supposed power of
the bell to calm storms.
The office Ad signum ecclesiae benedicendum
given in Egbert's I'ontifical (pp. 177 ff. ed. Sur-
tees Society, 1853) differs in no essential point
from the Gregorian.
The custom of engraving a name upon a bell
is said by Baronius {Annates, an. 961, c. 93) to
have originated with Pope John XIII., who cou-
secrated a bell and gave it the name John. This
will probably be accepted as sufficient testimony
to the fact, that the custom of engraving a name
on a bell, in connexion with the ceremony of con-
secration, did not arise in Italy before the 10th
century. It is, of course, possible that in other
countries, as in Ireland, it may be of earlier date ;
or the names engraved on some ancient Irish bells
may simply indicate ownership.
In Charles the Great's capitulary of the year
789, c. 18, the words occur, " Ut cloccae uon
baptizentur." As it is almost certain that some
kind of dedication-rite ' for church-bells was
practised continuously through the period, we
must either conclude that some particular
practice in the matter — it is impossible to de-
termine what— is here condemned • or that the
186
BEMA
"cloccae" here intended were hand-bells for
domestic use. The latter supposition is strength-
ened by the fact that the direction immediately
follows in the capitulary, that papers should not
be hunt' on poles to avert hail; clearly a domes-
tic superstition. (Binterim, Denkwiirdigkeiten
iv. 1, 29^.) The connexion suggests, that these
" cloccae " were house-bells to be used for avert-
ing storms. See the legend of St. Salaberga,
above.
IV'. Literature. N. Eggers, De Origine et
Nomine Campanarum (Jena, 1684); De Carn-
panarum Materia et Forma (lb. 1685). H.
Wallerii Diss, De Cumpanis et praecipuis earum
Usibus (Holm. 1694). P. C. Hilscher, De Cam-
panis Templorum (Lipsiae, 1692). J. B. Thiers,
Traits' des Cloches, &c. (Paris, 1719). J. Mon-
tanus, Historische Nachricht von den Glocken,
II. s. IV. (Chemnitz, 1726). C. W. J. Chrysander,
Hist. Nachricht von Kirchen- Glocken (Rinteln,
1755). Canon Barraud in Didron's Annales
ArcheoL, xvi. 325; xvii. 104, 278, 357; xviii.
57, 145. [C]
BEMA, otherwise tribunal, sanctuarium (Gr.
^Tj/xa). The part of a church raised above the
rest, shut off by railings or screens, and reserved
for the higher clergy. The part so reserved,
when the apse was large, was sometimes the apse
alone, but often a space in front of the apse was
included. When, as is the case in many churches
of the basilican type at Eome and elsewhere,
there was a transept at that end of the church, the
bema often commenced at the so-called triumphal
arch at the end of the nave. In the old church
of St. Peter at Rome the bema appears to have
comprised the apse alone, but at S. Paolo f. 1. M.
the whole transept is slightly raised. Some-
times where a transept exists, the bema does not
extend into the arms of the transept, which are
parteil off by screens. The altar was usually
placed within in the bema, often on the chord of
the arc of the apse. Beneath the altar was
usually a crypt or confession. Round the wall
of the apse or " conchula bematis " ran a bench
for the presbyters, which was interrupted in the
centre by the cathedra or throne for the bishop.
These seats are alluded to by St. Augustine
when (Ep. 203) he speaks of " apsides gradatae "
and " cathedrae velatae." Such an arrangement
is this was probably in use as early as the time
of Constantine ; for, from the description given
us by Eusebius of the church built by Paulinus
at Tyre (Eccles. Hist. s. 14), we find that the
altar stood in the middle, and, together with the
seats for the dignitaries, was surrounded by rail-
ings of wood admirably worked. We should
probably understand by middle, not absolutely
the middle of the church, but the middle of the
apse, for the description is given in a very in-
exact and rhetorical style. At St. Sophia's, when
rebuilt by Justinian, there was an enclosure
(epKos) formed by a stylobate, on which were
twelve columns surrounded by an architrave,
which divided the bema from the solea. This
enclosure had three- gates, and was entirely of
silver, very richly ornamented (Pauli Silentiarii
Descrip. S. Sophiae). Such an enclosure is called
by Sozomcn SpvcpaKra, and by Constantine Por-
phyrogenitus, KiyK\lSes. Such was the normal
arrangement, but it was not invariable ; for the
Lib. J'ontif., in the life of Pope Hadrian I. (a.D.
772-795), narrates how at S. Maria ad Praesepe
BENEDICITE
(now S. Maria Maggiore) the women who
attended the service intervened between him
and his attendant clergy, and in the life of Pope
Gregory IV. (a.d. 827-844) that the altar at S,
Mai-ia in Trastevere stood in a low place, almost
in the middle of the nave, so that the crowd
surrounding it were mixed up with the clergy.
The Pope therefore made for the clergy a hand-
some " tribunal " in the circuit of the apse, rais-
ing it considerably. This arrangement remained
in use until perhaps the 11th or 12th century;
it is clearly shown in the plan for the church of
St. Gall drawn up in the beginning of the 9th cen-
tury {Arch. Journal, vol. v., see Church), both
apses being shut otf and raised above the rest of
the church. Probably no example now exists
of a period as early as that treated of in this
work, in which a " bema " remains in its ori-
ginal state ; but the raised tribunal may be seen
in many Italian churches in Rome, Ravenna, and
elsewhere. In S. Apollinare in Classe, in the
latter city, a part of the marble enclosure seems
to remain. The bench of marble, with the ca-
thedra in the middle, may also be seen in that
and many other churches, a good example is af-
forded by those at Parenzo in Istria which wouldl
seem to be of the same date as the church — the
6th century. In the church of S. Clements at
Rome marble screens of an early date (7th cent-
ury?) jjart off the bema in the ancient fashion,
but the church is not earlier than the 12th cent-
ury. The word is little used by Latin wi-iters,
being in fact the Greek equivalent for what in
the Lib. Pontif. is called " tribunal ; " " presby-
te -lum " in the same work is perhaps sometimes
ushI with the same meaning, though by this
word the " chorus " or place for the singers and
inferior clergy is generally meant [v. Choeus,
Presbyterium]. The word " bema " is also
found in use for a pulpit or ambo, as by Sozomen
(1. ix. c. 2) ; but it is distinguished from the
bema, or sanctuary, by being called /3r?;ua tSiv
avayuoxTTwv, the readers' bema. The same ex-
pression is, however, apjslied by Symeon of Thesr
salonica to the soleas, a platform in front of the
bema (Neale, FMSt. Church, v. i. p. 201). [A. N.]
BENEDICAMUS DOMINO. This is a
liturgical form of words, said by the priest at
the end of all the canonical hours, with the
exception of matins. The response to it is always
Deo gratias. It is also said at the end of the
mass in those masses in which Gloria in excelsis
is not said, and which are not masses for the
dead, in which the corresponding form is Eequies-
cat in pace. The custom of substituting Bene-
dicamus for Ite missa est in these masses is
derived from the old practice of the Church,
according to which after masses for the dead,
or those for penitential days, the people were not
dismissed as at other times, but remained for
the recitation of the psalms, which were said
after the mass. Benedicamus Doinino is sung on
the same tone as Ite missa est, which varies accord-
ing to the character of the day. [H. J. H.]
BENEDICITE. This canticle, called also
Caidicum trium puerorum, is part [v. 35 to the
middle of v. 66] of the prayer of Azarias in the .
furnace, which occurs between the 23rd and
24th verses of Daniel iii. in the LXX., but is not
in the Hebrew. It is used in the lauds of the
Western Church, both in the Gregorian, inclu-
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDER
187
<liug the old English, and Monastic uses, among
tlie psalms of lauds, on Sundays and festivals,
immediately before Pss. cxlviii., cxlix., cl. It
u-ually lias an antiphon of its own, though in
some uses the psalms at lauds are all said under
one antiphon. The autiphonal clause, " Laudate
et superexaltate eum in saecula," is only said
alter the first and last verses. Gloria Fatri is
not said after it, as after other canticles, but
in its place the verses —
Benedicamus Patrem et Filium cum Spiritu Sancto :
1 uidemus et tuperexaltemus eum in saecula.
Benedictus es, Domine, lu firmamento coeli : et lauda-
biiis et gluriosus et superexaltatus in saecula.
In the Ambrosian lauds for Sundays and festi-
vals, Benedicite occurs with an antiphon varying
with the day, and preceded by a collect [Oratio
.-ecreta] which varies only on Christmas Day
and the Epiphany. During the octave of Easter
Hidklujah'^ is said after each verse.
Benedicite also occurs in the private thanks-
;j,iving of the priest after mass ; in the Roman
I'liiee in full ; in the Sarum the last few verses
In the Mozarabic breviary this canticle is
found in the lauds for Sundays and festivals in
t somewhat different form, with a special anti-
niion, and is called Benedictus. It begins at v.
. .' ; the antiphonal clause is omitted altogether
i the end ; and the opening words of the Bene-
< lie proper, " Benedicite omnia opera Domini
Domino," are never repeated after their first
occurrence.
In the offices of the Greek Church this canticle
is the eighth of the nine " Odes " appointed at
lauds. The antiphonal clause is said after every
verse, and a supplementary verse is added at
the end, " euAoyeire AttoctoAoi, 'npo(priTai,
Ka\ MdpTvpes Kvpiov, rhv Kvpiov k.t'.X. This
canticle is sometimes called {e.g. by St. Benedict
and by St. Fructuosus Archb. of Bragas,t 665)
from the nature of its contents the Benedictio,
in the same way as the last three psalms of the
Psalter are known as the Laudes. [H. J. H.]
BENEDICT A, religious woman, martyr at
Rome under Julian, commemorated January 4
{Mart. Bom. Vet.). [C]
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDER,
founded by St. Benedictus of Nursia, born a.d.
480, and died probably 542. [See Diet, of Chr.
Biogr. s. v.'] Even before the institution of the
Benedictine Rule, monasticism was widely esta-
blished in Southern and Western Europe, and
was instrumental in spreading Christianity among
the hordes which overran the prostrate Roman
Empire. But there was as yet neither uni-
formity nor permanency of rule (Mab. Act.
0. S. B. Praef.). In the words of Cassian, which
seem to apply to Occidental as well as Oriental
monachism, there were as many rules as there
were monasteries {lustit. ii. 2). In Italy, always
easily accessible to Greek influences, the Rule of
Basil, which had been translated into Latin by
Ruffinus (Praef. Reg. Bas.), was the favourite ;
in Southern Gaul, and in Spain, that of Cassian,
or rather of Macarius ; and as the Rule of Bene-
dict worked its way into the North-west of
Europe, it was confronted by the rival system of
Columbanus (Pellic. Bolit. Ecc. Chr. 1. iii. 1, § 4 ;
• So spelt in the Ambrosian books.
Mab. Ann. Praef.). Like Aaron's rod, in the
quaint language of the Middle Ages, it soon swal-
lowed up the other rules. But, in fact, there
was often a great diversity of practice, even
among those professing to follow the same Rule,
often a medley of difterent rules within the same
walls (Mab. Ann. Praef.), and a succession of new
rules iu successive years (Mab. Ann, i. 29). The
Columbanists, for iLstance, were not, strictly
speaking, a separate order (Mab. Ann. Praef.).
The Benedictines may fairly be regarded as the
first in order of time, as well as in importance,
of the monastic orders.
The Benedictine Rule gave stability to what
had hitherto been fluctuating and incoherent
(Mab. Ann. Praef.). The hermit-life had been
essentially individualistic, and the monastic com-
munities of Egypt and the East had been an aggre-
gation, on however large a scale, of units, rather
than a compact and living organization, as of
" manjr members in one body." Benedict seems
to have felt keenly the need of a firm hand to
control and regulate the manifold impulses, of one
sort and another, which moved men to retire
from the world. Apparently there was a good
deal of laxity and disorder among the monks of
his day. He is very severe against the petty
fraternities of the Sarabaitae, monks dwellins
two or three together in a " cell," or small
monastery, without any one at their head, and
still more against the " Gyrovagi " monks, who
led a desultory and unruly life, roving from one
monastery to another. Unlike his Eastern pre-
decessors, who looked up to utter solitude as the
summit of earthly excellence, Benedict, as if in
later life regretting the excessive austerities of
his youth, makes no mention at all of either
hermits or anchorites {Prol. Reg. S. B.). Any-
thing like anarchy offended his sense of order
and congruity ; and, with his love of organizing,
he was the man to supply what he felt to be
wanting.
Accordingly, in Benedict's system the vow of
self-addiction to the monastery became more
stringent, and its obligation more lasting.
Hitherto, it had been rather the expression of a
resolution or of a purpose, than a solemn vow of
perpetual persevei-ance (Aug. Ep. ad Mon. 109,
p. 587 ; Aug. Rett. c. Jovinian. ii. 22 ; Hieron.
Ep. 48; Cass. Inst. x. 23). But by the Rule
(c. 58) the vow was to be made with all possible
solemnity, in the chapel, before the relics in the
ihrine, with the abbat and all the brethren stand-
ing by ; and once made it was to be irrevocable —
"Vestigia nulla retrorsum." The postulant for
admission into the monastery had to deposit the
memorial of his compact on the altar : and from
that day to retrace his steps was morally impos-
sible. The Rule contemplates indeed the possi-
bility of a monk retrograding from his promise,
and re-entering the world which he had re-
nounced, but only as an act of apostasy,
committed at the instigation of the devil (c. 58).
Previously, if a monk married, he was censured
and sentenced to a penance (Basil. Respons. 30 ;
Leo, Ep. 90, ad Rustic, c. 12; Epiphan. Ilier.
Ixi. 7; Hieron. Ep. ad Dem. 97 (8); Aug. de
Bon. Vid. c. 10; Gelas. Ep. 5, ad Episc. Lu:an.
ap. Grat. Onus, xxvii. ; Quaest. i. c. 14 ; Cone.
Aurcl. I. c. 23) ; but the marriage was not
annulled as invalid. After the promulgation of
the Rule, far heavier penalties were enacted.
188
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDEB
The monk, who had broken his vow by marrying,
was to be excommunicated, was to be compelled
to separate from his wife, and might be forcibly
reclaimed by his monastery : if a priest, he was
to be degraded (Greg. M. Ep. i. 33, 40, vii. 9,
xii. 20, ap. Grat. xxvii. ; Qu. i. c. 15; Com.
Turon. II. c. 15). These severities were no part
of Benedict's comparatively mild and lenient
code ; but they testify to his having intro-
duced a much stricter estimation of the monastic
vow.
At the same time, as with a view to guard
against this danger of relapse, Benedict wisely
surrounded admission into his order with diffi-
culties. He provided a year's noviciate, which
was prolonged to two years in the nest cen-
tury (Greg. M. Ep. x. 24) ; and thrice, at
certain intervals, during this year of probation,
the novice was to have the Rule read over to
him, that he might weigh well what he was
undertaking, and that his assent might be deli-
berate and unwavering (c. 58). The written
petition for admission was required invariably
(c. 58). None were to be received from other
monasteries, without letters commendatory from
their abbat (c. 61); nor children without the
consent of parents or guardians, nor unless for-
mally disinherited (c. 59). Eighteen years of
age was subsequently fixed as the earliest age
for self-dedication. The gates of the monastery
moved as slowly on their hinges at the knock of
postulants for admission, as they were inexorably
closed upon him when once within the walls
(cf. Fleury, Hist. Ecc. xxxv. 19 — note by Bened.
Editor ; Aug. Vindel. 1768).
Benedict had evidently the same object before
his eyes, the consolidation of the fabric which he
was erecting, in the form of government which
he devised for his order. This was a monarchy,
and one nearer to despotism than to what is
called a "constitutional monarchy." Poverty,
humility, chastity, temperance, all these had been
essential elements in the monastic life from the
first. Benedict, although he did not introduce
the principle of obedience, made it more precise
and more implicit (cc. 2, 3, 27, 64 ; cf. Mab. Ann.
iii. 8) ; stereotyped it by regulations extending
even to the demeanour and deportment due from
the younger to the eider (cc. 7, 63) ; and ci'owned
the edifice with an abbat, irresponsible to his
subjects. Strict obedience was exacted from the
younger monks, towards all their superiors in
the monastery (cc. 68-71); but the abbat was
to be absolute over all (c. 3). He alone is called
Dominus in the Rule ; though the word in its
later form, Domnus, became common to all Bene-
dictines (c. 63). The monks had the right of
electing him, without regard to seniority. Sup-
posing a flagrantly scandalous election to be
made, the bishop of the diocese, or the neigh-
bouring abbats, or even the " Christians of the
neighbourhood," might interfere to have it can-
celled; but once duly elected his will was
to be supreme (c. 64). He was indeed to
convoke a council of the brethren, when neces-
sary : on any important occasions, of them all ;
otherwise, only of the seniors : but in every case
the final and irrevocable decision, from which
there was no appeal, rested with him (c. 3). He
was to have the appointment of the prior, or
l>rovost (c. 65; cf. Greg. l[. Ep. vii. 10), and of
the decani or deans, as well as the power of
deposing them (c. 21)," the prior after four, the
deans after three warnings (c. 65). Benedict
was evidently disti-ustful of any collision of
authority, or want of perfect harmony, between
the abbat and his prior ; and preferred deans, as
more completely subordinate (c. 65) ; for, while
the abbat held his office for life, the deans as
well as all the other officers of the monastery,
except the prior, held theirs for only a certain
time (cc. 21, 31, 32). Even the cellerarius, or
cellarius, the steward, who ranked next to the
abbat in secular things, as the prior in things
spiritual, was to be appointed for one, four, or
ten years ; the tool-keepers, robe-keepers, &c.,
only for one. The abbat was armed with power
to enforce his authority on the recalcitrant, after
two admonitions in private and one in public,
by the " lesser excommunication," or banishment
from the common table and from officiating in
the chapel ; by the " greater excommunication,"
or deprivation of the rites of the Church ; by flog-
ging, by imprisonment, and other bodily penances
(cc. 2, 23-29 ; cf. Mart, de Ant. Hon. Hit. ii. 11)
in case of hardened ofli'enders ; and, as an extreme
penalty, by expulsion from the society. Bene-
dict, however, with characteristic clemency,
expressly cautions the abbat to deal tenderly
with offenders (c. 27) ; allowing readmission for
penitents into the monastery, even after relapses ;
and, as though aware how much he is entrusting
to the abbat's discretion, begins, and almost ends,
his Rule with grave and earnest cautions against
abusing his authority.
Benedict's constitution was no mere democracy,
under the abbat. All ranks and conditions of men
were indeed freely admitted, from the highest
to the lowest,!* and on equal terms (c. 51 ; cf. Aug.
de Op. Mon. 22) : within the monastery all the
distinctions of their previous life vanished ; the
serf and the noble stood there side by side (c. 2).
Thus even a priest, whose claims to precedence,
being of a spiritual nature, might have been
supposed to stand on a different footing, had to
take his place simply by order of seniority among
the brethren (c. 60), though he might be allowed
by the abbat to take a higher place in the chapel
(c. 62), and might, as the lay-brothers, be pro-
moted by him above seniors in standing (c. 63 ;
cf. Fleury, Hist. Ecc. xxxii. 15). Similarly, a
monk from another monastery was to have no
especial privileges (c. 61). But, with all this
levelling of distinctions belonging to the world
without, the gradations of rank for the monks
as monks were clearly defined. Every brother
had his place assigned him in the monastic
hierarchy. Such offices as those of the hebdo-
madarius or weekl}' cook, of the lector or reader-
aloud in the refectory, were to be held by each
in turn, unless by special exemption (cc. 35, 38),
and the younger monks were enjoined to address^
the elder as "nonni," or fathers, in token of
affectionate reverence (c. 63). Benedict seems
to have had an equal dread of tyranny and
of insubordination.
Indeed, the strict obedience exacted by the
Rule is tempered throughout by an elasticity,
and considerateness, which contrast strongly
with the inflexible rigour of similar institutions.
» V. Martene, note in Beg, Comm. ad loo. ; cf. Cone.
Mogunt. c. 11.
b The restrictions and limitations in Marteno's Beg.
Covim. are not m the Kule.
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDER
189
Like the Evangelic Sermon on the Mount, which
ho makes his model (Pro/. Reg. ; cf. c. 4), Benedict
riften lays down a principle, without shaping it
into details. Thus he enjoins silence, as a whole-
some discipline, without prescribing the times and
]ii:ices for it, beyond specifying the refectory and
the dormitory (c. 6). Like Lycurgus, he wishes
to bequeath to his followers a law which shall
liever be broken (c. G4) ; and yet, in the closing
words of his Rule, he reminds them that the
Uiile, after all, is imperfect in itself (c. 73).
More than once he seems to anticipate the day
w iieu his order shall have assumed larger dimen-
sions, and provides for monasteries on a grander
siale than existed when he was writing his Rule
(rr. 31, 32, 53). Thus, about dress, as if fore-
s.M.'ing the varying requirements of various climes,
lie leaves a discretionary power to the abbat,
allirming merely the unvarying principle that
it is to be cheap and homely (c. .55) ; and that
there are to be two dresses, the " scapulare," or
sort of cape, for field-work, and the " cucullus,"
or hood, for study and prayer (cf. Fleury, Hist.
J.'rc. xxxii. 16). The colour of the tunic or toga,
liring left undetermined by the founder, has
varied at different times : till the 8th century
it was usually white (Mab. Ann. iii.). Nor is
there any Procrustean stillness in the directions
about diet. Temperance, in the strictest sense,
is laid down as the principle : but the abbat
may relax the ordinary rules of quantity and
quality (c. 40) ; more food is ordered whenever
there is more work to be done (c. 39); baths
and meat are not allowed merely, but enjoined
for the sick (c. 36), for the young or aged
(c. 37), as well as for guests who may chance to
be lodging in the monastery (c. 42) ; and even
wine, forbidden by Eastern Asiatics, is allowed,
sparingly, by Benedict, as if in concession to the
national propensities imported into Italy by the
barbarians, and to the colder climate of Northern
Europe (c. 40). Even those minuter rules, in
which Benedict evinces his love of order, pro-
portion, and clocklike regularity, and which
show that Benedict, like Wesley, wished to
direct everytliing, originate almost always in
a wise and tender consideration for human
! weaknesses. The day is mapped out in its round
I of duties, so that no unoccupied moments may
invite temptation (c. 48), but the hours allotted
for work, prayer, or rest, vary with the seasons.
Benedict seems to take especial delight in
arranging how the Psalter is to be read through,
ordering certain Psalms on certain holy days ;
but he leaves it open to his followers to make a
better distribution if they can (cc. 15, 18). The
first Psalm is to be recited slowly ; but this is to
give the brethren time to assemble in their
oratory. The monk who serves as cook is,
during his week of office, to take his meals before
the rest (c. 35); the cellarer, or steward, is to
have fixed hours for attending to the wants of
the brethren, that there may be no vexation or
disappointment (c. 31); a list is to be kept by
the abbat of all the tools and dresses belonging
j to the monastery, lest there may be any con-
i fusion (c. 32) ; the monks are to sleep only ten
I or twelve in the same dormitory, with curtains
j between the beds, and under the charge of a
j dvan, for the sake of order and propriety (c. 22) ;
the Historical Books of the Old Testament were
not to be read the last thing before going to bed,
i
1
as unedifying to weak brethren (c. 42) ; and, last
and least, no monk is to take the knife, which
was part of his monastic equipment, with him to
bed, lest he should hurt himself in his sleep
(c. 22). But it is, above all, in its treatment
of weaker bi-ethren (the " infirmi " or " pusil-
lanimi "), that the Rule breathes a mildness, and
what Aristotle would call " iin^tKeia," rnre
indeed in those days. The abbat is to " love
the offender, even while hating the offence ;"
he is to " beware lest he bi-eak the vessel in
scouring it ;" he is to let " mercy prevail over
justice " (c. 64). A whole chapter (c. 43) is
devoted to meting out the degrees of correction
for monks coming late to chapel or refectory;
and, in this unlike Wesley, Benedict expressly
discourages the public confession of secret faults,
a practice inevitably tending to unreality and
irreverence (c. 46), as well as loud and demon-
strative private prayer in the chapel (c. 52).
There is something peculiarly characteristic of
Benedict's gentle and courteous spirit in his oft-
repeated cautions against murmuring on the one
hand (cc. 31, 40, 41, 53), and, on the other,
against anything like scurrility (cc. 43, 49, &c.).
Compared with Eastern Rules, the Benedic-
tine Rule is an easy yoke (Sev. Sulp. Vit. S.
Martini, i. 7 ; Cass. Instit. i. 11) ; and this
may be attributed partly to the more prac-
tical temperament of the West, partly to the
exigencies of European climates, partly, too, to
the personal character of the lawgiver (cc. 39.
40, 46, &c.). Taking the passage in the Psalms.
" Seven times a day will I praise Thee," and
another, " At midnight I will rise to give
thanks unto Thee," as his mottoes, he portioned
out day and night into an almost unceasing
round of prayer and praise (c. 16). But whereas
his predecessors had ordered the whole of the
Psalter to be recited daily, Benedict, thougn
with a sigh of regret for the degeneracy of his
age, was content that it should be gone through
in the week (c. 18). There is a curious direc-
tion, too (c. 20), against lengthy private devo-
tions, especially in chapel after service. In
harvest time, or if they were far from home, the
monks were to say their devotions in the field, to
save the time and trouble of returning to the
monastery (c. 50 ; cf. Mab. Ann. iii. 8). What-
ever ascetic austerities were introduced at a
later date into some of the reformed Benedictine
orders, we find no trace at all in the original
Rule of those ingenious varieties of self-torture
which had been so common in Egypt and Syria.
Benedict shows no love of self-mortification for
its own sake ; and, while prizing it in moderation
as a discipline, makes it subservient to other
practical purposes. Thus he orders some more
suitable occupation to be allotted to such of the
brethren as may be incapacitated in any way
from hard work out of doors (c. 48). The diet
allowed by the Benedictine Rule would have
seemed luxurious to the monks of the East
(c. 39, &c.).
But the great distinction of Benedict's Rule
was the substitution of study for the compara-
tive uselessness of mere manual labour. Not tliat
his monks were to be less laborious ; rather they
were to spend more time in work ; but their work
was to be less servile, of the head as well as of
the hand, beneficial to future ages, not merely
furnishing sustenance for the bodily wants of the
190
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDER
community, or for almsgiving (cc. 38, 43 : cf.
Cass. Instit. X. 23 ; Hier. Ep. ad Eustoch. 18, 22).
,As if conscious of his innovation Benedict seems
to restrict the word "labor," as heretofore, to
manual occupations ; to these he still devoted
the larger part of the day: and his range of
literature is a na-i'ow one, specifying by name
only the Holy Scriptures and the writings
of the Fathers (cc. 9, 48). But, by reserving
some portion for study, he implanted the princi-
ple, which afterwards bore so glorious fruits in
the history of his order, that liberal arts and
sciences were to be for them not permitted
merely, but sanctioned and encouraged (c. 48).
It is a question how far Benedict is indebted for
this to Cassiodorus, his contemporary, wrong-
fully claimed by some zealous Benedictines as
one of their order (Mign. Patrol. Ixix. 483).
But the " Vivarium " which Cassiodorus founded
in Calabria seems to have been more like an
university, or eren the intellectual and artistic
t'ourt over which Frederick II. presided in that
part of Italy during the 13th century, more
genial in its tone and wider in its range of
studies (Cassiod. de Instit. Div. Litt, cc. 28,
30, 31). Probably Benedict and his more secular
contemporary were both alike aft'ected by the
same impulses, inherited from the dying litera-
ture of Imperial Rome.
A monk's day, according to the Rule, was an
alternation of work, manual or mental, and
prayer, in the words of the Rule of the " opus Dei
or divinum officium " and " labor et lectio," with
the short intervals necessary for food and rest
(cf. Mab. Ann. iii. 8; Fleury, Hist. Ecc. xxxii. 15
et seq.). In winter the middle of the day, and
in summer the morning and evening, were for
manual labour ; for study the heat of the day in
summer, and the dusk and darkness of morning
and evening in the short days of winter (cc.
8, 48). After the midday meal in summer, the
monk might take his siesta, or a book (c. 48).
The seven hours for divine service were those
called "canonical;" and the services were — ma-
tins (afterwards called lauds) at sunrise (in
summer), prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers,
compline, separated each from each by three
hours, as well as a midnight service, which was
to be held a little before the matins, called in
the Rule " nocturnae vigiliae" (c. 16). On Sun-
days the monk was to rise earlier and have
longer "vigiliae" (c. 11), and was to substitute
reading for manual work (c. 48). Each ser-
vice was to include a certain number of Psalms,
often selected with especial reference to the
time of day, as the third for nocturns, of Can-
ticles, and of lections, or readings from Holy
Scripture or the Fathers (c. 8, &c.). On Sun-
days and holy days all the brethren were to
receive the Holy Communion (c. 25). The pre-
cise times for the several avocations of the
monastic day were to vary with the four seasons,
both of the natural and of the Christian year
(c. 8, &c.). The work or the book for the time
was to be assigned to each at the discretion of
the abbat (c. 48). The evening meal was to be
taken all the year round before dark (c. 41).
As the monk had to rise betimes, so his thought-
ful legislator would have him retire early to
rest.
Chapters 1-7 in the Rule are on the monastic
character generally — obedience, humility, &c. ;
8-20 on divine service; 21-30 on deans and the
correction of offenders ; 31—41 on the cellarer
and his department, especially the refectory; 42-
52 are chiefly on points relating either to the
oratory or to labour: the remaining twenty-
one rules hardly admit of classification, being
miscellaneous and supplementary to those pre-
ceding.
On the whole, the Benedictine Rule, as a Rule
for Monks, must be pronounced, by all who view
it dispassionately, well worthy of the high praise
which it has received, not from monks only, but
from statesmen and others. " First and fore-
most in discretion, and clear in style," is the
appropriate comment on it of Gregory the Great
(Dial. ii. 36). In the 7th century the observance
of it was enjoined on all monks, by the Council
of Augustodunum (c. 15), and by Lewis the Pious
{Exh. adEigil. Abb. Fuld. ap. Migne, Praef. Meg.).
It is commonly entitled in councils "the holy
Rule" (Migne, Praef. Peg.); and by one held in
the 9th century it is directly attributed to the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Cone. Duziac. ii.).
By one writer it is contrasted with previous
rules as the teaching of Christ with that of
Moses (Gaufr.-Abb. Vindocin. Sermo de S. B. ap.
Migne, Praef. Peg.). It was a favourite alike
with Thomas Aquinas, as a manual of morality,
and with the politic Cosmo de' Medici, as a
manual for rulers (Alb. Butler, Lives of the Saints,
s. voce; cf Gue'ranger, Enchirid. Bened. Praef.).
Granted the very questionable position, that the
life of a monk, with its. abdication of social and
domestic duties, is laudable, Benedict's conception
of that life, in principle and in detail, is almost
unexceptionable. His monks are indeed treated
throughout as simply children of an older growth :
they may not even walk abroad (c. 67) ; nor, if
sent outside the precincts, may they stop any-
where to eat, without the abbat's leave (c. 51) ;
nor may they even receive letters from home (c.
51). The prescribed washing of strangers' feet
(c. 53), and the very strict prohibition against a
monk having anything, however trifling, of any
sort to call his own, are all part of this extension
into maturer years of a discipline proper for chil-
dren. But, if treated as children, the followers
of Benedict were at any rate under a wise and
sympathising Master ; and the school where they
were to be trained in humility and obedience was
not one of needless and vexatious mortifications.
Order, proportion, regularity, these are the
characteristics of the Rule; with an especial
tenderness for the "weaker brethren." As in
all monastic institutions, self-love seems to
force its way through all the barriers heaped
around it ; tinging even the holiest actions with
a mercenariness of intention {Prol. &c. &c.).
Thus the motive proposed for waiting sedulously
on the sick is the reward which may be won by
so doing (c. 37). But the Rule appeals also,
though less expressly, to higher motives than the
fear of punishment or the hope of recompense-
to the love of God and of man (e. g. P/ oL). It
cannot be said of Benedict's Rule, as of solitary
asceticism, that self is the circumference as well
as the centre of the circle. The relations of the
brethren to their father, and to one another,
tend, in the Rule, to check that isolation of the
heart from human sympathies which is the bane
of monasticism. If there is a disregard of the
claims of the outer world, at all events some-
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDEE
191
tliiivj; like the ties of family is duly recognised
within tlie order, hallowing even the trivial de-
tails of daily life. The monastery is the " House
01 I ;,id ;" and even its commonest utensils are
■■ ii.ilv things" (c. 31). Benedict disclaims for
man either any merit in keeping the divine law,
01- any power to do so without help from heaven
O-roL).
In style the Rule is clear and concise ; largely
interspersed with apposite quotations from the
Scri]>tures, especially the Psalms. But its La-
tiuity is very uuclassical, not only in syntax, but
in single words (e. g. odire for odisse, c. 4 ; solatium,
fur "helper," cc. 31, 35; ti/jMS for " arrogance "
or '• circumlocution," c. 31). In this respect the
Eule contrasts unfovourably with Cassian's com-
pr.ratively accurate and polished style. The
text may have been corrupted; but there seems
to have been a serious deterioration in Latin
literature during the 5th century.
With the lapse of time, the right meaning of
many passages in the Rule gave rise to violent
controversies. Its very brevity and conciseness
were themselves the occasion of an uncertainty,
frequently enhanced by the changes of meaning
which the same word often undergoes in succes-
sive periods. Whether such phrases as " Com-
manio" and "Missa" are to be taken in their
more technical and ritualistic sense, or merely
for " charity " and the " termination of divine
service ;" whether " excommunicatio " means the
greater or the lesser sentence of deprivation (cc.
24, 25) ; whether " clerici " (c. 62) means dea-
cons only, or pinests as well ; all these have been
questions with commentators and reformers.
"Matutini" in the Rule is said to correspond
with the service afterwai-ds known as " Laudes ;"
and "Laudes" in the Rule to mean the thi-ee
last Psalms, all commencing " Laudate " (Fleury,
Bist. Ecc. xxxii. 15). "Prior" seems in one
place (c. 63), where the younger brethren are
ordered to salute the " priores," to mean merely
older, at least in precedence ; while in another
place (c. 68), which treats of obedience, it seems
to mean those in office. There is some ambi-
guity about the several articles of dress pre-
scribed (c. 55); and still more about the diet.
" Mixtum " (c. 38) is supposed by some to mean
" wine and water," by others " wine and bread ;"
and it is a vexed question, whether eggs and fish,
birds and fowls, as well as "pulse," are included
in the word " pulmentum " (Mart. Coram, in Reg.
cc, 38, 55; Mab. Ann. i. 53, xiii. 2, xiv. 46). The
enactment that " even a small part " of the bre-
thren may elect the abbat is variously explained,
as meaning either a minority, in certain cir-
cumstances, or, more probably, "a majority how-
ever small " (^Comm. in Reg. c. 64) ; and another
provision in the next chapter, that "a council
of the brethren " is to take part in electing the
prior, is vague both as to the size of the council
and the extent of its powers (c. 65). A distinction
familiar to Roman Catholic casuists has been
drawn by some commentators between the " pre-
cepts " and " counsels " in the opening words of
the Prologue to the Rule ; and, however that
may be, the opinion has prevailed that the spirit
rather than the letter of the Rule is to be ob-
served, and that it is not strictly obligatory in its
lesser details (note by Ed. on Fleury, Hist. Ecc.
xxxii. 12, Aug. Vindel. 1768 : cf. Bern, de Praec.
et Dispens., Patrol, clxxii. ; Petr. Clun. Epp. i. 28,
iv. 17, Patrol, clxxxix. ; Hospin. de Monachatu, pp.
132-134). But the hottest dispute has been on
the permissibility of secular studies for the bre-
thren. In the 17th century Mabillon and others
argued against their Trappist opponents, that,
though not mentioned expi-essly, these studies
are implied and involved in the Rule ; that as
the order in time came to consist more and
more largely of students, and as Latin became to
them a dead language, instead of being one with
which they were habitually familiar, such pur-
suits became for them an absolute necessity
(Mab. Breve Scrij)t. deMm. Stud. Eat.; cf. Mait-
land's Dark Ages, 158-171).
The Rule of I3enedict soon reigned alone in
Europe, absorbing into itself the Rule of Colum-
banus, which had been dominant in Western
Europe (Mab. Ann. Praef i. 13, v. 11). In Italy
it was accepted generally, before the close of the
century in which Benedict died (Joan. Diac.
Vita Greg. M. iv. 80). It was probably intro-
duced into Gaul during his lifetime by his
disciple Maurus, from whom the famous monas-
tery of St. Maur claims its name ; and there it soon
made its way, its comparative elasticity pre-
vailing over the rigidity of the rival system.
Thus Faremoutier transferred itself from the
Columban Rule to that of Benedict (A. Butler,
Lives of the Saints s. S. Fara). The Council of
Aachen in 788 A.D. ordered the Benedictine to
be observed, and no other, in the Empire of
Karl and his son {Cone. Aqtiisgran. ; cf. Cone.
Aiigustod. c. 15). It won Germany early in the
9th century {Cone. Mogunt. c. 11 ; cf. Pertz
Legg. I. 166, c. 11), and Spain in the next cen-
tury (Mab. Ann. Praef. iv. saec). It is a question
at what date it was introduced into England ;
whether by Benedict Biscop, by Wilfrid (Ling.
Ang.-Sax. Church, ch. 5), or, as Mabillon and
other learned writers have asserted (see in A.
Butler's Lives of the Saints, under Benedict), by
Augustine, importing it from the monastery of
S. Andrea on the Caelian hill, under the auspices
of Gregory. A lax Rule probably prevailed till
the time of Dunstan (see Marsham's Praef.
to Dugd. Monastic. Anglic. ; cf. Cone. Clovesh.
747 A.D.). [v. Benedictus, in Diet. Chr. Biog.']
In the 10th century the Benedictine Rule held
almost universal sway in Europe (Pellic. Polit.
Ecc. Chr. I. iii. 1, § 4), and wherever it pene-
trated, it was the pioneer not of Christianity
only, but of civilization and of all humanizing
influences. For their labours in clearing forests
and draining swamps, in setting an example of
good husbandry generally, as well as for having
fostered what little there was of leai-niug and
refinement in that troublous and dreary period,
a debt of gratitude is due to them, which cannot
easily be overrated.
For more than three centuries after its insti-
tution one Rule sufficed for the Benedictine
order generally. Between the 9th and 15th
centuries, as the order extended itself more
widely, and as reformers, ardent against abuses,
arose here and there in its ranks, various " con-
stitutions " were engrafted on the original Rule.
For so early as in the 8th century there were
symptoms of decay. The rich endowments
granted by kings and nobles had brought with
them, as was inevitable, the seeds of luxurv and
self-indulgence, and the very popularity of the
" religious " life often gave occasion to unreality
192
BENEDICTINE RULE AND ORDER
in professing it. Thus, as for instance in England,
when it had become the fashion for kings and
queens to quit their palaces for a monastery,
and to lavish their treasures on it (Bed. Ecc.
Hist. iii. 19, 23, 24; Ling. A.-S. C. i. 211, 214),
this fatal munificence served to attract, in the
course of years, oppressive taxes, or spoliation of
a more downright sort (Bouif. Ep. ad Cudbert.
c. 11, ap. Bed. Hist. Ecc. p. 353, Hussey). Often
too the immunity (Pertz, Legg. i. 223) and com-
parative security of the monastic life tempted a
noble to assume the name, without the reality,
of abbat ; in order to escape legal obligations
he would get his " folkland " . converted into
" bocland " on pretence of conveying it to the
service of God, and there would live with his
family and dependants, an abbat in name and in
tonsure, but in nothing more (Bede, Ejy. ad
Egb. ap. Hist. Ecc. ; Ling. A.-S. C. i. 226-7, 230,
407, 413). The need of reformation soon called
into existence reformers. Clugni, in the 10th
century, was the first separate congregation, with
a separate Rule of its own (Mab. Praef. Aiui.;
Thomass. Vet. ct Nova Discipl. I. iii. 21, 25). The
four centuries which followed witnessed the birth
of more than twenty " Reformed Orders," all pro-
fessing to hold the original Rule of Benedict in
its pristine purity and integrity, but each super-
adding its own special exposition of the Rule as
binding on its members (Hospin. de Man. p. 132).
Monte Casino, the head-quarters at first, if not the
birthplace, of the order, retained its supremacy,
which, according to some authorities, the founder
intended for it (v. note on Fleury, Hist. Ecc.
xxxiii. 12), for some three centuries ; its primacy
has never been denied. It was sacked by the
Lombards in 591 A.D. (Clint. Fast. Horn.), or
580 A.D. (Fleury, Hist. Ecc. xxxiii. 10), and the
fugitives who escaped founded the Lateran
Monastery at Rome (Paul. D. Hist. Lomh. iv. 18 ;
cf. Mab. Ann. vii.). In the beginning of the 8th
century it rose again from its ruins, and received
within its walls Carloman, weary of the cares of
eiii])ire. But Odo, the founder of Clugni, became
" General " of his own " congregation," and his
example has been followed by others (Mab. Ann.
i. 19).
Anmng the most famous Benedictine abbeys
'the term is a specialty of the order) were,
besides those already mentioned, Bamberg, Font-
evraud, Fulda, Sta. Giustina at Padua, including
in its jurisdiction Sta. Scholastica (A. Butler,
Lives of Saints ; see St. Bened.), Grotta Ferrata,
Marmoutier, S. Paolo fuori near Rome, S. Seve-
rino at Naples, &c., and in England, St. Albans,
Glastonbury, Malmesbury, &c., with many of our
Cathedrals. The preference of the old Benedic-
tines for mountainous sites is proverbial :
" Bernardns valles, colles Benedictus amabat"
It would be endless to enumerate the dis-
tinguished members of the order. The list of
those belonging to Monte Casino alone, during
its first six centuries, fills 25 folio pages of
Fabricius' Bihliotheca Ecclesiastica, with a brief
notice of each (Petr. Diac. De Vir. El. Casin.).
Trithemius, the learned abbat of Spanheim,
counts on the roll of the order, in the beginning
of the 16th centur}', 18 popes (Gue'ranger, A.D.
1862, says "30," Enchirid. Bened. Praef.), more
than 200 cardinals, 1600 archbishops, about
4000 bishops, and, almost incredible as it sounds
15,700 famous abbats, with an equal number of
canonized saints ! (v. Fabric. Bibl. Ecc. s. v. : cf.
Mab. AA. Praef. vi. ; Ziegelbauer u. Legipont;
Hist. Lit. 0. S. B.). St. Paul is the' Patron
Saint of the Order.
The original copy of the Rule is said to have
been burnt at Teano, near Monte Casino, towards
the close of the 9th century (Leo Marsic. ap.
Mab. Ann. iii. 263). Sigebertus Gemblacensis, in
the 12th century, states that it was first made
public by Simplicius, third abbat of Monte Casino
(Fabric. Bibl. Ecc. s. v. Bened.). Hospinian gives
no authority for his counter-statement, that
many attribute it to Gregory the Great {Be
Monach. p. 116). Mabillon assumes it to have
been made by Benedict himself at Monte Casino
about 528 A.D. {Ann. iii. 8; A. Butler, Lives of
Saints, see St. Bened.). Wion speaks of more
than a hundred editions of the Rule in 1554 A.D.
{Lign. Vit. i. 7). It is said to have been trans-
lated into English by Duustan (Mign. Braef. Beg.
S. Bened.).
The best commentaries on it are those of
Martene and Calmet. That of Me'ge is con-
sidered lax by stricter Benedictines. The com-
mentaries of Smaragdus, p]'obably abbat of St.
Michael's, not Smaragdus Ardo, and of Hilde-
marus, a French Benedictine in the 8th cen-
tury, are commended by Martene, in his jn'e-
face to the Rule (Mign. Patrol. Ixvi.) ; also that
of Bernardus, a monk of Lerins, afterwards
abbat of Monte Casino in the 13th century, and
one, incomplete, by Trithemius lately mentioned.
But especially he praises those of Menard, a
monk of St. JDenys, who afterwards placed him-
self under the stricter rule of St. Maur ; and
of Haeften, a Benedictine prior, the author of the
prolix Disquisitiones Monasticae, in twelve books,
epitomized by Stengel or Stengelius. Mabillon
seems to have contemplated a Commentary on
the Rule, but from want of time to have resigned
the task to Martene {Praef. Beg. S. B. ap. Mign.
Patrol. Ixvi. ; cf. Not. cc. 2, 9). The Rule was
harmonized with other monastic rules by Bene-
dictus Anianensis. [See Bid. of Chr. Biogr. s. ■!).]
The following are important works on the
Benedictine Rule and Order :
Petr. Diac. Casin. de Vir. Lllustr. Casin. in
Fabric. Bibl. Ecc. and de Ortu et Obit. Just:
Casin. in Mail Scr. Vet. Nov. Coll. and Prolog.
in Vit. S. Placidi, in Martene et Durand, Ampliss.
Coll. ; Leonis Marsic. et Petr. Diac. Chronic. Casin,
" ed. W. Wattenbach in Monum. German." (Mign.
Patrol, s. V.) ; Reg. S. Bened. C. Comment. Joan,
de Turre Cremata et Smaragdi Abb. ; item
IV. Libri de Vir. III. 0. S. B. Joan. Trithemii,
Col. Agr. 1575, fol. ; Arnold. Wion, Lignum Vitae,
Venet. 1595 ; Me'ge, Commentaire sur la Begle de
St. Benoit, Jos. Me'ge (de St. Maur) Paris, 1687, and
Vie de St. Benoit avec une Histoire de son Ordre,
Paris, 1690 ; Bulteau, Histoire de VOrdre de St.
Benoit, Paris, 1691; Menard, Martyrclog. O.S.B.
Par. 1629. La Begle de St. Benoit explique'e par M.
de Rance,Abbede la Trappe, Paris, 1690; Martene,
de Ant. Monach. Bit. Lugd. 1690, and Comment, in
Beg. S. B. Paris, 1690 ; Mabillonii Annales 0. S. B.
Paris, 1703-39 ; Dacherii et Mabillonii AA. SS.
0. S. B. Paris, 1668-1701; Mabillonii Breve
Scriptum de Monast. Stud. Ratione in Bibl. Ascet.
Pezii ; Berthelet, Traite historique et m,orale sur
V Abstinence, 1726, Paris, 1731 ; Calmet, Comment.
Hist, et Morale sur la Regie de S. B. Par. 1734-
'
BENEDICTION
Hnlt-tenii Codox Regular. Monast. et Canonic, a
K'. P. Mariano Brockie illustratus, &c., Aug.
\iii.lel. 1759; Hist. Lit. 0. S. B., Aug. Vind.
17."i-t; Ziegellauer u. Legipont. Martyrologiuni
'• ^Bcnedikt. Orcfews, Augsburg, 1855; St. Benoit
,\' .vt'.s Ordres religieux, Lille, 1855; Gueranger,
/.'.■■'/ iridion Benedictiaum, Andegav. 1862. [1. G. S.J
IJENEDICTION, the spousal or nuptial.
Aiming the Jews special benedictions were in use
111 it II for betrothal and actual marriage, the latter
I Hustituted, as with the Romans, by a deductio or
I ill icejsion accompanying the bride; which how-
iMT with the Romans had for its goal the house
lit' the husband, with the Jews the nuptial bed
itself. A passage in Tobit (vii. 13, 14) indicates
tlui close connexion of the blessing with what we
sill mid term the marriage settlement. Forms of
lidth benedictions will be found in Selden's Uxor
Jl'i'raica, bk. ii., cc. vii., xii. But Maimonides
expressly observes {Uxor. Ehr. bk. ii. c. 13) that
Oi't the blessing of the betrothed makes niar-
li i-i'. but the leading of the bride to the uup-
tiil bed.
('ertain heathen marriages, e.g. the Roman
"furreatio, being also accompanied with a
liiuediction, it was but natural that the same
custom should prevail in reference to Christian
I ones. A good deal, however, of confusion seems
to have arisen on the subject, especially through
I not distinguishing the legal and spiritual aspects
of the benediction. It cannot be too often re-
peated that for many centuries both betrothal
and marriage were in the eyes of the Church
primarily civil contracts, valid although cele-
brated according to heathen rites, if in conformity
with the civil law, subject only to certain peculiar
Christian restrictions. It is not meant, however,
by these expressions that such contracts were
looked on as merely " secular," as many would
term them now, or " profane, " as the middle
ages termed them. For Our Lord and His Apos-
tles, human society itself was a sacred thing :
the State, which embodied it for all purposes of
civil life, was sacred (Rom. xiii., 1, 4, 6) ; mar-
riage above all, the very keystone of all human
society, had a primordial sacredness (Matt. xiv. 4),
entirely transcending all enactments of municipal
or ceremonial law.
But this view in nowise prevented the Church
from claiming spiritual control over such con-
tracts as between the faithful, from recognizing
and sealing their unions by its benediction, or
even from looking upon such unions with dis-
favour when this was not solicited. Thus the
5th chapter of the Epistle of Ignatius to Poly-
carp (admitted by Dr. Cureton as genuine into
his ' Corpus Ignatianum ') says : " It is meet
that men and women who are marrying should
unite with the approval of the bishop, that the
marriage be according to the law and not ac-
cording to lust." So Tertullian (writing about
A.D. 200), in his work Be Budicitid, speaks of
"secret unions, that is, not first declared before
the church " (non prius apud ecclesiam professae)
as running the risk of being deemed nigh to adul-
tery and fornication. Another passage of his,
{Ad Uxor. c. 8), is generally quoted as one of the
nrst distinct authorities in favour of the eccle-
siastical benediction on marriage. According to
the ordinary reading, it runs thus : " How should
w« be sutKcient to set fortli the bliss of that
marriage which the Church brings about (conci-
CilUIsr. AXT.
BENEDICTION
93
liat), and the oblation confirms, and the benedic-
tion seals, angels proclaim, the Father ratifies ? "
It must, however, be observed that, if the above
reading be correct, the substitution of the bene-
diction for the execution of the tabulae nupiiales,
which the words " et obsignat benedictio " im-
ply, antedates by many centuries the rule of the
Church in the matter. It is remarkable, too,
as pointed out by Augusti, that one text, instead
of the words "et obsignat benedictio, angeli re-
nuntiant," has simply " et obsignatum angeli
renuntiant," ' the angels proclaim when sealed,'
— a reading which brings back the passage into
accordance with the law and practice of the time,
but at the expense of the decisive word " bene-
dictio " itself." That such benedictions were
pronounced, however, there can be no reason to
doubt. Thus Ambrose, writing against mixed
marriages, says : " For since marriage itself
should be sanctified by the priestly veil (vclamine
sacerdotali) and by benediction, how can that be
called a marriage where there is no agreement
of feith ? " (Bk. ix. Ep. 70). But, as Selden has
observed, the like benedictions were often claimed
on behalf of many other kinds of contract besides
that of marriage, — a sale for instance. The total
absence from the Apostolical Constitutions of any
liturgical formulae relating to marriage, and of
any notice of church usages in respect to it,
seems a conclusive proof that nothing of the kind
formed part of the ritual of the early church
during the 3 or 4 centuries (or even more) over
which the collection of the materials for the
compilation in question probably extended.
There is however extant, under dates ranging
as far back as the former half of the 2ud cen-
tury, a whole series of authorities enforcing the
necessity of the ecclesiastical benediction, upon
which the Church of Rome has unhesitatingly
built its practice as to the ceremonial validity of
the rite, and which have been quoted without
comment by Bingham and other Protestant
writers. But as these are, for the most part,
spurious documents of the forged Decretal class,
and are only so far important as they shew the
points for which it was sought to claim the sanc-
tion of an earlier period, and thus to establish
the jurisdiction of the clergy in matters con-
nected with marriage, they may be passed over.
Turning to the Eastern Church, we find that
Chrysostom in his voluminous works never indi-
cates the existence of a marriage liturgy, or the
indispensableness of sacerdotal benediction. Two
letters of Gregoi-y Nazianzen show clearly that
such benediction was looked upon rather as a
seemly accompaniment to Christian marriage than
as a condition of it, since the writer, in that grace-
ful tender style of which he is a master, professes
to give his by letter. One is to Procopius {Ep. 57,
otherwise 44), on the marriage of " his golden
Olympias." " I join to each other," he writes,
" the right hands of the young people, and both
to that of God. For it is fitting that like many
other good things, so should marriage take place
in the best way in all respects, and according to
our common prayers." However visible may be
» It should not be overlooked that the same Tertullian,
In his treatise on Idolatiy (c. 16), expressly admits the
purity of betrothal and marriage in themselves, even
when celebrated amongst heathens, and therefore the
lawfulness of a Christian's presence at both. See ^wd,
art. BKTi;oTitAL.
0
194
BENEDICTION
here the hauitual form of Christian marriage,
nothing can be more obvious than that the inter-
ference of the Church is not treated as indispens-
able. Another letter to Eusebius(171) is still more
conclusive, as shewing that whilst Gregory made
it a rule, whenever present at a wedding, to inter-
pose the prayers of the church, the actual rites
ofmarriat;e he left to be performed by others,
and considered that a sufficient consecration of
them could be given from afar, since prayers
" are not bounded by space."
We must now however notice a singular docu-
ment, which is included by Labbe and Mansi
among those of the 4th century, and appended
by them to the Acts of the Nicene Council, as
being attributed to the Nicene Fathers by a
Vatican codex. It is termed " Sanctiones et
decreta alia ex quatuor regum " — quaere, regu-
lorum? — "ad Constantinum libris decerpta "
(L. and M., Councils, vol. ii. p. 1029 and foil.),
and is written in Latin, though evidently repre-
senting the practice of the Greek Church. The
2nd chapter of these ' Sanctions and Decrees '
forbids marriage with a person's nuptial para-
nymphs, with whom "the benediction of the
crowns " is received. Benedictions are mentioned
in like manner in c. 6 and 7, but it is clear that
the ceremony of the Greek ritual known as the
benediction of the crowns, and not the Latin bene-
diction of the marriage itself, is what the above
passages refer to. But when we attempt to fix a
date for the work which contains them, we shall
be compelled to carry this to the second half of
the 6th century at earliest. For it is a re
markable tact that Justinian's legislation, mi-
nutely occupied as it is with Church matters,
never once refers to the ecclesiastical benedic-
tion of marriage : it requires a will to see it,
as some have done, in the mere expression
" vota nuptialia;" and this although it will
be. seen (Contract of marriage) that a kind
of church-registration of marriages was pro-
vided for.
It is however by no means improbable that
between the 6th and 7th centuries the regular
practice of an ecclesiastical benediction upon
marriage, and the Greek ritual of marriage itself,
became established. And it is a well-known
Greek name which now carries us back to the
next Western authority on the subject, — that of
the canons of a Council, held in England towards
the end of the 7th century, under Archbishop
Theodore, which enact that " in a first marriage
the priest should perform the mass and bless
both " parties (c. 59) ; implying, it would seem,
the practice set forth by the 'Sanctions and
Decrees,' of confining the blessing to the as yet
unmarried party only, where the other has been
In tlie Cr.rlovingian era, finally — to which be-
long tViC head springs of the great stream of church
forgeries, — forgeries which, amongst other au-
thorities, have so dealt with the Capitularies
themselves that it is frequently impossible to
determine the precise age of a given text — the
priestly benediction entered into the civil law as
an essential requisite of marriage ; and the various
spurious authorities from the annals of the
Western Church above commented on were
a[)pareut]y invented for the purpose of carrying
back to a remote period the ecclesiastical re-
cognition of its necessity. And it may be ob-
BENEDICTION
served that the mention of it almost invariably
occurs in connexion with the subject of consan-
guinity,— another great source of clerical in-
fluence and income in its relation to marriage,
which has been even more prolific in suggestions
of pious fraud. By the 35th article of the first
Capitulary of 802, none are to be married before
inquiry be made as to whether they are related ;
" and then let them be united with a benedic-
tion." (Comp. also vi. 130, vii. 179, viii. 408.)
The 473rd article (vii. 473), "on lawful mar-
riage " is almost exactly identical in its wording
with the supposed letter of Pope Evaristus, and
may, it is submitted, be fairly deemed its ori-
ginal.
We may briefly refer to certain canons of the
patriarch Nicephorus, recorded by Coteierius, and
perhaps enacted at the Council of Constantinople
in A.D. 814, which indicate that at this period at
least the benediction was by the Church decreed
to constitute the marriage. If any having a
concubine would neither leave her nor allow her
to receive the benediction, and have her with the
sacramental rite, his offerings were not to be ■
received (can. xxxiv.). And lastly, the well-
known document known as the reply of Pope
Nicolas to the Bulgarians, though belonging
only to the latter half of the 9th century, pre-
serves to us probably the practice of the Roman
Church on this subject from an earlier period.
It indicates evidently a different ceremonial from
that of the Greek Church, and although dwelling
on the formalities of betrothal, speaks of no bless-
ing but the nuptial one.
To sum up the conclusions of this inquiry :
1st. There never was a period when the Christian
Church did not rejoice to sanction the nuptial
rite by its benedictions, and did not exhort the
faithful to obtain them for their unions. 2nd.
But having a profound faith in the primordial
sanctity of marriage in itself, many centuries
elapsed before the pronouncing of such a benedic-
tion was held essential to the validity of marriage,
when duly contracted according to the municipal
law, and not contrary to the special ethical rules
of the Church in reference to marriage. 3rd.
Hence the total absence of marriage liturgies
from the early Christian rituals, extending to
about the beginning of the 7th century ; the
genuineness of the one in the Gelasian Missal
(end of the 5th century) being confessedly im-
pjugned by the absence of any in the Gregorian,
a century later. 4th. It may however be ad-
mitted that by the end of the 7th century the
priestly benediction of marriage had probably
become the rule in both great branches (divisions
not yet) of the Church ; and in the course of the
8th and 9th centuries it hardened into a legal
institution within the domains of the great
usurpers of the West, the Carlovingians, being
now largely supported by supposititious church
authorities, carried back as far as the beginning
of the 2ud century. 5th. It is also possible
that about this period a practice of sacerdotally
blessing betrothals likewise grew up, and promis-
ing to open a new source of income to the clergy
and above all to the Roman pontiffs, was in like
manner sought to be maintained by spurious
authorities ; but the date of this cannot be fixed
earlier than A.D. 860, since Pope Nicol.is, in his
reply to the Bulgarians, clearly, speaks only of
the nuptial benediction. [J. M. L.]
BENEDICTIONS
BENEDICTIONS. {Benedlctio, evXoyla.)
I. Definition, ^c. — Like many other points of
ritual, tlie practice of benediction passed from
the Jewish to the Christian Church. In the in-
fancy of the former, under Aaron, we discover
the existence of the blessing of the congregation
by the priest after the morning and the evening
sacrifice (Lev. ix. 22) ; and later notices may be
seen in 1 Chron. xxiii. 13, Ecclus. xxxvi. 17, xlv.
15, 1. 20. The actual form is prescribed in Num.
vi. 22 sqq. ; cf. Ps. Ixvii. 1.
The benediction, ordinarily pronounced by
priests (as e.g. in the case of Zacharias, for
whose blessing the people waited, Luke i. 21).
would on occasions of special solemnity be re-
served for the high priest. Even the king, as
the viceroy of the Most High, might give the
blessing (cf. 2 Sam. vi. 18, 1 Kings viii. 55,
1 Chron. xvi. 2). It would appear that Levites
had ordinarily, though not invariably, the power
ofgiving the blessing. Cf. perh. 2 Chron. xxx. 27.
The actual formula referred to above does not
occur in the New Testament, though our Lord
is spoken of as blessing little children and His
disciples (Mark x. 16, Luke xsiv. 50), besides
the blessing on the occasion of the institution of
the Eucharist (Matt. xxvi. 26). Still, the gene-
ral tenor and form of the blessing, must have
been similar, and the familiar " peace " of the
benediction is probably a relic of the old Aaron-
itic form.
Before proceeding to consider the various oc-
casions of benediction in the Christian Church,
attention may be called to the strict definition
of the term, in contradistinction from the allied
expressions, consecration, dedication, although the
distinction is not unfrequently lost sight of.
Benediction, then, may be defined to be a certain
holy action which, combined with prayer, seeks
for God's grace for persons, and, in a lower de-
gree, a blessing upon things, with a view whether
to their efficiency or safety. We may add St.
Ambrose's definition {[le Benedictionihus Patri-
archanim, c. 2), " Benedictio est sanctificationis
et gratiarum votiva collatio." On this point the
following extracts may be cited from Gillebert
(bishop of Limerick in the 12th century), De
Usu Ecclesiastico, in Du Gauge's Glossary, s. vv.
" Consecrare," " Benedictio." " Dedicat pontifex
atvium, templum, altare, tabulam altaris. De-
dicare enim est locum Deo offerre, benedicere et
sanctificare. Cvnsecrat autem episcopus uten-
silia ecclesiae, quae fere omnibus sacerdotibus
sunt communia, vestimenta videlicet sacerdotalia
et pontificalia, altaris velamina, calicem, patenam
et corporalia et vasculum Eucharistiae, chrisma,
oleum, vas chrismale, thus et thuribulum, baptis-
terium, arcam vel scrinium reliquiarum, cibo-
rium, id est altaris umbraculum, crucem, tiu-
tinnabulum et ferrum judiciale. Ea enim tantum
consecrat quae a communi usu in cultum divinum
separantur." ..." Benedicere autem dico prae-
sulem ea quae uon sunt utensilia ecclesiae, con-
secrare vero ipsa utensilia. Benedicit ergo pon-
tifex reginam, et virginem cum velatur, et quem-
libet fidelem benedici postulautem et totum
jiopulum ante pacem." These benedictions may
not be conferred by a priest in the presence of a
bishop. Gillebert had previously said, "Bene-
dicere potest praesente episcopo aquam et sal in
Dominicis sacerdos et prandium et sponsum et
aquam judicii vel panem et caetera. In absentia
BENEDICTIONS
195
vero episcopi potest benedicere coronam clerici
et velum viduae, novos fructus, candelas in Puri-
ficatione S. Mariae, cineres in capite jejuuii,
ramos in Dominica Palmarura, et peregrinaturos
et lecturum Evangelium, et populum cum dimit-
titur, aquam benedictam aspergit ad benedicendas
novas domos et caetera nova."
II. Minister of Benediction. — It will be obvious
from the nature of the case, that a benediction
is imparted by a superior to an inferior (cf. Heb.
vii. 7, where this is explicitly stated). Hence
it is laid down in the Apostolic Constitutions (viii.
28) that a bishop may bestow the blessing, and
receive it from other bishops, but not" from
priests ; so too a priest may bless his fellow-
priests and receive the blessing from them or
from a bishop ; the deacon merely receives and
cannot impart the blessing. Thus if a bishop be
present, to him does the Benedictio super pkbem
appertain, and only in the absence of a bishop,
unless special authority be given, is it permitted
to the priest, whose blessing, however, is not
held as of the same solemn import as that of the
bishop.
The ancient Sacramentaries do not distinguish
between Episcopal and Sacerdotal blessings;
while in later times a minutely developed system
has been formed, as may be seen, for example,
from the extracts from Gillebert given above.
To enter, however, at any length into these ac-
cretions is foreign to our present scope. It will
suffice to allude to one or two general points.
Here will appertain the division of Benedictions
into solemnes and communes, magnae and parvae,
and the like, although these distinctions are by
no means uniformly explained. The benedictio
solemnis appears to belong strictly to the bishop,
md, in his absence, to the priest acting as his
representative : other benedictions, it has been
seen, the priest may confer in the presence of
the bishop. In no case, however, can they be
imparted by a deacon or layman (cf. Apostolic
Constitutions, viii. 48, iii. 10).
The distinction between the 6. pai-va and the
6. magna is variously explained : by some they
are held to be the blessings conferred by priest
and bishop respectively ; by others, that the
former implies a private benediction, the latter
a public and solemn one (cf. Cotelier's note, Fa-
tres Apost. i. 28-I-. ed. 1698).
Here may be added a remark as to special
powers of blessing possessed by abbots. Their
pre-eminence above priests in general consists in
a superiority of jurisdiction, not in a higher
order of consecration. From the 8th century,
however, abbots who were priests have possessed
sundry episcopal rights both of benediction within
the limits of their own cloisters and even of
several lower forms of consecration, the latter
of which indeed was. specially allowed by the
second General Council of Nicea, A.D. 787, can.
14 (Labbe and Cossart, Concilia vii. 909). This
example seems to have been further acted on, for
in the time of Charlemagne we find abbesses
assuming to themselves the right of conferring
benedictions even upon men, with laying on of
hands and the sign of the cross, although this
was distinctly prohibited. (Baluzius, Capitularia
Reg. Franc, [anno 789] i. 238, ed. Paris, 1677.)
III. Objects of Benediction. — It will be readily
seen that Benedictions may be divided into Litur-
gical auil non-Liturgical, tiiat is, into siu-h as
(» 2
196
BENEDICTIONS
are in immediate connection with various holy
offices, and those which may be Tiewed as inde-
pendent offices. Those of the former class
specially regard persons, those of the latter
may regard either persons or things. We
shall touch briefly on each class of objects
separately.
(A.) Benedictions of Perso?is.— Here may be
reckoned in the first place all Liturgical bless-
ings, whether (a) general, the blessing communi-
cated to the whole congregation in the dismis-
sion-formula (a.Tr6Kv(ns), as Domimis vobiscum,
pax vobiscum, &c., in the ordinary services of the
Church, as those of the Canonical Hours, of which
the Benediction is an essential element in both
Eastern and Western ritual, varying however in
the former according to the day of the week : or
(;9) special, as those at the Eucharist, Baptism,
Ordination, Marriage, Penance, Extreme Unction,
Burial. We shairbriefly comment here on the
Benedictions entering with the first of these
offices, for the others reference may be made to
the several articles on these rites.
The old Latin Sacramentaries agree in placing
a Benediction in the Mass after the Lord's
Prayer and before the Communion, a custom
which, in the Romish ritual, appears to have
been introduced from the Gallican and Moza-
rabic Liturgies (Daniel, Cod. Liturg. i. 141).
Up to this point the congregation was pro-
hibited from leaving, as e.g. by the Council of
Agde (506 A.D.) and the First and Third Councils
of Orleans (.511 and 538 A.D.). " Missas die Do-
minico a saecularibus totas teneri speciali ordi-
natione praecipimus, ita ut ante benedictionem
sacei'dotis populus egredi non praesumat." (^Conc.
Agath. can. 47 ; Labbe; iv. 1391.) Menard (Grey.
Sacram. p. 297 ; but cf. Mabillon, De Liturgia Galli-
cnim, i. 4, § 13, 14) refers this to the benediction at
the end of the Mass. "Populus non ante discedat
quam Missae solennitas compleatur, et ubi epis-
copus fuerit, benedictionem accipiat sacerdotis."
{Cone. Aurel. I. can. 26; Labbe', iv. 1408. Sirmond
remarks that the edd. have no MS. authority for
prefixing a negative to fuerit, and that the error
is apparently due to its not being perceived that
episcopus and sacerdos are used synonymously.)
" De Missis nuUus laicorum ante discedat quam
Dominica dicatur oratio ; et si episcopus praesens
fuerit ejus benedictio expectetur." {Cone. Aur.
ILL can. 29 ; Labbe', v. 302.) The Mass in one
sense was now over, and thus those who did not
communicate might leave. (Cf. e.jr. Greg. Tur.,
Be Miraculis S. Martini, ii. 47 : " Cumque ex-
pletis Missis populus coepisset sacrosanctum
corpus Redemptoris accipere.") We may further
cite the injunction laid down by the Fourth
('ouncil of Toledo (633 A.D.), which, after finding
fault with those priests who " post dictam ora-
tionem Dominicam statim communicant et postea
benedictionem in populo dant," proceeds " post
or. Dom. et conjunctionem panis et calicis bene-
dictio in populum sequatui-, et turn demum coi'-
poris et sanguinis Domini sacramentum sumatur "
(can. 18 ; Libbe, v. 1711). This may be further
illustrated by a remark of Caesarius of Aries, to
the efl'ect that he v/ho wishes "Missas ad inte-
grum cum lucro animae suae celebrare " must
remain in the church " usquequo or. Dom. di-
catur et benedictio populo detur." {Serm. 281,
§ 2; Migne, xxxix. 2277.) This benediction,
which is properly the prerogative of the bishop,
BENEDICTIONS
is uttered generally in three, sometimes however
in four and even five or more divisions, at the
end of each of which is responded, Amen.
The following is the manner in which this
Benediction is ordinarily introduced. The deacon,
if one be present, having called with a loud
voice, Humiliate vos henedictioni (cf. Caesarius,
l^eriiL. 286, § 7), the imparter of the blessing fol-
lows with Dominus sit semjjer vobiscum, to which
is responded M cum spiritu tuo ; then follows
the benediction. As showing the nature of this,
we subjoin the benediction for the festival of
St. Stephen, from three old Latin Liturgies, the
Gallican, the Gregorian, and the Mozarabic re-
spectively (Migne, Ixxii. 232 ; Ixxviii. 33 ; Ixxxv.
199). " Deus, qui tuos martyres ita vinxisti
caritate ut pro te etiam mori cuperent, ne peri-
rent. Amen ; et beatum Stephanum in coufes-
sione ita succendisti fide, ut imbrem lapidum nou
timeret. Amen. Exaudi precem familiae tuae
amatoris inter festa plaudentem. Amen. Acce-
dat ad te vox ilia intercedens pro populo, pro
iuimicis quae orabat in ipso martyrio. Amen.
Ut se obtinente et te remunerante, perveniat
illuc plebs adquaesita per gratiam, ubi te, caelis
apertis, ipse vidit in gloriam. Amen. Quod Ipse
praestare digneris, qui cum Patre et Spiritu
Sancto vivis et rognas in saecula saeculorum."
" Deus qui beatum Stephanum Protomartyreni
coronavit, et confessione fidei et agone martyrii
mentes vestras circumdet, et in praesenti saeculo
corona justitiae, et in futuro perducat vos ad
corouam gloriae. Amen. lUius obtentu tribuat
vobis Dei et proximi charitate semper exuberare,
qui hanc studuit etiam inter lapidantium im-
petus obtinere, Amen. Quo ejus exemplo robo-
rati, et intercessione muniti, ab eo quern ille a
dextris Dei vidit stantem, mereamini benedici,
Amen. Quod Ipse . . . ." " Christus Dei Filius,
pro cujus nomine Stephanus martyr lapidatus
est innocens, contra incursantium daemonum
ictus vos efficiat fortiores, Amen. Quique eum
pro inimicis orantem consummate martyrio pro-
vexit ad caelum, conferat in vobis ut sine con-
fusione ad eum veniatis post transitum. Amen.
Ut illic laetatura post istud saeculum accedat
anima vestra, quo praedictus martyr spiritum
suum suscipi exorabat. Amen."
Besides the above, there was here also a short
benediction at the end of the service, such as
" Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum," or the two
following taken from Saxon offices, " Benedictio
Dei Patris Omnipotentis et Filii et Spiritus Sancti
maneat semper vobiscum." " B. Dei Patris et
Fil. et S. S. et pax Domini sit semper vobiscum."
(Palmer, Orig. Lit. iv. § 24.)
By way of illustration of this last we may
cite Amalarius {De I'Jccl. Off. iii. 36), " Hunc
morem tenet sacerdos, ut post omnia Sacramenta
consummata benedicat populo;" and Rabanus
Maurus {De Inst. Cleric, i. 33),. " Post commu-
nionem ergo, et post ejusdem nominis canticum,
data Benedictione a sacerdote ad plebem, diaconus
praedicat Missae officium esse peractum, dans
licentiam abeundi."
In the Apostolic Constitutions (lib. viii.), it is
ordained that before the Missa Fidelium a solemn
dismission-blessing should be pronounced over
catechumens, energumens, and penitents (cc.
6-8). The solemn blessing over the congrega-
tion is to be found later (c. 15) after the com-
i muniou, the deacon havinsr first uttered the
BEISEDICTIONS
usual form, T<^ ©ew dia rod XptcTToii avrov
The blessings entering into Eastern liturgies
sire tVequent ; and we find them at various point's
of the service introduced by the formula fv\6y,]-
arov Seffirora. It has been remarked as in some
degree significant of the characters of the two
great divisions of Christendom that when such
a request as the above has been made by the
deacon to the ]jriest, in the Western Church the
latter proceeds to invoke God's blessing on the
congregation and himself, in the Eastern Church
he answers it as a rule by an ascription of praise
to God. Thus at the beginning of the Prothesis
(or introductory part of the Eucharistic Service)
in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, the deacon's
request to bless is answered by evAoyrirhs 6
Qihs rifj.wy iravrore vvv koX del koI e(s tovs
aliiivas ruiv aldivoiv. 'Aijltjv. (Daniel, iv. .329,
and often.) Or again, we may cite the form as
used at the beginning of the proanaphoral part
of the Liturgy {i. e., the continuation of the
servict jp to the Sursum corda) fv\oyrifxfvr) ri
/BuffiAeia Tov Xlarphs kol tov T. koI rov 'A.
rii'. vvv Koi ael, k.t.X. (i/>. .340).
The long benediction we have spoken of as
occurring in Latin liturgies after the Lord's
Prayer, is not found in the Eastern ritual, at
the corresponding part of which occurs what is
known as the " Prayer of Inclination," answer-
ing in character to the "prayer of humble
access" of our own church. (Neale, Holy
Eastern Church, Introd. p. 51.5.)
' A further enumeration of the benedictions of
Greek liturgies appertains rather to a description
of the Eastern Eucharistic offices ; it may, how-
.ever, be mentioned that in addition to the final
dismission-blessing, universal here as in the
Latin ritual, some of the Eastern liturgies (as
those of St. Mark and the Coptic so-called liturgy
of St. Basil) give a long benediction after the
post-communion prayers of thanksgiving (see
e.g. Neale, ib. pp. 688, 694); also the Nestorian
liturgy of Theodore the interpreter closes with
a similar benediction (Daniel, iv. 193). The
above are too long for quotation hei'e, but we
may cite as an example of a Greek benediction
the final blessing from the liturgy of St. Mark
(Daniel, fv. 170): evXoyeiTca 6 Qihs 6 fiiXoywv
Kcd ayid^ccv Kol crKtirav koI SiarripcSv irdvras
vfias 5id T^5 yuefls'leois twv ayCoiv avrov /jlvct-
TTjpiojj', 6 S>v tvXoyrjTbs els tovs a. t&v a.
It may be mentioned as a curious peculiarity
that in the Constantinopolitan rite the priest
does not give the final blessing till he has dis-
robed (Daniel, iv. 372).
At the end of tlie Ethiopic liturgy is a prayer
of the people, of the nature of a benediction,
spoken after the blessing of the bishop or priest
has been pronounced, preluded too by the call
of the deacon to kneel : " May the Lord bless us
His servants . . . ."
Besides the above, there was another solemn
benediction, the special prerogative of the
bishop, the b. matutinalis et vespertinalis, said,
as its name implies, at the end of matins and
vespers. For this we may again refer to the
("ouncil of Agde (can. 30), " Plebs collecta ora-
tione ad vesperam ab episcopo cum benedictione
dimittatur." (Labbe, iv. 1388 ; cf. also Cone.
Barcell. [540 A.D.] can. 2 ; ih. v. 378.)
Of non-liturgical blessings ajjpci-iaining to pcr-
BENEDICTIONS
1<J7
sons, we may briefly speak here of the general
blessing, properly though not exclusively the
episcopal prerogative, as may be seen from e.g.
Basil, £>i. 199, § 27 [iv. 724, ed. Migne], and
Athanasius, Vita S. Anton, c. G7. It would
seem that, especially on the entrance of a bishop •
into a place, his blessing was reverently be-
sought by the people. Cf Chrys. Jimn. Encom.
in Mel. § 2; Aug. Ep. 33, § 5 [ii. 131, ed.
Migne] ; and Greg. Nyss. Vita Macrinae [iii. 976,
Migne]. This blessing was eagerly sought for
even by princes, as by Clodoveus from Remigius,
or by the Empress Eudoxia from the Bishop
Porphyrins {Acta Sanctorum, i. 154 Oct.; iii.
653 Feb.). This may be further illustrated by
a statement of Philostorgius (see Valesius' note
on Theodoret iv. 5) to the eflect that when all
the other bishops went to pay homage to Eu-
sebia, wife of the Emperor Constans, Leontius,
Bishop of Tripoli, refused to do so save on the
condition that the empress should rise at his
approach, and with bowed head ask his blessing.
It was allowed by the Council of Epao [517 A.D.]
for people of rank {cives superiorum natalium)
to invite the bishop to themselves to receive his
blessing at Christmas and Easter.
(B.) Benedictions of things. Before proceed-
ing to enumerate some of the more striking
cases of benedictions of things, we may once
more call attention to the distinction already
dwelt on between benediction and the stronger
term consecration, in that in the one regard is
had but to the bestowal of certain grace or
efficacy, whereas in the other, a thing is not
only destined for a holy use, but is viewed as
changed into a holy thing. Augusti {Denlmiir-
digk. X. 192) brings out this distinction by a
comparison of the phrases panis benedictus and
panis consecrutus ; and so the Greek Church re-
cognizes the difference between ivKoyia on the
one hand and ayiaa'jx6s or KadUpooais on the
other. Similar is the distinction between bcnc-
dict tones invocativae and b. constitutivae, sacra-
tivae, destinativae, the names of which show that
the one invoke God's grace, the .other dedicate
permanently to His service.
We shall now enumerate some of the more
frequent instances of special benedictions of
things, for detailed information respecting which
reference may be made to the separate articles.
(I) B. fontis, the blessing of the baptismal
water, &c. [Baptism]. (2) b. aquae histndis
[Holy Watkr]. (3) b. panis et vini, which
substances when blessed bore the name of the
saint on whose festival the benediction took
place, as St. John's wine, St. Mark's bread, &e.
(4) 6. salis [Salt], whether for admixture with
holy water or otherwise. (5) b. lactis et mellis
[Milk and Honey]. (6) b. olei, whether for the
catechumens at baptism or confirmation, or for
the Chrisma, or for the sick {eiixe^atov)
[Chrism ; Oil]. (7) b. incensi. (8) 6. cercorum,
as for the special feast of Candlemas Day, Feb.
2. (9) b. cinerum, of Ash Wednesday [Lkkt].
(10) 6. palmarum, of Palm Sunday processions.
(II) b. paschales, whether of Easter eggs or the
paschal lainb or the Easter candles ; and to these
may be added an immense number of varieties
of benedictions for almost every imaginable occa-
sion, wherein the pious of past ages deemed that
the church could draw forth on their bolialf
from a rich store of blessing. Thus we may
198
BENEDICTIONS
BENEDICTIONS
mention, in addition to those already cited, the
following benedictions of things, occurring, un-
less the^contrarv be specified, in the Gregorian
Sacramentary. {l) b. domus. {2') uvae vel favae
(= fahae). (3) ad fructus novos. (4) ad omnia
quae volueris. (5) carnis. (6) putei (Gall.).
(7) casei et ovoruin (Euch. Graec). (8) ijnis
(Pontif. Egb.). (9) librorum (ib.).
IV. Mode of imparting Benediction. However
various the objects for which blessings are sought,
and however different therefore the formulae in
which they are conferred, still there are certain
accompaniments which are as a rule always
present, and as to which the directions, simple
enough in the earliest Church, have been in pro-
cess of time rendered more and more definite, to
leave as little as possible to individual will,
(a) As showing how the Christian Ritual on
these points is foreshadowed in the Jewish, we
have thought it well to prefix a brief note as to
the laws of blessing in the latter. The priests,
to whom the power of imparting blessings was
committed, were to do so standing (cf. Deut. x.
8; xxvii. 12), with outstretched hands. We
cite here a passage from the Mishna, the earliest
authority to which we can appeal next to the
Bible. " In what way is the sacerdotal blessing
performed ? In the provinces [{. e. away from
the temple] they say it in three blessings [i.e.
the formula of" Numbers vi. 24-26 is divided
into three clauses, and Amen responded at the
end of each], but in the temple in one. In the
temple they say the Name as it is written [;. e.
the TeTpaypdix/xaTov'], in the provinces with the
substituted name [_i.e. Adonai]. In the provinces
the priests raise their hands on a level with their
shoulders, but in the temple above their heads,
except the high-priest, who does not raise up his
hands above the diadem." [Or perhaps rather a
plate of gold worn upon the forehead of the high-
priest. The reason of the pi'ohibition in his case
was because of the presence of the Sacred Name
upon the plate.] Mishn. Sota, vii. 6. In a some-
what later authority, the commentary on Num-
bers and Deuteronomy known as Si free, we have
further directions given : (1) the blessing is to
be pronounced in the Hebrew language ; (2) the
imparter of the blessing is to stand, and (.3) with
outstretched hands. (4) The sacred name miT'
is to be used; (5) the priest must face the
people, and (6) speak in a loud voice. (Sifrce on
Numb. vi. 22-27.) Reference may also be made
to a still later authoritv, the Babylonian Talmud
itself (5oto, fol. 38 a). '
During the conferring of the blessing the
people must not look at the priest, for for the time
the glory of God is supposed to rest upon him
(vide m/m). Also, his hands are disposed so
that the fingers go in pairs, forefingers with
middle fingers, ring fingers with little fingers,
with the tips of the two thumbs and of the two
forefingers respectively touching each other, thus
arranging the whole ten fingers in six divisions.
We shall quote in illustration of this from the
Lekach Tab of R. Eleazar b. Tobiah (the so-
called I'esikta Zotarta) on Numbers, I. c. " It
is forbidden to look at the priests at the moment
that they lift up their hands,— and he divides his
hands mto six parts, as it is said, ' Every one had
six wings.' Isa. vi. 2."
One more extract will suffice, which we take
from the ancient commentary on Numbers (in
loc), the Bammidhar Rabha (c. 11). "There-
fore it is said (Cant. ii. 9), ' Behold he stands ;
behind our wall,' that is, synagogues and col- i
leges. 'He looks from the windows': — At the I
time when the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to '
Aaron and his sons ' Thus shall ye bless ' &c.,
Israel said to the Holy One, ' Lord of the Uni- i
verse, thou tellest the priests to bless us, we
want only Thy blessing and to be blessed from
Thy mouth ; according as it is said. Look from 1
the abode of Thy holiness, from heaven ' (Deut.
xxvi. 15). The Holy One said, ' Although I com-
manded the priests to bless you, /am standing '\
with them and blessing you.' Therefore the i
priests stretch forth their hands to indicate that
the Holy One stands behind us, and therefore it
says, ' He looks from the windows ' [i.e. from
between the shoulders of the priests], ' He peeps
from the lattice work ' [i.e. from between the j
fingers of the priests]."
(j3) The foregoing points afford a very close .
parallel to the usages of the Christian church. ]
That the imparter of the blessing should stand i
is but in accordance with the natural order of i
things, and thus is a point universally observed, ,
so that the Latin church does but stereotype j
usage, when in the ritual of Paul V. it is laid i
down as a Rubric stando semper henedicat. As to j
the kneeling of the recipients of the blessing, we i
may find ancient evidence in the Apostolic Con- j
stitwtions (viii. 6), where the injunction is pre- ;
fixed to the Benediction, "... and let the deacon !
say, K\ii/aT€ koI evKoyelcrBe."
The order of the Jewish ritual that the priest j
should face the people is paralleled (to say j
nothing of unvarying custom) by the Rubric
before the benediction in the mass in ancient |
Sacramentaries, (thus e. g. " Postea dicat episco- i
pus convertens ad populum," in an ancient mass j
for Easter. Greg. Sacram. p. 248); and that to |
pronounce the blessing in a loud voice by the
equivalent command constantly met with in
Greek service books (e.g. iwevxeraL 6 iepevs
lj.fya\6(paivos, Goar, Euchol. p. 42).
The lifting up of hands (errapcns rwv x^'p^'')
is an inseparable adjunct of benedictions. It is j
constantly associated in the Bible with actions of j
a more solemn character, as oaths (e.g. Gen. xiv.
22 ; Rev. x. 5), or prayer (e.g. Psalm xxviii. 2 ; i
xliv. 21 [20, E.V.]; Ixiii. 5 [4, E.V.]; 1 Tim. ii. i
8), or benediction (e.g. Lev. ix. 22 ; Luke xxiv. ,
50). An occasional addition is that of the laying j
on of hands : of this we find traces in Gen. xlviii. ;
14, 18 ; Matt. xix. 13, 15 ; Mark x. 16 : and we
may again refer to the Apostolic Constitutions \
(viii. 9), where the benediction upon penitents is j
associated with the laying on of hands (xeipo-
Oeaia). The feeling of the greater worth and '
power of the right hand is shown in patriarchal
times (Gen. /. c.) ; and in later times it is either I
taken for granted or is expressly commanded that (
the right hand should be used. ;
(7) With this natural and almost universal
gesture, the act of benediction is constantly re- \
presented in ancient art. Thus, the Lord extends
His open hand over the demoniac, in the bas-
reliefs of a 'Sarcophagus at Verona (Maffei,
Verona Ulustrata, pars iii. p. 54) ; and also over
a kneeling figure in an Arcosolium of the
cemetery of St. Hermes (Bottari, Pittitre c Sctd-
ture, clxxsvii. No. 2). ;
In process of time, as in the Jewish so in the j
BENEDICTIONS
Chiisti.an ritual, a particular disposition of the
fingers in the act of blessing became usual. In
the Greek church, and in Greek paintings for the
most part, the hand outstretched in blessing has
the thumb touching the tip of the
ring-finger, while the forefinger,
the middle, and the little finger
are erected. According to a view
mentioned by Ciampini (^De Sacris
Aedif. Const, p. 42, from Theoph.
Raynaud, De Attrilmtis Christi, 4.
9. 733, who cites it from some
fragments of a Greek writer of
uncertain date, Nicolaus Malaxus),
tlie erect forefinger with the curved
middle finger make IC, i.e. 'IrjiroiJs,
while the crossing of the thumb and ring-finger
and the curving of the little finger make XC, i.e.
XpiffTos. One cannot but agree here with the
remark in the Acta Sanctorum (June, vol. vii.
p. 135) that this is rather an ingenious specula-
tion of Malaxus than a received doctrine of the
Greek church. According to Goar (^Euchohgion,
p. 923) the thumb and ring-finger crossed made
a X, the other fingers erect with the fore and
miildle fingers slightly separated were supposed
to represent r, I, the whole standing for 'IrjiroCs
Xpiurhs vlkS.. He also gives (pp. 114, 115)
pictures of St. Methodius and St. Germanus,
with the fingers disposed as above, save that the
fore and middle fingers are united. Evidence,
however, is not forthcoming as to the date of
these representations. (Cf. Leo Allatius, De
Cons. Eccl. Occid. et Orient, pp. 1358 sqq., wno
describes as used by the Greeks a disposition of
the fingers akin to that spoken of by Malaxus,
and considers it as indicating the doctrines of the
Trinity and of the twofold nature of our Lord.)
Neale (t6. 352, n.) thus describes the eastern
method, "The priest joins his thumb and third
finger, and erects and joins the other three ; and
is thus supposed to symbolize the procession of
the Holy Ghost from the Father alone ; and,
according to others, to form the sacred name
IHC by the position of his fingers."
In the Latin manner of benediction the erected
fingers are the thumb, the forefinger and the
middle finger, wliile the other
two are doubled down on the
palm of the hand. The hand
of the Lord is thus represented
in some monuments, when He
works a miracie, not holding
a rod in the hand : for in-
stance, in the healing of the
man born blind (Bottari, tav.
xix.), that of the woman with
an issue of blood (xxi.), and
in the representation of Christ's entry into Jeru-
salem (cxxxiii.) : see also the illustrations of
Bi-ixD, Healing of, and Bethesda. The same
arrangement of the fingers is observed in the bas-
belief of an ancient sarcophagus, representing
the Good Shepherd blessing His sheep. In some
cases the representation of the natural gesture of
an orator or teacher resembles the act of blessing ;
as, for instance, in the representation of Christ in
the midst of the doctors, given by Bottari (liv.).
Tliis arrangement of the fingers is said to be
found in the most ancient pictorial representa-
tions of the Popes (Molanus, Hist. SS. Imaginum,
p. 4G8 n. ; ed. Louvain, 1771). Pope Leo IV.
BENEDICTIONS
199
(Horn, de Cura Pastorali, Migne's Patrol, cxv.
678) seems to enjoin a somewhat difierent ar-
rangement, still for the purpose of symbolizing
the Trinity ; " districtis duobus digitis et pollice '
intus recluso, per quod Trinitas annuitur."
These words, however, though given by Labbe',
are wanting in many authorities.
But it seems certain, that it is only in com-
paratively modern times that the rite of benedic-
tion has constituted a distinction between the ,
Greek and Latin Churches. For instance, in the
most Roman of monuments, the Vatican con-
fessio (or crypt) of St. Peter (see the frontis- |
piece to Borgia's Vaticana Cunfcssio B. Petri), the \
Lord gives the blessing in the Greek manner ; in '
the triumphal arch of St. Mark's Church, in the '
Latin manner ; in the tribune of the same church, j
after the Greek manner ; so also in a mosaic of the I
ancient Vatican (Ciampini, Be Sacr. Aedif. p. 43), j
executed under the direction of Innocent III. -;
(1198-1216), who, treating expressly of this 1
matter (De Sacro Altaris Myst. ii. 44), pre-
scribes the elevation of three fingers, without
indicating which. On the other hand, the bas-
relief of a Greek diptych given by Foggini (Z>e
Pom. It in. Petri, p. 471), represents St. Peter
giving the blessing in the Latin manner, while |
St. Andrew, the reputed founder of the Church I
of Constantinople, blesses in the Greek manner ; i
a circumstance which may perhaps indicate that 1
ditferent gestures of blessing were regarded as J
characteristic of East and West respectively !
(see Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chre't. p. 84).
(S) The SIGN OF THE Ceoss (see the article)
constantly accompanies benedictions both in the
Eastern and the Western rites, and was thought
to impart validity to the act ; " quod signum
nisi adhibeatur . . nihil horum rite perficitur,"
says St. Augustine {Tract, in Joannem, 118, § 5).
(e) Incense is a frequent accompaniment of
Benedictions ; and the employment of Holy Water
to be sprinkled on persons or things may be
regarded as a form of Benediction [Holy Water].
The modern Romish Ritual makes a special vest-
ment incumbent on the priest who gives a blessing.
This, however, is beside our present purpose.
V. Benedictioncds. — It has been already shown
that various early forms of benedictions are
found interspersed in ancient Sacramentarios.
In that attributed to Pope Leo are found forms
of blessing "ascendentibus a fonte," and " lactis et
mellis," as well as a " benedictio fontis," which
is possibly a later addition. It is, however, in
the somewhat later Sacramentary of Gregory the
Great that we meet with specimens of benedic-
tions on a more extended scale, in some MSS.
variously interspersed through the book, and in
some given separately, forming the so-called
Benedictionale. This is the case with the very
ancient MS. of the Caesarean Library, edited by
Lambecius, not knowing that the greater part of
it had, undei- a different arrangement, already
been edited by Menard. Another of somewhat
diilerent form has been edited by Pamelius
(Liturgg. vol. ii.) from tw'o MSS. of the time
of Charlemagne now in the Vatican. The Liher
Sacramcntorum of Ratoldus, of the tenth century,
also contains numerous benedictions, but the
fullest Benedictional is that found in two MSS.
of the Monastery of St. Theodoric, near Rheims,
written about tlie year 0(i(). Menard has also
edited a Benedict i<iiial from a BIS. in llic abbey
200
BENEDICTUS
of St. Eligius, and Angelus Rocca another from
a MS in^'the Vatican. A large collection of
benedictions is also to be found in the Pontifical
of Ecrbert (Archbishop of York, A.D. 732-766),
published by the Surtees Society in 1853. It
will be observed that all the above are merely
recensions, more or less added to, of the bene-
dictions in the Gregorian Sacramentary ; it
will suffice to mention, in addition to those,
the benedictions of the Gothic Missal, first
edited by Joseph Thomasius and then by Ma-
billon {Museum Italicwn, vol. ii.), which are
numerous, but of very different form.
VI. Literature. — For the matter of the present
article we have to express considerable obliga-
tions to the essay Sege7i und Fluch in Binterim's
Deukwiirdiqkeiten (vol. vii. part 2), and to
Augusti's Denkwiirdigkeiten aus der ChristlicTien
ArcMologie, vol. x. pp. 165 seqq. We have also
consulted the articles Benedict ioncn and Seg-
nungen in Herzog's EealencyklopMie, and in
Wetzer and Welte's Kirchen-Lexicon. See also
Gerhard, Be Benedictione Ecclesiastica, and Hae-
ner, De Ritu Benediciionis Sacerdotalis. A vast
mine of information is to be found in Martene,
De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritihiis, and in Gretser,
De Benedictionihm. [R- S.]
BENEDICTUS, of Nursia, abbot of Monte
Cassino, born A.D. 480, and died probably 542.
[See Diet, of C/ir. Biogr. s. v.] His festivals are
as follows : —
Under March 21, the Hart. Bom. Vet. has
"In Cassino Castro, Benedicti Abbatis; " Mart.
Hieron., "Depositio Benedicti Abbatis ;" Mart.
Bedae, " Natale Benedicti Abbatis."
Under July 11, Mat't. Bedae has, " Floriaco adven-
tus S. B. A. ;" Mart. Adonis, " Translatio S. B. A. ;"
while 3L Hieron. has again " Depositio S. B. A."
Under Dec. 4, the M. Hieron. has "Floriaco
adventus Corporis S. B. A."
The Cal. Bi/zant. celebrates "Benedict of
Nursia, Holy Father," on March 14.
We see that the festival of March 21 commemo-
rates the death (or burial) of the saint; that of
July 11, the translation of his relics to Fleury
(St. Benoit sur Loire), in 653. The Mart. Hieron.,
here as in some other places, is inexplicable.
The name of St. Benedict is recited in the
prayer Communicantes of the Gregorian canon,
and in the ancient canon of Milan (Menard's
Greg. Sacram., p. 546). The Corbey MS. of the
Sacram. Greg, has on vi. Idus Julii (July 10)
" Vigilia S. Benedicti Abbatis," with proper col-
lect, &c., and on v. Id. Jul. (July 11) " Natale
S. B. A.," with proper collect, &c., for the mass.
The MSS. of Reims and of Ratold have also the
Natale on this day, but the office is simply de
communi unius abbatis (Menard, u, s. p. 407).
Antiphon in Lib. Antiph. p. 703. Compare Liber
Ilcsponsalis, p. 810.
Stephen of Tournai {Epist. 105) tells us that
the ancient church of St. Benedict at Paris was
built so that the sanctuary was towards the
west, an arrangement which was afterwards
altered (in Menard, u. s. p. 329). [C]
BENEDICTUS. The song of Zacharias con-
tamed in S. Luke i. 68-79, so called from its
hrst word. This canticle has been said at lauds
in the Western Church from early times every
day throughout the year, whatever be the ser-
vice. The introduction of the custom is attri-
buted to S. Benedict. It is said with a varying
BEEGHFORDENSE CONCILITOI ;
antiphon which is doubled, i.e., said entire both ,
before and after the canticle, on double feasts;
in the Roman, Monastic, and other offices derived .;
from a Gregorian or Benedictine origin, at the
end of lauds, immediately before the oratio or i
collect, and occupies the same position at lauds ;
which the Magnificat occupies at vespers. In '}
the Ambrosian office it occurs on the contrary i
at the very beginning of the office, after the
opening versicles. The Ambrosian rules too for ]
the duplication of antiphons are diil'erent from j
the Roman. The Benedictus is also found else-
where, e.g., in the Mozarabic lauds for the |
nativity of S. John Baptist. In the Greek rite,
the Benedictus called irpocrevyj] Zaxapiov, rod
TTarphs Tov XlpoSpofiov, forms together with and
following the Magnificat the last of the nine I
odes [Ode] appointed for lauds. j
The introductory part of the Song of the Three !
Children, which precedes the Benedictiones, or
Benedicite proper, is also known as the Bene- J
dictus from its opening, " Benedictus es Domine ,!
Deus pati'um nostrorum, &c. . . ." This is said j
daily in the Ambrosian rite at matins before the j
psalms, in the place the Venite occurs in other j
western rites. The whole of the Song of the j
Three Children is also called the Benedictus in [
the Mozarabic breviary, and said daily at lauds, '
as has been already stated. [H. J. H.]
BENEFICE. This subject occupies a larger '
space in the writings of Canonists than almost |
any other question within the cognisance of eccle- j
siastical law ; but its history prior to the year ]
814 may be compressed into a small compass. '
The term benefice is thus defined — the per-
petual right of receiving profits from real pro-
perty established, by authority of the Church in
favour of a spiritual person in respect of the
performance of a spiritual office.
The expression seems to have originated in the
practice of granting the right of occupation in ;
Church lands to laymen in exchange for pro- i
tection afforded to the Church. These were j
called benefices, and the property, when restored ,
to the Church, retained the name. :
The custom of assigning to ecclesiastics a life \
interest in Church property appears to have ■:
commenced about the beginning of the 6th
century, and is referred to in the 22nd canon j
of the Council of Agde (A.D. 506) and in the |
23rd canon of the first Council of Orleans (a.d. ■ I
511), also in a letter of Pope Symmachus to j
Caesarius, Bishop of Aries (a.d. 513).
But the grant was not larger than a life |
interest to the beneficiary; and it therefore
lacked the condition of perpetuity, which was
an essential characteristic of a benefice in later
ecclesiastical law (Ducange, Glossarium, sub
voce ; Ferraris, Bibliotheca Canonica, sub voce ;
Thomassinus, Vetus et Nova Ecclesiae Disciplina,
ii. 3, 13,5; Boahmer, Jus Ecclesiasticum, iii.
5, 492). [I. B.]
BENIGNUS. (1) Martyr atTomi in Scythia ;
commemorated April 3 {Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(2) Presbyter, martyr at Dijon under M. Au-
relius ; commemorated Nov. 1 {Mart. Hieron.,
Adonis').
BERGHAMSTEDENSE CONCILIUM.
[Bersted, Council of.] [C]
BERGHFORDENBE CONCILIUM. [Buk-
Fora> Council ok.]
BERONICUS
BERONICUS, martyr at Antioch in Syria;
commemorated Oct. 19 (J^Iart. Horn. Vet.,
Adonis). [C]
BERSTED, COUNCIL OF (Bergham-
STEDENSE CONCILIUM), or rather Witenagemot,
of Kent, at Bersted near Maidstone, A.D. 696, at
which the ecclesiastical laws of Wihti-ed, king
of Kent, were passed. The date is uncertam,
Gebmund, bishop of Rochester (who was pie-
sent), living until 696 according to the Textus \
Boffensis (whence the laws are taken), but I
dying as early as at least 694- according to the
Saxon Chronicle. " To the Church, freedom
from imposts," or, more probably, " freedom in
jurisdiction and revenue," is the beginning
of the first law (Haddan and Stubbs, Comic
iii. 233-238 ; Thorpe, Anc, Laws and Institutes,
ii. 16-19). [A. W. H]
BERYTUS, COUNCIL OF, a.d. 448, as
Jlansi thinks (vi. 501-2), in September, to heai
a charge preferred against Ibas, bishop of Edessn,
by nine of his clergy, which was twofold : first,
that he had said, " I envy not Christ being made
God, having been made so m\'self as much ni
He," which he denied indignantly; and next,
that he had called St. Cyril a heretic, which he
averred he never had after the reconciliation
between John of Antioch, his own superior, and
St. ('yril. To refute this, his celebrated lettei
to Maris, of subsequent date, was adduced in
evidence, containing a narrative of the whole
controversy between Nestorius and St. Cy
Ke rejoined by producing a testimonial in
favour addressed to Eustathius, bishop of Bei > -
tus, and Photius, bishop of Tyre, two of his ,
iudges, and signed by upwards of sixty presbj- I
ters, deacons, and subdeacons of his diocese. His
acquittal followed : which, having been reversed
at Ephesus by Dioscorus of Alexandria the year
following, was confirmed in the tenth session of i
the Council of Chalcedon, where the acts of this |
Council are preserved (Mansi vii. 211-72). His J
spistle to Maris, indeed, was afterwards con- ]
demned at the fifth General Council. [E. S. Ff.] |
BETHESDA, Miracle of (in Art). Of |
this miracle there is an ancient representa- i
tion on a sarcophagus from the Vatican ceme- !
tery, engraved in Bottari QScuUure e Pitture,
tav. xxxix. : see woodcut). The subject oc-
cupies the centre of the tomb. A wavy line,
representing water, divides the comj)osition
horizontally into two compartments : on the I
l)wer, the impotent man is seen lying on his ]
couch, which is covered by a stragulum or
coverlet ; on the upper, he is seen healed and ;
carrying his couch, while the Lord stretches
forth His hand towards him ; another figure :
raises his hand, the fingers arranged as in the
Latin form of benediction. The background is
BETHLEHEM
201
formed by an arcade of three arches supported by
columns, intended, no doubt, to represent one of
the " five porches " (St. John v. 2) in which the
impotent folk were laid (Martigny, Diet, des
Antiq. Chv€t. p. 542). The same miracle is repre-
sented, in a very different style, in the great
Laurentian MS See Assemanni, Bibliothecae
Mediceae Catal tab xit , and Webtwood's Palneo-
graphia Sir, i |-,^ -|
Sarcophagus.
BETHLEHEM (architectural). In the
Ethiopic churches, a small building is thrown
out from the east end of the sanctuary, where
the bread for use in the eucharist is prepared by
the Deacon alone, and baked in the, oven with
which the place is furnished. This building is
called the Bethlehem, or " house of bread " (Neale,
Eastern Church, Introd. 190). [C]
BETHLEHEM (Symbol). In an ancient
mosaic of the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian,
in the Via Sacra at Rome (Ciampini, Vetera
Monumenta, ii. tab. xvi. ; see woodcut) two flocks,
each of six sheep, pass from cities labelled re-
spectively HiERUSALEM and Bethlehem towards
the figure of a Lamb, representing the Lord,
which stands on a mound in the centre. Similar
representations, are found in Buonarroti (Fram-
menti di Vasi, tav. vi. 1) and Ferret (Catacombes
de Rome, v. pi. iii.). The Abbe Martigny {Diet,
des Antiq. Chre't. p. 225) supposes Jerusalem and
Bethlehem to symbolize respectively the Jewish
and Gentile Churches ; but this scarcely seems a
probable opinion. It is difficult to see how
iiulJilciiem iiud jL'lu^ilciii iia ^}lubul3.
202
BETHPHANIA
Bethlehem could represent the Gentile church,
and the twelve sheep are generally supposed to
represent the Apostles, none of whom came forth
from the Gentiles. On the whole, it seems more
probable that the issuing forth of the flock of
Christ from Jerusalem and Bethlehem symbolizes
the fact that the church is founded on the
Nativity, the Passion and the Resurrection of the
Lord. Bethlehem was the scene of the former,
Jerusalem of the two latter. See Ciampini
{Vet.Mon.\.im- [<^-]
BETHPHANIA. [Epiphany.]
BETHPHANY. [Epiphany.]
BETHURIUS, martyr at Carthage under
Saturninus ; commemorated July 17 {Mart.
Rom. Vet.). [C]
BETROTHAL. Under this head we shall
consider only the ordinary contract of that
name, reserving for the head of ESPOUSALS the
specially religious applications of the idea.
The two influences which must have chiefly
built up the earliest practice of the Church
must have been the Jewish and the Roman, as
embodied in the civil law of the Empire. But
as respects marriage, these influences were dif-
ferent in character. The Jewish law of mar-
riage embodied much of the old and to this
day widely prevalent custom among uncivilized
races, of tresiiing it as the purchase of a wife;
with this remarkable feature indeed, that the
woman was at a very early age (i. e. within her
12th year, see Selden's Uxor Hebraica, bk. ii. c.
iii.) held fit to dispose of herself. Under this sys-
tem, betrothal, if not the actual marriage, which
was held to consist in the leading of the bride to
the nuptial bed, was yet really, for most pur-
poses, the marriage contract, the violation of
which by connexion with another was deemed
adultery, and punishable as such, the dissolution
of which could only take place by a " writing of
divorcement " (Selden, quoting Maimonides, u. s..
c. i.). The contract was made by persons held
to be of full age (/. e. speaking generally, and
neglecting some exceptional minutiae, males in
the last day of their 13th year, women in the
second half of their 12th) at their own will ;
but girls under age might be betrothed by their
fathers or guardians (though only by money or
writing), with power, however, at 10 to repu-
diate the engagement; it could also be entered
into through go-betweens, — those proxenetici of
the Greeks and Romans, — whose name has, in
ordinary parlance, been shortened in form and
widened in meaning into that of our " proxies,"
but who represent a still recognised function and
calling in the Jewish communities of our day.
Where the contract was in writing, with or
without the giving of earnest money, it was to
be written out by the man in the presence of
witnesses, and handed over to the woman, who
must know its purport, otherwise there was
no contract. Selden gives the form of such a
writing, specifying the man's pronouncing of the
words of betrothal, the assent of the girl, and his
promise of a jointure.
The Roman looked upon the marriage contract
with different eyes from the Jew. A\ the time
when the Christian Church grew up, the idea of
it as the purchase of a wife had quite died out
from m.-n's minds. j\Iarriage, and still more
betrothal, was (witli nue cxccotion) a purely
BETROTHAL
civil contract, verbally concluded. Under the
later Roman law (we need not here go in detail
into the enactments of the Lex Julia, or Papia-
Poppaea), which forms the second and main
basis of church practice on the subject, betrothal
is viewed simply as a contract for future mar-
riage. It was of more weight indeed than our
" engagement," since it was held as much a note
of infamy to enter into two contracts of betrothal
as of marriage (Big. 3, tit. 2, s. 1, 13), so
that Tacitus says of the younger Agrippina, when
thinking of marrying her son Domitius to Octavia,
daughter of Claudius, that it could not be done
" without crime," since Octavia was already be-
trothed to Silanus (Ann. bk. xii. c. 3), but it was a
compact for which mere consent without writing,
even of absent parties, was sufficient (Dig. 23, tit.
1, s. 4), although for its full validity the consent
of all parties was required whose consent would
be necessary to marriage (s. 7). The consent of a
daughter, however, to her father's betrothal of her
was implied, in default of proof to the contrary
(s. 12); and Julianus held that the like consent
of a father was to be implied, in default of proof of
his dissent, to his daughter's betrothal of herself.
No forms were requisite for the early Roman
betrothal, and there seems no reason for suppos-
ing that the stage betrothals which are so fre-
quent in Plautus would not have been strictly
legal. (Aulul. ii. 2, vv. 77-9 : Poenul. v. 3. vv.
37, 8; Trinumn. ii. 4, vv. 98-103.) In these
the essence of the contract lies evidently in
the question and reply (the interrogatory form
being a characteristic of the early Roman law) :
" Spondesne ? " — " Spondeo." At the same time,
the early Roman betrothal was generally accom-
panied with the sending to the woman of the
iron Bridal Ring (see this head).
We may infer from the much larger space
assigned to betrothal and its incidents in the
Code (5, tit. 1-3.) than in the Digest that with
the growth of the empire the contract both
assumed greater importance, and was at the
same time more frequently broken. The prac-
tice of giving earnest-money [Arrhae] becomes
now prominent ; whilst gifts on betrothal are
also largely dwelt upon. Under Constantine we
see that the passing of a kiss between the be-
trothed had come to have a legal value. (Code 5,
tit. 3, s. 16.)
A glimpse at the forms usual in the later
Roman betrothals, towards the beginning of the
3rd century, is given to us by Tertullian. In
his treatise de Veland. Virgin, c. ii., he ob-
serves that even among the Gentiles girls are
brought veiled to betrothal, "because they are
united both in body and spirit to the man
by the kiss and the joining of right hands."
This passage evidently shows that in his time
Gentile betrothal had grown to be a ceremony,
of which the veil, the kiss and the clasped
hands were among the elements ; his mention of
the kiss illustrating the before quoted constitu-
tion by Constantine, later indeed by nearly a
century and a half. He does not indeed name the
ring ; but the use of it [Bridal Ring] is testified
to by himself in another passage, and by several
other authorities.
The greater prominence of the betrothal con-
tract under the later emperors — say from the 3rd
century inclusively — is best explained through
the gradual permeation of the Roman empire
BETROTHAL
by the barbariiin races, the main source from
which all the most energetic elements of its
population were recruited, long before any col-
lective invasion. For when we turn to the
barbaric Codes, we generally find betrothal in
a position of prominence quite unlike anything
in the earlier Roman law — the ruling idea being
almost invariably that of wife-buying. The
Salic law deals with the subject, after its wont,
only through money-payments. If any one
carries off a betrothed girl and marries her, he
is to pay 62| solidi, and 15 to her betrothed.
(Pact us anti</uior, t. xiv. arts. 8, 9.) If any,
whilst the bridesman is conducting the betrothed
to her husband, falls on her in wrath and with
violence commits adultery with her, he shall pay
200 solidi (art. 10). Amongst our forefathers of
the Anglo-Saxon period, we find the laws of
Ethelbert (597-616) decreeing that "if a man
carry oft" a maiden betrothed to another man in
money," he is to " make hot with 20 shillings "
(83). The laws of Ina (688-725), though a
century later, do not any more than those of
Ethelbert seem to distinguish betrothal from
purchase : " If a man buy a wife and the mar-
riage take not place, let him give the money,"
&c. (31).
But it is in the Wisigothic and Lombardic
laws that we find most matter under this head.
The former attribute almost absolute authority
in the betrothals of women to the father or his
representative. One of the more ancient enact-
ments bears that "if any have had a girl be-
trothed to him with the will of her tather or of
the other near relations to whom by law this
power is given," the girl may not marry another
against her parents' (or relatives') will ; but if
she do, both parties shall be handed over to the
power of him who had had her betrothed to
him with her parents' will, and any relatives
abetting the marriage .shall pay 1 pound of gold.
The betrothal contract is by the Wisigothic
law treated as so fiir equivalent to marriage,
that the term adultery is freely used of its
violation by the parties. A husband or betrothed
are moreover declared not to be responsible for
killing those who commit adultery with their
wives or betrothed (1. 4). Again, the same title
of the law embraces the rupture of both contracts
(Be dimrtiis JSuptiarum et discidio Sponsoruin,
t. yi.).
The Wisigothic Code has been always held to
have been drawn up under priestly influence.
The Lombards were never looked on with favour
by the Church. Yet between the two systems
of legislation there is less difterence on the head
which occupies us than might be expected. The
Lombard law, like the Wisigothic, adopts from
Rome the two years' maximum for delay in
carrying out a betrothal contract. (Laws of
Notharis, A.D. 638 or 643, c. 178.)
The laws of Luitprand (a.d. 717) are very
severe against too early marriages of girls. W
any betroth to himself or carry away [as his wife]
a girl under 12, he is to compound as for rape.
The forms of betrothal among the barbarian
conquerors of the Roman Empire must have been
infinitely varied. The Salic betrothal was by
the oft'er of a solidus and denarius, and the con-
tract could be made between absent parties ; as
when Chlodovvig (Clovis) espoused Chlotildi
through his envoys (Xedcgarius, I'Jpit. c. 18).
BETROTHAL
^03
Canciani, from the Euphemian Codex of Verona,
has published two formulae, one apparently of a
Lombard, the other of a Salic betrothal (vol. ii.
pp. 467, 476), which, although the text of them
may be somewhat later than the period to which
this work relates, no doubt, like most written
formulae, exhibit with some faithfulness the
usages of an earlier period. In both of them
the betrothal has palpably become a judicial act.
A sword and a glove are the main features of the
former: "For this cometh M., for that ho
willeth to espouse D., daughter of P. Camest
thou because of this ? " "I came." " Give
pledge, that thou wilt make unto her a fourth
part of whatever thou hast ; and by this sword 1
and this glove I betroth to thee M., my daughter, j
and thou, receive her by title of betrothal." !
" Thou, father of the woman, give pledges to him i
that thou givest her to him to wife, and sendest
her under his niundium. And thou, give [pledge]
that thou receivest her ; and whoever shall with- •
draw, let him compound in a thousand solidi."
The Salic formula is confined to the case of the
second marriage of a " Salic widow ; " it belongs
self-evidently to the Carlovingian era, and in It
the ideas of betrothal and of marriage seem to
run into each other. '
We come now to the legislation of the Church i
itself on the subject of betrothal. Tertullian !
in his treatise on Idolatry (c. 16), seeking to |
determine what actions and matters a Chris-
tian is not to meddle with on account of their
idolatrous character, says: "But as concern- (
ing the offices of private and common solemni- \
ties, as these ... of betrothal or marriage, I |
think no danger is to be apprehended from any
breath of idolatry which may intervene. For
the objects must be considered for which the
office is performed. I deem those pure in them- ,
selves, for neither . . . the ring nor the mar- |
riage bond flows from the worship of any idol." '
It may be fairly concluded from this passage
that towards the end of the 2nd or beginning of
the 3rd century, betrothal was considered by the
Church as being in itself a perfectly valid and
lawful contract, and even when celebrated be-
tween heathens, involving no contamination for
the Christian who should take part in the pro-
ceedings connected with it. i
It is unnecessary to notice the forgeries which
support sacerdotal claims. The first unim-
peachable authority on the subject is found iu
Basil's Canonical Epistle to Amphilochus, bishoj)
of Iconium. It will be seen that he treats of
betrothal in a quite incidental manner. In one \
passage (c. xxii.) he takes the case of men who
have violently carried away the betrothed of I
another ; these are not to be received to commu- j
nion until they put their wives away, and sub- i
mit to the will of those to whom these were at I
first betrothed. Yet he views betrothal as so far
approximating to marriage that ho allows (c. 69) j
a reader or subdeacon seducing his betrothed be-
fore marriage to be admitted to communion after
a year's penance, without loss of office, but so
that he cannot be promoted ; but in case of his j
misconducting himself without betrothal with a
woman he is to be deprived of his office itself.
Of more interest, both in itself, and as being,
probably, the first genuine utterance of a Pope
which suffices to dispose of a whole mass of
antedated forgeries, is a JctdT of i'opr lienc-
2U4 BETKOTHAL
diet I. (A.D. 57.-7) to the Patrinrch of Gran.
The Pope hail been asked whether, where a girl
had been betrothed by word of mouth only, and
died before marriage, her sister could marry the
same man. The Pope replied that it was connu-
bial intercourse that made two one ; " how by
bare words of betrothal they can be made one
we can in nowise see. Do not therefore deny that
which you can show no reason for denying."
It is indeed evident, from the application itself,
that the question whether the contract of be-
trothal did not of itself create a consanguinity
between the parties, sufficient to render the
subsequent marriage of either with a kinsman
or kinswoman of the other unlawful, was already
a moot one. We might not be surprised if
Gregory the Great (A.D, 590-603), in whose
powerful mind a strong vein of ascetic feeling
is discoverable— should have taken the opposite
side to Benedict. He remains indeed quite
within the law in allowing a betrothed woman
to dissolve her engagement in order to enter
a convent ; writing (bk. vi. Ep. 20) to the
bishop and defensor of Naples, where one
Stephen, betrothed to a girl who had been
■' convei-ted " in one of the monasteries of the
city, was alleged to detain her and her property,
that after due examination he was to be exhorted
to restore the girl herself and her things, and if
he did not, then to be compelled to do so.
The Council (3) of Constantinople in Trullo
(A.D. 680-1) is the first oecumenical authority
for assimilating betrothal to marriage, so far as
to make it adultery to marry a betrothed woman
in the life-time of her first betrothed. Now
about this period indeed betrothal becomes a
very frequent subject of church legislation or
church jurisprudence. One of- the canons (105)
of a Council held in England, under Archbishop
Theodore, towards the end of the 7th century,
provides that if a man after betrothing to him-
self a wife, will not live with her, he shall restore
the money given to him and add a third to it.
Another (129) forbids parents to give a betrothed
girl to another "if she resist altogether," but
they may send her to a convent (for this seems the
cruel sense of the enactment). A collection of
canons of the Irish Church, supposed to be also
of the end of this centurj', enacts, somewhat
singularly, that when betrothed girls have been
dishonoured by other men, they are to be bought
and given back to their first betrothed (bk. xli.
c. 37). The "Excerpt" of Pope Gregory III.
(A.D. 781-41) mentions five years, " or more
humanely three," as the penance for attempting
to seduce another's betrothed. In the case (which
is that mentioned in the 25th canon of the Council
of Ancyra) of a man seducing the sister of his
betrothed, and of his victim killing herself, all
who are implicated in the deed must do ten years'
penance, or some say seven (c. 18). The first
Council of Rome under Pope Zacharias, A.D. 743,
anathematizes those who rashly presume to steal
a maid or widow for their wife, unless betrothed
to them (can. 7). The Carlovingian Capitularies
enact that a betrothed girl ravished by another
man is to be given back to her former betrothed,
but that in case of his refusing to take her she
may marry a stranger, but not her ravisher,
under pain of anathema (c. 124). and follow
generally in the tracts of the spurious letters of
Evaristus and Siricius.
BIGAMY
Finally, the reply of Pope Nicolas to the
Bulgarians in 860, shows that at the end of the
9th century the form of betrothal had become
confined to the placing of the ring, by way of
earnest, on the woman's finger, and her endow-
ment by the man in the presence of invited
witnesses, a greater or less interval separating
betrothal from marriage.
If we are not mistaken, the history of the 8 or
9 first centuries shows in the Church a gradual
recession from the freedom both of the Jewish
and of the Roman law upon the subject of be-
trothal. Two causes seem to have operated to
produce this result, — on the one hand, the in-
fiuence of the barbarian codes, which generally
look upon the woman more or less as the property
of her father, if not of her family generally, — on
the other, that of the growing spirit of asceticism
in reference to the relations between the sexes,
leading to the encroachment of the Church uj)on
the domain of the civil power as respects the
whole subject of marriage, and thereby again
fostering restrictive church legislation with all
its attendant covetousnesses and corruptions.
The Carlovingian era, with which we break
off, is that of the first establishment of this
system. [J. M. L.]
BEZIEES, COUNCIL OF (Biterrense
Concilium), provincial, a.d. 356, summoned by
command of the Emperor Constantius, under
Saturninus, Bishop of Aries ; one of those minor
Councils of the West, at which an attempt was
made to condemn St. Athanasius. St. Hilary of
Poitiers, who defended the orthodox cause, was
shortly afterwai'ds banished to Phrygia by the
emperor through the false dealing of Saturninus
(S. Hilar. Pictav., De Synod. § 2, Ad Constant. § 2,
0pp. ii. 460, 563 ; Hieron. I)e ScrqM. Eccl.c. ;
Snip. Sever. JI. E. ii. ; Labb. v. 783). [A. W. H.]
BIBIANA, martyr at Rome ; commemorated
Dec. 2 {Mart. Mom. Vet.) ; 3s Viviana (Mart.
Hieron.'). [C]
BIBLE, USE OF IN SERVICES. [Ca-
xoxiCAL Books; Epistle; Gospel; Lectionary;
Prophecy.]
BIBLIOTHECA. [Library.]
BIDDING^-PRAYEE. This term is used by
Bingham to designate a prayer of a particular
form uttered by the Deacon in the Liturgy. As,
however, the modei-n English Bidding-Prayer
appears to be of media,eval origin, it seems best
to treat of the ancient prayer under its proper
designation [Prosphoxesis]. [C]
BIGAMY. Under this head we shall desig-
nate only, according to modern usage, the case
of matrimonial union to two persons at the same
time ; premising that until the beginning of the
17th century, at least, the term was applied to
all cases of second marriage, whether during
the existence of a prior union or after its dis-
solution; the word "polygamy" being applied
to the former case. Thus Sir E. Coke in his 3rd
Institute (p. 88) writes: "The difference be-
tween bigamy or trigamy and polygamy, is quia
higamus seu trigamus, etc., est qui diversis tem-
poribus et successive duas seu tres, etc., uxorcs
hahuit : polygamus qui duas vel plures simul
duxit uxores ;" the distinction being thus made
entirely to turn on the simultaneous or successive
nature of the marriage i-elations. [Digamy.]
BIGAMY
It is of course not from Jewish precedent that
Christendom has borrowed its condemnation of
bigamy. The foundation of the Church's law
in this matter lies in the teaching of our Lord,
j\Iatt. xix. 4 and foil. ; Mark x. 5 and foil., and
in the developments of that teaching by St. Paul.
(Compare also, as an early and quite consonant
authority, Hermas, Bk. ii. Mand. 4; likewise
Apost. Const. Bk. vi. c. 14.) In church practice
■indeed it has been always contested whether the
expressions in 1 Tim. iii. 2, 12; Tit. i. 6, which
our version renders "husband" or "husbands
of one wife," apply to simultaneous marriages
only, or to successive marriages as well. The
jrdiuary Protestant interpretation assigns to
them the more restricted meaning; but this
conclusion will probably appear the more doubt-
ful, the more Christian antiquity and the usages
of the time are studied. Whatever might be
Jewish theory on the subject, there is no hint
whatever in the New Testament at either bigamy
or polygamy as a Jewish practice, and neither
was certainly legal in either Ephesus or in Crete,
when the Epistles above referred to were written
to the respective bishops of those churches. Mo-
nogamy was the law both of Greece and of Rome.
So long therefore as the Roman power subsisted,
the monogamy inculcated by the Church was also
enforced by the law. The influence upon this
state of things of the barbarian invasions must
have been very various. Tacitus notes of the
ancient Germans that " almost alone among the
barbarians they content themselves with one
wife, except a very few, who not through lust
but for honour's sake enter into several mar-
riages " {Germ. 18). His words, however, appear
to have applied more or less to all the Teutonic
races. On the other hand, among the Celtic
races, or those mixed with them, e.g. the Britons,
Scots, and Hibernians of our own islands, — a com-
munity of wives or something closely equivalent
to it is testified to by Caesar, Jerome, and Strabo.
Subjection to Rome, the preaching of Christianity,
did not suffice to introduce monogamic habits,
and we find Gildas lamenting that his country-
men were not restrained by polygamy from fre-
quenting harlots (quam plurimas uxores haben-
tes, sed scortantes). Monogamy seems to have
been equally unknown to the Slavonic races, as
well as to the Tartar ; Attila's harem is well
known. It is also to be presumed that the
weakening of the Roman power in Asia allowed
old polygamic practices, familiar to Orientals,
to revive. With these preliminary observations
we shall endeavour to trace briefly the course of
Church legislation on the subject.
The first authority we find is a doubtful one —
that of those Canons attributed to the Council of
Nicaea (a.D. 325), which are only to be found in
the Arabic version. The 24th of these (2(3th in
the version of the Maronite Abraham Echellensis)
bears that " none ought to marry two wives at
once, nor to bring in to his wife another woman
for pleasure and fleshly desire." If a priest, such
person is to be forbidden to officiate and excluded
from communion, until such time as he cast out
the second, whilst he ought to retain the first ;
and so of a layman. The Gtjth Canon (71st of
the Echellensian version) enters in still more
detail into the case of a priest or deacon taking
anotlier wife, whether free or slave, without
h:iving dismissed tlie first, the penalty beiu-
BIG AM V
205
deposition; or for a layman in the same sin,
excommunication. The 67th Canon again (22nd
Echellensian) enacts that whosoever shall have
accepted two women at once in marriage shall
himself be excommunicated with his second wife.
It is difficult to attribute Nicene authority to
these Canons, which show so vividly the corrup-
tions that grew up in the more distant Oriental
churches. But whether illustrative of the dege-
neracy of Arabian Christendom before the rise of
Mohammedanism in the 7th century, or of the
influence of Mohammedan polygamy itself upon
it at a later period, they are not the less valuable.
The tradition of a condemnation of bigamy by
the Nicene fathers appears also from the sin-
gular collection attributed to them, from a Vati-
can Codex, intitled by Labbe and Mansi (see vol.
ii. p. 1029 and foil.), " Sauctiones et decreta alia
ex quatuor regum ad Constantinum libris de-
cerpta." The 5th chapter of the 1st book bears
that " to no Christian is it lawful to have two
or more wives at once, after the manner of the
Gentiles, who marry three or four at once ; but
one is to be married after the other, that is, the
contract is to be made with a second after the
death of the first." If any dares to go counter
to this prohibition, he is to be excommunicated.
Reference is made to the holy fathers assem-
bled in the Council, and the enactment is declared
to be binding on all Christians, whether laymen
or clerics, priests, deacons, princes, kings and
emperors.
The " Sanctions and Decrees," whatever be
their authority, belong evidently to the Eastern
Church. But from the canonical epistle of Basil
to Bishop Amphilochius of Iconium, the spurious-
ncss both of the above quoted canons from the
Arabic, and of the " Sanctions and Decrees," so
far as they claim Nicene authority, may be in-
ferred, since he says that the subject of polj'gamy
has been pretermitted by the fathers, assigning
a four years' penance for it before the oflender
can be admitted to communion (C. Ixxs.).
The practice of the West, except in far out-
lying provinces, seems to have been generally
more strict than in the East, and we have thus to
infer the spirit of the Western Church towards
bigamy chiefly from enactments against concu-
binage. The first Council of Toledo (a.d. 400)
excludes from communion a man having a faith-
ful wife and a concubine, but not one who has
a concubine and no wife, so long as he contents
himself with one woman (c. 17). Passing over
an alleged decree of Pope Celestin (a.d. 423-32),
which declares that a second wife married against
church forbiddance is not a wife, although the
first should not have been betrothed (c. 4,
Gratian); we should notice a letter (12) of Leo
the Great (A.D. 440-61), addressed to the African
bishops of the province of Mauritania Caesariensis,
which speaks of an actual case of bigamy in the
priesthood of that province. Neither apostolic
nor legal authority, it says, allow the husbaml
of a second wife to be raised to the pastoral
office, much less him who, " as it has been re-
lated to us, is the husband of two wives at once "
(c. 5). Another letter of Leo's (dated 458 or 9),
to Rusticus Bishop of Narbonne, is probably the
first authority for the lower modern view of the
coucubinate. Not every woman united to a
m:; '1 is tiie man's wife, for ncitiier is everv son
lii:: fatlicr's lioir. . . . Ther.-fore a wile is one
206
BIGAMY
thinf, a concuhiue another; as a handmaid is
one Thino-, a freewoman another. . . Wherefore
it" a clei^k of any place give his daughter in
marriage to a man having a concubine, it is
not to be taken as if he gave her to a married
man ; unless haply the woman appear to have
been made free, and lawfully jointured and
restored to honour by a public marriage (c. 4).
Those who by their father's will are married
to men are not in fault if the women which
such men had were not had in marriage (c. 5).
Since a wife is one thing, a concubine another,
to cast from one's bed the bondmaid and to
receive a wife of ascertained free birth is not a
doubling of marriage, but a progress in honour-
able conduct (c. 6).— The Council of Angers in
453 enacts excommunication against those who
abuse the name of marriage with other men's
wives in the lifetime of their husbands (c. 6).
That of Vannes (a.d. 463) deals in the same way
with those who having wives, except by reason of
fornication, and without proof of adultery, marry
others,— both enactments, however, pointing per-
haps rather to marriage after separation.
Towards the same period, however (latter
half of the 5th century), we must notice a Nes-
torian Synod held in Persia, under the presidency
of Barsumas Archbishop of Nisibis, as aii'ording
probably the first instance of what may be called
the modern Protestant interpretation of the
Pauline fiuis ywaiKhs avnp. A priest, its canons
declare, " should be one who has one wife, as
it is said in the Apostle's Epistle to Timothy,
'Whoever marries, let him have one wife;' if
he transgresses, he is to be separated from the
Church and the priestly order. But if a priest
not knowing marriage, or whose wife is dead,
should wish for lawful marriage, let him not be
forbidden by the bishop, whether he have wished
to marry before or after his priesthood." Any
one who contravenes these canons is anathe-
matized, and if a priest, to be deposed (see Labbe
and Mansi, Cone, vol. viii. pp. 143-4). It is
clear that the Nestorians in this case interpreted
St. Paul as speaking not of successive but of
simultaneous marriage. That this was not how-
ever the view of the Greek Church generally is
evident from many authorities ; see, for instance,
the Canons of the Council of Constantinople in
TruUo, A.D. 691 and following years.
If Burchard's collection is to be credited, a
canon (16) was adopted by the 4th or 5th Council
of Aries (A.D. 524 or 554) forbidding any man to
liave two wives at once, or a concubine at any
time (sed neque unquam concubinam). A col-
lection of Irish Canons, supposed to belong to
the close of the 7th century, shows that the
Celtic kings of Ireland must, as in Britain in the
days of Gildas, have had regular harems. The
barbarous Latin title of one of its chapters
(bk. xxiy., c. vii.) is, " De rege non habente
uxores plurimas," and the Synod is represented
as enacting (if the term can be used) as follows :
"According as is the dignity which the king
receives, so great should be his fear ; for many
women deprave his soul, and his mind, divided
by the multitude of his wives, falls greatly into
sin."
To the 8th century belongs one of the most
curious incidents in the treatment of this question
by the Church. In a letter of Pope Gregory II.
(A.D. 714-3(1) to Boniface, the Apostle of Ger-
BIGAMY
many, written in answer to a series of questions
put to him by the latter, we find the Pope treat-
ing the case of a wife, who through bodily infir-
mity becomes incapable of fulfilling the conjugal
duty. Can the husband in such an event take
a second wife ? The Pope replies, that it is good
for him to remain united to her. " But he who
cannot contain" (referring evidently to 1 Cor.
vii. 9), "let him marry rather;" IJut without
withdrawing maintenance " from her whom in-
firmity hinders, but no detestable fault excludes"
from his bed — -a decision closely akin to that of
Luther and the Protestant theologians in the
case of the Landgrave of Hesse. Further on (c.
6) the Pope condemns bigamy generally, " since
that is not rightly to be deemed marriage which
exceeds the number of two, for the yoke is not
borne except by two " (quia nisi in duobus non
geritur jugum)— not a very complimentary argu-
ment in favour of monogamy (S. Bonif. Epistt.
ed. Wurdtwein, No. 24).
We find the question of the lawfulness of a
second marriage in case of a wife's bodily in-
firmity recurring in a work not of much later
date than Pope Gregory's letter to Boniface,
Archbishop Egbert of York's Dialogue on Church
Government (Dialogus pet- interrogationes et
responsiones de institutione ecclesiasticd). The
archbishop is however more cautious than the
Pope. He puts the case (c. 13) only in the shape
of a dissolution of the marriage tie by agree-
ment of both parties (ex convenientia ambo-
rum), because of the infirmity of one of them ;
can the healthy one marry again, the infirm one
consenting, and promising continence ? The
archbishop implies that he may : " By change of
times necessity breaks the law ... in doubtful
cases one should not judge (in ambiguis non est
fei'enda sententia)."
Another example in the 8th century, though
bearing rather on concubinage than on bigamy,
is to be found in certain replies reported to have
been given by Pope Stephen III., whilst he was
in France, in the town of Kierzy, at the Breton
monastery (in Carisiaco villa Brittannico monas-
terio), to various questions addressed to him A.D.
754. He expressed his approval of Pope Leo's
view as to the propriety of dismissing a bond-
maid concubine and marrying a freewoman, and
(c. 3) in further reply to a case put to him of a
man marrying a bondmaid in a foreign country,
then returning to his own and marrying a free-
woman, then again going back to the former
country and finding his bondmaid wife married
to another, gave it as his opinion that " such a
one may take another bondmaid (is potest aliam
accipere)," but not in the lifetime of tlie free
wife.
The relaxation of the sanctity of the marriage
tie in the Carolingian era seems indeed to have
become extreme. This may be inferred, for in-
stance, from the frequency of enactments for-
bidding married men to have concubines, for
which see Ansegis, bk. vi. cc. 230, 433, and again
bk. vii. c. 338, the last garnished with the some-
what ?iai/ argument, " fest love of the concubine
detach the man from his wife." A contemporary
capitulary (A.D. 774) by Arechis Prince of Bene-
veuto, forbids a man having a lawful wife to give
aught by any device to his sons or daughters
born during "her life of another unlawful wife
(c. 8), an enactment which seemingly points at
BIOTHANATOS
practices avowedly bigamous. The dismissal of
wives by the Carolingian sovereigns, in order to
many others, becomes likewise so common that
it is almost impossible to distinguish between
patent bigamy and bigamy veiled under the name
of divorce. At the summit of the Carolingian
world the great emperor, besides actual and
divorced wives, sets tlie law at defiance by keep-
ing concubinos. The East was even below the
West in servility towards the vices of the sove-
reign. In the year 809 a Council of Constan-
tinople pronounced a second marriage of the
reigning emperor Constantine, after sending his
first wife to a convent, lawful, on the ground
that " the Divine law can do nothing against
kings."
the reader is referred to the head Digamy for
the further consideration of this subject; in the
meanwhile we may conclude that, whilst the
church of the eight or nine first centuries never
formally sanctioned simultaneous mai'riage rela-
tions with two persons, it yet sometimes indi-
rectly permitted them in outlying provinces in
the case of a wife's infirmity, and certainly was
not powerful enough to check them among the
great of the ruder races, nor probably generally
in the Carolingian era. [J. M. L.]
BIOTHANATOS (Ptoddvaros), " Qui morte
violenta perit," says Suicer, sitb v. : as if it had
been contracted from " biaiothanatos," which
is the definition of " ot ^wdavaTovvTes" given by
St. Chrysostom in disputing against the opinion
that tiie" souls of such after death become
demons (De Lazaro Serm. ii. § 1 ; Op. vol. i.
p. 727 ; Ed. Montf. Comp. Tertull. De Animu,
c. 57). According to Baronius, A.D. 138, n. 4-5,
it was one of the terms applied to Christians
generally by way of reproach for preferring to
lose their lives sooner than deny Christ : an
application that would' have been unmeaning
had not the prominent notion attached to the
word all along been that of people laying violent
hands upon themselves ; and hence, according to
the story told bv Cassein (CoHat. iii. 6 ; comp.
Ins. viii. 14), a nicmk who had thrown himself
into a well under tcmptatidn of the devil, and
been drowned, was all but reckoned by his abbot
among such, as being unworthy to be commemo-
rated among those who had gone to their rest
in peace. Pagan moralists, we are told by
Mr. Lecky (Europ. Mor. ii. 46, et seq.), con-
demned suicide upon four grounds. " Christian
theologians," he adds, " were the first to main-
tain dogmatically that a man who destroys his
own life has committed a crime similar both in
kind and in magnitude to that of an ordinary
murderer On the other hand, the high
position assigned to resignation in the moral
scale, . . . and, above all, the Christian doctrine
of the i-emedial and pi-ovidential character of
suffering, have proved sufficient protection
against despair. Enthusiasm, in early times,
indeed, animated many to court martyrdom ;
and Christian women were honoured, or at least
excused, for committing suicide to guard their
chastity. But this feeling died away with the
occasions which evoked it, and even asceticism
w as gradually subjected to rule, when experience
had shown the extreme limits to which it could
be carried without injury to the constitution."
The " Circumcelliones," a wild sect of the Dona-
tists, are frequently reproached for looking npim
BIRD
201
suicide in the light of a virtue by St. Augustine
(^Cont. Ep. Farm. iii. 6 ; Brev. Coll. cum Don.
Die iii. c. 8, § 13, &c.). By the 16th canon of
the first Council of Braga, A.D. 560 (Mansi ix.
774-84, and Pagi, ibid.), those who committed
it in any way "were neither to be comme-
morated at the oblation, nor to be carried to the
grave with psalm-singing." Comp. Gratian,
Dccret. Part ii. cause 23, 9. 5: where this canon
and other passages in point are cited. [E. S. Ff.]
BIRD (as symbol). The birds represented in
the earliest Christian art are generally dis-
tinguished by their species [see Dove, Eagle,
Phoenix, &c.]. This is not only the case in the
early sarcophaguses and frescoes of the catacombs,
but it is specially remarkable in the first gothic
works of the Lombard churches in the North of
Italy. See Ruskin (^Stones of Venice, Appendix,
vol. i., Byzantine and Lombard Carvings) where
early Lombard work is contrasted with Byzan-
tine. But in the very earliest tombs (see Aringhi,
ii. 324, and De Eossi almost passim, Bottari
t. 178 viii. tav. 174, &c.) birds assignable to no
particular species are introduced, apparently with
symbolic purpose. In De Eossi they occur so
often on tombs, with or without the palm branch,
that they may clearly be taken as images of the
released soul seeking its home in heaven. Aringhi
recognizes this in a passage of some beautv
(ii. 324) ; he takes the lightness and aerial nature
of the Bird as a symbol of the aspiration of
faithful spirits " quorum jugis potissimum con-
versatio, ut Apostolus ait, in coelis est " (see also
Ps. cxxiii. 6 of the released soul). He refers to
Bede who says " Volucres sunt qui sursum cor
habeut, et coelestia concupiscunt ; " and who
looks on the bird also as a sign of the resurrec-
tion. The faithful, like birds '■ obviam Xti in
aere ex mortuis sunt ituri." [Note the curious
analogy of the Psyche-butterfiy, and compare
with it Hadrian's " Animula vagula, blandula,"
vs:c., as if addressed to a thing of uncertain flight.]
Ciiiicd birds are occasionally found in paintings nr
other representations (Boldetti, p. 154, tav. vi.).
They are supposed to represent the human soul
in the prison of the flesh, or they may be emblems
of the imprisonment of a martyr. Martigny
describes a mosaic in the tribune of Sta. Maria in
Transtevere, in Rome, where one of these cages is
placed near the prophet Jeremiah, with inscrip-
tion "Christus Dominus captus est in peccatis
nostris ; " and another by Isaiah, with the words
" Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium " — referring
thus to the Passion and the Incarnation of our
Lord.
The symbolism of the cross by a bird's out-
sjiread wings is Tertullian's {De Oratione, c. 29
[al. 24]) : Herzog conjectures that the pictures
or carvings of birds with flowers and fruits
combined ^are symbolic of Paradise. In the
illustrations to Le Blant's MSS. Chr^tiennes de
la Gaide nondescript birds are found almost
passim, generally in pairs on each side of the
monogram of Christ, and almost always with
the letters A ai, which appear more frequently
in the ancient documents of Christian France.
Pairs of drinking birds, peacocks (see s. v.),
and also of conventional shape, are still to be
seen among the most ancient fragments of By-
zantine domestic sculpture in Venice {>Stones of
Venire, ii. 138, plate xi.). They may be carried
liMck to the lltii <ir 12th centiiry, perhaps: at
208
BIRRUS
all events they are clearly decorative repetitious
of the bird-symbols in the catacombs and earlier
monuments. [E. St. J. T.]
BIRRUS, al. BYRRHUS. (B»>os, l&-npiov.)
The word Birrus or Burrus was an old Latin
word (Festus in voc.') equivalent to " rufus " or
red, and identical probably with the Greek wvppus.
So St. Isidore seems to have thought, though
late copyists, ignorant as most of them were of
Greek, have made nonsense of his text. " Birrus
a Gi-aeco vocabulum trahit : illi enim birrum
bibrium (? Trvppov or B-npiou) dicunt." (Orig. lib.
XX. cap. 24.) No traces of the word, as the name
of a garment, are to be found before the Christian
era. ■ The earliest known instance of such an use
is in Artemidorus (early in 2nd century). Speak-
ing of the significance of various articles of
dress, when seen in dreams, he says that the
Chlamys (a short military cloak), " which some
call Mandyas, others Ephestris, others ^ripiov,
portends trouble and difficulty, and to prisoners
under trial portends condemnation, by reason
that it compasses about and confines the body "
(Oneirocritica, lib. ii. cap. 3). Other writers
identify it with the " amphibalus " (q. v.).
" Birrus : amphibalus villosus," says Pajjias.
And the author of the life of St. Deicolus (^Acta
SS. Ord. Bened. saec. 2, p. 105), " Birrum ....
quern Graeci amphibalum vocant." A fresco
in the cemetery of Pontianus (Aringhi, Roma
Sotterranea, tom. i. p. 383), in which are repre-
sented three laymen, SS. Milix, Abdon, and
Seunes, and one ecclesiastic, St. Vicentius, will
probably give a good idea of the difl'erence be-
tween the Chlamys, the Birrus, and the Casula
(or Planeta). St. Milix is represented wearing
a Chlamys; Abdon and Sennes a heavy cloak
reaching from the shoulders to the back of the
knee, and in form diti'ering but little from the
Chlamys (see woodcut, p. 8). But the Birrus
(if such be the garment intended) is provided
with a hood, or cowl, for wearing over the
head, as were most such outer garments when
intended, as was the Birrus, for out-door use.
And this hood is here represented as worn
on the head. Such a rough Birrus as this
was allowed to be worn by slaves under the
provisions of the Theodosian Code (Lex 1, de
Habitu, speaking of them as viks hirri). And
hence some have inferred, though wrongly, that
the Birrus was at that time regarded as a gar-
ment suitable only for persons cf the lowest
class. This was not so. There were " viles
birri," cheap cloaks, such as those here allowed
as a privilege to slaves; there were " pretiosi
birri," costly cloaks, such as those of which St.
Augustine says that they might perhaps be fitting
for a bishop, but not fitting for Augustine, "a
poor man, as his parents had been poor before
him " {Sermo de Diversis, 356, tom. v. p. 1579).
From the 4th century onward the mention of the
Birrus is not unfrequent, as of an out-door dress
used alike by laymen (St. Augustin. De Verbis
Apost. Serra. xviii. cap. 10) and by ecclesiastics.*
And m these later notices it is almost always
» More particularly we hear of bishops wearing them
(as an out-door dress), St. Augustine, above cited, and De
vda Cknca,-um, Serm. ii. ; Palladius, Hist. Lausaic. c. 135;
Oregor. Turon. mst. Franc, lib. ii. c. 1. Many centuries
later we read of St. Thomas of Canterbury wea.ing a
BISHOP
referred to as being either a somewhat expensive
dress, or as having a certain secular character
attaching to it as compared with the dress worn,
by monks. Thus Cassianus (circ. 418 a.d.V
describing the dress of monks, says (De Habitu
Monach. lib. i. cap. 7) that they avoid the costli-
ness and the pretence to dignity implied in the
Planeta and the Birrus (Planeticarum simul
atque birrorum pretia simul et ambitionem de-
clinant). And St. Isidore in like manner couples
together the Planeta and the Birrus as garments
which are not allowable to monks (Linteo nou
licet Monachum indui. Orarium, birros, planetas,
non est fas uti, Regula, cap. 13). And this will
account for the peculiar language of the 12th
Canon of the Council of Gangra (a. 319), warn-
ing men against attributing too much importance
to the monastic dress for its own sake, and
despising those who wore " birri " {tovs Popovs
<t>opovt/Tas). Towards the close of the 6th cen-
tury we find St. Gregory the Great using the
term " Birrus albus " in speaking of the white
" Christening-Cloak " worn by the newly bap-
tized (Lib. vii. Indict, i. IJpisf. 5). And the
word has many descendants in 'mediaeval Latin,
such as Birettum, Birreta, Birrati (the Car-
melite Monks, " Les Frferes Barrez," were so
called) ; and in old French, as '• Bure " coarse
cloth, Bureau (Fr. and Eng.), a table covered
with coarse cloth, such as was used for official
business (Menage). [W. B. M.]
BIRTHDAYS OF SAINTS. [Festivals.]
BISHOP. Xames and titles. Origin of the
office.
I. Appointment.
1. Election.
a. Who elected. j3. \\T3o were eligible, y. Time,
mode, and place of election.
2. Confirmation.
3. Ordination.
a. Matter and form. j3. Ordaincrs. y. Wace
and time of ordination. 6. Kegister of ordi-
nations.
4. Enthronization.
5. Oaths.
a. Profession of obedience to metropolitan, p.
Oath of allegiance to the emperor or king.
y. Oath against simony.
II. Removal.
1. By translation.
2. By resignation.
a. Simply. /3. In favour of a successor, y. So
far as to obtain a coadjutor.
3. By deposition, absolute or temporary.
A. For what cause.
a. Of irregularities which vitiated the con-
secration ab initio. j3. Of such as en-
tailed deposition from the office already
conferred, y. Of such as also entailed
excommunic;ition. &. Of such as entailed
only suspension.
B. By what authority.
III. Offices and Functions, in relation to the
Church.
1. Spiritual, arising from his office as bishop.
a. Singly, in respect to his own diocese.
i. Ordination, ii. Confirmation, iii. Admi-
nistration of sacrament.-;, iv. I'reaching.
v. Discipline, vi. Creeds, liturny, church
worship, &c., and church altairs gene-
rally, vii. Visitation of Diocese, viii.
Was the representative of the diocese:
1 in issuing Utterae fonnatae ; 2. in
communicating with other dioceses, ix.
Alms and church property, x. Patron-
age of benefices in the diocese, xi. Ar-
bitration of lawsuits, xii. How far
allowed to act out of his own diocese.
xiii. A single bishop to each dioce.se,
BISHOP
and a single diocese to each bishop,
xiv. Size of dioceses, their union, sulxli-
vision, &c. xv. Resilience.
p. Jointly, in synod, in respect to his province.
y. Collectively, in general council, in respect to
the Church at large.
2. Temporal, conferred by the state.
i. Judicial authority in secular causes, ii. Be-
came a member of state councils, witena-
gemots, &c. iii. Authority over subordinate
civil magistrates, iv. Protection of minors,
widows, prisoners, &c. v. Ofllce of crowning
emperor or king. vi. Not sworn in a court
of Justice, vii. Intercession for criminals,
viii. Special legal protection of his life and
property, ix. Exemption Crom jurisdiction
of civil courts, x. Legal force of synodiciil
decisions and canons, xi. But restricted also
by law or canon in various ways : as, 1. in
the disposing of his property by will; 2. in
the reading of heathen or of heretical books ;
3. in ways of living; 4. in the matter of
fiscal burdens, military service, &c. xii. Of
the education given in the bishop's house.
3. Social and honorary ]jrivileges.
i. Of bowins the head, kissing the hands and the
feet, kc. ii. Mitre, ring, pastoral btaff, and
other vestments and insignia, iii Of sing-
ing Hosannas before him. iv. Of ihe phrase
" Corona l ua." v. Of the bishop's throne, &c.
vi. Bishops attended by two presbyters, &c.
, Position, in relation to other bishojss.
1. All in their inherent office equal— ZiHeroe commu-
nicatoriae — order of precedence.
2. Archbishop, primate, metropolitan, exarch, pa-
triarch, pope. (See under the several articles.)
3. Special cases, as in Africa and at Alexandria.
4. AvTo<4(l)a\ot. .
.">. Chorepiscopi. I
G. Suifragaiis. i ,c- , ,
7. Coadjutors. I (^ee under .he
8. Intercessores and inter- | ^'^''«''''' articles.)
V. Anomalotis cases.
1. Episcopi vagantes, trxoAa^oi'Te!, ambulanlcs, &o.
2. Monastic bishops.
3. Antistespalatii.
4. Episcopus cardinalis.
5. Episcopus regionarius.
6. Titular bishops, and in partihus ivfidelitim.
7. Episcopus ordinum.
8. Libra, as the collective name of the suffiagans of
the see of Rome.
9. Lay holders of bishoprics.
10. Episcopi Fatuorum— Innocentium — Puerorum.
(Auihoriiies.)
Bishop ('EiricrKoiros, a term adopted by the
Christian Church through the LXX. usage of it,
and first by the Hellenic portion of the Church,
iniffKoirri [Acts i. 20] being formed from it to
express the office) = in the Acts, in St. Paul's
Epistles, and in the contemporary St. Clement of
Rome (but wrongly so interpreted in the spurious
Epist. of St. Ignatius to Hero, cc. iii. viii.), first
an appellative (Acts xx. 28), and then an inter-
changeable title, of the irpfff^vTfpoi, who minis-
tered to the several Churches under the Apostles :
but from the earliest years of the 2nd century,
and from St. Ignatius onwards, the distinctive
name, adopted as such iu every language used
by Christians, Eastern (Syriac, )L2JQ-Cljaa2J •
Arabic, oiJLw! ; Ethiopic, <\^rtf 8r^ : Coptic,
nieniCKOnOC) as well as western (Scan-
dinavian and Teutonic, as well as Latinized), of
the single president of a diocese (irapotKia, Swi-
KTjtris), who came in the room of the Apostles,
having presbyters, deacons, and laity under him,
and possessing exclu-^ive power of ordination, and
primarily of confirmation, with primary authority
in the administration of the .sacraments and of
CHRIST. ANT.
BISHOP
209
discipline (St. Ignat. ad Polycarp. init. and v. ri.
viii. ; ad Ephesi i. ii. ; Marti/r. S. fgnat. § iii. ;
Martyr. S. Polycarp. § xvi. ; Polycrates ap. Euseb.
H. E. V. 24 ; Hadrian. Imper. Epist. ap. Vopisc.
in V. Saturnin. ; Hermas Pastor, Vis. iii. 5 ;
Murator. Canon, p. 20, ed. Tregelles [of Pius,
bishop of Rome] ; Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. //. E. ii.
2.3 [of St. James of Jerusalem], and iv. 22 [of
Symeon of Jerusalem, a.d. 69] ; Dion. Cor. ap.
Euseb. J{. E. iv. 23 [of Dionysius (appointed by
St. Paul), Publius, Quadratus, of Athens]; St.
Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 13, and ap. Euseb. JL E.
ii. 1 ; &C.&C.&C.): — "Episcopi " being thenceforth
occasionally still called " presbyteri," but not
vice versa [see, however, St. Clem. Alex. Quis
Dives Salvetur, xlii. and Tertull. de Fraescript.
iii.] ; see Pearson, Vindic. Ignat. ii. 13, pp. .547,
sq. ed. Churfon : — Tdre yap reais iKOivwvovv
6v6fxaTi- Koiirhv 5e rb l^ia^ov iKaffTw airoviVf-
firirat ovofxa, 'ETriirKroVou'ETrio-KOTro), Trpeo-^urepoi,'
irpea-^vTepai (St. Chrys. in Phil. 1, Horn. i.).
Called also Apostolus at first, but for so short a
time as to leave little more than a tradition of the
fact (Theodor. Mopsuest. in 1 Tim. iii. 1, ap. Rab.
Maur. vi. 604 : Theodoret in 1 Tim. iii. 1, in Phil.
i. 1, ii. 25 ; Ambrosiast. in Ephes. iv. 12, and
ap. Amalar. de Off. Eccl. ii. 13 — N, T. usage,
as in Rom. xvi. 7, 2 Cor. viii. 23, Phil. ii. 25,
is indecisive).
Called likewise, but rarely after the fourth
century, by names applied also to presbyters
(cf ■Kpoiardixevoi, 1 Thess. v. 12 and see Herm.
Past. Vis. ii. 4; T)yovfj.ei'oi, Heb. xiii. 7, 17. and
see Herm. Past. Vis. ii. 2, iii. 9, St. Clem. Rom.
ad Co?: i. 21); as, e.g. npofo-rajs or Xlpoea-Tws
rrjs 'EkkXtjo-ios (of bishops, in Euseb. JI. E. iv.
23, vi. 3, 8, vii. 13, viii. 18, &c. ; and probably
in St. Greg. Kyss. de Scopo Christian. 0pp. iii.
306 ; of presbyters, in St. Greg. Naz. Orut. i. ;
St. Basil. M. Peg. Moral. Ixx. 36 ; of bishops and
presbyters together, in Cone. Antioch. A.D. 341,
can. 1 ; the word is ambiguous in St. Justin Mart.
Apol. i. 67) ; npoicmifievos (of bishops, in
Eusebius ; or again, irpoffrds, Euseb. vi. 10,
and so 6 TrpoffTaTcov''Ayy€\os, Oecum. et Areth.
in Apoc. ii. 1 ; and Trpoaraaia of a bishopric,
Euseb. H. E. iv. 4, vi. 35 ; and of the presbyteratc
in St. Greg. Naz. Orat. 1 ; and St. Chrys. Horn. si.
in 1 Tim. iii.); llp6i^pos (of bishops, in Euseb.
H. E. viii. 2, &c.; Cone. Trull, cap. xxxvii. ; and
TrpoeSpia aTro(rTo\tKri — a bishopric, Theodoret,
iii. 14; of presbyters in Euseb. II. E. x. 4, Synes.
Epist. xii.) ; Praesidens (Tertull. de Cor. Mil. iii.,
and Senior of both, id. Ajwh 39); Praepositus
(of bishops in St. Cypr. Epist. iii. ix. xiii., &c. ;
St. Aug. de Trin. xv. 26, Ep)ist. ^clii. ; of pres-
byters, in St. Cypr. Epist. 3, 21); Antistes (of
bishops repeatedly, as in Justinian's Code, St. Gre-
gory the Great, &c. &c. ; and so expressly Isidor.
Hispal. Etymol. VH. xii. § 16 ; of presbyters, as in
Ambrosi.ast. in 1 Tim. v. ; of both bishop and pres-
byter, iu St. Aug. Serm. 251 de Poenit. ; but " an-
tistes ordine in secundo " of a presbyter, by the
time of Sidon.Apollin.i7/?(si.iv. 11); and sometimes
at first by the name itself of np6(r;8uT6pos(St. Iron.
adv. Ilaer. III. ii. 2, IV. xxvi. 2, and ap. Eu.scb.
//. E. r. 24 ; St. Clem. Alex., Quis Dives Salvetur,
xlii., who calls the same person both MffKoiroT
and irpeaffvTfpos) ; while St. Cyprian and St. Au-
gustin, after 1 Pet. v. 1, call presbyters " com-
jiresbyteri nostri ;" and 4th century writers, as
Ambrosiast. in 1 Tim. iii. 10, and the (/(/. Vcl.
V
210
BISHOP
et Nov. Test. ci. in Append, to St. Aug. III. ii. 93,
describe the bishop as "primus presbyter" or
" inter presbyteros," and speak of " compres-
bvteri " and " consacerdotes " (the use of " prae-
latus " for bishop exclusively is altogether mo-
dern ; but " De Praelatorum Simplicitate " was a
title of St. Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. ; and the word
is used for bishops and presbyters together in
St. Greg. M. Beg. Pastoral. ; it is used also of
an abbat, as in Cone. Suess. ii. a.d. 853).
Called also, and from an early date, by names
exclusively belonging to bishops specifically such,
as "Apxaif, ov Frinceps, Ecclesiae, or Populi
(Origan, cont. Cels. ill.; Euseb. H. E. vi. 28,
viii. 1 ; St. Chrys. de Sacerd. iii. 14 ; St. Jerome
repeatedly ; Paulinus, Epist. ad Alyp. xlv. ;
Optat. i. p. 15, ed. 1679 ; and so apxh for
bishopric, as e. g. in Eusebius, H. E. vi. 29) ;
or Frinceps simply (St. Jerome in Ps. xlv. and
in Esai. Ix. 17, &c. ; and so in the 5th century
[or more prob. the 6th or 7th] St. Patrick's
canons so styled, in D'Achery, and in Haddan
and Stubbs, Counc. ii.) ; Rector, as in Hilary the
Deacon, in Ephes. iv., and Greg. M. Eeg. Pastor. ;
Praesul (Pope Julius, Epist. ad Euseb. ap. Cou-
stant, i. 382 [see Du Cange], and so Praesulatus
= Episcopate in e. g. Cassiodor.) ; Uporiyov-
Hfvos and Upu>T0Kade5plrrjs (Herm. Past. Vis. iii.
9) ; IlaTras or Papa (especially, at first, in Africa,
Dion. Alex, ad Philem. in Euseb. H. E. A'ii. 7 ;
Tertull. de Pudic. xiii. ; Letters of St. Cyprian,
St. Augustin, Sidon. Apollin. &c., and in St. Jerome,
Prudeutius, Sulp. Severus, &c. — compare also
Abuna, in the Church of Abyssinia), used down to
a period later than Charlemagne (e. g. in Walafr.
Strab. de Reb. Eccl. vii., about a.d. 840, and
Eulog. CordiA. about A.D. 850) of all bishops
(Bingh. II. ii. 7 ; Casaubon, Exercit. xiv. § 4 ;
Thomassin, I. i. 4, 50 ; Suicer ; Du Cange) ; and
in the East (as still in the Greek and Russian
Churches) of presbyters also, and especially of
abbats (but Goar's distinction, iraivas — a bishop,
and Trairas = one of the lower orders of clergy,
seems a refinement), but gradually restricted by
usage in the West to the bishop of Rome (see
Gone. Tolet. A.D. 400, Labbe, ii. 1227 ; Cone. Rom.
Palm. A.D. 503; and Ennodius, Lib. Apologet.,
of the same date ; Cone. Constantin. a.d. 681,
Act. 1 and 2 ; Gieseler refers to Jo. Diecmann,
de Vocis Papae Aetatibus, Viteberg. 1671), and
finally and absolutely so limited by Greg. VII. in
a Council of Rome, A.D. 1073 (Baron. Martyrol.
.Tan. 10); and in the East to the bishop of
Alexandria (Thomassin, I. i. 50, § 14, Du Cange ;
but that it was granted formally to St. Cyril
of Alexandria by Pope Celestine [Niceph. xiv. 34]
is a manifest and confessed [Baron, as above]
fiction) ; — sometimes, again, in the 5th century,
'KyyeXos (St. Aug. Epist. 142 ; St. Ambrose in
1 Cor. xi.; St. Jerome in 1 Cor. xi.; Socrat. iv. 23;
from Rev. i. ii., and compare Gal. i. 8, iv. 14, and
possibly 1 Cor. xi. 10) ; and so, in Saxon England,
God's "Bydels," or messengers ("Bydelas," Laws
of Ethelred, vii. 19, and of Canute, 26);— and
-'E(;)opos, and the office '-Eipopeia (Philostorg. iii.
4, 15); and, in the 8th and later centuries,
Latmized into i>peadator (in Co7ic. Suess. iii.
A.D. 862) ; and varied by Anglo-Saxon " pom-
positas," in episcopal signatures to charters, into
Lispector, Supcrspector, Visitator, Inspector Flebis
JJei, Katascopus Legis Dei, &c. &c. (Kemble,
Cod. Dipl. passim) ;— called also Patriarcha (so
BISHOP
Dupin, Dissert, i. § 5, and Suicer ; the name being \
first confined to the higher bishops, ace. to •
Suicer, by Socrates v. 8, c. a.d. 440), yet only rhe- ,
torically so called in St. Greg. Naz. {Orat. 20, 30,
41) and St. Greg. Nyss. {Orat. Funebr. in Melet. ;
and see Bingh. II. ii. 9), but as an ordinary name
under the Gothic kings of Italy (Athalaric, Epist. •
ad Joan. Pap. in Cassiodor. ix. 15).
Called also by names indicative of their func-
tions ; as, 'lepdpx'ns (Pseudo-Dion. Areop. Eccl. i
Hierarch. c. v. ; &c.) ; — Sacerdos or Fontifex,
often of bishops exclusively (Taylor, Episc. \
Assert. § 27) ; and so Aeirovpyia for bishopric, i
e. g. in Euseb. vi. 29 : — Summits or Maximus i
Pontifex, or Summus Sacerdos (ironically in
Tertull. de Pudicit. i., but seriously, de Rapt.,
xvii. ; and of all bishops as such, in St.
Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustin, Sidon,
Apollin, Qu. in Vet. et Nov. Test. ci. &c. ; Cone.
Agath. a.d. 506, can. 35, and down to the 11th \
century [see Du Cange], the analogy of the Jewish
'kpxiep^vs occurring as early as St. Clem. Rom.
ad Cor. i.) ; — Pater Fatrum and Episcopus Epi- \
seoporum, but rhetorically only (Sidon. Apollin. '
Epist. vi. 1, after Pseudo-Clem, ad Jacob. Epist.
1) ; while in Africa, where the power of the i
metropolitan developed more slowly, St. Cyprian ]
(p. 158, Fell) in Cone. Carth. declares that no one I
in Africa "Episcopum se Episcoporum constituit;"
and Cone. Carth. a.d. 256 (in St. Cyprian), and \
Cone. Hippon. Reg. a.d. 393, can. 39, in Cod. Can. '
Eccl. Afric, forbid expressly the assumption of :;
such titles as "Princeps Sacerdotum, aut Summus
Sacerdos, aut aliquid hujusmodi," and command
even the Primate of Africa to be called by no
other title than that of " primae sedis Episcopus ;"
— or again from the 4th century (but the terms
are in substance in St. Ignatius, ad Ephes. vi.
'EiricrKOTrov ws avruv rhv Kvptov, ad Trail, i. I
Tip "Ettlctkottoi ois Xpiarc^ ; and St. Cypr. Epist.
55, 63; and cf. 2 Cor. v. 20), Vicarius Christi — ]
Domini — Dei (St. Basil. M. Constit. Monast. 22 ; !
0pp. ii. 792 [6 rov SwTrjpoy vTTex<>>v TrpScrwiroi''] ; |
St. Ambrose m 1 Cor. xi. 10 ; Pseudo-Dion. Areop. i
Eccl. Hier. ii. 2; Qu. Vet. et Nov. Test. 127, in i
App. ad 0pp. St. Aug. iii.); — and from a consi- !
derably earlier date, Vicarius or Successor Apo- ■]
stolorum (Hippolyt. Haer. Proem, p. 8 ; St. Iren. ;
adv. Haer. iii. 3 ; St. Cypr. Epist. 62, 69 ; Fir- :
milian in St. Cypr. Epist. 55, 75 ; Cone. Carth. '.
iii. in St. Cyprian, a.d. 256, can. Ixxix. ; St. -
Jerome, Epist. liv. al. Ivii.; Pseud. Dion. Areop. j
Eccl. Hier. ii. 2 ; and in substance St. Aug. in j
Ps. xlv. 16, De Bapt. e. Donat. vii. 43, Serm. cii.
c. 1, De Util. Credendi, § 35, Epist. 42, &c.) ;— \
also MctriTTjs (Origen, St. Basil M., St. Chrys., i
Apost. Constit. iv. 26, &c., in Cotel. ad Constit. \
Apost. vol. i. p. 237 ; and /xecrlretav Qeov kuI av- ]
Qpiiiiroiv, TovTo yap Iffais 6 'lipevs, St. Greg. Naz. j
Orat. 1.) ; but by St. Augustin's time it had be-
come expedient to condemn the calling a bishop .,
by the name of " Mediator " (^Cont. Parmen. ii. 8, I
0pp. ix. 35) ;^no(,u^i/,P«sto/- (Euseb. H. E.m. 36, \
St. Greg. Naz. and St. Hilar, passim ; Cone, Sar- j
die. a.d. 347, can. vi. ; Theodoret, iv. 8, &c. &c. ;
so in the English Prayer-book, " The bishops and
pastors of Thy flock ;" " pastores ovium," in j
St. Cypr. of presbyters, but not pastor simply : ,
so Taylor, Epnscop. Asserted, § 25 : see, however, '
the use of iroifialvetv, in Acts xx. 28) : — extra-
vagantly denominated Behs ^EtriyeLOS fjieTo. Qehv, j
and by other extreme designations, in Ajjost.
BISHOP
Constit. ii. 26 ; and at a later date, Thronus Dei
(^C'o7ic. Tolet. xi. a.d. 675, can. 5, and Carloving.
CapituL, quoted by Du Cange).
Designated also by the titles of, — 1. ApostoUcus,
applied to all bishops (and their sees called " sedes
Apostolicae ") as late as Charlemagne (St. Aug.
i:pist. 42; Greg. Tur. H. F. ix. 42; Venant.
Fortun. Foem. iii. ; Formulae in Marculfus ;
Gunthram in Cone. Matisc. ii. A.d. 585 ; and see
Casaubon, Exercit. xiv. § 4 ; and Thomassin, I. i.
4); restricted at one time to metropolitans
(Siricius, A.D. 384-398, Fpist. iv. c. 1 ; Alcuin,
de Div. Off. xxxvii.) ; but gradually turned into
a substantive appellation of the bishop of Rome
(as in Rup. Tuit. de Div. Off. i. 27, a.d. 1111);
while a council of the 11th century is said to
have excommunicated an archbishop of Gallicia
for so styling himself [Apostoliccs] ; and used in
the 12th and following centuries as the Pope's ordi-
nary designation (e. g. in the English Year-books,
" L'Apostoile," or " L'Apostole ;" Spelman's
further statement — that he was called also
Apostolus — seems a mistake); — 2. Beatissimus
— Sanctissimus — Reverendissiinus — Deo Amabilis
— @eo<pi\4aTaTos — 'Ayiwraros — MaKapiwTaros
— 'OaiccTaros — AlSeffifj-wTUTos (in the Councils,
Justinian's Laws, superscriptions to letters, as St.
Cyprian's, St. Augustin's, &c. &c. ; and Socrates
[//. F. vi. Frooeni.'] apologizes for not calling the
bishops, his contemporaries, Qeo^iXeffrdrovs -/)
ayiurdrovs ^ ra roiavra) ; — 3. Dominus — Aec-
ttSttis — Sanctitas Tua — 'H 2^ XpTjtrrtiTTjs, Ma-
Kapi6T-r)s,' AyioTtjs (like authorities); — 4. "Dei
gratia Archiepiscopus " first occurs in England
of Archbishop Theodore (Counc. of Hatfield, A.D.
680, in Baed. H. E. iv. 17), and so on in general
of his successors (^e.g. of Nothelm, in Kemble,
Cod. Dipl. 65), &c.;— 5. Lastly, "Servus Ser-
vorum Dei " is found as early as Desiderius,
bishop of Cahors, A.D. 650, who so styles himself
(Thomassin, L i. 4, § 4).
For the nature and institution of the Christian
ministry as such — in so far as it is common to
bishops and presbyters — see Clergy, Presby-
ters. The special episcopal office as above de-
scribed,— consisting in a presidency over the
clergy and laity of a particular diocese, with a
veto, and with a sole power of ordination, — and
whether regarded (with later schoolmen) as one
order with the presbyterate, on the ground of
the powers of the ministry common to both,
difterenced only by peculiar and additional powers
belonging to bishops, or (according to the earlier
and more common view) as a distinct order, on
the ground of those additional powers, — finds its
actual institution implied and recorded in the
N. T. : 1. in the position of St. James of Jeru-
salem (Acts xii. 17, XV. 13, xxi. 18, Gal. ii. 9),
affirmed also by all antiquity to have been bishop
of Jerusalem ; — 2. in the appointment by St. Paul,
when his " measure "(1 Cor. x. 16) grew too
large for his own personal supervision, of single
officers, with powers of ordination (1 Tim. iii. 13,
Tit. i. 5) and jurisdiction (both in church wor-
ship, 1 Tim. ii. 1-12, and over all church mem-
bers, including presbyters, 1 Tim. v. 1-22, Tit. i.
5, ii.), and probably of confirmation (1 Tim. v.
22), in the Apostle's stead (1 Tim. i. 3, Tit. i. 5),
i- e. of bishops in the later sense of the term
(removeable, like later bishops, and, as it seems,
actually removed, when the needs of the Church
iu the particular cases required it), — viz. Timothy
BISHOP
111
at Ephesus, and Titus in Crete, certainly (and so
the Fathers with one accord); and, not' improb-
ably, Epaphroditus at Philipj)! (Phil. ii. 25, and
so Theodoret in 1 Tim. vi. 1), and Archippus at
Colossae (Col. iv. 17, Philem. 2 ; and so Ambrose
in Col. iv. 17) ; to whom the Fathers add a great
many more (see a list in Apost. Constit. vii. 47,
and among moderns in Andrewes, Epist. i. ad Pet.
Molin., 0pp. Posth. pp. 185, 186) ;— 3. in the "A 7-
yeXoi of Rev. i.-iii. [Angels of Churches], who
were real individual persons, although symbol-
ized as stars (Rev. i. 20), just as the Churches
they governed were real Churches, which are
symbolized likewise as candlesticks; and who
are proved to have been bishops, (i.) by the
analogy of Gal. i. 8, iv. 14 ; (ii.) by their stand-
ing for and representing their several Churches ;
(iii.) by the fact (see further on) that St. John
is expressly and specially stated to have ap-
pointed bishops from city to city in these very
regions ; (iv.) by the current interpretation of
the term from early times, as in St. Jerome,
St. Ambrose, St. Aug., Oecumen. and Arethas in
Apocalgps. &c. ; to which may be added the
probable mention (the reading of Rev. ii. 20 beinp-
not altogether certain) of the wife of one of theni^
And these intimations find their counterpart and
confirmation, (1) in express statements of early
Fathers, as (i.) St. Clem. Rom. ad Cor. 1. 44,
that the Apostles, having appointed presbyter-
bishops and deacons in the several Churches
in the first instance, proceeded, as a further and
distinct step, in order to provide for the con-
tinuance of the ministry without schisms or
quarrels, to appoint some further institution,
whereby the succession of such presbyters and
deacons might be kept up, as first by the Apostles
themselves, so after them by other chosen men;
i. e. in other words, instituted the order of bishops ;
KareffTTicrav \_ol 'AwdffToAot] tovs 'irpoftpT}fj.fvovs
[_eirL(TK6Trovs Kal SiaK6uovs'], Kal fxera^v 4ttivojxt)v
St'buKaaiv, Sttois iav KOLfi7]6£cnv, SiaSe^onfTaL
(Tfpoi SedoKi/.iaffixei'oi d^Spes ttjv \€irovpyiav
avTuiW rovs ovv KaTacrraOevTas vir' iKeiveov [i. e.
the Apostles themselves] -^ ix€Ta^v v(p' kripaiv
eWoyifjLcov avSpwv, k.t.A.. (ii.) The Muratomin
Canon (p. 17, ed. Tregelles), " Quarti Evange-
liorum Johannis ex decipolis " [John the Apostle
as distinguished from John Baptist], " cohor-
tantibus condiscipulis et episcopis suis;" — Ter-
tuUian (adv. Marc. iv. 5), " Ordo episcoporum
ad originem recensus in Joannem stabit auc-
torem ;" — St. Clement Alex. (Qmw Dires Salvetur,
xlii. 0pp. p. 959, and in Euseb. II. E. iii. 23),
'Air-^et [sc. St. John when returned from Patmos
to Ephesus] TrapaKaAoufxeyos Kal (ttI to. ttAtj-
(n6x'>'pci Twu (Ofuv, OTTov ij.\v 'ETT^TKi^TToys Kara-
ffTTjcroiv, OTTOV 5e oAas 'EK/cATjffias ap/xoffcov, oirov
Se K\7]p(f3 eya ye riva K\ripcoffa>y rHiv vtrh tov
UyfifMaros (ft)fxaiyofjiev(iiv ; — St. Jerome (Catal.
Scriptt. Feci, ix.), " Novissimus omnium scripsit
[Joannes] Evangelium, rogatus ab Asiae Epi-
scopis;"— testifying to the appointment by St.
John of bishops from city to city, and to their
existence as a settled and established order from
his time. (2) In the fact, that bishops in the
later sense are actually found in every Church
whatsoever, from the moment that any evidence
exists at all ; and that such evidence exists,
either simply to an actual bishop at the time,
or more commonly to such a bishop as in suc-
cession to a line of predecessors traced up to
P 2
213
BISHOP
Apostles, ami with no intimation of such epi-
scopate being anything else but the original,
appointed, and unbroken order : and this, in the
case of Antioch, and of Asia Minor generally, as
early as the first decade of the 2nd century, in
other cases within the first forty years of that
century; in others, as e. //..Ephesus, Alexandria,
Jerusalem, Athens, within the last quarter of the
fii-st i. e. either close upon the death of the last
Apostle, or within about a quarter of a century
of it, or long before it happened — a space of time
witnin which, taken at the longest, it is histo-
rically impossible that so great a revolution (if
it had been one) should have been not only accom-
plished but forgotten. A detailed list of these
cases may be found in an Excursus by Professor
Lightfoot On the Philippians. The only discover-
able exceptions, — that of the Church of Corinth
when St. Clement wrote to it, and that of Phi-
lippi when St. Polycarp wrote to it, — are so few
and so temporary, as to prove merely that the
whole of the needs of a rapidly growing Church
could not be supplied at once, and that circum-
stances (as e. g. the martyrdom perhaps, or the
deportation, of an Apostle) might leave this or
that Church temporarily unprovided with a
bishop. In the words of Ambrosiaster (i. e.
Hilary the Deacon), it so happened, " quia adhuc
rectores Ecclesiis non omnibus locis fuerant con-
stituti " {in 1 Cor. xi. 2). And there certainly
were bishops in both the places named imme-
diately afterwards. Nor, further, (3) was there
any substantial difference in the office itself from
that subsequently so styled. St. Clement of Rome,
for instance, so absolutely represented his Church
as to write in the name of that Church ; and is
described by Hermas Pastor ( Vis. ii. 4) as offici-
ally communicating in its name with foreign
Churches; and is placed by St. Irenaeus and
others as one in a series of bishops, all so called
in the same sense. And although the succession
of the heads of the school at Alexandria (for
which see Bing. III. x. 5) may well have been
more important in point of influence than that
of the bishops of that see, it did not interfere
with the office and succession of those bishops,
•which is carefully recorded (as is that of all the
principal sees) by Eusebius. Nor again does St.
Irenaeus, who speaks of a "succession" also of
" presbyters," and indeed calls bishops themselves
occasionally " presbyters," know of any difference
between the bishop of Eome of his own time
(assuredly a bishop in the later sense) and the
succession of single heads of the Church of Rome,
whom he names in order from Apostolic times
down to that same bishop.
The Episcopate then is historically the con-
tinuation, in its permanent elements, of the
Apostolatft And, accordingly, the reasons as-
signed for the actual appointment of the epi-
scopate are : (1) as given by St. Paul himself,
to take the place of the Apostles (Tim. i. 3 ;
Tit. i. 5), and for the better maintenance of the
faith (i6.), and in order to a due ordination of
the ministry (Tit. i. 5). To these the Fathers
add, (2) other reasons, drawn apparently from
their own experience of the benefits of the epi-
scopate : as St. Clem. Rom. and St. Jerome, who
allege it to have been instituted as a preventive
of schisms ; and St. Irenaeus and Tertullian, a
little later than the first named, who reo-ard it
as a safeguard of the faith (and see f Tim
BISHOP
3 ; Tit. ii. 1) ; and St. Cyprian, a little later
still, who chiefly dwells upon it as a bond of
unity; in which point of view St. Ignatius also
had regarded it at the beginning. The further
suggestion hazarded by St. Jerome — that it was
an afterthought of the Apostles, suggested to
them by the schisms at Corinth — is inconsistent
with the fact that bishops existed before those
schisms. And the gradual spread of the institu-
tion is best explained by the sensible and natural
remark of Epiphanius, that Oh trdvra eiiOvs
ilSvuT^driffau ot ' Air6ffToKoi KaTacrrriaai, and that
presbyters and deacons could administer a church
for a while, until XP^'" yejove {Haer. Ixxv. § 5 ;
0pp. i. 908). Bishops, who came in place of
Apostles, could not, indeed, have existed both
coincidently and contemporaneously with those
in whose place they came, but only as the
growth of the Church, and the removal of the
Apostles, required and made room for them. A
theory started recently (by Rothe, Anfdnge dcr
C'hristlichen Kirche, 354—392, quoted by Light-
foot) of a special and formal Council of the Apostles,
which among other things instituted episcopacy,
as one among a series of " second ordinances,"
seems to rest upon insufficient grounds (see Light-
foot's Excursus to the Philippians, before quoted),
and to transform a really apostolic origin into a
single definite and formal apostolic act : like the
parallel but ancient tradition respecting the com-
position of the Creed. On the other hand, space
of time literally shuts out the much older theory,
viz. that there was a period at the beginning
when each Church was governed by a college of
presbyters, until "ecclesiastical authority" esta-
blished a bishop over each college, in order to
put an end to schisms, and notably to those at
Corinth ; unless, with St. Jerome, the originator
of it, we take the " ecclesiastical authority " to
mean the Apostles themselves, and the period in
question to be reduced therefore so as to fall
within the lifetime of the Apostles, and so refer
it simply to the colleges of presbyters, who during
such lifetime did undoubtedly govern the several
Churches under the Apostles : thus rendering the
hypothesis at once very true and equally innocent,
and in eflect identifying it with the contempo-
rary statement of St. Clem. Rom. before quoted.
Later repetitions of St. Jerome's theory, and
often of his words, may be found in writers of
the Western Church (see quotations in Morinus,
de Sac. Ord. Ul. ii. 11 sq.) down to the 10th or
11th century. But these are of course simply
St. Jei-ome over again. Contemporaneously how-
ever with him, — yet (as it should seem) chiefly
with the view of repressing the presumption (not
of bishops but) of deacons, or (as in Augustin's
case) in order to turn a courteous compliment
to a presbyter (viz. St. Jerome),— the original
identity both of the names, and of the offices, of
bishop and pi-esbyter, became a current topic :
e. g. in St. Aug. Epist. 19 ad S. Hieron. ; Am-
brosiast. in 1 Tim. iii., and in Ephes. iv. ; Qu.
Vet. et Nov. Test. ci. ; Anon, in 1 Tim. iii. 17, in
App. ad 0pp. S. Hieron. ; Lib. ad Rustic, de VII.
Grad. Eccl. in the same Append. ; Sedul. Scot, in
Epist. ad Tit. i. ; Isid. Hispal. de Offic. Eccl. vii. ;
and of course St. Jerome himself. And while
St. Augustin assigns the " usus Ecclesiae " as the
ground for the subsequent appropriation of the
nam£s (" honorum vocabula"), St. Jerome (as
already said) affirms of the office itself, as dis-
BISHOP
tinct fiom that of presbyter, that it arose " ex
Kcclesiae consuetudiue magis quam dispositionis
Doniiuicae veritate " (which means, apparently,
that it rests upon no written words of our Lord
Himself) ; asserting, at the same time, that it was
the one absolutely necessary preventive of schism,
and in effect that the Apostles had established it
as such ; and also (in common with all the others
above quoted) that presbyters, whatever else they
cor.ld do, could not ordain. Another view, of a
like date with St. Jerome's, probably represents
the general facts of the case with very fivir ac-
curacy, viz. that contained in Hilary the Deacon,
in Eplies. iv. : " Ut ci-esceret plebs et multipli-
cai-etur, omnibus inter initia concessum est et
evangelizare et baptizare et Scripturas in ecclesia
explanare : ubi autem omnia loca circumamplexa
est Ecclesia, conventicula constituta sunt et rec-
tores et cetera oflicia in Ecclesiis sunt ordinata,
ut nuUus de clero auderet, qui ordinatus non
esset, praesumere ofticium quod sciret non sibi
creditum vel concessum." In other words, under
pressure of necessity, before the Church could
be fully organized, and before a longer duration
had stift'ened it into orderly system and regular
law, acts were allowed and held good to any one,
which were properly and primarily the office of
particular officers, viz. of " Eectores," i. e. bishops,
and of an ordained clergy ; those acts being done
of co^jrse not against — but owing to circum-
stances, not by — the clergy. And those which
are here specified, moreover, are such only as
the Church has ever held to be capable of being
discharged by any Christian man, so that they
are done in unity with the Church. Even Ter-
tullian's well-known words do not make it plain,
whether he meaiit to affirm that, in case of
alisolute necessity, laymen might formally ad-
minister the Eucharist; or whether not rather
that in such a case the will would be accepted
for the deed. For this, however, and like ques-
tions, see Eucharist, Baptism, Laymen.
L The first step towards making a bishop
was his
1. Election.
a. Who elected. — The election of bishops [xf-
pOTOvia sometimes, commonly iKXoyrf] pertained
from the beginning to the neighbouring bishops,
and (except in the obviously special cases of a
bishop sent to the heathen [as e. g. Frumentius
by St. Athanasius to the Abyssinians, — Socrat.
i. 19, Theodoret, i. 23, — or St. Augustine to the
Saxons by St. Gregory], or of one sent to a
diocese overrun with heresy or schism), to the
clergy and laity of the particular Church. But
the relative rights of each class of electors were
apparently determined, not by express enactment,
but by Apostolic practice, defended in the first
instance by Jewish precedent — " Traditione Di-
vina [Num. xx. 25, 26] et Apostolica observa-
tione " [Acts i. 15, vi. 2] (St. Cypr. Epist. Ixvii.
Fell), — and subsequently upon grounds of com-
mon sense and equity, — as that, " Deligatur epi-
scopus praeseute plebe, quae singulorum vitam
plenissime novit " {id. ib.) ; or that, " Nullus
invitis detur episcopus " (Caelestin. Epist. ii. 5) ;
or that, " Qui praefuturus est omnibus, ab omni-
bus eligatur" (Leo M. Epist. Ixxxix); or again,
Tlapa TtdvTwv Ta>y /j.iWoVToii' iroi/xaivfadaL xpript-
(ofjiivos {Cone. Clialc. a.d. 451 ; Act. xi. Labbe,
iv. 698). The judgment [/cpiVis, judicimii] i. e.
commonly the choice, and the ratification [Kiipos],
BISHOP
213
naturally inclined to the bishops, so that for the
first 500 years such elections were ordinarily
ruled by them. The approval \_(Tvviv^6Kr)ais,
consensus'] and the testimony to character [fxap-
Tvpwv. testimonium] were the more proper office
of the clergy and laity of the diocese itself.
While the formal appointment [KardaTaats,
which included the ordination] belonged exclu-
sively, as to the Apostles at first, so to the
iXXSyiixot &vSp€s (St. Clem. Kom. ad Corinth.
I. xliv.) who succeeded them, i. e. the bishops.
But both classes of electors are found (so soon as
we have any evidence to the point, i. e. from the
middle of the 3\d century) taking the initiative
in different cases. And the clergy, and the people,
alike, possessed the right of giving a " suftragium
de persona," as well as a "testimonium de vita"
(Andrewes, Eesp. ad Bellarm. xiii.) ; a right, how-
ever, alternating in point of fact between a choice
and a veto, and fluctuating with circumstances.
The germ of such a mode of election is found
in the N. T. The KardaTacTis (Acts vi. 3, Tit.
i. 5, and compare Heb. v. 1, viii. 3, and St. Matt,
xxiv. 45, «&c.) was throughout reserved to the
Apostles or their successors ; but the " choice "
of the persons and the " testimony " to their
character pertained to the people in the case of
the seven deacons (Acts vi. 2, 3) ; the former to
St. Paul and the latter to " the brethren," in that
of Timothy (Acts xvi. 2, 3); St. Paul alone (un-
less so far as the " presbytery " joined in the act)
both chose and sent Timothy and Titus respec-
tively to Ephesus and to Crete (1 Tim. i. 3, 18;
Tit. i. 5) ; the whole of the disciples appear to
have chosen the two between whom lots were to
be cast in the case of St. Matthias (Acts i. 23),
which is however an exceptional case ; while the
word x^^poToveco (Acts xiv. 23) leaves it unde-
termined whether St. Paul and Barnabas only
ordained, or did not also choose, the Pisidiau
presbyters. The earliest non-Scriptural witness,
writing however before the N. T. canon was
closed, St. Clement of Rome (as above), agrees
precisely with the N. T., in terms as well as
substance. He reserves the Kardaraais, as by
express Apostolic appointment, to the Apostles
and their successors, but avvevSoKriadaris Trjs
'EKKX-naias irdarjs : speaking, it is true, of the .
case of eTricTKoTroi who were presbyters, but in
language which must almost certainly apply also
to that of bishops properly so called. In con-
formity also with this, we find, after a.d. 69,
and upon the martyrdom of St. James, the re-
maining Apostles and personal disciples of Christ
and His surviving relatives, meeting together and
joining in the appointment of Symeon the son of
Clopas to the bishopric of Jerusalem (Euseb. //. E.
iii. 11). The theory, that at first the "senior
presbyter" succeeded as of right to the epi-
scopate, and that at some early time a change
was effected, " prospiciente concilio," such that
thenceforth " meritum, non ordo," should select
the bishop, seems to be only a 4th century hypo-
thesis, based upon what no doubt was a frequent
practice, of Ambrosiaster, i. e. Hilary the Deacon,
in Eph. iv. 12 ; who however is thinking of the
election, not of the consecration, of a bishop,
whose specific officj also he distinctly recognizes
in the passage itself.
The natural course of things, and the in-
creasingly fixed and detailed organization of the
Church, gradually defined and modified the ori-
214
BISHOP
giual practice thus inaugurated: 1. by intro-
ducing the metropolitan (and, further on, the
patriarch), as a power more and more prepon-
derant in such elections; and 2. by regulating
the rights of the comprovincial bishops ; both
points formalized into canons by the great IS^icene
Council ; 3. by substituting for the unavoidable
disorder and "evil of a strictly popular suffrage
(uX^ois), an election by the chief only of the
laity (a change begun by the Councils of Sardica,
A.D. 347, and Laodicea, A.D. 365, and finally esta-
blished by Justinian) ; still further restricted in
practice in important cases to a nomination by
the emperor alone ; and changed from the middle
of the 6th century into a general right of royal
consent, converted commonly, and as circum-
stances allowed, in the case of the European king-
doms, and partially in that of the Eastern em-
perors also, into a right of royal nomination,
concurrent with, but gradually and in ordinary
cases reducing to a mere form, the old canonical
mode of election. The substitution, further, in
the West, of the clergy of the cathedral as the
electoral body, and in the East of the compro-
vincial bishops solely, in place of the old " plebs
et clerus " of the diocese, or at the least of the
cathedral town, hardly dates before the 9th and
10th centuries.
The classical passages for ante-Kicene times
are principally from St. Cyprian, and belong to
Africa, A.D. 252-254. — " Diligenter de traditione
Divina et Apostolica observatione servandum est
et tenendum (quod apud nos quoque et fere per
provincias totas tenetur), ut ad ordinationes rite
celebrandas, ad eam plebem cui praepositus ordi-
natur, episcopi ejusdem provinciae prosimi quique
conveniant, et episcopus deligatur plebe prae-
sente, quae singulorum vitam plenissime novit,
et uniuscujusque actum de ejus conversatione
prospexit" (Ejnsf. Ixvii. addressed to the Spa-
nish Churches). — " Instruit et ostendit (Deus)
ordinationes sacerdotales nonnisi sub populi as-
sistentis conscientia fieri oportere " [soil. Num.
XV. 25, 26; Acts i. 15, vi. 2); " ut plebe prae-
sente vel detegantur malorum crimina vel bo-
norum merita praedicentur ; et sit ordinatio
justa et legitima, quae omnium suffragio et
judicio fuerit examinata " (id. ib.). — " De uni-
versae fraternitatis suffragio, de episcoporum
qui in praesentia convenerant judicio (id. ib.). —
" Episcopo semel facto, et collegarum et plebis
testimonio et judicio comprobato " (id. Ejnst.
xliv.). — " Cornelius factus est episcopus [Romae]
de Dei et Christi Ejus judicio, de clericorum peue
omnium testimonio, de plebis quae tunc affuit
suffragio, et de sacerdotum antiquorum et bo-
norum virorum collegio " (id. Epist. Iv.). — " Post
Divinum judicium, post populi suffragium, post
co-episcoporum consensum " (id. Epist. lix.). —
'_' Episcopo Cornelio in Catholica Ecclesia de Dei
judicio, de cleri ac plebis suffragio, ordinate"
(id. Epist. Ixviii.).— In which passages, s^lffm-
gium, judicium, testimonium, consensus, appear to
be used without precise discrimination, either in
regard to meaning, or to the several classes of
electors and their respective functions, and to
express little more than St. Clement of Rome's
vaguer term, (TvvfvSoKvcns.
_ Tlie same rule is testified in the East by the
jomt evidence of Origen,— « Requiritur in ordi-
naudo sacerdote praesentia populi, ut sciant omnes
et certi sint, quia qui praestantior est ex omni
BISHOP
populo, qui doctior, qui sanctior, qui in omni vir-
tute eminentior, ille eligatur ad sacerdotium ; et
hoc, adstante populo, ne qua postmodum retrac-
tatio cuipiam, ne quis scrupulus resideret" (Horn.
vi. in Levit., 0pp. ii. 216, ed. Delarue) ; — and of
the cases mentioned by Eusebius ; as, e. g., A6i,av
Tots tS)V ofxopciiv ''E.KKKrjaiSiv irpoiffrSicnv, to elect
Dius bishop of Jerusalem, c. A.D. 190 {H. E. vi.
10); — Alexander, ordained bishop of Jerusalem,
A.D. 214, ix€Ta Koiv^s Twv 'Eirjcr/cOTro!!' ol rots irepi^
SiflTTov 'E/CKA.7)(n'as yvufxrjs (ib. 11) : — Thv iravra
Kahv . . .'.\^LOV iiri^orjffai [cried out that Fabian
was worthy to be bishop of Rome], tS>v a.Be\(p(ii'
andvTajv x^^poTOvlas eVeKe;/ ttjs rov fitAAovToi
SiaSex^o'^o" T^j' iTTicTKOTr^v iir). rrjs 'EKK\T}aias
ffvyK^KpoTTiixfi'wv (ib. vi. 29, A.D. 236) : — and,
similarly, the neighbouring " bishops, presbyters,
deacons, and the Churches," assembled at Antioch
A.D. 269 or 270, deposed Paul of Samosata, and
appointed Domnus bishop of Antioch in his place.
The Apostolic Canons (can. i.), and Apostolic Con-
stitutions, viii. 27, require three or at least two
bishops to the x^^po''''"''^''^ which at least in-
volves the election, of a bishop. The former
(can. xxxiv.) take also the further step of re-
quiring reciprocally the yvci/xri rov irpuTov (the
metropolitan), and the ■yvw^ii) -rravTuy, to all
church acts. And the latter (viii. 4) enjoin that
the people shall be thrice asked if the candidate
is worthy. Apostolic Canon Ixxvi. further en-
joins, that no bishop, in order to gratify a brother
or any other relative, shall eh rh a^ica/xa rris
fTriffKoirris, tv ^ovAfrai, x^'-poToveiv. And the
Council of Ancyra (a.d. 314, can. xviii.) proves
the power of the people, as the last quoted canon
does that of the bishops, by providing for the
case of one " constituted " (KaracrTafiels) a bishop,
but rejected by the diocese (jrapoiKia) to which
he had been consecrated, such rejection being
apparently assumed to be conclusive as regarded
the particular diocese ; although in Apost. Can,
xxxvi. it is ordered, ou the contrary, that the
bishop in such a case shall " remain." The case
of Alexandria in early times was confessedly ex-
ceptional, and arose from the seditious character
of the Alexandrians (Epiphan. Haer. Ixix. 11).
The presbyters of that city by themselves chose
one of their own number (ace. to the well-known
words of St. Jerome), and that immediately, i. e.,
as it should seem, without waiting for the voice
of the people, or for that of the bishops of the
patriarchate (see also the strange story in Liber-
atus, Breviar. xx.). The Christian (and Jewish)
practice, " in praedicandis sacerdotibus qui ordi-
nandi sunt," was also recognized, and copied, in
the case of pi'ovincial governors, by the emperor
Alexander Severus (Lamprid. in V. Alex. Severi).
The Council of Nice (a.d. 325) recognized and
established the power of the comprovincial
bishops, and the authority of the metropolitan,
by requiring (can. iv.), if it can be had [-Trpoo-^/cet
fidXiffTo], the personal presence of " all the
bishops of the province (exapx'''))" ^^ order to
the appointment (Kadiaracrdai) of a bishop ; but
if this cannot be had, then of at least three,
ffvfj.\l/r)(paiv yivofxfvwv Koi rwv airSpTcov Koi avu-
Tiee/j.evwv Sia ypa^pLara, the ratification {Kvpos)
being reserved to the metropolitan ; and (can. vi.)
by voiding elections made X'^P'^ yvwuris fi.7)Tpo-
ttoKltov. The Council of Antioch, A.D. 341,
recognizes also both people, provincial bishops,
and metropolitan, by voiding (can. xvi.) an elec-
BISHOP
tion made Si'xa TfXeias ffvv6Sov (defined to be
one "at which the metropolitan is present"),
Kat el TTus 6 Xabs 'ixono. It repeats also in
substance (can. xix.) the 4th Nicene canon ; while
(in can. xviii.), providing for the case of a bishop
refused by his diocese, it refers the final decision to
the synod. And it voids (can. xxiii.) an appoint-
ment by a single bishop of his own successor,
referring such election, according to rhv iKK\r]-
(naariKhv Qiu^ov, to the synod and judgment of
the bishops, whose right it was. The Council of
Sardica, a.d. 347 (can. ii.), cancels an election
made by the " clamour " of the people, with
suspicion of bribery or undue influence ; and
(can. vi.) also requires the consent of the metro-
politan [toD e|apx"" "^^^ eVapx'C's]. That of
Laodicea, A.d. 365, assigns the choice (^Kpiffis) to
the metropolitan and ol irepi^ 'EiricrKOTroi (can.
xii.) ; and, on the other side, takes the first step
against popular elections by forbidding (can. xix.)
To7s ux^ois eTriTpeTreiv rots eKXoyas iroiuadai
tSiv fxiWovTuiv KadiffTaaOai fls ttji/ Uparilav.
The Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381, informs
Pope Damasus of the validity of the election of
Nectarius to the see of Constantinople, as having
been made " by the common consent of all, in
the presence of the emperor, with the applause
of clergy and people :" — of the like validity of
that of Flavian to Antioch, because " canonically
elected by the assembled bishops " ttis iirapx^as
Koi T7JS avaTo\LKrjS SwiKiiffeciis, Tratrrjs (TVfj.\]nfi(pov
rris 'EKKAriaias : — and of that of Cyril to Jeru-
salem, because, similarly, Trapa tSjv Trjs e-jrapxias
XeipoTovn64vTa (Epist. Synod, ap. Theodoret. v.
9). Of the Councils of Carthage, the Second (so
called), A.D. 390 (can. xii.), requires the consent
of the primate ; the Third, A.D. 397 (can. xxxix.),
three bishops at least, appointed by the primate ;
the Fourth, A.D. 398 (can. i.), the " consensus
clericorum et laicorura," and the " conventus
totius provinciae episcoporum, maximeque metro-
politani auctoritas vel praesentia." The Council
of Ephesus, A.D. 431 (can. xix.), secures their
right to the bishops of Cyprus as against the
patriarch of Antioch, but as not being within his
patriarchate. And that of Chalcedon, A.D. 451
(Act. xvi. Labbe, iv. 817), »equires the consent of
all or the major part of the bishops of the pro-
vince, rh Kvpos exoj'Tos ToO /xrjTpoTToAiTou ; and
affirms the authority of the metropolitan also in
Act. xiii. (ib. 713), and in can. xxv. ({6. 768).
Similar testimony to the necessity of the metro-
jjolitan's consent is borne by Pope Innocent I.,
" Extra conscientiam meti-opolitani episcopi nul-
ius audeat ordinare episcopum " (Epist. i. c. 2,
A.D. 402x417); by Boniface I. (Epist. iii. A.D.
418 X 422) ; by Leo the Great (Epistt. Ixxxix.
xcii.) ; by Pope" Hilary (Epist. ii. A.D. 461 x 468) :
by Cone. Taurin. can. i. A.D. 401 ; and by Cone.
Arelat. ii. can. v. a.d. 452.
On the other hand, these enactments respect-
ing the comprovincial bishops, and the growing
power of the metropolitans, did not extinguish
the rights of the clergy and people ; who re-
mained a real power for many centuries still,
and continued so in name (in the West) down to
the 12th century. The Council of Nice itself, in
dealing with the Meletian schism, required the
choice of the people (el 6 Xahs alpoiTo), as well
as the sanction of the Alexandrian metropolitan
(<rvvei:i^ri<pL^ovTos Kol eirKXcppayi^ovTos tov t^s
'AAelacSpei'os 'EwiffKoTrov), in case a reconciled
BISHOP
215
Meletian bishop was appointed to a see (Epist.
Synod, ap. Theodoret. i. 9, Socrat. i. 9). St. Atha-
nasius, immediately after the council, was elected
bishop of Alexandria, ^ri(pCji tov \aov iravTos
(St. Greg. Naz. Orat. xxi.), and by the acclama-
tion and demand of rcav rh ttKjiQos kolI iras b Aahs
TTJs KadoXiKrjS 'EkkAtjo-ios (Epist. Synod. Alex.
ap. Athanas. Apol. ii.) ; and Peter, who suc-
ceeded him, was chosen first by the priests and
magistrates, and then accepted by the people
(6 Kahi OTTOS TOiS ev^i]fjiiats idrjXovv rr^v ijSo-
vl)v, Theodoret, iv. 20) ; statements which indi-
cate that Alexandrian elections did not then at
any rate possess any exceptional character. So
also Pope Julius (in S. Athan. Apol.) condemns
the intrusion of (Jregory into the see of Alex-
andria, as being, 1. A stranger; 2. Not baptized
there ; 3. Unknown to most ; 4. Not asked for by
either presbyters, bishops, or people. Later still,
the rights of the " clerus " and " plebs " are tes-
tified by a continuous chain of witnesses : as, e. g.
by the Councils of Antioch, a.d. 341, can, xviii.,
and the 4th Council of Carthage, A.D. 398, can. i.
(both above quoted), and Cod. Eccl. African, can.
xiii., virh irSWctiv — a multis — x^'P"'''''''f 'C^o' :
and again, (1) in the West, by Pope Siricius (a.d.
394 X 398, i/jOisi. i. c. 10, "Si eum cleri ac plebis
evocaverit electio," and this either to presby-
terate or episcopate) ; Pope Zosimus (A.D. 417,
Epist. iii.) ; Pope Caelestinus (a.d. 422 x 432,
Epist. ii. c. 5, " Cleri, plebis, et ordinis ") ; Leo
the Great (a.d. 440x461, Epist. Ixxxiv. "Cleri
plebisque," and the metropolitan to decide a
disputed election; — Epist. Ixxxix. "Vota civium,
testimonia populorum, honoratorum arbitrium,
electio clericorum ;" — Epist. Xcii. " A clericis
electi, a plebibus expetiti, a provincialibus epi-
scopis cum metropolitani judicio consecrati ") :
Pope Symmachus (A.D. 498 x 514, Epist. v. c. 6) :
Gregory the Great (passim, see quotations in Tho-
massin, II. ii. 10) ; by the form itself of election
in the Ordo Romanus (Bibl. PP. x. 104); by the
system of Ejnscopi Interventores or Iniercessores,
or, later, Visitatores, sent down to the vacant see
to superintend the election, and not only existmg
in Africa, but repeatedly mentioned in the letters
of Gregory the Great, of Hincmar, &c. &c. [Inter-
ventores ; Visitatores] ; by St. Jerome (" Spe-
culator Ecclesiae vel episcopus vel presbyter, qui
a populo electus est," in Ezech. lib. x. c. 33 ; 0pp.
iii. 935) ; Optatus (" SufFragio totius populi,"
lib. i.) ; Sulpic. Severus (de V. B. Martini, c. vii.
of the election of St. Martin of Tours, A.D. 371);
Sidonius Apollinaris (Epist. lib. viii. Ep. 5, 8, 9,
of the election of the metropolitan of Bourges,
A.D. 472); St. Augustin (Epist. ex. 0pp. ii. 601,
of the election of his own successor) ; by Coudc.
of Orleans II. A.D. 533, can. vii., — of Clermont in
Auvergne, a.d. 535, can. ii., — of Orleans IIP. A.D.
538, can. iii. ; — and (2) in the East, by the case of
Eustathius, compelled to accept the see of Antioch,
A.D. 325, by ol apx^epus re Kal hpe7s Kal ottos
o \ahs 6 ^LASxptrrros, \p-n(t>V Koivfj (Theodoret,
i. 7); by that of Eusebius to the see of Caesarea
in Pontus, A.D. 362, 6 Sri/xos ottos . . . Akovtu
avvapirdcravris . . . roh 'Ein(TK6iT0ts ■Kpoai]yayov,
TiKiffdrivai re ri^iouy koL Krjpvxdvvat, Trei0o7
I3iav ava/xi^avres (St. Greg. Naz. Orat. xix.,
condemning also the carrying such elei'tions
KOTO (pparpeias Koi crvyyeveias) ; by that of Nec-
tarius to the see of Constantinople, a.d. .H81,
Koiv^ ^■^(pqj rijs avv6dou (Sozoni. vii. 8), but also
216
BISHOP
apnaa-eels vwh rod Aaod (Socrat. v. 8) ; l>y that
of St. Chrj'sostom, a.d. 397, to Constantinople,
whom 6 /Sao-iAti/r '.Ap/ca5io? ixerairtixTTiTai, to
make him archbishop, ^■n<pi(TiJ.aTL koivZ bfxov
TrdvTwu, KAvpov re (prj/xi kol \aov (Socrat. vi. 2) ;
to which may be added the recognition by Leo
the emperor "(a.d. 457 X 474) of the KXripos koI
rh Koivhv (Evagr. iii. 12); and abundant other
evidence, of which some will occur further on.
The Laodicene Council, however, a.d. 365 (as
above quoted), took the first step towards the
ultimate practical extinction of really popular
elections ; although elections by acclamation,
held to be not irregular as springing from a kind
of supposed Divine inspiration, or again by cries
oi Dignus or "Afios, still occurred: as, e.g. in
the cases mentioned by St. Ambrose, St. Augustin,
Philostorgius, Photius, cited by Bingham, IV. ii.
6 ; in the case of St. Ambrose himself (Paulin. in
V. S. Ambros. ; Theodoret, iv. 7 ; Sozom. vi. 24) ;
in that of Sisinnius at Constantinople, A.D. 426
(Socrat. vii. 26). But a general suflFrage was
from that time gradually superseded as the ordi-
nary rule by the votes of the rich or high in
station. And successive councils recognized the
l)ractice, up to the time when Justinian enacted
it by express law. In the Council of Ephesus,
A.D. 431, Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, complains
that his opponent sought to be elected by the
votes of rh aejxvov ^ovXivrr^piov Kol rovs Aa,u-
■wpordrovs (Epist. Cathol. in Cone. Ephes. Labbe
iii. 764). Leo the Great and the Eoman Council,
on occasion of Flavian's condemnation by the
Latrocinium Ephesinum, A.D. 442, write in his
favour, "Clero, honoratis, et plebi, consistenti
apudConstantinopolim" {Cone. Clialced. a.d. 451,
p. i. c. 22 ; Labbe, iv. 47). And the same Leo also
mentions the " honorati " expressly, although
not exclusively, Epist. Ixxxix. cvi. Stephen of
Ephesus {Cone. Chalced. Act. xi. ; Labbe, iv. 687)
claims to have been appointed by forty bishops
of Asia, ypTjcpci} Koi rwu XafXTrpordroov koI rwv
\oydSaiv Kol rod €v\al3e(Trdrov irdvros K\ripov
KOI ricv \onrS}v Trdvruv ttjs iroKtois Tracrjx. And
in Act. xvi. of the same council (Labbe, ih. 618),
the right of election is said to belong to the
clergv, the K\i\ropis koi Xafx-KporaToi oi'Spes,
and the bishops, " all or most," of the province.
Again {ib. p. iii. c. 21, Labbe, ih. 890), the people
of Alexandria and its " honorati et curiales et
naucleri," are said to have demanded Timothy as
their bishop ; while Liberatus {Breviar. siv. xv.)
affirms that Froterius, on the other hand, the
bishop upon whom Timothy was intruded, was
elected by the " nobiles civitatis," which he also
expresses as " decreto populi." Finally, Justinian
established by direct law that the K\t)piKo\ Koi
TTpStroi T7]j Tr6\€Q)s should choose three persons,
whenever a vacancy occurred, of whom the or-
dainer p. e. the metropolitan] should ordain the
one who in his judgment was the best qualified
(Novell, cxxiii. c. 1, cxxxvii. c. 2, and Cod. lib. i.
tit. iiU De Episcopis, 1. 42). The 2nd Council of
Aries, A.D. 452, had previously adopted a dif-
ferent plan for attaining the same end ; viz. that
the bishops should choose the three candidates,
out of whom the " clerici vel cives " were to
select one (can. liv.). And the Spanish Council
of Barcelona subsequently, A.D. 599, so far varied
the rule of Justinian as to enact (after the pat-
tern of St. Matthias' election) that the decision
should be made by lot, between two or three
BISHOP
elected by the " clerus et plebs," and presented
to the metropolitan and bishops (can. iii.). The
common phrase in St. Gregory the Great's Letters
is " clerus, ordo, et plebs ;" or, " clerus et nobiles,
ordo et plebs."
From the time of Justinian onwards, both in
East and West, the chief power in the election
of bishops, on the Church side, inclined to the
metropolitan, but as choosing with the compro-
vincial bishops from three candidates elected by
the principal people, clei'gy and laity, of the see ;
the whole process, however, being summarily
overruled upon occasion by the emperors ; as also
in course of time, and much more continuously
and absolutely, by the Frankish, Spanish, and
Gothic kings. Before this time, indeed, both Theo-
dosius the Great, and Theodosius the Younger,
had interfered by an absolute nomination in three
several appointments to the see of Constantinople
(Socrat. vii. 8, 29, 40), for obvious political
reasons. And Valentiuian had interfered in a
like manner to enforce the popular demand for
the consecration of St. Ambrose to Milan (Theo-
doret, iv. 6). But such interference was con-
fessedly irregular, had been expressly condemned
by Can. Apostol. xxx., and was in earlier times pro-
tested against, as, e. g. by St. Athanasius (Epist.
ad Solit. V. Agentes, § 51, 0pp. i. 375, demanding,
noios Kavii>v cLKh TraXariov TrffiTnaOai rhv 'Etti-
(TKOTTov'). But from the 6th century onwards, in
the case of at least important sees, the emperors,
although leaving the old forms of election intact,
appear to have commonly interfered to make (or
at the very least to sanction) nominations them-
selves. St. Gregory the Great treats the sole
imperatorial nomination in such cases as a mat-
ter of course. Instances will also be found, both
from him and from later times, down to Heraclius,
Justinian II., Philippicus, Constantine Coprony-
mus, A.d. 754, in Thomassin, II. ii. 17 ; while
the 2nd Council of Nice, a.d. 787, protests against
such lay interference uncompromisingly (can. iii.
Tlao'a;' ■\\iri<pov irapa apxovrajv, 'ETna^Kdrrov, t]
TTptff^vripov, ^ SiaK6vov, &Kvpov /xeveiv). Saracen
conquerors, as might be expected, interfered in
a like manner : as, e. g. in Syria, A.D. 736, in the
case of the patriarch of Antioch (Thomassin, II.
ii. 17, § 7). But it remained for IS'icephorus II.,-
A.D. 963 X 969, to enact as an universal law,
that no bishop whatever should be elected or
consecrated &v€v rrjs avrov yvd>fj.-r}s (Cedren.
p. 658, and so also Zonaras) ; a law however
which did not last long. Finally, in the East, the
custom settled down into an election by the
clergy, and ultimately only by the comprovincial
bishops, of three, of whom in such cases as the
see of Constantinople the emperor, but ordinarily
the metropolitan, selected one (Morinus, ii.
193). The ancient form of election however,
as modified by Justinian, still held its ground for
a considerable time. In the case, e. g., of Epi-
phanius of Constantinople, A.D. 528, " the emperor
(Justin) and empress, the magnates, the bishops,
priests, monk.s, and the most foithful people,"
concurred (Epist. Epiphan. inter Epistt. Honnisd.
Papae post Epist. Ixxi., Labbe iv. 1534). In that
of Sophronius of Jerusalem, A.D. 634, " the
clergy, rnonks, faithful laics, in a word all the
citizens " (Sophron. Epist. ad Sergium Constan-
tinop. ap. Cone. Constantin. A.D. 680, Act. xi. ;
Labbe, vi. 854). In that of Stephen of Larissa, who
was chosen out of three, elected by the " clerus "
BISHOP
aud " populus," arid by those " quorum adsensus
eiat actui necessarius," A.D. 531, the " sancta
provinciae syuodus et totius civitatis possessores
oiiineque corpus Ecclesiae"; and (he adds), "com-
muui omnium testimonio ordinatus sum " (Hol-
sten. Collect. Bom. pp. 6, 7). While the council
in Trullo, A.D. 691, spoaks of an election by all
the bishops of the province as the " ancient eus-
tom" (can. xxxix.) : and Joh. Antioch. {Nomocan.
tit. vii. in Bibl. Jur. Can. p. 610) rules that a
bi.shop must be elected by the metropolitan,
and by all the bishops of the province, either
jireseut or sending a written consent ; and that
such elections (e/cAoyaj) must not be entrusted
to the multitude : and, lastly, Zonaras and Bal-
sanion, glossing the older canons by the custom
of their own time, exclude the " clerus et plebs "
altogether, and refer the whole matter to the
metropolitan and bishops, the former choosing
the " dignissimus " out of three, elected by the
bishops without the presence of the meti-opolitan
(according to Symeon of Thessalonica), and pre-
sented by them to him (see the form at length
in Sym. Thessal. ap. Morin. ii. 149, sq.). Pro-
bably the emperor really determined the choice,
wherever his power enabled, and his policy in-
clined, him to do so ; while as a rule he left
ordinary cases to the ordinary methods. See,
however, Le Quien, Oriens Christ, i. 136, 169.
In the West, a like retention of the old form of
election ran parallel with a gradual increase (less,
apparently, through circumstances, in France
than elsewhere) of the power of the metro-
politan, and with the practical assumption of a
sole nomination, especially in France, by the
king. In France, the Councils of Orleans II.,
A.D. 533, canons i. yiii., of Clermont, A.D. 535,
can. ii., of Orleans III., A.D. 538, can. iii., specify
the " clerici, cives," bishops of the province, and
metropolitan, but require the consent of all the
comprovincial bishops only in the election of the
metropolitan himself. But in the Council of Or-
leans v., A.D. 549, canons x. and xi., occurs first
the significant phrase, " cum voluntate regis ;"
although still " juxta electionem cleri ac plebis,"
aud with consecration by the metropolitan and
comprovincial bishops, and with a special enact-
ment that " nullus invitis detur episcopus, sed
nee per oppressionem potentium personarum . . .
cives aut clerici inclinentur ;" and although also
checked almost immediately by the Council of
Paris III., A.D. 557, can. ii., which voids the
" principis imperium," if against the will of
metropolitan and bishops. Absolute nominations
by the kings, however, occur earlier : e. g. under
Theodoric of Austrasia, A.D. 511 x 534 (Greg. Tur.
de SS. Fat rum VV. c. iii.). And compare also
the appointment to the see of Leon, of Paulus
Leonensis, by Childebert (F. ;S'. Paul. Leon.),
A.D. 512. The issue between royal, and metro-
politan or ecclesiastical, nominations was directly
raised A.D. 563, in the case of Emerius, bishop of
Saintes ; whom the king (Charibert) forced upon
the see in defiance of the metropolitan, as being
his predecessor Lothaire's nominee (Greg. Tur.
//. E. iv. 26). And Lothaire II., — in confirming
a re-enactment of can. ii. of the second Council of
Paris, made by the Council of Paris V. A.D. 615
(can. i.), and again re-enacted at the Council of
Rheims, A.D. 625, can. xxv., and at the Council
of Chalons, A.D. 649, can. x., — requires to such
elections, made " a clero et populo," the sub-
BISHOP
2r
sequent " ordinatio principis," with no other
qualification than that " certe si de palatio eli-
gitur [episcopus], per meritum, &c., ordinetur "
(Mansi, x. 543). Thenceforward, the action of
the people of the diocese, under the Prankish
kings, is commonly termed, not " electio," but
" flagitatio " or " petitio," or is expressed as
" suppliciter postulamus," addressed to the king.
Regular forms for the donation of a bishopric by
the king, nominally '' cum consilio episcoporum
et procerum" — in Blarculphus, and in Sirmond
((7o?ic. Gallic, ii. Append.; see also the "electio
quo modo a clero et a populo eligitur episcopus
in propria sede cum consensu regis archiprae-
sulisque omniumque populo" [sic], in Morinus,
de Ordln. ii. 304) — exhibit the choice, even when
made by the clergy and people, and sanctioned
by the metropolitan, as ultimately and in effect
made by the king. And in point of fact, the
bishops were so nominated. Carloman, however,
and Pipin (Cone. Liptin. a.d. 743, and Cone. Suess.
A.D. 744), professed to restore liberty of election
to the Church. And a new set of " formulae "
occurs accordingly (in Baluz. ii. 591, and in Sir-
mond), as "usurpatae post restitutam electionum
libertatem." And Charlemagne, upon the advice
of Pope Adrian, that he should leave episcopal
elections to the " clerus et plebs " according to
the canons {Cone. Gallic, ii. 96), issued a capitu-
lary, A.D. 803 {Cone. Aquisgran. c. ii., repeated by
Louis, A.D. 816, Capit. Aquisgran. c. ii.), consent-
ing " ut episcopi per electionem cleri et populi
secundum statuta canonum de propria dioecesi
eligantur;" but he did so as granting a grace,
not as admitting a right. And as the bishops in
point of fact continued to be appointed by the
emperors (see e. g. Baluz. ad Cone. Gall. Js!arhon.
p. 34, and ad Capit. ii. 1141), and no choice
could be made save by the emperor's special per-
mission (so Gieseler, and this as late as Cone. Va-
lentin. A.D. 855, can. vii.), and special privileges
of free election were given to particular churches
(Baluz. ib.), which imply the universality of the
opposite practice, — not to add also the much
disputed but after all possibly genuine grant by
Adrian to Charlemagne (in Gratian, Dist. 63,
c. 22) of an absolute right to the appoint-
ment and investiture of all bishops and arch-
bishops in all provinces of his empire, — it is
obvious that the change was more in name than
in reality (as indeed the " formulae " themselves,
as above in Sirmond, iSic, shew), until at least the
renewal of the contest after the middle of the
9th century in the time of Hincmar. On the
other hand, the power of the metropolitan and
the right of free election were continually re-
asserted, although with little efl'ect (see the
councils above quoted, from that of Orleans in
533 to that of Rheims in 649); until under
Charlemagne's immediate successors, whose right
to nominate is actually recognized at the Council
of Paris VI. A.D. 829 (can. xxii.), and that of
Thionville in 845 {Capit. G u\ Calv. tit. ii. c. 2),
&c. ; and this, although Carloman and Pipin had
both of them professedly restored the rights of
the metropolitan as well as freedom of election
(a.d. 742, Capit. c. i., and a.d. 755, can. ii.). See
the whole subject carefully treated in Henrv C.
Lea's Studies in Church IJisiorg, pp. 81-90
(^Philad. U. S. 1869).
In Saxon England, king, witan, and metro-
politan appear to have predominated, although
218
BISHOP
the first gradually became as a rule the real
nominator. At the same time, the canonical
form of election was kept up ; and when the king
was weak and the Church strong, it occasionally
became a reality. The Kentish and Northumbrian
kings agreed in choosing Wighard, but accepted
The^odore, A.D. 668, as Archbishop of Canterbury,
at the hands of the pope, upon Wighard's unex-
pected death at Rome (Baed. H. E. iii. 29, iv. 1).
Northumbrian kings and witenagemots adjudi-
cated the various disputes about Wilfrid's sees.
And Theodore and a synod of bishops chose and
consecrated Cuthbert to the see of Lindisfarne,
A.D. 684, but " sub praesentia Regis Ecgfridi "
(id. iv. 28). Wihtred's privilege, A.D. 696 X 716,
in its genuine form refers to Kent and to abbats
and presbyters, not to England at large, or to
bishops (Haddan and Stubbs, Counc. iii. 238-247).
And Agatho's privilegium to the " congregatio "
of the monastery of St. Paul's, A.D. 673 x 681, to
elect their own bishop, is a forgery (ib. 161).
On the other hand (although no doubt contem-
poi-ary both with the Carlovingian nominal re-
storation of liberty of election in France, and with
the breaking up of the Northumbrian kingdom),
Alcuin's letters, " ad Fratres Eboracenses," of
Aug. 796, before the election of Eanbald to York,
distinctly affirm, that " hucusque sancta Ebo-
racensis Ecclesia in electione sua inviolata per-
mansit," adding, " videte ne in diebus vestris
maculetur ;" — imply that Alcuin himself had a
voice in the election ; — and urgently exhort the
York clergy to elect a proper person, if he him-
self cannot come in time for the election (Epistt.
.54, 55, Migne ; 48, 49, Froben.). " Profes-
siones," also, of a little later date, distinctly
assert an election by the diocese : e. g. that of
Beornmod of Rochester, A.D. 805, or a year or
two earlier, — " electus ab Ethelardo archiepi-
scopo et a servis Domini in Cantia constitutis "
(in Wharton, A. S.), — and that of a bishop of
Lichfield (probably Kynferth, A.D. 833x836),
" quoniam me tota Ecclesia provinciae nostrae
sibi in episcopatus officium elegerunt " {Cotton
MSS. C'leop. E. 1),— and that of Helmstan of Win-
chester, A.D. 838, " a sancte et Apostolice sedis
dignitate et ab congregatione civitatis Wentanae
necnon Ethel[wulti] regis et totius gentis occi-
dentalium Saxonum ad episcopalis officii gradum
electus " (ib.), — and that of Deorlaf of Hereford,
A.D. 857 X 866, " quoniam me tota congregatio
Herefordensis Ecclesiae sibi in officium episcopale
elegerunt " (Ajy). ad Text. Roff.). In a little
later times, we find Odo made archbishop, A.D.
942, by the " regia voluntas," followed by the
" assensus episcoporum " (Will. Malm. G. P. A.
i.) ; Dunstan, A.D. 960, made so by Edgar (id. ib.),
but with an election also by acclamation accord-
ing to hisLife; and Living, A.d. 1013, "suffragip
Regis Ethelredi" (W. Malm. ib.). And in the
time of Eadward the Confessor, Aelfric is elected
by the monks of Canterbury, but set aside by the
king in favour of Robert, made archbishop
" regis muucro" (V. Eadw. ed. Luard, pp. 399,
400). By that time the election by the " clerus
et plebs" of the diocese, so far as it still sur-
vived at all, had gradually shrivelled up into an
election by the clergy, and by the clergy of the
cathedral,— a process materially accelerated by
the monastic character of the chapters, coupled
with the monastic privilege of choosing their own
abbats,— but which was also perpetuatly set aside
BISHOP
by the necessity of the royal consent, running
naturally into a right of royal nomination. See
also the evidence collected by Freeman, Hist, of
Norm. Conq. ii. 61, 117, and 571-577. The case
of the see of Rochester was exceptional, the
archbishop of Canterbury claiming, and fre-
quently obtaining, the right of nomination to
that see, as against the crown, until the days of
King John.
In Spain, the power of the bishops in the
election of the kings preserved and extended
also their own power, and among other things, in
j episcopal elections. The Council of Toledo X.,
A.D. 656, for instance, elected a metropolitan of
Braga (the former bishop being deposed for in-
continence) without consulting the diocese. See
however Dunbar, Hist.of Spain and Portuijal, bk.
ii. c. ii., who rather leans tdwards the royal power
in such elections. Ultimately the king and the
metropolitan of Toledo seem to have acquired
practically a joint power of nomination. Cone.
Tolet. XII., A.D. 681, empowers the archbishop
of Toledo, as primate, to consecrate at Toledo,
" quoscunque regalis potestas elegerit et jam
dicti Toletani episcopi judicium dignos esse pro-
I baverit " (can. vi.). And see also the history of
King Witiza, A.D. 701-710. Martin of Braga
i too, distinctly says that the people are not to
elect bishops.
■ In Italy, also, the royal power gradually
overruled without superseding the older canoni-
cal form of election. But that the latter con-
tinued in all ordinary cases, save that the metro-
politan's influence and veto had grown more
powerful, is palpable by St. Gregory the Great's
letters. On the other hand, Odoacer, A.D. 476-
483, with the " advice " of Pope Simplicius, for-
bade the election of a bishop of Rome without
his (the king's) consent. And the interference
of (the Arian) Theodoric in the disputed election
of Pope Symmachus, A.D. 501, was both asked for
1 and submitted to; although it called forth En-
j nodius' Apologetic Letter, and also a protest from
the Cone. Palm. a.d. 502, which declared Odoacer'.s
law invalid. Yet the Gothic kings continued to
exercise such a power. Theodoric appointed suc-
cessive popes during his reign, down to Felix III.
j A.D. 526 (Greenwood, Cathed. Pet. iii. c. 4). And
Athalaric issued regulations about papal eloc-
t tions on occasion of the outrageous simony that
' attended the accession of John II. A.D. 533
' (Cassiod. ix. 15). And not only so, but the
i Greek emperors, when they recovered Italy,
! exercised it likewise ; so that, e. g. Gregory the
Great, A.D. 590, after due election by the " clerus,
senatores, populusque Romanus," still required
the " praeceptio " of the emperor Maurice to
complete his election (Jo. Diac. in V. Greg. M.
lib. i. ep. 39, 40). And Pipin and Charlemagne
fell heirs to the like " jus et potestatem eli-
gendi pontificem:" for all which see details
under Pope. The election of the pope in-
deed remained like other elections of the kind,
until the decree of the Cone. Rom. of A.D. 1059
under Nicholas II. (for which see Gieseler, ii. 369,
Eng. transl.); which itself was a change ana-
logous to the contemporary changes elsewhere.
In brief, then, during this period, the old
canonical diocesan election continued throughout
the Western Church as the right and proper mode
of election; but (1) was in itself gradually ab-
sorbed into a vote of the cathedral clergy (" electio
BISHOP
clericorum est, petitio plebis," is the utmost
allowed in Gratian, Deer. i. dist. 62), and (2) was
overruled perpetually by the royal nomination,
which itself was concurrent with but commonly
superseded the consent of metropolitan and com-
provincial bishops.
For special conditions attending the election
of metropolitans, and for the relation of the
metropolitans to the patriarchs in the matter,
see Metropolitan, Patriarch.
At what times special questions arose respect-
ing; the qualifications which gave a right to vote
in the election of a bishop — how such questions
were determined — in what way votes were ac-
tually taken — and other questions of like detail
— there remains no evidence to shew : except
that we may infer from such accounts as e. g.
that in Synesius, Epist. 67, that where there was
a popular assembly ordinarily acting in other and
civil matters, such assembly acted also, at first,
in the choice of a bishop. Synesius' description
also illustrates forcibly the ox^ot of the Laodicene
Council, the women being preeminently noisy on
the occasion, and even the children.
p. Who were eligible. — Such being the electors,
it follows next to consider the qualifications of
those who were to be elected. The general dis-
qualifications for the clerical office — such as, e.g.
digamy, clinic baptism, heretical baptism, the
having been a demoniac, or done public penance,
or lajised, the occupations of pleader, soldier, play-
actor, usurer, the being a slave, or illegitimate,
the having any of his own immediate family still
unconverted heathens, &c. &c. — will be best
treated under Presbyters, Clergy, or the se-
veral subjects themselves. The special conditions
of eligibility for a bishopric were, (1) that the
candidate should be, ace. to Apost. Constit. ii. 1,
fifty years of age ; but ace. to Cone. Neocaes.
A.D. 314 (requiring 30 for a presbyter, on the
ground of St. Luke iii. 23 — a canon adopted by
the Church universal), and ace. to similar later
canons (^Arclat. IV. A.D. 475, can. i., Agath.
A.D. 506, can. xvii., Aurelian. III. A.D. 533,
can. vi., Tolet. IV. A.D. 581, can. xx. ; and again,
Justin. Novell, cxxxiii. 1 ; and again, Charlemagne
at Aix, A.D. 789, Capit. i. 49, and at Frankfort,
A.D. 794, can. xlix.), the age of 30 only was in-
sisted on. And so also Balsamon. Photius in
one place (ap. Suicer) says 35, which is likewise
Justinian's rule in another Novel (cxxvii. 1). And
Siricius and apparently Zosimus (Sir. ad Himer.
Epist. 1 § 9, Zos-. ad Hesijch. Epist. 1, § 3, a de-
tailed lex annalis in both cases) place the mini-
mum at 45. Special merits, however (St. Chrys.
Horn, in 1 Tim. x. xi.), and the precedent of
Timothy (1 Tim. iv. 12 ; and see St. Ignat.
ad Magnes. 3, speaking of i/ecoTfpiK^ rd^is — a
youthful appointment), repeatedly set aside the
rule in practice (see instances in Bingh. II. x. 1) :
as, e.g. in the well-known case of St. Athanasius,
apparently not much more than 23 when conse-
crated bishop. (2) That he should be of the
clergy of the church to which he was to be con-
secrated,— air' avTov tov lepareiov — "de proprio
clero" (so Pope Julius, Epist. ad Orient, ap. S.
Athanas. A^mL ii. ; Pope Caelestinus, Epist. ii. c. 4 ;
Pope Hilary, E/jist. i. c. 3 ; Leo M., Epist. Ixxxiv. ;
Gregory the Great repeatedly ; and as part of
the old canonical rule, the Capit. of Charle-
magne above quoted, "de propria dioecesi)": — a
rule likewise repeatedly broken under pressure
BISHOP
219
of circumstances, special merit in the candidate,
the condition of the diocese itself, &c., and by
translations, so far as translations were allowed ;
but one also enforced by the nature of the case
so long as the voice and testimony of the people
of the diocese was an important element in the
election, and on like grounds disregarded in pro-
portion as metropolitan, or still more royal,
nominations became predominant. St. Jerome's
well-known statement about Alexandria seems
to speak of it as almost a special privilege of that
see from early times : which it plainly was not.
If the presbyter chosen was not of the diocese
itself, the consent of his own bishop was requisite
(^Conc. Nicaen. can. xvi. &c. &c. ; and see below,
III. 1, o, X.). (3) That he should be a presbyter,
or a deacon at the least, and not become a bishop
per saltum, but go through all the interstitia or
several stages ; — also at first an ecclesiastical
custom, grounded on the fitness of the thing
(e.g. Pope Cornelius " non ad episcopatum subito
pervenit sed per omnia ecclesiastica olficia," &c. ;
and again, " cunctis religionis gradibus ascendit,"
St. Cypr. Epist. 52 al. 55 ; and similarly Greg.
Naz. Otat. xx. of St. Basil ; and so repeatedly
St. Gregory the Great, objecting to a layman
being made bishop), but turned into a canon by
Cone. Sardie. A.d. 347, can. x. (kuQ' eKatrrov
^aOfjibv, K.T.X., and naming reader, deacon, priest ;
the object being to exclude neophytes), and by
some later provincial councils {Cone. Aurelian.
III. A.D. 538, can. vi. ; Braear. I. A.D. 563, can.
xxxix. ; Barcinon. II. A.D. 599, can. iii.) : and so
Leo the Great (admitting deacons however on
the same level with priests), " Ex presbyteris
ejusdem Ecclesiae vel ex diaconibus optimus eli-
gaiuv" (Epist. Ixxxiv. c. 6): — broken likewise
perpetually under special circumstances (see
Morin. de Sacr. Ordin. III. xi. 2). Instances of
deacons, indeed, advanced at once to the epi-
scopate, are numerous, and scarcely regarded as
irregular, beginning with St. Athanasius (see a
list in Bingh. II. x. 5 ; but St. Greg. Naz. Orat.
xxi. speaks of St. Athanasius as iracrav ttjv tSiv
fiaOixuiv aKoKovQlav Sie^eXOwv). But the case
of a reader also is mentioned in St. Aug. (Epist.
cxlii.), and of a subdeacon in Liberatus (Breviar.
xxii.). And although expressly forbidden by Jus-
tinian (Novell, vi. 1, cxxiii. ], cxxxvii. 1) and by
Cone. Arelat. IV. A.D. 455, can. ii., yet the well-
known cases of St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, St. Mar-
tin of Tours, St. Germanus of Auxerre, and
others, prove the admissibility of even a layman,
if under the circumstances — as, e. g. by reason
of the sudden acclamation of the people — such a
choice was held to be "voluntate" or "judicio
Dei " (Hieron. in Jonam. iii. 0pp. iii. 1489 ; Pon-
tius, in V. S. Ggpr. ; Paulin. in V. S. Ambros. iii. ;
&c.). Instances may also be found in the Alex-
andrian church (Eenaudot, ap. Denzinger, Bit.
Orient. 145, 146). And the rubric in the Nes-
torian Pontifical expressly admits the possibility
of a bishop elect being a deacon as well as a
presbyter (Denzinger, ib. 146). At the same time
there is the well-known case of the patriarcli
Photius, deposed, because ordained on five suc-
cessive days respectively monk, reader, subdea-
con, deacon, priest, and on the sixth day bishop
(Cone. Nicaen. II. A.D. 787, can. iv.). See also
under Advocate of the Church. But then (4)
such candidate was not to be a neophyte (1 Tim.
iii. 6), or a heathen i-eceutly baptized, who had not
2'JO
BISHOP
yet beeu tried (Aposf. dm. Ixxx. ; Cone. Nicaen.
"can. ii. ; Cone. Laodic. A.D. 365, can. iii.) : but one
converted at least a year before {Cone. Aurelian.
III. A.D. 538, can. vi.); or who had been a reader,
or a subdeacon, or (ace. to one copy) a deacon for
a year {Cone. Bracar. II. A.D. 563, can. xx.); or
ace. to vet another provincial council {Epaon.
A.D. 517, can. xxxvii.), at the least " praemissa
religione." Yet here too special circumstances
were held to justify exceptions ; as in the case of
St. Cypriau himself, " adhuc neophytus " (Pont.
ib.) ; of St. Ambrose and of Eusebius of Caesarea
in Pontus, not yet baptized (Theodoret, iv. 7,
Soerat. iv. 30, Sozom. vi. 24, St. Greg. Naz. Orat.
xix.) ; of Nectarius, t^v /jlvo-tiktiv icrdriTa %-ti
7]n<pif(riJLevos, &c. (Sozom. vii. 8). And all these
are cases of immediate consecration ; the later
practice of ordaining to each step on successive
days, in order to keep the letter while brealiing
the spirit of the rule, dating no earlier than
the case of Photius above mentioned (Bingh. II,
X. 7). (5) Apost. Can. xxi. permits the consecra-
tion of one made a eunuch by cruelty, or born
so ; and {ib. Ixxvii.) of one maimed or diseased
in eye or leg : but {ih. Ixxviii.) forbids it in the
case of a deaf or dumb person. (6) Lastly, the
bishop who was appointed Interventor to a see
during the vacancy was pro hac vice ineligible
to thiit see. [Interventores.] It remains to
add (7) that the candidate's own consent was
not at first held to be requisite, but that in many
cases consecration was forced upon him &KovTa ;
as in the instances in Bingh. IV. vii. 2 : to which
may be added others, as, e. g. that of Eusebius of
Caesarea in Pontus, A.D. 362 (Greg. Naz. Orat.
xix.). And Apost. Can. xxxvi. orders the excom-
munication of a bishop who refuses the charge of
the people assigned to him. But first St. Basil
{'id Amphiloch. x.) exempts those who in such a
case had " sworn " — v/jLVvovris y.^ KaraSex^aBai
T^v XfipoToviac. And afterwards the emperors
Leo and Majorian forbade forced ordinations alto-
gether {Novel, ii. in Append, ad Cod. Theodos. vi.
34). And similarly Pope Simplicius {Epist. ii.),
and Cone. Aurelian. III. A.D. 538 (can. vii.). At
the same time the law of Leo and Anthemius
{Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. iii. De Episcopis, 1. 31)
describes the " nolo episcopari " temper proper to
one to whom a bishopric is oflered — " ut quaeratur
cogendus, rogatus recedat, invitatus refugiat, sola
illi suffragetur necessitas obsequendi ;" and that
" profecto indignus est sacerdotio, nisi fuerit or-
dinatus invitus." And so the Fathers generally
(Thomassin, II. ii. 65).
y. Time, mode, and place of election. — ^Further,
(1) the election was ordered to be made, and the
new bishop consecrated, ivrhs rpiwv ixi]va>v, un-
less delay was unavoidable, by Cone. Chalced.
A.D. 431, can. xxv. And the alleged practice at
Alexandria (doubtless from the special character
of the place already mentioned) was to elect im-
mediately after the death of the last bishop, and
before he was interred (Epiphan. Haer. Ixix. § 11,
Liberat. Breviar. xx., and see Soerat. vii. 7) ; a
l)ractice followed in one instance, that of Proclus,
A.D. 434-447, at Constantinople also (Soerat. vii.
40). The time allowed in Africa, however, was
much longer, the episcopus interventor being only
superseded if he allowed the election to be de-
layed beyond a year {Cone. Carthag. V. A.D. 398,
can. iii. ; Cod. Can. Eccl. Afric. Ixsiv.). On
the other hand, Cone. Bom. A.D. 606, to prevent
BISHOP
bishops nominating their own successors, for-
bids election until the third day after the last
bishop's death. (2) Such election was not to
talce place iirl irapovcria aKpocofievaiv — " in the
presence of the hearers," i. e. the class of cate-
chumens so called {Cone. Laodic. A.D. 365, can.
v.); probably because accusations might on such
occasions be brought forward against clergy.
(3) Later canon law {Greg. IX. Decretal. I. vi.
De Elect, et Electi Potest, c. 42) specifies three
modes of electing ; scil. by " compromissarii "
(delegates by whose act the body of electors
i)ound themselves to ilbide), by scrutiny of votes,
by " inspiration " (if the electors agree in au
unanimous and unpremeditated choice). Of these
three, compromissarii are mentioned by Gregory
the Great, although not under that name {Epist.
iii. 35). And election by acclamation was (as we
have seen) not unlcnown. The other was of course
the ordinary way, viz. by some kind or other of
scrutiny of votes. (4) The election was properly
to take place in the diocese itself (whereas " com-
promissarii " might be sent elsewhere to perform
it), that the people might be able to give their
testimony (St. Cypr. Epist. Ixvii.). Cone. Aure-
lian. IV. A.D. 541, can. v., &c. &c., refer to the place
of ordination, for which see below. So long as that
also took place in the diocesan cathedral (see e. g.
St. Aug. Epist. 261, and below), so long no doubt
the election took place there likewise. But even
when the ordination came to be transferred to
the metropolitan see, the election still remained
commonly as to be done on the spot itself.
[Interventores; Visitatores.]
2. Confirnmtion.— The bishop elect was next
to be confirmed, viz. by the metropolitan. And
so far as such confirmation merely referred to the
metropolitan's share in the election, it would
certainly seem to follow from Cone. Nicaen. can.
vi. {KpaTeiroo 7) roiiv irXeiSvaiy ^Tjipos), from Cone.
Antioch. A.D. 341, can. xix. (repeating the Nicene
canon), and even from so late a witness as Cone.
Arelat. II. A.D. 452, can. v., that in the first in-
stance and canonically the voice of the majority
of bishops was final. At the same time, a cer-
tain right of ratification is assigned to the me-
tropolitan, even from the time of the Council of
Nice itself. And it certainly seems that the
metropolitan in course of time, practically, if
not expressly, came to have a veto. So, e. g.
Pope Hilary, A.D. 465, Episf. ii. c. 1. In the
form of election, however, in Sym. of Thessal.,
the bishops alone vote at all, the metropoli-
tan not being even present. [Metropolitan.]
So likewise with the patriarch, later still (see,
however, for both. Cone. Chalced. A.D. 451, Act.
xvi., Labbe, iv. 818, and Patriarch). But from
no doubt the earliest times, and corresponding
to the proof {SoKLixaa-ia) required in 1 Tim. iii.
7, 10, something must have existed like the
enactment of Co7ic. Carth. IV. so called: "Qui
episcopus ordinandus est, antea examinetur, si
natura sit prudens, si docibilis, si moribus tem-
peratus, &c., si litteratus, si in lege Domini in-
structus, si in Scripturarum sensibus cautus, si
in dogmatibus ecclesiasticis exercitatus ; et ante
omnia, si fidei documenta verbis simplicibus
asserat, id est, Patrem et Filium et Spiritum
Sanctum unum Deum esse confirmans," &c. &c.
So also Theodoret {in 1 Tim. v. 22), — 'E^eraCs"'
■yap irpoTepov ^PV toP yeiporovovfiivov tOu fiiov
I ele' ovTws KoAetj/ iif" avrhv r^v X"P«'' '''''" ^"ev-
BISHOP
uaros. See also the Apost. Constit., and the de-
scription in the Greek Pontificals of the bishop
to be consecrated, as already inro\p7)(pios koI
i(TTepewf/.evos = elect and confirmed. Certainly,
from the 4th century onward, the confirmation
was a distinct technical act, following upon the
election ; so for distinct, indeed, that in time
(from the 4th century itself according to De
Marca, de Cone. Sacerd. et Imp. Vlll. ii. 1 ; but
Van Espen, Jur. Eccl. Univ. I. xiv. 1, § 7,
more probably refers it to the 11th or 12th)
confirmation was held to confer upon the
bishop not yet consecrated the power of juris-
diction, but not that of order. Justinian enacts
that a bishop elect shall carefully peruse the
" rules laid down by the Catholic and Apostolic
Church," and shall then be interrogated by his
ordainer (i. e. the metropolitan) whether he is
competent to keep them ; and upon his solemn
profession accordingly, and after a solemn admo-
nition, shall then be ordained. And so we find
Gregory the Great, A.D. 596 (^Epist. vii. 19), de-
siring the archbishop of Ravenna to summon
into his presence the bishop elect of Ariminum
(elected by " clerus et plebs "), and to examine
him ; and if " ea in eo quae in textu Heptatici
morte mulctata sunt, minime fuerint reperta,
atque fidelium personarum relatione ejus vobis
quid em vita placuerit, ad nos eum cum decreti
pas;ina, vestrae quoque addita testificationis epi-
stola, destinate, quatenus a nobis . . . consecretur
antistes." So again in Carlovingian times, two
centuries and a half later, upon the election
of Gillebert to the see of Chalons sur Marne,
Hiucmar, archbishop of Rheims, with the other
bishops of the province, or their vicai's, the
abbats, canons, monks, presbyters, deacons, and
subdeacons, being assembled at Chiersi (near
Laon) — the archbishops of Rouen, Tours, and
Sens, being also present — the " clerus, ordo, et
plebs" of Chalons presented the decree of election
to Hincmar and his fellow-bishops, and (after an
explanation respecting a previous election that
had been set aside) declared the unanimous con-
sent to it of the " canonici, monachi, parochi, et
nobiles" of the diocese. Thei-eupon Hincmar
interrogated the bishop elect respecting his
country, condition, literary proficiency, and past
ordinations ; and ascertained that he had not
been " conductor alienarum rerum, nee turpia
lucra vel exactiones sive tormenta in hominibus
exercens ;" and further, as he had held some
court office, that his accounts with the king were
settled; to the former of which points certain
clcrici and noble laymen bore testimony, while
for the latter he produced a royal letter, duly
sealed, and containing also an intimation of the
royal wish for his consecration. Testimonies of a
bishop and certain monks to his good behaviour
were then produced ; and the consent of the
archbishop of Toui's was given to the transfer
into another province of one born and ordained
at Tours. Hincmar, then, with the archbishop
of Tours as his assessor, desired the candidate to
read, or listen to, and promise to keep, the Pas-
toral of Gregory the Great, the Canons, and the
rules usually given by the ordainer to the or-
dained, and which were subsequently given to
him in writing; and to write out and subscribe
the Creed, and hand it so subscribed to the me-
tropolitan. The written consents of the absent
bisliops were then produced and read, and the
BISHOP
221
day and place of consecration fixed {Cone. Gallic.
Sirmond, ii. 651). See also the Ordinals in
Martene (ii. 386) and Morinus (de Sac. Ord. ii.).
A professio, i. e. at first both of his faith and of
canonical obedience to his archbishop, came also
to be part of the formal proceedings of the con-
firmation of a bishop. The English "Professions"
begin early in the 9th century ; and the early
ones commonly contain a kind of creed, as well
as a promise of obedience. So likewise in the
East, the 2nd Counc. of Nice, A.D. 787 (can. ii.)
requires a careful enquiry to be made whether
the candidate is well acquainted with the Canons,
with the Gospels, Epistles, and the whole Scrip-
tures, and is prepared himself to walk, and to
teach the people committed to him, according to
God's commandments. And the bishop elect was
required to profess that he " receives the Seven
Synods, and promises to keep the canons enacted
by them, and the constitutions promulged by
the Fathers." A solemn recitation and subscrip-
tion of the Creed, and a disclaimer of simony,
were required also of the bishop elect before his
consecration (Sym. Thessal. ap. Morin. ii. 156). .
In the Western Church, even at this date, no
further confirmation was usual or necessary.
The pope only intervened in a few extraordinary
cases (Thomassin, II. ii. 30, § 1 : and see Patri-
arch, Pope).
3. Ordination (xeiporoi'ia most commonly, as
probably in Acts xiv. 23, although the word is
also used of election, as 2 Cor. viii. 19 ; x^'P"-
Oeffia, which also means sometimes benediction
only, as 6 irpscr/SuTepos x* 'po^s'''S'> "^ x^'P"''"'"'^''
Apost. Constit. viii. 28 [and so x^'poro^'err and
X^ipo6er^7v are distinguished in the spurious
Epist. of St. Ignat. to Hero, c. iii.] ; KaOiepaicrts ;
T€\eaiovpyia', a.((><}piaiJ.6s ; and in Pseudo-Dion.
Areop., rhetoricized into reAeicocris UpariKr;,
aTTOTrArjpttftns, SiaK6(Ti.ir](ns, /c.t.\.)* — followed
upon the completion of the confirmation.
And (o) first, the matter and form (as it
was afterwards called) of ordination was, from
the beginning, laying on of hands (iirideais
t5)V xf'P't'J'; Acts vi. 6, 1 Tim. iv. 14, v. 22,
2 Tim. i. 6 ; x^'P^'^'^s"''"? Euseb.), accompanieil
necessarily by words expressive of the purpose
of the act, but by no invariable and universal
formula claiming apostolic authority. Other
rites, added as time went on, cannot claim to
be either apostolical or universal, and pertain
therefore, at best, " to the solemnity, not to the
essence," of the rite, (i.) The only other rite
indeed in episcopal ordination, that has any ap-
pearance of a claim to the " ubique et ab omnibus,"
but which is not traceable (although it very pro-
bably existed) before the 3rd century, is the lay-
ing of the Gospels, open in the ancient and in the
Greek church, shut ace. to the Ordo Eomanus,
upon the head (in some rites, upon the neck and
shoulders) of the bishop to be ordained. — Const.
Apostol. viii. 4 : Kal frianrrfs yei'OfifVT]^, fh rdiu
irpdirwv 'ETTiffKOTTcoi/ 'dfia Kal hvfflv iTfpois ttAt)-
fflof rov dvaiaffTVpiov ecrTcijs, Tajf Kolttwv 'Etti-
(TKSirwv Koi irpecrPvTepiiiv fftw-n-fj irpoffivxojJi^vwv,
» The special appropriation of the term consecratimt to
episcopal ordination is purely modern ; Leo M., e.g., uses
the term indifferently of bishops, priests, or deacons; nnd
Gillebert, quoted by Du Cange, opposes it to " dedicare,"
the latter meaning to devote to God, the former to set
apart for holy uses.
222
BISHOP
Toiv 5e ZiaKovwv ra Qtla ZvayyiKia eiri tt)? rov
^^ipoTovov/xevov KKpaArjs aveiTTvyfi^va Karexo"'
Twf, Ae7€T£o, K.r.A. — And with iinimportant va-
riations, Cone. Carth. IV. A.d. 398, can. ii. :
" Episcopus cum orJiuatur, duo episcopi ponant
et teneant Evangeliorum codicera super caput et
cervicem ejus, et uno super eum fuudente bene-
dictionem, reliqui omnes episcopi qui adsunt,
manibus suis caput ejus tangant."— And so also
Constit. Apostol. viii. 3 (assigning the act to
deacons), Pseudo-Chrys. {Horn, de Uno Legis-
lator. 0pp. vi. 410, Moutfauc), Pseudo-Dion.
Areop. {de Eccl. Hier. V. i. 7, iii. 7), and almost
every ritual. Eastern and Western, including (so
Denzinger) Nestorian, Maronite, and Jacobite
(assignfng it either to the patriarch or to the
assisting bishops). And although it came to be
used in Egypt in the consecration of the patri-
arch only, yet there too, if the Pseudo-Dionysius
represents the Alexandrian rite, it must have
been used at first for all bishops (Denzinger,
Bit. Orient. 135). Alcuin however {de Div. Off.),
Amalarius {de Offic. Eccl. ii. 14), and Isidor.
Hispal. {de Div. Offic. ii. 5), quoted by Morinus,
seem (rather unaccountably) to imply its absence
in Gaul, Germany, and Spain, in the 8th and 9th
centuries. And it is certainly wanting in two
pontiKcals in Mabillou {Mus. Italic, tom. ii.
numm. viii. ix.). The actual delivery of the
Gospels to the consecrated bishop occurs among
the Maronites, but not among the Jacobite Sy-
rians or the Nestorians (Denzinger) ; and in the
West, it is in the present Roman Pontifical, but
was unknown until the 11th century (Morinus,
iii. 23). — (ii.) Anointing of the head in episcopal
ordination is a much less ancient or general rite
than the imposition of the Gospels. Among the
Easterns it never existed at all (Morinus, Den-
zinger, &c.) ; the few ambiguous expressions in
Eastern rituals (cited by, e. g., J. A. Assemani)
referring to spiritual anointing, while, the tes-
timony to the absolute non-occurrence of the
material rite is express. It is found in Gaul in
the 6th century {Bit. ap. Morin. de Ordin. ii. 261,
sq.) ; in Africa not at all ; doubtfully in Spain
(Morinus) ; but in Italy, also in the 6th cen-
tury (S. Leo M., Serm. viii. de Passion. Domini ;
Greg. M. in Beg. I. x. ; ap. Moi'in. ih. III. vi. 2,
§ 2) ; and in Sttxon England it was extended to
hands as well as head in the 8th century (Egbert's
Pontif. ed. Greenwell ; and so also in the Roman
ordinal in Morinus, ii. 288). — (iii.) The sign of
the cross, accompanying the imposition of hands
(which is therefore called a<ppayh), is mentioned
by St. Chrys. {Horn. Iv. in Matth.), and by the
Pseudo-Dionysius as above. In the later Greek
ritual it occurred thrice (see Morinus, iii. 254).
— (iv.) Delivery of pastoral staff and ring be-
came also a part of tlie Western rite from about
the latter part of the 6th century (Maskell,
Mon. Bit. vol. iii. 273). It occurs in the Ponti-
ficals of Gregory the Great and Egbert, but not
in those of Gelasius or Leo. The staff indeed
dates from the 4th century, as one of the insignia
of a bishop, both in East and West. And the i^ng,
which is unused in the East (except by the Ma-
ronite Syrians, and by the Armenians, the latter
of whom borrowed it from Rome— so Denzinger—
and the a<ppayh, or sign of the cross, is di/rl So-
KTv\iov, acc. to Syra. Thessalon.), occurs in the
West as early as Isid. Hispal. de Div. Off. ii. 5 :
but " is not in either Amalarius, Alcuin, or Rab!
BISHOP
Maurus " (Maskell). Both staff and ring are
in Cone. Tolet. IV. a.d. 633, can. xxviii. (men-
tioning " orarium, annulum, baculum ") ; and,
seemingly, in Gone. Franco/. A.D. 794, can. x.
(mentioning, however, only in general, "episco-
palia"). [Ring ; Crosier Staff.] But as part
of the rite of ordination, they belong to the West,
and to the latter part of the 6th century.
[Investiture.] The staff, however, occurs in
a late Greek Pontifical in Morinus {de Sac.
Ord. ii. 124). — (v.) The w/aocpopiov, or pallium
(a linen vestment marked with crosses), also
came to be given at episcopal ordination in the
East. It is mentioned as an (Eastern) epi-
scopal vestment as early as Isidor. Pelus. in the
beginning of the 5th century (lib. i. Ep. 136 ;
and see Morinus, p. ii. pp. 220 sq., and Den-
zinger) ; and occurs in the Eastern rituals. In the
West, the delivery of a vestment also called by
the name of pallium followed ordination, not of all
bishops, but of archbishops, as a totally distinct
ceremony, and with an entirely different meaning
and purpose. And this began about A.D. 500 : see
Gieseler, ii. 133, Eng. ed., and under Pall. —
(vi.) The delivery of the mitre at ordination in
the West dates only after the close of the period
to which this article refers ; occurring first about
the 10th century (see Maskell's Mon. Bit. iii. 275).
It is in the Sarum, as in all later Pontificals.
As part of the episcopal dress during Divine
service, in some shape or other, and under
various names, it occurs both in East and West
from apparently the 4th century. [Mitre.] —
(vi.) The delivery of the paten "cum oblatis,"
and of the chalice " cum vino," which forms a
principal part of the later additions to the ordi-
nation of a presbyter [Presbyter], is found
for the first time in the Sacr-am. of Gregory the
Great (Morinus, ii. 277, iii. 134), and in the con-
secration of a bishop (in which however it does
not occur again). Among the Syrians, howevei'.
the consecrating bishop touched the consecrated
elements with his hands before laying hands upon
the head of the bishop to be consecrated (Den-
zinger) ; and in the Apost. Constit. viii. 5, one of
the consecrating bishops is ordered ava(pepeiv
tV Bucrlav iwl twv x^ipoiv tov xeiporovriOevTos.
— (vii.) The avapp-qais or proclamation {prae-
dicatio, pr-omulgatio, a.vaK-'i]pvi,is, iiTLKT^pv^LS, or
KTtpv^ts e| 6v6iJ.aTOs), and (viii.) the kiss of peace,
are mentioned by Pseudo-Dion. Areop. as follow-
ing upon the consecration. The latter is men-
tioned also in Apost. Constit. viii. 5, but as oc-
curring at the subsequent enthronization. And
it was repeated four times during the service in
the East in the time of Sym. of Thessal. (ap.
Morin. ii. 171). The former occurs in the time
of Symeon before the consecration, and was in
that position a public proclamation by name of
the appointment {t] deia X"P'^ irfuxeLpiCf^ai)
of the elect bishop, made by the consecrating
archbishop (among the Jacobites and Copts,
however, by the archdeacon — Denzinger). There
were indeed two such fx-qvifxara : one, the de-
claration made to the bishops, intimating the
choice made by emperor, or by metropolitan,
among the three presentees; the other, the pio-
clamatiou of the name to the people (Morinus,
iii. 254). In the older Latin Ordinals the same
form occurs in substance in like place {id. ih.
27) ; viz. as a declaration by the consecrator,
that " cives nostri elegerunt sibi ilium pastorem,
BISHOP
oremus itaque pro hoc viro," &c. It is also in '
use among the Syrians (W. ib. 31). The Apost. j
Constit. do not mention it. But St. Greg. Naz. |
seems to allude to it under the term 6Tri<f)7)^i-
feroi (Mor. ib. 30). 'Avappriffis is also used in
Synesius (Epist. 67) as equivalent to consecra-
tion ; and see also Suicer in voce.
All these, however, are later additions to the
rite ; arising (as was not unnatural) out of the
gradual extension of the " traditio insti-umen-
torum," which had constituted the ordination of
the minor orders from the beginning (see Cone.
Garth. IV.), to the higher orders also ; and accom-
panied in the case of some of them by an equally
natural conversion of accessories in course of time
into essentials. It is waste of words to prove that
the one and only essential act from the beginning
was imposition of hands. This also, however,
in process of time, became varied, 1. by repe-
tition, 2. by the use of one or both hands, and
the like : for which details see Imposition of
Hands.
The form of ordination was not similarly fixed.
Pope Innocent III., speaking as a canonist, and
Habert, writing of the Greeks as a theologian,
expressly declare that the Apostles appointed no
form of words ; that it rests therefore with the
Church to appoint such a form; and that, apart
from Church authority, any words whatever,
adequate to the purpose, would suffice. And the
facts of the case are in themselves enough to
establish this. In the Greek Church, the form
in Sym. Thessal. runs thus : 'H Q^ia. x«P's "^9°-
XeipiC^Tai rhu Se^fa ei's 'EirlcTKoirov, k.t.A. ;
these words, which ai'e iised at the avappricns,
being repeated at the actual consecration. Den-
zinger, however (pp. 140, 141), considers the
essential words in the Eastern rites which he
mentions to be found in the prayers which ac-
companied the laying on of hands, and to be of a
precatory form. In the Latin Church, since the
11th century, it has been simply, "Accipe Spi-
ritum Sanctum," without express mention in the
form itself of the episcopal office either by name
or by description, the context sufficiently limit-
ing the purpose of the words (Vazquez, &c.).
Prior to that date, the " consecratio " of a bishop
was not an imperative declaration, but was in
the form of a prayer. [Ordination.]
j8. The ordainers were necessarily bishops (see
below, III. 1, a. i). " Two or three at the least,"
was the rule of the Apostolic Canon (1), and of
the Apost. Constit. (viii. 4, 27) : the latter also
deposing both ordained and ordainer, if any were
ordained (of course, without sufficient cause), by
one bishop (viii. 27), yet expressly not voiding such
ordination if the case were one of necessity. But
while St. Cyprian (Epist. 67) implies the ordi-
nary presence of all or most of the comprovincial
bishops, the Nicene Council (can. iv.) requires
the actual participation in the consecration, of
three absolutely, as a minimum — of all, if pos-
sible— but in any case with the consent at least
of the rest of the comprovincial bishops, or (can.
vi.) of the major part of them. And so also
Cone. Chalced. Act. xvi. Sevei-al Galilean pro-
vincial councils go further, by requiring in one
case {Cone. Arelat. I. A.D. 314, can. xx.) seven as .a
rule, but if that is impossible, at least " infra tres
non audea[n]t ordinare ;" or again (Cone. Arelat.
II. A.D. 353, can. v.), the metropolitan with three
suffragans (or, according to another reading, the
BISHOP
223
metropolitan in person or by letter, and three
suffragans), with the consent of the remainder,
or of at least the major part of the whole num-
ber, in case of division ; or yet again (Cone.
Arausie. I. A.D. 441, can. xxi.), by actually de-
posing the ordainer, and (if a willing participator
in the irregularity) the ordained bishop also, if
" two bishops presumed" to ordain; while yet a
fourth like council {Begiens. A.D. 439, can. ii.)
not only censures but voids a consecration, which
shall lack any of the three conditions, of consent
of comprovincial bishops, presence of three of
them, and assent of metropolitan. The rule re-
quiring three is also matter of constant reference
(as, e. g., in Cone. Epaon. A.D. 517, can. i. ; or
again by popes from Damasus onward to Leo III.,
in discussing the position of chorepiseopi ; see
Morin. iii. 58). Spanish councils simply repeat the
Kicene canon on the subject (e. g. Cone. Tolet. IV.
A.D. 581, can. xviii. ; and so Isidor. Hispal. de
Offie. Ecel. ii. 5). And in Africa, at an earlier
date. Cone. Carth. III. a.d. 397, can. xxxix., con-
demns consecration by two bishops, pronounces
the requirement of twelve (which had been sug-
gested) impracticable, and repeats accordingly
the old rule of three : can. xl. of the same council
prohibiting the three from proceeding to conse-
crate, in case objections are taken to the bishop-
elect, until themselves with " one or two " more
have enquired into those objections on the spot,
and found them groundless. The rule in the
East was the same (Denzinger, p. 142), " scil.
ut non minuatur numerus ternarius." And Cone.
Seleuc. et Ctesiph. a.d. 410 (ed. Lamy, 1869),
deposes (if the record is genuine) both conse-
crated and consecrators, if any be ordained bishop
by one bishop or by two. But then the principle
which underlay this rdle, was not the inability
of one bishop by himself to consecrate, but the
desirableness that many, and if possible all,
should co-operate in, and testify to, the act of
consecration. So expressly the Apost. Constit.
viii. 27 ; adding with like clearness a proviso,
that " one " may consecrate in case of necessity,
if only a greater number signify their sanction
of the act. So Gregory the Great, in the well-
known Answers to Augustine, requires " three or
four " if possible, but speaks of the presence of
more than one only as " valde utilis," as of those
" qui testes assistant ^" and distinctly authorizes
consecration by one on the ground of necessity.
So Synesius (Epist. 67) censures the consecration
of Siderius, bishop of Palaebisca, as (not invalid
but) iK94(Tfxajs, 1. because not in Alexandria or
with the consent of the patriarch ; but also, 2. be-
cause performed bj'' " not three," but a single
bishop ; and Theodoret (v. 23) that of Evagrius
of Antioch, as also irapa Thy eKK\7]cnaaTiKhv
6e(Tfj.6i', "because (among other things) Paulinus
alone consecrated him. But Synesius adds, that
necessity justified the former of these consecra-
tions, and had led St. Athanasius to allow the like ;
and in that of the latter, both the bishop of Alex-
andria and the Western bishops recognized it none
the less (Theodoret, ib. ; Innocent I. Epist. 14).
So again the bishops of Pontus (Epist. ad fin. Cone.
Chalced.) speak of Dioscorus of Alexandria as actu-
ally bishop, although consecrated by only two
bishops (and those under censure), " cum regulae
patrum . . . tres episcopos corporaliter adesse . . .
prospiciant." Of the very councils themselves
of Aries II. and of Riez, above quoted, the former
224
BISHOP
recognizes the reality of the censured consecra-
tion by appointing the bishop consecrated by two
to one" of the sees vacated by the deposition of
isis consecrators, if the irregularity had been
without his consent; and the latter, — although
its canon can scarcely be explained away (as by
Thomassin) by referring it to election and not
consecration, — yet both permits the deposed
bishop to confirm, and allows the orders he may
have already conferred, subject only to the
favour of the metropolitan ; or in other words,
does not venture to quash the consecration out-
right. The Welsh and early Irish and Scotch
practice — of only one consecrator — was no doubt
at first a matter of necessity ; although continued
after it had ceased to be so. The Saxon Church
resumed the canonical rule of three, on the other
hand, as soon as possible.' And even in 664 a
Wessex bishop called in two British bishops, albeit
he must have thought them schismatical, to com-
plete that number (Baed. H. E. iii. 28). The cases
of Pope Pelagius I. A.D. 555, ordained by two
bishops and a presbyter {Lib. Pontlf. in F. Pelag.),
and of Novatian long before, calling in three
bishops, aypo'iKOvs Koi aTrAovardTovs, from some
corner of Italy, to ordain him to the see of Rome
(Euseb. H. E. vi. 43), and long afterwards, the
permission given by the popes (see Bellarm.
de Ecd. iv. 8) to make up the number of three
by two or more mitred abbats, so that there was
one bishop (Labbe, i. 53), — prove at once the
existence of the rule while they violate its spirit.
Pope Siriciusalso (Epist. iv. c. 2, A.D. 384 x 398)
Ibrbids " ne unus episcopus episcopum ordinare
praesumat ;" but it is " propter arrogantiara," and
" ne furtivum beneficium praestitura videatur."
Michael Oxita (patriarch of Constantinople,
A.D. 1145-6) also rejected two bishops who had
been ordained by a single bishop (Bever. Pandect.
ii. Annot. p. 10). Among the Nestorians, again,
the patriarch Timotheus, about A.D. 900, assert-
ing the " need " of three bishops, allows in a
case of necessity the sufficiency of two, so long
as the necessity lasted ; but enjoins that the
Gospels shall be placed on the right hand upon
a throne in lieu of a third bishop (Assemani,
Bibl. Orient. III. i. 163). Compare finally the
distinction drawn in the Pontificals between the
consecrator and the " assisting bishops " — " socii
ordinationis" (Coptic Pit.): or again the words
of the bishops of Pontus mentioned above, " per
suffragium consensumque duorum episcoporuni
cum ipso (patriarcha) praesentium." Whether
clioreyAscojri, consecrated by one bishop, were
bishops themselves, see Chorepiscopi.
y. The place of ordination was properly and
originally the actual see itself to which the
bishop was to be ordained. So St. Cyprian
{Epist. 67), Possid. (in V. S. Aug. viii.), St. Au-
gustin h'lmseU {Epist. 261), Pope Julius {Epist. ad
Orient, ap. St. Athan. Apol. ii.). Cone. Chalced. Ac\.
xi. (Labbe, iv. 700), Cone. Rom. A.D. 531 (in Hol-
stein. Collect. PiOm. p. 7), and Synesius {Epist. 67,
as above). The practice however came in time
to be that the metropolitan appointed the place
(Synes. ft. ; Cone. Tolet. IV. A.D. 581, can. xviii.),
although it was commonly the metropolitan see,
and the metropolitan himself was alwaj^s to be
consecrated there {Cone. Tolet. ib.). If, however,
not there, then, by Cone. Tarracon. A.D. 516,
can. X., the bishop consecrated elsewhere was to
present himself to the metropolitan within two
BISHOP
months. And Cone. Aurelian. IV. A.D. 541, can. v.,
restricts it to the metropolitan see, unless un-
avoidably removed elsewhere ; and even in that i
case commands the presence of the metropolitan, i
and that it shall be within the province. In I
whatsoever town it was, the rite was always j
celebrated at the altar of the church, the can- ]
didate kneeling (Pseudo-Dion, as above, and re-
peatedly ; Theodoret, iv. 15, -Trapa rrjv hpav Tpd- 1
ire^av). A natural custom also in course of time j
marked out the Lord's Day, or at any rate some '
great festival, as the "legitimus dies" for a '•
bishop's consecration (Pope Zosimus, Epist. vi. ; |
Cone. Tolet. IV. can. xviii.) ; while Leo the Great |
{Epist. ix.) insists upon the Lord's Day, but as ,
beginning from the Saturday evening ; and Pope I
Gelasius actually limits the ordinations of pres- !
byters and deacons to the Saturday evening ex-
clusively. But there was certainly no restric-
tion of days at all until the 4th century (Pagi, i
ap. Bingh. IV. vi. 7). In the East the same rule j
of Sunday came to prevail universally (Denzin- i
ger); but the Nestorian rubric (as does also
common Western practice) admits festivals like- \
wise {id.). Ember-days, when they came to exist, '•
belonged to presbyterial and diaconal ordinations. i
The hour also came to be limited as well as the !
day, viz. to the time of the celebration of the '
Eucharist, i.e. the morning (ttjs fj-va-riKris Upovp- \
ylas TTpoKeifiiv-qs, says Theodoret, Hist. Eelig.
xiii., speaking however of presbyterial ordina-
tion) : and this at an early period, inasmuch i
as Novatus is censured (Euseb. H. E. vi. 43), as |
having been (among other things) consecrated
wpa 5eKaT?7, i. e. somewhere about 4 p.m. In the
East the rule became equally fixed, and on like j
grounds ; and this as regai'ds bishops universally :
save (as before) the one exception of the Nes-
torians, who leave it optional, and provide rubrics i
for ordinations made " extra missam " (Den- '
zinger). Theodore in England enacts. {Poenit. II.
iii. 1), that in the ordination of a bishop " debet \
missa cantari ab episcopo ordinante." The parti-
cular part of the liturgy, however, at which the |
ordination was to be (so to say) interpolated, i
differed in East and West. The " dies anniver- i
sarins " of the ordination, i. e. the " dies natalis " {
or the " natalitia " of the bishop, was also com- \
monly kept as a kind of festival (St. Aug. Cont.
Lit. Petil. ii. 23, Horn, xxxii. de Verb. Bom., ■
Horn. xxiv. et xxv. ex Quinquaginta, Horn, cccxl.
ed. Bened. ; Leo M., Horn. i. ii. iii. ; Paulin.
Epist. xvi. ; St. Ambros. Epist. v. ; Pope Hilary,
Epist. ii. ; Sixtus, Epist. ad Joh. Antioch. Labbe,
iii. 1261 ; Pagi, ap. Bingh. IV. vi. 15). \
S. The ordainers were also, according to African \
rule {Cod. Can. Afric. 89), to give letters under ]
their own hand to the bishop ordained, " con-
tinentes consulem et diem," in order to prevent
future disputes abotit precedence. And a register |
of ordinations {archivus, matricula, apxerviros, |
IxarpiKLOv) was to be kept both in the primate's j
church and in the metropolis of the province for i
the like purpose {ib. 86; and see Bingh. II. j
xvi. 8). I
4. Enthronization {evOpovidC^iv, incathedrare), \
which is mentioned in the Apost. Constit., and (
in Greek Pontificals, as the concluding act of j
ordination, followed upon ordination, either (as
at first) immediately or (in course of time) after
an interval ; a regular service being then pro- ,
vided for it, which is described by Sym. Thess. c.
BISHOP
viii. A sei-moii was thereupon preached, at least
iu the East, by the newly consecrated bishop,
styled "sermo enthronisticus," of which instances
are given in Bingh. II. xi. 10. And litterae
communicatoriae, or synodicae, or enthronisticae,
ypd,ufj.aTa Koiv<t>vi.Ka, avWa^ai evOpuviariKcu,
were written to other bishops, to give account
of the sender's faith, and to receive letters of
communion in return (Biii-li. i''.). Ta ei/dpov-
lariKO., also, were pnymi'iits wliich came to be
made by bishops on occasion ot' their enthroniza-
tiou. The Arabic version of the Xicene canons
has a rule about enthronization (can. Ixxi.), viz.
that the bishop be enthroned at once by a delegate
of the archbishop, and that the archbishop visit
him personally after three months, and confirm
him in the see. In 664 or 5, ^vhen Wilfrid was
consecrated at Compiogne by twelve French
bishops, they carried him, with hymns and chants,
" in sella aurea sedentem, more eorum " (Edd. in
V. WUf. xii.).
5. A Profession of Obedience to the metro-
politan, and (in the Carlovingian empire) an
oath of allegiance to the emperor or king, began
to be required, prior to confirmation, the former
from the 6th century onwards, the latter from
the time either of Charlemagne or of his imme-
diate successors ; but far earlier in Spain, a. The
earliest written profession of obedience to the
metropolitan produced by Thomassin — " cartula
de obedientiae sponsione " — is one made by the
metropolitan of Epirus to the archbishop of
Thessalonica, and is condemned by Pope Leo I. A.U.
450 {Epist. Ixxxiv. c. 1). And some kind of
written promise — " tempore ordinationis nostrae
unusquisque sacerdos cautionem scriptis emit-
timus, studiose de fide ordinatoris nostri " — was
made to the patriarch of Aquileia, c. A.D. 590,
by his suffragans (Baron, in an. 590, num. xxviii.).
But Spanish councils of a little later date are (as
might be expected)most express on the point. Goiic.
Emerit., indeed, A.D. 666, can. iv., — extending to
bishops, &c., an enactment of Cone. Tolet. IV.
A.D. 581, can. xvii., respecting presbyters and
deacons, — only enjoins the metropolitan at the
time of his ordination, and the bishops at the
time of theirs, respectively to promise " vivere
caste, recte, et sobrie." But Cone. Tolet. XI.
A.D. 675, can. x., requires every one of all grades
of clergy, before " consecration," to bind himself,
not only to keep the faith, live piously, and obey
the canons, but also " ut debitum per omnia
honorem atque obsequii reverentiam praeemi-
nenti sibi unusquisque dependat." St. Boniface
shortly after, in Germany, A.D. 723, when
consecrated bishop by Pope Gregory II., goes a
long step further, by giving a written promise
(addressed to St. Peter), " vobis, beato Petro, vica-
rioque tuo B. Papae Gregorio, surci-.ssorilnHiiue
ejus;" that he will keep the faith iu it> |iiiiity,
&c., and that he will " fidem et puiitatoiii," \-c.,
" praedicto vicario tuo atque successoribus ejus
per omnia exhibere," &c. (S. Bonif. Epist. xvii.,
ed. Jafte) ; an innovation which Thomassin tells us
was not repeated by any one, not even by St.
Boniface's own successors at Mentz. Further
on, in Gaul, Cone. Cabillon. A.D. 813, can. xiii.,
expressly forbids the oath which some then exacted
at ordination, "quod digni sint, et contra canones
non sint facturi, et obedientes sint episcopo qui
eon ordinat,"&c. ; "quod juramentum quia peri-
culosum est, omues una inhibendum statuimus."
CHRIST. ANT.
BISHOP
225
And a Capitulary of Ludov. Pius, A.D. 816
(^Capit. i. c. 97), noticing the " sacramenta," as
well as " munera," which Lombai-d bishops then
exacted " ab his quos ordinabant," forbids " om-
nibus modis, ne ulterias fiat." But this prohi-
bition applied to the exaction of an oath of fealty
(Canciani, Le;/. Barbar. v. 121). Professions to
the metropolitan by the bishop to be consecrated
were, certainly, from that time forward the regu-
lar practice. The form of that of the bishop of
Teroueune to Hincmar of Rheims is in Cone. Gallic,
ii. 655. And English professions likewise run on
from the like date. A special oath to the pope,
and the meaning attached to the reception of the
pall, belong to later centuries, the instance of
tit. Boniface's oath alone excepted. In the East,
a form of written promise of canonical obedience,
made by the bishop to the patriarch, is in Jur.
Onent. i. 441 ; and is expressly sanctioned by the
8th can. of Cone. Constantin. A.D. 869, while
condemning certain unauthorized additions to it.
It may also be mentioned here that St. Augustin
procured an enactment, at a Council of Car-
thage, that all canons relating to the subject,
" ab ordinatoribus ordinaudis vel ordiuatis in
notitiam esse deferenda " (Possid. V. S. Aug.
viii). ;8. A general oath of allegiance to the
king, from all subjects, occurs repeatedly in
the Spanish councils (e. g. Cone. Tolet. XVI. A.D.
693). And a promise of fidelity from bishops is
mentioned in Gaul as early as the time of Leode-
garius of Autun and St. Eligius, .c. A.D. 640. But
special mention of an oath of fidelity taken by a
bishop at his ordination seems to occur first at
the Council of Toul, A.D. 850, where it is de-
clared that the archbishop of Sens had thrice
sworn allegiance to Charles the Bald, the first
time being when the kiui: i;'avc him his bishopric.
Such an oatli of' ,illi ^imcc seems also to be
meant by Cou\ l''ir. jll. A.n. 813, can. i. ; and
by Cone. Aquisgr. II. a.i.>. 836, cap. ii. can. xii. :
although spoken of with no reference to ordi-
nation. But the absence of all formulae for it in
earlier times is conclusive against throwing back
the date before Charlemagne. Homage in the
feudal sense belongs to a later period still. At
the same time Charlemagne introduced an oath
of fealty in the case of bishops, and invested a
bishop with tlie temporalities of his see by ring
and crosier (De Marca, de Cone. Eeel. et Imp.
pp. 402, 426). As regards the East, there is no
mention whatever in Symeon Thessalon. of any
oath to the emperor taken by a bishop at ordi-
nation, y. The oath against simony may also be
mentioned here, enacted by Justinian (Novell.
cxxxvii. c. 2) as to be takcu by a bishop at ordi-
nation ; an enactment i-.']MMt.'l li\- Pope Adrian I.
(Epist.Md Car. M. in ('../,-. r,w///r. ii. 97). (See
also above, I. 2 ; and Simony.)
II. We have next to consider how a bishop
ceased to be so, either of a particular see, or
altogether. And,
1. Of Translation, which, as a rule, was for-
bidden, but only as likely to proceed from selfish
motives, and therefore with the exception, ex-
pressed sometimes, but seemingly always under-
stood, of cases where there was sufficient and
good cause. Before the period of the Apostolic
Canons this prohibition would have been hardly
needed. Apost. Can. xiv. forbids it, unless there
be a eiiXoyos alrla, scil. a prospect of more spi-
ritual "gain" in saving souls; and guards the
226
BISHOP
right practical application of the rule by the
proviso, that neither the bishop himself, nor the
TrapoiKia desiring him, but " many bishops," shall
decide the point, and that TtapaKXiiaei fieyiffTri.
The Council of Nice (can. xv.), Cone. Antioch.
A.D. 341 (can. xxi.). Cone. Sardic. A.D. 347 (can.
i.). Cone. Carth. III. A.D. 397 (can. xxxvii.), and
Co)ic. Carth. IV. A.D. 398 (can. xxvii.), forbid it
likewise: the first two without qualification;
and the second, whether the suggestion proceed
from the bishop, the people, or other bishops;
but the third, if airh itJAcCds //.iKpas els erepav ;
and the fourth, also in case it be " de loco ignobili
ad nobilem," while allowing it if it be for the
good of the Church, so that it be done "by the
sentence of a synod," and at the request of the
clergy and laity. And the Council of Nice itself
both shewed that exceptional cases were not ex-
cluded, by actually itself translating a bishop
(Sozom. i. 2, quoted by Pagi), and is explained
by St. Jerome as prohibiting it, only " ne virgin-
alis pauperculae societate contempta,ditioris adul-
terae quaerat amplexus " (Epist. Ixxxiii. ad
Ocean.). St. Athanasius indeed gives us the
obiter dictum of an Egyptian council, condemning
translation as parallel with divorce, and therefore
with the sin of adultery (Athan. Apol. ii.). And
similarly St. Jerome (Epist. Ixxxiii. ad Ocean.).
But Pope Julius condemns it on the assumption
throughout that its motive is self-aggrandize-
ment. Pope Damasus also condemns it, but it is
when done " per ambitionem ; " and Pope Gela-
sius, but only " nuUis existentibus causis." Leo
the Great, c. A.D. 450 (Epist. Ixxxiv. c. 8) de-
poses a bishop who seeks to be translated, but
it is " ad majorem plebem," and " despecta civi-
tatis suae mediocritate." And Pope Hilary, in
Cone. Rom, A.D. 465, condemns a proposed
Spanish translation, among other things, as con-
trary to the Nicene canon (Hilar. Epist. 1-3).
While Cone. Clialced. A.D. 451, can. t^., re-enacts
the canons against '• transmigration." At the
same time, both translations, as a matter of fact,
were repeatedly sanctioned, beginning with the
noted case of Alexander and Narcissus of Jeru-
.salem (Hieron. de Scriptt. Eccl. 62); as may
be seen in Socrat. vii. 35, &c., and in the autho-
rities quoted by Bingh. VI. iv. 6. St. Greg. Naz.,
indeed, A.D. 382, speaks of the Antiochene canon
on the subject as a v6nos trdXai TiQvr]Kois : and
Socrates actually tells us in terms, that transla-
tions were only forbidden when persecutions
ceased, but had previously been perfectly free to
all ; and asserts that they were a thing aSidfopov,
whenever circumstances made them expedient
(v. 8, vii. 35) : and the author of the tract
De Translationihus in the Jus Orient, (i. 293)
sums up the matter tersely in the statement
that 7; ixerd^aa-is KiK(ti\vTat, ov n^v 7) ^erdOfffis :
i. e. the thing prohibited is " transmigration "
(which arises from the bishop himself, from self-
ish motives), not " translation " (wherein the will
of God and the good of the Church is the ruling
cause) ; the " goiug," not the " being taken," to
another see. The same rule and practice prevailed
both in East and West down to the 9th century,
complicated however in the West by frequent
cases of sees destroyed in war, or removed " ad
alia loca quae securiora putamus " (St. Greg. M.
Epist. 11. 14). Many cases occur in Greo-ory's
etters, of bishops of Italy, Corsica, &c., translated
by him for these or like causes, but always under
BISHOP
pressure of necessity (see Thomassin, II. ii. 62) ;
and Joan. Diac. (iii. 18) asserts expressly, that
Gregory " nunquam episcopum ab integritate
suae Ecclesiae vel ipse in aliam commutavit vel
sub quacunque oceasione migrare consensit."
Gregory of Tours supplies instances of like trans-
lations in Gaul, all made " consensu regum et
episcoporum," but " inconsulta sede apostolica "
(Tliomassin, ib. § 5). So in Spain (Cone. Tolet. X.
A.D. 656, and XVI. A.D. 693, can. xii.). In Saxon
England, after the first shifting of sees conse-
quent upon the settlement of tlie Church down
to Abp. Theodore was passed, no translations
occurred at all, except the simoniacal instance of
Wine in 666, until that of Dunstan from Wor-
cester to London, a.d. 959, except in the cases of
(1) the ever-shifting sees of Hexham and Whit-
herne, and there once, in 789, and (2) the arch-
bishoprics of Canterbury and York ; and even in
the case of the archbishoprics, Cuthbert's was the
only instance (A.D. 740) until the 10th century.
In the East, while the case of Anthimus, con-
demned by Cone. Constantin. A.D. 536, Act. i., for
TTiv noix^K^v apirayTjV rrjS fiaaihiSos '^KK\v<rias,
viz. Constantinople, and for leaving his own
(smaller) see of Trapezus " widowed and without
a husband, against the canons," — condemned also
by Pope Agapetus I. (" Impossibile translatitium
hominem in ilia sede permanere," Liberat. Bre-
viar. 21), — shews the existence of the old feeling
on the subject ; the counter case of Germanus of
Cyzicum, translated A.D. 714 to Constantinople,
" suffragio atque consensu religiosorum, presby-
terorum, diaconorum, et totius sanctions cleri
sacrique senatus et populi imperatricis hujus
civitatis " (Thomassin, from Theophanes in an.
and Anastasius), shews equally that translations,
if circumstances were thought to justify them,
were not prohibited. In the Alexandrian Church
the rule appears to have been exceptionally strict,
so that originally it was forbidden to translate a
bishop, already such, to the patriarchate, although
in later and Mohammedan times this rule after
great contentions became relaxed (Denzinger);
and among the Nestorians, as one result of such
relaxation of a like rule, it came to pass that
patriarchs were often actually re-consecrated
(Assemani and Renaudot, ap. Denzinger).
2. Oi Resignation, and (a) of resignation simply;
respecting which there is no express canon, abso-
lutely speaking; huiCan. Apostol. can. xxxvi.Co/ic.
Ancyr. can. x\ui.,Conc. Antioch. a.d. 341, cans. xvii.
xviii., assume or enact that a bishop once conse-
crated cannot refuse to go to a see, even if the
people will not receive him ; and the two latter
refer the decision to the synod, which may allow
him to withdraw or not as it judges best. Instances
accordingly occur of resignations allowed because
circumstances rendered it expedient for the good
of the Church, as where the people obstinately
refused to submit to the bishop : e. g. St. Greg.
Naz., when archbishop of Constantinople, with
the consent of the Council of Constantinople
(Theodoret, v. 8 ; Socrat. v. 7 ; Sozom. vii. 7 ;
St. Greg. Naz. Epist. xlii. al. xxxvi., Ixv. al. lix.,
Orat. xxxii., and Carmen de Vita Sua); Meletius
when bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (Theodoret,
ii. 31) ; Martyi-ius, bishop of Antioch (Theod.
Lector i.) : all cases in point to the canons above
mentioned, the people in each case being factious
and perverse ; but the second and third (although
the latter was at Antioch itself), apparently in
BISHOP
direct contradiction to the Antiochene rule, no
synodical decision being mentioned, but only
tlie will of the bishops themselves: e.g. of Mar-
tyrius, K\7)pcfi apvitoTaKraj, Kol \a^ airet6(7, (cat
'EKKXriffia eppviroifxeur) aTroTdTTOixai. Instances
occur also of resignations offered (and approved
though not accepted) for peace' sake : as St. Chrys.
(Horn. xi. in Ephes.\ Flavian of Antioch under
Theodosius (Theodoret, v. 23), the Catholic
African bishops under Aurelius and St. Augustin
at the time of the Donatist schism (^Collat.
Cartlmg. A.D. 411, die i. c. xvi.). And Eustathius
of Perga, again, was permitted to resign by the
Cone. Ephes. a.d. 431 (Act. vii. in Epist. ad Synod.
Fanifhyliae), on account of old age, retaining
t6 re TTJs eTTiffKOTrfis uvofia Kal t'J/j' rifiTiv Kai
rr)v Koivoivlav, but without authority to act as
bishop unless at a fellow-bishop's request. And
a pension out of the revenues of the see was
granted to Domnus, who had resigned the see of
Antioch, by the Cone. Chalced. A.D. 457 (Act. vii.
al. Act. X., Labbe, iv. 681), at the request of
Maximus, who had succeeded him. These and
like instances testify to the gradual establish-
ment of a rule, permitting resignations under
circumstances of obvious expediency for the
Church, so that they were sanctioned by at least
the provincial synod. And forms of voluntary
resignation both for patriarchs and bishops in
the East occur in Leunclav. Jus Orient. At the
same time the feeling of the Church ran strongly
against resignations, as being a giving up of work
for Christ. So Leo M., Epist. xcii. And Cyril
Alex, puts the dilemma : " If worthy, let them
continue ; if unworthy, let them not resign but
be deposed " (^Epist. ad Domnum ap. Balsam.,
quoted by Thomassin). Although St. Chrys. in
like case bids a bishop, conscious of serious guilt,
resign ratherthan be deposed (de Sacerd. lib. iii.
c. 10) From the 5th century onward, resigna-
tions occur not unfrequently in the West (see a
list in Thomassin, II. ii. 52), with the consent of
the clergy, or at least the metropolitan and
council, and of the laity, or at least the king.
In the East, the consent of the emperor and of
the patriarch of Constantinople became necessary;
as in the case of Paulus of Antioch in the time of
Justin (inter Epist. Honnisd. Eapae, post Epist.
Ixxx.). The conception of a matrimonial tie,
such that no authority could sever it unless (in
the West) that of the bishop of Rome, developed
itself prominently at a considerably later period,
after at least the 8th century. The canonical
grounds for a resignation, as summed up, later
still, in the Corp. Juris (Decret. Greg. IX. lib. i.
tit. ix. de Renuno. c. 10), are in substance those
already intimated : — i. Guilt, limited however
from earlier severity to such only as impedes the
discharge of the episcopal ofBce : ii. Sickness (in
which case Gregory the Great would have per-
mitted a coadjutor only) : iii. Ignorance : iv. Per-
verse rebelliousness of the people : v. The healing
of a schism : vi. Irregularity, such as, e.g. bigamy.
A desire to take monastic vows, although a not
unfrequent ease, and in some instances at least
tolerated, was not a canonical ground of resigna-
tion. (/3.) Resignation in favour of a successor,
however, was distinctly prohibited, by Cone. An-
tioch. A.D. 341, can. xxiii. : 'Y^triffKoirov fih i^elvai
avr' auTuv KadiffTaf eTf pov favTov StdSoxov, Khy
TTphf TTJ TeXfVTrj Tou plov Tvyxdvri' el Se ri
roiovrov yiyvoLro, dnvpoi/^ tli/ai rrjc KaTdcrraffiv.
BISHOP
22<
But it was so, as the rest of the canon shews,
only in order to secure canonical and free election
when the see became actually vacant, — /xtra rrju
KoifjL7](nu rod avairavaafiivov. And the object
was, not to prohibit, but to prevent the abuse of,
the recommendations very commonly made by
aged bishops of their successors ; a practice
strongly praised by Origen (in Num. Horn, xxii.),
comparing Moses and Joshua (so also Theodoret,
in A'?««. c. xlvii.), but which naturally had often
a decisive influence in the actual election: as,
e. g. in the case of St. Athanasius recommended
by Bishop Alexander, and Peter recommended by
St. Athanasius, both of whom were duly elected,
&c., but after the bishopric was actually vacant ;
the story being apparently without grounds, of
an intervening and rival episcopate before St,
Athanasius, of Achillas, and of Theonas(Epiphan.
Ilaer. Ixviii. 6, 12 ; Theodoret, iv. 18). So also
St. Augustin recommended his own successor,
Eraclius. But such recommendations slipped na-
turally into a practice of consecrating the suc-
cessor, sometimes elected solely by the bishop him-
self, before the recommending bishop's death, thus
interfering with the canonical rights of the com-
provincial bishops and of the diocese itself. Limit-
ing then the prohibition to the actual election
by a single bishop of a successor to take his own
place during his own lifetime, the Antiochene
canon is repeated by, e. g. Cone. Paris. V. A.D. 615,
can. ii. (" ut nullus episcoporum se vivente alium
in loco suo eligeret "), and became the rule ; al-
though one often broken in the West in the 7th
and 8th centuries, as e.g. in the noted case of St.
Boniface, who was permitted by Pope Zacharias,
although after strong remonstrances, and with
great reluctance, to nominate and ordain his own
successor. But then we must distinguish (y)
that qualified resignation, which extended only to
the appointment of a coadjutor — not a coadjutor
with right of succession, which was distinctly
uncanonical, but simply an assistant during the
actual bishop's life, and no further. The earliest
instance indeed of a simple coadjutor, that of
Alexander, coadjutor to Narcissus of Jerusalem
(Euseb. H. E. vi. 11), was supposed to require a
vision to justify it. But examples occur re-
peatedly thenceforward, both in East and West
((?. g. in Sozom. ii. 20 ; Theodoret, v. 4 : St. Am-
bros. Epist. Ixxix. ; St. Greg. Naz. Orat. xii.
ad Patr. Opp. i. 248. c, quoted by Bingham) ;
including St. Augustin himself, who did not
" succeed," but " accede," to the see of Hippo,
being coadjutor therein first of all to his pre-
decessor Valerius, by the consent of " primate,
metropolitan, and the whole clergy and people
of Hippo," yet this " contra morem Ecclesiae "
(Possid. V. S. Aug. viii.) ; the canon of the Nicene
Council, which prohibits two bishops in one city,
being held to prohibit only two independent and
distinct bishops, and not where one was (as
English people might now call it) curate to the
other, although Augustin afterwards thought
that canon condemned himself. But a coadjutor
with right of succession was distinctly unca-
nonical ; although instances occur of this also :
as of Theotecnus of Caesarea in Palestine (Euseb.
//. E. vii. 32), before the Antiochene canon, and of
Orion, bishop of Palaebisca (Synes. Epist. Ixvii.);
and of Augustin himself, but with this diflerence,
that he was formally and canonically elected, so
that the one point in his case was his being cou-
228
BISHOP
secrated before his predecessor's death. So also
Paulinus of An'tioch, whose act was condemned
as uncanonical by St. Ambrose (Epist. Ixxviii.),
and by Theodoret (v. 23) and by Socrates (ii. 15).
And a like case in Spain, where a bishop of Bar-
celona, with consent of the metropolitan and
comprovincial bishops and the whole of his own
diocese, sought to make a neighbouring bishop
(who was also his heir) his coadjutor and suc-
cessor, but was condemned for so doing by Pope
Hilary and a Roman Council, A.D. 465, protest-
ing against making bishoprics hereditary (Hilar.
Epistt. ii. iii.)- So also Pope Bonifixce II. A.D.
531, was compelled to desist from his attempt to
appoint Vigilius his own successor. And Pope
Boniface III. in a Roman Council, A.D. 606, forbade
any formal discussion aboiit a successor to a de-
ceased bishop until " tertio die depositionis ejus,
adunato clero et filiis Ecclesiae ; tunc electio fiat."
Thomassin sums up the case by laying down,
(1) that coadjutors or successors were up to the
9th century never asked for from the Pope ;
(2) that the consent of metropolitan and pro-
vincial synod was necessary; and (3) after the
5th century that of the king ; but that, lastly,
with these last-named sanctions, coadjutors were
permitted whenever it was for the good of the
Church, although coadjutors with right of suc-
cession were forbidden. The hereditarv benefices
of the Welsh Church of the 11th and 12th cen-
turies, and of the contemporary Breton Church,
and, indeed (in some degree or other), of. other
churches also, are too late to come into this
article. So far of the removal of bishops merely
from a particular see. But, next, of
3. The Deposition of bishops. And here only
of the case of bishops as such, referring to
Ci.ERGY, Dr:GRADATiON, for the general " irre-
gularities," which affected all clergy, and there-
fore inclusively bishops also.
(A.) The grounds upon which bishops as such
were deposed were as follows, (a.) First, there
were certain irregularities which vitiated an epi-
scopal consecration ah initio ; and these were for
the most part, although not wholly, irregularities
such as disqualified for consecration at all, as
those already referred to above, (i.) If prior to
ordination to a bishopric the candidate had not
been examined in the faith, or had failed to meet
such examination, Justinian (^Novell, cxxxvii. c. 2)
deposed both the ordainer and the recently or-
dained, (ii.) Although the Cone. Neocaes. (can.
ix. A.D. 314) speaks of a belief that ordination
remitted sins, except fornication, yet Cone. Nicaen.
(canons ix. x.) rules that those who are ordained
through ignorance or laxity, being guilty of sins
(without any exception) that would rightly dis-
qualify them, yvwa-Bei/Tes KaOaipovvrai. (iii.)
The canons that u-equire the consent of metropoli-
tan and synod, &c., to the consecration of a bishop,
sometimes proceed to void a consecration made
in violation of them, /ir)5ev tVxueii' (Cone. Antioch.
A.D. 341, can. xix.), and similarly Cone. Eegiens.
can. ii.. Cone. Aurelian. V. canons x. xi.. Cone. Ca-
hillon. I. can. x. &c. Yet it does not appear that
in such a case the consecrated bishop sufiered
commonly more than the forfeiture of the see,
&Kvpov dvat TiV' KardcTTaa-tv. (iv.) Consecration
of a bishop into a see already lawfully filled
was reckoned as no consecration (Bino-h. XVII
V. 3, quoting St. Cypr. Epist. Iv. ; Cone. Sardic.
ace. to Hilary, de Syn. p. 128; Cone. Chaleed.
BISHOP
P. iii. Epist. 51, 54, 56, 57, fcc, about Timothy
the Cat ; Liberat. Breviar. xv.). (v.) The ordi-
nation of one under sentence of deposition was
also void {Cone. Chaleed. Act. xi.). But then
(i8) bishops already validly consecrated were
liable to deposition, as well for the general
causes affecting all clergy, as also in parti-
cular for causes relating to their own especial
oflice ; as, e. g. (i.) if they ordained, or if
they preached (Cone. Trull, can. xx.), without
peruiission, outside their own dioceses {Apostol.
Can. xxxv. ; Cone. Antioeh. A.D. 341, c. xii.); or
(ii.) if they received a clergyman who had dis-
obediently quitted his own diocese (6'omc. Antioch.
A.D. 341, can. iii. ; Cone. Chaleed. A.D. 457, can.
j XX. excommunicated them in this case) ; or (iii.)
■ if they ordained for money (Apostol. Can. xxix. ;
I Cone. Chaleed. a.d. 451, can. ii.) ; or (iv.) accord-
I ing to a late Gallican council {Cone. Arjusie.
! A.D. 441, can. xxi.), if two bishops presumed to
] consecrate by themselves, whereupon both of
them were to be deposed ; or (v.) according to
Pope Innocent I. {Epist. xxiii. c. 4, A.D. 402
X 417), bishops who ordained soldiers wei-e
themselves to be deposed ; or (vi.) if they
ordained a bishop into a see already full
(Cone. Chaleed. a.d. 451, as above) ; or (vii.) if
they ordained any that had been baptized or
rebaptized or ordained by heretics (Apost.
Can. Ixviii.) ; or (viii.) if they ordained any of
their own unworthy kindred (Apost. Can. Ixxvi.) ;
or (ix.) if they absented tliemselves from their
diocese for longer than a year ( Cone. Constantin.
IV. A.D. 870, can. xvi., says six months), and
persisted in disobedience when duly summoned
to return (Justinian, Novell, vi. c. 2 ; see also
below under III. 1, a. xv.). (x.) For simony,
see SIMO^fY ; or (xi.) if they did not duly enforce
discipline [Discipline] ; or (xii.) if they sought
to create a bishopric for themselves out of ambi-
tion, either in a place where there had been none
(Cone. Tolet. XII. a.d. 681, can. iv. : see however
below), or by getting royal authority to divide a
province, so as to erect a new metropolis in it
(Cone. Chaleed. a.d. 451, can. xii.). And yet
further (7), bishops were liable to excommuni-
cation as well as deposition, if (i.) they received
as clergy such as were suspended for leaving
their own diocese (Apost. Can. xvi. ; Cone. Carthag.
V. A.D. 398, can. xiii. &c. &c.) ; or (ii.) if they
"made use of worldly rulers to obtain prefer-
ment " (Apost. Can. xxx., often repeated) ; or (iii.)
if, being rejected by a diocese to which they have
been appointed, they move sedition in another
diocese (Cone. Aneyr. A.D. 314, can. xviii.) ; &c. &c.
(5.) Lastly, bishops were liable to suspension or
other less censui-e, {i.) if they refused to attend
the synod when summoned (Cone. Carthag. V.
A.D. 398, Can. x. ; Arelat. II. A.D. 452, can. xix. ;
Tarracon. A.D. 536, can. vi. &c. &c.) ; and if when
summoned to meet an accusation, they failed to
appear even to a third summons, they were de-
posed (Cone. Chale. a.d. 451, Act. xiv.) ; or (ii.)
if they unjustly oppressed any part of their
diocese, in which case the African Church de-
prived them of the part so oppressed (St. Aug.
Epist. cclxi.) ; &c. &c.
(B.) The authority to inflict deposition was
the provincial synod : and for the gradual growth
and the differing rules of appeal from that tri-
bunal, see Appeal.
Cone. Chaleed. can. xxix. a.d. 451, forbids
BISHOP
degradatioa of a bishop to the rank of a priest :
he must be degraded altogether or not at all.
And Cone. Antioch. canons xi. sii. A.D. 341, forbids
recourse to the emperor to reverse a sentence of
deposition passed by a synod. [Degradation ;
OUDEKS.]
III. From the appointment and the removal
of a bishop, we come next to his office, as bishop.
And here, ingeneral, the conceptioii of that office
— consisting in, 1. rh ^px^tv, and, 2. t^ hpa-
reveiv (so St. Ignat. Interpol. Up. ad Smyrn.
c. 9) — was plainly, at the first, that of a ruler,
not autocratic, but (so to say) constitutional,
and acting always in concert with his clergy
and people, as he had in the first instance been
elected by them ; and of a chief minister, in sub-
ordination to whom, for the sake of the essential
unity of the Church, all Christian sacraments
and discipline were to be administered, yet not
as by mere delegates, but as by the due co-
operation of subordinate officers, each having his
own place and function : for the former of which
points St. Cyprian is the primary and explicit
witness, and no less so St. Ignatius for the latter.
The legal powers and the wealth gradually ac-
quired by the bishop, the weight derived from
his place in synods, and the natural increase of
the power of a single ruler holding office for life,
and habitually administering the discipline and
the property of his diocese, naturally rendered
the essential "monarchy" of the episcopate more
and more absolute, from Constantine onwards,
and especially under Justinian ; while, on the
other hand, the bishops, 73a;'i/wssM, became also
more and more under State control, especially in
the East. In the West, and from the break up
of the Roman empire, the monopoly in the hands
of chui-chmen of knowledge and of civilization,
the political powers thrown (and necessarily
thrown) into the hands of the bishop, the unity
of the Church of all the separate kingdoms, and
its relations to the still respected imperatorial,
as well as to the pontifical, influence of Rome,
— to which no doubt might be added at the first
the reverence for the priesthood as such felt
by barbarians, and especially by Germanic peoples,
met and strengthened by the Christian view of
the priestly office, — gave to- the bishops special
weight, as the leaders of the Church : a weight
exceptionally increased in Spain by the elective
position of the Visigoth kings; but qualified both
there, and much more elsewhere, especially in
France, b}- the right of nomination of bishojjs
assumed by the kings, and by their simoniacal
and corrupt use of it, and by the assumption on
the part of the State of a full right of making
laws for the Church. But to proceed to details.
And' here —
(1.) Of the SPIRITUAL OFFICE of a bishop, as
pertaining to him essentially and distinctively.
And of this, first (a), in respect to his own
BISHOP
229
(a.) i. The power of ordination belonged to
bishops exclusively. They were the organ by
which the Church was enabled to perpetuate the
ministry. • Starting with the fact, that no one is
spoken of in the N. T. as ordained except either
by an Apostle, or by one delegated by an Apostle
to this special office, the earliest intimation we
meet with is the statement of St. Clem. Rom.,
already quoted, which draws a plain distinction
between the original appointment of presbyter-
bishops and deacons, and the subsequent pro-
vision made by the Apostles of an order of men
who should be able to perpetuate those offices.
When next the subject happens to be mentioned,
the ordainers are assumed, as of course, to be
bishops, and the question is only of their requisite
number and acts, or the like ; as in Can. Aposf. i.,
'ETTicTKOTros x^'pOTOve'KrBou iiirh iiritrKdiraii' Svo fj
rpLuiv, and can. ii. Trpea^vT^pos iiwh evhs ivi-
aK6irov x^^poroveiaBw ; and in Gmc. Cart/tag. III.
A.D. 397, can. xlv. " Episcopus unus . . . per quem
presbyteri multi constitui possunt ;" and IV.
A.D. 398, canons ii. iii. &c., which is the classical
passage (so to call it) respecting the rites of or-
dination, and which allows presbyters no part
at all in episcopal consecration ; and in jn-esby-
terial, only to hold their hands " juxta manum
episcopi super caput illius " (qui ordinatur), but
" episcopo eum benedicente et manum super
caput ejus tenente." And this latter practice
(which however does not exist in the Eastern
church [Denzingei-], although supposed to be
based upon 1 Tim. iv. 14) appears to be alluded
to by Firmilian (in St. Cypr. Epist. Ix.xv.),
" majores natu . . . ordinandi habent potesta-
tem." Similar assumptions occur in Cone. Nic,
can. xix., Antioch. A.D. 341, can. ix., Chalced.
A.D. 451, can. ii. &c. &c. ; and in Cone. Sardic.
A.D. 347, can. vi., 'T.-k'ktkottoi KaQia-rav bcpel-
Xovffiv 'E-TTiir/ci^Trows ; and also Pseudo - Dion.
Areop. Eccl. Hier. v. So also, not affirming
simply but assuming the fact, St. Jerome
{Epist. ad Evangel), " Quid facit, excepta or-
dinatione, episcopus, quod presbyter non fa-
ciat?" and St. Chrys. {Horn. xiii. in 1 Tiin.\
Ov yap Stj TTpiff^vT^poi rhv firiffKOTrov ix^^po-
Tovovv (and similarly, Hoin. i. in Philipp.), and
{Horn. xi. in 1 Tim. iii. 8), Tr7 yap x^'porovia
fxovri {oi iirlcTKOTroi) vTrepl3el3r]Kaai, Kal tovtw
fJiOVOV SoKOliat TTXiOViKTUU TOVS TTpea^VTepoVS ;
while Epiphanius {Haer. Ixxv.), expressly affirm-
ing what at length Aerius had denied, lays down
that narepas yap yevvS, {tj twv ivicTKoirwv
Ta|is) rp 'E/c/cArjtTi'a, 7) 5e {twv Trpfcr^vripoov)
Trarepas fXT] Swa/x^vr) Yej/^/a;/, 5ia ttis tov \ov-
Tpov iraKiyyeveaias reKva yivva.. So again, in
actual practice, the cases of Ischyras, declared to
be only a " layitiau " by an Alexandrian synod,
A.D. 324 or 325 (Neale, Hist, of East. Cli.,
Alexandria, vol. i. p. 135), because ordained
presbyter virh KoWovOov tov Trpecr^vTepov (pav-
Tacdevros eiTiffKoir-r\v (St. Athanas. Ajol. ii. 0pp.
i. p. 193, ed. 1698), and of certain presbyters
declared to be laymen for the like reason by
Cone. Sardic. A.D. 347, can. xix. ; while the much
later Council of Seville {Cone. Hispal. II. A.D. 619,
can. V.) pronounced certain presbyterial and dia-
conal ordinations void, because, although the
bishop had laid his hands upon the candidates,
a presbyter, the bishop being blind, "illis contra
ecclesiasticum ordiuem benedictionem dedisse
fertur." The one and only distinct assertion of
a contrary practice upon this point, and this too
(even had it been trustworthy) of a single and
exceptional case, is that of Eutychius, patriarch
of Alexandria, A.D. 933-940, born A.D. 876, who
affirms in his Origines, that in Alexandria, from
the beginning, the twelve city presbyters not
only chose the Alexandrian patriarch, upon a
vacancy, out of their own number, but also by
imposition of hands and benediction created him
patriarch ; and that this lasted down to the
230
BISHOP
patriarchate of Alexander, who was at the
Mcene Council, i.e. down to about a.d. 308 or
313 : or, in other words, that the bishop, in
whose time an Alexandrian synod deposed one
who had received presbyterial ordination, and^
on that very ground, viz. Ischyras, was himself
ordained by presbyters, and that all his prede-
cessors had been so likewise. Both date, and the
internal evidence of this and of many other
equally gross blunders (see Pearson, Vindic. Ignat.
c. XI. \C 2, pp. 270, 282 sq., ed. Churton), make
Eutychius' statement unworthy of the notice it
once attracted. And it is, besides, an obvious
perversion of the fact alleged by St. Jerome, that
up to the time (not of the patriarch Alexander,
but) of the patriarchs Heraclas and Dionysius, viz.
A.D. 232 or A.D. 264, " Alexandriae presbyteri
semper unum ex se
electum, in excelsiori loco
lUocatum, episcopum nominabant ;" and of the
stranger practice still, mentioned by Liberatus
(as above in I. 1, 7).' That there were bishops
enough in Egypt to consecrate legitimately
(Eutychius also aflirming that there were no
others except the bishop of Alexandria until
A.D. 190), is evident by the testimonies collected
in Pearson (as above, pp. 296, sq. : there were
above a hundred at one of Bishop Alexander's
councils). The further assertion of both Am-
brosiaster (in Ephes. iv. 11) and of the author
of the Quaest. in Vet. et Nov. Test, ci., that in
Egypt " presbyteri consignant si praesens non
sit episcopus," and that " in Alexandria et per
totam Aegyptum, si desit episcopus, consecrat
presbyter," is ruled to mean either the con-
secration of the Eucharist or the rite of con-
firmation, not that of ordination, whether to
the episcopate or the presbyterate, 1. by the
date of the statements, viz. long after the period
fixed even by Eutychius, and much more that
named in St. Jerome ; 2. by the meaning of the
word consiijnare ; 3. by the case of Ischyras,
above mentioned, which is conclusive. Other
instances of alleged presbyterial ordination are
either " mere mistakes " (see a list with expla-
nations in Bingh. 11. iii. 7), or depend upon the
assumption that chorepiscopi were not bishops,
or upon a misinterpretation of an obscure canon
of the Council of Ancyra, can. xiii. [Chorepi-
scopi.] The early Scotch and Irish Churches, in
which the presbyter-abbats of certain monas-
teries exercised an anomalous jurisdiction, never
allowed presbyterial ordination (see Adamnan
in V. 8. Columbae, and other authorities, in Grub's
Ilist. of Ch. of Scotl. c. xi. vol. i. 152-160). That
a bishop however was not at liberty to ordain
clerks " sine consilio clericorum suorum, ita ut
civium conniventiam et testimonium quaerat "
{Cone. Citrth. IV. can. xxii.), but did so " com-
muni consilio " (St. Cypr. Epist. xxxviii.), see
below in (a.) x. Moreover, he was strictly for-
bidden to ordain in the diocese of another bishop
(see below, (a.) xii.), or indeed in any way
aA\oTptoE7ri(rK07r6?i'.
(a.) ii. Confirmation, in accordance with the
intimations in the N. T. (Acts viii. 17, xix. 6),
appears also, when first mentioned, as the office
of the bishop {Constit. Apost. iii. 16; Pseudo-
Dionys. liierarch. Eccl. ii. p. 254 ; Cone. Carthag.
II. A.D. 390, can. iii., " ut chrisma, &c., a pres-
byteris non fiant"). But (through the difficulty
of always securing the bishop's presence) the
practice gradually issued in a severance between
BISHOP
the two acts, of imposition of hands, which was
restricted to the bishop (St. Cypr. Epist. Ixxiu. ;
Firraillan, ap. St. Cypr. Epist. Ixxv. ; Anon, de
Bapt. Haer. in ApiKnd. ad S. Cypr. 0pp. ; Cone.
EUberit. A.D. 205, canons xxxviii. Ixxvii. ; Euseb.
H. E. vi. 43 ; St. Chrys. Horn, xviii. in Act. Apost.
§ 3 ; St. Jerome, cont. Lucif. iv. ; St. Ambros.
de Sacram. iii. 2 ; St. Aug. de Trin. xv. 26 ;
Pope Innoc. Lad Decent, iii. ; Gelasius, Epist. ix. ;
Leo M. Epist. Ixxxviii. ; Greg. M. Epist. iii. 9 ;
Siricius, Epist. i. ad Himer. ; Cone. Hispal II.
A.D. 619, can. vii. ; Cone. Meld. A.D. 845, can.
xlv.) ; and of anointing with the consecrated
chrism, the consecration of which was also re-
stricted to the bishop (Cone. Carthag. III. a.d.
397, can. xxxvi. ; Tolet. I. A.D. 400, can. xx. ;
Braear. II. A.D. 563, can. xix., and III. A.D. 572,
can. iv. ; Autissiod. A.D. 576, can. vi. ; Barcinon.
II. A.D. 599, can. ii. ; Pope Innocent I. Epist. i.
ad llecent. c. iii. ; Leo M. Ejjist. Ixxxviii. ; Gelas.
Epist. ix.), and to the bishop of the diocese
(Cone. Garth. IV. A.D. 398, can. xxxvi. ; Vasens.
I. A.D. 442, can. iii. &c. &c.) ; but the actual
application of it, with some qualifications and in
certain cases, allowed to presbyters : as e. g. in
the Church of Rome, there being a double anoint-
ing, that of the forehead was restricted to the
bishop, the rest not so ; in Gaul, a single anoint-
ing was ordinarily the presbyter's office ; in the
East, a single anointing also, but ordinarily the
bishop's office, and only in his absence, as at
Alexandria and in Egypt, allowed to presbyters ;
but in West and East alike, allowed to presbyters
in cases of urgency, as of energumens or of those
at the point of death, or again by commission
from their bishop (see Bingh. XII. ii. 1-6). The
Constit. Apostol. vii. 43, 44, describe the practice
of the 3rd or 4th century. [Confirmation.]
(a.) iii. In the administration of sacraments,
the bishop's authority was primary, that of pres-
byters, and a fortiori of deacons, subordinate.
St. Ignat. ad Smyrn. viii. : Ovk i^ov icTTL x<^p\s
Tov iincrK6iTov ovre jSaTrrife"' ovre ay6.-Krjv
TToielv. TertuU. de Bajyt. 17 : " Dandi (bap-
tismum) jus quidem habet summus sacerdos, qui
est episcopus : dehinc presbyteri et diaconi ; non
tamen sine episcopi auctoritate, propter Ecclesiae
honorem ; quo salvo, salva pax est." Hieron.
cont. Lucif. IV. : " Inde venit ut sine jussione
episcopi ueque presbyter neque diaconus jus ha-
beat baptizandi." St. Ambros. de Sacram. iii. 1 :
" Licet presbyteri fecerint, tamen exordium mi-
nisterii a summo est sacerdote." Similar state-
ments are numerous (Bingh. Lay Bapt. i. § 2, sq.).
So e. g. Cone. EUberit. A.D. 305, can. Ixxvii — If any
are baptized by a deacon, " episcopus eos per
benedictionem perficere debebit." So also Cone.
Vera. I. A.D. 755, can. viii., forbids presbyters
baptizing, or celebrating mass, " sine jussione
episcopi." Although no doubt the statement of
Ambrosiaster in Ephes. iv. is true also, — as it is
indeed perfectly consistent with the principle
above laid down, and both would be and is in
like case the Church's rule now, — that, before
the Church was settled, laymen were allowed
" evangelizare et baptizare et Scripturas in
ecclesia explanare." See also Van. Espen, Jur.
Eccl. Univ., Be Bapt. c. iii. § 1 ; and Bingham
on Lay Baptism.
(a.) iv. The office of formal preaching, as dis-
tinct from exposition of Scripture, belonged also
properly to bishops. So e.g. in the African
BISHOP
Church, if the bishop were present, until the
time of St. Augustin ; who was the first African
presbyter that preached " coram episcopo," but
this, " accepta ab episcopis potestate " (Possid.
V. S. Aug. v.). So also in Spain, Cone. Hispal. II.
A.D. 619, can. vii. In the East the practice was
otherwise, since there it was only " in quibusdam
Ecclesiis, tacere presbyteros et praesentibus epi-
scopis non loqui " (Hieron. ad Nepot. Epist. ii.).
Yet there also the privilege depended on the
consent of the bishop, and was taken away in
Alexandria by an absolute prohibition : Tlp^ff^v-
Tefios iv 'AXe^avopela ov iTpoaujxiKit (Socrat. v.
22; Sozom. v. 17, vii. 19), from the time of
Arius. In Rome, on the other hand, it is asserted
that no bishop (ovre 6 eVtV/coTros ovre &A\os tis,
ace. to Sozom. vii. 19, repeated by Cassiodorus,
Hist. Tripart.) preached at all until Leo the Great
(Thomassin, II. iii. 83, § 5). To preach, however,
every Sunday, was reckoned ordinarily the duty,
as well as the privilege, of the bishop ; on the
ground that he is to be SiSuKTiKhs = apt to teach
(so dpSuos SiSacTKaXtKhs = the bishop's throne, in
St. Chrys. Horn. ii. in Tit., and a.^ia3/j.a SiSan-Ka-
XiKhu = the bishop's office, in St. Cyril Alex.
Ejiist. ad Monach. in Cone. Ephes. Labbe, iii. 423 ;
— and Sozom. vii. 19, Mdros b rrjs ttoXscos eVi-
ffKoiros SiSdcTKei, — and St. Ambros. de Offic. i. 1,
" tpiscopi proprium munus docere populum ").
And see also Origen, Horn. vi. in Levit. Cone. Lao-
die, c. A.D. 366, can. xix., and Cone. Valent. A.D. 855,
can. i., take the practice for granted. King Gun-
tram, A.D. 585 {Edict, confirm. Cone. Matisc. II.),
exhorts bishops to frequent preaching ; Charle-
magne enjoins their having suitable homilies
(Capit. i. A.D. 813. c. xiv., and Cone. Arelat. can. x.,
Mogunt. can. xxv., and Rhem. canons xiv. xv.,
all of the same year), and deprives bishops of
their sees who should not have preached before
a fixed day {Momieh. S. Gall. i. 20) ; Ludov. Pius
enjoins bishops to preach either in person or by
their vicars (Capit. i. 109) ; and Cone. Ticin.
A.D. 850, can. v., threatens deposition to all
bishops who did not preach at least on Sundays
and holidays. Ethelred also in England enjoins
bishops to preach {Laws, vii. 19 ; repeated by
Cnut, Laio xxvi). And similarly in Spain, Cone.
Tolet. XI. A.D. 675, can. ii. Bishops are also en-
joined by Cone. Turon. III. a.d. 613, can. xvii.,
to have homilies about the Catholic faith and a
holy life, and to cause them to be translated
" in rusticam Romanam linguam aut Theodiscam,
quo facilius cuncti possint intelligere," &c. In
the East, the Council in Trullo (a.d. 691, canons
xix. XX.), while deposing bishops who preached
outside their own dioceses without pei-mission,
enjoins all bishops to preach at least every Sun-
day, and if possible every day. And Balsamon,
on can. Ixiv. of the same council, lays down the
principle, that " to teach and expound belongs by
divine grace to bishops only, and so to those to
whom bishops delegate the office." It is assumed
to be the bishop's duty, also, in Cod. Theodos.
lib. xvi. tit. ii., de Episc. 1. 25 ; and also lib. ix.
tit. xl. de Poenis I. 16 ; and in Cod. Justin, lib.
ix. tit. xxix. de Crim. Sacrilegii, 1. 1.
(a.) v. As in the. points hitherto mentioned,
so also in the administration of discipline, the
bishop took the lead ; the presbyters (and appa-
rently in some cases the deacons) held their
proper subordinate place under him, and formed
his council. Bishop and presbytery occur to-
BISHOP
231
gather passim in St. Ignatius. The condemna-
tions of Origen (Pamphil. Apol. ad Fhot. Cod.
cxviii.), of Novatian (Euseb. H. E. vi. 43), of
Paul of Samosata {id. vii. 28, 30), of Noetus
(Epiphan. Haer. Ivii. 1), of Arius at Alexandria
(id. Ixis. 3 ; and see Coteler. ad Constit. Apost.
viii. 28), proceeded from the bishop, or bishops,
but with presbyters, the Trpea^uTepiov alone in-
deed being mentioned in the case of Noetus, and
deacons as well as presbyters in that of Arius.
So also Pope Siricius in the case of Jovinian,
" facto presby terio " (Siric. Ej/ist. ii., the deacons
also it appears concurring) ; and Synesius, bishop
of Ptolemais, in that of Andronicus, a layman
(Synes. Ejnst. Ivii. Iviii.). At the same time,
the bishop was the chief, and ordinarily the sole,
judge in the first instance in cases of excommu-
nication ("mucro episcopalis "), following the
authority of 1 Tim. v. 1, 19 (but see also 1 Cor.
V. 4, 2 Cor. ii. 10 : — so St. Cypr. Epist. xxxviii.
xxxix. Ixv. &c. ; Conc.Nicaen. can. v. ; Cone. Garth.
II. a.d. 390, can. viii. ; Cone. Carthag. IV. a.d.
398, can. Iv. ; Can. Apost. xxxi. ; Cone. Ep/ies.
can. V. ; Cone. Agath. A.D. 506, can. ii. ; and
countless other evidence — see Excommuni-
cation); subject however to an appeal to the
synod [Appeal] : although his power came to be
limited in Africa by a Carthag. Council (II. a.d.
390, can. x.), by the requirement of twelve
bishops to judge a bishop (which came to be the
traditional canonical number), of six to judge a
presbyter, and of three, in addition to the ac-
cused s own diocesan, to try a deacon. The power
of formal absolution from formal sentence is
throughout assumed by the canons to be in such
sense in the bishop, that presbyters could only
exercise it (apart from him) in cases of imminent
danger of death, unless by leave of the bishop ;
and deacons only in very extreme cases indeed
(Dion. Alex, in Euseb. H. E. vi. 44 ; Cone. Carth.
II. canons ii. iv., and III. can. xxxii. ; Cone. Arausio.
I. A.D. 441, can. i. ; Cone. Epaon. a.d. 517, can.
xvi. ; &c. &c.). St. Cypr. {Epist. xiii.) allows a
deacon to absolve, only if neither bishop nor
presbyter can be had, and in a case of extreme
urgency. But he also Speaks of '' episcopus et
clerus " as both uniting in the solemn act of
absolution by imposition of hands. And the rule
is laid down fully in Cone. Eliberit. a.d. 305,
can. xxxii. : " Apud presbyterum . . . placuit agere
poenitentiam non debere sed potius apud episco-
pum : cogente tamen infirmitate, neeesse est
presbyterum communionem praestare debere, et
, diaconum si ei jusserit episcopus." See also Mar-
\\ia\Vs, Penit. Liscipjl. pp. 91, sq. ; and Taylor's
Episcop.Asserted,%?jQ. [Discipline; Penance.]
See also under Penitentiap.y, Presbyter, for
the irpeff^vTfpos iirl ttjs fj-eravoias (Socrat. v.
19), and the like delegates of this part of the
bishop's oflice.
This authority extended over the whole diocese
and all its members. Exemptions, as of monas-
teries, from episcopal jurisdiction, are directly in
the teeth of the Counc. of Chalced. canons vii. viii.,
of Justinian's law {Cod. i. tit. iii. de Episc. 1. 40),
of the provincial councils of Orleans, I. a.d. 511,
can. XIX. ; Cone. Agath. a.d. 506, can. xxxviii. ;
Cone. Tlerdens. A.D. 546,- can. iii. ; &c. The well-
known case of Faustus of Lerins and his bishop
at the Council of Aries in A.D. 455, was an
adjustment of rigiits as between abbat and
bishop, but not an exemption in the proper
232
BISHOP
sense of the .word (as ' Hallam -superficially
states). The earliest real case of the kind appears
to belong to the 8th century, when Zachary,
A.D. 750? granted a privilege to Monte Casino,
" ut nuUius juri subjaceat nisi solius Romani
])ontificis " (Mabill. Act. S. Orel Bened., Saec. iii.
p. 643). Precedents for such exemptions, as
granted by royal authority, occur in the Formulae
of Marcuifus. [Exejiption ; Moxks.]
(a.) vi. As in the special subject of discipline,
so generally in the affairs of the diocese, the
bishop had the primary administration of them,
with the power of veto, but (as throughout) with
the counsel and consent of his j)resbyters, and
of the diocese at large. So e. g. St. Cyprian,
repeating the statement over and over again in
equivalent terms, — " Xihil sine consilio vestro
(presbyterorum) et sine consensu plebis mea pri-
vata se'nteutia gerere." The same rule, as regards
the presbyters, and in their place the deacons, is
prominent in the language of St. Ignatius in the
earliest time. And the " consessus presby-
terorum" is likened by St. Jerome to the
bishop's " senate," and by Origen and others to
the /SouAr) 'EKK\i7(n'as, and by St. Chrysostom and
Synesius to the Sanhedrim (a-vveSpiov). That
presbyters also shared in diocesan synods, " ad-
stantibus diaconis," see CotrNCiL, Synod. On the
other hand, firiSh &v€v yvdofir^s rov iiTLffKSirov
(Cone. Laodic. can. Ivii.) is repeated so endlessly
by councils, and asserted by church writers, as
to make it needless to multiply quotations. Im-
peratorial legislation, in conferring special powers
upon bishops, tended largely to increase episcopal
authority. Yet provincial svikhIs of presbyters
(and of a"bbats) still contiiiuc I. tlirmi-hout, down
to Carlovingian times. [Ouncil ; SvxOD.] And
Guizot {H. de la Civ. en France, Le^on 15) joins
priests with bishops as the really governing body
of the Church in the earlier Frankish period.
In the particular matters of creeds, liturgies,
aud church worship generally, the bishop is also
inferred to have had authority to regulate and
determine all questions, partly as being a natural
portion of his office, partly from the fact, that in
unessentials, even the treeds, much more litur-
gical points, varied in vai-ious dioceses, within
undefined but obvious limits. And so Basil
of Caesarea, we leai'u, composed certain (vx<^v
Siard^eis Kol evKOfffiias rov Pijixaros for Iiis
own Church while still a presbyter, of which
Eusebius his bishop sanctioned the use. St.
Augustin {Epist. 86, ad Casulan.) assumes a
like power in the bishop to appoint fasting days
for his own diocese. And the like is implied 'in
the tradition, that St. Ignatius introduced' anti-
[)hons and doxologies into- his own church
(Cassiod. Hist. Tripartit. x. 9). So Proclus of
C piistantinople, A.D. 434-447, is said to have
iiitriMluced the Trisagion into that Church. It
was tlic bishop's office also to consecrate churches
aud cemeteries [Church, Cemetery] : mentioned
as early as_^ Euseb. //. K x. 3, 'EyKaifioiv eoprai
■ . . Kcd Twv apTt veoiraywv Trpo(TivKTt)pio>v a.(pL-
epu>uei<!, iTncTK6iroiv re eTrl ravrh avveX^vciis.
(a.) vii. Visitation of his diocese was, at first,
rather a duty following as a matter of course from
a bishop's office, than a legal and canonical oblio-a-
tion: see St. Athanas. Apol. ii. § 74; St. ChiTs
Horn, i in Epist. ad Titim (e'Tno-Ke^sis) ; Sulp!
Sever. Dial. ii. (of St. Martin); St. Aug. Epist. vi
0pp. ii. 144; <5reg. Tur. H. E. ^. 5, and De Glor
BISHOP
Confess, lix. cvi. ; St. Greg. M. Dial. iii. 38, &c. :
and see also under Chorepiscopi, and Ilepio-
5€uT7?y or ViSiTATOR. Accordingly, no canons at
first defined or enforced the duty. But in course
of time, so soon as canons came to be made upon
the subject, the bishop became bound to visit his
diocese once a year, both to confirm and to ad-
minister discipline, and generally to ovei'see the
diocese : St. Bonif. Epist. Ixx. ed. Jaffa'; Cone.
Tarracon. A.D. 516, can. viii. ; Cone. Bracar. III.
A.D. 572, can. i. ; Cone. Tolet. IV. a.d. 633, can.
xxxvi. ; Cone. Tolet. VII. a.d. 646, can. iv. ;
Conc.Liptin. A.D. 743 (i. e. St. Boniface, as above);
Cone. Suess. a.d. 744, can. iv. ; Cone. Arelat. a.d.
813, can. xvii; Capit. Car. M. lib. vii. cc. 94, 95,
109, 365, A.D. 769," 813, &c.
(a.) viii. Further (I), it was the bishop's office
to issue letters of credence to any members of his
diocese, which alone enabled them to commu-
nicate in other churches : sc. litterae formatae, or
canonieae, &c. So, Can. Apost. xxxii., no stranger
bishop or clergy were to be received avev {rvara-
riKwv ; Cone. Laodic. a.d. 366, can. xli., Ov Se?
iepariKhv ^ KXrjpLKhv avev KavovM&v ypafjifidrccv
oS^veiu ; Cone. Antioch. A.D. 341, can. vii., Mtj-
SeVa &v€v €lp7)viKccv Se'xecflai tUv ^evaiy : Cone.
Carthag. I. A.D. 348, can. vii., " Clericus vel laicus
ncn communicet in aliena plebe sine litteris epi-
scopi sui." So also Cone. Milevit. A.D. 402, can. xx.
(" formatam ab episcopo accipiat"); Cone. Agath,
A.D. 506, can. Iii., and repeated Cone. Epaon.
A.D. 517, can. vi. (" sine antistitis sui epistolis ") ;
but, in each case, of the clergy, who should travel
from home. And the Councils of Aries (a.d. 314,
can. ix.) and of Eliberis (a.d. 305, can. xxv.)
forbid " confessors " to give such letters, and
order those who have them to procure fresh
" communicatoriae" from the bishop. The Coun-
cil of Antioch, A.D. 341, can. viii., permits chor-
episcopi di^ipai elp-nvLKas, but forbids presbyters
doing so ; and the Council of Eliberis (A.D. 305,
can. Ixxxi.) prohibits the worse abuse of the
wives (apparently of bishops) giving and receiv-
ing such " pacificae." These letters, according
to their purpose, were called " commendatitiae "
(of credence, or recommendation), " pacificae "
(also " ecclesiasticae " or " canonieae," of com-
munion), or " dimissoriae " (ixTroAuTi/col, avera-
TiKol, or again elpriviKal, or " concessoriae ") ; see
e. g. Cone. Trull, can. xvii. (not necessary or
granted, like modern letters dimissory, to any
one who desired to be ordained in another dio-
cese than his own — who, however, had of coui'se
to obtain leave to do so — but only when a
clergyman desired to change his diocese) ; and
they are to be distinguished from the unauthori-
tative " libelli " given by martyrs or confessoi-s
during a persecution to those who had lapsed.
Cona. Clialced. A.D. 451, can. xi., orders ffvcnaTi-
Koi to be given only to such as were " suspectae ;"
but to those who were poor and in want, only
ilp7]VLKa\, and not avuTarLKai — pacificae, and not
commendatitiae. (2.) The bishop also represented
his diocese collectively, besides answering for
its individual members ; as in communicating
with other dioceses. So, e.g. St. Clement ot
Rome writes to the Corinthian Church, as speak-
ing for the Church of Rome, of which he was
bishop; and is spoken of by Hermas Pastor
{Vis. ii. 4) as officially communicating with
Christians of other dioceses. It is needless to
give evidence from later times.
BISHOP
(a.) ix. The income and offerings of the '
Church, and its alms, were likewise, in the first
instance, under the disposition of the bishop, to
be dispensed either by himself or b_v his proper
officers (see Alienation of Church Pro-
perty, Alms, Archdeacon, Deacon, Oeco-
NOMUS) ; and this upon the ground of Acts iv.
35, 37, V. 2, 1 Cor. xvi. 3, 4 ; but with the
general consent of his presbyters, as Acts xi. 30.
Ta TTJs 'EKKX-qaias . . . StoiKeladai TrpoffTj/fft fiera
Kpiffiws Kol i^ovalas rov eiricrKoirov {Cone. An-
tioch. A.d. 341, can. xxiv., and see can. xxv.).
And Cone. Gangr. (a.d. 325, canons vii. and viii.)
puts an anathema on those who intermeddle with
church property, Trapa •yvoiixr^v (or irapiKrhs)
Tov iiriaKOTTOV •() Tov ey/cex^'P'CM^''"'" '''°' TOiavra.
So Can. Apost. xxxvii. : Uaurwv t&v 4KK\i](ria<T'
riKwv TTpajfxaTccv 6 €TriaKuTros exfTco rr/i/ <ppov-
riSa Kol SioiKe'Tca aiiTo, a<s @€ov itpopoUvTOS. And
so also ib. can. xl. ; and at length, Coiistit. Apostol.
ii. 25. And St. Cypr. {Epist. xxxviii. al. xli.),
" Episcopo dispensante." And St. Hieron. ad
Nepot. Epist. xxxiv., " Sciat episcopus, cui com-
missa est Ecclesia, quem dispensation! pauperum
curaeque praeficiat." And Possid. in V. S. Aug.
But Cone. Antioch. (as above, can. xxv.) forbids
the bishop from dealing with church revenues,
fxri ^6TO ■yvcifj.ris riv ■Kpea^vripwv tj r£v 5ia-
kSvoov. and orders him evQvvas ■napex^^" '''V "'""
uiiSrc T7}S irrapx'ias- And Can. Apost. xxxix. al. xl.
bids him keep his own goods and those of the
church distinct, so that effTia ^avepa to 'iSia tov
fiTKTKSirov irpdyixaTa (e? 76 koL iSia exei) Kal
(pavepa to, KvpidKci. k.t.X. And Cone. Carth. IV.
A.D. 398, can. xxxii., "Irrita erit donatio episco-
porum vel venditio vel commutatio rei eccle-
siasticae, absque conniventia et subscriptione
clericorum." Compare also the established ex-
ceptional cases wherein church plate, &c., might
be sold, viz. for redeeming captives (as St. Am-
biiose, de Offic. ii. 28 ; Acacius of Amida, in So-
erat. vii. 21 ; Deogratias of Carthage, in Victor
Utic. de Persee. Vandal, i. ; St. Augustin [Possid.
in V. S. Aug. 24] ), or feeding people in case of
famine (as St. Cyril of- Jerusalem, in Theodoret.
ii. 27, and Sozom. iv. 25); in which, as in other
cases of real necessity, the bishoj) allowably
disposed of the property, but with the consent
of the primate " cum statute numero episco-
])orum " {Cone. Carth. V. A.D. 398, can. iv.), or
" apud duos vel tres comprovinciales vel vicinos
episcopos" (Cone. Agath. A.D. 506, can. vii.);
which last canon, however, permits the bishop by
himselfto dispose of "terrulaeautvineolaeexiguae
atit ecclesiae minus utiles," &c. (can. xlv.) : and
C<mc. Epaon. A.D. 517, can. xii., requires the "con-
scientia metropolitani " to a like sale. Councils of
Orleans, III. and IV. A.D. 5oS, 541, repeat like
rules. And in Spain, Cone. Ilispal. II. A.D. 619,
canons ix. and xlix., and Tolet. IV. A.D. 633, can.
xlviii., and the Capit. of Martin of Braga ; in
Italy, the letters of Gregory the Great, and Cone.
fiOm.Yl. under Symmachus, A.D. .504; and in
the East, Justinian"(A^ot;e//. 123, c. 23, 131, c. 11),
shew a like system. This general rule, however,
held good only so long as the church goods of
each diocese formed a common fund. After the
appropriation of special incomes to special officers
and to particular parishes, the bishop of course
ceased to have control over more than his own
share, except over alms and general contri-
butions, and in like cases (sec TriiiKS) : uu-
BISHOP
233
less so far as he still retained the power of
appointing clergy and ordaining them to parti-
cular benefices. The era of such limitation may
be taken to be the Cone. Troslcian. (Troli,
near Soissons), a.d. 909, can. vi. ; the old
rule lingering still during the time of Charle-
magne (see thomassin. III. i. 8). About 600^.
a year is Gibbon's estimate of an average episcopal
revenue in the time of Justinian ; the valuation
fluctuating at the time from 2 pounds of gold
to SO (Justin. Novell. 123, c. 3).
(a.) X. The bishop also appears, in the first
instance, to have so taken charge of his whole
diocese, as that, the diocesan city being served
by clergy of his own ordaining, the country
districts were served from the city by clergy
at his appointment, although with counsel and
consent of both presbyters and laity. The dio-
cese was in fact one parish, there being no such
thing as a parish in the modern sense. And this
original condition of things gradually settled into
rule, as follows : — 1. That no clergyman could
migrate to, or be ordained to a higher order in,
another diocese than that in which he had been
borfl and ordained, or (if this involved two dio-
ceses) in which he had been ordained, without
the express leave of the bishop who had ordained
him : the presbyters being bound to the bishop
who had ordained them, as he in turn was bound
to support them if in need. See Clergy, Lit-
T0RAE DiMissoRiAE, Presbyter. An exception
however came to exist in favour of the bishop of
Carthage, iu relation to Africa, " ut soli ecclesiae
Carthaginis liceat alienum clericum ordinare "
(Ferrand. iirerwr. c. 230). 2. That no clergyman,
when benefices came to exist, could resign his
benefice, or remove to another, within the parti-
cular diocese, without his bishop's consent. Cone.
Carth. IV. A.D. 398, can: xxvii., probably refers to
different dioceses, — " Inferioris gradus sacerdotes
vel alii clerici concessione suorum episnoporum
possunt ad alias ecclesias transmigrare." But in
later times, Cone. Semens. A.D. 813, can. xx.. Cone.
Turon. a.d. 813, can. xiv., and Cone. NarniKt. can.
xvi., are express, " De titulo minori ad majorem
migrare nuUi presbytero licitum est ;" and are
confirmed by Charlemagne, Capit. lib. vi. c. 197, —
" Nullus presbyter creditam sibi ecclesiam sine
consensu sui episcopi derelinquat et laicorum
suasione ad aliam transeat ;" and see also lib. vi.
c. 85, lib. vii. c. 73. But, at the same time, the
bishop could not remove or eject a clergyman
against his will or at his own pleasure, the rule
coming to be that three bishops were required
to judge a deacon, and six a presbyter, including
their own diocesan, with an appeal to the pro-
vincial synod : see Appeal, Deacon, Presbyter,
Synod. 3. That the bishop as a rule collated
to all benefices within his diocese, conferring, by
ordination to a particular " title," the spiritual
jurisdiction, which drew with it the temporal
endowments (see Bingh. IX. viii. 5, 6 ; Thomassin,
II. i. 33-35). But, 4. that the right of nomi-
nating to a church in another's diocese was
granted, as time went on, to a bishop who had
founded that church (and apparently to his suc-
cessors, on the assumption that he founded it out
of church property), in the West {Cone. Arausic. I.
A.D. 441, can. x.) ; and in the East from Justinian,
and ultimately in the West likewise (e. g. Cone.
Told, IX. A.D. 655, can. ii. ; Cone. Franco/. A.D.
794, can. liv.), to laymen also in like position;
234
BISHOP
and in both East and West, by the time of Jus-
tinian and of Charlemagne respectively, to kings,
nobles, and other laymen, without any such
ground : although the right of the bishop to
determine whether the presentee was fit, and
if unfit, to reject him, remained still, even
in the case of noblemen's chaplains. Further,
1. in the East, a limit also was put to the
" requests " (Sva-ajirTfaiat) of the nobles, and to
the " command " (KeAevais) of tlie emperor, in
making such presentations (Novell. 3, in Praef.
and c. 2) : and, 2. in the West, the Council of Aries,
VI. A.D. 813, can. iv., commands, " ut laici pres-
byteros absque judicio proprii episcopi non eji-
ciant de eccles'iis nee alios immittere prae-
sumant ;" and the Council of Tours, III. A.D. 813,
can. XV., " Interdicendum videtur clericis sive
laicis ne quis cuilibet presbytero praesumat dare
ecclesiam sine licentia et consensu episcopi sui ;"
while, on the other hand, both Charlemagne and
Louis the Pious guard the lay side of the ques-
tion by enacting, " Si laici clericos probabilis
vitae et doctrinae episcopis consecrandos suisque
in ecclesiis constituendos obtulerint, nulla qua-
libet occasione eos rejiciant ;" or if they do re-
ject them, then, " diligens examinatio et evidens
ratio, ne scandalum generetur, manifestum faciat "
(Capit. lib. V. c. 178, and Lud. Pii Capit. in
Conn. Gall. ii. 430) : an enactment repeated by
Cone. Paris. A.D. 829, can. xxii. See also Cone.
Bom. A.D. 826 and 853, can. xxi. The right 'of
presentation to such a benefice by lapse, as de-
volving upon the bishop, is not traced by Tho-
massin (11. i. 31, § 5) higher tlian the time of
Hincmar. The consent of the Church, necessary
in the time of St. Cyprian to tlie ordination of a
jiresbyter, does not appear to have been required
in that of a deacon — " diaconi ab episcopis fiunt "
(St. Cypr. PJjnst. Ixv.) — and a fortiori not in
the case of minor orders.
(a.) xi. The bishop became also a judge or
arbitrator in secular causes between Christians,
on the ground of 1 Cor. vi. 4 : necessarily, how-
ever, by consent only of both parties, and by an
authority voluntarily conceded to him ; an office
which continued so late as the time of St. Au-
gustin ; sitting on Mondays for the purpose : for
which, and for other details, see Ap)0st. Constit.
ii. 45-53. See also under Appeal. As an office
conferred by the State, and endowed with legal
])0wer, see also below under (2).
(a.) xii. All these powers belonged to a bishop
solely in relation to his own diocese. Beyond
that diocese — not to discuss here, 1. the authority
of synods, or, 2. the gradual growth of the
offices of archbisho}), primate, metropolitan,
exarch, patriarch (for which see the several
articles)— each bishop had no right to interfere,
except under circumstances (such as the pre-
valence of schism or heresy, or of persecution,
or the like) which would obviously constitute a
necessity supersedmg law. So, e. g. St. Atha-
nasius Ka\ x^^po-roviai eVoi'ei in cities out of his
diocese, as he returned from exile (Socrat. ii. 24).
And similarly Eusebius of Samosata, in the Arian
persecution under Valens (Theodoret, iv. 13, v. 4).
And Epiphanius likewise in Palestine ; defending
his act on the ground that, although each bishop
had his own diocese, " et nemo super alienam
mensurara extenditur, tanien praeponitur om-
nibus caritas Christi " {Epist. ad Joan. Hieros.
t'l-p. II. ;!12). Compare also the letters of Cle-
BISHOP
ment of Rome to the Corinthians, and of Dionysius
of Corinth {KaQoXiKoL i-ma-ToXal) to the Lace-
daemonians, and to the Athenians, and many
others (Euseb. H. E. iv. 23) ; and St. Cyprian's
interference in Spain in the cases of Martial and
Basilides, and in Gaul in that of Marciau. And
see Du Pin, de Antiq. Eccl. Discipl. pp. 141, sq.
Still, the rule was —
(a.) xiii. A single bishop to each diocese, and
a single diocese to each bishop. " Unus in
Ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos," is St. Cyprian's
dictum (Epist. Hi. al. Iv.). And St. Jerome,
" Singuli Ecclesiarum episcopi, singuli archi-
presbyteri, &c., in navi unus gubernator, in
domo unus dominus " {Epist. ad JRustic, and re-
peatedly). And similarly St. Hilar. Diac. (m
Phil. i. 1, in 1 Cor. xii. 28, &c.). And Socrat. vi.
22 ; Sozom. iv. 15 ; Theodoret, ii. 17 (efs ®ehs, elj
yipiarhs, els iwiffKowos), and iii. 4; and, above
all. Cone. Kicaen. A.D. 325, can. viii. &c. &c. &c.
And to the same effect the numerous canons for-
bidding the intrusion of any one into a diocese as
bishop during the lifetime of the bishop of that
diocese, unless the latter had either freely re-
signed or been lawfully deposed. The seeming
exceptions to this, indeed, prove the rule. Merely
as a temporary expedient, in order to heal a
schism, the Catholic bishops in Africa offered to
share their sees with the Donatist bishops {Collat.
Carthaq. 1 die c. xvi. in Labbe, ii. 1352) ; as Me-
letius long before had proposed to Paulinus at
Antioch to put the Gospels on the episcopal
throne while they two should sit on either side
as joint bishops (Theodoret, v. 3) : the proposal
dropping to the ground in both cases. See also
what is said above of coadjutors ; and the conjec-
ture, not however solidly grounded, of Hammond
and others, respecting two joint bishops, respec-
tively for Jews and Gentiles, in some cities in
Apostolic times (see Bingh. II. xiii. 3). It must be
added, however, that Epiphanius (Haer. Ixviii. 6)
does say that Alexandria never had two bishops,
d)j al &Wat ir6\eis. On the other side, two sees
to one bishop was equally against all rule. The
text, " Unius uxoris virum," says the Be Dign.
Sacerd. (c. iv. inter 0pp. S. Ambros.), " si ad
altiorem sensum conscendimus, inhibet episcopum
duas usurpare Ecclesias." And later writers,
e. g. Hincmar, work the same thought with still
greater vehemence, and loudly inveigh against
spiritual adultery. And apart from this exalted
view, the canon of Chalcedon, which forbids a
clergyman being inscribed upon the roll of two
dioceses, was (very reasonably) held to include
bishops. The exceptional cases indeed of Inter-
ventores, and of the temporary " commendation "
of a diocese to a neighbouring bishop [Inter-
VENTORES, Commenda], occur, the former in the
early African Church, the latter as early as St.
Ambrose himseli' (Epist. xliv.). And a case occurs
in St. Basil the Great's letters (290 and 292),
where a provincial synod, under urgent necessity,
and not without vehement opposition, by a dis-
pensation (rh T7)s ot/coj/o/xiaj avayKalov), allowed
a bishop, promoted to the metropolitan see of
Armenia, to retain his previous see of Colonia.
And Gregory the Great in several cases joined
together in Italy ruined or impoverished or de-
populated sees. St. Medard also, in 532, united
the sees of Noyon and Tournay, upon the urgency
of his metropolitan and comprovincial bishops,
and of the king, nobles, and people (Surius, in
BISHOP
1'. S. Med. Jun. 8). But pluralities, in the sense
ot' two or more previously independent bishoprics
held together for merely personal reasons, do not
si'em to have crept in until early Carlovingian
times; when, e.g., Hugh, son of Drogo, became
archbishop of Rouen, a.d. 722, and added thereto
subsequently the sees of Paris and Bayeux, besides
the abbeys of Jumieges and Fontanelles (Chron.
Gernmetic.'), for no other apparent reason than that
he was nephew ot Pipin the Elder. In England,
the first case was that of St. Dunstan, who held
Worcester and London together, in order no doubt
to further his monastic schemes, a.d. 957-960.
And this is followed by the well-known series of
archbishops of York who were also bishops of
Vv'orcestei-, from 972 to 1023 ; and this, again,
by the union of the same unfortunate see of Wor-
cester to that of Crediton in the episcopate of
Living, 1027-1046. The union of other prefer-
ment, as of deaneries or abbeys, to bishoprics,
began much about the like period, when circum-
stances tempted to it. And for two abbeys held
together, see Abbat. The apparent exception of
the province of Europa in Thrace in earlier times,
in which two bishops were allowed upon their
own petition hj the Council of Ephesus (a.d. 431,
Act. vii. sub fiuem) to hold each two, and in one
case more, bishoprics together, on the ground that
those bishoprics had always been held together,
brings us rather to the previous enquiry respect-
ing the size of dioceses, and whether necessarily
limited to one city and its dependent country,
and if so, of what size the city must be. ,
(a.) xiv. And here, there being no principle
involved beyond that of suitableness in each case
to the particular locality, and the original diocese
in each case being the great city of the neigh-
bourhood with so much of its dependent country
and towns as was converted to the faith, questions
necessarily arose, as the district became com-
pletely Christianized, and were determined in
difl'erent ways in difierent places, as to the sub-
division of the original vaguely limited diocese.
In some countries that subdivision was carried
so far as to call forth prohibitions against placing
bishops iv KwfiT) Ttvi ^ eV ^pax^'^a iroKet (^Conc.
>ardic. a.d. 347, can. vi.); or again, iv rals Kci-
fiais Kol ev rais x'^fct's {Cone. Laodic. about A.D.
366, can. Ivii.), which latter canon perhaps only
prohibits chorepiscopi. Leo the Great also vehe-
mently condemns the erecting sees " in castellis,"
&c., in Africa {Epist. Ix.xxvii. c. 2). And it was
made an objection to the Donatists that (to multi-
ply their numbers) they consecrated bishops " in
villis et in fundis, non in aliquibus civitatibus "
{Collat. Garth, c. 181; Labbe, ii. 1399). The
jirohibition is repeated in later times, as by Pope
(Jregory III. A.D. 738, and Pope Zacharias, A.D.
743. The practice however had continued nevei--
theless ; as is obvious by St. Greg. Naz., St. Chry-
sostom, Synesius, and others, quoted in Bingh. II.
xii. 2, 3 ; and by Sozomeu (vii. 19), stating, but
as an exceptional case, that ioriv oinj koX iv
Kufxais iiriffKOTTOi UpovuraL. uis irapa 'Apa^iois
Kol Kvirpiuis eyvwu. On the other hand, the
(■(inversion of the German and other European
nations, as it were, wholesale, upon the conver-
sion of their kings, led in a large part of northern
Europe to sees of nations rather than cities, and
to sees therefore of often unwieldy extent. E. g..
in Scythia, TroAAttl ir6\fis uvtss iKvdai 'iva irau-ns
(Triaicunov ex<'t"''<(^'^^"f'i' ^'''- ^'' ! ''"'' '"'''' ''^"'" ^ '•
BISHOP
23.^
21) : viz. the Bishop of Tomi. In the older coun-
tries it might obviously happen, very naturally,
that (as in the province of Europa) two or more
towns or " civitates " of small but nearly equal
size might come to be united in one diocese, of
which yet neither of them could claim to be pre-
eminently the city. .Just as, on the other hand, Soz-
omen tells us, that Gaza and Majuma, being two
" civitates " (although very small ones) and also
two bishoprics, were united by the emperors
into one " civitas," yet remained two bishoprics
still (v. 4). The actual number of bishops in the
time of Constantine is reckoned by Gibbon as
1800, of whom 1000 were Eastern, 800 Western.
The authority for subdivision was " voluntas
episcopi ad quem ipsa dioecesis pertinet, ex con-
silio tamen plenario et primatis authoritate "
(Ferrand. Breviar. xiii. in Justell. BM. Jur. Can.
i. 448). See also Cone. Carthag. II. a.d. 397, can.
v., and III. a.d. 397, can. xlii'. (Labbe, ii. 1160,
1173), and St. Aug. Epist. cclxi., respecting his
erecting the see of Fussala with the consent of
the primate of Numidia. The consent of the ■
bishop of Rome was not asked or thought of,
until in the West in the time of St. Boniface, and
even then it was chiefly in respect to newly con-
verted countries. Comjjare the well-known his-
tory of Wilfrid in England in the end of the 7th
century, the action of Pope Formosus a century
later in respect to the same country, and the
history of JS'ominoS and the Breton sees in 845.
The Pope's consent became needful about the
time of Gregory V. The consent of the king
became also necessary from the commencement
of the Frank kingdom, and in Saxon England.
While in the East the absolute power of erecting
new sees accrued to the emperors solely, without
respect to diocesaa bishop, metropolitan, council.
or any one else (Thomassin, De Marca, kc). An
exceptional African canon {Cod. Can. Afric. ex vi.),
in order to reconcile Donatists, allowed anv one
reclaiming a place, not a bishop's see. to retain it
for himself as a new and separate bishopric upon
a prescription of three years. And so again in
Spain, according to Cone. Tolet. A.D. 633, can.
xxxiv., and Cone. Einerit. A.D. 666, can. viii., thirty
years' undisturbed possession by one bishop, of
what had previously been a part of another's
bishopric, constituted a prescriptive right on be-
half of the possessor. The Cone. Chalced. A.D. 451,
can. xi., had fixed the same period. The union oi
sees was subject to the same rules with the sub-
division of them. There were in England no in-
stances of such union within our period, except in
the cases of the temporary sees of Hexham and
of Whitherne, and of the possible brief-lived see
of Ripon ; the union of Cornwall and Devonshire
being of considerably later date. The transference
of the episcopal see from one place to another with-
in the same bishopric, as distinct from any change
of the limits or independency of the bishopric
itself, seems to have followed a like rule with
the larger measures of union or division. The
bishop, with sanction of his comprovincials, and
with the acquiescence of the State, was suflicient
authority at first in European kingdoms or in the
East ; as, e.g. in the shiftings of the see of East
Anglia, or of that of Wessex, kc. The consent
of the Pope came to be asked afterwards ; as in
the time of Edward the Confessor, in the case
(if the removal of Crediton to Exeter, or iu
that of the great movement of sees from smaller
236
BISHOP
to larger towns in the time of William the Con- |
queror in England generally ; which however
were both of them done, and the latter of the
two expressly, " by leave of the king." 1
(a.) x-v. Finally, bishops were required to
reside upon their dioceses. The Council of Nice ]
(can. xvi.), enjoining residence on the other orders j
of clergy, plainly takes that of bishops for granted,
and as needing no canon. The Council of Sardica,
A.D. 347, can. xv., in the case of bishops who
have private property elsewhere, permits only
three weeks' absence in order to look after that
property, and even then the bishop so absent had ,
better reside, not on his estate itself, but in some [
neighbouring town where there is a church and
presbyter. ^,nd Cone. Trull. A.D. 691, can. Ixxx., |
deposes a bishop (or other clerk) who without ;
strong cause is absent from his church three
Sundays running. A year's absence from his [
diocese forfeited the see altogether, ace. to Jus-
tinian's law (at first it had forfeited only the
pay, Novell. Ixvii. c. 2), or six months ace. to
Com. Constant. A.D. 870 (see above). Presence at
a synod (which was compulsory) was of course a
valid reason for absence. Bishops however were
not to cross the sea, ace. to an African rule {God.
Can. Afric. xxiii. ; and so also in Italy, Greg. M.
Ej'ist. vii. 8), without the permission and the
letter {airoAvTiKT], Teruirco^eVrj, fonnata) of the
primate ; nor to go to the emperor without
letters of both primate and comprovincial bishops
(Cone. Antioch. a.d. 341, can. xi.). Nor were
they to go into another province unless invited
{Cone. Sardic. can. ii.); nor indeed to go to court
at all unless invited or summoned by the emperor ;
nor to go too much " in canali " or " canalio "
(along the public road) " ad comitatum " (to the
court) to i)resent petitions, but rather to send
their deacon if necessary {ib. can. ix.-xii). Yet,
A.D. 794, by Cone. Fraacof. can. Iv., some four and
a half centuries later, Charlemagne is permitted
to have at court with him, by licence of the Pope
and consent of the synod, and for the utility of
the Church, Archbishop Angelram and Bishop
Hildebald. Bishops, again, were not to leave
their dioceses " negotiandi causa," or to frequent
markets for gain {Cone. Eliherit. A.D. 305, can.
xviii.). How ftvr persecution was an excuse or
reason for absence, see Persecution, Martyrdom.
St. Augustin excuses an absence of his own on
the ground that he never had been absent " licen-
tiosa libertate sed necessaria servitute " (E^nst.
cxxxviii.). And Gregory the Great repeatedly
insists upon residence. And to come later still,
Cono. Franeof. A.D. 794, canons xli. xlv., renews
the prohibition of above three weeks' absence
upon private affairs. And Charlemagne at Aix
(Capit. Aquisgr. A.D. 789, c. xli.) restrains the.
bishop's residence, not simply to his see, but to
his cathedral town : just as previous Frank
canons repeatedly enjoin his presence there at
the three great feasts of Easter, Whitsunday,
and Christmas. The bishop, too, by a canon of
Gone. Carthag. IV. A.D. 398, can. xiv., was bound
to have his " hospitiolum " close to his cathedral
church. The sole causes, in a word, that were held
to justify absence, were such as arose from ser-
vice to the Church ; as when at synod, or employed
on church duties elsewhere, or summoned to
court on church business or for Christian pur-
poses (but this was an absence jealously watched :
"'■ ^"'" "'■"'■■ &c. &c. as above). Absence
see Cone. Sardk
BISHOP
also on pilgrimage was seemingly, yet hardly
formally, acquiesced in. And a journey to Rome
(by permission of the prince) would come under
the same class of exemption as the attending a
synod. By the time of Charlemagne, moreover,
the office of Mlssi Dominici, and other State
duties, were held to justify at least temporary
non-residence.
13. From the spiritual office of the bishop
singly, we pass to his joint authority when
assembled in provincial synod ; and this, i. as
respects the consecration of bishops, for which
see above ; and, ii. as a court of appeal and judi-
cature over individual bishops, for which see
Appeal, Council, Synod ; and, iii. as exercising a
general jurisdiction over the province ; for which,
and for the relative rights of bishops and presby-
ters, &c. in synod assembled, see Council, Synod.
y. Thirdly, for the collective authority of
bishops assembled in general council, i. as re-
spects doctrine, ii. as respects discipline, see
Council, Oecumenical.
III. (2.) Over and above the spiritual powers
inherent in the episcopate as such, certain tem-
poral powers and privileges were conferred
upon the bishop from time to time by the State ;
and these, partly, in his general capacity as of
the clergy (for which see Clergy), partly upon
him as bishop.
(i.) The judieial authority in secular causes be-
tween Christians, which attached to the bishop
as a matter of Christian feeling, became gra-
dually an authority recognized and enlarged by
state law. See details under Appeal. He was
limited in the Roman empire to civil causes, and
to criminal cases that were not capital, and almost
certainly to cases where both parties agreed to
refer themselves to the bishop. In England,
however, the bishop sat with the alderman in
the Shire Gemot, twice a year, " in order to ex-
pound the law of God as well as the secular law"
(Eadgar's Laus, ii. 5, &c. &c.) ; an arrangement
to which (as is well known) William the Con-
queror put an end. In Carlovingian France, the
bishop and the comes were to support one another,
and the two as Missi Dominici made circuits to
oversee things ecclesiastical as well as civil (Capit.
of A.D. 789, 802, 806, &c. ; see Gieseler, ii. 240,
Eug. tr.). Questions relating to marriages, and
to wills, were also referred to the bishops by the
Roman laws, and by the Carlovingian (see under
Marriage, Testament). The bishop also was
authorized by Cod. Justin. I. iv. 25, to prohibit
gaming ; as he had been by Cod. Tlieod. IX. iii. 7,
XVI. X. 19, to put down idolatry ; and IX. xvi. 12,
sorcerers ; and XV. viii. 2, pimps. He had also
special jurisdiction, in causes both civil and (sub-
sequently) criminal, over clergy, monks, and nuns
— " e])iscopalis audientia " — from Valentinian,
A.D. 452 (Novell, iii. de Episc. Judicio\ and from
Justinian, A.D. 539 (Novell. Ixxix. and Ixxxiii., and
so also cxxiii. c. 21) ; and from Herarlius, A.D. 628
(for the inclusion of criminal cases, see Gieseler,
ii. 119, u. 14, Eng. tr.). And this exemption
of the clergy from civil courts was continued by
Charlemagne (Gieselei', 86. 256).
(ii.) Bishops also became members of the gi-eat
council of the kingdom in all the European
states; the result of such amalgamation being
to merge ecclesiastical councils to some extent
in civil ones. Their political position had also
the eflect of rendering them more despotic, while
BISHOP BISHOP 237
it made them at the same time more worldly.
They were in efl'ect nobles, with tlie additional
powei's of a monopoly of education and of the
sanctity of their office. See for this Guizot,
Hist, de la Civ. en France, Le^on 13.
(iii.) Under the Koman emperors it would seem
also that civil magistrates were placed in a cer-
tain sense under the jurisdiction of the bishop in
respect to their civil office. Cone. Arel. a.d. 314,
can. vii., de Praesidibus, " placuit ut cum pro-
moti fuerint, literas accipiant ecclesiasticas com-
municatorias : ita tamen ut in quibuscunque ' general question of the legality of oaths at all to
locis gesserint, ab episcopo ejusdem loci cura de \ any Christian. And this privilege was repeated
illis agatur : ut cum caeperint contra disciplinam I by the Lombard laws (L. ii. tit. 51, and L. iii. tit.
publioaxn agere, tum demum a communione ex- 1), and is traceable in the Capit. of Charlemagne
cludautur : similiter et de his qui rempublicam ; (ii. 38, iii. 42, v. 197). But oaths of fidelity
and King Aidan) only from about Carlovingian
times ; in the East, however, from the empei-or
Theodosius, a.d. 408 (see Maskell's Dissert, in
3Ion. Eit. iii., and a list in Morinus, de Sac,
Ordin. ii. 243 ; and Coronation, Unction).
(vi.) Bishops were further exempted from being
sworn in a court of justice, from Cone. Clialced.
(a.d. 451, Act. xi.); confirmed by Marcian and
by Justinian {Cod. .i. tit. iii. de Episc. et Cler.
1. 7, and Novell, cxxiii. 7) ; the privilege, however,
being mixed up in the first instance with the
agere volunt " (l.abfae, i. 1427). And so Socrates
(vii. 13), writing of St. Cyril of Alexandria and
Orestes the Praefectus Augustalis of Egypt. The
episcopal power of excommunication seemed to
afford a ground for this authority. And so St.
Gregory of Nazianzum declares to the AvvdffTai
Koi "Apxci'Tes, that 6 rov Xpiarov v6fxos vwot'l-
8r]mv vjxas ttJ i/j-rj SwaaTsia Kul rcf ejuoj p-q/nari,
K T.A. {Orat. xvii.). In Spain, at a later period.
Cone. Told. III. A.D. 589, can. xviii., describes
the bishops as " prospeetores qualiter judices
cum populo agant ," an enactment I'epeated by
to the king were imposed upon bishops by Char-
lemagne (see above). It was extended to presby-
ters also in so-called Egbert's Uxcerpts, xix. (9th
century), and by the provincial Council of Fribur
(near Mayence, A.D. 895, can. xxi.) : as it was
always, by both law and canon, in the East, ace.
to Photius in Nomocan. tit. ix. c. 27, and Bal-
samon, ib. Bishops indeed had the privilege of
not being summoned to a court to give evidence
at all, from at least Justinian's time (as above) ;
possibly from that of Theodosius {Cod. lib. xi. tit.
xxxix. de Fide Testium, 1. 8) ; but the latter law
Cone. Tolet. IV. a.d. 633, can. xxxii. And a con- I is taken to mean only that a clergyman chosen
stitution of Lothaire's in France, about A.D. 559, 1 to act as arbiter could not be compelled to give
enacts, in case of an unjust decision by the civil
judge, that, in the absence of the king, " ab epi-
scopis castigetur" (Labbe, v. 828). And this
seems to have been based upon Justinian's Code
(I. iv. 26), and upon Novell, viii. 9, Ixxxvi. 1
and 4, cxxviii. 23 (see Gieseler, ii. 118, 119,
Eng. tr.)
(iv.) The more special office of protecting mi-
nors, widows, orphans, prisoners, insane people,
foundlings, in a word all that were distressed
and helpless, was also assigned to bishops ; at
first, as a natural adjunci to their office (see,
e. g. Cone. Sardic. A.D. 347, can. vii. ; St. Jerome,
ad Gerunt. [of a widow protected " Ecclesiae
praesidio"] ; St. Ambros. de Offie. ii. 29 ; St. Aug.
Epist. 252 al. 217, and Serm. 176, § 2); after-
wards by express law {Cod. tit. i. c. iv. de Epise.
Audientia, ii. 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 38) ; repeated
further on by Gallic councils {Aurelian. V. A.D.
549, can. xx. ; Turon. II. a.d. 567, can. xxix. ;
Matise. II. A.D. 585, can. xiv. ; Francof. A.D. 794,
can. xl. ; Arelat. VI. a.d. 813, can. xvii.) ; and by
Spanish ones {Tolet. III. A.D. 589, can. xviii.);
and referred to in Italy in the letters of Gregory
the Great frecjuently. The manumission of slaves
belonging to the Church (e. g. Cone. Agath. a.d.
506, can. vii.), and the protection of freedmen {ih.
can. xxix., and Cone. Aurelian. V. a.d. 549, can.
vii. &c.), were also permitted and assigned to
bishops ; and this not only in Gaul but else-
where (see Thomassin, II. iii. 87, sq.). And
the manumission of slaves generallj"^ was often
made in their presence (e. g. in Wales and
England, Counc. I. 206, 676, 686, Haddan and
Stubbs), and was furthered by their influence.
(v.) The practice of anointing kings a't their
coronation, and the belief which grew up that
the right to the crown depended upon, or was
conveyed by, the episcopal unction, added further
power to the bishops. But this began in the West
(if we except the allusion in Gildas to the prac-
tice, and the well-known case of St. Columba
account of his decision to a civil tribunal (s
Bingh. V. ii. 1). The value of a bishop's evidence,
and that not on oath, was also estimated, accord-
ing to a very suspicious law assigned to Theodosius
{Cod. xvi. tit. xii. de Episc. Audient. 1. 1), as to
be taken against all other evidence whatever;
and certainly was ranked by Anglo-^axon laws
(Wihtred's Booms xvi.) with the king's, as
" incontrovertible." See also Egbert's Dialogus,
Eesp. i. ; and a fair account of " compurgation,"
as required or not required of the clergy, in
H. C. Lea's Superstition and Force, pp. 30, sq.
Philadelphia, 1870. Gregory of Tours, when
accused, condescended, " regis causa " and " licet
canonibus contraria," to exculpate himself by
three solemn denials at three several altars ;
although it was held superfluous for him to do
this, because " non potest persona inferior "
[which was the case here] " super sacerdotem
credi." Cone. Meld. a.d. 845, can. xxxvii. forbids
bishops to swear. And the Capit. of Carolus
Calvus, A.D. 858 {Cone. Carisiac. c. xv.) is ex-
press in forbidding episcopal oaths upon secular
matters, or in anything but a case of " scan-
dalum Ecclesiae suae." The office of Advocatus
Ecclesiae, among other things, was connected
with this inability to be sworn. See also H. C.
Lea, as above.
(vii.) Bishops had also a privilege of intercession
for criminals in capital or serious criminal cases ;
which the Council of Sardica regards as a duty
on their part calling for frequent exercise :
'ETrei iroWaKls crvfi^aivn Tivas . . . KaTacpuyflf
iirl r^v ^EKK\7](rlau . . , rols towvtois ^t/ apvy)-
riav flvat tt)v I3nri6etav, aAAa xcofils HfWr^fffiov,
ic.T.X. (can. vii., transportation and banishment
to an island being the penalties named). As
an office naturally as well as legally attached to
the episcopate, such intercession is mentioned by
St. Ambrose, by St. Augustin (interceding for
the Circumcellions, Epist. clviii. and dx.), by
St. Jerome {ad Nepot., Epist. xxxiv.), by.Socrates
238
BISHOP
(v. 14, vii. 17). It did not extend to pecuniary
causes, on the ground that in these to help the
one side would be to injure the other (St. Anibros.
dc Offic. iii. 9). It is mentioned later still by
Sulp. Severus, Dial. iii. of St. Martin, by En-
nodius of St. Epiphanius of Ticinum, &c. Restric-
tions, however, are placed upon the (admitted)
right by Cod. Thcod. (IX. tit. xl. cc. 16, 17),
renewed" by Justinian (I. tit. i,v. De Episc. Audient.
1. 6), and again by Theodoric in Italy {Edict, c.
114): free access being given nevertheless to
bishops to enter prisons with a view to such
" interventiones " (Append. Cod. Theod. c. xiii.).
And Charlemagne gives authority to bishops to
obtain pardon for criminals from the secular
judges at the three great festivals (Cnpit. vi. 106).
A series of councils, mostly in Gaul, had put
limits, before Charlemagne, to the Church's right
of protecting criminals. See Chuech, Sanc-
tuary.
(viii.) A bishop's character, life, and property,
were also placed under special legal protection :
(1.) By the canons, rejecting the evidence of a
heretic altogether, and requiring more than one
Christian lay witness, against a bishop {Apost.
Can. Ixxiv.) ; or again, rejecting in such case the
evidence of one known to be guilty of crime
(Cone. Carth. II. A.D. 390, can. vi.); or of one,
cleric or lay, without previous enquiry into the
character of the witness himself (Cone. CImIc.
A.D. 451, can. xxi.) ; which provisions occur also
in Cone. Co-astantin. (A.D. .381, can. vi.), with the
qualification that they do not apply to suits
against a bishop touching pecuniary matters,
but only to ecclesiastical cases. (2.) By the canons
which excommunicate any one proved to have
felsely accused a bishop (Apost. Can. xlvii.) ;
e.ttended also to priests and deacons by Cone.
Eliherit. A.D. 305, can. Ixxv. Under the Ger-
manic states this protection was carried still
further (see, e. g. for Anglo-Saxon laws, Thorpe's
index, vol. i. ; and 'across the Channel, Leg. Ala-
niann. cc. x. xii. ; Leg. Longob. I. ix. 27 ; Leg.
Baimar. i. 11 ; and Capit. Carol, et Ludov. lib. vi.
cc. 98, 127 ; vii. c. 362 ; and Capit. Ludov. Add.
iv. c. 3): provisions suggested by Justinian's,
legislation of a like kind. '
How far bishops were exempt, with other
clergy, from civil jurisdiction, see under Clergy.
Justinian gave to bishops the special privilege,
that they could not be brought before the civil
magistrate for any cause, pecuniary or criminal,
without the emperor's special order (^Novell.
cxxiii. 1. 8).
(ix.) For the legal force attached to the decrees
oi (episcopal) synods, see under Council, Synod.
(x.) In addition however to privileges thus
accorded to bishops by the State, their office as
bishops entailed upon them also certain restric-
tions and burdens, partly in common with clergy
generally (for which see Clergy, Presbyters,
&c.), partly peculiar to themselves, or belonging
to them more especially than to the clergy of
lower rank. As (1) in the disposal of their pro-
lierty by will : wherein, in the case of any lands
acquired by them after ordination, they were re-
quired to leave such lands to the Church (Cone
Carth. III. A.D. 397, can. xlix.), and could only
dispose of such as had come to them by inheritance
or by gift, or such as they had possessed before
ordination. And even those they could not leave
save to their kinsfolk, nor to them if they were
BISHOP
heretics oi- heathens, but were bound to leave
them by will to the Church in such case (Can.
Ecd. Afrie. 48). Justinian also allows bishops
to leave nothing by will except what they pos-
sessed before being ordained bishops, or what
might have accrued to them since that time by
inheritance from kinsmen up to the 4th degree
and no further; all else to go to the Church, or
to works of piety (Cod. I. de Epise. et Gler.
1. 33) : the goods of a bishop dying intestate to
go wholly to the Church (ib.). And Gregory the
Great acts upon a like rule. And in Gaul, Cone.
Agath. A.D. 506, can. vi., Epaon. A.D. 617, can.
xvii., Paris. III. A.D. 657, can. ii., Lugdun. II.
A.D. 567, can. ii., contain various enactments
founded on like principles, although not quite so
rigorous. So likewise Spanish councils from
Cone. Tnrracon. A.D. 516, can. xii.. Cone. Valent.
A.D. 524, can. ii. iii., onwards ; carefully guard-
ing the right of the Church to all church goods
(especially, it must be owned, in the matter of
limiting the manumission of slaves belonging to
the Church), while leaving the bishop's property,
otherwise acquired, to his heirs. And all these
enactments were backed by a strong feeling in
favour of the principle, that a clergyman, and
especially a bishop, should have no private wealth,
but should give up all to the Church and the
poor : see e. g. Possidius' Life of St. Augustin. He
was to have " vilem supellectilem et mensam
ac victum pauperem," ace. to Cone. Carthag. IV.
A.D. 398, can. xv. Nor was he to become exe-
cutor under a will (ib. xviii.), or to go to law
" pro rebus transitoriis " (ib. xix.). But see for
this under Clergy, Poverty. The requirement
of the royal consent to a bishop's will in England
in Norman times arose from a totally different
source, viz. the king's right to the temjioralties
during vacancy, and the regarding the bishopric
as a fee in the feudal sense. See also the parallel
case of abbats, under Abbat. (2.) Ace. to Cone.
Carthag. A.D. 398, can. xvi., a bishop was not to
read " gentilium libros, haereticorum autem pro
necessitate et tempore." But see, for the fluc-
tuations of the dispute respecting classical study
and the reading of Pagan writers, Thomassin, II.
i. 92. (3.) For prohibitions about hunting and
hawking,, and social matters generally, see
Clergy. (4.) Under the Frank kings also, and
notably under Charlemagne and his successoi-s,
bishops, who with the other clergy enjoyed large
exemptions under the Roman empire (see Clergy),
became liable to certain duties, arising from theii
wealth and position, and gradually assuming large
proportions as the feudal system grew up : as,
e. g. annual gifts to the crown, the entertainment
of the king and his officers on progress (jus gisti,
jus metatus, &c., see Du Cange sub voeibus, and
Thomassin, III. i. 38, sq.), the finding soldiers for
the emperor's service, &c. &e. But feudal dues
belong to a later date. Clerg_v had been espe-
cially exempted from the " jus metatus " under
the Roman emperors.
(xi.) We may also mention here the custom
of educating boys in the bishop's house for the
ministry (see Possid. in V. S. Aug., and Sozom.
vi. 31, speaking respectively of Africa and of
Egypt); and Cone. Tolet. II. a.d. 531, can. i.
and ii., and IV. A.D. 633, can. xxiv. (regulating
the practice in Spain) ; and Cone. Turon. V. A.D.
567, can. xii. for Gaul). See Thomassin, III. i.
92-97.
BISHOP
III. (3.) From the office, we pass to the no\0-
RARY PRIVILKGES and rank of a bishop ; of wliom
in general the Apost. Constit. (ii, 84-) declare,
that men ought rhv iiriaKoirov (rr^pyeiv a>s ira-
repa, tpo^elcrOai ws ^aaiKla., rt/xav ws icvpiof.
But no doubt many of such privileges belong
to Byzantine times, and date no earlier than the
3rd or 4th centuries at the earliest. And here —
(i.) Of the modes of salutation practised to-
wards him from the 4th century onwards. As,
1. bowing the head to receive his blessing — iiiro-
K\iveiv Ki<pa\riv — inclinare caput : see Bingh.
II. ix. 1, and Vales, in Theodoret. iv. 6, from
St. Hilary, St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, &c.
speaking of bishops only ; and a law of Honorius
and Valentinian, speaking of bishops as those
" quibus omnis terra caput inclinat." 2. Kiss-
ing his hand — manus osculari (Bingh. ib. 2,
quoting Savaro on Sidon. Apollin. Epist. viii. 11).
3. Kissing the feet also — pedes deosculari — ap-
pears by St. Jerome, Epist. Ixi. (speaking of a
bishop of Constantina in Cyprus ; and see Casau-
bon, Excrcit. xiv. § 4), to have been at one time a
mai'k of respect common to all bishops ; being
borrowed indeed from a like custom practised
towards the Eastern emperors. The deacon is to
kiss the bishop's feet before reading the Gospel,
ace. to the Ordo Bomanus. It was restricted
to the Pope as regards kings, by Gregory VII.
4. The forms of address, and the titles and epithets,
applied to bishops, have been mentioned already.
(ii.) The insignia of a bishop were, — 1. the
mitre; seemingly alluded to by Eusebius, x. 4,
as -rhv ovpdviov ttjs 5d|?js anc^avov, and cer-
tainly mentioned by Greg. Naz. Orat. v. under
the name of KiSapis, and by Ammian. Marcell.
lib. xxix. under that of " corona sacerdotalis,"
yet not occurring in Pontificals in the West until
after the 10th century (Menardus, in Du Cange),
and not reckoned among the " episcopalia " even
in A.D. 633 (see above) ; while in the East,
Symeon of Thessalonica tells us that all bishops
officiated with bare heads except the bishop of
Alexandria, who did then wear a KtSapis; and
the homily attributed to St. Chrysostom, de Uno
Leijislat. (0pp. vi. 410, Montf.), implies that there
was then no riapa or Kopv^dfTiov appropriated
to bishops at their consecration. The " aurea
lamina," however, attributed to St. John by
St. Jerome {de Scriptf. EccL), and by Eusebius
(jTiTaXov, iii. 31, v. 24) on the authority of Poly-
crates, — and again by Epiphanius (Ifaer. xxix.),
on that of Eusebius and Clement of Alexandria,
to St. James of Jerusalem, — seem to favour the
supposition that some kind of mitre soon became
usual. See Maskell, Mon. Hit. iii. 274. [Mitre.]
2. The ring, peculiar to the West, and alludecl
to by Optatus (lib. i.) : see above, and under
Ring. 3. The staff, belonging apparently to
patriarchs in the Pkst (so Balsamon), and of a
shape to supply the ordinary uses of a staff",
viz. to lean upon ; in the West', growing by Car-
lovingian times into a sceptre of some seven
feet long, occasionally of gold (see the Monach.
5. Gall. i. 19, quoted by Thomassin, I. ii. 58) ; so
that instead of golden bishops carrying wooden
staves, there had come to be (ace. to a saying
quoted by Thomassin) wooden bishops carrying
golden ones. See Staff. Tlie two last named,
the ring and the staff, were so far the charac-
teristic insignia of a bishop before the time
of Charlemagne as to become the symbols by
BISHOP
239
which bishoprics were given (see above). And
they are recognized as such A.D. 633 in Spain,
in conjunction with yet another, viz., 4. the
orarium : for which see Orarium. 5. A cross
borne before him was peculiar in the East to a
patriarch; in the West it does not occur until
the 10th century, unless in such exceptional
cases as that of the first entry of St. Augustiu
into Canterbury, A.D. 596 : the cross of gold men-
tioned by Alcuin as carried about with him by
Willibrord being apparently only a pectoral cross.
See Cross. 6. The tonsure, when general rules
about modestly cut hair, &c., settled into formal
rule about the 6th century, was not peculiar in
any special form to bishops : see TONSURE. Nor
yet, 7. was there apparently any special dress
for bishops apart from solemn occasions and in
ordinary life, during the period with which this
article is concerned : as appears, among other
evidence, by the rebukes addressed by popes to
the Gallic bishops of the 5th century onwards,
who, being monks before they were bishops,
retained their monastic habit as bishops (see at
length Thomassin, I. ii. 43, sq.). For the vest-
ments used during divine service, see Vestments,
(iii.) Singing hosannas before a bishop on his
arrival anywhere, is mentioned only to be con-
demned by St. Jerome (in Matt. xxi. 0pp. vii.
174 b). But see Vales, ad Euseb. H. E. ii. 23 ;
and Augusti, Denkwiird. aus der Christ!. Archaeol.
V. 218.
(iv.) The form of addressing a bishop by the
phrase corona tua or vestra, and of adjuring him
per coronam, frequent in St. Jerome, St. Augus-
tin, Sidon. Apollin., Ennodius, has been explained
as referring to the mitre, to the tonsure, or to
the corona or consessus of the bishop's presbyters.
The personal nature of the appellation appears to
exclude the last of these. Its being peculiar to
bishops is against the second. While the objec-
tion taken by Bingham against the first, viz.
that bishops did not wear mitres at the period
when the phrase came into use, seems scarcely
founded on fact. And the bishop's head-covering
was also certainly called " corona," as by Am-
mianus Marcellinus. At the same time, the
phrase after all possibly means nothing more
definite than '• your beatitude," or " your high-
ness."
(v.) The bishop's throne — Qpovos, BpSvos aro-
<Tro\iK6s — or (after the name of the founder of
the see) 6 MdpKov Qpovos, for Alexandria, &c. —
^rjfia — 6p6vos v\f/ri\6s, in contradistinction to the
" second throne " of the presbyters — " linteata
sedes" (Pacian. ad Sempron. ii.) — " cathedra ve-
lata " (St. Aug. Epist. cciii). — Qpovos icTToXicTfjievos
iwiffKoirtKies (St. Athan. Apolog.) — was also a mark
of his dignity. The Council of Antioch, A.D. 364,
condemns Paul of Samosata for erecting a very
splendid throne, like a magistrate's tribunal
(Euseb. H. E. vii. 30). See also above in this ar-
ticle under Enthronization. By Gone. Carthag. IV.
A.D. 398, canons xxxiv. xxxv., a bishop is enjoined
that, as a rule of courtesy, " quolibet loco sedens,
.stare presbyterum non patiatur;" and that al-
though " in Ecclesia et in consessu presbyterorum
sublimior sedeat, intra domum . . . collegam se
presbyterorum esse cognoscat." During prayers,
according to the Arabic version of the Nicene
canons (Ixii.), the bishop's place in church was
" in fronte templi ad medium altaris " (Labbe,
ii. 334).
240
BISHOP
(vi.) If we are to take the pretended letter
of Pope, Lucius (Labbe, i. 721) to be worth any-
thing as evidence in relation to later times, the
bishop of Rome was habitually attended by two
presbyters or three deacons, in order to avoid
scandal.
IV. (1.) The relation of bishops to each other
was as of an essentially equal office, however dif-
ferenced individuals might be in point of in-
fluence, (Sic, by personal qualifications or by the
relative importance of their sees. St. Cyprian's
view of the " unus episcopatus" — the one cor-
poration of which all bishops are equal mem-
bers— is much the same with St. Jerome's well-
known declaration (Ad Evangel. Epist. ci.), that
" ubicunque fuerit episcopus, sive Romae sive
Eugubii, .... ejusdem meriti, ejusdem est et
sacerdotii." And a like principle is implied in
the Utterae communicatoriae or synodicae, — a-vy-
ypdfi/iara KoivaviKo., sometimes called Utterae en-
thronisticae, avWa^al ivdpovicrTiKal, — by which
each bishop communicated his own consecration
to his see to foreign bishojis as to his equals
(Bingh. II. xi. 10). The order of precedence
among them was determined by the date of con-
secration (see, e. g. the Cod. Can. Eccl. Afric.
Ixxxvi., Cone. Bracar. II. A.D. 563, can. vi., and
Tolet. IV. A.D. 633, can. iv., and Bracar. IV.
A.D. 675, can. iv. ; and the English Council of
Hertford, A.D. 673, can. viii. ; and Justinian's
Cod. I. tit. iv. 1. 29 ; and above under I. 3. 5).
But—
(2.) This equality was gradually undermined
by the institution of metropolitans, archbishops,
primates, exarchs, patriarchs, pope : for each of
whom see the several articles.
(3.) However, apart from this, there came to be
special distinctions in particular Churches : as,
e. g. in Mauritania and Numidia the senior
bishop was " primus ;" but in Africa proper, the
bishop of Carthage (Bingh. II. svi. 6, 7) ; and in
Alexandria the bishop had special powers in the
ordinations of the suffragan sees: for which
see Alexandria, (Patriarchate of), p. 48 ; Me-
tropolitan.
(4.) The successive setting up of metropolitans
and of patriarchs gave rise to exceptional cases
[AuTOKe'(|)aAoi] : all bishops whatever having been
really ainoKf<pa.\ui, i.e. independent (save sub-
jection to the synod), before the setting up of
metropolitans, and all metropolitans before the
establishment of patriarchs : see Bingh. 11. xviii.
[Autocephali, Metropolitans, Patriarchs.1
Whether there continued to be any bishop any-
where, avToicicfiaKos in such sense as to have
neither patriarch nor metropolitan nor compro-
vincial bishops, appears doubtful : o.ud such a
case could only occur, either in a country where
there was but one bishop (as in Scythia in
the 5th century), or as a temporary state of
things in a newly converted country : see Bingh.
(5.) For Chorepiscopi, in contradistinction from
whom we find in Frank times Episcopi Cathe-
drales (Du Cange), 6. for Suffragans, 7. for Co-
adjutors, 8. for Intercessores and Tnterventores,
and,. 9. for Commemiatarii, see under the several
titles.
V. There remain some anomalous cases; as,
(1.) Episcopi vacantes, orxoKaioi, axoXdCovres.
VIZ. bishops who by no fault were without a
see, but who degenerated sometimes into cpi-
BISHOP
scopi vagi or ambulantes, a,ir6\i5fs, or fiaKavrlfioi
(BaffKCLVTi^oi, in Synes. Epist. 67), vacantivi ;
and among whom in Carlovingian times, and
in northern France, " Scoti " enjoyed a bad
pre-eminence. Bishops indeed without sees,
either for missionary purposes to the heathen, or
merely rifx-ris eveKey (Sozom. vi. 34, ov TrdAeois
Tivos), existed from the time of the Council of
Antioch, A.D. 341, can. xix. ; and see Apost. Can.
xxxvi., But "Episcopi vagi, vagantes, ambulantes,
qui parochiam non habent," are condemned by
Cone. Vermer. A.D. 752 or 753, can. xiv., and
Cone. Vernens. or Vernovens. A.D. 755, can. xiii.,
Cmic. Caleh. A.D. 816, can. v., and Cone. Meld.
A.D. 845, can. x. ; and the " Scoti, qui se dicunt
ejjiscopos esse," by Cone. Cahillon. II. A.D. 813,
can. xliii. Compare the case of the early Welsh
and Irish (Scotch) chui'ches for honorary bishops,
and again for the custom of dioceseless bishops.
" Episeopi portatiles " is a very late name for
them (Cone. Lugd. A.D. 1449).
(2.) For the hishop-ahhats or bishop-monks, prin-
cipally of Celtic monasteries, but also in some
Continental ones, the former having no see except
their monastery (see Abbat), the latter being
simply members of the fraternity in episcopal
orders, but (anomalously) under the jurisdiction of
their abbat, and performing episcopal offices for the
monastery and its dependent district : see Todd's
St. Patrick ; Reeves' edition of Adamnan's Life of
St. Coluinba ; Mabillon, Annal. Bened. ; Martene
and Durand, Thes. Nov. Anecd. vol. i. Pref Five
bishops of this class — " episcopus de monasterio
S. Mauricii, &c. &c. — were at Cone. Attiniac.
A.D. 765.
(3.) Episcopus or Antistes Palatii, was an epi-
scopal counsellor residing in the palace in the time
of the Carlovingians, by special leave (see above,
III. 1, a. XV.). For the court clergy, whether
under the Roman emjjerors from Constantine, or
under the Franks, see Thomassin, II. iii. 589,
and Neander, Ch. Hist. vol. v. pp. 144, sq. Eng.
transl.
(4.) For Episcopus CardinaUs, which in St. Gre-
gory the Great means simply " proprius," i. e. the
duly installed (and "incardinated") bishop of the
place, see Du Cange, and under Cardinalis.
(5.) Episcopus Begionarius, i. e. without a spe-
cial diocesan city : see Regionarius.
(6.) Titular bishops, and bishops in partibus in-
fidelium, belong under these names to later times.
(7.) Episcopus Ordinum, in Frank times, was an
occasional name for a coadjutor bishop to assist
in conferring orders (Du Cange).
(8.) For the special and singular name of Libra,
applied to the suffragans of the see of Rome, see
Libra.
(9.) For lay holders of bishoprics, see Commen-
DATORS.
(10.) And, lastly, it almost needs an apology
to mention such mockeries as Episcopi Fatuorum
— Linoeentium — Pueroi-um; all too of later
date : for which see Du Cange.
(Bingham ; Thomassin, Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Dis-
cipl. ; Du Pin, de Antiqua Eccles. Disciplina
Dissert. ; Morinus, de Ordinibus ; Van Espen,
Jus Eccl. Univ. ; De Marca, de Cone. Eccl. et Lnp.,
and de Primatu Dissert, ed. Baluz. : Martene,
de Sacris Ordinationibus ; Cave, Dissert, on Anc.
Ch. Government ; Brerewood, Patriarch. Gov. of
the Church ; Bishop Potter, Disc, on Ch. Govern-
ment ; Greenwood, Catliedra Petri.) [A. W, H.]
BISOMUS
BISOMUS, a sepulchre capable of containing
two bodies (jrcafiaTa). The word is found in
inscriptions in Christian cemeteries at Rome and
elsewhere, as in one found in the cemetery of
Callixtus, near Rome : " Bonifacius, qui vixit annis
xxiii. et ii. (mens)es, positus in bisomum in pace,
sibi et patr. suo." [A. N.]
BISSEXTILE. [Chronology.]
BITERRENSE CONCILIUM. [Beziers,
Council of.]
BITURICENSE CONCILIUM. [Bourges,
Council of.]
BLANDINA, martyr at Lyons under M.
Aurelius ; commemorated June 2 (^Mart. Rom.
Vet:). [C]
BLASIUS, or BLAVIUS (St. Blaise),
bishop, martyr at Sebaste (circ. 320) ; comme-
morated Feb. 15 {Mart. Rom. Vet.); Feb. 11
(Cal. Byzant.); Jan. 15 (Cal. Armen.). [C]
BLASPHEMY: lit. "defamation," and to
blaspheme, ^xd-rrTeiu tV ^VM^, " to hurt the
reputation : to reproach or speak injuriously of
another;" which is the meaning of both words
in Plato, Demosthenes, Isocrates, and other sub-
sequent writers, where they occur : particularly
the LXX. translators of "the Old Testament.
Accordingly, when the Proconsul bade St. Poly-
carp revile Christ, the answer was, " How can I
blaspheme " — that is, speak evil of — " the King
who has saved me ? " (Euseb. U. If. iv. 15). By
the writers of the New Testament this word
would seem appropriated to any wickedness said
or done against God, especially where used with-
out adjuncts, as the Jews said of our Lord,
" This man blasphemeth " (Matt. ix. 3), and
St. Paul of his own doings at one time, " I com-
pelled them to blaspheme" (Acts xxvi. 11) ; and
it is the wilful and persistent commission of this
act against the Third Person in the Godhead, or
the Holy Ghost, which is denounced by our Lord
Himself as the one sin or blasphemy which is
never forgiven (Mark iii. 29 : cf. Heb. vi. 4-7
and 1 John v. 16), on which see Bingham at
great length (xvi. 7, 3 ; cf. Bloomfield on Matt,
xii. 31). He had previously shewn that " blas-
phemy " was by the primitive Church placed
first of the sins against the third Command-
ment : for which reason it was, doubtless, that
all Christians are forbidden by the 15th African
canon to frequent places where blasphemy was
used. Very rarely the word occurs in a good
sense for salutary chiding or remonstrance : see
Liddell and Scott's Lexicon for its classical, and
Schleusner's Lexicon and Suicer's Thes. for its
Scriptural and ecclesiastical senses. [E. S. Ff.]
BLESSING. [Benediction.]
BLIND, HEALING OF (in Art). The
healing of the blind is frequently represented
on ancient monuments, perhaps as a symbolical
representation of the opening of the eye of
the soul wrought by the power of the Saviour
(1 Pet. ii. 9). See Bottari, Sculture e Fitture,
tav. xix. xxxii. xxxix. xlix. Ixviii. cxxxvi. ; Millin,
Midi de la France, Ixv. 5.
In most cases only one blind man, probably
the " man blind from his birth " of St. John ix. 1,
is being healed. He is generally represented
little of stature, to mark his inferiority to the
Saviour and the Apostles (when any of the latter
CHRIST. ANT.
BODY
241
are introduced), is shod with sandals and bears
a long staif tc guide his steps. The Saviour,
young and beardless, touches his eyes with the
fore-finger of the right hand. This representation
is found on an antique vase given by Mamachi
(Origines, v. 520), on an ivory casket of the
fourth or fifth century, engraved'byD'Agincourt
(Sculpture, pi. xxii. No. 4) ; in a bas-relief of a
tomb of the Sextian family, in the museum of
Aix in Provence, of about the same epoch (France
Fittoresque, pi. cxxxvii.) ; and elsewhere.
In a few cases (e.g. Bottari, tav. cxxxvi.) the
blind man healed appears to be Bartimaeus, from
the circumstance that he has "cast away his
garment" (ludTioi/, Mark x. 50) before throwing
himself at the feet of Jesus.
On a sarcophagus in the Vatican (Bottari,
xxxix. see woodcut) is a representation of the
healing of two blind men ; probably the two who
Healing of Two Blind Men. From an ancient Sarcophagus.
were healed by the Lord as He left the house of
Jairus (Matt. ix. 27-31). Here, too, the figures
of those upon whom the miracle is wrought are
of small size; the blind appears to lead the blind,
for one only has a staif, while the other places
his hand upon his shoulder. The Lord lays His
hand upon the head of the figure with the staff",
while another, probably one of the Apostles,
raises his hand, the fingers arranged after the
Latin manner [Benediction], in blessing. (Mar-
tigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chre't.) [C]
BODY, in the sense contemplated by St. Paul
when he said of the Church, " Which is His
body " (Eph. i. 23), meaning Christ's, which is
expressed further on, " For the edifying of the
body of Christ " (iv. 12), and of Christians gene-
rally, " Ye are the body of Christ, and members
in particular " (1 Cor. xii. 27). The Apostle, we
know, spoke (Acts xxi. 37), as well as wrote,
Greek ; but being a Roman citizen (ih. xxii. 27)
he probably had some knowledge of Latin as
well : and it is to this circumstance, therefore,
that we must ascribe his affixing a sense to the
Greek word ffUfia, long before appropriated by
its Latin equivalent " corpus," but which it had
never itself shared hitherto. What Greek ears
had always understood hitherto by (rco/aa was a
physical or material body, organic or inorganic,
as the case might be ; and occasionally the latter
in a confused mass, as " bodv of water " or " of
242
BODY
the universe." But " corpus," besides these
senses, had for some time been familiar to Latin
ears as denoting a combination of living agents in
various relations : a troop of soldiers, a guild
of artisans, or the whole body politic ; of these
the second acceptation was beginning to be
stereotyped in law, where "corpora" (corpo-
rations) quickly became synonymous with what,
in classical literature, had been known as " col-
legia " (colleges). There must have been many
su^h in existence at Rome when the Apostle
wrote ; and they were extended, in process of
time, to most trades and professions. The gene-
ral notion attaching to them was that of "a
number of persons" — the law said, not fewer
than three — " and the union which bound them
together" (Smith's Diet, of Boman and Greek
Antiq. p. 255). Tit. 1 of B. xiv. of the Theodo-
sian Code is headed " De Privilegiis Corporato-
rum urbis Romae," and Tit. 14 of B. xi. of that
of Justinian is on the same subject. Writing
from Rome, therefore, where such " bodies "
abounded^his own craft possibly, that of tent-
makers, among the number — -what could be
more natural than for the Apostle to apply this
designation to the new brotherhood that was
forming, and then paint it in glowing colours to
his Ephesian converts as a corporation, whose
head, centre, and inspiring principle was Christ ?
He was the union that bound it together
and supplied it with life. So far, indeed, it
stood on a different footing, and required to be
placed in a different category from all other
corporations ; still, as outwardly it resembled
them, might it not also be described in terms
which they had been beforehand with it in aj)-'
propriating, and invested with a new idea ?
The Apostle authorised this for all languages in
communicating the adopted sense of the Latin
word to its Greek equivalent. Accordingiy >yith
us too the Church of Christ is both spbken of
and exists as a corporation. But though.it has
many features in common with all such' bodies,
it has essential characteristics of its own, evi-
denced in its history throughout, which' are not
shared by any other. Their agreement, there-
fore, must have been one, not of identity, but of
analogy, to which the Apostle called attention.
And this is clear from his having j-ecourse to
other kindred analogies elsewhere, to develop his
meaning. "The husband," he says, "is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of
the Church ; and He is the Saviour of the body."
As if he had said, " Do not misunderstand me :
the relation of the church to Christ is not merely
that of corporations in general to the principle
which binds them together : it is closer still. It
may be compared to the marriage tie, described
when first instituted in these solemn words :
'They two shall be one flesh ' (Eph. v. 23-32).
Even this falls short of my full meaning. I
would have you 'grow up into Him in all
thmgs, which is the Head, even Christ, from
whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
accordmg to the effectual working in the mea-
sure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love' (Eph. iv.
15, 16). Realise the vital connexion that sub-
sists between the head and members of each
mdividual man; realise the depth of communion
should or may be between husband
that there
BODY, MUTILATION OP THE
and wife ; realise the full force of the bond
determining the character and cohesion of everv
society, or corporate body : then from all these
collectively, form your estimate of the church of
Christ. Each of them illustrates some feature
belonging to it which is not so clearly traced in
the others ; therefore none of them singly will
bear overstraining, and all together must not
be supposed to exhaust the subject." Unseen
realities cannot be measured or determined by
what can be seen or felt. " It is the description
of a man and not a state," said Aristotle of the
Republic of Plato, in which every body could say
of every thing, " it is my property " (Po/. ii. 1).
Spiritual union is neitiier political, nor conjugal,
nor physical, nor anything eai-thly. It may be
illustrated from such earthly relations, but it
transcends them all ; nor is it explained really,
when called " sacramental," further than that
it is then asserted to have been assured to us
by what are called in theological — not Scriptural
— language, the Sacraments of the Church. As
Hooker says : "Christ and His holy Spirit with all
their blessed effects, though entering into the soul of
man we are- 7iot able to apprehend or express how,
do notwithstanding give notice of the times when
they use to make their access, because it pleaseth
Almighty God to communicate by sensible means
those blessings which are incomprehensible "
(Eccl. Pol. V. 57, 3). That is to say, when such
blessings are communicated through the Sacra-
ments. Another writer adds : " We are told in
plain and indubitable terms that Baptism and
the Lord's Supper are the means by which men
are joined to the Body of Christ, and therefore
by which Christ our Lord joins Himself to that
renewed race of which He has become the Head.
. . . These facts we learn from the express state-
ments of St. Paul : ' For by one Spirit we are
all baptized into one body;' and again, 'We
being many are one bread and one body : for we
are all partakers of that one bread.' Herein it
is expressly declared that the one and the other
of these Sacraments are the peculiar means by
which union with the Body of Christ is bestowed
upon men. They are the 'joints' and 'bands'
whereby the whole body in its dependence on its
Head has nourishment ministered " (Wilber-
force's Incarn. p. 415). . . . Body, then, in
the sense predicated by St. Paul of the Church,
stands for a multitude of singulars, and not an
abstraction. It means the collection or aggre-
gate of Christian souls who, cleansed, quickened,
and inhabited by Christ, form one brotherhood
in Him. What each of them is separately, that
all of them are collectively, neither more nor
less. Numbers cannot affect its integrity. To
say that a body so composed is one is to say
no more of it than must, from the nature of
the case, be said of every body corporate with-
out exception. The fact of its unity resulting
from a personal union of each of its members
with one and the same Person, viz. Him who
redeemed them, is its distinguishing feature.
" From the oneness of His Body which was
slain, results the oneness of His body which is
sanctified." [E. S. Ff.]
BODY, MUTILATION OF THE. This
subject may be considered under three aspects in
reference to Church history ; 1st, in respect to
its bearing upon clerical orders ; 2nd, as a crime
to be repressed ; 3rd, as a form of punishment.
BODY, MUTILATION OF THE
I. The Pentateuch forbade the exercise of the
priest's office to any of the Aaronites who should
have a " blemish," a term extending even to the
case of a "flat nose" (Lev. xxi. 17-23); whilst
injuries to the organs of generation excluded even
from the congregation (Deut. xxiii. 1). The
Prophets announce a mitigation of this severity
(Is. Ivi. 3-5), which finds no place in the teach-
ing of our Saviour (Matt. xix. 12), nor does any
trace of it remain in the rules as to the selection
of bishops and deacons in the Pastoi'al Epistles
(1 Tim. iii., Tit. i.). Nevertheless, the Jewish
rule seems to have crept back into the discipline
of the Christian Church, — witness the story of
the monk Ammonius having avoided promotion
to the episcopate by cutting off his right ear, — for
which see Socrat. H. E. iv. 23 (Baronius indeed
holds him to have been eventually ordained). And
one of the so-called Apostolical Canons (deemed
probably antecedent to the Xicene Council of A.D.
325), which provides that one-eyed or lame men,
who may be worthy of the episcopate, may become
bishops, " since not the bodily defect " (AoijStj,
translated in the later Latin version of Haloander
mutilatio), " but the defilement of the soul,
pollutes" the man (c. 69, otherwise numbered
76 or 77), leaves at least open the question
whether such defects are a bar to the first recep-
tion of clerical orders. No general rule however
as to mutilation is to be found in the records of
any of the early General Councils, but only in
those of the non-oecumenical ones of the West, or
in the letters, «fec., of the Popes, always of sus-
picious authority. Thus, a letter of Innocent I.
(402-17) to Felix, bishop of Nocera, says that no
one who has voluntarily cut off a part of any of
his fingers is to be ordained {Ep. 4, c. 1). A
Council of Rome in 465 forbade from admission to
orders those who had lost any of their members,
requiring even the ordaining bishop to undo his
act (c. 3). So Pope Gelasius (492-6) in a letter
to the bishops of Lucania, complains that persons
with bodily mutilations are admitted to the ser-
vices of the Church ; an abuse not allowed by
ancient tradition or the forms of the Apostolic
see {Ep. 9. c. 16). A fragment of a letter
of the same Pope to the clergy and people of
Brindisi condemns in like manner the ordina-
tion of a man " weak and blemished in any part
of his body." But a letter to Bishop Palladius
lays down — in accordance with the Apostolical
Canon above quoted — that a dignity received
whilst the body was yet whole was not to be
lost by subsequent enfeeblement ; with which
letter may be connected, for what it is worth,
a canon or alleged canon of the Council of Ilerda
in 524, quoted by Ivo, to the effect that a cleric
made lame by a medical operation is capable of
promotion. Not to speak of an alleged canon of
Gregory the Great, 590-603, against the ordi-
nation of persons self-mutilated in any member,
to be found in Gratian ; two centuries later, in a
capitulary of Pope Gregory II. (714-30) addressed
to his ablegates for Bavaria, we find in like
manner any bodily defect treated as a bar to
ordination. On the other hand, we may quote a
testimony later indeed than the period embraced
in this work, but as occurring after the schism
of East and West, above the suspicion of all
Romanizing partiality, that of Balsamon (ad
Marci Alex, interrog. 23, quoted by Cotelerius,
Patres Apost. i. pp. 478-9), who says that
BODY, MUTILATION OF THE 243
bodily injuries or infirmities supervening after
ordination, even if they rendered the priest
unable physically to fulfil his office, did not
deprive him of his dignity, as " none was to
be hindered from officiating through bodily de-
fect " (\<l}^ri, also rendered by Beveridge as
mutilation).
We may take it therefore that the rule of the
Church as to mutilations and bodily defects
generally was this : such mutilations or defects
were a bar to ordination, especially if self-in-
flicted ; but supervening involuntarily after
ordination, they were not a bar to the fulfilment
of clerical duties, or to promotion in the hier-
archy. There is, howevei', one particular form
of mutilation — that of the generative organs —
which occurs with peculiar prominence in early
Church history, and is dealt with by special en-
actments.
One sect of heretics, the Valesians (whose ex-
ample is strangely recalled by the practices of a
well-known body of dissenters from the Russian
Church at the present day), enforced the duty of
emasculation both on themselves and others
(Epiph. cont. Haer. 58 ; Aug. de Haeres. c. 37).
Their catechumens, whilst unmutilated, were not
allowed to eat flesh, but no restrictions as to food
were imposed on the mutilated. They were said
to use not only persuasion but force in making
converts, and to practise violence for the purpose
on travellers, and even on persons received as
guests.
The most notorious instance of self-mutilation
in Church history is that of Origen, who, when
a young catechist at Alexandria, inflicted this on
himself in order to quench the violence of his pas-
sions (Euseb. //. E. vi, 8). He was nevertheless
oi-dained by the bisho[is of Caesarea and Jerusa-
lem, men of the highest authority among the pre-
lates of Palestine. But Demetrius of Alexandria,
who had formerly spoken of him in terms of high
praise, began attacking the validity of his ordina-
tion, and the conduct of his ordaining bishops.
It is indeed remarkable that Epiphanius mentions
three separate traditions as to the mode which
Origen adopted to maintain his continence — two
of them not implying actual mutilation, but only
extinction of the generative power — and seems
to consider that a good many idle tales had been
told on the subject {Contra Haer. 64). It is well
known, at any rate, that Origen was condemned
and sentenced to be deprived of his orders for
self-mutilation by the Council of Alexandria, A.D.
230. This is not the place, of course, for dwelling
on the unworthy motives mixed up in Origen's
condemnation ; but if what is recorded of the
Valesians be true — whose heresy appears to have
been contemporaneous with Origen — it was
absolutely necessary that the Church should
firmly resist not only the return to the emascu-
late priesthoods of the heathen, but the utterly
anti-social tendencies which such practices por-
tended or expressed. The Council of Achaia, by
which the Valesians were condemned, is usually
set down to the year 250.
If the Apostolical Canons are as a whole
anterior to the Council of Nicaea, they constitute
the next authority on the subject. According to
these, whilst a man made a eunuch against his
I will was not excluded from being admitted into
I the clergy, yet self-mutilation was assimilated to
1 suicide, and the culprit could not be admitted, or
R 2
244 BODY, MUTILATION OF THE
was to be " .altogether condemned " (expelled ?)
if the act were committed after his admission
(c. 17, otherwise numbered 20-22, or 21-23).
A layman mutilating himself was to be excluded
for 3 years from communion (c. 17, otherwise
23 or 24). It may however be suspected that
on this head at least these canons must have been
interpolated after the Nicene Council (325), or
they would have been referred to in that well-
known one which stands first of all in the list of
its enactments, — thatif any one has been emascu-
lated either by a medical man in illness, or by
the barbarians," he is to remain in the clergy ; but
if any has mutilated himself he is, if a cleric
already, on proof of the fact by examination, to
cease from clerical functions, and if not already
oi-dained not to be presented for ordination ; this
however, not to apply to those who have been
made eunuchs by the barbarians or by their
masters, who, if they are found worthy, may be
admitted into the clergy. Contemporaneously, or
nearly so, with the Council we find a constitu-
tion of the emperor Constantine rendering the
making of eunuchs within the " orbis Romanus,"
a capital crime {Code, bk. iv. t. xcii. 1. 1).
It is, however, at this period that we find the
next most prominent instance of self-mutilation
in Church history after that of Origen, — that of
Leontius, Arian bishop of Antioch in the time of
Athanasius, who, when a presbyter, had been
deposed on this account, but was nevertheless
promoted to the episcopate by the emperor
Constantius, against the decrees of the Nicene
Council, observes Theodoret (ii. 23; cf. Euseb.
vi. 8). This Leontius figures by no means f;ivour-
ably in the Church histories. Athanasius was
very hostile to him, and he was accused of cun-
ning and double-dealing, of promoting the un-
worthy and neglecting the worthy in his diocese.
A canon on bodily mutilation similar to the
Nicene one was enacted by the Synod of Seleucia
in Persia, a.d. 410 (c. 4), and by a Syrian synod
in 465, and the interdiction against the admission
to orders of the self-mutilated was also renewed
by the Council of Aries, A.D. 452 (c. 7). Pope
Gelasius, in his before quoted letter to the
Lucanian bishops, recalls as to the self-emasculate
that the canons of the Fathers require them to
be separated from all clerical functions, as soon
as the fact is recognized {Epist. 9, c. 17). It
thus appears that this most serious form of
mutilation, so long as it was not self-inflicted,
was no bar either to clerical ordination or promo-
tion, but that if self-inflicted, it was a bar to the
exei-cise of all clerical functions.
II. Mutilation as a Crime.— ka alleged decretal
of Pope Eutychianus (275-6), to be found in
Gratian, enacts that persons guilty of cutting
off limbs were to be separated from the Church
until they had made friendly composition (the
very idea of composition for such an act was
entirely foreign to the Italy of the 3rd century)
before the bishop and the other citizens, or, if
refusing to do so after two or three warnino-s,
were to be treated as heathen men and publi-
cans. The document may probably safely be
set down to the 9th century, but in the mean-
while we find in the records of the 11th Council
of Toledo A.D. 675 (from which it is perhaps
borrowed) evidence that similar crimes were
committed by the clergy themselves. The 6th
canon enacts amongst other things that clerics
BODY, MUTILATION OF THE
shall not inflict or order to be inflicted mutilation
of a limb on any persons whomsoever. If any do
so, either to the servants of their church or to
any persons, they shall lose the honour of their
order, and be subject to perpetual imprisonment
with hard labour. The Excerpt from the Fathers
and the Canons attributed to Gregory III. bears
that, for the wilful maiming another of a limb,
the penance is to be three years, or more hu-
manely, one year (c. 30). The Capitulary of
Aix-la-Chapelle, in 789, c. 16, and the Council of-
Frankfort, 794, forbid abbats for any cause to
blind or mutilate their monks (c. 18) — enactments
which sufficiently shew the ferocity of the
Carolingian era, and with which may be noticed
the 2nd Capitulary of Theodulf, bishop of Orleans,
to his clergy, a.d. 797, treating amongst minor
sins the maiming of a man so that he shall not
die, the reference being at least mainly to clerical
maimers.
In the early barbarian codes no difterence was
made in principle between the various shapes of
bodily mutilation, and all cases were jmnished
by pecuniary compensation. But in the later
Roman law we find absolute distinction made
between emasculation and every other form of
mutilation, the former being the only one which
it is deemed necessary to legislate against. We
have already seen that Constantine had made the
former a capital crime, when committed within
the Roman world. The 142nd Novel goes fur-
ther still. Speaking of the crime as having be-
come rife again, it enacts the lex talionis against
male offenders, with confiscation of goods and
life-long labour in the quarries if they survive
the operation ; or as respects females, flogging,
confiscation and exile. We may probably ascribe
the character of the imperial law on this subject
to the influence of the Christian Church, which,
at the risk of whatever incongruities in its prac-
tice, has always treated emasculation as a crime
sni generis, analogous only to murder and suicide,
according as it is endured or self-inflicted.
III. Miitilation as a Punishnwnt. — Mutilation
is no unfrequent punishment under the Christian
emperors of the West : Constantine punished
slaves escaping to the barbarians with the loss
of a foot {God. 6. tit. 1. s. 3). The cutting off
of the hand was enacted by several Novels ; by
the 17th (c. viii.) against exactors of tribute
who should fail to make proper entries of the
quantities of lands ; by the 43rd (c. 1) against
those who should copy the works of the heretic
Severus. It is nevertheless remarkable that the
134th Novel finally restricted all penal mutila-
tion to the cutting oft' of one hand only (c. xiii.).
In the barbaric codes, mutilation is a frequent
punishment. The Salic law frequently enacts
castration of the slave, but only as an alternative
for composition (for thefts above 40 denarii in
value, t. xiii., and see t. xlii. ; for adultery
with the slave-woman who dies from the effects
of it, t. xxix. c. 6). The Burgundian law, by a
late enactment {Additam. i. t. xv., supposed to
be by Sigismund), extends the mode of dealing
to Jews.
Even in the legislation of the Church itself
mutilation as a punishment occurs ; but only in
its rudest outlying branches, or as an offence to
be repressed. Thus, to quote instances of the
former case, in the collection of Irish Canons,
supposed to belong to the end of the 7th cen-
BONIFACIUS
tui-y, Patrick is represented as assigning the
cutting oft' of a hand or foot as one of several
alternative punishments for the stealing of
money either in a church or a city within
which sleep martyrs and bodies of saints (bk.
sxviii. c. 6). Another fragment from an li-ish
synod, appended by Labbe and Mansi to the
above, enacts the loss of a hand as an alternative
punishment for shedding the blood of a bishop,
where it does not reach the ground, and no salve
(collyrium) is needed ; or the blood of a priest
when it does reach the ground, and salve is
required. Instances of the latter case have been
already given in the enactments against abbats
maiming their monks, which was no doubt done
at least under pretext of enforcing discipline.
In the ' Excerptions ' ascribed to Egbert, arch-
bishop of York (but of at least two centuries later
date), we find a canon that a man stealing money
from the church-box shall have his hand cut oft'
or be put into prison (c. Ixxiii.). [J. M. L.]
BONIFACIUS. (1) Martyr at Tarsus under
Diocletian, is commemorated Dec. 19 (^Cal. By-
zant.). He was formerly commemorated in the
Roman church on June 5, the supposed day of
his burial at Rome {Mart. Rom. Yet.); but in
more recent martyrologies this Boniface is com-
memorated on May 14, the supposed day of his
death ; and,
(2) The Apostle of Germany, archbishop of
Mentz, martyred in Friesland, is commemorated
on .June 5 (2Iart. Bedae, Adonis). This saint is
figured in his episcopal vestments (9th cent.) in
the Acta Sanctorum, June, torn. i. p. 458. See
also Bi-ower's Thesaurus Antiq. Fuldensium, pp.
163-165.
(3) Deacon, martyr in Africa under Hunneric ;
commemorated Aug. 17 {Mart. Rom. Vet.).
(4) " Natale Boneft^cii episcopi," Sept. 4 (J/.
Bedw).
(5) Confessor in Africa ; commemorated Dec. 8
{Mart. Hieron.); Dec. 6 {M. Adonis). [C]
BONOSA, sister of Zosima, martyr in Porto
under Severus ; commemorated July 15 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron.). [C]
BOOKS, CENSURE OF. A studious life
was strongly enforced upon the clergy by the
ancient Fathers, and enjoined by various canons
of the earlier Councils. St. Chrysostom in par-
ticular insists strongly and very fully on the duty
in the clergy of qualifying themselves by patient
and laborious study for the office of preaching, and
for tlie defence of the faith against heretics and
unbelievers; resting his argument on the exhorta-
tion of St. Paul to Timothy (1 Tim. iv. 13)—
" Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to
doctrine: meditate upon these things : give thyself
wholly to them ; that thy profiting may appear
to all men." Exhortations to the like eft'ect
occur also in the writings of St. Jerome, Cyprian,
Lactantius, Hilary, Minucius Felix, and others.
In all these writers the study of the Holy Sci-ip-
tures is urged upon the clergy as being of pri-
mary obligation, and the foundation on which
all the superstructure of a more general and
extensive learning was to be raised. Certain
canons also required, e.g. Cone. Tolet. iii. c. 7,
that in their most vacant hours, the times of
eating and drinking, some portion of Scripture
should be read to them — partly to exclude
trifling and unnecessary discourse, and partly to
BOOKS, CHURCH
245
afford them proper themes and subjects for edi-
fying discourse and meditation.
Next to the Scriptures the study of the best
ecclesiastical writers was recommended as most
profitable and appropriate to the clerical office :
the first place in such writings, however, being
assigned to the Canons of the Church. These
were always reckoned of the greatest use and
importance, as containing a summary account,
not only of the Church's discipline and doctrine
and government, but also rules of life and moral
practice — on which account it was ordered that
the Canons should be read over at a man's ordi-
nation ; and again, the Council of Toledo (iv. c.
25) required the clergy to make them a part of
their constant study, together with the Holy
Scriptures. The Canons, it should be remem-
bered, were then a sort of directory for the pas-
toral care, and they had this advantage of any
private directory, that they were the public
voice and authorised rule o'f the Church, and
therefore so much the more entitled to respectful
attention. In later ages, in the time of Charle-
magne, we find laws which obliged the clergy to
i-ead, together with the Canons, Gregory's treatise
De Curd Pastorali.
With regai-d to other books and v/ritings there
was considerable restriction. Some of the canons
forbade a bishop to read heatiien authors: nor
would they allow him to read heretical books,
otherwise than as a matter of duty, i. e. unless
there was occasion to refute them, or to caution
others against the poison of them; e.g. Cone.
Carth. iv. c. 16: " Ut episcopus Gentilium libros
nou legat : haereticorum autem pro necessitate
et tempore."
In some cases, however, the study of heathen
literature might be advantageous to the cause
of Christian truth ; and the Church's prohibition
did not extend to these. Thus St. Jerome ob-
serves that both the Greek and Latin historians
are of great use as well to explain as confirm the
truth of the prophecies of Daniel. St. Augustine
says of the writings of heathen philosophers, that
as they said many things that were true, both
concerning God and the Son of God, they were in
that respect very serviceable in refuting the
vanities of the Gentiles. And in tact all who
are acquainted with the Fathers and ancient
writers of the Church know them to have been
for the most part well versed in the classical or
heathen literature.
On the whole it appears that the clergy were
obliged in the first place to be diligent in study-
ing the Scriptures, and next to them, as they had
ability and opportunity, the canons and approved
writers of the Church. Beyond this, as there
was no obligation on them to read human learn-
ing, so there was no absolute prohibition of it ;
but where it could be made to minister as a
handmaid to divinity, there it was not only
allowed, but encouraged and commended ; and
there can be no doubt that in many instances
the cause of Christian religion was advanced bv
the right application of secular learning in the
primitive ages of the Church. The principles on
which such studies were maintained are summed
up by St. Ambrose, Prooem. in Luc. Evang.:
" Legimus aliqua, ne legantur ; legimus ne igno-
remus ; legimus non ut teneamus, sed ut repu-
diemus" (Bingham). [D. B.]
BOOKS, CHURCH. [Litl-rgic.u. Books.]
246 BORDEAUX, COUNCIL OF
BOEDEAUX, COUNCIL OF (Buediga-
LEXSE Concilium), provincial, at Bordeaux.
(1) A.D. 385, coudemned and deposed PriscilJian,
Instautius, and their followers, for complicity
with Manicheeism. Priscillian appealed to the
emperor Maxentius, who, however, put him to
death the same year at Treves (Sulp. Sever.,
H. E. ii. 46, who affirms the appeal to have
been permitted only " nostrorum inconstantia,"
whereas it ought to have been made to other
bishops ; Labbe, ii. 1034).— (2) A.D. B70, under
Count Lupus and the archbishops of Bourges,
Bordeaux, and Eauze in Armagnac, by order of
King Chilpe'ric, upon points of discipline {L'Art
de Verifier les Bates, i. 291). [A. W. H.]
BOSCI (BoffKoi), Syrian monks in the 4th
century, so called because they lived on herbs
only. Sozomen speaks of them as very numei--
ous near Nisibis, and names a bishop among the
most famous of them. They had no buildings
but lived on the mountains, continually praying
and singing hymns. Each carried a knife, with
which to cut herbs and grasses (Soz. J{. E. vi.
33). A connexion has been traced between them
and the sect of Adamiani or Adamitae, who went
about naked. The principle is the same — of re-
turning to a state of nature — but the Bosci are
not accused, as the Adamitae, of licentiousness ;
and with them the motive was apparently austere
self-mortification. Frequent; instances of similar
abstinence are recorded of Eastern hermits in
Moschus {Prat. Spirit.), Theodoret {Fhiloth.),
and Evagrius {H. E. i. 21). (Tillemont, H. E.
viii. 292.) [I. G. S.]
BOSTEA, COUNCIL OF, a.d. 243 or 244;
indeed, there probably were two such : one at
which Beryllus, bishop of Bostra, was reclaimed
from his strange views respecting the Person of
our Lord by Origen ; and another at which
Origen refuted some Arabians, who said that the
souls of men died with their bodies, and came
to life with their bodies again at the resur-
rection (Euseb. vi. 33 and 7; Mansi, i. 787
-90). [£. S. Ff.]
BOUEGES, COUNCIL OF (Bixdricense
Concilium), at Bourges, but (1) a.d. 454, only
conjecturally in that city. That there was a
council in that year in that neighbourhood
appears by a synodical epistle signed by the
bishops of Bourges, Tours, and another (Sir-
mond. Cone. Gall. iii. App. 1507 ; Labbe, iv.
1819). Hincmar wrongly calls it a Council of
Home, under the mistaken impression that the
Leo who signs it was the Pope. — (2) a.d. 473,
to elect Simplicius to the see of Bourges (Sidon!
Apoll. Epistt. vii. 5, 8, 9, &c. ; and his ora-
tion to the people for Simplicius, Labbe, iv.
1820-1827). Sidonius requests the interven-
tion of Agroecius, archbishop of Sens (although
out of his province), and of Euphronius °of
Autun, the provincial bishops being too few
111 number. And the " plebs Biturigum " appear
to have referred the nomination to Sidonius him-
self.—(3) A.D. 767, under Pipin, mentioned by
fu-giuo and Fredegarius, but with no record of
Its purpose or acts (Labbe, vi. 1836). [A W H 1
BOWING. [Genuflexion.]
BEACARENSE CONCILIUM. [Braga,
Lou NCI L OF.] "- '
BRAGA, COUNCIL OF (Bracarense
C0NCI.,IUM), provincial, at Braga, in Spain,
BEANDEUM
between the Minho and Douro. (1) A.D. 411
(if genuine), of ten bishops, to defend the faith
against Alans, Suevi, and Vandals, who were
either Arians or heathens, under Pancratianus
of Braga (Labbe, ii. 1507-1510). — (2) A.D.
561 or 563, of eight bishops, " ex praecepto
Ariamiri (or probably Theodomiri) Regis," to
condemn the Priscillianists. It passed also
twenty-two canons, about uniformity of ritual,
church revenues, precedence, burial without and
not within a church, and other points of disci-
pline (Labbe, v. 836-845).— (3) a.d. 572, June 1,
of twelve bishops, under Archbishops Martin of
Braga and Nitigisius of Luca, under Miro, king
of the Suevi, passed ten canons, about bishops
exacting undue fees, appointment of metropolitan
to proclaim annually the date of Easter, and
other points of discipline. It was also the first
to use the formula, " regnante Christo " (Labbe,
V. 894-902). Mailoc, bishop of Britona, was one
of the bishops present. — (4) a.d. 675, under
Archbishop Leocidisius, with seven suffragans
(including a bishop of Britona), passed nine
canons ; prohibiting the giving of milk, or of the
bread dipped in the wine, or of grapes instead of
wine, at the Eucharist ; allowing a priest to have
dwelling with him no other woman than his
mother, not even his sister ; and on other points
of discipline (Labbe, vi. 561-570). [A. W. H.]
BEAINE, COUNCIL OF (Brennacense
Concilium), at Braine near Soissons (Berni near
Compiegne, ace. to L'Art de Verifier les Bates,
but wrongly), rather a State than a Church
Council, held, A.D. 580, under King Chilpe'ric,
excommunicated Leudastes (who had been Count
of Tours) for falsely accusing Gregory of Tours
of having calumniated Queen Fredegunda. Wit-
nesses were not produced, " cunctis dicentibus,
non potest persona inferior super sacerdotem
credi." And Gregory exculpated himself by
solemn oath at three several altars after saying
mass, the accusers in the end confessing their
guilt (Greg. Tur., Eist. Franc, v. 50 ; Labbe, v.
965, 966). [A. W. H.]
BEANDEUM. The word Brandeum proba-
bly designated originally some particular kind of
rich cloth. Thus, Joannes Diaconus {Vita 8.
Greg. lib. iv., in Du Cange, s. v.) speaks of a
lady wearing a head-dress " candentis brandei."
But the usages with which we are immedi-
ately concerned are the following : —
1. The rich cloth or shroud in which the body
of a distinguished saint was wrapped. Thus
Hincmar ( Vita S. Eeniigii, c. 73) describing the
translation of St. Remigius, says the body was
found by the bishops who translated it wrapped
in a red brandeum. Compare Flodoard, Hist.
Rernensis, i. 20, 21.
2. Portions of such shrouds were used as
relics ; for instance, a portion of the brandeum
which enveloped St. Remigius, enshrined in ivory,
was venerated with due honour (Hincmar, I. c).
3. When relics of some saint came to be regarded
as absolutely essential to the consecration of a
church [Consecration], pieces of cloth which
had been placed near them were held to be
themselves equivalent to relics. St. Gregory
the Great sets forth his view of this practice iii
a letter to Constantia {Epist. iii. 30). It is not,
he says, the Roman custom, in giving relics of
saints, to presume to touch any portion of the
BREAKING OF BREAD
body, but only a brandeum is put in a casket, and
set near the most holy bodies. This is again
taken up, and enshrined with due solemnity in
the church to be dedicated, aud the same miracles
are wrought by it as would have been by the
very bodies themselves. Tradition relates, that
when some Greeks doubted the efficacy of such
relics, St. Leo cut a hrandeum with scissors, and
blood flowed from the wound. St. Leo's miracle
is related by St. Germanus to Pope Hormisdas
{Epistt. Pontiff, p. 524) and by Sigebert {Chro-
nicon, A.D. 441). Joannes Diaconus (^Vita
S. Greg. ii. 42) relates a similar wonder of
St. •Gregory himself, which is said to be also
attested by an inscription in one of the crypts of
the Vatican (Torrigius de Cryptis Vuticanis, pt.
2, c. 4, ed. 2). (Du Cange's Glossary, s. v.
Brandeum). [C]
BREAKING OF BREAD. [Fraction.]
BREGENTFORD, qv BREGUNTFORD,
COUNCIL OF (Brentfordense Concilium),
provincial, at Bregentforda, Breguntford, or
Brentford. (1) A.D. 705, an informal political
conference, mentioned by Waldhere, bishop of
London, as to be held by the kings, bishops, and
abbats, of Wessex and of the East Saxons, about
certain unnamed grounds of quarrel (Haddan and
Stubbs, CouHC. iii. 274).— (2) A.d. 781, held by
Oifa, king of JUercia, and Archbishop Jaenberht,
freed the monastery of Bath from the jurisdic-
tion of the see of Worcester (charter in Kemble,
Cod. Dipl. 143). Other (questionable) charters
apparently profess to emanate from the same
Council {ib. 139, 140). [A. W. H.]
BRENNACENSE CONCILIUM. [Braine,
Council of.]
BRENTFORDENSE CONCILIUM. [Bre-
GENTFORD, COUNCIL OF.]
BREVIARY (Breviarmm). This word, in
its ecclesiastical sense, denotes an office book of
the Church, containing the offices for the canoni-
cal hours, as distinguished from the missal,
which contains those of the mass. The name,
wliich Meratus derives from breve horarium, ex-
plaining it as compendium precum, indicates that
the book is an abbreviation or compilation; and
it is so called, according to some, because the
existing form is an abbreviation of the ancient
office ; according to others, because it is a short
summary of the principal portions of Holy Scrip
ture, of the lives of the greatest saints, and of
the choicest prayers of the Church ; or, again,
because in its arrangement the various parts of
the office, such as prayers, hymns, lessons, &c.,
are only once given in full ; and afterwai'ds only
indicated by the first words, or by references.*
Some, again, have thought that the breviary
was originally an abbi'eviation of the missale
plenarium; and mainly distinguished from it
by the partial omission or abbreviation of the
rubrics, and by the first words alone of the
psalms, sections, &c., being given. It is sup-
posed that this abbreviated book was originally
compiled as a directory for the choir, and that
on its general adoption in convents, in which
the canonical hours took their rise, these were
inserted, and hence the name breviary came to
" There is great variety of practice in this respect be-
tween different breviaries, and even different editions of
the same breviary.
BREVIARY
247
signify the book containing those offices in dis-
tinction to the missal : a few short offices, not
directly connected with canonical hours, and in
some breviaries the ordinary and canon of the
mass, with a few s^^ecial masses, still remaining
in it.
The contents of the breviary, in their essential
parts, are derived from the early ages of Christi-
anity. They consist of psalms, lessons taken
from the Scriptures, and from the writings of
the Fathers, versicles and pious sentences thrown
into the shape of antiphons, responses, or other
analogous forms, hymns, and prayers. The
present form of the book is the result of a long
and gradual development. During a long time
a great diversity existed in the manner in which
the psalms and their accompanying prayers were
recited in diiferent dioceses and convents ; but
from the 5th century onwards a marked ten-
dency to Uniformity in this part of divine wor-
ship may be observed, till in later days the only
very striking diti'erence which remains, with the
exception of the Mozarabic breviary, which has
a special character of its own, is between the
office books of the East and the West. The name
breviary is confined to those of the West.
The books used in the daily office which con-
tained the materials that were afterwards
consolidated into the breviary, were — (1) the
Psalter, containing the psalms and canticles
arranged in their appointed order ; (2) the
Scriptures, from which lessons for the nocturns
were taken ; (3) the Horrdliary, containing the
homilies of the Fathers appointed to be read on
Sundays and other days indicated ; (4) the Pas-
sionary, or Passional, containing the history of
the sufierings of the saints, martyrs, and con-
fessors ; (5) the Antiphonary, containing the an-
tiphons and responsories ; (6) the Hymnal; (7)
the Collectaneum, or Collectarium, or Liber Col--
lectarius, or Orationale, containing the prayers,
and also the ShoH Chapters read at the several
hours ; (8) the Martyrology. There were also
PiUbrics giving the directions for reciting the
various offices.
Various digests of offices from these and similar
sources have been attributed with more or less
probability to Leo the Great, Gelasius, and
Gregory the Great. Gregory VII. [flOSS] com-
piled the book which is the basis of the preseut
Roman breviary. A MS. copy of this book was
preserved in the monasteiy of Casini, from about
the year 1100 A.D. This was inscribed " Incipit
Breviarium s. Ordo officiorum, &c. ; " and hence
Benedict XIV. derives the probable origin of the
name. An abbreviation of this book made in
1244 by Michael Haymon, general of the Mi-
norites, obtained the approbation of Pope Gre-
gory X., and was introduced by Pope Nicholas III.
in 1278 or 1279 into all the churches of Rome.
Originally difi'erent dioceses and monastic
orders had their own special breviaries, varying
one from the other. There is a marked diti'er-
ence between the secular and the monastic bre-
viaries, but the individual members of these two
families, while they vary much in detail, agree
closely in their arrangement and general features.
After the edition by Pius V., the Roman breviary
thus revised was imposed on the whole Roman
obedience to the exclusion of those hitherto in
use, with an exception in favour of those which
had then been in use for 200 years.
248
BRIBERY
The breviary is usually divided into four
parts, called after the four seasons of the year,
" Pars hiemalis, vernalis, aestivalis [v. aestivaj,
autunmalis." Wheu this fourfold division was
first adopted is doubtful. Traces of it have
been found in the 11th century. Each of these
parts, in addition to the introductory rubrics,
calendar, and other tables, has four subdivisions :
(1) the Psalter [Psalterium], comprising the
psalms and canticles arranged according to the
order of their weekly recitation, and also other
subordinate parts of the office which do not vary
from day to day ; (2) tlie Proper of the Season
[Proprium de tempore], containing those por-
tions of the offices which vary with the season ;
(3) the Proper of the Saints [Proprium Sanc-
torum] ; i. e., the corresponding portions for the
festivals of saints; and (4) the Common of the
Saints. [See Hours of Prayer ; Office, The
Divine ; Psalmody.] [H. J. H.]
BRIBERY. The Old Testament is so full of
warnings against " the gift " that " blindeth the
wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous "
(Ex. xxiii. 8), of denunciations of those that
"judge for reward" (Micah iii. 11), that we
could not expect otherwise than to find the like
teachings embodied in the more spiritual morality
of the New Testament. It may indeed be a ques-
tion whether the qualification required of bishops
and deacons by the Pastoral Epistles, that they
should not be " given to filthy lucre " (aiVxpo-
reepSeis), 1 Tim. iii. 3, 8 ; Tit. i. 7, implies prone-
ness to bribery, properly so called, or covetous-
ness generally. If, however, we reckon the
Apostolical Constitutions as representing gene-
rally the Church life of the 2nd century, we
see that the offence was then beginning to take
shape. The bishop is directed not to be open to re-
ceive gifts, since unconscientious men " becoming
acceptoi's of persons, and having received shame-
ful gifts" will spare the sinner, letting him remain
in the Church (bk. ii. c. 9). Another passage
speaks of either the bishops or the deacons sinning
by the acceptance of persons or of gifts, with the
addition of the remarkable words: "For when
the ruler asks, and the judge receives, judgment
is not brought to an end " (i6. c. 17). A third
deals with the still more heinous offence of con-
demning the innocent for reward, threatening
with God's judgment the " pastors " and deacons
who, either through acceptance of persons or iu
return for gifts, expel from the Church those
who are falsely accused (ih. c. 42).
There was of course nothing exceptional in this
morality. In the Eoman law there were nu-
merous enactments against bribery. Theodosius
. enacted the penalty of death against all judges
who took bribes {Cod. Theod. 9, tit. 27, s. 5).
In Justinian's time, although the penalty of
death seems to have been abrogated, the oftence
is subjected to degrading punishments {Nov. viii.,
cxxiv.).
The law of the Church on the subject of
bribery was substantially that of the State. The
spiritual sin was looked upon as equivalent to
the civil offence, and the Church needed no
special discipline to punish the former. One
form of bribery indeed, that relating to the
obtainment of the orders or dignities of the
Church, is considered separately under the head
of Simony. [j. m. L.]
BRICCIUS, or BRICTIUS. (1) Bishop,
BRIDAL RING
confessor at Martula in Umbria; is commemo-
rated July 8 {Mart. Eom. Vet.); July 9 {M.
Adonis).
(2) St. Brice ; succeeded St. Martin as bishop
of Tours; commemorated as confessor, Nov. 13
{Mart. Bedae, Hieron., Adonis). Proper office in
the Gregorian Libf^r Responsalis, p. 835. [C]
BRIDAL RING. That the present use of
the ring in marriage has grown out of its use in
betrothal, is historically clear. The origin of
the latter is, however, obscure, though proba-
bly it is the meeting-point of several different
ideas and practices. If marriage was originally
wife-catching, as seems probable, the ring Aiay
be considered as the symbol of the wife's cap-
tivity. Again, before money was invented, or
before its use became common, a ring would be
one of the aptest representatives of wealth, and
as such would easily constitute either the actual
price of betrothal, or the earnest of it ; whilst
we know that in some countries the ring has
actually taken the place of money, e.g. the
"ring-money" of our Teutonic forefathers.
Again, as signet-rings came into use, the ring
itself would easily grow to be looked upon as
a pledge of contracts, a symbol of faith between
man and man. Lastly, as men's feelings became
more refined, the idea of the ring, (1st) as a
symbol of the wife's subjection, (2nd) as the
price, or the symbol of the price, of her purchase,
(3rd) as the pledge of the contract for her per-
son, would lose itself in that of its spiritual '
significance as a symbol of endless indissoluble
union.
It is certain, at any rate, that the bridal ring
of early Christian custom was not derived from
Jewish practice, since it appears clearly that its
use by way of earnest on betrothal among the
Jews was of late introduction, derived from the
Gentiles, and depended for its validity on the ring
being worth money [Arrhae]. But the early
Christians, as above indicated, found it in use
among the Romans, unconnected (as was ordinary
marriage itself) with any superstitious practices,
and naturally adopted it. Tertullian uses the
term annubis metonymically for betrothal itself,
in that passage of his treatise on Idolatry, in
which, examining what transactions among the
Gentiles a Christian man may lawfully take part
in, he decides that betrothals are among the
number, since " the ring " is not derived from
the honour paid to any idol (c. 16). The same
author shews in his Apology that by his time the
use of gold for the betrothal ring must have long
replaced that of iron, since he speaks of the
woman of old knowing " no gold, save on one
finger," which her betrothed " oppignorasset
pronubo annulo" (c. 6), with which may be
compared Juvenal's " digito pignus fortasse
dedisti " (Sat. vi. 17).
It will be obvious from the last two passages
that the main significance of the betrothal ring
in the early centuries of the Christian era was
that of a pledge. Hence its abiding significance
as representmg the arrhae. Its value in this
I respect was by no means confined to the betrothal
contract ; thus in the Digest, Ulpian, in reference
to the arrhae on an ordinary contract of sale, puts
the case of a ring being given by way of earnest
and not returned after the payment of the price
and delivery of the thing sold {Dig. 19, tit. 1,
s. 11, § 6 ; with which compare 14, tit. 3, s. 15),
BRIDAL RING
There is therefore nothing special in the ex-
pression " Subarrare anuulo," which occurs in
a well-known passage of the 34th letter of St.
Ambrose, where he represents St. Agnes saying
to the governor of Rome, when he pressed her to
marry his son, that " another lover " had already
"given her earnest by the ring of his faith"
(auaulo fidei suae subarravit me).
Historically, the bridal ring figures somewhat
prominently in the record of the 5th century.
Ill M. Augustin Thierry's ' Histoire dAthila,'
2ud ed. vol. i. c. 5, or again in his ' Placidie,
reine des Gothes,' appended to the 2nd volume
of his 'Saint Jerome,' c. 4 (Gibbon c. xxxv.
relates the story somewhat differently), it is told
how in A.D. 434, Honoria, the graceless grand-
daughter of the great Theodosius, in a fit of
rebellion against parental authority, sent her ring
by a eunuch to the Hunnish king Attila (then
recently come to the throne) byway of betrothal
eai'nest, requesting him to make war on her
brother Valentiuian. The barbarian sovereign
(who had a whole harem of his own) took no
notice of the ring at the time, but had it put
away; and fifteen years after, when about to
invade Italy, sent a letter to the Western Emperor,
complaining that the princess, his betrothed, had
been ignominiously treated on his account, and
was kept in prison, and requiring her to be set
free and restored to him with her dowry, which
he reckoned at half the personalty of the late
emperor Constantius, and half the Western Em-
pire ; and he forwarded by his envoys at the same
time her ring, to avouch the justice of his claim,
— which however he afterwards did not care, and
probably never intended to press, — indeed Honoria
was married at the time, as was stated to him in
reply, and as no doubt he knew already.
The received position of the ring on the fourth
finger is explained by Isidore of Seville, on the
ground that " there is in it, so they say, a vein of
blood which reaches to the heart " (c?e Offic. bk. ii.
c. 19). The quaint reason assigned for the choice
of the finger will be observed, as well as the
indication that the ring was only given in first
marriages. A simpler origin for the use of the
fourth finger is that the Greeks and Romans wore
of old their rings on that finger (Macrobius,
Saturn. 7, 1. 13, quoted by Selden in his Uxor
Jlebraica).
The bridal ring is referred to both in the
Wisigothic and the Lombard Codes. The former
speaks of it as constituting by delivery an en-
forceable marriage contract without writing :
" where a ring has been given or accepted in the
name of earnest, though no writings should pass
between the parties, that promise should be in
nowise broken with which a ring has been given
and terms (definitio) fixed before witnesses "
(bk. iii. t. i. c. 3). The Lombard law is to the
same effect : when a man betroths to himself
a woman, " with a ring only, he gives earnest
for her and makes her his" (cum solo annulo
earn subarrat et suam facit), " and if afterwards
he marry another, he is found guilty to the
amount of 500 solidi " (bk. v. c. i. ; law of Luit-
prand, A.D. 717).
As late as the 9th. century, it is clear that the
ring was constitutive of betrothal, not of mar-
riage. This is shown by Pope Nicolas's answer
to the Bulgarians, where he says that " after the
future bridecrroom has betrothed to himself the
BRIEFS AND BULLS
249
future bride by earnest, placing on her finger the
ring of affiance . . . either soon or at a fitting
time . . . both are led to the marriage (nuptialia
foedera) . . . and thus at last receive the bene-
diction and the heavenly veil." From this it
follows that all Western Church formulae of
blessing rings must belong to a still later period ;
and indeed the use of the ring in marriage is
su]iposed to have come in during the 10th century.
On the other hand, since, as observed under
the head Arriiae, Pope Nicolas's reply expressly
distinguishes Latin from Greek usage, it is per-
fectly possible that the blessing of rings, which
occurs in the betrothal liturgy of the Eucho-
logium may be of earlier date : " By a ring
was given authority to Joseph in Egypt. By a
ring was Daniel glorified in the land of Babylon.
By a ring was shewn the truthfulness of Tamar.
By a ring our heavenly Father shewed mercy
towards his son, for ' having slain the fatted calf
and eaten let us rejoice ' [he said] . . . Thou
therefore, 0 Lord, bless this placing of rings with
a heavenly blessing," &c. The Greek ceremony,
it may be observed, requires two rings, one of
gold and one of silver. [J. M. L.]
BRIDGET, or BRIGIDA, virgin, of Ireland,
martyr in Scotland, A.D. 523, wonder-worker,
is commemorated Feb. 1 {Mart. Micron., Adonis,
Bedac). [C]
BRIEFS and BULLS {Breve, Bulla). Both
these names are applied to the Letters Apostolic
of the Pope : the distinction between them being
chiefly one of form, and relating to the nature
of the instrument in which the letters are con-
tained.
A Papal Brief is ordinarily v/ritten in the
Latin character, and is sealed, not with lead, but
with wax ; the seal bearing the impression of the
so-called " fisherman's ring," a figure of St. Peter
fishing from a boat. It is signed by the Secre-
tary of Briefs, and commonly commences thus :
" Pius Papa IX.," &c.
A Bull, on the other hand, is written in the
Gothic character, and is sealed with a leaden seal
of a globular form (from which, viz. bulla, as
most suppose, it derives its name, though some
deduce it from fiovXif), which is attached to the
document by a string of silk, if the Bull be one
of Grace, or by a hempen cor;l, if it be one of
Justice. The seal bears on one side a representa-
tion of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and
on the other the name of the reigning Pope.
Bulls are issued from the Papal Chancery, and
commence in this form : "Pius Episcopus, servus
servorum Dei," &c.
Some Bulls have not only the Papal seal, but
also a second one in the form of a cross. These
are Consistorial Bulls, and are issued -with the
assent and advice of the Cardinals in Consistoiy,
by whom they are subscribed.
Briefs and Bulls are of equal force, but the
former are supposed to have greater brevity of
expression (whence perhaps the name), and as
a general, though not invariable, rule, to be
employed in matters of lesser moment. Before
his coronation, a Pope ought not to issue Bulls,
but only Briefs. Or if he issues a Bull, it does
not bear his name on the seal.
A Brief, on the whole, may be said to corre-
spond in some respects to a Writ of Privy Seal
in England, as distinguished from Letters Patent
250 BRITAIN, COUNCILS IN
of the Crown, which would answer to a Bull
It may be added that a Brief may be suppressed,
as it is not issued in the same open form as a
Bull ; and there are, it is said, instances of Briefs
being suppressed altogether. It may also be
cancelled or superseded by a subsequent Brief
whereas a Bull can be cancelled only by a Bull
For the most part also a Brief is of less extensive
application than a Bull, the latter being some
times binding on the entire Christian world in
communion with Rome.
It must be stated, however, that some of the
particulars just specified, though characteristic
of Bulls and Briefs at this day and for a long
period, are not observed in very early documents.
Thus, for instance, in the Liber Dinrnus Roma-
7wrum Pontificum, a work probably of the 8th
century (printed in Migne's Patrologiae Cursus
Completus, vol. cv.) forms of commencements of
Papal letters are given, in which the name of
the Pope follows instead of preceding that of the
great person to whom the letter is addressed.
Thus to a Patrician the letter begins " Do-
mino excellentissimo, atque praecellentissinjo filio
[name] patricio, [name of Pope] Episcopus servus
servorum Dei." And to the archbishop of Ra-
venna— " Reverendissimo et Sanctissimo fratri
[name of archbishop] Coepiscopo, [name of Pope]
servus servorum Dei." And even to a Pres-
byter we have — " Dilectissimo. filio [name of
presbyter], [name of Pope] servus servorum Dei."
In a Dissertation annexed to the edition of the
Liher JDiumus of 1860, the Jesuit Gesner states
that the custom of putting the Pope's name first
does not seem to have come in until about the
9th century. It will thus probably be nearly
contemporaneous with the appearance of the
Forged Decretals, and will appropriately mark
the era when the Popes first put forward regal
and ultra-regal pi-etensions.
Authorities . — Ferraris, Bibliotheca Canonica
vol. i. edit. 1844, sub vocibus " Breve, Bulla ; "
Ayliffe's Parergon Juris canonici, tit. " of Bulls
Papal;" Burn's i'ccfes. Xaw, tit. " Bull ; " Twiss
On the Letters Apostolic of Pope Pius LX. Lon-
don, 1851, p. 2. [B. S.]
BRITAIN, COUNCILS IN. [Britaxnicum
Concilium.]
BRITANNICUM CONCILIUM; j.e. Coun-
cils of the Welsh Church. See Caerleonexse ;
Llaxdewi-Brefi ; LucL's Victoriae; Augus-
tine's Oak ; Verulamium.
2. Breton Councils [Brittaxy].
The Councils called " Britannica," in Cave,
Wilkins, Labbe, &c., are either those above named
(mostly misdated and incorrectly described), or
are pure fables; while Cave has chosen to add
to them the Northumbrian Synod of Onestre-
feld of A.D. 702, which see under its proper
title. [A. W. H.]
BROTHERHOOD. The origin of brother-
hoods or fraternities in the Christian Church and
world, whether clerical, lay, or mixed, is far from
being satisfactorily ascertained. The history of
monastic fraternities will be found under their
appropriate headings, though we may here re-
mark that the formation of such fraternities
was in direct opposition to the very impulse
which produced monachism itself, and sent the
lx.ova.-)())s, or^ solitary, as a "hermit" into the
wilderness (^eprnmov). Yet such fraternities were
BROTHERHOOD
practically in existence in the Egyptian laurae,
when Serapion could rule over a thousand monks ;
they received their first written constitution
from St. Basil (326-379), and both Basil and
Jerome (who had himself been a hermit) having
declared their disapproval of solitary monachism,
the social or fraternal type must be considered to
have become fully impressed on the monastic
system during the course of the 4th and 5th
centuries.
Dr. Brentano, in his work On the History and
Development of Gilds (London, Triibner, 1870),
expresses indeed the opinion " that the religious
brotherhoods of the middle ages, and as they
still exist in Catholic countries, have their origin
in a connexion with monasticism, and in an
imitation of it . . . and that this origin is to
be sought in Southern lands, in which Chris-
tianity and monasticism were first propagated "
(p. 9). If this be so, it must be admitted that
the imitation was almost coeval with its model,
for he himself ascribes to the 3rd century— the
age of the Egyptian hermits — the "Christian
brotherhood for nursing the sick " of the Para-
bolatii, — which Muratori was the first to point
out as a sort of religious fraternity, in oj)po-
sition to various writers quoted by him (in the
75th Dissertation of his Antiquitates I/edii
Aeri, vol. vi.), who had held that such frater-
nities date only from the 9th or even the 13th
centuries. [Parabolani.] Muratori also sug-
gests that the lecticarii or decani, who are
mentioned in the Code (1 tit. 2, s. 4), and jn
Justinian's 43rd and 59th Novels, by the latter
as fulfilling certain functions at funerals, must
have been a kind of religious fraternity. On
the other hand, the old sodalitas, or its equiva-
lent the Greek (pparpia (henceforth Latinized as
"phratria" or " fratria"), appears to have be-
come more and more discredited, since the 18th
canon of the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451)
requires the cutting off of all clerics or monks
forming " conjurationes vel sodalitates " (Isidore
Mercator translates " phratrias vel factiones ") ;
for if " the crime of conspiracy or of sodalitas is
wholly forbidden even by external laws, much
more should it be so in God's Church." A
decree of the Vandal king Gundemar (to be
found in the 10th vol. of Labbe and Mansi's
Councils, p. 510), about A.D. 610, directed to
the priests of the city of Carthage, speaks in
like manner of fratrias et conjurationes against the
Metropolitan Church. So again the 6th Oecu-
menical Council, that of Constantinople in Trullo,
A.D. 680-1, has a canon (34) against clerics or
monks (Tvvoixvv/j.ei'oi ^ (pparpidCofres (translated
in the Latin conjuranfes vel sodalitates ineuntes),
who are to lose their rank ; and other similar
enactments could be adduced.
In the 8th century we find a disposition on the
part of the Church to confine the idea of frater-
nity to clerical and monastic use. We may take
as an instance of this in our own country the
' Dialogue by question and answer on Church
government ' of Archbishop Egbert of York (mid-
dle of the century), in which the terms frater
and soror will be found applied both to clerics
and monks or nuns, but never apparently to lay-
men. But there is at the same time ground for
surmising that the term " fraternity," which in
the 12th and 13th centuries is used ordinarily as
a synonym for " gild," was already current in
BROTHERHOOD
the 8th or 9th to designate these bodies, the
organization of which Dr. Breutano holds to have
been complete among the Anglo-Saxons in the
8th centui-y (Brentano on Gilds, pp. 11-12), and
the bulk of which were of lay constitution, though
usually of a more or less religious character.
The connexion between the two words is esta-
l)lished in a somewhat singular manner. A
Council of Nantes of very uncertain date, which
has been placed by some as early as 658, by
others as late as 800, has a canon (9) which is
repeated almost in the same terms in a capitulary
of Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims, of the year
852 or 858 (c. 16). But where the canon speaks
of " those gatherings or confraternities which are
termed consortia (de collectis vel confratriis quas
consortia vocant)," the archbishop has " de
collectis quas geldonias vel confratrias vulgo
vocant," — " gatherings which are commonly
called gilds or confraternities." Whilst the feith-
ful are authorized to unite '• in oblations, in
lights, in mutual prayers, in the burial of the
dead, in alms and other otSces of piety," those
feasts and banquets are forbidden, where " undue
exactions, shameful and vain merriment and
quarrels, often even hatred and dissensions are
wont to arise ; " the penalty assigned being for
clerics deprivation, for laymen or women exclu-
sion from communion J;ill they have given due
satisfaction.
But the term " gild " itself was already in
use to designate fraternities for mutual help be-
fore the days of Hincmar. We meet with it in
a capitulary of Charlemagne's of the year 779,
treated by Canciani and Muratori as enacted for
Lombardy, but by Pertz on the contrary (in his
Monumenta Germaniae Historica) as enacted for
France, which bears " As touching the oaths mu-
tually sworn by a gild (per gildoniam. Cane. ;
gildonia, Pertz), that no one presume to do so.
Otherwise as touching their maintenance ' (ali-
moniis; or "alms," elemosynis, Pertz),' or fire,
or shipwreck, though they may make covenant
(quamvis convenientias faciant) let none presume
to swear thereto " (see also bk. v. of the general
collection, c. 200, " de sacramentis pro gildoma
( gildonijl ) invicem conjurantibus " ; and the
4th "Addition," c. 134, " ne aliquis pro gildomid
sacramentum facere audeat.") It is thus clear
that the gilds of the latter half of the 8th cen-
tury existed for purposes exactly the same as
those which they fulfilled several centuries later.
So far indeed as they were usually sanctioned by
oath, they were obviously forbidden by the capi-
tulary above quoted, as well as by several others
against " conjurations " and conspiracies which
Dr. Brentano refers to from Pertz, the last (the
Thionville Capitulary of 805) of a peculiarly
ferocious character.
It may be suspected that the subject of reli-
gious or quasi-religious brotherhoods or fi-aterni-
ties in the early Chprch (apart from monastic
ones) has been but "imperfectly investigated as
yet. It may at least be said that specific bodies
are found apparently answering to the character,
attached to particular churches, during the 3rd,
4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. In the West, how-
ever, we seem first to discern them under the
Teutonic shape of the gild, which in its freer
forms was palpably the object of great jealousy
to the political and spiritual despots of the Car-
Idvingian era. [.I. iM. L.]
BURIAL OF THE DEAD 251
BUCOLUS, Bishop of Smyrna, consecrated
by St. John ; commemorated as " Holy Father,"
Feb. 6 {Cal. Byzant.) [C]
BULLS. [Briefs and Bulls.]
BURDIGALENSE CONCILIUM. [Bor-
deaux, Cou^x'IL OF.]
BURFORD, COUNCIL OF (Berghford-
ENSE Concilium), provincial, " juxta vadum
Berghford," at Burford in Oxfordshire, A.D. 685,
witnesses a grant by King Berhtwald, an under-
king of Ethelred of Mercia, to Aldhelm and the
abbey of Malmesbury (charter in Will. Halm.
G. P. A. F., and Kemble, Cod. Dipl. 26; the
latter correcting the impossible date DCXXXV
into DCLXXXV, and thus removing the main
objection to the genuineness of the document,
which however he still marks as spurious ;
Haddan and Stubbs, Counc. iii. 169). [A. W. H.]
BURIAL OF THE DEAD. Among the many
points of contrast between the Christian Church
and the systems which it supplanted, the treat-
ment of the departed furnished one of the most
conspicuous. Side by side with their unexampled
hospitality and their austere purity of life, Julian
enumerates their care for the burial of the dead
as one of the means by which the Christians
against whom he strove, had succeeded in con-
verting the Empire {Epist. ad Arsac. xlix., 0pp.
ed. Spanheim). That which was characteristic
of the new faith was not only its belief in the
resurrection of the body, but its reverence for
that body as sharing in the redemption, and this
showed itself in almost every incident connected
with the funeral rites.
1. Mode of Burial. In Egypt and in Palestine
the Christian Church inherited the practice of
embalming. It had prevailed from the earliest
period of which we have any record. It had
originated in a belief which Christians recognised
as analogous to their own (August. Serm. de Div.
cxx. 12). So the patriarchs and kings of the Old
Testament had been interred, so had been their
Lord himself. It was natural that those who
found the practice in existence should not discard
it, even though they no longer looked on it as
essential. The language of Tertullian implies
that it was in general use in Western Africa
(Apol. c. 42); that of Augustine (I. c.) shows
that it was adopted in Egypt. In Greece, on the
other hand, the dead had been consigned to the
funeral pyre, and the ashes collected in an urn
of bronze or clay, from the hei'oic age downward.
Rome, which in the earlier days of the Republic
had interred its dead, had adopted the Greek
usage in the time of Sulla (the dictator is said
to have been the first Roman whose body was
so disposed of) and had transmitted it to the
Empire (Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 54 ; Cic. de Legg.
ii. 25). Against this usage Christian feeling
naturally revolted. Even while contending that
no variation in the mode of burial could affect
the resurrection of the body, Christian writers
protested against cremation as wanting in re-
verencing, and suggesting a denial of the truth
which they held so precious. We, thev said,
" veterem et meliorem consuetudinem humandi
frequentamus" (Minuc. Felix, Octav. c. 39;
August, de Civ. Dei, i. 12, 13). And accord-
ingly, when their persecutors sought to inflict
the most cruel outrage on their feelings, they
added to the tortures by which they inflicted
252 BUEIAI, OF THE DEAD
death, that of burning the bodies of the dead.
In this way, they thought, they should rob the
Christians of that resurrection which they hoped
fur, or at least trample on that which they held
sacred (Euseb. H. E. v. 1, ad fin.). As a rule,
accordingly, it may be held, that interment, with
or without embalming, according to local custom
or the rank of the deceased, obtained from the
first in all Christian Churches.
2. Place of Burial. At first, in the nature
of things, it was not ia the power of Christians
to transgress the laws of the Empire which for-
bade interment within the walls of cities (Cic. de
Lcgg. ii. 58). The Jewish custom had in this
respect agreed with that which prevailed
throughout the heathen world, strengthened by
the feeling that contact with the graves where
the dead reposed brought with it a ceremonial
defilement. The tomb of Christ, e.g., was in a
garden nigh unto the city, but outside the gates
(Matt, xxvii. 60), and the same holds good of
the burial at Nain (Luke vii. 12), and of that of
Lazarus (John xi. 30). The demoniac of Gadara
had " his dwelling in the tombs," because they
were remote from human habitations (Mark v.
5). Commonly, as on the Appian way, and the
road from Athens to the Piraeus, the strip of
ground on each side of the most frequented
highway, beginning at the city gate, became
the burial-place of citizens. Slaves and foreign-
ers were laid in some less honourable position.
The Jews at Rome and in other cities had burial-
places of their own.
The wish to avoid contact with idolatrous
rites, and to escape interruption and insult in
their own funeral ceremonies, would naturally
lead Christians to follow the example of the
Jews, and to secure, as soon as possible, a place
where they could bury their dead in peace. The
earliest trace of this feeling is found in an
inscription, which records the purchase by
Fnustus, a slave of Antonia, the wife of Drusus,
from Jucundus, a Christian, of the "jus oUa-
rum," the right, i.e. of burying the remains of
the dead in a columbarium. The Christian, i. e.
will no longer burn the bodies of those for
whom he cares, nor have his own body to be
burnt, but sells his interest in the pagan sepul-
chre, and provides another for himself (Muratori
MDCLXViii. 6). So in like manner Cyprian
(Ep. 68) makes it a special charge against Mar-
tialis, bishop of Astura, that he had allowed his
sons to be "apud profana sepulcra depositos."
During the long periods in which they were
exempt from persecution, they were allowed in
many cities to possess their burial-grounds in
peace. At Carthage, e.g., they had their areae.
and it was only in a time of popular fury that
their right to them was disputed (Tertull. ad
Scap. c. 3). At Alexandria they had what they
had been the first to call Koi/nrirTipia, and it was
not till the persecution under Valerian and Gal-
lienus that they were forbidden to have access
to them (Euseb. E. E. vii. 11). [Cemetery.]
Soon afterwards, however, they must have been
restored, as we find Diocletian and Maximian
agam closing them. Special edicts of this nature
ai^, of course, exceptions that prove the rule.
\Miere as at Rome, Naples, and Milan, the na-
tureof the sod lent itself readily to subterrane-
ous m erment, this was caught at as givin<. at
cure the privacy and security which the Chris-
BUEIAL OF THE DEAD
tians needed. As Christianity spread, it was not
difficult, by payment or by favour — often, perhaps,
through a secret sympathy — to obtain from the
owners of the land which was thus excavated a
prescriptive right to its use ; and, as a matter of
tact, the sanctity of the catacombs never seems
to have been violated. [Catacombs.] Whatever
other purposes they might serve, as meeting-
places or refuges, this was, beyond question,
their primary and most lasting use.
During persecution, especially in localities
where there was not the facility for concealment
presented by the catacombs, the Christians had,
of course, to bury their dead as they could.
When the conversion of Constantine restored free
liberty of choice, the places which had been
made sacred by the bodies of saints and martyrs
were naturally sought after. The tomb became
the nucleus of a basilica. The devout Christian
wished to be helped by the presence and protec-
tion of the martyr (August, de Gura ger. pro
Mort. c. 1 and 7). The phrases POSITOS AD
SANCTOS, AD MARTYEES, are found frequently on
monumental inscriptions in Italy and Gaul (Le
Blaut, Inscriptions Chre'tiennes, i. 83). Gra-
dually, through the influence of this feeling, the
old Roman practice of extramural interment
fell into disuse. Burial within the basilica was
reserved for persons of the highest rank. Con-
stantine was the first to set the example, and
was followed by Theodosius and Honorius (Chry-
sost. Horn. 26 in 2 Cor.). The distinction was
eagerly sought after, and the desire to obtain
it had to be placed under restrictions both by
imperial laws, as by those of Valentinian and
Gratian, and by the canons of councils (Cone.
Bracar. A.D. 563, c. 18). During the ti-ansition
period many cities seem to have adhered to the
old plan, and to have refused their sanction to
any intramural interment (ibid.). Where that
sanction was given, the precincts of the church,
sometimes its atrium or courtyard, where it was
constructed after the type of a basilica, became
the favourite spot. In the 9th century Gregory
of Tours supplies the first instance of a formal
consecration of a churchyard for such a purpose
(De Glor. Confess, c. 6). A special prohibition
against the use of the baptistery for interments
is found in Gaul about the same period (Cone.
Antissiod. c. 14).
Funeral Rites. The details of Christian
burial j^resent, as might be expected, points both
of resemblance and contrast to heathen practices.
Wherever the usage was the expression of na-
tural reverence or love, there it was adopted.
Where it was connected with any pagan super-
stition it was carefully avoided.
(1.) Starting from the moment of death, the
first act of the by-standers, of the nearest of kin
who might be present, was to close the eyes and
mouth of the corpse (Euseb. II. E. vii. 22).
Among the Romans this had been followed by
reopening the eyes when the body was placed
upon the pyre (Plin. Xat. Hist. xi. 37), probably
as symbolizing the thought that though they
had ceased to look upon the world which they
were leaving, they were yet on the point of
passing to another state of being where they
would see and be seen again. Of this latter
custom we have no trace in Christian history.
Then followed the washing, the anointing, some-
times the embalming. In the society around
BURIAL OF THE DEAD
them this had been left to the pollindores, who
made it their business. With Christians it was
a worlc of love, done for friends and kindred, or
even for strangers and the poor (Euseb. H. E.
vii. 22).
(2.) In Palestine and throughout the East
generally interment followed upon death after
an interval of a few hours, during which the
hired mourners made their lamentations (Matt,
ix. 23; 2 Chron. sxxv. 25; Jerem. xxii. 18).
This was due in part, of course, to the rapidity
with which decomposition sets in under such a
climate, but still more to the feeling common to
both Jew and heathen, that the jiresence of the
dead body brought defilement to the house and
its inmates. Here also Christian thought shewed
itself in contrast, and the interval between death
and burial was gradually prolonged to three or
four days. The body was swathed in white
linen, sometimes with the insignia of office, or
with ornaments of gold and gems, placed in the
coffin or sarcophagus, and laid out, sometimes in
the chamber of death, sometimes in the church,
that friends might come and weep and take their
last look (Euseb. Vit. Const, iv. 66, 67 ; Ambros.
Orat. in obit. Theodos. ; August. Cunff. ix. 12).
V^igils were held over it, accompanied by prayers
and hymns. Hired mourners, like those of the
East or the praejicae of the Komans, were not
allowed.
(3.) The feeling that a funeral was a thing of evil
omen for the eye to fall on led the Romans to choose
night as the time for interment." The Christian
Church, on the contrary, as soon as it was able
to develop itself freely, and was free from the
risk of outrage, chose the day, and gave to the
funeral procession somewhat of the character of
a triumph. The coffin was borne on the shoulders
of the nearest friends and kinsmen. Where, as
in the case of Paula (Hieron. Ep. 27 ad Eustoch.),
honour was to be shewn to some conspicuous
benefactor of the Church, it was carried by the
bishops and the clei-gy. The leading clergy of
a diocese took their place as bearers at the funeral
of a bishop, as, e. g. in that of St. Basil (Greg.
Naz. Orat. xx. p. 371). They and the others
who took part in the ceremonial carried in their
hands branches, not of the funereal cypress, as
among Greeks and Romans, but of palm and olive,
as those who celebrate a victory. Leaves of the
evergreen laurel and ivy were placed in the coffin-
in token of the hope of immortality (Durand.
Hat. div. off. vii. 35). Others, again, in like token
of Christian joy, carried lighted lamps or torches
(Chrysost. Mom. IV. in Hehr. ; Greg. Nyss. Vit.
Macrin. ii. p. 201). The practice of crowning
the head with a wreath of flowers was rejected,!"
partly as tainted with idolatry, partly as asso-
ciated with riotous revels or shameless eifemiuacy
(Clem. Alex. Faedag. ii. 8 ; Tertull. de Cor. Milit.
c. 10), but flowers were scattered freely over the
body. Others, again, carried thuribles, and fra-
grant clouds of incense rose as in a Roman
a Julian, in his edict against the pvactice of funeral
processions, occasioned by those which had been hold at
Antioch in honour of the martyr Babylas, fulls back
upon the old superstition : " Qui enim dies est bene aus-
picatus a funere? Aut quomodo ad Deos et templa
venletur."— Cod Theod. ix. tit. \1, 1. 5.
•> The denial of what had come to be a recognized
mark of honour was turned in the earlier ages of the
Church into a ground of attack. " Coronas etiam sepulchris
BUEIAL OF THE DEAD 253
triumph (Baron. Annal. a.d. 310, n. 10; Chrysost.
Horn. cxvi. I. 6). Nor did they march in silence,
but chanted as they went hymns of hope and
joy. " Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the
death of His saints ;" " Turn again unto thv
rest, 0 my soul, for the Lord hath rewarded
thee ;" " The souls of the righteous are in the
hand of God " — were among the fiivourite an-
thems {Constt. Apost. vi. 30 ; Chrysost. Hoia.
30, de Dorm.). Bells were not tolled till the
eighth or ninth century, nor can the practice of
carrying the cross in the procession be traced
beyond the sixth (Greg. Turon. Vit. Patr. c. 14).
When they reached the grave, hymns and prayers
were renewed, and were followed by an address
from the bishop or priest.*^
(4.) Either in the church or at the grave it
was customary, as early as the fourth century,
to have a celebration of the eucharist in token
of the communion that still existed between the
living and the dead. (123 C. Carth. iii. c. 29).
With this were united special prayers for the soul
of the departed. The priest first, and afterwards
the other friends, gave the corpse the last kiss of
peace (Dionys. Areop. Hicrarch. Eccles. c. 7). For
some centuries, in spite of repeated prohibitions by
councils of the Church, the practice prevailed, in
Western Africa, in Gaul, in the East, of placing
the consecrated bread itself, steeped in the wine,
within the lips of the dead (C. Carth. iii. c. 6 ;
vi. c. 83 ; C. Antissiod. c. 12 ; C. Trullan. c. 133).
Another practice, that of burying the Eucharistic
bread with the dead, though not between the
lips, had a higher sanction. St. Basil is reported,
on one occasion, after consecration, to have divided
the Eucharist into three parts, and to have re-
served one to be buried with him (Amphilochius
in Spicileg. vii. p. 81) ; and St. Benedict, in like
manner, ordered it to be laid upon the breast of
a young monk, as he was placed in the grave.
(Greg. Dialog, ii. 24 ; cf. Martene de Ant.
Eccles. Bit. i. 3 62, ed. 1.) The old union of the
Agape and the Supper of the Lord left traces
of itself here also, and the Eucharist was fol-
lowed by a meal, ostensibly of brotherhood, or
as an act of bounty to the poor, but often passing
into riotous excess (August, de Mor. Eccl. c. 34).
When the body was lowered into the grave it
was with the face turned upwards, and with the
feet towards the east, in token of the sure and
certain hope of the coming of the Sun of
Righteousness and the resurrection of the dead
(Chrysost. Horn. cxvi. t. vi.). Other positions,
such as sitting or standing, were exceptions to
the general rule (Arringhi, Boma subt. c. 16,
p. 33). The insignia of office, if the deceased
had held any such position — gold and silver
ornaments, in the case of private persons — were
often flung into the open grave, and the waste
and ostentation to which this led had to be
checked by an imperial edict (Cof/. Theodos. xi.
tit. 7, 1. 14), which does not appear, however, to
have been very rigidly enforced. The practice
dcnegatis" is the language of the heathen in the Octanus
of Minuciiis Felix ; and the Christian in his reply ac-
knowledges "nee mortuos coronamus" (c. xii. xxxviii.).
Flowers were however scattered over the grave (Pru-
dent. Cathemerinon, x. 177.)
■^ The funeral orations of Eusebius at the death of Con-
stantine, of Ambrose on that of Theodosius, are the most
memorable instances ; but we have also those of Gregory
of Nazianzum on his father brother, and sister.
254
BURIAL OF THE LORD
retained in our English service, of a solemn
prayer while the first handfuls of earth are
thrown upon the coffin, is not traceable to any
early period. In the Greek Euchologion the
earth is cast in by the bishop or priest himself.
When the grave was closed the service ended
with the Lord's Prayer and Benediction.
There were, however, subsequent rites con-
nected more or less normally with the burial.
On the third day, on the ninth, and on the for-
tieth, the friends of the deceased met and joined
in psalms or hymns and prayers {Constt. Apost.
viii. c. 42).
The feeling that death in the case of those
who fell asleep in Christ was a cause not for
lamentation but for thanksgiving, shewed itself
lastly in the disuse of the mourning apparel
which was common among the Romans, of the
ashes and rent garments, which were signs of
sorrow with the Jews. Instead of black clothes,
men were to wear the dress which they wore at
feasts. The common practice was denounced as
foreign to the traditions and the principles of
the Christian Church (Cyprian, de Mortal, p. 115 ;
August. Serm. 2, de Consol. Mort.). Here, how-
ever, the natural feeling was too strong to be
thrust out, and gradually the old signs of a
sorrow, which could not but be felt, even though
it were blended with hope, made their way into
use again.
It was characteristic of the religious care
with which the Church regarded every work
connected with the burial of the dead, that even
those whose tasks were of the lowest kind, the
grave-diggers (KoirfctTai, fossarii), the sanda-
pilarii. and others, whose functions corresponded
to those of the undertaker's men in our own
time, were not merely a class doing their work
as a trade, but were reckoned as servants of the
Church, and as such took their place as the lowest
order of the clergy.
The more developed and formal ritual of in-
terment in the Eastern Church is given at some
length by the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite,
and contained, as its chief elements, the follow-
ing : — (1) The body was brought to the bishop
or priest by the next of kin, that he might offer
thanksgiving as for one who had fought the
good fight, and the relations sang triumphant
and rejoicing hymns. (2) The deacons recited
the chief Scriptural promises of the resurrection
and of eternal life, and sang creeds and hymns of
like tenor. (3) The catechumens were then dis-
missed, and the archdeacon spoke to the faithful
who remained, of the bliss of the departed, and
exhorted them to follow their example. (4) The
priest then prayed that the deceased might find
a resting-place with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the land where sorrow and sighing should flee
away. (5) The bishop, followed by the kindred
or friends, then gave the corpse the kiss of peace.
(6) When this was over, the bishop poured oil
upon the dead body, and it was then placed in
the grave. The anointing of baptism was to
prepare the athlete for his conflict : that of
burial was a token that the conflict was over,
and the combatant at rest. {Eccles. Hierarch.
vii. p. 359.) [-E. H. P.]
BURIAL OP THE LORD. Easter-Eve in
the Armenian Calendar is called the Burial
of the Lord (Neale, Eastern Ch. Introd. p.
798). [;C.f
BYZATIUM, COUNCIL OF
BUTTA, BUTTO or BUTRO. (Several kin-
dred forms are given by Du Cange, s. v. Butta.) In
some MSS. of the Liber Pontificalis we read that
Leo in. (795-816)
caused to be made
for the venerable
monastery of St.
Sabas, " butronem
[al. buttonem] ar-
genteum cum canis-
tro suo pensantem
libr. xii." Leo IV.
(847-855) is also re-
ported by the same
authority to have
placed in the church
of St. Peter, " bu-
tronem ex argento
purissimo, qui pen-
det in presbyterio ante altare, pensantem libr.
cxlix"; and another, also of pure silver, " cum ga-
batis argenteis pendentibus in catenulis septem."
These buttones seem to have been suspended
cups used for lamps. [Compare Canistrum,
Gabatha.] The illustrations are from the Hie-
rolexicon; the first represents a single sus-
pended hutto, from an ancient representation ;
the second, a corona with three hanging hut-
tones, from an ancient painting once existing in
St. Peter's at Rome,
Buttones used as Lamps.
The form hutrista is used, apparently in the
same sense, by Alcuin, Poem. 165. (Du Cange's
Glossary ; Macri Hierolexicon, s. v. Butto.)
Martene {de Ant. Eccl. Bit. iii. 96) describes
a huta as used for fetching and preserving the
Chrism, according to an ancient custom, in the
church of St. Martin at Tours. [C]
BYBLINUS, in Caesarea ; commemorated
Nov. 5 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
BYZACENUM CONCILIUM. [Byza-
Tixui, Council of.j
BYZATIUM, COUNCIL OF (Btzacenum
Concilium), provincial, at Byzatium in Africa.
(1) A.D. 397, to confirm the canons of the
Council of Hippo of A.D. 393 : its Synodical
Letter is in the Acts of the Third Council of
BYZATIUM, COUNCIL OE
Carthage of the same year, 397 (Mansi, iii. 875).
— (2) A.D. 507, a numerous Council, which in-
sisted on filling up vacant bishoprics. King Thrasa-
mund having forbidden this in order to extinguish
the orthodox Church (Ferrand. Diac, V. Fulgent.
xvi. ; Labb. iv. 1378-1380).— (3) a.d. 54-1, sent
a deputation to the emperor Justinian, who in
reply confirms all the canonical privileges of the
metropolitan of Carthage (Dacianus), and of the
African primates (^Rescripts of Justinian to the
Council and to Dacianus, in Baron, ad an. 541 ;
Labbe, v. 380). — (4) a.d. 602, in the cause of
Crementius, or Clementius, or Clementinus,
primate of the province, held at the instigation
of Gregory the Great (^/)i'sf^. xii. 32), who ex-
horts the comprovincial bishops to inquire into,
and adjudicate upon, certain accusations that
were current against their metropolitan (Labbe,
V. 1612). — (5) A.D. 646, under Stephen the me-
tropolitan, against the Monothelites (Labbe, v.
1835, vi. 133). [A. W. H.]
CABERSUSSA, COUNCIL OF. [African
COUXCILS.]
CABILLONENSE CONCILIUM. [Cha-
loxs-sur-Saone.]
CAECILIA, virgin-martyr at Rome, is com-
memorated Nov. 22 (^Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae,
Usuardi). [C]
CAECILIANUS, martyr at Saragossa, com-
memorated April 16 (3Iart. Usuardi). [C]
CAECILIUS, with others " qui Romae ab
apostolis ordinati sunt," is commemorated May 15
{3fart. Rom. Vet.). [C]
CAESAR - AUGUSTANUM CONCI-
LIUM. [Saragossa.]
CAESAEEA, COUNCILS OF. (1) In
Palestine, a.d. 196, according to Cave {Hist. Lit.
i. 97) on the Easter controversy that had arisen
between Pope Victor and the churches of Asia
Minor, — Narcissus of Jerusalem, Theophilus of
Caesarea, Cassius of Tyre, and Clarus of Ptole-
mais being present, as we learn from Eusebius
(v. 25). They beg, in what he has preserved of
their letter, to be understood as keeping Easter
on the same day as the Church of Alexandria.
But, curiously enough, several versions of the
acts of this Council have been discovered in the
West, beginning with that ascribed to Bede
(Migne's Patrol, xc. 607; comp. Mansi i. 711-
716) at much greater length : the only question
is, are they in keeping with the above letter ?
(2) In Palestine (Mansi ii. 1122), summoned
A.D. 331, to inquire into the truth of some
charges brought against St. Athanasius by his
enemies, but not held till 334, when he was fur-
ther accused of having kept the Council ap-
pointed to try them, waiting thirty months. He
knew too well to what party the bishop of the
diocese, and father of ecclesiastical history,
belonged, to appear even then ; and on his non-
appearance, proceedings had to be adjourned to
the Council of Tyre the year following.
(3) In Palestine, a.d. 357 or 358 apparently,
under Acacius its Metropolitan, when St. Cyril
CALCULATORES
255
of Jerusalem was deposed (Soz. iv. 25). So-
crates (ii. 40) adds that he appealed from its
sentence to a higher tribunal, a course hitherto
without precedent in canonical usage ; and that
his appeal was allowed by the emperor.
(4) In Pontus, or Neocaesarea, a.d. 358, ac-
cording to Pagi (Mansi iii. 291), at which Eusta-
thius, bishop of Sebaste, was deposed ; and
Melatius, afterwards bishop of Antioch, set in
his place.
(5) In Cappadocia, a.d. 370 or 371, when
St. Basil was constituted bishop in the room of
Eusebius, its former Metropolitan, whom he had
been assisting some years, though he had been
o]-dained deacon by St. Meletius. The Libellus
Synodicus, a work of the ninth century (Mansi
i. 25, note) makes St. Basil anathematise
Dianius, the predecessor of his own prede-
cessor at this synod ; but St. Basil himself
(Ep. Ii. al. Ixxxvi.) denies ever having done so.
Further on in his epistles (xcviii. al. cclix.)
he seems to speak of another synod about to be
held in his diocese, to settle the question of
jurisdiction between him and the Metropolitan
of Tyana, consequent on the division of Cappa-
docia by the civil power into two provinces.
St. Basil stood upon his ancient rights : but
eventually the matter was compromised, as we
learn from his friend St. Gregory (Orat. xliii.
§ 59 al. XX.), by the erection of more sees in each,
the carrying out of which, however beneficial to
their country, proved so nearly fatal to their
friendship. The date assigned to this Council
by Mansi (iii. 453) is a.d. 372. [E. S. Ff.]
CAESARIUS. (1) Bishop of Aries, comme-
morated Aug. 27 (Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Deacon and martyr, is commemorated
Nov. 1 (Mart. Rom,. Vet., Bedae, Usuardi).
(3) Martvr under Decius, is commemorated
Nov. 3 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CAINICHUS, abbat in Scotland, comme-
morated Oct. 11 (Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CAIUS. (1) Gaius of Corinth is comme-
morated Oct. 4 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Bologna, Jan. 4 (MaH. Usuardi).
(3) Palatinus, martyr, March 4 (Mart. Usuardi).
(4) Martyr at Apanmea under Antoninus Verus,
March 10 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(6) Martyr at Militana in Armenia, April 19
(Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(6) Pope, martyr at Rome under Diocletian,
April 22 (Kal. Bucher., Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae,
Usuardi).
(7) Martyr at Nicomedia, Oct. 21 (Jifart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi).
(8) Martyr at Messina, Nov. 20 (3fart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CALCHUTHENSE CONCILIIBL [Ceal-
CHYTHE.]
CALCUI-ATORES, or according to Pertz,
CAUCULATORES, casters of horoscopes. This
term does n(it appear to figure m church history
till the time of Charlemagne. An ecclesiastical
capitulary of 789, dated from Aix-la-Chapelle,
referring to the precepts of the Pentateuch
against witchcraft and sorcery, enacts that
"there shall be no calculators, nor enchanters,
nor storm-raisers (tempestarii), or obligatores (i) ;
and wherever they are, let them amend or be
condemned" — the punishment being apparontJy
256
CALEXDAK
left to the discretion of the judge (c. 64). The
term figures again, and in much the same com-
pany, in a similar enactment contained in certain
" Capitula Excerpta '•' of the year 802, also dated
from Aix-Ia-Chapelle (c. 40). [J. M. L.]
CALENDAR {Kakndarium, Com.putus, Dis-
tribulio Officiorum per circuluin totius anni, ix7\va.l-
ov eopTaariKov, Tip.(poK6yiov, icp-Qixepis : later,
KaKiVTapiov.) It does not belong to this article
to treat of the calendar except in its ecclesiastical
form as used for liturgical purposes during the
first eight centuries of the Christian era. The
early Christian communities continued to use
the mode of reckoning and naming days and
years which existed in the countries in which
they had their origin. The distinctive church
calendar exists for the purpose of denoting the
days, either of a given year, or of any year,
which are marked for religious celebration.
First among these liturgical requirements is
the specification of the Lord's Day. This was
facilitated by a contrivance borrowed from the
heathen Rom"an calendar. [Sunday Letter.]
But together with the week of seven days,
of which the first day or Sunday was assigned to
the celebration of the Lord's Resurrection, there
existed from the earliest times a yearly com-
memoration which, eventualh', by general con-
sent of the churches, at first divided on this
point (Easter), was assigned to the Sunday
next after the day on which, according to cer-
tain calculations, the Jews were, or should
have been, celebrating their Passover, that is,
the day of the full moon nearest to the vernal
equinox. Hence the year of the Christian
calendar is partly solar of the Julian form,
partly lunar. All the Sundays which are related
to Easter, i.e. all from our Septuagesima Sun-
day to the last Sunday after Trinity, change
their places year by year: the rest, i.e. from
1 Advent to the Sunday before Septuagesima
shifting only to a place one day later ; in leap-
years, two. About the middle of the 4th cen-
tury, the Nativity of Christ, until then com-
memorated, if at all. on the 6th January, was
fixed to the 25th December [Christmas]. And
as other days, commemorative of bishops, mar-
tyrs, and apostles came to be celebrated, these
also were noted in the fixed calendar.
The calendar existed in two forms : one, in
which all the days of the year were noted, with
specification of months and weeks : the other,
a list of the holy days, with or without specifi-
cation of the month date. Of the full calendar,
what seems to be the earliest extant specimen
is furnished by a fragment of a Gothic calendar,
composed, probably, in Thrace in the 4th cen-
tury, edited by Mai, Script, vet. nova collcdio,
V. i. 66-68. Comp. de Gabelentz, Ulphilas, ii. i,
p. xvii. Krafft, Kirch. Gesch. der germanischen
Vijlker, i. 1, 371, 385-387. This fragment gives
only the thirty-eight days from 23 October to
30 November. It assigns the festivals of seven
saints, two of the New Testament, three of the
Universal Church, two local, namely Gothic.
Not less ancient, perhaps, is a Roman calendar,
of the time of Constantius IL, forming part of a
collection of chronographical pieces written by
the calhgrapher, Furius Dionvsius Filocalus, in
the year 354; edited, after others, by Kollar,
Analect. Vindohon. i. 961, sqq. This, while re-
taining the astronomical and astrological notes
CALENDAR
of the old Roman calendars, with some of the
heathen festivals, is so far Christian that, side
by side with the old nundinal letters A — H, it
gives also the dominical letters, A — G, of the
ecclesiastical year ; but it does not specify any
of the Christian holy days. (Comp. Ideler, Ildh.
2, 140.) Next in point of antiquity is the
calendar composed by Polemeus Silvius, in the
year 448, edited by the Bollandists, Acta Sanc-
torum Januar. vii. 176 ff. This is a full Roman
calendar adapted to Christian use, not only as
that of A.D. 354, just noticed, by specification of
the Lord's Days, but with some few holy days
added, namely, four in connexion with Christ,
and six for commemoration of martyrs.
Of the short calendar, the most ancient speci-
men is that which was fii-st edited by Bucherius,
de Doctrina Temporum, c. xv. 266 sqq. (Antwerp,
1634) — a work of Roman origin dating from
about the middle of the 4th century, as appears
from the contents, as also from the foot that it
is included in the collection of Filocalus, thence
edited by Kollar, u. s. ; also with a learned com-
mentary by Lambecius, Catal. Codd. 3ISS. in
Bihlioth. Caesar. Vindohon. iv. 277 IF., and by
Graevius Thes. viii. It consists of two por-
tions, of which the first is a list of twelve
popes from Lucius to Julius (predecessor of
Liberius), a.d. 253-352 ; not complete, how-
ever, for Sixtus (Xystus) has his place among
the martyrs, and Marcellus is omitted. The
other part gives names and days of twenty-two
martyrs, all Roman, including besides Xystus,
those of earlier popes, Fabianus, Callistus, and
Pontianus. Together with these, the- Feast of
the Nativity is noted on 25th December, and that
of the Cathedra Petri assigned to 22nd February,
A similar list of Roman festivals with a
lectionary (Capitulare Evangeliorum totius anni)
was edited by Fronto (Paris, 1652, and in his
Epistolae et Dissertat. ecclesiasticae, p. 107-233,
Veron. 1733), from a manuscript written in
letters of gold, belonging to the convent of St.
Genevieve at Paris. This seems to have been
composed in the first half of the 8th century.
Another, also Roman, edited by Martene, Thcs.
Analect. v. 65, is perhaps of later date.
A calendar of the church of Carthage, of the like
form, discovered by Mabillon, by Ruinart appended
to his Acta Martyrum, is by them assigned to
the 5th century. It contains only festivals of
bishops and martyrs, mostly local. It opens with
the title, " Hie continentur dies natalitiorum
martyrum et depositiones episcoporum quos
ecclesiae Carthaginis anniversaria celebrant."
As each church had its own bishops and
martyrs, each needed in this regard (i.e. for the
days marked for the Depositiones Episcoporum
and Natalitia Martyrum) its separate calendar.
It belonged to the bishop to see that these lists
were properly drawn up for the use of the
church. And to this effect we find St. Cyprian
in his 36th epistle exhorting his clergy to make
known to him the days on which the confessors
suffered. " Dies eorum, quibus excedunt, nuu-
ciate ut commemorationes eorum inter memorias
martyrum celebrare possimus. Quamquam
Tertullus scripserit et scribat et sig-
nificet mihi dies, quibus in carcere beati fratres
nostri ad immortalitatem gloriosae riiortis exitu
transeunt, et celebrentur hie a nobis oblationes
et sacrificia ob commemorationes eorum." Out
CALENDAR
of these calendar notices grew the Marttro-
LOGIES which, however, they greatly surpass
in authority and importance. For the calen-
dar, being essential as a liturgical directory,
was therefore composed only by the bishop or
bv some high officer of the church appointed by
him. Nothing could be added to, or altered in,
the calendar but by his authority. It was
accordingly prefixed or appended to the Sacra-
mentaries and other liturgical books. As an
example of an early form of this liturgical
calendar, the following is here given from the
Resp'jnsoriale and Aiitiphoiutriuim ascrihei to St.
Gregory the Great (ed. Thomasius) : —
Specimen distributionis officiorum per circulum
anni.
Dominica I. Adventus Do- Dom. V.
mini. Responsoria de Psalmis.
Dominica II. ante Nativ. Diebus Dominicis Aiiti-
Domini. phoiiae.
Natale S. Luciae Virginis. Vigilia S. Sebastian!.
Dom. III. ante Naliv. Do- Natale S. Agnetis.
mini. Purificatio S. Mariae.
Dom. proxima ante Nat. Vigilia at Natale S. Agnae.
Dom. Adunatio S. Mariae.
Vigilia Nat. Dom. Dominica in LXXma.
Nativitas Domini. Bom. in LXma.
Natale S Stephani. Dom. in Lma. (sen Carnis-
„ S. Joannis. privil et excarnaliorum).
SS. Innocentium. Dom. I. in XLa.
Dom. I. post Nat Dom. Dom. II.
Vigilia Octavae Nat. Dom. Dom. III.
Epiph,mia (seu Theo- Dom. in medio XLmae (sen
phania). de Jerusalem)
Octava Epiphaniae. Laetare (vel de Rosa').
Dominica I. post Theo- Dom. de Passione Domini
phaiiiam. (seu Mediana).
Dom. II. Dom. in Palmis (seu In-
Dom. III. dulsentiae).
Dom. IV. Vigilia Coenae Domini.
Parasceve. Dominica post Ascensum
Sabbatum sanctum. Domini (seu item de
Vigiliae S. Paschae. Rosa).
Dominica S. Paschae. Pentecoste.
Dom. octava Paschae (seu, Octava Peiitecostes.
post albas pasohales). Vigilia Nativitatis S.
Dom. I. post Pascha. Joannae Baptistap.
Dom. II. (Sic bequuntur officia pm-
Dom. III. pria de Sanctis usque ad
Dom. IV. Adventum).
Litanla major. Conimunia Otticia.
Vigilia Apostol. Philippi et Responsoria de libro Re-
Jacobi. gum, Sapientiae, Job,
Dom. III. et IV. in Pascha Tubia, Judith, Esther, de
R. R. de Anctoritate. historia Machabaeorum
Dom. V. et VI. in ,Pascha de Propbetis.
R. R. de psalmis. Antiphonae ad bymnum
In Natalitiis Ss. infra trium puerorum.
Pascha. De Canlico Zdchariae. S.
In Natalitiis unlus Mar- Mariae.
tyris sive Confessoris. Antiphonae dominicis die-
In S. Crucis Inventiono. bus post Pentecosten a
In fxaltatione S. Crucis. L. usque ad XXIV.
Ascensio Domini.
A knowledge of the calendar, being indispen-
sable for the due performance of the liturgy, was
one of the essential qualifications for the priestly
office. It is a frequent injunction in the capi-
tula of bishops, " presbyteri computum discant."
A canon of the council of Ai.x-la-Chapelle, a.d.
789, c. 70, and the Capitulare Interrogationis,
A.D. 811, of Charlemagne, i. 68, enjoin (with a
view to the supply of qualified persons) " ut
scholae legentium puerorum fiant, psalmos,
notas, cantum, computum, grammaticam
discant." For instruction in this department of
clerical education and ecclesiastical learning,
treatises more or less copious were provided.
An elaborate work of this kind is the de Computo
of Kabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mayence
(a.d. 8-t7), edited by Baluxius, Miscellan. t. i.
p. 1, sqq. Yearly, on the feast of Epiphany, the
CHRISr. ANT.
CALENDAR
257
bishop announced the date of Easter for that
year, as enjoined e. g. by the 4th Council of
Orleans, a.d. 541,can. l(Bruns, ii. 201): and from
him the clergy, together with this announcement,
received notice of any new festival appointed, in
order that the same might be entered in their
calendar, and made known to the people.
It results, partly from these subsequent addi-
tions made to the original texts of the calendars,
which cannot always be discriminated in the
MSS. by diflerence of handwriting, colour of the
ink, and other palaeographical criteria, that it is
not always easy to say to what age, or to what
province of the Church, a given calendar belongs.
It is doubtful whether any of them contains the
genuine materials of such lists existing in times
earlier than the beginning of the 4th century.
For of these lists, scarce!)' any can be supposed
to have escaped, in the Diocletian persecution,
from the rigorous search then decreed for the
general destruction not only of the copies of
the Scriptures, but of all liturgical and ecclesi-
astical documents, among which the calendars,
lists of bishops and martyrs, and acts of martyrs,
held an important place (Euseb. H. E. viii. 2 ;
Arnob. adv. Gentes, iv. 36). Some rules, how-
ever, which may help to determine the relative
antiquity of extant calendars, may be thus sum-
marized, chiefly from Binterim, Denkiciirdig-
kerten, v. i. 20, sqq. : —
1. Brevity and simplicity in the statement
concerning the holy-day are characteristic of the
earlier times. Only the name of the martyr
was given, without title or eulogy ; even the
prefix S. or B. {sancius, becitus) is sparingly
used. Sometimes the martyrs of a whole pro-
vince are included under a single entry. Thus
the Calendar of Carthage, in which eighty-one
days are marked, has, at 2 Kal. Jan. Sanctorum
Temidensium : 15 Kal. Aug. SS. Scilitanorum.
In several other calendars, one name is given, with
the addition, et sociorum (or comitum), ejus.
2. To one day only one celebration is assigned
in 'the oldest calendars. " Commemorationes "
were unknown or very rare in the earlier times.
These seem to have come into use in the 9th
century, by reason of the increasing number of
saints' days.
3. The relative antiquity of a calendar is
especially indicated by the paucity, or entire
absence, of days assigned to the B. Virgin Mary.
Writers of the Church of Rome satisfy them-
selves in respect of this fact with the explana-
tion, that the days assigned to the Lord in-
clude the commemoration of the Blessed Virgin
Mother. Thus, for example, Morcelli (Afr.
Christiana, cited by Binterim, u. s. p. 14) ac-
counts for the entire silence of the Calend.
Carthag. concerning the days of the V. Mary ;
and the like explanation is given of the fact that
of St. Augustine we have no sermon preached for
a festival of the Virgin.
4. Another note of antiquity is the absence of
all saints' days and other celebrations from the
period during which Lent falls. Thus March
and April in the Carthaginian Calendar exhibit
no such days ; and the like blank appears in the
calendars of Bucherius and Fronto. For the
51st canon of the Council of Laodicea (cir. a.d.
352) enjoins : Stj 01; Se? eV reaffapaKoeTf]
fj-aprvpuv yevedXtov iiriTfKe7v, aWa tUv ayicvv
fiapTvpwi' /xveiav noielu 4v roh ffa^^drois Kal
S
258
CALEPODIUS
KvptaKois- "a martyr's day must not be kept
during the quadragesima, but must (at that
time) he reserved lor sabbaths and Lord's-days "
(Bruns, i. 78). And with this agreed the rule
of the Latin Church, as expressed in the 1st
canon of the 10th Council of Toledo, a.d. 65G
(Bruns, i. 298), where, with especial reference
to the falling of Lady-day (F. of Annunciation,
25 Mar.) in Lent, or on Easter-day itself, it is
said : " eadem festivitas non potest celebrari
condigne, cum interdum quadragesimae dies vel
paschale festura videtur iucunibere, in quibus
nihil de sanctorum solomnitatibus, siait ex auti-
quitixte rcguktri cautum est, convenit celebrari."
5. Before the 5th century, no day of canonised
bishop or other saint is marked to be kept as
festival, unless he was also a martyr. The oc-
currence of any such day is a sure indication
that the calendar is of later date than A.D. 400 ;
or, that the entry is of later insertion. To the
bishops is assigned the term Dcpositio ; to the
martyrs, Natalis or Natalitiuin.
6, Vigils are of rare occurrence in the oldest
calendars. Not one vigil is noted in the Kal.
Bucherianum and Kal. Carthajjinemte. The
Kal. Frontonianum (s?/jL>r«) has four. A Galilean
Calendar of A.D. 826, edited by d'Achery (^Spi-
cileg. X. 130), has five ; and another, by Martene,
for which he claims an earlier date ( Tlies, Anecd,
V. 65), has nine.
For the determination of the Province or
Church to which a Calendar belongs, the only
criterion to be relied on is the preponderance in
it of names of martyrs and saints known to be
of that diocese or province. Naturally, each
Church would honour most its own confessors
and champions of the faith, f^specially does
this rule hold in respect of the bishops, whose
names, unless they were also martyrs or other-
wise men of highest note in the Church, would
not be likely to obtain a place in the calendars
of other than their own Churches.
The Greek Church had its calendars, under the
title f(pT]in(pis {fopraa-TtKri), firjvalov I'lopr.);
later, KaKfi'rdpiov, which, as containing the
offices for each celebration, grew into enormous
dimensions. One such, with the designation,
Mrivo\6ytoy ruv evayyeKlcov topraaTLKhv sive
Kdendarium Ecclesiae Constantimpolitanac,
edited from a manuscript in the Albani Library
by Morcelli, fills two quarto volumes, Rome,
1788. But the title fjLr\vo\6yiov corresponds
not with the Latin Kalendarium, but with the
Martyrologium. Cave, in a dissertation ap-
pended to his Historia Literaria, part ii. {de
Libris et officiis ecclesiasticis Graecorum, p. 43)
describes the KaKevrdpiov or Ephemeris ecclesias-
tica in usum totius anni, as a digest of all church
festivals and fasts for the twelve months, day by
day, beginning with September. " That calen-
dars of this kind were composed for the use of
tlie churches is plain from Biblioth. Vindobon.-
Cod. Btst. Eccl. xcvii. num. xiii., which gives a
letter written by the head of some monastery in
reply to questions concerning monastic observ-
ances of holydays; to which ^s appended a com-
plete Church Calendar."
[H. B.]
CALEPODIUS, aged
Rome under the emperor Alexander Severus,
commemorated May 10 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae
Usuardi).
[c;
CALL TO THE MINISTRY
CALF. Irrespectively of its meaning as
symbol of an Evangelist, the image of the
calf or ox is held by Aringhi (lib. vi. ch.
xxxii. vol. ii. p. 320) to represent the Christian
soul, standing to Christ in the same relation as
the sheep to the shepherd. He also takes the
calf or ox to represent Apostles labouring in their
ministry, quoting various Fathers, anil finally
St. Chrysostom'.s idea, that the oxen and Catlings
spoken of as killed for the Master's feast are
meant to represent prophets and martyrs. The
calf or ox, as a sacrificial victim, has been taken to
represent the Ldrd's sacrifice; for which Aringhi
quotes a comment on Num. xviii. These simih-
tudes seem fanciful, and pictorial or other repre-
sentations hardly exist to bear them out. A calf
is represented near the Good Shepherd in Buona-
rotti {Vctri, tav. v. fig. 2); and Martigny refers
to Allegranza {Man. antichi de Milano, p. 125)
for an initial letter at Milan, where the animal
is represented jilaying on a lyre : typifying, he
thinks, the subjugation of the human nature to
the life of faith. He also refers to St. Clement
of Alexandria {Paedag. lib. i. c. 5) for a com-
]iaris(>n of young Christians to sucking calves
(,uoo-xopia ya\a67\va), connected perhaps in the
Father's mind in the same way as in his own;
though, as Bishop Potter remarks in his note (<«/
loc.), no such comparison exists in Scripture.
The plate in Allegranza is of considerable interest,
being from a " marmo " belonging to the ancient
pulj^it of S. Ambrogio. The calf is lying down,
and turning up its forefoot to hold the lyre, or
"antica cetra." It is engraved in the loop of an
initial D. The preceding " marmo " is a repre-
sentation of an Agape, from the posterior parapet
of the pulpit ; and Allegranza considers the calf
to be a symbol connected with the Agape. See
above, Clem. Alex. Pacdiig. i. 5. See also s. v.
Lyrk, that instrument being held typical of the
human body in its right state of harmony with,
and subjection to, the divinely-guided soul. For
oxen with Dolia see Bottari, iii. 155, 184.
[R. St. J. T.]
CALIGAE. These were stockings, made of
various material, serving for a defence against
cold, and as such worn at times by soldiers
(Casaubcm on Suetonius) ; by monks, if infirm
or exposed to cold (Cassianus, lib. i. c. 10 ; S.
Benedictus, Regula, c. 62 ; Gregor. Magnus, Dial.
cc. 2, 4) ; and by bishops in out-door dress
(Gregor. Turon. Hist. Franc, lib. vi. c. 31).
The Ride of St. Ferreolus (quoted by Ducange,
s. v.), c. 32, has an amusing passage forbidding
the elaborate cross-gartering of these caligae,
out of mere coxcombry. The earliest writer
who mentions the caligae as among the " sacred
vestments" to be worn by bishops and cardi-
nals is Ivo Carnotensis (flllS). " Antequam
induantur sandaliis vestiantur caligis byssinis
vel lineis, iisque ad genua protensis et ibi bene
constrictis" {Sermo de signijicationihus iiuhnnen-
torum sacerdotal inm, apud Hittorpium de ]>ir.
Off.). - [W. B. M.]
CALIXTUS [Callistus].
CALL TO THE MINISTRY is more a
matter of Christian ethics than of Church canons ;
and in that point of view it became mixed up, in
the Church of the 4th century and onwards, with
the parallel cases of the adoption of the monastic
or the celibate life. Tiie temper that ought to
CALL TO THE MINISTRY
animate those who are to be ordained was Jield
to he, on the one hand, a sincere and pure desire
to serve God in some s])ecial way, but on the
other, also, a shrinking from the fearful responsi-
bility of the ministry ; on the one hand, obedience
to the call of superiors, and faith to undertake
duties which came by no self-seeking, on the other,
humility, that was really the more worthy the
more it felt its own unworthiness. In a word,
the true nolo episcopari spirit was held to extend,
in measure, to the lower orders also. Com-
pare Rom. X. 15, and Heb. v. 4, 5. Under this
view of the case, it was not indeed the absolute
law, but it naturally came to pass, and so was
the common rule, that the bishops, or the right-
ful electors (which included, of course, the bishop
or the bishops, and even in the case of the pres-
bvterate, up to at any rate the 3rd century, the
ciergv and people also) should choose at least to
the higher orders, and in such case the canons
enacted that any one already in orders in any
degree could not refuse to accept. A like rule
would apply in a less degree to the first entry
into the ministry ; the supply in both cases being
supplemented by voluntary candidates, from the
necessity of the case, but it being held the best
that the call should come from others, who had
authority. A Carthaginian canon among the
Cod. Can. Afric. {Graeo. c. 31) rules that " qui-
cumque clerici vel diaconi pro necessitatibus
ccclesiarum non obtemperaverint episcopis suis
volentibus eos ad honorem ampliorem in sua
ecclesia proinovere, nee illic ministrent in gradu
suo, unde recedere noluerunt." And for the case
of the episcopate, in particular, see under BiSHOP.
On the other hand, the call certainly needed not
of necessity to originate with the bishop. It was
open, and it was held a pious act, for parents to
devote their children to the ministry, not com-
]ielling, but exhorting and encouraging them so
to devote themselves. See, e.g. Gaudent. Brix.
{^Herm. 2), and St. Augustin (Epnst. 199); the
former speaking also of virgins and the latter
of monks, but both likewise of the ministry.
C<mc. Tolet. II. A.D. 531, regulates the education
of those, " quos voluntas parentum a primis in-
fantiae annis in clericabus officio manciparit."
Pope Siricius (Epist. I. cc. 9, 10) had, before
that (a.D. 385-398), regulated the several periods
of years during which such should remain suc-
cessively in each order of clergy. And Cone.
Etnerit. A.D. 666, can. 18, bids the " parochiani
presbyteri " choose promising young people, and
" de ecclesiae suae familia clericos sibi faciant."
Nor was this restricted to young people with
their parents' consent. Setting aside special
occupations, &c., which constituted a disqualifi-
cation for holy orders altogether, it was open to
older men also to offer themselves for the mi-
nistry ; but under certain couditions, in order to
ensure purity of motive. Pope Siricius (as above)
permits the " aetate jam grandaevus " to hasten
" ex laico ad sacram militiam pervenire ;" but
he is only to obtain the presbyterate or epis-
copate " accessu temporum, ... si eum cleri ac
plebis vocarit electio." A couple of centuries
later, Gregory the Great required in like case a
j)robation in a monastery (Jo. Diac. lib. ii. c. 16).
The Council of Constantinople, A.D. 869 (can. 5),
prohibited only those (of senatorial rank or other
worldly occupation) who sought to be tonsured
from ambitious or worldly motives, expressly
CALOYEES
259
excepting others of a diiTerent temper. And
canons like those of the Council of Rouen in 1072
must be understood with a like exception, which
sentence those "clerici" to be deposed "qui non
electi nee vocati aut nesciente ejiiscopo sacris
ordinibus se intromittunt." In short, the words
of Hincmar express the Church's view of the
subject, who praises certain clergy, who " non
importune ad ordinationem . . . se ingesserunt . . .
sed electi et vocati obedierunt" QWncm. Eirist.
ad Nicolaum Fapam, 0pp. ii. 308); and these of
St. Augustin, " Honor te quaerere debet, non
ipsum tu" {Horn. 13, in Quinqungintd), proceed-
ing to quote the parable about taking the lowest
room. See also St. Chrys. l>e Sacerd. i. 3, and
in 1 Tim., Ilom. 1. The call to the ministry, then,
in the earlier Church, meant, in the case of the
ministry in general, the invitation, approaching
to a command, of the bishop; but this might be
anticipated, under certain conditions, by the vo-
luntary offering of himself by the candidate ;
if possible, in his youth, but allowably at any
age. In the case of the higher orders, it was or
ought to have been the outward call of the
rightful patrons (so to call them) of the parish
or diocese. Who occupied this position in respect
to presbyters or to bishops at successive periods,
will be found under Bishop, PPvIEST; but the
bishop did so jirimarily and properly, and of
course had in every case and always the riglit
of examination and (if he thought good) rejection,
when it came to the question of ordination. The
inward call of later days — i.e. the self-devotion
of the candidate himself in real sincerity and
earnestness — was assumed throughout. And all
regulations on the subject tended to sift and test
the reality of that inward call. (Thomassin,
De Benef. p. ii. lib. i. cc. 23, sq.) [A. W. H.]
CALLICULAE. Ornaments for the alb or
white tunic, made either of some richly-coloured
stuff or of metal. Examples of these may be seen
in Perret, Catacomhes de Rome, ii. pi. 7 ; and in
Garrucci, Vetri ornati, vi. 5, xxv. 4. For further
particulars see Martigny, Diet, des Ant.Chre't., and
Ducange, Glossarium in voc. [W. B. M.]
CALLINICUS. (1) Martyr at Apollonia
under Decius, is commemorated Jan. 28 {Mart.
Usuardi); July 29 (Cal. Byzant.).
2. Commemorated Dec. 14 (Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CALLISTE, with her brothers, martyr, is
commemorated Sept. 1 (Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CALLISTEATUS and the forty-nine martyrs
(a.D. 288) are commemorated July 1 (Cal. Ar-
men.); Sept. 27 (Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CALLISTUS. (1) With Carisius and seven
others, martyrs at Corinth, commemorated April
16 (3fari. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(2), or CALIXTUS, pope, martyr at Rome,
an. 223, commemorated Oct. 14 (Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Bedae, Usuardi). [C]
CALLOCERUS, or CALOCEEUS, eunuch,
martyr, commemorated May 19 (Kal. Bucher.,
Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi); Feb. 11 (Mart.
Bedae). [C]
CALOYEES. The monks of the Eastern
Church. The word is derived either from KaXos
and 7^pas, or, more probably from KaAos and
y4pa:v, signifying a good old age. Apjillel at
first to the elder monks exclusivelv, it soon
S 2
260
CALUMNIES AGAINST THE CHEISTIANS
became the common designation of all. (Suicer.
Tliesaur. s. v., of. Pallad. Hist. Laus. ciii. kuAos,
where Innocentius is called 6 KaXos ■yepwv).
These Eastern monks have preserved from the
first, with characteristic tenacity, the Rule of
St. Basil. Thus their fastings are more frequent
and more rigorous than those in Western Chris-
tendom. Their offices too are more lengthv;
but partly from this very circumstance, and
partly from the office-books being very costly,
some are not infrequently omitted (Helyot.
Hist, des Ordres Belig. I. xix. 6). They are
divided, like their Western brethren, into three
kinds, Caeiwhitae, dwelling together under one
roof; Anachoretae, scattered round the several
monasteries and resorting thither for solemn ser-
vices on festivals, &c. ; and Eremitae, or solitary
recluses. The Caenobitae, or monks proper, are
again subdivided into Archarii, novices ; Micro-
schemi; and Mejalosolicmi, the highest grade
(Helyot. I. xix.).
The "Hours" observed by the Caloyers are
much the same as those in the West, being, in
fact, derived from a common source. After a
prolonged service at midnight they sleep from
2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Then a service corresponding
to matins, lauds, and prime, the last portion of
which is simultaneous with sunrise. After an
interval spent in their cells, they meet again at
9 a.m. for tierce, sext, and mass. At mid-day
dinner, with the usual lections, in the refectory.
At 4 p.m. vespers ; at 6 p.m. supper, followed by
the airSSeiiTvov, a sort of compline ; at 8 p.m. to
bed (Helyot. I. xix.).
They have four especial seasons of fasting in
the year, and their abstinence, as has been said
already, is more severe than in Western climes.
Besides Lent, as in the West, there are the " Fast
of the Apostles," commencing on the 8th day
after Whitsunda}', and lasting about .3 weeks;
the " Fast of the Assumption," lasting 14 days ;
and " Advent " (Helyot. I. xix.).
Tiieir robes, more flowing and voluminous than
f linse of Western Orders, are marked on the cape
with the Cross, and with the letters IC. XC. NC.
(.lesus Christus Vincit). The tonsure extends
all over the head; but they wear beards (cf.
Mab. Ann. I. xv. 32). (Helyot. I. xix.). Nu-
merous lay brothers are attached to each monas-
tery, for the field work ; and considerable taxes
are collected from each by the "exarchs" or
visitors, for the Pati-iarch (Helyot. I. xix.).
The gi'eatest of the Asiatic monasteries is on
Mt. Sinai, founded, it is said, by Justinian, and
renowned as the residence of St. Athanasius of
Mt. Sinai, and of St. John Climacus, whose name
figures in Western Hagiologies also. Here, as at
Mt. Casino, the abbat exercises a large ecclesias-
tical jurisdiction: he is archbishop ea; q^«o. As
a ])recaution against Arabs there are no doors
and the only gateway is blocked up. Provisions
and pilgrims, &c., are all drawn up in a basket
to the window. In Europe there are several
nionastevies; among which that of St. Sabas, in
the wilderness near Bethlehem, and those on the
isles in the Levant are famous. But the Greatest
are tnose on MtAthos, where the penin v a
entirely and e-xclusively occupied by the «Ci-
loyers" (Helyot. I.). [L G. S.]
TIANS^T^^^ t^'^^^^T THE CHEIS-
llAxVb. It was hardly possible that a new
society like the Christian Church should escape
misrepresentations. It had enemies on all sides.
It ofl'ended men by presenting a higher- standard
of purity than their own, and they revenged
themselves by imputing to it their own impurity.
The secrecy that attended some portions of its
life or worship gave rise to suspicions. Other
societies, heretical or fantastic, which were popu-
larly identified with it, brought upon it the dis-
credit to which their defects made them liable.
Popular credulity was ready to accept any sensa-
tional tale of horror which malice or ignorance
might suggest. The result was that the popular
feeling of dislike took definite shape, and that
the persecutions of the Christians in the first
three centuries were stimulated by the general
belief that they were guilty of crimes which
made them enemies of the human race. But
over and above these influences, there was also,
if we may trust the statements of many early
Christian writers, a system of calumny, organised
and deliberate, of which the Jews were the chief
propagators. Envoys {airoaToXoi) were sent from
Jerusalem with circular letters to the synagogues
throughout the empire, and these became centres
from which the false reports were disseminated
among the heathen (Just. M. Dial. c. Tryph.
c. 17, p. 234 ; Euseb. inEsaiam, xviii. 1, p. 424).
They spread the charge of Atheism, which was
so large an element in the accusations to which
Christians were exposed, and were active, as in
the case of Polycarp, in stirring up the multi-
tude (^^jjsif. Smi/rn. 9; Clem. Alex. Strom, vii.
1). The calumnies in question are, of course,
the chief subject-matter of the Apologetic trea-
tises of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Of these,
the treatise of Tertullian, ad Nationes, as being
addressed, not, like his Apologies, to emperors
and proconsuls, but to the Gentiles at large, is,
perhaps, the most exhaustive. It will be con-
venient to deal with the chief charges singly.
(1.) The Agapae and the more sacred Supper
which was at first connected with them, fur-
nished material ibr some of the more horrible
charges. "Thyesteian banquets and Oedipodean
incest " became bye-words of reproach (Athenag.
Apol. c. 4) side "by side with that of Atheism.
When they met, it was said, an infant was
brought in, covered with flour, and then stabbed
to death by a new convert, who was thus initi-
ated in the mysteries. The others then ate the
flesh and licked iip the blood. This was the
sacrifice by which they were bound together
(Tertull. ad Nat. i. 15 ; Apjol. c. 8 ; Minuc.
Felix, Octav. c. 9). Two sources of this mon-
strous statement may be assigned with some pro-
bability, (rt) To drink of human blood had actually
been made, as in the conspiracy of Catilina, a
bond of union in a common crime (Sallust, CatH.
c. 22), and the blood, it was said, was that of a
slaughtered child (Dio. Cass, xxxvii. 30). It
had entered into the popular imagination as one
of the horrors of a secret conspiracy. Christians
were regarded as members of a secret society,
conspiring together for the downfel of the re-
ligion and polity of the empire. It was natural
to think that they had like rites of initiation.
(6) The language of devout Christians as to the
Supper of which they partook would tend to con-
firm, even if it did not originate, the belief. It
was not common bread or common wine which
they ate and drank but Flesh and Blood. Bv
CALUMNIES AGAINST THE CHEISTIANS
261
participation in that flesh and blood they be-
came members of one body. It is singubir, how-
ever, that the Apologists do not meet the charge
with this explanation, but confine themselves
{I. c.) to dwelling on the incredibility of such
charges, on the absence of any evidence to sup-
port them. Their unwillingness to expose the
niysteries of their faith to the scorn of
the heathen was, it can hardly be questioned, the
cause of this i-eticence.
(2.) Next in order came the charge of im-
purity. When the members of a Christian
Church met, men and women, it was at night.
A lamp gave light to the room, and to its stand
a dog was fastened. After they had supped
and were hot with wine, meat was thrown
to the dog so as to make him overthrow the
lamp-stand in his struggles to get at it, and
then the darkness witnessed a scene of shameless
and unbridled lust, in which all laws of nature
were set at nought (TertuU. Apol. c. 8 ; ad
Nat. c. 16; Euseb. H. E. iv. 7-15; Origen, c.
Cels. vi. 27 ; Minuc. Felix c. 9). Here, too, we
may trace the calumny to two main sources.
(a) In the Bacchanalia and other secret mys-
teries, revelations of which had from time to
time startled the Roman world (comp. Livy,
xxxix. 13 for those of B.C. 185), turpitude of
this kind had been but too common. Men of
prurient imaginations imputed it even where the
lives of the accused were in flagrant contradic-
tion to it. (J)) The name of the Agapae, inter-
preted as such men would interpret it, was sure
to strengthen the suspicion. They could form
no other notion of a " love-feast" held at night.
It may be that the " holy kiss," the " kiss of
peace," which entered into the early ritual of
the Eucharist, was distorted in the same way ;
and that the names of " brother " and " sister "
by which Christians spoke of each other were
associated with the thought that the intercourse
which was assumed to take place was incestuous
in its nature (Minuc. Felix, /. c). (c) It seems
probable that in some cases abuses of this kind
did actually exist in the Agapae. [Agapae.]
They became conspicuous for licence and revelry.
The language of the later Apostolical Epistles
(2 Pet. ii. 13, Jude v. 12) shows that excesses
had occurred even then. The followers of Car-
pocrates followed m the same line, and are said
by Clement of Alexandria (Strom, iii. 2-4, p. 185),
and Eusebius (i/. E. iv. 7, § 5) to have been
guilty in their Agapae of practices identical with
those which were popularly imputed to the
Christians at large.
(3.) The charge of Atheism was natural enough
as against those who held aloof from all temples
and altars, and, though it was a formidable
weapon in the hands of their persecutors, can
hardly be classed as a distinct calumny. Still
less can we group under that head the accusa-
tion that they worshipped one who had died a
malefoctor's death, though this too from the
time of the Apostles downward was a frequent
topic of reproach (Tacit. Annal. xv. 63 ; Justin
M. Dial. c. Try ph. c. 93 ; Minuc. Fel. p. 86).
It was not strange either that the reverential
use which the Christians of the 2nd century
made of the sign of the cross should lead to the
notion that they worshipped the cross itself.
We may wonder rather that the Apologist who
speaks of the accusation should be content almost
to admit the fact without any explanation, and
to retort with the argument that the framework
scaffolding of most of the idols before which the
Gentiles bowed down exhibited the same form
(Tertull. Apol. c. 16). We enter upon the region
of distinct slander, however, when we come
across statements of another kind, as to the
objects of Christian adoration. Of these the
most astounding is that they worshipped their
God under the mysterious form of a man with
an ass's head. It seems strange that such a
charge should have been thought even to need
denial, and yet it is clear that it was at one
time widely received. Tertullian {Apol. c. 16 ad
Nat. c. 11) speaks of a caricature exhibiting such
a form, with the inscription " The God of the
Christians" — ONOKOITES." And a picture an-
swering to this description has actually been
found on a wall of the palace of the Caesars on
the Palatine Hill. A man is represented as
offering homage to a figure with an ass's head,
and underneath is the inscription AAEXAMEN02
2EBETE (for 2EBETAI) 0EON. The fragment
is now in the Kircher Museum, and exhibits the
lowest style of art, such as might be found in
a boy-artisan bent on holding up some fellow-
workman to ridicule.'" It has to be noted that
this was but the transfer to the Christians of an
old charge against the Jews, and that there it
was connected with the tradition that it was
through the wild asses of the desert that the
Jews had been led to find water at the time of
the Exodus (Tacit. Hist. v. 3).
(4.) The belief that Christians were worship-
pers of the sun obtained even a wider currency,
and had more plausibility (Tertull. Apol. c. 16,
Just. M. Apol. i. 68). They met together on
the day which was more and more generally
known as the Dies Solis. They began at an
early period to manifest a symbolic reverence
for the East ; and these acts, together with
the language in which they spoke of Christ as
the true light, and of themselves as " children
of light," would naturally be interpreted as acts
of adoration to the luminary itself. With this
we may perhaps connect the singular statement
ascribed to Hadrian that they were also worship-
pers of Serapis (Vopiscus, Hist. Aug. p. 719).
This, however, never rose to the rank of a popu-
lar calumny, and seems to have had its beginning
and end in the fantastic eclecticism of that em-
peror, who identified Serapis with the sun, and
so reproduced the current belief under this form.
(5.) It was also reported that the members of
the new sect worshipped their priests with an
adoration which had in it something of a phallic
character ("Alii eos ferunt ipsius anstititis ac
sacerdotls colere genitalia," Minuc. Felix, Octav.
c. 9). In this case, as in the charge of immoral
excesses, we have probably the interpretation
given by impure minds to acts in themselves
blameless. Penitents came to the presbytery of
the church to confess their sins, and knelt before
them as they sat, and this attitude may have
suggested the revolting calumny to those who
could see in it nothing but an act of adoration.
(6.) Over and above all specific charges there
» The word was probably meant to signify " Ass-born."
Another reading is Onochoretes, as if parodying
'Ai'axwprirr)?, and conveying the notion of Ass-herrajt.
b See the woodcut under Ckucifix.
Kaae\avKiov.
262 CALUMNY
was the dislike which men felt to a society so
utterly unlike their own. These men who lived
apart from the world were a lucifuga natio. They
were infructuosi in negotiis. They were guilty
of treason because they would not offer sacrifice
for the emperors, and looked for the advent of
another kingdom. They were ignorant, rude,
uncultivated, and yet they set themselves up
above the wisest sages. They led men to a dark
fatalism by ascribing to God all their power to
act (TertuU. ApoL 35-42). They showed a de-
fiant obstinacy in their resistance, even co death,
to the commands of civil magistrates (Marc.
Aurel. xi. 3). [E. H. P.]
CALUMNY. [Detraction; Slander.]
CAMBBICUM CONCILIUM, ad. 465, is
a fiction, taken from Geoffrey of Monmouth,
&c. [A. W. H.]
CAMELAUCIUM. A covering for the head,
in use chiefly in the East, of very unsettled
orthography. We find camelaiKum, cmmlaucus.
mlaiaaucum, and in Greek Ka/j.rt\avKiov and
It appears to have been a round
cap with ear-flaps of fui",
originally camel's hair if
the ordinary etymology is
to be accepted, or wool, and
sometuues adorned with
gems. The form and name
being preserved, it some-
times became a helmet and
was worn in battle. We
find it adopted both by
royal personages and by
head-covering taken from
A.D. 552, and presented to
Justinian, is called by Theophanes (Chron. p. 193)
Kafj.-q\avKiov Sid\i6ov. Constantine the Great
appears on his triumphal arch at Rome similarly
attired. [See Crown.] Ferrario {Costumi,
Europa (Rs) vol. iii. part i. pi. 30), and Constan-
tine Porpliyr. {de Adm. Imp. c. 13) describe by
the same name the sacred caps, preserved at
the high-altar of St. Sophia's, traditionally be-
lieved to have been sent by an angel's hands
to Constantine the Great, aiid used in the coro-
nation of the emperors of the East.
Its ecclesiastical use in the East seems to have
been chiefly confined to the monastic orders.
Goar ( Euckolog. p. 156) tells us that the mitre
of the metropolitan of Constantinople had this
name only when he was taken from the monastic
rauKS. It is defined by Allatius {do utrius-
que EcrJ. Consens. lib. iii. c. viii. no. 12, apud
Ducange), as a round woollen cap worn by
monks. It was worn by Armenian bishops when
officiating at the altar (ib., Isaac Invectio secundd
in AnncH. p. 414). [Mitre.]
Fuller particulars and authorities may be
found in the Greek and Latin Glossari) of
Ducange. For its form, Ferrario u.s., Goar,
Lucholog. p. 156, and the plates prefixed to
Uucange's Gloss. Med. et Inf. Graec. may be con-
sulted. •'j-g_ y j
CAMERA PARAMENTI. [Sacristy.]
CAMISIA. (Hence the Ital. 'Camicia' a
shirt and Camice' an alb; -S^p. ' Camisa ; ' and
the/',-. Chemise," in Languedoc 'Camise.') St.
.lorome (/?/.. „d Fahiolam), in describing the
vestments ot the Jewish priesthood (« Volo j.ro
Camelmicium.
eixlesiastics. The
Totila when killed,
CANA, MIRACLE OF
legentis facilitate abuti sermone vulgato. Solent
militantes habere lineas quas camisias vocant
sic aptas membris et astrictas corponbus ut
expediti sint vel ad cursum vel ad praelia," &c.),
and a scholiast on Lucan (sutiarum est genus ves-
timentiquod vulgo camisia dicitur,id est interula)
speak of this word as belonging to the lingua
vulgaris. St. Jerome's description shews it to
have been a shirt fitted to the body so as to
admit of active exertion of the limbs, which was
not the case with the flowing garments worn by
the more wealthy in ordinary life. St. Isidore
(Orig. xix. 22, 29) derives the word "« mmis"
(" quod in his dormimus in camis, id est in stratis
nostris "). With him it is a night-shirt or bed-
gown. The word ' cama ' still retains the
meaning of a ' bed ' in the Spanish language, to
which St. Isidore, himself a Spaniard, seems to
refer. The Arabic ' kamis ' is no doubt con-
nected with the Spanish ' caniisa,' See further
references in Menage, Diet. Etym. 'Chemise,' and
in Ducange, Glossariurfi, ' camisia.' [W. B. M.]
CAMP AG AE. (Other forms of the same word
are Campacus, Gambacus, Campobus.) A kind of
ornamented shoe worn by emperors and kings
(Trebellius, in Galliano; "Capitolinus, in Maxi-
min. Jun.) and by various oflicers of state (" j)rr.e-
toribus Palatinis et quibusvis aliis:" of. Ducange,
in voc). At a later period they were worn by
the higher ecclesiastics at Rome, and by others
elsewhere, but in disregard of the special privi-
leges claimed in regard of these by Roman autho-
rities. Gregor. Magnus, ^jd. vii. indict, i. ep. 28,
" Pervenit ad nos," &c. [W. B. M.]
CAMPANA. [Bell.]
CAMPANARIUS. The special ofl^ce of
Campanarius, or bell-ringer, in a church is per-
haps not mentioned in the literatuj-e of the first
eight centuries. See, however, the so-called
Excerpta Egherti, c. 2, and the Leges Presbgt.
Northumhr. c. 36.
In more ancient times the duty of ringing the
bells at the proper seasons seems to have been
laid upon the priests themselves {Capitulare
Episcop. c. 8 ; Capit. Caroli Ilagni, lib. vi. c.
168). To the same eflect Amalarius (de Dir.
Off. iii. 1) says, speaking of the ringing of bells,
"ne despiciat presbyter hoc opus agere." (Du-
cange s. vv. Campanuin, Campanarius.) In latei-
times the Ostiarius was the bell-ringer (Martene
de Bit. Eccl. ii. 18, ed. 1783). [C]
CAMPANILE. [Belfry: Tower.]
CAMPIO, " champion " : one whose profes-
sion it was to fight for another in cases where
single combat was pei'mitted by law to decide
the right " in cimpo duellum cxercens." People
were allowed their advocate in court, and their
champion in the field. But the latter was a
mediaeval institution, and therefore beyond our
limits. He was a superior personage to the
gladiator of old Rome, so far in that he fought,
not for a mere display of brute force, but for
the triumph of justice. See Du Cange, Hoff-
mann, Spelman, and Blount, s. v. [B. S.]
CANA, MIRACLE OF. Representations
of this miracle frequently present themselves
in Christian art. It was early supposed to be
typical of the Eucharist ; indeed, Theophilus of
Antioch, so far back as the 2nd century, looks
on the chaug« of the water as figurative of the
CANCELLI
grace communicated in baptism (^Comment, in
Evang. lib. iv.). Cyril of Jerusalem {Catech.
sxii. 11) says it represents the change of the
wine into the blood of the Lord in the Eucharist ;
and this idea has been applied with eager incon-
sequence to the support of the full dogma of
transubstantiation. The miracle is represented
on an ivory, published by Mamaclii, Bottari, and
Gori, which is supposed to have formed part of
the covering of a throne belonging to the exarchs
of Ravenna, and is referred to the 7th century.
Bandini (/?i Tahulam ehurneam Ohservationes, 4to.
Florentiae, 174G) gives a plate of it: and the
present writer saw it in the Duomo of Ravenna
in 1871. See woodcut.
CANCELLI
263
In Bottari, taw. xix. and xxxii., our Saviour,
wearing the ordinary tunic, and toga over it,
touches or points respectively to three and
two vessels with a rod. In tav. li. five jars are
given, as also in Ixxxviii. ; four in tav. Ixxxix.
The vessels or hydriae are of different, and gene-
rally humble forms, on these sarcophagi. Bottari
remarks that the sculptors may have been ham-
pered by knowing the water-vessels to have
been large, containing a " metretes." But those
on Bandini's ivory are gracefully-shaped am-
phorae. Here the Lord bears a Greek cross on a
staff, and motions with the other hand to the
bridegroom, or a servant, who is carrying a cup
to the master of the feast, gazing steadily at it,
and extending his left hand towai'ds the Saviour.
The first-quoted of these plates (xix. and xxxii.)
of Bottari's are from sarcophagi found in the
Vatican, and of high merit in an artistic point
of view. The later ones, not much inferior, are
from the cemetery of Lucina, in the Callixtine
catacomb, or from a sarcophagus dug up in 1607,
in preparing foundations for the Capella Borghese
at Sta. Maria Maggiore. [R. St. J. T.]
CANCELLI (Podium, Pecforalia, Meniana ;
Kiy/cAiSer, ApvipaKra, KdyyeXoL, KayKeKKoi,
KdyKeWa). These words are applied to a par-
tition formed of open work in wood or iron, or
even of stone (Papias, in Ducange, s. v. Cancell'is),
especially to the open-work screen or grating
which separates the choir from the nave of a
church, or the sanctuary from the choir. Euse-
bius {HM. Eccl. x. 4, s. 44), after describing the
thrones of the TfpdeSpoi in the upper part of
the great church at Tyre, the benches (seem-
ingly) for the rest of the clerks, and the altar
or sanctuary, says, " These again, that they might
be inaccessible to the laity, he enclosed with
wooden gratings, wrought with so delicate an
art as to be a wonder to behold." These cancelli
seem to have enclosed the whole of the space
occupied by the clergy. Compare CiiDRCH.
St. Ambrose is said (Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. vii.
25, 317) to have excluded the emperors from
the sanctuary, and to have assigned them a place
just outside the rails which enclosed it (jrph tS)v
Spv(pdKTCi>i> Tov Uparetov). Here the Upanlov
seems to correspond with what we call tlie
chancel, including the whole of the space as-
signed to the clergy, and not merely the sanc-
tuaiy ; for the emperor's position is said to
indicate his precedence among the people, and his
inferiority to the clergy. The rail seems to have
been, in short, a chancel-screen rather than an
altar-rail.
Cyprian, in the Life of Caesarius of Aries
(^Acta SS. Bened. saec. i. App.) says that the
saint did not hesitate to give for the redemption
of captives things belonging to the administra-
tion of the sacrament, as chalices and censers,
and even took down the silver ornaments from
the cancelli. In this case, the context suggests
that the cancelli were near the altar. Paul
Warnefrid (X>e Episcop. Metens. in Pertz,
Monum. German, ii. 266) says that Chrodegang
caused to be made a church in honour of St.
Stephen, and his altar, and cancelli, and a pres-
bytery, where again the rail or grating seems to
have been the enclosure of the altar.
Athanasius {Epistola ad Orthodoxos, 0pp. i.
646) speaks of the KayiceXoL of a church as
among the things destroyed by Arian fury.
Cyril of Scythopolis, in the Life of Euthymius
(t 673 ; in Acta SS. Jan. ii. 302 ff.), tells how a
Saracen, leaning on the screen of the sanctuary
{rifi Kayy^Kw tov leparelov) while the offering
was being made, saw fire descend from heaven
and spread itself over the altar. Here the screen
clearly enclosed the bema, or sanctuary, and ad-
mitted of the altar being seen from without.
And again, in the Life of St. Sabas (in Cotelerius,
Monum. Eccl. Graecae, tom. iii.), he speaks of the
rails of the sanctuary {k. tov dvcriacrTfipiov).
Some have thought that the Rugae frequently
mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis among the
presents of various popes to Roman churches were
cancellated doors. But see the article.
Germanus of Constantinople'' (^Hist. Eccl. p.
148, ed. Paris, 1560) says that the rails ((cay/ceAAa)
mark out the space to the outside of which the
people may approach, while inside is the Holy of
Holies, accessible only to the priests. Here we
must conclude, either that the phrase ra ayia
Tuiv ayiwv includes choir as well as sanctuarv,
which is highly improbable, or that the people
entered the choir at any rate for the purpose ot
communicating. Compare Choir.
* It is doubtful whether this work is to be attributed
to the (.iermanus of the 8th century, or to his namesake
of the 12 th.
264
CANDELABRUM
Durandus {Ration de, i. 3, 35) observes that in
iincient times the enclosure of the choir was not
so high as to prevent the people from seeing the
clerks ; but that in his own time a curtain or
partition was generally interposed between the
clerks and the people, so that they could not see
each other.
Ducange's Glossary, s. v. Cancellus ; Suicer's
Thesaurus, s. vv. SpixpaKTov, KiyKKls, Kayye\a ;
JIabillon, Comment. Fraev. in Ordinem Bom.
c. 20, p. exxxvii. L*^-J
(2) In addition to the use of this word for the
lattice-work protecting the altar of a church
and the raised area on which it stood, Can-
celli was also employed to designate a railing
round a tomb. We find it used in this sense by
Augustine {e.g. Semi, de Divers, xxxi., de Civit.
Dei xxii. 7, &c. ; Gregory of Tours, de Mirac. i.
69 ; ii. 20, 46, 47 ; id. Hist. vi. 10, where thieves
are described as breaking into St. Martin's
Church at Tours by raising against the window
of the apse " cancellum qui super tumulum
cujusdam defuucti erat").
Another word used in the same sense from the
similarity of its form was Cataracta, Karap-
paKT-t)^, " a portcullis." The letters of the
legates to Pope Hormisdas relative to the re-
quest of Justinian for some relics of the apostles
speaks of the " secunda cataracta." Labbe'
Gone. iv. 1515; and the encyclic of Vigilius,
Ep. XV. mentions the "cataracta Beati Petri,"
i.e. the iron railing surrounding his "confessio"
{lb. V. 330). [E. v.]
CANDELABRUM. [Corona Lucis.]
CANDIDA. (1) Wife of Artemius, martyr
at Rome, is commemorated June 6 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Virgin, of Rome, is commemorated Aug. 29
{Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CANDIDUS. (1) Martyr at Rome, is com-
memorated Feb. 2 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia, March 9
{Mart. Bedae); March 11 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Martyr, one of the Theban Legion, com-
memorated Sept. 22 {Mart. Bedae, Usuardi).
(4) Martyr at Rome, Oct, 3 {Mart. Usuardi).
CANDLE. [Lights: Taper.] [C]
CANDLEMAS. [Mary, Festivals of.]
CANISTER, or CANISTRUM. (1) A
basket used for holding consecrated bread, or
perhaps EULOGIAE. Compare Arca. St. Jerome
{Ep. ad Rustic, c. 20), speaking of the practice
among Christians in his day of carrying home
the consecrated elements both of bread and
wine, uses the expression, " Qui corpus Domini
in canistro vimineo et sanguinem portat in
vitro;" from which it appears that a wicker
basket was used for holding the consecrated
This passage is remarkably illustrated by a
fresco discovered in the crypt of St. Cornelius by
Cavaliere de' Rossi. This represents a fish swim-
ming in the water, bearing on its back a basket
having on the top several small loaves, and inside
a red object, clearly visible through the wicker-
work, which seems to be a small glass flask of
wine. This is marked in the engraving by a
somewhat darker tint. We have thus the Fish,
the well-known symbol of the Redeemer, com-
bined with the representation of the sacred
bread and wine.
CANON
In another painting of the same cemetery is
represented a tripod table, on which are laid
three loaves and a fish, and round which are
placed seven baskets full of loaves. Here, also,
it cannot be doubted that the loaves are eucha-
ristic, either as being the loaves actually con-
secrated, or those blessed for distribution [Eu-
logiae] (Martigny, Diet, des Ant. Chre't.
p. 246).
Epiphanius the PrcNbyter (m Inditulo ad
Hormisdam, quutv;d by I)uv.ange, s. v. Canistrum)
says that certain persons proved themselves to
be heretics by the very fiict that on the approach
of what they called persecution, i.e. the pre-
dominance of the orthodox Church, they con-
secrated great quantities of sacramental bread,
and distributed full baskets (canistra plena) to
all, that they might not be deprived of com-
munion. Ducange refers this to the eulogiae ;
but the eulogiae would scarcely have been
regarded as a substitute for communion, and the
passage may probably be referred, like that of
St. Jerome, to the distribution of bread actually
consecrated.
(2) The disk or tazza placed under a lamp.
This sense is frequent in the Liber Pontificalis.
For instance, Pope Adrian (772-795) is said to
have given to a church twelve silver canistri,
weighing thirty-six pounds. Leo III., his suc-
cessor, gave a silver canister with its chains,
weighing fifteen pounds. Gregory IV. gave two
canistra of nine lights (canistra ennafodia = e^^i/ea-
(pdiTia). In the latter case, the lights were
probably distributed round the circumference of
the tazza. (Ducange's Glossary, s.v.). [C]
CANON. Viavii)v, a rule; applied ecclesias-
tically to many very diverse things, but with the
one notion of fixity or regularity underlying all
of them: as —
1. The Holy Scriptures, as, i. themselves a
rule ; ii. in respect to the rule by which to de-
termine what is Holy Scripture, the latter being
the sense in which the word was first applied to
them. [Canonical Books.]
2. The Creed. [Creed.]
3. The Roll of the clergy in a particular
church (6 iv tQ> Kav6vi — clergyman), from a
time prior to the Kicene Council (can. 16, 17,
19), = 6 0710S Kcivwv {Cone. Antioch. A.D. 341,
can. 1), KaTaKoyos UpaTiK6s {Can. Apost. 14,
50), Albus (Sidon. Apollin. lib. vi. ep. 8), Matri-
cula {Cone. Agath. A.D. 506, can. 2), Tabula
Clericorum (St. Aug. Horn. 50 de Div.). Hence
Canonici, and Canonicae ; and later still, Canons
Secular and Canons Regular. [Canonici.]
4. The rules, either invented or improved by
Eusebius after the Monotessaron of Ammonius,
for ascertaining the parallel passages of the four
Gospels.
5. Canon Paschalis = the rule for finding
Easter. [Easter.]
6. The fixed portion of the Eucharistic service.
[Canon of the Liturgy.]
CANON LAW
7. The hymns which formed invariable por-
tions of services in the Greek office books, e.g.
6 Miya^ Kavoou, Kavwv 6 rrjs "T\^dl>ff€u!s, Kavoov
v€KpuiffiiJ.os, Kav6i'es 'AvaffraffifMOi, &c. &c. (Du
Cange, Meursius, Suicer, Cave.) [Canon of
Odes.]
8. A Lectionary, according to Gothofred (see
Bingham XIII. v. 6); but this seems doubtful.
9? A synodical decree. [Canon-l.wv.]
10. A monastic rule, — Kavoov ttjs //.ovaxtKrj^
■KoXmias (Cave, Diss, in fin. Hist. Litt.). So also
used by the Pseudo-Egbert.
11. A Penitkntial (Cave, i6.). "Incidere in
canona " came to mean " to incur penance " (Du
Cange).
12. The epithet canonicae was also applied
to,—
i. The Canonical Letters given by bishops to
the faithful who travelled to atother diocese.
[Epistolae.]
ii. The Canonical Hours of prayer. [Hours.]
iii. " Canonical Pensions," granted to a retired
bishop out of the revenues of his former see.
[Bishop; Pension.]
The word is used also, politically, of an ordi-
nary as opposed to an extraordinary tax ; whence
St. Athanasius speaks of himself as accused of
getting a Kavwv imposed upon Egypt {AjmI. ii.
0pp. i. 178), which Sozomen (vi. 21) calls <p6pos :
aud also of a pension or fixed payment (Du Cange,
Suicer). [A. W. H.]
CANON LAW. The term Canon Law, as
commonly used at the present day, is generally
understood to relate to that complex system of
ecclesiastical jurisprudence which grew up in
the Church of Rome during the Middle Ages.*
Of this system, however, it hardly falls within
our limits to speak. The Decretum of Gratian,
which is the first part of the Corpus Juris
Canonici, was not drawn up until the 12th
century, and even the Decretals of the Pseudo-
Isidore, which form to so large an extent the
basis of the canon law of Rome, did not appear
till some time after the year 800. We have,
therefore, to confine ourselves to the earlier
collections of church law
"It is not to be supposed (says Ayliffe, in
his Introduction to his Parergon Juris Canonici)
that the communion of the Church could long
subsist after the death of the Apostles, without
some other laws and obligations, holding men to
peace and concord among themselves, than those
contained in holy writ ; considering the pride
and passions of men, and an overweening conceit
of their own particular ways m point of Divine
worship, and the ceremonies of it."
The earliest approach to a lex scripta other
than and beyond the Scriptures, probably con-
sisted partly of letters of eminent bishops in
reply to questions put to them on disputed
topics (a kind of " responsa prudentum ") —
partly of traditional maxims, " coutiimes," as
Bunsen calls them (^Christianity and Mankind,
vol. ii. 421), reduced to writing, and generally
accepted, with or without synodical sanction —
CANON LAW
265
partly of decisions of local councils, in which
certain neighbouring dioceses met together and
agreed upon rules for their observance in com-
mon.
The so-called apostolical canons, and aposto-
lical constitutions [see Apost. Canons and
Apost. Constitutions] probably contain frag-
ments derived from this early period. The
ancient pieces edited in Lagarde's Reliquiae Juris
Ecclesiastici Antiquissimae, and in Bickell's
Geschichte des Kirchenrechts, also perhaps reflect
to some extent the state of things at a primitive
stage, with more or less of subsequent accretion
aud interpolation.
Eusebius mentions synods or meetings of the
orthodox on the subject of the Easter contro-
versy as early as the close of the 2nd cen-
tury {H. E. V. 23; see Bickell, i. 38). In the
3rd century like assemblies were held on the
question of baptism by heretics, and on the con-
dition of the lapsi. Of letters of bishops received
as having weight in ecclesiastical questions, ie\y
or none remain of a very early date. The epistle
of Clement of Rome, and the epistles of Ignatius,
hardly fulfil this character, and the pretended
letters of early popes in the Pseudo-Isidorian De-
cretals are forgeries. But in the 3rd century we
have a letter of Dionysius of Alexandria, and one
of Gregory Thaumaturgus, which were written in.
reply to questions put to them, and which find a
place in the Codex Canonum of the Greek Church.
it is therefore possible that similar epistles of
other bishops may have exercised more or less
influence in regulating the affairs of infant
churches during the previous period.
At the beginning of the 4th century, pro-
vincial councils became numerous. Before the
year 325 we have, for instance, councils at Elvira,
Aries, Ancyra, and Neocaesarea. Then begins the
series of general councils, that of Nice being the
first, followed, in 381, by the first Council of
Constantinople, minor councils having been held
in the interim. [Council.] It is not surprising,
therefore, that some effort was now made to
collect the laws of the Church. We begin with
the Eastern Church.
The first collection of which we hear has not
come down to us in its original foi-m. It ap-
peal's to have contained at first only the canons of
Nice, and those of the provincial councils of An-
cyra, Neocaesarea, and Gangra. As the three
last mentioned councils were connected with
the diocese of Pontus, it has been conjectured,
from the prominence given to them, that the
collection originated there.
By degrees other councils were added, and this
Codex Ecclesiae Orientalis, thus enlarged, became
a work of recognized authority, and was quoted
at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. Jus-
tellus edited in 1619 a Codex Canonum Ecclesiae
Universae, which he professed to be the collec-
tion quoted at Chalcedon, and to have been the
work of Steplien, bishop of Ephesus, at the end
of the 4th century. In point of fact, however,
the work published by Justellus contains much
additional matter, and cannot be considered as an
exact representation of the early form of the
» It is sometimes also applied to the provincial canons
and coiistiiutions passed by domestic synods in this coun-
try. It is to these that the act 25 Hen. 8, c. 19, relates.
But these also belong to a time sub.sequcnt to the year
SOU, and do not therefore full to be noticed hero.
ollecti
in question.
Subsequently to
b •' Notus est error Justelli, qui codicem suum ca-
nonum ecclesiae universae pro lubitu composiiit et pro
collectione a concilio Chalcodoncnsi coufiriiiala, nunc
266
CANON LAW
the Council of Chalcedon, divers collections ap-
pear to have been made, varying from one
another more or less in the order and character
of their contents. Meanwhile, another element
had been added to church law by the decrees of
the Christian emperors, collected in the Codes
of Theodosius and Justinian (Biener, p. 14).
In the middle of the 6th century, John, sur-
naraed Scholasticus, a priest of Antioch, and
subsequently Patriarch of Constantinople, made
a more systematic and complete collection, in-
troducing into it sixty-eight passages from the
works ot^ Basil, which the Oriental Church re-
ceives as authoritative, <= At the same time he also
extracted and put together, from the legislation
of Justinian, a number of-laws bearing on ec-
clesiastical matters. These two collections,
when afterwards combined (probably by another
hand), obtained the name of Nomocanon.
We now come to the council in Trullo, held
A.D. 692, the decree of which furnishes a list
of what was then received. The council acknow-
ledges 85 apostolic canons, and those of Nice,
Ancyra, Neocaesarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea,
Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Sardica, and
Carthage,'' also of the Synod of Constantinople
under Nectarius.*= It further recognizes the so-
called canons taken from the works of Dionysius
and Peter, archbishops of Alexandria, Gregory
Thaumaturgus, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nys-
seu, Gregory Theologus, Amphilochius, Timo-
theus, Theophilus and Cyril of Alexandria, and
Gennadius, patriarch of Constantinople. Lastly,
it confirms the Canon of Cyprian as to the
baptism of heretics, which it states to have been
j-ecognized by the usage of the Church.
Not quite two centuries later appeared the
great Nomocanon of Photius, patriarch of Con-
stantinople. This comprehended a digest of the
canons according to their subject matter, and of
the laws of Justinian on the same subjects. A
close connexion was thereby practically estab-
lished between the decrees of councils and those
of emperors (Biener, p. 22). It seems to be the
aim of this work to embrace the same canons
in the main as were recognized by the Trullan
Council, and to add them to the Trullan decrees,
and those of the following councils : —
The so-called 7th Council, or 2nd Nicene ;
the so-called Primo secunda, held A.D. 861 ; that
of St. Sophia, called by the Greeks the 8th
Council, A.D. 879. f
The council styled by the Latins the 8th,
viz., that held against Photius A.D. 869, not
being acknowledged by the Greeks, did not ap-
pear in this collection.
In the 11th century the work of Psellus, in
demum restituta, venditavit." Biener, p. 10; comp.
Phillips, p. 15.
= It contained the Apostolic Canons, and tliose of Nice,
Ancyra, Neocaesavea, Sardica, Gangra, Antiocli. Laodicea,
Cunstantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, and the so-called
Canons of Basil.
<> /. e. probably the same excerpta from the Council.
A.D. 419, which IJionysius Exiguus received into his
collection.
' I.e. that held in 394 in relation to Agapius and
Bagadius.
f Kor an account, however, of certain varieties and
-n.tssions, not easily to be accounted for, and possibly
'»'■ "< part to subsequent copyists and editors, see
biener, ij 1.
CANON LAW
the 12th, the commentaries of Zonaras and Bal-
samon, and of Aristenus, and later still, the
labours of Blastares, would require special men-
tion, as forming marked eras in the growth of
canon law in the East, as distinguished from the
mere collection and publication of existing ca-
nons.
But we have already passed our chronological
limit, and we therefore turn to the churches of
the West.
The canons of Nice appear to have been speedily
translated into Latin, and to have been circulated
in the West, together with those of Sai-dica.
Soon after the Council of Chalcedon, a further
collection called the " Prisca translatio " ap-
peared, which began with the Council of Ancyra,
and comprehended those of Chalcedon and Con-
stantinople. We hear also of a Gallic collection.
The African church, too, as it had numerous
councils, appears to have collected their decrees
[see Codex Canonum Ecdcsiae Africanae]. In or
about A.D. 547 Ferrandus, a deacon of Carthage,
published his Breviatio Canonum, which was not
merely a compilation, but a systematic digest,
and comprehended also the Greek Councils to
whicli he appears to have had access through a
Spanish version.
Spain, indeed, hail at an early period a collec-
tion of her own. The fact that a Spanish
bishop presided fit the Council of Nice would
ensure a prompt entrance into that country for
the Nicene decrees. The canons of other councils
followed, some of which were held in Spain itself.
An old Codex Canonum appears to have existed,
though not now extant in its original form. It
is said to have been cited at the Council of Braga,
A.D. 591.
Martin, archbishop of Braga, also compiled
extracts from Greek councils, which became a
valuable contribution to the canon law of the
Spanish church. In the seventh century we
come to the collection which goes by the name
of Isidore of Seville, and which seems to be of
his date, though perhaps not his work. This
was edited at Madrid in 1808 and 1821 from
a Spanish MS. This collection is a very full
one, and at once attained to a high position. It
contains not only canons of councils but de-
cretals of popes. In its composition use was no
doubt made of the Roman work of Dionysius of
which we are about to speak.
We must now go back a ^e\y years in order to
trace the state of things at Rome. The decrees
of Nice and Sardica were speedily accepted and
acted upon by the popes, but the history of any
regular collection of canons is obscure until the
end of the 5th century, when the Scythian monk
Dionysius Exiguus settled at Rome, and not long
afterwards undertook to edit a systematic com-
pilation. That his work is not entirely new is
clear, because he states that one of its objects
was to give a new and better translation of the
Greek canons. This seems to refer to the
defective nature of the " Prisca translatio "
above mentioned. The labours of Dionysius re-
sulted in a collection both more accurate and
more complete than any previously existing at
Rome. It comprised 50 of the apostolical canons,
27 canons of Chalcedon, 21 of Sardica, and 138
of various African councils. The work gave so
much satisl'actiou that its author proceeded to
make a second and further one, into which the
CANON LAW
former was interwoven. He now collected and
edited the deci-etal letters of the popes down to
Anastasius II. S As the first systemitic editor of
decretals, Dionysius gave a new prominence to
that branch of Canon Law (assimilating it to the
Rescripts of the Emperors), and thus contributed
much to sti-engthen the Papal pretensions. •»
That in a work which no doubt was much
valued and widely circulated, the epistles of
popes should be placed on a level with the canons
of councils, was no light matter. Accordingly
the Spanish collection of Isidore, of which we
have just spoken, borrowed and republished
these decretals from the work of Dionysius, thus
giving them standard authority in the code of
the church of Spain. The way was thus pre-
pared for the systematic interpolation of the
Isidorean collection with a host of forged de-
cretals purporting to be the genuine letters of
early popes, but being in reality fictitious docu-
ments framed to advance the extravagant papal
pretensions then rising into notice. This, indeed,
did not take place until the ninth century, and
the Psewf^o-Isidorean work must not be con-
founded with the earlier collection of Isidore.'
The work of Dionysius became extensively
known as the standard repertory of canon law.
(jresconius appears to have reproduced its con-
tents for the use of the church of Africa ; Chil-
peric in Gaul is said to have been acquainted
with it ; and in England, Theodore is believed to
have quoted from it at the Synod of Hertford in
673. It is thought to have made its way even
into the East. Its most important recognition,
however, was that which was accoi'ded to it by
Pope Adrian I. when he transmitted a copy
(augmented by certain additions) to Charle-
magne ; and by Charlemagne himself when he
caused the work to be solemnly received by the
synod held at Aix-la-Chapelle. From this period
it is frequently spoken of by the title of Codex
Hadrianus, sometimes also by the name of Codex
Canonum.
At this point we pause.'' The next century
saw the Fseudo-lsidovia.n collection foisted upon
the church.
A new era then commenced ; the era of ex-
travagant papal claims, and of canonical sub-
B Last of all he published a revised and corrected
edition, which however has perished.
•> In connexion with the word " 1 )ecretal," the following
explanation of terms, as used in the later canon law, may
not be out of place : — " A canon is said to be that law
which is made and ordained in a general council or pro-
vincial synod of the Church. A decree is an ordinance
which is enacted by the pope himself, by and with the
advice of his cardinals assembled, without being consulted
by any one thereon. A decretal epistle is that which the
pope decrees either by himself or else by the advice of his
cardinals. And this must be on his being consulted by
some particular person or persons thereon. A dogma is
tliat determinalion which consists in and has a relation to
some casuistical point of doctrine, or some doctrinal part
of ihe Christian faith." Ayliffe, x.\xvii.
• The letter of Pope Siricius to Himerius, bishop of
Tarragona, a.d. 385, seems the first authentic Papal
l>eiretal.
"i It may be well to add a word as to Poenitentials.
These were designed to regulate the penances to be caiio-
nically infii(t<-d on penitents. 'I'hey do not appear to
have had general sanction, but were locally adopted owing
to the position and influence of their authors. Thus wo
have the Poenitential of Gregory the Great, of Theodore,
of Budc, and otheis. See Aylifl'e, xv.
CANON OF THE LITURGY 267
tleties engendered by ecclesiastics, whose pro-
fessional labours and commentaj'ies developed
the law of the church into a system more
artificial and intricate than that of the state.
But these things lie beyond our present province,
and it is only necessary to draw attention to the
new phase which from this period the whole
subject of canon law assumes.
From this time forward, the student has to do
not merely with a collection of statutes but
with a fabric of jurisprudence — not merely with
a Codex Canonum, but with a Corpus Juris.
Authorities : — Pdrergon Juris Canonici, by
Ayliffe. London, 1726. Biener, De Collection-
ibus Canonum Ecclesiae Graecae. Berlin, 1827.
Bickell, Geschichte des Kirchenrechts. G lessen,
1845. Beveridge, /"aniiecfoe Canonum Sanctoi-um
Apostolorum et Concilioi-um ah ecclesid Graecd
receptorum. Oxon. 1672. Phillips, Du Droit
Eccle'siastique dans ses Sources, traduit par
Crouzet. Paris, 1852.— [A useful book but
ultramontane in tone.] In these works, parti-
cularly in the first and last, references will be
found to the older authors for the benefit of
such students as desire to investigate the subject
more fully. [B. S.]
CANON OP THE LITURGY. That por-
tion of the Liturgy which contains the form of
consecration, and which in the Roman and most
other rites is fixed and invariable, is called the
Canon.
I. Designations. The word Kaviuv designates
either the standard by which anything is tried,
or that which is tried by such standard (see
Westcott on the Canon of the N. T., App. A).
It is used in the first sense by Clement of Rome
(1 Cor. 41), where he desires the brethren not
to transgress the set rule of their service (rhu
wpifffxivov T-/JS AeiTovpyias Kav6va) ; in the
second, when it is applied by liturgical writers
to the fixed series of Psalms or Troparia for a
particular day. It is in the second sense that
the word canon is applied to the fixed portion
of the Liturgy. As the names of certain
saints were recited in this canon, the word
Kavovi^iLv came to designate the act of entering
a name in a liturgical list or diptych, and
saints whose names were so entered were said to
be canonized.
It is also called Actio (see the article), and
the title Infra Actionem {infra being used for
intra), is not uncommonly placed over the prayer
Communicantes in ancient MSS. See Le Brun,
Exposition de la Messe, torn, i, pt. iv, art. 4.
Pope Vigilius {Epist. ad -Profutuncm) and
Gregory the Great (Epist. vii. 64) call the
canon Precem, Precem Canonicam, as being the
prayer by pre-eminence.
It is also called Secreta and Secretum Missae,
from being said in a low voice. [Secreta.]
TertuUian appears to use the word Benedicfio
(= ehXoyia) to designate that portion of the
Eucharistic .service, or Actio, which included
consecration. See De Fudic. c. 14; Ad Uxorcta,
ii. c. 6.
II. Early notices of this portion of the Liturgy.
On the scriptural notices it is not necessary hero
to dwell.
In Justin Martyr's account of the celebration
of the Eucharist for the newly-baptized {Apol. i.
c. 65), this ])ortion of the service is described as
t'ollow.s. "Then is presented (jrpoa(pfpfTai) to
268 CANON OF THE LITURGY
the brother who presides, bread, and a cup of
water and mixed wine (Kpafjuxros), and he, re-
ceiving them, sends up praise and glory to the
Father of All, through the name of the Son and
the Holy Spirit, and otfers a thanksgiving (eux""
picTTiav) at some length for that He has vouch-
safed to us these blessings. And when he has
finished the prayers and the thanksgiving, all
the people present respond by saying Amen . . .
And after the president has given thanks and
the people responded, those who are called among
us deacons give to each of those who are present
to partake of the bread and wine and water over
which thanks have been given, and cany them
to those not present. And this meal is called
with us eucharistia, of which none is permitted
to partake, except one who believes that the
things taught by us are true, and who has passed
thi-ough the washing for remission of sins and
new birth, and so lives as Christ commanded.
For we receive these not as common bread or
common drink, but as Jesus Christ our Saviour
being incarnate by the Word of God possessed
both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also
we were taught that the food over which thanks-
giving has been made by the utterance in prayer
of the word derived from Him (rrji/ 5i' ehxvs
\6you Tov Trap' avrov ivxapL(Trr)6i7ffav Tpo(p7iv)
is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.
For the Apostles, in the memoirs which they
wrote which are called Gospels, transmitted to
us that Jesus Christ thus charged them ; that
after taking bread and giving thanks, He said,
' Do this in remembrance of me ; this is my
Body;' and that, in like manner, after taking
the cup and giving thanks, He said, 'This is
my Blood;' and that He gave to partake to
them alone."
The same ceremony is more briefly described
in the following chapter, in the account of the
ordinary Sunday services, with the addition that
the president sends up prayers and thanksgiving,
" 00-17 Svvafiis avT(p," according to his ability ;
for, as F. Xavier Schmid observes {Liturgih, i.
44), " even the prayers of the sacrifice of the
mass depended for their contents and length on
the pleasure of the several presidents, though
they might often be moulded on a tj'pe given by
some apostle or apostolic man."
Justin connects the notion of sacrifice with
the Eucharist. In the Dialogue (c. 117, p. 386)
he speaks of the acceptableness of the sacrifices
{duaias) which Christ ordained, " that is, over the
Eucharist or thanksoft'eriug (ejrl rfj eiixapiaTiq.)
of the bread and the cup ; " and he regards the
offering of tine flour (Lev. siv. 10) as a type of
the Eucharist.
In Irenaeus, with many passages intei-esting
in a dogmatic point of view (with which at pre-
sent we are not concerned) are several which
contain liturgical indications. He dwells {Haeres.
iv. 18, § 4, p. 251) on the difficulty wliich they,
who do not believe Christ to be the very Word
ot God through Whom all things were made,
must experience in receiving the truth that the
broad over (or, by occasion of) which thanks
liave been given (" panem in quo gratiae actae
int ) IS the Lord's Body. And again he says
T2, § 3, p. 294) that natural bread
ver It the word of God, and the thank-
{llae,
apTos
ng beconies the Body of Christ (6 7^70^^,^
s eTTiSexerai ihi> \,iyoi> toD QeoC Ka\ yire-
CANON OF THE LITURGY
Tai T) evxapto'Tia awjxa Xptcrrov). [Eucharist.]
Speaking of the heretic Marcus (ILieres. i. 13,
§ 2), he says, that he pretended to perform
a eucharistic service, and that by uttering a
long form of invocati:.n (eTri irAeov tKTiivuv
rhu K6yov rf/s eTnK\ri<Tea)s) he caused the
liquid in the cups to appear red and purple.
This was no doubt in imitation of the Epi-
CLESIS of the orthodox. In Fragment 38, we
read : " The offering (jrpo(T(popa) of the Eucharist
is not fleshly, but spiritual, and therein pure.
For we offer (Trpoff^epofiev) unto God the bread
and the cup of blessing, giving thanks {evxapi-
(TTOvvTes) unto Him, for that He bade the earth
bring forth these fruits for our sustenance ; and
at that point, after completing our offering, we
call forth {iKKaAov/j.iv') the Holy Spirit, to de-
clare (oTTojs aTro(t>rivr]) this sacrifice and the
bread the Body of Christ and the cup the Blood
of Christ, that they who partake of these figures
{avrLTvnav) may obtain remission of their sins
and everlasting life." And again (Haeres. iv.
18, s. 5, p. 251) we read, that bread produced
from earth, receiving over and above its proper
nature the invocation or calliug-forth of God
{TTpocTAa^onevos tV ^KK\-r\(nv tov ©eoC) is no
longer common bread, but Eucharistia. ■
It is supposed by some that Clement of Alex-
andria describes the great eucharistic thanks-
giving of his time, when he says that Christians
thank God for the blessings of creation and for
the gifts of nature {Cohortatio ad Gentes, pp. 7
and 92, ed. Potter) ; for His mercy in redeeming
us by His Word from the misery of the Fall ;
for Christ's life and works (ib. pp. 6 and 8 ; com-
pare p. 87). This is not quite evident ; nor is it
clear that the allusions to the Cherubic hymn
of Isaiah {Strom, v. 6, p. 668 ; vii. 12, p. 880)
relate to the use of that hymn in the liturgy.
But Clement is clearly referring to the Eucharist,
when he insists, against the Eucratites, on the
use of wine [Elements], and says {Paedag. ii. 2,
p. 186) that the Lord " blessed {ivK6yr)(Teu) the
wine, saying, ' Take, drink ; this is My blood,'
the blood of the vine ; under the figure of the
holy stream of gladness He describes the Word
shed forth for many for the remission of sins
{rhv \6yov rhv irepl -koWwv fKX^'JI^^vov (Is
aipiffiv a/jLapTidSu evcppo<Tvvr]s ayiov aWriyopfl
yafj.a)." He gives no details of the form of con-
secration.
TertuUian's works contain many eucharistic
allusions. The intercessions which, according to
his testimony, Christians made on behalf of em-
perors and the peace of the empire (Apol. cc.
30, 39), on behalf of enemies {Apol. c. 31), and
for fruitful seasons {ad Scapulam, c. 4) ; the
commemoration of and intercession for the dead
{De Exhort. Cast. c. 11 ; De Monogamii, c. 10)
probably all took place in connexion with the
sacrifice of the Eucharist {ad Scapulam, c. 2). Ac-
cording to the Marcionite theoiy, he says {adv.
Marcion. i. 23), the eucharistic giving of thanks
is performed over alien bread to another than
the true God ("super alienum panem alii Deo
gratiarum actionibus fungitur"), implying that
a giving of thanks to the true God over the
eucharistic bread, took place in the service of
the Church. He describes {Be Anima, c. 17) the
blessing of the Cup in the Last Supper as "con-
secration;" and the consecration of the bread
to be a representation (" figura ") of the Lord's
^
CANON OF THE LITUEGY
Body he held to have been accomplished by the
words, " Hoc est corpus meum " (^ado. Marcion.
iv. 40 ; cf. da Orat. c. 6). Prayers which are
called '' orationes sacrificiorum " followed com-
munion (de Orat. c. 14).
St. Cyprian says {Epist. 63, c. 17), that in the
eucharistic action, " because we make mention of
His Passion in all our sacrifices (for the Passion
of the Lord is the sacrifice which we offer) we
ought to do no other thing than He did ; for
scripture says that so often as we offer the cup
in commemoration of the Lord and His Passion,
we should do that which it is evident that the
Lord did." He is arguing here especially for
the mixed chalice [Elements], but his words
clearly have an application to the eucharistic
office in genei'al. We find also from Cyprian that
in the eucharistic action ("in sacrificiis nostris"),
as well as in prayers ("orationibus") intercession
was made for brethren suffering afliliction {Epist.
61, c. 4), whose names were recited (-fc/«si. 62, c. 5),
as were also the names of those who made offer-
ings (^Epist. 16, c. 2) and of the dead who had
departed uncensured in communion with the
Church {Epist. 1, c. 2). The liturgical office of
a priest seems to be summed up {Epist. 65, c. 4)
m sanctifying the oblation, in prayers and suppli-
cations (" orationes et preces") ; and the brethren
are admonished, that when they come together
to celebrate the divine sacrifices with the priest
of God, they should not indulge in noisy and
unseemly prayers {De Orat. Dom. c. 4) ; a pas-
sage which seems to imply that the congrega-
tion took a prominent part in the eucharistic
service.
Origen has more than one passage bearing
upon the hallowing of the elements in the Eu-
cliarist. We read {contra Celsum, lib. 8, p. 399,
ed. Spencer, 1658), " Let Celsus, as one who knows
not God, pay his thank-offerings (xapiiTT^pia) to
demons; but we, doing that which is well-
pleasing to the Maker {Srnjnovpycp) of the uni-
verse, eat the loaves offered with thanksgiving
and prayer over the gifts {rohs fj-er' ei/x«P'CTias
«;. evxvs TTJs iirl rols Sodelffi irpocrayofi&ovs
ixprovs), loaves which are made, in consequence
of the prayer, a certain body, holy and hallowing
those who use it with sound purpose." Again,
in the Comment on St. Matthew (c. 14), Origen
speaks of the bread being hallowed by the word
of God and prayer. It is worthy of notice, that
in the Alexandrian Liturgy, the priest in ad-
ministering the bread says, (Tw^ia ayiov, not
aoiixsL Xpicnov (Daniel, Codex Lit. iv. 168).
Finiiiliaii (1269), bishop of Caesarea in Cap-
padocia (Cypriani Epist. 75, c. 10, p. 818,Hartel)
describes an ecstatic woman who performed a
mock eucharistic act and sanctified the bread
with an invocation of considerable power (" invo-
catione non contemptibili"), and offered the sacri-
fice to the Lord without " the mystic words of
the accustomed form ("sine sacramento solitae
praedicationis''). In this passage invocatio pro-
bably corresponds to fTriK\7}ais, and praedicatio
to Kr]pvy/xa, a word used by St. Basil {Epist.
141) for a liturgical form. It seems to be here
implied that the form of the epiclesis used by
the ecstatica was her own effusion ; while the
usual " praedicationes " of the sacred act were
CANON OF THE LITUEGY
!69
» The " non " which is here inserted in some texts is a
coiijecturc not support 'tl by any MS.
" mysteries," and either unknown to her, or re-
jected as not satisfying her aspirations.
In the liturgical directions of the second book
of the Apostolical Constitutions (c. 57, §§ 13, 14)
no explicit account is given of the central por-
tion of the service. After describing the bidding-
prayer, or Prosphonesis of the deacon, and the
prayer, with benediction, of the priest, the writer
proceeds: "And after this let the sacrifice be
made {yiv^ffdai i] dvffla), all the people standing
and praying in a low voice; and when the
offering has been made {orav avevex^y), let
each order partake severally of the Lord's Body j
and the precious Blood." No details are given
of the sacrifice or anaphora, perhaps in conse- i
quence of the silence imposed in that respect by j
the " Disciplina Arcani." The eighth book con- i
tains what is commonly called the Clementine i
Liturgy, which is considered elsewhere. !
Cyril of Jerusalem gives us a description
{Catech. Mystag. V.) of the liturgy as it was
actually celebrated at Jerusalem in the early
part of the 4th century. After describing the
Sursuin Corda, Preface, and Sanctus, he proceeds i
(§ 7) : " Then, after hallowing ourselves by these
spiritual hymns, we beseech the merciful God to |
send forth His Holy Spirit upon the elements |
displayed on the table {to. irpoKeifiipa), to make
the bread the Body of Christ and the wine the
Blood of Christ. For most certainly, what-
soever the Holy Spirit may have touched, that
is hallowed and transformed {7]yiaarai Kal \
fi.eTal34^Xrirai). Then, after that the spiritual '
sacrifice, the unbloody service {Xarpela) is com-
pleted, over that sacrifice of propitiation we be-
seech God for the common peace of the churches, '
for the welfare of the world, for kings, for sol- '
diers and allies, for those in infirmity, for
those in special trouble, and, generally, we all
pray for all who need help; and this sacrifice we j
ofi'er. Then we make mention also of those who .j
have gone to rest before us, first patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, martyrs ; that God at their ;
prayers and intercessions would receive our sup- 1
plication (oircos 6 Qehs Ta7s evxals avTwv Ka\
TTpffffieiaiS TTpoffSf^rtTai. Trjv ■r]/j.u>v S^rjaiv); then
also on behalf of the holy fathers and bishops
who have gone to rest before us, and generally
all of our body who have gone to rest before us ;
believing that the greatest benefit will accrue to ]
their souls for whom the supplication is offered .
{ij Seriais avacpepsTat) while the holy and most
awful sacrifice is displayed {irpoKiifievris)." Then ,
follows the Lord's Prayer, the to, ayia roh ayiois,
and communion. ■
St. Basil, in a remarkable passage {Be Spiritu
Sancto, c. 27 [al. 66], p. 54) speaks of some of
the ceremonies of the Eucharist as having been
derived from unwritten tradition. " The words ]
of the Invocation [Epiclesis] at the displaying
or dedicating (eVl rrj avahd^ei) of the bread of
thanksgiving and the cup of blessing, which of i
the saints left behind for us in writing ? For,
you know, we are not content with the things
which the Apostle or the Gospel relate, but we '
prefix and suffix other expressions {irpoXiyofiev
Kol e-mKiyo/xfv eVepa) which we regard as
highly important for the mystery, having them j
handed down to us from unwritten tradition
{iK T^s aypd.(pov 5ida<TKa\iai -KapaXa&ovTis).'" 1
This clearly indicates that the general form of 1
consecration in the time of St. Ba'=il corresjionded
270 CANON OF THE LITURGY
to that in the existing Greek Liturgies, in that
the portion actually taken from Scripture was
preceded and succeeded by forms not scriptural,
reputed to be taken from apostolic tradition,
and that an Epiclesis was an essential part of
the form.
St. Chrysostom informs us (on 2 Cor. Horn.
18) that after the Kiss of Peace there followed
the blessing of the priest, to which the people
responded, "" And with thy spirit ; " then, it is
implied, came the " Lift up your hearts," &c.,
with the response "It is meet and right," and
the cherubic hymn. As to the petitions of the
great thanksgiving, he tells us (on St. JMatt.
Honi. 25 [al. 26]) that the priest bids us make
the eucharistic offering (euxapiCTerv) on behalf
of tlie world, of those who have gone before and
those who are to follow after us ; and again (on
2 Cor. Hoin. 2) for bishops, for presbyters, for
kings and rulers, for land and sea, for wholesome
air," for all the world. It appears also that
founders of churches, and the village for which a
church was founded, were specially named in the
sacred service {In Acta, Horn. 18. c. 5). It also
appears that the Agnus Dei was repeated in con-
nexion with the eucharistic intercession : (uTrep
uiirwv -wpoinixfv, 5f d^eroi rov hfxvuv rov Ketfifvov
roll Aa^nvTOS Trjc a/napTiavrov koct/UoC; on 1 Cor.
Horn. 41 ; compare on St. John, J/om. 24, and
on Acts, Horn. 21), and that the Lord's Prayer
formed part of the canonical prayers (/n Genes.
Horn. 27). The ra ayia rots ayiois [Sancta
Sanctis] formed the transition to Communion
(Pseudo-Chrys. on Hebr. Hotn. 17).
St. Augustine, at the end of the 4th century,
testifies to the general order of the canon in his
time in the North-African churches, which pro-
bably differed little in this respect from the
Italian. Thus we find {ad Infant, de Sacra-
nientis, p. 227) that the Sursum Corda formed
the introduction to the more solemn part of
the service, which is called " sanctificatio sacri-
ficii Dei," and that this was followed by the
Lord's Prayer. Again, that the intercessions at
the altar included prayer for unbelievers, that
God would convert them to the faith ; for cate-
chumens, that He would inspire them with a
longing for regeneration ; for the faithful, that
they may persevere in that which they have
begun {Epist. 217, Ad Vital; De Bono Per-
severant. c. 7); and for the dead {De Cura
pro Mortuis, cc. 1 and 4). That the North-
African Church exercised special care in regard
to the prayers to be used at the altar, even while
strict uniformity was not insisted upon, is indi-
cated by the provision (III. Cone. Carth. c. 23,
circ. A.D. 397) that the altar-prayers should
always be addressed to the Father (" cura altari
adsistitur -semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio "),
and that the celebrant is not to adopt prayers
irom extraneous authorities, " nisi prius eas cum
instructioribus fratribus contulerit." A nearer
approach to uniformity in indicated by the decree
of a somewhat later council (Rheinwald's Archaol.
p. 355), "ut preces quae probatae fuerint in con-
cilio, sive praefationes sive commendationes seu
nianus impositiones, ab omnibus celebrentur."
The pseudo-Ambrosius de Sacramentis, writino-
probably in the 4th century, discusses (iv. c. 4)
tlie question of consecration in the Eucharist
"By what words," lie says, "and whose expres-
sions (sermonibus) is consecration effected ? Bv
CANON OF THE LITURGY
those of the Lord Jesus. For in the rest of the
service praise is given to God, prayer is made for
the people, for kings, for the rest. When the •
point of completing the venerable sacrament is
reached, the priest no longer uses his own ex-
pressions, but the expressions of Christ."
Summarij. — We find, then, that from the
middle of the 2nd century, the presentation of
the elements was regarded as a thank-offering or
sacrifice [Eucharist], especially for the fruits
of the earth ; that thanks were given to God
over the bread and mixed wine, with prayer,
which probably included the Lord's Prayer ;
that this was done in especial commemoration of
the Lord's death, though it is not absolutely
certain that the words of Institution were in all
cases recited over the elements ; and that there
was in many churches an Invocation of the Holy
Spirit. Moreover, it is clear that from the time
of Tertullian at least intercession was made in
the eucharistic service for the dead as well as
the living. In the 2nd century, the details of
the prayers and thanksgivings seem to have
depended upon the president of the assembly,
though a general type was probably in all cases
followed ; in the 4th century, the canon of the
liturgy was evidently fixed, both in East and
West, in forms not materially differing from
those found in extant liturgies. From this
point we proceed to consider these latter. For
the discussion of their respective dates and mu-
tual connexion, see LiTURGY.
III. IVte Canon in existing Liturgies. In the
extant Liturgies we find the Canon (which cor-
responds nearly to the Anaphora of the Eastern
ritual) consisting in all cases of nearly the same
elements, variously arranged. We have in nearly
all canons, after the Sandus, commemoration of
the Lord's Life and of the Institution, Oblation,
prayer for living and dead, leading on to the
Lord's Prayer, with Embolismus. In the Eastern
liturgies always, sometimes in the Gallican and
Mozarabic masses, but not in the Roman or
Ambrosian, we have an Epiclesis, or prayer for
the descent of the Holy Spirit on the elements.
The annexed analytical table shows the principal
differences of arrangement. The Canon is
generally understood to exclude the Sanctus,
while the Anaphora includes both the Sursum
Corda and the Sanctus.
\_See Table opposite.']
The portion between the Sursum Corda and
the Sanctus will be described under Preface. In
the Alejjandrian (St. Mark's) Liturgy alone, the
prayers for the living and the dead, and for
acceptance of the sacrifice, are inserted in the
midst of it. The arrangement of St. James's
liturgy is typical of that usual in the orthodox
Eastern Church, from which the Nestorian
arrangement differs mainly in having the inter-
cession for living and dead before the Epiclesis.
The Gregorian (which is nearly identical with
the modern Roman) and the Gallican (the ar-
rangement of which is nearly the same as that of
the Mozarabic) represent the principal Western
types.
The canon of the Roman or Gregorian liturgy
is divided into ten portions, which are usually
known by their first words. These are as fol-
lows : 1. Te igitur, for acceptance of the sacri-
fice to be offered. 2. Memento, commemorating
the living. 3. Communicantes, commemorating
CAXON OF THE LITURGY
271
ST. JAMES
((ireek).
ST. MAP.K.
NI'ISTOIUUS.
AMBROSiAN AND
GKEUOHIAN.
GALLICAN.
Oblation of Elements.
Prayer for Living and
1 lead.
Collectio post Nomina.
Kiss of Peace.
Oratio ad Pacem.
Sursum Corda.
Sursum Corda.
Sursum Corda (pecu-
liar form).
Sursum Corda.
Sursum Corda.
I'rofoce.
Preface.
Praye-- for Living
and Dead ; and
for aco-ptanee
of the Sacrifice.
Prpfiici' re.-.umed.
Preface.
Preface.
Preface.
Sanctus.
Sanctus.
Sanctus.
Sanctus.
Sanctus.
Commemoration of
Cummcmoratinn of
Prayer for the Liv-
Collectio po.st Sanclus
the Lord's life.
the Lord's lile.
ing; and for ac-
ceptance of the
Sacrifice.
(short).
Commemoration of
Commemoration of
Commemoration of
Commemoration of
Commemoration of in-
Institution.
institution.
Institution.
institution.
stitution.
Oblation.
Oblation.
Oblation.
Player for Living
and Dtad.
Oblation.
Prayer for the Dead.
Prayer for Descent of
Prayer for Descent
Prayer for Descent
" Post Secreta" (some-
Holy Spirit.
01 Holy Spirit.
of Holy Spirit.
times containing In-
vocation of Holy
Spirit).
Fried. \ Choir.
Fraction Contracto-
and com- riutii (an
mixtion. | Autiphon.)
Praver for Living
Prayer for Peace.
and Dead.
Prelace to Lord's
Preface to Lord's
Preface to Lords
Preface to Lord's
Prayer.
Prayer.
Prayer.
Prayer.
Lord's I'rayer.
Lord's Prayer.
Fraction.
Lord's Prayer.
Ijord's Prayer.
Emlwlismus.
Emt)olismus.
Embolismus.
' Embolismus.
the Virgin Mary and other saints. 4. Heme igi-
tur, for peace and salvation. 5. Quam ohlatio-
ncm, that the obhition may become to the wor-
shippers the Body and Blood of the Lord. 6.
Qui'Pridic, commemoj-ating the Institution, 7.
Unde et memores, the Oblation. 8. Stipra quae
propitio, for a blessing on reception. 9. Memento
etiam, commemorating the dead. 10. Jfobis
quoque peccatoribus, for the -priest and people
present. The most remarkable peculiarity of
the Roman rite is, that the commemoration of
the living is separated from that of the dead, and
precedes consecration, while in the Eastern litur-
gies the intercessions for living and dead form
one prayer, and follow the recitation of the
words of Institution. It seems probable that
originally the Memento etiam followed the Me-
mento imniecliately, just as in Greek liturgies
the ixvi]ffi)r\Ti is followed by p.vlicr6riTi Kal ; and
in fact in Gerbert's te.xt of the Gelasian Sacra-
mentary a Memento etiam, in a form differing
considerably from the Gregorian, does follow
immediately upon the Memento, so that both
precede the Communicantes ; while a Memento
etiam in the Gregorian form follows the supra
quae propitio (Daniel's Codex Lit. i. 15, 19 ;
Gerbert, Vetus Liturgia Alemaiinica, i. 365).
This arrangement may perhaps represent the
state of transition from one form to the other,
the earlier Memento etiam having been struck
out when another nearly identical was intro-
duced in another place.
The Gallican canon has peculiarities which
show that it belongs to a wholly different family
from the Roman. The prayers for living and
dead, with the kiss of peace, precede the sursum
corda and sanctus : the sanctus is immediately
followed by what is called the "collectio post
sanctus " (sometimes called the canon), which is
again immediately followed by the recitation of
the words of Institution. While the Roman canon
is invariable, the Gallican, which is very short,
changes with every mass. To give one by wa}' of
example, the canon for the eve of the Nativity in
the Gallo-Gothic missal (Daniel, Cod. Lit. i. 83) is
" Yere sanctus, vere benedictus Dominus Noster
Jesus Christus Filius tuus manens in coelis mani-
festatus in terris: Ipse enim pridie quam pate-
retur, etc."
The same form, Vere sanctus, etc., follows the
sanctus also in the Mozarabic liturgy. This is
not, however, immediately followed by the words
of Institution, but by a prayer commencing
" Adesto, adesto Jesu bone pontife.x," containing
a petition for the sanctification of the oblation,
which is followed by " Dominus Noster Jesus
Christus, in qua nocte tradebatur, accepit jjanem,
etc.," reciting the Institution.
In Mabillon's Sacramenfarium Gallicanum the
Roman canon is given with the first mass, and
perhaps served, as JVfabillon remarks (p. 453,
Migne) for all ; he supposes, however, that at an
earlier period the Gallican had its own canon,
and that the introduction of the Roman canou
was the beginning of the supersession of the
Gallican i-ite by the Roman, which was after-
wards completely established (^Praefat. § iv.).
The Commcjnoration of the fiord's Life begins
in most cases, with taking up the ascription of
holiness to the Almighty already set forth in the
sanctus. For instance, in the Greek St. James,
the ayius of the preceding hymn is repeated in
A'yioy 61, 3a(Ti\fv roiv alwvcev .... ayios Kal
6 fxavoyevri^ cruv fihs .... aytof 5e Kai ro
272 (3AN0N OF THE LITURGY
nvivfid ffov To"Ayiov (Daniel, Cod. Lit. iv. 109)
which commences the commemoration ; and the
variable J'ost Smictus of the Gallican and Moza-
rabic liturgies begins very commonly with the
words " Vere sanctus, vere benedictus Dominus
Noster Jesus Christus." The " commemorations "
in St. James and St. Basil (Daniel iv. 427) recite
with great dignity and beauty the creation of
man, his state in Paradise, his 'fell, and redemp-
tion by God's mercy; so leading on to the com-
memoration of the Lord's death and the Institu-
tion of the supper. That of St. Chrysostom is
much shorter. St. Marls (Daniel iv. 158) has in
this place a mere allusion to the manifestation of
the Lord, and a prayer for the descent of the
Holy Spirit to bless the sacrifice. The Fost
Sanctus of the Gallican and Mozarabic canon
contains, at least on the Lord's festivals, a com-
memoration of some portion of His Life ; a fea-
ture entirely absent from the Roman. Some
liturgies contain in this poi-tion allusions to
peculiar opinions with regard to the person of
Christ ; the Armenian, for instance, after reciting
(^Liturgy of the Armenian Church, tr. by Rev.
S. C. Malan, p. 39) God's mercy in the prophets
and the law, speaks of the Son as having taken a
body • " by union without confusion from the
Mother of God and Holy Virgin Mary."
The Aethiopic liturgy agrees with the Coptic
St. Basil and St. Gregory (Renaudot, Lit. Orient.
i. 13, 29, 516) in breaking this portion of the
office with responds. That of St. Gregory, for
example, thrice inserts the '• Kyrie Eleison."
The transition from the preceding prayer
or ascription to the Gmimemoration of Institution
is generally made in the Eastern liturgies by the
words " OS Tjj vvktI ?/ napeSiSoTO," or some equi-
valent formula; those of St. James and St.
Chrysostom add " /xaWov Se eavrhv TrapeSiSov ; "
but this addition is not found in the Syriac St.
James. The Coptic St. Basil (Renaudot, JJt.
Orient, i. 14) has a wholly different form : " He
instituted this great mysterj' of piety and worship,
when He had determined to deliver Himself to
death for the life of the world." The usual
Western form is " Qui pridie quam pateretur ; "
but the Mozarabic has here " Dominus Noster
Jesus Christus in qua nocte tradebatur," approach-
mg in this, as in other respects, more nearly to
the Eastern type. It has indeed been contended
that this form is a comparatively recent interpo-
lation, inasmuch as the prayer which follows is
called the " Post Pridie " as if the usual for-
mula had preceded (Krazer, Be Liturgiis, 615;
Neale, Eastern Church, Int. 472). But in fact
the title " Post Pridie " is probably not so an-
cient as Isidore's time, who calls the prayer
which follows consecration the "Confirmatio
Sacramenti"; and it is surely very much
more probable that the heading " Post Pridie "
should have been inserted by some revisor fami-
liar with Roman liturgical diction, than that the
form "Qui pridie," common to the whole of
Western Christendom, should have been displaced
by one entirely unheard of, and that in the most
solemn part of the Liturgy.
In no liturgy, in the nan-ative of institution, is
any one Gospel followed, and the form adopted
is such as to suggest rather an independent
tradition than an artificial arrangement from the
Gospels. Many of the forms add epithets expres-
sive ot veneration for the Person of the Lord
CANON OF THE LITURGY
Very many liturgies contain a reference to the
Lord's raising his eyes to Heaven before breaking
the bread. This is the case in those of St.
James and St. Mark, but not in that of St. Chryso-
stom or in the kindred Nestorian forms ; it is
the case in all the Western forms, except
the Mozarabic. St. Mark and St. James insert
the raising of the eyes to Heaven before the
blessing of the cup also. St. James and St.
Basil mention the displaying or dedicating
(araSei'las) of the bread to God the Father.
The mingling of the wine with water is a well-
known and almost universal custom ; but in
none of the Western liturgies is any mention of
it made in the canon, while in the East it con-
stantly appears. The Basilian has simply " min-
gling " (Kepda-as) (Daniel, iv. 429); St. James
the fuller form, " mingling of wine and water."
So also Coptic St. Gregory (Renaudot i. 30);
and many of the Syro-Jacobite liturgies, as for
instance that of St. John (76. ii. 164). St.
Chrysostom has no reference to the mixing ; but
it is nevertheless found in the liturgy of Nesto-
rius, which is in a great measure derived from
that of Constantinople.
It is an ancient belief that the Lord Himself
partook of the bread and the cup in the Last
Supper. This, however, appears but rarely in
the Liturgies. The Coptic forms of St. Basil
and St. Gregory refer to the Lord's tasting the
Cup (Renaudot, i. 15, 31); and some of the
Syro-Jacobite liturgies refer to His partaking oi
the Bread: for instance, St. James of Edessa
(lb. ii. 373). That of Nestorius (lb. ii. 629)
makes the Lord partake both of the bread and
the wine.
Some of the Syro-Jacobite liturgies, drawn up
at a time when the controversy was rife as to
the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the
Eucharist, [Elements] introduce into the canon
such expressions as " common " or " leavened "
bread. For instance, those of James Baradai and
Matthew the Pastor (Renaudot, ii. 335, 348);
and some, as that of Dioscorus (lb. 495) speak
of His accomplishing the Mosaic Passover ; as
does also Nestorius (lb. ii. 629).
With regard to the actual words said over
the bread, the usual Latin form is simply, " Hoc
est Corpus Meum." The Ambrosian, in one text
adds "quod pro multis confringetur ; " in Pa-
melius's text, " quod pro vobis confringetur "
(Daniel's, Codex i. 86); the Mozarabic, "quod
pro vobis tradetur."
In the Greek, St. James has, " This is my
Body, which is broken and given for you for the
remission of sins," and with this the principal
liturgies agree, except that few give both the
words " broken " and " given." The words found
in St. Luke and St. Paul, to virep vficev SiS6fjievov,
or KXd/xfvoi', appear indeed in all Eastern litur-
gies with the exception of that of the Syrian
Eustathius (Ren. ii. 236). Many of the Syro-
Jacobite liturgies amplify the solemn words of
the Lord by the insertion of peculiar expressions.
Of the words said over the wine, the Cle-
mentine Liturgy (Const. Apost. viii. 12, § 16)
has the simplest, as probably the most ancient
form — "This is My Blood, wh'Vh is shed for
many for the remission of sins." St. Chrysostom
has a form identical with that in the English
Prayer-Book ; St. James and St. Mark have
"shed and distributed" instead of the simple
CANON OF THE LITURGY
" shed." The Roman, which in the case of the
Bread has the shortest form, in the case of the
Wine has the longest — " For this is the Cup of
my Blood, of the new and eternal Testament,
the mystery of faith, which shall be shed for
you and for many for the remission of sins " —
where the words " eternal " and " mystery of
faith" are peculiar to the Roman form. The
Mozarabic has, " For this is the Cup of the New
Testament in my Blood, which shall be shed for
you and for many for the remission of sins."
In the Intercession for the world and the Church
on earth, the petitions enumerated by St. Cyril are
always found, with more or less of expansion in
detail, and often with the addition of interesting
local peculiarities. Thus in the Liturgy of St.
James (i.e. of Jerusalem) we hare special inter-
cession on behalf of the Holy City and other sacred
places visited by the Lord ; St. Mai-k (Alexan-
drian) has a special prayer for the due rise of
the Nile ; so also the Coptic St. Basil (Renaudot,
i. 17) ; and the Alexandrian St. Gregory {lb. i.
109). Both St. James and St. Mark have inter-
cessions for prisoners ; the former enumei'ating
" those in bonds, in prisons, in captivities (ai'xAta-
Aojiriais), and banishments, in mines and tortures,
and bitter slaveries" (Daniel's Codex, iv, 118),
phrases which originated in a time of persecu-
tion. In the Roman liturgy this portion of the
intercession is treated much more briefly than is
usual in the Eastern Church ; the intercessions
are for the Holy Catholic Church, for the pope
and the bishop of the diocese nmninathn, and
for all faithful worshippers ; the Ambi'osian
adds, after the bishop, the king by name
(Daniel, i. 82). Most of the liturgies contain
a special intercession for those who have made
the offerings and those who are present at the
sei-vice ; thus in St. Basil (Daniel, iv. 433) is a
prayer for the people here present (rov irepie-
(TTwros \aov) and the priest who presents (Trpotr-
Ko/iii^ovTos) the holy gifts ; St. Chrysostom men-
tions the priest in the same terms, but not the
people; St. James (Dan. iv. 119) mentions not
only those who have made the offerings on that
day, but those on whose behalf they made
them (uTrep S>v eKaffros Trpoa-fiveyKev) ; St. Mark
(Dan. iv. 156), in which this prayer precedes
consecration, prays that God will receive the
thank-offerings {evxapta-Tvpta) of those who
offer, as He received the gifts of Abel, the sacri-
fice of Abraham, the incense of Zacharias, the
alms of Cornelius, and the two mites of the
widow ; the Roman (Dan. i. 14, 15) has a peti-
tion for all God's servants, and, in the Gelasian
form, " omnium circumstantium quorum tibi
fides cognita est et nota devotio, qui tibi oilerunt
hoc sacrificium laudis pro se suisque omnibus,
pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe
salutis et incolumitatis suae;" in the Gregorian
form, which is that at present in use, after the
word " devotio," we have " pro quibus tibi ofi'e-
rimus vel . . . ," probably an addition of St.
Gregory's own age.
A more particular account of the remaining
portions of the canon will be given under Dip-
TYCHS, Lord's Prayer, and Embolismus.
Ceremonies which accompanied the Anaphora or
Canon.
1. We may take the ritual of the liturgy of St.
Chrysostom as a tyj>e of the oriental ceremonies
CHRIST. ANT.
CANON OF THE LITURGY 273
of the anaphora or canon, which are there more
fully described than in other Eastern liturgies.
It is no doubt possible that some of the cere-
monies here described did not originate within
the first eight centuries ; but on the whole it
may be said to represent fairly enough the
highest ritual development attained in the East
within our period.
At the opening of the anaphora, the elements
have ah-eady been brought into the sanctuaiy,
and placed on the holy table, covered with the
aer, or veil. The deacon cries, " The doors ! the
doors!" — a phrase intended originally to exhort
the attendants carefully to exclude the unini-
tiated {Constt. Apost. viii. 10) — and then desires
the people to stand (Daniel, Codex Lit. iv. 356 E.).
The priest lifts the aer, or veil, from the elements,
and the deacon approaching guards them from pol-
lution with his feather-fan [Flabellum]. Then
follow the Sursum Corda, Preface and Sanctus.
After this the deacon takes the Asteriscus from
off the Paten, and again uses the feather-fan.
The commemoration of Institution then proceed.s,
the deacon pointing out to the celebrant the
paten and chalice at the proper moment. At
the Invocation of the Holy Spirit, the deacon
lays aside his fan, draws nearer to the priest,
and both make three reverences or prostrations
(TTposKvvr](Teis) before, the Holy Table, praying
silently ; then the deacon, with bowed head,
points to the holy bread, and the priest rising
signs it thrice with the cross; the chalice is
signed in like manner, and then both elements
together ; after which the deacon, after bowing
his head to the priest, resumes his place and his
fan. At the recitation of the Diptychs the
deacon censes round the holy table, and then
recites, standing by the door of the Sanctuary,
those portions of the prayer which were to be
heard by the choir without. At the prayer of
Inclination he bids the people to bow {KKiveiv)
their heads. After the prayer the priest elevates
the holy Bread, saying the Sancta Sanctis; the
choir then sings the communion-anthem (Kotvca-
viK-^) of the day, and the Fraction, Commixtion,
and Communion follow.
The rubi-ical directions of the other Greek
liturgies correspond generally with these, so far
as they go, but contain very much less detail.
2. In the Roman rite, at the commencement
of the canon, the celebrant stood before the altar,
probably at first with hands expanded shoulder-
high in the ancient attitude of prayer (Gerbert,
Lit. Aleman. i. 342), while the attendant clergy
stood with bowed heads, as venerating the Divine
Majesty and the Incarnation of the Lord intro-
duced in the Sanctus. (Amalarius, De Eccl. Off.
iii. 22 ; compai-e Ordo Eom. I. c. 16 ; and //. c.
8). At the words Te igitur, with which the
canon strictly commences, the priest made a pro-
found inclination and kissed the altar ; frequently
also he kissed the X at the commencement of the
canon, which was made to represent a cross, or
in later times a crucifix. (Muratori, Antiq. Ital.
iv. p. 839 ; Gerbert, Lit. Aleman. i. 341).
From very ancient times also at each of the
words dona, munera, sacrificia, the priest made
the sign of the cross, blessing the oblation, as
gifts, bounties, sacrifices. This is the first of the
six groups of crosses mentioned in the Ordo
Romanus II. c. 10; (compare Amalarius, u.s.').
The due use of the crosses in the canon was held
T
274 CANON OF THE LITURGY
to be of so much importance that St. Boniface
(about 750) consulted Pope Zacharias on the
subject, who in answer sent him a copy of the
canon with the crosses inserted in the proper
places. This copy has unfortunately perished.
Innocent the Third {De Myst. Missae, v. c. 11)
states the correct number of crosses in the canon
as twenty-five, the number still used in the
Roman rite.
The prayer Hanc igitur has long been recited
by the priest with hands extended over the Host
and Chalice, in imitation of the gesture of a
sacrificing priest under the Mosaic Law (Lev,
iv. 4, &c.). But the more ancient practice was
for him to recite this prayer profoundly inclined
to the altar, as is clear from the testimony of
Amalarius {Edogae, c. 30, p. 1331 A, Migne) :
and this practice continued as late as the end
of the 13th century (Durandus, Rationale, iv.
c. 39).
In the prayer Quam oblatlonem, at the words
benedictam, asGriptam, ratam, ratiomMlem, accep-
tabilem, occurs the second group of crosses of the
Ordo Bom. II., which however defines nothing
as to the number of crosses, or the manner of
signing the oblation. The Ordo published by
Hittorp at this point directs the priest to stand
upright, blessing (i.e. signing with the cross)
the bread only ; then, at the words, Ut nobis
Corpus et Sanguis fiat, to bless both the Host
and the Chalice. The present custom, according
to which the priest at the woi-ds Benedictam, &c.
makes three crosses over the Host and Chalice
together, is at least as old as the 11th century
(Microl. De Eccl. Ob^erv. c. 14).
At the words Qui Pridie, 4'C. the priest takes
the Bread into his hands. In this prayer is
introduced the third group of crosses of the 0)-do
a. II., at the words accipiens panem .... bene-
dixit, and item gratias agens benedixit.
Amalarius (jEcL 31, p. 1331) expressly states
that in his time the whole of the Canon was said
secrete' (see further under Secreta). Of the
Elevation of the Bread and Wine immediately
after Consecration no mention is found in the old
Sacraraentaries, in the most ancient of the Roman
Ordines, or in the early commentators on the
rite, Amalarius, Walafrid Strabo, Florus, Remi-
gius of Auxerre, Pseud o-Alcuin, and the Micro-
logus. The only indication of elevation in those
of the Ordines Roviani which are older than the
12th century, is that at the words Per quern, haec
omnia, noticed later.
At the words HoHiam puram, says the Ordo
Horn. II. (c. 10), is introduced the fourth group
of crosses. Amalarius {Eclogae, c. 30, p. 1331)
says, " Here the priest makes the sign of the
Cross four times over the Host, and a fifth over
the Chalice only;" a practice somewhat different
from that of modern times.
After the prayer Supra quae propitio, the
priest inclines himself with bowed head before
the altar, and recites the Suppliciter Te rognmus,
m which he inserts a private prayer (Amalarius,
^t. s., c. 31) ; a direction for which is also found
m some ancient MSS. of Sacramentaries. No
crosses are noted by the Ordo Rom. II. at the
words Sacrosanctnm FUii Tui #c., whence we
may conclude that the crosses now used there
are of hiter mtroduction than the 9th century.
That they were introduced into the Roman rite
not later tlian the 12th century is clear from the
CANON (IN MUSIC)
testimony of Innocent III. {De Mi/st. Missae. v.
c. 11).
The beginning of the prayer Nobis quoque
peccatoribus was anciently said with the voice
somewhat raised, that the congregation might
be able to join in it (Ordo Pom. If. c. 10). The
priest beats his breast, as bewailing his sinful-
ness.
At the words sanctificas, vivificas, benedicts,
^0. comes the fifth group of crosses, according to
Ordo Rom. II.- The Ordo Rom. IV. (p. 61) is
more explicit, desiring the priest to sign Host
and Chalice three several times, making three
several crosses. Compare Amalarius, Eel. p.
1332. It is thought by some (as Bona, De Reb.
Lit. ii. 14, s. 5) that at the words of this prayer
which refer to God's creating and vivifying
power, an offering of the fruits of the earth, if
any were to be blessed, was placed on the altar
by the attendant deacon. There is no doubt
that a benediction of fruits of the earth is in
some few ancient Sacramentaries prescribed in
this place ; but it is hard to say whether this is
a relic of what was once an univei'sal custom, or
a peculiar observance of a few churches.
At the words. Per qiiem haec omnia, ^c, the
archdeacon rose, the other deacons still standing
with bowed heads, drew near to the altar, re-
moved the fold of the corporal which covered
the chalice, wrapped the offertorium or veil
round the handles, and at the words Per ipsum,
dj-c. raised the chalice by the handles. The cele-
brant touched the chalice, still held by the
archdeacon, with the consecrated wafers, making
two crosses, and saying. Per ipsum et cum ipjso
. . . per omnia saeciila saeculorum. He then
restored the wafei-s to their place on the altar,
and the archdeacon placed the chalice by them
(Ordines Pom. i. c. 16 ; ii. c. 10 ; iii. c. 15 :
compare Amalarius, Eel. p. 1332). These di-
rections respecting the crosses were changed in
later times.
For the manner of saying the Pater Roster,
see Lord's Prayer. Here it may sulTice to
say that, while in the Eastern, Gallican, and
Spanish Churches this prayer was said by the
whole people, in the Roman, from the time oi
Gregory the Great at least (see Epist. vii. 64) it
was said by the priest alone, yet in an audible
voice, so that the people (or the choir) might
" acclaim " at the last petition. The Amen is
not commonly found in ancient Sacramentaries ;
nor does it seem in place here, as the Lord's
Prayer is prolonged in the Libera nos [Embolis-
Mus] which follows.
When the celebrant (in a papal mass) reached
the words Ab omni perturbatione securi, the arch-
deacon (Ordo Rom. I. c. 18) took the pateni*
from the regionary sub-deacon, who was stand-
ing behind him, kissed it, and passed it to the
second deacon. So Ordo Rum. II. 11, and ///.
16. The fifth Ordo Rom., probably of consider-
ably later date, desires the deacon to present
the patens to the celebrating bishop to kiss.
For the remaining portion of the liturgy, see
Kiss, Fraction, Communion. [C]
CANON (in Music). 1. The peculiar form
of musical composition called by this name was
>> It must be borne in mind that the Host was not con-
sccvated on the paten, but was, at the date of Ordo Kom. /.,
broken upon it ; a custom subsequently changed.
CANON (IN MUSIC)
unknown to the ancients, the earliest example
extant being of the l.Sth century, we believe.
2. The accepted values of the several notes
constituting the musical scale expressed philo-
sophically. The reader is referred to Smith's
Dictionary of Antiquities [Musica] for a general
description of the sounds assumed by the Greeks,
and the systems in which they were arranged.
The assumptions of the Greek writers were of
course adopted by the Latins, and appeared
throughout the whole of the early and middle
ages as the basis on which all their music rested.
Considerable uncertainty is caused in this subject
by the fact that thei-e were two somewhat con-
flicting schools, the Aristoxeneans and the Py-
thagoreans. Pythagoras having discovered the
simple ratios of ^, ^, ^, ^, for the Octave, the
Fifth, the Fourth, and the Tone (major), which
last is the difterence between the Fourth and
Fifth, his disciples maintained that all sounds
should be defined by determinate ratios, while
Aristoxenus discarded this idea altogether, and
maintained that the Tetrachord or Fourth should
be divided into intervals, the values of which
were to be determined by the ear only. This is
probably the germ of the dispute which has
lasted to the present day respecting the tempera-
ment of instruments with fixed tones : and as
the true measure of an interval is a logarithm,
It was of course impossible to reconcile at all
completely these two opinions. Ptolemy ex-
amined the matter and established the truth of
the Pythagorean views : Euclid seems to have
endeavoured to combine them, that is, if the two
treatises attributed to him, the Introductio Har-
monica and the Sectio Canonis, are both genuine.
The latter of these is usually considered genuine,
and it is purely Pythagorean and rigidly exact ;
while the former, which is certainly Aristosenean,
and perhaps written ad populum, is considered
more doubtful.
CANON (IN MUSIC) 275
The canon of the scale then is the system
of ratios into which a resonant string is to be
divided so as to produce all the notes which are
assumed ; or, which is the same thing, the re-
lative lengths of strings for these notes which
are to be fixed in an instrument and stretched
with the same tension.
The description of the intervals given in
Smith's Diet, of Antiq., from the Introductio
Harmonica, is of course Aristoxenean : it sup-
poses a tone to be divided into twelve equal
parts, and the tetrachord therefore into thirty,
and the intervals in the tetrachord, taken in
ascending order, to be as follows : —
In the Syntonous or ordinary Dia- Parts.
tonic system 6, 12, 12
,, Soft Diatonic (^aAa/cdi/) .. 6,9,15
, , Tonal or ordinary Chro-
matic (To^/ioror) .. .. 6,6,13
, , Sesquialter Chromatic (?;-
IJ.i6\wv) 4^,4^,21
, , Soft Chromatic (ixa\aK6v) 4, 4, 2 '2
,, Enharmonic 3, 3, 24
This makes a Fourth equal to 2-J tones, a Fifth
3J, and an Octave 6 tones. But in the Sectio
Canonis Euclid has proved that the Fourth,
Fifth, and Octave are each of them less than
these magnitudes (Theor. 11, 14) ; and also that
the second sound in the Chromatic and Enhar-
monic Tetrachords is not equally removed from
the first and third (Theor. 18) : it would there-
fore appear most reasonable that he meant that
Aristoxenus's hypothetical division of the tone and
tetrachord gave results which might be treated
as equal for practical purposes or by unphiloso-
phical men, but that tl)is was not rigidly exact.
In Theorems 19 and 20 of the Sectio Canonis,
Euclid gives the divisions of the string (which
he calls also the canon, and assumes for the
Proslambanomenos) accoi-ding to the Diatonic
system. The results are the following : —
Length =:
Proslambanomenos 1
Hypate hypaton -g
Pai-hypate hypaton ^^
Lichanos hypaton J
Hypate meson -^
Parhypate meson ^Si
Lichanos meson ^^
Mese 1
Paramese 4
Trite diezeugmenon, or Paranete
synemmenon p|-
Paranete diezeugmenon, or Nete
synemmenon |-
Nete diezeugmenon ^
Trite hyperbolaeon 9 56
Paranete hyperbolaeon . . . . t^^
Nete hyperbolaeon 4-
i The Trite synemmenon (bb) does not appear ; its
length will be x^o"' •"' i^ worth noticing that
this differs from our modern canon in the values
of C, D, F, G, bb, e, d, f, g ; these are at present
assumed to be |, ff f, f, 1|, f_, !&,
A-, -^^ (taking A to be 1) : all these notes
then are flatter by a comma (fy) than ours.
In Theor. 17 Euclid gives a method of deter-
mining the Lichani and the Paranetae of the
enharmonic system ; and if the direction in
which he takes his Fifths be reversed, the Chro-
matic Lichani and Paranetae would seem to be
determined : but beyond that he has given us no
information further than the rough description
of Aristoxenus's division.
It is not surprising then that various canons
of the scale have been assigned by different
wi'iters, just as in more modern times various
systems of temperament have been advocated.
Ptolemy gives the following canons for any
tetrachord : say, for example, that from the
Hypate hypaton (B) to the Hypate meson (E).
T 2
276 CANON (IN MUSIC)
Archytas's Canons.
bU
ai,M,l;B,ZS,E.
Diatonic ;
07 8 3 . ^^ ^,,
Chromatic : 1, f-g-, -95 i ' B, C, CJ, E.
p ^ , 5 3 _ bb
Enharmonic: 1, ^g, -J^, 5-5 B, C, C, E.
Eratosthenes's Canons.
T 043 273.
Diatonic : 1, f 3^, fg' 4 ' B, C, D, E.
Chromatic : 1, ^^, T%, | ; B, C, Ctt, E.
Enharmonic: 1, ^q, ^jj, -^
CANON (IN MUSIC)
I ''4S273. " "
\ Diatonic ditonal : 1, f -5^, 32, 4 s B, C, D, E.
1 , ,07273.''^''
I Diatonic tonal : 1, §^, 32? 4 ; B, C, D, E.
b bb
B, C, E.
DiDYMtJs's Canons.
11' §2' I ; B, C, D, E.
Diatonic soft :
i,M, f, |;b,c,d,e.
Diatonic equable : 1, \^, f, f ; B, Ci D, E.
91 7 3 . ^ '^
Chromatic intense : 1, ^■^^, -g, 4 5 B C C'' E.
, 97 q 3 . ^-^11
Chromatic soft : 1, |-^, jq, 4 , B, C, CJ, E.
Enharmonic :
t
1' li' lil' 4 5 B, B, C, E
The canons according to Euclid or Aristoxenus
can be reproduced with pretty considerable ac-
- lo' o..' -x - -, -, ", - curacy by means of logarithms and converging
-.15 9 3 . p p (-'■ft F I fractions : there will of course be a little dis-
Chromatic : 1, |g, jq, 4 , ^, ^. ^fr '• prepancy according as the 30th part of a Bourth
t I or the 12th part of a Tone is taken for the ele-
' 5 B, B, C, E. I ment, these not being exactly equal : the former
I seems preferable ; and it gives for the logarithm
3^^S. j ^^ ^^g element •004165; and the following re-
Diatonic intense : 1, |§, |, | ; B, C, D, E. | suits in the cases not as yet determined :-
b b
Diatonic syntonous : Ratios 1, -fsg? 32"' ?' B, C, D, E.
Diatonic soft : Logarithms 0, -02499, -06247, -12494.
Ptolemy's own Cano:
Chromatic tonal ;
Ratios 1, III, f oria-^:
Logarithms 0, "02499,
Ratios
l>if
b bb
15' 4' B, C, D, E.
•04998, -12494.
^nh h I; B, C, ?j^,E,
Chromatic sesquialter : Logarithms 0, -01874, -03758, -12494.
Chromatic soft : Logarithms 0, -01666, -03332, -12494.
L2 or 13 nv 25 _3 . ^^ ^^
Enharmonic
The values of the Meson tetrachord (E,F,G,a)
will be obtained in any cue of these systems by
multiplying the corresponding ratios by |- ;
those of the Synemmenon tetrachord (a, bb, c, d)
by multiplying them by -^g ; those of the
Diezeugmenon tetrachord (b, c, d, e) are half
those of the Hypaton tetrachord ; and those of
the Hyperbolaeon (e, f, g, aa) are half those of
Ratios 1
Logarithms 0
Ratios 1, §5 or |f, If or If or p, | ; j,^ Ji; '^^^ £,
Logarithms 0, -01249, '02499, -12494.
Ratios 1, 3^ ,,,.,, ,
3
il,lf-H-flif;B, Ue.
the Meson, or | of those of the Hypaton. All
these will be expressed in terms of the Proslam-
banomenos (A) by multiplying each of them
by |.
The Greek Chromatic Scale then will be, ex-
pressed in modern musical notation as nearly as
possible, the following ; Didymus's canon being
taken for the sake of simplicity of notation :
And the Enharmonic Scale will be, according to Didymus's canon, this :
-I-fe
tt=^ '^'
» The notation C is adopted to mean a C slightly flat-
tcnrd, C somewhat flatter atill, and so for C : the actual
amount of flattening or sharpening is detennined by the
ratio given. At present we have no notation to express
these things; in the 16th century the symbol X was
used to indicate the enharmonic diesis, but as it is now
used for a double sharp, it has been thought prudent to
avoid employing it here.
CANON OF ODES
It will be observed from the above that, while
Pythagoras and Euclid allowed only the Fourth,
Fifth, and Octave, v/ith their replicates, to be
consonances, the later writers had discovered the
consonances of the Major Third (4) and Minor
Third (4), also the Minor Tone (jq), and
perhaps also the Harmonic Flat Seventh (^)
and Sharp Eleventh (^j), which are now heard
in instruments of the Horn kind.
There were no alterations made in this until
CANON OF ODES
277
the developments of Guido Aretiuus in the 11th
century.
S. Ambrose decreed the use of the Diatonic
genus alone in church music ; and it is probable
that the chromatic and enharmonic genera soon
fell into general desuetude, or only existed as
curiosities for the learned.
The Jews are believed to have used a canon
proceeding by thirds of tones, tluis giving 18
notes in the octave. Approximating to these in
the same manner as for Euclid's chromatic and
enharmonic canons, we obtain the following : —
1 25 2 5 .8 6 14 2 7 13 Jl /J q,. 5 15 1.7 J 7 17 ^7__ JL 2 7 1.3 i
-■-5 26J 27' 9' 7' 17' 34' 17' 15' V^ ^^ 7' 22' 26' 27' 28' 12' 16' 50' 25' 2'
# b # b if b t ^
C, C, D, D, D, E, E, F, F, ¥^,
Mr. A. J. Ellis, in a memoir read before the
Royal Society, 1864, states that the Pythagorean
canon has been developed into an Arabic scale of
17 sounds. "No nation using it," he adds, "has
shown any appreciation of harmony." It is in
fact next to impossible to conceive any satis-
factory harmony existing with the non-diatonic
canons, a consideration which has scarcely enough
been dwelt on in discussing whether harmony
was known to the ancients. It must never be
forgotten that what is now called the chromatic
scale is no representation of and has no con-
nexion with the ancient chromatic canon (a fact
noticed by Morley, annotations to his Flaine and
Easie Introduction) ; it is merely a combination
of various diatonic scales, whose canons are, if
necessary, accommodated to each other : the
only case then in practice in which chromatic
or "enharmonic harmonies or melodies (in the
old sense) can now be heard is in the tuning of
an orchestra before a performance, unless indeed
peals of bells may have sometimes been tuned
in those ways, which, according to Dr. Holder,
there seems some reason to believe. It may not
be irrelevant to add that the modern canon, to
which reference has several times been made
above, is in some respects open to dispute, as it
scarcely explains the phenomena which are ac-
cepted as musical facts.
The writer has made use of the Introductio
Harmonica and Sectio Canonis of Euclid; Mor-
iey's Flaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall
Musii-ke ; Sir John Hawkins's History of Music ;
Holder's Treatise on the Natural Grounds and
Principles of Harmony ; and the Memoir of Mr.
KUis mentioned above. Other authorities on the
subject are the Antiquae Musicae Auctores Scp-
ii/in, ed. Meibomius ; Ptolemy, ed. Wallis ; Boe-
tliius, De Music a ; Salinas; Zarliuo ; Kircher;
Jlersennus; Colonna. [J. R. L."|
I CANON OF Odes (Kdva:v). This word is ap-
I plied to a part of the office of the Greek Church,
sung to a musical tone, for the most part at Lauds,
and which corresponds to the hymns of the West-
ern Church. A canon is usually divided into nine
iid^s, each ode consisting of a variable number
of stanzas or troparia, in a rhythmical syllabic
measure, prosody being abandoned except in three
cases. The canon is headed by an iambic, or
occasionally an hexameter line containing an
allusion to the festival or the contents of the
canon, or a play upon the saint's name, which
forms an Acrostic to which the initial letters
b t 1 t, S b b
G, G, Gi, ab, a, bb, b, c, c.
of each troparion correspond. This acrostical
form is thought with probability to be derived
from Jewish practice. The nine odes have gene-
rally some reference to the corresponding odes
at Lauds [v. Canticle], especially the seventh,
eighth, and ninth. In practice the second ode
of a canon is always omitted, except in Lent.
The reason given is, that the second of the odes
at Lauds (the song of Moses from Deut.), which
is assigned to Tuesday, is more a denunciation
against Israel than a direct act of praise to God,
and is on that account omitted except in Lent.
Hence the second ode of a canon, which partakes
of the same character, is also omitted except on
week days in Lent. It is not said on Saturday
in Lent. (v. Goar. Rit. Grae. ; in San. Olei. Oflm.
not. 14). The tone to which the canon is sung
is given at the beginning, and each ode is fol-
lowed by one or more troparia under diflerent
names. After the sixth ode the Synaxarion, or
the commemorations which belong to the day,
are read.
Among the principal composers of canons were
John of Damascus, Joseph of the Studium,
Cosmas, Theophanes, St. Sophronius of Jerusalem,
&c. ; and as examples of canons, may be
mentioned " the Great Canon," the composition
of St. Andrew, archbishop of Crete (born a.d.
660), which begins irodev &p|ai/xai dprjvuv k.t.A.,
and is said on Monday of the first week in Lent.
This canon is not acrostical. Also that for
orthodoxy Sunday, i. e. the first Sunday in Lent,
of which the acrostic is aijfiepov eiia-efii-qs 0eo-
<j)fyy4os ^Aufiei/ 017X7), and that for Christmas-
day by Cosmas, beginning XP'^'''^^ yivvaTai,
8o|a(raT6, with the acrostic xP'O't^J fipoToidels
■fjv oir^p 6e6s fi^vy, and another for the same
day by St. John Damascene, in trimeter iambics,
beginning eawcre Aahv Qavfxarovpyav A^airSriqs,
the acrostic of which consists of four elegiac
lines. This is one of the three canons which
retain the classical prosody. The two others are
by the same author, and said on the Epiphany
and on Whitsunday. The construction of a
canon much resembles that of a choral ode of
the Greek dramatists, the strophe, antistrophe,
&c., being represented by the odes and the
various kinds of troparia by which they are
separated. The name canon is probably applied
to these hymns from their being completed in
nine odes, nine being looked upon as a perfect
number (Zonaras in Hymn. : Exp. : quoted by
Goar). Others, however, derive the name frum
278
CANONICAL BOOKS
the fixed rhythmical system on which they are
constructed ; while mystical reasons for the name
have been assigned by some writers.
The word canon is applied in the Armenian
rite to a section of the psalter, which in that rite
is divided into eisrht sections called canons.
[H. J. H.]
CANONICAL BOOKS (Libri Canonici, Ec-
clesiastici ; Bi/3Aia KavovL^oi^^va, avayiyvoxTKS-
fx^va). The question of the determination of the
Canon, both of the Old and the New Testament,
has been already fully treated in the Dictionary
OF THE Bible (pp. 250 ft'.). The present article
relates mainly to the authoritative promulgation
of lists or catalogues of books to be read, under
the name of Scripture, in the services of the
Church. The canon of books to be publicly
read is not wholly identical with the canon of
books from which the faith is to be established
(see Westcott, M.S.).
1. Athauasius {Ep. Festal, torn. i. pt. ii.
p. 962, ed. Ben.) divided all the books which
claimed the title of Holy Scripture into three
classes. (1.) Bi/SAia Kavovi^iixeva, books which
belonged in the fullest sense to the canon, and
were the standard of the faith. (2.) 'hvaytyvu)-
(TK6ix€va, books which, though not belonging in
the strictest sense to the canon, might be read
in time of divine service, and recommended to
catechumens, " for example of life and instruc-
tion of manners." (3.) 'ATr6Kpv(pa, spurious books
claiming authority under venerable names.
This distinction between the books truly canoni-
cal and the books proper to be read has been
perpetuated in the Greek Church to this day ;
and it is the present rule of the English Church,
which, in the sixth Article, after enumerating
the books of the Hebrew canon, proceeds to say
that " the other books (as Hierom saith) the
Church doth read for example of life and instruc-
tion of manners ; but yet doth it not apply them
to establish any doctrine."
2. In the Latin Church also at the same period
a distinction was drawn by some between the
books of the Hebrew canon and the later addi-
tions. Rufinus {Expos, in Syrnh. cc. 37, 38)
divides the books into three classes : " Canonici
. . . quos patres intra canonem concluserant, ex
quibus fidei nostrae assertiones constare volue-
runt ; . . . ecclesiastici . . . quos legi quidem
in ecclesiis voluerunt, non tamen proferri ad
auctoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam ; . . .
caeteras vero scripturas apocryphas nominarunt,
quas in ecclesiis legi voluerunt." Here, the
ecclesiastici are exactly equivalent to the avayi-
yvaiffKOfMeva of Athanasius. Jerome, in the Fro-
logus GaleatKS, enumerates the twenty-two books
of the Hebrew canon, and adds, " quidquid extra
hos est inter apocrypha ponendum," giving the
word apocrypha a wider meaning than that
adopted by Rufinus, so as to include all books
claiming to be Scripture not found in the He-
brew canon. This use of the word Apocrypha,
which seems in ancient times to have been pecu-
liar to Jerome, was adopted by the Eno-lish and
other Reformers in the sixteenth century, and
so has become familiar to us. It is not, however
used m the sixth Article, where, as we have
seen, the books read by the Church but not
reputed strictly canonical are called simply "the
other books." ''
3. The Apostolic Constitutions were probably
CANONICAL BOOKS
intended to give an appearance of apostolic
authority to actually existing practices, and the
substance of the first six books may be as old as
the 3rd century. In the fifty-seventh chapter
of the second book (p. 67, ed. Ueltzen), we have
an approach to a catalogue of the books to be
read as Scripture in public worship. The pas-
sage is as follows : " Let the reader, standing in
the midst on a raised space, read the Books of
Moses, and of Joshua the son of Nun, those of
Judges and of Kingdoms (/SatnAei'oDj'), those of
Chronicles and the Return from Captivity [Ezra
and Nehemiah] ; in addition to these those of
Job and of Solomon and of the sixteen Prophets
. . . After this let our Acts [Acts of Apostles]
be read and the Epistles of Paul our fellow-
worker, which he enjoined on the churches ac-
cording to the guidance of the Holy Spirit ; and
after these let a deacon or presbyter read the
Gospels which we, Matthew and John, delivered
to you, and those which Luke and Mark, Paul's
fellow-workers, received and left to you."
In this catalogue (unless Esther be omitted)
the canon of the Old Testament is exactly that
of the Jews. The Catholic Epistles are possibly
included under Acts; for in a Syrian version,
which places the Catholic Epistles immediately
after the Acts, at the close of the Epistles fol-
lows the colophon, " The end of the Acts,"
(Wiseman, Horae Syriacae, p. 217, quoted by
Westcott, Bible in Church, p. 176) as if the
term Acts included the Epistles. It is not easy
to see on what ground A. Ritschl (Alt-kathol.
Kirche, p. 329, note 1) affirms the sentence re-
lating to St. Paul's Epistles to be " plainly inter-
polated." It does not appear that there is any
variation of MSS. in this place.
The list contained in the eighty-fifth of the
Apostolical Canons, of the books to be held in
veneration by all clergy and laity, is no doubt of
much later date ; but as it is in itself remark-
able, and had a powerful influence on some of
the Eastern Churches, it is given in the parallel
ai-rangement opposite..
After the foundation of Constantinople (about
A.D. 332), Constantine desired Eusebius to pro-
vide fifty splendid copies of the Scriptures for the
churches of his new city. How he fulfilled his
charge we cannot exactly affirm, as he gives no
catalogue of the books he included in the collec-
tion, and not one of his copies is known to exist ;
probably the canon of these books differed .little,
if at all, from that of Cyril and Laodicea.
A catalogue of the books of Scripture, the
authority of which is strictly ecclesiastical and
not imperial, is found in the works of Athana-
sius. That great prelate joined to his " Festal
Letter"" of the year 365 a list of the books
which were canonized and traditional and con-
fidently believed to be divine (ja KavovL^Aixevtx.
Koi TrapaSod^uTO, ina'Tevdevra re 6e7a elvai j8i-
/SAi'a). In the New Testament, this list gives
exactly the books which we receive in the order
in which they stand in the oldest Greek MSS.
In the Old Testament, Baruch and the Letter are
added to Jeremiah ; Esther is placed among the
Apocrypha; and the books of Maccabees are
omitted altogether.
' * The circulars in whicti the bishop of Alexandria
annually announced to the different churches of his pro-
vince the date of Easter were called "Paschal" or
" Festal " letters.
CANONICAL BOOKS
!79
Canones Apost. (^c. 85),
(Ueltzeu's Const.
Apost. p. 253.)
Athanasius (^Ep. Fest.. in
Cone. Laodicenum, can. 60
Cone. Carthagin. III. can. 47.
vpp. ed. Ben. I. ii. 962.)
(Bruns's Canones, i. 79).
(Bruns's tanonts, i. l:J3.)
Genesis
Genesis
1. Genesis
Genesis
Exudus
Exodus
2. Exodus
Exodus
Leviticus
Leviticus
. 3. Leviticus
Leviticus
W umbers
Numbers
4. Numbers
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
5. Deuteronomy
Deuteronony
Jot-hua
Joshua
6. Joshua
Joshua
Judges
Judges
7. Judges and Ruth
Judges
Eutli
Ruth
S. Esther
Ruth
Kings, four
Chronicles, two
I. and II. Kings
9. I. and II. Kings
Books of King.s, four
III. and IV. Kings
10. III. and IV. Kings
Books of Chronicles, two
Ksdras, two
Land II. Chronicles
11. Land II. Chronicles
Job
Esther
I. and II. Esdras
12. I. and IL Ksdras
The Psalter of David
Maccabees, three
Psalms
13. The 150 Psalms
Books of Solomon, five
Job
Proverbs
14. Proverbs of Solomon
Books of Prophets, twelve :
The Psalter
Ecclesiastes
15. Ecclesiastes
Isaiah
Solomon's Proverbs
Song of Songs
16. Song of Songs
Jeremiah
Ecclesiastes
Job
17. Job
Ezekiel
Song of Songs
Minor Prophets, twelve
IS. The Twelve Prophets
Daniel
Book of the Twelve Pro-
Jsaiah
19. Isaiah
Tobit
phets, one
Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamen-
20. Jeremiah, Baruch, La-
Judith
Isaiah
tations, and the Letter
mentations, and the
Esther
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Letter
Books of Esdras, two
Ezeliiel
Daniel
21. Ezekiel
Books of Maccabees, two
Daniel
22. Daniel
For instruction of youth, the
Wisdom of Sirach
Gospels, four:
Gospels, four :
Gospels, four :
Gospels, four books
Matthew
Matthew
Matthew
Acts of Apostles, one
Marli
Mark
Mark
Epistles ot Paul the Apostle,
Lulie
Luke
Luke
thirteeu
John
John
John
The same to the Hebrews,
Epistles of Paul, fourteen
Acts of Apostles
Acts of Apostles
f.ne
Peter, two
Catholic Epistles of
Catholic Epistles, seven :
Peter the Apostle, two
John, three
Apostles, seven:
James, one
John the Apostle, three.
James, one
James, one
Peter, two
Jude the Apostle, one
Jude, one
Peter, two
John, three
James, one
Clement, two
John, three
Jude, one
Apostolical Constitutions,
Jude, one
Epistles of Paul, fourteen :
The Apocalypse of .John,
(^AiarayaO, eight
Epistles of Paul the
Romans, one
one book
Acts of the Apostles
Apostle, fourteen:
Corinthians, two
Romans
Galatians, one
Corinthians, two
Ephesians, one
Galatians
Philippiaus, one
Ephesians
Colossians, one
Pbilippians
Thessalonians, two
Colossians
Hebrews, one
Thessalonians, two
Timothy, two
Hebrews
Titus, one
Tiuiothv, two
Philemon, one
'I'ilus, one
Philemon
The Apocalypse of John
The earliest conciliar decision on the subject
of Canonical Books is that of the provincial
synod of Laodicea, about the year 363. As the
canons of this council now stand in the printed
editions and in most MSS., the fifty-ninth canon
enacts that "psalms composed by private per-
sons should not be used in churches, nor un-
canonized (h.Kav6viffra.) books, but only the ca-
nonical books of the New and Old Testament " ;
and the sixtieth gives a list of the books which
should be read [in churches] {oca Set Pi^\la
avayiyvwaKiffOai). But this list is .unques-
tionably a later addition ; it is not found in the
best Greek MSS., in ancient Syriac versions, in
one of the two complete Latin versions, nor in
the oldest digests of ecclesiastical canons (see
Westcott, Canon of N. T. pp. 500 ff.). Yetit is
probably a very early gloss, being in fact iden-
tical (excepting in the addition to Jeremiah of
Baruch and the Letter, in the place occupied by
Esther and Job, and in the omission of the Apo-
calypse) with the list given by Cyril of Jeru-
salem about A.D. 350 (Catecli. Mijst. iv. 33 [al.
22] ), a list which he distinctly describes as the
canon of ecclesiastical books, desiring his cate-
chumens not to read other books than those
which were read in the churches.
In the Latin Church, as we have seen, a dis-
tinction was drawn by Rufiuus and Jerome
between the books of the Hebrew canon and the
later additions ; but the distinction drawn by
these learned and able doctors was not generally
received in the Latin Church. The old Latin
translation was made from the LXX. and gave
no indication that the ditferent books were not
all of the same authority ; and when this had
obtained general currency, the great leaders of
the Latin Church were unwilling to draw dis-
tinctions which would shake the received tra-
dition. Hence Ambrose and Augustine, with
the great mass of later writers, cite all the
books in question alike as Scripture, and Au-
gustine {de Doct. Christ, ii. 8) gives a list of
the books of which " the whole canon of the
Scriptures" consists, without making any clear
distinction between the apocryplial and the other
280
CANONICAL BOOKS
books.'' The ecclesiastical canon of the Latin
Church has in fact from the date of the first Latin
translation included what we call the Apocryphal
Books, though we not unfrequently meet with
expressions which show that the Latin Fathers
were conscious that the books of their canon
were in fact of very different degrees of autho-
rity. Gregory the Great, for instance, speaks of
the books of Maccabees as not belonging, in the
proper sense, to the canon.
At the third Council of Carthage, at which
St. Augustine was present, and at which his in-
fluence no doubt predominated, a decree was
made which determined the list of canonical
Scriptures. The forty-seventh canon (Bruns's
Camncs i. 133) begins thus : " It is also agreed,
that besides Canonical Scriptures nothing be read
in the Church as Holy Scripture (sub nomine
Diviuarum Scripturarum)," and a list of cano-
nical writings follows, in which the Apocryphal
books are mingled with those of the Hebrew
canon, without distinction. Some of the MSS.
liowever omit the two books of Maccabees. The
canon ends with saying, in one text, " Let it be
made known to our brother and fellow-bishop
Boniface [of Rome], or other bishops of those
parts, for confirming that canon, that we have
received from our fathers these books to be read
in churches ; " in another text, "The books then
amount to twenty-seven ; let the churches
across the sea [<. e. Italian] be consulted about
that canon." In both texts, permission is given
to read the Passions of Martyrs on their anni-
versaries.
The confirmation of Rome was probably ob-
tained, and this canon of Carthage, though of
course only binding in its proper force on the
churches of a particular province, became the
general ecclesiastical rule of the West. " Usage
received all the books of the enlarged canon
more and more generally as equal in all respects ;
learned tradition kept alive the distinction be-
tween the Hebrew canon and the Apocryj^ha
which had been drawn by Jerome " (Westcott,
BMe in Church, p. 190).
The Apostolical, Laodicean, and Carthaginian
canons were all confirmed by the second canon
of the Quinisextine Council, A.D. 692 (Bruns's
Canones i. 36), no regard being had to their varia-
tions. The 68th canon made provision for the
reverent treatment of copies of the sacred books.
In these lists, the first and second books of
Kings are of course those which we call the first
and second books of Samuel, and the third and
fourth books of Kings those which we call the
first and second books of Kings. It is not always
easy to say with certainty what is intended by the
first and second books of Esdras. In the Vatican
and Alexandrian MSS. of the LXX., " I. Esdras " is
the apocryphal book which we call the first book
of Esdras, while " II. Esdras " is composed of the
books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Westcott, Bible in
Church, pp. 303 ff.). In the Vulgate, " I. Esdras "
IS the canonical book of Ezra, and " II. Esdras "
the canonical book Nehemiah. Jerome in the Pro-
lofpis Galeatus mentions only one Esdras, which
(he says) the Greeks and Latins divided into two
books; these two books were, as appears from
the 1 racj. m Esdram and the Ep. ad Paulinum
!■ Canon Westcott has however pointed out [art. Canon
p. 255J that bis langnage is imonsiilont on this point. '
CANONICAL BOOKS
(c. 16) the canonical books of Ezra and Nehe-
miah. A letter of Pope Innocent I. to Exsupe-
rius, bishop of Toulouse (A.D. 405) contains a list
(given by Kirchhofer, Quellensatnvilung, p. 504)
identical in contents with that of the Council oi
Carthage, but differing in the arrangement of the
books. There is also a papal list attributed to
Gelasius (Pope A.D. 492-496) and another to Hor-
misdas (514-523). But none of these lists are
free from suspicion. They were unknown in the
middle of the 6th century to Cassiodorus, who
collected the lists of canonical books current in
his time, and still later to Isidore of Seville ;
and different copies of the Gelasian list vary in
such a way as to suggest that they were not all
derived from the same original. The letter of
Innocent is found in the collection of Decretals
attributed to Dionysius Exiguus, but that col-
lection, as is well known, contains matter of a
much later date than that of its supposed com-
pilation (about 500). It is not, in fact, until
the 8th century that we have distinct evidence
of its existence, when it formed part of the Code
sent to Charlemagne in the year 774 by Pope
Hadrian I. The list of canonical books in the
decree of Gelasius does not distinctly appear till
about the 10th century. Both lists simply re-
peat the Canon of Carthage (Westcott, Bible in
Church, 194 ff.). It is a remarkable instance of
the rapid victory of usage over scholarship, that
in the Codex Amiatinus (written about 541) of
Jerome's Vulgate, the books of the Apocrypha
are mixed with those of the Hebrew canon,
against the express judgment of Jerome himself.
But indications are not wanting, that the ques-
tion of the value and authority of certain works
was regarded in the Latin Church as distinct
from that of ecclesiastical use.
The determmation of the canon in Spain was
a matter of unusual importance. The Pris-
cillianists during the 5th century introduced a
multitude of apocryphal writings, which it was
one of the chief cares of the orthodox bishops
to destroy. The Arian Goths probably rejected
the Ejustle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse,
as well as the Apocrypha of the Old Testament.
On their conversion, they bound themselves to
accept the Roman canon, as well as other de-
crees of the see of Rome. Isidore of Seville
(t636) follows Augustine expressly in dealing
with the Old Testament Apocrypha, and reckons
among " Canonical Scriptures " books which the
Hebrews do not receive (see Origines, vi. 2.) In
the list which he gives (Kirchhofer's Quellen-
sammlung, p. 505), the books of the Old Testa-
ment are enumerated exactly as in the English
canon, except that Job and Esther are placed
after Solomon's Song. After Malachi, he adds,
without any mark of distinction, "Judit et
Tobias et Machabaeorura Libri quibus auc-
toribus scripti sunt minime constat." Eccle-
siasticus, Wisdom, and the apocryphal books
of Esdras, do not seem to be mentioned at all.
In the New Testament, after the Gospels and
Acts, he proceeds, " Pauli Epistol. xiv, novem
eccle>.ii^. rt'li^piae discipulis scriptae. Ad He-
braoijs A |i|(ris(|ue Latinis ejus esse dubitatur,
propter (liNsunantiam sermonis ; eandem alii Bar-
nabae, alii Clementi adscribunt. Jacobi, Petri ii..
Cath. Judae et Johannis. Johannis Apocaly])sis.
Caetera Apocrypha." He seems therefore to have
acknowledged only one epistle of St. John.
CANONICAL HOURS
The code which Charlcmague gave at Aix for
the government of the Church was founded upon
that which he received from Pope Hadrian as
mentioned above. In this it was enjoined that
" the Canonical Books only be read in the
Church ;■" but it does not appear that any defi-
nite list was given, though in the printed editions
the list of Laodicea was appended. Alcuin, the
well-known English scholar (fSO-l), Charle-
magre's chief literary adviser, was commissioned
towards the close of his life to undertake a revi-
sion of the Latin Bible for public use. He re-
stored in a great measure Jerome's test in those
books which Jerome had translated, but did not
separate the Apocrypha. Several MSS. remain
which claim to be derived from Alcuin's revi-
sion. One of the finest of these, known as
" Charlemagne's Bible," is in the British Museum.
A peculiarity of this copy is, that it contains the
apocryphal Letter to the Laodiceans as a fifteenth
Epistle of St. Paul. [C]
CANONICAL HOURS. [Hours of
Prayer.]
CANONICI. The canonical clergy have
occupied an intermediate position between the
monks and the secular clergy. As living to-
gether under a rule of their own they were
often regarded popularly as a species of monks ;
while, inasmuch as their rule was less strict,
and their seclusion from the world less complete,
they were sometimes, from a monastic point of
view, classed even with the laity, as distinguished
from those who were " religious." Thus the
colleges of the " canonici " were sometimes called
"monasteria" (Hospin. De Monach. iii. vi. p.
72 b.) ; while Dudo {De Act. Norman, iii. v.)
broadly dividing Christians into "regular" or
" contemplative," and " secular " or practical
places " canonici " among the " secular " (Du
Cauge, Gloss. Latinit. s. voce). The canonici did
not fully assume this quasi-monastic character
till the 8th century. The theory which would
trace them back as a monastic order to St.
Augustine, and which ascribes to him the
Augustinian Rule scarcely needs refutation
(Hospin. De Monach. iii. vi. p. 71 b. ; Bingh.
Uriqin. Eccles. vii. ii. § 9).
The " canonici " were at first the clergy and
other officials attached to the church, and were
so called either as bound by canons (v. Du Cange,
s. v.), or more probably as enrolled on the list of
ecclesiastical officers, Kavthv, matricula, albus,
tabula (Socr. H. E. i. 17 ; Theod. Lect. //. E. i.
p. 553 ; Cone. Chalced. 451 A.d. c. 2 ; Vales, ad
Socr. H. E. V. 19; Bingh. i. v. § 10). Du
Cange explains the word by the " canon " a-n-op-
tvKt) ; a certain proportion (one-fourth) of the
alms of the faithful set apart for the maiute-
nauce of the clergy and other officers of the
church {Concc. Agath. 506 a.d. c. 36 ; Aurel. iii.
538 A.D. c. 11 ; Narbon. 589 A.D. cc. 10, 12).
Another, but most improbable derivation is
from KoivwviKol (Du Cange, s. v.'). A passage
is cited by Du Cauge from the life of Antony
attributed to Augustine — iri/u-a rhv KavSva — to
show that the word was equivalent to " clerus."
But " canonici " was at first a more compre-
hensive word than '■ clerus," embracing all who
held ecclesiastical offices, as readers, singers,
porters, &c. (Thomass. Vet. ct Nov. DiscipL I. ii.
34; Bingh. i. v. § 10).
CANONICI
281
Some bishops even before the 5th century, for
instance Eusebius of Vercellae, Ambrose of
Milan, the great Augustine, and Martin of Tours,
set an example of monastic austerity to the
clergy domiciled with them, which became widely
popular {Concc. Tolet. ii. A.D. 531, c. 1; Turon.
ii. A.D. 567, c. 12). Gelasius I. at the close of the
5th century founded an establishment of '-ca-
nonici regulares " at Rome in the Lateran
(Hospin. III. vi. p. 72 b. ; Bingh. VII. ii. § 9).
In 531 A.D. the 2nd Council of Toledo speaks of
schools conducted by the " canonici " wherein
the scholars lived " in domo ecclesiae sub Epi-
scopi praesentia " (cc. 1, 2) ; and, before the end
of the same century, the 3rd Council of Toledo
orders the Scriptures to be read aloud in the
refectory of the priests, " sacerdotali convivio "
(c. 7). A similar phrase, " mensa canonica," is
quoted by Du Cange from Gregory of Tours
{Hist. X. ad fin.) in reference to the " canonici "
established by Baudinus, archbishop of Tours, in
the 6th century, and from a charter granted by
Chilpe'ric in 580 a.d. (Miraei Diplom. Belg. II.
1310, ap. Du Cange, s. v.). In the 3rd Council of
Orleans, a.d. 538, the " canonici " are foi-biddea
secular business {Cone. Aurel. III. c. 11). The
college in which the canons resided, or rather
the church to which the college was attached, is
styled " canonica " in a charter 724 A.D. {Chart.
Langoh. Brunett. p. 470, ap. Du Cange, s. v.).
Bishops, especially for missions, were fre-
quently chosen out of the monasteries ; and these
naturally surrounded themselves with monks.
In the words of Montalembert many a bishoin-ic
was " cradled " in a monastery. Thus in Armo-
rica " the principal communities formed by the
monastic missionaries (from Britain in the 5th
century) were soon transformed into bishoprics."
{Monks of the West, II. 273.) In countries
which owed their Christianity to monks, the
monastery and the cathedral rose side by side,
or under one roof. But cathedral-monas-
teries are, strictly speaking, almost peculiar
to England (Stubbs, Introd. to Epp. Cuntuar.
xxi.); for, while elsewhere, for the most part,
either the cathedral or the monastery ousted
the other, in England many of the cathedrals
retained their monastic, more exactly their
quasi-monastic character till the Reformation.
Usually it was the mother-church, as Canterbury
or Lindisfarne, which thus adhered to its original
institution, while the new cathedrals for the
sub-divided diocese passed into the hands of the
non-monastic clergy (Stubbs, v. sup. xxii.). In
either case, as at Worcester, the cathedral clergy
were the parochial clergy of the city (Stubbs, The
Cathedr. of Worcester in the 8th Century, Com-
munic. to the Historic. Sect, of the Instit. July,
1862). The result of this combination on the
clergy generally, and on the monks, was twofold.
On the one hand the clergy became, in the first
instance, more monastic ; on the other, a some-
what moi-e secular tone was given for a time
to the monasteries. But, as these cathedral-
monasteries came to lose their missionary cha-
ractei", other monasteries arose, by a reaction
of sentiment, of a less secular and of a more
ascetic kind ; e. g. in England, Crowland, and
Evesham, in contrast to Peterborough and Wor-
cester (Stubbs, V. sup.). By the Council of
Clovesho, A.D. 747, all monasteries jiroper in
England were placed under the Benedictine rule ;
282
CANONICI
and thus the severance was defined of the chap-
ters and the monasteries. {Cone. Clooesh. c. 24 ;
cf. Beg. S. Bened. c. 58 ; cf. Mabill. AA. 0. S. B.
I. Praef. hi.).
But Chrodegang, or Chrodogang, cousin of
Pepin and archbishop of Metz, in the latter part
of the 8th century, was virtually the founder of
" canonici " as a semi-monastic order. By
enforcing strict obedience to the Rule and the
Superior' he tightened the authority of the
bishop over the clergy of his cathedral (Eeg.
Chrodeg. ap. Labb. Cone. vii. 1445). But,
while retaining the monastic obligations of
" obedience " and of " chastity," he relaxed that
of poverty. His "canonici" were, like monks, to
have a common dormitory and a common refec-
tory {Reg. Chrod. c. 3 ; Cone. Mogunt. 813 A D.
c. 9). Like monks they were to reside within
the cloister ; and egress, except by the porter's
gateway, was strictly forbidden {Cone. Aquisgr.
816 A.D. cc. 117, 144). But they were allowed
a life interest in private property ; " though after
death it was to revert to the church to which
they belonged ; and, which is especially curious,
they were not to forfeit their property, even for
crimes and misdemeanours entailing otherwise
severe penance. {Beg. Chrod. cc. 31, 32; cf.
Stubbs, Ej)]}. Cantuar. Introd. xxiv.) Thus the
discipline of the cloister was rendered more
palatable to the clergy; while a broad line of
demarcation was drawn between them and monks
(Cone. Mogunt. cc. 9, 10 ; Cone. Turon. III. c. 25).
They were not to wear the monk's cowl {Beg.
Chrod. c. 53, interpolated from Co7ic. Aquisgr.
c. 125). The essential difference between a
cathedral with its "canonici" and an abbey-
church with its monks, has been well expressed
thus : the " canonici " existed for the services of
the cathedral, but the abbey-church for the
spiritual wants of the recluses happening to
settle there (Freeman, Norman Conquest, ii. 443).
Chrodegang's institution was eagerly adopted
by the far-seeing Karl, in his reformation of
ecclesiastical abuses ; indeed he wished to force
it on the clergy generally (Robertson's Ch. Hist.
II. 200). He ordered the " canonici " to live
" canonice," and to obey their bishop as abbat ;
a similar enactment was made at the Councils of
Aachen, 788 A.D. and of Mentz, 813 A.D. {Cone.
Aquisgr. cc. 27, 29 ; Cone. Mogunt. c. 9 ; cf. Du
Cange, s. v.; Hospin. xxii. 154; Robertson's Ch.
Hist. II. 198). It was evidently the great legis-
lator's intention to make these colleges of canons
instrumental for education {Cone. Cabill. 813
A.D. c. 3 ; Alteser. Aseeticon. II. 1). Thus one
of the principal canons was the " Scholasticus "
(schoolmaster, or more properly, chancellor,
Freeman, Norman Conquest, II. 443), and the
buildings were arranged mainly to be used as
schools (Hospin. p. 153-6).
The rule of Chrodegang in its integrity was
shortlived. By the middle of the 9th century
it was iu force in most cathedrals of France,
Germany, Italy, and, more partially, in England
(Robertson's Ch. Hist. II. 200). But, though
mihier even than that mildest of monastic rules—
the Benedictine— it was too severe to be generally
accepted by the clergy, especially in England.
Jn the 9th century (Robertson, II. 209), or,
rather, by the end of the 8th (Stubbs, Epp.
" Also, tlie dirt was more generous, (^lieg. Chrod
c. Tl ; Cone. A<iuUijr. 816 a.d. c. 122.)
CANONICI
Cantuar. Intr. xvii.), bodies of secular clerks,
with the character if not the name of " canonici,"
had supplanted monks in many parts of England ;
but they soon lost the ground which they had
gained. Partly, perhaps, from the popularity of
monks with the laity in England, as the harbingers
of Christianity, and as intimately connected with
the history of the nation, partly from the repug-
nance of the clergy to asceticism, the " Lotha-
ringian " rule never took root here '' (Freeman,
V. sup., II. 85). According to William of Malmes-
bury (Stubbs, De Invent. Cruc. Intr. ix.), it
never was accepted here. " An attempt was
made to introduce it in the Legatine Council
of 786, which probably went no farther in
effect than to change the name of secular clerks
into canons, and to turn secular abbots into
deans " (Stubbs, v. sup. x. • Cone, Calcyth. c. 4.)
By 1050 A.D. it was nearly obsolete in England
(Stubbs, V. sup. ix.). Celibacy seems to have
formed no integral part of the plan in the
foundation of Waltham. (Freeman, v. sup. II.
443 ; Stubbs, De Inv. Grue. xii.)
Even where it had been at first in vogue the
Rule of Chrodegang was soon relaxed ; nor were
the efforts of Adalbero, Willigis, and others,
effectual to restore it (Robertson's Ch. Hist.
II. 477). The " canonici " became, first, a com-
munity dwelling together under the headshij) of
the bishop, but not of necessity under the same
roof with him ; next, an " acephalous " com-
munity,— a laxity which had been specially con-
demned by the Council of Aachen, already men-
tioned (c. 101) — and, gradually, instead of repre-
senting the clergy of the diocese they developed
into a distinct, and, sometimes, antagonistic body
(Robertson, II. 476). As their wealth and in-
fluence increased they claimed a share in the
government of the diocese (Robertson, II. 401).
Trithemius speaks of the " Canonici Trevirenses "
in the close of the 10th century, as both in name
and in reality " seculares non regulares " : and
Hospinian protests against the very expression
"canonici seculares," ■= as a contradiction in
terms, like " regulares irregulares." (Hospinian,
V. sup. p. 73.)
The "Canons Regular of St. Augustine,"
founded by Ives of Chartres and others, in the
11th century, may be regarded as resulting from
the fliilure of the attempts to force the canonical
rule on the clergy of the cathedral and collegiate
churches (Robertson's Ch. Hist. II. 708). These
" canonici " differed but slightly from the monks ;
and, unlike the " canonici " of older date, resem-
bled the monks in the renunciation of private
property. This order was introduced into Eng-
land very early in the 12th century by Adelwald,
confessor of Henry 1st, but some assign an earlier
date. At the Reformation there were, according
to Hospinian (p. 73), more than 8000 " coenobia
canonicorum " in Europe ; the number declined
greatly afterwards. The various mediaeval sub-
divisions of " canonici," enumerated by Du Cange
(s. ■«.) do not fiUl within our present scope. (See
also Thomassini, Vetus et Nova Disciplina, I. iii.
b Till the Uth century these semi-regular, semi-secular
foundations seem to have been uncongenial to the English.
Harold, the founder of Waltham, is an exception. (Free-
man, Norm. Conq. II. 445).
<: The expression "secular canons" sometiniPS occurs
prematurely {e.g. in Freeman's Norman Conquest) where
'• secular clerks " would be more exact.
CANONISTAE
cc. 7-12; III. ii. c. 27; Bibliotheque Sacr^e, par
liichard et Girardin, s. v. Par. 1822; Mai'tiguy,
Dictionnaire des Antiquites Chretiennes, Par.
1865).
Canonicae in the primitive church were devout
women, taking charge of funerals and other
works of charity (Socr. H. E. i. 17 ; Soz. H. E.
viii. 23, cf. Justin. Novell, cc. 43, 59, ap. Menardi
Comm. in S. Bened. Anian. Cone. Reg. c. 68).
Though not originally bound by a vow, nor
compelled to live in a community (Bingh. Grig.
Eccl. VII. iv. § 1 : but cf. Pelliccia Eccl. Christ.
Polit. I. iii. 3, § 1), they lived apart from men,
and had a special part of the church reserved for
them in the public services (Du Cange, s. «.). In
the 8th century the "canonicae," " canonissae,"
or " canonichissae," lived together after the
example of the " canonici," being like them
attached to particular churches (Pellic. I. iii. 4,
§ 1). They are distinguished from nuns {Coyic.
Francof. 794 A.D. cc. 46, 47); but, like nuns
were strictly debarred from the society of men
{Cone. Aquisgr. 816 A.D. c. 20 ; cf. Cone. Gabill.
813 A.D. c. 53). They were to occupy them-
selves specially, like the "canonici" in education
{Cone. Francof. c. 40 ; Cunc. Aquisgr. c. 22).
See further Magdeh. Centur. viii. 6. The " do-
micellae " or secular canonesses are of later date
(Du Cange, s. v.). (See also Thomass. Vet. et
Nov. Discipl. I. iii. cc. 43, 51, 63; Alteserrae
Ascetico7i. III. 3.) [I. G. S.]
CANONISTAE. [Canon Law.]
CANONIZATION is defined by Ferraris
(sub voc. Veiieratio Sanctorum) to be a " public
judgment and express definition of the Apostolic
See respecting the sanctity and glory of one,
who is thereupon solemnly added to the roll of
the saints, and set forth for the public veneration
of the whole Church militant, and the honours
due to saints decreed to him." And it is distin-
guished by him from Beatification, which means,
according to the same authority, a like " lawful
grant by the pope to a particular kingdom, pro-
vince, religions body, or place, to venerate and in-
voke, in the mass and by exposition of relics," &c.,
some particular person, deceased. Both, in this
sense, date subsequently to the period of which
the present work treats, the first formal canoni-
zation by a pope being said to be either that of
St. Suibert by Pope Leo III. A.D, 804, at the re-
quest of Charlemagne (Ferraris, as above), or
(which however depends on a letter said to be a
forgery) that of Udalric, bishop of Augsburg, by
diploma of Pope John XV. A.D. 993 (Mabill.
Actt. SS. Ben. Saec. V. Fref. § 101 ; Gibbings,
Praelect. on the Diptychs, p. 33, Dubl. 1864).
But canonization in some sense ( = inserting in the
Canon of the Mass) is the outgrowth of a practice
of veiy early date (being alluded to by TertuUian,
Be Cor. iii., and, earlier still, in the Martyr. Poly-
carp, xviii., ap. Euseb. If. E. iv. 15), viz. that of
reciting at a certain part of the Eucharistic service
the names (among others) of deceased saints and
martyrs [Diptychs] ; not for invocation (" non
invocantm-," St. Aug. Be Civ. Dei, xxii. 10), but
•' in memory of those who have finished their
course, and ibr the exercising and preparation of
those who have yet to walk in their steps "
{Mart, S. Polyc.). The authority by which a
name was inserted in this list — the saint being
then said to be " viudicatus " (Optat. Be Schism.
CANOPY
283
Bonat. i. 16)— was, until at least the 10th cen-
tury, that of the bishop, with (no doubt) the con-
sent of his clergy and people, and, as time went on,
of the synod and metropolitan, and according to
Mabillon {Praef. in Actt. SS. Bened. p. 412), of the
emperor or king. But the consent of the last
named could only have been asked or given in
cases of political importance, real or supposed.
The last case of canonization by a metropolitan is
said to have been that of St. Gaultier, or Gaucher, I
abbat of Pontoise, by the Archbishop of Rouen, i
A.D. 1153 (Gibbings, as above). And a decree of i
Pope Alexander III. a.d. 1170, gave the prero-
gative to the pope thenceforth, so far as the '
Western Church was concerned [Calendar ; !
Martvrology ; Menology] ; who proceeded i
(ace. to Ferraris) in two ways, either by formally
sanctioning local or other saints, who had long j
before been canonized in effect by common con-
sent, or by initiating the process himself in new ■
cases. " Canonizare " is also used to signify I
simply to "approve," or to "appoint to a ca- '
nonry," or to enrol in the " canon " of the clergy, |
or to make a canon in a Council. (Salig. Be |
Biptychis ; Du. Cange; Suicer; Ferraris, Pro»ipto
Biblioth.) [A. W. H.] -I
CANOPY. The fixed solid canopy, or ciborium,
over the altar, has already been described under
Altar, p. 65. It has been supposed, however,
that the altar was sometimes anciently covered
with a canopy of a lighter kind, as of silk. In
the will of Abbot Aredius (in the Works of .
Gregory of Tours, p. 1313, ed. Ruinart), who '
died A.D. 591, we find, among other things
declared necessary for a church, " cooperturios
holosericos tres ; calices argenteos quatuor , , ,
item cooperturium lineum . . ." These silken
coverings Binterim {Benkwiird. vii. 3, 353)
believes to be not altar-cloths, but canopies,
while the " cooperturius linens " is an altar-cloth,
distinct from the corporal. Gregory of Touj-s
also, a contemporary of Aredius, describmg a
dream or vision, says, " cum jam altarium cum
oblationibus |;a^/ioseriCOCoopertum esset," Gunt-
chramn entered {Hist. Fi'anc. vii. 22, p. 347, ed.
Ruinart). Here again Binterim {u. s.) supposes
that a canopy is intended, insisting on the words •
of Optatus {Be Schism. Bonat. vi. 1, p. 92), that I
it was a matter of notoriety that the boards I
of the altar were covered with linen. The '
words of Optatus, however, written of the
African church in the 4th century, have but
little application to Galilean customs at the end ;
of the 6th, nor are they in fact contradictory
to the words of Gregory ; for the altar may have
been first covered with linen, and the oblations
upon it afterwards covered with a silken veil. J
This was probably the case ; for a word derived ;
from 'cooperire' would naturally refer to covering
up closely, rather than to shading as a canopy
does. Compai'e Altar-cloths, p. 69. There '
can be little doubt that Mabillon and Ruinart i
are right in explaining the word cooperturius of
an altar-covering or Veil. The " cooperturius j
Sarmaticus," which Gregory rejected {Be Vitis
Pat rum, p. 8, 1195), seems to have been intended
for a similar use.
The custom of carrying a canopy over the ;
pope in certain processions does not seem to be
mentioned earlier than the 12th century (setf
Ordo liomanus XL 17, 126; 40, 136); and the
284:
CANTABRAKII
use of a canopy to overshadow the Eucharist in
Corpus Christi processions is later still.
For the canopy surmounting the seat of a
hishop, see Throne. [C-]
CANTABRAKII. Literally, bearers of the
cantabrum, or cruciform standard of the later
Roman emperors, in military or i;eligious pro-
cessions. The word occurs in the Cod Theodos.
xiv 7, 2, as applied to a guild of such persons,
and has no direct connexion with ecclesiastical
antiquity. Bingham, however (xvi. 5, 6), cites
the passage in its bearing upon the mention ot
centurions by the C. in Trullo (c. 61) as con-
nected with divination ; and hence it appears in
the index to his work as the name of '-a sort oi
conjurors." The cantabrum itself is mentioned
by Minucius Felix (Octav. c. 27) and TertuUian
(Apol. c. 16) as an instance of the unconscious
honour paid by the heathens to the figure of the
cross. ■ [^- H- P-]
CANTATORIUM. [ANTirnoxARiuii.]
CANTERBURY, COUNCIL OF, two in
Labb. &c. :— (1) A.D. 605, fictitious, resting on
a forged charter of Ethelbert to St. Augustin's
monastery at Canterbury (see Haddan and Stubbs,
Counc. iii. 56, 57). (2) a.d. 685, founded on a
mere mistake. [A. W. H.]
CANTHARUS (or -UM), also PharoCan-
THARUS, also CaNTHARUS CEROSTATUS or CERO-
STRATUS, 1. a chandelier for ecclesiastical use, de-
scribed by Ducange, s. v. as " a disc of metal,
furnished with candles fixed upon it." The word
is of very frequent occurrence in Anastasius
and other early authorities : e. g. S. Silv. xxxiv.
§ 34, " canthara cerostrata xii aerea ; " ib. § 36,
"pharum cantharum argenteum cum delphinis
cxx, ubi oleum ardet nardinum pisticum . . .
canthara cerostrata in gremio basilicae quinqua-
ginta." S. Symmach. liii. § 80, " ad beatum. Pe-
trum XX canthara argentea fecit." Among the
articles of church property confiscated by Pope
Sergius I. A.D. 687, to raise the donative de-
manded by the exarch of Ravenna, as the price of
his support, we read of " cantharos et coronas
quae ante sacrum altare et confessionem beati
Petri Apostoli ex antiquo pendebant" (Anast. iS'.
Sergius Ixxxvi. § 159). 2. a vessel for water
[Phiala.] [E. v.]
CANTIANILLA, with Cantianus and Can-
Tius, martyrs at Aquileia, commemorated May 31
{21urt. Bom. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CANTIANUM CONCILIUM. [Kent.]
CANTICLE {Ganticum). A species of
sacred song. St. Paul [Eph. v. 19] mentions
" psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,"
AaAoOcTes kavrols ^aAfxoTs Ka\ vfivois koI <fSa7s
■Kv^vfxaTiKa7s (" canticis spiritualibus," Vulg.).
He also couples the three terms in Col. iii. 16.
Some of the psalms are called in the LXX. and
Vulg.: i((o\;ubs ^Srjs (Psalmus Cantici), e.g.
LXVIL, XCI. (LXVIII., XCII.), or aho^ dSS^s
(Luus Cantici) ; e. g. XCII. (XCIII.). On the dis-
tinction between a psalm and a canticle, Augus-
tine remarks (on Ps. LXVII.) that some before
his time had made this distinction between a
canticle and a psalm, that since a canticle is
sung with the voice alone, but a psalm with the
accompaniment of an instrument ; so bv a can-
ticle, the intelligence of the mind is signified, by
CANTICI;E
a psalm the operation of the body. He goes on
to give as a reason why the book of Psalms is so
called rather than the book of Canticles, that a
canticle may be without a psalm, but not a psalm
without a canticle. Jerome distinguishes to
the eflect that psalms properly belong to the
region of ethics, so that we know through the
bodily organs what to do or avoid — while can-
ticles deal with higher matters, the harmony of
the universe, and the order and concord of crea-
tion. Hymns are distinguished from both, as
being directly occupied with the praises of God.
Others distinguish ditferently, while Chrysostom
and Basil define to much the same effect. So
also Thomasius. Bona distinguishes between
four sorts of sacred song: (1) Canticle (Can-
ticum) which is sung by the voice alone ; (2)
Psalm (Psalmus), which is sung by the voice,
accompanied by a musical instrument ; (3) Can-
ticle of a psalm (Canticum Psalmi), when there
is an instrumental prelude to the voice ; (4)
Psalm of a canticle (Psalmus Cantici), when the
voice begins and the organ or other instrumental
accompaniment follows. But this seems to be
over refining, and hence some have considered
the three words [Psalm, Canticle, Hymn] as
virtually synonyms, on the ground that it is
easy to show that sacred songs were called by
these three names, but not so easy to show that
these names represent different kinds of song,
since they are used pi-omiscuously in the titles
of the psalms. Hence it has been thought
by some that St. Paul in the passages referred
to is simply recommending the use of the psalter.
On the whole we may be satisfied with St.
Augustine's conclusion, who after discussing the
point at some length, says he will leave the
question to those who are able, and have the
leisure to make the distinction, and to define it
accurately. The broad distinction, to which the
derivation of the Greek words would lead, seems
to be that a psalm was sung to instrumental
accompaniment, a canticle with the voice alone ;
while a hymn is a direct praise of, or thanks-
giving to God.
In ecclesiastical use the word canticle is
applied to those poetical extracts from Holy
Scripture, which are incorporated among the
psalms in the divine office. For the most part
they are said at Lauds. In the Gregorian and
its derived rites, a canticle is said every day
among the psalms at Lauds, immediately before
the three final psalms; and St. Benedict in his
rule directs that on each day at Lauds a canticle
from the Prophets shall be sung, " sicut psallit
Ecclesia Komana." These canticles, still retained
in the Roman and cognate breviaries, are : seven
from the Old Testament, said in the following
order —
At Lauds : —
On Sundays and Festivals. " Benedicite."
On Mondays, The Song of Isaiab (is. xii.).
On Tuesday.TheSongof Hezekiah (Is. xxxviii. 10-20)
On Wednesday, The Song of Hannah (1 Sam. ii. 1-10).
On Thursday, The Song of Moses (Ex. xw. 1-19).
On Friday, The Song of Habakkuk (Hab. iii. 2-19).
On Saturday, The Song of Moses peut. xxxii. 1-43).
And also three from the New Testament: —
Benedictus, said daily at Lauds.
Magnificat „
A'unc dimitli
Vespers.
Compline.
CANTICUM EVANGELICUM
These canticles are said with an antiphon, in
the same manner as the psalms.
Other Western breviaries use a greater variety
of canticles: thus the Benedictine and other
monastic breviaries of the same type, have three
canticles instead of psalms, in the third nocturn
on Sundays and festivals.
In the Office of the Greek Church, the follow-
ing nine canticles, called odes {d'Sdi), are ap-
pointed at Lauds : —
(1) The Song of Moses in Exorlus (Ex. xv. 1-19).
(2) The Song of Moses in Dent. (Deut. x.xxii. 1-43).
(3) The Prayer of Hannah (1 Sam. ii. 1-10).
(4) The Prayer of Habakkuk (Hab. iii. 2-19).
(5) The Prayer of Isaiah (Is. xxvi. 9-20).
(6) The Prayer of Jonah (Jon. ii. 2-9).
(7) The Prayerf of the three Holy Children (Dan. iii.
3-34). [In Apocry.]
(8) The Song't of the Three Holy Children. [Bkkk-
BICITE.]
(9) Miignificat and Benedictus.
These are assigned : — (1) to Sunday and Mon-
day ; (2) to Tuesday ; (3) to Wednesday ; (4) to
Thursday ; (5) to Friday ; (6) and (7) to Satur-
day ; (8) and (9) are said at a difl'erent time.
Benedictus and Benedicite were in early times
sung in some masses : the former before the
prophecy in some early Gallican masses ; the
latter is prescribed in the 4th Council of Toledo
to be sung before the epistle on Sundays and
festivals of martyrs.
" Te Deum " is the only composition not taken
from Holy Scripture, which is usually considered
a canticle. Some ritualists, however, think it
should be reckoned among hymns.
For a fuller collection of canticles see the
Mozarabic breviary, and Thomasius, vol. ii.
[H. J. H.]
CANTICUM EVANGELICUIVI. " Bene-
dictus " was sometimes so called, probably to
distinguish it from the other canticle said at
Lauds, which is taken from the Old Testament.
The expression occurs in a MS. Pontifical of the
Church of Poitiers of about 800 A.D., and else-
where. [H. J. H.]
CANTICUM GEADUUM. The Gradual
Psalms were sometimes so-called. They were
recited in the following order : the first five
with Eequiem aelemam, ^c, and followed by a
few versicles, were said " pro defunctis." The
next ten each with "Gloria;" five "pro cou-
gregatione," and five " pro familiaribus ; " each
group being followed by a few versicles and a
collect. [H. J. H.]
CANTOR. (^Psalmista, \pd\T7)s, ^aXrcfiSds,
c^5ds.)
Among the clerici of the ancient Church are
to be reckoned, as a distinct order, the Cantores
or Psalmistae, whose institution dates, it would
seem, from the 4th century. They are mentioned
in the Apostolical Constitutions, so called (ii. 25,
§ 12 ; iii. 11 ; viii. 10, § 2, etc.) and iu the Apo-
stolical Canons (cc. 26, 43, 69). In the fifteenth
canon of the council of Laodicaea, A.D. 365, they
are called KavoviKol ypaXrat, i.e. singers enrolled
in the canon or catalogue of clergy, to whom the
office of singing in the church was then restricted.
The reason of their appointment seems to have
been to regulate and encourage the ancient psal-
mody of the Church. There can be no question
t So dislinguislied in the titles.
CAPITULARY
285
but that from the apostolical age, singing formed
a part of the public worship, the whole congre-
gation joining, as in the prayers ; but when it
was found by experience that the negligence and
unskilfulness of the general body of the people
rendered them unfit to perform this service with-
out instruction and guidance, it was resolved to
set apart a peculiar order of men for the singers'
office, not with a view to abolish the ancient
psalmody, but to retrieve and improve it. That
the restriction imposed by the council of Laodi-
caea must be regarded as a temporary provision,
designed only to revive and develop the ancient
psalmody, then falling into decay, appears from
the f<}cts collected by S. Augustine, Chrysostom,
Basil, and others, that in their own age the
custom of congregational singing was again
generally observed in the churches.
As to the form of ordination by which the
cantores were set apart for their office, this was
done, as in the case of the other inferior orders,
without imposition of hands ; but in one thing
it differed from the others, that whereas the
latter were usually conferred by the bishop or a
chorepiscopus, this order might be conferred by
a presbyter, using the form of words following,
as given in the 4th council of Carthage, c. 10;
" See that thou believe in thy heart what thou
singest with thy mouth, and approve in thy
works what thou believest in thy heart." [Com-
pare Confessor, § 4.] Bingham, iii. 7; Martene
de Ant. Eccl. Ritibus I. c. vui. art. 8, § 4. [D. B.]
CANTUARIENSE CONCILIUM. [Can-
terbury.]
CAPA OR CAPPA. [Cope.]
CAPITOLINI. A name of reproach applied
by the Novatians to the Catholics, because the
latter charitably resolved, in their synods, to
receive into communion again, upon their sincere
repentance, such as had offered sacrifice in the
Capitol (Bingham, b. i. c. 3). [D. B.]
CAPITULA. The name of a prayer in the
Mozarabic breviary immediately preceding the
Lord's Prayer, which in this rite occurs near
the end of the office. It changes with the day
and office, and also varies much in length, but
has no special characteristics to distinguish it
from other Mozarabic prayers. The corre-
sponding prayer in the Mass, not however called
by this name, is directed to be said " ad ora-
tionem dominicam." Baronius, referring to an
epistle of Pope Vigilius, observes that formerly
the word Capitulum was used of " preces quae-
dam prolixiores in honorom Sanctorum veL
Solennitatum." [H. J. H.]
CAPITULARE. [Axtipiionarium, p. 100.]
CAPITUI;ARY. The term "Capitulary"
means a set or collection of capitula or little
chapters. It is applied to the laws and ordi-
nances of the early Frankish sovereigns, because
the laws enacted at one time and place were
usually collected and published in a continuous
series. The collective series was called a " Capi-
tulary;" the several laws which were the mem-
bers of the series were called " Capitula." The
term has not in itself any ecclesiastical meaning,
being also applicable to temporal laws. But, as
a fact, the majority (though by no means the
whole) of the Frankish Capitula were of an
ecclesiastical character.
286
CAPITULARY
The edition of Baluze* begins with Childe-
bei-t's Constitution for the Abolition of Idolatry,
554 A.D. This is followed by various other
capitula of the first race of kings, viz. of Lo-
thaire I. and II., Dagobert, and Sigebert. Crime,
slavery, marriage, contracts, pledges, judicial
and ecclesiastical regulations, all find place
among these laws, which furnish some interest-
ing evidence of the religious, political, and social
condition of France. They show strong traces
of clerical influence, in the care which they take
of ecclesiastical interests. The Merovingian
princes were rude and unlearned, and were glad
to make use of the abilities and learning of the
priesthood : they were also dissolute, and perhaps
glad to compound for their excesses by gratify-
ing the priesthood ; and both these causes
conspired to throw wealth and power into epi-
scopal hands. Nor was this state of things
wholly without its advantages. The influence
of the clergy mitigated the ferocity of the
nobles, and it has been suggested that the
humane tone of portions of the Merovingian
laws is probably due to the part which they
took in the formation of them.
It may be briefly mentioned that the follow-
ing subjects appear repeatedly and with pro-
minence :
The right of sanctuary in churches. The
crime of doing violence to churches or monastic
houses. The crime of violence to the persons or
property of the clergy or monks.'' The right
freely conferred on all men, without restraint,
of making gifts of land or other propei-ty to the
Church. The duty of a strict observance of the
Lord's day."^
It is impossible, however, here to discuss these
laws in detail. Indeed, in the judgment of
Guizot, they hardly deserve it. Civilisation
during the Merovingian dynasty persistently
declined, and in the Church the bishops came by
degrees to constitute an irresponsible and ill-
organized aristocracy, — the power of the Metro-
politans and of the State having gradually
declined.
We come next to a few Capitularies in the
nominal reign of Childe'ric III., but in reality
the work of Carloman and Pepin, and then to the
Capitularies of Pepin le Bref as sovereign of the
Franks in the year 752.
Of these latter Baluze gives five or six, but
Hallam notices that only one is expressly said to
be made "in generali populi conventu." The
» Guizot speaks of this as, when he wrote, the best
edition, but still only to be regarded as the materials for a
really correct and satisfactory edition of the Capitularies.
Since that time the voluminous and elaborate work of
Pertz has appeared, in which the Capitularies have been
re-edited from MS. authority, and several unpublished by
Baluze added to the number. This is therefore probably
now the standard edition ; but the references in this article
have been kept to the work of Baluze, because it is more
portable, and probably more accessible, and because
CJuizot's relerences are always made to it.
'■ " In all temporal affairs the Theodosian Code was the
universal law of the clergy. But the barbaric jurispru-
dence had liberally provided for their personal safety : a
subdeacon was equivalent to two Franks; the antrustion
and priest were held in similar estimation ; and the life of
a bishop was appreciated far above the common standard,
at the price of 900 pieces of gold" (Gibbon, vol. vi. chap.
.\xxviii.).
= This subject recurs continually in the Capituluri.'s.
CAPITULARY
rest appear to be due to synods ; but it would,
perhaps, be rash to conclude positively that they
may not, in some cases, have had some kind of
subsequent assent from the lay Counts. •*
It is, perhaps, hardly quite coi-rect to say that
the Capitularies of Pepin "relate without ex-
ception to ecclesiastical affairs" (Hallam, Mid.
Ages, vol. i. chap. ii. part 2). Not only are they
concerned with questions of marriage and kin-
dred matters, which perhaps are quasi-eccle-
siastical, but one or two deal with tolls, with
the regulation of money, with parricide, and
with the administration of justice as well
secular as spiritual. The general complexion,
however, is ecclesiastical. Amongst other things,
two synods are to be held annually, and detailed
regulations are made as to the rights of bishops,
abbots, monks, and clergy.
The continuance in the laws of Pepin, and, as
we shall see, in those of Charlemagne, of the
same strong ecclesiastical type which is found in
those of the Merovingians, is perhaps due,
amongst other causes, to the desire to attract
the Church to the side of the new dynasty. " In
order to encounter and subvert the reverence
which was still yielded to a merely titular
monarch, the supposed descendant of the gods,
it was necessary to enlist on their own side
religious feelings of a far deeper nature, and of
a much more solemn significance." (Sir J. Ste-
phen, Lect. on Hist, of France, vol. i. p. 84.)
From the time of Pepin, however, the Sove-
reign Power set itself not only to advance the
interests of the Church, but to correct its dis-
orders. The strengthening of the Metropolitan
authority and that of the Crown were among
the means used for reorganizing the system.
We turn next to the important and copious
legislation of Charlemagne.
The public Capitularies of Charlemagne are
reckoned by Guizot at sixty in number. Five
other documents of a more private character
may also claim, in the opinion of that writer, a
right to the name." Nearly all these Capitu-
laries contain a large number of Capitula, or
distinct articles in each of them. These amount
in all to 1150, and are upon very various sub-
jects, even when included in the same Capitu-
lary. Guizot classifies —
80 under Moral Legislation,
273 „ Political „
130 „ Penal
110 „ Civil
85 „ Religious „
309 „ Canonical „
73 „ Domestic „
12 „ Occasional „
Under the first head he places such articles as:
" Turpe lucrum exercent qui per varias cir-
d Comp. the 2nd Capit. of Carloman, a.d. 743, which
begins . — " Modo autem in hoc synodal! conventu, qui
congregatus est ad Kalendas Martias in loco qui dicitur
Liptenas, omnes venerabiles sacerdotes Dei et comites et
praefecti prioris synod! decreta consentienter firmaverunt,
seque ea implere velle et observare promiserunt " (Baluze,
i. 149).
e Balnze's collection contains many errors, but this is
due to the loose use of the word " capitulary." Pertz of
course gives more still ; and some of these last might pro-
bably be fairly considered as of a public character, ami
added to the computation of Guizot.
CAPITULARY
cumventiones lucrandi causa inhoneste res quas-
libet congregare decertant " (Baluze i. 454).
This is the 16th capitulum of a Capitulary made
A.D. 806. It is rather a maxim of ethics than
an edict or law.
Religious legislation in the above classification
is such as relates not to ecclesiastics alone, but
to all the faithful. In some points this resembles
the moral in its tone. Thus we find :
" Ut nullus credat quod nonnisi in tribus
Unguis (probably Latin, Greek, and German)
Deus orandus sit: quia in omni lingua Deus
adoratur, et homo exauditur, si juste petierit "
(Baluze i. 270). This is No. 60 of a set put
forth A.D. 794.
Canonical legislation is the term for what
concerns the relations of the clergy among
themselves. The tendency of this class of
Capitula is to uphold the power of the bishops.
Even the monastic bodies are to be in subordi-
nation to them.f In fact, Charlemagne appears
to have considered that by reducing all the
clergy under the episcopate, and then exercising
a personal influence over the bishops himself,
he was providing the best remedy for the con-
dition of the Church, which was one of much
disorganisation. He aimed at a stronger and
more pervading discipline, not by reducing the
episcopal powers, but by taking care that their
vast powers were well exercised.
With the other heads of the classification we
have not here to do, except in so far as under
the title of " Political Legislation " some regu-
lations are found as to the relation of the secular
and ecclesiastical powers. These tend to show
that Charlemagne, while giving gi-eat power to
the bishops, consulting with them on church
matters, and using their learning and intelli-
gence for the general purposes of his govern-
ment, was careful not to become their tool, nor
to subject his own authority to theirs. "The
laws which fix the obligations, the revenues,
even the duties of the clergy, are issued in the
name of the emperor; they are monarchical and
.mperial, not papal or synodical canons " (Mil-
man. Lat. Christ, book v. chap. 1). In return
for his having confirmed the system of tithes by
a law of the empire, Charlemagne " assumed the
power of legislating for the clergy with as full
despotism as for the laity," though "in both
cases there was the constitutional control of the
concurrence of the nobles and of the higher
ecclesiastics, strong against a feeble monarch,
feeble against a sovereign of Charlemagne's over-
ruling character. His institutes are in the
language of command to both branches of that
great ecclesiastical militia, which he treated as
his vassals, the secular and the monastic clergy."
—Ibid.
In any inquiry, however, on the subject of
Capitularies, it is necessary to bear in mind the
extremely loose use of the word which prevails
in Baluze and other editors. Guizot has pointed
out that they apply this title equally to no less
than twelve distinct kinds of documents. " We
find in their collections of so-called Capitularies"
■ — he says —
" 1. Ancient laws revived. (^Bal. i. 281.)
f See 4th Capitulare, a.d. 806, cap. ii. (Bal. i. 450), and
1st Capitulare, a.d. 802, cap. xv. (Hal. i. 366). Pepin had
laid down the same principle (Bal. i. 169).
CAPITULARY
287
" 2. Extracts from ancient laws put together
for some special purpose. {Ihid. i. 395.)
" 3. Additions to ancient laws (amounting
probably to new laws. (^Ibid. i. 387.)
"4. Extracts from previous Canons. (Ibid.
i. 209.)
" 5. New laws properly so called.
" 6. Instructions given by Charlemagne to his
Missi, to guide them in their duties.
{Ibid. i. 243.)
" 7. Answers given by Charlemagne to ques-
tions from counts, bishops, &c., as to
practical difficulties in their administra-
tion. {Ibid. i. 401.)
" 8. Questions drawn up in order to be pro-
posed for discussion to the bishops or
counts at the next assembly, e. g., ' To
ascertain on what occasions and in what
places the ecclesiastics and the laity seek,
in the manner stated, to impede each
other in the exercise of their respective
functions. To inquire and discuss up to
what point a bishop or an abbot is justi-
fied in interfering in secular affairs, and
a count or other layman with ecclesias-
tical affairs. To interrogate them closely
on the meaning of those words of the
Apostle : " No man that warreth for the
law eutangleth himself with the affairs
of this life." Inquire to whom these
words apply.' {Ibid. i. 477.)
" 9. Sometimes the so-called Capitula seem to
be little more than memoranda. {Ibid. i.
395.) (Perhaps, however, this class is
identical in reality with Class 6.)
" 10. Judicial decrees. {Ibid. i. 398.)
" 11. Kegulations for the management of the
royal lands and possessions. {Ibid. i. 331.)
"12. Matters of an executive and adminis-
trative rather than legislative nature.
{Ibid. i. 26, in Art. 1, 6, 7, 8, 53, 54.)"
It is obvious that a very different kind of
sanction might be required for some of them
from thair which would be needed for others.
No general rule can therefore be laid down
applicable to all. Nor even in respect to those
which are in the strictest sense legislative is it
easy to discern an uniform constitutional pro-
cedure.
As regards ecclesiastical matters, it may pro-
bably be considered that the prelates were
always consulted, though in most cases the
initiative, and in all cases the final, authori-
zation came from the Sovereign. Thus a Capi-
tulary A.D. 813 of Canonical Rules is entitled —
" Capitula de confirmatione constitutionum
quas episcopi in synodis auctoritate regid nuper
habitis constituerant."
If it could be safely assumed that all legis-
lative Capitularia, on whatever subject, had the
collective assent of one of the General Assemblies
held in every year, it would follow that eccle-
siastical laws had the assent of the laity .e For
e See Baluze, Preface. {} 7-9. He suggests that some
of the apparent exceptions consist of capitula whicb are
mere extracts from ancient Church Councils, and which
therefore the royal authority may have been deemed com-
petent to promulgate. In some other instances, he thinks
288 CAPITULARY
in tliRse assemblies, counts and great men, as
well as prelates, were present. Hincmar, in an
important document at the close of the ninth
century (Guizot, Led. 20), gives some account
of these assemblies, and says that it was in the
option of the lay and ecclesiastical lords to sit
together or separately, according to the affairs
of which they had to treat — ecclesiastical,
secular, or both. From this it might at first
appear that canonical matters were considered
by the clergy alone, but perhaps this may be
rather understood of the previous discussion
and preparation of the law. If so, it is con-
sistent with its being finally submitted for the
consent and approbation of the whole assembly.
The further question, as to which much con-
troversy has taken place, whether the lesser
freeholders had a share in legislation, and if so,
whether their voice was given in the assembly,
or when the Capitularies passed by the assembly
were subsequently proclaimed locally in the
diflerent districts, is a matter rather of political
inquiry, and hardly belongs to the subject of the
present work. It is discussed by Hallam {Middle
Ages, chap. ii. part II.), where references will be
found to other authorities.
Upon the whole, it must always be borne in
mind that in that early state of society — a state
in which the master-mind of Charlemagne was
reducing to something like order very chaotic
elements — we must not expect to find any
pedantic exactness of constitutional law. The
will of the Sovereign was the motive power of
the whole system, but before exercising it he
availed himself of the advice of the counsellors
who were most likely to be of service : so far all
is clear. The extent to which he submitted
every legislative regulation to the whole body of
the assembl}', held, with certain modifications,
twice in the year, is a matter on which it is
more difficult to speak positively. Perhaps the
practice even as to legislative regulations was
not uniform, while certainly the boundary
between legislative and executive regulations
was very ill-defined.
On the reception accorded to the Capitularies by
the Church, and the quasi-canonical authority at-
capitularies may in the first instance have been put forth
by the sole authority'of the sovereign, but subsequently
submitted to the general assemblies for their recognition
and consent, where such a step seemed to be expedient.
Butler says, " They (the Capitularies) were generally pro-
mulgated in public assemblies composed of the sovereign
and the chief men of the nation, as well ecclesiastics as
secular" (Horae Juridicae, p. 129, edit. 1807).
In one case, in the reign of Childeric III., in a capitulary
due to Pepin, we read that synods are to be held annually,
" ut haeresis amplius in populo non resurgat, sicut Inve-
nimus in Adalberto haeresina, quem publiciter una voce
condemnaverunt xxiii. episcopi et alii multi sacerdotes
cum consensu Principis et populi," &c. (Bal. i. 157). Here
the laity seem to have had a consentient voice even in so
purely spiritual a matter as heresy.
Hallam notices the more frequent mention of " general
consent" in the capitularies of Charlemagne, as compared
with those of his predecessors (Middle Ayes, vol. i. p. 215,
216, ed. 18.'>5). On the other hand, the authorof the article
"Capltulancae" in Herzog thinks that Hincmar's words
pouit to a separation made by Charlemagne between the
clergy and laity, so that the former obtained a right to
make -leges ecclesiasticao," as distinyuishcd from capi-
tulaiies (for which latter general assent was still needful) :
but subject to a veto on the part of the soverei-n
CAPITULUM
tributed to them, much information will be found
in the Preface of Baluze, § 18 et seq. See also
the letter of Leo IV. in Gratian, Bist. 10, c. 9.
Capitularies subsequent to the reign of Char-
lemagne do not tall within our limits. The
latest are those of Carloman in 882, after which
there is a long blank in French legislation.
It does not seem that a formal collection of the
Capitulai-ies was made till they were edited in
four books by Angesise, Abbot of Fontenella,
who died in 833. These four books contain the
laws of Charlemagne, and a portion of those of
Louis le Delsonnaire. Charles the Bald cites
this work as a code of authority. Subsequently
Benedict, a deacon of Mayence, about the year
842, added three more books. These, however,
contain fragments of Roman and canon law,
besides the Capitularies of the Carlovingian
kings. Four supplements again have been added
by anonymous compilers.
Authorities. — Capitularia Begum Francorum.
Additae sunt Marculfi monachi et aliorum for-
mulae veteres et notne doctissimorum virorum.
Stephanus Baluzius Tutelemis in unum collegit,
ad vdustissimos codices manuscriptos imendavit,
magnam partem nunc primnm edidit, notis illus-
travit. Parisiis, 1677 (2 vols.). Guizot' s Lectures
on the History of Civilization in France, trans-
lated by Hazlitt. Bogue, 1846. Hallam's
Middle Ages. Herzog's Eeal-Encyclopiidie, Art.
" Capitularien." Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae
Historica, tom. i. Legum. Hanover, 1835. [B. S.]
CAPITULUM, CAPITULAEE, = Kec^ci-
Xaiov. — (1) Properly, a summary or heading,
under which many particulars are arranged ;
" brevis multorum complexio " (^Papias ap. Du
Cange). Hence (2), in the plural, codes of law,
ecclesiastical or civil, digested under chapters or
capitula (so used in Cod. Theodos.). And inas-
much as these mostly applied to special emergent
cases not adequately met by existing general
laws, Capitula came to mean Additamenta et
Appendices legum. So the Capitula or Capitularia
of Charlemagne and his successors, mostly passed
in mixed assemblies of clergy and laity. (3) The
word came also to mean the (usually short)
" chapter " itself, of which it was properly the
heading. As, e.g. the capitula or short lessons
(e. g. from the Psalms) for particular days, men-
tioned in the Council of Agde, A.D. .506, can. 21,
and by Pope Vigilius, A.D. 538 X 555, Epist. 2 ;
called also Capitella in the same Council of Agde,
can. 30. And Capitulare Evangeliorum in circulo
Anni was a list of the beginnings and endings of
the Gospels for the Church year. So also, again
(besides our modern use of the word " chapter "),
the Capitula of a Monastic Rule. (4) And from
this last-mentioned usage, coupled with the prac-
tice of reading a capitulum or chapter of the Rule,
or (as was St. Augustine's practice) of the Scrip-
tures, to the assembled canons or monks, the
assembled canons or monks themselves came to
be called, in a body, the capitulum or chapter
[Chapter], and their meeting-place the chapter-
house. And in process of time the term in this
sense became limited to the cathedral chapter :
" Capitulum dicitur respectu ecclesiae cathe-
dral is ; conventus respectu ecclesiae regular is ;
collegium respectu ecclesiae inferioris ubi est
collectio viventium in communi " (Lyndwood).
Congregatio was the earlier term. [A. W. H.]
CAPRASIUS
Chrodegang, bishop of Metz (t 766), in his
I^ule (c. 18) desires the canons of his order to
assemble after prime, to hear a reading of a
martyrology or some similar work ; on Sun-
days, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and on saints'
days, treatises or homilies of an edifying kind
were to precede this reading ; on other days, the
Rule itself, or a portion of it. Similar directions
are frequent in later statutes. This assembly
was called capitulum. (Martene, De Antiq. EccL
Ritibus, lib. iv. c. vii. § 4.) See also the Life of
Benedict of Aniane by Ardo, c. 52 (in Acta SS.
Bened. saec. iv. pt. 1). In the Life of Germar,
abbot of Flaviacum (f 658 ?), the third hour is
mentioned as the time for holding capitulum
(c. 15, in Acta SS. Ben. saec. ii.); so in Adre-
valdus, De Mirac. S. Bened. (c. 28, ih.). Dunstan
{Concordia, cc. 1 and 5) desires capitulum to be
held after prime in summer, after terce in winter.
This seems to be in accordance with the intentions
of St. Benedict : for one object of the capitulum
was the distribution of the day's labour among
the brethren ; and according to his Rule, c. 48,
labour was to begin after prime in summer,
after terce in winter.
The place of holding the capitulum seems
anciently (according to the Ordo Conversat.
Monast. c. 3) to have been the cloister ; but see
ClfAPTER-HOUSE. [C]
(5) The "little Chapter," said at all the
canonical hours excepting Matins, after the
psalms. It consists of one or two verses of
Scripture, usually taken from the Epistles,
whence the corresponding passage in the Am-
brosian breviary is called Epistolella. It is
often taken from the Prophets, and occasion-
ally from other parts of Scripture. It is recited
by the officiating priest, standing, and is not
preceded by a Benediction. At the end "Deo
Gratias " is said. See (3) above.
(6) An anthem in the Ambi-osian rite said at
Lauds after the psalms and before the antiphon,
and varying with the day. That for ordinary
Sundays is " Cantate Domino canticum novum :
laudatio ejus in ecclesid sanctorum." It is also-
said at the lesser hours, and at Compline fol-
lowing the Responsio brevis, after the Upi-
stolella. [H. J. H.]
[Du Cange ; Mayer, Diss, in his Thes. Nov. Stat.
4'C., Eccles. Cathedr. et Colleg. in Geiinanid ;
Walcott, Sacred Archaeology.']
CAPRASIUS, martyr at Agen, is comme-
morated Oct. 20 {Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CAPSA, also Capsula, Capsella. A box or
case. The name is applied to several kinds of
caskets for ecclesiastical use.
1. The casket used to contain the unconse-
crated elements. According to the direction of
the Ordo Romanus I. c. 8, two acolytes bear in
the procession before the pope, when about to
celebrate," capsas cum Sanctis apertas." On this
passage Binterim {DenkwUrdigkeiten, vii. 1, 369)
observes that by 'sancta' in the neuter plural
we are to understand, not the consecrated Body
of the Lord, but the yet uncousecrated Elements,
which the acolytes bore before the mass, just as
after it they carried off the remains of the
oblations in ' sacculi.' This procession corre-
sponds, in fact, to the 'Greater Entrance' of
the Greeks, in which the elements are borne in
CHRIST. ANT.
CAPTATORES
289
solemn procession from the sacristy to the Holy
Table.
2. Capsa sometimes designates the vessel in
which the reserved Eucharist was borne from
one place to another. The seventeenth canon of
the council of Orange enjoins, "cum capsa et
calix offerendus est, et admistione Eucharistiae j
consecrandus " [Consecration], The meaning ]
of this, ^h\hi\\on{Comm.Praev. in Ord. Rom. y>.
cxxxix) considers to be that, together with the I
'capsa' containing the sacred vessels and per- I
haps the Eucharist, the chalice was also to be \
brought to the altar. The word TuRRis is used |
in a similar sense. Comj^are Tap.ernacle. I
3. A repository or Shrine (Fr. chasse') for ]
preserving the relics of saints. The legates of
the Apostolic See in their letter to Hormisdas I
(in Hormisdae Epistolae, p. 475, Migne) say that
they suggested the making of shrines (capsailas)
for the relics of each of the apostles severally
in the church of the Apostles at Constantinople.
In the description of the altar built by St. j
Benedict at Aniane, we read that an opening |
was made in the back of it for inserting the j
' capsae ' which contained relics of saints {Acta \
SS. Feb. ii. 614). Compare Altar, p. 64. '\
4. A casket to contain the book of the Gospels.
Ado of Vienne speaks {Chronicon, a.d. 519) of
twenty " capsae evangeliorum " of gold, richly
jewelled [Liturgical Books]. [C]
CAPSARIUM. The room in which the
capsae containing relics were placed. Perpetuus
of Tours (circa a.d. 490), in his will (D'Achery's j
Spicilegium, v. 105) distinguishes a reliquary
which he left to a friend from another gilded
' theca ' which was in his capsarium, and which
he left to the church (Ducange's Glossary, s. v.).
[C]
CAPSUM. The nave of a church. Gregory
of Tours {Hist. Franc, ii. 14) describes a certain i
church as» having thirty-two windows in the j
sanctuary, twenty in the nave (in capso). (Du-
cange's Glossary, s. v.) [C]
CAPTATORES. The leaving by testament !
the institution of an heir to the secret will of ;
another was by thfe Eoman law termed a cap- ,
tatoria institutio, and forbidden (see Dig. bk. 1
xxviii. t. V, 11. 70, 71, 81 ; Code, bk. vii. t. xxii. I
1. 11). In a less technical sense, however, the ■
captator answered substantially to our legacy-
hunter, and the scandal is one which seems to
have been rife in the early church — as indeed
the satirists shew it to have been in the heathen
world of the day. Perhaps we may see a germ
of it in what St. Paul says (ii. Tim. iii. 1, 2) of '
the " covetous " who shall be " in the last days,"
adding, " for of this sort are they which creep
into houses, and lead captive silly women " (v. \
6), though his description applies mainly to dis- I
honest and selfish teachers.' By the end of the ]
4th century, at any rate. Christian emperors had j
to legislate against it. A law of Vsilentinian, |
Valens, and Gratian (a.d. 370) in the Theodosian j
Code, enacted that clerics or professors of con-
tinence were not to frequent the houses of
widows and female wards, but should be banished
by public judgment, if the relatives of such '
females should deem fit to prosecute them ; nor
should any such jiersons receive aught from tiie
woman with whom they might become connected
U
290
CAPTATORES
under pretext of religion, by any lund of libe-
rality, or by her last will; but any bequest to
them from such females should be void, nor could
they take under any trust either by donation or
testament. Should anything be so given or lett
to them after the date of the law, the public
exchequer was to receive it. Another law_ in
the same Code (1. 27), of Valentinian, Theodosms,
and Arcadius (a.d. 390), contains special pro-
visions as to liberalities by deaconesses, who
amono-st other things were forbidden to nominate
as their heirs any church, cleric, or poor man ;
this however was partly revoked a few months
later (1. 28 ib.) by the same emperors, so tar as
allowino- the enjoyment of certain articles ot
personal use by clerics or servants, under the
name of a church (Bingham does not seem quite
to have understood the bearing of this last
enactment). These laws, although as will be
seen thev did not hold their ground in the state,
are remarkable from the reference to them m one
of Jerome's best known letters (_Ep. 2, ad Nepo-
tianum) : " Shameful to say, the priests of idols,
actors, charioteers, harlots receive inheritances ;
only to clerics and monks is this forbidden by
law, and forbidden, not by persecutors but by
the princes. Nor do I complain of this law,
but lament that we should have deserved it.
And he proceeds to draw one of his scathing
sketches of those who devote a shameful service
to old men and childless old women, besieging
their bedsides, performing for them the most
menial and repulsive offices, in dread at the
doctor's entrance, asking with trembling lips it
the patient be better, in peril if he become a
little stronger, feigning joy whilst their minds
are tortured by their "avarice, sweating for an
empty inheritance. ^
There is a striking analogy between Jerome s_
picture and one traced in one of the novels of
Leo and Majorian, annexed to the Theodosian Code
(bk. viii. N. vi. § 11 ; a.d. 458). It professes to
restrain the avidity of these captatores, who by
attendance by the bedside of persons they scarcely
know, corrupt by simulated affection minds
wearied with bodily illness and having no longer
any clear judgment, so that forgetting the ties
of blood and affinity, they may name strangers
their heirs. Medical men are suborned to per-
suade their patient to wrong, and neglecting the
care of healing become ministers to the cove-
tousness of others. And it proceeds to enact that
persons who could not claim in case of intestacy
in any degree from a testator, if they should
receive anything by way of bequest or trust,
should give one-third to the treasury, until by
fear of this the injustice of testators and dis-
honesty of captators should come to an end. It
will be observed that this law, instead of being
confined to clerics and monks like the previous
one, is of a general character. Perhaps, though
it did not hold its place, it has not been without
influence on the differential duties imposed by
most modern states on legacies and successions,
which are generally highest as against strangers
to the family of the testator or predecessor.
As respects the clergy, indeed, we find by a
law almost contemporary with the last, inserted
in Justinian's code, that of Valentinian and
Marcian, a.d. 455 (bk. i. t. ii. 1. 13), that widows,
deaconesses, virgins dedicated to God, nuns, and
women bearing any other name of religious
CAR
honour or dignity, received full liberty to le%7e
by will or otherwise all or any part of their
fortune. In short, the strongest laws against
clerical captation which Jerome applauded seem
to have been tacitly abrogated, utterly incon-
sistent as they were with the growth of Romish
or Oriental priestcraft. ^ re c
The term haeredipetae seems only to differ from
that of captatores, so far as it implies only the
captation of inheritances, not of gifts from the
living. [J- M- L-]
CAPTIVES, REDEMPTION OF. The
disasters which fell upon the Roman empire in
the 4th and 5th centuries gave a special promi-
nence to this as one of the forms of Christian
love, and it connects itself accordingly with some
of the noblest acts and words of the teachers of
the Church. Ambrose was charged by his Arian
opponents with sacrilege for having melted down
the eucharistic vessels of the church at Milan
for this purpose, and defends himself against the
charge on the grounds that this was the highest
and best use to which he could have applied them
{De Offic. ii. 28). Augustine did the same at
Hippo (Possidius, Vita, .€. 24). Acacius, Bishop
of Amidas, ransomed as many as 7000, who had
been taken prisoners by the Persian.s (Socr. H. E.
vii. 21); Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage, the
Roman soldiers who had been carried off by Gen-
seric after the capture of Rome (Victor Utic. de
persccut. Vandal, i., Bibl. Pair. vii. p. 591). It
is worth noting that this was not only admired
in individual actions, but that the truth that
mercy is above sacrifice was formally embodied
in ecclesiastical legislation. The Code of Jus-
tinian (i. tit. 2, de Sacros. Eccles. 21), while for-
bidding the alienation of church vessels or vest-
ments for any other purpose, distinctly permits
them to be pledged or even sold for this or other
like works of mercy or necessity. [E. H. P.]
CAPUA, COUNCIL OF, a.d. 389, provin-
cial, respecting the schism at Antioch between
Flavianus and Evagrius ; also respecting the de-
nial by Bonosus of the perpetual virginity of the
B. V. Mary ; passed also a canon against rebap-
tizino-, re-ordination, and translation of bishops,
embollied in the African code (5'. Ambros. Epist
78, 79; Cod. Can. Afric. 48; Labb. ii. 1039,
1072). [^- '^^^ H-]
CAPUT JEJUNII. [Lekt.]
CAPUTIUM, a covering for the head, worn
by monks, sometimes sewn on to the tunic, as a
hood {Reg. Comm. S. Bened. c. 55). [I. G. S.]
CAR, CART, CHARIOT, &c. Herzog
(Real-Encyclopadie filr protestantische Theologie
u Kirche,'iYo. Gotha, 1861, s. v. " Sinnbilder, )
mentions a sculpture in St. Callixtus, which con-
tains a chariot without driver, with pole turned
backwards, and whips left resting on it. This,
as he says, appears evidently intended as a symbol
of the accomplished course of a life. In Bottari,
tav. clx., two quadrigae are represented at the
base of an arch (covered with paintings of ancient
date) in the second cubiculum of the catacomb
of St. Priscilla on the Salarian Way. The cha-
rioteers carry palms and crowns in their hands,
and the horses are decorated with palm-branches
or perhaps plumes ; which connects the image of
the chariot with St. Paul's imagination of the
CARACALLA
Christian race (1 Cor. Ix. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 7).
(See Martiguy, s. r. " Cheval," and article Horse
in tliis book.)
Gue'neTiault refers to a sculpture from an
ancient Gothic or Frank tomb at Langres ( Univ.
Pittoresqua {France), pi. xlv.), and to a cart or
waggon on one of the capitals in the crypts in
St. Denis (pi. Iv. vol. ii. in A. Hugo, France
Fittoresque et Monumentale). In Strutt ( View
of the Inhabitants of England, Loud. 1774, 4to.
vol. i. p. o, fig. 6) there is a chariot of the 9th
century, so presumed. See also D'Agiucourt,
Feinture, pi. clxiv. No. 14^ and pi. clvii. In the
catacomb of St. Praetextatus (see Ferret, Cata-
coinbes, vol. i. pi. Ixxii.) there is a somewhat
powerful and striking representation of the Cha-
riot of Death, who is taking a departed woman
into his car. [R. St. J. T.]
CARACALLA (in late Greek writers Kapa-
kolKiov). Originally a garment peculiar to Gaul ;
it was introduced into Roman use by the em-
peror M. Aurelius Antoninus, commonly known
in consequence as Caracallus or Caracalla. See
Ferrarius, de Be Vest, pars ii. lib. i. c. 28.
Ecclesiastical writers speak of it as worn by
clerics (Ven. Beda, Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 7, refer-
ring to the year 305 A.D. and to the martyr-
dom of St. Aibau), and as corresponding in shape
to the Jewish ephod. So says St. Eucherius of
Lyons, writing about the middle of the 5th cen-
tury, and referring evidently to the genuine
Gallic caracalla, which was a kind of short tunic
with sleeves and furnished with a hood. With
him agrees Dio Cassius (quoted by Rubenius,
de Re Vest. lib. i. c. 6), who describes the
caracalla as a sleeved tunic made somewhat in
the fashion of a corselet, x^'P'Scorbs x'''"'^'' ^^
BdpaKos TpSiTOU Tiva ireTroiTj/ieVos. But the
caracalla introduced into use by M. Aurelius
was lengthened so as to reach nearly to the feet.
So we must infer from the statement of Aurelius
Victor: "Cum e Gallia vestem plurimam de-
vexisset, talaresque caracallas fecisset, coegisset-
que plebem ad se salutandum talibus introire, de
nomine hujus vestis Caracalla nominatus est."
Spartianus speaks still more distinctly to the
same effect : " Ipse Caracalla nomen a vestimento
quod populo dederat, demisso usque ad tales, quod
antea non fuerat, unde hodieque dicuntur An-
toninianae Caracallae ejusmodi, in usu maxime
Romanae plebis frequeutatae." From the re-
ference to this vestment made by St. Jerome
(^Epistle to Fabiola), we may infer that, like other
garments suited for out-door use, the caracalla
was furnished with a hood. " Ephod . . . pal-
liolum mirae pulchritudinis praestringens ful-
gore oculos in modum caracallarum sed absque
cucullis." The statement to the same effect
made by St. Eucherius of Lyons, is evidently a
mere reproduction of St. Jerome. (Tnstit. lib. ii.
■ cap. 10. "Ephod, vestis sacerdotalis . . . Est
autem velut in caracallae modum, sed sine cu-
cullo.") ■ [W. B. M.]
CARAUNUS. [Charaunus.]
CARILEFUS, presbyter, of Aninsula in
Gaul, is commemorated July 1 (Mali. Usuardi).
[C]
CARILIPPUS, martyr, is commemorated
April 28 {Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CARISIUS, with Callistus, martyr at Co-
CARDINAL
29]
rinth, is commemorated Ap:
Vet., Usuardi).
1 16 (Mart. Rom.
[C]
CARITAS. [CiiARiTAS.]
CARPOPHORUS. (1) One of the Coronati
QtJATUOR, commemorated Nov. 8 (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Presbyter, martyr at Spoleto, comme-
morated Dec. 10 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
[C]
CARPUS. (1) Bishop, martyr at Pergamus,
commemorated April 13 (Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi).
(2) The disciple of Paul, martyr at Troas,
commemorated Oct. 13 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Usu-
ardi) ; as " Apostle " and one of the Seventy,
May 27 (Cal. Byzant.).
(3) Bishop of Thyatina, martyr, Oct. 13 (Cal
Byzant.). [C]
CARDINAL. As the Benedictine Editors of
St. Gregory the Great (Ad Ep. i. 15) truly re-
mark : " Nomen vetus, nova est dignitas, pur-
pura recentior." Our chronological limits extend
at most to the early dawn of the dignity, which
is a long way out of sight of the purple. Cardinal
winds, cardinal numbers, cardinal virtues, the
cardinal altar, and cardinal mass, are expressions
all illustrative of the gradual adaptation of the
term to that which was chief in the hierarchy.
As the name of" pope," or " papa," was originally
common to all bishops, so the chief presbyters
and deacons of any church to which a cure of
souls was attached were apt to have the term
" cardinal " applied to them by way of distinc-
tion long 'before it was applied to the presbyters
and deacons ot the Church of Rome in particular.
Parish churches had come to be called " titles,"
as conferring a title upon those who served them ;
and a title, from the notion of fixity that was
implied in it, " cardo," the hinge on which, when
fxed to a door, the door turns. Then, as there
"were chapels and oratories that were not parish
churches — in other words gave no distinctive
title — so there were priests and deacons attached
to parish churches temporarily, that were not
fixtures ; or who v;ent by their titles, yet were
not therefore called cardinals. In the writings
of St. Gregory the Great this distinction comes
out strongly, being applied by him even to
bishops, as is shewn by Thomassin (De Ben. ii.
part ii. 115). Thus, on one occasion, he bids the
Bishop of Grosseto visit the church of Porto Bar-
rato, then vacant, and ordain " one cardinal
presbyter and two deacons there" (Ep. i. 15).
On another occasion we find him naming Martin,
a Corsican bishop, whose see had been destroyed,
" cardinal priest," or " pontiff," of another church
in the island that had long been deprived of its
bishop (i. 79). Elsewhere, he forbids Januarius,
archbishop of Cagliari, making Liberatus " a car-
dinal-deacon," unless furnished with letters di-
missory from his owm diocesan (i. 83). " Car-
dinales violenter in parochiis ordinatos forensibus
in pristinum cardinem revocabat Gregorius," as
is said of him by his own biographer, John the
Deacon (iii. 11), a writer of the 9th century;
instances of which abound in his epistles :
" cardinare " and " incardinatio " are words used
by him in describing this process. The bishop,
priest, or deacon, made "cardinal" of a churcii
in this sense, was attached to it permanently, in
contradistinction to bishops administering the
U 2
292
CARDINAL
affairs of a diocese during a vacancy, and priests
or deacons holding subordinate or temporary
posts in a parish church. Of titles, or parish
churches in Rome, the number seems to have
varied in different ages. According to Anastasius,
or whoever wrote the lives of these popes (on
which see Cave, s. v.), St. Euaristus, A.D. 100-9,
divided the city amongst his presbyters, and ap-
pointed seven deacons. St. Fabian, A.D. 236-50,
divided its " regions " amongst these deacons.
Cornelius, the next pope, tells us himself of as
many as 44 presbyters there then, while the
number of deacons remained the same (Euseb.
vi. 43). From St. Dionysius, A.D. 259-69, being
also credited by his biographer with having di-
vided the churches in Home amongst his pres-
byters, and instituted cemeteries and parishes or
dioceses, we must infer that the old arrange-
ments had been thrown into confusion, and the
number of churches diminished considerably, by
tiie persecutions under Decius and Valerian.
And this would explain what we are told once
more by Anastasius, that St. Marcellus, A.D.
308-10, appointed 25 titles, as parishes (jjuasi
dioeceses) in the city, for administering baptism
and penance to the multitudes converted from
paganism, and for burial of the martyrs. Long
after this, the number of titles in the city stood
at 28. Accordingly, when we read of a pres-
byter or deacon of the Roman church without
any further distinction, a member of the Roman
clergy is meant who was attached to some chapel
or oratory within the city. When we read of a
presbyter or deacon of some particular title there,
a member of the Roman clergy is meant, who
was either temporarily or permanently attached
to one of the 25 or 28 parish churches, or
seven regions of the city ; and to those perma-
nently attached to either the name of " cardinal "
was given, after it had got into use elsewhere.
Anastasius himself, or a namesake and contem-
porary of his, had it applied to him (Cave, s. v.).
The fact that the popes in those days were
elected, like most other bishops, by the clergy
and people of their diocese, is amply sufficient
to account for the prodigious importance that
attached gradually to the cardinal presbyters and
deacons of the Church of Rome, throwing those
of all other churches into the shade. Cardinal
bishops were not known there for some time
afterwards, as Thomassin shews (ib. c. 116). On
the contraiy, the rule laid down under anathema
by the synod under Stephen IV. A.D. 769, was, in
the words of Anastasius, that " nobody, whether
a layman, or of any other rank soever, should
be capable of being advanced to the pontifical
dignity, who had not risen regularly step by step,
and been made cardinal presbyter or deacon."
But when Anastasius, a little further on, speaks
of the same pope appointing the seven bishops,
whom he calls " hebdomadal cardinals," to func-
tionate at the altar of St. Peter in turn, he is
probably not using the phrase in the exact sense
which it has since borne : as in the Council of
Constantinople that restored Photius, A.D. 879,
and was contemporary with Anastasius, Paul,
bishop of Ancona, and Eugenius, bishop of Ostia
were present as legates of John VIII., and were
styled and subscribed as such; while Peter, the
third legate, subscribed as " presbyter and car-
dinal aa( was so styled throughout (Bever.
Synod, n. 209). Similarly, in the list of snb-
CASK
scriptions to the Roman synod that pi-eceded it,
all the bishops write themselves bishops only,
while the presbyters and deacons are written
" cardinals " in addition. The seven bishops of
Ostia, Porto, St. Rufina, Albano, Sabina, Tus-
culum, and Praeneste, began, in point of fact, to
be called "cardinals" in the 11th century, or
the age of St. Peter Damian, himself one of them,
when formed into a college with the cardinal pres-
byters and deacons by the decree of Nicholas II.
A.D. 1059, for electing all future popes. And it
was a much later development by which bishops
of distant sees came to be made cardinal deacons
or presbyters of some church in Rome as well.
For a description of the Roman church in the
11th century, by which time the seven cardinal
bishops had been appointed to the church of
St. John Lateran to officiate there in turn for
the pope: and the 28 cardinal presbyters distri-
buted between the four churches of St. Mary
Major, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Laurence,
seven at each, see the old ritual in Baron.
A.D. 1057, n. 19 ; Comp. the Liber Diurnus Pontif.
Bom. iii. 11, in Migne's Patrol, cv. p. 77; and
more in Du Cange, Hoffman, Moreri, Morone, s. v. ;
and Muratori, Antiq. Ital. v. 155-8. [E. S. F.]
CAEENA ( = Quadragena). A forty-days'
fast, imposed by a bishop upon clergy or laity,
or by an abbot upon monks [Penitence]. A
MS. Penitential, quoted by Ducange (s. v.),
speaks of fasting on bread and water, " quod in
communi sermone carina vocatur." [C]
CAENIPRIVIUM, or Carnisprivium. This
name is said by Macer {Hierokxicon, s. v.) to
be applied to Quinquagesima Sunday, as being
the last day on which it was permitted to eat
flesh, the Lent fast anciently commencing on the
following day, as. he saj's, is still customary with
the Orientals and with some religious orders in
Europe. In the calendar of the Greek Church,
however, the KvpiaKr] 'Aw6Kpeios [APOCREOS] is
Sexagesima Sunday. Beleth says {Rationale, c.
65), " Secunda Dominica Septuagesimae dicitur
vulgo carnisprivium," where by the " second
Sunday of Septuagesima " we must no doubt
understand Quinquagesima ; and this Sunday is
called in the Mozarabic Missal Dominica ante
carnes tollendas (Ducange 's Glossary, s. v.). [C]
CARNIVAL. This word, variously derived
from " caro vale," or " ubi caro valet," is applied,
in the narrowest sense, to the three days pre-
ceding Ash-Wednesday ; in a wider sense to the
whole period from St. Blaise's Day (Feb. 3) to
Ash-Wednesday. The period immediately pre-
ceding Lent has long been a season devoted to
somewhat more than usual gaiety, in anticipation
of the austerities of Lent. (Wetzer and Welte's
Jurchenlexicon.') [C]
CARPENTORACTENSE CONCILIUM.
[Carpentkas.]
CARPENTRAS, COUNCIL OF [near
Narbonne, Carpentoractense], a.d. 527, Nov.
6, respecting the fair distribution of revenue
between the bishop and the parish-priest (Labb.
Cone. iv. 1663). [A. W. H.]
' CARTHAGE, COUNCILS OF. [African
Councils.]
CASK, as symbol. [Dolium.]
OASSIANUS
CASSIANUS. (1) Martyr at Saragossa, is
commemorated April 16 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Bishop and confessor of Autun, is comme-
morated Aug. 5 (Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Rome (Bede), or at Imola
{Bom. Vet., Usuardi, is commemorated Aug. 13
{Mart. Eom. Yet., Bedae, Usuardi).
(4) Martyr at Tangiers, is commemorated
Dec. 3 {Mart. Usuardi).
(5) Of Rome, A.D. 431, is commemorated Feb.
29 {Cal. Byzant.). Perhaps identical with (3).
[C]
CASSIUS. (1) Martyr at Damascus, is com-
memorated July 20 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Martyr, is commemorated Oct. 10 {Mart.
Usuardi). [C]
CASSOCK, {rtal. Casacha, Casachina ; Fr.
Casaque; Flem. Casacke.) It is not easy to
determine with what older words, or with what
older garment, the present ' cassock,' as a gar-
ment and as a word, is to be identified. Some
have thought that the Italian 'casacha' and the
French ' casaque ' are to be traced to ' cara-
calla ' (see the article above), ' casacha ' repre-
senting an older ' caracha.' Others trace the word
through Kaffas or Kaaffus (Xenophon, Ci/roj]. viii.
3, 6-8 ; Jul. Pollux, vii. 68, describing it as
IwmKhs x'''^'^^) to Kcis, skin or hide. In con-
nexion with this it may be noticed that Agathar-
cides (a Greek grammarian, at Alexandria, of
the 2nd century B.C.), quoted by Lepsius {Ep. ad
Belgas, 44), states that the Egyptians had cer-
tain garments made of felt which they called
Kacrai. "Apud Aegyptios moKas rivas iriA.TjTas,
verba sunt Agatharcidae, TTfioaayoptvovari Kaaas
. . . Acue in ultima habes ' casack,' difBcili
alias originatione." See thjs and other refer-
ences in Menage, Diet. Etym. under ' Casa-
que.' [W. B,.M.]
CASTOLUS, or CASTULUS, martyr at
Rome, is commemorated March 26 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi). . [C]
CASTOE, martyr at Tarsus, is commemorated
April 27 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi) ; also March
28 (*.). [C]
CASTOEIUS. (1) Martyr at Rome, is com-
memorated July 7 {Mart. Horn. Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Rome under Diocletian, Nov. 8
{Mart. Horn. Vet., Bedae, Usuardi). [C]
CASTUS. (1) Martyr in Africa in the 3rd
century, is commemorated May 22 {Mart. Horn.
Vet., Bedae, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr, Sept. 4 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Capua, Oct. 6 {Mart. Hieron.,
Usuardi). [C]
CASULA. (See also Amphibalum, Planeta,
IXFULA, PaENULA.)
§ 1. The uord and its derivation. — The word
Gtsnla (whence Fr. and Eng. Chasuble'), a dimi-
nutive originally of casa, " a cottage," comes
before us in patristic literature in two senses.
It is used, first, in its literal meaning of a cottage
or hut ; as by St. Gregory of Tours {De Mirac.
j S. Juliani, cap. sliv.), and by St. Isidore of Seville
1 {De Off. Eccl. lib. ii. ' de ntontchis.'). It is used
1 also, and far more commonly, as a designation for
an outer garment ; the word having been in all
CASULA
293
probability a provincial term, of popular use, for
the garment which in the older Latin was known
as Apaenula. St. Isidore of Seville, circ. 600 a.d.,
is the first writer who gives any formal deriva-
tion of the word, or anything ap{)roaching to a
description of the garment itself. " The casula,"
he says {De Origin, six. cap. 21), " is a garment
furnished with a hood {testis cucullota) ; and is a
diminutive of ' casa,' a cottage, seeing that, like a
small cottage or hut, it covers the entire person."
Philo Judaeus, some 600 years earlier, had used a
similar comparison, when, describing a garment
made of goat-skins (no doubt a rough paenuki)
commonly worn in his time, he says that it
formed a " portable house " {<pop7]rr] oIk'lo) for
travellers, soldiers, and others, who were obliged
to be much in the open ail-. {De Victimis, Phi-
lonis Opp. Fol. Paris, 1640, p. 836, A.)
§ 2. Form and material of the Casula. — As a
description of the form or appearance of the
casula, which will add anything to that of St.
Isidore already quoted, the earliest notice we
have is in a MS. of uncertain date (probably 9th
century, or thereaboa-t), containing fragmentary
notices of the old Galilean liturgy (Martene,
Thesawus Anecdot. torn. v. col. 99) : " Casula,
quam amphibalum vocant quo sacerdos indu-
itur, tota unita Ideo sine manicis, quia
sacerdos potius benedicit quam ministrat. Ideo
unita extrinsecus, non scissa, non aperta, quia
multae sunt Scripturae sacrae seci-eta mysteria,
quae quasi sub sigillo sacerdos doctus debet
abscondere," etc. This "vestment," for Church
use, for such it here is (see below, § 5), is
here described as " made in one piece through-
out," as " without sleeves," and " without slit
or opening in front." This description is exactly
what might be expected on the supposition that
the casula was virtually a paenula under another
name. And it exactly corresponds with the
earliest representations of the chasuble preserved
in ecclesiastical art. (See Planeta.)
The materials of the casula varied according
to the purposes it was designed to serve. In the
earlier periods of its history, when it was regarded
as a garb of very humble pretensions, it was made
of wool (St. Augustine, De Civit., quoted below,
§ 3), and probably also, like the paenula, often of
skins, dressed with the wool or fur upon them.
But, from the sixth century downwards, we hear
of chasubles of brilliant colour {superhi coloris'),
and of costly materials, such as silk. Boniface III.
(a.d, 606) sent a chasuble, formed partly of silk
and partly of fine goats'-hair, as a present to
king Pepin. (Bonifacii, P. P. III. Epist. III.
apud Oct. Ferrarium, De Fe Vest. p. 685.)
§ 3. Various uses of the Casula. — The earliest
notices of the casula shew that, like the paenula, it
was originally a garment of very humble charac-
ter, such as would be worn by peasants and arti-
sans as their ordinary out-door dress, for protec-
tion against cold and wet. Being furnished with
a hood, it was both hat and cloak in one. St. Au-
gustine, writing about the close of the 4th cen-
tury, but speaking of a story dating from before
his own time, tells a tale of one Florentius, a
working tailor at Hippo, who lost his casula,
and had no money to buy a new one {De Civit.
Dei, lib. xxii. cap. 8, § 9). Fifty ^' folks," as we
learn from the course of the story, would have
been thought about a reasonable sum for him to
pay. But he himself for greater economy meant
294
CASULA
to buy some wool, which his wife might make
up for him as best she could. In another passage
{Scrim cvii. cap. v. opp. torn. v. p. 530) St. Au-
gustine speaks of the casula as a garment which
auv one of his congregation might be expected to
possess, and one which every one would take care
to have good of its kind. A notice of the casula,
preserved to us in Procopius (JDc Bello Vandalico,
lib. ii. cap. 26), shews that even to his time
(circ. 530) the tradition had survived of the very
humble character attaching to this dress. He
has occasion to speak of the abject submission by
which Areobindus, when defeated by Gontharis,
sought to disarm the anger of the victor. And
he speaks of him as putting upon him an outer
garment unsuited for a general, or for any war-
like usage, but befitting a slave or a man of
humble station; this being, he adds, what the
Romans, in the speech of Latium, call KaaovKa.
§ 4. Worn by Monks, and, as an out-door dress,
bi/ the Clergy. — The same reasons which made the
casula a suitable dress for peasants, recommended
it also as a habit for monks. Ferrandus, first
the deacon and afterwards the biographer of
Facundus, bishop of Ruspa, in Africa, tells us
that the bishop retained his monastic dress
and ascetic habits after being advanced to epi-
scopal dignity (circ. 507 A.D.). He continued to
wear a monk's leathern girdle {pelliccum cin-
guluin) ; and neither used himself, nor permitted
his monks to use, a casula of costly quality or of
brilliant colour (" Casulam pretiosam vel superbi
coloris nee ipse habuit, nee suos monachos habere
permisit"). At a period a little after this St.
Caesarius, archbishop of Aries in Gaul (t 540),
is described as wearing a casula in his ordinary
walks about the streets (S. Caesarii Vita, apitd
Acta Sanctorum, Augusti d. xxvii. torn. vi.). And
he had also one special casula, of finer material
doubtless, and either white or of some I'ich colour,
for processional use. (" Casulam, qua in pro-
cessionibus utebatur, et albam paschalem, profert,
datque egeno, jubetque ut vendat uni ex clero.")
The same bishop, in his will, when disposing of
his wardrobe, distinguishes between the indu-
menta paschalia, or vestments for church use on
Sundays and high festivals, which had been pre-
sented to him, and his casula villosa, or long-
napped cloak, which would be suitable for out-
door wear only : — " Sancto et domino meo archi-
episcopo, qui mihi indigno digne successerit . . .
indumenta paschalia, quae mihi data sunt, omnia
illi serviant, simul cum casula villosa et tunica
vel galnape quod melius dimisero. Eeliqua vero
vestimenta mea, excepto birro amiculari, mei
tarn clerici quam laici .... dividant."
At or just after the close of the sixth century,
a further notice of the casula, preserved to us by
John the Deacon {Dim Gregorii Vita, lib. iv.
cap. 63), serves to indicate that the casula, worn
at Rome as an out-door habit by ecclesiastics,
must have differed in some respects from the cus-
tomary dress then worn in the East bv persons of
the same class. One abbot John, a PtVsian, came
0 Rome m St. Gregory's days, " ad adorandum
loculos sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli."
Une day," so he himself tells the story, "I was
standing in the middle of the city, when who
should come across towards me but Papa Gre-
gorms. Just as I was thinking of making my
obeisance to h,m ("mittere me ante eum"), the
pope came close up, and seeing my intention.
CATACOMBS
sicut coram Deo dico, fraires, he bowed himself
to the ground before me, and would not rise till
I had done so first. Then embracing me with
much humility, he slipped three pieces of money
into my hand, and desired that a casula should be
given me, and everything else that I required."
This use of the casula as the characteristic out-
door garb of the clei-gy, and in many places also
of monks, was maintained in the West from the
5th to the 8th century. In the Council of
Ratisbon, held in April, a.d. 742, under the pre-
sidency of St. Boniface, one of the canons deter-
mined on was directed against those of the clergy
who (in out-door life, as we may infer) adopted
the dress of laymen, the saguin, or short open
cloak then commonly worn. " We have decreed
that presbyters and deacons shall wear, not
' saga,' as do laymen, but ' casulae,' as becometh
servants of God." (" Decrevimus quoque ut
presbyteri vel diaconi non sagis laicorum more,
sed casulis utantur, ritu servorum Dei.")
§ 5. Use of the Casula as a Vestment of Holy
Ministry. — From the 5th to the 8th century the
term planeta (q. v.) appears to have been the
term ordinarily employed in Italy and Spain, if not
elsewhere, for the supervestment worn in offices
of holy ministry. The earliest undoubted evi-
dence of the word casula being used in this precise
meaning dates from the 9th century, or possibly
the 8th, if the Sacramentary of St. Gregory be-
longs in its present form to that time. But the
usages of words in formal documents such as this
last, confirmed as this is by the nearly contem-
porary writings (cir^. 820) of Rabanus Maurus.
Amalarius, and Walafrid Strabo, indicate, gener-
ally, a considerably earlier popular usage. How-
ever this may be, we know that from the date of
these last writers to the present time, the word
casula has been used as the exact equivalent of
planeta by western ritualists, and has in general
usage quite superseded all other terms, such as
amphibaluin, infula, planeta, by which at various
times it has been designated.
It does not fall within the compass of this
work to trace the various modifications of the
'chasuble,' in respect of form, material, and
ornament, from the 9th century downwards, or
to treat of the various symbolical meanings
attributed to it. Full information, however,
upon these points will be found in the following
treatises. Bock, Geschichte der liturgischen
Gewdnder des Mitteldlters, 2 vols. Svc, Bonn.
1866; Pugin, Glossary of Ecclesiastical Orna-
ment, M.,Xondon, 1846; Eock, The Church of
our Fathers, London, 1849 ; and in the Vestiariuni
Christianum (London, 1868) of the writer of this
article. [W. B. M.]
CATABASIA {Karafiaala). An anthem or
short hymn in the Greek offices, so called because
the two sides of the choir corne down {KUTafiai-
vovffi) into the body of the church and unite in
singing it. It often occurs between the " odes "
of a "canon.;" and its construction is that of
any other " troparion." Sometimes two " cata-
basiai " occur together between each ode, as on
the Sunday after Christmas-day, where each
pair consists of the first troparion of the corre-
sponding odes of the two canons for Christmas-
day, mentioned in a preceding article. [H. J. H.]
CATACOMBS. Few words are more familiar,
or more universally intelligible than " Catacomb,"
■A
CATACOMBS
as signifying a subterranean excavation con-
structed for the interment of the dead. Yet in
its original meaning the word had no connection
whatsoever with sepulture, or even with exca-
vations, but was simply used as the name of a
particular district in the vicinit}' of Rome."
The word Catacumhae, the earliest form in
which we meet with it, is unquestionably de-
rived from tiie Greek KaTo, and Kvfx.0rj, " a hol-
low," and so '' a cup," " a boat," &c., a widely
spread root which we trace in the Greek /cu/tt-
jSaAoi/, the Latin Cymhi^ the Celtic Cum, the
'A.-S. Combe, and the Piedmontese Comba, " a
valley," or "hollow." It is allied to the San-
skrit Kumbhas, " a pit." In Ducauge Gloss. Med.
et Tnf. Graecitatis we find " Kvfi^r], Cymba —
Tr\o7a ir^pt(pepri 'Pco/xaiois, Suidtts." " Kv/jL^elov,
flSos TTorrtpiov irapaTrArtanov tQ trx'ilM"'''' T'^oitji h
KaAeTrai Kvfj.^T]" Auctor. Etymol. The district
near the tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Circus
of Romulus on the Appian Way appears, probably
from its natural configuration, to have borne this
designation. In the Imperia Caesarum, a docu-
ment of the 7th century, printed by Eccard in
his Corpus Hist. Med. Aeo. vol. i. p. 31, the
erection of the Circus of Maxentius, or Romulus,
AD. 311, in that locality is spoken of in these
words, "Maxentius Termas in Palatio fecit et
Circum in Catecumpas." The site of the adjacent
Basilica of St. Sebastian is indicated by the same
name in a letter of Gregory the Great to Con-
stantia (the daughter of the Emperor Tiberius
Oonstantinus, married by him to his successor
Maurice) towards the end of the 6th century,
excusing himself for not sending her the head of
the Apostle Paul, which she had requested as a
gift to the Church she had erected in his honour
(Greg. Magn. Epist. iv. Ind. xii. Ep. 30). Speak-
ing of the bodies of the Apostles Peter and Paul
he writes " quae ducta usque ad secundum urbis
inilliarium in loco qui dicitur [ad] catiicumbas
eollocata sunt." A various reading, catatumbas,
found in some MSS., and adopted by Baronius,
Martyrol. ad xiii. Kal. Feb. has led some writers
to adopt a different etymology, ad (Kara) tum-
has, and to consider the word an early synonym
for " coemeterium." But the best MSS. read
cumbas not tumbas, and there is no ground for
believing that Christian burial places generally
were known by any such name till a considerably
later period, the view of Padre Marchi (^Monum.
Primitiv. p. 209), that the word catacomb is a
mongrel, half Greek and half Latin, and that the
second element is to be found in the verb cumbo,
is based on false philological principles, and may
safely be rejected. The distance of the Basilica
of St. Sebastian from the Tiber is a sufficient
reason for discarding the etymology of the ano-
nymous author of the History of t'le Translation
of St. Sebastian, c. vi. " Milliario tertio ab Urbe,
loco qui ob stationem navium Catacumbas dice-
batur."
All through the middle ages the phrase " ad
catacumbas" was used to distinguish the sub-
terranean cemetery (catacomb in the modern
sense) adjacent to the Basilica of St. Sebastian
(•' in loco qui appellatur Citacumbas ubi corpus
beati Sebastian! martyris cum aliis quiescit."
CATACOMBS
295
» For other examples of a local name becoming
generic cf. "Capitol," " Palace,'' " Academy,'' "Newgate,"
" Bedlam," &c.
Anast. Hadrian, i. § 343 ; " coemeterio Sancti
Christi martyris Sebastiani in catacumba." lb.
Nicolaus i. § 601) while the term itself in its re-
stricted sense designated a subterranean chapel
communicating with that Basilica in which,
according to tradition, the bodies of the two
great Apostles had been deposited after the in-
etfectual attempt of the Greeks, referred to by
S. Gregory u. s. to steal them away (Bosio, Bom.
Sotteran. cap. xiii.). In documents from the 6th
to the 13th century we continually meet tvith
the expressions " festum ad catacumbas," " locus
qui dicitur in catacumbas," and the like. The
earliest authority is a list of the Roman ceme-
teries of the 6th century, where we find " cime-
terium catecumbas ad St. Sebastianum Via Appia."
In the De Mirabihbus Eomae of the 13th century
we read " Coemeteria Calisti juxta Catacumbas."
The first recorded use of the word in its modern
sense out of Rome is at Naples in the 9th century y
(De Rossi, R.S. i. 87.) t>
Bede, at the beginning of the 8th century, wi'ites,
de Sex aetatibus mundi ad ann. 4327. " Damasus
Romae episcopus fecit basilicam juxta theatrum
S. Laurentio et aliam in catacumbas ubi jacue-
runt corpora sancta Apostolorum Petri et Pauli."
The celebrity acquired by this cemetery as the
temporary resting-place of the chief of the
Apostles led to a general familiarity with its
name, and a gradual identification of the term
" catacumhac " with the cemetery itself. When
in process of time the other underground places
of interment of the Christians fell into neglect
and oblivion, and the very entrances to them
were concealed, and their existence almost for-
gotten, this one beneath the Church of St.
Sebastian remained always open as the object
of pilgrimage, and by degrees transferred its
name to all similar subterranean cemeteries. " A
visit to the cemeteries became synonymous with
a visit ad cat-tcumbas, and the term catacomb gra-
dually came to be regarded as the specific name
for all subterranean excavations for purposes of
burial, not only in the neighbourhood of Rome,
but also in Naples, Malta, Paris, Sicily, and
wherever else similar excavations have been
discovered " (Northcote, B. S. 109).
Origin.— JJntil a comparatively recent period
a very erroneous opinion as to the origin of the
subterranean cemeteries of Rome was univer-
sally entertained. No one thought .of calling
in question the assertion that they were ex-
hausted sandpits, and had been originally exca-
vated for the purpose of obtaining the volcanic
stratum known as az-ena by the ancients, and i
as pozzolana by the moderns, so extensively I
used by them in the composition of their mortar ; 1
and that the Christians, finding in the laby- \
rinthine recesses of these deserted urenariac suit- '
able places for the concealment of the bodies of
their martyred brethren, had taken possession
of them and employed them as cemeteries.
There was great plausibility about this view.
It seemed to derive support from the ' Martyro-
logies' and other ancient documents in which
the expressions in arenario, or juxta arenarixi,in,
or in cryptis arenariis are of not unfrequent
b In tbe same way as this cemeiery of St. Sebastian
was known by the designation " ad catacumbas," others
were specified as " ad Nymphas," " art Ursum pileatum," .
" inter duas lauros," " ad Sextum Philippi," and the like. /v«
296
CATACOMBS
occurrence. It also removed the seeming diffi-
culty, which a fuller understanding of the laws
regulating sepulture among the Romans has dis-
sipated, as to the possibility of a small and per-
secuted body excavating galleries of such enor-
mous extent, and disposing of the material
extracted from them without attracting the
notice and provoking the interfsrence of the sup-
porters of the dominant religion. Once started
and given to the world under the authority of the
names of men of acknowledged learning it found
general acceptance, and became an historical tra-
dition indolently accepted by one generation of
investigators after another. Bosio, the pioneer
of all subsequent examinations of the catacombs,
maintained a discreet silence upon the origin of
the subterranean cemeteries ; but their Pagan
origin is accepted by his translator and editor,
Aringhi, as well as by Baronius, Severano, Bot-
tari, Boldetti, and other writers on the subject.
Marchi, with a touch of quiet sarcasm, affirms that
it causes him no surprise that this hypothesis
sliould have been maintained by Bottari, who, it
is abundantly evident, "studied the subterra-
nean Rome quite at his ease not under but above
ground." (Marchi, n.s. p. 15.) But he confesses
to astonishment that " the excellent Boldetti,"
with all the opportunities aflbrded by personal
examination for perceiving the wide difference
between the arenariae and the cemeteries which
lie below them, should have never seen the
untenableness of the traditional view. In more
modern times the same origin of the catacombs
was asserted by D'Agincourt, Raoul-Rochette,
and indeed by every one who wrote on the
subject. Padre Marchi ]i:is the merit of being
the first to jiromulgafe the true doctrine that
the catacombs were the work of Christians
alone, and from the first designed for places
of sepulture. The Padre ingenuously informs
us (p. 7) that he commenced his investigations
with the most unquestioning faith in the uni-
versally received theory, and that it was only
by degrees that his studies and experience,
not among books and papers, but in quarries,
cemeteries, and sand-pits, led him to an opposite
conclusion, and put him in a position to declare
to the woi-ld as an unquestionable fact, that in
the Christian cemeteries no Pagan ever gave a
single blow with pickaxe or chisel. The brothers
De Rossi, the pupils of Padre Marchi in the work
of investigafiou, have ccmtinued his labours in
tlie same -path of patient examination of facts,
and that with such success that it may now be
regarded as established beyond controversy that
the origin of the catacombs was Christian and
not Pagan, and that they were constructed ex-
pressly for the purpose of inferment, and had no
connection with the arenariae beyond that of
juxtaposition. In certain cases, as'at St. Callis-
t us and St. Agnes, the catacombs lie at the side
of or beneath those excavations, so that they are
entered from them, the arenariae effectually
masking the doors of access to the Christian
g;jlleries, while they afforded them an easy mode
of I'cnioving the excavated earth.
Piulre Jlarchi's confidence in the old theory of
the Pagan origin of the catacombs was first dis-
turbed by a careful examination of the a-eolo<^ical
characteristics of the strata in which they were
us a rule, excavated. The surface of the Cam-
I.agna surrounding Rome, especially on the left
CATACOMBS
bank of the Tiber, where the catacombs are
chiefly situated, is almost entirely formed of
materials of volcanic origin. These igneous
strata are of different composition and antiquity.
We will only specify the three with which we
are concerned, viz., the so-called tufa litoide, tufa
granolare, and pozzolana pura. The pozzolana
ptcra is a friable sand rock, entirely destitute of
any cementing substance to bind the molecules
together and give them the nature of stone.
The tufa granolare is in appearance almost the
same i-ock as the pozzolana pura. The distin-
guishing mark is the presence of a slight cement,
which gives the mass some degree of solidity,
and unites the sandy particles into a stone which
is cut with the greatest ease. The third stratum,
the tufa litoide, is a red conglomerate cemented
into a substance of sufficient hardness to form an
exceedingly useful building stone. Of these
three strata, it was the first and the last alone
which were worked by the ancient Romans for
architectui-al purposes, while it is exclusively in
the second, the tufa granolare, that the cata- <^
combs were excavated. The tufa litoide was
employed from the earliest ages, as it still is, in
the buildings of Rome. The interior of the
Cloaca Maxima, the Tahularium of the Capitol,
and others of the most ancient architectural
works, attest its durability, as well as the early
date of its use, and it is still extensively quarried
as building stone at the foot of Monte Verde,
outside the Porta Portese (Murray's Hundbouk
for Rome, p. 324). While this formation fur-
nished the stone for building, the third named—
the pozzolana pura, found in insulated deposits,
rarely of any considerable extent — supplied the
sand required for the composition of the mortar,
and as such is commended by Vitruvius {Arch.
iii. 7) as preferable to every other kind. The
vicinity of Rome, and indeed some parts of the
city itself, abounded in pozzolana pits, or aren-
ariae, forming an intricate network of excava-
tions, not running in straight lines, as the galleries
of the catacombs do almost universally, but pur-
suing tortuous paths, following the direction of
the sinuous veins of the earth the builders were
in search of. References to these sand-pits,
whose dark recesses afforded secure concealment
as well to the perpetrators of deeds of blood as
to their intended victims, appear in some of the
chief classical writers. Cicero mentions that
the young patrician Asinius had been inveigled
into the gardens of the Esquiline, where he was
murdered and precipitated into one of the sand-
quarries : " Asinius autem . . . quasi in hor-
tulos iret, in arenarias quasdam extra Portam
Esquilinam perductus occiditur " (Orat. pro
Cluentio, c. 13). Suetonius also relates that
when the trembling Nero, fearing instant assas-
siuation, took refuge in the villa of his freed-
man Phaon, between the Nomentan and Sala-
rian roads, he was advised to conceal himself
in an adjacent sand-pit, "m specum egestae
arenae," but he vowed that he would not go
underground alive, " negavit se vivum sub
terram iturum " (Sueton. in Ncron. 48).
Exhausted sand-pits of this kind also afl^orded
burial places for the lowest dregs of the popu-
lace, for slaves, and others who on ceremonial
grounds were denied the honour of the funeral
l)ilo. The best known are those left by the
sand-diggers on the Esquiline, which, we learn
CATACOIMBS
from Horace, were used as common receptacles
fur the vilest corpses, and defiled the air with
their pestilential exhalations, until Maecenas
• rescued the district from its degradation and
converted it into a garden (Horat. Serm. i. 8,
7-16).
" Hue prius angustis ejecta cadavera cellis,
Cunservus vili poitanda locabat in area,
Hoc miserae plebi stabat commune scpulchrum."
(Cf. the commentary of Acron the Scholiast on
the passage : " Hue aliquando cadavera porta-
bantur plebeiorum sive servorum : nam sepulchra
publica erant antea.") These loathsome burial
pits were known by the names of jmticuU or
puticulae ; a diminutive of puteics, "a well," ac-
cording to the etymology given by Festus. They
were also designated culinae, from their shape.
(Facciolat. siib. voc. culina ; Padre Lupi, Disserta-
ziuni, I. § cxxxix. p. 63).
We need not pause to refute the monstrous
theory so carelessly propounded by Basnage, Bur-
net, Misson, &c., which identified the first begin-
nings of the Christian catacombs with these
horrible charnel-houses, which were the oppro-
brium of Paganism, and asserted, in Burnet's
words, that '' those burying-places that are graced
with the pompous title of catacombs are no other
than the puticoli mentioned by Festus Pompeius,
where the meanest sort of the Roman slaves were
laid, and so without any further care about them
were left to rot." The most superficial acquaint-
ance with the catacombs will convince us of the
absurdity of such an hypothesis, and prove
the correctness of the assertion that " the puti-
ciili into which the carrion of the Roman slaves
might be flung had not the slightest analogy
witli the decorous, careful, and expensive provi-
* sious made by the early Christians for the con-
servation of their dead " (^Edin. Rev. No, 221,
Jan. 1859).
But, if otherwise probable, this presumed
connection between the arenariae and the ceme-
teries of the Christians would be at once dis-
proved by the remarlcable fact first noticed by
P. Marchi, and confirmed by the investigations
of the brothers De Rossi, to which we have
alluded above, that the strata which furnished
pozzolana pura were carefully avoided by the
excavators of the catacombs, who ran their vast
system of galleries almost exclusively in the
tufa granolare. While, on the one hand, they
avoided the solid strata of the tufa litoide,
which could not be quarried without at least
threefold the time and labour required in the
granular tufa, and the excavated material from
which could not be disposed of without great
inconvenience, with equal care these subterranean
engineers avoided the layers of friable jMzzolana
which would have rendered their work insecure,
and in which no permanent gallery or rock tomb
could have been constructed, and selected that
stratum of medium hardness which was best
adapted for their peculiar purpose. The suita-
bility of the tufa grmioltre for the object in view
cannot be better stated than in the words of Dr.
Northcote : " It is easily worked, of sufficient con-
sistency to admit of being hollowed out into galle-
ries and chambers without at once falling in, and
^ its porous nature causes the water quickly to drain
oft" from it, thus leaving the galleries dry and
wholesome, an important consideration when we
CATACOMBS
297
think of the vast number of dead bodies which
once lined the walls of the subterranean ceme-
teries " {Roma Sotterr. p. 321). To these advan-
tages may be added the facility with which the
rock was triturated so as to be carried out of
the excavations in the form of earth instead of
heavy blocks of stone, as would have been the
rase in the quarries of compact tufa.
The exclusively Christian origin of the cata-
combs, and their destination from the first for
purposes of interment is also evident, from the
contrast furnished by thoir plan, form, and mode
of construction, to the arenifodinae, or sand-pits,
and lapidicinae, or stone quarries, of ancient
times. This contrast is made evident to the eye
by Padre Marchi, from whom the annexed wood-
cuts are borrowed {Tav. i. iii. ix.-xii.), and bv
Plan of St. Agnca.
Dr. Northcote and Mr. Brownlow in the plan
and atlas appended to their Koma Sottcrranea.
The ground plans given by Marchi lay before us
in successive plates the ichnography of the
stone quarry which lies above the catacomb of
St. Pontianus, and of the arenaria which lies
above thltfof St. Agnes, and the portions of tlie
cemetery immediately beneath them. Nothing
could more forcibly show the difference between
the vast cavernous chambers of the quarry.
298
CATACOMBS
where the object was to remove as mueh of the
stone as was consistent with safety, and the long
narrow galleries of the catacomb in which the
object was to displace as little of the stratum as
would be consistent with the excavator's purpose.
The plates also enable us to contrast the tortuous
passages of the arenariae, running usually in
curved lines, with a careful avoidance of sharp
antrles, and wide enough to admit a horse and
cart for the removal of the material, and the
straio-ht lines, right angles, and restricted dimen-
sions of the ambulacra of the catacombs. An-
other marked difference between the arenariae
and the subterranean cemeteries of the Christians
is, that the walls of the latter always rise ver-
tically from the floor of the gallery, while, on
account of the frailness of the material in which
they were excavated, the walls of the sand quar-
ries' are set at a re-entering angle, giving the
gallery almost the form of a tunnel. This mode
of construction renders it impossible to form
sepulchral recesses with exactly closed apertures,
as we find them in all the galleries of the cata-
combs. The friability of the material also forbids
the adaptation of a plate or marble or tiles to
the aperture of the recess, which was essential
to confine the noxious effluvia of the decaying
corpses.
The wide distinction between the mode of
construction adopted in the quarries and that
rendered necessary by the i-equirements of the
cemeteries, and the practical difficulties which
stood in the way of transforming one into the
other are rendered more evident by the few
instances in which this transformation has been
actually effected. The examples we would bring
in proof of our statement are those given by Mich.
Stef. De Rossi from the cemeteries of St. Hermes
and St. Priscilla {Analis. Geol. ed Arch. vol. i. pp.
31, 32, sq. ; Northcote, H. S. pp. 323, 329). In
the first piano of the catacomb of St. Hermes
we have a specimen of a sepulchral gallery with
three rows of lateral loculi, constructed in brick
and masonry, within an ancient arenaria. At
fii'st sight the difference between the form and
proportions of the galleries and loculi, and those
of the usual type, is scarcely noticeable. Closer
inspection, however, shows that the side walls
are built up from the ground, in advance of the
tufa walls of the gallerj^, which is two or three
times the ordinary width, leaving space enough
for the depth of the loculi. These are closed in
the ordinary manner, with the exception of those
of the uppei'most tier, where the closing slabs
are laid at an angle, sloping up to the barrel
vault of the gallery, and forming a triangular
instead of a rectangular recess. When the
galleries cross one another the space becomes
wider and the walls more curved, and the vault
is sustained in the centre by a thick wall con-
taining tombs, which divides the ambulacrum
into two parallel galleries. This example indi-
cates the nature of the alterations required to
convert an arenaria into a cemetery. These as
a rule were so costly and laborious that the
Christians preferred to undertake an entirely
fresh excavation.
The second example is that from the cemetery
ot St. Priscilla, on the Via Salaria Nova. The
annexed plan given from De Rossi enables us,
by a variation in the shading, to distinguish
bi;tween the original excavation and the form
CATACOMBS
into which it was subsequently converted when
it became a Christian burial-place, and helps
us to appreciate the immense labour that
was expended in the erection of "numerous
pillars of various sizes, long walls of solid ma-
sonry, sometimes sti'aight, sometimes broken
into angles, partly concealing and partly sustain-
ing the tufa and the sepulchres of the galleries,
frequent niches of various size often interrupted
by pillars built up within them," and the other
modifications necessary to convert the original
excavation into its present form. We may men-
tion a third example of the same kind : the
arenaria adjacent to St. Saturninus, on the same
road. A portion of this cemetery has been exca-
vated in good pozzolana earth, and has the cha-
racteristics of a true arenaria. The galleries are
wide, and are curved in plan. The walls and
vault are arched, and it has not been thought
Plan of part of iheCatacomlHof St. Priscira fiom I>e I;, ■s^i. showing
the adaptation of an Arenaria to a Christian cemetery. The dark
shadiag represents the tnfa rock ; the lighter the added masonry.
consistent with security to construct more than
two ranges of loculi near the pavement, and even
these occur at wider intervals than is usual where
the rock is harder. In all respects the contrast
this division of the cemetery presents to the
ordinary type is most marked. " Here we have
another instance of the Christians having made
the attempt to utilise the arenaria, but it appears
that they found it more convenient to abandon
the attempt, and to construct entirely new gal-
leries, even at the cost of descending to a greater
depth into the bowels of the earth " (Northcote.
R. S. p. 330).
Thes^ examples when candidly examined lead
to a conclusion directly opposite to that affirmed
so confidently by Raoul-Rochette and others.
So far from its being the case that the Christians
commenced their subterranean cemeteries by
adopting exhausted arenariae,' \7h.\ch. they ex-
CATACOMBS
tended and enlarged to suit their inci'easing
requirements, so that "an arenaria was the
ordinary matrix of a catacomb," the rarity ot"
such instances that can be adduced, and the
marked contrast between the arenaria and the
catacom'j both in phm and mode of construction,
confirm our assertion that the subterranean ceme-
teries of the Christians had a distinct origin, and
from the first were intended for places of inter-
ment alone, and that what, previous to recent
investigations, was regarded as the normal con-
dition of things, was really extremely exceptional,
and is to be explained in each case on exceptional
grounds.
The traditional hypothesis to which we have
referred, by which the conclusions of all inves-
tigators before the memorable epoch of Padre
Marchi were fettered, had its foundation in cer-
tain passages in ancient documents of very ques-
tionable value, which describe the burial-places
of certain martyrs and others as being in arena-
ria, juxta arenarium, ad arenas, or m cryptis
arenariis. These passages are almost exclusively
derived from the documents known as "Acta
Martyrum," which, from the extent to which
their text has been tampered with at different
dates, are generally almost woi'thless as histo-
rical authorities. None of those in question are
contained in Ruinart's Acta Martyrnm Sinccra,
and they are probably of little real weight. And
further, even if the statements contained in them
deserved to be received with more confidence
De Rossi has very acutely demonstrated that
they cannot fairly be considered to prove the
tact for which they are adduced. They show
little more than that the terms arenarium, kc,
were used more loosely at the time these "Acts"
were compiled than strict accuracy warranted,
and were applied to the whole " hypogaeum " of
which the sand-pit at most only foi'med part.
According to Mich. Stef. De Rossi {Analis. Geol. ed
Arch. vol. i. pp. 13-34), if we confine ourselves
to a range of five or six miles out of Rome, there
are no more than nine passages of these " Acts "
m which martyrs are recorded to have been
mterred in arenaria or in cryptis arenariis ;
while of this limited number of authorities, four
refer to cemeteries in which an arenaria is
actually found more or less closely connected
with the cemetery, and in which therefore the
fact may be at once acknowledged to be in agree-
ment with the record, without in the least
impugning our conclusion as to the generally
distinct nature of the two.
It deserves notice also, as showing the worth-
lessness of these records as statements of fact,
that two of the passages which speak of inter-
ments in cryptis arenariis, that of SS. Nereus
and Alexander in the cemetery of Domitilla, and
that of S. Laurentius in that of Cyriaca, refer to
localities where pozzoluna is not to be found,
but where the stratum in which the cemetery is
constructed is that known as capellaccio, which
is quite worthless for building purposes. No
arenarium, or crypta arenaria, properly so called,
could have existed there.
With regard to the passage which refers to
the place of sepulture of SS. Marcus and Mar-
<elliuus. Padre Marchi justly observes that it
is not said that these martyrs were buried in
cryptis arenarum, but " in loco qui dicitur ad
arenas," and therefore merely in the ueighbour-
CATACOMBS
299
hood of the pits from which the walls of the city
were built.
But although the exclusively Christian origin
of the catacombs has to be distinctly asserted,
and the idea that they had their origin in sand
quarries, already existing in the first ages of the
Church, must be met with a decided contra-
diction, we must be careful not to press the
distinction so far as to deny the connection which
really exists, in very many instances, between
the cemetery and an arenaria. We must also
allow that there are examples in which loculi for
Christian interment have been found in the walls
of the tortuous roads of a sand quarry. Mr.
J. H. Parker, who by his accurate investigations
is conferring on the architecture and topography
of Rome the same benefits he has bestowed on
the architecture of his native country and of
France, has discovered loculi in the sides of a
sand-pit road, near the church of S. Urbano alia
Caflarella. This road evidently communicated
with the cemetery of Praetextatus, to which the
main entrance was from the church, originally
an ancient tomb. A modern brick wall, built
across the road, prevents any further examina-
tion of the locality. Such communications be-
tween the cemeteries and the adjacent arenariae
were frequently opened in the days of perse-
cution, when, as Tertullian informs us, the
Christians were " daily besieged, and betrayed,
and caught unawares in their very assemblies
and congregations; their enemies having in-
formed thenjselves as to the days and places of
their meetings " (Tert. Apol. vii. ; ad Nat. i. 7),
and when, therefore, it became necessary as far
as possible to conceal the entrances to their
burial places from the public gaze. In those
times of trial the original entrances to the cata-
combs were blocked up, the staircases destroyed,
and new and difficult ways of access opened
through the recesses of a deserted sand-pit.
These afforded the Christians the means of ingress
and egress without attracting public notice, and
by means of them they had facilities for escape,
even when they had been tracked to the cata-
comb itself. The catacomb of S. Callistus aff'ords
examples of these connections with arenaiHa.
(Cf. the plans given by De Rossi, Northcote, and
Marchi.)
History. — The practice of interring the entire
corpse unconsumed by fire in a subterranean ex-
cavation has been so completely identified with
the introduction of the Christian religion into
Rome that we are in danger of losing sight of
the fact that this mode of burial did not in any
sense originate with the Christians. However
great the contrast between the sepulture after
cremation in the urns of columbaria, or the indis-
criminate flinging of the dead into the loathsome
pnticoli, and the reverent and orderly interment
of the bodies of the departed in the cells of a
catacomb, the Christians, in adopting this mode,
were only reverting to what one of the early
apologists terms " the older and better custom of
inhumation" (Minuc. Fel. Octac. c. 34). It is
well known that the custom of burying the dead
was the original custom both with the Greeks
and Romans, and was only superseded by burn-
ing in later times, chiefly on sanitary grounds.
The Etruscan tombs are familiar examples be-
longing to a very early period. In Rome, cre-
mation did not become general till the later davs
300
CATACOMBS
of the republic. The authority of Cicero is defi-
nite on this point. He states that Marius was
buried, and that the Gens Cornelia adopted cre-
mation for their dead in living memory, Sulla
being the first member of that Gens whose body
was burnt (Cic. de Leg. ii. 22). Under the
Empire cremation became the almost universal
custom, though not so as absolutely to exclude
the other, which gradually regained its lost hold
on the public mind, and was re-established
bv the fourth century. Macrobius asserts posi-
tively that the custom of burning the dead had
entirely ceased in his day. " Urendi corpora de-
functoi-um usus nostro saeculo nullus" (Macrob.
Saturml. lib. vii. c. 7). Of the practice of in-
humation of the unburnt body we have not un-
frequent examples in Eome itself. The tomb of
the Scipios, on the Appian Way (now within the
Aurelian walls), is a familiar instance. The
correspondence between the arrangements of this
tomb and those of the earlier Christian catacombs,
e.g. that of Domitilla, is vei-y marked. In both
we have passages excavated in the tufa, giving
access to sepulchral chambers arranged in stories ;
burial places cut in the native rock and covered
with a slab of stone; sarcophagi standing in
recesses, partially hollowed out to receive them.
Visconti was of opinion that this tomb was a
used-out stone quarry. In this he is followed
by Raoul-Rochette, Tableau cles Catac. p. 23.
It is favoured by the irregularity of the plan.
Another like example is the tomb of the Nasos, on
the Flaminian Way, described bytBartoli, in
which Kaoul-Rochette has traced a marked re-
semblance to the plan and general disposition to
the catacomb of St. Hermes, which, as we have
seen already, presents many marked variations
from the ordinary plan of the Christian cata-
combs. Other examples are given by De Rossi,
Ii. S. i. 88, who remarks that this mode of inter-
ment was much more general in Rome and its
vicinity than is usually credited. He quotes
from Fabretti, Insc. Dom. p. 55, a description of
a tomb found by him at the fourth mile on the
Flaminian Way. "Necdum crematione instituta
in topho indigena excavatum sepulchrum ....
qualia in nostris Christianorum coemeteriis
visuntur," and mentions a numerous series of
cells of a similar character cut in the living rock
examined by him in ditferent localities in the
vicinity of the city.
But although Pagan subterranean burial
places possess a family likeness to the ceme-
teries of the Christians, they are unmis-
takably distinguished from them by certain
unfailing marks. They are of much more con-
tracted dimensions, being intended for the mem-
bers and dependants of a single family, instead
of being open to the community of the faithful
generally. As being destined to be the abodes
of the dead only, their entrances were firmly
closed, while the burial niches were frequently
left open ; while on the other hand, in the Chris-
tian cemeteries, constantly visited for the pur-
poses of devotion and for the memorial of the
departed, the loculi were hermetically sealed, to
prevent the escape of noxious gases, while the
entrance stood always open, and the feithful
could approach each separate grave with their
prayers and their offerings. These distinctions
■re broadly maintained as a rule. As regards
re are exceptions each
dimensions howevi
CATACOMBS
way. We meet with some isolated Christian
burial chambers designed to receive the indi-
viduals of a single family; and on the other
hand, some heathen tombs exceed the usual
limits of a single chamber. De Rossi mentions
the existence of many hypogaea, opening from
the tombs and columbaria on the Appian and
Latin Ways, which contain a fewsmall cubiculaand
three or four very short ambulacra. Such hypo-
gaea were assigned by Marchi, without sufficient
evidence, to the adherents of idolatrous Oriental
sects (De Rossi, R. S. i. pp. 88-92).
But it is not in these heathen examples that
we are to find the germ of the Christian catacombs.
We are to look for them in the burial places of
another people, with whom the Christians of
Rome were from the first closely connected, and
indeed in the popular mind identified — the Jews.
The first converts to the faith in Rome were
Jews ; and, as Dean Milman has remarked {Lat. ^
Christianity, i. 31), no Church seems to have
clung more obstinately to Judaising tenets and
Jewish customs than the Roman. In their man-
ner of sepulture, therefore, we should anticipate
that the Roman Christians would follow the
customs of the land which was the cradle of their
religion, and to which so many of them traced
their parentage — customs which were faithfully
adhered to in the land of their dispersion. They
had an additional reason for regarding this mode
of interment with aflectionate reverence, as one
hallowed to them by the example of their cruci-
fied Master, and in Him associated with the
hopes of the resurrection. The practice of burial
in sepulchres hewn out of the living rock was
always familiar to the Jews, and was adopted by
them in every part of the world wherever they
made settlements and the nature of the soil
permitted it. The existence of Jewish catacombs
in Rome, of a date anterior to Christianity, is no ^
matter of conjecture. One was discovered by
Bosio at the opening of the 17th century, and
described by him {R. S. c. xxii. p. 141 seq;),
bearing unmistakable evidence of a very early
date. This cemetery, placed by him on Monte
Verde, outside the Porta Portese, has escaped all
subsequent researches (Marchi, p. 21 seq.). From
the meanness of its construction, the absence of
any adornment in painting, stucco, or marble,
and the smallness and paucity of its cubicula
(only two were found), it was evidently a burial
place of the poorer classes. There was an utter
absence of all Christian symbols. Almost every
loculus bore — either painted in red or scratched
on the mortar — the seven-branched candlestick. <
In one inscription was read the word CTNAmr.
(rvvaydyij.
Another Jewish catacomb is still accessible
on the Via Appia, opposite the Basilica of St.
Sebastian. According to Mr. Parker (who has
included photographs of this catacomb in his in-
valuable series, Nos. 1160, 1161), part of it is of
the time of Augustus, part as late as Constantine.
It contains two cubicula, with large arcosolia,
ornamented with arabesque paintings of flowers
and birds, devoid of distinctive symbols. Some
of the loculi present their ends instead of their
sides to the galleries — an arrangement very rarely
found in Christian cemeteries. The inscriptions
are mostly in Greek characters, though the
language of some is Latin. Some bear Hebrew
words. Nearlv all have the candlestick. In
CATACOMBS
1866 another extremely poverty-stricken Jewish
catacomb, dug in a clay soil, was excavated ia
the Vigna Cimarra, on the Appian Way.
The idea so long and so widely prevalent, that
works of such immense extent, demanding so
large an amount of severe manual labour, could
have been executed in secret, and in defiance of
existing laws, is justly designated by Mommsen
as ridiculous, and reflecting a discredit, as un-
founded as it is unjust, on the imperial police of
the capital. It is simply impossible that such
excavations should have escaped official notice.
Nor was there any reason why the Christians
should have desired that their burial places
should have been concealed from the state autho-
rities. No evidence can be alleged which affords
even a hint that in the first two centuries at
least there was any official interference with
Christian sepulture, or any difficulties attending
it to render secrecy or concealment desirable.
The ordinary laws relating to the burial of the
dead afforded their protection to the Christians
no less than to their fellow citizens. A special
enactment, of which we find no trace, would
have been needed, to exempt the Christians from
the operation of these laws. So long as they did
not violate any of the laws by which the sepul-
ture of the dead was regulated the Roman Chris-
tians were left free to follow their taste and
wishes in this matter. Nor, as we have seen,
was there anything altogether strange or repul-
sive in the mode of burial adopted by the Chris-
tians. They were but following an old fashion
which had not entirely died out in Rome, and
which the Jews were suffered to follow un-
molested. One law they were absolutely bound
to observe, viz., that which prohibited interment
within the walls of the city. And a survey of
the Christian cemeteries in the vicinity of Rome
will show that this was strictly obeyed. All
of them are contained in the zone at once pre-
scribed by law and dictated by convenience,
within a radius of about 21 miles from the
Aurelian walls. "Between the third and fifth
mile from the walls no Christian sepulchre has
been found ; at the sixth, only one, that of St.
Alexander; while beyond the seventh mile tombs
are again met with, but these belong rather to
the towns and villages of the Campagna than to
Rome itself" (Northcote, £. S. p. ^34; Mich.
Stef de Rossi, Analis. Geol. ed Arch. i. 45).
Legal enactments and considerations of practical
convenience having roughly determined the situ-
ation of the Christian cemeteries, a further cause
operated to fix their precise locality. Having
regard to the double purpose these excavations
were to serve — the sepulture- of the dead, and the
gathering of the living for devotion — it was
essential that a position should be chosen where
the soil was dry, and which was not liable to be
flooded by the neighbouring streams, nor subject
to the infiltration of water. If these rules were
not observed, not only would the putrefaction of
the corpses have taken place with dangerous
rapidity, and the air become poisoned, but the
galleries themselves would have been choked
with mud and been rendered inaccessible. We
find, therefore, that the planners of the ceme-
teries, as a rule, avoided the valleys and low
lands, and restricted their operations to the
higher grounds surrounding the cit}', particularly
where the geological conditions of the soil pro-
CATACOMBS
301
mised them strata of the tufa gmnolare, in which ^
they by preference worked, and where springs of
water were absent. As an example of the disas-
trous consequences of not attending to these pre-
cautions we may name the cemetery of Castulus, ;
on the Via Labicana, re-discovered by De Rossi
in 1864 (Biclletino de Arch. Crist., Fev. 1865). |
From its low position, the galleries are filled
with clay and water, which have reduced them , I
to ruin and rendered the cemetery quite inac- i
cessible. i
As a rule, each catacomb occupies a separate
rising ground of the Campagna, and one divided <.
from any other by intervening valleys. The
general humidity of these low grounds, and the
streams which flow along them, effectually pro- |
hibit the construction of galleries of communica- 1
tion between the various cemeteries. The idea I
broached by Raoul-Rochette, and contended for
by Marchi, that a subterranean communication !
at a low level exists between the whole of the i
Christian cemeteries of Rome, as well as with
the chief churches within the city, is, m Momm-
sen's words, "a mere fable" — in fact, a complete |
impossibility. Such galleries of connection, if
formed, would have been constantly inundated,
if they had not at once become mere conduits of j
running water.
Each of the larger cemeteries, then, may
be regarded as an insulated group, embracing
several smaller cemeteries, corresponding to the
original funeral areae assigned to the interment
of the early Christians, but never crossing the
intermediate depressions or ravines, and seldom, I
if ever, having any communication with each I
other (M. Stef. de' Rossi, H. S. Analis. Geol. ed
Arch. i. 41, seq.).
The notions which have been entertained
as to the horizontal extent of the catacombs
are very greatly exaggerated. It has been even
gravely asserted that they reach as far as Tivoli
in one direction and Ostia in the other. It is
probably quite impossible to form a correct esti-
mate of the area actually occupied by them, from
our ignorance of their real extent. Not a few
which were known to the older investigators
cannot now be discovered, and it can hardly be
questioned that others exist which have never
been entered since the period when they were
finally given over to neglect and decay. M. Stef.
de Rossi, in his valuable Analisi Geologica ed
Architettonica, so often referred to, p. 60, de-
clares his belief that nearly the whole of the
available space within the above-named ceme- j
terial zone, where the soil was suitable for the
purpose, was occupied by burial vaults. But he
discreetly abstains from any attempt to define
either their superficial area or their linear
extension. The calculations that have been
hazarded by Marchi and others are founded on
too vague data to be very trustworthy. Marchi
calculated that the united length of the galleries
of the catacombs would amount to 800 or 900
miles, and the number of graves to between six
and seven millions. The estimate quoted by Mar-
tigny {Diction, des A)it. Chre't. p. 128) does not
go beyond 587 miles. That given by Northcote
{R. S. p. 26) is more modest still, — " on the
whole there are certainly not less than 350 miles
of them." But all such estimates are at present
simply conjectural.
The beginnings of these vast cemeteries were
302
CATACOMBS
small and comparatively insignificant. There is
little question that almost without exception
thev had their origin in sepulchral areas of limi-
ted' extent, the property of private fiimilies or
individuals, devoted by them to this sacred pur-
pose. The investigations of De Rossi, an ex-
plorer as sagacious as he is conscientious, have
satisfactorily proved that the immense cemetery
of Callistus, with its innumerable cuhicula and
stories of intricate ramifications, originally con-
sisted of several small and independent burial
grounds, executed with great regularity within
carefully prescribed limits. The manner in
which a subterranean cemetery was constructed
was as follows. First of all a plot of ground
suitable for the purpose was obtained by gift or
by purchase, extending so many feet, i7i f route, in
length, along the high road, so many, in ogro,
in depth, at right angles to the road. That which
used to be known as the cemetery of Lucina, the
most ancient part of the cemetery of Callistus,
measured 100 Roman feet in length by 180 feet
in depth. A second area of the same cemetery
including the Papal crypt and that of St. Caecilia
measured 250 along the road, and reached back
100 feet in a(jro. Such a plot was secured by its
Christian proprietor as a burial-place with the
usual legal formalities. The fact of the indivi-
dual being a Christian threw no impediment in
the way of the purchase, or of the construction of
the cemetery. All were in this respect equally un-
derthe protection of the laws. The first step in the
construction of the cemetery was the excavation
of a passage all the way round the area, commu-
nicating with the surface by one or more stair-
cases at the corners. Loculi were cut in the
walls of these galleries to receive the dead.
When the original galleries were fully occupied,
cross galleries were run on the same level, gra-
dually forming a network of passages, all filled
with tombs. If a family vault was required, or
a martyr or other Christian of distinction had
to be interred, a small rectangular chamber,
cubiculmn, was excavated, communicating with
the gallery. In the earlier part of the cemetery
of Callistus a considerable number of these small
burial chambers are found, succeeding one an-
other as we proceed along the ambulacrum with
as much regularity as bedrooms opening out of a
passage in a modern house. When the galleries
in the original piano had reached their furthest
extension consistent with stability, the excavators
commenced a new system of galleries at a lower
level, reached by a new staircase. These were
carried out on the same principle as those in the
story above, and were used for sepulture as long
as they aflbrded space for graves. When more
room was wanted the fossores formed a third
story of galleries, which was succeeded by a
fourth, and even by a fifth. Instances indeed
are met with, as in some parts of the cemetery
of Callistus, where, including what may be called
a mezzanine story, the number of piani reaches
seven. Sometimes, however, according to Cav.
Mich. S. de Rossi (Analis. Geol. ed. Architet. del
dmitero di Callisto, vol ii. p. 30), the upper
piani are of later date than the lower, experience
havmg given the excavators greater confidence in
the security of the strata, and the complete
cessation of persecution removing the temporary
necessity for concealment. Some of these later
galleries are not more than from three to four
CATACOMBS
inches below the surface. The extreme narrow-
ness of the galleries is one of the most marked
characteristics of the Christian catacombs. The
object of the excavators being to economize
sjjace and make the most of a limited area, the
gallery was not formed of a greater width than
would be sufficient for the purpose of affording
two tiers of sepulchral recesses, with room
enough between for the passage, usually, of a
single person. The naiTowest galleries, which
are by no means rare, are from 2 ft. to 2J ft.
wide. The normal width is from 2^ ft. to
3 ft. A few are 3J ft. wide. A still smaller
number, and those usually very short, are from
4 ft. to 5 ft. in width. These rules, says
M. S. de Rossi, are unalterable, whatever be
the piano, or the quality of the rock. The
only variation is that where the rock is more
friable the galleries are less numerous, and
more of the intervening stratum is left un-
touched; while they become more numerous and
intricate the greater the solidity of the forma-
tion. The ceiling is usually flat, sometimes
slightly arched. The height of the galleries
depends on the nature of the soil in which they
are dug. The earliest were originally the least
elevated ; the fossores being apprehensive of
making them too high for security. As they
gained confidence in the strength of the I'ock,
space required for more graves was obtained by
lowering the floor of the galleries, so that not
unfrequently the most ancient are now the
most lofty. Sometimes the construction of
galleries at a lower level was stopped by the
cessation of the strata of t^ifa granolare : and at
others, as in the Vati.an cemetery, by the oc-
currence of springs, which threatened the inun-
dation of the galleries and the destruction of
the graves. When further progress ' down-
wards was prevented, another funeral area was
opened by the side of the original one, and the
same process was repeated. It often happened
that in the course of time independent ceme-
teries which had been foi-med in adjacent plots of
ground were combined together, so as to form
one large necropolis. Examples of this are
found in almost all the great cemeteries of Rome,
and the combination of names which has thus
arisen has given rise to no little confusion. Por-
tions of what has since become one cemetery bear
different appellations in the ancient documents,
and it is not easy to unravel the tangled skein :
e.g. the cemetery "ad Ursum pileatum" on the
"Via Portuensis " bears the titles of St. Pontia-
nus, SS. Abdon and Sennen, and St. Pigmenius.
That on the " Via Appia," usually known as the
cemetery of St. Praetextatus, is also called after
St. Urbanus, SS. Tiburtius and Valerianus, St.
Balbina and St. Marcus.
Tradition and documentary evidence have
assigned several of the Roman catacombs to the
first age of the Church's history. For some, an
apostolical origin is claimed. It may be difficult
to prove beyond question that any of the existing
catacombs belong to the age of St. Peter and
St. Paul, but the matter has been very care-
fully and dispassionately examined by De
Rossi, a. S. i. p. 184 seq., and the evidence he
collects from the existing remains in support of
the traditional view is of a nature to convince us
that some of them were constructed at least in a
very early period. This evidence is presented by
CATACOMBS ^
paintings in a pure classical style, with a very
rare admixture of distinctly Christian symbols ;
decorations in fine stucco, displaying a chaste
architectural spirit ; crypts of consid'erable size,
not hewn out of the living tut'a, but carefully,
and even elegantly, built with pilasters and
cornices of brick and terra-cotta ; wide corridors
with painted walls, and recesses for sarcophagi,
instead of the narrow ambulacra with their
walls thickly pierced with shelf-like funeral
recesses ; whole families of inscriptions to persons
bearing classical names, and without any dis-
tinctively Chi-istian expressions; and lastly,
though rarely, consular dates of the second, and
one or more even of the first century. The cata-
combs that present these distinctive marks of
very early date are those of Priscilla on the Via
Salaria Nova, that of Domitilla on the Via Arden-
tina, of Praetextatus on the Via Appia, ancl a
portion of that of St. Agnes, identified with the
cemetery of Ostrianus or Fons Petri.
The evidence of early date furnished by in-
scriptions is but scanty. It must, however, be
borne in mind that only a very small proportion
have the date of the year, as given by the
consuls, upon them. The chief object was to fix
the anniversary of the death, and for this the day
of the month was sufficient. The most ancient
dated Christian inscription is of the third year
of Vespasian, a.d. 7'2, but its original locality is
unknown (Northcote, E. S. p. 6.5). Rostell
(JRoms Beschreibung, i. 371), quotes from Bol-
detti, p. 83, one of the consulate of Anicius and
Virius Callus, a.d. 98, from the catacomb of
Hippolytus ; but it begins with the letters
D. M., and contains no distinctly Christian ex-
pressions. One of the consulate of Sura and
Senecio, a.d. 107, and another of that of Piso
and Bolanus, a.d. 110, were seen by Boldetti in
the catacomb beneath the basilica of St. Paul
(Boldetti, pp. 78, 79). The same explorer found
here also an inscription, which the name of
Gallicanus fi.xes either to A.D. 127 or A.D. 150.
The beginning of the third century finds the
Christians of Rome in possession of a cemetery
common to them as a body, and doubtless secured
to them by legal tenure, and under the protection
of the authorities of the city. We learn this
instructive fact from the Philosophumena of
Hippolytus (ix. 11), where we read that Pope
Zephyrinus "set Callistus over the cemetery,"
KaTecrrrjffiv sttI rh Koijj.riT'fipiov. As we have
seen reason to believe that at this period several
Christian cemeteries were already in existence,
there must have been something distinctive about
this one to induce the bishop of Rome to intrust
its care to one of his chief clergy, who in a few
years succeeded him in his Episcopate. We can
have little hesitation in accepting De Rossi's
conclusion (for the grounds of which the reader
must be referred to his great work Soma Sotter-
vinea, or to Dr. Northcote's excellent abridgement
of it under the same title) that this was the
cemetery which we read in Anastasius, § 17,
Callixtus "made on the Appian Way, where the
<; bodies of many priests and martyrs repose, and
^ which is called even to the present day coeme-
terium Callixti." In a crypt of this cemetery
Zephyrinus himself was buried, in violation of
the rule which had prevailed almost without
exception up to that period, that the bishops
of Rome should be laid where St. Peter was
CATACOMBS
303
believed to repose, in the crypt of the Vatican.
Of the fifteen bishops who are reported to have
preceded Zephyrinus, all but Clemens, who is
recorded to have been buried in Greece, and
Alexander, whose sepulchre was made near the '
scene of his martyrdom, on the Via Nomentana, |
according to the oldest and most trustworthy ,
recensions of the Liber Pontificalis, were sup- '
posed to sleep in the Vatican cemetery. Of
the eighteen who intervened between him and
Sylvester, no fewer than thirteen repose in the |
cemetery of Callistus. Slabs bearing the names
of Anteros, A.D. 236, Fabianus, A.D. 251, (the
first bishop of whose martyrdom there is no '
question), Lucius, A.D. 253, and Eutychianus, I
A.D. 275, in Greek characters, the oflicial lan-
guage of the Church, with the words Episcopiis, -
and, in the case of Fabianus, martyr, added,
have been discovered by Cav. de Rossi in this
crypt. An adjoining vault has revealed the
epitaph of Eusebius, a.d. 311, set up by Dama-
sus, and engraved by his artist Furius Dionysius i
Philocalus, whose name it bears. In another crypt
in the same cemetery De Ros.si's labours have
been rewarded by the fragments of an epitaph
which is reasonably identified with that of Cor-
nelius, A.D. 252, whose portrait, together with <^ j
that of his contemporary and correspondent i
Cyprian, is painted on its wall. Callistus
himself does not lie in the catacomb that bears j
his name. He met his end by being hurled from
a window into a well in the Trastevere, and his I
corpse was hastily removed to the nearest cem-
etery, that of Calepodius, on the Via Aurelia.
It cannot be reasonably qtiestioned that a ceme-
tery which was the recognised burial-place of
the bishops of the city had a public, official
character distinct from the private cemeteries
with which the walls of Rome were surrounded.
To the period of peaceful occupation and
undisturbed use of the cemeteries by the
Christian population of Rome succeeded that of
persecution. We cannot place this earlier than
the middle of the third century. There might
be occasional outbreaks of popular violence
directed against the Christians, and isolated acts [
of cruelty and severity towards the professors of ,
an unpopular religion. We know from the
famous correspondence between Pliny and Mar- /
cus Aurelius, that even under the merciful survey
of so wise and benevolent a ruler, the position of
a Christian was far from one of security. Of
this we have a proof, if it be really authentic, in
the touching record of a martyrdom within the
precincts of the catacombs, given by the cele-
brated epitaph of Alexander from the cemetery '
of Callistus (Bosio lib. iii. c. 23, p. 216).
"Alexander mortuus non est sed vivit super
astra et corpus in hoc tumulo quiescit. Vitam
explevit cum Antonino Imp. qui ubi multum
benefitii antevenire previdei'et pro gratia odium
reddidit. Genua enim flecteus vero Deo saeri-
ficaturus ad supplicia ducitur. O tempera in-
fausta quibus inter sacra et vota ne in cavernis
quidem salvari possimus. Quid miserius vita,
sed quid miserius in morte cum ab amicis et I
pai-entibus sepeliri nequeant. Tandem in caelo
coruscat. Parum vixit qui vixit iv. x. Tem."
Another of almost equal interest, from the
same cemetery, is also found in Bosio, p. 217,
referring to a martyrdom in the days of Hadrian.
"Tempore .Adrian! Imperatoris Marius ado-
304
CATACOMBS
Dux militum qui satis visit dum vitam
pro CHO consumsit. In pace tandem quievit.
Benemerentes cum lacrimis et metu posuerunt."
There was no general persecution of the
Christians in Rome from the reign of Nero,
A.D. 65, to that of Decius, A.D. 249-251.
"During that period," writes Dean Milman
(^History of Christianity, bk. iv. c. ii. p. 329, note
2), " the Christians were in general as free and
secure as the other inhabitants of Rome. Their
assemblies were no more disturbed than the
synagogues of the Jews, or the rites of other
foreign religions. From this first terrible but
brief onslaught under Decius, to the genei-al and
more merciless persecution under Diocletian and
Galerius, A.D. 303, there is no trustworthy
record of any Roman persecution." These epochs
of persecution left their marks on the construc-
tion of the catacombs. The martyrdom of
Xystus II. in the cemetery of Praetextatus,
A.D. 257 (" Xystum in cimiterio animadversum
sciatis , . . et cum eo diaconos quatuor," Cy-
prian, Ep. 80), and the walling up alive of a con-
siderable number of the faithful, men, women,
and children, near the tombs of the martyrs
Chrysanthus and Daria, in a catacomb on the
Via Salaria, recorded by St. Gregory of Tours,
De Gloria Martyr, i. c. 28 ; and other traditions
of the same period, even thougli we are com-
pelled to hesitate as to some of them, testify to
the danger that attended the meetings of the
faithful in the cemeteries, and the necessity
which had arisen for secrecy and concealment if i
they would preserve the inviolability of their
graves, and continue their visits undisturbed.
To these fierce times of trial we may safely
assign the alterations which we find made in the
entrances of and staircases leading down to the
caiacombs, and the construction of concealed
ways of ingress and egress through the arenariae
which lay adjacent to them. We may instance
the blocking up and partial destruction of two
chief staircases in the cemetery of Callistus, and
the formation of secret passages into the arena-
riii. One of these is approached by a staircase
that stops suddenly short some distance from the
floor of the gallery, and was thus rendered
utterly useless to any who could not command a
ladder, oi- some other means ot connecting the
lowest step with the arenaria (Northcote, R. S.
pp. 331, 3-17 ; De Rossi, B. S. ii. 47-49). It happens
not unfrequently that galleries are found com-
pletely filled up with earth from the floor to the '
vault. It has been considered by many that
this was the work of the Christians themselves,
with the view of preserving their sepulchres
inviolate by rendering the galleries inaccessible
to friend or foe. This view, first propounded by
Buonarruoti, Osserv. p. xii., is strongly main-
tained by De Rossi, M. S. ii. 52-58, who assigns
this earthing-up of the tombs to the persecution
of Diocletian, A.D. 302. But the opinion main-
tained by other equally competent authorities is
more probable, that this proceeding was simply
dictated by convenience, as a means for disposing
more easily of the earth excavated from newly-
formed galleries. It must always have been
a tedious and laborious operation to convey the
freshly-dug earth from the catacomb to the
surface, through the long tortuous passages, and
by the air-tunnels. The galleries already piled
with tombs, and therefore useless for future
CATACOMBS
interments, oft'ered a ready reception for the
material, and in these it was deposited. This is
the view of Marchi, p. 94, and Raoul-Rochette,
Tableau des Catac. p. 36, and even of Boldetti,
pp. 607 ; although the last-named author is
unable altogether to reject Buonarruoti's idea
that the galleries were thus filled up to save
the hallowed remains they contained from the
sacrilegious hands of the heathen.
The middle of the fourth century, which saw
the establishment of Christianity as the religion
of the Roman states, was the commencement of
a new era in the history of the catacombs. Sub-
terranean interment gradually fell into disuse,
and had almost entirely ceased by the close of
that century. The undeniable evidence of the
inscriptions with consular dates as given by
De Rossi, Inscr. Christ, i. p. 117, &c., shews that
between A.D. 338 and A.D. 360 two out of three
burials took place in the subterranean portions
of the cemeteries. Between A.D. 364 and a.d.
369 the proportions are nearly equal, and a
new era in the history of the cemeteries began
— the era of religious interest. The zeal dis-
played by Pope Damasus a.d. 366-384 in re-
pairing and decorating the catacombs ; erecting
new staircases for the convenience of pilgrims,
searching for the places of the martyrs' interment,
and adorning them with exquisitely engraved
epitaphs in large faultless characters, the work
of an artist named Furius Dionysius Philocalus,
caused a short sudden outburst of desire to be
buried near the hallowed remains, resulting
in wholesale destruction of many hundreds of
early paintings with which the walls of the
cuhicula and arcosolia were covered. But the
flame soon died out. Between a.d. 373 and
A.D. 400 the subterranean interments were only
one in three, and after A.d. 410, the fetal year
of the 'taking of Rome by Alaric, scarcely a
single certain example is found. But although
the fashion of interment came to an end, the
reputed sanctity of those whose remains were
enshrined in them caused them to be the object
of wide-spread interest. Pilgrims flocked to
visit the places hallowed by the memories of
so many confessors and martyrs, for whose
guidance catalogues of the chief cemeteries and
of the saints buried in them were from time to
time drawn up, which have proved of consider-
able service in their identification. Even hermits
came from a distance and fixed their cells in their
immediate neighbourhood.
It appears evident from Jerome's well-known
description of his visits to the catacombs when a
schoolboy, circa A.D. 354, Hieron. in Ezech. c. xl.
that even in the latter half of the fourth cen-
tui-y interment was rare in them. He speaks
of visiting " the tombs of the apostles and
martyrs," and describes the walls of the crypts
" lined with the bodies of the dead ;" but his
language is that of one describing a cemetery
long since disused, not one in daily activity. So
also, Praef. ad Lib. ii. in Galat., " Ubi alibi tanto
studio et frequentia ad martyrum sepulchra
curritur?" The words of the poet Prudentius,
written about the same time, describing the
tomb of Hippolytus, lead to the same conclusion.
His lengthened and minutely detailed description
does not contain a word that indicates that the
cemetei-y which contained this sacred shrine was
used for actual interment.
CATACOMBS
Amidst all the devastation committed by the
barbarian conquerors both in the first and second
sack of Rome, a.d. 410, 457, we have no record
of damage inflicted on the cemeteries. It may-
be simply lack of evidence. We cannot deem it
likely that any feeling of reverence would have
led the Goths to refrain from the rich plunder
the piety of devotees had stored up in the burial
chapels. Prudentius informs us that the aedicula
which enshrined the relics of St. Hippolytus was
bright with solid silver, and other catacombs were
certainly as sumptuously decorated. But whether
the catacombs were devastated by Alaric's hordes
or no, it is certain that after A.D. 410 " the use
of the subterranean cemeteries as places of
burial was never resumed, and that inscriptions
and notices that seem to refer to them will be
found on closer examination to relate to basilicas
and cemeteries above ground. The fossors' occu-
pation was gone, and after A.D. 426 their name
ceases to be mentioned. The liturgical books of
the fifth century refer constantly, in the prayers
for the dead and the benediction of graves, to
burials in and around the basilicas, never to the
subterranean cemeteries," (Northcote B. S. p.
104), But though disused as places of sepulture
the catacombs continued to be visited by pilgrims,
and were regarded with special devotion by the
popes, who from time to time repaired and beau-
tified them (e. g. Symmachus, A.D. 498-514 ;
Anast. §81). The fatal zeal displayed by succes-
sive pontiffs in the restoration and decoration of
these consecrated shrines is the cause of much per-
plexity to the investigator who desires to dis-
cover their original form and arrangements.
Nothing but long experience and an intimate ac-
quaintance with the character of the construction
and ornamentation of ditt'erent periods can enable
ivs to distinguish with, any accuracv between
the genuine structure of the catacombs and the
paintings with which they were originally
adorned, and the work of later times. JMany of
the conclusions drawn by Roman Catholic writers
from the paintings and ritual arrangements of
the catacombs as we now find them, and the
evidence supposed to be furnished by them as to
the primitive character of their dogmas and tra-
ditions, prove little worth when a more search-
ing investigation shows their comparatively
recent date. An analogous exaggeration has
widely prevailed with regard to the custom of]
resorting to these gloomy vaults as places of
concealment in times of persecution. We can-
not fairly doubt that they occasionally served as
jilaces of refuge, though it is not always er.sy to
determine whether the language used refers to
the subterranean part of the cemetery, or to the
cdlae, the basilicas, and other buildings which
had gradually risen in the area that lay above
them ; but that which was at most exceptional
has been spoken of almost as if it were the rule.
We have direct evidence that the ravages of the
Goths under Vitiges, when they sacked Rome, A.n.
537, extended to the catacombs, " Ecclesiae et cor-
pora sanctorum martyrum exterminatae sunt a
Gothis " (Anast. § 99). On their retirement the
havoc they had committed was repaired by Pope
Vigilius, who replaced the broken and mutilated
epitaphs of Pope Damasus by copies, not always
very correct. These good deeds stand recorded in
an inscription of this pope now in the Gallery of
the Vatican : —
CHRIST. ANT.
CATACOMBS
305
" Dum poritura Getae posuissent castra sub iirbem
Moverunt Sanctis bella nefanda prius,
Totaque sacrilege verterunt corde sepulchra
IVlartyribus quondam rite sacrata jjiis.
Quos monstrante Deo Jlamasus sibi Papa probates
Affixo nionuit carmine jure coli ;
Sed periit titulus coiifracte marmere sanctus
Nee tamen bis iterum posse latere fuit.
Diruta Vigilius nam pesthaec Papa gemiscens
Hostibus expulsis omne novavit opus."
The reverence for the catacombs was now
gradually dying out. One pope after another
attempted to revive it by their decrees, but
without any permanent eflect. John III., circa
A.D. 568, restored the cemeteries of the holv
martyrs, "and ordered that oblations" (the
Eucharistic elements), " cruets, and lights [' ob-
lationes, ampullae ' (var. lect. ' amulae '), vel ' lu-
minaria'], should be supplied from the Lateran
every Sunday" (Anast. § 110). It is also re-
corded in commendation of Sergius I., A.D. 687-
701, that when he was a presbyter it was his
wont to " celebrate mass diligently through the
different cemeteries" (Anast. § 158). In the
next century, circa 735, Gregory III., a zealous
builder and repairer of churches, arranged a
body of priests to celebrate mass, and provided
that lights and oblations should be furnished from
the palace for all the cemeteries round Rome
(Anast. § 204). In neither of these cases, how-
ever, can we affirm that the reference is chiefly
to underground cemeteries or catacombs.
We have now reached the period of the reli-
gious spoliation of the catacombs, from which
they have suffered more irreparably than from
any violence offered by sacrilegious hands.
The injuries commenced by the Goths had been
repeated by the Lombards under Astolphus,
A.D. 956. But these invaders did little mo3-e
than complete the devastation which was being
already caused by the carelessness of those
by whom these cemeteries should have been
religiously tended. The slothfulness and neglect
manifested towards these hallowed places are
feelingly deplored by Paul I. in a Constitution
dated June 2, A.D. 761. Not only were sheep
and oxen allowed to have access to them, but
folds had been set up in them and they had
been defiled with all manner of corruption.
The holy father therefore resolved to trans-
late the bodies of the saints and enshrine
them in a church he had built on the site of his
paternal mansion (Anast. § 259, 260). Paul's
immediate successors reversed his policy, and
used all their endeavours to restore the lost
glories of the catacombs. But it was too late,
the spirit of the age had changed. As the only
means of securing the sacred relics from dese-
cration. Paschal, A.D. 817-827, was forced to
follow the example .set by Paul, July 20, A.D.
817. He translated to the church of St. Pras-
sede, as recorded in an inscription still to be
read there, no less than 2300 bodies. The work
was continued by succeeding popes, and many
cartloads of relics are recorded to have been
transferred at this period from the catacombs to
the Pantheon. The sacred treasures which had
given the catacombs their value in the eyes of
the devout having been removed, all interest in
them ceased. Henceforward all inducement to
visit them was lost, and with some insignificant
exceptions the catacombs lapsed into complete
X
306
CATACOMBS
oblivion, in which they remained wrapped for
more than six centuries. It was not till May-
Si, 1578, that their fortuitous discovery re-
vealed to the astonished inhabitants of Rome
the hidden treasures that lay beneath theij- feet,
and awoke an interest which, though sometimes
flagging and not always intelligently exercised,
has never since expired, and which the combined
genius, learning, and industry of Marchi, and
his i)upils, the brothers De Rossi, together with
tlie remarkaliie discoveries which have rewarded
their researches, and the skill with which they
have known how to interpret and employ the
results of their investigations, have of late raised
to a pitch that has never before been equalled.
It is not within the scope of this article to
record the names and trace the labours of the
investigators who have employed themselves in
this field of research. This will be found in the
chronological sketch prefixed to Raoul-Rochette's
excellent and unprejuiliced little work, ^'' Tab-
leau des Catacombes de Rome," Paris, 1853, as
well as in the opening pages of the Boina
Sotterranea of De Rossi, and the English abridge-
ment by Dr. Northcote and the Rev. W. K
Brownlow, London, 1869.
Description. — The catacombs of Rome, to
which as the most interesting and most thoroughly
investigated of the subterranean cemeteries our
pri'S'Mit remarks will be confined, consist of a vast
laliyriiith of narrow subterranean passages or
galleries excavated in the strata of volcanic earth
that underlie the city and its neighbourhood,
for the purpose of the interment of the dead.
These galleries are excavated at different levels,
forming various stories or piani, one beneath the
other, communicating by narrow flights of steep
stairs cut in the native rock, as well as by shafts
and wells sunk for the purpose of affording light
and air. These stories of galleries lie one below
the other sometimes to the number of frve, or
even, as in the cemetery of St. Callistus of
seven. The galleries as a rule preserve the level
'" "'i
y:c'^,::r^r^^^'
':Aiw
mi
^
US
j^""^-~
ir--v-^i^-
„..--.-
bi -
of the pixmo to which they belong, so that it is
very rare to meet with galleries, gradually de-
scending by an inclined plane to a lower story.
The only communication, as a rule, between the
sioriesis by flights of steps. The lowest are usuallv
CATACOMBS
the latest ; the additional labour of removing the
earth from the greater depth not being under-
taken until the want of burial space in the story
above forced it upon its possessors. Instances
occur where a stratum of considerable thickness
having been left by the original constructoi-s
between two stories of ambulacra, an interme-
diate story (a mezzanine or entresol), has been
excavated in later times. These corridors, or
ambidacra, follow no definite system. They more
usually than not run in straight lines, formmg
an intricate network continually crossing and
recrossing one another at different angles, and
as no law of parallelism is adopted in laying out
the plan, it is not easy to reduce them to anv
system. These galleries are not merely passages
of access to the cemetery, but themselves con-
Callerj itl L
. \u tbcote b Koiua Sutte i
stitute the cemetery. They do not conduct to
the places of interment, but the dead are interred
in them. The walls are vertical, and (as re-
presented in the annexed woodcut) are pierced on
each side with long low horizontal recesses, com-
mencing a few inches above the level of the floor,
and rising tier above tier, like the berths in a ship's
cabin, to the number of five, six, and sometimes
even twelve ranges. They are divided from one
another by an intervening shelf of tufa as thin
as was compatible with security. The length of
these niches is almost invariably in the direction
of the gallery. This form was much easier to
excavate, and enabled the corpse to be laid in its
tomb with greater facility and reverence thai>
when the recess entered deep into the rock, at
right angles to the axis of the corridor. Examples
of this latter form do exist in the Roman cata-
combs, but very rarely. Padre Marchi, ilonu-
menti delle Arti Christ. Prim. pp. 110, 225, tav.
xiv., xliii., xliv., gives a description and engra-
vings of 20 specimens discovered by him in the
cemetery of St. Cyriaca (see ground plan). The
same mode of construction appears in the heathen
catacombs in Egypt, and those of the Saracens at
Taormina, engraved by D'Agincourt, pi. ix. Tlie
name given in modern times to these sepulchral
cavities is loculus. The original term, appearing
thousands and thousands of times in the inscrip-
CATACOMBS
tioas of the catacombs, was locus. The word
loculus, properly signified a bier or a coffin,
"cujus (Agapeti) corpus in loculo phmiJjeo trans-
latum est (Constantinopoli) usque in basilicam B.
Petri apostoli " (Anastas. lis. § 95 ; cf. Ibid.
CATACOMBS
307
Loculi in the Catacomb of St. Cyriaca, from Jlaichi
Ixiii. 110), and is incorrectly applied to the
grave. Its use in this sense was introduced by
Lupi in the early part of the 18th century. He
writes " loculum appello excavatum in coeitie-
terii parietibus fenestram parvam ad unum alte-
rumve cadaver excipiendum " (Lupi, Dissert, ad
Scv. Martyr. Epitaph. 1734, p. 2, note 3). Each
recess usually contained a single body. But
instances are by no means rare where by in-
creasing its depth it was made capable of re-
ceiving two, three, or four corpses. Such recesses
were designated bisonii, trisomi, qitadrit,omi, etc ,
according to the number of bodies for which thev
were destined. Examples of the use of all these
terms appear in the epitaphs. Bisomi : fiom
that of St. Callistus, " Donata se viv. emit sibi
et Maxentiae locum bisomum." (Boldetti, p.
286.) " Sergius et Junius Fossores B. N. M. m
pace bisom." (Boldetti, p. 65.) " Hocta^ ie roivgi
neofite bisomv. maritus fecit" (Bosio, p. 507).
Trisomi: " Seberus, Leontius Bictorinus. Tri-
somu" (Bosio, p. 216). " Se biba (vi\a)emet
Domnina locum a Successum trisomu ubi ])ositi,"
(lb.).- Quadrisorni: "Consulatu Nicomnt i Fhibiaui
locum Marmorari quadrisomum " (Maitland, p.
39; see Marchi, pp. 115-117.) The locu'i were
in later times purchased of the sextons, tossores,
and as some of the inscriptions already given
show, not unfrequeotly in a person's lifetime.
Another example is the following ungrammatical
epitaph from Bosio, lib. iii. c. 41. " Locus Bene-
nati II et Gaudiosae compares || se vivi compara-
verunt || ab Anastasio et Antioeho FS. (fosso-
ribus)." An inscription from the Museum of the
Ca])itol given by Burgon, Letters from Borne,
p. 181, no. 25, acquaints us with the price paid,
1500 folles (the follis is said at that time to
have been equivalent to an oholus), and that the
bargain was struck in the presence of Severus
and Laurence his brother sexton. " Emit locum
ab Ar|ltaemisium visomum || hoc est et prae-
tium II datum Fossor Phila||ro yd est Fol. N. ><
S. Prae||sentia Severi Foss. et Laurent." Some-
times loculi were excavated by the heirs* of the
fossor with whom the bargain was made, " fos-
soris discendentibus " (De Rossi, R. S. i. 215).
The loculi are found of all sizes, from those suit-
able for an infant of a few days old which occur
by thousands to those adapted to the body of a
full grown man. In the more ancient galleries
apertures of various dimensions occur confusedly,
having been formed as occasion required. The
early loculi are also of much larger dimensions
than was needful for the reception of the body,
and neither in the form of the niches themselves
nor in their arrangement does the idea of eco-
nomy of space shew itself. But experience taught
the excavators how to make the most of the space
at command, and Marchi, pp. 112, 113, tav. xv.,
produces an example from the cemetery of St.
Cyriaca, where the loculi are arranged in groups
according to their dimensions, every square inch
of rock being utilised as far as was consistent
with stability. In some cases the back wall of
the loculus instead of being parallel to the lines
of the opening is set at an angle, forming a
trapezoidal recess in which bodies of different
stature might lie side by side (see annexe!
ground plan and section) (Marchi, tav., xv.
xviii.). In later times space was also economised
by making the recess wide at the head ■ and
narrow at the feet. Examples are not wanting
of graves being dug like those of our own day in
the floor of the corridors. Marchi gives instances
from the catacombs of Calepodius and Callistus,
tav. xxi. xxvi. etc. But they are very un-
frequent. The loculi, after the introduction of
the body were closed with great care, either with
slabs of m.irMe (^^^»/^■)^-M■ wifl, lai-jr tiles.
Plan of above locul
usually three, very exactly cemented together,
and luted round with lime to prevent the escape
of the gases of the putrefying bodies. The tiles
closing the early loculi in the cemetery of Domi-
tilla are of vast size. (De Rossi, BuUett. de Ant.
Christ. Magg., 1865.) On the slabs of the
earlier loculi, e.g. in the cemeteries of Priscilla
and Domitilla, the name is only painted in
red and black pigment, not cut or scratched
(Fabretti Tnsc. Bom. viii. p. 579 ; Aringhi, i?. S.
iv. 37, p. 126; Boldetti, lib. iL c. 1). The
striking fact that, in the words of Dean Milman
(Lat. Chr. i. p. 27), " for a considerable part of
the first three centuries the church of Rome
was a Greek religious colony ;" that its language,
oi'ganisation, writers, scriptures, liturgy, were
Greek, is evidenced by the inscriptions on these
primitive burial places. They are almost exclu-
sively in Greek. When engraved the letters are
often coloured with vermilion. But an immense
number of loculi are entirely destitute of anv
X 2
308 CATACOMBS
msoription (Bosio, lib. iii. c. 41 ; Boldetti, lib. ii.
c. 1 ; Lupi, p. 38). On these slabs were engraved
the funeral inscription or epitaph, often accom-
panied with some of the more usual Christian
emblems, the dove, the anchor, or the monogram
of Christ. The word tabula appears in some of
the epitaphs, e. g., of a master to a pupil,
" Posvit tabvla magister discenti Pempino bene-
raeienti" (Marchi, p. 119). " Bicentivs karo
filio karissimo benemerenti posvit tabvla qvi
bixit annos iii et dies xxii " {lb. p. 120). Both
from the catacomb of St. Cyriaca.
A small glass vessel containing indications of
the presence of a red fluid, is often found em-
bedded in the moi-tar at one extremity of the
loculus. This was formerly considered to be a
cei-tain mark of a martyr's tomb, the " Congre-
gation of Relics" having so decided (Apr. 10,
1668), the red sediment being supposed to be
blood. But this opinion has long ceased to be
entertained by the best and most unprejudiced
Christian archaeologists who almost unanimously
agree that the vessel contained Eucharistic wine,
and was used at the funeral agape. [Glass,
Christian.] Incised on the slab, or scratched on
the mortar, the palm branch is one of the symbols
that most constantly presents itself in connection
with the loculus. This also has been authorita-
tively declared to be an indisputable evidence of
a martyr's tomb, " palmam et vas sanguine
tinctum pro signis certissimis martyrii haberi,"
{Decree of the Cong, of Belies, u. s.), and has been
as completely set aside by later and less enthu-
siastic investigators. Not to dwell on the fact
that the epitaphs found in connection with the
palm branch, have as a rule, no reference to a
martyr's death, this symbol is found on tombs
prepared by individuals in their lifetime (e. _(/.,
" Leopardus se biv. fecit " between two palm
branches, Boldetti, p. 264), and decorates those
of young children {lb. p. 268) ; dignifies that of
Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, who died in schism,
{Ih. p. 262) ; and even appears on pagan tomb-
stones {lb. p. 281, sq.). Not a few of the marble
slabs {ta'mlac), closing the loculi, prove on exami-
nation, like some of our mediaeval sepulchral
brasses, to have been used before, their back
bearing a second inscription. These ai-e known
as opAsthographs. They are usually heathen
slabs, but not always. One described by Marchi,
p. 53, bears on one side " Hilara in Pace," and on
the other " Irene in Pace " — both Christian.
Boldetti, lib. ii. c. 10, supplies a large number of
examples of these twice used slabs. Mabillon
{Iter. Ital. p. 136), writes of this custom, " Chris-
tianis mos erat ut e sepulchris gentilium lapides
rovellerent in suos usus, et relicta ex ea parte
quae interiora Christiani tumuli spectabat pro-
f'ana inscriptione aliam in exteriore apponerent
ritu Christiano " (Cf. Idem. Euseh. Roman, p. 34 ;
JIarchi, pp. 53, 123).
Besides the opisthograph^ where a heathen slab
has been applied to a Christian use no inconsider-
able number of distinctly pagan epitaphs has been
discovered, in which no such transformation has
taken place. Boldetti, lib. ii. c. 9, gives no less
than 57 heathen inscriptions without any Chris-
tian admixture from the various catacombs, and
the list might be very largely increased. One
such is mentioned by Mabillon in his Iter. Itali-
cum. Mus. It. vol. i. p. 47, which though it was
destitute of Christian tokens was sent to Tou-
CATACOMBS
louse as the slab of a supposed martyr, Julia
Euodia, when it was really that of Casta her
mother, and was pagan. In Boldetti, p. 447, we
have a curious heathen slab from St. Agnes, with
the inscription " Domine frater ilaris semper
ludere tabula" and symbols of gaming. De
Rossi found pagan sarcophagi and pagan inscrip-
tions in the catacomb of Callistus in excavations
made under his own eye {Rom. Sott. ii. pp. 169,
281-290). It has been usually held that these were
slabs which had been removed from the heathen
tombs in the vicinity of the catacombs after the
Christian religion had become dominant, and
brought down to be re-engraved and fitted -for
their new purpose. " Primes Christianos Paga-
norum memorias titulosque suffuratos esse et
suis loculis coemiterialibus claudendis propriis no-
minibus insculptis et profanorum absconditis aut
abrasis . . . ostendere possumus " (Fabretti Insc.
Ant. p. 307). But another and widely different
view has lately been propounded by Mr. Parker
and others, that the rigid separation usually sup-
posed to exist between Christians and heathen
in the places of sepulture was not always main-
tained, and that when in the fourth century the
burning of the dead ceased the catacombs became
the common burial places of Rome for heathen
and Christians alike. This is one of the many
questions in connection with the catacombs in
which fuller light may show that the traditional
view requires some modification, but which
must wait the result of further investigations
for complete resolution. A class of mixed in-
scriptions remains to be noticed in which the
heathen formula D. M., or even the full Dis
Manibus appears in connection with Christian
phraseology and Christian emblems. " Debita
sacratis roanibus officia " is quoted from Gruter
by Fabretti Inscr. Dom. 112 A., as a Christian
inscription. . From the same collection (Grutei-,
MLXI.) he also gives one in which occurs the line
" Sanctique Manes nobis petentibus adsint," in
connection with the clause " quievit in pace,"
and the term " depositio." Other inscriptions
from Fabretti's collection evidence the same
lingering retention of heathen formula and phra-
seology in the expressions " Lachesis, " "Taena-
riae fauces," " f;;tis ereptus iniquis," and the like.
The strangely unchristian phrase " Tartarea
custodia " occurs in the epitaph of a presbyter
(Fabr. p. 329, no. 484). " Domus aeterna " is by
no means infrequent : e.g. " Florentiaquae vixit
annis xxvi Grescens fecit Venemerenti et sibi et
suis domu aeterna in pace " {ib. p. 114, no.
289). The untenable fallacy contended for by
Boldetti, lib. ii. c. 11, Fabretti, and the earlier
school of antiquaries, that the letters D. M.
stood for Deo Maximo has been deservedly ex-
ploded. De Rossi allows that they can only
stand for Dis Manibus, and we may safely regard
the occurrence of these letters on Christian
tombstones as an instructive example of the
slowness with which an entire people changes
its ancestral faith, and of the obstinacy with
which certain usages are clung to long after
their real force and meaning has passed away.'
"^ On this subject and its kindred topics the dispas-
sionate verdict of Dean Merivale may be read with
advantage. "The first Christians at Kome did not sepa-
rate themselves from the heathens, ii'ir renounce their
ordinary calluigs; they intermarried with unbeliever.'^,
CATACOMBS
Examples are not wanting where the work of
excavation has not been completed, and the form
of the loculus is still seen as it was sketched by-
the fossores on the wall of the ambulacrum.
The bodies of the faithful were not buried
naked, but VN^ith the same feeling of reverence
that pervaded the whole rite, were, like that of
their Master, wrapt in linen cloths " as the man-
ner of the Jews is to bury." Sometimes the
body was enveloped in a sheet ; sometimes swathed
in many lengths of bands, in the same fashion
as Lazarus is represented in the early Christian
jiictures and has reliefs. Bosio assures us that
in his investigations he found instances of both
modes. He mentions that, in excavating the
foundations for St. Peter's, bodies were exhumed
bound with linen bands, and that he himself had
seen very many wrapt in linen sheets of exceed-
ing fineness, which fell to dust at a touch (Bosio,
R. S. cap. 19 ; Marchi, p. 19). The story of the
double discovery of the body of St. Caecilia first
by Pope Paschal, c. 820, and then by Cardinal
Sfondrati, a.d. 1599, in the robes of golden tissue
she had worn in life is familiar. (It mav be read
m Northcote, £. S. pp. 154-157.) that the
bodies placed in the loculi were embalmed is pro-
bable from the known custom of the early Chris-
tians. Boldetti, lib. i. c. 59, affirms that on re-
peated occasions when he was present at the
opening of a grave in the catacombs the assem-
bled com23any were conscious of a spicy odour
dirt'using itself from the tomb. Of this custom
Prudentius writes :
" Aspersaque myrrha Sabaeo,
Corpus medicaniine servat,"
(in £xeq. its. Ilynu) 10).
Another and ruder mode of averting the evils
which might arise from the putrefaction of the
bodies in galleries which were the frequent resort
of the living was to bury the corpse in quick
lime. Padre Marchi remarked frequent exam-
ples of this custom, especially in the cemetery
of St. Agnes. The lime appeared to have been
placed between two winding sheets, one coarser
and the other finer, of the tissue of which it
retained the impress (Marchi, p. 19).
Interment in the loculus though infinitely the
most common, was not the only, and perhaps not
the earliest mode adopted by the Christians.
Cav. de Eossi has been led by his investigations
to the conclusion that the earliest form of Christian
burial was in sarcophagi placed in detached
chambers, and that burial in the loculus was of
later date. The truth may however be that the
bodies of the wealthier were laid in sarcophagi,
which must have always been costly, while the
friends of the poorer contented themselves with
a simple loculus in the wall. The Cemetery of
St. Doraitilla at Tor Marancia, which is consi-
dered by De Rossi to be the monument of a Christian
family of distinction, and is shown by the classi-
cal character of its architecture and decoration to
have belonged to the first age of the church,
affords examples of interment in sarcophagi, as
CATACOMBS
309
nor even in their unions with one another did they
neglect the ordinary forms of law. It would seem that
they burnt their dead after the Roman fashion" (can
this be shown to be true ?), " gathered their ashes into the
sepulchres of their patrons, and inscribed over them the
customary dedication to the Divine Spirits."— Sistory of
tli£ Jiumans, ch. liv.
well as of the transition from the sarcophagus to
the loculus, in some graves which " though really
mere shelves in the wall are so disguised bv
stucco and painting on the outside as to present
to passers by the complete outward appearance
of a sarcophagus" (De Rossi, B. S. i. 187, 195
2(37; Northcote, i?. S. p. 72, 73). Another
example is the so-called Capella 6rae,a of the
catacomb of St. Priscilla. This crypt is of a very
peculiar character, formed in the galleries of an
ancient arenaria, not hollowed out of the tufii
but constructed of brick. The burial-places'
here are not loculi, but large arched recesses
destined to contain sarcophagi of which in
Bosio's time numerous fragments remained, and
some still exist (Bosio, B. S. 513, ^33 ; D,; Rossi,
B. S. 1. 188 sq.). The cemetery of Domitilla con-
tains also numerous examples of sarcophagi of
terra cotta buried in the floor of the ambulacra.
Another form of interment analogous to the
sarcophagus was that in the Table Tom') or -S'e-
IMlcro a rnensa, an oblong chest either hollowed
out in the living rock, or built up of masonry
slabs of stone or large tiles, and closed by a heavy-
slab of marble lying horizontally on the top, form-
ing a table. The rock was excavated above the
tomb, to form a rectangular recess. When the
niche assumed a circular form, which is the more
frequent though not the earlier shape, it is known
by the name of arcosolium [Arcosoliuii.] Both
forms of tomb are met with in the galleries
among the loculi, but their more usual position
is in the sepulchral chambers, or cubicula, which
opened out of the galleries. The table tomb some-
times stands in front of the wall, projecting
from it, like the altar tombs of our own churches.
Examples of this arrangement appear in the
tombs of the presbyters Eusebius and Gregorius
in the papal crypt in the cemetery of St. Callis-
tus (De Rossi, vol. ii. p. 108, tav. I. A.). More
fi-equently it is let into the wall, and stands in a
recess, as we see in the tomb assigned by De
Rossi to St. Zephyrinus, which formed the original
altar in the same crypt (/6. pp. 20, 21, 51),
and that of St. Cornelius in the same catacomb
{lb. vol. i. p. 284, tab. v.). The arched form or
arcosolium proper is not found in the more ancient
cemeteries, or in the earliest constructed cubicula.
This is an indication of date of great importance
in determining the relative antiquity of the
catacombs. De Rossi remarks (vol. ii. p. 245)
that "the arcosolium is the dominant form in
310
CATACOMBS
every part of the second and third area of the
cemetery of St. Callistus, and appears frequently
in some of the crypts added to the original rect-
angular area to unite it to the second area, but
is entirely wanting (with one exception which
serves only to prove the rule) in all the cuhicula
of the primitive area, even in the most noble
and illustrious of its sepulchres " (Cf. De Eossi,
vol. i. pp. 284, 285 ; vol. ii. p. 21).
In addition to the ordinary places of interment
m the ambulacra, the catacombs contain an im-
mense number of sepulchral chambers or cuhi-
cula, each enshrining a larger or smaller number
of dead, as well in table tombs and arcosolia as
m loculi pierced in the walls. These were origi-
'- > ^"^
the uatacuiub oi bt Agues, with seats Uewn ont oi the rock.
nally family burial places, excavated and embel-
lished at the expense of the friends of the
departed, and from the date of their first con-
struction served for the celebration of the eucha-
ristic feast and agape, on the occasion of the
funeral, and its successive anniversaries. In
times of persecution they may have supplied
places of religious assembly where the faith-
ful might gather in security for the celebra-
tion of the holy mysteries at the graves of the
departed martyrs and others whose faith they
might, be soon called to follow and seal their
testimony with their blood. The name cubicu-
lum is of exclusively Christian use as applied to
places of interment. We find it repeatedly used
iu that sense in the Liber Pontificalis of Anasta-
sius. In the life of Sixtus III. a.d. 432-440, it is
distinctly used for a family vault " Cujus " (Bassi)
" corpus sepelivit ad Beatum Petrum apostolum
in cubiculo parentum ejus " (Anast. xlvi. § 63).
Padre Marchi, p. 101, gives several inscriptions
from the catacombs themselves, in which the
term occurs in this reference : e.g. CVBICVLVM
DojiiTiANi; CuBicuLus Fal. Gaudenti Ae-
GENTARI, from the catacomb of St. Callistus.
An inscription of the year 336 given by De Rossi,
No. 45, indicates the family vault of Aurelia
Martina CcjBicuLUM Aureliae Martinae.
'• These inscriptions indicate," writes Marchi, p.
101, "that in the fourth century the persons
named caused that their own cubicula should be
excavated at their own expense. Each cubiculum
was of sufficient dimensions to serve for several
generations of their respective families. If it
proved insuflicient loculi were added at a greater
or less distauct; from the ca'Aculum." Sometimes
CATACOMBS
we find the arch of an arco^oJium of the first
century cut tlirough and used as a door or en-
trance to a second cubiculum- excavated in its rear,
the original sarcophagus being removed and
carried to the back of the chapel that other
bodies might be placed near it {Bulletin, di Arch.
Christ. 1867). The number of these sepulchral
chambers is almost beyond computation. Marchi
reckons more than sixty in the eighth part of the
catacomb of St. Agnes. In that of St. -Callistus
they amount to some hundreds. They are
equally frequent in the other cemeteries. Their
form is very varied. In the catacomb of St. Cal-
listus, with very few exceptions, they are rect-
angular, and that appears to have been the
earlier shape. But the plates of Marchi, Boldetti,
&e., afford examples of many other forms, tri-
angular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, circu-
lar, and semi-circular. Among the examples
given by Boldetti. pp 11. 1"). inl "Miichi, tav.
xxiii., of whi( li u . u, one
Section of Lubicu um from Catacomb of St Callistus
from the cemetery of Callistus is circular, with a
domed vault, and is surrounded by six- arched
niches. Another from that of St. Helena on the
Via Labicana is square, with an insulated tomb in
the centre, the roof being supported by four co-
lumns standing quite free of the walls, cut out oi
the native tufa. The roof is sometimes a barrel
vault, sometimes a coved ceiling, nearly flat : in
one instance, it expands into a lofty dome, lighted
by a luminare (Bosio, p. 489, Marchi, tav. xxxi.).
Both the roof, the vaults, and the recesses of the
arcosolia are generally coated with stucco, and
richly decorated with religious paintings. It
the later restorations the walls are often veneered
CATACOMBS
with plates of costly marble [Platonia]. In a
very large number of examples the Good Shepherd
^ occupies the centre of the ceiling, the surrounding
lunettes containing Adam and Eve after the Fall,
the history of Jonah, the Sacrifice of Abraham,
Moses striking the Rock, the Three Children in
tlie Furnace, the Visit of the wise men to Christ,
the Raising of Lazarus, the Healing of the
Blind man, the Paralytic carrying his Bed, the
M»-acle of the Loaves, and other scenes from the
limited cycle of Scriptural subjects to which early
Christian art confined itself, treated with a
wearisome uniformity ; embellished with palm
branches, vines laden with grapes, the dove, the
peacock, and other familiar Christian symbols.
The walls of the chamber were also similarly
decorated [Frescos]. The vault is in some cases
supported by columns, either cut out of the tufa,
or formed of brick coated with stucco (Marchi,
tav. xix. xxii. xxx. xxxiii.). A very interesting
cubiculum from the Via Latina given by Marchi,
tav. xxii. p. 141, sq. from a plate of Bosio's, p.
303, has a domical vault and pillars covered with
stucco, ornamented with vine branches and amo-
rini in relief. The character of the decoration
claims for this a very early date. It is doubtful
whether any other of the kind has been dis-
covered in the catacombs. Light and air were
not unf'requeutly admitted by means of a shaft
communicating with the surface of the ground,
^ called luminare. A chamber so lighted was
known as a cubiculum alarum (Cf. Anastas. Bibl.
TV^. ilf«?re^/m. " Sepelivit (corpora) ... in coe-
meterio Priscillae in cubiculo claro "). For ex-
amples see Marchi, tav. viii. xxix. xxxii. xlviii.
Jerome's well known description of the catacombs
in Ezechiel. c. xl. contains an allusion to these
luminaria. His words are " raro desuper lumen
admissum horrorem temperat . . . . ut non tarn
fenestram quam foramen demissi luminis putes."
And again, praefat. in Daniel. "Cum et quasi
per cryptam ambulans rarum desuper lumen
aspicerem." Prudentius also in his Periste-
phanon, xi.-v. 161-8 uses similar language : —
•' Occurrunt caesis immissa foramina tectis
Quae jaciunt claros antra super radios.
A ttamen excisi subter cava viscera mentis,
Crebra terebrato fornice lux penetiat,
Sic datur absentis per subterranea soils
Cernere fulgorem luminibusque frui."
The Acts of SS. Marcellinus and Peter record
that the martyr Candida was put to death by
hurling her down an airshaft, and overwhelming
lier with stones, "per luminare cryptaejactantes
lapidibus obruerunt," ap. Bolland. ii. Jun. n. 10.
From an epitaph given by Marchi, p. 165, the
luminaria appear to have been divided into
" larger " and " smaller," " majora," " minora."
It is as follows ; " cumparavi Saturninus a||Susto
(Sixto) locum visomum auri solidljos duo in lu-
minare majore. Que po|lsita est ibi que fuit cum
marito an xl." Marchi gives an interesting ex-
ample of a luminare majus serving for two cubi-
cula from the cemetery of SS. Marcellinus and
Peter (pi. xxix. pp. 165 sq.). A cylindrical shaft
immediately above the ambulacrum expands into
a cone as it descends, so as to supply light and
air to chambers on opposite sides of the passage.
Painted on the wall of the shaft is a dove with
an olive bi-anch. In the cemetery of Callistus
the same luminare sometimes serves for three
CATACOMBS
311
chambers (Northcote, R. S. p. 128). Examples
of the smaller luminaria from the cemetery of
St. Helena may be found in Marchi, tav. vi. vii.
viii. If the strata through which the shaft was
driven were not sufficiently solid to stand with-
out support, it was lined with a wall, carried up
a little distance above the level of the ground,
to avoid accidents. Many of the existing- himi-
naria belong to the Damasine period, having been
opened to admit light and air to the tombs of
the more renowned martyrs when they became
the object of pious visits. We may instance that
of the crypt of St. Cecilia. If, as was most
usual, there was no luminare, the chambers were
illuminated by lamps, sometimes suspended by
chains from the vault, sometimes standing in
niches, or on small brackets of tile or marble
often placed at the angle of a loculus. Bottari,
vol. i. p. 17, asserts that when the catacombs
were first opened some of these lamps were
found still in their place, and we are informed by
Marchi, p. 136, that the upper part of the
niches, and the walls or ceilings above the lamps
still retained the blackness caused by the smoke.
These cubicula were very frequently double,
one on either side of the gallery, and, as we have
just noticed, in some instances a luminare was
sunk in the centre so as to give light to both
(Boldetti, p. 16, b.). An inscription of the highest
interest given by De Rossi, vol. i. p. 208, de-
scribes a double cubiculum of this kind con-
structed by the permission of Pope Marcellinus,
A.D. 296-308, by the Deacon Severus for himself
and his family, " Cubiculum duplex cum arcisoliis
et luminare || jussu P. P. sui Marcellini Diaconus
iste II Severus fecit mansionem in pace quietam
II sibi suis que." De Rossi describes a luminare of
very large size and unusual character in the
cemetery of St. Balbina discovered by him. It
is nearly hexagonal, and opens on the subterra-
nean excavations with no less than eight rays of
light illumining as many distinct chambers and
galleries {R. S. i. 265).
Each side of the cubiculum usually contains a
table tomb or an arcosolium. That facing the en-
trance, behind which the rock is often excavated
so as to form an apse, was the chief tomb of the
chamber, and very frequently contained the re-
mains of a martyr, and according to primitive
usage, based on Rev. vi. 9-11, furnished an altar
for the celebration of the Eucharist. The altar
was sometimes detached from the wall. But
this was not a primitive arrangement. In the
papal crypt in the cemetery of Callistus we have
traces of two altars. The original altar remains
hewn out in the rock, the front of brickwork,
and the stone slab covering it forming the holy
table. In front of this, a raised marble step
or podium, with four shallow holes or sockets
is an evidence of a second later altar standing
on four pillars. We have noticed above an
example of an insulated altar from the cemetery
of St. Helena. As more space was required for
the interment of the bodies of members of the
same family the walls above and around the
original tombs were pierced with loculi, some-
times amounting to nearly a hundred. The
desire of reposing in the same locality with
the blessed dead, and in close proximity to a
saint or martyr, which was awakened at so early
a period and exercised .so much power (cf. August.
i/e Curd pro Mortals gerendu ; Uctract. lib. v.
312
CATACOMBS
c 64. Maximus Taurinensis. Horn. Ixxxi. Ambros.
cidpop. de SS. Gervas. et Protas. Paulinus Nol.
in Panegijr. Celsi) led to the excavation of loculi
in the walls behind the earlier tombs, with com-
plete disregard of the paintings decorating them,
which were thus mutilated or destroyed. A
very badly spelt and ungrammatical inscription
given by Marchi, p. 102, from Boldetti, who
copied it from the cemetery of St. Cyriaca, tells
us of two ladies Valeria and Sabina, who in
their lifetime had purchased from fossores named
Apro and Viator a double grave (bisomum) in
the rear of that in which the bodies of recognised
saints had been buried, " retro sarctos." It is
as follows: In Crypta Koba retro sanctds
EMERUM (-runt) SE VIVAS BALER | RA ET
Sabina Merum locu | Bisoni ab aprone et
A I BiATORE. The inscription set up by Damas-
us in the cemetery of Callistus in honour of the
companions in martyrdom of Pope Xystus bears
witness to his participation in this feeling, and
his relinquishment of the fulfilment of his
wishes lest he should disturb the ashes of the
faithful.
" Hie fatsor Daniasus volui mea condere membra,
Scd cineres timui sanctos vexare pioruni."
An inscription given by Gruter, Tnsc. Antiq.
Christ, p. 1167, No. 4, testifies the same senti-
ment.
" Sanctorum exuviis penitus confine sepulchrum,
Promeruit sacro digiia Marina solo."
St. Ambrose also states that he had resigned the
place beneath the altar in which he had intended
his own body should lie, " dignum est enim ut
ilii voquiescat sacerdos ubi ofterre consuevit " to
i!i- ri'lics of the recently discovered martyrs
I.. iMisius and Protasius, and contrasts the posi-
tion of Christ present on the altar with the saints
beneath it, '• ille super altari qui pro omnibus
mortuus est, isti sub altari qui illius redempti
sunt passione." (Ambros. Up. xxii. 15.) See also
Jerome, adv. Vigilant, p. 359. [Altar.] For
examples of this ruthless destruction of earlier
decorations (Of. De Rossi, vol. ii. tav. 27, 28, 29 ;
Northcote, E. S. Plate xvi.) When the cuhicu-
luin was absolutely too full to jreceive any more
bodies loculi were dug in its vicinity, their con-
nection with the family vault being indicated
by an inscription to that effect, e. g. Marchi,
p. 101, LOCA ADPEETINENTES AD CUBICULUJI
GERMULANI.
The altar was sometimes protected from any
careless approach by lattice work of marble,
transenna, the prototype of the cancelli of later
Christian churches. Fragments of an enclosure
of this kind were found by De Rossi in the
papal crypt, and supply the authority for the
restoration {R. S. vol. ii. pp. 20-27, tav. i. I. A.).
Other examples are given by Boldetti from the
cemeteries of Praetextatus and Helena, and
PriscUla (pp. 34, 35, Marchi, p. 128). A very
beautiful example of the transenna is seen in the
cemetery church of St. Alexander, A.D. 498.
We know that it was the universal custom
of the early church to celebrate the Eucharist
at the time of a funeral, provided it took place
lu the morning (for authorities see Bingham bk.
xxiii. ch. iii. § 12). By degrees a corrupt custom
crept in, based on a superstitious view of the
magical power of the consecrated elements, of
administering the Holy Communion to the de-
CATACOMBS
parted (Bingham Orig. bk. xv. c. iv. § 20). The
prohibition, of this profane custom in the canons
of some early councils (e.g. Auxerre, A.D. 578,
can. 12; Carthage iii. A.D. 397, can. 6; Trullo,
A.D. 691, can. 83) is evidence for its existence.
The consecrated bread was laid as a charm on
the breast of the corpse. The wine enclosed in
small glass or earthenware bottles was placed in
the grave, or imbedded in the mortar at the
mouth of the loculus, and the red colour left' by
the exsiccated wine mistaken for blood in the
early stages of catacomb investigation has created
thousands of false martyrs. Another analogous
custom was that of pouring libations of wine on
the graves after the old heathen fashion, and
supplying the dead with food for their last
journey, viaticum. The 22nd canon of the Se-
cond Council of Tours a.d. 567 mentions those
" qui in festivitate cathedrae domini Petri Apo-
stoli cibos mortuis oiferuut." Paulinus of Nola
Poem, xxvii. vv. 566-7 thus alludes to the liba-
tions—
" Simplicitas pietate cadit, male credula sanctos
Perfusis halante mero gaudere sepulchris."
Another purpose of the cubicula was for the
celebration of the Funeral Feast on the anniver-
sary of the day of death. This was a custom
inherited from the heathen sepulchral rites,
which too often degenerated into heathen license.
St. Augustine deplores that " many drink most
luxuriously over the dead, and when they make
a feast for the departed, bury themselves over
the buried, and place their gluttony and drunk-
enness to the score of religion " (Z>e Mor. Eccl.
Cath. c. xxxiv.), and condemns those who " make
themselves drunk in the memorials of the mar-
tyrs " (Cont. Faust, lib. xx. c. 21). (Cf. Ambros.
de Elia. c. xvii. ; August. Confess, vi. c. 2.) In
primitive times it may be charitably believed
that such abuses were the exceptions, and that
the anniversary was observed in a seemly manner,
and with a cheerfulness tempered by religion.
(On this custom see Neander, Ch. Hist. i. 454,
Clark's edition ; Bingham, Origines, bk. xx. ch.
viii. §§ 1-10; bk. xxiii. ch. iii.; §§ 3-1?;
Bosio, lib. iv. c. 34.) The pictures on the walls
of the cubicula in some of the catacombs furnish
representations of these funeral feasts, of which
they were the scene. The most curious is from
an arcosoliuin in the catacomb of SS. Marcellinus
and Peter (Bosio, p. 391). Three guests — a
woman between two men — are seated at a cres-
cent-shaped, or sigma table, at the two ends of
which, in stately curule chairs, two matrons are
seated. No dishes appear on the table: they
are placed on a small three-legged stand in the
centre, at which a lad is stationed preparing to
execute the orders of the guests, which are
written above their heads — " Irene da Calda,"
" Agape misce mi " (cf. Juven. Sat. v. 63 ; Mar-
tial, lib. i. Ep. 11; lib. viii., Ep. 63; lib. xiv.,
Ep. 95). Another painting from the same ceme-
tery represents six persons, three of each sex,
seated at an empty table. One is drinking from
a rhytion; another stretches out his hand to
receive a cup from a person of whom no more
than the arm is left (Bosio, p. 355).
The cubicula generally speaking are of small
dimensions, and are incapable of containing more
than a very limited number of worshippers.
But there are also found halls and chambers of
CATACOMBS
much larger proportions, which have been con-
sidered by the chief Roman Catholic authorities
on the subject to have been constructed for the
jiurpose of religious assemblies. These are dis-
tinguished by Padre Marchi, by an arbitrary
nomenclature which has failed to find acceptance,
iuio cryptae, for the smaller, and ecclesiae, for the
larger excavations. Of the latter tho most
typical example is that discovered in the cata-
comb of St. Agnes in 1842, and described and
figured by Marchi (pp. 182-191; Tav. xxxv.-
xxxvii.) from whom we borrow the annexed plan
and section. This comprises five quadrangular com-
CATACOMBS
313
liartm^iits, three on one side of the ambulacrum
.•ir.ii two on the other, connected by a tolerably
wide passage cutting the gallery at right angles.
The two compartments to the right of the
gallerv are supposed to have bet.-u rcserveil fur
but the whole rests on too conjectural a basis to
be accepted as anything more than a possible
hypothesis.
Some of the so-called crypts are destitute of
arcosolia, or have the arcosolia placed at too
great an elevation to serve as holy tables for the
celebration of the sacred mysteries. These are
assumed by Marchi to have been devoted to the
instruction of catechumens. They usually con-
sist of two chambers, one for each sex, and are
provided with chairs for the (presumed) cate-
chists, and benches cut in the tufa rock for the
catechumens (cf. Marchi, pp. 130-133 ; tav.
xvii.). But such an identification is exceedingly
doubtful.
When the catacombs became places of refuge
in times of persecution (as it is indisputable
they did, though not to the extent popularly
credited), it was essential that there should be
the means of obtaining a supply of water without
leaving the limits of the cemetery. This want
was supplied by uells and springs, whether dug
for this purpose or not, many of which remain
to the present time, still holding water. We
may mention one in the A)-ea prima of the Cata-
comb of St. Callistus (F, in De Rossi's plan),
which may still be used for its original purpose.
The shaft of this well is furnished with foot
holes, to enable a man to descend for the purpose
of cleaning it out, as is the case, according to De
Rossi, in all tho ancient wells connected with the
catacombs (M. S. de Uossi, y\„.,lis. Geol. ed Arch
women, and two of the three to the left of the
gallery for men. The third compartment, di-
vided from the others by an arch supported on
stuccoed columns, formed the chancel or sanc-
tuary. In the centre of the end wall stands the
cathedra, or bishop's seat, flanked on each side
by a stone bench running along the side walls,
which formed seats for the clergy. Hollowed
out so as to furnish londi for children, an arco-
solium fills the space behind the episcopal chair,
and occupies both sides of each of the compart-
ment. The walls above the arcosolia are pierced
with tiers of loculi. There is no trace of an
altar. The cathedra entirely prevents the arco-
solium fronting the entrance being so used.
IVIarchi therefore concludes that the altar must
have been portable. The whole is entirely des-
titute of piaintiug, or decorations of any kind,
beyond a rich marble paneling, a small portion
of which remains. The result of the learned
father's researches was to satisfy him that the
two sexes reached the church by distinct stair-
cases (p. 42) and by separate corridors, and that
the church itself must have been constructed
before the commencement of the third century :
vol. ii. p. 97). Wells are also mentioned by
Boldetti (p. 40) as existing in the cemeteries of
Praetextatus and St. Helena, and natural springs
in those of St. Pontianus, Ostrianus or B'ons Petri
and the Vatican.
In close connection with the wells of the
catacombs stand the so-called Baptisteries. The
most remarkable of these is that in the Cata-
comb of St. Pontianus, the purpose of which is
put beyond doubt by its pictorial decoration
(Aringhi, i. 381; Bottari, tav. xliv. ; Boldetti,
p. 40 ; Marchi, pp. 32, 220-224 ; tav. ii. xlii.).
A descent of ten steps leads to a cistern filled by
a natural stream flowing through a channel in
the rock. The wall above the cistern retains a
fresco of the Baptism of our Lord, and on that
at the back of it is a magnificent jewelled cross,
the stem immersed in the water, blossoming into
flowers and leaves, and from its arms, which
support lighted candles, the characters A. Cl.
suspended by chains. Another of these so-called
baptisteries is found in the lowest piano of gal-
leries in the Catacomb of St. Agnes. It is a well-
preserved chamber, with rude columns cut in
the tufa rock in the corners. A spring of water
314
CATACOMBS
runs through it. The paintings have entirely
perished from damp.
In connection with some cemeteries we find
provision for washing the corpse. This is seen
in the very remarkable early Cemetery of Domi-
tilla at Tor Marancia. The entrance is above
ground on the side of a hill cut down for the
purpose. On each side of the doorway is a
vestibule, or covered porticus. To the left is a
chamber where may be traced a well and cistern,
with the place for the pulley of the bucket.
This chamber was probably devoted to the cus-
tomary washing of the dead body before inter-
ment. (See Bosio, B. S. cap. 17.) A similar
chamber is found at the entrance of the Jewish
Catacomb on the Via Appia. It has a mosaic
pavement, and drains to carry the water away.
) the Catacomb of St. DomitUla, from De Bosd.
a) Entrance to the Catacomb, (i) Porter's lodge with a well and
chamber for washing the bodiea. (c) " Schola," or place of meeting.
Some of these wells probably had no other
object than that of draining the catacombs.
This was the case with that dug by Damasus in
the Vatican Cemetery. The galleries of this
catacomb being rendered unfit for the purpose
of sepulture by the infiltration of water, Da-
masus cut away the rock till he found the spring,
and diverted its waters to supply a baptistery.
It is this spring which now supplies the fountain
in front of the Pontifical Palace.
Damasus recorded his good work in the fol-
lowing inscription : —
" Cingebant latices montem teneroque meatu
Corpora niultorum cineres atqne ossa rigabant.
Non tulit hoc Damasus commiini lege sepultos
Pust requiem tristes iterum persolvere poenas.
I'rotinus aggiessus magnum superare laborem
Agseris immensi dejecit culmina montis,
Intima soUicite scrutatus viscera terrae,
Siccavit totum quidquid madefecerat humor,
Invenit fontem pracbel qui duna .-^alulis.
Haec curavit Mercurius Levita fidelis."
The singular variety of objects discovered
within the loculi of the catacombs is an evidence
of the permanence of the old heathen idea, which
regarded the life after death as a continuation of
the present life with its occupations and amuse-
ments, as well as of the strength of the universal
human instinct, which leads the bereaved to
deposit in the grave of their loved ones the tools
and ornaments and playthings which had lost
their use by the death of their possessor. Bol-
detti, lib. ii. cc. 14, 15, furnishes us with very
interesting details of the results of his investiga-
tions in this department, together with euo-raved
representations of some of the more curious and
typical objects discovered by him, some of which
are still to bo seen iu the Christian Museum
CATACOMBS
of the Vatican. Among the objects extracted
from children's graves are jointed dolls of ivory or
bone, similar to those which we learn from Cancel-
lieri de Seer. Basil. Vatican, torn. ii. pp. 995-1000,
were found in the bier of Maria, the daughter
of Stilicho and wife of Houorius, belonging to
the close of the 4th century — little earthenware
money-jars, — masks, and a very great abundance
of small bronze bells, such as we know to have been
in use in classical times for the amusement of
children, frequently met with in heathen tombs,
and 7nice in metal or terra-cotta. Female tombs
have furnished numerous examples of toilet equip-
aije and personal ornaments; mirrors, combs in
ivory or boxwood, bodkins, pins of ivory or bone,
vinaigrettes, tweezers, toothpicks, and earpicks ;
bracelets and armlets, earrinrjs and Tiecklaccs ;
buckles and brooches, rings and seals ; studs and
buttons, bullae, and other similar objects, setting
before us vividly the Roman Christian ladies of
the first ages. In not a few instances, according
to the same authority (Boldetti, Ossero. p. 297),
the false hair worn in life was buried with the
corpse. Among other objects of interest dis-
covered in the loculi we may mention dice, ivory
knife-handles, nnilhcads, a lock and key, one half of
an ivory egg with portraits of a husband and wife
and the Christian monogram engraved on the
flat section ; tortoiseshell, weights of stone, and
small glass fish engraved with numbers, the
purpose of which has not been determined.
The number of lamps discovered in and about
the tombs is countless. The majority are of
terra-cotta, but some have been found of bronze,
and some even of silver and amber. One in this
last material was found in the catacomb of
St. Priscilla (Boldetti, Osscrv. p. 298, tav. i.
no. 7). By far the greater part of these lamps
have only the monogram of Christ impressed on
them. But there are a very large number
which present other familiar symbols, such as
the palm-branch, the dove, the fish, the ship,
and A and O.. The Good Shepherd is of frequent
occurrence. The lamps found in the Jewish
catacombs almost universally bear the seven-
branched candlestick.
The so-called instruments of torture which the
eager imagination of pious enthusiasts, resolved
to convert every buried Christian into a martyr,
has discovered enshrined in the loculi, or in-
cised on their closing slabs, in the opinion of the
best informed and most calm judging writers,
are nothing more than implements of handicraft.
One singular pronged weapon, specimens of
which are preseived in the Vatican and the
Collegio Romano, has been identified with a
heathen sacrificial instrument, and its presence
in a Christian catacomb has yet to be explained.
Topography of the Roman Catacombs.
The following catalogue of the ancient Christian
cemeteries of Rome, the names of which stand
recorded in ancient historical documents, ar-
ranged according to the chief lines of road
leading from the city, is derived from De Rossi's
great work. The first column gives the name of
the road. The second that which De Rossi's
investigations have led him to believe to have'
been the primitive names of the larger cemeteries
in the first age of the Church. In the third
column appear the designations by which they
were known iu the fourth century, after the
/
CATACOMBS
315
establishment of the peace of the Church. The
fourth cnhimn gives the titles of certain lesser
cemeteries or isolated tombs of martyrs, which
are often confused with the lartrer cemeteries to
which they were adjacent, and with which they
were sometimes locally connected. The later
cemeteries formed, subsequent to the peace of the
Cliurcli, occupy the last column.
Cireater Cemeteries.
Lesser Cemeteries,
or isolated
Tombs of JMartyrs.
Cemeteries
Ko»ds.
Names in the 4th
constructed after
the Peace of the
Primitive Names.
1 Century.
Church.
/"Lucinae .
( Hippolyti
Time of I'eace.
Appia
) S. Xysti
>S. Caeciliae
27. Soteridis.
j SS. Xysti et Comelii
S. Januarii.
SS.Urbani,Felicissimi
2. Pnictcxtati . . .
Agapiri, Januarii,
Quirini,
SS. Tiburtii, Valerian!
{ et Maximi.
3. Ad Catacumbas . .
S. Sebastiani . . .
( S. I'etroniUae . . )
. . .
3S. Balbinae give S.
Marci.
Ardeatina . . .
4. Domitillae . . .
5. Basilei
\ SS. Petronillae, Ne- }
( rei, et Achillei . )
SS. Marci et Marcel-
39. Damasi.
Ostiensis ....
6. Commodillae . .
liani.
SS. Felicis et Audacti
28. Sepulcrum P.nuli
Apostoli iu praedio
Lucinae.
29. Coemeterium Ti-
mothei in horto
Theouis.
SO.EcclesiaS.Theclae
31.EcclesiaS.Zenonis
Portuensis . . .
7. Pontianl ad Ursum
Pileatum ....
SS.AbdonetSennen)
i S. Anastasii. pp. [
S. Innocentii, pp. }
: : : ^
40. Julii via Portu-
ensi mill. lii. S. Fe-
licis via Portuensi.
Aurelia
S. Pancratii
41. S. Felicis via Au-
relia.
rSS. Processl et Mart-
9. Lucinae ....
) iani.
\ S. Agathae ad Giru-
( liim.
i S. Callisti via Aurelia
I Julii via Aurelia.
10. Calepodii ....
CorneUa ....
.
,■52. Momoria Petri
ApostohetsepuUu-
rae episcoporum in
Vati(Lno.
Flaminia ....
11.
S. Valentini.
Ad caput S. Joannis.
Clivus Cucumeris .
12. AdSeptemCoIumbas
S. Hermetis.
SalariaVetus . .
13. Basillao ....
14
SS.Hermetis,BasilI.ae,
I Proti, et Hyacinthi
S. Pamphyli.
SalariaNova . .
15. Maximi ....
16. Thrasonis ....
17. Jordanorum . . .
18. Priscillae ....
S. Felicitatis . . .
S. Saturninl.
rS. Alexandri.
) SS. Alexandri, Vlta-
) lis it iMartialis et
( VII. Virginum.
C S. Silvestri.
is. Marcelli.
33. Ecclesia S. Hi-
lariae in horto ejus-
dem,
34. CryptaSS.Chry-
santi et Dariao.
35. Coemeterium No-
vellae.
Notnentana .
9. Ostrianum vol Os-
( Coenieterium raajus.
36. Coemeterium S.
trianl ....
i Ad Nympba.^S. Petri.
( Montis S. Petri.
Agnetis in ejusdem
agello.
37. CoeniPterium S.
Nicomedis.
Tiburtina . , .
)0
S. Hippolyti.
n. Cyriacae ....
S. Laurentii.
( S Gorgonii. . . .
42. InComitatu sive
Labicana ....
22. Ad Duas I.auros .
23
^SS. Petri etMarcellini.
( S. Tiburtii.
S, Castuli.
[ S, Gordiimi.
SS. Gordiani et Epi-
SS. (Juatuor. Curo-
natorum.
Latina ....
24
5 i
I roachi.
J .SS. Simplicii et Scr-
1 viliani, (juarti et
{ Qiiinti, et SopLlae.
S. Tertullini.
6 Apruniaiii ■ ■ • |
S. iMiseulae.
316
CATACOMBS
Catacombs of Kaples, &c.
To the north of the city of Naples, four sub-
terranean Christian cemeteries are known to
exist, in a spur of Capodimonte, no great dis-
tance h-oifl one another. Tiiey have been distin-
guished by the names of S. Vito, S. Secero,
iS. Maria delta Santiia, and S. Gennaro (Janua-
rius) dei poveri. There is also a fifth at some
distance under the monastic Church of S. Efremo.
That of S. Gennaro is the only one now acces-
sible. It has been fully described by Pelliccia
(de Christianae Eccles. Polit. Neapol. 1781, vol. iv.
Dissert. V.), and more recently in an elaborate
treatise of great value, embracing the whole
subject of interment in the catacombs, by Chr.
Fr. Bellermann, Hamburg, 1839.
With many points of resemblance as regards
the formation of the graves, and the actual mode
of interment, the Neapolitan Catacombs difler
very widely in their general structure from
those of Kome. Instead of the low narrow
galleries of the Roman Catacombs, we have at
Naples wide lofty corridors, and extensive
oavern-like halls, and subterranean churches.
The chief cause of this diversity is the very
different character of the material in which they
are excavated. Instead of the friable tufa gni-
nolare of Rome, the stratum in which the
Neapolitan catacombs lie is a hard building
stone of great durability and strength, in which
wide vaults might be constructed without any
fear of instability. To quote the words of
Mabillon, Iter Italicum, "altiores habent quam
Romana Coemiteria fornices ob duritiem et
firmitatem rupis secus quam Romae ubi arena
seu tophus tantum altitudinis non patitur." It
IS probable that these catacombs were originally
stone quarries, and that the Christians availed
themselves of excavations already existing for
the interment of their dead. On this point
Marchi speaks without the slightest hesitation
{3£onum. Primitive, p. 13).
The Catacomb of St. Januarius derives its
name from having been selected as the resting-
place of the body of that saint, whose death at
Puteoli is placed A.D. 303, when transferred to
Naples by Bp. John, who died a.d. 432.
Mabillon speaks of three stories : " triplex
ordo criptarum alius supra alium." Two only
are mentioned by Pelliccia and Bellermann as
now accessible. The galleries which form the
cemetery proper, are reached through a suite of
wide and lofty halls, with vaulted ceilings cut
out of the rock, and decorated with a succession
of paintings of different dates, in some instances
lying one over the other. The earliest frescos
are in a pure classical style, and evidently belong
to the first century of the Christian aera. There
is nothing distinctly Christian about these. In
many places these have been plastered over, and
on the new surface portraits of bishops, and
other religious paintings, in a far inferior style
and of a much later date, have been executed.
[Fresco.]
Th
e interments are either in lomii, arcosolit
or cubicala. The locxdi are cut without order ...
arrangement, the larger and smaller apertures
bring all mixed together, with no attempt at
economising space. The arGosolia have barrel
vaults. Some of them are painted; one con-
tains a fresco of the peacock, and on the wall
CATACOMBS
above portraits of a mother and daughter whose
remains are interred below, with a rudely-
written inscription, " Vixit Rufina annos Iv. et
filia ejus .... xxxvii." Another also presents
the portraits of its occupants, all in prayer ;
a bearded father, Michelinus ; a girl, Hilarias
aged 14, and a child Nonnosa aged 2 years 10
months, with spotted frock, pearl head-dress and
earrings, necklace, and buckle to belt. In a
third is the bust of a young man in white tunio
and red pallium, with the inscription "Hie
requiescit Proculus." A fourth contains full-
length figures of St. Paul and St. Lawrence.
The cubicula average 7 palms broad, by 10 palms
in height and depth. The roof is horizontal or
slightly coved. Each contains from 3 to 8
loculi. The graves were hermetically sealed
with slabs of marble. But all have been opened
and ransacked. The interments in the lower
piano occur in two long parallel galleries, one
much wider than the other, communicating
with one another by 14 transverse passages. In
the upper story the graves are cut in the sides
of three large, broad, low vaulted halls exca-
vated out of the rock, and certainly with no
original view of sepulture.
At the entrance of the lower piano we find a
so-called martyrs' church, with a slightly vaulted
roof. It was divided into a nave and sanctuary
by two pillars, the bases of which remain, with
cancelli between. In the sanctuary stands the
altar, built of rough stone, and a rude bishop's
seat in an apse behind it. On the South wall are
the arcosolia of John I. A.D. 432, and Paul a.d.
764, who, according to Joannes Diaconus, desired
to be buried near St. Januarius. In other rooms
we find a well and a cistern, recesses for lamps,
and the remnants of a Christian mosaic painting.
In a niche in the u\s-pev piano, which was tradi-
tionally the place of the font, is the symbol
'^ I ^'^ . Here, according to Pelliccia, iv. 162,
Nl I KA .
a marble shell was discovered, since used as a
holy water-basin in the church of St. Gennaro.
The inscriptions in these catacombs go down to
the 9th or 10th century.
Among other Christian catacombs known to
exist in different parts of the shores of the Medi-
terranean, of which we are still in want of fuller
and more scientific descriptions, we may parti-
cularize those o{ Syracuse known as "the grottos
of St. John," and described by D'Agincourt as
" of immense size," and believed by him to have
passed from pagan to Christian use : the Saracen
catacomb near Taormina, with ambulacra as
much as 12 feet wide ; the loculi at right angles
to, not parallel with, the direction of the gal-
leries ; each, as in the Roman catacombs, herme-
tically sealed with a slab of stone : those of Blatta,
supposed by Denon {Voyage in Sicile, Par. 1788),
to have served a double purpose, both for the
burial of the dead, and as places of refuge for
the living ; and which, according to the same
authority, " evidence a purpose, leisure, and re-
sources far different from the Roman catacombs :"
and those of Egypt. .Of these last D'Agincourt
gives the ground-plans of se veral of pagan origin.
The most remarkable is one beyond the canal of
Canopus, in the quarter called by Strabo, xvii.
p. 795, " the Necropolis." The plan of tliis
hypogaeum is drawn with great regularity, ^'ery
unlike the intricate maze of those of Kome. Tlie
CATALOGUS HIERATICUS
walls are pierced with three ranges of locuU,
running, as at Taormina, at right angles to their
length. Very recently a small Christian catacomb
has been discovered at Alexandria, described by
Da Rossi (Btil/ettino, Nov. 1 864, Agost. 1865). It
is entered from the side of a hill, and is reached
by a staircase, which conducts to a vestibule with
a stone bench and an apse. This is succeeded by
a cubiculum, with an arcosolium on three sides,
opening into an ambulao-um containing 28 loculi,
all set endways to the passage. The whole is full
of paintings, of various dates, on successive
layers of stucco. One, of a liturgical character,
is assigned by De Rossi to the 4th century. But
this is probably much too early.
Authorities. — Aringhi, Roma Suhterranea. Bol-
detti, Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' santi mar-
tiri ed antichi Christiani di Roma. Bosio, Romu
Sotteranea. Bottari, Sculture e pitture sagre
estratte dai cimiteri di Roma. Fabretti, Inscrip-
tionum antiquarum explicatio. Lupi, Dissertatio.
Mabillon, Iter Italicum. Marchi, / monumenti
delle arti cristiane primitive nella metropoli del
Cristianesimo. Northcote (J. S.) and Brownlow
(W. R.), Roma Sotterranea. Panvinius, De ritu
sepeliendi mortuos apud veteres Christianos et
eorum coemeteriis. Ferret (Louis), Les cata-
combes de Rome. Raoul-Rochette, Tableau des
Gatacombes. Rossi (J. B. de'), Inscriptiones
Christianae. Rossi (J. B. de' and Mich. S. de'),
Roma Sotterranea. Seroux D'Agincourt, Histoire
da I' art par les womuncnts. [E. V.]
CATALOGUS HIERATICUS, the name
given in the Apostolic Canons (15 and 51, or 14
and 50) to the list of the clergy of a particular
church. The term is also said to be applied to
that part of the Diptychs which contained the
names of those, still living, who were named in
the Eucharistic service ; viz. of those who had
made offerings, emperors, patriarchs, &c., and
lastly of the bishop and clergy of the particular
church, as above said. [A. W. H.]
CATECHUMENS. The work of the Church
in admitting converts from heathenism or Juda-
ism presented, from the nature of the case, very
different features, according to the varying cir-
cumstances with which she had to deal. Disci-
pline might be more or less highly organised,
converts of higher or lowel- grades of knowledge
or character. If we attempt to form a complete
picture from data gathered from different
churches and centuries, it must be with the
reserve that all such pictures are more or less
idealised, and that practically there were every-
where departures more or less important from
it. It will be convenient to arrange what has
to be said under the heads (I.) The Catechumens.
(II.) The Catechists or Teachers. (III.) The
Place of Instruction. (IV.) The Substance of the
Teaching.
I. Instruction of some kind, prior to the ad-
mission of converts by baptism, must have been
given from the first, and the word, which after-
wards became technical, meets us in the N. T.
Apollos was " instructed " {KaTi]xi]lJ-ivos) in the
way of the Lord (Acts xviii. 25). Theophilus
had been " instructed " in the main facts of the
Gospel history which St. Luke inscribes to him
(Luke i. 4). The vriiriot of the apostolic epistles,
though not confined to the stage ])rior to baptism,
wiiuld naturally include those vi'ho were passing
CATECHUMENS
317
through it ; and in the (TToixe7a ttjs apxv^ tcDj'
Aoyi(cv rod 06ow of Heb. v. 12, we have, probably,
a summary of the instruction which the writer
looked on as adapted for such persons. In prac-
tice, however, as in the instances of the Ethiopian
eunuch (Acts viii. 36 3), and the Philippian gaoler
(Acts xvi. 33), it must have been of the briefest
and simplest kind. The traces of the process
and method of instruction in the sub-apostolic
age, and the two centuries that followed, are
fragmentary and vague. It is not till we get to
the 4th century, with its strivings after a more
elaborate organisation, that v/e meet with the
developed system which has now to be described.
So far as we may think of it as having actually
prevailed, it deserves attention as presenting the
most complete plan of systematic mission-work
that the Church has ever known.
The converts, it is obvious, might be of any
age — might have been Jews, or heathens, or here-
tics— might be ignorant or educated, of good
or bad character. They might have been led to
offer themselves by the influence of persona)
friends, or by the sermons preached in Christian
assemblies at the religious services to which even
outsiders were admitted. They presented them-
selves to the bishop or priest, and were admitted
sometimes after inquiry into character, sometimes
without any delay, by the sign of the cross
(August. Conff. i. 11, De peccat. merit, ii. 26) and
imposition of hands, to the status of catechumens
(1 Cone. Arelat. c. 6, Cone. Elih. c. 3). The
Councils, as might be expected, prescribe condi-
tions and allow immediate admission only in cases
of sickness and of at least decent conduct. St.
Martin, however, in his mission work in Gaul,
is reported to have admitted his hearers to be
catechumens as they rushed to him catervatim
on the spot (Sulpicius, Vita, ii. 5, p. 294).
From that moment they were recognised as
Christians, though not as "fideles" (1 Cone.
Constant, c. 7 ; Cod. Theod. xvi. tit. vii. de
Apostat. leg. ii.), and began to pass under in-
struction. The next epoch in their progress was
the time when they were sufficiently advanced
to give in their names as candidates for baptism ;
and some writers (e. g. Suicer and Basnage)
have accordingly recognised only two great divi-
sions, the AuDiENTES, and the Competentes.
Others, like Bona and Bingham, have made three
or four divisions, though differing in details; and
it will be well for the sake of completeness to
notice these, though it is believed that the classi-
fication was never a generally received one.
(1.) Bingham's first class are the i^w6ovfj.evoi,
those, i. e., who were not allowed to enter the
church, and received whatever instruction was
given them outside its walls. The existence of
such a body is, however, very doubtful. It rests
only upon an inference drawn from the fifth
canon of the Council of Neo-Caesarea, ordering
that a catechumen (one of the Audientes) who
had been guilty of grievous ofl^ences should be
driven out {i^a>6eiadaj\ and there is no mention
of such a class either in the canon itself or else-
where. What is described is the punishment of
an individual offender ; and even if the offenders
a The interpolation of the question and answer of
V. ?,'! in the MSS. of later date shows an uneasy con-
sciousness of the difference between the ecclesiastical and
the apostolic practice.
318
CATECHUMENS
were numerous enough to attract notice, there
would be no ground for classing them as in a
distinct stage of instruction.
(2.) The next division, that of the AUDIENTES,
or aKpoaifievoi, rests on better evidence. The Greek
term is, indeed, not found as the designation of
a class till the 4th century, but the Audientes
or Auditores are mentioned both by Tertullian
((fc Pocnitent. c. 6) and Cyprian {Epist. 13 to 34).
Over and above the instruction they received
from their teachers, they were allowed to attend
in churches and to listen (hence their name) to
the scriptures and to sermons, sharing this privi-
lege with the unbelievers, but probably occupying
a distinct place in the congregation.'" They
were not allowed, however, to be present when
the strictly liturgical worship of the church
began, and when the sermon was over, the deacon,
mounting on a rostrum of some kind, proclaimed
tliat it was time for them to go (^Constt. Apost.
viii. 5). As applied to these, or to the whole
body of those who were under catechetical train-
ing, the missa catechumenorum became the
dividing point between the more general worship
of the church and the Keirovpyia, properly so
called.
The feeling which showed itself in this disci-
pVina Grcani kej)t them in like manner from
hearing the Creed oi the Lord's Prayer till they
took their place among the f.deles (Chrysost.
Horn. xix. in Malt.). Sozomen {H. E. i. 20)
even hesitated about inserting the Nicene Creed
in his history lest it should fall into the hands
of those who were still in the earlier stage of
their Christian training. The practice of repeat-
ing the Lord's Prayer seer do, which, still prevails
in the Western Church, probably originated in a
like precaution. Assuming the Audientes to
represent the first class of beginners in Christian
training, we may fairly identify them with the
"rudes" of Augustine's treatise (De catechiz.
rudihus) and the areXearspoi of the Greek
Canonists (Balsamon ad Cone. Neocaesar. c. 5).
The time of their probation probably varied
according to the rapidity of their progress, and
the two years specified by the Council of Eliberis
(c. 42), or the three fixed hj the Apostolical
Constitutions (viii. 32), can hardly be looked on
as mo]-e than rough estimates of what was
thought advisable. Any lapse into idolatrous
practices or other open sins involved, in the
nature of things, a corresponding prolongation
of the time of trial. Where the olfence was fla-
grant, the term, in which penance rather than
instruction was now the dominant element, might
lie extended' to the hour of death, or to some
great emergency {Cone. Elib. c. 6S).
(3.) Writers who maintain a threefold or four-
fold division of the body of catechumens see the
third class in th^ prostrati ov gcnuflcctentes (yovv-
K\ivovTis). These were admitted, not only to
stand and listen, but to kneel and pray. As
being thus more prominent, they seem to have
been known as specially i/ie catechumens, as, e.g.,
in the evxv Kar-nxovfi^vwu of the C. of Laodicea,
c. 19. The name, it will be remembered, was
applied also to those who were in one of the
stages of the penitential discipline of the Church,
CATECHUMENS
the fideles being degraded from their rightful
position and placed on a level with those who
were not as yet entitled to the privileges of mem-
bership. {[Penitents.]
(4.) After these stages had been traversed,
each with its appropriate instruction, the cate-
chumens gave in their names as applicants for
baptism, and were known accordingly as Compe-
tentes (^avvairovures). This was done commonly
at the beginning of the Quadragesimal fast, and
the instruction, carried on through the whole of
that period, was fuller and more public in its
nature (Cyril Hieros. Catech. i. 5 ; Hieron. Ep.
61, ad Pammaeh. c. 4). To catechumens in this
stage the great articles of the Creed, the nature
of the Sacraments, the penitential discipline of
the Church, were explained, as in the Catechetical
Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem, with dogmatic
precision. Special examinations and inquiries
into character were made at intervals during the
forty days. It was a time for fasting and watch-
ing and prayer (Constt. Apost. viii. 5 ; 4 C Garth.
c. 85 ; TertuU. De Bapt. c. 20 ; Cyril. I. c), and,
in the case of those who were married, of the
strictest continence (August, de fide et oper. v. 8).
Those who passed through the ordeal were known
as the perfectiores {reXfiwrepoi), the electi, or in
the nomenclature of the Eastern Church as I3air-
Tt^S/j-fvoi or (pajTi(6/xevoi, the present participle
being used of course with a future or gerundial
sense. Their names were inscribed as such in
the album or register of the church. They were
taught, but not till a few days before their bap-
tism, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer which
they were to use after it. The periods for this
registration varied, naturally enough, in different
churches. At Jerusalem it was done on the
second (Cyril. Catech. iii.), in Africa on the fourth
Sunday in Lent (August. Serm. 213), and this
was the time at which the candidate, if so dis-
posed, might lay aside his old heathen or Jewish
name and take one more specifically Christian
(Socrat. //. ^. vii. 21). The ceremonies connected
with their actual admission will be found under
Baptism. It is only necessai-y to notice here
that the Sacramentum Catechumenorum of which
Augustine speaks (^De Peccat. Merit, ii. 26) as
given apparently at or about the time of their
first admission by imposition of hands, was pro-
bably the €v\oyiai or jMnis benedictus, and not,
as Bingham and Augusti. maintain, the salt
which was given with milk and honey after
baptism."^
•> The place assigned for the Audientes was the AWthex
or portico of the church. (Zonaras, ed. Cone. Nicacn.
" It may be well to quote the passage referred to : —
" Non unius est modi sanctificatio ; nam et catechunienos
secundum quendam modum suum per signum Chrit.ti et
orationem et manus impositionem puto sanctificari : et
quod accipiunt, quamvis non sit corpus Christi, sanctum
est tanien, et sanctius qiiam cil)i quibus aliraur, quoniam
sacramentum est." Bingham (x. 2, 16). following Bona,
infers from a ainon of the 3rd Cone. Carth. c. fi, forbidding
any other sacramentum than the " solitum sal" to be
givtii to catechumens during the Easter festival, that this
nmst lie tliat of wliiih Augustine speaks ; and it is beyond
question that this was given during ilie period of probation,
as well as immediately after baptism. Jt wouM seem, how-
ever, from the canon Uself, that some other sacramentum
was given at other times ; and the words of Augustine,
" quamvis non sit corpus Christi," imply, it is believed,
something presenting a greater outward likeness to the
Eucharistic bread than could be found in the salt. The
proviso would hardly have been needed, on Bingham's
supposition.
CATECHUMENS
It is clear that many cases would present
themselves in which the normal order of j)rogre.ss
would be interrupted. (1.) The catechumen
mi'j,ht lapse into idolatry or other grievous sin.
In that case he was thrown back, and had to go
through a penitential discipline, varying, accord-
ing to the nature of the ofi'ence, from a few
months to three or five yeai-s, or even to a life-
long exclusion (C. Elib. c. 4, 10, 11, 68 ; C. Nicaen.
c. 14; C.'Neo. Caesar, c. 5). In no case, how-
ever, was the sacrament, which was thought of
as indispensable to salvation, refused to the peni-
tent when the hour of death approached. Their
sins were looked on as committed in their unre-
generate state, and therefore less heinous than
they would have been in those who had been
admitted to full Christian fellowship. (2.) They
might, however, through their own neglect, die
without baptism. In that case, they were buried
without honour, with no psalms or oblations
(1 C .Bracar. c. 35), and were not mentioned ifi the
prayers of the Church. The one comfort left to
their surviving friends was to give alms to the
poor in the hope that thus they might obtain
some alleviation for the souls that had passed
beyond the grave without the new birth that
admitted men to the Kingdom (Chrysost. Horn. 3
in Philipp.). (3.) Where the loss of baptism was
not incurred by their «wn default, the will was
accepted, at least in special cases, for the deed.
The death of the younger Valentinian led Am-
Ijrnse (de Obit. Valent. p. 12) to the wider hope.
Wluit was true of catechumen-martyrs and the
l)aiitism of blood, as supplying the lack of the
baptism of water — and this was received almost
as an axiom by all Christian writers ffom Ter-
tullian downwards (see Bingham, x. 2, 20) — was
true of one of whom it might be said " hunc sua
pietas abluit et voluntas." Augustine, following
in the footsteps of his master, appealed to the
crucial instance of the penitent thief against the
rigorous dogmatism of those who thought that
baptism was absolutely indispensable (de Bapt.
iv. 22). (4.) Another common case was naturally
that of those who were stricken down by some
sudden sickness before the term of their probation
had expired. In this case the Church did not
hesitate to anticipate the wished-for goal, dis-
pensed with all but the simplest elements of
instruction, and administered baptism on the
bed of death. [Baptism, p. 169.]
II. It is noticeable that, with all this syste-
matic discipline as to the persons taught, there
was no oi-der of teachers. It was part of the
pastoral office to watch over the souls of those
who were seeking admission to the Church, as
well as of those who were in it, and thus bishops,
priests, deacons, or readers might all of them be
found, when occasion required, doing the work
of a catechist. The DOCTOR Audientium, of
whom Cyprian speaks, was a lector in the church
of Carthage. Augustine's treatise, de Catechi-
zandis Budihus, was addressed to Deogratias as a
deacon, the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem were
delivered by him partly as a deacon, partly as a
presbyter. 'The word Catechist* implied, accord-
ingly, a function, not a class. Those who under-
took that function were known sometimes as
vavT6\oyoi (Constt. Apost. ii. 37), as having a
work like that of those to whom that title was
ap])iied on board ship. It was their part to
speak to those who were entering the ark or ship
CATHEDRA
3 1 9
of CHirist's Church, to tell them of the perils ot
the voyage which they were about to undertake,
and take their pledge for payment of the fare.
The word was part of the metaphor which saw in
the bishop the steersman, and in the presbyters
the sailors, in the Church itself the navis or ship.
III. The places in which catechetical instruc-
tion was thus carried on must have varied
widely at different times and in different places :
sometimes the room or building in which the
fidcles met to worship, before or after service ;
sometimes a room in the presbyter's or deacon's
house, probably at Alexandria, from the special
nature of the case, a lecture-room, like the
" school " of Tyrannus in Acts xix. 9. It is not
till we come to the fully-developed organisation
of the Church that we read of special buildings for
the purpose, imder the name of /caT7jxoyMe«'ei'a.
They are mentioned as such in the 97th canon of
the Trullan Council, and appear, from a Novella
of the Emperor Leo's, to have been in the viripifov,
or upper chamber of the church ; probably, i. e.
in a room over the portico. In some instances
the baptistery seems to have been used for this
purpose (Ambros. Ep. 33), while in others, again,
perhaps with a view to guarding against prema-
ture presence at the rite of baptism, they were
not allowed to enter the building in which it
was administered (Cone. Arausic. c. 19).
IV. The ideal scheme of preparation involved
obviously a progress from lower to higher trutlis.
The details varied probably according to the dis-
cretion of the teacher and the necessities of the
taught ; but two great representative examples
are found of the earlier stage in Augustine's
treatise de Catcchizaudis rudibus, and in the
Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem. The range of
subjects in the former includes the sacred history
of the world from the Creation downwards, and
then proceeds to the truths of the resurrection and
judgment according to works. The better edu-
cated may be led to the allegorical meaning of
Scripture, and the types of the law. Then came
the Gospel narratives, and the Law of Christ.
The teaching of Cyril, as intended for the com-
petentes, took a wider and higher cycle of subjects,
and are based (Catech. iv.) upon a regula fidei,
including the dogmas (1) of God, (2) of Christ,
(3) of the birth from the Virgin's womb, (4) of
the cross, (5) of the burial, (6) of the resurrec-
tion of Christ, (7) of the ascension, (8) of judg-
ment to come, (9) of the Holy Spirit, (10) of the
soul, (11) of the body, (12) of meats, (13) of
the general resurrection, (14) of the Holv Scrip-
tures. [E. H. P.]
CATHEDRA (Kaee'Spa).— (1) First and pro-
perly, in ecclesiastical usage, the actual throne
or seat of the bishop in his episcopal church ;
the ^ri/xa Kal Opofo^ v\pr)\os of Eusebius (//. E.
■vii. 30), to which Paul of Samosata arrogantly
added a a-r^Kp-qrov, — distinguished by the same
Eusebius from the Sfvrepoi dpovoi of the presby-
ters (ib. X. 5. 23); — who also speaks of tlie airocTTo-
XiKhs dpovos of St. James at Jerusalem, meaning
the actual seat itself still preserved there (/ft. vii.
19, 32); — called cathedra velata by St. Augustiu
(Epist. ad Maxim, cciv.), and linteata by Pacian ;
and inveighed against by St. Greg. Naz. {Cariii. xi.)
as v^riXoi OpSuoi ; and so Prudentius speaks of
the bishop's seat, " Fronte sub udversa [i. 5. as
the upper end of the apsel gradibus sublime
320
CATHEDRA
tribunal Tollitur " (Pmsfc/)A. //. iv. 225). St.
Mcark's chair is said to have existed for a long
time at Alexandria (Vales, ad Euseb. H. E. vii. 9).
And one assigned to Pope Stephen is said to have
been found in the catacombs by Pope Innocent XII.
The wooden chair, with its heathen ivories, .re-
presenting the labours of Hercules, which is so
carefully honoured in St. Peter's at Rome as
St. Peter's, is at once the most celebrated, and
the most unfortunately chosen, specimen of the
class. Episcopal chairs are frequently repre-
sented in ancient Christian mosaics or marbles,
sometimes adorned with two lions' heads, some-
times with two dogs' heads, sometimes with our
Lord Himself represented as sitting in them,
sometimes with the B. Virgin, sometimes with
the open Gospels laid upon them, sometimes
with the bishop himself (Ciampini, Vet. Mon. I.
tab. 2, 37, 47, II. tab. 41 ; and cf. St. Aug. Epist.
ad Diosc. Ivi.) ; sometimes raised upon steps
(^gradatae, St. Aug. Epist. nd Maxim, cciii., and
see Aringhi, ii. 325) ; sometimes " veiled " (vc-
latae, St. Aug. as above, see Bosio, Bom. Sotter.
p. 327). And certain chairs or seats, cut in the
tufa stone in the catacombs, are conjectured to
iiave been intended for the bishop at the time
when persecution compelled the Christians to
hold service there. A Council of Carthage, A.D.
535, forbids a bishop " cathedrara coUocare in
monasterio," i. e. to ordain there.
But hence (2) the word was transferred to
the see itself of the bishop, as in Victor Vitens.
De Persec. Vandal, iv. So Cone. Milevit. ii.
cans. 21, 24; and "Cathedrae viduatae" in
Collat. Carthag. i. c. 185, 217; "Cathedrae ma-
trices," in Cone. Milev. ii. c. 25 ; and Cod. Can.
Afric. 123 ; and " Cathedrae principales," in Cod.
Can. Afric. 38. So also Greg. Tur. H. F. iii. 1,
and Sidon. ApoUin. repeatedly. And earlier than
all these, TertuUian {De Praescript. xxxvi.)
speaks of " Cathedrae Apostolorum," as still
existing in the " Ecclesiae Apostolicae ;" mean-
ing, not the literal chairs, but the specially
Apostolic succession of the bishops of those sees.
(3) The word became used for the Episcopal
Church itself, " principalis cathedra," in Cone.
Aquisgr. A.D. 789, can. 40, meaning the cathedral
as opposed to the other churches in the diocese :
" Ecclesia Cathedralis," Cone. Tarracon. A.D. 516,
c. idt. : called also " Ecclesia mater," in the Cone.
Rom. suh Sylvestro, c. 17 ; and " Ecclesia matrix,"
in Cone. Mogunt. i. c. 8 ; and "matrix," simply,
by Ferrand. Breviar. cc. 11, 17, 38. But " ca-
tl]edral," used absolutely for the " ecclesia cathe-
dralis," dates from the 10th century, and belongs
to the Western Church only. [Cathedral.]
[Du Cange ; Bingham ; Martigny ; Walcott,
Sacr. Archr\ ' ^ [A. W. H.]
CATHEDRA PETRI. [Peter, Festivals
01.-.]
CATHEDRAL, also in later times DoM-
KiRCHE, DuOMO: the chief and episcopal church
of a diocese ; not so called however until the
10th century, when the epithet, derived from
the bishop's cathedra or chair, became a sub-
stantive name; called previously the mother
church, or the ecclesia matrix, in distinction
from the parish churches, which were called
tduh or ecclesiae dioecesanae. [Cathedra.1
It was also sometimes called the "Catholic"
church. [Catholic] The architectural features
CATHOLIC
of a cathedral are treated in the article CHURCH,
The gradual formation and character of the
cathedral chapter will be found under Chapter.
And for the immunities belonging to it simply
as a church, see Church, Sanctuary. As ;i
cathedral church, it was held to be — what at
first and in the earliest times it literally was —
the parish church of the diocese, to which the
others stood as it were in the relation of chapels.
In it the bishop was formally enthroned : so
cathedrare and incathedrare, to enthrone. And
in it he was to be consecrated, according to
ordinary rule. [Bishop.] Ordinations also, and
diocesan synods, were commonly held thei'e. And
manumissions of serfs, in Celtic and Saxon England,
took place at the altar of the cathedral in the
presence of the bishop. Schools and libraries
were pttached in course of time to cathedrals.
And Charlemagne, who ordered monastic schools,
and founded palatine schools, found episcopal
schools ready to his hand. [Schools ; Canonici,
p. 281.] [A. W. H.]
CATHEDRATICUM.— (1) A pension paid
annually to the bishop by the churches of his
diocese, "in signum subjectionis ;" ace. to Cone.
Bracar. ii. c. 2, " pro honore cathedrae ;" and
to Cone. Eavenn. A.D. 997, c. 2, " pro respect u
Sedis;" both councils limiting the payments in
each case to two shillings severally. So also Cone.
Bracar. iii. A.D. 572, and Tolet. vii. c. 4.— (2) Th
fvdpovKTTiKhu, a fee paid by the bishop to the
bishops who had consecrated him, and to tlie
clerks and notaries who assisted (Julian. Ante-
cessor, Constit. 115, 431 ; Justinian, Novell.
cxxiii. c. 3 ; quoted by Du Cange). [A. W. H.]
CATHISMA (Kd«i(r/xa). A section of tlie
psalter.
(1) The psalter in the Greek Office is divided
into twenty sections, called Cathismata. Each
Cathisma is sub-divided into three Staseis, and
" Gloria " is said at the end of each stasis only.
These divisions and the order of reciting the
psalter will be explained in a later article. The
reason for the name assigned is that, while
the choir stand two and two by turns to recite
the psalms, the rest sit down.
(2) A short hymn which occurs at intervals
in the offices of the Greek Church. It consists
of one stanza, or troparion (rpoTrdpiov), and is
followed by " Gloria." The name is said to
indicate that while it is sung the choir sit down
for rest. [H. J. H.]
CATHOLIC, KaOoXiKhs, CatJiolicus, used in
its ordinary sense of " universal," not only by
heathen writers (as. e.g. Pliny), but also not
uncommonly by ecclesiastical wi-iters also (as,
e. g. Justin Martyr, Dial, cum Tnjph. 81, Kado-
XiK^ avdffraffis, and TertuUian, Adv. Marcion.
ii. 17, "Catholica . . . bonitas Dei," &c. &c.); but
commonly employed by the latter as an epithet
of the Christian Church, Faith, Tradition, People ;
first in St. Ignatius (Ad Smyrn. viii.), in the
Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (in Euseb. vY. E. iv.
14, &c.), in the Passio S. Pionii under Decius
(ap. Baron, in an. 254, n. ix.), in St. Clem. Alex.
{Strom, vii. p. 899, Oxf. 1715), and thencefor-
ward commonly, being embodied in the Eastern
(although not at first in the Western) creed : —
indicating (1) the Church as a whole, as in St.
Ignatius above quoted ; and so in Arius' creed
(Socrat. i. 26), = ^ a-nu Trepdrcov €0)5 ■mpoTon' :
CATHOLIC
(2) that portion of the universal Church which
IS in any particular place, as tj iv 'S./xvpyr] Ka9o-
Ajkt/ fKK\Ticria, as in the Mart. S. Polycarp.: (3)
(when it had grown into an epithet ordinarily
attached to the word church), used as equivalent
to Christian, " Catholica fides " in Prudent. Peri-
stej^h. iv. 24, " Catholici populi," id. ib. 30 : or
to " orthodox," as opposed to " heretical ;" as in
Pacian. Epist. 1, ad Semprort. " Christianus mihi
nomen est, Catholicus cognomen ; " and in Cone.
Antioch. A.D. 341, ot KaQoKiKoi iKKX-qaiai, as op-
posed to the Samosatenians ; and in Cone. Arimin.
A.D. 359, ri Ka9o\tK7] iKK\riala, in like opposition
to heretics ; and in St. Cyril. Hieros. Led. Catech.
xviii. advising, in a town where there ai'e heretics,
to enquire, not, ttoC emlv anAws t] iKK\r](TLa,
aWa, TTOV ecrrlv 7] KaOoKiKi] eKKK7]aia, &c. &c.
So also in the Athanasian Creed, " the Catholic
religion," and " the Catholic faith." (4) When
men began to look about for a rationale of the
epithet, or when driven to do so as in the Do-
natist controversy (the Donatists meeting the
argument against them, drawn from the word,
by explaining it, " non ex totius orbis commu-
nione, sed ex observatione omnium praeceptorum
divinorum atque omnium sacramentorum," St.
Aug. Epist. 93, § 23), taken to indicate the uni-
versality of the Church ; so in St. Aug. Ejnst.
52, § 1, " Ka6o\iKT] Graece appellatur, quod per
totum orbem terrarum difiunditur ;" and simi-
larly Isidor. Sentent. i. 16, &c. &c. And St. Cyril.
Hieros. {Led. Catech. xviii. § 23) dilates upon
the word rhetorically in this sense, as intimating
that the Church subjugates all men, teaches all
truth, heals all sin, &c. In somewhat like way,
the Catholic Epistles are so called (^="E.yKVK\iOL)
as early as the 3rd century (Euseb. H. E. vi. 25,
vii. 25) ; because written, ov irphs ev 'iOvos aWa
KaOSXov nphs irdura (Leont. De Sect. Act. 2).
And not only these, but such epistles also as
those of Dionysius of Corinth (KaQoXiKois irphs
TCLS eKKXrialas tTrL(rTo\a7s, Euseb. If. E. iv. 23).
So Tertullian, again {De Monog.\ of Catholic
tradition. And similarly the well-known defi-
nition of " vere Catholicum," in St. Vine, of
Lerins, as that which had been held " semper,
ubique, et ab omnibus." Optatus {Gont. Donat.
ii.), in explaining the term by " rationalis et
ubique diffusa," was possibly in the first half
of his definition thinking of the " Rationalis,"
who was also called KaOoAi/cbs, being the
general receiver of the imperial revenue under
the Roman empire ; but more probably was
confounding the real derivation KaQ' '6\ov, with
a supposed one from Kara \6yov. (5) Used
also somewhat later of the Church as a build-
ing : viz. as the distinctive epithet of the bishop's
or cathedral church, as against the parish
churches ; e. g. in Epiphanius, Haer. lix. § 1 (■i^
KaQoKiK^ 4KK\r](Tia iv 'A\(^av5peia, in opposition
to the smaller churches there, and so also Niceph.
XV. 22). (6) In Cone. Trull, can. lix. (Labb.
vi. 1170), as the name of the church, as op-
posed to an oratory {evKrripicfi otKoi), baptisms
(and by inference the eucharist) being cele-
brated in the Ka.6o\iK7i iKKXrjo'ia, but not in
the oratory. (7) In Byzantine Greek times, an
epithet of the parish church, v/hich was open to
all, in distinction from the monastic churches
(Codinus, Balsamon, &c.). (8) Still later, the
Patriarchs or Primates of Seloucia, of the Arme-
nians, of the Ethiopians, were styled Catholici
CHRIST. ANT.
CATHOLICUS
321
(Du Cange). See also Thomassin, I. i. 24. The
Catholicus of the Persian Church was so called as
early as Procopius {De Bell. Fersico, ii.) ; and the
Catholicus of Seleucia was made so independently
of the Patriarch of Antioch {Arabic Vers, of Niccne
Canons'). The term means, more exactly, a pri-
mate, having under him metropolitans, but
himself immediately subject to a patriarch.
[Catholicus.] KaQoXiKol QpSvoi, in Theophan.
(in ]. Constant. Copronymi), were the sees of
Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. (9)
The term became a title of the King of France,
Pipin being so called A.D. 767 ; and very much
later, of the King of Spain also. (Pearson, On
the Creed, art. ' Holy Catholic Church ;' Du
Cange ; Suicer.) [A. W. H.]
CATHOLICUS. " I have ordered the ca-
tholicus of Africa to count out 3000 purses to
•your holiness," said the Emperor Constantine to
Caecilian, bishop of Carthage (Euseb. H. E. x. 6).
A similar order to indemnify Eusebius the his-
torian for the costs of getting 50 copies of the
Bible transcribed for general use was issued by
him to the catholicus of the diocese; that is, of
the civil diocese called the East (ib. Vit. Const.
iv. 36). A former holder of this office, Eusebius
elsewhere tells us, named Adauctus, had been
martyred under Diocletian {H. E. viii. 11). Ap-
parently there was one such for each of the 13
civil dioceses, and a 14th attached to the im-
perial household — eVl Tcbv KaOoAov \6yctiv Xeyo-
/aevos eluai fiaffiXfoos {ib. vii. 10) — who was in
later times, according to the Basilics, or code of
the Emperor Basil I., called the " logothete "
(lib. vi. tit. 23). Various oi-dinances relating to
this office are to be seen there. The two promi-
nent ideas attaching to it were that of a receiver-
general, and of a ckputy-receiver. It was formerly
discharged in England by the sheriff' or vice-
comes of each county, who forwarded his annual
account of receipts and disbursements to the
king's exchequer. The ecclesiastical officer called
" catholicus " was of a piece with the civil.
Procopius, in his history of the Persian war
(ii. 25) under Justinian, says that the chief dig-
nitary among the Christians of Dubis was called
" catholicus," as presiding over the whole coun-
try, namely, Persia. But according to Dr. Neale
{Eastern Ch. i. 141), this title had been assumed
at a much earlier date by the bishops of Seleucia,
meaning by it that they were " procurators-
general," in the -regions of Parthia, for the
Patriarch of Antioch, to whose jurisdiction they
were subject, till for political reasons their inde-
pendence was allowed. The " catholicus " men-
tioned by Procopius was doubtless head of the
Nestorians in Pei'sia, whose teaching was speedily
carried thither from Edessa, as the well-known
letter of Ibas, bishop of the latter place, to the
Persian Maris, alone would shew. Having on
the death of Acacius, twenty-second catholicus oi
Seleucia, A.D. 496, obtained possession of that see,
they established their head-quarters there, con-
stituting its archbishop patriarch, and styling him
" catholic patriarch." By this phrase they must
have meant however not cfeptii^-patriarch, which
he was no longer, but oecumenical patriarch, which
to them he was in fact. So that when the title
got into sectarian hands, it seems to have shifted
its meaning to some extent, and imjilied uni-
versal rather than vicarious powers. But as it
Y
322
CATULINU&
was a dignity confined at first to the eastern
portions of the single patriarchate of Antioch,
and there common to the orthodox and heterodox
alike, we must not expect to find the accounts
given of it clear or always consistent. As a
general rule the " catholicus " was subordinate
to the patriarch, and had metropolitans under
him ; but the officer answering to this descrip-
tion among the Jacobites was more commonly
called " maphrian" or " fruit-bearer ;" the Nes-
torians on all occasions doing their best to
monopolize the other title. Still we read of a
" catholicus" for Armenia and for Georgia among
the former, as well as for Chaldaea and Persia
among the latter ; and Jacobite patriarchs also
called themselves " catholic," in imitation, and
to the annoyance, of the Nestorian. (Asseman.
Be Monoph. § 8, and Do Syris Nestor, c. xi. ; Du
Cange, Gloss. Graec. s. v.) Later writers, again,
speak of a " catholicus " of Ethiopia, of Nubia,"
of the isles and elsewhere : that is to say, this
title came to be applied in time to any grade
between metropolitans and patriarchs (Bever.
Synod, i. 709), and to be no longer peculiar to a
single patriarchate. [E. S. F.]
CATULINUS, deacon, martyr at Carthage, is
commemorated July 15 (Hart. Carthag., Usuardi).
[C]
CAUPONA, CAUPONES, tavern, tavern-
keepers. The Apostolical Constitutions enume-
rate the caupo amongst the pei-sons whose
oblations are not to be accepted (bk. iv. c. 6).
If such oblations were forced on the priest, they
were to be spent on wood and charcoal, as being
only fit for the fire {ih. c. 10). A later consti-
tution still numbers the caupo amongst those
who could not be admitted to the church unless
they gave up their mode of life (bk. viii. c. 32).
Bingham, indeed, holds the caupo of the Apos-
tolical Constitutions not to have been strictly a
tavern-keeper, but a fraudulent huckster, and
there is no doubt that the word is to be found
used in a more extended sense in many instances.
But there is in the present one no reason for
diverting it from its ordinary use. It is clear
from too many evidences that the ancient tavern
— the caupona of the Romans — differed little
from a brothel ; see for instance Dig. bk. xxiii.
t. ii. I. 43 ; Code, bk. iv. t. 1. vi. 1. 3. A Con-
stitution of Constantine (a.d. 326), whilst de-
claring that the mistress of a tavern (the words
caupona and taberna are here used indifferently)
was within the laws as to adultery, yet if she
herself had served out drink, assimilated her to a
tavern-servant, classing such persons among those
whom "the vileness of their life has not deemed
worthy to observe the laws " (Code, bk. ix. t. ix.
1. 29). In the work called the "Lex Romana,"
which is considered to represent the law of the
Roman population in Italy during Lombard times,
and which is mainly founded on the Theodosian
Code, a similar provision is contained, but with
the use of the word taberna alone (bk. ix.). This
evidently implies that the caupo himself, or the
cauponae or tabernae domina, was undistinguish-
able from the brothel-keeper, and the forbiddance
to receive the caupo's offering resolves itself into
that contained in Deut. xxiii. 18.
This view is confirmed by almost all later
church authorities. Thus a cleric found eating
in a caiqjona, nnhss through the necessities of
CAUPONA
travel, was by the 46th (otherwise 53rd) of the
Apostolical Canons — supposed to be of the 4th
century — sentenced to excommunication, the
Canon evidently intending a tavern and not a
mere huckster's shop. The 24th Canon of the
Council of Laodlcea (latter half of the 4th cen-
tury, but the alleged dates varying from 357 to
367), enacts that none of the priestly order
(lepariKovs), from the presbyter to the deacon,
nor outside of the ecclesiastical order to the ser-
vants and readers, nor any of the ascetic class
shall enter a tavern (^KUTr-qKelov ; see also the 7th
Canon of the so-called African Council, which
however itself only designates a general collec-
tion of African Canons). The book of Canons of
the African church, ending with the Council of
Carthage of 419, c. 40, repeats substantially the
above-quoted article of the Apostolical Canons.
In spite of these enactments, we find by later
ones that clerics, who wel-e foi-bidden to enter
taverns, actually kept them. Thus certain
" Sanctions and Decrees " printed by Labbe and
Mansi, after the various versions of the Nicene
Canons, from a codex at the Vatican, but evi-
dently from a Greek source, require (c. 14) that
the priest be neither a caupo nor a tabernarius,
making thus a distinction between the two
terms, which often appear in later days to be
svnonymous. A canon ascribed by Ivo to the
Synod of Tours, a.d. 461, states that " it hath
been related to the holy synod that certain
priests in the churches committed to them (an
abuse not to be told) establish taverns and there
through caupones sell wine or allow it to be
sold ;" so that where services and the word of
God and His praise should alone be heard, there
feastings and drunkenness are found. Such
practices are strictly forbidden, the offending
priest is to be deposed, the laymen, his accom-
plices, to be excommunicated and expelled (cc. 2,
3). In the East, indeed, it appears certain from
the 43rd Novel, that in the first half of the 6th
century, and presumably since the days of Con-
stantine, taverns were held on behalf of the
church, and must have been included among the
1100 separate trading establishments which were
the property of the cathedral church of Con-
stantinople. But apparently this tavern-keeping
for the church was not held equivalent to tavei'n-
keeping by clerics, since about sixty years later,
the 9th Canon of the Council of Constantinople
in Trullo, A.D. 691, bears "that it shall not be
lawful for any cleric to have a tavern. For if it
be not permitted to him to enter one, how much
less can he serve in it, and do there that which
is not lawful ?" He must therefore either give it
up or be deposed. And although the 6Sth Canon
of the same Council uses a compound of the
Greek Synonym for caupo, in a more general
sense (tois ^i^MoKair-fiXois., translated librorum
cauponatoribus, i.e. book-sellers), yet in the 76th
the strict idea of the tavern seems to recur,
where it is enacted that no KairriXf'ioi/ is to be
set up within the holy precincts, nor food or
other things to be exhibited for sale. And by
the 8th century the original sense of caupo, cau-
p)ona is palpable through the more modern word
(in this application) taberna, which occurs in
numerous repetitions more or less litei'al of the
above-quoted Apostolical Canon ; as in a Capi-
tulary of Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans, to his
clergy, A.D. 797, forbidding them to go from
CAVERNENSE CONCILIUM
tavern to tavern, drinking or eating (c. 13);
)ne of the injunctions of Charlemagne, from
i MS. of the Monastery of Angers, forbidding
priests to enter a tavern to drink ; the 19th
Janon of the Council of Frankfort, and the em-
peror's Frankfort Capitulary (794) to the same
iftect, but extending also to monks ; a capitulary
jf 801 (general coll., bk. i. c. 14), quoting the
Council of Laodicea and the African ; the 325th
chapter of the 5th book ; the Canons of the
Councils or Synods of Rheims (c. xxvi.), applying
to monks and canons, and of Tours (c. xxi), both
inA.D.813; the Edict of Charlemagne in 814, c. 18.
It will thus appear that whilst the severity of
the Apostolical Constitutions against the indi-
vidual tavern-keeper is not followed in later
times, yet that the Western Church, at least
luring the period with which this work is occu-
pied, persistently treated the use of the tavern
by clerics, otherwise than in cases of necessity,
3till more their personal connexion with it, as
incompatible with the clerical character. The
witness of the Eastern Church is also to the same
affect, but its weight is marred by the trade,
including that in liquors, which for two centuries
at least seems to have been carried on at Con-
stantinople for the benefit, not indeed of indi-
vidual devices, but of churches and charitable
foundations. [See also Drunkenness.]
[J. M. L.]
CAVEENENSE CONCILIUM. [African
Councils.]
CEALCHYTHE, COUNCILS OF. [Cal-
CHUTHENSE.] Exact locality unknown, but cer-
tainly in Mercia, and probably Chelsea, originally
called Chelchcth, Chelchyth, &c. (1) A.D. 787,
or possibly 788, a legatine council, George, bishop
of Ostia, and Theophylact, bishop of Todi, being
the legates for Pope Adrian I. Its object was to
renew the " antiquam amicitiam " between Rome
and England, and to affirm " the Catholic faith "
and the six Oecumenical Councils. But it also
appears to have been made the occasion of pre-
paring the way for the erecting of Lichfield into
an archbishopric independent of Cantei'bury,
which actually took place in 788. A companion
council was held in Northumbria (Haddan and
Stubbs, Counc. iii. 444, sq.). (2) A.D. 789, called
" Pontificale Concilium ; " grants made there
now extant (K. C. D. 155 ; Haddan and Stubbs,
iii. 465). (3) A.d. 793, at which a grant was
made to St. Alban's (K. C. D. 152 ; Haddan and
Stubbs, iii. 478). (4) A.D. 799, at which a
cause was adjudicated between King Coenulf and
the Bishop of Selsey (K. C. D. 116, 1034 ; Haddan
and Stubbs, iii. 528). There were several councils
at the same place after A.D. 800. [A. W. H.]
CELEDEI. [COLiDEi.]
CELEDONIUS, martyr at Leon in Spain,
is commemorated March 3 {Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi). [C]
CELENENSE CONCILIUM, a.d. 447,
held in a small place close to Lugo in Gallicia,
against the Priscillianists ; an appendage to the
1st Council of Toledo (Labb. Cone. iii. 1466).
[A. W. H.]
CELERINA, martyr in Africa under Decius,
is commemorated with Celerinus, Feb. 3 {Mart.
Hieron.. Rom. Vet.. Usuardi). [C]
CELIBACY
323
CELIBACY. The history of Christian
thought and legislation in reference to this sub-
ject is essentially one of development. From the
first there were the germs of two different sys-
tems, at first in due proportion, each the comple-
ment of the other. Then, under influences which
it will be our work to trace, one passes through
rapid stages of growth till it threatens to over-
power or crush the other. Protests are uttered
from time to time, with more or less clearness.
The idea which seemed threatened with extinction
finally revives and in its turn dominates unduly.
It remains for the future to restore the balance
which we recognise in the primitive records of
the fiiith.
1. Any preference of celibacy over marriage
was, it need hardly be said, foreign to the ethics
of the Old Testament. Wedlock and the fruits
of wedlock were God's best gifts. To be un-
married or childless was to be under a " reproach,"
which it was difficult to bear. The asceticism of
the later sects of Jews made in this respect no
difference. Even the Essenes lived the life of
a communist rather than a monastic society and
had wives and children with them. No book of
the Canonical Scriptures is stronger in its praises
of marriage, or its condemnation of the sins that
mar its perfection than that which represents
the ethical teaching of the Judaism of Alexandria
(Ecclus. XXV. xxvi.). Prefei'ence for the celibate
life had, it must be confessed, so far as the Chris-
tian Church was concei'ned, its origin in the New
Testament. The birth from the Vii-gin's womb,
the virgin-life of the Baptist and of the Son of
Man, the strange words of implied blessing on
those who " made themselves eunuchs for the
kingdom of heaven's sake " (Matt. xix. 12) could
not fail to make an impression on the minds of
many disciples. The work of the great Apostle,
whose activity threw that of all others into the
shade, tended in the same direction. He declared
without reserve that it was a good and noble
thing for a man not to " touch a woman " with
the touch even of wedded love (1 Cor. vii. 1).
Himself leading a celibate life," he wished that
all men could follow his example (1 Cor. vii. 7),
and laid down principles which, though limited
by his reference to a " present necessity " (1 Cor.
vii. 26), led on almost inevitably to a wider
generalisation. If the man or woman unmarried
was more free from " care," more able to render
an undivided service to their Lord, it would be a
legitimate inference to think of that life as the
more excellent of the two. The degree of its
superiority might be exaggerated at a later period,
but a higher excellence of some kind was cer-
tainly implied in the language of St. Paul. The
vision of the 144,000 in the Apocalypse as of
those who were " virgins, who were not defiled
with women " (Rev. xiv. 4) seemed to carry the
recognition of that higher excellence into the
glorified life of the heavenly Jerusalem.
2. All this was, however, balanced by the
fullest recognition of the sacredness of marriage,
and was as flir as possible removed from the
Manichaean tendencies which afterwards cor-
» This is not the place to discuss the question. It may
be enough to say that it is a rash exegesis which sees a
reference to a wife in the " true yoke-fellow " of Piiil. iv. 3,
or finds, not celibacy, but married continence, in 1 Cor.
vii. 7, 8.
Y 2
324
CELIBACY
i-upted it. The presence of Christ at the mar-
riaoe-feast of Caiia (John ii. 1), his vindication of
the"sacre(lness of marriage against the casuistry
of the scribes, as resting on God's primeval or-
dinance and the laws of human life (Matt. >:ix. 4),
his choice of Apostles who had wives (Matt,
viii. 1-f-), and probably children (Matt. xix. 27,
'29), guai-ded against any tendency to treat mar-
riage as aniDng the things common and unclean.
Nor was the iLMcliiug of St. Paul less clear. The
great casuistic Epistle recognises it as a divine
institution, makes all limitation on the jus con-
jugii but a temporary means to an end beyond
itself (1 Cor. vii. 3-5); allows even, though not
approving, the marriage of widowers and widows
(1 Cor. vii. 39). The duties of husbands and
wives are enforced on new and more mystic
grounds than in'the ethics of Judaism or Heathen-
ism (Eph. V. 22-33). Their life, in all its manifold
relations, was recognised as giving scope for the
development of a high and noble form of Christian
holiness (1 Pet. v. 1-7). With what might seem
an almost startling contrast to his own example
St. Paul reuuired the bishop-presbyter to have
hail the experience of marriage and with at least
a preference for those who had brought up
children (1 Tim. iii. 2, 4), and extended the re-
quirement even to the deacons of the Church
(1 Tim. iii. 11, 12). The writer of the Epistle
to the Hebrews at least implied, perhaps asserted,
that marriage was, or might be, "honourable in
all things and the bed uudefiled" (Heb. xiii. 4).
'• Forbidding to marry " is classed by St. Paul as
one of the " doctrines of devils " which were to
be the signs of the apostasy of the latter days
(1 Tim. iv. 1).
3. The two lines of thought thus traced, ran
on through the Church's history, but in unequal
measure. Gradually the teaeliinj; wliicli St. Paul
condemned mingled itself witli his, and the celi-
bate life was exalted above that of marriage, not
only because it brought with it a scope of more un-
interrupted labour and more entire consecration,
but on the ground that there was in marriage
and its relations something impure and defiling.
In the language of some Gnostic sects, it be-
longed to the kingdom of the Demiurgus, the
cr(!ator of the material universe and of the
human body as a part of it, not to that of the
higher Christ- Aeon, who was Lord of the king-
dom (Tertull. clc Praescript. c. 33 ; L-enaeus, i.
28 ; Hippolytus. Befut. Omn. Haer. i. 16). First,
women [Virgins], and then men, devoted them-
selves to un wedded life, as offering a higher spi-
rituality. At first, indeed, the more prominent
teachers kept within the limits of Apostolic
thought. Hernias (ii. 4, 4) almost reproduced
the language of St. Paul. Ignatius (^Ep. ad
Polijc. c. 5) while introducing another thought,
tliat the life of celibacy is "in honour of Our
Lord's flesh," warns men against boasting of this,
and exalting themselves above others. Even
Tertullian, reproducing his own experience,
while declaiming vehemently against second, or
against mixed marriages, draws, with great power,
a picture of the beauty and blessedne~ss of a mar-
riage in which husband and wife are both true
worshippers of Christ (Ad. Uxor. ii. 8). Clement
ot Alexandria even ventures to depict the true
ideal Gnostic as one who marries and has children
and so attains to a higher excellence, because he
conquers more temptations than that of the
CELIBACY
celibate life (Strom, vii. 12 p. 741). There were
not wanting, however, signs of a tendency to
a more one-sided development. Putting a^ide
the treatise de Virginitate ascribed to Clement of
Rome,'' as probably one of the many spurious
writings for which the authority of his name was
claimed, and belonging to the 3rd century rather
than the 1st, there remain the facts (1) that,
outside the Church, Tatian arid the Encratites
developed their rigorous asceticism into a total
abstinence from, and condemnation of, marriage ;
(2) that Athenagoras (Lcgat. c. 33), while not
condemning it, speaks of many men or women
as " growing old unmarried, in the hope of living
in closer communion with God," and passes
sentence upon second marriage as being no better
than a "decent adultery"; (3) that Justin con-
firms at once his statement and his opinion {Apol. i.
15) ; (4) that Origen claims a special glory in th-j
world to come for those that have chosen the life
of consecrated celibacy (Horn. xix. in Jercm. 4),
and gave a terrible proof in his own self-mutila-
tion of the excesses to which a literal interpi-feta-
tiou of the mysterious words of Matt. xix. 12
might lead. Many bye-currents of theological
thought and feeling tended to swell the stream.
The influence of Eastern Dualism, the assimilation
by the Church of the feeling, if not of the dogma,
which culminated in Manichaeism, the growing
honour for the mother of the Lord as the Ever-
virgin, the deepening sense of the awfulness of
the Eucharistic sacrifice, the embarrassment
caused by domestic ties in times of persecution,
perhaps also the difficulty of maintaining the
purity of married life in the midst of the fathom-
less social corruption of the great cities of the
empire' — all these led men to take what seemed
to them at once the easier and the shorter road
to the higher blessedness of heaven. As the
monastic life spread, those who embraced it
thought of themselves, and were looked upon by
others, as being already "as the angels in heaven."
The praises of the virgin-state became a common
topic for the rhetoric of sermons and treatises ;
and the dialogue of Methodius oiTji-Q^Convivium
decern Virginum) is probably far from being an
exaggerated specimen of its class.
Through all this, however, strong as might
oe the influence of dogma or of feeling, the ques-
tion, as regards the lay-members of the Church,
was left as St. Paul had left it, as a matter for each
man's conscience. The common sense of Christian
writers led them to see the absurdity of a rule
of life which would have led rapidly to the ex-
tinction of the Christian society : their reverence
made them shrink from condemning what had
been from the first a divine ordinance and had
now become the symbol of the mystic union
between Christ and his Church. There was no
attempt so far to enforce the higher life by
any legislation.'' Even second marriages, though
b The authonticity of the treatise has been defended by
Roman Catholic theologians. An English translation has
been published in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library.
<= Comp. the pictuie drawn by Clement of Alexandria
{Paedagog. iii. 2, 3), as shewing what was possible even
among those who were nominally Christians.
•1 A solitary exception is found in the correspondence
between Rionysius of Alexandria and Pinytus of Gno&sus
in Kuseblus (//. E. iv. 23). The latter, it would seem, had
tried to enforce celibacy among those conmiitted to his
care. The former warns him against rashly placing oa
.
CELIBACY
condemned by the more rigorous moralists, were
not foi-bidden. But it was otherwise with the
clergy. The feeling that they were bound to
exhibit what men looked on as the higher pat-
tern of holiness gained strength in proportion as
that pattern was more and more removed from
their com.mon life. The passage already referred
to in Ignatius (-£"/). ad Polyc. c. 5) shews that
even then there were laymen who, because they
were celibates, looked down superciliously on
bishops who continued, after their appointment,
to cohabit with their wives.
The practice of the Church of the first three
centuries has hardly been fairly dealt with by
Protestant controversialists. It is easy to point
to the examples of married apostles, of bishops
and presbyters, who had wives and to whom
children were born long after their ordination,*^
and these prove, of course, that marriage was not
Icoked on as incompatible by the Church's law
with ministerial duties. But it is difficult, per-
haps impossible, to point to one instance in which
the marriage was contracted after ordination.^
The unwritten law of the ancient Church was
indeed like that of the Greek Church at the pre-
sent day. Marriage was permitted in the clergy,
but, as such, they were not allowed to many.
There were obviously many reasons for a rule
which, at first sight, appears illogical and incon-
sistent. It carried into jiractice the principle that
a man should abide in the state in which a sacred
vocation had found him (1 Cor. vii.). It fulfilled
the condition laid down by St. Paul, that the
bishop-presbyter was to be the husband of one
wife, and yet guarded against the risk, so immi-
nent in ail religious sects, of priestly influence
being exercised to secure a wealthy marriage.
It allowed the holiness of married life, yet tacitly
implied the higher excellence of the celibate.
Towards the close of the 3rd century the prin-
ciple was formulated into a law, and both the
so-called Apostolical Canons (c. 25) and Consti-
tutions (vi. 17) rule that only the lower orders
of the clergy, sub-deacons, readers, singers, door-
keepers, and the like, might marry after their
a})pointment to their office. Those who disre-
garded the law, aud the offenders wfii'e numerous
enough to call for special legislation, were to be
punished by deposition (^Conc. Neo-Caesar. c. 1).
Another council, held about the same time (a.D.
314) at Ancyra, made a special exception (c. 10)
in favour of deacons who, at the time of their
ordination, gave notice to the ordaining bishop
that they did not intend to remain single. If
they did not give notice, and yet married, they
were to lose their office.
The growing feeling that celibacy was a higher
state than marriage affected before long what has
Leon just described as the law of the Church for
the first three centuries. The married clergy
might from various motives, genuine or affected
CELIBACY
325
tlioir shoufiiers a burden wbicli they could not bear. It
is obvious that the rule would be applied with greater
stringency to the clergy, who were more immediately
under him.
" One striking example is found in the history of
J^ov-itns, who, being a priest, is charged by Cyprian
{Epist. 49) with having so ill-treated his wife that she
miscarried.
f Hefelo, a singularly fair and accurate writer, says
that there is ulisulutely no example of such a marriage
Uitilraye, i, p. Vl■^).
aspirations after greater purity, desire to be free
from what they had come to regard as an impe-
diment to attaining it. The penalty of deposition
pronounced by the Apostolic Canons (c. 6) on any
bishop, presbyter, or deacon who separated him-
self from his wife "under the pretence of piety,"
shows that so far the Church was determined to
maintain the validity of the contract as still
binding.
A more difficult question, however, presented
itself. Admitting that the- contract was not to
be dissolved, on what footing was it to continue ?
The rigorovis asceticism of the time did not hesi-
tate to answer the question by affirming that
the husband and wife were to live together as
brother and sister, that any other intercourse
was incompatible with the life of prayer, and
profaned the holiness of the altar. The Council of
Elvira (a.d. 305), representing the more excited
feelings that had been roused by the persecution
of Diocletian, made the first attempt to enforce
on the clergy by law, and under pain of deposition
(c, 33), what had probably been often admired
as a voluntary act of self-control. The Council
of Nicaea was only saved from adopting a like
decree as a law for. the whole Church by the
protest of Paphnufius, a conf'essor-lnshn]. frmn
the Upi^er Thebaid, who, though hims.^lfa r.lil.ate
all his life, appeared as the advocate at oucc of
the older law of the Church, and of the married
life as compatible with holiness (Sozom. //. E. i.
23; Socrat. H. K i. ll).g
It is probable, however, that over and above
the ascetic view which looked on marriage as
impure, there was also a strong sense of some
of the inconveniences connected with a married
clergy. The wives of bishops took too much upon
them, spoke and wrote as in their husbands' name
even without their authority, and interfered with
the discipline of the diocese. It is significant
that the same council which took the lead in
condemning the colialiitatidu of bishops, priests,
or deacons with thcMi- w ivrs, ^h.nild have, as its
last canon, one directed against the practice,
apparently common, of women receiving or
giving literae pacificae in their own name
(C. Elib. c. 81).
The contrast between the decrees of the Nicene
Council and that of Elvira on this matter shows
the existence of opposite tendencies in Eastern
and Western Christendom, and from this point
the divergence, first in feeling and afterwards in
legislation, becomes more marked. It will be
convenient to trace the paths taken by the two
great divisions of Christendom separately. The
Council of Gangra was, in this as in other respects,
the representative of a healthier and more liuman
feeling. Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, had taught
men to look on marriage as incompatible with
holiness, on the ministrations of married priests
as worthless, and his follower^ accordingly held
aloof from them. The Council did not hesitate
to pass a solemn anathema on those who thus
acted. (C. Gangr. c. 4.) The more ascetic view,
however, gained ground in Macedonia, Thessaly,
and Achaia, and the man who was most urgent
g The nan'ative has been called in question by Ba-
ronius and otlier Romish writers on this ground, that
Socrates was biassed by his prepossession in favour of the
Novatians, who allowed the marriage of tlio elcr-y, but
is defeuded by ildele {lieUruge, i. 129).
326
CELIBACY
in pressing it was the Heliodorvis, then bishop
of Tricca, who, in earlier life, had written the
sensuous, erotic romance of the Aethiopica (Socr.
//. E. V. 22). This is one of the instances, how-
ever, in which the exception proves the rule, and
the general practice of the Eastern Church was
not aftected by the rigorous asceticism of its
European provinces. Even bishops had children
born to them after their consecration. This,
however, was in its turn opposed to the domi-
nant practice, and the fact that Synesius (a.d. 410)
refused to accept the bishopric of Ptolemais unless
he was allowed to continue to cohabit with his
wife, shews that a dispensation was necessary,
and that he too was an exception to the general
practice. It came accordingly to be the rule of
the Eastern Church that men who were married
before their ordination might continue, without
blame, to live with their wives, but that a higher
standard of self-devotion was demanded of bishops,
first by public opinion and afterwards by eccle-
siastical and even civil legislation. The feeling
found a formal expression in the Council in Trullo,
which sanctioned cohabitation in the case of sub-
deacons, deacons, and priests (c. 13) married be-
fore ordination, but ordered the wife of a bishop
to retire to a convent or to become a deaconess
(c. 48).'' Those who had married after their
ordination were however to be suspended, and in
future absolutely deposed (c. 36). The strong
protest in c. 33 against the growth of a Levi-
tical hereditary priesthood in Armenia may
indicate one of the elements at work in bring-
ing about the more stringent enforcement of
celibacy. Even the forrner were subject to re-
strictions analogous to those which governed the
ministrations of the Jewish priesthood, and were
not allowed to contract marriage after their ordi-
nation, the rule being based on the canon of the
Council of Ancyra already referred to, but ex-
cluding the power which that conceded of giving
notice of the intention to marry, at the time of
ordination. The Theodosian Code {De Episcop.
14, 2) enforced the same rule, and children born
of marriages so contracted were to be treated as
illegitimate (Cod. Theod. de bonis cleric, Jus-
tinian. Novell. V. c. 8). The Emperor Leo the
Wise (A.D. 886-911) confirmed the Trullan canon,
with a modification tending towards leniency.
Clergy who so married were' not to be reduced as
before to lay communion, but were simply de-
graded to a lower order and shut out from strictly
priestly functions. The results of this compro-
mising legislation were probably then, as they
are now, (1) that nearly all candidates for the
priesthood married before they were admitted to
the diaconate, (2) that they continued to live
with their wives, but did not marry again, if they
were left widowers ; and (3) that the great mass
of the secular clergy being thus ineligible for
the episcopate, the bishops were mostly chosen
from among the monks.
[It is interesting to note that the Nestorians
till the middle of the 6th century relaxed consi-
derably the rules of the Trullan Council, and
that the Monophysite Abyssinians allowed their
bishops to retain their wives and live with them.
•> The Council, however, recognized, while it deploreil,
the fact Ihat bishops continued to live with their wives in
Africa, Libya, and elsewhere (c. \2). It forbade ihe scandal
lor the future, and punished offenders with deposition.
CELIBACY
Zacharias, Nuova Giustificazione del Celihato
Sacro, pp. 129, 130.] [I. G. S.]
It remains to trace the progress of a more
stringent and " thorough " policy in the Churches
of the West. The principle asserted at Elvira
extended to Western Africa, and was carried fur-
ther in application. Not only bishops, presbyters,
and deacons, but those of a lower grade who
ministered at the altar were to lead a celibate
life (2 C. Carth. c. 2). It was assumed as an
axiom that the intercourse of married life was
incompatible with prayer and the sacrifice of the
altar, and as the priest ought always to pray, and
daily to offer that sacrifice, he must of necessity
abstain altogether (Hieron. Contr. Jovinian. i. 34).
The bishops of Rome used their authority in the
same direction. Siricius, in the first authentic De-
cretal (a.d. 385), addressed to Himerius, bishop
of Tarragona, forbade absolutely the marriage of
presbyters and deacons. Innocent I. (A.D. 405) in
two Decretals addressed to Victricius, bishop of
Rouen, and Exsuperius of Toulouse, enforced the
prohibition under pain of degradation {Corp. Juris
Can. c. 4, 5, and 6 Dist. 31). Leo I. (a.d. 443) tried
to unite the obligation of the marriage vow and
the purity of the conseci-ated life by allowing
those who were already married to continue to
live with their wives, but " habere quasi uon ha-
beant . . . quo et salva sit charitas connubi-
orum et cessent opera nuptiarum"" (Epist. 167 ad
Busticum). If this law were not kept, they were
to be subject to the extreme penalty of excommu-
nication. So in like manner the 1st Council of
Toledo (c. 1) forbade the promotion of deacons or
presbyters " qui incontinenter cum suis uxoribus
vixerint " to a higher grade. So also the 1st
Council of Orange (can. 22, 23, 24) forbade the
ordination of deacons unless they make a vow of
chastity, and punishes subsequent cohabitation
with deprivation. The 1st Council of Tours, as if
afraid of the consequences of this extreme rigour,
reduced the penalty to the suspension of those
who were already priests from priestly functions,
and, in the case of others, excluded them from
any higher grade than that which they already
occupied (1 C. Turon. c. 1, 2), but allowed both to
partake of the sacrament of the altar. The sub-
deacons, perhaps as finding less compensation in
the respect of the people and in the nature of
their work, held out longer than those of higher
grade. The yoke was, however, pressed on them
too by Leo (Epist. 34 to Leo of Catania) and
Gregory the Great {Corpus Juris Can. c. 14, Dist.
31), and Spain still kept its old pre-eminence in
ascetic rigour. The 8th Council of Toledo (c. 6),
A.D. 653, condemned both the marriage of sub-
deacons after their ordination, and continued co-
habitation if they were married before. Their
work as bearing the vessels of the altar required
that they should keep themselves free from the
pollution which was inseparable from that union.
Offenders were to be sentenced to something like
perpetual imprisonment in a monastery. The
9th Council (c. 10), A.D. 659, desci-ibed every such
union, from bishops to sub-deacons, as a " con-
nubium detestandum," and their issue were not
only treated as illegitimate and excluded from all
rights of inheritance, but treated as slaves "jure
■perenni " of the Church against which their
fathers had offended. It is melancholy, but in-
structive, to find another Council of the same
Church, seventy-two years later (a.d. 731), com-
CELIBACY
pelled to pass canons on the one hand against the
spread of unnatural crime among the clergy,
pronouncing the sentence of deposition and exile
on the bishops, priests, and deacons who were
guilty of it, and, on the other, against the
attempts at suicide which were becoming fre-
quent among those who had been subjected to
the discipline of the Church, with its censures
and its penances (16 C. Tolet. Ct 3 and 4).
Steplien IV. (a.d. 769) enforced the rule of the
Western as contrasted with that of the Eastern
Church {Corpus Juris Can. c. 14, Dist. 31).
[The contrast between Eastern and Western
feeling is shown singularly enough in their esti-
mate of the relative guilt of clerical marriage
and fornication. The Council of Neo-Caesarea
(c. 1) punishes the latter with greater severity
than the former. That of Orleans (c. 1) calmly
puts the two on the same level, " si quis pellici
vel uxori se jungat."] [I. G. S.]
One marked exception has to be noted to the
general prevalence of this rigour. The Church
of Milan, in this as in other things, maintained
its independence of Rome, and, resting on the au-
thority of Ambrose, was content with the Eastern
rule of monogamy, and applied it even to its
own archbishops. " The practice of marriage
was all but universal among the Lombard clergy.
They were publicly, legally married, as were the
laity of Milan" (Milman's Latin Cliristianitu,
b. vi. c. 3).' The practice against which Peter
Damiani raved in the 1 1th century was clearly
of long standing, and it may be noted that it
bore its fruit in the high repute, the thorough
organization, which made the Milanese clergy
famous through all Italy.
It does not fall within the limits of this work
to carry on the history further. Enough has
been said to shew that when Hildebrand entered
on his crusade against the marriage of the clergy
he was simply acting on and enforcing what had
for about seven centuries been the dominant rule
of the church. The confusions of the period that
preceded this had relaxed the discipline, but the
law of the Church remained unaltered. The ex-
ceptional freedom enjoyed by the Church of Milan
would but make one who strove after the unity
of a theocracy more zealous to put a stop to
what he regarded as at once a defilement of
the sacred office and a rebellion against divine
authority.
[Obviously this rapid and yet gradual deve-
lopment which has been traced of clerical celi-
bacy was very largely, if not mainly, due to the
influence of monasticism. Celibacy becomes, step
by step, compulsory on all. the clergy, while the
monastic obligation is rivetted more and more
tightly by an ii-revocable vow. In the monk
celibacy was, as has been indicated, an aspiration
after superhuman holiness, intensified by that
feeling of despair with which he was apt to
regard the world around him, and its apparently
hopeless state of corruption ; and in subtle com-
bination with motives of this kind was the han-
kering after wonder and veneration. In every
CELLA
327
* The passages from Ambrose have been much tam-
pered with, and the text is doubtful. " Monogamia sacer-
dotum " and " castimonia " present themselves as various
readings. One text permits, another prohibits, coha-
bitation after marriage. See the discussion in Milman's
note, I. c.
way the example of the monks told powerfully
on the clergy. The more devout longed to attain
the monk's moral impassibility ; lower natures
were attracted by the prospect of gaining for
themselves the monks' commanding position.
Thus the rivalry, which never ceased, between
the regular and the secular clergy, made the
clergy generally more willing to accept the hard
conditions exacted of them by the policy of their
rulers. So at least it was in Western Christen-
dom. In the East there was a more complete
severance between the monks and the secular
clergy, the former being debarred more closely
from intercourse with the world, and the latter
acquiescing in what was for them ecclesiastically
a lower standing.] [I. G. S.]
It is obvious that just in proportion to the
stringency with which the law of celibacy was
carried into effect were its evils likely to shew
themselves. One— and that for a time a very
formidable one — will form the subject of a sepa-
rate article. If men had not wives, while the
habits of society made them dependent on the do-
mestic services of women, they must have house-
keepers. The very idealism of purity which held
that husband and wife might live together as
brother and sister, seemed to imply that any man
and any woman might live together on the same
footing without risk or scandal. The scandal
came, however, fast enough — -and the Sub-intro-
DUCTAB or 'SvueicraKTol came to occupy a very
prominent position in the legislation of the
Church. [E. H. P.]
[See, further, Alteserrae, Asceticon vel Origo
Rei Monasticae, Par. 1674; S. Bonaventurae,
Seyitent. iv. xxxvii. Opp. Venet. 1751 ; Hallier,
De Sacr. Elect, et Ordinat. v. i. 10, Paris, 1536 ;
Gerson, Dialogus sup. Coelibatu, Opp. ii. p. 617,
Antverp. 1606 ; Ferraris, Bihliotheca, s. vv. Cle-
ricus, Conjuges, Venet. 1778 ; Launoy, Impedi-
raent. Ordin. Opp. I. ii. p. 742, Colon. 1731 ;
Schramm, Compend. Theolog. iii. p. 694, Augs-
burg, 1768 ; Bingham, Origines Eccles. VH. iv.
Lond. 1727 ; Concina, De Coelibatu, Romae, 1755 ;
Paleotimo, De Coelibatu, Summa Orig. Eccles.
Venet. 1766 ; Mich, de Medina, De Sacr. Horn.
Continentiu, Ven. 1568 ; Campegius, De Coelib.
Sacerdotuin. Ven. 1554; G. Callixtus, De Conjug.
Cleric. Helmstadt, 1631 ; Osiander, Exam. Coelib.
(7fe/-ic. Tiibingen, 1664; H. C. Lea, History of
Christian Celibacy, Philadelphia, 1 867.] [I. G. S.]
CELLA or CELLA MEMORIAE, a small
memorial chapel erected in a sepulchral area
over the tomb of the deceased, in which at stated
times, especially the anniversary of his decease,
his friends and dependents assembled to celebrate
an agape, and partake of a banquet in his honour.
These were often built over the tombs of martyrs,
and were then known as Martyria, Memoriae
Martyrum, Concilia Martyrum, and Confessiones.
Sepulchral buildings of this character were com-
mon both to heathens and Christians. Indeed
here, as in so much else, Christianity simply in-
herited existing customs, purged them of licen-
tious or idolatrous taint, and adopted them as
their own. Thus heathen and Christian monu-
ments mutually throw light on one another. A
Christian inscription, recording the formation of
an area and the construction of a cella, is given
in the article Cemetery.
Directions for the erection of a building bearing
328
CELLA
the same title, and devoted to a similar purpose
by a pagan, are given in a very curious will,
once enoraved on a tomb at Langres, a copy of
a portion of which has been discovered in the
binding of a MS. of the 10th century in the Li-
brary at Basle. The will is printed by De Rossi
in the Bullcttino di Arc. Crist., Dec. 1 863. In it
we find most particular directions for the com-
pletion of the cella memoriae, which the testator
had already begun, in exact accordance with the
jilan he left behind him. This cella stood in the
centre of an area. In fi'out of it was to be erected
an altar of the finest Carrara marble in which the
testator's ashes were to be deposited. The cella
itself was to contain two statues of the testatoi',
one in bronze, one in marble. Provision was to
be made for the easy opening and shutting of
the cella. There was to be an exedra, which was
to be furnished with couches and benches on the
days on which the cella was opened. Coverlets
{lodicos) and pillows (cervicalid) to lay upon the
seats were also to be provided, and even gar-
ments (abollae and tunicae) for the guests who
assembled to do honour to the departed. Orchards
and tanks (Jacus) formed part of the plan. It
was also ordered that all the testator's freedmen
wore to make a yearly contribution out of which
a feast was to be provided on a certain day, and
partaken of on the spot. Additional light is
thrown upon the last-named provision by the
terms of a long and curious inscription relating
to a colle jium for the burial of the dead, consist-
ing chiefly of slaves, of the year a.d. 133. One
of the regulations was that the members of the
confraternity were to dine together six times in
the year (Northcote, R. S. p. 51). These cellae
were memorial halls for funeral banquets. The
(Jhristiaus were essentially men of their country
and their age, following in all things lawful the
customs of the time and place in which their lot
was cast. The recent investigations of De Rossi
do much to dispel the idea of the specific and
exclusive character of the Christianity of the
primitive Church. Rejecting the abuses arising
from the license of pagaq morals, there was
nothing in itself to take exception at in the
funeral feast. Indeed the primitive agapae or
love-feasts were often nothing more than funeral
banquets held in cellae at the tombs of the f;uth-
ful, the expenses of which, in the case of the
poorer members, were provided out of the area
cuininun is or church-chest. We are familiar with
l)ictoiial representations of banquets of this na-
ture derived from the Catacombs. Bottari sup-
jilies us with two such of remarkable interest
from the cemeterv of SS. Marcellinus and Peter
(Bottari, Future, torn. ii. tav. 107, 109, 127),
and one from St. Callistus (ibid. torn. iii. p. 1,
1 10, 118). [Catacombs.] There was a remarkable
correspondence between the arrangements of the
Christians and heathens in these matters. In
both not only was the cost of the funeral banquet
paiil out of the general fund, but suitable cloth-
ing was also provided for those who were present
at these banquets. In an inventory of furniture
confiscated in the Diocletian persecution in a house
where Christians were in the habit of meeting at
Cirta in Kumidia, in addition to chalices of gold
and silver, and lamps, &c., we find articles of
attire and shoes (tunicae muliebres Ixjixii, tunicae
viriles xvi, calvjae virites paria xiii, calig.ie wdi-
ehres parin xlvii), and other entries of ,i similar
GELLITAE
nature. These celiac were not only used for the
funeral feasts, which were necessarily infrequent,
but also formed oratories to which the faithful
resorted at all times to offer up their devotions
over the remains of their departed brethren.
The name cella, as applied to such places of
reunion, seems to have been restricted to non-
subterranean buildings erected in the funeral
area, above the grave of the individual whom it
was desired to commemorate. Chambers con-
structed for this purpose in the subterranean
cemeteries were known as cubicula [CatacOMh].
Another appellation by which they were known
whether above ground or below, was memoriae
mariijrum or martyria until they lost their pri-
mitive name of cellae, and became known as
basilicae (Hierom. Ep. ad Vifjilant.). In fact, the
magnificent basilicas erected above the tombs of
the martyrs in the age of the peace of the Church,
by Constantine and other Christian emperors,
were nothing more than amplifications of the
humble cellae or me.noriae built in the area of
the cemeteries.
We know from Anastasius (§ 21) that many
buildings were erected in the cemeteries by the
direction of Pope Fabianus (A.D. 238-354), "mul-
tas fabricas per coemeteria fieri praecepit."
These fabricae we may safely identify, with
Ciampini, Ansaldi, De Rossi, &c. with the cellae
memoriae of which we have been speaking.
" They were probably little oratories constructed
either for purposes of worship, or the celebra-
tion of the agapae, or of mere guardianship of
the tombs according to the common practice
of the Romans " (Northcote, E. S. p. 86). The
peace which the Church had at this time enjoyed
for nearly 50 years would have encouraged the
erection of such buildings, and rendered the use
of them free from apprehension.
Cella and cellula were employed at a later time
for sepulchral chapels built along the side walls
of a church. It is used in this sense by Pauli-
nus of Nola, in whose writings such chapels are
moxe frequently termed cubicula. [Cubiculum.]
An example of the use of the word in the sense
of a monastic cell is given by Combefis, De '
Templo S. Sophiae p. 260, Se'Sorcti t^ K\-ripai Kal
/ceAAi'a els to, irepil Kara rrjv Ta^iv avrSiv.
[E. v.]
CELLEEAEIUS, Cellarius, KeWdpios, /ceA-
XapiTT^s. One of the highest officials in a monas-
tery. As the prior was next to the abbat in
spiritual things, so the Cellerarius, rmder the
abbat, had the management and control of all
the secular affairs. He was sometimes called
oeconomus (oIkovSij.os'), dispensator or procurator.
According to most commentators on the Bene-
dictine Rule he was to be appointed by the abbat
with consent of the seniors, and was to hold
office for one year or more (lieg. S. Bened. c. 31,
cf. Concord, licjul. c. 40). [I. G. S.]
GELLITAE, KeXXicirai. A class of monks,
midway between hermits and coenobites. Strictly
speaking, they were the anchorites, avaxwp-nTai,
so'called because they withdrew or retired from
the coenobia, wherein the monks dwelt together,
to small cells in the immediate vicinity. On
festivals they repaired to the church of the
monastery, and thus, being still semi-attached
to the community, they dift'ercd from the her-
mits, iprifiirai, who were independent of control
CELIJTAE
(Suic. Tlics. s. v.). As preferring tlio more
complete privacy and quiet of those cells to
living in common, they were sometimes called
hesychastae, ^cruxaiTTai, and their cells r)(Tvxa-
ar-npia (Bingh. Orig. VII. ii. 14. ; Justin. Novell.
V. 3).a
The woi-d " cella," KeWlov, originally meaning
the cave, den, or separate cell of each recluse
(Soz. H. E. vi. 31 ; Greg. Dial. ii. 34),i> soon
came to be applied to their collective dwelling-
place ; in this resembling the term monasterium,
which signified at first a hermit's solitary abode,
and subsequently the abode of several monks
together. " Cella," in its later use, was applied
even to larger monasteries (Mab. Ann. v. 7) ;
but usually to the oilshoots or dependencies of
the old foundation (Du Cange, s. v.) " Cellula "
is used for a monastery by Gregory of Tours
{Hist. vi. 8, 29, &c.). In the Rule of St. Fruc-
tuosus " cella " stands for the " black-hole," the
place of solitary confinement for offenders against
tlie discipline (Mab. Ann. xiii. 41). The Regula
Agauuensis forbad separate cells for the monks;
but it is not clear whether this prohibition refers
to cells within the walls or to the cells outside
of tlie " cellitae."
Cassian, in his account of the different kinds
of monks in Egypt, condemns the " Sarabaitae,"
who dwelt together in small groups of cells
without rule or superior (Cass. Coll. xviii. 17).
The same distrust of what inevitably tended to
disorder and licence is shown in the decrees of
Western Councils (e. g. Concc. Aurel. I. c. 22 ;
Agath. c. 38). But the cells of the "Cellitae,"
properly so caljed, resembled rather a " Laura "
in Egypt and Palestine, each Laura being a
quasi coenobitic cluster of cells, forming a com-
munity to which, in the eai-lier days of monachism,
the abbat's will was in place of a written rule.
The first of these " Lauras " is said to have been
founded by St. Chariton, about the middle of the
4th century, near the Dead Sea (Bulteau, Hist.
Mon. d' Orient. 282). Other famous lauras were
those of St. Euthymius, near Jerusalem, in the
next century, and of St. Sabns, near the Jordan ;
to the former only grown men were admitted, to
the latter only boj-s (Helyot, Hist, des Ordr.
Mon. Dissert. Prelim. § 5).
The motive for withdrawing from a monas-
tery to one of those little cells clustering round
it was, apparently, a desire in some cases of soli-
tude, in others of a less austere mode of life.
Each cell had a small garden or vineyard, in
which the monk could occupy himself at pleasure
(Du Cange, s. v.). But sometimes the "Cellita"
was a monk with aspirations after more than
ordinary self-denial. Thus it was a custom at
Vienna, in the 6th century, for some monk, se-
lected as pre-eminent in sanctity, to be immured
in a solitary cell, as an inteixessor for the people
(Mab. Ann. iv. 44, cf. vii. 57).
A strict rule for " Cellitae " was drawn up in
the 9th centui-y by Grimlac. Their cells were
to be near the monastery, either standing apai't
one from another or communicating only by a
window. The cellitae were to be supported oy
=» KeAAiwT^s also meant an imperial chamberlain at
tbc court of Constantinople.
'' " Ad piupiiam cellam vevcrtissot " is taken by some
ronmietitators as rci'crriiig to a convent of nuns already
founded by S'"- Scholastica (<;i('g. Dial. ii. 3t).
CEMETERY
329
their own work or by alms : they might be either
clergy or laymen. If professed monks, they
were to wear the dress of the order ; if not, a
cape as a badge. None were to be admitted into
the "Cellitae" except by the bishop or the
abbat, nor without a noviciate. They were to
have their own chapel for mass ; and a window
in the wall of the church, through which they
might " assist " at the services, and receive the
confessions of penitents. A seal was to be set
by the bishop on the door of each cell, never to
be broken, except in urgent sickness for the
necessary medical and spiritual comfort (Helyot,
Diss. Fret. § 5 ; Bulteau, Hist. derOrdre S. B. I.
ii. 21).
The term celhdanus has been supposed equiva-
lent to cellita. It is used by Sidonius Apolli-
naris for the Lerinensian monks (IX. Ep. 3, ad
Faust.). According to Du Cange it .sometimes
means a monk sharing the same cell with
another. [1. G. S.]
CELSUS. (1) Child-martyr at Antioch un-
der Diocletian, is commemorated Jan. 9 (J/cwi.
Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr with Nazarius at Milan, June 12
{Mart. Usuardi).
The Mart. Fom. Vet. places the invention of
the relics of these saints on this day, the mar-
tyrdom on July 28. The Cal. Bt/zant. comme
morates them on Oct. 14. [C]
CEMETERY (Koiu.r\T'r]piov, Coemeterium).
In the familiar term cemetery we have an ex-
ample— one among many— of a new and nobler
meaning being breathed by Christianity into a
word already familiar to heathen antiquity. Al-
ready employed in its natural sense of a " sleep-
ing place " (Dosid. apud Athenaeum, 143, C), it
became limited in the language of Christians to
the places where their brethren who had fallen
asleep in Christ were reposing until the morning
of the Resurrection. Death, through the Resur-
rection of Jesus Christ, had changed its nature
and its name. " In Christianis," writes St. Je-
rome, Ep. 29, "mors non est mors, sed dormitio
et somnus appellatur." " Mortuos consuevit
dicere dormientes quia evigilaturos, id est resur-
recturos vult intelligi" (Aug. Rs. in Fs. Ixxxvii.).
And the spot where the bodies of the departed
were deposited also changed its designation and
received a new and significant title. The faithful
looked on it as a Kotixr]Tripiov, " a sleeping-place ;"
the name being, as St. Chrysostom says, a per-
petual evidence that those who were laid tliere
were not dead but sleeping : 5ia tovto avrhs
6 Toiros Koifj.7]T-i)pLov djvofjLacrrai 'iva fidOj;^ '6ri
01 Te\€VT7]K6res Kol ivTavQa Kei/ncvoL oh TeQvri-
Kaai akXa. Koip-uvTui Kal nadevSovai. {Honiil.
Ixxxi.)
The earliest example of the use of the word
is, perhajis, in the Fhilosophurnona of Hippolytus,
c. 222, where we read that Zephyrinus, bishop
of Rome, "set" Callistus, afterwards his suc-
cessor, " over the cemetery" els rb KoifjL7)T7]pLov
KaT€(TT7iafv {Fhilosophum. lib. ix. c. 7). Here the
word is recognized as an already established term.
That its origin was exclusively Christian, and
that in its new sense it was a term unknown,
andliardly intelligible to the heathen authorities,
is evidenced by the form of the edicts which
sr,p]ily tlie next examples of its use. In thi> jun-
MHiition r.iidcr Valerian, A.D. 2.")7. AcniiliMhus
330
CEMETERY
the prefect prohibited the Christians of Alex-
andria, els T^ KaAou^f"" KOi/J-vr^P^a flcrt-
4vai. This edict was revoked by Gallienus on
the cessation of the ])ersecution, c. 259, and an
imperial rescript again permitted the bishops
TO. Tuiv KaKovjxivaiv KoiiJ.i]Tnpiaiv airoKafx-
$dveiv xi^P'"' Had the term been one in familiar
use among the heathen inhabitants, it would
have been^'needless to have thus specified them.
A distinction between the burial places of
Christians and those of another faith had its
oi-igin in the very first ages of the Church. This
principle of jealous separation after death be-
tween the worshippers of the True God and the
heathen was inherited from the Jews. The Jews
wherever they resided had their own places of
sepulchre, from which all but their co-religionists
were rigidly excluded. In Rome they very early
had a catacomb of their own in the Monte Verde
on the Via Portuensis, outside the Trasteverine
quarter of the city, which was their chief place
of residence. Another has been investigated by
De Rossi on the Via Appia ; the construction of
which he considers takes us back as far as the
time of Augustus. So also the Christians, in
death as well as in life, would seek to carry
out the apostolic injunction to " come out, and
be separate, and touch not the unclean thing."
The faithful brethren of the little flock, the
" peculiar people," lay apart, still united by the
ties of a common brotherhood, waiting for "the
great and terrible day " which according to the
universal belief of the primitive church was so
near at hand. As an evidence of the abhorrence
felt in very early, though not the earliest, times
of uniting Christians and pagans in one common
sepulchre, we may refer to the words of Cyprian,
A.D. 2.54-. This Father upbraids a lapsed Spanish
bishop named Martialis, among other crimes, with
having associated with the members of a heathen
funeral college and joined in their funeral ban-
quets, and having buried his sons in the cemetery
over which they had superintendence — " Praeter
gentilium turpia et lutulenta convivia et collegia
diu frequentata, filios in eodem collegio, exter-
arum gentium more, apud profana sepulchra
depositos et alienigenis consepultos " (Cyprian.
JSjjist. 67). Hilary of Poitiers, c. .360, also com-
menting on the text, " let the dead bury their
dead," asserts the same principle, " Ostendit
Dominus .... inter fidelem filium patremque in-
fidelem jus paterni nominis non relinqui. Non
obsequium humandi patris negavit, sed . . . ad-
monuit non admisceri memoriis sanctorum mor-
tuos infideles " {Comm. in Mutt. cap. vii.). These
Christian cemeteries were in their first origin
private and individual. The wealthier members
of the Church were buried each in a plot of
ground belonging to him, while the tombs of
the poorer sort, like that of their Lord, were
dug in the villas or gardens of rich citizens or
matrons of substance who had embraced the faith
of Christ, and devoted their property to His
service. The titles by which many of the Roman
cemeteries are still designated, though often
contused with the names of conspicuous saints
and martyrs who in later times were interred in
them, are derived from their original possessors,
some of whom mav with great probability be
referred to very early if not apostolic times.
The cemeteries which are designated as those of
Lucina, Domitilla, Commodilla, Cyriaca, Priscilla
CEMETERY
Praetextatus, Pontianus, &c., w^ere so called, not
as being the burial places of these individuals,
but because the sepulchral area which formed the
nucleus of their ramifications had been their pi-o-
perty. Not that in every instance the original
cemetery received this large extension. Under-
ground Christian tombs have been found in the 1
vicinity of Rome consisting of no more than a
single sepulchral chamber, so that some of these '
cemeteries may have been always limited to the
members and adherents of a single family. The
only necessary restriction was that of a common
faith. A few years ago a gravestone was found '
in the catacomb of Nicomedes outside the Porta
Pia, bearing an inscription in which a certain Va-
lerius Mercurius, according to the Roman custom, i
bequeathed to his freedmen and freedwomen and I
their posterity the right of sepultui-e in the same '•
cemetery, provided that they belonged to his I
own religion. At (ad) religionem pertinentes i
MEAM. We iiave another example of the same j
kind in an inscription which may still be seen in j
the most ancient part of the cemetery of Nereus I
and Achilleus. In this it is recorded that M. ■
Antonius Restitutus made a hypogaeum for him-
self and his family trusting in the Lord, " sibi t
et suis fidentibus in Domino." We have no
example of language of this kind in any heathen
epitaph. The strongest tie of brotherhood among
Christians was a common faith. This bond out-
lasted death, and nowhere was its power more
felt than in their burials. Nor was there any- ■
thing in the social or religious position of the |
first Christians in Rome and elsewhere to curtail I
their liberty in the mode of the disposing of ]
their dead. The}^ lived in, and with their age,
and followed its customs in all things lawful. No
existing laws interfered with them. On the con-
trary, all the ordinances of the Roman legislation
under which, as citizens, they lived, were favour-
able to the acquisition and maintenance of burial
places by the Christians. In Rome land used
for interment became ipso facto invested with a
religious character which extended not only to the j
area in which the sepulture took place, but to |
the hypogaea or subterranean chambers beneath
it, and pei'haps also to the celiac memoriae, the
gardens, orchards, and other appurtenances be-
longing to them. The violation of a tomb was
a crime under the Roman law visited with the i
severest penalties. According to Paulus (Digest,
lib. xlvii. tit. xii. § 11) those convicted of remov- :
ing a body or digging up the bones were, if per-
sons of the lowest rank, to suffer capital punish-
ment ; if of higher condition, to be banished to '
an island, or condemned to the mines. This .i
privilege reached even to those who, as martyrs, j
had forfeited their lives to the law. The Digest ,;
contains the opinions of some of the most eminent >
Roman lawyers that the bodies of criminals might ]
legally be given up to those who asked for them. J
"Corpora animadversorum quibuslibet petenti- I
bus ad sepulturam danda sunt" (Paulus ap. '
Digest, lib. xlviii. tit. xxiv.). Ulpian (ihid. § 1)
adduces the authority of the Emperor Augustus
for the restoration of the bodies of criminals
to their relations. In his own time, he re-
marks, a formal petition and permission was
requisite, and the request was sometimes refused,
chiefly in cases of high treason. This exception
may have sometimes interfered with the Chris-
tians obtaining possession of the body of a martyr
CEMETERY
who had refused to swear "by the fortune of
Caesar." But for the first two centuries there
is no evidence of any such prohibition, and
unless the " Acts of the martyrs " are to be
altogether discredited, the nucleus of many of
the existing catacombs was created by the burial
of some famous martyr on the private property
of a wealthy Christian. The facilities for bui'ial
would be also further enlarged by the existence
of legalized funeral guilds or confraternities
{collegia), associated together for the reverent
celebration of the funeral rites of their members.
The Christians were not forbidden by any rules
of their own society, or laws of the empire, to
enter into a corporate union of this kind. The
jurist Marcian, at the beginning of the third
century, as quoted in the Digests (JDe Colleg. et
Corpor. lib. xlvii. tit. xxii. 1), when stating the
prohibitions against collegia sodalicia, soldiers'
clubs, and other illicit combinations, expressly
excepts meetings the object of which was re-
ligious, " religionis causa coire non prohibentur,"
provided they were not forbidden by a decree of
the senate ; as well as associations of the poorer
classes meeting once a month to make a small
payment for common purposes, one of which was
the decent burial of their memljers, " permittitur
teuuioribus stipem menstruam conferre, dum ta-
men semel in mense coeaut " (Digest, ibid.). That
such associations existed among Christians with
the object, among others, of defraying the funeral
expenses of their poorer brethren, is clear from
the Apology of Tertullian. He says, speaking
of the area publica, or public chest : " Every one
makes a small contribution on a certain day of
the month (modicarn unusquisque stipem men-
strua die. . . . apponit), or when he chooses, pro-
vided only he is willing and able, for none is
compelled The amount is, as it were, a
common fund of piety. Since it is expended not
in feasting, or drinking, or indecent excess, but
in feeding and burying the poor, &c. (egenis
alendis humandis-que)." TertuU. Apolog. c. xxxix.
The first historical notice we have of any in-
terference with the Christian cemeteries is found
in Africa, A.D. 203. And this was not an act of
the civil power, but was simply an outbreak
of popular bigotry. " Areae non sint," Tertull.
ad Scapul. c. iii. [area]. We do not find any
general edict aimed at the Christian cemeteries
before that of the Emperor Valerian, A.D. 257 ;
and even this is directed not against the ceme-
teries themselves but against religious meetings
in the sacred precincts, and is absolutely silent
as to any prohibition of burial. After this, the
cemeteries became expi-essly recognized by the
civil power.
We cannot doubt that places of interment
must have been provided by the Church, in
its coi-porate capacity, for its members at a
very early period. It was not every Christian
whose dead body would be sure of receiving
the pious i^are that attended the more distin-
guished members of the Church. Their ab-
horrence of cremation, and repugnance against
admixture with the departed heathen foj-bad
their finding a resting place in the heathen
columbaria. The horrible puticuli where the
bodies of the lowest slaves were thrown to rot in
an undistinguished mass, could not be permitted
to be the last home of those for whom, equally
with the most distinguished members of the
CEMETERY
831
Church, Christ died. " Apud nos," writes Lac-
tautius, " inter pauperes et divites, servos et do-
minos, interest nihil " (Lact. Div. Inst. v. 14, 15).
A common cemetery would be one of the first
necessities of a Christian Church in any city as
soon as it acquired a corporate existence and
stability. Rome could not have long dispensed
with it. And when we read of Callistus being
" set over the cemetery," by Pope Zephyrinus
(c. 202), we cannot reasonably question that the
cemetery which we know from Anastasius "Cal-
listus made (fecit) on the Appian way, and which
is called to the present day the cemetery of Cal-
listus " (Anastas. § 17), was one common to the
whole Christian community, formed by -Callistus
on a plot of ground given to him for this purpose
by some Roman of distinction. It is a plausible
conjecture of De Rossi that the example of those
who had bestowed this cemetery on the Christian
community would speedily be followed by other
believers of wealth, and that others of the larger
cemeteries which surround Rome owe their origin,
or fuller development to this epoch. This pro-
bability is strengthened when we find it recorded
by Pope Fabian, in the early part of the same
century (A.D. 238), that "after he had divided
the regions among the deacons he ordered nu-
merous buildings to be constructed in the ceme-
teries" (multas fabricas per coemeteria fieri
praecepit), Anast. § 21. It was in one of these
memorial chapels that in all probability Pope
Xystus II. was martyred, A.D. 261, " in coemeterio
ariimadversum," Cyprian, Ep. 80 (81). Anas-
tasius records that the charge under which he
suffered was contempt for the commands of Va-
lerian (Anast. § 25), and, as we have seen, one of
the persecuting' edicts of that empei'or forbad the
Christians to enter their cemeteries. Among
the internal arrangements of the church attri-
buted in the Liber Pontificalis to Dionysius (a.d.
261-272) is the institution of cemeteries, " coe-
meteria instituit" (Anast. §26). From this pe-
riod large public cemeteries became a recognized
part of the organization of the Christian Church.
It was considered a duty incumbent on the richer
members to provide for the reverent interment of
the poor, and where other means were wanting,
St. Ambrose sanctioned the sale of the sacred
vessels by the Christian community rather than
that the dead should want burial (Ambros. do
Offic. lib. ii. c. 28).
The form, position, and arrangements of the
early Christian cemeteries were not regulated
by any uniform system, but were modified ac-
cording to the customs of the country, the nature
of the soil, ■ and the conditions of climate.
Attention having been for a long time chiefly
drawn to the subterranean cemeteries of Rome,
it has been too hastily inferred that all the early
Christian burial places were underground vaults.
But as Mommsen says, " the idea that the dead
were usually buried in such vaults in early
Christian times is as erroneous as it is pi-evalent "
{Contempor. Bev., May 1871, p. 166). We know-
that at Carthage the Christian dead were buried,
not in hypogaea, but in open plots of ground,
" areae sepulturarum nostrarum." Against these
burial places the populace directed their mad
attack with the wild cry, " Down with the burial
places " (areae non sint), and with the fury of
Bacchanals dug up the graves, dragged forththe
decaying corpses, and tore them into fragments
332
CEMETERY
(Tertull. ad Scap. 3, Apolog. c. xxxvii.). Half a
century later we find the v/ord in use at Car-
thage. St. Cyprian was buried " ad areas Ma-
crobii Candidiani procuratoris " (Ruinart, Acta
Martymm Sincera, p. 263). It also occurs in the
Acts of Montanus and Lucius, " in medio eorura
in area solum servari jussit (Montanus) ut nee
sepulturae consortio privaretur " (&. 279). The
same term is found in connection with a monu-
mental cemetery chapel, cella memoriae, in a very
remarkable inscription from Caesarea in Maure-
tauia (lol) given by De Rossi (^Bullet, di Arch.
Crist. April, 1864) :—
" Aream at (ad) sepulchra cultor verbi contulit,
Et cellam struxil suis cunctis sumptibus.
I'Xlesiae sanctae banc reliquit menioriam.
Salvete fratres puro corde et simplici,
Euelpias vos satos sancto Spiritu.
Eclesia Fratrum liunc restituit titulum.
Ex tag. Asteri."
"This graveyard was given by the servant of
the Word, who has also built the chapel entirely
;it his own expense. He left the memoria to the
Holy Church. Hail, brethren! Euelpias with
a pure and simple heart greets you, born of the
Holy Spirit." The remainder of the inscription
records the restoration of the titulus, which had
been damaged in one of the' former persecutions,
bv the Ecclesia Fratrum. The concluding words,
'■ Cx ingenio Asterii," give the name of the poet.
We find sufficient evidence of this custom of
I)ui-ying in enclosed graveyards, according to the
inndern usage, prevailing in other districts. The
l:aic,mage of St. Chrysostom with respect to the
immense concourse of people who assembled on
Kaster Eve and other special anniversaries for
worship and the celebration of the Eucharist in
tlie cemeteries and at the martyi-ia, with which
tlie city of Antioch was surrounded, can only be
interpreted of cemeteries above ground. There
is uot the slightest reference to subterranean
vaults, which would have been altogether inade-
(juiite to receive the multitudes who thronged
tliither (cf. Chrysost. Horn. 81, ds rh vvofxa kol-
IJiT]TT]piov ] Hom. 65, de Marttir-ibus ; Hom. 67,
ill Droddern). The same inference as to the
position of the cemeteries may be legitimately
drawn from other passages of early writers.
Tliis is the only satisfactory interpretation of
the passage in the Apostolical Constitutions
(lib. vi. c. 30), relating to assemblies held in
the cemeteries " for reading the sacred books,
singing in behalf of the martyrs which are
fallen asleep, and for all the saints from the
beginning of the world and for the brethren that
are asleep in the Lord, and offering the accept-
able Eucharist." We learn also from Athanasius
(Apolog. pro Fuga, p. 704) that during the week
after Pentecost the people fasted and went out
to pray irepi to, Koifj.riT7ipia. The prohibitions of
tlie Council of Elvira (A.D. 305, Canon, 34, 35)
(if the custom of females passing the night in
tl\e cevneteries, which was the cause of many
scandals under the colour of religion (cf. Pe-
tron. Arbit. Mutrona Ephes.), and of the light-
ing of candles in them during the day-time,
" jdacuit cereos in coemeteriis non accendi, inqui-
ctandi enim Sanctorum spiritus non sunt " (cf.
1 Sam. xxviii. 15, " Quare inquietasti -me ut sus-
citarcr?"), indicate open-air cemeteries fur-
uislied with mxrtyria, uionuments, and memorial
CEMETERY
chapels, not subterranean vaults. We would ex-
plain in the same way the 110th canon of the
Council of Laodicaea (A.D. 366) forbidding mem-
bers of the Church to resort to the cemeteries
or martyria of heretics for the purpose of pra3'er
and divine service, eux^js % depaireias tveKa.
Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Clermont, d. 482,
describes the burial place of his grandfather as
a grave (scrobs) in a field (^campus) (Sidon. Apoll.
lib. iii. ep. 12).
Nor even in Rome itself, though the actual
place of interment was as a rule in a subter-
ranean excavation, now known as a catacomb,
does the word coemeterium exclusively denote
these underground vaults. De Rossi, following
Settele (Atti della Font. Acad, d' Arch. tom. ii.
p. 51) has abundantly shown in his Soma Sot-
terranea (cf. vol. i. pp. 86, 93, &c.), that coeme-
terium. when it occurs in the Lives of the Fopes
and other early documents frequently denotes
the monumental chapels and oratories, together
with the huts of the fossores and other officials,
erected in the funeral enclosure. "The long
peace from the reign of Caracalla to that of De-
cius might well have encouraged the Christians to
erect such buildings, and allowed them to make
frequent use of them notwithstanding occasional
disturbances from popular violence " (Northcote,
E. S. p. 86-87). When we read of popes and
other Christian confessors taking refuge in the
cemeteries and living in them for a considerable
period, we are not to suppose that they actually
passed their time underground, under circum-
stances and in an atmosphere which would render
life hardly possible^ but in one of the buildings
annexed to the cemeteries, either for religious
purposes, or for the guardianship of the sacred en-
closures." Thus when we read in Anastasius (§ 60)
that Boniface I. in the stormy period that ac-
companied the double election to the popedom,
A.D. 419, " habitavit in coemeterio Sanctae Fe-
licitatis," we find Symmachus, his contemporary,
writing without any allusion to the place of his
retirement, " extra murum deductus non louge
ab urbe remoratur " (Symmoch. Ep. x. 73). We
have a distinct example belonging to the same
period, of residence in a cella of a cemetery. This
is the priest Barbatianus, who having come from
Antioch to Rome retired to the cemetery of Cal-
listus, " clam latens in celhda sua " (Agnellus,
Vitae Font. Ravenn.). Ptolemaeus Silvius, quoted
by De Rossi, Bullettino, Giugno, 1863, writing A.D.
448, speaks of the innumerable cellulae dedicated
to the martyrs with which the areas of the
cemeteries were studded. All these buildings
taken collectively were often comprised under
the name coemeterium. Onuphrius Panvinius
(d. 1568), one of the earliest writers on Christian
interment, Be Eitu sepieliend. Mort. apjud vet.
Citrist., p. 85, expressly states that " inasmuch
as worshippers were wont to assemble in large
numbers at the tombs of the martyrs on the
anniversaries of their death, the name of cemetery
was extended to capacious places adjacent to
the cemeteries, suitable for public meetings
for prayer." " We read,", he continues, " that
the early Roman pontiil's were in the habit of
keeping these stations, that is, performing all
their public pontifical acts among the tombs of
'» Express reference is made by U Ipiai i to the habit of
I .Uvi'Uins in sepukUres {Uiijest. lib. xlvii. tit. .\ii. y 3).
CEMETERY
the martyrs. And thus these cemeteries were
to the Christians as it were temples, and places
of prayer in which bishops used to gather their
synods, administer the sacraments, and preach
the word of God." >» [Churchyard.]
That the term coemeteriuin was not restricted
to the subterranean places of interment is also
clear from the fact that though interment in the
catacombs had entirely ceased in the 5th cen-
tury, wo read of one pope after another being
buried in coemctcrio (cf. Siricius, A.D. 398, Anast.
§ 55 ; Anastasius A.D. 402, ih. § 56 ; Bonifacius,
A.D. '422, ib. § 61 ; Coelestinus, A.D. 432, ib. §62).
Even of Vigilius, who died A.D. 555, long after
the catacombs were disused for burial and had be-
come nothing more than places of devotion at the
tombs of the martyrs, we read (ib. § 108), " cor-
pus . . . sepultum est ... in coemeterio Priscil-
!ae " (Anast. § 108). Hadrian I. in his celebrated
letter to Charlemagne on images, also makes
mention of the pictures executed by Coelestinus
" in coemeterio suo " (Concilia, Ed. Mansi xiii.
p. 801). (For fuller particulars, see De Rossi,
Rom. Soft. vol. i. p. 216, 217). There is an ap-
parent exception in the case of Zosimus, a.d. 418,
Sixtus III. A.D. 440, and Hilarius, A.D. 468, all
of whom are stated to have been buried "ad
Sanctum Laurentium in crypta " (Anast. § 59,
65, 71). But as De Rossi remarks the exception
only proves the rule. For this crypt did not
at this time form part of the extensive cemetery
of St. Cyriaca, but was the substructure of the
altar (confessio) of the Basilica erected over it
by Constautine, A.D. 330, of which it formed the
nucleus. The result of his investigation is thus
summed up by De Rossi, it. s. : " It is manifest
that the cemeteries in which during the fifth cen-
tury thq bodies of the popes were interred were
all buildings under the open sky, and that history
is in accord with the monuments in presenting
no single example in that period of a burial
performed according to the ancient rites in the
primitive subterranean excavations."
Although the words Koi/xrjTTjpwj', coemeterium,
were generally applied to the whole sepulchral
area, and the buildings included within it, yet
instances are not wanting in which it is used of
a single grave. The examples adduced by De
Rossi (jR. S. p. 85) are exclusively Greek. He
refers to Corpus Liscr. Grace, n. 9298 ; 9304-6 ;
9310-16: 9439-40; 9450; and mentions a bi-
lingual inscription from Narbonne of the year
527, in which the tomb is styled KTMETEPION.
In Boldetti, p. 633, we have an inscription from
Malta stating that the KOIMHTHPION had been
purchased and restored by a Christian named
Zosimus. Aringhi also (Jiom. Suht. tom. i. p. 5)
adduces an example of a sarcophagus bearing
this designation, KOIMHTHPION TOYTO XIK-
TABIAAH TH lAIA TTNAIKI AATAAKIE.
The word is of excessive rarity in the catacombs
themselves. The epitaph of Sabinus (Perret V.
xxix. 67), in which we read Cymeterium Bal-
liiNAE, is perhaps the only instance known.
The Latin equivalents for KoifiriTripiou most
usually found were either dormitorium — e.g.,
Fecit in pace Domini Dormitorium (cf. Reines,
Sijiitagm. Inscr. Antiq. 356) ; " Pompeiana ma-
•> In the Sacramentarium Kcd. Roman, the Missa
in C'ymHeriis, cap. 103, contains prayers for tiio souls
' omnium fidelium in hac Basilica quiesceiitium."
CHALCEDON
333
trona corpus ejus de judice emit et imposuit iu
dormitorio suo " (Acta S. Maximil. apud Kuinart,,
p. 264) — or in Africa, accubitorium (De Rossi,
M.S. i. p. 86). A long list of other names by which
at various epochs and iu ditterent countries,
Christian places of interment were designated
may be found in Boldetti (Osservazioni, pi).
584-586).
(Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. viii. ch. 8-10, bk.
xxiii. ch. 1-2; Boldetti, Osservazioni sopra i
Cvneterii; Bottari, Sculture e pitture sagre ;
Bosio, lioma Soiterranea ; Aviaghi, limna SvJjter-
ranea ; Panvinius, De Ritu Scpeliendi ; Anasta-
sius, Be Vitis Horn. Font if. ; Raoul-Rochette,
Tableau des Catacombes ; De Rossi, Roma Sotter-
ranea ; Northcote and Brownlow, Eoma Sottcr-
ranea). [E. V.]
CENSER. [Thurible.]
CENSURIUS, bishop and confessor at Aux-
erre (about A.D. 500, is commemorated June 10
(Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CEREAIJS. (1) Martyr at Rome under
Hadrian, is commemorated June 10 (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Soldier, martyr at Rome under Decius,
Sept. 14 (Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CEREMONIALE. A book containing direc-
tions or rubrics for the due performance of cei--
tain ceremonies. The more ancient term for such
a book is Ordo, which see. [C]
CEREUS. [Taper.]
CEREUS PASCHALIS. [Maundy
Thursday.]
CHAIR. [Cathedra: Throne.]
CHALCEDON (Councils of), (i) a.d.
403, better known as "the Synod of the Oak" — a
name given to a suburb there — at which St.
Chrysostom was deposed. To appreciate its
pi'oceedings, we should remember that St. John
Chrysostom had been appointed to the see of
Constantinople five years before, and that Theo-
philus, bishop of Alexandria, had been summoned
thither by the emperor Arcadius to ordain him.
Theophilus had a presbyter of his own whom he
would have preferred, named Isidore, so that in
one sense he consecrated St. Chrysostom under
constraint. It was against the 2nd of the Con-
stantinopolitan canons likewise for him to have
consecrated at all out of his own diocese : but in
another sense he was probably not loth to make
St. Chrysostom beholden to him, and be possessed
of a pretext himself for interfering in a see
threatening to eclipse his own, where he could
do so with effect. Hence the part played by him
at the Synod of the Oak, over which he presided,
and in which no less than 12 sessions were occu-
pied on charges brought against St. Chrysostom
himself, and a 13th on charges brought against
Heraclides, bishop of Ephesus, who had been or-
dained by him (Mansi iii. 1141-54). The num-
ber of charges alleged against St. Chrysostom
was 29 at one time and 18 at another. When
cited to appear and reply to them, his answer
was: "Remove my avowed enemies from your
list of judges, and I am ready to appear and
make my defence, should any person bring aught
against me ; otherwise you may send as often as
ycm will for me, but you will got no favtlier."
And the first of those wliom he reckoned as such
334
CHALCEDON
was Theophilus. One of the charges against
him was some unworthy language that he had
used to St. Epiphanius, lately deceased, who had
supported Tirnotheus in condemning the origi-
nists, regarded by St. Chrysostom with more
favour. The others refer to his conduct in his
own church, or towards his own clergy. The
synod ended by deposing St. Chrysostom, having
cited him four times to no purpose; when he
was immediately e.xpelled tlie city by the em-
peror, and withdrew into Bithynia, to be very
shortly recalled.
(2) The 4th general — held its fii-st session,
October 8, a.d. 451, in the church of St.
Euphemia — for the architectural arrangements
of which see Evagrius (ii. 3) — having been con-
vened by the emperor Marcian shortly after his
elevation. In his circular to the bishops (Mansi,
vi. 551-4), he bids them come to Nicaea— the
place chosen by him originally — to settle " some
questions that he says had arisen apparently
respecting the oi-thodox faith, and been also shown
him in a letter from the archbishop of Kome."
But in reality St. Leo had urged a very diiferent
course. In his last ejiistle to the late emperor
he had indeed petitioned that a council might be
held in Italy, should a council be required at all
(A. 83-5) : and when Marcian applied to him
" to authorise " the council about to be held (^ib.
93-4), his reply was that he would rather it
were postjjoned till the times were more favour-
able (ib. 114-5). It was only when he found
his advice unheeded that he decided on sending
representatives thither (j6. 126-9), and then on
the solemn understanding that there should be
no resettlement attempted of the Nicene faith.
Even so, he reminds the empress (jVj. 138-9) that
his demand had been for a council in Italy ; and
tells the council expressly that his representa-
tives are to preside there, custom forbidding his
own presence (i6. 131-5). His representatives,
on their part, warn the emperor that unless he
is present in person they cannot attend (;ib. 557-
8). Hence, to fiicilitate this arrangement, the
council is transferred to Chalcedon. Bishops to
the number of 360 attended, in some eases by
deputy, the 1st action, and 19 of the highest lay
dignitaries represented the emperor. Usually
'630 bishops are said to have been at the council
sooner or later (Bever. ii. 107). It might have
been supposed this total had been gained origi-
nally by placing the 6 before, instead of after,
the 3 : still there are 470 episcopal subscriptions
to the 6th action, and members of the council
themselves spoke of it as one of 600 bishops
(Mansi, vii. 57, and the note).
As to their places in church, the lay dignitaries
occupied the centre, in front of the altar-screen;
and one of the most remarkable traits of this
council is their control of its proceedings all
through. On their left were the legates from
Rome, and next to them Anatolius of Constan-
tinople, Maximus of Antioch, Thalassius of Caesa-
vea, Stephen of Ephesus, and other Easterns. On
their right were Dioscorus of Alexandria, Juvenal
of Jerusalem, with the bishops of Egypt, lUyria,
and Palestine generally. On the" motion of
I'aschasinus, the first legate, Dioscorus was
ordered by the magistrates to quit the seat occu-
pied by him in the council, and to take his place
in the midst where the accused sat. The charges
alleged against him by the legates were that^he
CHALCEDON
had held a council and sat as judge, witliout
permission of the apostolic see. Eusebius of
Dorylaeum, sitting in the midst as his accuser,
complained of the iniquitous sentence passed
upon Flavian and himself at the council of
Ephesus (see the art. on this) two years before.
Dioscorus begged its acts might be read. This
was done : but meanwhile Theodoret, bishop of
Cyrus, who had been deposed there, having since
been restored by St. Leo, and invited to this
council by the emperor, entered and took his
seat, amidst vehement protests from the bishops
on the right. After the acts of the " Robbers'
Meeting" had been read, which included those
of the two synods of Constantinople preceding it,
all agreed that Dioscorus, Juvenal, Thalassius,
and three more, who had been most forward in
deposing Eusebius and Flavian, deserved to be
deposed themselves. The rest might be par-
doned, as having acted in ignorance or under
coercion.
Action or session 2 followed, October 10.
The judges or lay dignitaries proposing that the
faith should be set forth in its integrity,
the bishops replied that they were limited to the
creed of Nicaea, confirmed at Ephesus, and in-
terpreted by the letters of SS. Cyril and Leo
more particularly. On this it was recited by
command of the judges, from a book by Euno-
mius, bishop of Nicomedia, amidst shouts of
adhesion. And immediately after, without a
word more, by order of the same judges, Aetius
or Atticus, deacon or archdeacon of the church
of Constantinople, recited from a book what
purported to be the creed of the 150 fathers,
that is, of the 2nd general council, on which
some remarks have been made elsewhere.
[CoNC. Const, and Antioch.] But the abrupt-
ness of its introduction here merits attention,
especially when viewed in connection with a
short scene in the 1st action (Mansi, vi. 631-2).
Diogenes, bishop of Cyzicus, there remarked that
Eutyehes had dealt fraudulently in professing
his faith in the words of the creed of Nicaea, as
it stood originally ; for it had received additions
from the holy fathers since then, owing to the
false teaching of Apollinarius, Valentinus, Mace-
donius, and their followers ; two such being
" from heaven " after " descended," and " by the
Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary " after " in-
carnate." This is the first clear reference to the
new clauses of the ConstantinOpolitan creed in
this or any other council extant. And it is to be
observed that even the creed of Nicaea, quoted
in the definition, contains them. But Diogenes
had hardly finished his sentence, when the
Egyptian bishops exclaimed, "nobody will hear
of any additions or subtractions either: let what
passed at Nicaea stand as it is." Dioscorus had
urged this all along. Thus advantage was
promptly taken of his condemnation to promul-
gate this creed in the same breath with that of
Nicaea, while the account given of the additions
occurring in it by Diogenes is such as to connect
it at once with those synods of Antioch and
Rome, at which the errors of Apollinarius and
Macedonius were condemned. Its recital was
followed by the same shouts of adhesion as the
older form, wliich is the more remarkable as, up
to that time, stress had been laid exclusively,
both here and at the synods rehearsed in the
first action, on the creed of Nicaea, confirmed at
CHALCEDON
Ei>hesus, without the slightest reference to any-
thiQg that had ever passed at Constantinople.
After this, the two lettei-s of St. Cyril were read
that had been heard ali-eady from the acts of the
council under Flavian, and then the letter of St.
Leo to Flavian — the reading of which had been
prevented at the "Robbers' Meeting" — in a
Greek translation. Three passages in it were
called in question by the bishops of lUyria and
Palestine ; but Aetius and Theodoret producing
similar expressions from St. Cyril, they were
accepted. F^ive days were allowed for further
deliberation.
At the 3rd action, however, October 13,
two days in advance from which the lay dig-
nitaries were absent, Eusebius of Dorylaeum
having brought another indictment against Dios-
corus, fresh charges were produced against him
also by two deacons and one layman of his own
church, and he not appearing to meet them,
after having been twice summoned, was formally
deposed — the Roman legates, by general consent,
delivering their judgment first, and the rest in
order assenting to it — but the sentence of his
deposition was framed on the model of that of
Nestorius. Letters were written to the emperor
and empress and to his own clergy, acquainting
them with it.
Action 4 followed, October 17, or rather 15
(see Mansi, vii. 83), when the judges appeared
true to their engagement. By their order
minutes of the 1st and 2nd actions were read
out, to the marked exclusion of what had passed
at the 3rd. They then called upon the bishops
to declare what had been decided by them re-
specting the faith. The legates replied by pro-
nouncing the faith of Nicaea, Constantinople, and
Ephesus to have been embraced by the council
and expounded foithfully by St. Leo in his epistle
to Flavian. To this, all present assented; and
.Juvenal, Thalassius, Eusebius, Basil, and Eusta-
thius, the five bishops who had, in the 1st actiop,
been classed with Dioscorus, were permitted to
sit in the council on subscribing to it. Con-
sideration of a petition from 13 Egyptian bishops
who objected to do so was adjourned till they
had elected a new archbishop. Eighteen priests
and archimandrites who had petitioned the em-
peror were next heard. Among them was Bar-
sumas the Syrian, accused of having murdered
Flavian. The burden of their petition was that
Dioscorus should be restored. The 4th and 5th
canons of Antioch were quoted from a book — in
it numbered as canons 83 and 4 — against them,
and they were allowed 30 days for consideration
whether to submit to the council or be deposed.
Lastly, Photius of Tyre was heard in behalf of
the rights of his church against Eustathius of
Berytus, whose city had been created a metro-
polis by the late emperor. The council ruled,
and the judges concurred, that the question be-
tween them should be settled according to the
canons, and not prejudiced by any pragmatical
constitutions of the empire.
On the 6th action, commencing October 22,
the judges called on the bishops to produce what
had been defined by them on the faith. When
read it gave oftence to the legates and some few
Easterns, as not including the letter of St. Leo.
The former threatened to leave, and were told
they might ; but on reference to the emperor,
he said a synod should be held in the West, if
CHALCEDON
335
they could not agree. A committee was there-
fore formed of the principal bishops, and at
length the definition appeared with the creeds
of Nicaea and Constantinoj)le following in suc-
cession, but authorised equally, in the first part
of it ; and in the second, the synodical letters of
St. Cyril to Nestorius and to the Easterns, and
the letter of St. Leo to Flavian, as their received
exponents on the mystery of the Incarnation.
On the doctrine of the Trinity, those creeds, it
was particularly said, required no further expla-
nation ; nor was any other faith to be taught, or
creed proposed for acceptance, to converts from
what heresy soever, under pain of deposition in
the case of the clergy and excommunication in
that of the laity.
At the 5th action, October 25, all subscribed
to this definition — the Roman legates attesting
merely that they subscribed, the rest that they
defined as well. This was done in the presence
of the emperor Marcian, the empress Pulcheria,
and a splendid suite ; the emperor telling them
in a short address that he had come thithei', like
Constantine, to confirm what they had done, not
to display his power. After which, he approved
of their definition, and announced his intention of
punishing all who contravened it, according
to their station. At his instance three rules
were made ; one for making monks more depen-
dent upon bishops, and two more forbidding the
clergy to' undertake secular posts, or migrate
from the church to which they belonged. And
here the council, doctrinally speaking, ends.
The other actions, to the 14th inclusively, re-
lated to matters between one bishop and another,
and occupied the rest of Octobei-. At action 7
sanction was given to a territorial arrangement
between the bishops of Antioch and Jerusalem,
by which the former was in future to have
jurisdiction over the two provinces of Phoenicia
and that of Arabia — the latter over the three
called Palestine. At the 8th action Theodoret, who
had already subscribed to the definition with the
rest, was called upon to anathematise Nestorius,
which he did, including Eutyches, and three
more bishops similarly called upon did the same.
The 9th and 10th actions passed in enquiring into
what had been decided at the synods of Tyre and
Berytus respecting Ibas, bishop of Edessa, three
years before. Their acts having been rehearsed,
and the sentence passed upon him at the " Rob-
bers' Meeting" summarily cancelled, he was
declared orthodox on anathematising Nestorius
and Eutyches, and restored to his see. Yet, in-
consistently enough, in another case, that of
Domnus of Antioch, the judgment of the "Rob-
bers' Meeting " was allowed to stand, his suc-
cessor, 'Maximus, having been consecrated by
Anatolius of Constantinople, recognised by St.
Leo, and received at this council. Domnus,
whose piety was admitted by all, was adjudged
a pension out of the revenues of the see in which
he had been uncanonically superseded. The
Greek account of this proceeding indeed has
been lost, but two of the Latin versions contain-
ing it purport to have been made from tlie Greek
(Mansi, vii. 177-8, 269-72, and 771-4). Actions
11 and 12 were taken up in hearing a con-
tention between Bassianus and Stephen for the
see of Ephesus, as bishop of which, Stephen had
hitherto sat and voted at this council. Neither
had been canonically ordained in the judgment
336
CHALCEDON
of the council, so that a fresh election had to be
made, but both were allowed their rank and
ordered a pension of 200 aurei respectively out
of the revenues of that see. In the former of
these actions, the 16th and 17th canons of
Antioch were read out of a book by Leontius,
bishop of Magnesia, numbered as 95th and 96th,
and api)lied to their case. At the 13th action
Euuomius, bishop of Nicomedia, complained that
the privileges of his church had been infringed
by the bishop of Nicaea. Imperial constitutions
were quoted on both sides, which, according to
the judges themselves, had nothing at all to do
with the rights of bishops : and the 4th Nicene
canon which Euuomius read out of a book as the
(>th, settled the question in his fiivour. The in-
sertion of a salvo to the see of Constantinople,
proposed by its archdeacon, was negatived by
the judges, who said that its rights of ordaining
in the provinces would be declared in their
proper order. At the -lith action, Athanasius
and Sabinianus, vv'ho had each sat and subscribed
as bishop of Perrhe, submitted their respective
claims — the former adducing two lettei's in his
favour from SS. Cyril and Proclus, the latter the
acts of the synod of Antioch under Domuus, de-
posing his rival, and the fact of the " Robbers'
Meeting " having restored him. For the
judgment of the council, see Concil. Hierap.
A.D. 445.
What is printed as the 15th action, without
date or preface, would seem to be, strictly
speaking, a mere continuation of the 10th action
by the hierarchy for framing canons after the
judges had retired. This would follow from what
is said to have passed in the 16th action, October
28 — at least, if this date is correct. There the
legates complained to the judges of what had
been done yesterday, after the latter had retired,
and subsequently to their own withdrawal also.
Now, October 27 had been the day of the 10th
action, and the 11th action was not till October
29. Consequently there was just the interval
required for them to have complained on October
28, and had the canon to which they objected
read out publicly. Thus, when Ibas had been
acquitted, the judges withdrew, and the bishops,
probably not expecting any more business, re-
mained to make canons. Twenty-seven in all,
including those previously recommended by the
emperor, were drawn up, and, according to one
of the oldest Latin versions e.xtant, were sub-
scribed to by all, not excepting the legates
(Mansi, vii. 400-8). After the legates had re-
tired, the Eastern bishops again remained, and
agreed to three more, making a total of 30 ; but
to the last three the legates had not been parties,
and equally declined subscribing the day after
(Mausi, ib. 429-54). As Beveridge remarks,
they are omitted as well by John Scholasticus
as by Dionysius Exiguus (ii. 124), nor have they
ever been received in the West.
^ Only the 28th, however, demands any notice.
Those who were most interested in it said in their
defence that they had asked the legates to take
part in framing it, and they had replied that
they were without instructions. The iudges. on
the other hand, had bade them refer it to the
council. And doubtless it was as much a ques-
tion for the council as those which had been
settled in the 7th and 13th actions. In one
sense it merely renewed the 3rd canon of Cou-
CHALCEDON
stantiuople, A.D. 381, conferring honorary pre-
cedence (TTpeo-jSeTa, thi'oughout — erroneouslj ren-
dered by the Latins in each case " primatum ")
upon the bishop of that city next after Romp,
and for the same reason as had there been given.
And if, in addition, it gave the bishop of that
city the right of ordaining metropolitans in the
dioceses of Asia, Pontus, and Thrace, still this
was afterwards proved to have been done with
the full consent of the bishops of those dioceses.
And so we are brought to what really passed at
the 16th action, opening abruptly with a speech of
the legate Lucentius (Mansi, vii. 441), as reported
in the Greek version. Here both sides were
called upon by the judges to produce the canons
on which they relied ; and the legates, in quoting
the 6th of Nicaea, substituted for the first clause
of it, " Quod ecclesia Romana semper habuit
primatum." No protest was actually made to
these words, but it was cited in its genuine form
afterwards by the Constantinopolitan archdeacon.
And as for the 3rd of Constantinople, Eusebius
of 'Dorylaeum testified to having read it himself
at Rome to the Pope, and to his having received
it {ib. 449). The judges at last having delivered
their opinion that the primacy before all, and
chiefest honour, according to the canons, should
be preserved to the archbishop of elder Rome, but
that the archbishop of Constantinople ought to
have the honour and power ass'.gned him in this
canon, it was accepted by all present, in spite of
the legates, who had previously desired to have
their protest recorded against what had been
passed m their absence, for this 2nd speech of
Lucentius clearly followed the reading out of the
canon, October 28. Afterwards it was denounced
in a series of epistles by St. Leo, who neverthe-
less, neither by his legates, nor in his own name,
seems ever to have objected to the 9th and 17th
canons of this council, authorising appeals to the
see of Constantinople far more fully than the
Sardican canons ever had to Rome (Bever. ii.
115-6). Yet these form part of the 27 subscribed
to by all, including the legates, and received in
the West. No others among them, save the first,
are worth noticing ; but these, perhaps, have
never been sufficiently noticed. By the first it
is decreed that " the canons of the Holy Fathers,
made in every synod to this present time, be in
full force " — in other words, the collection of
canons published by Beveridge, Justellus, and
others, as the " code of the universal Church," is
ordered to become law (Bever. ii. 108 ; Cave,
Hist. Lit. i. 486-7). It only remains to observe
that Evagrius attributes no more than 14 actions
to this council (ii. 18), and seems to say that
most of the canons were framed at the 7th.
Other accounts, that of Liberatus, for instance
(Brev. i. 13), vary from his. Before separating,
the bishops addressed the empei-or in vindication
of their definition, and the Pope in vindication
of their 28th canon (Mansi, vii. 455-74 and vi.
147-61), telling St. Leo that he had interpreted
the faith of Peter to them in his epistle, and
presided over their deliberations in the person of
his legates, as the head over the members. The
Pope was deaf to all argument on the subject of
the canon, while setting his seal to their definition.
In one of his letters to Anatolius (Mansi, vi. 203)
he goes so far as to say that the 3rd canon of
Constantinople had never been notified to the
apostolic see, though Eusebius of Dorylaeum had
CHALDAEI
testified at the council to his having pulihcly
received it himself. In the same spirit it i.s,
perhaps, too, that he never once mentions the
creed of the 150 fathers ; in other words, that of
Constantinople, by name, though he must have
received it with the definition of this council :
and indeed he said of it latterly, " tam plenis
atque perfectis definitionibus cuncta firmata sunt,
ut nihil ei regulae quae ex divina inspiratione
prolata est, aut addi possit aut minui " (£"/). ad
Leon. Imp., Mansi, vi. 308). Such, however,
was his zeal against the canon that he was at
one time thought not to have approved of the
definition.
Edicts in succession issued from the emperor,
ordering all persons to submit to the council,
and forbidding all further discussion of the
points settled by it. The law of the late em-
peror, confirming the acts of the "Robbers'
Meeting," was repealed ; Eutyches deprived of
the title of priest ; and Dioscorus exiled to
Gangra in Paphlagonia. Great opposition was
nevertheless made to its reception by their ad-
mirers, in Egypt especially, to which the "Codex
Encyclius," or collection of letters in its favour,
addressed for the most part to the emperor Leo,
on his accession, a.D. 458, was intended to be a
counter-demonstration (Mansi, vii. 475-627 and
785-98). [E. S. F.]
CHALDAEI. [Astrologers.]
CHALICE. (Latin, calix ; Greek, iroTt]piov,
KvneWoi' ; French, calice ; Italian, calice ; Ger-
man, Kelch; Anglo-Saxon, calic.') The cup in
which the wine is consecrated at the celebration
of the Holy Communion, and from which the
communicants drink. Chalices have been divided
into several classes, of which the more important
are — oftertorial, in which the wine brought by
the communicants was received; communical,
in which the wine was consecrated ; and mini-
sterial, in which it was administered to the com-
municants.
Vessels of this description being indispensably
required for the celebration of the most impor-
tant of the rites of the Christian religion it is
obvious that from the very earliest period some
such must have been in use, but it does not
seem possible to determine ho^v soon they began
to be distinguished by form, material, or orna-
ment from the cups used in ordinary life. Per-
haps the earliest notice which we have of any
mark by which a cup used for eucharistic pur-
poses was distinguished from those in ordinary
use, is the passage in Tertullian (Z)e Pudicit. c.
10) : " Si forte patrocinabitur pastor, quem in
calice depingis, prostitutorem et ipsum Chris-
tiani sacramenti, merito et ebrietatis idolum et
moechiae asylum post calicem subsecuturae."
It seems indeed quite possible that at that
early period when the administration of the
Eucharist was connected both as regards time
and locality with the feasts of charity {agapae)
the distinction between the vessels used for
each purpose was less strongly drawn than
afterwards came to be the case, and that in
the earliest centuries there was little or no dis-
tinction of either form or decoration between
the eucharistic cup and that of the domestic
table.
The eventually exclusive adoption of the word
*' calix " as signifying the eucharistic cup, may
CHRtST. ANT.
CHALICE
337
perhaps be deemed to imply that the form of
cup most generally employed in the celebration
of the Communion, was that specifically called
" calix." This word is held usually to denote a
cup with a somewhat shallow bowl, two handles
and a foot. Vases of various forms are often
depicted on the walls or vaults of the catacombs,
but it is generally uncertain how far these are
merely ornaments, and it would not appear that
in any one instance a representation of what can
with certainty be assumed to be a eucharistic
chalice has been observed among these paintings.
It would at first sight appear extremely probable
that among these numerous representations of
vases, some at least should be intended to repre-
sent that which was above all precious to those
for whom these decorations were executed, but
the paintings of the earlier period are with hardly
an exception allegorical or symbolical, scarcely
ever in a primary sense historical, and never
liturgical, unless the allusions to the sacraments
conveyed by figures of fishes, baskets of bread,
and tlie like deserve to be so called.
Vasea from Sarcophagoa at Bordeaux
It has been supposed by some, Boldetti (^Osser-
vazioni sopra i Cimiteri dei SS. Martiri) among
others, that the glass vessels decorated with
gold leaf, the bottoms of which have been found
in considerable numbers in the catacombs at-
tached to the plaster by which the tiles closing
the loculi were fixed, were, if not actually cha-
lices, at least drinking-vessels in which the com-
Vase from the Sarcophagtis of Atanlphns at Milan.
municants received the consecrated wine, and
from which they drank. Padre Garrucci ( Vetri
Ornati d' Oro, Pref. xi) has however shown that
this opinion does not rest on any secure founda-
tion. It has also been thought that the figures
of vases so often found incised on early Christian
Z
338
CHALICE
memorial stones were intended to represent cha-
lices and thereby to indicate that the deceased
person was a priest. Though this may possibly
have sometimes been the case, other and more
probable explanations of the occurrence of these
fio-ures of vases may be suggested ; but there is
a^marked similarity between the type of vase
usually employed and the forms of the earliest
chalices of which we have any positive know-
ledge.
The woodcut represents one of these vases as
shown in low relief on the sarcophagus in the
chapel of St. Aquilinus attached to the church
of S. Lorenzo at Milan, which is supposed to have
contained the remains of Ataulphus king of the
Goths (ob. A.D. 415), or of his wife Placidia.
The earliest chalice still existing is probably
that found with a paten at Gourdon in France,
Chalice foimd at Gollrdon.
and now preserved in the Bibliotheque Impei"iale
in Paris. This is represented in the annexed wood-
cut, and is of gold ornamented with thin slices
of garnets. With it were found 104 gold coins
of Emperors of the East, 25 of which of Justin I.
(518-527) being in a fresh and unworn condition
and the latest in date of the entire hoard, it is
reasonable to conclude that the deposit was made
in the earlier part of the 6th century.
Of not much later date were the splendid cha-
lices belonging to the basilica of Monza, no longer
in existence, but of which representations, evi-
dently tolerably accurate, have been preserved in
a large painting probably executed in the latter
half of the 15th century, and now in the library
Chalices from Monza.
ot that church. This painting represents the
i-estitutiou to the basilica of the contents of its
treasury which took place in 1345. These cha-
lices are represented in the accompanyino- wood-
cuts, bofh were of gold set with jewels; their
weight IS variously stated at from 105 to 170
ounces. Those there is ground to believe, were
CHALICE
in the possession of the church of Monza before
the year 600, and may indeed with great proba-
bility be supposed to be of even greater age. A
rude sculpture over the west doorway of that
church, believed to date from circa A.D. 600,
represents several chalices of various sizes, some
with and some without handles.
Chalices of glass of very similar form are met
withj and may with much probability be attri-
buted to the 6th or 7th centuries ; two examples
are in the British Museum ; these are of blue
glass and somewhat roughly made. As, however,
these bear neither inscriptions nor any Christian
symbol, it cannot be affirmed with certainty that
they were sacramental chalices. Moi-oni {Diz.
di Erudizione Storico - Ecclesiast.) mentions a
chalice of blue glass as being preserved in the
church of the Isola S. Giulio in the lake of Orta
in Lombardy, as a relic of the saint who lived in
the 5th century ; this, he says, was without a
foot. It is not now to be found there.
In the sacristy of the church of Sta. Anastasia
at Rome a chalice is preserved as a relic, as it is
said to have been used by St. Jerome ; the bowl
is of white opaque glass with some ornament in
relief, the foot is of metal.
A chalice is preserved (? at Maestricht), whicli
is believed to have belonged to St. Lambert,
bishop of that city (ob. 708) ; it is of metal
(? silver) gilt, the bowl hemispherical, the foot
a frustum of a cone ; the whole without orna-
ment.
A chalice of exactly the same form is to be
seen in an illumination in the very ancient
gospels preserved in the library of Corpus Christi
College at Cambridge, and known as St. Au-
scustine's.
Chahce formerl'
Until the year 1792 the abbey of Chelles, in
the diocese of Paris, possessed a most .splendid
CHALICE
example of a golden chalice (see woodcut), which
ancient inventories asserted to have been the
work of St. Eligius (or Eloi), and therefore to
date from the first half of the 7th century.
Fortunately an engraving of it has been pre-
served in the Panoplia Sacerdotalis of Du Saussay,
and the cliaracter of the work corresponds with
the alleged date. It is obviously an instance of
transition from earlier to later forms, though
somewhat esceptional from the great depth of
the bowl. It was about a foot high and nearly
ten inches in diameter, and held about the half
of a French litre.
A singular exception in point of form was the
chalice which was found with the body of St.
Cuthbert vi'hen his relics were examined in the
year 1104; this is described as of small size and
in its lower part of gold and of the figure of a
lion, the bowl which was attached to the back of
the lion being cut from an onyx (^Act. Sanct.
Boll. 2 Mart.). It may be surmised that this
was not really made for a chalice, but had been
presented to him and converted to that use.
Of the next century, the 8th, a very i-emark-
able example still exists in the convent of Krems-
CHALICE
539
Chalice at KremsmOnBter.
miinster in Upper Austria ; this chalice is (vide
woodcut) of bronze ornamented with niello and
incrustations of silver. As the inscription shows
that it was the gift of Tassilo, duke of Bavaria,
it is probably earlier than A.D. 788, the year
when that prince was deposed by Charles the
Great.
One of the bas-reliefs of the altar of S. Am-
brogio at Milan (finished in 835) gives a good
example of the form of a chalice in the beginning
of the 9th century. It has a bowl, foot, and
handles.
So much may be gathered from still existing
examples, or representations of them ; much may
also be collected, especially as regards the size
and weight of chalices and the materials of which
they were composed, from the notices to be
found in various historical documents, and par-
ticularly in the Liher Pmitificalis.
It has been asserted that in the apostolic age
chalices of wood were in use : but for this asser-
tion there is no early authority ; St. Boniface in-
deed is reported in the 18th canon of the Council
of Tribur to have said that once golden priests
used wooden chalices, and Platina (Z>e Vil. 1 out.)
asserts that Pope Zephyrinus (a.d. 197-217)
ordered that the wine should be consecrated not
as heretofore in a wooden but in a glass vessel.
The Liber Fontificalis in the life of Zephyrinus,
however, merely says that he ordered patens of
glass to be carried before the priests when mass
was to be celebrated by the bishop. Glass w;is
no doubt in use from a very early date; St.
Jerome {ad Rustic. Mvn. Ep. 4) writes ot Exu-
perius, bishop of Toulouse, as bearing the Lord's
blood in a vessel of glass, and St. Gregory
{Dialog, lib. i. c. 7) says that St. Donatus, bishop
of Arezzo, repaired by prayer a chalice of glass
broken by the heathens. The use of wood for
chalices was prohibited by several provincial
councils in the 8th and 9th centuries {Cone.
Tribur. can. 18), of horn by that of Ceal-
chythe {Cone. Calcut. can. 10), and Pope Leo
IV. (847-855) in his homily. Be Cura Fas-
torali, lays down the rule that no one shoula
celebrate mass in a chalice of wood, lead, or
glass. Glass, however, continued to be occa-
sionally used to a much later date. Martene {De
Antiq. Eccl. Bit. i. iv. p. 78) shows from the
life of St. Wiuocus that in the 10th century the
monks of the convent in Flanders founded by
him still used chalices of glass. Pewter was
also in use, and it would seem was considered as
a material superior to glass, for we are told of
St. Benedict of Aniane (ob. 821) that the vessels
of his church were at first of wood, then of glass,
and that at last he ascended to pewter (see his
Life, by Ardo, c. 14, in Mabillon's Act. SS. ord.
S. Benedicti, Saec. iv).
A chalice of glass mounted in gold is men-
tioned in the will of Count Everhard, a.d. 837
(Miraeus, Op. Dip. t. i. p. 19). A chalice of ivory
and one of cocoa-nut (?) {de nuce) set with gold
and silver are mentioned in the same document ;
those however may have been drinking-cups, not
sacramental chalices.
The use of bronze appears to have been excep-
tional and perhaps peculiar to the Irish monks.
St. Gall {Mabillon's Act. SS. ord. S. Ben. Saec. 2,
p. 241), we are told, refused to use silver vessels
for the altar, saying that St. Columbanus was
accustomed to offer the sacrifice in vessels of
bronze -(aereis), alleging as a reason for so doing
that our Saviour was affixed to the cross by
brazen nails. This traditional use of bronze was
no doubt continued by the successors of the Irish
missionaries in the South of Germany, and ex-
plains why the Kremsmiinster chalice is of that
material, a circumstance which has caused the
question to be raised whether that vessel was
anything but a mere drinking cup. The use of
niello and of damascening with thin silver in
the decoration of this vessel, and the peculiar
patterns of its ornamentation, connect it closely
with the Irish school of artificers, who were in
tlie habit of employing bronze as the main mate-
rial of their works.
The precious metals were however from a
very early, perhaps the earliest, period most pro-
340
CHALICE
bably the usual material of the chalice. The
eai-liest converts to Christianity were not by any
means exclusively of humble station, and it was
not until it spread from cities into remote vil-
lao;es that many churches would have existed
whose members could not afford a silver chalice :_
nor do we until a later age find traces of a spirit of
asceticism which would prefer the use of a mean
material. We have at least proof of the use of
both gold and silver in the sacred vessels in the
beginning of the 4th century, for we are told by
Optatus of Milevi that in the Diocletianian perse-
cution the church of Carthage possessed many
"ornamenta" of gold and silver (Opt. Mil.
De Schism. Donat. i. 17). The church of Cirta
in Numidia at the same time possessed two golden
and six silver chalices (^Gesta Purgat. Caeciliani,
in the Works of Optatus.). That it was believed
that the churches possessed such rich ornaments
at an earlier period is shown by the language
which Prudentius puts into the mouth of the
Praefectus Urbis interrogating St. Lawrence —
" Argenteis scyphls ferunt,
Fumare sacrum sanguinem," &c
{Peristeph. Hymn in. 69).
The passages in the Lib. Pont, which relate
the gifts of Constantine to various churches are
with" reason suspected as untrustworthy, but
are at least of value as recording the traditions
existing at an early age. They make mention
of many chalices, some of gold, some of silver ;
40 lesser chalices of gold, each weighing 1 lb.,
and 50 lesser ministerial chalices of silver, each
weighing 2 lbs., are said to have been given to the
Constantinian Basilica (St. John Lateran), and
in lesser numbers and of very various weights
to many other churches. Whatever, however,
may be the historical value of these passages,
that churches in the 4th and 5th centuries pos-
sessed great numbers of golden or silver chalices,
cannot be doubted. Gregory of Tours (^Hist.
P'ranc. 1. ill. c. x.) tells us that Childebert in the
year 531 took among the spoils of Amalaric
sixty chalices of gold. Many instances of gifts ot
chalices of the precious metals to the churches
of Rome by successive popes are to be found in
the Lib. Pont. Of these the following may de-
serve special mention : a great chalice (calix
major) with handles and adorned with gems,
weighing 58 lbs. ; a great chalice with a syphon
(cum scyphone) or tube, weighing 36 lbs. ; a
covered (spanoclystus, i.e. eiravaiKXeiaTOs) cha-
lice of gold, weighing 32 lbs. ; all three given
by Pope Leo III. (795 j.
Little is to be found as to the decoration of
chalices ; occasionally they bore inscriptions, as
in the case of that made by order of St. Remigius
(Remi, ob. 533), which Frodoard tells us bore
the following verses : —
" Hauriat hiuc populus vitam de sanguine sacro,
Injei to aeternus quem fudit vuluere Cbristus,
Kemigius reddit Domino sua vota sacerdos."
The golden chalices of Mon'za, it will be seen
by the woodcuts, were splendidly adorned with
gems, which in the painting from which these
figures have been drawn, are coloured green and
red, but the only symbol betokening their desti-
nation is the cruciform arrangement of the larger
gems on one of them. The chalice found °at
Gourdon also has neither inscription nor Chris-
tian symbol, and if it had not been found in
CHALICE
company with a paten bearing a cross its desti-
nation might have been a matter of doubt.
On the chalice of Kremsmiinster are on the
bowl half-length figures of Christ and the four
Evangelists, on the foot like figures of four
prophets.
The division of chalices into various classes
evidently belongs to a period when primitive
simplicity of ritual underwent a change to a
more complex and elaborate system. The earlier
Ordo Bomanus speaks of a " calix quotidianus,"
and opposes to this the " cali.x major " to be
used on feast-days (" diebus vero testis calicem
et patenam majores "), but says nothing of any
distinction between the " calix sanctus " and the
"calix ministerialis." Reasons of convenience
no doubt caused the use of chalices of very
diflerent sizes. The great number of chalices of
small size mentioned in the Lib. Pontif. and
elsewhere may lead to the supposition that at
one period the communicants drank not from one
but from many chalices ; but this matter is in-
volved in doubt.
A practice existed of communicating the clergy
alone by means of the chalice in which the wine
was consecrated, and of pouring a few drops from
this into the larger chalice which was offered to
the laity. When this practice originated or how
long it lasted seems obscure. It is suggested in
the article " Calix," in Ducauge's Glossary, that
the verses engraved by order of St. Remi on the
chalice which he caused to be made (v. ante)
allude to this practice ; but this does not seem
certain. It is mentioned in the Ordo Rom. (c.
29), but the vessel in which the drops of con-
seci-ated wine were mixed with the unconse-
crated, and from which the laity drank through
a " fistula " or " pugillaris," is called scyphus,
and is apparently the same vessel as that carried
by an acolyte at the time when the oblations
were received from the laity and into which the
contents of the calix major (c. 13) were poured
when the latter had become filled. Pope Gregory
11. (a.D. 731-735), in his epistle to Boniface,
disapproves of the practice of placing more than
one chalice on the altar (" congruum non esse
duos vel tres calices in altario ponere "). When
this practice was in use we may conclude that
the large chalices with handles were those used
for the laity.
The large chalices were also used to receive
the wine which the intending communicants
brought in amulae ; as in the 1st Ordo Rom. c.
13 (" Archidiaconus sumit amulam Pontificis . . .
et refundit super colum in calicem "). When
used in this manner it is called " offertorius " or
" ofFei-endarius." " Calices baptismi " or " bap-
tismales " were probably those used when the
Eucharist was administered after baptism, and
possibly for the milk and honey which it was the
custom in some churches {Cone. Carth. iii. c. 24)
to consecrate at the altar and to administer to
infants. Pope Innocent I. (a.d. 402-417) is said
in the Lib. Pontif. to have given " ad ornatum
baptisterii " (apparently of the basilica of SS.
Ge'rvasius and Protasius at Rome) three silver
" calices baptismi," each weighing 2 lbs. Whe-
ther the baptismal chalices difiered from other
chalices in form or in any other respect is not
known.
Besides the chalices actually used in the rites
of the church, vessels called " calices " were sus-
CHALICE
pended from the arches of the ciborium and even
from the iutercoluniniations of the nave and
other parts of the church as ornaments. In the
TAh. Pontif. we find mention of sixteen "calicos"
of silver jilaced by Pope Leo IV. (847-8) on the
enclosure of the altar (super circuitu altaris) in
the Vatican basilica, of sixty-four suspended be-
tween the columns in the same church, and of
forty in a like position at S. Paolo f. 1. m. Many
of these were, however, most probably cups or
CHAPEL
341
Suspended Chalices.
vases, not such as would have been used for the
administration or consecration of the Eucharist.
The di'awings in MSS. show suspended vessels of
the most varied forms ; some examples taken from
the great Carlovingian bible formerly in the Bibl.
Imjt. Paris, now in the Jluse'e des Souverains in
the Louvre, are shown in woodcuts. [A. N.]
CHALICE, ABLUTION OF. [Purifi-
cation.]
CHALONS-SUR-SAONE, COUNCILS OP.
[Cabillonense], provincial: — (1) a.d. 470, to
elect John bishop of Chalons (Labb. Cone. iv.
1820). (2) A.D. 579, to depose Salonius and Sa-
gittarius, bishops respectively of Embrun and
Gap, deposed by a previous council (of Lyons,
A.D. 5G7), restored by Pope John III., and now
again deposed (Greg. Tur. Hist. Franc, v. 21, 28 ;
Labb. Cone. v. 963,'^ 904). (3) a.d. 594, to re-
gulate the psalmody at the church of St. Mar-
cellus after the model of Agnune (Labb. Cone.
v. 185:3). (4) A.D. 603, to depose Desiderius,
bishop of Vienne, at the instigation of Queen
Drunichilde (Fredegar. 24; Labb. Cone. v. 1612).
(5) A.D. 650, Nov. 1, of thirty-three bishops,
with the " vicarii " of six others, enacted 20
canons respecting discij)line : dated by Le Comte
A D. 694 (Labb. Cono. vL 387). [A. W. H.]
CHANCEL (to ivZov Twv KtyK\iScov, Theo-
doret, //. E. v. 18). The space in a church which
contains the choir and sanctuary, and which was
generally separated from the nave by a rail or
grating (cancelli), from which it derives its name.
" Cancellus, cantorum excellens locus " (Papias,
in Ducange, s. v. ; compare Cancelli). It is a
characteristic difference between Eastern and
Western churches that in the former the dis-
tinction between the bema (or sanctuary) and
the choir is much more strongly marked than
that between the choir and the nave, in the
latter the distinction between the nave and the
choir is much more strongly marked than that
between the choir and the sanctuary. Compare
Choir, Prksbytery. [C]
CHANT. [Gregorian JIusic]
CHAPEL. A building or apartment used for
the performance of Christian worship in cases in
which the services are of an occasional character,
or in which the congregation is limited to the
members of a family, a convent, or the like.
Greek, Trape/c/cAijo-i'a ; Latin, capella, oratorium.
In the languages of the Latin and Teutonic fa-
milies a modification of the word ' capella' is in
use, as also in Polish. In Russian pridel.
The derivation of the word 'capella' is a
matter of doubt. The Monk of St. Gall {Vita
Car. Mag. i. 4) states that the name was de-
rived from the 'capa' or cloak of St. Jlartin :
" Quo nomine {i.e. 'capella') Francorum reges
propter capam St. Martini sancta sua appellare
solebant." The word ' capella ' is said to be found
in inscriptions in the Koniau catacombs in the
sense of a sarcophagus, a grave, or place of
burial. It occurs at a later time as used for a
reliquary, and for the chamber in which reliques
were preserved ; as in a charter of Childebert of
A.D. 710, published by Mabillon {De Re Dipl),
in which the passage " in oratorio suo seu capella
S. Blarthini " occurs. The canopy over an altar
was also called ' capella' (compare Cdpella). In
the sense of a chamber or building employed for
divine worship, it does not seem to have been in
use in early times. Among early instances of its
employment which have been noticed, are, in
the capitularies of Charles the Great {Capit. v.
182), where it is applied to chapels in or an-
nexed to palaces ; and in the passage in the
laws of the Lombards (iii. 3, 22), " ecclesiae
et capellae quae in vestra parochia sunt," where
detached buildings are probably referred to. In
the earlier centuries " oratorium " would no
doubt have been used in either sense, as in the
21st cap. of the Council of Agde, A.D. 506. "Si
quis etiam extra parochias in quibus legitimus
est ordinariusque conventus oratorium in agio
habere voluerit reliquis festivitatibus ut ibi
missas teneat jtropter fatigatiouem familiae justa
ordinatione permittimus ;" but with the proviso
that the greater festivals should be celebrated
" in civitatibus aut in pai-ochiis."
Chapels may be divided into several classes : —
1st, as regards their relation to other churches ;
being (A) dependent on the church of the parish,
or (B) independent, in some cases even exempt
from episcopal visitation. 2dly, as regards their
material structure ; being (A) apartments in
palaces or other dwellings ; (B) buildings form-
ing part of or attached to convents, hermitages,
or the like ; (C) buildings forming parts of or
attached to larger churches ; (D) sepulchral or
other wholly detached buildings. No strictly
accurate division is, however, possible, for in some
cases buildings might be placed in either of two
classes.
It is here proposed to speak of chapels with
regard to their material aspect only ; and build-
ings which from an architectural point of view
do not differ from churches will be mentioned
under the head Church. As however it is im
possible to draw a clear line between churches
and chapels, several buildings will be found
treated of under Church, which in strictness
should perhaps be rather deemed chapels ; some
of these, as Sta. Costanza at Rome, being too
important in an historical point of view, or
too extensive and magnificent, to be omitted
from any attempt to trace the progress of church
building in its main line.
Gatticus {Dc Orat. Dam.) has collected many
342
CHAPEL
proofs of the early existence of domestic or
private chapels ; but the earliest existing
example of the first class is probably the small
chapel now known as the Sancta Sanctorum
(originally St. Lawrence) in the fragment of
the ancient palace of the Lateran which still
remains. It was the private chapel of the
popes, and apf)ears to have existed as early as
A.D. 383 ; for Pope Pelagius II, then placed
there certain relics (MSS. Bibl. Vat. ap. Baronius).
It is a small oblong apartment on an upper floor.
The example next in date has fortunately been
singularly well preserved. It exists in the palace
of the archbishops of Ravenna, being their private
chapel. It was constructed, or at any rate deco-
rated with mosaic, by the Archbishop Peter Chry-
sologus (elected in A.D. 429). It is a simple oblong
with a vaulted roof. Of the same character is
the chapel at Cividale in Friuli, which, although
forming part of a Benedictine convent, as it mea-
sures only 30 feet by 18 feet, can hardly have
been other than a private chapel, probably of the
abbat. It is attributed on historical evidence to
the 8th century. It is a parallelogram without
an apse, about two-fifths being parted off by a
low wall, to serve as a choir.
Oratory at Gallorns.
Buildings of the second class, viz., conventual
chapels, were intended for the private and
daily use of the community ; the larger churches
for celebration on great festivals, when large
numbers of strangers attended the services. In
some instances even more than two chapels
existed in a monastery ; for Adamnan {De situ
terrae Sanctae, ii. 24) says that at Mount
Thabor, within the wall of enclosure of the monas-
tery, were three churches, "non parvi aedificii."
In the tower or keep of the convent of St. Ma-
carius in the Nitrian valley are three chapels,
one over the other (Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Band-
book of Egypt); but it does not appear what their
date IS. Sir Gardner Wilkinson {Handbook of
Egypt, p. 305) states that a tradition among the
monks attributes the foundation of the convent
to the 5th century.
In Ireland still exist some small chapels which
may be assigned with probability to very early
dates. Mr. Petrie {The Ecclesiastical Architecture
of Ireland, p. 133) thinks that such structures
CHAPEL
as the Oratory at Gallerus in Kerry, shewn in the
woodcut, may be considered to be the first erected
for Christian uses, and as ancient as, if even not
more ancient, than the conversion of the Irish by
St. Patrick. This example measures externally
23 feet by 10, and is 16 feet high, the walls
being 4 feet thick. It has a single window
in its east end. On each of the gables were
small stone crosses, of which the Sockets only
now remain.
Of somewhat later date, but Mr. Petrie thinks
as early as the 5th or 6th centuries, are such
buildings as Tempull Ceannanach, on the middle
island of Arran, in the bay of Galway. This mea-
sures internally 16 feet by 12, and is built of very
large stones, one not less than 18 feel in length.
The church of St. MacDara, on the island of
Cruach Mhic Dara, off the coast of Connemara,
measures internally 15 feet by 1 1. Its roof was of
solid stone, built in courses until they met at the
top.
The above-mentioned examples are simple
quadrangular buildings without distinction be-
tween nave and chancel, but others are met
with, apparently of equal antiquity, in which
a small chancel is attached to the nave and en-
tered by an archway. In no case
is an apse found in Ireland.
^^^=^ The buildings of this class are
'=^ so rude and simple that it is
not easy to establish satisfactorily
_ any chronological arrangement
founded on their architectural
' haracter; it would appear, how-
' ver, that buildings of similar
rliaracter were constructed until
in the 11th or 12th centuries moi-e
ornate structures were erected.
Many of these small chapels
were, however, constructed of
wood, and the whole class was
known (Petrie, p. 343) as ' duir-
theachs,' or ' dertheachs,' the pro-
bable etymology of which is "house
of oak." It appears from a frag-
ment of a commentary on the
Brehon laws (Petrie, p. 365) that
-^ 15 by 10 were customary dimen-
sions for such buildings, and the
stone chapels are usually found
not to differ very greatly fiom them.
Buildings of very similar character exist in
Cornwall, and their foundation is attiibuted to
missionaries from Iidind. su( h w is the chapel
of Pen-anzribul.K, i 1 ^t i'li iii lu tli. suid, said
to have been founded by St. Piian (or as he is
called in Ireland St. Kicran) in the 5th centuiy.
It had been completely buried in the shifting
sand of the coast, but in 1835 the sand was re-
CHAPEL
moved, and the building discovered in an almost
perfect state ; it is 29 ft. long externally by IGj
broad ; as will be seen from the plan, it was a
simple parallelogram, but divided into two parts
by a wall or screen. The tomb of the saint
apparently served as an altar.
The chapel of St. Madderu is very similar in
plan, but has the peculiarity of having a well
in one angle ; that of St. Gwythiau has both nave
and chancel, the latter entered by a narrow door-
way. Mention of several others of like character
will be found in a paper by the Rev. W. Haslam,
in vol. ii. of the Architectural Journal. The ma-
sonry of these buildings is very rude and irre-
gular, but the huge stones, and roofs construC'
ted of stone, which are found in Ireland do
not seem to occur in Cornwall. A building of
like character was disinterred froiii the sands
of the coast of Northumberland in 1853, near
Ebb's Nook, not far from Bamborough ; it closely
resembles the Cornish oratories. The name seems
to connect it with St. Ebba (ob. 683), sister of
St. Oswald, king of Northumberland.
Some of the Cornish chapels were perhaps
rather those of hermitages than of convents, and
the same observation may be applied to the like
buildings in Ireland.
Chapels of the third class, those attached to
churches, may be divided into three sections :
A, those forming part of the main building above
ground ; B, those connected with the main build-
ing, but distinct from it ; C, those under ground,
or crypts.
Although very many churches built before
A.D. 800, exist in such a state that we may feel
tolerably certain that we possess an accurate
knowledge of their original ground-plans, scarcely
any clear examples of chapels which could be
placed in the first section can be pointed out. We
cannot suppose the apartments which are found
in very many of the churches of the 5th and 6th
centuries in central Syria on either side of the
uarthex to have been chapels in the sense of
having been used for divine worship ; nor were
the lateral apses originally constructed for a like
use, since we have contemporary testimony (Pau-
linus of Nola, Ep. xxxii.) that one was used as
a sacristy, and the other as a place in which
tlie devout might read the scriptures and olTer
[irayers ; if, however, we define the word chapel so
as to admit apartments destined to serve as places
for prayer, but not for the celebration of the
rites of the church, we must consider the lesser
apse on the left of the great apse as a chapel.
In the description which St. Paulinus has given
{Ep. xxxii.) of the basilica of St. Felix, mention
is, however, made of ' cubicula ' in the following
passage : " Totum extra concham basilicae, spa-
tium alto et lacunato culmine geminis utrinque
porticibus diktat ur, quibus duplex per singulos
arcus columnarum ordo dirigitur. Cubicula intra
portions quaterna longis basilicae lateribus in-
serta secretis orantium vel in lege Domini medi-
tantium praeterea memoriis religiosorum et fa-
miliarium accommodates ad pacis aeternae re-
quiem locos pi'aebent." [Cubiculum.]
This passage seems to show clearly that in
some instances apartments were placed by the
sides of the nave, but this was probably very ex-
ceptional, for, as has been said above, no example
of such a plan now exists. It should, however,
be noticed that in two churches of very early
CHAPEL
343
date openings have existed in the side walls with
which chapels may have been connected ; these
are the churches of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme
and that of Sta. Balbina, both at Rome; in the
first were five openings on each side of the nave,
in the second six. the first of these buildings
is, however, held to have been the hall of the
palace of the Sessorium, and not originally con-
structed to serve as a church ; the second is
believed to date from the 5th century, but to
have been reconsecrated by St. Gregory about
A.D. 600.
At a very much later date we find in the
church of Sta. Christina at Pola do Lena, near
Oviedo, in Spain, apartments attached to and
entered from the nave. These are no doubt con-
temporary with the church, the date of which is
probably near A.D. 809. These apartments may
have been chapels, but it has been surmised that
they were really built to serve as sacristies.
The like arrangement occurs at Sta. Maria de
Naranco, near Oviedo, which dates from A.D. 84-8.
One almost unique example exists in the church
of Romain Motier, where the upper story of the
narthex has a small apse on the east, and was
therefore probably intended to serve as a chapel ;
it is nearly square in plan, and divided into
three aisles by two ranges of columns supporting
groined vaults. As the church of which this
forms a part was a large conventual one, this
was probably intended to serve as the smaller
chapel generally found in convents. The church
is believed to date from 753, the narthex to be
somewhat later.
The chapels which belong to the second section,
viz. those attached to churches, but distinct
buildings, are not very numerous, and in most
cases their primary object was sepulchral. Such
the three attached to the church of St. Lorenzo
at Milan would appear to have been, though it
has been suggested that that on the south was
a baptistery, and that on the north a porch or
vestibule.
That on the south, now called the church of
St. Aquilinus, is octagonal externally, while in-
ternally semicircular and rectangular niches al-
ternate, one in each face ; in it are two massive
sarcophagi, one of which is believed to contain
the remains of Ataulphus, king of the Goths.
The conchs of two of the niches retain some
mosaics of a very early period, perhaps the 5th
century. This building is connected with the
church by a vestibule, supposed by Hiibsch {Alt-
Christliche Kirchen, p. 22) to be of later date ;
it is a square vaulted chamber with apses east
and west. The chapel of St. Sixtus on the north
side has exactly the same plan, but is much
smaller ; that of St. Hippolytus at the east end
of the church is also octangular externally, but
internally forms a cross with four equal limbs.
All three are probably not remote in date from
the church itself, which would seem to have been
built about the end of the 4th or the beginning
of the 5th century.
In like manner Pope Hilarus (461-467) added
to the baptistery of the Lateran chapels dedi-
cated in honour of St. John the Baptist and
St. John the Evangelist.
Of the early part of the 9th century we have
a most interesting example in the chapel of St.
Zeno attached to the church of St. Praxedis (Sta.
Prassede) at Rome, built by Pope Paschal I.
3U
CHAPEL
CHAPEL
about 819 and fortunately preserved almost un- I the catacombs in which the i-emains of martyrs
altered. It is in plan a square with three rect- | or confessors had been placed. What could be
angular recesses, the walls are covered with
..larble and the lunettes and vaults with mosaic.
This chapel is entered from the nave, and the
doorway is very remarkable, being partly made
up of ancient materials and partly original work,
as the inscription testifies, of Pope Paschal's
time. Over this doorway is a window, and the
wall around it is covered with medallion por-
traits of our Lord, the Apostles, and some other
saints in mosaic. The execution is but rude.
This chapel is contemporaneous with the church
to which it is attached, and is perhaps the earliest
undoubted instance of such an arrangement ; it
IS, however, so constructed as both externally
and internally to seem an independent building
attached to the church and not a portion of it.
The practice of constructing such appendages
to a church seems, however, to have continued
exceptional until the end of our period. None
appear on the plan for the monastery of St. Gall,
no doubt prepared between 820 and 830 ; nor do
any seem to have formed parts of the minster of
Aix-la-Chapelle.
In the East, as the rule that there should be
only one altar in a church has always existed,
chapels (in the sense of apartments in which
celebrations of the eucharistic service could take
place) have rarely formed parts of churches, but
sometimes are found attached to them. One in-
stance of a chapel attached to a church would
appear to exist in the church of St. Demetrius at
Thessalonica, where a small triapsal building is
attached (v. Texier and Pullan, Byzantine Arch.
pi. xviii.) to the east end of the south side of the
church. It has been suggested that this was a
sacristy, but its form seems to show that it was
really a chapel ; it may possibly have belonged
to the adjacent monastery. To the church of
the convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai
six chapels are attached on each side of the
nave, but these are doubtless not of the original
fabric. "
The third class, viz. subterranean chapels,
doubtless had their origin from the chambers in
more natural than that when a church or an
oratory was built over the spot where a martyr
had been interred, the chamber should be pre-
served and made accessible ?
We have probably an instance of one of these
chambers preserved in the remains of the basilica
of St. Stefano, in Via Latina, built by Pope Leo I.,
440-461. Where, however, no chamber existed,
a crypt was not constructed. Hence, in the
earlier churches of the city of Rome, we find no
crypt forming part of the original plan, but
small excavations under the altar, to receive
some holy corpse brought from the extramural
cemeteries. [CoNFESSiO.]
St. Gregory, we are told, "fecit ut super
corpus beati Petri et beati Pauli Apostolorum
Missae celebrarentur." He probably formed a
crypt and placed the 'loculus' in it, erecting
an altar in the church above over the bodies.^
After this time frequent mention is made of
the confession as a vault with stairs leading into
it. In those churches of the earlier period at
Rome, which remain in a tolerably unaltered
state as Sta. Sabina
(A.D. 425) and Sta.
Maria in Trastevere,
only very small vaults
are found as confes-
sions, but in S. Apol-
linare in Classe, at
Ravenna, a crypt ap-
pears as part of the
original structure; it
consists of a passage
running within the
wall of the apse, and
another passing under
the high altar.
French antiquaries
(Martigny, Bid. des
Antiq. Chr^t. art.
' Crypte ') have claimed
a very high antiquity
for crypts under seve-
ral churches in France,
e.g. that under the
church of St. Mellon
(? St. Gervais), at
Rouen, is alleged to
show the construction of the 4th century. It
would seem probable that in most cases where
they belong to early periods they are ancient
sepulchral chapels or oratories, or, possibly,
tombs of the Roman period, and not structural
crypts. Two crypts, however, exist, which
were, it would seem, structural ; these are those
of St. Irenaeus at Lyons and of St. Victor at
Marseilles. The first of these has a central and
side aisles divided originally by columns which
carry arches, the courses of which are of brick
and stone alternately, above there is a string
and a barrel vault. The central aisle ends in an
apse ; the church is said to have been founded
in the 4th century. The crypt of St. Victor is
in connection with some catacombs, the original
church dated from the 5th century. The crypt
consists of a series of vaulted compartments
divided by very massive rectangular piers.
Two remarkable crypts exist in England, those
in the cathedral of Ripon and in the alibcy church
,/>^
CHAPEL
of Hexham : both are attributed to St. Wilfrid,
who founded monasteries at both places ; that at
liipon between 070 and 678, that at Hexham
about 673. It appears from the testimony of
Leland {Itin. i. 89, 2nd ed.) that the actual
cathedral of Ripon does not occupy the same
place as the church of the abbey built by Wilfrid,
and there is much uncertainty whether the lilce
is not true of the church of Hexham.
The similarity of the plans and the peculiarity
of the structures can leave no doubt that one
[icTsou planned both, and this can hardly have
been any other than St. Wilfrid. The model
which he followed was evidently not the con-
fession of a church but the cubiculum and
galleries of a Roman catacomb, and the principal
vault in each does in fact bear considerable re-
semblance to the cubiculum adjacent to the
cemetery of St. Callixtus (about two miles from
Rome in the Via Appia), in which the bodies of
SS. Peter and Paul are said to have remained for
a considerable time.
The vault in question (Marchi, Boma Sott.
pi. xli. ; Catacombs, p. 310) has an arched roof
nearly semicircular, but really formed by five
small segments of circles, and has the same
height, about 9 feet, and the same width, 8 feet, as
the two crypts, but being in plan nearly square,
while the crypts are oblong, is only 8 feet long,
while they are 11-3 and 13"4. It is evidently
by no means unlikely that St. Wilftid may
have intended to construct models of a place
in his time most highly venerated and much
resorted to, just as models of the Holy Sepulchre
were built in later times. Some of the small
niches in the walls were probably intended to
contain relics or to hold lamps. The ante-cham-
ber to the principal vault is stated to be covered
by a demi-vaulted roof, as Mr. Walbi'an sur-
mises, in order that the steps of the altar might
be carried on it. If these structures were not
beneath churches, probably small "celiac me-
moriae," such as will be hereafter noticed,
covered and protected the access to them.
Whether they were originally provided with
altars is uncertain.
A crj'pt existed in the Saxon church of Canter-
bury, and was, we are told by Edmer, the chanter
(quoted by Gervase, De Combust, et Rep. JJoroh.
£ccl.), "ad instar confessionis S.Petri fabricata,"
it was beneath a raised choir, and appears to have
had several passages or divisions. Whether this
formed part of the early church, or was one of
the additions made by Archbishop Odo (cir. 950),
is unknown.
A crypt also appears in the plan for the church
of St. Gall (made cir. A.D. 800). It consisted of
two parts, a "confessio," which was reached by
steps descending between two flights ascending
to the raised presbytery, and a "crypta," which
seems to have consisted of two passages entered
from the transepts on either side, but running
outside the walls ; a third, connecting the former
two, and running in front of the apse, and another
short passage running from the last mentioned
to a spot beneath the high altar. There is a
close resemblance between this arrangement and
that in the Roman churches of the same period
(as Sta. Cecilia) where the crypt follows the line
of the wall of the apse. Altars were placed in
both crypt and confession.
In the church of Brixworth, in Nortlianiptoii-
CHAPEL
34^
shire, which there is evidence for believing to
date from cir. a.d. 700, is a crypt running round
the apse externally, originally covered with a
vault ; and, according to Mr. Poole (^Reports and
Papers of Arch. Soc. of Korthants, York, and Lin-
coln, i. 122) there are also traces of a short
passage running westwards from this to the pro-
bable position of a " confessio " below the high
altar. Mr. Watkins, however (T/-e Basilica &c.
of Brixnorth), asserts that there could have been
no crypt under the apse, as the original floor was
on a level with the rest of the church. [CnuECii.]
A remai-kable crypt or " confessio " exists-
under the raised presbytery of the church of St.
Cecilia at Rome, and apparently dates from the
construction of the building by Pope Paschal I.
(817-824). It consists of a vaulted space south
of the altar (the chui'ch stands nearly north and
south), a passage running round the interior of
the apse, and another passage running south
from the north end of the former, but stopped
by a mass of masonry supporting the high altar.
Within this mass is a sarcophagus, containing
the body of the saint. The passages are lined
with slabs of marble set on end : many of these
have early inscriptions, and were probably
brought from an adjacent cemetery. The same
arrangement exists at Sta. Prassede, and nearly
the same at SS. Quattro Coronati and St. Pan-
crazio — all at Rome — and it seems to have been
the normal arrangement about this period. It
will be observed that it is very much the same
as that at Brixworth and St. Gall. At Fulda,
in Hesse Cassel, is a crypt which is usually attri-
buted to the 9th century. It consists of a circu-
lar passage, within which is a circular 'space, the
vault of which rests on a short clumsy column,
with a rude imitation of an Ionic capital.
Buildings of the fourth class, i.e. sepulchral
chapels, were constructed at a very early
period. The practice of erecting large structures
for such purposes being familiar to several nations
of antiquity before the Christian era it is not
surprising that when they became converts to
Christianity they continued a practice which
their new faith would rather encourage than
reprehend.
The greater part of the chambers in the cata-
combs near Rome may be considered as belonging
to the class of sepulchral chapels. [See CATA-
COMBS.]
At what time the practice of placing an altar
and of celebrating the euchai'istic service in a
sepulchral chapel was first introduced cannot be
stated with precision. We are indeed told in the
Liber Pontificalis of Pope Felix I. (250-274),
that he "constituit super sepulcra martyrum
missas celebrari," but altars not placed over
tombs may have already been used. As, however,
the practice of praying for the dead existed in
the 4th and even in the 3rd century, it seems
not unlikely that the practice of placing altars
in sepulchral chapels may have come into use in
the former of those periods. Perhaps the ear-
liest undoubted instance of a chapel having been
constructed to serve at once as a place of sepulture
and of divine worship is that of the " Templum
Pi'obi," a small basilica attached to the exterior
of the apse of St. Peter's at Rome, and built by
Sixtus Anicius Petronius Probus, who died A.D.
395. He and Ills wife were undoubtedly buried
in it, and its form makes it highly improbable
34(5
CHAPEL
that the celebration of the euchanst within it was
not contemplated by the builder.
Cav. de Rossi, however, appears (Bull, di Arch.
Crist. 1864, p. 25) to think that in the earlier
centuries the chief use of such "cellae memoriae"
was to afford a fit place for the banquets held in
honour of the dead, and such buildings he be-
lieves to have been erected in AREAK, or en-
closures set apart for sepulture outside the walls
of cities, as early as the 2nd century, or probably
even at an earlier period. That such buildings
were also used as oratories there can be little
doubt, since Sozomen (EccL Hist. ix. 2) states
that the martyr St. Eusebia was placed in a
fVKTTjpiov near Constantinople, on the spot
where the church of St. Thyrsus was afterwards
built. [Cella Memoriae.]
An example has been recently discovered out-
side the gates of Eimini of very similar plan,
which is described as that of a Greek cross,
before which is an oblong apartment. Some
remains of bas-reliefs, and a sepulchral inscrip-
tion dated Maximo Consule (i.e. A.D. 523), give
ground for the presumption that the building is
not of later date thau the 6th century. The
remains of an altar were discovered ; but as this
contained a "sepulcrum " in which was a leaden
box, doubtless containing relics, it could hardly
liave been coeval with the building.
Of about the same date were apparently the
chapels at the cemetery of St. Alessandro, about
six miles from Rome, discovered a few years ago :
these had been formed from chambers in the first
level of a catacomb, and are partly below the
ground. There wei"e two chapels with a space
between them ; one of these ends with an apse,
on the chord of which is what appears to be the
substructure of an altar; the other has a rectan-
gular termination : at the end of this was found
a marble cathedra raised upon a platform, and
below this platform an altar, under which is a
shallow grave lined with slabs of marble, from
which the body of St. Alexander is believed to
have been removed. Another chapel opened
from this, and is of an irregular square form,
with a small apse. The general character of
the pavements and such ornamental portions as
remained is of circa A.D. 500, and a monumental
inscription bore the names of consuls of 443
and 527.
Of sepulchral chapels or mausoleums of un-
doubted date, perhaps the earliest is the tomb of
the Empress Helena, outside Rome (cir. A. D.
328), a circular building standing on a square
basement, in which is a vault. In the circular
])ortion, wliich is about 66 feet in diameter inter-
nally, are on the floor, eight large niches, and
above them as many windows; the whole is
covered by a dome. It may be said that this is
merely a tomb, but the large size of the windows
]>oints to an use other than that of a sepulchre.
The Liber Fontificalis states that it was provided by
the Emperor Constantine with an altar of silver
and much church furniture and many vessels,
but the trustworthiness of this part of the book
is doubtful. Of nearly the same date is Sta.
Costanza, the mausoleum of a daughter of the
Emperor Constantine, also a circular building
with a dome, but which has an internal peristyle
and had also one externally. Further descrip-
tion of. this building will be found under
Church.
CHAPEL
Another circular mausoleum, which no longer
exists, was that built by the Emperor Honorius
in connexion with the V'^atican Basilica ; it was
about 100 feet in diameter and very similar to
that of the Empress Helena, in the ruins of this,
in 1543, a marble sarcophagus containing the
remains of one or both of his wives was dis-
covered.
The building next to be mentioned is one of
peculiar interest having come down to our time
almost uninjured, and containing the sarcophagi,
which it was constructed to receive, unviolated;
this is the chapel at Ravenna now called the
church of SS. Naz-
zai-o e Celso, erected
by the Empress Galla
Placidia, as a mauso-
leum for herself and TZ—
family before tlie M
year 450, it has, as
will be seen by the
plan, the form of a
Latin cross. There
was originally a por-
tico by which it was
connected with the
atrium of the adja-
cent church of Sta.
Croce. Three im-
mense sarcophagi are placed in the three upper
arms of the cross, and contain the remains of
the Empress Galla Placidia, and of the Emperors
Honorius H. and Constantius IIL Between these
stands the altar, but this is said to have been
brought from the church of St. Vitale. The
chapel is paved and lined with rich marbles iip
to the springing of the arches which carry the
dome ; this last, the lunettes below the dome
and the arches and the soffits of the arches are
all covered with mosaics of very beautiful cha-
racter.
Of the highest interest, both architecturally
and historically, is the tomb of Theodoric (ob.
526), outside the walls of Ravenna ; this is
Nazzaro e Celso Eavenuf
of two stories, the lower externally decagonal,
but enclosing a cruciform crypt. The upper
story is circular and was surrounded by a range
of small pillars carrying arches ; opposite to the
entrance is a niche,' which no doubt once contained
an altar ; this story is covered by a low dome
30 feet in diameter internally, hollowed out
from a single slab of Istrian marble. There are
many peculiarities of detail in this building.
J
CHAPEL
among thein a small window iu the form of a
cross with limbs of equal length, all the bound-
ing lines of which are convex. The sarcophagus
containing the body of the king was probably
placed in the centre of the upper chamber.
In one very remarkable instance, however,
that of the Minster at Aix-la-Chapelle, the great
Emperor founded neither an episcopal nor a
conventual church, but constructed a building on
a magnificent scale indeed, but essentially on the
plan of a mausoleum of the earlier Empire ;
whetlier or not it was the intention of Charle-
magne to construct at once a Minster and a
splendid tomb, it is certain that it has ever been
looked upon as the " memoria " of that great
man. An account of this very remarkable
building will be found under CnuRCif.
Detached chapel-like buildings not attached to
convents, and not sepulchral, are not often met
with, though pro-
bably once com-
mon. In most
instances they
have perished
either from time
or neglect. In
the Haouran,
however, where
since the 6th cen-
tury the rumed cities have been uninhabited
and the country a desert, many buildings which
Count de Yogiie' (Za Sijrk Centrale, Avant-
r
CHAPTER
347
iKdlybe.
nave, a square central portion, and three large
semi-circular niches or apses, the so-called trans-
verse triapsal arrangement. Such a plan was
often adopted in order to afford place for three
sarcophagi, and henceit may be thought that this
chapel was really built as a "cella memoriae;"
but it exists in tlie church of Bethlehem, where
it certainly could not have been chosen with that
intention.
CHAPLET. (1) It was anciently the prac-
tice of some churches to crown the newly baptized
with a chaplet or garland of flowers. See Bap-
tism, p. 164.
(2) For chaplet in the sense of a succession of
prayers recited in a certain oj-der, regulated by
beads or some such device, see RosARY. [C.l
CHAPTER [Capitulum], the body of the
clergy of a cathedral, united under the bishop
(for other senses of the Latin term see Capi-
tulum).
1. The origin of chapters themselves, apart
from the name, begins from a very early date.
The presbyters, and subordinately the deacons of
each diocese, constituted from the beginning the
council of the bishop of that diocese [Bishop],
joined in his administration of it, and in the
approval of candidates for ordination, kc, and in
fact, though not in name, were his chapter. And
these, at first, all lived in the cathedral city ;
and as country cures came gradually to exist,
served them from that city. In time, however,
propos, p. 8) considers to nave been oratories
or chapels still exist, a good example of these
Kalybe's is that of Omm-es-Zeitoun, which
an inscription engraved on its front shows to
have been built in a. d. 282. It must, however,
be observed that there seems to be in them no
trace of any altar or of any place to receive it,
and that, in that at Chagga, is a vault below the
building, which latter circumstance gives rise to a
doubt whether they may not have been sepulchral.
One example may be mentioned of a detached
chapel of an early date, which was not certainly
sepulchral, that, namely, built by Pope Damasus
(367-385) near the baptistery of the Lateran at
Rome, but not now in existence. It liad a short
country presbyters became fixed in their several
localities. And a distinction grew up accord-
ingly, by the period of the great Nicene Council,
between town and country presbyters, — civita-
tenscs, and dicccesani or rurales preshyteri, — the
latter being reckoned as a somewhat lower grade
than the former. In accordance with this dis-
tinction, and as a natural result of their distance
from the bishop's residence, the country presliyters
(and deacons) became in effect, although never
formally, excluded from the Episcopal council or
(so to call it by anticipation) chapter. At Rome
this state of things became permanent, so that
all the city clergy, and they only, became the
chapter ; and hence, after a lapse of centuries and
348
CHAPTER
some other changes, the cardinal-bishops, priests,
acd deacons. In general, however, time brought
about two further but equally gradual changes.
1. The bishop and his more immediate clergy
took to living a life in common, although each
still retaining his own special share of church
goods and living upon it. And thus the town
clergy in general became separated from those,
who specially served the cathedral but had no
cure in the city itself. And the chapter (so to
cali it) became griidually restricted to the latter,
viz., the cathcdrales proper, to the exclusion of
the former, or general body of the town clergy ;
a right disused, as before, ceasing naturally in
time to be recognised as a right at all. 2. The
cathcdrales themselves became increased in
number by the addition of various diocesan
olhcers : as e. g. the archdeacon, archpresbyter,
primicerius or custos, scholasticus ; or again,
through the musical services of the cathedral,
the archicantor ; and through the engrafting
upon the bishop's establishment of seminaries
for youths and clergy, the praepositus or provost,
&c. And thus a body of officers grew up, who,
through their position and special attachment to
the bishop and the cathedral, helped yet more to
exclude outsiders. The time of St. Augustine
and of Eusebius of Vercelli may be taken as the
period whence the first of these changes began ;
the latter bishop endeavouring also to engraft
the monastic life upon the common life of him-
self and his clergy, which St. Augustin did not;
and the monastic bishoprics of the Anglo-Saxon
church, established by St. Gregory and the Can-
terbury St. Augustine, and copied through Anglo-
Saxon missions in Germany, helping on the
practice. The British monastic bishops may be
also referred to, who were anterior to the Canter-
bury mission ; but the Celtic monasteries, with
their dioceseless and often subordinate bishops,
are anomalous, and ii'relevant to the present
question. The progress of the change may be
marked, 1, by the Councils of Tours, ii. A.D. 567,
and of Toledo, iv. A.D. 633, which require the
])resbyters, deacons, and all his c/tr«Ci, manifestly
the town clergy, to reside with the bishop, the
latter making an exception for those only of
whom health or old age rendered it desirable
that they should live apart in their own houses ;
and by Cone. Emerit. A.D. 666, can. 1'2, which
empowers a bishop to recal a country presbyter
and make him a cathedralis; — 2, by the gradual
limitations of the word Canonici, which in the
Councils of Clermont, A.D. 549, can. 15, and
Tours ii. A.D. 567, still included all the clergy,
even the minor orders, while the 3rd Council of
Orleans, A.D. 538, uses it for all on the roll, and
the 4th, A.D. 549, speaks still of "matricula
ecclesiae ; " but which Gregory of Tours {H. F.
x. sub fin.), Avho wrote about the close of the 6th
century, speaking of " mensa canonicorum " and
a charter of Chilperic, A.D. 580 (quoted by Du
Cange), restrict to the cathedral clergy (the
distinction of regular and secular canons and the
special sense of the term belonging to the later
period after Chrodogang) ; so that in A.D. 813,
Cone. Mogunt. and Taron. iii., there had grown
accordingly to be two classes of "Canonici,"
chapters under a bishop, and colleges under an
abbat (see also Council of Calchythe, A.D. 785,
can. 4) ; and these two, under the name of Capi-
tula, are nicnticned in Co;ic. Vcrn., A.D. 755, can.
CHAPTER
11, the monks living "secundum regulam;" i.e.,
of St. Benedict, the clergy of the cathedral " sub
ordine canonico." Yet even in the time of
Charlemagne " canouicus " still had a double
meaning, being either in general any clergyman
on the roll (and " canonical " life meaning
" clerical " life), or in particular the clergy who
lived in common under the bishop [Caxonici].
The second change above noticed was also of
gradual growth. The offices of archpresbyter
and archdeacon were no doubt ancient [Akch-
PKESBYTER, Archdeacon], but did not become
attached at once to the cathedral, probably not
until the 6th or 7th centuries. The Primicerius
and Archicantor were of later date still [Pre-
centor, Primicerius] ; and so also the Scholas-
ticus [Scholasticus]. Two further changes
however were needed in order to complete the
establishment of the modern chapter, — 1, The
appointment of a dean, which grew out of the
office of praepositus. The latter carne into
existence under the bishop, in analogy with the
praepositus under the abbat among Chi-odegang's
canons, but his office being gi-adually restricted
to external administration, a decanus was ap-
pointed to conduct the internal discipline, at\er
the analogy apparently of monastic decani; the
10th century being the period of the first insti-
tution of the office ; and the dean gradually sup-
planted the provost [Decanus]. 2. The con-
version of the prebends (in fact though not in
name) into benefices, i. e. of customary separate
payments to individual cathedral members out
of the church stock into a common .treasury of
the body, together with fixed rights of individual
members to definite shares. The first " commune
aerarium " in France is attributed to Eigobert,
Archbishop of Rheims, after A.D. 700; so that
canonici quasi ifoivaiviKoi, altliou^h a bad deriva-
tion, yet represented at first a ifal tact ; as does also
the more plausible derivation I'rcmi canon = a
fixed pension, called sportula by St. Cyprian, and
" consuetum clericorum stipendium " by Cuuc.
Valentin., Hispal., and Agath., quoted by Pu
Cange. Prebends also began to be founded by
bishops and other patrons about the same period.
2. For the history of the word chapter, see
Capitulum. It was used as early as A.D. 755,
Cone. ]'ern., and so at Aix in 789, and Mayence
in 813. &c., for the episcopal chapter, as well as
that of Chrodegang's canons. And about that
time it was that bishops began to make the
cathedral clergy their special council. Its re-
striction to this only, followed in the course of
another two centuries.
3. The functions of the cathedral chapter were
simply derived, and (so to say) usurped, from
those of the original council of the bishop, viz.
the diocesan clergy. And the 8th century may
be taken as the period when the " chapter " thus
absorbed into itself the right of being the special
council of the bishop. Administration of the d io-
cese in the bishop's absence or during a vacancy,
naturally fell to the bishop's " senate ;" and ac-
cordingly, even in early times, it was found
necessai-y to enact, " ut presbyteri sine conscien-
tia episcopi nihil fiiciant " {Cone. Arelat. i. c. 19 :
and see Can. Apiost. 38, &c.). Ordinations, how-
ever, were of course always excluded; but not so
the patronage, under the like circumstances, of
the bishop's livings. And this became the pri-
vilege of the chapter about the 8th century.
CHAPTER OF BIBLE
The i-ight of electing the bishop was not so
speedily usurpod. It did Bot become customary
for the chapter only to elect until the 11th cen-
tury. And the final decree, absolutely restrict-
ing the right of election to that body (to the
exclusion of the comprovincial bishops, as well
as of the other diocesan clergy), only dates from
Pope Innocent III. in the 13th. The change had
run parallel with that which restricted the elec-
tion of the pope to the cardinals. The charge
of the cathedral services of course belonged to
the chapter. Other privileges enumerated by
Ma3'er (i. 73) for the most part are merely such
as belong to any corporate body as such; as, e.g.
the possession of a common seal (the earliest,
however, known to Mabillon, dating only A.D.
1289), the right of making bye-laws, the power
of punishing the excesses or misconduct of indi-
vidual members. For the schools attached to
cathedrals, see Schools.
4. The constituent members of a chapter varied
in almost every cathedral. The dean, as has been
said, was a comparatively late addition, of at
earliest the 10th century ; while in most cathe-
drals there was no such office until late in the
11th. The archpresbyter appears to have been
at first the principal, under the bishop ; until he
was supplanted by the archdeacon. And these
two, with the custos, or primiceriiis (so called at
Rome, i. e. as the first entered on the wax tablet
or list), were styled the " tria culmina ecclesiae."
Chorepiscopi, in name but in nothing else, lingered
on in a very few, mostly French, cathedrals. A
scholasticus, a SACRISTA or cimeliarcha, an archi-
cantor, &c., also occur : for whom see under the
several titles. And there were, besides, a staff
of clergy for the general service of the cathedral
church, together with lectores, ostiarii, exorcistae,
acolythi, &c. A praepositus, or provost, also
occui-s in the 8th and 9th centuries. But the
complete organization of a modern or a medieval
chajjter— the bishop, the quatuor personae, sc.
dean, precentor, chancellor, and treasurer, the
archdeacons, canons, &c. — belongs to Norman
times and the 12th century. And minor canons,
and vicars choral, &c., are an abuse of like date.
5. In the Eastern Church, the body of clergy
serving a cathedral church was often exceedingly
numerous : e. g. under Justinian, the " Great
Church," out of the four at Constantinople,
is said to have been served by 60 presbyters,
100 deacons, 40 deaconesses, 90 subdeacons, 100
readers, 25 cantores = \Xi all 415; besides 100 o.s-
iiarii, who served all four churches. There were
also special officers in Eastern cathedrals, as e.g.
irpaiTOTTaTras, Trpa)T0i(/oA.T7js, xop'''o<?>"^''|, ffKivo-
<pi\a^, &c. ; for whom see under the several titles.
But no such development of the chapter took
place as in the West, so as to restrict to it the
offices of electing the bishop, acting as his council
or repi'esentative, &c. &c.
[Thomassin ; Du Cange ; Mayer, Thes. Nov.
Stat., 4'C., Eccles. Cathedr. et Coll. in Ger-
mania ; Walcott, Cathedralia, and Sacr. 'Archae-
ology.-] [A. W. H.]
CHArXER OF BIBLE. [Legtionary.]
CHAPTER -HOUSE, a place of assem-
bly for monks or canons, forming part of the
conventual buildings ; called capitulum, says
Papias, because there the capitula, or chapters
of the monastic rule, were read and expounded.
CHARISMATA
349
For the ancient custom was that after prime,
before the monks went forth to their labour,
a chapter of the rule was read aloud to them.
The meeting of the monks for the purpose of
hearing such a reading was itself called Capi-
TaLUM (Ducange's Glossary, s. v. Capitulum).
The ancient plan of St. Gall contains apparently
no chapter-house ; and perhaps the first instance
of a house built especially for the general meet-
ings of a brotherhood or college for other than
devotional purposes is that mentioned in the life
of Abbot Ansegis of Fontanelle (c. 9, in Acta SS.
Ben. saec. iv. pt. 1, p. 635), who is said to have
built, about A.D. 807, near the apse of the church
of St. Peter, and on the northern side of it,
a house which he called conventus or curia, in
Greek huleuterion, because in it the brethren
were wont to assemble for the purpose of taking
counsel on anv matter (Martene, De Rit. Monach.
lib. i. c. V. § 3). [C]
CHAPTER, THE LITTLE. [Capitulum.]
CHARALAMPES, martyr, a.d. 198, com-
memorated Feb. 10 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CHARAUNUS, martyr at Chartres, is com-
memorated May 28 {Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CHARIOTEERS. Among the callings which
were regarded by the Church of the first three
centuries, that of the charioteer held a promi-
nent place. It had its chief, if not its sole,
sphere of action in games which were inseparably
connected with the old religion of the empire.
The men who followed it were commonly more
or less disreputable, and had been excluded, even
by Roman law, from most of the privileges of
citizenship (TertuU. de Spectac. c. 22). It was,
through the eager excitement which attended it,
incompatible with meditation and prayer (Tertull.
I. c). We find accordingly that such persons
were not admitted to baptism, unless they re-
nounced their occupation (Constt. Apost. viii.
32). If they returned to it after their admis-
sion to Christian fellowship they were to be ex-
communicated (C. £lib. c. 62,* 1 C. Arelat. c. 5).
When the games of the circus were reproduced
under Christian emperors, the rigour of the
Church's discipline was probably relaxed.
[E. H. P.]
CHARITAS, virgin, martyr under Hadrian,
commemorated Aug. 1 {Mart. Usuardi). As
Agape, Sept. 17 {Cal. Byzant.). Compare Sa-
PiENTiA, Sophia. [C]
CHARITINA, martyr, is commemorated
Oct. 5 {Cal. Byzant.). .[C-]
CHARITON, holy father and confessor, a.d.
276, is commemorated Sept. 28 {Cal. Byzant.).
[C]
CHARISMATA : literally « graces " which
are the effect of grace ; that is, of the outpouring
of the Holy Ghost, consequent on the Ascension
of our Lord into heaven, — all, properly speaking,
subjective : yet St. Paul calls the pardon of sin
in one place (Rom. v. 15), and eternal life in
another {ih. vi. 23), a " charisma " ; that is, a
gracious or free gift on the part of God through
Christ. Again, subjective graces have been dis-
« A various reading gives, however, " augur," instead
of " auriga." It is possible that this may be a sign of a
diminished horror of the charioteer's calling.
350
CHARITY SCHOOLS
tinguished into two classes : 1. those conferring
mere power (gmtiae gratis datae) ; and 2. those
which aifect the character {gratiae grattim fa-
cientes). The locus classicus for both is 1 Cor. xii.
to the end of eh. xiv. (on which,see Bloomfieki,
Alford, Cornelius a Lapide, and others), where
they are thrown together without much system
or classification. Of the former class, some were
neither permanent nor universal, as the gift of heal-
ing : others, as for instance, that which he affirms
elsewhere to he in Timothy by the laying on of
his hands (2 Tim. i. 6 ; comp. 1 Pet. iv. 10) ; in
other words, the gift conferred upon all ministers
of the Gospel at their ordination, fitting them
for their respective posts, were permanent, but
not universal. Both were bestowed primarily for
the edification of the whole body ; not but that
it would fare better or worse with each individual
possessed of them according to the way in which
they were used. " The manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man, to profit withal." Of the
latter class all were permanent and universal,
being designed primarily for individual sanctifi-
cation : all had them therefore without exception ;
and any body might double or quadruple his share
of them by his own exertions. Where they lay
dormant in any, the fault was his own. Wherever
they were cultivated, they would bring forth,
some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.
" Follow after charity," says the Apostle : this is
a gift of the same character with faith and hope,
permanent (fxevei) and bestowed on all. Therefore
the degree to which you may become possessed
of it rests with youi'selves. As you follow after
it, so you will obtain it. For those gifts which
are not given to all you can only pray : still I
enjoin you to pray ; and of these " pray rather
that ye may prophecy ;" in other words, that ye
may " understand the Scriptures " (comp. Luke
xxiv. 45), and be able to interpret them for the
benefit of others, as well as your own ; — a gift
which is permanent, and for the good of all, like
charity. Of ordinary gifts, I have devoted a
whole chapter to shew that charity should occupy
the first place : of extraordinary gifts, I proceed
to shew in the ensuing chapter my reasons for
considering prophecy, taken in its widest sense,
to be first also ; one is for practice, the other for
information : to understand the Scriptures, and
to act upon them aright, for general as well as
for private profit and edification, is to fulfil every
purpose for which grace is vouchsafed. Prophecy,
therefore, will mean here the gift of expounding,
rather than of foretelling (Corn, a Lap. ad. /.),
and to the nine extraordinary " charismata " set
down here, correspond the nine ordinary, described
as " the fruit of the Spirit," in the Epistle to
the Galatians (v. 22), To these last three more
have been added, making twelve in all ; while
faith, hope, and charity have been contrariwise
classified by themselves as the three theological
virtues. [E. S. F.]
CHARITY SCHOOLS. [Education.]
CHARMS. [Amulets.]
CHARTOPHYLAX. One, says Beveridge
i%nod. 11. 167), who kept the archives and docu-
ments or charters of the church. This in the
Church of Constantinople was a high office ; so
much so, that under Andronicus Junior he was
called " Magnus Chartophylax" who discharged it.
CHERUBIC HYMN
His duties were by no means those of a mere libra-
rian or registrar, but included with them those of
a chancellor. He wore suspended round his neck
the ring or seal of the patriarch ; received and
examined all letters intended for him, with the
exception of those coming from other patriarchs ;
furnished the list of those who should be pro-
moted to- vacant benefices of all sorts; and was
entrusted with the authorisation of the nuptial
benediction. When the 6th Council opened, it
was the chartophylax, or keeper of the archives
of the great church, whom the emperor ordered
to fetch the books of the previous oecumenical
councils from the patriarch's library, then the
depository for all authentic ecclesiastical records.
As both volumes of the 5th Council were subse-
quently proved to have been tampered with
[CoNciL. Constant. 34], there must have been
one dishonest chartophylax at least in the 130
years intervening between the 5th and 6tli
councils. For the rest, see Gretser and Goar,
c. 4 of their Commentaries on Codinus ; c. 1, Du
Fresne's Gloss. Graec. et Lat. ; Suicer's Thesaur.
s. V. [E. S. F.]
CHARTULARIUS. An officer entrusted
with the keeping of charters or registers ; and in
the Eastern Church subordinate to the charto-
phylax. Such was his position, at all events, in
the Church of Constantinople, according to the
ecclesiastical list of Codinus (c. 1, with Gretser
and Gear's Commentaries, c. 13); but from his
next chapter we see there was a superior officer
called " the great chartularius " attached''to the
imperial household (c. 2, and Gretser and Goar,
c. 3). Elsewhere we read of " chartularii "
belonging to the army, navy, and several other
departments of state, whose records were vo-
luminous ; while the number of ecclesiastical
" chartularii " for the different dioceses of the
East is regulated by Justinian in the first book
of his Code (tit. ii. c. 25). St. Gregory the Great
calls a monk named Hilary, whom he employed
in Africa to transact business for him, indif-
ferently his "chartularius" or "notary"; shew-
ing both offices to have been synonymous in the
Chui-ch of Rome then {Ep. i. 77, ed. Migne, and
the note). And Photius, two centuries and a half
later, addresses one Gregory several times, in
corresponding with him, as "deacon" and "char-
tularius " {Ep. iii. ed. Valetta). Later, a very
different sense sometimes attached to this word :
" Qui per epistolam liber fiebat," says Sirmondus
(ad tom. ii. Concil. Gall. p. 679), " chartularius
dicebatur." Again, " chartularium," in the
neuter gender, stands for the place where char-
ters and such like documents were kept literally ;
but in the West it has long served to denote
those volumes, often called Red or Black Books
from the colour of their binding or their rubrics,
and written on parchment, in which the charters
and customs and properties belonging to each
monastery were transcribed (Du Fresne, Gloss.
Lat. et Graec. s. v.). [E. S. F.]
CHASUBLE. [Casula.]
CHEESE, IN EUCHARIST. [Elements.]
CHERSONESUS, the martyrs of, a.d. 296,
are commemorated March 7 (Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CHERUBIC HYMN. [Hymn, the Che-
rubic]
CHEST
CHEST. [Arca : Capsa.]
CHILDBIRTH. [Churching of Women."1
CHILDEBERT, king, deposition at Paris,
Dec. 23 {Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CHILDREN. It is the object of this article
to briug together the materials for a picture of
the home life of Christians of the first eight
centuries, so far as it affected the treatment of
their children and their thoughts about them.
It is obvious that every such picture must be
more or less idealised, that in practice its com-
pleteness was marred by variations at different
periods and in different churches, by the more
or less perfect triumph of Christianity over
heathenism. Making allowance for this, how-
over, it is hoped that the representation here
given will enable the reader to estimate the in-
fluence of the religion of Christ in this phase of
human life with some distinctness. It is obvious
also that in the course of the inquiry we must
come in contact with many questions which,
separately, demand a more dogmatic and more
exhaustive discussion. These it will be enough
to notice briefly.
(1.) We may start with the fact that the new
iiiith taught men to set a higher value upon the
sacredness of human life. The corrupt morals
of the empire had all but crushed out the natural
(Tropy)fi which binds the hearts of the fathers to
the children. Infants were looked upon as in-
cumbrances to be got rid of. The mothers of
illegitimate children, sometimes even mothers
who were married, killed or deserted their child-
ren without scruple, or called in the aid of
women who made a business of the art of abor-
tion. Against all such practices Christian purity
raised its voice. Barnabas enumerates the sins
in question among the things incompatible with
the " way of light " (c. 19). The author of the
Epistle to JDiognetus speaks of the freedom of the
Christian society from these practices as one of
the marks of difference between them and the
heathens among whom they lived (c. 5). Athe-
nagoras condemns those who expose children, or
procure abortion, as alike guilty of mui-der
{Legat. c. 35). Justin speaks against the expo-
sure as a common offence, and dwells on the
enormities that followed, children so deserted,
male and female, being the chief supply of the
market for prostitution (ApoL i. 29). The prac-
tice lingered, however, even among Christians,
and the Council of Elvira had to treat them as
excluding a female catechumen from all but
death-bed baptism, one who was already bap-
tized even from death-bed communion (C. Elib.
c. 63, 68). The Council of Ancyra, about the
same time, acknowledging that the severer pen-
alty had been the rule of the Church, reduced it
to ten years' penanee (c. 20), that of Lerida
(c. 2) to seven, subject however to the condition
of continuance in a penitential life ; and if the
offenders were in orders, to exclusion from litur-
gical functions.
(2.) We start, then, with the Christian con-
viction that children were a " heritage and gift
that cometh from the Lord," to be received as a
trust for which parents would have to render
an account. It might have seemed that that
feeling would have found universal expression in
the dedication of infants, as soon as might be
after their birth, by the sacred rite of baptism.
CHILDREN
351
Our Lord's command, " Suffer little ihildren to
come UBto me, and forbid them not," might
seem to sanction, if not to command, the practice.
It must be admitted, however, that the traces
of Infant bajitism in the first 160 years are but
scanty, that the evidence of the New Testament
is far from decisive. The statement of Suicer
(Thesaur. ii. 1136) that for the first two centu-
ries no one was baptized who could not make a
conscious profession of his faith is, perhaps, over-
strained, but it is true that the evidence on the
other side is meagre. Justin's statement tliat
"many had been made disciples of Christ, e/c
TraiSoov" {Apol. ii. p. 62) is somewhat strained
when these words are translated, as Bingham
does, " from their infancy." The witness of fre-
naeus, who says that ^'■infantes" (as well as
'■^ parvuU ") " renascuntur in Deum " (ii. 22), and
identifies regeneration with baptism is, however,
more distinct. That of Origen, however, that
the Church's practice was " etiam parvulis bap-
tismum dari " {Horn. viii. m Levit.) is rendered
less so, by the distinction drawn by Irenaeus
between the "parvuli " and the " infantes." " The
treatise in which Tertullian urges "cunctatio bap-
tismi " as the safer and better course is rather
in the tone of one who is contending against a
growing practice than of one who rejects a tra-
dition of the universal Church {de Bapt. c. 18).
Wall 011 Infant Baptism is, of course, the great
storehouse of arguments in favour of the primi-
tive and universal use of the rite for infant
children. It may be noted, however, (1.) that
the command in Matt, xxviii. 19, seems to imply
capacity for discipleship as a condition of baptism ;
(2.) that the " holiness " of Christian children
is made to depend, in 1 Cor. vii. 14, not on bap-
tism, but on the faith of one, at least, of the
pai-ents ; (3.) that the mention of "households"
as baptized is, at best, a precarious foundation for
a wide generalisation. If baptism were thought
of as limited to those who could make a confession
of faith, it would not be deemed necessary to men-
tion infants as not included in the " household "
that was baptized, any more than it would be ne-
cessary to except them if one were speaking of a
whole household going forth to fight against the
enemy. It may fairly be conceded, however, that
at least from the time of Irenaeus, Origen, Ter-
tullian, the practice was common. The further
question remained, at what stage in their infancy ;
and here the answers varied. Some pressed the
analogy of circumcision and argued for the eighth
day, but this was rejected by Cyprian {Epiit. ad
Fidum, lix. al. Ixiv.) and by a Council of Car-
thage under his guidance. Gregory of Nazian-
zum, on the other hand, urged a delay of three
years, more or less, that the child might be able
to utter its profession of fliith with its own lips
{Orat. xl. de Bapt.). The Council of Elvira
(c. 22) sanctioned the earlier age ; but this was
done not as resting on an immemorial practice, but
on a special dogmatic ground, "quia non suo
vitio peccarunt," as though it needed a justifica-
tion. Generally, except in cases of necessity,
their baptism, like that of adult converts, was
" We have in both these passages to content ourselves
with a Latin translation of a Greek original. A passage in
the Latin version of Origen's }lom. in Luc. .\iv. seems to
bring even children who are just born within the range of
the "parvuli."
352
CHILDREN
postponed till the Easter following their birth
(Socrates, //. E. v. 22; C. Antissiod. c. 18;
August. Senn. de Temp. 110 ; Ambros. de Muster.
Pcisch. c, 5.).'' The case of Augustine shows,
however, that even a mother like Monica, act-
ing, it may be, under the influence of the feeling
of which Tertullian had been the spokesman,
could postjione her child's baptism indefinitely,
only eager to hasten it if there were any immi-
nent fear of death (August. Conff. i. 11)."=
Even where baptism was postponed, however, the
child was claimed for Christ, was signed with
the sign of the cross, and made to taste of the salt
which was known as the " mysterium " or " sacra-
ment " of catechumens (Ibid.). [Catechumens.]
After an interval, vary iug according to the different
views just stated, the child was brought to the font,
stripped of its clothes, and baptized, making its
acts of renunciation and adherence, if old enough,
with its own lips; if still in infoncy, through
its sponsors. [SPONSORS.] Where children were
left orphans, or were deserted by their parents,
they were brought by benevolent Christians,
who in the sight of the Church took charge of
them. The priest announced the fact from the
altar, and the child became the " alumnus " or
foster-child of the person so adopting him''
(1 C. Vasens. c. 9).
Baptism in such cases was followed, after an
interval of uncertain duration, by confirmation.
If a bishop were present at the baptism, the rule
was that both rites were administered in imme-
diate succession. As soon as the child was taken
from the water he received the sacred unction
and the imposition of hands. (Tertull. de Bapt.
c. 7, de Hesurr. Cam. c. 8.) In the absence of
the bishop there was, of course, a delay ; but
the modern practice of Protestant churches of
treating confirmation as the personal acceptance
by the adult of what had been promised by the
infant, was altogether foreign to the life of the
ancient Church, as it is now from that of the
East. In both cases, indeed, in order to guard
against any inconvenience which might follow
from the prolonged absence of the bishop, the
priest was allowed to administer confirmation as
well as baptism.
The admission of the infant to the privileges
of Christian fellowship did not, however, stop
here. There is almost, if not altogether, as
weighty evidence for infant communion as there
is for infant baptism. It was the recognised
practice of the African Church in the time of
<>prian (De laps. c. 25). The Apostolical
Constitutions (viii. 12, 13) show that it was
also the custom of the East. It was vehe-
mently urged by Augustine as essential to the
complete salvation even of the baptized (Epist.
23 ad Bonifac. De Peccat. Merit, i. 20) and was
defended against the scorn of unbelievers by the
mystic pseudo-Dionysius (de Hierarch. Eccles.
vii. 11). The Sacramentary of Gregory and the
Council of Macon (c. 6), a.d. .588, are witnesses
to its prevalence in the churches of Rome and
Gaul. The first intimation of any wish to stop
•• The Sunday before Easter was known in consequence
as the " Octavae Infantum."
<= Augustine blames the delay, it is true, but it is with
reference to a baptism in boyhood, not in infancy.
d The word occurs In this sense in Christian epitaphs.
(De Rossi, i. 46.)
CHOIR
it is found in the third Council of Tours (c. 19),
iu A.D. 813, and that continued inoperative for
nearly three centuries. In this respect the
Churches of the East, as in the case of confirma-
tion, follow in the footsteps of antiquity.
So far, then, the child of Christian parents
was met at its birth with these symbols, and, as
it was believed, assurances of salvation. The
work of moral training began with the first dawn
of consciousness. He would be taught to make
the sign of the cross upon his brow, or lips, or
chest, on rising or lying down to sleep, or when
he bathed or put on his clothes (Tertull. de Cor.
Mil. c. 2). Soon a pious parent would tell him
the story of the Gospels, as Monica did to Augus-
tine, even though unbaptized (Conff. i. 17), or
give him daily some texts of Scripture to be
learnt by heart, as Leonidas did to Origen (Euseb.
H. E. vi. 2). He would learn the Lord's Prayer
and the Creed as things for daily use, would be
taught to pray at midnight, at sunrise, and at
every meal (Tertull. de Orat. c. 20). The stories
of martyrs who had suffered, sometimes the
actual spectacle of those sufferings, would kindle
his emotions. The range of instruction would
become wider as he would be led first to the
didactic, or sapiential, books of Scripture, the
Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes ; then the Gospels,
the Acts, and the Epistles : last of all the Penta-
teuch, the historical books, and the Prophets
(Hieron. Epist. 57, ad Laetani). For his general
education, however, he would have to go to any
school that might be opened, and these were, for
four centuries or more, in the hands of heathens.
For those who went to such schools Homer was
still the groundwork of intellectual culture
(August. Conff. i. 23). Grammar, dialectics, rhe-
toric, geometry, completed the course of teaching
(Euseb. ff. E. vi. 2). It would be naturally a
time of anxious watchfulness for Christian pa-
rents. When this was over the child would
pass to the responsibilities of adolescence. Nega-
tively we may be sure that no true Christian
would allow his child to be a spectator of the
games of the circus or the mimes of the theatre ;
that whex-ever this was tolerated it would be
looked on as a sign of spiritual decav. [Actors.]
[E. H. P.]
CHILDREN, COMMUNION OF [Infant
Communion.]
CHIONIA, martyr at Thessalonica, under
Diocletian, April 1 (Mart. Hieron., Bedae) ;
April 3 (Mart. Usuardi) ; April 5 (Mart. Hieron.) ;
April 16 (Cal. Byzant). [C]
CHIROTHECAE. [Gloves.]
CHLODOALD, presbyter and confessor, is
commemorated Sept. 7 (Mart. Bedae, Usuardi).
[C]
CHOIR, ARCHITECTURAL (Chorus, Suggestus ;
"Afxfiaiv). Every complete church consists of at
least three parts ; bema (or presbytery), choir,
and nave. The bema, entered in ancient times
by none but the clergy, was devoted to the cele-
bration of the holy mysteries ; the choir was for
the " clerks," in the widest sense of the word ;
the nave for the general body of the faithful.
The bema corresponds to the space east of the
altar-rails (called the sanctuary or presbytery)
in an ordinary English church, and the choir to
the remaining portion of the chancel. In mo-
nastic churches the choir is the place where the
CHOIR
brethren assemble to say the ordinary daily
offices.
It is extremely difficult to determine the
antiquity of the division between sanctuary and
choir. Most of the passages of ancient authors
bearing upon the matter give the impression that
the rail or screen [Cancellt] separated the
whole space devoted to the clergy from that
devoted to the people, and that there was no
' chorus ' distinct from the sanctuary. It is, in
fiict, probable that Honorius of Autun (^Geinrna
Animae, i. 140) is right in saying '• olim in modum
coronae circa aras cantantes stabant." though
his etymology is wrong. The canon of the fourth
council of Toledo, in the 7th century, quoted
below, is perhaps the earliest instance in which
the threefold division, sanctuary, choir, and nave,
is clearly recognised. The remains of ancient
churches give us but little information on this
point, as screens are the most destr\ictible and
changeable portions. When we do meet with
authentic testimony as to the arrangements of
churches, we find generally that the whole of the
eastern apse was occupied by the sanctuary,
which was screened off from the rest of the
church, while the choir was a raised space im-
mediately west of the screen of the sanctuary
[Church, p. 375]. Whether the Greek Soleas
was identical with this raised space or suggestus
is doubtful.
The description of a chui-ch in the Apostolical
Constitutions (ii. 57) implies that bishop, pres-
byters, and deacons occupied the space at the
east end of the church, which was set apart for
them, but does not mention any barrier between
clerks and people. We find however such a
barrier existing in the 4th century, when the
laity were forbidden to enter the enclosure set
apart for the altar and the clergy. This appears
from the fact that St. Ambrose deprived the
emperors of the exceptional right which they
had enjoyed of passing within the screen [Can-
CELLi]. See Sozomen, Hist. Ecd. vii. 25 ; Theo-
doret, H. E. v. 18. To this the emperors sub-
mitted ; and the edict of Theodosius the younger
and Valentinian lays down that the emperors are
to approach the altar only for the purpose of
making their ofiering, and to withdraw imme-
diately. In accordance with this the TruUan
council (canon 69), while forbidding the laity
generally to enter the sanctuary {lephv QvffiaffTrr
piov), expressly permits the emperors to enter for
the purpose of offering their gifts, " according to
very ancient custom." This privilege Tarasius,
patriarch of Constantinople (f 806), threatened
to withdraw from Constantine VI. if he con-
tracted the marriage which he was meditating
(^Life by Ignatius, in Acta SS. Feb. iii. p. 584).
The same privilege which was granted to empe-
rors seems in ancient times to have been conceded
to unordained monks (Jerome, Ad Ileliodorum).
The 4th canon of the second council of Tours
(a.D. 567) forbids the lay people to stand among
the clergy, whether at vigils or at mass, and re-
serves all that portion of the church which is on
the altar-side of the screen for the clerks engaged
in the service (choris psallentium clericorum) ;
yet the sanctuary (sancta sanctorum) was to bo
open for the purpose of praying and communi-
cating both to laymen and to women [Com-
munion]. The same canon was repeated in
effect by the council of Autun in the year 672.
CHRIST. ANT.
CHOEEPISCOPUS
35.^
So too a Capitulary of the year 744 (art. 9, ed.
Baluz.) forbids the laity to be within the screen
in time of divine service, whether mass or vigil.
So the council of Rome under Eugenius 11.,
canon 33.
The liberty which in Gaul was given to lay
people, of entering the choir to communicate,
does not seem to have been given in Africa.
St. Augustine (Serm. 392) speaks of the screen
(cancelli) as the place where laymen ordinarily
communicated ; neophytes, however, seem to have
drawn near the altar for their first communion
(Serm. 224). In Spain the fourth council of To-
ledo (can. 18) of the year 633 enjoins the [minis-
tering] priest and deacon to communicate before
the altar, the rest of clerks in the choir, the
people outside the choir.
Women were generally not permitted to enter
the choir (Cone. Laodic. c. 44), unless for the
purpose of communicating. And although nuns
were probably excepted in ancient times (Augus-
tine, Epist. iii.), their exclusion seems in the 9th
century to have been general, at least in Gaul
(Theodulf of Orleans, Capitulare, c. 6). Ahito,
bishop of Basle in the early part of the 9th century
{Capitulare, c. 16), ordains that no woman should
approach the altar; and that when the altar-
cloths required washing, they should be taken off
by the clerks, and handed to the women at the
door of the screen. The presbyters were also to
receive the women's offerings outside the screen.
(Ducange's Glossary, s. v. Chorus; Martene, De
Ritibiis Antiquis, i. 123 ff.) [C]
CHOIR OF SINGERS. (Chorus Cantor-
urn.) St. Augustine (on Fs, 149) saj's, " Chorus
quid significet, multi norunt . . . chorus est con-
sessio cantantium." Isidore of Sevile gives the
definition, " chorus est multitudo in sacris col-
lecta, et dictus chorus quod initio in modum
coronae circum aras starent et ita psallerent."
This etymology is undoubtedly false, but the
statement upon which it is founded is by no
means improbable. Whether it be true or not,
that in the earliest ages the choir was grouped
round the altar, we know that at a comparativelv
early period the choir had a space assigned to it
in a church, [Choir, Architectural,] distinct
from the Sanctuary, which contained the altai-.
"The choirs of our time," says Amalarius (da
Div. Off. iii. 4), early in the 9th century, "are
clothed in linen (linum)," and he distinguishes
between this and the finer vestment of byssus
which the singers wore under the Old Dispensa-
tion (2 Chron. v. 12). Compare Schola Can-
TORUM. [C]
CHOREPISCOPUS (XcopeTrfrr/coTTos) =
country bishop, vicarius episcopi (Cone. Ancijr.,
Neo-Caesar., Antioch., &c., Isid. Hispal. De Offic.
Eccl. ii. 6, &c.), villanus episcopus (Capit. Car. M.
vii. 187), vicanus episcopus (Hincmai-), as opposed
to the cathedralis episcopus (Du Cange) ; — to
be distinguished, as being stationary, from the
TrepioSeuTTjx or visitator, who itinerated, although
the two became often confounded together : — a
class of ministers between bishops proper and
presbyters, defined in the Arabic version of the
Nicene Canons to be " loco episcopi super villas
et monasteria et sacerdotes villarum ;" called
into existence in the latter part of the 3rd cen-
tury, and first in Asia Minor, in order to meet
the want of episcopal supervision in the country
2 A
354
CHOREPISCOPUS
parts of the now enlarged dioceses without sub-
division : — first mentioned in the Councils of
Ancyra and Neo-Caesarea, A.D. 314, and again in
the Council of Nice (which is subscribed by fifteen,
all from Asia Minor or Syria) ; sufficiently im-
portant to require restriction by the time of the
Council of Antioch, A.D. 341 ; and continuing
to exist in the East until at least the 9th cen-
tury, when they were supplanted by e|apx<"
[ExARCHi] : — first mentioned in the West in the
Council of Puez, A.D. 439 (the Epistles of Pope
Damasus I. and of Leo M. respecting them being
forgeries), and continuing there (but not in
Africa, principally in France) until about the
10th century, after which the name occurs (in a
decree of Pope Damasus II. ap. Sigeb. in mi. 1048)
as equivalent to archdeacon, an office from which
the Arabic Nicene canons e.xpressly distinguish it.
The functions of chorepiscopi, as well as their
name, were of an episcopal, not of a presbyterial
kind, although limited to minor offices. They
overlooked the country district committed to
them, " loco episcopi," ordaining readers, exorcists,
subdeacons, but, as a rule, not deacons or pres-
byters (and of course not bishops), unless by
express permission of their diocesan bishop. They
confirmed in their own districts, and (in Gaul) are
mentioned as consecrating churches (Du Cange).
Thev granted elpriviKol, or letters dimissory,
which country presbyters were forbidden to do.
They had also the honorary privilege (jt^ici-
/xfuot) of assisting at the celebi-ation of the Holy
Eucharist in the mother city church, which
country presbyters had not. {Cone. Ancyr. can.
xiii. ;» Neo-Caesar. can. xiv. ; Antioch. can. x. ;
St. Basil, M. Epist 181 ; Rab. Maur. Be Inst it.
Cler. i. 5 ; &c. &c.) They were held therefore to
have the power of ordination, but to lack juris-
diction, save subordinately. And the actual ordi-
nation of a presbyter by Timotheus, a chorepi-
SGoptts, is recorded (Pallad. Hist. Lausiac. 106).
The office also offered an opportunity for a com-
promise in cases of schism, of which the Nicene
Council availed itself, by authorising a Catholic
bishop (among other alternatives) to find a place
as chorepiscopus for any reconciled Novatian
bishop {Cone. Nic. can. viii.). And the same
council {Epist. Syn. in Socrat. i. 9) places recon-
ciled Meletian bishops also in a somewhat similar
position, although not calling it by the name
itself. It was found also a convenient mode of dis-
posing of " vacant " bishops, when such occurred.
The office continued to exist among the later
Eastern sects also: so. among the Jacobite
Syrians, where the chorepiscopus proper, who
presided over a rural district, is distinguished,
both from a titular chorepiscopus, more properly
arehipresbyter or proto-pope, who was a kind of
leading presbyter in the episcopal city, and from
the irepioSeuT^s or visitator, who went circuit ;
and among the Nestorians, where also both chor-
episcopus and irepioSeuTTjs existed, as distinct
classes (Denzinger, Rit. Orient. Proleg. 116, sq. ;
and see also the Arabic version of the Nicene
canons, cans. 58 to 70). In both these bodies
the chorepiscopi were presbyters. And in one
ntual they are appointed without imposition of
hands (Denzing. ib.). In the West, i. e. chiefiy
m Gaul, the order appears to have prevailed
• For the meaning of this canon and its various read-
ings, see Routh, Reliq. Scu:. iij. 430-439.
CHOREPISCOPUS
more widely, to have usurped episcopal functions
without due subordination to the diocesans, and
to have been also taken advantage of by idle or
worldly diocesans. In consequence it seems to
have aroused a strong feeling of hostility, which i
shewed itself, first in a series of papal bulls, '
condemning them ; headed, it is true, by two \
forged letters respectively of Damasus I. and
Leo M. (of which the latter is merely an inter-
polated version of Cone. Hispal. II. a.d. 619,
can. 7, adding chorepiscopi to presbyteri, of which
latter the council really treats), but continuing in
a more genuine form, from Leo III. down to Pope
Nicholas I. (to Rodolph, Archbishop of Bourges,
A.D. 864); the last of whom, however, takes ,
the more moderate line of affirming chorepiscopi \
to be really bishops, and consequently refusing i
to annul their ordinations of presbyters and
deacons (as previous popes had done), but orders
them to keep within canonical limits ; — and
secondly, in a series of conciliar decrees, — Cone. '
Ratispon. A.D. 800, in Capit. tit. iv. c. 1, Paris.
A.D. 829, lib. i. c. 27, Meld. a.d. 845, can. 44. i
Metens. a.d. 888, can. 8, and Capitul. v. 168^ '
vi. 119, viL 187, 310, 323, 324,— annulling all '
episcopal acts of chorepiscopi, and ordering them
to be repeated by " true " bishops ; and finally
forbidding all further appointments of chorepi-
scopi at all. The title however lingered on for i
some centuries, in France and Germany, as applied ,
to various cathedral dignitaries in particular '
cathedrals, but in senses wholly irrelevant to its I
original and proper meaning (see instances in '
Du Cange).
That chorepiscopi as such — i.e. omitting the
cases of reconciled or vacant bishops above men- \
tioned, of whose episcopate of course no question '
is made — were at fii-st truly bishops, both in '
East and West, appears almost certain, both from "
their name and functions, and even from the ,
arguments of their strong opponents just spoken \
of. If nothing moi-e could be urged against them, ;
than that the Council of Neo-Caesarea compared
them to the 70 disciples, — that the Council of ,
Antioch authorises their consecration by a single \
bishop, and that they actually were so conse- ]
crated (the Antiochene decree might mean merely I
nomination by the word yivecrOat, but the actual I
history seems to rule the term to intend con-
secration, and the [one] exceptional case of a '
chorepiscopus recorded [Actt. Episc. Cenoman. '■
ap. Du Cange] in late times to have been or- ^
dained by three bishops [in order that he might 1
be a full bishop], merely proves the general rule i
to the contrary), — and that they were conse- j
crated for " villages," contrary to canon, — then
they certainly were bishops. And Pope Nicholas •
expressly says that they were so. Undoubtedly ;!
they ceased to be so in the East, and were prac- ■'
tically merged in archdeacons in the West. And
the non-episcopal nature of the functions to "j
which they came to be limited would naturally jj
lead to such a result. The language of the "i
canons and of the Fathers {e.g. St. Basil. M.
above quoted, or again St. Athanasius [Apol. ii.
0pp. i. 200], who distinguishes them both from
bishops proper and from presbyters, and again
both from city and from country presbyters),
naturally implies that at first they were bishops
in the common sense of the word. The special
rites in the East for their appointment probably
belong to a time when they had undoubtedly
CHOEISTER
there sunk down iiito presbyters. It ought to
be said, however, that authorities are divided
upon the question : English writers mainly (Be-
veridge, Hammond, Cave, Bingham, Routh, to
whom may be added the weighty authority of
Van Espen) asserting their episcopal character,
while others (see a list in Bing. II. xiv. 2, 3,
to which may be added Morinus and Du Cange)
allege them to have been presbyters. It need
hardly be said that they are not identical with
either coadjutors or suffragans, properly so called :
although they do bear a close resemblance to
such bishops as, e. g. the Bishop of Dover in pi-e-
Eeformation times in England, and to the sundry
Irish and foreign and other stray bishops, who
are found so numerously doing the work of
English bishops for them in the i2th to the 16th
centuries, and to the suffragans as intended by
Henry VIII., and now actually revived in England.
(Bellarm. De Clericis, c. 17 ; Cellot. De Hierarch.
iv. 14 ; Morinus, De Sac. Ord. and Dissert. ; De
Marca, De Concord., cj-c. ii. 13 ; Du Cange ; Suicer ;
Bingham ; Van Espen.) [A. W. H.]
CHORISTER. [Cantor.]
CHRESTIANI. A heathen variation of the
name Christiani. Instead of Kpiarhs, the more
classical word, Xpy\<nhs, gracious or good, was
commonly supposed to have been the name or title
by which Jesus of Nazareth was distinguished,
and his followers therefore were called Chrestiani.
The mistake is noticed by Justin Martyr, Tei--
tullian, Lactantius, and others, but the name
having a good signification, they do not wholly
reject it. Tertullian however remonstrates with
the enemies of the faith for prosecuting Chris-
tians merely for their name, a name which, ac-
cording to either derivation, ought to command
admiration rather than hatred. " Christianus,
quantiim interpretatio est, de unctione deducitur.
Sed et cum perperam Chrestianus pronunciatur
a vobis (nam nee nominis certa est notitia penes
vos) de suavitate vel benignitate compositum est.
Oditur ergo in hominibus innocuis etiam nomen
innocuum " (Tertul. Apol. c. 3 ; Bingham, I.
i. 11). [D. B.]
CHRISM. (Uipav, Xpifffia; Chrisma. The
latter word is sometimes feminine: "miscitat
ipsam chrismam," Ordo Rom. I. c. 42.) The
sacred oil or unguent used in the ceremony of
baptism. The term is also used so as to include
the oil blessed for the unction of catechumens and
of the sick.
St. Basil {DeSpiritu 8. c. 66 [al. 27]) mentions
the blessing of the oil of anointing for use in
baptism as one of the observances derived from
the earliest times by unwritten tradition. The
earliest? extant testimonies to its use, whether in
baptism or in other ceremonies of the church,
are the following.
Tertullian {De Baptismo, c. 7) says, "next,
coming forth from the baptismal font, we are
anointed with oil blessed according to the pri-
mitive ordinances, in accordance with which men
were anointed with oil from the horn as a con-
secration for the priesthood." He seems to
regard the anointing with oil as a symbol of the
universal priesthood of Christians.
St. Cyprian {Epist. 70, c. 2, p. 768, ed. Hartel)
speaks of the oil sanctified on the altar, with
which the baptized are anointed [Baptism] ; and
CHRISM
355
this oil, he says, the heretics who had no true
altar could not have.
In the Apostolical Constitutions (vii. 43, § 3,
and 44, § 1) the direction is given, immediately
after baptism, " let the ministrant anoint the
person baptized with unguent (fxvpcc), sayinr
over it, ' Lord God . . grant that this unguent
may so effectually work upon him that is bap-
tized that the sweet savour of Thy Christ may
abide in him fixed and firm." In this case, the
unguent was evidently perfumed. There is
nothing in the passage to suggest that it had
undergone any previous consecration.
Gregory of Nazianzus {Orat. 48, in Julian.)
speaks of oil sanctified or consecrated on the
spiritual and divine Table; Optatus of Milevis
(C. Donatist. vii. p. 102) says that this ointment
is compounded (conditur) in the name of Christ ;
and the Pseudo-Dionysius {De Hierarch. Ecclcs.
c. 4) mentions the use of the sign of the cross in
the consecration of it.
The privilege of consecrating chrism was in
comparatively early times strictly confined to
the episcopal order. The twentieth canon of the
first council of Toledo (a.D. 398) censures those
presbyters who ventured to prepare chrism for
themselves, and desires them to send a deacon or
subdeacon to fetch the chrism from the bishop,
so as to be in time for the festivities of Easter
Day. To the same effect writes Bishop Montauus
to the clergy of Palencia and to Theoribius
(Hardouin's Concilia, ii. 1143).
The greater quantity of chrism was probably
at this time consecrated immediately before
Easter, but it does not appear that the con-
secration was as yet limited to a particular day ;
on the contrary, the canon above cited expressly
lays it down that the bishop might consecrate
chrism at any time. But in the 5th century it
became an established custom to consecrate the
chrism and oil for use throughout the year on
Maundy Thursday. Pope Leo complains in a
letter to his namesake, the Emperor of the I^ast
{Epist. 156, p. 1324), that in consequence of the
murder of Proterius, bishop of Alexandria, the
oblation was prevented and no chrism was con-
secrated. Eligius of Noyon (f 658), preaching
on Maundy Thursday (Hom. 10 in, Coena Dom.
p. 245, Bihlioth. Pair. Colon.) speaks of chrism
being consecrated on that day throughout the
Christian world. In the empire the consecration
on Maundy Thursday was enjoined by a capitulary
of Charles the Great {Concil. Germanixe, i. 842) ;
yet at a somewhat later date the custom had
probably not become universal ; for a synod of
Meaux of the year 845 forbade (canon 46) the
preparation of chrism on any other day, as if such
preparation was even then not quite unknown.
The Gelasian Saci'amentary has a Missa Chris-
malis on Maundy Thursday, referring to the
consecration both of chrism and of oil for the
unction of the sick (Migne's Patrol. Ixxiv.
p. 1099). The Gregorian Sacramentary has also
on the same day full directions for the con-
secration of oil and chrism in the mass (pp. 66-
69); the ce-remony consists of benediction, and
breathing on the prepared unguent [Ampulla].
With this may be compared the directions of the
Ordo Rom. I. (App. c. 7, p. 34), which are pro-
bably of about the same age. Some of the later
Ordines (see 0. R. X. pp. 97, ff. ; XV. pp. 480 f.)
also give dii-ections for the benediction of chrism
2 A 2
356
CHRISMAL
by the pope on Maundy Thursday. It appears
from the Urdo last referred to that it was at one
time customary for the pope to bless chrism only
in the year of his coronation, and every seventh
year afterwards.
It appears from the Euchologion that in the
Greek Church also the blessing of chrism is one
of the ceremonies of Maundy Thursday.
The chrism is not simple oil, but oil mixed
with balsam. Eligius of Noyon {Horn. 8, In
Coena Dom.) tells us that the mingling of balsam
with the oil typifies the union of regal and
sacerdotal glory. Compare Tertullian (De Bapt.
7), cited above. And Gregory the Great (/«
Cantic. i. 13) refers the balsam of Engaddi to
that balsam which, mixed with oil and blessed
by the bishop, makes chrism, typifying the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. For the Eastern Church,
the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite testifies
{Hierarch. Ecd. c. 4) that the sacred unguent
{ixvpov) or chrism is composed of fragrant sub-
stances. The modern receipt for its composition
(as given in the Euchologion) prescribes, in fact,
besides oil and wine, thirty-six different kinds of
aromatics.
For the principal uses of chrism, see Baptism,
Confirmation, Ordination. [C]
CHRISMAL (Chrlsmale). (1) The vessel or
flask in which the consecrated oil or Chrism
was contained [Ampulla].
(2) A vessel for the reservation of the conse-
crated Host. In the Rheims MS. of the Gregorian
Sacramentarii (p. 432, ed. Menard) is given a
" Praefatio Chrismalis," while the Ordo liomanus
in the corresponding place has the rubric, " Prae-
fatio vasculi in quo Eucharistia reconditur." It
is of this kind of chrismal that Egbert {Penit.
xii. 6 ; in Haddan and Stubbs' Councils, iii. 428)
and Halitgar {Penit. c. 10, p. 701, Migne) speak,
as of a vessel which the priest carried with
him and might lose. Some, however, take this
chrismal for the Corporal.
(3) A cloth used to cover relics. In the Life
of Eligius, attributed to St. Ouen (ii. 71), we
read of a miracle wrought upon one who rubbed
his face with the fringe of a chrismal which
covered the relics of the saint.
(4) Old-English Chrisom. The white cloth laid
over the head of one newly baptized, after the
unction with chrism [Baptism, p. 163]. This
cloth is called in Theodore's Poenitential (ii. iv.
7 ; Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 193) " pannus cris-
matis ;" in later authors, " vestis chrismalis,"
" chrismalis pannus," " mitra baptizatorum,"
" chrismale capitum." (Ducange, s. v.) [C]
CHRISMAEIUM. The vessel in which
chrism is kept (Council of Auxerre, c. 6). , It is
sometimes however taken for a reliquary (Gre-
gory of Tours, De Mirac. S. Martini, iv. 32 ;
t ortunatus. Vita Gennani Paris, c. 47). [C]
CHRISOM. [Chrismal.]
CHRIST, PICTURES OF. [Jesus Christ
IN Art.] ^
CHRISTEMPOREIA, Xptar,^^opda-the
selling ot Christ— a name sometimes employed
111 the 5th century to signify simony. Durin<r
tlie ages of persecution there was no place for
simoniacal transactions : but when the higher
ofhces of the Church brought wealth and dio-nitv
CHRISTMAS
to their possessors, there were not wanting am-
bitious and worldly men who sought to obtain
such offices by bribery or other unworthy means.
To check and prevent such discreditable prac-
tices, severe laws were enacted both in church and
state as early as the 5th century. The Council
of Chalcedon (c. 2) decreed that if any bishop
gave ordination or an ecclesiastical office or pre-
ferment of any kind for money, he himself should
lose his office and the party so preferred be de-
posed. Other like decrees occur in the so-called
Apostolical Canons (c. 29), the Council of Con-
stantinople under Gennadius, a.D. 459; the 2nd
Council of Orleans, Bracara, and many others.
The imperial laws also were no less stringent in
regard to this abuse. E.g. it was enacted by one
of Justinian's Novels (123, c. 1), that whenever a
bishop was to be chosen, the electors should take
an oath and insert it in the election paper that
they did not choose him for any gift or promise
or friendship, or any other cause, but only be-
cause they knew him to be a man of the true
Catholic faith and of unblamable life and good
learning. And in another law (Novel 137, c. 2)
it is further provided that the party elected
shall also at the time of his ordination, take an
oath upon the holy Gospels that he neither gave
nor promised by himself or other, nor hereafter
will give to his ordainer or to his electors, or
any other person, anything to procure him au
ordination. And for any bishop to ordain another
without observing the rule prescribed, is depo-
sition, by the same law, both for himself and the
person so ordained.
These were some of the securities required by
the ancient Church against the practice which
they stigmatized by the designation of Christem-
poreia (Bingham, iv. 3, 4). [D, B.]
CHRISTENING. [Baptism.]
CHRISTIACUM CONCILIUM. [Cressy.]
CHRISTIANA, or CHRISTINA, virgin,
IxfyaAo/xdpTvs, martyr at Tyrus in Italy (?)
A.D. 200, is commemorated July 24 {Mart. Bedae,
Itom. Vet., Usuardi, Cal. Byzant.).
CHRISTMAS (Festival of) (^Mf>« 7^-
veBXios, TO. yiviOXia, Natalis, Natalitia, Na-
tivitas, Domini, &c. From the latter is derived
the name of the day among peoples of the Latin
race [e.g. the French Aoe/], and also among the
Celtic nations, which were Christianized by
Latin-speaking missionaries. In Germany the
day is called the Weiknachtsfest from the solemn
vigils which preceded the festival itself. The
English Christinas [so the Dutch Kerstmisse,
Kersmis, whence Kerst-maend, a name for De-
cember], analogous to such forms as Candlemas,
Lammas, Michaelmas, Childermas, superseded
the older name Yule [Anglo-Saxon, Geol"], by
which the day is still known among the Scan-
dinavian nations).
I. Origin of Festival.
It is not hard to understand why the Christian
Church should have commemorated by an annual
festival the Saviour's Incarnation. How far,
however, the church was led by the possession
of actual historical evidence to assign, as it has
done, December 25 as the date of the Nativity, is
a matter on which it is impossible to speak
CHRISTMAS
otherwise than most doubtfully." On the one
hand, due weight must be given to the una-
nimous agreement of the Western Church as far
as the tradition can be traced back, and to the
almost universal acceptance of this view by the
Eastern Church at an early date. It is- certainly
not altogether impossible that there may have
been some trustworthy tradition, some founda-
tion for Tertullian's remark as to the archives of
the Jews stored up at Rome, some slight sub-
stratum of truth underlying the legend as to the
investigation of the day by Julius I. (vide infra).
Further, sundry independent considerations,
astronomical and otherwise, tend to make it
probable that our Lord's birth took place near
the end of the year. On this point reference
may be made to Seyffiirth's Chronologia Sacra,
which refers the Nativity to December 22 (p.
239), see also Ideler, Chronologic, vol. ii. pp. 385
sqq. On the other hand, some have argued on
various grounds in favour of the greater pro-
bability of the Nativity having been in the
autumn. Thus Lightfoot (Horae Hehraicae et
TaliHudicae, vol. ii. p. 32, ed. Gandell) would
make it coincide with the Jewish Feast of Taber-
nacles, and associate it with that Festival in the
same way in which the Passover and Easter,
Pentecost and Whitsuntide correspond. His
arguments mainly turn on the' interpretation of
Old Testament prophecies ; e.g. our Lord died in
Nisan, and if His ministry lasted three years and
a half, as Lightfoot infers from Daniel ix. 27,
then since our Lord at the beginning of His
ministry was erciv rpiaKovTa apxo/^et'os (Luke
iii. 23), we have, reckoning back from His death,
Tisri or September for the season of His birth.
Again, he infers from a comparison of Zechariah
xiv. 16, 17, that it would be most improbable
that the Feast of Tabernacles alone of the three
great Jewish festivals should fail of the honour
by which the Passover became exalted into Easter,
and Pentecost into Whitsuntide. To decide the
matter thus, however, in the absence of anymore
tangible historical evidence, is obviously unsafe.
To the same end but on diiferent grounds argues
Jablonsky {Dissertationes ii. dc origine Festi
Nativitatis Christi in Ecclesia Christiana quo-
tannis stato die cclehrari solita, in his Opuscula,
vol. iii. pp. 317 sqq. Amsterdam 1809. See also
Mimtev, Der Stern der TTei'sen, p. 110, Copenhagen
1827), maintaining for example that St. Luke's
statement (ii. 8), of the shepherds keeping watch
over their flecks by night would hardly have
been possible on the assumption of the December
date, seeing that it would then have been the
rainy season, and the flocks would therefore have
been under shelter. A further discussion, how-
ever, on this point rather belongs to the province
of Biblical Chronology.
JIany learned men have seen in the particular
period at which we celebrate Christmas, evidence
m favour of our viewing the Christian festival
as an adaptation of previously existing Jewish or
heathen festivals ; to the more striking views of
this kind we shall now briefly refer.
CHRISTMAS
357
a Even in very early limes the great uncertainty of the
matter was cleiuly felt. Tims Jacob, bishop of Edessa
(ub. 5V8 A.D.), is quoted by Dionysius Bar-Salibi as saying,
" No one knows exactly the day of the nativity of the
Lord : this only is ceitain, from what Luke writes, that
He was born in the night" (Asscmaiii, Blhl. Or. vol. ii.
p. 163).
(a) Some, as Oldermann (Defesto Encaeniorum
Judaico, origine festi Nativitatis Christi, 1715)
have viewed Christmas as a continuation and
development of the Jewish Feast of the Dedica-
tion, a festival of eight days' duration beginning
on Cisleu 25 (= December 17), which was the
anniversary of the purification of the temple by
Judas Maccabaeus after the outrages of Antiochus
Epiphanes (see 1 Mace. iv. 52-59 ; 2 Mace. x.
1-8 ; Josephus, Antiq. xii. 7, 6). Still while
there seem to be several coincidences between the
two feasts, such a transference from Judaism to
Christianity of which no hint whatever is given
in early times is exceedingly unlikely.
(yS) Others have derived it from some one or
other of the Roman festivals held in the latter
part of December, as the Saturnalia, or the Sijil-
laria which followed them, or the Juvenalia
established by Nero. A more striking parallel,
however, than any of these is to be found in the
Bruinalia, or the Natalis Invicti [Soils'], when
the Sun, then at the winter solstice, was, as it
were, born anew, even as Christ the Sun of
Righteousness then dawned upon the world.
This is the view of Wernsdorf, De origine Sollem-
nium Natalis Christi e.c festivitate Natalis Iniirti.
Wittenberg 1757 ; of Jablonsky partly [supra];
also of Mr. King (^Gnostics and their Remains,
p. 49), who derives the Roman festival from the
Mithras-worship of the Sun. Then as Mith-
raicism gradually blended with Christianity,
changing its name but not altogether its sub-
stance, many of its ancient notions and rites
passed over too, and the Birthday of the Sun,
the visible manifestation of Mithras himself, was
transferred to the commemoration of the Birth
of Christ. Numerous illustrations of the above
remarks maj' be found in ancient inscriptions,
e.g. SOLI I'NVICTO ET LUNAE AETERNAE
C. VETTI GERMANI LIB. DUO PARATL'S ET
HERMES DEDERUNT, or HAin MI0PA ANI-
KHTXl (Gruter, Inscriptiones Antiq'oae, p. xxxiii.)
In the legend on the reverse of the copper coins
of Constantine, SOLI INVICTO COMITI, re-
tained long after his conversion, there is at once
an idea of the ancient Sun-God, and of the new
Sun of Righteousness. The supporters of this
theory cite various passages from early Christian
writers indicating a recognition of this view.
The sermon of Ambrose, quoted by Jablonsky, is
certainly spurious, and is so marked in the best
editions of his works ; it furnishes, however, an
interesting illustration of an early date. The
passage runs thus, " Bene quodammodo sanctum
hunc diem Natalis Domini Solcm novum vulgus
appellat, et tanta sui auctoritate id confirniat,
ut Judaei etiam atque Gentiles in banc vocem
consentiant. Quod libenter amplectandum nobis
est, quia oriente Salvatore, non solum humani
generis salus, sed etiam solis ipsius claritas in-
novatur" {Serin. 6, in Appendice p. 397, ed.
Bened.). In the Latin editions of Chrysostom is
a homily, wrongly ascribed to him, but probably
written not long after his time, in which we read,
" Sed et Invicti Natalem appellant. Quis utique
tam invictus nisi Dominus noster, qui mortem
subactam devicit ? Vel quod dicunt Solis esse
Natalem, ipse est Sol Justiliae, de quo Malachias
propheta dixit, Orietur vobis timentibus nomen
ipsius Sol Justitiae et sanitas est in penuis ejus "
(Serino de Nativitate S. Joannis Baptistao •
voL ii. 1113, ed. Paris, 1570). Leo the Great
358
CHRISTMAS
linds foult with the baneful persuasion of some
"quibus haec dies solemnitatis nostrae, non tam
de Nativitate Christi, quam de novi ut dicunt
soils ortu, honorabilis videtur" (Senn. 22, § 6,
vol. i. p. 72, ed. Ballerini). Again, the same
father observes, " Sed hanc adorandam in caelo
et in terra Nativitatem nullus nobis dies magis
quam hodiernus insinuat, et nova etiam in de-
mentis luce radiante, coram {al. totam) sensibus
uostris mirabilis sacramenti ingerit claritatem "
I^Senn. 26, § 1, p. 87).
We may further cite one or two instances from
ancient Christian poets : Prudentius, in his hymn
Ad Natalein Domini, thus speaks (Cathemerinon
ii. iuit., p. 364, ed. Arevalus) : —
" Quid est, quod arctum ciiculum
Sol jam recurrens de^erit ?
Christusne terris nascitur
Qui lucis auget tramitem r "
Paulinus of Nola also {Poema xiv. 15-19, p. 382,
ed. Muratori) : —
" Nam post solstitium, quo Christus corpore nalus
Sole novo gelidae mutavit tempora brumae,
Atque salutiferum praestans mortalibus ortum,
Procedente die, secum decrescere noctes
Jussit."
Reference may also be made to an extract in
Assemani (Bibl. Or. ii. 163) from Dionysius Bar-
Salibi, bishop of Amida, which shows traces of a
similar feeling in the East; also to a passage
from an anonymous Syrian writer, who distinctly
refers the fixing of the day to the above cause ;
we are not disposed, however, to attach much
weight to this last passage. More important for
our purpose is the injunction of a council of Rome
(743 A.D.) " Ut nullus Kalendas Januarias et
broma ( = brumalia) colere praesumpserit " (can.
9, Labbe vi. 1548), which shows at any rate that
for a long time after the fall of heathenism,
many traces of heathen rites still remained. A
similar mention is found also in the proceedings
of the Quinisext Council (692 A.D.), ras outco
Xeyofiivas Ka\dvSas Kot to, KaXovfieva Bpov/xaKia
(can. 66, Labbe vi. 1170).
(7) Others have even derived Christmas from
the Northern festival (Fule) in December, in
honour of Freya (cf. Loccenius, Antiq. Sueo-Goth.
lib. i. c. 5, Holmiae, 1645 ; SchefFer, Upsalia
Antiqua, p. 296, Upsal, 1666).
(5) Jablonsky, while considering, as we have
said, that in the festival of the Natalis Invicti
is to be found the origin of the celebration of
our Lord's Nativity by the Roman Church, main-
tains (op. cit. pp. 361 sqq.) that the Christians
derived this festival primarily from the Basili-
dians. These, as we learn from a passage of
Clement of Alexandria cited at length below,
celebrated Christ's baptism as being His mani-
festation to the world on Tubi 11 ( = January 6),
and Jablonsky argues that this particular day
was suggested to them by the Egyptian festival
of the Inventio Osiridis or Festum Osiridis nati
or renati (cf. Juvenal viii. 29 ; Athenagoras,
Lecjatio, c. 22, p. 299, ed. Maranus), itself a com-
memoration of the renewed life of the sun from
year to year, which he thinks was celebrated on
that day. (On this last point, however, much
doubt exists. Wyttenbach, Animadversiones in
riutarchi Moralia ; De hide et Osiride, p. 366 F,
considers that if Plutarch's text is correct, the
i'estival took place in Athyr or November, and
CHRISTMAS I
Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, vol. ii. part 2, p.
262, would fix it in Choeac or December.) <
(e) Some writers have ai-gued that the Chris-
tian festival was not so much a transformation :
of a previously existing non-Christian one, as an 1
independent festival set up as a counter-cele- ,
bration at the same time with the heathen fes-
tival; this distinction, however, is rather ap- •
parent than real. Augusti, for example {Dcnk- \
wiirdigkeiten, vol. i. p. 226), sees in it a standing ;
protest against those sects which denied or ob- j
scured the great truth of the Incarnation, such !
as the Manichaeans, Gnostics, Priscillianists, and 1
the like. j
II. History of Festival.
We do not find in the earliest Christian times
uniformity of observance as to the day on which
our Lord's Nativity was commemorated. The
earliest allusion to it is made by Clement of
Alexandria, and is of so much importance that
we shall give it at length. After speaking of i
the year of our Lord's birth, he proceeds : " And :
there are some who over curiously (irepiep- 1
y6Tepov) assign not only the year but even the \
day of the birth of our Saviour, which they say !
was in the 28th year of Augustus, on the 25th ]
day of Pachon.b And the followers of Basilides .
celebrate also the day of His baptism {oi 5e otto !
B. Ka.\ Tov Pairriaixaros avTuv tt]v ijnepav kopra- ;
(overt), spending the night before in readings, ;
and they say that it was in the 15th year t)f >
Tiberius Caesar, on the 15th of the month Tubi, '.
but some say that it was on the 11th of the j
same month. . . . Further, some of them say J
that he was born on the 24th or 25th of Phar-
muthi." {Stromata, lib. i. c. 21, vol. i. p. 407, ed.
Potter). The two days here specified as those
on which the Nativity was celebrated, Pachon
25, ana Pharmuthi 24 or 25, are respectively
May 20, April 21 or 22 (see Bede, De temporum '
ratione, c. 11; Patrol, xc. 345). Jablonsky (op. j
cit.), and Le Nourry (In Clem. Alex, opp. Diss. ;
ii. art. 5) infer from the language of Clement
that Tubi 11 or 15 (January 6 or 10) was ob- ,
served by the followers of Basilides as the day j
of the baptism as well as. of the Nativity. We i
should venture to doubt this idea, but it is per- I
haps supported by the passage cited below from
Epiphanius. Gieseler also (Eirchengeschichte, [
vol. i. p. 154, ed. 3) considers the inference in-
correct. 1
We may probably assume the above-quoted ;
passage to be decisive against any general cele- ;
bration of the Nativity in Clement's time. _ Pos- ■'
sibly indeed, though as we have already said the -.
inference seems doubtful, he may refer to a cele- t
bration of the day by some of the sects of the j
time, since he speaks of the Basilidians " observ- j
ing also the day of the baptism." Further, it |
would seem as if Clement rather censured the fj
attempt to fix accurately the day of our Lord's j
birth, itself conclusive evidence against a general ^
recognition of the festival in Clement's time. 1
It was the general custom in early times, in -
the East, to fix the Nativity on January 6, which ,■
thus served as the anniversary both for the Birth k
b Ideler (op. cit. ii. 387 n.) suggests as a reason for this \
fixing of the day o;i the part of the Egyptians, that hear- -j
ing Christ was born in the 9 th month, they referred it to J
the 9 th month of their own calendar. i
CHRISTMAS
and the Epiphany. An illustration of this, not
however applying to an Oriental Church, may
perhaps be derived from the accounts of the visit
of Julian the Apostate, when at Vienne in Gaul,
to a church with the view of seeming in accord
with the religion of his soldiery. Ammianus
Marcellinus (lib. xxi. c. 2) speaks of this visit
as taking place on the Epiphany (" feriarum die
quem celebrantes mense Januario Christiani Epi-
phania dictitant "), and Zonaras (Annal. lib. xiii.
c. 11) on the Nativity (ttjs yev^QKiov crairripos
TjfMepas e(pe(rTT}Kvias). It is just possible, however,
that the references may be to difl'erent events.
To derive illustrations of the practice from
distinctly Eastern sources, we may refer in the
first place to a letter attributed to Cyril of Jeru-
salem, which professes to be addressed by him
to Julius, bishop of Rome, on this subject. This
letter, though a palpable forgery, affords inter-
esting evidence of the existence of the practice
of combining the two feasts on January 6. We
derive our knowledge of it from two sources :
(1) a summary of it given in a letter, De Nati-
ritate Domini, of John, bishop of Nicaea (end of
the 9th or beginning of the 10th century) to
Zacharias, Catholicos of Armenia Major (Combefis,
Haeresis Monothelit. pp. 298 sqq.) ; and (2) an
anonymous 'kvayKaia SiTjyrjffis, published by
Cotelier from a MS. in the Library of Paris {Pa-
tres Apostolici, i. 316, ed. 1724). The general
substance of these is to the effect that the bishop
of Jerusalem complained of the inconvenience of
celebrating the Nativity and the Epiphany on
the same day, seeing that as he went in person
to scenes commemorated by these events, Beth-
lehem and the Jordan, it was difficult to perform
both journeys in one day, and the services were
necessarily mutilated. He therefore requests in-
foi'mation as to the proper day of the Nativity,
adding that Titus carried away to Rome the
archives of the Jews from which the fact might
be cleared up. (For this point, cf Tertullian
contra Marcionem, lib. iv. c. 7.) The pope in
answer declares that he has examined the records
and finds that December 23 is the day on which
the Nativity should be held. The latter of the
two documents we have referred to adds that
this decision caused much murmuring- — "Now
at that time Gregory Theologus [Nazianzen]
was at Constantinople, and there arose no small
murmuring among the citizens, as though he had
been dividing the feast, and they said. Thou hast
divided the feast, and art casting us into idol-
atry." According to this document the name of
the bishop of Jerusalem in question was Juvenal,
a successor of Cyril (see Cyril. Hierosol. p. 370,
ed. Touttee)."
A possible allusion to this affair may be cited
CHRISTMAS
859
•= The \inhistoricaI character of these documents is
equally obvious whether we take Cyril or Juvenal : for
Julius was dead nearly a century before the time of the
latter. Again as for Cyril, the letter, according to Cotelier's
obvious correction, claims to be written not by tl)^ well-
known Cyril (" who wrote to Constantiiie " [leg. Con-
stantius] concerning the appearance of the luminous cross
over Jerusalem), but a later one in the time of Valerius,
mentioned by Epiphanius (^Haer. Ixvi. 20). This however
is impossible, for the end of the pontificate of Julius only
just overlaps that of Cyril. Kvcn if, in spite of the letter,
we refirred it to Cyril I., we are no better off, for it is
clear that the practice of celebrating the Nativity and the
Epiphany together continued in Jerusalem after his time.
from the Laudatio S. Siephani by Basil of Se-
leucia, who flourished at the time of the Council
of Ephesus (Patrol. Gr. Ixxxv. 469), who says of
Juvenal that he " began to celebrate the glorious
and adorable salvation-bringing Nativity of the
Lord," which not improbably means celebrated
as a distinct festival. Possibly the explanation
of the whole thing is that Juvenal initiated some
change in accordance with the Western practice,
which was then explained as a direct action of the
Roman See, and was finally associated with the
more famous name of Cyril,
To show that the change was not at once made
in Palestine, we may further appeal to the Latin
homily De Natimtate Domini, found in Latin edi-
tions of Chrysostom, which though not received
as a genuine writing of that Father, is assigned
by Touttee (op. cit. p. 369) to the 4th century
or the beginning of the 5th. The writer is con-
tending that the Western plan of dividing the
festiv^als is correct, and finds fault with Orientals
who clung to their old method on the ground
that they must know best in whose land our
Lord's earthly life was past (Chrysostom, vol. i.
p. 1116, ed. Paris, 1570).
Important testimony on this point may be de-
rived from Cosmas Indicopleustes {Topographia
Christiana, lib. v.; Patrol. Gr. Ixxxviii. 197),
who after referring to the message of the angel
to Zacharias and the visit of the Virgin to Eliza-
beth, says that Christians concur in celebrating
the Nativity in the ninth month, on Choeac 28
( = December 24), " but the people of Jerusalem,
as though from what the blessed Luke says
that Christ was baptized when ' beginning to be
about thirty years old,' celebrate the Nativity
on the Epiphany." He then appears to say that
the people of Jerusalem were right in supposing
that our Lord's baptism fell on the anniversary
of His birth, but that the Church had wisely
postponed the celebration of one of these events
for twelve days lest either festival should meet
with insufficient attention. Thus Jerusalem was
incorrect in taking the later day for the anni-
versary of the Nativity. "But the people of
Jerusalem alone by a reasonable conjecture, yet
not accurately, celebrate [the Nativity] on the
Epiphany, and on the Nativity they celebrate
the memory of David and of James the Apostle."
We further gather from the letter of John of
Nicaea already referred to (op. cit. 1141) that the
Church of Jerusalem appealed to the authority
of James, the Lord's brother, for their practice
of celebrating the Nativity on January 6. He
adds that in the time of Honorius the patriarchs
of Constantinople (Chrysostom), Alexandria, Je-
rusalem, and Antioch formally acquiesced in the
Western plan.
We shall now adduce evidence to show that the
practice of the Alexandrian Church agreed in this
matter with that of the Church of Jerusalem. In
his notes to his Latin translation of the Arabic Pre-
face, Canons and Constitutions of the Niceue Coun-
cil, Abraham Ecchelensis cites from the Constitu-
tions of the Alexandrian Church, " In die autem
Nativitatis et Epiphaniae eo tempore quo conci-
lium Nicaenum coactum fuit, praeceperunt ejus
patres ut noctu missa celebretur" (Labbeii. 402).
■* again (Collatio x. c. 2 ; Palrol. xlix.
d It would almost seem as though there were grounds
for believing the change to have taken place in Egypt by
360
CHRISTMAS
820) speaks of it as the custom in Egypt in his
day : " Intra Aegypti regionein inos iste antiqua
traditione servatur, ut peracto Epiphaniorum
die quem provinciae illius sacerdotes vel Domi-
nic! Baptismi, vel secundum carnem Nativitatis
esse definiunt, et idcirco utriusque sacramenti
solemnitatem non bifarie ut in occiduis pro-
vinciis, sed una diei hujus festivitate concele-
brant . . . ." (of. Isidore, De Eccl. Off. i. 27) ;
Gennadius (J)e Scriptoribus Uoclesiasticis, c. 58 ;
Patrol. Iviii. 1092) speaks of a certain Bishop
Timotheus who composed a book, not now extant,
on the Nativity of our Lord " quam credit in
Epiphania factam." Taken in conjunction with
what we have a;lready said of the Egyptian jtrac-
tice this may refer to Timotheus, bishop of Alex-
andria.
We next pass on to notice the evidence for the
practice of the Armenians in this matter. Euthy-
mius {Panoplia Dogmatica, tit. 23 ; Patrol. Gr.
cxxx. 1175) says of them : "These deny the birth
of Christ according to the flesh and the mystery
of the true Incarnation, saying that they took
place only in appearance ; nor do they celebrate
the Annunciation of the Mother of Go I on the
day that we celebrate it, that is on March 25,
as the inspired Fathers, the great Athanasius«
and John Chrysostom and those of their time
and after their time have handed it down to
us, but on January 5 ; in a very short time they
fancifully and obscurely pretend that they cele-
brate the Annunciation and the Nativity and
the Baptism of Christ, to the deceiving of the
uncorrupt and not according to truth." Similar
evidence is forthcoming from Nicephorus (Hist.
Ecdes. xviii. 53 ; Patrol. Gr. cxlvii. 440) : "They
deny also the Nativity of Christ according to the
flesh, and say that He was born only in appear-
ance ; and differing from us who observe them
separately, they extend the fast to the 15th
[doubtless for le' here we should read e'] day of
the month January, and celebrate together the
Annunciation and Nativity and Baptism." The
inquiry of the Armenian Catholicos Zacharias from
John of Nicaea, which called forth the letter of
the latter, is also evidence throwing a light upon
the matter in question.
We shall next cite from the answers of
John, bishop of Citrum, to Constantine Cabasilas,
archbishop of Dyrrachium (quoted by Cotelier,
Patres Apostolici, i. 316, ed. 1724, from MSS. in
the Library of Paris, though not given in the
printed editions, as Leunclavius, Jus Graeco-Ro-
manum, p. 323) : " We abolish the twelve days'
[fast] for the overthrowing of the fast of the Arme-
nians. For they fiist for these twelve days before
Epiphany, and so celebrate together on the fifth
of January the three feasts : I mean the Annun-
ciation and the Nativity and Baptism of Christ."
He proceeds to attribute this to the heresiarch
Ichanius, who held Docetic views.
Cotelier further quotes from a MS. in the same
Crtssian's time ; for in the heading of a homily by Paul,
bisliop of Emesa, delivered at Al-xandria before Cyril, we
find \ex^f 'o-a kB' XoiAic (= December 25) . . . el; Trji/ y^v-
VT):fiv ToO Kvpiov ri^Mv 'I.)(ro5 XpiaroO. (Cone. Eplies.
Par-; iii. c. 31 ; I.abbe, iii. 1095.)
« The writer here doubtless appeals to the Quaestiones
ad Antiochum Ouctm, 55 {Patrol. Gr. x.xvlii. 632), once
.ittnbuted to Athanaslus. but uoiversally acknowledged
now to be spurious.
CHRISTMAS
Library a form of renunciation to be gone through
by Armenian heretics on joining the Roman
Church. Among other things is, " If any one
does not celebrate on March 25 the Annunciation,
and on December 25 the Nativity of Christ,
let him be Anathema." He had previously (op.
cit. p. 238) printed from the same MS. an attack
on the Su(T<TeP^s OprjffKfia tSiv KaKicrruiv 'Ap,u€-
v'lcjiv, where we find : " And on January 5 in the
evening, they celebrate the feast of the Annun-
ciation. . . . And in the morning they celebrate
the Nativity of Christ, and in the Liturgy the
Holy Epiphany."
Finally, for the Armenian practice reference
may be made to two invectives (Koyoi arriKi-
TfvTiKoi) of Isaac, Catholicos of Armenia, in the
nth or 12th century (i. 3, ii. 10, Combefis, Haere-
sis Monothelit. pp. 333, 405). The modern Arme-
nian Church still retains this practice (Neale,
Holii Eastern Church, Introd. p. 741).
The Western Church, so far as we can trace
the matter back, seems to have kept the two
festivals of the Nativity and Epiphany always
distinct.' Jerome says unhesitatingly (Comm. in
E-ech. i.l,Yo\. v. 6, ed. Bened.): " Et dies
Epiphaniorum hucusque venerabilis est, non ut
quidam putant Natalis in came, tunc enim ab-
sconditus est, et non apparuit."
We may cite the very ancient Calendarium
Carthaginense (Patrol, xiii. 1227), which marks
December 25 thus: " viii. Kal. Jan. Domini
Nostri Jesu Christi Filii Dei," with a note of the
Epiphany on Jan. 6. We shall only cite here
from two other ancient calendars, that of Buche-
rius and the Leonine, which Muratori (De Rebus
Liturgicis, c. 4) refers approximately to the dates
355, 488 A.D. respectively. These severally
mark the day, "Natus Christus in Bethlehem
Judae," " Natale Domini " (I. c). Other Litur-
gical monuments will be treated of separately.
Evidence,, however, is forthcoming to show that
in the Roman Church the Epiphany was pro-
bably the older of the two festivals, and there-
fore in some respects the more important, for
the ancient Ordo JRomanus (In vigilia Theo-
phaniae, p. 21, ed. Hittorp, Cologne, 1568)
remarks : " Nee hoc praetereundum est, quod
secunda Nativitas Christi (i.e. the Epiphany), tot
illustrata mysteriis, honoratior sit quam prima
(i.e. Christmas)." Still this is after all only a
matter of relative importance, and the Nativity
is evidently accounted a festival of the highest
order in the Leonine Sacramentary, which is cer-
tainly older than the Ordo which Hittoi'p refers
to the time of Pepin and Charlemagne.
We shall now endeavour to show that the
change of the day to December 25, in accordance
with the Western plan, began to take place in
the East towards the end of the 4th centur}-.
The old way was that believed in by Ephrem
Syrus (ob. 378 A.D.), who is cited as saying, "On
the 10th day [of March] was His Conception,
and on the 6th day [of January] was His Na-
tivity " (Assemani, Bibl. Or. ii. 163). The
change, however, must have been gradual. For,
f It will be noticed that the AVestern Church marks
the Epiphany by a Greek name, and the Nativity by a
Latin name. It is a reasonable inference that the former
took its rise in the East, and was thence introduced into
the West ; while the latter as a separate festival was of
distinclly Western growth.
CHRISTMAS
to say nothing of Armenians, we find Epiphanlus
>saying {Haer. li. 24, vol. i. p. 446, ed. Petavius) :
" For since He was born in the month of January,
that is, viii. Id. Jan. which is according to the
Romans January 5, according to the Egyptians
Tubi 11, according to the Syrians or the Greeks
Audyneus 6, according to the Cyprians or Sala-
miaians the 5th of the 5th month, according to
the Paphians Julus 14, according to the Arabians
Aleom 21, according to the Cappadocians Atarta
13, according to the Hebrews Tibieth (Tebeth)
13, according to the Athenians Maemacterion 6
. . . ." It does not appear whether Epiphanius
means that all these nations celebrated the
Nativity on the day thus indicated : it is more
probable that he is merely giving the various
equivalents for the day in different systems of
reckoning. Indeed his mention of the Romans
is perhaps conclusive.
The most important piece of evidence, however,
iowards fixing the date of the change in the East
by which December 25 became recognized as the
day of the Nativity is to be found in a Homily
of Chrysostom, to the people of Antioch, ils rr/i'
•yiV(:Q\iov rifiepav rod Suirfipoj ^/ucov 'IrjcroS
XpiffTov (vol. ii. p. 354, ed. Montfaucon), which
Montfaucon (p. 352)8 gives strong reasons for
believing to have been delivered on December 25,
38G. After saying how earnestly he had wished
to see on the day of the Nativity a congregation
like that which was then met together, Chry-
sostom proceeds : " Nevertheless it is not yet the
tenth year since this day has been made manifest
and plain to us, still as though it had been handed
down to us from the beginning (avaidev) and
many years ago, it has flourished thus through
your zeal. And so a man would not err who
should call it at once new and ancient, — new,
in that it has recently been made known to us ;
but old and ancient, in that it has speedily won
an equality with older festivals " And as
plants of good stock speedily grow up and pro-
duce fruit, " so this day too, known from the
beginning to those who inhabit the West, but
brought to us not many years ago " The
change, however, at first meets with opposition.
*' I know well," he adds, " that many even yet
dispute with one another about it, some finding
fault with it and others defending it, ... . since
it is old and ancient, for the prophets already
foretold His birth, and from the beginning it has
been manifest and notable to the dwellers from
Thrace even to Gades." Again (§ 2) he refers
his hearers to the archives at Rome as a soui'ce
whence certain evidence on the point could be ob-
tained, and adds " from those who have an accurate
knowledge of these things and inhabit that city,
have we received this daj^. For they who dwell
there, observing it from the beginning and by old
tradition, themselves sent to us now the know-
ledge of it." Again (§ 5) after fixing April as
the time of the Annunciation, he arrives for the
Nativity at the month Apellaeus (December),
CHRISTMAS
361
e Montfaucon here cites Athanaaius (Frag. Comm. in
Matth. vol. i. p. 1025, ed. Benid. 1787) as speaking of
December 23 as the Nativity. But in the first place the
Benedictine editors had considerable doubt of the genuine-
ness of the fragment ("si non aperte spurium admodum
suspectum videtur, in quo sunt pleraque ij.vB<ahr)")\ and
in the next, it seems rather the deatli of Herod which is
indicated than the birth of our Lord.
" this present month, iu which we celebrate the
day."
From the above-quoted language of Chry-
sostom, we may notice ; (1) that about the year
386 A.D. the festival of the Nativity, as distinct
from and independent of the Epiphany, was a no-
velty of a few years' standing in the East ; (2) that
Chrysostom believed that the Western Church
had celebrated an independent festival " from
the beginning and by old tradition ;" (3) that the
change was met with opposition, and therefore
would be gradual.
Combining, then, Chrysostom's definite testi-
mony with the fact that Epiphanius had, perhaps
a little before this time, concurred with the old
Eastern view, and that at the time of the Council
of Ephesus the change was tacitly recognized at
Alexandria, we may fairly argue that except in
those parts of the Eastern Church where the old
plan was still continued (Jerusalem possibly and
Armenia certainly), the Western plan was being
gradually adopted in the period which we may
roughly define as the la.st quarter of the 4th and
the first quarter of the 5th century.
Whether before the time of Chrysostom any
part of the Eastern Church observed the Nativity
on December 25, it is difficult to say. The
date of the various parts of the Apostolic Con-
stitutions (see the Article) being so doubtful,
we shall merely cite from them a passage
bearing on this point : " Observe the days of
the festivals, brethren, and first the Nativity,
and let this be celebrated by you on the 25th
day of the ninth month. After this let the Epi-
phany be very greatly honoured in your eyes,
on which the Lord revealed to you His Own
Godhead ; and let this be held on the 6th day
of the tenth month " (v. 13 ; cf. also viii. 33,
where the two festivals are again distinguished).
Cotelier in his introduction {op. cit. p. 197) also
cites a passage found in some MSS. of Anastasius
which professes to be quoted from the Ajoostolio
Constitutions, in the present text of which, how-
ever, it is not found : " For our Lord Jesus Christ
was born of the Holy Virgin Mary in Bethlehem,
eV fjL7]v\ Kara AlyvrrTiovs XoiaK Ke' [probably a mis-
take for k6'. which = December 25] S>pa efiSofir)
TTjs Tjixipas % fffrlv irph oktoi KaAavSiiv 'lavova-
picuv."
The result of all this investigation then
is roughly this. In the case of the Eastern
Church there is no certain evidence pointing to a
general celebration of the Nativity on December
25 before the time of Chrysostom. Till then it
had been held on January 6 in conjunction with
the Epiphany, and even after this date some
churches of the East retained for some time
their old plan.
In the West we are told that the festival had
been recognized, and celebrated on December 25
" from the beginning." We are not able to produce
any very ancient witnesses from Western Fathers,
but may fairly assume that it had existed suffi-
ciently long for Chrysostom to be able to use
reasonably and without fear of contradiction
such a word as &ycc6ev. We have also called
attention to the recognition of it in ancient
calendars.
Since the time of Chrysostom, the Nativity has
been received by all Churches of Christendom as
one of their most important festivals. Thus, in
a sermon attributed to Gregory of Nyssa, but
362
CHRISTMAS
of doubtful authenticity, it is said: "Now is
heard accordant throughout the whole inhabited
world the sound of them that celebrate the
feast " {Patrol. Gr. xlvi. 1148). Chrysostom {In
B. Philogonmn 4, vol. i. 497) speaks of it as
second in importance to no festival, "which a
man would not be wrong in calling the chief
{/xr]Tp6Tro\is) of all festivals."
Several sermons are extant of Pope Leo I. on
the subject of the Nativity, further exemplifying
this statement {Serm. 21-30, vol. i. pp. 64 sqq.
ed. Ballerini).
It is curious that in one of his epistles Augustine
does not seem to recognize the Nativity as a fes-
tival of the first order, where after referring to
the Divine institution of the Sacraments, he pro-
ceeds to those things " quae non scripta sed tra-
dita custodimus " on the authority of the Apostles
and the Church, " sicut quod Domini Passio et
Resurrectio et Ascensio in caelum et Adventus
de caelo Spiritus Sancti anniversaria solemnitate
celebrantur " {Epist. 54 § 1 [olim 118] ; Patrol.
xxxiii. 200). Yet he deemed the festival of such
importance that he has written not a few sermons
for the day, showing the celebration of this festival
m Africa (see Serm. 184-196, 369-372 ; Patrol.
xxxviii. 995 sqq., xxxix. 1655 sqq. ; the authen-
ticity of the latter group, however, is doubtful).
III. Liturgical Notices.
The Roiiian Church evidently accounted the
Nativity one of the most important feasts from
very early times. Their earliest Sacramentary,
that of Pope Leo, contains nine Masses for the
day (vol. ii. 148 sqq.). There is, however, no
notice of a Vigil. In the Preface in the first Mass
it is said : " Quoniam quidquid Christianae pro-
fessionis devotione celebratur, de hac suinit solem-
nitate principium, et in hujus muneris mysterio
continetur." See again the Preface in the seventh
Mass : " Atque ideo sicut primis fidelibus extitit
in sui credulitate pretiosum, ita nunc excusa-
bilem conscientiam non i-elinquit, quae salutaris
mysterii veritatem, toto etiam mundo testifi-
cante non sequitur."
In the Gelasian Sacramentary four Masses
altogether are given : (1) For the Vigil at Nones ;
(2) For the Vigil in node ; (3) For the Vigil
Mane prima; (4) For the Nativity m *e ; that
is to say, there are practically three Masses on
the Nativity itself. After this again are several
prayers for the Nativity, whether at Vespers or
Matins.
The Gelasian Sacramentary borrowed a good
deal from the Leonine here. The Collect and
Secreta for the services of the Vigil at Nones
and Mane prima, and a Collect and the Preface
for the Nativity itself as well as two (the 2nd
and 4th) of the added prayei-s all come from the
large number of Masses for the day in the older
Sacramentary {Patrol. Ixxiv. 1055 sqq.). We now
pass on to the Gregorian Sacramentary. Here,
as in the previous case, there are altogether four
services with a large number of alternative forms
the second mass is connected in some MSS. with
tlie church of S. Maria Major; thus, Natalis
Domm. ad S Mariam Majorem (MS. Rodradi),
Nocte ad S Mariam (MS. Ratoldi) ; and the third
coatams also the commemoration of S. Anastasia,
an,i one MS. mentioned by Menard {in loc.) gives
two prefaces lor the day, one for the Saint and
CHRISTMAS
the other for the Nativity (cf. Greg. Sacr. col.
5 sqq. ed. Menard). See also the Antiphonary,
where, as before, four Masses in all are recog-
nized {ih. col. 657 sqq.), and a still more elabo-
rate set of forms is given in the Liber Responsalis
attributed to Gregory {ib. col. 741 sqq.).
The Ordo Eomanus {ed. cit. p. 19) prescribes
three Lections from Isaiah for the Vigil of the
Nativity : (1) ix. 1-x. 4; (2) xl. 1-xli. 20; (3)
Hi. 1-15. The Ambrosian Liturgy of the Church
of Milan (Pamelius, Liturgg. Latt. vol. i. pp.
293 sqq.) gives one Mass for the day.
We may now briefly examine the Liturgical
monuments of the Galilean Church. In the an-
cient Lectionaiy of that Church, there were
originally twelve Lections for the Vigil of the
Nativity. Those which are yet extant, five in
number, are : Isaiah xliv. 23-xlvi. 13 ; an ex-
tract from a sermon of Augustine •• Be Nativi-
tate Domini : Isaiah liv. 1-lxi. 7 ; Malachi ii. 7-
iv. 6 ; St. John i. 1-15.
The Lections for the Nativity itself are Isaiah
vii. 10-ix. 8 (with some omissions); Danihel
[Benedicite] cum benedictione ; Hebrews i. 1-13 ;
St. Luke ii. 1-19 (Mabillon, de Liturgia Gallicana,
lib. ii. pp. 106 sqq.). In illustration of this plan
of having twelve Lections for the Vigil of the
Nativity, here doubtless equivalent to the Matins
of the Nativity, Mabillon {I. c.) cites from the
Regula of Aurelian, bishop of Aries : "In Natale
Domini et in Epiphania tertia hora surgite : di-
cite unum nocturuum et facite sex missas [ = lec-
tiones] de Isaia propheta ; iterum dicite noc-
turnum, et legantur aliae sex de Evangelic "
{Patrol. Ixviii. 396).
It will be seen that in the Gallican Lectionary
one Mass only is presupposed for the day of the
Nativity, and in accordance with this the Gothico-
Gallic Missal {op. cit. pp. 188 sqq.) gives us one
Mass for the Vigil and one for the day. In the
ancient Gallican Missal are found forms of the Pre-
face " ad vesperum Natalis Domini " and prayers
" ad initium noctis Natalis Domini," " in media
nocte Natalis Domini."
The Mozarabio Missal gives us but one Mass
for the day and ignores the Vigil. The Propheti-
cal Lection, the Epistle, and the Gospel are re-
spectively Isaiah ix. 1-7; Hebrews i. 1-12: St.
Luke ii. 6-20 (ed. Leslie, pp. 37 sqq.). The
Breviary gives Matins for the Vigil; and for
the day of the Nativity, (1) Vespers — that is on
the evening preceding December 25 ; (2) Matins
and Lauds. Into the Vesper service enters the
noble h3fmn, " Veni Redemptor Gentium."
It will have been noticed that the Roman
Liturgies, the Gelasian and Gregorian, give three
Masses for the Nativity, while those for the
Churches of Milan, Gaul, and Spain give but
one. In tlie case of the Gallican Church this
may be illustrated from Gregory of Tours, who
in the life of Nicetius of Lyons (IVtoe I'atrnm,
viii. 11, p. 1196, ed. Bened.), says: "Facta quo-
que hora tertia, cum populus ad missarum so-
lemnia conveniret, hie mortuus in ecclesiam est
delatus." On the other hand, we must men-
tion that in a writing of Eldefonsus, a Spanish
bishop, who wrote 845 A.D., is an allusion to a
triple Mass on the Nativity, Easter, Whitsunday,
and the Transfiguration {Patrol, cvi. 888). This
i
•» This passage, attributed to Augustine, does not seem
to be bis, nor is It included in bis works.
CHRISTMAS
IS probably a leaning to the Roman plan, or it
may be a custom of independent origin.
The cause of the triple Mass in the Gelasian
and Gregorian Sacramentaries is thus explained
by Mabillon (/. c), that in consequence of three
being the number of " stations " discharged in
ancient times in Rome by a Pope on that day,
three Masses were instituted.' We shall again
quote the ancient Ordo Romanus on this point
(p. 19): "Prima die Vigiliae Natalis Domini
hora nona canunt Missam ad S. Mariam. Qua
expleta canunt vespertinalem synaxim, dehinc
vadunt ad cibum. In crepusculo noctis intrat
Apostolicus ad vigilias in praefatam Ecclesiam,
tamen non cantant ibi invitatorium ad introitum,
sed expletis vigiliis et matutinis, sicut in Anti-
phonario continetur, ibidem canunt primam Mis-
sam in nocte. Qua expleta, vadunt ad S. Anas-
tasiam canere aliam Missam de nocte. Dehinc
pergunt ad S. Pefnim, ut ibi vigilias celebrent,
ab eo loco ubi invenerit eos psallere qui ibidem
excubant. Ipsi enlm intrant ad vigilias debito
tempore in processu noctis et canunt invitatorium
et prosequuntur ordinem Antiphonarii. Unde
etiam dupla officia in Komanorum Antiphonariis
hac nocte describuntur." The above will account
for the commemoration of S. Anastasia at the
Mass Ifane prima. The Ordo then adds the ob-
viously groundless statement that the institution
of these nocturnal Masses is to be referred to
Pope Telesphorus (ob. 138 A.D.).
Attention has already been called to the fact
of the early recognition of the Vigil of the
Nativity. In addition to the examples cited, we
may further appeal to a still older witness, Au-
gustine, who speaks of it in one of his letters
(Epist. 65 ad Xantippum [olim 236] ; Patrol.
xxxiii. 234). It differed in this respect from
the ordinary type of Vigil in that it continued
through the night, making with the Nativity
itself one great solemnity. Thus we read in the
letter of the Bishops Lupus and Euphronius to
Bishop Talasius : " Vigilia Natalis Domini longe
alio more quam Paschae Vigilia celebranda, quia
hie lectiones Nativitatis legendae sunt, illic
autem Passionis. Epiphaniae quoque solemnitas
habet suum specialem cultum. Quae Vigiliae
vel maxime aut perpete nocte aut certe in matu-
tinum vergente curandae sunt. Paschatis autem
Vigiliae a Vespere raro in Matutinum usque per-
ducitur" {Patrol. W\i\. 66). In iha Capitula oi
Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury
(ob. 690 A.D.), the difi'erence of the practice of
the Latin and Greek Church in this matter is
pointed out, in that the former began the Vigil
at Nones, the latter late in the evening (Capit.
66; Patrol, xcix. 957). The Gelasian, Grego-
CHRISTMAS
3G3
' This seems more probable than the view adopted by
Quesnell in his notes on the works of Leo I. {Epist. 9
'11 ed. Quesnell], vol. ii. 1399), that the custom arose
from a distinct authorization in the Roman Church to
hold several masses, as might be found necessary, en
festivals of great importance, such asChrislmasand Easter,
when there would be a gi'eat concourse of people, more
than a church could contain at once. He quotes an illus-
tration of this from our own church, when the Council of
Oxford (1222 A.D.), under Stephen Langton, archbishop
of Canterbury, enacted " ad haec duximus statuendum
districtius inhibentes ne sacerdos quispiam missarum
solennia celebret bis in die, excepto die Nativitatis et
Kesiirrectionis Dominicae vel in exequiis deluuctorum."
(Can. 6; Labbe, vol. xi. p. 274.)
nan, and Pamelius' Ambrosian Sacramentaries
give also Masses for the Octave of the Nativity,
January 1. which would also of necessity be the
anniversary of the day of the Circumcision, by
which express name it is denoted in some other
Liturgies. [CiRCUMCisiox.]
The existence of the group of important fes-
tivals between Christmas and the Epiphany seems
to point to a wish on the part of the early
Church to render the whole season one great fes-
tival, by redeeming as much as possible of the
time from ordinary worldly business, in com-
memoration of persons more or less indirectly
connected with our Lord's Nativity. Thus a
Council of Tours declares: "Inter Natale Do-
mini et Epiphania omni die festivitates sunt
itemque prandebunt" {Concil.Turonense ii. can.
17 ; Labbe, vol. v. 856). From the great import-
ance of the festival, the Nativity, if happening
to coincide with a fast, claimed the right of
overriding the fast. Indeed there was a fast pre-
ceding the Nativity which just stopped short
of it. Thus Aurelian, already quoted, says (J. c),
" A Calendis Novembris usque ad Domini Natale
quotidie jejunandum absque Sabbato et Domi-
nico." Cf. also the canon we have just cited of
the Second Council of Tours, " De Decembri
usque ad Natale Domini omni die jejunent."
We may further cite in illustration Epiphanius
{Adversus Hacreses : Expositio Fidei 22, vol. i.
p. 1105), who, after saying that there is no fast
throughout the fifty days of Pentecost, adds,
"Nor on the day of the Epiphany, when the
Lord was born in the flesh, is it lawful to fast,
although it happen to iall on the fourth or the
sixth day of the week." It will be remembered
from a previously cited passage of this writer
that he follows the Eastern plan in this matter,
so that his day of the Epiphany is at once
Epiphany and Nativity.
As a festival of so great importance, Christmas
was one of the seasons, on which it was especially
enjoined on all, clergy and laity alike, to com-
municate. Thus the Council of Agde (506 a.d.)
orders : " Ut cives qui superiorum solemnitatum,
id est Paschae ac Natalis Domini vel Pentecostes
festivitatibus cum episcopis iuteresse neglexerint,
cum in civitatibus communionis vel benedictionis
accipiendae causa se nosse debeant, triennio a
communione priventur ecclesiae." Again : " Si
quis in clero constitutus ab ecclesia sua diebus
solemnibus defuerit, id est Nativitate, Epiphania,
Pascha vel Pentecoste, dum potius saecularibus
lucris studet quam servitio Dei paret, convenit
ut triennio a communione suspendatur. . . ."
{Concil. Agathense, can. 63, 64; Labbe', iv. 1393).
Springing from the same tendency is the injunc-
tion of the First Council of Orleans (511 A.D.):
" Ut nulli civium Paschae, Natalis Domini vel
quinquagesimae solennitatem in villa liceat cele-
brare, nisi quem infirmitas probabitur renuisse "
(Concil. Aureliancnse i. can. 25 ; ihid. 1408). It
was allowed by the Council of Epao (517 A.D.)
for people of rank (cives superiorum natalium)
to invite their bishop to themselves at Christmas
or Easter to receive his blessing (Concil. Epaun-
ense, can. 35; ibid. 1580).
IV. Christmas Presents. As coming at the be-
ginning of the ecclesiastical year, and as being
in itself a time when from the Great Gift then
given by God to man, all memories call to peace
aud friendship, the season of Christmas has from
364 CHRISTOPHORI
time immemorial been associated ^^'lth the mu-
tual giving of presents and the interchange of
^"r:imlSrustom prevailed among the Romans,
who on the Calends of January offered to the
emperor or to their patrons presents called strenae
/•hpnce French etrenne). See, for instance, bue-
E Calig. 42; cf;^«</. 57, Tib. 34; also
Dion Cassius, liv. 3o. . , . j /• +t,^
That tlie Christian custom is derived from the
above we do not of course affirm, although we
are far from denying the possibility of such an
^^ Traces of the custom are to be found in the
Greek Church, as we learn from Goar (Notes to
Codinus, De Officiis Condantinopolitanis, c. 6 ;
Patrol. Gr. clvii. 308), who speaks of boys and
youths running about the streets at this season,
and "ad amkoruni portas modulis sonis ac
musices instrumentis ^oXuxpov'a [wishes for long
life and happiness ; see Ducange, Glossanum s. v.J
perstrepunt, senia reportaturi, cunctique xP'^t-
ovy^vvvTiKo^s pi-o natalitiis Christi munenbus
se cumulant certatim." ^ , ^ ,-
The custom of the strenae as an offshoot ot
heathenism, did not find much favour in the eyes
of the early Church. Thus in a sermon Be ta-
lendis Januarii, wrongly attributed to Augustine,
we read, " Diabolicas etiam strenas et ab aliis
accipiuut et ipsi aliis tradunt" (Pa<ro/. sxxix.
2002, 2004).
V. Literature. We must express our obliga-
tions here especially to Jablonsky's Dissertationes
II • Martene, De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritihus, vol.
iii.' pp. 31 sqq. ed. Venice, 1783; Augusti,
C/iristl. Archaologie, vol. i. pp. 211 sqq.: Bin-
terim, Venkwiirdigkeiten, vol. v. part 1, pp.
528 sqq. Reference may also be made to By-
naeus, De Katali Jesu Christi, Amsterdam 1694;
Kindler, Do Natalitiis Christi, Rotterdam 1699 ;
Kopkeu, 'l(TTopovfj.fva, Rostock 1705 ; Ittig, De
Eitu festum Nat. Christi celebrandi, Wernsdorf,
De Originibus Solemnium Natalis Christi, Witten-
berg, 1757. [R- S.]
CHEISTOPHOFJ. A name sometimes ap-
plied to Christians in the ancient Church, as
expressing the Presence of Christ within them
by His Spirit. As early as Ignatius we find the
appellation Theophori in use, to signify that
Christians are the Temple of God ; and Christo-
phori also occurs in the early writers in a
similar sense : e.g. in the epistle of Phileas,
bishop of Thmuis, recorded by Eusebius, 1. viii.
c. 10, we find him speaking of the martyrs of
his own time as XpitrTotfxipoi ixaprvpes, because
they were temples of Christ and acted by His
Holy Spirit (Bingham, i. 1, 4). [D. B.]
CHRISTOPHORUS. (1) Martyr in the
city of Samos, A. D. 256, is commemorated
July 25 (J/art. i^oOT. Vet., Usuardi) ; April 28
(J/u/f. Bedae) ; May 9 {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Monk, martyr at Cordova, Aug. 20 QIart.
Usuardi). [C]
CHRONITAE, Xpov'iTm. A name of re-
proach given to the Catholics or orthodox Chris-
tians by Aetius the Arian and his party : inti-
mating that their religion was but for a time,
that its day was being fast spent, and that it
must soon give place to the more enlightened
CHRYSOTELUS
characteristic of heresy in all ages of the Church
(Bingham, I. iii. 16). L^- ^-J
CHRONOLOGY. The object of the several
articles in this work relating to chronology is to
describe the methods used by the writers ot our
period in measuring time, and the reduction of
their methods to that at present in use in this
country. This evidently involves the considera-
tion of the various non-ecclesiastical calendars,
or modes of reckoning time, employed by writers
of the first eight centuries, and of the modi-
fications introduced into them by the influence
of Christianity.
To place an event in time, we must have a
fixed epoch or era from which to measure, and a
fixed, or at least a determinable, standard by
which to measure the interval from that era.
The principal epochs from which intervals of
time have been measured are given under ERA.
The great natural divisions of time are days,
lunations, and solar years; and almost every
nation has either endeavoured to discover the
relation which lunations bear to solar years
[Epact], and so to keep the lunar months in
some kind of correspondence with the seasons of
the solar year ; or has abandoned the observation
of the moon in its division of time, and divided
the solar year into twelve months, somewhat
longer than lunar months. See Month, Year.
Further, nearly all nations have adopted for the
convenience of common life purely conventional
divisions of time, not corresponding to any
natural division, such as the Roman Nundinae.
The conventional division with which we are
principally concerned is the Week
As the various events of Christian history
received annual commemoration, the days of
such recurring commemorations became recog-
nised as elements in chronology [Calendar].
The principal modification which the calendar
underwent in consequence of ecclesiastical con-
siderations is that which arose from the annual
variation in the observance of Easter, and the
festivals connected with it. See Easter, Pas-
chal Cycle, Golden Kumbers. [C]
system of Arianism : a conceit which has been I Rom. Vet. Usuardi).
CHRYSANTHUS, martyr at Rome under
Numerianus (A.D. 283), is commemorated Dec. 1
(Mart. Usuardi); March 19 {Cal. Byzant.} [C]
CHRYSOGONUS, martyr at Rome under
Diocletian, is commemorated Nov. 24 {Ma)-t.
Hieron., Bom. Vet., Bedae, Usuardi). Some MSS.
of the Hieronymian Ilartyrology give Aquileia as
the place of rnartyrdom. l^-i
CHRYSOSTOM, LITURGY OF. [Li-
turgy.]
CHRYSOSTOM, ST. JOHN, is commemo-
rated Nov. 13 {Cal. Byzant., Ethiop.). Translation
of his relics to Constantinople, in the reign of the
youno-er Theodosius (A.D. 435), Jan. 27. The
Byzantine had also in more recent limes a fes-
tiVal of SS. Basil, Gregory Nazianzenus, and
Chrysostom, on Jan. 30. The Mart. Rom. T et.,
and Mart. Usuardi place the Natalis of St. Chry-
sostom on Jan, 27, and do not mention the
Translation. ■ l^-l
CHRYSOTELUS, presbyter, martyr at Cor-
dova, is commemorated April 22 {Mart. Bedae,
[C]
CHURCH
CHURCH (1), in respect to the reyerence
and the privileges attached to the building.
(1) It was customary to wash the hands and
feet before entei-ing the church, for which purpose
a fountain was commonly provided in the middle
of the atrium or court before the church, called
cantharus or phiala ; so Euseb. H. E. x. 4 ;
Tertull. De Orat. c, xi. ; Paulinus of Nola, Epist.
xii. ad Severum ; Socrates, ii. 38 ; St. Chrys., re-
peatedly ; Synes. Epist. cxxi. : quoted by Bingham.
Kings and emperors also left their arms, and
even their diadems, and their guai-ds, outside
when entei'ing a church (Theodos. Orat. in Act. i.
Cone. Ephes. ; Bingham, VIII. x. 8). And the
Egyptian monks, after Eastern custom, put otf
their sandals (Cassian. Instit. i. 2). It was
customary, also, to: show reverence to the church
by embracing, saluting, and kissing, its dooi-s,
threshold, and pillars. So St. Athanasius {0pp.
ii. 304, ed. 1627), St. Chrysostom {Horn. xxix. in
2 Cor.), Paulinus {Natal, vi. Felicis), Prudentius
{Hjimn II. in S. La\irent. 519, 520), &c., quoted by
Bingham, ih. 9. — (2) Upon entering the church,
" the Christians in the Greek and Oriental
churches have, time out of mind, used to bow . .
towards the altar or holy table ;" a practice for
which no known ancient canon exists, and which
looks therefore like a primitive practice, and one
probably borrowed from the Jews (Mede, Disc,
on I's. 132, quoted by Bingham\ A profound
silence was also to be observed within the building
(Cassian, Instit. ii. 2 ; S. Greg. Naz. Orat. xix.).
And coughing, spitting, &c., were forbidden, —
" A gemitu, screatu, tussi, risu, abstinentes "
(St. Ambi'os. Be Virg. iii. 9). And Nonna is
eulogized by her son, St. Greg. Naz. {Orat. xix.),
as, among other things, never spitting, and never
turning her back upon the altar.— (3) Election of
bishops and of clergy, synods, catechetical schools,
and the like, were allowed to be held within
churches. But eating meals there was strictly
forbidden, even in time the aydirai : — Ou Se? ev
roiS KvptaKols t) iu Ta7s eKKX-qaiais ras Xeyo-
fjiivas aydiras iroieTv Kal ev r^ otKoi too 0eo9
fffdiiiv KoL aKov^ira (TTpwvvvetv {Cone. Laodi-
ccn. c. 28) : — " Ut nuUi episcopi vel clerici in
ecclesia conviventur, nisi forte transeuntes hos-
pitiorum necessitate illic reficiantur; et populi,
quantum fieri potest, ab hujusmodi conviviis
prohibeantur " {Cone. Carth. III. can. 30 ; Cod.
Con. Afric. 42). St. Augustin, however, is com-
pelled to tolerate, whilst he severely condemns,
the custom of feasting iu the church in memory
of the martyrs — " Qui se in memoriis martyrum
inebriant, quomodo a nobis approbari possunt,
quum eos, etiam si in domibus suis faciant, sana
doctrina condemnet" {Cant. Faust, xx. 21). The
Emperor Leo also {Novel. Ixxiii.), and Cone. Trull.
can. 97, forbid people from lodging in certain
galleries in the church, called eatechumenia. And
the Cone. Eliberit. can. 35, prohibits private vigils
of women in the church precincts — " ne foeminae
in coemiterio pervigilent ;" although the practice
of spending whole nights there in prayer was
permitted to men (see e.g. Theodoret, v. 24;
S. Athanas. Epist. ad Serapion. : Socrat. i. 37 ;
&c.) ; and eubicula, or cells, were sometimes pro-
vided for the purpose (Paulin. Epist. xii. ad
Sever.). — (4) Holding assemblies privately out
of the church was strictly forbidden : Elf tjs
vapa Tr]V iKKkrialav ISia e/c/CATjciafoj, Kal Kara-
(ppovSiv T^s iKK\i](Tias TO. TTjs iKKKr\<xias ideKoi
CHURCH 365
irpaTTiiv, firi (Tvv6vros rov irpefffiuTtpov Kara.
yvw/jLTfiv rov 4in(rK6Trov, avddefxa earw {Cone.
Gangr. can. 6) ; and can. 5 of the same council
condemns those who despise the church and its
assemblies. — (5) The church was a place of safety,
both for valuables and for life and person. Be-
sides the archives and treasure of the church
itself, the church treasury served as a safe re-
ceptacle for other precious things, public or
private: as, e.g. the cubit wherewith the in-
crease of the Nile was measured, which had been
kept in the temple of Serapis, was transferred
by order of Constantine to the Christian church,
and retransferred to the idol temple by Julian the
Apostate (Ruffin. ii. 30; Sozom. i. 8; Socrat. i. 18).
—(6) Immunity of life and person attached also to
such as took refuge in a church : for the details of
which see Saxctuary. (Bingham.) [A. W. H.]
(2) The building set apart for the perform-
ance of Christian worship.
This article is arranged as follows : —
I. Names, p. 365.
II. Early History, p. 366.
III, I'he Period from Constantine to Justinian, p. 368.
IV. The Period from the death of Justinian to the death
of Charles the Great.
1. The western part of the territory of the Eastern
Empire, p. 378.
2 Armenia and the adjacent provinces, p. 379.
3. Italy, p. 379.
4. France, Germany, and Switzerland, p. 380.
5. Spain, p. 382.
6. Ireland, p. 384.
7. Scotland, p. 385.
8. England, p 385.
I. Names. — Greek, EKK\riaia, KvpiaKT], or
rh KvpiaKhv; Latin, Eeelesia, Dominica {i.e. domus
dominica), or Basilica ; French, ^glise ; Italian,
Chiesa ; Spanish, Igreja ; Roumanic, Biserica ;
Anglo-Saxon, Circ, Gyric; Old German, Chirichu ;
Modern German, Kirche ; Dutch, Kerk ; Ice-
landic, Kyrkia ; Swedish, Kyrka ; Russian, Tser-
koff; Polish, Koseiol, if Greco-Russian, Cerkiew ;
Irish, Domhliag {i. e. stone house), Tempull, Eclais,
Begles ; Welsh, Eghcys ; Hungarian, Egyhaz,
Templom.
The names for a church in the languages of
Ihe Latin family are evidently derived from the
Greek 'E/cKATjo-ia ; those in the languages of the
Teutonic and Scandinavian families apparently
from KvpiaK-i).
Several other terms have been used by Greek
and Latin writers of the earlier centuries when
speaking either of churches, or of oratories or
places of assembly. Such are vahs, templum, by
Lactantius, St. Ambrose, Eusebius, St. John
Chrysostom. Arnobius and Lactantius use the
word conventiculum, while concilium and syno-
dus are also found in use not only for the assem-
bly but for the edifice (v. Bingham ii. 84).
Isidore of Pelusium (lib. ii. Kp. 245) in the like
case distinguishes betvifeen 'E/ckAtjo-io the assem-
bly, and 'EKKAriaiacrrriptoy the building.
Descriptive phrases were also employed, as
TlpocrevKT-fipia, OIkoi EvKT-qpiot (by Eusebius,
Socrates, Sozomen, and others) Oratoria, Domus
Dei, Domus Ecclesiae, Domus Divina, by various
writers from the third century downwards.
Bingham, however, has shewn that in the 6th
century Domus Ecclesiae was sometimes used,
not to signify the church, but the Bishop's house,
and that in the 5th century (and probably even
somewhat later), Domus Divina was the official
style for the Imperial palace.
366
CHURCH
'AvaKTopov [see Anactoron] as equivalent to
basilica is used by Eusebius (De Laude Constant.
c. 9), but is only rarely employed.
Churches erected specially in honour of mar-
tyrs were called Maprvpia, Martyria, Memoriae,
Tp6iraia, Tropaea, T/tAoi, Tituli.
Those who wrote in Latin, in the dark ages,
appear to employ the word basilica for the most
part, when they wrote of a large church, ora-
torium when of a chapel or oratory. Those who
wrote in Gaul, in the 6th and 7th centuries, are
said by De Valois (v. Du Cange, Gloss, art. ' Basi-
lica')"to have used basilica for the church of a
convent, and ecclesia for a cathedral or parish
church. Gildas in the 6th century employs
ecclesia and basilica, adding to the latter word
' martyrum.'
II. Eai-ly History. — At what time the Chris-
tians began to erect buildings for the purpose of
celebrating divine worship is unknown, but it is
obvious that inasmuch as they held frequent
assemblies for religious purposes, suitable places
for such assemblies would be required, and that
when the congregations became large rooms in
private houses would cease to afford the requisite
space.
The assertions of some of the earlier Christian
writers, as Arnobius (Disputed, adv. Gent. lib. vi.
c. 1), Origen (c. Cels. lib. 7, c. 8), Minucius Felix
{Octav. c. 8, 10, 32) that the Christians had
neither temples, altars nor images, that God
could be worshipped in every place, and that his
best temple on earth is the heart of man, should,
it would appear, be understood, not literally — for
there is positive evidence of the existence of
churches in the 3rd century — but that they
had no temples or altars in the Pagan sense of
those words, and that their religion was spiritual,
and not dependent upon places or rituals.
The passage from Clemens Alexandrinus(<S'irOOT.
vii. 5, p. 846) and those from other writers, quoted
by Bingham {Antiq. bk. viii. c. 1, § 13), prove
that a certain place was called sKKXriffia, but, in
strictness, not that it was a separate building,
constructed and set apart for that purpose. The
documentary evidence of the next century, the
3rd, is, however, much more decisive. The chro-
nicle of Edessa (in Assemanni, Bibl. Orient, xi.
397) mentions the destruction of temples of
Christian assemblies in a.d. 292.
Aelius Lampridius in his Life of the Emperor
Alexander Severus (a.d. 222-235), narrates that
the Christians having occupied a certain place, it
was confirmed to them on the ground that it
was better that God should be worshipped there
after any manner, than that it should be given
up to the adverse claimants, the ' popinarii,' or
tavern-keepers. Gregory of Nyssa, in his life
of Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neo-Caesa-
rea, states that he built sevei-al churches there
and in the adjacent parts of Pontus. In addition
to which, many other testimonies of a like nature
might be adduced.
The edict of Diocletian, usually attributed to
the year 302, ordering the destruction of the
churches and the confiscation of the lands belong-
ing to them, confirms these statements, and
Lnctantius' account (De Mart. Persecutorum, c.
12) of the destruction of the church at Nico-
nifidia in A.D. 303, shows that some of them at
least were considerable edifices.
There is some groxmd for believing that in the
CHUECH
3rd century those plans and arrangements of
churches which we find to prevail in the 4th
and following centuries were, at least in part,
already in use; St. Cyprian (A"/?. 59, p. 688, Hartel)
imagines Pagan altai's and images usurping the
place of the altar of the Lord, and entering into'
the " sacrum venerandum consessum " of the
clergy. In this there seems to be an evident allu-
sion to the arrangement usual in later times, in
which the altar was placed in the apse, and the
clergy sat on a bench around it.
So also in the passage mTevtxi\]\nii(De Pudicit.c.
4), when that writer speaks of certain sinners
being removed not only from the ' limen ' but
also 'omni ecclosiae tecto,' not only from the
threshold of the church itself, but even from
every dependent building, such as the narthex,
the atrium, or the baptistery. It is doubtful
whether any now existing church can be attri-
buted, upon good evidence, to this century. One
which had been believed so to date, is the basilica
of Reparatus, near Orleansville, in Algeria, the
ancient Castellum Tingitanum. It is about 80
feet long by 52 wide, and is on the " dromical "
or as we now say basilican plan, that is, in the
form of a parallelogram, longer than wide. It
was divided into a nave
and four aisles by four
ranges of columns. It
has now an apse at each
end, both internal to
the line of walls. Ac-
cording to an inscriji-
tion, still remaining;,
the earlier part of tho
building dates from
252, but the era is most
probably not that of
Christ, but of Mauri-
tania, and the date
corresponds with a.d.
325; the other apse
was added about a.d.
403, to contain the
grave of the saint. Basilica of Keparatns.
The earlier apse, with
the ground in front of it, is raised about three
feet ; and below it was a vault, in which
were two sarcophagi. It is not, however, clear
whether this arrangement was origin<il. An-
other African church, that of D'jemila, which
is believed to date from the latter part of this
century, presents the remarkable peculiarity of
being without an apse. It measures 92 feet by
52. Near the end furthest from the entrance
door is an enclosure entered by a doorway in
front and one on each side. This, no doubt, sur-
rounded the altar and the seats of the priests.
Some other churches which have been supposed
to belong to this century, as the cathedral of
Treves (v. Hiibsch, Die altchristl. Kirchen, pi.
vi.), and the small church at Annona, in Algeria,
though on the basilican plan, are much wider in
proportion to their length than is usual in the
later examples. In the case of Trfeves the build-
ing is, in fact, a square (or very nearly so),
measuring about 120 feet internally with an
apse. The roof was supported by two mono-
lithic columns of granite, about 40 feet high,
on each side. If the church were not square,
but oblong, about which there is some doubt,
there were probably three, and perhaps even
^~t3
CHURCH
five of these columns on each side. By some,
however, as by Kugler, Gesch. der Baukunst i.
404, this building is attributed to about the year
550, but it seems very improbable that so bold a
plan, involving arches of great span, supported
on monolithic columns nearly 50 feet high (in-
cluding bases and capitals) was conceived and
executed at that time. The church at TafFkha,
in central Syria, exhibits the same square form,
with a semi-ovoid apse projecting from the side
opposite to the entrance. This building, in style
and construction, most closely resembles a basilica
at Chagga, which M. de Vogiie ascribes to the
third century, and it must be presumed that he
considers the chur8h to be of the same date. It
CHURCH
3G7
depth by a little less in width, and being about
20 feet high internally.
Some of the churches in Egypt and Nubia,
as at Erment in Egypt and Ibrihm in Nubia
(v. Kugler, Gesch. der Buuhunst, i. 376), are,
no doubt, of a very early date, perhaps of the
end of the 3rd or the beginning of the following
century, but no certain date can be affixed to
them. In both those named the apse is
enclosed within the walls, the angles of which
are occupied by chambers. This arrangement,
indeed, seems to have been very early adopted
and very generally adhered to in the East. Some
early e.iamples of the same plan may be found
also in the West, as in the Church of St. Croce
\
(
^^^^
'
■.--"^-^5^-~ •
y y u- I
_
is constructed like many other buildings in the
same part of Syria, in a very peculiar manner,
being entirely roofed with large slabs of stone,
which rest on arches spanning tiie nave at inter-
vals of about 7 ft. 8 in. The flat roofs of the
aisles formed galleries.
One very remarkable feature in this building
is the tower which ranges with the fa9ade and
rises to a height of about 43 feet. If this
church be of the date to which it would seem to
belong, this must be considered as the first
appearance of a tower in ecclesiastical archi-
tecture.
The church is not large, measuring externally
(exclusively of apse and tower) about 57 feet in
in Gerusalemme at Rome : but it does not seem
to have" been frequently used.
When, in the year a.d. 313, the Emperor Con-
stantiue had published the edict tolerating the
Christian religion, and still more when, in
A.D. 324, he took it under his patronage, a
great increase in the erection of churches, and
in the size and splendour of the edifices, natu-
rally ensued — the emperor himself setting the
example by erecting at Jerusalem and elsewhere
churches of gi-eat magnificence.
It has been shewn that churches of the basi-
lican type were erected before the pei-iod of
Constantine, and it is probable that sepulchral
or memorial churches of circular or polygonal
3ot
CHUECH
plan, and oratories or chapels of many various
forms, may have been also built, but it is not
until the 4th century that we have examples of
all three of these classes, the date and character
of which are well ascertained. Typical foi-ms
for the two first classes were established in the
great buildings erected during the reign of Con-
stantine, and have influenced the construction of
churches down to the present day.
The basilican, or, as the Greeks called it, the
dromical plan, continued, in the great majority
of instances, to be in use in the West (though
with certain modifications) until after the period
embraced by this work, and in Rome until after
the year 1000.
It was almost equally prevalent in the East
until the genius of the architect of St. Sophia at
Constantinople had evolved from the other ty-
pical form, viz. that of the memorial church, a
new combination so striking and impressive as to
have permanently influenced the church archi-
tecture of Asia and of the east of Europe in
favour of a modification of the memorial type ;
while in the West, churches the plans of which
are thence derived, continue to be, as they had
been before, exceptional ; such are S. Vitale at
Ravenna and S. Lorenzo at Milan.
In the earlier period the choice of form would
seem to have been guided by the intention most
strongly present to the founder. Where special
intention of doing honour to the memory of a
martyr existed, the circular form was chosen,
but where this was not the leading thought, the
basilican ; the latter lending itself better to the
celebration of divine services with a large at-
tendance of worshippers. In several instances
a basilican and a memorial church were placed
in close proximity, as at Jerusalem by Constan-
tine, Kalat Sema'an in Central Syria, at Nola by
Paulinus, at Constantinople in the churches of
St. Sergius and of St. Peter and Paul, and
several others, the circular or polygonal church
being in almost all these cases dedicated in
honour of a martyr.
It will be most convenient when describing
the churches erected from the time of Constan-
tine to that of Justinian to divide them according
to the threefold division mentioned above, viz.,
into: 1st, basilican; 2nd, memorial or sepul-
chral churches ; and 3rd, oratories (which are
treated of under the head chapel), without
paying much regard to the country in which
the examples are found. During this period, in
fact, so much unity, as well of ritual and prac-
tice in religious matters as of style and feeling
in art, prevailed throughout the Roman Empire,
that the differences between the ecclesiastical
architecture of its various provinces are chiefly
differences of detail.
At the beginning of the period which follows,
viz., that from Justinian to Charles the Great,
the great development of the Byzantine style
took place, and the architecture of the East is
thenceforward widely different from that of the
West. Soon afterwards the fragments into which
the empire had divided were formed into new
nations, most of whom developed something of
new plan or new style in their ecclesiastical
buildings, and it will therefore be necessary to
treat of the architectural history of most of
these nations separately. This part of the sub-
ject may be divided into the following sec-
CHUECH
tions: — 1, The western part of the territory of
the Eastern Empire ; 2, Armenia and the ad-
jacent provinces ; 3, Italy ; 4, France, Germany,
and Switzerland ; 5, Spain ; 6, Ireland ; 7, Scot-
land ; 8, England.
III. Ihe Period from Constantine to Justinian.
— It has been thought by some writers (v.
Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chre't. art. Basilique),
that the crypts or chapels of the catacombs
near Rome have served as models for the pri-
mitive Christian churches, by which it would
appear that chui-ches of the basilican type are
meant. This opinion would, however, appear to
rest on no suflicient foundation, for the so-called
chapels are in general either a series of two,
three, or even five, chambers, usually not more
than 6 or 7 feet square, connected by doorways,
as in the instance of the " chiesa principale " of
the cemetery of St. Agnes (v. Marchi, tav. xxxv.
xxxvi. xxxvii.), or hexagonal, polygonal, or ob-
long excavations, without apse or any of the
usual features of a church, such as the crypt
discovered by Bosio in the cemetery of the Via
Salaria Nuova, but not now accessible, which has
been held to have been a church (v. Marchi, tav.
xxxii.). In this an octagon of about 23 feet in
diameter is connected by a doorway about 4 feet
wide, with an oblong chamber about 12 feet
wide by 32 long. .[Catacombs.]
The so-called basilica of St. Hermes, in a ceme-
tery near the Via Salaria Vecchia, of an oblong
form, terminating in an apse, was, no doubt,
reduced into its present form by Pope Hadrian I.,
as the Lib. Pontif. tells us of that pope that he
" basilicam coemeterii sanctorum martyrum Her-
metis, etc., mirae magnitudinis innovavit."
No church of the period of Constantine has
come down to modern times in a complete state,
but fortunately a contemporary writer (Eusebius)
has left us such detailed accounts, that, with the
assistance which we can obtain from existing
remains, we can form a very complete picture of
a church of that period.
The earliest church of the building of which
we have a distinct account is that which Pau-
linus built in Tyre between A.D. 313 and A.D.
322. Eusebius (^Eccl. Hist. bk. x. iv. s. 37) states
that the bishop surrounded the site of the
church with a wall of enclosure ; this wall,
according to Dr. Thomson (^Tho Land and the
Book, p. 189, c. xiii.) can still be traced, and
measures 222 feet in length, by 129 in breadth.
In the east side of this wall of inclosure he made
a large and lofty portico (Trp6irv\ov), through
which a quadrangular atrium {aldpiov) was
entered; this was surrounded by ranges of
columns, the spaces between which were filled by
net-like railings of wood. In the centre of the
open space was a fountain, at which those about
to enter the church purified themselves.
The church itself was entered through interior
porticoes (rots evSoTOTco irpoirvXoi.s), perhaps a
narthex, but whether or not distinct from the
portico which bounded the atrium on that side
does not appear. Three doorways led into the
nave ; the central of these was by far the largest,
and had doors covered with bronze reliefs ; other
doorways gave entrance to the side aisles. Above
these aisles were galleries well lighted (doubtless
by external windows), and looking upon the nave ;
these were adorned with beautiful work in wood.
The passage is rather obscure, and has been
CHUKCH
rariously translated : the above is the sense
of Bunsen's paraphrase (Basiliken des Christ.
Boms, s. 31). Hiibsch (Alt. Christ. Kirchcn, s.
75) thinks that the word ela-^oXds (entrances)
stands for windows, and that the woodwork was
in them. It seems, however, more probable that
the ilu^oXai were the openings from the gal-
leries into the nave, and the woodwork the
railings or balustrades which protected their
fronts.
The nave or central portion (jSoo-iAeios oIkos)
was constructed of still richer material than the
rest, and the roof of cedar of Lebanon. Dr.
Thomson states that the remains of five granite
columns may still be seen, and that "the height
to the dome was 80 feet, as appears by the
remains of an arch." Nothing which Eusebius
says leads to the supposition that it was covered
by a dome, and the arch was probably the so-
called triumphal arch through which, as at
St. Paolo f. 1. m. at Rome, and many other
basilican churches, a space in front of the apse
somewhat like a transept was entered. Hiibsch
has made a conjectural restoration of the church
thus arranged.
The building, having been in such manner
completed, Paulinus, we are told, provided it
v.'ith thrones (6p6vots) in the highest places for
the honour of the presidents (irpofSpaiv), and
with benches, or seats (^d.9poLS% accordmg to
fitness, and, placing the most holy altar (ayiov
a-yiccv Bv(na(TTT)piov) in the midst, surrounded
the whole with wooden net-like railings of most
skilful work, so that the enclosed space might
be inaccessible to the crowd. The pavement, he
adds, was adorned with marble decoration of
every kind.
Then on the outside he constructed very large
external buildings (lleSpai) and halls (ol/coi),
which were attached to the sides of the church
(t6 ^aaiXeiov), and connected with it by en-
trances in the hall lying between (rais liri rhv
fitaov oIkov eiVySoAais). These halls, we are
told, were destined for those who still required
the purification and sprinkling of water and of
the Holy Ghost.
In A.D. 333 Constantine caused a basilica to
be erected at Jerusalem near the site of the
sepulchre of our Lord, which was either included
in this building or in a circular or octagonal ad-
jacent structure, the basilica being called 4kk\ti-
ala 'XceTTJpos — church of the Saviour. What
the plan and situation of these buildings were,
and whether anything now existing be the
remains of these buildings, are questions full of
difficulty and have been the subject of much
controversy (v. Fergusson, De Vogue, Eglises de
la Terre-Sainte).
To discuss the various theories and the argu-
ments on which they are founded would occupy
far too much space. Eusebius unfortunately has
written of the subject in a somewhat rhetorical
manner, so that the plan of the structure cannot
be clearly made out, but some interesting par-
ticulars may be gathered from his account of
the basilica.
It had (Life of Constantine the Great, lib. iii.)
double porticoes or, as we should say, aisles
(SiTTojj' ffToSiv), or rows of piers with colon-
nades (irapdaTaSei) in two stories above and
below or on the ground, which stretched tlirough-
out the whole extent (fxriKei) of the temple.
CHRIST. ANT.
CHURCH
369
By Karayduv we should perhaps understand not
subterranean but on a level with the ground, the
" avdyeiuL " corresponding with the triforium of
a mediaeval church. Recent investigations have
shewn that extensive subterranean galleries
exist on a part of the site (according to Mr.
Fergusson's views) of this church, but their
character and date has as yet not been satis-
factorily ascertained. The inner rows were of
highly decorated piers, the exterior of enormous
columns (iii. c. 37). If we understand as Bunsen
(^Bie Basiliken Boms, s. 33) does, that the rows
stretched across the front as well as along the
sides, we may perhaps understand by interior (ai
Se fiffia tS>v efXTTpoa-Oev) those which ran
lengthwise, and by the exterior (ai tVl Trpoa-uirov
rov oIkov) those which ran across the front.
The three doors by which it was entei-ed
looked to the east. Opposite to these doors was
the hemispherical head region (KicpaKaiov rod
Tzavrhs rjfiKT^aipiov) of the whole ; i. e. the
apse. This was decoi-ated with twelve columns,
on which were as many large silver vessels.
The walls were built of hewn stone in regular
courses, and covered internally with slabs of
variegated marble. The roofs were of wood
richly carved and gilt, and covered externally
with lead (c. 36).
Before the entrances was an atrium. There
was a first court with porticoes, before which
were the entrances of the court ; then on the
middle of the market-place the propylaea or
outer gateways, whose magnificence astonished
all who saw them. Mr. Fergusson thinks that
the so-called golden gateway on the east side of
the Haram enclosure, is one of these propylaea.
Another building in the Holy Land, the church
at Bethlehem, has strong claims to be considered
as the work of this period (v. De Vogiie, Eglises
de la Terre-Sainte, p. 46). It has an oblong
atrium, a vestibule divided into three portions,
the central of which alone opens into the churcli,
double aisles with columns of the Corinthian
order, and at the end opposite to the atrium. the
transverse-triapsal arrangement — i.e. one apse
at the end of the building, and two others, one
at each end of a transept-like space ; beneath the
centre of this space is the crypt of the Nativity.
As to the churches built in Rome during the
reign of Constantine much uncertainty exists >>
the Liber Fontifcalis attributes to him the
erection (in several cases at the request of
Sylvester, then bishop of Rome) of seven churches
in that city, and describes at much length the
ornaments and vessels of precious metals with
which they were decorated. As, however, these
accounts are for the most part not confirmed by
other authorities, and contain many matters of
an improbable character, they are not generallv
accepted as trustwoi-thy. That the churches of
St. John Lateran, of St. Peter, Sta. Croce in
Gerusalemme, and Sta. Costanza, were erected or
converted into churches at this time is however
universally admitted. Of the first nothing of
the period of Constantine is now visible and no
distiuct account of its size or plan has come down
to us. Of St. Peter's, though it no longer
exists, we have a full account and careful draw-
ings and plans. It will be seen by the accom-
panying woodcut that it was of the same type as
the churches which Eusebius describes, a fi ve-
il isled basilica ending in an apse, before the front
2 B
370
CHURCH
of which was an atrium. It was a church of
very large size, being 380 feet long by 212 wide,
and covei-ing above 80,000 English square feet ;
as much, as Mr. Fergusson remarks, as -any
mediaeval cathedral except those of Milan and
Seville. The transept, it will be seen, extends
beyond the width of the nave. The interior
rauo-e of columns would seem to have been of
uniform dimensions and to have supported a
horizontal entablature, the exterior range carried
arches. Over the entablature was a lofty space
of wall in later times divided into two layers of j
panels, each containing a picture, and above these
were clerestory windows of great size, one over
each intercolumniation. It is not certain that
the prolongations of the transept beyond the
walls of the nave are part of the original plans |
for Pope Symmachus (a.d. 498-514) is said in i
the Lib. Puntlf. to have built two cubicula, or |
oratoria, in honour of St. John the Baptist and i
CHURCH
five arched openings, of which that in the centre
is the largest. These have been supposed by
Kugler (Gesch. der Baukunst, i. 376) to have
been originally windows ; they are now built up,
but it may be seen that the masses of wall which
separate them were covered with thin plates of
marble of two or more colours arranged in
patterns. Above these openings are a like num-
ber of immense windows measuring, according to
Ciampini {]'et. Mon. i. 75), about 28 feet high
by 14 feet 6 inches wide.
The church of Sta. Pudenziana at. Rome has
also been assigned, with much apparent proba-
bility, to the earlier half of this century ; it has
been greatly modernized, but retains in the apse
the finest early Christian mosaic in Rome (en-
graved in Gaily Knight's Italian Churches, vol. i.
pi. 23). This mosaic is assigned by most com-
petent judges to the 4th century.
The other church at Rome which has been
St. Peter, Kome.
St. John the Evangelist. The " Confession " was
a very small vault under the altar, and it is not
quite clear that any vault at all was part of the
original construction.
The basilica of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme
deserves notice as an instance of the alteration
of a hall or civil basilica into a church. It
formed part of the palace known as the Ses-
sorium. When converted into a church a very
large apse was added at the east end; this
apse is enclosed by chapels, of which that on the
south-east is covered by a cupola and is believed
to be original, that on the north-east is of a later
date. It can hardly be doubted that a chapel
similar to that on the other side orio-inally
occupied the site. This is the only instance in
Home ot this system of enclosing the apse, one
which, as has been said, was common in Africa
and in parts of the East.
The lateral walls of Sta. Croce are pierced by
mentioned as of the Constautinian period, Sta,
Costanza, will be described when circular and
polygonal churches are spoken of.
Other churches of the basilican type were
constructed by order of Constantine, as the
original church of St. Sophia at Constantinople,
that of the Apostles and others at the same place,
but all these have been destroyed or rebuilt.
Towards the end of this century (a.d. 386)
the great church of St. Paul, beyond the walls
(fuor le mura) at Rome, was commenced and, ,
until the fire of 1822, remained far less altered
than any other building of the period in or near
that city. It resembled St. Peter's in size and
in design, with the exceptions that the transept
was of the same width as the nav«, and that the
columns of the nave supported arches instead of
architraves. It was lighted by (according to
Ciampini) 120 windows, each 29 feet high by
14 feet 6 inches wide.
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The church of S. Stefano in Via Latina, built
hy Pope Leo I. (a.d. 440-461), had fallen into
i-iiin and the remains become covered with earth.
They were discovered in the year 1858, and pre-
sent some points of interest. There is a double
vestibule at the east end of the church, and a
remarkable arrangement in front of the altar
apparently arising from a wish to preserve a small
oratory already existing on the spot, but what is
still more interesting is that the plan of the
"•jhorus cantorum" and enclosure of the altar can
be traced, portions of the walls foj-ming these
enclosures existing; they were worked in stucco
and painted. As this work has quite the cha-
racter of the 5th century these are probably the
earliest remains of tlie kind -which have been
noticed, if we except those on the basilica at
D'Jemilah in Algeria, mentioned above. The
pavement of large slabs of marble is also no
doubt original.
The church of St. John Studios at Constauti-
CHURCH
371
Several churches in Central Syj-ia are described
by Count de Vogiie'as belonging tothis pei-iod.
The other principal type of church is, as has
been said, the sepulchral or memorial, in the
earlier examples usually circular in plan, in
later not unfrequently polygonal. The models
from which such buildings were originally deve-
loped were doubtless the sepulchres of a circular
form, many of which were erected at Rome at
the close of the Republican period and under the
emperors. These structures were originally
nearly solid, containing only small chambers;
such are the tomb of Cecilia Metella and the
tomb of Hadrian now enclosed in the castle of
St. Angelo. In later examples, as in that of the
Tossian family, and that of the Empress Helena
(now commonly called Torre Pignatarra), the
upper story is occupied by a chamber, taking up
as much of the diameter as the necessity of
making the wall strong enough to sustain a
dome permitted. This chamber in some cases,
iiople, built A.D. 4u3, now a mosque known as
hnrachor-Dschamissi, shows that as regards plan
and design there was in the 5th century little
difference between a basilican church in Rome
and in Constantinople. This building has been
well illustrated by Salzenberg (^Alt-ChristUche
Baudenkmnle von Constant hiopel), and it will be
seen from his plates that it consists of a portico
or narthex, a nave and aisles divided by columns,
carrying a horizontal architrave, and on this
another colonnade supporting arches, so as to
furnish spacious galleries over the aisles, and an
apse semi-circular within, semi-hexagonal with-
out. The proportion of width to length is
greater than is usual in the basilican churches of
Rome, perhaps an early indication of that pre-
ference for plans approaching to a square which
Byzantine architecture afterwards so strongly
manifests. The most characteristic feature is,
however, the great size of the galleries, no
doubt intended to be used as a gynecaeum.
as in that of the Torre Pignatarra, was well
lighted by large windows. From such a build-
ing to the church of Sta. Costanza the progress
is easy, the external peristyle, as in Hadrian's
tomb, was retained, and another was intro-
duced into the interior on which the dome
was supported. Some approach to a cruciform
plan it will be seen was produced by grouping
the twenty-four coupled columns which carry
the dome in groups of six, and leaving a wider
space between each group than between each
pair of columns. A niche in the aisle wall
corresponds to each inter-columniation, those
corresponding to the wider intervals being of
larger size than the others. In these larger
niches sarcophagi were placed ; one of porphyry
now in the Museum at the Vatican, was removed
from the niche opposite to the door. The
externa! peristyle has been entirely destroyed.
This building has been called a baptistery, but
there is no trace nor record of the existence of
2 B 2
372
CHTTECH
a piscina or font. The probability -would appeal
to be that it was ei-ected as a mausoleum for the
Constantinian family. This building is about
100 feet in diameter, the dome being about 40.
If we admit Mr. Fergusson's theory that the
' Kubbet-es-Sakhra,' or ' Dome of the Eock,' is the
building erected by order of Constantine over
the sepulchre of our Saviour, it must be classed
among memoi'ial churches. This appropriation
of the building has been the subject of much
controversy, but in the present state of our
knowledge the question can scarcely be satis-
factorily decided. Whoever compares the en-
gravings of the capitals in the church at Beth-
lehem, given by Count de Vogiie' (Eglises de la
Terrc Suinte, p. 52) with that of the capitals in
the ' Dome of the Rock ' ( llie Holy Sepulchre,
by James Fergusson, p. 68), must see that both
are of one closely similar design and probably
of the same date, which there can be little
doubt is the earlier part of the 4th century.
The ' Dome of the Rock ' is an octagon 155 feet in
diameter, with two aisles and a central dome,
this is supported by four great piers, between
each of which are three pillars supporting arches
springing direct from their capitals; the space
between these and the external wall is divided
into two aisles by a screen of eight piers and
TrTaiz.i_j:
Sta. Costanza, Eome.
sixteen pillars — two pillars intervening between
each pier. On the capitals of these pillars rest
blocks which carry a frieze and cornice ; these
last carry arches above which was a second cor-
nice. The whole building has undergone much
alteration, and these capitals and friezes appear
to be the best preserved portions of the original
design.
It seems clear that one of two hypotheses
must be held ; either that the existing remains
are those of a building of the period of Con-
stantine, erected on the spot and still retaining
their original architectural arrangement, or that
portions of such a building have been removed
irom another site, and re-erected where we now
find them.
Eusebius {Do Vita Constant, iii. 50) tells us
of another octagonal church erected by order of
Constantine, of which no trace now remains.
This was at Antioch ; Eusebius describes it as
of wonderful height, and surrounded by manv
chambers (oYkois) and esedrae (e'le'Spais), which
It would appear were entered from the galleries
(X'opTjMaTajj') which both above and below ground
encircled the church.
A church was also built bv Constantine at
(.onstantmople (Eusebius, Vitd Constant, iv. 58
o9) as a memorial church of the Apostles {tiap-
rvpiov ini fivi^ixr, tSiv kiroffriXaiv), and at the
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same time as a place for his own burial. This
building was destroyed by Justinian, and its
precise form is unknown ; but that it was in
some manner cruciform appears from the dis-
tich of Gregory of Nazianzus, in the poem of
the dream of Anastasius : —
Ivv Tois Kai ixeyaXa.v\ov eSos XpiCT-TOio ixa6r]TUiV
nAcupais cTTavporvTrots rerpaxa renvonei'or.
It would seem that it stood in the centre of a
large atrium, surrounded by porticoes. Bunsen
(Die Basiliken des Christl. Horns, s. 36) thinks
that in this edifice we may discern the germ of
the Byzantine type of church.
It is a matter of some difficulty to distinguish
between a sepulchral chapel or tomb and a me-
morial church; the one class in fact runs into
the other, the distinction between them depend-
ing upon the object which the builder had in
view ; when he constructed a large edifice in
which services were to be frequently held, still
more if this building was intended" to be the
cathedral church of a bishop or the church of a
district, the structure must be considered as a
church, although it was also constructed in order
to honour a martyr and to protect his tomb ;
when on the other hand it was of small size, and
its primary object was to contain the tomb or
tombs either of the builder or of some saint, it
must be considered as only a sepulchral chapel
although containing an altar, and although ser-
vices were occasionally celebrated' within it.
Several remarkable buildings of the 5th cen-
tury belong to the first class. One of these is
the church of St. George at Thessalonica, which
consists of a circular
nave 79 feet in dia-
meter, covered by ft
dome, a chancel, and
an apse ; the walls of
the nave are 20 feet
thick, and in them
are eight great re-
cesses, two of which
serve as entrances
and one as a sort
of vestibule to the
chancel, the roof is
covered with a mag-
nificent series of mo-
saics. The cathedral
at Bosrah, in the Haouran, the date of which
is ascertained to be A.d. 512, has a plan with
several points of similarity to that of St. George,
particularly as regards the chancel.
In Italy some circular churches were con-
structed to carry, not domes, but wooden roofs ;
of these the most remarkable example is St.
Stefano Rotondo, at Rome, built between a.d.
467 and A.D. 483. This church had originally
two aisles and is of very large size, having a
diameter of about 210 feet.
The church of St. Lorenzo at Milan, once the
cathedral of the city, is very remarkable, as
shewing an attempt to combine the circular
with the square plan. Its real date has not
been ascertained, but it is probably of the earlier
part of the 5th century. The main building has
lost all original character through repairs, but
according to Htibsch the original walls exist to
a height of nearly 40 feet, and the ground plan
may therefore be accepted as original.
la -DE
Catlieilial at Dusmh,
CHUKCH
It will be observed that chapels are auuexeJ
to the church on the north, south, and east;
that on the north is supposed by Htibsch to have
been a vestibule, that now called St. Aquilino
on the south is thought to have been constructed
as a baptistery, that on the east in all proba-
bility was constructed to serve as a sepulchral
chapel, a purpose to which, whether it was
originally destined or not, the chapel of St. Aqui-
lino was also applied as early as the beginning
of the 5th century, if the sarcophagus said to
have contained the body of Ataulphus (ob. A.D.
415) really did so, and if this was its original
place of deposit.
Hiibsch, however, gives it as his opinion,
founded chiefly on the character of the brick-
work, that the chapels are later in date than
the main church.
In this instance we have the two classes, the
memoi-ial church and the sepulchral chapel, in
juxtaposition. A few instances of the latter
class remain to be mentioned, and firstly the
two large circular edifices which stood on the
north side of St. Peter's at Rome, one of which
was afterwards called the church of St. Andrew,
CHURCH
373
St. Stefano Eotondo, Borne.
and the other having been the sepulchre of
Honorius, or at least of his two wives (^Besch.
der Stadt Rom., II. i. 95), was afterwards dedi-
cated to St. Petronilla.
The building of the church of St. Andrew is
attributed to Pope Symmachus (A.D. 498-514)
on the authority of the Lib. Pontif., but the
position and connexion of the buildings was such
that it seems probable that both were built at
the same time, which was apparently that of
the Emperor Honorius. According to the plans
which have come down to us they had no apses,
but seven square-ended recesses in the thickness
of the walls. They were of large size, about
100 feet in diameter.
A still existing building of the same class is
the chapel at Ravenna, built by the Empress
Galla Placidia (ob. 450), which, though more pro-
perly a sepulchral chapel than a church, cannot
be wholly passed over here. It is in plan a Latin
cross without an apse : from the intersection of
the arms rises a tower enclosing a small dome.
This example is of peculiar interest, as the ear-
liest known instance of this plan which after-
wards came to be so extensively used in Western
Europe. Recent excavations have shown that
the chapel was originally entered by a portico,
which was in connexion with the atrium or
narthex of the adjacent church of Sta. Croce.
(De Rossi, Bull, di Archeol. Crist 1866, p. 73.)
A further account of sepulchral chapels will
be found under Chapel.
Although heathen temples were in consequence
of their plans little suited for adaptation to
Christian worship, they were occasionally during
the earlier centuries of the Christian era, as
well as in later times, converted to this purpose.
One of the most remarkable early examples of
this transformation is that of the temple of
Venus at ' Aphrodisias, in Caria, where the ori-
ginal building was enclosed by a wall and an
apse added at one. end, the cella demolished, the
columns of the posticum removed and placed
in a line with the lateral columns, and a wall
pierced with windows'was raised on the lateral
colonnades so as to form a clerestory. A church
was thus formed of large size, about 200 feet
long by 100 feet wide. Messrs. Texier and PuUan
(^Byz. Arch. p. 89) believe this transformation
to have taken place between the periods of Con-
stantine and of Theodosius.
The period of Justinian is one of special im-
portance in the history of ecclesiastical architec-
ture. Fi-om this time the basilican plan went,
in the East, almost or entirely out of use, and a
modification of the plan of St. Sophia was almost
exclusively adopted, the modified plan being a
quadrangular figure approaching a square with
a dome covering the centre, and a large internal
porch or narthex at the entrance. This plan,
however, did not originate with the architect of
St. Sophia, the germ of it is perhaps to be found
in the domed oratories or Kalybe's of Syria ;
from such a simple dome — a building like the
cathedral of Ezra, in which the dome is sur-
rounded by an aisle, and an apse added — is
readily derived, this example dates from A.D.
510 ; and if to such a plan a narthex be added,
we have the typical Byzantine plan, as in the
church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus at Constanti-
nople, built under Justinian, but somewhat ear-
lier than St. Sophia. The peculiar feature of
the latter church is the placing of the dome not
upon piers and arches on every side, but upon
semi-domes east and west, by which means a
vast space, more than 200 feet long by 100 feet
wide, totally unencumbered by piers or columns,
was obtained. This construction has, however,
never been copied in Christian churches, but it
has served as a model for the mosques of
Constantinople.
All the minuter peculiarities of construction
and of detail, however, henceforward prevail in
the East, to the exclusion of the Roman style,
which previously was in use. In the West,
examples of Byzantine character continue to be
very rare. St. Vitale at Ravenna is perhaps the
only prominent example, until a much later
period. The church of St. Sophia is, however,
in itself a monument of such importance as to
require to be noticed in some detail.
it is a building of very considerable dimen-
sions, covering about 70,000 square feet, exclusive
of the portions of the atrium (or exo-narthex),
the baptistery, and other annexed buildings.
From the cxo-uarthex, the principal or eso-
374
CHURCH
narthex, 205 feet in length internally, by 26 feet
in breadth, is entered. The principal mass of
the building forms nearly a square 235 feet north
and south, by 250 feet east and west, with an
apse proiecting on the east side. The central
dome is 107 feet in diameter by 46 feet in height,
and rises 180 feet from the floor. The semi-
domes are of the same diameter. The aisles are
spacious, but, in consequence of the exigencies of
the constructional arrangement, are so divided as
CHUECH
with ornaments in relief; but those now existing
do not seem to be of the period of Justinian.
All the columns, capitals, &c., are of porphyry
or marble. The floors and all other flat spaces
are covered with marble slabs of the richest
colours, the domes and curved surfaces with gold
grounded mosaics.
Little is known as regards- the precise position
of the various fixed appliances by which the
church was fitted for divine worship. The altar
St. Sophia, Constantinople.
to form rather a series of chambers than con-
tinuous galleries. There is, it will be seen, but
one apse, in front of which is a shallow chancel
space, covered by a barrel-vault. On the upper
floor are chambers corresponding with those
below, which furnished places for women.
_ The windows are filled with slabs of marble,
pierced with square openings filled with thick
pieces of cast glass. When the windows are large
they are divided into three or six parts by co-
luuins and architraves. The doors are of bronze,
is supposed to have stood in the chancel space or
bema, in front of the apse-, the iconostasis appears,
according to Salzenberg, to have been placed at the
western end of the bema, and to have been about
14 feet high. From the poem of Paul the Silen-
tiary, we learn that it was of silver, had three
doors, the central the largest, and 12 columns
raised on a stylobate, and was adorned with fi-
gures (probably bust figures) of our Lord, the
Virgin Mary, Prophets and Apostles, in discs or
I medallions. Whetlier these figures were iu the
CHUECH
frieze, as Salzenberg supposes, or between the
columns, is not certain ; but, as the Silentiary
t-ays of the altar, that it was not fit that the eyes
of the multitude should look on it, it would
seem probable that they filled the spaces between
the columns, making a solid iconostasis, as in
modern Greek churches.
The altar was of table form, supported by
columns, and of gold, decorated with precious
stones ; over it was a splendid ciborium of silver,
from the arches of which hung curtains with
CHUECH
375
where they were situated. It would seem pro-
bable that the compartment north of the bema
was the prothesis and that south, the diaconicon.
The seat for the emperor was on the south
side, and near the diaconicon ; that for the em-
press, also on the south side, but in one of the
central divisions of the triforium.
The circular building was the sacristy, the
rectangular, the baptistery.
The same emperor, also, built a church at
Constantinople — that of St. Sergius, now called
Mmmp
9i
. Sopliia, Constantinople
figures of our Lord, St. John the Baptist, St.
Paul, and others, woven in silk and gold.
The circumference of the apse was occupied by
the synthronus or seats for the patriarch and
bishops. These were of silver-gilt, separated by
shafts, probably carrying canopies.
Paul the Silentiary says nothing as to the
chorus or place for the readers and singers, ex-
cept that the iconostasis divided the portion set
apart for the celebration of the mysteries from
that of the " many-tongued multitude " (ttoAu-
yKaxraoLO o/xixov). This seems to show that the
chorus extended from the iconostasis to the ambo,
which the same authority states to have stood
nearly in the middle of the church, but rather
towards the east. This space may, however,
have been divided into two parts ; one, the
soleas, to the east, set apart for the priests,
deacons, and sub-deacons ; the other for the
readers and singers. The soleas is said- by Codi-
nus to have been originally of onyx, but made
by Justinian of gold (xpftra). In the same pas-
.sage it is said that the ambo was made of gold.
We should no doubt understand in both cases
that the true meaning of the j)assage is that
much gilding was employed as a decoration. In
the case of the soleas the gilding may probably
have been applied to the seats or stalls for
the priests.
It would appear from the measurement given
by Evagrius {Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. cap. sxxi.) that
the holy conch (071a Koyxf)) commenced at the
western end of the eastern semi-dome, possibly
therefore the line of division between the en-
closures for the superior and inferior clerics ran
at this point, the chorus for the readers and
singers, extending thence to the ambo.
Two compartments, known as the prothesis
and diaconicon, are mentioned by Byzantine
writej-s, but it has been a matter of dispute
Kutchuk Agia Sophia (Little St. Sophia) — which
evidently suggested the plan which eventually
became the normal one of all Byzantine churches.
In this the peculiar form of capitals and treat-
ment of foliage, which are characteristic of
Byzantine art, are fully shown.
The church of S. Vitale at Eavenna, built
between 526 and 547, is, as Mr. Fergusson has
r-
J
*^'
St. Vitale, Kavenua.
remarked, so far as the arrangement of the dome,
of the galleries, and of the pillars which support
them, almost identical with St. Sergius. But
S. Vitale has a sort of clerestory below the
dome, which is raised about 20 feet higher. The
arrangement of the aisles, choir, and exterior
walls differ, it will be seen, very much ; and it
would seem that the architect had studied
the building at Rome known as the Temple of
Minerva Modica. S. Vitale is thoroughly By-
376
CHUECH
zantine iu dstail , and, in spite of most tasteless
repairs aud additions, still retains much that is
characteristic and interesting, especially in the
choir, the lower part of which is lined with slabs
of precious marbles, and the upper with the
well-known mosaics.
CHURCH
interior apse are innovations upon the original
plan.
Another basilican church of the period of
Justinian is that of Dana, between Antioch and
Bir. This, likewise, has a single apse, but the
end of the church is a straight line, oblons
While, however, churches with domes were
constructed, basilican churches were also built.
In connection with that of St. Sergius at Con-
stantinople, was a basilican church dedicated to
SS. Peter and Paul, which has been destroyed.
The church of the monastery of St. Catharine,
on Mount Sinai, which still exists, is basilican.
It has never as yet been well illustrated; but the
apartments — no doubt to serve for the prothesis
and diaconicon — being placed one on each side.
It is remarkable that the arch of the apse is of
the horseshoe form, and those of the nave are
very much stilted. The capitals are Roman in
character.
The finest example of a basilican church of
this period is, however, that of S. Apollinare in
Wf{
B ApollinarL j;
than Byzantme. It is a basilica with one apse ;
site of the burning bush, an interior ap.e has
been formed. At the sides are four chapels bu
.t would seem probable that the chapols'aS the
Classe, at Ravenna, dedicated in 549. Here the
eastern ends of the aisles are parted off, and ter-
minate in apses, of which arrangement this is,
perhaps, the earliest instance of which the date
is well ascertained. It is a church of verv
noble proportions, and retains the decorations of
(!HURCH
the apse in marble and mosaic, in a very com-
plete state. The capitals are, as seems to be usual
in the basilican churches of this perioil, more
Roman than Byzantine in character. Upon the
capital rests a block or dosseret, ornamented
with a cross, as in many other churches of the
time.
Attached to the west front is
a tall circular tower of seven
stages, which is j)robably of
the same age, and perhaps the
earliest extant example of a
church tower. Though, according
to Hiibsch (^Alt. CImstl. Kirchen,
p. 34), the lower part of the
tower standing near the cathedral
of Ravenna may probably date
from the previous century, and
parts of some other towers, both
at Rome and at Ravenna, may
belong to the beginning of the
6th. Attached to the church df
S. Vitale at Raveuna are two
small round towers, which have
perhaps never been carried to
their full intended height.
Tlie cathedral of Parenzo in
Istria, built circ. A.D. 542, is too
interesting to be passed over,
particularly as it has undergone
extremely little alteration, and
retains the atrium before the
front, and the baptistery opening
from the atrium on the side op-
posite to the church — the baptis-
tery, unfortunately, in a semi-
ruinous state. Here, it will be
seen, the aisles have apsidal ends
internally, but the wall is flat
externally. The apse is of pecu-
liar interest, retaining the cathe-
dra for the bishop and the bench
for the clergy, in apparently an
unaltered state, while the wall
behind, to about one half of its
height, is covered with an ex-
tremely rich and tasteful decora-
tion in " opus sectile," the patterns being com-
posed of pieces of the richest marbles, lapis lazuli,
and mother-of-pearl. Above the cathedra is a
cross standing on a globe, and figures of dolphins,
tridents, cornucopias, and burning candles are
sparingly introduced among the
patterns of architectural cha-
racter. On the west front, and
on the east end above the apse,
are remains of fresco paintings
of an early date. In this church,
although basilican in plan, the
capitals are Byzantine in cha-
racter.
To this account of individual
churches it may perhaps be
desirable to add, for the sake of giving a clearei
idea of what a church of the period which has
been under consideration was, an attempt to
reconstruct in imagination such a building in a
complete state with its fittings and decorations.
Existincr remains, with the assistance to be de-
CHUROH
377
Constantinople, or one of the larger cities of the
Roman Empire, may be thus described.
A stately gateway gave admittance to a large
court (atrium) surrounded by covered colonnades,
in the centre of which was a fountain or a vase
(cantharus) containing water, so that ablutions
might be performed before the church was en-
B. AiTOllinare in Clasae, Ravenna.
tered. On one side of this atrium and entered
from it was the baptistery. The basilica itself was
usually, when the circumstances of the site per-
mitted, placed on the western side of the atrium,
so that the rising sun shone on its front. This
rnrenzo,
front was pierced by three or five doorways ac-
cording to the number of the aisles, and in that
part which rose above the colonnade ' of the
atrium, windows of immense size admitted light
to the interior; the wall between and above
these windows was covered sometimes, in parts,
rived from the writers of the time, allow this to 1 with mosaic of glass in gold and colour, but
be done with sufficient assurance of accuracy, usually with plates of richly coloured marbels
A basilican church of the first class in Rome, ' and porphyries arranged so as to form patterns;
378
CHUKCH
sometimes, however, stucco painted was the
. cheaper substitute. When the building was, as
was always the case at Rome, of brick, the same
decoration, by means of marble slabs or of stucco,
was, if not actually carried out, in all probability
almost always projected for the whole exterior
of the building. In only one case at Rome — that
of the ti-ansept of S. Pietro in Vincoli, built A.D.
442 — is the finish of the brickwork such as to
lead to the conclusion that it was intended to
remain uncovered.
The doors were of bronze adorned with sculp-
tures in relief, and frequently gilt, or of wood,
often richly inlaid or carved. Curtains of the
richest stuffs, often of purple or scarlet, em-
broidered with gold, hung at the doors, to ex-
clude the heat of summer or the cold of winter
while the doors stood open.
In the interior the whole floor was covered
either with tesselated pavements or with slabs
of many-coloured marbles arranged in beautiful
patterns. The aisles were separated from the
nave by ranges of marble columns whose capitals
supported either arches or horizontal architraves.
Tlie great width of the nave, in a first-class basi-
lica frequently more than 80 feet, and the forest
of columns on either hand (one of the colonnades
often containing 24 or more columns) when there
were double aisles, produced an architectural
effect of great magnificence. The clerestory wall
was piei-ced by numerous immense windows with
arched heads, one of which was over each inter-
columniation. These windows were no doubt
divided by columns or pilasters and architraves,
and the divisions fitted with slabs of marble
pierced in a variety of patterns — these perfora-
t ions were in many or most cases fitted with talc,
alabastei", or other transparent or semi-trans-
parent stones, or with glass either plain or
coloured.
The roof was flat and of wood, where magnifi-
cence was sought it was richly adorned with carv-
ing and gilt. The semi-dome which covered the
apse was covered with mosaic pictures, the subject
being usually Christ, either seated or standing,
with his apostles ranged on each hand. The
earliest existing example of this arrangement is
in the church of Sta. Pudenziana at Rome, which
although it has been much injured and largely
repaired, still shows so much goodness of style that
it can hardly be attributed to a later date than
the 4th century. Where a transept existed it
was usually divided from the nave by an arch,
the face of which fronting the nave was often
also covered with mosaics; a colossal bust of Christ
was often the central object of the picture, being
])laced over the crown of the arch, while on either
side and below are represented the seven candle-
sticks, the symbols of the evangelists, and the
twenty-four elders.
Details as to the arrangement of the fittings
of churches will be found under the respective
heads ; it may be sufficient here to say that the
apse was furnished with a bench following its
circumference for the higher clergv, in the centre
ot which was a raised seat (cathedra) for the
bishop; that the altar was usuallv placed on
the chord of the apse at the top of a flight of
steps, and parted off from the nave by railings
(caucolh); below it was often a platform or
si.aco (solea.s), and beyond this a quadrangular,
u-^iially oblong, euclosure (chorus, presbvterium ■
CHUECH
the last perhaps improperly), in which the singers
and readers were stationed. This enclosure was
formed by railings or dwarf walls, and connected
with these was the ambo or reading desk. At
Rome, and probably elsewhere, a space on either
side of the chorus was also railed in, that on the
right being called * senatorium,' and appropriated
to senators or other men of rank, that on the
left, called ' matroneum,' to women of the same
degrees. Where a gallery, f r, as we now say, a
triforium existed, it was set apart for women,
but this arrangement was not very common in
the West.
Benches or other seats were probably provided
in the chorus, the senatorium, and the m.atro-
neum, but the rest of the church was left alto-
gether open and free. These seats were either
of marble or of carved wood, in many instances
gilded, the railings of the same materials or of
bronze. Over the altar was a lofty and richly
decorated canopy (ciborium), from the arches of
which hung curtains of stuffs of the richest
colours interwoven with gold. Like curtains
often depended from the arches of the nave, and
hung at the doors. Vases, crowns, and lamps
of silver or of gold hung from the arches, or
were placed upon the dwarf walls or partitions
which separated the various divisions of the
edifice.
According to the proposed plan, the history
of the ecclesiastical architecture of the period
which follows, viz. from the death of Justinian
to that of Charlemagne, will be treated of under
separate sections.
IV. The Period from the death of Justinian to
the death of Charlemagne. — 1. The western part
of the territory of the Eastern Empire. —
During the reign of the Emperor Justinian,
churches were built on the basilican plan,
as well as on one derived probably in part
from such churches as that at Ezra, in central
Syria, in part from the circular or polygonal
churches which had been constructed through-
out Christendom. Soon after the time of
Justinian the basilican type was no longer
followed, but a peculiar plan was adopted,
that in which the building assumes a form
approaching to a square, the central part
being covered by a dome placed on a drum
pierced with windows. The period which
followed the death of Justinian was one of
political trouble, and hence examples of the
progress of Byzantine architectui-e during the
latter part of the 6th and the 7th centuries
are somewhat deficient. The church of St. Cle-
ment at Ancyra, however, probably belongs to
this period, as the dome is raised on a low drum
pierced with windows ; in plan the church ap-
proximates to that of the later Greek churches.
The church of St. Irene at Constantinople, which
may probably date from the earlier half of the
8th century, shows a further advance, as the dome
is there raised on a lofty drum piei-ced with win-
dows ; some features of the earlier plan are,
however, preserved, as there is only one apse,
and as its form is oblong. The church of St.
Nicholas at Myra is perhaps more modern than
either ; it has a double narthex, three apses, a
lesser on each side of the larger, and a dome
raised on a drum in which are windows. If the
remains of the iconostasis and ciborium shewn
in jilate Iviii. of Texier and Pullan's Bijzantinc
CHURCH
Architecture are those of the original construc-
tion, the whole space east of the dome was parted
otf from the bema. This church is of considerable
dimensions, about 100 feet in extreme length by
60 wide in the eastern part, the uartheces ex-
tending in width to about 115 feet.
Another church of much interest, and pro-
bably of about the same date, is that which
exists in ruins near the remains of the ancient
Trabala in Lycia.
2. Armenia and the adjacent provinces. — The
churches remaining in these countries have not
as yet been studied with sufficient care and
knowledge to allow very satisfactory conclusions
to be formed as to the real dates of those now
existing. The Persian invasions in the 5th and
0th centuries, and the Mahomedan conquest in
the 7th, must have caused damage and destruc-
tion to a great portion of the older buildings ; a
liigh antiquity is nevertheless claimed for several
churches, but how much of the existing building
is really of early date, is very uncertain.
One of the earliest is apparently that at
Dighour near Ani in Armenia, which Mr. Fer-
gusson thinks may be referred to the 7th cen-
tui-y. It bears an evident resemblance in style,
though not much in plan, to some of the churches
of the Haouran dating from the previous century.
CHURCH
379
trifnrium carried over the aisles and along the
wall of the front. At S. Lorenzo the aisle roofs
have been destroyed, but no doubt once existed.
In other respects they do not differ from tha
earlier churches.
The church of SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio alle
tre Fontane, near Rome, founded 625-688 and
rebuilt 772-795, is however very remarkable in
an architectural point of view, as it is not con-
structed with columns taken from older build-
ings, but altogether of new material and with
considerable originality.
In the early part of the 9th century three
churches were built in Rome by Pope Paschal I.
(817-824), Sta. Prassede, Sta. Cecilia, and Sta.
Maria, in Domenica. All still exist, and though
badly injured by repairs and alterations, still
present very much that is interesting and
original. The first has a nave and aisles, a
transept, and a single apse. The columns
dividing the nave from the^ aisles are antique
and support an entablature, the ranges are
broken by three oblong piers, which carry
arches spanning the nave, but these, according
to Hiibsch, are not original, but inserted not
very long after the construction of the building.
The transept is entered from the nave by a
triumphal arch, the front r.id soffit of which
SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio.
The church of St. Hripsime near Etchmiadzin
is believed by Dr. Neale {Holy Eastern Church,
1. 204) to date from the 6th century, and he con-
siders its peculiar plan to have been the form
followed in a large proportion of tlie Armenian
and Georgian chiirches. The germ of the ar-
rangement, however, exists in the cathedral of
Bozrah in the Haouran of A.D. 512.
The two recesses in these Armenian churches
which flank the apse in which the altar stood,
were doubtless used for the prothesis and dia-
conicon, but to what use the other two were
applied must be matter of conjecture.
The primatial church of Armenia, that of
Etchmiadzin, has something of the same arrange-
ment, but wants the western chamber. It was
probably founded in 524, but underwent many
alterations and reparations, one very important
one in 705.
The church of Usunlar is said to have been
erected between 718 and 726 ; its plan is rather
Byzantine than distinctively Armenian.
3. Italy. — In Rome but few important works
were undertaken dui'ing the 6th, 7th, or 8th
centuries, the rebuilding of S. Lorenzo fuor le
Mura (578-590) (the present choir), and of S.
Agnese (625-638) were among the most consi-
derable undertakings. These buildings are alike
in one respect, viz. that they have a gallery oi'
are covered with mosaics, as are also the apse
and the wall on each side of it. All these were
placed there by Pope Paschal, and are most
valuable monuments of the state of art of his
period.
Below the raised tribune is a " confessio " — a
vault under the high altar. The west end of
the transept (the church standing nearly north
and south) was at an early time parted off by a
wall, and on this a low tower has been raised.
The part thus walled off is of peculiar interest,
as perhaps no portion of a church of so early a
date remains in so unaltered a state. The walls
are covered with remains of frescoes which seem
to be coeval with the mosaics, and the windows
retain the pierced slabs of marble, the ajsertures
of which still contain fragments of the laminae
of talc through which light was admitted.
The chapel of S. Zeuo, attached to the east
side of the nave, has been noticed under Chapel.
The doorway leading into it is of great interest
to the architectural antiquary, as it shows that
in the beginning of the 9th century the pre-
valent style of ornament was that formed by
knots or plaited patterns of the same character
as those in use in England and elsewhere
between a.d. 700 and A.D. 1000. The execution
is fnel)le, scratchy, and irregular.
Sta. Cecilia has been greatly altered, but
380
CHURCH
retains very interesting mosaics, also the work
of Pope Paschal. The distribution and subjects
are much the same as those at Sta. Prassede..
The Koman churches of this date, however
mferior in style to those of the earlier period,
must have presented an appearance of equal
splendour; mosaic and precious marbles were
uot spared, nor doubtless gilded roofs. Doors
were of bi'ouze, or even of more costly materials,
for Honorius I. is said in the Lib. Pontif. to have
covered the doors of the Vatican basilica with
silver weighing 975 lbs.
Examples of churches of the period under
consideration, with well-ascertained dates, are
not so readily to be found in other parts of Italy
as in Rome ; but a few buildings exist which
can be assigned on historical data to this period,
the character of which is quite in accordance
with that of those of other countries whose date
can be ascertained. Such are the Duomo Vecchio
and Sta. Giulia at Brescia, and SS. Apostoli at
Florence. The first of these is by some assigned
to the latter part of the 7th century, by others,
with greater probability, to about A.D. 774 ; it
is a large circular church about 125 feet in
diameter, covered by a dome of 65 feet internal
diameter ; it is extremely plain, having no shafts
or columns, but piers carrying square-edged
Daomo Veccluo, Brescia.
arches springing from very simply moulded im-
posts ; the whole is roughly and irrescularlv
built.
Sta. Giulia forms part of a convent founded by
Desiderius, King of the Lombards (757-773)
and is a basilican church.
SS. Apostoli at Florence is believed on respec-
table authority to have been dedicated in the
presence of Charles the Great ; it is a small
basilican church with antique columns, pro-
bably brought from Fiesole.
The Duomo of Torcello, near Venice, is be-
lieved to have been originally built in the
7 th century, but largely repaired or rebuilt in
A.D. 1000. It is on the basilican plan, with
ranges of columns dividing the nave from the
aisles; it is particularly interesting, as pre-
serving in a more perfect state than elsewhere
the mternal arrangement of the apse, the bishop's
cathedra being placed against the central point
ot the curve at the top of a flight of steps, on
either side of which are six concentric rano-es of
steps for the presbyters ; the altar is placed on
a platform in front, and a screen divides the
presbytery or chorus from the nave. Under the
apse IS a small crypt. In trout of the church
CHUECH
are the traces of a baptistery, square externally,
octagonal within. The apse is flanked by two
minor apses, which may probably date from the
rebuilding. This church has much resemblance
to the cathedral of Parenzo in Istria. Close tc
its \yest front stands the small church of Sta.
Fosca, which by some is believed to be of the
Same date as the Duomo, by others is referred
to the 9th or 10th century. S. Giovanni in
Fonte, the baptistery of the Cathedral of Ve-
rona, though much altered and repaired, pro-
bably dates from a period not later than the
9th century ; it is a small building with nave,
aisles, and apse.
4. France, Germany, and Switzerland.— Though
many and large churches were constructed in
the opulent cities of the _ Roman provinces of
Gallia during the period of Roman occupation,
nothing has come down to our time except a
few fragments. The description given by Sido-
nius Apollinaris (^Epist. xii.) of the gilded roof,
the glass mosaic of the walls, the variously
coloured marbles, and the stony wood of columns
seems to shew that in their pristine glory the
churches of Lyons or of " opulent Vienna " were
little inferior in splendour to those of the
imperial city.
Churches continued to be constructed under
the rule of the Teutonic conquerors, although
doubtless of much diminished magnificence.
Gregory of Tours {Hist. Franc, ii. 14) describes
the basilica built by Perpetuus at Tours, in
honour of Eustoehius, in the following words :
" Habet in longum pedes centum sexaginta, in
latum sexaginta ; habet in altum usque ad came-
ram pedes quadringenta quinque, fenestras in
altario triginti duas, in capso viginti ; ostia octo,
tria in altario, quinque in caj^so."
Hiibsch (Alt-Christ. Kirchcn, pi. xlviii. figs. 6
and 7) has made a conjectural plan and section
of this church, believing it to have been planned
as parallel-triapsal.
The same histoi-ian (ii. 16) describes the
church built by St. Namatius at Clermont, as
150 feet long, 60 feet broad, and 50 feet high,
with a round apse, and aisles on each side. It
had, he says, 42 windows, 70 columns, and 8
doors. The walls of the altarium were adorned
with "Opus sarsurium," i.e. sectile work, of
various marbles.
At Perigueux are said (J. H. Parker, Archco-
logia, xxxvii. 248) to be remains of a church of
this period, remarkable as having barrel vaults
carried on arches transversely across the aisles.
At Beauvais, attached to the cathedral, is a
portion, no doubt the nave and aisles, of a much
earlier church known as the Basse Oeuvre ;
it closely resembles in character the buildings
in Italy, such as SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio near
Rome, which are believed to date from the 7th
or 8th centuries ; but it may even be older, as
it is simply a building Roman in style, and so
plain as to give none of that assistance towards
the formation of an opinion as to the date which
mouldings or ornament afibrd. The great size
of the windows is, however, perhaps, an indica-
tion of early date. Several other smaller ex-
amples of like character are said to exist within
the diocese of Beauvais.
In the baptistery at Poitiers we have an ex-
ample of a somewhat more ambitious attempt
at classical architecture ; but the manner in
CHXJECH
which the ornamental pieces are put together
denotes an utter barbarism and want of archi-
tectural knowledge or taste.
Somewhat akin to this building are some
churches not far from the Loire, as St. Ge'ne'reux
near Poitiers, Saveniferes in Anjou, &c. ; both
these shew a reminiscence of Roman methods of
building, and the former has much decoration
by triangular pediments and a sort of mosaic in
brickwork, probably a variety of the opus sar-
surium of Gregory of Tours. The buildings of
this class are ascribed by the French antiquaries
with much probability to the period from the
6th to the 8th century.
In the valley of the Rhone and the adjacent ter-
ritories, where are abundance of remains of Roman
architecture and plenty of excellent and durable
freestone, the classical models were so well copied
for several centuries that it is matter of great
doubt to what date many buildings should be
assigned. One very characteristic example is
CHURCH
381
work, but the imposts generally are of the rudest
kind, though one or two shew mouldings of a
somewhat complicated character and apparently
properly cut, whether these are the work of a
later time or not is not clear. Beneath the
central tower is a sort of cupola resting on pen-
dentives, and pierced in the centre with a large
orifice.
When, however, the influence of Charles the
Great, whose regard for architecture is well
known, began to make itself felt, we find a
marked improvement in architecture ; besides the
most remarkable monument of his reign, the
minster of Aix-la-Chapelle, we have several other
churches erected either under him or his imme-
diate successors, which enable us to form a defi-
nite conoeption of the style of the period.
Before these are described one building of very
anomalous character should however be men-
tioned, this is the gateway at Lorsch, not far
from Worms. It is a two-stnried parallelogratn.
the porch of the cathedral of Avignon, which
has all the character of a building of the lower
empire, but in Mr. Fergusson's opinion is not
older than the Carlovingian era. The same
ornaments are found on this porch and in the
interior of the church, and it would therefore
seem that the whole building is of about the
same date.
In the Jura, not far from Orbe, at the con-
vent of Romain-motier, a church was dedicated
in A.D. 753 by Pope Stephen II., and the nave,
transepts, and tower now existing, are believed
to be those of the original structure. The two-
storied narthex Mr. Fergusson thinks may be a
century or two, but Blavignac {Hist, de l' Archi-
tecture Sacr^e, &c.) only a little later. The
columns of the nave are circular masses, only
three diameters in height, corbelled out square
at the top, the bases quadrangular blocks. The
arches have a sunk face, but no ornament or
moulding. Some shafts in the eastei-n part of i
the church have capitals rudely imitating Roman |
the lower storey pieiced with three large arch-
ways, and was no doubt the gateway Jeading
into the atrium of the church of the monastery,
of which class of buildings this is perhaps the
only existing example (at least in the west), of
an early date.
The most remarkable and most authentic work
of the period in Germany or France is the minster
of Aix-la-Chapelle, the original character of
which, though hidden by repairs and mistaken
attempts at decoration, can still be satisfactorilv
ascertained : it was commenced in 796, and dedi-
cated in 804; it is externally a polygon of six-
teen sides, to the west is attached a tower-like
building, flanked by two circular towers con-
taining staircases. What the original arrange-
ment of the east end was is unfortunately un-
known, as in the 14th century it was replaced
by a new choir. The building is about 105 feet,
the dome 47 feet 6 inches in diameter, and the
latter rises about 100 feet above the floor.
In the interior are eight compound piers,
382
CHUKCH
made up of rectangular figures and without
shafts, which support plain round arches; the
triforium is very lofty, and the arches opening
from this into the central space have screens of
columns in two stories, the lower carrying arches
while the upper run up to the aixh which spans
the openings. Above there are eight round-
headed windows, and the whole is covered by
an octagonal dome. The columns of the trifo-
rium are antique, and so it would appear were
their capitals; the bases seem to have been
made for the building, and 'according to Kugler
(Gcsch. der Baukunst, i. 409) are very shapeless.
The best preserved part of the interior is the
belfry over the porch ; this is covered with a
plain waggon vault, and shews plain rectangular
piers with moulded bases, and imposts carrying
equally plain arches. The severely simple cha-
racter of the building is very well seen in this
chamber, which is on a level with and originally
opened into the triforium. The dome was once
covered with mosaic, which has wholly dis-
appeared; but Ciampini (^Vet. Hon. ii. 41) has
engraved a part of it, three of the eight segments
of which it was composed. In the central of
these is a colossal figure of Christ seated on a
throne, surrounded by concentric rings of colour
representing the rainbow, the ground on which
this figure was placed was golden with red stars,
below are seven of the twenty-four elders of the
Apocalypse. The simple grandeur of this picture
must have harmonized well with the whole
chai-acter of the building. The triforium would
seem to have been paved with mosaic and other
pavements brought from Ravenna or Rome : two
fragments still remain, one of black and white
tesserae, the other of sectile work, in marble
slabs of various colours. The fronts of the
openings from the triforium to the central space
are protected by cancelli of bronze, doubtless
also brought from Ravenna or Rome ; they are
of several patterns, some of classical Roman
character, others Byzantine.
A vault is said to exist beneath the centre of
the church, and to have served as the burial-
place of the great emperor ; but it is not acces-
sible, and nothing seems to be known as to its
character. The western doors are of bronze.
The exterior is very plain, the only ornament
being some pilasters at the angles of the drum
of the dome ; these have capitals of classical
character, but in their wasted state it would be
difficult to decide whether they are really antique
or copies of antique work.
A document of the utmost value as affording
information as to the arrangements of a large
conventual church, is the plan preserved in the
public library of St. Gall, and first published
by Mabillon (Ann. Ben. Ord.). It appears to
have been sent to Abbot Gozpertus, who began
to rebuild the church and monastery in A.D. 829,
and very probably was prepared by Eginhard,
who was prefect 'of the royal buildings under
Charles the Great. The annexed cut represents
that part which contains the church and its
ap])cndages.
The plan is without scale, and little or no
reliance can be placed on the proportional size
ot the parts, as Professor Willis has observed ;
the church is said, in legends written upon it,
to be 200 feet long and 80 feet broad ; but in
the plan, if we assume the length to be 200 feet.
CHURCH
the breadth would be only 56 feet. The draw-
ing must no doubt be considered rather as a
scheme for a great monastery than as a plan to
be carried out by an architect ; its peculiarities
will be readily seen ; first among these are the
apses at each end, an arrangement afterwards
common in Germany, but of which we have no
earlier instance. The circular towers are also
remarkable. At the east end the drawing is
confused by the attempt to shew both the crypt
and the choir ; the space marked by slanting
lines bears in the original the legend " involutio
arcuuni," and no doubt is meant to represent an
arched passage, from whence proceeds a short
passage to the confession.
The church of Granson, near the lake of Neu-
chatel, according to Mr. Fergusson, is of the
Carlovingian era, though others are disposed to
place it in the 11th century.
In France the most important examples of the
Carlovingian period seem to be the nave of the
church of Mortier en Der, near Vassy, which
exhibits a style very nearly akin to that of the
Minster of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the remains
of the church of St. Martin at Angers. This
last was founded some years before 819, as the
Empress Hermengarde, who died in that year
was the foundress, and was interred within
it. It consisted of a nave and aisles, a central
tower, and a rather long transept ; the eastern
part having been replaced by a choir of the 12th
century. The piers separating the nave from
the aisles are oblong, but chamfered at the
angles, and carry plain unmoulded arches of
rectangular section ; there is no triforium, but a
clerestory of windows of rather long proportion.
The tower has a dome which originally sprang
from the capitals of four massive circular pillars,
which, as they are engaged in the piei's which
carry the tower, shew only the fourth of a
circle. The capitals have some shallow carving,
chiefly patterns of plaited work. In several
parts of the church two or three courses of flat
bricks are introduced between the courses of
stonework.
The church of Germigny-sur-Loire is a build-
ing of very remarkable character, and in it,
incised on the abaci of the two eastern capitals
of the tower piers, is an inscription recording its
dedication in 806. The plan, it will be seen,
is peculiar, having a tower in the middle of a
square, with an apse projecting from three of
the faces, and two small apses flanking the eastern
apse. The piers are square, and have imposts of
blocks and some knotwork in shallow relief.
Among the most peculiar features are the small
shafts attached to the piers at the entrance of
the eastern apse. These recall some of the
details of Romain-motier, as the imposts do
those of St. Martin at Angers.
6. Spain. — As in Gaul, little or nothing remains
in Spain of the churches built before the in-
vasion of the barbarians ; and those which the
latter constructed were destroyed by the Arabs.
Some capitals and fragments, probably of en-
closures of ' chori cantorum,' exist at Cordova
('Monumentos Arquitectdnicos de Espana'), and
some other fragments and capitals have been
found at Toledo on the sites of the basilicas of
St. Leocadia, built A.D. 600, and of St. Gines,
said to date from the 8th century (' £1 arte
Latino — Bizantino en Espaiia,' by Don Jose' Ama-
CHURCH
383
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cixa cii-i
, The Church.
The Abbot's Lodging.
. The Public School.
. The Hospitium or Gaest House.
. Dispensary.
. Kesiclenne of Doctor, with Garden of
in.Klinil herba.
. Another small double-apse Church,
divided by wall a<To33 centre.
. Orchard and Cemetery.
Sf. Gall.
I. Great Cloister.
J. Refectory.
K. Kitchen.
L. Wine Cellar.
M. Dorrnitory, with variou.'i dependent
N. Another Hospitium, apparently for
inferior class of giicsta.
O. Pt^blea for horses, cattle, sheep, &c.
KH, Open spaces or paradises. (That to
the west is suiTouiided by an open
semicircular porcli, by which ihe
public were to gain access to the
Church.)
S. Vestry. T. Library.
\ ■ . Schoolmaster's House.
V. Porter's Houso.
X. Furnace.
Y. Detached chimney- shaft for ditto.
384
CHURCH
dor de los Rios). At Venta de Baflos, near
Paleucia, the church built by Eeccesvinthus .in
A.D. 661, is stated to remain in a tolerably com-
plete state.
The only other churches which can be supposed
to date from a period even as early as the 9th
century which have as yet been noticed, are a
few in the Asturias, not far ft-om Oviedo.
These, however, present many remarkable
peculiarities of plan, having square ended chan-
cels, and chapels or apartments attached to
their sides. One of the group, Sta. Maria de
Naranco is stated to have been built cir. 848,
and as the others are somewhat plainer and
ruder in style they are more probably earlier
than later. The most remarkable is that of the
Ermita de Sta. Christina, near la Pola de Lena,
which retains the original partition separating
the choir from the nave : the choir is raised
above the nave, and the altar recess above the
choir, these as well as the western part of the
church are vaulted over, so that there are
chambers above them. The central space is
covered by a waggon vault. The circular panels
in the upper part of the choir screen are pierced,
the central panel below cai'ved with ornament,
having much affinity with that to be seen on the
crowns of the 7th century found at Fueute de
Guarrazeo, near Toledo.
S. Salvador de Valdedios, near Villaviciosa,
has aisles, but the same system of vaulting over
both ends of the church exists, and as in the
ctliers there are small chambers right and left
on entering by the western door. One of these
probably served as a baptistry, as is the case at
Sta. Maria de Naranco. A porch and other
chambers are attached to the south side, and
may have served as dwellings for priests or
attendants on the church. This has been at-
tributed to A.D. 892.
Sta. Maria de Naranco is nearly on the same
plan, and appears to have always been a parish
church.
The upper chambers in all these churches are
open to the church, not closed as in Ireland, and
capable of bemg used as dwelling places.
These buildings are all small, Sta. Cristina
being about 50 feet long, Sta. Maria de Naranco
about 70, but have a good deal of ornament, and
exhibit a peculiarity of style, the origin of
which cannot be traced to any other country,
and which was probably developed from the
earlier imitations of Roman work. A clue to
the reasons for the peculiarity of plan seems
altogether wanting. The square end of the
chancel may perhaps be thought to indicate
some Irish influence as that country is the only
one where this form is anything but the rarest
exception.
Although, as has been said, the churches of
the earlier period have disappeared, Spain has
preserved in a remarkable manner some of the
traditions of the arrangement of churches in
the earlier periods ; thus the ' coro,' instead of
beginning to the east of the transepts, is, like
the "chorus cantorum" of the early basi-
licas, extended into the nave, and the central
lantern tower is called the 'cimborio,' in
memory, doubtless, of a time when it served as
the 'ciborium' of the high altar, now placed
in the elongated choir, or, as it is called by the
Spaniards, ' capilla mayor.' Probably these
CHURCH
traditions were handed down through a chain of
numerous links, the earlier of which have
perished.
6. Ireland. — We find here a great number of
very small churches very roughly built, with very
little attemptat any decoration, freqviently lighted
only by one very small window, but constructed
usually with extremely large stones, and not un-
frequently built with that material exclusively,
the roof being formed by horizontal courses,
each brought forward until they met at the
top.
Such are the churches or chapels of Tempull
Ceannanach, on the middle island of «the bay of
Galway (Petrie, Eccle. Arch, of Ireland, p. 189),
of St. Mac Dara on the island of Cruach Mhic
Dara, off" the coast of Connemara {id. p. 190),
of Ratass, C^ Kerry (id. p. 169), of Fore, Q'.
Westmeath (id. p. 174), and many others. The
two first of these churches form single apart-
ments without any division into nave and chan-
cel, and measure, the first 16 feet 6 inches, by
12 feet 6 inches internally ; the second 15 feet
by 11 inches; both are roofed with stone in the
manner described. The two other churches are
in a less complete state, but their doorways
are remarkable for their square heads, and the
immense size of the stones of which they are
constructed ; in that of Ratass the lintel is 7 feet
6 inches long, 2 feet high, and extends through
the whole thickness of the wall. There appears
in this doorway an evident intention of imitating
the architecture of a Greek or Roman building.
In that of Fore the lintel is 6 feet long, 2 feet
high, and 3 feet deep, and is sculptured with a
cross within a circle, on a projecting tablet.
Both these chttrches are attributed by Mr. Petrie
to the 6tli or 7th centuries. It is a question
of much interest whence the builders of these
churches derived their ideas of architecture,
these buildings resembling in no respect any
contemporaneous structures in England, France,
or Italy. Improbable as the suggestion may at
first sight appear, it would seem that it was
Central Syria which furnished the models ; that
country abounds with churches and monasteries
constructed between the .3rd and 7th centuries
in a style founded upon the Roman architecture
of the time, but with many peculiarities both of
construction and of detail. Among the former
of these is the use of very large stones, and the
pratice of roofing small buildings by advancing
each course somewhat nearer the centre than
that below ; examples of both will be found in
plenty in Count Melchior de Vogue's Syrie Cen-
trale. Although in these buildings arched door-
ways are the most common, those formed pre-
cisely in the same manner as the Irish examples,
with one large block for a lintel, are frequently
found ; and one of these (Syrie Centralc, p. 99,
fig. 4), may almost pass for the original of which
the lintel at Fore is the rough- copy. The Irish
buildings have far more the appearance of such
copies of the products of a cultivated school of
architecture as might be achieved by native
workmen under the direction of immigrants,
bringing with them recollections, rather than
accurate knowledge of the edifices they had left
behind, than that of the first i-ude essays of an
uncivilised race.
The Persians plundered Syria in A.D. 573, the
Sai-acens invaded it in 613, and Central Syria
CHURCH
seems to have been entirely depopulated about
tliat period. It at that time contained many
monasteries and many monks, and it is quite
possible that among the numerous foreigners
who sought an asylum in Ireland at that period
may have been Syrian monks. In the litany of
St. Aengus, written, it is believed, in the year
799 (Petrie, p. 137), among the scores, and even
hundreds, of strangers of various nations, men-
tion is made of seven Egyptian monks buried in
Disert Ulidh. The gi'eater part of these immi-
grants are in the litany simply called " pere-
grin!," without indication of nationality. Dr.
Petrie (p. 127), however, seems to think the
peculiarities of construction of these early build-
ings ai'e due to the colonisation of the country
by " the Firbolg and Tuatha de Danann tribes,
which our historians bring hither from Greece
at a very remote period ; which tribes," he says,
" 'vere accustomed to build, not only their for-
tresses, but even their dome-roofed houses and
sepulchres, of stone without cement, and in the
style now usually called Cyclopean and Pe-
lasgic."
Besides the small churches which have been
mentioned above, larger structures were also
erected in Ireland at an early date. The cathe-
dral church of Armagh, whether that erected in
the time of St. Patrick or of a later date, would
appear m the 9th century to have been 140 feet
in length (Petrie, p. 157). The more usual
length of a church of the first class would,
however, appear to have been 60 feet ; this
dimension having, according to the tripartite
life of St. Patrick, been prescribed by the saint
for the Domnach Mor (Great Church), near
Teltown, in Meath, appears to have been in-
vested with a sort of sacred character ; and it
is worth notice that the. church at Glastonbury,
fi.unded according to tradition by a St. Patrick,
but undoubtedly by missionaries from Ireland,
was 60 feet long, by 26 feet broad ; it seems to
have been of wood.
These larger churches had usually a chancel —
in plan a parallelogram — attached to the larger
oblong which formed the nave.
Two peculiarities mark the ecclesiastical ar-
chitecture of Ireland, one, that the altar end is
invariably rectangular, the other that the towers
found near the early churches are always cir-
cular. Perhaps the most probable explanation
of the former is that the form was originally
used as that most suitable for a very small
oratory, and perpetuated in consequence of the
extraordinary veneration which the Irish have
always entertained for anything connected with
their early saints. [For the round tower see
TOWKR.]
7. Scotland. — Irish ecclesiastics founded the
celebrated monastery of lona, and spread Christi-
anity through the isles and mainland of Scotland,
but very few buildings which can be referred to
the period under considei'ation have been ob-
served. The most remarkable would seem to be
the church at Eglishay in Orkney, which bears
a close resemblance to one of the early Irish
churches, and is specially remarkable as having
a round tower attached to it. The nave is 30 ft.
by 16 ft., the chancel 11 ft. by 9 ft. 7 in., the
latter is covered by a plain semi-circular vault,
over which was a chamber constructed between
it and the external covering of frtone. The nave
CHRIST. ANT.
CHUECH
385
also is stated to have had a stone roof. The
tower is entered by a door in the west wall
of the nave ; the chancel arch is described as of a
horse-shoe form, but this may proba.bly be occa-
sioned by a settlement of the work. The windows
are i<i\v and small, the doorways plain, round-
headed arches. As in the Irish islands there
were numerous oratoi-ies scattered over Orkney
and Shetland ; the parish of Yell in the latter is
said (Hibbert's Scotland, p. 530) to have con-
tained twenty chapels. The churches constructed
by the Christian Picts were probably either of
wood or of earth, which is the reason of the
entire absence of any buildings within their
territory which can be assigned to a period be-
fore A.D. 800, it is the more remarkable as the
numerous sculptured monuments show that the
people who dwelt within the limits of the
Pictish kingdom could carve stone with extra-
ordinary skill for the pei-iod.
8. England. — Though the Christians of Britain
must undoubtedly have possessed churches of
considerable size before the occupation of the
country by the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, no
certain remains of such buildings have as yet
been met with.
The historians of Canterbury assert that
Ethelbert gave to St. Augustine an existing
church in that city (Willis' Arch. Hist, of Christ
Church, Canterbury, pp. 20, 30) which became the
cathedral. Bede mentions the church of St.
Martin as an ancient church given in like manner,
some portions of wall in the latter have been
thought to have formed- part of the ancient
church. Of the Saxon cathedral nothing remains.
Three influences it will be seen contributed
in unequal degrees according to circumstances
and locality, to form or to modify ecclesiastica-1
architecture in England ; viz. 1, that of Roman
architecture either as derived from buildings
still existing in the country, or from designs
imported by ecclesiastics and other church
builders ; 2, that of the Irish missionaries ; 3,
that of the native school of timber architecture.
The first of these we may trace in the plans, in
the style of some churches, and in the frequent
assertion that a church was constructed " opere
Romanorum;" the second, perhaps, in the pre-
ference of a rectangular east end over an apsidal,
which last, as we find it all but universal in
England in the 12th century and common in the
13lh, was probably the prevalent plan in earlier
centuries ; the third, in construction evidently
copied from wooden buildings, and in the fact that
the baluster shafts, which more than any other
feature characterize the ante-Norman style, were
turned in a lathe as if they had been wood. It
seems probable that the Roman and the native
style were concurrent, for we find the two
mixed together, as in the curious doorway at
Monkwearmouth which there seems to be ground
to believe is part of the church built by Benedict
Biscop, A.D. 671. Here we have an arch and
impost which are evident imitations of Roman
work, supported by coupled balusters, and an
excessively exaggerated base carved with inter-
lacing ornaments or snakes by a hand which no
doubt was accustomed to execute similar work
in wood.
The existing remains of English churches,
dating between 600 and 800, are unfortunatelv,
with very rare exceptions, only fragments. These
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386
CHURCH
scanty remains, assisted and illustrated by what
contemporary or
somewhat later writers
told us, will however enable us to form tolerably
clear ideas as to the character of the churches
which were built in the above-mentioned period.
Of the metropolitan cathedral of Canterbury
we have a detailed account, written by Edmer
the Chanter, in which he describes the edifice as
it existed before the fire of 1067. The annexed
plan is copied from that drawn up by Professor
Willis {Uist. of Ch. Ch. Canterbury) from Edmer's
Canterbury Cathedral.
description. The church, Edmer says, was built
" Romanorum opere et ex quadam parte ad
imitationem ecclesiae beati apostolorum principis
Petri," meaning of course the great Vatican
basilica. The western apse was probably added
by Archbishop Odo about A.D. 950.
Of another church of the larger class we have
some important remains. This is that of Stow, in
Lincolnshire, where a bishopric was founded in
A.D. 678. The church there is cruciform, mea-
suring 150 ft. from east to west, with a breadth
of 27 ft. in the nave and 24 ft. in the chancel ;
the transept is 90 ft. from north to south by
23 ft. wide ; the side walls are about 35 ft. high.
It has been shown that the transept is evidently
the work of two periods, the wall up to a certain
height having all the appearance of having
suffered from fire, while that above shows no
trace of such damage. There is ground for be-
lieving that in 870 the church was burnt by the
Danes, and that it was extensively repaired
between 1034 and 1050 (v. Eev. G. Atkinson,
On the Restorations in Progress at b'tow Church,
in Beports and Papers of the Architectural So-
cieties of Northants, York, and Lincoln, 1. 315 ;
and the same writer in v. 23 of the same pub-
lication, On Saxon Architecture), the existing
chancel being added in the early jiart of the
next century.
Another church, that of Brixworth, in North-
amptonshire, has strong claims to be considered
Kasilica, Brixworth.
to date from the same period, for Leland tells us,
on the authority of Hugo, a monk of Peter-
borough, that Lanulphus, abbot of Peterboroucrh,
CHURCH
about 690, founded a monastery there, and the
existing edifice may be reasonably supposed to
be the original church. The repairs which were
finished in 1865 enabled the ground plan of th»
church to be correctly ascertained, and it will be
seen to be somewhat peculiar, consisting of a
square tower, the lower part of which forms a
porch at the west end, with a chamber on each
side opening into the porch and also into the
aisles, a nave and two aisles with chambers at
their east ends, a short chancel without aisles,
and an apse surrounded by a corridor or crypt
entered by steps from the chancel. The piers
are oblong masses ; the arches, which spring from
square imposts, are of Roman bricks in two
courses and wholly without ornament ; over
each pier is a rather small clerestory window
with arched head, also turned in Roman bricks.
Attached to the west side of the tower is a
circular stair turret of different and less careful
work, and therefore probably a later addition.
The bases of piers which have been found show
that at the west end of the chancel were probably
three arches, through which it was entered from
the nave.
Another church still exists in a state so far
complete that there can be no doubt as to its
original plan, but there is no historical evidence
as to its date, and its architectural character is
such as scarcely to wai-rant a decisive opinion.
This is the church in the castle of Dover, which,
in consequence of recent repairs, can be studied
more satisfactorily than was previously the case.
A short account of it was published by the Rev.
John Puckle in 1864, from which the ground
Chtirch at Dover.
plan is taken ; from this it will be seen that it is
a cruciform church, with a tower between the
nave and chancel.
The churches described are undoubtedly ex-
amples of " opus Romanum." Some others which
have been destroyed were, doubtless, of like
character, and as the contemporary or later de-
scriptions contain points of interest, it will be well
to cite them. The most remarkable is that of the
church built by St. Wilfrid, at Hexham, about
673, written by his disciple Stephen Eddius
{Vita S. Wilfridi, ap. Mabillon, AA. SS. 0. S. Ben.
saec. iv., pt. i., p. 646), running as follows :
" cujus profunditatem in terra cum domibus
mirifice politis lapidibus fundatam, et super
terram multiplicem domum columnis variis et
porticibus multis suft'ultam, mirabilique longi-
tudine et altitadine, murorum ornatam, et variis
linearum anfractibus viarum, aliquando sursum,
aliquando deorsum, per cochleas circumductam,
non est meae parvitatis hoc sermone explicare."
Richard, the prior of Hexham, in the 12th cen-
tury, describes it (Twysden's Scriptores Decern,
CHURCH
p. 290) as a noble building of hewn stone, with
crypts beneath, and walls rising to a great height.
Unfortunately, how«ver, the church was not
m existence at the time the prior wrote, having
been burnt by the Danes, in 875, but his
testimony is not to be altogether disregarded,
particularly as his mention of crypts and subter-
raneous oi-atories and winding passages is
confirmed by the still existing crypt, a plan of
which will be found under Chapel, p. 344.
If, however, the church had three stories and
columns, some square, some of various forms,
it must have been in advance of any building
now existing of as early a date, and it seems
probable that in his zeal for the glory of St.
Wilfrid, the prior somewhat exaggerated the
architectural splendour of the building.
Of the church built at Ripon by the same
prelate, Eddius tells us "in Hrypis basilicam
poHto lapide- a fundamentis in terra usque ad
summum aedificatam, variis columnis et porti-
cibus suflTultam, in altum erexit " (Mabillon,
AA. SS. Ben. saec. iv. pt. 2, p. 563).
About the same time Benedict Biscop built
(a.d. 671) a monastery at Monkwearmouth, the
doorway of the church of which has been already
commented on, and Bede (^Hist. Ah'iatum Wire-
muth. c. 5) gives some very interesting notices
of his proceedings. He went, we are told, into
Gaul, and brought from thence " caemeutarios qui
lapideam sibi ecclesiam juxta Romauorum, quem
semper amabat, morem fiicerent," and afterwards
sent to the same country for makers of glass to
glaze the windows of his church. At a later
time he went to Rome, and brought thence pic-
tures of the Virgin Mary and the twelve apostles,
"quibus mediam ejusdem ecclesiae testudinem
ducto a pariete ad parietem tabulate praecingeret,
imagines evangelicae historiae quibus australem
ecclesiae parietem decoraret, imagines visionum
Apocalypsis beati Johannis quibus septentrio-
nalem aeque parietem ornaret." As it appears
from this passage that there was a nave with aisles,
the north and south walls were probably the
ends of the transept, and the church was there-
fore perhaps cruciform. That in the 7th century
the founders of churches in England strove to
emulate the splendour of the Continental
churches, we may learn from the verses of
Aldhelm (pp. 116, 117, ed. Giles) on the church
built by Bugge, daughter of Kentwin : —
" Praecelsa mole saccUum
Bugge construxit supplex vernacula Christi,
Qua fulgent arae bis seno nomine sacrae,
Insuper apsldam consecrat Virginis aram.
Aurea contortis flavescunt pallia filis,
Quae sunt altaris sacri velamina pulcra,
Aureus atque calix gemmis fulvesclt opertus.
Ut coelum rutilat stellis ardentibus aptum,
Sic lata argento constat fabricata pateiia.
Hie crucis ex auro fulgescit lamina fulvo,
Argentique simul gemmis ornata metalla;
Hie quoque tliuribulum capitellis undique eiiictum
Pendet de summo fumosa foramina pandens,
De quibus ambrosiam spirabant thura Sabaea,
Quaudo sacerdotes missas offerrejubentur."-
The influence of the Irish missionaries upon
church architecture in England is perhaps rather
to be inferred than proved from existing ex-
amples ; carrying, as they did, their principles
of asceticism even into their churches their rude
CHUECH
38-;
and humble chapels ofl'ered no models which
could compete with those supplied by the archi-
tects brought from Gaul or Italy who built in
the manner of the Romans ; but when we call to
mind how large an extent of country they oc-
cupied, and more or less Christianized, and in
what great veneration they were held, it is
difficult to believe that the peculiarities of their
ecclesiastical architecture were wholly without
influence upon that of England. But for the
eventual triumph of the Roman system over
theirs, more tangible proofs of this would no
doubt have existed, but it is possible that the
preference of a square over an apsidal termina-
tion, which is so strongly shown in English
churches from the 12th century downwards, is
really due to the habit of imitating the forms
of the oratories which St. Cuthbert, St. Aidan,
or their disciples, may have constructed. That
I:.
Chnrch Tower, at Earls Barton
the influence of the Irish school upon ornamenta-
tion was very great, there can be no doubt, as
it is amply proved by existing manuscripts, as
the Gospels of Lindisfarne, written about a.d.
710. That these patterns of interlacing ribbons
and animals were copied in stone may be
observed in the doorway of Monkwearmouth,
and on many crosses and other monuments of
the period.
No existing example shows what a large
church would have been if constructed without
2 C 2
388 CHUECH-BOOKS
Roman influence, but the little oratories of
Cornwall and that at Ebb's Nook, in Northumber-
land (v. Chapel), will serve to show what was
the character of their lesser religions buildings.
The third influence, that of an existing school
of timber architecture, made itself felt more m
the smaller class of churches than in the larger,
and though very many portions of churches
which exhibit marks of it exist, no entire church
of any early date which manifests it has remamed.
The chief peculiarity is the use of narrow stones
placed upright, dividing the wall into sections,
exactly in the same manner as timber quarter-
iuo-. No better example of this can be found than
the tower of the church of Earls Barton, m
Northamptonshire ; but it is difficult to find any
safe o-i-ound for assigning a date to this buikhng,
as it'' is certain that the style was continued
into the 11th century. Another peculiarity !s
the use of the baluster as a shaft, and it has
been supposed that this was copied from some
Roman example ; but the focts that these balu-
sters were turned in a lathe, that they were in
use at a very early date, and in every part ot
England, all seem to point to their having ori-
ginated in an indigenous style of wooden archi-
tecture. . , ,
Many churches were constructed entirely ot
wood. Bede {Hist. Eccl iii. 25) tells us that
Fiuian, who came from lona, built at Lindisfarne
a church "episcopal! sede congruam, quam
tamen more Scottorum non de lapide sed de
robore secto totam composuit atque harundine
texit; " and according to an Irish writer of the
11th century, Conchubean (TiY. S. Moducnnae,
A A. SS. Boll. 6, Jul. 11), the Scoti were accus-
■ tomed to build with boards " tabulis dedolatis,"
or, as we may perhaps understand the passage,
with timbers not left in the round, but smoothed
with the adze. In this way, though no doubt at a
much later date, the church at Greenstead, in
Essex, was constructed, the slabs of oak left
after a plank had been sawn out of the middle
having been smoothed on the inside with the
adze, and placed upright with the curved portion
outwards, side by side, so as to form a wall.
Very, many sucifi structures, no doubt, were
erected in districts where wood was plentiful and
stone scarce. [A. N.]
CHUECH-BOOKS (Libri Ecclesiastici). Un-
der this name the following classes of books are
understood to be included: —
1. Such works as were necessary for the per-
formance of the sacred offices, whether of the
altar, the baptistery, or the choii' [Liturgical
Books].
2. Certain pastoral letters of venerable bishops,
canons of councils, and acts of martyrs, which
were occasionally read in public. For instance,
we have the testimony of Dionysius of Corinth
in Eusebius {H. E. iv. 23, § 11) that the epistle
of Clement to the Cm'inthians was preserved and
publicly read in the Corinthian Church [Ca-
nonical Books]. The so-called Canons and Con-
stitutions of the Apostles were probably regarded
as lihri ecclesiastici in many churches. On the
use of acts of martyrs, see Ruinart, Acta Sincera,
pref. § 5.
3. Not nnfrequently in ancient times the term
church-books included all books contained in the
library of a church [Library].
CHUECH
4. In some cases the church-registers, whether
of the baptized or of the dead [Diptychs], seem to
be included under the term libri ecclesiastici. [C]
CHUECHES, MAINTENANCE OF (Fa-
hrica Ecclesiae). The funds for the mainte-
nance of the fabric of a church are, and have
been from ancient times, derived from two
sources, — estates appropriated to that purpose
and voluntary offerings. As early as the 5th
century we find ordinances, that a definite pro-
portion of the general income of a church should
be set apart for the maintenance and repair of
the fabric. According to decrees of Pope Sim-
plicius, A.D. 475 {Ep. iii. in Binius, Concilia,
iii. 582), and Pope Gelasius, A.D. 494 {Ep. ix.
Binius, iii. 636), this proportion was to be a
fourth part ; while in Spain a third part was to
be appropriated to this purpose. See the Council
of Tarragona (A.D. 516), c. 8; the second of
Braga (A.D. 572), c. 2 ; of Merida (A.D. 666),
cc. 14, 16 ; the sixteenth of Toledo (A.D. 693), c. 5.
In the Frankish kingdom the repair of the fobric
was provided for by setting aside for that pur-
pose a certain part of the endowment of the
church ; a provision the more necessary, as the
voluntary contributions diminished in proportion
as the endowments increased. And as estates of
the church often fell into the hands of laics,
a Diet of the Empire held at Frankfort in 794
laid down the principle, that the maintenance of
the fabric of the church was a charge upon
church-lands, in whatever hands they were
(Pertz, Monumenta Germ. iii. 74). A similar
provision was made by some of the ecclesiastical
councils held in the year 813 by command of
Charlemagne ; as in that of Mentz (c. 42), the
fourth of Aries (c. 25), and the third of Tours
(c. 46). At a somewhat later date, the obliga-
tion of forced labour for the benefit of the fabric
was kid upon the tenants of the church.
(Herzog, Real-Encycl. i. 737). There are special
treatises on this subject by Helfert (^Von der
Erbauung, ErJialtung und Herstellung der kirch-
lichen Gebiiude, 2nd ed. 1834), by Von Reinhardt
(Ueber kirchliche Baulast, Stuttgart, 1836), and
by Permaneder (die kirchliche Baulast, Miinchen,
1838). [C-]
CHUECH SCHOOLS. [Schools.]
CHUECH (Symbols of). Early representa-
tions of the Church of Christ are very numerous,
and may be divided into (A) personifications and
(B) symbolisms ; both of the highest antiquity.
Those derived from Holy Scripture may be taken
first.
(A) 1. The Lord's comparison of Himself to the
Good Shepherd, constantly represented in the
Catacombs, and supposed to be the most ancient
of purely Christian emblems in painting or sculp-
ture, has frequently united with it pictures of
two or more sheep at His feet, besides the one
carried on His shoulders. The word " fold " repre-
sents the Church, exactly as the word " church "
the congregation of Christ's people. [Lamb,
Good Shepherd, &c.] The fresco in the Cal-
lixtine catacomb (Bottari, tav. Ixxviii., and
Aringhi, vol. i. lib. iii. ch. xxii. p. 327, ed. Par.
1657), of the Shepherd sitting under trees, and
surrounded by sheep, or sheep and goats, as here,
may be taken as one example out of many See
also that at tav. xxvi. In another (Bott. voi. ii.
CHURCH
tav. cxviii.) the sheep are issuing from a small
building, seeming to stand for a town, at whose
gate the Shepherd stands, or leans on His staff'.
The sheep of the Gentile and of the Jewish
Churches are distinguished in the painting in
Ciampini ( Vet. Mon.), where two flocks ai-e issu-
ing from separate towns or folds, Hierusalem
and Bethleem, and moving towards our Lord.
[See Bethlehem.] In a woodcut given by
Jlartiguy, He stands on a small rock, which,
hv the winding lines at its base, and the word
lORDANES above, would seem to refer to His
baptism, and our baptism into His death, by
which the sheep reach Him. (See Martigny,
.Diet. s. V. " Eghse.") »
In a mosaic mentioned by Martigny at Sta.
Sabina's, Rome, the two churches are represented
by two female figures, standing each with an
open book in hand. (See also Aringhi. lib. iii.
c. \xii. p. 327.) Over pne is inscribed ECCLESIA
EX CIHOUMCISIONE, and St. Peter stands above
her; the other is named ECCLESIA EX GEN-
TIBUS, and above her is placed St. Paul.
(See Gal. ii. 7.) The same subject occurs in a
compartment of the ancient gates of the cathedral
of Verona, treated with somewhat of the quaint-
ness of Lombard fancy, but quite intelligible as
to meaning. The twofold church is represented
by two women, shaded by trees ; one suckling
two children, the other two fishes. [Fish.]
jVIartigny gives a woodcut of an interesting plate
in P. Garrucci, Hagioglypt. p. 222. It represents
two lambs looking towards a pillar, which sym-
bolizes the Church, and is surmounted by the
Lamb bearing on his back the decussated mono-
gram of Christ. From it s])ring (apparently)
palm-branches; and two birds, just above the
Jambs, may be taken for doves. The figures of
St. Peter and St. Paul, with their division of the
Church into Jewish and Gentile, seem to be
represented in the fresco given by De Rossi
(vol. ii. Tav. d'Aggiunto A.); but are almost
destroyed by the opening of a tomb, which has
been broken into through the fresco, as so fre-
quently happens. There can be no doubt that
the Orantes, or praying female figures in the
Catacombs, are for the most part personifications
of the Church. (See Bottari, tav. xxxviii.,
Orante with doves placed next to Good Shepherd.)
In the corners of the square ceiling of the well-
known crypt of Lucina, in the Callixtine cata-
comb (De Rossi, R. S. tav. x.), the Orante
alternates with the Good Shepherd. In a re-
cently discovered painting in St. Callixtus (De
Rossi!; IX0TC, tav. i. n. 2), the Orante is offer-
mg the eucharistic sacrifice by the hands of a
consecrating priest.
2. A few representations exist within our
range, of Susanna and the elders, as typical of
the Church and its persecutors, Jewish and
Pagan. Martigny names three sarcophagi as the
only certain examples of this subject in old
Italian art. For one he refers to Buonarotti,
Vctri, p. 1. Of the two others one is from the
Vatican, the other from St. Callixtus. They are
found in Bottari, taw. xxxi., and Ixxxv., sarcoph.
from St. Callixtus. In Southei-n Gaul they are
more numerous (Miilin, 3Iidi de la F. pi. Ixv. 5 ;
ixvi. 8 ; Ixviii. 4). All these are bas-reliefs.
CHUECH
389
= These subjects are repeated very frequently in the
ancient mosaics of l^ome and Ravenna. See Mr. J. H.
Parker's Photographs.
containing the elders as well as Susanna ; and
the third i-epresents them as eagerly watching
her from behind trees. An allegory is given
below in woodcut, drawn from vol. i. pi. Ixxviii.
of M. Ferret's work, of a sheep between two wild
beasts: SUSANNA and SINIORIS are written
above.
3. The Woman with the Issue of Blood has
been considered as a type of the Gentile Church,
which would account for the frequent repre-
sentations of that miracle to be found on ancient
sarcophagi. (See Bottari, taw. .xix. xxi. xxxiv.
xxxix. xli. Ixxxiv. Ixx.xv. Ixxxix. cxxxv.) So St.
Ambrose (lib. ii. in Luc. c. viii.).
(B) Symbolisms of the Church (it is not generally
observed how important the distinction between
symbolism and personification is) begin with the
ark of Noah ; passing by easy transition to the
ship of souls and the ship of Jonah in the storm.
It is singular that our Lord's similitude of the
net is very rarely found illustrated by the
graphic art of early Christendom. The idea of
the Lord's drawing forth the sinner from the
waters, as with a hook and line (see Baptism,
p. 168), seems to have prevailed over that of
the sweeping net. The net is perhaps assigned
to St. Peter in the Vatican sarcophagus there
represented (Bottari, tar. xlii.). A small net
is used on one side of the bas-relief. [Fish,
Ship.]
The ark is very frequently used as a type of
the Church militant. On tomhs it is held to
imply that the dead expired in full communion
with the Church. In Bottari, tav. xlii., an
olive-tree stands in the ark, in the place of Noah.
It is of a square form, a chest in fact (Bottari,
taw. xl. cxx. clxxii. &c.); and in tav. cxviii.
it is placed in a boat or ship. The dove appears
with the olive-branch in almost all these, or is
represented by itself : in Bottari, tav. cxxxi., it is
placed on the poop of the ship of Jonah. In tav.
xxxvii. and passim, Noah stands in a square chest
on the shore, receiving the dove in his hands ;
Jonah is being thrown from a boat into the sea
next him. This ship represents the Church mili-
tant, and is one of the most frequent of all sym-
bolic works in the Catacombs, no doubt on account
of the Lord's own comparison of Himself to the
prophet. For representations in the catacomb of
Callixtus and elsewhere see De Rossi and Bottari.
The ship " covered with the waves" is represented'
in Martigny, from a fresco lately discovered in
St. Callixtus. A man stands in the waist or
near the stern of a sharp-prowed vessel with a
square sail, such as are used in the Mediten-anean
to this day. The waters are dashing over her
close to him, and he is in an attitude of prayer :
far off" is a drowning man who has made ship-
wreck of the faith. The vessel in full sail
(Boldetti, pp. 360, 362, 373) is also common as
the emblem of safe-conduct through the waves
of this troublesome world ; that with sails
furled, as quietly in port resting after her
voyage (as in Boldetti, pp. 363, 366), is the
3110 CHURCHING OF WOMEN
svinbol of the repose of individual Christians in
death.
An even more interesting symbolism is where
not only the ship is painted as analogous to the
Church, but the actual fabric of a church is made
likc! a ship. This was the case with many of the
earlv Komauesque churches, where the apse
which completed the basilica had the bishop's
throne placed in the centre, as the steersman's
place, with semicircular benches below for the
CHURCHING OF WOMEN
clergy ; so that a real and touching resemblance
followed. See the memorable passage in Ruskiu's
Stones of Venice, vol. ii., on the ancient churches
of Torcello, the mother city of Venice, and an
extract in Martigny (s. v. Navis) of a long pas-
sage in the Ajwstolical Constitutions (ii. 57) to
the same effect, — the bishop being likened to the
steersman, the deacons to seamen, the faithful to
passengers, and the deaconesses, strangely, to the
collector of fares.
The ship placed on the back of a fish is found
in a signet illustrated by Ale'andre {Nav. Eccles.
referent. Symb. Romae, 1626 ; see also s. v. Fish).
Another such gem is in Ficoroni's collection (6(er»J.
Ant. Litt. tab. xi. 8, p. 105). A jasper given
by Cardinal Borgia (Z>e Cruce Velitern. p. 213 and
frontispiece) places the Lord in a galley of six
oars on a side, holding the large steering oar.
This rudder-oar — or rather two of them — are in-
serted in the rudest ship-carvings, where other
oars are omitted.
The column surmounted by a dove is mentioned
by M. Leblant in his Inscriptions Chretiennes de la
Gaule, vol. i. p. 167, as existing on a lamp said to
have been found at St. Just. Another had on it
the monogram of Christ on a column. Reference
is made to Bosio, p. 167, for a column between
two doves turning to look at it ; but is inclined,
see p. 167, to regard it as a symbol of Christ
Himself rather than of the Church. [R. St. J. T.]
CHURCHING OF WOMEN ; or, Thanks-
giving OF Women after Childbirth. (Muli-
erun,i post Partum Purificatio ; sometimes called
Lithronisatio post partum : see Herzog's Eeal-
Encycl. xix. 671.)
The Mosaic law lays down (Lev. xii.) precepts
for the offerings and purification of women after
childbirth; and these legal precepts were ob-
served by the Mother of the Lord herself. Pos-
sibly in Jewish-Christian communities this
observance passed over, like some other cere-
monies, with little change into the Christian
congregation ; but of this nothing certain is
known. There is no mention of any purificatory
ceremony after childbirth in the works of
Clement of Alexandria, in the Apostolical Con-
stitutions, or in the works of the Pseudo-Diony-
sius the Areopagite. The notion, however, that
childbirth occasioned some kind of defilement
continued to prevail among the Christians of
the East, hence the rituals of the Oriental
Churches in relation to this matter refer more
to purification from defilement than to thanks-
giving for safety. Dionysius of Alexandria
(canon 2 ; in Beveridge's Pandectae, ii. 4) lays
it down as a matter admitting of no question,
that a woman ought not to be present in church,
nor to receive the Holy Communion, within forty
days after having given birth to a child. To the
same effect, the ninth of the Arabic canons of
Nicaea enjoins : " Women ought to abstain from
entering the church and from partaking of Holy
Communion for forty days after a birth ; after
which, let the woman carefully wash her gar-
ments and bathe her person and the child ; then
let her, together with her husband, present him
in the church at the steps of the altar; whom,
with their accompanying friends, let the priest
receive, and say for her the prayer of purification
and bless the child according to the prescribed
ceremonies of the Church." The forty days'
period, then, was clearly regarded as the neces-
sary extent of the woman's purification. Mean-
time, however, she was not wholly neglected by
the Church. Immediately after the birth, a
prayer was said over mother and child, and the
child signed with the cross. This rite is thought
to be alluded to by Chrysostom (on 1 Cor.,
Horn. 12, p. 108, ed. Montfaucon). The ofl^ice
which aecompauies it is believed by Goar to be
of modern origin. On the eighth day the mid-
wife, or some other matron, brings the child to
the church. Before the door the priest again
signs it with the cross, and carries it into the
church, when the name is given which it is to
bear after baiitism. Such a ceremony took place,
though not in a church, at the birth of the
emperor Theodosius II. (a.d. 401), related in the
following manner in the life of Porphyrius of
Gaza, a contemporary witness : " When seven
days were accomplished from the birth of the
child, the empress Eudoxia approached and met
us at the door of the chamber, bearing the infant
wrapped in purple. She bowed her head, and
said, ' Bless me, 0 fathers, and the child which
the Lord hath- granted me through your holy
prayers;' and gave the infant into their arms,
that they might sign it with the cross. Then
the holy bishops signed both her and the infant,
and after praying sat down." (Acta Sanctorum,
Feb. iii. 653). If the child was in danger
of death before the stated period for baptism, it
was at once baptized, but the unclean mother
was no longer allowed to suckle it, or even to
enter the room where it was (Mansi, Supplement.
Cone. i. 815). If the mother died within the
period of uucleanness, her body was taken into
the church, and the prayers of purification said
over it ; after which it was regarded as clean
CHUKGHING OF WOMEN"
(Canon. Nicaeno-Arah. c. 10 ; in Hardouin's
Co7icilia, i. 512).
On the fortieth day after the birth, the mother
and the child, accompanied by the godfather,
went solemnly to the church. Before the
church-door the pi-iest received them, signed
the mother with the cross, and said over her
several prayers. He then took the child, made
the sign of the cross with it, and carried it up to
the altar ; the godfother then received it from
the priest and left the church. In the Ethi-
opic Church, mother and child are anointed
on the brow with holy oil, and receive the
Eucharist.
In the Latin Church, also, we find traces of
the same feeling that exist in the East with
regard to the purification after childbirth.
Even St. Augustine lays down that the Levitical
law of the forty days was still binding under the
new dispensation (Quaest. in Lent. lib. iii.
quaest. 64). That Theodore of Canterbury held
the same opinion is not to be wondered at, as he
brought Oriental opinions from his early home
in Tarsus. He {Penitential, I. xiv. 18, in Had-
dan and Stubb's Documents, iii. 189) prescribes
penance for a woman entering a church within
forty days after childbirth. Augustine of
Canterbury, however, had previously appealed
to Pope Gregory I. for his opinion on this point,
who answered, with characteristic largeness
of mind, that the Mosaic law was not binding
on Christians, and that if a woman went to
church to give thanks to God on the very day
on which she had given birth to a child, she
sinned not, although the old custom of keeping
at home for forty days was not to be blamed,
when it was observed in a right spirit (Gregorii
^jij. xi. 64; p. 1158). Gregory's decision influ-
enced subsequent capitularies of the Franks and
canons of councils in the West. Even a council
of the Maronites (Mansi, Supplement. Gone. vi.
r217) rejected the " simplicity or superstition "
of repelling women from church for the space of
forty days after the birth of a child.
2. It will readily be supposed that no thanks-
giving followed the birth of a child which was
the truit of adultery or fornication. As women
who sinned in such sort were excluded from the
congregation until due penance had been done,
they were of course excluded from a service
which included thanksgiving for the fruit of
the womb. Herard of Tours (t871), enjoin-
ing women to return thanks in church as
soon as may be after a birth, expressly makes
the exception, "nisi forte sit adultera" (canon
60, quoted by Binterim, Denkwilrd. vi. 2, 196).
To the same effect are some decrees of later
councils.
3. The service to be used in the churching of
women was probably in ancient times left to
the discretion of the priest, for no formularies for
this purpose are found in the ancient sacramen-
taries. Martene {De Ritibus Eccl. ii. 136, 137)
gives only two forms, from Gallican codices of
probably the 14th century. If a larger number
of ancient benedictionals had descended to our
times, we might possibly have found forms for
tlie benediction of women after childbirth ; but
these are rare. Binterim {Deiibiiird. vi. 2,
199 ff.) gives a churching-service of the Ethiopic
Church, that contained in the Greek Euctiologion,
and a Latin formula. The latter is from a MS.
CHUECHYARD
391
of the 14th century, and none probably are, in
their present form, very ancient. [C]
CHURCHWARDENS. These officers would '
seem to be the representatives in the later Church
of the seniores eccksiastici, of whom frequent ;
mention is made by St. Augustine and Optatus. i
We gather from these writers that the seniores
ecclesiae were a sort of elders who were not of
the clergy, but yet had some concern in the care
of the Church. Thus, St. Augustine inscribes
one of his epistles to his own church of Hippo,
" Clero, senioribus et universae plebi." Some of ■
these seniores were the chief men or magistrates
of the place, such as we still call aldermen ; who "
also formed a sort of lay council of the bishops,
giving advice and assistance in many weighty j
matters of the Church. But there were otiiers
known more properly as seniores eccledastici, who |
were entrusted with the utensils, treasure, and !
outward affairs of the Church, but had no con-
cern in its government or discipline ; and these
may be regarded as the predecessors of our
churchwardens. The lay elders, so called, of •
modern times are ranked above the deacons in
their own communities, and cannot therefore
be identified with the seniores ecclesiastici of 1
the ancient Church, who, not being reckoned of '
the clergy, were ecclesiastically inferior to the |
order of deacons (Bingham, ii. 18). [D. B.]
CHURCHYARD. The subject of places set ;
apart for Christian burial has already been con- j
sidered under Area, Catacomb, and Cemetery. |
The present article relates simply to burial in
the precincts of churches. i
The laws of the -empire against burying in |
cities of course prevented the use of churchyards ;
within the walls for the purpose of interment so I
long as those laws continued in force. The first '
attempts to bury in or near churches seem to I
have occurred in the case of those churches or me-
morial cells which were built over the remains
of apostles or martyrs ; for both Theodosius |
(Codex, lib. ix. tit. 17 ; De Sepulc. Viol. leg. 6) j
and iusiiman (Codex, lib. i. tit. 2 ; De Eccl. leg. 2)
expressly provide against such churches being
made exceptions to the general law. When the |
church had kings for nursing-fathers, the pri-
vilege of being buried within the precincts was .
sometimes extended to Christian emperors. Thus
Constantine desired (Euseb. Vita Const, iv. 71) to j
be buried near the apostles whom he had en- \
shrined, and his son Constantius carried out his
wish by causing him to be buried in the Atrium
of the church ; a fact to which Chrysostom more
than once alludes (On 2 Cor., Horn. 26, p. 929, j
ed. Paris, 1616; Qtiod Christus sit Dens, c. 8, p. |
839). Theodosius the elder, Arcadius, and Theo-
dosius the younger, are said by a late historian
(Nicephorus, //. E. xiv. 58) to have been simi-
larly buried. The council of Braga of the year
563 (can. 18) allows corpses to be buried, if need
be, around the church (deforis circa murum
basilicae), but utterly forbids any to be buried
within, alleging the respect due to the relics of
saints.
Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury laid down
(Penitential, Ii. i. 5 and 6, in Haddan and Stubbs' i
Councils, iii. 190) the following rule : In a church ,'
in which bodies of unbelievers are buried it is I
not lawful to consecrate an altar ; but if the j
church itself is of good material, let it be pulled
392
CHURCHYARD
dowu and rebuilt after the logs of which it is
composed have been planed or washed. If the
altar has been previously consecr-ited, mass may
be said upon it if ' religious ' persons are buried
there ; but if a pagan be buried there, it is better
that the altra- should be purified and taken out
of the building. It is clear from this passage
that burials frequently took place in the rude
wooden churches of the 7 th century in England,
and that only the bodies of pagans were held
absolutely to desecrate the place, though the
j'ractice of burying in churches does not seem to
be looked upon with favour. The council of
Nantes, held probably towards the end of the 7th
century, in the 6th canon, permits burials in the
atrium" or fore-court, in the cloister, and in the
outbuildings (exedrae) of a church, but utterly for-
bids them in the church itself and near the altar,
where the Body and Blood of the Lord are. The
same precept is repeated in the canons of later
councils, as in the 52nd of that at Mentz in 813,
which however expressly excepts bishops, abbots,
worthy presbyters, and faithful laymen. Similar
to this is the injunction of Theodulf of Orleans
{Capitul. ad Preshyt. ix.). The council of Tribur
(a.d. 895), repeating the prohibition with regard
to laymen (can. 17), implies that the prohibited
burials had already taken place, by the provision
that bodies buried in churches in times past were
not to be exhumed ; but in case the multitude of
tombs was such that the ground could not con-
veniently be levelled, it provides, in almost the
same terms as Theodulf, that the altar should be
removed, and the church made a mere cemetery-
chapel or catacomb.
In the East, the Emperor Leo VI., about the
ytar OvOO, abrogated (Novell. 53) all the old laws
against burying in cities, and left men at liberty
to bury either within or without the walls ; a
permission which no doubt gave occasion to
burving in the precincts of city churches.
We conclude, then, that burying in the pre-
cincts of churches was practised, in the case of
very distinguished persons, from the 4th cen-
tury ; more generally, from the 7th century ;
but that the increasing practice of burying in
churches was constantly resisted by ecclesiastical
authorities during the whole period with which
we are concerned, and was held to be almost a
desecration.
Monastic bodies had from very ancient times
burying-grounds of their own, that they who
had consorted together in their lives might rest
together in death (Isidore of Seville, Begula,
c. 23); these were however originally outside
the precincts of the monastery, as we see from
the instances of Pachomius, Benedict, and many
others. Bede, in the Life of St. Cuthbert,
speaks of a dead monk being carried to his
burial in a cart, which would not have been
necessary if the interment had taken place within
the monastery. It appears that in many places
a chapel or oratory was built on the spot chosen
for the interment of the brethren. For instance,
Abbot Bertinus (a.d. 660) enclosed a graveyard
for his monastery on a neighbouring hill, and
built in the midst of it a church dedicated to
St_. Mary (Adu SS. Bencd. saoc. iii. pt. 1, p. 110).
Afterwards, graveyards were formed within the
convent walls, but not within the cloister, and
were provided with a separate church. Of this
Icmd IS believed to have been the cemetery formed
CINGULLM
by Eigil at Fulda, the church of whicli was dedi-
cated in the year 822 (Life of Eigil by Candidus,
c. 20, in Acta SS. Bened. saec. iv. pt. 1, p. 238).
Benedict of Aniane also caused an oratory to be
constructed in the cemetery of his monastery
(Tjife, c. 39, in Acta SS. Ben. saec. iv. pt. 1).
The ancient plan of St. Gall shows only a cross
in the midst of the graveyard within the convent
walls. And in process of time burials took place
in the cloister itself. Abbot Walfrid, when dying
(a.d. 765), desired to be buried in ^he midst of
the cloister (Life, c. 8, Acta SS. Ben. saec. iii.
pt. 2) ; and it appears that other monks of that
rule were bui'ied in the cloister (u. s. c. 14).
Later instances are frequent. Monks of dis-
tinguished sanctity were occasionally buried in
the church itself, as St. Vouel of Soissons in the
8th century (Acta SS. Ben. iv. 2, p. 550). Ex-
cept in the case of very saintly persons, burial
was not permitted witjfiin the first eight cen-
turies in monastic more than in secular churches.
(Bingham's Antiquities, bk. xxiii. c. 1 ; Martene,
Be Bitibus Eccl. Ant. lib. iii. c. 7, §§ 10-14;
De Bit. Monach. lib. v. c. 10, §§ 100-104; Bin-
terim, BcnkwUrdigkeiten, vi. 3, 443 ff.) [C]
CIBOEIUM. [Altar : Dove, Eucharistic]
CILICIA (Council of), a.d. 423, at which
Theodorus of Mopsuestia, a town in this province,
who was still alive, was condemned for his errors
(Mansi, iv. 473-4). [E. S. F.]
CINC4ULUM. (Zaivf,, Zona, Balteus, Funis.)
The girdle, in ancient times, was generally as-
sociated with the idea of active exertion, inas-
much as it served to confine and to gird up the
long flowing garments which, when unconfined,
interfered with all activity. But as a richly-
oi-namented girdle commonly formed a part of
the robes of state worn by Eastern monarchs, we
find the girdle occasionally alluded to as a sym-
bol of royal dignity. So Patriarch Germanus of
Constantinople, c. 715 a.d., Myst. T/ieor. p. 206,
speaks of the girdle, then worn as part of
a priest's dress, as signifying the beauty where-
with Christ entering upon His kingdom did gird
Himself withal, even the beauteous majesty of
Godhead. See Vestiarium Christianum, pp. 84, 85.
Lastly, through yet other associations, which
will be obvious to all students of antiquity, the
girdle connected itself with the idea of chastity ;
and it is in this connexion that it is commonly
referred to by the later ecclesiastical writers.
See, for example, St. Jerome on Ezek. xliv. ;
Celestine, bishop of Rome, t432, apud Labbe',
Concilia, ii. 1618 (" in lumborum praecinctione
castitas . . . indicatur"); Rabanus Maurus, de
Instit. Cleric. lib. i. c. 17 ; Pseudo-Alcuinus,
de Div. Off. (Vest. Christ, p. Ill); Ivo Carno-
tensis (ih. p. 121). Both in East and West it
formed part of the monastic dress from the
earliest times. Among Western writers see the
Life of Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspa, by Ferrandus
Diacouus (" pelliceo cingulo tanquam monachus
utebatur ") ; Salvianus, ad Eccl. Cathol. lib.
iv. (addressing a monk of unworthy character —
" Licet religionem vestibus simules, licet fidem
cingulo aff'eras, licet sanctitatem pallio menti-
aris," &c.) ; Joannis Cassiani, de Coenob. Instit.
lib. i. c. 11, apud Migne, Patrol, xlix. 60; the
Berjula of St. Benedict, Migne, Ixvi. 490 (" vestiti
dormiant, et cincti cingulis aut fuuibus ").
CIRBA, COUNCILS OF
Hildemar, in the 9tli century (apud Migne, torn,
c), explains the distinction between ' cingulum '
and 'funis.' "Funis est qui de cannaba fit vel
lino in rotundum ; cingulus (sio) autem cor-
/igia est de lana vel lino, sed non in rotundum
sicut funis, sed in latum sicut tricia." For
Eastern usage, see St. Jei'ome, Praefat. in
Ilciliilam S. Fachoinii, opp. ii. 49; Palladius.
L'/H.-iiii-a, cap.- 38 (Migne, Ixxiii. 1157) and
St. (iermauus of Constantinople, in a passage
above referred to. He there says of the monastic
habit that it was like that of John the Baptist,
whose raiment was of camel's hair, and who
wore a leathern girdle about his loins. Celestine,
bishop of . Rome, in his letter to the bishops
of Vienna and Narbonne, already referred to,
dating about 430 A.D., marks the time when the
wearing of a girdle as part of the episcopal dress
(probably in imitation of the monastic habit)
was first introduced into Gaul. He reproves
those to whom he writes for dressing in a pal-
lium and wearing a girdle about the loins, and
so seeking to observe the truth of Scripture not
m the spirit but in the letter. " Amicti pallio,
et lumbos praecincti, credunt se Scripturae fidem
non per spiritum sed per literam completuros."
See Labbe, Concilia, ii. 1618 ; Ved. Christ, p.
45. [W. B. M.]
CIRBA, COUNCILS OF. [African Coun-
cils.]
CIRCUMCELLIONES. (1) A name given
to the Douatist fanatics in Africa during the
4th century, from their habit of roving from
house to house, plundering (Aug. c. Gaudent. i.
32). They went about in predatory gangs, con-
sisting chiefly of rustics, on the borders of the
Gaetulian desert, ravaging Numidia and Mauri-
tania, provinces at that time neither thoroughly
Christianised nor thoroughly subjected to Roman
law. According to Augustine they were noto-
rious for their lawless violence against the
Catholics (Aug. c. Gaudent. i. 28, 32 ; Haer. 69 ;
c. Parmen. i. 11; c. Crescon. iii. 42, 46, 47;
Upp. 88, 105, 185), as well as against property
(Aug. Ej<p. 15, 85, 185). To restrain their tur-
bulence their own bishops were constrained to
invoke the aid of the Roman counts. Augustine
defends Macarius and Taurinus from the charge
of having been unduly severe against them, and
reproves the exultation of these fanatics over
the death of Ursacius (Aug. c. Lift. Petilian. cc.
22, 25). At the Conference of Carthage in 411
A.D. the imperial commissioner decreed a fine on
those districts wherein the " circumcelliones "
were not kept in order (Coleti Cone. t. iii.).
At Bagai they fought, but unsuccessfully, against
Roman cavalry. The war-shout of these
" avengers " or " champions of God," as they
styled themselves {aytaviaTLKoi, Optat. Milevit.
Be Schism. JJonat. iii. 4), "Deo Laudes," in
opposition to the " Deo Gratias " of the other
party, was terrible to all peaceful people as the
roar of a lion (Aug. in Ps. cxxxii. v. 6). Instead
of swords, which for some time they felt a reli-
gious scruple against using (cf. St. Matt, x.xvi.
52), they brandished clubs at first, which they
called "Israels" (Aug. in Ps. .v. v. 5). Like
the Syrian "assassins," the followers of the
" Old Man of the Mountain " in the time of the
Crusades, the "Circumcelliones" courted death,
wantonly insulting tlie Pagans at their festivals
CIRCUMCISION, FESTIVAL OF 393
(Aug. c. Gaudent. i. 32, 49; Epp. 12, 16, 185);
and, in their frantic eagerness for martyrdom,
challenging all whom they met on their way to
kill them (Aug. c. Crescon. iii. 46, 49 ; c. Lift.
Petil. ii. 114; De Unit. Eccl. 50; Theodoret.
Haer. iv. 6). Among the titles which they as-
sumed was that of " Agnostici," to indicate their
contempt for learning (Aug. in Ps. cxxxii. v. 6).
Though pledged by profession to celibacy, they
were guilty of frequent outrages on women, if
their opponents may be believed (Aug. c. Litt.
Petil. i. 16, ii. 195 ; De Unit. Eccl. 50). For
these and similar offences, as well as on the
charge of aiding the Vandals, they were ordered
by Honorius, 412 A.D., to be fined (Hefele in
Kirchenlex.., iii. 261). Gibbon compares these
"circumcelliones" to the " camisards " of Lan-
guedoc in the commencement of the 18th century
{Decline and Fall, ii. 445, Bohn, 1855).
Circumcelliones (2) were vagabond monks,
censured by Cassian, under the name of Sara-
baitae, for roving from place to place (^Coll.
xviii. 7). Probably the name was transferred to
them from the Donatist fanatics. St. Augustine
rebuts this comparison as unmerited, at least
within his experience (m Ps. cxxxii. v. 6). But
elsewhere {Dc Oper. Monach. 28) he inveighs
with characteristic warmth against the idle,
vagrant monks, " nusquam missos, nusquam fixos,
uusquam stantes, nusquam sedentes," &c., who
scoured the country for alms, vending fictitious
relics. Benedictus Anianensis quotes Isidorus de
Offic. Eccl. (ii. 15) against these "circumcelliones"
or "circillioues " as spurious Anchorites (Con-
cord. Pegg. c. 3, cf. Menard, ad loc). These
vagabond monks were condemned as unstable
and scandalous (Cone. Tolet. vii. c. 5); and
as mock-hermits (KuKXdpioL ^pevSeprifurai) in
the Synodica Epistol. Orieutalis addressed to the
Emp. Theophilus (Suicer. Thesaur. sub voce).
They are denounced also by Kilus (Epp. iii. 19) ;
and are probably the " gyrovagi " censured in
the Begula St. Benedicti (c. 1). The name
occurs so late as in Monachus Sangallensis, who
relates how a monk, one of the " circumcelliones,"
" ignarus disciplinae imperatoris," intruded into
the choir in the presence of Carl (De Gest. Carol.
M. i. 8, V. Canisii Antiqu. Lectiones). [I. G. S.]
CIRCUMCISION. As a Jewish rite, or as
connected with the controversies of the Apostolic
age, this ordinance does not come within the
limits of this work. It claims a place, how-
ever, even in a Dictionary of Christian Anti-
quities, as having been adopted fi-om a remote
period in the Church of Abyssinia, and as still in
use there. In this, as in many other practices,
the influence of a large Jewish population has
made that community the representative of a
type of Judaeo-Christianity which must have
been common in the first two centuries, but
which has since been lost. It has to be noted
that cii'cumcision is practised there (and the
present "usage rests upon an immemorial tra-
dition) before baptism, between the third antl
the eighth day after birth, and that an ana-
logous operation is applied to female children.
Stanley, Eastern Church, p. 12. [E. H. P.]
CIRCUMCISION, FESTIVAL OF.
I. Origin of Festival. — From the necessary
connection of the event commemorated on this
day with the Nativity, we must obviously not
394 CIRCUMCISION, FESTIVAL OF
look for notices of its celebration at a date
earlier than tliat at which we first meet with
those of the Nativity itself.
It will follow from the prescribed interval
between the birth of a child and its circum-
cision that the festival of the Circumcision will
fall on the octave of the Nativity ; and con-
sequently we continually find January 1 thus
marked, even where the service contains re-
ferences to the day as the anniversary of the
Circumcision. It is not until later that we find
the day to have acquired sufficient independent
rank to bear the title of the Circumcision rathe]-
than of the octave as its special distinguishing
mark.
It is hard to say when the earliest traces of
an observance of the day under either designa-
tion are to be found. There is extant a long
homily by Zeno, bishop of Verona in the 4th
centur}', which would appear to have been
meant for delivery on this day; but, on the
other hand, it is not mentioned in the Kalenda-
riuin Carthaginense, or in that of Bucherius,
both probably documents of the 4th century.
Now it has been shown elsewhere [Christmas]
that the first certain allusions to an observance
of Christmas as a distinct and independent fes-
tival occur towards the end of the 4th century,
and that this observance of it was later in the
East than in the West. This agrees with what
is said above, and with the instances we shall
further quote, which tend to disprove the exist-
ence of any save perhaps a more or less local
recognition of the festival before the end of the
4th century. Here, as in the case of the parent
festival of the Nativity, our earliest illustrations
come from the West.
Thus we find the day noticed in the Gelasian
Sacramentary, the Gregorian Sacramentary and
Autiphonary, the Galilean Sacramentary and
Lectionary, in the Calendar of Fronto, the Mo-
zarabic Liturgy and Breviary, and the Martyro-
logium Hieroiiymi.
Passing on to the Eastern Church, we find
that in the calendar of the Coptic Church given
by Selden {de Synedriis Ebraeorum, lib. iii. c.
15), the Circumcision is reckoned among the
minor festivals, and that the Apostolic Constitu-
tions, a work doubtless of Oriental origin, ignores
it altogether.
In process of time the day became more and
more recognized, and at last the observance
became universal.
A reason for the Church's apparent slowness in
recognizing and commemorating so important an
incident in our Lord's earthly life, at which He
received the name Jesus — an event, one would
sui)pose, itself of more than ordinary interest
is doubtless to be found in the fiict that on the
Kalends of January was held a great heathen
festival, characterized by an excessive amount of
riot and licentiousness. The Christians, anxious
to avoid an apparent toleration of these abomi-
nations by holding a festival of their own, ever
though of a totally different character, on the
same daj-, enjoined a solemn fast, as a whole-
some protest and as a means of guarding the
unwary from being led astray. See Augustine,
Sermon. 197, 198 {Patrol, xxxviii. 1024 sqq.).
There is also an allusion to this in a canon of
the 2ud Council of Tours, a.d. 5fi7 {Cow. Ttiro-
nense U. can. 17 ; Labbe, v. 857). Further we
CIRCUMCISION, FESTIVAL OF
find in the Martyrologium Romanum (Janu-
y 1), that a certain Almachius suffered martyr-
dom for saying, " Hodie octavae Dominici diei
sunt, cessate a superstitionibus idolorum et a
sacrificiis poUutis." If, as is asserted, this
Almachius be the same with the Telemachus
mentioned by Theodoret {Hist. Eccl. v. 26),
this event must be referred to the time of
Honorius, and will point to a certain recognition
of the day by the Roman Church at the end of
the 4th century. To the subject of this fast we
shall briefly refer again.
We shall now proceed to discuss the observance
of the day more in detail.
II. Liturgical Notices. — It is impossible to
determine the character of the evidence borne as
to this day by the Leonine Sacramentary, for it
is mutilated at the beginning, and commences
with the month of April. The last section in it,
however, is "In jejunio mensis decimi," for
which five Masses are given,, thus furnishing
evidence for the observance of the time, though
none for the name by which the day was known
(ii. 156, ed. Ballerini). It may be added, how-
ever, that with this exception there is no allusion
to the day in the writings of Leo I., although he
has many sermons on the Nativity itself. The
Gelasian Sacramentary gives a Mass for the day,
Tn Octahas Domini, and there follows one Froki-
hendnm ah idolis, pointing to what we have al-
ready .said as to the heathen festival on this day
{Patrol. Ixxiv. 1061). In the former Mass, the
main idea is evidently of the octave of the Na-
tivity, and not of any special commemoration of
the day itself, there being merely a passing
allusion to our Lord's Circumcision, as contrasted
with such expressions as " Cujus hodie octavas
nati celebrantes ..." and the like.
In the Gregorian Sacramentary the Mass for
the day is headed In Octavis Domini (Greg.
Sacr. col. 13, ed. Menard), but the Gospel treats
of the Circumcision, Luke ii. 21-32. Of two
collects given, one has special reference to the
Virgin, the other to the octave, and in Pame-
lius' edition of the Sacramentary, and in the
Cd. Reg. Suec. is read Ad S. Mariam adMartyres ;
in the Kalendarium Romanum is Natale S. Mariae,
and thus in the Gregorian Antiphonary {op. ait.
660) we have De Sancta Maria in Octava Do-
mini.
All this points to a twofold commemoration of
the day, the one having regard to the octave of
the Nativity or the Circumcision, the other to the
Virgin, and hence the special prominence given
to the mention of her in the Mass for the day in
the modern Romish Missal. The Preface and
the Benediction in the Gregorian Sacramentary
do indeed refer to the Circumcision — " Cujus
hodie Circumcisionis diem et Nativitatis octavum
celebrantes — " ; but there is a certain amount
of evidence against their authenticity, they are
omitted by Pamelius and are wanting in the
Cd. Reg. Suec. Possibly, therefore, they are a
later addition.
We may next briefly notice the ancient litur-
gical documents of the Galilean Church. The
ancient Lectionary ptiblished by Mabillon {de
Liturgia Gallicana, p. 112), gives lections Tn
Circumcisione Domini for matins and for the
Mass; for the former, Isaiah xliv. 24 — xlv. 7,
and for the latter, Isaiah i. 10-20; with 1 Cor.
X. 14-31 and "Luke ii. 21-40 for the l^pistle
CIRCUMCISION, FESTIVAL OF
rind Gospel, the Gospel beiug the same as in the
Gregorian and Mozarabic liturgy ; the pro-
phetical lection and Epistle in this last being
Isaiah xlviii. 12-20 and Philippians iii. 1-8.
It will be observed that the Epistle in the Galli-
can liturgy has reference to the idol practices
which characterized the- day. T)ie Gotho-Gallic
Missal (('6. 200) gives an Ordo Missae in Cir-
cumcisione Domini nostri Jesu Christi, and the
Mozarabic Breviary and Missal style the day
Circumcisio Domini.
It is thus probable that we must look to Gaul
and Spain for early examples of this title of the
day. The first definite instance that we have
observed is to be found in the canon of the 2nd
Council of Tours (567 A.D.) already referred to,
which, after remarking that every day was a fes-
tival from Christmas to Epiphany, adds, " ex-
cipitur triduum illud, quo ad calcandam Gen-
tilium consuetudinem patres nostri statuerunt
privatas in Kalendis Januarii fieri litanias, et in
ecclesiis psallatur, et hora octava in ipsis Ka-
lendis Circumcisionis Missa Deo propitio cele-
bretur" (Labbe, ^. c). There is also some evi-
dence for supposing that the title of the Circum-
cision was applied to the day in Spain before
the death of Isidore (636 a.d.), for we read in
one place, "placuit etiam patribus a die Natalis
Domini usque ad diem Circumcisionis solemne
tempus efficere " (Eejula Monachomm 12 ; Patrol.
Ixxiii. 880). Arevalus does indeed suggest (nof. in
loc.'), from the belief that the title Circumcision
is probably of later date, that the original words
of Isidore here may have been Kalendas Janu-
arias ; but when the passage is taken in con-
junction with the above quoted canon, there seems
the less reason for having recourse to this hypo-
thesis. Further, remarks in the laws of the Visi-
goths shew that by the middle or latter part of
the 7th century the day ranked in Spain of so high
importance that on it the law courts were closed,
and that it then bore the name of the Circum-
cision (^Godex Leg. Wisigoth. lib. ii. tit. 1, lex 11 ;
lib. xii. t. 3, 1. 6 ; in Hispania Illustrata, iii.
863, 1004, Frankfort 1606). Still, the old
name survived, for we find it at the end of the
8th century in the Regula of Bishop Chrodegang"
{Patrol. Ixxxix. 1090), and in the proceedings of
the Council of Mainz, 813 A.D. {Cone. Mogun-
tinnm, can. 36 ; Labbe', vii. 1250).
Briefly then to sum up the results so far
obtained : we have seen that the a priori ex-
pectation, which would assign the end of the
4th century as the earliest possible date of
the recognition of the day under either title, is
borne out by the fact of the absence of allusions
to it before that date ; and further that, until
at the earliest the -middle o.f the 6th century,
it was solely as the octave of the Nativity, and
not as the Circumcision that the day was known.
It may be remarked here that the whole of
Christendom agrees in celebrating the Circum-
cision on January 1 except the Ai-menian Church,
which still adheres to the old Eastern practice
of commemorating the Nativity and Epiphany
together on .January 6, and necessarily therefore
celebi-ates the Circumcision on January 13.
The primary idea of the day as a fast and not
a festival has already been referred to. The
canon of the 2nd Council of Tours which we
have cited shows the state of the case in France ;
that the same custom prevailed in Spain is shown
CLAUDIUS
39^
by an allusion in a canon of the 4th Council of
Toledo, A.D. 633 {Co?ic. Tol. iv. can. 11 ; Labbe,
V. 1709) ; cf. Isidore, de Ecd. Off. lib. i. c. 46 ;
although it must be added that a heading in the
Mozarabic Breviary points to the three days
before the Epiphany as the period of the fast :
" Officium jejuniorum in Kal. Jan. observatur
tribus diebus ante festum Epiphaniae." Lastly,
we may refer to the Ordo Pomanus, which, after
speaking of the heathen abominations which de-
filed the day, adds, " Statuit universalis Eccksia
jejunium publicum in isto die fieri " (p. 20, ed.
Hittorp.").
It will, of course, be inferred from what has
been already remarked that there is an absence
of homilies or sermons for the day in the woi-ks
of early patristic writers. We may here again,
however, refer to the discourse of Zeno of Verona,
de Circumcisione (lib. i. tractat. 13, p. 99, ed.
Ballerini, where see note 1). In an ancient MS.
of this of the 9th century (the Cd. Remensis) is
added a note in the margin of this discourse.
In Octaba Domini pontificis nona lectio. The
Ballerini consider these notes to have been written
at the time when Archbishop Hincmar (ob. 882
A.D.) gave the MS. to the abbey of St. Remigius at
Rheims, and while the MS. belonged to the
Church of Verona {Praef. § 5), and that this
discourse was there spoken on the octave of the
Nativity. They infer from the marginal note
the relative importance of the day, considering
that such a remark about the ninth lection would
be made only in the case of the more important
festivals. Bede has written a homily for the day
on Luke ii. 21 {Horn. x. ; Patrol, xciv. 53).
When the fast became a festival it is impos-
sible definitely to say. Protably the process
was a gradual one, and the period varied in
different countries. The statutes of St. Boniface
(ob. 755 A.D.) include it among the special
festivals on which no work was to be done
(D'Achery, Spicilegium ix. 66). Still, at a
period subsequent to this, traces of the old state
of things survived, the latest we have observed
being in the Capitula of Atto, bishop of Vercelli
in the 10th century, who dwells on the ex-
pediency of maintaining the ancient protest
{Patrol, cxxxiv. 43). [R. S.]
CIRCUS. [Charioteer.]
CIRINUS. [Cyrinus.]
CITHINUS, one of the " martyres Scillitani "
at Carthage, July 17 {Cal. Carthag., Bedae, Pom.
Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CLARUS, presbyter, and martyr " in ]>ago
Vilcasino," Nov. 4 {Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CLAUDIANUS. (1) Martyr in Egypt under
Numerian, Feb. 25 {Mart. Pom. Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Nicoinedia, Slarch 6 {Mart.
Usuardi). [C]
CLAUDIUS. (1) JTartvr at Ostia under
Diocletian, Feb. 18 {Mart. Pom. Vet., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Rome, with Pope Marcellinus,
April 26, A.D. 304 {Mart. Usuardi).
« The alleged .^tatuta Ecclesiae R}iemensis (Labb(?, v.
1694), attributed to Bishop Sonnatius, in which (c. 20)
reference is made to the Circumcision as one of the days
"alisriue op re forensl excoleiida,' aic probably fabrica-
tions of a later date.
396
CLAVUS
(3) Martyi- at Rome, with Nicostratus and
others, July 7 (M:(rt. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(4) ]\Iartyr iu Aegea, Aug. 23 {Mart. Hierou.,
Usuardi).
(5) Martyr at Rome, with Nicostratus and
others, Nov. 8 {Hart. Hieron., Bedae, Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi). Compare (3).
(6) The tribune, martyr at Rome under Nu-
mei-ian, Dec. 3 {Mart. "Rum. Vet., Usuardi) ;
Aug. 12 {Mart. Hieron.). [C]
CLAVUS. We continually find in ancient
Christian frescoes and mosaics garments deco-
rated with long stripes of purple, sometimes en-
riched with embroidery or an inwoven pattern,
called clavi. These generally run from the top
to the bottom of the garment, and are broader or
narrower according to the dignity of the wearer.
Thus, the Lord is often distinguished by a broader
clavus than those of the apostles, as in a fine
fresco in the cemetery of St. Agnes (Perret,
Catacombs, ii. pi. xxiv.). Undistinguished per-
sons also wore clavi, but very narrow. In nearly
all cases these clavi are two in number, and run
from each shoulder to the lower border of the
dress. This arrangement of the clavi is alluded
to in the Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas, where
the Good Shepherd is said to have appeared to
the former " distinctam habens tunicam inter
duos clavos per medium pectus" (Ruinart, Acta
Sincera, p. 32, ed. Verona). Tertullian {De Pallia,
c. 4) speaks of the care which was taken in the
selection of shades of colour.
There are a few examples of the single clavus,
running down the centre of the breast, which
Rubenius believes to have been the ancient fashion
of wearing it. These occur only in repre-
sentations of the Three Children in the fiery
furnace (Bottari, Sciilture e Pitture, tav. cxlix.
clxxxi.). Clavi are common to both sexes ;
women may be seen represented with that orna-
ment, for instance, in pictures of the Wise and
Foolish Virgins (Bottari, tav. clviii.) ; and female
figures are sometimes found adorned with two
clavi on each side. Jerome {Epist. 22, ad Eu-
stochium) alludes to the use of the clavus by
women, single as well as married. It is also
common in early art to personages of the Old
Testament and the New ; it is given to Moses,
for instance, in a painting engraved by Perret
(i. pi. xxiv.), and to the apostles in nearly all
representations of them, whether in fresco, in
mosaic, or in glass. Angels also wear the clavus
in early mosaics, as may be seen in examples
given by Ciampini {Vet. Mon. i. tab. xlvi. ; ii.
tab. XV.), in the Menologium of Basil (see parti-
cularly Dec. 16 and Dec. 29), and in several
ancient miniatures.
These purple stripes were worn on the penula
as well as the tunic : a fresco from an arcosolium
in the cemetery of Priscilla (Bottari, tav. clxii.)
furnishes three examples. They are found also
in the pallium : a mosaic of St. Agatha Major at
Ravenna represents our Lord with clavi of gold
on such a garment. The dalmatic and colobium
were similarly decorated : the latter seems to
have had only one broad band of purple (latus
clavus) descending from the upper part of the
ohest to the teet. See the Christian sarcophagi
engraved by Bottari (tav. xvii. cxxxvii. and
others).
Priests, after the cxaniplo of the senators of
CLEEUS j
old Rome, are said to have worn the broad clavus, i
while deacons contented themselves with the I
narrow one on their tunics or dalmatics. The j
clavus is sometimes represented as descending '•
only to the middle of the chest : it is in these ]
cases decorated with small discs or spangles, and ;
terminates in small globes or bullae. This is said '
to be the kind of decoration which is sometimes ' ,
called j3ara(/(H«/iS. (Ruhenms, De Re Vestiaria et '.
praecipue de Lato Clavo, Antwerp, 1665 ; Mar- ■,
tigny, Diet, des Antiq. chre't. s. v. Clavus.) [C] j
CLEMENT. (1) Of Ancyra, martyr, a.d.
296 ; is commemorated Jan. 23 {Cal. Byzant.').
(2) Pope, martyr at Rome under Trajan, Nor. j
23 {Mart. Hieron., Bedae, Em)i. Vet., Usuardi) ;
Nov. 24 {Cal. Byzant.). \
(3) Of Alexandria ; is commemorated Dec. 4 )
{Mart. Usuardi). [C] j
CLEMENTINE LITUEGY. [Liturgy.] i
CLEMENTINUS, martyr at Heraclea, Nov. !
14 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi). [C] ;
CLEONICUS, martyr, A.D. 296 ; is comme- ,
morated March 3 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CLEOPHAS, martyr, at Emmaus, Sept. 25
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C] ,
CLEEESTOEY, or Clearstory. An i
upper story or row of windows in a church, I
rising clear above the adjoining parts of the '
building. As the clerestory was a common fea- j
ture in the old civil basilica, it was probably \
soon adopted in buildings of the same type used i
for ecclesiastical purposes. See for instance, the
ancient basilica of St. Peter at Rome, under ^
Church, p. 370 ; also p. 381, [C]
CLEEGY. [Clerus; Immunitiesof Clergy.]
CLERMONT, COUNCILS OF. [Ar-
VERNENSE.] |
CLEEUS, deacon, martvr at Antioch, Jan. 7 1
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C] '
CLEEUS (and Clericus = one of the Clerus), :
at first equivalent to the whole body of the
faithful, as being the lot or inheritance of the
Lord (1 Pet. v. 3 = KA-qpovoixia, v. Theodoret, ad \
loc, and so still used by e. g. Theophanes, Horn.
xii. 70, quoted by Suicer) ; but appropriated
almost immediately to all, "qui in ecclesiastici i
ministerii gradibus ordinati sunt " (Isid. Hispal.
De Eccl. Offic. ii. 1) ; the distinction of clergy j
and laity being found in 1 Cor. xiv. 16, and in *
St. Clement of Rome, and the term being applied
to the former exclusively, " vel quia de sorte !
sunt Domini, vel quia Ipse Dominus sors, id est, j
pars clericorum est " (St. Jerome, Ad Nepotian., '
followed by Isidore, as above, and by Rab. Maur.
De Iiistit. Cleric, i. 2). The more modern de-
rivation, from the lots cast at the appointment
of St. Matthias (so e. g. Suicer), seems set aside j
by the fact, that clergy were not chosen by lot. j
The word clericus was further subdivided when
the minor orders came into existence ; all being j
called clerici {iravras KXyiptKoiis KaXovfj-fv, Justin. I
Novell, cxxiii. 19), but the name being also some- •
times given in particular to the lectores, psalm-
istae, ostiarii, &c. who " clericorum nomen reti-
nent" {Cone. Carthag. iii. A.D. 397, c. 21); and
who in later centuries are often so called exclu-» |
CLETUS
sively, while the three proper orders became dis-
tinguished as " primi clerici " (C'oc/. Theodos. lib.
siii. De Judaeis et CoelicoL'), and the lower orders
as " inferioris loci " {ib. leg. 41). See also the Can.
Apost. 17, al. 18, 24, al. 25, 30, al. 31, 84 ; and
Cone. Laodiccn. cc. 24, 27, 30, the latter distin-
guishing the lepaTiKoi from the KK-qpiKoi, i.e.
bishops, priests, and deacons, from subdeacons,
readers, &c. The terms majorcs and minores
ordines are of much later date. In Cone.
Chalced. A.D. 451, can. 2, /cATjpiKbs appears to be
used as coextensive with those in the Kavwv nr
roll, and to include expressly even the oecono-
mus and the defensor, &c. In c. 3 of the same
council it is opposed to bishop on the one hand,
and to layman and monk on the other. On the
other hand, the term is sometimes found actually
used of monks, even as early as by Sozomen (viii.
18); and, again, by St. Germanus of Paris, by
Gregory of Tours (De Glor. Mart. ii. 21, and fre-
quently), and by many later writers quoted in
Du Cange. The use of the term as meaning a
scholar {ypafj.fj.d.TCiiv i-Kicr-riifiovis only ought to be
made clerici, according to Justinian, Novell, vi. 4,
cxxiii. 12) dates from the 11th century. The
introduction of monks made yet a third class,
besides clergy and laity. And the term ' regu-
laris ' coming into use when Eegulae began to
multiply, and when monachism was becoming
regarded as 'religion,' i.e. about the 8th cen-
tury, the term ' saecularis ' also lost gradually
its general sense of ' worldly,' and became
simply the antithesis of a 'regular' or monk;
the latter term, however, including canons also
at their first institution ("Canonici, id est, Regu-
lares Clerici," in the so-called Egbert's Excerpts,
in Pref., and so also Cone. Aquisgran. A.D. 789,
c. 73). Clericus regularis would thenceforth
mean a clergyman who was also a monk ; and
Clericus saecularis,a. parish clergyman, or one who
kept a school, or lived in any way not under a
rule ; the class being called ' clerici ' simply in
Capit. i. c. 23 of a.d. 802 = " parochitani pres-
byteri," in Cone. Emcrit. a.d. 666, c. 18. Canons,
however, were soon classed as distinct from
]?egulars; as e.g. in the laws of Charles the
Great (in Murator. torn. I. P. ii. p. 100. 6, quoted
by Du Cange), — " Vigilanter curent [Episcopi], ut
Canonici secundum canones et Regulares secun-
dum regulam vivant." In Cone. Vernens. a.d.
755, c. 3, the clerus are distinguished from the
regulares (Labbe, vi. 1665), which seems the
earliest instance of the use of the latter term.
The further distinction of Canonici themselves
into Regulars and Seculars (canons who had, and
canons who had not, a canon or rule) dates from
A.D. 1059, when Pope Nicolas II. substituted a
new rule for the original rule for Canons enacted
at Aix-la-Chapelle, followed by a yet stricter rule
enjoined by Ivo, bishop of Chartres; those who
adopted the rule of Nicolas being styled Saccular,
while those who preferred Ivo's were called
Regular or Augustiniau Canons. [A. W. H.]
CLETUS, or ANACLETUS, pope, martyr
at Home under Domitian, April 26 (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CLICHY, COUNCILS OF [Clippiacense],
near Paris ; provincial : — (1) A.D. 628, summoned
by Lothaire, but nothing more known of it (Labb.
Cone. V. 1854, from Aimain). (2) A.D. 633, in
the presence of Dagobert, respecting the sanctuary
CLOVESHO, COUNCILS OF 397
of St. Denis (Labb. (7^.). (3) A.D. 659, in which
Clovis II. confirmed certain privileges to St. Denis
(j6. vi. 489, sq.). [A. W. H.]
CLIMACUS, JOHN, Holy Father, 6 ffvy-
ypa(p€vs TTJs K\lfiaKos, A.D. 570 ; is comme-
morated March 30 (Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CLINIC BAPTISM. [Sick, Visitation of.]
CLIPPIACENSE CONCILIUM. [Clichy.]
CLOISTER (Claustrum, Claustra, fem.).
The word claustrum applies strictly to the wall
or enclosure of a monastery ; as in the phrase
" claustra monasteriorura," in the 22ud and 29th
canons of the third council of Tours. Thence it
became a name for a monastery. According to
the definition of the Breviloquium, " claustrum
dicitur inhabitatio religiosorum, vel domus in-
cludens monachos et moniales sub certa regula
viventes." In this sense it is frequently used
in the Capitularies of Charlemagne, where we
read of " claustra- monachorum, canonicorum,
clericorum." Compare French cloitre, German
Kloster. A Roman synod of the year 826 (c. 7)
enjoins that a cloister should be formed near each
church, for the better discipline and instruction
of the clerks.
But claustrum (like our word cloister') is ap-
plied in a special sense to the quadrangle of a
monastery, or college of canons, one side of which
is generallj' formed by the church, and the
others by the conventual buildings, and which
frequently has an arcade or colonnade running
round the sides, to sei've as an ambulatory. This
was assigned in some ancient statutes as the
place for the reading of the monks in suitable
weather. The ancient Ordo Conversat. Monast.
c. 9, desires that the monks of a convent should
assemble in one place for their reading, or sit in
the cloister. Similarly Hildemar (MS. Comment.
on Benedict's Rule, c. 48, quoted by Martene)
and Dunstan (^Concordia, c. 5) desire the monks,
after terce and mass , to sit in the cloister to
read.
The monks of St. Gall in the 9th century ex-
eluded from their cloister all secular persons
whatever, unless under the guidance of a brother
and wearing a monk's hood. (Uucange's Glos-
sarg, s. v. Claustrum ; JIartene, Be Ritibus
Monachorum, lib. i. c. vii. § 4 ; lib. ii. c. iii.
§ 19.) [C]
CLOISTER SCHOOLS. [Schools.]
CLOVESHO, COUNCILS OF, provincial ;
locality unknown, except that it was in the
kingdom of Mercia, and probably near London
(Haddan and Stubbs, Counc. iii. 122). It was
selected by the Council of Hertford, A.D. 673, as
the place for the yearly synod of the English
Church (ib. 120), yet (singular to say) the first
recorded Council of Clovesho was not until
(1) A.D. 716, when the privilege of Wihtred of
Kent to the churches of Kent was confirmed by
a general synod of the English bishops, under
Ethelbald, king of Mercia (Haddan and Stubbs,
Counc. iii. 300-302). This was followed by
(2) A.D. 742, a council, also under Ethelbald,
for the same purpose (ib. 340-342) ; and (3) A.D.
747, September, the Great Council under Cuth-
bert for reformation of abuses, communicated to,
but apparently not suggested by, St. Boniface of
Mentz (see the acts and letters, &c. ib. 360-385);
398
COADJUTOR BISHOP
which appointed also a festival day for both St.
Gret^oiy the Great and St. Augustine of Canter-
bury. (4) A.D. 794, called " Synodale Conci-
lium'" and " Sanctum Concilium " : two grants
are extant made there (Kemble's Codex Diplo-
matictt-', 164-167 ; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils,
483-485). (5) A.d. 798, referred wrongly by
Spelman to A.D. 800 : some charters were passed
there (Kemble's Codex Diplomat icus, 175, 186,
1019; Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 512-518).
There' are intimations also of the annual synod
havino' been held, but without mention of the
place "(e. </. a.d. 704, and 736 or 737, both
Mercian councils, and again, A.D. 755, Haddan
and Stubbs, *. 267, 337, 390), which may
easily therefore have been Clovesho, and pro-
bably was so. [A. W. H.]
COADJUTOR BISHOP, with a right of
succession, was distinctly against canon ; on the
principle that such an appointment interfered
with the right of election in clergy and people,
&c. [Bishop.] The institution of chorepiscopi
appears to have been among the earliest plans
for meeting the case of overgrown dioceses. But
instances must have occurred at all times of
bishops incapacitated by siclcness either of body
or mind, or by old age. And under such circum-
stances resignations were, although grudgingly,
permitted. [Bishop.] Nevertheless, coadjutors
also, — meaning by the term full bishops, but
acting simply in place of the proper occupant of
the see (still remaining so), and with no right
of succession, — occur, although at first rarely;
almost every early case being mixed up with the
succession-question. St. Ambrose certainly speaks
of a coadjutor in this special sense being given to
Bishop Bassus, "in consortium regendaeecclesiae"
(Epist. 79). And the 5th Council of Paris (a.d.
577), considerably later, contemplates the case
as an exceptionally legitimate one. " Nullus
episcoporum se vivente alium in loco suo eligat,
. . . nisi certae conditiones extiterint ut ecclesiam
suam et clerum regere non posset" (can. 2).
And in course of time such coadjutors became at
length common, and were provided for by, e.g.
Boniface VIII. (in Sexto c. Pastoralis). St. Gre-
gory the Great meets the case of temporary
sickness by the temporary help of a neighbour-
ing bishop ; but in more permanent cases he
distinctly recommends a coadjutor, but without
right of succession, as, e.g. in the case of John
of Justiniana Prima (>^. Gregory M. Epist.
IX. 41). [A. W. H.]
COARB (Cowarb, Comharba, Latinized into
Corba, = Conterraneus^ or ejusdem terrae, or dis-
trictus — so Colgan), the title in the Celtic-Irish
and Scottish churches, of the abbatial successor
of the original founder of a monastery. So an
abbat of Hy would be called the Coarb of
Columba ; of Armagh, the Coa'rb of Patrick ; of
Piaphoe, the Coarb of Adamnan, &c., &c. The
word occurs much earlier in the Annalists ; but
its common use dates from late in the 8th century,
when such abbacies had become hereditary in
many cases, and not only so, but had passed into
tlie hands, in some instances, of laymen, while a
prior discharged the spiritual office. The trans-
formation in lapse of time of the Herenach or
Airehinneach, who was originally the represen-
tative of the lay Adcocatus of the monastery,
but gradually usurped the position of hereditary
COCK
lay possessor of his original third of the produce
of monastic lands, brought him also by a dillerent
line to a condition closely resembling what the
lay coai-bs became (as e. g. at Dunkeld) ; so that
the coarb became to a monastery what the
herenach was to any church, monastic or not.
A female coarb occurs once or twice (Reeves, ad
Adamn. V. S. Columbae, Add. Notes, p. 404).
Coarbs that were still clergy, became styled
in Ireland in later times Plebani = rural deans,
or archpresbyters, or chorepiscopi (in the later
sense of the word), i. e. the head of a " plebs
ecclesiastica," viz. of clergy who served chapels
under him as rector. [Reeves, Cotton's Visi-
tation, pp. 4 note, 145, 209 ; Spelman, Gloss,
in V. Corba; E. W. Robertson, Early Scotl. i.
330.] [A. W. H.]
COAT, THE HOLY. Its miracles are com-
memorated on Oct. 1 in the Georgian Calendar.
COCHLEAR. [Spoon.] [C.
COCK. Representations of this bird occur
frequently on tombs from the earliest period.
When not associated with the figure of St. Peter,
as Bottari, tav. Ixxxiv., or placed on a pillar, as
Boldetti, p. 360 ; Bottari, taw. xxxiv. xxiii., &c.,
it appears to be a symbol of the Resurrection, our
Lord being supposed by the early Church to have
broken from the grave at the early cock-crowing.
A peculiar awe seems always to have attached to
that hour, at which all wandering spirits have
through the Middle Ages been supposed to vanish
from the earth. Hamlet and the ancient ballad
called The Wife of Usher's Well occur to us as
salient examples of an universal superstition.
Prudentius' hymn Ad Galli Cantum {Cathem. i.
16) adopts the idea of the cock-crowing as a call
to the general judgment (" Nostri figura est
judicis ") ; and further on (45 seqq.) he says :
' Hoc esse signum praescii
Noverunt promissae spei,
Qua nos sopore liberi
Speramus adventum Dei."
65
And aga
sqq. :
' Itide est, quod omnes credimus,
Illo quietis tempore,
Quo gallus exultans caiiit,
Cbristum redisse ex inferis."
See Aringhi, vol. ii. pp. 328-9 (in a complete list
of animal symbols). Fighting-cocks (see the pas-
sage last quoted) seem to symbolize the combat
%
"A
if
CODEX CANONUM
with secular or sensual temptations. The prac-
tice of training them for combat has probably
always existed in the East, and certainly was in
fovour at Athens (cf. Aristoph. Av., aXpe ir\r}/c-
rpov, et yuaxfi, &c.). For a symbol drawn from
such a pastime, compare St. Paul's use of the
word vTronrid^w (1 Cor. ix. 27). See Bottari, vol.
iii. t. 137.
Two cocks accompany the Good Shepherd in
Bottari, tav. clxxii. (from the tympanum of an
arch in the cemetery of St. Agnes). [R. St. J. T.]
CODEX CANONUM ECCLESIAE
GRAECAE.
„ EOMANAE.
„ „ „ UNIVEESAE.
To treat of them in their chronological order,
we must reverse their alphabetical, and proceed
from the last to the first. Dionysius Esiguus,
iu dedicating his own collection (Migne's Patrol.
Ixvii. 139) to Stephen, bishop of Salona, speaks
of two collections anterior to it ; one in Greek of
165 canons, according to him, terminating with
the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381 ; and
another in Latin, long ago translated from the
Greek, which he had in fact been asked to im-
prove upon. The Greek collection was composed
of 20 canons passed at Nicaea ; 25 at Ancyra
(which he reckons as 24) ; 14 at Neocaesarea ;
20 at Gangra ; 25 at Antioch ; 59 at Laodicea ;
and 6 at Constantinople (which he gives as 3).
All had been framed in the 4th century; and as
they begin with the first General Council and end
with the second, the probability is that they were
put together so as to form a collection before
the date of the 4th Council, by the 1st canon of
which they were confirmed, and in the acts
of which they are more than once cited as still
numbered in this collection. [CoxciL. Chalced.]
To it we may suppose to have been appended
meanwhile — Justellus (Patrol, ih. p. 29) thinks
by Stephen, bishop of Ephesus, who attended the
4th Council, as there •teems to be a collection of
his still extant containing them — the 8 canons
of Ephesus : and it was further enlarged by the
canons of Chalcedon on being confirmed there.
In this shape it was ordered to have the force of
law by the Emperor Justinian in his 131st Novel.
Whether it included more than 27 canons of
Chalcedon is, however, open to question ; as
Dionysius, who must have translated it rather
before then, ends with the 27th, telling Stephen
expressly, " iu his Graecorum canonum finem esse
declaramus." And so far is he from standing
alone in this, that even John Scholasticus, a
presbyter of Antioch, who became patriarch of
Constantinople in the last year of Justinian,
attributes no more than 27 canons to the Council
of Chalcedon in his collection, by which he means
of course the first 27. With these, therefore,
this code terminated. The Ephesine canons in-
deed are not translated by Dionysius, nor in the
old Latin version of which he speaks ; but they
are particularly named by Justinian : and John
Scholasticus, though he reckons them at seven,
has quoted the 8th, passing over the 7th in all
probability for no other reason than its irrele-
vancy to the subject-matter of his collection.
Still this code, though it was probably con-
firmed at Chalcedon, and became law for the
empire under Justinian in this shape, seems
never to have been received in this shape pre-
CODEX CANONUM
399
cisely by the Roman or the Gi'eek Church.
John Scholasticus, whose description of it,
checked by the number of canons assigned to it
by Dionysius, has been here followed in pre-
ference to the Greek version edited by Justellus,
which is of later date (v. append, ad op. S. L?on.
ap. Migne, Patrol. Ivi. p. 18), prefaces it by 85
canons of the Apostles, as he calls them ; inter-
polates it with 21 canons of Sardica ; and tacks
to it 68 of St. Basil. Similarly, Dionysius Exigu\is,
prefacing it with 50 canons of the Apostles, omits
the Ephesine, but appends, over and above the 21
Sardican, no less than 138 African canons : in
other words, the entire code of the Ai'rican
Church elsewhere described. Out of these two
collections were formed separately, (1) the code
of the Roman, and (2) the code of the Greek
Church.
1. Dionysius, as we have seen, speaks of an
old Latin version anterior to his own ; and all he
remarks on it is its " confusion." It was first
published by Voellus and Henry, son of Chris-
topher, Justellus, A.D. 1661, vol' i. pp. 276-304
of their Bibliotheca Juris Canonici Veteris ; and
afterwards in a more perfect form by the Bal-
lerini, in their learned disquisitions " De anti-
quis coUectionibus et collectoribus canonum,"
appended to their edition of the works of St. Leo
(Migne's Patrol. Ivi. 747-816). It exhibits 24
Ancyran canons, 14 Neocaesarean, 21 Niceue
(besides the creed), 21 Sardican, 20 Gangran, 25
Antiochian, 27 Chalcedonian, 4 Constantinopo-
litan; and then unnumbered, but as though
belonging to the last, the 28th canon of Chalce-
don, "De primatuecclesiaeConstantinopolitauae."
This doubtless was its " confusion " in the eyes
of Dionj'sius ; and of course the canons of Con-
stantinople should have preceded those of Chal-
cedon. But further, at the head of the bishops
subsci-ibing to the 28th canon of Chalcedon,
immediately before the Roman legates, is Nec-
tarius, who had been previously and rightly
mentioned among the framers of the Constanti-
nopolitan canons. Dionysius corrected this inac-
curacy by omitting the 28th canon of Chalcedon
altogether. The fact of its existence there proves,
however, that this old version could not have
been very much earlier than that of Dionysius
himself, and also that it could never have been
of any authority in the Roman Church.
That there was any regularly authorised col-
lection in the Roman Church, in short, before
Dionysius brought out his, seems improbable for
tha very reasons which the Ballerini bring for-
ward in proof of one ; namely, that till then the
Sardican and Nicene canons, undistinguished from
each other, and cited under the latter name,
formed its exclusive code : for this rather shews
— conformably with what passed between Pope
Zosimus and the Afi-ican church — that up to
that time Rome was not conscious of having
accepted any but the Nicene canons. At all
events, no earlier collection of a public cha-
racter including more than these, and used there,
has been brought to light on their own shewing
{lb. p. 63-88), as with the collections obtaining
in Africa, Spain, Britain, and France we are not
concerned. That the want of a similar collection
at Rome had been felt, we may infer from the
immediate welcome given there to that of Dio-
nysius. Cassiodorus, his contemporary, and a
Roman by birth, says in his praise that " he com-
400
CODEX CAXONUM
piled lucidly, and with great flow of t'loquence,
from Greek sources, those canons which the
Roman church was then embracing, and using
so largely " (Divin. Zed. c. 23) : and Dionysius
made them doubly acceptable there by supple-
metitiug them with a collection of the decrees of
the Roman pontift's from Siricius to Anastasius II.,
or from A.D. 385 to 498 ; which, in his dedicatory
preface to Julian, " presbyter of the title of St.
Anastasia," he says he had arranged on the same
plan as his translation of the canons — a work
that he understood had given his friend so much
pleasure. Whether Dionysius omitted the canons
of Ephesus, as not being canons in the ordinary
sense of the word — which they are not [Concil.
Eph.] — or because they were not in the old
Latin version, as observed before, or because
they were not in the particular Greek version
used by liim, is not, and probably will never be
made clear. Again, why he added the Sardican
canons, carefully distinguished from the Nicene,
is another question of some interest. What he
says is that he gave them as he found them
published, in Latin. Had they not, then, been
published in Greek likewise ? Certainly, whether
jjublished in Greek as well as in Latin originally,
or translated into Greek since, we know from
what John Scholasticus says — of which presently
— that there must have been at least one Greek
collection of canons extant, at once containing
and citing them as the canons of Sardica — not of
Nicaea — when he published his, so that it would
have been useless for any Latin to have tried
keeping up the delusion of their being Nicene
canons any longer. But then supposing him to
have been willing to do so, had it been possible,
his own spontaneous adoption of the African
canons would have been a still greater puzzle.
For if the canons of Sardica distinctly coun-
tenance, by making provision for, appeals to
Rome, the African canons contain the most po-
sitive declaration against them to be found in
history. [African Councils.] By his adoption
of the African canons, therefore, which he says
existed in Latin, and, as there seems every reason
to think, in Latin only then, from their not being
included by John Scholasticus, he placed his own
candour beyond dispute ; thus enhancing the in-
trinsic merits of his collection. How he came
by his materials for the second part, or appendix
to it, consisting of the decrees of the Roman
pontiffs from the end of the 4th to the end of the
5th century, he omits to explain. He merely
says that he had inserted all he could find ;
which is as much as to say, surely, that there
was no collection of them extant to his know-
ledge before his own. That there was one some-
where, notwithstanding, the Ballerini think highly
probable (ib. p. 200-6). However, they readily
grant that in each case the excellence of his col-
lections was so generally recognized as to make
them adopted everywhere. One speedily became
styled " Codex Canonum ;" the other, " Liber De-
cretorum :" and both were presented, with some
later .additions to each, as some think of his own
insertion or adoption, by Pope Adrian I. to Charle-
magne, A.D. 787, with a dedication in verse at all
events as from himself, ending in these words :
" A lege nunquam discede, haec observans statuta."
It was printed at Mayence A.D. 1525, and after-
wards at Paris, as " Codex vetus ecclesiae Eo-
manae" {Patrol. Ixvii. 135-8, and Ivi. 206-11)-
CODEX CANONUM
a title which belonged to it long before then, as,
together with all other authentic collections in
the West, it had been supplanted gradually bv
the fraudulent collection known as that of Isidore
Mercator, or Peccator, and first published in the
latter half of the 9th century.
2. We may now turn to the code of the Greek
church, founded, as has been said, on the col-
lection of John Scholasticus ostensibly, though
his was not the earliest work of the kind when
it came out. Like Dionysius, he speaks of another,
or rather of others, who had anticipated him,
even in his plan of arranging the canons, not in
their chronological order, but according to their
subject-matter ; the only difference between him
and them being that they had made their col-
lection consist of sixty titles ; he of fifty ; they
had omitted the canons of St. Basil ; he had su])-
plied them. In other respects his collection in-
cluded no more than theirs, nor theirs than his :
though he considered his own arrangement more
intelligible, and the more so as he had given a
list at starting of the councils from which he
had drawn, and of the number of canons passed
by each. In his own language, for instance,
the Apostles had published 85 canons through
St. Clement ; and there had been ten synods
since their time, JS'icaea, Ancyra, Neocaesarea,
Sardica, Gangra, Autioch, Laodicea, Constan-
tinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, whose canons
together amounted to 224 (their respective num-
bers have been anticipated) : to which he had
ventured to append 68 of St. Basil. His posi-
tion as Patriarch of Constantinople, doubtless,
stamped his collection with authority from the
first. But, like Dionysius, he rendered it still
more acceptable for another reason, namely, that
he supplemented it by a second work called his
Nomocanon, from containing in addition the
laws of the emperors. Thus the imperial decrees
became mixed up with the code of the East, just
as the papal decrees with that of the West.
The earlier of his collections received autho-
ritative confirmation, as well as enlargement, in
the 7th century, by the second of the TruUan
canons, given in a former article. [CoNCiL.
Constant.] And this code was further aug-
mented by the 102 canons then passed, authori-
tatively received in the 1st canon of the 2nd
Nicene, or 7th Council. This Council added 22
canons of its own ; and the two Councils of
Constantinople, called the 1st and 2nd under
Photius, 17 and 3 more respectively: all which
were incorporated by Photius into two works of
his own, corresponding to those of his predecessor
John, already described ; one called his Si/ntagma
Canonum, and the other his Nomocanon (Migne's
Patrol. Gr. civ. 441-1218). But there is also
a third work, distinct from both, attributed to
him by Cardinal Mai, being the identical text of
the canons of each of the councils previously
mentioned, in their chronological order (exhi-
bited by Beveridge, Synod, vol. i.) ; followed by
the canons of the different fathers, enumerated in
the 2ud Trullan canon {Synod, vol. ii.), and by
the letter of St. Tarasius to Pope Adrian I. against
simoniacal ordinations ; on which Balsamon, Zo-
naras, and Aristenus afterwards commented, and
called his Synagoge Canonum {Patrol, ib. p. 431).
Such accordingly was, and, so far as it goes, is
still the code of the Greek Church : the differences
between it and that of the Roman Church may be
CODEX
appreciated by comparing their respective com-
ponents. [E. S. F.]
CODEX. [Liturgical Books.]
COENAE. [Agapae.]
COEXA DOMIXI. [Maundy Thursday.]
COEXA PURA. [Good Friday.]
COENOBIUM (KOLvSHiou). The word " coe-
nobium " is equivalent to " monasterium " in
the later sense of that word. Cassian dis-
tinguishes the word thus. " Monasterium," he
says, may be the dwelling of a single monk,
" coenobium " must be of several ; the former
word, he adds, expresses only the place, the
latter the manner of living (Coll. xviii. 10). The
neglect of this distinction has led to much in-
accuracy in attempting to fix the date of the
fii'st " coenobia " or communities of monks under
one roof and under one government. Thus Helyot
{ffist. des Ordr. Mon. Diss. Prelim. § 5) ascribes
their origin to Antony, the famous anchorite of
the Thebaid in the 3rd century. But the counter-
opinion, which ascribes it to Pachomius of Tabenna
a century later is more probable (cf. Tillem.
H. E. vii. 167, 176, 676); for it seems to have
been the want of some fixed rule to control the
irregularities arising from the vast number of
eremitae, with their cells either entirely isolated
from one another or merely grouped together
casually, which gave the first occasion to " coe-
nobia." Martene indeed makes the community
monastic prior in time to the solitary life {Comra.
in Beg. S. B. c. 1) ; but in this he appears to
be misled by the common error of attaching to
"monasterium" (fiovacTTripiov) in the oldest
writers the meaning, which it assumed only in
course of time (cf. Tillem. If. E. vii. 102). Cassian
himself in the very passage cited by Martene in
support of this theory, distinctly traces back the
word to the solitaries (ol fiova^ovTes), the earliest
of monks {Coll. xviii. 5). In allowing that the
earliest mention of Lauras occurs a little before
the middle of the 4th century, Helyot supplies
a strong argument against himself (Diss. Prel.
§ 5). For the Lauras wei'e an attempt at com-
bining the detached hermitages into a sort of
community, though without the order and regu-
larity which constituted a "coenobium;" and
thus appear to have been a stepping-stone to-
wards the " coenobium " of Pachomius. In view
of other considerations to the contrary, much
importance cannot be attached to the passage
which Helyot cites from the Vita Antonii, called
by St. Athanasius, as it may probably be one of
the many interpolations there ; nor to the pass-
age from Ruffinus(i?e Verb. Sen. 31) which speak
of Pior being dismissed at the early age of 25
by Antony, as already fit to live alone, for there
is nothing here about a community, only about
Pior being himself trained by the great eremite
(cf. Tillem. H. E. vii. 109). In fact, the growth
of coenobitism seems to have been very gradual.
Large numbers of ascetics were collected near
the Mons Nitrius (Ruff. Hist. Mon. 30 [v. Cel-
LITAe]), and doubtless elsewhere also, even before
Pachomius had founded his coenobium. But the
interval is considerable between this very im-
perfect organisation of monks thus herding law-
lessly together (Pallad. Bist. Laus. c. 7), and
the symmetrical arrangement of the Benedictine
system. Tabenna forms the connecting link.
CHRIST. ANT.
COENOBIUM
401
Very probably the earliest coenobia were of
women ; foi-, though the word irapdevdiv, in the
account of Antony having his sister in the
charge of devout women (Ath. Vita Ant.) is by
no means conclusive (but cf. Tillem. H. E. vii.
107), the female eremites would naturally be
the first to feel the need of combination for
mutual help and security.
The origin of the cocaobitic life is traced back
to the time before the Christian era. Something
similar is seen in the pages of Plato {Legg.
780, 1), and the Pythagoreans are described by
Aulus Gellius, as living together and having a
community of goods ( Noctes Atticae, i. 9).
Opinions have been divided among the admirers
of asceticism as to the comparative merits of the
solitary life and the coenobitic. Cassian looks
up to the life of perfect solitude as the pinnacle
of holiness, for which the coenobitic life is only
a preparatory discipline (e. gi Coll. xix. 3). Theo-
phylact interprets " those who bear fruit an
hundredfold " in the parable as virgins and
eremites (5'. Marc. iv. 20). Basil, on the
contrary, and the sagacious Benedict, prefer the
life of the coenobite as safer, more edifying, less
alloyed by the taint of selfishness. (Bas. Beg.
c. 7, Bened. Beg. c. 1.) So, too, Isidorus His-
palensis, one of the founders of monasticism in
Spain (De Off. Ecc, ii. 15, ap. Cone. Beg. iii.),
and Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (Mab. Ann. xvi.
72). Even Jerome, his monastic fervour notwith-
standing, prefers life in the community to life
in utter solitude ; though at first he seems to
have been a zealous upholder of the contrary
opinion (Hier. Epp. ad Bustic. 125 ; cf. ad Be-
liod. 14). Doubtless experience had impressed
on him the perils of solitude. Legislators found
it expedient to curb the rage for eremitism.
Justinian ordered monks to stay within the
" coenobia " (Novell, v. ap. Suic. Thes. s. v. cf.
Cone. Garth, c. 47; cf. Cone. Agath. c. 38).
Similarly the great Karl discouraged hermits,
while protecting coenobitic monks (e. g. Cone.
Francof. 794 A.D. c. 12), and the 7th Coun-
cil of Toledo censured roving and solitary
monks {Cone. Tolet. vii. c. 5). Even in the
East the same distrust prevailed of persons
undertaking more than they could bear. Thus
the Council in Trullo enjoined a sojourn of
some time in a coenobium as the preliminary
to life in the desert {Cone. Tr-ull. 692 a.d. c.
41). Benedict aptly illustrates the difference
from his point of view between these two forms
of asceticism. The solitary, he says, leaves the
line of battle to fight in a single combat {Beg.
c. 1, cf. Cone. Begg. iii. cf. Sulp. Sev. Dial.
" Coenobium " is used sometimes in mediaeval
writers for the "basilica" or church of the
monastery (Mab. Ann. Q. S. B. iv. 4). A Greek
equivalent for " coenobitae " is ffvyoS^Tai, de-
rived from ffvvoSos (Bingh. Orig. Eecl. vii. ii.
3, Suicer. Thes. s. v.). Gennadius mentions
a treatise by Evagrius Monachus, ' " De coeno-
bitis et synoditis" {Do Scr. Ecc. ap. Fabric.
Bibl. Ecc). Jerome gives " Sauches," or
" Sausses," as the Egyptian equivalent {Kp.
22, ad Eustoch.). In mediaeval Latin " coeno-
bita" is sometimes ccenobitalis, -ialis, -iota, or
-ius. (Du Cange, Gloss, s. v.) ; " claustruni "
(cloister) "conventus" are frequently used for
"coenobium."
2 D
402
COINTA
Besides the authorities cited, see Hospiniani
(De Origine et Frogressu Monachatus, Lib. iii.
Tio-uri 1588). See also Asceticism, Benedic-
tine Rule, and Monastery. [I. G^ S.]
COINTA, martyr, Feb. 8. [Quinta.] [C]
COFFIN. [BuKiAL.]
COLIDEI,= CeK-D^=Servi Dei (explained
also by such authorities as O'Reilly and Curry,
as equivalent to Sponsi Dei, but, according to
O'Donovan and Reeves, with less probability) : in
Scotch records, generally, Keledei, which seems
the more accurate spelling : in Jocelyn ( V. S.
Kenteg.), Calledei ; in Girald. Camb. and in the
Armagh Registei's, Colidci, as if Deicolae or Dei
Cuttores, or (so Girald. Camb.) Caelicolae ; and in
Hector Boece, and from him in Buchanan, and
thence in modern writers, corrupted into C'uldei
or Culdees ' - at first, simply an Irish rendering
of what was an ordinary Latin name for monks,
and so used apparently in older Irish documents :
but appropriated in Ireland about the latter part
of (at' least) the 8th century to a specially ascetic
order of monks, established by Maelruain (ob.
A.D. 792) at Tamhlacht, now Tallaght, near
Dublin, whose Rule still exists (R]454ll T)4
Cele'O-n'DC); ^^^ of whom it is also possible
that some of their peculiar characteristics were
borrowed from those of the canons established
by Chrodegang of Metz about a quarter of a cen-
tury earlier, inasmuch as the later Keledei of
both Ireland and Scotland did in many points
resemble secular canons. The name reappears
in Ireland (elsewhere than at Tallaght) in the
10th and 11th centuries. But by this time, in
some instances, as at Clonmacnois, the head of
the Celi-De' was married, and his office heredi-
tary ; although there were still instances to the
contrary, as in the island in Loch Monaincha
(co. Tipperary), the " Colidei " of which are dis-
tinctly called " coelibes " by the contemporary
Giraldus Cambr. at the end of the 12th century.
At Armagh, also, and at Devenish in Loch Erne,
the original "Colidei" are found, after Northmen
ravages and at later periods, displaced by, but
coexisting with, a regular cathedral chapter and
a, priory of regular canons respectively ; while,
ill other places, they were merged altogether into
the chapter. At Armagh, indeed, the Culdee
body lasted until the Reformation, and the name
until at .east a.d. 1628. In Scotland, the name
had a jj«-allel but a more notable history.
The order seems to have been introduced into
that country shortly after A.D. 800. "Cal-
ledei," living a specially ascetic life, but as
" singulares clerici," and " in singulis casulis,"
were traditionally the clergy of St. Kentegern's
cathedral of Glasgow (Jocel." in V. S. Kenteg.) ;
and a di-f.nct connection is traceable between
St. Kentogern and the Irish Church. But the
name Keledei occurs historically, as a name ff)r
a Clerical body of monks, used in Scotland by
writers, contemporary (or nearly so), and in
charters, from the 9th century; and it becomes
thenceforward the name simply of a particular
but numerous class of the older monastic bodies
of the Irish type, all however north of the
torth, as distinguished 1, from Columbite Mo-
nasteries, and 2, from the special Augustinian,
Benedictine, and other orders introduced from the
COLIDEI
end of the 11th century. And inasmuch as most
of those older foundations had become lax indis-
cipline, and often consisted of married men who
handed on their Culdeeships to their children, — yet
at the same time still commonly clerical, although
in some cases (like many Scotch monasteries of
that date) held and transmitted by lay abbats, —
the name came to signify, not (as at first) special
asceticism, but precisely the reverse. Accord-
iucly, A.D. 1124-1153, King David commenced
the great change, which finally either superseded
the Keledei by superadding to them a superior
bod}'' of regular canons, as at St. Andrews and
Dunkeld, or merged the Keledei themselves into
the chapter, as at Brechin, Ross, Dunblane,
Dornoch, Lismore (Argyll), and the Isles, or
into a body of regular canons in no connection
with a bishop's see, as at Abernethy, &c. The
middle or end of the 13th century appears to
have completed in Scotland the suppression of
both name and class. The name Colidei occurs
also in England at York as early as A.D. 936, as
applied to the then officiating clergy of the
Minster, who were displaced apparently (like
their Scotch brethren) by the arrival of Norman
archbishops, but continued under another name
(viz. as the hospital of St. Leonard's) until the
dissolution under Henry VIII. ; the name Colidei
being still employed in their chartulary, which
was engrossed in the reign of Henry V. (Dugd.
Man. VI. ii. 607). Lastly, the same name is
applied by Giraldus Cambr. to certain ascetics
in the Isle of Bardsey in Wales in the year 1188.
Neither in Ireland nor in Scotland is there
the slightest trace of foundation, in any really
authoritative document, for any supposed pecu-
liarities of doctrine or of church government,
derived by Culdees from some Eastern or other
source, and handed down by them ; nor for any
other connection between them and the Colum-
bite monasteries than that both were of Irish
type. The abbey of Hy itself was distinctly
not Keledean, although at a very late period
(A.D. 1164) a subordinate body of Keledei
are found in the island. The details however
of the great revolution in the organization of
the Scotch Church, which involved as part of
itself the transformation of the older monastic
arrangements into the new, and (more noticeable
still) the transfer of jurisdiction from presbyter
abbats to diocesan bishops, — both processes im-
plying in the majority of cases the suppression
of Keledean foundations, — belong to a period
some centuries later than that to which this
article refers. As does also, much more, the
history of the strange perversions of the facts
of the case by combined ignorance and partisan-
ship, which are hardly, it seems, all exploded
eveiywhere even now.
[This account is abridged from Dr. Reeves's
carefully exact monograph On the Culdees,
Dublin, 1864 ; to which is subjoined an Appendix
of Evidences, conclusively establishing the writer's
main positions. There is a candid account of the
subject also in Grub's Hist, of the Ch. of Scot-
land, vol. i., written however before the pub-
lication of Dr. Reeves's exhaustive essay ; and a
brief, and on the whole competent, summary of
the case in ch. x. of E. W. Robertson's Early
Scotland, written also under the like disad-
vantage. Earlier writers, as a rule, are not
worth mentioning.] [A. W. H.]
COLLATION
COLLATION {Collatio). The reading from
the lives or Collationes of the Fathers, which St.
Benedict {Eegula, c. 42) instituted in his monas-
teries before compline. Such compilations as, for
instance, the Collationes of John Cassian were
read, and hence probably the name. Compare
Isidore, Scgula, c. 8. Ardo Smaragdus, however
(on the Jiule, c. 42), says that this service was
called collatio "quasi collocutio vel confabu-
latlo," because the monks questioned each other
on the portions read. To the same effect Hono-
rius of Autun, Gemma Aniinae, ii. 63. Fructu-
osus (^Be/ula, c. .3) desires the abbot or provost
to expound the book read to the more simple
brothers.
The Benedictine practice is to hold this service
in the church, and this is probably in accordance
with the founder's intention ; for he evidently
contemplated the collation being held in the
same place as compline. (Martene, De Ant.
Monach. Bit. lib. i. c. 11, p. 35; Ducauge, s. v.
Collatio.) [C]
COLLECT (CoUccta, Collecta oratio, oratio,
missa, see below). The Collects of the Western
Church, for they differ in some important respects
from the pi-ayer-forms of the Eastern (Freeman's
Principles, &c., i. 372) have certain well-marked
characteristics which are common to them all.
But the question what is the differentia of a
collect, what it is that makes a prayer receive
this name, must probably be determined by the
etymology or the history of the word.
The sti-ucture of collects consists of (1) an
invocation of God the Father with some attri-
bute, and the ascription in the relative form of
some property or action ; (2) next follows the
object desired by the prayer, often with the
addition of ulterior results derived from it,
(3) either an ascription of glory or a plead-
ing of the merits of Christ. Their general
character is to " combine strength with sweet-
ness,"* says Canon Bright, "to say much in
saying little, to address the Most High in adoring
awe, to utter man's needs with profound pathos
and with calm intensity, to insist on the absolute
necessity of grace, the Fatherly tenderness of
God, the might of the all-prevailing name :"
they " are never weak, never diluted, never
drawling, never ill-an-anged, never a provocation
to listlessness ; they exhibit an exquisite skill of
antithesis and a rhythmical harmony which the
ear is loth to lose." Many of the collects now in
use are undoubtedly of very great antiquity, and
are founded on prayer-forms, such as versicles
or responses, still older ; and this distinction
between merely short petitions and what is in-
cluded in the idea of collect is made by Bona in
determining the date of the introduction of the
collects " now in use" into the Western Church.''
Of these he says Leo the Great (pope from
440 to 461) and Gelasius (pope from 492 to
496) were the fii-st composers, in the form that
is in which we have them in the Western Church.
From the Saceamentaries attributed to Leo,
Gelasius, and Gi'egory, are derived many of the
collects of the English Prayer-Book. And the
remote source of these collects is more ancient
still. "= "The idea of the Western collect, is in
» Aiicient Colkcts, pp. 198-200.
•> Bona, De Beb. Lit. ii. 5. 4. quoted by Freeman, i. 144.
•= P. D. A i. 144-5.
COLLECT
403
all respects derived from the consideration of the
Eastern system. We seem to see compressed
into the terse collects of Leo, Gelasius, or Gre-
gory, the more diffuse spirit of the Eastern
hymns, and thus they would be, so to speak, the
very quintessence of the gospels on which the
latter were founded." " The only innovation
made by the Western composers, and that a very
natural one, was to incorporate the collect, not
with the ordinary service only but with the
communion office itself." Indeed, in the ritual
of the West '^ the chief " means by which the
ordinary office is continually linked on to the
eucharistic is the weekly collect. In the East
the vespers and lauds preceding a festival are
largely coloured by a variety of hymns, many of
them resembling prayers, and all referring to the
gospel of the coming day. In the West, though
originally there were several, we have now
mostly only a single prayer, composed generally
out of epistle and gospel taken together, or with
some reference to both. And this, though used
at the vespers of the eve, and characteristic of
that office, is also continued throughout the
week." Our " first collect, then, is not merely
a link between our common and our eucharistic
offices, but reflecting as it does the spirit of the
epistle and gospel it presents to us the appointed
variation of the' eucharistic office for the current
week."
It remains now to speak of the etymology
of the word, and it is a question mbre easy to
state than to settle. The word may be derived ^
either (1) from the circumstances of those who
use the prayer, or (2) from something in the
character of the prayer itself (I.) In the former
case the name is taken from the "Collecta," or
people assembled for worship ; and this origin of
the word has the support of Krazer,'' who says
that in "early times the only prayer called
collect was that which was wont to be said for
the people v/hen assembled (coUectus) in one
church with the whole body of the clergy for
the purpose of proceeding to another." The
sacramentary of Gregory makes this quite
cleai-, in which on the feast of the Purification
two prayers are provided, one entitled "Ad
Collectam ad S. Adrianum," where clergy and
people were assembled to go from thence to S.
Maria Maggiore ; the other. " oratio ad missam ' '
(as if the first were not an eucharistic prayer),
" but as time went on," he says, " all prayers
said 'ad Missam' were called collects, because
the priest repeated them 'super populum collec-
tum sive congregatum.' " This theory is perhaps
not so attractive as the two others which remain
to be mentioned, but it has probability on its
side, as "collecta" for "oratio ad collectam" is
just such an abbreviation as usage would produce,
while the more recent eucharistic association of
the word would account for prayers alike in
other respects being called, some of them prayers
and others collects. Those who reject this
origin must explain the phrase "oratio ad
collectam " followed immediately by " oratio ad
missam " on another hypothesis.
(II.) If the prayer derives its name ' collect '
from its own character, it may be so called either
because (1) it is a condensation of Scripture-
d Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, i. p. 367.
' Bright, A. C. 202, sq. ' De Liturg. $ 225.
2 D 2
404
COLLECT
teaching, and more especially in the case of the
collects^'for Sundays and holydays,s because it is,
as has been said, in many cases the quintessence
of the epistle and gospel for the day. Wheatly
adojjts this view (ch. iii. sect, xix.) with regard
to the communion collect, and Archdeacon Free-
man'' seems decidedly to incline to it, citing Bona
(R. L. II. V. § 3) in its support, and saying that
at all events it renders very accurately one great
characteristic of the collect; or because' (2)
" culligit orationes " it sums up the prayers of
the assembly ; but " the communion collect does
not sum up any previous petitions," though it
might be said to gather and offer up in one
comprehensive prayer all the devotional aspira-
tions of the people. And if this be the true idea
of the prayer, it must have got the name not
from summing up all that had been said in
prayer before, for these collectae were sometimes
said before the concluding part of the service,''
but for the reason jast given, that it collects and
presents to God in a compendious form all the
spoken and unspoken petitions of the congrega-
tion to Him. It is a recommendation of this
derivation that it applies equally to all prayers
of the collect-form, and does not apply only
to the communion-collects and leave the etymo-
logy of the others undecided, au objection which
may be urged against a former derivation
(II. 1).
It may be said that both these latter deriva-
tions have an ex post facto air, that they are
wanting in historical basis, and are just such as
would occur to persons who finding the word
set themselves to discover the origin of its use
from its form ; while the first rests on the
fact that in the Vulgate, 1 and by the ancient
fathers,"' the word collect is used to denote the
gathering together of the people into religious
assemblies, and that in the sacramentary
of Gregory a collect is provided to be said
" ad collectam ad S. Adrianum." ■" Archdeacon
Freeman" infers from this that in Gregory's
time the ordinary office as distinguished from
the communion was called " collecta," and goes
on to say, " it is very conceivable that a
prayer which, though also said at commu-
nion has this as its characteristic that it was
designed to impart to the ordinary service the
spirit of the eucharistic gospel, would on that
account be called collecta," which seems to be
rather going out of the way to account for a
prayer being called ' collecta oratio ' which was
said at a service confessedly called ' collecta.'
[Cor.LECTA.]
Whatever may have been the derivation of the
word Collecta, it is applied in rituals especially
to the following.
1. The prayers which immediately precede
the Epistle and Gospel in the Mass. What was
the number of these in ancient times is not
absolutely certain. In the Sacramentaries of
Gregory and Gelasius one is given in each mass;
but St. Columbanus was blamed in a Council of
Macon for having introduced the custom of
it Bright. A. C. 203. h /.. o. S. 146-7.
• Freeman. ,". o. S. M5. k Bright, A. C. p. 205.
' Lev. xxiii. 36. Heb. x. 25.
■" "A populi co'.lectione collectae appellari coeperunt."
Alcum, quoted by AVbeatly, ch. iii. sect. xix. $ 2, n.
- Kraztr, ,';e Litwrg. sect. w. ait. i. cap. ill.
•> 1\ D. 6-. I. ue.
COLLECT
using several collects, contrary to the general
practice of the church, and was defended by
Eustasius, his successor in the abbey of Luxeuil
(Acta SS. Boned, sec. ii. p. 120). John, abbat
of St. Alban's, is said to have limited the num-
ber to seven (Matthew Paris in his Life) ; and
the same rule is laid down by the anonymous
author of the Speculum. Ecclesiae, by Beleth (c.
37), and by Durandus (^Rationale, iv. 14). The.
Micrologus (c. 4) lays down that, for mystical
reasons, the number of collects should be either
one, three, five, or seven. (Martene, De Antiq.
Eccl. Bit. i. 133.)
2. In the Hour-offices. Only one collect seems
anciently to have been used in each office ; for
Walafrid Strabo {De Reh. Eccl. c. 22) says that it
was usual, not only at Mass but at other assem-
blies, for the highest in rank of the clergy present
to conclude the office with a short prayer, an ex-
pression which seems to exclude the supposition
that more than one of this kind was used. The
assigning the collect to the person of highest
rank accords with the injunction of the fifth
canon of the first Council of Barcelona (a.d.
540), according to one reading, " episcopo prae-
sonte orationes presbyteri non [cd. in ordine]
coUigant." But the monks of the Thebaid seem
to have subjoined a collect to each psalm, or in
the longer psalms to have inserted two or three
collects at intervals (Cassian, De Nocturn. Orat.
ii. cc. 8 and 9). Fructuosus of Braga (Reijula,
c. 3) also testifies to the same practice in Spain.
Caesarius of Aries (Ad Monachos, c. 20) enjoined
collects to be intermingled with the lections.
The Rule of St. Benedict enjoins only that each
office be concluded with the Lord's Prayer and
mlssae, meaning no doubt what are elsewhere
called orationes ; but the practice mentioned by
St. Isidore (Reijula, c. 7) of mingling collects
with the recitation of the psalms, and also con-
cluding the office with them, was very probably
in fact the custom of the Benedictine . order,
though it does not appear distinctly in the Rule ;
for St. Benedict would scarcely have dej)arted
from so general a practice as that of inter-
mingling collects with the psalms, especially as
he was much influenced by Egyptian precedent :
and this supposition accounts for the fact that
in many ancient MS. Benedictine psalters a col-
lect follows each psalm.
It appears from Cassian's testimony (Z'e Noct.
Orat. ii. 9) that in the fifth century there was a
difference of practice with regard to the manner
of saying collects ; for some monks threw them-
selves on their knees to pray immediately after
the ending of each psalm; others said a short
prayer before kneeling, and knelt for a short
time afterwards in silent adoration. During
prayer they stood upright, with expanded hands.
Similarly Fructuosus of Braga (Regula, c. 3).
The Benedictine practice is, that all kneel from
the time that the priest says the Kyrie Eleison
to the end of the last collect. The collects were
said, in accordance with the principle mentioned
above, by the abbat, or the brother who presided
in his place (Martene De Antiq. Eccl. Ritibus,
iii. 15; iv. 12, ed. Venet. 1773). [E. C. H.]
COLLECTA. (1) The collecting of alms or
contributions of the faithful. From St. Leo the
Great (^Ilom. de CoUectis) -we learn that such a
collection was sometimes made on a Sunday,
COLLECTIO
sometimes on Monday or Tuesday (feria secunda,
tertia), for the benefit and sustenance of the poor.
These collections seem to have been distinct from
Oblations.
(2) The gathering together of the people for
divine service, whether of mass or hours. Je-
rome {Epist. 27 [al. 108], § 19, p. 712) states that
the sound of Alleluia called monks to say their
offices (ad coUectam). Pachomius {Requla, c. 17)
speaks of the collecta in which oblation was
made, that is, the mass ; he also distinguishes
(cc. 181, 18G) between the " collecta domus," the
service held in the several houses of a monastery,
and the " collecta major," at which the whole
body of monks was brought together to say their
offices. In this rule, as in those of Isidore and
Fructuosus, collecta has very probably the same
sense as COLLATIO.
(3) A society or brotherhood. The 15th canon
of the first council of Nantes is " De collectis
vel confratriis quos consortia vocant." See also
Hiucmar, Capitula ad Presbyt. c. 14. (Ducange's
Glossary, s. v.) [C]
COLLECTIO. In the Gallican missals cer-
tain forms of prayer and praise are called Collec-
tiones. The principal of these are the Collectio
post Nomina, which follows the recitation of the
names on the diptychs ; the Collectio ad Pacem,
which accompanies the giving of the Kiss of
Peace ; the Collectio post Sanctus, which imme-
diately follows the " Holy, Holy, Holy," and the
Collectio post Eucharist iam, after communion.
(Martene, Be Ritibus Eccl. Antiq. i. c. iv. art.
13.) [C]
COLLECTION. [Alms: Collecta.]
COLLEGIUM. Corporations or gilds, called
collegia, of persons united in pursuit of a com-
mon object, were numerous in the empire in the
early days of the Christian church. The im-
perial government of course took cognizance of
them, and did not permit such combinations for
every purpose. Associations for the purpose of
maintaining religious rites were however for the
most part not interfered with; but when the
presence of Christianity in all parts of the empire
attracted attention, its collegia, as the several
churches seemed to be from the jurist's point of
view, were declared illicit, and to belong to them
a misdemeanour. (Gieseler, Eccl. Hist. i. pp.
20, 114; Cunningham's Trans., Philadelphia,
1836.) [Compare Brotherhood ; Canonici ;
Chapter.] [C]
COLOBIUM (ko\6Plov). A tunic with
very short sleeves only, and fitted closely about
the arm. A few words of the Pseudo-Alcuin
((fe Biv. Off.} both describe the dress and re-
produce, with a chai-acteristic modifici.tion, an
old Roman tradition concerning it. " Pro tunica
hyacinthina {i.e. the tunic of blue worn by the
Jewish high-priest) nostri pontifices primo colo-
biis utebantur. Est autem colobiuni vestis sine
manicis." The older tradition was that Sylvester,
bishop of Rome, ordered that deacons should
wear dalmatics in offices of holy ministiy, in
place of the colobia, which had previously been
in use. From this circumstance of the colobiuni
being regarded as the special vestment of a
deacon it is sometimes called lebitou {i.e. leviton)
or lebitonarium, a word which reappears in ec-
clesiastical Greek of the 5th and later centuries.
COLOUR
405
It is so used by Palladius of Hellenopolis, in the
Historia Lausiaca so-called, cap. 38, describing
the dress worn by the monks under Pachomius
at Tabennesis in the Thebaid (Migne, Patrol.
Ixx.xiii. 1157), a dress prescribed, according to
the author, by an angel in vision : — " Noctu
gestent lebitones lineos, succinct i." And again,
cap. 47 : rh Se euSvfxa ^j/ avT(f o \e0iTcl)i.; ovinp
Tives KoKi^iov TTpocrayopivovai. The monastic
colobiuni in Palestine, if not elsewhere, had upon
it a purple " sign," probably a cross. So St.
Dorotheus, archimandrite (Migne, Patrol. Scries
Graeca, Ixxxviii. 1631), describing the monastic
dress of his day in Palestine, late in the 6th
century, says : — t^ ffXVfJ-O- o <(>opovij.ev KaKo^MV
eart, fi^j exov Xf'P'5'"i w^o' C'^*'') S^pfiarivn, /col
avd\a0os, Ka\ kovkovKwv . . . 'Ex^' 5* '''^
koK6^iov <Tr)fj.iLov ri Tropcpvpovv (as a mark of
service, he explains, under Christ our King).
Examples of the Greek colobium ma}"^ be seen in
the ancient mosaics, reputed to be of the 4th
century, in the church of St. George at Thes-
salonica. See Texier and Pullan, Byzantine
Architecture, 111. xxx.-xxxiii. ; Marriott, Vest.
Christ. 111. xviii.-xx. [W. B. M.]
COLOGNE, COUNCIL OF (Agrippinense,
or Coloniense Concilium). (1) Said to have been
held A.D. 346, to condemn Euphratas, Bishop of
Cologne (for denying our Lord's divinity) ; who
was however at Sardica as an orthodox bishop
the year after {Pagi ad an. 346, n. 6 ; Mansi,
ii. 1371-1378). Baronius and Cave think the
council spurious. Sirmond supposes Euphratas
to have recanted ; others that he was acquitted ;
others that there were two successive bishops of
Cologne so named.
(2) Another council is' reported to have been
held A.D. 782, under Charlemagne ; but this
was apparently a political council : nothing is
known of it ecclesiasticallv (Labbe and Cossart,
Concilia, vi. 1827, from Eginhard). [A. W. H.]
COLOUR. The assigning of special colours
in the vestments of ministers, &c. to certain
seasons does not belong to the first eight
centuries of Christianity (Hefele, Beitrcige zur
Archdologie etc. ii. 158), and is probably first
found in the work of Innocent III. (fl216),
Be Sacro Altaris Mysterio, lib. i. c. 65. There
are, however, certain peculiarities in the use of
colour in ancient art which may be mentioned
here.
(1) White was held to symbolize the pure bright
light of truth (Clemens Alex. Paedagog. ii. 10,
p. 235). Hence the Lord is represented with a
white robe as " the Truth," whether sitting in
the midst of the Doctors, or teaching His dis-
ciples. See for instance the ancient mosaics of
the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian (Cianipini,
Vet. Mon. ii. tab. xvi.), and of S. Agatha alia Sub-
urra at Rome (ib. i. tab. Ixxvii.). It is because of
its whiteness that Origen {In Exodum, Horn, vii.)
finds the manna to represent the word of truth.
Angels are generally represented on ancient mo-
numents in white robes, which typify, says Dio-
nysius the Areopagite (Be Hierarch. Coelest. c.
15), their resemblance to God. Saints too are
clothed in white ; foi instance, on the triumphal
arch of the basilica of S. Paolo f. 1. m. are repre-
sented saints clothed in white robes laying their
crowns at the foot of the Divine Throne (Ciaui-
406 COLUM
pini Vet. Mon. i. 231). The same circumstance
maybe noted in the mosaics ofthe church of
St. Vitalis at Ravenna, and elsewhere.
White, sometimes striped with purple [Cla-
vusl was the almost invariable colour of minis-
terial vestments for all ranks of the ministry in
the early ages of Christianity (Marriott, Vesti-
arium Christ, p. xxii.), as it is still for the alb,
the amice, and the surplice.
White, the symbol of purity, was worn by the
newly baptized during the eight days which fol-
lowed their baptism. ^ ,, ^ ,.»
It appears also from the evidence both ot lite-
rature and art that the dead were shrouded in
white linen. In a fragment of ancient glass
figured by Buouarotti {Vetri, tav. vii. fig. 1)
the grave-clothes of Lazarus are of silver, while
the rest of the figures are in gold ; and in the
Menologium of Basil the bodies of Adauctus
(Oct. 4)' and Philaret (Dec. 2) are represented as
wrapped in white. Prudentius {Cathemerinon,
X. 57) and Sulpicius Severus ( Vita S. Martini,
c. 12) also allude to the white colour of grave-
clothes.
(2) Hed is the colour of ardent love. Hence
the Lord in performing works of mercy is some-
times represented clad in a red tunic or pallium,
and also in " sending fire upon earth " by the
mission of the apostles (Ciampini, Vet. Mon. i.
tabb. Ixviii. Ixxxvi. Ixxvii.). Arculf (in Bede,
Hist.Angl. v. 16) describes the " monument and
sepulchre " of the Lord at Jerusalem as being
white and reddish (rubicundo).
Ano-els are sometimes found on ancient monu-
ments' represented with red wings, whether as
the symbol of love or of flame, according to one
of the derivations of the word serajili. Tliis is
the case for instance in the vaults of St. Vitalis
at Ravenna (Ciampini, Vet. Mon. ii. 65).
(3) Green, the colour of living vegetation, seems
to have been adopted as a symbol of life, and
hence is employed to denote the full abound-
ing life of the angels. See Dionysius the Areo-
pagite, De Hierarch. Coolest, xv. § 7. Hence,
angels and saints are not unfrequently clothed
in green, especially St. John the Evangelist. The
Virgin lyiary is also sometimes clothed in this
colour. And the Lord Himself is occasionally
represented in a green robe as symbolizing the
life which is in Him.
(4) Violet, the mixture of red and black,has been
thought to symbolize the union of love and pain
in repentance. It symbolizes, at all events, some-
thing of sorrow ; hence some monuments, as the
mosaic of St. Michael at Ravenna (Ciampini, Vet.
Mon. ii. p. 63, tav. xvii.) and that of St. Am-
brose at Milan (Ferrari, S. Ainhrogio, p. 156) re-
present the Man of Sorrows in a violet robe. The
sorrowing mother of the Lord is also sometimes
represented in violet, and St. John Baptist the
preacher of repentance. Angels also wear violet
when they call men to repentance, or share in
the sorrows of the Lord.
Abbots of the order of St. Benedict wore violet
up to modern times, when they adopted black.
In ancient times virgins of recluse life wore
violet veils (Jerome, Ej^ist. 22, ad Eustochiuni).
Literature. — Portal, I)es Couleurs symholiques
dans V Antiquite', Paris, 1837 ; Martigny,. Diet,
des Antiq. chre't. s. v. Couleurs. [C]
COLUM. [Strainer.]
COMMEMORATION
COLUMBA. (1) Presbyter and confessor,
abbat of lona (t 598); is commemorated June 9
{Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Virgin, martyr under Aurelian, Dec. 31
{Mart. Hieron., Bedae, Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
COLUMBANUS, abbat, founder of many
monasteries, deposition at Bobbio, Nov. 2 {Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi). [C]
COLUMBAEIUM. This word can only find
its place in a Dictionary of Christian Antiquities,
in order that opportunity may be given to pro-
nounce a decided opinion on the tintenableness
of the view propounded by Keyssler, and since
revived by Mr. J. H. Parker and others, that
this distinctively pagan arrangement, essentially
belonging to the practice of burning the dead,
which was held by the Christians in such abhor-
rence (" execrantur rogos et damnant ignium se-
pulturas," Minuc. Fel.), is ever found within the
limits of, or in close connection with a Christian
catacomb. The misconception has arisen from
the fact that the Christian excavators in carry-
iuo- forward their subterranean galleries not un-
frequently came into contact with the walls of
a heathen columbarium. As soon as this unin-
tentional interference with the sanctity of the
tomb was discovered, the fossores proceeded to
repair their error. The gallery was abruptly
closed, and a wall was built at its end to shut
it ott' from the columbarium. Padre Marchi de-
scribes his discovery of a gallery in the cemetery
of St. Agnese closed in this way with a ruined
wall, on the other side of which was a plundered
columbarium {Monum. Primit. p. 61). This is
probably the true explanation of the fact that
a passage has been found connecting a large
heathen tomb full of columbaria on the Via
Api)ia, near the Porta San Sebastiano, with a
catacomb. (Marchi, J(/onM?>i. Prim, pp.61 sq.;
Roestell, Beschreib. der Stadt Rom, pp. 389-
390 ; Raoul-Eochette, Tableau des Catacombes,
p. 283).
COLYMBION (KoXi^i/Sior).
for containing HOLY
Water at the entrance
of a church. A re-
presentation of such a
vessel is found in one
of the mosaics of the
church of S. Vitale at
Ravenna, and is here
engraved. It is note-
woi-thy, that the asper-
GILLUM which hangs
from the arch above the
basin is in shape not un-
like those of modern
times. (Neale's Eastern
Ch. introd. p. 215.) [C]
COMES. [Lectiox-
ARY.]
COMMEMOEA-
TION {Commemoratio).
The word commemora-
tion in its liturgical use
designates —
(1) The recitation of the names of those for
whom intercession is made in the mass [DiP-
TYCils"].
COMMENDATIO
(2) The iutroduction of the names of certain
saints or events in the Divine Oitice, called also
meinoria sanctorum or suffragia sanctorum. Such
commemorations are generally of the Cross, of
the Virgin Mary, of St. Peter and St. I'aul, and
for Peace (Maori Hierolexicon).
(3) According to the rubrics of the Roman
Breviary {Riihricae Generates., ix.), when a greatei
festival falls on the day of a ' simple ' festival, tin
latter is 'commemorated' by the introduction ot
certain portions of its proper service into that ol
the greater festival {R. G. ix. §§ 8-11). [C]
COMMENDA. [Diocese: Monastert.]
COMMENDATIO {-Kapieecris). 1. In the
third Council of Carthage (c. 29) it is pro-
vided, that if a coinmcndatio of the dead takes
place in the afternoon, it must consist of prayers
only, without the celebration of mass. Jn the
Codex Cunonum EccL Afric. (c. 103) the set
forms to be ordinarily used in churches seem to
be summed up under the heads, preces, prae-
ftitiones, commendationes, manus impositiones.
Similai'ly the second Council of Milevis (c. 12),
and the fourth of Toledo (c. 13). In the Greek
version of the 41st canon of the Codex EccL Afric,
which is identical with the 29th of the third
Council of Carthage, quoted above, the word wapd-
6s(rLS is used as equivalent to "commendatio ;"
which in this case is no doubt to be interpreted
" of the commendation of the dead to the mercy of
God." See Zonaras on this canon (p. 429), and
Balsamon (p. 655).
2. But the word TrapdOfffis is also used to
designate the prayers made in the congregation
on behalf of the catechumens. Alexius Aristenus
(quoted by Suicer, s. v.) explains the word rrapd-
deais, designating a part of divine service, as
" the prayers over the catechumens, whereby we
commend them {jrapaTiQiixitia) to the Lord."
(Ducange's Glossary, s. v. ' Commendationes ;'
Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. -napaQiais.) [C]
COMMENDATORY LETTERS. The ear-
liest trace of the practice connected with these
words is to be found in 2 Cor. iii. 1. St. Paul,
it would seem, had been taunted by rivals who
came with letters of commendation (^i-mffroXal
(TvarariKaX) from the Church of Jerusalem, with
the absence of such credentials in his own case,
with his attempts to make up for the omission
by reiterated self-commendation. The passage
shows that the practice was already common.
It was, indeed, the natural protection of a society
yet in its infancy against the dangers to which
it was exposed, against the tricks of impostors,
the false teaching of heretics, the vices of evil-
doers. It is probable enough that letters of
this kind had been in previous use among the
Jews, and that they thus maintained their unity
as a people through all the lands of the dis-
persion. Other instances of it in the Apostolic
ages are to be found in the letter given to
Apollos by the disciples at Ephesus (Acts xviii.
27), in the mention of Zenas and Apollos in the
Epistle to Titus (iii. 13). The letter to Phi-
lemon, though more distinctly personal, has
somewhat of the same character. The practice
was in itself so wise and salutary that it be-
came universal, and was applied under many
names, and for many ditferent purposes. As a
whole, it may be said, without exaggeration,
that no single practice of the early Christian
COMMENDATORY LETTERS 407
Church tended so much as this to impress on it
the stamp of unity and organization.
The bishop of any congregation, in any part
of the empire, might commend a traveller, lay-
man or cleric, to the good offices of any other.
The precautions against imposture might some-
times, as in the well-known instance of Pere-
grinus (Lucian, dii Morte Peregrin.), perhaps
also in that of the irapfiaaKTOi \f/cvSd5e\(poi of
Gal. ii. 4, be insufficient, but as a rule it did
its work, and served as a bond of union between
all Christian Churches. Wherever the Christian
traveller went, if he were provided with these
letters, he found the " communicatio pacis,"
the " contesseratio hospitalitatis " (Tertull. de
Fraescript. Haeretic. c. 20). Those outside
the Church's pale, however arrogant might
be their claims, could boast of no such proof
of their oneness. They were cut off from what
was in the most literal sense of the term the
"communion of saints" (^fbid. c. 32). It was
the crowning argument of Augustine {hpist.
xliv. 3) and Optatus {De Schism. Lonat. ii. 3)
against the Donatists that their letters would
not be received in any churches but their own ;
that they were therefore a sect with no claim to
catholicity, no element of permanence. It was,
in like manner, but a necessary sequel to the
deposition of Paul of Samosata by the so-called
Second Council of Antioch, when the bishops
who passed sentence on him wrote to Dionysius
of Rome and Maximus of Alexandria (Euseb.
//. E. vii. 30), requesting them not to address their
letters to him, but to Domnus, whom they had
appointed in his place. The letters of Cyprian
on the election of Cornelius (Epist. xlv.) and to
Stephen (Epist. Ixvii.) are examples of the same
kind. The most remarkable testimony, how-
ever, to the extent and the usefulness of the
practice is found in the wish of Julian to re-
organise heathen society on the same plan, and
to provide, in this way, shelter and food for any
non-Christian traveller who might be journeying
to a strange city (Sozomen. If. E. v. 16).
It was natural, as the Church became wealthier
and more worldly, that the restrictive side of
the pi-actice should become the more promi-
nent ; that it should be, what the passport
system has been in the intercourse of modern
Europe, a check on the free movement of clergy,
or monks, or laymen. Thus it was made penal
(and the penalty was excommunication) for any
one to receive either cleric or layman who came
to a city not his own without these letters (Can.
Apost. c. 12). Those who brought them were
even then subject to a scrutiny, with the alter-
native of being received into full fellowship if it
were satisfictory, or, if it were otherwise, of
having to be content with some immediate
rn\M\n,id. c. 33)." So the Council of Elvira
(c. 25) seeks to maintain the episcopal prero-
gative in this matter, and will not allow littcrae
confessorine (letters certifying that the bearer
was one who had suftered in persecution'') to
» The canon ends with a warning, significant enough
of the nature or frequency of the abuses to which the
practice had given rise. (Ei? Koiviaviav ouToir? ^i) Trpos-
6e'f7)(T8f, TToAAa ■yap Kara, (rvvapnayrjv yiverai.)
b A more received rendering of the word Is that the
letters were given as a " llbellum pads " to the " lapsi " or
others, by a "confessor." who thus usurped the piero-
gative of the bishop.
408 COMMENDATORY LETTERS
take the place of the regular litterae communi-
catoriae. It would appear, from one clause in
the canon, that the abuse had spread so tar that
the " confessor's " passport was handed from one
to another without even the insertion of the
name, as a cheque payable to bearer. The same
practice is condemned by the first Council of
Aries (c. 9). That of Elvira denounces also the
writing of such letters (the " pacificae ") by the
wives of presbyters or bishops. The prevalence
of this abuse may perhaps explain the zeal of
that synod against the marriage of the clergy.
The Council of Chalcedon (c. 13) renewed the
prohibition of the Apostolic canon against allow-
ing any strange cleric, even as reader, to officiate
in^another city without the <rv<nariKa. ypdfi-
liara from his own bishop. That of Antioch
(A.D. 341) forbids any strangers to be received
without in. elpvviKoi, forbids presbyters to give
the eV. KuvoviKol, does not allow even Chorepi-
scopi to give more than the fipriviKal. That of
Aries (c. 7) places those who have received the
litterae commimicatoriae under the surveillance
of the bishop of the city to which they go, with
the provision that they are to be excommuni-
cated if they begin " agere contra disciplinam,"
and adds, extending the precaution to political
offences, or to the introduction of a democratic
element into the government of the Church,
" similiter de his qui remjiublicam agere volunt."
The system spread its ramifications over all
provinces (1 C. Garth, c. 7; C. Agatli. c. 52).
It was impossible for the presbyter who had
incurred the displeasure of his bishop to find
employment in any other diocese. Without any
formal denunciation the absence of the commen-
datory letter made him a marked man. The
unity" of the Church became a terrible reality to
him.
It will have been noticed that other terms
besides the original (Tva-raTiKaX (commendatitiae,
or commendatoriae) appear as applied to these
letters, and it may be well to register the use
and significance of each.
1. The old term was still retained, as in the
C. of Chalcedon, where the prominent purpose
was to commend the bearer of the letter, whe-
ther cleric or layman, to the favour and good
offices of another bishop.
2. The same letters were also known as Kavo-
viKal, " in accordance with the rule of the
Church." This is the word used in the letter
from the Synod of Antioch, already quoted, by
the Councils of Antioch (c. 8) and Laodicea
(c. 41). The Latin equivalent seems to have
been the litcrae formatac," i.e. drawn up after a
known and prescribed form, so as to be a safe-
guard against imposture. It was stated at the
Council of Chalcedon by Atticus, Bishop of Con-
stantinople, that it was agreed by the bishops at
the Councils of Nicaea that every such letter
should be marked with the letters n. T. A. n.,
in honour of the three Pei-sons of the Trinity.''
In the West the signature or seal (tiWos) of the
bishop was probably the guarantee of genuine-
e The word " formata" occurs in the Acts of tbe Synod
of Milevis (c. 20).
■» The statement rests on the somewhat questionable
authority of the Pseudo-Isidore; but the form is found in
German documents of the 9th century. (Herzog, s. v.
LiUraeformatae.)
COMMERCE
ness. The first mention of the use of a seal-
ring occurs, it is believed, in Augustine {Ejmt.
59] al. 217 «).
3. From the use of the letters as admitting
clergy or laymen to communion they were known
as KoivaiviKol, and are so described by Cyril of
Alexandria (Act. Ephes. p. 282). The corre-
sponding Latin, communicator iae, appears in the
Council of Elvira (c. 25), Augustine (Ejnst. 43 ;
al. 162).
4. The iinffToKal elpriviKal appear to be dis-
tinguished from the ffv^raTLKoi as commending
the bearer for eleemosynary aid. They are to be
given to the poor and those who need help,
clerics or laymen (C. Chalced. c. 11), especially,
according to the Greek canonists (Zonaras ad
Can. ii. C. Chalced.'), to those who had suiTered
oppression at the hands of civil magistrates.
The word is used also by the Council qf Antioch
(c. 7, 8), already quoted as applied to letters
which might be given by presbyters as well as
bishops.
5. There were the eiriffr. airoKvTiKoi, the
"letters dimissory " of modern times. The
word is of later use than the others, and occurs
first in the Council in Trullo (c. 17), in a con-
text which justifies the distinction drawn by
Suicer (s. v. airoAvTiKr]), that it was used in
reference to a permanent settlement of the
bearer, the ffvffrariK^, when the sojourn in
another diocese was only temporary. [E. H. P.]
COMMERCE. It wouH be difficult to find in
either the Old or the New Testament any passage
in disparagement of trade, whether combined or
not with a handicraft. In the Old Testament, if
the calling of Bezaleel and Aholiab puts the highest
honour on the skill of the artisan, the ordinary pro-
cesses of trade are no less sanctified by connecting
them with God Himself and His law in such pas-
sages as those of Lev. xix. 35-6; Deut. xxv. 13-15;
Prov. xL 1, xvi. 10, 23, xxxi. 24; Micah vi. 11.
Nor is it amiss to observe that the Jewish cus-
tom which prevails to this day, of bringing up
every boy without exception to a business, trade
or handicraft, appeai-s to be an immemorial one,
and may serve to explain both the calling by
our Lord of fishermen-apostles. His own training
as a handicraftsman (Mark vi. 3), and the tent-
making of Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla (Acts xviii.
3). No incompatibility, therefore, between the
exercise of a trade and the Christian calling,
whether as a layman or as a member of the
clergy, can be coeval with the Church, and
all legislation to this effect must belong to
what may be termed the secondary, not the
primary, era of its development. It must, more-
over, be observed that the places in which the
Gospel seems to have preferably taken root wei-e
busy commercial cities, such as Antioch, Corinth,
Ephesus ; and it is a remarkable fact that the
age in which Christianity first forced itself on
the notice of the Pagan world, and was honoured
with imperial persecution, the time of Nero, was
also one of great commercial activity, as may be
seen from the account, chiefly derived from Pliny,
of the new trades and inventions introduced under
Nero, contained in the "Anecdota de Nerona "
annexed to Naudet's Tacitus, vol. v. p. 181 and
foil. (Paris, 1820).
e See the different meanings in Ducange, s. v. Fcrr-
matae.
COIMTMERCE
That trade uuder the later emperors was looked
upon as an occupation of inferior dignity is visible
from the fact that a constitution of Theodosius
and Valentinian (a.D. 436) required all bankers,
jewellers, dealers in silver or clothing, apothe-
caries, and other traffickers to be removed from
provincial offices, " in order that every place of
honour and official service (militia) should be
cleared of the like contagion" (a contagione
hujusmodi segregetur; Code, bk. xii. t. Iviii.
1. 12). Traders generally (except the metro-
politan bankers) were again excluded from the
inilitia by a constitution of Justin {Code, bk. xii.
t. XXXV.). This word indeed must no longer, as
under the Republic, be deemed to imply neces-
sarily military service, since the constitution last
referred to expressly distinguishes the armed
militia (armata militia'), admission to which is
forbidden to all traders alike, whilst the metro-
politan bankers (argenti distradores) are by pri-
vilege permitted to enter any other. Soldiers
conversely were by a constitution of Leo (a.d.
458) forbidden to trade (bk. xii. t. xxxvi. 1. 15);
and a constitution of Honorius and Theodosius
forbad men of noble birth, conspicuous dignity,
or hereditary wealth, to exercise a trade " per-
nicious to towns, in order to facilitate mercantile
transactions in the way of buying and selling,
between plebeians and tradesmen" (bk. iv. t.
Ixiii. 1. 3).
As respects the smaller trades and handi-
crafts (it is always difficult to distinguish the
two in the lower social strata) the exercise of
them differed often little from slavery. A con-
stitution of the Emperor Constantine (bk. vi. t. i.
1. 5 ; A.D. 329) speaks of freedmen-artificers
belonging to the state, and desires them to be
brought back, if enticed out of the city where
they reside. Artificers were exempted from all
official functions, which, considering the miser-
able condition of the curialcs, must rather
have been a boon to them (bk. x. t. Ixiv. and
passim). They formed collejia (see Collegia),
from which they could not withdraw without
presenting fit substitutes ready to accept all
their obligations (1. 15). The bakers — if indeed
the constitution of Leo which refers to them
has not been stretched by its present title
beyond its original intent — seem to have been
in an almost lower condition still, since their
status is expressly treated as servile. Curiously
enough, the swineherds of the capitals, as carry-
ing on a restless labour for the benefit of the
Roman people, were specially exempted from all
sordid offices (t. xvi. 1. 1). A special title (ix.) is
devoted to iron-workers {fabricenses), who were
to be marked in the arm, and who formed also
an hereditary caste, mutually responsible for the
offences of every member (1. 5), and forbidden to
engage in agriculture or any other occupation
(1. 7). Yet being exempted from all civil and curial
obligations (1. 6), and from giving quarters to
troops (bk. xii. t. Ixi. 1. 4), their condition (which
is termed a militia) seems to have been a coveted
one, since the admission to it is regulated with
especial care (bk. xi. t. ix. 1. 4). It was to be
by deed, before the moderator of the province or
other high officer. The candidate had to show
that he was neither the son nor grandson of
a curial, that he owed no dues to the city,
and had no obligations towards a citizen. The
manufacture of arms was also by the 85th novel
COMMERCE
409
limited to the official " armifactores," or " to
those who are called fabricicnsii " (quaere, fahri-
censes).
Whole branches of trade, as we now under-
stand the term, did not exist. Instead of a trade
in corn, the transport of corn to the capitals
was a service attached to land (mwius rei navi-
\ culariae). Thus when Augustine was offered the
estate of one Bonifacius, he declined it, because
he would not have the Church of Christ a " na-
vicularia," and so incur the risk, in the event of
a ship being lost, of having to consent to the
torture of the men on board, as part of the in-
vestigation (Aug. Serm. 355).
In the interior of the empire, trade was not
only restricted by monopolies which under Jus-
tinian were carried to a cruel height (see Gibbon,
c. xl.), and of which Dean Milman observes that
the state monopoly "even of corn, wine, and
oil was in force at the time of the first cru-
sade," but by the reservation of various articles
for imperial use. Thus the wearing of gold and
silver tissue or embroidery was forbidden to pri-
vate persons, nor could such tissue or embroidery
be woven or worked except in the imperial
gynecaea (bk. xl. t. viii. 11. 1, 2, 4). The use of
the dye of the "holy murex," or any imitation
of its purple, was equally forbidden {lb. 11. 3, 4,
5). The employment of gems (among which
pearls, emeralds, and jacinths were forbidden to
be used in horse-trappings) was also regulated,
as savouring of the imperial dignity (76. t. xi.).
The 85th novel forbad even all sale of arms to
private persons.
Buying and selling seems to have been in great
measure carried on at fairs and in markets", the
holding of which was by impei'ial grant forfeit-
able by ten years' non-user {Dig. bk. 1. t. xi. De
Nundinis, 1. 1), and the dealing at which was
invested with certain privileges {Code, bk. iv.
t. Ix.). Fairs, it may be observed, were often
held on saints' days, though St. Basil in his
Liber Regularum condemns the practice; thus
there was a fair in Lucania on the birth-day of
St. Cyprian, a 30-days' fair free of toll in Edessa
at the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, &c. (Mu-
ratori, Antiquitates lledii Aevi, vol. ii. Diss. 30).
Notwithstanding the low estimation in which
trade was held, it seems clear that until Justi-
nian's time at least it was not held civilly in-
compatible with the clerical office. The I'hilo-
sopkumena of Hippolytus (beginning of the 3rd
century) show us the future pope Callistus set
up by Carpophorus as a banker, holding his bank
in the " Piscina Publica," and receiving deposits
from widows and brethren (ix. 12). A law of
Constantine and Julian indeed, a.d. 357 {Code,
bk. i. t. ii. 1. 2, which exempted the clergy fi-om
" prestations " levied from merchants), sought to
compel trader-clerics (amongst others) to devote
their gains to charitable uses : " If by saving, or
forethought, or honourable trading they have
got money together, it should be ministered for
the use of the poor and needy." The next pas-
sage indicates a custom still more strange to us
— that of workshops and even taverns being kept
for the benefit of the Church : " Or that which
may have been acquired and collected from their
workshops or taverns, let them deem it Avhen
collected the gain of religion :" and the privileges
of the clergy are mostly extended to their men
who are occupied in trade (/6.) Another law of
410
COMMERCE
the same emperor, a.d. 361, which however does
not seem to have been retained in his Code by
Justinian {Cod. Theod. bk. xvi. t. ii. 1. 15), ex-
empted clerics from " sordid offices " as well as
from the imposition of the coUatio, " if by very
small trade they acquire to themselves poor food
and clothing ;" but others, whose names are on
the register of merchants, at the time when
the collatio takes place, " must acknowledge the
duties and payments of merchants." We see
thus that trader-clerics were of all degrees, from
the humblest traffickers to considerable mer-
chants.
The 43rd Novel " De officinis sive tabernis
Constantinopolitanae urbis," &c., and the 59th,
" De debita impensa in exequiis defunctorum," in-
dicate to us the extent of the trade which was
carried on in the Eastern capital on behalf of the
Church, and the singular character of a portion
of it. In consideration of the cathedral church
undertaking what in modern French parlance
would be termed the " Pompes Funebres " of the
city, Constantine granted to it 980 ei-gasteria or
workshops, of the various trades ("ex diversis
corporibus") of the city, to be held free of all tax ;
Anastasius added 150 more (Preface to Nov. 59).
The total number of these cathedral ergasteria or
officinae, as the 43M novel terms them, seems
from the preface to the latter to have practically
sunk to 1100 (perhaps by failure of trade, see
nov. 59, c. ii., which says that even of the
reduced number " plurima ceciderunt"), at which
figure it is fixed by both novels, the earlier one
being grounded on the complamts of the colle-
giati — say the guilds of the city — that the number
of tax-free establishments was ruining them. But
all other officinae of the 14 wards (" regiones ")
of the city, whether belonging to any church,
hospital, monastery, orphan-home, poor-house, or
to any other person, were required to bear all
public impositions. And in speaking of these
officinae the word tavern occurs, not only as
above-shown in the title, but in the body of
the law (c. i. § 3). Strange therefore as may
seem to us the idea of a church or cathedral
bakery or pothouse, it is clear that in the 6th
century a very considerable amount of trade,
including the liquor-traffic, was carried on on
behalf of the Church and its charitable establish-
ments in the capital of the Eastern empire.
If we turn from the Roman to the barbarian
world, the barbarian codes till the time of
Charlemagne scarcely contain an allusion to
trade, except, perhaps, in reference to loans,
pledges, or debts — see for instance the Wisi-
gothic laws, bk. v. tt. 6, 6. Under the rule of the
Ostrogoths in Italy, the Formulary of Cassio-
dorus indicates that the armourers were still
considered as a 7nilitia ("militibus te et fabris
armorum .... praefecimus," pt. ii. c. 18, "de
armorum factoribus "). Under the Lombards,
a law of Notharis (A.D. 638 or 643) refers to the
building trade in dealing with accidents among
masons, and uses a term (migistri Comacini)
which shows that this class of workmen were
then drawn mainly from the same locality (the
neighbourhood of Como). which mainly furnishes
them still to Northern Italy (c. 144, and foil. ; and
see c. 152, as to accidents among other workmen).
Somewhat later again, the gro\vth of trade and
industry under the Lombards is indicated by a
singular law of Luitprand (bk. iii. c. 4, A.D. 717),
COMMERCE
enacting that if any man leave his wife for
trade or for the exercise of an art, and do not
return after three years, his wife may apply to
the king for leave to re-marry. Foreign trade is
referred to by the Wisigothic code (bk. xi. t. 3)
in a law " on traders from beyond the sea,"
which enacts that if such traders have a matter
between themselves, none of the king's household
shall presume to hear them, but let them be
heard according to their own laws only by their
toll-takers (" apud telonarios suos ").
The legislation of the Church bears much more
on commercial matters than that of the bar-
barian kingdoms, and we have now to consider
its history.
One form of trade, it may be observed, was
always forbidden by the church, that of earning
a livelihood by usury. [See Usury.] In other
respects it was long before trade was deemed by
the Church itself incompatible with clerical
functions ; though the fathers might inveigh
against it as a form of worldliness; as when
Cyprian in his work Dc Lapsis, written about
A.D. 251, speaks of those who " watch like fowlers
for gainful markets." (Comp. Ep. 15.) The
growth of some general feeling on the subject
is, however, to be traced in the 18th canon of
the Council of Eliberis, a.d. 305, by which
bishops, priests, and deacons are forbidden to
depart from their places for the sake of trade, or
to go round the provinces seeking lucrative
markets. To obtain their livelihood they may
indeed send a son, a freedman, an agent (me. ««-
rarium), a friend, or anyone else ; and if they
wish to trade, let them trade within the pro-
vince— the main object of the canon being clearly
to preserve to their flocks the benefits of their
ministrations, not to put dishonour on trading
itself.
A collection of decrees of very doubtful au-
thority, attributed to the Nicene Council, which
will be found in Labbe and Mansi's Councils, vol.
ii. p. 1029, and foil, under the title : " Sauctiones
et decreta alia ex quatuor regularum ad Con-
stantinum libris decerpta," contains amongst
its "statutes for priests" (c. 14) a provision
that the priest shall not be a barber, a surgeon,
or a worker in iron (ferramentarius), the two
former prohibitions turning probably on blood-
letting in its most literal form, the latter on the
providing instruments for bloodshed. The 4th
Council of Carthage, 397, forbids clerics to go to
markets, except to buy, under pain of degra-
dation (c. 48), but at the same time enacts that
" a cleric, however learned in the word of God,
shall seek his livelihood by means of a handi-
craft, artificio" (c. 51), that "a cleric shall
provide for himself food and clothing by a
handicraft or by agriculture, without detri-
ment to his office " (c. 52), and that " all clerics
wlio have strength to work should learn both
handicrafts (ariificiola) and letters " (c. 53) ;
provisions all nearly equivalent and which con-
firm the opinion that the canons of this and
other Carthaginian Councils represent rather
the whole collection of rules by which the
African church was governed at their respective
dates than specific enactments of those dates.
They appear, indeed, to indicate that, at all
I events in this quarter of the church, a distinc-
I tion was being taken between Irade and handi-
1 crafts, and that the exercise of the former by
COMMERCE
clerics was restrained, whilst the latter was
eujoined.
By the time of the Council of Chalcedon (a.d.
451) the line between "secular" and "reli-
gious " employments appears to have become
much more sharply marked. The 3rd canon
speaks of clerics who for filthy lucre carry on
secular business, and forbids them to do so, — a
prohibition which would seem to include every
shape of trade, but which cannot have been so
considered, since the Council of Chalcedon is
expressly named as one of the four to whose
canons force of law is given by Justinian's Code,
A.D. 533 (bk. i. 1. i. c. 7, §' 4), which yet, as
has been seen above, expressly recognises both
clerical trading and trading on behalf of the
church.
In the west, however, it seems clear that the
feeling against clerical trading became always
stronger ; a letter (ix.) of Pope Gelasius I. (a.d.
492-6) to the bishops of Lucania speaks (c. 15)
of his having heard from Picenum that very
many clerics there are occupied with dishonour-
able business and filthy lucre, and enjoins them
to abstain from unworthy gain, and from every
device or desire of business of any kind, or else
from the fulfilment of clerical functions — expres-
sions which, in the light of altered feeling on
the subject, we may also take to apply to trade
generally. The Council of Tarragona (a.d. 516)
enacts that " whosoever will be in the clergy, let
him not be careful to buy too cheap or sell too
dear,or let him be removed from the clergy" (c. 2).
If a cleric lends a solidus in time of need, in order
to receive it back in wine or wheat which it is
intended to sell at a fixed time for the sake of
traffic, if the actual thing be not needed by him,
let him receive what he gave without any in-
crease (c. 3) — a prohibition both of trade and
of usury. The 3rd Council of Orleans, a.d. 538,
in like manner, forbids clerics from the rank of
deacons upwards to carry on business like public
traders, or to carry on a forbidden business under
another's name (c. 27). In spite of these enact-
ments, we find in the letters of Gregory the
Great (a.d. 590-603) mention made of a ship-
building bishop in Campania (see Labbe and
Mansi's Cutmci/s, vol. x. p. 559).
That the enactments of the African Councils no
longer satisfied the temper even of the English
church may be judged from the Excerpta of
Ecgbert, archbishop of York (latter half of 8th
century), the 3rd book of which (2nd series)
contains a prohibition to priests and deacons to
be occupied " in any worldly affairs," except
those for which they are assigned (intitulati, c. 8).
A canon of the Council of Calchyth (that is, Chel-
sea), A.D. 787, in favour of honesty in weights
and measures, may also be quoted (c. 17).
The capitularies of Charlemagne (mostly, if
not always, invested with the sanction of the
church), deal repeatedly with the subject of
trade. The ecclesiastical capitulary of 789
enacts that measures and weights be equal and
just, "whether in cities or whether in monas-
teries, whether for giving or whether for re-
ceiving " (c. 73. and see the " Capitula minora "
added to the Salic law, A.D. 803, c. viii. ; Canon
15 of the 6th Council of Aries; and c. 45 of the
3rd Council of Tours, same year). The Frankfort
Capitulary of 794 is one of several which attempt
to fix the prices of victuals (c. 4 ; Capitulary of
COMMERCE
411
Noyon, a.d. 808, c. 5). The pitch of actual cruelty
is reached in the " Capitula de Judaeis," where
every Jew is forbidden to have money in his
house, to sell wine, victuals, or any other thing,
under pain of confiscation of all his goods and
imprisonment till he come into the imperial
presence (c. 3). The utter absence of all notion
of a possible right to freedom in trading is well
expressed in one of the Capitula published by
the imperial missi, a.d. 803 : " That no man
presume to sell or buy or measure otherwise
than as the lord emperor has commanded " (c.
10).
Markets are not to be held on the Lord's Day
(Excerpts from the Canons, added to the Ca-
pitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle of A.D. 813, c. 15;
and see General Collection, bk. i. c. 139 ; Gth
Council of Aries, A.D. 813, c. 16; 3rd Council of
Tours, A.D. 813, c. 40), except where they have
been held of old and lawfully (Capitulary of
Aix-la-Chapelle of 809, c. 9) ; a Lombard Capi-
tulary of 779 seems however to enact generally
that " markets are nowhere to be held except
where they have been held of old lawfully "
(c. 52, taking no notice of the Sunday). Fore-
stalling for covetousness' sake is forbidden
(Capitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle of 809, c. 12).
The Council of Friuli, a.d. 791, even forbad
genei-ally the carrying on of secular business to
an immoderate extent.
Presbyters were by one capitulary forbidden
to trade, or gather riches in anywise by filthy
lucre (Capitula presbyterorum, A.D. 806). On
the other hand the Council of Mayence, a.d. 813,
more guardedly forbids clerics and monks to have
unjust weights or measures, or to carry on an
unjust trade ; " nevertheless a just trade is not
to be forbidden, on account of divers necessities ;
for we read that the holy apostles traded " (ne-
gotiates esse), — the rule of St. Benedict being
referred to as a further authority (c. 14, see Ad-
ditio 4ta, c. 46). Trade was, however, forbidden
to penitents, "because it is difficult that between
the dealing of seller and buyer sin should not
intervene " (General Collection, bk. vii. c. 62 ;
perhaps of later date).
The exact meaning of some of the later texts
above referred to is rendered somewhat doubtful
through the gradual narrowing of the term
negotium and its derivatives, from the sense of
business in its widest meaning to the specific one
of trade, as in its modern French offspring le ne'joce,
negociant. They sufficiently show, however, that
whilst the avocations of the early apostles were
still remembered, and the rule of St. Benedict
had raised the dignity of labour itself, the
growing Judaistic distinction between " secular "
and " religious " acts and matters, so foreign to
the spirit of a faith which is founded on the
abrogation of all distinctions except those
between good and evil, light and darkness, life
and death, in which the recognition that in
meats " there is nothing unclean of itself,'' but
" all things indeed are pure " (Rom. xiv. 14, 20),
that " every creature of God is good, and nothing
to be refused, if it be received with thanks-
giving " (1 Tim. iv. 4), was only the type of the
bi-eaking down of " the middle wall of partition "
between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. ii. 14 ; Acts x.
10-15, 28), had by the 9th century begun to
render the very idea of ti'ade incompatible with
the clerical calling, not so much as in early
412
COMMINATION
times, by reason of its distracting the minister
from his sacred functions, as on account of a
supposed inherent dishonour attached to it.
That the distinction is in itself a result of the
secularizing of the church may be inferred from
a comparison with civil legislation. The ultra-
refined officialism of the later Roman empire,
which made the sovereign the only source of
honour, and excluded the independent trader (one
specially rich class excepted), even from the
merely civil militia, let alone the military
service itself, on the one hand — the rude savagery
of the barbarian on the other, which looked upon
war and warlike sports as the only employments
worthy of a man, and almost utterly ignored in
legislation the very existence of the trader —
must both, whatever phenomena to the con-
trary may present themselves in Justinian's
Code, have reacted profoundly upon the spirit
of the church. The service of God, which soon
claimed the title of a militia, must have the
exclusiveness of one, whether the term were
used in the Roman official sense or in the
warlike barbarian one ; whatever was incom-
j)atible with the dignity of the functionary of
an earthly sovereign, of the soldier of an earthly
chief, must be incompatible also with that of a
minister of God, a soldier in His host. At the
same time, the influence of this distinction had
not gone so far as to exclude the whole realm
of trade from church solicitude, and it is remark-
able to observe in the canons of French Councils
of the beginning of the 9th century similar
enactments against dishonesty in trade to those
of the Pentateuch. [See Debtor, Covetous-
NESS, Usury.] [J. M. L.]
COMMINATION. The " denunciation of
God's anger and judgments against sinners"
used in the Anglican church on Ash-Wednesday.
The ejection of penitents from the chvirch on
the first day of Lent, with prayer that they may
bring forth fruits meet for repentance, seems to
be a practice of considerable antiquity (Martene,
De Hit. Eccl. Ant. lib. iv. c. 17), although the
canon of the Council of Agde which is sometimes
cited in pi-oof of it rests on no earlier authority
than that of Gratian (Bingham, Antiq. bk. xviii.
c. 2, § 2). But the particular practice of the
English church, of reciting " God's cursing
against impenitent sinners " on Ash-Wednesday
seems to be a continuation of the use of the
" articles of the sentence of cursing " which
were read in parish churches three or four times
a year in the Middle Ages. (Wheatley, On the
Common Prayer, p. 605, ed. Corrie.) [See Peni-
tence.] [C]
COMMUNICALES. A term used to desig-
nate the vessels used in Holy Communion, which
on certain days were carried in procession at
Rome. The Liler Pontificalis (p. 122, ed. Mura-
tori) tells us that Leo III. (t816) made commu-
nion-vessels (communicales) in the several regions
of Rome, which were to be carried in procession
by acolytes on stationary days; these were
twenty-four in number. [C]
COMMUNICATIVE LIFE.
CISM.]
[MONASTI-
COMMUNIO. (1) An anthem in the Roman
and cognate missals, said by the celebrant after
COMMUNION, HOLY
he has taken the ablutions. It is so called, be-
cause it was originally appointed to be sung
during the communion of the people, and was
sung antiphonally after each verse of a psalm,
wliich was continued till the priest gave the
signal for the Glor-ia, when the communion of
the people was ended (Ordo Rom. iii. 18). " De-
bent omnes communicare interim cum Antiphona
cantatur, quae de Communiono nomen mutuavit,
cui et Psalmus subjungendus est cum Gloria
Patri, si necesse fuerit " (IJicrol. de Feci. Observ.
cap. 18). Afterwards the Communio was looked
U])on more as an act of thanksgiving, to be said
after the communion. It varies with the day.
That for the Missa in nocte Nat. Dom. is: "in
splendoribus sanctorum ex utero ante luciferum
genui te."
(2) An anthem in the Mozarabic missal sung
by the choir after the communion has taken
place. There are only two forms : one used in
Lent, the other during the rest of the year.
Tills latter is : " Refecti corpore et sanguine te
Laudamus Domine. All : All : All : " [H. J. H.]
COMMUNION, HOLY. The present article
does not treat of the whole of what in England
is generally called the Communion Office or Ser-
vice [see Liturgy], but of that portion of it
which immediately relates to the distribution
and reception of the consecrated elements iu the
Eucharist.
Names. — Koivuvia, tS>v fivffrripiaiv Koivaivia
(Chrysostom) ; fivaTijptov crvva^ews or Kotvco-
yias, BeapxiKT] Koivaivia (Dionysius Areop.) ;
IXiT6.K7]y\iis aytafffiaTuiv, evxoLp''0"r'i.as, /xvffTrj-
picov; ayia or ixvottlkt] fxerdKri^LS. The verb
Koivwvelv is used absolutely to describe partici-
pation of the Eucharist (Basil, Chrysostom),
and also with a substantive descriptive of
the sacred feast, as /xvcTTiKrjs Koivwvitv Svalas
(Philostorgius). So yueTe'xf"' euxapiffTias (Cone.
Nic. I. c. 13); and ixfTaKafx^dviiv, absolutely
(Theophylact), or with a substantive, as axpdv-
rov 0vfxaTOS /ueToAa/Seij/ (Philostorg.), rov Aeir-
TTortKov (Tiifiaros Kal aifiaros fieraXaf^pdvuv
(Theodoret).
Communio, communicatio ; they who partake
of the consecrated elements are said communi-
care, absolutely {e.g. IV. Cone. Tolet. c. 18).
The leading notion implied in the use of these
words is expressed by Isidore of Pelusium {Ep.
228) thus : " quia nobis conjunctionem cum Deo
conciliat, nosque regni ipsius consortes ac parti-
cipes reddit ; " by Papias (in Ducange, s. v
Communio), thus : " Communio dicitur spiritualis
esca, quia in commune ad vivificandas animas a
cunctis percipitur dignis." Other terms are
perceptio Corporis et Sanguinis, participotio.
The word accipere is used to designate the act
of taking the bread or the chalice into the
hands ; sumere or consumere, the act of eating or
drinking the particle or the wine.
The word communicare is also used actively, to
denote the act cf presenting the consecrated
Bread ; the deacons following with the cup are
said confirmare Sanguine Domiidco, or confrmare
simply : " Episcopi communicant populum ; post
eos diaconi coufirmant ; " " subdiaconus regio-
narius ... confirmat populum " ( Ordo Pom. I.
c. 20). The word is used no doubt to signify
the completing or perfecting of the act of com-
munion {Micrologus, c. 19).
COMMUNION, HOLY
General Account op Holy Communion.
The earliest extant description of Holy Com-
munion is the well-known passage of Justin
Martyr (ApoL I. c. 65), already quoted under
Canon (p. 267). No .description is here given of
posture or gesture, whether of ministrants or
recipients, or of any words accompanying admi-
nistration; Justin tells us only that after the
elxa-piffTia. " those whom we call deacons give
to each of those present to pai'take of the bread
and of the wine and water over which thanks
have been given'' (jov €vxapi<TT-ndevTos &pTOv
Kal oivuv Kal liSaroi), and carry away to those
who are not present." He repeats substan-
tially the same account in c. 67, using the words
SidSoiTLs and ;U€TaA7jv//is for distribution and
reception.
From Tertullian we learn that in the African
Church of the 2nd century the Eucharist was
administered to all who were present ; for he
recommends (I)e Oratione, c. 14) those who
hesitated to be present at the celebration on
stationary days [Statio] for fear of breaking
their fast, to be present indeed, but to reserve
the portion which they received. This applies
to the Bread only ; it was consecrated bread,
which some were in the habit of putting to
their lips before an ordinary meal {Ad Uxorem,
ii. b). The Eucharist was received, not at the
usual meal-time, as the Lord's command seemed
to require (et in tempore victus et omnibus
maudatum a Domino), but in assemblies before
dawn and from no other hands than those of the
presidents (pi-aesidentium) ; it was given into
the hands; for Tertullian laments the impiety
of those idol-makers who — whether as clerics or
laics— touched the Lord's Body with hands so
contaminated (X'e Idul c. 7) ; and Christians
felt an anxious dread lest any portion of the
bread or the win« should fall to the ground
(Z>e Corona, c. 3), for the Holy Communion
was administered, ordinarily at least, under
both kinds. Tertullian has also a probable
allusion to the Amen of the recipient in response
to the words of administration (De Spectac.
c. 25).
From Cyprian we learn (besides much as to
the worthiness of communicants) that the deacon
presented the cup after consecration to those who
were present, probably in a certain order (De
Lapsis, c. 25) ; the bread was received into the
right hand (Ep. 58, c. 9, Hartel), and was not
unfrequently carried home in a casket (Z>e Lapsis,
c. 26). Compare Arca.
Clement of Alexandria {Strom, i. c. 1, p. 318
Potter), speaking of the necessity of men trying
and examining themselves, illustrates his posi-
tion by a reference to the Eucharist, " in distri-
buting which according to custom some permit
each several person in the congi-egation to take
his portion." There is no reason for supposing
(Probst,- Lit. der Drei Ersten Jahrhdte.) that
these Tives were schismatics ; and the passage
seems to imply that there were churches where
the ministers, in distributing the elements, per-
mitted all who were present to partake if they
a This is the translation usually given of cux^P'-'^tt)-
ee'i/Tos (see Alzog's Patrologie, p. 711; but it may per-
haps be interpreted " the bread presented as a thank-
offering." (See EtTCHARisT.)
COMMUNION, HOLY 413
Avould ; and other churches wliere they judged
who among the congregation v.ere or were nut
worthy.
The directions of the second book of the Apo-
stolical Constitutirms are as follows (c. 57, § 1-4-):
" After the sacrifice has been made, let eacii
rank (ra^fs) severally partake of the Lord's
Body and of the precious Blood, approaching in
rank with reverence and godly fear as to the
body of a king ; and let the women draw near
with veiled heads, as befits the rank of women.
And let the doors be watched, lest any unbe-
lieving or uninitiated person enter." By
" ranks " we are no doubt to understand the_
several orders of the clergy and ascetics, ac-
cording to dignity, then laymen, then women.
The testimony of Origen (in Exodum, Horn. xi.
c. 7, p. 172 ; xiii. 3, 176) shews that, after the
sermon the people drew nigh to the marriage-
supper of the Lamb ; that not the priest alone,
but the fixithful also who were present, re-
ceived the Sacrament ; and that they were care-
ful that no particle of the consecrated elements
should fall to the ground, receiving the Bread
no doubt into their hands. His comment on
Psalm xxxiii. [xxxiv.] 9, perhaps alludes to the
use of reiKTaffde Kol XSere as an antiphon during
communion.
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria from 248-
266 (in Euseb. //. E. vii. 9), mentions the prin-
cipal ceremonies of communion, when he speaks
of one who had long attended the Eucharistic
Service, joined in responding Amen, stood by the
Table, stretched forth his hand to receive the
Holy Food and received it, had partaken of
the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Cyril of Jerusalem describes the manner of
receiving in his time (c. a.d. 350) and country,
thus (Cuiec/i. 3fijstag. v. 20-22) :
After the Sancta Sanctis, "ye hear the
voice of the chanter (toi) \pa\Aovros) with divine
melody inviting you to partake of the holy
mysteries, and saying, ' 0 taste and see how
gracious the Lord is.' Permit not the bodily
palate - no, but faith unfeigned, to judge of
these things ; for they who taste are bidden to
taste not of bread and wine, but of the copy
{auTiTvirov) of the Body and Blood of Christ.
When you approach, then, draw near not with
the wrists straight out nor with the fingers
spread, but making the left hand a throne for
the right, as for that which is to receive a king ;
and hollowing the palm, receive the Body of
Christ, saying after reception the Amen. Then
after carefully hallowing thine eyes by the
touch of the Holy Body, partake of it (;U6toA.o^-
^Saj/e), giving heed lest any portion of it fall
aside and be lost ; for whatsoever thou hast lost,
by so much hast thou suffered damage of thine
own members . . . Then, after communicating
(Koivaifrjffai) of the Body, draw near also to the
Cup (iTOTriplu)) of the Blood ; not stretching
forth thy hands, but bending, and with an air
of adoration and reverence, saying the Amen,
sanctify thyself partaking also of the Blood of
Christ. Further, touching with thy hands the
moisture remaining on thy lips, sanctify both
thine eyes and thy forehead and the other
organs of the senses (aJff^TjT^pia). Then, while
awaiting the prayer, give thanks unto God,
ho hath thought
mysteries."
thee
fthy of
great
414
COMMUNION, HOLY
In the later Apost. Constitutions (viii. 14, § 3)^
after the Sancta Sanctis, the directions proceed :
" Aud after this let the bishop partake, then the
presbyters and the deacons, and subdeacons, and
che readers, and the chanters, and the ascetics ;
and of the women's side, the deaconesses and the
virgins aud the widows; then the children, then
all the peoi^le, with reverence and godly fear,
without disturbance. And let the bishop minis-
ter the oblation (TTpo(T<popa.v, i.e. the Bread)
saying, 'The Body of Christ,' and let him that
receiveth say Amen ; and let the deacon hold the
cup, and say as he administers, ' The Blood of
Christ, the Cup of Life,' and let him that
drinketh say Amen. And let the 33rd Psalm
[3ith E.V.] be said while the rest are partaking
(eV T(S- /j.iTaXafj.^dveii'); and when all the men
and women have partaken, let the deacons take
what remains over and bear it into the sacristy
(ra iraa-TOfpSpia)." Then followed thanksgiving,
prayer, benediction, and dismissal.
In the Liturgy of St. James, the Sancta Sanctis
is followed by Fraction aud Commixtion ; then the
priest, after saying the prayer before reception,
administers to the clergy ; the antiphon " 0
taste aud see " is sung ; when the deacons take
up the patens and the cups to administer to the
people, the priest utters an ascription of glory
to God : special forms of " Gloria " are also given
to accompany the placing of the sacred vessels
on the side-table or credence (TrapaTpdiri(ov),
for taking them up again, and for placing them
on the Holy Table ; but no formula of adminis-
tration is given either in the Greek or Syriac
form of the liturgy.
In the Liturgy of St. Mark, after the Sancta
Sanctis and Fraction, the priest communicates,
saying the prayer " According to Thy mercy,"
or "Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks."
And when he administei-s the Bread to the
clergy, he says, " The Holy Body ; " on adminis-
tering the cup, " The precious Blood of our Lord
and God and Saviour." Then follow thanks-
giving, pi-ayer, and dismissal. The form for the
communion of the people was in all probability
the same as that for the clergy.
In that of St. Basil, after the Sancta Sanctis
stands the rubric, " Then the communion (iJi.eTa-
Aj)ij/6ais) being completed, and the Holy Mys-
teries lifted from the Holy Table, the priest
l)rays ; " then follow thanksgiving, prayer, and
dismissal.
In the much more fully developed Byzantine
Liturgy (St. Chrysostom's), the priest elevating
the Bread says the Sancta Sanctis, to which the
usual response is given, and the choir chants
the communion-antiphon of the day or the saint.
Then follow Fraction and Commixtion, and the
peculiar rite of pouring a few drops of boiling
water into the chalice ; then " the Priest, taking
the Holy Bread, gives it to the deacon ; and the
deacon, saluting the hand that imparts it to
him, takes the Holy Bread, saying, ' Impart
(fxirdZos) to me, sir, the precious and holy
Body of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus
Christ.' ^ And the Priest says, 'To N., sacred
deacon (lepoSioKtJi^o)), is imparted the precious
and holy and undefiled Body of our Lord and
God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for forgiveness of
sins and life eternal.' And he passes behind
I he Holy Table, bowing his head, and prays as
the priest does. In like manner the priest,
COMMUNION, HOLY
taking one particle of the Holy Bread, says,
' The precious and all-holy Body of our Lord
and God and Saviour Jesus Christ is imparted to
me, N., priest, for forgiveness of sins and life
eternal.' Then, bowing his head lov/, he prays."
Then follow directions for- replacing the vessels
on the Holy Table. Then the door of the sanc-
tuary (;3f);ua), within which the actions pre-
viously described have taken place, is opened,
and the deacon standing in the doorway elevates
the cup. This rubric follows : " Be it known
that if there are any who desire to partake, the
priest takes the Holy Cup'' from the hands of
the deacon and imparts to them, saying : ' The
servant of God N. partakes of the precious and
holy Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ for forgiveness of his sins and life
eternal.' " Then, after a blessing, the priest and
deacon return to the Holy Table, and rubrics
follow prescribing the various observances with
which the sacred vessels are carried to the
sacristy.
Of the Western rites, we will speak first of
the Roman.
After the Libera nos of the Canon follow the
Kiss of Peace and the breaking or Fractiok
of the Host, during which the Agnus Dei was
said.
Then, in the ancient form of Papal Mass, a
deacon (or, according to the Ordines V. and VL,
an acolyth) bore the paten to the Pope's seat,
west of the altar ; the Pontiff awaited his
coming, standing up with folded hands ; he bit
a portion from the oblate on the paten, and
placed the oblate in the chalice held by the
archdeacon ; from this chalice he partook of
the Wine by means of a gold or silver pipe
[Fistula].
When the Pontiff has communicated, the arch-
deacon draws near the horn of the altar (Ordo
Eoni. I. c. 20 ; II. c. 14), and pours a little of
the wine from the chalice which had been used
in consecration into the cup (scyphum) held by
an acolyth ; then the bishops approach to re-
ceive the communion from the hands of the
Pontiff; then the presbyters in like manner
((?. R. I. u. s.); according to the Urdo B. II.
the presbyters drew near not to the Papal seat
but to the altar to communicate. The Ordo V.
describes the manner of communicating with
more detail : " let the presbyters also drawing
near communicate, to whom the bishop gives the
Holy Body into their hands, and let them go to
the left-hand horn •= of the altar and kiss it, and
communicate. In like manner after them let
the deacons communicate." The Ordo VI.
makes the distinction that subdeacons are to
receive the Body into their mouths, while the
higher orders receive it into their hands.
After the Pontiff had ministered the Bread,
the archdeacon ministered the Wine to the
clergy ; after which he poured the remainder of
i* It must be borne in mind that the cup contains a
portion of the consecrated bread as well as the wine ; and
that in nearly all the Eastern churches the sacred elements
have from ancient times been administered to the laity
with a spoon (A.a/3t;).
0 i.e. the north side. " Eight" and " left" in liturgical
language at present refer to the right and left hand Of the
crucifix over the altar : but anciently they referred to the
right and left of a person standing with his face towards
the altar. [Horn.]
COMMUNION, HOLY
tliR wine from the chalice into the cup (scy
phum), from which the laity were to commu-
nicate by means of a tube, or pugillaris [Fistula].
'J"he wine in this cup was regarded as completely
consecrated by the infusion of the consecrated
Wine ft-oni the chalice (see Mabillon, Comm.
Praevius in Ordines BE. p. xciii.). The Pope
delivered the bread to the principal persons pre-
sent, the archdeacon following with the cup;
meantime the choir sang the antiphon Ad Com-
munionem. When the principal persons in the
Si:XATOKiUM had communicated, the bishops
ministered the bread to the rest of the laity, and
tlie deacons the cup; or sometimes, at the bid-
ding of the Pontiff, presbyters administered both
the bread and the cup {Ordo R. L c. 20, and //.
c. 14). As to the form of words accompanying
administration; Gregory the Great used the
following : " Corpus Dom. N. J. Christi con-
servet auimam tuam " (Joann. Diac. Vita Greg.
ii. 41). The Missa Il/t/rici (in Bona, Ue Reb.
Lit. p. .554, ed. 1672) gives the following. For
the priest himself when he receives : " Corpus
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi sit mihi remedium
sempiternum in vitam aeternam," and " Sanguis
D. N. J. Christi custodiat me in vitam aeter-
nam." On delivering the Body into the hands
of priest or deacons, the form is " Pa.\ tecum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo;"'^ or "Verbum caro
factus est, et habitavit in nobis : " on delivering
the cup, in which a portion of the consecrated
bread is immersed [Commixtion], " Haec sacro-
saneta commixtio corporis et sanguinis D. N.
J. C. prosit tibi ad vitam aeternam." For the
subdeacons and inferior orders the form is :
"Perceptio Corporis et Sanguinis D. N. J. C.
sanctificet corpus et animam tuam in vitam
aeternam. Amen." For the laity : " Corpus et
sanguis D. N. J. C. prosit tibi in remissionem
omnium peccatorum et ad vitam aeternam."
About the time of Charles the Great, the follow-
ing was a common formula : " Corpus D. N. J. C.
custodiat te in vitam aeternam" (Krazer, de
Liturgiis, p. 561).^
In the Galilean Church, after the benediction
and the communion of the priest, the ftiithful,
men and women alike, drew near the altar and
received the Eucharist into their hands.
During the time of communicating, a psalm
or canticle was chanted. On this point Aurelian,
bishop of Orleans, gives the simple rule, "Psal-
lendo oranes communicant " {Reguld). Germanus
of Paris, his contemporary, calls the canticle or
antiphon which was sung during communion
Treccmum, and says that it signified faith in the
Holy Trinity ; it was probably either the Gloria
Fatri, or something equivalent to the Unus
Rater, Unus Filius, Unus Spiritus Sanctus, of
the Eastern Church [Sancta Sanctis]. In the
Mozarabic liturgy, after the priestly benediction
and salutation, the choir chants the antiphon Ad
Accedentes, during which the people were to
draw near. After the antiphon, the priest takes
from the paten the particle Gloria [see Fkac-
tion], saying inaudibly " Panem coelastem de
d These words were no doubt used as appropriate to
the Kiss of Peace given by the ministrant to the recipient,
as was occasionally done even as late as the 12th century.
(Innocent JII, De Myst. Missae, vi. 9.)
' A good collection of such formulae may be found
in the work of Dominic Georgi, de Liturgia Ram.
I'ontif.
COMMUNION, HOLY 415
mensa Domini accipiam et nomen Domini invo-
cabo,"f and, holding it over the chalice, says
prayers for worthy reception ; then consumes
the particle which he holds in his hand, and
then the remaining particles on the paten. Im-
mediately after he communicates the people.
He then uncovers the chalice and, after the
prayer "Ave in aevum coelestis potus," and
" Corpus et Sanguis D. N. J. Christi custodiat
corpus et animam meam in vitam aeternam,
Amen," drinks thereof, and says prayer for bene-
fit from reception. The choir chants the CoM-
MUNIO, or antiphon for communicating. No
direction is given for the communion of the
people further than that contained in the words
" et statim populo communionem impertit."
After the ablution of the chalice. Alleluia is
chanted, post -communion follows, salutation and
dismissal.
In the Ambrosian rite, after the Fraction and
the Kiss of Peace, the pi-iest thrice strikes his
breast, saying, Domine non sum digniis ; on
taking the bread into his hand, he says. Quid
retribuam Domino ? and immediately before com-
municating, " Corpus D. N. J. C. custodiat ani-
mam meam in vitam aeternam. Amen." On
taking the cup into his hand, he agaia says the
Quid retribuam, and before communicating,
" Praesta, quaesumus, Domine, ut perceptio Cor-
poris et Sanguinis D. N. J. C. ad vitam nos per-
ducat aeternam ;" then if any ai'e to commu-
nicate he administers to them before Purifica-
tion. The ancient form of administration we
learn from the Pseudo-Ambrosius de Sacramentis
(iv. 5) ; " dicit tibi sacerdos, Corpus Christi, et
tu dicis. Amen, id est, verum," which is identical
with the aSifxa Xpicrrov of Eastern ritual. The
form for the cup was probably similar.
The prayers which accompany communion
vary much in different copies of the Ambrosian
missal, and are probably all of comparatively
modern date.
All who were present communicated. — This is
contemplated in all the early accounts of Holy
Communion ; hence the care taken to exclude
from the mysteries all who were not fit to par-
ticipate. The second canon of the Council of
Antioch (a.d. ,344; compare Canon. Apost. c. 9
[10]) orders that those who came into the church
and heard the service, so far as the lections of
Scripture, but declined to partake in the prayers
of the people or to communicate, should be cast
out of the church until they should have con-
fessed and repented of their fault. This would
seem to imply that the practice of some of the
worshippers leaving the church before the more
solemn part of the liturgy (ewx'/) ^^^ com-
menced, was already known (though censured)
in the 4th century ; for if they had remained
in the church, they could hardly have been de-
scribed as |x^^ Koivwvovvras fvxv^ "M" ^y Xaw.
Martin of Braga (a.d. 560) inserted this in his
CoHectio Canonum (c. 83) for the use of the
Spanish Church. Gratian {De Consecrat. Dist.
ii. c. 10) quotes a decree of Pope Anacletus, which
f In the printed missals, which are much interpolated,
the direction follows in the rubric, " et dicat sacerdos
memento pro mortuis ;" as to which Krazer (de Lit. p.
621) notes, "qui ritus, ut jam in.-inuavimus, Gotho-His-
panus non est ; bine et nulla in missali illius occurrit
formula."
416
COMMUNION, HOLY
distinctly orders all to communicate when con-
secration was completed, if they would not be
cast out of the church. The decree is of course
spurious ; but it is interesting as indicating what
was the law of the Roman Church at the time
of the Isidoriau forgeries (about 830), and also
probably that the practice of non-communicating
attendance had then begun ; for the decree would
not have been put forth without a purpose.
One class of persons only seems to have been
permitted in ancient times to be present at Holy
Communion without communicating — the con-
sistentes {crvvlcrrafiivoC) or fourth class of peni-
tents, who were permitted to be present at the
whole service, but not to make oblation or to
communicate. See Cone. Nicae. c. 11 ; Ancyra,
c. 8 ; Basil, Ep. Canon, c. 56.
On the question of private and solitary masses,
see Mass.
Communion under both kinds. — That in the
solemn public administration cf the Lord's
Supper the laity received under both kinds from
the foundation of the Church of Christ to the
l'2th century is admitted on all hands. (See Ma-
billon, Acta SS. Bencd. Saec. III. praef. c. 75.)
The danger of spilling the consecrated wine led
to the adoption of a tube, or Fistula, through
which it might be drawn.
When this practice too was found to have its
peculiar disadvantages, the custom sprang up in
some churches, and continues in the East to this
day, of administering to the people the Eucha-
ristic Bread dipped in the consecrated wine, in
which case the particle was administered by
means of a spoon, made for that purpose. This
practice seems to be alluded to in the first canon
of the 3rd Council of Braga (a.d. 675), which
condemns those who were accustomed ''intinc-
tam eucharistiam populis pro complemento com-
munionis porrigere." In this case, we are not
to understand that the administration of the
immersed particle was over and above com-
munion proper, for the later portion of the
canon distinctly implies that this " intincta
eucharistia " was substituted for the evangelical
practice of administering separately the bread
and the cup. How this practice, which was
condemned in the West as schismatical and
against apostolic tradition, came to be so widely
spread in the East is difficult to say. That in
the time of Chrysostom the deacon still minis-
tered the cup to the people may be shown by
various passages in his works, which proves that
the administration of •' eucharistia intincta "
had not then begun in the Byzantine Church.
Nor is it easy to say when it was introduced.
This manner of communicating was widely pre-
valent in ancient times in the case of sick per-
sons [SicK, Communion of].
Posture of Reception. — All the testimonies of
ancient writers adduced in this article, so far as
they determine anything on the point, describe
the communicants as receiving standing. As
this was the usual posture of prayer and praise
on every Lord's Day and during the Easter solem-
nities, the faithful would naturally communicate
standing on such days. Nor are testimonies
wanting that the same was true of other days
also, though these concern rather the Eastern
than the Western Church (Bona, De Reb. Lit.
ii. c. 17, § 8; Valesius on Euseb. //. E. vii. 9).
In a Pontifical Mass at Rome, the deacon still
COMMUNION, HOLY
communicates standing, a relic no doubt of the
ancient practice. On other occasions, the cele-
brant alone communicates standing, the rest,
whether clergy or laity, kneeling. Dr. Neale
(E((stern Ch. introd. p. 524) mentions a cajjital
at Rheims, probably of the 12th century, which
represents a standing communion.
Delivery of the Bread into the Hand. — There
is abundant proof, besides that already adduced,
that the Eucharistic bread was in ancient times
delivered into the hands of communicants. Thus,
Ambrose (in Theodoret, Hid. Eccl. v. 17) asks
Theodosius, after the massacre of Thessalonica,
how he could venture to receive the Lord's
Body with hands still dripping from the slaughter
of the innocent ; and Augustine (e. Litt. Petiliani,
ii. 23) speaks of a bishop in whose hands his
correspondent used to place the Eucharist, and
receive it into his own hands from him in turn ;
and Basil {Ep. 289) says that in the church
the priest delivers a portion of the Eucharist
into the hand, and the communicant carries it
to his mouth with his own hand. Chrysostom
(Horn. 20, ad Pop. Antioch. c. 7) speaks of the
need of havmg clean hands, considering what they
may bear. The narrative in Sozomen (//. E.
viii. 5) of a transaction of Chrysostom's describes
a woman after receiving the bread into her
hand bowing her head as if to pray (ws ev-
lo^aeVij a.Tr€Kv\pe), and passing on the jiarticle
she had received to her maid-servant.
The 101st canon of the TruUan Council (an.
692) reprehends a practice which had sprung up
of providing receptacles of gold or other precious
material for the reception of the Eucharist.
After insisting on the truth, that man is more
precious than fine gold, the canon proceeds : " if
any man desires to partake of the immaculate
Body ... let him draw near, disposing his
hands in the form of a cross, and so receive the
communion of the divine grace;" and priests
who gave the Eucharist into such receptacles
(Soxf 'ct) were to be excommunicated. John of
Damascus also (de Fid. Orthod. iv. 14) desires
Christians to dispose their hands in the form 'of
a cross to receive the body of the Crucified. His
contemporary Bede {Hist. Eccl. iv. 24) describes
Caedmon on his deathbed (about 680) as re-
ceiving the Eucharist into his hand. As he
mentions this without comment, it was no doubt
the practice oF his own time also.
Before the end of the 6th century women
were forbidden to receive the Eucharist on the
naked hand, and were compelled to receive it on
a napkin called DOMINICALE. See Cone. Antis-
siod. [Auxerre], canons 36 and 42. Caesarius
of Aries, in a sermon printed as St. Augus-
tine's {Serm. 252, de Tempore), e.xhorts the
women to have their hearts as clean as the
napkin which they brought to receive the Body
of Christ. The Greek Fathers however say no-
thing of any such practice, and the censure of
the Trullau Council would evidently apply as
well to linen as to other materials.
How long the custom of giving the Eucharist
into the hands of lay persons continued in the
Roman Church cannot be precisely determined.
Gregory the Great {Dialogus, iii. c. 3) asserts
indeed that Pope Agapetus (535-536) placed the
Eucharist in the mouth of a certain dumb and
lame person ; but from a case so peculiar nothing
can be concluded, except that the express men-
COMMUNION, HOLY
tion of the sacramout being placed in the mouth
of this person probably indicates that the general
practice was otherwise. At the time when the
Or-do R. VI. was drawn up (9th century ?),
the ancient custom had ceased at Rome, for
the form of reception which was not per-
mitted to subdeacous was certainly not permitted
to the laity. A council held at Rouen (probably
in tlie year 880) strictly prohibited presbyters
from placing the Eucharist in the hand of any
lay person, male or female, commanding them
to place it in their moutlis. This practice, which
probably originated in a desire to protect that
which is holy from profane or superstitious uses,
gradually became the almost universal rule of
the Church. So in 1549, because the people
" diversely abused " the Sacrament " to super-
stition and wickedness," it was thought con-
venient that the people commonly receive the
sacrament of Christ's Body in their mouths
at the priest's hand. (See the first Prayei'-
Book of Edward VI. in Keeling's Litt. Britt.
p. 235.)
Responding Amen on Reception. — Besides the
instances already given of this practice, the
following may be cited : Jerome {Ep. 62, ad
Theoph. Alex.) wonders how one could come to
the Eucharist, and answer Amen, when he
doubted of the charity of the ministrant. Au-
gustine (c. Faustum Manich. xii. 10) speaks of
the responding Amen on reception of the Blood
of Christ as a universal custom.
Place of Communicating. — The second synod of
Tours (a.d. 567), in the fourth canon (Bruns's
Canones, ii. 226), prohibited lay persons from
standing in the space within the rails (cancelli)
reserved for the choir during the celebration of
the mysteries; but expressly allowed lay men
and women to enter the sanctuary (sancta
sanctorum) for the purpose of praying and com-
municating, as had been the custom in times
past. The existence of this custom is further
proved by the story told by Gregory of Tours
{de Mirac. S. Martini, ii. c. 14) of the paralytic
girl, who, being miraculously healed, approached
the altar to communicate without help.
Yet at nearly the same time the 1st Council
of Braga (A.D. 563) in Spain, in the canon (13)
headed " Ubi omnes communicant," ordered that
no lay pei-son should approach within the sanc-
tuary of the altar to communicate, but only
clerics, as is provided in the ancient canons.
We have already seen, that in the liturgy
of St. Chrysostom the priests and deacons com-
municated within the sanctuary, the lay people
outside ; and some distinction of this kind pro-
bably became general from about the 6th century.
The distinction between the communion of the
clergy and that of the laity always tended in
fact to become broader, and as differences in-
creased not only in respect of precedence, but in
respect of the manner and place of communi-
cating, the degradation of a clerk to lay com-
munion became a more marked punishment
[Degradation].
Conditions of Admission to Holy
coiimunion.
1. Communicants must be baptized persons, not
under censure. — None could be admitted to Holy
Communion but baptized persons (ouSeh o/SoTr-
TtcTToy nfTa\aij.^dvfi, Theophylact on Matt. 14),
CHRIST. ANT.
COMMUNION, HOLY
41?
lying under no censure [Excommunication].
'ihe competency of ordinary members of any
church would be known as a matter of course to
the clergy administering the sacrament. Persons
from a distance were required to produce cer-
tificates from their own bishops {ypd/j-fxaTa
KoivaiviKa, literae communicatoriae, formatae ;
see Commendatory Letters) that they were
iu the peace of the Church, before they could
be admitted to Holy Communion (Cone. Car-
thag. i. c. 5 ; Eliberit. cc. 25, 58 ; Arks, i. c.
9 ; Agde, c. 52). Some have thought that the
expression commimio peregrina designates the
state of those strangers who, being unprovided
with such letters, were admitted to be present
at divine service, but not to communicate (see
Bona, De Reb. Lit. ii. c. 19, §§ 5, 6 ; Bingham,
Antiq. XVII. iii. 7).
2. It seems also that, in some cases at least,
within the first eight centuries, Private Con-
fession was enjoined before communicating. In
the Penitential of Archbishop Theodore (about
A.D. 700) in the chapter Be Communione Eucha-
ristiae (I. xii. 7) is the provision, "Confessio
autem Deo soli agatur licebit, si necesse est;"
to which is added in some MSS. the note of a
transcriber of perhaps a century later, " et hoc
necessarium." The same provision is repeated in
the Penitential of Cumineus, the work almost
certainly of the later Cumineus, an Irish monk
who lived and wrote near Bobbio, in the early
part of the 8th century. The purport of the
rule seems to be, that confession to a priest was
the ordinary practice, but that it might be dis-
pensed with in case of necessity.
That confession to a priest was a usual, though
not a necessary, preliminary to Holy Commu-
nion is perhaps implied in the narrative of
Adamnan {Vita S. Columbae, i. 17, 20, 30, 41,
50) and of Bede {Hist. Eccl. iv. 25, 27). The
whole subject is discussed in Ussher's Religion
of the Ancient Irish, c. 5 ; and in Lanigan's
History of the Irish Church, iv. 67. Compare
Penitence.
In the case of reconciliation of penitents after
excommunication and penance, the intervention of
the bishop — or of a priest in his absence — was of
course necessary (Theodore's Penit. I. xiii. 2, 3) ;
and clergy ordained by Scotch or British bishops
were not admitted to communion in the Anglican
church until they had " confessed " their desire
to be restored to unity {lb. I. ix. 3).
On the Communion of Children see Infant
Communion.
3. Fasting Reception of Holy Communion. — So
long as Holy Communion accompanied or followed
an Agape, or common meal, it is evident that
it was not received fasting. But as, in course of
time, the tone of thought in the Church was
altered, and the rite itself received a different
colouring and ditierent accessories, it came to be
regarded as essential that both the celebrant and
the recipients should be fasting at the time of
communion. Something of this feeling probably
underlies Tertullian's words, when he contrasts
the Lord's own practice with that of his own
time in the passage {De Corona, c. 3) quoted
above, and on stationary days {De Orat. c. 14),
he clearly contemplates the fast being continued
until reception. Cyprian too {Ep. 63, cc. 15
and 16, quoted above) insists on the greater
worthiness of the morning compared with the
2 E
418 COMMUNION, HOLY
evenino- commuuiou. But the necessity of com-
muuicating fasting does not appear to be dis-
tinctly recognised before the 4th century. Then
we find Basil {Horn. ii. De Jejunio, p. 13) laying
it down that no one would venture to celebrate
the mysteries otherwise than fiisting; and
Chrysostom (in 1 Cor. Horn. 27, p. 231) insisting
on festing as a necessary preliminary to worthy
communion ; and again (Ad pop. Antioch. Serm.
9, p. 103) exhorting even those who were not
fasting to come to church, not indeed to commu-
nicate but to hear the serm.on ; and again (£p.
125, p. 683) complaining that his calumniators
accused him of having admitted to communion
persons who were not fasting, a charge which he
denies with the strongest asseverations. We
have already seen that Ambrose recommended
the faithful to fast even until evening, when the
communion was late. A remarkable passage of
Augustine (JiJp. 118, c. 6 ; p. 191, ed. Cologne,
1G16) is conclusive as to the practice of his own
time. " It is beyond dispute," he says, " that
when the disciples first received the Body and
Blood of the Lord, they did not receive fasting.
Are we therefore to blame the whole Church
because every one does receive fasting ? No ;
for it pleased the Holy Spirit that, in honour of
so mighty a sacrament, the Body of the Lord
should pass the Christian's lips before other
food ; for it is on that account that that custom
is observed throughout the w'hole world . . .
The Lord did not prescribe in what order it
should be received, that He might reserve this
privilege for the Apostles, through whom He
was to regulate the churches; for if He had
recommended that it should always be received
after other food, I suppose that no one would
have deviated from that practice." VV^ith re-
spect to his correspondent's question, as to the
custom to be followed on the Thursday in Holy
Week with regard to morning or evening com-
munion, or both, he admits that the practice of
the Church did not condemn communion on that
day after the evening meal.
This rule, however, was not quite invariable.
In Augustine's lifetime— as appears from the
epistle just quoted — the custom prevailed that
on the Thursday in Holy Week, the anniversary
of the institution, the faithful received Holy
Communion in the evening and after eating. So
the Codex Canonum Eccl. Afric. (canon 41 ; =
HI. Cone. Carth.c. 29) provides, " ut sacramenta
altaris nonnisi a jejunis hominibus celebrentur,
excepto uno die anniversario quo Coena Domini
celebretur." A canon of Laodicea (c. 50) which
is sometimes quoted as directed against this
custom, simply refers to the habit into which
some had fallen of breakmg their Lent-fast on
the Thursday in the last week, not specially to
non-fasting communion ; but the Council in
Tridlo (can. 29), in the year 680, did expressly
fVnbiil the celebration of the mysteries even on
this Thursday by any but fasting men.
Socrates {Hist. Eccl. v. 22, p. 295) expressly
states that the inhabitants of that part of Egypt
which borders on Alexandria and of the Thebaid
had a celebration of the Eucharist on Saturday,
as others had ; but that, contrary to the general
custom, they communicated after taking their
evening meal without stint.
Regulations intended to check the practice of
Eon-fastiug communion were made in Gaul in the
COMMUNION, HOLY
6th century. The council of Auxerre (can. 19 ;
Bruns's Can. ii. 239) enjoined that no presbytei',
deacon, or subdeacon should venture to take
part in the office of the mass, or to stand in the
church while mass was said, after taking food or
wine. The reason for the latter clause was no
doubt that clerics who were present at mass always
in those days communicated. The 2nd Council
of Macon in the year 585 {Cone. Matisconcnse ii.
can. 9 ; in Bruns's Canones, ii. 251) expressly
forbade any presbyter full of food or under the
influence of wine (crapulatus vino) to handle the
sacrifice or celebrate mass ; referring to the
African canon already quoted. In Spain decrees
on this subject were made by the 1st Council
of Braga (can. 16), and the second (can. 10) in
the years 563 and 572 respectively (Bruns, ii.
32 and 42). The first of these anathematizes
those who, instead of celebrating mass festing in
the church at three in the afternoon of Maundy
Thursday, celebrated on that day masses for the
dead at nine in the morning without fasting,
after the Priscillianist fashion. The second, by
occasion of those who consecrated masses for the
dead after having taken wine, condemns those
who ventured to consecrate after having taken
any food whatever. Walafrid Strabo {de Off.
Divinis, c. 19), referring to the first of these,
rightly infers that if non-fasting communion was
not permitted on a day when the practice of the
law and a certain degree of precedent might be
pleaded, it was not permitted on other days.
The abuse censured by the second council pro-
bably arose from the late hour at which masses
for the dead were held and the presence of the
priest at the funeral-feast. The Codejr Eccl.
Afric. (can. 41 = ///; Garth, c. 29) had already
provided that services for the dead held in the
afternoon should consist of prayers only, without
sacrifice, if the clerics who performed the service
were found to have taken food. Gratian (under
Freshjjter, dist. 91, quoted by Bona, R. L. i. c.
21, § 2) refers to a council of Nantes or Agde,
which enjoined priests to remain fasting until
the hour fixed, in order that they might be able
to take part in the funeral-mass.
In two cases only non-fasting communion is
expressly permitted. The first is, when the neces-
sity suddenly ai-ises of administering the Viati-
cum to one in the article of death ; in which
case it is sanctioned, says Cardinal Bona {R. L. i.
21, 2), by the practice of the whole Church. The
second is, when the celebrating priest, from
sudden sickness, is unable to finish the office ; in
which case, if the elements have been consecrated,
another priest, even though he be not fasting,
may complete it. See the second canon of the
7th Council of Toledo (Bruns's Can. i. 262)
of the year 646, which at the same time enjoins
most earnestly that neither shall a priest resign
the unfinished service nor a non-fasting priest
take it up without the most absolute necessity.
And to prevent such cases, the 11th Council
of Toledo (A.D. 675) ordered (can. 2, p. 315)
that wherever it was possible the priest saying
mass should be attended by another, fasting, who
might take up the service in case of need.
Time of Communion.
1. Days. — The well-known passage in the Acts
of the Apostles (ii. 46) is commonly held to
prove that the " breaking of bread " for Holy
COMMUNION, HOLY
Communion took place daily in the primitive
Cliiirch. In the only case in which a particular
day is mentioned in the Acts on which bread was
broken solemnly (xx. 7), the day is the Lord's
Day, the first day of the week ; and it seems
probable that St. Paul, when he prescribed the
laymg by for the poor on the first day of the week,
designed to associate almsgiving with the Eucha-
rist. The Bithynian Christians (Pliny, Ep. x.
97) met on a fixed day for worship and com-
munion ; the expression " stato die," which de-
termines nothing as to the particular day of the
week, shows plainly that communion was not
daily (see Mosheim, Institutiones Majores, p.
378 f.). Justin Martyr (^Apol I. c. 67) dis-
tinctly mentions Sunday (j) \eyofi€vn rjXiov
Tj/xipa) as the day of Christian Communion ; the
day on which God made the light and on which
Christ rose from the dead. There is, in fact, no
reason to doubt that from the first "Lord's Day"
to the present time Christians have met on the
first day- of the week to "break bread" as the
Lord commanded.
The days which next appear as dedicated to
Holy Communion are the fourth and sixth days
of the week, the Dies Stationum [Statio]. These
days appear as days of special observance and
administration of Holy Communion in the time
of Tertullian (^De Oratione, c. 14). Basil {Ep.
289) adds to these days the Sabbath, or seventh
day of the week, which has always been a day of
special observance in the Eastern Church. " We
communicate," he saj^s, " four times in the week,
on the Lord's Day, the fourth day, the Prepara-
tion Day [i.e. Friday], and the Sabbath." But
this was not a universal custom ; for Epiphanius
{Expositio Fidei, c. 22, p. 1104) speaks as if the
celebrations (^avvd^eis) of the Wednesday, Friday,
and Sunday were alone usual in his time and
within his knowledge, which included a large
part of the East during the latter portion of the
4th century. The S3mod of Laodicea, about
A.D. 320 [al. 372], enjoins that bread should not
be offered in Lent, except on the Sabbath and on
the Lord's Day ; the Sabbath being in the East a
festival approaching in joyfuluess to the Lord's
Day. In the West, where the Sabbath was
generally a day of humiliation, there is no trace
of its being preferred for the celebration of Holy
Communion.
When Christianity became the recognised reli-
gion of the empire, daily celebration of the
Eucharist soon became usual. For the Church
of Constantinople this is proved by the testimony
of Chrysostom, who («« Ephes. Hom. iii. p. 23)
complains of the rarity of communicants at the
daily offei'ing. St. Augustine testifies {Ep.
',18, c. 9) that in Africa, in his time, Christ was
sacrificed (immolari) every day for the people;
yet he also proves (Ep. 118 ad Januarium)
that this was by no means a universal custom,
saying, "in some places no day passes without
an offering ; in others offering is made on the
Sabbath only and the Lord's Day ; in others on
the Lord's Day only." That the daily sacrifice
was observed in the Spanish Church at the end
' >'\' the 4th century we have the testimony of the
Ist Council of Toledo (circ. 398), which enjoins
(canon 5) all clerics to be present in church at
the time of the daily sacrifice. With regard to
the Roman Church, Jerome, writing to Lucinius
(Ep. 71) refers to a question which his correspon-
COMM UNION, HOLY
419
dent had asked, whether the Eucharist were to
be received daily, " according to the custom
which the Churches of Rome and Spain are said
to observe." Although the expression used
is not absolutely decisive, Jerome seems to
write as if the custom of Rome was in fact
the same as that of Spain, where, as we have
seen, the daily sacrifice was customary at the
time when he wrote. Yet Socrates {Hist. Eccl.
V. 22, p. 295) assures us that, at Alexandria and
Rome, ancient tradition still forbade to celebrate
the joyful feast of the Eucharist on the Sabbath,
as was the universal custom elsewhere. Atha-
nasius, it is true, if the treatise in question
be his (On the Parable of the Sower, 0pp. iv.
45), says that Christians met together on the
Sabbath to adore Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath;
but this proves nothing as to the celebration of
the Eucharist, and consequently does not invali-
date Socrates' testimony. Socrates also {I. c.)
mentions as a peculiar custom, that at Alex-
andria, on Wednesday and Friday, the Scriptures
are read and the teachei-s interpret them, and
all is done that pertains to a meeting of the
congregation, short of the celebration of the mys-
teries (Trdvra to. crvud^f cos yiyveTai Si'xa ttjs rwy
/xva-T-npicov TeAfiTTjy). The words of Innocent I.
(ad Decentium, c. 4), that on the Friday and the
Sabbath in the Holy Week no sacraments were
to be celebrated, because those two days of the
first Holy Week were spent by the Apostles in
grief and terror, probably imply that in ordinary
weeks the sacraments were celebrated on the
Sabbath as on other days ; and in the so-called
Comes Hieronipni Epistles and Gospels are given
for Sabbaths as well as other days (see Quesnel,
Be Jejunio Sahhathi Eomae celcbrato). On the
want of proper offices in the ancient Sacramen-
taries for the Sundays following the Ember-days,
for the Thursdays in Lent, and for the Saturday
before Palm Sunday, see Krazer, de Liturgiis,
pp. 646 ft". Cf. Statio.
2. Hours. — There can be little doubt that in the
apostolic age Holy Communion was at the time of
the evening meal (^itwvov, coena), as even Baronius
admits (ad ann.. 34, c. 61). Indeed, it is almost
certain from the nature of the case that in days
when Christianity was an illicit religion, the
peculiar rite of Christian communion must have
been celebrated in such a way as to attract the
least possible attention. St. Paul's " breaking of
bread " in the Troad (Acts xx. 7, 8) was after
nightfall, and the service was not over at mid-
night. Pliny (Ep. x. 97) says that the Chris-
tians were accustomed to meet before dawn.
The heathen calumnies mentioned by Justin
Martyr (Dial. c. Tnjphone, c. 10) show "that the
meeting of Christians took place after nightfall ;
and the same custom earned them the epithets
of "latebrosa et lucifuga natio," which Minu-
cius Felix (O^tmius, c. 8) tells us were bestowed
upon them. Origen too (c. Celsum, i . 3, p. 5,
Spencer) tells his opponent that it was to avoid
the death with which they were threatened that
Christians commonly held their meetings in
secrecy and darkness. And still in the 3rd
century we find Tertullian, Cyprian, and others
speaking of " coetus antelucani," " convocationes
nocturnae," of " sacrificium matutinum et ves-
pertinum." See, for instance, Tertullian ad Uxo-
rem, ii. 4 ; de Corona Mil. c. 3, in the latter of
which passages it seems to be implied, that Chris-
2 E 2
420
COMMUNION, HOLY
tians communicated at the evening meal, as well
as in assemblies before dawn. Cyprian (ad Gwci-
lium, Ep. 63, cc. 15, 16) refers to some who
in the morning sacrifice used water only in the
chalice, lest the odour of wine should betray
them to their heathen neighbours ; and warns
such not to salve their conscience with the reflec-
tion that they complied with Christ's command
in offering the mixed chalice when they came
together for the evening meal (ad coenandum)
at which the rite had been originally instituted.
This no doubt implies some kind of communion
both morning and evening ; but that in the even-
ing seems to have been rather a^ domestic than a
public rite ; for Cyprian expressly says that at
this the whole congregation (plebs) could not be
called together, so as to make the rite — what it
ought to be — a visible token to all of their
brotherhood in Christ. And he goes on to say,
that though it was no doubt fitting that Christ
should offer at eventide, as foreshadowing the
evening of the woi-ld and being the antitype of
the evening passover-sacrifice (Exod. xii. 6) ; yet
that Christians celebrated in the nwrning the
resurrection of the Lord. In short, he clearly
regai-ds the morning as the proper time for
public and solemn communion.
When the Church received its freedom, set
hours began to be appointed for Holy Communion.
The third hour of the day (about nine o'clock),
the hour when the Holy Spirit descended on the
apostles, was fixed at au early date as the hour
of morning sacrifice on Sundays and festivals.
The Liber Fontificalis attributes to Pope Teles-
phorus (127-138) the decree, " ut nullus ante
horam tertiam sacrificium ofterre praesumeret ; "
and this statement is repeated by Amalarius (de
Eccl. Off. iii. 42) and others. It is almost need-
less to say the decree is one of the well-known
forgeries. The same regulation is attributed by
the spurious Gesta Damasi (see Bona, de Reb. Lit.
i. 21, §5) to Pope Damasus (366-384); but here
too no weight can be attached to the authority.
More satisfactory testimonies are the following.
Sidouius ApoUinaris, who died A.D. 489, says
(Ep. V. 17) that priests held divine service at
the third hour ; and Gregory of Tours in the
6th century speaks ( Vita Nicetii) of the third
as the hour when the people came together to
mass ; Gregory the Great (m Evang. Hum. 37)
speaks of one who came to offer the sacrifice at
the third hour ; and Theodulph of Orleans (ob.
821) orders (Capitnlare, c. 45) that private masses
should not be said on the Lord's Day with so
much publicity as to attract the people from the
high or public mass, which was canonically cele-
brated at the third hour. That on ordinary or
ferial days mass was said at the sixth hour
(twelve o'clock) as late as the 12th century
we have the testimony of Honorius of Autun
(Gemma Animae, i. c. 113); but this practice
seems to have been matter of custom rather than
of canonical prescription. On fast-days the
liturgical hour was the ninth, probably because
the ancient Church was unwilling to introduce
the joyful eucharistic feast into the early hours
of a fast-day, and because on such a day it was
not thought too onerous to continue fasting until
three o clock in the afternoon (Martene, de Bit.
Anti'l. 1. p. 108). Epiphanius (Expositio Fidei, c.
22) testifies to the fact that throughout the
year on Wednesday and Friday the liturgy was
COMMUNION, HOLY
said at the ninth hour; excepting in the fifty
days between Enster and Pentecost, and on the
Epiphany when it fell on Wednesday or Friday ;
on these days, as on the Lord's Day, there was
no ftisting, and the liturgy was said at an early
hour in the morning (a.(p' eaieev).
The Council of Mentz, quoted by Ivo of Chartres
(pt. 4, c. 35), desires all men on the Ember-days
to come to church at the ninth hour to mass.
The same reasons which caused the mass to be
deferred at other fasting-seasons applied also to
Lent; hence Ambrose, preaching in Lent, begs
the faithful to defer eating until after the time
of the heavenly banquet; if they had to wait
until evening, the time was not so very long ;
on most days the oblation was at noon (on Psalm
118 [119], Serm. 8, 0pp. iv. 656, ed. Basle, 1567) ;
and Theodulph ((7a/?«^Mfa?'e,c. 39) says that those
broke the Lenten fast who ventured to eat as
soon as they heard the bell at the ninth hour,
an hour at which he seems to imply that the
" missarum solemnia," as well as " vespertina
officia," were celebrated.
These prescriptions as to the hours of mass, as
well as of the ordinary offices, have long ceased
to be obser%^ed : in the Roman Church at least
mass may be said at any hour from dawn
(aurora) to noon. But a trace of the ancient
practice is found in the following rubric (xv. § 2)
of the Roman missal : — " Missa autem Conven-
tualis et Solemnis sequent ordine dici debet.
In Festis duplicibus et semiduplicibus, in Domi-
nicis, et infra Oct., dicta in Choro hora tertia.
In Festis simplicibus et in Feriis per annum
dicta sexta. In Adventu, Quadragesima, Quatuor
Teraporibus, etiani infra Octavam Peutecostes,
et Vigiliis quae jejunantur, quamvis sint dies
solemnes, Missa de Tempore debet cautari post
nonam."
The celebration of Holy Communion in the
night-time, once — as we have seen — common in
the Church, ceased at an early date, except on
certain days of special observance. Of these the
principal is that on the night of the Lord's
Nativity. A Coptic tradition (mentioned by
Bona, B.L. i. 21, 4) ascribes the institution of a
nocturnal communion at Christmas and Epiphany
to the Nicene Council ; the fact may perhaps
have been, that when the celebration of the
Lord's Nativity was transferred from the sixth of
.January to the twenty - fifth of December
[Christmas], the nightly communion was con-
tinued on both days. In the Gregorian Sacra-
mentary (p. 5) besides the mass for the Vigil of
the Nativity, said at the ninth hour, is one In
Vigilia Domini in node, that is, to be said in the
night between Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day.
A nightly communion was usual in ancient
times on the night of the " Sabbatum Sanctum "
or Easter Eve. It is probably to this custom
that Tertullian alludes when (ad Uxorem, ii. 4)
he says that a heathen husband would not per-
mit a Christian wife to pass the night from home
on the Paschal solemnities ; Jerome (on St.
Matt. XXV.) mentions that it was an apostolic
tradition on Easter Eve not to dismiss the con-
gregation before midnight ; and Theodore Bal-
samon (on the Council in Trullo, can. 90) writes
that persons of especial piety were accustomed
to remain in the churches the whole of that
Saturday, to communicate at midnight, and at
COMMUNION, HOLY
one o'clock in the morning to begin Waiins.
The Ordo Romanus Vulgatus also orders that the
people should not be dismissed befoi'e midnight,
and that at dawn of day they should return to
the churches ; in monasteries it enjoins the bells
to be rung as soon as a star was seen in the sky,
a litany to be chanted, and then the mass to
follow. The same custom is mentioned by Ama-
larius (tfe Divin. Off. iv. c. 20 ; cf. c. 40), who
says that all continue fasting until night, when
the mass of the Lord's Resurrection is celebrated.
Durandus (Rationale, vi. c. 76) says that the
ancient rite was observed in some churches at
the time when he wrote, in the latter part of the
loth century. In modern times the mass of
Easter Eve is said at midday, but the unchanged
collects still testify to the fact that it was for-
merly said at night.
A nocturnal celebration anciently took place
also in the night between the Vigil and the day
of Pentecost ; hence in the prayer Communi-
cantcs on that day we have the words, "diem
sacratissimam Pentecostes praevenientes " (Gre-
gorii Sacram. p. 97 ; see Menard, note 393).
The Ordo Eonmnus provides that at the eighth
hour of the eve the vigil service or mass should
begin, and should be finished before the end of
the ninth hour.
Four times in the year, on the Saturdays of
the Ember weeks, was a nightly mass, or rather
one on the morning of the succeeding day, which
was reckoned to belong to the Saturday ; hence,
as the Micrologus (c. 29) observes, the Sundays
which follow the Ember-days have no proper
otKces in the ancient sacramentaries, but are
called Dominicae vacantes ; for the mass which
was celebrated late on the Saturday served for
the Sunday also. So the Council of Clermont
(A.D. 1095) ordered (can. 24-) that the fast, if
possible, should be -prolonged through the Satur-
day night, that the mass might be brought as
near as possible to the Sunday morning.
In some cases, when we read of missae vesper-
tinae (e. g. Cone. Agath. c. 30 ; ///. Aurel. c. 29),
we must bear in mind that the word missa does
not in all cases imply the celebration of the
mysteries of the altai-, but was applied also to
the hour-offices. Cf. Mass: Maundy Thurs-
day : and p. 416.
Frequency of Communiox.
An ancient rule of the Church is expressed in
the 21st canon of the Council of Eliberis (about
A.D. 305), that if any one dwelling in a town
should absent himself on thi-ee Sundays from
church, he should be for a time suspended from
communion. As at that time in a city having
a bishop Holy Communion was administered at
least every Sunday, and non-communicating at-
tendance was unknown, we infer that weekly
communion was the rule of the Church, to fail
in which was to be unworthy of its privileges.
Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury,
testifies (about A.D. 688) that in his time this
was still the rule of the East. In the West,
signs of a relaxation of this rule appear at a
comparatively early period. Thus the Council
of Agde [Agathense] in the year 506 laid down
the rule (can. 18) that if a layman did not com-
municate at least at Christmas, Easter, and Whit-
suntide, he should no longer be reputed a Catho-
lic. To the same eft'ect are the 14th canon of
COMPENDIENSE CONCILILTM 421
the Council of Autun (A.D. 670), and the 38th
of the Excerpta attributed to Egbert of ifork
(A.D. 740). Bede {Ep. ad Egbert, p. 311, ed. 1722)
desires his correspondent to insist strongly on the
wholesome pi'actice of daily communion, accord-
ing to the custom of the churches of Italy, Gaul,
Africa, Greece, and the whole East. But this, he
says, in consequence of defective teaching, is so
far from being the custom of English laymen,
that even the more religious among them do not
presume to communicate except at Christmas,
Epiphany, and Easter ; though countless innocent
boys and girls, young men and maidens, old men
and old women, do not scruple to communicate
every Lord's Day, and perhaps on the days of
Apostles and Martyi-s besides, as Egbei't himself
had witnessed, in the Roman and Apostolic
Church.
The 3rd Council of Tours, in the year 813, laid
down (can. 50) a rule nearly identical with that
of Agde ; that all laymen, not disqualified by
heinous sin, should communicate at least three
times in the year. The Council of Aix-la-Cha-
pelle had previously (a.d. 788) re-enacted (_c. 70)
the decree of the Council of Antioch (c. 2) which
ordered all who came to church at the time of
service but declined reception to be suspended
from communion until they should amend ; and
it was probably the failure of this attempt to
revive the primitive practice which led to the
much looser rule of Aix-la-Chapelle.
If the Pseudo-Ambrosius {de Sacram. v. 25)
is to be trusted, some Christians at least of the
East in the 4th century communicated only once
a year, and he complains that this practice had
extended to his own community, recommending
himself the practice of daily communion. [C]
COMMUNION BOOKS. [Liturgical
Books.]
COMMUNION OF CHILDREN. [Infant
Communion.]
COMMUNION OF THE SICK [Sick,
Visitation of.]
COMMUNITY OF GOODS. [Monasti-
cism.]
COMMISTIO or COMMIX TIO. In the
Roman missal, after the breaking of the Host
[Fraction], the priest places a particle in the
chalice, saying secreto : " Haet commistio et con-
secratio corporis et sanguinis D. N. J. C. fiat
accipientibus nobis in vitam aeternam." And
this practice of placing a particle of the Host in
the cup appears to be an ancient one, and to be
considered as a kind of consecration [Consecra-
tion]. It is found in the liturgy of St. James
(Neale's 2'etralogia, p. 177), where the priest,
after breaking the bread, places the portion
which he holds in his right hand in the chalice,
saying, " The union (ivuxris) of the all-holy
Bod}' and precious Blood of our Lord and God
and Saviour Jesus Christ."
The 4th Council of Toledo (A.D. G33),
canon 18, oi-ders the commixtion (conjunctionem
panis et calicis) to take place between the Lord's
Prayer and the Benediction. [C]
COMPATEES AND COMMATIIES.
[Sponsors.]
• COMPENDIENSE CONCILIUSI. [Com-
I'IEGNE.]
422
COMPETENTES
. COMPETENTES. [Catechumens.]
COMPIEGNE, COUNCILS OF. [Com-
PENDiENSE.] (1) A.D. 756, held in Pipin's palace,
passed canons respecting marriage, degrees of
consanguinity, &c. (Labb. Cone. vi. 1694). (2)
A.D. 757 (Eginhard), or 758 (Ado), an assembly
or " placitum " in the same place, but rather
civil than ecclesiastical, its purpose being to re-
ceive the homage of Tassilo, duke of the Ba-
varians, and of his subjects (ih. 1884). [A. W. H.]
OOMPLETOEIUM. (1) The last of the
Canonical hours of prayer [HOURS OF Prayer].
(2) An anthem in the Ambrosian rite, said
at Laud and Vespers. Sundays have two at
Lauds, and four at Vespers ; and week days one,
varying with the day, at Lauds, and one, \m-
changing, at Vespers. The first at Lauds on
Sunday is " Dominus in caelo, paravit sedem
suam : et regnura ejus omnium dominabitur.
Kyr. Kyr. Kyr." They are all of the same
type. On Festivals the number varies with the
office. [H. J. H.]
COMPLINE. [Hours of Prayer.]
COMPUTUS. [Calendar.]
CONCOEDIA, mirse of St. Hipijolytus,
martyr at Rome, Aug. 13 {Mart. Bedae, Usu-
ardi): [C]
CONCOEDIUS, presbyter, martyr at Spo-
leto under Antoninus, Jan. 1 {Mart. Bom. Vet.,
Usuardi). [C]
CONCUBINAGE.— The relation between
the sexes which was denoted by this word had,
under the legal system with which the early
Church was brought into contact, a twofold cha-
racter. There was (1) the connexion, temporary,
depending on caprice only, involving no obliga-
tions, concubinage in the modern sense, not dis-
tinguishable ethically ft-om fornication. But
there was also (2) a concubinatus recognised by
Roman law, as in the Lex Julia et Papia Pop-
paea, which had a very different character.
Here the cohabitation was permanent, and in-
volved therefore reciprocal obligations, and,
although it did not stand on the same level as
a connubiuin, and did not' entitle the issue of the
union to inherit as legitimate, it was yet re-
garded, somewhat as a morganatic marriage is
in Germany, as involving no moral degrada-
tion. In dealing with this last form, Christian
feeling was divided between the fear of recog-
nising what might seem a half-marriage only
on the one hand, and the desire to sanction any
union which fulfilled the primary condition of
marriage on the other. The question was com-
plicated by the fact that, for the most part,
these unions were contracted with women who
were slaves or foreigners, and therefore not
mgenuae, and that consequently to have placed
them on a level with cotmubia, would have been
to introduce a mesalliance into the succession of
respectable or noble families. Cases where the
man who kept the concubina had a wife living,
though sanctioned by the lax morality of Roman
society, admitted, of course, of no question, and
were denounced as adultery (August. Serm. 224).
Where the man was unmarried the case was dif-
ferent. The Apostolical Constitutions, on the one
hand (viii. ;i2), authorised the admission to bap-
CONEESSIO
tism of such a slave-concubine belonging to an
unbeliever, if she were faithful to the one man
with whom she lived. If Marcia, the concubine,
first of Quadratus, and afterwards of Commodus,
who is known to have favoured the Christians,
had ever been one of them, it must have been by
virtue of some such rule. The case of a Chris-
tian who had a concubine was somewhat more
difficult, and the equity of the Church's judg-
ment was disturbed by considerations of social
expediency. If she was a slave he was to get
rid of her, apparently without being bound to
majve any provision for her maintenance. If she
were a free woman, he was either to marry or
dismiss her (Apost. Constt. viii. 32). So, too, at
a later date, we find Leo the Great treating this
dismissal of a mistress followed by a legal mar-
riage, not as a " duplicatio conjugii," but a " pro-
fectus honestatis " {Epist. 92 ; ad Rustic, c. S).**
In other instances, however, we trace the influence
of the wish to look upon every permanent union
of man or woman as possessing the character or
a marriage in the eyes of God, and therefore in
the judgment of the Church. Thus Augustine,
speaking of a concubine who promises a life-long
fidelity, even ghould he cast her off', to the man
with whom she lived, says that " merito dubitatur
utrum ad percipiendum baptismum non debeut
admitti" {De Fide et Oper. c. 19).>» The first
Council of Toledo went even farther, and while
it excluded fi-om communion a married man who
kept a concubine, admitted one who, being un-
married, continued faithful to the one woman
with whom he thus lived (1 C. Tolet. c. 17).
The special law forbidding a Jew to have a
Christian wife or concubine (3 C. Tolet. c. 14),
implying, as it does, the legitimacy of the latter
relation, where both parties were Christians,
shows, in like manner, that it was thought of as
ethically, though not legally, on the same level
as a conmibium.
The use of the word concubina as a term ot
reproach for the wives of the clergy who were
married, was, of course, a logical deduction from
the laws which forbade that marriage, but the
unsparing use made of it, as by Peter Damiani and
Hildebrand, belongs to a somewhat later date
than that which comes within the limits of this
book. [E. H. r.]
CONFESSIO. Originally the place where a
saint or martyr who had " witnessed a good con-
fession" for Christ was buried, and thence the
altar raised over his grave, and subsequently
the chapel or basilica erected on the hallowed
spot. From its subterranean position such an
altar was known as Kard^aais (Theophan. p.
362) or descensus. Of these subterranean con-
fessiones we have examples in Rome in the
churches of St. Prisca, St. Martino ai Monti, St.
^ It may be questioned, however, which class of concu-
bines, the illicit or the legalised, are here contemplated.
b It Is interesting to note, in this lenity of judgment,
the influence of a tender recollection of one with whom
Augustine, before his conversion, had lived in this rela-
tion, and who on parting from him made a declaration
that she would live with no one else. (Coiiff. vi. 15.)
■She was apparently a Christian (" vovens tibi," so. Deo)
and Monica, though she wished her son to marry and settle
respectably, does not seem to have condemned the union
as sinful, and adopted Adeodatus, the issue of the con-
ne.\ion, into her warmest affections.
CONFESSIO
Lorenzo fuori le Mura, &c., and above all in
liie basilica of St. Peter's. Not unfrequently
they were merely imitative, and not confessiones
in the original sense, as at St. Maria Maggiore,
and in the crypts of our early churches in
England. Confessio was also used for the altar
in the upper church, placed immediately above
that built over the martyr's grave, sometimes
covered with silver plates (Anastas. §§ 65-69,
79, 80, 198), and its ciboriuni, or canopy («6,
§65).
Other synonymous terms were concilia mar-
tijrum, memoriae viarti/rum, and martyria.
Concilia martiirum is applied to the burial
l)laces of the martyrs in the catacombs, e.g.,
" Hie (Damasus) martyrum . . . concilia ver-
sibus ornavit" (Anast. § 54; cf. Baron, ad ann.
259, no. 24). Jerome speaks of the graves the
young Nepotian had been in the habit of de-
corating with flowers as martyrum conciliabula
(Ep. ad Belvet. iii. ; cf. Aug. de Civ. Dei, 22, 8).
The analogous Greek term was orvvd^ets Tciy
fj-apTvpQiv (Concil. Gangr. Can. 20).
Memoriae 'martyrum is a term of constant
occurrence in early Christian writings for the
memorial chapel of a saint or martyr, also called
cella (August, de Cio. Lei, xxii. 7, 10; cont.
Faustin. xx. c. 21 ; Serm. de Birersis, 101 ; Op-
tatus co)it. Farmen. ii. 32). The correspond-
ing Greek term was martyrium, fxaprvpiov
(Euseb. de Vit. Const, iii. 48; Soc. iv. 18 [the
martyrium of St. Thomas at Edessa] ; ib. 23
[the martyria of St. Peter and St. Paul at
Kome]). The church of St. Euphemia, where
she lay buried, in which the Council of Chal-
cedon was held, is styled in the acts of that
council ixapjvpiov 'Ev(b7]fxlas (cf. Soc. vi. 6); and
that erected by Coustautine over our Lord's
sepulcJire on Calvary, fxaprvpiov ^oorripos, tiva-
araffews, &c. (Euseb. iv. de Vit. Const. 40-49,
i<:c. Cf. Concil. Laod. canon 8.) The woi-d
tropaca, to. rpSiraia raiu a.Tro(rT6Kwv, is used by
Caius, apud Euseb. II. E. ii. 25, for the tombs
of SS. Peter and Paul in the Roman cemeteries.
[Cella Memoriae.]
The Cod. Theod. (De Sepulchro violato, lex vii)
contains an express sanction for the erection
of a "martyrium" in memory of a saint, and
the addition of such buildings as might be
desired. [E. V.]
CONFESSION, LITURGICAL {Confessio,
Apologia, ofjioXoyia).
The acknowledgment of sin made publicly in
certain services of the Church.
L The Confession preceding the celebration of
the Eucharist. — It is so natural to confess sin
and unworthiness before engaging in so solemn
an act as the consecration of the Eucharist, that
we scarcely need to search for precedent ; yet it
has been supposed by some that the Christian
presbyters borrowed the custom of confessing sin
before the Ilucharistic celebration from the
Jewish priests, who before sacrificing confessed
their sin in such terms as these : " Verily, O
Lord, I have sinned, I have done amiss and dealt
wickedly; I repent and am ashamed of my
doings, nor will I ever return unto them." See
Morinus de Foenitent. lib. ix. ii. c. 21, § 4; Bux-
torf de Synag. Judaica, c. 20.
Whether the precedent of the Jewish sacri-
ficing priest were foUoyved or not, no doubt
CONFESSION, LITUEGIC;al 423
the same feeling which prompted the use of
the Psalm Judica [26th] in the early part of the
liturgy caused also the use of a public general
confession by the priest and ministers before the
altar.
In many Greek liturgies some acknowledg-
ment of sin and unworthiness forms part of the
office of the prothesis, said in the sacristy before
entering the sanctuary : in the liturgy of St.
James, for instance, the priest> adopts the words
of the publican, " God be merciful to me a sin-
ner," and of the prodigal, " I have sinned against
Heaven and in Thy sight." The words of the
prodigal are also adopted at greater length in
the opening of the Mozarabic liturgy.
For the West, many forms of the liturgical
confession, or npjologia, of the priest about to
celebrate are given by Menard (on the Gregorian
Sacramentary, p. 242); and by Bona (de Feb.
Fit. ii. c. 1, § 1), Menard states that these were
formerly used before the offertory, with which
the Missa Fidelium began ; but in the Missa
Illyrici and some others, these apologiae ai-e
directed to be said immediately before the Introit,
while the Gloria in Excdsis and the Gradual
are chanted by the choir. But the ancient for-
mularies of the Roman Church contain no trace
of a confession in a set form to be made publicly
at the beginning of mass. 'J'he ancient Ordines
Fomani only testify that the celebrant after pay-
ing his devotions before the altar in a low voice,
with bowed head besought God's pardon for his
own sins. It is an error, therefore, to attribute
the introduction of this rite to Pope Pontianus or
Pope Damasus. The very diversity of the form
and manner in saying the confession in difierent
churches shows that no form was prescribed by
any central authority, but that the severa'l
churches followed independent usages.
The usual place for the liturgical confession
before mass is the lowest step of the altar ; but
there was anciently considerable diversity of
practice ; for the confession was sometimes made
(as in the East) in the sacristy, sometimes by
the side of the altar, sometimes in the middle of
the presbytery. A peculiar custom, probably
derived from ancient times, was long maintained
in the church of St. Martin at Tours, that the
celebrant should make his confession at the
tomb of St. Martin (Martene de Fitibus Eccl.
lib. i. c. 4, art. 2).
II. Fn the Matin office. — Something of the
nature of confession of sin appears to have formed
part of the matin office from very early times.
This custom is thought by some to have been
inherited from the synagogue, which has, in the
ancient " Eighteen Prayers," the form, " Have
mercy upon us, 0 our Father, for we have trans-
gressed ; pardon us, for we have sinned. Look,
we beseech Thee, on our afflictions ; heal, O
Lord, our infirmities." Very similarly, the
Greek matin office has, " 0 most Holy Trinity,
have mercy on us; purify us from our ini-
quities,, and pardon our sins. Look down a])on
us, 0 Holy One ; heal our infirmities." (Free-
man, Frincij)les of Divine Service, i. 64 ff.).
It is at least certain that in the 4th century
the early matin office of many Eastern churches
began with a confession ; for St. Basil {Ep. 63,
p. 843, ed. Paris 1618) describes the early
matins of the church of Neo-Caesarea in the fol-
lowing manner. The people, he says, at early
424
CONFESSOR
dawn seek the house of prayer, and, after con-
fession made with sighing and tears to God,
rising at length from their prayer pass to
the chanting of the Psalms. It appears then
that a public liturgical confession commenced
the matin office in the days of St. Basil, and he
expressly states that this practice was consonant
with that of other churches known to him.
in the Western matin office the confession is
made in the form called Coxfiteor (q. v.) from
its first word.
III. Confession of past sins formed also one of
the preliminaries of baptism, as we learn from
TertuUian, de Baptismo, c. 20. See Baptism.
IV. An instance of a profession of faith, com-
monly called a confession, is the following :—
In all liturgies of the Alexandrine family, and
in many other Oriental liturgies there is found.
Immediately before communion, a confession, or
declaration of fiiith by the recipient, that the
bread and wine are now really and truly the
Body and Blood of Christ. For instance, in
the Coptic St. Basil (Renaudot, Litt. Orient, i.
2o), the priest, holding the elements, says, " The
Holy Body and precious, pure, true Blood of
Jesus Christ the Son of our God. Ame7i. This
IS in very truth the Body and Blood of Emmanuel
our God. Amen." Compare the Coptic St.
Gregory (Ren. i. 36) ; the Greek St. Basil (i. 83) ;
St. Gregory (i. 122), and other passages. [C]
CONFESSOR. [Penitexce.]
CONFESSOR. ('O/ioAoyr/T^s.)
1. One who has confessed Christ by suffering
death for Him. [Martye.] Thus, St. Ambrose
{ad Gratianum, ii. p. 63, ed. Basil, 1567) speaks
of the deaths of confessors.
2. One who has borne for Christ suffering
short of death. Pseudo-Cyprian {de Duplici Mar-
tyrio, c. 31) says that the Church " martyres
appellat eos qui violenta morte decesserunt, con-
fessores qui constanter in cruciatibus ac minis
mortis professi sunt nomen Domini Jesu." In
this sense Celerinus (Cypriani Epist. 21, c. 4, ed.
Hartel) speaks of Sevei'ianus and all the confessors
who had passed from Carthage to Rome ; and
Sozomen {H. E. i. 10) speaks of the number of
confessors {b^oKoyy^Tiiv') who, after the cessation
of persecution, adorned the churches, as Hosius
of Cordova and Paphnutius of Egypt.
3. The word confessor is used in a more general
sense for one who shews the spirit of Christ in
his ordinary life, " qui pacifica et bona et justa
secundum praeceptum Christi loquitur, Christum
eottidie confitetur" (Cyprian, Epist. 13, c. 5).
So Theodore Balsamon (on dm. Apostol. 62, p.
265) says that the Church desires all its ortho-
dox members to be confessors {oiioKoynrds) of
the faith. Hence, in later times it came to desig-
nate persons of distinguished holiness, who had
jiassed to their rest without violence or torture.
Pseudo-Egbert ( Excerptiones, c. 28 ; a work not
earlier than the 9th century) speaks of " sancti
Patres, quos Confessores nuncupavimus, id est,
episcopi, presbyteri qui in castitate servierunt
l)eo" (Ducange s. v. Confessor; Suicer s. v.
o/Ji-jAoyrjTris).
4. In the Gregorian Sacramentary, Feria iv.
post Palmas (p. 63, ed. Menard), we have the
toUowing: "Oremus et pro omnibus episcopis,
presbyteris, diaconibus, subdiaconibus, acolythis,
exorcistis, lectoribus, ostiariis, confessoribus, vir-
CONFIRMATION
ginibus, viduis, et pro omni populo sancto Dei."
The order of words shews that the confessors
here are persons of inferior dignity, and Menard
(ad locum) supposes chanters to be intended who
confess God by singing His praise. See the first
council of Toledo, cc. 6 and 9, where the word
'confessor' seems to be used in a similar sense,
the latter canon forbidding a professed religious
woman to sing antiphons in her house with a
confessor or servant in the absence of bishop or
presbyter. (Menard u. s.) [C]
CONFIRMATION. The rite now known
by this name presents a singular instance of the
continued use of a symbolic act in the midst of
almost every possible diversity of practice, be-
lief, and even terminology. The one common
element throughout has been the imposition of
hands, as the sign of the bestowal of some spiri-
tual gift. In all other respects it will be seen
there have been indefinite variations.
The history of the Apostolic Church brings
before us two special instances of the 4-KiQfais
Toiv x^tp'^" (Acts viii. 12-17, xix. 5, 6). In
both it follows upon baptism, is administered by
apostles, as distinguished from presbyters or
deacons, and is followed by special supernatural
manifestations of spiritual gifts, perhaps by their
permanent possession. It was not directly con-
nected with any appointment to any office in the
Church, though office might follow upon the
exercise of the gift bestowed. It was therefore
distinct from the laying on of hands by which
such offices were conveyed (Acts vi. 6, xiii. 3),
as it was from that which was the medium of a
miraculous healing power applied to the diseases
of the body (Mark xvi. 18, Acts ix. 12, 17).
The act referred to in 1 Tim. iv. 14, and 2 Tim.
i. 6, seems to hover between the bestowal of a
charisma and the appointment to an office. The
position in which the " laying on of hands" meets
us in Heb. vi. 2, leaves it open to take it in its
most generic, or in either of its specific senses,
with, perhaps, a slight balance in favour of con-
necting it with the act which always, or in some
cases, supervened on baptism. Ihe absence of
any mention of it in the baptisms recorded iu
Acts ii. 41, xvi. 15, 33, and elsewhere receives a
natural explanation in the fact that there the
baptizer was an apostle, and that it was accord-
ingly taken for granted.
Beyond this the N. T. gives us no information.
The " unction " {xpcff/xa) of 1 John ii. 27, the
"anointing" of 2 Cor. i. 21, the "sealing" of 2
Cor. i. 22, Eph. i. 13, iv. 30, can hardly be thought
of as referring to a ritual act, though such an
act may at a very early period have been bi-ought
into use as a symbol of the thought which the
words themselves expressed. Even then it re-
mains doubtful whether the " seal " means bap-
tism itself or some rite that followed it. A like
uncertainty hangs over the use of the word
"seal" in the story quoted by Eusebius (//. E.
iii. 23), from Clement of Alexandria, and in the
Apostolical Constitutions (ii. c. 14).
When we pass to the age of Tertullian the case
is diil'erent. A distinct mention is made (1) of
anointing, (2) of the laying on of hands, as fol-
lowing so close upon baptism as to seem almost
part of the same rite rather than a distinct one,
the latter act being accompanied by a special
prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Tertull.
CONPIRMATION
do Bapt. c. 7 ; de Resurr. Cam. c. 8). Cyprian,
111 like manner, recognises the practice, contend-
ing that it follows rightly upon a valid baptism,
but is not enough, in the case of heretical,
and therefore invalid, baptism, to admit those
who received it to full communion with the
church. He applies to it, as to baptism, the word
"sacramentum," but obviously not in the tech-
nical sense of a later theology {Epist. 72, ad
Stephan.). In these passages, it will be observed,
no distinction is drawn between the baptizer and
the layer-ou of hands. Both acts are spoken of
as if they were performed at the same time and
by the same person. lu practice, of course, the
usage of the 3rd, possibly of the 2nd, century,
which fixed on Easter as the great baptismal
season, allowing it at other times only in cases
of urgent nued, would make this combination
ordinarily a very practicable one. It was neces-
sary, however, to provide for the exceptions, and
this was done accordingly by the Council of Elvira
(c. 77), which ordered that, in the case of those
who had been baptized by a deacon, " sine epi-
scopo vel presbytero," the bishop " per beuedic-
tionem perficere debet." « Jerome, in like man-
ner, but with a more rigid limitation of the act
of imposition to the higher order, recognised it
as a long-standing usage of the church. Bishops
used to travel round their dioceses in order to lay
their hands, " ad invocationem Sancti Spiritus,"
on those who had been baptized only by a pres-
byter or deacon (c. Lucifer, c. 4). One or two
facts may be noted at this stage of expansion,
(1) that immediate supernatural results are no
longer looked upon as the ordinary sequel to the
act of imposition, but that it is still connected,
as in the apostolic age, with the thought of spi-
ritual gifts of some kind ; (2) that while it is
still in theory a rite which may be administered
immediately after even infant baptism, its limi-
tation to the episcopal order tended to interpose
an interval of uncertain length between the two.
A Spanish council in a.d. 569(C. Lucens.) recog-
nises the fact that there were some churches
which the bishop could not possibly visit every
year. Gradually, especially in Western Europe,
the negligence or the secular engagements of the
bishop prolonged this interval. The East, how-
ever, with its characteristic reverence for anti-
quity, refused to separate what the primitive
Church had joined, and infant baptism, infant
confirmation, infant communion, follow, in its
practice, in immediate sequence. Even in the
Roman Church the sacrameataries of Gelasius
and Gregory unite the first two ordinances. It
was not, even in the judgment of eminent ritual-
ists of that Church, till the 13th century, that
the two ordinances were permanently separated,
and a period of from seven to twelve years al-
lowed to intervene. Of what may be called the
modern, Protestant idea of confirmation, as the
ratification by the baptized child, when he has
attained an age capable of deliberate choice, of
the promises made for him by his sponsors, there
is not the slightest trace in Christian antiquity.*"
CONFIRMATION
425
» It is singular that the canon, btrictly inteipreted,
seems to sanction the performance of the act inipliej in
the "perficere" by a presbyter as well as by a bishop.
But the decrees of councils will seldom bear interpretation
with the minuteness of a special pleader.
b The Apostolic Constitutions, it is true, speak of the
Hucred chrism as ^t^ai'wcris t^s 6/LioA.oyio; (iii. 17) ; hut it
A special aspect of confirmation presents itself
in connection with the reception into the Church
of those who had been baptized by heretics.
With the exception, and that only for a time, of
the African, that baptism, if formally complete,
was recognised as valid. But the case was other-
wise with the laying on of hands. Only in the
Catholic Church could the gifts of the Spirit be
thus imparted (August, de Bapt. c. Donat. ii.
16), and so, even if the heretical sect had its
bishops, and they administered the rite, it was
treated as null and void. When those who had
been meuiliers of such a community returned to
their allegiance to the Church, confirmation,
including the anointing as well as the laying on
of hands, was at once theoretically indispensable,
in its sacramental aspect, and became practically
conspicuous as the formal act of admission
(2 C. Constant, c. 7 ; 1 C. Araus. c. 8 ; Siricius,
Epist. i. 1 ; Leo, Kpist. 37, c. 2). It follows,
from all that has been said, that, according to
the general practice, and yet more, the ideal, of
the Church of the first six centuries, the ofiice
of confirming was pre-eminently an episcopal
one. But it deserves to be noticed that it was not
so exclusively. It did not depend for its validity
upon episcopal administration. As baptism was
valid, though administered by a layman, so the
laying on of hands, in case of urgency, was
valid, though administered by a priest. In the
Apostolic Constitutions (vii. 22), at least one part
of the rite, the anointing, is assigned to either
priest or bishop, and the practice was retained
by the whole Eastern Church. In the West, the
exception was recognised as legitimate in cases of
necessity, as e. g. in that of a possessed or dying
person (1 C. Araus. c. 2 ; Innocent, Epist. 1 ad
Decent. ; C. Epaon. c. 86). In these instances,
however, for the most part, a special delegation
of authority was either required or implied.
The letters of Leo {Ep. 88 ad Gall.) and Gelasius
{Epist. 9 ad Episc. Lucan.), forbidding the prac-
tice, "per impositiones manuum fidelibus bap-
tizandis, vel conversis ex haeresi Paracletum
Sanctum Spiritum tradere " (Leo I. c.) may be
received as evidence that the practice was be-
coming more or less common, even without that
authority, and that it was necessary, in the inte-
rest of the episcopal order, to restrain it.
Lastly, it may be noticed, that a trace of the
old combination at one time and place of the two
ceremonies, baptism and the imposition of hands,
which were afterwards separated, may be found
in the fact that the anointing, which was origi-
nally the connecting link between the two, was,
at a later period, attached to each. Innocent,
in the letter already quoted {ad Decent, c. 3),
marks out the limits within which the priest
might act. In the absence, or even in the presence
of the bishop, he might anoint the baptized child
with the holy chrism, provided always that the
chrism itself had been consecrated by a bishop,
but he was not to sign him on the forehead.
That was reserved for the bishops, when, by im-
j)osition of hands, they bestowed the gift of the
Spirit. [E. H. P.]
is questionable whether this means, as Bingham asserts
(xii. 3), a contii-mation on man's part of the compacts made
Willi Gild in baptism. The analogous use of the word
tr(f)payi? {Cimstt. Apost. vii. 22) would seem to imply that
it was the seal, the confirmation of God's promises
426
CONFITEOR
CONFITEOR. The form of general con-
fession of sins made in the offices of the Church,
so called from its first word. This is prescribed :
(1) At the beginning of the mass when the
priest says it standing at the steps of the altar,
" profunde incliuatus."
(2) At the administration of the Holy Com-
munion at other times.
(3) At the administration of Extreme Unction.
(4) Previous to the absolution "in articulo
mortis."
(5) In the daily office at Compline ; and at
Prime when the office is not double.
Sacramental confession is also directed to begin
with the opening words of the " Confiteor."
It is prefaced by the versicle " Deus in adju-
torium," &c., and is said alternately by the priest
and congregation, who each respond with a
prayer for the forgiveness of the other, called
" Misereatur," from its first word ; in addition
to which the priest pronounces a short formula
of absolution, similarly called " Indulgentiam,"
over the people. This act is sometimes called in
rubrics " giving the absolution."
Clear traces of it appear in the Penitential of
Egbert of York, a.d. 730, who prescribes a form
of words closely resembling the "Confiteor,"
as introductory to sacramental confession ; and
the " Benedictio super poenitentem " is only a
slightly different version of the " Misereatur."
A similar form is given by Chrodegang, bishop
of Metz A.D. 742, who describes the order in
which Prime was to be said, to the following
effect. When the clerks come together to sing
Prime in the church, the office itself being com-
pleted, let them give their confessions before the
60th [51st] Psalm, saying in turn, " Confiteor
Domino et tibi, frater, quod peccavi in cogita-
tione et in locutione et in opere : propterea precor
te, ora pro me." To which the response is given,
"Misereatur tibi omnipotens Deus, indulgeat
tibi peccata tua, liberet te ab omni malo, con-
servet te in omni bono, et perducat te ad vitam
aeternam ; " to which the other answers, Amen.
In Micrologus de Eccl. Observ. [probably about
1080] a form still more closely resembling the
present is given, and the 3rd Council of Ravenna,
A.D. 1314, orders that throughout the province
of Ravenna the " Confiteor " shall be said in the
form used at the present time. Since the pub-
lication of the missal of Pius V. there has been
complete xmiformity in this respect throughout
the Roman obedience. For examples of early
forms of confession see Bona, de Beb. Lit. ; Mar-
tene, de Ant. Eccl. Hit. lib. i. &c. Compare
Confession. [H. J. H.]
CONFRACTORIUM. An anthem in the
Ambrosian missal at the breaking of the Host.
It usuallv has some reference to the Gospel of
tlie day. [H. J. H.]
CONON, martyr at Iconium under Aure-
liau, May 29 {Mart. Usuardi) ; March 5 (Cal.
liyzant.). [C.]
CONSECRATION OF CHUECHES {Con-
sccratio, Dedicatio ; Gr. atpi^pwais, Euseb. Vit.
Const, iv. 60 ; ey/caiVia, ib. iv. 43 ; cf. weenKey,
Procop. de Aedif. Justiniani, i. 3).
The essential idea of consecration is expressed
in the following paragraphs : — " Consecratio
hcclesiae est dedicatio ejusdem ad cultum divi-
iium special! ritu facta a legitimo ministro, ad
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES
hoc ut populus fidelis opera religionis in ea rite
exercere possit " (Ferraris' Promta Bibliotheca,
iii. 157). " When we sanctify or hallow
churches, that which we do is to testify that we
make them places of public resort, that we
invest God Himself with them, that we sever
them from common uses " (Hooker, Ecc. F.
v. 16). "By the consecration of a church, the
ancients always mean the devoting or setting
it apart for Divine service" (Bingham, Antiq.
viii. 9). Compare Benediction.
It seems almost a necessity to men to have
their places of common worship recognized and
accustomed. That those places should not only
acquire sacredness of association by use, but
should previously have imparted to them in
some sort a sacredness of object, seems also
consonant with natural religion. The former
more clearly, and yet the latter also, implicitly,
is found in all ages, a feature of all religions,
rude and civilized, the same with all classes, of
diverse nations, however widely separated ; as
exemplified in groves, sacred stones, pillars,
altars, temples, pagodas. It seems the dictate
of natural piety that we should express thanks
to God on the first use of anything. Greeks,
Romans, Jews, had their consecrations of houses,
cities, and walls, not by words only, but with
symbolical actions and sacred rites. (See Deut.
sx. 5 ; Psalm xxx. Title, A Psalm and Song
at the Dedication of the House of David; Neh.
xii. 27 ; Du Cange, Constantinopolis Christiana,
i. 3, " IJrbis Encaenia ;" Lewis, Historical Essay
upon t/ie Consecration of Churches, London 1719,
c. iii.)
From the expressions " before the Lord," " the
presence of the Lord " (Gen. iv.), it has been
reasonably inferred that "the patriarchs had
places set apart for the worship of God, con-
secrated, as it were, to His service." (Blunt's
ScrijJt. Coinc. p. 8.) Something like a form
of consecration is indicated in Gen. xxi. 33,
xxviii. 16, 17, 18, where the Vulgate i-endering
" titulum " has given rise to the use of the
term, as equivalent to ' church,' common in early
Christian writers. The consecration of the
tabernacle is narrated, Exod. xL, and given with
further details in Josephus iii. 9. The dedica-
tion of the Temple of Solomon is contained in
1 Kings viii. ; which furnishes Hooker (^Eccl.
Pol. V. 12-16) with several of his arguments for
the consecration of Christian churches. The
dedication of the second temple by Zerubbabel is
told in Ezra vi. 16; the purification and re-
dedication of the same by Judas Maccabaeus, in
1 Mace. iv. 41-44, 54, 56, 57, 59. The dedica-
tion of Herod's beautiful temple is narrated by
Josephus XV. 14. Less magnificent than these,
but still recognized and allowed to possess a
sacred character, were certain " high places " in
the ante-Babylonish history of the Jews, known
in later times as -irpoffevxa'h and the numerous
synagogues in Palestine and elsewhere.
Christianity rose out of Judaism, supplanting
only what was peculiar to that system, and
inheriting all that was of natural piety. The
Divine Founder of Christianity set the example
to all His followers in His constant attendance
at the acknowledged places of worship, and es-
pecially in His going up to Jerusalem at the
feast of the Dedication. The apostles used the
consecrated temple as long as it was permitted
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES
them to Jo so, and everywhere else they found
the synagogues or churches made ready to their
hands, needing no new consecration. Traces in
the N. T. of a fixed place of worship as a feature
of an organized church are presented by Prof.
Blunt {Parish Priest, sect., ix. p. 281), who
quotes Acts i. 13; St. Luke xxii. 12; St. John
XX. 19, 26 ; Acts ii. 2 ; Rom. xvi. 3 ; 1 Cor. xi.
22, xvi. 19.
That the pi-imitive Christians, i.e. before the
time of Constantine, not only had churches to
worship in, but regarded them as distinct in
character from other buildings, has indeed been
doubted or denied, but is allowed by even Hos-
pinian {de Origine et Progressu Consecrationum
et Dedicationum Templorum, Tiguri, 1603, fol.)
and Augusti (Denkuurdigkeiten aits der Christ-
lichen Archdologie, xi. 317, &c.), and has been
sufficiently settled in the affirmative by Petrus
Cluuiacensis, A.D. 1147 (quoted in Hooker, E. P.
v. 12, 5), Bona, Tillemont, Mede, Lewis, Chan-
cellor Harington {The Ohject, Importance, and
Antiquity of the Bite of Consecration of Churches,
Rivingtons, 1847), and Professor Blunt. We
dismiss spurious testimonies and dubious allega-
tions ; e.g. the affirmation of Radulphus adduced
by Gavanti ( Thesaur. tom. i. p. iv. tit. xvi.), that
" dedication is of apostolic authority ;" the Cle-
mentines {Ep. ad Jacohum) " Build churches
in suitable places, which you ought to consecrate
by divine prayers ;" the Decretals, quoted from
Linus, Cletus, Evaristus, Hyginus, &c. by Gratian
and Gear (Euchol. p. 807); the assumption in
Duranti and Cardinal Bona, as quoted in Bingham
{Antiq. viii. 9, 2) ; and others given by Martene
{Bit. Eccl. Ant. ii. 13). Yet we may collect
from the very earliest times a succession of
allusions and statements which warrant us in
the conclusion that places and buildings, of
whatever humble sort they might be, were
always recognized and set apart for common
worship, the fact of their consecration appearing
first, and then the accompaniments and rites
of it.
The very titles by which these buildings were
known indicated this; e.g. KvpiaK-q, i.e. oiKta,
Dominica, &c., discussed in Augusti {Denkw. xi.
320, &c.). St. Ambrose, in his letter to his
sister Marcellina {Ep. 22), calls the rite of
dedication of churches a most ancient and uni-
versal custom. St. Gregory Nazianzen in an
oration (43) on the consecration of a new church,
says, " that it was an old law, and very excel-
lently constituted, to do honour to churches by
the feasts of their dedication." And Daniel
{Cod. Liturg. i. 355) confirms the conclusion of
Binterim {Denkwiird. iv. i. 27) that this cere-
mony is deeply rooted in the earliest age of the
Church. Mede, and others after him, argue
this existence of churches from passages in
Clemens Romnnus {ad Cor. i. 41 ; see Blunt's
Parish Priest, lect. ix.) ; Ignatius {Ep. ad
Magnes. 7) ; Justin Martyr {Apol. i. 67) ; Ter-
tullian {De Idolol. 7) ; Cyprian {de Op. et Elecm.
12); Lucian(PAi7o/9. p. 1126); and many others.
The Coenaculum at Jerusalem, to which, as to a
knowu place, the disciples, after the ascension of
the Lord, returned for common prayer, is said to
have been adapted and dedicated to Christian
service long before the time of Constantine.
" The upper room," says Bede (tom. ix. dc
Locis Sanctis'), "was enclosed afterwards with a
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES 427
beautiful church, founded by the holy apostles,
because in that place they had received the
Holy Ghost." To this, as being already an
acknowledged use, St. Cyril of Jerusalem refers
{Cat. lect. xvi. 4) : " Here, in Jerusalem, in the
upper church of the apostles . . . the Holy
Ghost came down from heaven. And, in truth,
it is most fitting that ... we should speak
concerning the Holy Ghost in the upper church "
(cf Niceph. ii. 3).
" There exist," says Eusebius {Hist. Eccl:
viii. 1), " the imperial edicts by which the
churches were to be pulled down to the ground."
These must have been actual edifices. [Church.]
Then came the persecution of Diocletian, when
" the houses of prayer were pulled down from
the top to the bottom, and their foundations
overturned" (j6. viii. 2). "After these things
a spectacle eai-nestly prayed for and much de-
sired by us all appeared, viz. the solemnization
of the festival of the dedication of churches
throughout every city, and the consecration of
the newly-built oratories. . . . Indeed, the cere-
monies of the bishops were most entire, the
presbyters' performance of service most exact,
the rites of the Church decent and majestic.
On the one hand was a place for the singers of
psalms, and for the rest of the auditors of the
expressions sent from God ; on the other was a
place for those who performed the divine and
mystical services. There were also delivered
the mystical symbols of our Saviour's passion.
And now people of all ages and sexes, men and
women, with the utmost vigour of their minds,
with joyful hearts and souls, by prayer and
thanksgiving, worshipped God, the Author of
all good. All the prelates then present made
public orations, every one as well as he was able,
endeavouring to set forward the praises of those
assembled " {ib. x. 3). In x. 5 Eusebius gives
the decrees of Licinius and Constantius for re-
storing the churches to the Christians, as build-
ings not private, to which there had been an
established title. Even the Magdeburg Cen-
turiators, who are wont to disparage the im-
portance of the ceremony of consecration, writing
on the 4th century, admit that it had been in
existence earlier : " LTsitatae omnino magis quam
superioribus saeculis templorum fueruiit dedica-
tiones, seu consecrationes, et quidem festivae."
The church of Tyre was one of those destroj-ed
in the persecution of Diocletian, and rebuilt at
the revival described above. From the pane-
gyric spoken by Eusebius on the occasion to
Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, we gather that the
earlier church, a very noble one, had been con-
secrated before at its first erection, and that
churches built on old foundations were conse-
crated again.
We owe to the courtly pages of Eusebius full
accounts of the consecration of the churches
built by Constantine at Jerusalem, Constantinople,
and Antioch. He undertook to build a church
over the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem {Vit.
Const, iii. 25), called the " Martyrium," of
which the beauty and several parts are de-
scribed (i6. iii. 29). When all was ready, A.D. 335,
he wrote a letter of invitation to the numerous
bishops then assembled in council at Tyre, urging
them that they should first compose their in-
ternal differences, because concord of priests
befitted such a ceremony ( Vit. Const, iv. 43 ;
428 CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES
Sozom. Ecd. Hist. i. 26). From all parts of the
East accordiugly, eminent bishops assembled,
followed by an innumerable company of people
out of all the provinces. " But the ministers of
God," proceeds Eusebius, " adorned the festival
jiart'ly with their prayers, and partly with their
discourses. For some of them with praises
celebrated the benignity of the religious em-
peror towards the universal Saviour, and in
their orations set forth the magnificence of the
Wartyrium; others entertained their hearers
with theological discourses upon the divine dog-
mata, fitted to the present solemnity ; others
interpreted the lessons of the divine volumes,
and disclosed the mystic meanings. But such
as were unable to arrive at these things ap-
peased the Deity with unbloody sacrifices and
mystic immolations, humbly offering up their
prayers to God. ... At which place we our-
selves also honoured the solemnity with various
discourses uttered in public ; sometimes making
descriptions in writing of the stateliness and
magnificence of the royal fabric; at others,
explaining the meaning of the prophetic visions
in a manner befitting the present symbols
and figures. There was the feast of dedication
celebrated with the greatest joy imaginable."
One discourse by Eusebius (de Laudibus Con-
stantini) is giveii in full (iv. 45), where it is
observed that Constantine's churches were much
larger and handsomer than those before. The
consecration took place on Sept. 13th, a Satur-
day.
Theodoret (Eccl. Hist. i. 31) says that many
churches of Constantine were dedicated by the
assembled bishops at the same time.
To the dedication of the magnificent basilica
at Antioch, called Dominicum Aureum, A.D. 341,
begun by Constantine and finished by his son
Constantius, there came ninet3'--seven bishops,
on the invitation of Eusebius of Nicomedia, who
had usurped the see of Constantino|)le (Socr. ii.
8 ; Sozom. iii. 5).
A s3^nod of bishops (Socr. ii. 39) assembled at
the dedication of St. Sophia in Constantinople,
A.D. 360, thirty-four years after the foundation
of the church by Constantine. Eudoxius had
lately been inaugurated as archbishop. He
'• made sacred prayers " (Du Cange, Constanti-
nop. Christ, iii. 2). "It was consecrated with
prayers and votive offerings" (Niceph. viii.
'26). Ciampini (de Acdif. Constantini, pp. 165
sqq.) gives a summary of the dedication of
this celebrated church from the Alexandrian
Chronicle. It is also referred to by the author of
the Life of St. Athanasius in Photius (Du Cange,
U.S.). As Constantine's church had been de-
stroyed by earthquake, so was this of his son's
burnt with fire, A.D. 404, and wholly destroyed
in the sedition of A.D. 532.
Further light is thrown on the rite of con-
secration by a story of Athanasius. In his
Apologij to the emperor Constantine, A.D. 335,
he defends himself from the serious charge of
using an undedicated church. He allows the
truth of the fact. He said they had certainly
kept no day of dedication, which would have
been unlawful to keep without orders from the
emperor. The building was not yet complete.
He grounds his apology on the great concourse
of i)eople in Lent, the grievous want of church
room elsewhere, the pressure of all to hear
Athanasius, the Increased mass of the crowd ou
Easter Day (when the undedicated church was
used), the precedents of the Jews after the
captivity, and of buildings so used in Alexandria,
Treves, Aquileia, the reasonableness of worship-
ping in a building already called " the Lord's
house " fi-om the very time of laying the founda-
tions (Apol. ad Const. 17-21). " There was
no dedication, but only an assembly for the sake
of prayei-. You, at least, I am sure, as a lover
of God, will approve of the people's zeal, and
will pardon me for being unwilling to hinder
the prayers of so great a multitude." " May
you," he adds, "most religious Augustus, live
through the course of many years to come, and
celebrate the dedication of the church. The
place is ready, having been already sanctified by
the prayers which have been offered in it, and
requires only the presence of your piety." (/6.
24, 25.)
The first dedication of a new church by Jus-
tinian is briefly described by Du Cange {Con-
stant. Chr. iii. 5), who says, "The procession
started from St. Anastasia, the patriarch Mennas
sitting in the chariot of the emperor, and the
emperor himself going among the common
people." The " dedicationis apparatus et cele-
britas " is given in Codinus {Grig. Constant.'),
who says that Justinian went in solemn pro-
cession from the palace to the Augustaeum (a
sort of large forum, or -npoavKiov, before the
church of St. Sophia), together with the patri-
arch, to the church built by himself, and broke
out into these words : " Glory to God, who has
counted me woi'thy to fulfil so great a work.
I have surpassed thee, 0 Solomon." A series of
earthquakes destroyed the dome, altar, ambo,
&c., and the same emperor, whose passion for
building was the ruling feature of his life, cele-
brated the second consecration twenty-four
years later, of which an account is given by Du
Cange (ib. iii. 6) after Theophanes. "Nightly
vigils preceded in the church of St. Plato;
thence the procession advanced with prayers, the
emperor himself being present; the patriarch
Eutychius, borne in a chariot, and dressed in
apostolical habit, holding the holy gospels in his
hands; all, the people chanting ' Lift up your
heads,' " &c. Then came the Bvpavoi^ia and the
ct>ct>To5p6iJ.os, i.e. that part of the ceremony of
the Encaenia, where in the circuit of the build-
ing the lights are lighted on the walls, and
twelve crosses are anointed with chrism by the
bishop. Paul the Silentiary, in his poem on the
occasion, adds, " After thou hadst celebrated
the festival, as was proper, forthwith the whole
people, the senate, and the middle and better
classes, demanded an extension of the days of
celebration. Thou grantedst it : they flocked
in : again they demanded : again thou grantedst
it, which things being often repeated, thou
celebratedst the festivity magnificently." Pro-
bably for seven days.
Of other churches in Constantinople, Du
Cange (i'6. iv. 5) relates the dedication of the
Church of the Apostles. This church, after its
demolition, was rebuilt by Justinian. The dedi-
cation is described as celebrated by the deposi-
tion in it of the relics of Andrew, Luke, and
Timothy, which had been in the earlier church.
Theophanes says, that the bishop Mennas, with the
holy relics, sitting in the royal chariot, gilt and
CONSECRATION OP CHURCHES CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES 429
studded with gems, carrying upon his kuees the
three shrines of the holy apostles, in such wise
celebrated the dedication. Procopius speaks of
the same particulars.
The last-named writer (da Aedif. Justin, i. v.)
mentions the sacred buildings at Ephesus, Con-
stantinople, Jerusalem, which Justinian dedi-
cated (ave9r]Ki).
We gather from Bade (Eccl. Hisfi. 6) that
while Diocletian was pei'secuting in the East,
Maxiraian was doing the same in the West,
for ten years, by burning the churches, &c.,
and that after the cessation of the persecution
the Britons renewed the churches which had
been razed to the ground, and founded and
finished basilicas to the holy martyrs (tb. i. 8).
Later on, we read that Gregory instructed
Augustine and his companions not to destroy
the idol temples, but to destroy the idols in
them, and then to prepare holy water, and
sprinkle it, to build altars and deposit relics, and
to make suitable provision for rendering the day
of dedication attractive (ib. i. 30) ; that Augus-
tine " consecrated a church in the name of the
Saviour, our God and Lord Jesus Christ ;" and
Laurentius "consecrated the church of the
blessed apostles Peter and Paul " (ib. i. 33) ; that
the body of Augustine (after a very early cus-
tom) was laid near this church, as it was not
yet dedicated, but as soon as it was dedicated it
was brought in and laid in the north porch (ib.
ii. 3) ; that, on Chad's visit to Northumbria,
after being in East Anglia, the son of the king
gave him land to build a monastery or church ;
to purify the spot he craved leave to spend the
forty days of Lent (except the Lord's day) in
prayer and fasting, as he said it was always
the custom he had learned, first to consecuate
the locality by prayer and fasting to the Lord.
Then he built a monastery, and set it on foot
according to the rites of the Lindisfarnians,
with whom he was educated (ib. iii. 23) ; that
the Abbot Ceolfrid sent to the king of the Picts,
A.D. 710, ai-chitects to build for him a stone
church, after the manner of the Romans, he
having promised to dedicate it in honour of the
blessed chief of the apostles (ib. v. 21). Bede
tells a story of Bishop John of Beverley, how,
after having dedicated a chui-ch for the Earl
Puch, he sent to his countess, who was bed-
ridden, some of the holy water which he had
consecrated for the dedication of the church by
one of the brethren, charging him to give her
some to taste, and that he should wash her with
the same water wherever he learnt her pain
was the greatest. The woman recovered (ib. v.
4). A detailed account is given of the consecra-
tion of the church of Ripon by St. Wilfred
(A.D. 665) in his life. The 47th chapter of
the Penitential of Archbishop Theodore, speaking
of a building in which heathens had been buried,
but now proposed for a church, adds : " If it
seems fit for consecration, let the bodies be
removed, and it shall be sanctified, if not con-
secrated before." In the same chapter mention
is made of that part of the office of consecra-
tion in which it is said, " Locus a Deo iste
factus est."
2. Canons and decrees irkich relate to the con-
secration of churches. — The 4th canon of" the
General Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451 (Bruns's
Canones, i. 26), provides that " no one shall any-
where build or establish a monastery, or house of
prayer, without the consent of the local bishop."'
The canons of Felix IV. and Gregory I. (de Consecr.
distinct, i. c. 17) are referred to by Gavanti
(Thesaurus Sao: Bit. torn. i. p. iv. tit. xvi. p.
529). The 23rd canon of an Irish Council under
Patrick, A.D. 450 (Bruns's Can. ii. 303), directs
"that a presbyter, though he build a church,
shall not oiler the oblation in it before he brings
his bishop to consecrate it, because this was
regular and decent." Of Columbauus, however,
though not a bishop, Walafrid Strabo writes
(Mart. ii. 13, 6), "He ordered water to be
brought, blessed it, sprinkled the temple with it,
and while they went round singing, dedicated
the church. Then he called on the Name of the
Lord, anointed the altar, placed ia it the relics
of St. Aurelia, vested it, and said mass." The
1st Council of Orange, A.D. 441, can. 10 (Bruns's
Canones, ii. 123), forbids a bishop to consecrate a
church out of his own diocese, even if it has been
built by himself. So the 2nd Council of Aries
(about 451), can. 37. The 3rd Council of Or-
leans, A.D. 538, can. 15 (Bruns's Can. ii. 196),
makes the same provision about altars. The
3rd canon of the 2nd Council of Saragossa. a.d.
592 (Bruns's Can. ii. 65), enacts that " if Arian
bishoj)s, who are converted, shall consecrate
churches before they have received the bene-
diction, such shall be consecrated anew by a
Catholic bishop." The Thcodosian Code pre-
scribes how existing buildings should be claimed
and dedicated for the service of the Christian
religion: " conlocatione venerandi religionis
christianae signi expiari praecipimus " (lib. xvi.
tit. 10). The same rite was prescribed by Justi-
nian at the beginning of any erection of a church
(Novell, cxxxi., quoted by Bingham, Antiq. viii.
9, 5). See more instances in Augusti (Denkw.
xi. 355). Avitus, bishop of Vienne in the 6th
century, promises his brother Apolliuaris to be
present at the consecration of a church, and
commands the gifts that were designed for the
poor at the dedication feast. The 2nd Council
of Nice, A.D. 787, can. 7, orders that no bishop
should consecrate any church or altar, on pain
of deposition, unless relics were placed under it,
" ut qui ecclesiasticas traditiones transgressus
est." The famous Council of Cealchythe (i. e.
Chelsea), presided over by Archbishop Wil-
fred, A.D. 816, can. 2, decrees, "when a church
is built, let it be consecrated by a bishop of its
own diocese : let the water be blessed, and
sprinkled by himself, and all things fulfilled
in order, according to the service book. Then let
the Eucharist, which is consecrated by the bishop
after the same form, be deposited with the other
relics in a chest, and kept in the same church.
And if he cannot bring other relics, at least he
can do this chief thing, because it is the Bodv
and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we
charge every bishop that he have it painted on
the wall of the oratory, or on a table, as also'
on the altars, to what saints both of them are
dedicated." The 141st of the Excerpts of Arch-
bishop Egbert, circ. A.D. 750, provides when a
church will need reconsecration. The Council of
Worms, A.D. 868, forbids bishops to exact any fee
or present for the consecration of a church, and
also forbids them to consecrate any church
except there be a writing under the hand of the
founder confirming the foundation, and signifying
430 CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES
what endowment he has given for the ministers
and for the lights.
A decree is quoted from Gelasius, A.D. 492 (cf.
Socr. Eccl. Hist. ii. 8), to the effect that no
bishop consecrate a church without the leave of
the Apostolical see. Gregory the Great wrote
official letters, whence we may gather the form
in which, as bishop of Rome, he was accustomed
to issue his license to his suffragans for dedication
of a church or chai)el, e.g., that " they take good
heed that no dead body were buried in the place "
(^Epist. i. 52; v. 22;"xii. 10); "if a bishop con-
secrated an oratory in another diocese, what he
had done was null and void " (Epist. xi. 2). He
would not have a new church consecrated unless
it were endowed with sufficient revenue for main-
taining divine service and the clergy (see Corp.
Jur. Can. i. 457-461). Martene allows that
Gelasius and Gregory were both intending to
prescribe for Italy alone.
3. Jiitual of Consecration. — It was customary,
as we have seen, to deliver sermons at the time
of consecration. There is one extant by St.
Ambrose, ])reached at the dedication of a church
built by Vitalianus and Majanus, A.D. 380; the
sermon is entitled " De Dedicatione Basilicae,"
from the text in St. Luke, "He loveth our
nation, and he hath built us a synagogue."
Gaudentius. bishop of Bresse in Italy, early in
the 5th century, has left sermons " Die dedica-
tiouis basilicae sanctorum quadraginta marty-
runi" {Max. Bihl. Fatriun, torn, v.; Migne's
Patrol. XX.). St. Augustine's works (torn, v.)
contain sermons of the same class, Senn. 256,
de tempore, al. 336-338, and in App. Serm. 229-
231, considered to be those of Caesarius.
Of other rites and ceremonies we find occasional
notices. Thus of the vigil kept the night pre-
ceding the dedication, St. Ambrose writes {Ep.
22) to his sister Marcellina and Gregoi-y of
Tours, de Gloria Confessorum ; of the translation
and deposition of relics, we read in the same
epistle of St. Ambrose, "When I wished to
dedicate the basilica, they began to interrupt me
as it were with one mouth, saying, You should
dedicate the basilica, as in the case of a Roman
one. I answered, I will do so, if I find relics of
martyrs." The same custom is mentioned by
St. Basil, Epist. 49 (iii. 142), by St. Paulinus,
Epist. adSeverum {Max, Bibl. Pair. tom. vi. 193,
&c.), by St. Greg. M. lib. i. c. 10. See in
Jlartene. The relics were often not the bodies
tliemselves, but what had been simply in contact
with them [Brandeum]. The custom was at
first peculiar to Rome, and was then extended
and made, obligatory by the 2nd Nicene Council.
Ancient forms, given by Martene, prescribe that
" the Body of the Lord be deposited." On
dedication, Hooker {E. P. v. 13) and Bingham
(Antiq. viii. 9, 8) both (juote St. Augustine (de
C vit. Dei, viii. 27 ; xxii. 10 ; contra Faust, sx.
2 1 ; contra Maxim, i. ; de Vera Relig. c. 55) as
showing how, and with what interest and limi-
tation, the original custom of dedicating churches
to the Lord only was afterwards extended to
their dedication under the name, or as me-
morials of saints and mart)'rs, or by the title of
virtues, especially of v.isdom, as was the case in
the chief cities "of the empire. Augustine in
writing against Maximinus grounds an argument
for the deitv of the Holy Ghost upon this dis-
tinction : "that He must be God, because
temples were built and dedicated to Him, which
it would be sacrilege to do to any other creature."
The custom of lighting twelve candles is alluded
to in the Pseudo-Augustine, Serm, 338 (al. 3),
in Dedic. Ecclesiae. " This lesson occurs suitably,
when the candelabra are blessed, that he who
works is as a light placed on a candlestick." The
very ancient rite of inscribing either the whole
alphabets both Greek and Latin, or some letters
of them, or one alphabet, is spoken of by Gregory
in his Liber Sacramentorum : "Then let the
bishop begin from the left-hand corner at the
east, writing on the pavement with his pastoral
staff A. B. C, to the right corner of the west;
again beginning from the corner at the east he
writes A. B. C. and so on to the left corner of the
church." Gregory says that some bishops added
the Hebrew alphabet. The inscription was
called the A. B. C. darinm. See more on the
custom in Martene (ii. 13, who gives A.D. 980 as
the inferior date for it), and in Maskell, Monum,
Pit. i. 173 n.
It is difficult,' however, from the few and
scattered notices in primitive writers, to con-
struct the probable course of the ritual of conse-
cration in early times. We may say with
Bingham, " that the manner and ceremony of
doing this was not always exactly one and the
same, therefore we are chiefly to regard the
substance of the thing, which was the separation
of any building from common use to a religious
service. Whatever ceremony this was performed
with, the first act of initiating and appropriating
it to a divine use was its consecration ; and
therefore, in allusion to this, the first beginning
of anything is many times called its dedication.
Whether churches had any other cei-emony
besides this in their dedication for the first three
ages is not certain, though it is highly probable
they might have a solemn thanksgiving and
prayer I'or a sanctified use of them also, over and
besides the usual liturgy of the Church, because
this was in use among the Jews " {Antiq. viii.
9, 1). So also Lewis {Historical Essiij) remarks
upon the difficulty of discovering the use of this
rite in its particular parts, because the custom
of those early times was obscure, yet " he hopes
to shew some remains of the footsteps of this
ceremony" (p. 29), and gathers them together
(p. 105), as traced in the several instances above
given.
Of the various forms printed from MSS., the
Ordo Romanus for the building and consecration
of a church, &c., said to be of the 8th century, is
given in the Max. Bi'>l. Pair. (tom. xiii. p. 715,
&c.). Goar {Euch. Oraecorum) gives the custo-
mary order in laying the foundation of a churcli,
and the prayer to be said on the occasir)u, which
some call the cross-fixing ; and the order for
fixing the cross after the church is finished, by
the patriarch, under which head there are certain
prayers attributed to Callixtus on the dedication
of a temple, and a very prolix Ta|(s koI uko-
XovBia iir'i KaOieptio-ei vaov (p. 606, &c., and p.
846). SLartene {Eccl. Rd. ii. 13, p. 244 &c.) has
printed eleven forms, of which the oldest are (1)
from the Book of Gellone in Italy about A.D. 800,
(2) from the pontifical of Egbert, archbishop of
York, A.D. 750, (3) from the Anglican pontifical
in the monastery of Jumieges, A.D. 800, (4) from
the pontifical of" St. Dunstan of Canterbury, (5)
from a codex of St. Mary's, Rheims, A.D. 'J(H), (d)
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES
from a pontifical of the Church of Noyon, A.D.-
900. Maskell prints from the Sarwn Pontifical
the Ordo " De Ecciesiae dedicatione, seu conse-
cratione " (Monumen. Bit. i. 162-203), and
has some remarks on the subject in his pre-
liminary dissertation, pp. cclxv.-cclxxv. Daniel
(Cod. Liturg. i. 355-384,) prints the rite "Ex
Poutificali Romano," with notes of collation
from other rituals. He holds that in the most
ancient times it was not the mass only that was
sutiicieut at the consecration of new churches
(which Binterirn had argued), but that it was the
mass proper for dedication, together with addi-
tions of certain forms of benediction. Both
these writers allow that the ritual of present use
scarcely reaches the 8th century.
4. Anniversaries of consecrations of churches
have their natural origin in the feast of dedica-
tion of the temple, attended by our Lord (St.
John X. 22, 23) in conformity with 1 Mace. iv.
5G-59 ; St. Gregory Nazian. {Orat. 43, els rrju
KvpiaK^v init.) speaks of it as an ancient custom
•' to honour churches by the feasts of their
dedication ; and that not for once only, but upon
the annual return of the day of their consecra-
tions, that good things become not forgotten
through lapse of time." It is doubtful who
initiated the custom. Some make it date from
the consecration of the church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jevusalem, on Sept. 13 [Ana-
stasis]. (See Sozom. E. E. i. 2(3 ; Niceph. viii.
50.) Felix IV., A.D. 526, put out a decree " that
the solemnities of the dedications of churches are
to be celebrated every year." Gregory the
Great confirmed the practice, and it was adopted
by Augustine in Britain, together with the
custom of building booths round the church, and
holding common festivities (Bede, Erd. Hist. i.
30). The memory of the dedication of St.
Sophia at Constantinople was kept up every
Dec. 22 (Du Gauge, Const. Chr. iii. 6). Gavanti
(ii. 250, &c.), de Commnni Dedicationis Ec-
ciesiae, has rules and remarks on this class of
festival and its concurrence with others.
The Si/mbolism of the rite of consecration may
be said to appear in the earliest titles given to
churches (see above), and in the essential idea of
consecration as expressed by Hookei", E. P. v. 12,
13 ; Bingham, Antiq. viii. 9, 8 ; Lewis, p. 98.
Alcuin, de Coena Domini, says,. " Churches are
consecrated that the coming of angels into them
may be invited, and that men entering into them
may be restrained from mean thoughts." St.
Thomas Aquin. (^Stomiu!, part iii. Quaest. 85,
art. 3) says, "A church is consecrated because
the Church is the spouse of Christ ; and when the
octave is celebrated for denoting the glorious
resurrection of the Church which is to come."
Remigius of Auxerre, in the 10th century, has a
Treatise on the mystical signification of the whole
rite. Cf the reference to this and other writers
in Maskell (Monuni. Bit. i. 162, 3). The same
subject is elaborately drawn out by Durandus,
Bationale Div. Off.; St. Bruno Astensis, Episc.
Signiensium (Mux. Dihl. Pair. xx. 1725), of the
12th century, &c.
. 5. Consecration of Altars. — Bingham (Ant.
viii. 9. 10) says that the consecration of altars
seems to have begun first of all in the 6th
century ; he quotes the Council of Agde, A.D.
506, can. 14 (Bruns's Can. ii. 145), as enacting
that " altars are to be consecrateil not only by
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES 431
the chrism, but with the sacerdotal benediction,"
and the Council of Epone, A.D. 517, can. 26 (ib.
ii. 170), that "none but stone altars are to be
consecrated with the unction of the chrism."
Gregory of Tours, in the 6th century, in his
De Gloria Confessormn, c. xx. (Migue, Pa^ro/. 71,
p. 842), describes the dedication of an oratory at
Tours, a very beautiful cell, heretofore used as a
salt cellar : " The altar was placed in its future
position; the night was spent in vigil at the
basilica ; in the morning they went to the cell
and consecrated the altar, then returned to the
basilica, and thence took the relics. There were
present a very large choir of ]iriests and deacons,
and a distinguished body of honourable citizens,
with a large assembly of people. On arrival at
the door a miracle of splendour took place,"
which Gregory describes.
LiTER-^TURL. — Besides the several works and
special treatises mentioned in the course of this
article, reference may be made to Cardinal Bona,
de Beh. Liturg. i. 19, 20 (Antwerp 1677, 4to);
Fabricius (John), de Templis Christianoruni
(Helmstadii 1704, fol.); Augusti's List of the
Literature of Holy Places (xi. 317), Schmid,
Liturgik, Knltus der Clirist-Katholische Kirche
(vol. iii.). LAher diurnus Pontif. Bom. (Migne's
Patrol, vol. 105), cap. v. p. 89, &c., "Index
Generalis Materiarum" in Mat. Bihl. Patrum
(tom. i.) under the head " Ecclesia, 16, De
Materiali Ecclesia, seu Templo, ejusque dedi-
catione," where some dedication sermons and
mystical expositions and vindications of .the rite
of consecration may be found of the 12th and
13th centuries. [H. B y.]
6. Summary. — It will be seen in the instances
given above that there are two distinct
periods in the history of the consecration of
churches. In the early ages, certainly as late as
the time of Constantine, a church was inaugu-
rated by solemn ceremonial, and dedicated to the
service of God with prayer. Then, as churches
built over the tombs of martyrs came to be
regarded as endowed with peculiar sanctity, the
possession of the relics of some saint came to be
looked upon as absolutely essential to the sacred-
ness of the- building, and the deposition of such
relics in or below the altar henceforward formed
the central portion of the consecration-rite. All
the essentials of such a rite are found in the
description of the consecration of an oratory,
•quoted above from Gregory of Tours. [Compare
Altar.]
To the second phase belong all the ancient
rituals of consecration now extant, whether in
East or West. We may take, as a summary of
the rites above referred to, the service for the
consecration of churches given in Egbert's
Pontifical (pp. 26-58, ed. Surtees Soc), which
differs in no essential point from that of the
Gregorian sacramentary.
The relics were to be watched the night before
in some church already consecrated. In the
morning the bishop and clergy came in procession
to the church to be consecrated; candles are
lighted, the clerks in procession pass round the
church outside. The door of the church is
opened with appropriate chants and ceremony.
Prayer is said in the midst of the church, and
the procession, with litany, solemnly apjiroaches
the altar with ]irostration. Then' follows the
A. B. C. dariuni (sec above). Holy water is
432 CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES
blessed and sprinkled about the church and the
altar; the altar is censed and anointed with oil
and chrism ; the slab is to be laid on the altar,
the linen coverings, the fittings (ornamenta) of
the church, and the vessels to be used in divine
service are blessed. Then the relics are brought
in solemn procession from the place where they
had been deposited. When they come before the
.altar a curtain is drawn between the clerks and
the people ; the bishop makes the sign of the
cross with chrism inside the CONFESSIO or cavity
where the relics .ire to be placed, and at the four
corners of the altar. After the relics have been
placed in the confessio, the slab is laid on the
top and fixed with mortar. The bishop says a
prayer. The altar is then covered and decked,
and the paten and chalice are blessed.
The clerks then enter the vestry and put on
other vestments. Meantime the church is made
ready, and the bishop and clergy on their return
say the mass In Dedicatione Ecclesiae,
Forms are also given in the Pontifical (p. 57)
for the " Reconciliation " of an altar or holy
place where blood has been shed or homicide
perpetrated.
For other ceremonies of dedication see Font,
Cemetery.
7. rnscriptions. — Bianchini on the Liber Pontif.
(s. 35, i. p. 74, ed. Migne) quotes the following
inscription as proving the consecration of a
church at Rome in the 4th century by Damasus
or Oamasius :—
T . I . X . N . EGO DAMASI
VS VRB ROME EPS AN
C DOMY COSECRAVI
. . . N . R . Q . S . M . S . S . PA . S . PE .
i.e. I'ifuhts in Christi nomine. Ego Damasius
urhis Eoinae Ejiscopus hano domum consecravi.
The interpretation of the remaining portion of
the inscription is doubtful, but S . PA . S . PE .
seem to designate Sanctus Paulus, Sanctis
I'otrus. On the re^-erse of the stone is engraved,
\_Hic reJQVIESCIT CAPVT
SCI CRESCENTINI M.
ET RELIQIE S.SVPANT.
The Abbe Martigny (Dictionnaire, p. 227) has
acutely remarked, that the epithet sanctus is
not known to be used in this way so early as
the 4th century, and that the inscription is
probably of a later date than the time of Pope
Damasus. There is, in fact, probably no inscrip-
tion testifying to the consecration of a church
of so early a date as the time of St. Ambrose,
when we know that a dedication-rite similar
in essentials to that of later times was coming
into uic. [C]
^ 8. Effect of Consecration. — Churches and their
sites, once consecrated, were to ba reserved
exclusively for the offices of religion. Eating
■Mvl drinking in them was forbidden after the
love-feasts had been abolished: and wearing
arms in them was never allowed. In virtue
of the 2Qd of these rules they speedily became
asylums or. places of refuge for all threatened
with violence : still they could only be used as
such for a limited duration in virtue of the first.
tateant summi Dei templa timentibus," said
one law m the Theodosian code, cot merely con-
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES |
.firming this privilege, but extending it to the
various surroundings of a cliurch where meals j
might be taken and sleejiing quarters esta- i
blished for iny length of time ; by another law, ]
however, it was modified, by excluding public '
debtors, slaves, and Jews, from benefiting by it !
in future (lib. ix. tit. 49); and Justinian after- !
wards excluded malefactors (Novel. 17). Some i
interesting remarks on these constitutions may ■
be read in a letter of Alcuin (Ep. clvii. ed. '
Migne) to his two disciples, Candidus and ^fa- i
thanael : modified indeed by the important let- i
ter of Charlemagne which follows it; and in
accordance with which the rights of sanctuary |
are upheld in the Frank capitularies of the 8th i
century. i
Property given to the Church might never be j
alienated from it, except under special circum-
stances defined by the canons : much more there- '
fore buildings that had been solemnly conse- '■
crated. The canons forbidding alienation are
numerous from the 15th Ancyran, A.D. 315
downwards; and the 31st and three following,
with the 65th Apostolical, may be still earlier.
Justinian has numei-ous regulations to the same
eifect in his Code (lib. ii. tit. 2) and 7th Novel.
In all these church property seems to be consi- !
dered inalienable, rather as being in trust for i
others than upon higher grounds : at all events, .
none of them actually discuss consecrated sites ■
and buildings as such. Charlemagne was more \
explicit in one of his capitularies (a.d. 802, c. 34, !
ed. Migne) : " Ut loca quae semel Deo dedicata
sunt ut monasteria sint, maneant perpetuo mo- I
nasteria, nee possint ultra fieri saecularia habl- i
taenia." This was generalized subsequently, till >
it appeared as a maxim in the " Regulae Juris," i
appended to the 6th book of the Decretals, in \
these words : " Semel Deo dicatum non est ad i
usus humanos ulterius transferendum " (Xo. 51). |
Even the wood and stones used in building a
church were considered to have shared its con-
secration, and could not afterwards be removed ■
to subserve structures purely secular, though i
they might be burnt. Events in this respect '
have long since proved stronger than the De- '
cretals : and there are some remarkable words on
record of Jehovah Himself in taking possession
of the first building ever dedicated to His service,
shewing that His acceptance of it was condi-
tional, and might not, under circumstances which '
actually took place, be permanent : " Now have ■
I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name j
may be there for ever. . . . But if ye turn away
and forsake my statutes and my commandments
which I have set before you , . . this house which i
I have sanctified for my name will I cast out of j
my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and •!
a by-word among all nations" (2 Chron. vii. 19,
20). Canonists have forgotten these words alto-
gether in estimating the " effects of consecration." '.
Comp. particularly Lequeux's Manual, Tract, de ]
Rebus Sacris, 1. xci. and cxxvi.-xxxix. A larger
work is Gibert's Corp. Jur. Canon, vol. ii. Tract,
de Eccl. tit. xv. [E. S. Ff ]
CONSECRATION (Eucharistic). (Conse-
cratio, Sanctificatio, a(pitpaicns, aytaafios.') Foi* i
the distinction between consecration and bene- j
diction, see Benediction. The general con- i
sideration of the docti-ine of Eucharistic consecra-
tion belongs to theology, and the question is :
CONSECRATION
con.si<lereil here only in its relation to the
liturgy.
1. The principal formulae of consecration are
given under Canon of the Liturgy. It will
be seen in that article that the most noteworthy
diiference between the forms of consecration used
in the Eastern and the Western churches respec-
tively consists in this, that in the Eastern Chuixh
the Holy Spirit is invoked, after the recitation
of the words of institution, to descend upon the
elements, and make them the Body and Blood
of Christ [Epiclesis] ; and this invocation is
commonly thought to imply, that consecration
would be imperfect without it. This seems also
to be distinctly implied in the well-known pass-
age of Cyril of Jerusalem {Catech. Mi/stag. v.
c. 7), which speaks of the hallowing and changing
influence of the Holy Spirit [Canon of the
Liturgy, p. 269]. On the other hand, in the
Western churches, the invocation of the Holy
Spirit at this part of the liturgy is generally
wanting, and the whole consecrating virtue is
attributed by Western ritualists to the recitation
of the words of institution, accompanied by the
fitting gestures. In the Mozarabic liturgy, how-
ever, the variable prayer which follows the
Sea-eta frequently contains an invocation of the
Holy Spirit upon the elements; and such an
invocation is almost certainly an ancient rite
which the Latin Church has lost, not an innova-
tion of the Orientals. Ample information on the
points of diflerence in this respect between East
and West may be found in Bona (de Reh. Lit.
ii. c. 13, §§ 4, .5), Renaudot {Lit. Orient, i. 196),
Toutte'e (note on Cyril, Cat. Mi/st. v. 7), Le
Brun (Ce'rem. de la Messe, torn, iii.), and Neale
{Eastern Ch. Introd. pp. 492 ff.).
2. In the Ordo Eonvmus III. c. 16, the fol-
lowing rubrical directions are given. "After
the Pope has communicated of the cup, which
is held by the archdeacon, the latter pours a
portion of the remaining wine into the larger
chalice from which the people is to communicate ;
for wine not consecrated but mingled with the
Lord's Blood is completely sanctified (sancti-
ficatur per omnem modum)." The reason of
this custom probably was that in a very large
congregation it was difficult to consecrate exactly
the quantity of wine required. A small quantity
was therefore consecrated in the first instance,
and amplified according to the number of com-
municants by pouring in fresh wine. The whole
of the wine in the cup was held to be completely
consecrated by mingling with that which had
been originally consecrated. The same practice
is enjoined in the C&remoniale of St. Benignus
at Dijon, in the Cistercian Statutes, in the
Statutes of the Abbey of St. Victor at Paris,
and in Lyndwood's Constitut. Provinc. See Ma-
billon (Comm. Fraevius in Ord. Rom. pp. Ixii.
-xcii.).
3. The placing a particle of the consecrated
bread in the chalice is sometimes called "con-
secration." In the Missa lUyrici (Bona, de Reh.
lAt. p. 553) the petition occurs, " Fiat commistio
et consecratio corporis et sanguinis D. N. I. C.
omnibus accipientibus nobis in vitam aeternam ; "
and the 17th canon of the 1st Council of Orange
directs, " Cum capsa et calix offerendus est, et
admixtione eucharistiae consecrandus." Com-
pare COJIJIISTIO.
4. On certain days it is an ancient custom not
CHRIST. ANT.
CONSENT TO MARKIAGE 433
to consecrate the sacred elements. See Prae-
SANCTIFIED, LiTURGY OF. [C]
CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS [Bishop :
Ordination.]
CONSENT TO MARRIAGE. The mar-
riage-law of all countries turns upon one or
other of two principles. Either marriage is
viewed as a union between persons, or as the
disposal of a property. In the former case,
the consent of the parties themselves is the main
element in it ; in the latter, that of some other
person or persons. Still, in legislations founded
upon the former pi-inciple, the element of consent
by others comes in as a salutary check upon rash
self-disposal by the young ; in those founded
upon the latter, the recognition of a right of
self-sale in the adult may equally check the too
authoritative interference of others.
The Jewish law is in its inception essentially
personal. Christ needed but to refer to the first
chapter of the Jewish Scriptures in order to
bring out the full spirituality of the marriage
relation (Matt. xix. 4 ; Mark x. 6). In Genesis,
the woman is at once brought before us as the
one " helpmeet " for the man. At the outset of
the Adamic history, there is no question of
selling or buying, no exercise of any third will
between the two. God simply brings the woman
to the man, who at once recognises her as bone
of his bones, and flesh of his flesh (c. ii. vv. 20,
22, 23). As the history proceeds, however,
other elements develope themselves. Slavery
makes its appearance, and the slave-owner is
exhibited as giving the slave in marriage (Gen.
xvi. 3 ; XXX. 4).
Throughout the patriarchal history (Gen. xxiv.,
xxix., xxxiv. ; Ex. ii. 21), under the Law (Ex.
xxi. 4, 7, 8 ; xxii. 17 ; Deut. xxii. 16), iu the
time of the Judges (Josh. xv. 16, 17; Judg. i.
12 ; XV. 1, 2 ; xxi. 1, 7, 8 ; Ruth iv. 10), under
the Monarchy (1 Sam. xvii. 25 ; xviii. 19, 21, 27 ;
2 Sam. xiii. 13 ; 1 Kings ii. 17), after the Cap-
tivity (Nehem. xiii. 25), in our Lord's time (Matt,
xxiv. 38 ; Luke xvii. 27), in the Apostolic Church
(1 Cor. vii. 38), the right of the father to give
his daughter in marriage, of the king to give one
who was under his control, is either assumed or
asserted.
It is nevertheless certain, as may be seen in
Selden's treatise de Vxore Ebraicd, and as has
been stated above under the head Betrothal,
that among the Jews the power of self-disposal
in marriage was singularly wide for either sex,
the man being held of full age, and capable of
marrying at his will in the last day of his 15th
year, the woman in the second half of her 12th,
whilst if betrothed under that age by their
fathers, girls could i-epudiate the engagement
at ten. Yet, strange to say, the forms used in
Jewish practice belong to the material, and not
to the spiritual view of marriage. The pro-
minence given to the Arrha or earnest [see
Arrha], and the necessity for its being given to
the woman herself either in money or money's
worth, shew clearly that the grand spirituality
of marriage, as exhibited in the second chapter of
Genesis, had been lost sight of, that it had come
to be viewed essentially as an act of wife-buying ;
and yet the fact that the woman, from earliest
puberty, was reckoned as having the sole right
of self-sale, preserved an amount of freedom in
2 F
■ I
434 CONSENT TO MAREIAGE
the contract which would otherwise seem to
belong only to that view of it which the prac-
tice contradicts.
The Roman law exhibits to us a precisely
opposite development ; it starts from the ma-
terial view to grow more and more into the
spiritual one. Originally the father's potcstas,
scarcely to be distinguished from absolute owner-
ship, overshadows all the domestic relations,
extending equally to the wife and to the children
of both sexes. Eventually, so far as marriage is
concerned, the potcstas resolves itself sim])ly
into a right of consent. And consent is made
the very essence of marriage. " Nuptias non
concubitus, sed consensus fecit," are the words
of Ulpian {Dig. bk. 1. t. xvii. 1. 30). The vali-
dity of marriages contracted by mere consent
was admitted in a constitution of Theodosius
and Valentinian, A.D. 449, {Code, bk. v. t. xvii.
1.8).
This consent, moreover, must be at once that
of the parties themselves, and of those in whose
potestas they are (Paulus, Dig. bk. xxiii. t. ii.
I. 2). As to slaves, indeed, unlike the Jewish
law, the Roman law never recognised such
a thing as their marriage, and the unions be-
tween men and women slaves, which might be
permitted and even respected by their masters,
wei-e of no more legal value than the coupling
of domestic animals, although, as may be seen
hereafter, they might be recognised by the supe-
rior morality of the church. Where, indeed, a
master gave away, or allowed another to give
away, his slave girl in marriage to a freeman,
or constituted a dos upon her, Justinian ruled
(as will be further shewn hereafter under the
head Contract) that this should amount to
an enfranchisement {Code, bk. vii. t. vi. 1. 9 ;
22nd Nov. c. 11). But this of itself shows
that marriage and slavery were held to be
incompatible.
The principle of the freedom of marriage, and
of its resting mainly on the consent of the
parties, stands generally recognised in Justi-
nian's Code, and is indeed further carried out
in it. " None," says a constitution of Diocle-
tian and Maximin, " can be compelled either to
marry, or to be reconciled after divorce " {Code,
bk. V. t. iv. 1. 14; and see 1. 12, as to the filius
familias).
On the other hand, several enactments of
Justinian's Code shew that the law looked rather
upon marriage, from the woman's point of view,
as the choice of a husband for her, and there-
fore held that in the determination of that
choice, the counsel or even the judgment of
third persons might be called in {Code, bk. v.
t. iv. 1. 1, 20).
The influx of the barbarian nations into the
empire may be said to have in great measure
restored, under other names, those stricter views
of paternal authority which had belonged to
Rome's earlier ages, at least as respects women,
k ^^u '^'^''^* °^ Theodoric we find a provision
that "a father shall not be compelled against
his will to give his fomily in marriage to any "
?f ^" , ^^ *^<^ Lombard laws the inundium
recalls the Roman potestas, but under a purely
pecuniary form, and instead of being confined
to the ascending line, seems to have belonged to
the nearest male relation. Thus by a law of
Bothans (638 or 643), if after two years' be-
CONSENT TO MAREIAGE
trothal the man does not claim his bride, " the ;
fiither or brother or he who has her mundiuin " ,
may prosecute the surety till he pays her meta
or jointure, after which " they may give her to
another husband, being a freeman" (c. 178), '
A widow indeed has power, if she choose, to go ;
to another husband, being a freeman (c. 182). '■
And the woman's consent, whether girl or
widow, has always great weight in the eyes of
the law. Thus it takes account of the cases of a
man marrying a girl or widow betrothed to '
another, ")'et with her consent" (c. 190), and
in like manner of his ravishing either with her
consent — the term apparently meaning here, |
carrying away without marriage (c. 191). '
Where indeed a slave married a freewoman
with her consent, her parents might kill her, '
or sell her out of the province (c. 222). The
laws of Luitprand, A.D. 717, enact penalties
against those who betroth to themselves, or i
marry, girls under twelve, but a father or ^
brother may give or betroth his daughter or '
sister at any age (bk. ii. c. 6). And it seems '
to be admitted that a girl of twelve may "go |
to a husband " without the will of her parents
(bk. vi. 0. 61, and see c. 66; A.D. 724). The
mundium, it may be obsei-ved, appears also in
the law of the Allamans, latter half of 8th j
century. i
Under the law of the Saxons, a man who ]
wished to marry had to give 300 solidi to the I
girl's parents (t. iv. 1), but if he did so against |
the parent's will, she consenting, twice that j
amount (1. 2). If he wished to marry a widow, I
he must offer the price of her purchase to her '
guardian (apparently a Latinized expression for j
the mundoald, or mundwald, holder of the mim- \
diuin), her relatives consenting thereto (t. vii.
1. 3). If her guardian refused the money, he
must turn to her next of kin, and by their
consent he might have her, but he must have .
300 solidi ready to give to the guardian (1. 4). i
Here a power of ' consent in the kinsmen j
generally, over and above the specific powers of ;
the holder of the mundium, is clearly admitted. j
The Burgundian law (originally of the begin- j
ning of the 6th century) recognizes also some !
freedom of choice in the woman, especially if a |
widow. Whei-e a girl of her own accord has '
sought a man, he has to pay only thi-ee times
the " price of marriage " (nuptiale pretium) ;
instead of six times, which he would have to I
pay if he had carried her off against her will I
(t. xii. cc. 1, 3 ; see also t. cxc). A widow j
wishing to remarry within the year of her j
husband's death, is said to have " free power " |
to do so (t. slii. c. 2 ; law of A.D. 517). But in i
a later law, a power of consent in parents seems
to be indicated (t. lii.).
The Visigothic law, which has always been <
held to bear peculiar marks of clerical inspiration, j
is especially restrictive of the woman's self dis-
posal. A law of Receswind, allowing for the |
first time intermarriage between Goths and
Rornans, enacts that a freeman may marry a '
freewoman with the solemn consent of the j
ascendants (" prosapiae "), and the permission of i
the court (bk. iii. t. i. c. 1). If a man has
betrothed to himself a girl " with the will of :
her father or the other near relatives to whom
by law this power is given," the girl may not
marry another against the will of her rela- _'
CONSENT TO MARRIAGE
fives, but both she and her husband shall be
handed over to the power of the man who had
betrothed her •' with the will of her relatives."
The same course is to be followed if the father
has settled for the marriage of his daughter, and
agreed upon the price ; and if the father dies
before the marriage, the girl is to be given to
him to whom she has been promised by her
father "or her mother" (t. 2), the last words
imph'ing seemingly a power of consent through-
out in the mother.
The consent of the parties is not, however,
altogether overlooked, especially after betrothal,
when neither can change his or her will if the
other will not consent (c. 3 ; law of Chindas-
winth). Where girls of full age are betrothed
to male infants, if either party appears to object,
the betrothal cannot stand good. Two years (as
in the Roman law) is the period beyond which
the fulfilment of the betrothal contract cannot
be enforced, unless by the honest and proper
consent of parents or relatives, or of the be-
trothed if of full age (c. 4). And a girl's
actual marriage without her parents' consent
holds good, though she forfeits her share in their
succession (t. ii. c. 8 ; and see also t. iv. c. 7).
And the law admits that a woman may be in a
position to dispose of herself — in suo arhitrio
(t. iv. c. 2).
The Salic law hardly shows with sufficient
clearness the early Prankish view as to consent
to marriage. Towards the latter half of the
Cth century, however, a general constitution of
King Clothar, recorded by Labbe and Mansi,
apparently as possessing ecclesiastical authority
{Councils, vol. ix. p. 761) enacts that "none by
our authority shall presume to seek in marriage
a widow or a girl without their own will."
Two centuries later the Capitulary of Compiegne
(a.d. 757) enacts in a particular case that " if any
man have given his step-daughter, being a Frank,
against her will and that of her mother and
relatives to a freeman, slave, or cleric, and she
will not have him and leaves him, her relatives
have power to give her another husband " (c. 4).
The implication contained in the above text, that
marriage of a freewoman with a slave might by
the woman's own consent hold good, will be
remarked.
Substantially, with an exception to be pre-
sently noticed, the Church did little else than
follow the municipal law on the subject of con-
sent, eventually adopting the Roman civil law as
the basis of her own. If we except a canon of
doubtful authority, to be found in Gratian (I2th
century), attributed either to the 4th or 5th
Council of Aries (A.D. 524 or 554), and enacting
that widows, before professing continence, may
marry whom they will, — that virgins may do the
same, — and that none should be forced to accept
a husband without the will of their parents, —
the earliest Church enactments seem to belong
to our own British Isles. An Irish synod of un-
certain date, presided oVer by St. Patrick, speaks
thus : " What the father wills, that let the girl
do, for the head of the woman is the man. But
the will of the girl is to be inquired of the
father " (c. 27). In the so-called Excerpta of
Egbert, archbishop of York, in the 8th century,
it is written : " Parents ought to give women to
be united to men in marriage, unless the woman
absolutely refuse, in which case she may enter a
CONSENT TO MARRIAGE 435
convent " (bk. ii. c. 20) ; not a very wide stretch
of female freedom. Further on, a singular provi-
sion allows the husband whose wife has deserted
him, and refused for five years to make peace
with him, to marry another woman, " with the
bishop's consent " (c. 26).
The Council of Friuli (a.d. 791) forbad the
marriage of infant^, requiring jjarity of age and
mutual consent. The Carloviugian capitularies,
which have a sort of mixed clerical and civil
authority, enact amongst other things that none
shall marry a widow " without the consent of
her priest " (bk. vi. 1. 408) ; a provision which
recalls one already noticed from the Visigothic
law, that marriage shall not be lawful unless
the wife be sought for at the hands of those who
appear to have power over the woman, and under
whose protection she is (bk, vii. 1. 463) ; an enact-
ment which is either the original or a slightly
varied replica of a supposed letter by Pope Eva-
ristus (a.d. 112-21), the spuriousness of which
has been shown under the head Benediction.
It is however also enacted that women are not
to be compelled to marry, under penalty of treble
ban, and public penance ; or, in default of means,
of prison or banishment (1. 470). Lastly, it may
be mentioned that the edict of Charlemagne in
814 required inquiry to be made, amongst other
things, as to men who had wives " against the
will of their parents."
On one point, indeed, we may trace from an
early period a marked divergence between the
practice of the Church and the Roman law. On
the subject of slave-marriages, the Apostolical
Constitutions breathe the spirit of the Jewish
law, not of the Roman. Not only are slave-
marriages recognized, but it is treated as an
offence in a Christian master if he does not
" give " a wife to his man-slave (bk. viii. c. 32 ;
compare Exod. xxi. 4). Again, in a work which
perhaps does not greatly differ in date from the
later portions of the Apostolical Constitutions,
St. Basil's first Canonical Epistle, addressed to
Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, the writer,
treating evidently of slave-marriages, says : " A
woman who has given herself to a man against
her master's will has committed adultery" (c. 40).
And again more generally : " Marriages without
the will of those who have authority (&viv rwv
KpaTovvToiv) are adulteries ; and therefore during
the life of the father or master (SetrTroTou) they
cannot be free from impeachment until the assent
of such " [termed here Kvpiot, lords] " be ob-
tained ; for then does the marriage acquire firm-
ness " (c. 42). Harsh as is the tone of these
passages towards the victims of slavery, it is
clear that for Basil the relation of the slave to
the master is not the heathen one of the thing
to its owner, but one exactly analogous to that
of the child to its father. Father and master
have indeed alike the quasi-sovereign power of a
Kvpios ; the marriage of those under their
authority is void without their assent, but it is
firm (;8e/3oios) with it.
Somewhat" less than two centuries later (a.d.
541), the 24th canon of the Council of Orleiius
I'equires slaves who flee for sanctuary to churches
in order to marry to be returned to their masters
and sej)arated, unless their parents and masters
will let them marry. This is again a harsh-
toned enactment, but one which really indicates
a rise in the slave's condition. Ilithertd tlie
2 F 2
436
CONSIGNATOEIUM
master's consent has been the sole condition of
validity for the slave's marriage ; Basil himself
assimilated his authority over the slave to that
of a father. Now the existence of a parental
authority is recognized in the slave himself to-
wards his own oflspring, and the slave-parent's
consent is placed on a level with that of the
master.
Towards the end of the 6th century, again
(a.d. 581), a canon (10) of the 1st Council of
Macon expressly enacts that if two slaves inter-
marry with their master's consent, after the
enfranchisement of either the marriage is not
dissolved, though the other be not redeemable ;
a step in advance of anything to be found in the
records of American slavery in modern times.
And in the Carlovingiau era, the marriage of
slaves with the master's consent obtains civil
as well as ecclesiastical validity. A capitulary
annexed to the Lombard laws enacts " That the
marriages of slaves be not dissolved, if they have
had different masters, .... but so nevertheless
that the marriage itself be legal, and by the will
of their masters "(c. 129). The 30th canon of
the 2nd Council of Chilons, A.D. 813, is pre-
cisely to the same effect.
On the whole it may be said that, except so
far as relates to the marriage of slaves, the rule
of the Church in respect of the consents necessary
to the validity of marriage became hardly settled
during the period which occupies us. The
necessity for the free consent of the parties
themselves was never entirely lost sight of; but
in outlying regions, and under the pressure of
barbarian feelings in certain races, the authority
of the father over a daughter was almost acknow-
ledged as absolute ; whilst elsewhere a claim of
the family at large to interfere was at least
tacitly admitted. Towards the end of the
period, indeed, in two instances the priest or
bishop himself was made a consenting party. In
no instance however is marriage when actually
contracted (except as between slaves) treated
as void or voidable for want of the consent of
a third person. As to consents to Betrothal,
see that word. See also generally Contract of
Marriage. [j. M. L.]
CONSIGNATOEIUM. To bless by the use
of the sign of the cross, as in confirmation, is
termed consignare ; hence the .word consigna-
torium is occasionally used to designate the place
set apart for that rite. John the Deacon of Naples
(^Chronkon Episc. Neap.) saj's that Bishop John
(about 616) erected a beautiful building, called
consignatorium ablutoi-uin, so arranged that the
newly baptized should pass in on one side, be
presented to the bishop who sat in the mid?t,
and then pass out by the other side. This
arrangement was probably somewhat peculiar ; ^
the Pseudo-Alcuin at least (De Div. Off. c. 19),
describing the ceremonies of Easter-Eve, says
that the newly baptized were confirmed in the
sacrarium. .(i^ucange's Glossary, s. v. ' Consio--
natorium.') ' tq -i "^
CONSISTENTES. [Penitence.]
CONSTANTIA, martyr at Nuceria under
Nero, Sept. 19 (Alart. Hieron., Usuardi). [C]
CONSTANTINE, bishop, deposition at Gap in
trance, April 12 (Marl. Hieron., Usuardi). [C ]
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, Emperor.
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF
Constantine and his mother Helena, i(raTr6aTo-
A.oi, are commemorated May 21 (Cal. Byzant.);
June 18 (Cal. Armen.); Magabit 28 = March
24 (Cal. Ethiop.'). Constantine is separately
commemorated on Nov. 16 in the Georgian
Calendar. [C.]
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF.
(1) A.D. 336 (Mansi, ii. 1167-70) held by the
Eusebians under Eusebius of Nicomedia, at which
St. Athanasius was exiled to Treves, Marcellus
of Ancyra, with several other bishops deposed,
and Arius ordered to be received into communion
by the Alexandrine Church. According to Ruf-
finus (Hist. i. 12), it was convened by order of
the emperor, viz., Constantine the Great, and
according to Eusebius the historian (com<. Marcel.
i. 4), it was exclusively gathered together from
the upper provinces of Asia Minor, from Thrace,
and the parts beyond it; in other words, the
neighbourhood of the capital. It seems to have
met in February, and not separated till the end
of July, so that its proceedings spread over nearly
six months. I
(2) A.D. 339, or according to Pagi, 340, by !
order of the Emperor Constantius, to depose
Paul, the newly elected bishop there, whose
orthodoxy displeased him, and translate Eusebius,
his favourite, from Nicomedia to the imperial :
see (Mansi, ii. 1275). i
(3) A.D. 360 (Mansi, iii. 325-36), composed of
deputies from the council of Seleucia, just over, ;
with some bishops summoned from Bithynia, to j
meet them, about fifty in all (Soc. ii. 41 and seq.). '
Most of the former were partisans of the metro- '
politan of Caesarea, whose name was Acacius, j
and Semi-Arians. A creed was published by j
them, being the 9th, says Socrates, that had
come out since that of Nicaea. It was, in fact, \
what had been rehearsed at Rimini, with the
fui-ther declaration that neither substance nor '
hypostasis were permissible terms in speaking of j
God. The Son was pronounced to be like the '
Father according to the Scriptures, and Aetius,
who maintained the contrary opinion, was con-
demned. A synodical epistle to George, bishop
of Alexandria, whose presbyter he was, conveyed
the sentence passed upon him and his followers.
Several bishops were deposed at the same time ;
among whom wei-e Macedonius, bishop of Constan- ,
tinople, Eleusius of Cyzicum, Basilius of Ancyra, \
and last, but not least, St. Cyril of Jerusalem — j
all for various causes. Ten bishops, who declined j
subscribing to these depositions, were to consider
themselves deposed till they subscribed. Ulphilas, ]
bishop of the Goths, who had hitherto professed
the Nicene faith, was one of those present, and
joined in their creed. Eudoxius managed to slip
from Antioch into the vacancy created by the
deposition of Macedonius. On the other hand, j
Eustathius of Sebaste was not allowed even a j
hearing, as having been previously deposed at
the synod of Caesarea, in Asia Minor, under his j
own father, Eulalius. :
(4) The 2nd general, met in May, a.d. 381, \
to re-assemble the following year, for reasons '
explained by the bishops in their synodical letter j
of that date (Mansi, iii. 583, note). Owing to
this circumstance, and to the fact that its acts |
have been lost, its proceedings are not easy to j
unravel. Socrates begins his account of it by
saying that the Emperor Theodosius convened a j
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF 437
council of bishops of the same faith as himself,
in order that the faith settled at Nicaea might
prevail, and a bishop be appointed to the see of
Constantinople (v. 8). That the bishops met at
his bidding is testified by themselves in their
short address to him subsequently, to confirm
what they had decreed (Mansi, ih. 557), to say
nothing of other proofs, for which see Beveridge
{St/nod. ii. 89). Whether they re-assembled at
his bidding we are not told. Of their number
there has never been any dispute, this council
having in fact gone by the name of that of " the
150 (f*!/) fathers" ever since. There were 36
bishops of the Macedonian party likewise invited,
but they quitted Constantinople in a body when
they found that it was the foith of the Nicene
fathers to which they would be called upon to
subscribe. Of those present, Timothy, bishop of
Alexandria, St. Meletius of Antioch, who presided
at first, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Ascholius, bishop
of Thessalonica, St. Amphilochius of Iconium,
with the two Gregories of Nazianzum and Nyssa,
were the most considerable, Nectarius and Fla-
vian being added to their number before they
separated. Dionysius Exiguus (Mansi, iii. 568-
72) has preserved the names of all who sub-
scribed. Seven canons and a creed would appear
at first sight to have been submitted to the em-
peror by the assembled fathers for confirmation
at the close of their labours. John Scholasticus,
however, the Greek collector of canons in the
6th century, contemporary with Dionysius Exi-
guus, reckons only six (ap. Justell. Bihl. Jur.
Cojion. ii. 502). Dionysius himself only three ;
but then he has appended the 4th to the 2nd.
The creed follows in his version as in the Greek.
Isidore Mercator makes six canons out of his
three, and n-umbers the creed as a 7th.
Another Latin version given in Mansi makes five
canons out of his three, and omits the creed.
The Arabic paraphrase (»6.) makes four in all,
without the creed ; but, in addition to his three,
setting down as a fourth canon 6 of the Greek
version. Whether any canons have been lost
seems to admit of some doubt. Socrates, as is
well known, speaks of the establishment of
patriarchs as one of the things done by this
council : and the Arabic paraphrase, under a
.'separate heading, " concerning the order of the
jii-elates, and their rank and place," explains this
as follows : " Honour besides, and the primacy,
was granted in this council to the bishop of Rome,
and he was made first, the bishop of Constanti-
nople second, the bishop of Alexandria third, the
bishop of Antioch fourth, and the bishop of
Jerusalem fifth" — which is the more remarkable
as neither it nor Socrates omit the canon ordain-
ing special prerogatives for new Rome. As
Beveridge well remarks, it is one difficulty con-
nected with these canons {Synod, ii. 98), that in
all probability they were not all passed at the
same council. This, and a good deal more bear-
ing upon the history of the council, will come
out as we examine them. Canon 1 confirms the
doctrine of the 318 Nicene Fathers, condemning
in particular the errors of the Eunomians or
Anomaeans — in other words, the extreme Arians
— the Eudoxians or Arians pure, and the Semi-
Arians or Pneumatomachi — fighters against the
Holy Spirit — with the followers of Sabellius,
Marcellus, Photinus, and Apollinaris. Of these
the Semi-Arians engaged most attention by
far here, from the further error mto which they
had fallen of late respecting the Divinity of the
Holy Ghost. All, In short, that was ruled by
this council on doctrine was directed against
them exclusively. But, as such, they were more
properly termed Macedonians than Semi-Arians,
from Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, de-
posed at the synod held there A.D. 360, for
various crimes, and afterwards founder of the
sect called "Pneumatomachi." For obvious
reasons they are not designated here from the
name of their founder. What their errors were we
shall see presently. Canon 2 confines each bishop
to his own diocese, in particular the bishop of
Alexandria is restricted to Egypt, the bishops of
the East to the East alone, the privileges of the
Church of Antioch, in conformity with the
Nicene canons, being maintained : the bishops of
Asia, that is, Asia Minor, to the South-West,
Pontus and Thrace, similarly to their respective
limits. By the word " diocese " is meant, as
Beveridge shows (p. 93), a tract embracing seve-
ral provinces. The events which had led to this
enactment require some notice. Immediately on
the death of Valens (Clinton's Fasti R. A.D. 379,
col. 4), St. Gregory Nazianzen appeared at Con-
stantinople, whither he was invited by the ortho-
dox party refusing obedience to Demophilus, the
Arian bishop in possession. He was consecrated
by St. Meletius of Antioch, who thus went out
of his diocese to ordain him. Peter, bishop of
Alexandria — then reckoned the second see in the
world after Rome — not to be outdone, nominated
Maximus the cynic, as he was called from his
philosophical antecedents, to the post, and de-
puted three bishops from Egypt to carry out his
consecration on the spot. Maximus had pre-
viously seemed to take part with Gregory, and
Theodosius rejected him, when he appeared as
his rival (Clinton, ib. and Vales, ad Soz. vii. 9).
This conflict of the two sees, however, terminated
in the resignation of Gregory, soon after the
meeting of the council, though he was declared
bishop there, and all that related to Maximus
annulled in a special canon — the 4th.
Most probably, the 3rd canon, ordaining that
in future the see of Constantinople should take
honorary precedence (ja Tpecr^ela rrjs rifiris')
next after Rome, was intended to prevent the
bishops of Antioch and Alexandria from ever
attempting to take such liberties with it again.
Another event had occurred meanwhile (Clin-
ton, ih. col. 4), which may be supposed to ac-
count for the salvo to the privileges of the
Church of Antioch, expressed in the 2nd canon.
St. Meletius of Antioch had died "during the
session between May and July." The funeral
oration pronounced over him by St. Gregory ot
Nyssa is still extant, but it contains no historical
allusions. There had been a compact entered
into between his party and that of St. Paulinus
at Antioch two years before — where they were
rival bishops — that both parties, whenever either
of the bishops died, should unite under the sur-
vivor of them. In spite of this understanding,
Flavian, who had been one of the chief promoters
of it among the supporters of St. Meletius, was
unanimousl}'' appointed bishop in his stead by
the council (Cave, Hist. Lit. i. 277 and 364).
This act not merely re-opened the schism at
Antioch, but produced heart-burnings elsewhere,
the Western and Egyptian bishops pronouncing
438 CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF
more strongly than ever in favour of St.Paulinus,
and the disapprobation shown for Flavian by St.
Gregory, tending to alienate numbers of his own
friends from him amongst the Easterns. It was,
in fact, one of the principal causes of his retire-
ment. The appointment of his successoi-, Nec-
tarius, at the instance of the emperor, was pro-
bably the last act of the council of this year —
and a strong act it was, as Nectarius had to be
baptised before he could be consecrated (Soz. vii.
8). Dionysius Exiguus, as has been said, ends
his canons of this council with the 4th. As
Beveridge, too, remarlvs {ib. p. 98), traces of a
new series commence with the 5th. It runs as
follows : — " Concerning the tome of the Westerns,
we, too, have received those who jjrofessed
their belief, at Antioch, in one Godhead of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." What was this
tome of the Westerns ? Beveridge considers it
to have been the synodical epistle received from
Pope Damasus by the Easterns at their second
meeting, A.D. 382, to which they wrote their
own in reply. De Marca, Cave, and others pre-
fer to consider it a synodical letter of Pope Da-
masus, addressed to the synod of Antioch A.©.
H78 or 9. Baronius, another of his to St. Pauli-
uus of Antioch some years before. May it not
be that the first tome of the kind was the
letter sent by St. Athanasius in the name of his
synod at Alexandria, A.D. 362, to the Church of
Antioch, which he calls "a tome" himself, to
which St. Paulinus is expressly said to have sub-
scribed, and in which the indivisibility of the
Holy Ghost from the substance both of the
Father and the Son is as distinctly set forth as
it ever was afterwards (Mansi, iii. 353-4).
Through Eusebius of Vercelli, to whom it was
addressed, and by whom it was in due time sub-
scribed, it would find its way into the West and
to Rome, as tlie rallying point of the orthodox, and
a bond of union, under existing circumstances,
between the sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and
Rome, whose acceptance of its doctrine can scarce
have become known to each other before Mace-
donius, the ex-patriarch of Constantinople, com-
menced assailing the Divinity of the third person
in the Godhead. On this, it would immediately
give rise to, and be the foundation of, a series of
'' tomes " or epistles of the same kind between
them, in which Constantinople, being in Arian
hands, would take no part, nor Alexandria much,
owing to the banishment of its orthodox prelate,
Peter, from A.D. 373 to 378, under Valeus. St.
Meletius had also been driven from Antioch a
year earlier ; but then we are told expressly by
Sozomen (vi. 7), his orthodox rival, St. Paulinus
was allowed to remain ; and this would account
fiu- the correspondence that v/ent on between
him and Pope Damasus uninterruptedly while
St. Meletius was away, and of which the promi-
nent topic was the Divinity of the Holy Ghost.
No\^, as Mansi points out (iii. 463-8), the synods
of Antioch and Rome are confusedly given about
this time. There are traces of a synod of An-
tioch, as well as of another at Rome, A.D. 372 ;
but the acts of both have not hitherto been dis-
tinguished fi-om those of two later synods at
Rome, A.D. 377, and at Antioch, the year or two
years loilowing, under St. Meletius, on the re-
turn ot the exiles. And one thing mav well be
thouglit to have been agreed upon at the first of
these synods of Antioch, and possibly Rome too,
which was afterwai-ds confirmed in the 2nd, and
is evidently referred to by the Constantinopolitan
fathers in their synodical letter, namely, the
creed in its enlarged form. And for this reason
— St. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus,
was another of the orthodox bishops who was
not disturbed in his see; and his see, whether
subject to Antioch or not, then, must have
brought him into frequent communication with
it, even if he had not been a personal friend of
St. Paulinus, or was not present at the synod
held there A.D. 372. Now, in c. 119 of his work
called Ancorat%is, of which he fixes the date him-
self in the next c, viz., a.d. 373, what was
rehearsed afterwards at the council of Chalcedon
as the creed of the 150 ftithers, that is, of this
council of Constantinople, is set down word for
word, so far as its new clauses are concerned, and
called that of Nicaea by him. Admit this form
to have been agreed upon at the synod of Antioch,
in conjunction, or not, with that of Rome, A.D.
372, and his own use of it the year following, as
the authorised creed of the Church, is explained
at onoe, nor is there any reason why St. Gregory
Nyssen, if he composed it at all — as stated by
Xicephorus alone (xii. 13) — should not have
composed it there. But Valens coming to
Antioch in April (Clinton, A.D. 372, col. 2), to
persecute the orthodox, the probability would
be that this synod was hastily broken up, and
remained in abeyance till A.D. 378 or 9, when
its proceedings were resumed under St. Meletius,
and confirmed by 163 bishops, and with its pro-
ceedings this creed. All at the same time then
and there subscribed to the Western tome or
letter of Poj)e Damasus. Hence, both the lan-
guage of the 5th Constantinopolitan canon above
mentioned, and of the fathers who framed it, in
their synodical letter, where they say that
" this, their faith, which they had professed
there summarily, might be learnt more fully
by their Western brethren, on their being so
good as to refer to 'the tome' that emanated
from the synod of Antioch, and that set forth by
the oecumenical council of Constantinople the
year before, in which documents they had pro-
fessed their faith at greater length." Now,
what they had set forth themselves was their
adherence to the Nicene faith and reprobation
of the heresies enumerated in their first canon ;
what they had received from Antioch and ac- i
cepted must have been the creed which has since
gone by their name, but was certainly not their ]
composition ; and whatever else was confirmed
there, A.D. 378, inchuling the Western tome. i
Which of the letters of Pope Damasus is here '
specified comes out as plainly. His letter to St.
Paulinus was written A.D. 372, v/hen there was '
nobody left at Antioch but St. Paulinus to write
to. The letter addressed in his own name and
that of the 93 bishops with him, "to the j
Catholic bishops of the East," was " the tome "
received by the synod at Antioch A.D. 378-9
(Mansi, ib, p. 459-62); to which they replied '
the same year (j6. p. 511-15). Both letters
being on the same subject — as were the synods ]
of 372 and 378-9 — it was easy to confuse them.
Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, held a synod j
and wrote on the same subject about the same ]
time {ib. p. 503-8). \
We are now in a position to deal with the
synodical letter of the reassembled council !
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF 439
of Constantinople A.D. 382, and their pro-
ceedings generally. Finding there were still
ecclesiastical matters of urgent importance to be
settled, most of the bishops who had met at
Constantinople A.D. 381, returned thither, as
Theodoret relates, the following summer (Mansl
ad Baron. A.D. 382, n. 3). One of their number,
indeed, Ascholius, bishop of Thessalonica, and
SS. Epiphanius and Jerome with him, had gone
meanwhile to Eome. Being at Constantinople,
they received a synodical letter from the West,
inviting them to Rome, where a large gathering
was in contemplation. This letter having been
lost, we can only guess at its contents from what
they say in reply to it, coupled with their 5th
canon, which was evidently framed in conse-
quence. The attairs of the East being in immi-
nent peril and confusion, they beg to be excused
going away so far from their sees. They had
come to Constantinople on account of what had
been written by the West after the synod of
Aquileia the year before to the Emperor Theo-
dosius — evidently the letter in which the conse-
crations of Flavian and Nectarius are mentioned
disapprovingly (Mansi, ib. p. 631-2) — but had
made no preparations for going further from
home. The most they could do would be to send
deputies into the VVest. Cyriacus, Eusebius,
and Priscian are named, to explain their pro-
ceedings, which they then epitomise, commencing
with what has been anticipated above about their
faith, and ending with the statement that Nec-
tarius and Flavian had been appointed canonically
to their respective sees, while St. Cyril was
recognised by them as bishop of Jerusalem for
the same reason. Thus this letter explains the
framing of tlieir 5th canon, and attests its date.
The same date is assigned by Beveridge to
canon 6, restricting tho manner of instituting
proceedings against bishops, and reprobating
appeals to the secular power. But canon 7,
prescribing the distinctions to be observed in
admitting heretics into communion, is shown by
him not to belong to this council at all. It is
almost identical with the 95th Trullan canon
(I5ev. ad 1.). Of the creed, little more need be
added to what has been said. It was in existence
A.D. 373, having been probably framed at
Antioch, in conformity with the synodical letter
of St. Athanasius, A.D. 372, where it was doubt-
less confirmed A.D. 378-9, and received more
probably by the 5th canon of this council A.D.
382, than promulgated separately by the council
of the year preceding. Possibly this may have
been the creed called by Cassian {Dc Tncarn. vi.
3 and 6) as late as A.D. 430, " peculiarly the
creed of the city and Church of Antioch." From
the portion of it given by him it is as likely to have
been this, as that of A.D. 363 (for which see
Soc. iii. 25), or any other between them. That
there is a family likeness between it and the
creed of the Church of Jerusalem commented on
by St. Cyril will be seen on comparing them
(Heurtley's De Fide et 8. p. 9-13). On this
hypothesis alone we can understand why no
notice should have been taken of it at the
council of Ephesus, a.D. 431, and in tho African
code, namely, because it had originated with a
provincial, and only been as yet received by a
general council. It was promulgated as identical
with that of Nicaea' for the first time by the
fathers of the 4th council.
No more remains but to observe that the dog-
matic professions of the council of 381 were con-
firmed by Theodosius in a constitution dated
July 30 of the same yea)-, and addressed to
Antonius, proconsul of Asia, by which the
churches are ordered to be handed over to the
bishops in communion with Nectarius and others
who composed it, the Eunomians, Arians, and
Antians having been deprived of their churches
by a constitution issued ten days earlier {Cod.
Theod. xvi. tit. 1, 1. 3, and tit. 5, 1. 8). And it
was received by Pope Damasus, and has been
regarded in the West ever since, so fai-, as oecu-
menical. Its first four canons, in the same way,
have been always admitted into Western collec-
tions. But what passed at the supplemental
council of 382 never seems to have been con-
firmed or received equally. It was in declining
to come to this last council that St. Gregory
Nazianzen said, in his epistle to Pi-ocopius (cxxx.
ed. Migne), " that he had come to the resolution
of avoiding every meeting of bishops, for that he
had never seen any synod end well, or assuage
rather than aggravate disorders." His cefe-
brated oi-ation(i6. xlii.), known as his "farewell"
to the council of 381, is inspired by a very
different spirit.
Lastly, there was a thii-d meeting of bishops
held at Constantinople, by command of Theo-
dosius, A.D. 383, under Nectarius, to devise
remedies for the confusion created by so many
sees passing out of the hands of the heterodox
into those of the orthodox party (Soc. v. 10).
The Arian, Eunomian, and Macedonian bishops
were required to attend there with confessions
of their faith, which the emperor, after examin-
ing carefully, rejected in favour of Nicaea. The
Novatians alone, receiving this, were placed by
him upon equal terms with the orthodox. Of
the heterodox professions, that of Eunomius is
extant, and not without interest. It may be
seen in Cave {Hist. Lit. i. 210). It is said to
have been on this occasion that Amphilochius,
bishop of Iconium, on entering the palace, made
the usual obeisance to Theodosius, but took no
notice of Arcadius, his son, standing at his side.
When the emperor reproved him for this, " You
see, sire," said the bishop, " how impatient you
are that your own son should be slighted ; much
more will God punish those who refuse due
honour to his only begotten Son" (Theod. v. 16).
(6) A.D. 394 — reckoning that of 383 as the
5th. Among those present were Nectarius of
Constantinople, Theophilus of Alexandria, Flavian
of Antioch, &c. What called them together, in
all probability, was the dedication of a new
church in honour of SS. Peter and Paul : which
done, they sat in judgment on a controversy
between two rival bishops of Bostra, Bagadius,
and Agapius; against the former of whom it
was pleaded that he had been deposed by two
bishops, since dead. The council decreed that,
in future, not even three, much less two, bishops
should have the power of deposing another, but
that, in conformity with the apostolic canons
(and this express reference to them in such an
assemblage is most noteworthy), it should be
held to belong to a larger synod, and the bishops
of the province (Mansi, iii. 851-4).
(7) A.D, 399, of 22 bishops under St. Chry-
sostom, to enquire into seven capital charges
brought against Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus.
440 CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF
As he died before the witnesses could be exa-
mined, St. Chrysostom, at the request of the
Ephesiuo clergy, went over thither, and, at the
head of 70 bishops, appointed Heraclides a deacon
in his place, and deposed 6 bishops that had been
simoniacally ordained by him. Their proceedings
are of some interest, and contain a reference to
the canons of the African Church (Mansi, iii.
991-6). Strictly speaking, this last was a synod
of Ephesus.
(8) A.D. 404, to sit in judgment on St. Chry-
sostom, who had been recalled from exile by the
emperor and retaken possession of his see, from
which he had been deposed by "the Sj^nod of the
Oak." Theophilus of Alexandria was not present
on this occasion, having had to fly Constan-
tinople on the return of his rival. Still he was
not unrepresented ; and St. Chrysostom had by
this time provoked another enemy (Clinton, A.D.
404, col. 4) in the Empress Eudoxia, whose statue
he had denounced from the games and revels
jtermitted to be held round it in offensive prox-
imity to his church. At this synod he seems to
have given attendance (vi. 18) when the question
of his former deposition was argued. Thirty-six
bishops had condemned him : but sixty-five
bishops, he rejoined, had, by communicating
with him, voted in his favour (Vales, ad 1.). It
is not implied in these words, as some seem to
have supposed, that a synod was actually sitting
in his favour now, any more than during the
Synod of the Oak, the deputies from which
found him surrounded, but not synodically, by
forty bishops, in his own palace. The 4th or
r2th canon of the Council of Antioch was
alleged by his opponents : his defence was that
it was framed by the Arians (Reading, «6.).
As quoted by his opponents, indeed, it was
ditlerently worded from what either the 4th
or 12th are now ; so that possibly there may
have been an Arian version of these canons,
against which his objection held good. The
synod, however, decided against him, and his
banishment to Comana, on the Black Sea, says
Socrates — to Cucusus, in Armenia, say others
— followed, where he died.
(9) A.D. 426, on the last day of February,
when Sisinnius was consecrated bishop there, in
the room of Atticus. Afterwards, the errors of
the Blassalians, or Euchites, were condemned, at
the instance of the Bishops of Iconium and Sida,
as we learn from the 7th action of the Council
of Ephesus. A severe sentence was passed on
any charged with holding them after this denun-
ciation (Mansi, iv. 541-2).
(10) A.D. 428, on the death of Sisinnius, when
the well-known Nestorius was consecrated
(Mansi, iv. 543-4).
(11) A.D. 431, October 25, four months after
Nestorius had been deposed, to consecrate Max-
imian in his place (Mansi, v. 1045). This done,
Maximian presided, and joined in a synodical
letter, enclosing that of the Council of Ephesus,
with its first six canons, as they are called, to
the bishops of ancient Epirus, whom attempts
had been made to detach from orthodoxy {ib.
257). Letters were written likewise by him
and by the emperor to Pope Celestine, St. Cyril,
and other bishops, to acquaint them with his
elevation, at which all expressed themselves well
pleased {ib. 257-92). Another synod appears to
Jiave been held by him the year following, for
restoring peace between his own Church and that
of Antioch {ib. 1049-50).
(12) A.D. 443, probably (Mansi, vi. 463-6,
comp. Cave, i. 479) to consider the case of
Athanasius, bishop of Perrhe, on the Euphrates,
afterwards deposed at Antioch under Domnus.
Here he seems to have got letters iu his favour
from Proclus (comp. Cone. Hicrap. A.D. 445).
(13) A.D. 448, November 8, under Flavian, to
enquire into a dispute between Florentius,
metropolitan of Sardis, and two of his suffragans:
but while sitting, it was called upon by Eusebius,
bishop of Dorylaeum, one of its members, and
who had, as a layman, denounced Nestorius, to
summon Eutyches, archimandrite of a convent
of three hundred monks, and as resolute an op-
ponent of Nestorius as himself, on a charge that
he felt obliged to press against him. The charge
was that he recognised but one nature in Christ.
Messengers wei-e despatched to invite Eutyches
to peruse what Eusebius had alleged against him.
Meanwhile, two letters of St. Cyril — his second
to Nestorius, recited and approved at the Council
of Ephesus, and his letter to John of Antioch,
on their reconciliation — were read out, and pro-
nounced orthodox by all. A reply was brought
subsequently from Eutyches, that he refused to
quit his monastery. A 2nd and 3rd citation
followed in succession. Then he promised at-
tendance within a week. While waiting for
him, the council listened to some minutes of a
conversation between him and the two presbyters
charged with his 2nd citation, when they said
he expressly denied two natures in Christ. At
last he appeared, made profession of his fliith,
and was condemned — thirty-two bishops and
twenty-three archimandrites subscribing to his
deposition from the priesthood and monastic
dignity. Proceedings occupied altogether seven
sessions — the last of which was held November 22.
Its acts were recited in a subsequent council of
the year following at Constantinople ; at Ephesus,
also, the year following, under Dioscorus ; and
again, in the 1st session of the Council of Chal-
cedon, where they may be read still (Mansi, vi.
495-6, and then 649-754).
(14) A.D. 449, April 8, of thirty bishops under
Thalassius, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia,
held by order of the emperor, to re-consider the
sentence passed on Eutyches by the council under
Flavian, on a representation from the former
that its acts had been falsified. This, however,
was proved imtrue. Another session was held
April 27, on a second petition from Eutyches, to
have the statement of Magnus — the official or
silentiary, who had accompanied him to the
council under Flavian — taken down, which was
done. This officer declared to having seen the
instrument containing his deposition, before the
session was held at which it was resolved on.
The acts of this council are likewise preserved in
the first session of that of Chalcedon (Mansi, vl.
503-4, and then 753-828).
(15) A.D. 450, at which Anatolius was ordained
bishop ; and then, some months afterwards, at
the head of his suffragans and clergy, made pro-
fession of his faith and subscribed to the cele-
brated letter of St. Leo to his predecessor
Flavian, in the presence of four legates from
Rome, charged to obtain proofs of his orthodoxy
(Mansi, vi. 509-14, with ep. Ixix. of St. Leo,
ib. 83-5).
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF 441
(16) A.D. 457, under Anatolius by order of
the Emperor Leo, whom he had just crowned, to
take cognisance of the petitions that had arrived
from Alexandria for and against Timothy Aelurus,
who, on the murder of St. Proterius, had been in-
stalled bishop there by the opponents of the Coun-
cil of Chalcedon, and to consider what could be
done to i-estore peace. The council anathema-
tised Aelurus and his party (Mansi, vii, 521-2
& 869-70).
(17) A.D. 459, under Gennadius. Eighty-one
bishops subscribed to its synodical letter still
extant, in which the 2nd canon of the Council
of Chalcedon is cited with approval against some
simoniacal ordinations recently brought to light
in Galatia (Mansi, vii. 911-20).
(18) A.D. 478, under Acacius, in which Peter,
Bishop of Antioch, surnamed the Fuller, Paul of
Ephesus, and John of Apamea, were condemned :
and a letter addressed to Simplicius, bishop of
Rome, to acquaint him with, and request him to
concur in, their condemnation (Mansi, vii. 1017-
22, comp. Vales. Observ. in Evag. i. 2). A letter
was addressed at the same time by Acacius to
Peter the Fuller himself, rebuking him for having
introduced the clause " Who was crucified for
us " into the Trisagion or hymn to the Trinity.
Hitherto this letter has been printed as if it had
issued from a synod five years later, when in
fact there was no such synod (Mansi, ih. 1119-
24).
(19) A.D. 492, under Euphemius : in favour of
the Council of Chalcedon ; but as he declined
removing the name of his predecessor Acacius
from the sacred diptychs, he was not recognised
as bishop by popes Felix and Gelasius, to whom
he transmitted its acts, though his orthodoxy
was allowed (Mansi, vii. 1175-80).
(20) A.D. 496, by order of the Emperor Ana-
stasius I., in which the Henoticon of Zeno was
confirmed, Euphemius, bishop of Constantinople
deposed ; and Macedouius, the second of that name
who had presided there, substituted for him
(Mansi, viii. 186-7).
(21) A.D. 498, by order of the emperor Ana-
stasius I., in which Flavian, the second bishop of
Antioch of that name, and Philoxenus of Hiera-
polis, took the lead : condemning the Council of
Chalcedon and all who opposed the Monophysite
doctrine, or would not accept the interpolated
clause " Who was crucified for us " in the Tris-
agion. But it seems probable that this council
took place a year later; and that another had
met a year earlier, under Macedonius, less hostile
to the Council of Chalcedon than this, and of
which this was the reaction (Mansi, viii. 197-
^00).
(22) A.D. 518, July 20, by order of the em-
peror Justin, at which the names of the Councils
of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalce-
don : of St. Leo of Rome, with Euphemius and
Macedonius of Constantinople, were restored in
the sacred diptychs : and Severus and all other
opponents of the 4th council anathematised.
Its synodical letter signed by forty bishops and
addressed to the Constaatinopolitan bishop, John
II., praying his assent to its acts, is preserved in
the 5th action of the council under Mennas, A.D.
536, as are his lettei-s informing the Eastern
bishops of what had been done there. Count
Gratus was despatched to Rome by the emperor
with letters from himself and the patriarch to pope
Hormisdas, hoping that peace might under these
circumstances be restored between them. The
answers of Hormisdas, his instructions to the
legates despatched by him to Constantinople,
their accounts of their reception there, the pro-
fession signed by the patriarch, and subsequent
correspondence between him and the pope, may
all be read amongst the epistles of the latter
(Mansi, viii. 435-65). The Easterns had to ana-
thematise Acacius of Constantinople by name,
and to erase his, and the names of all others,
Euphemius and Macedonius included, who had
not erased his previously, from the sacred
diptychs, before the pope would readmit them to
his communion (76. 673-8).
(23) A.D. 531, under Epiphanius, who was
then patriarch, to enquire into the consecration
of Stephen, Metropolitan of Larissa, within the
diocese of Thrace, which, contrary to the 28th
canon of Chalcedon, had been made without
consulting him. Stephen, having been deposed
by him on these grounds, appealed to Rome ; but
the acts of the synod held there to consider his
appeal are defective, so that it is not known with
what success (Mansi, viii. 739-40). j
(24) A.D. 536. According to some, three
synods were held there this year : 1. in which
pope Agapetus presided and deposed Anthimus,
patriarch of Constantinople : but this, as Mansi
shews (viii. 871-2), the emperor Justinian had
already done, besides confirming the election of
Mennas in his stead, at the instance of the clergy
and people of the city. Agapetus, who had
come thither on a mission from Theodatus, king
of the Goths, having previously refused his i
communion, had unquestionably procured his }
ejection : and he afterwards consecrated Mennas, ]
as Theophilus of Alexandria had St. John Chry-
sostom, at the request of the emperor. 2. in
which a number of Eastern bishops met to draw
up a petition to the pope requesting him to call
upon Anthimus, subsequently to his deposition
but previously to his going back to Trebizond
from which he had been translated, for a retrac-
tation of his denial of two natures in Christ :
but this can hardly be called a council ; and the
death of the pope stopped any definitive action
on his part (/6.). 3. under Mennas, after the
death of the pope, consisting of five actions, the
first of which took place, May 2, in a church
dedicated to St. Mary near the great church,
Mennas presiding, and having on his right,
among others, five Italian bishops, who had come
to Constantinojjle from the late pope, and re-
mained there with him on his arrival. The
first thing brought before the council was a |
petition from various monastic bodies in Con- [
stantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Mount
Sinai to the emperor, begging that the sentence,
stayed only by the death of the pope, against An- I
thimus, might be carried out ; a general account
of what had passed between them and the pope
followed, their petition to him was produced by j
the Italian bishops present and recited ; after it
another petition to him from some Eastern .:
bishops on the same subject ; and his own letter !
to Peter, bishop of Jerusalem in reply. Desirous I
of following out his decision, the council sent de- \
puties to acquaint Anthimus with its proceedings, j
and bid him appear there within three days.
The second and third actions passed in sending
him similar summonses, but all his hiding-places
442 CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF
having been searched repeatedly without finding
him, "his condemnation and deposition was at
length decreed in the fourth action by the coun-
cil and its president, and signed by seventy-two
bishops or their representatives, and two deacons
of the Eoman Church. At the fifth and last
action a number of documents were recited. 1.
A petition of the bishop of Apamea and other
Syrian bishops to the emperor against Anthimus,
Severus, and othei-s of the Monophysite party.
2. Another petition to him from some monks of
Palestine and Syria to the same eti'ect. 3. A
similar petition from the same monks to this
council.' 4. Two letters of pope Hormisdas,
one dated A.D. 518, and relating to the Constan-
tinopolitan synod of that year; the other ad-
dressed to Epiphanius, patriarch of Constanti-
nople three years later, requesting him to act,
and directing him how to act, in his stead in re-
ceiving converts from the Monophysites. 5.
A petition from the clergy and monks of Antioch
to the patriarch John and synod of Constantino-
ple, A.D. 518, against Severus. 6. An address of
the same synod to the patriarch John. 7. A
petition of the monastic bodies in Constantinople
to the same synod, with a narrative of the
acclamations amidst which its decisions had been
carried out by John. 8. His letters to the
patriarch of Jerusalem and bishop of Tyre
thereon, and their replies to him, with another
narrative showing how rapturously the church
of Tyre had received them. 9. A similar letter
from the bishops of Syria secunda to the same
patriarch of Constantinople, with a narrative of
proceedings against Peter, bishop of Apamea, for
his Monophysite sayings : and a petition presented
to them by the monks of his diocese against him
and Severus. All which having been read, an
anathema was passed upon him, Severus and
Zoaras, one of their followers, by the council
now sitting — this is inexcusably left by Mansi
(viii. 1137-8) with its corrupt heading uncor-
rected, ascribing it to a former synod — and then
by Mennas, its president ; according to the order
observed in the 4th action in passing sentence
upon Anthimus. Eighty-eight bishops or their
representatives, and two deacons of the Roman
church as before, subscribed on this occasion.
A constitution of the emperor addressed to
Mennas confirmed their sentence (Mansi, viii.
869-1162).
(25) A.D. 538, says Valesius, 541 Cave, 543
Mansi, under Mennas by order of the emperor
Justinian, in support of his edict against the
errors of Origen, denounced to him in a petition
from four monks of Jerusalem, placed in his
hands, says Liberatus (Brev. 23) by Pelagius, a
Roman envoy, whom he had sent thither on a
different errand, with the express object of
injuring Theodore, bishop of Caesarea, in Cappa-
docia, surnamed Ascidas, who defended Origen.
His edict, which is in the form of a book against
Origen ami addressed to Mennas, is given at
length by Mansi (ix. 487-588). It was commu-
nicated to the other patriarchs and to pope Vigi-
lius. The council backed it by 15 anathemas
against Origen and his errors, usually placed at
the end of the acts of the 5th general council
(Mansi, *. 395-400) with which this council
came to be subsequently confused, in consequence,
says Cave, of their respective acts having formed
one volume (Mansi, ib. 121-4; and also 703-8).
(26) A.D. 546, according to Garnier (Diss, ad
Liherat. c. iv.) under Mennas to assent to the
1st edict, now lost, of the emperor Justinian
against the three chapters the year before. Both
Cave and Mansi pass over this council, and sub-
stitute for it another, supposed to have been
held by pope Vigilius the year following, after
his arrival in February (Clinton, A.D. 547, col.
4), at which it was decided to refer passing sen-
tence upon the three chapters to the meeting of
the general council about to take place (Mansi,
ix. 125-8).
(27) A.D. 553, the 5th general, held by order
of the Emperor Justinian, and composed of 165
bishops, with Eutychius, patriarch of Constanti-
nople, for their president : Pope Vigilius being
on the spot all the time, but declining to attend ;
indeed, be was not even represented there. As
far back as his election, A.D. 537, according to
Victor of Tunis, he had been secretly pledged
to the Empress Theodora, who favoured the
Monophysite party, to assent to the condemna-
tion of the three chapters (Garn. ad Lib. Breviar.
c. 22); and this step, according to Liberatus {ih.
c. 24), had been pressed upon the emperor all the
more warmly since then, in consequence of the
condemnation of the Origenists in a council under
Mennas the year following. Theodore, bishop of
Caesarea, a devoted Origenist and friend of the
empress, pointed it out in fact as a means of bring-
ing back a large section of the Monophysites
to the church. Their opposition to the 4th gene-
ral council, he averred, lay in the countenance
supposed to be given by it to these writings — 1.
The works of Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia ;
2. The letter of Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to Maris ;
and 3, what Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, had
published against St. Cyril : the third, howevei-,
he forbore to name ; all held to be tainted with
Kestorianisra. By condemning them, he seems
to have calculated the authority of the council
that had treated their authors at least so f;ivour-
ably, would be undermined. Justinian, acting
on his advice, had already condemned them twice,
A.D. 545 and 551 (Gieseler, i. 325 ; Cunningham's
Tr., no date is assigned to the two pieces given
in Mansi, ix. 537-82, and 589-646); and the
first time had been followed by Vigilius, whose
" Judicatum," published at Constantinople, A.D.
548, is quoted in part by the emperor in his
address to this council (Mansi, ix. 178-86, and
again, 582-8) on its assembling. But Vigilius
had, A.D. 547, declared against coming to any
decision on the subject till it had been discussed
in a general council ; and to this he went back
on ascertaining what indignation his "Judi-
catum " had caused in Africa and in the West,
and excommunicated Mennas and Theodore for
having gone further (Mansi, ib. 58-61). Accord-
ingly, the emperor decided on summoning this
council to examine and pronounce upon them ;
and Eutychius, the Constantinopolitan patriarch,
addressed a letter to Vigilius, which was read
out at its first session. May 5, requesting him
to come and preside over its deliberations. Vigi-
lius assented to thier joint examination by him-
self aud the council, but was silent about his
attendance. Three patriarchs and a number of
bishops accosted him personally with no better
success. At the 2nd session, or collatiim, a second
interview with him was reported, in which he
definitively declined attending; aud even on a
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF 443
message from the emperor he would not under-
take to do more than examine the chapters
by himself, and transmit his opinion on them,
not to the council, but to him. This pro-
bably was contained in his Constitutum (Mansi,
ib. p. 61 and seq.); the date assigned to which
indicates that it came out between the 5th
and 6th collations. Some bishops of Africa
and Illyria excused themselves equally to the
deputation sent to invite their attendance. At
the 3rd collation the lathers commenced the
real business for which they had been convened
with a preface well worth remembering for its
soundness and moderation. They pledged them-
selves to the exact doctrine and discipline laid
down in the four general councils, each and all,
preceding their own ; one and the same confes-
sion of faith had sufficed for them in spite of all
the heresies they had met to condemn, and should
suffice now. AH things in harmony with it
should be received ; and all things at variance
with it rejected. Having thus pledged them-
selves to the 4th council among the rest, the
fathers proceeded to the examination of the three
chapters in their 4th collation. This was on
May 12 : extracts having accordingly been read
out from various works of Theodore, both he
and they were judged worthy of condemnation.
The next day, or the 5th collation, passages for
or against Theodore, for St. Cyril and others,
were produced and weighed ; and authorities,
particularly St. Augustine, cited in favour of
condemning heretics although dead. Enquiry
having been made when the name of Theodore
ceased to be commemorated in the sacred dip-
tychs of his church, it was discovered that the
name of St. Cyril had long been substituted
there for his. At the close of the sitting,
extracts from the writings of Theodoret against
St. Cyril were recited ; on which the fathers
remarked that the 4th council had acted wisely
in not receiving him till he had anathematised
Nestoj-ius. Six days intervened before the 6th
collation took place. May 19. During this in-
terval Vigilius issued his " Constitutum," dated
May 14, in the form of asynodical letter addressed
to the emperor (Mansi, ix. 61-106), answering
and condemning a number of the positions of
Theodore, but pleading for Theodoret and Ibas,
as having beeu acquitted by the 4th council.
However, the council at its 6th collation found
the letter of Ibas in question contrary to the
Chalcedonian definition, and anathematised it
accordingly, the principal speaker against it being
Theodore, bishop of Cappadocia ; but its author
escaped. At the 7th collation. May 26 or 30,
for the reading is doubtful, a communication
was read from the empei'or in deprecation of
the " Constitutum " addressed to him by the
Pope, May 14, and on which there had been a
good many messages between them in vain since.
First, no less than six documents were recited
proving Vigilius to have expressly condemned
the three chaptei-s as many times: 1, a letter
from him to the emperor ; 2, to the empress, in
both which the words " unam operationem "
were declared at the 6th council by the legates
of Agatho to have been a later insertion of the
Monothelite party (Baluz. ap. Mansi, ix. 163-72);
3, to his deacons, Rusticus and Sebastian, con-
demning them for the false stories they had
spread about lam ; 4, to the bishop of Kiew, in
Russia ; 5, to the bishop of Aries ; and 6, a
deposition signed by Theodore, bishop of Caesarea,
and a lay dignitary, to the etfect that Vigilius
had sworn to the emperor in their presence to
do all he could for the condemnation of the three
chapters, and never say a word in their favour.
Next, an enquiry, by order of the emperor, re-
specting a picture or statue of Theodoret said to
have been carried about at Cyrus in procession,
was reported. And, lastly, the imperial man-
date, which ordained that the name of Vigilius
should be removed from the sacred diptychs for his
tergivei-sations on the subject of the three chap-
ters, " Non enim patiebamur, nee ab eo, nee ab
alio quocunque," says the emperor, " inviolatam
communionem suscipere, qui non istam impie-
tatem condemnat . . . . ne eo modo inveniamur
Nestorii et Theodori impietati communicantes "
(Mansi, ib'. 366-7). Unity with the apostolic
see would not, he adds, be thereby dissolved,
inasmuch as neither Vigilius nor any other indi-
vidual could, by his own change for the worse,
mar the peace of the Church. To all which the
council agreed. Finally, reviewing at its 8th
collation, June 2, in a singularly well-written
compendium all that it had done previously,
and vindicating the course about to be pursued,
it formally condemned the three chapters, and
with them the author of the first of them —
Theodore — promulgating its definitive sentence
in 14 anathemas, almost identical with those
of the emperor (Mansi, ib. 557-64), and in
which the heresies and heresiarchs thus con-
demned are specified : Origen among the number
in the eleventh, though not in the corresponding
one of the emperor. He had been previously
condemned in the council under Mennas, a.d.
538, as we have seen. Of these anathemas the
Greek version is still extant : of almost every
other recoi'd of its proceedings the Latin version
alone remains. Vigilius, after taking some time
to consider, announced his assent to them in two
formal documents : the first a decretal epistle,
dated Dec. 8 of the same year, and addressed to
the Constantinopolitan patriarch (Mansi, ib. 413-
32, with the notes of De Marca), in which, as
he says, after the manner of St. Augustine, he
retracts all that he had ever written differently ;
and the second, another Constitutum of great
length, dated Feb. 23 of the year following
(Clinton, a.d. 554, c. 4), but without any head-
ing or subscription in its present form (Mansi,
ib. 457-88). He died on his way home, and
Pelagius, the Roman envoy who had been instru-
mental in condemning Origen, had thus, on be-
coming pope, to vindicate the condemnation of
the three chapters by this council in the West,
where they had been defended all but unani-
mously, and were upheld obstinately by more
than three parts of Italy still. The 2nd Pela-
gius, twenty-five years later, in his third letter
to the bishops of Istria, said to have been written
by St. Gregory the Great, then his deacon
(Mansi, ib. 433-54, and see Migne's ed.), apolo-
gised as follows for the conduct of his prede-
cessors and his own therein. Referring to the
occasion on which St. Peter was reproved by
St. Paul (Gal. ii. 11), ho asks, " Nunquid Petro
apostolorum principi sibi dissimilia docenti, de-
buit ad haec verba responderi ? " " Haec quae
dicis, audire non possumus, quia aliud ante
praedicasti ? Si igitur in trium eapitulorum
444 CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COLNCILS OF
negotio, aliud cum Veritas quaereretur, aliuJ
autem inventa veritate, dictum est : cur mutatio
sententiae huic sedi iu crimine objicitur, quae
a cuncta ecclesi^ humiliter iu ejus auctore vene-
ratur ? Non euim mutatio seuteutiae, sed incon-
stantia sensiis in culpa est." St. Gregory, when
pope, settled the matter by affirming that he
venerated the 5th council equally with the four
preceding (Mansi, ib. 454). No canons seem to
have been passed in it ; but though two elabo-
rate dissertations have been written on it (Garn.
ad Liherat. and H. de Noris, Op. P. ii.), many
points connected with it are still doubtful ; and
the documents published by Mansi (ix. 151-651)
as l)elonging to it, greatly need re-arranging.
(28) A.D. 565, at which the emperor Justinian
endeavoured to get the errors of Julian of Hali-
carnassus, a well-known Monophysite, who main-
tained the incorruptibility of the Body of Christ
antecedently to his resurrection, api^roved, by
banishing those who opposed them (Mansi, ix.
765-8).
(29) A.D. 587, at which a foul charge brought
against Gregory, patriarch of Autioch,by a banker
of his diocese, was examined. He was honourably
acquitted and his accuser punished (Evag. vi. 7).
Mansi thinks this must have been the synod
summoned as a general one by the Constantino-
politan patriarch John, iu virtue of his assumed
title of oecumenical patriarch, and for which he
was so severely taken to task by pope Pelagius II.
— but for this no direct proof is adduced either
by him or Pagi (ix. 971-4). It is supplied,
however, in a letter of St. Gregory the Great to
that patriarch {ib. 1217-18), and a further
letter of his some time later, when Cyriacus
was i)atriarch, whose plan of holding another
synod for the same purpose he would seem to
have anticipated {ib. x. 159). Mansi {ib. p.
481-2) conceives this synod to have been held
A.D. 598.
(30) A.D. 626, under Sergius, to consider the
question raised by Paul, a Blonophysite of Phasis,
iu Lazica, and Cyrus, its metropolitan — after-
wards translated to Alexandria — before the em-
l)eror Heraclius, whether one or two wills and
operations wei'e to be ascribed to Christ. Ser-
gius, on the authority of a discourse ascribed by
him to his well-known predecessor Mennas, and
other testimonies which he abstains from naming,
pronounced in favour of one operation and one
will ; thereby founding the heresy called Mono-
thelism (Mansi, x. 585-8). Clinton (ii. 171)
doubts whether the question did not originate
with Athanasius, patriarch of the Jacobites in
Syria, on his promotion to the see of Antioch by
Heraclius four years later. The discourse which
Sergius ascribed to Mennas was proved a forgery
to the 6th council at its third session.
(31) A.D. 639, under Sergius, and continued —
unless there were two distinct councils this year
— under Pyrrhus, his successor, at which the
" Ecthesis " or exposition of faith by the em-
peror Heraclius, favourable to Monothelism, was
confirmed (Mansi, x. 673-4). Parts of its acts,
with the ecthesis in lull, were recited in the
third sitting of the Lateran under Martin I.
A.D. 649 {ib. 991-1004).
(32) A.D. 665, by order of the emperor Cou-
stans II., at which St. Maximus, the great oppo-
nent ot the Monothelites, was condemned (Mansi,
xi. 73-4).
(33) A.D. 666, under Peter, patriarch of
Constantinople, and attended by Macedonius of
Antioch and the vicar of the patriarch of Alex-
andria, at which St. Maximus was condemned
a second time with his disciples (Mansi, xi.
73-6).
(34) The 6th general, held in the banqueting
hall of the palace, called Trullus from its domed
roof (Du Fresne, Constant. Christ, ii. 4, § 19-20),
and lasting from November 7, A.D. 680, to Sep-
tember 16 of the ensuing year.
It was convened by the emperor Constantine
Pogonatus, as stated in his epistle to Pope Donus,
in consequence of a request made to him by the
patriarchs of Constantinople to permit their
removing from the sacred diptychs the name of
Pope Vitalian, lately deceased, while they were for
retaining that of Honorius (Mansi, xi. 199-200).
In short, they wished to commemorate none of
the popes after Honorius till some disputes that
had arisen between their own sees and his had
been settled, and some newly-coined woi'ds ex-
plained. The allusion is probably to the ^ fxia
deavSpiKi] ivepyeid.' attributed to Christ by the
Monothelite patriarch and synod of Alexandria,
A.D. 633 {ib. 565), when Honorius was pope.
Donus dying before this letter could reach Eome,
it was complied with at once by his successor
Agatho, who sent three bishops, on behalf of his
synod, and two presbyters, and one deacon named
John — who subsequently became pope as John V.,
in his own name — to Constantinople, " to bring
about the union of the holy Churches of God,"
as it is said in his life {ib. 165). On hearing
from the "oecumenical pope," as he styles him, to
that efiect, the Emperor issued his summons to
George, patriarch of Constantinople — whom he
styles oecumenical patriarch — and through him
to the patriarch of Antioch, to get ready to come
to the council with their respective bishops and
metropolitans {ib. 201). Mansuetus, metro-
politan of Milan, who had formed part of the
Roman synod under Agatho, sent a synodical
letter and profession of fiiith on behalf of his
own synod {ib. 203-8), and Theodore, bishop or
archbishop of Ravenna, who had formed part of
the same synod, a presbyter, to represent him
personally. The number of bishops actually
present, according to Cave, was 289, though the
extant subscriptions are under 180. Thirteen
officers of the court were there likewise by com-
mand of the emperor, who attended in person,
and were ranged round him — on his left were
the representatives of the pope and his synod, of
the archbishop of Ravenna, and of the patriarch
of Jerusalem, then Basil, tiishop of Gortyna, in
Crete, and the remaining bishops "subject to
Eome " — his right being occupied by the patri-
archs 1)1' Cnnstautinople ;ind Antioch, a presbyter
represent iii'j,- the patriarch of Alexandria, the
bishop of Kiihesus. and "the remaining bishops
subject to Constantinople." The business of the
council was concluded in 18 actions or sessions,
as follows : —
1. The legates of Agatho having complained
of the novel teaching of four patriarchs of Con-
stantinople— Sergius, Paul, Pyrrhus, and Peter
— of Cyrus, of Alexandria, and Theodore, bishop
of Pharan, that had for 46 years or more
troubled the whole Church, in attributing one
will and operation to the Incarnate Word.
Macarius, patriarch of Antioch, and two suffragans
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF 445
of the see of Constantinople favourable to this
dogma, briefly replied that they had put out no
new terms but only believed and taught what
they had received from general councils and from
the holy fathers on the point in question, par-
ticularly the patriarchs of Constantinople and
Alexandria, named by their opponents, and
Honorius, formerly pope of elder Rome. Where-
uj)on the chartophylax, or keeper of the archives
of the great Church, was ordered by the emperor
to fetch the books of the oecumenical councils
from the library of the patriarch. As nothing
was said of the acts of the 1st and 2nd councils
on this occasion, we must infer they had been
lost previously. The chartophylax was told
to produce what he had got ; and immediately
two volumes of the acts of the 3rd council were
recited by Stephen, a presbyter of Antioch in
waiting on Macarius, who forthwith contended
that some of St. Cyril's expressions made for
him.
2. Two volumes of the acts of the 4th council
were read, when the legates of Agatho pointed
out that two operations were attributed to
Christ by St. Leo.
3. Two volumes of the acts of the 5th council
were read, when the legates protested that two
letters of Pope Vigiiius, contained in the second
volume, had been interpolated, and that a dis-
course attributed in the first to Mennas, patri-
arch of Constantinople, was spurious. This last
having been proved on the spot from internal
evidence, its recital was stopped, the emperor
directing further enquiry to be made respecting
the letters of the pope.
4. Two letters from Agatho were recited —
one to the emperor, in his own name, the other
to the council, in his own name and that of a
synod of 125 bishops, with Wilfrid, bishop of
York, among them, for Britain, assembled under
him at Rome, previously to the departure of his
legates. The burden of both is the same, namely,
that what had been defined as of faith by the
five general councils preceding, it was the sum-
mit of his ambition to keep inviolate— without
change, diminution, or addition, either in word
or thought (Mansi, ib. 235). Mr. Renouf,
indeed, in his second pamphlet on " Pope
Honorius" (p. 46-7), has pointed out several
passages in the Latin version of these letters
on the prerogatives of the Church of Rome,
which are not found in the Greek. Either,
therefore, they have been intei'polated in the
one, or suppressed in the other. The decree of
the Council of Florence supplies a parallel of the
same kind. But that Agatho wrote these letters
in Greek, and that the Latin version of the
entire acts of this council that we have cannot
possibly be the one made by order of the next
pope, soon after the council dispersed, are two
points which Mr. R. seems to have assumed
without proving.
5. Two papers were exhibited by Macarius,
and recited : of which the first was headed " Tes-
timonies from the holy Fathers confirmatory of
there being one will in Christ, which is also that
of the Father and the Holy Ghost."
6. A third paper from Macarius, to the same
effect as the other two, having been read, the
sealing of all three was commanded by the em-
peror, and entrusted to his own officials and
those belonging to the sees of Rome and Con-
stantinople. On the legates affirming that the
quotations contained in them had not been fairly
made, authentic copies of the works cited were
oi-dered to be brought from the patriarchal
library to compare with them.
7. A paper headed "Testimonies from the
holy Fathers demonstrating two wills and opera-
tions in Christ," was produced by the legates,
and read. Appended to it were passages from
the writings of heretics, in which but one will
and operation was taught. This paper was
ordered to be sealed, like those of Macarius, by
the emperor.
8. The passages adduced by Agatho from the
Fathers, and by his synod, in favour of two wills
and operations, having been examined and con-
firmed, were pronounced conclusive by all
present except Macarius ; and the petition to
have the name of Vitalian erased from the dip-
tychs was withdrawn by George, the existing
jjatriarch of Constantinople, amid great applause.
Macarius being then called upon ' to make his
profession, proved himself a Monothelite ; and
was convicted of having quoted unfairly from
the Fathers in his papers to support his views.
9. Examination of the papers of Macarius
having been completed, he and his presbyter
Stephen were formally deposed as heretics by
the council.
10. The paper exhibited by the legates was
taken in hand : and after a most interesting
comparison, passage by passage, between it and
the authentic works in the patriarchal library,
was declared thoroughly correct in its citations :
a profession of faith was received from the bishop
of Nicomedia and some others, in which Mono-
thelism was abjured.
11. A long and remarkable profession of faitli,
contained in a synodical letter of Sophronius,
late patriarch of Jerusalem, and the first to
oppose Monothelism, was recited : and after it,
at the request of the legates, some more writings
of Macarius, since come to hand, that proved full
of heresy.
12. Several more documents belongmg to
Macarius having been received from the emperor
through one of his officers, which he professed
not to have read himself, some were looked
through and pronounced irrelevant, but three
letters were recited at length : one from Sergius
patriarch of Constantinople to Cyrus, then bishop
of Phasis ; another from him to Pope Honorius ;
the third being the answer of Honorius to him.
Again the patriarchal archives were searched,
and the two first of these letters compared witn
the authentic copies of them foimd there ; while
the original letter of Honorius in Latin having
been brought from thence was compared by John
bishop of Porto, the only delegate from the
Roman synod then present, with the copy just
read, and the genuineness of all three placed
beyond doubt. A suggestion brought from the
emperor that Macarius should be restored in the
event of his recanting, was peremptoi-ily declined
by the council.
13. Both the letters of Sergius before men-
tioned and that of Honorius to him were de-
clared heterodox ; and he and his successors,
Pyrrhus, Petei-, and Paul, Cyrus of Alexandria,
and Theodore, bishop of Pharan — on all of whom
Agatho had passed sentence previously — with
Honorius, whom Agatho had passed over, were
446 CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF
definitively cast out of the Church — the only
sentence of the kind ever decreed against any
pope. The letter of Sophrouius, on the other
hand, was pronounced orthodox. Finally, search
having been made for all other works of the
same kind in the archives, all that could be
found were brought out and recited. The list
included two letters from Cyrus to Sergius, the
latest of them having been written from Alex-
andria, with a copy of the terms of agreement
come to between him and the Theodosians, a
Monophysite sect, enclosed in it; works by
Theodore, bishop of Pharan, Pyrrhus, Paul, and
Peter, patriarchs of Constantinople ; a second
letter of Honorius to Sergius ; and a dogmatic
letter of Pyrrhus to Pope John IV., discovered
in a volume of dogmatic letters by the Charto-
phylax, George. All these were pronounced
heretical, and burnt as such. Letters of Thomas,
John, and Coustantine, patriarchs of Constan-
tinople, were read likewise, but their orthodoxy
was allowed.
14. Keturning to the letters of Pope Vigilius
that had been called in question, it was ascer-
tained by curious enquiry that each of the
volumes of the 5th council had been tampered
with : in one case by inserting the paper attri-
buted to Mennas, in the other by interpolating
the letters of Vigilius, in support of heresy.
The council ordered both felsifications to be can-
celled, besides anathematising them and their
authors. A sermon of St. Athanasius was pro-
duced by the bishops of Cyprus, in which the
doctrine of two wills in Christ was clearly laid
down. At this sitting Theoplianes, the new
patriarch of Autioch, is first named among those
present.
15. Polychronius, a presbyter, undertaking to
raise a dead man to life in support of his here-
tical views, and failing, was condemned as an
impostor, and deposed.
16. Constantme, another presbyter, affecting
to have devised some formula calculated to
reconcile Mouothelism with orthodoxy, was
proved in agreement with Macarius, and simi-
larly condemned. In conclusion, all who had
been condemned were anathematised, one after
the other by name, amidst cheei-s for the
orthodox.
17. The previous acts of the council were read
over; and its definition of faith published for
the first time.
18. The definition having been once more pub-
lished, was signed by all present ; and received
the assent of the emperor on the spot amid the
usual acclamations and reprobations. It con-
sisted of three parts : — I. An introduction pro-
claiming entire agreement on the part of the
council with the five previous councils, and
acceptance of the two creeds promulgated by
them as one. II. Recital of the two creeds of
Nicaea and Constantinople in their pristine foi-ms.
III. Its own definition, enumerating all pre-
viously condemned for Monothelism once more
by name ; and mentioning with approbation the
declaration of pope Agatho and his synod against
tnem, and in favour of the true doctrine, which
it proceeded to unfold in course : then reiterating
tiie decree passed by previous councils against
the iVamers and uphohiors of a faith or creed
otlier than the two forms already specified ; and
including finally in the same condemnation the
inventors and disseminators of any novel terms
subversive of its own rulings.
Proceedings terminated in a remarkable ad-
dress to the emperor on behalf of all present,
which was read out, showing that the doctrine
of the Trinity had been defined by the two first
councils ; and that of the Incarnation in the four
next, of which this was the last : and a still
more remarkable request was appended to it,
— that he would forward the definition signed
by himself to the five patriarchal sees of Rome,
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jeru-
salem ; which we are told expressly was done
(Mausi, lb. 681-4). In conclusion, a letter was
despatched to the pope in the name of the coun-
cil, informing him that he would receive a copy
of its acts through his legates, and begging that
he would confirm them in his reply. The em-
peror on his part exhorted all to receive them in
a special edict; and as he had promised, ad-
dressed a letter in his own name to the Roman
synod, dated Dec. 23, A.D. 681 — Agatho dying,
according to Cave, Dec. 1 — and another to
Leo II., soon after his accession, the year follow-
ing, bespeaking their acceptance. This the new
pope granted without hesitation in the fullest
manner, even to the condemnation of Honorius
as having betrayed the faith ; all which he
repeated to the bishops of Spain in sending them
a Latin translation of the acts of this council
(Mansi, ib. 1049-53). Solely from hence the
genuineness of both epistles has been denied
(comp. Mr. Renouf 's Fope Honorius ; Professor
Botalla's reply to it ; and Mr. R.'s rejoinder),
and even the integrity of the acts of the council
themselves in their present state was once
questioned (Pagi ad Baron., A.D. 681, n. 9-12).
Two versions of them are given by Mansi (xi.
189-922) ; in both the arrangement of the con-
cluding documents is chronologically defective.
It is admitted on all hands that no canons were
pas.ed. Several anecdotes of this council found
their way into the West. Bede tells us, for
instance {De Temp. Rat. A.D. 688), that such
was the honour accorded there to the legates of
Agatho that one of them, the bishop of Porto,
celebrated the Eucharist in Latin on Low-Sunday,
in the church of St. Sophia, before the emperor
and patriarch. Cardinal Humbert asserts it was
then explained to the emperor that unleavened
bread was enjoined by the Latin rite (ap. Canis.
Thes. p. 318). But the two striking incidents
of this council were : 1. The arrangement of the
" bishops subject to Rome," and those " subject
to Constantinople " on opposite sides ; and, 2
The anathemas passed on pope and patriarch
alike. Coming events are said to cast then
shadows before them.
(35) A.D. 691, as Pagi shows (ad Baron, a.d
692 n. 3-7) from the emended reading of tht
date given in its 3rd canon and rightly inter-
preted, in or not earlier than September. The
fathers composing it, in their address to the em-
peror Justinian II. or Rhinotmetus, as he was
afterwards surnamed from what befel him, say
that they had met at his bidding to pass some
canons that had long been needed, owing to the
omission of the 5th and 6th councils, contrary
to the prscedent of the four first to pass any,
whence this council has been commonly styled
the quini-sext, or a supplement to both. It is
indeed best known as the Trullan, from the hall
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF 447
of the palace in which it was held, although the
6th council had met there no less. The number
of bishops subscribing to its canons was 213, of
whom 43 had been present at the 6th council
(Mansi xi. 927) ; and at their head, instead of
after them as at the 6th council, the emperor,
wlio signs however diflerently from the rest, as
accepting and assenting to merely what had been
defined by them. A blank is left immediately
after his name for that of the pope, showing
clearly that the pope was not represented there ;
and blanks are subsequently left for the bishops
of Thessalonica, Heraclea, Sardinia, Ravenna,
and Corinth, who might, had they been present,
have been supposed acting for him : Basil, indeed,
bishop of Gortyna in Crete, is set down as sub-
scribing on behalf of the whole synod of the
Roman church ; but then he is similarly set down
among the subscriptions to the 6th council, not
having been one of the three deputies sent
thither from Rome {ib. pp. 642 and 70), and
afterwards in the letter addressed to Agatho by
the council, only signing for himself and his own
synod (ib. p. 690). Hence there seems little
ground for supposing him to have represented
Rome there in any sense, though Pagi and others
are willing to believe he may have been acting
as apocrisarius at the time of the council (ad
Baron, ib. n. 9-13). Certainly, Anastasius, in
his life of Sergius I., who was then Pope, says
that the legates of the apostolic see were present,
and deluded into subscribing ; but there is no-
thing else in the subscriptions to confirm this ;
and of the acts nothing further has been pre-
served. Great controversy prevails as to the
extent to which this council has been received
in the West: Oecumenical it has never been
accounted there, in spite of its own claim to be
so ; and when its 102 canons were sent in sis
tomes to Sergius, himself a native of Antioch,
for subscription, he said he would die sooner
than assent to the erroneous innovations which
they contained. John VII., the next pope but
one, was requested by the emperor to confirm all
that he could, and reject the rest ; but he sent
back the tomes untouched— Lupus (^Diss. de Sijn.
Trull., op. Tom. iii. 168-73), whom Pagi (a.d.
710, n. 2) follows is of opinion that Constantine
was the first pope to confirm any of them : but
this is inferred solely from the honourable re-
ception given to him at Constantinople by Justi-
nian, which may have been dictated by other
motives. What Adrian I. says in his epistle to
St. Tarasius, read out at the 7th council, is ex-
plicit enough : " I too receive the same six holy
councils with all the rules constitutionally and
I divinely promulgated by them ; among which is
„ contained " what turns out to be the 82nd of
these canons, for he quotes it at full length.
And the first canon of the 7th council confirmed
by him is substantially to the same eftect.
i" But the exact truth is probably told by Ana-
stasius, the librarian, in the preface to his transla-
tion of the acts of the 7th council dedicc%ted to
John VIII., whom he credits with having ac-
cepted all the apostolical canons under the same
reserve. " At the 7th council," he says, " the
principal see so far admits the rules said by the
Greeks to have been framed at the 6th council,
as to reject in the same breath whichever of
them should prove to be opposed to former
canons, or the decrees of its own holy pontiffs,
or to good manners." All of them, indeed, he
contends had been unknown to the Latins entirely
till then, never having been translated : neither
were they to be found even in the archives of the
other patriarchal sees, where Greek was spoken,
none of whose occupants had been present to
concur or assist in their promulgation, although
the Greeks attributed their promulgation to
those fathers who formed the 6th council, a
statement for which he avers they were unable
to bring any decisive proof. This shows how
little he liked these canons himself: nor can it
be denied that some of them were dictated by a
spirit hostile to the West. The 3rd and 13th,
for instance, deliberately propose to alter what
had been the law and practice of the Roman
church for upwards of 300 years respecting those
who became presbyters, deacons, or sub-deacons,
as married men : and make the rule substituted
for it in each case binding upon all. The 55th
on the authority of one of the apostolical canons
not received by Rome, interdicts the custom of
flisting on Saturdays which had prevailed in the
Roman church from time immemorial. And the
56th lays down a rule to be kept by all churches
in observing the Lenten fast. Canons 32, 33,
and 99 are specially levelled against the Arme-
nians. Of the rest, canon 1 confirms the doc-
trine of the 6th general coun^l preceding, and
insists in the strongest terms upon its unalter-
ableness. Canon 2 renews all the canons con-
firmed by them, with the Sardican and African
in addition, besides the canons of SS. Dionysius
and Peter of Alexandria ; of St. Gregory Thauma-
turgus, St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and St. Gregory
Nyssen ; the canonical answers of Timothy with
the canons of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria
and two canonical letters of St. Cyril : the
canon of Scripture by St. Gregory Nazianzen, and
another by St. Amphilochius, bishop '•i' Iconium
in Lycaonia, with a circular of Gennadius, pa-
triarch of Constantinople, against simoniacal
ordinations. In conclusion, it receives all the
apostolical canons, eighty-five in number, though
at that time but fifty were received in the Roman
church, as we learn from Anastasius, but rejects
the apostolical constitutions as having been in-
terpolated, and containing many spurious things.
By this canon accordingly the code of the
Eastern church was authoratively settled, apart
of course from the 102 canons now added to it,
which were formally received themselves, as we
have seen, by the 2nd Council of Nicaea, and
reckoned ever afterwards as the canons of the
6th council. As such they are quoted by Pho-
tius in his Si/ntagma canonum, and his Nomo-
canon (Migne's Pat. Gr. civ. 431-1218), and
continue to be quoted still {Orthodix ami Non-
Jurors, by Rev. G. Williams, p. 74). Their
general character is thoroughly Oriental, but
without disparagement to their practical value
(Mansi, xi. 921-1024, and sii. 47-56 ; Bever. II.
126-64).
(36) A.D. 712, in the short-lived reign of
Philippicus or Bardanes, and under the Mono-
thelite patriarch of his appointment, John VI. ;
at which the 6th council was repudiated and
condemned. The cojjy of its acts belonging to
the palace was likewise burnt by his order, as
we learn from the deacon who transcribed them ;
and the picture of it that hung there, removed.
On the death of the tyrant indeed John addressed
448 CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF
a letter to Pope Constantine to apologise for
what had been done ; but its tone is not assuring.
He testifies, however, to the authentic tomes of
the 6th council being safe still in his archives
(Mansi. sii. 187-208); and Pagi can see some
excuse for his conduct (ad Baron. A.D. 712,
n. 2-6).
(37) A.D. 715, Aug. 11, at which the transla-
tion of St. Germanus from the see of Cyricus to
that of Constantinople was authorised. He had
been a party to the Monothelite synod under
John three years before ; but immediately after
his translation he held a synod — most probably
this one continued — in which he condemned
Monothelism (Mansi, xii. 255-8).
(38) A.D. 730, or rather a meeting in the
imperial palace, at which the Emperor Leo HI.,
better known as the Isaurian, called upon St.
Germanus the aged patriarch to declare for the
demolition of images, which he had just ordered
himself in a second edict against them. The
patriarch replied by resigning his pall (Mansi,
xii. 269-70, and Pagi, ad Baron., a.d. 730, n.
1-4).
(39) A.D. 754, from Feb. 10 to Aug. 8, held
by order of the Emperor Constantine Coprony-
mus, and styling itself Oecumenical, or the 7th
council, though "its claim to both titles has since
been set aside in favour of the second council of
Nieaea, in which its decrees were reversed.
Unfortunately, there is no record of its acts
extant, but what is to be found in the 6th
session of that council, where they were cited
only to be condemned. As many as 338 bishops
attended it, but the chief see represented there
was that of Ephesus. Their proceedings are
given in six tomes, .as follows : 1. They deduce
the origin of all creature-worship from the devil,
to abolish which God sent His Son in the flesh ;
2. Christianity being established, the devil, they
say, was undone to bring about a combination
between it and idolatry ; but the emperors had
o|)posed themselves to his designs. Already six
councils had met, and the present one following
in their steps declared all pictorial representa-
tions unlawful and subversive of the faith which
they professed ; 3. Two natures being united in
Christ, no one picture or statue could represent
Christ as He is, besides His only proper repre-
sentation is in the Eucharistic sacrifice of His own
institution ; 4. There was no prayer in use for
consecrating images, nor were representations of
the saints to be tolerated any more than of
Christ, for Holy Scripture was distinctly against
both ; 5. The fathers, beginning with St. Epi-
phanius, having been cited at some length to the
same purpose, the council decreed unanimously
that all likenesses of whatsoever colour and
material were to be taken away, and utterly dis-
used in Christian churches ; 6. AH clergy setting
up or exhibiting reverence to images in church
or at home were to be deposed ; monks and lay-
men anathematised. Vessels and vestments be-
longing to the sanctuary were never to be turned
to any purpose in connexion with them. A series
of anathemas was directed against all who upheld
them in any sense, or contravened the decrees of
this council. St. Germanus, the late patriarch
of Constantinople, George of Cyprus, and St.
.lohn of Damascus, or Mansur, as he was called
by the Saracens, were specially denounced as
image-worshippers. The usual acclamations to
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
the emperor followed. Befoi-e the council sepa-
rated, Constantine the new patriarch was pre-
sented to it and approved. It was then sitting
in the church of St. Mary, ad Blachernas, within
the city ; its earlier sittings had been held in a
palace of the emperor, called Hieraeon, on the
opposite shore (Mansi, xii. 575-8, and xiii. 203-
356 ; Cave, i. 646-7). [E. S. F.]
CONSTANTINOPLE. (1) The birth (76-
V€6\ia) of Constantinople is placed by the Cal.
Byzant. on May 11. The dedication (iyKaivio)
is said to have been performed by the Holy Fathers
of the 1st Council of Nieaea in the year 325.
(2) The Council of Constantinople is commemo-
rated in the Armenian Calendar on Feb. 16. fC]
CONTAKION (Koj/ra/cioj/). A short ode
or hymn which occurs in the Greek offices. The
name has been variously derived. The expla-
nation most generally received is that it signifies
a short hymn, from the word Kovrhs, little ;
because it contains in a short space the praises
of some saint or festival (Goar, not. 31 in off.
Laud.). It has also been derived from Kovrhs.
a dart or javelin ; so that Contakion would mean
an ejaculatory prayei-, or a short pointed hymn
after the model of an antiphon. Some, again,
have considered the word to be a corrujjtion of
Canticum. Romaninus, a deacon of Emesa, who
flourished about 500 A.D., is said to be the
author of Contakia. They frequently occur in
the canons and other parts of the office, and
vary with the day. [Canon of Odes.] In the
list of the officials of the church of Constanti-
nople we have 6 &px'^'' ''''^^ KovraKloiv, named
among the offices appropriate to priests (to;
0(p<piKLa TO?? Upivffi TrpoariKOVTa).
The word "Contakion" is also used of the
volume containing the liturgies of St. Basil, St.
Chrysostom, and of the praesanctified alone, in
distinction to the complete missal. In this sense
the word is usually derived from Kovrhs, a dart,
i.e. the wooden roll round which the MS. was
rolled, " KovTo.^ est parvus contus .... Inde et
KOVTCLKiov, Scapus chartarum, vel volumcn ad
instar baculi" (Salmas. Exerc. FUn.). Goar, how-
ever, prefers the derivation from koS'ikiov,
"quasi brevis codex." In the ordination of a
priest, after the ceremonies of ordination are
completed, the newly-ordained priest is directed
to take his place among the other priests, ai'a-
yiyvciffKojv rh KovraKiov (*'. e. his book of the
liturgy). [H. J. H.]
CONTRA VOTIBI. A formula frequent in
epitaphs, expressing the regret of survivors at a
loss suffered against their wishes and prayers.
It is of pagan origin, and does not appenr to
have been adopted by Christians before the 5th
centurv. The earliest example of the formula
given "by De Rossi is of the commencement of
that century, and runs as follows : " Parentis
POSVERUNT TETVLVM CONTRA VOTVM ET DOLO
SVO." It is not confined, as has sometimes been
supposed, to epitaphs placed by parents for their
children ; husbands use it of wives and wives of
husbands, brothers and sisters of each other;
and in fact it is very generally used to express
the longing felt by the survivor for the departed.
It is most common in Northern Italy. (Martiguy,
Diet, clcs Antiq. Ckre't. 175.) [C]
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE. This ex-
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
pression may be considered in two different
senses, according as it refers to the agreement for
marriage in the abstract, or, according to later
continental usage, to its written evidence answer-
ing to our marriage settlement. We shall consider
it separately under these two heads.
I. The law of the church on the subject of
the contract of marriage is, as on many other
points, compounded of the Jewish and Roman
laws, under the influence of New Testament
teaching. It is derived mainly, in its general
features, from the latter system of legislation,
especially in regard to the marriage of the laity ;
from the former mainly in regard to that of
the clergy.
The validity of the marriage contract generally
depends, it may be said, on two points, (1) the
inherent capacity of the parties to enter into the
contract ; (2) the limitations which may be
placed upon the exercise of that capacity.
1. Strictly speaking, the inherent capacity of
the parties for marriage turns only upon tliree
points, (a) sufficient age ; (6) sufficient reason ;
(c) sufficient freedom of will. On the first point,
it may be observed that the old Roman, like the
old Jewish law, attached the capacity for mar-
riage by age to the physical fact of puberty
{f/ist. bk. i. t. X. § 1); and the same principle is
practically followed in all systems of legislation
which take notice of age at all in this matter,
although it is generally found convenient in the
long run to fix an age of legal puberty, without
reference to the specific fact. Thus already in
the Digest it is provided that the marriage con-
tract is only valid on the part of the wife when
she has completed her 12th year, even though she
be already married and living with her husband
(bk. xxiii. t. ii. I. 4). And Justinian himself in
his Institutes professes to have fixed, on grounds
of decency, the age of puberty for the male at 1 4
(bk. i. t. xxii.) ; both which periods have very
generally been adopted in modern legislation.
Strange as it may seem, the earlier Roman
legislation seems to have even fixed an age be-
yond which a woman could not marry, since we
find Justinian in the Code abolishing all pro-
hibitions of the Lex Julia vel Papia against
marriages between men and women above or below
60 and'" 50 {Code, bk. v. t. iv. 1. 27 ; and see bk.
vi. t. Iviii. 1. 12). Nothing of this kind is to be
found in later systems of legislation, although
disparity of age in marriage, as we shall pre-
sently see, has sometimes been sought to be sup-
pressed.
it may here be observed that physical in-
capacity in persons of full age has never been
held to produce actual inability to enter into the
marriage contract, but simply to render the
marriage voidable when the fact is ascertained
(see Code, bk. v. t. xvii. 1. 10 ; Nov. 22, c. 6 ;
Nov. 117, c. 12). Nor is the fact one of im-
portance in reference to the marriage relation,
except where divorce is put under restrictions
(see Dig. bk. xxir. t. i. 11. 60, 61, 62).
(b.) As respects the second point : Defect of
reason, it may be said, in refei-ence to the mar-
riage contract, acts inversely to defect of age.
Thus, under the Roman law, followed generally
by modern legislation, madness was fatal to the
validity of the contract, but did not dissolve it
when afterwards supervening (/>iV/. bk. xxxii. t. ii.
1. 16, § 2; and see Jul. Raul, liecept. Sent. bk.
CIUIIST. ANT.
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE 449
ii, t. xix. § 4). (c.) The freedom of will of the
parties, on the other hand, can only be testified
by their consent to the marriage [as to which
see Consent]; but it may also be indirectlv
secm-ed by limitations of a protective character
placed on the exercise of the capacity to contract
marriage, which will be considered presently.
It may be sufficient here to observe that accord-
ing to the jurists of the Digest a man might
marry a woman by letters or by proxy if she
were brought to his house, but this privilege did
not belong to the woman (bk. xxiii. t. ii. 1. 5 ;
and see j\il. Paul. liecept. Sent. bk. ii. t. xix.
§5)-
There was, moreover, one large class of persons
in whom there was held to be no freedom of will,
and, consequently, no capacity to contract mar-
riage. It is important to insist on this point,
since Gibbon in the second chapter of his great
work speaks of the Romans as having "in their
numerous families, and particularly in their
country estates . . . encouraged the marriage of
their slaves." A falser statement was probably
never put forth by a historian, unless for mar-
riage we read, in plain English, breeding. Mar-
riage is simply impossible where the persons o-f
slaves of both sexes are subject, absolutely with-
out limit, to the lusts, natural or unnatural, of a
master (see, for instance, Horace, Sat. i. 2, 116).
The slave, his master's thing, can have no will
but his master's ; in respect of the civil law pro-
perly so-called, i. e, the law made for citizens,
he does not exist; (Ulpian, Dig. bk. 1. t. xvii.
1. 32), or as the same jurist in his grand lan-
guage elsewhere expresses it, his condition is
almost equivalent to death itself (ibid. 1. 209).
Thus, according to the logic of the Roman law,
connections between slaves obtain not so much
as a mention by either the jurists of the Digest,
or the Empei-ors in the constitutions of the Code.
Connections between slaves and serfs, i. e. the
so-called adscriptitii glebae, are indeed mentioned
{Code, bk. xi. t. xlvii. c. 21), but without the
name of marriage, and only to determine the con-
dition of the oftspring, which is fixed by that of
the mother. liustici, a class of peasants who
seem to have been of higher status than the
adscriptitii, could contract marriage inter se, and
the 157th Novel is directed against the land-
owners of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene, who sought
to forbid their peasants to marry out of their own
estates, and if they did so, were in the habit of
breaking up their marriages and flimilies.
Wherever, therefore, we find slaves' marriages
mentioned, we must seek another origin for the
recognition of them than in the Roman law.
That origin seems unquestionably to be in the
Jewish law. Although only " Hebrew " servants
are mentioned in the passage of Exodus on this
subject (c. xxi. vv. 3, 4, 5, 6), it is clear that
the Pentateuch recognized the marriage of per-
sons in a servile condition. And with the
sweeping away by the Christian dispensation of
all distinction between Jew and Gentile it is
but natural to suppose that the right of marriage
would be extended from the Hebrew slave to
the whole slave class. Such right, indeed, was
not absolute, as will have been observeii, but
flowed from the master's will, and was subject to
his rights. The master gave a wife to his slave ;
the wife aii<l her children remained his, even
when the slave himself obtained his freedom.
2 G
450 CONTRACT OF MAERIAGE
The Barbarian Codes do not materiallr vary
from the Roman as respects the marriage con-
tract, so far as respects the conditions of age
and reason. It is clear, however, that, in Italy,
especially under the Lombards, and under the
Visigoths of Spain, habits of early marriage
prevailed which had to be checked by law. A
law of King Luitprand, A.D. 724, enacts that
girls shall only be marriageable at the expiration
of their 12th''year (bk. vi. c. 59). An earlier
law of the same king, A.D. 717, has been already-
referred to under the head Betrothal (bk. ii.
c. 6). Although 18 was fixed as the age of ma-
jority for male infants, yet they mi^ht before
this age contract either betrothal or marriage,
and had full power of settling property (bk. vi.
c. 64 ; A.D. 724). A Lombard capitulary of Charle-
magne's (A.D. 779) prohibits generally the marry-
ing of a boy or girl under the age of puberty,
where there is disparity of age, but allows them to
marry when of eq. al age and consenting (c. 145).
, The same prohibition is contained in the Capi-
tulary of Tessino (Pertz), A.D. 801, also added
to the Lombard law.
The Visigothic law seems less equal towards
the sexes. A law of King Chiudaswinth (bk. iii.
t. 4) forbids on the one hand women of full age
from marrying males under age, but on the other
enacts that girls under age are only to marry
husbands of full age. It is not however clear
whether the age referred to is that of puberty or
general majority.
As respects the marriage of slaves, we find a
formula on the subject among those collected by
Mabillon (No. 44). They appear clearly to have
been recognized both by the state and the
church in the reign of Charlemagne, as will be
presently shewn.
2. If we turn now to what we may term the
extrinsic conditions of the capacity for marriage,
in other words to the limitations placed upon the
exercise of that capacity, we find the.se to have
been very various. Some are purely or mainly
moral ones ; the leading one of this class, that of
the amount of consanguinity which the law of
diilerent nations has held to be a bar to the
validity of the nuptial contract, will be found
treated of under the heads of Cousins-German,
Marriage. Another — singular, because exactly
opposite feelings on the subject have prevailed
in different countries — is to be found in the pro-
hibition by the later Roman law of marriages
between ravishers and their victims, under severe
penalties, both for the parties themselves, and
the parents who consented to it (Justinian, Cod.
b. ix. t. xiii. § 1, Nov. 143, 150).
A directly contrary rule prevailed under Theo-
doric in the Ostrogothic kingdom. The 59th chap-
ter of his Edict compels the ravisher of a free-
born woman, if of suitable fortune and noble
birth, as well as single, to marry her, and to
endow her with l-5th of his property. The
Lombard law does not seem to provide expressly
for the case ; but the " Lex Romana " of the
Roman population in Italy must have followed
It in its departure from the legislation of the
emperors, where, after enacting death as the
penalty of rape, it provides that if no accusation
be brought for five j^ears, " the marriage will
afterwards be valid and its issue legitimate"
(bk. ix. t. xviii.). Death was also the punish-
ment of rape among the Franks ; but Marculf 's
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
formulae show that marriages between ravisher
and ravished were allowed (bk. ii. f. 16). A
Lombard capitulary of Charlemagne's, however,
A.D. 779, forbids a ravished bride to marry her
ravisher, even if her betrothed refuses to take
her back (c. 124). The law of the Alamans (t. Hi.)
is to the same effect. The Saxon law on the con-
traiy (t. x.) requires the ravisher to " buy " the
woman for 300 solidi.
It seems doubtful whether a canon of the
Council of Iliberis in 305, bearing that " virgins
who have not kept their virginity, if they have
married and kept as husbands their violators," are
to be admitted to communion after a year without
penance, applies really to what we should term
violation, or to seduction only. But at any rate
the Visigothic law is severest of all the barbaric
codes against marriages between ravishers and
ravished. Whilst enacting that the ravisher with
all his pi-operty is to be handed over as a slave to
the woman to whom he has done violence, and to
receive 200 lashes publicly, it imposes the pe-
nalty of death on both if they intermarry, unless
they should flee to the altar, when they are to
be separated and given to the parents of the
woman (bk. iii. t. iii. 11. 1, 2). Closely allied to
these enactments is one of the Burgundian law,
forbidding marriages between widows and their
paramours (t. xliv.). It may perhajis be inferred
from the above that the tendency of the bar-
barian races had originally been to favour such
marriages, but that the influence of the opposite
Roman feeling, kept up no doubt traditionally by
the clergy, generally prevailed in the long run in
the barbarian codes.
There were indeed certain moi'al enormities
which in some legislations were made a bar to
all subsequent marriage. By the Visigothic law,
a freeman guilty of rape on a married woman,
after receiving a hundred lashes, was to become
slave to his victim, and never to marry again
(bk. ii. t. iv. 1. 14). But it is the Carlovingian
capitularies which apply most largely this kind
of prohibition. By a capitulary of King Pepin at
Vermerie, A.D. 753, if a man committed adultery
with his step-daughter, with his step-mother, or
with his wife's sister or cousin, neither could ever
marry again (cc. 2, 10, 11, 12); nor a wife who
had been dismissed by her husband for conspiring
against his life (c. 5). The Capitulary of Com-
piegne, A.D. 757, extends the prohibition to a
brother committing adultery with his sister-in-
law, a father seducing his son's betrothed, and
to their respective paramours (cc. 11, 13); to a
man living in adultery with a mother and
daughter, or with two sisters, but to the women,
in such case, only if they were aware of the in-
cestuous connexion (cc. 17, 18). A capitulary
of the 7th book of the general collection forbids
also a woman who has had connexion with two
brothers ever to marry again (c. 381 ; and see
bk. V. c. 168).
Another limitation on the marriage contract,
which must be considered rather of a political
nature, and which prevails more or less still in
the military code of almost every modern nation,
was that on the marriage of soldiers. Under the
early Roman polity, marriage was absolutely for-
bidden to soldiers ; but the Emperor Claudius
allowed them the jms connuhii, and it seems cer-
tain that there were married soldiers under Galba
and Domitian (Mur. Thes. Inscr, i. p. 306 ; Gori,
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
Inscr. Antiq. iii. p. 144). Severus seems how-
ever to have been the first to allow soldiers to
live with their wives (Herod, iii. 229). The
Philips, on the other hand, seem to have re-
stricted the jus connuhii for soldiers to a first
marriage (Mur. Thes. Inscr. i. 362). Under Jus-
tinian's Code, the marriage of soldiers and other
persons in the militia, from the caligatus miles to
the }:)rotector, was made free without solemnities
of any sort, so long as the wife was free-born
{Constitution of Theodosius and Valentinian, Code,
bk. V. t. iv. 1. 21). There having been no re-
gular armies among the barbarian races, nothing
answering to the prohibition is to be found in
tlieir codes.
We pass now to those restrictions on marriage
which must be considered to be mainly of a pro-
tective character, and intended to secure the real
freedom, as well as the wisdom of choice. To
these, in the highest view of the subject, belong
those which turn upon the consent of parents
[see Consent] ; although indeed this restriction
seems generally to have had its historic origin in
a much lower sphere of feeling, — that of the
social dependence and slavery or quasi-slaverv
of children to their parents. Next come the
interdictions placed by the Roman law on the
marriage of guardians or curators, or their issue,
with their female wards. This occupies a large
space in the Corpus Juris ; see Dig. bk. xxiii.
t. ii. 11. 59, 60, 62, 64, 66, 67 ; Code, bk. v. t. vi.
Lastly come the interdictions on the marriage
of officials withm their jurisdictions, which, as
Fapinian remarks, are analogous in principle to
those on the marriage of guardians with their
wards {Dig. bk. xxiii. t. ii. 1. 63). No official
could marry (though he might betroth to him-
self) a wife born or domiciled within the province
in which he held office, unless he had been be-
trothed to her before ; and if he betrothed a
woman, she could, after his giving up office, ter-
minate the engagement, on returning the earnest-
money ; but he could give his daughters in mar-
riage within the province (1. 38). The marriage
of an official contracted against this interdiction
seems to have been considered by Papinian abso-
lutely void (1. 63).
Under the Code, a well-known constitution of
Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, A.D. 380,
known by its title as " Si rector Provinciae "
(referred to supra under Arrhae), whilst de-
priving of all binding force betrothals between
])ersons holding authority in any province, their
kinsmen and dependents, and women of the pro-
vince, allows the marriage nevertheless to be
afterwards carried out with the consent of the
betrothed women (bk. v. t. ii.). And a previous
constitution of Gordian had provided that if the
marriage were contracted against the law with
the woman's consent, and after her husband laid
down his office she remained of the same mind,
the marriage became legal, and the issue legi-
timate (t. iv. 1. 6). By another constitution,
known as " Si quacumque praeditus potestate,"
a tine of 10 lbs. of gold was enacted against offi-
cials who should seek to coerce women into
marriages, even though these should not be
carried out (law of Gratian, Valentinian, and
Theodosius, a.d. 380 ; ih. t. vii.).
We do not find anything answering to these
provisions in the Barbarian Codes, but only in
the work called the Lex Romana supposed to
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE 451
I have represented the personal law of the Romans
I under the Lombard kings. Here, in barbarous
Latin, some of the provisions of the Code are
reproduced, whilst others are widely departed
j from. For instance, in place of the protective
provisions against the marriage of guardians with
I their wards, we have coarser ones providing
I against the seduction of wards by their guai--
dians, under penalty of exile and confiscation
(bk. ix. t. v.).
Another class of restrictions on marriage may
be termed social ones, as depending chiefly on
disparity of social condition. The most promi-
nent disparity of condition in the whole ancient
world, as it remains still in much of the modern
world, was that between freeman and slave.
According to the Roman law, there could be abso-
lutely no marriage between the two, but only what
was termed a contuhernium (Jul. Paul. Recept.
Sent. bk. ii. t. 19, § 3). Yet the sense of human
equality was so strong, thaV^-j'senatus-consultum
had to be issued under the Emperor Claudius
against the marriage of freewomen with slaves ;
reducing the former to slavery itself, if the act
were done without the knowledge of the master,
— to the condition of freedwomen if with his con-
sent (Tacitus, Ann. bk. xii. c. 53; a.d. 53).
Although this law does not appear in the Corpus
Juris — perhaps because it might seem indirectly
to recognize slaves' marriages — it is clear that
neither under the Digest nor under the Code could
there be any marriage between free and slave.
" With slave-girls there can be no connuhium,"
says a constitution of Constantine (bk. v. t. v.
1. 3) ; "/or from this contuhernium slaves are
born." It affords indeed a strange picture of the
more than servile condition of the Roman muni-
cipal functionaries, even at this period of the
Empire, that the avowed object of the constitu-
tion which opens with this enunciation of a
principle, is to prevent decurions, through the
passions of slave girls, finding a refuge in the
bosom of the most powerful families. The secret
marriage of a decurion with a slave was to be
punished by sending the woman to the mines,
the decurion himself to exile on some island,
whilst his property passed, as if he were dead,
to his family, or in default of such to the city of
which he was a curial ; local officials who were
privy to the offence, or left it unpunished, were
in like manner to be sent to the mines. If it
took place in the country, by permission of the
girl's master, the estate where it occurred, with
all slaves' and live and dead stock, was to be con-
fiscated ; if in a city the master forfeited the
half of all his goods. That decurions, however,
were not the only persons likely to marry slaves
is evident from a constitution of Valentinian and
Marcian, A.D. 428 (j6. 1. 7), which enumerates
" the slave-girl, the daughter of a slave-girl,"
first amongst those persons whom senators may
not marry.
If any man married a slave, believing her to
be free, the marriage was void ah initio (22nd
Nov. c. 10). But if a master married his slave-
girl to a freeman, or constituted a dos upon her,
which was considered to be the privilege of the
free, a constitution of Justinian's enacted that
this should not only enfranchise her, but confer
on her the rights of Roman citizenship {Code,
bk. vii. t. vi. f. 9). In the 22nd Novel (c. 11)
the same emperor went further still and enacted,
2 G 2
452 CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
that when a master either himself gave away his
slave-o'irl in marriage, whetlier with or without
dotal fustruments, or knowingly allowed another
to give her away, as a freewoman, to a man ignor-
ant of her condition, this should amount to a
tacit enfranchisement, and the marriage shoiild
be valid; and again (c. 12), a fortiot-i, that if a
master had long deserted either a male or female
slave in a state of bodily weakness (languentes),
or shown no care to preserve his rights over
them, they, as derelicts, resuming possession of
themselves, were no longer to be troubled by him,
so that the marriages of such as free men or
women would be lawful. Finally, the 78th Novel
provided that where a man had had children by
his slave-girl, and constituted a dos upon her
(which had the eftect of marriage), this of itself
had the effect of manumitting the issue born in
slavery, and rendering them liberi, and no longer
merely filii, to the father (c. 4).
Closely analogous to the condition of the slave
was that of the adscriptitius glebae. The mar-
riage of a freeman with an adscriptitia does not
however seem to have been void, but the children
retained their mother's condition. On the other
hand, the marriage of a freewoman with an
adscriptitius was declared to be absolutely void ;
they were to be separated, and the man punished
(Code, bk. xi. t. xlvii. 1. 24; 22nd Nov. c. 17;
but see 54th Nov. preface). Nor do we find the
same mitigations of the law in favour of an ad-
scriptitia as of a slave (supra). As respects the
next higher class, that of the riistici, we find that
whilst marriages between them and free persons
seem to have been recognized, the issue of such
marriages was divided in point of condition, the
first, third, fifth child, &c., following that of the
mother (" quod impar est, habebit venter,"
156th Novel).
The Barbarian Codes deal more frequently with
the subject of these marriages, and in some of
them we trace distinctly the threefold condition
of freeman, serf or villain, and slave, the second
becoming more and moi-e superior to the third.
The intermarriage of man or woman belonging
to either of the first two classes involves, under
the Lombard laws (a.d. 638) of Rotharis (c. 218),
and Luitprand (A.D. 721) (bk. iv. c. 6), penalties
of greater or less severity. In the Lex Romana,
supposed to represent the personal law of the
Koman population in Italy in Lombard times, we
find a provision, that if a freewoman marries her
own slave, she shall be put to death and the slave
burnt alive (bk. ix. t. vi.).
Similar provisions are found in the Alamannic
law (circ. A.D. 750) (c. 2, and foil.), in the Bava-
rian (Append, de popul. leg. c. 9) and the Frisian
(t. xviii.), while the Visigothic is yet more cruelly
severe, condemning all such unions, according to
their varying circumstances, to the penalties of
loss of freedom, scourging, death by burning
(bk. iii. t. ii. c. 2).
Finally, a law of King Gaba is addressed to
what seems to have been a peculiar form of semi-
slavery in the service of the Church. Its title is,
"That those who are enfranchised, retaining ser-
vice to the Church, should not dare approach the
marriage of free persons." It enacts that a church-
slave absolutely freed may marry a freewoman ;
but if still bound to the ohsequium, he is to re-
ceive three stripes and be separated from his
wife; otlierwise both are to be in slavery with
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
their issue, the property of the freewoman going
to her heire. And the same rule is enacted as to
such women marrying freemen (bk. iv. c. 7).
Notwithstanding the harshness of many of the
above enactments, it must be inferred from them
that marriages between free and slaves were in-
creasing in frequency. Indirectly, moreover,
those which provide that a freewoman choosing
to remain with her slave-husband becomes a slave
herself, seem to imply, like the senatus-consult
under Claudius before quoted, which was not
admitted into the Code, a recognition of marriages
between slaves, since the mere living with a slave
would not (except under the Visigothic law)
aftect the condition of the freewoman. There is
moreover evidence that, even in the latter class
of cases, custom was often milder than the law.
Marculf's Formularies, which are considered to
have been put together about A.D. 660, contain a
" charta de agnatione, si servus ingenuam trahit,"
by which a mistress grants the freedom of a free-
woman's children by her slave (f 29 ; and see
Appendix, f. 18). The ultimate relaxations of the
law itself under the Carlovingians will be best
treated of in connexion with the ecclesiastical
history of the subject.
Vast as was the gap between free and slave ill
the ancient world, that between the free-born
and the freed was still considerable, — especially
as between male slaves enfranchised and their
former mistresses, or the female relatives of a
former master. According to the jurist Paul,
a freedman aspiring to marriage with his pair ona^
or the wife or daughter of his patronus, was,
according to the dignity of the person, to be
punished either by being sent to the mines, or
put upon public works (Jul. Paul. Recept. Sentcnt.
bk. ii. t. xix. § 6); unless indeed the condition
of the patrona was so low as to make such a
marriage suitable for her (Dig. bk. xxiii. t. ii.
1. 13). On the other hand, the Lex Papia
allowed all freeborn males, except senators and
their children (in which case the marriage was
void), to marry freedwomen (ib. 1. 23), from
which class seem however to have been excepted
those of brothel-keepers, probably as presumably
being prostitutes themselves (Ulpian's Fragments,
t. xiii. § 27). The marriage of a master with
his freedwoman was by no means looked upon in
the same light as that of a mistress with her
freedman ; and the patronus was restrained from
marrying his freedwoman without her will
(ib. 1. 28).
The social restrictions on marriage were, in
this as in other respects, relaxed by the later
emperors. The marriage to a freedwoman of a
man who afterwards became a senator was de-
clared by Justinian to remain valid, as well as
that of a private person*s daughter to a freed-
man, when her father was raised to the senate
(Code, bk. v. t. iv. 1. 28). He removed the dis-
ability to marriage which seems to have beeu
considered to exist between a man and a girl
whom he had brought up (alumna) and en-
franchised (1. 26). And by the 78th Novel he
allowed persons "of whatever dignity" to marry
freedwomen, provided "nuptial documents" were
drawn up (c. 3).
There were moreover certain conditions of life
which were assimilated by their ignominy to the
servile one. A free-born man could not marry a
procuress, a woman ta^en in adultery, one con-
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
denined by public judgment, or a stage-player ;
nor, according to Mauricianus, one condemned
by the senate (Ulpian's Fragments, t. xiii.). A
senator was subject to the same restrictions
{Duj. bk. xxiii. t. ii. 1. 44, § 8 ; and see 1. 43,
§§ 10, 12); the Lex Julia et Papia imposing,
moreover, a special prohibition on the marriage
of either senators or their issue with stage-players
or the children of such (1. 44), Under Valenti-
nian and Marcian, A.D. 454, the " low and abject"
women who were forbidden to marry senators
were declared to be slaves and their daughters,
freedwomen and their daughters, players and
their daughters, tavern-keepers and their daugh-
ters, the daughters of lenones and gladiators, and
women who had publicly kept shops {Code, bk. v.
t. V. 1. 7). If indeed a senator's daughter should
prostitute herself, go on the stage, or be con-
demned by public judgment, her dignity being
lost, she might marry a freedman with impunity
(Diq. bk. xxiii. t. ii. 1. 47).
Thanks, no doubt, to Theodora's influence,
much gi-eater indulgence was shewn under Jus-
tinian to actresses. Such women, if they had
left their calling and led a respectable life, were
enabled to intermarry with persons of any rank,
and their children were relieved from disabi-
lities (bk. V. t. iv. 1. 27, § 1). By another
constitution (1. 29), women who had been forced
to mount the stage, or who wished to abandon
it, were rendered capable of marrying persons
of the highest rank, without the imperial per-
mission.
The jurists of the Digest had however gone
beyond all specific restrictions on marriage.
Modestinus had laid down that "in marriages
one should not only consider what is lawful, but
what is honourable." And generally there seems
to have grown up a feeling against unequal mar-
riages, such as is indicated in a before-quoted
constitution of Valentinian and Marcian {Code,
bk. V. t. v. 1. 7 ; A.D. 454), which provides that
'•a woman is not to be deemed vile or abject
who, although poor, is of free descent ;" and
declnres lawful the marriage of. such persons,
however poor, with senators or persons of the
highest rank. And as it seemed to have been
inferred, from a constitution of Theodosius and
Valentinian, A.D. 418, which abolished the neces-
sity for all formalities between persons of equal
condition {Code, bk. v. t. iv. 1. 22), that without
dotal instruments such marriages between pei--
sons of unequal condition were not valid, Jus-
tinian abolished all restrictions on unequal mai--
riages, provided the wife were free and of free
descent, and there was no suspicion of incest or
auuht nefarious (1. 23, § 7).
We do not find much in the barbarian codes
on this branch of the subject. The Roman law
against the intermarriage of freedmen or their
issue with the posterity of their patrons re-
appears in the Wisigothic code (bk. v. t. vii. c. 17),
the penalty being reinslavement. Among the
Wisigoths there seems to have been an old
law forbidding the intermarriage of Goths and
Romans, which was repealed by Rueswinth
{Lex Wisig. bk. iii. t. i.), who allowed any free-
man to marry any freewoman," with the solemn
consent of her family, and the permission of the
court." The same law must have prevailed in
Italy under the Lombards, though we miss it
from the Lombard code, since the Lex Romana
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE 453
forbids intermarriage between Romans and Bai--
barians under pain of death (bk. iii. t. xiv.).
This restriction is however one rather of a poli-
tical nature.
Lastly, certain restrictions on the marriage
contract are of a religious character, and will be
best referred to when we consider the rules of
the Church itself upon the subject, which we
shall now proceed to do.
That marriage generally was a civil contract,
subject to the laws of the state, seems to have
been the received doctrine of the early Church ;
whilst at the same time it claimed also power
to regulate it in the spirit of the Gospel, as is
shewn, for instance, in the strictness of our Lord
and His apostles against divorce, although freely
allowed both by the Jewish and the Roman law.
Hence Pagan betrothals and marriages were, as
Selden observes, held valid by the Christians
( Uxor Ehraica, bk. ii. c. 24). The validity of
non-Christian marriages seems to be implied in
such passages as 1 Cor. vii. 12-16, referring to
the cases of a convert husband and an uncon-
verted wife, a convert wife and an unconverted
husband ; in the latter of which cases at least
the form of marriage must be supposed to have
been one unsanctified by the Church ; whilst both
would seem to include the hypothesis of a con-
version of either party after such a marriage.
It must moreover be observed that, with one
exception, the forms of marriage in use in the
Roman world were purely civil ones. The only
religious marriage was that by confarreatio,
which remarkably enough was indissoluble,
except perhaps by disfarreatio, a practice of
which the reality is doubted. But it is clear
from Tacitus {Ann. bk. iv. c. 16) that by the
time of Tiberius, i. e. the beginning of the Chris-
tian era, the use of the ceremony had become
very rare. When therefore the author of the
Epistle to the Hebrews wrote that " marriage is
honourable in all " (c. xiii. 4), and his Epistle was
admitted as authoritative in the Gentile as well
as the Jewish churches, the inference is that
the honour he speaks of was felt to rest as
well on the ordinary civil contract of the Gentile
as on any form in use among the Jews. Again,
the Apostolical Constitutions (with an exception
as to the clergy to be hereafter noticed) speak
simply of " lawful " and " unlawful" marriage.
Thus, in a sort of summary of the faith con-
tained in the 6th book (c. 11), it is said :
" Every union which is against the law we abhor
as iniquitous and unholy." Again: "Marriage
should be lawful ; for such a marriage is blame-
less " .{ib. c. 14) ; the expression " lawful con-
nexion " {v6/j.ifjLos /xl^is) occurring repeatedly in
later constitutions (bk. vi. cc. 27, 29). The
only consideration which may east a doubt
upon the application of the idea of " law " in
such passages as the above, as referring to the
municipal law, arises from the circumstance,
to be presently adverted to, that the same
expressions are used in reference to unions
which were not recognized by the Roman law.
But the most valuable testimony to the feeling
of the early Church on this subject as late
as the 2nd and ;!rd centuries, is supplied by
Tertulliau (A.D. 150-226), a writer whose Chris-
tian zeal ran always in the direction of ultra-
strictness. In his treatise on Idolatry, distin-
guishing between those solemnities which a
454: CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
Christian man may lawfully attend and those
Avhich he may not, he enumerates marriage
among such as are free from " any breath of
idolatry," " pure by themselves." " The con-
jugal union," he says, does not flow " from the
worship of any idol." " God no more forbids
the solemnizing of marriages than the giving of
a name " (c. 16).
As a rule, then, the Church has followed the
municipal law in reference to the validity of the
contract of marriage, and has thus not had occa-
sion to dwell much in its legislation on the legal
incidents of the contract. The validity of heathen
marriage is implied in the judgments and deci-
sions of various popes and councils (some perhaps
antedated) as to pre-baptismal marriages, which,
in spite of one or two weighty authorities to the
contrary, were held binding, and on the express
ground that the issue of such marriages were
lawful {liberi). See the 2nd letter of Pope In-
nocent I., A.D. 402-17, to Victricius, c. 6 ; his
22nd letter, to the Macedonian bishops, c. 2 ; the
3rd Council of Rome, A.D. 531 ; and the letters
of Leo to Anastasius and to the bishops of Illy-
ricum. The alleged decree of Pope Fabian, a.d.
238-52, in Gratian, embodying the Roman law
on the effect of madness on marriage, is a purely
superfluous forgery. Ecgbert, archbishop of
York, indeed, in the Excerptions attributed to
him, seems to place the age of puberty some-
what later than the Roman law, since he says
that a girl of 14 has power over her own body,
a boy of 15 over his (bk. ii. c. 27). A canon
of the Council of Friuli, A.D. 791 (c. 9), con-
tains the like prohibition as a previous capitu-
lary before referred to against marriages with
children.
It has already been observed, under the head
*' Consent," that on one point indeed a marked
divergence is to be traced between the practice
of the Church and the Roman law. Slave-mar-
riages are recognized, at least in the later por-
tions of the Apostolical Constitutions. And
masters who refused to sanction them were to
be excommunicated (viii. 23). A free man, on
the other hand, is to dismiss, not to marry, a
slave-concubine with whom he may have lived.
(/6;ci)
Consistent with the Apostolical Constitutions,
the first canonical epistle of St. Basil (A.D. 326-
379), to Amphiloehius, bishop of Iconium, treats
slave-marriages as adulterous when contracted
without the master's will, but as " firm " when
contracted with his consent ; assimilating them
to the marriages of minors, and using the same
word (/fuptoi) to express the authority both of
the father and of the master. A work of doubt-
ful character, which claims authorship from the
Nicene fathers, the Sandiones et decrcta alia,
which in the collection of councils by Labbe' and
Mansi will be found appended to the canons of
the Council of Nicaea (vol. ii. p. 1029, and foil.),
but which are evidently of much later date,
declares that "marriage with slaves, male or
female, is not allowed to Christians, unless after
emancipation ; which being done, let them con-
tract by the law of marriage and freely, a dos
being assigned, according to the constitution of
the country which they inhabit " (bk. i. c. 4).
One of the alleged canons of the Nicene council
from the Arabic, on the other hand, implies the
practice of intermarriage with slaves even
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
amongst the clergy, in condemning as bigamous
those priests or deacons who having dismissed
their wives, or even without dismissing them,
marry others, whether free or slave (can. 66, or
71 of the Eulullensian version). But these
canons are also evidently of much later date
than that ascribed to them, though very likely
repi-esenting the practice of the Arabian church.
If we mention here two alleged decrees of Pope
Julius I. A.D. 336-52, the one against separating
slaves once married, the other allowing a master
to marry his enfranchised slave-girl (Gratian,
cc. 4, 10), it is onlv on account of their professed
date.
There ra-e indeed not wanting indications of a
narrower spirit among the leaders of the Church.
A letter of Pope Leo the Great (167), a.d. 458
or 9, addressed to Rusticus, bishop of Narbonne,
seems to imply the nullity of slaves' marriages,
and reproduces, on Old-Testament gi'ounds, the
strictest views of the Roman law against unequal
marriage. " Every woman united to a man is
not a wife, since neither is every son his father's
heir. The bonds of marriage are lawful between
the free and between equals ; the Lord establish-
ing this long before the commencement of the
Roman law existed. Therefore a wife is one
thing, a concubine another ; as also a bondmaid
is one thing, a freewoman another" (quoting
Gen. xxi. 10). [Concubines.] Suspicion is
indeed cast upon this text by its use of the
word ingenuus, free-born, as simply synon}'-
mous with liber, free, a mistake which never
occurs in the Code or Novels, though nearly a
century later in date, and (though it may be said
that a pope was not bound to be strictly accurate
in his law-language) it is not impossible that it
may be a forgery of the Carlovingian era, in-
vented to support a capitulary to the same
eft'ect, to be presently noticed.
The 24th canon of the 4th Council of Orleans,
A.D. 541, enacts that slaves fleeing to the pre-
cincts (" septa ") of churches in order to marry
are not to be allowed, nor are clerics to defend
such unions, but they are to be returned to their
masters and separated, unless their parents and
masters will let them marry ; — a remarkable
enactment, as shewing a recognition of parental
authority in a slave.
Another canon of the same Council, forbidding
marriages between Jews and Christian slave-girls,
seems to imply the intrinsic validity of marriages
between free and slave (c. 31). Another is re-
markable as repeating, with the severer penalty
of excommunication, the enactments of the Roman
law against the marriage of officials within their
provinces (c. 22).
A case in which a slave-marriage is recognised
occurs in a letter of Pope Pelagius (a.d. 555-66)
to the sub-deacon Melleus. (Labbe' and Mansi's
Councils, vol, ix. p. 737.)
On the other hand, Gregory the Great implies
the invalidity of a marriage between slave and
free in a letter to Fortunatus, bishop of Naples
(bk. vi. ep. 1), in favour of a woman whom her
husband had dismissed as being of servile condi-
tion ; but who, being now proved free, was
without delay to be received back by him. The
same pope however in another letter — to Mon-
tana and Thomas, slaves whom he enfranchised
with the privileges of Roman citizenshij) — imi)lies
the practice of slave-marriages, since he speaks
CONTRACT OF MAEEIAGE
of the ''betrothal gifts " (sponsalia) which the
priest GauJiosus had given in writing (con-
scripserat) to '• thy mother" (bk. v. ep. 12).
The 1st Council of Macon, A.D. 581, declares
indissoluble the intermarriage of two slaves with
their master's consent, ai'ter the enfranchisement
of either (c. 10). The 30th canon of the English
council held under Archbishop Theodore of Can-
terbury, towards the end of the 7th century,
bears that " the free (or free-born) must marry
with the free." Pope Stephen (a.d. 754) in his
replies to various consultations at Bienz, follows
Leo as to the dismissal of the ancillas and marry-
ing a free woman. It seems difficult to ascribe a
specific origin to a prescription found among
some " excei'pta de libris Romanorum et Fran-
corum," appended to a collection of fresh canons,
probably of the beginning of the 8th century,
which bears that " if any one chooses to have
his slave-girl in marriage, and has power over
his property, if afterwards he would sell her, he
cannot do so ; he is himself to be condemned, and
tlie woman handed over to the priest " (c. 60).
Perhaps however we have only here a fi\r-oft' echo
of Exod. xxi. 8, or Deut. xxi. 14.
The subject indeed both of slave-marriages
and of intermarriage between slave and free
seems to have been greatly considered under the
Carlovingiaus : and both the civil and ecclesias-
tical law (which indeed at this period blend
almost undistinguishably together) settle down
into the recognition of such marriages and inter-
marriages as binding under certain conditions.
As respects the former. King Pepin's capitulary
of Vermerie, A.D. 753, enacts that if a slave hus-
band and wife have been separated by sale, " they
are to be exhorted so to remain, if we cannot
reunite them " (c. 19); a text at least strongly
tending to the indissolubility of such unions.
A more singular one provides that if a slave have
his slave-girl for concubine, he may dismiss her
and accept " his compeer, his master's slave-girl
(comparem suam anciilara domini sui accipere) ;
but it is better that he keep his own slave-girl "
(c. 7). In both texts we see already visibly the hand
of the Church endeavouring to restrain the abuses
of slavery. It is moreover enacted that if a car-
tcllarius — apparently a slave freed by charter — on
receiving his freedom dismisses his slave partner
to take another woman, he must leave the latter
(c. 20). Fifty yeai's later, the validity of slave
marriages is again implied in some " Capitula
misso cuidam data " of the year 803, published
by Pertz, and to be presently referred to. And
ten years later still, a capitulary added in some
Codices to the Lombard law (c. 5), as well as the
30th canon of the 2nd Council of Chilons (both
of A.D. 813), enact the indissolubleness of slaves'
marriages, even when belonging to difterent
masters, provided their marriage be legal, and
by the will of their masters. Lastly, to the
Carlovingian period should also perhaps be re-
ferred the two alleged decrees in Gratian of
Pope Julius I. (supra). It is almost needless to
dwell on the momentous influence of the change
of view indicated by the above enactments on
the condition of the slave. Evidently, from the
moment a slave could lawfully marry, he was
no longer a thing, but a person. It might almost
be said that fr9m this period slavery properly so
called exists no longer within the Carlovingian
world • serfdom, or a condition of dependence,
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE 455
it might be absolute, of one man on another,
has replaced it.
As respects inter-marriages between slave and
free. King Pepin's capitulary of Verme»ie, of A.D.
753, enacts that where a free-man knowingly
marries a slave-girl, he shall always after live
with her (c. 13). The king does not even treat
such marriages as absolutely void, when con-
tracted in ignorance, allowing the free person to
leave his or her slave-partner and marry another
only if such slave cannot be redeemed (c. 6). The
contemporary Council of Vermerie recognized the
validity of marriage between a freewoman and a
slave, when contracted knowingly on her part, on
the ground that there should be one law to the
man and to the woman, and that " we have all
one Father in the heavens." The capitulary of
Compiegne, 757, enacts that if a freewoman
marries a slave, knowing him to be such, he
shall have her whilst he lives (c. 8). On the
other hand, " if a Prankish man has taken a
woman and hopes that she is free," and after-
wards finds that she is not, he may dismiss her
and take another ; and so of a woman (c. 5,
otherwise 7),
The validity of such unions is also implied
in an enactment, placing marriage with a free-
man, a slave, or a cleric, on exactly the same
footing (c. 4). Similarly, a Bavarian council at
Dilgelfind, 772, enacted that where a slave mar-
ried a woman of noble birth who was ignorant
of his condition, she should leave him and be
free (c. 10). The same rule was enacted in the
case of a ft-eeborn Bavarian woman marrying a
serf of the Church (" de popularibus legibus,"
c. 9).
Among the specially religious restrictions
which were sought to be placed on the marriage
contract in the early ages of the Church, the one
which would first claim our attention is that on
the marriage of Christians with Gentiles, or even-
tually also with Jews and heretics. This how-
ever will not be specially treated of here. The
next is that connected with the monkish profes-
sion, which must be distinguished from the early
vow of virginity in the female sex, and from the
institution of the Church-virgins. The vow of
virginity, which for many centuries now has been
considered an essential prerequisite of the mo-
nastic profession, was not so by any means in the
early hei'oic days' of monachism. St. Basil in
the 4th century, after .dwelling upon the pro-
fession of virginity by women, says expressly :
" As to professions of men, we know nothing of
them, except that if any have joined themselves
to the monastic order, they appear, without
word spoken, to have thereby adopted celibacy "
(2nd Can. Ep. c. 19). In the 5th century
however, Pope Leo the Great treats the marriage
of monks as a punishable offence, but not appa-
rently as void in itself. Writing to Rusticus,
bishop of Narbonne, about a.d. 458 or 459, he
places on the same footing the entering by monks
into the militia (a term probably equivalent at
this time to the service of the state, whether
military or civil) and their marriage. Those
who, leaving the monastic profession, turn to the
militia or to marriage, are to purge themselves
by the satisfoction of public penance ; for al-
though the militia may be innocent and marriage
honourable, to have abandoned the better choice
is a transgression (Ej). 167, c. 14). The con-
456 CONTEACT OF MARRIAGE
temporary Council of Chalcedon, a.d. 451, in like
manner excommunicated alike the monk and the
virgin devoted to God who enter into marriage,
but allows the local bishop to shew indulgence
(c. 1(5). And the ecclesiastical validity of a
monk's marriage at the beginning of the 6th
century is implied in the 21st canon of the
2nd Council of Orleans, a.d. 511, which enacts
that a monk who marries shall be incapable of
holding any ecclesiastical office. Later still in
the East (A.D. 535), the 6th Novel only forbids
marriage to monks who hare received the cle-
rical ordination, reducing them to the rank of
private persons (c. 8). In the West, however,
the 2nd Council of Tours, A.D. 567, not only dis-
tinctly prohibited the marriage of monks under
penalty of excommunication, but invoked the aid
of " the judge " to separate them from their
wives, under penalty of excommunication for
himself if he refused it (c. 15); an evident
attempt to enforce by spiritual terrors what the
state still refused to erect into law.
This is indeed the period when monks, at first
mere laymen, were beginning to be viewed, in
the West at least, as partaking of the clerical
character. The Council of Aries in 554 had de-
creed that monasteries both of men and women
should be subjected to episcopal jurisdiction. So
far as this view prevailed (for w& must not forget
that the monks themselves long struggled against
it), the prohibition of the mai-riage of monks will
have been considered as implied in that of the
marriage of clerics generally, though such mar-
riages are sometimes specifically referred to.
Towards the end of the century, the 6th General
Council, the 3rd of Constantinople, in Trullo,
A.D. 692, enacted that a monk who should marry
was to be punished as a fornicator (c. 44). In
the West, in the first part of the 8th century,
Gregory the 2nd, A.D. 714—750, in his letter to
Bishop Boniface, going further than any of his
predecessors, would not allow those who as chil-
dren have been shut up by their parents in
monasteries after puberty to leave such monas-
teries and marry (Ep. 13, c. 7). The marriage
of monks was again condemned by Pope Zacharias,
A.D. 741-51, in his 7th letter, addressed to Pepin
as mayor of the palace (c. 26). About the same
period the canons " de remediis peccatorum " of
Egbert, archbishop of York, place the monk on
the same footing as to marriage with the priest
or deacon ; requiring one of such who takes a
wife to be '' deposed " in conscientid populi" i. e.
apparently, with the full knowledge of the people
(c. 7). It may be added that the Council of Con-
stantinople in 814 in like manner excommuni-
cated a monk who should marry, and required
him against his will to be clothed in the monastic
robe and shut up in the monastery (c. 35). All
such prohibitions indeed bear witness to the
existence of the practices which they denounce ;
and indeed a letter of Pope Hadrian II. (a.d.
772-95) to Charlemagne contains a complaint
against the marriage of monks — apparently in
Lombardy — and asks the emperor to punish
them.
It is somewhat difficult for a long time to
distinguish in reference to this subject, so fer as
women are concerned, the woman under vow of
virginity or celibacy (as to whom see Devota),
and the nun (see heading Nun). In France, a
general constitution of KingClothar I. a.d. 560,
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
forbids (c. 8) all persons to marry " sanctimo-
niales." Another of King Clothar il., a.d. 614,
forbids any even " by our precept " to marry
religious girls and widows, or nuns who have
vowed themselves to God, as well those who
dwell in their own houses as those who are
placed in monasteries. That such marriages
however occurred in Italy still, is apparent
from a letter of Pope Gregory I. the Great
(a.d. 590-603) to Bishop Januarius (bk. iii. ep.
24). Distinguishing between " veiled virgins "
and nuns, he says that as respects women who
have gone from monasteries to lay life and mar-
ried, '" Those who have exceeded against such
women " (i. e. their husbands), " and are now
suspended from communion, if penitent, may be
readmitted." It is difficult in many instances to
define how far the meaning of the terms " sacrae "
or " sacratae virgines " is to be extended or
restricted. By the 8th century, indeed, the
church-virgin and the private devota seem for .
all practical purposes to have merged in the nun.
Indeed the Uxcerpta of Egbert, archbishop of
York, treat a private vow of celibacy by man or
woman as " foolish and impossible," and its breach
by marriage as only to be punished by three
winters' fasting (bk. ii. c. 19). The 1st Council
of Rome in 721, " against illicit marriages,"
expressly anathematizes one who marries '• mo-
nacham quam Dei ancillam appellamus" (c. 3).
The before-quoted Excerpta of Egbert con-
tain the like anathema, using the expression
" monialem, quae Dei sponsa vocatur " (bk. ii.
c. 18) ; the parties are to be separated, and
condemned to perpetual penance. Among the
" answers " of Pope Stephen II. from Bierzy to
" various consultations " (a.d. 754) is one, that
it is " net lawful for a virgin who has conse-
crated herself to God, likewise for a monk, to
marry : " either is to be excommunicated ; but the
bishop " may shew humanity and mercy " (c. 7).
The Synod of Metz, in 753, includes marriages
with a woman consecrated to God among incests
(c. 1); as does also the Council of Calchuyth
(i.e. Chelsea), A.D. 787, using the term "sancti-
monialis" (c. 15). See also similar prohibitions
against the marriage of nuns by the Bavarian
Council of Dingelfiud, A.D. 772 (c. 4); and by
the Council of Friuli, A.D. 791 (c. 11), which
requires girls and widows who have vowed vir-
ginity or continence, and have been " emanci-
pated to God," if afterwards they marry, to be
subjected " by secular judgment to fit bodily
chastisement " before undergoing their spiritual
punishment.
The prohibition against the marriage of monks
and religious women by degrees found its way
into the civil law of several of the barbarian
kingdoms besides France. Among the laws of
King Luitprand of Lombardy, A.D. 721, or later,
we find one of this kind as to women, in which
their position when they have assumed the reli-
gious habit is assimilated to that of girls be-
trothed under the civil law, whose marriage
entails a penalty of 500 solidi (bk. v. c. 1). In
the Wisigothic code, a law of Recarede inflicts
" on incestuous marriages and adulteiMes, or on
sacred virgins and widows and penitents, defiled^
with lay vesture or marriage " the penalties of
exile, separation, and forfeiture of property (bk.
iii. t. V. c. 2).
By the time of the Carlovingians, the civil and
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
ecclesiastical law almost wholly coalesce. King
Pepin's capitulary ot'Soissons in 744 forbids mar- i
riage with holy women together with incestuous j
marriages and bigamy (c. 9). In the 6th book
of the Capitularies we find one (c. 411) almost in
the same terms with the law of Recarede above
quoted, declaring that marriage with a virgin de-
voted to God, a person under the religious habit,
or professing the continence of widowhood, is not
a true marriage, and requiring the parties to
be separated by either the piiest or the judge,
without even any accusation being lodged with
him, the penalty being still perpetual exile.
(Comp. also Capit. 414, 424, bk. vii. c. 338.)
In the East, on the contrary, about the end of
the 8th century, it is noted as one of the features
of Constantine Copronymus' tyi-anny, that he
compelled monks to marry.
We shall now deal, though we do not propose
to do so at full length in this place, with the
contract of man-iage as respects the clergy pro-
perly so called. It need hardly be observed that,
so far as such contract might be recognized as
valid, all the restraints upon it in the case of
laymen would apply also to clerics. Sometimes
indeed these had to be specifically enacted. Thus
the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, provided that
no cleric should take a heretic, Jew, or pagan, to
wife, unless he should promise to convert her,
under pain of canonical punishment (c. 14). But
the Church had also restraints of its own in the
latter instance. We have said that, as respects
the clergy, the practice of the Church in respect
to marriage was mainly founded on the Jewish
law. The marriage of priests was by the Penta-
teuch surrounded with peculiar restrictions. The
priest was not to marry a harlot or " profane "
woman, or one divorced, or a widow, but a virgin
only (Lev. xxi. 7, 13, 14). [According to Selden,
indeed, the prohibition to take a widow or person
who had lost her virginity only applied to the
high-priest ; but he was also held debarred from
marriage with proselytes or freedwomen ; Uxor
Hebraica, bk. i. c. 7.] The Pastoral Epistles, in
requiring bishops or deacons to be " husbands of
one wife " (1 Tim. iii. 2, 12 ; Tit. i. 6), instead
of being considered as substituting a new rule
for existing Jewish prescriptions, seem only to
have been viewed as adding to these a further
one against Digamy. What will have to be said
on this latter head need not here be anticipated.
As a rule, however, we* may say that wherever it
is laid down that the bishop or deacon shall be
the husband of one wife, it is also provided that
such wife shall answer to the Levitical prescrip-
tions. JS. g. The Apostolical Constitutions, bk. ii.
c. 2, require the bishop not only to be the hus-
band of one woman once married, but to have,
or to have had, a " respectable {a-e/xv^v) and
faithful wife;" in the 6th bk. c. 17 (a later
constitution), both requires all the clergy to be
monogamists, and forbids them all to marry
either a harlot (the term seems rather too strong
as a translation of the Greek traipa, albeit ren-
dered meretrix in the Latin versions), a slave, a
widow, or a divorced woman, " as the law also
saith ;" although the Pentateuch does not forbid
the priest's marriage with a slave, and the re-
striction is one evidently borrowed from the
Roman law. Lastly, the Apostolical Canons ex-
clude from admission to the clergy those who
have married " a widow, or divorced person, or
CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE 457
harlot, or slave, or one of those on the stage "
(c. 14, otherwise reckoned 17 or 18); this last
restriction being also adopted from the Roman
law, as has been shewn already.
In respect of the marriage of the clergy indeed,
the restraint which occupies most space in the
church legislation of the period which occupies
us is that on digamous or quasi-digamous mar-
riages, which will be considered under the head of
Digamy. Meanwhile however there was grow-
ing up a feeling against all marriage of the clergy
whilst in orders, tending to their absolute ceti-
bacy, the history of which has been treated of
under that head. [See Celibacy.] The notices
which occur of other restraints upon clerical mar-
riages are comparatively few and unimportant.
The " Sanctions and Decrees " attributed to
the Nicene fathers — which, though extant in
Latin, seem evidently to embody Greek practice,
though no' doubt of a much later date than the
one ascribed to them — require, with something
of a plethora of words, the priest not to be
one who has married a slave-girl, an adulteress
or immodest woman (c. 14). The Council of
Tarragona, A.D. 516, requires readers and ostiarii
who wish to marry or live with adulterous women
either to withdraw or to be held excluded from
the clergy (c. 9). A letter of Gregory the Great
(A.D. 590-603) to John, bishop of Palermo, implies
the invalidity of a deacon's marriage with a woman
who did not come to him a virgin (bk. xi. ep. 62).
An alleged canon of the same Pope forbids the or-
dination, amongst others, of one who had married
a harlot (c. 4). Yet the 4th Council of Toledo,
A.D. 633, seems to imply that such marriages
might be legalized by episcopal permission, since
it excommunicates those clerks who, " without
consulting their bishop, have married a widow,
a divorced woman, or a harlot " (c. 44). And
an " allocution of the priests to the people on
unlawful marriages," appended to the records of
the Council of Leptines in 743, provides that a
future priest is not to marry a divorced woman,
harlot, or widow.
To pass now from the ecclesiastical to the
civil law, it must be observed that by the time
of Justinian the Roman law professes only to
follow the " sacred canons " as respects the mar-
riage of the clergy, and gives force of law to the
prohibitions contained in them. The children of
clerics by women " to whom they cannot be
united according to sacerdotal censures " ai-e de-
clared incapable of inheriting or receiving dona-
tions from their fathers {Code, bk. i. 7, iii. 1. 45 ;
A.D. 530). The 6th novel requires the bishop to
be either a chaste unmarried man, or the hus-
band of a woman who came to him a virgin,
" not a widow, nor divorced, nor a concubine "
(the last term apparently corresponding to the
kraipa of the Apost. Constitutions, and indi-
cating a milder interpretation than that of the
Latin translators) ; but requires the bishop not to
live with his wife, and without inquiring into the
position of those who have been already long
married, forbids in future the episcopal ordi-
nation of married men. Taken in conjunction
with this enactment, the 123rd novel may be
considered as finally establishing as a. rule of
civil law that principle of episcopsiJ celibacy,
which still obtains in the Greek church. The
same rules are substantially ap]ilied to the rest
of the clergy (c v.). The"l23rd Novel forbids
458 CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE
the ordaining of a bishop who either does not
live chastely, or has not had a "wife, his only
and first, neither a widow, nor divorced from her
husband' nor otherwise forbidden by the laws or
the sacred canons " (c. i.). Other clerics may be
ordained having a legitimate wife of the same
description (c. xiii.). And the reader contracting
a second marriage, or marrying any other than
such a wife as above described, was not to rise to
any higher office (c. xiv.). It hardly appears,
however, that up to this period the contract of
marriage
itself was made void if entered into
against the prohibitions of the law ; unless the
declaring their children bastards (spurii) may be
taken to imply this {Code, bk. i. 7 ; iii. 1. 45).
Among the barbarian codes, the only one which
appears to prohibit clerical marriage is that of
the Wisigoths, drawn up under clerical influence,
A law of Eecarede forbids the marriage or adul-
terv of a priest, deacon, or sub-deacon, with a
" widow vowed to God, a penitent, or any secular
virgin or woman," under pain of separation and
punishment according to the canon, the woman
to receive 100 lashes (bk. ii. 7 ; iv. c. 18). Nor
is it amiss to remark that in spite of various
attempts by councils to enforce the absolute
celibacy of the clergy, the validity of clerical
marriage is recognized by the civil law under
Charlemagne himself. In a capitulary, " De
regulis clericorum" (bk. vii. c. 652), it is
enacted that clerics " should also endeavour to
preserve perpetually the chastity of an unpolluted
body, or certainly to be united in the bond of a
single marriage."
11. We have now to say a few words on the
subject of the contract of marriage in the sense
in which the expression is still used in France
(" contrat de mariage " := marriage settlement),
of the written evidence of the contract itself as
between the parties.
The marriage contract among the Romans was
habitually certified in writing on waxen tablets,
termed nuptiales tabulae, which, however, might
also be used after marriage ; e. g., on the birth
of a child. The tabulae wei-e signed both by the
parties and by witnesses (Tac. Ann. bk. xi. c. 27 ;
Juv. Sat. ii. V. 119; ix. vv. 75, 76), and the
breaking of them was held to be at least a
symbol of the dissolution of marriage, if it had
uot the actual eftect of dissolving it ; see Tacitus
as to the bigamous marriage between Messalina
and Silius (Ann. bk. xi. c. 30 ; and Juv. u. s.).
Under the Code however, by a constitution of
the Emperor Probus, the drawing up of such
tabulae was enacted not to be necessary to estab-
lish the validity of the marriage, or the father's
potestas over his offspring (bk. v. t. iv. 1. 9).
They were perhaps not necessarily, though
usually, identical with the " dotal tablets "
(tabulae dotales), " dotal instruments " {instru-
mcnta dotalid), or "dotal documents" {docu-
menta dotalia), specifically so-called (the expres-
sions nuptialia instrumenta, dotalia instrumenta,
seem to be used quite synonymously in the 70th
Novel), but must have been comprised with them
at least under the general terms insU-umenta or
documcnta; as to which it is provided, by a
constitution of Diocletian and Maximin {Code,
bk. V. 7 ; iv. 7, iv. 1. 13), that where there is no
marriage, "instruments" made to prove mar-
riage are invalid, but that where there are none,
a marriage lawfully contracted is not void ; nor
COPE
could the want of signature to such by the
father invalidate his consent {ib. 1. 2 ; law of
Severus and Antonine). Nuptial instruments
were by Justinian made necessary in the case of
the marriage of scenicae or stage-players (1. 29).
Under the 74th novel, indeed, all persons exer-
cising honourable offices, businesses and pro-
fessions, short of the highest functions in the
state, were required, if they wished to marry
without nuptial instruments, to appear in some
" house of prayer and declare their intentions
before the defensor Ecclesiae," who in the pre-
sence of three or four of the clerks of the church
was to draw up an attestation of the marriage,
with names and dates, and this was then to be
subscribed by the parties, the defensor Ecclesiae
and the three others, or as many more as the
parties wished, and if not required by them, to
be laid up, so signed, by the defensor in the
archives of the church, i. e. where the holy
vases were kept; and without this the parties
were not held to have come together nuptiali
affectu. But this was only necessary where
there was no document fixing a dos or ante-
nuptial donation ; nor was it required as to agri-
culturists, persons of mean condition, or common
soldiers. It will be obvious that we have in the
above the original of our marriage certificates.
(See further Dowry, Markiagk.) [J. M. L.]
CONVERSI. One of the many designations
of monks. Just as, through a popular feeling of
reverence for asceticism, the word " religio "
came in the 3rd and 4th centuries to mean not
Christianity but the life monastic, so " conversi,'
though applied also to those who embraced
Christianity, or who took upon themselves any
especial obligations, as of celibacy or of ordination
(Du Cange, s. v.), was ordinarily restricted to
monks (Bened. Reg. c. 1 ; Fructuosi Reg. c. 13 ,
Greg. M. Dial. ii. 18 ; Salv. Eccl. Cathol. iv. ;
Isidore De Conversis. cf. Bened. Anian. Cone. Reg.
iii.). But the " conversi " were properly those
who became monks as adults, not those who were
trained in a monastery from their tender years
{Cone. Aurel. i. c. 2). About the 11th century,
according to Mabillon, " conversi " came to mean
the lay brothers, the " oblati " or " donati," the
" freres convers," who from piety or for gain,
or, probably, most often from mixed motives,
attached themselves to monasteries, as " associ-
ates" (to use a modern phrase) and attended to
the business of the monastery outside its wail.
(Mab. A}i7i. iii. 8 ; Martene ad S. Bened. Reg. c.
3 ; Mab. Act. SS. 0. S. B. Saec. 111. i. 21). The
"Conversi Barbati" are classed with monks
rathev than with the laity (Petr. Ven. Statut.
24). [I. G. S.]
COPE. {Cappa or Capa ; Yv. Chape.) From
being used as an out-door dress for defence
against rain, the cope was also called Pluviale,
whence It. Piviale ; and from the cowl or hood
with which it was furnished it was known as
Cuculla. Such, probably, was the " cuculla vil-
losa " spoken of by St. Benedict in his Regula
(Migne, Patrol. Ixvi. 777). " Vestimenta fratri-
bus secundum locorum qualitatem . . . dentur.
Mediocribus locis sufficere credimus monachis
per singulos cucullam et tunicam; cucuUam in
hieme villosam, in aestate puram aut vetustam,
et scapulare propter opera . . . Sufficit monacho
duas tunic;\s et duas cucullas habere, propter
COPIATAE
noctes et propter lavare ipsas res." So Smaragdus
(t820) says expressly iu his Commentary oa the
jRegula of St. Benedict, apud Migne, Patrol.
cii. "Cucullam dicit ille quod nos modo di-
cimus cappam." And to the same effect Theo-
demarus, writing from Italy to Charlemagne,
and speaking of the dress worn by the monks of
Monte Cassino (Ducange, in voc. Capa) : " lllud
indumentum, quod a Gallis monachis cuculla
dicitur, nos capam vocamus." Like other gar-
ments originally designed for practical use rather
than for ornament, the copes worn on occasions
of state or by the higher clergy received greater
enrichments from time to time, whether in re-
gard of the materials or of accessory ornaments,
particularly the " morse," or clasp by which they
were fastened iu front. From what we know to
have been the shape of the cope in all later times
we may infer that in the earlier period, up to
800 A.D., with which we are here primarily
concerned, the cappa was shaped like a modern
cloak, open in front, and attached only at the
neck. For full details concerning the later copes
of ecclesiastical use, see Bock, Lit. Gew. ii. 287 ;
Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 23; Marriott,
Vestiarium Christianum, p. 224 ; Pugin, Glossary,
in voc. [W. B. M.]
COPIATAE. The name given by Constantine
in the Theodosian Code, to certain Church officers
whose business it was to take care of funerals
and provide for the decent interment of the
dead. , The etymology of the name is doubtful
— Gothofred derives it from Kond^^eiv to rest —
others from KOTrerhs, mourning : more gene-
rally, it is referred to kSttos, labour : whence
they have sometimes been called lahorantes.
Another name for them is fossarii, or grave-
diggers — and in Justinian's novels, they are
mentioned as lecticarii — as carrying the corpse
or bier at funerals. They are reckoned in the
Theodosian Code among the inferior clerical
orders, e.g. lib. 13. tit. 1. de Lustrali Collat.
Leg. 1, " Clericos excipi tantum, qui Copiatae
appellantur," &c.
The foundation of this Order is attributed to
Constantine, before whose time the care of in-
terring the dead was only a charitable office, for
which every Christian made himself responsible
as occasion required. The order of Copiatae, as
first constituted by the emperor for this service
in the city of Constantinople amounted to 1100
men. and from this example they probably took
their rise in other populous cities. In Constan-
tinople, however, they formed a collegium, with
certain privileges and exemptions, which may
not have been extended to the order in the less
imi)ortant Churches.
The office of the Copiatae was to take the
whole care of funerals upon themselves, and to
see that all persons had a decent and honourable
interment. Especially they were obliged to per-
form this last office to the poorer sort, without
charge to their relations. At Constantinople
certain lands were set apart for their mainte-
nance ; but in other Churches it is more probable
that they were supported partly out of the com-
mon funds of the Church, and partly by their
own labour and traffic, which for their encou-
ragement were generally exempted from paying
custom or tribute (Bingham, B. iii. c. 8 ; Riddle ;
Martigny). [I>. B.]
CORONA
459
COQUUS, in the monastery. [Hkbdojia-
DARIUS.]
CORBONA ECCLESIAE. [Alms.]
CORDOVA, COUNCIL OF, a.d. 348, under
Hosius, to accept the determinations of the Coun-
cil of Sardica (Labb. Cone. ii. 98). [A. W. H.] 1
CORN, ALLOWANCE OF. This particu- |
lar provision for the maintenance of the clergy
deserves a special notice, from its connection
with the early stages of the recognition of Chris-
tianity by the empire. Constantine, in his zeal
for his new creed, ordered the magistrates of each
province to supply an annual allowance of corn '
(€TT)(na ffirripeffia.'), not only to the clergy, but ,
to the widows and virgins of the Church (Theo- j
doret, i. 11). When Julian succeeded, he trans- j
ferred the grant to the ministers of the heathen 1
cultus which he revived (Sozom. v. 5 ; Philostorg.
vii. 4). Jovian restored it, but on the lower j
scale of one-third of the amount fixed under j
Constantine. The payment continued, and was ]
declared permanent by Justinian (Cod i. tit. ii. i
de SS. Eccles.). [E. H. P.] |
CORN, EARS OF. Corn is not so often 1
used in early Christian art as might be sup-
posed. [Loaves.] The thoughts of early ico-
nogi-aphers seem to have gone always to the
Bread of Life with sacramental allusion, as
Bottari, tav. clxiii. vol. iii. et alibi. In Bottari, j
vol. i. tav. xlviii., the corn and reaper are re- !
presented in a compartment of a vault in the
cemetery of Pontianus. Again, in vol. ii. tav. Iv.,
the harvest corn is opposed to the vine and
cornucopia of fruit (Callixtine catacomb). i
The more evidently religious use of the ears
of corn is in various I'epresentations of the Fall
of Man. On the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
(supp. A.D. 358), Bottari, vol. i. tav. xv. 9, Adam
and Eve are carved ; the former bearing the
corn, in token of his labour on the earth, and the
latter a lamb, indicating woman's work, spinning.
The connection of this with Jack Cade's jjroverbial
line, " When Adam delved and Eve span," seems
probable. See again vol. ii. tav. Ixxxix. Mar-
tigny gives a copy (s. v. '" Dieu,") of a bas-relief
in Bottari, vol. iii. tav. xxxvii., from the cemetery
of St. Agnes, where two human forms, apparently
both male, are standing before a sitting figure,
whom Martigny supposes to represent the First
Person of the Trinity. It may represent the
ofl'ering of Cain and Abel ; at all events the
corn-ears and lamb are either being received or
presented by the standing figures. See also
Bottari, taw. Ixxxiv. Ixxxvii. Ixxxix. As these
figures are of no more than mature (sometimes
of youthful) appearance, the Second Person may '
be supposed to be intended by them. ;
[R. St. J. T.] 1
CORNELIUS. (1) The centurion, bishop of i
Caesarea, is commemorated Feb. 2 {Mart. Eom. •
Vet., Usuardi) ; Dec. 10 (Cal. Armen.). \
(2) Pope, martyr at Rome under Decius, Sept. ,1
14 (Mart. Bedae, Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C] j
CORNU. [Altar.] I
CORONA, martyr in Syria, with Victor, '
under Antoninus, Jlay 14 (Mart. Hierou., Bedae,
lioin. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CORONA. [Tonsure.]
460
CORONA LUCIS
CORONA LUCIS. A lamp or chandelier.
In the early ages of Christianity it was by no
means unusual for sovereigns and other royal
personages,
foil
owms an
instinct of natural piety
of which we have examples in prae-Christian
times (of. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. c. 4) to dedicate
their crowns to the use of the Church. The
gifts thus devoted were known as Donaria, and
were suspended by chains attached to their
upper rim, above an altar or shrine, or in some
conspicuous part of the church. Other chains
were attached to the lower rim, supporting a
lamp, from which usually depended a jewelled
cross. The crowned cross thus suspended above
the altar was felt to be an appropriate symbol of
the triumphs of Christianity, and its use became
almost universal. We have several allusions to
it in the writings of St. Paulinus of Nola in the
fifth century, e.g.
" Crucem corona lucido cingit globo."
Ep. 32 ad Severum.
" Parv;i corona subest variis circumdata gemmis,
Haec quoque crux Domini tanquam diademate ciucta
Emicat." i^'at. xi. v. 6T9 sq.
•' In cruce consartam socia compage coronam."
lb. V. 692.
Beda (de Locis Sanctis, cap. 2) in his description of
Calvary, specifies a large silver cross hanging
above the Holy Grave, with a brass circlet and
lamps " aenea rota cum lampadibus" attached to
it. In this manner the crowns of Theodelinda,
queen of the Lombards, and of her second hus-
band Agilulf, at the beginning of the 7th
century, were dedicated to St. John the Baptist
in the cathedral of Monza, as stated in the in-
scription borne by the latter before its destruc-
tion, and there is little reasonable doubt that the
celebrated iron crown of Lombardy, preserved in
the same cathedral, was at one time employed
for the same purpose (Frisi, Memor. della Chiesa
Monzese, Dissert, ii. p. 67 ; Pacciaudi, de Cult.
Joann. Bapt. Dissert, vi. cap. 10, p. 266). At a
much earlier period, according to Constantine
Porphyrogenitus and Kicetas, Constantine the
Great had dedicated his crown to the service oi
the Church. In the time of these writers, a
crown of remarkable beauty " prae caeteris et
operis elogantia, et lapillorum pretio conspicua "
(Ducange, Coiistantinop. Christ, iii. § 43), hang-
mg with others above the Holy Table, was pointed
out as having been offered to God by the first
Christian emperor.' With one of these votive
crowns, the lamp and chains being removed, in
the time of Const. Porphyr., the new emperor of
the East received his inauguration (Ducange,
Constant. Christ, u. s.). According to the not
very trustworthy catalogue preserved in Anasta-
sius (.S'. Silvest. xxxiv. § 36) the Lateran basilica
and that of St. Peter's were also enriched by
Constantine with large chandeliers of pure gold.
Clovis also, at the suggestion of St. Eemigius
early in the 6th century, sent to St. Peter's
" coronam auream cum gemmis, quae Kegnum
appellari solet " (Hincmar, Vit. S. Beinig.;
Anastas. 8. Hormisd. liv. § 85). The very re-
markable series of crowns discovered near Toledo
(see below. Crowns) were, as the inscriptions
borne by some of them testify, a solemn offering
CORONA LUCIS
to some Spanish church, at the hands of the king
and queen and royal family. No lamps were
attached to them when they were discovered,
but these appendages, as encumbrances of small
value, may have been removed when the regalia
were buried to conceal them from the Saracen
spoiler.
This custom for sovereigns to dedicate their
actual crowns to the Church's use led to the con-
struction of imitative
crowns, formed for vo-
tive purposes alone. Of
this usage we find re-
peated notices in the
Liber Pontificalis, which
bears the name of Ana-
stasius Bibliothecarius ;
as well as in ancient
chronicles and docu-
ments. They are usually
described as having been
suspended over the altar, <
and very frequently
mention is made of
jewelled crosses append-
ed to them. Small votive
crowns of this nature are seen suspended over
the altar in several ancient representations.
One compartment of the celebrated palliotto of
the church of Sant' Ambrogio of Milan, which
depicts the trance of St. Ambrose in which he
celebrated mass at Tours, represents one such
jewelled crown hanging over the altar at which
» Tradition ventured to assert that he had received it
by the hands of an angel as a present from Heaven.
"^-
''\>^-x".:5$<>^<H^.^
PensUe Cro^v-ns from Bas-reUef. Cathedral of Monza.
the saint is officiating (Ferrario, Memorie di
Sant' Amhrofi.'). A bas-relief, now in the S. tran-
sept of Monza cathedral, representing a corona-
tion, exhibits several crowns suspended over the
altar. Another bas-relief in the tympanum of
the west portal of the same cathedral, on which
CORONA LUCIS
are carved the various gifts of Theodelinda to
the church, shews us four crowns, three sus-
pended, and the fourth being the celebrated iron
crown. Macer in his Hierolexicon refers to a
similar representation in the church of San Cle-
mente at Rome, to the left of the entrance.
Among the mosaic decorations of Saut' Apolli-
nare Nuovo at Ravenna, we find above the
upper tier of windows a succession of pictures
of the conchs of apses, in each of which a crown
appears hanging by chains over the altar. These
suspended crowns are exactly similar to those
held by the female saints as votive offerings in
the mosaic frieze below.
CORONATI QUATUOR
461
Mosaic, St. Alxillin
The convenience of the form of these donative
crowns for the suspension of lamps doubtless gave
rise to the custom of constructing large chande-
liers after the same model. In these pensile
luminaries the shape and character of the royal
circle was preserved, but frequently in much
larger proportions. Notices of the presentation
of light-bearing circles of this nature occur re-
peatedly in Anastasius and other ancient autho-
rities. Besides the more ordinary name of
corona, the primary royal origin of these lumi-
naries was indicated by the designation regnum,
which is of constant occurrence (cf. Anastas.
Leo IIT. xcviii. § 393, " fecit regnum aureum cum
gemmis pretiosissimis; " Leo IV. cv. § 540, " fecit
. . . regnum ex auro purissimo unum pendens
super altare majus, cum catenulis similiter
aui-eis, sculptilem habens in medio crucem au-
ream habentem gemmas quatuordecim, ex quibus
quinque in eadem cruce fixos, et alias qua ibidem
pendent novem ").
Many of these coronae mentioned by Anastasius
are described as having been adorned with
dolphins (Anastas. S. Silvester xxxiv.- § 36, " co-
ronas quatuor cum delphinis ; " ib. § 38, " co-
ronam auream cum delphinis quinquaginta," §
43; St. Zachar. xciii. §219; St. Adrian, xcvii.
§ 348 ; St. Leo, iv. cv. § 531). Others were
decorated with diminutive towers, and (as we
see in the relief in the transept of Monza) with
fleurs-de-lis (Greg. M. Ep. lib. i. ep. 66, " Co-
ronas cum delphinis duo, et de aliis coronis
lilios ; " Anastas. St. Hilar, xlviii. § 70, " tur-
i-em argenteam cum delphinis.") Leo, cardinal
of Ostia, in his Chronicon Cassinense thus describes
a corona executed for that lover of art the abbot
Desiderius : " He had a pharus made, that is a
silver crown weighing 100 lbs. and 20 spans in
circumference. On it were 12 towers, and 36
lamps hung from it." Bells were also sometimes
suspended from the lower rim.
Other names by which these chandeliers were
known in early writers are Pharus, Pharocantha-
rus, Spanoclystum = (TTavoiK\fi<Tr6v, Gahhatha,
and Rota.
The name Pharus, though sometimes, as we
have seen, used for a corona, was more properly
a standing candelabrum supporting lamps or
candles, which from their number of spreading
branches were, according to Ducange, sometimes
called arhores, trees. Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. xxxiv.
c. 3, speaks of " lychnuchi — arborum modo mala
fereutium lucentes," and Paulus Silentiarius
(^Descript. S. Soph, part 2) thus describes can-
delabra in that basilica —
Keiva yap ij KiavoZariv opirpEifiiecrcTLV ofioia
SevSpea T15 KaKeiTdev.
The most magnificent example of an ancient
corona, though long after our date, is that still
to be seen suspended in the cathedral at Aix-la-
Chapelle, over the crypt in which the body of
Charlemagne was deposited. This co7-ona was
the offering of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa,
by whom the tomb was opened in 1165. A very
valuable treatise on this corona, embracing full
details of the form, arrangements, and history of
coronae generally, has been published by Dr. Fr.
Bock (Z)cr Kronleuchter Kaisers Fried. Barbarossa
zu Aachen, Leipzig, Weigel, 1864). The Melanges
d'Arche'ologie of Cahier and Martin, Par. 1853,
vol. iii. may be referred to, article Couronne de
lumiere, for representations of suspensory crowns
from MSS. and painted glass. See also Ciampini,
vol. ii. c. xii. p. 89 sq. Migne, Encyclupedie Theol.
Dictiommire d' Orfe'vrerie,x. Couronnes. Justi Fon-
tanini Dissertatio de Corona Ferrea (Rom. 1719,
pp. 91-97). Macer, Hierolexicon.
COEONATI DIES. [Festival.]
CORONATI QUATUOR (Legend AND
Festival of). The above title is given to four
martyrs, Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, and
Victorinus, who suffered martyrdom at Rome iu
the reign of Diocletian. The tradition respecting
them is to the effect that they refused to sacrifice
to idols, and were then at the command of the
emperor beaten to death before the statue of
Aesculapius with scourges loaded with lead
(ictibus plumbatarum). The bodies having lain
where they died for five days, were then depo-
sited by pious Christians in a sandpit on the
Via Lavicana, three miles from the city, near
the bodies of five who had suffered martyrdom
on the same day two years before, Claudius,
Nicosti-atus, Symphonianus,* Castorius, and Sim-
plicius. See, e.g. the Martyrology of Ado, No-
vember 8 (^Patrol, cxxiii. 392), who gives the
legend more fully than others.
It is stated by Anastasius Bibliothecarius
( Vitae Pontificum, Honorius : Patrol, cxxviii. 699)
that Pope Honorius 1.^ (ob. 638 A.D.) built a
church iu Rome in their honour (" eodem tem-
» In the case of this name considerable diversity of spell-
ing exists:— Symphonianus, Greg. Sacr.; Simplironianus.
Cd.Rhem.s Siniphorianus, Cdd. Matuldi and Rodradi ;
Sympronius, Mart. Hieron.; Sympronianus, Usuardus ;
and Sympbronianus, Ado.
b Before this time, however, the Coronati Quatuor had
given their name to one of the tiluU of the city of Rome ;
for in the subscriptions to sundry decrees of Gregory the
Great the last signature is " Fortunatus [presbyter tituli]
SS. iv. Cor." (Gregorii Decrda: Patrol. Ixxvii. 1339 ^
formerly tJpp. lib. Iv., Indict. 13, c. 44.) See also Diuaitse,
Glossarium, s. v. titulus.
462
CORONATI QFATUOR
pore fecit ecclosiam beatorum martyrum iv. Coi
quam et dedicavit et douum obtulit "). To this
church the remains of the martyrs were subse-
quently transferred by Pope Leo IV. (ob. 855
A.D.), who had been its officiating priest (op. cit.
Leo IV., ih. 1305), and who, finding it in a very
ruinous condition on his accession to the ponti-
ficate, restored it with much splendour, and
bestowed upon it many gifts (ib. 1315). This
church was situated ou the ridge of the Coelian
hill, between the Coliseum and the Lateran ; and
on its site the present church of the Santi Quattro
Incoronati was built by Pope Paschal II.
As to the appointment of the festival of these
martyrs on November 8, which is said to be due
to Pope Melchiades (ob. 314 A.D.), a curious dif-
ficulty has arisen. Thus in the notice of the
festival in the editions of the Gregorian Sacra-
mentary (for the words would appear to be
wanting in MS. authority), the remark is made
that it being found impossible to ascertain the
natal day of the four martyrs ('' quorum dies
natalis per incuriam neglectus mlnime reperiri
poterat "), it was appointed that in their church
the natal day of the five other saints, near to
whose bodies theirs had been buried, should be
celebrated, that both might have their memory
recorded together (Patrol. Ixxviii. 147).
Others, however, make this forgetfulness to
be of the names of the martyrs. Thus the Mar-
tyrologiuiH Homanmn, after speaking of Claudius,
&c., proceeds : " Et ipso die iv. Coronatorum
Severi, Severiani, Carpophori, Victorini, quorum
festivitatem statuit Melchiades papa sub nomi-
nibus quinque martyrum celebrari, quia nomina
eorum non reperiebantur, sed intercurrentibus
annis cuidamsancto viro revelata sunt" (Patrol.
cxxiii. 173). See also the Martyrology of
Usuardus (ib. cxxiv. 669).
If however the institution of the festival be
rightly assigned to Melchiades, who was pontiff
during the reign of Diocletian, it is strange how
this ignorance could have existed, seeing that
many Christians must have been living who had
known them personally. In Alcuin (Be Div. Off.
31 ; Patrol, ci. 2230) this strange idea assumes
still another form, in that the forgetfulness now
includes both the day and the names : (" quorum
nomina et dies natalis per incuriam neglectus."
The look of the Latin however points strongly
to the conclusion that the words nomina et are
a later addition).
No trace however of this forgetfulness is to
be found in the Marty rologium Hieronymi, where
the notice is merely " vi. Id. Nov. Romae natalis
Sanctorum Simplicii . . . et Sanctorum Quatuor
Coronatorum Severi . . . . " (Patrol, xxx. 481).
A difficulty of another sort is that Anastasius
Bibliothecarius (I. c.) seems to distinguish the
Coronati Quatuor from Severus, &c. ; for after
describing how Leo IV. restored their church at
Rome, he adds " et ad laudem Dei eorum sacra-
tissima corpora cum Claudio . . . . , necnon Severo
.... quatuor fratribus coUocavit." Doubtless
however the last words are spurious. It will
be observed also that Anastasius speaks of the
Coronati as brothers, the only ancient authority,
so far as we have observed, who does so.
Another curious point is that, in the Martyr-
ology of Notker for July 7, the five saints, whom
we have seen associated with the Coronati
Quatuor, seem to be commemorated on that day :
CORONATI QUATUOR
I " Romae, passio beatorum martyrum Nicostrati
primiscrinii, Claudii commeutariensis, Castorii
sive Castuli, Victorini, Symphpriani vel siout in
libro Sacramentorum continetur Semproniani ;
quorum natalem sexta die Iduum Novembris
eatenus nos celebrari credidimus, donee venera-
bilis pater Ado alios et alios pro eis nobis
honorandos insinuaret : de quibus in suo loco
vita comite commodius disseretur " (Patrol.
cxxxi. 1115). We cannot tell however how this
last promise was redeemed, for the Martyrology
of Notker is wanting after Oct. 26. The Mar-
tyrology of Usuardus also connects with July 7
the names of the five above-mentioned saints
(Patrol, cxxiv. 233, where see the note).
In the Martyrology of Rabanus Maurus all
notice for Nov. 7 and' 8 is wanting. In that of
Wandelbert (Patrol, cxxi. 617), Nov. 8 is tlius
marked : —
" Senas ornantes idus merito atque cruore,
Claudi Castori Simplici Sympboriane, •
Et Nicostrate pari fulgetis luce coronac;"
(al. Semproniane), where it will be seen that
there is no allusion to the Coronati themselves,
unless indeed there be an implied reference in
the last word of the third line.
In the Martyrology of Bede the Coronati are
mentioned, but under the names of the five saints ;
thus, " vi. Id. Nov. natale iv. Coronatorum, CL, N.,
Symphoriani, Castoris, Simplicii" (Patrol, xciv.
1097).
We find the festival marked in the Leonine
Calendar, " v. (vel vi.) Id. Nov. natale SS. iv. Co-
ronatorum " (ib. Ixxiv. 880) ; and the former day
(Nov. 7) in the calendar of Bucherius (ib. 879)
as " Clementis, Semproniani, Claudii, Nicostrati,
in comitatum." We find the names again varied
in the Gelasian Sacramentary (ib. 1179), which
cites four of the names of the five saints : " In
natal. SS. iv. Coronatorum, Costiani, Claudii,
Castori, Semproniani."
We have already referred to the presence of
this festival in the Gregorian Sacramentary ;
see also the Antiphonary (Patrol. Ixxviii. 707).
The collect in the Sacramentary runs thus :
" Praesta quaesumus omnipotens Deus ut qui
gloriosos martyres Claudium, Nicostratum . . . ,
fortes in sua confessione cognovimus, pios ajjud
te in nostra intercessione sentiamus ;" where it
will be noticed that only the names of the five
saints, and not of the Coronati, are given.
The Mozarabic Missal mentions the festival
(Patrol. Ixxxv. 898) ; but has no special office
for it, employing for this day as well as for others
a 7nissa jjlurimorum maHynim. This would
appear to point to the fact of the festival being a
late addition to the Missal.
It may be added that several ancient calendars
mark Nov. 8 as the festival of the four Coronati ;
but except the first, which is English, they are
all Italian (Patrol. Ixxii. 624, Ixxx. 420, ci. 826,
cxxxviii. 1188, 1192, 1202, 1208, &c.). Doubt-
less therefore the festival is to be viewed as
essentially one of the Italian church, and as one
which never gained any special notoi'iety beyond
the bounds of that church. There are Acta of the
Coronati Quatuor, not apparently of any special
value, which were published in Mombritius'
Sanctuarium, vol. i. ff. 162, sqq.
In addition to authorities cited in this
article, special reference should be made to
CORONATION
CORONATION
463
Me'nai-d's uotes to the Gregorian Sacramentary
(m foe). [R- S.]
CORONATION. The Coronation of kings
and emperors, the most an gust ceremony of
Christian national life, aftbrds a striking example
of the manner in which Christianity breathed a
new spirit into already existing ceremonies, and
elevated them to a higher and purer atmosphere.
Under her inspiration a new life animated the
old form : heathen accessories gradually dropt
off; fresh and appropriate observances were de-
veloped ; and the whole ceremonial assumed a
character in harmony with the changed faith of
those who were its subjects.
It has been remarked by Dean Stanley (Me-
rnorials of West. Abbey, p. 42) that the rite of
coronation, as it appears in the later part of
the period to which our investigation is limited,
represents two opposite aspects of European
monarchy. It was (I) a symbol of the ancient
usage of the choice of the leaders by popular
election, and of the emperor by the Imperial
Guard, derived from the practice of the Gaulish
and Teutonic nations, and (2) a solemn consecra-
tion of the new sovereign to his office by unction
with holy oil, and the placing of a crown or
diadem on his head by one of the chief ministers
of religion, after the example of the ancient
Jewish Church.
These two parts of the ceremonial, though
united in the same ritual, have a different origin,
and it will be convenient to treat them sepa-
rately.
(1) Among the Teutonic and Gothic tribes the
custom prevailed of elevating the chief or king
on whom the popular election had fallen on a
large shield or buckler, borne by the leading
men of the tribe. Standing on this he was ex-
posed to the view of the soldiers and people,
who by their acclamations testified their joy at
his accession, and accepted him as their sove-
reign and head. The " chairing," or carrying
round through the assembled crowd, " gyratio,"
usually three times repeated, followed. Tacitus
describes this ceremonial in the case of Brinno,
chief of the Batavian tribe of Canninefates
" impositus scuto, more gentis, et sustinentium
humeris vibratus, dux deligitur " (Hist. iv. 15).
The German soldiers of the Imperial Guard intro-
duced this custom to the Romans, and we find
the later emperors inaugurated in this manner.
Thus Gordian the younger A..D. 238 was " lifted
up " as emperor by the Praetorian Guards :
" retractans, elevatus est et imperatorem se ap-
pellari permisit " (Capitolinus in Gordian; Hero-
dian, lib. viii. c. 21). Julian, when before the
death ofConstantius the enthusiasm of his troops
forced him at Paris unwillingly to assume the
imperial dignity (April A.D. 360), submitted to
the same ceremonial, " impositus scuto pedestri
et sublatius eminens Augustus renuntiatur "
(Amm. Marcell. lib. xx. c. 4) ; ini twos affiriSos
fifTewpov 6.pavT€s avTi7ir6u re 'S.e^acrrhv Auto-
KpaTopa (Zosimus, lib. iii. 9. 4). Valeutiaian
was desired to name a colleague A.D. 364, kot'
outV tV avay6p€vaiu eVt ttis affiriSos (Philo-
storg. viii. 8), to which Nicephorus significantly
adds"^ iis (Bos. The poet Claudian, writing of the
inauguration of the young Honorius as Augustus
A.D. 393, refers to the same custom —
" Sed mox cum solita miles te voce levassef."
So completely was this custom identified with
the inauguration of a sovereign that the verb
inaipeiu came into use as the regular term for
the recognition of a new emperor. Thus we find
Euseb. Epitome temp, of Marcian A.D. 450, avrol^
Tip erei iirr^pdr} MapKtavhs AijyovffTOS, and ot
Maximus A.D. 455 (cf Suidas sub voce inaipeiv).
Zonaras, writing of Hypatius set up by a sedition
as a rival to Justinian, says eirl affTiSos /xfrdp-
ffiov &paures avayopivoufft ^affiAea (Zonar. xiv.^
6). It took its place as a recognised portion of
the ritual of a coronation in the Eastei-n Empire;
e.g. the coronation of Justin the younger in St.
Sophia's as described by Corippus, de Laudibus
Justini Augiisti Minoris (lib. ii. 137-178). A
shield was held up by four young men. On this
the emperor stood erect, like the letter I, with
which his name and that of his two immediate
predecessors commenced.
" Quatuor ingentem clypel sublimius orbem
AltoUunt lecti juvenes, manibusque levatus,
Ipse minlstroram supra stetit, ut sua rectus
Littera, quae siguo stabili non flectitur unquam
Nominibus sacrata tribus."
We also find it in the elaborate rituals drawn
up by Joannes Cantacuzenus (c. 1330; Hist. i.
c. 41, printed by Martene ii. 204 ; and Habertus
Pontific. Graec. p. 604 sq.) and Georgius Codinus,
Curopaletes (d. 1460; de Officio et Officiatibus
Aulae Constant, c. 17). The only change is that
the emperor no longer stands on the slippery
surface of the buckler, but adopts the much
securer position of sitting, " sessitans." The risk
of a dangerous and indecorous fall during the
ceremony of " gyratio," is proved by the example
of Gunbald, king of Burgundy (A.D. 500), who
on his third circuit " cum tertio gyrarent " fell,
and was with difficulty held up by the people
(Grego. Turonens. Hist. "lib. vii. c. 10). Accord-
ing to George Codinus, who may be taken as a
probable evidence of the ritual prevailing several
centuries before his time in the unchanging East,
this " levatio " took place outside the Church
of St. Sophia, into which the new emperor was
borne to receive the sacred rites of unction and
crowning at the hands of the patriarch. It was
the rule that the shield should be supported in
front by the emperor (when the choice of a
successor was made in his lifetime), the father of
the newly created monarch if alive, and the
patriarch, the other highest dignitaries of the
State supporting it behind.
The origin of this custom being Teutonic, it
was naturally continued by the sovereigns of the
Prankish race. The long-haired Pharamond was
thus inaugurated A.D. 420 : " levaverunt super
egem crinitum " (Gesta Begum Francorum
apud Dom. Bouquet, ii. 543). Clovis received his
recognition as king by the same token, " clipeo
impositum super se Regem constituunt" A.D.
509 (Gregor. Turon. lib. ii. c. 40). Sigebert, son
cf Clotaire I. A.D. 575, when "more gentis, im-
positus clipeo rex constitutus" (Adonis Chro-
nicon ; Gregor. Tur. Hist. Fran. iv. c. 52), was
stabbed bythe assassins of Queen Fredegonde.
A century later, A.D. 744, we read of Hildc-
brand, grandson of Luitprand king of the Lom-
bards, " in regem levaverunt " (Paulus Diaconus,
vi. 55), of Pippin (a.d. 751 "rex elevatus est"
Annul. Guelferb.). And to cloce the series, Otho
" sublimatus est " at Milan A.D, 961. [Cf. Grimm,
Rechtsalterthiimcr, p. 234.]
464 CORONATION
The ceremonial is depicted in an illumination
of the 10th century engraved by Monttaucon
(Monumens, torn. i. p. xvi.)' representing the pro-
clamation of David as king. He stands on a
round shield, borne aloft by four young men.
From a passage in Constant. Porphyr. {(le Ail-
mmist. linper. c. 38) this custom appe^^rs to
have prevailed among the Turks. It is not found
in the earlv Spanish annals, but it was certamly
in use in 'the kingdom of Arragon at a later
period (Ambros. Morales, lib. xiii. c. 11), and
traces of it are found in that of Castile, ^n Legi-
bus Partitarum, leg. iii. tit. xxii. part. in. There
is no evidence of its ever havJng been adopted in
England. ^ , ,
Imoncr the Frankish and Lombard nations an
additional ceremony was the delivery of a spear
to the newly-made monarch. We find this in
the case of Hildebrand A.D. 744 (Paul. Diac. vi.
.55) • Childeric A.D. 456 (Chifletius in Anastas.
cvii.'p. 96) ; Childebert II. A.D. 585 (Greg.Turon.
vii. 33 ; Aimionus, ii. 69). Martene (de Bit. ii.
212) writes of the Frankish kings "tradita in
manum hasta pro sceptro, excelso in solio hono-
rifice imponunt."
(2) The second aspect in which a corona-
tion was viewed was the religious one. As
soon as the Bible became known, the practice
of the Jewish nation to consecrate their kings
to their high office by the hands of the chief
minister of religion became an authority from
which there was no appeal. Of the two cere-
monies specially characterizing the Jewish rite,
unction and the imposition of a crown, the
former alone was strange to the Western nations.
From a very early period, as we shall see, the
croirn or dijcLcm was known as the symbol of
royalty. The only change was that of the person
by whose hands it was placed on the monarch's
head. Uw^tion appears to have been entirely
unknown as a part of the ritual, and to have
come into use with the conversion of the em-
perors to the Christian faith.
(-() To speak first of the imposition of the
COKOXATION
trated from some historical facts. Thus Alex-
ander took oft' his diadem to bind up the wound
of Lysimachus (Justin, lib. xv. c. 3). Pompey's
enemies made it a charge against him that he
had bound up an ulcer on his leg with a white
cloth like a diadem, it mattering not on what
part of the body the royal insignia was placed
from Cirtirpini.
crown or diadem. For the sake of clearness, while
referring to dictionaries of classical antiquities
for fuller details, it may be desirable to remind
our readers that the croirn, corona, <TT4<pavos,
was a head circlet, wreath, or garland of leaves,
flowers, twigs, grass, &c., and, as luxury increased,
of the precious metals, chiefly gold ; while the dia-
dem, SidSrifxa, "taenia" or " fascia" (Q. Curtius,
iii. 3), as its name implies, was originally nothing
more than a linen band or silken ribbon, tied
round the temples, with the loose ends hanging
down behind. This ribbon Eastern magnificence
afterwards adorned with pearls and precious
stones. The nature of the diadem may be illus-
(Amm. Marcell. xvii.). Monima, the wife of Mi-
thridates, attempted to hang herself with her
diadem (Plutarch, Liicullus. c. 18).
Though the words corona and diadema have not
unfrequently been used interchangeably, the dis-
tinction between them is very precise. " "How-
ever" (writes Selden, Titles of Honour, c. 8, §2),
" these names have been from antient times con-
founded, yet the diadem strictly was a very diffe-
rent thing from what a crown now is or was ; and
it was no other then than only a fillet of silk, linen,
or some such' thing. Nor appears it that any
other kind of crown was used for a royal ensign,
except only in some kingdoms of Asia, but this
kind of fillet, until the beginning of Christianity
in the Roman empire." The " diadema," not the
"corona" was the emblem and sign of royalty.
It is styled by Lucian jSoo-iXeios yvdpia/xa ( Pise.
35; cf. Xenoph. Cyojo. viii. 3. 13); and irepin-
eivai Si<i5r,fxa is of frequent use to indicate tne
assumption of royal dignity (Polyb. v. 57. 4; Jo-
sephus, A7it. xii. 10. 1); as in Latin " diadema ^^
is identified bv Tacitus with the "insigne reguim
(Annal. xv. 29). The diadem was of Eastern
origin, and ^\'as introduced to the Romans through
their Oriental campaigns and intercourse with
Asiatic nations. When first seen at Rome it
caused great offence. Though they submitted to
the reality of sovereign power, their susceptible
minds could not endure its outward symbols. The
golden " corona " had raised no alarm. Caligula
and Domitian wore it at the public games without
objection, and it appears on their coins. Au-
gustus, Claudius, Trajan, and many others are
represented with rayed or "stellate" crowns,
imitating the majesty of the sun. Julius Caesar,
rio-htly interpreting public opinion, refused the
tempting ofter of a diadem at Antony's hands,
though half-veiled in a laurel wreath (SiaSrj^a
o-TeAoj/o) Sd(t>vvs TT^pnveTAeyfj.^vov) and had it
laid up' in the Capitol (Plutarch, /. Caes. 61 ;
Sueton. i. § 79). Caligula when about to assume
the diadem was warned by friendly counsellors
of the dano-er of thus exceeding " principum et
regum fastfgium " (Sueton. iv. c. 22). Titus pro-
voked suspicion of affecting the throne of the
East by wearing the diadem, though according
to the established ritual, when consecrating the
Apis ox at Memphis (Sueton. xL c. 5). The effe-
I'inaugur.ition dcs pro-
b "Almd est corona, aliud diadema. Corona simplex est
circulus aureus quo utuntur reges iu minoribus solcmni-
tatibus. Diadema est quasi duplex corona quum ipsi
coronae quasi alius circulus gemmis superposuus supi-r-
additur "—Peter of Blois, Sermo. yix. vol. iii. p. H.
CORONATION
minate Elagab.ilus advanced a step further and
wore it in private, " diademate gemniato usus
est domi " (Lampridius) ; and Aurelian, who
had been familiar with its use in his Eastern
campaign, and the attire of his captive Zenobia j
(Trebell. Poll. c. xxix.), first ventured to present
himself to the public gaze with his temples
adorned with this badge of sovereignty, and his
person glittering with magnificent attire A.D.
270: "Iste primus apud Romanos diaderaa capiti
innexuit, gemmisque et aurata omni veste, quod
adhuc fere incognitum Eomanis moribus vise-
batui-, usus est " (Aurel. Vict. Epitom. c. xxxv.).
The diadem once introduced was never dropped,
and became a recognized mark of imperial dig-
nity ; but it seems to have been chiefly worn on
state occasions. Constantine was the first to adopt
It as a portion of his ordinary attire — " caput ex-
ornans perpetuo diademate ' (Aurel. Vict. Epit.
cxli.), and his successors continued the usage.
As soon as the emperors had become Christian,
it naturally followed that their inauguration to
sovereignty should be accompanied by sacred rites,
and receive the blessing of the chief minister of
religion, who speedily became also the recognized
agent in setting apart the sovereign to his regal
office by the ceremonies of the imposition of the
crown, and at a later period, of unction, borrowed
from the rites of the Jewish Church. Originally
the crown was put on by those who had the
power of giving it. The Imperial Guard who
chose the emperor crowned him. When Julian
had been suddenly chosen by his troops as their
emperor at Paris (April A.D. 3G0), and had been
raised on the shield by the soldiers, it was they
who forcibly put the token of power on his un-
willing head : iireOeffav crvv $ia rh StdSriiiia rrj
KicbaAfi (Zosim. Hist. iii. 9. 4). The circum-
stances of this coronation deserve mention from
their picturesqueness. There being no real dia-
dem at hand, the troops demanded that he should
use his wife's head-ribbon. Julian refused, deem-
ing a woman's ornament unworthy of the imperial
dignity. Still more peremptorily did he reject
the horse's headband they then proposed. At
last one of his standard-bearers took off the
gold torque from his neck, and with that Julian
was crowned (Amm. Marcell. xx. 4). This mean
crown " vilis corona " was laid aside at Vienne for
a more ambitious diadem, glittering with jewels —
'• ambitioso diademate utebatur lapidum fulgore
distincto " (Amm. Marcell. xxi. 1 ; Zonaras, xiii.
10). His successor Jovian was also proclaimed
king, crowned and vested in the royal robe by
the army who chose him A.D. 363, rrtv aAovp-
yiSa ii/Svs Ka\ rh SiaSTj^ua Trepidefiei/os (Zosim.
iii. 30; Theodoret, iv. 1; Theophan. p. 36); and
Valeutinian A.D. 364, " principali habitu cir-
cumdatus et corona, Augustusque nuncupatus "
(Amm. Marc. xxvi. 2). When Valentinian as-
sociated his son Gratian with him in the em-
pire, he invested him with the purple and crown
(Amm. Marcell. xxvii. 7). In none of these cases
is there any reference to a bishop or minister of
religion as performing the ceremony of corona-
tion ; nor can we say with any certainty when
this custom arose. The first hint at such a cus-
tom that we meet with is in the dream of Theo-
dosius before his admission to a share of the
imperial dignity, c. 379 (?), in which he saw
Meletius, bishop of Antioch, putting on him a
crown and the royal robe (Theodoret, //. E. v. 6).
CIIRTST. ANT.
CORONATION
4G5
It has been erroneously asserted by Martene (dt;
Eitibus, ii. 201-237, ed. Bassano 1788) and Me-
nard (Notes to the Sacrarnentary of St. Gregory,
p. 397 sq.), and repeated by Catalan! and many
subsequent writers, including Maskell, thatTheo-
dosius II. (A.D. 439) is the first whom we know to
have been crowned b)' a bishop. Theophanes (p.
59) informs us that Theodosius the younger sent
crowns, (TTe(pdvovs ^acriAtKovs, to Valentinian II.
at Rome, c. 383, but nothing is anywhere said
of his own coronation. The passage quoted by
Martene from Theodorus Lector, (lib. ii. c. 65,)
speaks of the coronation, not of Theodosius II.
but of Leo L, A.d. 457, by Anatolius the patri-
arch : ffTe(pdels virh too uvtou Trajpidpxov. In
this case the new emperor, a rude Thracian sol-
dier, had been a military tribune and chief
steward of the household of Aspar, the Arian
patrician, by whose influence he was raised to
the throne. It is not improbable that episcopal
benediction might be regarded as a valuable
support to a feeble title, and that Leo felt a
special satisfaction in having the imperial crown
imposed on his brows by the head of the Byzan-
tine hiej-archy. But previous allusions to coro-
nation at the hands of a bishop would lead us
to question the accuracy of Gibbon's assertion
(chap, xxxvi.) that " this appears to be the first
origin of a ceremony which all the Christian
princes of the world have since adopted," and it
would certainly be very unsafe to assert that it
was the first time that this ceremony was per-
formed by episcopal hands. The next recorded
instance of episcopal coronation is that of Jus-
tin I. This emperor was crowned twice : first
by John II., patriarch of Constantinople, A.D. 518
(theophan. Chronograph, p. 162 ; cf. the patri-
arch's letter to Pope Hormisdas, apud Baronii
Annul, anno 519, no. Ix. : " Ideo coronam (aliter
cornu) gratiae super eum coelitus declinavit, ut
aftluenter in sacrum ejus caput misericordia
funderetur : omnique annuntiationis ejus tem-
pore cum magna voce Deum omnium principem
glorificaverunt quoniam talem verticem meis
manibus tali corona decoravit ") ; and secondly,
"pietatis ergo," by Pope John II. on his visit to-
Constantinople, A.D. 525 (Anastas. Bibliothec. p.
95, ed. Blanchini, Rom. 1718; Airaionus, lib. ii.
c. 1). His successor Justinian received the dia-
dem primarily from his uncle's hands (Zonaras lib.
xiv. c. 5), in compliance with a practice subse-
quently prevailing in the Eastern empire, by whicli
the symbol of royalty was originally bestowed by
the emperor himself on those whom he wished to
succeed him ; the ceremony being probably re-
peated by the bishop or patriarch. Thus Verina
crowned her brother Basiliscus, A.D. 474. Tibe-
rius II. his wife Anastasia, A.D. 578 (Theophanes,
Chion.). But the sanction of religion had be-
come essential to the recognition of a new sove-
reign by his subjects, and Justinian was inaugu-
rated by the imposition of the hands of the
patriarch Epiphanius (Cyril. Scythopol. Vita S.
Sabae Archimandritae). From this time corona-
tion at the hands of the patriarch was an esta-
blished rule. Justin II., A.D. 565, was crowned
by John Scholasticus ; Tiberius II. by Eutychius,
Sept. 26, 578, ten days before Justin's death and
by his order. His successor Maurice and his
wife were crowned by John the Faster, A.D. 582.
on the day of their marriage (Theophyl. Simo-
catla, lil). i. c. H>\ ;ind their son Theodosius,
2 H
466
CORONATION"
when four years old (Theophan. p. 179). He-
raclius, with his wife Eudocia, was crowned by
Sergius, Oct. 7, 610, and in the third year of
his reign his son Heraclius and his daughter Epi-
phania^vere also crowned. It is unnecessary to
give later examples. In the time of Justinian's
successor Justin II. the ceremonial of coronation
seems to have received the form and religious
sanction it maintained, on the whole, till the fall
of the empire. The ritual is elaborately de-
scribed by Corippus. The ceremony took place
at break of day. After his elevation on the
shield (see above), the emperor was carried into
St. Sophia's, where he received the patriarch's
benediction, and the imperial diadem was imposed
by his hands. He was then recognized as emperor
bv acclamation first of the " patres " and then
of the " clientes." Wearing his diadem he took
his seat on the throne, and after making the
sign of the cross he made an harangue to his
assembled subjects : —
" Postquam cuncta videt ritu perfecta priorum,
Pontificum summus plenaque aetata venustus,
Adstantotn benedLxit eum, caelique potentem
Exorans Dominum sacro diademate jussit
Augustum sancire caput, summoque coronam
Imponens apici ' Feliciter accipe ' dixit."
Corippus de Laud. Justin, ii. 9, v. 179 sq.
With the addition of the important ceremony
of unction, and a considerable elaboration of
ritual, the coronation office, as given by Joannes
Cantacuzenus, afterwards emperor (c. 1330), and
a century later, by Georgius Codinus (d. 1453),
corresponds with that described by Corippus in
all essential particulars.
Of the Occidental use we know little or
nothing. We may reasonably suppose that there
was no essential difference beween it and the
Eastern ritual. But the Western empire had
ceased before the earliest record of any religious
ceremony accompanying the rite in the East,
and when it revivecl in the person of the em-
peror Charles the Great, coronation at the hands
of a bishop had long been a recognized custom
ainong the Prankish nations. Martene (ii. 212)
acknowledges that the coronation of Pippin, the
father of Charles, is the earliest example he can
discover. Pippin was crowned twice — first by
St. Bonifoce, archbishop of Mentz, papal legate,
at Soissons, a.d. 752 ; secondly, together with
his sons Charles and Carlomann and his wife
Bertha, by Pope Stephen at St. Denis, Sunday,
July 28, 754 (Pagius, Brev. Gesta Rom. Pont.).
Charles the Great was also crowned episcopally
more than once. In addition to his boyish coro-
nation he was solemnly crowned in St. Peter's at
Rome by Pope Leo. This coronation took place
on Christmas Day, A.D. 800. It forms one of the
great epochs in history, as by this the Prankish
king was recognized by the Vicar of Christ as
the representative of the emperors of Rome and
inheritor of their rights and privileges.
The ceremony is thus described by Const. Ma-
nasses in Chron. Synops. : —
fVT^vBiv afieij36(xe>/os KdpovWov 6 Ae'wi'
avavopeiJei Kparopa t^? waKaiorepas 'Pii^r);
Kai <rTi!<(,os TrepiTc^Tjerii/ ws ol 'Pw/iaiwi/ vofiot.
It has been repeatedly asserted that, previous
to his coronation at Rome, Charles had been
crowned with the so-called iron crown at Monza :
but the fact is not recorded in any early autho-
rities, and it IS probably a story of later growth.
CORONATION
His infant son Pippin was crowned king of Italy
by Adrian I. on Easter Day, 801, the day after
his birth. "^
One of the very earliest instances on record of
a royal coronation by an ecclesiastic in Western
Europe is that of Aidan, king of Scotland, by
St. Columba in lona, a.d. 574.'' It may pei'haps
be reasonably questioned whether this picturesque
narrative is to be received as historical. But it
is accepted by some of the latest and best au-
thorities (e.g. Montalembert and Burton); and
the kernel of the story is probably authentic.
According to the tale, an angel was sent to
command Columba to consecrate Aidan. He
reminded the saint that " he had in his hands
the crystal-covered book of the Ordination of
Kings ;" which, be it remarked, presupposes the
existence of such a ceremony. St. Columba hesi-
tated, preferring for sovereign Aidan's brother
logen. The angelic messenger appeared again
and again, becoming more and more peremp-
tory, until on the third visit he struck the re-
fractory saint with a scourge, leaving a weai
which remained on his side all the rest of his
life. On this Columba consented, and Aidan
was made king by him on the celebrated Stone
of Destiny, taken afterwards from lona to Dun-
staffnage, and thence to Scone, whence it was
transferred by Edward I., as a symbol of con-
quest, to Westminster. The words of Adamnan
are simply, " in regem ordinavit impouensque
manum super caput ejus ordinans benedixit."
No mention is made either of the crown or
unction (Adamnanus, de S. Columh. Scoto Confes-
sore, t. iii. c. 5 ; Montalembert, ITonks of the
West; T. Hill Burton, Hist, of Scotland, i. 319).
Almost contemporaneous with this are the records
of the same rite in Spain. Leovigild, king of
the Visigoths, A.D. 572, according to Isidore,
Hist. Goihorum, vii. 124, was the first of those
sovereigns to assume the crown, sceptre, and
roval robe : " Nam ante eum et habitus et con-
sessus communis ut genti ita et regibus erat."
Of Recared also, Leovigild's successor, A.D. 586,
we read, " regno est coronatus " (26.).
(6) Another essential portion of the coronation of
a Christian monarch was unction at the hands of a
bishop or other chief minister. This rite clothed
the person of the king with inviolable sanctity.
It was considered to partake of the nature of a
sacrament (August, adv. Petilium, lib. ii. c. 112),
and to be indefible ; to convey spiritual jurisdic-
tion, as the delivery of the crown conferred tem-
poral power ; and it gave the chief significance to
the formula " Rex Dei gratis," which according
to Selden (Titles of Honour, p. 92) could not from
c The notion, once so widely received, that the Western
emperors were crowned in three different places, with
crowns of three different materials — gold at Rome denoting
excellence, silver at Aix-la-Chapelle denoting purity, and
iron at Monza or Milan denoting strength— is a mere myth
of an editor of the Pontificale Romanum. deservedly ridi-
culed by Aeneas Sylvius (Pope Julius II.), Hist. Aust.
lib. iv., and refuted by Muratori, cte Cor. Ferr. p. 9.
d It is stated in the Introduction to the Roxburgh Club
edition of the "Liber Regalis," 1871, that "the earliest
coronation of a Christian prince within the limits of
Great Britain and Ireland is generally supposed to be that
of Dermot or Diarmid, supreme monarch of Ireland, by
his relative, Columba," circa 560: but this is merely an
inference from the close relation between the two parties,
not an ascertained historical fact.
COEONATION
its sacred character, be applied to any other lav
person. Thus Gregory the Great writes, "quia
ipsa unctio sacramentum est, is qui promovetur
foris ungitur si intus virtute sacramenti robo-
retur " {Expos, lib. i. L'eyum, c. x.). " Rex unctus
non mera persona laica sed mixta" (Lyndwood, lib.
iii. tit. 2). Anointing, it is well known, was the
chief and divinely appointed ceremony lay which
the kings among the chosen people of God were
inaugurated to their office. As early as the time
of the Judges the idea \vas familiar; for in
.Jotham's parable the trees propose to anoint a
king over them. This shews that it must have
been in use among other nations with whom
the Jewish people had intercourse, and that
St. Augustine goes too far in asserting that it
was a rite peculiar to the people of God, and was
never adopted by heathen nations. " Nee in aliquo
alibi ungebantur reges et sacerdotes nisi in illo
regno ubi Christus prophetabatur et ungebatur
et unde venturus erat Christ! nomen. Nusquam
alibi omnino in nulla gente, in nullo regno"
(Enarrat. in Ps. xliv. § 10).
The earliest authentic instances of the cere-
mony of unction forming an essential element
in Christian coronations appear in the annals
of the Spanish kingdoms. The rite is mentioned
in the Acts of the 6th Council of Toledo, a.d. 636.
Wamba on his coronation (A.D. 673) was anointed
by Quirigo, archbishop of Toledo : " Deinde cur-
vatis genibus oleum henedictionis per sacri Qui-
rici pontificis manus vertici ejus infunditur"
(Julius Toletanus, § 4; of. Rodericus Santius,
quoted by Selden, Titles of Honour, p. 155).
But the rite was evidently anterior to this. The
language used evidences that the unction was an
established custom, and that it took place at
Toledo. Wamba's is simply the first unction on
record. This is confirmed by the Acts of the
12th Council of Toledo, which state ofHervigius,
Wamba's successor, A.D. 680, that he " regnandi
per sacrosanctam unctiouem succeperit potesta-
tem " (Labbe', Cone. vi. 1225, canon i.).
Passing by the language of Gildas (de Excid.
Brit. § 21), " ungebantur reges et non per Deum,
&c.," as more oratorical than historical, and the
uncertain reference to unction in Ina's designation
of himself, " by God's grace, king of the West
Saxons," in the opening sentence of his laws
A.D. .690, we come down to the form of coro-
nation contained in the Pontificale of Egbert,
archbishop of York A.D. 732-767, of which Mr.
]\Iaskell says, " it is probably not only the most
ancient English use, but the most ancient extant
m the world" (Ifonum. Bit. iii. 74-81). The
ritual, together with other ceremonies, expressly
includes the anointing of the king's head with
oil. " Benedictio super regem noviter electum.
Hie verget oleum cum cornu super caput ipsius
cum antiphone ' unxerunt Salomonem ' et Psalmo
' Domine in nrtute tua.' Unus ex pontificibus
dicat orationem et alii uuguant."
The 12th canon of the Council of Cealcyth
\.V>. 787, " de ordinatione et houore regum,"
/ontains a valuable incidental mention of unction
as an essential element of the kingly office, in
the words, "Nee Christus Domini esse valet nee
rex totius regni qui ex legitime non fuerit con-
uubio generatus." Of Egferth, son of Offa, who
was crowned at this council as his father's col-
league, the language of the Anglo-SaxonChronicle,
in which this is the earliest coronation mon-
COROXATION
407
tioned, "h.a'Uowed to king" (to cijuingc gchalgod)
can only be interpreted of unction, and so Wil-
liam of Malmesbury has understood it, " in
regem iiluactum." Eardwulf, king of North-
umberland, is recorded to have been consecrated
(gebletsod) and elevated to his throne (to his cinc-
stole ahofen) by Archbishop Eanbald and three
bishops (Anglo-Sax. Chron. A.D. 795). And finally
of Alfred, the same chronicle says, a.d. 854, that
when Pope Leo IV. heard of the death of Ethel-
wulf he consecrated him king (bletsode Alurcci
to cin/e). The rhyming Chronicle of Robei-t o(
Gloucester, quoted by Selden {Titles of Honour,
p. 150), in describing this coronation uses the
remarkable phrase " he oiled (elede') him to be
king : " —
" Erst he adde at Rome ybe, and vor is gret wisdome
The pope Leon him blessede, tho he Hinder come,
And ihe king is croune of this lend, yt in this lond
yat is:
And slede him to be king, ere he were king ywis.
And he was king of Engelond, of all that there come
That verst thus yeled was of the Pope of Rome.
And sutthe other after him of tho erchebissop echon,
So that biuore him thur king was ther non."
From England the custom of unction seems to
have passed into France, where Pippin's anoint-
ing^ hj Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, at Soissons
A.D. 752, is acknowledged by Martene {de Bit.
Eccl. ii. 212; cf Selden, u.s. p. 113) to have
been the first regal unction the testimony for
which is worthy of credit. « According to Chif-
letius, p. 30 (apud Maskell u. s.), the rite was
more than once repeated : " Pipinus omnium
Franciae regum primus, imitatus Judaeorum
reges, ut se sacra unctione venerabiiiorem au-
gustioremque faceret, semel atque iterum ungi
voluit." This second unction is probably that
mentioned by Baronius, July 28, A.D. 754," when
Pippin received anointing from Stephen II. to-
gether with his sons Charles and Carlomann.
The custom of unction was firmly established
in the West by the close of the 8th century.
When Charles the Great was crowned in Ronie
by Leo I. he was anointed with oil from head
to foot : —
KaX ixrfv ak\a xp'io-a.uej/os Kol voixoi^ 'lovSaiuiV,
c/c Kecf}a\ris M^XP' toSwv eAai'w tovtov xpi'ei.
Const. Manass. in Ckrun. Synops.
I The East followed the West in the adoption of
I unction. It has been carried back to the time
I of Justin and Justinian, i. e. to the middle of
the 6th century (Onuphrius, de Comit. Tmferator.
! c. 2) ; but Goar {Eucholog. p. 928) affirms that
"the emperors of the East were. not anointed
before that Charles the Great was crowned in
the West " (cf. Selden, v. s. p. 146).
In the earliest ritual anointing on the head
alone sufficed. Tliat of the whole person, adopted
in the case of Charles the Great, was quite ex-
ceptional. The unction is thus limited in the
Pontificale of Egbert. In the Greek ritual, given
by Codinus, tlie head was anointed in the shape of
the cross (o-raupoetScur). The mediaeval English
rite is peculi.ar in anointing the head, breast, and
« The ridiculous fable of the savcta ampulla, conveyed
from heaven by an angel with oil fur the coronation ritos
of Clovis, A.D. 4«1, was not hoard of till four himdred years
alter the date of the supposed event, and then in connexion
with his baptism and confirnialiun. (tlincrnar, VitaS. Rem.
ap Suiium, .Jan. 13.)
2 H \>,
i68
COKONATION
arms, clenotins; glory, sanctity, and strength.
The kings of France were anointed in nine places
tlie head, breast, between the shoulders, the
shoulders themselves, the arms, and the hands.
But this was a later development of the rite.
The head alone was anqinted in three places, the
right ear, the forehead round to the left ear,
and the crown of the head, when Chaides the
Bald was crowned by Hincmar, A.D. 809 (Hinc-
mar. Opera, i. 745).
(c) The delivery of the sceptre and staff, which
appears in the English ritual of the Fontificale
of Egbert, is evidently derived from the custom
prevailing among the Lombards, Franks, and
other early nations, to which we have already
referred, of delivering a spear to the newly
elected sovereign.
(il) The profession of faith, which in later times
formed part of the ritual of an imperial coro-
nation, preceding the episcopal benediction, is
not mentioned in the more ancient authorities.
The instances given by Martene (de Bitibus) in
proof of its early date are quite inconclusive.
Jovian's declaration of Christian faith on his
election as emperor by the soldiers of his army,
was evidently entirely voluntary (Theodoret,
H. E. iv. 1). The demand made of Anastasius
(A.D. 491) by the patriarch of Constantinople,
Euphemius, that as the price of the episcopal
sanction to his election to the imperial dignity,
he would sign a document declaring his adhesion
to the orthodox faith, was quite e.xceptional
(Evagr. H. E. iii. 32 ; Theod. Loot, iii.), while
the profession of orthodoxy required by Cyriac
of Phocas A.D. 602, and unhesitatingly given by
that base and sanguinary usurper to purchase
the patriarch's recognition, can scarcely be
pressed into a precedent. In the Gothic king-
dom of Spain an oath that he would defend
the Catholic faith, and preserve the realm from
the contamination of Jewish unbelievers, was very
early exacted of the sovereign. Such a pledge
is declared essential in the Acts of the 6th
Council of Toledo, a.d. 636 (act iii. Labbe,
Coiicil. V. p. 1743), and in the later councils held
at the same place. It is expressly declared of
Wamba A.D. 673 that before the' ceremony of
unction and after the assumption of the royal
attire, " regio jam cultu conspicuus ante altare
divinum consistens ex more fidem populis red-
didit" (Jul. Tolet. § 4). The oath of King
Egi^a is given in the Acts of the 15th Council
of Toledo A.D. 688. Xo such oath or profession
of faith appears in the form of coronation in
the Fontificale of Egbert. We are unable to
state when it was introduced into the ritual of
the Eastern empire. But according to Georgius
Codinus (cap. xvii. §§ 1-7), the newly recognized
emperor had to give a written profession of
faith before his coronation, to be publicly read
in St. Sophia's.
{e) Leontius {Vita Sancti Joan. Alex. Episc. c.
1 7) mentions a remarkable custom prevailing in the
coronations of the Eastern empire in the 6th cen-
tury as an admonition of the transitoriness of all
earthlj' greatness. After his coronation the archi-
tects of the imperial monuments approached the
emperor and presented specimens of four or five
marbles of diHerent colours, with the inquirv
which he would choose for the construction of
his own monument. The analogous ceremonv de-
scribed by Peter Damianus (Zt«. lib. i.'l7).
CORONATION
though belonging to a later period, may be men-
tioned here. The emperor having taken his seat
on his throne, with his diadem on his head and
his sceptre in his hand, and his nobles standing
around, was approached by a man carrying
a box full of dead men's bones and dust in one
hand, and in the other a wisp of flax which — as
in the papal enthronization — was lighted and
burnt before his eyes.
(/) This article may be fittingly closed by an
epitome of the ritual prescribed in the Fontificale
of Egbert, A.D. 732-767, already repeatedly
referred to as the earliest extant form of corona-
tion.
The title of this coronation service is " Missa
pi'o regibus in die Benedlctionis ejus." It com-
mences with the Antiphon "Justus es Domine,
&c." (Ps. cxix. 137), and the Psalm " Beati im-
maculati (Ps. cxix. 1). Then succeeds a Lesson
from Leviticus, " Haec dicit Dominus " (Lev.
xxvi. 6-9) ; the gradual, " Salvum f;ic, &c.," and
the verse, "Auribus percipe" and "Alleluia,"
the Psalm "Magnus Dominus" (Ps. xlviii.), or
" Domine in virtute " (Ps. xxi.), and a sequence
from St. Matthew, "In illo tempore" (Matt. xxii.
15). Then follows the " Benedi. io super regem
noviter electum," and three collects, "Te iuvo-
camus Dornine sancte," " Deus qui populis tuis"
(both of which are found in the Liber Regalis),
and " In diebus ejus oriatur omnibus aequitas."
The unction follows, according to the form al-
ready given. After the collect, " Deus electorum
fortitudo," succeeds the delivery of the sceptre.
The rubric is, " Hie omnes pontifices cum princi-
pibus dant ei sceptrum in manu." Fifteen Frcces
follow. After this there is the delivery of the staff
("Hie datur ei baculum in manu sua"), with the
prayer, "Omnipotens det tibi Deus de rore coeli,"
&c., and imposition of the crown (the rubric is,
" Hie omnes pontifices sumant galerum et ponant
super caput ipsius "), with the prayer, " Benedic
Domine fortitudinem regis principis, &c." This
is succeeded by the recognition of the people,
and the kiss. The rubric runs, " Et dioat omnis
populus tribus vicibus cum episcopis et presby-
teris Vivat rex N. in sempiternmn. Tunc con-
firmabitur cum benedictione omnis populus " (Leo-
fric Missal, " omni populo in solio regni ") " et
osculandum principem in sempiternum dicit.
ArrKH, Amen, Amen." The seventh " oratio " is
said over the king, and the mass follows, with
appropriate Ofi^ertory, Frcface, &c. The whole
terminates with the three royal precepts, to
preserve the peace of the Church, to restrain
all rapacity and injustice, and to maintain justice
and mercy in all judicial proceedings.
Authorities. — Maskell, Monumenta Fitualia
Ecclesiae Anglicanae, iii. 1-142. Martene, J?e
Antiquis Ecclesiae Bitibus, ii. 201-237. Selden,
Titles of Honour, part i. ch. vii. Habertus,
Pontific. Graec. pp. 627 sq. Catalani, Comment,
in Fontific. Soman, i. 369-418. Menin, Traite'
du Sacre et Couronnement des Bois et Beines de
France. Goar, Euchologium, pp. 924-930. Me
nard. Notes to Sacramentary of Gregory, p. 397.
Arthur Taylor, Glory of Begality. Montf;iucon,
Monumens de I'Histoire de France, tom. i. p. xvi. sq.
Discours preliminaire de I'tnaiujuration des pre-
miers Bois de France. Codinus Curopalata, Be
Officiis et Officialibus Curiae et Ecclesiae Constanti-
nopolitanae, c. xvii. Grimm, Bechtsalterthiitner,
p. 234 sq.
CORPOEAL
CORPORAL (Corporale, Palla Corporalis,
Palla DominiCiC). The cloth on which the ele-
ments are consecrated in the Eucharist.
It is probable from the nature of the case that
from the most ancient times the table on which
the Lord's Supper was celebrated was covered
with a cloth. [See Altar-CLOTiis.] In process
of time, the cloth which ordinarily covered the
table was itself covered, when the sacred ele-
ments were to be consecrated, by another cloth
called a Corporal. The Liher Pontificalis (p.
105, ed. Muratori) asserts that Pope Sylvester
(t o35) decreed that the sacrifice of the altar
should be consecrated not on silk or on any kind
of dyed cloth, but only on pure white linen, as
the Lord's Body was buried in linen. The de-
crees of popes of that age lie, as is well known,
under a good deal of suspicion ; but at a some-
what later date Isidore of Pelusium (Epist. i.
123) lays down precisely the same rule as that
attributed to Sylvester. Germanus of Paris
(Expositio Brevis, p. 93, Migne) also lays down
that the corporal must be of linen, for the same
reason as that alleged by the preceding authori-
ties, and adds that it should be woven through-
out, like the seamless coat of the Lord. Regino
(De Discip. Eccl. c. 118) quotes a council of
Rheims to the following effect. The corporal on
which the immolation is made must be of the
finest and purest linen, without admixture of
any other material whatever. It must not re-
main on the altar except in time of mass, but
must either be placed in the sacramentary or
shut up with the chalice and paten in a place
kept delicately clean. When it is washed, it
must first be rinsed in the church itself, and in
a vessel kept for the purpose by a priest, deacon,
or subdeacon.
The corporal appears anciently to have co-
vered the whole surface of the altar. Hence,
according to the Ordo Romanus II. c. 9, it re-
quired the services of two deacons to spread and
refold it. So, the Ordo Rom. /. c. 11. It was
necessary, in fact, that it should be sufficiently
large to admit of the bread for a great number
of communicants being placed upon it, and to
allow a portion to be turned up so as to cover
the elements. But when, about the 11th century,
it ceased to be usual for the people to communi-
cate, and the bread came to be made in the wafer
form, the corporal was made smaller, and a
separate cloth or covering was placed over the
chalice (Innocent III. De Myst. Missae, ii. 56).
This was often stiffened with rich material.
Many churches, however, especially those of the
Carthusians, retained the more ancient use of
the corporal even in modern times, as we are
informed by De Mauleon in his Her Liturg. pp.
57, 60, 200, 268. (Krazer, De Liiurgiis, pp.
175 ff.)
For the corporals of the Eastern Church, see
Antimensium. [C]
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Corporal
punishment in almost every form was evidently
allowed by the lex talionis of the Pentateuch :
" Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for
wound, stripe for stripe " (Exod. xxi. 24, 25). It
was also allowed to be used by the master upon
his slave to an almost unlimited extent ; if in-
deed he smote his servant or his maid with a
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT 469
rod, and they died under his hand, he was to be
punished, but not if they " continued a day or
two" (*, 20, 21); the slave, however, obtaining
his freedom if his master blinded hinj of an eye,
or knocked a tooth out (vv. 26, 27). The judicial
bastinado (i. e. for a freeman) was not to exceed
40 stripes, lest " thy brother should seem vile
unto thee " (Deut. xxv. 3). That the use of per-
sonal chastisement remained prevalent, is evident
from the whole of the Old Testament, and es])e-
cially from the Book of Proverbs; though it is
somewhat difficult to see by whose hand the
" rod " or " stripes " which Solomon so zealously
eulogises as the due reward of fools could well
be applied. Not less zealously, it is well known,
does he inculcate the use of them for the instruc-
tion of children.
It seems hardly necessaiy to point out how
much milder is the tone of the New Testament
in these respects. Fathers were not to " provoke
their children to wrath " (Eph. vi. 4, and see Col.
iii. 21); masters were to "forbear threatening"
with their slaves (Eph. vi. 9). At the same time
the judicial use of corporal punishment is fre-
quently mentioned, and only indirectly censured
when in violation of an established privilege.
By the old Roman law indeed a citizen could
only be beaten with a vine-branch, not with rods
(fustes) or with the scourge (Jlagellum), which
privilege was extended by Caius Gracchus to the
Latins ; hence St. Paul's twice-recoi-ded protest
(Acts xvi. 37 ; xxii. 25) against being " beaten "
or " scourged," being " a Roman." It is certain
however that in the Roman army a terrible pu-
nishment existed, called fustuarium, beginning
with a stroke of the centurion's vine-branch (the
symbol of his authority), and seldom ending but
with death. And as the status of the freeman
became gradually lowered, it is clear that the
use of the rod became more prevalent, till we
find the jurists of the period extending fi-om Se-
verus to the Gordians, such as Callistratus and
Macer (end of the 2ud to nearly middle of the 3rd
century), speaking of the fustes as the punish-
ment of the free, in cases where the slave would
be flogged with the flagellum, or terming the
application of the former a mere " admonition,"
but that of the latter a castigation {Dig. bk. xlviii.
t. xix. 11. 10, 7).
A constitution of Severus and Antonine forbade
the chastising with the fustes either decemvirs
or their sons {Code, bk. ii. tit. xii. 1. 5. a,d. 199) ;
The ignominy, however, arose from the sentence,
if for an offence deserving by law such punish-
ment, not from the mere act; e.g. if inflicted
by way of torture, before sentence, it did not
dishonour (Dig. bk. iii. t. ii. 1. 22; Code, bk.
ii. t. xii. 1. 14; law of Gordian, a.d. 239);
though the torturing of decemvirs under any
circumstances was eventually forbidden (bk. x.
t. xxxi. 1. 33 ; Const, of Gratiau, Valentinian,
and Theodosius, A.D. 381). But a man was in-
famous after being whipped and told by the
praeco, "Thou hast calumniated" (bk. ii. 1. 16,
AD. 241). An extract from the jurist Callis-
tratus in the Digest (bk. 1. t. ii. 1. 12) brings out
in a striking way the conflict between the old
civic pride of Rome and the debasement of muni-
cipal government during her decay. Traders, he
says, though liable to be flogged by the aediles,
are not to be set aside as vile. They are not
forbidden to solicit the decurionate or other
470 CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
honours iu the city of their birtbiilace. But it
does not seem to him honourable to admit to the
decurion order persons who have been subject
to such chastisement, especially in those cities
which have an abundance of honourable men,
for it is the paucity of those who should fulfil
municipal offices which necessarily invites such
persons, if wealthy, to municipal honours. And
the 45th Novel, whilst subjecting Jews, Sama-
ritans, and heretics, to all the charges of the
decurionate, deprived them of its privileges, " as
that of not being scourged."
It will thus be seen that during the five cen-
turies which separate Justinian trom St. Paul,
the idea of corporal punishment under its most
usual forms as a social degradation subsisted,
yet the liability to it had been greatly extended.
The equality befoi'e the law which might have
been reached through the extension of Roman
citizenship itself had been by no means attained,
but the character of that citizenship itself had be-
come debased, and the exemption from corporal
punishment which still fluttered, like a last rag
of the toga, on the sho'.lders of the civic officers,
had been already blown ofi' for some. There were
decurions who had been flogged, and decui'ious
who could be flogged. Such exemption was
indeed growing to be a privilege attached to the
mere possession of wealth. Thus delation if
proved false, or where the delator did not perse-
vere, should he be of mean fortune, which he did
not care to lose, was to be punished with the
sharpest flogging (gravissimis verberibus. Code,
bk. X. t. xi. 1. 7 ; law of Gratian, Valentinian
and Theodosius, end of 4th century).
Among the offences which entailed corporal
[lunishment, besides the one last mentioned, may
be named false witness (Code, bk. iv. t. xx. 1. 13,
constitution of Zeno, end of 5th century). The
use of it multiplied indeed as the character of
the people became lowered, and the Novels
are comparatively full of it. The 8th enacts
flogging and torture against the taking of
money by judges (c. 8); the 123rd punishes
with " bodily torments" those persons, especially
stage-players and harlots, who should assume
the monastic dress, or imitate or make a mock
of Church usages (c. 44); the 134th enacts cor-
poral punishment against those who detained
debtors' children as responsible for their ftither's
debt (c. 7), or who abetted illegal divorces (c. 11),
and requirfs the adulterous wife to be scourged
to tlii> ((uiik — so we must probably understand
the w(irds " eonqietentibus vulneribus subactam"
(c. 10 ; and see c. ll!). On the other hand, a
husband chastising his wife with either the
fustes or flagellum, otherwise than for conduct
for which he might lawfully divorce her, was by
the 117th Novel made liable to pay to her, during
coverture, the amount of l-3rd of the ante-nup'^
tial gift (c. 14). The last chapter of the 134th
Novel indeed {De poenarum omnium moderatione,
c. 13) professes to inculcate moderation in pu-
nishment, and enacts that from henceforth there
shall be no other penal mutilation than the cut-
ting off of one hand, and that thieves shall only
be fioggp.l. Ah-padv under Constantine it had
been en;,, trd (r,„/,, bk. ix. t. xlvii. 1. 17, A.D.
315) that hr;n„lin.^ .ho„l:l not 1„. in the foce, as
hiiuri
euiy beauty,
aw in which
the influence of Christian feeling upon the lirst
Christian emperor is strikingly displayed.
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
I Passing from the legislation of the East to that
of the West, we find on the whole a very similar
j course of things. Among the ancient Germans,
I according to the account of Tacitus, corporal
j punishment was rare. He notes as a singularity
j that in war none but the priest was allowed to
I punish, bind, or oven strike (ne verberai-e quidera)
I a soldier {De Mor. Germ. c. vii.). A husband
I might indeed flog his adulterous wife naked
I through the streets (c. xix.); but otherwise even
slaves were rarely beaten (o. xxv.).
In the barbaric codes, corporal punishment is
in like manner primarily a social degradation.
We find it inflicted on a slave, as an alternative
for compensation. Under the Salic law, a slave
stealing to the value of 2 denarii was to receive
120 blows (ictus) or to pay thi-ee solidi (Pactus
tulgod. antiq. t. xiii.), the solidus being equiva-
lent to 40 denarii. The same punishment was
mflicted on a slave committing adultery with a
slave-girl (rape indeed seems meant) where she
did not die of it (t. xxix.). Where a slave was
accused of theft, corporal punishment was applied
by way of torture. Stretched on a bench (super
scamnum tensus) as the really older but so-
called recentior text has it, he received 120
blows (ictus, or as the other text has it, 121 co-
laplios). If he confessed under torture, as already
mentioned under the head "Mutilation of the
Body," the penalty was castration if a male,
but for a woman 240 strokes with a scourge, or
6 solidi. A Constitution of King Childebert
(middle of 6th century), contained in Labbe
and Mansi's Councils, enacts in certain cases of .
sacrilege that a " servile person " shall receive
100 lashes. Under the Burgundian law (in force
from the beginning of the 6th until at least 813,
when it was still recognised) bodily punishment
without the option of composition was enacted
for the slave, where the freeman might com-
pound. Thus for the theft of a hog, sheep, goat,
or of bees, the slave received 300 strokes with
the rod, and fustigation is in the like manner
enacted for other offences by slaves (t. v. &c.).
A Lombard law of A.D. 724 (bk. vi. c. 88) has a
singular enactment, punishing with shaving and
whipping those women whom their husbands
send out upon men of small courage (super ho-
mines qui minorem habebant virtutem), a text
which gives a high idea of the vigour of Lombard
women.
The Wisigothic laws exhibit to us before any
others the breaking down of the previous free-
man's privilege (analogous to that of the Roman
citizen) of exemption from corporal punishment.
The corrupt or unjust judge, if unable to make
due restitution and amends was to receive 50
strokes with the scourge publicly (publico ex-
tensus, Bk. ii. c. 20). The use (or abuse) of cor-
poi-al punishment is indeed most conspicuous in
this code. If a free woman married or com-
mitted adultery with her own slave or freedman,
the punishment was death, after the public flagel-
lation of both (bk. iii. t. ii. 1. 2). If she com-
mitted adultery with another's slave, each was
to receive 100 lashes (1. 3). A ravisher being a
freeman, besides being handed over as a slave to
the ravished, was to receive 200 lashes in the
sight of all (bk. iii. t. iii. 1. 1). The brother
who forced a sister to marry against her will
was to receive 50 lashes (ibid. 1. 4). The slave
ravishing a freewoman received 300 lashes,
COEPORAL PUNISHMENT
with decalvation, i. e. according to the meaning
of the word at this period, scalping ; 200 and
decalvation for ravishing a slave-woman. Acces-
saries to rape, if free, 50 lashes, if slaves, 100
(11. 8-12). So again for the various grades of
adultery. A freeman committing adultery with
a goodly (idonea) slave-girl iu her master's house
was to receive 100 strokes without infamy (ap-
parently intlicted iu private, and with a stick
only), — if with an inferior one, 50 only ; a slave
receiving for the like offence 150 lashes, and tlie
punishment increasing if violence were used (t.
iv. 11. 14-16). By a law of Recared {ih. 17),
public flogging was also made the punishment
for prostitution, with some remarkable provi-
sions ; thus when practised by a freewoman with
the knowledge or for the benefit of her parents,
each was to receive 100 lashes ; and when by a
slave for her master's benefit, he was to receive
the same number of lashes as were to be given
to her, and 50 in any case where after being
flogged and " decalvated " she returned to the
streets. And 100 lashes awaited the woman,
religious or secular, who either married or com-
mitted adultery with a priest (1. 18, also of
Recared). By a law of Chindasuiuth (t. vi. 1. 2)
a husband remarrying after divorce was to receive
200 lashes publicly, with decalvation. Another
law of the same king (bk. iv. t. v.) enacted 50
lashes against a child striking a parent or in va-
rious other ways misbehaving against him. Flog-
ging, with or without decalvation is again the
punishment for consulting a soothsayer on the
health of a man (bk. vi. t. ii. 1. 1), — that of sor-
cerers, storm-raisers, iuvokers of and sacrificers
to demons and those who consult them (1. 3) ;
of judges or others who consult diviners or apply
themselves to auguries (1, 5) ; of slave-women
and slaves causing abortion (t. iii. 11. 1, 5, 6) ;
generally for wounds and personal injuries by
slaves, and to some extent by freemen (t. iv.) ;
for thefts, either of goods or slaves (bk. vii. t. ii.
t. iii.), with again the remarkable provisions that
if a master stole with his slave, or the slave by
his master's order, the master was to receive
100 lashes (besides compounding), the slave to
be exempt from punishment (t. ii. 1. 5, t. iii. 1.
5) ; for certain forgeries (t. v. 1. 2) ; for gathering
a c)-owd to commit murder (bk. viii. t. i. 1. 3) ;
for violently shutting up a person within his house
(1. 4) ; for soliciting others to rob or robbing on
the line of march, the oflence iu the two latter
cases being however for freemen alternative with
composition (11. 6, 9, 10, 11); for setting fire to
woods (t. ii. 1. 2) ; in the case of persons of infe-
rior condition, for destroying crops (t. iii. 1. 6),
sending animals into crops or vines (1. 10) ; also
for breaking mills or dams and leaving them
unrepaii-ed for 30 days (1. 30), &c. &c. Kowhere
however is the abuse of corporal punishment
more terrible than in the case of offences against
religion. Blasphemers of the Trinitj', Jews with-
drawing themselves, their children or servants
from baptism, celebrating the Passover, observ-
ing the Sabbath or other festivals of their creed,
working on the Lord's day and on Christian
feast days, making distinctions of meats, marry-
ing within the 6th degree, reading Jewish books
against the faith, &c., were to receive 100 lashes
with decalvation, and with or without exile and
slavery (bk. xii. t. iii. 11. 2, 8, 11). For marry-
ing without priestly benediction, or in anywise
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT 471
exceeding the law as to dov/ry, the Jewish hus-
band, his wife and her parents, were to receive
100 lashes, or compound with 100 solidi. A law
of Recared confirming the Council of Toledo
punished with 50 blows (without infamy) any
person who disobeyed the enactments of the
Council and had no money to lose (t. i. I. 3).
In the ferocity of punishment under this Code,
we must not however lose siglit of the fact
already pointed out elsewhere in these pages
[Body, Mutilation of tjie], that the enactment
of any fixed punishment constitutes an enoimous
step in advance on the mere composition of the
earlier barbaric Codes, whilst in various of the
enactments, such as those exempting slaves from
punishment where they only act as the tools of
their masters, we find a striving towards a higher
and more discriminating standard of justice than
that which measures other contemporary legis-
lation, which equally bears testimony to the
influence of the clergy on Wisigothic legislation —
an influence, indeed, of which we see the darker
side in the atrocioijs laws against the Jews.
Amongst our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, corporal
punishment seems in general to have been con-
fined to slaves, as an alternative for compensation,
wherewith the slave " redeemed " or " paid the
price of his skin," as it is expressed ; e.g. for
sacrificing to devils (laws of Wihtrad, Kent, a.d.
691-725), for working on Sundays (laws of Ina,
A.D. 688-728, iii.). In certain cases of theft the
accuser himself was allowed to flog the culprit
(xxviii.). A foreigner or stranger wandering out
of the way through the woods, who neither
shouted nor blew the horn, was to be deemed
a thief, and to be flogged or redeem himself
(xviii.).
Capital punishment is again prominent iu the
Capitularies. The first Capitulary of Carloman,
A.D. 742 (c. 6), imposes two years' imprisonment
on a fornicating priest, after he has been scourged
to the quick (flagellatus eL scorticatus). The Capi-
tulary of Metz, 755, following a synod held at the
same place, enacts that for incest a slave or freed-
man shall be beaten with many stripes, as also any
" minor " cleric guilty of the like offence. The
same enactment, confined to the case of marrying
a cousin, and in slightly different language, occurs
elsewhere in the general collection. A savage one
on conspiracies (A.D. 805, c. 10) is added to the
Salic law, enacting that where conspiracies have
been made with an oath — the principals suffering
death — the accessaries are to flog each other and
cut each other's noses off"; even if no mischief
shall have been done, to shave and flog each
other. For conspiracies, without an oath, the
slave only was to be flogged, the freeman clearing
himself by oath or compounding. The same law
occurs in the General Capitularies (bk. iii. 9).
Another law of the 7th book (c. 123) enacts
public flagellation and decalvation for the slave
marrying within the 7th degree of consanguinity,
and the 4th Addition embodies much of the
rigorous Wisigothic Code as towards the Jews,
who are to be decalvated and receive 100 lashes
publicly if they marry within the prohibited
degrees (c. 2). And the Wisigothic provision
against marrying without priestly benedictions,
or exceeding iu anywise the laws as to dowry, is
by this extended to Jews as well as Christians.
There remains only to shew corporal punish-
ment as either the subject or as forming part of
472 CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
the discipline of the church itself. Here, indeed,
we find at first a much higher standard than that
of the civil law. Among the persons whose ofter-
ings the Apostolic Constitutions require to be re-
jected are such as " use their slaves wickedly, with
stripes, or hunger, or hard service " (bk. iv. c. 6).
Soon however a harsher law must have prevailed.
The Council of Eliberis, A.D. 305, enacted (c. 5)
that if a mistress, inflamed by jealousy, should
so flog her handmaid that she should die within
three days, she is only to be admitted to com-
munion after seven years' penance (unless in case
of dangerous illness) if the act were done wilfully,
or after fine if death were not intended — a pro-
vision which speaks volumes indeed of the bitter-
ness of Spanish slavery at this period, but which
nevertheless shews the church- taking cognizance
of the slave-owner's excesses, and endeavouring
to moderate them by its discipline, at least in the
case of women. On the other hand, the right of
personal chastisement was often arrogated by the
clergy themselves, since the Apostolic Canons
enact that a bishop, priest, pr deacon, striking
the faithful who have sinned, or the unfaithful
who have done wrong, seeking thereby to make
himself feared, is to be deposed (c. 19, otherwise
26 or 28), and Augustine clearly testifies to the
fact of corporal punishment being judicially
inflicted by bishops, in that painful letter of his
to the Prefect Marcellus, in which, whilst ex-
horting him not to be too severe in punishing
the Donatists, he praises him at the same time
for having drawn out the confession of crimes so
great by whipping with rods (virgarum verberi-
bus), inasmuch as this " mode of coercion is wont
to be applied by the masters of liberal ai'ts, by
))arents themselves, and often even by bishops in
their judgments" (Ap. 133, otherwise 159).
Corporal punishment seems moreover to have
formed from an early period, if not from the
first, a part of the monastic disci]iline. The rule
of St. Pachomius, translated into Latin by Je-
rome (art. 87), imposes the penalty of thirty-nine
lashes, to be inflicted before the gates of the
monastery (besides fasting), after three warnings,
on a monk who persists in the " most evil custom"
of talking, as well as for theft (art. 121). The
same punishment may also be implied in the
term " corripere " used in other articles, as " cor-
ripientur juxta ordinem," " corripietur ordine
munasterii," &c. But the word might also apply
to mere verbal correction, since by art. 97 chil-
dren who could not be brought to think of God's
judgment " et correpti verbo non emendaverint,"
are to be flogged till they receive instruction and
fear. In the 4th book of Cassian's work, ' De
coenobiorum institutis' (end of 4th or begin-
ning of 5th ceatury), flogging is placed on the
same line with expulsion as a punishment for the
graver ott'ences against monastic discipline (some
of which indeed may appear to us very slight),
as '' open reproaches, manifest acts of contempt,
swelling words of contradiction, a free and un-
restrained gait, familiarity with women, anger,
fightings, rivalries, quarrels, the presumption to
do some special work, the contagion of money
loving, the affecting and possessing of thinos
superfluous, which other brethren have no't,
extraordinary and furtive refections, and the
like (c. IG). In the rule of St. Benedict (A.D.
•j28) corporal punishment seems implied in the
" major emendatio." And " if a brother for any
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
the slightest cause is corrected (corripitur) in
any way by the abbot or any prior, or if he
lightly feel that the mind of any prior is wroth
or moved against him, however moderately, with-
out delay let him lie prostrate on the earth at
his feet, doing satisfaction until that emotion be
healed. But if any scorn to do this, let him be
either subjected to corporal punishment, or if
contumacious, expelled from the monastery"
(c. 71). Here, it will be seen, corporal punish-
ment is viewed as a lighter penalty than ex-
pulsion.
We need not dwell on a supposed Canon of the
above-referred to Council of Eliberis, to be found
in Gratian and others (ex cap. ix.), allowing
bishops and their ministers to scourge coloni
with rods for their crimes. But in the letters ot
Gregory I. the Great, 590-603, the right of
inflicting, or at least ordering personal chastise-
ment is evidently assumed to belong to the
clergy. In a letter to Pantaleo the Notary (bk.
ii. Pt. li. Ep. 40), on the subject of a deacon's
daughter who had been seduced by a bishop's
nephew, he required either that the ofliender
should marry her, executing the due nuptial
instruments, or be " corporally chastised " and
put to penance in a monastery, and the Pope
renews this injunction in a letter (42) to the
uncle. Bishop Felix, himself. Bishop Andreas of
Tarentum, who had had a woman on the roll
of the church (de matriculis) cruelly whipped
with rods, against the order of the priesthood,
so that she died after eight months, was never-
theless only punished by this really great Pope
with two months' suspension from saying mass
{epp. 44, 45). Sometimes, indeed, corporal punish-
ment was inflicted actually in the church, as we
see in another letter of the same Pope to the
Bishop of Constantinople, complaining that an
Isaurian monk and priest had been thus beaten
with rods, " a new and unheard of mode of
l)reaching " {ep. 52). But the same Gregory
deemed it fitting that slaves, guilty of idolatry
or following sorcerers, should be chastised with
stripes and tortures for their amendment (bk. vii.
pt. ii. ep. 67, to Januarius, Bishop of Calaris).
Elsewhere the flogging of penitent thieves seems
to be implied (bk. xii. ep. 31, c. iv.).
Towards the end of the same century, the
16th Council of Toledo, A.D. 693, enacted that
100 lashes and shameful decalvatio should be the
punishment of unnatural oflences. With this
and a few other exceptions, however, the enact-
ments of the church as to corporal punishment
chiefly refer to clerics or monks. The Council of
Vannes in 465 had indeed already enacted that
a cleric proved to have been drunk should
either be kept thirty da3's out of communion,
or subjected to corporal punishment (c. 13).
The 1st Council of Orleans in 511 had enacted
that if the relict of a priest or deacon were to
marry again, she and her husband were after
" castigation " to be separated, or excommu-
nicated if they persisted in living together (c. 3).
Towards the end of the 7th century, the Council
of Autun (about 670), enacted that any monk who
went against its decrees should either be beaten
with rods, or suspended for three years from com-
munion (c. 15). In the next century, Gregory III.
(731-41), in his Excerpt from the Fathers and
the Canons, assigns stripes as the punishment for
thefts of hoVy things, and inserts the Canon of
CORSICUS
the Council of Eliberis as to the penance of a
mistress flogging her slave girl to death (cc. 2,
3). The Synod of Metz, 753, in a canon already
quoted in part above as a capitulary, enacted
that a slave or freedman without money, com-
mitting incest with a consecrated woman, a
gossip, a cousin, was to be beaten with many
stripes, and that clerics committing the like
offence, if minor ones, were to be beaten or im-
j)risoned (c. i.). We might, indeed, refer the
reader under this head to all that is said above
as to the Capitularies, the civil and ecclesiastical
legislation of this period being almost absolutely
undistinguishable.
The practice of the church on this subject was
therefore in the main accordant with civil legis-
lation, which it seems nevertheless to have
humanised to some degree in ftiyour of the slave.
On the other hand, the mischiefs of clerical influ-
ence show fearfully in the enactments of the
Wisigothic law against the Jews and others, and
in the Carlovingian legislation on the subject of
marriage within the prohibited degrees.
[N.B. — Bingham's references on this head are
more than once misleading.] [J. M. L.]
CORSICUS, presbyter, martyr in Africa,
June 30 {3Iart. Usuardi). [C]
COSMAS. (1) Martyr at Aegea, with Da-
JIIAN, under Diocletian, Sept. 27 (^Mart. Hieron.,
Bedae, Bom. Vet.. Usuardi) ; as " wonder-workers
and unmercenary," Nov. 1 (^Cal. Byzant.).
(2) ayionoAirrjs Kal 7rot7]rr]s, Oct. 14 {Cal.
Byzant.). [C]
COTTIDUS, or QUOTTTDIUS, deacon,
martyr in Cappadocia, Sept. 6 {Mart. Hieron.,
Usuardi). [C]
COUNCIL \Concilium, as early as Tertull.
De Jejun. xiii., De Pudic. x., and 'S.ivoZos ( =
" assembly," in LXX., and in the translation of
Symmachus), in Apost. Canons, xxxvi. al. xxxvii.
(and again in Euseb. H. E. v. 23, &c.), but the
latter term still used also at the same period for
any Christian assembly, e. g. Apost. Constit. v. 20 :
in late medieval times, Lyndwood (ProvinG. II.
tit. vii. p. 115) appropriates "council" to pro-
vincial, and "synod" to diocnsan assemblies —
" episcopi in suis dioecesibus faciunt synodos,
metropolitani vero concilia:" — Conciliabulum ap-
propriated to the " conventicula haereticorum,"
as early as Cone. Carth. IV. c. 70, A.D. 398, and
so also "feuSo-o'uj'oSos, and 'Vev'So-avXKoyos, in
the Theodos. Code :] = an assembly of either a
part or (as far as possible) the whole of the
Christian Church, for either elective, judicial, or
legislative purposes, or else to elicit the testimony
of the collective Church upon emergent doctrinal
questions, — suggested by Apostolic precedent,
.ind by olmous reason, and grounding itself also
(as time went on) upon the promise of our Lord
to be present where any are gathered together in
His name (e. g. Cone. Chalced., Epist. ad Leon.,
A.D. 451 ; Cone. Constantin. Act. xvii. A.D. 681 ;
Cone. Tolet. III. A.D. 527 ; Facund. Herm., Def.
Trium Capitul. c. vii. ; &c.), and upon His in-
junction to " tell the Church."
Such councils are usually classified somewhat
as follows — in an order which also tallies with
the chronological order in which each class came
to exist : —
1. A council of a single " parochia," or (in the
COUNCIL
473
modern sense) diocese, consisting of the bishop
and presbyters, but with the deacons and people
assisting; which will be here called Diogksan
(called also Episcopal, and in later [Frank] times.
Civile = of one city or see). Of such synods there
is no distinct mention until the 3rd century,
but it is obvious that, either in a formal or an
unformal way, they must have been part of the
ordinary organization of the Church, at a time
when each diocese consisted of the Christians of
a single city in which bishop and clergy dwelt,
with a few country congi-egations only, gradually
growing up, — i. e. from the very beginning ; and
that they would be recognized in canons, only
when the extent of dioceses, and other like causes,
rendered canons on the subject necessary.
2. A council of the bishops of several dioceses,
/. e. a Provincial Council, held (when metro-
politan organization came to exist) under the
metropolitan of the province, viz. from about
the latter half of the 2nd century, and from that
time considered a " perfect " (TeAfia) synod of
the kind, only if the metropolitan were present
{fj (TvixirdpfCTTt Kal b ttjs fj,7]Tpoir6Aeui, Cone.
Antioch. a.d. 341, can. 16, and, much later.
Cone. Bracar. II. a.d. 572, can. 9). And such
councils were (with the diocesan synods) the
essential framework, as it were, and bond of union
and of good government in the Church ; and be-
came part of its ordinary machinery early in the
2nd century, and probably from the very begin-
ning, but are first mentioned, of the East, by
Firmilianus of Caesarea in Cappadocia {Epist. 75
ad Cyprian, earlier half of 3rd century), when
they regularly and of necessity (" neoessario ")
recurred in Asia once a year, for purposes of dis-
cipline, and of the West, by St. Cyprian, at the
same period. The " Councils of the Churches,"
however, are mentioned by Tertullian {De Pudic.
x.) as if in his time an ordinary church tribunal,
which determined among other things against the
canonicity of the Shepherd of Hermas.
3. A council of the bishops of a patriarchate,
or primacy, or exarchate, i. e. of a diocese in the
ancient sense of the term ; as, e. g. a council rrjs
'AvaroXiKris 5iotKT](rea)s ordained Flavian of An-
tioch, Co7iG. Constant., ap. Theodor. H. E. v. 9 ;
called (as by St. Augustin, Be Bapt. c. Doimt.
i. 7, ii. 3) " Regionis," or national, or again
Plenarium, and Universale (e.g. Cone.
Tolet. Ill A.D. 527, c. 18), and in Africa
in the 4th century Universale Anniver-
SARiUM (e. g. in Cone. CaHh. III. c. 7) ; and
by Pope Symmachus, speaking of a Koman
Council of the kind, Generale. And under
this head may be reckoned also ; — i. The
early councils, assembled incidentally and upon
emergencies, and consisting of as many bishops
of neighbouring provinces gathered together
as circumstances allowed, such as those which
Tertullian mentions : " Aguntur praecepta per
Graecias illas certis in locis concilia ex universis
ecclesiis," &c., De Jejun. xiii. (implying that
hitherto there had been no councils of the kind
in the West) ; or again, the councils in Asia Minor
and at Anchialus, against the Montanists, in the
middle of the 2nd century (Hefele), mentioned
by Eusebius, //. E. v. 16 ; or the various coun-
cils respecting Easter in both East and West in
the latter part of the same century (Euseb.
H. E. V. 24); which are the earliest councils
upon record. ii. The councils of the Eastern
474
COUNCIL
Church by itself, or of the Western Church by
itself, as "in the 4th century. And both these
classes were extraordinary, and for particular
emergencies, iii. The regular annual primatial
councils (see Cone. Constantin. A.D. 381, can. o),
as, e. g. of Antioch, or more remarkably, of
Africa : the latter of which, ace. to Cone.
Carthag. ITT. A.D. 398, cans. 2, 7, 41, 43, was
to consist of three bishops as legates from each
African province, except that of Tripoli, which
was to send only one, as having few bishops,
thus admitting the principle of representation
under pressure of circumstances ; while subse-
quent councils permitted a " vicar " instead of
the bishop in person in case of absolute necessity
(Cojic. Carthag. IV. can. 21), and eiiacted a divi-
sion of the bishops into " duo vel tres turmae,"
eacli "turma" to attend in turn (^Conc. Carthag. V.
can. 10) ; and, lastly, altered the " yearly "
meeting into one only " quoties exegerit causa
communis" (^Conc. Milevit. II. A.D. 416, can. 9,
Cod. Can. Afric. xcv.). Like councils were (less
regularly) held at Rome in the 5th century, as
e.g. when three delegates from the Sicilian bishops
were directed by Pope Leo the Great (Epist. iv.
c. 71) to attend the autumnal synod of the two
to be annually held at Rome. And occasionally
elsewhere also, as in Spain and in Gaul. National
councils, in later times (6th century onwards),
e.g. in France, in Saxon England, and above all
in Spain, belong, where they were purely eccle-
siastical, to the same class.
4. A council of (as far as possible) the bishops
of the whole Church, Oecumenical (first so
called in Euseb. V. Constant, iii. 6, and again in
Cone. Constantin. A.D. 381), not intentionally
limited to specially the Roman world, but in-
cluding all Christians everywhere, although at
that period the Christian Church was nearly in-
cluded in the narrower meaning ; — " totius orbis "
(St. Aug. De Bapt. c. Donctt. i. 7), " ex toto orhe "
(Sulp. Sev. ii.), '^plenarium universae eeclesiae"
(St. Aug. Epist. 162), "plenarium ex universo orbe
Christiana," as distinguished from (not only
" provinciarum," but) " regionum concilia " (Id.
De Bapt. c. Botiat. ii. 3). So TertuUian (as above
cited) speaks of " representatio totius Christiani
nomiuis." And Augustin (^De Bapt. c. Lonat.
vii. 53) distinguishes " regionale " from " ple-
narium concilium," and rests the certainty of the
latter on tlie " universalis eeclesiae consensio."
And this was regarded as an extraordinary re-
medy for an extraordinary emergency, to be
resorted to as seldom as possible ; and even when
necessary, yet an evil for the time, as throwing
everything into disturbance, — as bad as a tempest
(" procella," St. Hilar. De Synodis). And as it
was first possible, so does it appear to have been
first thought of, in the time of Constantine the
Great.
To these must be added, as matter of history,
although all more or less abnormal : —
5. The SuvoSoi 'EvSryjuoDrrai, at Constantmople,
from the 4th contur)-, and again at the various
cities where the Roman emperors dwelt, as at
Rome, and in one case (under Maximus) at Treves,
and again the Concilia Falatina under the Carlo-
vingian emperors, held " in regum palatiis ;"
consisting in each case of the bishops who hap-
pened to be at court.
6. The mixed national councils of the Euro-
pean kingdoms, after the conversion of the
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Franks, Saxons, Spaniards, &c. ; Placita, Witena-
gemots, &c.
The so-called Council of the Apostles (in Acts
XV.) is a distinct precedent, in principle, for
Cluirch councils; -as sanctioning the decision of
emergent controversies and matters of discipline
by common consultation of the whole Church
under the guidance and leadership of the
"apostles and elders," = the bishops and pres-
byters. It is " the apostles and eiders " who
come together to consider the matter(Acts xv. 6).
Yet irav TO irXriBos are present ((6. 12), but as
listening. It is "the apostles and elders, with
the whole Church," who make the decree (ib. 22).
And the best MSS. make that decree run in the
name of " the apostles and elders" only, although
the reading is no doubt uncertain (ib. 23, read-
ing 01 aiToffToXoi Ka\ oi irpea^vrepoi aSiXcpoi).
The formal deliberation and the decree, then,
emanate from the apostles and the elders, but the
whole Church, i.e. the laity also, are consulted.
In the same way, in other cases, we find, e.g.
the " prophets and teachers " at Antioch sending
St. Paul and Barnabas on their mission ; yet St.
Paul and Barnabas report {av7)yyfiXai'} to an
"assembly of the Church" of Antioch what
" God had done with them " (Acts xiii. 1, xiv. 27) ;
St. Paul however at a later time reporting pri-
vately, for obvious reasons, to James and the
elders {ib. xxi. 18). And the same two were
formally sent to the council at Jerusalem by
the Church of Antioch QirpoTretKpQevres inrh rrjs
iKKKTjaias), which plainly had also appointed
them (era^av, Acts xv. 2, 3). In 1 Cor. v. 4,
the Church of Corinth is represented as " gathered
together " to exercise discipline. That St. James
presided at Jerusalem naturally followed from his
office of Bishop of Jerusalem. Strictly speaking,
the assembly over which he presided was an
assembly of the Church of Jerusalem only, to
receive a deputation from the Church of Antioch.
And it differed from the Church councils also in
the actual presence in it of apostles. But this
difference only strengthens the case as a pre-
cedent for mutual deliberation on the part of the
Church collectively : e5o|ei' rifuv yevofj-evuti
6fModvfj.aS6v (Acts XV. 25). Other assemblies in
apostolical times, mentioned in the Acts — viz.
Acts i. 15, to appoint an apostle in the place of
Judas ; vi. 2, to establish the diaconate ; ix. 27,
to receive St. Paul — have been miscalled Apo-
stolic Councils, by an obvious straining of the
term.
It will be convenient to speak, successivelv,
of—
A. The ORDER of holding Ecclesiastical Coun-
cils;
B. The CONSTITUENT MEMBERS of Ecclesias-
tical Councils ;
C. The AUTHORITY assigned to such Councils.
And, lastl}', to add a few words respecting
D. Irregular and abnormal assemblies akin
to Councils.
A. Under the head of the ORDER of holding
a council, we have to consider , —
I. By whom councils were summoned.
Diocesan and Provincial Councils were sum-
moned respectively by the bishojj of the diocese
and by the metropolitan of the province (see
authorities in Bingham), and this after the time
of Constantine, as well as befoi-e it. A council
of two or more proviuces together would natu-
COUNCIL
rally be summoned by the senior metropolitan ;
the earlier councils of neighbouring bishops,
prior to the organization of the metropolitan
system, by the leading bishops of the locality, as,
e.<]. that at Antioeh, which condemned Paul of
Samosata ; those of a patriarchate or primacy,
as e.g. of Africa, by the patriarch or primate.
The crvvoZoi ivSTi/xovcrai of Constantinople were
summoned by the Patriarch of Constantinople ;
the Concilia Palatina by the Frank kings and
emperors; the national councils of the European
kingdoms, which were as much civil as ecclesi-
astical, by the respective kings. And in these
last-named cases the royal permission or com-
mand to hold them is frequently mentioned.
Oecumenical Councils, consisting in the first in-
stance almost wholly of bishops of the Roman
empire, were summoned by the Roman emperors
until the 9th century (see Socrates, lib. v. /^Vooem.),
although, naturally, upon consultation with the
chief bishops of the Church herself. After that
period, those that have been so called have been
summoned by the popes in the Western Church.
The great Council of Nice was summoned by
Constantine (by Ti^TjriKa ypafinara [Euseb., V.
Constant, iii. 6, and cf. Socrat. i. 9, Theodoret, i.
9], which purport to be given in a Syriac version
in B. H. Cowper's Analecta Nicaena, pp. 21—29),
but " ex sententia sacerdotum " (Rutin, H. E. i.
1); and chiefly, as is plain, by the accounts of
Eusebius, Socrates, and Sozomen, upon the advice
of Hosius, bishop of Cordova. Later documents,
of no value in such a point, viz. the Liber Da-
masi and the Cone. Constantin. a.d. 680, put
forward Pope Sylvester as the adviser. The
Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381, was sum-
moned by the Emperor Theodosius (Labb. iv.
1123, 1124); that of Ephesus, A.D. 431, Kara
TO ypdixfia, or €«: OeairiafiaTos, of Theodosius II.
and Valentinian III. {Act. in Mansi, iv. 1111);
Pope Damasus concurring in the former, but
Eastern patriarchs (Meletius of Antioeh, Gregory,
and his successor Nectarius, of Constantinople)
really "assembling" it (even according to the Cone.
Constant, of a.d. 680, and see Vales, ad Theodoret.
if. B. v. 9) ; while Pope Celestine similarly con-
curred in the latter, but (as is evident by his
own letters) did not summon it (Acts of the
Council and Letters in Mansi, iv. 1226, 1283,
1291). The case of the Council of Chalcedon,
a.d. 451, so far differs from its predecessors, that
the pope, Leo the Great, suggested and requested
it (desiring, however, to have it in Italy), yet
subsequently, and when too late, desired its
postponement (Leo M. Epist. 44, 54-58, 69, 73,
76, 89-95). The application was originally
made to Theodosius II. and Valentinian III., but
the council was actually summoned by Marcian,
" ex decreto piissimorum Imperatorum Valen-
tiniani et Marciani," in the words of the council
itself (Labb. iv. 77), or in those of Leo, " ex
praecepto Christianorum principum et consensu
Apostolicae Sedis" (Leon. M. Epist. 114), and
again, in Marciau's words to Leo (inter Leon.
Epist. 73), "te auctore." The 2nd Council of
Constantinople, A.D. 553, was convoked by
Justinian (Labb. v. 4) after consultation with
Pope Vigilius and with Mennas patriarch of
Constantinople. But Vigilius after a time put
himself in direct antagonism with the council,
.nud upon May 26, 553 was actually struck out
of the diptychs by it ; although, after its termi-
COUXCIL
47i
nation, he retracted, and in the end of A.D. 553,
and by a Constituium of February 23, A.D. 554,
accepted its decrees. The 3rd Council of Con-
stantinople, A.D. 680, was convoked by tlie
"piissima jussio" of the Emperor Constantine
Pogonatus (Labb. vi. 608, 631), Pope Agatho only
sending legates when requested, and with them his
own exposition of the faith, and a profession of
his readiness to pay " promptam obedientiam " to
the emperor. The 5th of Constantinople, A.D.
754 (in Cave's reckoning, the 8th oecumenical),
which condemned images, was summoned by
Constantine Copronymus and Leo (Labb. vii.
397). The 2nd of Nice, a.d. 787, was convoked
by the Empress Irene and her son Constantine .
(Labb. vii. 661), at the request of Tarasius,
patriarch of Constantinople, with the acquiescence
of Pope Adrian I. ; the latter, however, speaking
afterwards of the council (in his letter to Charle-
magne) as summoned " secundum nostram ordi-
nationem." And, lastly, the Emperor Basil, the
Macedonian, called together the 4th of Constan-
tinople, A.D. 869 (not acknowledged, however,
by the Eastern Church, which puts in its place
that of A.D. 879), after an embassy, sent to Pope
Nicholas I., but received and answered by his
successor Adrian II. (Labb. viii. 1313). The
Council of Sardica, intended to be oecumenical,
was summoned by the Emperors Constantius and
Constans (Socr. ii. 20; Sozom. iii. 2; St.Athanas.
Eist. Arian. § 36). And the numberless smaller
councils about Arianism were likewise sum-
moned by the emperors. See the summary of
the whole case in Audrewes (Bight and Power
of calling Assemblies, Sermons, v. 160-165, and
Tortura Torti, pp. 193, 422, sq.). The case of
the 1st Council of Ai-les, a.d. 314, is a pecu-
liar one. It was not a regular council of any
portion of the Church, but rather a selected
ecclesiastical tribunal, of which the members
were specially chosen and summoned by the
Emperor Constantine, and mainly from Gaul
(Euseb. //. E.x.b; Optat. Hist. Eonat. p. 181,
Dupin), intended to be oecumenical (the Emperor
" assembling there a large number of bishops from
difl'erent and almost innumerable parts of the
empire," Euseb. ib.), and actually called
" plenarium," and " universae ecclesiae," by
St. Augustine, but not so really, as neither
including all bishops nor any Eastern bishops.
And its object was to revise the decision of a
tribunal of fewer bishops held at Rome under
the Pope Melchiades in the previous year,
with which the Donatists were not content.
It was simply an instance, therefore, of that
which afterwards became a rule, viz. of the
Emperor's assigning episcopal judges to decide
an ecclesiastical case. Much like it is the
summoning of the Roman councils about Pope
Symmachus, two centuries later, by King Theo-
doric.
The regular title for the bishop's or metro-
politan's letters of summons was Sipiodicae or
Tractoriae (St. Aug. Ejiist. 217 ad Victorin.) ;
for the Emperor's like letters, Sacrae.
From the summons, we go on to —
II. The time when, and the occasions upon
which, councils were summoned. Speaking first
of those councils which recurred, or were meant
to recur, regularly, we find the chief stress of
the canons to be directed to provincial councils,
as being no doubt more dilHcult to enforce, ami
476
COUNCIL
iJso in tli3 interest of justico, such councils being
the court of appeal from the decisions of indi-
vidual bishops. In the time of Firmiliaii and of
Cyprian, as said above, these were habitually
held once a year; Firniiliau's words being appa-
rently determined to mean provincial, not dio-
cesan, councils, by the mention of "seniores et
praepositi," "jiresbyters and bishops" (in tho
plural). The great Council of Nice (can. 5)
increased them to twice in the year, once before
Lent, once in autumn. And so also the Apostolic
Canon 37, specifying, however, the 4th week
after Easter and the 12th of "TwepBepeTaios, i.e.
October. And twice a year, accordingly, became
thenceforward the rule of what ought to be,
although in actual fact, and by repeated con-
cessions of councils, finally relaxed into once.
So Cone. Antloch, A.D. 341, can. 20 (slightly
varying the days). Cone. Chalced. A.D. 451, can.
19; and for Africa, Cone. Carthag. ///.A.D. 397,
can. 2, and V, can. 7 (fixing October 21), and Cod.
Can. Afric. c. 18 ; for Spain, Cone. Tolet. III. A.D.
589, can. 18, IV. A.D. 633, can. 3 (fixing May 20),
XI. A.D. 675, can. 15, XVII. A.D. 742, can. 1 ;
Emerit. A.D. 666, can. 7 ; for France, Cone.
Regiens. A.D. 439, can. 8 (twice a year), Arausie. I.
A.D. 441, can. 89, Aurel. II. A.D. 533, can. 2,
Altissiod. A.D. 578, can. 7 ; and for England,
Cone. Cdchyth. A.D. 787, can. 3 (the title of
which, however, seems to refer it to diocesan
councils), and before it. Cone. Herutf. a.d. 673,
can. 7, ordering a synod twice in the year, but
in the next sentence limiting the number to once,
viz. upon August 1, at Clovesho, on the ground
of unavoidable hindrances. Once a year became,
indeed, the recognized practice (but as an un-
canonical concession to necessity), and is admitted
by Gratian {Dist. xviii. c. 16, 189, 2 c), and in
England by Lyndwood {Provinc. lib. i. tit. 14);
as it had been allowed much earlier by the
council in Tndlo, can. 8, and by Cone. Nicaen. II.
can. 6. And similarly, Gregory the Great,
enjoining once a year in Sicily (Epist. i. 1), and
in Gaul {ib. ix. 106), adds in the latter case that
it ought to be twice ; and enjoins twice in Sar-
dinia (('6. iv. 9), possibly as being an island of no
great extent; while in yet another case (ib. v.
54) he orders such synods whenever needed.
Leo the Great, likewise, A.D. 446, commands
synods twice a year at Thessalonica (Epiat. xiv.),
but A.D. 447, only once a year at Rome, yet with
the addition that it ought to be twice (ib. xvi.).
See also Avitus Vienn. (Epist. 80 — " It ought to
be twice in a year, would that it were once in two
years ! ") and Pope Hormisdas (Epist. 25 — " If not
two, at least one "). Finally, Pipin, A.D. 755 (in
Cone. Vern. pref. cans. 2, 4), renewed tlie in-
junction of two a year, naming for them March 1
and October 1, but the second of them to be
attended only by the metropolitans and certain
selected clergy. Yet, a century after, the Cone,
'lull. A.D. 859, can. 7, is again compelled to sup-
plicate that they might be held once in the year.
Diocesan synods are assumed, in the 11th
century (Modus tenendi Synodos, in Wilk. Cone.
r. 784), to be also held twice a yeai'. And
of Tours (Capit. c. 91) similarly com.
He
manils tliom to be held twice, and each time not
to last more than 15 days. But here, also,
eailicr ruK's speak of once. Cone. Lip-tin. A.D. 743,
c. 1 (atti ilmtod also to Cone. Told. XVII. can. 1),
::>iU'ssion. A.u. 744, c. 2, St. Boniface (7y;/si. 105),
COUNCIL
Capit. Car. M. VII. 108 ; of which authorities,
however, the last is busied not so much with a
synod as with ordering the clergy to give account
of their acts and receive instructious, and bids
them go " per turmas et per hebdomadas " to
the bishop (ib. vi. 163). It was the office of such
synods, among other things, to promulgate to the
diocese the decrees of the provincial synods; and
accordingly we find a provision, in Cone. Tolet.
XVI. A.D. 693, can. 7 (and cf. also Cvune. of Clove-
sho, A.D. 747 can. 25, and the nearly contemporary
German Council under St. Boniface, can. 6, in Had-
danand Stubbs, iii. 371,377), that a diocesan synod
should be held within six months after the j)ro-
vincial one. We find also abbats and presbytei's
summoned to an annual synod, sometimes to-
gether, sometimes separately (Cone. Oscens. a.d.
598, c. 1, for Spain ; Altissiod. a.d. 578, can. 7, for
Gaul). Diocesan synods were at that time
commonly summoned about Lent. In ear-
lier times still, e,g. that of St. Cyprian, such
councils would seem to have been held whenever
needed.
The primatial or patriarchal synods were in-
tended to be annual, and that of Africa was com-
monly called Universale Anniversarium. But
the usual difficulty of procuring attendance was
at once testified, and in attempt remedied, by
the provisions for representation mentioned
already. Pope Hilary (Epist. 3) also orders
such synods once a year in Gaul. And Leo the
Great summons the Sicilian bishops to attend by
representation at one of two such synods annually
in Rome (Epist. iv.). But circumstances must
have speedily rendered such regular synods im-
possible. The Council of Agde, a.d. 506, can. 71,
seems to renew the annual rule. But the 2n(i
of Macon, A.d. 585, can. 20, made it triennial
(" post trietericum tempus omnes conveniant ")
for Gaul. And this is the Tridentiue rule in
later times. The Concilia Palatina were at first
occasional, as the kings or emperors summoned
them. Pipin, as above said, A.D. 755, called
some council of the kind twice in the year ; but
the actual practice remained irregular. And
Cone. Tull, A.D. 859, can. 7, asking for a pro-
vincial council once a year, asked also for a pala-
tine council once in every two years. Hincmar,
however, speaks of twice a year as customary
("consuetudo tunc temporis erat," speaking of
"Placita," 0pp. IL 211, sq.).
All these kinds of councils were parts of the
ordinary constitution of the Church, even the
Palatine councils being mixed up with ecclesias-
tical matters. And those of them that were
proper Church councils were needed at regular
times ; as required (according to Cone. Carth. III.
can. 2), " propter causas ecolesiasticas, quae ad
perniciem plebium saepe veterascunt," although
their functions were not restricted to cases of
discipline only. Other kinds of councils were
only occasional remedies for special emergencies,
I and were hold therefore when needed. Of the
I six grounds usually enumerated (e.g. by Hefele)
for holding oecumenical councils, setting aside
all those that belong to medieval time.;, as, e.g.
the deciding between rival popes, &c., there re-
mains, for earlier times, only one, which is both
historically the ground upon whicii the great
oecumenical councils were actually summoned,
and that assigned by the Apostolical canon (37)
for councils at all — 'AvaKOiueTOiicray oAAtjAou
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[oi firlcTKOirot] rh SSyfiara rrjs evcrePelas, Kol
ras ^fiTVLTTTovaas eKKATjaiaaTiKas ai'TtXoyias
SiaAveTwrrav.
III. The place in which councils were held,
wlicii piirely church councils, was commonly the
church or some building attached to the church ;
c. g. the Secretarium or AiaKoviKhv attached often
to large churches (Liberat. Breviar. xiii.), in
which kind of building the 3rd to the 6th Coun-
cils of Carthage were held, and others also (Du
Cange in v. Secretarium) ; or the baptistery or
^ooTLCTT^ptov, wherein the Council of Chalcedon,
for instance, a.d. 451, met (Lalsb. Cone. iv. 235,
and see Suicer in v. ^coTiffrriptov); or the church
itself, as in the Council of Toledo IV. A.D. 633 ;
or again in much later times (as A.D. 879 and
11G5, at Constantinople), the galleries or Karr;-
Xovfiiva of the church (Bingh. VIII. v. 7). The
great Council of Nice met, according to Euse-
bius(T\ Constant, iii. 7) in an oIkoj evKT-fipios,
Oj as he words it elsewhere (ib. 10), ev rep /j-effai-
rdrct) otKcii rwv 'fiaaiXfiaii'. Theodoret (i. 7) and
Sozomeu (i. 19) determine this to mean a royal
])alace. Valesius, on the contrary (adloc. Euseh.),
argues that it must mean a church. The words
of e.g. Sozomen appear really to show, that the
bishops met during their first sessions in a
church, but that when the day of decision arrived,
and Constantine in person intended to be present,
then they removed to his palace ; which was
oTkos fifyicrros, and where the bishops sat on
seats along the wall, and the emperor on a
throne in the middle. The next four Oecume-
uical Councils were certainly held in a church or
in a building attached to a church, respectively
at Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and
again Constantinople (Jo. Damasc. Be Sac. Irruig.
tract, iii., St. Cyril. Alex, ad Theodos. in Acit.
Cone. Ephes., Evagr. H. E. ii. 3, &c.). The
Council of Constantinople, A.D. 680, and the
supplemental Trullau Council of A.D. 692, were
held in the secretarium of the Imperial palace,
called TruUus. The Council of Constantinople
against images, A.D. 754, was held, first in the
imperial palace of Hiera on the shore opposite
Byzantium, and then in a church in Constanti-
nople itself Palatine councils and mixed national
councils were commonly and natui-ally held in
royal palaces. In Ciampini (yet. Mon. I. tab.
xxxvii.) is figured a mosaic of the 5th centurv,
indicating a council, and with a suggestus and
the open Gospels thereon in the middle, from the
Baptistery at Ravenna.
Diocesan and provincial councils were held
naturally and ordinarily in the cathedral and
metropolitan cities respectively. Why Clovesho
was selected for the provincial councils of Saxon
England, it is impossible to say, in the absence of
any certainty as to where Clovesho was. Pos-
sibly it was a central spot, which Canterbury
was not. The outgoing council sometimes named
the place for that which was to come next ; as
e.g. Cone. Tolet. IV. a.d. 633, can. 4, enacts that
it shall do. So also the place for the first of
Pipin's two annual councils was fixed by him-
self, but that first council determined the loca-
lity of the second. Cone. Arausie. I. a.d. 441,
can. 29, forbids any council to be dissolved " sine
alterius conventus denuntiatione." Cone. Emerit.
A.D. 666, c. 7, and Coi^c. Tolet. iv. a.d. 633,
can. 3, leave it to the metropolitan to deter-
mine the place, which was the usual rule. The
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palace where king or emperor happened to be,
commonly decided the locality of the Concilia
I'alatina, as e.g. Clichy, Braine, Aix-la-Chapelle,
&c. The localities of the Oecumenical Councils
were determined by the circumstances of the
case, and the convenience of the emperors.
Nicaea, e.g. was close to the emperor's palace at
Nicomedia. Ephesus was a convenient seaport,
with great facilities of access on account of its
trading importance, and accessible by land
through the great road by Iconium to the Eu-
phrates (see Howson and Conybeare's St. Paul,
vol. ii., pp. 80, sq. 8vo. edit.). Chalcedon was
close to Constantinople, yet apart from it. And
Sardica again was chosen, in A.D. 347, as a place
most convenient for East and West to meet in.
IV. Provision at the public expense, was also
made, both for the conveyance of the bishops to
the place of meeting, and for their entertainment
during the sessions, at any rate during the period
of the councils against the Arians. The former
was ordered by Constantine in the cases of the
Councils of Aries I. and Nice (Euseb. H. E. x.
5, and V. Constant, iv. 6-9, &c.) ; and is bitterly
complained of, somewhat later, by Ammianu's
Marcellinus (Hist. xxi. fin.), as interfering with
the public system of conveyance to the detriment
of public business and convenience ; while pope
Liberius endeavoured to obtain a council from the
emperor by (among other motives) offering that
the bishops would waive the privilege and travel
at their own expense (Sozom. iv. 11). Of the latter
we read at the Council of Ariminum, a.d. 359,
where only three of the British bishops accepted
it, the others, with the bishops of Gaul and
Aquitaine, declining it as interlering with their
independence (Sulp. Sev. ii. 55).
V. The ceremonial of a council is described in
respect to a provincial council, by an order of
Cone. To'et. IV. A.D. 633, can. 4, quoted and
abridged, but not quite accurately, by Hefele (I.
65, Engl. Tr.), thus :—" Before sunset on the
day appointed, all those who are in the church
must come out ; and all the doors must be shut,
except the one by which the bishops enter; and
at this door all the ostiarii will station them-
selves. The bishops will then come, and take
their places according to the times of their oi-di-
nation. When they have taTcen their places, the
elected priests, and after them the deacons,
[' probabiles, quos ordo poposcerit interesse,']
will come in their turn to take their places. The
priests sit behind the bishops, the deacons [stand]
in front, and all are arranged in the form of a
circle. Last of all, those laity are introduced,
whom the Council by their election have judged
worthy of the favour. The notaries, who are
necessary, are also introduced. [And the doors
are barred.] All keep silence. When the arch-
deacon says. Orate, all prostrate themselves upon
the ground. After several moments, one of the
oldest bishops rises and recites a prayer in a loud
voice, during which all the rest remain upon
their knees. The prayer having been recited,
all answer, Amen ; and they rise when the arch-
deacon says, Erigite vos. While all keep silent,
a deacon, clad in a white alb, brings into the
midst the book of the canons, and reads the rules
for the holding of councils. When this is ended,
the metropolitan gives an address, and calls on
those present to bring forward their complaints.
If a priest, a deacon, or a layman, has any com-
478
COUNCIL
plaint to make, he makes it known to the arch-'
deacon of the metropolitan church ; and the
latter, in his turn, will bring it to the knowledge
of the council. No bishop is to withdraw with-
out the rest ; and no one is to pronounce the
council dissolved, before all the business is ended."
Tiie synod concluded Avith a ceremony similar to
that of the opening ; the meti-opolitan then pro-
claimed the time of celebrating Easter {ih. can.
5), and that of the meeting of the next synod,
such synods being annual by can. 3.
Probably councils elsewhere followed a like
practice to those of Spain. The deacons, how-
ever, at all times, did not sit but stood {Cone.
Illiberit. in prooem., Cone. Tolet. I., Bracar. II.,
several early Roman Councils in Bingh. ii. xix.
12, and St. Cyprian's African Councils), unless
they a]jpeared as representing their i-espective
bishops.
A ^^ Modus tcnendi Synodos in Anglia" (11th
cent. Cott. MSS. Cleop.Q. viii. fol. 35, printed in
Wilkins' Concilia iv. 784^786), supplies a like
although later account of a diocesan synod.
After commanding such synods twice annually,
and suspending contumacious absentees for a
year, it proceeds to order the church to be cleared
of all people, and the doors closed, except one at
which the ostiarii are to be stationed. Then, at
an hour to be fixed by the bishop or his vicai-,
and in solemn procession with crosses and litany,
a seat having been placed in the middle of the
church with relics lying upon it, and a "plena-
rium," i.e. either a complete missal or a com-
plete copy of the gospels, and a stole, being
likewise placed thereon, the presbyters are to
take their seats according to the times of their
ordination : then the deacons are to be admitted,
but only those who are " probabiles," or " quos
orilo poposcerit interesse ; " then chosen laity ;
lastly the bishop, or at least his vicar. Forms
of prayer are then given, with benedictions and
lessons, for three days, which is assumed to be
the right limit of the duration of the synod.
From at least the Council of Ephesus, A.D.
431 (St. Cyril Alex, ad Theodos. in Actt. Cone.
EpJws.), an open copy of the Gospels was cus-
tomarily placed in the midst on a throne covered
with rich stuffs ; a precedent followed by other
Councils, eg. by tnat of Hatfield under Abp.
Theodore, A.D. 680 (" prepositis sacrosanctis
evangeliis "), down even to that of Basle (see also
the mosaic in Ciampini already referred to,
and Suicer in v. EvayyeMov). St. Cyprian
describes a council as " considentibus Dei sa-
cerdotibus et altari posito" {Epist. xlv.). In
the 8th century, an image of Our Lord is men-
tioned as placed in the midst, by Theodorus
Studita; and about the same time images of
saints likewise, by Gregory II. (a.d. 715-731,
Epist. II. ad Icon. Isaur.). And in similar
times, or later, we find also relics so placed,
as iu the 2fodus Unendi Sfaodos, above quoted.
Compare also the language of Gregory the Great
(0pp. II 1288) in the 6th century, speak-
ing of a Roman provincial synod as assembled
" coram sauctissimo beati Petri corpore," Cone.
Tolet.^ xi. A.D. 675, can. 1, prohibited talking or
laughing or disorder of any kind in a council.
The order of the Palatine Councils is ^iven by
Adelhard, the Abbat of Corbey, and wiU be re-
ferred to below (under D).
VI. The President of an ecclesiastical council
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was of course, in provincial councils, the metro-
politan (such a council, as we have seen, was not
" perfect " without him, and his presence became
ordinarily necessary to the due consecration of a
bishop [Bishop]); in diocesan councils, the
bishop or (in later times) at least his vicar ; in
primatial or patriarchal, the primate or patri-
arch ; the chief bishop present, at those councils
which were made up from neighbouring pro-
vinces {e.g. Vitalis of Antioch, at Ancyra) ; the
patriarch of Constantinople, in his (tvvoSol
iv5rifxov(rat ; kings or emperors in the mixed
national synods of later date. At Aries, in
A.D. 314, Marinus Bishop of Aries signs the
synodical letter first, and therefore probably
presided in the synod itself; and this probably
by appointment of the emperor, just as Mel-
chiades had presided in the previous year over
the abortive tribunal assembled at Rome. In
the Oecumenical synods, down to A.D. 869, the
emperor, either in person or by a representative,
exercised a kind of external presidency — irphs
evKoffiLLiav is all that Leo the Great allows, in
his synodical letter to the Council of Chalcedon,
A.D. 451 — in occupying the seat of honour when
present, and in regulating and enforcing external
order and the like. But the presidents or
irpSeSpoi, who are distinguished from the emperor
and from his representative, and who conducted
the real ecclesiastical business of the council,
were either the principal bishops or patriarchs,
or the legates of the patriarchs. At Nice, after
opening the proceedings in person, seated iu the
place of honour, Constantine, who expressly dis-
claimed for himself the interfering with doctrine,
and called himself bishop only Tccf sKrhs rrjs
eKKArjcrios, but the bishops themselves, ra'j' fiffca,
TrapfSiSov rhv Xoyov toIs t7]S 'S.vvSSov irpoe-
SpoLs (Phiseb. V. Constant, v. 13). And these
irpfJeSpoi, although not expressly named, may be
gathered from the list of chief members of the
council (Euseb. V. Constant, iii. 7, Socr. i. 13,
Sozom. i. 17, Theodoret, H. E. ii. 15), to have
been, first and above all, Hosius of Corduba, —
(employed by the emperor to manage the pre-
vious abortive council at Alexandria [Sozom. i.
16], present also at Elvira previously, and sub-
sequently president at Sardica ; see St. Athanas.
Apol. de Fuga ; and that Hosius gave advice
to the emperor in the Donatist question also,
c. A. D. 316, St. Aug. c. Parmenion. i. 8, ix.
43), Alexander of Alexandria (styled Kvptos in
the council, by the Cone. Kicaen. itself), Eusta-
thius of Antioch (alleged by Theodoret to have
addressed the opening speech to the emperor,
which however Sozomen, and the title of c. 11
of Euseb. V. Const mt. iii., attribute to Eusebius
himself, and Theodore of Mopsuestia to Alex-
ander), Macarius of Jerusalem, and Vitus and
Vincentius the presbyter-legates of the absent
Bishop of Rome. Such authorities also as John
of Antioch and Nicephorus (v. Tillemont, 3Ihn.
Eedes.vi. 272), speak of Eustathius as presiding.
That Hosius presided as legate of the pope (so
Gelas. Cyzic, ab. A.D. 476, is commonly said to
affirm, but he really says that Hosius " occupied the
place of the Bishop of Rome at the council, with
Vitus and Vincentius" [eVe'xa"' tov tottov rov
rrjs ixiyiffTns 'Pwfxrjs 'ETrtfTKOTrou SiA/SecrTpou avv
■Kpea^vripois 'Paj/xr;s Bi'tcovi koI BiKevriu (Labb.
ii. 156)], which is not quite the same thing), is dis-
tinctly contradicted by the langu.age of Eusebius,
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Socrates, and Sozomen. At Constantinople, a.d.
381, the successive presidents were Meletius of
Antioch (no higher patriarch being at first pre-
sent), and on his death, Gregory of Nazianzum
until his resignation, and then Nectarius, patri-
archs of Constantinople. At Ephesus, A.D. 431,
Candidianus, " comes sacrorum domesticoruni,"
was the commissioner of the Emperor Theodosius ;
but every one, "unless he was a bishop," was
strictly forbidden by the emperor to intermeddle
To7s fKK\r](riaa-TiKois (TKinfiaaiv : and Cyril of
Alexandria, at first alone, afterwards with the
Pope's legates, presided ecclesiastically, Candidian
indeed favouring the Nestorians. In A.D. 451,
at Chalcedon, the limits of imperatorial inter-
ference were less exactly kept. Paschasinus,
bishop of Libybaeum, the pope's legate, is re-
peatedly said to have presided, and signs first,
and as "synodo praesidens." But Marcian, in
person, presided over the sixth session, proposed
the questions, and conducted the business. And
his commissioners, generally, " had the place of
honour in the midst before the altar-rails, are
first named in the minutes, took the votes,
arranged the order of the business, and closed
the sessions " (Hefele, from the Acts). At Con-
stantinople, A.D. 553, neither Justinian nor Pope
Vigilius took a personal part, the latter expressly
refusing to join in it ; and the actual president
was Eutychius of Constantinople. In A.D. 680,
Constantine Pogonatus interfered even more than
Marcian in 451; and he is moreover expressly
called the president. But the papal legates sign
first, and Constantine only at the end of the
episcopal signatures, and with the phrase, " Le-
gimus et consentimus." At Nice, in A.D. 787,
Tarasius of Constantinople really conducted the
business of the council, but the papal legates
sign before him ; and the Empress Irene and her
son were present as honorary presidents in the
eighth and last session, but signed finally after
the signatures of the bishops. Lastly, in A.D.
869, the papal legates with the Patriarch of
Constantinople and the representatives of the
other patriarchs, were practically the presidents,
but the legates alone are expressly so called ;
while in the sixth and following sessions the
Emperor Basil and his two sons acted as presi-
dents and are so called, although refusing to
sign except after the legates and patriarchs
above mentioned. Of other synods, Hosius pre-
sided at Sardica, A.D. 347 (St. Athanas. Hist.
Avian., Sozom., ii. 12, Theodoret, H. E. ii. 15,
and the Acts themselves), the two presbyter-
legates of Pope Julius signing after him, and
then the Bishop of Sardica itself. At the
Latrocinium of Ephesus, A.D. 449, the Emperor
Theodosius gave the presidency to Dioscorus of
Alexandria, after refusing it to the papal legates.
It should be added, that objection was taken to
the emperor's even sending a commissioner to the
Council of Tyre, a.d. 335 (St. Athanas. Apolog.
c. Arian. n. viii.) ; and that the Council of Con-
stantinople, A.D. 869, ruled that the emperor
not only need not but ought not to intervene in
provincial synods, &c., but only in such as wei-e
oecumenical. But kings were present continu-
ally even in provincial synods in the West ; as
e. g. at Toledo IV. and V., a.d. 633 and 636, at
the legatine councils in England, A.D. 787, in
Gaul continually, and at Frankfort A.D. 794.
And the king's commissaries weje at the councils
COUNCIL
479
of Toledo VIIF. and i.\.. A.D. 653, 655. The
remonstrance of Pope .li.liiis to the Eastern
bishops respecting the Council of Antioch, A.D.
341 — that yUTy Set Ttapa yvtiifj.-r]v rod 'Etti-
ffKOTTov 'Pti^Tjs Kavovl^iiv Tas iKK\i](Tlas (Soci-.
ii. 13, Sozom. iii. 9) — might obviously have
been made by any of the patriarchs, the
church not being truly represented if any chief
bishop were passed over ; and reads rather like
a claim, which its maker felt it necessary to
press, there being no doubt about the like right
of the older and Eastern patriarchs. The second
Council of Nice, A.D. 787, requires all the patri-
archs (or their legates) for a really oecumenical
council (Labb. vii. 396).
VII. The order of Precedence, and of Signa-
tures, in a council, which commonly went to-
gether, followed ordinarily, in respect to Bishops,
the rule of priority of consecration (as e.g. in
Africa, Cod. Can. Afric. 86, Cone. Milev. cans.
13, 14; in Italy and Gaul, Greg. M. Epist.
vii. 112 [to Syagrius, Bishop of Autun], and so
also in Spain, Co7iC. Bracar. I. A.D. 563, can. 6,
and Cone. Tolet. IV. a.d. 633, c. 4, and [as
may be seen in the signatures to charters]
in England — see Counc. of Hertford, A.D. 673,
can. 8 ; and Cone. Londin. a.d. 1075, in Wilk.
i. 363). Here and there, however, custom
gave precedence to a particulaV see, as in England
latterly to London, Durham, Winchester. And
in an oecumenical council, or indeed wherever
present, the bishops of the chief sees, who in
due time became patriarchs, took precedence of
all others ; the order oeing fixed by the council
in Trullo, A.D. 692, as 1. Rome, 2. Constanti-
nople, 3. Alexandria, 4. Antioch, 5. Jerusalem ;
the preceding general councils of Constantinople
(can. 3) and Chalcedon (can. 28), having raised
Constantinople from a subordinate place to have
" equal honours " with Rome, but to count as
second (so also Justinian, Novel, cxxxi. c. 2).
Ephesus and Caesarea, as patriarchates in a
secondary sense, followed the chief patriarchs;
as e. g. in the 4th and 6th oecumenical councils.
Chorepiscopi, so long as that office existed as an
episcopal office, either in east or west — and again
the titular and monastic bishops of the 6th and
following centuries (mainly in north-western
Europe) — counted in a council as bishops. If
priests or deacons were present as vicars or
legates of their respective bishops, they signed,
in the East, in the order in which their own
bishop would have signed, had he been present ;
in the West, usually after all the bishops pre-
sent. In the 1st council of Aries, however, the
priests and deacons, whom each bishop had been
desired to bring with him, signed immediately
after their own bishop ; and the Pope's legates
signed after several of the bishops. In France
and England, and in the case of the archimand-
rites in Eastern councils, the abbats, althougli lay-
men, signed between the bishops and priests (if
any signatures occur of tlie last named). In Spain,
as laymen, they signed at first after the priests, but
afterwards (becoming probably in many instances
priests themselves) they signed, as elsewhere,
after the bishops and before the priests. Of lay
signatures, the emperor in the great oecumenical
councils signed after all the bishops, except in
A.D. 869, when the emperor and his sons signed
after the great patriarchs but before all the
other bishops, (mperial commissioners also took
480
COUNCIL
precedence, in the council itself, immetliately
after the patriarchs or their representatives, but
did not sign the acts at all. In the mixed
European synods, lay signatures also occur.
In Euijland we have in order — king, archbishop,
bishops, dukes, abbats, nobles, presbyters, minis-
tri ; sometimes abbesses also ; but, of course, in
mixed synods or rather witenagemots only ; and
all this, not in the same order always, for some-
times not only presbyters but deacons sign before
the nobles, and abbats follow the presbyters. At
Clovesho, A.D. 803, the bishop, abbats, and pres-
byters of each diocese, sign together, and in one
case (that of Canterbury) an archdeacon also.
The list of those present at the IstCouncil of Aries,
A.D. 314, as has been said, follows a like order.
At Nice the signatures, so far as they are pre-
served, are of name and see simply. At the
Council of Ephesus, a.d. 431, and thenceforward,
the custom began of adding "gratia Christi," or
'' Dei miseratidne," or "in Christi nomine," and
also of adding to the name such epithets as
minimus, peccator, indkjnus, humilis, &c. The
sees are omitted commonly, but not always, in
Anglo-Saxon, in Frank, and in Spanish coun-
cils. The chief exceptions in England are
the Councils of Calchyth, A.D. 787, and Clo-
vesho, A.D. 803, where the sees are certainly
given. They occur, however, more often in
France. But as the lists are commonly copies,
the scribes are as likely as not to have added
the sees in some instances, although this is
clearly not the case in many. The addition
of "definiens (Spiiras) subscripsi," belonged to
bishops as such, and very often occurs, as e.g.
Cone. Ch'dced. A.D. 451, from the 5th century ;
" consentiens subscripsi," or " consensi et sub-
scripsi," or " subscripsi " simply, being the form
for others as well as bishops. The Saxon " pom-
positas " varied the form in endless ways, as
may be seen in Kemble's Cudex Diplomaticus.
" Pronuntiaus cum sancta synodo," also occurs
in the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431.
VIII. The votes were taken no doubt by heads,
from the beginning. The plan of voting by nations,
the vote of each nation being determined by the
majority of individual votes within the nation
itself, was a device as late as the Council of Con-
stance, intended to prevent the swamping of the
council by Italian bishops, and was abandoned
again after the Council of Basle. The distinction
between vota decisiva and vota consultativa, the
former alone counting in the formal dScisions of
the council, is of modera date also, so far as
the terms are concerned ; but the presence at
councils of individuals, and of classes of persons,
for consultation but without a vote, is of very
earlv origin (see below under B), and indeed
may be most probably said to date from Apo-
stolic times.
IX. Lastly, councils were confirmed, in the case
of the Oecumenical Councils, and so as to give
their decrees the force of law, by the emperors ;
although, ill foro conscientiae, St. Athanasius's
dictum holds good, — irdTe yap eK rov aloivos
ilKovaOri Toiavra; Tr($T6 Kpiats iiCKA-naias trapa
^acriXews i(Tx^ rh Kupos ; (Hist. Arian. ad
Monach. § 52, 0pp. i. 376). The decrees of the
Nicene Council were enforced as laws of the em-
pire by Constantino (Euseb. V. Constant, iii.
17-19: Socr. i. 9; Cxelas. Cyzic. ii. 36, in
JMansi, ii. 919). Subscription to its creed was
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enforced on pain of exile (Socr. i. 9; Rufin, //. K.
i. 5). That of Constantinople, in A.D. 381, re-
quested and obtained the legal confirmation of
Theodosius the Great (July 30, A.D. 381, Cod.
Theod. xvi. 1. 3). Theodosius II., after much
hesitation, confirmed the principal decision of
the Council of Ephesus. A.D. 431 (Hefele), by
exiling Nestorius and ordering Nestorian writings
to be^ burnt (Mansi, v. 255, 413, 920). Mar-
cian's edicts are extant of February 7, March 13,
July 6 and 28, A.D. 452, which confirm the
decrees of the Council of Chalcedon of A.D. 451.
The next four councils (in the Latin reckoning)
of A.D. 553, 680, 787, 869, were either signed, or
(as in the 6th and 8th) also enforced by an edict,
by the emperors who respectively summoned
them. Councils also were commonly held in
the various provinces to accept the decrees of a
General Council. And in this way the sanction
of the bishops of Rome was given after some
delay to the second council of Constantinople, a.d.
381. Nothing is said of the pope in relation to the
great Council of Nice, except by documents of a
date and nature such as to make them worthless
(Hefele makes the best of them, but his own
statements are the best refutation of his conclu-
sion). Leo the Great refused to assent to the
decree of Chalcedon respecting the patriarch of
Constantinople, while accepting the rest. And
both that council (ap. Leon. M. Epist. Ixxxix.)
and Marcian {ih. Epist. ex.) recognize in terms
the necessity of obtaining the pope's confirma-
tion ; although with special reference to the
canon affecting the dignity of the see of Rome.
Yet, in a.d. .553, Justinian compelled the sub-
mission of pope Vigilius to the Council of Con-
stantinople. And the canons of the Trullnn
Council, in A.D. 692, were in like manner forced
by the emperor upon pope Sergius. The General
Councils, so called, of A.D. 680, 787, and 869,
sought and received the papal confirmation.
For the legal authority attached at various
periods to the canons of either oecumenical or
provincial councils, see Caxox Law. The
" Canones Patrum," i.e., probably the collection
of Dionysius Exiguus, were brought forward by
Theodore, and certain canons selected from them
accepted as specially needed for the English
Church, at the Council of Hertford, A.D.' 673
(Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 119). Charlemagne,
in his Capitularies, dealt with ecclesiastical
laws as well as civil, but consulted pope .Adrian,
and obtained a sort of enlarged Codex Ginonum
from him, A.D. 774 ; as Pipin had done before
him, A.D. 747, with pope Zacharias. But the
royal authority gave legal force to these laws —
"a vestra auctoritate firmentur" (Cone. Mo-
gunt. A.D. 813, in Praef.; and so repeatedly);
as indeed had been the case with Frank and
Burgundian kings, &c., before Pipin also.
The Council of Calchyth, a.d. 816, can. 9,
enacts that a copy of decrees of councils sliould
be taken by each bishop, with date and names of
archbishop and bishops present ; and that
another copy should be given to any one affected
by the decree.
B. Such being (so to say) the externals of a
council, the next question relates to its Consti-
tuent Members.
I. To speak first of provincial councils, there
can be no question that bishops were essentially
their members. The Apostolic Canon (37) speaks
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of avi'oSoi Twv ^EiriffKSTraiv', the 5th cannn of .
Nicf, of irdvrav Toiv 'Y.-iziaKSizixiv ttjs iwapxi-a^,
&c. ; and similarly Cone. Antioch. a.d. 341,
can. 20, and the 29th canou of Chalcedon, which
describes also such crvvoSoi rwv ^EiriaK6Trwu as
KiKavoi>i<rjxevai ; and the earliest known synods
of the kind (the earliest indeed of any kind),
those of Hierapolis and Anchialfis against Monta-
nism, and those held by Polycrates about Easter,
respectively in the middle and towards the end
of the 2nd century, consisted of bishops, without
mentioning (yet certainly without in terms ex-
cluding) any one else (^LiheUus Synodicus, and
Euseb. V. 16, 24). See also St. Cyprian (Epist.
7o), St. Hilary {De Syn. Prooem.), St. Ambrose
{Epist. 32, " audiant [presbyteri] cum populo"),
St. Jerome {Apol. c. Ruffin. lib. II.), &c. &c.
Moreover, from early times bishops but no
others were compelled to attend such synods,
under penalties (suspension for a year) for
abseiice, or even for coming late ; and the being
present in them was a recognized and allowed
cause of non-residence in their dioceses : e. g.
Cone. Laodic. c. a.d. 36.5, can. 40 ; Chalced. A.b.
451, can. 19; Agath. a.d. 506, can. 35; Vascns-,
ii. A.D. 529, Pref. ; Tarracon. A.D. 516, can. 6 ;
Aurel. ii. A.d. 533, can. 1 ; Arvern. i. A.D.
535, can. 1 ; Turon. ii. A.D. 567, can. 1 ; Eme-
rit. A.D. QQio, can. 7 ; Tolet. xi. a.d. 675, can.
15: see also Leo M. Epist. vi. a.d. 444; and
Greg. M. Epist. V. 54 (allowing presbyters or
deacons as representatives, if unavoidable). In
the 3rd century, however, as in Apostolic times
(Acts XV.), it becomes evident that presbyters
also took part in sUch councils ("seniores et
praepositi," Firmilian, as before quoted, speaking
for Asia; St. Cyprian repeatedly for Africa;
Euseb. H.E. vii. 28, of the Council of Antioch
that condemned Paul of Samosata in A.D. 264 or
265, for Syria ; and the case of Origen, again, at
the Arabian synods respecting Beryllus ; &c.).
In the Council of Elvira (a.d. 305, Hefele)
twenty-six or twenty-four presbyters " sat with"
the bishops. In that of Aries I., A.D. 314, each
bishop was directed to bring two presbyters with
him, and some brought deacons also. A series
of Roman councils (a.d. 461, 487, 499, 502, 715,
721) contained also presbyters, " sitting with "
the bishops, and in two cases " subscribing " with
them (Bingh. ii. xix. 12); and others might be
added, as e. g. under Gregory the Great {0pp. II.
1288). "Gregorius Papa coram sanctissimo teati
Petri corpore, cum episcopis omnibus ac Romanae
Ecelesiae presbyteris residens, adstantibus dia-
conis et cuncto clei-o." So again at Carthage,
a.d. 387, 389, 401 ; at Toledo, a.d. 400 ; at Con-
stantinople, A.D. 443 ; at Braga, II. A.D. 572 ; and
the order of holding a council given above from
Cone. Tolet. iv. a.d. 633, as well as the later
English " ordo," also above mentioned, expressly
provide for the presence of presbyters. They
are present also at Calchyth, A.D. 787, and
Clovesho, A.D. 803. And later still, presbyters
subscribe at Lyons, a.d. 830» At the oecume-
nical councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon they
were present, but did not subscribe. Three,
however, subscribe in their own names at Con-
stantinople, A.D. 381 (Labb. ii. 957). But then
it must be added, 1. That individual presbyters
(and deacons) were sometimes specially invited
to speak at such councils on account of their
personal eminence and talents : as, e. g. Malchion,
CHRIST ANT.
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481
the priest of Antioch, in the council that* con-
demned Paul of Samosata (Euseb. //. E. vii. 29) ;
and Origen at the Arabian synods that con-
demned Beryllus ; and Barsumas the Archiman-
drite at the Latrocinium of Ephesus, invited by
the emperor Theodosius II. ; and St. Athanasius
the deacon at Nice ; and Wilfrid, still a ])resbytcr,
at Whitby. 2. That priests as well as deacons,
KoX -navras rovs iiSiKriffOai vofj.l^ovras, i.e., lay-
men also, are bid to be present at such synods
in order to bring forward complaints and obtain
justice (Cone. Antioch. a.d. 341, can. 20, and so
also in the "ordo" above quoted from Cone.
Tolet. of A.D. 633). 3. That St. Cyprian, for
instance, speaks of bishops only as the members
of the synod, and this where presbyters had
been present (Hefele), and of presbyters as
" compresbyteri qui nobis assideljant ; " while
bishops only voted in the African council of
A.D. 256. 4. That in Cone. Constantin., A.D.
448, while the bishops signed with the formula
opiaas inreypa^pa, the archimandrites omit the
bpicras in their signatures. 5. That, having
regard to the judicial functions of such councils,
it seems impossible to suppose that any beside
bishops could have been appointed judges of
bishops. On the whole, then — setting aside the
well known practice whereby priests (or deacons)
signed and voted with the bishops as representa-
tives or vicars of their own (absent) bishops, and
reserving also the case of abbats — it would
seem that bishops were the proper, ordinary, and
essential members of a pi'ovincial council ; but
that the presbyters as a body were consulted, as
of right, down to certainly the 3rd century, and
not only continued to be present, but were ad-
mitted to subscribe in several instances in later
centuries ; but that it must remain doubtful
whether they ever actually voted in a division,
and that the apparent inference from the evi-
dence is rather against than for their having done
so. The presence of the metropolitan in a pro-
vincial lynod, as above said, was necessary to
render it a " perfect " synod. On the other hand,
the metropolitan could not act, except of course
in the exercise of his ordinary functions, apart
from his provincial synod. Chorepiscopi, during
the 4th century in the east, and during the 9th
in the west, in France, and the monastic and
titular bishops of north-western Europe from the
6th century onwards, were treated as bishops.
But besides presbyters, deacons and lajimen like-
wise took part in such synods. The usual
phrase, both in St. Cyprian and in the Roman
councils under Symmachus &c. just mentioned,
is, " adstantibus diaconis, cum stautium plebe "
( = with the laity who had not lapsed, but were
in full communion) ; and in those Roman coun-
cils deacons subscribe, and in the same foi'm with
the bishops and presbyters ; and St. Cyprian
repeatedly states that he did nothing as bishop
without consulting all his clergy and laity too ;
and the order of a Council, drawn up at Toledo,
A.D. 633, specifying " invited deacons " and
^'■chosen laymen," shows that these wore not
supposed to come merely to bring forward com-
plaints, but to join in consultation. " Consi-
dentibus presbyteris, adstantibus diaconis cum
universo clero," is the common phrase re-
specting councils of 5th century onwards, but
without mention of laity as a rule. There were
lavmen, however, at Toledo, A.D. 653, as thei-rf
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482
COUNCIL
had been at Tarragona, A.D. 51G, and at the 2nd
council of Orange, A.D. 529 ; and at this hist
named council the lay members also signed, al-
though using the vaguer form, which, however,
the bisliops also used at the same council, of
"consentiens subscripsi." And lay signatures
occur in other instances Jilso, as at the council
of Calchyth, A.D. 787. The " seniores plebis "
also, who occur in Africa in the time of e.g.
Optatus (see Bingh. II. xix. 19), may be men-
tioned in the same connection. On the other
hand, the archbishop of Lyons (Cow. Epaon. A.D.
817), " permits " the presence of laity, but it is,
" ut quae a solis pontificibus ordinanda sunt, et
populus possit agnoscere." At Lyons itself,
however, A.D. 830, we find not only presbyters,
but deacons, laymen, and a chorepiscopus. The
signatures of emperors indeed, or of their com-
missioners, to oecumenical synods ; the presence
of notaries at synods, who however had doubtless
no votes ; the part taken by kings in mixed
national synods; the attendance of invited ex-
perts (so to say) as assessors, but without votes,
as of doctors of theology and of canon law in
later times, or of such individuals as Origen and
the others above mentioned, or, again, of the
" magistri ecclesiae, qui canonica pat rum sta-
tuta et diligerent et nossent," at the council of
Hertford, aTd. 670 (Baed. H. E. iv. 5, and cf. also
Cone. Tan-aeon. A.D. 516, c. 13, &c.), — are ob-
viously exceptional cases, which need no explana-
tion. But the language in which the subject in
general is mentioned, coupled with Apostolic pre-
cedent, establishes two things, — one, that deacons
and laity had a right from the beginning to a
certain stahis in councils ; the other, that they
occupied a distinctly lower status there than the
bishops and presbyters did ; — and that while there
is distinct proof of both classes having been con-
sulted and their opinions taken (so to say) en
iwisse, no proof at all exists that the laity, and
no sufficient proof that the deacons, ever voted
individually in actual divisions. The f^r infer-
ence from the evidence, as regards the general
question, seems to be, that, as in the election of
bishops, and in synods held for that purpose, so
in provincial synods likewise, the consent of all
orders in the Church — bishops, priests, deacons,
and laity — was at the first held needful, although
the bishops alone as a rule discussed and voted ;
tliat, as the Church increased in numbers, the
presence of all, or nearly all, became impossible
as well as mischievous ; while no scheme of repre-
sentation was devised to meet the difficulty, except
partially in Africa (as already mentioned) in the
case of bishops ; and that, consequently, the pre-
sence of classes of members who did not take an
active part in the actual council naturally and
gradually ceased, and the bishops (or their vicars)
came to constitute provincial councils alone, even
presbyters no longer appearing there. It is to
be added, that bishops were then in some fairly
real sense the representatives of the diocese,
which had indeed elected them bishops ; and that
(again in accordance with Apostolic precedent)
tliey are found sometimes giving account to their
dioceses of what they had done in councils, as,
e.g., Eusebius after the council of Nice at
Caesarea (cf. Schaff's Hist, of Christ. Ch. i. 339).
Late medieval English provincial councils, i. c.,
convocations, which, it need hardly be said, in-
clude presbyters, are the result of an abortive
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political scheme, dating from Edward I., for tax-
ing the clergy ; the proper episcopal synod
gradually merging into the convention of clergy
then devised (see a good account of this in
Bluut's TIteol. Dictionari/, art. Convocations).
But in Anglo-Saxon England, as in France and
Spain, the purely episcopal synod was (at any
rate at first) kept distinct from the Witenage-
mot or the Placitum, even when held at the same
place and time (see Thomassin, ii. iii. c. 47, § 1 ;
and below, under D). The councils of Hertford
and of Hiitfield under Theodore were of bishops
only, as actual members with votes. It is not
until A.D. 787, that we find laity also in purely
ecclesiastical councils in England.
The case of abbats still remains. And here we
find, in the East, archimandrites, being pres-
byters, present and signing at the council of
Constantinople, A.D. 448. In the West, it is
mentioned as a singular honour, that St. Benedict,
being a layman, was invited by St. Gregory the
Great to a seat in a Roman council. But from
the 6th century onwards in Spain, and a little
later in France, abbats formed a regular portion
of the councils, signing in the former country at
first after, and at a later time before, the priests.
They sign, also, in France. In England they
occur repeatedly, and sometimes abbesses also
(although Hilda at Whitby is a merely excep-
tional case, proving nothing), but it is either in
diocesan or in mixed synods [Abbat, Abbess],
until A.D. 787, at the legatine councils of Cal-
chyth and in Northumbria, which are signed by
abbats and lay nobles as well as bishops. So
also at Clovesho A.D. 803, bisliops, abbats, pres-
byters, deacons, sign in that order, but by dio-
ceses (Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 546, 547). A.D.
1075, Lanfranc (called by a blunder Dunstan in
Hefele, i. 23, Eng. tr.) puts them on an equality
with bishops in the privilege of addressing synods ;
as was done also at the same time and place with
the archdeacons. In later times they sat and
voted, just as the bishops did, and are ruled to
have this right by e. g. the councils of Basle and
Trent.
II. The constituent members of a diocesan
council, were the Bishop and Presbijters, the
latter being bound by canon to attend such
councils, just as the bishops were bound to
attend the Provincial Synod ; but deacons and
laity originally had the right to be present and
to be consulted, although their actual right to a
formal and individual vote is questionable at all
times, and, if it ever existed, was certainly lost
very early. In later centuries, iu Europe,
abbats also were summoned with the presbyters.
The assembly »f the presbyters was indeed
the bishop's standing council [Bishop, Priest]
from the beginning: see e.g. Pius I. Epist. 11.;
Constit. Apostol. II. 28 ; S. Ignatius passim ; S.
Cyprian repeatedly (" Placuit contrahi presby-
terium, ut . . . consensu omnium statueretur,"
Epist. 46 al. 49 : " Cum statuerem . . nihil
sine consilio vestro [viz. of the clergy], et sine
consensu plebis, mea privata sententia gerere,"
Epist. 6, al. 14, &c., &c.) ; and so at Ephesus, at
Alexandria in the condemnation of Origen and of
Arius, at Rome in that of Novatian (Bingh. II.
xix. 8) ; and Pope Siricius in condemning Jovinian
(Id. ib. 11): and for later times. Cone. Oscens.
A.D. 598, can. 1 ; Liptin. a.d. 743 (Labb. vi.
1544), Suess. a.d. 744, can. 4 ; Vern. a.d. 755,
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can. 8\ Ai-clat. vi. a.d. 813, can. 4; Capit.
Tlteodulph. c. 4 ; Laws of Northumhnan Priests,
44; Eadijar's Canons, 3-6. Ahhats were also
summoned, and a journey to the synod was an
allowable canon of absence from their monas-
teries [Abbat]. Theodore enacts that no
bishop shall compel them to come (^Penitent. II.
ii. 3). In the Llandaft' synods {Lib. Landav., and
extracts in Haddan and Stubbs, vol. i.), the
bishop, the three great abbats of the diocese, and
the presbyters (in one case, "electi "), the deacons,
and all the clerici, form the synod. But Spanish
and Frank councils, above quoted, require the at-
tendance of abbats. Laity and deacons were ob-
viously present and were consulted as a body both
in St. Cyprian's time and later. Bishop Sage, who
argues most strongly for the negative, is plainly
arguing against facts. But there is always a
distinction drawn, even by St. Cyprian, between
the consilium of the clergy and the consensus of
the plebs (see Moberly's Pampton Lectures, pp.
119, 305). The gradual changes, no doubt,
which are found in respect to the people's
interest in the election of Bishops [Bishops],
affected also their position in councils called
for other than elective purposes.
III. Of Oecumenical Councils, as of provincial
ones, bishops were clearly the proper and essen-
tial members ; yet here too presbyters and even
deacons were sometimes present. At Nice, in
A.D. 325, presbyters and deacons were present,
and in great numbers ; and one deacon cer-
tainly, St. Athanasius, spoke : but there is no
trace or probability of their having voted. At
Constantinople, A.D. 381, three presbyters occur
among the signatures, signing to all appearance
in their own names, and intermixed with the
bishops of the province from which they came.
But there are many other signatures in the list
of presbyters signing as representatives of bi-
shops. And since the list as it stands is the work
of a copyist, it is quite as likely as not that these
three also represented bishops, but that the few
words at the end of each name indicating the
fact have been accidentally omitted. At Con-
stantinople, in A.D. 448, presbyter-archimandrites
sign exactly as if they had also voted ; and this
council, although itself not oecumenical, is
embodied in that of Chalcedon, A.D. 451. At
Chalcedon itself one presbyter is noted to have
spoken; and at the 2nd of Nice, a.d. 787, one
presbyter signs, apparently in his own name
(Bingh. II. xix. 13, from Habert). But ex-
ceptions of this kind seem rather to prove the
rule, viz. that bishops, and bishops only, each
as representing his own church, were the mem-
bers of Oecimienical Councils.
C. The AUTHORITY assigned to Oecumenical
Councils was hardly made the subject of formal
and systematic treatment, until the end of the
great period of councils, viz. of the 4th century.
It was then limited in three ways. i. Their de-
crees were not unalterable, in matters of discipline,
by a further council ; and required external obe-
dience but nothing more, as being those of the
highest church tribunal, ii. Their office, doctri-
nally, was not to enlarge the faith, but simply
to testify in express and distinct tei-ms to that
which had been held implicitly before. " Quid
unquam aliud conciliorum decretis enisa est
[Ecclesia], nisi ut quod antea simplicitcr crede-
batur, hoc idem postea diligentius crederetur ; "
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483
and again, " nisi ut quod prius a majoribus sola
traditione susceperat, hoc deinde posteris etiam
per scriptui-ae chirographum consignaret ....
non novum fidei sensum novae appellationis pro-
prietate signando " (Vincent. Lirin. Commonit. c.
xxiii.) ; and this, so as to be a " sedula et cauta
depositorum apud se dogmatum custos," without
any the least change in them, of any kind what-
soever, whether of diminution or addition (Id.
il>.). iii. They were not held to be formally in-
fallible, but to possess an authority proportioned
to their universality, to be capable of being
amended by subsequent councils upon better in-
formation, and to be subordinate to Scripture.
Of that which is certainly written in the Bible,
says St. Augustin, speaking of a doctrinal ques-
tion, " omnino dubitari et disceptari non possit
utrum verum vel utrum rectum sit," but coun-
cils may set aside Episcopal dicta [St. Cyprian is
the bishop specially intended], and national or
provincial councils must " plenariorum concilio-
rum auctoritati, quae fiunt ex universo orbe
Christiano, sine uUis ambagibus cedere : ipsaque
plenaria saepe priora posterioribus emendari,
cum aliquo experimento rerum aperitur quod
clausum erat, et cognoscitur quod latebat "
(St. Aug. Be Papt. c. Donat. II. 3, § 4). And
again, in Epist. 54, the same St. Augustin, set-
ting canonical Scripture first, places next in
order universal customs, " non scripta sed tra-
dita," which must be assumed to have been
enacted " vel ab ipsis Apostolis, vel plenariis con-
ciliis, quorum est in Ecclesia saluberrima aucto-
ritas," instancing the observance of Good Friday,
Easter Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost ; and then,
below these, mere national and local customs.
Again, in arguing against Maximin the Arian,
St. Augustin confines the decision to Scripture
testimonies, bidding his opponent waive the
Council of Ariminum, as he himself waives the
" pi'ejudication " of that of Nice. So again, St.
Gregory the Great, saying repeatedly that he
"quatuor Concilia suscipere et venerari sicut
sancti Evangelii quatuor libros," and that
" quintum quoque Concilium " (the last held up
to his time) " pariter veneror " {Epist. i. 25 ;
and see also, iii. 10, iv. 38, v. 51, 54), proceeds
to allege as his gi'ound for doing so, that they
were " universal! constituta consensu." St.
Augustin indeed seems to consider the decision of
a " plenary council " to be final, in a matter of
discipline, because it is the highest attainable —
" ultimum judicium Ecclesiae " (Epist. 43, Ad
Glor. et Eleus.) ; and refers the Donatists to such
a council, as the remedy which " adhuc resta-
bat," to revise, and if needful reverse, the sen-
tence already delivered by the bishops at Rome
under the pope. The well-known passage in
St. Greg. Naz. (Epist. ad Procop. Iv.), denouncing
synods of bishops as doing more harm than good,
through ambition and lust of contention, is
simply an argument from the abuse of a thing
against its use ; yet proves certainly, that a council
per se and a priori was not held to be infallible.
On the other hand, besides the general phrase
commonly prefixed to councils, " Sancto Spiritu
suggerente," and the like, we find Socrates (i. 9)
declaring that the Nicene fathers ou5a^t<?s octo-
X^ffai rfjs aArjOfi'as ihvvavro, because thoy were
enlightened virh tov 0eoD koI rfjs x°-P^'''os toiJ
'AyCov nvivixaros ; and St. Cyril (Dc Trin. /.)
calling their decrees a Divine oracle (and so
2 I 2
484
COUNCIL
others, as e.g. Isid. Pelus. iT. 99, BeSOev ifxirvev-
ffOeTaa); and St. Ambrose, declaring that " neither
death nor the sword could sepai-ate him from
the Nicene Council " {Episf. xxi.) ; and Leo the
Great declaring repeatedly, that the faith of
Nice and Chalcedon is a first principle, from
which neither himself nor any one else may
swerve {Hpist. cv. cxiv. &c. A.n. 452, 453).
While .Justinian, who ordered all bishops to
subscribe to the faith of the first four councils,
lays down in his Novels (cxxsi.), that rwv
Ttpoiip-qiiivuiv cyiwv avvSSuv (viz. the four) to
doyixara Kaddwep ras ©ei'as Tpacpa.^ Sexf^Mf^")
Kal TOiis Kavdvas iis vSfiovs (pvX6.rT0fj.fv. The
Council of Chalcedon again speaks of the Nicene
decrees as unalterable. And Leo the Great
speaks of the faith of Chalcedon itself as an
" irretractabilis consensus." And St. Ambrose,
of the decrees of general councils as " hereditary
seals which no rashness may break " (^De Fide
III. 15). In short, while no one asserts that
such councils W'ere formally incapable of erring,
the entire current of church teaching assumed
that they had not erred ; and that it would be the
height of presumption and of folly in any part
of the church or any individual Christian to
contravene them ; while both Vincent of Lerins,
and possibly Augustin, would allow to a succeed-
ing council power only to build doctrinally upon
the foundation already laid by its accepted pre-
decessors. The Provincial Councils " began," by
ventilating the question; the General Council
" terminated " the discussion, by sealing as it were
and formally expressing the decision which had
ripened to its proper and natural close ; and this,
on the assumjition that such decision was ac-
cepted " universali Ecclesiae consensione " (" In
Catholico regionali concilio coepta, plenario ter-
minata," and so " universali Ecclesiae consen-
sione roborata," St. Aug. De Bapt. c. Donat. vii.
53). And St. Vincent of Lerins, in requiring to
anything " vere proprieque Catholicum," that
"ubique, semper, ab omnibus, creditum est"
(^Cormnonit. c. 2), obviously rests the certainty of
conciliar decisions upon the acceptance, implicitly
or explicitly, of the whole church of all times
(see Hammond on Meres'], sect. vi. § 9, sq.) ; but
refuses to allow that any question so decided
can be re-opened.
The relative authority of the pope and of a
general council, did not emerge into a formal
question until long after our period ; although
St. Angustin's language about Pope Melchiades,
and about the dicta of St. Cyprian, sufficiently
shows what at any rate his decision would have
been, had it been possible that the question could
have been raised at that time.
Whether Provincial Councils could entertain
questions of doctrine, is also a question not for-
mally put until very late times indeed. That theV
did so in point of fact in earlier times, may be seen
in a list of instances in Palmer, On the Ghui-ch,
IV. xiii. 1 § 2. And upon St. Angustin's view
above quoted, it was their proper otiice to venti-
late such questions, and as it were ripen them
for the final determination of the Oecumenical
Council. Their authority, of course, like that
of diocesan synods, was "in proportion to their
numbers and character, and to their subsequent
acceptance by the Church at large.
The Church, speaking generally, has accepted
absolutely the first six Oecumenical Councils,— of
COUNCIL
Nice, A.D. 321 ; Constantinople, A.D. 381 ; Ephesus,
A.D. 431 ; Chalcedon, A.D. 451 ; Constantinople,
A.D. 553 ; Constantinople again, A.D. 680. Where
the first four are spoken of especially, it is, com-
monly, either in order to parallel them with the
four Gospels (as e.g. St. Gregory the Great, who
adds that he equally venerates the 5th, the last
then held), or because the Fathers or others who
speak of them lived before the 5th was held
(e.g. Theodosius Coenobiarcha, in Baron, in an.
511, no. 33, from St. Cyril and Suidas, — "Si
quis quatuor sanctas synodos non tanti esse exis-
timat quanti quatuor evangelia, sit anathema "),
or, lastly, because the 5th and Gth are taken to be
as it were supplementary to the 3rd and 4th.
So Cone. Lateran. a.d. 649, cans. 18, 19, accepts
the five councils already then held, as being all
there were. The Greek and Roman Churches
accept a 7th, viz. the Council of Nice in favour
of images, A.D. 787 (rejected by the Western
Council at Frankfort, A.D. 794, and by the
English Church of the same date ; — see Haddan
and Stubbs, IIL 468, 481) ; the Greek Church,
however, fluctuating considerably in the point,
accepting it a.d. 842, when the KvpiaKT)
rris 'OpdoSo^ias was appointed to celebrate
the seven Oecumenical Councils, yet still hesi-
tating in A.D. 863, but finally recognizing it in
A.D. 879 (see Palmer, On the Church, P. IV. c.
X. § 4). Pope Adrian accepted it. The previous
Iconoclast Council of Constantinople, A.D. 754,
is called the 8th Oecumenical by Cave, who
counts the Trullan or Quinisext Council of a.d.
692 as the 7th. An 8th Oecumenical, viz. of
A.D. 869, at Constantinople, which deposed Pho-
tius, is accepted as the next by Roman Theolo-
gians. That of A.D. 879, which restored him,
is called the 8th by most of those of the East
(Cave). The subsequent Western (so called)
Oecumenical Councils do not fall within the-
scope of the present work. It is to be observed,
however, that even in the 9th century, popes
still spoke of the six General Councils, as e.g.
Nicholas L, a.d. 859, and a.d. 863 or 866 ;
Adrian I., A.D. 871 (see Palmer as above). The
English Church accepted the first five, and also the
canons of the Lateran Council of a.d. 649, re-
specting the Monothelites, which likewise accepted
the five ; and declared her own orthodoxy about
Monothelitism with a view to the 6th General
Council of a.d. 680, then impending, at the Coun-
cil of Hatfield, A.D. 680 (Haddan and Stubbs III.
141, sq.). And Wilfrid had similarly professed
orthodoxy in reference to Monothelite views at
Rome itself in the same year, on behalf of Eng-
lish, Scots, and Picts (i6. 140). The legatine
Councils of Calchyth and in Northumbria, A.D.
787, accepted the six General Councils (can. i.
ib. 448). The canons of Aelfric, A.D. 957, ac-
cept the first four, as " the four books of Christ,"
and as having extinguished heresy, but add that
"manv synods had been held since, but these
were the' chief" (can. 33, Wilk. L 254). The
seventh General Council so called, of A.D. 787,
was, as above said, not accef)ted by the English
Church.
As a judicial body, the Provincial Council was
at first the ultimate tribunal. An appeal from
it to a larger council gradually became recog-
nized ; as at Cone. Antioch. A.D. 341. The appeal
to the Patriarch of Constantinople, or to the
Patriarch of Rome, \\ as of later date still
COUNCIL
[Appeal]. Cone. Arvern. I. a.d. 535, can. 1,
enacts, that in such councils no bishop shall pre-
sume to introduce any business, until all causes
are determined which pertain " ad emendationem
vitae, ad severitatem regulae, ad animae remedia."
For the office of diocesan and provincial synods
in the election of bishops, see Bishops.
1). Of iKREGULAR councils, a hvr words must
be said. And first of —
I. The avfoSoi ivSriixovcrai, as e.g. that of
Constantinople A.D. 536 under Mennas, which is
expressly so called, and at which also a letter was
read from a similar meeting — irapa rwv evS-rj-
jxovvrwv ''E.-kl(tk6tto>v — sc. from the bisliops of
the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem, who
happened at the time to be at Constantinople.
Justinian, although passing a law against
bishops coming to Constantinople without the
emperor's command or leave (Z^e Episc. el Cleric,
lib. i. leg. 42), yet frequently consulted and em-
ployed such synods. Bishops only, however,
constituted them, and the Constantinopolitan
patriarchs summoned them. 11. The Frank
Concilia Palatina, on the contrary, consisted of
both bishops and nobles, under the presidency
of king or emperor ; as did also the Witenage-
mots on the English side of the channel. Yet
the " synod " of bishops is distinguished, as a se-
parate assembly for purely ecclesiastical matters,
from the " placitum " or " conventus," as e.g.
at Cone. Liptin. a.d. 743, the latter of the two
consisting of bishops, nobles, presbyters, and ab-
bats. So also in Spain : where e.g. Cone. Tolet. iv.
A.D. 633 can. 75, which was a national Spanish
Council, especially characterizes its decree, even
about the succession to the throne, as " ponti-
ficale decretum." In England, while bishops
and nobles constituted the Witenagemot, Pro-
vincial Councils, as at Hertford and Hatfield,
consisted of the clergy only. The king came in
time to be usually present ; and larger excep-
tions occur in later times, as e.g. at the Council
of Calchyth, A.D. 787, at which lay nobles were
present as well as the king. In Carlovingian
France, the rule is laid down in terms in Abbot
Adelhard's Ordo Palatii (ap. Hincmar. 0pp. ii.
214) : — " Utraque autem seniorum susceptacula
[reception rooms for the various divisions of the
Palatine Councils] sic in duobus divisa erant, ut
primo omnes Episcopi, Abbates, vel hujusmodi
honorificentiores clerici, absque ulla laicorum
commixtione congregarentur : similiter comites
vel hujusmodi principes sibimet honorificabiliter a
cetera multitudine primo mane segregareutur,
quousque tempus sive praesente sive absente
Eege occurrej-nnt : et tunc praedicti seniores
more solito, Clerici ad suam, Laici vero ad suam
constitutam curiam, subselliis similiter honorifi-
cabiliter praeparatis, convocarentur : qui cum
separati a ceteris essent, in eorum manebat potes-
tate, quando siniul vel quando separati residereut,
prout eos tractandae causae qualitas docebat,
sive de spiritalibus sive de saecularibus seu
etiam commixtis : similiter si propter quamlibet
vescendi vel investigandi causam quemcuuque
convocare voluissent, et re comperta discederet,
in eorum voluntate manebat. Haec* interim de
his que eis a Eege ad tractaudum proponebantur."
III. There occur, besides these, a few exceptional
cases, as e.g. the Conference at Whitby, A.D. 664,
which can hardly be called a council in the proper
sense. But thes'e need not be here dwelt upon.
COUSINS-GEKMAN
485
[Thomassin ; Van Espen ; Richerius, Hist.
Gone. General. ; the older collections, as Crabbe's ;
Labbe' and Cossart, Harduin, Mansi ; and in
each country, special writers upon their ov/n na-
tional councils, as for England, Spelman, Wilkins,
Landon, Haddan and Stubbs ; for Spain, Loaisa,
Catalani ; for France, Sirmond ; for Germany,
Harzheim; Salmon, £tudes sur les Coneiles ;
Hefele, Concilien-Geschichte ; Pusey, On the
Councils ; Cave, llist. Litt. ; Bingham ; Mar-
tigny.] A. W, H.
COURIER. [Cursor.]
COUSINS, MARRIAGE OF. [Cousins-
German : Marriage.]
COUSINS-GERMAN. No prohibition
against the intermarriage of cousins-german is
contained or implied in Leviticus xviii. or Deu-
teronomy xxvii., nor can any such be inferred
from any other passage of the Old Testament ; a
direct sanction is, on the contrary, given to the
practice in the instance of the five daughters of
Zelophehad, who " were married to their father's
brother's sons " (Numb, xxxvi. 11). Nor does
any such prohibition occur in the monuments of
early Christianity. If we take the so-called
Apostolical canons to represent the customs of
the Church prior to the Nicene Council, 325,
neither in the text, nor in the ancient version of
Dionysius Exiguus, as given in Cotelerius'
" Patres Apostolici," is such a connection men-
tioned in the canon (c. 15, otherwise 10), which
forbids clerical orders to one who has married
two sisters, or a niece (a5eA<|)iS7;i', rendered in
the Latin filimn fratris). But it must be ob-
served that in the version by Haloander, which
is usually included in the Corpus Juris, the same
canon (numbered 18) contains instead the larger
term eonsobrinam, usually rendered " cousin " — a
palpable tampering with the text to meet later
ecclesiastical usage. At any rate Martene
{De ant. Eecles. Rit. bk. i. c. ix.) admits that,
till the end of the 4th century, marriages be-
tween cousins-german were allowed by the
Church. It is therefore to be inferred that the
disfavour with which the Church, especially the
Western one, came to look upon cousins' marri-
ages was rather borrowed from Roman feeling
than from Jewish. It is certain that marriage
between cousins-german was not practised in
eai'ly times by the Romans, although, indeed, it
had become prevalent in the 1st century of the
empire, since we find Vitellius adducing the
fact of the change in public opinion in this
respect in order to justify the proposed mar-
riage between the emperor Claudius and his
niece, the younger Agrippina (Tac. Ann. bk. sii.
c. 6). The juri.ts of the Di<jest do not, however,
look upon first cousins' marriages with disfiivour,
as appears by Paulus quoting, with approval, an
opinion of Pomponius, that if a man have a
grandson by one son and .1 granddaughter by
another, they may intermarry by his sole autho-
rity {Dig. xxiii. § ii. 1. 3). In the latter part of
the 4th century, indeed, Theodosiiis, by a law of
which the text is lost, forbad these unions, except
under special permission; and a letter of Am-
brose (who indeed is suspected to have advised
the prohibition) to Patornus, refers both to the
law and to its relaxations in special cases {Ep. 66).
Augustine also, in his Citij of God (bk. 15, c. 16),
486
COUSINS-GERMAN
says that such marriages, though not prohibited
by the Divine law, were rare by custom, eveu
when not yet prohibited by the human law;
" but who can doubt that in our time the mar-
riages even of cousins were more fitly (honestius)
prohibited?" And the law is likewise alluded
to by Libanius, in his oration on Purveyances
(irepl Twu ayyapfLwv). A constitution of Arca-
dius and Houorius, A.D. 396 (Cod. T/ieod. bk. iii.
t. xii. 1. 3), confirms the law, assimilating the
marriage with a cousin to that with a niece, and
declaring that, though the man may retain his
fortune during his life, he is not to be considered
to have either wife or children, and can neither
give nor leave anything to them even through a
third person. If there be a dos, it must go to
the imperial exchequer ; it cannot be bequeathed
to strangers, but must go to the next of kin,
except such as may have taken part in or
advised the marriage. Another law, of the same
emperor, indeed {iO. t. x.), maintains the right
of praying for a dispensation (this is a text
Bingham has strangely misunderstood), and a
third one (a.d. 405), which took its place per-
manently in Justinian's Code, swept the prohi-
bition away. Professing to " revoke the autho-
rity of the old law," it declares the marriage of
cousins-german, whether born of two brothers
or two sisters, or of a brother and sister, to be
lawful, and their issue to be capable of inherit-
ing {Code, bk. V. t. iv. 1. 19).
Narrower views, however, prevailed in the
West, and in Italy particularly, to that extent
that we might almost suppose the Theodosian
legislation to have remained unrevoked. In the
Formularium of Cassiodore, under the Ostro-
gothic King Theodoric (end of 5th century), we
find a text implying its subsistence, since it is
that of a state privilege legalizing such unions —
the 46th Formula of the 2nd part being one " by
which a cousin may become a lawful wife." And
the "Lex Romana," supposed to represent the
laws of the Roman population under the Lom-
bard rule, expressly reckons marriage with a
cousin as incestuous (bk. iii. t. 12). Finally, a
capitulary of Arubis, Prince of Benevento, who
usurped the fief after the death of Desiderius, the
last Lombard king (a.d. 374)) seems to prohibit
— as in the earliest constitution of Arcadius and
Honorius on the subject — all donations by a
father to his children by such a marriage (c. 8).
On the other hand, the Lombard laws themselves
exhibit no restraint on cousins' marriages ; and
it appears clear that, whether the Theodosian
legislation in the matter were inspired or not by
the clergy, it was by the clergy that its spirit
was preserved.
We need not indeed rely as an authority on an
alleged decree on consanguinity by Pope Fabian
(238-52), to be found in Gratian, allowing mar-
riages within the 5th degree, and leaving those
in the 4th undisturbed ; nor on one of Pope
Julius I. (a.d. 336-52), in the same collection,
forbidding marriages within the 7th degree of
consanguinity ; nor on an alleged canon to the
same effect of the 1st Council of Lyons, A.D. 517,
to be found in Bouchard (c. 10). But the Coun-
cil of Agde, in 506, declared incestuous the mar-
riage with an uncle's daughter or any other
kinswoman, the parties to remain among the
catechumens till they had made amends, al-
though existing marriages wen; nut to be dis-
OOUSINS-GERMAN
solved (c. 61) ; an injunction repeated by the
Council of Epaone, 517 (c. 30), and substantially
by the 3rd Council of Orleans, § 38, and by the
Council of Auxerre, 578, which forbad even the
marriage of second cousins (c. 31); see also the
3rd Council of Paris, about 557, c. 4, and the
2nd Council of Tours, 567, e. 51. We need,
again, lay no stress on an alleged canon without
a distinctive number, quoted by Ivo as from the
canons of the Council of Orleans, 511, imposing
for penance, in respect of such marriages, a
twelvemonth's exclusion from church (during
which the parties are to feed only on bread,
water, and salt, except on Sundays and holidays),
abstinence during life, and a prohibition to marry
— a regulation savouring altogether of the later
Carlovingian period.
Pope Gregory the Great (590-603), whilst
recognizing that the law of the Church was
upon this point in opposition with the civil law,
sought to base the prohibition, in part at least,
on a physiological reason. In an " exposition of
diverse things," in answer to Augustine of Can-
terbury, which forms the 31st in the 12th book
of his collected letters — a most valuable repertory
of facts as well for the social as for the Church
history of the period — he says (c. 5) that " some
earthly law in the Roman empire " (he is evi-
dently alluding to the Constitution of Arcadius
and Honorius, before I'eferred to) allows marriage
between the son and daughter of a brother and
sister or of two sisters [or brothers] ; but " we
have learnt by experience that from such a
marriage no issue can proceed ; " besides that,
the " holy law " forbids the uncovering of a
kinswoman's nakedness. (See also Bede, Hist.
Eccles. i. 27.) A wide experience shows how rash
is the former assertion ; whilst it is clear that so
far from the " holy law " of the Old Testament
forbidding generally intermarriage amongst kins-
men, the whole ftibric of Jewish society, in its
separation from the heathen, in its distinction
between the tribes themselves, is based upon it.
Cousins' marriages were, however, forbidden some
years after Gregory's death, by the 5th Council
of Paris', A.D. 615 (c. 14).
In the latter half of the 7th century we find
marriage with an uncle's daughter condemned
by the Eastern Church itself at the Council of
Constantinople in Trullo, 691, and separation
of the parties ordered (c. 54). It is remarkable,
however, that in the canons of a council held in
Britain under Theodore, Archbishop of Canter-
bury (end of 7th century), it is stated that,
" according to the Greeks, it is lawful to marry
in the 3rd degree, as it is written in the law —
in the 5th, according to the Romans — yet they
do not dissolve the marriage when it has taken
place" (c. 24, and see also 139), and the Roman
rule is enacted in a later canon (108), which
would seem to cast a doubt on the genuineness
of the Trullan canon, about the middle of the
8th century. The Excerpta, attributed to Egbert
of York, make it the rule that marriages are
permitted in the 5th degree, the parties not to
be separated in the 4th, but to be separated
in the 3rd XW. ii. c. 28). Substantially, first
cousins' marriages seem for some considerable
time, when once solemnized, to have been
tolerated. Thus Gregory II. (714-30), in a long
letter {Ep. 13) to Boniface, replying to various
questions, whilst stating that he allows marriages
COUSINS-GERMAN
after the 4th degree (c. i.), does not expressly
condemn those in the 4th. This, however, is
now repeatedly done by councils and by popes ;
in the 1st Council of Rome against unlawful
marriages, 721 (c. 4) ; by Gregory III. 731-41,
iu'his excerpts from the fathers and the canons
(c. 11); in the Synod of Metz, 753 (c. 1), which,
for the first time enacts corporal punishment —
the guilty party, if without money, being a
slave or freedman, to be well beaten, and if an
ecclesiastical person of mean condition, to be
beaten or sent to jail : in the 6th Council of
Aries, 813 (c. 11); and that of Mayence in the
same year (c. 54).
We have now to see the influence of the cleri-
cal view on civil legislation in respect of first
cousins' marriages after the barbaric, invasions.
With the exception of Italy, the peculiarities of
whose legislation on this head have been pre-
viously noticed, the only barbaric code in which
we find a prohibition before the Carlovingian era
is the Wisigothic one, strongly clerical in spirit,
as must always be recollected. Here a law of
Recarede forbids generally all marriages with the
kindred of a father or mother, grandfather or
gi-andmother, to the sixth generation, unless con-
tracted by permission of the prince before the
passing of the law, the parties to be separated
and sent to monasteries (bk. iii. t. v. c. 1). In
the case of Jews indeed there was superadded to
separation the treble punishment of decalvation
(scalping), 100 lashes, and banishment (bk. xii.
7, iii. c. 8). With these exceptions, all other
enactments adverse to such marriages belong to
the Carlovingian rule or period. A capitulary of
king Pepin at Vermerie, A.D. 753, only absolutely
requires the dissolution of marriage in the 3rd de-
gree, allowing those in the 4th, once contracted,
to stand good under penance, but forbidding them
for the future (c. 1). The capitulary of Com-
])iegne A.D. 757 (see Pertz's text) is to the same
elfect (cc. 1, 2). On the other hand, the law of
the Allamans (t. 39) renewed under Duke Laut-
frid, supposed the 2nd (died 751), and the some-
what later law of the Bavarians (t. 6) — both
indeed thought to have been touched up under
Charlemagne — reckon all marriages between the
sons of brothers and sisters unlawful, and re-
quire them to be dissolved ; all property of the
guilty parties to go to the public treasury, and
if they be " mean persons " (minores personae)
themselves to become slaves to it. The Carlo-
vingian capitularies proper, almost all of them
confirmed by Church synods, are scarcely to be
distinguished from ecclesiastical enactments. The
text of some of the earlier ones must have been
tampered with, since even King Pepin's Compi-
egne capitulary above referred to is brought into
accordance with the far stricter rules of the
Synod of Metz. As the law stands in the general
collection of the capitularies, if a man marries
his cousin, he is not only to lose all settled
moneys, but if he will not amend his ways none
is to receive him or give him food ; he is to
compound in 60 solidi, or be sent to gaol till he
pays. If he be slave or freedman, he is to be
well beaten, and his master to compound in 60
snlidi. If he be an ecclesiastical person, he is to
lose any dignity he has, or if not honourable,
to be beaten or sent to gaol (a.d. 756-7, bk. vii.
cc. 9, 10). A capitulary of the 6th book (130)
forbids marriage to the 7 th degree. So does one
COVETOUSNESS
487
of the Additio tertia, c. 123, under pain of the
ban (at 60 solidi) and penance for a freeman ; but
for a slave, of public flagellation and decalvation,
and penance. If the offenders be disobedient,
they are to be kept in jail " in much wretched-
ness " (sub magna aerumna), nor touch any of
their fortune till they do penance ; and whilst
living in crime (c. 124) are to be treated as gen-
tiles, catechumens or energumens. Jews mar-
rying within the prohibited degrees are to re-
ceive 100 lashes after having been publicly de-
calvated, to be exiled and do penance, with for-
feiture of their property either to their children
by any former marriage, not being Jews, or in
default of such to the prince (^Additio qttarta,
c. 2), a provision borrowed mainly from one ot
the Wisigothic codes above referred to. See also
cc. 74, 75 of the Fourth Addition, anathematizing
the man who marries a cousin, and repeating the
prohibition against marriages within the 7th
generation. The various enactments requiring
inquiry to be made as to consanguinity before mar-
riage, bear also on this subject ; as for instance
the Council of Frejus in 791, c. 6 ; Charlemagne's
first capitulary of 802, c. 35 ; an inquiry which
by his Edict of 814 is even required to be made
after marriage, the 4th degree being expressly
specified as one of prohibited consanguinity.
On the whole, the course of Church practice
on the subject appears to have been this : the
traditional Roman prejudice against cousins' mar-
riages, although quite uncountenanced by the
Jewish law or practice, commended itself in-
stinctively to the ascetic tendencies of the West-
ern fathers, and through them took root among
the Western clergy generally, embodying itself
indeed temporarily, towards the end of the 4th
century, in a general civil law for the Roman
empire. But whilst this law was abrogated in
the beginning of the oth century, and in the
East such unions remained perfectly lawful both
in the Church and in the State throughout
nearly the whole of the period which occupies
us, never being condemned by any Oecumenic
Council till that of Constantinople towards the
end of the 7th century, in the West the clergy ad-
hered to the harsher view ; Popes and local synods
sought to enforce it ; wherever clerical influence
could be brought to bear on the barbaric legis-
lators it became apparent ; till at last under the
Carlovingian princes it established itself as a
law alike of the State and of the Church. But
the history of this restraint upon marriage is
that of all others not derived from Scripture
itself. Originating probably all of them in a
sincere though mistaken asceticism, they were
soon discovered to supply an almost inexhaustible
mine for the supply of the Church's coffers,
through the grant of dispensations, prosecutions
in the Church Courts, compromises. The baleful
alliance between Carlovingian usurpation and
Romish priestcraft, in exchange for the subser-
viency of the clergy to the ambition and the
vices of the earlier despots, delivered over the
social morality of the people to them, it may be
said, as a prey, and the savageness of Carlo-
vingian civil legislation was placed at the service
of the new-fangled Church discipline of tlie
West. [J. M. L.]
COVETOITSNESS. The works of the
earliest Christian authorities are full of warnings
488
COVETOUSNESS
against the different forms of covetousness, e.g.
Clem, ad Corinth, bk. ii. fie. 5, 6 ; Hennas, bk. i.
vis. 1, and bk. ii. mand. 12 ; Const. Apost., bk. i.
c. 1 ; ii. c. 46 ; iv. c. 4 ; vii. cc. 3, 4. The
Apostolical Constitutions follow St. Paul in treat-
ing covetousness as a disqualification for a bishop ;
bk. ii. c. 6 ; and in a later constitution also for a
priest or deacon ; bk. vii. c. 31. The covetous-
ness of some of the Church-widows is especially
denounced ; " who deem gain their only work,
and by asking without shame and taking without
stint have already rendered most persons more
remiss in giving," — who "running about to
knock at the doors of their neighbours, heap up
to themselves an abundance of goods, and lend at
bitter usury, and have mammon for their sole
care ; whose God is their purse," &c. (bk. iii.
c. 7). The oblations of the covetous were not to
be received (bk. iv. c. 6). With this may be
connected the canonical epistle of Gregory
Thaumaturgus, archbishop of Neocaesarea (about
A.D. 262) which declares that it is impossible to
set forth in a single letter all the sacred writings
which proclaim not robbery alone to be a fearful
crime, but all covetousness, all grasping at others'
goods for filthy lucre ; the particular object of
his denunciation being apparently those persons
who had thought a late bai'baric invasion to be
their opportunity for gain (can. 7 and foil.).
Others of the Fathers in like manner vigorously
denounced the e.xistence of the vice among the
clergy. The covetousness of Pope Zephyrinus
(beginning of 3rd century) is denounced by
Hippolytus in his Philosophumena (bk. ix. c. 7,
§. 11). About the middle of the century,
Cyprian, in his book De lapgis, speaks of those
Christians who " with an insatiable ardour
•jf covetousness pursued the increase of their
.wealth." Ambrose, in his 7th sermon, describes
a cleric who, " not satisfied with the maintenance
he derives, by the Lord's command, from the altar,
. . . sells his intercessions, grasps willingly the
gifts of widows," and yet flatters himself by say-
ing, ' no one charges me with robbery, no one
accuses me of violence' — as if sometimes flattery
did not draw a larger booty from widows than
torture." Jerome with bitter sarcasm speaks
of some, " who are richer as monks than they
were as seculavs," and of " clerics who possess
wealth under Christ the poor, which they had
not under the devil, rich and deceitful, so that
the Church sighs over those as wealthy, whom
the world before held fov beggars." And he
beseeches his correspondent to flee from the cleric
who from poor has become rich as from some
pestilence (Ep. 2, ad Nepotianum ; and see also Ep.
3, ad Heliodorum). In his long letter or treatise
addressed to Eustochius again (^|;. 22), he draws
a sharply satiric picture of an old cleric who
wants to force his way almost into the very bed-
chamber of a sletpri', aii.l [.rais.. some piece of
furniture or otiier ai-tick- till lie at last rather
extorted than obtained it ; contrasting with the
l)revalent covetousness of Roman society the
story of the monk at Nitria, who at his death
was found to have saved 100 solkU which he had
earned by weaving linen. The monks consulted
what to do ; some were for giving it to the poor,
some to the Church, some for handing it over to
tiic family of the deceased ; but Macarius, Pambo,
Lidorc and the other fiithers of the community
decided that it should be buried with him.
COVETOUSNESS
Gregory of Nyssa,; indeed, in his letter to
Letorius, observes that the fathers have affixed
no punishment to this sin, which he assimilates
to adultery ; though it be very common in the
Church, none inquires of those who are brought
to be ordained if they be polluted with it. Theft,
violation of graves, and sacrilege are, he says, the
only vices taken account of, although usury be
also prohibited by divine scripture, and the ac-
quiring by force the goods of others, even under
colour of business. Against this statement should
indeed be set if not a decree (1) from Gi-atian
ascribed to Pope Julius I. A.D. 336-52, which
denounces as filthy lucre the buying in time of
harvest or of vintage, not of necessity but of
greed, victuals or wine, in order by buying to
sell at a higher price, at least the 17th canon of
the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), directed against
the love of filthy lucre and vsury, and enacting
deposition as the punishment for the cleric. But
here, as in a parallel canon (6) of the Synod of
Seleucia, A.D. 410, it is perhaps to be inferred
that the vice was chiefly if not solely aimed at
under the concrete form of usury (as to which
see Usury) ; as also when St. Basil, in his ca-
noitical ei)istle to Bishop Amphilochius of Iconium,
writes that the usurer who spends his unjust
gains on the poor and frees himself from avarice
may be admitted to orders (c. 14). That covet-
ousness. was as rife in the monastery as in the
world may be inferred from the fact that
Cassian's work, De Coenohiorum institutis (end
of 4th or beginning of 5th century) contains
a whole book (the 7th) De Spiritu phikirgyriae.
The very doubtful " Sanctions and Decrees of
the Nicene fathers," of Greek origin apparently
(2nd volume of Labbe' and Mansi's Councils, pp.
1029 and foil.), require priests not to be given
to heaping up riches, lest they should prefer them
to the ministry, and if they do accumulate
wealth to do so modei-ately (c. 14). The 3rd
Council of Orleans, A.D. 538, forbids clerics, from
the diaconate upwards, to carry on business as
public traders for the greed of filthy lucre, or to
do so in another's name. As the times wear on
indeed, covetousness seems often to be confounded
with avarice, jnd to be legislated against under
that name. The Code of Canons of the African
Church, ending with the Council of Carthage of
A.D. 419, has thus a canon "on avarice," which
it says is to be reprehended in a layman, but much
more ii\ a priest (c. 5). So with the Carlovingian
Councils and Capitularies. That of Aix-la-
Chapelle in 789 forbids avaritia ; no one is to
encroach on the boundaries of others nor pass his
father's landmark (c. 32, and see also c. 64,
"de avaritia vel concupiscentia"). The Council
of Frankfort, A.D. 794, has a canon (34), and the
contemporary capitulary of Frankfort a section
(32 or 34), "de avaritia et cupiditate." The
capitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle of 801, according to
one codex, enjoins priests to abstain from filthy
lucre and usury, and so to teach the people
(c. 25, and see also the Admonitio generalis"
of the same year, in Pertz). The first capitulary
of 802 requires monks and nuns not to be given
to covetousness (cc. 17, 18), nor canons to filthy
lucre (c. 11). Some Additions to a Nimeguen
Capitulary in 806 (Pertz) treat at some length of
" cupiditas " — which is said to be taken either in
good or bad part, " in bad part of him who beyond
measure will desire any kind of thing," (c. 3} —
COWL
of " avaritia," which is " to desire the things of
others, and having acquired them to impart them
to none " (c. 4), and of " filthy lucre " (c. 5), of
which an instance is given in the buying at
harvest or vintage time, not of necessity, but for
covetousness, in order to sell at a higher price;
" but if a man buy for necessity, that he may
have for himself and distribute to others, we call
it trade" (c. 7). The Ecclesiastical Capitulary
of Ais-la-Chapelle in 809 again enjoins priests to
avoid all avarice and covetousness (c. 2). The
second Council of Rheims, 813, also enacted that
none (apparently of the clergy) were to follow
the evil of covetousness and avarice (c. 28). The
second Council of Chalons, in the same year, that
if clerics gather together the fruits of the earth
or certain revenues of the soil, they should not
do so to sell the dearer and gather treasures
together, but for the sake of the poor (c. 8).
One form of covetousness — the rapacity of
judges and other functionaries in exacting fees, —
would seem to fall better under the head of
Sportulae, by which name such fees were known
in the Eoman world, and are designated in the
legislation of Justinian (Code, bk. iii. T. ii. Novs.
17, 82, 123). We may however quote a chapter
of the Wisigothic law (bk. ii. c. 25, amended by
Chindasuinth), which says : " We have known
many judges who by occasion of covetousness
overpassing the order of law, presume to take
to themselves one-thii-d of the causes" {i.e.
amounts in dispute) ; and which'limits the judge's
fee to 5 per cent., requiring him to restore any
surplus beyond this proportion which he may
have takeUj with an equal amount besides.
rSee also Bribery, Commerce, Usury.]
[J. M. L.]
COWL. [CUCULLA.]
CRATON, martyr at Rome, Feb. 15 (^Mart.
Horn. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CREDENCE (Lat. credentia, Ital. credenza,
Gr. irapaTpdire^ou). The table or slab on which
the vessels and elements for the Eucharist are
jilaced before consecration. " Credentiam appel-
lant mensam .... supra quam ad sacrificandum
necessaria continentur " {Ceremoniale Somanum,
i. 3, quoted by Ducange, s. v.). It is doubtful
whether such a table or slab existed in the sanc-
tuarv within our period, as it rather seems pro-
bable that the elements were brought from the
sacristy and placed at once on the altar, when
they ceased to be taken from the offerings of the
faithful. See Prqthesis. [C]
CREED, from the Latin a-edo. Hence the
title should be confined to such confessions of
our Christian Faith as commence with the words
I believe, or We believe, or, again, to any
interrogatories as may be addressed at baptism
or other occasions, Dosr thou believe ? but, in
practice, it has been used in a more general
sense, and any document which has contained a
summary of the chief tenets of the Christian
Faith as held by any local or national Church,
has been called the Crekd of that Church.
Thus the Bules of Faith, of which we find traces
in the earliest Christian writers, and which
v/ere intended to guide teachers in the instruc-
tion which they conveyed, have been called
Creeds. So, also, have been designated tlie in-
structions which were prepared for candidates
for baptism.
CEEED
489
Names. — (2.) For " Creeds," ia this wider
sense, we find the following words used by early
Greek writers: o iriaTews apxaias KavSiv, b Kavuiv
TTJs aAT)0eias, rh Kripvy/jLa rh a-KoaroKiKdv, ij
fvayyeKiKri Koi airocnoKiKT) irapdSoais. So Ter-
tullian very frequently ajipeals to the regula fidei.
The creed of the Church, properly so called, was
designated first as t) iricnis or t] TrapaSodeTaa
illMV ayla Kal airoaroXtKr] iriffTis among the
Greeks, and as fides, fides apostolica among the
Latins. We find the word si/mbolum for the first
time in Cyprian, and after the title became pre-
valent among Latin writers it found its way
among the Greek authors. But even in the
fifth century the Nicene Creed was commonly
known as ri iriffTis. The words rh av^^oXov tov
aTTOKfKapdai, found in Origen, denote, not the
Creed, but Baptism itself, or (possibly) "the
outward and visible sign in Baptism." And,
similarly, we must interpret a passage in Ter-
tullian : " Testatio fidei et signaculum symboli."
In a canon of the Laodicene council, however,
the word occurs once. In later years the words
ffiififfoAov, and syinbolnm or symbolus, became the
favorite designation of the baptismal Creed. Its
meaning will be discussed elsewhere.
3. The words of our Lord in the institution
of Baptism undoubtedly gave the first foi-m to
the Baptismal Creeds which we find pi'e vailing
in the 3rd century. His injunction that His
apostles should " make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," seemed
almost of necessity to call forth on the part of
the recipient of Baptism some avowal of belief
in God as thus revealed. The words which we
read in our English version of Acts viii. 37, con-
taining the appeal of Philip to the Eunuch and the
reply of the Eunuch, are not found in the best
extant MSS. of the Acts of the Apostles ; but
the incident thus recorded may be regarded as
not improbable ; ai^d we find indications in the
pages of Irenaeus that it was believed by him to
have occurred. St. Paul reminds Timothy of
the good confession which he had made " before
many witnesses." This is generally believed to
have taken place at his baptism. Passing by
for the present, as scarcely applicable to our
immediate purpose, the passage of Justin Martyr
where he relates how " they who are persuaded
and believe that the things are true which are
taught by us, are taken to some place where
there is water, and are there baptized," and the
expression of Irenaeus regarding " the canon of
the truth which every one received at his bap-
tism," we come to words of Tertullian, in which
he speaks of the Holy Spirit " sanctifying the
faith of those who believe in the Father and the
Son and the Holy Ghost." [Baptism, p. 160.]
4. Thus are we led to infer that the primary
baptismal confession corresponded to the bap-
tismal foi-mula ; that as the convert was
" baptized into the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit," so was he called upon
to state that " he believed in the Father and in
the Son and in the. Holy Spirit." And that our
inference is correct seems clear from fragments
of liturgies which have come down to us from
various ages and different Churches. The
Aethiopic manuscript of the Apostolic Consti-
tutions describes the catechumen as declaring at
the time of his baptism : " I believe in the only
490
CREED
true God, the Father, the Almighty, and in His
only-begotteu Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Saviour, aud in the Holy Spirit, the Life-giver."
Other words follow. So the pseudo-Ambrose,
in his treatise on the Sacraments (book ii. c. 7 ;
Migne, xvi. 4-29), " Thou wast asked, ' Dost thou
believe in God the Father Almighty?' Thou
saidst, 'I believe,' and thou wast immersed.
Again thou wast asked, 'Dost thou believe also
in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His cross ? '
Thou saidst again, ' I believe,' and wast immersed.
For a third time thou wast asked, ' And dost
thou believe in the Holy Spirit ? ' Thou didst
reply, ' I believe,' and for a third time thou wast
immersed." So, again, in the formula for bap-
tism found in an old Galilean missal and printed
by Martene (i. p. 51); in the old Roman Ritual
as given by Daniel (i. p. 173); aud in the for-
mula adopted by Boniface, for use among his
German converts (Migne, vol. Ixxxix. p. 810).
5. But although this Baptismal Formula
furnished the type of the Baptismal Confession,
we find that, even in Tertullian's time, the Con-
fession embraced something not mentioned in the
words of Institution. " The Catechumen," says
the great African writer (de Corona militis, § ;5),
"was thrice immersed, answering something
more than the Lord commanded in His Gospel."
From his treatise {de Baptismo, § 11) we may
infer what that "something" was. "Some
(TertuUiau writes) would depreciate baptism,
because our Lord did not Himself baptize. But
His disciples baptized at His command
And whereunto should He baptize ? To repent-
ance ? — wherefore, then, His forerunner ? To
7-emission. of sins i — which He gave by a word !
Into Himself'' — whom in His humility He
was concealing ! Into the Holy Spirit i — who
had not as yet descended from the Father !
Into the Church ? — which was not yet founded."
From this passage Bishop Bull {Judicium Eccl.
Catholicae, Works, vol. vi. p. 139) infers (and, we
think, is entitled to do so) that in Tertullian's
neighbourhood and epoch, at the time of baptism,
express mention was made, not only of the
Father and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Son of
God, but also of repentance, of remission of sins,
and of the Church. Thus we are induced to say
that at least these two articles may have been
mentioned in Tertullian's Creed, viz. " Repent-
ance unto the remission of sins " and " the
Church." But in regard to " the Church " all
doubt is removed by referring to a later section
(§ 6) of the same treatise, where our author
explains the origin of its introduction thus :
" Where the Three are, there is the Church, the
Body of the Three : there the testatio fclei ; "
this on the part of the baptized : " there the
spoiisio salutis ; " this on the part of God.
6. We purposely abstain from adducing pas-
sages bearing on the Rule of Faith to which
TertuUian continually appeals, because in our
judgment such Rule of Faith was so called as
being the guide of the believer and of the teacher,
and was of wider extent than the Baptismal
Creed. So we will proceed to ask what light do
the works of Cyprian which have come down
to us throw on the baptismal customs of his day ?
He followed TertuUian by a generation, being
bishop of Carthage from 248 to 258, and his
correspondence is in our present investigation
very important, as it contains several letters
CREED
on the subject of re-baptizing those who had
been baptized by heretical teachers ; and these
letters of course contain allusions (though they
may be little more than allusions) to the cere-
mony of Baptism.
7. We will translate the most interesting :
" If any object that Novatianus holds the same
law of faith which the Catholic Church holds,
that he baptizes with the same symbol " (the
first time the name occurs in Latin), " knows
the same God the Father, the same Son Christ,
and may therefore avail himself of the power to
baptize, because in the baptismal interrogations
he seems not to differ from us : let such men
know that we and the schismatics have not the
same law of symbol, nor the same interrogations;
for when they say, ' Dost thou believe remission
of sins and eternal life through the Church ? '
in the question itself they speak falsely, because
they have not the Church." This is found in
his letter to Magnus (Up. 69, § vii.). A passage
somewhat similar is found in another letter (70,
§ ii.), and in his epistle to Firmilianus (75, § x.),
he speaks of the " usitata et legitima verba in-
terrogationis " at baptism. From all this we
may safely conclude that this " fixed and legal-
ised form of interrogation " did not then contain
any reference to those points of doctrine on
which Novatian went wrong : probably it called
forth little more than the expression of belief
in the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and in
remission of sins and eternal life, of which the
assurance was conveyed when one was rightly
admitted into the Church at Baptism.
8. We must pass now to consider the usage in
regard to Creeds in the Churches of the East.
From the earliest years of the Christian era,
the Oriental Churches were more harassed by
strange teachings than were those of the Latin
race. It was the boast of Ruffinus that no
heresy took its rise within the Church of Rome ;
and of Ambrose that the Church of Rome had
preserved undefiled the symbol of the Apostles.
Thus the difference between the Eastern and
Western symbols may be learnt from the opening
clauses of their respective Creeds. In the former
(and among these we of course include the
" canon " of the Gi-eek-speaking community of
Lyons) men professed their belief in one God ;
in the latter, their belief in God. The growth of
the latter creeds we will consider hereafter ;
for the present we confine ourselves to the
former.
9. The seventh book of the Apostolic Con-
stitutions is regarded by most critics as older
than the Nicene Council, and by many as repre-
senting the customs of Antioch, about the end of
the third century. Dr. Caspar! assigns it to the
same period, though he considers it to have
belonged to the Syrian Churches. Herein we
have a full account of the ceremonies which were
performed at baptism, and of the confession
which the catechumen made. He said : " I re-
nounce Satan and his works," . . . "and after
his renunciation (proceeds the text) let him say,
' I enrol myself under Christ, and I believe and
am baptized into one, unbegotten, only, true
God, Almighty, the Father of Christ, the Creator
and Maker of all things, of whom are all things ;
and in the Lord Jesus the Christ, His only-
begotten Son, begotten before all creation, who
by the pleasure of the Father was before all
CREED
worlds ; begotten, uot made ; through whom
all things were made which are in heaven and
on earth, both visible and invisible ; who in the
last days came down from heaven and assumed
tlesh, of the Holy Virgin Mary being born, and
lived holily after the laws of His God and Father,
and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died
for us, and rose again from the dead, after his
sutfering, on the third day, and ascended into
the heavens and sat down on the right hand of
the Father, and is coming again at the end of
the world with glory to judge quick and dead,
of whose kingdom there shall be no end. I am
baptized, too, into the Holy Spirit ; that is, the
Paraclete, which wrought in all the saints since
the beginning of the world, and was afterwards
sent from the Father, according to the promise
of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ ; and, after
the Apostles, to all who believe in (eV) the holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church, in (ejy) the resur-
rection of the flesh, and the remission of sins,
and the kingdom of heaven, and the life of the
world to come.' " Such is the Creed which con-
nects the rule of faith which may be found in
Irenaeus with the Creed which has received the
name of the Nicene.
10. It is beyond the scope of the present
article to examine and enumerate the errors and
the heresies to which reference is made in this
long baptismal confession (^ofjLoAoyia /BaTrriir-
/xaTos). The Confession of belief issued by the
Synod of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, and
those of Gregory of Neo-Caesarea and Lucian
the Martyr, and others, were not used in any
office of the Church; and they thus have the
character of an exposition of the Faith, rather
than that of a Creed proper. Only, we must
note in passing, that in the letter of Alexander
of Alexandria to his namesake at Constantinople,
we meet with the phrase, ev irvev/xa aytof
6fio\oyovfj.ev, — we confess one Holy Spirit, and
doubtless the conception of confession we must
extend to other points named in the letter ; and
thus we have further intimation that a custom
o{ confessing God prevailed, not only at baptism,
with the competentes, but amongst matured
members of the Churches. This doubtless was
made during some part of their common wor-
ship; and in the same sense we may perhaps
understand his words, roSra SiBdaicofiev, ravra
KripvTTOfxev (Migne, xviii. p. 549).
11. Still the passages in which the Creed is
referred to speak almost exclusively of its use at
baptism. When Eusebius wrote to his flock his
interesting account of what had passed at the
Council of Nicaea, and transcribed for it the
Creed which he had recited as that used "' when
he had been a catechumen, and again when he was
baptized," he makes no mention of its use at the
Eucharist. " During his whole ministerial life,
both when he was a presbyter, and since he
became a bishop, he had believed it and had
taught it." So, again, when the Nicene Creed
proper was referred to in the famous decree of
the Council of Ephesus, the great danger against
which the fathers were anxious to provide was
this : " that no one should offer or exhibit any
but the accepted f;iith to such as were willing to
turn to the knowledge of the truth from Hel-
lenism or Judaism." No mention is made of the
introduction of the Creed into the other offices
of the Church. Eutyches recited the Nicene
CREED
491
symbol at the Robber Synod of Ephesus, and
stated that " in this faith he had been baptized
and sealed, and in it he had lived, and in it he
hoped to be perfected ; " but no reference is
made to any other public use : and once more,
when at the second session of the Council of
Chalcedon, the deacon Aetius read out the Creed
of the holy Synod of Nicaea and the holy faith
which the 150 holy fathers put out at Constan-
tinople agreeing with it, whilst both creeds
met with the cry, "This is the faith of the Catho-
lics : this is the faith of all. We all believe
like this :" in regard to the Nicene symbol alone
they added, " In this we have been baptized :
in this we baptize ; " but not a word was said as
to the recitation of either at any other service
(Mansi, vi. 957). Only the same limited use
is mentioned by Epiphanius in the latter pages
of his Ancoratus ; and in the Catechetical Lectures
of Cyril of Jerusalem.
12. We must not, however, omit to mention
that it was the custom for the bishops present
to subscribe to the Creed before they broke up
from the great councils : thus, at the conclusion
of the Council of Chalcedon, " all the most reli-
gious bishops cried out, ' This is our faith, let
our Metropolitans subscribe ; let them subscribe
at once in the presence of the magistrates :
things well defined admit of no delay : this is the
faith of the Apostles : by this we all walk : we
all thus think.'"
13. Let us now briefly trace the subsequent
history of the use of the symbols. Timotheus,
bishop of Constantinople A.D. 511, is stated by
Theodorus Lector (Hist. Eccl. p. 563) to have
ordered " that the creed should be recited KaS"
eKauTriv ffwa^iv, at every congregation ; whereas
previously it had been used only on the Thurs-
day before Easter, when the bishops catechized
the candidates for baptism." As the avowed
object of Timotheus was to express the continued
abhorrence which the Church felt for the teach-
ing of Macedonius, it is clear that the exposition
of Constantinople was intended in the order,
even though it speaks of " the Creed of the 31 8." »
A similar direction had been given by Peter
the Fuller, Patriarch of Antioch (450 to 488).
Then it seems to have spread through the East,
and thus the Creeds seem to have found their
way into the liturgies which bear the names of
Chrysostom, Basil, and others. From the East
the custom came into the West. The 3rd Council
of Toledo, c. ii. (A.D. 589) directed that " before
the Lord's Prayer in the liturgy, the creed of the
150 should be recited by the people through all
the churches of Spain and Gallicia, according to
the form of the Oriental Churches."
14. The words of Eeccared's confirming order
are so interesting, that we may be pardoned if
we recite them at length : " Ut propter robor-
andam gentis nostrae novellam conversionem,
a By the Creed of the 318 is meant the Nicene Creed.
By the creed of the 1 50 the document as it is alleged to
have been expanded in the Council of Constantinople,
and as It was recited at the Council of Chalcedon. The
chief difference between them is that the former after
the woids "and in the Holy Ghost," proceeded to declare
the condemnation by the Church of all who maintained
Arian views of the Saviour : in the latter the subsequent
clauses were added as we new read them, save that the
words were, "who proceedeth from the Father, who
will," &c.
492
CREED
omnes Hispaniarum et Galliae (Galliciae) eccle-
«;iae hauc regulam servent, ut, omni sacrificii
tempoi-e, ante communicationem corporis Christi
Tel (or et) sanguinis, juxta orientalium patrum
niorem, unanimiter clara voce sanctissimum fidei
receuseant symholum, ut primum populi quam
credulitatern teneant fateantur, et sic corda fide
purificata ad Christi corpus et sanguinem capien-
dum exhibeant " (Mansi, ix. 983). The priest
recited the creed whilst he held the consecrated
host in his hand (Mabillon, Liiurg. Gall. 1685,
pp. 2, 12, 450). [We should note that the po-
sition of the Creed in the Mozarabic Liturgy
answers to the directions of Reccared.]
15. But the disputes regarding the interpolated
Filioque afford us additional evidence of the use
of the Creed at Mass. Some monks of a Frank
convent on Mount Olivet complained to Leo IIL
(about A.D. 806) that they had been " accused
of heresy, and pai'tially excluded from the
Chui-ch of the Nativity on Christmas Day, be-
cause they held that the Holy Spirit proceedeth
from the Father and the Son. Yea, they were
charged with reciting more than was held in the
Roman Church. Yet one of their number had
heard it so sung in the West, in the chapel of
the Emperor. What were they to do ? " Other
complications followed : Charlemagne was
anxious to retain the, clause ; Leo to continue to
exclude it. An account of the interview between
the Pope and the emissaries of the Emperor may
be seen in Dr. Neale's Histoni of the Hobj
Eastern Church (pp. 1164-116'6). The Pope
recommended that the " clause should be
omitted : if difficulty arose, let them give up
the custom of singing the creed in the palace of
the Emperor : it was not sung in the Holy Church
in Home : thus the cause of contention would be
removed, and peace would be restored." (The
express mention of the singing indicates that the
laity would miss the words if they were
omitted.) And he begged again that the
Churches of Germany " would say the symbolum
in the mysteries in accordance with the Roman
Ritual " (see Martene, De Eitihus, p. 138 ; Bin-
terim, Denkwiird. p. 357). Charlemagne refused
to give way.
16. Thus it appears that in the time of Leo IIL
some symbolum was said at Rome at the time of
the Sacrifice ; whether the Roman Creed, as
appears from the Sacramentary of Gelasius, or
the original Kicene formula, or the uninter-
polated faith of the 150, is uncertain. But a few
years later, i.e. between 847 and 85g, as we
learn from Photius (de Spiritus Mystagogia,
Ivligne, vol. cii. p. 395), Leo IV. and his successor
Benedict III. directed that the Creed should be
recited in Greek, 'iva /xt] rb crTevoy Tr)s SiaXeKrov
B\a.a(prjixias irapacrxij irp6(paffLy. The words
are ambiguous, but they seem to mean : — " lest
the narrow character of the Latin language
should afford any pretext for evil speaking^"
on the • part of the Greek Church. But the
Churches of the West continued to assert
their independence of Rome. Aeneas, bishop
of Paris, informs us (about 868) that "the
whole Galilean Church chanted the Creed at
the Mass every Sunday " (apud Dacher. Sjnci-
legium, torn. i. p. 113, cxciii.): Walafrid Strabo
(Migne, cxiv. p. 947) notes that after the depo-
sition of the heretic Felix, tlie Creed (as inter-
polated) began to be more frequently used in the j
CEEED
office of tlie Mass, in the churches of Germany:
and Waltei-, bishop of Orleans, about the middle
of the 9th century, found it necessary to enact
that in his diocese the " Gloria Patri et Filio et
Spiritui Sancto" and the symbol '• Credo in unum
Deum " should be sung by all at the same service
(Martene, lib. i. c. iv. art. vi. §§ x. and xi. ;
Migne, cxix. p. 727). At length the popes gave
way, and under the pressure of the Emperor
Henry (a.d. 1014) Benedict VIII. consented to
sing the Creed and after the form which was
now universally received amongst the other
Churches of the West.
17. One point connected with the Creed of
Constantinople remains to be noticed — its use
in the baptismal service of the so-called Gelasian
Sacramentary. Dr. Caspari ( Ungedriichte Qudlen,
part i. p. 236) considers that in the Church of
Rome and some Churches of Gaul and Germany
this Creed appeared first in the baptismal rite.
The original Sacramentary is dated about 494,
but we conceive that the rite which we are now
about to describe cannot be regarded as older than
the times of Leo IV. and Benedict IIL, the Popes of
Rome who directed that the Creed should be recited
in Greek, or as 7nore modern than 1014, the date
of the Emperor Henry's triumph over Benedict
VIII. The Sacramentary directs that at the time
of a baptism the priest shall address the elect on
the importance of the f;iith, and bid them to
receive the " sacramentum of the evangelical
symbol inspired by the apostles, whose words
indeed are few, but whose mysteries are great."
The acolyth takes one of the children, a boy. and
holding his left arm places his own right hand
on the child's head, and the presbyter enquires,
" In w^hat tongue do they confess our Lord Jesus
Christ ? " The acolyth answers, " In Greek."
The presbyter says, " State the faith as they be-
lieve it," and the acolyth chants the Creed of
Constantinople in Greek : but, according to the
MSS. of the Saci-amentary, without the clause
" God of God " and without the words " and the
Son" (Assemanni without any MS. authority
printed the words koI tov vlov in his Codex
Liturg. tom. i. p. 12 ; see Dr. Heurtley, Harm.
Symbol, p. 158). The acolyth then takes a girl,
and the question being repeated as to the lan-
guage of the response, he answers " in Latin."
In the first instance the Creed is written in
Greek and Latin interlinearly, the Greek in Latin
characters, thus —
Credo in unum Deum Patrem omnipotertera.
Pisteuo is hena theon pathera pantocratorein ;
in the latter in Latin only. Possibly it is to this
curious custom, possibly to a direct following out
of the rule of Benedict IIL, that we owe three
interesting relics of the 10th or 11th centuries, of
which Dr. Caspari has given descriptions. The one
is a MS. in the library of St. Gall which contains
the interpolated Greek Creed in Latin letters,
but with musical notes : the other two are MSS.
in the library at DUsseldorf and Vienna respec-
tively, which contain the uninterpolated Greek
Creed, written in similar Latin characters. The
earlier named MS. doubtless represents the Creed
as it was chanted at great festivals ; for Binterini
(JDenkuurd. p. 363) assures us that in the 9tn
century the Germans sang the Creed both in
Greek and Latin.
18. Turniuii now to the svmbul whiLli for
CREED
many years has been called in the Western
Cliurcbes the Apostles' Creed, our first remark
piust ha that the Eastern Churches denied all
kuowledge of it at the Council of Florence.
Kphesius, one of the legates of the Oriental
Churches, is said to have there stated, yj/xe'is ovts
exo/^ej/ ovre eiSajxev rb avfj.0o\ov twu airorrTS-
Xwv (Waterland, iii. p. 196, note r ; Kicolas, Ls
Symbole des Apotres, p. 270). Thus we must
look to the Western Churches alone for evidence
of the growth and usage of this Creed.
19. In his interesting volume on the Apostles'
Creed, Dr. Heurtley traces its growth through
Irenaeus and Tertullian and Cyprian : then we
must take a leap from Novatian, A.D. 260, to
Kuffinus, bishop of Aquileia, A.D. 390, the inter-
mediate space of 130 years affording only one
stepping-stone, furnished by the notes of the
Belief of Marcellus of Ancyra, which he left be-
hind him on his departure from Rome : he says
" 1 learnt it and was taught it out of the holy
Scriptures." This Belief resembles in great mea-
sure the Creed of the Church of Rome, as we
learn that Creed from the pages of Ruffinus ; but
Marcellus does not speak of its being used in
any liturgic office, except so far as his words
above quoted may show that he had received it
before he was baptized.
20. This surmise is upheld by the account of
Ruffinus. He describes the Creed of the Church
of Aquileia as resembling very nearly that of
Rome : he says that at neither Church had it
ever been put into writing in a continuous form,
but adds that he regards the type as preserved
in the Church of Rome as probably of the
purest character, because there the ancient prac-
tice was preserved of the catechumen reciting the
Creed in the hearing of the faithful. He speaks of
this as an ancient custom. At Aquileia it would
appear that the baptism was a private service.
About the same time we find Ambrose describ-
ing to Marcellina (Migne, xvi. 995) the riot at
Jlilan : from his account it would seem that at
that time the custom was to deliver the Creed
to the competentes on any Lord's Day after the
lessons and the sermon and the dismissal of the
catechumens : his words are, " Sequente die,
erat autem Dominica, post lectiones atque trac-
tatum demissisCatechumenis,symbolum aliquibus
competentibus in baptisteriis tradebam basilicae,"
when he was called out to rescue an Arian.
.21. The custom of preserving this symbolum
imwritten is referred to again and again by .le-
rorae and Augustine. ' It will be remembered
that the Faith of the Churches of the East was
treated with less reserve, although St. Cyril of
Jerusalem desired that his lectures should be
regarded as confidential documents. We are in-
clined to believe that the Creed must have been
committed to writing when it became customar}'
to recite it at the Mass. The Gelasian Sacra-
mentary (vfhich, even if interpolated, must de-
scribe the ritual of the Roman Church at some
epoch or other) contains it. Since the time of
Benedict VIII. as we have seen, the Nicene Creed
so called, i.e. the interpolated faith of the 150,
has been used at Rome in the Eucharistic service.
22. We have referred from time to time to
the custom of repeating the creeds of the earlier
councils at an early session of each succeeding
assembly of a similar character. We have one
.nteresting proof that the Apostles' Creed was
CRESCENS
493
deemed of sufficient importance to be so used
in a council of the West. Etherius, bishop of
Osma, and Beatus, presbyter of Astorga, recited
it in 785 as against the errors of Elipandus,
archbishop of Toledo. The account is note-
worthy : " Surgamus igitur," they cried, " cum
ipsis apostolis et fidei nostrae symbolum, queni
(sic) tradiderunt nobis brevi compendio, recite-
mus, qiiicunque unum Dominnm, unam fidem,
unum baptisma habemus; et fidem in qua bap-
tizati sumus •> in hac perversitate et duplicitate
haereticorum non negemus : sed sicut corde cre-
demus ore proprio proferamus publice et dicamus
Credo in Deum, &c." The Creed recited, Ethe-
rius added, " Ecce fidem apostolicam in qua
baptizati sumus, quam credemus et tenemus."
It will be noticed that the Creed was here put
forth publiclij.
23. Nor should the feet that there were creeds
thrown into an interrogatory form be entirely
passed over. Of these some were used from
an early period at baptism ; and others in later
years at the visitation of the sick. Dr. Heurtley
has collected several instances of the former
series ; and the pages of Martene contain many
extracts from old MSS. giving the order for the
latter. The earliest instance of such a use at
confession that we have found is in the rule of
Chrodegang (a.d. 750). [Migne, 89, p. 1070.]
24. The (so called) Athanasiaa Creed appears
to have been originally composed as an exposition
of the faith for the instruction of believers
[Cressy, Council of], and then it came to be
sung at the Church service as a Canticle.
Gieseler and others consider that it was this
Creed that was ordered to be learnt by heart
by the Council of Frankfort, 794, when it
decreed, " Ut fides catholica sanctae Trinitatis
et oratio Dominica atque Symbolum Fidei omni-
bus praedicatur et tradatur ;" but it is more pro-
bable that the term fdes catholica here is generic :
at all events we would refer to the creed con-
tained in Charlemagne's letter to Elipandus
[Migne, xcviii. 899], which is assigned to the
same date (794) as being more probably the fides
catholica .of the Canon. It seems to have been
recited at Prime on the Lord's Day at Basle in
the 9th century : we hear that in 997 it was
sung in alternate choirs in France and in the
Church of England: in 1133 it was used daily
at Prime in the Church, of Autun ; from 1200 it
assumed the titles " Symbolum S. Athanasii "
and " Psalmus Quicunque tult" which mark the
character it occupies in our services. It was
daily used at Prime in those English churches
which adopted the use of Sarum, but was always
followed by the recitation of the Apostles' Creed :
as if the declaration of the Faith of the wor-
shipper always followed on the instruction of the
Church as to what it was necessary to believe.
(Books. — Great use has been made of Dr.
August Hahn's Collection of Formulae : and Dr.
Caspari's Programme. Dr. Hourtley's Harmonia
Symholica has of course furnished important
assistance. To other works reference has been
made as required.) C. A. S.
CRESCENS. (1) Disciple of St. Paul, bishop
in Galatia, is commemorated June 27 (Mart. Bom.
Vet., Usuardi); April 15 (^Cal. Byzant.).
•> Thus the Apostks' Creed was the bapllBinal creed of
Spain.
494
CRESCENTIA
(2) One of the seven sons of St. Symphorosa,
martyr at Tivoli under Hadrian, July 21 {Mart.
Bedae) ; June 27 (^Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Or Crescentics, martyr at Tomi, Oct. 1
(Alart. Hieron., Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CRESCENTIA, martyr in Sicily under Dio-
cletian, June 15 {Mart. Hieron., Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi). [C]
CRESCENTIANUS. (1) Martyr in Sar-
dinia, May 31 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr in Africa, June 13 {Mart. Bedae).
(3) Martyr in Campania, July 2 {Mart.
Usuardi).
(4) Martyr at Augustana, Aug. 12 {Mart.
Usuardi).
(5) Martyr at Rome under Maximian, Nov. 24
{Mart. Bedae, Usuardi) ; March 16 {Mart. Bom.
Vet.-). [C]
CRESCENTIO, or CEESCENTIUS, mar-
tyr at Rome, Sept. 17 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
[C]
CRESSY, COUNCIL OF. [Christiacum.]
In Ponthieu, A.D. 676; but according to Labb.
(vi. 535), at Autun, a.d. 670, the canons being
headed with the name of Leodegarius, bishop of
Autun : passed several canons, but among others,
one exacting, on pain of episcopal condemnation,
from every priest, deacon, subdeacon, or " cle-
ricus," assent to the "Fides Sancti Athanasii
praesulis." [A. W. H.]
CRISPIN A, martyr in Africa under Diocle-
tian, Dec. 5 {Cal. Carthag., Rom. Vet., Usuardi);
Dec. 3 {3Iari. Hieron., in some MSS.). [C]
CRISPINUS. (1) Martyr with Crispinianus
at Soissons under Diocletian, Oct. 25 {Mart.
Hieron., Bedae, Usuardi, Cal. Anglican.).
(2) Bishop, martyr at Astyagis, Nov. 19
{Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CRISPOLUS, or CRISPULUS, martyr in
Sardinia, May 30 {Mart. Hieron., Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi). [C]
CEISPUS. (1) Presbyter, martyr at Rome
under Diocletian, Aug. 18 {Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi).
(2) The " chief ruler of the synagogue,"
martyr at Corinth, Oct. 4 {Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Usuardi). [C]
CRISTETA, martyr in Spain, Oct. 27 {3fart.
Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CROSIER. [Pastoral Staff.]
CROSS. The official or public use of the
cross as a symbol of our redemption begins with
Constantine, though it had doubtless been em-
ployed in private by all Christians at a much
earlier date. (See Guericke's Antiquities of the
Christian Church, Morison's tr., 1857, and Bln-
terim's Denkwiirdigkeiten, &c., with Molanus,
quoted below.) In the Catacombs, and all the
eai'liest records, it is constantly used in con-
nexion with the monogram of Christ ; and this
may point to the probable fact of a double mean-
ing in the use of the symbol from the earliest
times. As derived from, or joined with, the
monogram, especially with the mono-
gram iu its earliest or decussated form,
the cross is a general or short-hand
symbol for the name and person of
t!hrist. As used with the somewhat later
*
tself, it -p
sacrifice |
it were I
inner of
' CROSS
transverse monogram, or when separated from
the monogram and used by itself, it
directs special attention to the sacri
and death of the Lord, and as
avows and glories in the manner
His death. " Le triomphe de la Christianisme
s'affichait bien plus ouvertement sur cet in-
signe [the Labarum] au moyen du monogramme,
comme exprimant le nom du Christ, que par
I'ide'e de la croix." Its use as a symbol of
His person is of high antiquity ; see Ciampini,
Vet. Mon. t. ii. pp. 81 and 82, tav. xxiv., and
c. viii. tav. xvii. D ; although some discredit may
have fallen on it from the actual personification
of the symbol in later days, after the publication
of the Legend of the Cross, when churches were
dedicated to it, as St. Cross, or Holy Rood,
and it became an object of prayer.* [Sign of
THE Cross.] For the purely symbolic use of
the great Christian and in part human emblem,
Ciampini's plate, a copy of the great " Trans-
figuration " in mosaic in St. Apollinaris at Ra-
venna, A.D. 545, may be here described as a
typical example. It covers the vault of an
arch. The presence of the Father is represented
by the ancient symbol of a Hand [see s. v.]
issuing from a cloud above all. Below it is a
cross of the Western form, slightly widened at
the extremities, or tending to the Maltese, in-
scribed in a double circle or nimbus. At the
intersection is the Face of our Lord, scarcely dis-
tinguishable in Ciampini's small engraving, but
visible in the now accessible photograph ; and
a Didron, Iconographie C, vol. i. p. 367 ; Buhn :
" Christ is embodied in the Cross, as He is in the Lamb,
or as the Holy Spirit in the Dove. ... In Christian Icono-
graphy, Christ Is actually present under the form and
souiblance of the Cross. The Cross is our <:rucified Lord
in person," &c. In the 9th century the praises of the
Cross were sung, as men sing those of a god or a hero.
Rliaban Maur, who was Archbishop of Mayence in 847,
wrote a poem in honour of the Cross, De Laudibiis
Sanctae Crucis. See his complete works, fol., Coloniae
Agripplnae, 1626, vol. i. pp. 273-337. He further quotes
St. Jerome's comparisons of " species crucis forma qua-
drata mundi ;" " aves quando volant, ad aethera forniam
crucis assumant . . . homo natans, vel orans . . . na\is per
maria antenna crucis similata. Tau littera signum salutia
et crucis describitur." — Comment, in Marcum.
The Pontifical, or bishop's office-book, of Ecbert or
Egbert, brother of Eadbert, king of Northumhria, and
consecrated archbishop of York in 732, contains an office
for the dedication of a cross, which certainly makes no
mention of any human form thereon (v. Surtees Society,
1853, pp. 111-113). ". . . . Quaesumus ut consecres Tibi
hoc signum cru
^
cis, quod tota mentis devotione
famuli tut religiosa fides construxit trophaeum scilicet
victorias tuae et redemptionis nostrae. . . . Kadiet hie
Unigeniti Filii tui splendor divinitatis in auro, emicet
gloria passionis in ligno, in cruore rutilet nostrae mortis
redemptio, in splendore cristalli nostrae mortis redemptio :
sit suorum protectio, spei certa fiducia, eos simul cum
gente et plebe fide confirinet, spe solidet, pace consociet :
augeat triumphis, ampliflcet secundis, proficiat eis ad per-
petuitatem temporis, et ad vitam aeternitatis," &c. &c.
A curiously mingled state of thought or feeling is indi-
cated by this passage : the cross is a sjTubol of Christ
and a token of His victory ; it is of material wood, gold,
jewels, &c. ; but a sacramental power seems to be consi-
dered as adherent in the symbol ; its consecration gives it
personality ; and it is to be addressed in prayer as if
possessed of actual powers.
CROSS
verified ou the spot, as we understand, by M.
Grimoald de St. Laurent. (Didron's Annales
Archeologiques, vol. xxvi. p. 5.) This Face of the
Lord seems in a work of the 5th century to im-
l)ort no more than the name or monogram : but
it is found again on the oil-vessels of Monza.
(.See Martigny, s. v.. Crucifix, and Didron, Annales
Arch. vol. xxvi.) The A and w are at its right
and left, and the ground of the inner circle is sown
with stars; that of the outer with small oblong
spots in pairs, which probably indicate only va-
riations of colour in the mosaic. Further to
right and left are Moses and Elias adoring the
cross, with St. Apollinaris below. The ascent of
the mountain is indicated by trees and birds,
among which are the universally present sheep.
The Holy Dove is not represented, the mosaic
having reference to the Transfiguration only.
Above the cross are the letters IMDVC, which
Ciampini interprets as " Immolatio Domini Jesus
Christi :" below it the words " Salus Mundi."
Didron, however {Christian Iconography, p. 396,
vol. i.), asserts on the authority of M. Lacrois,
who has given particular attention to the church
of S. Apollinare in Classe, that these letters are
really IX0TC. The accession of Constantine
seems to have been an occasion of publicly
avowing to the Pagans, and therefore of more
vigorously enforcing on the Christian mind, the
sacrificial death of the Loi-d for man. The office
of Christ was distinguished from the person of
Christ : the cross was, so to speak, extricated
from the monogram; and its full import, long
understood and felt hy all Christians, was now
made explicit. However long the change from
the symbolic cross to the realist or portrait
crucifix may have taken — with whatever long-
enduring awe and careful reverence the corporeal
suffering of the Lord may have been veiled in
symbol — the progress of a large part of the
Church to actual representation of the Lord in
the act of death seems to have been logically
certain from the time when His death as a male-
factor for all men was avowed and proclaimed to
the heathen. The gradual progress or transi-
tion from the symbol to the representation is
jiartly traced out s. v. Crucifix ; and as the words
" cross " and " crucifix " are to a great extent
confounded in their popular use in most European
languages, particularly in Roman Catholic coun-
tries, the following tentative distinction may
perhaps hold good, — that a cross with any symbol
or other representation of a victim attached to it,
or anyhow placed on it, passes into the cruci-
ricial category.
The usual threefold division of the form of the
cross into the Crux Decussata or St. Andrew's
cross; the Crux Commissa, Tau, or Egyptian;
and the Immissa or upright four-armed cross,
seems most convenient. It would appear from
Ciampini's plate above quoted, and is historically
probable, that the distinction between the Greek
and Latin crosses, by reason of the equal or
unequal length of the arms, is scarcely within
our province. Its earliest origin dates perhaps
from the time succeeding the Iconoclastic con-
troversy (see Crucifix), when the Latin mind
continued to insist specially on the cross as the
instrument of the Lord's death, and carefully
selected the most probable shape of the cross on
which He suffered. The symbol of the int(M--
sectiug bars was enough for the Greek. As a
CROSS
495
Christian emblem, the decussated cross may be
considered the most ancient : but all are of the
earliest age of Christian work ; as are many
curious varieties of the cruciform figure. The
forms in the woodcuts are Christian adoptions of
pre-Christian crosses. They are supposed by
Martigny and others to be what he calls formes
dissirmilc'es ; or ancient symbols adopted by
Christians as sufficiently like the cross or tree
of punishment to convey to their minds the
associations of the Lord's suffering, without pro-
claiming it in a manner which would shock
heathen prejudice unnecessarily. Constantine
appears to have felt that a time was come when
his authority could enforce a different feeling
with regard to the death of the Lord for men.
He used the cross or monogram privately and"
publicly ; impressed it on the arms of his soldiers ;
and erected large crosses on the Hippodrome and
elsewhere in Constantinople. His use of it on
his standards is well known. (Cf. Labaeum,
Dracoxarius.) Euseb., Vit. Const, iii. 3, refers
to the Triumphal Cross made and set above the
Dragon by Constantine. For his vision and the
making of the Labarum, see ibid. pp. 28-39 ;
Bingham, Antiq. s. v. Crucif,x. Of its use on
coins, which appears to begin with Valentinian I.,
A.D. 364-375, see coin of Valens in Angelo
Rocca, infra. It geems as if Constantine really
hoped to use the Christian symbol as a token
of union for iiis vast empire, with that mix-
ture of sincere faith, superstition, and ability
which characterized most of his actions. The
frequent recurrence of the rovToi viKct on
ancient crosses shows the importance which
he and others attached to his vision. Ter-
tullian's words may suffice to express the
general use of the cross in private in his time
{De Cor. Mil. c. iii.) : " Ad omnem progressum
atque promotum ; ad omnem <iditum atque
exitum : ad calceatum, ad lavacra, ad mensas,
ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia : — quaecunque
nos conversatio exercet, frontem crucis signaculo
terimus." This is paralleled by St. Chryso-
stom's iravraxov ivpiffKtffdai (t. (TTauphv) — Tropo
&pXovat, irapa apxa/J-euois, irapa yvfai^l, irapa
livSpacri, . . . . eV '6w\ois k. iv iracrrdcnv, ep
aiceveenv apyvpols, iu toi'xwj' ypa^ai^. Julian
had <lerided the Christians as ilK6vas trravpov
(TKtaypacpovvres iv rip fierdiraj, &c. They were
accused of worshipping it as a divinity or fetiche.
See the words of the pagan Caccilius, iu Miuucius
Felix Octav. cc. ix. and xxix. : " Et qui hominein
496
CEOSS
summo supplit^ic pro facinore punitum, ot crucis
liffna feralia eorum caeremoniis fabulantur, cori-
gruentia perditis sceleratisque, . . . . ut id colaut
quod merentur." Ke is answered simply, " Cruces
nee colimus nee optamus." Tiiis is also referred
to by Molanus, Dc Ficiuris, c. v., with many
other passages. [See Sign OP THE Cross.]
The cross of course conveyed to earlier Chris-
tians, as to ourselves, the lesson of our own per-
sonal sacrifice or dedication to Christ, and the
thought of His command to take up the cross.
Hence doubtless its constant use in times of
actual 01- remembered persecution. But this use
of it would necessarily lead on from the thought
of His person to that of His sacrifice. See the
inscription by Paulinus of Nola, who made such
ample use of pictorial and other decorations,
placed under a cross at the entrance of his
church :^
" Come coronatam Domini super atria Christi
Stare crucem, duro spondentem celsa labore
Praemia. ToUe ciucem, qui vis auferre cnronani."
(See Binteiim, vol. iv. part i., and Molanus,
De Iinaginibus, c. v. De Ficturis.) >>
The private use of crosses, or representations
of the cross, is highly uncertain before Constan-
tiae, though Martigny refers to Ferret (Cata-
comhes de Home, iv. pi. xvi. 74) for certain stones,
apparently belonging to rings, on which the cross
is engraved, and which appear to be of date prior
to Constant ine. It seems probable that the use
of the monogram prevailed before and during his
^p» time, with sacrificial meaning attach-
^J^ ing more and more to the cruciform
^j^ in the Christian mind. (See Binterim,
' vol. iv. part ii.)
The most interesting cross in existence of this
kind seems to be the pectoral cross or iyKSXiriov
in gold and niello, described last by M. St. Laurent
in Didron's Annales Arche'ologiques. It is said to
contain a fragment of the wood of the cross, and
bears on its front EMANOVHA NOBISCVM
DEVS ; on the back, " Crux est vita mihi ; mors,
inimice, tibi," in same characters. It must date
from near the time of the Empress Helena, when
many like crosses began to be worn. Compare
drawing of serpent below the monogram.
One example is given by Boldetti of a tau-
cross, dating a.d. 370 according t» the consuls :
neither the Crux Immissa nor the Greek cross
appear by actual examples till the 5th century.
This question of date can hardly be decided in
the Catacombs, from the number of crosses in-
scribed there by pilgrims of all periods.
There is a passage from Severus Sanctus
Endelechius or Entelechius, a Christian poet, pro-
bably of Aquitaiue, in the latter part of the 4th
century, where a Christian shepherd has secured
his flock fi'om disease by planting or marking
between their horns ("signum mediis frontibus
additum ") the cross of " the God men worship in
great cities" : —
" Signum, quod perhibent esse crucis Dei
Magnis qui colitur solus in urbibus,
Chriotus, perpetui gloria numinis," &c.
De Rossi's work, De Titulis Christianis Cartha-
giniensibus, speaks of 4th century marbles beaj--
CROSS
ing the cross; ana it is possible that in distant
provinces the associations of shameful death may
not have clung to it so closely. M. Laurent
makes the obvious remark that the use of the
cross spread with a rapidity proportioned to the
advance of Christianity, and speaks of its earlier
and freer use in Africa, quoting De Rossi, D. T. C.
For Constantine's golden cross on the tomb of
St. Peter, see Anastasius, Lib. Poutif., In Syl-
vestro, p. 8, Scr. Byz. (Fabroti) ; also Eusebius,
Const. Vit. iii. 49. Two crosses from the Cata-
comb of St. Pontianus given by Bottari, tav. xliv.-
xlvi., richly adorned with jewels and metal-work,
one of which has the A to attached to it by
chains, may also date from the years imme-
diately preceding Constantine, if not works of
his time. The great Cross of the Lateran, so
called, is referred to his time, and apparently
accepted as of that date by Binterim, vol. iv.
part i. frontispiece. It is in mosaic, and though
restored by Nicolas IV., can hardly have been
altered. It is a plain cross, having a medallion
of the Lord's baptism at its intersection. The
Holy Spirit, in form of a dove, with nimbus,
hovers above; and from Him seems to proceed
the baptismal fountain, which at the cross-foot
becomes the source of the four rivers, Gihon,
Pison, Tigris, Euphrates. Between the rivei's is
h For examplos and discussion of this subject,
Binterim, vol. iv. part t
Lateran Cross. (Binterim, vol. iv. p. 1.)
the Holy City of God, guarded by the archangel
Michael, behind whom springs up a palm-ti-ee,
on which sits the Phoenix as a symbol of Christ.
[PHffiNix.] Two stags below near the waters
represent the heathen, seeking baptism ; and
three sheep on each side stand, as usual, for the
Hebrew and Gentile Churches. This relic should
be compared with a similar one given by De Rossi
{De Titulis Carthaginiensibus), where the cross
stands on a hill, and the four rivers spring from
its foot, with stags, &c., as both have decided
reference to baptism, and illustrate the earliest
representative use of the cross as a symbol of
Christ, with special reference not to His death
but His baptism. Others even in later times
were made with this view, and indeed with
ornaments representing Old Testament types of
the Redeemer. (See Crucifix, account of the
station-cross of Mainz.)
The use of the Tau, patibulary, or Egypt);in
CROSS
Cross,' is general from perliaps the earliest
T period. Somt special difficulties appear
to be connected with it, as it is be-
yond doubt a pre-Christian emblem,
and as such connected in the minds
of those who used it with special, at least
pre-Christian, meanings. These meanings will
of course be of two classes : — Istly, the
interpretations of speculative minds in all ages
which connect the tau-cross with Egyptian
nature-vvorsliip through the Crux Ansata, and
which include all the Ophite and Gnostic
uses of the symbol, and its connexion with
the serpent, as a sign of strength, wisdom,
&c. ; 2ndly, those of Hebrew origin, connected
as types with the Old Testament, and through
that with the Christian faith, — the wood borne by
Isaac, and the tau or cross on which the brazen
serpent was supported. Didron's remark seems
appropriate here, that the tau is the anticipatory
cross of the Old Testament. We are not con-
cerned with it as such, and may refer for much
interesting and erudite speculation on the pre-
Christian cross, or decussated figure, to the text
and references of an article in the Edinburgh
Review of April, 1870.
The tau appears in the Callixtine Catacomb, in
a sepulchral inscription, referred to the 3rd cen-
CROSS
497
tury, thus: IRE
NE. This frequently
occurs elsewhere (De Rossi, Bullet. 1863, p. 35);
and some of the crucifixes on the vessels of the
treasnry of Monza are of the same shape. (See
Didron's Annates Archeologiques, vv. xxvi.-vii.)
Still in some of the earliest examples it may
possibly have been used, even by Christians, in
the pre-Christian sense, as a type of life in the
world to come.
In Boldetti, lib. ii. c. iii. p. 353, an Egyptian
cross of black marble mosaic is given, which may
probably be of later date than the catacomb in
which it was found ; but the next page contains
an early inscrijition of the tau between A and oi,
thus: A
T
He quotes the following
passage from TertuUian on this form of the cross,
who refers to Ezekiel thus : " Pertransi medio
portae in mediam Jerusalem et da signum Tau
in frontibus virorum. Ipsa enim litera Grae-
corum Tau, nostra autem T, species crucis." —
Adv. Marcian. lib. iii. 22. This form of cross is
specially appropriated to the thieves rather than
the Redeemer, in some crucifixions of early medi-
aeval type. [Crucifix.]
o
« In Lipsius, De Cruce, i. 7, it is shown to be of
liocnician origin.
CHRIST. ANT.
Both Greek and Roman crosses, and in parti-
cular cruciform churches,'' sometimes possess one
or even two additional cross limbs, shorter than
the main or central one. Tlie ujiper additional
bar
*
is supposed by Didron to stand for
the title over the head of the Crucified One. If
this be so, the lower may be taken to represent
the suppedaneum, a support for His feet. In cases
where both the shorter limbs are placed above
the main cross-bar, as in the cross represented in
Boldetti, lib. i. c. ii. p. 271, they certainly re-
present the crosses of the malefactors. [Cru-
cifix.] See two coins of Valensand Anthemius,
Angelo Rocca, Bihl. Vaticana, vol. ii. p. 253.
one, a nummus aereus, has the three crosses, the
other with two smaller cioss-beams under the
large one.
The term " station-cross " is derived from the
CO. A.
T^
Cscc)
p=
U P
r
' — 1
=^
_A^
Roman military term statio, and applied to a
large cross on the chief altar, or in some prin-
cipal place of a church, but occasionally removed
or carried in procession to another place, and
then constituting a special place of prayer. (Spc
Bottari, tav. xlv., and illustration of Lateran
Cross.) Processional crosses may be traced to the
use of the Labarum in Constantine's army, and
also of his substitution of the Cross for ti:e
Dragon, or placing it above the Dragon "n
standards of cohorts, &c. (See the Church use
of the word Draconarius, standard-bearer.')
The distinction between the Cross of the Re-
surrection, or Triumphal Cross, and the Cross
of the Passion, is traceable to early times. In
Ciampini, V. M. tav. xvii. D (ch. viii.), our Lord
in glory stands by and supports a large cross,
having the angels Michael and Gabriel on either
hand. The Lamb is also frequently represented
as bearing the lighter and longer triur^iphal cross.
(See Crucifix, and references to the Vatican Cross,
&c.) It is also borne by our Lord in representa-
tions of the Descent into Hades. It is symbolic
'I Constantine's ancient churcli of St. I^:ter S. Paolo
fuori delle Mura, and Sta. Maria Maggiore were all ouill
ill the form of a crosB. That of S. Paolo
with projecting ajwe.
2 K
498
CROSS
of tlie victory gained by the sufferings to which
the Passion-cross calls our special attention.
The drawino; of the engraved stone or signet-
cross at p. 495, with the motto " Salus," repre-
sents a device with the triumphal cross. The
monogram of the Lord is placed over the ser
pent, ''which vainly tempts the doves,
to the symbol of their Lord,
Serpent."
The statement of Bede (Binterim, vol. iv. i. p.
501) relating to the four kinds of wood of which the
cross was made— the upright of cypress, the cross-
I'ho look
But see s. v.
In C«motery of Domitia.
(Boldetti, lib. ii. o UL p. 353.)
piece of cedar, the head-piece of fir, and the suppe-
daneum of box — departs from the Eastern tradi-
tion, which substitutes olive and paJm for the two
latter varieties of wood. This forms part of the
legendary history of the cross, with which we are
not concerned. The only remarks to be made by
way of conclusion or summary appear to be these •
that a double, and indeed manifold, meaning
attached to the cross from the earliest ages.
Derived as a Christian sign from the monogram,
and connected with traditions of ancient learning
by its Egyptian form, it may be said to have
stood for all things to all men. To the earliest
CROSS, ADORATION OF
members of the Church it represented their
Jlaster, who was all in all to them ; and thus in
their view, a somewhat wider and happier one
than in later days, it represented all the foith —
the person of Christ, His death for man, and tlie
life and death of man in Christ. The Lateran
and other crosses point to baptism and all its
train of Christian thought, without immediate
reference to the Lord's sacrifice. [Lamb.] Con-
stantine indeed (see Anastat. Vit. Font if. in
Sykestro) seems to have attached the symbolic
Lamb to the Baptist and the sacrament he ad-
ministered, as well as to the Lord's Supper and
the showing forth of His death. The tendency
of Christian feeling towards special or exclusive
contemplation of the Lord's sufferings and death
is matter of ecclesiastical history ; and its effect
on Christian emotion, and therefore on Christian
art, is the transition from the cross into the
crucifix. (See s. v.)
An evidence of the feelings of subdued triumph
with which the cross was regarded in the earliest
times, as a symbol first of the Lord's life and
death, then of the life and death of man, is
that it is so frequently wreathed, embossed, or
otherwise ornamented with flowers. Even as late
as the Monza vessels, it is represented as a living
and budding stem ; but the cross from St. Ponti-
anus, giveu by Bottari, xliv. is made to put forth
golden or silver flowers half-way up its stem.
Count Melchior de Vogue' {Revue ArcMologique,
vol. vii. p. 201) gives a highly interesting ac-
count of the ruins, or rather the scarcely-injured
remains, of four ancient Christian towns, on the
left bank of the Orontes, between Antioch and
Aleppo. They contain many ancient crosses-, and
were probably deserted at the same time, on the
first Mussulman invasion. "On est transporte,"
he says, " au milieu de la socie'te' chre'tienne . . .
non plus la vie cache'e des catacombes, ni I'ex-
istence humilieo, timide, souffrante, mais une vie
large, opulente, artistique Des croix, des
monogrammes du Christ sont sculpte's en relief
sur la plupart des portes : le ton de ces inscrip-
tions indique une e'poque voisine du triomphe de
I'Eglise. . . . Le graffito d'un peintre obscur, qui,
de'corant un tombeau, a, pour essayer son pinceau,
trace' sur le parol du rocher des monogrammes
du Christ, et dans son enthousiasme de Chretien
e'mancipe' ecrit, en paraphrasant le labarum, ToCto
viKa, Ceci triomphe." [R- St. J. T.]
CROSS, Adoration of. {Adoratio Crucis,
ri TTputTKvvricris tov (rruvpov.)
1. Adoration of the Cross from the heathen
point of view. — Christianity being a " religion of
the cross," the cross being in every Christian
teacher's mouth as the watchword of the new
faith, the action of signing with the cross [Sign
OF THE Cross] being believed in by the Chris-
tians as a preservative against all dangers bodily
and spiritual, what wonder is it that the heathen
should have seen in early Christianity but a
aTavpoXarpeia, and in the cross but a Christian
idol not less material than their own ?
Thus we find Tertullian feeling it necessary
carefully to combat this among divers false
views of Christian worship prevalent among the
heathen. His words, with the logic of which
we have nothing to do, are " Sed et qui Crucis
nos religiosos putat, consecraneus erit noster :" —
Even if we did worship the cross, we should be
no worse than you, for the cross enters directly
CROSS, ADORATION OF
or indirectly into your own objects of worship ;
for example, as being the structure around
which the makers of images of the gods would
first erect the clay model, or as being the frame-
woj-k of trophies reared in honour of victory
whom you adore as a deity {Apol. c. 16 ; and in
similar strain, Ad Nationes i. c. 12).
We find references to the same heathen taunt
ill t\\^'Octavius of Minucius Felix, as e.g. in c. 9,
where the heathen objector winds up his re-
marks " ut . id colant quod merentur ;" and
again (c. 12), " et jam non adorandae, sed sub-
eundae Cruces." The writer in meeting this
attack speaks as Tertullian had done of the way
in which the cross entered into heathenism, and
adds (c. 29), " Cruces etiam nee colimus, nee
optamus," by which he seems to mean, We
Christians do not worship the cross so as to give
such adoration and honour to it as you heathen
to your idols. That this misconception on the
part of the heathen was not speedily overcome
may be seen from the case of so intelligent a
man as the Emperor Julian, who, a century
after Minucius had written, taunts the Chris-
tians, as the Caecilius of that writer had done,
with inconsistency, in that while they refused to
reverence (Trpocrnwiiv) the sacred Aucile which
fell down from Jupiter and was preserved among
them as a pledge of the protection ever to be
shown to the city, they still reverenced the
wood of the cross, continually made the sign of
it on their foreheads, and engraved it before
their houses (Cyril Alex. Contra Juliantim, lib.
vi. Patrol. Gr. Ixxvi. 795). The gist of Cyril's
answer is worthy of notice : — Since Christ the
Lord and Saviour of all divested Himself of His
Divine Majesty, and leaving His Father's Throne
was willing to take upon Him the form of a
servant, and to be made in the likeness of man,
and to die the cruel and ignominious death of
the cross, therefore we being reminded of these
things by the sight of the cross, and taught that
One died thereon that we all might have life,
value the symbol as productive of thankful
remembrance of Him.
II. Point of viev} of early Christian writers. —
Having thus alluded to the adoration of the
cross as seen from the heathen point of view, we
shall next endeavour to trace the existence of
the idea among Christians of a modified form
of reverence to be paid to the cross. That idea
may be expressed roughly thus : No reverence
is paid to the material cross as such ; it is the
idea of the cross for which reverence is felt ; but
it is the reverence or worship due to a most
holy or cherished thing, not that which is due
to God, trpocncvvriais, not Karpeia. Certain it is
that in this modified sense of worship the early
Christians maintained the duty of reverence to
the sacred symbol of redemption (see especially
Le Nourry's Dissertatio in Minuc. Fel. c. xii.
Art. 4 in Patrol, iii. 531). Thus Eusebius says
of Constautine, rhu viKoiroihu irifxa (TTavp6v
{Vita Const, i. 31 ; cf. *. ii. 16; iv. 21; and
Oratio de laudihus Const, c. 9 ; also Sozomen
i. 4, a.i\ rov /SacriAecos 7)yiiffQai. fcai irporTKVff]-
(reojs vevS/xifTTO Trapa rSiv CTpaTiooTuiv). Cyril
of Jerusalem (Ep. ad Const, p. 247) speaks
of rb craiTriptov rov (rravpov ^v\ov. The
above-mentioned instances taken by themselves
might be viewed as due to a somewhat rhe-
torical way of speaking, but the real nature of
CROSS, ADORATION OF
499
the feeling is shown by the following more
definite instances.
Ambrose (In oh. TAeodosii, § 46) tells of the
Empress Helena's adoration of the cross after her
discovery of Pilate's superscription, and adds :
"i?e(7(?TO adoravit, non lignum utique, quia hie
Gentilis est error et vanitas mipioruni ; sed
adoravit ilium qui pependit in ligno, scriptus
in Cruce." Shortly afterwai'ds he describes how
the cross was placed upon kings by Helena, " ut
in regibus adoretur."
Jerome, again, in the Epitaphium Paulae
Matris (Ep. 108 ad Eustochium, § 9, Patrol.
xxii. 883), says that "Paula prostrata ante
Crucem quasi pendentem Dominum cerneret,
adorabat."
In the above instances Ambrose and Jerome
are referring to the cross said to be found by
Helena, but in the case of Minucius and others
anterior to the time of Constantino the allusion
is necessarily to crosses, viewed as signs and
images of the true cross; and the view which
is controverted is the belief of the heathen
world in the veneration paid by Christians to
the cross absolutely (see further, Origen, in
Celsuni ii. 47). Cf. further the distinction as
drawn by Augustine (Tract, i. in Johannem.
§ 16): " Dicimus quidem lignum vitam, sed
secundum intellectum lignum Crucis unde acce-
pimus vitam." The same line is taken in the
Quaestiones ad Antiochum ducem (xxxix. : Patrol.
Gr. xxviii. 622), falsely atti-ibuted to Athanasius,
in answer to the question, Why, when God has
forbidden through His prophets the worship of
created things, do we offer adoration to images
and the cross ? Rusticus Diaconus, a writer of
the time of Pope Vigilius, carefully defines the
matter in the same way, for after maintaining
the adoration of the cross as leading on to that
of the Crucified, he adds, " non tamen Crucem
coadorare dicimur Christo " (Contra Acephalos :
Patrol. Ixvii. 1218).
John Damascenus (ob. circa 756 a.d.) is careful
exactly to define, as the above-mentioned writers
have done, the nature of the reverence paiii by
Christians to the cross. He says (de fide ortho-
doxa iv. 11): irpocrKwovfifv Sh Kal rhv rvirov
ToO Tifxiov Kal (woTToiov ffravpov . . . . ov rvr
vKr)v Ti/xiaVTes (/j.^ yivoiTo), aWa rhv rvirov
d>y XpicToD av/x^oXov. And hereon, he adds,
may our adoration of the cross rest, evda yao
hv fi Th ffr)fie1ov, inel Kal aiirhi iffrai.
Further illustrations of the wide spread of the
feeling are to be found in numerous narratives of
the Fathers, of a more or less legendary cha-
racter, referring to the miraculous power in-
herent in the sacred symbol. Thus Sozomen
(Hist. Eccl. ii. 3) gives us an account of a certain
physician named Probianus who had been con-
verted to Christianity, but who would not ac-
cord honour to the cross as the sign of salva-
tion, until when suffering from a painful disease
of the feet he was taught by a vision [cf. Altar,
p. 66] to find in reverence of the cross a means
of relief, and thus was cured. [We again rind
this story, cited from Sozomen, in the Historia
Tripartita (ii. 19), compiled by Cassiodorus.]
A parallel incident is that related by Evagrius
(Eccl. Hist. iv. 26), to the effect that on the
burning of Antioch by Chosroes, the bishop of
Apamea consented to display the wood of the
cross to the adoration of the people, that their
2 K 2
500 CROSS, ADORATION OF
last kiss of the sacred relic might be as it were
their viaticum to the other woi-ld. The his-
torian mentions that he was present with his
parents, and describes the scene at some length,
and tells how, while the bishop made the ciixuit
of the church carrying the cross ticrirep iv rats
Kvpiais rS}V irpotTKVvriiTecov riixipais iWicrro, he
was followed by a large mass of flame, blazing
but not consuming : a token of the safety vouch-
safed to the city.
Again, Bede (Hist. Eccl. iii. 2) tells us of
Oswald, a Saxon king (635 A.D.), who, being in
imminent danger in war, erected and offered
adoration to a cross, by which victory was
secured.
One more illustration may suffice. In the
Trullan Synod held at Constantinople in 691 a.d.,
it was ordained that since the cross shows to us
the way of salvation, and therefore we offer to
it in words and in thought our adoration, it
should be distinctly prohibited to engrave crosses
on the pavement, where they would be trodden
under foot, and that where these already existed
they should be erased (can. 73; Labbe, Con-
cilia, vi. 1175).
The above examples clearly prove the ex-
istence amongst the early Christians of a venera-
tion for the cross, combined with the feeling
of the necessity of excluding from this the idea
of absolute worship. The constant use of the
sign of the cross [Sign of the Cross] is a
further exemplification of this.
The special character of hymns is obviously
such as to admit of a less exact style of lan-
guage, but the tone of the early Christian poets
shows clearly the nature of their views, as to the
veneration of the cross. In a poem (Z>e Passione
Domini) attributed by some to Lactantius, it is
saidi,(vv. 50 sqq.) : —
" Flecte genu lignumque Crucis venerabile adora
Flebilis, innocuo terramque cruore madentem
Ore petens humili." »
Much again can be gathered from Prudentius
(405 A.D.) on this point. Thus we find (A2J0-
theosis 446) —
" Jam purpura supples
Sternitur Aeneadae rectoris ad atria Christi,
VexlUumque Crucis smnmus dominator adorat."
Again in the description of Constantine's victory
over Maxentius (Contra Symmachum i. 494), he
says —
" Tunc iUe senatus
Militiae ultricis titalum, Christique verendum
Nomen adoravit quod collucebat in armls."
The allusion here is to the cross and the mono-
gram on the labarum (cf also Cath. vi. 129, and
Paulinus Nol. Poem. xxx. 97 sqq.).
Finally, we may cite the words of Sedulius
(Carmen Paschale, lib, v. 188 : Patrol, xix.
724)—
" Neve quis ignoret speciem Crucis esse coleudam."
» In the prolegomena to the Roman edition of Pru-
dentius (Patrol, lix. 669), the accusation is brought
against George Fabricius of tampering with the abovefby
omitting, through doctrinal proclivities, the words " lig-
numque flebilis ;" a proceeding justly reprehended
by John Albert Fabricius : " Sane praestitisset G. Fa-
bricinm passim, turn hie turn alibi, non ita fuisse in
alienis operibus quae edebat ingeniosum " {BiU. Yet. Lai.
D. 709, ed. 1712).
CROSS, ADORATION OF
III. Adoratiiin of the Cross in ancient Litur-
gies. — In the Western Church such a rite has
long been observed on Good Friday. The custom
is probably very ancient, and has possibly flowed
hither from the East, for the words of Paulinus
(Ep. 31, Patrol. Ixi. 329) with reference to the
observance of the like practice at Jerusalem,
will carry back the date to the 4th century " : —
" Quam episcopus urbis ejus quotanuis, cum
Pascha Domini agitur, adorandam populo prin-
ceps ipse veuerantium promit." According to
the Gregorian Sacramentary (Patrol. Ixxviii. 86),
at Vespers on Good Friday a cross is set up
in front of the altar ; then — " Venit Pontifex,
adoratam deoscuiatur Crucem. Deinde episcopi,
presbyteri, diaconi et caeteri per ordinem, delude
populus: Pontifex vero redit in sedem usque
dum cranes salutent." Whenever a salutation
is made (salutante pontifice vel populo) the
Antiphon PJcce lignum Crucis is sung ; and then
when all have saluted, the pope descends to the
front of the altar and the service proceeds.
Sundry differences, but of no great momeut,
occur in the form given in the Gelasian Sacra-
mentary (Patrol. Ixxiv. 1103). A more elabo-
rate ritual, however, is to be found in the
]\Iozarabic \At\wgj (Patrol. Ixxxv. 430; Ixxxvi.
609), in which before Nones on Good Friday,
after the Lord's Prayer, came the hymn Ad
Salutationen Ligni Domini,
" Pange lingua gloriosi
Proelium certaminis," &c.
This was followed by the prayer, " 0 sancta Crux,
in qua salus nostra pependit, per te introeamus
ad Patrem, per te veniam mereamur, per te
apud Christum habeamus indulgentiam et
veniam ;" and this again by three antiphons de
ligno Domini. Nothing further is added here iu
the Breviary as to the adoration of the cross, pos-
sibly because the rest is to be found in the Missal.
From this we learn the nature of the cere-
mony of adoration as performed at the Nones,
and this, as in the preceding instance, we shall
briefly describe.
Two priests hold before the altar a cross
draped in black, standing first at the left, then
at the right, and lastly at the middle of the altar.
As each position is occupied, the antiphons are
respectively chanted — Popule mens quid feci tihi
.... Quia eduxi te . . . . Quid ultra dchui . . . .,
with its own response after each. At the end
of the third station the officiating priest receives
the cross from the hands of the two who are
holding it, and standing successively at the
right end, the left end, and the middle of the
altar, he uncovers at each station respectively
the right arm, the left arm, and the whole ot
the cross, saying on each occasion, with voice
growing louder each time, the antiphon Ecce
lignum Crucis, to which is responded. In qua
salus nostra pependit, it being ordered that as
each limb of the cross is unveiled, the people
should bend the knee. The priest having revoi
rently placed the cross in front of the altar
" statim presbyteri cum suis ministris adorent
Crucem flectendo genua ter, cum summa re-
fa Paulinus, it will be observed, speaks of this rite as
tiiking place on the " Pascha ;" but there seems fair
ground from the context for explaining this, with Menard,
of the anniversary of our Lord's crucifixion. ,(Notes to
Greg. Sacr. in Fatrol. Ixxviii. 332.)
CEOSS, ADORATION OF
verentia et humilitate osculando terram, et
offerant oblationem Cruci, ut aliis praebeant
exemplum;" the rite is then concluded by an
oratio ad Cnicem, in which, however, our Lord
is addressed distinctly, and by the aatiphon
Crucem tuam adoranvs Domine.
Alexander Leslie, the Jesuit editor, argues in
his note on the above passage for the identity
of the terms adoratio and salutatio as applied
to the cross, the former word being that em-
ployed in the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramen-
taries and the Mozarabic Missal, the latter in
the Mozarabic Breviary ; and Amalarius {De
Eccl. Off. i. 14) cites the Ordines Ronumi, " Prae-
paratur crux ante altare, quam salutant et oscu-
lantur omnes."
As illustrating our present subject, we may
quote from the collect for the Festival of the
Exaltation of the Cross in the Gregorian Sacra-
meutary : " Concede propitius ut qui ad adoran-
dam vivificam ejus Crucem adveniuut . . . ."
At the end of Mass on that day a cross was held
up by the pontiff for the adoration of the people
(cf. Alcuin, Adv. Elipantum, lib. ii. 9, who fur-
nishes us with a collect. Ad Elevationem Sanctae
Crucis) ; and a parallel instance is to be derived
from the Greek Menology for September 13,
Xaipois, 6 (oi7i(p6pos T7)s evcrelifias, rh 6.i]TrriTov
rpSiraiov, r) 0vpa rrjs irapaSeicrov, 6 tSiv iriCTiev
ffTi]piyfi6s . . . [See also Exaltation and
Finding of the Cross.]
The season which in the Eastern Church has
been specially associated with the adoration of
the cross is the third Sunday in Lent, with the
ensuing week. Numerous sermons are extant in
the writings of the Greek Fathers having re-
ference to this. Thus in one wrongly assigned
to Chrysostom, but apparently not long subse-
quent to his time, ets rrji/ irpoaKvi'T]aiv rov
TifJLiov Kot ^aioiroiov (TTavpov rfj fJ-iaij sl3S6/j.aSi
rSiv vqcTTiioiv, the writer speaks of the day as
yearly appointed for adoration, and as though he
would imply the custom to be a well established
one : — 'S,7]jxepov Toiyapovf irpoaKwrtaiixos rjjx^pa
rod TiiJ.iov (TTavpov KaQi(Tri)Ke. Again, in the
works of Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, is a
sermon with the same title and occasion {Oratio v.
Patrol. Gr. Ixxxvii. 3309). Again {Oratio iv. in
Exaltationem S. Crucis), in describing the change
of the season of the Exaltation to a time subse-
quent to our Lord's resurrection, he speaks of
(TTavpov ^ahovxos irpoaKvvyjffts. Sermons of the
same character are also extant by Theodorus
Studita (Patrol. Gr. xcix. 691), and by Theo-
phylact ((6. cxxxi. 113). For rubrical directions
concerning this fast, see Constantine Porphyro-
genitus, De Caerimoniis Aulae Byzantinae, 1. 5,
2-I-; and especially ii. 11 {op. cit. cxii. 137,
19t>, 1017); and cf also Suicer's Thesaurus, and
Ducange's Glossary, s. v. (TTavpoTrpocTKvvrjcrts, by
which name and by KvpiaK^ rfjs TrpoaKwriaeciis
the Greek Church knows the day. The Epistle and
Gospel for this day in that Church are Heb. iv.
14_v. 6, and Mark viii. 34— ix. 1. There is
also in the Greek Church a bringing about of
the cross for adoration on August 1 and there-
abouts, for which see Const. Porph. ii. 9 {Patrol.
Gr. cxii. 1009). This latter day is marked in
the Menology thus : e(S ti^v ■KpwT-qv tj irpdoSos
TWV Tlixiwv ^vXaiV TOV Tl/XiOV fcooTToioC (TTavpov ;
and its importance is testitled to by the fact
of its having its irpoeSpTia or vigil.
CROSS, ADORATION OF
oGI
IV. Disputes amonij Christians as to the Adora-
lion of the Cross. — At the Second Nicene General
Council (787 a.d.), in their fourth actio, among
tlie various testimonies read from the fathers in
support of the use of images in worship, was a
long extract from the fifth of the x6yoi inrlp ttjj
XpicTTiavcoy airoXoylas KaTO, 'lovSaiwu Ka\ irepl
eMvuiv TWV ayiwi/ of Leontius, bishop of Neapolis
in Cyprus (ob. 620 or 630, a.d.). The general
tenour of his remarks (lor which see Labbe', vii.
236) is as follows : — Christians are justified in
offering adoration to the cross, by way of remem-
brance of Him who died thereon, not with any
feeling of reverence for the mere material. Thus,
a decree sanctioned by the seal of the emperor
is reverentially treated, not on account of the
decree or the lead of the seal, but of him whom
the seal indicates ; and so we Christians, in our
adoration of the cross, honour not its material,
but see in it a seal and signet of Christ Who wa.«
crucified thereon, and Whom we salute and adore.
The further illustration may be taken of children
who cherish some memento of an absent father,
even as all things associated with our Lord are
for His sake to be loved and reverenced, otuu
ovv, he concludes, I'Srjs XpicTTiavovs irpo<TKvvovvTas
Thv aravphv, yvuQi on tw cTTavpwBivri XpiffTcS
TTf]v ■KpoaKvvy]cnv ■Kpoo'ayovffL kuI ov T<f ^vKw.
A counterblast to the views of the Nicene
Council is to be found in a capitulary of Charle-
magne, Ee Imaginibus (i. 13, Patrol, xcviii.
1034), where we find an attack on the argument
brought forward by the other party based on the
expression, " Jacob . . . adoravit fastigium virgae
ejus" (Heb. xi. 21). The writer there insists on
the " differentia crucis Christi et imaginum pic-
torum arte pictarum," and promises to enter
upon the subject " quanto mysterio Crux ima-
ginibus emineat, sive quomodo humanum genus
non per imagines, sed per Crucem Christi re-
demptum sit, quae duo illi vel paria vel aequalia
putant." This promise is fulfilled subsequently
(ii. 28 ; op. cit. 1096), where the language,
though probably referring to adoration of the
cross, is to a certain extent vague : " Non sunt
imagines Cruci aequiparandae, non adorandae,
non colendae, . . . et Tu solus adorandus, Tu solus
sequendus, Tu solus colendus es."
The cause of the adoration of the cross and
of images found a zealous champion in Theo-
dorus Studita, who expounds his views in his
Antirrhetici iii. ad Iconomachos, in the form of
a dialogue (see esp. Antirrh. i. 15 ; iii. 3 ; Patrol.
Gr. xcix. 345, 419). After an elaborate dis-
cussion, and after dwelling on the distinction
between dnaiv and elStoXov, in which he care-
fully repudiates any association of the adoration
of the cross or image with the latter term,
he sums up in a number of theses which main-
tain the importance of the adoration, but
again insists on the distinction referred to
above. Thus {ih. 349): "If any one boldly
calls the relative {crx^TiKijif) worship of Christ
in the image, worship of the image and not
of Christ Himself .... he is a heretic." For
further illustrations of the subject from the
writings of Theodorus, see op. cit. 691, 1757 ; cf.
also Nicephorus (Patriarch of Constantinople),
Antirrhet. iii. 7. Later notices of the subject
may be found in Photius, Ejnst. i. I, Ad Nico-
laiiin Papain; i. 8, 20, Ad Michael. Bnlgar.
Principcin.
502
CROSS, ADOEATION OF
A brief reference may here be made in passing
to the views on this subject of the Paulician
heretics, who first appeared towards the end
of the 7th century. They, generally speaking,
were strongly opposed to any adoration of the
cross or images. In regard to the cross, they
maintained that the real cross was Christ Him-
self, not the wood on which He hung: —
XiyovTiS, on ffravphs 6 XpiarSs i(TTtv, ou xph
5e irpocrKweladai rh ^v\ov ws KeKaTrtpa/xei/op
opyavov (Georgius Hamartolus, Clironicon iv.
238, in Patrol. Gr. ex. 889). In accordance
with this is what we are told by Petrus Siculus
(Hist. Manichaeorum 29; ib. civ. 1284; and cf.
Photius, Contra Manich. i. 7 ; ih. cii. 25), to the
effect that a certain Timotheus of this sect was
sent by the Emperor Leo the Isauriau to the
Patriarch of Constantinople to be reasoned with ;
and on being asked, " Why dost thou not believe
and worship the honoui'ed cross?" answered,
'• Anathema to him who does not do so." But
by the cross he understood rhv XpicTThv rrj
(KTaaei t£v x^'^P'^" (navphv airoTeXovvTa. The
above quoted Georgius Hamartolus tells us
(Patrol. Gr. ex. 892), with what truth is per-
haps doubtful, that in cases of sickness they laid
a cross on the patient, which cross on his
recovery they dared even to break or burn (see
also Euthym ius, PanopA'a Dogmat. Tit. 24; op.
cit. cxxx. il96 ; and cf. Photius, Uibliotheaa 279 ;
ih. ciii. 524).
Much about this time there arose a contention
of like character in the West. The actual lite-
rary warfare iu this case belongs to the early
part of the 9th century, but from its connection
with the earlier struggle in the Eastern Church,
and as throwing light on the tone of thought on
this subject in the Western Church during the
preceding period, it is of too much importance
to be passed over here.
The immediate cause of the outbreak was the
publication by Claudius, bishop of Turin (820
A.D.), of a fierce attack on the doctrine of the
adoration of the cross and of images. Further
he ordered the removal of crosses from all the
churches of his diocese. When urged by a letter
from a certain Abbot Theodemir to reconsider
his views, he retorted, in a long treatise, that
the Gauls and Germans were held in the nets
of superstition. This work Jonas, bishop of
Orleans, answers in detail in his treatise De
Gultu Tmagiii'im {Patrol, cvi. 305), in which he
appeals largely to the writings of the Fathers
of the earlier centuries, and discusses the ob-
jections of Claudius seriatim. See especially
op. cit. 331, where he meets Claudius's remarks
as to the superstition of the votaries of the
cross: "Nos ob recordationem Salvatoris nostri
crucem pictam veneramur atque
adoramus."
Other writers of the time joined in the fray,
as Theodemir above mentioned ; Eginhard, the
biographer of Charlemagne, in a work De Ado-
randa Cmcc not now extant ; Wistremir, arch-
bishop of Toledo (cf Pseudo-Liutprand, Clironi-
con; Patrol, cxxxvi. 1103); and a priest
n:imed Dungalus, who (about the year 828 a.d.)
wrote a treatise dedicated to Louis the Pious and
his son Lothaire : " Pro cultu sacrarum imagi-
num adversus nv.anas blasphemasque naenias
Chiudii Taurinensis Episcopi " (Patrol, cv. 457
s^iq-)- [R. S.]
CKOSS, EXALTATION OF
CROSS, Exaltation of (ExaWdio Crucls,
7) Sxf/cocns Tov cTTavoov). This festival, held on
September 14, most probably celebrates jjrimarily
the conseci-ation of the church of the Holy Se-
pulchre at Jerusalem by Bishop Macarius at the
command of Constantine (335 A.D.), although
some would see in it a commemoration of the
Vision of the Cross seen by the Emperor.
It is, however, to the victory of Heraclius
over the Persians and his subsequent restoration
of the Cross to its shrine at Jerusalem that the
renown of the festival is mainly due.
Still there are not wanting indications of its
observance before that event, in both the Eastern
and Western Churches. Thus in the ^c<a of the
Egyptian penitent Mary, whose death is referred
to 421 A.D., it is apparently recognized as a
thoroughly established festival at Jerusalem :
thus, e.g ttJs v\pciae(os evfKsv tov tijjlIov
ffravpov,T/iTis yuer' 6\lyas rjfifpas e'icoOe yiveaOai
(Acta S. Mariae Aegi/pt. c. 19, in Acta Sanctorum
for April 2; also ia'Patrol. Gr. Ixxxvii. 3711).
In the life(c. 70) of the Patriarch Eutychius
(ob. 582 A.D.) by his chaplain Eustathius, this
festival is spoken of as celebrated in Constanti-
nople on September 14 (Acta Sanctorum for April
6): and in the 7th century the Patriarch So-
phronius of Jerusalem refers to it as a feast then
widely known. He adds that the Festival of the
Exaltation had formerly (iraKai) preceded that
of the avdaTaa-is (that is, the annual comme-
moration on September 13 of the dedication of
the church at Jerusalem), but now the order
had been reversed (Oratio in Exaltationein
S. Criicis in Gretser, De Cruce, vol. ii. p. 90,
ed. 1608).
Again, an observance of the festival in the
Western Church prior to Heraclius's victory may
be inferred from our finding it in the Gelasian
and Gregorian Sacramentaries, and from its de-
signation simply as Exaltatio S. Grucis, without
any allusion to Heraclius, in the earlier Latin
Martyrologies, as in that attributed to Jerome
(P«</'o/. XXX. 475): it may be added that this
is also the case with those of Bede and Rabanus
Maurus (ib. xciv. 1044, ex. 1168).
The circumstances attending the victory of
Heraclius are briefly these. In the year 614
Jerusalem was taken by the Persian king Chos-
roes II., and after the slaughter of many thou-
sands of Christians, and the destruction, partially
at any rate, of the church of the Holy Sepulchre
by fire, a long train of captives was led away,
among whom was the Patriai'ch Zacharias," and
with him the cross said to have been discovered
by Helena [Cross, fiNdog of], which was
sealed up in a case by the patriarch himself.
After some years of uninterrupted success on
the part of the Persian king, during which the
empire was reduced to the very verge of disso-
lution, Heraclius at last declared war (622 A.D.),
and after three expeditions the boldness of which
was justified by their success, the tide was
turned and the Persian king worsted, until at
» Nicephorus(ri(i« infra) styles the patriarch Modestus,
though the oth;r historians unite in calling him Zachari.is.
The error, for such it probably is, has been explained by
supposing Modestus to have acted as dep'ity for Zacbarias
during his captivity (see Clinton, Fasti Romani, vol. 11.
p. 170); or that the latter died shortly after his return to
Jerusalem, and was succeeded by the former (Petavlus
in loc.).
CROSS, EXALTATION OF
last he was deposed and murdered by his son
Siroes (628 A.D.).
The new sovereign speedily concluded a peace
with the empei-or, one of the conditions specially
insisted on by the latter being the restoration
of the cross, with which borne before him, as he
rnde in a chariot drawn by four elephants, He-
raclias entered Constantinople. In the following
spring he made a pilgrimage with the recovered
cross to Jerusalem, where the patriarch recog-
nized his own unbroken seals on the case con-
taining the precious relic (ret Ti/xta Kal ^woiroia
|uA.a, as Theophanes [vide infra] constantly styles
it), thus preserved it is said by Sira the wife of
Chosroes. Heraclius wished himself to carry the
cross to its shrine, but before treading on the
sacred ground he was bidden to divest himself of
his splendid array, that so barefoot and clad in
a common cloak he might more resemble the
humble guise of the Saviour. Some of the Mar-
tyrologies referred to below remark that the
emperor was held by some invisible power from
entering upon the sacred precincts till he had
so divested himself" (cf. Theophanes, Chrono-
graphia, vol. i. pp. 503, 504, ed. Classen ; Nice-
phorus, Breviariuiii. pp. 11 A, 15 A ; Chronicon
Paschale, vol. i. p. 704, ed. Dindorf ; and more
generally for the history of the period, Cedrenus,
vol. i. pp. 717 sqq. ed. Bekker ; also Gibbon, De-
dine and Fall, ch. 46).
Thus was the cross once more " exalted" into
its resting-place, and the festival of the '' Ex-
altation of the Cross " obtained fresh renown.
Before long, possibly under Pope Honorius I.
(ob. 638 A.D.), September 14 came to be observed
as a festival with special memory of the restora-
tion of the ci-oss by Heraclius : the Eastern
Church, which has not strictly speaking a sepa-
rate festival of the Finding of the Cross, com-
memorates also on that day the original discovery
by the Empress Helena.
This- festival is referred to more or less fully
by all Martyrologies under September 14. Of
those ofJerome, Bede, and Rabanus Maurus we
nave already spoken. We may further specify
that of Wandelbert [deacon of monastery at
Trfeves in the time of the Emperor Lothaire]
where we find (Fatrol. cxxi. 611)
" Exaltata Ciucis fulgent vexilla relatae,
Perside ab indigna victor quam vexit Heraclius."
In the Martyrologies of Ado and of Usuardus
we find a further addition : " Sed et procurrenti-
bus annis, papa Sergius mirae magnitudinis por-
tionem ejusdem ligni in sacrario Beati Petri
Domino revelante repperit, quae annis omnibus
["in Basilica Salvatoris quae appellatur Con-
stantiuiana." Ado] ipso die Exaltationis ejus ab
onini osculatur et adoi'atur populo " (^Patrol.
cxxiii. 170, 356 ; cxxiv. 467). See also the Mar-
tyrology of Notker (Jb. cxxi. 1151), and for
various forms of ancient Western Calendars con-
taining a mention of this festival, see Patrol.
cxxxviii. 1188, 1191, &c. Besides this, we may
again refer to the presence of this festival in
the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries. The
CROSS, FINDING OF
503
i> It may be remarked that the historians of the reign
of Heraclius vary somewhat in tlie dates they assign to
llie above events. We have followed those given by
Clinton, Fasti Fomani, vol. ii. pp. IC3, 170. The talking
of JiTusalem is referred to a later campaign by Theo-
phanes (I. c).
i-iijlect tor the day in the latter of these has
been cited in the article on the Adoration of the
Cross, that in the former runs as follows : —
" Deus qui nos hodierna die Exaltatione Sanctae
Crucis annua solemnitate laetificas, praesta ut
cujus mysterium in terra cognovimus, ejus re-
demptionis praemia consequamur."
The Eastern Church, as we have already said,
includes in the festival of September 14 the two
festivals of the Finding and of the Exaltation of
the Cross. As in the Calendars of the Western
Church, so also in those of the Eastern Church
is it invariably found. Thus in the Greek me-
trical calendar given by Papebroch in tlie Acta
Sanctorum (vol. i. of May), we find under Sep-
tember 13, fJ-viifXTi ruiv iyKaivicDV rijs ayiai tov
Xpiarov Kal Qeov riixoou avaardaiois Koi -rrfiosSpTLa
rrjs vipaxTfoos tov ti/j-'iov koI ^woiroiov (Travpov •
that is, as has been already explained, they cele-
brated the dedication of the Church built by the
Emperor Constantine to commemorate our Lord's
resurrection. We further gather that the fes-
tival of the Exaltation had its npoeSpria or vigil.
The notice for September 14 is vipci>drt SeKarri
aravpov i,vKov r(5e TSTaprr) ; and the fact is also
recognized in the pictorial Moscow Calendar ac-
companying the preceding. The Octave also of
the festival (September 21) is given in the Meno-
logy under that day, iv ravrr) rfi Tififpa airo5i-
SoTai 7] eopTT] Tou Ttfiiov (TTavpov. See also the
Calendar of the Arabian Church given by Selden
(^De Syneclriis Ebracorum, iii. 376, ed. 1655),
where September 14 is marked " Festum Crucis
gloriosae ;" as also in those of the Ethiopia or
Abyssinian and of the Coptic Church given by
Ludolf (p. 3). We also learn from him that in
the case of the latter of these churches, the
festival extends over three days, September
13-15, marked respectively "Festum C. gl.
(primum, &x.)."
Further, the Ethiopic Church, as well as seve-
ral other branches of the Eastern Church, re-
cognizes in addition a festival of the Cross in
May, possibly having more or less reference to
the " Inventio Crucis " of the Latin Church (op.
cit. p. 17 ; Gretser, vol. i. 232 ; see also several
Eastern Calendars in Neale, Hohi Eastern Church,
Introd. pp.775, 799, 813). The proper lessons for
this festival in the Syrian Church, as marked in
the Peshito, are, for Vespers, Matt. xxiv.
(possibly on account of verse 30); for Liturgy,
Luke xxi. 5 sqq.; and for Matins, Mark xii.
41 sqq. (Gretser, I. c).
In addition to the works named in this article,
reference should be made to Binterim, Denk-
uiirdigheiten der Christ-Kathol. Kirche, vol. v.
part i, pp. 455 sqq. See also Ducange's Glossary,
s. V. 1'V|/W0'IS. [K. S.]
CROSS, Finding of. (Inventio Crucis.)
I. Introduction. — By this name is to be un-
derstood the discovery which tradition asserts
that the Empress Helena, the mother of Con-
stantine, made of the cross on which our Lord
suffered. The earliest account we have of the
exploration for the Holy Sepulchre is that given
by Eu.sebius ( Vita Const, iii. 26 sqq.), who relates
Constantino's determination to remove the abomi-
nations that defiled the holy place and build
there a Christian shrine, as detailed in the em-
peror's letter to Macarius, bishop of .Tentsaleni
(op. cit. 30 ; Socrates, Hist. Kcd. 1. 17 ; Thoo-
504
CROSS, FINDING OP
doreL i. 18), but no allusion whatever is made
to a discovery of the cross. Some have indeed
argued that an expression in Coustantine's letter
to Macarius is better suited to the discovery of the
cross than of the grave — rh yap yydptfffj.a rou
ayioirarov iKeivov irdOovs virb ttj 77) TraAai Kpv-
inSuevov . . . ; but a comparison witii c. 26 would
sufliciently account for the above quoted lan-
guage, and it is hard to understand that Eusebius
should have lost so good an opportunity of glori-
fying Constantine, had a real or supposed dis-
covery of our Lord's cross taken place under his
auspices." The date of Helena's visit to Palestine,
and consequently that of the alleged discovery,
IS 326 A.D. ; yet in the Itinerarium Burdegalense,
the record of a journey to Jerusalem in 333 a.d.,
only seven years after this date, there is no re-
ference to the finding of the cross, even in a
context where we might certainly have looked
for it : " Crypta ubi corpus ejus positum fuit
et tertia die resuri'exit ; ibidem modo jussu Con-
stantini Imperatoris basilica facta est " (^Patrol.
viii. 791).
The earliest mention we have of the Finding
of the Cross is in the Catecheses of Cyril of
Jerusalem, delivered rather more than twenty
years after Helena's alleged discovery ; in which,
though he does not allude to the narrative
in the form given by subsequent writers, he
vet says that fragments cut oft" from the cross
v/ere spread over the whole world (^Catech. iv. 10 ;
X. 19 ; xiii. 4 ; Fatrol. Gr. xxxiii. 468, 685,
776), and he also alludes to the Finding of the
Cross in a letter written some years later to
^"onstantius, the son of Constantine, on the occa-
sion of a luminous cross appearing in the sky
over Jerusalem (^Ep. ad Const, c. 3, op. cit.
1168). From the beginning of the 5th century
onwards all ecclesiastical writers take the truth
of the narrative in its main form for granted,
though sundry variations of detail occur.
II. Legend. — The general tenour of the tra-
dition is that an attempt had been made (by
Hadrian, or at any rate, in his time, according
to Jerome, Epist. 58, Patrol, xx. 321) to destroy
every trace of the site of the Holy Sepulchre,
that the ground had there been raised to a
considerable height, and temples and statues
tf/ Jupiter and Venus erected thereon. On the
death of Licinius, whom Constantine charges
with the continuance of the evil, it was deter-
mined to purify the sacred places, and this reso-
lution of the Emperor was carried out by his
mother Helena, who went in person to Jerusalem,
and by the Bishop Macarius. By the Divine
guidance (and by the aid of a Jew, one Judas,
afterwards baptized as Quiriacus, according to
Gregory of Tours and others, infra) the spot was
discovered, and the superimposed earth having
been removed, the sepulchre was seen with three
crosses lying near, and separate from these the
superscription which Pilate had attached to that
a Montfaucon (Colleciio Nova I'atrum, vol. i. p. viii.
I'd. 1706) does indeed cite a passage of Eusebius as cer-
t.ijily referring to the cross: el Se tis vovv eirto-rrjcreie
rot? nafl' lifia! (i^<|)l to fivrnJia Koi to fiapTvpiov toO
2a)T^p05 r]p.Mv ciriTeXeo-eeio-i OavixacTLOi^, a.\ri9uji elcreTai,
oTTu; 7re;rA7)pa)Tai Ipyoi? to. Teeeo-TrttTjaeVa. (Cmnm. in
P.ml. IxxxviiL n). When, however, we find Eusebius
silent, where, if anywhere, he might be expected to speak,
wo cannot attach much weight to a passage of, at best,
most doubtful reference.
CROSS, FINDING OF
of our Lord. Not knowing which of the three
crosses was the one they sought, Macarius caused
them to be successively presented to the touch
of a noble lady of Jerusalem then lying at the
point of death. The first two crosses produced
no eU'ect, but at the touch of the third the sick
woman rose up before them perfectly healed,
thus showing that it was upon this that the
Saviour had suffered. One part of the cross set
in silver was entrusted to Macarius to be care-
fully guarded in Jerusalem, and the remainder,
together with the nails was forwarded to Con-
stantine. One of the nails was attached to his
helmet, and another to the bridle of his horse, in
fulfilment, according to sundry fathers, of the pro-
phecy of Zechariah xiv. 20 ^
For the above tradition, see Socrates (/. c),
Theodoret (/. c), Sozomen (ii. 1), Ambrose
(de obitu Theodosii, c. 46 ; Patrol, xvi. 1399),
Sulpicius Severus {Hist. Sacra, ii. 34; Patrol.
XX. 148), Paifinus [Hist. i. 7, 8; Patrol, xxi,
1475), Paulinus of Nola {Ep. ad Sevcrum 31 ;
Patrol. Ixi. 325), Gregory of Tours {Liber
Miraculorum, i. 5 sqq. ; Patrol. Ixxi. 709). Cyril
of Alexandria also {Comin. in Zech. in loc. ;
Patrol. Gr. Ixxii. 271) refers to it as the
current history in his day. Chrysostom evi-
dently believed in the discovery of the cross,
and speaks of the practice of conveying small
portions of it about as amulets {Quod Christus
sit Dcus, c. 10 ; Patrol. Gr. xlviii. 826).
One or two further details may be added.
Socrates states that the portion of the cross sent
to Constantine was by him inclosed in his own
statue, which was placed on a column of por-
phyry in the so-called forum of Constantine in
Constantinople, that thus the city might bo
rendered impregnable by the possession of so
glorious a relic. According to Sozomen, besides
the miracle wrought on the sick lady, a dead
man was instantly restored to life by the touch
of the cross ; but Paulinus, while mentioning
this says nothing of the other miracle. In Am-
brose, spite of a protest to the contrary, we see
traces of the feeling in which respect for the
cross, as a token of Him who hung thereon,
drifted into an adoration of the cross itself.
Thus Helena is represented as saying, " Ecce
locus j)Ugnae, ubi est victoria ? . . . . quomodo
me redemptam arbitror, si redemptio ipsa nou
cernitur ? " It may be added that according to
Ambrose's version of the history, the inscription
is found adhering to the cross it originally be-
longed to. The occasion of the notice in Pau-
linus is the sending of a piece of the cross to
Severus for a church about to be consecrated,
which affords him a natural opportunity for
relating the story: he adds, that however much
might thus be cut away from the cross, the
bulk of the wood miraculously remained undi-
minished,
III. Fedival. — With the belief in the discovery
of the cross thus widely spread and thus che-
rished, it is only natural to expect that an
annual festival to commemorate it would soon
be established ; though it is impossible from the
want of satisfactory evidence to speak with any
certainty as to the actual origin of such festival.
I' Jerome, however (Comm. in Zech. in loc), gpealis of
it as one might have expected, "nam sensu quidem pio
dictara sed ridiculam."
CROSS, FINDING OF
An attempt has been made to assign its first
appointment to Pope Eusebius (ob. 310 A.D.), who,
in a letter " Episcopis Tusciae et Campaniae," is
made to say "Crucis ergo Domini nostri Jesu
Christi, quae nupev nobis gubernacula Sanctae
Romanae Ecclesiae tenentibus quinto Nonas Maii
inventa est, in praedicta Kalendarum die Inven-
tionis festum vobis solemniter celebrare man-
damus" {I'atrol. vii. 1114).
Of course the utter spuriousness of this letter
is shown, if by nothing else, by the fact that Pope
Eusebius died before Coustantine had embraced
Christianity, and many years before the work of
restoration began it Jerusalem at his command.
Nicephorus (Hist. Eccles. viii. 29) asserts that
a festival to commemorate the Finding of the
Cross was held at Jerusalem in Constantiue's
time, but appeals to no earlier authority in sup-
port of his statement :<= and in the Chronicon of
Klavius Lucius Dexter, if the passage be genuine,
Pope Silvester I. (ob. 335 A.d.) is claimed as the
originator of the festival : " Festum luventionis
S. Crucis a Silvestro institutum celebre multis
est " {Patrol, xxsi. 563). It is not impossible
that there may have been a festival peculiar to
the Roman Church, before its observance had
become general.
Most Western Martyrologies and Calendars
mark May 3 as " Inventio S. Crucis," including
the ancient Martyrologium Hieronymi {Patrol.
XXX. 435) ; but there are grounds for doubting
the genuineness of the words here, more espe-
cially from the fact that they are absent from
the very ancient Cod. Epternaceusis, as is pointed
out by Papebroch {Acta Sanctorum ; May, -vol. i.
p. 369). It is found in the Martyrologium Bi-
suntinum {Patrol. Ixxx. 415), the Mart. Romanum
Vetus {ib. cxxiii. 158), and those of Rabanus, Ado,
Usuardus, and Notker (i6. ex. 1142 ; cxxiii. 256;
cxxiv. 15 ; cxxxi. 1075) ; also in a Gallican and
an English Martyrology {ib. Ixxii. 614, 620), the
Mozarabic and the Gothic Calendar {ih. Ixxxv.
98, Ixxxvi. 39), the Cal. Mutinense {ih. cvi. 821),
Floriacense {ih. cxxxviii. 1187).
There is a special office for this day in the
Gothogallic Missal {ib. Ixxii. 285), in the Moza-
rabic Breviary and Missal {ib. Ixxxv. 739, Ixxxvi.
1119), in the Gelasian Saeramentary {ib. Ixxiv.
1162), in the Gregorian Saeramentary and Anti-
phonary {ih. Ixxviii. 101, 687). To this last we
shall again refer.
Some, however, omit the festival altogether,
and some give it a secondary place after the
names of the Martyrs who are commemorated on
this day. Thus there is no mention of it in the
Calendar of Leo (('6. Ixxiv. 878), in the metrical
Martyrology of BeJe {ih. xciv. 604), in the Sacra-
mentarium Suaviciense {ih. cli. 823), and some
others (see in Leslie's note to the Mozarabic
Missal in foe). Again in the Martyrology of
Bede given in the Acta Sanctorum (March, vol.
ii. p. sviii.). a long narrative of the Martyrs
commemorated on this day is followed by " Ipso
die Inventio Sanctae Crucis." So too runs the
metrical Martyrology of Waudelbert {Patrol.
cxxi. 598) :—
" Praesul Alexander quinns et Eveiitius orr ant,
'I'heodolusque Dei pariter pro nomine cacsi,
His quoque celsa crucis radiant vexilla rcpertae."
CROSS, FINDING OF
505
= lliis, however, is doubtless to be coiiiicctrd witli tbe
fesUval of the Exaltation of the Cross (iii/(w<ns).
The same is the case with an old English Calen-
dar, which reads " Natale SS. Alexandri, Eventi
et Theodoli presbyteri, Inventio Crucis " {ib.
xciv. 1151). See also the CaL Stabulense and
the Cal. Brixianum {ih. cxsx-^iii. 1196,6270).
In the Gregorian Saeramentary also the men-
tion of the Inventio Crucis follows that of the
Saints commemorated on this day (as also the
Antiphonary in the MSS.), and Menard (note in
loc.) states that in the most ancient MSS. this
festival is altogether wanting.
In the list of feasts to be observed given in the
Capitulare of Ahyto or Hatto (appointed Bishop
of Basle in 806 a.d.) there is no mention of the
Inventio Crucis {Patrol, cxv. 12), and in the Ca-
piiula of Walter, bishop of Orleans (857 A.D.),
the festivals of the Inventio Crucis and Exaltatio
Crucis are appended to the end of cap. xviii.
"De Sanctorum festivitatibus indicendis et ob-
servaudis " {ih. cxix. 742), as though they had
been introduced at a later date than the others
mentioned.
All this evidence seems, as far as it goes, to
point either to the fact that the festival was
established at a comparatively late date, or that
it was for some time of local rather than general
observance. Papebroch {Acta Sanctorum in loc.
c. iii.) suggests 720 A.D. as approximately the
date of the general recognition of the festival,
but the reference above to its absence in docu-
ments of even later date will incline us to look
upon the end of the 8th century or the beginning
of the 9th as the earliest period we can safely
fix on.
Attention may be called here to the fact that
several of the above mentioned authorities make
an error of at least half a century in the date of
Helena's alleged discovery. Thus the Martyro-
logium Hieronymi speaks of it as " post Passio-
nera Domini anno ducentesimo trigesimo tertio,"
in which it is followed by Floras in the additions
to Bede's JIartyrology, by Rabanus and others."*
The Greek Church has not, properly speaking,
a separate festival for the Finding of the Cross,
but celebrates this event on the day of the
Exaltation of the Cross, September 14. Some
branches, however, of the Eastern Church do
observe a festival of the Finding of the Cross
also. Thus in the Calendars of the Ethiopic
and Coptic Churches given by Ludolf {Fasti
Sacri Ecclesiae Alexcmdrinae), March 6 is marked
" Inventio S. Crucis " (p. 22), and, in the case
of the former Church, May 4, " Helena reperit
Crucem " (p. 27).
Mention may be made here of writings on the
subject of the Finding of the Cross referred to
in the decrees of a council held at Rome under
the presidency of Gelasius : while allowed to be
read, their statements are to be received with
caution. " Item [recipienda] scripta de Inven-
tione Crucis Dominicae, .... uovellae quaedam
relationes sunt, et nonnulli eas Catholici legunt.
Sed cum haec ad Catholicorum manus pervenerint,
beati Pauli Apostoli praecedat sententia, omnia
probate, qxiod honum est tenete " {Patrol, lix. 161).
Further, in the Acta Sanctorum (May, vol. i.
p. 362), Papebroch adduces grounds for believing
the unhistorical character of much of this writ-
ing,— among other things, the same error in the
d Thcophanes (Chronographia) makes a similar mis-
take, and icfere the discovery to the year 317 a.u.
noe CROSS, appakition of the
date of the Findiug, amounting to more than half
a century, into whicli we have already mentioned
that several of the late martyrologies have fallen.
These writings seem to have found their way to
the East and to have been translated into Syriac
(see Assemani, Bibliotheca Orkntalis, vol. i. p.
497).
In addition to the books already cited in this
article, reference may be made to Binterim,
Benkuui-digkeiten, vol. v. part 1, pp. 368 sqq., to
Newman's Essay on Miracles recorded in Ecclesi-
astical History, pp. cxliii. sqq., where the truth
of the legend is strongly argued for, as also in
Gretser, De Cruce Christi, vol. i. lib. 1, cc. 62-64.
[R. S.]
CROSS, THE AppAPaxiON of the, at Jeru-
salem, about the third hour of the day, in the
time of Constantius, in the year 346, is comme-
morated May 7 in the Byzantine and Ethiopic
Calendars. [C]
CROSS, SIGN OF. [Sigx of the Cross.]
CROWN. Referring to the article CoROXA-
TIO.'^ for the distinction between the cro'cn or
garland, "corona," <ne<pavos, and the dicidem or
fillet, " taenia," " fascia," SidSruxa, and for fuller
details on both to the Dictionary of Classical
Antiquities, it is proposed in this article to fur-
nish some description of imperial and regal
crowns belonging to our period, the form and
ornamentation of which are known to us either
from contemporaheous representations or from
the crowns themselves having come down to our
own time.
From the portraits on their coins it appears
that the early emperors adopted the diadem,
worn either simply or encircling tlie helmet
(galea diademata), cidaris or tiai-a, with which
their head was covered. The coins of Constan-
tine the Great depict him wearing diadems or
fillets of various kinds ; some ornamented with
gems; some enriched with a double row of
pearls, with the loose ends of the fillet hanging
down over his shoulders. Sometimes he wears
a helmet surrounded by a diadem, with a cross
in front (Ferrario, Costumi, Europa, vol. I. part
2 — Appoidice sulla Curona di Ferro). This
combination is also seen on the coins of Gratian,
Valentinian II., Theodosius, Leo the Great, and
Basil. In a drawing given by Ferrario (?<. s.
No. 3), Heraclius, a.d. 610-641, wears a helmet
encircled by a gemmed diadem with pendent
ends, and a cross above the forehead. The com-
bmation of the diadem with the cidaris or tiara
was borrowed from the Orientals, among whom
It had been in use from ancient times (Xenoph.
Cyrop.xni. 3-13 : Kvpos opd^v ix^" "^V ridpav
Kat SiaS-niJ-a irepl rfj ridpa ; Anab. ii. 5 ; Herod.
vii. 61 ; Aesch. Fers. p. 668). It was worn by
CROWN
Zeuobia (Trebell. Poll. xxix. : " ad condones gale-
ata processit cum limbo purpureo gemmis depen-
dentibus per ultimam fimbnam"), and was
adopted by her conqueror, Aurelian. It is seen
in medals under the form of a peaked cap orna-
mented with gems, rising from a jewelled diadem
or fillet, tied behind. The cap in later times
assumed the popular pame of tuphan, rovcpa,
the Origin of the modern turban. Zonaras de-
Tuphan, from Ferrario.
scribes the Emperor Basilius, in the 9th century,
as rtdpa raiuiaidels opOia ^v Tovipav Ka\u 6
Srifj.d)Sris Kal iroXvs &i'6pojTTos. Its origin, and
the history of its adoption, is thus given by
Tzetzes, Chiliades, viii. 184: —
Ttapa aKeTTTj Ke<^aA*)5 vTTrjpxe rrapa Tlep(Tat<;,
vcT^pov er Tat? fiKat^ Sk r)p.lv ot <n€<^y)^6poi
(r0at9 Ke<^aAat? Itt^Q^vto Ttapa? rJTOt TU(/)a?,
otai' e0t7rjros </>opet 6 di'Spt'a? €(ceti/os
6 'loutTTti'tai'etos Tou Kt'ofo? inavui.
Another form of the imperial headgear was a low-
crowned cap, apparently destitute of diadem or any
special distinction of royalty. This was known as
Camelaucium (which see). Constantiue appears
in this garb on his triumphal arch in Rome (Fer-
rario, u. s. pi. 30, No. 2), and in an illumination
from a MS. of the 9th century, representing
the Council of Nicaea, given by Agincourt (Pein-
iures, pi. 32). Justinian, m the mosaics of the
sanctuary of San Vitale at Ravenna, has his head
covered with a jewelled cap, while the Empress
Theodora wears a tiara surrounded with three
circlets of gems. Strings of pearls and other
gems hang down from each. These jewelled
tassels were known as Karaaeta-rd. (Const.
Porphyr. Be Caereinon. i. 582 ; ii. 688.)
Jiistiiiiau and Theodora, from mosaics at St. Vitalis. Eavenna.
The diadem in its original form of a linen or
silken riband or fillet gradually went out of use
from Justinian's time (La Barte, Arts indust.
du MoyenAge, ii. 39), and was replaced by a flex-
ible band of gold, (rrifxixa, ffTe<pavos, sometimes
adorned with a band of pearls and precious
stones, representing the old SidSr]/j.a. The name
crrecfiai'os was in use for the imperial symbol as
early as the time of Constantine. Cyril, Ep.
ad Const. II. i ereooi . . . a(b' wv exovc: tV
CROWN
Tifji'iav aov TToAXaKis (TT€(pavov(n KScbaXr}"-! XP"-
(roKo\Kr\rovs ffTi(pavovs \idois SiavyfCTTdrois
wewotKiXfj-^vovs irpocTKOixi^ovTis. This circlet
was closed by a cap of rich stuff' decorated with
gems. From being shut in at the top it took the
name of eiravajKAeiaTos, which appears in Ana-
stasius Bibl. and other authors in the perplexing
CROWN
507
Diadem, from Ferrario.
form of spanoclista (Anast. Bibl. Paschalis, 434,
&c.). Examples of this form of crown are given
in the annexed woodcuts of the Emperor Phocas,
A.D. 602-610, and the Empress Irene, wife of Leo
IV., A.D. 797-802. In the time of Const. Porphyr.
the royal treasury contained circlets or stemmata
of various colours, white, green, aud blue, accord-
ing to the enamel with which they were coated.
These circlets decorated with gems are mentioned
by Claudian in connection with the two sons of
Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius, towards the
end of the 4th century. " Et vario lapidum dis-
tinctos igne coronas " {Inpr. Cons. Stilich. ii. 92.)
The most ancient examples of crowns are those
long preserved in the treasury of the cathedral
of Monza, in Lombardy, belonging to the early
part of the 7th century. These crowns were
three in number : (1) the so-called Iron Crown,
"Corona Ferrea;" (2) the crown of Agilulf, and
(3) that of Theodelinda. Agilulf's crown was
taken to Paris as a prize of war by Napoleon I.,
in 1804, by mistake for the Iron (^rown, and
was stolen from the " Cabinet des Medailles," in
which it was deposited, and melted down. The
most celebrated of these crowns is —
(1) The Iron Croun of Lombardi/, the reputed
gift of Queen Theodelinda, who died A.D. 628.
This crown is formed of six plates of gold, each
double, united by as many hinges of the same
metal. The face of each plate exhibits two
panels, divided by spiral threads ; one long, and
squarish, the other tall and narrow. The pla-
fond is covered with emerald-green semitrans-
pai-ent enamel. The long panels contain a large
gem in the centre, surrounded by four gold roses,
or floral knobs, from which ramify small stalks
and flowers, in red, blue, and opaque-white ena-
mels. The tall narrow plaques contain three
gems set vertically. One plaque has only one
gem, and two roses. The two centre plafonds
meet without an intervening plaque. The number
of gems is 22; of gold roses, 26; and of enamels,
24. Within the golden circlet thus formed is
the iron ring, from which is derived the desig-
nation of the "Iron Crown' (which, however,
Ferrario asserts, is comparatively modern, never
being found in the rituals of the churches of
Milan and Monza before the time of Otho lY.,
A.D. 1175. Before this epoch even its advocate
Bellani allows it appears in the inventories as
Coi-ona Axired). This is a narrow ii'on band
•04 inch thick and '4 inch broad, united at
the extremities by a small nail, and connected
with the articulated plates of the crown by little
pins. Bellani asserts that it was hammered into
shape, and bears no marks of the file. Burges,
a more trustworthy authority, states that the
marks of the file are clearly visible. (^Arch.
Journal, vol. xiv. p. 14.) This iron- ring, as
is well-krown, is i-egarded as a relic of the
greatest snnctity, being reputed to have been
feshioned oat of one of the nails of the true cross.
This belief cannot be traced further back than
the latter part of the 16th century. The exist-
ence of the band of iron is mentioned by Aeneas
Sylvius (Pope Julius II. d. 1464) in his ■Hist.
Aust. lib. iv., but simply as lamina quaedam,
without a hint at its supposed sanctity, and with
an expression of contempt for the allegorical
meaning assigned to its employment in the coro-
nation of the emperors, as denoting strength —
"stultae interpretation! efficit locum." Accord-
ing to Mui-atori (Be Coron. Ferr. Comment. A.D.
1698), Bugatus is the first author who mentions
Tlie IroD Cro«Ti of Lombardy, at Monza Cathedral.
it (Addit. ad Hist. Units. 1587). He was followed
by Zucchius (Hist. Cor. Ferr. 1613), whose vio-
lations of truth Muratori holds it charitable to
attribute to gross carelessness. Two years
before the publication of Bugatus' book, A.D.
1585, a letter, sent from the archpriest of Monza
to Pope Sixtus v., quoted by Muratori, speaks
of the Iron Crown as a most precious possession
of his church, as having been used from early
times for the coronation of the Roman emperors
(even this fact is doubtful), but distinguishes it
from the relics properly so called, and makes no
allusion to its having been wrought out of a nail
of the crucifixion. From the 16th century on-
wards the belief gained strength, but having been
discredited by the searching histoi'ical investi--
gations of Muratori in the treatise referred to
above, the worship of the crown as a sacred relic
was alternately suspended and re-enforced by
decrees and counter-decrees of the ecclesiastical
authorities, until in 1688 the matter was laid
before the Congregation of Relics at Rome. A
process was instituted, which lingered on till
1717, when a diplomatic sentence was pronounced,
leaving the chief point/ — the identity of the iron
ring with the nail — undecided, but sanctioning its
608
CROWN
being exposed to the adoration of the ftiithful, and
carried in pi-ocessious.
The chain of evidence connecting the Iron
Crown with the crucifixion nail is very pre-
carious, and shows some alarming gaps. Ac-
cording to the statement of Justus Fontaninus
(Archbishop of Ancyra, De Coron. Ferr. 1719),
who wrote in defence of its genuineness, the
inner ring was believed to have been formed out
of one of the two nails given by the Empress
Helena, after her discovery of the true cross on
Calvary, to her son Constantine. One of these
was made into a bit for the emperor's bridle (in
allusion to Zech. xiv. 20); the other was used
in a head-covering — a diadem, according to some
authorities (Ambros. De Ohitu Theod. Magn.) ; a
helmet, according to others, and those the most
credible. Constantine's idea seems indeed to have
been that so sacred an amulet affixed to his helmet
would be a protection to him in battle, " galea
belli usibus aptum " (Rufinus, Hist. Eccl, x. 8 ;
Socr. i. 17 ; Soz. ii. 1 ; Theod. i. 18 ; Cassiod. i.
18). The orthodox theory identifies the Monza
crown with the diadem supposed to have been pre-
sented by Helena to Constantine, which passed,
no one knows when or how (it is needless to
enumerate the more or less probable hypotheses),
from Constantinople to Rome, and is affirmed —
a fact of which there is absolutely no evidence —
to have been sent as a present by Gregory the
Great to Queen Theodelinda ; although it is in tlie
highest degree improbable that Gregory, who is
known to have been " tenax reliquiarum," should
nave parted with a relic of such supreme sanctity,
while, if such a precious gift had been made, it
could not fail to have been mentioned by Gregory
when describing his donations (Greg. Mag. Ep.
xii. [vii.] lib. xiv. [xii.]). The view of Bellani
(canon of Monza, who wrote an elaborate treatise
(Milano, 1819) in answer to Ferrario's Appcndice
sulla Corona di Ferro, Costumi, Furopa, vol. iii.)
is that the iron ring and the gold circlet were
originally distinct ; that the former is the sacred
relic affixed to the helmet of Constantine, while
the latter was primarily a diadem, open behind,
and fastened to the head by clasps, the extremi-
ties of w^hich were united in the present shape
when it was adapted to the iron ring. The view
of Muratori, which appears the most probable,
dissipates all notion of sacred interest attach-
ing to the iron ring, which he considers to have
been inserted within the gold circle, as in the
crown of Charlemagne (see post), simply for the
purpose of giving firmness to the articulated
plates.
However it may have reached Italy, the cha-
racter of the workmanship of the Iron Crown
proves its Byzantine origin. La Barte, who
holds this as an incontrovertible fact, remarks
that the art of working in enamel had not pene-
trated into Italy in the time of Theodelinda (Zes
Arts industriels da Moijen Age, ii. 56 sq.).
The small size of the crown, barely large
enough for the head of a child of two years old,
the internal diameter being 6 inches (its height
is 2-4 inches), leads to the conclusion that it was
never intended for ordinary wearing, but was a
suspensory or votive crown, with a cross and
lamp usually depending from it, hung over the
altar, and employed temporarily, on the occasion
of coronations, for placing on the sovereign's
liead as a symbol of royalty, and then returned
CROWN
again to its place. Such crowns are seen hang-
ing over the altar in a bas-relief of a coronation,
now in the S. transept of Monza cathedi-al (see
the woodcut p. 460), exactly resembling that
which is being placed on the sovereign's head.
In the church of St. Sophia, at Constantino])le,
also, according to Codinus, the royal cTtjUjUaTa
were suspended over the holy table, and were
only worn on high festivals. Ducange {Constant.
Christiana) also informs us that the Greek empe-
rors were inaugurated with one of the lamp-
bearing crowns ordinarily hanging over the altar
[Corona Ldcis].
(For the history of the Iron Crown, see
Muratori, De Coron, Ferr, Comment, Mediolan. et
Lips. 1719; also Anecdot. Latin, ii. 267 sq. ;
Fontanini De Corona Ferrea, 1617 ; Frisi, Me-
morie Storicha di Monza, ii. ; Zucchius, ffist,
Coron, Ferr. 1617; De Murr, Dissert, de Coron.
Reg. Ital. vulgo Ferrea dicta, 1810 ; Bellani,
La Corona Ferrea del Regno d' Italia, 1819 ;
Ferrario, Costumi, Europa, iii. Appendice sulla
Corona di Ferro ; La Barte, Les Arts industriels
du Moyen Age, ii. 56 sq.).
(•2) ^The Crown of A, /ilulf.— This hopelessly
lost treasure takes its name iVum Theodeliuda's
Crown of AgilnU.
second husband, chosen by her A.D. 591, on the
death of Authar. From its small size, even less
than the Iron Crown, it is evident that it was
not intended for ordinary wear, but was a votive,
suspensory crown. This is also proved by the
inscription it bore : " t Agilulf. Grat. D'i. vir.
glor. rex, totius, Ital, offeret. s'co Johanni. Baptist,
in. Eccl. Modicia." A gold cross depended from it,
with a large amethyst in the middle, two gems
in each arm and four large pearls. Seven little
chains with pendent acorns hung from the cross.
The crown itself was a circle of gold, decorated
with 15 arched niches of laurel boughs contain-
ing figures of our Lord seated between two
angels, and the Twelve apostles standing. It bore
a circle of emeralds, carbuncles, and pearls above.
CROWN
The inscription was in enamel. The clumsiness
of execution leads La Barte u. s. to the conclusion
that this and the following crown were of Lom-
bard, not. Byzantine workmanship.
(3) The Crown of Tlieodelinda. — This is a plain
circlet, enriched with a vast quantity of gems of
more or less value, chiefly emeralds and pearls,
and a great many pieces of mother-of-pearl.
From it depends a cross, also set with emeralds
and pearls. (For these crowns consult Muratori,
Ant. It. i. 460 ; Ferrario, ?«. s. iii. 70 ; Frisi,
CROWN
500
and eight large pearls, with jewelled pendants
attached to its foot and limbs. To the upper
margins are attached four golden chains of
beautiful design, by which it might be suspended,
uniting in a foliated ornament, and surmounted
by a knop of rock crystal, with sapphires hang-
ing round.
A second crown discovered in the same place
has been assigned with much probability to the
queen of Reccesvinthus. In form aiid arrange-
ment it corresponds to that of the king, but the
enrichments are less gorgeous. Like that, it is
f im( 1 in two pieces witli a hinge, to adapt it
to the head of the we ii ei. The hoop is set with
•toui gems, lubiLs, sipphucb, emei il lb, in I
Cromi of TheodcUnda.
Memorie di Monza, i. pi. vi. p. 42 ; vol. ii. 76 ;
Agincourt, Sculpture, pi. 26 ; La Barte, ii. 56,
Burges Arch. Journ. vol. xiv.)
(4) Crowns of Reccesvinthus, King of the
Spanish Visigoths, and his Queen and Family. —
These eight gold crowns belonging to the 7th
century, now in the museum of the Hotel de
Cluny, were discovered buried in the earth at
Fueute de Guarrazar in 1858, having probably
been interred early in the 8th century on the
invasion of the Saracens. The whole of the crowns
found were evidently, from their form and dimen-
sions, votive crowns, probably dedicated by the
king and queen and chief officers of the court.
The crown of Reccesvinthus, who reigned A.D.
653-675, is one of the most gorgeous and remark-
able relics of its age, composed of a fillet jointed
and formed of a double plate of purest gold. It
measures about 9 inches in diameter, or 27 inches
in circumference. The hoop is about 4 inches
broad, and more than half an inch in thickness.
The rims of the hoop are formed of bands of inter-
secting circles in cloisonne work in red and green,
with incrustations of cornelian. It is enriched
with thirt}' uncut sapphires of large size, alter-
nating with as many very large Oriental pearls,
forming three rows. The intervening spaces
are pierced with open work, and engraved so as to
represent foliage and flowers. To the lower
edge of this hoop is suspended by small chains a
very remarkable fringe of gold letters about
2 inches long, incrusted with gems, with a pen-
dant pearl and sapphire attached to each, forming
the inscription —
t RECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET.
A little below the fringe of letters hangs a mas-
Bive Latin cross mounted with six fine sapphires
Crown of Iteccesvinthufl,
opals. From the lower rim hang eight sapphires.
There is no inscription. The pendant cross is
covered with jewels, but less costly than those
on the former one.
The six smaller crowns are reasonably sup-
posed to have belonged to the younger members
of this royal family. Three of these are gold
hoops without pendant crosses, jewelled, enriched
with repousse work and mother-of-pearl. One
is decorated with an arcade of little round-headed
arches, and has a fringe of rock crystal. The
otliin- three are of a very singular construction.
They consist of a kind of open framework or
baslietwork of gold, formed of tliree horizontal
510
CROWN
circlets, connected by numerous uprights, gems
being set at the points of intersection. Each
crown is rudely decorated with- as many as fifty-
four precious stones and pearls, and is terminated
with the fringe of sapphires and the pendant
cross. One of the crosses presents the dedicatory
inscription —
t IN DEI NOJIINE OFFERET SONNICA
SANCTE MARIE IN SORBACES.
'• Few relics of the period," writes Mr. Albert
Way, Archacol. Journal, .\vi. 258, " deserve com-
Crcwn of Svintila.
P^irison with this precious regalia, both in bar-
baric magnihcence of enrichment, and in the
.mpressive effect of so sumptuous a display of
natural gems remarkable fur their dimensions
CEOWT^
and lustrous brilliancy." (Lastayrie, Description
du Tresor da Guan-azar, Paris, 1860. La Barte,
Arts indust., i. 499 sq.)
(5) The Crown of Srintila.— Svintila' was king
of the Visigoths, a.d. 621-6o1. His crown, pre-
served in the royal Armoury at Madrid, is of
massive gold enriched with sapphires and pearls
set rose fashion between two borders set with deli-
cate stones. From the lower rim hangs a fringe of
open letters of gold, set with red glass, sus-
pended by chains of double links, with pendant
jiear-shaped sapphires. The letters form the
inscription,
SVINTILANVS REX OFFERT.
{Proceedings of the Soc. of Antiq. ii. 11. Jos6
Amador de los Rios, El Arte Latino-hizantino,
Madrid, 1861.)
These Spanish crowns are considered by
La Barte to be of Spanish workmanship. Las-
teyrie, on the other hand, assigns to them a
Gotliic origin, and, wilh less probability, thinks
that they were brought into Spain by North-
German barbarians.
The suspensory form of these crowns and the
inscriptions some of them present prove that
they were of a votive character, and were dedi-
cated to God by the king and his family on
some memorable occasion, to be hung up over
the altar. But this does not preclude their
previous use as crowns for wearing. That such
was their primary destination is rendered almost
certain by the variation in diameter of the dif-
ferent circlets, and by the hinges and fastenings
which facilitated their being fitted to the wearer's
head. The queen's crown also has little loops,
above and below, fur attaching a lining or cap
within the gold circlet, to prevent it from
galling the wearer's brows.
(6) The Crown of Charlemagne.— This crown,
preserved in the treasury at Vienna, is evidently
made up of portions belonging to different epochs.
It is composed ot eight round-headed plaques of
gold ; four larger, enriched with emeralds and
sapphires en cabochon, and four smaller, pre-
senting enamelled figures of David, Solomon,
Hezekiah, and Christ. Strength and unity are
imparted to the whole by the insertion of two
little circlets of iron. A jewelled cross rises
from the apex of the front plaque, from which
an enamelled arch stretches over the head to
the back, bearing the name of the Emperor
Conrad, a.d. 1138. The costumes of the figures
in the enamels are Byzantine. ( Hangard-
Mange', Les Arts somptuaires, Paris, 1858, pi. 31,
vol. ii. p. 31.)
Authorities. — In addition to the treatises of
Muratori, Fontaninus, and Bellani, named above,
we may refer the student to the following: —
Bayer, De duob. Diadem, in Mus. Imp. Comment.
Acad. Scient. Imp. Petropol. viii. 1736. Agincourt,
Seroux d', Art par les Monuments, Sculpture, Pein-
ture. W. Burges, " On the Treasures at Monza,"
Archaeol. Journ. xiv. Ciampini, Vet. Monim.
cxiv. i. p. 107. Guenebault, Diction, iconogr.
des Monuments, Paris, 1843, and Glossaire litur-
gique in Annates de Philosophie chretienne, xi.
Ferrario, Costume antico e moderno d'Europa, vol.
i. pt. 1, v^^l. iii. pt. 1, Appendice sulk Corona
Ferrea. vol. i. pt. 2, Hangard-Mange', Les Ar's
somptuaires, Paris, 1858. La Barte, Les Arts
industriels. Migne, Encycl. Theol. xxvii. Die-
CROWNS FOR BRIDES
CRUCIFIX
511
ttonmiirc d'Orfevrene, 4-c. Mouttaucon, Memoires \ Musee de Cluny, Pnris, 18G1. Way, '• On the
de la Monarchie franqaise,i. Pat^chalis, De Coro- Crowns of Guarrazar," Arch. Journal, xvi.
nis, Paris, 1610. Sommerard, du, ditaloque du \ [K. V.]
Charlemagne.
CROWNS FOR BRIDES, vrhese two hsps
CROWNS FOR BURIALS./ of crowns or
wreaths, as connected \rith Christian social life,
seem to call for a separate notice. In each case
there was a custom belonging to a non-Christian
period. The bridal crown, of Greek origin, had
been adopted by the Romans, and was in uni-
versal use, sometimes worn by the bride alone,
sometimes by the bridegroom also. The rigorous-
ness of early Christian feeling rejected the use of
coronae generally, as connected either with the
excesses of heathen feasts, or the idolatry of
heathen woi-ship. Christians wei-e to avoid mar-
riages with heathen women lest they should be
tempted to put the evil thing upon their brows
(Tertull. de Corona, c. 13). Flowers might be
worn as a bouquet, or held in the hand, but not
upon the head. It was not long, however, before
the natural beauty of the practice freed itself
from the old associations and reasserted its claim.
It is probable that the objections to it were never
very widely entertained. In the time of Chry-
sostom it was again a common usage. Bridegroom
and bride were crowned as victors, assuming their
purity, over the temptations of the flesh. It
was a shock to Christian feeling when the wreaths
were worn by the impure (Horn. ix. in 1 Tim.).
The bridegi-oom's wreath was for the most part
of myrtle (Sidon. Apollin. Carm. //. ad Anthem.),
the bride's of verbena. The prominence of the
rite ni the Eastern church has led the whole
marriage service to be descril)e(l in the Greek i
Evxo\6yiov as the 'A/coAou0ia tov (rrecpavu- \
I /xaTos ; and the ceremony itself, as probably
handed down from an early period, deserves
mention here. First, the bridegroom solemnly
crowns the bride in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost. Then the bride in like
manner crowns the bridegroom. Lastly, the
priest blesses them with the thrice-repeated
words, " 0 Lord our God, crown them with
glory and honour."
The use of wreaths for burials, common
among both Greeks and Romans, on the head of
the corpse, on the bier, on the tomb, was for
like reasons rejected by the more rigorous
teachers. The disciples of Christ were to seek
an incorruptible crown, the amaranth which
grows on no earthly soil (Clem. Alex. Faedac/.
ii. 8). To those who had been accustomed to
shew their honour to the dead by this outward
sign, this refusal seemed cruel and unfeeling ;
and Christians had to defend themselves against
the charge, " Coronas etiam sepulcris denegatis "
(Minuc. Fel. c. 12), with the answer, "Nee ad-
nectimus arescentem coronam, sed a Deo aeternis
floribus viridem sustinemus " (^ibid. c. 37). Here
also, after a time, though less formally in the
case of the nuptial crown, the old practice was
revived with a higher significance. The crown
appears on tombs and paintings as the symbol
of martyrdom ; and modern Christendom repro-
duces, without misgiving, the practice which
the ancient Church rejected. [E. H. P.]
CRUCIFIX and REPRESENTATIONS
OF THE CRUCIFIXION. It
s necessary
612
CRUCIFIX
distinguish between the use of the crucifix as an
object or instrument of devotion, and that of
pictorial or other representations of the Cruci-
fixion as a scene. Every variety and combina-
tion of the arts of sculpture, mosaic, painting,
and engraving has been applied to this great
subject from early times, and to all parts of
it ; and this distinction is one of principle as
well as convenience. The modern crucifix and
its use of course form no part of the subject.
Within the limits of our period, all representa-
tions of the crucified Form of our Lord alone, as
well as pictures, reliefs, and mosaics, in which
that Form is the central object of a scene, may
be considered alike symbolical, without historical
realism or artistic appeal to emotion. There is
doubtless a divergence in the direction of realism,
and appeal to feeling by actual representation is
begun, whenever the human figure is added to
the symbolic cross." The use of the sculptured,
moulded, or enamelled crucifix or crucifixion in
early times, is a development of that of the cross,
and the transition between them may have been
a certainty from the first ; but the rude efforts
of earlier days, with which alone we have to do,
can neither call on the imagination by vivid pre-
sentation of the actual event, nor awal^en feeling
by appeal to the sense of beauty, nor distress by
painful details of bodily suffering. While thr
primitive rules of representation were adheied
to, as they are to this day in the Greeli Cliuich,
the picture or icon dwells on the meaning of thi
event rather than its resemblance, and shadow ■-
forth, rather than represents, the God-Mui in
the act of death for man. These rules weie hist
infringed by, or naturally collapsed in the ])ie-
sonce of, increased artistic power. The ])iiutings
of Cimabue and Giotto, and the reliefs of iN Pi- luo,
brought the personality of the artist intoe\oi\
.work, and introduced human motive and tieit-
nient, in the artistic sense of the woid-5 To
tliose whose minds are drawn to ascetic thought
and practice, it has always been natuial to
meditate, and to communicate their thoughts
upon, the bodily sufferings of the Savioui of m in-
kind. This was done by Angelico and otheis
naturally and freel}' before the Reformation ;
since that period a somewhat polemical and arti-
ficial use has been made of this line of thought ;
and painting and sculpture have been applied to
embody it accordingly in the Roman Catholic
Church. It may be remarked, before retiring
within our proper limits of time, that the use
of blood, by Giotto and his followers down to
Angelico, has doctrinal reference to the Holy
Communion, and to Scriptural promises of cleans-
ing by the blood of Christ.** Giotto is less in-
" De Rossi (vol. ii. tav. v. p. 355) gives a cross, with
two lambs apparently contemplating it, below one of the
usual pictures of the Good Shepherd. Aringhi, Rem. Subt.
ii. 478 : " Crux, cum Christo illi fixo, neutiquam effigi.iri
olim soleljat." The Crucifixion he calls " mysticis res co-
lorilius adumbrata emblematicis figuratisque modis;
sub innocui videlicet agni Juxta crucis lignum placide
consislcntis typo." See Bottavi, taw. xxi. xxii. See, how-
ever (ib., tav. cxcii.), the crucifix found in the tomb of
St. Julius and St. Valentine in the Catacombs ; which so
much resembles the mosaic crucifix of John VII. that it
:jin hardly be of very early date. It is generally assigned
vo Pope Adrian, about 880.
^ As in the Crucifixion over the door of the Convent of
St Mark's, Florence, where the blood issues from the
CRUCIFIX 1
clinod to dwell for terror's sake on the bodily
sufferings of the Passion, than to dwell with awe J
on its mystery as a sacrifice for mau. But the
rise of mediaeval asceticism, and its attribution
of sacramental efficacy to bodily pain, bore '
painters with it as well as othei; men. And in i
later times, when Christian feeling on the subject '
was lost, many men seem to have considered the j
final scene of the Redemption of Man chiefly as a '\
good opportunity of displaying newly-acquired
powers of facial expression and knowledge of |
anatomy. t
If Hallam's division of periods be accepted,
which makes the end of the 5th century the
beginning of the Middle Ages, the public repre-
sentation of the Crucifixion may be sai<l to be a
mediaeval usage in point of time. Furtlier, ;
Martigny (Did. des Antiq. Chre'tiennes, p. 190, '
s. V.) claims for France the honour of having '
possessed the first public crucifix-painting which j
ever existed ; for which he refers to Gregory of I
Tours {Be Glor. Martyr, i. 23), and which he says ■'
must have been at least as old as the middle of '\
the 6th century. But he says above, probably :
with great correctness, that all the most eminent i
Crucifixions known were objects of private de- !
votion, instancing the pectoral ci'oss of Queen I
Theodoliada and the Syriac MS. of the Medicean j
Tbeodoliiida'b
Library at Florence, both hereafter to be de-
scribed. The official or public use of the cross
as a symbol of Redemption begins with Constan-
tine, though of course it had been variously
employed by all Christians at an earlier date.
[Cross.]
Crucifixes, according to Guericke, did not
appear in churches till after the 7th century.
Such images, probably, in the early days of the
Church, would produce too crude and painful an
effect in the Christian imagination, and to that
of the more hopeful Pagan they would be in-
tolerable ; not only because his feelings would
recoil from the thought of the punishment of
the cross, but from superstitious terror of con-
feet, in a conventional form, as a crimson cord, which
is twined strangely beneath about a skull. (Ruskin, Mod.
P. vol. u. p. 125.)
CRUCIFIX
nccting the Infelix Arbor with a Divine Being.
The Graffito Blasf'emo of the Palatine illustrates
this (see woodcut) : but Christian teachers may-
have refrained from any addition to the cross,
as a symbol of divine humiliation and suffer-
ing, from purely charitable motives. The cross
itself may have been felt to be temporarily
unwelcome to persons in certain stages of con-
version .
If we set aside the yai-ious monograms of His
name, and the emblematic fish, which is an ana-
gram of it, there are but two classes of repre-
sentations of our Lord, — those which point to His
divinity and lordship over all men, and those
which commemorate His humanity and suffer-
ings for all men. The earliest of the former
class is the Good Shepherd ; the earliest of the
latter the Lamb : and both are combined in the
painting given by De Kossi, vol. ii. tav. v. The
symbolic Lamb, as will be seen (Gen. iv. 4,
xxii. 8 ; Exod. sii. 3, xxix. 38 ; Is. xvi. 1 ; 1 Pet.
i. 18 ; Rev. xiii. 8), connects the Old Testament
with the New, and unites in itself all types and
shadowings of Christ's sacrifice, from the death
of Abel to St. John's vision of the slain victim.
It is well said by Martigny to be the crucifix of
the early times of persecution ; and its emble-
matic use grows more significant as time ad-
vances. The cross is first borne by the Lamb on
its head, in the monogrammatic form (Bottari,
Sculture e Pitture sagre estratte dai Cimiteri di
Eoma, &c., Rom. 3 fol. 1737-54, tav. xxi. v. 1),
about the latter half of the 4tli century. The
simple cross occurs thus in the 5th century (Bot-
tari, tav. xxii.). In the 6th century the Lamb
bears the cross (Aringhi, ii. lib. iv. p. 559,
Roma Sxihterraned), and rests sometimes on a
booir, sometimes at the foot of an altar (Ciam-
pini, Vetera Ilonumenta, vol. i. tab. xv. p. 26 ;
vol. ii. tab. xv. p. 58), above which is the cross ;
and then it is represented " as it were slain,"
with evident reference to the Paschal feast
(Ciampini, V. M. t. ii. tabb. xv. xlvi.). Towards
the end of the 6th century the Wounds of the
Cross are represented on the sides and feet of the
Lamb. In Ciampini {De Sacris Aedificiis, tab.
xiii.) the Lamb is raised on a throne at the foot
of an ornamented cross, the throne itself bearing
resemblance to an altar-table.
The famous Vatican Cross (for which, and for
the Cross of Velletri," see Cardinal Borgia's
monographs, Rome, 4to. 1779 and 1780) is the
6th century type of symbolic representation. A
medallion of the Lamb bearing the cross, and
with a nimbus, is placed at its central point of
intersection, and it is accompanied by two half-
length figures of our Lord, with the cruciform
nimbus at the top and foot of the vertical limb.
Two others at the horizontal ends are supposed
to represent Justin II. and his Empress Sophia.
The upper half-length of the Lord holds a book
in the left hand, and blesses with the right ; the
lower one holds a roll and a small cross. The
embossed lily-ornaments are of great beauty.
CRUCIFIX
513
<; The Cross of Velletri, which Borgia attributes to the
8th or 10th century, contains the symbols of the four
Evangelists. The Vatican Cross is photographed in M.
St. Ijaurent's paper in Didron's Bevue Archeologique (see
infra). The result reflects great credit on the accuracy
of Borgia's illustration ; and M. St. Laurent speaks highly
of Ciampini and others.
CHRIST. ANT.
and there is an inscription on the back, which
Borgia reads thus : —
" Ligno quo Christus humanum suMidit hostem
\)3.t Romae Justinus opem "
As it is impossible to determine which is the
earliest representation of the Crucifixion or
crucifix now in existence or on trustworthy
record, a few of the oldest known may be briefly
Perpendicular of V
described here. They will be found in woodcut
in Angelo Rocca, Thesaurus Pontificiarum Rerum,
vol. i. p. 153, though the copies have been made
by a draughtsman skilled in anatomy, who has
quite deprived them of the stamp of antiquity,
which their originals undoubtedly possessed. The
first and second are said by Rocca to be the
workmanship of Nicodemus and St. Luke. The
2 L
514
CKUCIFIX
first is evidently of the time of Charlemagne.
The Crucified is clothed in a long tunic, and bears
a crown of radiatory bars, closed at top, rising
from the circlet. A chalice is at its feet, and
A ft) on the title overhead.
The head of the second, attributed to St. Luke,
is crowned, and surrounded by a nimbus. It is
almost entirely naked, — the waistcloth, at least,
seems to have been purposely contracted : this of
itself would place it at a late date.
The third example is historical. It is called
the Crucifix of John VII., and represents a mosaic
in the old Basilica of St. Peter's. Rocca dates it
706. It bears the cruciform nimbus with the
title INRI. It is clothed in a long tunic, the
form and folds of which are most graceful,
and bear a great resemblance to the painted
crucifix found in the Catacombs, assigned to
Pope Adrian III. 884.
The fourth is the celebrated Crucifix of Charle-
magne, given to Leo III. and the Basilica of St.
Peter's, and dated 815. It is clothed in an fumple
waistcloth, the wound in the side is represented,
and the head surrounded by a cruciform nimbus.
Four nails are used in all these crucifixes.
A crucifix is described by the Rev. F. H.
Tozer, which, as he considers, has a decided
claim to be considered the most ancient in exist-
ence, and which he saw in the monastery of
Xeropotama at Mount Athos. It is a reputed
gift of the Empress Pulcheria (414-453), and
has been spared no doubt for that reason. It is
a supposed fragment of the true cross, and con-
sists of one long piece of dark wood and two
cross-pieces, one above the other, the smaller
intended for the supei'scription. The small
figure of our Lord is of ivory or bone. Near
tiie foot is a representation of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in gold plate, and set with dia-
monds and sapphires of extraordinary size and
beauty. Below that, the inscription Kuvarav-
Tivov 'Ev<ppoavvrii Kat rwv reKvcov. Another
exists at Ochrida in Western Macedonia, dis-
used, and of unknown history. Mr. Tozer con-
siders that it belonged to a disciple of Cyril and
Methodius, and may probably be connected with
the latter. He mentions a third, also probably
connected with the Apostle of Bohemia, in the
Museum at Prague (see Murray's Handbook of
Soutk Germany), and another as existing in
Crete (see Pashley's Travels). These are the
only crucifixes he knows of as existing in the
Greek Church. The Iconoclastic controversy,
he observes, took the same course with the cru-
cifix as with other representations, painted or
carved : and when it died away into compro-
mise on the distinction between icons and
images, the crucifix was ti-eated as an image.
This does not necessarily apply to pictures in
MSS. ; but the carved form may have been the
more easily dislodged in the Iconoclastic contro-
versy of 720, because it had not been long
introduced, since it did not exist till the 7th
century. " To the keener perception of the
Greeks " (says Milman, Latin Christianity, vi.
413) " there may have arisen a feeling, that
in its more rigid and solid form the Image was
nearer to the Idol. There was a tacit compro-
mise" (after the period of Iconoclasm); "nothing
appeared but painting, mosaics, engravings on
cup and chalice " (this of course accounts for
works like the Cross of Velletri, the Diptych of
CRUCIFIX
Eambona, and others), " and embroidery on vest-
ments. The renunciation of sculpture grew to
a rigid passionate aversion .... as of a Jew or
Mohammedan." There can be no doubt that the
first step in a progress which has frequently ended
in idolatry was made in the Quinisext Council,
or that in Trullo, at Constantinople in 691. It
is the challenge to Iconoclasm. It decrees (can.
82) that, as the antitype is better than type or
symbol in all representation, the literal repre-
sentation of the Lord shall take the place of the
symbolic Lamb on all emblems of His sacrifice,
and ordains thus : Thv tov atpitvTos r^v a/j.ap-
rlav K6fffjL0v 'A/xvov Xpiarov rov Qfov TjfjLcov,
Kara tov avdpunrivov x''-P°'i^'^^po- «■''■'■ ^^ ''""'^^
elK6(nv aith toO vvv oi/tI tov ■KO.Kawv a/xvov
o.va(TTi\Kov(T6ai dpl^ofiev.^ [Compare AGNUS
Dei.]
A very early crucifix of the 6th century seems
to be mentioned in the following passage, which
is produced by Binterim {Denkviirdiqk. iv. part i.
48) without reference, but which he may have
seen in some unpublished record. He is speak-
ing of the church of Hoye in the bishopric of
Liege, destroyed by the Huns in the 4th century,
and restored A.D. 512, at the time of the first
synod of Orleans. This church " a suis civibus
reedificatur, et in longum versus Orientem ex-
tenditur usque ad gradus Chori sub crucifxo,
altari tamen antiquo semper remanente," &c.
Further, he quotes Aegidius as stating that
Robert, Provost of Liege, " sub crucifixo sepul-
turam accepit." This only proves the existence
of crucifixes at the time of the writers, espe-
cially as the original altar is spoken of as re-
maining, without mention of cross or crucifix,
at the end of the choir which contained it. Had
the name or date of the author of the passage
quoted been known, it would have been of great
importance ; but it may be, and its Latin might
indicate that it is, from some late chronicler,
familiar with the appearance of the church, and
using the words as meaning no more than " under
the present crucifix, or rood above the altar-
screen." Dr. Binterim founds no argument on it
as to the date of the German change from cross
to crucifix, and the passage may be let pass.
The "Santo Volto," " Vultus de Luca," or
Crucifix of Lucca (corrupted by William Rufus,
for imprecatory purposes, into the " Face of St.
Luke " ), is carved in cedar-wood, and is attri-
buted to Nicodemus, and supposed to have been
conveyed miraculously to Lucca in 782. It is
said to be of the 6th century, and is certainly
one of the earliest crucifixes in existence. It
bears the Lord crowned as king, and vested in a
long pontifical robe as priest, and thus combines
symbolic treatment with realism, perhaps in the
way afterwards intended by the Council in
Trullo. The idea is that of the Crucified King
of Men, and the work is an assertion of the com-
bined deity and humanit)-, and of the submis-
sion to death of the Lord of humanity. A cru-
cifix greatly resembling this was found during
some operations at Christchurch, Oxford, and is
now preserved in the Bodleian : it was probably
an outer ornament of some Evangeliarium. We
understand M. St. Laurent to consider these
d The author of this paper can remember no repre-
sentation of the Ci-uciexion as existing either at the Con-
vent of Mount Sinai or that of Mar Saba.
CRUCIFIX
examples to date from tho 12th century (fmio-
graphie de la Croix et du Crucifix ; Didron's
Annates Archeohgiques, t. xxii. pp. 5, 137, 213,
357, and t. xxiii. pp. 5, 174, a most valuable
and exhaustive summaiy of our whole subject,
admirably illustrated).
The steps of the progress from symbolic to
literal I'epresentation will b§ noticed imme-
diately ; but two more Crucifixions of great and
undoubted antiquity (the first having a claim to
be considered the most ancient in existence) re-
main to be briefly noticed. Both confirm to a
certain extent the remark insisted on or sug-
gested by many Roman Catholic writers, that the
private use of the crucifix in devotion dates
from very early times. The first is the famous
Syriac Evangeliarium in the Medicean Library at
Florence, widely known for the probably unique
detail of the soldiers, not casting dice, but play-
ing at the world-old game of "Mora" on then
fingers, for the garment without seam. It i->
represented in Assemanni's Catalogus Bibl. Medi(
Florence, 1742, tav. xxiii. The whole Mb i--
one of the most interesting documents m the
world; with many illuminations, performed with
that indescribable grimness of earnestness which
was the root of Eastern asceticism, and which still
lingers in the handywork of the stern Arcagnuoli,
CRUCIFIX
515
Upper half uf Crucilixiou MS. of Kabula.
or the brothers Orgagna. Assemauni calls it
" vetustissimus codex qui in eadem bibliotheca
extat," and it is described by Prof. Westwood in
his Palaeographia Sacra, and dated 580 by its
writer, the monk Rabula. It is composed with
instinctive skill in two groups, upper and lower.
At the top are the sun and moon ; one a face, the
other a crescent. The upper group, which is semi-
circular or rather cycloidal in its shape, consists
of the three crosses, supported on their right by
the Virgin Mother and another female figure, on
the left by three more women. The soldiers
with the spear and the sponge stand on each side
next to the central and largest cross. Over the
licad of the former is the name AOriNOC. The
Lord wears the long robe, the thieves have waist-
cloths, and large drops of blood, in conventional
form, are falling from their hands. Four nails
are used in each. At the foot of the cross the
upper and lower group are joined by the soldiers
playing for the coat. In the centre, below the
cross, is a Holy Sepulchre (represented in all
early Byzantine and Italo- or Gothic-Byzantine
work as an upright structure of much the same
shape as a sentiy's box). It is su])])orted on the
left by a woman, the Blessed Virgin, and
angel ; on the other by St. .John, another apos-
tolic figure in the act of blessing, and other
adoring women. The hase of the composition, a.s
it were, is formed by a group of soldiers, over-
thrown by the stroke of visible substantial rays
from the sepulchre ; the stone also lies on the
left. The designer seems to have thought much
of the fact of its being rolled away, and he has
accordingly drawn it as a disk like a grindstone.
Grotesque and archaic as it is, this work is com-
posed exactly like Orgagna's or Michael Angelo's
" Last Judgment,'" Titian's " Assumption," or
Raffaelle's "Transfiguration" — i.e., of two great
upper and lower groups, tied together and sup-
ported on both sides ; nor could any work better
illustrate the lingering of Byzantine tradition in
sacred subjects. A full description is given by
Professor Westwood in his Palaeographia Saa a,
also by Dom Gue'ranger, Inst. Liturgiques, vol.
iii. app.
Of the four Crucifixions given by Gori m vol.
iii. of his TJiesaurus Diptgchorum (pj). 11<1, 128,
203, 216), that at p. 203, called the " Di])t ych ot
Rambona in Picenum," is the most ancient and
extraordinary. It contains a medallion of the
First Pei-son of the Trinity above, with the sun
and moon below on the right and left of the cross,
l)ersonified as figures bearing torches. There are
two titles, EGO SUM IHS NAZARENUS in rude
Roman letters, with a smaller label, REX JU-
2 L 2
516
CRUCIFIX
DEORUM, over the cross. The uinibus is cruci-
form, the waistcloth reaches almost to the knees,
the navel is strangely formed into an eye. The
"Virgin and St. John stand under the arms of
the cross. But the distinguishing detail is the
addition of the Roman wolf and twins below the
cross, with the words ROMVLVS ET REMVLVS
A LVPA NUTRITI. This wonderful ivory is now
in the Vatican Museum (see Murray's Handhook),
and is in the most ancient style of what may be
called dark-age Byzantine art, when all instruc-
tion and sense of beauty are departed, but so
vigorous a sense of the reality of the fact re-
mains, as to render the work highly impressive
— as also in the Medici MS.
Professor Westwood (^Fal. Sac. pi. 18) enables
us to refer to a Crucifixion found in an Irish MS.
written about 800. It is in the Library of St.
John's College, Cambridge, and is partly copied
from the Falaeogmphia by Mr. Ruskin (in The
Tivo Paths, p. 27), who selects one of the angels
above the cross as a specimen of absolutely dead
and degraded art. This is perfectly correct, and
the work is a painful object of contemplation, as
it displays the idiocy of a contemptible person
instructed in a decaying style, rather than the
roughness of a barbai'ian workman like the carver
of the diptych. The absurd interlacings and use
of dots, the sharpening of fingers into points, and
the treatment of the subject entirely as a matter
of penmanship, without either devotional sense of
its importance or artistic eflortto realize it, make
the MS. most disagreeably interesting as far as
this miniature is concerned.
The plea or hypothesis of Roman Catholic
writers, that actual images of the crucified body
1 r.'l^ior
of the Lord may have been used in the very
earliest times for pi-ivate devotion, is open to the
obvious remark that none of them can be pro-
duced, whereas symbolical memorials of the
Crucifixion are found in regular successii)n, both
mural and in portable forms. Father Martigny
argues that the notorious Graflito of the Palace
of the Caesars may be a caricatured copy of some
vmdiscovered crucifix used for Christian worship.
Fatlier Garrucci's description of it, " II Crocifisso
Oraffito in casa dei Cesari," is given by Canon
Liddon in his 7th Bampton Lecture (p. 397) ; and
tlie remarks which accompany it are most im-
portant, as they show " the more intelligent and
CRUCIFIX
bittei' hostility of Paganism to the Church since
the apostolic martyrdoms a century and a half
before, when converts had also been made in
Caesar's household." He shows also, incidentally,
that it can hardly have been derived from any
Christian emblem, as the ass's head connects it
evidently with the Gnostic invective, which at-
tributed to the Jews the worship of an ass. This
Tacitus mentions {Hid. v. c. 4) ; and TertuUian
(Apolog. 16) notices Tacitus' confusion between
Jews and Christians, and appeals to his own ac-
count of the examination of the Jewish temple
by Pompey, who found "no image" in the temple.
For proof of the confusion of the early Christians
with the Jews by the pagan world, Dr. Liddon
refers to Dr. Pusey's note on the above passage
in TertuUian, in the Oxford Library of the
Fathers.
The relics of the treasury of the Cathedral of
Monza, closely described and partly represented
in woodcut by M. Martigny, are valuable exam-
ples of the transition between symbolic and actual
representation of the Crucifixion., One of the
ampullae for sacred oil is said to have been pre-
sented by Gi-egory the Great to Theodelinda, wife
of Antharis king of Lombardy, probably some
time soon after 590, about a hundred years be-
fore the Council in Trullo. It is circular, and
the head of the Lord, with a cruciform nimbus,
is placed at the top. Below, to right and left,
are the two thieves, with extended arms, but
without crosses ; and below them two figures are
kneeling by a cross which seems to be budding
into leaves. Two saints or angels are on the
extreme right and left, and the usual Holy Se-
pulchre below, with an angel watching it on the
right in the act of benediction, while St. John and
St. Mary Magdalene are (apparently) approach-
ing it on the other side. Another vessel bears a
figure of the Lord, clothed with a long robe, with
the nimbus and extended arms, but without the
cross. Finally, the reliquary of Theodelinda, so
called, has the crucified Form, with the nimbus
and inscription IC XC, clothed in the long tunic,
with the soldiers, two figures apparently mock-
ing Him, and the Virgin and St. John on the right
and-left. The clothed figure indicates symbolical
treatment, since it must have been well known
that the Roman custom was to crucify naked ;
and Martigny argues that the Graffito, which is
clothed, must therefore have been copied from
some Christian picture. But from this time, or
from that of the Council of 691, the artistic or
ornamental treatment begins. The earliest Cruci-
fixions are narrative, not dramatic ; the Resur-
rection being so frequently introduced into the
same composition, as if without it the subject
would be altogether too painful for Christian
eyes. And, indeed, till the first efforts of Pisan
sculpture and Florentine painting, the import-
ance of the event represented withdrew all atten-
tion to the personality of the artist. In works
of after days the painter's power is all. Their
range of excellence is as wide as the difference
between the tender asceticism of Fi'a Angelico,
and the mighty sorrow of Michael Angelo, and
the intense power, knowledge, and passion of the
great canvass of Tintoret in the Scuola di San
Kocco at Venice. The treatment of this picture
resembles that of the most ancient works. All
its consummate science is directed to bringing
every detail of the scene into a gre.at unity, while
CRUCIFIX
attention is expressly withdrawn from the face
of the Lord, which is cast into deej) shadow.
(See Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. ii.) In
all ancient work the Lord's face is abstracted
and expressionless : any attempt to represent
bodily pain belongs to modern work of the
baser sort, which forms no part of our present
subject.
For the details and accessories of the Cruci-
fixion, whether things or persons, they have been
for the most part enumerated and described. The
nails are always four in number in ancient works,
two for the feet and two for the hands. The
crossed legs and single large nail or spike belong
to the artistic period. Martigny refers to St.
Cyprian (De Passion. Dni. inter Opusc. p. 83,
ed. Oxon.) as speaking of the nails which pierced
our Lord's feet in the plural number. St. Cyprian,
he says, had seen the punishment of the cross.
The sujjpedancum or rest for the feet occurs in
the crosses of Leo III. and of Velletri, not in the
Diptych of Eambona. The Graffito indicates its
presence. It seems to have been occasionally
left out, in deference to those passages in Holy j
Scripture which allude to the disgrace or curse
attaching to one " hanging " on the tree. The
title of the cross, which is given with slight dif-
ferences in St. Matt, xxvii. 37, Mark xv. 26, Luke
xxiii. 38, John xix. 9, varies greatly in difterent
representations. It is omitted in the crosses of
Lucca and Velletri. Early Greek^ painters re-
duce it to the name of Christ, IC XC, or substitute
the A and oi. The sign *C {<f>t2s) occurs, as well
as LVX MVJS'DI, frequently accompanied by the
symbols of the sun and the moon, as a red star
or face and crescent, or in the Rambona ivory
[see page 515] as mourning figures bearing
torches. They are introduced as emblematic of
the homage of all nature,.or in remembrance of
the eclipse of the Crucifixion.
The Blessed Virgin and St. John appear in the
Medicean MS., and very frequently in ancient
works; the soldiers rather less so, though they
occur in the above MS. and the reliquary of
Monza. The typical figure of the first Adam
rising from the earth as a symbol of the resur-
rection of the body, with the Hand of Blessing
above indicating the presence of God, is given in
Ciampiui {De Sacr. Aedif. tab. xxiii. p. 75).
The skull, whether human or that of a lamb,
placed at the foot of the cross, either as an
emblem of sacrifice or in reference to the place
Golgotha, is of late use, and is almost the only
late addition of symbolic detail. j
The rare addition of the soldiers casting lots is
said to be found in an ivory of the 8th century i
(Mozzoni, Tavole crono- \
CRUCIFIX
517
rom Cividule in Fi
logiche della Chiesa universale, Venezia, 1856-
63). The only other representation of it is in
the Medici MS. The wolf and twins are in the
Rambona diptych alone. The types of the four
Evangelists are on the back of the Cross of Vel-
letri, in the Gospel of Egbert, of Trier, infra,
and on numerous crosses of later date. Some
additional inscriptions have been mentioned, as
well as the addition (in the Vatican Cross) of
medallion portraits. Considerable liberty in this
matter seems to have been allowed in the earliest
times, as is indicated by Constantine's introduc-
tion of the words of his Vision ; and still more
strongly in an instance referred to by Borgia, in
Anastasius (tom. i. u. 2, ed. Vignolii), of a cross
given by Belisarius to St. Peter — " per manus
Vigilii Papas" — of gold and jewels, weighing
100 lbs., " in qua scripsit victorias suas."
But even the Vatican Cross yields in interest
to two German relics of the same character,
lately described and well illustrated in No. 45 of
the Jdhrbucher des Vereins von Alterthums-
freunden im Rheinlande, p. 195, Bonn, 1868. The
first of these is the Station-Cross of Mainz. It
is of gilded bronze, of the Western form (Com-
missa), and rather more than one foot in height.
Herr Heinrich Otte refers it to the end of the 12th
century, a date far beyond our period. But its
interest is paramount, more particularly from
the evident intention of the designer to make it
embody a whole system of typical instruction,
and to leave it behind him as a kind of sculp-
tured document, or commentary, connecting the
Old and New Testaments. Thus, at the middle
or intersection of the arms of the cross, the
Lamb is represented in a medallion, his head
surrounded with a plain nimbus. On the back
of the cross in the same place there is a square
plate, with an engraved representation of Abra-
ham offering up Isaac, the angel, and the ram.
Round the latter is the beginning of a hexameter
line— fCui patriarcha suum — which is com-
pleted round the medallion of the Lamb in front,
thus : t Pater ofi'ert in cruce natum. In like
manner, four engravings on each side at the
extremities of the cross refer to each other,
and are described by corresponding halves of
hexameters. The New Testament subjects are
all in front, with the Lamb in the centre, as
antitypes : the 014 Testament or typical events
or persons are at the back. Thus on the spec-
tator's left at the back of the cross is an engrav-
ing of Moses receiving the Tables of the Law on
Mount Sinai, with the words Qui Moijsi legem.
Corresponding to it on the right front is the
Descent of the Holy Spirit, with dat aluinnis
Pneumatis ignem. The remainder as under —
Head.
Back Elijah carried \ip to heaven.
Front 'I'he Ascension.
Back (right hand of spectator) . Samson and gates of Gaza.
Front (left ditto) 'I'he descent into Hades. ,
Foot.
Back Jonali and the whale.
Front Resurrection.
Motto.
t Qui levat Eliam
f propriani siiblimat usiain (pvnCav).
f Que portas fiaze
t vis aufert claustra Jeheiiiie.
t Qua redit absumptus
■j- surgit vlrtute sepultus.
The decorative scrollwork is rather sparingly
disposed with great judgment, and on the spike,
ferule, or metal strap probably intended for
fixing the cross on a staff for processional or
other purposes [see Cross, Draconarius] is an
engraving of the probable designer and donor.
THEODEPJC ABBAS. The graphic power and
exceeding quaintness of the Scriptural engra-
vings is that of the finest miniatures of the 12th
or 13th century.
The second of these most interesting works,
inferior as a work of art from its barbaric wild-
518
CRUCIFIX
ness anil the preference for ugliness so often
observed in Northern-Gothic grotesque, is of
even greater interest as a transitional cross,
especially when viewed in relation to the changes
enforced by the decree of the Council in TruUo,
A.D. 691. This is the Station-Cross of Planig,
near Kreuznach ; of the same size and form
as that of Mainz, but referred by Otte to the
10th century. The ancient symbol of the Lamb
is preserved on the back of this crucifix, which
(lis]ilays the human form in front, as in many
other Komanesque crosses of bronzed copper.
On this combination — perhaps a compromise
between the feeling of the older times and the
more modern spirit of the Quinisextine Council
— Otte quotes Durandus, Rationale, lib. i. c. 3,
n. 6 : " Non enim agnus Dei in cruce prin-
cipaliter depingi debet ; sed homine depicto, non
obest agnum in parte inferiori vel posteriori
depiugere." He also gives the express words of
Adrian I., in his letter to Tarasius, Patriarch of
Constantinople, in 785 : " Verum igitur agnum
Dominum nostrum J, C. secundum imagine'm
humanam a modo etiam in imaginibus pro
veteri agno depingi jubemus." {De Consecr.
Dlst. iii. c. 29; see Labbe, vi. 1177.) He refers
also to the splendid work on Rhenish antiqui-
ties called Kunstdenkmaler des ch-istUchen Mittel-
alters, by Ernst aus'm Werth, Leipzig (Weigel),
1857, taf. xxiv.-vi., for the Essen ana other
roods, which much resemble those of Kreuznach
and Mainz, combining the Lamb with the human
form, and adding personifications of the sun and
moon which remind us of the Diptych of Ram-
bona, and the symbols of the four Evangelists, as
in the Crucifix "of Velletri. Space forbids us to
give accounts of these most interesting relics,
but the subject appears to be treated with
exhaustive fulness and illustrated to perfection
in the two German works referred to. The
Planig-ou-Nahe rood, however, is entitled to a
briefly-detailed description. In front is the
crucified form, severely archaic in treatment ;
the long hair is carefully parted and carried
back ; the head is without nimbus ; and the
limbs are long, stiff, and wasted, the ribs being
displayed, as is so commonly done in mediaeval
crucifixes, to complete the illustration of the
text, " They pierced my hands and my feet :
I may tell all my bones." A triple serpentine
stream of blood runs from each hand, and also
from the feet, being there received in a cup
or chalice, the foot of which is a grotesque
lion's head. The back of the cross bears on its
centre the Lamb with cruciform nimbus ; below
it a medallion of the donor, " Ruthardus Gus-
tos;" and four other bas-reliefs, now wanting,
occupied the four extremities of the arms, and
almost certainly represented the four Evange-
lists. As in the Diptych of Rambona, the navel
resembles an eye. Scarcely inferior to these is
the 10th century miniature of a single crucifix
with the title IHS NAZAREN REX lU-
DEORUM, and the sun and moon above the
cross-beam, within circles, and represented with
expressions of hoi-ror, — seated in chariots, one
drawn by horses, the other by oxen. And it is
impossible to omit the Crucifixion picture from
the Gospel of Bishop Egbert of Trier, 975-993
(in Mooyer's Onoinasticon Chronographlcon, Hie-
rarchia Genmmica, 8vo. Minden, 54), now in the
Stadtbibliothek there. Here the Lord is clad in
CRYPT A
a long robe to the ankles; the robbers are also
clad in tunics so close to the form as to give the
appearance of shirts and trowsers. Above are
the sun and moon, hiding their faces. The
cross has a second cross-piece at top, forming a
tau above the Western cross. The robbers are
on tau-crosses; suspended, but with unpierced
hands ; the passage in the 22ud Psalm being
referred to the Redeemer alone. Their names,
Desmas the penitent, and Cesmas the obdurate,
are above their heads. The Virgin-Mother and
another woman stand on the right of the cross,
St. John on the left. The soldier "Stephaton"
is presenting the sponge of vinegar :* two others
are casting lots below. This detail reminds us
of the great Florentine miniature of the monl:
Rabula, excepting that the game of Mora is
there substituted for dice.
These works are somewhat beyond our period ;
yet as a paper on Crucifixes must contain some
account of the things whose name it bears, and
the first eight centuries supply us with so few-
examples of what are popularly called cruci-
fixes, a short inroad into early mediaevalism
may be allowed. The Iconodulist transition
formally made at the Council in Trullo was well
suited to the Northern mind, and to the sacra-
mental theory of pain ; but it fell in also with
that tendency to personification advancing on
symbolism, which the Western races inherit,
perhaps, from ancient Greece, and which Mr.
Ruskin, in his late Oxford Lectures, points out
as the idolatrous tendency of Greek art. With
Cimabue and Giotto, and from their days, artis-
tic skill and power over beauty ai'e bro'Ught to
bear on the crucifix, as on other Christian re-
presentations, for good and for evil. Of the
cautious and gradual compromise of the Greek
Church we have already spoken. [R. St. J. T.]
CRUET. [Ama: Ampulla.]
CRYPTA. In the well-known passage of
St. Jerome in which he describes the Sunday
visits he and his schoolfellows at Rome paid to
the graves of the apostles and martyrs, he uses
the term cryptae to designate what we now call
the cataconihs. " Dum essem Romae puer . . .
solebam .... diebus Dominicis sepulchra apo-
stolorum et martyrum circumire, crebroque
cryptas ingredi quae in terra profunda defossae
ex utraque parte ingredientium per parietes
habent corpora sepultorum." Hieron. in JEzcch.
c. xl. We find the word again used meta-
phorically in Jerome's preface to Daniel, " Cum
et quasi per cryptam ambulans rarum desuper
lumen aspicerem." The word is employed in
the same specific sense by Prudentius, Feristeph.
Hymn. ii. : —
" Haud procul extremo culta ad pomeria valla
Mersa latebrosis crypta latet foveis.
Hiijus in occultum gradibus via prona reflexis
Ire per anfractus Ince latente docet."
The classical use of crypta for an underground
passage or chamber, whether the drain of a cloaca,
or a subterranean arcade, or a storehouse for fruit
or corn, or a tunnel, such as that of Pausilipo
at Naples, shews the appropriateness of the term.
(See for examples Facciohiti, Lexicon.) Crypta
e •' T.onginus" is always the lance-bearer. See iledicl
(Laurentiaii) Crucifix, supra.
CTESIPHON ON THE TIGKIS
seems to have been sometimes used in Christian
times as synonymous with coemeterium. Thus
we have in the church of St. Prassede an in-
scription commemorating the translation thither
from the catacombs of the relics of more than
two thousand saints, in which occur the words
" iu coemeteriis seu cryptis." We may, how-
ever, mark this distinction between the two
words that coemeterium is a word of wider signi-
fication, including open-air burial-grounds, while
crr/jAa is strictly limited to those excavated be-
neath the surface of the ground. Padre Marchi,
after an elaborate investigation of the inscrip-
tions in which the word crypta occurs, endea-
vours to demonstrate that it was employed to
indicate a limited portion of a subterranean
cemetery, including several burial chapels or
cubicula, so that the relation of the cubiculum to
the crypta, and again of the crypta to the coeme-
terium, was that of a part to the whole. {Monu-
menli primitiv. pp. 156 sq., 168 sq.) His chief
authority for this conclusion is a passage of
Anastasius, Vita S, IlarccUini, § 30, which
appears to draw this distinction between the
cubiculum in which the body of Pope Marcellinus
was buried, and the crypta of which it formed
part. There are also inscriptions which support
Marchi's view that a crypta was a smaller divi-
sion of a coemeterium. One from that of Pris-
cilla records that Gregory lies " in the eleventh
crypt," " iu undecima crypta Gregorius." Others
speak of " new crypts " constructed in a ceme-
tery; e.g. an inscription now in the Vatican
"in cimiterium Balbinae in cripta noba ;" one
from St. Cyriaca given by Boldetti, " in crypta
noba retro sanctus." But Mich. Stef. de Rossi
has shown satisfactorily. Bom. Sott. i. 23 sq.
that Marchi presses the supposed distinction too
far, and that it is very far from holding good
generally. The truth is that crypta was a
word of general meaning, and embraced every
kind of subterranean excavation, whether smaller
or more extensive.
We sometimes meet with the expressions
cryptae arenarim, or cryptae arenariae, in con-
nection with the interment of Christian martyrs.
Bosio, Rom. Sott. pp. 192, 186, 481, 300, &c.
These would seem to indicate the galleries of a
deserted pozzolana pit, as places of sepult ure. But
it has been shewn in the article Catacombs that,
though the subterranean cemeteries very fre-
quently had a close connection with these quar-
ries, and were approached through their adits,
tlie sand-pits themselves were seldom or never
used for interment, for which indeed they were
unfit without very extensive alteration and adap-
tation. The passages referred to, which are
chiefly found iu the not very trustworthy " Acts
of the Martyrs," have probably originated in a
confusion between the catacombs themselves and
the quarries with which they were often so
closely connected. [E. V.]
CTESIPHON ON THE TIGRIS (Council
of), A.D. 420, under Taballaha, abp. of Seleucia,
on the opposite bank of the river, where the
Nicene faith was received, and with it the canons
to which the consent of the rest of the church
westwards had been given (Mansi iv. 441-2).
[E. S. F.]
CUBICULUM. In addition to the use of this
word to designate the family grave chambers in
CUBICULUM
519
the subterranean cemeteries at Rome (for which
see Catacombs, p. 310), we find it employed to
denote what we should now call the side chapels
of the nave of a church. The first instance of its
use in this sense is in the writings of Paulinus
ofNola. Writing to his friend Severus, ^^. xxxii.
§ 12, he describes the church recently erected at
Nola, and particularizes these side chapels, which
were evidently novel features in church arrange-
ment. There were four on each side of the nave,
beyond the side aisles (porticus), with two verses
inscribed over the entrance. Their object was to
furnish places of retirement for those who desired
to pray or meditate on the word of God, and for
the sepulchral memorials of the departed. The
passage is : " Cubicula intra porticus quatcrna
longis basilicae lateribus inserta, secretis oran-
tium, vel in lege Domini meditantium, praeterea
memoriis religiosorum ac familiarium accommo-
dates ad pacis aeternae requiem locos praebent,
omne cubiculum binis per liminum frontes ver-
sibus praenotatui'." They differed from the side
chapels of later ages in containing no altars, as
originally there was but one altar in a church.
(Remondini, tom. i. p. 412.) Pauhnus also speaks
of these chapels under the name of cellae or
cellulae, e.g. when speaking of a thief who had
concealed himself in one of them all night,
he says :
" Cellula de multis, quae per latera undique magnis,
Appositae tectis praebent secura sepulchris
Hospitia."— i'oema, xix. v. 478 sq.
Cubicula is also of frequent occurrence in the
Liber Pontificalis of Anastasius Bibliothecarius,
as synonymous with oratoria. In the description
of various oratoria erected by Symmachus a.d.
498-514, we find, § 79, " quae cubicula omnia a
fundamento perfecta construxit." Of Sergius,
A.D. 687-701, we read, § 163, that he repaired
the decayed chapels around St. Peter's. " Hie
tectum et cubicula quae circumquaque ejusdem
basilicae quae per longa temporum stillicidiis et
ruderibus fuerant disrupta studiosius innovavit
et reparavit." And it is recorded of Leo III.
A.D. 795, that he also rebuilt the ruinous cubi-
cula attached to the same basilica (§ 412).
Perhaps the earliest existing example in Rome
of such a chapel attached to the body of a church
is that of St. Zeno in the church of St. Prassede,
built by Pope Paschal I. about A.D. 817. In an
early description of the basilica of San Lorenzo
fuori le Mura, given by De Rossi, Bullett. di Arch.
Crist. Giugno, 1864, p. 42, from a MS. in the
Vienna Library, we find the word used in a
similar sense : " Est parvum cubiculum in por-
ticu ad occidentem ubi pausat Herennius martyr."
Paulinus also describes cubicula or cellae of this
nature in the porticos of the atrium of the
church of St. Felix. They were intended for
private prayer. The altar of the basilica could
be seen from them by means of windows. They
were ornamented with scrijjtural paintings :
" Metanda bonis habitacula digne
Quos hue ad sancti justUTn Kelicis honorem,
I luxorat orandi studium non cura bibendi."
Poem. xxvi. v. 395 sq.
The last words quoted have reference to the
custom, the abuse of which, degenerating into
gross license, is severely inveighed against by
Paulinus, of holding feasts in the cubicula. Cf,
Paulin, Poema xxvi. De FeKcis Natal, ix. v. 541,
520
CUCUFAS
The word oIkCctkos was used in Greek in the
same sense. We hare an example in a letter of
Nilus to Olympiodorus the prefect, relating to
the church he had built, iv Se rtf koip^ oiKw
■KoWoiS KoX 5La<p6pois olKiffKois SifiAXiJ^eVcf)
apxe'io-dcti, iKaarov ireireyfiivtf) Tifiiw (rravpq>.
From the use of cuhiculutn as a chapel, cubi-
cuhirii came to be employed in the sense of
chaplains. " Hie [Leo I.] constituit et addidit
supra sepulchra apostolorum ex clero Romano
custodes qui dicuntur cubicularii quos modo
dicimus capellanos. Cubiculum enim idem erat
apud antiques quod hodie apud nos capella."
Ciacconius, Vit. et Gest. Font. Roman, i. p. 307.
[E. v.]
CUCUFAS, martyr at Barcelona, July 25
{Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CUCULLA, cucuHus, cucullio, is one of the
few articles of the monastic dress specified by
the founder of the Benedictines {Reg. c. 55);
and has commonly been considered the badge of
monks, e.g. in the old proverb, " cuculla non tacit
monachum." Benedict ordered the "cuculla,"
or hood, to be shaggy for winter, and for summer
of lighter texture (cf. Cone. Reg. c. 62) ; and a
" scapulare " to be worn instead out of doors, as
more suitable for field-work, being open at the
sides. The "cuculla" protected the head and
shoulders, and, as being worn by infants and
peasants, was said to symbolise humility;^ or,
by another account, it was to keep the eyes from
glancing right or left (Cass. Inst. i. 5 ; Sozom.
Hist. Ecc. iii. 13, 14). It was part of the dress
of nuns, as well as of monks (Pallad. Hist. Laus.
41), and was worn by the monks of Tabenna at
the' mass (Pall. H. ' L. 38). If, as the words
seem to say, it was their only clothing on that
occasion, it must of course have been longer than
a hood or cape. Indeed, "cuculla" is often
taken as equivalent to " casula " (from " casa "),
a covering of the whole person ; in later writers
it means, not the hood only (" cucullus "), but
the monastic robe, hood and all (" vestis cucul-
lata," Reg. Comm. S. Bened. c. 55, cf. Mab. Ann.
V. 17). These same monks of Tabenna or Pacho-
miani, like the Carthusians, drew their hoods
forwards at meal times, so as to hide their faces
from one another (Pall. 48 ; Ruff. Vit. Man. 3).
The " cappa " (probably akin to our " cape "), in
Italy seems to correspond with the Gallic
" cuculla," and both were nearly identical, it is
thouffht, with the "melotes" or sheepskin of
the earliest ascetics (Cass. Instit. i. 8; Pall.
Hist. Laus. 28); and so with the "pera" (or
" penula," according to Al. Gazaeus, ad loc.
citat.), the " pellis caprina dependens ab humeris
ad lumbos " (Isidor. Orig. xix. 21, ap. Reg. Comm.
S. Bened.). Of course it is difficult to identify
precisely the technical names for dress in various
countries, and in a remote period. [I. G. S.]
CUCUMELLUM. A vessel mentioned among
those which Paul, bishop of Cirta, delivered up
to Felix (Baronius, Annales, an. 303, c. 12).
This cucumellum was of silver, and was probably
a cruet or flagon for use on the altar. Compare
Ama. (Ducange's Glossary, s. v.) [C]
CULDEES. [CoLiDEi.]
CUNIBERT, bishop, deposition at Cologne
(about A.D. 663), Nov. 12 {Mart. Usuardi).
[C]
CUESUALES EQUI
CUP. [Chalice : Communion : Glass, .
Christian.]
CUPELLA, a small loculus or sepulchral
recess. At present we have only one instance of
its use to adduce, which is given by Marchi
{Monumenti Frimit. p. 114). The inscription in
which it is found records the burial of her two
children, Secundina and Laurentius, by their
mother Secunda. The solecisms in grammar
and orthography with which it is full show that
Secunda was a person of humble rank. The
stone is preserved in the Museum Kircherianum.
The inscription is as follows : — " Ego Secunda
feci cupella bone | mimorie filiem meem Secun |
dinem que recessit in fidem | cum fratrem suum
Lauren | tium in pace recesserund." Cupella is
evidently the diminutive of cupa, explained by
Du Cange to mean urna, area sepulchralis. This
sense is a derivative one from its classical mean-
ino- of a large cask, butt, or vat (Caes. Bell. Civ.
c.ll; Lucan. lib. iv. v. 420; Varro apud Non.
c. ii. No. 113). It appears in pagan inscriptions
but rarely : e.g., " D. Apuleius lonicus fecit Eu-
tychiae sorori suae et Eutycheti filio ejus. In
hac cupa mater et filius positi sunt " (Grilter,
Inscr. p. 845, No. Id); " D. M. Olus Publicius
Polvtihuus Tutor Titi Flavi Algathangeli
pupilli sui Matri ] Sexctae Fortunatae defu]
nctae locum emit, massam ] calcavit cupam aedi-
ficavit de bon|is ejus omnibus consumat." (Doni
class. 11, No. 6). The use of the word survived
till later times, and Du Cange quotes from a
monkish writer " in alia cuba juxta orientem
sepulchrum SS. Victoris, &c." The idea has
been propounded by the Rev. J. W. Burgon
{Letters from Rome, p. 206), that we may find
in cupella, as a place of Christian burial, the
etymology of the word capella, chapel, which has
so long perplexed philologists, and of which no
satisfactory derivation has ever yet been dis-
covered. The architectural term cupola is another
form of the same root. [E. V.]
CUECODEMUS, deacon, martyr at Auxerre,
May 4 {Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CURIA KOMANA. [Appeal : Council.]
CURSE. [Anathema: Excommunication.]
CUESUALES EQUI, post-horses, i.e. horses
belonging to the cursus publicus, called also for
shortness cursus, Gr. ^piixos. The Roman posting
or postal system — the distinction between the
two belongs' to a late stage of civilization — was
established by Augustus. According to the
" Secret History " of Procopius (c. 30), the
day's journey consisted of eight posts, some-
times fewer, but never less than five. Each
stable had 40 horses, and as many stablemen or
stabularii (who seem elsewhere to be called hip-
pocomi. Code, bk. xii. T. li. 1. 13). Bingham
gives a quite incorrect idea of the system in
describing the cursuales equi as being simply im-
pressed for the army and exchequer. A constitu-
tion of the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 320, ex-
pressly enacts that no one but the Prefect has
the right to go by any other road than that
which "has a "cursus," shewing that no mere
occasional impressment is meant (sed nee per
aliam viam eundi quisquam habeat facultatem,
nisi per quam cursus publicus stare dignoscitur ;
Code. bk. xii. T. li. 1. 2). But Bingham, with
his almost habitual inaccuracy, seems to have con-
CURSUALES EQUI
founded the cursus publicus with the evectio or
right of gratuitously using it, which was confined
to officials, to envoys, and under certain circum-
stances to senators (Code, u.s., 1. 6, and see also
11. 11, 16), and which did in such case resemble
a right of impressment, though the true equiva-
lent for impressment seems to be found in the
angariae or pamngariae. The cost of providing
both the horses and fodder for them was supplied
by the State, i.e. as it appears, by the provinces
(the duty being deemed one which belonged to
the land and not to the person. Code, bk. x. 1. 4,
law of Valerian and Gallienus), but it would
seem that they were not bound to maintain post-
carriages (paravereda) or horses for them, since a
law of Arcadius and Honorius, a.d. 403, enjoins
the rectors of the provinces to see that the curials
or provincials were not compelled to provide
animals which they did not owe to the post
(*. 1. 19). Through the roguery of the officers
employed the cost of fodder was, it seems, often
exaggerated, whilst the animals were starved.
(Code, U.S. 1. 18 ; constitution of Arcadius and Ho-
norius, A.D. 400, and see also 11. 2, 7, 19.) By way
of compensation, the stable manure was left to the
provinces (1. 7, of Valentinian, Valens, and Gra-
tian). The sale of the public horses was forbidden
(1.10); those who used more horses than they were
entitled to had to pay, according to circumstances,
four times the price of the horses, or a pound of
gold for each (11. 15, 20). A curious constitution
of the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 316, which is to
be found at length in the Theodosian Code, bk.
viii. T. V. 1. 66, but of which only'a brief extract
remains in that of Justinian (bk. xii. T. li. 1. 1) —
anticipating the labours of " the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals " — enacts
that "Forasmuch as many with knotted and
very thick sticks (nodosis et validissimis fustibus)
at the very outset of a stage compel the public
animals to exhaust whatever strength they have,
placet that none in driving should use a stick but
either a rod or a whip, with a short goad (aculeus)
infixed to the point, which may admonish their
idle limbs with a harmless tickle (innocuo
titillo), without exacting what their strength
cannot compass " — the punishment varying from
loss of rank to exile according to the original
Constitution ; but the extract in Justinian's Code
simply threatens punishment generally (poena
non defutura).
It seems to be considered that the clergy were
exempt from the obligation to pay tax for the
horses of the cursus, under their general exemp-
tion from sordida munem, extraordinary charges,
the " parangarian prestation," or the translatio,
or obligation to carry goods (see Code, bk. iv.
T. iii. 1. 2, of Constantine, A.D. 357 ; T. ii. 1. 5, of
Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, A. p. 412 ;
Nov. 131, c. 5). It seems, however, difficult to
identify the ordinary contribution for the cursus
pu'ilicus with one of these. The opinion has pro-
bably arisen from confounding it with the lia-
bility to the " parangaria praestatio," which, as
above intimated, seems rather to relate to oc-
casional impi-essment. Certain it is that as one
of the duties belonging to the land, which were
to be borne by all (muuera, quae patrimoniis
publicae utilitatis gratia indicuntur, ab omnibus
subeunda sunt. Code, bk. x. t. xli. 1. 1, of Anto-
nine) it does not seem by its nature to have been
one from which the clergy would be exempt, and
CURTAIN
wc have proof from the story of St. Augustine
having declined to accept for the Church an
estate charged with the patrimonial munus termed
the " navicularian," i.e. that relating to the trans-
port of corn from Africa, lest the Church should
have to undertake such a duty, that no ecclesias-
tical immunity obtained in a precisely similar
case (the Digest classes together as patrimonial
munera those " rei vehicularis, item navicularis ;"
bk. 1. T. iv. 1. 1). [J. M. L.]
CURSOR. (1) In the days when it was
dangerous for Christians to make known publicly
the times and places of their assemblies, the
faithful wei-e frequently summoned by a mes-
senger going from house to house, who was
called cursor ovpracco. To this custom Tertullian
seems to allude when (De Fuga in Persecutione,
c. 14) he says, speaking of the difficulty of holding
assemblies, " Non potes discurrere per singulos ?"
An epitaph published by Brower, Ursacius Cur-
sor DOMINICUS {Arvial. Trevirens. i. 53), is gener-
ally referred to an official of this kind ; but this
Ursacius may have been an ordinary letter-carrier
of the church. (See Ducange, s. v. Cursor.') As-
semblies seem to have been, at least in some in-
stances, announced in this way in the 4th century ;
for Jerome, writing to Eustochium {Epist. 22),
speaks of a praeco giving notice of the Agape ;
and Eusebius of Alexandria (quoted by Binterim,
Dcnkiciird. iv. 1, 281) speaks of the unreadiness
of many to go to church when the herald called.
(2) An official to whom was specially com-
mitted the task of circulating letters of popes
or other bishops ; see Baronius, Annales, an.
58, § 102. " Romae adhuc durant Papae cur-
sores, qui deferunt ejus ordines ac pontificias
bullas publicant." (Macri Hierolexicon, s. v.
Cursor.) [C]
CURSUS. The divine office, or series of
prayers, psalms, hymns, and versicles said daily
by the clergy in churches. For instance, the
seventh canon of the council of Chelsea [Calchut.]
is, " Ut omnes ecclesiae publice canonicis horis
cursum suum cum reverentia habeant " (Haddan
and Stubbs, Councils, iii. 451). See Hours ^ OF
Prayer ; Office, the Divine. [C]
CURTAIN (cortina, avlaeum, velum, 0rj\ov,
TvapaireTaffixa, KaTatriraaixa, afj.(pi6vpov). Cur-
tains were used in ancient churches for the fol-
lowing iDurposes. 1. To hang over the outer
doorway of the church. 2. To close the doorway
between the nave of the church and the sanc-
tuary, or perhaps rather to fill the open panels
or Cancelli of the door, during the time of the
consecration of the Eucharist. 3. To fill the
space between the pillars of the ciborium, or
canopy of the altar. 4. Curtains were also used
in baptisteries.
1. The Paschal Chronicle (p. 294) mentions
curtains embroidered with gold, for the doors,
in enumerating the gifts of Constantine to the
church at Constantinople. St. Jerome (Epitaph.
Nepot. Epist. ad Ileliod.) praises the priest Ne-
potianus for the care with which he provided
curtains for the doors of his church : " Erat sol-
licitus .... si vela semper in ostiis." We find
again indications of this custom in Epiphanius ;
and Paulinus of Nola tells us (Poem, xviii. 30)
that those surpassed him in magnificence who
ottered rich curtains (vela foribus) for the doors,
brilliant in tlie purity of linen, or ornamented
522
GUKTAIN
with coloured patterns woven into their sixb-
ftauce. He is yet more precise in speaking of
his own church of St. P'elix at Nola (Poem. xiv.
98), where he says, " the golden doorways are
ornamented with curtains white as snow."
Such curtains were suspended by iron or bronze
rings, the remains of which are still to be dis-
covered in some ancient Roman basilicas, for
example in those of St. Clement, St. Mary in
Cosmediu, St. Laurence, St. George in Velabro,
&c. The office of raising these curtains before
the priests and other dignified persons was as-
siii'ued to the inferior clerks (Concil. Narhon.
can. xiii. A.D. 589); the subdeacon as well as
the ostiarius is to raise the door-curtains (vela
ad ostia) before the elders (senioribus). They
were sometimes adorned with figures of saints or
with crosses, or flowers, arranged in patterns, and
with various purple ornaments.
'_'. It is probable that from the time of Con-
stantine curtains were used to enclose the sanc-
tuary, or to fill the apertures in the rails or
grating [Cascelli] which surrounded it. Atha-
nasius (Epist. ad Solit., opp. i. 847, ed. Paris,
1G27), speaking of an outrage committed by the
Arians, says that they carried out and burned
the benches, the throne, the table, and the cur-
tains (ra ^r\\a) of the church, where the context
certainly suggests that these were the curtains
of the sanctuary. Theodoret {Hist. Eccl.) tells
us that St. Basil invited the Emperor Valens to
enter into the enclosure of the sacred curtains
where he was himself seated ; that is, into the
sanctuary of his church, which was enclosed by
these curtains. And St. Chrysostom, in a pas-
sage containing much information as to the
manner of celebrating the eucharist in his time,
says, " when the sacrifice is borne forth . . .
when thou seest the curtains (ra a.fjL(pi9vpa)
drawn back, then think that the sky above us
opens, and angels descend" (/» Ephes. Horn. 3, § 5,
p. 23). Here the curtains are clearly those
which closed the doorway of the sanctuary, which
were drawn back after consecration, when the
people communicated. Evagrius (Hist. Eccl. vi.
21) says that Chosroes, after his victory over
Bahram (a.d. 590) sent to Gregory bishop of
Autioch, among other presents, '^ afj.(pldvpov ovv-
viKov KeKocrfirifiii/ov xpi'C'V • " i^'^t is, according
to the most probable interpretation, a curtain
of rich Hunnish work for the door of the sanc-
tuary. See Ducange (s. v. Hunniscu^'), who cites
the word Hunniscus from a letter of Charles the
Great to Offa king of Mercia (Haddan and Stubbs,
iii. 498), and believes it to be equivalent to the
"Sarmaticum" of Gregory of Tours (De Vit.
J'atr. c. 8). Cyril of Alexandria (Catena in
Joann. on c. ii. v. 24) bids the guai'dians of the
divine mysteries not to admit the uninitiated
within the sacred curtains (rcou Up5>v Karairf-
TaafxaTcov), nor to permit neophytes to draw
near the Holy Table. In this case the curtain
or " veil " of the sanctuary is clearly intended ;
the term itself is adopted from the Jewish
Temple. Germanus of Constantinople (Hist.
i:>:cl. p. 153, ed. Paris, 1560) says that the cur-
tain symbolized the stone which was rolled to
the door of the sepulchre.
3. Curtains were also fixed to the ciborlum in
such a manner as to surround the Altar [Altar,
p. 05] upon certain occasions. The tetravela, or
.sets of four curtains, which are frequently mon-
CYPEIANUS
tioned in the Liber Pontificalis among the gifts
of the popes to cei'taiu Koman churches were no
doubt intended for this use. See, for instance,
the life of Sergius I. (p. 150 B, ed. Muratori), who
is said to have given to surround the altar of
a church eight tetravela, four white, four scarlet.
Similar presents are attributed by the same au-
thority to Leo HI. Some have thought that the
Rugae presented by various popes to Roman
churches were curtains, but this does not seem
probable.
4. They were also used in baptisteries, as may
be seen in a very ancient mosaic at Ravenna
(Ciampini, Vet. Mon. IL plate xxiii.) ; and see
Baptism, p. 161.
(Ducange's Glossaries and Descriptio S. So-
phiae ; Suicer's Thesaurus ; Martigny's Diet, dcs
Antiq. Chre't.) [C]
CUSTODES ECCLESIAE. Either door-
keepers, otherwise called Ostiarii, one of the in-
ferior orders in the ancient Church, or, more
probably perhaps, the same officers who are
sometimes distinguished as Seniores Ecclesiae,
and whose duties corresponded in certain points
with those of the modern churchwarden. [See
Churchwarden.] Bingham, iii. 13, 2. [D. B.]
CUSTODES LOCORUM SAXCTOKUM.
The keepers of the holy places of Palestine, so
called because of their relation to our Lord's
earthly history: e.g. Bethlehem, Mount Gol-
gotha, the Holy Sepulchre, Mount Olivet. Such
an office was probably occasioned by the custom
which arose among Christians in early times of
visiting these places for purposes of piety and
devotion; and that the function of these cwstotfes
was accounted a religious service appears from
their having been exempted, by a statute of
Theodosius, in the same manner as ecclesiastics
generally, from personal tribute, in regard to
this their special employment (Bingham, iii.
13, 2). [D. B.]
GUSTOS ARCAE. A name given to the
archdeacon, as having charge of the treasury of
the Cliurch, and the care of dispensing the obla-
tions of the people. In this capacity Caeciliau
was accused by the Donatists of having prohi-
bited the deacons from carrying any provision
to the martyrs in prison. And the 4th Council
of Carthage (c. 17) directs the bishop not to con-
cern himself personally in the care and govern-
ment of widows, orphans, and strangers, but to
commit the duty to his archpresbyter or arch-
deacon (Bingham, ii. c. 21). [D. B.]
CUTHBEET, presbyter, abbat of Lindis-
farne, March 20 (Mart. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi) ;
translation to Durham, Sept. 4 (some MSS. of
Mart. Usuardi). [C]
CYCLUS ANNI. [Calendar.]
CYCLUS PASCHALIS. [Easter.]
CYMBAL. The word cymhalum seems occa-
sionally to be used for a bell, or some sonorous
instrument used instead of a bell. Thus Gregory
the Great (Dialojus i. 9) speaks of a cymhalum
being struck by way of passing-bell ; and Duran-
dus (Eittionale, i. 4, § 2) of monks being called
to the refectory by the sound of a cymhalum
which hung in the cloister. [C]
CYPRIANUS. (1) The famous bishop of
Carthage, martyr under Valerian, a.d. 258
CYPKUS
Sept. 14 {Cal. Carth., Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron.,
Bedae, Usuardi); Oct. 2 {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Bishop, martyr with Ju'stina, Sept. 26
{Mart. Bom. Yet., Bedae, Usuardi).
(3) Martyr in Africa under Hunneric, Oct. 12
(^Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(4) Abbat of Perigord, commemorated Dec. 9
{Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [C]
CYPRUS (Council of), a.d. 401, as Pagi
shews (ad Baron, ib. n. 20) under St. Epipha-
uius, at the instigation of Theophilus of Alex-
andria, prohibiting the reading of the works of
Origen. [E. S. F.]
CYRIACA, martyr, a.d. 282, is comme-
morated July 7 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CYEIACUS. (1) Martyr in Achaia, Jan. 12
{Mart. Bedae).
(2) Deacon, martyr at Rome under Maximin,
March 16 {Mart. Born. Vet, Bedae, Usuardi);
again on Aug. 8 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae,
Usuardi), supposed by some to be the day of his
translation by Pope Marcellus (see Sollier's note
on Usuard, Aug. 8); July 15 {Cal. Byzant.).
Sometimes written Cyricus or Cert/cus.
(3) Martyr at Tomi, June 20 {Mart. Hieron.,
Bedae).
(4) The Anchoret (a.d. 448-557), Sept. 29
{Cal. Byzant.). [C]
CYEICUS. (1) Martyr in the Plellespont,
Jan. 3 {Ma>-t. Hieron., Usuardi).
(2) Martvr at Antioch, June 16 {Mart. Hieron.,
Bom. Vet. Usuardi). [C]
Cl'^RIL. (1) Bishop of Alexandria, is com-
memorated Jan. 28 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi) ;
June 9 {Cal. Byzant.); with Athanasius, Jan. 18
{Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Bishop of Jerusalem, March 18 {Cal. By-
zant., Ethiop.).
(3) Martyr in Syria, March 20 {Mart. Usuardi).
(4) Bishop and martyr in Egypt (?), July 9
{Mart. Hieron., Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
(5) Martvr at Philadelphia, Aug. 1 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Usuardi). [C]
CYRILLA, daughter of Decius, martyr under
Claudius, Oct. 28 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae,
Usuardi). [C]
OYRINUS, or QUIRINUS. (1) Martyr at
Rome under Claudius, is commemorated March 25
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Rome under Diocletian, April 26
{-Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Milan under Nero, June 12
{Mart. Bedae, Usuardi). [C]
CYRIISTJS. [Cyricus.]
CYRION, presbyter, martyr, Feb. 14 {jMart.
Hieron., Usuardi). [C]
CYRUS, martyr, a.d. 292, wonder-\yorker
and unmercenary, is commemorated Jan. 31
{Cal. Byzant.) ; translation, .June 28 {ib.). [C]
CYZICUS (Council of), a.d. 376, according
to Mansi (iii. 469), being the meeting of semi-
Arians mentioned by St. Basil in his letter to
Patrophilus, and spoken of as a recent occurrence
{Ep. ccxciv. al. Ixxxi.). "What else they did
there, I know not," says he ; "but thus much
I hear, that having been reticent of the term
Jlomoousion, they now give utterance to the term
DALIMATIC
523
Homoiousion, and join Eunomius in publishing
blasphemies against the Holy Ghost." [E. S. F.]
CYZICUS, THE Martyrs of, are commemo-
rated April 29 [al. 28] {Cal. Byzant). [C]
DADAS, martyr with Maximus and Quiutili-
anus ; commemorated April 28 {Cal. Bi/zant.).
[W. F. G.]
DAEMON. [Demon.]
DAFROSA, wife of Fabian the martyr,
martyr at Rome under Julian ; commemorated,
Jan. 4 {Mart. Bom. ]'et., Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
DALMATIC. {AaXfj-aTiKii [Ae\.]; Dalma-
tica, sc. tunica or testis ; the substantive, as in
the similar case of alba, is seldom expressed.)
The dalmatic, which derived its name from the
province where it was first manufactured, was a
species of long-sleeved white tunic, with a longi-
tudinal stripe {clavus) from either side of the
neck downwards. ("Dalmatica vestis primum
in Dalmatia provincia Graeciae texta est, tunica
sacerdotalis Candida cum clavis ex purpura."
Isidore, Etymol. xix. 22.)
There are fair grounds, however, for believing
that in its original form the dalmatic, as worn
by men, was a short-sleeved or sleeveless tunic,
equivalent to the colobion (xtrc!;^ dxeipj5a.'Tds,
Sozomen, iii. 14).* This is shown by the way in
which the two words are used synonymously, as
in Epiphanius {Huer. xv. vol. i. p. 32, ed. Petavius),
AaAfiaTiKas, ilrovv KoKo^iwvas, iK TrAaTva-fi/xoiv
Sta TTopcpvpas a\ovpyoii(pe7s KaT€(TKevaafj.eyas. (So
too Joannes Damascenus, in Cotelier, EccL Graec.
Mon. Iiied. i. 284.) Again, in a most important
early document, to which we shall subsequently
refer, the edict of Diocletian fixing the maximum
price of articles throughout the Roman empire,
the two words are used as equivalents (Wad-
dington, L'e'dit de Diodeticn, p. 38). Nor need
any difficulty be felt from the occiirrence of
passages which sjjeak of the substitution of the
dalmatic for the colobion. If the above theory
be correct, such passages will merely refer to
the adding of long sleeves to the previously
sleeveless tunic; and the change having beeu
once made, it would be natural to employ the
word colobion to denote that form of the gar-
ment implied by the name, and to retain the
neutral word dalmatic to indicate the modified
form ; and indeed a passage from the Life of
Silvester I. to which it will be necessary to
allude subsequently, seems to siipport the above
view, .... oAA' ineiZ^ rb rwv ^paxtwaiv yvp.-
vhv i^iytro, AaKfiariKO. fxaviKX^ia fxaWov
avvi^t) ofOfiaffdrii/ai ftirep (leg. ^Trep) KoAd^ia
{ Vit. Silvestri, p. 266, ed. Combefis). It is of course
also just possible that this term may have been
susceptible of slightly different meanings in dif-
ferent countries.
We first meet with the dalmatic as a secular
dress, of a stately or luxurious character, worn
» Such was also the I.evito [al. Lehiton'] or Jem'lu-
narium (words having no connection with Levite) ol the
Kgyptiun monks. (Sue Uinterim, iv. 1. 214.)
524
DALMATIC
by persons in high position. Thus there would
necessarily be something exceptional in the use
of it, and then like other articles of Roman
secular dress it became adopted by the Church
as a dress for ecclesiastics. We shall cite first
sundry allusions to the dalmatic in the Historiae
Augustae Scriptores. Lampridius charges Com-
niodus [ob. 192 A.D.] with unseemly behaviour ''
in that he appeared in the streets in a dalmatic
( Vita Comm. c. 8 ; see also Capitolinus, Vita
Fertin. c. 8). Heliogabalus [ob. 222 A.D.] also
was foud of appearing abroad thus clad (Lam-
])ridius, \'ita Heliogah. c. 26). See also Trebellius
Follio, Vita Clmidii, c. 17.
The edict of Diocletian already cited fufnishes
us with much interesting information as to the
different varieties of this garment in use in the
Koman empire at the end of the 3rd century A.D.
It was made of various materials, wool, silk,
linen (Aaffios, d\oar\pi.K6s, bSSvri)'^ sometimes
the ornamental davus was present (A. exovcra
iropcpvpas), sometimes absent (^o-jjyuos). Dalma-
tics both for men's and women's use are men-
tioned ; those for the former, as we have already
stated, bearing the title AaXixariKuw avSp^iwv
i]Toi KoAoPicov. Three different qualities are given
for each sex, the price varying both according to
the quality and the place of manufacture, of
which Scythopolis, Tarsus, Byblos, Laodicea, &c.
are mentioned.
It may be not uninteresting to add that the
price of these various sorts varied from 10,000
to 1500 denarii ; the denarius, it should be re-
membered, being of the debased currency of the
earlier part of Diocletian's reign, and in value
about Ud. {op. cit. pp. 30, 37, &c.).
Three centuries later we find the dalmatic
worn as part of a senator's dress in the case of
Gordianus the father of Gregory the Great, who
was of that order (Joannis Diaconi Vita S. Gre-
qorii, iv. 83) ; and the father and the son are
both spoken of as wearing the planeta and dal-
matic (cf. c. 8-1, Patrol. Ixxv. 229).
In later times the dalmatic has been a dress
worn by sovereigns at their coronation and on
other great occasions. [See CoROXAXiON.]
The ideas, then, of dignity and stateliness were
associated with the dalmatic as a secular dress.
The earliest notice of its ecclesiastical use is, if
the document be genuine, in the ArAa Martyrii
of St. Cyprian, of whom it is said (c. 5) that
when led out to martyrdom " se lacerna byrro
expoliavit . . . ., et cum se dalmatica exspoliasset
et diaconibus tradidisset in linea stetit." Here
then, where the dress is evidently that ordinarily
used by the bishop (if indeed a distinction be-
tween the everyday dress of the Christian minis-
try and that used by them in divine service had
yet arisen), we find first the under linen garment
{linea), over this the dalmatic, and finally the
BiRRus or cloak.
b It is not quite clear iu what the impropriety coii-
Pisted. If we are right in supposing that the dalmatic of
this time had short sleeves, there would be an obvious
unseemliness in a person of rank being seen abroad with-
out an upper garment. Others who hold that even then
the dalmatic was a long-sleeved dress, refer the cause of
• lie censure to the implied effeminacy of the wearer (cf.
Aulus Gellius, vii. 12 •'
unicis uti virum prolixis ultra
brachia, et usque in primores manus, ac prope in digitos
Romae utque omni in Latio indecorum fuit ") ; and others
to the foreign nature of the garb.
DALMATIC
About fifty years later we come to something
more definite in the already cited order of Pope
Silvester I. [ob. 335 A.D.] that deacons should
for the future wear dalmatics instead of colobia.
It is a matter of small moment whether this
means the substitution of one vestment for
another, or, as we have tried to show, a modi-
fication in the shape of the existing vestment :
in either case the result is the same, the intro-
duction of a long-sleeved in place of a short- 1
sleeved tunic.'-' Walafrid Strabo [ob. 849 A.D.] '
tells us that " Silvester appointed that deacons '
should use dalmatics iu the church, and that
their left hand should be covered with a cloth of
linen warp {pallium linostimum'). Now at first, '
priests {saccrdotes, that is doubtlessly bishops \
and pi-iests both) wore dalmatics before chasubles '
were introduced, but afterwards when they began ]
to use chasubles, they permitted dalmatics to I
deacons. That even pontiffs, however, ought
to use them is obvious from the fact that Gre-
gory or other heads of the Roman see allowed
the use of them to some bishops and forbad it to
others. Hence it follows that at that time the i
permission was not given to all to do what now '
almost all bishops and some priests think they i
may do; namely, wear a dalmatic under the
chasuble." {De liehus Ecclesiasticis, c. 24 ; cf. Ra-
banus Maurus, De Clericorum Institutione, i. 7,
20; Amalarius, Be Eccl. Off. ii. 21; Pseudo- |
Alcuin, De Die. Off. c. 39 ; Anastasius, Vitae Pon- j
tificum, Silvester I. p. 35.) |
It will be seen here that the ordinance has I
special reference to deacons, whether from the
higher orders of the ministry already wearing
the long-sleeved tunic, or, as Marriott ( Vesti-
arium Christ ianum, p. Iviii.) suggests, with the
view of compensating for the absence of a super-
vestment among deacons. j
Noticeable in the next place is the reference
to permission granted or withheld by the bishop -
of Rome as to the wearing of the dalmatic by '
other bishops, so that as late as the middle of i
the 9th century this dress was in some special
way associated with the local Roman Church,
and considered the peculiar privilege of ecclesi-
astics of that Church, others being only allowed
to use it by special permission. Of this state of ,
things, doubtless originally due to the use of the i
vestment at Rome by persons of high secular po-
sition, numerous illustrations can be given. Thus
in the life of Caesarius, bishop of Aries [ob. 542 !
A.D.], it is mentioned that on his visit to Rome, the
then Pope Symmachus granted him as a special
distinction the privilege of wearing the pallium
[Pallium], and to his deacons that of dalmatics
after the Roman fashion ( Vit. Caes. Arel. c. 4,
Patrol. Ixvii. 1016).
Another instance occurs in a letter of Gregory
the Great to Aregius, bishop of Vapincum (the
modern Gap), in which he accords to him and
his archdeacon the sought-for privilege of wear-
ing dalmatics {Epist. ix. 107). An allusion to
the same thing occurs in a letter of Pope Zacha- ;
rias [ob. 752 A.D.] to Austrobert, archbishop of
Vienne {Patrol. Ixxxix. 956). The genuineness,
however, of this letter is doubtful. One or two
'^ Reference may perhaps be made to Ammianus Mar-
cellinus (xiv. 9), who, writing in the latter part of the
4th century, still speaks of the short-sleeved tuuic in con- i
nection with deacons, showing that as yet the change had i
not become wide-spread. i
DALMATIC
instances more, in which the dalmatic is associ-
ated with the Roman Church, may sufSce. Eu-
tychianus, bishop of Rome [ob. 283 A.D.], ordered
its use when a martyr was buried (Anastasius,
Vitae Pontificum, Eutychianus, p. 28). In the Gre-
goi-ian Sacramentary (p. 65), in the rubric for
Maundy Thursday, we find " ingressi sacrarium
induunt dalmaticas, tam pontifex quam omnes
diaconi," where pontifex is doubtless the pope.
Gregory also refers in his dialogues to the dal-
matic of Paschasius, a deacon of Rome, as laid
on his bier (^Dial. iv. 40), and from a deci-ee of
the same pontiff, said to have been given at a
synod of Rome in 595 A.D., we find the same
custom prevailed in the case of popes, which
custom is here forbidden {Opp. p. 1336 Jligne).
Indirect evidence pointing to the same result
may be gathered from the fact of the absence of
any mention of the dalmatic in the Acts of the
Fourth Council of Toledo [633 A.D.] among the
regulations as to the dress of the Christian
ministry {Concil. Tol. iv. can. 28, 40, 41 ; Labbe,
V. 1714, 1716), showing that this vestment was
not one then in use in Spain, as indeed might be
further inferred from the style of the one solitary
mention of it in the writings of Isidore, under
whose presidency the council was held.
It does not fall within the province of the
present article to discuss at length the regu-
lations of a later date as to the use of the dal-
matic by bishops and deacons, for the latter of
whom it was the distinctive vestment at the
Holy Communion (see e. g. the pontifical of Eg-
bert, archbishop of York [ob. 766 A.D.], where we
find " diaconi dalmaticis vestiti " in the form for
the celebration of a mass on Maundy Thursday ;
p. 120, ed. Surtees Society). It still continued,
however, to be used by them on other occasions.
Thus Amalarius (De EccL Off. ii. 26) speaks of
the "dalmatica diaconi et sui ministri [i.e. the
sub-deacon] quae est itineri hahiUs" as emblem-
atic of the activity to be shown by them in good
deeds to others.
The dalmatic thus being a vestment which
even in the West had primarily only a local
acceptance, we are prepared to find that in the
East there is nothing which strictly speaking
answers to it. The arixa-pi-ov or o-Toixap""') how-
ever, is the representative of the general type
of white tunic, which under whatever name we
know it, alb, dalmatic, or tunicle, is essentially
the same dress (Goar, Euahologion, p. 111).
DANCING
525
One or two further remarks may be made in
conclusion as to the ornamental stripes or clavi
[Clavds] of the dalmatic. As to the colour of
these it is stated by Marriott that he had met
with exclusively black clavi in all ancient pic-
tures of ecclesiastical dalmatics prior to the
year 600, as in the well-known Ravenna mosaic
(see woodcut), the earliest exception being a
mosaic of the date 640 (a coloured drawing of
which is in the Windsor collection) in which
the Apostles have red ciavi on their tunics (ih.
p. lix. n.). The red or purple clavi afterwards
became common (see the passage already cited
from Isidore, if indeed the reference there be to
ecclesiastical dalmatics ; also Rabanus Maurus
I. c, Amalarius I. c, etc.), and the later writers
we have referred to (e.g. Rabanus Maurus,
Amalarius, etc.) speak of these as worn back
and front, " ante et retro descendentes," but
whether this was the case with the original type
of the dress may perhaps be doubted. Further,
these ornamental stripes are found on the borders
of the sleeves ; and on the left side iif later
days was a border of fringe, for which various
writers have found appropriate symbolical reasons,
into which however there is no need to enter
here."!
For the matter of the foregoing article I am
mainly indebted to Marriott's Vestiarium Christi-
anum, to Hefele's valuable essay. Die Liturgi-
schen Gewdnder in his Beitrdge zur Kirchenge-
schichte, Archdologie und Liturgik, ii. 203 sqq.,
to the articles Dalmatica and Colobium in Du-
cange's Glossary. The following books have also
been consulted with advantage : Ferrarius De Be
vestiaria, Padua, 1642 ; Binterim, Denkwiirdig-
keiten der Christ-Katholisclien Kirche, vol. iv.
pt. i. pp. 213 sqq. [R. S.]
DALMATIUS. (1) Martyr in Italy under
Maximian ; commemorated Dec. 5 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Holy Father, a.d. 368 : commemorated
Aug. 3 {Cat. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DAMASUS, the pope ; martyr at Rome
under Maximinus : Natale, Dec. 11 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi); deposition, Dec.
10 {Mart. Hieron.). [W. F. G.]
DAMIANUS. (1) Martyr in Aegea with
Cosmas under Diocletian, A.D. 284: commemo-
rated Sept. 27 {Mart. Ifieron., Bedae); with
Cosmas, Anthimus, Leontius, and Euprepius,
Sept. 27 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi);
with Cosmas, ^^ dav/jLarovpyol Kal avapyvpoi,"
July 1 {Cal. Byzaiit.); with Cosmas, and Theo-
dote their mother, Nov. 1. {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) In Africa, "Fassio sancti Damiani militis"
{Mart. Adonis). [W. F. G.]
DANCING. Many passages in the flithers
and many decrees of councils censure and pro-
hibit promiscuous and lascivious dancing. St.
Ambrose thus describes the dancing of drunken
women in his time (Zte Elia et Jcjiiniis, c. 18),
" They lead up dances in the streets unbecoming
men, in the sight of intemperate youths, tossing
their hair, dragging their unfastened garments,
with their arms uncovered, clapping their hands,
the Cliurcli uf M. Viliilti, at '
•1 The remark often made of the dalmatic as being
" in modum crucis facta" (see e.g. Rabanus Maurus, I. c.)
refers of course to the appearance presented by it when
tbe sleeves are stretched out.
526
DANIFX
dancing with their feet, loud and clamouring in
their voices, imitating and provoking youthful
lusts by their theatrical motions, their wanton
eyes and unseemly antics." And again, com-
menting on the words, " We have piped unto
you and ye have not danced" (Matt. xi. 17), he
cautions his readers that they must not suppose
that the " dance " of Christians implies any
immodest movement of the body ; i-ather, it is
like the solemn movement of David before the
ark {De Foenit. ii. 6).
St. Augustine declares (contra Parmenianum,
iii. c. ult.) that frivolous and lascivious dancing
was put down by the bishops of the church ; and
the author of Scrmo 215 Dc Tempore (in Augus-
tine's Works) speaks sorrowfully of the revels
(balatioiies) and dances before the very doors of
the churches, which were relics of paganism. To
the same practice the 60th canon of the Cdex
EccL Afric. refers, which prohibits the lascivious
dances which took place in the streets on fes-
tival days, to the great scandal of religion, and
annoyance of those who wished to worship.
St. Chrysostom also repeatedly and vehemently
protests against it. He declares it to be one of
the pomps of Satan renounced in baptism ; he
says, " the devil is present at dances, being called
thither by the songs of harlots, and obscene words
and diabolical pomps used on such occasions."
And in another passage, speaking of the dancing
of Herodias' daughter, he says, " Christians do not
now deliver up half a kingdom nor another man's
head but their own souls to inevitable destruc-
tion" (Hom. 47 in Julian. Mart. p. 613, Hom.
23 de Xovilun. p. 264, ed. Paris, 1616).
Tlie council of Laodicea, a.d. 366, forbids
wanton dancing (iSuAAifsic tj opxi^trdaO ^^ mar-
riage feasts (can. 53).
The third council of Toledo (a.d. 589) pro-
hibits dances with lascivious songs on solemn
festivals, the use of which they complain of as
an irreligious custom prevailing in Spain among
the common people, and order to be corrected
both by the ecclesiastical and secular judges
(can. 23). The Decree of Reccared (Bruns's
Cinones, i. 394) confirming these canons, speaks
of these same dances as " ballematiae " or " bal-
lemachiae " ' ; words which recal the " /3a\Ai-
Cfiv" of the Laodicean canon, and the "bala-
tiones " of the Pseudo-Augustine, and arc per-
haps akin to the modern Ball and Ballet.
The council of Agde (a.d. 506) forbids the
clergy to be present at marriages where obscene
love songs wei'e sung, and obscene motions of
the body used in dancing (Cone. Agathen. can.
39). ■ [C]
DANIEL. (1) The prophet ; commemorated
Magabit 23 = March 19 (Cal. Ethiop.): July 21,
jWdale, (Mart. Bedae) : with Ananias, Azarias,
and Misael, Dec. 17 (Cal. Bijzant.).
(2) Stvlites, Holy Father, a.d. 467 ; comme-
morated Dec. 11 (Cal. Bijzant.). [W. F. G.]
DARIA, virgin, martyr at Rome under Nu-
merian ; commemorated with Chrysantus and
"qui cum eis passi sunt," Aug. 12 (Mart.
Ilieron.); with Chrysantus and others, Nov. 29
(Mirt. Hieron.)- with Chrysantus, Dec. 1 (Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi) ; with Clirysantus, Marinianus.
"cum infinita multitudine martyrum," Dec. 1
(Mart. Rom. Vet.). ' [W. F. G.]
» There are several various readings.
DEACON
DARIUS, martyr at Nicaea ; commemorated
Dec. 19 (Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DASIUS, martyr at Nicomedia, with Zoticu^
Gains, and 12 soldiers; commemorated Oct. 21
(Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
DATIVA, confessor in Africa ; commemo-
rated Dec. 6, with seven others (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DATIVUS. (1) Martyr in Africa, with
Saturninus, Felix, Apelius, and his companions ;
commemorated Feb. 12 (Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Martyr under Decius and Valerian with
five others ; commemorated Sept. 10 (Mart. Rom-
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DAVID, (1) "et tres pueri;" commemorated
June 25 (Gd. Armen.).
(2) of Thessalonica ; commemorated June 26
(Cal. Byzant.).
(3) King of Ethiopia ; commemorated Mas-
karram 10 = Sept. 7 (Cat. Elhlop.).
(4) King of the Jews ; commemorated Sept. 30
(Cal. Armen.) ; Taksas 23 = Dec. 19 (Cal. Elhiop.) ;
Dec. 29 (Mart. Rom. Fe^., Adonis, Usuardi).
(5) and Constantine ; commemorated Oct. 2
(Cal. Georgiae).
(6) commemorated Dec. 23 (Cal. Armen.).
[W. F. G.]
DAVID. Among the Egyptians, an archi-
mandrite, or any head of a monastery of what-
ever rank, was called David ; so that when a
monastic head gave letters of commendation to
any one, he subscribed himself as "■David illius
loci " (Gratian De Formatis, quoted by Ducange,
s.v.) [a]
DAYS, NAMES OF. [Week.]
DEACON. AiaKoi"js, diaconus ; SiaKctiv (Du-
cange. Glossy, quoting Malaxus, Hist. Patriarch.) ;
diacones (Cyprian, Ep. ad Sucressum., and repeat-
edly in the decrees of councils, e. g. Cone. Elib.
c. 18 and 76, / Arelat. c. 15, / Tolet. 1).
I. Names. — The first idea contained in the
word appears to be that of service rendered in
an inferior capacity. It seems too as if some-
thing of a sacred character attached to the word
even before its use in the Scriptures. Tlius we
find ^laKOvelv ydfiov, " metaphora sumpta ab
iis qui pocula aut victum ministrant egentibus
ot petentibus " (Steph. T/tes. in verb. Siaicovew ;
comp. Buttmann's Lexilogus, and Stanley, Apjo-
stolic Age, p. 69).
In the New Testament SiaKovos is used : 1. In
the general sense of an agent or instrument.
Thus the sovereign power is called 0eoD SiUKo-
vos (Rom. xiii. 4), and Timothy Siclkouos 'iT/troP
XpiffTov (1 Tim. iv. 5). Sometimes " bishops and
deacons" express all the offices of the Christian
ministry ((Tuf iiria-KSirots Kot SiukSvois, Phil,
i. 1). 2. But the word appears to have assumed
its distinctii-^ ecclesiastical meaning at the aii-
pointment of the Seven to superintend the distri-
bution of the alms to the Hellenist widows, iv rp
SiaKOvla. TTJ Kadrifiepivfi (Acts vi. 1-6), when the
SiaKOPia Twu rpaiTf^wv became distinct from the
SiaKovia rov \6yov. These seven are never called
deacons in the Acts of the Apostles. In the only
passage in which mention is made of them as a
body, Philip is described as one of " the Seven "
(Acts xxi. 8). It has therefore been contended
that the institution of the diaconate was not
DEACON
really connected with the appointment of the
Seven. One theory would identity the deacons
with the ved>rfpoi or veavlffKoi elsewhere men-
tioned in the New Testament (Acts v. 6 and 10)
as performing certain subordinate offices in tlie
church. But this theory appears to be at vari-
ance with the account given in the Acts, where
it is distinctly said that, at the time of the ap-
pointment of the Seven, the distribution of the
alms, 7) SiaKovia. t] Kadrjufpivr), was performed by
the apostles themselves.
. A theory something like this has been adopted
by later writers. In this case it is alleged that
the appointment of the Seven was merely to
meet a particular emergency, and " had probably
no connection with the deacons in the later
period of the apostolic age," though it is admitted
" that they may possibly have borne the name,"
and that " there was in some respects a lilieness
between their respective duties " (Stanley, £ssa'/S
on Apostolic Age, p. 62 ; comp. Vitringa, iii. 2, 5 ;
Lightfoot, Ess'ty on Christian Ministry, in Comm.
on Pliilippians, p. 186, note). A passage from
St. Chrysostom is brought forward in support of
this theory, in which he distinctly asserts that
the ordination (xiiporovicC) of the Seven was
neither that of deacons, nor that of presbyters,
nor that of bishops (Hmn. on Acts vi.). This
]>assage is incov|inrati"l into a decree of the
Council in Ti'ullo (r. ir,) \\lii(;h, referring to the
institution of the Sevi'ii '• ih.aeons " (t/ twv itrpd-
^60)1' 0i^\os eirra SlukSvovs iiwh riiv airoaroKajv
\a.TaaT7)vai trapaSidaxrii'), expressly distinguishes
these ministers from the deacons proper who took
l>art in the sacred ministry of the altar (6 Ao'yos
avToTs ov Trepi Ta>v to7s iJ.vaTr}piois Si.aKovovfj.evwv
■^f a^'5p^^, ctAAa irepl ttjs iv Ta7s XP*'''"^ "'''<'''
rpatre(<av virovpylas). Compare Thomassin, Vet.
ef Xuv. Eccles. Disciplina, Part I. L. 1, c. 51,
§11,12.
On the other haod there is abundant testi-
mony that the early church in general consi-
dered the order of deacons to have originated in
the institution of the Seven. Irouaeus speaks of
" Nicolaum uuum ex septcm qui primi ad diaco-
nium ab apostolis ordinati sunt " {Ilacrcs. i. 27).
Sozomen asserts that the church of Rome retained
the custom of only having seven deacons, in ac-
cordance with the number of those ordained by
the apostles, of whom Stephen was first {H. E.
vii. 19), so Constant. Apost. viii. 46 ; Hilary,
Comm. in 1 Tim. iii. 11, apud Ambrosii Opera;
Cyprian, Ep. 65, ad Rogatian. ; Id. Ep. 68, ad
Pleb. Leg. ; Cone. Neocaes. c. 15 ; Epiphan.
Haeres. I. De Tncnrn. 4).
The name of deacon {i. e. servant or subordi-
nate) was given to the third order of tlie ministry
on account of the duties wliich they had to
]>erform, i^vTrr]piTua9ai tQ iniaKOTro) Kal rols
■trpecr^vTepots, TovricTTi SiaKoveTf (Constitut.
Apnst. iii. 20) ; roxj i-maKcTTOv vTrriperai ei(TL
{Cone. Nic. c. 18). " Diaconus ita se presbyteri
et episcopi ministrum noverit " (iv. Cone. Curth.
c. 37 ; comp. I. Cone. Turon. c. 1 ; Cone. Elib. title
of c. 18, and c. 33). In the last named canon,
however, the heading " De Episcopis et Ministris"
includes the presbyters and all other orders of
the clergy.
They are also continually called Levites, from
the analogy of the Mosaic Dispensation ; oi
A€i/?Tai vixuv ol vvv SiaKuvoi (Constitut. A/ost.
li. 25) ; Aevlrais iSi'oj SiaKovlai iiriKuvrai (Clem.
DEACON
>27
ad Cor. i. 40). Jerome (Epist. ad Evangelum)
compares the bishops, priests, and deacons with
Aaron, his sons, and the Levites respectively.
(Comp. I. Cone, luron. c. 1, 2. Salvian, ad
Eccles. Cathol. ii. 394.)
II. Position of Deacons. — They are always
spoken of in conjunction with the bishops and
priests in the service of the church. The
canons of the councils are almost invariably
addressed to the bishops, priests, and deacons as
to the three orders of whom the clergy was
composed, and the same rule is observed in the
writings of the apostolic fixthers (See Ign. Trail.
c. 3, Philadelph. c. 7 ; Polycarp. Philipp. 5 ; Mar-
tyr. Ignatii, 3). In the Constitut iones Aposto-
licae (viii. 46) they are said to be ordained iu
the same manner as the priests and bishops ;
and in another place (ii. 26, 28) a type of the
threefold oi)erations of the Holy Trinity is found
in the distinctive offices of bishops, deacons,
and deaconesses. In many respects, indeed,
their position was put on a level with that of
the priests. The same rules apply to the mar-
ried deacons as to the married priests (i. Cone.
Tolet. 1, I. Cone. Turon. 2). In later days the
oath of purgation to be taken by a deacon was
the same as that of a priest, and difiered fi'om
that of the inferior orders of clergy {Cone. Ber-
gh'cm. c. 18, 19). Their share of the first-fruits
(oTrapxai) offered at the agape was the same as
that of the presbyters, and was double that
allotted to the irpecr/SvTiSes (Constitut. Apost.
ii. 28). Of the Eulogiae which remained after
the administration of the Eucharist, the bishop
was to receive four portions, the presbyter three,
and the deacon two (find. viii. 30, 31). In some
churches it would seem as if the emoluments of
the deacons were even greater than those of the
priests, since Jerome warns them against esti-
mating the dignity of their ecclesiastical positioii
by its pecuniary results : " Presbyter noverit .so
lucris minorem, sacerdotio esse majorem "
(Hieronym. E,i. 85, ad Evang. comp.- Comm. in
Ezeh. c. xlviii.).
There are places also in which their office is
spoken of as sacerdotal in the general sense.
Thus Optatus speaks of it as the third grade :
"Quid commemorem diaconos in tertio? quid
presbyteros in secundo sacerdotio institutos ?"
(c. Donatist. lib. i. 35). Jerome speaks of their
ordination to a priesthood (sacerdotium) in com-
mon with the bishops and priests (Hieron. Apolog.
Jomni), and St. Augustine (Ep. 16) addresses
one Praesiduus as a fellow priest (consacerdos), of
whom Jerome, in the epistle that follows, speaks
as a deacon.
But notwithstanding such expressions as these
their right to be considered as in any way par-
takers in the office of the presbyter, or priest in
the narrower sense, is in many places emphatic-
ally denied. In the Quaestiones it is held impos-
sible that a deacon can in any case discharge the
duties of a priest (sacerdotis), since he is in no
degree a partaker of the priestly office (Qtiaet-t.
Vet. et Nov. Test, inter Augustini Opera, X. T.,
46) ; deacons are inferior to priests (irpeaPv-
repot, i. Cone. i\ic. c. 18) ; a deacon might be
ordained by one bishop only, because the ordina-
tion was only to a ministerial, not a priestly
office (non ad sacerdotium .sed ad ministerium
consecratur, iv. Cone. Carth. 4) ; and deacons
distributed the consecrated elements, not as
528
DEACON
priests, but as the attendants upou priests
(Upevirt, Constitut. Apost. viii. 28) ; so Ambrosi-
aster, " quamvis non sunt sacerdotes " {Comm.
Ep. Ephcs. iv. 11).
And this inferiority of office was marked by
the position given them in the discharge of the
duties. While the bishops and the presbyters
were seated on their thrones in the church, the
deacons were to stand near \X\e.vc\. {Constitut. Apost.
ii. 57). The first council of Nice (c. 18) strictly
forbade a deacon to sit among the priests as con-
trary to all rule and order. So it was ordered
that a deacon might only be seated by express
permission in presence of a priest (Trpecr/SvTepos,
Co)ic. Laod. c. 20 ; comp. Coac. Agath. c. 65, iv.
Gone. Carth. c. 39) ; but the same respect was to
be paid to the deacons by the subdeacons and in-
ferior clergy {Ibid.'). So it is said that even the
deacons of the churches at Rome, though in-
clined to presume on their position, did not
venture to seat themselves during the services
(Quaestiones, Q. i. 10); and the testimony of Je-
i-ome confirms this : " In ecclesia Romae presby-
teri sedent, et stant diaconi " {Epis. 85, ad Evang.).
So I. Cone. Barcinon. c. 4. In councils their
proper position was standing, as is apparent in
several records of their proceedings ; e. g. " con-
sidentibus presbyteris, adstantibus diaconis "
(i. Cone. Tolet. Prooem.); "adstantibus ministris
vel universo clero " (l. Cone. Braear. Prooem.) ;
and this was strictly enforced by canons ; the
priests should sit at the back of the bishops,
and the deacons stand in front (iv. Cone. Tolet. 4).
Deacons, however, who held ecclesiastical oHices
(h(p<piKia iKK\7]ffiaffTtKa) were allowed to be
seated, but on no account before any presbyter,
unless they represented their own patriarch or
metropolitan in another city, in which case they
were to take the place allotted to the person
whom they represented {Cone. Quinisext. c. 7).
Another canon provides that they should not
speak at councils unless especially bidden (iv.
Cone. Carth. c. 40). [Councils, p. 481.]
Thus in every way their position appears to
have been associated with the discharge of duties
which were recognised as honourable in them-
selves, and conferring honour on those to whom
they were entrusted, yet distinctly marked out
as ministerial rather than sacerdotal, and care-
fully kept apart from those which specially be-
longed to the priests.
III. Duties. — These were of a varied nature,
but appear to have been in every case suggested
by those which were originally allotted to them,
and to be comprehended in SidKoi/ia rSiv rpa-
ire^civ, as distinguished from the SiaKovia rod
\6yov.
1. They were stewards of the property of the
church and of the funds belonging to the widows
and orphans. Thus Cyprian speaks of Nicostra-
tus as having not only robbed the church but
defrauded the widows and wards (Cyp. Ep. 49
[a/. 52], ad Comelium). So Jerome calls the
deacon " mensarum et viduarura minister "
(Hieron. Ep. 85, ad Evang.). They were also
to distribute the oblations (611X0710^) which re-
mained after the celebration of the Eucharist
among the different orders of the clergy, in
the regular proportions {Constitut. Apost. viii.
2. They were almoners of the charities dis-
pensed by the church. It was part of their duty
DEACON
to seek out and visit the sick .lud afflicted, and
report to the bishop i-especting such as were m
afiiiction {Constitut. Apost. iii. 19). But all
alms were to be distributed strictly under the
direction of the bishop {Ihid. ii. cc. 31, 32, 34).
They were also to select the aged women (Trpeer-
^vTfpas) invited on the ground of poverty to
more frequent participation in the aydirai {Ibid.
ii. 28).
3. The discipline of the church was in a great
measure intrusted to their hands as the imme-
diate ministers of the bishop. In times of per-
secution it was their duty to minister to the
confessors in their prisons, and to bury the
bodies of the martyrs (Euseb. //. E. vii. 11).
They were also to strengthen the fainthearted
and exhort the waverers. Thus it was one of
the complaints against Novatian that he per-
sisted in remaining in his hiding-place when
exhorted by the deacons to come forth (Euseb.
//. E. vi. 43). If any for misconduct were cast
out from the congregation, the deacons were to
intercede for the offender, since, it is added, Christ
intercedes for sinners with the Father {Constitut.
Apost. ii. c. 16). They were also associated with
the bishop in the work of seeking out and re-
proving offenders {Ibid. ii. c. 17). As deputies
of the bishop they were to relieve him of the
lighter cases brought for adjudication, leaving
the weightier for his own decision {Ibid. ii. 44),
and might even, in his absence, take charge of
the diocese (Bede, H. E. ii. 20). They also appear
to have been entrusted, in the absence of a pres-
byter, with some jurisdiction over the inferior
clergy {Constitut. Apost. viii. 28). When any of
the faithful brought letters commendatory from
another diocese, they were to examine into the
circumstances of the case {Ibid. ii. 58). They
were also frequently sent on embassies from
one church to another (Ignat. Philadelph. c. 10).
They also sometimes represented their bishops
in councils {Cone. Quiniscx. a.d. 691, c. 7),
though this was forbidden in the West, on the
ground that a deacon being inferior to the
priests (presbyteris junior), could not be allowed
to sit with bishops in the council {Cone. Emerit.
A.D. 666, c. 5). Thomassin however asserts that
this provincial decree was never acted upon
{Nova et Vet. Eecl. Discip. i. 2, c. 23, § 19). At
all councils a deacon was to read the decrees
by which the proceedings were regulated (capitula
de conciliis agendis) before the business com-
menced (iv. Cone. Tolet. 4). It appears also to
have been the duty of the deacons on these occa-
sions to ^keep the doors, and call for those whose
presence was required before the council {Codex
Eecl. Afrieanae, c. 100).
4. In other respects they were to be channels of
comrriunication between the bishop and the laity
{Constitut. Apost. ii. 28). All the offerings of
the people (tos dvaias ijroi trpocnpSpas, tos
diropx^s Koi Tas Se/caras Koi to kKovcria), when
not made directly to the bishop, were to be pre-
sented to him through their hands {Ibid. ii. 27).
So various were their duties in relation to the
bishop that they are called in one place his cars
and eyes and mouth and heart {Ihid. ii. 44) ; in
another his soul and perception {^vxh fai ol^f-
eriffis, Ibid. iii. 19).
5. These duties were connected with the 5ia-
Kovia raiv rpaire^Siv, as relating to the mate-
rial needs of the community. Another class of
DEACON
duties arose from the " ministry of the Table,"
considered in relation to the celebration of the
Eucharist. Thomassin says that, although the
occasion for instituting the order of deacons arose
from the necessities of the common table, yet
that it also had reference to the celebration of
the Eucharist, " ad sacram mensam, quae tunc a
civili non divellebant " ( Vet. et Nova Discip.
Eccl. i. 1, c. 51, §4; comp. Wordsworth, Comm.
in Acts vi. 2. and, there quoted, Bishop Peai-son,
"In communi victu sacramentum Eucharistiae
celebrabant ").
a. They were to provide for the maintenance
of order in the congregations during the per-
formance of the various services. They were to
see that all the congregation took the places
allotted to them, that no one lingered in the en-
trance, or whispered, or slept, or in any way
misbehaved during the service (JJonstitut. Apost.
ii. 57, viii. 11). So Chrysostom says, "if any
misbehave, call the deacon " {Horn. 24 in Acta) ;
and they were to be particularly careful in as-
signing honourable places and giving a cordial
welcome to the poor and aged and to strangers
{Const itut. Ap:ji,t. ii. 58). they were to stand
at the men's gate lest any should go in or out
during the celebration of the Eucharist {Ibid.
viii. 11). They also discharged the lesser offices
belonging to the Lord's Table ; they arranged
the altar, placed on it the sacred vessels, and
brought water for the hands of the officiating
priest. Their duty was to minister both to bishops
and priests in things pertaining to their several
offices, that all things relating to the worship of
God might be rightly celebrated {Ibid. viii. 46).
These duties, however, in large churches where
there were many clergy, devolved on those be-
longing to the inferior orders : " ut autem non
omnia obsequiorum perordinem agant multitude
facit clericorum. Nam utique et altare porta-
rent, et vasa ejus et aquam in manus funderent
sacerdotis, sicut videmus per omnes ecclesias"
{Quaestiunes, Q. 101) ; and in another place it is
ordered that the subdeacon should pour the
water on the hands of the officiating priest, airA-
VLipLf x^'F^'' """"'^ Upivcri {Constitut. Apost.
viii. 11). But there are decrees of councils
strictly forbidding the inferior orders of clergy
{vTTTjperas) to enter the Diaconicum or touch
the sacred vessels {Cone. Laodic. c. 21, Agath.
c. 66). In the decree of the latter council
vTvripeTas is rendered "insacratos ministros."
The second canon of the first council of Toledo
orders that a deacon who had been subjected to
public penance should only be received among
the subdeacons, so that he might not handle the
sacred vessels ; and it was expressly ordered that
the deacons should take the remains of the con-
secrated elements into the Pastophoria or Sacristy
{Constant. Apost. viii. 13).
It was their duty also to present the offerings
of the people at the altar, proclaiming at the
same time the names of those who had made
them ; oi SioLKOvot Trpoa-ayeToiaav to. S&pa r^
iTncrKS-rrcfj irphs to 6v<naffri]piov {Con-ititiit. Apost.
viii. 12). "Public^ diaconus in ecclesia recitet
oft'erontium nomina, tantum ofTert ille, tantum
ille pollicitus est" (Hieron. Comm. in Ezekkl.
iviii.). [DiPTYCHS.]
They had also an important part to fill in the
service itself. At the commencement of the
Communion Office the deacon who ministered
CHRIST, ANT.
DEACON
529
was to stand near the bishop and proclaim with
a loud voice : ^tjtis /cora rivhs, yUTjTij 4v viro-
Kpiffei, " let none come who has ought against
any one, none in hypocrisy " {Constitut. Apost.
ii. 54, 57, § 12). The reading of the Gospel was
allotted either to a deacon or to a presbyter
{loid. ii. 57, § 5) ; though in some churches it
appears to have been the special office of the
deacon, " Evangelium Christi quasi diaconus
lectitabas " (Hieron. Epist. ad Sabin.). Sozomen
says of the church at Alexandria, that the
archdeacon only read the Gospel, but in other
churches the duty was discharged by the dea-
cons, and in many only by the priests (Soz. II.
E. vii. 19). The second council of Vaison ad-
mitted that a deacon, in the absence of a priest,
might be permitted to read a homily of the
Fathers in the church, on the ground that they
who were worthy to read the Gospel of Christ
were not unworthy to recite expositions of the
Fathers (ii. Cone. Vasense^ c. 2), and for this
reason it was forbidden that a deacon should be
appointed who could not read {Cone. Narhon.
c. 11 ; comp. Cyprian, Ep. 34, al. 39). It was
perhaps in allusion to this part of their office
that the duty was assigned to them of holding
the Gospels over the head of a bishop at the
time of his ordination {Constitut. Apost. viii. 4).
The deacon appointed for the purpose was also
to give the signal for the departure of the unbe-
lievers {Ibid. cc. 5, 12), to recite the appointed
prayers for the catechumens, the energumens,
those preparing for baptism, and the penitents,
and to dismiss each class in its proper order
{Ibid. viii. cc. 6, 7, 8). He was to make the
proclamation which was the signal for the kiss
of peace {fbid. ii. c. 57), and to recite the prayer
for the universal church {Ibid. ii. 57, viii. 9, 10,
11, 13, 35). Thus Chrysostom {Horn. 14 in
Rom.) speaks of the deacon ofi'ering the prayers
on behalf of the people {rov Srifiov). In the
Liturgy given in the Constitntiones under the
name of St. James, it is ordered that two deacons
should stand by the altar bearing fans [Fla-
BELLUJi] made of fine membrane, or peacock's
feathers, or linen, to drive away flies or insects
from the sacred elements {Constitut. Apost. viii.
c. 12).
At the administration of the Holy Communion
it was the duty of the deacons to receive the
consecrated elements from the officiating minister
in order to distribute them among those who
were present, and to convey them to the absent
(Justin Martyr, Apolog. viii. c. 2); " Diaconi
ordo est accipere a sacerdote et sic dare plebi "
{Quaestiones, 101). But their peculiar office was
the administration of the cup ; o SiaKovos Kan-
X6TC0 Th TTOT7}piov {Coustitut. Apost. viii. c. 13);
" solennibus adimpletis diaconus ofl'erre prae-
sentibus coepit " (Cyprian, Do Lapsis, c. 25).
They were strictly forbidden to distribute the
bread if a priest was present (ii. Cone. Arelat.
c. 15), unless some necessity arose for doing so,
and they were bidden to do so by the priest
(iv. Cone. Carth. c. 38). But it was carefully
noted that the deacon only acted as the subordi-
nate of the priest {Constitut. Apost. viii. 28),
and had no right whatever to offer the sacrifice
{Ibid. viii. 46). Priests under censure are de-
prived of the privilege of conseci-ating, deacons
of ministering {Cone. Agath. c. 1); and it was
forbidden that thev should give the consecrated
2 M
530
DEACON
bread to the priests, on the ground that it was
unseemly that those who had no power to conse-
crate should administer to those who had (i. Cone.
Nic. c. 18). So Jerome says of Hilarius, the
deacon, that he had no power without priests or
bishops to celebrate the Eucharist, " Eucharistiam
couficere " (Hieron. contra Lucifer.'). And though
the right of consecration appears to have been
assumed in some places, it was strictly forbidden
(i. Cone. Arclat. c. 15).
There are, however, two passages which may
seem to favour the idea that deacons had some-
times power to consecrate. One of these is the
decree of the council of Ancyra, which forbids
deacons who have offered sacrifice to idols to
offer either the bread or the wine, &pTov ^
■noT7]piov avd(pepfiv {Cone. Ancyr. c. 2). But
this undoubtedly refers either to the offering the
oblations which preceded the prayer of consecra-
tion (Thomass. Vet. et Nod. Ecel. Discip. i. 2,
c. 29, § 14), or to the distribution of the ele-
ments after consecration (Bingham, Antiquities,
ii. 0. 20, § 7 ; comp. Suicer, Thesaurus, t. 1,
p. 871). The other is the speech put by
St. Ambrose into the mouth of Laurentius, the
deacon, when meeting his bishop, Sixtus, on
the way to his martyrdom: " Cui commisisti
Dominici sanguinis consecrationem, cui con-
summandorum consortium sacramentorum "
(Ambros. Be Offie. i. 41). But this doubtful
expression seems interpreted by the words im-
mediately preceding, " nunquam sacrificium
sine ministro oflerre consueveras," the " offerre
consueveras " clearly referring to Sixtus him-
self The " sanguinis consecrationem" probably
merely means "sanguinem consecratum," and
the duty attributed to the deacons was the ser-
vice they always performed after consecration
— virripeTOVjj.evoi T<fi Tov Kvplov crciyuaTi fj.€Ta
(p6^ov {Constitut. Apost. ii. 57; see Bingham,
Antiquities, ii. 26, §8).
After the administration the deacons were to
take away what remained of the sacred elements
into the sacristy, to recite {K-qpvmLv) the Post-
Communion Prayer, and dismiss the people {Con-
stitut. Apost. viii. cc. 13, .35, 40). Thus it is said
that Athanasius commanded his deacon Krjpv^ai
ivxh" (Soc. H. E. ii. 11), and KTipurreiv is
mentioned among the sacred offices from the
performance of which the deacons who had wor-
shipped idols were to be suspended (Cone. Ancyr.
c. 2). It was ordered by the fourth council of
Toledo (c.40), that the deacon (Levita) should
wear a stole over the left shoulder, " propter
quod orat, id est, praedicat." Chrysostom too
calls the deacons KripvKes (Horn. 17 m Beb. ix.).
Thomassin says that the word KtipvTTnv, used
by the council of Ancyra, expressed the recital of
the prayers and exhortations and the reading of
the Gospels, which were done with raised voice
(Thomassin, Vet. et Nov. Ecel. Discip. i. 2, c. 29,
§ 14 ; comp. Suicer, Thes. in voc. rt)pvtt(iv).
;8. It appears that the daily services in district
churches were sometimes entrusted to the dea-
cons and priests in alternate weeks. In this case
both presbyters and deacons were to assemble on
the Saturday evening, that the Sunday services
might be celebrated with due honour (^Conc.
Tarraeon. c. 7). The council of Eliberis (c. 77)
also speaks of a deacon in charge of a parish,
without either priest or bishop, " regens plebem
sine episcopo vel presbytero."
DEACON
•y. It does not appear that preaching was among
the duties which were usually entrusted to dea-
cons, though Philip and Stephen undoubtedly did
preach. Hilary, the commentator, holds that in
the earliest days of the church, all the faithful
both preached and baptized, but that afterwards a
different course was adopted, and separate offices
assigned to different members, so that in his
days the deacons did not preach, though he says
that at first all deacons were evangelists, and
had commission given them to preach, though
without any settled charge (sine cathedra)
(^Comm, in Ephes. iv. 11, in Ambrose's Works).
Yet that some faculty of preaching was inherent
in the office, at least at the command of the
bishop, appears from the language of Philostor-
gius (/T. E. iii. 17), where he says that Leontius
ordained Aetius as a deacon, in order that he
might teach in the church, but that he declined
to undertake the other duties of a deacon, only
accepting that of preaching (SiSac/ceiy aveSe-
^oTo) ; and though Leontius was a heretic, the
words seem to indicate that this was reckoned
among the ordinary functions of a deacon. On
the other hand, the duty of preaching could not
have belonged to them in the Western church
in ordinary cases, since Caesarius, bishop of Aries,
in giving permission to the priests and deacons
in his diocese to read certain homilies to the
people, when he himself could no longer preach
to them through the infirmities of age, gives as
the ground of his permission that, since they
were allowed to read the Holy Scriptures in the
church, it could not be wrong for them to read
homilies composed by himself or by other fathers
of the church (Thomass. Vet.et Nov. Ecel. Discip.
ii. 1, c. 89, §8, 9), words adopted by the second
council of Vaison, already quoted. And so Vigi-
lius in his letter to two deacons, Rusticus and
Sebastian, speaks of their execrable pride in
venturing to preach without permission of the
bishop, as contrary to all precedent and canon law,
" contra omnem consuetudinem vel canones "
(Labbe, Co7ic. v. p. 554).
5. They had also certain duties to perform at the
administration of baptism. It was to be admi-
nistered by bishops and priests only, with the
assistance of the deacons (^i^vnr\peTovfi.ivuv avTols
riov ^laKouav {Constitut. Apost. iii. c. 11). They
had to undertake the preliminary enquiries into
the circumstances of the candidates {Ibid. viii.
c. 32). They were to apply the unction which
preceded the administration of the sacrament to
the foreheads of the women {Ibid. iii. c. 15), and
to undertake all the necessary arrangements for
the male candidates {Ibid. iii. 16). [Baptism.]
It was theii duty, or that of the subdeacons,
to fetch the Chrism from the bishop before
Easter (ii. Cone. Brae. c. 51, i. Tolet. 20).
But they were strictly forbidden to assume
that the administration of baptism was one of
the functions of their office. In the Apostolic
Canons and Constitutions, the decrees concerning
baptism are directed only to bishops and priests,
though the other general canons are addressed
to all three orders of the ministry {Canones,
c. 39, 41, 42 ; Constitut. viii. c. 22). The Consti-
tutions, too, distinctly assert that it is not lawful
for a deacon to baptize (viii. c. 28, iii. c. 11,
vii. c. 46). In the latter passage it is added,
that if any argument is drawn from the fact
of baptism being administei-ed by Philip and
DEACON
Ananias, it is for want of perceiving that these
men were specially appointed for these duties by
the Lord, the High-Priest. Epiphanius asserts
that no deacon was ever entrusted with the
administration of a sacrament (^/xvcrrripiov iiri-
■^e\ui'; Haercs. 79, cap. 4). So Hilary, while
asserting that all the faithful were once ac-
customed to baptize, adds, *' nunc neque clerici
vel laici baptizant " (Coni. in Eph. iv. 11, in
Ambrose's Works).
Yet it appears that they were permitted to
baptize by command of a bishop, or when in
charge of a parish without a presbyter. The
right of baptizing resides generally in the bishop
[Baptism, p. 166], but from him may be com-
municated both to priests and deacons (Tertul-
lian, De Baptismo, c. 17). So a decree of the
5th century, speaking of the necessity of a holy
life even for the laity, adds, how much more is
this necessary for priests and deacons, since
they may be called at any moment to ofier
the sacrifice or baptize? (i. Cone. Turon. 1). In
another decree it is ordered that if a deacon
having charge of a parish (regens plebem) with-
out a bishop or presbyter should have baptized
any, the bishop should confirm it by his blessing,
" per benedictionem perficere debebit " {Cone.
Elib. 77) ; and again, in another, it is provided
that while priests, in cases of urgent sickness,
may baptize at any season of the year, deacons
may only do so at Easter (Synod. Horn. a.d.
384? c. 7, in Bruns's Canones, ii. 278); and
Jerome, speaking of those who in remote places
were baptized by priests and deacons, places the
right of both to baptize on exactly the same
footing, as derived from the license of the bishop
and the possession of the chrism, " sine chrismate
et episcopi jussione neque presbyteri neque
diaconi jus habeant baptizandi " (Dial, contra
Luciferum, c. 4). It seems then that, at least in
the Western Church, the deacons were permitted
to baptize when the bishop gave them authority
and sent them the chrism. Thomassin however
(i. 2, c. 29, § 14), thinks they had less liberty
in this i-espect in the Eastern Church.
6. The power of receiving penitents appears
generally to have been confined to bishops and
presbyters ; yet this rule was not invariable.
Thus Cyprian allows deacons to receive confession
(exomologesin) and bestow the parting blessing
in the case of those penitents who had obtained
" libelli " and were prevented by the near ap-
proach of death from receiving absolution at the
hands of a priest {Ep. 13, al. 18, ad Cler.). A
decree of the first council of Toledo (c. 2) pro-
vides that those deacons who had performed
public penance should be reduced to the order of
subdeacons lest they should lay hands on any.
But it is probable that this was not the act
which conferred absolution, but only a ceremony
which went before the reception of the Eucharist
and prepared the penitent for its administration
(Thomass. Vet. et Bov. Eccl. Disc. i. 2, c. 29, § 8).
A decree of the council of Eliberis (c. 32) pro-
vides that in certain cases of urgent necessity,
and at the command of a bishop, the deacon may
receive a penitent to communion. But this pro-
bably only meant that the deacons might convey
the consecrated elements, which, as in the case
of Serapion recorded by Eusebius (if. E. vi. 44),
might be seat even by a child (Thomassin, i. 2.
c. 29 § 9).
DEACON
531
In these cases their duties were evidently only
ministerial and strictly limited to the subor-
dinate functions belonging to their office. Their
right to bestow any blessing on their own
authority is plainly denied (Conditut. Apost. viii.
28, 46). [Benediction ; IJominus Vobiscum.]
f. From their bearing the chairs of priests
and bishops (iv. Cone. Brag. Proem, c. 5), it
would appear that in some churches they were
expected to perform duties scarcely consistent
with the dignity of their ofiice. But their
general tendency appears to have been either
to claim functions which did not belong to
them (i. Cone. Arelat. c. 1.5; Cone. Quinisext. c.
16), or to assume a precedence which may in-
dicate that they were in some cases superior to
the priests in wealth or social position. Thus
they are rebuked for administering in some
churches the Eucharist to priests and partaking
of it even before bishops and presuming to sit
among the priests (i. Cone. Mc. c. 18) ; for their
pride in sitting in the first choir and compelling
priests to take their places in the second (iv. Cone.
Tolet. c. 39) ; for claiming ])recedence at coun-
cils of presbyters when they held any ecclesiasti-
cal office (Cone. Quinisext. c. 7); for exciting
seditions against the bishop (Cunstitut. Apost.
ii. 32) ; for bestowing the benediction at private
banquets in presence of priests (Hieron. Ep. 85
ad Evang.) ; and for esteeming themselves, on
account of their superior wealth, as of higher
dignity than the priests {Idem Comm. in Ezek.
xlviii.).
77. Deacons were strictly limited in the dis-
charge of their office to the parishes for which they
were appointed, and there are many decrees of
councils forbidding them to wander elsewhere
without the consent of the bishop (Canones
Apost. c. 12; i. Cmc. Nic. c. 15; Cone. Quini-
sedt. c. 17; i. Arelat. c, 21; ii. Bracar. c. 34;
Agath. c. 52).
IV. Promotion to a higher order. — It has
been doubted whether in the earliest ages ad-
mission to the diaconate implied, or was a
necessary preliminary to, advancement to the
priesthood. That this was the case has been in-
ferred from the words of St. Paul to Timothy —
ol Ka\(2s StaKovriffavTes I3a6fxhi' kavTols KaXhu
TreptTToiowTai (1 Tim. iii. 13). See Dictionary
OF THE Bible, i. 417. It is undoubtedly true : —
1. That in later times fiad/xhs was used as a tech-
nical term denoting degrees of ecclesiastical office.
So it was said of Athanasius, iratTav rrjy twp
^aSfj-utv o.KoKov6iav SL€^e\6cov (Greg. Naz. Orat.
21), and in that sense it repeatedly occurs in
the decrees of councils (Cone. Eph. c. 6 ;
Chalcedon. c. 29 ; Quinisext. c. 13). 2. That the
elevation of deacons to the priesthood was part of
the system of the church in after years. Thus it
was ordered that deacons who maintained com-
munication with their wives should not be ele-
vated to the priesthood (i. Cone. Tolet. c. 1),
"ad ulteriorem gradum non ascendat '' (i. Cone.
Turon. 2). So, in the Quaestiones, the priest is
spoken of as being ordained from among the dea-
cons, "ex diaconis presbyterus ordinatur"(Q?«afsf.
Q. 101). And so Jerome argues the higher
office of the priesthood from the fact that
the diaconate was a step to the priesthood, " ex
diacono ordinatur presbyter" (Hieron. Epist.
ad Evang.). But many deacons appear to have
grown old and died without promotion to the
2 M 2
532
DEACON
priesthood (Thomassin, Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Disctp.
i. 2, c. 33, § 9).
V. Vestments. — Concerning the dress of a
deacon, it was ordained that when engaged in
the services of the altar their apparel should
not be too flowing, with a view to the ready-
performance of their duties, for they are like
sailors and boatswains (roixapXO'O '"^ ^ ^^ip
{Cunstitut. Apost. ii. 57). They were to wear
a plain stole, " orarium," unadorned with gold
or colours, on the left shoulder, the right being
left free, to typify the expedition with which
they were to discharge their sacred functions (iv.
Cone. Tolet. c. 40). The manner of wearing the
stole distinguished them from the priests; the
stole itself was the mark of their office, since the
inferior clergy were expressly forbidden to wear
it {Cone. Laod. c. 22, 23). Due care was to
be taken that this distinctive portion of the
dress was clearly seen, " non licet diacono velo
vel palld scapulas suas involvi " {Cone. Autiss.
c. 13). In another decree notice is taken of cer-
tain deacons who were accustomed to wear their
stoles hidden beneath their albs, so as to re-
semble a subdeacon's, and they are ordered to
display it openly for the future on the shoulder
(i. Cone. Brae. c. 9). Those who had been tem-
porarily deposed for any offence were presented
on their reconciliation with an alb and a stole, as
symbols of their restoration to their office
(iv. Cone. Tolet. c. 28). It was to the stole that
St. Chrysostom alluded when he saw a vision of
the wings of ministering angels in the fine linen
that floated over the left shoulders of those en-
gaged in the service of the altar (reus M-Krais
hd6vais Tats iirl rSiv apiffTipSiv &fj.uiv Ket/j.evais ;
Chrysost. ffom. in Fil. Prodiij.). [Stole.] The
alb was to be worn only at the time of ministering
at the altar, or reading the Gospels — " Diaconus
tempore oblationis tantum vel lectionis albd
utatur " (iv. Cone. Carthag. 41 ; Cone. Narbon.
c. 12), or when performing the duty of th» dea-
con at the opening of councils (iv. Cone. Tolet.
c. 4). And this renders more emphatic a rebuke
administered to certain priests and bishops who
were accustomed on great festivals to be borne
on chairs or litters by deacons in albs — " albatis
diaconibus " (iv. Cone. Brae. Proem. &c. c. 5).
They also wore a Dalmatic (which see).
VI. Number of Deacons. — The number of
deacons allotted to each church appears to have
varied. The council of Neocaesarea (c. 15) or-
dained that there should be seven deacons and
no more in every city, however large, since that
number liad been ordained by the apostles (comp.
Cone. Q'linisext. c. 16), and this appears to have
been the normal number in many churches
(Constitut. Apost. viii. cc. 4, 46; Euseb. If. E.
vi. 43; Hilary, Comm.in 1 Tim. iii. 8). But
the later practice appears to have been as stated
by Sozomen, that the church of Rome retained
the number of seven deacons, as instituted by
the apostles, but that other churches acted
according to their own convenience (Soz. H. E.
vii. 19). The number of deacons seems, how-
ever, to have been generally small; for St.
Jerome states that deacons derived a dignity not
belonging to their office from their paucity in
number — " Diaconos paucitas honorabiles, pres-
byteros turba facit contemtibiles " {Epist. ad
Eoang.).
VII. Age. — The age at which deacons were
DEACON
allowed to be ordained was universally fixed at
twenty-five (iii. Cone. Carth. c. 4 ; Cone. Agath.
c. 16; Cone. Quinisext. c. 14 ; iv. Cone. Tolet.
c. 20 ; iii. Cone, Aurcl. c. 6) ; but Thomassin
relates that Caesarius, bishop of Aries, would
not permit any deacon to be ordained in his
diocese who was under the age of thirty, and
who had not read four times all the books of
the Old and New Testament ( Vet. et Nov. Eccl.
Discip. ii. 1, c. 89, § 8).
VIII. Jurisdietion over. — A deacon could only
be judged by three bishops (i. Cone. Carth. c. 11 ;
ii. Cone. Carth. c. 10, but Bruns gives a different
reading of this canon) of whom one was to be
his own diocesan (iii. Cone. Carth. c. 8). See
Degradation, p. 542.
IX. Diaeonus in Monasteries. In monasteries
the name of deacon was sometimes given to those
who discharged the office of steward and almoner
— " oeconomi et dispensatoris " [Oeconomos]
(Thomass. Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Discip. iii. 2, c. 3,
§4;3, 0.29, §23.) [P.O.]
X. Cardinal Deacon. — A cardinal deacon (dia-
conus cardinalis) was in ancient times a deacon
who was permanently attached (incardinatur)
to a particular church (Gregory the Great, Epist.
V. 2 ; see Cahdinal, p. 289).
The name cardinal seems also to have been
given to the deacon to whom seniority or pre-
eminence among his fellows had been assigned by
competent authority. So Gregory the Great,
writing to Liberatus, a deacon at Cagliari {Papist.
i. 81), warns him not to set himself above the
other deacons, unless he had been made cardinal
by the bishop. Under Charlemagne a cardinal
deacon of the city of Rome (diaconus in cardine
constitutus in urbe Roma) is mentioned with
special distinction (Capitula, anni 806, c. 23,
p. 458*, Baluze; and Capitularium, i. c. 133,
p. 728).
XI. A deacon was assigned to each of the seven
Regions into which the city of Rome was eccle-
siastically divided ; these were called Begionary
Deacons (diaconi regionarii). The acolytes of each
region were under the authority of the regionary
deacon (Mabillon, Com. Praev. in Ord. Rom. p.
xix.).
XII. Stationary Deacons were those who mini-
stered to the pope on his going to any Station
where an office was to be said.
XIII. Diaconi Testimoniales were those deacons
who always lived with and accompanied a bishop,
for the avoiding of scandal (ii. Cone. Turon.
c. 12). See Svncellus. [C]
DEACONESS (^ ^l6.kovos, SiaKSviacra, Dia-
eonis^a, Diacona.) I. An order of women in the
Primitive Church who appear to have undertaken
duties in reference to their own sex analogous to
those performed by the deacons among men. Their
office was probably rendei-ed more necessary by
the strict seclusion which was observed by the
female sex in Greece, and in many Oriental
countries. The word itself is only once used in
the New Testament, in the place in which St.
Paul speaks of Phoebe as Siclkovos rrjs e/c/cA.7j-
aias (Rom. xvi. 1) ; but it was usually supposed
by ancient commentators that the " women "
mentioned by St. Paul in the passage in which
he enumerates the qualifications of a deacon
(1 Tim. iii. 11) were really deaconesses, whether,
as the A.V. assumes, wives of deacons (Chrysost.,
DEACONESS
Theoplivhct, Theodoret, Oecumen., quoted by
Wordsworth, Cumin, ia loco), or women-deacons
(Lightfoot, Essay on Christian Ministry in Comm.
oiiFhilippians, p. 189).
II. Qualifications for the Diaconate. — It has
been thought that these deaconesses were widows
in the earlier days of the Church, on the ground
of the injunction of St. Paul that no widow
should be taken into the number under sixty
years of age (1 Tim. v. 9, of. Thomass. Vet. et
^ov. Ecd. Discip. i. 1. 3, c. 50, n. 10 ; Hooker,
Eccl. Pol. V. c. 78, § 11). But it does not appear
certain that St. Paul is in this place speaking of
deaconesses (cf. Wordsworth, Comm. in loco).
And it appears certain that virgins were admitted
to the office. Thus Pliny speaks, in his epistle
to Trajan, of two handmaidens (ancillae) whom
the Christians called " ministrae." The Apostolic
Constitutions (vi. 17) say that the deaconess should
be a chaste virgin (irapdei/os ayvr]) or else a
widow (cf. Just. Novell, vi. 6). The 4th council
of Carthage (c. 12) speaks of widows and conse-
crated virgins (sanctimoniales) who are selected
to discharge the duties of deaconesses. Epipha-
nius gives three classes from whom they are to
be chosen, the virgins, the widows of one husband,
and those who lived in continence with one hus-
band (Expositio Fidei, n. 21). The council in
Trullo also provides that the wife of a bishop
who has retired into a convent on the consecra-
tion of her husband may, if found fit for the
office, be admitted to the diaconate {Cone. Quini-
sext. 0. 48). Gregory Nyssen ( Vita Macrinae')
speaks of his sister Macrina, and of one Lampadia,
as being virgins and deaconesses. Sozomen (i/. E.
viii. 23) speaks of a noble virgin named Nicarete
whom Chrysostom urged without effect to become
a deaconess ; and of one Olympias, a young widow,
who was ordained to the same office {Id. viii. 9).
Thus it seems evident that the deaconesses
cannot be absolutely identified either with the
widows or the virgins of the early church, but
were probably chosen from these orders as occasion
served. It would even appear that, under some
circumstances, married women were admitted.
The age at which they were to be admitted to
their office was strictly defined. TertuUian {De
Vel. Virg. c. 9) lays it down that they should
be 60 years of age, widows of one husband, and
mothers, that their own experience may enable
them to give sympathetic help to others (com-
pare Basil, Epist. Canon, c. 24 and Jerome, Ep.
ad Salvian.). The council of Chalcedon (c. 15)
fixes it at 40, and says they are to be chosen
after strict enquiry, giving as a reason the dis-
honour done to the grace of God, if any, after
having undertaken this service, should marry.
The council in Trullo (cc. 14, 40) also assigned
the age of 40 for the admission of a deaconess,
and 60 for that of a widow, grounding the latter
rule on the words of St. Paul (1 Tim. v. 9), thus
proving conclusively that, in their opinion, he
was not speaking in this place of deaconesses.
Theodosius issued a decree that no woman should
be admitted to the diaconate till she had attained
the age of 60, and borne children (Soz. H. E. vii.
16). Justinian's legislation fixed the age of
admission at 40 (Novell. 123 c. 13) or 50 {Id. vi.
6). Thomassin thinks that only the canons
which relate to women of 60 years of age refer
to deaconesses, and the others apply to widows
who have merely taken the vow of continence.
DEACONESS
533
But he is obliged to own that he Is maintaining
this opinion iu the face of the decree of the
council of Chalcedon ( Thomass. Vet. et Nov,
Eccl. Discip. i. 1. 3, c. 52, § 3, 4). Yet much
appears to have been left to the bishops. Olym-
pias is described as a young widow, and Tertul-
lian {Do Vel. Virg. c. 9) expresses great indigna-
tion at a case, with which he says he was him-
self acquainted, in which a virgin under 20 was
admitted to the order of widows " in viduatu,"
under which term the context proves that he is
speaking of the diaconate.
From the jiassages already quoted it will be
seen that it was always required that, if widows,
deaconesses should only have been once married.
This was probably in obedience to the injunction
of St. Paul, " the wife of one man " (1 Tim. v.
9). Other names of female servants of the
Church are, Trperr/SuTiSes, women-elders, and irpe-
irPvTepat, aged women. In the N. T. the words
appear identical in meaning (cf. 1 Tim. v. 2, and
Titus ii. 3). But in the Apostolic Constitutions
(ii. 28), the irpea^vTepai, the poorer of whom
were to be invited more frequently to the Agapae,
are clearly different from the irpsa^vriSes who,
as ministers of the church, are allotted a definite
share of the first-fruits then offered, while the
same proportion of the " eulogiae " is allotted
in another place to those who are there called
deaconesses {SiaKovifftrais, Ibid. viii. c. 31). Epi-
phanius appears to make a distinction between
the two, when he says that the deaconesses were
called widows {xvpas), but the elder of them
(tos ert ypaoTepas) were called Trpea^vriSas,
and notes carefully that the word is quite different
from that which designates women - presbyters
{■n-pea^vTeplSas) (Epiph. Haer. 79, cap. 4, cf.
Cone. Laod. c. 11).
Probably from the difficulty of finding virgins
qualified for the office, it would appear that the
deaconesses were in a great measure chosen
from among the widows. And thus they were
often called x'''P"'j although distinct from the
general body of widows belonging to the Church.
Thus Epij'hanius, in the passage already quoted,
speaks of the order of deaconesses {hiaKovLaaiiiv
rdyfj-a) who are called widows. So there is a
canon speaking of the ordination of widows
whom they call deaconesses, "Viduarum conse-
cratio quas diaeonas vocitant " {Cone. Epaon. c.
21) ; and Basil speaks of a widow who has been
taken into the number of widows, that is, re-
ceived by the Church into the diaconate (Basil,
Ep. Can. c. 3). Under this term were included
all deaconesses, whether they were widows or
not. So Ignatius speaks of the virgins who
were called widows, ras -Kapdivovs tos Keyofxevas
XVpas {Ad Smyrn. c. 13). So that it is probable
that the word may have meant those living with-
out a husband, whether in widowhood, or under
a vow of continence (see Jacobson in loco).
III. Duties of Deaconesses. — The duties of the
deaconesses were various. The most impoitant
related to the administration of baptism to
women [Baptism, p. 160]. Thus the 4th coun-
cil of Carthage (c. 12) speaks of them as widows
or virgins selected for the purpose of assisting in
the baptism of women, and who therefore must
be qualified to assist the unlearned candidates
how to answer the interrogatories in the baptis-
mal office, and how to live after baptism. Epi-
phanius says that the order was instituted to
534
DEACONESS
assist at the baptism of women, that all thino;s
might be done with proper decency {Haer. 79,
cap. 3). In the Apostolic Coyv-titutions (iii.
15, 16) it is said that the deaconess (t^j/ 5ia-
Kovov) was to be chosen for ministering to
women, because it was impossible to send a
deacon into many houses on account of the un-
believers. At the baptism of women the dea-
conesses were to administer the chrism before
baptism, and to undertake all the necessary
arrangements for the women, as the deacon did
for the men. No woman was to have any inter-
course with the bishop or deacon except through
the deaconess {Und. ii. c. 26). They were also
to receive women who were strangers, and allot
them their places in the church {Ibid. ii. c. 58),
and to stand at the door of that part of the
church which was allotted to women {Ihid. ii.
c. 57). Thus the Pseudo-Ignatius {Ad Antioch.
0. 12) speaks of the deaconesses who kept the
doors of the church. They were to attend to
the women who were sick or in affliction as the
deacon did to the men {Constitut. Apost. iii. 19),
and in time of persecution to minister to the
confessors in prison (Cotel. Annot. in Constit.
Apost. iii. 15, quoting from Lucian and Libanius).
They were to exercise some supervision over
the general body of widows, who were to be
obedient to the bishops, priests, and deacons, and
further to the deaconesses {Constitut. Apost. iii.
c. 7). They also probably had authority over
the virgins. Thus Gregory Nyssen, in the life
of Macrina, says that Lampadia was set over the
body of virgins in the diaconate. But the latter
office appears to have been separable from the
diaconate. Sozomen says that Nicarete refused
either to become a deaconess, or to preside over
the virgins of the Church, as if she might have
accepted the one position without the other
(Soz. ff. E. viii. c. 23).
IV. Rank and Privileges. — There can be no
doubt that deaconesses were considered to be an
order in the Church. Nectarius is said to have
ordained Olympias to the diaconate, ZiaKovov
iXftporSwa-e (Soz. H. E. viii. 9), and the same
word is used in the decrees of the councils in
Trullo (cc. 14, 40), and Chalcedon (c. 15). Epi-
phanius speaks of them as an order, rdyna, in
the Church {Ifaer. 79, cap. 3); and they
were to receive the consecrated elements imme-
diately after the male clergy, takmg precedence
of the widows and virgins, and the lay people
{Constitut. Apost. viii. c. 13). Their ministry is
said to be dependent upon that of the deacons
{I hid. ii. 0. 26). A form of ordination by the
bishop is also given in which the words iwiBriaeis
Tas xeipos, which express the act of ordination,
are the same as those employed in the office for
the ordination of deacons, which the whole form
greatly resembles {Ibid. viii. 19, 20).
Thomassin understands deaconesses to be meant
in a decree of the 2nd council of Carthage (c.
3), which forbids a virgin to be consecrated by
a presbyter, " puellarum consecratio a presbytero
non fiat" (ii. Cone. Carth. c. 3), or, as modified
by the 3rd council (c. 36), without the consent
of the bishop ( Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Biscip. i. 1. 3,
c. 50, § 11, 12).
There is however a somewhat remarkable pas-
sage in a decree of the council of Nice, which,
after speaking of the Paulianist clergy who
were to be reordained on their admission to the
DEACONESS
Catholic Church, goes on to say that the dea-
conesses who Rad assumed that office, or habit,
since they had no imposition of hands, could only
be reckoned among the laity (1 Cone. Nic. c.
19). But this appears simply to refer to cer-
tain women among the Paulianists who had
assumed the habit or office of deaconess without
imposition of hands, and who therefore could
not be reordained but simply reckoned among
the laity (cf. Thomassin Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Discip.
i. 1. 3, c. 50, § 12). Indeed the same canon
speaks of deaconesses as among the clergy (eV
Tw Kav6vi) and to be received in the same man-
ner. Thus clearly making a distinction between
those among the Paulianists who had been regu-
larly ordained, aud those who had assumed the
office without ordination. But the reading is
doubtful (see Bruns, Canones, i. 19), though
Thomassin, in the place above quoted, accepts it
without question as authentic.
The ordination, however, was expressly under-
stood to confer no sacerdotal functions of any
kind. The 4th council of Carthage (c. 100)
expressly orders that no woman should venture
to baptize. It appears that certain sects of the
Montanists ordained women as priests and even
as bishops. In opposition to these Epiphanius,
while speaking of them as an order in the Church,
a.sserts that they were women-elders, but not
priestesses in any sense (TrperrjSuTepi'Sas ■^ Upiaaas'),
and that their mission was not to interfere in
any way with the functions allotted to the priests
{ieparfveii'), but simply to perform certain offices
in the care of women (Epiph. Haer. 79, cap.
3). Tertullian also says that it is not permitted
to a woman to speak in the church, nor to baptize,
nor to make the oblation (oft'erre), nor discharge
any of the offices allotted to men (virile munus)
(Tert. dc Vel. Virg. c. 9), and is indignant at
the forwardness of women who take upon them-
selves to teach and to baptize contrary to the
express command of the Apostle (Id. De Baptis.
c. 17). The Constitutions (iii. 9) emphatically
deny the right of women to baptize, asserting
that priestesses are ordained for female deities,
and are a heathen, not a Christian institution ;
and that if Our Lord had wished them to baptize,
he would himself have been baptized by his own
mother rather than by John the Baptist. The
latter argument is also used by Epiphanius, who
says that if Our Lord had ordered women to
exercise any priestly or ecclesiastical ministry,
he would first have given that office to the
Virgin Mary {Haer. 79, cap. 3).
V. Celibacy. — It is evident that the ordination
of deaconesses included a vow of celibacy. The
council of Chalcedon (c. 15) pronounces an
anathema against those who should marry after
having been ordained to the diaconate. And Jus-
tinian's legislation ordered that those who married
should be sentenced to forfeiture of property and
capital punishment {Novell, vi. 6).
VL Discontinuance. — It is probable that this
occasioned the discontinuance of the order. Cer-
tainly it did not last long. The council of Laodicea,
A.D. 320, forbade the appointment of any of
those who wei-e called Trpea^vnSes {Cone. Lavd.
c. 11). The 1st council of Orange (c. 26), A.D.
441, simply forbids the ordination of any dea-
coness whatever ; and again, " Viduarum conse-
crationem qnas diaconas vocitant ab omni regione
nostra penitus abrogamus" {Cone. Epaon. c. 21).
DEAD
The 2uil council of Orleans (cc. 17, 18) decrees
that deaconesses who had married were to be
excommunicated unless they renounced their
"^usbands, but none in future were to be ordained
on tccount of the weakness of the sex. It would
appear that, in the time of the writer of certain
commentaries which appear under the name of Je-
rome, the order was quite extinct in the Western
Church, and only known by report as existing in
the East. Thus he speaks of "those whom in
the East they call deaconesses " (Hieron. Comrn.
in 1 Tim. iii. 11), and "In the East women
deaconesses ( diaconissae mulieres ) appear to
minister to their own sex in baptism and the
ministry of the word " (Id. Coinm. Rom. xvi. 1).
Thomassin thinks that the order was extinct in
the Western Church in the 10th or 12th century
( Vet. et Nuv. Ecd. Discip. i. 1. 3, c. 49, § 8), but
that it lingered on a little longer in the Church
of Constantinople, though only in convents (/(/.
i. 1. 3, c. 47, § 10).
The title of deaconesses was also given some-
times to the wives of deacons (ii. Cone. Turon. c.
19), and to abbesses of convents (Thomass. Vet.
et Nov. Ecd. Discip. i. 1. 3, c. 47, § 10). [P. 0.]
DEAD, Baptism of and for the.
DEAD, Communion of the.
The three practices thus grouped together had
a common origin in the feeling that baptism was
an indispensable condition of salvation ; that for
those who had been baptized the other great
sacrament of the Church was almost as essential ;
that it, at least, brought with it priceless advan-
tages to the receiver when he entered on the
unseen world ; that it was the viaticum for that
last journey. The earliest trace of the feeling
and its results is seen in the strange, passing
allusion by St. Paul in 1 Cor. xv. 29, to the
^aiTTi^SixevoL uTTtp veKpuv. It is not within the
scope of the present paper to enter fully into
the exegesis of that perplexing passage. The
strange contrast which its apparent meaning
presented to the received doctrine and practice
of the Church made the interpreters of a later
period anxious to find a way of escape, and from
Chrysostom and Theophylact downward there
have been those who have seen in it a reference
to the profession of faith in the resurrection of
the body made at baptism. It is believed, how-
ever, that this is simply a non-natural and unte-
nable interpretation. It is better to take the
words in their obvious sense, and to remember
that St. Paul simply draws from the practice of
which they speak an arguinentum ad homincm,
and does not, in the slightest degree, sanction the
practice itself. However startling it may seem
that a feeling so gross in its superstition should
spring up so soon, we have to remember that it
was more or less analogous to the " sorrow with-
out hope " of which St. Paul speaks in writing
to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. iv. 13), and which
sprang out of the belief that those who died
before the coming of the Lord were shut out
from all participation in the glory of the king-
dom. So it was at Corinth and, it may be, else-
where. Men were told that by baptism they were
admitted to the kingdom of God; that it was the
pledge not only of immortality for the soul, but
of resurrection for the body. But what would
become of those who, though they had believed,
were cut off by death beforii receiving baptism ?
DEAD
535
His answer led to the expedient of a " vicarium
baptisma " (TertuU. De Resurr. Cam. c. 48, Adv.
Marcion.\. 10), to which the usages of later
Judaism offered, at least, some remote analogies
(Lightfoot, Hor. Hehr. in 1 Cor. xv.). The
practice assumed among the Ebionites (Epiphan.
Haeres. 30) and the Marcionites (Chrysost,
Horn. 40 in 1 Cor.) a somewhat dramatic form.
The corpse was laid upon the bed, and beneath
there was concealed a living man. The question
"Wilt thou be baptised?" was formally put
and answered, and then the rite was performed
on the living as the proxy for the dead. There
is no reason for thinking that the practice ever
became common in the Church. Its adoption
by heretical sects probably secured its con-
demnation. But the feeling had showed itself
in another form more widely. The stronger
the feeling that baptism conferred what could
be conferred in no other way, the more men
lamented over the non-fulfilment of the con-
dition by those they loved. The Church allowed
baptism in articulo mortis, it is true, even where
the ordinary conditions were not fulfilled. It
might, in case of necessity, be administered by a
layman or even by a woman. But still death
might come beforehand. What was to be done
then ? What was to be done in the parallel case
of the baptized man dying without communion ?
In all parts of the Church, and for some centuries,
we find traces of the prevalence of the practice
of administering baptism to the corpse. It is for-
bidden, it is true, by Councils, but the locality
and date of the Synods that prohibit it, are sig-
nificant as showing how widely spread it was.
We have canons against it and against the ana-
logous practice of placing the Eucharist within
the lips of the dead, in the third Council of Car-
thage (a.D. 397 c. 6) ; in the Council in Trullo
at Constantinople (A.D. 692, c. 83) ; in that of
Auxerre (A.D. 578, c. 12) ; in the Canons of Boni-
face, Bishop of Maintz (Can. 20). Gregory of
Nazianzum {Orat. 40) utters a serious warning
against it. Even when the better sense of the
Church rejected the more revolting usage, there
was, as has been said under Burial, both in the
East and West, the corresponding usage, hardly
less superstitious, of placing a portion of the con-
secrated bread upon the breast of the corpse to
be interred with him, as a charm against the
attacks of malignant spirits. The practice of
the baptism of the dead prevailed most, according
to one writer, among the Phrygian followers of
Montanus (Philastr. De Haeres. c. 2). [E. H. P.]
DEAD, FESTIVAL OF THE. [All
Souls Day.]
DEAD, PRAYEE FOE THE. [Canon
of the Liturgy : Mass.]
DEAD, TEEATMENT OF, [Burial of
THE Dead.]
DEAMBULATOEIA, DEAMBULACEA,
covered porticos for walking in, more particu-
larly those surrounding the body of a church,
dcambulatoria ecclesiarnm. These were some-
times of two stories. This was the case in the
church built by Constautine over the Holy Sejjul-
chi-e, which is described by Eusebius ( Vit. C nst.
lib. iii. c. 37) as having two porticos, SittkI aToai,
on each side of the church, corresponding to the
length of the building, with upper and lower
ranges of pillars. Gregory Nazianzen also (_Orat.
536
DEAN
19) describes the church erected by his father as
having ctooJ Si6po(poi. The church of St. Sophia
was similarly surrounded with porticos, except
towards the east, on which side they were usually
wanting (Procop. de Aedif. lib. i. c. 8, lib. v. c. 6),
and which were of two stories towards the west
(Ducange, Constantinopolis Christiana, lib. iii. cc.
16, 17). The " deambulatoria " sometimes con-
tained altars (Ducange sub roc). The term is
also used for the walks of a cloister, " deambu-
latoria claustrorum." [CLOISTER.] [E. V.]
DEAN. [Decanus.]
DEATH, KEPRESENTATIONS OF.—
Though symbolic images involving the thought of
death are by no means rare in early Christian art,
they have reference almost entirely to the state
of death, rather than the process, so to speak.
They point to the condition of the restored soul,
rather than to the painful sejjaration of body
and soul. Thus the thought and representa-
tions of death are generally without terror.
The Raising of Lazarus [Lazarus] is repeated
(Bottari, passim) as an earnest of the Lord's
power : the Resurrection accompanies the Cru-
cifixion in early art, as in the Laurentine MS.
Flowers are freely used to decorate tombs, with
little change from their Pagan employment;
and the bird set at liberty, the palm-branch, the
car or chariot at rest, and the ship at anchor
(see s. vv.), occur the two first passim, the
others occasionally. Herzog (^Beal-Enciic, s. v.
" Sinnbilder ") states that the skeleton figure of
death, in its retrospective view, pointing to the
change from the life and pleasui'e of this world
is traceable to remains of Gnostic symbols. The
writer of this article can remember no earlier
instance of it, than Giotto's crowned skeleton at
Assisi. (See Crowe and Cavaloaselle's Italian
Painters, life of Giotto.) Orgagna and, lastly,
Holbein bring down this Gothic grotesque sym-
bol of the visible change, and outer side of the
subject, to modern days.
For the apparently Pagan Chariot of Death in
the Catacomb of St. Praetextatus see Perret, Cata-
combes, &c., vol. i. pi. 72 ; also Bottari, vol. iii.
219. [R. St. J. T.]
DEBTORS. The Jewish law in reference to
debts and debtors, and to the redemption of
pledges, is very peculiar. That of the Christian
Church has been mainly founded on the Roman,
which, oi'iginally very harsh towards debtors
(see Gibbon, c. xliv., &c.), under the empire
was greatly mitigated in their favour. Thus
by a constitution of Diocletian and Maximin
(A.D. 294), it was expressly enacted that the
laws do not sufj'er freemen to be compelled to
become slaves to their creditors by reason of
their debts (Coc/c, bk. iv. Tit. is. 1. 12). Under
the older law there had already been introduced
in favour of the debtor the expedient of the
bonorum cessio, something between our bank-
rui)tcy, and what a few years back was distin-
guished from it as insolvency (see Dig. bk. xlii.
Tit. iii.). It was a question among the jurists
whether, if a man had once given up all his
goods to his ci-editors, any after acquired pro-
perty of his was subject to their claims. Sabinus
and Cassius would have him free {/bid. 1. 4),
thus assimilating him to the bankrupt. Ulpian
took a middle, and it must be said, ;in unwise
course, holding that the liability depended on
DEBTORS
the quantum of the subsequent earnings, and
that he was not to be disturbed in the possession
of anything left or given to him by way of
charity for his maintenance (Ibid. 1. C). Modes-
tinus also held the liability to attach, if the pro-
perty were sufficient to justify the action of the
praetor (Ibid. 1. 7). Under the Code, by a con-
stitution of Alexander Severus (a.D. 224), the
debtor was not held free from his debt till the
creditor was paid in full, but the cessio bonoi-um
exempted him from imprisonment and from tor-
ture (bk. vii. tit. Ixxi. 11. 1, 8). It was in the
option of the creditors to allow the debtors five
years' delay instead of accepting the cessio, such
option to be exercised, in case of difference of
opinion, according to the figure of the debt, so
that a single creditor whose claim should amount
to more than the sum total of all the others had
the fate of the debtor in his hands (1. 8 ; Const,
of Justinian). An attempt having moreover
been made to make the cessio compulsory on the
debtor, the lo5th Novel foi-bade this.
Debtors were under the Christian emperors
admitted to the right of sanctuary in churches
and their precincts, Jews only excepted, who pre-
tended a wish to become converted in order to
frustrate their creditors, and who were not to
be admitted until they had paid all their debts
(^Code, bk. i. t. xii. 1. 1 ff.), although the public
imposts might be levied within the churches
themselves, and if the collectors were subjected
to violence or seditious opposition, the defensores
and oecoiiomi of the Church were made respon-
sible for the fiscal dues not collected (Novel 17,
c. 7) ; but otherwise it was expressly enacted by
a constitution of the Emperor Leo, A.D. 466 (bk.
i. t. xii. 1. 6), that the bishops and oeconomi
were not to be held responsible for the debts of
persons claiming sanctuary.
We may moreover observe in the 60th Novel a
law forbidding creditors to torment their dying
debtors or their families, place their seals upon
the property, or interfere with the funeral, under
severe penalties (c. i.) ; and in the 115th another
which forbade the pressing by creditors of the
heirs, parents, children, wives, husbands, agnates,
cognates, connexions or sureties of a deceased
debtor within nine days of his death, the delay
not to be reckoned as time running for prescrip-
tion nor otherwise to prejudice the creditor
(c. v.). The 134th Nocel forbids a custom which
it s])eaks of as prevalent in various places, that
of detaining a debtor's children as pledges, or as
slaves or servants for hire, under penalty of for-
feiture of the debt, damages to an equal amount,
and corporal punishment (c. vii.). As to debts
due to bankers, see the 136th Novel, and 7th
Fdict of Justinian.
Under the Ostrogothic rule in Italy, tlie
Edict of Theodoric required debtors condemned
by judicial sentence to pay within two months,
under pain of the sale of their pledges (c. 124).
Where, however, a creditor seized the goods of
one who was not under obligation to him, he was
to pay fourfold the value, if sued within the
year, otherwise simply to restore the amount
seized; and so of the fruits of land (c. 131).
Under the Lombard law, on the contrary, by
practice of seizing the person of the debtor tlie
way of pledge seems to reappear, although the
liability is confined to himself and his gapjhans,
or nearest future heir (Laws of Rotharis, c. 149 ;
DECALVATIO
A.D. 638 01- 643). Little, however, is foimd
generally in the barbaric Codes on the subject.
It is not surprising to'find the Church occasion-
ally interfering either by spiritual penalties, or
conversely by kindly assistance to the unfor-
tunate, where the municipal law failed to take
ertect for their relief. A signal instance of ec-
clesiastical assistance to a debtor is that which
forms the subject of Augustine's 215th or 268th
letter, addressed to his congregation, to which he
appealed to repay Macedonius, who had suffered
by his kindness to one Fascius, a debtor who had
taken sanctuary.
An Irish Synod of the middle of the 5th cen-
tury (450 or 456) enacted the excommunication
of fraudulent debtors, as if they were heathens,
till they paid their debts (c. 20). In the collec-
tion of Irish canons, supposed to belong to the
end of the 7th century, there is a whole book
(xxxii.) " of debts and pledges, and usury," and
another (xxxiii.) " of sureties and rates." There
is however no reason for supposing that enact-
ments like this ever took eiiect beyond the limits
of Ireland.
From the letters of Gregory the Great, (a.d.
590-603) we obtain some glimpses of the con-
dition of debtors at the heart of Christendom,
towards the end of the 6th and beginning of the
7th century, and of the behaviour of the Church
towards them. Two of his letters {Epistt. ii. 56
and iii. 43) are occupied with the case of a Syrian
named Cosmas, a poor debtor, whose sons, accord-
ing to his account, were detained by his creditors
as pledges for his debts, and whom he was anx-
ious to benefit.
Several other instances to the same effect occur
in the same collection. A letter (^Epist. v. 35)
to Secundinus, bishop of Taormina, is written in
favour of one Sincerus, whose wife was pressed
to pay the debts of her late father. See also
Kpist. vii. pt. 2, 37 and 60. Compare Sanc-
tuary ; Usury. [J. M. L.]
DECALVATIO. [Corporal Punishments,
p. 472.]
DECANATUS = 1. the office of dean ; 2. the
district of a rural dean ; 3. sometimes a farm or
monastic grange, in late charters. [A. W. H.]
DECANIA, the district under a Decanus
[p. 539], temp. Car. Calvi. The word was used
in later times also for a monastic farm or grange
(Du Gauge). [A. W. H.]
DECANICIUM iA^KavlKiov). The Pas-
toral Staff borne before the Patriarch of Con-
stantinople on solemn occasions : delivered to
him in the first instance by the emperor (Suicer's
Thesaurus, s.-v.). Pancirolus however (T/iescmrMS
i. 85) states that the decanicium (or dicanitium)
was a silver mace. [C]
DECANICUM, Decania, or Decanica (Ae-
KaviKov), an ecclesiastical prison, career canoni-
cnlis or demeritO'-uin donius, a place of confine-
ment in which criminous clerks were incarcerated
by their bishops and other ecclesiastical supe-
riors. The word is derived from the decani, the
subordinate officials — the pa^Sovxoi or lictors
of the church — who were the jailers. By a
false etymology it is sometimes written SiKaviKov.
Another form, SiaKouiKdv, also found, may be
justified by the fact that the sacristy and other
annexed ecclesiastical buildings sometimes served
DECANUS
537
the purpose of a prison. Cf. the letter of Pope
Gregory II., a.d. 731-741, to the Emperor Leo
Isaurus, in which, comparing the mercy of the
ecclesiastical with the severity of temporal
rulers, he says that when one of the clergy was
proved to be worthy of punishment, instead of
hanging or beheading him, the bishop hung
round his neck the gospels and the cross, and
imprisoned him in one of the treasuries or dia-
conica, or catechumena of the church (Labbe,
Concil. viii. p. 25). The word decanicum is not
unfrequently met with in early times: e.g. in
the petition of Basil the deacon to the Emperor
Theodosius, complaining of the cruel indignities
he and his friends had been subjected to at the
hands of Nestorius (Acta Concil. Ephes. pars i.
c. 30, § 3 et passim ; Labbe, Coticil. iii. 425-431).
" They had been stripped and beaten, and led
off half-naked to the decanicum, where they were
detained without food, and again beaten by the
decmii."
The Decanica are named among the buildings
of which heretics were to be deprived, in a
decree of Arcadius and Honorius {Justin. Cod.
lib. i. tit. V. c. 3) ; and in the A'ovells of Justi-
nian (Ixxix. c. 3, p. 211) we find a decree ad-
dressed to Mennas, Archbishop of Constantinople,
ordering that officers venturing to execute a
sentence of secular courts on clerics should be
imprisoned in the so-called decanica (KaOeipye-
adoKTCLV iv Tois KaKovixivois SeKav'tKOts). [E. V.]
DECANUS (in an ecclesiastical sense) =
I. A member of a guild, whose occupation was
that of interring the dead [Copiatae] : reckoned
among clericihj St. Jerome, Epiphanius, the Cod.
Theodos., &c. ; called also KOTriarris (Epiphanius),
fossarius (Pseudo-Jerom., De VII. Ord. EccL),
lecticarius (Justinian, Novel, xliii. Praef.), col-
legiattis (in the laws of Honorius, &c., Justinian,
Theodosius the Great), decanus (same laws ; and
Collect. Constit. Eccl. in Biblioth. Jur. Canon.
p. 1243). The office was apparently instituted
by Constantine at Constantinople, where it num-
bered in his time 1100 members, but was
afterwards reduced to 950 ; but then again
increased by the Emperor Anastasius, who also
endowed it (Justinian, Nocel. xliii. lix. ; Cod. lib.
iv. De Sacrosanct. Eccl.). From thence it spread
to " other populous churches." The poor were to
be buried by its members gratuitously, at least
where it was endowed (id. Novel, lix.). The
^sKavol mentioned by St. Chrysostom (Horn.
xiii.) were a different, and a civil, body of
officials, attached to the emperor's palace.
(Bingham, Du Cange, Meursius, Suicer.)
II. A presbyter appointed to preside as the
bishop's deputy over a division of his diocese :
called at first archipresbyter (Thomassin, I. iii. 66,
§ 14 ; Dansey, p. i. § 2), with the epithet of vica-
nus (Cone. Turon. II. c. 19, a.d. 567 ; Bruns's
Canones, ii. 229), to distinguish him from the
urban archipresbyter or protopope, and succeed-
ing under that name to some of the functions of
the older chorepiscopus : originally in the Church
of France : — first called Decanus, and his district
Decania, — (setting aside a canon, wrongly at-
tributed to the Council of Agde, a.d. 506, but
really of the date of Charles the Great, ace. to
Dansey, and two questionable canons respectively
of Cone. Tolct. V. a.d. 636, and VII. a.d. 646)—
later than about the time of Charles the Great
538
DECANUS
(see Cnpit. Car. Calvi, tit. v. § 3 ; Cone. Tolos.
A.D. 843, c. 3 ; Hincmar, 0pp. i. 738, c. A.D. 878) ;
called also decanus ruralis {e.g. in Cone. Trever.
A.D. 948, c. 3), magister (by Hincmar, v. Cone.
Gallic. III. 623), decanus episcopi (when intro-
duced into England, a step perhaps facilitated by
the existence of the civil division into tithings,
about A.D. 10.52, in Legg. Edw. Confess, xxxi.,
and see Du Cange, and Carpentier's Supplem. to
Du Cange), decanus Christianorum (in a charter
of A.D. 1092, ap. Du Cange), and commonly after-
wards decanus Christianitatis, probably as having
to do with courts Christian, i. e. with the bishop's
courts. The developed functions of the office
belong to a period later than that to which the
present work relates. In Ireland, the peculiar
institution of the court became mixed up with
that of plebanus, or rural dean. Beyond the
British isles and France, the office does not seem to
have existed. (Dansey, Horae Decanicae Rurales,
2nd edit. 1844; Du Cange; Spelman.)
III. The chief officer of a cathedral, c?ecawMseccfe-
siae cathedralis, as distinguished from the decanus
urhanus and ruralis, or city and country archpres-
byters, after the chapter of the cathedral had be-
come a separate and corporate body [Canonici].
The office so entitled dates in its full development
only from the 10th or 11th centuries, Normandy
and Norman England being the countries where
it first occurs, Rouen having a dean in the 10th
century, and the Dean of St. Paul's, A.D. 1086,
being the first English dean. But as a cathedral
officer, the decanus dates from the 8th century,
when he is found, after the monastic pattern,
as subordinate to the praepositus or provost, who
was the bishop's vicegerent as head of the chapter.
The arrangement still survives, after a fashion,
in the relative positions of the provost or head,
and of the dean, in Oxford and Cambridge colleges.
The Council of Mayence, A.D. 813, substituted
deans for provosts. And that of Aix laChapelle,
A.D. 817, subordinated the provost to the dean.
A series of provosts, afterwards mostly con-
verted into deans — at Canterbury until the time
of Lanfranc, at Worcester A.D. 872-972, at Ely
A.D. 878, at Lichfield a.d. 818-822, at Wells
before a.d. 1088, at Beverley A.D. 1070, at se-
veral foreign cathedrals, and in some English col-
legiate churches — is given by Walcot {Cathedralia,
p. 38). The change probably arose from the
abandonment on the part of the provosts of the
spiritual and internal direction of the chapter,
through their attention to its temporal and ex-
ternal concerns. The functions of the dean are
laid down, for the diocese of Lincoln, a.d. 1212,
as sanctioned by Pope Alexander III. (Wilk.
Cone. I. 535, 536), and for that of Lichfield
a.d. 1194, by Bishop Nonant (*. 497), and for
that of Sarum, as adopted by Glasgow (ib. 741).
But the office, in this full sense of the title,
belongs to a period long subsequent to the date
of Charles the Great.
IV. Deans of Peculiars, and other special appli-
cations of the title of dean, belong also to a like
later period. As does likewise the deanery of the
province of Canterbury, attached to the bishopric
of London. (Thomassin ; Du Cange ; Walcot's
Archaeology and Cathedralia.) [A. W. H.]
V. Decanus Monasticus.- — Among monks the
office seems to have existed in Asia and Egypt,
at least in a rudimentary form, from almost
the very commencement of eoenobitism ; in
DECANUS
subordination to the ' pater,' ' abbas,' ' hegu-
menos' or ' archimandrita ' (Bingh. (6.). The
'decanus' was deputed by him to superintend
the younger brethren, drilling them in self-
denial and encouraging them to confess to him
even their secret thoughts (Cassian, Instit. v.
8, 9). Especially he was to watch over the
novices just emerging, their first year of pro-
bation being jiast, from the ' xenodochium ' or
strangers' room (ih. 7), setting them an example
of obedience by himself obeying the 'praepositus'
even in things impossible {ib. 10). Augustine
speaks of the ' decanus ' as having charge over
ten monks (Z>e Mor. Ecel. 31); Jerome, over
nine ; {Ep. 22 ad Eustoeh.). The ' decanus ' was
to provide for the temporal necessities of his
monks, for instance, by sending out to them the
linen under-garments ; (cf. Ca.ss. Instit. iv. 10) to
watch by night over their cells ; to lead them
to and from refection ; to assign to each the
allotted task ; and, at the close of the day, to
hand over the work done to the 'oeconomus ' or
steward, who was to make a monthly report of
it to the abbat (Jerome, ib. cf. Bingh. M.S.).
The great monastic legislator of M. Casino
adopted cordially this important feature in eoe-
nobitism, prescribing more precisely the duties
of the ' decanus,' and placing him next in rank
to the 'prior' or 'praepositus.' Indeed, Benedict
preferred deans to priors as less likely to collide
with the supreme authority of the abbat (Beg.
c. 65 ; cf. Cone. Mogunt. I. 816, 11). All monas-
teries, except the very smallest, for the words
' major congregatio ' are taken to mean any number
over twenty (Mart, in Reg. S. Bened. 17), were
to have deans, one for ten brethren. He was to
have charge of his ' decania ' in all things, with
this proviso, " according to the precepts of the
abbat" (Reg. 21). He was to be. appointed not
by seniority, ' per ordinem,' but by merit, at the
choice of the abbat, or, according to some com-
mentators, of the abbat and seniors (ib.). He
was to hold office for an undefined period, one
year or more (Mart, in Reg. 31-2), in fact,
" quamdiu se bene gesserit," but after three ad-
monitions was to be deprived (Reg. 21). He was
to guard the morals and conduct of the monks
under his care, especially the dormitory (^Reg. 22 ;
ci Reg. Magist. 11); and to hear their confessions
(Reg. 46).
In subsequent adaptations of the Benedictine
Rule the office of Dean is defined still more pre-
cisely. By the rule entitled ' Magistri,' his
badge of office was to be a wand ' virga,' or
rather a crook, symbolic of pastoral duties (^Req.
Mag. 11, cf. Menard, in Cone. Reg. 28, 2). The
same rule orders two deans for each decade of
monks, to relieve one another, so that one or the
other may be always with them (ib.). They were
to preside at table in the refectory (86.). By
the rule of Fructuosus, the dean is to keep watch
over the younger monks, even in minute points of
deportment, to receive their most secret confes-
sions, and to delate impenitent offenders to the
abbat or prior (R-g. Fi-uet. 12). By the council
of Aachen, in 817, the eldest in rank of the
deans is to superintend the other deans (Cone.
Aquisgr. 55).
According to Menard (in Reg. S. Bened. 21),
the practice of the Reformed Benedictines as to
the office of dean has varied considerably. With
the Cistercians it has been unknown (ib.). With
DECIMAE
the monks of Clugni, the deans administered the
tempoi'alities of the monastery, being the ' vil-
larum provisores ' or ' suflraganei Prioris ' {ib.
cf Du Cange, Glossar. s.v.). With the monks
of M. Casino, the dean at one time ranked next
to the abbat (cf. Alteser. Ascetic, ii. 9) ; but after-
wards, the original institution of deans was
revived (Menard. «'/).). In some monasteries,
according to Du Cange (Glossar. s.v.), there was
a ' foris decanus ' to look after the interests of
the monaster}', outside its walls; in some a 'de-
canus operis ' or ' operariorum ' over the work-
people ; in some, the tenants under the monastery,
' villici ' or ' coloni ' were called ' decani.' Hence
the ' decania ' or ' decanatus ' came to mean
sometimes a grange belonging to a monastery
(«V».). In nunneries there were officials, ' decanae,'
corresponding to the ' decani ' in the older sense
of the word, to maintain order and discipline
0-6.).
See, also, Haefteni Disquisitiones Monasticae
III. tract vi. disquis. 4, Antverpiae, 1644. Dic-
tionnaire du Droit Canonique, par Durand de
Maillane, Lyon, 1776, 1786.
For the growth and development of the office
of ' decanus ' in cathedral-monasteries see under
Canonici. [I. G. S.]
DECIMAE. [Tithes.]
DECREE. [Decretum.]
DECRETAL. As has been observed in a
previous article [Canon Law], a decretal in its
strict canonical sense is an authoritative rescript
of a pope, in reply to some question pi-opounded
to him, just as a decree is an ordinance enacted
by him, with the advice of his cardinals, but not
drawn from him by previous inquiry.* The
very word therefore implies power and jurisdic-
tion. Hence, though from the 4th century
downwards epistles of the Bishops of Rome are
extant,** the earlier specimens do not come up to
the full canonical idea of decretals, inasmuch as
they possessed, when issued, a moral weight
rather than a legislative force. They ai-e thus
spoken of by Gieseler : — " Another source of in-
fluence to the Roman bishops was the custom of
referring to them particularly, as the head of the
only apostolic Church of the West, all questions
concerning the apostolic customs and doctrines,
which in the East were addressed indiscrimi-
nately to the bishops of any church founded by
an apostle. This gave them occasion to issue a
vast number of didactic letters (epistolae decre-
tales), which soon assumed a tone of apostolic
authority, and were held in high estimation in
the West, as flowing from apostolic tradition."
(Gieseler, Ch. Hist.., Second Period, chap, iii.)
As the papal power became firmly established,
such epistles acquired more and more force, until
at length they occupied the position tersely ex-
pressed by the canonist Lancellottus in later
» Decietalis epistola est, quando Papa ad consulla-
tionem alicujus respondel: sive solus, sive de consilio
fratrum. . . . Decretum est, quod Papa de consilio fratrum,
nulla consnltatione facta, super aliqua re statuit, et in re-
scriptis redcgit . . . Coiistitutio est quod Papa propi io motu
btatuil, et in reccriptis redegit, sine consilio fratrum et
nulla consnltatione facta. — Hostiensis, Aurea summa,
Prooem. 14.
•> As regards the 3rd century, see Phillips, p. 6, and
Bickell, i. 35, note. Cornelius is the only Pope of whom
any letters of that date remain.
DECRETAL
539
days—" Decreta Pontificum Romanorum canoni-
bus conciliorum pari potestate exaequantur "
(lib. i. tit. 3). Conversely, also, the papal power
itself was mainly indebted for its development
to the canonical doctrine of decretals. P'or it
was the collection of forged decretals put forth
by the Pseudo-Isidore which chiefly persuaded
the world that the popes had from the most
primitive times been in the habit of issuing
authoritative rescripts ; and this being once ad-
mitted, it followed that they must still have
power to act in a like manner.^ Moreover, the
pretended decretals were so full of assertions of
the papal prerogatives, that when they were
once accepted as genuine and valid, they were a
sufficient justification for the issue of any sub-
sequent document of the same sort, however ex-
travagant. As the collection of the Pseudo-
Isidore did not appear until the middle of the
9th century, it lies beyond the period to which
the present work is confined. But some notice
of it is required on many grounds. It contains
numerous alleged decretals of very early popes,
the spuriousness of which must be pointed out.
It gave the chief support to the canonical idea
of a "Decretal," and therefore enables us to
show that that idea in its full development is
probably later than 800 a.d. It contains several
decretals taken from the older collections of Dio-
nysius and of the Spanish Church, and therefore
gives us occasion to notice that the idea in
question, though not fully matured, was not un-
known at an earlier period. It may be con-
venient therefore briefly to indicate the character
and contents of the work.
It commences with nearly sixty letters of
various Bishops of Rome, from Clement to Mel-
chiades. These are all fictitious, and are all
(according to Heinschius, cxxxi.), with the ex-
ception of two letters of Clement (which are in
whole or in part more ancient forgeries), the
work of the Pseudo-Isidore.
Then follow various conciliar decrees, with
which we are not here concerned, but many of
which are unauthentic. In a third part we have
again decretals of popes down to Gregory II. In
this series the first that is genuine is that of
Siricius to Himerius or Eumerius, Bishop of Tar-
ragona.'^ Among those that follow, some are to
a certain extent genuine, or, at all events, have
been taken, with more or less exactness, from
existing records. Others, on the contrary, are
either the invention of the compiler, or have
been compounded by him out of some existing
materials, or, lastly, were forgeries found ready
to his hand.« Everywhere, however, unwar-
ranted altei-ations and additions are to be found,
c The work is considered by Heinschius to h.ive appeared
between 847 and 853, a.u. It has been usual to trace its
origin to the province of Maycnce, but Heinschius attri-
butes it to that of Eheims. The author is not certainly
known (see Heinschius. ccvlii. and ecxxix. et seq.). Hy
some he has been identified with Beuedictus Ijcvita; but,
according to llemschius, he only availed himself of mate-
rials found in the collection of Beuedictus. (Heins. cxiiii.)
d AVith this the original a)llection of Hionysius began.
e Milman makes 39, Phillips 35, false decrees in this
part of the work. It is hard to say with precision how
many of the forgeries were previously in existence. On
this point the aireful analysis in the preface of Heinschius
should be <onsuUed. See also Phillips, p. 63, Bickell, L
35, note. It is impossible to condense the results.
540
DECRETAL
wholly spurious letters being apparently mixed
with those that have some title to be deemed
authentic.f It thus appears that the work is not
a pure, unmixed forgery. It rests in part on
older collections. These are the Hispana col-
tectio, the so-called Hadriano-Dionysian collection
(or Codex Hadrianus), and some other works of
less importance. Of these some account has been
already given under a previous head [Canon
Law], and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat
it here. As there mentioned, the work of Dio-
iiysius (subsequently sanctioned by Pope Hadrian)
was the first which placed the papal epistles side
by side with the decrees of Councils. This seems
to have been the important step. From this time
an opening was given to contend that they were
on a par, and the wide circulation which the work
obtained very materially assisted the pretensions
founded on it. Then came the Spanish collec-
tion, which yet further contributed to invest the
papal epistles with a legislative, as distinguished
from a moral, authority in the Church. It car-
ried on the series further than Dionysius had
done;S and at length, in the 9th century, the
appearance of the work of the Pseudo-Isidore (so
called to distinguish him from the Isidore to
whom the Spanish collection is attributed), with
its crowd of fictitious epistles which an uncritical
age received in implicit foith, put into the hands
of the popes the greatest weapon which they
have ever wielded. The result therefore is that
previously to the year 800 A.D. the foundations
were really laid for the superstructure after-
wards raised ; but it was chiefly due to the sub-
sequent work that that superstructure attained
its vast proportions and peculiar character. For
the forgeries invented by, or enshrined in, that
work, not only vastly increased the number of
papal epistles, and carried them back to pri-
mitive times, but were directly framed with a
view of supporting the highest claims of the
Roman see. There is little or nothing in the
genuine epistles which could be made the foun-
dation of many of the later papal claims, whereas
the fictitious decretals furnish a basis for the
largest pretension's. It was for this reason that
f As an Indication that the learned of all comnumions
are substantially agreed at the present day as to the cha-
racter of the work as a whole, it may not be uninteresting
to cite the following summary of the work from the Bene-
dictine notes to the Ribliotheca Canonica of Ferraris, edit.
1845: (stated to be published "Superlorum permissu et
privilegio.") Under the title " Canones " the collection
of Pseudo-Isidore is thus spoken of :— "Continet collectio
praeter quinquaginta Canones Apostolorum ex Hadriana
coUectione, epistolas Romanorum Pontificum a Ulemente
usque ad Sllvestrum, quarum omnium ipse Isidorus auctor
fuit, exceptis duabus Clementis ad Jacobum Uteris; turn
canones pUirium coiiciliorum, in quibus falsa habetur Con-
Btitutio Cunstantinl ad Silvestrum; postremo Pontificum
literas ab ipso Silvestro ad Gregormm M. aliis cum epi-
stolis ac monumentis, quorum pars ex aliis coUectionibus
sumpia vera est atque germana, praeter epistolas omnes
Pontificum Siricio antiquiorum ab Isidore confictas, ex-
ceptis S. Damasi ad PauUnum Uteris, pars altera cum
actis concilii Eomaui sub Julio et Concilii I. V. et VI. sub
Symmacbo, excogitata et inventa est." See another ac-
count, also from a Roman Catholic point of view, in
Phillips' Du Droit Ecdesiastique, chap. i. } 8.
8 Phillips (p. 29) seems to think that gome decretals
purporting to proceed from the earliest popes had been
added to the collection of Dionysius at the end of the 7 th
century, thus carrying the series backward also, and
paving the way for Pseudo-Isidore.
DECRETUM
they were brought at once into prominence, and
that from the time of their appearance decretals,
as distinguished from other sources of ecclesi-
astical law, play so large a part in the works of
the canonists.
"The false decretals," says Milman {Lnt.
Christ, book v. chap. 4), do not merely assert
the supremacy of the popes — the dignity and pri-
vileges of the Bishop of Rome — they comprehend
the whole dogmatic system and discipline of the
Church, the whole hierarchy from the highest to
the lowest degree, their sanctity and immunities,
their persecutions, their disputes, their right of
appeal to Rome.*" They are full and minute on
church property ; on its usurpation and spolia-
tion ; on ordinations ; on the sacraments, on bap-
tism, confirmation, marriage, the Eucharist ; on
fasts and festivals ; the discovery of the cross,
the discovery of the reliques of the apostles ; on
the chrism, holy water, consecration of churches,
blessing of the fruits of the field ; on the sacred
vessels and habiliments. Personal incidents are
not wanting to give life and reality to the fic-
tion. The whole is composed with an air of
piety and reverence : a specious purity, and oc-
casionally beauty, in the moral and religious
tone. There are many axioms of seemingly sin-
cere and vital religion. But for the too manifold
design, the aggrandisement of the see of Rome
and the aggrandisement of the whole clergy in
subordination to the see of Rome ; but for the
monstrous ignorance of history, which betrays
itself in glaring anachronisms, and in the utter
confusion of the order of events and in the lives
of distinguished men — the former awakening
keen and jealous suspicion, the latter making
the detection of the spuriousness of the whole
easy, clear, irrefragable — the False Decretals
might still have maintained their place in eccle-
siastical history.'
Authorities.— GigsqI&t, Text Book of Eccles.
History ; Heinschius, Decretales Pseudo-Isido-
rianae et Capitula Angilrami, Lipsiae, 1863,
which is now probably the standard work on the
subject; Bickell, Geschiciite des Kirchenrechts,
Giessen, 1843 ; Milman, Latin Christianity ;
Phillips, Du Droit ecdesiastique dans ses Soui-ces ;
Walther, Kirchenrecht. [B. S.]
DECRETUM, DECRETALE. The letter
of the clergy and people of a city, sent to the
metropolitan and the comprovincial bishops,
signifying the election of a bishop of their city
[Bishop, p. 220], whom they require to be con-
secrated ; equivalent to rrjs x*'/'"''''""'"* """^
^■h<pL(Tp.a (Palladius, Vita Chrysos. p. 39). Gre-
gory of Tours {Vita Maurit. c. 13, in Du-
cange) says that in the choice of Mauritius the
electors could not " in unum venire decreium."
A form for such a letter is given in the Ordo
Eomanus Vulg., under the title, "Decretum quod
clerus et populus firmare debet de electo epi-
scopo." The proper form of one addressed to the
pope himself is given in the Liber Diurnus Fon-
h It has been thought by Gfriirer that one motive of the
fraud was to beat down the power of the metropolitans
over the bishops, by making that of the pope greater and
more immediate in its n.ature over all the clergy. See
Milman's note, ibidem.
i It should perhaps be added that in this article the
strict canonical sense of " Decretal " has been taken. The
word, like other ecclesiastical terms, is sometimes used in
a looser and more general sense.
DEDICATION
tiff. Romm. c. 3, p. 54. In the same place thei-e
follows (p. 56) a "Decretale, quod legit diaconus
designato episcopo." The difference between this
and the foregoing Decret'im appears to be, that
the one was sent by the hands- of some official of
the vacant see immediately on the election of the
bishop; if thereupon the pope gave his assent,
the bishop became technically designate, and a
deacon of his church read the Decretale or peti-
tion for consecration (Gamier, in loco). Several
forms of Decreta on the election of bishops may
be found in Sirmond's Goncil. Gall. ii. 647 ff.
and in Ussher's Vet. Epist. Hihern., Epp. 25, 33,
40. [C]
DEDICATION. [Consecration of
Churches: Patron Saint.]
DEDICATION, FESTIVAL OF Q^yKal-
via). The observance of the anniversary of
dedication arose contemporaneously with the
custom of the solemn dedication of churches.
It was natural that an epoch so intimately con-
nected with the religious life of the congrega-
tion should not be allowed to drop into oblivion.
By a very intelligible metaphor the day of con-
secration was considered the birthday of the
church, or congregation meeting for worship
within its walls. St. Leo (Sermo Ixxxii. in
Natal. Machah.) calls it the " dies natalis " of the
church. By another metaphor it was regarded
as the day of the church's espousals to her
heavenly Bridegroom. Most naturally therefore
these anniversaries were celebrated with the
same joyous feelings and outward festivities as
birthdays and wedding-days. These celebrations
having their first origin in the time when the
Christians were a poor and barely tolerated sect,
exposed continually to persecution, and when
any outward pomp attracting the notice of the
heathen population around would be fraught
with peril, assumed a character of magnificence
in their period of security and opulence. The
earliest instance on record of the observance of
such anniversaries is in the case of the church of
" the Great Martyry " erected by Constantine on
Calvary, and consecrated A.D. 335. In memory
of this solemn dedication, the most magnificent
the Christian world had yet witnessed, a yearly
festival was held for eight days at Jerusalem,
attended by immense crowds not of the citizens
only but of strangers from all parts (Soz. H. E.
lib. ii. c. 26). But the custom was certainly
anterior to this, for not many years later, to-
wards the middle of the 4th century, the obser-
vance of these anniversaries is spoken of by
Gregory Nazianzen as " an ancient usage," iyKal-
VM Tifxarrdai TraAaihs v6p.os Ka\ KaAiis ex'^"' 1^°'^
TOVTO ovx ttTTuI aWa Ka\ TroAAa/cij, l/caiTTTjs rod
iviavTov irepirpoirris rriv aviijv r]fj.4pav iiray-
ov(T7]s (Greg. Naz. In Novum Dondnicam. Orat.
xliii.). Two centuries later it was laid down by
P'elix IV. c. A.D. 530, as a law of the Church that
such anniversaries should be solemnly kept for
eight days, "solemnitates vero dedicationum
ecclesiarum per singulos annos sunt celebrandae "
{Epistoln ad Episcopos, Labbe, Concil. iv. 1655).
The example of Christ attending the Feast of
Dedication (.Tohn x. 22), and of Solomon feasting
the people for eight days at the Dedication of
the Temple, 1 Kin. viii. 65, 66, were adduced as
authorities for this observance. At the com-
mencement of the next centui-y we find the first
DEDICATION, FESTIVAL OF 541
indication of the revelry with which these festi-
vals were subsequently disgraced, and which
made them a by-word for scandalous licence.
Gregory the Great writing to Mellitus when pro-
ceeding to join Augustine in England, A.D. 601,
after retracting the advice previously given that
the heathen temples should be destroyed, and re-
commending their purification and conversion
into Christian Churches, proceeds in a similar
spirit to advise that the popular festivals foi--
merly held on these consecrated sites should not
be wholly discontinued, but that "as some so-
lemnity must he conceded as a compensation,"
they should be transferred to the anniversaries
of the day of dedication, or the nativities of the
martyrs by whose relics the churches were
hallowed. On these days he recommends that
huts or arbours should be erected, about the
transformed temples, in which after " killing
cattle to the praise of God in their eating, they
should celebi-ate the solemnity with religious
feasting " (Greg. Mag. Epist. ad Mellitum, Had-
dan and Stubbs, vol. iii. p. 37 ; Bede, lib. i. c.
30), In other places Gregory alludes to the
eagerness with which the country folk flocked
together to these festive celebrations, and the
mixed crowds that wei'e attracted by the good
cheer (Greg. Mag. Humil. in Evang. xiv. ; Epist.
lib. i. 52, 54; Vita, c. 37. See also Sidouius
Apollinaris, Epist. lib. iv. ep. 15). Such gather-
ings of half-leavened pagans inevitably assumed
a character of gross license entirely at variance
with their sacred intention. Dramatic repre-
sentations were performed, drinking was pro-
longed to intoxication, and singing and dancing
were continued far into the night. In f;\ct they
were characterized by all the revelry and licen-
tiousness of a village fair, which in so many
cases is the lineal successor of the dedication
festival, changed only in its externals. These
gross scandals \feie not allowed to pass un-
reproved. The serious attention of bishops and
councils was directed to them, and earnest
attempts were made for their suppression. The
19th canon of the council of Chalons, A.D. 650,
is directed against the custom (the prohibition
indicates the practice) of bands of women sing-
ing foul and obscene songs, "turpia et obscoena
cantilena," at the porches or churchyard walls
on the dedication festivals (Labbe, Concil. vi.
391 [compare Dancing]). But so thoroughly
had these licentious festivals established them-
selves, that their authoritative condemnation
proved idle, and they lived on in defiance of pre-
lates and councils.
Gavanti lays down (T/ies. Sacr. Hit. § 8, c. 5)
that the Feast of Dedication is a festival of the
first-class, of greater dignity than that of the
Patron Saint or the Titulary of the Church.
The reason for this superiority is assigned by St,
Thomas Aquinas {led. 5 m Joann. c, x.) because
the dedication festival is a commemoration of the
benefits conferred on the whole church, which
exceed those given to any individual saint. The
Feast of Dedication is a " duplex majus " and
has an octave. If it happens to coincide with
any greater festival the consecrator, or after-
wards the bishop of the diocese, may transfer
the anniversary to some Sunday, or any other
day convenient for the large attendance of the
country people (Gavanti u. s. ; Bellarmin. de cnltu
sanctorum, lib. iii. c. 5, de dalicatioiie et comecra-
542
DEDUCTORIUM
tione ecclesiarum ; Ducange sub voc. ; Bingham,
Orig. bk. viii. c. ix. § 14 ; Isid. Hispal. Be Eccl.
Off. lib. i. c. 36 ; Gratian Decret. Be Consecr.
Dist. i. c. 17 ; Ivo Carnot. Becret. pars iii. c. 24).
After the establishment of Christianity newly
founded cities were solemnly dedicated to Christ
and the Saints, and the anniversary of the dedi-
cation was celebrated. This was notably the
case with Constantinople, the anniversary called
yevidXios T^s irdAeojs TjfjLfpa [p. 448] being kept
on the 11th of May (Ducange, Constantinop.
Christiana, lib. i. c. 3). [E. V.]
DEDUCTORIUM. A name sometimes given
to the pipe or channel by which the baptismal
water escaped from the font (Paschasius, Epist.
ad Leonem Fapam). [FONT.] [C]
DEER. [Stag.]
DEFENSOR ECCLESIAE. [See Advo-
CATUS EcCLiiSiAE.] The Division into Befensores
Ecclesiae, Paiqm-um, 3Iatrimonii, &c., is one of
duties, not of persons. In addition to their proper
work, already described under Advocatus, a law
of Justinian (A^'oDe^^.lxxiv. 4) imposed upon them
also in certain cases the incidental duty of wit-
nessing and registering espousals. Setting aside
on the one hand the case of senators and persons
of the highest rank, who were bound to have a
regular settlement of dowry and antenuptial
gift, &c., &c., and on the other that of persons
of the lowest rank, who needed no written docu-
ment at all, Justinian ordained that officers,
merchants, professional men, and the like, if
they desired their marriage to be lawful, must
present themselves in church in the presence of
the Be feasor Ecclesiae [Coxtract of Mar-
riage, p. 488] ; and that officer, with three or
four of the supei-ior clergy of the church, is to
draw up and sign, with at least three of the said
clergy, a dated and formal attestation of the
marriage contract, one copy to be deposited in
the archives of the church, others to be given if
required to the parties themselves (^Bingh. XXII.
iii. 10). [A. W. H.]
DEGRADATION, DEPOSITION, DE-
ORDINATION, DEPRIVATION, were terms
at rirst used indiscriminately to signify the total
and absolute withdrawal from a clergyman, by
ecclesiastical sentence, of his clerical office, and
the reducing of him to simple lay communion :
degradare, ah officio removere, deordinare, ab or-
diiie cleri amoveri, KaOaipetcrQaL, air' o'lKeiov ^ad-
uov aTToiritrTfiv, ■ntTravcrBai tov KAripov, being
all used of the same thing ; which is also ex-
pressed by " deponi ab officio communione con-
cessa." As a "punishment of clergymen, it stood
midway between a temporary withdrawal of the
clerical office, viz. suspension, and an exclusion
from the Church altogether by excommunication.
There were also various degrees of degradation
itself: as e.g. the degradation simply from a
higher order to a lower ; or again, degradation
from the office, but with permission to retain its
title and dignity : for which, and for some minor
variations, see Bingham, XVII. iv.
1. The proper JwA/e to inflict such a sentence,
in the case of an inferior clerk, was the Bishop
[p. 228], acting with his presbyters and with his
church in the earliest times, but from the 4th
century the bishop practically was the judge. An
appeal, however, was allowed from the beginning
to the provincial synod ; see e. g., Cone. ISicaen.
DEGRADATION
and Cone. Sardic, and also under Appeal. And
the provincial Council of Seville (JSispal. II. a.d.
(519, c. 6) endeavoured to restore the older prac-
tice also, and insist on the bishop acting ab initio
with his council — " Solus honorem dare potest,
auferre solus non potest." The rule however
gradually came to be, that three bishops were
required to degrade or try a deacon, six in the
case of a priest, and twelve in that of a bishop.
[See Appeal.] The synod of the province indeed
was alone the tribunal which could- depose a
bishop, and subsequently a priest also.
2. As to the crimes for which clergy were to
be degraded, it may be taken for granted that
they were liable to the penalty for all such im-
moral acts as would involve excommunication in
the case of a layman. But in addition to these,
there are special oflences against clerical disci-
pline to which various canons attached the like
penalty, such as digamy, usury, having recourse
to a secular tribunal, keeping hawks or hounds,
meddling with secular business, frequenting ta-
verns needlessly ; besides such matters as more
immediately related to their duties, as, e. g. alter-
ing the form of baptism, despising fasts and festi-
vals, not rightly keeping Easter, &e. The 58th
Apostolic Canon (a/. 57) deposes for negligence
in pastoral care, paOvfiia. See Bishop, Priest,
Deacon.
3. There must always have been some cere-
monial in the infliction of such a sentence,
although the elaborate details of later customs
are not traceable in early times, and date in
their formal fulness from the Roman Pontifical
and from a Bull of Boniface VIII. Martene
(Be Hit. Ant. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 2) has collected
what can be gathered of earlier practice. Libe-
ratus' Breviarium supplies his earliest instance.
The principle on which the later practice was
formed was so natural in itself, that something
of the kind no doubt was the rule from the first.
Since the clerical office was conferred with the
accompaniment of delivering to each order cer-
tain appropriate instruments, and with the
adoption also of certain vestments, there could
be no more effectual or natural symbol of the
taking away of its office than the taking away
of these appropriate instruments and vestments.
In the case mentioned by Liberatus, accordingly,
an archbishop is deprived by taking away his pall.
The more elaborate and later ceremonial in the
Pontifical and in Boniface's bull gives each
separate' article and then solemnly takes it away,
with a form of words for each, and this either
privately, " before the secular judge," or on some
public and elevated stage ; ending by scraping the
thumb and hand of the degraded clerk, to signify
the removal from him of unction and blessing.
The Donatists it appears proceeded to shave his
head bald also. That some words as well as acts
were used from the beginning may likewise be
taken for granted (see e.g. Socrates, H. E. i. 24,
speaking of the deposition of Eustathius). Eegular
and minute ritual forms are of a late date. They
may be found in Martene aLd in Bohmer, as
quoted below.
4. After degradation, there still followed in
stricter times, and for bad cases, confinement to
a monastery and penance, as may be seen in e. g.
Gregory the Great's letters; the clerk being still
quasi subject to ecclesiastical law, although now
a layman only.
DEICOLAE
(Bingham, xvii. ; Martene, De. Ant. Bit. Eccl.
lib. iii. c. 2 ; Bohmer, Jus Eccles. Protest, lib. v.
tit. xx.Kvii. § 974, torn. v. pp. 715-766.)
^ [A.W. H.]
DEICOLAE (compare Colidei). A name
sometimes applied to monks, as in the Epistle
of Martin of Braga to King Miro, in D'Achery's
Spicilegium, lii. 312 (Ducange, s. v.). [C]
DEI GEATIA. The bishops of the Church,
regarding themselves as called to their office by
the will of God, have from ancient times been
in the habit of using formulae implying a divine
call. Thus Pope Felix II. (a.D. 356) calls him-
self "per gratiam Dei episcopus " (Hardouin,
Cunrilia, i. 757). Aurelius says that he holds
his office "dignatione Dei" (C. Carth. iii. c. 45;
A.D. 397). Other bishops used equivalent ex-
pressions, as "Dei" or " Christi nomine, mise-
ratione, misericordia." The German bishops
have used, from the 7th century onward, the
form " Dei gratia," to which in later times some
su<;h phrase as " apostolicae sedis gratia " or
" providentia " was added. Zallwein {Principia
Juris Eccl. iv. 278) believes this addition not
to be earlier than the middle of the thirteenth
century, and Thomassin {Vetus et Nova Eccl.
Discip. pt. i. bk. i. c. 60, § 10), will not allow
that it was used in Germany before the be-
ginning of the fifteenth ; but the germ of it is
certainly found in the writings of Boniface,
the apostle of Germany, who styled himself
" servus apostolicae sedis " (Hartzheim, Concilia
Germaniae, i. 43).
A similar style was adopted by secular per-
sons of exalted rank ; thus Agilulf on his crown
[Crown, p. 508] is described as " Gratia Domini
. . . Rex totius Italiae" (A.D. 591); and Rothar
(A.D. 643), in his Edict for the Lombards (Walter,
Corpus Juris Germmici, i. 683), speaks of him-
self as "in Dei nomine rex, anno, Deo propi-
tiante, regni mei octavo." In England, Ethelbert
of Kent, in a charter of the year 605, styles
himself, "Aethilbertus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum"
(Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 55), Ethelbald (A.D. 716)
styles himself " divina dispensatione rex Merci-
orum " {Codex Dipl.). From the days of Pepin
the form " Dei gratia " seems commonly to have
been adopted by the Frankish kings. Charles
the Great (A.D. 769) adopted the following style
and title : " Carolus gratia Dei rex regnique
Francorum rector et devotus sanctae ecclesiae
defensor atque adjutor in omnibus apostolicae
sedis " (Pertz, Monum. Germaniae, iii. 33). Sel-
den, Titles of Honour, in Works, iii. 214; Allen,
Eojal Prerogative, p. 22, ed. 1849; Herzog,
Peal-EncyclopdJie, iii. 312. [C.]
DEITIES, PAGAN. [Paganism in Art.]
DELATORES. [Informers.]
DELEGATED JURISDICTION. [Juris-
diction.]
DELEGATUS. [Legate.]
DELPHINL [Corona Lucis, p. 461.]
DEMERITORUM DOMUS. [Decania.]
DEMETRIA, daughter of Faustus, martyr
at Rome under Julian; commemorated June 21
{Mart. Pom. Vet., Adonis, UsuardL). [W. F. G.]
DEMETRIUS. (1) Martyr at Thessalonica,
A.D. 296 ; commemorated Oct. 8 (Mart. Pom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi) ; Oct. 26 {Cal. Bijzant.).
DEMONIACS
543
(2) Bishop and martyr at Antioch with Ani-
anus, Eustosius, and twenty others ; commemo-
rated Nov. 10 (Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(3) Saint ; commemorated Dec. 22, with Ho-
noratus and Florus (Mart. Usuardi, Adonis in
Appendice^.
(4) Patriarch of Alexandria, A.D. 231 ; com-
memorated Magabit 12 = March 8 and Tekemt
12= Oct. 9 (Cal. Ethiop.-).
(6) " Demetrius et Basilius," commemorated
Nov. 12 (Cal. Armen.). [W. F. G.]
DEMOCRITUS, Saint, at Sinnada in Africa ;
commemoi-ated July 31, with Secundus an,d
Dionisius (Mart. Hieron., Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DEMON (IN Art). The evil spirit is al-
ways represented in early Christian art as the
enemy and tempter of mankind under the
form of the serpent, excepting in the Laurentian
MS. [Demoniac] and in the singular diptych
(in Gori, Thesaurus, t. iii. tab. viii.) which re-
presents the cure of a demoniac. As Martigny
observes, these cases are in all respects excep-
tional ; but they are probably the earliest
works of art in which the devil or any inferior
evil spirit is represented in the human form.
[But see Devil.] It might be expected that
as the form of Job occurs frequently in early
carvings and paintings (Bottari, taw. xv. cv. ;
Perret, i. xxv. &c.) some representation of the evil
one as an agent of torment might be found with
him ; but this seems not to be the case. The figure
of the Serpent (see s. v.) accompanies most re-
presentations of Adam and Eve in Bottari and
elsewhere : his head is generally turned towards
Eve. The first known instance of the human-
headed serpent as tempter is found in the
Catacomb of St. Agnes (Perret, ii. pi. xli.), if the
painting be of the same date as the catacomb.
This point involves great difficulties, which time
and inquiry seem rather likely to aggravate than
to diminish. For the Serpent threatening the
Doves see Dragon ; and Gori, Thesaurus Diptych.
iii. p. 160. [R. St. J. T.]
DEMONIACS. The Church inherited from
both Jews and heathens the belief that demons,
i. e. " unclean " or " evil " spirits, could take
possession of the bodies and the souls of men,
women, children, and subject them to a cruel
bondage. The history of our Lord's miracles
naturally tended to confirm and deepen the be-
lief. Abnormal physical oi mental states, which
CDuld not be otherwise explained, were referred
to demoniacal possession as a sufficient cause.
Fi'om one point of view, indeed, it was held as a
dogma that every child born into the world was
thus under the power of an evil spirit, of the
chief of evil spirits, and from an early period a
formula of exorcism was employed as a preli-
minary rite to baptism, and the work of cate-
chist and exorcist was thus brought into close
connection [Baptism; Exorcism]. In the pre-
sent article, however, it is proposed to deal only
with those in whom the condition was more or
less chronic, and who were bi-ought therefore
under a continuous course of treatment.
It is clear from the narratives of the New
Testament, and from the records of the Church,
that the class consisted chiefly though not ex-
clusively of those who in our own time would be
classified as insane. They were known as the
5aijU0ftfd/iej'0(, the N. T. name more frequently
544
DEMONIACS
as the ivepyoi/xevoi {energumeni), men operated
on, exercised by, unclean spirits, less frequently
as ;)(;6i^af(5;U€i'Oi (Jiyemantcs)^ or KKv'Sciivi^Ajxivoi,
those who are tossed to and fro by the storms
and billows of uncontrollable impulse. The
boundary-line between mental and moral dis-
order is at all times difficult to trace, and the
name is at times extended, as by the Pseudo-Dio-
nysius {de Eccles. Hierarch. iv. 3), to those who
were the slaves of lust or other master-passions,
probably to those in whom the moral evil as-
sumed the character of a possession, overpower-
inc; the ordinary restraints of prudence and self-
control. For the most part, however, the ener-
gumeni, as demoniacs, may be identified with
those who suffered from some form of insanity.
The symptoms described by Cyprian, sleepless
nights, panic fears, restless agitation (de Idol.
Vanit. p. 239) ; the outward appearance of the
demoniacs as pourti-ayed by Chrysostom {Horn.
IV. De incomprehens. Nat. Dei), squalid, foul,
with hair dishevelled, and in rags, all point to
the same conclusion. It is not within the scope of
this article to discuss the theory which referred
all these phenomena to an actual possession
of the human nature by a malignant spiritual
power. It is enough to say that it was postu-
lated in the whole treatment of such cases by
the Church. The suggestion of a more scientific
view that the symptoms originated in excess of
bile, or the inflammation of a tissue, or other
physical cause, was rejected as the whisper of
unbelief, itself the suggestion of the demons,
who wished thus to deprive men of the prayers
and incantations which were the only effectual
weapons against them (Horn. Clem. ix. 12). Men
dwelt with exultation on the power which their
prayers, and the utterance of the Divine Name,
and the laying on of hands, had to drive the
demon howling and blaspheming from his usurped
abode (Cyprian, de Idol. Vanit. 1. c. ; ad Demetr.
c. 15). It might have seemed, looking at the
matter from the modern, scientific stand-point,
as if the Christian Church had itself got into
a hopelessly wrong groove, from which no good
results were to be expected, which tended to
stereotype the delusions that fed the madness,
and were utterly at variance with any rational
treatment. It will be found, however, it is
believed, that partly in spite of the theory, partly
in consequence of it, the treatment of the insane
in the early ages of the Church assumed before
long a true therapeutic character, and brought
them under influences which tended, in the
natural course of things, to bring them to a
sound mind. Cases of instantaneous expulsion
of the demon, like those described by Cyprian,
became less frequent ; and, where the mastery
of a strong will had for a time calmed a paroxysm
of frenzy, were followed by a relapse. Putting
aside the case of the symbolic or hypothetical
exorcism which preceded baptism, we have to
think of the energumeni as brought, by virtue
of the theory, within the range of sj^mpathy and
care. Instead of being left, as in most eastern
countries, to go wild, like the Gadarene and
" Tlie word ;)^€i|ULa^d/a.eroi and its Latin equivalent are
S(.nietimes explained us pointing to the position whicii the
demoniacs occupied in the outer porch of the church,
exposed to the inclemency of cold or rain. The mranmg
given in the text rests, however, on better authority.
C'omp. Suicer, s. v. xeinafofiecoc.
DEMONIAC, HEALING OF
other demoniacs of the N. T., when the insanity
was not dangerous, or to be brutally chained and
fettered if it was, they were marked out as ob-
jects of pity and of special prayer (Constt.
Apost. viii. 7). They occupied a fixed place in
the porch of the church, and so were brought
within the soothing influence of psalms and
hymns and words of comfort (Dionys. de Eccles.
Hierarch. iv. 3). With them, as fellow-sufferers,
might sometimes be found the lepers of the
neighbourhood ; sometimes also those whose loath-
some depravity had made them defiled like the
leper, and incapable of human society like the
demoniacs (C Ancijr. c. 17). When the prayer
was over they were brought to receive the bene-
diction of the bishop (Constt. Apost. viii. 7).
The church itself became a kind of home for
those who otherwise would have been homeless.
There the exorcists paid them a daily visit, and
gave them food, and laid their hands upon them
(4 C. Carth. c. 90, 92). There, if the nature
of the case required it, they were brought under
a discipline of abstinence that might subdue the
impulses of passion (Horn. Clement, ix. 10). There
they were employed in industrial tasks that were
suited to their condition, such as sweeping the
pavement of the church (-i C. Carth. c. 91) or
lighting its lamps (C. Elib. c. 37).'' If they
were in the status of catechumens they might
be admitted to baptism at the hour of death,
even though there had been no complete cure
(Constt. Apost. viii. 32; Cyprian, Epist. 76; 1
G. Aruusic. c. 15 ; C. Elib. c. 37). If they were
already among the faithful they might even, if
the insanity did not take a violent form, be ad-
mitted to communion (Cassian, Collatt. vii. 30 ;
Timoth. Alex. Bespons. c. 3), and that daily. It
is almost needless to say that they were excluded,
even after recovery, from ordination. The ex-
orcists were instructed to repeat their prayers
and other forms of adjuration memoriter (Isidor.
Hispal. Epist. ad Landefred.). They were often
identical with the catechists, and were therefore
more or less experienced in the work of teaching
(Balsamon on C. Laod. c. 26). The influences
thus brought to bear upon the real or supposed
demoniacs were, it is submitted, calculated to
soothe and encourage, to bring them under the
influence of sympathy. Even the ceremonial
imposition of hands, over and above the sacra-
mental associations connected with it, and their
power to soothe the paroxysms of suicidal re-
morse, may have had what we have learnt to call
a mesmeric efl'ect, calming the over-excited brain,
through the tones of pity, into something like
tranquillity. It is not too much to claim for
the Christian Church, whatever may be thought
of its theory of madness, the credit of having
taken some practical steps, and those steps the
first, towards a rational treatment of the in-
sane. Here, also, as in the institution of hos-
pitals, love and pity were not without other
fruits than those they sought for, and minis-
tered to the attainment of a truth at which they
did not aim. [E. H. P.]
DEMONIAC, HRALING OF (in Art).
One instance only is known to Father Martigny
b The canons of the Council of p:ivira cited in the text
forbid the practice, probably on account of some incon-
venient results; but the prohibition shows that it was
common.
DENIS, COUNCIL OF ST.
of a representation of this miracle ; it is one of
the instances of single sufferers, perhaps that of
the youth after the Transfiguration. The evil
spirit issues in human form from the head of
the possessed (Gori, Thes. Diptych, t. iii. tab. viii.).
DEPUTATUS
545
Our Lord holds a cross on His shoulders and
His hand is extended using the Greek benedic-
tion. Another example is in the Laurentian
MS. ; see woodcut. [R. St. J. T.]
DENIS, COUNCIL OF ST, {ad S. Diony-
sium, near Paris), A.D. 768, was rather a national
council of bishops and nobles, at which Pipin
shortly before his death divided his kingdom
between his sons Carl and Carloman (Labb. vi.
1720, 1721.) [A. W. H.]
DENARIUS. [Peter's Pence.]
DENUNTIATIO MATRIMONII. [Mar-
RIAGE.]
DEO DICATUS. One of the terms by
wliich persons who devoted themselves to religion
were designated. Thus Hatto or Ahito, bishop
of Basle {Capitulare, c, 16) forbade even Deo
dicatae to meddle with the service of the altar
[compare Devota Femina] ; and Lucifer of
Cagliari, describing the conduct of his enemies,
says (in the tract Moriendum esse, etc.) that they
tortured and slew even dedicated persons (Deo
dicatos). [C]
DEO GRATIAS. T^ &e^ x^P^h "Thanks
be to God ! " A response of the people, fre-
quently occurring in divine service from very
ancient times, derived no doubt from the apos-
tolic use of the phi-ase (1 Cor. xv. 57 ; 2 Cor. ii.
14). The best-known instance of its use is pro-
bably that in which it forms the response of the
people to the Ite, missa est of the priest at the
end of the liturgy.
According to the Mozarabic rite the people
said Deo gratias, " Thanks be to God," at the
naming of the passage to be read as the " Pro-
phecy " in the Liturgy. Bona mentions this
phrase as being also occasionally used instead
ijf Allien, or Laus tibi Christe when the Gospel
CHRIST, ANT.
was ended {De Heb. Litwg. ii. vii. 4). St. Au-
gustine notices it as a common mode of greeting
among the monks in his time, for which they
were ridiculed and insulted by the Agonistici,
as they called themselves, among the l36natists
(Aug. in Psalm, cxxxii. p. 630). The expres-
sion appears to have been frequently used on
other occasions by way of acclamation. When
Evodius was nominated as Augustine's successor
the people called out for a long time — "Deo
gratias, Christo laudes " (Aug. Ep. 110, de Actis
Ecodit). [C]
DEPORTATIO. One of the usages of the
Galilean Church was that a bishop on his way
to be enthroned was borne in a chair by the
hands of his fellow-bishops. Thus Wilfrid of
York, who was consecrated in Gaul, is said {Life
by Eddius, c. 12) to have been borne to his throne
by the hands of the bishops who were present,
"more eorum," i.e. after the Gallican custom
[Bishop, p, 225]. Gregory of Tours perhaps
alludes to this custom when he says {Hist. Franc.
lii. 2) that the assembled bishops and people
placed (locaverunt) Quintianus in the episcopal
throne of Clermont. A " chairing "of the bishop
on the shoulders of certain persons of rank, the
first time he entered his cathedral, was customary
in several of the French churches in the middle
ages (Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Ritibus, I. viii. 10,
§ 19). [C]
DEPOSITION. [Degradation.]
DEPOSITION, IN Hagiology {Depositio).
The word depositio is explained in the sermon
of Maximus, De Depositione S. Eusehii (in the
Works of Ambrose, ii, pt. 2, p. 469) to mean,
not the day of burial, but that on which the
soul lay^ down the burden of the flesh ; and it
is probably with this idea that it is used in
calendars and martyrologies. For instance, in
the Mart. Hieron. we have on March 21 " De-
jjositio Benedicti Abbatis ; " in the Mart. Bedae
on the same day, " Natale Benedicti Abbatis,"
as if Depositio were exactly synonymous with
Natale, which confessedly means the death-day
of a saint.
Yet on July 11, the day on which the Trans-
lation of St. Benedict is placed by Bede and Ado,
the Mart. Hieron. has again Depositio. We may
infer that the word was at least occasionall}'
used to designate the day on which the relics
were entombed.
Papebroch, in his Conatus Chronologico-Histor.
ad Catal, Pontiff. Roman. {Acta Sanctoruin, May,
vol. iv.), contends strongly that Depositio is used
for the day of death ; Elevatio, Cultus, or Trans-
latio for that of burial.
In early calendars the word Depositio is said
to be confined to bishops [CALENDAR, p. 258].
(Binterim's Denkwiirdigkeiten, vi, pt. 3, p.
370 ft'.). [C]
DEPRECATORIAE. In an ancient codex
quoted by Ducange (s. v.), literae deprecatoriae
are explained to be simple " letters of request "
given by presbyters, who were unable to grant
the formal " dimissory letters " (formatae) of
bishops. [COMMENDATORV LETTERS : DllIISSORY
Letters.] [C]
DEPRIVATION. [Degradation.]
DEPUTATUS (AsTTOuTOTOj). The Greek
Church distinguishes between persons properly
2 N
546
DESCENSUS
m orders, set apart for a certain work by the
imposition of the bishop's hands, and those
merely nominated to certain offices without im-
position of hands. Deacons, subdeacons, and
readers belong to the former class ; to the latter,
those who discharge purely subordinate offices
under the direction of the clergy; as the Theoi'i,
who have the charge of the sacred vessels and
vestments ; the Camisati [Camisia], who attend
to the thuribles and water-vessels in the service
of the altar ; and the Deputati. The office of the
latter is, in processions to precede the deacon
who bears the Book of the Gospels, or the obla-
tions, carrying lighted tapers and, also, if neces-
sary, to clear the way for the bishop through the
crowded church. (Permaneder in Wetzer and
Welte's Kirchenlexicon, iii. 107, who quotes
Morinus, De S. Eccl. Ordinationibus, pt. ii. p.
66, ed. Antwerp, 1695).
These Deputati thus corresponded with the
Ceroferarii or Cereostatarii of the Latin Church ;
and in the form of their appointment (Goar's
Kuchologion, p. 237) their office is said to be that
of bearing the lights in the holy mysteries. See
Acolyte. [C]
DESCENSUS. A word sometimes used to
signify the vault [Confessio] beneath the altar
containing relics of saints. Anastasius, for in-
stance {Hist. Eccl., an. 5 Leonis Isaur.), uses it
as equivalent to the Kara^aais of Theophanes,
from whom he is compiling. [C]
DESECRATION of Churches and Altars
{Exsecratio). So indelible a character of holi-
ness was thought to be stamped upon a church
or an altar by the act of consecration, that
nothing short of destruction, or such dilapida-
tion as to render them unfit to serve their
proper ends, could nullify it (Barbosa, De Off.
ct Potest. Episcop. pt. ii.). A church might,
however, be so polluted as to need Recon-
ciliation ('/.r.) by the perpetration in it of
homicide or other revolting crime ; and if the
relics which had been deposited at consecration
were removed, the church and altar lost this
sacred character until these were restored ; with
the relics and the renewal of masses, the whole
effect of consecration returned (Vigilius, Pope
538-555, Ad Eutherivm, Epist. ii. c. 4). Gre-
gory of Tours (Hist. Franc, ix. 6) mentions an
instance in which a church, in consequence of a
homicide having been peri>etrrtted in it, lost the
privilege of Divine Service (officium perdidit).
Compare Churchyard, Sacrilege. (Martene,
De Hit. Ant. ii. 28-t; Thomassin, Vet. et Nov.
Eccl. Discip. i. 458). [C]
DESERTION OF THE CLERICAL
LIFE. Several centuries elapse before we find
desertion of the clerical life recognized as an
oftence. The Council of Chalcedon in 451, enacts
(c. 7) that those who have once been received
into the dents are not to desert it for any
military service or worldly dignity. The Council
of Angers in 453 declared (c. 7) that clerics who
leaving their order have turned away to secular
warfare and to a lay life are not unjustly removed
from the church which they have left. The 1st
Council of Tours, a.d. 461, has an equivalent
provision expressed in somewhat clearer lan-
guage (c. 5), specifically enacting excommunica-
DESERTION
tion for the offence. We have an instance (if the
jiractice by a Breton Council of uncertain date
(supposed about 555), recorded by Gregory of
Tours (Hist. Franc, ix. 15), in which a bishop,
who let his hair grow and took back his wife,
was excommunicated. Under Justinian's Code,
by a constitution of that Emperor himself, a.d.
532, renewing and extending a previous one of
Arcadius and Honorius, if a person deserted the
clerical or monastic life for a military one (the
term militia with its congeners, did not at this
period imply necessarily the use of arms) he was
punished by being made a curialis of the city
of his birth, i.e. charged with all the burthens
of the state. If there were already very many
curiales in the city he was to be placed in any
neighbouring or remote one, or even in any one
of a difi'erent province which should happen to
be in special want of these political beasts of
burthen. If he hid himself, the curiales could
at once enter upon his property and detam it to
answer legal demands (bk. i. tit. iii. 1. 53 § 1).
If, on the other hand, a clerk or monk embraced
an ordinary secular life, all his property passed
to the church or monastery which he had de-
serted (Ibid. 1. 56, § 2) — a provision confirmed
as to monks by the 5th JS'ovel, c. 4. The 6th
Novel, which extends the prohibition to sub-
deacons and readers, transfers the benefit of the
forfeiture, as respects clerics,— if indeed there be
anything to forfeit, — to the curia, providing
moreover that if the clerk in question be poor,
he shall be reduced to an official condition, i.e.
probably to that of a mere servant to the public
offices (c. 7) ; and this forfeiture to the curia is
confirmed by the 123rd Novel, c. 15. But as
respects monks, the same Novel (c. 42) requires
a monk who betakes himself to a secular life — ■
being first deprived of any office or dignity he
may acquire — to be sent to a monastery, to
which moreover it assigns all property acquired
by him after his leaving his former one. If he
absconds from this, the judge of the province is
to hold and admonish him.
In a letter of Pope Zacharias (A.D. 741-51) to
king Pepin, the Pope decrees that those who have
once been admitted into the clergy, or have de-
sired monastic life, are not to betake themselves
to military service, or to any worldly dignity
(Ep. 7, c. 9), under pain of anathema if they do
not repent and return to their former life — a
provision substantially identical with that of the
Councils of Angers and Tours. In Charlemagne's
Capitularies also is a provision " that a priest
ought to continue in the religious habit " (Ad-
ditio Tertia, c. 110). See also the 31st canon
of the Council of Frankfort in 794, " that clerics
and monks should continue stedfast in their de-
termination."
Desertion of the clerical life must of course
be distinguished from desertion of the clerical
functions in a particular diocese or jiarish. See,
amongst other authorities, as to bishops leaving
their districts (-wapoiKias), the so-called Aposto-
liecd Canons, c. 11 (otherwise 13 or 14), and the
123rd Novel; and as to presbyters, deacons, and
other clerics so acting, Apost. Cm. c. 12 (other-
wise 14 or 15); also the 16th Canon of the
Council of Nicaea. One of the temptations to
the breach of discipline in question appears to
I have been the serving in private oratories, as
' to whudi see Novels 57, 58, and 131. [J. M. L.]
DESIDEEATA
DESIDERATA. A name sometimes used
for the sacraments, as being desired of all Chris-
tians. Zeno of Verona (Invit. 8 ad Fontein,
quoted by Ducange) asks why his hearers delay
" ad desiderata festiuare." [C.]
DESIDERIUS. (1) Bishop of Vienne, mar-
tyr at Lyons; Natale, Feb. 11 {Mart. Bedae,
Adonis in Appendice, Usuardi). According to Ado
he suffered martyrdom on May 23, and was
translated Feb. 11.
(2) Bishop of Ferrara ; " Passio " May 23
(Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) The reader, martyr at Naples under
Diocletian, with Januarius the bishop and others ;
commemorated Sept. 19 (Mart. Horn. Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DESPONSATIO. [Arrhae: Betrothal:
Marriage.]
DESPOTICAE (AerTTTOTi/cai ^oprai). The
greater festivals of the Church are so called by
the Greeks ; they are generally reckoned to
amount to twelve, but authorities varv on this
point. [Festivals.] (Daniel's Codex Liturgicus,
iv. 235.) [C]
DETRACTION is defined to be the concealed
and unjust attack in words upon the reputation of
another person. It differs from Calumnia in that
the latter is a false accusation made in the course
of legal proceedings, and from Contumelia in its
being concealed from the person aftfected.
This sin has been condemned both by fathers,
as by St. Augustine (in hom. 41 De Sanctis), St.
Jerome (£/». 2, al. 52, ad Nepotian. c. 14), and
St. Chrysostom (De Sacerd. 5, G), and by various
canons of councils (e.g. Cone. Cnrth. iv. cc. 55-60)
under wider words which include other offences
against the 9th commandment (Bingham, Chr.
Aid. 6, 2, 10, and 16, 13, 3 ; Ferraris sub voc. ;
Thom. Aq. Summa, 2. 2. quaest. 73 ; Soto De
Just, et Jure, 5, 10). [I. B.]
DEUS IN ADJUTORIUM. The canonical
Hours, according to Western usage, generally be-
gin with the words of the 70th [69th Vulg.] Psalm.
V. Deus in adjutorium meum intende.
R. Domine ad adjuvandum me festina.
Cassian (Collatio, x. c. 10) tells us that this
verse was frequently used by monks in their de-
votions before his time, but it does not appear
that it was definitively prefi.xed to each Hour
before the time of St. Benedict, who prescribed
that use in his Rule (c. 9).
The Roman use at Matins prefixes the verse
and response,
V. Domine, labia moa aperies.
R. Et OS meum annuntiabit laudem tuam,
from the 51st [50th Vulg.] Psalm ; in the
monastic breviaries, on the other hand, the
Domine, labia follows the Deus in adjutorium.
In Compline, Deus in adjutorium is preceded by
V. Converte nos, Deus salutaris noster.
R. Et averte iram tuam a nobis,
from the 85th [84th Vulg.] Psalm.
The verse, " 0 Lord, open thou our lijis," &c.,
also occurs in the early part of the Greek morn-
ing otiice.
(Bona, De Divina Psalmodia, ch. xvi. 4 ;
Martene, De Ant. Monach. Bit. pp. 5, 23 ; Wetzer
and Welte, fvirchenlexicon, iii. 122.) [C]
DEVOTA FEMINA
547
DEVIL (IN Art). The Early Church seems
to have contemplated the spiritual enemy of God
and man principally as to his functions of tempt-
ation and ])ossession in this
world. Representations of
him as the final accuser
and claimant of the souls
of the lost, or as their tor-
mentor in the place of his
own condemnation, belong
to mediaeval rather than
to primitive art. The pre-
sent writer is not aware of
the existence of any hell
earlier than the mosaics of
Torcello, as that painted
by Methodius, even if its
story be true, has alto-
gether vanished. On the
sarcophagi, and later in
Anglo-Saxon and Irish
MSS. more particularly,
the tempter is symbolized,
• as so often in Holy Scrip-
ture, under the form of
the Serpent (see s. v.).
One instance there is, how-
ever, given by Didron in
the Iconographie du Ser-
pent (Ann. Arche'ologiques,
V. 2) of a Gnostic combi-
nation of human and serpentine form, with leo-
nine head and face (see woodcut). It is taken
from a bronze in the Vatican collection, and is
derived, he says with certainty, from the ancient
Egyptian symbol of a lion-headed serpent. But
the human form and expression are so predomi-
nant as to make it appear to be an anticipation
of' the personified serpent of the Middle Ages, ■
represented in the Book of Kells and other
northern MSS. The Gothic or mediaeval re-
presentations seem to begin in Italy with the
fiend in the Chase of Theodoric, 'which, till
lately destroyed by gradual and wanton mis-
chief, adorned the front of St. Zenone in Verona.
In the Laurentian MS. of Rabula (a.d. 587)
there is an extraordinary representation of the
demoniacs of Gadara, jusl delivered from their
tormenting spirits, who are fluttering away in
the form of little black humanities of mis-
chievous expression. [See Demoniacs.]
[R. St. J. T.]
DEVOTA FEMINA, or simply DEVOTA.
It need hardly be said that the practice of vows
made to God is recognized in the Pentateuch,
and throughout the Old Testament (Levit. vii.
16, xxvii. 1 and foil.. Numb. vi. 2 and foil., xv.
3, 8, XXX. 2 and foil. &c.). Such vows might be
of persons as well as things, as in the instance
of the "singular vow " mentioned in Lev. xxvii.,
and of the Nazarites mentioned in Numb. vi. :
with which compare the applications in the case
of Jephthah, (Judg. xl. 30) Samson (Judg. xiii. 5)
and Samuel (1 Sam. i. 11). Certain checks are
at the same time imposed on the vows of women,
which are required to have at least the tacit assent
of a father, if the woman be " in her father's house
in her youth " (Numb. xxx. 3-5), or of a husband,
if she " had at all a husband " (ib. 6-8, 10-15);
" but every vow of a widow, and of her that is
divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls,
shall stand against her " ''v. 9).
2 N 2
548
DEVOTA FEMINA
The examples of St. Paul (Acts xviii. 23, 24),
anil the four disciples at Jerusalem (Acts xxi.
2:3) show that like practices were adopted by
the Apostolic Church. But over and above
these temporary vows, it is clear that the
class of church-widows were considered as per-
sonally devoted to God. Moreover, in his
mode of speaking of virgins, St. Paul clearly
shews that he considers those who have autho-
rity over them to have power to " keep " them
for the Lord (see 1 Cor. vii. 34, 37, 38). The
Apostolical Constitutions, besides their abundant
notices of the church-widows, shew us also
the rise of a distinct class of church-virgins
devoted to God in like manner. The term devota,
however, as applied both to widows and virgins,
survived both organizations and spread beyond
them, and seems to serve as a transition link be-
tween them and female monachism. From the
4th century downwards there are many texts
which can hardly be applied, at all events ex-
clusively, to either institute as such, and antici-
pate any organized female monachism, but which
clearly imply a practice of self-consecration to
God on the part both of widows aud unmarried
women, and which serve as the foundation of the
practice of the Church in later times in respect
to nuns.
Thus the first Council of Valence, a.d. 374,
treating "of girls who have devoted themselves
to God," exacts that if they voluntarily contract
" earthly " marriage, they shall not even be al-
lowed immediate penance, aud shall not be admit-
ted to communion till they have given full
satisfaction. Now it was only in the 5th century
that monachism, under the Basiliau rule, penetra-
ted into Southern Gaul, so that the puellae in
question cannot have been niins properly so called.
The same applies to the canons of the 1st Council
of Toledo, A.D. 400, which enact that a " devota "
who takes a husband is not to be admitted to
penance during his life, unless she preserves con-
tinence (c. 16), or, with still greater severity,
that if a bishop's, or priest's, or deacon's daughter,
having been devoted to God, sins and marries,
should her father or mother restore their affec-
tion to her, they are to be excluded from com-
munion. The father may indeed shew cause in
council against the sentence, but the woman her-
self is only to receive the communion after her
husband's death and penance, unless at her last
hour (c. 19) — a text which indeed admits the
validity of the marriage.
The stamp was set on the woman's devotio
by her taking, or rather receiving from the
priest's hands, the veil, symbol of her being
espoused to Christ. Hence the distinction
which we find made between the gravity of mar-
riage in the case of the veiled and unveiled ; as
to which see Pope Innocent I.'s 2nd letters, to
Victricius Archbishop of Rouen, cc. 12, 13, and
certain canons of doubtful authority, supposed
to be contemporaneous " of the Roman to the
Gaulish bishops," cc. 1, 2. The devotional or vir-
ginal habit might indeed be assumed, at all events
in the 5th century, without actual consecration;
see Leo the Great's lG7th letter, A.D. 458 or
459, to Rusticus Bishop of Narbonne, c. 15.
The " virgin devoted to God " is assimilated
to the monk in a canon of the Council of Chal-
cedon, A.D. 451, forbidding both to marry under
pain of excommunication, but subject to the in-
DEVOTA FEMINA
I
dulgence of the local bishop (c. 15), The 2nd I
Council of Ai-les. A.D. 452, seems to confine ex- {
communication in such cases to marriage after j
25, and provides that a penance is not to be I
refused if asked for, but communion only to be |
granted after long delay (c. 52). An exagge-
rated strictness on the other hand pervades a i
letter of Pope Symmachus (a.d. 498-513) to !
Bishop Caesarius, of Aries. Not only does he i
require the excommunication of those who have
sought to marry virgins consecrated to God, !
whether with their own will or against it, and
declare that " we do not suifer " widows to !
marry who have long persevered in the I'eligious '
pui-pose ; but he forbids those virgins to marry j
" to whom it may have happened to pass their j
age during many years in monasteries" — en- !
forcing, in short, virginity without even a pro-
fession.
The practice of the religious profession, both \
in convents and outside of them, is shewn in the i
Canons of the 5th Council of Orleans, A.D 529, ■
which excommunicates alike, together with their ]
husbands, both girls who in convents have put j
on the religious garment, and those who, whether 1
girls or widows, have assumed the habit in their '
houses (c. 19). On the other hand, the 1st
Council of Macon in 581 pronounced excommuni-
cation for life against both parties, in case of
such marriages.
Towards the end of the 6th or beginning of ;
the 7th century, in the lettei's of Pope Gregory i
the Great (a.d. 590-603), we seem to perceive j
a distinction between the " religious " and " mo-
nastic " habit, which may have indicated that
between the simple devota and the nun. Writing j
to the Roman exarch (bk. iv. ep. 18), he speaks ]
of women till now " in the religious and mo-
nastic habit " who have thrown oft'the sacred gar-
ment and veil, and married, and who are said to 1
be under the exarch's patronage, and warns him '
against the iniquity of such protection. It will
not have escaped attention that the "veil "in '
this passage seems to correspond, as in later and
present Romish practice, with the specially mo- i
nastic profession. On the other hand, an earlier 1
letter of the same pope (bk. iii. ep. 24, ad Cuu- ]
nariuni), distinguishes between veiled virgins aud i
women in convents. The incompatibility be- j
tween marriage and the religious " habit " is '
indicated in another letter of the same pope to ,
bishops Virgilius and Syagrius, (bk. vii. pt. ii. c. j
119).
That in spite of all prohibitions, marriages
with " religious " women continued to take place, i
and to be celebrated even in church, is evident
from an edict of King Clothair II., issued at the j
5th Council of Paris, A.D. 614 or 615. No one
was to carry off religious girls or widows, who
have devoted themselves to God, as well those
who reside in thei)- own houses as those who are |
placed in monasteries (thus clearly distinguishing
between the two classes) ; and if any, either by i
violence or by any kind of authority should !
presume to unite such to himself in marriage,
he was subject to capital punishment, or, under
special circumstances to exile, and forfeiture of |
goods.
The 7th letter of Pope Zacharias (a.d. 741-
51), addressed to Pepin as mayor of the palace, t
and to the bishops, abbots, and nobles of the I
Franks, refers to Pope Innocent's letter before i
DEXAMENE
luentioued, as to the distinction between tlie
marriage of veiled and unveiled virgins, the
former of whom are to be separated, the latter
only to do " some " penance (cc. 20, 21). On
the other hand, a capitulary of the 6th book
(c. 411) treats as absolutely null a marriage
with "a virgin devoted to God, a woman under
the religious habit or professing the continuance
of widowhood," re-enacting the punishment of
separation and exile for the offenders. One of
the 7th book (c. o38) is addressed to the case of
those widows and girls who have put on the
religious habit in their own houses, either re-
ceiving it from their parents or of themselves,
but afterwai-ds marry ; they are to be excom-
municated till they separate from their husbands.
and if they will not, to be kept perpetually ex-
cluded from communion. A Lombard capitulary
of 783, contains a like enactment (Fertz, Leq.
t. 1). [J. M. L.]
DEXAMENE, Ae^a^eVTj, a cistern or tank
for the water needed for the replenishing of the
font and the various ecclesiastical offices (Procop.
Ilistor.Arcan. c. iii.). Erroneously interpreted by
Suidas, sub roc. of the altar ; and by Bingham,
Orig. bk. viii. c. vii. § 4, of the font. [E. V.]
DIACONIA. (1). The name given to the
localities in which food and alms were distributed
to the poor by the deacons of the Church of Rome.
Each was under the administration of one of the
seven deacons, one for each region, the whole
being under the superintendence of an archdeibon.
Each diaconia had a hall for the distribution of
charity, and an oratory or chapel annexed. These
last remained when the original purpose of the <lia-
coiiM had passed away, and have risen to the dig-
nity of churches, of which there are now fourteen,
each assigned to one of the cardinal deacons.
The original purpose of the diaconia is illus-
trated by the following passages from Anasta-
sius : — Siephan. II. § 229 : " foris muros . . . duo
fecit Xenodochia . . . quae et sociavit venerabili-
bus Diaconis illic foris existentibus .... id est
Diaconiae S. Dei genetricis, et B. Silvestri duae."
Hadrian. I. § 357 : " coustituit Diaconias tres
foris portam B. Apost. Principis . . . et ibidem
dispensatione per ordinem pauperibus cousolari,
atque eleemosynam fieri [constituit]." Infra,
§ 345 : " idem egregius Praesul Diaconia con-
stituit . . . concedens eis agros vineas etc. ut de
eorum reditu . . . Diaconiae proficientes pauperes
Christi reficerentur."
(2). The word diaconia was also used for that
part of the deacon's office which consisted in dis-
jiensing food and money to the poor. It is thus
employed by Gregory the Great in a letter to
John, in which he says, " te mensis pauperum
et exhibendae diaconiae eligimus praeponendum ;"
and goes on to speak of the money received " dia-
coniae exhibitione erogandum " (Greg. Magn.
/i/j. ad Joann. 24). See Suicer, Ducange, Hos-
pinian. de Templis, p. 18. [E. V.]
(3). In the earlier days of monachism this term
was used for monastic alms-giving (Cass. Collat.
xviii. 7 ; Gregor. M. Ep. 22). The oldest monk
was entrusted with it in Egypt (Cass. Collat. xxi.
1 ) ; in the East the " oeconomus " or bursar
(Martene in Cass. ib. xxi. 8, 9). [I. G. S.]
DIACONICA (AioKoi/iKa). Certain short
inayers or " sull'rages " in the Liturgy are called
Viaconica, as being recited by the attendant
DIADEMA
549
deacon. They are also called ElpriviKa, as being
mainly prayers for peace. In the consecration
of a bishop the Diaconica are said by bisho])s.
(Menard on the Gregorian Sacramcntarij, p. 523 ;
Neale's Tctralogia Liturgica, p. 217.) [C;]
DIACONICUM. (1) The vestry or sacristy
of a church, so called from being the place where
the deacons performed their duties in getting
ready the vestments and holy vessels, heating
the water, preparing and lighting the incense,
and other essentials for the celebration of the
Eucharist, and other divine offices. No minister
of a lower grade was permitted to enter the
Diacouicum {Concil. Laod. can. 21 ; Cuncil. Aga-
thens. can. 66). The diaconicuni was, as a rule,
placed on the right or south side of the bcnia or
sanctuary, answering to the prothcsis on the
north, and communicating witli the bona by a
door in the parabeina or side-wall. It also usu-
ally had an independent entrance through an
external door. The diaconicum generally ter-
minated apsidally, and was always ]>rovided witii
an altar (Qv(na(TTT]pwv, Apophthegmata Patrum
apud Gelas. No. 3 ; kyia rpairi^a, Ettclmlig.
Goar, p. 245), on which the bread and wine
were placed prior to their removal to the pro-
thesis. Its wall was often adorned with ])ic-
tures of saintly deacons, Stephen, Benjamin, &c.
Within it was the treasury, K€i/xrjAtapx*'0'')
or (TKevo<pxiK6.Kwv, where the sacred A-essels
and other treasures of the church were kept
(Cyril Scyth. in Vita S. Sab. apud Ducange). Jt
was also used by the priests as a vestry, in
which they changed their vestments and put on
their eucharistic dress (^€lae\06i'Tes aWacrcrovai
rT}v UpariK^v utoKtjv eV tw Siukovikw, Typicu/a
Sabae, cap. ii. ap. Suicer). Relics were preserved in
it (^Catalog. Patriarch. Constantinopol. ap. Suicer).
Worshippers who for disciplinary reasons were
excluded from the actual church were permitted
to offer their devotions here, e.g. the Emperor Leo
VI. when excommunicated for his fourth marriage
(Cedrenus, Compend. Hist.). The diaconicum
was sometimes a spacious chamber annexed to
the church {diaconicum majus), large enough for
the reception of a provincial or general synod
[Council, p. 477]. In the diaconicum of the
church atPaneas, the statue, supposed to be that
of the woman with the issue of blood, removed
for safety from the market-place, was erected
(Philostorg. lib. vii. c. 3).
Other names by which the diaconicum was
known were, aairaffriKSv (as being the hall of
reception), <rKevo<pvKa.Kiov, /jLeTarcvpioi' or pira-
Twpiov (a word of various orthography and very
uncertain etymology, perhaps representing " mu-
tatorium," as the place where the clergy changed
their vestments), vacno^Spiov, secretarium, on
which see Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. viii. c. vii.
§ 7 ; Leo Allal. De Tempi. Grace. Bee, ep. i.
§ 13-15 ; Suicer, suh toe. ; Ducange, Glossar. Id,
Dcseript. S. Sophiae, ad Paul. Silentiar. ; Neale,
Hist. East. Ch., General Introd. p, 191, §9,
(2) Diaconicum also signifies the volume con-
taining the directions for the due performance of
the deacon's office, ^i^Xiov t^s AiaKovias. Cf.
Leo Allatius, Dissert, i. de Libr. Eccl. Graecor.
(3) The word is also used for certain prayers
said at intervals in the service by the deacon :
evxat StaKdvov, known also as uptjviKd. [DlA-
CONICA.] [E. v.]
DIADEMA. [CiW)\vN : Coronation.]
550
DIAPASON
DIAPASON, DIAPENTE, DIATESSA-
RON. These are the three intervals of the
octave, the perfect fifth, and the perfect fourth :
the ratios which determine them are i, g, and |.
They were the only intervals that were consi-
dered consonances, and were always of the same
magnitude in every scale whether diatonic, chro-
matic, or enharmonic, while the others were
variable (see Canon in Music, p. 274). Although
the system of reckoning by tetrachords continued
till tiie time of Guido Aretinus, yet the name
Diapason shows that the ancients attributed to
the octave a greater degree of perfection in
respect of consonance, which is also shown by
the notation preserved by Alypius, where in the
modes above the Dorian in pitch, for most of the
higher notes (which would be the latest exten-
sion of the respective scales) the symbols repre-
senting the notes an octave below were adopted
with the addition of a acute accent. It is strange
that this plan was not extended over the whole
"diagram" of the modes, which would have
been a very material simplification, and is indeed
a considerable approximation to our present
system of calling all notes diftering by an octave
by the same name. This however appears to have
escaped the notice of the early Latin authors,
although they did make great simplifications.
St. Gregory completed the recognition of the
octave by reducing the names of notes to 7,
which have remained to this day.
The fifth and fourth together make an octave
QXj = ^), and according as the former or the
latter was the lower in pitch, the octave was said
to be harmonically or arithmetically divided ;
these divisions were also called authentic and
plagal (q. v.), thus :
^ ^ '-^-—r Here the
value of G
(§) is the
Harmonic
id A).
-— -P Here the
zft value of F
— (f) is the
Arithmetic
Authentic : SS ^ ~ —
C G c
mean between those of C and c (1
Plagal :
C F
mean between those of C and c (1 and 2).
But it is worth noticing that if two harmonic
means be inserted between C and c, F is one of
them, which would point to the conclusion that
the ancients were wrong in taking an arithme-
tical division at all, though it is most natural
that that error should have been made by them.
This division can be made in any octave, ex-
cepting that that from F to f can only be divided
authentically at c, and that from B to b can
only be divided plagally at E. [J. R. L.]
DIAPENTE. [Diapason.]
DIAPSALMA. This is the word used in
the Septuagint and recognized by other writers
as the equivalent to " Selah," which occurs in
the Psalms and in the Canticle of Habakkuk.
See Smith's Bid. of the Bible, sub voc. Selah,
where the obscurity of the subject is fully
stated. As the early Christians used the psalms
in public worship so it is natural they would
copy the Hebrew method of singing the psalms.
The Liturgy of St. James prescribes Pss. 23, 34,
145, 117 at the Fraction, and in Ps. 34 Sid\pa\-
na occurs in tlie LXX. where Selah is not foun I
DICE
St. Jerome enters into the question at some
length in his letter to Marcella, but leaves the
matter in doubt; he mentions it also in his com-
mentary on Ps. 4 and Habak. 3. j
It appears to the writer that an interpretation
suggested by the primary meaning of \pd\Xfiy
will nearly, if not quite, reconcile the conflicting
opinions and perhaps account for them ; viz.,
that it was a direction for the instruments to
play, while the chorus was silent or perhaps
producing a series of notes without words, i. e.,
a " division," " or " Pneuma." It has been
said that the Jews used Pneumata ; if so, the
adoption of them by Christians is obvious ; but
in any case it would seem that they were com- 1
moply in use at an early period. In consequence ]
of the common use of various musical instru- |
ments at feasts and entertainments at which
Christian morality was likely to be outraged in
the period of the empire, the Christians were
chary of their use in religious services, fear-
ful doubtless of the association of ideas. Sir
John Hawkins (^Hist. of Music, p. xxvii.) gives
a list of fathers who have denounced musical
instruments, but he gives no references ; and
the writer has succeeded in verifying Epiphanius
only, who speaks of the flute as a diabolical
instrument. In the Eastern Church to this
day instrumental music is, we believe, unknown. j
Thus the Pneuma may have been invented by 1
the early Christians as the nearest approxima-
tion to the Diapsalma. [J. K. L.] j
DIARETOR. The Codex Eccl. Afric. (c. 78) i
runs thus (Bruns's Canones, i. 175) : " Kursus
placuit, ut quouiam Hippouensium diaretorum, ;
ecclesiae destitutio non est diutius negligenda
. . . eis episcopus ordinetur." The equivalent
in the Greek version is " ^povTitnou Trjs ew-
KAriaias," " caretakers of the church " [Inter- '
VENTOr], as if during a vacancy of the see, !
which is implied in the concluding words of the j
canon. Ducange (s. v.) conjectures " direc- I
torum," Hardouin "diarrhytorum." The word
does not seem to occur elsewhere. [C]
DIASTYLA, Atda-TvXa, the Cancelli by i
which the bejua was separated from the naos ]
(Sym. Thessalon. apud Ducange ; Sta roiv kijkAl- |
Soic ijTOL T(2v SioeTTwAcoi'). Goai''s Euchol. p. ,
708. [E. v.] :
DIATESSARON. [Diapason.] I
DICE (^Alea, kv^oi ; Low-Latin, Becius ; whence j
Fr. Be'). The playing at dice, or games of chance
generally, never looked upon favourably by |
moralists or laws (see Bict. of Greek and Rom. !
Antiq., s. V. Alea), early attracted the notice
of the censors of Christian manners. The Paeda- '
gogue of Clement (iii. 11, p. 497) forbids dice-
playing, whether with cubes or with the four-
faced dies called acnpayaAoi (see Rost u. Palm, j
s. v.), out of desire for gain. ApoUonius (in
Euseb. H. E. v. 18, 11), denouncing the Mon-
tanists, asks whether prophets play at tables I
(rd^Aats) and dice. And gaming is one of the ,
forms of vice which we find denounced b}' the
Church in the earliest canons which remain to us.
The Apostolical Canons (cc. 41, 42 [al. 42, 43]) \
forbade either clergy or laity to play with dice
' The lark makes sweet division." — Eomeo and Juliet
DICERIUM
on pain of degradation or excommunication. The
Council of Eliberis (a.d. 305) also denounced the
penalty of excommunication against any of the
faithful who played at dice, " that is, tables," for
money (can. 79). And at the end of the 7th
century the Trullan Council (can. 50) repeated
the same penalties of degradation and excom-
munication. Nor was the civil power indifferent.
Justinian {Code, lib. i., De Episc. et Cler. 1. 17 ;
Nov. 123, c. 10) forbade the clergy of every rank
from playing at games of chance (ad tabulas
hidere), or even being present at them, on pain
of suspension with seclusion in a monastery for
three years. Another enactment {Code, lib. i.,
Be Episc. Audien. 1. 25) commits the investiga-
tion of such offences to the bishops, and em-
powers them to call in the secular arm, if neces-
sary, for the reformation of scandalous offenders ;
and yet another {lb. 1. 35), complaining bitterly
that even bishops did not abstain from these
stolen pleasures, denounces such laxity in the
severest terms. These imperial laws are all in-
serted in the yomocanon of Photius and John of
Antioch.
The laws themselves indicate that Christians
and even clergy were by no means exempt from
the almost universal passion for games of chance.
One or two instances may serve to confirm this.
Jerome relates {De Script. Eccl. in Apol. Ep.
105) that Synesius alleged his own irresistible
propensity for gambling as a reason why he
should not be made a bishop. Gregory of Tours
{Hist. Franc, x. 16) tells us that certain nuns
of the convent of St. Radegund at Poictiers
accused their abbess, among other matters, of
dicing; whereupon the abbess declared that she
had done the same thing in the lifetime of St.
Radegund (f 587) herself, and that it was not
forbidden either by the common law of canonical
life or by their own Rule ; nevertheless, she
would submit to the judgment of the bishops.
(Thomassinus, Noca et Vet. Eccl. Discip. pt. iii.
lib. iii. c. 43.) [C]
DICERIUM. AiKr]pLov, cercus bisulciis, a
two-forlied wax taper used by bishops of the
Greek Church in the Benediction of the people.
It was also employed in the benediction of the
Book of the Gospels lying on the Holy Table.
The bishoj) was said SiKTiplqi (r<ppayiCf'y. The
double taper was considered to symbolize the
two natures of Christ.
Triceriiim, TpiK-npwv, cereus trisulcus, was simi-
larly used, and held to symbolize the Trinity.
Symeon Thessalon, Be Templo, p. 222, aprid Du-
cange s. v. Kriphs. Gear's Eiicholog. p. 125. [E. V.]
DICTERIUM. [Pulpit.]
DIDYMUS, martyr at Alexandria ; comme-
morated April 28 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
LTsuardi). (W. F. G.)
DIES. The word dies is used, like the Eng-
lish "day," to designate a festival: as {e.g.) the
Annales Franc. A.D. 802, "Ipse rex celebravit
diem S. Joannis Baptistae." The principal special
uses of the word are the following : —
1. Dies adoratm. GooD Friday.
2. Bies Aegi/ptiaci. Certain " unlucky days "
once marked in calendars (see the ancient cal-
endars published by Bucher), supposed to have
been discovered by the ancient Egyptians from
astrological calculations. Decrees were made
DIGAMY
551
against the superstitious observance of these
days {Decret. pt. 2, caus. 26, qu. 7, c. 16), and an-
cient Penitentials (see Ducange, s. v.) forbid men
to avoid these days especially for blood-letting
or commencing a work ; indeed the superstitious
preference for, or avoidance of, a day {Becret. u. s.
c. 17) was forbidden generally. A memorial verse
for showing when the Egyptian days fall is given
by Durandus {Rationale, viii. 4, § 20).
3. Bies boni, " les bons jours," used for fes-
tivals (Sidonius, Epist. v. 17).
4. Bies Cinerum, the first day of Lent, or
Ash-Wednesday.
5. Dies Coenae Bomini. Maundy Thursday.
6. Bies Consecrati. The Capitularium Car. M.,
(ii. c. 35), enjoins that four days at Christmas
should be observed as festivals ; these days are
referred to in the council of Soissons, A.D. 853,
c. 7, and in the Capit. Car. Calvi at Compifegne,
A.D. 868, c. 8, as dies consecrati, on which no
courts were to be held.
7. Bies Bominica. [Easter ; Lord's Day.]
8. Bies Magnus, Felicissimus, Easter-Day
{Capitularium Car. M. v. c. 136); "dies mag-
nus Coenae," Maundy Thursday {Capit. Herardi,
c. 14). So r] fj.eyd\r] rj/jLipa {Cone. Ancyr. c. 6)
is used for Easter-Day. " Dies magnus " is also
used for the Last Day {Capit. Car. M. vi. c. 378).
9. Dies Natalis. [Natalis.]
10. Bies Neophytorum, the eight days, from
Easter-Day to its octave, during which the
newly baptised wore their white garments.
Augustine {Epist. 119, c. 17) speaks of the
" octo dies neophytorum " as days of special
observance.
11. Bies Palmarum, or in Ramis Pabnarum,
Palm-Sunday.
12. Bies Sancti, the forty days of Lent.
See the Theodosian Code, lib. ii. Be Fcriis, and
Barouius, ad an. 519, § 42.
13. Bies Scrutinii, the days on which can-
didates for baptism were examined, especially
Wednesday in the fourth week of Lent.
14. Bies Solis, Bies Lunae, and the other days
of the week ; see Week.
15. Bies tinearum or murium ; certain days
on which ceiemonies were performed to avert
the ravages of moths or mice (Audoenus, Vita
Eligii, ii. 15). See Delrio, Bisquis. Magic, lib.
iii. pt. 2, qu. 4, § 6.
16. Bies Viridium, in some ancient German
calendars, Thursday in Holy Week, " Grundon-
nerstag." [Maundy Thursday.]
17. Bies votorum, a wedding-day ; Leges
Longobard. lib. ii. tit. 4, § 3. [C]
DIETA. The ecclesiastical CuRSUS or daily
office. Victor of Paris (MS. Liber Ordinis, c. 27,
quoted by Ducange) orders his book to be carried
round whenever office is said (quando dieta can-
tatur). See Beleth, Be Biv. Off. c. 21 ; Dur-
andus, Rationale, v. 3, 29. [C]
DIGAMY. - It has been stated under the head
Bigamy that we propose to consider under the
present head whatever concerns the entering into
marriage relations with two persons successively.
The subject is one in respect to which a different
morality has been applied to the clergy and laity.
As respects each class moreover, it divides itself
under two branches — which, however, it will
not always be necessary to consider separately
— that of successive marriages after divorce or
552
DIGAMY
sep<aration, and after the death of a husband or
wife.
I. In respect of the clergy, it has been already
observed under the head Bigamy that the pre-
scriptions as to bishops and deacons in 1 Tim. iii.
2, 12, and Tit. i. 6, requiring them to be husbands
" of one wife," apply more probably to successive
than to simultaneous marriages. The explana-
tion of them seems to lie in those enactments
of the Pentateuch (Levit. xxi. 7, 13, 14), which
forbid the priest to marry a widow or divorced
woman. The oldest authorities support this view.
The Apostolical Constitutions (ii. 2) require the
bishop- to be the husband of a single woman once
married; a prescription extended by a constitu-
tion, evidently indeed of later date (vi. 17) to
presbyters, deacons, and even singers, readers,
and porters ; the deaconesses also were to be pure
virgins, or at least widows of one husband (as to
whom, see also viii. 25, no doubt later still).
The so-called Apostolical Canons in like manner
provide that if any one after baptism shall twice
enter into marriage, or marry a widow or divorced
woman, he cannot be a bishop, priest, or deacon,
or in anywise on the list of the sacred ministry
(cc. 13, U, otherwise 16, 17, or 17, 18). It is
clear from the Philosophumena of Hippolytus
(ix. 12) that by the beginning of the 3rd century
the rule of monogamy for the clergy was well
established, since he complains that in the days
of Callistus "digamist and trigamist bishops, and
priests, and deacons, began to be admitted into
the clergy." Tertullian recognizes the rule as
to the clergy. Thus in his De Exhortatione Casti-
tatis (c. 7), he asks scornfully : " Being a diga-
mist, dost thou baptize ? being a digamist, dost
thou make the offering?" And he points (76.
c. 13) to certain honours paid among the heathens
themselves to monogamy.
The rule of the Church, it will be observed,
forbade alike to the clergy both personal digamy,
and marriage with a digamous woman. St. Am-
brose, in the first book of his Offices (c. 50), further
considers the case of prebaptismal marriage, —
many persons, it seems, being surprised that
digamy before marriage should be an impediment
to orders.
We pass from the testimony of the fathers to
that of councils and popes. The so-called canons
of the Nicene Council from the Arabic — which
probably indeed only represent the state of the
Church of Arabia at a much later period — enact
the penalty of deposition against a priest or
deacon dismissing his wife in order to change her
for another fairer or better or richer, or " on
account of his concupiscence" (c. 66, or 71 of
the Ecchellensian version). The still moi'e pro-
blematical ' Sanctions and Decrees ' attributed to
the Nicene fathers require, in accordance with
the previously existing laws of the Church, the
priest to be " the husband of one wife, not a
bigamist or trigamist," and forbid him to marry
a widow or dismissed woman, &c. (c. 14).
The first Council of Valence (a.d. 374) enacts
that " none after this synod .... be ordained to
the clergy from among digamists, or the hus-
bands of previously married women (internup-
tarum)," but decrees that nothing should be in-
quired into as to the status of those who are
already ordained (c. 1). Compare the 4th Coun-
cil of Carthage (a.d. 397), c. 69, and the 1st
Council of Toledo (a.d. 400), cc. 3 and 4.
. DIGAMY
The letters of pope Inaocent I. (A.D. 402-17)
deal frequently with the subject, and more than
once on tlie point already treated by St. Ambrose
of the effect of prebaptismal marriage. In his
2nd to Victricius bishop of Rouen, besides laying
it down that clerics should only marry virgins
(c. 4), he dwells on the absurdity of not reckon-
ing a wife married before baptism (c. 6). The
23rd letter of the same pope, addressed to the
Synod of Toledo, reverts a third time to the error
of not reckoning in cases of digamy a prebaptismal
marriage.
The letters of Leo the Great (a.d. 440-61) re-
peatedly recur to the subject. See the 4th, 5th,
and 6th.
Second marriages were, however, still allowed
to the inferior clergy. Thus the 25th canon of
the 1st Council of Orange, A.D. 441, ordained
respecting " those fit and approved persons whom
the grace itself of their life counsels to be joined
to the clergy, if by chance they have fallen into
second marriage, that they should not receive
ecclesiastical dignities beyond the subdiaconate."
The same enactment is repeated almost in the
same words in the 45th canon of the 2nd Council
of Aries, A.D. 452. In some dioceses, however,
the rule was still stricter, if full faith is to be
given to a letter of bishops Loup of Troyes and
Euphronius of Autun to bishop Talasius of Angers
(a.d. 453), which lays it down that the Church
allows digamy as ftir as the rank of porters, but
excludes altogether exorcists and subdeacons from
second marriage, whilst in the diocese of Autun
the porter himself, the lowest of the inferior
clergy, if he took a second wife lost his office,
and, as well as a subdeacon or exorcist falling
into the same " madness," was excluded from
communion (see Labbe' and Mansi's Councils, vol.
vii. p. 942). As respects marriages to widows,
we must not overlook a Council of uncertain
place, of the year 442—4, by which a bishop
named Chelidonius was deposed, amongst other
reasons, for having contracted such a marriage ;
though he was afterwards absolved by Pope Leo.
See further, against the 2nd marriages of the
clergy or other marriages to widows or divorced
women, the 4th canon of the Council of Angers,
a.d. 453 ; the 4th canon of the 1st Council of
Tours, A.D. 461 ; the 2nd canon of the Council
of Rome, A.D. 465 ; letter 9 of pope Gelasius I.
(A.D. 492-6) to the bishops of Lucania, cc. 3, 22 ;
and two fragments of letters by him to the
clergy and people of Brindisi.
Aruong the Nestorians of the East indeed,
towards the end of the 5th century, the re-
marriage of the clergy was held valid. One of
their synods held in Persia, under Barsumas
archbishop of Nisibis [Bigamy], expressly lays
it down that a priest whose wife is dead is not
to be forbidden by his bishop to marry again,
whether before or after his orders." And even in
the West it is evident that instances of digamy or
quasi-digamy must at the beginning of the 6th
century have been so frequent in France at least
as to require toleration. Thus the Council of
" A somewhat later Nestorian synod under the pa-
triarch Babaeus, however, seems to allow but one wife to
the " Oathollciis," all inrerior priests, and monks. It is
difficult, however, to collect the exact purport of the
enactment from the short notice in Labbe and Manei's
Councils, vol. 8, p. '2'J9.
DIGAMY
Agde, A.D. 506, after the canons and statutes of
the fathers had been read, determined, " as
touching digamists or husbands of women before
man-ied (intevnuptarum) — although the statutes
of the fiithers had otherwise decreed — that those
who till now have been ordained, compassion
being had, do retain the name only of the priest-
hood or diaconate, but that such persons do not
presume, the priests to consecrate, the deacons to
minister " (c. 1). So the Council of Epaone, A.D.
517, c. 2; the 4th [3rd] Council of Aries, A.D.
524, c. 3 ; and the 4th Council of Orleans,
A.D. 541, c. 10. It seems superfluous to multiply
authorities as respects the Western Church, ex-
cept to notice the introduction of the same legis-
lation among new communities. Thus for Eng-
land, a Council held under archbishop Theodore of
Canterbury, towards the end of the 7th century,
forbids the priesthood (c. 116) to the husband of
a widow, whether married to her before or after
baptism. The Collection of Irish Canons, sup-
posed to be of about the same date, in its first
book ' On the Bishop,' requires him to be a man
" who having taken only one wife, a virgin, is
content " (c. 9). And pope Gregory II. (714-30)
in a capitulary to his ablegates in Bavaria, forbids
a digamist, or one who has not received his wife
a virgin to be ordained (c. 5). On the other
hand, a Spanish canon seems to imply that quasi-
digamous marriages might in that province be
contracted with the advice of the bishop, since
the 4th Council of Toledo, A.D. 633, enacted
(c. 44) that clerics who without such advice
(sine consultu episcopi sui) had married widows,
divorced women, or prostitutes, were to be ex-
cluded from communion.
The last authority we shall quote, as embracing
the East as well as the West, is that of the [5th]
6 th General Council, that of Constantinople in
TruUo, A.D. 691, which treats of the subject iu a
manner proving that the canonical injunctions
against digamous or quasi-digamous marriages
among the clergy were yet in many instances
transgressed. Those who had become involved
in second marriages, and down to a given past
date had " served sin," were to be deposed,
but those who, having become involved in the
disgrace of such digamy before the decree,
had forsaken their evil ways, or those whose
second wives were dead already, whether priests
or deacons, were ordered for a definite time to
cease from all priestly ministrations, but to re-
tain the honour of their seat and rank, whilst
praying the Lord with tears to forgive them the
sin of their ignorance. On the other hand those
who had married widows, whether priests, deacons,
or subdeacons, after a short period of suspension
from ministerial functions, were to be restored
to their rank, but without power of further
jiromotion. For all those committing the like
offence after the date assigned, the canon was
renewed "which says that he who shall have
become involved in two marriages after baptism,
or shall have had a concubine, cannot be bishop,
or priest, or deacon, or in anywise a member of
the sacerdotal order ; and so with him who has
taken to wife a widow or divorced woman,
or a harlot, or a slave, or a stage-player " (c. 3).
It would probably be diflTicult to assign the
original canon thus referred to. The text is
moi'eover remarkable as confining the disability
iif second marriage to post-baptismal unions— in
DIGAMY
553
direct opposition to the authority of St. Aml'rose
and others before referred to.
It is sufficient to state here that so long as we
retain the female diaconate in sight, the same
obligation of monogamy attaches to the deacon-
esses as to the male clergy ; e.'f., not to speak
of Epiphanius for the East, when the female
diaconate reappears in Gaul during the 6th cen-
tury, we find the 2nd Council of Orleans, A.D.
533, enacting that "women who have hitherto
received against canonical prohibition the diaconal
benediction, if they can be proved to have again
lapsed into marriage, are to be expelled from
communion ;" but if they give up their hus})ands,
they may be readmitted after penance (c. 17).
It must not be overlooked that the civil law
of the Roman empire since the days of Justinian
followed the canon law on the subject of clerical
marriages. This is perhaps only implied in the
Code (see bk. i. t. iii. 1. 42, § 1, and 1. 48), but
distinctly enacted in the Nocels. Under one or
other of these, bishops, priests, deacons, and sub-
deacons were alike forbidden to receive ordination
if they had been twice married, or had married
widows or divorced women (6th Nov. cc. i. v. ;
22nd Mo. c. xlii. ; 123rd Nov. cc. i. xii. ; 137th
Nov. c. ii.). Readers who remarried or con-
tracted the like marriages, could rise to no higher
clerical rank (an indulgence which did not, how-
ever, extend to a third marriage), or if they ob-
tained such irregularly, forfeited altogether their
clerical position (6th Nov. c. v, : 22nd Nov. c.
xlii.; 123rd iVou. c. xi v.). Deaconesses must in
like mannei-, if not virgins, have been only once
married (6th Nov. c. vi.).''
II. As respects the laity, the distinction be-
tween second marriages after divorce or separa-
tion, and after death, which is unimportant as
respects the clergy, becomes an essential one. In
both respects the practice of the Church, instead
of being founded, as it was with reference to the
clergy, on the prescriptions of the Old Testament,
depends upon a more or less narrow interpreta-
tion of the New, or on more or less bold deductions
from its teachings, combined with the surround-
ing influences of civil society. In conformity with
St. Paul's views as to remarriage after death, we
I" A curious offshoot from the subject of the prohibition
of clerical bigamy is the extension of that prohibition to
the widows of clerics. Thus, the first Council of ToU do,
A.D. 400, enacted that if the widow oTa bishop, priest, or
deacon took a husband, no cleric or religious woman
ought so much jis to eat with her, nor should she be
admitted to communion except t'n articulo mortis (c. 18).
The 4th Council of Orleans, a.d. 511, required the widow
of a priest or deacon married again to be separated from
her husband, or if she remained with him, both to Ije
excluded from communion (c. 13). The Council of EjiHOne
(a.d. 517), somewhat more sharply decreed immediate
exclusion of both, till they should separate (c. .'!2). The
Council of Lerida (a.d. 524) according to Surius, forbade
the communion to the remarried widow of a bishop, priest,
or deacon, even in articulo mortis. The Council of
Auxerre (a.d. 578),again forbade such marriages as respects
tbe widows of the superior clergy; the Council of Miicon,
A.D. 585, extended the prohibition to those of subde.'icons,
exorcists, and acolytes, under pain of confinement for life
in a convent of women (c. 16). Yet Pope Gregory the
Gr 'at (a.d. 599-60;i) did not go so far, for we find him in
a letter to Leo, bishop of Catania, (bk. ii. letter 34) order-
ing a certain Hoiiorata, widow of a subdeacon, who on
hir marrying again had been shut \\\^ in a monastery,
to be restored to her husband.
554
DIGAMY
find Hei-mas writing that " whoso marries " —
i.e. as shown in the context, after the death of
either wife or husband — " does not sin, but if he
dwells by himself, he acquires great honour to
himself "with the Lord " (bk. ii. M. iv. § 4) ; but
adopting the stricter view as to remarriage after
divorce, declaring it to be adultery in the man
even when he has put away his wife for that
offence itself, and the same to be the case with
the wife (ibid. § 1). Negatively, on the other
hand, it may be observed that the epistle of
Barnabas, in enumerating the works of the " way
of light," does not specify monogamy (see c. 19).
The Apostolical Conditutions (iii. 1) speak of
the marriage of a church-widow as bringing dis-
grace to the class, " not because she contracted
a second marriage, but because she did not keep
her promise {iTrayy(\ia.v) "—a passage clearly
implying even in this case the full lawfulness of
second marriage. See also cc. 2 and 3, and
Apost. Can. 40, al. 47 or 48.
Although amongst the earlier Romans there
was one form of marriage which was indisso-
luble, viz., that by confarreatio, still generally
a second marriage either after death or divorce,
was by no means viewed with disfavour. There
are, however, certain clear indications that
already in the first century of our era con-
stancy to a single partner was in the Roman
world beginning to be looked upon with favour.
Thus Tacitus speaks of Germauicus's being a man
" of one marriage " as one of the causes of his
influence (Ann. ii. 73), and mentions a little
further on (c. 76) that the daiighter of Pollio
was chosen to be chief vestal " for no other
reason than that her mother remained mar-
ried to the same man." The same Tacitus ob-
serves of the Germans that the best of their
communities (uivitates) were those where the
women only married as virgins, so that they
never had but one husband (Z>e Mor. Germ. c.
-xix.). And it is perhaps worthy of notice that
the jus connubii, when given to soldiers, was
restricted under Philip (247-9) to the case of a
first marriage, though this was probably not
attributable to any moral considerations (see
Muratori, Thes. Inscr. i. 362).
Meanwhile an intensifying spirit of asceticism
was leading many in the church to a condemna-
tion of second marriage in all cases, Minucius
Felix (fictavius, c. 31, § 5) only professes on
behalf of the Christians a preference for mono-
gamy. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-220)
seems to confine the term marriage to the first
lawful union (Stroinata, bk. ii. — quoted, as well
as several of the following references, in Co-
telerius, Patres Apostol. vol. i. p. 90, n. 16).
Athenagoras terms second marriage " fair seem-
ing adultery." Tertullian (A.D. 150-226) in-
veighs against it with unwearied urgency, in
his two books Ad Uxorem, in his De Exhortatione
Castitatis, in his De Monogamia, and in his Be
Pudicitid— the last but one, however, written
when he was altogether a Montanist. In the
first of them, indeed, he admits that his wife
will not actually sin if she marry after his death
(i. 7), but argues from clerical to lay mono-
gamy. In the Exhortation to Chastity (which
is addressed to a man) he uses the same argument,
but goes so far as to say that second marriage is
a form of adultery (c. 9). Origen (184-253) so
far as the Latin text of his 17th homilv on
DIGAMY
Luke can be trusted, is not much less severe.
Recommending perseverance in widowhood, he
says : " But now both second and third and fourth
marriages, not to speak of more, are to be found,
and we are not ignorant that such a marriage
shall cast us out from the kingdom of God."
It would seem, however, that when these
views were carried to the extent of absolute
prohibition of second marriages generally by
several heretical sects, the Montanists (see Au-
gustin, de Haeresihus, c. 26), the Cathari (26.
c. 38), and a portion at least of the Novatianists
(see Cotel. Patr. Ap. vol. i. p. 91, n. 16), the
Church saw the necessity of not fixing such a
yoke on the necks of the laity. The forbiddance
of second marriage, or its assimilation to forni-
cation, was treated as one of the marks of heresy
(Augustin, u. s. ; and see also his De bono vidui-
tatis, c. 6). The sentiment of Augustin (in the
last referred to passage) may be taken to express
the Church judgment at the close of the 4th
century : " Second marriages are not to be con-
demned, but had in less honour ; " and see also
Epiphanius, in his Exposition of the Catholic Faith,
c. 21.
What the " less honour " consisted in may
partly be inferred as respects the Greek Church,
from the ' Sanctions and Decrees ' attributed to
the Isicene Fathers (Labbe and Mansi, Councils,
vol. ii. p. 1029 and foil.), which distinctly au-
thorize widowers' and widows' marriages (i. 7).
Yet the blessing of the crowns is not to be imparted
to them, for this is only once given, on first mar-
riages, and not to be repeated. . . But if one
of them be not a widower or widow, let such one
alone receive the benediction with the para-
nymphs, those whom he will.
The 7th Canon of the Council of Neocaesarea,
in A.D. 314 or 315, bears that the presbyter
ought not to be present at the marriage fes-
tivities of digamists, as the act would be incom-
patible with his assigning a penance to such per-
sons. The canon implies, it will be seen, that
the act of second marriage entailed the infliction
of a penance. This appears more clearly from
the 1st Canon of the Council of Laodicea, (be-
tween A.D. 357 and 367), which rules, as re-
spects those who have " freely and lawfully "
contracted a second marriage, without an^
secresy, that after a short time, and some chastise-
ment in prayers and fastings, they should be ad-
mitted to Communion. And Basil (a.d. 326-
379) in his Canonical epistle to bishop Amphi-
lochius of Iconium fixes one year as the period
of the suspension of digamists from communion.
We must thus consider that two views on the
subject of simple remarriage after the death of
husband or wife were abroad in the Church ; one
which, with Augustin, looked upon it as merely
less honourable than monogamy, and deemed its
actual condemnation a mark of heresy ; the
other, which looked upon it as in itself an oflence
deserving penance, however slight this might be.
The latter view found most colour as respects
second marriages after what was deemed a re-
ligious profession, as that of the penitent, and of
the widow. See /F. Cone. Garth, c. 104 ;
/"/. Arks, c. 21 ; Pope Symmachus, Epist. 5,
§ 5 ; V. Paris, c. 13, and many others.
A more extraoi'dinary instance of the enforce-
ment of monogamy on a particular class of
women is confined to Spain. The loth Council
DIGAMY
of Toledo, in 683, declared it to be " an execrable
crime, and a work of most inveterate iniquity,
after the death of kings, to aifect the royal couch
of their surviving consorts " (c. 5). This was
confirmed some years later by the 3rd Council
of Saragossa, a.d. 691, which required the
widows of the kings to enter a convent for the
remainder of their lives (c. 5).
The penance for ordinary digamy recurs in our
own country, in the canons of a Council held
under Archbishop Theodore, of Canterbury, which
fixes it at two days festing from ^\me and flesh-
meat every week during the first year, and fasting
for three consecutive Lents, " but without dis-
missing the wife " (c. 26). But subject how-
ever to some such qualifications, second mar-
riage after the death of husband or wife remained
fully recognised as the right of the laity. In
later times, indeed, so slight a feeling subsisted
in the Romish Church against re-marriage among
the laity after the death of a husband or wife,
that Muratori (Antiquitates Medii Aeci, ii.
Diss. 20), says that the Latin Church never
forbade second, third, or even more marriages
after the death of one of the parties, although
the ancient church, especially during the 3i-d and
4th centuries, bore such unions impatiently, and
subjected them to penance.
It must now be observed that the feeling
against second mai-riage traceable in early times
in the records of the Church gradually extended
to the Civil Law, especially as regai'ds widows.
The earliest laws which indicate this feeling
appear to belong to the time of Theodosius the
Great (a.d. 380-2), and are to be found in Justi-
nian's Code, bk. v. tit. ix., De secundis nuptiis,
and bk. vi. tit. Ivi.
Substantially the Roman civil law, like that
of the Church, fully recognised the right of
second marriage of a surviving husband or wife,
latterly confining itself to securing with especial
care the rights of the issue of the first marriage.
The barbaric codes do not vary materially from
this point of view. See the Edict of Theodoric,
c. 37 ; the Laws of Xotharis (a.d. 638 or 643),
cc. 182, 183 ; Laws of Liutprand (a.d. 724),
vi. c. 74. The laws of the Wisigoths recognised
fully the right of remarriage after the death of
a partner among the laity. See the Laws of
Cliindaswinth, bk. iii. tit. 1, 1. 4.
Among the Carlovingian Capilularics is one
forbidding marriage with widows without their
priests' (suorum sacerdotum) consent and the
knowledge of the people (bk. v. c. 40). Mar-
riages with professed widows were declared to
be no true marriages, and the parties were to be
separated, without any accusation being brought
against them, by the priest or the judge, and
were to be sent into perpetual exile (ib. c. 411) ;
though another enactment (bk. vii. c. 338) seems
to limit the penalty to suspension from commun-
ion till amendment of life, or in default of such
amendment, to perpetual exclusion. If, indeed,
a widow who was also a penitent remarried, she
and her husband wei'e not to be suffered to enter
the church ((/). 317, and see also Add. Qnarta c. 88).
A woman who had connexion with two brothers
was never to marry again {ib. 381). A limit
was even sought to be imposed on the number
of marriages which might be contracted : " Let
none take more than two wives, since the tliinl
is already superfluous" (l)k. vii. c. 406).
DIGAMY
555
III. We come now to a brauch of the subject on
which the law of fhe Church has seldom run
precisely in the same groove as that of the state,
viz., remarriage not after death of one of the
parties, but after divorce or separation. Several
classes of cases have here to be distinguished.
The first is that in which physical separation
involves the presumption or at least the possi-
bility of death. The 22nd Novel fixed a period of
five years, after which the wife of a captive
husband, who could hear no tidings of him,
might lawfully marry again (c. 7). The Wisi-
gothic Code was less indulgent. One of its older
laws enacted that no woman might marry in
her husband's absence, till he was known to be
dead ; otherwise, on his return, both she and her
second husband were to be given over to him,
so that he might do with them what he chose,
whether by selling them or in any other way
(bk. ii. t. ii. 1. 6). As respects the church, "a
letter of Pope Innocent I. (402-17) to Probus
simply lays down that where a wife had been
carried into captivity and her husband married
again in her absence, on the return of the for-
mer the first marriage alone held good {F.p. 9).
Leo the Great ruled to the same effect in his
letter (a.d. 458) to Nicetas, Bishop of Aquileia.
Wives whose husbands had been taken in war
were bound to return to their former husbands
under pain of excommunication ; but the second
husbands were not to be held guilty for the act
of marrying {Ep. 159). The Council in Trullo
(a.d. 692), more severe, decreed that the wife of
an absent husband marrying before she was
certain of his death was guilty of adultery
(c. 93).
The next group of cases are those of simple
prolonged physical separation. The Roman law
took especial account of the case of soldiers.
The 22nd Novel allowed the wife of a soldier
after ten years' absence, during which she must
have repeatedly pressed her husband by letters
or messages, whilst he either repelled her im-
portunities, or wholly neglected them, to marry
again, altering in this respect a constitution of
Constantine's {Code, bk. v. t. xvii. 1. 7), which
seemed to fix four years as a sufficient pei'iod of
separation. But the wife was required to pre-
sent a protest, apparently a written one, to the
soldier's superior officers (c. 14); and the 117th
Noiel surrounded this proceeding with cerfniu
formalities, requiring moreover the wife to wait
a year further after taking the step in question
before she could lawfully marry again (1. 11).
St. Basil on the other hand notices the case in
his first canonical epistle to Amphilochius, and
decrees that where the soldier's wife remarries,
the circumstances should be examined into, and
some indulgence shewn (c. 36). The Council
in Trullo adopted this view, and authorized a
soldier, who might return after a long absence
and find his wife married to another, to take her
back, indulgence being shewn both to the woman
and to her second husband (c. 93).
Physical separation through captivity con-
stitutes the next group. A council held under
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, towards
the end of the 7th century, allows a layman, if
his wife were by force carried away into capti-
vity, and he could not recover her, to take an-
other, as being better than to commit fornication
(c. 31). After such a second marriage (whidi
556
DIGAMY
could be contracted after a twelvemonth, c. 140),
he was not at liberty to take back his former
wife if married to another, but she might her-
self also marry another husband (c. 31). One
of the later Lombard laws (a.d. 721) enacts that
if any one go away for a matter of business or
of trade, whether within a province or out of it,
and do not return within three years, his wife
may apply to the king, who may allow her to
marry again (Law of Liutprand, bk. iii. c. 4).
If we now consider the case of voluntary de-
sertion or divorce, we shall find considerable
fluctuation in the rules and practice of the
Church as to a second marriage following there-
on. St. Paul had, indeed, admitted that desertion
for the faith's sake dissolved the social obliga-
tions of marriage : " If the unbelieving depart,
let him depart ; a brother or a sister is not
under bondage in such cases" (1 Cor. vii. 15).
Did the not being " under bondage " imply free-
dom to marry again ? An alleged canon of
Gregory the Great is reported to have ruled that
it was no sin to do so (c. 17). The same conclu-
sion may, perhaps, be drawn, as respects heresy
at least, from a canon (72) of the Council in
Trullo, which not only forbids marriage between
an orthodox person and a heretic, but declares
it void and dissolved ; and seems only by way
of permission to allow that where two infidels
have married, and one comes to the light of the
truth, he or she may remain in union with the
other. And under the canons of the English
Council under Theodore, the case would be in-
cluded in that of desertion generally, m which
it was laid down that a layman deserted by his
wife might after two years take another with
the bishop's consent (c. 140). Indeed St, Basil
in the 4th century had ruled in his first canon-
ical epistle to Amphilochius that a woman who
married a man deserted by his wife, if dismissed
on the latter's return, had only fornicated in
ignorance, and was not forbidden to marry again ;
though he thought it better that she should
remain single (c. 46). The 93rd canon of the
Council in Trullo confirmed this view,
There was indeed one case of separation, the
very converse of that of a Christian husband or
wife deserted by an infidel partner, which Jus-
tinian's code specially dealt with, that of the
husband or wife embracing the monastic pro-
fession. This was held to give freedom to the
other party to marry again, although as respects
a woman, by analogy with the law in case of
remarriage after death, only after the expiration
of a twelvemonth. She was, however, at once
to send a divorce bond gratia, to her husband
(Code, bk. i. t. iii. 1. 53, § 3 ; and see 1. 56 ;
5th Nov. 0. 5 ; 22nd Nov. c. 5). The avoidance
of marriage by the religious profession was how-
ever maintained, after the divorce bond gratia
had been forbidden; see the 117th Nov. cc. 10,
12, and the 123rd, c. 40.
The great struggle was, however, on the sub-
ject of marriage after divorce. Our Lord's teach-
ing on the subject, it will be remembered, was
not only in professed opposition to the Jewish
law, but in no less signal opposition to the
Roman, in which the facilities for divorce were
simply scandalous. The right of divorce in spe-
cified cases, and of subsequent remarriage for
the innocent party, was maintained by the state
for a long time under the emperors (see Code,
DIGAMY
bk. V. t. xvii.). No limitation of time for re-
marriage was fixed for the man (lib. 1. 8, § 5,
Constitution of Theodosius and Valentinian, A.D.
449) ; but by analogy with the case of re-
marriage after death, the woman's right tff
remarry after divorce for her husband's wrong,
or after a divorce by mutual consent, wns
limited to ai'ise after the expiration of a twelve-
month (§ 4 and 1. 9, Constitution of Anastasius,
A.D. 497). But if she divorced herself from her
husband otherwise than in the cases specified,
she could not remarry within five years, and
if she did, became infamous, and the marriage
void (1. 8, § 4). The right of remarriage by a
wife after the year was by the 22nd Novel
extended to all cases of " reasonable " divorce
obtained by her ; the husband in the like case
being always free to remarry at once (cc. 16, 18).
The divorce by mutual consent, except for the
sake of observing chastity, was however for-
bidden by the 117th Novel, c. 10.
In Italy the right of divorce and remarriage
was maintained by the edict of Theodoric accord-
ing to the old constitutions (c. 54), and though
it cannot be traced through the Lombard laws,
probably subsisted till the Carlovingian conquest,
when by a capitulary of the year 789, enacted
for Lombardy, marriage after divorce was for-
bidden (bk. i. c. 42).
The Wisigothic law seems first to have ad-
mitted divorce, then sought to forbid it alto-
gether. An " ancient " law prohibited a divorced
woman from remarrying, and if she did, ordered
both her and her second husband to be given
over to the former one (bk. iii. t. ii. 1. 1).
If we turn now to the law of the Church, we
find the Council of Eliberis in 305 forbidding
communion even in extremis to women leaving
their husbands without cause and marrying
another (c. 8). See also c. 9 and c. 10.
Basil in his canonical epistle to Amphilochius
dwells at length on the subject of divorces (c. 9).
He doubts, indeed, whether a woman living with
a divorced man is to be treated as an adulteress ;
but she is one certainly who leaves her husband
and marries again. But the deserted husband may
receive absolution {ffvyyvcoffT6s ia-ri), and the
woman who lives with him is not condemned ;
though it is otherwise if the man himself leaves
his wife (j6.). Such a man marrying again is
an adulterer, and only in the 7th year is to be
readmitted among the faithful (c. 77). To Basil's
mind, a dismissed wife should remain unmarried
(c. 48).
The African Council of Milevis, A.D. 416, the
17th canon of which forbids generally dismissed
women to marry other husbands, hardly agrees
with an Irish Council of uncertain date held uuder
St. Patrick, which lays it down that first mar-
riages are not made void by second ones, " unless
they have been polluted by adultery" (c. 28);
nor with the Council of Vannes ( Veneticuni) in
465, which enacts excommunication against those
who having wives, except by reason of fornication,
without proof of adultery marry other women
(c. 2). The Council of Hertford in 673 seems
to revert to the stricter view, enacting that a
man is not to leave his wife except for fornica-
tion, nor, if dismissing her, to marry another
(c. 10). The Council in Trullo declares that
both the woman leaving her husband and mar-
rying auotlicr, and the man leaving his wife and
DIGAMY
marrying another, commit adultery, and enacts
a cjraduated scale of penance for seven years
(c.^88). On the other hand, the English Council
under Theodore enacts that where a wife is un-
faithful a man might dismiss her and marry
another, the woman however not to be allowed
to marry her lover (c. 143). And yet by a seem-
ingly strange contradiction it is enacted that a
harlot's husband may not marry any other woman
during her lifetime (c. 166), the case aimed at
being probably that of a marriage with a full
knowledge that the woman did not mean to
leave her course of life. Among the Excerpts
from the chapters, " de remediis peccatorum," by
the same archbishop, published in the Anecdota
of Martene, we find that the penance assigned
to a man dismissing his wife and marrying
another is seven years " with tribulation," be-
sides five years of lighter penance. If the wife
departed, and the husband married agam, his
penance was for one year only.
A letter (7) of Pope Zacharias (a.D. 741-51) to
Pepin as mayor of the palace, enjoins again the
excommunication of laymen dismissing their
wives and taking others in their place (c. 7),
and reiterates the prohibition against marriage
after divorce (c. 12), which we find also repeated
in the replies made by Pope Stephen II. in 754
to certain queries put to him when he was at
Quierry in France (c. 5).
Under Charlemagne a different spirit be-
comes obvious. The law is made stricter, but
the rulers are above it. All injunctions to
morality on the part of the popes were power-
less against the passions of their Carlovingian
patrons. See the curious letter addressed by
Stephen III. (a.d. 768-70) to Charlemagne and
Carloman his son, then associated with him on
the throne.
The Council of Aix in 789 (c. 42) and the
Council of Friuli in 791 (c. 10), endorsing the
stricter construction of our Lord's words as to
divorce, enacted that after a divorce for adultery
neither party should marry again. The latter,
liowever, " by indulgence," allowed those who
were separated for consanguinity's sake on
discovery to marry again, if they could not re-
main unmarried, wliicli it recommended them to
do; but if they wilfully contracted such a mar-
riage they were after separation to do penance
all their lives and never marry again, nor could
their children inherit from them (c. 8). The
prohibitions against a second marriage after
divorce are repeated in the Capitularies, bk.
vii. cc. 73, 382 (the latter expressly includ-
ing the case of adultery); bk. v. c. 300, Add.
quarta cc. 118-161, — the prohibition being here
extended to marrying again after " killing a wife
without cause." And the edict of Charlemagne
(a.D. 814) directs inquiry whether all men noble
or ignoble, have lawful wives, " not the dis-
missed wives of others."
Strange to say, the Eastern empire presented
at this same period a simiL.r scandal to that of
the imperial court of the west. The Emperor
Constantine had sent his wife to a convent and
married another, the Archbishop Joseph per-
forming the ceremony. For so doing he was
ejected by the patriarch Tarasius, but received to
communion by a Constantinopolitan synod in 806
in spite of the efforts of Theodoras Studita and
of the monks, and another assembly in 809,
DIGNITAS
557
declared the emperor's marriage to be lawful, on
the shameful ground that " the divine laws can
do nothing against kings." — It is somewhat curi-
ous to add that a Nestorian synod held in Persia
in 804, following the stricter view, had laid it
down that after a divorce for foi'nication neither
husband nor wife could marry again.
To sum up the conclusions of this inquiry, we
find — 1st, that as respects the clergy, a rule
borrowed from Leviticus or derived from its pre-
scriptions was held by the church to forbid to the
clergy all marriages which should on either side
be of a digamous character ; and that although
this rule was evidently constantly infringed in
practice, and its infringements oftentimes con-
doned in the past, it was nevertheless steadily
upheld as binding throughout the whole period
to which this work refers, and latterly extended
or sought to be extended to the inferior clergy ;
the one open protest against its application being
that of a Nestorian synod in Persia, towards the
end of the 5th century. 2nd, that as respects
the laity, notwithstanding the stricter views
taken by several writers of the earlier church,
the right of remarriage after the death of a
husband or wife became firmly established,
though in the Eastern church such marriages
were subjected to some ceremonial disparage-
ment, and were generally sought to be dis-
couraged by penances more or less severe. 3rd,
that considerable fluctuation in the views and
practice of the Church seems to have prevailed
on the subject of remarriage after separation or
divorce, and that whilst second marriages in such
cases were generally condemned by the letter of
the canon law towards the end of the 8th and
beginning of the 9th centuries,- the sovereigns
both of the East and West set such prohibitions
at nought for themselves, and parted with their
wives to marry others almost at their will.
(See also Bigamy). [J. M. L.]
DIGNITAS. A well-known classical word =
id, quo quis re aliqu^ dignus est, as Facciolati
defines it. By degrees it was used as a generic
term for ranks or offices, " Dignitas equestris,,
scnatoria, considaris," and so forth. From Pliny
downwards, by "dignitates" were frequently
meant "magistracies." The well-known notltin,
or " Table of dignities of the Pioman Empire in
the east and west," which Paucirolus thinks
may have been published about the end of the
reign of Theodosius the younger in its present
sliape, was probably commenced under Augustus
(Bocking's Notit. p. liii.-v.). They form the
subject of the 6th book in the Theodosian Code,
and of the 1st and last books in that of Justinian
(Gothofred Op. Jurid. Min. pp. 1263, 1374, and
1415-18). All, of course, were purely secular ;
but, in process of time, when ecclesiastics were
promoted to secular offices, and ecclesiastical
offices themselves began to confer as much social
distinction as secular, people talked of " digni-
ties " in the Church as freely as in the State.
Hence, retrospectively, this term might be ex-
tended to the offices of bishop, metropolitan,
archbishop, patriarch, pope, cardinal, bishop-
suffragan, archpriest, archdeacon, chancellor, &c.,
though, as matter of fact, it was never applied
to them till it had been used to denote later and
more subordinate posts first. In ecclesiastical
parlance, says Ducange, '• when a benefice in-
cluded the administration of ecclesiastical affairs
558
DIMISSORY LETTERS
th jurisdiction, it was called a dignity.
And
riiomassin, to the same purpose, speaks of " pro-
vosts, deans, stewards, chamberlains, treasurers,
cellarers, and sacristans, as among the ' diarnities '
inseparable from cathedrals and abbeys " {De Ben.
i ii. 70). True, we meet with none of these
words in their received ecclesiastical meaning
before the 9th century; nor was it till then,
probably, that ecclesiastical offices of any kind
began to be styled "dignities:" still, practically,
they had been this long before. [E. S. Ff.]
DIMISSORY LETTERS. {Llterae climis-
oriae,fonnatae ; ewiinoKai b.iroKvTi.Kai.) Letters
^iven by a bishop to one of his clerks removing
into another diocese ; or to a layman of his dio-
cese desiring to be ordained elsewhere. [See
Bishop, p. 232 : Commendatory Letters.]
1. In ancient times a bishop was forbidden to
receive a clerk from another diocese, or to ad-
mit to higher orders a clerk already ordained to
some inferior rank, or to ordain a layman domi-
ciled in another diocese (alterius plebis hominem),
without the express and formal consent of the
bishop of that diocese (Cone. Nicaen. i. c. 16;
C. Sardiu. cc. 16, 19, a.d. 347 ; C. Carthag. i.
c. 5, A.D. 348 ; C. Taurin. c. 7 ; C. Arausic. i.
c. 8, 9 ; C. in Trullo, c. 17 ; Ordo Rom. YIIL
p. 87). Readers, psalmists, and doorkeepers,
were included under the designation of clerks
(C Carth. iii. c. 21 ; compare Augustine, JEpistt.
235, 240, 242). A bishop was not to hinder
a presbyter of his diocese from being ordained
bishop of a church to which he was elected,
nor was one who had a superfluity of clerks
to refuse them to a diocese where there were
too few (C. Cafth. iii. c. 45). The decision in
cases of this kind seems to have rested with the
metropolitan. In a case in which a bishop, Ju-
lianus, wished to reclaim a lector who belonged
to his diocese by birth, though he belonged by
baptism, to the bishop who had ordained him,
Epigonius, it was ruled that the lector belonged
to the diocese of his baptism, to which he had
come as a catechumen with commendatory let-
•ters (C. Carth. iii. c. 44).
The rules, however, with regard to the ordi-
nation of extraneous laymen were probably never
enforced with the same strictness as those which
related to clerics. Origen, an Alexandrian, was
ordained presbyter by the bishops of Caesarea
and Jerusalem, much to the indignation of his
own bishop, Demetrius ; there was, however, in
Origen's case a special reason — his mutilation — •
why he should not be ordained (Euseb. H. E.
vi. 8, 26, 27). Jerome was ordained priest at
Antioch, neither the church of his birth nor of
his baptism. And there are other instances of
the like kind.
The theory on which all this rests is that a
bishop by the act of ordination acquired a per-
petual right to the services of the clerks whom
he ordained ("Quisquis semel in hac ecclesia ordi-
nem sacrum acceperit, egrediendi ex ea ulterius
licentiam non habet." Greg. Magn. Epist. v. 38),
and even — in a less degree — to the services of
those whom he baptised. Hence letters dimissory
were not merely letters testimonial or commen-
datory, but properly diroA.VTiK:ai ; instruments,
that is, setting the clerk free from his allegiance
to his first bishop, and transferring the same
powers over him to the bishop of his adopted
DIOCESE
diocese (Thomassin, Nova ct Ycius Ecclcsiae Dis-
ciplina, ii, i. 1 ff.).
2. It was probably from the same notion, of
the clerks being bound by a peculiar allegiance
to their bishop, that the practice arose of re-
quiring the clergy, and " religious " persons
generally, to have the sanction of the bishop
before they approached their king or lord (dom-
num) for the purpose of asking benefices {Cone.
Aurelian. i. c. 7, a.d. 511. This canon is, how-
ever, wanting in several MSS.). [C]
DINGOLVINGA, COUNCIL OF {Dingol-
vingense), at Dingolfing, on the river Isar, in
Bavaria, A.D. 772, under Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria,
passed 13 canons upon discipline and reformation
of manners. Labb. Cone. vi. 1794, 1795 ; Le
Cointe, Annal. v. in an. 770 ; Harzheim, Cont:
German, i. 130. [A. W. H.]
DIOCESE. The word SioiKriais. signifying
in its general sense any kind of administration,
came to be specifically applied by the Romans to
a rroi:incia, but to one of the lesser sort, for
Cicero speaks of his Provincia Ciliciensis " cui
scis tres SiOiK-fjaeis Asiaticas attributas fuisse "
(^Epist. ad Earn. lib. xiii. ep. 67).
At a later period, however, when Constantino
remodelled the civil divisions of the empire, a
diocesis, instead of being a minor province, con-
tained within it several provinces. Thus, for in-
stance, there were fen provinces in the P^gyptian
diocese. About the same time the word passed
from the terminology of the civil government
into that of the church. It was employed in a
sense analogous to its secular application, and
signified an aggregate not merely of several dis-
tricts governed each by its own bishop, but of
several provinces (eVapX'"0 each presided over
by a metropolitan. The diocese itself was under an
Exarch or Patriarch [Exarch]. It is in this sense
that the Council of Constantinople (can. 2) speaks
of the Asian and Pontic dioceses, and the Council
of Ephesus of the Egyptian diocese. AioiKTjtri's
iffTiy 7) TToAAas i-napxi^as exovcra iv eavrfj, says
Balsamon, ad Can. IX. Concil. C/udced. That canon
gives an appeal from the head of the province,
the metropolitan, to the head of the StoiKricns in
these words : ei Se irphs rhp t7is avTrjs eTrapx'"^
MiTpowoXiTTjv iTTiffKOTTos ^ KAr)pi«6s aiJk<piffPv-
Toirj, KaTaKa/x^aveToj ^ rhv e^apxov Trjs Sioiktj-
0-60)5 f) rhv TTJs ^aa-iXevova-ns Kov(navTivovK6-
\fws Qp6vov, KoX eTr' ahrcf StKaC^adai. About the
same period the word diocese began also to as-
sume the sense which has finally prevailed to
the exclusion of that just mentioned, and to be
used to signify the district governed by a single
bishop. For the three first centuries this was
commonly denoted by irapoLKia, but it now began
also to be called dioecesis, as in the Council of
Carthage (see Bing. Antiq. bk. ix. ii. § 2) we
have "Placuit ut nemini sit facultas, relicta
principali cathedra, ad aliquam ecclesiam in dioe-
eesi constitutam se conferre." In point of fact,
however, the word, which perhaps retained to a
certain degree its general rather than its tech-
nical sense, is found applied in turn to every
kind of ecclesiastical territorial division. For,
while Hincmar {Epist. ad Nicolaum) uses it of
the province of a metropolitan (" non solum dioe-
cesis, verum etiam parochia mea inter duo
regna sub duobus regibus habetur divisa "),
Sulcer alleges other authorities to show that the
DIOCESE
word is sometimes employed ia a sense closely
resembling our word parish, viz. the district of
n, single church in a diocese. It has been ob-
served that this was a Latin, and especially an
African use of the term (Thomass. I. I. c. 3).
Considered in the acceptation of the word,
which has prevailed in later times to the exclu-
sion of the others, a bishop's diocese and his
power over it are thus spoken of in the 4th
century —
"^KaffTov iwiffKOirov i^ovfflau ^X^^" ''V^ Ioutou
TvapOLKias, SiwKeTu t€ koto tV ^Kaarai e'Trj/3aA-
Xovffav ivKa^iiav, Kai TrpovoMv TTOulffdai TracTTjs
TTJy xa'pas rr]s virh rrjv eaurov iroMv uis icai
X^i-poroviiv npeff^vTepovs Hal SiaK^j/ovs, Kal
fxeTO, Kpiff^ais eKaffTa StaXaix^dfeiv. ■nipaiTfpw Se
ari^iv ■Kpa.TTtiv inix^ipelv Slxa- rod ttjs fj.r)Tpo-
ir6\ecos iiriffKOTTov, ^TjSe avrhv duev ttjs ruy
AoiTTcZv yvoiiJL-r\s. (Co)icil. Antioch. can. 9.)
It has been thought that, from every bishop
having a right to erect new churches in his own
diocese, and to set up a cross on the spot where
they were to be placed, his diocese has sometimes
been called ffTavpoirriyiov (Bing. viii. 9, 5).
The canonical rule was not only that a diocese
should have but one bishop, but that a bishop
should have but one diocese. In subsequent times,
however, the latter part of this rule was much
broken down by the practice of " commenda."
This practice came into use on various grounds.
One of these is thus indicated by Thomassin : —
" Incursationes barbarorum juges et cruentis-
simae Fundana civitate episcopum plebemque
propemodum omnem effugaraut. Cum viduata
tunc pastore suo fuisset Terracina, Fundanum
sibi postulavit episcopum. Confirniata est a
Gregorio Magno ea electio, a quo jussus est Ag-
nellus titulum et admiuistrationem gerere eccle-
siae Terracinen.sis, et nihil secius veluti com-
mendatam sibi curare ecclesiam Fundanam. ' Sic
te Terracinensis ecclesiae cardinalem constitui-
mus esse sacerdotem. ut et Fundensis ecclesiae
pontifex esse nou desinas ' " (Thomassin, pt. ii.
lib. 3, cap. 10).
In other cases a vacant diocese was simply
committed to the care of a neighbouring bishop
till a successor could be appointed. This was in
the earlier times the most common species of
commenda, and was of course temporary only.
Sometimes there was a kind of double com-
menda, the pope commending to the care of a
neighbouring bishop a diocese whose own dio-
cesan was occupied in administering the affairs
of another church previously commended to him.
In other instances, again, where a bishop was
under sentence of penance, the affairs of his
church were entrusted to another, or to the
metropolitan, until he was restored. "Emeri-
tense Concilium Metropolitano commendavit
ecclesias eorum episcoporum, qui ad poenitentiam
secedere jussi fuerant, quod aConcilio Provincial!
abfuissent" (Thomassin, pt. ii. lib. 3, c. 11).
In one instance Childeric appears to have com-
mended a diocese to the care of an abbot (ibid.).
At first the bishop to whom a diocese was
commended appears only to have received his
actual expenses. Gregory the Great, however,
wlien Paulus had charge of Naples during a va-
cancy, directed as follows : — " Praedicto Paulo
centum solidos et unum puerulum orphanum
quem ipse elegerit pro labore suo de estdem ec-
clesia facias dari " (ibid. c. 10).
DIOCESE
J59
By degrees large profits were derived from :i
commenda, and it thus became an object of am-
bition, and was bestowed by popes and sovereigns
without reason and to the prejudice of the
Church. In later times it became a flagrant
abuse, but its worst forms belong perhaps mainly
to a period beyond our present limits. It came
to be held in perpetuity, instead of for a limited
period, and the revenues of two or more sees
were accumulated upon one person as a provi-
sion for life.
One peculiar kind of commenda must not be
omitted, viz. where a part of the revenues of a
church was assigned to a great lay noble, in
return for his taking on himself 'its defence
against its heathen or other enemies. Such pro-
tectorates were common in the more disturbed
periods. They are styled ' commendae militares.'
In the same manner and on like grounds the
sovereigns retained to themselves portions of
church property. But the subject o{ Commendae
is too large to be discussed at length here. The
learning of the whole subject will be found in
Thomassin.
The limits of dioceses were probably fixed in
the first instance by local or accidental circum-
stances. » They differed widely in size and popu-
lation. Details on these points will be found
under Notitia. It is more important to ob-
serve that whon too large they were, not un-
frequoiitly, ilivideJ, as in the following instance:
— '"In the Council of Lucus Augusti, or Lugo,
under King Theodemir, anno 569, a complaint
was made that the dioceses in Gallaecia [in
Spain] were so large that the bishops could
scarce visit them in a year: upon v/hich an
order was made, that several new bishoprics and
one new metropolis should be erected, which was
accordingly done by the bishops then in council,
who made Lugo to be the uew metropolis, and
raised several other episcopal sees out of the old
ones, as declared in the acts of that council "
(Bing. ix. vi. § 16).
As his own diocese was the proper sphere of
the action of a bishop, in acting in the diocese of
another he was under certain restrictions. These
prevailed at all times to a greater or less degree,
but seem, eventually to have been laid down in
" " The Diocese," says Milman, " grew up in two ways —
1. In the larger cities the rapid increase of the Christians
led necessarily to the formation of separate congregations,
which to a certain extent, required each Its proper orga-
nization, yet invariably remained subordinate to the
single bishop. In Rome, towards the beginning of the
4th century, there were above forty chnrches, rendering
allegiance to the prelate of the metropolis. 2. Chris-
tianity was first established in the towns and cities, and
from each centre diffused itself with more or less success
into the adjacent country. In some of these country
congregations, bishops appear to have been established,
yet their chorepiscopi, or rural bishops, maintained some
subordination to the head of the Mother Church ; or
where the converts were fewer, the rural Christians re-
mained members of the Mother Church in the City. In
Africa, from the immense number of bishops, each com-
munity seems to have had its own superior; but this
was peculiar to this province. In general, the churches
adjacent to the towns or cities either originally were, or
became, lii.' diiHcse of the City Bishop: for as soon as
Cliristianity lin aiiir the religion of the State, the powers
of tin- lural l'i>liiips were restricted, and the ofRce at
length was cither aliolished, or fell into diBUse."— History
of Christianity, Book iv. ch. i.
500
DIOCLES
the later canon law as follows, viz. that a bishop
may perform divine offices and use his episcopal
habit in the diocese of another, without leave,
))ut not perform any act of jurisdiction; and it
has even been said, that jurisdiction cannot be
exercised by a bishop of another place, though
with the consent of the diocesan, except over
such as willingly submit themselves to his
authority. And where the holder of a benefice
in one diocese resides in another, the bishop in
whose diocese he resides may proceed against
him for an offence, but the punishment, so far as
it affects his benefice, is to be carried out by the
bishop where the benefice is (Gibson's Cbdcx,
pp. 133, 134).
See also BisHOP : Exarch : Parish.
Authorities : Thomassinus, Vetus et Nova
Fjxhsi'ie discipUna. Bingham. Aylifle, Parergon
Juris CMOnici. Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. Aioi-
K-qais and (rravporrriyiov. [Jo. S.]
DIOCLES, martyr at Histrias (? Istria),
commemorated May 24 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis ;
Usuardi). [W.F.G.]
DIODORUS. (1) Presbyter, martyr at Rome
with Marianus the deacou and many others;
commemorated Dec. 1 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) of Perga, Upofiaprvs ; commemorated
April 21 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DIODOTUS, Saint, of Africa; commemo-
rated, with Anesius, March 31 (ifari. Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
DIOGENES, Saint, in Macedonia; comme-
morated April 6 {3Iart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DIOMEDES, martyr at Nicaea, a.d. 288;
commemorated June 9 {Mart. Usuardi) ; Aug.
U {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DIONYSIA. (1) Martyr at Lamosacum with
Peter, Andrew, and Paul ; commemorated May
15 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr in Africa with seven others ; com-
memorated Dec. 6 {Mart. Horn. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DIONYSIUS. (1) Martyr in Lower Armenia
with Emilianus and Sebastian; commemorated
Feb. 8 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) Martyr ; commemorated with Ammonius,
Feb. 14 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Aquileia with Hilarius the
bishop, Tatian the deacon, Felix and Largus ;
commemorated March 16 {Mart. Usuardi).
(4) Bishop of Corinth ; commemorated April 8
{Mart. Usuardi).
(5) Saint, uncle of Pancratius ; commemorated
May 12 {Mart. Horn. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(6) Bishop and confessor under Constantius ;
deposition at Milan, May 25 {Mart. Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(7) Martyr at Sinnada with Democritus and
Secundus ; commemorated July 31 {Mart. Usu-
ardi).
(8) Saint, of Phrygia; commemorated Sept-
20 {lb.).
(9) The Areopagite, bishop of Athens and
martyr under Adrian; commemorated Oct. 3
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. By-
zant.); Oct. n {Cal. Armen.).
(10) Bishop of Paris, and martyr with Rus-
ticiis the presbyter and Eleutherius the deacon :
DIPTYCHS
commemorated Oct. 9 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron.,
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(11) Patriarch of Alexandria, and martyr
under Valerian and Gallienus, A.D. 265 ; com-
memorated Nov. 17 {Mlart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi)- Maskarram 17 = Sept. 14 {Cal.
Ethiop.).
(12) The Pope, under Claudius II.; deposition
at Rome Dec. 26 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi) ; Dec.
27 {Cal. Bucher.).
(13) Martyr with Petrus Lampsacenus and
his companions; commemorated May 18 {Cal.
Byzant.).
(14) One of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus;
commemorated Oct. 22 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DIGS, Asceta, Holy Father, under Theodo-
sius the Great; commemorated July 19 {Cal.
Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DIOSCORUS. (1) Martyr under Numerian ;
commemorated Feb. 25 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) The reader, martyr m Egypt; comme-
morated May 18 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Alexandria, with Heron, Arse-
nius, and Isidorus, under Decius ; commemorated
Dec. 14 (/6.). [W. F. G.]
DIOSCURUS, Patriarch of Alexandria, a.d.
454 : commemorated Maskarram 7 =Sept. 4, and
Tekemt 17 = Oct. 14 {Cal. Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
DIOSPOLIS, or Lydda, probably Ramah
(Council of), a.d. 415, of 14 bishops under
their metropolitan, Eu logins of Caesarea ; where
Pelagius, having been examined, by anathema-
tising 12 propositions that had been imputed to
him, and making profession of 12 orthodox pro-
positions in their stead, was acquitted, and de-
clared to be in the communion of the Catholic
Church (Mansi, iv. 311-20). [E. S. Ff ]
DIPPING. [Baptism.]
DIPTYCHS. (AiirTux«. '«pai SeXroj, Kara-
\oyos ; diptycha, matriculae, nomina, tabulae.)
1. The name of diptych is given to a tablet, pri-
marily two-leaved, as the word implies, in which
were contained the names of Christians, living
and dead, to be recited during the celebration of
the Eucharist. It would seem that the origin of
the custom is to be referred to the primitive
practice by which the members of a church
brought ofterings of bread and wine from which
were taken the sacred elements. Then, before
the consecration, the names of those who had
so contributed were read aloud, as well as those
of deceased members of the church whom it was
wished specially to commemorate.
This primary use was subsequently extended
so as to include the names, on the one hand, of
sovereigns, patriarchs, bishops, and the like, as
well as of those who had deserved well in any
wav of the church ; while, on the other hand, in
conjunction with departed saints and confessors,
a special mention was thought desirable in each
church of those who had previously been its
bishops. The g]-eat length to which these lists
necessarily gi-ew caused the habit of reciting
them fully to be subsequently abandoned, but in
some form or other the practice has been retained
in both the Eastern and the Roman Church.
This custom was doubtless primarily suggested
as to its form by the practice which prevailed
DIPTYCHS
under the Roman Empire, by which consuls,
praetors, aediles, and other magistrates were
wont to distribute to their friends and the
people, ou the day on which they entered office,
tablets inscribed with their names, and con-
taining their portraits, in token of the commence-
ment of their magistracy. (See e. g. Cod. Theodos.
de expends ludorum, 15, tit. 9, § 1 ; Symmachus,
£Jpist. ii. 81, V. 56, x. 119 ; Claudianus, De Sec.
CoHsulatu Stilichonis, 347.) For another pos-
sible, but certainly not probable, connection of
the use of Christian diptychs with an earlier
heathen custom, see Casaubon's Animad. in
Athenaeum, vi. 14.
2. Diptycha episcoporum (KaraKoyos raiv iiri-
a-Kdirwv; comp. Catalogus HiERATicus, p. 317).
We shall now, however, confine ourselves to the
subject of diptychs as used in the Christian
Church, and shall refer first to that class of them
m which were inscribed the names of deceased
prelates. Each church would of course specially
commemorate its own past bishops, or at any
rate the more renowned among them, and thus
in these local fastiwe may see the germs of later
calendars and martyrologies. An interesting
illustration of the employment of these tahellae
episcopates is furnished by the well known case
of St. Chrysostom, whom the persecution of his
inveterate foes drove into exile [Chalcedon,
p. 333] ; and even after his death would have
refused his name a place on the diptychs as a
denial of his orthodoxy : the insertion of his name
in the pi-ayers of the church, when his friends
were strong enough to obtain it, is spoken of as
the usual privilege of departed bishops (Socrates,
Hist. Eccl. vii. 25 ; comp. Theodoret, Hist. Eccl.
V. 35).
Another illustration may be taken from Venan-
tius Fortunatus {Poem. vii. 35, de S. Martina ;
Patrol. Ixxxviii. 332).
" Nomina vestra legat patrlarohis atque prophetis
Cui hodie in templo Diptychus edit ebur."
The names thus engraved on the tablets were
recited, as has been said, during the celebration
of the Eucharist. See, for example, the pro-
ceedings of the conference at Carthage between
the Catholics and Donatists (411 A.D.), where we
find the remark : " In ecclesid sumus, in quS
Caecilianus episcopatum gessit et diem obiit.
Ejus uomen ad altare recitamus, ejus memoriae
communicamus, tanquam memoriae fratris "
{Coll. in. c. 230 ; Labbe, ii. 1490). See also
Concil. Constant, ii. Coll. v. ; Labbe, v. 478, 495.
It w'ill be understood that such a mention has
no connection with the practice of prayers for
the dead, for the names thus enrolled were held
to be of those included among the blest, and in
fact the word ' canonization ' primarily meant
a mention of this kind in the Canon of the
Mass (see p. 267). Conversely, a place would be
denied in the diptychs to those who were sus-
pected, rightly or wrongly, of heretical or he-
terodox views ; and further, names wrongly in-
serted, whether inadvertently or through set evil
design, might be subsequently removed. Thus we
find Anastasius chronicling, " deinde abstulerunt
de diptychis ecclesiarum nomina Patriarcharum
.... Cyri, Sergii, Pauli, Pyrrhi, Petri per quos
error orthodosae fidei pullulavit" {Vitae Ponti-
ficum, ' Agatho,' p. 145).
This power of refusing to a name a place in
CHRIST. ANT.
DIPTYCHS
561
the diptychs, or of removing a name once en-
tered, would doubtless degenerate at times into
the venting of personal spite, as we have seen in
the case of the disgraceful attempt to rob Chry-
sostom of his well deserved honour. For a still
stronger case Peter the Fuller is responsible, in
that, on his usurpation of the see of Antioch, he
removed from the diptychs the names of Pro-
terius and Timotheus Salafatiarius, and put in
their stead those of Dioscurus and Heliums who
had murdered the former (Victor Tunnunensis,
Chronicon, 480 A.D. in Gallandi Bibl. Vet. Pair.
xii. 225).
3. Diptijcha vivorum. — We shall briefly con-
sider, in the next place, the case of the mention
of living persons, the origin of which, as has
been already said, would appear to be found in
the recital of the names of those members of a
church who had furnished the elements for the
holy communion. As time went on, it would be
natural to add the names of those who held civil
and spiritual authority, of special benefactors to
a church, and generally to embrace all fiiithful
believers ; the presence of a name on the list be-
ing viewed as a recognition of Christian brother-
hood, and thus, by implication, of the full church
membership and orthodoxy of the person named ;
while, conversely, its absence implied heresy in
belief or laxity in life or discipline (see Cyprian,
Epist. 1, § 2).
This original association of the practice with
the names ot the offerers was maintained in later
times. Thus we find Innocent I. (ob. 417 A.D.)
ordering that the names of those who offered
should not be recited before the oblations were
made (Epist. 25, ad Decentium, c. 5) ; Jerome
also {Comm. in Ezech. xviii. vol. v. 209) refers
to it, " Publiceque diaconus in ecclesiis recitet
offerentium nomina." For further injunctions
to the same effect, see Capit. Aquisgranense, 53
[789 A.D.], Capit. Francoford. 49 [794 a.d.],
in Baluze's Capitularia Regum Francoritm, i.
231, 270. In this way too it is most natural to
understand the original reference of the words
in the corresponding place of the Roman canon,
" qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis et gra-
tiarum actionis."
The commemoration of the faithful living,
other than the offerers, includes names of holders,
first of ecclesiastical and then of civil office, in
due order. We may refer, for example, to Maxi-
mus Confessor, who remarks (Collatio cum Prin-
cipibus in Secretario, c. 5, vol. i. p. xxxiv. ed.
C^ombefis), "at the holy oblation on the holy
table, after prelates, priests, and deacons, and
all priestly ranks (UpariKhv Tayixa), when the
deacon says, ' And those laics who have died
in faith, Constantino, Constans, and the rest,'"
and then pi'oceeds, ourai 54 Koi tS>v ^divrccv
fxv7)iJ.oveveL ^aaiXeuv juera rovs Upoifxivovs ttolv-
ras." We find a similar regulation in the Arabic
canons of the Nicene Council, to the effect that,
" on the Sabbath and festivals, when the holy
elements are placed upon the altar, the deacon
shall make mention, first, of the jiatriarch by
name, then of the chief bishop, the suffragan
bishop, the arch-presbyter, the archdeacon, be-
cause these are the rulers of the chuixh" (can.
64; Labbe, ii. 312).
In documents of the Western Church, we meet
with injunctions to insert on all such occasions
the name of the pope. See, e. g., the order of
2 0
562
DIPTYCHS
the Second Council of Vasio (529 a.d.), " ut
noraen Domini Papae, quicumque sedi apostolicae
praefuerit, in nostris ecclesiis recitetur." (can. 4,
Labbe', iv. 1680 : cf. Sugg. ii. Germani et alio-
rum post Epist. 40 Hormisdae Papae, ibid. 1484 ;
where allusion is made to the omission of all
names, save of the pope only, in the celebration
of the Mass at Scampae, a usage of which Mar-
tene, p. 145 B, gives some later examples.)
After the mention of the names of ecclesiastics
of various grades came that of the sovereign, as
mentioned in the above quoted passage of Maxi-
mus; and among those who had deserved well
of the church in various ways we find special
mention enjoined by the Council of Merida
(6G6 A.D.) of the names of those who had re-
built a church (jConcil. Emeritense, c. 19 ; Labbe',
vi. 507).
From these diptycha vivorum also, as we have
seen in the previous case of the tahellae episco-
pates, a name might be i-emoved, justly or un-
justly, as, e.g., in the case of Vigilius (Baluzius,
Collectio Nova ConcUiorum, 1542). Thus too we find
Augustine threatening, in case of certain conduct
unbecoming to the clerical office, " delebo eum
de tabula, clericorum " (Serm. 356, vol. v. 2059,
ed. Gaume) ; and in another passage of the same
father, we find him protesting against an unjust
exercise of this punishment (Epid. 78, vol. ii.
276). Again, we find the name of Pope Felix III.
erased from the diptychs by Acacius, and after
his death restored by Euthymius, who erased at
the same time that of Peter Mongus (Theophanes,
480-81 A.D. pp. 205, 206, ed. Classen). Felix,
however, ungraciously returned this by refusing
to recognise Euthymius, from his havmg retained
the names of Acacius and Phravites (op. cit.
483 A.D. p. 209).
4. Diptycha mortnorum. — We shall now refer
briefly to the diptychs containing the names of
the faithful dead. And here it will be obviously
seen that the essence of the practice of a recital
of names at all was the wish to maintain and
keep alive the spirit of Christian brotherhood ;
and when Christianity had taught men that,
whether living or dead in the flesh, all faithful
wei-e alike living members of Christ's Church, it
would be natural to add the names of those who
had gone before in .the faith and fear of God.
How soon this became complicated with the
idea of prayers for the dead this is not the place
to discuss.
As to the manner in which the diptychs of
the dead are introduced in Greek liturgies, we
find in that of St. Mark, 6 Siokovos to. Siirrvxa
rav KeKotfirifievaiv (i. e. reads), and, similarly, in
that of St. Chrysostom, o SiaKouos rSiv t€ k^koi-
^irifxevoov koL C^vtcui/, ws ^ouXerai, fj.urifj.ouevet.
The prayer of the priest, which follows, runs in
the former case thus, Kal tovtwv irdur'jiv ras
if'uX"^ avdnavcTov, SecnroTa Kypie 6 Qehs riiJ.oov, eV
TOLS Twv ayicov ffov (TKrjvals .... This might be
illustrated by the passage of Cyprian already re-
ferred to {Epist. i. 2) : " Non est quod pro dor-
mitione ejus apud vos fiat oblatio, aut deprecatio
aliqua nomine ejus in ecclesia frequentetur."
This commemoration of and prayer for the
faithful dead is found in the Gregorian Sacra-
mentary after the consecration, and thereupon
follows a prayer, entitled in the Sacramentary
Super Diptycha (tlie Collectio post Nomina of the
Mozarabic Missal), which we cite : '• Memento
DIPTYCHS
etiam,Domine, famulorum famularumque tuorum
///., qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei et dor-
miunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Domine, et omni-
bus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refi'igerii et
lucis et pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur."
Among others, the names of deceased emperors
of undoubted orthodoxy were mentioned. Thus
Pope Nicholas I. (ob. 867 A.D.), in a letter to the
Emperor Michael III., refers to the mention of
the names of Constantine, Constans, Theodosius
the Great, Valentinian, and other emperors,
" inter sacra mysteria " {Epist. 86, Patrol, cxix.
959).
The regulation of the Council of Merida, al-
ready referred to, ordains the mention of the
names of special benefactors, after they have
departed this life.
Thus flir we have spoken merely of names of in-
dividuals inserted in the diptychs, but, besides
these, a commemoration was made of the Four
Oecumenical Councils, to which practice numerous
references are made in the proceedings of the
Council held at Constantinople in 536 A.D. under
Mennas (See, e. g., Labbe, v. 85, 165, 185 ; the
last of which passages furnishes us with a very
interesting illustration of the practice, describing
how, at the reading of the diptychs, the whole
multitude flocked round the sanctuary to listen ;
and when only the titles of the Four Holy Synods
were recited by the deacon, and the names of
the archbishops Euphemius and Macedonius and
Leo, of blessed memory, all cried v^ith a loud
voice, " Glory be to Thee, 0 Lord) ;" and in those
of the second Oecumenical Council of Constanti-
nople (e. g. CoUatio 2, Labbe, v. 432). There is
also a reference to this in the Code of Justinian,
in a letter of the emperor to Epiphanius, patri-
arch of Constantinople, in which he expresses
his intention of resisting any attempts to abolish
this practice (lib. i. tit. 1, § 7 ; torn. ii. pt. 1, p.
16, ed. Beck.). Theophanes records an instance
of a daring attempt to break through this cus-
tom, when Euphrasius, patriarch of Antioch,
omitted the Council of Chalcedon from his dip-
tychs, and also the name of Pope Hormisdas
(Theophanes, A.D. 513, p. 258).
5. A brief remark may be made here as to
sundry variations in the time when the diptychs
were recited according to various uses. The
primary custom would seem to be, that they
were read after the oblation of the bread and
wine, and before the consecration. This may be
seen, for example, from numerous references in
the acts of the council under Mennas, spoken of
above, which prove this to have been the custom
of the Church of Constantinople (see esp. Labb^
v. 185, already quoted). It would appear also
that in the Mozarabic Missal and in the ancient
Gallican form, the diptychs originally held this
place. The same also holds true for the repre-
sentative of the diptychs in our own Liturgy, the
prayer for the Church Militant. In the Liturgy
of Chrysostom, however, the Mozarabic Missal,
and not a few others, as we now have them, the
diptychs follow consecration.
In the various forms of the Roman Liturgy,
and in the Ambrosian, the commemoration of
the living and dead enters into the canon of the
Mass, that of the living before, and that of the
dead after, consecration. It has been suggested,
however, that this too is a modification of an
earlier state of thmgs, from a consideration of the
DIPTYCHS
wording in the Gelasian Sacramentary. [Canon
OF THE Liturgy, p. 271.]
Sundry ditl'ereuces also exist as to the manner
of reciting the names on the diptychs. (1) Some-
times they were read by the deacon, as is exem-
plified by the citations we have already given
from the liturgies of St. Mark and St. Chryso-
stom, to which others might have been added.
See also Jerome (m Ezech. I. c.) and Maximus
(/. 0.). (2) In some churches it would appear
that the subdeacon recited the names on the dip-
tychs behind the altar. Thus, in an ancient
Mass {Codex Ratoldi) published by Menard iu his
edition of the Gregorian Sacramentary, we find
(p. 246), " Subdiaconi a retro altari, ubi memo-
riam vel uomina vivorum et mortuorum nomi-
naverunt . . . ." (3) Frequently the priest himself
repeated the names. (4) A curious plan is that
mentioned by Fulcuin (De Gcstis Abbatum Lobien-
siuiii, c, vii. in L)'Achery's Spicilegium, vi. 551),
where the subdeacon whispered the names to the
priest. (5) We find even that in some cases the
tablets were merely laid upon the altar, with
the names of the offerers and benefactors, of
whom the priest made general mention. Thus
we find a form cited by Pamelius {Liturgg. Latt.
ii. 180), "]\Iemento .... quorum nomina ad me-
morandum conscripsimus, ac super sanctum altare
tuu/n conscripta adesse videntur." The two last
views, at any rate, however, are clearly quite late.
For some remarks on a plan whereby, in the
church of Piavenna, a chasuble was made to serve
the purpose of diptychs, see Ducange (s. v.).
The name of diptych was also given to regis-
ters in which were entered, as occasion required,
the names of newly baptized persons, as then
first becoming members of the Christian family
(Dion. Areop. Hier. Ecvl. c. 11). [Register.]
6. Literature. — For the matter of the fore-
gomg article we are mainly indebted to Martene,
De Antiquis Ecclesiae Mitibus, i. 145, sjq. ed. Ve-
nice, 1783 ; Ducange's Glossaria, s. vv. Diptycha,
AiTTTux") Bingham's Antiquities, xv. 3; and the
Onomasticon (s. v.) appended to Rosweyd's Vitae
Patrum. Reference may also be made to Salig,
De Diptychis Veterum, tarn profanis, quim sacris.
Halae Magd. 1731 ; Donati, Dei dittici degli an-
tichi profani e sacri, Lucca, 1753 ; Gibbiugs,
Prelection on the DipAychs, Dublin, 1864. [R. S.]
DIPTYCHS, EXTEEIOE OENAMEN-
TATION OF.— As the most ancient consular
diptych now known is referred to Stilicho in 405
(see infra, and Gori, vol. i. p. 128, ed. fol. Flor.
1779), and only one purely ecclesiastical one is
mentioned even as conjecturally earlier than the
5th centurj', it will be inferred that the interest
of these relics is historical rather than artistic.
JIartigny gives a highly reduced copy of one
from Donati's Dittica degli Antic, p. 149, attri-
buted to a certain Areobindus the Younger,
consul, A.D. 506, in the eastern parts of the
empire, 16th year of Anastasius (Baronius, ad
An. 508). It is beautifully engraved in folio
size in Gori, v. i. Its ornaments consist of two
cornucopias, with the titles of the consul above
them and baskets of fruit and flowers below ;
they are carved with leaves and connected by
wreathed foliage in which the stiff' conventional
symmetry of Roman-Byzantine art begins to
show itself. Gori calls k the Diptych of Lucca.
The use of folding tablets in the services of the
DIPTYCHS
563
church seems to have been a matter of common
convenience, like their use anywhere else. But
many of these carvings remain, which have evi-
dently been altered from profane uses to eccle-
siastical, and still retain the original bas-reliefs
with changes and adaptations. Others, again,
like that of Rambona, are entirely Christian in
their origin. The most ancient of the latter
class is considered by Martiguy to be the pro-
perty of the Cathedral of Milan (Bugati, il/e-
morie di S. C'/lso in Jin.), and is referred to the
4th century from the character of its sculptures.
He cites others, whose coverings are lost or
separated from them, whether they were of
wood, ivoiy, or metal. That of Areobindus bears
the cross, as also the Greek diptych of Flavins
Taurus Clementinus(Gori, tab. ix. and x., p. 260,
vol. i.). The Rambona ivory, though only of the
9th century, is far the most interesting in exis-
tence. (See art. Crucifix for a full description
and woodcut ; and Gori, Tkes. Vet. Diptychorum,
vol. iii.) It is stated by MS. Laurent, /ooho-
graphie de la Croix et du Crucifix, in Didron's
Annates Arche'ologiques, vv. xxvi.-vii., to have
been . presented to the monastery of Rambona
(March of Ancona) by Agiltrude, wife of Guy,
d. of Spoleto ; and is of type more barbaric than
the Lombard work of Verona, bearing great re-
semblance, in the large unmeaning faces and eyes
of its figures, to many Irish and Saxon MSS.
Many ancient diptychs have been used for bind-
ings "of more recent service-books; as a tablet
which now covers a copy of the Gospels of St.
Luke and St. John in the Vatican. Our Lord
between two angels and the Magi before Herod
can be traced in it. At the Cathedral of Vercelli.
at St. Maximus in Treves, and at Besan<,'on, there
are relics of this kind. Gori's Thesaui-us, aud
Paciaudi's De Cuitu S. Joannis Baptistae, contain
2 0 2
564:
DIEECTANEUS
many and most interesting records and illustra-
tions, chiefly of Middle-Age works.
The Kambona ivory, with two others of greater
antiquity, are described and represented in Buo-
narotti's Vetri, p. 231. One of them is that of
the Consul Basilius, in 541 ; the other, which
Buonarotti supposes to be more ancient, is
called the Diptych of Romulus, and represents
his apotheosis.
The Florentine edition of Gori's Thesaurus ^^e-
teruin Dipti/chorum, 1755, contains a fine en-
graving of the half of the Diptych of Stilicho
which remains in existence (see woodcut.) The
consul is seated at the top, with the usual bar-
baric stolidity of expression, in toga picta, and
curule chair : the amphitheatre and combats of
wild beasts are represented below. That of
Boethius, which succeeds, has standing figures
of the consul, with a head of disproportioned
size, but a countenance evidently studied with
great care : he bears a sceptre, surmounted by
an eagle, drawn with much spirit. Stilicho to
all appearance, and Boethius undoubtedly, hold
the mappa, the signal of beginning the games, in
the right hand, as also the elder or prior Areo-
bindus. Gori, i. tab. vii., where the bestiarii
and their opponents are of considerable merit.
The curule chairs are evidently the originals of
those represented in Saxon and early Norman
MSS.
The Christian Diptychs of Milan, in use in the
12th century, and conjectured to belong to the
7th or 8th, are represented in Gori, vol. iii, p.
264-, sqq. They represent the history of the
New Testament ; and in particular, the Nativity,
the Transfiguration, and the Passion of our Lord.
They must certainly be well within our allotted
period of the first eight centuries. Those of
Monza (Murray, Handbook iV. Italy, p. 164) are
referred to either Claudian, Ausonius, or Boethius.
-\nother, bearing two consuls, surnamed David
and Pope Gregory by later possessors of the
diptych, is highly interesting. [R. St. J. T.]
DIREOTANEUS. Any psalm, hymn, or
canticle, said in the service of the Church in
monotone, without inflection, was called direc-
taneus. It is probably to this monotone that
Isidore refers when he says (Z>e EccL Off. v. 5)
that the primitive Church used a very simple
kind of chant, more like mere recitation than
singing. Aurelian (^Regula, ad Virgines, c. 40)
gives the following direction : "Ad Lucernarium,
Directaneus parvulus, id est, ' Regina tei'rae,'
'Cantate Deo,' &c. ;" and he further directs
that at Nocturns the directaneus " Misei-ere mei
Deus" should be said. Compare the Rule of
Benedict, c. 17 ; and that of Caesarius of Aries,
c. 31. [C]
DIS MANIBUS. Lt^ATACOMDS, p. 308.]
DISCIPLINA ARCANI, a term of post-
Reformation controversy (it is used by Tentzel
and Schelstrate in special dissertations A.n.
1683-5), is applied to designate a number of
modes of procedure in teaching the Christian
faith, akin to one another in kind, although
differing considerably in character; which pre-
vailed from about the middle of the 2nd century
until the natural course of circumstances ren-
dered any system which involved secrecy or
reserve impossible. So far as these were de-
DISCIILINA AECANI
fensible, they arose out of the principles, 1. of
imparting knowledge of the truth by degrees,
and in methods adapted to the capacity of the
recipients, and 2. of cutting off occasion of pro-
faneness or of more hardened unbelief by not
proclaiming the truths and mysteries of the
faith indiscriminately, or in plain words, or at
once, to unbelievers. And these principles find ■
their origin, and their defence, respectively in the
apostle's distinction between " milk for babes "
and " strong meat " for those " of full age "
(Heb. V. 12-14), and again, between speaking to
" carnal " and to " spiritual " hearers (1 Cor.
iii. 1) ; and in our Lord's prohibition against
" casting that which is holy to dogs," or
" throwing pearls before swine," together with
the habitual tone of His teaching, and in parti-
cular its parabolic character. Persecution also
at first compelled to secrecy. Upon such grounds
there arose, as the Church became systematized
and settled, first, a distinction between catechu-
mens and fideles, and between different classes of
catechumens, with respect to the kinds and
amounts of knowledge to be imparted to each
successively ; and, secondly, a spirit, rather than
a formal system, of habitual reticence upon the
higher and more mysterious doctrines of the
faith, in Christian writings or sermons likely to
be read or heard by the heathen. But beyond
these natural and reverent practices, the desire
to meet the ancient philosophers on their own
ground, and on the one hand to rationalize
Christian doctrines, on the other to transcenden-
talize the theories of reason into anticipations
and foreshadowings of the mysteries of the faith,
assisted by the excess of the allegorizing prin-
ciple of interpretation current in the Alexandrian
Church, produced a special disciplina arcani,
almost wholly at Alexandria, yet prevailing in
a less degree elsewhere also, from the time of
Clement of Alexandria and Origen ; in which the
doctrines and fiicts of Scripture were expounded
esoterically to the initiated, who had the key to
them in the true yvuKTis, while their real and
deeper meaning was disguised and withheld by
an " oeconomy," or " accommodation," from
others.
I. First, as regards catechumens, the earliest
intimation of any system of secrecy is in Ter-
tuUian : " Omnibus mysteriis silentii fides ad-
hibetur" (Apol. vii.); and again, speaking of
heretics, " Quis catechumenus, quis fidelis, in-
certum est ; pariter audiunt, pariter orant :
etiam ethnici si supervenerint, sanctum canibus
et porcis margaritas, licet non veras, jactabunt "
{Praescr. adv. Haeret. xli.). And the latter com-
plaint, respecting catechumens, is repeated two
centuries afterwards by Epiphanius {Haer. xlii.
n. 3), and by St. Jerome (^Comment, in Galat. vi.),
with reference to the Mareionites. Later writers
than TertuUian specify particulars, e.g. baptism,
the eucharist, and the oil of chrism, & oiiSe
iTTOTTTfveiv clecTTi TO?? afj.vr\TOLS (St. Basil. M.,
DeSpir. S. xxvii.); and St. Greg. ^az.(Orat. xl.
De Bupt.), "Exe's toC /j.v(TTripiov to. %K<popa koI
rals tCiv ttoWwu a.Koa'is oiiK airoppriTa, to. 5e
aWa daco fj-aevo-r] ■ "n"-' ^^- ^Y^'^^ ^'^ Jerusalem
(^Catech. vi. c. 30), OuSe tUv ixvarripiwu iirl
KaT7}xovfJ.ivo3V MvkSis XaXovjXfv, aKKa iroWa
iroWaKis XeyofifU iTnKiKaXvixfxivws, 'iva oi el^6res
TTiaTol i/oriffoxri, Kcd ol fir) €i5ores /jlt] /3Aoj8a)(n.
I And the Apost. Canons (Ixxxv.) speak of ai Sio-
DISCIPLINA AKCANI
Tayal . . . hs ov XPV S-nixoatevfiv iw] iravToiv 5ia
TO. iv avTois fivcTTLKo.. Similarly the proclama-
tion in the Apost. Constit. (viii. 12) and in the
Liturgies, Mr) rts KarrixovfJ-^i'ajv, fJt-V tis aKpou-
ixivwv, jurj Tis rcov tmicntav. And the phrase,
" missa catechumenorum," used in St. Aug.
Scrm. slix. A.D. 396, Cone. Carthag. IV. c. 84,
A.D. 398, and Cone. Herd. A.D. 523, c. 4, and Jo.
Cassian, Cocnob. Institut. xi. 15, and Cone. Valent.
A.D. 524, c. 1. So Com. Arausic. I. A.D. 441,
c. 19, "Ad baptisterium catechumeni numquam
admittendi." And while Cone. Laodk. A.D. 365,
c. 5, ixr] hitv TOts xetpoTOv'tas iirl irapovaia
cLKpoufiivoov yeyeadat may possibly refer to the
consecration, as probably as to the election, of a
bishop : St. Chrysostom certainly speaks of ordi-
nation {Horn, xviii. in 2 Cor.), when he refrains
from detailing what takes place at a x^^porovia,
" which the initiated know ; for all may not be
revealed to the uninitiated." The eucharist again
was celebrated with closed doors (St. Chrys.
Horn, in Matt, xxiii.), not to be opened to any-
body, even one of the fiiithful, at the time of
the Anaphora (J.;j()si. Constit. viii. 11), and to be
guarded by the deacons, lest any unbeliever or
uninitiated person enter {ib. ii. 57). So again
Pseudo-Augustin (Scnn. ad Neophyt. i.), " Di-
missis jam catechumenis, . . . quia specialiter de
coelestibus mysteriis loquuturi sumus." And to
the same eflect, St. Ambrose (J»e His Qui mysteriis
Initiantur, c. 1), Theodoret {Quaest. xv. in JS^um.),
Gaudentius {Serm. II. ad Neophyt.), and above
all the catechetical lectures of St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, which are framed expressly upon
this principle, and the preface to which forbids
the communication of their more advanced con-
tents to those who are without, if any such
should ask what St. Cyril had said. See also the
directions to widows in ^^osi.Consiii. iii. 5. Lastly,
and further still, besides this general and perpe-
tually recurring distinction between initiated
{lxiij.vqtJ.fvoi) and uninitiated (d/xijijTOi), distinc-
tions were made between the more and the
less advanced of the latter themselves : the
Lord's Prayer ; Constit. Apostol. vii. 44 ; St.
Aug. Enehirid. c. 7 1 ; Theodoret, Haeret. Fab.
V. 28, and Epit. Div. Dccret. c. xviii. ; St.
Chrys. Horn. xx. al. xix. in Matt. ; the Creed ;
St. Ambrose, Ad Ilareell. Epist. 33 (20 ed.
Bened.) ; St. Jerome, Epist. xxxviii. Ad Pam-
maeh. (ed. Ben.) ; and the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity (St. Cyril Hieros. Catech. vi. 30),
being taught only to the competentes, the first,
in St. Augustine's time, only eight days before
baptism (St. Aug. Horn, xlii., Cone. Agath. c. 13),
the second at some like period, and the last men-
tioned during the last forty days. Catechumens
also were allowed to hear the sermon, but no
further, in the African Church {Cone. Carthag.
as above), in that of Gaul (from Cone. Arausic. 1.
A.D. 441, c. 18),and in that of Spain (from Cone.
Valentin. A.D. 524, c. 1).
II. Apart from the special discipline of cate-
chumens, the Christian fathers, from the 2nd to
at least the 5th century, habitually refrain from
speaking plainly of the deeper mysteries of the
faith, in writings or sermons accessible to the
heathen. Origen, e.g. {Cent. Cels. i. 7, 0pp. i.
325), enumerating the doctrines that were not
hidden, mentions the birth, crucifixion, and re-
surrection of our Lord, the resurrection of the
dead, and the last judgment, but omits the doc-
DISCIPLINA ARCANI
565
trines of the Holy Trinity and of the Atonement
(compare St. Paul's account of the elements of
the faith in Heb. vi.). St. Cyril of Jerusalem
{Lect. Catech. vi. 30; Op. i. 106, ed. 1720) tells
us, that it is not permitted to speak to a heathen
of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Sozomen
omits the Nicene creed from his history (i. 20),
expressly because that work would probably be
read by heathen readers. St. Chrysostom will
not speak fully of baptism in a homily, because
of the " uninitiated " among his hearers {Horn.
xl. in 1 Cor.). St. Augustine reckons both sacra-
ments among the " occulta " {in Is. ciii. ; see
also Horn. xcvi. in Joann., and in Is. cix.).
Pope Innocent I. {Ad Hecentium, c. 3) will not
recite the words even of Confirmation, " ne
magis prodere videar, quam ad consultationem
respondere." The last words of the Apostolic
Constitutions forbid the making these books
public (bk. viii. in fin.) : " preach of the mys-
teries contained in them." So St. Cyril of
Alexandria {Cont. Julian, vii.), and many others ;
while the words of Theodoret {Quaest. xv. in
Nui7i.) may be taken as a summary : " We speak
obscurely of the Divine mysteries on account of
the uninitiated ; but when these have with-
drawn, we teach the initiated plainly." Such
topics are to be mentioned to persons in general
" in enigmas and shadows, mystically, not
clearly." And any statement about them is
repeatedly broken off with " the faithful," or
" the initiated, know." Compare also the dis-
tinction drawn by St. Cyril of Jerusalem between
7r€pj7jxe7(r0at and ei'TJxe'c^ai. The reasons as-
signed for the practice are : — 1. To avoid ol!'ence
to the weak or to the heathen, ovk iirfi.r]
aaQheiav KaTiyvoijXiv r&.f reAovfievaiv, dAA'
eireiSr] areXidTepov ol iroWol irphs avra e/c-
SiaKiTfTai (St. Chrys. Horn, in Matt, xxiii.
al. xxiv.), or again, more forcibly, ou xPV
rd ixv<TT)]pia afju-qrois TpaycfSe7v, 'iua fjT} "EA-
\-t)ViS /xiv ayvoovvres ytAoixTi, Karrixov/J-evoi
Se ■Kep'iipyoi yev6fj.(vot cTKavSaAl^aivTai {Gone.
Alexandr. ap. St. Athan. Apol. ii.). To which
may be added the still more forcible words of
St. Clem. Alex. {Strom, i. pp. 323, 324), who
says that he suppressed some portions of the
truth, not as grudging it, but fearing lest he
should put a sword into the hand of a child.
2. Out of reverence : "Adhibuimus tarn Sanctis
rebus atque Divinis honorem silentii" (St. Aug.
Serm. i. inter, xl.). To which, 3. St. Augustine
adds another of a more superficial kind, viz. the
excitement of curiosity ; saying to catechumens,
" Si non excitat te festivitas (Paschae), ducat ipsa
curiositas," and therefore, " da nomen ad baptis-
mum" {Ve Verb. Dam. Horn. xlvi.).
It must be added, in order to complete the
case, first, that such a principle of reticence is
not to be looked foi", for obvious reasons, in the
earlier Apologists in persecuting times ; e.g. there
is no trace of it in Justin Martyr, Tatian, Athena-
goras, Theophilus (Bingh. X. v. 2). In such cases,
the desire to avoid scandal to the weak, and the
feeling of reverence ibr the truth itself, must
needs, and rightly, give way to the clear necessity
of a plain statement of the whole truth. Next,
that the reserve in question was simply (so to
say) a temporary educational expedient ; and was
never practised towards the "faithliil" them-
selves, to whom the whole truth was declared
in plain words; and that there are no grounds
566
DISCIPLINA ARCANI
whatever for supposing the existence of an eso-
teric system of doctrine, not appearing at all in
any of the writings or documents of the earlier
church, but brought to light in subsequent cen-
turies, although secretly held all along.
III. So far, there can be no question made of
the defensibleness of the principle of reserve,
thus applied ; however plain it may be, that it
must speedily have become impossible to main-
tain the practice. It is obviously a perfectly fair
proceeding, to withhold truths avowedly from
those to whom it will do harm to declare them.
The Alexandrian schools, however, seem to have
stretched the casuistry of truthfulness to a point
beyond this. Controversially, it is no doubt both
allowable, and wise, to state the truth in terms
as acceptable to the views and prejudices of an
opponent as sincerity will permit, but certainly
no further. To help a Platonist, e. g. to believe
in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, by pointing
out how far Platonism itself advances towards
such a doctrine, is plainly as consistent with
honesty as it is with good sense ; but so to speak
as to imply the identity of the two doctrines has
both actually proved to be a fruitful parent of
heresy, and is distinctly not honest. So again
it is obviously fair to neutralize an opponent's
objection by pointing out that it includes in its
range that opponent's own . erroneous or incom-
plete view as well as the orthodox faith ; but
only if the latter is not confounded with the
former as though it were the same thing. An
argumentum ad hominem, used as such avowedly,
is of course justifiable, so that it be not put for-
ward as the arguer's own bond fide belief. The
Alexandrian school, however, seem to have
" oeconomized," in managing controversies, both
in fact and avowedly, in the extremer sense of
the lines of argument thus suggested. St, Cle-
ment of Alexandria, for instance, lays down as a
principle {Strom, vii. 9), that the true Gnostic,
indeed, " bears on his tongue whatever he has in
his mind," but it is " to those who are worthy to
hear :" adding, that " he both thinks and speaks
the truth, unless at any time, medicinally, as
a physician for the safety of the sick, he may
lie or tell an untruth, as the Sophists say."
(OvTTOTf xf/evS^Tat, k^lu fpevSos \4yri, is the Pla-
tonic way of putting it.) So also {Strcnn. vi. 15),
'Veixrrai rcji ovn ovx oi (Tv/xrrepi<pep6/ji€vot Si'
oiKovofxiav (ToiTTjpias, aW' oi els to, Kvpiwrara
■jrapaTTiifToi'Tes, Kal aOeTovvres jxfv Thv Kvpiov
TO 'offov e'lr' aurols, aTroffrepodures 8e rov Kvpiov
t))v a.\7]drj SiSaffKaXiav. And Origen, as quoted
by St. Jerome {Adv. Eufin. Apol. i. c. 18), in like
manner lays down a caution, implying a
like principle, that " homo cui incumbit neces-
sitas mentiendi, diligenter attendat, ut sic utatur
iaterdum mendacio, quomodo condimento atque
medicamine, ut servet mensuram ejus : ex quo,"
he adds, " perspicuum est, quod nisi ita mentiti
fuerimus, ut magnum nobis ex hoc aliquod quae-
ratur bonum, judicandi simus quasi inimici Ejus
Qui ait. Ego sum Veritas." Further, St. Clement
also appears to hold an esoteric traditional teach-
ing to have been delivered to St. Peter, St. James,
St. John, and St. Paul {Strom, i. 1, vi. 7 ; and v.
Euseb. //. E. ii. 1) ; and Origen likewise {Cont.
Cels. i. 7) speaks of an esoteric Christian teach-
ing, but obviously means no more by the terms,
at least in this passage, than to affirm the dis-
tinction between elementary teaching and the
DISCIPLINE
deeper doctrines of the faith as taught succes
sively to catechumens. On the other hand {Cont.
Cels. vi.) he speaks of an oral traditional know-
ledge, ov ypaiTTia Trphs tovs iroAXovs, ovSt prjTa.
But St. Clement's yvciats was not a distinct inner
system of doctrine differing from that which was
to be taught to the noWol, but rather a different
mode of apprehending the same truths, viz. from
a more intellectual and spiritual stand-point.
In actual fact, we find, by way of instance,
St. Gregory of Neo-Caesarea, Origen's pupil,
using language respecting the Holy Trinity that
is confessedly erroneous, and defended by St. Basil
{Epist. ccx. § 5) on the ground that he was
" not teaching doctrine but arguing with an
unbeliever," and that in such a case " he would
rightly in some things concede to the feelings
of the unbeliever, in order to gain him over to
the cardinal points." The whole subject will be
found ably and profoundly discussed in Newman's
Arians, c. i. § iii. pp. 40-102 (3rd edition). How
far the practice was borrowed from, or uncon-
sciously furthered by, the undisguised principles
and practice of Philo-Judaeus on the subject,
may be doubted. That writer certainly, both in
actual exposition of Scripture and in avowed
principle, assumes that duller souls must be
taught " fiilsehoods by which they may be bene-
fited, if they cannot be brought to a sound mind
through the truth " {Quid Deus sit Immutabilis,
0pp. i. 282, ed. Mangey). But there is no need
for looking beyond Scripture itself for the germ
and principle of a true and legitimate " oecono-
my." The Alexandrian divines themselves are
only responsible for pushing that principle to a
degree which made it at least extremely danger-
ous, and sometimes barely honest. The applica-
tion of esoteric meanings to Scripture facts by
the same school is a parallel case of exagger-
ating a principle of the analogous sort, posses-
sing a foundation of truth, into extremes that
are utterly unjustifiable,
[Newman, Arians (as above quoted) ; Martigny ;
Bingham; Schelstrate, Be Discipl. Arcani ; Mo-
sheim, De Reb. Christ, ante Gonstantin. § xxxiv.
pp. 302-310 ; and a special dissertation, De
Accommodatione Christo imprimis et Apostolis
tributa, by F. A. Carus (Lips. 1793, 4), is refer-
red to.] [A. W. H.]
DISCIPLINE. (1.) From the earliest time
the Church has endeavoured, in accordance with
the Lord's commands, to maintain its own purity
both in life and doctrine. In the earliest ages,
the penalties for transgressing the laws of the
Churcli, in whatever respect, were of course of
a purely spiritual nature, and enforced by the
authority of the Church itself, which had no
jurisdiction m invites. The means which the
Church employed for the correction of ofl'enders
within her pale were admonition, withdrawal of
privileges, the enjoining of acts of mortification,
and, in the last resort, exclusion from the Church
altogether [ Excojimunication ]. From this
constant eftort of the ecclesiastical authorities to
correct offences, and to purify the Church from
scandals by its own power arose the system of
Penitential Discipline [Penitence], which is
common to all members of the Church, lay and
clerical, secular and regular.
But besides the general duty of maintaining
holy life and true doctrine, which is iucumbent
DISCIPLINE
on all Christians, the clergy and the members of
monastic orders voluntarily take upon them-
selves peculiar obligations, and the eufbrcing of
these by the proper authorities constitutes a
special subdivision of discipline. On the subject
of Monastic and Canonical Discipline, see below.
What has been said applies to the Church in
all ages, whether before or after its connection
with the State. But from the time of Constan-
tine, when the existence of Christianity in the
empire was formally recognised, and the Church
adopted as an institution guarded and respected
by the State, we no longer find its disciplinary
laws solely in its own canons and decrees, nor
its punishments solely spiritual and over persons
who give a voluntary submission. The several
codes of the empire not only recognise gene-
rally the fact that its subjects are Christian, but
frequently adopt and sanction laws enacted ori-
ginally by purely ecclesiastical authority ; and
this in two ways. In some cases ecclesiastical
laws and principles are simply adopted into the
civil code, and enforced by civil tribunals and civil
sanctions : in others the ecclesiastical authority
[see Appeal]— generally the Bishop (p. 231) — is
empowered to call in the secular arm to enforce its
decisions; see, for instance, Justinian's Code, lib. 1,
1. 25., De Episc. Audien. It is evident that this
change in the relations of Church and State con-
verted many acts, which had previously been dis-
regarded by the civil power, into crimes, or offences
against the sovereign authority, and gave a dif-
ferent aspect to many delicts which still remained
in the cognizance of the Church. Discipline was
henceforward enforced partly by the spiritual,
partly by the secular arm ; the State reinforced
the Church with more or less vigour according
to the disposition of the rulers for the time
being ; and the ecclesiastical authorities made
constant efforts to withdraw the clergy from the
jurisdiction of the civil courts altogether [Immu-
nities OF THE Clergy; Jurisdiction; and
the articles on the several offences which have
been subject to censure or punishment in the
Church], [C]
(2.) Monastic Discipline. — Monastic punish-
ments were of two kinds, corporal and spiritual,
and, in each kind, more or less severe, according
to the nature of the offence or the founder's
ideas of discipline. Instances of both kinds
occur very early in the history of monasticism.
Thus Basil of Caesarea speaks of various de-
grees of excommunication — from joining in
the chanting, from choir, and from meals
(.Senw. de Mon. Instit.), while about the same
date Jerome and KuffSnus make mention of
fastings as a punishment (Hieron. E/j. ad Nepo-
tian.; Ruffin. De Verb. Sen. 29). Augustine
speaks of offending monks (fratres) being anathe-
matised, if incorrigible after reproof's, and of
their excommunication by their superiors (prae-
positi) of higher or lower rank, the excommuni-
cation by the bishop being the severest punish-
ment of all (^De Corrupt, et Grat. ad Valent.
c. 15). A passage in one of his letters implies
his approval of flogging as a chastisement {Ep.
ad MarceUin., 159). In the writings of Cassian,
early in the 5th century, monastic discipline
becomes more closely defined. For slighter
off'ences, such as coming late to prayers or work,
making a mistake in chanting, breaking any-
thing, or speaking to any other monk than the
DISCIPLINE
567
one who shares the cell, the offender is to pros-
trate himself in the chapel during divine service
or to make genuflexions till allowed by the
abbot to cease (Cassian, Inst. iv. c. 16). Cassian
tells a story of an Egyptian monk doing public
penance for having dropped three peas, while
acting as cook for the week {Inst. iv. 20). For
graver offences, as bad language or greediness,
the punishment is flogging or expulsion (/«s<. iv.
c. 16). For lingering after nocturns instead of
going at once to the cell, a monk is to be ex-
communicated (ii. 15) ; no one being allowed to
pray with him till he has been publicly absolved
(ii. 16). Cassian speaks of a slap or buffet,
" alapa," as a punishment among monks {Coll.
xix. 1. of. Greg. M. Dialoij. i. 2, ii. 4). Palladius,
about the same date, in describing the monks of
Nitria, relates that th]-ee whips or scourges
hung from a pillar in a part of the church
apparently corresponding to a chapter-house,
one for the correction of robbers, one for un-
ruly guests, one for the monks {Hist. Laus. 2).
He speaks also of confinement in a cell {ih.
cc. 32, 33). About half a century later the
Council of Chalcedon pronounces anathema on
a monk returning to the secular life {Cone.
Chalccd., c. 7). Being, as a rule, at that date
still laics, monks thus offending were anathema-
tised, not degraded. . Dorotheus, an Archiman-
drite in Palestine, very early in the 7th century,
speaks of fasting as a punishment for monks
{Doctrina, c. 14, ap. Ducean. Aitciuar. i. 743).
One of the strongest instances of monastic
severity in the East is in the Scala of Joannes
Climacus, sometimes called Scholasticus," of
Mount Sinai, in the preceding century, who
speaks of oflTenders being dragged by a rope
through ashes, their hands bound behind their
backs, and flogged till those who witnessed the
punishment " howled ;" afterwards they were
to lie prostrate at the church-door till absolved
after public confession {Scala, c. 4).
In the West, too, prior to the Benedictine rule,
monastic discipline was very rigorous. Each
monastery had its own code ; but, probably, in
Southern Europe Cassian's influence was felt
largely. In the Regula Tarnatensis, the rule (c.
550 A.D.) of a monastery in south-eastern France,
which Mabillon identifies with that of Tarnay,
near Vienne {Annul., torn. i. App. ii. Disquis. 5),
a monk who jests is to be chidden (c. 13 ; cf. Bas.
Constit. Monast. c. 13, on scurrility). In the
rule of Ferreolus, bishop of Uzes, in Languedoc,
about the same date, a fast of three days is
imposed for jesting during lections (c. 24), and
thirty days' silence for railing (c. 22). But the
Rerjula C'ujusdam Patris, supposed by Menard to
be the rule of Columba (c. 561 A.D.), is stricter
still, especially against the murmuring or re-
fractory : even a thouglitless word is visited
with imprisonment (c. 8). Columbanus, of
Luxeuil and Bobbio (c. 590 A.D.), trod in the
steps of his ascetic predecessor. Six blows were
to be the penalty for such offences as speaking
at refection, not responding to the grace, not
being careful to avoid coughing in chanting, &c.
For other similar transgressions the punishment
was the " impositio " of Psalms to be learned by
heart, or the " superpositio," complete silence for
" Not Joannes Scholasticus, of the same date, of Aiitiocb
and Constantinople (Cave, Hist. Lilt. s. v.).
o68 DISCOFEEAE
a time {Re(j. Colmnhan. c. 10). Darker offences
»yei'e visited with proportionate severity. Thus,
for a perjury the penalty was solitary confine-
ment on bread and water for three years (Colum-
ban. De Penitent. Mensur. c. 32 ; cf. pass.).
The milder discipline of Benedict gradually
extended itself, in the 6th and 7th centuries,
from Italy even into parts of Europe already
occupied by other rules, as was France by that
of Columbanus. He prescribed two reproofs in
private, followed by one in public, before pro-
ceeding to severer remedies. If these were in-
effectual, then ensued excommunication, or for
those too young or otherwise disqualified for
spiritual censures, corporal punishment (^Reg.
Ben. c. 23). The incorrigible were to be flogged
and prayed for ; and, as a last resource, expelled
(c, 28) : if re-admitted, they were to be placed
in the lowest grade (c. 29) ; cf. Greg. M. Lib. x.
Ind. iv. Ep. 39; Lib. I. Ind. is. Ep. 19. A
breakage or waste was lightly regarded, unless
unconfessed (c. 46) ; and the confession of secret
faults was to be made, not in public, but to
the dean [Decanus, § v.] (seniori suo, c. 46).
Only the contumacious, after four admonitions,
were to be subject to the " disciplina regularis,"
flogging, with, probably, solitary confinement on
bread and water (cc. 3, 65).
Where not adopted as a whole, the Benedictine
rule was frequently incorporated with other
rules. Thus the rule of Isidore of Seville, in
the first part of the 7th century, though more
minute in its distinctions, resembles the Bene-
dictine code of punishments (Isid. Reg. c. 17 ; cf.
Mab. Ann. iii. 37, xii. 42). Donatus of Besan-
9on, about the middle of this century, himself
a pupil of Columbanus, blended the two rules in
one : " disciplina " with him seems to mean
flogging or solitary confinement (Don. Reg. ad
yirg. c. 2); silence or fifty stripes is the penalty
for idle words (c. 28). Later in the century,
Fructuosus of Braga in Portugal, founder of the
great monastery of Alcala (Complutum) near
Madrid, borrowed largely from Benedict (Fruct.
Reg. c. 17 ; cf. Mab. Ann. iii. 37). The Council
at Vers, near Paris, 755 A.D., speaks of a prison-
cell or flogging-room — "locus custodiae" or
" pulsatorium " (Cone. Vern. c. 6). The Har-
mony of Monastic Rules, compiled in the 9th
century by the namesak« of the founder of the
Benedictines, contains a gradation of punish-
ments, which is on the whole equitable, but too
minute (Bened. Anian. Concord. Regul.) In the
12th century the influence of Petrus Damiani
introduced a rigour hitherto unknown within
the walls of Monte Casino : each monk, after his
confession every Friday, was to be whipped, by
hmiself or by others, in cell, chapter, or oratory
(Altes. Ascet. vi. 4). In the famous monastery
of St. Gall, in Switzerland, the whip for similar
purposes was suspended from a pillar in the
chapter-house (i6.).
Voluntary flagellations, or self-scourgings, as
a recognised part of monastic discipline, began
about the middle of the 11th century, at the
suggestion of Petrus Damiani (Richard et Giraud,
Biblioth. Sacr, s. v.), or according to Mahillon
(Acta SS. Ben. Praef, Saec. vi., i. s. 6), rather
earlier (cf. Boileau, I'abbe, Hist. FlagelL, 1700
A.D.). [1. G. S.]
(3.) Canonical Discipline. — Though the rule of
the Canonici was easier than that of the Monachi,
DISCOMMUNICANTES
their code of punishments was severe. By
Chrodegang's rule, any canon failing to make
a full confession at stated times twice a year,
was to be flogged or incarcerated (CArow. Reg.
c. 14). Any canon guilty of theft, murder, or
any grave offence was liable to both these penal-
ties ; he was, besides, to do public penance by
standing outside the chapel during the " hours,"
and by lying prostrate at the door as the others
were going in and out, and to practise extra-
ordinary abstinence, until absolved by the
bishop (c. 15). Any canon speaking to one ex-
communicated incurred excommunication him-
self (c. 16). The refractory or contumacious
were, after two reproofs, to do' open penance by
standing beside the cross ; they were to be pub-
licly excommunicated, or, if insensible to such a
punishment, flogged (c. 17). Lesser offences, if
confessed, were to be treated lightly ; if de-
tected, severely (c. 18). The measurement and
apportionment of penalties was in the hands of
the bishop (c. 19). But certain rules to guide
the bishop's subordinates, " praelati inferiores "
(perhaps = deans), in the exercise of this dis-
cretionary power were laid down by the Council
at Aachen, 816 A.D. Boys were to be beaten.
Older members of the community were, for more
venial faults, as neglecting the " hours," being
careless at work or in chapel, late at meals, out
without leave or beyond the proper time, after
three private admonitions, to be admonished
publicly, to stand apart in the choir, and to be
kept on bread and water. For a graver fault,
" culpa criminalis," unless atoned for by spon-
taneous penance, they were to be publicly ex-
communicated, "damnentur," by the bishop,
and to be imprisoned, lest they should " taint
the rest of the flock " (Cone. Aquisgr. c. 134).
It is to be noted that it seems customary then
to have a prison within the precincts of the
monastery or canonry (" ut fit multis in monas-
teriis "), and that disobedience, rudeness, or
quarrelling are not, as with monks, classed
among things of a darker die (ib.) The same
council, in a subsequent session, enacted a similar
scale of punishment for nuns, " sanctimoniales,"
with the same climax of solitary confinement
for the incorrigible (Cone. Aquisgr. lib. ii. c. 8).
The rule was to be recited in chapter very fre-
quently (cc. 69, 70).
For monastic and canonical discipline gener-
ally, see Benedictine Rule, Canonici, Mon-
ACHISM. [I. G. S.]
(4). From the constant use of the rod or
scourge in monastic discipline (see above, § 2)
the word disciplina came itself to mean flogging.
In the Liber Ordinis S. Victoris Paris.., c. 33
(quoted by Ducange) is a full description of the
manner in which a monk ought to take punish-
ment (disciplinam accipere). Sometimes disci-
plina is used with a qualifying word, as " discip.
flagelli" (Reg. S. Aurel. c. 41); "discip. corpo-
ralis " (Reg. Chrodegang. cc. 3, 4, 14 ; Capitul.
A.D. 803, V. 1). [Corporal Punishment.] [C]
DISCOFERAE. In convents of nuns the
sisters who bring the dishes to table are some-
times called discoferae. Caesarius of Aries (Ad
Oratoriam Abhatissam) gives the direction, " ae-
qualia cibaria potionesque communes exhibeant
discoferae vel pincernae " (Ducange, s. v.). [C]
DISCOMMUNICANTES. The second
DISCUS
•
council of Aries (c. 10), referring to the eleventh
canon of the first council of Nicaea, condemns
those who have fallen away under persecution to
five years among the catechumens, and two " in-
ter discommunicantes, ita ut conimuniouem inter
poenitentes non praesumant." The canon of
Nicaea referred to has " Siio It?) X'^fi^^ -rrpoa-
<popas KOivoivi)aov(Ti rep \a^ tuiv irpotreuxajj'."
When all who ofl'ered communicated, this was
equivalent to a sentence of exclusion for two years
from the mysteries, though not from the prelimi-
nary prayers. [See Communion, p. 415.] [C]
DISCUS. [Paten.]
DISPENSATION. [Indulgence.]
DISPUTATIO. In some monastic Rules a
discussion on Scripture, called Bisputatio, is one
of the exercises prescribed to the monks. For
instance the Bule of Pachomius (c. 21) directs:
" Disputatio autem Praepositis domorum tertio
fiet." [Compare Collation.] [C]
DISTRIBUTION OP THE ELEMENTS.
[Communion, Holy.]
DISTRIBUTION OF CHURCH PRO-
PERTY. [Alms; Churches, Maintenance
of; Corn, Allowance of ; DivisioMensurna;
Property of the Church.]
DIUS. (1) Saint, in Caesarea ; commemo-
rated July 12 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Alexandria, with Peter, bishop
of Alexandria, Faustus the presbyter, and Am-
monius, under Maximinus ; commemorated Nov.
26 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DIVINATION. It was all but inevitable
in the nature of things that the ineradicable
desire to penetrate the secrets of the future
should show itself sooner or later in some form
of superstition within the Christian Church.
Jews and heathens had alike been accustomed
to practices of which that desire had been the
origin. The decay and disrepute of the older
oracles, of which the legend that they ceased at
the time of the Nativity of Christ was the re-
presentation, forced men back upon the more
mysterious and recondite arts by which the
secrets of the future were to be unveiled. The
mind of the Church was, of course, from the
first opposed to such attempts, and taught men
to leave the future in the hands of God. But the
laws and canons which meet us alike in East and
West testify to the strength of the superstition
against which the warfare was thus waged. It
can hardly be said, looking at Christendom as a
whole, to have succeeded in repressing it.
The revival within the Church of the arts of
the old Chaldaean soothsayers has been noticed
under Astrologers and Calculatores. But
the elaborate system of divination which was
officially recognised in the auguries of the Roman
republic and empire, and which had a thousand
ramifications in private and local superstitions,
was even more difficult to cope with. As early
as the Council of Elvira (c. 62) we find the augur
named among those who were not to be admitted
to Christian communion unless they renounced
their calling." The Fourth Council of Carthage
(c. 59) excommunicated any who addicted them-
selves to practices that were so essentially
a There is, however, the various reading of " auriga."
DIVINATION
569
heathen. That of Ancyra (c. 24) condemned
the Karau.avTev6iJ.ivoi to five years' penance.
See also the 'Penitential' printed in Menard's
Sacram. Greg. p. 467. The legislation of the
emperors was even more stern in its severity ;
but the sharpness of the law was in this case
due, like the old edicts of banishment against
the Chaldaei under Tiberius, to the influence of
suspicious fear. Diviners, who were consulted as
to the length of the emperor's life might help
to work out the fulfilment of their own predic-
tions. So we find Constantius inflicting the
penalty of death on all who were known to con-
sult soothsayers or observe omens. Even the
credulous peasants, to whom the cry of a weasel
or a rat was a presage of evil, were hunted down
and condemned {Cod. Theod. ix. tit. 16, leg. 4;
Ammian. Marcell. xvi. p. 72). Valens, in like
manner, half believing in what he sought to re-
press, having heard that it had been declared as
the result of such divining arts (in this case
veKvo/xavTeia is named), that the name of his
successor should begin with 0 E O A, not only
enforced the law in its fullest severity against
the diviner, but sought out and put to death all
whom he could find whose names brought them
within the range of his suspicion (Socrates, H. E.
iv. 19). It is jjrobable enough that the wide-
spread belief thus engendered really helped to
prepare the way for Theodosius.
It was comparatively easy to condemn arts-
that were manifestly heathen in their nature.
It was more difficult when the practice came
with Christian associations and appealed to men's
reverence for the Sacred Books. The principle
of casting lots was recognised in Scripture as an
appeal from the ignorance of man to the Provi-
dence of God (Acts i. 26 ; Prov. xvi. 33 ; xviii.
18 ei al.). What form of sortes could be more
certain to direct men in the right path than an
appeal to the Written Word ? Here, too, both
Jewish and heathen influences may have helped
to foster the new form of superstition. . The Jew
had been in the habit of so dealing with the Law,
opening it at random, taking the verse on which
he lighted as an oracle from God. It was his
substitute for the Urim and Thummim, and
the utterance of a prophet's voice {Oemar.
Hieros. Schabb. f. 8). The Roman, anticipating
the mediaeval belief as to the poet's character,
had looked to the Aeneid of Virgil as filling up
the gap left by the dumbness of the oracles. The
sortes Virgilianae were in repute as having pre-
dicted the power and character of Hadrian (Spar-
tian. Vit. Had. p. 5), and Alexander Severus
(Lamprid. Vit. Alex. p. 341). So in like man-
ner the Bible, as a whole, or certain portions
of it, came to be treated in the 4th century,
if not earlier. It appears to have prevailed
in the West rather than the East, but was
never during the period with which we are cou-
cei'ued in any degree sanctioned by the Church
or its leaders. Augustine, who had been con-
sulted by Januarius as to its legitimacy, thought
it a less evil than seeking knowledge from de-
mons, but condemned it, as bringing down the
Divine Word to base and trivial uses {h'pist. ad
Januariuiii, cxix. {aliter Iv.) c. 37). The pro-
vincial Councils of Gaul in the 5th century con-
demned the " sortes divinationis," "sorfes sanc-
torum," and threatened clergy or monks who
practised them with severe penalties (f. Venetic.
670
DIVINE SERVICE
c. 16 ; Agathens. 42 ; Aurel. I. c. 30). The
jiractice gfew, however, in spite of the prohi-
bition, with the increasing power of the Franks,
and Gregory of Tours (^Hist. iv. 16) describes a
scene in which, with great solemnity, in the
presence of bishops and priests in the celebration
of Mass at Dijon, the volumes of the Epistles and
Gospels were thus opened in order to ascertain
the fortunes of the son of Clothaire. [E. H. P.]
DIVINE SERVICE. [Communion, Holy:
Mass: Hours of Prayer: Office, the Di-
vine.]
DIVISIO APOSTOLORUM. [Apostles'
Festivals, p. 87.]
DIVISIO MENSURNA. The division of
the revenues of a church among the clergy seems
commonly to have been monthly ; this monthly
payment is called by Cyprian "divisio mensurna,"
and a suspension from this was equivalent to
what in later times was called suspension "a
beneficio," which did not necessarily imply sus-
pension from ministerial functions (Cyprian,
£pist. 34, c. 3). [Oblations ; Property of
THE Church.] [C]
DOCTOR. Besides the general sense of
" teacher," this word early acquired certain
special significations : —
1. Doctor Audientium, the officer of the church
to whom was committed the instruction of Cate-
chumens (p. 319). When we read in the Passio
SS. Ferpetuae et Felic. (c. 13 ; Euinart, p. 99)
that Aspasius, " presbyter doctor," stood before
the door, we ought probably to understand that
he was a presbyter who bore the office of Doctor
audientium. Cyprian, too, speaks {Epist. 29) of
" presbyteri doctores," as well as of a reader
who held the office of teacher of the catechu-
mens.
2. Persons whose teaching was of special
weight in the church were called Doctores. The
Dccreta (c. 1) of Celestinus (A.D. 422-432) con-
demn those who set themselves up against the
Doctors, meaning apparently in this case more
particularly St. Augustine (c. 2) and the bishops
of Rome (c. 3). The same prohibition is repeated
in the Capitnlarinm Gar. M. vii. c. 44.
3. The term legis doctor seems to have ac-
quired a technical force at a comparatively early
date. Adrevaldus {De Mirac. S. Bened. i. 25)
speaks of a certain "legis doctor" — clearly a
judge — who deferred judgment in consequence
of having received a bribe ; and a charter of
Pipin, mayor of the palace (quoted by Ducange,
s. V. Doctor Legis), speaks of things decided by
" proceres nostri, seu Comites palatii nostri vel
reliqui legis doctores," where the doctors are
clearly persons who have an official right to
expound the law. [C]
DOCTORS, CHRIST IN CONFERENCE
WITH. This subject is represented in a fresco
of the first cubiculum of the Callixtine Cata-
comb. See in Bottari, taw. xv. and liv., also tav.
Ixxiv. Both are conventionally arranged, our Lord
being on a lofty seat in the midst, with hand
upraised in the act of speaking ; the doctors on
His right and left, with some expression of
wonder on their countenances. The only sarco-
phagus besides that of Junius Bassus (Bottari,
XV.), which indis, iitabhj contains this subject,
is stated by Martigny to be that in S. Ambrogio
DOLIUM
♦ j
at Milan. (AUegranza, Sacra Momm. Aid. (\e
Milano, tav. iv.) See, however, Bottari, vol. i. i
tav. 33. All the surrounding figures are seated !
in this example, but our Lord is placed above i
them in a kind of stall or e'dicule, with two j
palm-trees at its sides. He holds a book or roll
in His hand, which is partly unrolled, while ;
the doctors have closed theirs. So also in AUe- ,
granza, tav. i., a mosaic from St. Aquilinus of ]
Milan. The Lord's elevated seat is placed on a
rock, with the Divine Lamb below, probably in j
reference to Rev. v. as " able to ojien the Book." !
On the right and left, at His feet, are Josej)h I
and Mary in the attitude of adoration.
Perret (i. pi. 1.) gives a copy of a very skilful i
painting from the catacombs, which places two j
doctors on the Lord's right hand, who are ex- ,
pressing attention and wonder, and Joseph and \
Mary on the other, with looks of patient waiting ,!
on Him. The figure on the left is so evidently •
feminine, as to repel the idea that the four
evangelists are intended. j
The fine di])tych of the 5th century at ths j
Cathedral of Milan and that of Murano (Bugati, ;
3Iem. di S. Cclso and Gori, Thes. Dipt. viii. tab. [
8, see woodcut) also represent our Lord sitting, ■!
with the doctors standing before Him. These re-
present Him of more mature appearance and
stature than the account in the Gospels quite
warrants. The figure below our Lord's feet is
supposed to represent Uranus or the Firmament
of Heaven (Ps. xviii. 9). [R. St. J. T.]
DOLIUM. This seems to be the most con-
venient generic term for the various representa-
tions of casks and large vessels which occur fre-
quently in early Christian art, and have sym-
bolic meaning very generally attributed to them.
(Boldetti, pp. 164-368 ; Perret, iii. 3 ; Bottari,
tav. 155.) As they are generally found on tombs
they are taken as empty, representing the body
when the soul has fled from it. If the marriage
of Cana [see s. v. Cana] can be supposed to be so
frequently used on sarcophagi as a symbol of the
Resurrection, the cask may be supposed to repre-
sent a water-vessel, and be a short-hand symbol
of the Miracle. This seems altogether unlikely,
and, moreover, in almost all cases the vessels re-
presented are strictly " waterpots of stone " or
hydriae. The close juncture of the staves of a
cask has been taken to indicate Christian unity.
DOLPHIN
Martigny conjectures (quoting St. Cyprian, Ep.
xvi. Ad Confess. Rom. " Vini vice' sanguinem
funditis ") that the foi-m of a cask has been given
to certain small vessels for preserving the blood
of martyrs {e.g. Boldetti, pp. 163-4), with allu-
sion to tne power of their self-sacrifice in hold-
ing the Church together. He concludes, how-
ever, on the whole, that the picture of the '
Dolium was very possibly only a play on words,
from its resemblance in sound to doleo, and its 1
inflections. This seems to be proved by his ex-
ample from Mamachi (see woodcut) — two dolia, '
with the inscription IVLIO FILIO PATER
DOLIENS. [R. St. J. T.] i
DOMESTICUS
571
DOLPHIN [see s. v. Fisii]. As m tne case I
of other Christian symbols, the dolpnin is used i
from a very early date in two or more senses,
representing either the Lord Himself, the indi-
vidual Christian, or abstract qualities such as
those of swiftness, brilliancy, conjugal affection,
&c. In a painting given by De Rossi (vol. i. tav.
viii.), two dolphins bear (apparently) vessels with
the Sacramental loaves. It has been suggested,
and is not improbable, that the Dolphin embra-
cing the Anchor, so often found on gems, rings, &c.
(Mamachi, Antiq. Christ, iii. 23 ; Lupi, Epitapli.
Sever. M. 64, note 1), is an emblem of the Cruci-
fied Saviour, or, indeed, of the faithful follower.
For its use as an emblem of swiftness, see Bol-
detti, p. 332, where is figured the handle of a pen
found in a Christian sepulchre, fashioned into the
dolphin-shape, which may indicate, as Martigny
supposes, that the occupant was in life a scribe
or short-hand writer.— Ps. xlv. 2. The fish with
extended fins, or back bent, as if in the act of
plunging forward, seems to be used to express
speed in pressing forward for the prize of the
Christian race. See Lupi, Epitaph. Sev. pp. 53
and 185. In the latter he is accompanied by a
dove, and both are approaching a vase, which may
signify the Living Waters of Baptism or of Truth.
See Martigny, s. v. Dauphin. The dolphins (see
woodcut), placed two close together on each side
of the inscription over Baleria or Valeria La-
tobia, are thought to symbolize conjugal affec-
tion. [R. St. J. T.]
DOLUS MALUS. [Forgery.]
DOME. (Commonly derived from DoMUS
Dei, domes being at one time so invariable a
part of churches as to usurp their name. Per-
haps from S'oaa.) A concava ceiling or cupola,
either hemispherical or of any other curve,
covering a circular or polygonal area ; also a
roof the exterior of which is of either of these
forms (Parker's Gloss, s. v. Cupola).
The dome is not usual in churches of the
basilica type, though it is sometimes found ; in
the church of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme (for
instance), we find a dome covering one of the
chapels (the south-eastern) by which the apse is
enclosed. [CnuRCH, p. 370.]
In sepulchral or memorial churches, usually
circular, sometimes polygonal in form, the dome,
as might be expected, is of frequent occurrence.
The church of Sta. Costanza is of this class, and
there we find the dome supported on an interior
jieristyle. [Church, p. 371.] The "Dome of
the Rock " at Jerusalem, classed by some autho-
rities among memorial churches, has a dome sup-
ported by four great piers. Other examples may
be found in the church of St. George in Thes-
snlonica, 5th cent., and the cathedral at Bosrah
in the Hauran, of the date a.d. 512. [Church,
p. 372.]
The sepulchral chapel built by the empress [
Galla Placidia at Ravenna has a tower enclosing
a small dome. [Church, p. 372.] One of the
most remarkable domes in the world is that of j
St. Sophia, both from its size and from the pecu-
liar manner in which it is supported, not by I
piers or arches on every side but upon two semi- j
domes, east and west, by which means a vast unen-
cumbered space — 200 ft. by iOO ft. — is obtained.
[Church, p. 373.] After 'the time of Justinian
churches in the East were almost exclusively
built after some modification of the plan of St.
Sophia, in which the dome forms so important
a feature. The germ of the nearly square ground-
plan, with a dome covering the centre, is perhaps
to be found in domed oratories or Kalvbes of
Syria. See woodcut, p. 347.
In the church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna, built
between A.D. 526 and 547, there is a sort of
clerestory, 20 ft. high, below the dome. And
after the death of Justinian we find this con-
struction, in which the dome itself is placed on
a drum pierced with windows, frequent in the
empire. The church of St. Clement, for in-
stance, at Ancyra, belonging probably to the
latter part of the 6th and beginning of the 7th
century, had such a dome placed on a low drum.
The church of St. Irene," at Constantinople (earlier
part of the 8th century), has the dome on a drum
of great height ; and a similar dome is found in
the church of St. Nicholas of Myra, which is
perhaps of more modern date. [Church, p. 378.]
The Duomo Vecchio at Florence, by some assigned
to the 7th century, by others to a.d. 774, is
covered by a dome 65 ft. in internal diameter.
[Church, p. 380.] [C]
DOMESTICUS, " belonging to the house or
household," has several ecclesiastical senses : —
1 . Domestici are. all who belong to the " house-
hold of faith ;" "omnibus congruus honor exhi-
beatur, maxime tamen domesticis fidei " (h'egula
St. Bened. c. 53).
2. In the East, the principal dignitary in a
church choir after the Protopsaltes. There was
572 DOMINICA
one on each side ot the choir, to lead the singers in
antiphonal chanting (Codinus, De Offic. c. vi. § 3 ;
Goar's Eucholog. pp. 272, 278 ; Ducange, s. v.).
3. Domesticus Ostiorum, b AofietrriKos ro'V
eupwv, the chief door-keeper at Constantinople
(Codinus, Dc Off. c. i. § 43). [C]
DOMINICA. [Lord's Day.]
DOMINICA, 6<naiJ.-fiT7ip, commemorated Jan.
8 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DOMINE LABIA. [Dkus in adjutorium.]
DOMINICALIS or -LE. A fair linen cloth
used by females at the time of the reception of
the Eucharist. So for all authorities are agreed,
but it is a controverted point whether it was a
white veil worn over the head, or a napkin in
which females received the Eucharist, whi-ch
they were forbidden to touch with the naked
hand. [Communion, Holy, p. 416.]
The latter view is that which has the greatest
currency, and can reckon among its supporters
such weighty litui'gical authorities as Cardinal
Bona (i?er. Liturg. lib. ii. c. 17); Habert (^Archie-
rat., part. X. obs. viii.) ; Mabillon {de Liturg. Gall.
lib. i. c. V. r. xxv.) ; Macer {Hierolex., sub voc);
Voss. {Thes. Iheol. de Si/mbol. Coen. Bom.), and
others. It is chiefly based on two canons of
the Council of Auxeri-e, A.D. 578, one (can. 36)
forbidding women to receive the Eucharist
with the bare hand ; the other (can.- 42) enact-
ing that every woman when she communicates
should have her dominicalis or else postjjone
her communion. These two canons are inter-
preted to refer to the same subject, and the
dominicalis has been thus identified with the
fair linen cloth with which the- hand was to be
covered at the time of communion. This custom
is expressly mentioned in a sermon printed
among Augustine's, but erroneously ascribed to
him, in which we read, " omnes quaudo com-
municare desiderant lavent manus, et omnes
mulieres nitida exhibeant linteameuta nt Corpus
Christi accipiant." It will be observed that
nowhere is this napkin expressly called dominicale.
The other view — that the dominicale was a
head-covering, a veil (cf. 1 Cor. xi. 13) is strongly
supported by Ducange {sub voce) ; Labbe (ad Con-
di. Autissiod.); and Baluzius (Not. in Gratiun.
cans, xxxiii. quaest. iii. c. 19), and is accepted by
our own Bingham (bk. xv. ch. v. § 7). The pas-
sage from an ancient MS. Penitential given by
Ducange, forbidding a woman to communicate
if she has not her " dominicale " on her head,
"si mulier communicans dominicale suum super
caput suum non habuerit, &c.," is express for
this view if it be correctly quoted. The canons
cited by Baluzius (apud Bingham, l. c.) from the
Council of Macon, " in which the dominicale is
expressly styled the veil which the women wore
upon their heads at the communion," do not
appear in the acts of either the first or second
Council of that name. This, however appears
the more probable view. [E. V.]
DOMINICUM. 1. One of the names of a
Church (q. v.), Greek KvpiaK6v.
2. Equivalent to KvptaKhv SeiTrvov. Cyprian,
EjMst. 63 ; " Numquid ergo Dominicmn post
coenam celebrare debemus ? " And the martyrs
in Africa, somewhat later, were accused of cele-
brating " coUectam et Dominicum," the ordinary
DOMIO
assembly and the Lord's Supper (Acta Procons.
Saturnini, etc., c. 5 ; compare cc. 7 and 8). [C]
DOMINUS or DOMNUS. 1. Equivalent to
" Saint " as a title ; as " Dominus Joannes " for
St. John, in Cyprian's ii'fe of Caesarius of Aries.
Sometimes in the form Domnus ; St. Martin, for
instance, is called " Domnus Martinus " in the
preface and in can. 13 of the first council oi
Tours. St. Peter is called " Domnus Petrus
Apostolus " (Cone. Turon. IT. c. 23) ; St. Paul,
" Domnus Paulus Apostolus " (Gregory of Tours,
Hist. Franc, ix. 41). The Mar of the Chaldaean
Christians (as in " Mar Markos ") is equivalent
to Dominus.
2. Bishops are called Domini, without any
further designation of their episcopal dignity.
Ftir instance, a bishop is described by Gregory
the Great (Epist. iv. 27) as " Dominus Mizenatis
ecclesiae." Dominus in this usage also is fre-
quently shortened into Domnus, as, for instance,
by Gregory of Tours and Gregory the Great
(Ducange, s. v.). [C.J
3. Domnus was at first a title of the abbat
(Reg. Benedict. 63), afterwards of his sub-officials,
and, in the middle ages, of monks generally (Mar-
tene ad loc. citat.). The word was applied to saints
(Sulpic. Sever., Epp. 2, 3 ; Mabill. Ann. 0. S. B.
xviii. 9), to bishops (Cone. Aurcl. iii. Subscr.),
and to the pope (Ducange, Glossar. Lat. s. v.).
Hence the titles, " Dan," " Don," " Donna," &c.
in the Romance, and, in modern French, "Doni,"
for monks (Ducange, Gloss. Lat. u. s. Alard. Gaz.
I'raef. Cassiani <'pp.).
" Domna " was used similarly of nuns.
[1. G. S.]
DOMINUS VOBISCUM. 1. The versicle
Dominus Vobiscum, with the response, et cum
spiritu tuo, is found in the Gregorian Sacra-
mentarg immediately before the Sursum Corda,
which introduces the Canon.
In the third of the ancient canons read and
approved at the First Council of Braga, A.D. 563,
(Bruns's Canones, ii. 35), it is provided that
bishops and priests should not greet the people
in different ways, but that both should use the
form Dominus sit vobiscum (Ruth ii. 4), and
the people respond Et cum spii'itu tuo, the form
handed down from the very Apostles, and re-
tained by the whole Eastern Church. The latter
assertion does not apjjcar to be founded on fact,
for the Eastern Church has constantly used the
form '■^ Peace be with you all." [Pax Vobis-
cum.] The distinction which the canon notes
and forbids betweeu the priest's salutation and
the bishop's, was probably that the former used
the form Domnus vobiscum, the latter, as re-
presenting more completely the Lord Himself,
the form Pax vobiscum. But see Krazer, De
Liturgiis, p. 399 f.
2. At Prime, in the Daily Office, Dominus
vobiscum, with the usual response, is said before
the Collect.
3. When the Breviarium Hipponense (can. 1,
al. 6) orders " ut lectores populum non salutent,"
the meaning probably is, that they were not
permitted to use the form commonly appro-
priated to the higher orders, whether Dominus
or Pax vobiscum. fX^.]
DOMIO, bishop of Salona in Dalniatia, mar-
tyr, with eight soldiei's ; commemorated April
11 (Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. 'J.]
DOMITIANUS
DOMITIANUS. (1) Abbot of Lyons; de-
position July 1 (^Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Philadelphia in Arabia, with
five others ; commemorated Aug. 1 (^Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Deacon, and martyr at Ancyra in Galatia,
with Eutvcus the presbyter ; commemorated
Dee. 28 {Mart. HIeron., Usuardi).
(4) Bishop ot'Melitene, circa A.D. 570; com-
memorated Jan. 10 {Cut. Dyzant.). [W. F. G.]
DOMITILLA, virgin, martyr at Terracina
in Campania, under Domitian and Trajan; com-
memorated May 7 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi) ; May 12 {Mart. Ilieron.). [W. F. G.]
DOMITIUS. (1) Martyr in Syria ; comme-
morated July 5 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) In Phrygia, offwuaprvs, under Julian; com-
memorated Aug. 7 {Cal. Bijzant.) [W. F. G.]
DOMNINA or DOMNA, virgin, martyr
witli her virgin companions ; commemorated
Api-il 14 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [VV. F. G.]
DOJININUS. (1) Martyr at Thessalonica
with Victor ; commemorated March 30 {Mart.
Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Julia, under Maximian ; com-
memorated Oct. 9 {lb.) [W. F. G.]
DOMUS DEI. (1) Literally, the church
as a material building (Optatus, c. Donat. iii. 17).
Hence Ital. Duomo, and Germ. Dom..
(2) The Church, as the whole body of Chris-
tian people (Lucifer of Cagliari, Pro Athanasio,
i. 22 ; Ducange, s. v.) [C]
DONA, DONARIA. These words are not
unfrequently used by Christian writers in the
special sense of offerings placed in churches, parti-
cularly costly presents given as memorials of
some great mercy received by the offerers (Jerome,
Epist. 27, ad Eustoch. ; Epist. 13, ad PauUn. ;
Sidouius Apoll. lib. iv. Ep. 18 ; Paulinus of Nola,
Natal. S. Feltcis, 6). The corresponding Greek
word is a.vd6nij.a (Luke .xxi. 5 ; 2 Maccab. ix. 16),
which Suidas defines as irav rh atpiepcDfj-evov
0665. See, for instance, the account of the offer-
ings of Constantine to the Anastasis at Jerusa-
lem (Euseb. Vita Constant, iii. 25). [Corona
Lucis; Votive Offerings.] [C]
DONATA, of SciUita, martyr at Carthage
with eleven others; commemorated July 17 (iffwi.
Rom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi) [W. F. G.]
DONATI. [Oblati.]
DONATIANUS. (1) Martyr at Nantes
with Piogatianus, his brother ; commemorated
May 2-t {Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Bishop and confessor in Africa, with Pre-
sidius, Mansuetus, Germanus, and Fuscolus,
under Hunnericus; commemorated Sept. 6 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DONATILLA, virgin, martyr in Africa,
with ]\Iaxima and Secunda, under Gallienus ;
commemorated July 30 {iVart. Hieron., Rom.
Vet., Usuardi, Cal. Garth.). [W. F. G.]
DONATUS. (1) Martyr at Rome with
Aquilinus and three others ; commemorated
Feb. 4 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Concordia with Secundianus,
Romulus, and eighty-six others ; commemorated
Feb. 17 (/6.) ;
DOORS OF CHURCHES
573
(3) Martyr at Carthage; commemorated JLir.
!(//'.); •
(4) Martyr in Africa, with Epiphanius the
bishop, and others ; commemorated April 7
{Mart. Usuardi), April 6 {Mart. Hieron.).
(5) Martyr at Caesarea in Cappadocia, with
Polyeuctus and Victorius; commemorated May
21 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(6) Bishop and martyr at Arctium in Tuscany
under Julian ; commemorated Aug. 7 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(7) The presbyter and anchorite in a district
on Mount Jura, in Belgic Gaul ; commemorated
Aug. 19 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(8) Martyr at Antioch, with Restitutus, Vale-
rianus, Fructuosa, and twelve others ; comme-
morated Aug. 23 {lb.).
(9) Martyr at Capua, with Quintus and Arcon-
tius ; commemorated Sept. 5 {Mart. Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(10) Martyr with Hermogenes and twenty-
two others ; commemorated Dec. 12 {Mart.
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DOOR (AS Symbol). See St. John x. 9. It
seems most probable that in the various repre-
sentations of sheep leaving or entering their fold
or house, and so representing the Jewish or Gen-
tile Church [Bethlehem ; Church], the door
may be intended to recall the words " I am the
door," to the spectator's mind. In Allegranza,
Mon. di Milano, i^c., tav. ii., the door is seen
five times repeated, evidently with this sym-
bolic reference, and on the porch or tympanum
of the old basilica of St. Aquilinus in the same
city the following verses occur : —
" Janua sum vitae; precor omncs intro veiiite;
Per me transibunt qui coeli gaudia quaerunt :
Virgine qui natus, nuUo de patre creatus,
Intrantes salvet, redeuntes ipse gubernet."
Lupi, Diss, e Lett. i. p. 262 gives a bas-relief
in gilded bronze, which contains a gate or door,
with the Lamb under it bearing the Cross, and
the words " Ego sum ostium, et ovile ovi-
um." [R. St. J. T.]
DOORS OF CHURCHES. {Januae,
poi'tae, valvae ; Ovpal, irvXai.)
1. The principal outer doors of a church seem
to have been in ancient times at the west, if the
church was so built that the altar was at the
east end, or at any rate in the end facing the
altar. In a basilican church of three aisles there
were for the most part three western doors :
" Alma domus triplici patet insrodientibus arcu."
I'aulinus of Nula, J-.p. 32, ad b'ev.
In Constantine's great "Church of the Sa-
viour " at Jerusalem, the three doors faced the
east [Church, p. 369]. At these doors stood
during service the "weepers" {irpoaKAaiovrfs).
If there was a Narthex, the western doors
gave entrance into this, and other doors again
from the narthex into the nave. The nave was
sometimes again itself divided into chorus and
tr.tpeza — the portions for the clerics and the
people respectively — by a screen or partition
having doors ; but more frequently those wlio
entered by the western doors saw before them at
once the Iconostasis, or screen enclosing the
sanctuary, with its three doors.
2. Tiie doors iu the Iconostasis were known
generally as KayKfWodvpiSes, irSpTai toD wyiou
574
DOORKEEPERS
firilxaTos ; the side doors distinctively as -irXdyiai
or TrapaTr6pria. The central doors were called the
" Hoi)' Doors " {ayiai. dvpai) and sometimes the
" Royal Doors " (/3a(riAi/cai dvpal).
o.The great western doors of the nave were
called the " Royal Gates " (/3otriAi/cai TruAai) ;
and this term was also adopted by Latin writers,
so that " regiae " came to be used substantively
for these doors. Auastasius, for instance, says
(Vltae Pontiff, c. 119) that pope Honorius (a.d.
(3'26-638) covered with silver plates the great
i-oyal — the so-called " Median " — doors at the
entrance of a church (regias in ingressu ecclesiae
majores, quae appellantur medianae). When the
church had a narthex, the western doors of this
were also sometimes called the " royal " gates.
4. The great church of St. Sophia at Constan-
tinople had nine doors between the narthex and
the nave. As these were covered with silver,
not only were they called the " Silver Doors,"
but the same term came to designate the doors
of other churches which occupied the same
position.
."i. Another term, the application of which
cannot be absolutely determined, is the " Beauti-
ful Gates" {wpa7ai irv\ai). These have been
supposed to be the gates which separate chorus
and trapeza (Goar); those which separate nave
from narthex (Ducange) ; or the outer gate of
the narthex (Neale). The latter application is
supported by the fact that the term is taken
from the " Beautiful pate " of the temple, un-
doubtedly an outer gate.
6. The " Angelic Gate " {ayyeKiKij irvKri) was
one which allowed a person to enter the trapeza,
so as to draw near the choir. Nothing farther
is known of it. It is not improbable that it was
a local term.
7. The word dvpa is consistently used to de-
siouate a door within the building, and the word
irv\7] to designate the much larger "gates"
which admitted the mass of the congregation
from without into the narthex or the nave.
Epithets like " royal " " and beautiful " are per-
haps not used invariably with a special meaning,
but the " Holy Doors " are always the central
doors of the Bema, and no other.
8. The Holy Doors were opened at the com-
meacemeDt of the Great Vespers, at all '"en-
trances," whether at Vespers or in the Liturgy ;
and at the end of the Liturgy, when the people
are invited to approach for the purpose of com-
municating (Neale, Eastern Church, Introd. pp.
194-200).
9. The doors of churches were frequently of
rich material and workmanship. The outer
doors of St. Sophia at Constantinople were of
bronze, with ornaments in relief [Church, p.
374]; and those of the Iconostasis, as well as
those between the narthex and the nave, of
silver. And elsewhere, as not unfrequently in
the Liber Pontificalis, we read of doors of metal
gilt, or of wood richly inlaid or carved. [C]
DOORKEEPERS {iTvXwpoi, dvpwpol, Ostiarii),
an inferior order of clergy mentioned by the
Pseudo-Ignatius {Ejrist. AntiocL), by Eusebius
(B. E. vi. 43), and by Justinian (Novell, iii. 1).
There is no mention of them in Tertullian or
Cyprian, from which Thomassin (Vet. et Nov.
Eccl. IHscip. i. 1. 2, c. 30, § 8) infers that in
the earlv African church their duties were
DORMITORY
discharged by the laity. The council of Lao-
dicoa (c. 24), speaks of them among the inferior
orders of clergy. At the ordination cf a door-
keeper, after previous instruction by the arch-
deacon he was presented to the bishop who de-
livered to him the keys of the church, with the
injunction to act as one who must render to
God an account of the things which are opened
by those keys (iv. Cone. Garth, c. 9). The 4th
council of Toledo (c. 4) provides that a door-
keeper should keep the door of the church at
the opening of councils. In the 2nd canon of
another council of Toledo, held A.D. 597, it is
ordered that a doorkeeper should be appointed
by the priest to provide for the cleansing and
lighting of the church and sanctuary (Bi-uns's
Canones, i. 220). In the Apostolic Constitutions
(ii. 25) they are spoken of as belonging to that
portion of the clergy which represents the Le-
vites, but in the lowest grade. Their share of
the Agapae was the same as that of a Lector or
Cantor (Ibid. ii. 28) ; there is no mention of
their ordination, and they are named among the
clergy who were not permitted to baptize (/Wc?.
iii. 11). They were to stand during the time of
service at the door of the part of the church
allotted to the men {Ibid. ii. 57). They were
allowed to marry {Ibid. vi. 17). [P. 0.]
DORIA, martyr with Chrysanthus, under
Numerian ; commemorated March 19 {Cal. Bjj-
zant.). [W. F. G.]
DORMITIO (Kolfx-ncns), the "falling asleep,"
used to describe the state of those who " depart
hence in the Lord" (Cyprian, Epist. i. c. 2).
More especially it is used to designate the day
of the departure or " Assumption " of the Virgin
Mary [Mary, Festivals of] ; Xanthopulus, for
instance (quoted by Ducange, s. v. Dormitio),
uses the expression, Koifj.T]atv ayvris, rrjr fierd-
cnaffLv Kiy(t>. See Daniel's Cudex Liturg., iv. 239 ;
and Menard's Sacrcun. Greg., pp. 411, 707. [C]
DORMITORIUM. A garment for sleeping
in; the " lebiton linens" of Pachomius {Vita,
c. 22). The gloss on the Bide of St. Benedict
explains Dormitoria by the Greek word iyKol-
fiTidpa (Ducange, s.v.). [C]
DORMITORY {Donnitorium). It was the
primitive custom for monks to sleep all together
in one large dormitory (Alteser. Asceticon, is. 8).
Not till the 14th century (Ducange, Glossar. Lat.
s. V.) was the custom introduced of using separate
sleeping cells. By the rule of Benedict all were
to sleep in one room, if possible (Bened. Reg. c.
22) with the abbat in their midst (cf. Magistr.
Beg. c. 29 ; Bened. Beg. c. 22) or in larger mo-
nasteries ten or twenty together with a dean
(Bened. Beg. ib. ; cf. Caesar. Arelat. Beg. ad Mo-
nnch. c. 3 ; Reg. ad Virg. c. 7 ; Aureol. Beg. c. 6 ;
Ferreol. Beg. cc. 16, 33). Only the aged, the in-
firm, the excommunicated were excepted from
this arrangement (Cujusd. Beg. c. 13). Each monk
was to have a separate bed (Bened. Beg. v. s. ;
Caesar. Arelat. Beq. v. s. : Fructuos. Beg. c. 17).
They were to sleep clothed and girded (Bened.
Reg. V. s. ; Mag. Reg. c. 11 ; Cujusd. Reg. v. s.),
the founder probably intending that the monk
should sleep in one of the two suits ordered by
his rule (Bened. Reg. c. 55); hut in course of
time the words were loosely interpreted as
meaning only the woollen tunic (Marten, ad loc.
DOEONA
citdt.^ It was particvilarly enjoined, puerile as
the caution sounds, by Benedict and others, that
the monks were not to wear their knives in bed
(Bened. Beg. c. 22 : Magist. Beg. c. 11). A light
was to be kept burning in the dormitory all
night (Bened. Beg. 'v. s. ; Mag. Beg. c. 29 ;
Cujusd. Beg. v. s.). All the monks were to rise
at a given signal (Bcgg. Monast. passim). The
dormitory was to be ke]>t under lock and key
till morning (Mart, ad Bened. Beg. c. 48). The
sleeping-room for stranger monks was usually
close to the great dormitory, and not far from the
chapel (Mart, ad Bened. Beg. c. 53 : of. Capitut.
Aquisgr. 68).
In the first fervor of monastic zea_l^ it was a
common practice to sleep on the bare ground
(xo!.p-^vvla. ; cf. Altes. Aacet. is. 8 ; Vit. St. Anton.
c. 6 ; Theodoret, Bhilotk. 1, &c.). Others slept
on mats (if/iaflia, mattae, stramenta ; Cassian.
Gollat.l 23; xviii. 11; Ruffin. Verb. Senior, ii.
29, 125); frequently these were made by them-
selves {Vit. Bachom. 43), and Augustine speaks
of some strict Manicheans as '"mattarii" (Cont.
Faustin. v. 5). The rule of Benedict allows
mattress (sagum), coverlet {laena or Una), and
pillow (capitale, v. s.); but in Egypt the mat-
tress was considered a luxury in the 4th century,
not permissible -except for guests (Cass. Coll.
xix. 6). Some of the monks of Tabenna slept
HI their tunics, half sitting, half lying (^Vita
Bachomii, c. 14, in Rosweyd's Vit. Fair.).
The time allowed for sleep was for Egyptian
monk? in the commencement of monachism very
short indeed (Cass. Tnstit. v. 20; Coll. xii. 15,
xiii. 6). Arsenius is said to have contented him-
self with one hour only. Ruffinus speaks of
others who allowed themselves four hours in the
night for sleep, assigning four for prayer, four
for work {Verb. Sen. c. 199). Even Benedict,
though far more tolerant, forbad his disciples to
retire to rest again after nocturns (Beg. c. 8 ; cf.
Cass. Instit. ii. 12). But the rule was not adhered
to strictly (Marten, ad Bened. Bei. 1. c).
The rules of the canonici in the 8th and 9th
century were very similar to those of the monks.
Chrodegang ordered all to sleep in one chamber,
unless with the bishop's licence (Beg. c. 3).
This was enforced on the canonici in their
monasteries and on those dwelling under the
bishop's roof, by the council of Tours, 813 a.d.
{Cone. Turon. iii. cc. 23, 24). The council at
Aachen, three years later, ordered bishops to see
that the canonici slept in one dormitory {Cone.
Aquisjr. cc. 11, 123); and in its second session
repeated the decree of the council at Chalons
813 A. D., that all nuns, except the sick and in-
firm, should sleep in one dormitory on separate
beds {Cone. Cahill. c. 59, cf. Cone. Mogunt. 813
A.D., c. 9, cf. Com. Turon. ii. 567 a.d., c. 14).
Grimlaic, in his rule for solitaries, orders that
no fancy work is to be allowed on the coverlets.
[I. G. S.]
DOEONA, " Indus et Dorona," commemo-
rated Dec. 19 {Cal. Armen.) [W. F. G.]
DOEOTHEA, virgin, martyr with Theophi-
lus at Caesarea in Cappadocia; commemorated
Feb. 6 nLirt. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
DOEOTHEUS. (1) Martyr at Tarsus in
Cilicia, with Castor; commemorated Mar. 28
{Mart. Usuardi).
DOVE
575
(2) Bishop of Tyre, martyr under Julian
commemorated June 5 {Cal. Bgzant.).
(3) Martyr at Nicomedia, with Gorgonius,
under Diocletian ; commemorated Sept. 9 {J/art.
Bum. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DOEYMEDON, martyr with Trophimus
and Sabbatius, A.D. 278 ; commemorated Sept. 19
{Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
DOSSAL {Dorsale, dorsile pallium). A cur-
tain hung on the walls of the choir of a church,
or other place of dignity, behind the stalls of the
clerks, " a dorso clericorum " (Durandus, Ba-
tionale, I. iii. 23). "Cortina quae pendet ad
dorsum " (The Monk of St. Gall, Vita Car. Mag.
i. 4). Ekkehard the younger {De Casibus S. Gal'li,
c. 1), speaks of a place decked " tapeto et dor-
sili " (Ducange, s. v.). [C.]
DOTALIA INSTEUMENTA. [Contract
OF Makriage, p. 458.]
DOVE (AS Symbol). Like the mystic fish
and lamb, the dove has more than one meaning
01- train of meaning : it is used symbolically for
the Divine Being and for the Christian wor-
shipper; and is also represented simply in its
own form on graves and the walls of cata-
combs. It is used very frequently (see wood-
cut) with Noah in the ark, in the'literal sense;
and in all representations of the Lord's baptism
Fresco in Uie Catacomb of DomiUUrt, iirotftbly seconil century.
and elsewhere, the dove indicates the presence
of the Holy Spirit. In one instance, an Orante
surrounded by several doves is opposed on one
medallion of the fi-ont of a sarcophagus to tlie
Good Shepherd with His sheep on auotlicr.
576
DOVE
This use of the dove is very frequent in the
monuments of Southern Gaul; where, as in
the catacombs, the birds which stand on each
side of the monograms or crosses are often clearly
mtended for doves. See Leblant, Inscr. Chre'tienncs
de la Gaule anterieures au huitieme sieole, Paris,
1856. ^ ,
As an emblem of the Third Person of the
Trinity, the carved or painted figure of the dove
appeared from a very early period in all bap-
tisteries (see Luke iii. 24). One of the earliest
examples of this is the baptistery in the ceme-
tery of St. Pontianus (Aringhi, ii. 275). The
painting, though considered by Martigny as of
later date than the building, is referred by him
to the 6th century, and represents the Lord's
f-^
^^~^-
Baptismal Dove. Catacomb of Pontianna ; seventh centnry.
baptism in Jordan. The rude and grim figures
in this painting remind us of those of the Lau-
rentine and other very early MSS. The sym-
metrical arrangement is also like early Byzantine
work, so called ; and the river is a winding trench,
with a curious typical resemblance to the actual
course of Jordan, which induces us to think the
painter had visited it. So also in both bap-
tisteries at Ravenna. The mosaic of St. Mark's
preserves this likeness, with the addition of three
adoring angels, a star above the dove, fish in the
river, and the double axe laid to the root of a
tree. This imagery is strictly followed in the
wild and powerful painting of Tintoret, in the
Scuola di S. Rocco, now scai'cely intelligible
(Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. ii.). The Turin
miniature is remarkable for its topographical
accui-acy as to two of the sources of Jordan,
labelled respectively C 0 Y) $ ^ 0 R and
"f^O Tl S D y^ 0 . Martigny also mentions
figures of doves on a font or laver of very early
date belonging to the church of Gondrecourt
(^Rcvue Arche'ologiqtie, v. i. p. 129), where how-
ever only birds are said to be drinking from
vases, and pecking at grapes. See also Pa-
ciaudi, De Cultu S. Joannis Baptistae, pp. 58,
69, where copies of a miniature from a MS. in
the Royal Library at Turin, and of a mosaic in
St. Mark's in Venice, are given, both containing
the dove. A golden or silver dove was often
suspended above the font in early times. [Dove,
THE EUCHARISTIC] These sometimes con-
tained the anointing oil used in baptism and
extreme unction (Martigny, s. v. ; and Aringhi,
vol. ii. p. 326, c. 5). On lamps in form of doves,
see Aringhi, ii. 325, 1.
As a symbol of the believer, the dove of
course has chief reference to two texts of H. S.,
belonging to different yet harmonious trains of
DOVE
thought. One is Matt. x. 16, " Be ye wise as
serpents and harmless as doves ;" the other,
Ps. Iv. 6, " 0 that I had wings like a dove, then
would I flee away and be at rest." The passages
in Cant. i. 15, ii. 14, v. 2, vi. 9, refer to the
Church, and therefore may be taken as referring
simply to all faithful souls. Martigny giver a
drawing of a seal with a dove m the centre,
surrounded by the woi'ds " Veni si amas," la
obvious reference to Cant. ii. 10. The dove
with the olive or palm-branch, which so
often accompanies it, is held equivalent to
the form "In Pace." As with other birds, the
flying or caged dove has reference to the de-
liverance of the soul from the flesh in death,
or to its imprisoned state in life. [See Bird.]
Aringhi quotes St. Ambrose's sermon on St. Euse-
bius, " Altiora facilius penetrantur simplicitate
mentis, quam levitate pennarum ;" and St. Au-
gustine on St. Matt. x. to the same purpose.
In Aringhi, ii. p. 145, the dove is associated with
the peacock ; also, p. 139, in a vault of the
Catacomb of St. Priscilla. In Bottari, tav. 181,
it hovers with the olive-branch above the three
holy children in the flames.
Twelve doves, representing the Twelve Apostles,
occur in Bottari, i. p. 118, on a mosaic crucifix.
See also Paulinus of Nola {Ep. ad Severum, xxxii.
c. 10). He thus describes a mosaic (musivum
opus) in his church. [Cross.]
" Pleno coruscat Trinitas mysterio :
Stat Christus agno : vox Patris coelo tonat :
Et per columbam Spiiitus Sanctus fluit.
Crucera corona lucido cingit globo :
Cui coronae sunt corona apostoli,
Quorum figura est in coliimbarum chore.
I'ia Trinitatis unitas Christo colt,
Habente et ipsa.Trinitate insignia ;
Dum revelat vox paterna, et Spiritus :
Sanctam fatentur crux et agnus victimam.
Regnum et triumphum purpura et paliiia indicant
Petram superstat ipsa petra ecclesiae,
De qua sonori quatuor fontes meant,
Evangelistae, viva Cbristi flumina.' [R. St. J. T.]
DOVE, THE EucHARiSTic. Pyxes or recep-
tacles for the reserved host were not unfre-
quently made of gold or silver in the shape of a
dove, and suspended over the altar. Doves of
the precious metals, emblematic of the Holy
Spirit, were also suspended above the font in
early churches. In the life of St. Basil by the
Pseudo-Amphilochius, it is narrated that that
father, after a vision that appeared to him while
celebrating the Eucharist, divided the wafer into
three parts, one of which he partook of with great
awe, the second he preserved to be buried with
him, and placed the third in a golden dove hang-
ing over the altar. He afterwards sent for a
goldsmith, and had a new golden dove made to
contain the sacred morsel (Amphiloch. Vit. Basil.,
c. 6).
One of the charges brought against the Ace-
phalian heretic Severus by the clergy of Antioch
at the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 536, was
that he removed and appropriated to his own
use the gold and silver doves hanging over tlie
sacred fonts and altars, XP""""^ ""' o-pyvpas
irepirrepas Kpe/j-a/xevas virtpavu) Tccv deiwv Ko-
Kvfx.^ir]dpSiv Kai QvcriaffTTipitiiv .... icrcperfpiaaTO
(Labbe, Concil. v. 159).
Such doves are mentioned by Anastasius in the
Liber Fontifcalis, e. g., St. Hilar. 70, " columbam
DOWRY
auream pensan. libras 21 ;" Cf. Ducange, sub voc. ;
Durantus, Be Bitibiis, lib. i. c. xvi. § 5 ; Paulin.
Kolan. £]}. xxxii. Not. 154, p. 910. [E. V.]
DOWRY. [Arrhae: Marriage.]
DOXOLOGY (Ao^oXoy'ta). The term doxo-
logy is usually confined (1) to the '•Gloria in
Excelsis," which is called the greater doxologv,
and also the Angelical Hymn, from its opening
clause recorded by St. Luke as having been sung
by the angels who announced the birth of Christ
to the shepherds ; and (2) to the " Gloria Patri,"
which is called the lesser doxology. The term
is, however, sometimes given to the " Trisagion "
(Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven
and earth are full of Thy glory), called also
the Seraphic hymn, in reference to the vision of
the Seraphim described by Isaiah (c. vi.) ; and
also to the word Alleluia (q. v.), when repeated
again and again as a hymn of praise.
The exact periods of the origin of these dox-
ologies are unknown, owing to the extreme
"scantiness of early Christian literature. But it
may be safely conjectured that, in their earliest
forms, they came into use soon after that circu-
lation of the Gospel narratives which must have
quickly become general among Christians in pro-
portion to the cultivation of each local church,
and its means for communicating with the gene-
ral body of believers. The extent and rapidity
of this circulation being involved in extreme
obscurity, so far as contemporary history informs
us, the positiveness with which later writers
have spoken of the almost Apostolic origin ot
these hymns must be set down amongst those
numerous assumptions which have clouded our
real knowledge of primitive Christian life and
devotions. The " Trisagion " in all probability
is the most ancient of all, as it would be the
natural expression of the adoration of the Jewish
Christians, who were already in possession of
the Old Testament, and who would have been
familiar with the book of Isaiah before their
conversion to Christianity. The use of the
'• Gloria in Excelsis," which originally consisted
only of its opening sentence, would be equally
natural, wherever the narrative of St. Luke was
known ; and the " Gloria Patri," which origi-
nally consisted only of its first clause, would be
the result of a fixmiliarity with the last verses
of St. Matthew's Gospel.
The " Gloria in Excelsis " is unquestionably
of Eastern origin. Liturgical speculators, in-
deed, have inseaiously discovered a reference to
its existence in very early writers. It has been
frequently assumed that it was in fact '• the
hymn," which Christians sang on all solemn
occasions, including such as are referred to in
Acts xvi. 25; 1 Cor. xiv. 26; and Col. iii. 19.
When the author of the dialogue attributed to
Lucian speaks of the Christians as watching
all night for the purpose of singing hymns,
it is supposed that their chief song was the
"Gloria in Excelsis." It is also held to have
been specially referred to in the famous passage
in Pliny's letter to Trajan : " Affirmabant banc
fuisse summam vel culpae suae, vel erroris, quod
essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, car-
menque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem."
In reality, however, we first meet with this
doxology, and in something very like its final
form, in the book known as The Apostolical
CIJBIST. ANT.
DOXOLOGY
577
Constitutions (vii. 47). It is there described as
the "morning prayer," and stands as follows:
" Glory be to God on high, and on earth ])eace,
good will towards men (er avSpwirois fvSoKia).
We praise Thee, we sing to Thee {ufj.vod/u.ii' (rt),
we bless Thee, we glorify Thee, we worship Thee,
through the great High Priest ; Thee the true
God, the only unbegotten, whom no one can
approach for the great glory. 0 Lord, heavenly
king, God the Father Almighty, Lord God, the
Father of Christ, the Lamb without spot, who
taketh away the sin of the world, receive our
prayer, thou that sittest upon the Cherubim!
For thou only art holy, thou only. Lord Jesus,
the Christ of God, the God of every created
being, and our king; by whom unto Thee be
glory, honour, and adoration." Unfortunately,
the writer of the Constitutions was not exempt
from the spirit of falsification, which was by no
means rare among early religious writers. As
it is impossible to believe him when he attributes
a liturgy of palpably Oriental character to St.
Clement, we cannot be sure that in this record
of the great doxology he has not made alterations
or interpolations of his own. In the mention of
the doxology in the treatise De Virginitate (in
Athanasius's Works') only the beginning is quoted, '
and even here it is not identical with that given
by the author of the Constitutions. Giving direc-
tions to the virgins for their morning devotions,
Athanasius says, " Early in the morning say this
Psalm, ' 0 God, my God, early will I wake to
Thee.' When it is light, say, ' Bless ye the
Lord, all ye works of the Lord,' and ' Glory to
God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill
towards men. We sing to Thee, we bless Thee,
we worship Thee,' and the rest (of the hymn) "
(c. 20 ; torn. 2, p. 120, ed. Benedict.).
St. Chrysostom, on the other hand, in de-
scribing the morning devotions of those who led
an austere life, says that they sang, as the angels
did "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, goodwill towards men " ; making no men-
tion of the subsequent additions {Horn. 69 in
Mattli.'). How soon the use of the complete hymn
became general in the Western Church it is im-
possible to say. The 4th council of Toledo, A.D.
633, treats of it in its completeness, defends it, as
such, against certain rigorists who objected to
its repetition on the ground that only its first
sentence was of divine origin. " For the same
reason," said the fathe;-s of the council (can. 13),
" they might have rejected the le.sser doxology,
' Glory and honour be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost,' which was com-
posed by men ; and also this greater doxology,
part of which was sung by the angels at our
Saviour's birth ; ' Gloj-y be to God on high, and
on earth peace to men of goodwill ;' but the
rest that follows was composed and added to it
by the doctors of the Church."
The period at which this doxology was gene-
rally introduced into the eucharistic office in the
West is entirely a matter of conjecture. There
is no foundation for the common idea that it
formed a portion of the early liturgies. Justin
Martyr {Apol. i. c. 65) in describing the eucha-
ristic worship of his contemporaries, makes no
mention of this hymn. St. Cyril of Jerusalem,
in his 5th catechesis on St. Peter's 1st E{)istle,
while fixing certain details in the eucharistic
service, such as the " Sursum corda," &c., gives
2 P
578
DOXOLOGY
no hint of its use. Nor is it found in any ot
tlie earliest liturgies, whether Western or
Eastern, which are in existence. In the East, it
is still used in the non-eucharistic morning ser-
vices of the Church, being sung on Sundays and
the greater festivals, and recited on ordinary days.
It was first appointed (according to the Liber
Pontif.) to he said ip the Roman Liturgy by Pope
Symmachus, who was raised to the Pontificate in
498, but only on Sundays and the festivals of
martyrs, and apparently its recital was held to
be a special privilege; for the Gregorian Sacra-
mentary (p. 1) gives the following directions con-
cerning it : " Item dicitur Gloria in Excelsis Deo,
si episcopus fuerit, tantummodo die Dominico,
sive diebus testis. A presbyteris autem miuime
dicitur, nisi in solo pascha. Quando vero letania
agitur, neque Gloria in Excelsis Deo, neque Alle-
luia canitur." Pope Stephen the 3rd directed
that on the highest festivals it should be sung
only by bishops, at least in the Laterau Church.
Pope Calixtus 2nd granted, as a privilege to the
monks of Tournus * that they should use it on
the Feast of the Annunciation ; "pro reverentia
B. Mariae semper Virginis, cujus nomine locus
vester insignis est, in Annunciatione Domini Sal-
vatoris nostri hymnum Angelicum inter missa-
rum solemnia abbati et fratribus pronunciare
concedimus" (Calixti epist. ad Franconem Abha-
tcin monasterii Trenorchiensis). From the JIo-
zarabic ritual it seems to have been about this
time recited in Spain on Sundays and certain
festivals, in the eucharistic office ; but in the
Galilean Church it appears even when introduced
to have been tor a long time only sung on public
days of thanksgiving. Its ultimate gradual
adoption throughout the Western Church was
no doubt due to the increasing influence of the
example of Rome. At the same time our modern
desire for uniformity in religious worship was
unknown in the early ages of Christianity, not
merely because our ideas on disciplinary organi-
zation were as yet undeveloped, but because the
facilities for communication, both personally and
by letter, were comparatively slight, and local
customs were preserved, as almost sacred in the
eyes of those who had received them from their
fathers. [Gloria in Excelsis.]
2. The origin and history of the "Gloria Patri,"
or lesser doxology, is even more obscure than
that of the " Gloria in Excelsis," and in its
present shape it is the result of the Arian
controversies concerning the nature of Christ.
It is quite impossible to trace its use to the
three first centuries ; if it was really known
to the primitive Christians, it probably arose,
as has been already suggested, from the juxta-
position of the three persons of the Trinity,
in the command given by the Lord to his
Apostles to teach and baptize all nations. For
several centuries, the clause "As it was in the
beginning, &c.," was certainly unknown in
many parts of Christendom. The 4th council
of Toledo, A.D. 633, makes no mention of this
clause, and at the same time gives a version
of the first portion which is not identical
» Tournus was an abbey in Burgundy, on the Saone,
between Macon and Cbalons ; and the privilege granted
by Stephen is remarkable as one of the earliest instances
In which the bishop of Rome claimed a right over the
public foi-ms of prayer in local churches.
DOXOLOGY
with that which subsequently became universal,
reading it thus : " Glory and honour be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
world without end. Amen." In the old Spanish
liturgy, known as the Mozarabic, supposed to be
of a little later date, it occurs in the same form
as in the decree of Toledo. In the treatise of
Walafridus Strabo De rebus ecdesiasticis (c. 25),
the different usages of different countries are
particularly specitied. " Diceudum," he says,
" de hymno, qui ob honorem sanctae et unicae
Trinitatis otficiis omnibus iuterseritur, eum a
Sanctis patribus aliter atque aliter ordinatum.
Nam Hispani sicut superius commemoravimus,
ita eum dici omnimodis voluerunt. Graeci
autem, ' Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.' Latini vero eodem ordine et eisdem
verbis hunc hymnum decantant, addentes tantum
in medio, ' Sicut erat in principio.' " The writer
of the treatise De Vinjinitate which is often
placed among the works of Athanasius, gives
the "Gloria Patri," as "Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world
without end. Amen."
The addition of the second clause is enjoined
in the year 529, by the 2nd council of Vaison,
which at the same time asserts that it was
already universal among the Greeks. " Quia
non solum," says the council, " in Sede Aposto-
lica, sed etiam per totum Orientem et totam
Africam vel Italiam, propter haereticorum astu-
tiam, qua Dei Filium non semper cum Patre
fuisse, sed a tempore f'uisse blasphemant, in omni-
bus clausulis post Gloria, sicut erat in principio
dicitur, etiam et nos in universis ecclesiis nostris
hoc ita esse dicendum decrevimus." From which
decree it appears certain that the use of the
additional clause was at the least not general in
Gaul at that time, though it is likely that it
had gradually been introduced from Italy. It is
remarkable, indeed, as the new addition was
adopted with the direct object of repudiating
the Arian doctrine, that it should not have
spread more rapidly eastward, after the decisive
action of the council of Nice in asserting the
orthodox faith.
From the writers of the Arian period, again,
it would seem that there were important varia-
tions in the traditional forms of the first clause,
to which great significance was attached by the
adherents of the opposing doctrines. One of these
forms stood thus: "Glory be to the Father, and
to the Son, with the Holy Ghost ; " and another,
" Glory be to the Father, in or by the Son, and
by the Holy Ghost." Sozomen asserts (H. E.
iii. 20) that the form " Glory be to the Father
through the Son " was adopted by the Arians as
distinctly implying the subordination of the Son
to the Father; and Valesius believes that the
arepoT6\euTia which the Arians used in their
chanting (76. viii. 8), composed to support their
own views (jrphs tt)v avTwv SS^av), were doxo-
logies. On the other hand, Philostorgius, him-
self an Arian, alleges that the* ancient form was
really that which the Arians preferred, and that
Flavian of Antioch was the first person who
introduced the form now used, every one before
him having said either "Glory be to the Father
by the Son," or " Glory be to the Father in the
Son." It is to be noted, also, that St. Basil
was accused of having introduced a novelty,
DRACONAEIUS
when he said, " Gloi-)' be to the Father, and to
the Son ; " and that in his vindication ot himself
{De Spirltu Sancto, c. 29 [al. 70 tt".]) he declares
that all the three forms were ancient and to be
used in the Nicene sense. He says, too, that his own
practice was that of Irenaeus, Clement of Rome,
Dionysius of Rome, Eusebius of Caesarea, Diony-
sius of Alexandria, Origen, Athenogenes, Gregory
Thaumaturgus, Firmilian, and Meletius. Each
form indeed, was probably used indiflerently,
during the long period when the taith of the
Church was left undefined, that is, until the
council of Nice in the early part of the 4th cen-
tury. How soon, in its present complete form, it
was generally used in connection with the recita-
tion of the Psalms, it is impossible to say. It is
directed to be thus recited by St. Benedict (^Reijula,
c. 18) where he writes, "In primis dicantur versus;
' Deus in adjutorium,' &c., ' Domine ad adjuvan-
dum,' &c., et 'Gloria.'" But whether he was
introducing a novelty, or merely sanctioning a
practice already introduced, is a matter of mere
conjecture. [See Psalmody.] [J. M. C]
DEACONARIUS. Strictly speaking this
word denotes the bearer of the military standard,
on which a dragon was represented, " vexillifer,
qui fert vexillum ubi est draco depictus " (Du-
cange, s. v.).
When Constantine after his conversion placed
the Christian symbol on the military ensigns
instead of the dragon, the name outlived the
change, and the standard-bearer was still called
draconarius. Sometimes we find the ancient
symbol joined to the new, the dragon being
placed beneath the cross.
In the Christianized empire this name came
to signify the official who carried a standard or
banner in ecclesiastical processions ; a transfi-r-
ence which was facilitated by the fact that the
official in question often carried, as the soliliers
also did, the labarum with the cross, Coustau-
tine's chosen symbol.
Pellicia states {Politia, ii. 113, ed. 1780) that
in his time an object resembling almost exactly
the ancient labarum, as depicted on coins, was
still carried in supplications, and called " gon-
falon " by the Italians.
The name Draconarius seems also to have been
sometimes given to the cross-bearer. [C]
DRAGON (AS Symbol). [See Serpent.]
Though the serpent from the earliest ages has
been a symbol of both good and evil, the dragon,
wherever he occurs in early Christian art, seems
to represent the enemy of mankind, all his temp-
tations, and the evil desires of mankind which
combine with them. The images of the Apo-
calypse have much to do with this, of course,
and the dragon appears in MSS. of that book, as
in a Saxon one now in the Bodleian Library.
The dragon-standards of cohorts, on the con-
version of Constantine, had the Cross or mono-
gram of Christ placed above the serpentine
image ; the name of the standard-bearer [Dra-
conarius] being applied in after times to bearers
of banners in Church processions. The labarum
is represented as planted on the body of a ser-
pent, in a medal given by Aringhi after Baro-
nius (vol. ii. p. 705).
The fish or whale of Jonah is often roi)rR-
sented in the catacombs as a sort of draconic
nondescript (see Bottari Ivi. and passim, De
DRAGON
579
Rossi, Sec), perhaps with an idea of carrying
out the symbolism of our Lord's passing under
and out of the power of hell and of death. But
the idea of a sea-monster seems always intended
to be conveyed. The idea of the dragon as a
winged crocodile or lizard may have been derived
from remains of the' Sauri : a skeleton of some
animal of that family is mentioned by Mrs.
Jameson as having been exhibited at Aix in a
fossil state, as the frame of a dragon which had
long devastated the neighbourhood. Prof. Kings-
ley calls atteution to the fact that the pterodac-
tyles of the lias were literally flying dragons to
all intents and purposes. The Grikfin, as a mi-
nister of God's service, is quite distinct from the
dragon (see s. v.) " For Daniel and the Apocry-
phal Dragon or Serpent see Bottari, v. 1, tav.
xix. and woodcut.
The Gothic imagination, in later days, revelled
in dragons ; the seven-headed beast, with crowns
and nimbuses on all his heads except that
" wounded to death " (Rev. xii.), is a type of
such art ; see Didron's Outline, &c., vol. i. p. 162,
"from a 12th century Psalterium cum figuris,"
in the Bihliothique Eoyale. In Constantine's
Mosaic, (Euseb. de Vita Const, lit. iii. c. 3 ; .see
also Didron, Iconogr. Chre'tienne, vol. i., art.
Croix), the serpent or dragon is associated
with the Cross as the conquered enemy of man-
kind. The serpent is placed at the foot of the
Cross of Lothaire, and in the missal of Charles
the Bald (Essay by Mons. G. St. Laurent, in
Didron's Annales Archeologiques, vol. xxv. See
Serpent.) dragons are mentioned as occupying
alternate panels of bas-relief with doves, drinking
or pecking at grapes, on a font from the ancient
church oi' Godrecourt, Jievue Arche'ologique, vol.
i. p. 129.
Gori's representation (Thesaurus Diptychorum
V. ii.) of the ivory binding of the Codex Laures-
tanus consists in part of our Lord trampling on
» Bottnii refers to Bosio, (U Crtice, vi. c. xi. ; Ciampini,
Vet. Mov. t. i. c. x.\i. p. 191 ; Uictzer, di: Cruce, t. iii.
lib. 1. c. 33.
2 P 2
f.80
DRAMAS
the lion and dragon, wliile the serpent is carved
also near Him. [See Serpent.] For the doves
and tempting serpent on the Barberiui gem see
same article, and Gori, Th. Diptych, vol. iii.
p. 160. [R. St.J. T.]
DEAMAS, Christian. As works of lite-
rature, dramas such as the 'X.puTThs iracrx'^v
ascribed to Gregory of Nazianzus, do not come
within the scope of this Dictionary. Nor have we
any sufficient evidence that sacred dramas were
ever acted till after the time of Charlemagne,
which forms the chronological limit of its archae-
ology. All that can be said, therefore, is to
note the fact that there is no proof of the prac-
tice of dramatic representations of sacred history
prior to that period, but that probably those
which soon afterwards became very popular
were not entirely novelties, and, as the present
writer has noticed elsewhere {Diet, of the Bible,
s. v. Magi), that names and descriptions like
those which Bede gives of Gaspar, Melchior, and
Belthasar {de Col.ectan.'), appear to imply a dra-
matic as well as pictorial representation of the
facts of the Nativity. [E. H. P.]
DREAMS. It does not appear that the at-
tempt to foretel tlie future by the interpretation
of ordinary dreams was condemned by the early
Church ; rather it was acknowledged that dreams
might be made the vehicle of divine revelation.
But some of the old heathen practices by which
men sought to acquire supernatural knowledge
in dreams, such as sleeping in an idol's temple
wrapped in the skin of a sacrifice (Virgil, Aeneid
vii. 88), or under the boughs of a sacred tree,
were distinctly condemned. Jerome (m loco)
takes Isaiah Ixv. 4 to refer to such practices.
There was no impiety (he says) which Israel in
those days did not perpetrate, " sitting or dwell-
ing in sepulchres, and sleeping in the shrines of
idols; where they used to pass the night (incu-
bare) on skins of victims laid on the ground that
they might learn the future by dreams, as the
heathen do in certain temples even unto this day "
(Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlex. xi. 172). [C]
DRESS. This article relates to the ordinary
dress of Christians, and the dress of the clergy
in civil life. For the ministerial dress, see Vest-
ments.
1. Dress of Christians generalli/. — In the ear-
liest davs of the Church Christians probably took
little thought for raiment ; yet even in the first
century " gay clothing " was found in Christian
assemblies (St. James ii. 2) as well as in kings'
palaces. For Christians wore the ordinary dress
of their station and country ; neither in speech
nor in manners did they differ from other men ;
whether in cities of the Greeks or cities of the
barbarians they followed the customs of the place
in dress and manner of life (Epist. ad Diognetum,
c. 5 ; Tertullian, Apologet. c. 42). Here and there
a convert adopted or retained — as Justin did — the
napless cloak (rpipaiv) which was characteristic
of the philosopher, and especially of the Cynic ;
but this did not distinguish him from the hea-
then, but from those who made no profession of
philosophy or asceticism. There is no reason to
doubt that those converts who had a professional
dress — as civil and military officials — continued
to wear it whenever duty required.
But if the Christian was not in early times
DRESS
distinguished from the heathen by his garb,
there was always in the Church — as there could
not fail to be — a strong feeling against luxury,
display, and immodesty in apparel. Clem«it of
Alexandria, who represents a somewhat ascetic
tendency, condenms {Stromata, ii. 10, p. 232 ff.)
all kinds of dye for that which is but the cover-
ing of man's shame, all gold and jewelry, all
over-nice plaiting of the hair or decoration of
the face ; he seems even to imply that there is
no reason why men's dress should differ from
that of women, as in both cases it serves but the
same purpose of covering and protecting from
the cold. He will none of cloth of gold or Indian
silk, the product of a poor worm turned to pur-
poses of pride ; still less of those fine materials
which display what they seem to cover. Let
the stuffs which Christians wear be of their
natural colour, not dyed with hues fit only for a
Bacchic procession. It is permissible to weave
stuff's soft and pleasant to wear, not gaudy so as
to attract the gaze. The long train which
sweeps the ground and impedes the step is an
abomination to him, as also the short immodest
tunic of the Laconian damsel. In a word, he
urges simplicity and modesty in all points.
Clement's invective probably implies that
luxury in dress was not unknown among the
faithful in his time ; this is certainly the case
with that of Tertullian, whose denunciations are
expressly addressed to Christians. In his treatise
on women's dress, he charges on the " sons of
God," who lusted after the daughters of men,
the invention of the adventitious aids of femi-
nine beauty — the gold and jewels, the brilliant
dyes, the black powder with which the eyelids
were tinged, the unguent which gave colour to
the cheek, the wash which changed the hair to
the fashionable yellow, the towers of false tresses
piled upon the head and neck {De Ctiltii Femin-
aruin, i. 2, 6, 8 ; ii. 5, 6, 7). Why, he asks,
should Christian women clothe themselves in
gold and jewels and gorgeous dyes, when they
never displayed their charms in processions, as
the heathen did, and needed not to pass through
the streets except when they went to church
or to visit a sick brother — not occasions for
gorgeous apparel (ib. ii. 11)? Why should
they imitate the Apocalyptic woman that
was " arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,
and decked with gold and precious stones and
pearls?" (ib. ii. 12). He does not object to
seemly and becoming dress (cultus), and approves
attention to the hair and skin, but he invt'ighs
against such decoration (ornatus) as seems in-
tended to attract notice (46. i. 4 ; ii. 2). The
wrist accustomed to a bracelet would hardly
bear a chain, the leg adorned with an anklet
would scarcely bear the fetter ; some necks were
so loaded with pearls and emeralds as hardly to
afford room for the headsman's sword {i'>. ii. 13).
Virgins ought always to cover their faces when
they had occasion to go abroad {De Virgin.
Veland. passim).
Nor does the vehement African spare the men ;
he speaks with contempt of their foolish etibrts
to please the other sex by artistic clipping of
the beard, by dressing the hair, by dyeing white
locks, by singeing the down from the skin, even
by using the feminine aids of paint and powder
oil the face {De Cultu Fern. ii. 8). To the same
etl'ect Cypriau speaks {De Habitu Virginum, c.
DRESS
12 ff.), and so sjieaks the treatise De Bono Pudi-
citiae (c. 12) attributed to him.
From such passages it is evident that Chris-
tians in the latter part of the second and the
beginning of the third century, both men and
women, followed the fashion of the world, though
not without strong remonstrance from those wlio
took a more serious view of their Christian call-
ing. The only exception probably was in the
case of some decoration which implied, or was
thought to imply, participation in idolatry (Ter-
tullian, De Idololatrid, c. 18). It was indeed a
jiart of the torture applied to Christians to com-
pel them to put on garments distinctly indica-
tive of such participation {Acts of Ferpeiua and
Fclicitas, c. 18, in Kuinart, p. 100, ed. 2). A
.series of passages in denunciation of luxury in
dress might be produced from the early fathers ;
';ee, for instance, Cyril of .Jerusalem, Catech. IV.
p. 94, ed. 1641 ; Basil, lieg.fiisius Tract. Interrog.
22 ; ii. 366, ed. Bened.
Some canonical decrees on the subject relate
to the assumption by one sex of the dress of the
other; since for women to wear the dress ot
men was sometimes represented as meritorious
asceticism. Eustathius, for instance (quoted by
Bingham, xvi. xi. 16) taught his female disciples
to cut off their hair and to assume the habit of
men. But the council of Gangra (a.d. 370), in
canons 13 and 17, condemns both these practices
in the following terms : — " If any woman, under
pretence of leading an ascetic life, change her
aj)parel, and instead of the accustomed habit of
women take that of men, let her be anathema."
And, " If any woman, on account of an ascetic
life, cut off her hair, which God has given her as
a memorial of subjection, let her be anathema,
as one that annuls the decree of subjection."
These decrees are manifestly founded upon Deut.
xxii. 5 and 1 Cor. xi. 6 respectively. Cyprian
{Ep. 2, c. 1, ad Eucratiuni) and Tertullian (de
Spectac. c. 23), with other writers (see Prynne's
Hidriomistix), apply the Mosaic prohibition to
the mterchange of clothing by men and women
in stage plays, which they condemn for this rea-
son among many others.
Under the Prankish emperors the Mosaic pro-
hibition (Deut. xxii. 11) of wearing a garment of
woollen and linen was re-enacted {Capitularium,
vi. c. 46).
The civil code under the empire attempted to
repress luxury by specific enactments {Codex
.lustiniani, lib. xi. tit. 8), which seem however
to contemplate, at least in part, the preservation
of an imperial monopoly and of the sanctity of the
imperial insignia. [Commerce, p. 409.] It was
utterly forbidden to manufacture cloth of gold
or edgings (paragaudas) of silk and gold thread
for male attire, except in the imperial factories
(gynaeciariis) ; nor was any male to wear such
decorations, except imperial officials. No woollen
garments were to be dyed so as to imitate the
imperial purple, the blood of the sacred murex.
No one was to wear imperial insignia, nor to
manufacture privately any silk tunics or pallia.
There was probably a demand for silk and cloth
of gold for male attire, when so strict laws were
made against their use.
2. Civil Dress of the Clergij. — It is cei-tain that
during the first five Christian centuries the
clergy in general were distinguished from the
laity, in ordinary life, neither by the fo)in nor
DRESS
581
the colour of their garments, but only by their
sober and unobtrusive style (Thomassin, I. ii. 43).
The lacerna, byrrus, and dalmatic which Cyprian
took off before his martyrdom {Acta Froons.
c. 5) seem to be the ordinary dress of a citizen
of that period. So far were the clergy commonly
from adopting a peculiar dress that pope Celes-
tinus (a.d. 428) sharply blamed certain Galilean
bishops who had chosen to make themselves con-
spicuous by a dress different from that of the
laity about them {Epist. 2, in Binius' Concilia,
i. 901). These bishops, it appears, had been
monks before they were promoted to the epi-
scopate, and retained as bishops the pallium and
girdle of the monk, instead of taking the tunic
and toga of the superior layman. Yet Con-
stantinus {Vita Germani, in Surius, iv. 360) says
that bishop Amator, when he ordained Germanus
(1448), afterwards bishop of Auxerre, put upon
him " habitum religionis," an expression which
in all probability designates the monastic dress ;
and other ecclesiastics of special austerity no
doubt wore the rough dress of the monk, as St.
Martin did (Sulpicius Severus, Vita B. Martini,
c. 10; Dialogus II. c. 1), but the very fact that
this costume was specially noticed shows that it
was not the common attire of the clergy.
Nor do the clergy of the East, more than those
of the West, seem to have adopted a distinctive
dress in early times, unless they were members
of monastic bodies, or remarkably austere in life.
If Heraclas (Euseb. H. E. vi. 19) wore the gown
of the philosopher, this distinguished him not
from the laity but from the unphilosophical,
whether lay or clerical. The dress of the bishops
whom Constantine assembled round his table
(Euseb. Vita Constant, i. 42) seems to have had
no distinctive character except simplicity. Sis-
innius, a Novatian bishop (Socrates, H. E. vi. 22),
incurred the reproach of ostentation by wearing
a white robe, which contrasted with the more
usual sober colour of episcopal garments. But
there are indications at a later date among the
orthodox, that a somewhat splendid vesture was
thought to become high station in the hierarch)'.
John Chrysostom, for instance, a short time before
his death, adopted the more splendid attire suited
to his position ; and Gregory Nazianzen declares
that his own simple life and mean dress was one
of the reasons for his expulsion from Constan-
tinople— implying that something more distin-
guished was looked for.
St. Augustine too {Senno 50, De Diversis),
apparently still a priest, says that a valuable
byrrus might befit a bishop, which would by no
means suit a poor man like Augustine. That
the byrrus was the common, as opposed to the
ascetic, dress of Christians, is shown by "the 12th
canon of the council of Gangra (A.D. 358), in
which those who wore the ascetic gown {irtpi-
/SoAoioj') are warned not to deSfiise the wearers
of the byrrus. Augustine objects only to wear-
ing one more valuable than bi.'came his station.
The account also of Euthyniius {Life, by Cyril,
in Surius, Jan. 20) saluting Anastasius as Patri-
arch, shows that a dignitary of that emiueuc;
was generally distinguished by the splendour of
his attire.
We conclude then generally that no especial
style of dress was {)rescribed for the clergy
withiu the first five ceufuries, but fhat .liiiiug
the latter part of that period it was usual for
582
DRESS
monks who became bishops to retain their mon-
astic garb, and for the higher ilignitaries — especi-
ally the Patriarch of Constantinople, connected
as he was with a splendid court — to wear such
garments as befitted a person of rank.
The same inference may be drawn from the
fact that the Pseudo-Dionysius {Hierarch. Eccl.
c. 5), in describing the ordination of bishops,
priests, and deacons, probably in the 5th century,
says not a word of any change of dress, though
he is careful to mention it in the case of monks.
In the 6th century the civil dress of the clergy
came to differ from that of the laity, mainly be-
cause the latter departed from the ancient type
to which the former adhered ; for the clergy, in
the empire of the West, retained the long tunic
and toga (or pallium) of the Romans, while the
laity adopted for the most pai-t the short tunic,
trowsers, and cloak of the " gens bracata," the
Teutonic invaders. It was probably in conse-
quence of this change of dress that the compila-
tion of canons sanctioned by the second council
of Braga, a.d. 572 (c. 66; Bruns's Canones, ii. 56),
especially desired the clergy to wear the long
dignified tunic (talarem vestem). Gregory the
Great constantly assumes the existence of a dis-
tinctive clerical habit. He speaks, for instance
(^Epist. IX. 22), of men assuming the ecclesiastical
habit and living a worldly life. And John the
Deacon ( Vita Gregorii, ii. 13) directs especial
attention to the fact, that the great Pontiff' him-
self tolerated no one about him who wore the
barbarian dress ; every one in his household wore
the garb of old Rome (trabeata Latiuitas), then
almost synonymous with the clerical habit.
And from the beginning of the 6th century
we find canons forbidding clerics to wear the
secular dress. They are not to wear long hair,
nor clothes other than such as befit "religion "
{Cone. Agathen. c. 20) ; nor a military cloak, nor
arms (C Matiscon. c. 5) ; nor purple, which
rather befits the great ones of the world (C Kar-
hon. c. 1). And again, in the 8th ceutury, priests
and deacons are desired not to wear the laic
sagum, or short cloak, but the Casula, as be-
comes servants of God [C. German, i. A.D. 742,
c. 7), — where the expression "ritu servorum
Dei " probably does not mean " like monks "
(Marriott, Vest. Christ. 201, n. 416) — and gener-
ally not to wear ostentatious clothes (pompatico
habitu) or arms (Boniface, Epist. 105). Yet
about the same time pope Zachary, writing to
I'ipin, mayor of the palace {Cone. Galliue,\. 563),
desires bishops to dress according to their dignity,
and parish priests (presbyteri cardinales) to wear
in preaching a better style of dress than that of
the people committed to them; warning them
at the same time that not the dress of the body
but the state of the soul is the important thing.
Yet even in the latter part of the 7th century
Bede tells us. {Vita Ciidberti, c. 16) that St. Cuth-
bert wore ordinary clothes (vestimentis com-
munibus)," neither splendid nor dirty, and that
after his example the monks of his monastery
continued to wear garments of undyed wool.
The course of events in the East, in respect of
clerical dress, was not very different from that
in the West, except that as the settlements of
the barbarians were less numerous, the distinc-
» This may mean, however, that Cuthbert as abbot did
not assume a dress ditfeient from that of his monks.
DRESS
tion between layman and cleric was loss obvious,
both wearing the long tunic. A law of .Jus-
tinian {Nov. 123, c. 44) protected monastic dress
from profane uses, but says nothing of any other
dress peculiar to clerics. The council in Trullo,
however, A.D. 691, expressly enacted (c. 27) that
no one on the roll of the clergy should wear an
unprofessional {avo'iKeiov) dress, whether in the
city or on a journey, but should use the robes
(o-ToAoTs) prescribed for those who were enrolled
among the clergy, under pain of excommuni-
cation for a week. From this point the differ-
ence between clerical and lay dress may be con-
sidered established, though a series of enactments
throughout the middle ages shows that the
clergy were constantly in the habit of assimilat-
ing their dress to that of the laity.
Pope Zacharias decruod (a.d. 743) that bishops,
priests, and deacons should not use secular dress,
but only the sacerdotal tunic ; and that when
they walked out, whether in city or country —
unless on a long journey — they should wear
some kind of upper garment or wrapper (operi-
mentum).''
The second council of Nice, in the year 787,
condemns (c. 15) bishops and clerics who distin-
guish themselves by the richness and brilliant
colours of their dress. So Tarasius, patriarch
of Constantinople (f806), bade his clergy ab-
stain from golden girdles, and from garment.^
bright with silk and purple, prescribing girdles
of goats' hair, and tunics decent but not gor-
geous {Life, c. 14, in Surius, Feb. 25).
The council of Aix, in the year 816 (c. 124),
inveighs against personal ornament and splendour
of dress in the clergy, and exhorts them to be
neither splendid nor slovenly. It seems to be
presumed that the proper /o/-m of the clerical
dress was w-ell known, for nothing is said on this
point. It further (c. 25) forbids secular or
canonical clerks to wear hoods [Cucui.la], the
peculiar distinction of monks. A somewhat
later council (C. Mctcns. A.D. 888, c. 6) forbids
the clergy to wear the short coats (cottos) and
mantles (mantellos) of the laity, and the laity to
wear the copes (cappas) of the clergy. Early in
the 9th century also, presbyters were enjoined
to wear their stoles always, as an indication of
their priesthood {Cone. Alogunt. A.D. 813, c. 28 ;
Capitularium, lib. v. c. 146).
We may conclude then, generally, that the
clergy wore in civil life, during the first eight
centuries of the church, the long tunic which
was the dress of decent citizens at the time of
the first preaching of Christianity. This was at
first generally white [Alb], afterwards of sober
colours, though not seldom — in spite of canons —
of more brilliant hue. To this was added in
early times the dignified toga ; afterwards the
cappa [Cope ; Casula, p. 294], or pluviale, not
then appropriated as a vesture of ministration
only. The long tunic, under whatever name, has
continued to be the ordinary dress of the clergy
to this day, wherever they have worn a peculiar
dress.
Literature. — Bingham's Antiquities, Vi. iv.
•• The word rather suggests a covering for the head ;
but it is difficult to understand why a man tilling a long
journey should be excused from wearing a liead-covering,
while it is easy to imagine tliat he might not wish to
wear a cumbrous cap^a or casula in the climate of Italy.
DROCTOVEUS
15 ff. ; Mamachi, Costurrd dci Primitive Cristiani
(Rome, 1753, 54), and Origines, lib. iii. c. 7 ;
Thomassin, Vet. et Nova Eccl. Discip. I. ii. 43 ff. ;
J. Boileau, Disquis. Ilominis Sacri vitam commu-
neiii more civili tradacentis ; Heineccius, De Ha-
bitu Sacerdot. [C]
DROCTOVEUS, abbot, disciple of Gerraanus
the bishop; deposition at Paris, March 10 (Mart.
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DROMIC. In the Oriental Church churches
of the basilicau form, i. e. i);irallelograms, with
the length considerably exceeding the breadth,
and terminating in a semicircular apse, were
called "dromic " (Spo/ai/cai), from the similarity of
their plan to that of a SpS/xos or " stadium." The
notion of Leo Allatius {de Templis Grace. Mecent.
Ep. ii. § 3), and Suicer {sub voc. va6s, adopted
by Bingham ; Origines, bk. viii. ch. iii. § 1) that
they were so styled from having "void spaces
for deambulatoria" within their roofs on the
upper side of the flat ceilings, is quite unfounded.
Theod. Zygomalas apud Suicer correctly derives
the name " dromic " from the form, the length
much greater than the breadth, like a " narthex "
or wand : SpoixiKbi/ StKrjv vdf)dr]Kos- irav Spofj.iKhv
vdpOrj^ AfyfTai. Of this plan was the original
church of St. Sophia at Constantinople: eV t^
/xeyaKy eKKXriffia t^s ayias ^o<pias Spo/MiKJ] rh
irpoTepov ovari (Codin. Orig. Constantinopol. 72),
and that of St. Anastasia in the same city : o Se
vahs rris ayias ' Avacrraffias eVri Spo/miKds (Con-
stant, de Admin. Imp, 29). Existing examples of
dromic churches in the East are those of St. De-
metrius at Thessalonica (Texier, Archit. Bi/zant.
137), St. Philip, and the Virgin of the Grand
Monastery at Athens (Couchaud, pi. 2, 4), and
St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, built by Justi-
nian. [E. v.]
DRUNKENNESS. Of the prevalence of
this vice in the Roman world in the early ages
of Christianity it would be needless to speak.
That it became peculiarly shameless about the
very opening of the Christian era, we infer from
Pliny's observation that under Tiberius men first
began to drink fasting, jejuni (bk. xiv. c. xxviii.).
The neighbouring races to the Roman empire
were not more temperate than the Romans them-
selves. To the east, the same Pliny records that
the Parthians wei-e great drunkards. Of the
Germans, Tacitus says that to drink through a
whole day and night was considered no disgrace
{De Mor. Germ. c. xxii.).
It is not necessary to go here into the denun-
ciations of drunkenness contained both in the
Old and New Testament. It will be enough to
say that St. Paul expressly includes " drunk-
ards " among those who shall not " inherit the
kingdom of God " (1 Cor. \i. 10). Early Church
writers follow the same line, see Clement ad Cor.
Ep. i. c. 30; Apost. Const, ii. c. 25; v. c. 10;
vii. c. 6 ; and particularly viii. c. 44. The Apo-
stolical Constitutions there warn against giving
relief to gluttons, drunkards, or idlers, as not
being fit for the Church (bk. ii. c. 4). Drunken
habits were to afford a presumption against a
person accused before the Church Courts (ib.
c. 49). The oblations of drunkards were not to
be received (bk. iv. c. 6). The true rule of Chris-
tian temperance is given in one of the later
constitutions (bk. viii. c. 44) : " Not that they
should not drink, for this is to condemn that
DRUNKENNESS
583
which Is made of God for cheerfulness, but that
they should not drink to excess." The Aposto-
lical Canons in like manner make drunkenness a
ground of exclusion from communion for bishops,
priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers or singers,
and also for laymen (c. 35, otherwise numbered
41, 42, or 42, 43).
Still the vice flourished, as may be seen for
instance from the injunctions of Jerome to Ne\m-
tianus "never to smell of wine," since "wine-
bibbing priests are both condemned by the
apostle and forbidden by the old law " (E]). 2) ;
or to Eustochium, that " the spouse of Christ
should flee wine as poison." In some countries
drunkenness was even made an accompaniment
of the most solemn services of the Church.
Augustine complains (ad Aur. Ep. 22, otherwise
64) that in Africa " revellings and drunkenness
are deemed so allowable and lawful that they
take place even in honour of the most blessed
martyrs," even in the cemeteries [Cella me-
moriae], as appears from the sequel to the pas-
sage. And so rooted does he consider drunken
habits to be in his flock that he advises them
to be dealt with gently, rather by teaching
than by command, rather by warning than by
menace.
For a long time, however, clerical discipline
m respect of this vice seems rather to have been
enforced, or attempted to be enforced, through
the well-known prohibition to clerics to enter
taverns. [Caupona.] Except in the Aposto-
lical Canons, the first distinct Church enact-
ment against drunkenness appears to be that
of the 1st Council of Tours, 461. "If any one
serving God in whatever clerical office shall
not abstain from drunkenness according to the
order of his estate, let a fitting punishment be
awarded to him " (c. 2). In Ivo the same canon
appears in an altered form as directed especially
against clerical tavern-keepers, who sold wine in
their churches, so that where nought should be
heard but orisons and the word of God and his
praise, there revellings and drunkenness are
found. Such excesses are forbidden, and the
offending presbyter is ordered to be deposed,
offending laymen to be excommunicated and
expelled (see also c. 3, of same). No doubt
the vice was highly prevalent in France, for
a fcvr years later we find the Council of
Vannes also enacting that "above all things
should drunkenness be avoided by clerics ....
therefore we decree that he who shall be ascer-
tained to have been drunk, as the order suffers,
shall be either excluded for thirty days from
communion or given over to corporal punishment"
(c. 13). The same canon was re-enacted by the
Council of Agde in 506 (c. 41). Somewhat later in
the century, the Constitutions of king Childebert,
after ordering the abolishing of certain remains
of idolatry, lament the sacrileges committed,
when for instance all night long men spend the
time in drunkenness, scurrility, and singing,
even in the sacred days of Easter, Christmas, and
the other feasts; and enacts for penalty 100
lashes for a servile person, but for a freeborn
one strict imprisonment (districta inclusio) and
penance, that at least by bodily torments they
may be reduced to sanity of mind. In the East
even, at the Council of Constantinople in 536,
we find mention of a letter of the clergy ot
Apamea against one bishop Peter (deposed for
584
DRUNKENNESS
heresy) who used to make drunk persons coming
to baptism (see Labbe' and Mansi's Councils, vol.
vii. p. 1104).
The West, however, seems to have been the
chief home of gluttony and drunkenness. A
canon of the Council of Autun (a.d. 670 or there-
abouts) enacted that no priest stuffed with food
or crapulous with wine should touch the sacrifice,
or presume to say mass, under pain of losing his
dignity. In a work of Theodore, archbishop of
Canterbur}'', De Remediis Peccatonim (end of 7th
century), it is laid down that a bishop or other
ordained person who has the vice of habitual
drunkenness must either amend himself or be
deposed. The Council of Berkhampstead, in the
5th year of Withraed king of Kent (a.d. 697),
enacts that if a priest be so drunk that he
cannot fulfil his office, his ministry shall cease
at the will of the bishop (c. 7). Gildas {De
Foenitentia, c. 7), lays down that if any one
through drunkenness cannot sing the psalms, he
is to be excluded from communion. Some ex-
tracts from a certain " Book of David," supposed,
like that of Gildas, to have been received by the
Irish Church, make some curious distinctions. A
priest drunk through ignorance is to be subject to
13 days' penance; if through negligence, to 40
days ; if through contempt [of discipline ?], to
thrice forty. He who for civility's sake (humani-
tatis causa) compels another to get drunk is to
do penance as for drunkenness. But he who
through the effect of hatred or luxuriousness, that
he may shamefully confound or mock others, com-
pels them to get drunk, if he has not sufficiently
j'epented, is to do penance as a killer of souls
(c. 1).
Gregory III. (731-41) in his Excerpts from
the Fathers and the Canons, mentions the habi-
tual drunkenness of a bishop, priest, or deacon
as being a ground of deposition, if he do not
amend himself (c. 8). An epistle of Boniface him-
self to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, read
at the Council of Cloveshoe, A.D. 747, bears fur-
ther testimony to the prevalence of drunkenness
in Britain : " It is said also that in your parishes
drunkenness is a too common evil, so that not
only do the bishops not forbid it, but themselves,
drinking too much, become intoxicated, and com-
pel others to become so, offering them larger
beakers." And the Canons of the Council bear
" that monks and clerics should not follow or
desire the evil of drunkenness," but should avoid
it ; " nor should they compel others to drink
immoderately." If they have no infirmity, they
should not before the third hour of the day in-
dulge in potations after the manner of drunkards
(c. 21). So again the Penitential of archhi&hop
Egbert repeats, with slight variation of lan-
guage, the canon of the Council of Vannes as to
the inflicting of 30 days' excommunication or
corporal punishment on the cleric proved to
have been drunk (bk. ii. c. 9) ; increasing the
punishment to three months on bread and water
to the cleric or monk who is given to drunken-
ness (c. 10). And the canons of the same
on " the remedies for sin," reckon among
capital crimes habitual drunkenness (c. 5), and
impose three years' penance for it (c. 7), — such
penance being apparently in addition to the three
months' bread and water above referred to. A
" faithful " layman making another drunk must
do forty days' penance (c. 11). A definition is
DRUNKENNESS
given of drunkenness, which is also found else-
where : " when the state of the mind is changed,
and the tongue falters, and the eyes are troubled,
and there is dizzinesss and distension of the belly
followed by pains." Clerics guilty of such ex-
cess must do 40 days' penance ; a rule followed
unintelligibly by the enjoining for the same
offence of 4 weeks' penance for a deacon or priest,
5 for a bishop, 3 for a " prelate ;" the penance
to be without wine or flesh-meat (c. 12).
Drunkenness must have been widely spread over
the Continent also in the 8th and 9th centuries.
The same Boniface in a letter to Pope Zacharias
(a.d. 741-51), complains, among other scandals
of the contemporary Romish Church, of its
drunkard deacons ; and the pope in reply only says
that he does not allow such deacons to fulfil sacred
offices or touch the sacred mysteries. The 3rd
canon of the Council of Friuli (a.d. 791) is severe
against drunkenness, i-eferring to the passages on
the subject in Titus i., Rom. xiii., Eph. v., Luke xxi.
The Capitulnries of Theodulf, archbishop of Or-
leans, to his clergy (797) enjoin on these both
to abstain themselves from drunkenness and to
preach to their flocks that they should likewise
abstain (i. c. 13) ; but reckons among minor
sins the intoxicating others for the sake of
mirth (ii.). The 26th of Charlemagne's Church
Capitularies (810) directs in like manner the
elder clergy to forbear the vice themselves and
offer to the younger an example of good sobriety ;
the first capitulary of 802 contains repeated
injunctions against drunkenness among monks
(c. 17), nuns (c. 18), and canons (c. 22) ; the
Council of Mayence (812), speaking of drunken-
ness as " a great evil, whence all vices are bred,"
directs all to be excommunicated who do not
avoid it, until they amend their ways (c. 46);
the 2nd Council of Rheims (same year) declares
that the bishops and ministers of God should not
be too much given to feastings (vinolentiis; c. 18) ;
the Edict of Charlemagne in 814 forbids clerics
" nourishing " drunkenness and ordering others
to become intoxicated (c. 14). See also the first
capitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle of 802, c. 35 ; a
capitulary of 803 (bk. vii. c. 218, and again at
greater length, c. 270) repeating at the close the
15th canon of the Council of Vannes, but extend-
ing the period of suspension from communion to
40 days ; the Additio Quarta to the capitularies,
c. 46; the 3rd Council of Tours, a.d. 813,
c. 48 ; and the 2nd Council of Chartres (same
year), c. 10.
The above canons and rules relate chiefly,
though not exclusively, to the clergy, or if to
the faithful generally, only in respect to Church
discipline. In the Carlovingian era, however,
civil penalties or disabilities began to be inflicted
for drunkenness. In a capitulary of 803, added
to the Salic law, it is enacted that no one while
drunk may obtain his suit in the mall nor give
witness ; nor shall the count hold a plea unless
before breaking his fast; nor may any one com-
pel another to drink (cc. 15, 16 ; and see also
General Collection, bk. iii. c. 38, and bk. vi.
232-3). The latter injunction is thus developed
in a capitulary of 813: "That in the host none
do pray his peer or any other man to drink. And
whoever in the army shall have been found
drunk, shall be so excommunicated that in drink-
ing he use only water till he know himself to
have acted evilly " (bk. iii. c. 72). Another
DRUSUS
capitulary, relating however to the clergy, enacts
that priests who against the canons enter taverns
and are not ashamed to minister to feastings and
drunkenness, are to be severely coerced (bk. v.
c. 325 ; see also c. 162, which however only pro-
nounces excommunication).
The data for the above statements are taken,
except in the first few centuries, exclusively from
the legal records of the Church, or those of a
period when it was almost identified with the
state. They might be abundantly illustrated
from contemporary writers, century by century.
But they suffice to shew that the vice in ques-
tion was never absent from the Church nor from
its clergy, and that it attained enormous pro-
portions among the latter in our own islands,
and in the 8th and 9th centuries on the Con-
tinent also. (See also Cacpo.) [J. M. L.]
DEUSUS, martyr at Antioch, with Zosimus
and Theodorus ; commemorated Dec. 14 (^Mart.
Eom. Vet., Hioron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DUCKS. It is quite uncei-tain why this bird
is represented in early art, but it occurs repeat-
edly in the bas-reliefs of the Duomo at Ravenna,
on the great piers at the east end, and in the
church of St. Giovanni Evangelista in the same
place. It is also drawn with great spirit and
evident enjoyment by the monk Rabula, who
twice indulges in an archivolt pattern of ducks
and eggs (Assemani, Catalog. Bihl. Med. Taw.
xviii., xix.) ; besides single representations of
various species. The bird may have been do-
mesticated in monasteries, &c., and have been a
favourite subject of illumination from its pretty
colours. It occurs in the Lombard bas-reliefs
at Verona. [R. St. J. T.]
DUEL (Vuellum). The notion of deciding a
matter in dispute, after ordinary means had
failed, by a single combat between the parties or
their champions, came into the empire with the
Teutonic tribes, who were accustomed to settle
by arms their private as well as public disputes.
" The earliest formal recognition of the judicial
combat as an institution seems to be in the laws of
the Burgundians (Canciani, Leg. Barhar. iv. 25 ;
A.D. 502), which provide (tit. 45) that a man
who declines to clear himself by oath is not to be
denied his right of challenge to combat. After-
wards the duel is referred to in many barbarian
codes, as Leges Alemann. tit. 44, §1; Baiuar.
tit. 2, c. 2 ; Longobard. lib. i. tit. 9, § 39, &c.
It was only under the formal sanction of a
court, and as a kind of appeal to a higher tri-
bunal, that such combats were held to be legal.
The further development of the system, and
the canonical prescripts relating to it, belong to
the Middle Ages (Selden, 7'/-e Duello or Single
Combat, in Works, vol. 3 ; Ducange, s. v. Luel-
lum). [C]
DULA, martyr at Nicomedia ; commemo-
rated March 25 (Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
DUMB. The 49th (otherwise 56th) of tlie
Apodolical Canons enacts excommunication
against any cleric who should make a mock
of the deaf, dumb, or blind. By the 69th (other-
wise 77th), the deaf, the dumb, and the blind
were excluded from the episcopate, not as defiled,
but that the proceedings of the Church should
not be hindered.
EAGLE
£85
The capacity of the dumb to receive the sacra-
ments or accept a penance was the subject of
some controversy. A whole work of Fulgentius
{De Baptismo Aethiopis) is devoted to the ques-
tion of the validity of the baptism of an Ethiop
catechumen after the loss of his voice, and he
concluded that it was entitled to the same va-
lidity as that of an infant. This view jirevailed
in the Church. Amongst other canonical autho-
rities, the 1st Council of Orange, A.D. 441, en-
acted that a jierson suddenly losing his voice
might be baptized or accept a penance, if his
previous wnll thereto could be proved by the
witness of others, or his actual will bv his nod
(c. 12). The 38th canon of the 2nd Council of
Aries (452) is to the same effect as regards
baptism.
According to one of Ulpian's Fragments (t. xx.)
Ihe dumb could not be a witness, nor make a
testament, the reason assigned in the latter case
being that he could not pronounce the " words of
nuncupation " technically required for the pur-
pose. And by a constitution of .lustinian, AD.
531 {Code, bk. vi. tit. xxii. 1. 10) deaf-mutes were
declared incapable of making a will or codicil,
constituting a donation moriis causa, or confer-
ring a freedom, unless the infirmity should not be
congenital, and they should have learned to write
before it occurred, in which case they could exer-
cise all these rights by writing under their own
hand. The dumb were in all cases allowed to do
so by such writing. It was, however, held by the
old law that the dumb, as well as the deaf and
blind, could lawfully contract marriage, and be-
come subject to dotal obligations (L)ig. bk. xxiii.
tit. iii. 1. 73). Deaf-mutes were held excused
from civil honours, but not from civic charges
(ibid. bk. 1. tit. ii. 1. 7). But the dumb might
lawfully decline a guardian- or curatorship
(Code,, bk. v. t. Ixvii. ; Co7ist. of Philip, A.D.
247). [J. M. L.]
DUODECIMA, the twelfth hour, or ves-
pers [Hours of Prayer]. "Duodecima, quae
dicitur Vespera " (Regida S. Bencd. c. 34 : Mar-
tene, De Bit. Monach. I. x. 6). ' [C]
DUEEN, COUNCILS OF (Duriense), at
Duren, near Aix-la-Chapelle ; (i.) A.D. 748, under
Pipin, a " placitum," which commanded a synod
to be held, for restoration of churches, and for
the causes of the poor, the widow, and the
orphan (Labb. vi. 1880); (ii.) A.D. 761, a
national council under Pipin, in the tenth year
of his reign, called by Regino a " synod " (ft.
1700); (iii.) A.D. 77.5, under Charlemagne (*.
1821); nothing more is known of these two
assemblies : (iv.) A.D. 779, under Charlemagne,
of bishops, nobles, and abbats, passed 24 Capitdn
upon discipline, one of which enforces jiayment
of tithes (ib. 1824-1826). [A. W. H.]
DUEIENSE CONCILIUM. [Duren,
Councils of.]
E
EAGLE. It is probably an instance of care-
ful exclusion of all Pag;in emblems or forms
ichich had been actual objects of idolatrous norship.
while merely Gentile or human tokens and
mvths were freely admiftod, that the form vt'
the c.iglc :ippL'ai-s m. y.wcly in Christian orna-
586
EBRULFUS
mentation, at least before the time of its adop-
tion as the symbol of an evangelist. [Evan-
gelists.] Ai-inghi (vol. ii. p. 228, c. 2) speaks
of the eagle as representing the Lord Himself;
and this is paralleled by a quotation of Mar-
ti gny's from a sermon of St. Ambrose, where he
refers to Ps. ciii. (" Thy youth is renewed like
the eagle's ") as foreshadowing the resurrection.
Lehlant (Inscr. Chre'tiennes de (a Gaiile, i. 147, 45),
in illustration gives a palm between two eagles,
and Bottari a plate of a domed ceiling in the
sepulchre of St. Priscilla, where two eagles
standing on globes form part of the ornamenta-
tion, it refers evidently to some buried general
or legionary officer (vol. iii. tav. 160). Tri-
umphal chariots fill two of the side spaces, but
they and the eagles can hardly be considered
Christian emblems, though used bv Christians.
[R. St. J. T.]
EBRULFUS, abbot and confessor; comme-
morated Dec. 29 (^Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EAES, TOUCHINa OF. 1. Tn BapHsm.
As by the influence of the Holy Spirit men's
hearts are opened to receive the wondrous things
of God's law, so there was a symbolic opening of
the ears in the baptismal ceremony (Ambrose,
De Bh/steriis, c. 1 ; Pseudo-Ambrosius, De Sacra-
mentis, i. 1 ; Petrus Chrysnlogus, Sermo .52 ; see
also the ancient Expositio Evangeliorum in
aurium apertione in Martene, De Bit. Ant.,
I. i. 12). Thus in Magnus's directions for the
jireliminaries of baptism (Martene, u.s. art. 17),
drawn up by command of Charles the Great, we
read, after the instruction in the Creed : " tan-
guntur aures et nares de sputo, et dicitur
Effata [Ephphatha], id est, aperire," in order
that the ears may listen to the wholesome teach-
ing of the Christian faith and reject the sophistic
pleadings of the devil. Similarly in the ancient
baptismal Ordines of Gemblours and of Kheims
(t6. art. 18).
2. In Holy Communion, it seems to have been
the custom to touch the organs of sense (ju(t6i}-
T-fjpia) with the moisture left on the lips after
receiving the cup (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech.
Must. V. 22 ; see Communion, Holy, p. 413).
[C]
EARTHQUAKE. The great earthquake
which befel Constantinople in the year 758 is
commemorated' Oct. 26 {Cal. Byzant.) [C]
EAST, Praykr Towards. Praying towards
the East, as the quarter of the rising sun, the
source of light, a natural symbolism common to
nearly all religions, was adopted by the Christian
church from its commencement, in accordance
with the very wise rule which accepted all that
was good and pure in the religious systems it
camo to supplant, breathing into the old cere-
monies a new and higher life. One of the ear-
liest testimonies to the prevalence of this custom
among Christians is that of Tertullian, c. 205
{Apoloj. c. xvi. ; cont. Valentin, c. iii.), who refers
to the suspicious entertained by the heathen that
Christians were sun worshippers "because they
were well known to turn to the East in prayer,"
being "lovers of the radiant East, that figure
of Christ." The Apostolical Constiiutions also
direct that the whole congregation " rise up with
one consent, and looking to the east, pray to God
EASTER
eastward " (lib. ii. § vii. c. 57). The same rule
is mentioned by Clemens Ale.f andi'inus {Stromata,
vii. 7), who says that "prayers are made looking
towards the sunrise in the east." Basil, c. 374,
testifies to the universality of the custom
(Z)e. Sp. Sand. c. 27), and Augustine speaks
of it as a general usage (^De Serm. in Monte, lib.
ii. 0. 5). To take one later instance out of
many, Joannes Moschus, c. 600, records an anec-
dote of a certain abbot Zacchaeus of Jerusalem,
who, when praying, "turned to the east and
remained about two hours, without speaking,
his arms stretched out to heaven " (^Prat. Spirit.
§ 102). The chapter of Joannes Damascenus (De
Orthodox. Fid. iv. 13) " concerning worshipping
to the east," proves the prevalence of the
custom.
The true reason for this custom is doubtless
that already alluded to, that, to adopt the lan-
guage of Clemens Alex., " the east is the image
of the day of birth. For as the light which
there first shone out of darkness waxes brighter,
so, like the sun, the day of the knowledge of
truth has dawned on those immersed in dark-
ness " (Clem. Alex, m.s.) In close connection
with this is the reference to Christ as the " Day-
spring from on high," the oLvaroXy], the " Light of
the World," which the early writers delight to
recognise (Clirys. Homil. in Zach. vi. 12). Other
reasons for, or more properly speaking, deduc-
tions from the practice, are given by other
writers, one of the most frequent and beautiful
of which is that in praying to the east the soul
is seeking and sighing for its old home in
Paradise, to which it hopes to be restored in
Christ, the second Adam (Basil De Sp. Sanct. u.s.,
Const. Apost., U.S. ; Greg. Nyss. Homil. V. de
Orat.Donun.; Chvjs,. ad Daniel. y'i.IQ; Gregen-
tius Disputat. cum Herb. Jud. p. 217). Another
cause assigned is that Christ when on the cross
looked towards the west, so that in praying to
the east we are looking towards Him (Joan.
Damasc. u. s., Cassiod. ad Fs. Ixvii.), and that as
He appeared in the east, and thence ascended
into heaven, so He will there appear again at the
last day, the coming of the Son of Man being
like " the lightning that cometh out of the east
and shineth even unto the west " (Matt. xxiv. 27),
so that in prayer Christians are looking for their
Lord's return (Hilar, in Fs. Ixvii.). We learn
from St. Cyril of Jerusalem and others that the
Catechumen at Baptism turned from the west,
the place of darkness, to the east, the home
of light, and to the site of Paradise which by that
sacrament was reopened to him (Cyril Catech.
xix. 9 ; Hieron. in Amos. vi. 14 ; Ambros. De
Initiat. c. 2; Lactant. lib. ii. c. 10; Pseudo
Justin. Quest, ad Orthodox. 118). (Bona De Divin.
Psalmod. c. vi. § 2 ; Bingham Orig. xi. 7. 4 ;
xiii. 8. 15.) [E. v.]
EASTER-EVE. [Easter, Ceremonies of.]
EASTER. The Teutonic name of the church
feast of our Lord's resurrection (A.-S. eastre,
Germ, ostern). Bede (De Temp. Bat. c. xv. De
mensibus Anglorum), gives as the name of the
fourth month, answering nearly to April, Eostur-
monath, and adds : " Eostur-monath, qui nunc
Paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a Dea
illorum quae Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo
festa celebrabant, nomen habuit : a cujus nomine
nunc Paschale tempus cognominant, consueto
EABTER
antiquae observationis vocabulo gaudia uovae
solennitatis vocantes."
The name of the festival in the Romance lan-
guages (Ital. Fasqua, Fr. Pdques), like the Latin
J'asc/ia, takes us back at once to the historic
origin of the festival in the passover. In N. T.
T^ TcdcTxa, though in A. V. once (Acts xii. 4)
translated "Easter," refers either to the Jews'
passover, or (1 Cor. v. 7) to our Lord as its anti-
type. The word Trocrxct represents the Hebrew
npS. See Ex. xii. Thus the history of Easter
of necessity starts from the passover.
The passover was kept on the 14th day of the
month originally called Abib (Ex. xiii. 4), after-
wards Kisan (Neh. ii. 1 ; Esth. iii. 7), which
month was to be the first month of the year.
On the 16th Nisan, a sheaf (or rather handful)
of the new barley was presented before the Lord,
as the firstfruits of the harvest (Lev. xxiii. 10 ;
Joseph. A7it. iii. x. v.).
The above observance led, as a most important
consequence, to the fixity of the seasons (con-
sidered in the average) in the Jewish year. It
may be taken as established that the Jewish
year was luni-solar, of twelve lunar months,
which we may say, in general terms, consisted
by turns of twenty-nine days and of thirty, with
an occasional 13th intercalary month, by which
a correspondence was kept up with the length of
the solar year: and for the proper time of inter-
calating this month, it was only necessary to
consider, at the time of the commencement of
the month Nisan, whether the barley would be
sufficiently ripe in sixteen days for the observance
of the rite of the firstfruits, and if not, to inter-
calate a month, and thus postpone the ceremony.
In this way, the seasons would continually be
brought back to the same point.
Having regard to the astronomical element in
later controversies, we now oiler some further
account of the astronomical data aflecting the
passover.
1. The relation of the passover to the moon.
The night following the 14th Nisan was no
doubt intended to be and usually was that of
the full moon. We hear indeed in the institu-
tion of the passover, not of the full moon, but
of the 14th day of the moon, and in the early
church controversies as well as in the modern
rule settled by Clavius, everything still depends
technically upon the " 14th day of the moon."
But Philo tells us ( Vit. Mosis, iii. 686) that the
passover is celebrated, fxiWovTos tov <T^\riviaKov
kukAov yivea^ai irXrifricpaovs, and again (de Scjjt.
et Fest. 1191), that it was so fixed that there
might be no darkness on that day ; and again,
" That not only by day but also by night, the
world may be full of all-beauteous light, inas-
much as sun and moon on that day succeed each
other with no interval of darkness between."
This last statement is extremely significant, and
together with the lunar date, the 14th, very
clearly marks the point of time. The first day
of the moon means, in pre-astronomical times,
not the day of the conjunction of the sun and
moon, but the day on the evening of which the
new moon first becomes visible as a thin streak
of light to the left of the sun, just after .sunset.
This is possible in a fine climate, some eighteen
hours after conjunction: if less time had elapsed,
the first visible phase would be on the next day.
Now an average synodic period of the moon, or
EASTER
587
lunation, is 29 d. 12 h. 44 m., and therefore the
average interval between conjunction and full
moon is 14 d. 18 h. 22 m. Taking the average
length of phase and of interval, we should be
brought for full moon to sunrise on the 15th
day of the moon (inclusive), which would make
the night succeeding the 14th day (inclusive)
the night of full moon. Since the half-lunation
may be prolonged or shortened in rare cases
about twenty hours, and the length of phase is
also variable, some exceptions must be allowed
fo]-, but the general correctness of the rule is
ajijiarent, and also that the night of the 14th
will more frequently precede the full moon than
follow it; in other words, the moon would rise
a little before sunset, instead of rising, as it
might do in the contrary case (a day later), nearly
an hour after sunset. Thus Philo's statement
that there was no interval of darkness, a fact of
a nature to catch the attention, and about which
there could be no mistake, leads us to believe
that by calculating the time of full moon from
the astronomical tables, we may assign the 15th
Nisan with certainty in many cases, and with a
high degree of probability in others. In some
cases where it appears difficult to decide between
two successive days, an examination of the time
of the preceding new moon will help, though it
will not always suffice, to remove the doubt.
2. We have next to notice the relation of the
passover to the sun. This relation is apparent
from the regulations as to the firstfruits on
16th Nisan. The season of the year depends on
the equinox, and the general statement is that
barley ears can be procured in a fitting state at
or soon after the vernal equinox. But this
relation is not a mere matter of inference. Jose-
phus writes {Ant. iii. x. 5) : " In the month of
Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is
the beginning of our year, on the 14th day of
the lunar month, when the sun is in Aries ....
the law ordained that we should in every year
slay that sacrifice .... called the passovei-."
And Philo ( Vita Mos. iii.) : " Tt}v apxh" "^VS
iapivTJs lariij.epias irp&rov ai'a.ypdcpfi jxriva
Moivffrjs iv Tois tSsv eyiavToiu irepioSoLS."
The first month of the Jewish year was then
(as the best authorities hold), that month which
contained the vernal equinox, although the
beginning of the month might precede it. The
Jews apparently had no rule about not keeping
the passover before the equinox ; at least if we
may believe Epiphanius {Haeres. Ixx. 11), and a
definite instance given by St. Ambrose, A.D. 387,
of the Jewish passover on Mar. 20 {Ad Acmil.
Episc. 83). Moreover it is stated that the ante-
rior limit of the Latins for the 14th of the moon,
viz. Mar. 18, was derived from thtf Jews.
In after times, probably from the time of
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, 247-264, it be-
came one of the sharpest points of controversy :
on fXT] &\\oTe t) ixfra tt]P fapipijv laTifnepiav
irpoarjKei Ildax"- ^opTTjv intTf\uv (Eus. //. U.
vii. 15).
Although, however, the time of the equinox
became a point of critical discussion in after
times, there was so little general knowledge of
its true position, that very strange mistakes
were made respecting it. The correct knowledge
of the equinox was in fact nearly confined to the
Alexandrian astronomers, and there are several
misapprehensions wliicii still prevail, as, for
588 EASTER
instance, that it was originally on the 2r)th
lilarch which was true indeed of the mean
vernal equinox, but never of the true vernal
equinox. This misconception is probably due to
the fact that the 25th of March was marked as
the vernal equinox in the calendar of Julius
Caesar according to the testimony of Varro,
VUny, and Columella. We have thought it
worth while to calculate, for the purpose of this
article, and now to state, the principal posi-
tions of the vernal equinox (true) since the
Julian era.
Dates of {true) Venial Equinox for the Meridian
of Alexandria.
B.C. 45. Mar. 23 ("civil) 4*' 34™ A.M.
Ranpte from Leap-yoar to lyeap-year.
Karlie)- Limit. B.C. 45. Mar. 23 (civil) 4h 34m a.m.
Later Limit. B.C. 42. Alar. 23, lut I"" p.m.
A.D. 29. Mar. 22. 9i> 1S°> P.M.
Range from Leap-year to Leap-year.
Earlier Limit. A.D. 28. Miir. 22. S*- 29°" p.»r.
Later Limit. A.D. 31. Mar. 23 (.civil) ah SS" a.m.
A.D. 325. Mar. 20. 2i> IT"" P.M.
Range from Leap-year to Leap-year.
Earlier Limit. A.D. 324. Mar. 20 (civil) 8i> 2Sm a.m.
Later Limit. A.D. 327. Mar. 21 (civil) 1>> 54°> a.m.
Clavius, misled by the tables which he used
( Tabulae Mcolai Copernici, sue Prutenicae') placed
the Vernal Equinox at the Nicene Council, A.D.
325, or March 21st, 6'' P.M. nearly 28 hours
too late {Op. tom. v. p. 72). The 20th and 21st
are the very days to which the equinox was
brought back at the Gi-egorian correction of 1582,
when it stood at Mar. 11th (civil) 2'' lO" A.M.,
the earlier limit being Mar. 10th, 21' 32'" p.m.,
and the later ISIar. 11th (civil) 8'' A.M.
The connection of the passover with Easter is
through that particular passover at which our
Lord suffered, but so few are the chronological
details in the gospels, that it is impossible to fix
with absolute certainty either the year or the
day of the year, or perhaps even of the month
on which our Lord suffered. The full investiga-
tion of the subject would be beyond the scope of
this article.
The points which are beyond doubt are these :
I. Our Lord's death took place under the pro-
curatorship of Pontius Pilate : that is to say,
between the limits A.D. 28 and A.D. 33 inclusive.
IL It took place at the passover.
IIL All the gospels agree that it took place
on the -KapaiTKiv)), that is, on a Friday. In St.
John (xix. 14-), the ■jrapa.aKfvr] rov tracrx^ pi'o-
bably means (like irpo^Toifiarria in the Chronicon
Pasclmle i. 15) the day before the 15th Nisan,
which was in a double sense that year a Sabbath
(.lohn xix. 31), but the word was in common use
to designate the eve before the Sabbath, and
came afterwards to mean simply " Friday."
Astronomy, while furnishing valuable sugges-
tions on this important subject, is not competent
to decide absolutel)-, either for the particular
year, or between the advocates of the 14th and
of the 15th Nisan.
The history of the paschal observance in the
a])ostolic and early post-apostolic times is ex-
tremely obscure, and has been very variously
represented. There is no evidence in the New
Testament that it existed at first as an institu-
tion. The ecclesiastical historian .Socrates is no
EASTER
doubt right when he says (v, 22): "The Saviour
and His apostles have enjoined us by no law to
keep this feast .... The apostles had no thought
of appointing festival days, but of promoting a
life of blamelessness and piety. And it seems to
me that the feast of Easter has been introduced
into the Church from some old usage, just as
many other customs have been established." It
appears (from Acts xviii. 21 ; xx. 6, 16) that the
Jewish Christians and even St. Paul still ob-
served the Jewish feasts, and there can bo no
doubt that the memory of the Lord's death
would be with them the main thought of the
passover-night, and would gradually supersede
for them all other associations. On the other
hand, the passover meal had no place amongst the
habits of the Christians of Gentile descent, and
their anniversary naturally attached itself to
the first day of the week, which was observed
both by Jewish and Gentile Christians as the
weekly festival of the Lord's resurrection. When
the time of the passover came rovmd, the first
day of the week seemed to be the actual day of
the resurrection, and this day, taken together
with the preceding Friday, as the day of the
crucifixion, seemed the proper representations of
the great act of our redemption. Amongst the
Gentile Christians these institutions, with their
accompanying rules of fasting, &c., were appa-
rently very gradually developed, and the conflict
between the two usages was slow in coming.
When it came, we find the cardinal point to be
the TH)pt7v (with the Asiatic Christians), or the
yur; TTiptlv (with the Westerns), the 14th of
the moon (Nisan), and afterwards along with
this, and connected with it, the correct deter-
mination of the 14th of the moon. The point
insisted on most emphatically by the Alexan-
drians (whom the Westerns followed), was, that
it must not precede the equinox.
W^hen the Western view ultimately prevailed
in the church, those who obstinately ])ersevered
in the Asiatic custom, and were condemned as
heretics, were called Quartodecimans, and it is
usual and convenient to give the same name by
anticipation to those who observed the 14th day
of the moon in the earlier controversy.
The chief information we have is derived from
Eusebius, from several passages of Epiphanius,
treating in his work on all heresies of certain
Quartodeciman sects, and from several fragments
preserved in the Chronicon Paschale, a work of
about 630 A.D.
The following conclusions of Bucherius from
passage in Epiphanius {Haer. Ixx.), will express
the probable course of events. " From this I
gather three things : First, that so long at least
as the first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem (those of
Jewish descent) continued, the pascha was cele-
brated everywhere by all Christians, or by a
great majority of them, according to the lunar
computation and method of the Jews. But they
continued until the year 136 A.D., or to the end
of the reign of the emperor Hadrian, when Mark
was first taken from the Gentiles to be bishop.
(Euseb. v. xii.) Secondly, that then began a
time of dissension, as Epiphanius a little before
more plainly testifies (see below). Thirdly, that
a more general method then came in, whether
the eighty-four years cycle, or the octaeteris
(amended), otherwise that reproach was un-
meaning which the Audiaui launched against the
: I
EASTER
orthodox — that they had departed from the
ancient custom," &c. We subjoin the earlier part
of the chapter which is here alluded to.
" For even from the earliest times various
controversies and dissensions were in the church
concerning this solemnity, which used yearly to
bring laughter and mockery. For some, in a
certain ardour of contention, began it before the
week, some after the week, some at the begin-
ning, some in the middle, some at the end. To
say in a word, there was a wonderful and la-
borious confusion. Nor is it unknown to
learned men, how often, at the various times
of this feast, there have arisen from the ob-
servance of a ditlerent ecclesiastical discipline,
tumults and contentions, especially in the time
of Polycarp and Victor, when the Easterns and
Westerns would receive no mutual letters of
peace. Which also happened in other times, as
in that of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and
Crescentius, how they wrote against each other
and bitterly fought. Which disputes began to
be agitated from the very times of the bishops who
had been converted to Christ from the circumci-
sion and from the sect of the Jews, even to our own
times, on which account those who had gathered
from all sides to the Nicene council, the matter
having been accurately known, with common
agreement from all, and with fitting computation
and calculation of times, order it to be kept."
Eusebius {H. E. v. 2-i) gives in a letter of
Ireuaeus the following account, relating to the
events about a.d. 160 :
" When the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in
the time of Anicetus, and they had also some
little difference of opinion with regard to other
points, they immediately came to a peaceable
understanding respecting this one, for they had
no love for mutual disputes. For neither could
Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe (/xr;
r-npelu, i.e. the 14th Nisan) inasmuch as he had
always observed it with John the disciple of our
Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had
associated ; nor could Polycarp persuade Anicetus
to observe (Trjpeii/) for he said that he ought to
follow the custom of the presbyters before him."
Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor,
and there can be no doubt that he expressed in
these words the custom of the Asiatic churches,
which was rripelv, whilst that of the Western
was /XT] rripelv. That we ought to supply after
TTjpeli', the 14th Nisan, we learn from c. 23
(referring to about a.d. 190).
"There was a considerable discussion raised
about this time, in consequence of a difference of
opinion respecting the observance of the paschal
season. The churches of all Asia, guided by
ancient tradition, thought that they were bound
to keep the 14th day of the moon, on the oc-
casion of the feast of the Saviour's passover,
that day on which the Jews had been commanded
to kill the paschal lamb, it being necessary fur
them by all means to regulate the close of the
fast by that day, on whatever day of the week
it might happen to fall ; while it was the custom
of all the churches of all the rest of the world,
which observed in this respect an apostolic tra-
dition that has prevailed down to our own time,
not to celebrate it in this manner, it being
proper to close the fiist on no other day than
that of the resurrection of our Lord."
" The bishops, however, of Asia " (he continues
EASTER
589
in the 24tli chap.) " persevering in observing the
custom handed down to them from their fathers,
were headed by Polycrates. He, indeed, had
also set forth the tradition handed down to
them, in a letter which he addressed to Victor
and the church of Rome. ' We,' said he, ' there-
fore observe the genuine day : neither adding
thereto, nor taking therefrom. For in Asia
great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise
again in the day of the Lord's appearing ....
All these observed the 14th day of the passover
according to the gospel, deviating in no respect,
but following the rule of faith ; so also do I,
Polycrates, who am the least of all of you, ac-
cording to the tradition of my relatives, some of
whom I have followed. For there were seven of
my relatives bishops, and I am the eighth ; and
my relatives always observed the day when the
people (i.e. the Jews) threw away the leaven.'"
" Upon this, Victor, the bishop of the chui-<;h
of Rome, forthwith endeavoured to cut off' the
churches of all Asia, together with the neigh-
bouring churches, as heterodox, from the com-
mon unity. And he publishes abroad by letters,
and proclaims that all the brethren there are
wholly excommunicated."
Many bishops, however, remonstrated, amongst
others Irenaeus, who wrote an epistle, in which
he maintains the duty of celebrating the mys-
tery of the resurrection of our Lord, only on the
day of the Lord ; but admonishes Victor not to
cut off whole churches of God, who observed the
tradition of an ancient custom.
In chap. XXV. Eusebius explains that the bishops
of Palestine agreed with the decree, and stated
that they observed the same day with the church
of Alexandria, an important point, for Alexandria
is to be looked on, along with the churches of
Rome and Asia Minor, as the third, and ulti-
mately the most important, influence in regu-
lating Easter.
Considering how much has been written re-
specting the Asia Minor controversies in modern
times, it is material to observe that the state-
ments of Eusebius and the whole course of the
controversy, leave no doubt of the observance of
the 14th day of the moon. No other day comes
into consideration. Thus the facts are settled ;
to judge of the motives from which the day
was kept is, howevei-, more difficult. Various
reasons might easily be alleged for the observ-
ance of this day: those who thought that our
Lord died on the 14th Nisan, might keep it (as
we believe) as the anniversary of our Lord's
death, or even if they desired to keep the anni-
versary of the last supper, knowing that that
su])per, which was by intention a passover, was
only anticipated in point of time by necessity,
might revert to its legal time of celebration,
whilst those who thought that our Lord died on
the 15th Nisan, might yet kee]) the 14th (as Baur
and Hilgenfeld allege) in memory of the supper.
That St. John found at E])hesus a festival on
the 14th and joined in it, and gave it the weight
of his authority, in no way militates, then,
against his authorship of the gospel, that fixes
the 14th Nisan for the crucifixion, even though
it were true that the other chronology had
originally prevailed there.
The argument of Baur, and all the members
of the Tubingen school, is as follows: — 'I'lie
Asiatics celebrated the 14th Nisan bv an ad-
590
EASTER
ministration of the Lord's supper, in comme-
moration of the passover which Jesus liail on
that same day, immediately before his deatli,
eaten with his disciples. The Asiatic church,
therefore, believed that Jesus ate on the evening
of the 14th, and that he died on the 15th, and
it believed this, according to unimpeachable
testimony, on the authority of the apostle John.
But now, what says the 4th gospel ? According
to it, the celebration of the last supper by our
Lord took place, not upon the 14th Nisan, but
upon the evening of the day previous, the loth,
while Jesus dies upon the cross upon the 14th,
and therefore before the passover of the law
could have been partaken of. The conclusion
is obvious. The apostle who is the great au-
thority for the Asiatic, cannot possibly be the
author of the gospel, which speaks unmistakeably
for the western practice.
There is a simplicity and coherence in the
Tubingen theory, as expanded at length in Hil-
genfeld's Faschastreit der alien Kirclie, which
gives it a very strong hold upon the mind. But
it rests upon more than one untenable assump-
tion. Thus it assumes that the Asiatic Christians
kept the 14th evening as the anniversary of the
last supper. There is not, however, any hint of
this in the most important narratives of the
controversy, and the plain natural view is that
the 14th Nisan was observed in Asia by fasting
in memory of the death of Jesus ; while a com-
munion feast in the evening commemorated a
completed redemption. The fact of the fasting,
to which both Irenaeus and Eusebius bear wit-
ness, is of itself a testimony that it was the
solemn memory of the death of our Lord that
was observed. Fasting in anticipation of the
eucharist, belongs altogether to a later period,
as is truly observed in Steitz's article inHerzog's
Beal-Enoyclopadie. [Communion, Holy, p. 417.]
Between these controversies, that of Auicetus
and Polycarp (about 160 A.D.), and that of
Victor and Polycrates (190 A.D.), there occurred
another in Laodicea (between 170 A.D. and 177
A.D.), which has become of late the very turning-
point of the whole discussion, but about which
Eusebius affords us no further infoi-mation than
what follows {H. E. iv. 26). " Of Melito, there
are the two works on the passover .... In the
works on the passover he shews the time in
which he wrote it, beginning with these woi-ds :
— ' When Servilius Paulus was proconsul of
Asia, at which time Sagaris suffered martyr-
dom, there was much discussion in Laodicea
respecting the passover, which occurred at that
time in its proper season, and in which also
these works were written.' This work is also
mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, in his own
work on the passover, which, he saj-s, he wrote
on occasion of Melito's work (e| aiVias t^s rov
MfKiTwvos ypacpr^s)."
But with this dispute are connected, probably
rightly, the two following fragments of Apol-
linaris, bishop of Hierapolis, given in the C/uv-
nicon Paschcde:
1. " There are some who now, through igno-
rance, love to raise controversy about these
things, being guilty in this of a pardonable
offence, for ignorance does not so much deserve
blame as need instruction. And they say that
on the 14th the Lord ate the lamb with his
disciples, but that He himself suffered on the
EASTER
great day of unleavened bread ; and they in-
terpret Matthew as favouring their view, from
which it appears that their sentiments are not
in harmony with the law, and that the gospels
seem, according to them, to be at v.ariance."
Again, " The 14th is the true passover of the
Lord, the great sacrifice, instead of the lamb the
Son of God, .... who was lifted up iipou the
horns of the unicorn, and was pierced in his sacred
side, who shed out of his side the two cleansing
elements, water and blood, word and spirit, and
who was buried on the day of the passover, the
stone having been placed upon his tomb."
We know very little of ApoUinaris. Eusebius
tells us that he was the author of an Apology for
the Christians, addressed to the emperor, and
that he was an eloquent writer against the
Phrygian, Cataphrygian, and other Montanists,
and wrote two works against the Jews : but we
are left to conjecture who those opponents were
against whom he was arguing in the work from
which these fragments are taken.
With these fragments are associated quotations
from Hippolytus and Clement of Alexandria : —
"Hippolytus, the witness of religion, who was
bishop of the so-called Portus, near Rome, has
written literally thus in his Treatise against
all the Heresies : ' I therefore see that there is
a contentiousness in this affair. For he {i.e.
the adversary, the Quarto-deciman) says thus:
Christ celebrated the passover on that very day,
and suffered : I therefore must also do as the
Lord did.' But he is wrong from not knowing
that, when Christ sufl["ered, he did not eat the
passover according to the law. For He was the
passover that had been foretold, and which was
accomplished on the day appointed."
And again the same (Hippolytus) saj's in the
Treatise on the Passover : '■ He did not eat the
passover, but he suff'cred {i.e. as the passover)
oiiK e<pay€v, aW' eiraOev."
Another passage from Clement of Alexandria,
in his work concerning the passover : " In the pre-
ceding years then the Lord keeping the passover
ate that which was slain by the Jews: but
when he pi-oclaimed himself to be the passover,
the Lamb of God, led as a sheep to the slaughter,
immediately he taught his disciples the mystery
of the type on the 13th, on which also they ask of
him. Where wilt thou that we make ready to
eat the passover, .... but the Saviour suf-
fered on the next day, being himself the passover
. . . ." See also Fhilosophumena, 274-5.
These fragments are given because they ofl^er
almost the entire evidence on which we have to
fix the place of the Laodicean interlude. Hilgen-
feld views ApoUinaris as a representative of the
West, through whom Western influence has
gained a footing in the heart of Asia. His oppo-
nent is directly Melito, but Melito as the repre-
sentative of the whole body of Asiatic Christians.
Now that ApoUinaris is in the greatest har-
mony with the Roman and Alexandrian writers
whose fragments are associated with him in the
Chr<micon Fascfwle, is manifest : there is great
probability also in the conjecture that he, like
Clement, wrote on the occasion of Melito's work,
and the absence of his name from the list of
Polycrates suggests some discordance between
his views and those of Polycrates. But he
writes against certain persons who are creating
a disturbance, not against the quietly existing
EASTER
ancient ciistom, nearly universal around him :
he seems to obsei-ve the 14th himself, and when
we notice the characteristics of his writings as
directed against the Phrygians, Cataphrygians,
and other Montanists, and against the Jews
(Euseb. //. E. iv. 27), we may see ground for
suspecting that his real antagonist was such a
man as Blastus (perhaps the very man) who,
about 180, carried Montanism from Asia Minor
to Fiome and there provoked the opposition of
the church, which is extremely likely to have
stirred up Victor's crusade against the customs
of Asia Minor. We know that Hippolytus, as
well as Irenaeus, wrote against Blastus, and
although Melito's work may have occasioned
that of Apollinaris, Eusebius would hardly have
noticed them together, as he does, as fellow-
helpers in the church, if they occupied so marked
au antagonistic position as has been supposed.
We have already seen from Epiphanius that a
diversity of usages continued to prevail until
the Nicene council. At that council the Western
usage may be said to have established its victory,
and those who still persisted in the Asiatic
practice fell into the position of heretics. We
find in the letter of the emperor Constantine
to the churches after that council (Socr. H. E.
i. 9) : " There also the question having been con-
sidered relative to the most holy day of Easter,
it was determined by common consent that it
would be proper that all should celebrate it on
one and the same day everywhere." Also that
" it seemed very unsuitable in the celebration of
this sacred feast, that we should follow the
custom of the Jews," .... who, labouring under
a judicial blindness, "even in this particular
do not perceive the truth, so that they, con-
stantly erring in the utmost degree, celebrate
the feast of passover a second time in the same
year." This of course refers to the error of
celebrating before the equinox. " Consider how
grievous and indecorous it is, that on the same
days some should be observant of fasts, while
others are celebrating feasts ; and especially that
this should be the case oa the days immediately
after Easter. On this account, therefore, Divine
Providence directed that an appropriate cor-
rection should be effected, and uniformity of
practice established, as I suppose you are all
aware." (This refers to the determination of
the equinox, which was settled to be on the 21st
March, although, as we have shown above, the
20th was the proper day, as it only happened once
in four years on the 21st, and then at 2 a.m.)
" And since the order is a becoming one, which
is observed by all the churches of the western,
southern, and northern parts, and by some also
in the eastern : from these considerations all have
on the present occasion thought it to be expe-
dient, and 1 pledged myself that it would be
satisfactory to your prudent penetration, that
what is observed with such general unanimity
of sentiment in the city of Rome, throughout
Italy, Africa, all Egypt, Spain, France, Britain,
Libya, the whole of Greece, and the dioceses of
Asia, Pontus and Cilicia, your intelligence would
also concur in." The epistle of the synod to
the church of Alexandria speaks in the like
terms (see Socr. i. 9): " We have also gi-atifying
intelligence to communicate to you relative to
nnitv of judgment on the subject of the most
holy" feast of Easter: for this point also has been
EASTER
591
hap]>ily settled through vour jiravers ; so that
all the brethren in the Eait who have heretofore
ke])t this festival when the Jews did, will hence-
forth conform to the Romans and to us, and to
all who from the earliest time have observed our
period of celebrating Easter." (See also Euseb.
Life of Constantine.)
It is to be noted that no rule is here given
for determining Easter; the churches are re-
ferred to the ancient rule of the West.
It has been often stated that the council esta-
blished a particular cycle, that of nineteen years,
but this is a mistake.
Epiphanius mentions three different sets of
so-called heretics, who persisted in the Quarto-
decinian usage, viz. the Audiani {Haerea. Ixx.),
the Alogi (li.), and the Quarto-decimans (1.), the
last being orthodox in all respects except this. •
It is unnecessary to follow out further the
history of the decline of the Quarto-decimans.
We must now give some brief account of what
is known respecting the various astronomical
cycles employed for the determination of Easter.
The use of cycles was very familiar to the an-
cient astronomers. It arose out of the neces-
sity, when lunar months were in use (as at
Athens) of linking together in some manner the
changes of the moon and the sun. They all
rested upon the mean motions of the moon,
which was not only all that could be exactly
calculated in the state of their astronomical
knowledge, but which is in fact all that can bo
used with advantage for the arrangement of
ceremonies and festival-days. The object was
to find a period which should contain an exact
number of lunations and also of tropical years —
the former consisting of 29 d. -5305887 or 29 d.
12 h. 44 m. 2s. -865.
1. The most ancient cycle was the Octaeteris,
or cycle of 8 years. It depends on the fact, that
8 tropical years are nearly equal to 99 lunations.
The 99 months contained 2922 days, three of the
8 years having embolisms or intercalary months,
as follows. The first year of the period seems
to have been variously taken : I. being the ar-
rangement given by Geminus ; II. by Epiphanius ;
whilst III. is that adopted in Scaliger's account
of this cycle, the letter E denoting the embo-
lism.
I. II.
12 3 4 5 6 7 8
E E E
12 3 4 5 6 7 8
E E E
in.
12 3 4 5 6 7 8
E E E
The months were full (30 days) and hollow (29)
by turns, except the intercalary, wliich were
always full. This is exactly 8 years of 365 J
days. But neither the lunation nor the year is
here taken at its true value, and the 8 years
really fall short of 99 lunations by 1 d. 14 h.
10 m. — an error which would soon accumulate
and make the cycle useless,
Cleostratus, Eratosthenes, and others made
various changes for the correction of this cycle,
which still however remained imperfect.
2. A great improvement upon this was the
592 EASTER
cycle of 19 years ascribed by Geminus to Eucte-
mon, but generally to Meton, about 432 B.c
This rests on the extremely close relation be-
tween the length of 19 years and 235 lunations.
19 years = 6939-60256 days,
235 lunat. = 6939-688348 days,
a difference of about 2 h. 3 m. The actual ar
rangenient was that out of 235 months 110 were
hollow, making 6940 days, being m excess of 235
lunations by H hours. In the course of 4 Me-
tonic periods the accumulation of errors would
be 30 hours, and accordingly Calippus proposed
then to leave out 1 more day. There was then
an excess of 6 h. only in 76 years or of 1 day in
310 years. This period of 76 years is called the
Calippic period.
The first Paschal cycle in use seems to have
been the Octaeteris. Epiphanius refers to it (Ilaer.
Ixv.), and appeals to it in his argument with
the Audiani in such a manner as to imply tliat
they were right in holding this to be the ancient
church cycle : on which account he would rather
rest his argument upon it than upon the superior
cycle of 19 years, which must have been familiar
to him. Eusebius also mentions (vii. 20) that
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, in one of his
Paschal letters gives a canon for 8 years, seem-
ing to imply the use of the Octaeteris (about
250 A.D.).
The Paschal cycle of 112 years of St. Hip-
polytus attained some celebrity and was inscribed
on the chair of his statue, discovered at Rome in
1551, and now in the Vatican. It was based on a
double Octaeteris of 16 years, repeated 7 times:
St. Hippolytus having observed that by using 16
years, instead of 8, the week-days recurred in
succession, though in their natural order re-
versed. It extends from a.d. 222 to a.d. 333,
and was evidently constructed about 222 A.D.
and was based upon the period of years 215 to
222 A.D. for which period it is correct. Beyond
this its defective nature soon appears, and after
another period it would be found to be worthless.
It may be seen in Fabricius's Jlippoli/tus. See
also Ideler, ii. 222, and Ordo Saeclorum, p. 477.
The Paschal canon of St. Cyprian, called the
Computus Paschalis, which is extant, but without
the table, was a repeat of St. Hippolytus, with a
new start from A.D. 242, based on the 16 vears
from 228 to 243.
3. When the Western church discovered the
defective nature of the Octaeteris, they took up
or perhaps returned to a cycle of 84 years,
which was employed by, according to Epiphanius
and Cyril's Prologue in Bucherius, the Jews (per-
haps after the fall of Jerusalem), then probablyby
some Quarto-decimans, and also by some Latins,
for Cyril in his Prologue implies that the 84
years cycle was forsaken for that of Hippolytus,
saying, " pejus aliquid addiderunt."
The 84 years cycle may be regarded as con-
sisting of a Calippic period of 76 years (with the
correction of 1 day) and a single Octaeteris : and
as their errors are in opposite directions, it has a
less error in 84 years than the Octaeteris had in
8. Both Epiphanius and Cyril ascribe it to the
Jews, and the fact that, 84 being a multiple
of 7, the Calendar moons would recur on the
same days of the week in each period, would
doubtless give it a value in their eyes. However
EASTER
this may be, it became undoubtedly the gi-eat
cycle of the Latin church, for more than two
centuries, till it was superseded by the cycle of
Victorius of 532 years, published in the year
457. An 84-year Easter-table of the Latin
church may be seen in Ideler, ii. 249, con-
structed from a " Fasti Consulares," discovered
by Cardinal Noris, and beginning with the year
298. Wuratori published another in his Anec-
data ex Ambrosi mae Bibllothecae Codicibus. In
both these it appears that the Epacts and week-
days of the 1st January were employed for the
determination of Easter. Bucherius also gives
' The Latin or Prosper's cycle of 84 Years,' be-
ginning at 382. Since 84 Julian years contain
30681 days, and 1039 lunations 30682 d. 6 h.
48 m., the 84-year cycle gives at its conclusion
the new moon 30 hours too earl5\
It may be right here to mention the fact that
Epiphanius, believing that the Jews had this
84 years cycle at the time of our Saviour's cruci-
fixion (for which there is no evidence in Jewish
writers), argues at length {Haer. Ii.) that, this
cycle being shorter than the moon's true cycle
(he means probably the Alexandrian) the Jews
anticipated the proper time of the passover by
two days in the year of the Passion, and Bu-
cherius believes that he is in the main right,
and reasons quite correctly from his premisses
that, if the Alexandrian cycle and 84-year cycle
started together B.C. 161, the latter was 3 days
in advance of the moon and the former 1 day.
And Bucherius holds, in agreement with Peta-
vius, that there was a division amongst the Jews
as to these two calculations, the Pharisees and
priests keeping the passover one day later than
our Lord and his disciples. and a great part of
the nation.
There is, however, a great fallacy in these
calculations. The cycles give, of necessity, not
the true moon of the heavens, but the mean moon,
and it does not at all follow that, because on the
whole they give a good representation of the mean
moon, that therefore they give the true mean
moon in any particular year. On the contj-ary,
they all go by fits and starts, according as the em-
bolism has just taken place or not ; and it requii-es
not a general calculation, but an exact knowledge
of the state of the cycle, starting from some ab-
solutely certain date, before we can argue with
any certainty from such cycles. We have above
expressed the belief that the Jews, having been
for many centuries accustomed to the feasts of
the New Moon, did not allow any cycle to carry
them away from a close adherence to the actual
phase of the moon. And we may add that having
examined the three best attested dates — that of
the taking of Jerusalem by Pompey, B.C. 64, on the
day of the Fast (10 Tisri) according to Josephus,
and according to Dion Cassius, on a Sabbath ;
the setting of the Temple on fire, the 9th Ab or
Lous A.D. 70, a Sabbath ; and the taking of Jeru-
salem by Titus on the 8th Gorpiaeus, or Elul,
according to Josephus — again a Sabbath, accord-
ing to Dion Cassius, we find that the phase ot
the moon gives in each case, without any ambi-
guity and without any doubt, these very days,
viz. B.C. 64, Oct. 4, Saturday ; Aug. 4, A.D. 70,
Saturday, and September 1, a.d. 70, Saturday.
The investigation of a few such cases creates
a vivid impression that wt are on firm ground.
A number of other cases, of a more conjectural
EASTER
character, may be seeu in Browne's Ordo Saeclo-
rum, p. 538.
The following results fire taken fi-om the 84-
year cycle in Ideler, ti. 249, already referred to.
EASTER
503
I
2
3
4
5
Tabular
Real Age of Moon
Day.
Age of Moon.
(by Phase)
on Friday.
448
4 Apr.
XVI
28
XIX
449
27 Mar.
XIX
29
XXI
450
16 Apr.
XX
30
XXII
451
1 Apr.
XVI
31
XVIII
452
23 Mar.
XVill
32
XX
453
12 Apr.
XIX
3?
XXII
Thus whilst the 3rd column is correct for the
years A.D. 448-453, it is erroneous by 4 or 5
days for A.D. 28-33. It is remarkable that it
gives Mar. 25 for Good Friday A.D. 29, like
Hippolytus's cycle.
We have now to trace the history of the 19-
years or Metonic cycle in the church, and its
final triumph.
The Metonic cycle and the Calippic period had
long been known to the Alexandrians, and had
been in use in Syria and adjacent countries, so
that it is remarkable that we hear of the Octa-
eteris rather than this cycle as having been first
in use, even at Alexandria.
Anatolius, bishop of Laodicea about 284, by
birth an Alexandrian, enjoys the credit, on the
authority of Eusebius (vii. 32) of having been the
first to arrange the 19-years cycle for ecclesi-
astical purposes. But the passage has greatly
perplexed the commentators, and has called forth
elaborate attempts at explanation or eniendation
from Petavius and others. For Anatolius declares
tfiat the sun "is not entering the first segment
(of the zodiac) on the 22nd March, where he
places the New Moon of the 1st year of the
cycle, but is already on the fourth day passing
through it. But this segment they generally call
the first dodecatemorium, and the equinox, and
the beginning of the months, &c.'' Unless we
are to reject all that is said about Anatolius's
knowledge and ability, we must take him to
mean that the equinox fell on the 22nd, but that
the sun was not then at the beginning of the
zodiacal sign, but four days advanced in it. This
is quite in consonance with the statements of
Pliny (xviii. c. 25) and Columella (ix. 13), who
after Eudoxus place the equinoxes and solstices
at the 8th part of the signs. But the account
respecting Anatolius is further complicated by
the existence of a Canon Paschalis attributed
to him, which exercised great influence in the
British church, but which, if it is identical with
that given in Bucherius, was certainly forged. It
is strange, too, that so little is heard of the cycle
for some time afterwards. But the 19-year cycle
probably gradually made its way at Alexandria,
only it was found that something more than a
cycle was wanted to insure uniformity. An actual
catalogue of results was necessary. So Theo-
philus, bishop of Alexandria (385-412) framed
at the command of Theodosius a cycle (or actual
calendar) of 418 years (19 X 22), which St. Cyril,
who succeeded him in that see in 412, shortened
into a cycle of 95 years (19 X 5) for convenience'
sake. Part only of St. Cyril's Cmnputus Paschalis
remains, but his Prolnipie survives in a Latin
translation (in Bucherius). Tiieopliilus had laid
CHRIST. ANT.
down distinctly the rule that when the xiv oi
the 'noon falls on Sunday, Easter-day is the Sun-
day after ; and Cyril states distinctly that Easter
may fall on any of the 35 days from March 22 to
April 25, our modern mode. In fact, the two
chief sources of discrepancy after the Nicene
council were these : the Latins often celebrated
on the Sunday on which the xiv fell, while the
Alexandrians waited a week ; and the Latins
made the 18th March the first day on which the
xiv could fiill, whilst the Alexandrians made
their limit the 21st March. They both agreed
that as the passover was to be kept in the first
month, faster was to follow the same rule ; but
the Latins made (as Bucherius, &c. think the
Jews did) the 5th March the earliest possible
day of the 1st month, whilst the Alexandrians,
holding firmly the doctrine that the xiv must not
fall before the equinox, that is, according to their
rules, the 21st March, made the 8th March the
1st possible day of the month. The Alexandrian
rules, as we shall see, ultimately prevailed.
It seems to be now the time to explain the
actual method employed by the Alexandrians.
The years of the cycle of 19 years being num-
bered iu order, the number of any given year
was called the Golden Number. So also the
letters A B C D E F G being written against all
the days of the year in succession, the letter A
being placed against the first of January, the
same letter will stand against any given week-
day throughout the year, except in Leap-year,
when a change will take place after the inter-
calary day. The letter which stands against all
the Sundays is called the Sunday Letter.
Again, the day on which the 14th of the equi-
nox moon falls is called the Easter Term. As the
Easter Terms recur every 19 years, the knowledge
of the Golden Number gives the Easter Term,
and if we know the Sunday Letter we can pass
on from the Easter Term, it's letter being known,
to the next Sunday, which will be Easter Day.
Rule 1. To find the Golden Number. Add 1
to the numeral of the year, and divide by 19.
The remainder is the Golden Number ; when there
is no remainder, 19 is the Golden Number.
Rule 2. To find the Sunday Letter. To the
numeral of the year, add its quotient on dividing
by 4, and also the number 4 ; divide the sum by
7, and subtract the remainder from 7. This will
designate the place of the Sunday Letter in the
alphabet. Ex. : 325 -f 81 + 4 = 410 ; 410 -^ 7
leaves remainder 4 ; the 3rd letter C is the Sun-
day Letter. In Leap-year the earlier two months
of the year have the letter next succeeding.
The following Table will now suffice to find
the Alexandrian Easter (old style).
Golden
Nos.
Easter Terms.
Golden
Nos.
Easter Terms.
5 Apr. D
11
15 Apr. G
25 Mar. G
12
4 Apr. C
13 Apr. K
13
24 T\Iar. F
2 Apr. A
14
12 Apr. D
22 Mar. ])
15
1 Apr. G
10 Apr. B
Ifi
21 Mar. C
30 Mar. E
17
9 Apr. A
18 Apr. C
18
29 Jlar. I»
7 Apr. F
19
17 Apr. B
lu
27 Mar. 15
■ 20
:, Apr. n
^•a;.— A.D. 29. Golden number=:ll. Snnday Letter B.
Easter Term, 15th April. Kaster Day=l7th April.
2 g
594
EASTER
It must not be supposed, however, that the
subject was always regarded from this simple
point of view. It was approached with old tra-
ditionary notions, so that the 19 years was spoken
of as made up of 8 and 11— and the years were
thought of as lunar years with embolisms — and
as it happened that the Latins began their cycles
3 years later than the Alexandrians, and so in-
serted embolisms in diflerent years, this again
was a cause of discrepancy.
Alexandrian cycle :
10 11 13 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2 3 4 5 6 7
Western cycle :
17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11 12 13 14 15 16
We give at the same time the order of the
cycle of Victorius :
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
E E B E E K E
During the popedom of Leo the Great doubts
occurred, in the year 444 A.D., and 455 a.d., as
to the proper day of celebrating Easter. Leo wrote
to St. Cyril to enquire respecting 444, who
answered that the day was April 23, propter
rationera embolismi anni (not 26 March, as the
Latins made it). It was 8 of the lunar cycle of
the Alexandrians, 18 of Victorius' cycle. Leo
acquiesced.
In 455 the contention was greater. Here it
was not a question of a montli, but of a week.
The Latins by the 84-year cycle made it April
17 ; the Alexandrians April 24.
Leo then wrote to Martian, emperor of the
East, and to Eudocia Augusta, in which he asks
them to interfere that the Alexandrians may not
name April 24, alleging that the viii. kal. Maii
is beyond the ancient limits. The emperor made
enquiry of certain eastern bishops and of the
Alexandrians, and Leo finally yielded for the sake
of peace. In the matter of these limits the Alex-
andrians were always firm, allowing the 14th of
the moon to range from March 21 to April 18,
Easter-day from March 22 to April 25 ; while
the Westerns had shown much vacillation. Their
old 14th day limits were March 18 and April 21,
then the council of Caesarea (A.D. 195) laid down
as the limits of Easter-day March 22 and April
21, alleging that the crucifixion was on March 22.
This authority, together with that of the Nicene
council. orde}ing that Easter should not be kept
before the equinox, led the Latins to yield the
first limit ; then Leo extended the 2nd limit two
davs, by understanding April 21 of the cruci-
fixion, thus getting March 22 to April 23, 33
days. Finally the Latins had to yield 2 days
more. But the Latins would only keep Easter
from the 16th to the 22nd of the moon, so that
tlie passion might be on the 14th, whereas the
Alexandrians often kept Easter on the 15th. In
the year 463 Victorius (or Victorinus) of Aqui-
taiue, an abbot at Rome, was employed by pope
Hilary to correct the calendar, and he was the real
author of the cycle of 532 years, found by mul-
tiplying together 19, the cycle of the moon, and
28, the cycle of the sun. Thus, on the suppo-
sition of the perfect accuracy of the 19-years
cycle, all full moons, days of the week, &c.,
would recur in the same order from cycle to
cycle, for ever. The cycle is given in Bucherius :
It begins at a.d. 239 and ends 770. Some days
EASTER
are marked, as differently taken by the Alex
andrians and Latins, for Victorius commenced
the cycle at the 11th year of the Alexandrian
cycle, and also still adhered to the above-men-
tioned Latin rules.
There were many errors in his tables, and the
revision of it by Dionysius Exiguus obtained for
it the name of the Dionysian cycle, transferring
to Dionysius most of the merit which belonged
to Victorius.
But what Dionysius really did was to continue
the 95-year cycle of St. Cyril, and he also induced
the Italians to accept fully the Alexandrian rules.
He also abandoned the era of Diocletian, and waa
the first to introduce the modern Christian ei-a,
reckoning from the supposed date of the birth
of Christ. Victorius had made his cycle begin
from the baptism, a.d. 28.
But the Easter table of Victorius long held its
ground in Gaul. In the council of Orleans (541)
it was ordered that all should observe Easter
according to the laterculus Victorii, and Gregory
of Tours says of A.D. 577 : " In that year there
was a doubt about Easter. In Gaul we, with
many other cities, celebrated Easter on the 14th
Calends of May: others with the Spaniards on
the r2th Calends of April. The former was Vic-
torius's date: the Alexandrians kept Easter a
week later, the Spaniards four weeks earlier."
It is only at the end of the 8th century that
traces of such differences disappear in Gaul.
(Ideler, iii. 294.)
The 84-yeai-s cycle lasted longer in Britain
than elsewhere : and the bitter controversies
which were carried on for a long time between
the new English church, founded by the mission
of Augustine, and the ancient British church
were entirely due to the persistence of the Britis^l
clergy in clinging to the old cycle of 84 yeai's
(see the letter of Althelmus Anglus Episcopus,
about 700 A.D. in Bucherius) and old tradition-
ary maxims respecting the paschal limits.
They kept the festival from the 14th of the
moon to the 20th : they placed the equinox on
the 25th March, and would keep no festival
before it, and they used as the later limit of
the festival the old limit of the Latins, the 21st
April.
For these rules they appealed to tradition and
the example of St. John, and also repeatedly to
the authority of Anatolius. The discussion almost
always turns in Bede's narrative, and in the letters
preserved, on this point : — Is the festival to ))e
kept from the 14th to the 20th of the moon (with
the British church), or from the 15th to the 21st
(with the Roman) ? And as the battle turned
so largely on the 14th of the moon, the partisans
of the Roman use tried to fix on the British
clergy the name of Quartodecimans, and so the
stigma of heresy. But they were in no real
sense Quartodecimans. They observed the Easter
festival on a Sunday and kept the Friday before
it, not keeping, as did the Christians of Asia Minor,
the 14th of the moon, fall when it might :
nor is there any ground for connecting them, on
the supposition of their being Quartodecimans,
with Asia Minor. As we have mentioned before,
the spurious canon of Anatolius, given in Bu-
cherius;, was perhaps designed to support the
cause of the British Christians. And there is
srround for supposing that the laterculus
of 100 years.
kicherius, may have be-
EASTER, CEREMONIES OF
longed to the British church, as it t;ills in witli
their principles.
Frequently as the differences respecting Easter
are mentioned in Bede {Eccl. Hist.), there are
unfortunately no dates given which can throw
further light on these discrepancies ; but the
statement respecting Queen Eanfleda and her fol-
lowers as still fasting and keeping Palm Sunday,
when King Oswy had done fasting and was keeping
his Easter, must refer to some year not ftir from
651 ; and the xiv of the moon fell on Sunday in
645, 647, 648, and 651.
The Roman use finally prevailed in England.
Archbishop Theodore, a.d. 669, is believed to
have arranged everything according to Roman
customs, and from that time general uniformity
existed. Nothing further of importance occurred
respecting Easter until the Gregorian reformation
of the calendar, by which time the accumulated
errors arising from the Ij hrs. excess of the
19-years cycle made the calendar moon about
four days later than the real moon. [L. H.]
EASTER, Ceremonies of. The season of
Easter, as the epoch of the great redemptive acts
by which the salvation of mankind was consum-
mated, was from a very early period observed
with special solemnity by the Christian church.
The Paschal season originally extended over fif-
teen days, of which Easter Day was the central
point, commencing with Palm Sunday and ter-
minating with Low Sunday. The "first week
was known as traax"- (Travpaiffifiov, the second
week as irdaxa avaaTdai/xov (Suicer, sub roc).
Leaving to other articles the solemnities of the
former" period [Palm Sunday: Good Friday]
we propose to speak of those of the period of
Easter, properly so called.
Easter Eve. — This day was known by a variety
of titles in the early church — rh jxiya ffd^^arov,
tI ayiov (TOL^^aTov, vvl ayyeAiKr] (Pallad.), Sabba-
tum Magnum,'' Dies yiijiliarum Easchae. (Hieron.),
rifj.fpa T7)s v(TTdT7isT0inrd(rx°- ■irai'>'i'X'5os(Euseb.
vi. 34). It had a double character, penitential
and jubilant ; as the conclusion of the great
Lenten Fast, and as the prelude of the Festival
of the Resyrrection. This was the only Sab-
bath in the 'whole year on which f;isting was
permitted {Afostol. Ccmstit. vii. 23). The fast of
Easter Eve was of the strictest character, and
was prolonged at least till midnight. Good Friday
and Easter Eve being a continuous fast, in sup-
posed obedience to our Lord's words (Matt. ix. 15).
The Apostolical Constitutions enjoin fasting till
cockcrow {Ap. Const, v. 18). The synod of
Auxerre,A.D. 578 {Can. xi.) forbids the breaking
of the fost till the second hour of the night.
The 89th Trullan canon {Concil. Quinisext. Labbe,
vi. 1180) limits the fasting at midnight. Jerome
assigns as a reason for the congregation not being
dismissed on Easter Eve till after midnight, that
even as the Paschal deliverance of Israel took
place at midnight (Exod. xii. 29) it was the
expectation of the church, according to apo-
stolical tradition, that Christ would return to
» The earliest instance of the use of this designation for
Easter Eve is in the letter of the church of Smyrna de-
tailing the martyrdom of Polycarp (Euseb. iv. 15. 12).
The day on which Polycarp was apprehended is described
as " the Great Sabbath "—ovtos aa^Parov fxeydkov^ The
term is evidently borrowed from John xix. 31. 171' yap
li.eya.\r) r) rjfiepa eKCUi} Tov aafiPajov.
EASTER, CEREMONIES OF 595
accomplish the redemption of His church and
triumph over her enemies at the same hour.
That hour being passed, the awe with which the
Lord's coming was anticipated being relieved, the
Easter Feast was celebrated with universal joy
(Hieron. In Matt. xxv. G). The same belief is
mentioned by Lactantius(M't). Inst. vii. 19), when
he speaks of the night being passed in watchful-
ness on account of the coming of our King and
God. We have evidence that in Tertullian's time
it was spent in public worship, when he speaks
of the dilKculty which would be caused by the
absence of a Christian wife from her heathen
husband during the whole night at the time of
the paschal solemnities (Tert. ad Uxor. ii. 4). As
the night advanced and Easter drew nearer all
sign of mourning was laid aside for the highest
festal jubilee. One special solemnity indicating
the festival character of this night was the light-
ing of lamps and candles, a custom which is
repeatedly referred to by writers from the 4th
century downwards. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his in-
troductory Catechetical lecture (§ 15), speaks of
" that night, that darkness that shows like day,"
and Eusebius records {De Vit. Const, iv. 22) that
Constantine observed Easter Eve with such pomp
that " he turned the saci'ed or mystical vigil into
the light of day " by means of lamps suspended
in every part, and setting up huge waxen tapers
as big as columns (ktjpoO KLOvas v\^7j)^ or drovs),
through the whole city. We find a reference to
the same custom in Gregory Nazianzen {Oral.
xlii. Ee Easch.}, who speaks of persons of all
ranks, even magistrates and men and ladies of
rank, carrying lamps, and setting up tapers,
both at home and in the churches, thus turning
night into day ; and again {Orat. xliii.) describes
this Upa yv^, as a " torch-bearing " (SaSovxia),
being as it were a irpoSpofj-os or forerunner of
the rising of the great light, Christ. Gregory
Nyssen also describes the brilliancy of the illu-
mination as a cloud of fire mingling with the
dawning rays of the sun, and making the eve and
the festival one continuous day without any inter-
val of darkness (/« Christ. Eesurr. Orat. v.) From
the poem of Prudentius {Hymn. v. ad Incensum
cerei Easchalis, 141-148) we learn that the church
was illuminated with lamps depending from the
roof, reminding the spectator of the starry firma-
irient. In later times one special wax taper of
large size was solemnly blessed, as a type of
Christ's rising from the dead to give light to the
world. The institution of this custom was attri-
buted to pope Zosimus A.D. 417 [Paschal Taper].
The latter hours of the evening and the night
were spent by the assembled congregations in
united prayer and supplication, the singing of
psalms and hymns, reading the Scriptures, and
in hearkening to the exhortations of the bishop
and presbyters (Apost. Constit. v. 19; Greg. Nyss.
Orat. iv. in Christ. Resurrect.).
Easter Eve was the chief time for the baptism of
catechumens. The first seventeen catechetical lec-
tures of St. Cyril wore delivered during the weeks
before Easter to those who were preparing for
baptism at the ensuing Easter Eve, on which day
the eighteenth was pronounced {Catech. xvii. 20,
xviii. 32, 33). The nineteenth, on Easter Monday,
explains " the deep meaning of what was done
on the evening of their baptism "(xix. 1). On the
Easter Eve which succeeded Chrysostom's deposi-
tion, no fewer than "three thousand catechumens
2 Q 2
696 EASTER, CEREMONIES OF
awaited baptism at Constantinople, who were
dispersed by a body of soldiers bursting into the
baptistery, many of the female catechumens being
driven out only half dressed, having laid aside
their outer garments in preparation for the sacred
rite. The sacrament, thus brutally interrupted,
was resumed in the Baths of Constantine, where
the scattered congregation reassembled (Chrysost.
Ep. ad Innoc. i. ; Pallad. Vit. Chrys. c. 9). The
rite of baptism was preceded by the solemn bene-
diction of the water (Apost. Constit. vii. 43 ;
Tertull. De Bapt.c.4; Cyprian, £>)S<. 70 (69)).
[Baptism.]
We find in Rabanus Maurus, c. 847 (De
Ck'i-icor. Instit. ii. 28) a detailed account of the
mode of observing Easter Eve which would not
dilfer much from that of the preceding centuries.
All the congregation remained in perfect silence
and tranquillity awaiting the hour of the Resur-
rection, uniting from time to time in prayer and
psalmody. Towards nightfall the ceremonies of
the Nox Dominica began with the benediction by
the archdeacon of the paschal taper. This cere-
mony was followed by lections from the Old
Testament and pi-ayers, succeeded by the litanies
of the saints. Then followed the administration
of baptism. The white-robed neophytes ascended
from the font — "ascendit grex dealbatorum de
lavacro " — and the celebration of the eucharist
commenced, of which all were bound to partake
but the excommunicate.
Complaints of disorders consequent on these
nocturnal assemblies are found as early as the 6th
century. These scandals led first to the limitation
of the hours of the vigil, and ultimately to the
transference of the observance to the daytime.
Easter-Day. — Although nothing could exceed
the honour paid to the Feast of the Resurrec-
tion by the early church, by which it was
justly regarded as the chief festival of the
whole year, there is very little to say respect-
ing the mode in which was observed. The
high-sounding titles with which the early
fathers delighted to decorate it — " the queen of
days," " the feast of feasts, and assembly of
assemblies" (Greg. Nyss. Orat. xix. ; Ibid, xliii.),
" the desirable festival of our salvation "
(Chrysost. Homil. Ixxxv. de Pasch.), " the crown
and head of all festivals," and the like — are mere
rhetorical flourishes which never obtained general
currency, and need not therefore be further
dwelt upon. It was commonly known as t)
jneyaAri KvpiaK^. " Dominica gaudii " seems also
to have been a familiar appellation (Bingham,
Orig. XX. 5. 5). As a religious observance Easter
Day was not distinguished from other Sundays
except by the vastness of its congregations,
and the general splendour and dignity of its
services. Indeed it was ordained by pope Vigi-
lius in the 6th century (537-555) that the mass
on Easter Day should be the same as that on
other days, " ordine consueto," with the excep-
tion of the addition of ■' singula capitula diebus
apta " (Epist. ad Euthcr. § 5 ; Labbe, v. 313).
By one of the so-called Trullan canons, A.D. 692
{Can. 90; Labbe, vi. 1180) it was forbidden to
kneel in prayer from the entrance of the priests
to the altar on the evening of Easter Eve till the
evening of Easter Day, the two days being com-
bined in one continuous celebration of the
Resurrection, aisiv 6\oK\7ipM iuTev9sv pyxdri/J-epov
iravrjyvpi^fLv rj/xas ttiv avacnafftv. Gregory Nyssen
EASTER, CEREMONIES OF
draws a vivid picture of the joyous crowds who, by
their dress and their devout attendance at church,
sought to do honour to the festival. All labour
ceased, all trades were suspended, the husband-
man threw down his spade and plough and put
on his holiday attire, the very tavern-keepers
left their gains. The roads were empty of
travellers, the sea of sailors. The mother came
to church with the whole band of her children
and domestics, her husband and the whole family
rejoicing with her. All Christians assembled
everywhere as members of one family. The
poor man dressed like the rich, and the rich wore
his gayest attire ; those who had none of their
own borrowed of their neighbours ; the very
children were made to share in the joy of the
feast by putting on new clothes (Greg. Nyssen,
Orat. iii. in Christ. Eemrrect.). Evangelical
lections were read to the assembled congrega-
tions, so arranged that the whole history of the
Resurrection was gone through on successive
days (Aug. Serm. de Temp. 137, 140), and ser-
I mons preached instructing the people how to
I keep the feast duly, SeJj/T&jj kopra^eiv (Athanas.
Epist. ad Dracont. ad fin.). When the empire
I became Christian, the emperors, beginning with
Valentinian, A.D. 367, testified to the universal
joy by throwing open the prisons, and granting a
general pardon {Cod. Theod. lib. ix. tit. 38, leg. 3,
I 6, 7, 8 ; Cud. Justin, lib. i. tit. 4, leg. 3 ; Cassiod.
xi. Epist. ult. ; Ambrose Ep. 33 (14) ), debtors
were forgiven, slaves manumitted, all actions at
law were suspended except in some special cases
{Cod. Justin, lib. iii. tit. 12, leg. 8; Cod. Theud.
lib. ii. tit. 8, leg. 2 ; lib. ix. tit. 35, leg. 7), and
liberal alms given to the poor. In the words
of Gregory Nyssen (m.s.) " every kind of
sorrow is put to rest to-day, nor is there any one
so overwhelmed with grief as not to find relief
from the magnificence of this feast. Now the
prisoner is loosed, the debtor is forgiven, the
slave is set free, and he who continues a slave
derives benefit." All games or public spectacles
were prohibited as being inconsistent with the
sanctity of the season (Ca?i. Trull. 86; Labbe,
vi. 1171 ; Cod. Theod. lib. xv. tit. 5, leg. 5).
What has been said of Easter Day may be
extended to the week following, which, together
with that which went before, was considered to
partake in the sacredness of the festival. The
Apostolical Constitutions ordain that slaves
should be allowed to rest from their work " all
the great week " (Holy Week), " and that which
follows it " (Ap. Const, viii. 33). The purpose
of this rest was religious edification. St.
Chrysostom states {ffomil. 34 De Resurrect.
Chrid.) that for seven days sacred assemblies
were held and sermons preached. The council of
Macon A.d. 585 {Can. ii. ; Labbe, v. 981) also
forbids all servile work for six days, during which
all are to assemble three times a day for worship,
singing paschal hymns, and offering their daily
sacrifices. The Trullan canons {Can. 86; Labbe,
vi. 1171) also lay down that the faithful ought
to spend their time through the whole week in
church, devoting themselves to psalmody, read-
ing the Scriptures, and the celebration of the
holy mysteries.
Tlie Easter season — Octo dies neophyfonim
(August. Epist. xix. ad Januar. c. 17) — closed
with the following Sunday {Low Sunday with
us), known by the titles of avrnvaaxa, V Kaivi]
ECDICI
KvptaK^, avaKaivfiffif^LOS, Dominica in Octavis
Paschae, Pascha Clausum ; also with reference to
the white dresses of the newly baptised, 7) KvpiaKT)
4u \evKo7s, Dies Neophytorum, Dominica in Albis.
The appellation Quasi modo geniti, derived from
the introit (1 Pet. ii. 2), is of later origin. In the
Greek church it has been known as the /cupm/c?)
@ccfia, and rj/jiipa a.TT0(rr6\(»v, with reference to
the gospel for the day (John xx. 19-23), and the
appearance of Christ to Thomas on this day
(i'j. 26-29). The special solemnity of this Sunday
was the laying aside by the newly baptised of
their white baptismal robes, to be deposited in
the sacristy of the church. St. Augustine refers
to the appearance of the neophytes in church in
their white robes {Serm. de Temp. 162 ; Dominic,
in Octav, Paschae) : " Hodie vitali lavacro resur-
gens Dei populus ad instar Resurrectionis eccle-
siam nostram splendore nivei candoi-is illuminat."
The white bands that were wrapped round the
heads of the newly baptised infants were also
removed on this day, which from this custom
sometimes bore the name of octavae infaniium :
" infantes vocantur et habent octavas hodie
recludenda enim sunt capita eorum "
(Aug. Serm. de Temp. 160). We learn from
Rabanus Maurus (Z'e Cleric. Inst. ii. 38) that
in his time the seven days after Easter Day were
known as Dies Alhae, because those who had been
baptised on the holy night wore their albs and
assisted at the holy mysteries in that dress,
till the following Sunday, when the bishop's
hand was laid upon them in confirmation.
Gregory of Tours mentions processions — rof/a-
tioncs — being made every year at Easter tide
(Greg. Turou. Vit. Patr. c. vi. p. 1175). [E. V.]
ECDICI ("EkSikoj or e/creXT/o-te'/cSiKoi), certain
officers appointed, in consequence of the legal
disabilities of clergy and monks, to represent the
church in civil affairs; see Advocate of the
Church, Defensor. The place where they met
officially was called eKSiKuov. [C]
ECONOMUS. [Oecoxomus.]
ECPHONESIS ('EKc^cirijo-is) denotes that
portion of an office which is said audibly, in con-
trast with that said secrete (/jlvo-tikcSs) ; especi-
ally the doxology, with which the secret prayers
generally conclude. [C]
ECTENE or ECTENIA ('Ektcv^s or e'k-
revia). Omitting from consideration certain
preparatory prayers, the liturgies of St. Basil
and St. Chrysostom begin with a litany, known
as Ectene, Synapte, Diaconicae, or Eirenicae. The
name Ectene may refer to the length or (more
probably) to the earnestness of the supplication.
Litanies of a similar form are also found in the
Hour-offices. See further under Litany. [C]
ECTHESIS ("EKeeo-js), a doctrinal formula,
or " setting forth " of a Creed. Thus Theodoret
{Hist. Ecci. ii. 17) speaks of the statement of
doctrine put forth by the " conciliabulum " of
Rimini as an eK0€(ns. The same word is again
used by the same historian m speaking of the
creed of Euuomius (//. E. ii. 23). [C.J
ECTYPOMATA. [Dona : Votive Offer-
ings.]
ECUMENICAL COUNCILS. [Councils.]
ECCLESIA ('E/c/cA7)(ri'a). The principal
senses of the word Ecclesia with which we are
concerned are the following : —
ECCLESIASTICAE EE8
597
I. The congregation or gathering together of
the faithful. " Ecclesia est convocatus populus
per ministros ecclesiae ab eo qui facit unanimes
habitare in domo. Ipsa domus vocatur Ecclesia,
quia Ecclesiam continet" (Amalarius, De Eccl.
Off. iii. 2).
IL As indicated in the extract above from Ama-
larius, the word came to designate the build-
ing used for the Christian assembly [Church];
as in 1 Cor. xi. 18: "Appellamus Ecclesiam
basilicam qui continetur populus" (Augustine,
Epist. 157). The principal designations of
churches of different kinds are the following: —
1. 'H iKKK-qaia is used absolutely to desig-
nate the principal church or " cathedral " of
a city ; as by Procopius {De Bello Persico, i^. 9),
to designate the cathedral of Antioch.
2. Ecclesia Baptismalis, a parish church — to
use the modern term — in which baptisms are
celebrated. Walafrid Strabo {De Beb. Eccl. c.
30) speaks of " presbyteri plebium qui baptis-
males ecclesias tenent et minoribus presbyteris
praesunt." [Compare Parish.]
3. Ecclesia Cardinalis. This was also a de-
signation of parish churches. [Cardinal.]
4. Ecclesia Cathedralis, a church in which a
bishop set up his throne. [Cathedra : Cathe-
dral.]
5. Ecclesia Catholica. [Catholic]
6. E. Diocesana {Leges Wisigoth., lib. iv., tit.
5, c. 6) is equivalent to parocldalis. [DiOCESE :
Parish.]
7. E. Mater, Matricialis, Matrix, Matricula,
may designate either a cathedral, as distinguished
from its subordinate churches ; or a parish
church, as distinguished from mere oratories.
8. Ecclesia Plebalis or Plebeiana, the church
of a Plebs, or community ; that is, a parish
church. See the quotation above (II. 2), and
Ducange's Glossary, s. v. Plebs.
9. Ecclesia Principalis, a cathedral {Leg. Wisi-
goth. iv. 5, c. 6).
10. Ecclesiae Patriarchales, in the Roman
church, are those subject to the immediate
authority of the pope.
11. Ecclesia per se, a church having its own
priest, and not dependent (as an oratory would
have been) upon another church (Hincmar,
Epist. ed. Labbe, quoted by Ducange). [C]
ECCLESIAE MATEICULA. [Matricula.]
ECCLESIARCH CEKK\v<r^dpxvs), in the
Eastern church, was the sacrist, who had general
charge of the church and its contents, and sum-
moned the people to service by the bells or other
means of giving notice. The minor officials of
the church were under his authority. The
Typicum of Sabas (c. 1) represents the Ecclesi-
arch as giving a rubrical direction in the same
way that the deacon commonly does : eZro &p-
Xerai d eK/cA7)<ndpx'?Sj AeCre, irpoaKwi^atn-
fj.ev (Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. ; Daniel's Codex
Lit. iv. 700). [C]
ECCLESIASTICAE LITEEAE. [Com-
mendatory Letters: Dimissory Letters.]
ECCLESIASTICAE EES. 1. The term
res ecclesiasticae is used, in a wide sense, to de-
note all matters belonging to the church, as
opposed to res seculares, terrciuie, matters be-
longing to the world. Things ecclesiastical
are again divided into res spirituales, func-
tions or objects which belong solely to the
598 ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS
priesthood, as the sncranients and the altars;
and res teinporales, which contribute to the wel-
fare rather of the body than the soul (Ambrose,
Ejnst. 33, ad Marcel linum).
Again, of res spiritnales some are immaterial
(incorporales), some material (corporales). To
the former belong the invisible gifts and graces
bestowed on the soul by God ; to the latter, the
outward acts or objects connected with such
gifts or graces, that is, the sacraments ; certain
" res sanctae, sacrae, sacrosanctae," as churches,
the vessels used in the eucharistic or other rites
of the church, and the vestments of its ministers ;
and certain " res religiosae," such as foundations
or institutions for purposes of jjiety and benefi-
cence over which the church claims jurisdiction.
The molestation or injury of ecclesiastical things
is Sacrilege.
2. In a narrower sense, the term res eccle-
siasticae designates the Property of the
Church. (Lancelotti Instit. Juris Canon, ii. 1 ;
Jacobson in Herzog's Beal-Encyclop. s. v. Kir-
chensacheii). [C]
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. [Bishop:
Discipline : Jurisdiction.]
ECCLESIASTICAL LANGUAGE. [Li-
turgical Language.]
ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. [Canon Law.]
ECCLESIASTICUS. 1. A member of the
Catholic church, as opposed to a heretic or schis-
matic (Jerome, Epist. 62, c. 1 ; in Ruffinum, ii. 4).
2. Any person in orders, whether major or
minor. Thus the first council of Vasa (c. 3)
desires presbyters not to send for the chrism by
the hands of any servant of the church (per
quemcunque ecclesiasticura), but by the hands of
a subdeacon at least. The word is similarly used
in the Theodosian code.
3. Isidore of Seville {De Eccl. Off. ii. 3) speaks
of a clerk occupying his due position in the hier-
archy as " clericus ecclesiasticus," in contradis-
tinction from acephali, or irregular clerks.
4. Those who were in any way the " men " of
, a church, so as to be unable to leave its terri-
tories or its service, were called in a special
sense " homines " or " viri ecclesiastici " (Car.
Magai Gxpitul. iv. 3). "Homines ecclesiastici
seu fiscalini " are mentioned, and their duties to
their lord prescribed, in Car. Mag. Capital, v.
303. They are distinguished from servi {Cone.
Sue$sio7i. ii. c. 12). [C.]
EDESSA. The translation of the Holy Icon
(or picture) of Christ from Edessa is comme-
morated Aug. 16 {Cal. Byzant.). A great festi-
val (Daniel's Codex, iv. 244). [C]
EDILTRUDIS. [Etiieldreda.]
EDUCATION. [Schools.]
EGARA, COUNCIL OF {Egarense con-
cilium'), held A.D. 615 at Egara, now Terassa, in
Catalonia : to confirm what had been enacted at
Osca or Huesca seventeen years before. Twelve
bishops, whose sees are not given, and a presbyter
and deacon representing two more, subscribed to
it (Mansi, x. 531). ■ [E. S. Ff.]
EGDUNUS, presbyter, martyr at Nicomedia
with seven others; commemorated March 12
(^Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EGESIPPUS. [Hegesippus.]
ELDERS
EGYPT. The entrance of Christ into Egypt
is commemorated Ginbot 24 = May 19 (Gal.
Ethiop.); the flight of Christ from Melisa to
Roskuama in Egvpt, Hedar 6 - Nov. 2 (Cal.
Ethiop.). ' [C]
EGYPT, FLIGHT INTO. It is difBcult,
if not impossible, to name any earlier repre-
sentation of this event than the bronze casting
on the doors of St. Zenone at Verona, which is
at all events one of the earliest known of Chris-
tian works in metal, and may date from the
original fivbric of the 9th century. [R. St. J. T.]
EGG. There seems some diversity of opinion
as to the use of the egg as a Christian symbol.
Boldetti (p. 519) speaks of marble eggs found in
the tombs of St, Theodora, St. Balbina, and
others ; these were of the size of hen's eggs. Egg-
shells are occasionally found in the loculi of
martyrs, and Raoul Rochette refers them to the
agapae so frecjuently celebrated there. [See
Eucharist.] But Martigny, with the Abbe
Cavedori (Rafiguaglio crit. dei Monnm. delle
Arti Ci-ist.) is inclined to think that the egg
signified the immature hope of the resurrection.
" Restat spes, quae quantum mihi videtur, ovo
comparatur ; spes enim noudum pervenit ad
rem " (Augustine, Serin, cv. 8, 0pp. t. v. 379).
The Tise of eggs at Easter has no doubt reference
to this idea; but whether the idea was really
attached to the object or not, in a generally
s3-mbolic sense, seems still a dubious matter. For
Eggs and Ducks see the Medici MSS. in Asse-
mann. Catalog. Bibl. Med. [R. St. J. T.]
EILETON (^lKr\r6v). After the ecphonesis
of the prayer of the catechumens, and imme-
diately before the deacon warns the catechumens
to depart (Lit. Chrysos., Daniel iv. 349) the
priest unfolds the eileton, or Corporal, on which
the chalice and paten are afterwards placed.
What this signifies is explained by Germanus
of Constantinople (Theoria Myst. p. 153, ed.
Paris, 1560) thus: "The eileton represents the
linen cloth in which the body of Christ was
wrapped when it was taken down from the
cross and laid in the tomb " (Suicer's T/icsanrus,
S.V.). [C]
EIRENICA (Elp-nvtKd). (1) The earlier
clauses of the great litany in the Greek liturgies
are frequently called f ipTjrtKo, as being for the
most part prayers for peace. Thus the great
litany in the liturgy of St. Chrysostom (c. 14,
p. 340, Daniel) begins with " Let us beseech the
Lord in peace ; for the peace which is from
above ; . . . . for the peace of the whole world ..."
(2) See Pacificae. [C]
EISODOS. [Entrance.]
ELASIPPUS, martyr at Ferrara, with
Speusippus and Melasippus, under Aurelian;
commemorated Jan. 17 (Jilart. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
ELDERS (Seniorcs). There are some traces
of elders recognised in the church, yet distinct
from the clergy. Augustine addresses his epistle
to the church at Hippo (Epist. 137) to the
clergy, the elders, (senioribus), and all the
people. In another place (Contra Crescon. iii.
c. 29), he mentions bishops, presbyters, deacons,
and elders, (seniores). Optatus (i. c. 41) says,
that when lilensurius, bishop of Carthage, was
ELEAZAR
forced to leave his diocese iu the persecution
under Diocletian, he committed the ornaments
?.nd utensils belonging to the church to the
faithful elders (tidelibus senioribus). These
appear in some cases to have been merely the
leading men of the congregation. Thus the
council of Carthage, A.D. 419, committed the
office of meeting the leaders of the Donatists to
the magistrates and elders of the several dis-
tricts {Cod. Eccl. Afric. c. 91). But there also
appear to have been others who had a special
position, and probably special duties, in the
church. Thus, in the Gesta Purgat. Caecil. et
Felic. (p. 263, in Optatus, ed. Paris, 167H) it is
said, that in the business of enquiring into cer-
tain disputes there were associated with the
bishop and clergy certain elders of the people,
who w-ere also officers of the church (seniores
jilebis, ecclesiasticos viros). Compare Eccle-
siASTicus. In the same tract mention is made
iu one - place of the clergy and elders, and in
another of bishops, priests, deacons, and elders.
In tlie decrees of the coiincil of Carthage, A.D.
419, mention is made of certain elders, who
appear to have been sent as delegates to the
council {Cod. Eccl. Afric. cc. 85, 100). Compare
Ch urchwardens : Electoral Colleges.
[P.O.]
ELEAZAR, teacher of the Maccabees, com-
memorated Aug. 1 {Cal. Byzant.); July 29 (Cal.
Armen.). [W. F. G.]
ELEAZARIUS, martyr at Lyons, with his
eight children and Minervius ; commemorated
Aug. 23 (Afart Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ELEEMOSYNARIUS. 1. See Alms, p. 52.
2. The word is occa.sioually used to designate
the distributor for pious uses of the effects of a
person deceased, i.e. the "executor" of his will.
Thus Gregory of Tours (De Vitis Fatrum, c. 8)
speaks of one from whose executors (eleemosy-
nariis) no small sums were received in honour of
a saint (Ducange, s.r.). [C]
ELECTI. Some writers (as Bona, Be Feb.
Lit. I. svi. 4) consider the Catechumens [p. 317]
to be divided into the four classes of Audieutes,
Substrati or Geuuflecteutes, Competentes, and
Electi ; the latter being those whose names were
actually inscribed in the church-list with a view
to baptism. Bingham (Antiq. X. ii. 1) considers
the Electi to be identical with the Competentes,
though he also makes four classes by adding one
of i^wdoiifxevoi. But both these classifications
are of doubtful authority. (See Martene, De Fit.
Ant. I. i. 6.) [C]
ELECTION OF CLERGY. The first re-
corded election of clergy is in the Acts of the
Apostles, where Matthias was chosen by casting
lots. But this example does not ajipear to have
been followed.
Clemens Eomanus (Epist. Cor. i. c. 42) says
that in the early days of the church the apostles
appointed their first-fruits, proving them by the
Spirit, bishops and deacons of those who should
join the faith; and that afterwards the ministers
were appointed by other men of consideration
(avSpaiv iWoyifjLwv) with the consent of the
whole church (c. 44). Compare Pseudo-Clemens
(Epist. ad Jacob, i. c. 3). Clemens Alexandriuus
(Euseb. H. E. iii. c. 23, § 6) says that St. John
ELECTION OF CLERGY
599
ordained such cle]-gy as were pointed out by the
Spirit.
It appears to have been sometimes held that
the bishop had the right of selecting the inferior
clergy. Cyprian (^Ep. 29, ed. Hartel) says that
he had appointed Saturus as a lector and
Optatus as a subdeacon, insisting that he has not
acted arbitrarily, but carried out the wishes of
the church in general. Ambrose (Epist. 82 ad
Vercell.) speaks of bishops as admitting other
clergy to orders and benefices, and (Ojfic. i.
c. 18) of a certain person who was refused ad-
mission into the clerical order (iu clerum), bv
himself. Jerome {Connn. in Tit. i. 5) speaks of
bishops as having power to appoint (constitu-
endi) priests in every city, and again {Epist. ad
Nepot.) of their selecting (eligendi) priests,
and (ibid.) of their being entrusted with the
power of placing in office whom they would.
Philostorgius (//. E. iii. 17) speaks of Leontius
bishop of Alexandria appointing Aetius as a
deacon. In the Life of John Damascene, it is
said that the bishop of Jerusalem, acting by
divine inspii-ation, sent for him and ordained
him to the priesthood (Vita Joann. Damascen.
per loann. Episcop. Hierosolym. inter opp. Joan.
Damas.). Gregory the Gi-eat, while strenuously
asserting the right of the clergy and people to
the free election of bishops, was equally firm in
reserving to the bishops the power of selecting
parish priests and deacons, on the ground that
in choosing a bishop, the clergy and people
transferred to him all rights of election to the
inferior offices (Thomassin, Vet. et Nov. Eccl.
Discip. ii. 7, c. 34, § 10). The council of Lao-
dicea (c. 13) forbids the election to the priest-
hood (ets UpaTetov) to be entrusted to the
multitude (ro7s ox^ois). But this is some-
times referred to the election of bishops. The
4th council of Carthage (c. 22) provides that a
bishop shall not ordain any without the advice
of his clergy, and shall also seek not only the
testimony, but the assent ( conniventiam), of
the people. A decree of the council of Merida
(Cone. Emerit. c. 19) speaks of a parish priest as
having been put in charge of his church, by the
appointment (per ordinationem) of his bishop.
Another decree of the same council (c. 18)
ordains that all parish priests shall provide a
supply of inferior clergy from the household
(familia) of the church. The 6th canon of Theo-
j)hilus of Alexandria associates the clergy with
the bishop, providing that at every ordination all
the clergy shall exercise the power not only of
assent, but of choice (consentiat et eligat), and
that the candidate selected by the clergy shall
be ordained in presence of the people, and that
the bishop shall enquire of them whether they
also can bear testimony to his fitness.
In these instances it appears that the right of
election rested with the bishop, or with the
bishop and clergy, and that the people only
consented. There is evidence, however, that iu
many cases the people not only bore witness to
the fitness of the candidates, but had themselves
a share in the election. Cyprian (^Ep. 67, cc. 3
and 4) speaks of the people as having the
greatest power of choosing worthy bishops, since
by their presence the merits of the candidates
will be known, and the election be just and
legitimate as confirmed by the general suffrage
and assent. He adds that this was the apo-
600
ELECTORAL COLLEGES
stolic rule not only m the election of bishops
and priests, but also in that of deacons. Je-
rome {Epist. ad Rusticum) appears to assert
that either the bishop or the people had
power to elect the candidates for ordination,
" vel populus vel pontifex elegerit." And, in
another place (JJomm. in Ezek. c. 33, v. 6) speaks
of either a bishop or a priest being a watchman,
"speculator," of the church, because of his
election by the people, "quia a populo electus
est." Siricius {Epist. i. ad Himerum Taracon.
c. 10) speaks of elevation to the office of priest
or bishop as depending on the choice (electio)
of the clergy and people. Chrvsostom (n-epl
'leptos. iy. c. 2, §376, 379) speaks of the electors
to the office of the priesthood (tous eAo^ueVous)
as quite distinct from the bishop who or-
dains. Of these electors he speaks as being the
elders {tUv irar^pciiv, ibid. i. c. 3 § 29) or
the leading (/xeyaKovs) members of the con-
gregation (ibid. i. c. 14 § 39). He also speaks
of the election as being decided by a ma-
jority of votes (ibid. iii. c. 4 § 171). Some-
times indeed the people appear to have brought
a candidate to the bishop and insisted on his
immediate ordination, as is said to have been
the case with St. Augustine (Possid. Vita
Augustini, c. 4).
The 1st council of Orange (c. 10), provides
that when a bishop is the founder of a church
in another diocese, he may select the clergy to
officiate in it. Justinian (Novell. 123 c. 18)
allows the founders of private oratories to select
their clergy, but if any unworthy were chosen,
the bishop was to have the power of selecting
those whom he thought fit. [P. 0.]
ELECTORAL COLLEGES. The evils of
a popular election of bishops and other clergy in
a great city, such as Constantinople, were so
manifest (Chrysostom de Sucerdotio, iii. 15), that
attempts were sometimes made to commit the
choice of ministers to a select body or committee.
We find perhaps a trace of this in the earliest
times, when Clement of Rome (ad Cor.i. 44)
speaks of the successors of the apostles being
chosen by men of consideration (vir iWoyi^ciiv
avSpwv) with the assent of the church. The
council of Laodicea (c. 13) clearly desires that
the clergy should be chosen by some definitely
organized body, and not by a mere mass-meeting
(toIs oxA-ois) [Election of Cleegy]. In
spite of this ordinance, however, there are only
too many instances in later times of the choice of
clergy by meetings which can only be called
mobs. (See Augustine, Epist. 155 ; Synesius,
Epist. 67 ; Baronius, an. 303, § 22 ff. ; Baluze,
Miscell. ii. 102. if.) Yet, generally, the influence
of the principal men in a city could not be
ignored, and when Justinian (Novel, cxxiii. c. 1 ;
see Bishop, p. 216) definitely enjoined that the
clergy and chief men of a city (TrpctTOi ttjs
TToAetox) should nominate three for a vacant
see, he probably did but confirm an existing
practice. From the three thus nominated, one
was to be chosen by the consecrator (tov x«'po-
Tovoxivros), generally the metropolitan.
If the " chief men " had been defined, we
should have had here an " Electoral College " of
clergy and notables; as they were not, this
system generally led to a struggle between the
clergy and the civil government. [C]
ELEMENTS
ELEMENTS. The two parts of the outward
and visible sign in the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper.
I. Names. — The Latin word elementa does not
appear to have been used in this technical sense
in the early ages of the church, though it is
a very natural word to express the component
parts of any thing. Possibly the use arose from
the analogy of baptism, where the outward sign
would naturally be spoken of as the '■ element "
of water, as, for instance, in the following pas-
sage from St. Augustin, where, in speaking of
baptism, he says, "Take away the word, and
what is the water but water ? The word is
added to the element, and it becomes a sacrament,
itself as it were a visible word " (accedit verbum
ad elementum et fit sacramentum. Augustin in
Joan. XV. 1-3, Tract. Ixxx. 3). Gregory of
Tours (De Vitis Patrum, c. 15) uses the word of
both bread and water, "Nam esus illi panis
tantum hordeaceus erat et aqua, de utrisque ele-
mentis iibras siugulas per dies singulos sumens."
Words denoting sacrifice or offering were con-
stantly used of the Elements ; ret iiyia ScZpa, as
in the Liturgy of St. James, 6 Upevs fladywv to.
ayta Soipa ; or simply to 0710, as in the Liturgy
of St. Chrysostom and elsewhere ; so the Latin
Sancta,'' as in Ordo Rom. II. c. 8 (see Mabillon,
Comment. Praev. p. xxxvi.) ; or again, simply ra
ASipa. Ylpoff^opa, was also generally used for
the Elements placed on the altar. So the
Latin ablatio and ohlata as in the Ordo Eo-
manus If. (c. 9), " Archidiaconus suscipit
oblatas duas de oblationario . . . et ponit [cali-
cem] super altare juxta oblationes pontificis."
The word Hostia, " the Victim," expresses a
somewhat different aspect of the sacrificial con-
ception.''
The unconsecrated Elements on the altar are
called in Eastern liturgies "the Mysteries;" the
bread alone the " Seal " (crppayis), from its being
divided by lines in the form of a cross (see below).
In certain Arabic rubrics (Renaudot, Litt.
Orientt. ii. 62) the Elements are called Barschin,
a corruption of the Greek airapxw.
In Syriac they bear the name of Kourbono, cor-
responding nearly to the Greek Saipov and irpoa-
((>opa, and the Latin oblata ; the bread is simply
" Bread of the Sacraments," or " of the Mys-
teries."
When the Elements have been placed on the
altar, they acquire other names having more
distinct reference to sacrifice, as " the Lamb," or
" the First-born." The Syrians too call the por-
tion impressed with a cross " the Seal." Other
names are given to the various particles after
division (Ren. u. s. i. 189 ; ii. 62) [Fraction.]
Again, the Elements were called avfx^oKa,
TviroL, formae aspectabiles, as outward repre-
sentations of inward and spiritual grace. The
word species, often supposed to have the same
force, probably in its origin meant no more than
" fruits of the earth " — a sense which it is well
known to bear in later latinity, especially with
the jurists (Ducange, s. v.').
• By the Sancta, however, we ought probably here to
understand the consecrated Host reserved from a pie-
vious celebration.
i' See on these names the essay on sacrificial terms in
Memorials of the Rev. Wharton B. Marriott (London,
1873).
ELEMENTS
ELEMENTS
601
i. IG). And when such a separation was made
between the oHerings for the ministers and the
offerings for the altar, the latter were probably
specially pre]jared, whether leavened or not.
The woman who smiled when Gregory the Great
(Joannes Diac. Vita Greg. ii. 41) offered her in
the eucharist that which she had herself pre-
who added cheese to the bread. St. Augustin pared, need not be supposed of course to have
II. What were (he Elements 1
Throughout the universal church bread and
wine have always been the recognised elements
in the eucharist, with but few and slight excep-
tions which may be described iu a few words.
There was an obscure sect called the Artotvritae
{dc Haeres. c. xlviii.) says " the Artotyrites are
so called from their oblation, for they offer bread
and cheese, saying that the first oblations which
were offered by men, in the infancy of the world,
were of the fruits of the earth and of sheep."
There were also sects which used no wine but
water alone, and some who did not use wine in
their morning services, though they did in the
evening (see below, § VI.)
III. Composition of the Bread.
With regard to the element of bi'ead, whatever
may have been the practice of certain sects,
there is entire agreement in the church that it
should be made of wheat-flour. The mystical
allusions to the superiority of wheat in Clement
of Alexandria {Strom, vi. 11, p. 787) and Origen
{Horn, in Gen. xii. c. 5, p. 247, Wirceburg, 1780)
strongly indicate, what indeed there is no reason
to doubt, that wheateu bread and (ordinarily) no
other, was used in the, mysteries. Alcuin (Ejnst.
90) speaks specially of the " grana tritici," from
the flour of which the bread is to be made. The
great controversy in the matter has been : Should
the bread be leavened or unleavened ?
A. The principal evidences bearing on this
question are the following :
1. It has generally been assumed in the West
thift the Last Supper was eaten at the feast of the
Passover, and that therefore the bread used was
taken the oblation from her household loaf.
3. Epiphanius (Haeres. 30, c. 16) says that
the Ebionites, in imitation of the saints in the
church, celebrate mysteries yearly in the church
with unleavened cakes (Si' dfu^oii/), using water
for the other element in the sacrament. Here
the azymes seem to be mentioned, like the water,
as a departure from Catholic practice ; but Epi-
phanius does not in terms reckon the use ot
azymes among the heretical practices of the
Ebionites, so that it is possible that their depar-
ture from orthodoxy may have consisted in their
annual, instead of more frequent, celebration,
and in their use of water for wine.
4. The words of the Pseudo-Ambrosius (Da
Sacram. iv. 4), " tu forte dicis, meus panis est
usitatus; sed panis iste panis est ante verba
sacramentorum ; ubi accesserit consecratio, de
pane fit caro Christi," are generally thought to
imply that the bread used for consecration was
leavened. But the opposition in the writer's
mind is between " common bread " and " the
Body of Christ," not between "common" and
" leavened " bread, nor is such an expression as
" panis usitatus" absolutely conclusive, though
it is in the highest degree probable that it desig-
nates leavened bread, such as was everywhere
most commonly used.
5. A custom of the Roman church, mentioned
by the Liber Pontificalis (cc. 33, 55) in the lives
the unleavened bread which the Jews were alone of Melchiades and Siricius,
thu
jferred to
allowed to eat at that time. But it is contended
by some writers of the Greek church that the
Last Supper was held on the 13th Kisan, when
leavened bread was still used ; and there is no
direct statement either in the New Testament or
in the writings of the Early Fathers to indicate
by Innocent I. (Epist, ad Decentium, c. 5).
Writing to the bishop of Gubbio, he says that his
correspondent had no need to consult him about
the "fermentum" which on Sundays he (Inno-
cent) sent to the parish churches (titulos),
because that was a custom confined to the city
that azyme, or unleavened bread, was used ; on 1 of Rome, intended to prevent the parish priests
thecontrary, the fact that only "bread" was men- j [see Cardinal], who were detained in their
tioned would lead to the inference that only com- I own churches by their proper duties, from
mon bread was meant. The Acts of the Apostles feeling themselves cut off' from communion with
simply speaks of " breaking bread " as a solemn
rite, or meeting together to " bi-eak bread."
Justin Martyr simply speaks of bread, and as
he is giving a particular description of the
Christian rites, it seems most probable that he
would have mentioned the fact had any parti-
cular kind of bread been used.
2. It is said that as the element of bread was
taken in the early ages from the ofi'erings of the
people [Oblation], which served also for the
support of the ministers and dependents of the
church, it must have been ordinary, that is,
leavened bread. But this argument is by no
means so conclusive as at first sight it appears ;
it is good for the age of Justin Martyr ; but in
later times there are evident traces of a double
offering; one of ordinary food, for the use of the
dependents of the church, and one of bread and
wine for the altar. The council of Nantes (c. 9,
quoted by Martene) clearly distinguished between
the ohlationes which were intended for consecra-
tion, and the panes, or loaves, offered for the use
of the church [Eulogiae]. So Hincmar (Capitul.
the mother church [Eulogiae]. Even in Rome
it was only sent to the " tituli " proper, not
to the presbyters of other churches. It has
been supposed (<?. g. by Bona) that the euchar-
istic bread which was sent by the pope was
called " fermentum " as being made of leavened
bread ; but, unless the bread commonly con-
secrated in the churches was wwleaveued, this
supposition does not furnish a reason why these
particular oblates should be called " fermentum "
by way of distinction, as they certainly ap-
pear to be ; and the conjecture of Sirmoud
(adopted by Mabillon) seems by no means im-
probable, tiiat this " fermentum " was so called
as being intended to leaven the whole mass of the
Rornan church. Certainly the expressions used
in the Lives of Melchiades and Siricius, "quod
declaratur, quod riominatur, fermentum," seem
to imply that the term is used in an impropei',
not a strict, sense.
6. The sixth canon of the 16th council of
Toledo (A.D. 693) is to this effect. It having
been brought to the notice of the council that iu
602
ELEMENTS
ELEMEN'JS
some parts of S|);iin priests do not offer on the
Table of the Lord clean loaves, specially prepared
(panes miuidos et studio praeparatos), but take
oil' a piece to form a round disc (crustulam in
rotunditatem) from loaves prepared for their
own use, and offer it upon the altar with the
wine and water; a thing contrary to all prece-
dent ; . . . . the council decides unanimously, that
no other kind of bread be placed on the altar of
the Lord, to be hallowed by priestly benediction,
but such as is whole and clean and specially pre-
pared (panis integer et nitidus qui ex studio
fuerit praeparatus) ; nor is anything of large
size to be offered, but only cakes of moderate
size, according to ecclesiastical custom (neque
grande aliquid, sed modica tantum oblata, secun-
dum quod ecclesiastica consuetudo reteutat).
, This canon has been claimed by the advocates
both of the leaven and of the azymes ; but in
fact it is not conclusive for either. It is decisive
as to the fact that in the Western church in the
7th century oblates were specially prepared, and
were not portions of a loaf, but " Integra ;" but it
is not proved that the words "nitidus" and
'' mundus " necessarily imply the absence of
leaven.
7. The tenth canon of the council of Chelsea
(Co)ic. Calchut. A.D. 787 ; Haddan and Stubbs,
iii. 452) enjoins that the oblations be cakes or
loaves, not pieces of bread (panis, non crusta).
Probably the same distinction is intended as that
laid down by the 16th council of Toledo, between
a whole cake prepared for the purpose, and a
piece taken from a loaf. The passage determines
nothing as to the use of leaven, for " panis" may
be used either of leavened or unleavened bread,
as in " panes azymi et crustula absque ferniento "
(Exod. xxix. 2).
8. Another point of which much has been
made in the discussion is this : that Photius of
Constantinople (a.d. 867) never mentioned the
use of unleavened bread in the eucharist as one
of the Latin errors, while Michael Caerularius,
also patriarch of Constantinople (a.d. 1054),
gave it a prominent place ; it has thence been
inferred that the use of unleavened eucharistic
bread was introduced between the years 867 and
1054. This is however by no means a certain
inference ; Photius may have omitted to mention
azymes among the points of difference between
the Greek and the Latin churches, because he was
content to leave the question of leaven or no
leaven undetermined, like the Greeks of a later
age at the council of Florence. All that can be
certainly inferred from the silence of Photius is,
that either the use of unleavened bread was un-
known to him, or he regarded it as a thing in-
different. It is extremely difficult to suppose
that Leo IX. would have written so strongly as
he did to Michael Caerularius (Upist. ii. 24 ; vi.)
as to the immemorial use of azymes among the
Latins, if that use had arisen since the time of
Photius ; i. e. not more than a century before his
own birth.
There is in iact positive evidence — if the docu-
ments be genuine — as to the use of unleavened
bread in the eucharist in the Western church
before that date.
9. Cyprian {Epist. 63, c. 13) says, that, as the
chalice is composed, not of wine alone, nor of
water alone, but of the union of the two: so the
Body cannot be meal alone, nor water alone, but
the union of the two into one loaf. This is rc-
jieated in almost the same words by Isidore of
Seville {De Div. Ojf.<= i. 18). It is difficult to
imagine that Cyprian, and Isidore after him,
omitted all mention of so significant an ingre-
dient as leaven, if it was used in the eucharistic
loaf. Moreover, Alcuin (Epist. 90 [al. 69] ad
Fratres Zugdunetises, p. 107) writing about a.d.
790, uses the very same expression as to the
composition of the bread, " ex aqua et farina
panis fit qui consecratur in corpus Christi," and
adds, that it should be perfectly pure from
leaven or " ferment " of whatever kind (absque
fermento ullius alterius infectionis debet esse
mundissimum). Somewhat later, a.d. 819, Ra-
banus Maurus (De Cleric. Instit. i. SI,"* p. 319,
Migne) lays it down that the eucharistic bread
should be unleavened, after the manner of the
Hebrew offerings (Lev. viii. 2), and holds that
the bread which the Lord blessed in the Last
Supper was undoubtedly unleavened.
10. John Maro (quoted by Martene), writing
at any rate before the Trullan council, says that
those who made the eucharistic offering in lea-
vened bread reproached the Western churches,
the Armenians, and the Maronites, with off^'ering'
azymes, which were not bread at all ; a clear
proof that the Western churches generally, in
the 7th century, were thought to agree with the
Maronites and the Armenians in this respect.
11. Again, allusions to "common" or "lea-
vened " bread would scarcely have been intro-
duced into the Canon of the Liturgy [p. 272],
as is done, for instance, in the liturgies of James
Baradai and Mathew the Pastor, if the compilers
had not known of some who used wjileavened
bread. '
12. On the whole, then, there is distinct evi-
dence that unleavened bread was used in the
eucharist by the Latins, and by some Eastern
sects, in the 7th and 8th centuries ; and there is
probable evidence that it was used in the 3rd.
In the orthodox Eastern church, there can be no
doubt that leavened bread has been used from a
very early period indeed ; if not from the very
first, at any rate from the time when Judaizing
sects insisted on using unleavened cakes, like
those of the Passover, in the Lord's Supper.
B. Mixture of Oil and Salt. — The Syrian
Christians, besides the leaven which is common
to almost all oriental communions, mix with the
bread a little oil and salt — a practice which they
defend by many mystical reasons (Renaudot, Litt.
Orient, i. 191). The mixture of oil — perhaps
taken from Lev. ii. 4, etc. ; compare Justin
Martyr, Dial. v. Trypho, c. 41 — was probably
always a singularity of a small sect ; that of
salt was more general and more hotly defended.
Thus Alcuin (Epist. 90 [al. 69] ad Fratres Lug-
dunenscs) reprehends certain persons in Spain
for insisting, against the custom of Rome and the
church in general, that salt should be put into
the eucharistic bread ; and adds mystical reasons
why three things only, flour, water, and wine
should be offered in the Mass. The modern
Greeks eagerly defend the mixture of salt, which
(they say) represents the life, so that a sacrifice
" The genuineness of this treatise is cIouiHed by Bare
nius. See Cave. Hist. Lit. s. v. Isidore.
<• There seems no reason to doubt (with Bona, De Reb.
Lit. I. xxiii. 7) the genuineness of this passage.
ELEMENTS
without salt is but a dead sacrifice ; and one of
the reproaclies commonly directed against the
Armenians was, that they used oblates containing
neither salt nor leaven (Martene, A. R. I. iii. 7,
IV. Preparation of the Bread.
The r.iore minute directions for the preparation
of the eucharistic bread belong to a later age
than that with which we are concerned. Those
which fall within our period are principally
these.
The canon already quoted of the 16th council
of Toledo makes it certain that special prepara-
tion of the eucharistic bread was enjoined in the
7th century. So long as people actually oflered,
they probably themselves prepared the oblates
for the altar. Thus the emperor Valens is said
to have prepared with his own hands the gifts'^
which he oBered for the altar (Gregory Nazianz.
Funeral Oration on St. Basil, c. 52, p. 809) ; and
the Roman matron mentioned by Joannes Dia-
conus (u. s.) — probably a person of rank, or she
would not have received the bread from the
pope— had herself prepared that which she re-
ceived. And it seems that not unfrequently
noble ladies undertook the preparation of the
oblates as a meritorious work ; Candida, wife of
Trajan, a prefect, prepared bread for oblation
from flour which she had ground with her own
hands (Martene, A. R. I. iii. vii. 24) ; so did St.
Radegund (t587), distributing the oblates to
different churches {Life by Fortunatus, in
Acta SS. Bened. i. 320). And this task was not
unfrequently undertaken by nuns. Theodulph
of Orleans, however (c. A.D. 797), desired that
duty to be discharged by the presbyters them-
selves or their "boys"f in their presence,
in the following terms: "panes quos Deo in
sacrificio otfertis aut vobis ipsis aut a vestris
pueris coram vobis nitide et studiose fiant"
{Gapitul.^). And since that time the _ oblates
have generally been prepared by priests or
"religious" persons. See Bethlehem. For
further particulars of the preparation of the
sacramental bread in various places, see Martene,
A.E.I, iii. 7, §§ 23-25 ; Renaudot, Litt. Orientt.
1. 189; ii. 63ff. ed. 1716.
V. Form of the Bread.
The loaf used by the Jews of Palestine seems
commonly to have been round, somewhat less
than an inch thick, and six or eight inches in
diameter. In order that it might be more readily
broken, it was scored with lines, frequently two
Hues at right angles to each other, so as to form
across, dividing the loaf into four portions
(Aringhi, Roma Subterr. II. v. 9, p. 278, quoted
by Probst, Sakramente, p. 201). And such was
probably the form of the eucharistic loaf in the
early Christian church (see woodcut). The Liber
Pontifcalis (p. 98a, ed. Muratori) attributes to
Zephyrinus (pope 197-217) the order, that pres-
byters should distribute round cakes (coronas)
blessed by the bishop— a statement probably of
no great authority. In the 4th century Epipha-
= The word Sipa commonly refers to the Elements ; in
this place, however, Nlcetas takes the "gifts" for golden
vessels which Valens had made (!>v aiTowpybs V)-
f Meaning, probably, those devoted to the service of the
church—" oblati."
ELEMENTS
603
nius (Ancoratus, c. 57) and Caesarius, brother of
Gregory Nazianzen (Dial. iii. quaest. 169), speak
of the bread as round. Gregory the Great {Dia-
logus, iv. 55) speaks of a certain presbyter
On an ancient tomb. (From Martigny.)
bringing " duas oblationum coronas,'' then the
usual form of oblation. These are explained by
Joannes Diaconus (in Martene, A. R. I. iii. vii. 26)
to be cakes made of a handful of fine flour, and
in form like a crown (ex pugillo similae et ad
speciem coronae) ; that is, round, whatever else
may be intended by the comparison. And the
evidence of pictorial representations agrees with
this so far as it goes. Whenever in ancient re-
presentations the form of the bread is distin-
guishable, it is round. See Canister, p. 264 ;
Eucharist, p. 627.
A passage quoted by Martene (t«. s.) from a
treatise of lldephonso, a Spanish bishop, describes
the form and composition of the eucharistic bread
in the beginning of the 9th century thus : " men-
sura trlum digitorum anguli in rotundum panis
azymi sic composita est ;" i. e. the azymes for
the eucharist were made in the form of a circle
of three " fingers " radius.s The same authority
mentions that the oblate from which the priest
was to communicate was larger than those in-
tended for the people.
That it is an ancient custom to impress the
oblates with a cross is probable from the words
of Chrysostom {Q^iod Christus sit Deus, 571 A, ed.
Ben.), where he says, " on the Table is the Cross
. . . . m the mystic Supper the Cross of Christ
shines forth with the Body of Christ." The
woodcuts represent the forms of the Greek and
Coptic oblates, which may probably be of consi-
derable antiquity. The former bears the m-
scription " IC XC ['Irjo-ovs Xpiarls] viKa;"^ the
latter, " 0710s, 0710$, a-yios, Kup'os Sa^otifl."
It is evident from what has been said above,
that from a comparatively early age a strong
g Somewhat lcs8 than three inches.
60 i
ELEMENTS
objection was felt to the practice of consecrating
a portion of a loaf in the eucharist ; a whole loaf
or cake was always to be employed.
VI. Compositionofthe Cup.
With regard to the element of Wine there has
been less controversy, though it is an interesting
and unsettled question whether the cup was mixed
at the institution of the sacrament by our Blessed
Lord himself. Pfaff (after R. Ob. de Bartenora
and Maimonides, in Mishnam de Benedict, c. 7,
§ 5) asserts that the Jews as a rule mixed water
with the wine in their Cup of Blessing. Light-
foot ( I emple Service, i. 691) says that he that
drank ])ure wine performed his duty ; so that,
although it seems probable that our Lord used
the mixed cup, yet it is not certain that he did
so. Buxtorf (De primae Coenae JRitibus et Forma,
§20) says that it was indifferent whether the
cup was mixed or not ; and in his Sijnagoga
Judaica, where he gives full details of the Pass-
over, does not mention a cup of wine diluted
with water. Again, the Babylonish Talmud calls
water mixed with wine " the fruit of the vine ;"
but it would appear that the same term is used
for pure wine in Isa. xxxii. 12; Hab. iii. 17;
so that nothing positive can be ascertained from
the use of that term. On the whole it seems
probable that our Lord used a mixed cup^ but
tliere is no conclusive evidence on the point.
It is acknowledged on all hands that, with the
exception of a few heretics, the church used for
many centuries wine mixed with water. Justin
Martyr, the first after the apostles who gives any
account of the celebration of the eucharist, says,
" There is then brought to the brother who pre-
sides a cup of water and mixed wine" (Kpa-ixaros).
And afterwards he tells us that "the deacons
distribute to each one present that he may par-
take of that bread and wine and water which has
been blessed by thanksgiving ;" and this food, he
says, is called Eucharistia {Apol. i. ch. 65).
Irenaeus also {adv. Haer. lib. v. c. 2, p. 294)
speaks of the mixed cup (KeKpa/ufvov i70T}\piov).
And again (lib. v. c. 36) of the Lord's promise to
his disciples, " that he would drink the mixture
of the cup (mistionem calicis) new with them in
the kingdom," which shows that he thought the
fruit of the vine and the mixed cup the same thing.
Cyprian {Epist. 63, ad Caeciliiim) has several
passages bearing on this question. He says :
(c. 2) that to mix wine with water is to follow
the Lord's example; and again (c. 13): "Thus
in sanctifying the cup of the Lord, water cannot
be offered alone, as neither can wine be offered
alone; for if the wine be offered by itself the
blood of Christ begins to be without us, and
ELEMENTS
if the water be alone the people begins to be
without Christ."
The third council of Carthage (c. 24) orders,
" that in the sacrament of the body and blood
of the Lord, nothing else be offered but what the
Lord himself commanded, that is bread, and wine
mixed with water." The African code, both
Greek and Latin, has this same canon, with
further directions added (Cod. Can. African.
c. 37). All the ancient litvirgies either contain
a direction for mixing water with the wine, or
else in the canon the mixing is alluded to. Thus
in the Clementine Liturgy {Constt. Apost. viii.
12, § 16), in reciting the words of Institution
the priest says : " Likewise also mixing the
cup of wine and water (e'l olvov koX (iSoros)
and blessing it. He gave it to them." The
Liturgies of St. James and St. Mark contain
like words, while the Liturgies of St. Basil and
St. Chrysostom order the deacon to put wine
and water into the cup before the priest places
it on the altar. In like manner, in some form or
another, the m.ixing is mentioned in th,e Liturgies
of Ethiopia, Nestorius, Severus, of the Roman
and the Galilean churches. In most liturgies,
when the water is mixed with the wine, some
reference is made to the blood and water which
flowed from the Lord's side ; as (e. g.) in the Am-
brosian rite : " De latere Christi exivit sanguis
et aqua pariter." Similarly the Mozarabic and
the Roman.
A peculiar rite of the Byzantine church is the
mingling of hot water with the wine. In the
Liturgy of St. Chrysostom (c. 34), after the frac-
tion of the oblate, the deacon, taking up the
vessel of boiling water (rb Ceov), says to the
priest : " Sir, bless the boiling water ;" the priest
then says : " Blessed be the fervency (ff o-is)'' of
thy saints for ever, now and always, and for ages
of ages;" then the deacon pours a small quantity
of the boiling water into the chalice, saying, " The
fervency of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Various mystical reasons have been given for
the mixture of water with the wine. That of
Cyprian has been already quoted. Gennadius
{be Eccl. Dogmat. c. 75), besides the fact that
our Lord used the mixed cup at the first institu-
tion, alleges as a further reason that blood and
water flowed from His pierced side. The same
I reason is given by the Pseudo-Ambrosius (I)e
j Sacram. v. 1), and generally by the liturgies.
! In the comment on St. Mark, ascribed to Jerome,
' another is given ; that by one we might bo
i purged from sin, by the other redeemed from
punishment (On Mark XIV.). Alcuin (Epist.
90) finds in the three things, water, flour, and
' wine, which may be placed on the altar, a mys-
tical resemblance to the Three Heavenly Wit-
nesses.
I The principal deviations from the received
practice of the church in this matter have been
the opposite usages of the Aquarians, who used
no wine at all in the eucharist, and of the Arme-
nians, who mixed no water with the wine,
claiming the authority of John Chrysostom.
' Both these are censured by the council in Trullo
(c. 32). These Aquarians or Hydroporastatae
probably abstained from wine as a bad thing in
itself, like the Ebionites and the Tatianists or
Encratites described by Epiphanius (Haeres. 30,
See Acts xviii. 25; Rom. xii. 11
ELESBAAN
16; 46, 2; 47, 1); but others in early times,
though they partook of the mixed cup in tlie
evening, used water only in the morning, lest the
smell of wine should bring scandal upon them,
and betray their celebration of the mysteries to
heathen persecutors. This practice "is noticed
and reprehended by Cyprian (Epist. 63. c. 16).
Some in the 7th century oiJered milk for wine
in the eucharist ; others communicated the
people not with wine pressed from grapes, but
with the grapes themselves (oblatis uvis) {Cone.
Bracar. iii. c. 1) ; errors severely censured by
the ecclesiastical authorities, who constantly
insisted on the offering of wine, water, and bread
only.
A peculiar instance of an addition to the cup
is the dropping of milk and honey into it, ac-
cording to the Roman rite, ou Easter-Eve (Mar-
tene, A. R. IV. xxiv. 32), the great day of bap-
tism. [Baptism, p. 164.]
TJie Colour of the Wine.
The wine in use in the church has in general
been red, apparently from a desire to symbolise
as much as possible the blood of our Lord. Ac-
cording to the Talmud red wine was offered at
the Passover. Irenaeus indeed {Haercs. bk. i.
c. 13, § 2) says that Marcus (a heretic) claimed
to perform the eucharistic ceremony over cei'tain
mixed chalices, and to make them appear red
and purple, which would lead to the supposition
that the wine had been originally white. But
Cyprian (^Ep. 63, c. 7) speaks as if the Eucha-
ristic wine was blood-red ; and Chrysostom
(Horn. 82 in Matt. xxvi. 34, 35) speaks of the
tongue being empurpled with the blood of Christ
in the eucharist. Later in the history of the
church many of the synods have ordered red
wine to be used ; and although there is no
necessity in the matter, it certainly seems the
most ajjpropriate.
Literature. — Bona, Rerum Liturgicarum Libri
li. ; Martene, De Antiquis Ecdesiae Ritibus ;
Krazer, De Antiquis Ecdesiae Ocoidentalis Li-
turgiis ; Bingham's Antiquities ; Vossius, Theses
Theol. ; Brett on the Liturgies ; Neale's Eastern
Clmrch ; Vogan's True Loctrine of the Eucharist.
On the special question of Azymes, see, against
the antiquity of unleavened cakes in the eucharist,
Sirmond's treatise De Azijmo (1651) ; on the
other side, Mabillon, in the preface to Saec. iii.
of the Acta SS. Bened., and in a special treatise
Be Azyino et Fermentaio. [G.W.P. and C]
ELESBAAN, king, monk in the time of the
emperor Justin ; commemorated Ginbot 20 =
May 15 {Cal. Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
ELEUTHEEIUS. (1) Bishop, and martyr
at Messina, with his mother Anthia or Evanthia;
commemorated April 18 {Mart. Hieron., Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Bishop, at Autesiodorum(Auxerre); com-
memorated Aug. 26 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Nicomedia under Diocletian,
" cum aliis innumeris ;" commemorated Oct. 2
(Jifart. Hieron., Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(4) Deacon, martyr at Paris, with Dionysius
the bishop and Rusticus the presbyter ; comme-
morated Oct. 9 {Mart. Hieron., Bedae, Rom. Vet.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(5) Bishop of Illyncum, martyr AD. 290;
commemorated Dec. 15 {Cal. Byzant.). [W.F.G.]
ELEVATIO
605
ELEVATIO (in a Liturgical sense).
(1). Eastern Church. — In all early Oriental
liturgies an elevation of the bread by the cele-
brating priest is prescribed contem])oraneously
with the proclamation ayia ayiois, and before
the Fraction. Thus, in the liturgy of St. Chryso-
stom "the priest, elevating the holy bread,
exclaims ' Holy things for holy persons ;' " of St.
James : " then he elevates the gifts, and saith
' Holy things,' &c. ;" of St. Basil, " the priest,
elevating the holy bread, exclaims 'Holy things,'
&c." ; the Armenian, " the priest lifts uj) the
sacrifice before his eyes, and saith ' the Holy of
holies.' " The original intention of this rite was
! clearly not that the host might be adored by the
people, for it took place within the Bema', the
doors of which being closed and the curtains
I drawn, it could be only seen by the attendant
ministers. This is acknowledged by Goar ; " Nou
ita tamen ut a populo conspiciatur Dominicum
corpus elevat Graecus sacerdos " {Eucholoj. p. 145,
note 158, cf pp. 84, 151) ; he adds that there is
no allusion to eucharistic adoration in the
earlier ritualists : " De majoris hostiae, a populo,
I completa consecratione, per elevationem conspi-
ciendae, nihil apud antiques rituum expositores."
The authority of St. Basil, to tt)? eiriKK-nffecos
prtixaTa eir\ t^s a vaS ei^e oo s rod &pTov ttjs
evxapiffTLas tis tcoj' ayiwv iyypdcpois rji/iv /cara-
\4\onriv ; {Be Sp. Sanct. c. 27), is erroneously
urged by Bellarmin {Be Eucharist, ii. 15), Schel-
strate {Be Concil. Antioch. p. 219), and Bona
{Eer. Liturg. lib. ii. c. 13, § 2), in support of the
later practice of elevating the eucharist to show
it to the people. For the word avaSei^ts has
been abundantly proved by Albertinus, quoted
by Bingham {Orig. Eccl. lib. xv. c. 5, §4),
and is acknowledged by Renaudot (i. 270), to
be used here in its classical sense of " dedication,"
" conseci-ation," not that of "displaying." The
authorities alleged in support of the earlv intro-
duction of the practice of displaying the eucharist
to the people prove very weak on examination.
The Pseudo-Dionysius, whose writings cannot be
placed earlier than the 5th or 6th century,
when speaking of the priest " showing the gifts,"
{tus Scope'as r&v BeovpytHu inroSei^as), before
proceeding to communion {Be Eccl. Hierarch.
c. iii. § 11) does not in any way assert that it
was to the people that he showed them. The
example of St. Euthymius, adduced by Martene
(p. 423), is little more to the point. All that
is said is, that after the anaphora, " stretching
forth his hands to heaven, and as it were
displaying to them the mystery administered
for the sake of our salvation," (/cal wavfp
aiiTols vTToSeiKuvs rh olKovofj.y]6iv ttjj acvTriptas
Xo-p'" T^s ■^juerepas fivarriptov), " he cried
with a loud voice, to. ayia rois a-yiois"
(Cyril Scythopol. Vita S. Euthym. apud Coteler.
Eccl. Graec. Monum. vol. ii. p. 268, §81). The
passage quoted from Germanus, and accepted by
Bingham as coming from the patriarch of Constan-
tinople of that name, A.D. 715, is from a work,
Theoria Rerum Didnarum, correctly assigned
by Cave to his namesake and successor five cen-
turies later, A.D. 1222. The most apposite
passage is that given by Renaudot (i. 267) from
Jfames bishop of Edessa, c. 651, which, if cor-
rectly quoted, prescribes that the priest, after
uttering the 071a 017101?, "shall lift the sacra-
ments and show them to the whole people as for
606 ELIBEEITANUM CONCILIUM
a witness," "turn elevat et ostendit saoramenta
universo populo tanquam in testimonium."
(2) Western Clvirch. — Obscure and vague as is
the date of the introduction of the elevation of
the eucharist in the Oriental church, there is
still greater uncertainty when it became the
practice of the West. Goar humbly confesses
his ignorance (Euchotog. p. 146, § 158), and Bona
acknowledges the same (He?: Liiurg. lib. ii. c. 13,
§ 2), and professes his inability to discover any
trace of the practice in the ancient sacramen-
taries or the codices of the Ordo Eomnnus, or in
any of the ancient ritual writers, Alcuin, Ama-
larius, Walafrid, &c. Indeed there is little doubt,
as is acknowledged by all learned and candid
Romanists, that the elevation owes its introduc-
tion to the spread of the tenets of Berengarius,
c. 1050, against which it was regarded as a public
protest (Muratori, Liturg. Eomnn. Vetus, i. 227).
This practice was the natural consequence of the
mediaeval doctrine of Transubstantiation, though
it had little or no authoritative sanction before
the 13th century. Although from its late date
the Latin practice does not belong to the period
embraced in this Dictionary, we may mention
that the position of the elevation in the Roman
canon differs essentially from that of the Greek
church, not taking place until aftei- the fraction
and consecration instead of before it.
(Binterim, Denkwurdvj. vol. iv. p. 3 ; pp. 432,
sq. ; Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. xv. c. 5, § 4 ; Neale,
Eastern Ch. vol. i. p. 1, p. 516 ; Bona, Her. Liturg.
lib. ii. c. 13, § 2; Goar, Eu:holog. p. 145 sq.;
Martene, De Keel. Bit. vol. i. p. 423 ; Renaudot,
JMurg. Oriental. Collect, i. 265-271, ii. 82, 572,
608; Scudamore, Notitia Enchariit. ch. vi. § 10,
p. 546 sq. ; ch. viii. § 7, p. 594 sq.) [E. V.]
ELIBERITANUM CONCILIUM. [El-
vira, Council of.]
ELIGIUS, bishop and confessor, "gloriosus
in miraculis," at Noyon ; commemorated Dec. 1
(^Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ELIJAH, the prophet ; commemorated July
4 (Ca/. Armen.), July 20 {Cal. Byzant.). Taksas 1
= Nov. 27 {Gal. Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
ELISHA, the prophet ; commemorated Senne
20 = June 14 (Cal. Ethiop., Cal. Byzan^t.), Oct. 12
(Cal. Armen.); also Tekemt 19= Oct. 16 {Cal.
Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
ELIZABETH. (1) Mother of John the
Baptist; commemorated Jakatit 16 = Feb. 10
{Cal. Ethiop.).
(2) OavuaTOvpyos, commemorated April 24
{Cal Byza„t.). [W. F. G.]
ELODIA, virgin, and martyr with Nunilo at
Osca; commemorated Oct. 22 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ELPIDIPHORUS, and companions, martyrs
in Persia, a.d. 320; commemorated Nov. 2 {Cal.
Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
ELPIS (Hope), daughter of Sophia (Wis-
dom), is commemorated with her sisters. Faith
and Love, Sept. 17 {Cal. Byzant.) [C]
ELVIRA, COUNCIL OF {Eliberitanum or
IlUhcritanum concilium), held at Elvira in Gra-
nada. There was another Elvira in Catalonia.
The date assigned to it in its own acts is Era
CCCLXii = A.D. 324. But it has been referred to
A.D. 305, 313, and even 335 by moderns. As
EMBALMING
Hosius of Corduba is placed second of the nine-
teen bishops attending it, its date cannot well
have been earlier than 313, nor later than 324.
And, in either case, its canons about the lapsed
would find their counterpart in those of Ancyra
or Nicaea. Perhaps the later date, besides being
that of its own acts, would accord best with the
eference to it by Hosius himself in the 11th
Sardican canon, which Baluze points out. Its
own canons, all on discipline, seem to have
amounted to fourscore and one; but Gratian
and others cite several more not now found in
its acts. Among the former, absence from
church for three consecutive Sundays is pun-
ished by the 21st. Superpository fasts— on which
see Bingham xxi. i. 25 — to be observed in all
other months, are relaxed in July and August
by the 23rd. Bishops, priests, and deacons co-
habiting with their wives are threatened with
deprivation in the 33rd, lights in cemeteries are
forbidden during the day by the 34th, and
pictures in churclies by the 36th. A huge
dissertation on this council, in three books, ad-
dressed to Clement VIII. by Mendoza, may be
read in Mansi, ii. 58 and seq. [E. S. Ff.]
EMANCIPATIO, in a special sense, is the
setting free of a monk, chosen to an ecclesiastical
dignity, from the obedience which he owes to his
superior. This was done by letters under the
hand of the abbat, called ernxmcipatoriae literae.
A form of such letters is given by Petit in his
edition of Theodore's Penitential, p. 143. (Du-
cange, s. v.). [^"O
EMBALMING. There are many testimonies
to the observance of this custom among the
Christians of the early centuries. That it was
practised in the case of martyrs appears from
the instance of Tharacus {Ada Tliaraci, ap.
Baron, an. 290, n. 21), to whom it was denied
by his persecutor Maximus, and his body sen-
tenced to burning, in contempt of the doctrine
of the resurrection. But embalming was not
confined to martyrs ; it was a reproach cast
upon Christians generally by the heathen inter-
locutor in Miuucfus Felix {Octav. c. 12, § 6), that
"using no perfumes for their bodies in life, they
required all costly ointments for their funerals."
Tertullian also {Apol. c. 42) is a witness to the
general observance of the custom : " Let the
Sabaeans know that more of their costly wares is
spent in the burial of Christians than in offering
incense (fumigandis) to their gods."
The practice was doubtless derived from the
Jews. In the Old Testament the only recorded
examples are those of Jacob and Joseph (Gen. 1.
2, 26) in conformity with Egyptian usage ; but it
would seem to have been observed more or less
generally during their later history ; and in St.
John's description of our Lord's burial, we read
that Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus " took
the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes
with the spices, as the manner of the Jens is to
bury." Our Lord's interpretation of the pious
offering of Mary to His person (Mark xiv. 8),
" She hath anointed my body to the burial "
{iVTa<pia(rix6v) implies the use of unction as .a
recognized practice. Various spices were em-
ployed for the embalming, especially myrrh ; so
Prudentius {Cathemerin. hym. 4) —
•' Aspersaque myrrha Sabaeo
Corpus medicamine si-rvat."
EMBER DAYS
Although the custom of embalming was com
niou to Christians and heathens, there was an
essential difterence in the purpose for which it
was practised. As a pagan ceremony it wa:
intended to facilitate cremation; with the Chris-
tians, on the contrary, to whom "the old irre-
verence of burning " was always abhorrent, its
object was to preserve the body from corruption
It was doubtless the expression of that reverential
feeling for the body, as having been the temple
of the Holy Ghost, and as destined for restora-
tion to an imperishable existence, by which the
Christian faith was exclusively characterised
among all the religions of the world. [D. B.]
EMBER DAYS (jejicnia quatuor temporum).
From the Latin title has been derived the name
of these seasons in most European languages,
whether by translation [e. g. the French les
Quritre- Temps, or the Swedish de fyra faste-
tide?-'], or by a corruption of the original [e. g.
the German Qxiatcmber, Dutch Quatertemper, or
Danish Kvatember']. Hence too, if we consider
the wide-spread use of the expression is a
probable derivation of the English Ember ;
though two others have been proposed, one
connecting it with embers in the sense of ashes,
for which little can be said, and the other
identifying it with the Anglo-Saxon Ymbren, a
revolution or circuit, to which it has been
objected that all church seasons are necessarily
recurrent. [In favour of this last view, how.-
ever, may be cited the phrases ymbren dagns, etc.,
and such notices as the canon of the English
council of Aenham, given below.] On the sup-
position that the derivation from the Latin is
the true one, it is interesting to note the Danish
form Tainperdag, as marking an intermediate
stage between that of the German and of the
English. An exception to the above rule is the
Welsh name, Wythnos y Cydgoriau, week of the
united choirs or processions.
Whatever may have been the origin of the
solemnity of the Ember Fasts, we find them at
an early period associated with the invoking of
God's blessing on each of the four seasons as
it came round in its turn, and the special
striving by prayers and fasting to merit such
blessings. Still, on the earliest occasion on
which we meet with a mention of these fasts,
this idea does not seem to have been present to
the mind of the writer. The passage in question
occurs in the treatise de Haeresibus of Philas-
trius, bishop of Brixia, in the middle of the 4th
century. As the passage is of some importance,
we think it well to quote it at length. After
citing Zech. viii. 19, as referring to the
subject, he proceeds " . . . . ut mysteria Chris-
tianitatis ipsis quatuor jejuniis nuntiata cognos-
ceremus. Nam per annum quatuor jejunia in
ecclesia celebrantur; in Natali primum, deinde
in Pascha, tertium in Epiphania, quartum in
Pentecoste. Nam in Natali Salvatoris Domini
jejunandum est, deinde in Paschae Quadragesima,
atque in Ascensione itidem in caelum post
Pascha die quadragesimo, inde usque ad Pente-
costen diebus decem : id quod postea fecerunt
beati Apostoli post Ascensionem jejuniis et
orationibnsinsistentes." {Ilaeres. 119. in Patrol.
xii. 128G.) It seems certain here, whatever the
ex])lanation may be, whether of a false reading
in the text, or of an unusual meaning of the
EMBER DAYS
607
word, that, as Fabricius {not. in loc.) suggests,
the fast in Kjiiphunit refers to the seasoa of the
Ascension, both from the position assigned to it
between Easter and Pentecost, and Vrom the
subsequent reference to the Ascension.
We now pass on to the first definite mention of
these fasts as associated with the beginnings of
the four seasons. Among the works of Leo I.,
are found numerous sermons for each of the
fasts, which are spoken of as the fast decimi
memis {Scrm. 12-20), the fast in Quadragesima
(Serm. 39-50), the fast in Pentecoste (Serm.
78-80), and the fast se/timi mensis (Serm.
86-94) respectivelv : and in one passage {Serm.
19, c. 2; vol. i. p. 59, ed. Ballerini), he thus
associates the fasts with the seasons they
introduce, "jejunium vernum in Quadragesima,
aestivum in Pentecoste, autumnale in meuse
septimo, hiemale autem in hoc qui est decimus
celebramus." Further, he appears to speak of
this practice as resting on apostolical authority
{Serm. 80, c. 1 ; p. .316), meaning, probably, that
resting on the authority of his church, they
claimed the respect due to a])ostolic ordinances.
The autumnal fast does not seem to be mentioned
before the time of Leo L, for it will have been
observed that the arrangement in Philastrius
is different. Perhaps, however, Leo or some of
his predecessors may have added to three existing
ancient fasts this fourth one, and then associated
the four seasons of the year with these four re-
gularly recurring fasts.
The particular days on which it was incumbent
to ftist at the Ember seasons according to the
Roman rule were Wednesday, Friday, and
Saturday ; thus Leo {Serm. 80, c. 4, p. 320)
enjoins "Quarta et sexta feria jejunemus,
Sabbato autem ajmd beatissimum Petrum Apo-
stolum vigilias celebremus." Augustine {Epist.
36, ad Casulaniim, c. 8 ; vol. ii. 105, ed. Gaume)
seems to speak simply of the particular days of
the week on which the local Roman church fasted
in its ordinary practice.
It has been said that Leo {Serm. 1.8, c. 2 ; p. 57),
asserts that the fasts of the four seasons were
celebrated " in universa ecclesia ;" but an
examination of the passage will show that he is
referring to the institution of fasts generally.
Indeed, there can be little doubt that the fasts of
the four seasons were at first only observed in
that part of the church in immediate dependence
on Rome. The language of Augustine will not
allow us to suppose that the same state of
things prevailed in Africa ; the church in north
Italy diftered, at any rate in not making Satur-
day a fast. (Ambrose apud August., Epist. 86 ad
Casulanum c. 32 ; ed. cit. 120).»
In the eastern church there is no trace what-
ever of an observance of the Ember seasons. The
passage of Athanasius, which some have quoted
in support of a different conclusion {Apol. de fuga,
c. 6; vol. i. p. 323, ed. Bened.), merely proves
the existence of a fast at Pentecost. With this
may be compared an allusion in the Apostolic
Constitutions (lib- v. c. 20).
Not onlv is there thus a lack of evidence
to establish the existence of tlio usage in early
times as aught but a local Roman custom, but
we find Jerome protesting against the multiply-
See on this point QuesnoU's sixth DiN'^rrtation ap
ponded to his edition of Leo J.
608 EMBER DAYS
ing of obligatory fasts, and clearly recognizing
no fast but Lent as of universal obligation (Epist.
41 ad Marcellam c. 2 ; vol. i. 189, ed. Vallarsi ;
of. vi. 750).
Nor if we take illustrations from a somewhat
later period shall we find the practice uniformly
established. Thus the rule of St. Benedict (ob.
circa 542 A.D.), carefully specifies the fasts which
the order was to observe, but ignores the Ember
seasons altogether, and indeed, his rule is
hardly compatible with the existence of the
latter (^Regula S. Bened. c. 41 ; p. 88, ed. Venice,
1723).
Later still Isidore of Seville (ob. 636, A.D.),
speaks of the four fasts which are to be observed
in the church, " secundum Scripturas sacras,"
mentioning those in Lent, Pentecost, the seventh
month, and [on the authority of Jeremiah
xxxvi. 9], the Calends of November (de off. Eccl.
i. cc. 36 sqq.). He afterwards mentions in
addition to these four, that on the Calends of
January and others.
As regards the Galilean church, the Ember
seasons do not seem to have been established
much before the time of Charlemagne. The
second council of Tours (567 A.D.) in prescribing
the fasts to be observed by monks, makes no
mention whatever of the fasts of the four
seasons — the various Galilean Liturgies published
by Mabillou equally ignore them ; and the
language of the council of Maintz [813 A.D.], in
ordering their observance, seems to imply a
recently established institution, " Constituimus ut
quatuor tempora anni ab omnibus cum jejunio
observentur, hoc est in mense Martio hebdomada
prima, et feria quarta, et sexta, et Sabbato. . . .
similiter in mouse Juuio hebdomada secunda, in
mense Septembris hebdomada tertia, in mense
Decembris hebdomada prima, quae fuerit plena
ante vigiliam Nativitatis Domini sicut est in
Romana Ecclesia traditum." {Concil. MocjUnt.
can. 34; Labbe vii. 1249). We also "meet
with capitularies of the Carlovingian kings
to the same eflect (see e. g. lib. v. 151 ; vol. i. p.
854, ed. Baluzius. See also one of 769 A.D.,
ih. p. 192).
To return now to the Roman church properly
so called, it will be seen that tliere is reason to
doubt whether even there the spring fast was
not at first really Lent itself, and not the three
special days. It is pointed out by Muratori (see
below) c. 3, that while Leo in his sermons on
the summer, autumn, and winter fasts, alludes to
the three days Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday ;
he yet in his sermons on the spring fast in no
way refers to them, and indeed it is difficult in
any case to see the meaning of a fast within the
limits of another fast, except it were meant to be
of a more rigorous kind, of which in the present
case we have no evidence.
Some would attempt to solve this difficulty by
supposing that the Ember seasons were originally
instituted as times for ordination, but it certainly
appears that this theory cannot be borne out by
facts (see e. g. Amalarius Fortunatus, de Eccl.
Off. ii. 2, and cf. Muratori c. 3). Everything
points to the conclusion that the solemnity
attaching to the seasons led to their being
chosen as fitting times for the rite. The theory
of Muratori seems very probable, that the spring
fast is really Lent itself, and that the fixing of
the three days is due to a later development.
EMBER DAYS
Among other evidence referred to by him is the
fact that in some ancient Roman sacramentaries,
when notice is appointed to be given of the fasts
of the fourth, seventh, and tenth months, no
mention is made of the spring fast. Lent being
assumed to be known from other sources. (For
instances of this see Cardinal Bona, lierum
Liturgg., lib. ii. c. 16; vol. ii. p. 343, ed. Aug.
Taur. 1753; and Thomasius, Codices Sacramen-
tormn, lib. i. c. 82 ; p. 113.) We may further
refer to the rule of the English council of
Cloveshoe (747 A.D.), which orders that no one
should neglect "jejuniorum tempora, id est,
quarti, septimi et decimi mensis," and that due
notice should always be given of each (Concil.
Cloves, can. 18 ; Labbe vi. 1578). It is inter-
esting to add here that the introduction of the
fasts of the four seasons is referred by a later
English council (that of Aenham [1009 A.D.], the
locality of which appears to be unknown,) to
Gregory the Great, " et jejuuia quatuor tein-
porum, quae Iinhren vocant et caetera omnia
prout sanctusGregorius imposuit genti Anglorum,
conservantor " (jConcil. Aenham. can. 16 ; Labbe
ix. 792).
Among other evidence in favour of this theory
may be mentioned an epistle in the False Decre-
tals bearing the name of pope Callistus (ob.
223 A.D.), which orders that to the three already
existing fasts, a fourth should be added. Now
it may be reasonably argued that tlie author,
Isidore, put the matter in accordance with what
he himself believed to be the state of the case,
and that thus we obtain an insight into the
tradition existing in his time (circa 800 A.D.).
A similar remark as to Callistus, occurs in a
MS. of Anastasius Bibliotliecarius, in the Am-
brosian library. Although the statement is of
course false, still the origin of the forgery may
have been that the writer wished to embody
what he himself believed to be the fact, namely,
that the fourth (spring) fast was added on later
A capitulary also of Ahyto or Atto, bishop of
Vercellae about 945 A.D., mentions the three
fasts in a similar way {Patrol, cxxxiv. 43).
Not only does this doubt exist as to the origin
of the spring f)ist, but there seems much reason
for supposing that at one time it did not neces-
sarily fall in Lent at all, but was fixed in the
first week in March, though afterwards as a
matter of convenience it was fixed within Lent
always ; also the summer fast was at one time
placed in the second week of June, and there-
fore did not necessarily fall at Pentecost. The
council of Maintz, it will have been observed,
speaks of the fast as occurring in the first week of
March, Lent not being mentioned at all ; simi-
larly also for the summer fast. So too the Ordo
Boinanns, "in primo mense {i.e. March) quarta
et sexta feria et Sabbato in prima hebdomada
ipsius mensis primum jejunium celebratur.
Secundum in quarto mense {i.e. June) in secunda
\ hebdomada ipsius mensis. Tertium jejunium
I septimi mensis, id est Septembris, tertia hebdo-
i mada ipsius mensis. Quartum decimi mensis,
id est Decembris, quarta hebdomada ante Natalem
I Domini " (i. 33, ed. Hittorp ; cf. also Rabanus
Maurus de Inst Cler. ii. 24 ; and Amalarius
de Eccl. off. ii. 1). Again in many ancient
sacramentaries we have many things pointing to
the same result; e.g. in the Gelasian Sucra-
\ mentary, we find a notice " Istae orationes ouae
EMBER DAYS
sequuntur prima Sahhato in mense prima sunt
diueuJae " (^Patrol. Ixxiv. 1069, and cf. others
cited by Muratori, p. 261). One more example
may suffice : the council of Aix la Chapelle
(817 A.D.), orders that no fast should be in the
week of Pentecost, "nisi statuti fuerint dies
jejunii " {Gone. Aquisgran. can. 51 ; Labbe vii.
loll). Consequently, while the summer fast
might fall in the week of Pentecost, it did not
necessarily do so. It seems therefore not un-
reasonable to infer that at one time the church
celebrated the fasts of the four seasons according
to this rule, a change being subsequently made
to the present plan.
We must now refer to the Ember seasons as
times specially fixed for the ordinations of the
clergy. We have before said that they were in
all probability fixed at these times from the
solemnity attaching to them, and it is noticeable
that we find no trace of such a connexion earlier
than the time of Gelasius, who enjoins " ordi-
nationes etiam presbyterorum et diaconorum nisi
certis temporibus et diebus exercere non debent,
id est quarti. mensis jejunio, septimi et decimi,
sed et etiam Quadragesimalis initii ac medifina
Quadragesimae die sabbati jejunio circa vesperam
uovcrint celebrandas " {Epist. 9 ad Episcopos
Lucaniae et Bruttiorum, c. 11; Patrol, lix. 52).
It will be observed that two periods in Lent are
specified here, a piece of evidence in favour of
Muratori's view that the spring fast is Lent itself.
The Gelasian Sacramentary also furnishes a
form for this ordinance, which is headed, '' Ordo
qualiter in Romana sedis apostolicae ecclesia
presbyteri, diaconi vel subdiaconi eligendi sint,
mensis i. iv. vii. et x. Sabbatorum die in xii.
lectionibus . . . ," {Patrol. Ixxiv. 1069). Again,
the Gregorian Sacramentary enjoins that the
greater orders are to be conferred only "in
Sabbatis duodecim lectionum per quatuor tem-
pora" {Greg. Sac. 219, and cf. Menard's note).
The same order is laid down in the Pontifical ot
Egbert, archbishop of York from 732-766 A.D.
(p. 8, ed. Surtees Society).
The irregularity as to the time of the Ember
seasons evidently continued down to a late period.
Thus the plan laid down by the council of Maintz
is repeated two hundred and fifty years after
(1072 A.D.), by a council of Rouen {Concil. Ro-
thom. can. 9 ; Labbe ix. 1227) ; and the fre-
quency with which conciliar i-ules occur on the
subject prove how unsettled the matter was.
(See e.g. the regulations of the council of Seli-
genstadt [1022 A.D., can. 2 ; Labbe ix. 845], of
those of Placentia [1095 A.D., can. 14 ; ib. x. 504],
and Clermont [can. 27; ih. 508], and even of
Oxford [1222 A.D., can. 8 ; *. xi. 274], in the
very last of which we still meet with the
mention of Martii prima hchdomada.') The
system followed in later centuries is ordinarily
referred to the rule as laid down in the councils
of Placentia and Clermont.
It may be well very briefly to sum up our
results. The observance of the Ember seasons
is purely a western institution, there being
no certain trace of it whatever in the eastern
church. It was doubtless at first a rite merely
of the local Roman church, whence it gradually
spread throughout the west, and established
itself in Gaul and Spain by the eighth century,
and in England possibly earlier, through its
.special connection with Gregory.
CHRIST. ANT,
EMBOLISMUS
609
It IS perhaps not impossible that the dcvelo])-
nient of the practice in the Roman church mav
have been something to this ellect. Fasts at the
times of Lent, Pentecost, and the Nativity, are
certainly very ancient; the periods of these
would roughly correspond with three of the
four seasons, and thus some bishop of Rome, Leo
or one of his predecessors, may have conceived
the idea of making them symbolize the return of
the seasons, and so added the one necessary to
complete the four. It would soon come to pass
then that they would be spoken of as originally
ordained with tHat view. The length of each
ftist having been more or less settled, and the fasts
being now moi-e specially associated with the
seasons, the spring and summer fasts would
come more and more to be viewed independently
of Lent and Pentecost, and hence they would fall
occasionally outside these seasons. Finally, the
inconveniences arising from such irregularities
may have caused the ultimate settlement of the
matter in its present form.
For the matter of the foregoing article, I am
especially indebted to Muratori's Dc iv. Temparnm
jejuniis disquisitia (in his Anecdota, vol. i. 246-266 ;
Mediolani 1697); also to Bingham's Antiquities
of the Church, book xxi. eh. 2, and Binterim's
JDenkwiirdigkeiten der Christ- Katholischen Kirche,
vol. V. part 2, 133 sqq. Reference may also be
made to Valfredus, De usu et insiitutione jejunii
quatuor temporum, Bononiae, 1771. [R. S.]
EMBLEM. [Symbol.]
EMBOLISMUS, also EMBOLIS, EMBO-
LUM, (1) an inserted or intercalated prayer ;
the name given to the prayer which in almost
all ancient liturgies follows the Lord's Prayer,
founded on one or both of the two last petitions.
It is so called because it is interposed here, and
I what had been already asked in the Lord's
Prayer is expanded, and it is more clearly ex-
pressed what evils we seek to be delivered from,
viz. past, present, and future, together with the
saints by whose intercession we strengthen our
prayer, viz. the B. V. Mary, St. Peter, St. Paul,
and St. Andrew (Bona, Picr. Liturg. ii. c. 15 § 2).
Amalarius (A.D. 810) says of it, "in consumma-
tione orationis venit clausula universas petitiones
et preces nostras collecta brevitate concludens "
(Amalar. De Eccl. Offic. iii. 29). The Km'iolis-
mus was usually repeated by the priest in a low
voice, symbolizing the silence during the period
that our Lord lay in the grave ; but in the Am-
brosian rite it was always pronounced aloud
(Maori, Hierolex. s. v.). This practice, which
has left very faint traces in the Western church,
being reduced in the Roman and Ambrosian
rites to "Libera nos quacsumus Domine ab
omni malo," holds a more important place in
Oriental litui-gies. The Emb dismns is not, how-
ever, found in the liturgies of St. Chrysostom
and St. Basil, but appears iu those of St. James,
St. Mark, and Theodore the Interpreter, as well
as in the Armenian, Mozarabic, and Cojitic St.
Basil. As examples of the shorter Emljolismus
we give that of the church of Jerusalem, " And
Icaii us not into temptation, 0 Lord, the Lord of
Hosts, who knowest our infirmity ; but deliver
us from the Evil One, and his works, and every
assault and will of his, for the sake of Thy Holy
name which is called upon our lowliness " (As-
seniau. vol. v. p. 51), and tlie Svriao St. James,
2 R
610
EMBOI.OS
" 0 Lord our God, lead us not into temptation
which we devoid of strength are not able to
bear, but also with the temptation make a way
of escape, that we may be able to bear it, and
deliver us from evil through Jesus Christ," &c.
(Kenaud. vol. ii. p. 40).
(Neale, Eastern Ch'irch, part i. 1, p. 513 ;
2, pp. 627-B29; Scudamore, Notit. Euchar.
p. 572 ; Binterim, Denkwiird. iv. 3, p. 465 ;
Maori, Hiarolex. ; Ducange, Glossar. s. v.) [E.V.]
(2) Emholisinus also designates the excess of
the solar year over twelve lunar months, com-
monly called the Epact. See Durandus, Ba-
tionale, viii. 10. (Ducange, s. v.). [C]
EMBOLOS. A covered portico or cloister ;
in ecclesiastical language a cloister surrounding
the external walls of a church, serving as an
ambulatory in hot, rainy, and dirty weather, and
also atfording a convenient passage for the priests
and ministei-s of the church from the bema and
diaconicum to the narthex, used at Constantinople
by the patriarch when he proceeded to wash feet
in the narthex. Codinus speaks of these cloisters
being vaulted, and Goar of their walls being orna-
mented with mosaic pictures. Such porticos ran
along the N. and S. sides of the church of St. Sophia
at Constantinople (Ducange, Constan. Christian.
lib. iii. 0. 16), and surrounded the churches of St.
Michael at Anaplus, and the Deipara at Jerusalem,
on all sides but the east (Procop. de Aedific. lib. i.
c. 8, lib. V. c. 6). It was in "the right emholos"
of St. Sophia — that the summary of the proceed-
ings of the so-called eighth general council, that
of Constantinople in 870, were drawn up (Labbe,
Concil. viii. 1421). In Moschus (Prat. Spiritual.
§ 66 apud Coteler. Eccl. Graec. Monum. ii. 390)
we read of an archimandrite named Geoi'ge, who
buried in " the right emholos" of a church ho
was erecting, the body of an ascetic who had
appeared to him in a dream and warned him
where he would find his corpse.
(Goar, Eucholog. p. 627 ; Allatius, de Templis,
Epist. ii. § 4 ; Ducange, Gloss. Graec). [E. V.]
EMERENTIANA, virgin, martyr at Rome ;
commemorated Jan. 23 (Mart. Horn. Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EMEEITENSE CONCILIUM. [Merida,
Council of.]
EMILIANUS. (1) Martyr in Lower Ar-
menia with Dionysius and Sebastian ; commemo-
rated Feb. 8 (Mart. Rcnn. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) Martyr in Numidia, with Agapius and
Secundinus, bishops ; commemorated April 29
(Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Dorostorum ; commemorated
July 18 (Aiart. Usuardi).
(4) Deacon, martyr at Cordova with Hiere-
niias ; commemorated Sept. 17 (Mart. Usuardi).
(5) Presbyter and confessor in Tarragona ;
commemorated Nov. 12 (Th.)
(6) Confessor in Africa ; commemorated Dec.
6 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EMILIUS. (1) Martyr in Africa, with
Castus ; commemorated May 22 (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. Garth.).
(2) Martyr in Sardinia ; commemorated May
28 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
ENCHEIPJON
(3) Martvr at Capua ; commemorated Oct. 6
(Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EMITHEEIUS, martyr with Celedonius at
Calagurris ; commemorated March 3 (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EMPHOTION ('-Efxtpdriov) is one of the
names for the white robe (ava^oKiov) with which
persons were invested at baptism. The name is
no doubt derived from the '"enlightening" attri-
buted to the baptismal ceremony. See Baptism,
pp. 156, 163. [C]
EMPHYTEUSIS (^'EpLcpirtvai^), a manner
of letting real property, at first confined to waste
lands requiring much outlay to bring them under
cultivation, but afterwards applied to any real
property.
Emphyteusis is a contract by which the bene-
ficial ownership of real property (res immobilis)
is transferred by the proprietor to another,
either for a term of not less than ten years, or
for a life or lives, or in perpetuity, in considera-
tion of an annual payment. It differs from mere
letting (locatio), in that by emphyteusis bene-
ficial ownership is transferred for the term,
while by letting only the use and enjoyment of
produce is transferred; in that its use is confined
to real property ; and in that it cannot be for a
less term than "ten years. It diflers from feudal
tenure (feodum), in that it requires periodical
payments, not personal service, to be given to
the lord or proprietor.
Emphyteusis is either ecclesiastical or lay.
Ecclesiastical emphyteusis is a contract by which
property belonging to a church, monastery, oi
other religious foundation, is granted. This
differs from lay emphyteusis [See Smith's Dict.
OF Greek and Roman Antiq. s. «.] principally
in that it requires the assent of the bishop, and
must clearly be for the benefit of the church or
foundation which grants it ; a provision no doubt
intended to check the alienation of church pro-
perty by ecclesiastical persons. [Alienation
of Church Property: Property of the
Church.]
(Ferraris, Prompta BMlotheca, s. v. " Emphy-
teusis.") [C]
EMPRESMUS ('E^7rp7;o-^($j), the great con-
flagration ; commemorated Sept. 1 (Cal.
P-yzant.). [W. F. G.]
EMUNITAS. [Immunities.]
ENAFOTA, ENAFODIA C Euv.dcpmrcC).
In the Liber Pontijicalis, we read that pope
Paschal gave to a church "canistra enafota ex
argento duo, pens. lib. x." two coronae of nine
lights, weighing ten pounds. And Valentine II.
gave "canistra ennafodia duo pens. lib. xv."
Compare Canister, Corona, Exafota. (Du-
cange, s. V.) [C]
ENCAENIA. [Dedication-Festival.]
ENCHANTMENT. [Magic]
ENCHEIRION ('Eyxe'V'""), the napkin
with which the priest wipes his hands, worn at
the girdle. Towards the end of the letter of
Nicephorus of Constantinople to pope Leo (in the
Acta Cone. Ephes. p. 313, ed. Commelin, 1591),
we read of a stole and an encheirion em-
broidered with gold. It is described by Ger-
manus of Constantinople (Tlworiu Mt/st. p. 150,
ENCOLPION
fd. Pans, 1560) thus: "The encheirion, which
haugs to the girdle, is the napliin which wipes
his hauds ; and to have a napkin at the girdle is
typical of him who washed his hands and said,
' I am innocent ' (Matt, xxvii. 2-):)." (Suicer's
Thesaurus, s. v.) [C]
ENCOLPION ('E7Ko'\7r/oi/, that which is
worn on the breast), the name anciently given
to small caskets worn round the necks of the
faithful, containing usually either relics or a
copy of the Gospel^.
The use of these portable reliquaries is of
the highest antiquity ; Chrysostom ( Quod Chrislus
sit Deus, p. 571 E, ed. Ben.) speaks of particles
of the true Cross being suspended from the
necks both of men and women, enclosed in gold.
In 1571 t\v(i such reli'iuarn's, maae of gold,
were found in tombs belonging to the ancient
cemetery of the Vatican ; they are square in
form, and are furnished with rings which indi-
cate their use ; on one side they bear the mono-
gram of Christ, between the A and O. (see
woodcut). These probably date from the 4th
century.
The pectoral cross worn by bishops was also
called encolpion. The oldest specimen now
existmg IS one which was found not long smce
upon the breast of a corpse in the basilica of St.
Laurence, outside the walls. It came to light in
clearing ths interior of that church, and we are
indebted to De Rossi for a careful drawing of it
(Bullet ino, Apr. 1863). On one side it bears |
the inscription, Emmanoviia [Emmanuel] No-
Biscvii DEVS; on the other, the following;
ENCYCLICAL LETTERS 611
words, addressed apparently to Satan : Crvx
EST VITA MlHI || MORS INIMICE TIM; a cavity
closed by a screw appears to bare been intended
for relics. Reliquaries in the form of a cross
are first mentioned by Gregory the Great. He
sent one of them to queen Theodelinda with a
fragment of the true cross ; this still exists at
Monza, and is used by the provost of the
ancient church in that city when he officiates
pontifically. An engraving of it may be found
in Frisi's Memorie della Chiese Monzese (p. 52).
Two amulets given to this princess by the
same pontiff" for the use of her children are still
preserved among the celebrated treasures of
Monza, one of which contains a piece of the true
cross, the other a fragment of the Gospels (Greg.
Magn. Epist. xiv. 12). Engravings of these ob-
jects are given by Mozzoni {7'avole cron. della
stor. eccl. vol. vii. p. 79). The same volume of
the same work also contains (pp. 77 and 84)
drawings of other reliquaries of the highest
interest — namely, some of the vases in which
oil from the sacred lamps of the tombs of the
martyrs had been sent by Gregory to Theodelinda.
[Ampulla.]
From the same pope we also learn (Epist. i.
36 ; vii. 26) that filings from St. Peter's chains
were sometimes enclosed in small golden keys.
He himself had sent one of these consecrated
keys to Childebert, king of the Franks, to
wear hung from his neck "as a protection
from all evils " — " Claves sancti Petri, in
quibus de vinculis catenarum ejus inclusum
est, excellentiae vestrae- direximus quae collo
vestro suspensae a malis vos omnibus tueantur "
(Epist. vi. 6). An illustrious Gaul named Dina-
mius also received, from the same pontiff, a
small cross of gold, containing a similar relic
(E^nst. iii. 33) — " Transmisimus autem B. Petri
apostoli benedictionem crucem parvulam, cui de
catenis ejus beneficia sunt iuserta." [EuLOGiAE.]
Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople (t 828),
speaks of an encolpion set in gold, one side of
which was formed of crystal, the other
of enamel (e/'/corfffjueVrj 5i' iyKavcredis):,
containing another encolpion, in which
fragments of the true cross were ar-
ranged in a pattern (ivTervTroofxevai')
(Acta Cone. Ephes., pp. 312, 313, ed.
Commelin, 1591).
The whole subject of these reliquaries
might receive abundant illustration
om the records and the remains of
mediaeval antiquity, were that period
within the scope of the present work.
[See Amulet.]
(Meursius's Glossarium and Suicer's
Thesaurus, s. v. iyKoKtrtov ; De la
Cerda, Adversaria Sacra, c. 36 § 7 ;
Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chr^t.) [C]
ENCYCLICAL LETTERS
('Ettio-toAoI eyKvKXioi, ypafi/xaTa
iyKvKKia). Letters of a circular na-
ture, not addressed to a particular
person or community ; as, the Catholic Epistles
(Oecumcnius on St. James i.). The letters in
which the members of a council signified their
conclusions to all the churches were called en-
cyclical ; and Nicephorus Callisti (Hist. xvi. 3)
speaks of the encyclical letters (iyKVK\ia
ypdjxixaTo) which the emperor Basiliscus wrote
against the fourth council (Chalcedon, a.d.
2 R 2
612
ENDOWMENT
451), addressed to all the bishops of the chui-ch.
The same writer (c. 4) speaks of divine and
apostolic encyclics {ijKuKXia). The circulars of
Basiliscus just referred to are styled by Evagrius
(^ff.E. iii. 4) iyKVKXioi crvWa^ai; an encyclical
letter of Photius is mentioned {ib. v. 2).
It is to be observed, that the phrase iyKVKXta
ypdij-fiaTa sometimes (as Euseb. H.E. vi. 18) de-
notes those subjects which the Greeks included
in the " circle of the sciences," or cyclopaedia.
(Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. 'EykukAios.) [C]
ENDOWMENT. The property given by the
foiuider of a church for the maintenance of the
edifice and of the clerks who served it was
called dos ecclesiae or endowment. Justinian
(Xovel 67), compelled those who built churches
also to endow them ; and without a competent
provision for their maintenance, no clerks were
to be ordained to any church {Cone. Epaon., A.D.
617, c. 25) ; whoever desired to have a parish
church (dioecesim) on his estate was to set apart
a sufficient landed endowment for its clerks
{Cone. Aurel. iv., A.D. 541, c. 33); a bishop was
not to consecrate a church until the endowment
of it had been regularly secured by a deed or
charter (Cone. Bragar. ii. [iii.], A.D. 572, c. 5) ;
founders of churches were to understand, that
they had no further authority over property
which they had given to the church, but that both
the church and its endowment were at the dis-
position of the bishop, to be employed according
to the canons {Cone. Tolet. iv., a.d. 633, c. 33).~
In the ninth council of Toledo, a.d. 655, a
special provision was made (c. 5), that a bishop
was not to confer on any monastic church which
he might found within his diocese more than a
fiftieth part of the funds at his disposal ; nor on
any non-monastic church, or church destined for
his own burial-place, more than one hundredth
part of the revenues of the diocese.
If one who held a " fiscus," or fief, from the
king, built and endowed churches, the bishop
was desired to procure the royal confirmation of
the gift {Cone. Tolet. iii., a.d. 589, c. 15).
See Alms ; Benefice ; Churches, Mainten-
ance OF, p. 388 ; Property of the Church.
During the period with which we are con-
cerned, the Bishop [p. 233], with the advice
and assistance of his presbytery, took charge of
church endowments.
(Wetzer and Welte's Kirchen - lexicon, s. v.
Dotalgut ; Ducange, s. v. Dos Ecclesiae.) [C]
ENERGUMENI. [Demoniacs.]
ENOCH, the patriarch, translation of; com-
memorated Ter 27 = Jan. 22 {Cal. Ethiop.) ;
= July 19 {Cal Copt.). [W. F. G.]
ENTALMA ("EvraA^a, ivraXr-lipia ypdfj.-
IxaTo), the document by which a bishop confers
on a monk the privilege of hearing confessions
' (Daniel, Codex, iv. 588). The form of such a
letter is given by Goar, Eucholog. p. 300. [C]
ENTHRONIZATION. 1. The solemn
placing of a bishop on his throne. See Bishop,
p. 224.
2. The word ivBpovid^eiv is also used to desig-
nate the placing or " enthroning " of relics of the
saints in the altar of a church on consecration
[Conskckation of Churches]. Hence vahs eV-
6povta<Tfxevos designates a regularly consecrated
clmrch and not a mere oratory. Thus Germa-
ENTEANCE
nus (in Daniel's Codex, iv. 701) speaks of a
church as dedicated in the name of martyrs and
consecrated over (or by virtue of) their holy
relics (eV to7s ayiois avrwi/ AeLi^dvois ivdpovi-
affdeTffa).
3. The word iv6povi(riu6s is perhaps sometimes
used to designate the installation of a presbyter
in his church (Reiske on Constant. Porphyrog.
Be Caerin. 617). [C]
ENTHUSI ASTAE . {ivOovcnaffraX). Those
who pretended to prophesy by the motion of an
indwelling daemon which they thought to be
the Holy Spirit (see Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. iv.
11; Suidas, sub voce evdovs; Bingham, Aiif. 16,
5, 4).
In A.D. 428 Theodosius and Valentinian or-
dained that these heretics (with many others)
"nusquam in Romano solo conveniendi oran-
dique habeant facultatem." This constitution
was inserted in the Theodosian Code (16, 5, 25),
and in that of Justinian (1, 5, 5), but with the
reading (if it be the correct one) " nusquam
in Romanum locum conveniendi morandique
habeant facultatem." The same exclusion is
decreed in general terms hj Justinian in his
37th Novell, " nulla omnino haeresis domum aut
locum orationis habeto." [I. B.]
ENTEANCE (E^o-oSos). Two of the most
remarkable ceremonies of Eastern liturgies arc
the Lesser and the Greater Entrance — that of
the Word and that of the Sacrament.
1. Tlie Lesser Entrance is the bearing in of
the book of the gospels in solemn procession.
In the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom (c. 17, p. 343,
Daniel) after the prayer of the third antiphon
(our ' Prayer of St. Chrysostom ') the rubric
runs : " Then the priest and the deacon, standing
before the Holy Table, make three genuflections
{TTpoffKvu7]ixara): Then the priest, taking the
Holy Book of the Gospels gives it to the deacon ;
and so, going out by the north side, with lights
going before them, they make the Lesser En-
trance." That is, the deacon and priest pass
from the sanctuai-y into the chapel of the pro-
thesis, which is to the north of it, and so out
into the body of the church, where, by a devious
path, they return to the Holy Doors, which are
open; the volume, often decorated v\ith great
magnificence, is laid on the Holy Table, whence
it is again taken to the ambo when the gospel is
to be read.
The rubric in St. Mark's liturgy (Dan. iv. 142)
is simply, " Koi ylyverai 7) iXao^os rov eiiay-
yeXlov."
This " Entrance " corresponds to the carrying
of the gospel by the deacon to the ambo or rood-
loft in the Western church, once a rite of great
importance ; for the book was preceded not only
by tapers but by a crucifix (Durandus, Ration de,
iv. 24. 16). Compare Alleluia, Gradual.
Ill the Coptic St. Basil, the Greater Entrance
precedes the Lesser. See below.
2. 2he Greater Entrance. — This ceremony has
probably, like others, been developed from simple
beginnings into very great prominence and mag-
nificence.
The liturgy of St. James (c. 17, Daniel iv. 98)
simply alludes in passing to the bringing in of
• the elements : " the priest bringing in the Holy
Gifts says the following prayer." St. Mark
(c. 10, Dan. iv. 148) is even more vague : " the
ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM
Holy Things (ret ayta) are brought into the
sanctuary, and the priest prays as follows."
Similarly the Mozarabic (Dan. "i. 67), " while
the choir chunts Alleluia, the priest offers p. e.
places on the altar] the Host and Chalice, with
the prayers following." In the Armenian rite
(Dan. iv. 460) the celebrant lies prostrate before
the altar while the Great Entrance is made ; in
this rite (anomalously) the elements are spoken
of as the body and blood of Christ before conse-
cration (Neale, Last. C/i. Int. 428).
In the much more developed rite of Constan-
tinople (Lit. Chnjsost. Neale, u.s. 373), after the
chanting of the Cherubic Hymn, the ceremony
proceeds as follows. During the previous part
of the eucharistic office, the elements have re-
mained on the table in the chapel of the prothesis.
At the proper point, the deacon censes the altar
and the sanctuary, and then goes before tlie
priest into the prothesis. The priest then lifts
the "aer," or covering, from the chalice and
paten, and lays it on the deacon's shoulder, and
then places upon it the paten, covered witii the
Asterisk and veil. The deacon takes hold of
these with his left hand, bearing the censer in
his right ; the priest takes the chalice and fol-
lows the deacon, and so, preceded by tapers, they
move round to the Holy Doors, as in the Lesser
Entrance. In great churches, where there are
dignified clergy and many attendants, this pro-
cession is one of great magnificence. Where
there is but a single priest and no deacon, he
bears the paten on his shoulder, supporting it by
his left hand, and the chalice in his right hand
before his breast.
In the Coptic St. Basil, the Great Eni>rance is
made at the very beginning of the liturgy ; the
directions for it are very curious and minute.
" The priest goes to the Takaddemet [Prothesis]
from w-hich he shall take the lamb [Elements,
p. 600], looking attentively that there be no flaw-
in it. ...When he hath all that he needs, the
lamb, the wine, and the incense, ...he takes
the lamb in his hand and wipes it lightly, as
Christ the Lord 'was first washed with water
before He was presented to Simeon* the priest ;
then he shall bear it round to the altar in his
hands, as Simeon bare Him round the Temple.
At last the priest shall lay it down on the altar
and shall place it on the paten, which signifies
the cradle ; and shall cover it with a linen cloth,
as the Virgin did at His Nativity " (Renaudot,
L.itt. Orientt. i. 186). A deacon seems to have
borne the cruet.
Compare Introit. [C]
ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. This event
in our Lord's life is very frequently represented
in the earlier art of the Christian Church, occur-
ring on some of the first sarcophagi, though not,
as tar as the present writer knows, in fresco or
mosaic in the catacombs or elsewhere, excepting
in an ancient mosaic of the Vatican (Bianchini
Demonstr. Inst. Sac. Saec. i. tav. 2, No. 17), and
one from the basilica at Bethlehem, i-eproduced
by Martiguy (p. 331) from Count de Vogue'
(Les Eglises de la Ter're Ste. pi. v.). The earliest
MS. representation of it is probably that in the
Rabula or Laurentian Evangeliary. The treat-
ment is almost always the same; the Lord is
» There is an evident confusion liero bLtwieii Simeon
and tlie high-priest.
EPACT
013
mounted on the ass, sometimes accompanied bv
her foal, and the multitude with their palm"-
branches follow, or lay their garments before
Him (Aringhi t. i. pp. 277-329; ii. p. 159 and
passim; Bottari, tav. xxi.). His right hand is
generally raised in the act of blessing. The
From the Sarcophagtis of Junius Basstts.
multitude frequently raise their hands in thanks-
giving. In one of the oldest MSS. of the New
Testament in existence, the Gregorian Evangeliary
of St. Cuthbert {Pahieographia Sacra) the Lord is
represented mounted on an ass, and bearing a
large whip — evidently with reference to the
scourge of small cords used in the expulsion of
buyers and sellers from the temple. There is a
certain variety in the examples taken from dif-
ferent carvings. In Bottari (i. taw. xvi. xsii.
xxxix.) Zaccheusis represented in the "fig or
sycomore tree " behind the Lord, as if to call
attention to the beginning of His last journey at
Jericho. In the last example the sycomore and
palm branches are carefully and well cut. In i.
tav. 40, garments are being strewn before the
Lord (as in the others). See also vol. ii. taw. 88,
89 ; iii. tav. 133. In one instance, without
Zaccheus, the colt accompanies the ass (iii. 134).
The small stature of Zaccheus is often dwelt on.
Or the figure may represent a person in the act
of cutting down branches. [R. St. J. T.]
ENVY— HOW CENSURED. Envy was
always reckoned a diabolical sin, and one of the
first magnitude (Chrys. Horn. 41 in Matth.;
Cyprian, De Zelo et Livore, p. 223); but there
are no distinctive penalties attached to it,
inasmuch as before it could bring a man
under public discipline, it required to be dis-
played in some outward and vicious action, which
received its appropriate punishment (Bingham,
Ant. 16, 14, 1 ; Thom. Aq. Summa 2, 2, qn. 36).
[I. B.]
EPACT, eiraKTal, sc. rj/ncpai; Lat. epactac ;
in Mediaeval writers, adjcctiones Lwiae ; the
number of days required to make up the lunar
year to the solar: — and so the numeral of the
moon's age on the 1st January. Or we may
say, with Scaliger, on the 1st March, wiiicii
(314
EPAGATUS
comes to the same thing, and has the advantage
of escaping the ambiguity of Leap year. In the
Easter canon of Dionysius Exiguus, the epact
meant the numeral of the moon's age on the
22nd March.
The old Latin cycles of 84 years, of which
we have an example in Ideler, ii. 249, indicated
Easter by means of the epacts of the 1st January,
and the day of the week on which the 1st
January fell.
The method of determining the months (lunar),
was as follows. For tlie first month of the year
tliat month was taken, whose age was expressed
by tlie epact. The day of December on which it
couimenced is found by subtracting the epact
(when more than one) from thirty-three. The
first month was always counted full, then hollow
and full succeeded by turns, so that the last
month in the year in a common lunar year was
hollow, in an intercalary year full. From the
last begins the new moon of the following year.
The Easter new moon being found, Easter-day
was, according to the Latin rules, that Sunday
which fell on or next after the 16th of the
moon, not therefore later than the 22nd of the
moon. The choice of the ijionth was determined
thus. New moon must not be earlier than the
5th March, and full moon not later than the
21st ; the first of these rules sometimes having
to give way, to save the violation of the latter.
The following rule is given for the 1st
January epact, viz., multiply the Golden Num-
ber by eleven, and divide the product by thirty,
the remainder is the epact. But this rule will
not give the epacts mentioned above, which
were constructed as we have just described —
with a saltus lunae, or addition of twelve after
the 19th year of the cycle, &c.
For the determination of Easter according to
the Alexandrian rules, with which the later
Koman rules agreed, see under Easter.
The elaboi'ate system of epacts afterwards
devised by Lilius, "and Clavius, belongs to the
system of the Gregorian calendar. [L. H.]
EPAGATUS, martyr at Lyons, under Marcus
Aurelius, with Photinus bishop, Zacharias pres-
byter, and others ; commemorated June 2 (Mart.
Mieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EPAPHRAS, bishop of Colossae, and mar-
tyr; commemorated July 19 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EPAON, COUNCIL OF (Epaonense con-
cilinm), held A.D. 517 at a town in Burgundy,
whose name is thought to have been preserved
in the modern village of lene on the Rhone. It
was attended by twenty-five bishops at the joint
summons of Avitus, bishop of Vienne, and Viven-
tiolus, bishop of Lyons, who presided. Forty
canons on discipline are given to it in its acts ;
but two more, called canons of Epaon by
Egbert of York, and by Gratian, are not among
these. By the 4th of them, bishops priests
and deacons are forbidden to keep hawks or
dogs for hunting. By the 9th, no abbot may
preside over two monasteries. By the 26th no
altar, not of stone, may be consecrated with
chrism. By the 39th slaves, taking sanctuary,
that have committed heinous crimes, are only to
be let oft' corporal punishment. Most of these
regulations had previously become law else-
where (Mansi, viii. 555 and seq.). [E. S. Ff.]
EPHESUS (COUNCILS OF) i
EPARCHIA. [Province.] j
EPARCHUS, monk, confessor at Angouleme ; \
commemorated July 1 (Mart. Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
EPARECHIUS, commemorated with Seve-
rianus Oct. 29 {Cal. Armen.). [W. F. G.]
EPENDYTES (eVerSurris). The ependytes, ;
the "fisher's coat" of St. Peter (John xxi". 7), '
was a kind of cloak used especially by monks,
and, as the etymology would seem to indicate,
worn over another garment. Thus e.g. in the
Graeco-Latin Glossary cited by Ducange (s. v.
epidecen), the Greek word is rendered Instata \
(leg. Instrata or Instita) haec superarki. Also
Augustine naturally enough speaks of eTreVSu/xa
as equivalent to superinditmentum {Qunest. in ,
Jud. 41 ; iii. 938, ed. Gaume). Suidas also ob- \
serves this distinction (^uTro5vrr)v -rh iffooTepoy i
Ifidriou, eTTevSinriv Si Th iirdvui). It is thus '
surprising that some should have taken it to ,
mean an under-garment, as e. g. the Lexicon of i
Zonaras (col. 788, ed. Tittmanu), which defines
it as rb iacimpov ifxaTiov, hs koX viroKaixicfov \
\fy€Tai. Athanasius mentions this dress as ]
worn by St. Antony ( Vita S. Anton., c. 46 ; i. j
831, ed. Bened.), and Jerome refers to it in the
case of Hilarion {Vita S. Hilar, c. 4; ii. 15, ed. I
Vallarsi). It appears, at any rate in the east, to '
have been made of skins ; thus the fxr]\ci>r-qs of ]
St. Antony is frequently mentioned, and Jerome j
describes that of Hilarion as pelliceus. For other j
references to the dress, see Pseudo-Athanas. de
Virginitate, c. 11 (ii. 116), and Basil of Seleucia,
Be' vita S. Theclae, i. 62 (Patrol. Gr. Ixxxv.
516). • j
The ependytes would appear to be the dress j
worn by the two figures (Abdon and Sennen, ;
victims of the Decian persecution) who are being
crowned by the Saviour in a fresco in the {
cemetery of Pontianus, on the Via Fortuensi.s,
near Rome. [See p. 8.] [R. S.] •
EPHEMERIS! [Calendar, p. 258.] \
EPHESUS (Councils of).— (1) a.d. 197, j
under Polycrates its bishop, on the Easter ques- 1
tion. His letter to Victor and the Roman
church is in part preserved by Eusebius (v. 24), ,
shewing that it had been customary there, down
from the days of St. John the Apostle, to keep \
Easter day on the 14th of the moon (Mansi, i. :
719-24). The interest of this fragment is j
enhanced from its having been translated by -j
Rufinus and St. Jerome. >
(2) A.D. 245, otherwise -called Asiatic, against |
the errors of Noetus (Mansi, i. 789-90). |
(3) A.D. 431, the third general, held in the 'I
church there dedicated to St. Mary, soon after \
the feast of Pentecost in the month of June, to
sit in judgment on Nestorius patriarch of Con-
stantinople, who contended that while the blessed
Virgin might with propriety be styled the
mother of Christ, she could not and ought not to
be styled the mother of God (Theotocus). In
other words he looked upon Christ as a com-
pound of two persons, as well as two natures,
instead of two natures, the Divine and Human,
hypostatically joined together in the single Per-
son of the Son of God. The controversy on this
point culminated in the celebrated lettef ad-
dressed by St. Cyril in synod to Nestorius, ending
with twelve anathemas, to which he is called
EPHESUS (COUNCILS OF)
upon to subscribe (Mansi, iv. 1067-84), and the
twelve counter anathemas which formed his only
reply to it {ib. p. 1099).
To end the dispute, the emperors Theodosius
the Youucrer and Valentinian issued oi'ders for
the meeting of a general council, to which the
letter summoning St. Cyril himself is still ex-
taut. It is dated Nov. 19, A.D. 430, and directs
him to repair to Ephesus by the Feast of Pente-
cost ensuing. It forbids the introduction of any
innovation privately till then, and directs that
all the disputes that have produced so much
strife shall be there settled canouically. Copies
of this letter had been sent to all metropolitans.
The council met accordmgly for its first session
June 22, as is stated in its sentence deposing
Nestorius (comp. Bev. ii. 103) which was the
first thing done: St. Cyril heading the list of
the bishops present, as bishop of Alexandria first,
and then as vice-gerent of the archbishop of
Rome, Celestine : Juvenal bishop of Jerusalem
came next : Memnon of Ephesus followed. About
160 were there when they commenced : 198 sub-
scribed.
It met for its sixth session, July 22, to publish
what it had defined on doctrine. First it recited
the Niceue Creed ; secondly, those passages from
the fathers which had been quoted in its first
session ; and lastly, its own definitive sentence,
that no other profession of faith but that of
Nicaea should be framed or propounded to any
desirous of coming over to the communion of
the church from Paganism, Judaism, or any
heresy whatsoever. Bishops and clergy framing
or propounding any other were deposed, and lay-
men anathematised. What induced the council
"to define" this, was a case just then brought
under its consideration by Charisius, steward
and priest of the church of Philadelphia, shewing
that two priests who had come thither from
Constantinople had been procuring subscriptions
to a formula purporting to be the doctrine of
the church, but in many respects heterodox.
The council condemned all who approved of it.
At the seventh and last session, held August
31st, on the petition of Rheginus, bishop of
Constantia in Cyprus, and two of his suffragans,
complaining of attempts made by the bishop of
Antioch to ordain in their island, contraiy to the
•canons and established custom, a no less stringent
rule was laid down on discipline ; " that no
bishop may act in any province which has not
always been subject to him. . ." [Bishop,
p. 234: Diocese.] In most of the Greek col-
lections eight canons are attributed to this
council ; but only seven by Photius and John
Scholasticus, and none at all in the Latin col-
lections. Beveridge shews conclusively (ii. 104)
that they were not in fact published as separate
canons. The first six, as he points out, form
part of a synodical letter addressed by the council
to all bishops, presbyters, deacons, and laymen,
on the defection of John of Antioch, and were
caused by it ; being directed against all deserters
or despisers of the council, whether favourers of
Nestorius, or Celestius the Pelagian, and uphold-
ing all who had been deposed by them. Where
this letter should come in the acts he omits to
explain. It is placed by Mansi without com-
ment at the end of them (iv. 1469-74). Its
proper place doubtless is at the end of the fifth
session, to the final proceedings of which (J,h.
EPHESUS (COUNCILS OF) 615
1323) it is in effect a corollary. Then the
business of the sixth session led to the "defini-
tion," since termed improperly the seventh
canon ; and that of the seventh session to the'
decree since termed with less impropriety the
eighth canon. Most of the principal documents
relating to this council are to be found in Mansi,
iv. 577 to the end, and v. to p. 1046, too nu-
merous to be specified. Some few more are
supplied by Marius Mercator Opj). P. ii. (Patrol,
xlviii. p. 699 and seq. ed. Migne) Cassian de
Incnrn. {ib. 1. p. 10 and seq.) Soc. vii. 29-34.
Evag. i. 2-7, with Garnier's five Diss, on Theo-
doret (Patrol. Ixxxiv. 89-864).
(4) A.D. 440, under Basil : reversing the
appointment of Bassianus to a distant see by
Memnon his own predecessor, and giving him
episcopal honour and rank at home (Mansi, v.
1199-1204).
(5) A.D. 447 under Dioscorus of Alexandria,
when Bassianus its bishop was deposed and
Stephen appointed in his room. The council of
Chalcedon, however, on considering their case,
decided that neither had been canonically con-
secrated, Oct. 30, A.D. 451 (Mansi, vi. 493-4,
and then vii. 271-94).
(6) A.D. 449, Aug. 10, under Dioscorus bishop
of Alexandria, convened by the Emperor Theo-
dosius like the last general council, and held in
the same church of St. Mary where the last had
been ; but its acts having been reversed in the
first session of the council of Chalcedon, where
they are recited at length, it was designated the
"robbers' meeting" {Latrocinalis, see the title
to c. 9, B. i. of Evagrius) and abandoned. It
was inspired throughout by the eunuch Chry-
saphius, who patronised Eutyches and was hostile
to Flavian. There are three letters from the
emperor to Dioscorus in reference to its com-
position. First he was to bring with him ten
of his own metropolitans, and ten other bishops
distinguished for their learning and orthodoxy,
but not more ; other's having received their
summons from the emperor himself similarly.
Next he was told that Theodoret had received
orders not to appear there, unless invited unan-
imously by the council when assembled. An-
other letter bade him admit the archimandrite
Barsumas to sit in it as representing all the
eastern archimandrites. A third letter assigned
him the first place in it, with the archbishops
of Jerusalem and Caesarea to support him. St.
Leo was likewise summoned from Rome, and sent
three representatives, one of whom Julius, bishop
of Puteoli, seems to have sat next after Dioscorus.
Altogether 128 bishops were present, but several
confessed to subscribing through others as being
unable to write. Eutyches having been intro-
duced, made profession of his faith, and com-
plained of the treatment he had received from
Flavian in the council of Constantinople con-
demning him. The acts of this council, as well
as of the council held five months afterwards to
reconsider its sentence, were read out next ; his
acquittal and restoration followed. Afterwards
a petition was received from some monks of hif
begging that his deposer might be deposed. On
this the acts of the sixth session of the third
general council were recited, and both Eusebius
of Dorylaeum and Flavian of Constantinople
deposed, as having contravene<l tlie definition
respecting the creed that was laid down there.
616 EPHESUS, HOLY GHILDEEN OF
Flavian who was present said at once that he
appealed from their sentence. Hihvry, the
deacon from Rome, "contradicted" it; others
accepted it only through misapprehension, as
they affirmed at Chalcedon on recanting. Ibas of
Edessa, Theodoret of Cyrus, Domnus of Antioch,
and several more, were similarly deprived of
their sees, as we learn from Evagrius. Liberatus
adds (Brev. 12) that great intimidation was
practised by the soldiers and monks present,
that Eusebius and Flavian were both given into
custody, and that the latter died of the injuries
which he there received (Mansi, vi. 503-8, and
then 587-936). [E. S. Ff.]
EPHESUS, the Seven Holy Children of, or
Seven Sleepers, are commemorated Aug. 4
{Cal. Byzant.). [C]
EPHORI. [Bishop, p. 210.]
EPHPHATHA. [Ears, Opening of.]
EPHRAEM. EPHRAIM, or EPHREM.
(1) Syrus, deacon of Edessa, Holy Father ;
commemorated Ter 7 = Jan. 2 {Cal. Ethiop.), Jan.
28 {Gal. Bijzant.), Hamle 15 = July 9 {Cal.
Ethiop.), Feb. 1 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi) ; depo-
sition, July 9 {Mart. Bedae).
(2) Bishop and martyr, a.d. 296 ; commemo-
rated March 7 {Cal. Byzant.) ; one of the martyrs
of the Chersonesus. [W. F. G.]
EPICLESIS ( 'Eiri/cA-rjo-is ) = " invocation,"
generally ; but specially the invocation of the
Holy Spirit to sanctify the elements displayed
on the Holy Table, occurring in Eastern litur-
gies after the recitation of the Words of Insti-
tution,
The evidence of Irenaeus in the second, Fir-
milian in the third, and of Cyril of Jerusalem
and Basil in the fourth century, as to the prac-
tice of the church with regard to the Epiclesis,
has been already quoted [Canon op the Liturgy,
p. 269]. To this may be added Chrysostom,
Horn. In Coeincterio {0pp. ii. 401, ed. Ben.),
where is described the priest standing before the
table, invoking {KaXuv) tlie Holy Spirit to de-
scend and touch the elements.
Of the liturgical forms, we may take the Cle-
mentine {Constt. Apostt. viii. 12, § 17) as an
early example. The priest beseeches God to send
down His Holy Spirit upon the sacrifice, " that
He may declare [or make] * {airo(privri) this bread
the Body of Thy Christ, and this cup the Blood
of Thy Christ, in order that they who partake of
it may be confirmed in piety, obtain remission of
their sins, be delivered from the devil and his
deceits, be filled with the Holy Spirit, be made
worthy of Thy Christ, obtain eternal life, Thou
being reconciled unto them, 0 Lord Almighty."
Compare the liturgy of St. James, c. 32.
The Epiclesis in the Byzantine liturgy (Chrys.
c. 30; Daniel, Codex Lit. iv. 359, 360), after
praying God to send down the Holy Spirit on the
gifts and the worshippers, proceeds, "and make
{iroi-naov) this Bread the precious Body of Thy
Christ, and that which is in this cup the precious
Blood of Thy Christ, changing them (uerajSaAcij/)
by Thy Holy Spirit."
» Neale {Telralogia, p. xv.) compares, for this sense of
the word, Plato's Protag. 349 A. See also von Drey,
Ueberdie Comtit. Apostol. p. 110; and Hefele, Beitrage
zur Archdol. il. 56.
EPIGONATION
St. Mark (c. 17 ; Dan. iv. 162) has : " Scud
forth .... Thy Holy Spirit upon us, and upon
these loaves, and upon these cups, that He may
sanctify and consecrate (TeAeicoo-??) them, as God
Almighty ; and may make (ttoi^o-t?) the bread
the Body and the cup the Blood' of the New
Covenant, of the very Lord and God and Saviour,
our Almighty King, Jesus Christ."
Several of the Mozarabic Post Secreta contain
similar invocations of the Holy Spirit ; for in-
stance, that for the second Sunday after Epiphany
(Neale, Eastern Ch., Introd. 499) has the follow-
ing : " We thy servants beseech Thee, that thou
wouldest sanctify this oblation by the permixture
of Thy Holy Spirit, and wouldest conform it,
with full transformation, to the Body and Blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may merit to
be cleansed from the pollution of our sins by
this sacrifice, whereby we know that we were
redeemed."
" The Syrian churches postponed the oblation
until after the Invocation of the Holy Spirit ;
while in the Jerusalem, Alexandrian, and Con-
stantinopolitan offices it precedes that prayer."
(Neale, v.s. 500.)
The question, whether the consecration is
complete without the Epiclesis, has been much
debated in modern times; but for our purpose it
is sufficient to observe that an Epiclesis is uni-
versal in Oriental liturgies, and common in litur-
gies influenced by the East, as the Mozarabic;
while in liturgies of the Roman type it is alto-
gether wanting. [C]
EPICTETUS, and companions, martyrs at
Rome, A.D. 296-; commemorated Aug. 22 {Mart.
Horn. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EPIGONATION {iiri-yov6.Twv\ also -yovi-
TLov, viruyovcLTLov). This ornamenc, peculiar to
the Eastern church, consists of a lozenge-shaped
piece of some stiff material, hanging from the
girdle on the right side as low as the knee,
whence its name. It seems to have been at first,
like the maniple in the West, merely a handker-
chief, and it apparently continued in this form
in the patriarchate of Antioch, as late as the
11th century (Ducange, Glossarium, s. v. viroyo-
vdriov), and in the Armenian church it has
remained thus to the present day (Neale, Eastern
Church, Inti-od. p. 311). Writers who delight
in finding symbolical reasons for the use of
vestments, have connected it either with the
towel with which our Lord girded Himself, or
more generally with the sword and Christ's
victory over death ; in connection with which
latter idea. Psalm xlv. 3, 4, is repeated on
assuming this ornament {Liturgia S. C/iryso-
stomi; Goar, Euchologion, pp. 59, 60). The
epigonation is properly part of the episcopal
dress, but is allowed by the rubric in this place
to be worn by other ecclesiastics of a certain
rank . . . . ei effTi TrpwToarvyKeWos rris /neydXTjs
eKKXriffias ^ ixXXos tis exo^v a^iSTrjTd Tiva
(Goar, I. c, and see his note, p. 112; of. also the
rule as laid down at a much later period by
Symeon Thessalonicensis in the 15th century,
where the wearing of the epigonation by priests
is spoken of as granted koto Stopeav apxi-^pa.-
TiK7]v; Marriott, Vesfw/'WOT Christianum, p. 171).
In one form given by Goar of the consecration
of a bishop in the Greek church, we find a
mention of this ornament as given to him imme-
EPILEPTICS
diately al'ter a deolai-ation of his faith and the
subsequent benediction by the presiding bishop
(Gear, p. 310). [R. S.]
EPILEPTICS. The 11th council of Toledo
(a.d. 675), after mentioning the case of those
possessed with demons [Demoniacs], who are
excluded altogether from the service of the altar,
speaks separately (c. 13) of the case of those who
sometimes fall to the earth from bodily disease,
who are excluded from ministering until they can
show that they have passed a whole year with-
out such attacks ; and desii-es (c. 14) that per-
sons liable to such attacks should (if possible)
not be left alone in the performance of divine
offices. These provisions clearly refer to the
case of those who are afflicted with epilepsy or
(to use the old English name) " falling sick-
ness." [C]
EPIMACHIUS, martyr at Alexandria, with
Alexander ; commemorated Dec. 12 {Mart. Rom.
Vet, Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EPIMACHUS. (1) Martyr at Rome, with
Gordianus, under Julian ; commemorated May 10
{Mart. Bom. Vet., Hleron., Bedae, Adonis, Usu-
ardi).
(2) Martvr a.d. 255; commemorated Oct. 31
{Cal. Byzaiit.). [W. F. G.]
EPIMANIKION. [Maniple.]
EPIXIKION. [Sanctcs.]
EPIPHANIUS. (1) Bishop, and martyr in
Africa, with Dnnatus and thirteen others; com-
memorated April 6 [Mart. Hleron.), April 7
{2Iart. Usuard'i).
(2) Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, A.D. 402 ;
commemorated May 12 {Mart. Bedae, Adonis,
Usuardi, Cat. Byzant.), June 17 {Cal. Armen.).
[W. F. G.]
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF (^ im-
<pdi/€ia, TO iiri(pdvia, 7] 6eo(pdveLa, toj d^ocpdvia;
TO. (paiTa, T]ixepa Tci^ (pdiToiv, to. ayia. (paiTa tSiv
iTTiCpaviaiv ; ra (payKpdvia. : — Epiphania, Theo-
phania, Appurttio, Manifestaiw, Acceptio, festum
trium regum [magorum, sapicntuni\, festum itel-
lae ; dies Inminum ; festtim lavacri ; Bethphania,
dies ntitalis rirtutum Domini. The names of this
festival in European languages are mainly either
(1) as in the case of those of Latin derivation
and others, mere reproductions of the Latin
name or renderings of it ; or (2) refer to the
manifestation to the Magi as the three kings, as
the Dutch Drie-koningen-d'ig, the Danish Hellig-
tre-kongersdag, and an equivalent form in Bre-
ton ; also the Welsh Ystu:yll, if, as is not impro-
bable, it is a corruption of the Latin stella ; or
(3) indicate it as the final day of the Christmas
festivity, as in the familiar English Twelfth-day,
the old' German der Zxelfte, Dreizehnde, or the
Swedish Trettonde-dagen).
1. History of Festival. — It has already been
shown in a previous article [Christmas] that
the festival of the Epiphany was originally
viewed in the Eastern church as a commemora-
tion of our Saviour's manifestation to the world
in a wide sense ; including, that is, His Nativity,
or His manifestation in the flesh, together with
the manifestation of the Trinity at His baptism.
In the Western church, on the other hand, so
far as the matter can be traced back, the Nati-
vity appears to have been always celebrated as
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF 017
a separate festival, and in their commemoration
of the Epiphany it is the manifestation to the
Magi that is mostly dwelt on : and further,
Christ's manifestation in yet another sense is
associated with these. His Divine power and
j goodness, as shown in His miracles ; primarily
I the turning of water into wine at Cana of
j Galilee, and sometimes the feeding of the five
I thousand. Thus there are, besides the Nativity
itself, three manifestations commemorated, vari-
ously dwelt on and variously combined in ditfer-
ent branches of the church.
In the Eastern church till nearly the end of
the 4th century, we find, as has been said, a
combined celebration of Christ's Nativity and
Baptism on January 6."* The date of the sever-
ance of the two can be approximately fixed, for
Chrysostom refers to it as a matter of merely a
few years' standing, in a sermon probably de-
livered on the Christmas day of 386 A.D. How-
far back we are to refer the origin of this two-
fold festival it is not easy to determine, the
earliest mention of any kind being the allusion
by Clement of Alexandria to the annual com-
memoration of Christ's baptism by the Basili-
dians {Stromdta, lib. i. c. 21).'' At any rate by
the latter part of the 4th century the Epiphany
had become one of the most important and ven-
erable festivals in the Eastern church.
It may not unreasonably be assumed that the
festival of the Epiphany first took its rise in the
east and then passed into the west. This may
be argued (1) from the comparatively very early
date at which we find a trace of it in the east ;
(2) from the Greek name by which the Western
church as well as the Eastern knows it, while
Christmas is designated there by a Latin name ;
(3) from the nature of the earliest allusions to
the existence of a festival of the Epiphany in the
west. These it mav be well to state somewhat
fully.<=
The earliest instance of all is the reference by
Ammianus Marcellinns to the emperor Julian's
visit when at Vienne in Gaul to a church, " feri-
arum die quern celebrantes mense Januario
Christiani Epiphania dictitant " (lib. xxi. c. 2) ;
and we find Zonaras, apparently alluding to the
same event, speak of it as happening ttjs- yeve-
6\iov ScoT^pos Tifxifjas e(picr'rr}Kvias {Amvd. xiii.
11). Now if it is remembered that this took
place in Gaul, where the church had close affinities
with the east, we are perhaps not claiming too
much in assuming that the Galilean cliurch at
this time celebrated Epiphany and Nativity to-
gether on January 6 ; and we shall subsequently
find a confirmation of this view from an ex-
" In a passage in one of the spurious sormons once
wrongly ascribed to Chrysostom is a mention of ihe Epi-
phany as celebrated on the 13th dayoftheJth month,
Kara 'K<Tiavo\i<; ('^pp. vol. vii. App. p. 275). it is not
stated who these Asiatics were, but the explanation of
the reckoning may probably be found in a comparison
with that given by Epipliaiiius {Ilaer. 11. 24).
b Neander (Ckurch History, \. 3iS, trans. Rose) con-
siders it probable that this Gnostic sect derived tlie prac-
tice from the Judaco-Christiaii churches in Palestine.
= Besides the instances given above, an early allusion to
the Epiphany is found in the Acta of Philip, bishop of
Ileraclea (in Kuinarl's Acta I'rimnrum Martyncm), who
suffered early in the 4th century. It would be unsafe,
however, to argue from a passage in a document itself of
doubtful date.
618 EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF
amination of the Gallican liturgy, where it is
rather the manifestation at the Baptism than
that to the Magi tliat is dwelt on. Again we
find a mention of the emperor Valens, in the
course of his futile attempt to overawe Basil of
Caesarea, entering the church in that place with
a great train on the festival of the Epiphany
(Greg. Naz. Orat. xliii. 52). Another early
allusion may be mentioned : Augustine (Serm. ccii.
§ 2 ; vol. V. 1328, ed. Gaume) speaks of the
Donatists as refusing to join in the celebration
of tha Epiphany, " quia nee unitatem amant,
nee orientali ecclosiae . . communicant," obviously
jiointing to an eastern origin of the festival.
We may take this opportunity of remarking that
there is no mention of the i;pi])hany in the
Calendar of Bucherius, but in the Cal. Cartha-
ginense we find viii. Id. Jan. Sanctum Epiphania
{Patrol, xiii. 1227).
On these grounds we think it probable that
while on the one hand the Eastern church, at
first commemorating Nativity and Epiphany as
one festival, afterwards in compliance with
western, or perhaps, more strictly speaking,
Roman, usage, fixed the former on a separate
day ; so too, the Western church, at first cele-
brating the Nativity alone, afterwards brought
in from the east the further commemoration of
the Epiphany, but with the special reference
somewhat altered. For the early history of the
Epiphany in the Eastern church, and the gradual
severance from it of the Nativity, we must again
refer to the discussion already given [Christ-
mas], and it may now be desirable briefly to
review further historical notices, arranging them
according to the special manifestation of Christ
to which they mainly refer.
a. Manifestation at the Baptism. — This mani-
festation of our Saviour as Messiah and as God is
the prevailing idea dwelt upon throughout the
Eastern church, though in the Western church
as a rule this commemoration has been quite
secondary to the manifestation to the Magi.
References are continually met with in the writ-
ings of Chrysostom and others of and after his
time to this idea of the festival. Thus Chry-
sostom, in a homily apparently delivered on
December 20, 386 A.D., and therefore after the
western plan of celebrating Christmas separately
had been introduced, speaks of the Nativity as
in a certain sense the parent of all the other
great festivals, for, to take the case of the Epi-
phany, had He not been born — ovk Uv ifiaiTriadT],
'6'Kep icrrl TO. 6eo<pdi'ta (Hoia. G iii B. Pliilo-
gonium, c. 3 ; i. 497, ed. Montfliucon). So also
in a homily probably delivered on the following
Epiphany, 387 A.D. {Horn, de Baptismo Christi,
c. 2 ; ii. 369). In another place {Horn, de Sancta
Bcntecoste., c. 1 ; ii. 458) he says, rolvvv Trap'
■fjuTi/ ioprr] TTpwrt) {i.e. in the order of the year)
ra 'T^wKpavia, where Montfaucon {Monitum in
Horn.) gives the probable explanation that Chry-
sostom is speaking according to the old fashioned
way. Reference may also be made to an oration
of Gregory of Nazianzum, spoken apparently on
the Epiphany of 381 A.D. {Oratio 39 in Sancta
Lumiiia, c. 1 ; i. 677, ed. Bened.), and to one of
Gregory of Nyssa {Orat. in Bapt. Christi, iii. 577 ;
ed. Migne).
From this view of the Epiphany it naturally
became one of the three great seasons for bap-
tism, and on this day was the solemn consecra-
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF
tion of water for the rite {infra). Hence the
origin of the names for the day, to, (piiira, 7jfj.f pa
tSov (pwToov, referring to the spiritual illumina-
tion of baptism. It is needless to say that to
explain the name by a reference to the free em-
ployment of lighted candles in the solemnities of
the day in the Greek church, is a simple inver-
sion of cause and effect. For the strange mis-
take of some writers who have supposed that
"the day of lights" is to be interpreted of
Candlemas day, see Suicer's Thesaurus (s. v.
(pais, § 12) and Bingham's Antiquities (xx. 4, 7).
In the west also, this manifestation of Christ,
though not the one most dwelt on, is still oc-
casionally referred to, as by Maximus Taurinensis
{ffom. 22, 23, 29, 32, 33, &c., where see the pre-
fatory remarks in the Roman edition), and Jerome,
"quintam autem diem mensis adjungit, ut sig-
nificet baptisma, in quo aperti sunt Christo caeli,
et Epiphaniorum dies hucusque venerabilis est,
non ut quidam putant, Natalis in carne, tunc
enim absconditus est et non apparuit" {Horn,
ill Ezech., lib. i. c. 1, v. 3 ; v. 6, ed. Vallarsi).
To the allusions in the Gallican liturgy already
mentioned we shall again refer, and it will be
remembered that our own church makes the
Baptism of our Lord the subject for the second
lesson on the evening of the Epiphany.
Further, the association of this day with the
administration of baptism occurred also in the
west, for we find Himerius, a bishop of Tarraco,
in Spain, complaining to pope Damasus (ob. 384
A.D.) of the practice of baptizing on the Epi-
phany ; and the latter having died, his successor,
Siricius (ob. 389 A.D.), enters his prohibition
against it and restricts baptism as a rule to
Easter and Pentecost {Epist. i. ad Himerium
Tarraconensem Episcopnm, c. 2 ; Patrol, xiii.
1134); and somewhat later, Leo I. speaks of it
as " irraiionabilis novitas " {Epist. 16, ad Siciliae
episcopos, c. 1 ; i. 715, ed. Ballerini). The same
prohibition was laid down at a still later period
(517 A.D.) by the Spanish council of Gerunda
(can. 4 ; Labbe iv. 1568). See also Codex
vetcrum can. Eccl. Hispanae, lib. iv., tit. 26 in
Cajetan Cenni's De antiqua Eccl. IJisp. i., xcviii.,
where reference is made to Leo's injunctions.
Further, Victor Vitensis alludes to this as the
practice in the African church {de persecutime
Vandalica, lib. ii. c. 17 ; Patrol. Iviii. 216). See
also Pamelius's note to Tertullian de Baptismo,
c. 19.
/8. Manifestation to the Magi. — It has been on
this idea that the Western church has specially
dwelt, with the exceptions mentioned above ; but
even in these, save perhaps in the Gallican
liturgy, the manifestations at the Baptism and
at Cana of Galilee are brought in as subsidiary
to the main topic. Hence has arisen one com-
mon western name for the day, festum trium
reguin, in accordance with the legend by which
the wise Magi of the east became exalted into
kings and their number restricted to three. We
shall speak briefly hereafter of the origin and
growth of this wide-spread legend (below, § 3).
We have numerous homilies of the Latin fathers,
dwelling mainly, or exclusively (as e. g. eight by
Leo I.), on this aspect of the day.
y. Manifestation at the Marriage in Cana of
Galilee. — The manifestation of Christ's Divine
power by His first miracle of turning the water
into wine is not uufrequently dwelt on in docu-
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF
nionts of thi.- Western church. Thus Maximus
Taurinensis, to whom we have already referred,
associates this with the two previous manifesta-
tious. See e. g. Horn. 29, " ferunt enim hodie
Christum Domiuum nostrum vel stella duce a
geutibus adoratuni, vel invitatum ad nuptias
aquas in vino vertisse, vel suscepto a Joanne
baptismate consecrasse fluenta Jordanis." Hence
he speaks of the day as virtulum {Domini) natatis.
From this cause comes the later name Bethphania
(see Ducange, s. v.). Cf. also Gregory of Tours
{je iniracidis 3. Martini, ii. '2'3).
We find in the Eastern church too traces of
an association of the miracle at Cana with this
■ season, for Epiphanius (Haeresis li. c. 30; i.
451, ed. Petavius) speaks of it as happening
about Tybi 11 (= Jan. 6), and adds, doubtlessly
in perfect good faith, that sundry fountains and
rivers {e.g. the Nile) were changed into wine on
the anniversary of the miracle.
S. Manifestation at the Feeding of the Five
Thousand. — Less frequently met with than any of
the preceding is the commemoration of the above
act of miraculous feeding, which may be speci-
ally associated with the one prec^eding. Under
this point of view the day was known as (payi-
(pdvia. We have mentioned below a reference
to this in the Galilean use.
The first three of these manifestations are all
referred to by Isidore of Seville (de off. eccl. ii.
26), and the Ord'j Rotnanus also adds the fourth.
We may also mention here a passage in a sermon
once attributed to Augustine, but palpably not
his, in. which all the four manifestations are
alluded to (Serm. 136 in Append. ; v. 2702, ed.
Gaume).
For the special association of the festival of
the Innocents with that of the Epiphany refer-
ence may be made to the article on the former.
Before we proceed to speak briefly of the
various liturgical forms for this day, we may re-
mark that it was usual to give notice on the
Epiphany of the day on which the Easter of the
ensuing year would fall. Letters were sent about
this time by metropolitans to their provincial
bishops (epistolae Faschales, heortasticae), in
which at the end of a discourse of a more general
kind was given the requisite information. An
allusion to the existence of this practice in Egypt
is found in Cassian, "Intra Aegypti regionem
mos iste antiqua traditione servatur, ut peracto
Epiphaniorum die . . . epistolae pontificis Alex-
andrini per universas dirigantur ecclesias, qui-
bus initium Quadragesimae et dies Paschae . . .
significentur " {Coll. x. 2 ; Patrol, xlix. 820).
Instances of such letters are those by Dionysius
of Alexandria (referred to by Eusebius, Hist.
Eccles. vii. 20), Athanasius (fragments of whose
once numerous series were first brought to light
in a Syriac version by Mai, Nova Bibliotheca
Fatrum, vi. 1-168), Theophilus of Alexandria
(three of which were translated into Latin by
Jerome, and are included among his works, Epp.
96, 98, 100, ed. Migne), and Cyril, no less than
thirty of whose are still extant (vol. v. part 2,
ed. Aubert) ; and besides these purely Egyptian
examples may be further cited those of Innocent I.
(Ajo. 14 de ratione Faschali ; Patrol, xx. 517),
and Leo I. {Ep. 138 ad epi^copos Gall, et Hispan.
\. 1283, ed. Ballerini). We find traces of the
custom as existing in Spain, but there the notice
was to be given on Christmas day, according to
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF 619
the thinl council of Braga, 578 A.D. (Conc.Bracar.
iii. can. 9 ; Labbe v. 898).
This duty is insisted on by several early coun-
cils (e. g. Cone. Arelat. i. can. 1 ; Cone. Carth.
iii. cann. 1, 41 ; Cone. Carth. v. can. 7 ; Labbe,
i. 1427 ; ii. 1167, 1173, 1216), and we cite espe-
cially the fourth council of Orleans (541 A.D.),
which after enjoining that Easter is to be kept
uniformly according to the Paschal table of Vic-
torius, adds " quae festivitas annis singulis ab
episcopo Epiphaniorum die in ecclesia populis
deuuntietur " {Cone. Aarel. iv. can. 1 ; Labbe,
V. 381. See also Cone. Aniissiod. [578 a.d.],
can. 2, op. cit. 957). The form of the announce-
ment as given in the Ambrosiau liturgy, under
the Epiphany, runs thus : " Noverit charitas
vestra, Iratres charissimi, quod annuente Dei et
Domini nostri Jesu Christi misericordia, die tali
mensis talis Pascha Domini celebrabimus " (Pam-
elius, Litnrgg. Latt. ii. 314).
2. Liturgical Notices. — It need hardly be said
that the festival of the Epiphany is recognised in
some form or other in all liturgies both of the
west and the east. The earliest form of the
Roman liturgy, the Leonine, is defective for this
part of the yeai-, but it cannot be doubted that
a service for the Epiphany entered into it ; the
more so that no less than eight homilies for this
festival are found in the works of Leo. In the
next form, the Gelasian, we find a mass both for
the festival of the Epiphany 'itself, and for the
vigil. Throughout the service for both days
the only Manifestation of our Lord referred to is
that to the Magi {Patrol. Ixxiv. 1062).
In the Gregorian Sacramentary we find the
further addition of a form for the Octave, though
it should be added that both this and that for
the vigil are wanting in some MSS., as the Codex
Rodradi (Greg. Sac. 15), and the same remark
is true for the Liber Antiphonarius {ib. 660).
In this last-named book the seventy-second psalm
is largely used, and very probably the poetic
imagery of this psalm suggested the special form
of the legend of the feduin trium regum (Ps.
Ixxii. 10). In this Sacramentary also, from
which, it may be remarked, the collect for the
day in our own prayer-book is derived, the re-
ference is solely to the manifestation to the Magi ;
except in the solemn eucharistic benediction,
where a mention of the manifestation both at
the baptism and at the marriage in Cana of
Galilee is added, " . . . . qui super Unigenitum
suum Spiritum Sanctum demonstrare voluit per
columbam, eaque virtute mentes vestrae exer-
ceantur ad intelligenda divinae Legis arcana,
qua in Cana Galilaeae lympha est in vinum con-
versa " {ih. 16), and see also the Liber Respon-
s ill's {ib. 751). The Ordo Romanus prescribes
three lections for the vigil from the prophet
Isaiah (Iv., Ix., Ixi. 10-lxiv. 4), as well as some
homilies. ^
The Ambrosian liturgy contains forms for the
vigil and the festival; the manifestation to the
Magi is the only one dwelt on, except in the
prefaces for the two days, in the former of which
the three manifestations are alluded to, and the
latter of which refers solely to the baptism,
mentioning also the solemn consecration of the
water ; " susceperunt hodie fontes benedictionem
tuam et abstulerunt maJedictiouem nostrum"
{Missa Ainbros. in Pamelius' LiLurgg. Lait. i.
315).
f520 EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF
We may refer next to the liturgies of the old
Galilean church, and here as before we find a
recognition of the festival and its vigil. In the
ancient lectionary published by Mabillon {dc
Lihirgia Gallicana, lib. ii. pp. 116, 117), the
lection for the vigil introduces the reference to
the Magi, while on the day itself the prophetical
lection, the epistle, and the gospel, are respec-
tively Isaiah Is. 1-16; Titus i. 11-ii. 7; Matt,
iii. 13-17 ; Luke iii. 23; John ii. 1-11, where it
will be seen that the gospel is compounded of
passages from three of the evangelists (as on
Good Friday it is compounded of all the four),
dwelling on the baptism and the miracle at
Cana of Galilee. In the so-called Gothico-Gallic
Jlissal, we first meet with a number of different
prefiices and collects for the vigil in which all
the three manifestations are referi'ed to, but that
to the Magi most frequently, and also the mani-
festation of the Divine power in the miraculous
feeding of the five thousand (lib. iii. pp. 207 sqq.).
In the actual masses given for the vigil and the
festival, we find that in the case of the former
the baptism is referred to in the preface and the
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF
acceptio, an obvious reference to Christ's accept-
ance of the first fruits of the Gentiles. We may
take this opportunity of remarking that in Spain
the Visigoth law enjoined a total cessation of
legal business on this festival {Codex leg. Wisi-
goth. lib. ii. tit. 1, lex 11 ; lib. xii. tit. 3, lex 6 :
in Hisparda Ulustrata, iii. 863, 1004; ed. Frank-
fort, 1606. See also Cod. Justin, lib. iii. tit. 12,
lex 7), and the Code of Theodosius forbade the
public games on this day (^Cod. Theodos. lib. xv.
tit. 5, lex 5 [where there is an allusion to Christ's
.baptism], v. 353, ed. Gothofredus, whose note see
in foe). It may be added that the Apostolic
Constitutions (viii. 33) enjoins upon masters the
duty of giving their servants rest on the Epi-
phany, in memory of the great events comme-
morated. For additional remarks as to the vigil
of the Epiphany, reference may be made to those
on the vigil of the Nativity. [Christmas.]
The practice of the Greek church of making
the Epiphany one of the solemn seasons for bap-
tism and of the holding a special consecration of
the water has been already referred to. The
prophetical lection, epistle, and gospel for this
collect, the miracle of Cana in the preface, and I latter rite are respectively Isaiah xxxv., Iv.,
the manifestation to the Magi in the colkctio ad 3-6 ; 1 Cor. x. 1-4, Mark i. 9-11 (Goar, Eucho-
pacem, while the benediction, as in the Gi'egorian logion, pp. 453 sqq., and see his remarks, p. 467) ;
Sacramentary, embraces all three. In the latter, the- epistle and gospel at the liturgy are respec-
the baptism forms the special subject of the tively Titus ii. 11-14, iii. 4—7, and Matt. iii.
coUectio ad pacem and the contestation the miracle
of Cana that of the colledio post nomina, and the
manifestation to the Magi that of two other
prayers; while in the benediction, besides the
manifestation at the baptism and at Cana, that
at the feeding of the five thousand is also re-
ferred to. The same blending of refei-ences
characterizes also the Galilean Sacramentary
edited by Muratori {Patrol. Ixxii. 471).
We pass on next to the Mozarabic or Spanish
Missal. Here, as well as in the Breviary, we
rtnd a mention fii-st of a Sunday before Epiphany,
and next comes a mass "in jejunio Epiphaniae,"
that is a fast for January 3-5, a relic doubtless
of the earlier state of things when the subse-
quent festival of the Circumcision was observed
as a fast.d [Circumcision.]
13-17.
We find this practice of consecrating the water,
which was done at night, alluded to by Chry-
sostom (supra, ii. 369), who speaks of people
taking home with them some of the consecrated
water, and of their finding it to keep good for a
year, or even three years. This nocturnai cere-
mony of consecrating the water is referred by
Theodorus Lector to Peter Gnapheus, who ap-
pointed rrjv inl raiv vSaToiy iv -rots OiocpavioLS
iv rfi eairipa, yiveaOai (lib. ii. p. 566 ; ed. Va-
lesius ; and see also Cedrenus, Hist. Coinp. i. 530,
ed. Bekker ; and Nicephorus Callist., Hist. Eccles.
XV. 28 ; ii. 634, ed. Ducaeus). It is however
justly remarked by Valesius {not. in Ivc. p. 169)
and Goar {Euchotogion, p. 467), that since we
find Chrysostom at an earlier period alludins; to
For the Sunday referred to, the prophetical • this practice as a familiar one, all that Peter
lection, epistle, and gospel are respectively Isaiah i Gnapheus can haA'e done must have been to
xlix. 1-7, Heb. vi. 13-vii. 3, John i. 1-18; and ' transfer the consecration from midnight to even-
for the following fast are Ecclesiasticus iv. 23-34, i ing. (For remarks on the ceremony at a later
Numbers xxiv.-xxvi. with omissions, 1 Cor. xv. | period, see Georgius Codinus, de off. c. viii. [cf.
33-50, John i. 18-34 (p. 58, ed. Leslie). c. vi.], and refer to Gretser's and Goar's observil-
The mass for the festival itself is headed In I tions, pp. 303 sqq. ed. Bekker. See also Neale,
Apparitione seu Ejnphania Domini nostri Jesu j Eastern Church, Introd. p. 754, for remarks as to
Christi, the title in the Breviary being Tn fesio the superstitious ideas connected with this water
Apparitionis Domini. The prophetical lection,
epistle, and gospel are Isaiah Ix. 1-20 (with
omissions), Galatians iii. 27-iv. 7, Matt. ii. In
the prayers, &c., there are passing allusions to
the baptism (as in the Officium, Rom. vi. 3) and
the miracle in Cana of Galilee, buf^ as in the
various Roman liturgies, it is the manifestation
to the Magi that is mainly referred to. In one
passage of the mass (p. 63), as well as in the
Breviary, is an allusion to a name of the festival
evidently in use among the Visigoths in Spain,
d For an earlier allusion to the festival of Epiphany in
the Spanish church reference may be made to a canon of
a council of Saragossa (381 a.d.) evidently aimed at the
Priscillianist practice of fasting at the Lord's Nativity
^Concil. Cms. Aug. can. 4, Labbe ii. 1010).
Russia at the present day.)
Gregory of Tours mentions that on this day
those who lived near the Jordan bathed in the
river in memory of Christ's baptism and of their
cleansing through him {De gloria martyrum, i.
88).
Two miscellaneous notices may be added here
as illustrative of the ideas with which the fes-
tival was viewed. Chrysostom censures those
who communicating on the Epiphany did so be-
cause it was the custom rather than after due
reflection {Horn. iii. in Eph. ; xi. 25, ed. Gaume);
and we learn from a decree of Gelasius that the
dedication of virgins took place especially on this
day {Epist. 9 ad episc. Zucaniae, c. 12; Patrol.
lix. 52).
I 3. Legend of the Three Kings. — We have al-
EPIPHANY, FESTIVAL OF
ready alluded in passing to the title otfestum tri-
um reguin given in the Western church to the fes-
tival of the Epiphany, viewed as a commemora-
tion of the visit of the three Magi to the infant
Saviour. Whence then has tradition invested
them with royalty, and why has their number
been fixed as three? The idea that the Magi
Avere kings, probably first suggested by an arbi-
trary interpretation of Psalm Ixxii. 10 and simi-
lar passages, v/as early believed in. Thus Ter-
tullian, after alluding to the above-mentioned
psalm, adds : " Nam et Magos reges fere habuit
Oriens " (arfu. Judaeos, c. 9), though curiously
enough the apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy,
which gives a somewhat lengthy account of
the visit of the Magi, is silent as to this point.
The number three is not improbably due to the
number of the recorded gifts, though early pa-
tristic writers have thought it to symbolise
other special reasons. Thus some believed that
under this number was implied the doctrine of
the Trinity, and others saw in it an allusion to
the threefold division of the human race, an idea
which is also referred to in sundry e.arly repre-
sentations of the Magi. See e.g. Bede's Collec-
tanea, if indeed the work is really his, where
this point seems referred to {Patrol, xciv. 541).
Not only did early tradition fix the number of
the Magi, but it also assigned them names.
These are variously given, but the generally re-
ceived forms are Caspar, Melchior, Baltazar,
which are apparently first met with in the pas-
sage of Bede referred to above. These names
point, Mr. King thinks, to a Mithraic origin, from
the apparent reference in their etymology to the
sun {Gnostics and their Remaim, pp. 50, 133).
Merely to fix the names, however, was not
sufficient, and accordingly we find that bodies,
firmly believed at the time to be those of the
Magi, were brought by the empress Helena to
Constantinople, where the}^ were received with
great honours. These remains were subsequently
transferred to Milan through the influence of
Eustorgius, bishop of that see; and in 1162 A.D.
they were again removed by the emperor Fre-
derick Barbarossa to Cologne, where they still
remain, and hence has arisen the appellation by
which they are so commonly known, the Three
Kings of Cologne. A further discussion of this
legend is beyond our present scope, and reference
may be made to the 'Bible Dictionary,' s.v.
JIagi, and besides the authorities there men-
tioned, a vast mass of information on the whole
subject may be found in Crombach's Priniitiae
Gentium seu Historia SS. triuin regum magorum.
Colon. Agr. 1654.
4. Literature. — Reference has been made to
Martene, de Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, iii. 42 sqq.,
ed. Venice, 1783 ; Bingham's Antiquities of the
Christian Church, bk. xx. ch. 4 ; Binterim, JDenk-
v:iirdigkciten der Christ- Katholischen Kirche, v.
pt. 1, pp. 310 sqq. ; Guericke's Antiquities of
the Church, pp. 163 sqq. (Eng. Trans.); Suicer's
Thesaurus, s. v. 'EirKpaveia, &c. ; Ducange's Glos-
saria ; besides other authorities cited in the
article. The followmg may also be consulted :
Kindler, De Epiph iniis, Vitebergao, 1684;
Hebenstreit, De Epipkania et Epiphaniis apud
Gentiles et Christianas, Jenae, 1693; Blumen-
bach, Antiquitates Epiphaniorum, Lipsiae, 1737
(also in Volbeding, Thesaurus, i. 1, Lipsiao,
1846, unm. 10); Wernsdorf, ' To ' ETrKpavia Vc-
EPISTLE
fi21
I terum, ad illmtrandum Ifijmnnm : Was filrchst
du Feind Hoiodes sehr. Vitebergae, 1759.
[K. S.]
EPIPODIUS, martyr at Lyons under Anto-
ninus and Verus; commemorated April 22
{Mart, fficron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EPISCOPA, the wife of a bishop. The
second council of Tours (c. 13) expressly forbids
a bishop who has no wife (episcopam) to sur-
round himself with a set of women. [C]
! EPISCOPALIA, the ring and pastoral staff,
the distinctive marks of the authority of a
bishop. Thus Gei-bod is said {Capitul. Franco-
furt. A.D. 794, c. 8) to have received his Episco-
P-tlia from Magnard his metropolitan (Ducano-e,
s- v.). [cT]
EPISCOPATE. [Bishop.]
EPISCOPI CAEDINALES. [Cardinal.]
EPISCOPI SUFFEAGANEI, VACAN-
TES. [Bishop, p. 240.]
EPISCOPUS EPISCOPOEUM. [Bishop,
p. 210.]
EPISTEME, martyr, with Galaction, a.d.
285; commemorated Nov. 5 {Cat. Bi/zant.).
■[W. F. G.]
EPISTLE. Lections from Holy Scripture
form part of every known liturgy. These lec-
j tions, as we learn from Justin Martyr, were
originally taken from the Old as well as from
' the New Testament. The Apostolical Constitu-
tions speak of " the reading of the Law and the
Prophets, and of the Epistles, and Acts and
Gospels " {Ap. Const, viii. 5 ; ii. 57). Tertiillian
mentions that the African church imited the
reading of the Law and the Prophets with that
of the writings of the evangelists and apostles
{De Praescript. 36). St. Augustine repeatedly
j refers to the first of the lections being taken
\ from the Prophets : " primam lectionem Isaiae
prophetae " {Serm. 45, ed. Bened. vol. v. p. 218),
" lectio prima prophetica " {Serm. 47, v. 268),
though, as we shall see, this was not universally
the case. In comparatively early times the Old
Testament lection in many places dropt out of
use on ordinary occasions, anc^the first Scripture
lection in the liturgy was that generally known
as the Epistle. The most ancient designation
was the Apostle, the lections being almost uni-
versally taken from the writings of St. Paul.
Thus we find, '■' Apostolum audivimus, Psalmum
audivimus, Evangelium audivimus " (Aug. Serm.
de Verb. Apost. 176, vol. v. p. 796), "sequitur
apostolus " {Sacrum. Gregor. Menard, p. 2) ;
avayti/dxTKeTat clitocttoKos {Liturg. Chrys.} ; " in
quibusdam Hispaniarum ecclesiis laudes post
apostolum decantantur " (ConoY. Tolet. iv., a.d.
633, can. xii.; Labbe v. 1700); "Statim post
Apostolum id est post Epistolam " (Hiucmar,
OpHsc. vii. vol. ii. p. 149); Kar 4 Treiytv ....
ipaKT'fiptoP SiSd^ai fxe Kal rhv a-ir6(TToKov
(Cyrill. Scythop. Vit. S. Sabae).
In all ancient Sacramentaries of the Western
church the Epistle succeeds the COLLECT. This
is not the case in the Eastern liturgies. In tlie
liturgy of St. Chrysostom we find a PuOKiMi:-
NOX {irpoKei/xevoi'/ or short anthem preceding the
Epistle as its epitome, consisting of a verse and
response, generally, but not always, taken from
G22
EPISTLE
the Psalms. Before the epistle the deacon im-
posed silence (Trp6(TX'^l^^''t attendanms), " not,"
observes St. Chrysostom, "as doing honour to
the reader but to Him who speaks to all through
Ilim," Homil. III., i. 2 Thess. After the Epistle is
read, the priest says, " Peace be to thee," which is
technically called eiprivfveiy tV eiriaTo\-{]v. In-
stead of this "Thanks be to God" follows in
the Mozarabic liturgy. In the Western church
the anthem epitomizing the Epistle, taken
from the Psalms, followed instead of preceding
it. From being sung on the steps of the
ambo, it was called the Gradual [Alleluia :
Gradual]. St. Augustine frequently alludes
to its position between the Epistle and Gospel,
e.g. " Primam lectionem audivimus apostoli. . . .
deinde cantavimus psalmum .... posthaec evan-
gelica lectio" (Aug. Serin, de Verb. Apost. 176;
Serin. 45, ib. 49, U.S.). Neither in the Eastern
nor the Western church was the Epistle always
selected from the writings of the apostles. We
find it sometimes taken from the Acts and the
Revelation, and in the Western, but never in the
Eastern church, even from the Old Testament.
Several of the Oriental liturgies present more
than one lection in the place of the Epistle. In
the Coptic liturgy of St. Basil there is first a
lection from an epistle of St. Paul, then the
Catholkon,^ i. e. a lection from one of the Catholic
epistles, then a lection from the Acts, each fol-
lowed by an appropriate i)rayer ; a psalm is
then sung, and the Gospel is read (Renaudot,
1. pp. 5-8). The Liturgia Communis Aethiopum
gives the same five lections in the same order
(/6. pp. 507-510), in which they also stand
in the Syriac liturgies (Ih. ii. p. 68). Canons
of the Coptic church ordaining these five lections
— the psalm being counted as one — are given by
Renaudot (/6. i. p. 203). The last lection is
always the Gospel.
The origin and date of the arrangement of
these Scripture lections will be more properly
discussed when the early lectionaries are treated
of [Lectioxary]. Binterim carries them back
as early as the 3rd century {Denkwiirdigkeit.
iv. 1.228-230; 2.323). If the ancient Lec-
tionariiim of the Roman church, known by the
title of Comes [Comes], in which we find the
epistles and gospels very much as they stand in
the English liturgy at the present day, were
really drawn up, as is asserted, by Jerome, we
should have certain evidence of their arrange-
ment at least as early as the 5th century.
But the authorship of the Comes rests only
on the authority of writers of the 11th and 12th
centuries, and though accepted by Bona {lier.
Liturg. lib. iii. c. 6, p. 624) and Binterim (u. s.),
must be regarded as exceedingly questionable.
The fact, however, that the same lections were
employed by the fathers of the 4th and 5th
centuries as the subjects of their homilies proves
the very early date of their assignment to par-
ticular days (cf. the examples given by Augusti,
Hand'juch d. Christ. Arch. bk. vi. c. 8, vol. ii. p.
a "Catholicon. Ita vocantur apud orientales Epistolae
Jacobi, Petri, Joannis et Judae, quae Catholicae appil-
lantur, quia ad omues scriptae sunt, ex quibus unum
volumen conficitur quod Catholicon dicitur. Itaque
cum Theologi laudaiit siliqiiam ex istis Epistolis senten-
tiam dicunt Jacnhns in Catholico, Petrus, &c." Renau-
dot, 1. 210. [Catholic]
ERA
According to the Eastern ritual the Epistle
was read by the Reader, standing at the Royal
Doors. In the Western church it was read in
the 8th century from the ambo by the subdeacon
standing on the second step, the Gospel being
subsequently read by the deacon from the third
step. Amalarius (De Offic. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 11)
expresses his surprise that this oflSce is assigned
to the subdeacon, since it is not mentioned in
the commission at his ordination ; but the 4th
canon of the council of Rheims, A.D. 813, after
directing that "the Apostle" should be read by
the subdeacon, all sitting, adds "qualiter sub-
diaconi ministerium est apostolum legere "
(Augusti, Hdbch. ; Bmteiim, Benkuilrdigk. ; Bing-
ham, Oriq. ; Bona, Rer. Liturg. ; Martene, de
Eccl. Bit). [E. v.]
EPISTOLAE CANONICAE. COMMEN-
DATOEIAE, COiAIMUNICATOEIAE, EC-
CLESIASTIC AE, FORMAT AE, PACI-
PICAE, SYSTATICAE. [Commendatory
Letters: Forma.]
EPISTOLAE DIMISSORIAE. [Dimis-
SORY Letters.]
EPISTOLAE ENTHRONISTICAE. [Bi-
shop, p. 224.]
EPISTOLAE SYNODICAE. [Synodical
Letters.]
EPISTOLAE TEACTORIAE. [Trac-
toria.]
EPISTOLIUM. A term used (//". Cone.
Turon. c. 6) for the literae formatae the granting
of which is expressly limited to bishops. See
Commendatory Letters : Dimissory Let-
ters. [C]
EPITAPH. [Catacombs, p. 308 : Inscrip-
tions.]
EPITRACHELION. [Stole.]
EPOCH. [Era.]
EPOLONIUS, martyr at Antioch, with
Babylas the bishop, under Decius ; commemo-
rated Jan. 24 {MaH. Bedae, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EPOMADION ('ETTOJAiaSioj'), the cord or
ribbon by which a pectoral cross or Encolpion
is suspended from the neck. (Suidas; Daniel's
Codex, iv. 702.) [C]
EQUI CURSUALES. [Cursuales Equi.]
ERA. A succession of years, reckoned on
some common principle from a specified event, or
date, called its epoch. The terms era and epoch
are frequently used as synonymous.
The Julian Period. — 1. To compare dates
belonging to different eras, there is no method
more useful than to refer them all to the Julian
period, a period introduced or revived by
Scaliger. Jt consists of 7980 years, that
number being formed by multiplying together
28 X 19 X 15, the respective periods of the
cycle of the sun, of the cycle of the moon, and of
the indictions, the last being a period used in
the administration of the Roman empire. It is
the great cycle in which the solar, lunar, and
indictional cycles synchronize, after the com-
pletion of 285 cycles of the sun, 420 of the
moon, and 532 of the indictions. The great
cycle then recurs as before. No two years in the
same period agree in all the three numerals of
-ERA
the subordinate cycles, so that by naming tlieni
all, the year is completely designated.
2. The first year of the current Julian period,
in which each of the subordinate cycles had the
numeral one, was the year 4713 B.C., and the
noon of 1st January of that year, for the
meridian of Alexandria, is its chronological
ejioch.
The years are Julian years, i.e., of 365 days in
common years, 366 in leap year, which is every
fourth year, that year in fact whose date-
numeral being divided by four, leaves the
remainder one.
3. To find the place of any specified year of the
Julian period. — Divide its numeral by the
respective divisors 28, 19, 15. The respective
i-emainders give the years in the several cycles.
The remainder 0 is to be construed 28, 19, 15.
4. To determine the year of the Julian period
from the numerals of the three cycles.— Multiply
the numeral of the solar cycle by 4845, that of
the lunar by 4200, and that of the indictions by
G916, and divide the sum of these products
by 7980. The remainder is the year sought.
5. To find the Jay current of the Julian period
of any date in the Jidian period. — Subtract one
from the numeral of the year-day, and divide the
remainder by four-, calling Q the integer
quotient, R the remainder. Then will Q be the
number of entire quadriennia of 1461 days each,
and R the residual years, the first of which is
always a leap year. Convert Q into days by
taking the right multiple of 1461, and R by
using the annexed table ; then add the days for
the current day of the given year, remembering
February 29th in leap year.
ERA
623
Residual Year 0
1
2
3
I'ay ... 1 0
366 731
1(I9(J
6. To convert a year of the Jidian period into
the year B.C., or A.D. — If the numeral be less
than 4714, subtract it from that number, the
difference will be the year B.C. If the numeral
be greater than 4713, take that number from
the numeral, and the difference will be the
year A.D.
The Olympiads. — 1. The era used in Greece,
instituted in 776 B.C. (3938 J. P.) consisting of
four years. July 1st A.D., is considered to
correspond with the commencement of the first
year of the 195th Olympiad.
2. To reduce any given year of an Olympiad
to the Christian era, multiply the Olympiad
immediately preceding the one in question by
four, and add to the product the number of
years of the given Olympiad. If before Christ,
subtract the amount from 777 ; if after Christ,
subtract 776 from the amount, and the re-
mainder will be the beginning of the year
required, commencing from July.
3. For an exact calculation of days tables are
required, showing the order of the months in the
dit;erent years of the Metonic cycle. These may
be found 'in Ideler i. 386.
4. The fathers of tlie Greek church and the
ecclesiastical historians, as Eusebius and Socrates,
use the era of the Olympiads in a peculiar
manner. It would have been natural to begin
them with the commencement of their civil
year, September 1st, or ten months too early,
but they really commence them a year earlier
still, or nearly two years too early. The same
reckoning is used in the Chronicon Paschale. It
is necessary to add one year and ten months to
their date to make them accord with the
common era of the Olympiads.
Ei-a of the Buildimi of licrme. — Amongst the
variety of dates assigned to this event, the
Varronian epoch is adopted, being April 22nd, B.C.
753, or 3961, J. P. The consular year began on
the 1st January.
To reduce the year of Home, to the year before
or after Christ. — If the year of Rome be less than
754, deduct its numeral from 754 ; the difference
is the year before Christ. If the year of Rome
be not less than 754, deduct 753 from it, and the
remainder will be the year after Christ.
Era of the Seleucidae. — The era of the Seleu-
cidae, also called the era of the Greeks, was
widely used in S3'ria, and by the Jews from the
time of the Maccabees. It is used in the
book of the Maccabees. It is still used by
the Arabs. Its epoch is October 1st, B.C. 312, or
4402 J. P.
Julian Reformation of the Calendar. — This
took place 707 U.C, or January 1st B.C. 45.
4669 J. P.
The Christian Era. — 1\\& Christian era was
first introduced by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian
abbot in Rome, in the 6th century, and gradually
superseded the era of Diocletian, which had been
used till then. It was first used in J'rance in
the 7th century, but was not universally es-
tablished there till the 8th century, after which
time it became general. Great diversity, how-
ever, long subsisted as to the day on which the
year should be considered to commence.
It commenced on the 1st day of January, in
the middle of the 4th year of the 194th Olym-
piad, the 753rd u.C, and the 4714th of the
Julian period. It is now generally acknowledged
not to be the true year of the Saviour's birth,
but its use as a chronological epoch does not
allow of its being altered.
The era of Diocletian. — This era was prevalent
till the adoption of the Christian era ; its epoch
was 29th August, A.d. 284. It was introduced
in Egypt by Diocletian, after the siege of
Alexandria, and gave the Egyptians, for the first
time, the advantage of a fixed year. The first
Thoth, the beginning of the Egyptian year, was
August 31st, and it is supposed that a change
was made from a moveable to a fixed year, after
the lapse of five years. This era is still used by
the Copts. To reduce this era to the Christian
era add 283 years and 240 days, and as the
intercalation was made at the end of the year, in
the Diocletian year next after leap year, add one
day, from the 29th August to the end of the
ensuing February.
The era of Constantinople. — The era of Con-
stantinople, or the Byzantine era, first appears
in the Chronicon Paschale. It fixed the creation
of the world in the 5508th year before Christ, so
that A.D. 1, fell in the 5509th year of this era.
The Russians followed this calculation till the
time of Peter the Great, having received it from
the Greek church, by whom it is still used.
The year began on the equinox, March 21st.
It was afterwards made to begin, for civil
purposes, on September 1st.
624
ERACLEAS
The Alexandrians had used an era of the
creation, fixed at 5502 years before Christ ; but
in A.D. 285, they reduced the date by ten years.
To pass from the year of our Lord to the era
of Constantinople, or conversely, add or subtract
5508 from January to August, and 5509 for the
rest of the year.
Tlie Jewish era. — The Jews now reckon by the
year of the world, and they place the creation
;i761 B.C.
EUCHAEIST
By adding 952 to the numeral of the Jewish
year we get its date in the Julian period ; and
by subtracting 952 from the year of the Julian
period we get the Jewish date.
For the Christian era we must subtract 3761,
and add the same for the converse process. The
Jewish year begins in the autumn.
The following results are selected from a Table
in Sir J. Herschel's ' Outlines of Astronomv.'
Intervals in I (ays between the Comnioncement of the Julian I'iceiod and that of some principa
Chronological Eras.
Names by which the Era is usually cited.
First Day
current
of the Era.
Chronolo-
gical
Designation
of the Year.
Current
Year of the
Julian
Period.
Interval
Days.
Julian Period
Olympiads (mean epochs in general use)
Huilding of Rome (Varronian epuch, U.C.) .
Era of the Seleucidae (or Era of the Greeks)
Julian reformation of the Calendar . . .
I Spanish Era
■ Actian Era in Rome
Actian Era of Alexandria
I Dionvsian or Christian Era, " of our Lord " .
I Eia of Diocletian
Julian Dates
Jan. 1
July 1
Apr. 22
Oct. 1
Jan. 1
Jan. 1
Jan. 1
Aug. 29
Jan. 1
Aug. 29
776
753
312
4402
4669
4B7C
1,438,171
1,446,502
1,607,739
1,704,987
1,707,544
1,710,466
1,710,706
1,721,424
1,825,030
ERACLEAS. [Heracleas.]
ERACIJUS. [Heraclius.]
ERASMUS. (1) Bishop, and martyr in
Campania, under Diocletian ; commemorated
June 3 {JIart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Antioch ; commemorated Nov.
25 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ERASTUS and Olympos and companions,
"Apostle;" commemorated Nov. 10 {Cal. By-
zant.). [W. F. G.]
EREMITES. [Hermits.]
ERENAEUS. [Irenaeus.]
ERENACH, or HERENACH, a term ap-
plied to a class of officials who appear promi-
nently in the annals of the Irish church prior to
its reconstitution in the 12th century, after
which tiiue the word was used to denote an
ecclesiastic having a position akin to that of
archdeacon.
In its earliest use the Ereuach, or Airchinneach,
appears to have been hereditary steward and
tenant of the lands granted by temporal chiefs
to the church-founding abbots of Ireland ; his
duties being to superintend the farmers or
tenants of the church or monastery — according
to Colgan, " Omnium colonorum certi districtus
praepositus seu praefectus." [J. S — T.]
ESICHIUS or ESICIUS. [Hesychius.]
ESPOUSALS. [Arriiae : Benediction,
Nuptial: Betrothal: Marriage.]
ETHELDREDA or EDILTRUDIS, virgin-
queen, martyr in Britain ; commemorated June
23 (Mart. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ETHERIUS. bishop ; deposition at Auxerre
July 27 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ETHIOPIAN MONKS. Mona.sticism spread
rapidly from Egypt into Ethiopia, and gained as
strong a hold there as in Egypt or Syria, if not a
[L.H.]
stronger. Helyot {Histoire des Ordres Monas-
tiqucs, I. xi.) speaks of all the monasteries in
Ethiopia as professing to obey the so-called " Rule
of Antony," but with different observances. An
attempt at reformation, such as invariably recurs
in the life of a monastic oi-der, was made in the
7th century ; Tecla-Haimanot, as Helyot writes
it, being the second founder or Benedict of
Ethiopian monasticism. He endeavoured to coa-
solidate the system under a Superior-General,
second in ecclesiastical rank only to the Patriarch
of Ethiopia, who was to visit and inspect the
monasteries personally or by jiroxy. Several of
them, however, preferred to retain their inde-
pendence, like congregationalists. Monks swarmed
in Ethiopia, according to Helyot, long after the
first fervour of asceticism ; and the constitution
of the Ethiopian church was monastic (Robert-
son, Church Hist. i. 300). The story of a mili-
tary order of monks, like the knight-templars,
originating in the 4th century is purely fabulous
(Helyot, u. s. i. xiii.). "[1. G. S.]
EUCHARIST (Evxapio-Tia). This article
treats of the use of the word Eucharistia. For
the nature of the offices accompanying the sacra-
ment, see Liturgy, and the several articles on
its compon(;nt parts, especially Canon of the
Liturgy and Communion, Holy.
I. The primary meaning of the word eiixapt-
(TTi'a seems to be a feeling of thankfulness or ;
gratitude (2 Mace. ii. 27; Sirac. xxxvii. 11;
Acts XXIV. 3).
II. The expression of the feeling of gratitude:
1. In words = thanksgiving ; 2. In act = thank-
offei-ing.
1. 'Evxap^yria, in the sense of thanksgiving,
occurs frequently in the New Testament ; it is
used for the thanksgiving in public worship
(1 Cor. xiv. 16 ; 2 Cor. iv. 15, etc.), and for the
expression of thankfulness generally.
2. Philo u.ses ivxapi<nia in a wider sense.
EUCHARIST
He speaks, for instance (Z)e Victimis, c. 9), of
fv^apicrria. as including hj'mns, prayers, and
sacririces ; of tos 5io dvfftwv evxapiarias (^Ih.
c. 4) ; and of giving thanks (or thank-offering,
tu;^ap«rT^(rai Tr}v ivxa-piffTiav} to God for the
creation of the world — a phrase noteworthy as
suggesting one of the aspects of the Christian
eucharist (Irenaeus, Haeres. iv. 18, 4). The
word does not occur in the LXX. though it is
used by Aquila.
III. We have to consider the application of
the word evxaptf^Tia to the Supper of the Lord,
or the elements used in it.
1. The verb evxapiareTv, like the correspond-
ing substantive, means both to feel thankfulness
and to expi-ess it. The use of the word evxa-
ptcrTr}6fj, in 2 Cor. i. 11, implies further that
(vxapiffTilv might be used with an accusative of
the object for which thanks are given.
The Lord in the Last Supper gave thanks
after taking the Cup (Se^ct/ier'oj iTor4]pwv ei/xa-
piffTTifxas elvev, Luke xxii. 17 ; Xa^wv Trorripiov
Ka\ ehxo.pi(TTr](jas^ Matt. sxvi. 27); and before
breaking the Bread {ivxapi-0"'^'ho°-^ eK\aff€v,
1 Cor. xi. 24; Luke xxii. 19). Compare Matt.
XV. 36; Mark viii. 6; John vL 11, 2o. So the
disciples of the 2nd century gave thanks over
the Bread and the Cup in the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, as we see from the description of
it in Justin Martyr.
2. From this uttering of thanksgiving over
the elements of Bread and Wine in the Sacra-
ment, the word evxc^p^ffretv came to mean, to
bless, hallow, or consecrate by the utterance of
the proper form of thanksgiving (Grimm, Lexicon
Novi Test. s. v.). Thus Justin Martyr (Apol.
i. 65) speaks of the Bread and Wine and Water
which had been made eucharistic (^fiixapia-rri-
OivTos dprov Kol oXvov koX i(5aTos), immediately
after mentioning the thanksgiving (eux^P"'"^''"')
of the president for God's mercy in granting us
the blessings of creation and redemption. Ana
again (c. 66), he speaks of rrfv Si' eux'is Koyov
Tov Trap' avTov €i'xctpto'Tr)9er(ra»' rpo(pr)P [Caxon
OF THE Liturgy, p. 268]. Compare " panem in
quo gratiae actae sint" (Irenaeus, Haeres. iv.
18, 4).
By an easy transition the ehxa-picrr-qQiiffa
rpopri or consecrated elements came to be called
simply evxapiffria (fb. c. 66). Similarly in the
Ignatian letter ad Smyrn. 7. Irenaeus (^Haeres.
iv. 18, 5) says that the Bread after the Epiclesis
is no longer common bread, but eucharistia, con-
sisting of two parts, an earthly and a heavenly.
3. But the conception of thank-o/'ermg is also
found in the word eucharistia and its correspond-
ing verb, when applied to the Sacrament of the
Body and Blood of Chi-ist. Clement of Alex-
andria (Strom, iv. § 132, p. 623) speaks of the
martyr's blood poured out as a thank-offering
(evxapKTTridevTOS a'lixaTos [Dindorf's text : vulg.
ivxap^ffO^vro^'^ ; and we might interpret Jus-
tin's euxapKTTTjeerrra Tpo(p7) in the same way
were it not for its close connexion with eux"-
pia-ria, where the latter evidently means thanks-
giving. In the Dialogue with Tryphu (c. 117),
when Justin speaks of the Christian sacrifice
which takes place (he says) ivl Trj ivxapicTria
TOV apTov Kal rod iroTTipiov, it is evident that he
regards the Bread and the Cup as being them-
selves made a thank-offering or eucharistia. And
again, when (c. 41) he refers to the leper's offer-
CUKIST. ANT.
EUCHARIST (IN CimisTiAN Art) 625
ing of fine flour as a type of the eucharistic
bread (toO &pTov ttjs ivxapiffrias) which the
Lord commanded us to otter (jokIv) in thanks-
giving (iVa ivxa-pi(nwfiiv) for the blessings of
creation and redemption, he regards the elements
as themselves an expression of thankfulness ;
i. e. as a thank-ottering. When Celsus objected
to the Christians that they were ungrateful in
not paying due thank-oflerings (xapicr^pia) to
the local deities, Origen replied (e. Celsuin, viii.
67; pp. 415, 416, Spencer) that the bread called
eucharistia (apros evxapiO'Tta KaAovfievos) was
t'he symbol or outward token of thankfulness
towards God (rrjs irphs rhv Qehv evxaptffTias);
tliat is, he regards the bread itself as of the
nature of a thank-offering.
4. Whether the original meaning was, " that
over which thanks have been given," or " that
which has been made a thank-ottering," the word
euchcmstia came to be simply equivalent to " the
consecrated elements of bread and wine," or
sometimes of bread alone. Thus Clement of
Alexandria {Strcm. i. §5, p. 318) speaks of the
ministers distributing the eucharist (jt]v fvxa-
piffriav StaveifiavTes), i. e. the elements, to the
communicants ; and the epistle to Victor (Euseb.
H. E. V. 24, § 15) of sending the eucharist to
neighbouring churches. [Compare EuLOGiAE.l
Cyprian {Epist. xv. c. 1) explains eucharistia by
the words, " id est. Sanctum Domini Corpus."
5. The eucharist (i. e. the consecrated bread)
was employed in the following ways, besides
that of ordinary administration. It was taken
home and preserved in a casket [Arca] ; it was
sent by bishops to other churches as a token of
Christian brotherhood [Eulogiae] ; it was borne
before the pope at a pontifical mass (Ordo Rom.
i. c. 8 ; see Martene, B. A. I. iv. 2, § 2) ; it was
reserved in churches [DovE : Reservation];
it was enclosed in altars at consecration [Conse-
cration OF Churches]; it was carried on a
journey (Ambrose DeObituSatyri,ni. 19); Gregory
the Great Be Off. iii. 36 ; Dial. c. 37); it was some-
times worn suspended from the neck in an £n-
COLPION (Giraldus Cambren. Topograph. IJibern.
Dist. ii. c. 19) ; it was used in the cure of dis-
ease (Augustine, c. Julian, iii. 162) ; it was
placed in the mouth of the dead [Burial of the
Dead] ; and the administration of the eucharist
was one of the forms of ordeal (Martene, De Hit.
Antiq. I. V. 4).
IV. The Greeks interpret the evxapKrriai of
1 Tim. ii. 1 to be hymns or canticles sung to the
honour and glory of God (Daniel, Codejc Liturg.
iv. 406). [C."]
EUCHARIST (IN Christian Art). The
earliest eucharistic representations, as may be
expected, seem to refer principally to the agapae,
or suppers which preceded the actual eucha-
ristic breaking of the bread in the earliest times
(1 Cor. xi. 20.) It is to be presumed at least
that the order of the Lord's Supper itself was
followed, and that the celebration, or symbolic
breaking of the bread, took place after, or
towards the end of, the meal. (St. John xiii.
2-4.) In the earliest days of persecution they
naturally began to be celebrated in the catacombs
» The writer wislies to acknowledge his obligation to
the Rev. F. J. A. Hort, Fellow of Kmmanuel OdIIpkc.
Cambridge, for several suggestions on the matttr treated
in this article.
2 S
62G
EUCHARIHT (in Christian Art)
or near the tombs of martyi-s. [Cella Memo-
riae.] It is not the business of the present
writer to enquire into the connexion of the
arrangements for public celebration of the
euuharist and Christian rites in general with
the ancient usages of funeral rites. But those
usages were so familiar to the early church, that
it is not to be wondered at that the agape at
least is so frequently represented and the eucha-
rist so distinctly implied in the various catacomb
paintings. Dr. Mommsen (Contemp. Beview,
May 1871, 164- and 171) mentions an agape
with bread and fish in that very ancient crypt
of Domitilla on the Ardeatine Way, which De
Kossi refers to Flavia the granddaughter of
^'espasian.'' The bread and fish occur again
repeatedly in the Callixtine catacomb, with a
man in the act of blessing the bread ; seven,
eight, or more baskets of bread are placed near
a table at which seven persons are sitting. The
table is round, and fishes are also placed on it.
The use of the vine is frequent in the oldest
work, as in the Domitilla vault, where boys arc
gathering the grapes, and the art is quite <jt'
the Augustan age, and probably executed by
Pagan hands. A parallel work in mosaic, ofj
later though still very early date, exists in the
church of Sta. Constantia at Rome [Vine].
(Parker, Ancient Mosaics at Rome and Ravenna.)
A connexion must always have existed in the
Christian mind between the last supper at Jeru-
salem, the bread and wine, and the last repast
of the Lord with His disciples, the bread and
fish by the sea of Galilee (John xxi.). And His
words on the former occasion cannot have been
unconnected with this discourse of Himself the
bread of life in St. John vi. 58 sqq. But the
earlier representations of a memorial banquet
seem to point rather to the agape or com-
memorative repast, than to the breaking of the
bread and pouring forth of the wine in com-
memorative sacrifice. A sense of mystery and
EUCHARIST (IN Christian Art)
treated by M. Raoul Rochette (Ifem. de I'Institul.
des Inscr. et Belles LetU-es, t. xiii. 77.5, &c.). They
may, he thinks, account for the relics of cups
and platters, knife-handles, and egg-shells [see
Egg] found in the Christian sepulchres (Boldetti,
lib. ii. xiv. tav. 5, 59 and 60, and passim), though
there can be no doubt, as he implies, that old Etrus-
can (or indeed human) custom or instinct, made
survivors bury many objects used in life along
with their dead.
One of the earliest known representations of
the eucharistic ofl'ering is that of the mosaic in
St. Vitale at Ravenna, dating from the 6th cen-
tury. (See woodcut.) On one side Abel is repre-
sented as standing with hands raised in prayer,
clad in cloak and short tunic, and just issued
from a house ; it is possible that this, with the
streaked sky of the mosaic, .may indicate a
morning or evening sacrifice. At all events the
presence of Abel connects the other figure of the
priest and king Melchisedech, with the idea of
the sacrifice of the lamb, and therein of the death
of the Lord. Melchisedech is standing before an
oblong altar-table, on which is a chalice and two
loaves of bread ; his hands are raised in prayer,
not in the act of blessing, and he is clad in the
penula or cloak over a long tunic and girdle.
OcS
Afiire from an ancient scnliiture in the clmrcli of St. Ambrogio at Milsn.
awe, a pious reticence, which appears for the
present almost erased from the Christian con-
sciousness, seems to have prevented represen-
tation of the Lord's act of typical sacrifice of
Himself; as representation of His actual death
by crucifixion was also long delayed. [Crucifix.]
The subject of the agapae, and the disorders to
which they sometimes gave occasion, is admirably
a This vault is mentioned in Boldetti (p. 551) ; it is
called the Sepulchre of SS. Achilles and Nereus, the relics
of those niartyrs having been conveyed there. Of its date
he says only, " tempo vicino agli Apostoli."
This mosaic is an important illusti-ation of the
fundamental principle of Christian symbolic
ornament, which appears to have been from
the earliest times devoted, as a central object,
to displaying the fulfilment of the Old Testa-
ment by the New. In the Laurentian MS.,
A.D. 556, our Lord is represented as adminis-
tering a small rounded object, evidently bread,
to one of eleven standing figures. (See woodcut.)
The frequent introduction of the fish in the
various representations of eucharistic repasts,
which are found particularly in the Callixtine
catacomb, is connected of course with the
EUCHARIST (in Christian Art)
anagrammatic meaning of the word lyOvs as
well as with the miracles of the bread and
fish, or the Lord's words in John vi. The
connexion of the last repast by the sea of
Galilee with the last supper is expressed in
the words of Bede, In Joann. xxi. " Piscis assus,
EUCIIARLST (in Christian Art) 027
greatest antiquity for our Lord, and that it
associates itself naturally in the mind with the
two miracles, the repast of Tiberias, &c., it
should not be forgotten that the anagram is not a
scriptural emblem. Our Lord never likened Him-
self to fish as to bread, and His own use of the
fish in parable makes them represent mankind
and not Himself. Nevertheless, His act of bless-
breaking the fish on three distinct
occasions must always connect them in our minds
with the euclnristic banquet ^ (See woodcut )
Christus passus." It is no part of, our duty to
pursue it here, except in its frequent illustrations
on the walls of St. Callixtus. These will be
found in De Rossi's Hoina Sotteranea, and the
author refers them, from the beauty of their
execution, to an early period of the 3rd century.
It cannot be denied, however, that a certain
uncertainty and suspicion of repainting attaches
more particularly to this catacomb in the minds
of many antiquarians. Nevertheless, if, as Mr.
Parker thinks, the most extensive paintings and
repaintings took place in the time of St.
Paulinus of Nola, a highly respectable anti-
quity ptill belongs to these subjects. We have
given a woodcut [Canister, p. 264], of the
most important of these paintings. Its subject
is the mystic fish bearing loaves on his back ;
they are not decussated or crossed, as is most
frequently the case where they are represented
[Elements, p. 603], but bear a central mark,
which, as Martigny thinks, connects them with
Eastern and Jewish offerings of cakes made from
first-fruits of corn (called mamphula or Syrian
bread). The fish bears them in a basket, which
has in it besides another object. This is sup-
posed to represent a vessel of wine, but, as he
admits, it is not very easy to decipher in the
original, and the lithograph in De Rossi is some-
what of a restoration. What it is like in the
actual fresco must be very difficult to deter-
mine. But his reference to St. Jerome {Ep. ad
Rustic, c. XX.), " Nihil illo ditius qui corpus
Domini canistro vimineo, sanguinem portat in
vitro," corresponds with great exactness and
very impressively with this painting. In any
case there can be no doubt whatever that it
represents the Lord offering the bread of life
to mankind. These paintings are in the crypt
named from St. Cornelia ; another represents
seven persons at a table with bread and fish,
with seven baskets of decussated loaves at
hand, referring, of course, to the Lord's mira-
culous reproduction of them. Without disputing
that the anagrammatic fish is a symbol of the
Representations of other events or objects
symbolic of the body of the Lord, or anyhow to
be connected with Him as the bread of life, have
of course a relation to the eucharist. The decus-
sated loaves are offered to Daniel by Habbacuc,
on a sarcophagus found near the altar of St. Paul
without the walls of Rome (Martign)', Art. Sar-
cophages, with woodcut), and the author refers
to the custom of sending a portion of the eucha-
rist round to imprisoned confessors iu time of
persecution. The manna and the rock cloven
for the life of the people are naturally connected
with John vi. 59. [RocK.] The latter is
frequently in bas-relief; the former appears to
occur only in one unmistakable example, though
those in Bottari, tav. 164, from the cemetery of
St. Priscilla, and tav. 57 from the Callixtine, are
probably connected with it.
The miracle of Cana has been held in art to
possess an eucharistic signification, at all events
since Giotto's fresco in the Arena chapel at Padua.
Ruskin, in Arundel Society's account of that
building. But in the earliest examples, very
frequent as they are on the bas-reliefs, the Saviour
does not raise his hand in the act of blessing, as
the artist might be expected to represent him,
had he designed to connect the miracle with the
last supper. Nor is He so depicted on the
tablet of the Duomo at Ravenna (Bandini fn tab.
ehurneam. Florence, 1746), nor on the beautiful
silver urceolus supposed by Blanchini (Not. in
Anastas. in Vit. St. Urbani) to be of the 4th
century. [Cana, Miracle of.]
In treating of representations of the eucharist
in Christian art, it is not necessary for our
•> Martigny gives (s. v. ' Messe ') a woodcut of a fresco
from the Callixtine catucomb, where the bread and fish
are apparently under the act of consecration by a man in
a pallium which leaves his right arm and side bare, while
a woman prays witli uplifted hands. She may be the
tenant of one of the tombs near which the fresco is placed,
or may represent the church. The date of this work
seems exposed to that uncertainty which hangs over so
many of the catacomb paintings, mere particularly those
of the Callixtine cemeteries.
2 S 2
628
EUCHAEISTIA
purpose to consider anything beyond their ex-
pressed meaning— that is to say, beyond the
meaning which the artist or inspirer of the woik
distinctly meant to convey. The further ideas
he may have suggested to fervent imaginations,
or to minds predetermined to read meanings
of their own into his work, are not his or our
affair, though they may often be ingenious and
beautiful, and even right and true as matter of
spiritual thought. [R. St. J. T.]
EUCHAEISTIA. [Maundy Thursday.]
EUCHELAION (Ei-xe'A-aioi/) is the " prayer-
oil," blessed by seven priests, used in the Greek
church for the unction of the sick ; see SiCK,
Visitation of : unction (Suicer's Thesaurus,
s.v. ; Daniel's Codex Liturg., iv. 503, 606). [C]
EUCHERIUS, bishop of Lyons, and confes-
sor : commemorated Nov. 16 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUCHOLOGIOlSr. The most comprehensive
and important Service-Book of the Eastern
church corresponding to the Western Sricrameii-
tarius, and Liber officioruin of the Latins. In
its simplest state the Euchologion includes the
liturgies of Chrysostom and Basil, and that of
the Presanctified, which for no very certain
reason bears the name of Gregory the Great.
To these are usually added the offices of adminis-
tration of the other sacraments and other forms
of prayer, and benedictions. It cannot be affirmed
with any certainty that the present Euchologion
existed previous to A.D. 800, though the Eastern
church cannot fail to have had an office book, or
hooks more or less corresponding to it. The
■edition of the Euchologion with learned notes by
James Goar, Paris, 1645, frequently reprinted,
is the standard authority on the subject. (Bin-
terim, Denkwurdig. iv. i, 274; Neale, Eastern
Church, i. 2, 828). [E. v.]
EUDOCIA, baiofiaprvs, A.D. 160 ; comme-
morated March 1, Aug. 4 (Jjal. Byzant.).
[W. F. G.]
EUDOCIMUS, Martyr under Theophilus
the Iconoclast; commemorated July 31 {Cal
Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
EUGENDUS, abbot at the monastery of the
Jurenses in Celtic Gaul ; commemorated Jan. 1
{Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUGENIA. (1) Virgin, martyr at Eome
under Gallienus ; commemorated Dec. 25 {Mart.
Fom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi) ;
bcrioij.d,pTvs, commemorated Dec. 24 {Cal. Bg-
zant.).
(2) and Bagan, virgins; commemorated Jan.
22 {Cal. Armcn.). [W. F. G.]
EUGENIANUS, martyr ; commemorated
Jan. 8 {Mart. Usuardi). ' [W. F. G.]
EUGENIUS. (1) martyr with six others in
Africa ; commemorated Jan. 4 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi).
2) Martyr at Neocaesarea with three others ;
commemorated Jan. 24 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(3) Martyr in Syria, with Paulus, Cyrillus,
and four others ; commemorated March 20
{Mart. Usuardi).
(4) Martyr at Tibur in Italy, with Sympho-
EULOGIAE
rosa, his mother, and her six other children ; com-
memorated June 27 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi); July 21 {Mart. Bedae).
(5) Bishop of Carthage, and martyr with his
500 companions, or more (" universi cleri eccle-
siae ejusdem"); commemorated July 13 {lb.).
(6) Bishop of Toledo, and confessor; comme-
morated Nov. 13 {Mart. Usuardi).
(7) Martyr at Paris; commemorated Nov. 15
(/6.).
(8) Martyr with Candidus, Valerianus, Acylas,
A.D. 292; commemorated Jan. 21 {Cal. Byzant.).
(9) Bishop, and martyr A.D. 296 ; commemo-
rated March 7 {lb.).
(10) Martyr, with four others, A.D. 290 ; com-
memorated Dec. 13 {lb.).
(11) and Macarius ; commemorated Aug. 5
{Cal. Armen.). [W. F. G.]
(12) Invention of the relics of those who were
martyred with Eugenius {iv toTs Euyeviou);
Feb. 22 {Cal. Byzant.). [C]
EUGRAPHIUS or EUGRAPHUS, martyr
with Mennas (or Slenas) and Hermogenes, A.D.
304; commemorated Dec. 10 {Cal. Byzant.)]
Dec. 3 {Cal. Armen.).
EULALIA. (1) Virgin, martyr at Barcelona
in Spain, under Diocletian; commemorated Feb.
12 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi); Dec. 10
{Mart. Bedae).
(2) Virgin, martyr at Merida in Spain ; com-
memorated Dec. 10 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi, CaL.Carthag.). [W. F. G.]
EULAMPIA, martyr with EULAMPIUS,
her brother, A.d. 296; commemorated Oct. 10
{Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
EULOGETAEIA {EuAoyvrdpia) are cer-
tain autiphons occurring in the Greek Morning
Office, so called from the frequent repetition iu
them of the words evXoyrjTos el, Kvpie. (D'aniel,
Codex Lit. 304, 703; Neale, Eastern Church,
Introd. 919.) [C]
EULOGIAE in an eucharistic sense.
(1) Eulogia was used down to the middle of
the 5th century as synonymous with evxapio-Tia
for the sacranient of the Lord's Supper. This
signification was naturally derived from St. Paul's
words, rh TOT-i)piov ttis evXoyias & €v\oyovfji.ev
(1 Cor. X. 16). In commenting on this passage
Chrysostom's language shows that the word was
beo-inning to be used in this restricted sense,
evXoyiav Stuv tiTTCo Trdvra avanrvaffui rhv
T7)s evepyffflai tov Qeov d-qaauphv, k.t.X. (Chrys.
Ilomil. xxiv. in 1 Cor. x. 16), in which it is of con-
stant occurrence in the writings of Cyril of Alex-
andria, sometimes by itself {Lib. iv. c. 2 in .Toann.
vi. p. 260 ; ib. 364 ; Catena ad Joann. iii. 27,
p. 343, &c.) ; sometimes with a qualifying epi-
thet, jxvariKT) evXoyia {lib. Glaphi/r. in Levit.
pp. 351, 367 ; in Deut. p. 414; de Adorat.Wh. ii.
p. 80) ; €iiA. ■Kvev/j.aTiKT} (ib. lib. vi. p. 177) ;
6u\. (woiroihi {ib. lib. vii. p. 231). To this we
may add " tunc euhgia, non alogia celebratur "
(Aug. Ep. 86 Casul. presb.).
(2) Eulogia then came to be used specifically
for that portion of the eucharist, fi evxapiade^a-a
i rpocpri (Just. Mart. Apoloj. § 67), which was
conveyed in the primitive church by the hands
EULOGIAE
of the deacons to those who were absent as
well as for that sent by the bishops, notably
those of Rome, to. their daughter- churches,
and to foreign bishops and churches, as a
symbol of Christian love and brotherhood. Ire-
naeus is the earliest authority for this practice,
which he speaks of as long established. In his
letter to Victor bishop of Rome, at the end of
the 2nd century, in which he entreats him not
to make a ditference as to the time of the cele-
bration of Easter a ground for breach of com-
munion, he refers to the example of his pre-
decessors, who, notwithstanding this difference,
were in the habit of sending the eucharist to the
presbyters of other dioceses who observed the Ori-
ental rule (Iren. apud Euseb. H. E. v. 24).
With the increased reverence for the material
eucharist this practice dropt into disfavour, and
was distinctly forbidden by the 14th canon of
the council of Laodicaea, a.d. 365. This canon
prohibits " the sending of the holy things into
other dioceses, at the feast of Easter, by way of
eulogiae " {els \6yov evKoy iwv). Easter seems
to be specially mentioned as the chief period
for this interchange of pledges of communion,
the prohibition itself being general. The 32nd
canon of the same council, which forbids the
reception of the eulogiae of heretics, which is
also prohibited by the second council of Braga,
A.D. 572, probably refers to the eulogiae of un-
consecrated, but blessed bread (see below).
Forbidden in the East, the practice lingered
considerably longer in the West. Sirmond, in-
deed, the learned Jesuit, affirms that the custom
of sending the eucharist round to other churches
and congregations arose subsequently to the
times of Cyprian and Tertullian, since in their
■writings there is no allusion to it, and all
Christians who were present at divine service
had the opportunity of communicating, and were
bound to avail themselves of it, and that the
eulogiae distributed consisted of bread blessed
but not consecrated (^de Azymo, iv. 527 sq.).
Bnt the passages adduced cannot be satisfactorily
interpreted on any other hypothesis. Suicer un-
doubtedly states the case correctly when he says,
" ivK6yiai istae quae mittebantur per paroecias
ipsissimae erant Eucharistiae sive panis fvxap^-
ff6evTos, ex quo communio data fuerat praesenti-
bus, particulae, quae absentibus Presbyteris per
paroecias Dioecesis mittebantur. Sic enim per-
fecta ex eodem pane sanctificato communio inter
omnes illas paroecias unius dioecosis institui vide-
batur" {Thes. sub voc. evAoyia). After the
church had been invaded by heresy, the eucha-
rist was distributed to the orthodox presbyters
by the bishop as a pledge of their adhesion to
the true faith, as is shewn by the ordinances
relating to the fermentum of Melchiades, a.d.
311, and Siricius, a.d. 385. The letter of Inno-
cent I. to Decentius, c. 410, informing him of
the custom of sending the " fermentum " to the
presbyters of the " tituli," on Sundays as a token
of communion, and expressing his disapprobation
of carrying the leaven through a whole diocese,
" quia nee longe portanda sunt sacramenta,"
illustrates the same practice [Fermentum]. A
practice very nearly allied to this of which we have
been speaking, was that which prevailed among the
faithful in the first ages of the church, of carry-
ing home themselves and transmitting to others
a portion of the consecrated bread to be con-
EULOGIAE
629
sumeil hereafter. Thus Tertullian speaks of Chris-
tian women being accustomed " secretly before
all other food " to partake of the eucharist
(Tert. ad Uxor. ii. 5), and answers the objection
of some against receiving the eucharist on a day
of abstinence lest they should break their fast,
by the suggestion that they could " take the body
of the Lord and reserve it till the fast was over '
(id. do Orat. 19). Cyprian tells of a woman
who had lapsed being terrified by the sudden
outburst of flame when she opened her chest
[Arca] in which " the holy thing of the Lord "
(Domini sanctum) was kept (Cypr. de Lapsis,
p. 132). Satyrus, the brother of Ambrose, when
fearing to be lost by shipwreck obtained " that
divine sacrament of the faithful " from some of
his fellow-passengers (Ambros. de Obit. Fratris,
iii. 19). Gregory Nazianzon speaks of his sister
Gorgonia "treasuring up with her hand the
antitypes of the precious Body and Blood " (Greg.
Naz. Orat. si. p. 187). We learn from Basil that
it was the almost universal custom at Alex-
andria and in Egypt for the laity to have " the
communion " in their houses ; that solitaries did
the same, where there was no priest near ; and
that it was generally customary in times of per-
secution (Basil, Epist. 93). Jerome speaks of
some who scrupled to receive the eucharist at
church, but were not afraid to take it at home
(Hieron. Epist. ad Pammach.'), and of those who
" carried the Lord's Body in a wicker basket and
His Blood in a glass vessel " (id. Epist. ad lius-
ticilm, 95). But universal as this practice seems
to have been, its natural tendency to degenerate
into irreverence and superstition gave rise to
evils which led the church to discountenance
and ultimately to suppress it. There is no trace
of its general observance after the 4th century
(Scudamore, Notitia Eucharistica, p. 793).
(3) With the cessation of the practice of
sending the consecrated eucharist to persons who
were not present grew up as a substitute that
of distributing the unconsecrated remains of the
oblations among those who had not received under
the name of eulogia, or in still later times of
antidoron or substitute for the Z<£pov, or eucha-
rist proper. According to the rule laid down
in the Apostolical Constitutions (lib. viii. c. 31)
these remains (jas ireptcrcrevovaas eV to'is ixvari-
Kois eiiAoyias), were distributed by the deacons,
at the pleasure of the bishops or presbyters, to
the clergy in proportion to their rank. The rule
prescribed by Theophilus bishop of Alexandria,
A.D. 385, permits " the fiiithful brethren " to
share them with the clergy, but prohibits a
catechumen to partake of them. That the cate-
chumens, however, in the time of Augustine par-
took of some kind of sacrament is plain from his
words (de Peccator. Meritis, ii. 26), " quod acce-
perunt (catechumeni) quamvis non sit corpus
Christi, sanctum tamen est et sanctius quam cibi
quibus alimur, quoniam sacramentum est." As
the first love of the church grew cold and non-
communicating attendance became common, the
unconsecrated remains began to be regularly
distributed among those who had not received,
that they might not depart without a semblance
of a blessing. The Greek names for this prac-
tice, euXoyia, avTiSoipov, sufficiently indicate
where it originated, The word occurs in So-
crates' account of Chrysanthus, the bishop of
the Novatians at Constantinople in the 5th cen-
630
EULOGIAE
tuiy, who declined to receive anything from his
churches but " two loaves of the eulogiae every
Lord's Day," hvh aprovs ev\oyt(i>i' (Socr. JI. E. vii.
12). In the liturgies of Chrysostom and Basil
the distribution of the antidoron by the priest
is prescribed — /uera Tr)v euxV e^fpx^'''"' o Upevs
Kal trros ev Tip avvrjdii rSircp Sldaiirt rh avTi-
Supou (Goar, Eucholog. 85, § 190). But this is
evidently an addition of late though uncertain
date. Balsamon deduces it from a desire to
evade the force of the threat of the second canon
of Antioch against non-communicating attend-
ance, so that even those who were not able to
receive the undefiled mysteries might take the
eulogia of the hallowed fragment from the hand
of the celebrant. But if its original be Greek,
the earliest certain notice of it is found in Latin
writers, and not earlier than the 9th century.
The decree of Pius I. A.D. 156 (Labbe, i. 578),
which prescribes it, is an undoubted forgei-y, as is
acknowledged by Card. Bona (^Eer. Liturg. lib. i.
cap. 23). This decree appears nearly verbatim
both in the Capitula of Hiucmar, A.D. 353, c. 7
and c. 1(3 (Labbe, viii. 570), and in the canons of
Nantes, c. A.D. 896 (Labbe, ix. 470, canon ix.).
It runs : " ut de oblationibus quae offeruntur a
populo et consecrationi superfluunt, vel de pa-
uibus quos deferunt fideles ad Ecclesiam, vel
certe de suis. Presbyter convenientes partes in-
cisas habeat in vase nitido et convenienti, et post
missarum solemnia qui communicare non fuerint
parati Eulogias omni die Dominico, et in omnibus
festis exinde accipiant, quae cum benedictione
prius faciat." This canon prescribes a form of
prayer to be used in the benediction (c. 7).
Leo IV. (847-855) also commanded that " the
eulogiae be distributed to the people .after the
Masses on Feastdays " (Labbe, viii. , 37). We
should be transgressing our assigned limits still
further if we traced the custom any later."
(4) When the custom of sending the eucharist
to one another as a symbol of Christian com-
munion had ceased among Christians, the prac-
tice arose of distributing cakes of bread, which
had received a special benediction, as a token of
mutual love. We have a refei'ence to this prac-
tice in the writings of St. Gi-egory Naziauzen
{Orat. six. p. 306) when relating a dream of his
sister Gorgonia when sick. " She thought that
I . . . . suddenly stood by her in the night with
a basket and loaves of the purest flour, and
having prayed over them and signed them as
our wont is, fed her." During the disputes which
succeeded the council of Ephesus, the bishops and
l)resbyters of Cilicia and Isauria sent Eulogiae to
John of Antioch, in token of communion (Baluz.,
Nov. Coll. Concil. 867). The writings of Pau-
iinus, bishop of Nola, contain many notices of these
eulogiae, sometimes under the name of henedic-
tioiics, which were interchanged between him and
Augustine and others. The latter writes to Pau-
linus, " the bread we have sent will become a
richer blessing, for the love of your benignity in
accepting it " (Aug. Epist. xxxiv.). The compli-
ment is returned by Paulinus. "The single loaf
which we have sent to your charity, as a token of
uuaninrity, we beg that you will bless (i.e. make
a true eulogia) by accepting it " (Paulin, Epist.
» Those who wish to follow up this practice to more
modern times will find the materials in Scudamore's
Notitia Jiucluirittica, ch. xvi. } 2, pp. 774-780.
EULOGIAE
iv. p. 16). Paulinus also sends a trifid loaf to
Alypius, " panem unum .... in quo Trini-
tatis soliditas continetur," which he will turn
into a eulogia by his kindness in receiving it,
(i6. iii. p. 12). He sends five loaves to Roma-
nianus and Licinius {ib. vii. p. 27). To Severus
he sends "a Campanian loaf fi-om his cell, as
a eulogia," together with a boxwood casket,
and begs him, as before, by accepting the loaf in
the name of the Lord to convert it into a eulogia
(ib. V. § 21, p. 30). The large number of stories
in Gregory of Tours in which the expressions
eulogias accipere, dare, flagitare, ministrare, pe-
tere, porrigere, postulare, &c. occur, prove how
common the practice was as a token of Christian
communion and a symbol of episcopal benediction
in the 6th century (Greg. Turon. Hist. iv. 16;
V. 14, 20 ; x. 16 ; de Glor. Confess. 31). From
some of these passages we leai-n that to drink a
cup of wine, and to partake of a morsel of bread
blessed by him in a bishop's house was considered
equivalent to receiving his benediction, (eulogia)
(id. Hist. vi. 51 ; viii. 2). Ducange (sub voce)
affords a very large number of later references.
Forms of literae salutatoriae to accompany eulo-
giae sent by a bishop to a king or to another
bishop, and of acknowledgment, are contained in
the Exemplaria of Marculfus, lib. ii. 42, 44, 45,
46.
(5) This was not the only form which eulogiae
assumed. We have seen Paulinus sending a
wooden box as a eulogia. The presents sent
by Cyril of Alexandria to Pulcheria and the
ladies of the court to induce them to forward
his interests in his disputes with John of Antioch
and the Oriental bishops were delicately de-
scribed as " blessings," "eulogiae." This use of
the word is borrowed from Holy Sc]-ipture, where
a gift is not unfrequently styled a blessing, in
the LXX. evAoyia; see Jud. i. 15 ; 1 Sam. xxv.
27 ; XXX. 26 ; 2 Kin. v. 15 ; 2 Cor. ix. 5 ;
Rom. XV. 29. We find Gregory the Great using
this term of some relics of saints (" eulogias
S. Marci ") sent him by Eulogius, patriarch of
Alexandria ; and " benedictio " of a small cross
[Encolvion], containing some filings of the
apostles' chains (Greg. Mag. Epist. lib. xiii. ep. 42).
Some of Augustine's opuscula were brought to the
abbot Valentinus under this title (August. Ep.
256). Even sweetmeats, nuts, and dry figs were
included under this title, when blessed by the
sender. Some curious stories illustrative of this
custom are recorded in the Vitae Patruin. Thus
some bellaria (sweetmeats) brought to the monas-
tery where Valens was a monk by some guests
and distributed by the abbot Macarius to each
cell, wei-e indignantly rejected by Valens, who
beat the bearer and sent him back with the
message, "Go and tell Macarius that I am as
good as he. What right then has he to send me
a benediction?" (Pallad. Hist. Laus. c. 31). They
were withheld from those who were under ex-
communication, and excommunicated bishops
were forbidden to send them to others (Greg.
Turon. Hist. viii. c. 20). Thus the abbot Arseuius
took umbrage at some dry figs not being sent
him, and regarding himself as excommunicated
refused to attend divine service with his brethren
until the ban was taken off (de Vit. Patr. lib. v.
Migne, Lxxiii. p. 953). The eulogia was refused
to the king Merwig, who had apostatized (Greg.
Tuion. Hist. v. 14). (Bingham, Oriij. Eccl. xv.
EULOGIUS
4, 3, and 8 ; Bonn, Berum Liturg. ; Ducange's
Glossaries ; Suicer, Thesaurus ; Binterini, Denk-
uurdiij. ; Augusti, Christ. Arch. ii. 533). [E. V.]
(6) Eulogiae in monasteries. In the Bene-
dictine rule monks care forbidden to receive
'• litteras, eulogias, vel quaelibet munuscula"
without the abbat's leave (^Reg. Bened. c. 54, of.
Reg. Donat. c. 53). Here probably the word is
used in its widest sense, for any offering or
token of esteem (Martene ad loc. citing Reg.
Conwnent.), or, more particularly, for bread sent
with a blessing. See (4) and (5) above.
In some monasteries, e. g. that of Fulda
(Mabill. Ann. O.S.B. Praef. Saec. III. vii.),
eulogiae were distributed daily to the monks,
who had not already received, in the refectory
before their meal ; in others this was done only
on Sundays and holy-days (cf Reg. Bened. Com-
tnent. c. 54). In the life of Eligius, in the 7th
centui-y, it is related that he used to beg these
" eulogiae " or pieces of blessed bread from the
monks of Solignac (Mabill. Ann. O.S.B. XII.
xxii.). When the abbess who succeeded Rade-
gunde in the convent of Ste. Croix at Poitiers
was accused of feasting she replied that the
alleged feasting was only the partaking of the
" eulogiae "(/6. VII. liii. 589 A.D.). "Eulogiae,"
in this sense, were sometimes given by a bishop
to an excommunicated person in token of recon-
ciliation (76. III. 1.) The other spelling, "eulo-
gium," is condemned by Menard (_Conc. Regul.
Bened. Anian. c. 61). [I. G. S.]
EULOGIUS. (1) Deacon, and martyr at
Tarragona, with Fructuosus the bishop, under
Gallienus ; commemorated Jan. 21 {Mart. Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Constantinople ; commemorated
July 3 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(3) Presbyter, and martyr at Cordova ; com-
memorated Sept. 20 (iWart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUMENIA, martyr at Augusta, with Hilaria
and others ; commemorated Aug. 12 {Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUMENIUS. (1) Bishop of Gortyna, Uios
war^p Kol 6avfxaTovpy6s ; commemorated Sept.
18 (C'al. Byzant.).
(2) Patriarch of Alexandria, a.d. 143 ; com-
memorated Tekemt 10 ~ Oct. 7 {Cal. Ethiop.).
[W. F. G.]
EUNUCHS, not to be ordained. The feeling
that one devoted to the sacred ministry should
be unmutilated was strong in the ancient church.
Hence, the council of Nicaea (c. 1) enacted that
if any one, being in health {vyiaivaiv) dismem-
bered himself, after ordination, he should be
deposed from the ministry, or, being a layman,
he should not be admitted to Holy Orders ;
and in the Apostolical Canons (c. 21) the reason
fur such exclusion is added, viz., that the offender
is a self-mui'derer {avTocpovevrT^s iavrov) and an
enemy of the workmanship of God. These
canons, and a later one in the 2nd council of
Aries (c. 7), were aimed against that perverted
notion of piety, originating in the misinterpre-
tation of our Lord's saying (Matt. xix. 12), by
which Origen, among others, was misled, and
their observance was so carefully enforced in
later times, that not more than one or two
instances of. the practice which they condemn
EUPPtOBUS
631
are noticed by the historian. The case was
dilferent if a man was born a eunuch, or had
sutl'ered mutilation at the hands of persecutors:
an instance of the former, Dorotheus, pres-
byter of Antioch, is mentioned by Eusebius
(II. E. vii. c. 32); of the latter, Tigris, pres-
byter of Constantinoi)le, is referred to both ly
Socrates (//. E. vi. 15) and Sozomen (//. E. vi.
24) as the victim of a barbarian master (Bing-
ham, Antiq. iv. iii. 9). [O. B.]
EUNUS, martyr, with Julian, at Alexandria ;
commemorated Feb. 27 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [w. F. G.]
EUODUS, martyr with Calliste and Hermo-
genes; commemorated Sept. 1 {Cal. Byzant).
[W. F. G.]
EUOTUS, martyr at Caesaraugusta with
seventeen others ; commemorated April 16
{Mart. Usuardi). rw_ y. G.]
EUPHEMIA. (1) Martyr at Chalcedon.
under Diocletian, A.D. 288 ; commemorated
Sept. 16 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usu-
ardi); Se^i.lQ {Cal. Byzant.); commemoration
of the miracle which she is said to have wrought
in the church of Chalcedon, July 11 (Cu/.^i/.^an';.).
(2) Martyr at Piome, with Lucia ; commemo-
rated Sept. 16 {Mart. Hieron., Cal. Allatii et
Frontonis). [W. F. G.]
EUPHRASIA or EUPRAXIA. (1) Virgin ;
depo.sition at Alexandria, Feb. 11 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Virgin ; deposition in the Thebais, March
13 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F, G.]
. EUPHRASIUS. (1) Bishop, and martyr;
natale Jan. 14 {Mari. Usuardi); deposition Jan.
14 {Afart. Hieron.).
(2) Confessor at Eliturgis in Spain; comme-
morated May 15 {Mart. Rom.Vet., Usuardi).
[VV. F. G.]
EUPHEOSIUS, martyr in Africa; commemo-
rated ]\Iarch 14 {3Iart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUPHEOSYNE or EUFROSINA. (1)
Virgin, of Alexandria ; commemorated Jan. 1
{Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Virgin, martyr, with Domitilla and Theo-
dora, under Trajan; commemorated May 7 {lb.)
[W. F. G.]
EUPHEOSYNE, iaia ixi)rf)p, a.d. 410; omu-
memorated Sept. 25 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
EUPLUS, deacon, and martyr at Catana in
Sicily, under Diocletian and Maximian, a.d. 296 ;
commemorated Aug. 12 {Mart. Rom.Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi); Aug. 11 {Cal. Byzant.).
[W. F. G.]
EUPRAXIA, and Olympias ; commemorated
July 25 {Cal. Byzant.). See Euphrasia.
[W. F. G.]
EUPREPIA, martyr at Augusta, \yith Hila-
ria and others; commemorated Aug. 12 {Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi). "" [W. F. G.]
EUPREPIUS, one of the three brothers of
Cosmas and Damianus, martyrs under Diocletian ;
commemorated Sept. 27 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUPROBUS, bishop and martyr, at Saiutes
in Gaul ; commemorated April 30 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
C32
EUPSYCHIUS
EUPSYCHIUS, martyr at Caesarea, under
Julian; commemorated April 9 (Cal. Bi/zant.).
[W. F. G.]
EUSEBIUS. (1) Palatinds, martyr with
nine {Bom. Vet. eight) others ; commemorated
March 5 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr with Aphrodisius, Carilippus, and
Agapius; commemorated April 28 {Mart. Adorns,
Usuardi).
(3) The historian, bishop, and confessor, of
Caesarea in Palestine ; commemorated June 21
{Mart. Hieron., Flori, Usuardi).
(4) Bishop and martyr at Vereelli under Con-
stantius ; commemorated Aug. 1 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(5) Presbyter, and confessor at Rome, under
Constantius Augustus ; commemorated Aug. 14
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal.
Frontonis).
(6) Martyr at Rome, with three others, under
Coramodus ; commemorated Aug. 25 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(7) Martyr at Adrianopolis in Thrace, with
Philip the bishop and Hermes ; commemorated
Oct. 22 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(8) Monk, and martyr at Tarracina_ in Cam-
pania, with Felix the presbyter, under Claudius ;
lommemorated Nov. 5 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(9) Bishop of Samosata, and martyr under
Valens ; commemorated June 22 {Cal. Byzant.).
[W. F. G.]
EUSIGNIUS, martyr at Antioch, a.d. 361 ;
commemorated Aug. 5 {Cal. Byzanl.). [W^ F. G.]
EUSTACHIUS. (1) Bishop and confessor"
at Antioch in Syria, under Constantine (Constan-
tius, Ado) ; commemorated July 16 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Presbyter and martyr in Syria; comme-
morated Oct'. 12 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Placidus, martyr at Rome, with his
wife and two children, under Adrian ; comme-
morated Nov. 2 {Mart. Usxiardi). [W. F. G.]
EUSTATHIUS or EUSTASIUS. (1) With
nis companions, fnyaXoixdpTv^, A.D. 100 ; com-
memorated Sei)t. 20 {Cal. Bi/zant.).
(2) ab Msketha or Mzcheta ; commemorated
July 29 {Cal. Georg.).
(3) and Theodotus; commemorated Oct. 1
{Cal. Armen.).
(4) Abbot of Luxeuil; deposition March 29
{Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUSTOEGIUS, presbyter and martyr at
Nicomedia ; commemorated April 11 {Mart.
Hieron., Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUSTOSIUS, martyr at Antioch with De-
metrius the bishop, Anianus the deacon, and
twenty others; commemorated Nov. 10 {lb.')
[W. F. G.]
EUSTRATIUS, martyr with Eugenius and
three others, a.d. 290; commemorated Dec. 13
{Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
EUTHYMIUS. (1) Magnus, Uios koI 06o.
<l>6pos, A.D. 465; commemorated Jan. 20 {Cal.
Byzant.).
(2) Deacon of Alexandria; commemorated May
5 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
EVANGELIST
(3) of Athos ; commemorated Mav 13 {Cal
Georg.).
(4) Bishop of Sardis, and martyr, a.d. 820 :
commemoi-ated Dec. 26 {Cal. Byzant.).
[W. F. G.]
EUTROPIA, sister of Nicasius the bishop,
martyr with him at Rheims ; commemorated
Dec. 14 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUTROPIUS (1) and companions, martyr
a.d. 296; commemorated March 3 {Cal. By
zant.).
(2) Bishop, and martyr at Arausio in Gaul ;
commemorated May 27 {.^art. Adonis, Usuardi)
(3) Martyr at Rome with sisters Zosima and
Bonosa; commemorated July 15 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUTYCHIANUS. (1) Martyr in Campania,
with Symphorosa and eight others ; commemo-
rated July 2 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr in Africa with Arcadius and two
others; commemorated Nov. 13 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Pojie, and martyr under Aurelian; com-
memorated Dec. 8 {Mari. Rom. Vet., Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EUTYCHIUS (1); Deacon and martyr in
Mauretania Caesariensis, with two others ; com-
memorated May 21 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi ).
(2) Martyr in Sicily with Placidus and thirty
others; commemorated Oct. 5 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi).
(3) Martyr in Spain ; commemorated Dec. 11
{Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(4) Presbyter, and martyr at Ancyra in Gala-
tia with Domitianus the deacon ; commemorated
Dec. 28 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(5) Patriarch of Constantinople, A.D. 551-582 ;
commemorated April 6 {Cal. Byzant.).
[W. F. G.]
EUTYCHUS or EUTYCHES. (1) Martyr
in Thrace with Plautus and Heracleas ; comme-
morated Sept. 29 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Naples with Januarius, bishop
of Beneventum, and others, under Diocletian ;
commemorated Sept. 19 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Martyr in Italy, with Maro and Victorinus,
under Nerva; commemorated April 15 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(4) Disciple of St. John, and martyr; comme-
morated Aug. 24 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
EVAGRIUS. (1) Martyr at Tomi in
Scythia, with Benignus ; commemorated April 3
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Tomi, with Priscus and Cre-
scens ; commemorated Oct. 1 {Mart. Bom. Vet.,
Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EVANGELIARIUM, EVANGELISTA-
RIUM {EvayyeAtar-npiov), the book contain-
ing the passages of the gospels to be read in the
liturgy. [Gospel : Lectionary : Liturgical
Books.] [C]
EVANGELIARY. [Liturgical Books.]
EVANGELIST. The deacon is called "Evan-
gelist " in his capacity of reader of the gospel,
in the liturgy of Chrysostom (c. 19, p. 347,
EVANGELISTS
Daniel) the deacon prays the priest, " Bless, sir,
the evangelist (eiiayyeXiaTriv) of the holy
apostle and gospel." [C.]
EVANGELISTS. The Four Evangelists are
commemorated Oct. 19 (^Cal. Armeti.). [C]
EVANGELISTS, symbolic representations
of. We find from Aringhi (ii. 285) that the
four symbolic creatures are (as might be ex-
pected) not the original emblems of the four
evangelists. The FOUR rivers of paradise are
perhaps intended to represent the gospel, and
the distinct channels of its diflusion through-
out the world (Gen. li.). These are found" in
some of the earliest specimens of unquestionably
authentic Christian dec6ration, as in the Lateran
cross [Cross, p, 496], where the lamb and stag
are introduced. The four books or rolls are
also found in early worlc, Ciampini (V. M. i. 67
tab. ; Buonarotti, xiv. 2). In some instances,
as in the baptism of our Lord in the cemetery
of St. Pontianus (Aringhi, 275, 2, also at end
of Bottari), the animals are introduced drink-
ing in the Jordan. In this case, either the
mystic river is identified with the four rivers of
paradise, and made to accompany the ornamented
cross below, representing the gospel, as in the
Lateran cross (see s. v.), or the cross in St. Pon-
tianus, below the baptism-picture, represents the
Lord's death and baptism thereinto. Mr. Parker
gives an admirably clear photograph of the pre-
sent condition of this important work, which he
dates from a.d. 772. The Lateran relic is sup-
posed to be similar to the crosses of the time of
Oonstantine.
The adoption of the four creatures of the
Apocalypse (iv. 6) as images of the evangelists,
does not seem to have taken place generally, or
is not recorded on Christian monuments, before
EVANGELISTS
633
the 5th century. It involves, of course, a
peculiarly impressive connexion between the
beginning of the visions of Ezekiel, and the
unveiling of heaven to the eyes of St. John.
This is unmistakable ; although in the pro-
phet's vision the living creatures were not
only four in number, but each was fourfold in
shape. "They four had the face of a man, and
the face of a lion, on the right side ; and they
four had the face of an ox on the left side ; they
four also had the face of an eagle." Wiiile in
the Apocalypse, " The first beast was like a lion,
the second like a calf, the third had the face of a
man, and the fourth beast was like a flying
eagle." This connexion is said by Mrs. Jameson,
{Sacred and Legendary Art, 79) to have been
noticed as early as the 2nd century, though no
representations are found till the 5th. Nor was
it till long after the four creatures had bomi
taken as prefiguring the four evangelists, that a
special application was made of each symbol to
eacli writer. This may be referred to St. Jerome
on Ezekiel i. St. Matthew has the man, as
beginning his gospel with the Lord's human
genealogy : St. Mark the lion, as testifying the
Lord's royal dignity, or as containing the" ter-
rible condemnation of unbelievers at the end of
his gospel : St. Luke the ox, as he dwells on
the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ : St. John
the eagle, as contemplating the Lord's divine
nature. Ingenuity and devotion have done their
utmost on this subject for centuries with little
result. An ivory diptych of the 5th century,
given by Bugati {Memorie di S. Celso in fin.) is
the earliest known representation of this emblem,
which does not occur in the glass devices recorded
by Garrucci or Buonarotti. The well-known
representation of the four creature-symbols in
the great mosaic of the church of St. Pudentiana
at Rome, must we think be left out of reckoning
altogether as an historic document. (See Mr.
J. E. Parker's photographs, and the articles
thereon in his Antiqxiities of Rome, by the author
of the present paper ; also Messrs. Crowe and
Cavalcaselle's Early Italian Art, vol. i. chap, i.)
The symbols are placed above a 7th century
cross, and on tlo^e inspection of the photograplis,
appear to h.ive been lejMned in fresco, or by
painting of some kind. The appearance of the
whole mosaic in fact is that of a quantity of
mafei-jal of diflerent ages, sonic doubtless vcrv
aucicut and of great merit, combined as a whole
(334
EVANGELISTS
by a painter and mosaicist of the greatest skill
and power in the 16th century. However, the
use of the quadruple symbols is universal, in
east and west, and throughout the Christian
world, in every kind of situation, and by use of all
vehicles and methods. They are very frequently
placed on crosses of the 7th century, about the
same time as that in which the change took place
from the lamb at the intersection of the limbs
of the cross to the human form crucified. They
occur on the cross of Velitrae, and on some ancient
German crosses mentioned under Crucifix, as the
station cross of Planig, &c. But the most inter-
esting 6th century representation of them known
to us is the quaintly but most grandly-conceived
tetramorph of the Rabula MS., which represents
the Lord at the ascension, mounting a chariot of
many ^ings and cherubic form. It shows that
the Syrian miniaturist had a most vivid ima-
gination, and the highest power of. realising his
conceptions, as appears in so many parts of that
extraordinary work. The wheels of the chariot,
as well as the cherubic forms, connect the vision
of Ezekiel with the giiffins of Lombard Church-
art as at Verona. Mi's. Jameson gives a very
interesting tetramorph or cherubic form bearing
the evangelic symbols, from a Greek mosaic.
This symbol is certainly not of the age of the
earlier catacomb paintings, and occurs first with
frequency in the tessellated apses and tribunes
of Byzantine churches, and is of course specially
worthy of note as explaining the connexion be-
tween the vision of Ezekiel and that of St. John.
The four animals separately represented occur
pfissiin, both in Eastern and Western Church-
work. (See Ciampini, Vet. Hon. i. tab. 48.) There
are grand examples in the spandrils of the dome
of Galla Placidia's chapel in Ravenna, as in St.
Apollinaris in Classe, and particularly in the
chapel of St. Satyrus at Milan. [For a singular
specimen of Carlovingian grotesques of them
see Miniature.] (The woodcuts, p. 633, are
irora the latter.) The eagle given below is
taken from the Evangeliary of Louis le De-
honnaire ; but the Hours of that emperor and
the MS. of St. Medard of Soissons, also contain
whole page emblems of the four evangelists.
In St. Vitale at Ravenna the symbols of the
evangelists accompany their sitting figures. St.
]\Iatthew has the man, St. Mark the (wingless)
lion ; the calf, also wingless, belongs to St. Luke,
and the eagle to St. John. The nimbus is some-
times added, and sometimes the creatures bear
the rolls or books of the gospel (Ciampini, V. 31.
II. XV.; in St. Cosmas and Damian. See also ibid.
U. xxiv. for St. Apollinaris in Classe, temp. Felix
IV. about 530).
There is a very strange missal painting referred
to by Martigny, where the human forms of the
evangelists in apostolic robes are surmounted by
the heads of the creatures. This occurs also, he
says, m an ancient church of Aquileia (Bartoli,
Le Anticldta di Aquileia, 404). Two examples
are given in woodcut by Mrs. Jameson, Sacred
and Legendary Art, 83. One is by Fra Ange-
lico, and the hands, feet, and drapery of the other,
which is not dated, seem too skilfully done to be
of early date.
But the four creatures occur alike in bas-reliefs
on altars, on sacred vessels and vestments, and
even on bronze medals. See Paciaudi de Cultu
S. Joan. Bapt. p. 163, for a bronze coin with the
EVENING HYMN
man and the eagle on one side, the lion and calf
on the other, lettered respectively NA0EOC
{sic), lOHANNrS, NAPC, LVCAS. Nothing is
known of the history of this relic. It may be
supposed that where the Lord is surrounded by
saints and apostles the bearers of books are
intended for the evangelists, especially if they
are four in number, though on the sarcophagus
in Bottari cxxxi. t. only three are represented,
probably St. Matthew and St. John, with St.
Mark as companion and interpreter of St. Peter.
Four figures in the baptistery at Ravenna hold-
ing books, and placed in niches of mosaic ara-
besques, are considered of doubtful meaning by
Ciampini ( F. M. i. tab. 72); but Martigny is
perfectly satisfied that the evangelists are in-
tended by them (Martigny, Dictionimire s. v.
Evangelistes). [R. St. J. T.]
EVE. [Vigil.]
EVENING HYMN. In the vespers of the
Eastern church, after certain fixed psalms, con-
cluding with Ps. cxxiii., expressive of intense
expectation, followed by the "Entrance," so
called, of the Gospels considered as enshrining
Christ Himself, with an exhortation to the ac-
knowledgment and hearing of Him as there
present (" Wisdom, stand up ") — the Evening
Hf/mn is appropriately sung; the triumphant
" Hymn of the Evening Light," at once giving
thanks for the gift of artificial light, and praising
the true " Light that shiueth in darkness, in
Whom is Life, and the Life is the Light of men "
— hence called by St. Basil iiriAvxi'ios eux"/""
(TTia. "Joyful Light of the holy glory of the
immortal Father, the heavenly, the holy, the
blessed Jesu Christ, we having come to the
Setting of the Sun and beholding the Evening
light, praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
It is meet at all times that Thou shouldst be
hymned with auspicious voices. Son of God,
Giver of Life : wherefore the world glorifietb
thee."
There is reference to the "Evening Psalm"
EVENTIUS
(rhv iinXvxviov ipa\fihv, i.e. I's. cxli.) in the
Apostolical Constitutions, which may be consi-
dered to represent the Eastern system of the 3rd
or 4th century (lib. viii. c. 35).
So in the West, Hihiry (in Ps. Ixiv.) writes —
" The day is begun with prayers, and the day is
closed with hymns to God."
Bingham ; Palmer, Orig. Lit. ; Freeman, Prin-
ciples of Divine Sermce. [D. B.]
EVENTIUS, presbyter and martyr at Rome
with Alexander the pope and Theodulus the
presbyter, under Trajan ; commemorated May 3
(J/ari. Bedae, Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi, Gal. Frontonis). [W. F. G.]
EVIGILATOR {' h^virviffr'^s), an officer in
Greek monasteries whose duty it was to waken
the monks for nocturnal and matutinal services.
Another officer of the kind was the "excitator,"
who had to waken a monk asleep in church (Du-
cange, Gloss. Lat. et Gr. s. vv.). [I. G. S.]
EVILASIUS, martyr at Cyzicus with Fausta
the Virgin, under Maximian ; commemorated
Sept. 20 {Mart. Rom. Fe^. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
EVIL SPIRITS. [Demon: Demoniacs:
Exorcism.]
EVODIUS. (1) Martyr at Syracuse, with
Hermogenes; commemoi-ated April 25 {Mart.
Usuardi).
(2) Bishop, and martyr at Antioch ; comme-
morated May 6 {Mart, Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usu-
ardi).
(3) Martyr at Nicaea, with Theodota his mo-
ther and her two other children, under Diocle-
tian ; commemorated Aug. 2 (/6., Mart. Bedae).
[W. F. G.]
EVOVAE is an artificial word made out of
the vowels in the words "seculorum Amen,"
which occur at the end of the Gloria Patri. Its
object was to serve as a kind of memoria tech-
uica to enable singers to render the several Gre-
gorian chants properly ; each letter in Evovae
standing for the syllable from which it is ex-
tracted. It must be borne in mind that psalms,
&c., were sung under antiphons, and that the
music of the antiphon, being constructed in a
particular ' mode ' or ' scale,' such as Dorian,
Phrygian, and the like, the chant or ' tone '
(i. q. ' tune ') to the psalm, being not intended
to represent a full stop or close, might (and
usually did) not end on the final belonging to
the mode, leaving that for the concluding anti-
phon : thus difterent forms of the same mode or
tone would arise, and these were called Evovae
and sometimes differentiae, finitioncs, conclusiones,
and species seculorum. This only applies to the
latter half (cadence) of the chant, as in the ' me-
diation' (at the middle of the verse of a psalm)
scarcely any variety was admitted, except such
as arose from local use. Thus in the various
works on the subject, and in service books,
varieties of endings are to be found of greater or
less antiquity. Gerbert mentions the fact that
in some cases the peculiar distinctive marks of
the tones had become confused, notably in the
1st and 6th ; and the only possible distinction
would seem to be in the assignment of ac-
cents. It does not appear however that accent,
iu the modern musical sense of the word, was
EVOVAE
635
recognised to any extent liy the ancients, Ac-
CKNTUS being equivalent to what we should now
call inflection. [Accentus Egci.esiasticus.] For
the first few centuries of the Christian era
rhythm was regulated by quantity, which gra-
dually gave place to accent ; and it seems to the
writer that musical accentuation remained in a
very uncertain state until the 17th century.
Still the Evovae must be regarded as containing
the germ of the present accepted views respecting
accent, as may be seen by comparing the follow-
ing forms.
(1) Full form of the 1st tone, which is in the
Dorian mode ; the dominant or reciting note being
a, and the final note D.
et iu secula secu - lo - rum. A - men.
This ending would be written thus :
11===
The accents are supplied by the writer. Before
the invention of notes the same would be ex-
pressed thus :
aaGFGaGFED
E V o V A E
(2) A shortened form of the 1st tone, whicn
does not end on the proper final D, leaving that
correct cadence to be supplied by the antiphon.
^
et in secula secu - lo - rum, A - men.
The accents are as before, and the Evovae thus :
^g^
E V O V A E.
(3) Sixth tone, in the Hypolydian mode ; domi
nant a, final F,
et in secula secu - lo - rum. A
The Evovae would be expressed thus (accents
being supplied) :
E V O
636
EVUETIUS
Any one acquainted with music can see how
nearly identical, so far as notes are concerned,
these two last forms are, and that the only differ-
ence of character they can assume is by reason
of different accentuation.
From the uncertainty of accent already men-
tioned, it will easily be seen that in different
cases the same tone, and the same ending of it,
would receive different accentuations according
to the feeling of the compiler of the Psalter of
the church in question ; and this gives authority
for the different versions that will be found in
the modern books of Gregorian tones which are
very accessible, and to which the reader is re-
ferred, as for example the followmg ending of
the sixth tone (the one most commonly heard)
compared with the one given above :
and these, which are both alleged to be the cor-
rect ending of the second tone :
It is almost needless to say that modern notation
is here adopted for the sake of greater simplicity
and definiteness.
The chief authority made use of here is the
supplemental essay in Dyce's edition of the Book
of Common Prayer, with plain tune (now rare)
which gives ancient authorities, Elias Salomouis,
Adam de Fulda, and the Tonale of St. Bernard,
all referred to by Gerbert. Although these are
of later date than the 8th centurj', the number
of variations which they recognise, and the man-
ner in which their recognition is made, seem to
make it tolerably clear that these differences or
Evovae are of much prior date to them. The
view here taken by the writer receives some
confirmation from the fact that a modern imita-
tion of the word Evovae pi'oposed by Mr. Dyce
has never got into use, and is a mere curiosity,
inasmuch as our means of expressing accent are
more obvious. [J. R. L.]
EVURTIUS, or EVORTIUS, bishop of Or-
leans, and confessor; deposition at Orleans, Sept.
7 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EWALDUS, or EGU ALDUS, name of two
English presbyters, martyrs among the ancient
continental Saxons ; commemorated Oct. 3 {Mart.
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EXACTIONES are extraordinary revenues,
whether drawn from a new form of impost
(census de novo impositus), or from raising the
rate of an old source of revenue (augmentatio
census). Such exactions were in early times
condemned by the church ;. thus the 33rd canon
of the third council of Toledo (a.d. 589) and
the fifth of the sixteenth (a.d. 693) forbade
bishops to levy exactions upon their dioceses ;
EXAMINATION FOR ORDERS
pope Leo IV. (a.d. 853) also stigmatized as
" exactiones illicitae " any demands for supplies
made by bishops "ultra statuta patrum." Simi-
lar decrees were also made by later authorities.
It is laid down by canonists that an " exaction "
must have manifest justification (manifesta et
rationabilis causa) and be limited to the sum
absolutely necessary to be raised (moderatum
auxilium). {Corpus Juris Canon., Dccret. P. ii.
causa X. qu. 3, c. 6 ; and Beer. Greg., lib. iii. tit.
39 ; Herzog, Beal-Encycl. iv. 280.) [C]
EXAFOTI. The LiJjer Pontif. tells us (p,
250, D. ed. Muratori), that Benedict III. "obtulit
canistra exafoci ex argento purissimo," where the
true reading no doubt is exafota {i. e. e^drpwTo)
coronae of six lights. Compare Ekafoti A. The
same authority speaks of a corona of sixteen
lights, " canistrum excaedecafotii " (e|/cai5tKa-
fuTLov) (Ducange, s. v.). [G.]
EXAPOSTEILARIA ('E|a7ro(7Tei\apm) are
Tuoi'ARiA, which probably received their name
from the fact that the word i^aTrScTreiAov fre-
quently occurred in them, as they were mainly
supplications to God to send forth His Holy Spirit
upon the worshippers. When other subjects
were introduced into them another etymology
was imagined, that the word " exaposteilarion "
referred to the " sending forth " of God's ser-
vants into the world to preach the gospel.
(Neale's Eastern Church, Introd. 845 ; Daniel's
Codex Liturg. iv. 701.) [C]
EXACUSTODIANUS ('Ela/fovo-TccSm^bs),
one of the seven sleepers of Ephesus, A.D. 408 ;
commemorated Oct. 22 {Cal. Byzant).
[W. F. G.]
EXALTATION OP THE CROSS.
[Cross, Exaltation of the.]
EXAMINATION OP COMMUNI-
CANTS. [Communion, Holy, p. 417.]
EXAMINATION POR ORDERS. It ap-
pears always to have been the intention of the
church that there should be a careful examination
into the fitness of candidates for orders. As re-
garded their moral character, this was in some
degree provided for by the public testimony of
the people at the time of ordination [Election OF
Clergy]. So it is said that when Alexander Seve-
rus was about to appoint any governors of pro-
vinces or other officials, he ordered that public
enquiry should be made into their character, add-
ing that this was the custom both of Jews and
Christians in the selection of their priests (Ael.
Lamprid. Vita Alex. Sever, c. 45). In some cases,
as in that of Augustine (Possid. Vita August, c. 4),
it appears that this may have supplied the place
of any further examination. The third council
of Carthage (c. 22), decreed that a candidate
for ordination must be approved either by the
testimony of the people or the examination of
the bishop. But in general the duty of exami-
nation appears to have rested with the bishop.
Chrysostom (Trepi lipw(r{jvr]s iv. 2, § 376), speaks
of the duty of the ordaining bishop to make
diligent enquiry into the characters of those
presented to him by the electors. The oth
canon of Theophilus, archdeacon of Alexandria
(Balsaraon, ii. 170), provides that when the
candidates have been selected by the clergy,
the bishop shall examine them. Basil how-
EXARCH
ever (^Ep. 181), speaks of an examination con-
ducted by presbyters and deacons, and then
referred to the chorepiscopi. The canon too of
Theophilus, already quoted, mentions the
orthodox clergy of the district as having the
right of examination in certain cases. Thomas-
sin ( Yet. et Nov. Eccl. Discip. ii. 1, c. 32, § 11-12),
thinks it probable that the task of examining
candidates was delegated in the first place to the
cathedral clergy, and afterwards, in the provinces,
to the priests and deacons.
The examination in these cases appears to have
been chiefly an enquiry into the moral charac-
ter and general fitness of the candidates. The
fourth council of Carthage (c. 1), directs that
every bishop should be examined before ordi-
nation, as to his personal qualities, such as
prudence, morality, and learning, both profane
and sacred, and also as to his holding the right
faith as contained in the creeds. It is not said
by whom the examination was to be conducted.
The council of Narbonne (c. 11), forbids any
bishop to ordain either a priest or deacon who is
utterly unlearned. This appears to imply a
previous examination into literaiy as well as
moral qualifications. [P. 0.]
EXAECH. Geuerically the word 'Elctpxos
is applied to any one who takes the lead. Hence
it is used of one who is chief in any department
or undertaking. So Plutarch in his life of Numa
has ''E|apxos rSiv Upwp in the sense of sacronim
priiiceps, or summus pontifex.'^ In its specific
ecclesiastical application it has more than one
sense.
1. It is perhaps most commonly and most
strictly applied to the great prelates who pre-
sided over the 'dioceses' (AioiK^treis, see Dio-
cese), as they were called, which were formed
in imitation of the civil dioceses of Constantine.
Each of these 'dioceses' comprehended several
'provinces' (eVapx'a'X ^^^ 'lie metropolitans of
these latter were subordinated to the exarchs of
the former. The 9th and 17th canons of the
council of Chalcedon recognise, or give,!- a right
of appeal from the decision of the metropolitan
to the exarch. The word therefore became nearly
synonymous with patriarch. Accordingly, in
the Novels of Justinian, when imperial sanction
is given to the principle expressed in the canons
of Chalcedon, the word exarch is turned into
patriarch."^ Yet though every patriarch had
the power of an exarch, every exarch was not,
properly speaking, a patriarch, the latter name
being given only to the heads of the more eminent
dioceses. Thus in the ' Notitia ' given in Bing-
ham, book ix. ch. 1, §6, which seems to repre-
sent the state of things at the end of the 4th
century, we find the patriarchs of Antioch and
Alexandria, but the exarchs ■ of Asia, Pontus,
Thrace, Macedonia, Dacia, and others.'' [NOTITIA.]
» A well-known application of the term in secular
government is the title of the exarch of Kavenna.
b " Utrum omnes e-xarchi hanc potestatem ante hoc
concilium exercuerint necne, incertum est: Hoc tamen
certum, earn ab hoc concilio illis primb confirmatam esse."
Bevcridge, Fandect. Annot. in Canon. Condi. Chafe.
p 115.
= Si vero contra metropolibim tails aditio fiat ab
efiscopo, aut clero, aut alia quai;umque persona, dio-
cpseos illius beatissimus patriarcha simili raodo causum
judicet." — Aovel 123, C. 22.
a Beveridge thinks that Balsamon and Morinus are in
EXCLUSIVA
637
Subsequently Constantinople absorbed Pontus,
Asia, and Thrace, becoming a patriarchate. (See
Neale, J/vly East. Church, General Introduction.)
2. The word is also sometimes used in refer-
ence to metropolitans. For we find the jihrase
exarch of the province (e^apxos t^s iirapx^as)
as well as exarch of the diocese {it^apxos ttjt 5ioi-
Kr\cTiu)s). It is used, for instance, in the Gth
canon of the council of Sardica, where the sense
seems beyond doubt.'^ But the word is here
probably used in its general sense of chief, rather
than in any technical signification.
3. In later times the name exarch was also
applied to certain legates of the patriarch oi
Constantinople, who appear to have been charged
by him with the general maintenance of his
rights and authority, and also entrusted with
the visitation of monasteries subject to him.
The name is also given to ecclesiastics deputed
by him to collect the tribute payable by him to
the Turkish government. These legates ap-
pear to have had large powers, and might even
excommunicate, depose, or absolve in the name
of the patriarch. (See Beveridge, Pandcctae Ca-
nonwn, Annotations on the Canons of Chalcedon,
pp. 120, 121.)
Authorities. — Suicer, Thesaurus, s.v.^Elapxos ;
Beveridge, Pandectae Canonum, Oxon. lt)72;
Bingham, Antiquities, bk. ii. ch. 17, and bk. ix. ;
Thomassinus, Vetiis et Nova Eccles. Discip. part i.
lib. 1, cap. 17. [B. S.]
EXCAECATIO. To deprive of sight was
not a mode of punishment sanctioned by the
Benedictine rules. But in the 8th century some
abbats had recourse to this barbarity in the case
of contumacious monks. It was forbidden by
Charles the Great (Capitul. A.D. 789, c. 16) and
by the council of Frankfort (A.D. 794, c. 18) ;
and abbats were strictly ordered to confine them-
selves to the infliction of punishments prescribed
in their rule (cf Peg. Bened. Comment, c. 25 ;
Mabillon, Ann. Ord. Bened. Saec. IV. Praef. i.
139). [I. G. S.]
EXCEPTOR. (1) The word excipere was
used in later Latinity to express the " faking-
down" of a person's words. Thus Augustine
{Epist. 110), "a notariis ecclesiae excipiuntur
quae dicimus." Hence a reporter of judicial
acts and sentences — as in the case of Christian
martyrs — was called exceptor. A gloss on Pru-
dentius {apud Ducange) speaks of " exceptores "
who took down the dicta of the judge and the
answers of the martyr. Compare Notarv.
(Ducange's Gloss, s. v. ; Bingham's Antiq. III.
xiii. 5).
(2) The word is occasionally used as equiva-
lent to avdSoxos [Sponsor], for which " suscep-
tor " is more commonly employed. [C]
EXCLUSION FROM OOMIMUNION.
[Communion, Holy : Excommunication.]
EXCLUSIVA designates, in modern times,
the right claimed by certain Roman Catholic
error in speaking of a kind of metropolitans set over
whole dioceses, and yet not patriarchs. May lliey not
have meant such as the exarchs of Asia and Pontus .' (See
Bev. Pandect. Can. Annot. in Cone. Clial. p. 121.) Valc-
siuB (_Obs. m Socrates' Hist. EccUs. lib. 3, cap. 9) cidls
these exarchs " minorcs patriarchas," and says " Patri-
archae nomen intordum usurparunt."
" The words are fiia ypanfiaTwi' tou i^ap\ov inap\ia^,
Kiyui.Se toO eTrtcrKoirou t^s ja»)Tp07rd\«(os.
G38
EXCOMMUNICATION
powers of excludiug a particular cardinal from
being elected pope.
The present form of this i-ight is of course
modern, and arises from the political circum-
stances of the age in Europe ; but traces of the
very decided influence exerted by princes in re-
straining the liberty of papal elections are found
at a comparatively early date. The emperor
Honorius, for instance, in the case of the double
election and consecration of Eulalius and Boni-
face, decided (a.d. 418) in favour of Eulalius,
afterwards drove him from the city, and (A.D.
419) ordered the installation of Boniface (Auctu-
arium Symnuichianum, Epistt. 19-31 ; Baronius,
an. 419, §§ 2 and 11, etc.). The same emperor,
at the request of Bonif;ice, made an ordinance
that for the future, in case two candidates dis-
])uted the papal chair, neither should be pope
Init a fresh election should be held (^Corpus Juris
Canon. Dist. xcvii., cc. 1 and 2 ; Hardouin, Concil.
i. 1237). Nor was the influence of the temporal
power diminished when Germans ruled in Italy.
Odoacer (a.d. 483) desired that no papal election
should take place without his concurrence (sine
nostra, consultatione), and little heed was paid
by subsequent princes to the canon of a Roman
synod under pope Symmachus (a.d. 502) con-
demning such interference of the secular arm
(Hardouin, ii. 977 ; C. J. C. Dist. xcvi. c. 1, § 7).
Theodoric repeated the enactment of Odoacer. On
the reconquest of Italy under Justinian the con-
firmation of the papal election fell into the hands
of the emperors, who exacted considerable sums
in consideration of it, until the fee was given up
by Constantine Pogonatus in the year 678 {Liber
Font;/., in Agatho;^ C. J. C. Dist. Ixiii. c. 21).
Somewhat later, in the case of Benedict II.
(a.d. 684) the claim to confirm the pope was
also resigned by the same emperor. This, how-
ever, led to so much disoi-der, that it was found
necessary again to invoke the co-operation of the
civil power ; and the fact of the necessity of the
emperor's concurrence is recognised in the Lihcr
Diurnus Pontiff. Rom. (c. ii. lib. 3; see also
Garuier's Dissertation in his edition of the Lib.
Biurn.), probably of the end of the seventh or
the beginning of the eighth century. The neces-
sity for the confirmation of the emperor con-
tinued when the Frankish chiefs acquired the
imperial dignity. Compare Pope. (Jacobson in
Herzog's Eeal-Enci/ctop. iv. 280.) [C]
EXCOMMUNICATION (Abstentio, Anath-
ema, Excoinmunicatio, audde/xa, a.<popiffti6s). The
partial or total, temporary or perpetual, exclu-
sion of a member from the privileges of the
church.
I. Ordinary Excommuxication.
Excommunication belongs to the class of
corrective or medicinal penalties (poenae medi-
cinales or censurae), not to the vindictive
(poenae vindicativae). Augustine (Semi. 351,
c. 12), distinguishes between " prohibitio medi-
cinalis," and "prohibitio mortalis," meaning
(apparently) by the one, exclusion from the
mysteries, by the other, exclusion from the
church and Christian fellowship altogether.
The canon law {Corpus J., c. 37, can. xxiv.
qu. iii.), lays down generally that excommunica-
tion is " disciplina, non eradicatio ;" the excom-
municated person is capable of being restored to
his privileges, upon repentance [Penitence].
EXCOMMUNICATION
The exclusion of peccant members from social
privileges is a right inherent in all societies ; it
was in practice among the Jews at the Christian
era, and was incorporated by our Lord into the
constitution of His church. It is no part of our
purpose to discuss the theological bearing of the
language in which our Saviour conveyed this
po\ver^(St. Matt, xviii. 15-18, xvi. 19), nor to
investigate the traces which the New Testament
contains of the use to which the apostles put it
(Rom. xvi. 17; 2 Cor. vi. 14, 17; Gal. i. 8, 9 ;
2 Thess. iii. 6, 14; Tit. iii. 10; 2 John 10, 11)
(See Art. Excommunication in Diet, of the Bible).
It is sufficient to note that a power of cutting
off offenders was conferred on the apostles as
rulers of the church, and was by them made a
systematic part of church govei'nment. There
are however two instances of direct ex-
communication by St. Paul, which must be
noticed in more detail, because they supplied at
once the language and the model after which
the church framed in subsequent ages her
censures. The apostle by a formal judgment
delivered the incestuous Corinthian " to Satan,
for the destruction of the flesh " (1 Cor. v. 5) ; a
sentence which cannot signify less than this —
that the man was thrust outside the Christian
fold. When St. Paul wrote his second epistle,
some six or nine months later, the man on his
repentance was readmitted into the church. A
similar sentence, but producing no similar peni-
tence, was delivered against Hymenaeus and Alex-
ander (1 Tim. i. 20). Hymenaeus is mentioned in
2 Tim. ii. 17, 18, as a teacher of heresy. His
case therefore formed a precedent for excom-
munication for heretical opinion, as that of the
Corinthian for immorality. The authority for
the use of the formula. Anathema, {avadeixa),
so common afterwards m the Penitential Canons,
is to be found in 1 Cor. xvi. 22 ; Gal. i. 8, 9.
The proofs that the church has always
claimed and exercised the power of excommuni-
cation, are everywhere patent. Fathers {e.g.,
Irenaeus, Haeres. iii. 3 ; Cyprian, De Orat. Bom.
c. 18 ; Ejyist. 41, c. 2 ; 59 cc. 1, 9, 10, 11 ; Basil,
Epist. 61, ad Athanas. ; Leo the Great, Epist.
32, ad Faustum ; Ambrose, Epist. 40, ad Theodos.),
and councils {e.g., Cann. Apostt. c. 8, &c. ;
iv. Carth. c. 73; \\. Aries, c. 8; Venet. c. 3 ;
Toledo, cc. 15, 16, 18), all claim the power or
excommunication, of greater oj- less severity and
duration, in the case of offenders, whether
against morality or against orthodoxy. The
Penitential Books mention numberless cases
in which excommunication is the penalty. See
for instance the Penitential of archbishop Theo-
dore (Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Docu-
ments, iii. 173).
Persons su^\ject to Excommunication. — The
power of excommunicating was held to be in
some measure correlative to that of baptising ;
those who could admit into the church could also
exclude. The unbaptised were never excommu-
nicated, though catechumens might be, and were,
put back into a lower grade, and their baptism
postponed. Children were not excommunicated,
nor (commonly) reigning princes or large sec-
tions of the church. With these exceptions all
Chi-istian people, men or women, might be cut
off from communion with the faithful. But
the sentence was invariably a personal one for
personal offences ; the innocent were not punished
EXCOMMUNICATION
with the guilty. Such a process as laying a
whole nation under an interdict for some sup-
posed offence of the people or their rulers was
not known in the early ages, nor before the 12th
century.
According to the Apostolical Constitutions (ii.
CO. 37, 38, 39) the course of discipline was that if
a,ny otfender did not voluntarily come forward and
acknowledge his guilt he was to be summoned by
the bishop, first in privacy, then in the presence
of two or three witnesses ; then if he would not
yield, the case was to be told to the church,
and if he was still obdurate, sentence would
proceed against him. No one was to be excom-
municated before he had beeu several times
admonished, according to the apostolic injunc-
tion, " him that is an heretic, after the first or
second admonition, reject." Nor could any
offender be excommunicated in his absence, nor
without legal conviction either by his own
admission or by credible witnesses. On this
safeguard against abuse of power. Van Espen
quotes a passage from St. Augustine, " We can-
not reject any from our communion unless they
have either voluntarily confessed or been charged
and convicted before some secular or ecclesiastical
tribunal " (St. Aug. Senn. 351 de Poenitent.).
One witness was not received as sufficient evi-
dence of guilt, even though the one was a
bishop. No one could incur excommunication
for anything temporal ; such matters were left
to the civil courts, and excommunication in the
early ages was a spiritual weapon, cutting off
from spiritual privileges. Gregory the Great,
writing to some bishop whose name has been
lost, severely rebukes him for using for his own
private ends, power conferred upon him for the
good of the souls of his flock (^Epist. ii. 34). It
was forbidden also to excommunicate for sins of
infirmity and frailty. " There are some sins,"
says St. Ambrose (m exhort, ad Poenit.), " which
may be daily pardoned by mere supplication to
God, in that petition ' forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.' "
And it was necessary that the offence should be
public; for it was always a maxim " D§ occultis
mm judicat Ecclesia." So St. Cyprian, " We s<i
far as it is committed to us to see and judoe,
look only at the face (the conduct) of each one,
his heart and his conscience we cannot investi-
gate (Cypr. Epist. 56).
It would be impossible within reasonable limits
to enumerate the graver crimes for which the
church cut off her unworthy members. They may
in general be reduced under one of the three heads
of uncleanness, idolatry, bloodshed. Upon the
treatment which men guilty of these crimes
should receive, many of the early controversies on
discipline hinged. There were, moreover, many
breaches of each of the commandments which ren-
dered the offender subject to the highest censure
of the church, which cannot be brought under this
classification. Of these it will be sufficient to
{loint out a iew which were peculiar to the
times, or which the opinion of the present day
would deal with more leniently. The principle
underlying the whole system of ecclesiastical
censures, was the preservation of sound members
of the Christian body from the evil example and
contagion of the unsound. Hence, heresy was
ever reckoned among the gravest sins. Hardly
less dangerous, and hardly less rigorously puu-
EXCOMMUNICATION
r,30
ished in times of persecution, or during th»
barbarian invasions, was apostasy either to
heathenism or to Judaism. Any tampering with
idolatry was rigidly prohibited. A Christian
was forbidden to be a public actoi', or to be
present at any theatrical representation, which
commonly in that age ministered to lasci-
viousness ; or to frequent the circus, for it
was regarded as an appendage of false worship,
and detrimental to the majesty of God ; or to
use divination or astrology, for that was to put
destiny in the place of divine providence ; or to
follow any trade, such for example as the train-
ing of gladiators, which in its natuM was scan-
dalous ; or to be a talebearer, a gambler, or
a vagrant. See Gregory Nyssen's canonical epistle
to Letoius bishop of Melitina, which contains an
elaborate classification of sins, and the penalties
to be allotted to them.
Degrees of Excommunication. — Morinus dis-
tinguishes three degrees of excommunication :
1st. All those who were guilty of lighter sins
were punished by exclusion from the offering of
the oblations and partaking of the communion ;
2nd. Those who sinned more grievously were not
only altogether shut out from partaking of the
communion, but also from being present at that
service, and were moreover " delivered unto Sa-
tan," i.e. to certain bodily austerities and mortifi-
cations ; 3rd. Those who persisted in offending, or
fell into deadl}' sin, were expelled alike from all
share in the sacred mysteries, and from the very
building of the church. (Morin. de Poenitent.^
lib. 4, c. 11.) Van Espen considers that there
were two degrees only, one of which was called
" medicinalis," the other " mortalis," (Aug. Horn.
lib. 1.), or more commonly, " Anathema " (Van
Espen Jus Eccl. Pars iii. Tit. xi. c. iv.) ; Bing-
ham also discovers two degrees, lesser and
greater excommunication (cKpopiff/jihs, a.<popi(rfj.6s
iravTfXris). The former, which corresponds with
the first two classes of Morinus, excluded offen-
ders from the eucharist, and the prayers of the
faithful, but did not exclude them from the
church, for still they might stay to hear psalms
and the reading of the scripture, and sermon and
prayer of catechumens and penitents, and depart
when the service of catechumens ended. Greater
excommunication was a rejection not only from
the eucharist but ft-om any presence in church
whatevei', and any association with Christian
men (Bingham, Antiq. lib. xvi. c. 11). There
remains a still more terrible form of censui-e,
which undoubtedly was sometimes imposed, and
which was an absolute and final excision from
the church. St. Cyprian {Epist. 55 ad Anton.)
speaks of some of his predecessors who closed
the door for ever against adulterers, but adds,
that other bishops admitted similar offenders
after a period of penitence to the grace of the
church. There are vaj-ious canons in the
council of Elvira (circa 305 A.D.), which utterly
debar offenders from communion with the faith-
ful for the remainder of their lives, " nee in fine
communionem accijiere " {Con. Eliber. cc. 1, 12,
13, 71, 73). Can. 46 declares that if any persist
in sin after having beeu already punished, he
should be totally cast out, " peuitus ab ecclesiS ab-
jiciatur." The council of Ancyra (cc. 9, 16 ; circa
315 A.D.) fixes a limit to the i^enalty attached to
those very crimes for which that at Eliberis had
decreed final excision. It would api^ar there-
640
EXCOMMUNICATION
fore that total and irremediable exclusion was at
ao time a universal practice, but nevertheless, at
certain periods, and in certain localities, where
possibly the magnitude of otfences required to
be dealt with by a penalty of equal magnitude, it
was unhesitatingly employed. The practice of
excommunicating the dead had no existence in
the early centuries, or if here and there it existed,
was supported by no canonical authority. The
second council of Constantinople (553 A.D.), first
introduced it into the Eastern church, and about
100 years later it crept into the Western (Morin.
de Poenitent. lib. x. c. 9).
Effect of Sentence. — The punishment inflicted
by a sentence of excommunication varied not only
with the gravity of the offence, but with the dis-
cretion of the bishop, the customs of the diocese
or province, and still more with the age of the
church in which the offender lived. In the early
centuries the church was ruled with a gentler
discipline than was possible when her ranks were
filled up prom,iscuously from the multitude. The
incestuous man, whom St. Paul expelled from
among his Corinthian converts with such solemn
denunciation, was received again on his repen-
tance, probably within a few months, certainly
v/ithin the year. And up to the time of Mon-
tanus, punishments even for grave breaches of
the law of the gospel were equally lenient.
The term of the penalty was left to the discre-
tion of the bishop. Through the whole of
Tertullian's Treatise de Toenitentid, and in the
Apostolic Canons, with one exception, there is
no mention of any time for the duration of the
censure. And even in the increasing severity
which prevailed for the next hundred years,
punishments scarcely ever exceeded one or two
years (Morin. de Poenitent. lib. iv. c. 9).
Thenceforward, years would not suffice where
weeks or months had been deemed sufficient
before. Ten, fifteen, twenty years, were no
uncommon penalties. St. Basil excludes a
murderer from the church for twenty years
(can. 56). The council of Ancyra decrees that
a murderer should be a penitent for the rest
of his life, and be received back into com-
munion only at the hour of death (can. 22).
For murder combined with other great crimes
the council of Elvira (can. 11), forbids com-
munion even in death. But at no period did
any hard and fast law prevail ; if an offender
voluntarily confessed his guilt, a shorter term of
exclusion was measured out to him ; if on the
other hand, a man who had before caused
scandal was further rebellious and obdurate, his
sentence was doubly severe. The lesser excom-
munication carried with it only an exclusion
from communion, and from the inner mysteries
and privileges of the faith. Three weeks of this
separation was the punishment assigned by the
council of Elvira to those who wilfully ab-
sented themselves from church for three succes-
sive Sundays; a year for some more venial forms
of nuchastity ; another period for eating food
in company with a Jew (Com. Eliber. cc. 21,
14, 50). And when the term expired they were
received again to all the privileges of full com-
munion, without being called upon to submit to
public penance. Very different from this was
the punishment attending the greater excom-
munication, anathema. For the'first 300 years
the punishment was exclusively spiritual, laid
EXCOMMUNICATION
upon the souls, not the bodies of men, depriving |
them of spiritual blessings, and in no way inter-
fering with their political relations. Heresiarchs .
however, and dangerous heretical teachers, were
at all periods treated with exceptional severity ;
the church was forbidden to hold any intercourse '
with them, to receive them into their houses, or
to bid them God speed. It was only gradually, ,
after the empire became Christian, that the
weapons of the church's warfare began to be
moi'e carnal, and the secular power was invoked
to uphold the ecclesiastical. At no time before ;
Theodosius, who declared apostates either to '.
Judaism or heathenism incapable of making :
wills or receiving bequests, and whose Codex de 1
Haeretkis attaches other pains and penalties to I
heretics, were any civil disabilities imposed ]
upon those whom the church had cast off", j
Whatever rights a man had from the laws of '
God or man, as father, master, magistrate, these
he retained after the door of the church was
closed against him. Yet in the primitive ages, !
when the congregations of Christians were com-
paratively small and the members known to •!
each other, and the spiritual censure was fol- !
lowed by an immediate and literal banishment \
from all sacred offices, from the society of their ^
brethren in the faith, from all association what- :
ever with holy men and holy things, the '
sentence fell with overwhelming severity. All
the man most valued was taken from him. i
He was looked upon as under the ban of God's i
wrath ; he was cut off' from the kingdom of God '\
on earth ; like the leprous man among the Jews, ,
he had the visible plague-spot of sin upon him ; |
there had been passed upon him what was re-
garded as a presage of the future judgment, for i
what God had by his ministers bound on earth, |
he would certainly, it was believed, unless the I
man repented, bind in heaven. The Apostolical'
Canons (c. 11) forbad any one even to pray in a
house with a man under anathema. The first
council of Toledo (400 A.D.), ordered (c. 15), \
that "If any layman is under excommunication, |
let no clergyman nor religious person come near
him nor his house. Also if a clergyman is
excommunicated, let him be avoided, and if any
is found to converse or to eat with him, let him
also be excommunicated." His name was erased '
from the Diptychs, [p. 561] ; and there are in- 1
stances of the erasure having been made after |
the man had died, and his sins had not come to !
light while he lived. His oblations were not
received at the altar, and even gifts which he j
had presented to the church were rejected with
him. His books might not De read, nor might I
any intermarry with him. And when his end |
came he was refused all sacred offices on his j
deathbed, and no Christian man might attend \
his funeral, and no Christian rite be performed |
at it, unless he had given proof of repentance j
and passed away before being formally absolved.
Nor could any one hope to avoid judgment by a
voluntary exile, for notice was sent to other
congregations, and in the discipline of the early
church, a stranger was not admitted into com- |
munion unless he brought with him Commen- j
DATORY Letters from his own diocese. A man j
once excommunicated was never ordained, or i
if it was discovered after his ordination, that '
he had been previously censured, he was removed !
from the ministry {Cone. Eliber. can. 30 ; Cono.
EXCOMMUNICATION
Nic. 10). This latter strictness was not invari-
ably enforced, but the axiom " Poenitentes
ordinari non debent," became universal in the
Western church, although not always in practice
in the Eastern.
Excommunication of Clergy. — In some cases
the clergy, for offences for which laymen were
excommunicated, were suspended and reduced to
lay communion [Degradation] ; but they might
incur both degradation and excommunication.
The clergy were brought to trial with more legal
formalities than the laity, because if found guilty
they were deprived not only of spiritual privi-
leges but of office and emolument. The Apostolic
Canons (30) decree that any bishop, priest, or
deacon guilty of simony shall be cut off from all
communion whatever. Mention is also made of
reducing clergy to " peregrina communio," com-
munion of strangers, which would seem to
signify that they were to be treated as strangei-s
who came without commendatory letters, allowed
a mere subsistence from the offerings, but de-
nied communion [Communion, Holy, p. 417].
By the council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) monks
were subject to the same discipline as laity.
Form or Rite. — Judgment was delivered in
the indicative mood, inasmuch as it decreed a
punishment then and there inflicted. It was
declared after the reading of the gospel, the
bishop standing on the ambo. There is no re-
cord of any ceremony attending the delivery of
the sentence in the early ages ; but Martene
publishes a MS. of about the year 1190 which
prescribes that twelve priests ought to stand
round the bishop with lamps or torches in their
hands, and that after the conclusion of the sen-
tence they should cast them on the ground and
stamp out the light beneath their feet, and that
the bishop should then explain to the people the
meaning and effect of the ceremony they had
witnessed. No recognised rite of excommunica-
tion was in general use before the 9th or 10th
century. The formula ordinarily employed was
founded on our Lord's words, " Let him be as an
heathen man and a publican." The council of
Ephesus degraded Nestorius in these terms.
" Wherefore our Lord Jesus Chi-ist, whose ma-
jesty he by his blasphemous words has assailed,
pronounces Nestorius, through this sacred synod,
deprived of his episcopal rank and degraded from
the fellowship and office of the priesthood
throughout the world." The sentence of excom-
munication of Andronicus, governor of Ptolemais,
by his bishop, Synesius (410 A.D.), gives a more
detailed account of the penalties involved in the
sentence. "The church of Ptolemais makes this
injunction to all her sister churches throughout
the world. Let no church of God be open to An-
dronicus and his accomplices ; but let every sa-
cred temple and sanctuary be shut against them.
The devil has no part in paradise ; though he pri-
vily creep in he is driven out again. I therefore ad-
monish both private men and magistrates neither
to receive them under their roof nor to their table :
and priests more especially, that they neither
converse with them when living nor attend their
funerals when dead. And if any one despise this
church as being only a small city, and receive
those that are excommunicated by her, let them
know that they divide the church by schism.
And whosoever does so, whether levite, presbyter,
or bishop, shall be ranked in the same class with
CHRIST. ANT.
EXCOMMUNICATION
G41
Andronicus. We will neither give them the
right hand of fellowship, nor eat at the same
table with them, and much less will we com-
municate in sacred mysteries with those who
choose to take part with Andronicus" (Synes.
Epist. 58). [See Penitence.]
The following, from an Anglican Pontifical
preserved at Gemblours, considered -by Martene
{De Bit. Ant. ii. 322 ; ed. Venet. 1783) to have
been written in the 8th century, may serve
as a specimen of the later forms. The bishop,
denouncing certain persons who, not having the
fear of God before their eyes, had plundered the
property of the church, and who, after being
thrice summoned, contumaciously refused to
appear, proceeds : " These therefore we, by the
authority conferred upon us by God .... and
the statutes of the canons, excommunicate and
cut off from the bounds of the Holy Church of
God, and expel from the congi-egation of Chris-
tian men ; and unless they speedily come to a
better mind and make satisfaction to us, we con-
found them with eternal malediction and con-
demn \\'\i\\ perpetual anathema. May tkey incur
the wrath of the heavenly judge ; may they be
deprived of the inheritance of God and His elect ;
may they neither in this present life have com-
munion with Christians, nor in the life to come
obtain part with God and His saints ; but may
they be numbered with the devil and his ser-
vants, and receive the punishment* of avenging
flame with everlasting mourning. In heaven
and earth may they be abominable, and be tor-
tured for ever with the pains of hell. Cursed be
they in the house, cursed in the field ; cursed
be their food and their fruit ; cursed be all that
they possess, from the dog that barks for them
to the cock that crows for them. May they
have their portion with Dathan and Abiram,
whom hell swallowed up quick, and with An-
anias and Sapphira, who lied unto the apostles of
the Lord and fell down dead, and with Pilate,
and Judas who betrayed the Lord : may they be
buried with the burial of an ass, and so may
their light be quenched in the midst of darkness.
Amen."
Minister of Excommunication. — The officer en-
trusted with the power of excommunication was
the bishop of the diocese to which the offender
belonged. [Bishop, p. 231.] The administration
of discipline was originally entirely in his hands ;
it was he who bound and he who loosed. As the
church increased, the infliction of other forms of
penance was delegated to the inferior clergy, but
the great sentence of excommunication was a
weapon which the bishop kept exclusively in the
power of his own order. Within his diocese his
jurisdiction was supreme ; he might mitigate or
increase censure at his discretion. In the exercise
of this authority he was independent of his pres-
bytery ; he sat indeed with it to hear confessions
which might criminate others, or to receive accu-
sations against the brethren, or to decide rights
and causes brought before him, and ofl'ences might
then be divulged which would expose the offender
to excommunication, but when once guilt was
established, either by confession, or conviction,
or notoriety, the bishop alone imposed the sen-
tence. Instances also abound of bishops consult-
ing with one another in special emergencies, and
deciding amongst themselves the period of peni-
tence to be allotted to special sins, but such
2 T
642
EXCOMMUNICATION
advice or support put no limitation on each
bishop's original jurisdiction. The council of Nice
(can. 5) forbids any one bishop to receive delin-
queiits cut off by another bisliop, which clearly
points to each bishop possessing the power to act
alone. The end of the same canon decrees that
a synod of bishops shnll be held in each province
twice a year, before Lent and in the autumn
(compare Apost. Can. 38), to examine into the
cases of excommunication which had taken place
in the province. There was thus a right of
appeal against the sentence of an individual
bishop, but only to the bishops of the province.
This probably explains instances of synodical ex-
communication, which do not imply that the
bishop had not an independent power to excom-
municate, but that an appeal was made from his
judgntent to the provincial synod, whose sentence
was only a more solemn confirmation of the
bishop's.
The Apostolical Canons (74) decree that, if a
bishop is accused he is to be summoned by the
synod of bishops, and if he refuse to come two
bishops are to go for him, and on his second re-
fusal, to go again, and if he is still contumacious,
the synod may proceed against him in his ab-
sence. Accordingly the episcopal rank of Nes-
torius required a synodical censure, which was
pronounced by provincial synods under Cyril of
Alexandria and Celestine of Rome, and confirmed
431 A.D. by the council of Ephesus. And Euty-
ches, who was an abbot and so far allowed the
privileges of a bishop, was tried at the provincial
synod of Constantinople under Flavianus, and on
an appeal to a general council was again con-
demned and excommunicated at Chalcedon, to-
gether with Dioscorus of Alexandria.
Literature. — Marshall's Penitential Discipline,
Lond. 1714, reprinted in ' Auglo-Cath. Library,'
Ox. 1844; Bingham's Antiquities, bks. xvi.
and xvii. ; Morinus, De Discipiind in, Administr.
Sacrament. Poenitentiae, Antv. 1682 ; Van Espen,
Jus Ecclesiasticum, Ven. 1789, vols. 4 and 9 ;
Martene, De Ant. Eccl. ritibus; Augusti, Denk-
wiirdiqkeiten aus der christlichcn Archdoloiie,
Leip. 1817. [(i. M.]
II. MoNAsnc Excommunication.
By the Benedictine rule contumacious monks
mcurred the penalty of the greater or the lesser
excommunication according to the gravity of the
otFence, but not till admonition, first private and
then public, had been tried on them in vain, nor
in cases where, owing to moral stupidity, flogging
was likely to be more efficacious {Peg. Bened.
c. 23). These two kinds of excommunication
are further defined as excommunication only
from the common meal (a mensa) for slighter
faults, and excommunication from the chapel
also (a mensa et oratorio) for faults less venial.
Thus the subdivision of monastic excommunica-
tion corresponds in its main features with the
more minute subdivisions of ecclesiastical disci-
pline generally (/6. cc. 24, 25). Even under the
lighter ban the offemier was forbidden to officiate
in the choir as reader or " cantor," and, accord-
ing to some commentators on the rale, he was to
lie prostrate before the altar-steps while the
other.s were kneeling. In the refectory he was
to take his fov.d alone after the rest had finished
(Martene, Eeq. Cumment. cc. 25, 44).
A monk under the graver excommunication
EXECUTORES
was debarred not only from the common board, but
also from all the chapel services as well as from
the benedictory salutation, and indeed from all
intercourse whatever with his brethren (Peg.
Bened. c. 25). He was to lie outstretched at the
doors of the chapel till re-admitted by the abbat ;
nor even then might he take any public part in
the services without express permission (Martene,
u. s. c. 44). Any monk speaking to an excom-
municated brother was " ipso facto " excommu-
nicated himself {Reg. Bened. c. 26). But it was
kindly ordered by Benedict, that the abbat
should send some sympathising brother to con-
sole the offender in- his loneliness {lb. c. 27;
cf. Reg. Mag. cc. 13, 14 ; Reg. Gaes. Arelat. c. 23 ;
Id. ad Virg. c. 10).
The duration of the punishment varied, the
intention being correctional rather than merely
penal. By the rule of Fructuosus, a monk for
lying, stealing, striking, false swearing, if incor-
rigible, was, after flogging, to be excommuni-
cated and kept on bread and water in a solitary
cell for three months {Peg. Fruct. c. 17). By
the rule of Ferreolus, a monk for bad language
was forbidden to be present at the mass or to
receive the kiss of peace for six months {Peg.
Ferr. c. 25). By the rule of Chrodegan,^ a
canonicus was excommunicated for what seems
so slight an offence as sleeping after nocturns.
It was for the abbat to fix the degree of excom-
munication {Peg. Bened. c. 24). Some commenta-
tors argue therefore, that the severest form of
monastic excommunication cannot be tantamount
to the severest ecclesiastical sentence of the kind
(Mart. Peg. Comm. c. 25).
Mabillon cites instances {Annal. x. 46) of
monks (Columbanus and Theodorus Studita)
excommunicating lay people not belonging to
their order. He relates an excommunication of
one of the sisterhood by an abbess in the 7th
century {Tb. xii. 36). Abbats and abbesses were
themselves liable to this penalty. Gregory the
Great reproves a bishop for harshness in excom-
municating an aged abbat of good repute. The
second council of Tours in a.d. 567 decreed sen-
tence of excommunication against any abbat or
])rior allowing a woman to enter the monastery
{Cone. Turon. c. 16). See further Bened. Anian.
Concord. Pequl. cc. 30-34 with Menard's Commen-
tary, and Ducange, Gloss. Lat. s. v. [1. G. S.]
EXCUBIAE. [Vigil.]
EXCUSATI. (1) Slaves who had fled for
refuge to a church, and then — on the owners
making oath u})on the gospels that they would
not punish them — been restored to their masters,
were called excusati. If the master broke his oath
he was punished by excommunication. See Cone.
Aurel. I. cc. 1 and 3; ///. c. 13 ; IV. c. 24.
(2) Those who under some terror or oppression
had fled to a church or monastery and reiuained
there were also called excusdi (Charter of Charles
the Great, quoted by Ducange, s.v.). [C]
EXECUTORES. A name given either to
the Defensores themselves or to officers who
performed analogous functions. In one of the
canons of a council held at Carthage, a.d. 419
(6'o</. Eccl. Afric. c. 96), it is decreed that per-
mission should be demanded of the emperor for
the appointment of five " executores," who
should reside in the provinces, and be employed
on all occasions of necessity on behalf of the
EXEDRA
church, " in onmibus desideriis quae habet
ecclesia." These are evidently distinct from the
" defensores scholastici," mentioued in the canon
that follows. In a capitulary of Charles the
Great, quoted by Thomassin ( Vet. et Nov. Eccl.
Discip. 1. 2, c. 99, § 12), executores are men-
tioned in connexion with advocates and defen-
ders, '' executores, vel advocati seu defensores."
Thomasdn {Ibid. c. 98, § 3) speaks of the title
being given to certain officials when employed in
carrying into execution the will of the bishop of
Rome, who is himself -the executor and protector
of the canons. [P. 0.]
EXEDRA is explained by Ducange, Binte-
rim, and others as a general term including all
buildings annexed to a church, or contained
within the consecrated area. In classical usage
an exedra was a semicircular room, or large
alcove with seats against the wall for the pur-
poses of conversation (Cic. de Nut. Deorum, i. 6 ;
(/-' Orat. iii. 5). Exedrue are spoken of by Vi-
truvius (vi. 5) in . connection with oeci {oIkoi) as
rooms for conversation and other social purposes.
The two words are similarly coupled together
by Eusebius {H. E. x. 4, § 44) when describing
the church of Paulinus at Tyre. Here Eusebius
writes "he provided spacious exedrae and oeci
on each side (e'le'Spas Kal oIkovs tovs trap' iKa-
Tepa fieyiffTovs) united and attached to the royal
fiibric (/SacriXeiw) and communicating with the
entrance to the middle of the temple." The
church built by Constantine at Antioch is also
described as " being surrounded with a large
number of oeci and exedrae in a circle," o^kois
T6 irK^ioaiv t^e^pais re eV kvkXoi (Euseb. de Vit.
Const, lib. iii. c. 50). Augustine uses the word
in the sense of a large room or hall annexed to
the great church at Caesarea {de Gest. cum
Emeriti)). The sixth canon of the council
of Nantes prohibits interments except " in atrio
aut porticu, aut in exedris ecclesiae." " Bingham
holds that baptisteries were included under
exedrae. The apse of a basilica was also some-
times termed exedra from its similarity in shape
to those of the baths.
(Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. viii. c. 7, § 1 ; Au-
gusti C'/triit. Ai-chaeol. i. 387 ; Valesius ad Euseb.
Vit. Const, lib. iii. c. 50.) [E. V.]
EXEMPTION OF MONASTERIES. In
the earlier stage of their existence, monasteries
generally availed themselves gladly of the patro-
nage of the bishop of the diocese [Bishop, p. 231],
but as they increased in wealth and power, strug-
gled to emancipate themselves from his control.
For instance, towards the close of the 6th century
the abbess of Ste. Croix at Poitiers, after the
death of Radegunde the foundress, who had be-
come one of the nuns, requested the bishop to
take the convent under his protection. After
some hesitation, on account of the royal rank of
the foundress, or because she had placed the con-
vent under royal jurisdiction, he consented " to
govern it as the rest of his parishes" (Mabill.
Ann. 0. S. B. VII. xxxix. xl. ; Gregor. Turon.
Hist. ix. 46). On the other hand, in the middle
of the 7th century, or later, for the exact date
of the deed is uncertain, a monastery at Vienne,
api)arently of monks and nuns under one consti-
tution, obtained absolute exemption from the
ihe nadinc; is "extra ec-
EXILE
G43
• InLabbc {Cmcil. ix. ■170)
clesiam."
bishop's authority. By this deed, no bishop had
any claim to any property of the monastery ;
no bishop, unless by invitation of the abbot or
abbess, could consecrate altars or admit nuns,
nor was any fee to be required for performing
these ceremonies; and the diocesan was not to
hinder any appeal of the monasterv to the see
of Rome (Mabill. Ann. 0. S. B. XIll. ii. cf. App.
tom. 1). In another fragment cited by Mabillon
in the same place no bishop even by invitation
was allowed to enter the more private parts of
the convent ; nor was any bishop to be enter-
tained in the convent, lest this should be an
expense and a distraction to the inmates, nor to
interfere with the abbess in the correction of the
nuns, for she was to be responsible only to the
apostolic see. Instances might easily be multi-
plied of the almost continual collision in Western
Christendom between the bishops and the monas-
teries in their dioceses ; in which the monasteries,
almost invariably, had the support of the pope,
and, frequently, of the royal authority ( cf.
Martene, Itegul. Comment. Bened. ap. Migne,
Patrol. Lat. 'ixvi. pp. 839, 840). And the same
struggle was going on at the same time in the
East.. Thus, in the 7th century, the emperor
Mauricius granted to the monasteries of Theo-
dorus Siceota entire exemption from all epi-
scopal authority, except that of Constantinople
(Mabill. Ann. U. S. B. xiv. 23). Monasteries
subject only to emperor or king, were called
"imperialia" or "regalia" (Ducange, Gloss.
Lat. s. v.). [For exemption of monasteries from
taxes see Monastery.] [I. G. S.]
EXEMPTIONS. [Immunities of Clergy.]
EXEQUIES. [Burial of the Dead:
Obsequies.]
EXERCISES, PENITENTIAL. [Peni-
tence.]
EXHORTATION (Exhortatio), is used in a
special sense for the admonition on the duties of
their office addressed by the ordainer to a person
just ordained. See, for instance, the Coptic
ritual of ordination, in Martene, De Bit. Ant. I.,
viii. 1 1, Ordo 23. [C]
EXILE (Exilinm, Peregrinatio'). For certain
offences a penitent was ordered to leave his
country and pass some period of his penitence in
distant lands. This mode of penance is found
among the canons ascribed to some of the British
councils of the 6th century ; but there are strong
grounds for believing that they are interpolations
of a later period, and that the penance of exile
cannot be traced to any earlier source than the
7th century. The Penitential of Theodore (I. ii.
16) appoints fifteen years of penance for incest,
of which seven are to be passed in a foreign land
(perenni peregrinatione). The Penitential of
Egbert (iii.) declares seven years of exile to
be part of the penance due to parricide ; and
(v. 9) orders a cleric who begets an illegitimate
child to go into exile for either four, five, or
seven years. Morinus, however, considers {de
Poenit. vii. 15) that these wanderings of peni-
tents soon led to abuses, and were checked in a
capitulary of Charles the Great (vi. 379).
The practice thus begun in submission to a
judicial penalty was continued as a voluntary
self-discipline, and in the 10th century it began
to be considered a meritorious action to leave
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644
EXOCATACOELI
home and country and make a pilgrimage to some
spot consecrated by association with some holy
man ; the earliest of which places were Rome,
Tours, and the supposed burial-place of St. James
at Compostella. This tendency received a great
impulse from the Crusades, and especially from
the decree of the council of Clermont {C<jnc.
Claroin. c. 2), which allowed a pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem to expiate all penance whatever. [G. M.]
EXOCATACOELI. Five great dignita-
ries of the patriarchal church of Constantinople,
viz. the oeconomus or steward, the senior and
junior keepA- of the purse (aaKiWdpLoi), and the
senior and junior chartophylax, were anciently
called i^wKaraKoiAoi. To these, in the 11th
century, the defensor of the church was added.
The etymology of the word is uncertain. That
of Ducange (^Gloss. Graec.) that they received
their name from having their seats of dignity
on a raised platform, not in the lower portion
of the floor (^KaraKoiKi) where less distin-
guished persons sat, is perhaps as probable as
any. (Thomassin, Eccl. Discip. I. ii. 99, § 10 ;
Daniel, Codex Litnrg. iv. 702.) [C]
EXODIASTICON ('E|o5ia(rTi/coV). As the
departure of a Christian was frequently spoken
of as e|o5os, the service at the death-bed is called
in Greek office-books e|o5ia(rTiKoV (Daniel, Codex
Lit. iv. 608, 634). [Burial of the Dead ;
Sick, Visitation of.] [C]
EXOMOLOGESIS (Exomologesis, Confessio,
i^oiJ.o\6yr](ns, €^ay6pev(ns). The verb in St.
Matt. xi. 25 expresses thanksgiving and praise,
and in this sense was used by many Christian
writers (Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. i^Ofj.o\.). But
more generally in the early fathers it signifies
the whole course of penitential discipline, the
outward act and performance of penance. From
this it came to mean that public acknowledg-
ment of sin which formed so important a part
of penitence. Irenaeus (c. Haeres. i. 13, §5)
speaks of an adulteress who, having been con-
verted, passed her whole life in a state of peni-
tence (^i^ofioAoyovjxevr], in exomologesi) : and (ih.
iii. 4) of Cerdon often coming into the church
and confessing his errors (^i^oixoXoyov/j.fvos).
Tertullian (de Poenit. c. 9) considers the Greek
word i^o/xo\6y7}cns more suitable than the Latin
confessio ; and proceeds to define the term as
"the discipline of humbling and prostrating a
man." At the end of the same treatise he speaks
of the king of Babylon's humiliation as an ex-
omologesis, and of the king of Egypt's neglect
of repentance and its attendant confession. The
term occurs twice in Cyprian (& Xa;?Sis, cc. 11,
18), and six times in his Epistles {Epistt. 4, ad
Pompon, c. 3 ; 15, ad Martyr, c. 1 ; \Q, ad Cler.
c. 2; 17, ad Laic; 55, ad Anton, c. 24; 59, ad
Cornel, c. 18, Oxf. ed.) in the sense of the course
of penitence and public humiliation ; three times
(Epistt. 18, ad Cler. ; 19, ad Cler. ; 20, ad liom.-
Cler. c. 2) referring to the confession of dying
penitents : and once (do Lapsis, c. 19) as applied
to Azariah and his companions, in the sense of
confession of the lips generally. St. Basil, de-
scribing the morning service of his time (Epist.
207, ad Cler. Neocaesar.), says that after the anti-
phonal chant, at daybreak they all burst forth
into the psalm of confession (rbj' ttjs e^ouo\o-
yria-eojs ^aX/xhy tS Kvplqi auatpepovcri), meaning
no doubt that which is emphatically a psalm of
EXOMOLOGESIS
confession, the fifty-first. This psalm is also
mentioned by Cassian (De Lnstit. Coenoh. iii. 6)
as occurring at the close of matins. Pacian in one
place (Paraen. ad Poenit. p. 372, Oxf. ed.) follow-
ing Tertullian, speaks of the degradation of Nebu-
chadnezzar as exomologesis ; in another {ibid.
p. 373), in imitation of Cyprian, applies the
term to the song of the " three children." At
the council of Laodicea (can. 2) it is the
whole course of penitence : " As to those who
sin by divers offences and persevere in prayer
of confession (e|oyUoA.) and repentance." With
Chrysostom it is in one place (Horn. 10 in S. Matt.
c. 4) the course of penitence ; elsewhere (llom. 5,
de incomp. Dei nat. t. i. p. 490 : Horn. 2, ad
ilium. Catech. t. i. p. 240, Bened. ed.) it is confes-
sion to God only. Isidore of Seville (Etymol. vi.
19) defines exomologesis to be that by which we
confess our sins to the Lord. But at the end of
the same chapter he adduces an entirely different
meaning of the word. " Between litanies and
exomologeses there is this difference, that ex-
omologesis stands for confession of sins only,
litany for prayer to God, and imploring His
pardon ; but now each word has the same mean-
ing, nor is there any difference between the use
of litany and exomologesis." The 17th council of
Toledo, A.D. 694 (c. 6), orders litanies (exomolo-
geses) to be said for a whole year for the church,
for the sovereign, &c. &c. And the council of
Mayence, A.D. 813 (Cone. Mogunt. c. 32) quotes
the exact words of Isidore on exomologesis being
equivalent with litany (Comp. Morin. de Poenit.
ii. 2 ; note L. on TertuU. de Poenit., in Oxford
Liirarg of the Fathers).
Of these meanings the first and last are quite
foreign to the general ecclesiastical use of the
word and need not be pursued any fui-ther ; that
which signifies the whole course of penitential
discipline will be discussed under the article
Penitexce : this article will relate to exomolo-
gesis only so far as it signifies oral confession.
Public Confession. — i. Of public sins. — This
was the first stage in the restoration of a peni-
tent. So long as discipline was in force, any one
guilty of a notorious crime which had subjected
him to censure [Excommunication] was re-
quired to make an open acknowledgment of his
crime at the beginning of his course of penitence.
The confession took place after the Missa Cate-
chumenorum, and when they and the hearers had
been warned to withdraw from the church by the
deacon. Then if any one had been recently con-
victed of any open sin, he confessed and bewailed
it before the church, and in accordance with the
gravity of his offence, his penitential station was
assigned him by the bishop ; sometimes, how-
ever, the bishop, yielding to the requests of the
clergy and people who had heard the confession,
allotted a less remote station. The bishop then
addressed the congregation on the nature of the
offence, and they offered up their prayers for the
offender's repentance. This public confession
was addressed not merely to the bishop or the
priest in the presence of the congregation, but in
a loud voice to the congregation at large. It
signified that as the church had been scandalised
by an open sin in one of its members, reparatiou
should be made to it by an equally open admis-
sion of sin. It also manifested the earnestness
of the offender's repentance that he was willing
to undergo this public humiliation. But the
EXOMOLOGESIS
chief object was that the oflenJer might seek
the pra3'ers of the congregation to supjjovt and
stimulate his conversion. If any one who was
notoriously guilty failed or refused to confess, no
one would communicate with him, in accordance
with the apostle's precept (1 Cor. v. 11; Ephes.
V. 11). Again, if ho waited to be convicted,
liis censure was heavier than if he had made a
spontaneous confession. The council of Elvira
{Cone. Elib. c. V6) orders that if a deacon before
his ordination had committed a mortal sin, and
afterwards confessed, he should be restored after
three years' penitence; but if detected, after five
3^ears, and only to lay communion. Basil {ad
Amphiloc. cc. 7, 61) allows alleviation of punish-
ment on three grounds, ignorance, confession,
and lapse of time. This encouragement to confes-
sion reappears in the 8th century in the Rule of
Chrodegand of Metz (c. 18), " he who voluntarily
confesses his lighter sins shall be visited with
lighter censures." And not only was an ofi'euder
urged to confess for his own sake, but any who
was privy to his crime was under a similar obli-
gation to accuse him, for if he failed or even
delayed to do so, he was himself exposed to cen-
sure (Basil, ad Amphiloc. c. 71).
ii. Of secret sins. — Such confession was at no
time obligatory. Sometimes, however, under the
direction of a priest who had been consulted, or
moved by a sudden contrition and remorse, some
would charge themselves with a secret sin before
the congregation. Thus (Iren. c. Haeres. i. 9) the
virgins seduced hy the heretic Marcus, and the
wife of the deacon Asianus made a public ac-
knowledgment of guilt which was known only
to themselves. One of the three men who had
calumniated Narcissus of .Jerusalem (Euseb. //. E.
vi. 9) publicly acknowledged years afterwards,
when his two associates had died from some
painful disorder, that his charge against the
bishop had been false. Some of the priests who
had joined Novatian (ibid. vi. 43) spontaneously
charged themselves before the church with
heresy and other crimes ; one of the bishops who
had been induced to consecrate him publicly ac-
knowledged his error, and Cornelius, in deference
to the intercession of the people who witnessed
the confession, admitted him to lay communion.
But public confession of secret sins needed at a
very early period to be checked and regulated ;
and the people were admonished to consult their
priests before divulging their sins to the church
[PenitentiaHy]. Anything which would create
a scandal or endanger life or liberty was for-
bidden to be revealed. So Basil {ad Amphiloc.
c. 34) would not permit a woman who had pri-
vately admitted the guilt of adultery to acknow-
ledge it in the church or even to perform openly
the penance generally demanded for such a sin,
lest she should be murdered by her husband.
Similar precautions are laid down by Origen,
Augustine, and Caesarius of Aries (Morin. dc
Poenit. ii. 13). In the 6th century the practice
arose of making confession of public sins to the
bishop, of private to the priest.
iii. Before the bishop and his presbj/ten/. — Ter-
tullian {de Foeint. c. 9) says it is part of exomo-
logesis for the penitent "to throw himself upon
the ground before the presbytery, and to fall on
his knees before the beloved of God." Cyprian
{de Lapsis,c, 18) praises the faith of those who,
iiaving without any overt act meditated idola-
EXOMOLOGESIS
045
try, made a confession " apud sacerdotes Dei."
Gregory Nyssen {Ep. ad Lctoium, in Marshall
p. 19.5) speaks of a certain evil which had
been overlooked by the ancient fathers, from
whence it had come to pass, that no person who
was brought before the clergy to be «xaniined as
to his life and conversation was at all examined
upon that jwint. Before the presbytery con-
fessions were made which criminated others; and
this frequently happened ; for any one making a
public confession named his confederates, unless
by so doing he exposed them to legal penalties.
No ecclesiastical censure, however, fell on any
who denied a crime which his associate had ad-
mitted : on the principle that penitence was a
privilege not a punishment. The deacon and
virgin whose case is decided by St. Cyprian and
his presbytery (J5/;w. iv. ad foinpon.y must have
had an information laid against them by some
associate, for their guilt had been secret. This
mode of confession was affected in the East by
the appointment of the Penitentiary; but in the
West so long as public penitence for secret faults
prevailed, so long did public confession to bishops
and their assistant priests. Probably this was
the origin of the custom introduced into the
Benedictine Rule of confession to the abbot sur-
rounded by his monks.
Private Confession. — i. General account. — The
testimony of the fathers will be discussed in
detail later; here it is sufficient to say that the
early fathers Jrenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, hardly
allude to private confession at all ; and among the
writers generally of the first 500 years those who
mention it do so with some reference more or
less direct to public discipline. But it is certain
that public penitence was not assigned to all
sins which were secretly confessed, but only to
such as in the discretion of the priest required
it. It is easy to understand that oflences of a
trivial nature might be confided to a priest, or
offences of such a character as would scandalise
the church were they openly divulged ; and
until this spiritual direction had been given,
the offender would be in doubt whether or not
a public acknowledgment would be expected from
him. But it is equally clear that no absolution
was given after direction of this sort, or until
penitence had been performed. Such at least
for many centui-ies was the }>ractice in the Latin
church (see Penitence, under which the ques-
tion of absolution will be discussed): in the
Eastern church a practice arose of pronouncing
some preliminary absolution immediately after
the utterance of the confession, and a second
absolution when the penance had been performed.
The evidence of this practice is to be found in
the early Greek Penitentials at the end of the
6th century; but Morinus would carry back its
origin to the time of the abolition of the office of
Penitentiary at the end of the 4th. To resort
to a spiritual guide for comfort and counsel
was one thing ; to obtain through his ministry
by confession penance and absolution, reconcilia-
tion with God and communion with the faithful
was. another : and there is no proof that the two
were combined, and that private sacramental
confession had any existence in the first 500
years of the Christian church. The term itself
is not found in any of the documents of the first
eight centuries: and if the definition of Thomas
Aquinas {Summa, pt. iii. qu. 84-90) is to be
646
EXOMOLOGESIS
accepted as a theological definition of the term,
its growth must be assigned to a much later
period. There existed undoubtedly from a very
early period private confession followed by no
penitence, but also by no absolution ; there
was also private confession followed by public
penitence, and generally by subsequent public
confession, to which the private was a prelimin-
ary : and there was after the beginning of the
6t'h century private confession followed by pri-
vate penitence, but the penance was always ex-
acted, and differed only from public penance in
solemnity; there is nowhere to be found in canons
or sacramentaries or penitentials one punishment
for private penitence and another for public.
The sins thus privately confessed with a view to
penitence were those only of a grievous character,
sins which excluded from communion or public
prayer, or even from the church itself, which
required a long and painful course of penance
before they were blotted out, and into which if
the sinner relapsed, there was, certainly in the
rigour of the primitive ages, no second door of
reconciliation open to him. Sozomen indeed,
writing at the end of the 5th century, says in
reference to penitence that there is pardon for
these who sin again and again, but this is not
the language of antiquity. There was but one
admission to solemn penance. Moreover, sins for
which penance was to be performed were de-
scribed by canons and in canonical epistles, and
sins which did not fall within these canons were
neither confessed nor made subject to penance.
Sins of frailty incidental to mankind were to be
healed by daily prayer and confession to God
only. So, among numerous authorities that peni-
tence, and confession as a part of penitence, was
not exacted for venial sins, Augustine (cfe Symb,
ad Catech. t. vi. p. 555, ed. Antv.), " those whom
you see in a state of penitence have been guilty of
adultery or some other enormity, for which they
are put under it : if their sin had been venial,
daily prayer would have been sufficient to atone
for it." The Greek Penitentials of the end of
the 6th century, and the Latin ones of a cen-
tury later, give no hint of habitual confession of
common infirmities, or of private confession being
a matter of indispensable obligation, still less of
the doctrine that one may daily confess and be
daily and plenarily absolved.
ii. fii the Western Church. — In the times of Ter-
tuUian and Cyprian public discipline was in full
vigour, and as part of it a public acknowledg-
ment of sins : the passages which have already
been adduced from these fathers contain nothing
to show that they regarded confession in any
other light than as one stage of the act of peni-
tence.
Ambrose {de Poenit. ii. 6) speaks of confession,
but it is confession to God. "If thou wilt be
justified confess thy sins ; for humble confession
looses the bonds of sin." Another passage,
selected by Bellarmine to support secret confes-
sion, relates manifestly to the course of disci-
pline ; for having at the end of the previous
section said that "very many, out of fear of
future punishment, conscious of their sins, seek
admission to penitence, and having obtained it
are drawn back by the shame of public en-
treaty," Ambrose thus proceeds (i6. c. 10),
" Will any one endure that thou shouldest be
ashamed to ask of God, who art not ashamed to ask
EXOMOLOGESIS .;
men ? that thou be ashamed to supplicate Him i
from whom thou art not hid, when thou art not |
ashamed to confess thy sins to man from v/hom ■■.
thou art hid ?" Another passage (in Luc. x. 22,
p. 5, 1787) commenting on St. Peter's denial
of Christ and subsequent repentance, is incon- ;
sistent with the existence of a custom of pri-
vate confession in his time. " Let tears wash
away the guilt which one is ashamed to confess
with the voice. Tears express the fault without
alarm ; tears confess the sin without injuring
bashfulness ; tears obtain the pardon they ask !
not for. Peter wept most bitterly, that with \
tears he might wash out his oftence. Do thou '
also, if thou wouldest obtain pardon, wash out thy
fault with tears." i
Augustine's own confessions contain no hint
that he either practised or inculcated private con-
fession. " What have I to do with men that
they should hear my confession, as if they could ;
heal all my infirmities" (x. 3). Bellai'mine quotes i
from the same writer (on I's. 66, c. 7) — " Be !
downcast before thou hast confessed ; having I
confessed, exult ; now shalt thou be healed, i
While thou confessedst not, thy conscience col- J
lected foul matter; the imposthume swelled,!
distressed thee, gave thee no rest ; the physician !
foments it with words, sometimes cuts it, em- i
ploys the healing knife, rebuking by tribulation.
Acknowledge thou the hand of the physician; j
confess ; let all the foul matter go forth in con-
fession ; now exult, now rejoice, what remains
will readily be healed." But Augustine is
commenting on the text, "Sing unto the Lord
all the whole earth;" and confession can be con- \
fession to God only, as surely the physician who
heals by tribulation can be none other than God. i
In Serm. 181 (fin.) he speaks of daily prayer as
the sponge which is to wipe away sins of infir-
mity and contrasts them with death-bringing
sins for which alone penitence is performed.
Elsewhere {de Symh. ad Catech. torn. vi. p. 555, ed. '
Antv.) he again speaks of the " three methods of i
remitting sins in the church, in baptism, in the |
Lord's Prayer, in the humility of the greater i
penitence," and he limits penance and conse- |
quently confession to sins which deserve excom- |
munication. And in many similar passages he
is a witness that up to his time no confession j
was required of any sins but such as subjected a :
man to penitential discipline.
Leo in his Epistle to Theodoras gives plain testi- ■
mony of the connection of confession with penance
{Ep. 91, c. 2). But in a letter to the bishops of
Campania he gives some directions which mark if
they do not make an era in confession in the Latin
church. The epistle is too important not to be I
quoted at length (^Ep. 80, ad Episc. Campan.), ''.
"That presumption, contrary to the apostolic rule, i
which I have lately learned to be practised by
tome, taking undul}' upon themselves, I direct !
should by all means be removed, and that a writ-
ten statement of the nature of the crimes of each
should not be publicly rehearsed, since it suffices '
that the guilt of the conscience be laid open to ;
the priests alone in secret confession. For al- i
though that fulness of faith, which out of the j
fear of God fears not to take shame before men,
seems to be praiseworthy, yet bediiuse the sins
of all are not of such sort, that they who ask to ;
do penitence fear not their being published, let
so una/'visable a custom be done away, lest I
EXOkoLOGESIS
many be kept from the remedies of jsenitence ;
either being ashamed, or fearing that actions for
which they may be punished by the laws should
be discovered to their enemies. For that con-
fession suffices, which is made first to God, then
to the priest also, who draweth near to pray for
the sins of the penitents. For so at length may
more be stirred up to penitence, if the sins con-
fessed by the penitents be m-t published in the
ears of the people." In the early ages public
confession was only remitted in case of danger
to the individual or scandal to the church : by
this constitution of Leo secret confession to the
priest was to take the place of open confession,
and the priest's intercession of the intercession of
the church. The door thus opened for escaping
from the shame of public confession was never
afterwards closed, and secret confession gradually
became the rule of the church.
In the pontificate of Gregory the Great, a
century and a half later, there is no evidence to
be found of the existence of public confession :
and even after private confession it was difficult to
bring men to submit to public discipline {h'xpos.
in 1 Beg. t. iii. 15, p. 3-1-2). "The sign of a true
confession is not in the confession of the lij>s, bat
in the humiliation of penitence. .... The con-
fession of sin is required in order that the fruits
of penitence may follow Saul, who con-
fesses and is not willing to humble and afflict
himself, is a type of those who make a sterile
confession and bear no fruit of penance."
lu the 7th century, the stern rule that solemn
confession as a part of penitence was received
only once, had become obsolete, but habitual con-
lesslon had not yet taken its place. The first
council of Chalons, a.d. 650 (1 Cabil. c. 8), de-
clares that all agree that confession to the priest
is a proof of penitence. The Penitential of Theo-
dore (I. xii. 7) gives a rule which shows that
auricular confession was not yet obligatory.
" Confession if needful may be made to God only."
[Communion, Holy, p. 417.] Bede (tom. v. Exp.
in S. Jac. v.) reverting to the old practice draws a
distinction between the confession of frailties and
of heinous sins. " We ought to use this discretion,
our daily light sins confess to one another, and
hope that by our prayers they may be healed ;
but the pollution of the greater leprosy let us
according to the law open to the priest, and in
the manner and the time which he dii'ects,
purify ourselves." The second council of Cha-
lons, A.D. 813 (2 Cone. Cabil. c. 32) complains that
people coming to confess neglect to do so fully,
and orders each one when he comes to examine
himself and make confession of the eight capital
sins which prevail in the world — -which are then
enumerated— and by implication, of no others.
Theodulph's Capitulary (c. 3U) draws a distinc-
tion between confession made to a priest and that
to God only, and (c. 31) mentions the same eight
principal sins as the council, and appoints that
everyone learning to confess should be examined
on what occasions and in what manner he had
been guilty of any of them, and consequently be
subjected to no further examination. Chrodegand
(c. .32) orders " confession to be made at each of
the three fasts of the year, ' et qui plus focerit
melius facit;' and monks to confess on each Sun-
day to their bishop or prior." But there is no
other document showing that confession had
yet become periodical. That secret confession
EXOMOLOGESIS
(341
was not yet a matter of obligation is clear
from the canon of the council of Chalons
(2 Cow.: Cihil. c. 33). " Some say they ought
to confess their sins to God only, and some
think they are to be confessed unto the priests,
both of which not without great fruit are prac-
tised in the Holy Church .... the confession
which is made to God purgeth sins, that made
to the priests teacheth in what way those sins
should be purged." And so it remained an open
question for the next 300 years, for Gratian
{dc Poenit. Dist. i. 89) summing up the opinions
of diflerent doctors on necessity of confession
leaves it still undecided. " Upon what autho-
rities or upon what 'strength of reasons botli
these opinions are grounded, I have briefly de-
clared ; which of them we should rather cleave
to is left to the judgment of the reader; for both
have for their favourers wise and religious men."
And it was not determined till the famous de-
cree oi the Lateran council, A.D. 1215 (4 Cone.
Lateran. c. 21) ordering all of each sex as soon as
they arrived at years of discretion to confess at
least once a year to their own priest.
iii. In ike Eastern Church.— The duty of con-
sulting a priest when the conscience is burdened
is urged more strongly by the Greek than by the
Latin fathers ; there are consequently more dis-
tinct traces of secret confession to be found in
the Eastern than in the Western church. Grigen
has one passage speaking directly of confession,
not to God only but to the ministers of the
church ; the purpose of the confession however
is not to obtain absolution, but sj)iritual guid-
ance ; after having spoken of evil thoughts
which should be revealed in order that they
might be destroyed by Him who died for us, he
continues (//bw. 17 in Luc. fin.), " if we do this
aiul confess our sins not only to God, but to those
also who can heal our wounds and sins, our sins
will be blotted out by Him," &c. In another
passage, which is even more explicit, he speaks
of the care required in choosing a discreet and
learned minister to whom to open the grief, and
the skill and tenderness required in him to whom
it is confided (Hum. 2 in Fs. 37, 1. 11, p. (588, ed.
Bened.).
Athanasius (Vit. Ant. Erem. p. 75, ed. Augs.)
narrates an injunction of Anthony to his fellow-
recluses, that they should write down their
thoughts and actions and exhibit the record
to one another, which probably was the be-
ginning of habitual confession among monastic
orders, where there are many grounds for sup-
posing it prevailed long before it became the
custom of the church. Basil lays it down even
more definitely than Grigen, that in cases of doubt
and difficulty resort should be had to a priest;
and in his time such a priest was specially
appointed in each diocese, whose office it was
to receive such jnnvate confessions and decide
whether they should be afterwards ojienly
acknowledged. [Penitentiary.] Thus in Basil,
Beg. hrev. tract. (Q. 229) the question is pro-
posed, "Whether forbidden actions ouglit to
be laid open to all, or to whom, and of what
sort?" And the answer is, that as with bodily
disease, " so also the discovery of sins ought
to be made to those able to cure them." Again
(Q. 288) Basil asks, " he who wishes to con-
fess his sins ought he to confess them to all,
or to any chance person, or to whom ?" and re-
648
EXOMOLOGESIS
plies, " it is necessary to confess to those en-
trusted with the oracles of God." There would
have been no necessity for regulations like these
had not private confession been in frequent prac-
tice. In Serm. Ascct. (t. ii. p. 323, ed. Bened.)
monies are directed, by a rule similar to that
of Anthony, to tell to the common body any
•' thought of things forbidden, or unsuitable
words, or remissness in prayer, or lukewarmness
in psalmody, or desire after ordinary life," that
through the common prayers the evil may be
cured. Like instructions are found in the Be(].
fus. tract. (Q. 26) "On referring everything,
even the secrets of the heart, to the superior."
Gregory Nyssen {Ep.* ad Letoium, in Mar-
shall, p. 100) in one place speaks of secret
confession which is to be followed by penance :
" he who of his own accord advances to the dis-
covery of his sins, as by his voluntary accusation
of himself he gives a specimen of the change that
is in his mind towards that which is good, will
deserve lighter correction," alluding to the well-
established rule that voluntary confession was
allowed to mitigate the subsequent penance :
in another place he writes as if he com-
mended the custom of confessing all transgres-
sion of positive law whether it involved penance
or not, "if he who has transferred to himself the
property of another by secret theft shall unfold
his offence to the priest by secret confession, it
will be sufficient to cure the guilt by a contrary
disposition."
The abolition of the office of the Penitentiary
made undoubtedly a great break in the practice
of confession in the Eastern church. The ac-
count is given in Socrates {H. E. v. 19) and
Sozomen {H. E. vii. 16). [Penitentiary.]
It is difficult to believe that the scandal which
had arisen in connection with the Peniten-
tiary had not some influence on the teaching of
St. Chrysostom, who immediately afterwards suc-
ceeded to the see of Constantinople. He both
recommended and enforced penitence, but anj'
confession which had not immediate reference to
discipline, he taught should be made to God
alone. None of the fothers bear equally strong
testimony against auricular confession (Horn. 5
de incomp. Dei nat. p. 490). " I do not bring
. you upon the stage before your fellow-servants,
nor do I compel you to discover your sins in the
presence of men, but to unfold your conscience
to God, to show Him your ail and malad}', and
seek relief from Him." So {Horn. 20 in Gen. p.
175). " He who has done these things (grievous
sins) if he would use the assistance of conscience
for his need, and hasten to confess his sin, and
show his sore to the physician who healeth and
reproacheth not, and converse with Him alone,
none knowing, and tell all exactly, he shall
soon amend his folly. For confession of sins is
the effacing of oflTences." For numerous other
examples compare Daille (iii. 14, iv. 25), Hooker
(vi. c. iv. 16), note on TertuU. de Poenit. in Ox-
ford Library of the Fatliers., p. 401.
From the time of Chrysostom to the time of
the Greek Penitentials there is no material
evidence. Joannes Climacus (cited by Daille')
has a rule which points to the existence of con-
fession in the eastern monasteries of the 6th cen-
tury : a similar notice from Theodoras Studites,
in his life of Plato, shows that the practice had
a greater hold on the monks of the 9th centurv.
EXOMOLOGESIS
It appears from the Penitentials that some
form of absolution was given in the east im-
mediately after confession, a practice of which
there is no trace for many centui-ies later in the
Latin church. Joannes Jejunator orders that
immediately after the confession is over and the
priest has said the seven prayers of absolution.
i. e., absolution in the precatory form, he is to
raise the penitent from the ground and kiss him,
and exhort him thus — " behold by the mercy oi
God who would have all men to be saved, you
have fled for refuge to penitence, and made a
confession, and been freed from all your former
wicked works, do not therefore corrupt yourselt
a second time, &c. &c. ;" after this the penitence
is imposed. In the contemporary Penitential ot
Joannes Monachus the form of absolution directly
after confession is still stronger. "May God
who for our sake became man, and bore the sins
of all the world, turn to your good all these
things which you, my brother, have confessed to
me. His unworthy minister, and free you from
them all in this world, and receive you in the
world to come, and bring all to be saved, -who is
blessed for ever." But this absolution did not
entitle the penitent to Holy Communion, nor do
away with the necessity of subsequent penitence,
which often continued for years after this, and
at the end of it another and more formal and
perfect absolution was granted. (Morin. de
Poenit. vi. 25.) On the practice of confession
among the sects which broke away from the
Orthodox church, see Daniel (jCodex Ziturgicus,
iv. p. 590).
iv. Confession before receiving Holy Communion
may have been an occasional practice, but the pre-
sumption is very strong against its having been
a general one. Socrates {H. E. v. 19), in his
account of the abolition of the office of the
Penitentiary, states that Nectarius was advised to
strike his name from the roll of ecclesiastical
officers, and allow each one henceforward to
communicate as his own conscience should direct ;
a notice which seems to imply that in the time of
Nectarius, who was Chrysostom's predecessor at
Constantinople, it had been the custom for the
people to consult with the Penitentiary before
presenting themselves to receive the eucharist.
But the passage is an isolated one ; it is supported j
by no other authority ; and whatever value it
may have, it is a two-edged testimony, for if it
proves that the custom prevailed at that time,
it also proves that after that time it ceased.
On the other hand there is this class of indirect
evidence, that no such preparation was generally
enforced. Eusebius {H. E. vi. 43), relates that
during the episcopate of Cornelius at Rome,
1050 widows and destitute people received alms
from the church ; the Roman church must
therefore at that time have consisted of many !
thousands, to minister to whom wer6 the bishop
himself and forty-six presbyters ; and when the
frequency with which the faithful communicated
even at the latter half of the 3rd century, is
borne in mind, it would seem to be almost ]
physically impossible that each one should make '
an individual confession before communicating.
Similar evidence is furnished from the ancient
liturgies, in which special directions are given
to the deacon to warn to depart from the church \
the catechumens, penitents, and others who were
not allowed to communicate, but no hint is
EXOMOLOGESIS
given that those who had failed to confess were
to be excluded. Stronger evidence is supplied by
the absence of any mention of confession among
the preparations required for a worthy reception
of the sacrament. Clement of Alexandria {Strom.
i. 1, ]). 318, Potter) seems to imply that some
ministers judged who were or were not worthy
[Communion,^ Holy, p. 413], though he himself
thought the individual conscience the best guide.
Chrysostom (Horn. 27 in Gen. p. 268, ed. Bened.)
similarly leaves each one to judge of his fitness,
" If we do this [reconcile ours'elves with the bre-
thren], we shall be able with a pure conscience
to approach His holy and awful table, and to utter
boldly those words joined to our prayers — the
initiated know what I mean ; wherefore I leave
to everyone's conscience how% fulfilling that com-
mand, we may at that fearful moment utter
these things with boldness." Augustine also
tells his hearers that their own conscience, and
that alone, must determine their fitness {Serm.
46 de Verb. Dom.), " considering your several
degrees, and adhering to what you have professed,
approach ye to the flesh of the Lord, approach
ye to the blood of the Lord ; whoso proveth him-
self not to be such, let him not approach." The
second council of Chalons (2 Cone. Cabil. c. 46),
gives detailed directions on the manner and order
of receiving, but no word about confession — an
omission which bears so much the more strongly
upon the question, because private confession
liaj undoubtedly begun to take the place of
penitential confession in the 9th century.
V. At the hour of death. — The evidence on
this head, still more than ou the preceding, is
negative. If confession immediately before death
had been customary, some notice of it would
have found a place in the narratives of the last
hours of the saints and fathers of the early
church. But no such records appear. Cyprian
in three of his epistles {Ep. 18-20, Oxf. ed.),
allows the confession of the lapsed to be i-eceived
on their deathbed preparatory to imposition of
hands ; but this was only to meet the emei-gency
of sudden illness overtaking penitents ; it was
no part of a systematic practice. Athanasius in
his account of the death of Anthony (in. Vit. Ant.
Eremit. fin.), has no allusion to a previous con-
fession. Equally silent is Gregory Nazianzen
(Orat. 21), on the death of Athanasius; and
(Orat. 19), on the death of his own father,
Gregoj-y bishop of Nazianzum ; and {Orat. 20),
in the eulogy which he delivered at the tomb of
Basil. Gregory Nyssen (de Vit. Greg. Thaumat.)
has no account of the deathbed confession of
Gregory Thaumaturgus : nor has Ambrose (de
Obit. Theod.) of that of Theodosius. Augustine
(Confess, ix. 10, 11), records the last hours of his
mother, but he records no last confession ; his
own last hours which Possidius (de Vit. Aug.
c. 31) has described, were spent in penitence,
but the only confession made was to God, " He was
wont to say to us that even proved Christians,
whether clergy or laity, should not dej)art from
life without a full and fitting penitence, and this
ho carried out in his last illness. For he had the
penitential psalms copied out and arranged against
the wall in sets of four, and read them as he lay
in bed, all through his sickness, and freely and
bitterly wept. And he begged that he might
not be interrupted, and that we would not go into
his room except when his physicians came, or he
EX0M0L0(4ESrS
619
needed food. And all that time we neither read
nor spoke to him." Bede, narrating (Eccl. His.
iv. 3), the death of bishop Ceadde, and (ib. iv. 23),
the abbess Hilda, and (Cuth. Vit. c. 39) Cuthbert,
states that each received the Holy Communion
at the last, but not that it was preceded by con-
fession. Similar is Eginhard's account ( Vit. Car.
Mag.), of the death of Charles the Great (see
Daille iv. 3, where the evidence is drawn out
in detail).
vi. I'ime and Manner. — The time of public con-
fession was originally whenever the penitent felt
moved to acknowledge his sin before the church ;
afterwards, in common with the whole course of
discipline, the time was restricted to certain
seasons [Penitence]. Private confession not
being part of the recognized order of the church,
had necessarily no time assigned to it. The
capitulary of Theodulph (c. 36) indeed orders
confessions to be made the week before Lent,
but this is an exceptional instance. There is
an example of a confession made in writing by
Potamius, archbishop of Braga to the 10th
council of Toledo, a.d. 656, charging himself
with misdemeanours. The confession w'as entirely
spontaneous, for the council having no suspicion
of his guilt could not at first believe him ; but on
his reaffirming the fact, he was deposed and
subjected to penitence for the remainder of his
life ; allowed, however, out of compassion to retain
his title, his successor signing himself bishop and
metropolitan. Robert, bishop of the Cenomani
(Le Mans), also made a written confession, but
the council to which it was made absolved him
(Morin. de Fuenit. ii. 2 ; v. 10).
It appears from the Greek Penitentials that con-
fession was made sitting ; the penitent kneeling
only twice while making his confession, at the
beginning, when the priest asked the Holy
Spirit's aid to move the man to disburden his soul
completely, and at the end, when a prayer was
offered that he might obtain grace to perform his
sentence conscientiously. The origin of this
custom was the great length to which the form
and process of confessing extended. The practice
has since continued in the Greek church, for botl<
priest and penitent to sit (Marteue de Hit. i. 3 ;
Daniel Codex Liturg. iv. p. 588). The Penitential
of Joannes Jejunator gives the following instruc-
tions on the order and manner of confessing ;
"he who comes to confess ought to make three
inclinations of the body as he approaches the
sacred altar, and say three times ' I confess to
thee 0 Father, Lord God of heaven and earth,
whatever is in the secret places of my heart.'
And after he has said this he should raise himself
and stand erect ; and he who receives his con-
fession should question him with a cheerful
countenance, which he who confesses should also
if possible present, and kiss his hand, especially
if he sees the penitent to be depressed by the
severity of his sorrow and shame, and after that
he should say to him in a cheerful and gentle
voice " . . . . and then follow 95 questions, and
the priest orders the penitent, if not a woman, to
uncover his head even though he wear a crown :
he then prays with him : after that he raises
him and bids him recover his head, and sits with
him, and asks him what penance he can bear.
The Penitential of .Joannes Monachus directs
that the priest should invite the penitent into a
church or some other retired spot, with a cheer-
650
EXONARTHEX
ful countenance, as though he were inviting him
to some magnificent feast, and exhort him to
make a confession of his sins to him : the priest
should then recite with him th^ 69th Psalm, and
the Trisagion, and bid him uncover his head, and
neither should sit down before the priest has
minutely investigated all that is in his heart.
The penitent should afterwards prostrate himself
on the earth and lie there, while the priest prays
fur him : the priest is then to raise him and Iciss
him, and lay his hand upon his neck and comfort
him, after that they are to sit together. Alcuin,
or the author of De Divinis officiis, orders the
penitent coming to confess to bow humbly to the
priest, who is then on his own behalf to say
*' Lord be merciful to me a sinner," and after-
wards to order the penitent to sit opposite to him,
and speak to him about his sins ; the penitent is
then to rehearse the articles of his faith, and
afterwards kneel and raise his hands, and implore
the priest to intercede with God for all the sins
which have been omitted m the confession ; he is
then to prostrate himself on tlie ground, and the
priest is to suffer him to lie there awhile, and
afterwards raise him and impose a penance upon
him : afterwards the penitent is again to pros-
trate himself, and ask the priest to pray that he
may have grace given him to persevere in
performing his penanoe ; the priest then offers a
praver, which is followed by six others, which
are found in all the Western Penitentials ; the
penitent then rises from the ground and the
priest from his seat, and they enter the church
together, and there conclude the penitential
service. Compare Morinus (de Pocnit. iv.
18-19).
Literature. — Moriuus {de Poenit. lib. ii. et
passim) who is however hampered by the Roman
doctrine of obligatory confession, and contains far
fewer details on this than on the other stages of
discipline. What is to be said on the distinctively
Roman side of the controversy will be found in
Bellarmine (de Poenit. lib. iii.) ; and on the
Protestant side in Ussher (Ayiswer to a Challeiv/e,
s.v. Confession, Lend. 1625). The subject is
more thoroughly treated from the same side in
Daille (de Auric. Confess. Genev. 1661), a very
learned controversial work, and the source of
most of the subsequent Protestant writings,
which deal with confession. Also Bingham (Antii.
xviii. o), Marshall (Penitential Discipline), and
a long note on confession, founded on Daille,
appended bv the editor of the Oxf Lib. of Fathers
to Tertulliau (de Poenit.). [G. JI.]
EXONARTHEX CE|corap07)O. Monastic
churches sometimes have (besides the ordinary
Narthex at the west end) an outer narthex,
where the monks may say those portions of their
devotions which bear the character of penitence
without being disturbed by the influx of the
general congregation. Gedrenus says that the
great church of St. Sophia at Constantinople had
four nartheces, but other authorities attribute
to it only two (Daniel, Codex Lit. iv. 202). [C]
EXORCISM (opK'joais, e^opKtcr/xos, iirop-
Kia/xos, a.(popKi(Tjj.os adjuratio, incocatio) is the
employment of adjuration, and especially the
naming the name of Jesus Christ, with a" view
to expel an evil spirit. "Exorcismus est sermo
increpationis contra immundum spiritum in en-
ergumenis sive catechumenis factus, per quem
EXORCISM
nb illis diaboli nequissima virtus et inveterata
malitia vel excursio violenta fugetur " (Isidore,
l>e Div. Off. ii. 20).
1. To the early Christians the heathen world
presented itself as under the dominion of evil
s])irits ; everywhere they recognized the need of
driving these spirits from their ancient seats,
whether in the bodies and souls of men, in the
brute creation, or in inanimate objects. They saw
themselves suri'ounded by squadrons and gross
bands of daeniouia, supernatural beings who
worked for evil under their several captains
(Origen, contra Celsum, bk. vii. p. 378, Spencer ;
viii. p. 399) ; daemonia were the great officers
of the evil world, and might well have fasces
and toga praetexta (TertuUian, De Idolol. 18);
the gods of the nations were daemonia (ib. 20 ;
Orig. c. Cels. p. 378, quoting Ps. xcvi. 5) ; dae-
monia were by some devilish magic compelled to
inhabit the statues in an idol's temple (Minucius
Felix, Oct. c. 27; Tert. u. s. 7 and 15; Orig.
c. Gels. vii. p. 374); the theatre was the very
special dominion of evil spirits (Tertul. de
Spectac. 26). Demons ruled the flight of birds,
the lots, the oracles; they troubled men's minds,
disturbed their rest, crept with their subtle in-
fluence into bodies and caused disease, distorted
limbs; they compelled men to worship them, iu
order that, fed with the savour of the offerings,
they might release those whom they had bound
(Minucius, Oct. c. 27). And the members of
this great supernatural army were driven
from their seats by the mere word of a simple
Christian naming over them the name of Christ
(Acts six. 13; Justin Martyr, Apol. ii. c. 8;
Dial, u: Trrjpho, c. 85 ; Tertul. ad Scupulam,
cc. 2 and 4, 'Apol. c. 23 ; Orig. c. Cels. iii. p. 133)
with no parade of incantations or magic formulae,
by mere prayers aud adjurations (6pK(lj(Teai.v,
Orig. c. Ceh. vii. p. 334), or by sentences of
Scripture (ib. p. 376); and that not. only from
the bodies and souls of men, but from haunted
places and from the lower animals ; for these too
fell under the tyranny of demons (I. c). Fmm
such expressions as these it is evident that
exorcism was practised from a very early period
in the church.
In one form, indeed, exorcism was practised
by the Lord Himself and His disciples, namely,
in the casting out of evil spirits from those who
were in a special sense " possessed " or " de-
moniac ;" and such exorcism was continued for
some generations in the church [Di;mO-NIAC :
Exorcist]. But we are at present concerned
with the more general form of exorcism, by
which the inherent evil demon was to be ex-
pelled from some creature or substance not
specially " possessed," but belonging to the " evil
world."
2. It is not wonderful that when the minds of
men were full of the conception of an all-per-
vading army of evil spirits in the world around
them, they should endeavour to free from this
influence those whom they received from hea-
thenism into the holy ground of the church.
Hence, at a comparatively early period, we find
candidates for baptism not only renouncing for
themselves all allegiance to Satan and his powers,
but having pronounced over them a formula of
exorcism.
It is probable that in the first instance the use
of exorcism was confined to the case of those
EXORCISM
who entereii the church from he;itheaism ; but
in the 4th century, if not earlier, it was clearly
applied to all, for it is constantly appealed to as
a conclusive proof that the church recognized
the presence of original sin even in infants.
Thus Optatus (c;. Donatist. iv. 6, p. 75) insists that
no one, even though born of Christian parents,
can be destitute of a foul spirit, which must be
driven out of the man before he comes to the
font of salvation ; this is the work of exorcism,
by which the foul spirit is driven forth into the
wilderness. And jjope Celestinus (^Ad Episcop.
Gall. c. 12) says that none came to baptism,
whether infants or "juvenes," until the evil
spirit had been driven out of them by the ex-
orcisms and insufilations of the clerics. Compare
Augustine, Epist. 194, ad Sixtum, §46 ; De Sifin-
bolo ad Catechumenos, i. 5 ; Contra Jvlianum, i. 4.
Cyril of Jerusalem (^Procatec/iesis c. 9, p. 7 :
Catech. i. c. 5, p. 18) begs his catechumens to be
earnest in receiving their exorcisms (iiropKiff-
aoiis); whether the ir had been insufflated or
exorcised (/cav ef d'orj^^y Kav kiropKtaOris}, he
prays that they may be blessed. And again
(c. lo) he says, " w lo.n ye have entered before
the hour of the exoi isuis, let every one speak
things that conduce to piety," as if the exorcisms
began the catechetic office on each occasion.
These instructions are evidently for all the
catechumens, and not for those only who had
come over from heathenism. And Chrysostom
(Catech. I. ad Initian. c. 2, p. 227) speaks of
the catechumens, after instruction, proceeding
to hear the words of those who exorcise {twv
e^opKi(6i'T(i}v): to this exorcism they went bare-
footed and stripped of their upper garments.
There can of course be no doubt that the great
body of those whom Chrysostom catechised were
born of Christian families.
'6. Fwmiilae of Exorcism. — Celsus, who wrote
against the Christians probably in the middle of
the 2nd century, says that he had seen in the
possession of certain presbyters "barbaric books
containing names of daemons and gibberish (repa-
Tei'as)" (Orig. c. Cclsum, vi. p. 302); and again
the same opponent says that, " to name the de-
mons in the barbarous tongue (^ap^dpwi) is
efficacious ; to name them in Greek or Latin is
useless " {ib. viii. p. 402). Origen, in answer to
this, alleges .that Latin, Greek, or other Chris-
tians in their prayers use the name of God in the
tongue in which they were born ; but he does
not deny the superior efficacy of names or for-
mulae in one language over those in anothei-.
On the contrary, he admits (ib. i. p. 19) the
mystic power of Hebrew names, and declares
that Egyptian, Persian, and other names have a
peculiar efficacy over certain demons ; and else-
where (/ft jVait. ser. 110, p. 232, ed. Wirceb.)
complains that those who practised exorcisms
(adjurationibus) used improper books, as, for
instance, books derived from Jewish sources.
From all this it seems clear that formulae of
exorcism which to a Roman seemed " barbaric "
were in use in the 2ud century. That written
forms of exorcism were used in the 4th is clear
from the 7th of the Statula Antiqua [Cone.
Garth. IV.\ which .orders the bishop to deliver
to an Exorcist on ordination a book containing
such forms.
With regard to the form of exorcism, we find
in ancient authorities the following particulars.
EXORCISM
651
We have already seen that to name the name
of Christ was regarded as being of the utmost
efficacy for the exj)ulsion of evil spirits. The
passage of Justin Martyr (Z'iVi/. c. 85; conijiare
c. 30) which says that every spirit (^ain6viov)
is conquered and subjected on being adjured '" by
the Name of the Son of God and first-born of
every creature, Who was born of the Virgin and
became Man capable of suffering {vadtiTov), was
crucified under Pontius Pilate by your [the
Jewish] people, and died, and rose again from
the dead, and ascended into heaven," renders it
probable that a recitation of the redeeming acts
of the Lord accompanied the naming of his name.
And the same thing seems to be indicated by the
words of Origen (e. Gel's, i. p. 7), who says that
demons were exjielled by the name of Jesus,
"together with the recitation of the acts related
of Him " (fxera t?)s aTrayyeXias toiv nepl aurbu
laTopiwv). See Probst, p. 49.
The words of Tertullian again (Apol. 23), that
the power of Christians over evil spirits derives
its force from naming Christ, " and from the
making mention of those punishments which
await them from God through Jesus Christ the
judge," make it probable that the awful punish-
ment which was to overtake the evil ones was
spoken of in the formula of exorcism. So Ter-
tullian : "representatione ignis illius" {Apol. 23).
And if in another passage — " Satanas . . . quem
nos dicimus malitiae angelum "... (De Testiin.
Animae, c. 3) — we are to take " dicimus " in a
ritual sense, it would appear that the exorcists
of TertuUian's time cursed and reviled Satan.
That prayer was added to the exorcism proper
we know from the testimony of Minucius Felix
(Octav.c. 27,^0).
The actions which formed pai-t of the rite of
exorcism were touching and breathing on the
afflicted, and signing them with the cross.
As to the first, Tertullian tells us (Apol. 23),
that the evil spirits depart unwillingly from the
bodies of men at the touch and on-breathing of
Christians (de contactu deque afflatu uostro).
\'incentius of 'J'hibari (Suntentiae h'piscoporum,
No. 37, in Cyju-ian's UorA-s), contending that
heretics require baptism -at least as much as
heathens, distinctly refers to the imposition of
hands in exorcism, quoting (incorrectly) Mark
xvi. 17, 18. So Origen (oji Johua, Horn. 24, c. 1)
speaks of the imposition of the hands of the e.xor-
cists which evil spirits could not resist. Simi-
larlv the Arabic canons of Hippolytus (Can. 19,
§ 6,"and Can. 29, quoted by Probst, p. 50). The
same canon enjoins the exorcist, after the adju-
rations, to "sign" (no doubt with the cross) the
breast, forehead, ears, and mouth. And at an
even earlier date, when Justin (Dial. c. 131)
speaks of the outstretched arms of Moses as a
type of Christ, and then immediately after of
the power of Christ crucified over evil spirits, it
is not improbable that he alludes to the use of
the sign of the cross. So when we read (Origen
on Exodus, Horn. (5, §8) how the demons tremble
before the cross which they see on Christians,
we may well believe that the reference is to the
use of the cross in exorcism. Lactantius (Div.
Inst. iv. 27) distinctly mentions the use of the
sign of the cross (signum passionis) for the
expulsion of evil spirits. The first council of
Constantinople (c. 7) describes the course of
proceeding with those heretics who were to be
G52
EXORCISM
received as non-Christiaus (is "EWTivas) as
follows: "the first day we make them Christians ;
the second, catechumens; then the third we
exorcise them, after breathing thrice upon the
face and cars, and so we catechise them, and
cause them to stay in the church and hear the
Scriptures; and then we baptize them."
The ceremony took place in the church.
" Shameless is he," says Pseudo-Cyprian {De
Spectac. c. 4), "who exorcises in a church de-
mons whose delights he favours in a theatre."
During the exorcism the patient lay prostrate on
the ground (Origen on Matt. Horn. 13, § 7).
Most of the characteristics of the form of
exoicism which we have traced in ancient times
are found in existing rituals. For instance, in
the ancient Roman form of receiving a heathen
as a catechumen (Daniel, Codex Lit. i. 171),
after the admonition to renounce the devil and
believe in the Holy Trinity, the priest "exsufflat
ab eo saevam maligni spiritus potestatem dicens —
' Exi, immunde spiritus, et da locum Spiritui
Sancto Paraclito.'" Then he signs him with
the cross on the forehead and breast. At the
seventh scrutiny [Scrutinium], which took
place on Easter Eve, after the recitation of the
Creed by the candidates for baptism, the priest
lays his hand on the head of each severally,
saying — " Nee te lateat, Satanas, imminere tibi
tormeuta, imminere tibi diem judicii, diem sup-
EXORCTSM
plicii, diem qui venturus est velut clibanus
ardens, in quo tibi atque universis angelis tuis
aeternus veniet interitus. Proinde, damnate, da
honorem Deo vivo et vero: da honorem Jesu
Christo filio ejus et Spiritui Sancto, in cujus no-
mine atque virtute praecipio tibi ut exeas et
recedas ab hoc famulo Dei, quem hodie Dominus
Deus noster Jesus Christus ad suam sanctam
gratiam et benedictionem fontemque baptismatis
vocare dignatus est, ut fiat ejus templum per
aquam regenerationis in remissioneni omnium
peccatorum : in nomine Domini nostri Jesu
Christi, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mor-
tuos et saeculum per ignem " (Daniel, u.s. 177).
Then follows the epheta [Ears, todching of],
and the anointing on the breast and between the
shoulders with holy oil.
In the Vetus Mismle Gallicanum, published by
Thomasius and reprinted by Mabillon {Lit. Gail.
bk. iii. p. 338) the essential part of the form of
exorcism is as follows : " Aggredior te, immun-
dissime damnate spiritus . . . Te, invocato Do-
mini nostri Jesn Christi nomine, . . . adjuramus
per ejusdem majestatem adque virtutem, pas-
sionem ac resurrectionem, adventum adque judi-
' cium ; ut in quacumque parte membrorum
; latitas propria te confessione manifestes, exagi-
j tatusque spii-italibus flagris invisibilibusque
1 tormentis vas quod occupasse aestimas fugias
expiatumque post habitatiouem tuam Domino
derelinquas . . . Abscede, abscede quocunque es,
et corpora Deo dicata ne repetas. Interdicta sint
tibi ista in perpetuo. In nomine Patris et Filii
et Spiritus Sancti, et in gloria dominicae pas-
sionis, cujus cruore salvantur, cujus adventum
expectant, judicium confitentur. PerDominum."
The Geiasian Sacmimntai-t/ (i. 33), in the
Exorcismi super Electos," gives the following
form. The acolytes, laying their hands on the
candidate, after praying God to send forth His
angel to keep them, proceeds : " Ergo, maledicte
diabole, recognosce sententiam tuam, et da
honorem Deo vivo et vero, et . . . Jesu Christo
Filio ejus et Spiritui Sancto ; et recede ab his
famulis Dei ; quia istos sibi Deus . . . vocare dig-
uatus est : per hoc signum sanctae crucis, fron-
tibus eorum quod nos dam us, tu, maledicte
diabole, uunquam audeas violare. . . . Audi,
maledicte Satanas, adjuratus per nomen aeterni
Dei et Salvatoris nostri Filii Dei, cum tua victus
invidia, tremens gemensque discede."
And again, the foul spirit is adjured to
depart, in the case of the males, in the name of
a I. e. the accepted candidates for baptism.
Him who walked the water and stretched out His
right hand to Peter ; in the case of the females,
in the name of Him who gave bight to him that
was born blind, and rai.sed Lazarus from his four
days' death.
The form given from the Roman ritual by
Probst (p. 53) presents a remarkable parallelism
with the passage of Tertullian {Apol. c. 23) be-
fore referred to.
Greek forms similar in character to those
given above may be seen in Daniel's Codex
Liturg. iv. 493 f.
4. liapresentation of Exorcism. — Paciaudi (De
Christianorum Balncis, pp. 136 ff., 143 ff.) describes
an urn or water-vessel found near Pisaura, which
he believes to be not of later date than the 7th
century. One of the bas-reliefs on this vessel
(see woodcut) evidently represents an exorcism.
The contortions of the person on the ground
seem to show that it was an exorcism of one
possessed. Now, if the vessel was a font for
holding the baptismal water, it would seem more
appropriate to represent upon it the ordinary
pre-baptismal exorcism. It seems therefore
more probable that it was intended for the
EXORCISTS
ATPaUM of a church, where it might be used to
contaiu Holy Water.
5. Besides human beings, various inanimate
objects were exorcised. Of these we may men-
tion especially water [Baptism, §§ 30, 42 : Font,
Bknedictio:^ of : Holy Water], salt i"or use
in sacred offices [Salt, Benediction of], and
oil for various uses [Chrism : Oil, Holy].
(Martene, De Ritibus Anfiquis ; Probst, Sakra-
mcnte tind Sakramentalien, Tubingen, 1872 ;
¥. C. Baur, Kirchengesckichte der Drei ersten
Jahrhundcrte, c. 6.) [C]
EXORCISTS. Exorcists are only once men-
tioned in the New Testament (Acts xix. 13), and
then without any reference to the power given
to Christians to cast out devils. [See DiCT. OF
Bible.] In the early days of the church, it
appears to have been considered that the power
of exorcising evil spirits was a special gift of
God to cei'tain persons, who are therefore called
exoi-cists. In the Apostolic Constitutions
(viii. c. 26), it is said that an exorcist is not
ordained, because the power of exorcising is a
free gift of the grace of God, thi'ough Christ,
and that whoever has received this gift will be
made manifest in the exercise of it. It is added
that if expedient an exorcist may be ordained
bishop, priest, or deacon. Exorcists are not
named among those who received ecclesiastical
stipends, nor are they mentioned in the Ajiostolic
Canons, though probably their office is alluded to
in the direction that a Gentile convert who has
an evil spirit may not be received into the
church till he has been purified (KaOapKrOeh,
Can. 70). Thomassin ( Vet. et A'ov. Eccl. Discip.
i. 2, c. 30, § 1, 8), thinks that exorcists were
either priests or deacons. So Eusebius makes
mention of one Romanus, as deacon and exorcist
in the church of Caesarea in Palestine (X'e
Martyr. Palest, c. 2).
Tertullian speaks as if all Christians were
exorcists, driving away evil spirits by the
exorcisms of their prayers. Thus {De. Idol. c. 1 1),
he forbids Christians to have anything to do
with the sale of things used for the purposes of
idolatry, asking with what consistency they
could exorcise their own inmates, to whom
they had offered their houses as a shrine
(cellariam) ; and in another place (De Cor. Mil.
c. 11), uses as an argument against Christians
entering the militai-y sei-vice, that they might be
called upon to guard the heathen temples, so as
to defend those by night whom by their exor-
cisms they had put to flight during the day.
But it is evident that in later times they were
reckoned among the minor orders of clergy.
Cyprian {Ep. 69, Mag. Fil.), speaks of exorcists
as casting out devils by man's word and God's
power, and in his epistle to Firmilian (^Ep. 75),
says that one of the exorcists, inspired by the
grace of God, cast out a certain evil spirit who
liad made pretensions to sanctity. Cornelius in
iiis epistle (Euseb. H. E. i. c. 43) names forty-
two exorcists among the clergy of the church
of Rome. Epiphanius (Expos. Fid. c. 21), men-
tions them among the clergy, ranking them
with the hermeneutae, inmiediately after the
deaconesses. Paulinus of Nola (De S. Felic. Natal.
carm. 4), speaks of St. Felix as having been
promoted from the order of lectors to the oliicc
of exorcist. The council (if Laodicea (c '_'-4-),
EXPOSING OP INFANTS
653
mentions them among the minor clergy, ])lacing
them between the singers and the doorkeepers,
and, in another canon (c. 26), forbids any to
exorcise either in church or in private houses,
who had not been appointed to the office by tiie
bishops. The council of Antioch (c. 10), places
them after the subdeacons, among the clergy
who might be ai)pointed by the chorepiscopi.
The 4th council of Carthage (c. 7), provides an
office for the ordination of an exorcist. He was
to receive from the.hands of the bishop a book,
in which were written forms of exorcism, with
the bidding, " Take and commit to memory, and
receive power to lay hands on energumens
whether baptized or catechumens." The same
council also provided that exorcists might lay
hands on an energumen at any time (c. 90), and
(c. 92) gave it into their charge to provide the
energumens with their daily food while remaining
in the church. [Demoniacs.]
The names of four exorcists, designating them-
selves by no other titles, are found among the
signataries of the first council of Aries (Routh's
Relliq. Sac. iv. p. 312).
There seems little reason for connecting the
exorcists with the form of exorcism that was
used in the case of all catechumens. Their work,
as expressly allotted to them by the 4th council
of Carthage (c. 7), lay among all energumens,
whether baptized or not. [P. 0.]
EXPECTATION WEEK {Hehdomada Ex-
pectationis), the week preceding Whitsunday,
because in that week the apostles waited for the
Comforter from on high, which the Lord had
promised at His Ascension. (Ducange, s. v. Hcb-
domtda.) [C]
EXPEDITUS, martyr in Armenia with five
others; commemorated April 19 {Mart. Rom.
Vet,, Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EXPOSING OF INFANTS [compare
Foundlings]. The frequency of the exposi-
tion of infants among the ancient heathens is
a fact to which both the mythology and the
history of Greece and Rome bear frequent
witness. Among the early Christian writers
we find exposition, together with actual in-
fanticide, constantly cast in the teeth of their
Pagan opponents. "I see you," writes Minucius
Felix, " now casting forth the sons whom yo
have begotten to the wild beasts and to the
fowls of the air" {Octavius, c. 30, § 2; 31,
§ 4). Lactantius (bk. vi. c. 20) inveighs against
the false pity of those who expose infants.
Justin, Tertullian, Augustine and others might
be quoted to much the same efl'ect.
A law of Alexander Severus, which has been
retained in Justinian's Code (bk. viii. t. Hi., 1. i. ;
A.D. 225), allowed the recovering of an infant
exposed against the will or without the know-
ledge of the owner or person entitled to the
services of its mother, whether slave or adscrij,-
titi'i, but only on condition of repaying the fair
cost of its maintenance and training to a trade,
unless theft could be established — an enactment
obviously framed only to secure the rights of
slave-owners, and not inspired by any considera-
tion of humanity for the infants themselves.
There is something of a higher spirit in a law of
Diocletian and Maximin, A.D. 295 (Code, bk. v.,
t. iv., I. It;), en.-.ctiii'j- tli:it where a iV'Uuile infant
ha.l b.vu ca.st forth l.v hrr I'athcr and broUi,lit
654 EXPOSING OF INFANTS
ijp by another person, who sought to marry her
to his own son, the father was bound to consent
to the marriage, or in case of refusal (if we con-
strue the text aright), to pay for his daughter's
maintenance. Constantine (a.d. 331), by a law
contained in the Theodosian Code (bk. v., t. vii.,
1. 1), but not reproduced by Justinian, enacted
that whoever took up an infant cast forth from
its house by the will of a father or master, and
nourished it till it became strong, might retain
it in whatever condition he pleased, either as a
child or as a slave, without any fear of recovery
by those who have voluntarily oast out their
new-born slaves or children. The growth of
Christian humanity is shown in a constitution of
Valentinian, Valeus and Gratian, adopted by
Justinian (Code, bk. viii., t. Hi., 1. 2 ; a.d. 374),
which absolutely forbade masters or patrons to
recover infants exposed by themselves, if charit-
ably saved by others, and laid down as a duty
that every one must nourish his own offspring.
A constitution of Honorius and Theodosius, in
the Theodosian Code (a.d. 4J 2), repeated the
prohibition, observing that " none can call one
his own whom he contemned while perishing,"
but required a bishop's signature by way of
attestation of the facts (bk. v., t. vii., 1. 2).
The law last referred to may seem in some
degree to explain a canon of the council or synod
of Vaison, a.d. 442. There is a universal com-
plaint, it says, on the subject of the exposition
of infivnts, who are cast forth not to the mercy
of others, but to the dogs, whilst the fear of
lawsuits deters others from saving them. This
therefore is to be observed, that according to the
.statutes of the princes the church be taken to
witness; from the altar on the Lord's day the
minister is to announce that the church knows
an exposed infant to have been taken up, in
order that within ten days any person may
acknowledge and receive it back ; and any who
after the ten days may bring any claim or ac-
cusation is to be dealt with by the church as a
manslayer (cc. 9, 10). A canon almost to the
same effect, but in clearer language, was enacted
by the slightly later 2nd council of Aries, a.d.
452, indicating that which serves to explain
both the law of Honorius and the two canons
just referi'ed to, viz., that it was the practice to
expose infants "before the church" (c. 51).
The council of Agde, in 506, simply confirmed
former enactments.
In the East, the full claims of Christian
humanity were at last admitted by Justinian,
as towards foundhngs themselves, though with-
out sufficient consideration for parental duties.
He not only absolutely forbade the re-vindica-
tion of exposed infants under any circumstances,
but also the treating of them, by those who
have taken charge of them, either as slaves,
freedmen, coloni or aJscriptitii, declaring such
children to be absolutely free (Code, bk. viii.,
t. Hi., 1. 3 ; A.D. 529 ; see also bk. i., t. iv.,
1. 24; A.D. 530). This applied to infants cast
away either in churches, streets or any other
place, even though a plaintiff' should give some
evidence of a right of ownership over them (bk.
viii., t. lii., 1. 4). The 153rd Novel, however,
shows that it was still the practice in certain
districts ( Thessalonica is specified ) to expose
new-born infants in the churches, and after they
had been brought up to reclaim them as slaves;
EXPULSION FROM A BIONASTERY j
and it again expressly enacts the freedom of
exposed infants.
The Wisigothic law contains some rather re-
markable provisions as to the exposition of
infants (bk. iv., t. iv., cc. 1. 2). Where a person
has out of compassion taken up a foundling of i
either sex, wherever exposed, and when it is . i
nourished up the parents acknowledge it, if it j
be the child of a h-nt person, let them either i
give back a slave in its place or pay the price of
one ; otherwise, let the foundling be redeemed '
by the judge of the territory from the owner- |
ship of the parents, and let these be subject to I
perpetual exile. If they have not wherewithal
to pay, let him serve for the infant who cast it '
forth, and let the latter remain in freedom, i
whom the pity of strangers has preserved. If j
indeed slaves of either sex have cast forth an '
infant in fraud of its masters, when he has been '
nourished up, let the nourisher receive one-third
of its value, the master swearing to or pi'oving
his ignorance of the exposing. But if he knew
of it, let the foundling remain in the power of
him who nourished it.
In a collection of Irish canons, ascribed to the
end of the 7th century, is one "on infants cast ;
forth in the church," which enacts, in very i
uncouth and obscure Latin, that such an infant j
shall be a slave to the church unless sent away ; j
and that seven years' penance is to be borne by |
those who cast infants forth (bk. xli., c. 22). j
A capitulary of uncertain date (supposed
about 744) enacts, in accordance with the canon j
of the synod of Vaison before referred to, that ,
if an infant exposed before the church has been
taken up by the compassion of any one, such
person shall affix — probably on the church door
— a letter of notice (contestationis ponat . . \
epistolam). If the infant be not acknowledged
within ten days, let the person who has taken it \
up securely retain it (c. 1). *
The " Lex Romana," supposed to represent the j
law of the Roman population of Italy in Lom- |
bard times, contains a less liberal provision on _ j
this subject, founded on the earlier imperial
law. If a new-born infant has been cast out by
its parents either in the church or in the pre-
cincts (platea), and any one with the knowledge
of the father or mother and of the nwstor has
taken it up and nourished it by his labour, it i
shall remain in his power who took it up. And
if a person knew not its father or mother or i
master, aiid wished nevertheless to take it up, {
let him present the infant before the bishop j
(pontificem) or the clerics who serve that
church, and receive from the hand of that ,
bishoj) and those clerks an epistola collectionis,
and theneefortli, let him have power either to
give such infant liberty, or to retain it in per-
petual slavery (bk. v., t. vii.). [J. M. L.]
EXPULSION FROM A MONASTERY. '
So soon as there began to be any sort of disci- |
pline among the ascetics who dwelt together in ]
a community, expulsion inevitably became a \
necessary part of it. In the so-called "Rule of
Pachomius," expulsion (or a flogging) was the
penalty for insubordination, licentiousness, (juar- \
relling, covetousness, gluttony (cf. Cass. Inst. iv.
16). Menard, however, thinks that this was ,
only expulsion for a stated time (Bened. Anian.
Concord. Regg. xxxi. 5). By the Eegula Orientalu
EXSECRATIO
(c. 35) obstinate oftendei-» are to be expelkvl.
Benedict, with characteristic prudence, prescribed
expulsion for contumacy (^Keg. c. 71),- on the
principle that the gangrened limb must be lopped
oft", lest the rest of" the body should be infected
with the poison {ib. c. 28), while with charac-
teristic gentleness he allowed such oftenders to
be re-admitted, if penitent, so often as thi:ice, on
condition of their taking the lowest place among
the brethren {ib. c. 29). Some commentators,
however, take this permission as not extending
to the case of a monk expelled for such vices
cis could hardly fail to corrupt the community
(Mart. lieg. Comm. loc. cit.). The Benedictine
reformers generally made expulsion more com-
mon and readmissiou more difficult. Fructuosus
orders all incorrigible oftenders to be expelled
{Eecj. cc. 8. 16); and the Rejula Cujusddin, still
more severe, enacts expulsion for lying, forni-
cation, persistent murmuring, and even abusive
language (cc. 6, 8, 16, 18). At a later period,
under the stern discipline of Citeaux, a monk
was to be unfrocked and expelled, even for theft
above a certain value (Mart. Reg. Comm. c. 33).
Obviously the frequency or infrequency of such
a penalty as expulsion depended on the monas-
tery being regarded rather as a reformatory or
as a place of ideal perfection. [I. G. S.]
EXSECRATIO. [Anathema :' Desecra-
riox.l
EXSUPERAXTIUS, deacon and martyr at
Spoletum, with Sabinus the bishop, and others,
under Maximian ; commemorated Dec. 30 (Mart.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EXSUPERIA, martyr at Rome with Simpro-
nius and others ; commemorated July 26 (Mart.
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EXSUPERIUS. (1) One of the Theban legion,
martyr at Sedunum in Belgic Gaul (the Valais),
under Maximian ; commemorated Sept. 22 (Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Bishop and confessor at Toulouse; com-
memorated Sejit. 28 (Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Martyr at Vienna with Severus and Feli-
cianus ; commemorated Nov. 19 (J/«r^. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
EXT EME UNCTIOX. [Sick, Visita-
tion OF THE : UXCTIOX.]
EX VOTO. [Votive Offerings.]
EYES, TOUCHING OF. 1. The first
council of Constantinople (A.D. 381) laid it down
(c. 7) that Arians and certain other heretics
were to be received into the church, without re-
baptism, on renouncing their heresy and being
crossed or anointed with holy unguent (/J-vpw)
on the forehead, eyes, &c. So in the form of
baptism given by Daniel (Codex Lit. iv. 507)
from the Greek Euchologion, the priest after
baptism anoints the neophyte with holy unguent,
mak g the sign of the cross on forehead, eyes,
nostrils, mouth, ears, breast,' hands, and feet,
saying, " the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Amen." Compare Martene, DeRit.Ant. I. i. 17,
Ord. 24, 25.
2. In extreme unction, the eyes are anointed
with holy oil. Thus, in the Katold MS. of the
Gregorian Sacramentanj (P- 549> ed. Menard), the
priest is directed to anoint the eyes, with the
words: " Ungo oculo-^ tuos de olco sanctificato.
FACITERGIUM
655
ut (|uiiquid illicito visu deliquisti per hujus olei
uuctiuuem expietur."
3. It seems to have been the custom to touch
the eyes, as well as the other organs of sense,
with the moisture remaining on the lips after com-
municating (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. Myst.
I V. 22 : see COMiiUNiON, Holy, p. 413 ; Ears,
touching of). m -|
I EZEKIEL, the prophet ; commemorated
, April 10 (3Iart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usu-
1 ardi) ; Miaziah 5 = March 31, and Hamle 27 =
July 21 (Cil. Ethiop.); Sept. 3 (Cd. Annen.).
[W. F. G.]
I EZRA, the prophet; commemorated Jakatit
10 = Feb. 4, and Hamle 6 ^ June 30 (Cat.
Ethiop.), Juiv 13 (Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.l
FABARIUS. The Cantores anciently fasted
the day before they were to sing divine' offices,
but ate beans, as being supposed to benefit the
voice (Pliny, Nnt. Hist. xx. 6); whence thev
were called by the heathen Eabirii (Isidore, De
Div. Off. ii. 12). [C.]
FABIAXUS, the pope, martyr at Rome in
the time of Decius; commemorated Jan. 20
(Mart. Ro)n. Vet., Bedae, Hieron., Adonis, Usu-
ai"di). [W. F. G.]
FABIUS, martyr at Caesarea ; "Passio"
July 31 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.l
FABRICA ECCLESIAE. [Churches,
Maintenance of, p. 388.]
» FACE, BRANDING IN THE. It was
enacted under Constantine (Code, lib. ix. tit. 47,
1. 17), that branding should not be in the face,
I as disfiguring the heavenly beauty [Corporal
j Punishments, p. 470]. ' [C]
FACITERGIUM (also facietergium, facis-
tergium, facitergula ; facialis, faciale). This, as
its name indicates, is a handkerchief for wiping
the face (" facitergium et manitergium, a ter-
gendo faciem vel manus vocatur." Isidore, Etijm.
xix. 26). Mention of this is occasionally found
in various monastic rules. It is appointed as
part of the furniture of a monk's couch in the
Rule of St. Isidore (c. 14; p. 127, part 2, in
Holstenius, Codex Regularum: ed. Paris, 1663).
; See also Magistri Regula, cc. 17, 19, 81 (op. cit.
pp. 214, 216, 257). The last passage ordains
I that there shall be dealt out " singula facitergia
! per decadam." Gregory of Tours ( Vitae Ra-
trum, viii. 8; p. 1191, ed. Ruinart) speaks of the
value set upon the "facitergium dependentibus
villis intextum, quod Sanctus [i.e. Nicetius Lug-
dunensis] super caput in die obitus sui habuit."
The facitergia used by nuns were at times em-
broidered (Caesarii Regula ad Virgines, c. 42;
Holstenius, part 3, p. 22). Again, Venantius
Fortunatus, in his life of St. Radegundis of
Fi-ance, describes her on one occasion as " circa
altare cum facistergio jacentem pulverem c.ol-
ligens '• (c. 2 ; Patrol. Ixxii. 653). One more
example may suffice, where the word, perhaps,
a])pears in the transitional state of its meaning:
'• donata etiam particula sanoti orarii, id est
656
FAITH
facialis" (Hypomnesticon de Anastasio Apocri-
siario, etc., in Anast. Biblioth. Collectanea: Pa-
trol, cxxix. 685). For further examples, see
Ducange's Glossarium, s. vv. [R. S.]
FAITH. [Sophia.]
FAITHFUL. The present article is in-
tended to give an account of the principal names
applied to Christians in early times, whether by
themselves or by others.
The names most common among Christians in
the apostolic and sub-apostolic ages seem to have
been Saints (ayiot), Elect (eK\eKToi), Brethren
{a.Se\(j)oi), and Faithful (TtiaToi), often followed
by the words, iv 'Irja-ov Xpicrr^.
The words irLffThs and Fidelis were also used
in a special sense to distinguish the baptized
Christian from the catechumen. Thus Augustine
{Tract, in Joan. 44, c. 9) says that if a man tells
us that he is a Christian, we have to ask further,
whether he is catechumen or " fidelis." Hence
such an inscription as Christiana Fidelis (Le
Blant, Inscrijd. de la Gaule, i. 373) is not a mere
pleonasm. _ So the council of Elvira (C. Elib.
c. 67) seems to distinguish between "fidelis"
and " catechumena." In the liturgies, the portion
of the office at which catechumens were not
allowed to be present was called Missa Fidelium,
and the Lord's Prayer Fidelium Oratio. See
Suicer's Thesaurus, s.v. niffrds. Eusebi>is(Praej9.
Evamj. i. 1) repudiates the charge that Chris-
tians were called ttkttoI from their credulity.
Fidelis is a fi-equent epithet in inscriptions,
particularly in the case of young children, who
might otherwise be supposed to have died un-
baptized. Thus an inscription given by Maran-
■ goni {Acta S. Victorini, 103) runs thus: HIC
REQVIESCIT in PACE FILIPPUS || INFAS FIDELIS.
Similar inscriptions are given in the case of a,
child who died at the age of a year and nine
months {fh. p. 109), and of another who died at
the age of five years and five months (76. p. 96).
Another may be seen in Cavedoni {Ant. Cimit. di
Chiusi, p. 33). On a marble at Florence (Gori,
Inscr. Ant. Ftrur. iii. 314) it is said of a child of
three years and three months, ITICTH ETEAET-
THCEN. In one case given by JMariui {Frat.
Arval. p. 171), the inscription describes an
ancestress (major) begging baptism for a child at
the point of death: petivit ab ecclesia ut
FIDELIS DE SECVLO RECECissET {i. e. recederet).
In another case (Oderico, fnscr. IVi. p. 267), one
of two brothers, who died at eight years old,
is described as NEOFITVS, while the brother, who
died at seven, is described as fidelis. And
again a guardian described as fidelis, erects a
monument to a nursling who was yet among
the " audientes " or catechumens : alvmnae
AVDiENTi (Gori, u. s. i. 228).
Such inscriptions as vixiT in pace fidelis,
or REQVIESCIT FIDELIS IN PACE, are too common
to need particularizing (Martigny, Diet, des
Ayitiq. Chre't. s. v. Fidelis).
Other names given to Christians were perhaps
either (1) Designations of some peculiarity of their
practice or profession, rather than recognized
titles; more epithets than names; or (2) names
given them by the outside world, either in deri-
sion or by mistake.
I. Under the first head may be classed (a) 'leo--
(Ttuoi, Jessaeans, a name which Epiphanius (^aer.
29, n. 4) says may be derived from Jesus, or (as
FAITHFUL
seems far-fetched and improbable) from Jesse,
the father of David. Epiphanius (m. s.) considers
this name earlier than that of "Christian."
Another such name was (6) yvaiffriKoi, applied
to Christians by Clement of Alexandria {6troin.
i. p. 294 ; ii. p. 383 ; vi. p. 665 ; vii. p. 748) as
having the true knowledge. Later we find
Athanasius (ap. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. iv. 23) using
the term of the Ascetics of Egypt, and Socrates
{ibid.) tells us that Evagrius Ponticus wrote a
book for the use of these Ascetics, called "The
Gnostic, or Rules for the Contemplative Life."
(c) @eo<\>6poi, a name claimed by Ignatius in
his interview with Trajan (j4cia/(/H;ri. ap. Grabe,
Spicil. t. ii. p. 10), because he " carried Christ in
his heart," and seemingly conceded especially to
him, was commonly used of all Christians, as
Pearson {Vind. Ignat. par. ii. c. 12, p. 397)
shows by quotations from many writers of the
2nd century.
Clement of Alexandria, agreeing about the
meaning of the name, gives the varieties of it
@€0(popii}v and ©eocpopoi/jxevus, and Eusebius (viii.
10) quotes a letter of Phileas, bishop of Thmuis,
to his flock, in which he calls the martyrs Xpia-
TOCpSpOt.
{(l) St. Ambrose {de obit. Valentin, t. iii. p. 12)
speaks of Christians as Christi, i.e. " anointed,"
and justifies his use of the title by reference to
Ps. cv. 15, "nolite tangere Christos meos," all
Christians receiving the unction of the Holy
Spirit, and Jerome commenting on the passage
(Ps. civ. [cv.]), justifies it by the same refer-
ence.
(e) The name Ecclesiastici was used within
the Christian body (Bingham, i. 1, §8) to dis-
tinguish the clergy from the laity, and with a
modification of this meaning of the word Eusebius
(iv. 7) speaks of " ecclesiastical writers ; " and it
was also used of Christians generally in contrast
to those who did not belong to the eKKKricria, as
Jews, infidels, and heretics. Bingham quotes
Eusebius (iv. 7, v. 27), and Cyril of Jerusalem
{Catech. 15, n. 4), as employing the word in this
sense, and Valesius (not. in Euseb. 1. ii. c. 25)
finds the same use of it in " Origen, Epiphanius,
Jerome, and others " [EccLESiASTicus].
(/) Bingham asserts that Christians were
called oi rod SSyfiaTos, "They of the Faith,"
giving as his authority for this statement the
rescript of Aurelian against Paul of Samosata,
quoted by Eusebius (vii. 30), in which the
bishops of Rome and of Italy are called eiri-
(TKOTToi rod Soy/xaros.
{g) Christians also called themselves CATHOLIC
[see the word] ; and (Ji) Pisciculi, alluding to the
mystic Fish [BAFriSM, p. 171 ; Fish].
It is to be observed, says Bingham (i. 1, §6)
that all these names express some relation to
God or to Christ, and that none of them were
taken from the names of men, as was the case
with the heresies and sects. He quotes Chry-
sostom {Horn. 33 in Act.), Epiphanius {Haer. 42.
Marciouit., also Haer. 10.), Gregory Nazianzen
{Oral. 31, p. 506) and others as noticing these
opposite tendencies. The name of Christian was
neglected by the heretics for the names of their
leaders, while the Christians thought it enough
without any other title derived from parents,
country, city, quality, or occupation; see the
case of the deacon Sanctus martyred in the
reign of Antoninus, related by Eusebius (v. 1).
FAITHFUL
II. Among tlie names given to Christians from
without their body are probably to be reckoned
(.1) Xprjcrroi, a name which would easily arise
from a misunderstanding or mispronunciation of
the name XpicrToi, and was naturally not refused
by Christians ; referred to by Justin Martyr
(^Apol. i. 4), Lactantius {Inst. iv. 7), Tertullian
{ApoL c. 3), and others.
(2) It was quite to be expected that tliey
would be called Jews by the heathen world, and
there is evidence of this. Bingham (i. 1, § 10)
refers to a passage in Dio's Life of Bomitian, in
which he speaks of the Christian martyr Ocilius
Glabrio (Baronius, an. 94, § 1), being put to 1
death for turning to the Jews' religion.
Again, Suetonius says (Claud, c. 26) that
Claudius " expelled the Jews from Rome because
they made disturbances at the instigation of
Chrestus;" and Spartianus (in Caracal, c. i.) says
that Caracalla's playfellow was a Jew, Caracalla,
according to Tertullian (ad Scapul. c. 4), having
been " lacte Christiano educatus."
(3) There remains to be considered the word
Christian, a name which diflers from those
already spoken of in being traceable to a par-
ticular locality, and with great probability to a
particular j^ear. The reason why the name arose
when and where it did, is probably to be found
in the long stay — " a whole year " — (Acts xi.
26) made in Antioch by Paul and Barnabas after
their return from Tarsus, in the assembly of the
church there for the same time, and in the pub-
licity given to the teaching of Christ by frequent
addresses to the people.
The question whether the Christians assumed
the name themselves or received it from the
Jews, or from the Gentiles, can only be deter-
mined with an approach to certainty.
(a) The only reason for thinking that the
Christians assumed this name is the language
of Acts xi. 26, xpr)iJiaT'i.(rai re TrpSnov iu 'Avti-
oxeia Touf /xadrfTas XptffTiavovs, because XPV-
piaTi^oi, when used of acquiring a name gener-
ally means to assume one ; but on the other
hand, both in the Acts and in the Epistles,
Christians speak of themselves as " brethren,"
" believers," " disciples," " saints," and only in
three places in the N.T. is the word Christian
used (Acts xi. 26, xxvi. 28 ; 1 Peter iv. 16), in
only one of which, and there doubtfully, is the
word used by Christians of themselves.
(6) Nor is it likely that the Jews would give
them a name which would virtually concede the
claim made by Christians, and so strenuously
denied by Jews. For " Christ " being the Greek
equivalent of " Messiah," to call the followers
of Christ " Christians " would be to acknowledge
Christ as the Messiah ; nor would they have
used so sacred a name in derision even for the
sake of insulting a despised and hated sect.
When they wanted to designate them, they used
a name derived from a place they held in con-
tempt (John i. 46, vii. 41 ; Luke xiii. 2), and
called St. Paul " a ringleader of the sect of the
' Nazarenes ' " (Acts xxiv. 5).
(c) But it is not unlikely that the Gentiles,
seeing the wide aim of this new community, its
readiness to admit all sorts of people, and even
to dispense with the rite of circumcision in its
converts, should have early come to distinguish
it from the sects of the Jews, with which they
very naturally at first confounded it, and so
CHRIST. ANT.
FAITHFUL
657
should have attached to it a now name. And
this probability is increased when we remember
that " Christ " was the title of the head of the
new sect, represented his peculiar office to them,
and was the name by which he was generally
known in their letters and conversation. It
would be adopted, of course, by the Gentiles
from them, as we know it was (Tacit. Ann. xv.
44), and in a city like Antioch. " notorious for
inventing names of derision, and for turning its
wit into channels of ridicule " (cf. Procopius,
Bell. Fers. ii. 8, quoted by Conybeare and
Howson, vol. i. p. 130), the new society would
soon get its name. The form of the word indi-
cates its Roman origin (cf. Sullani, Pompeiani,
and later Othoniani and Vitelliani), and that it
was first used as a term of reproach may be
gathered from the use made of it by Tacitus in
the passage referred to above, " quos per tlagitia
invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat." The
great increase in the number of Gentile converts
would soon turn what was at first a nickname
into a title of honour, and the predominance of
Rome in the world naturally made the Roman
name what it has become, the universal one. It
is interesting to contrast with " Christian " the
name " Jesuit," as unlike the other in its com-
paratively modern date and Greek form as in its
history and significance.
See Conybeare and Howson (vol. i. p. 129 ff.),
from whom this note on the word Christian is
derived. [E. C. H.]
III. The following names were appellations of
scorn, or "nick-names," given to Christians by
their enemies.
1. That they should be called Atheists was
inevitable in an empire in which the vulgar at
least knew of no gods that could not be repre-
sented by art and man's device. And Atheism
was in fact a common charge against them. See
Athenagoras (Leg. pro Christ, c. 3) and Justin
Martyr (Apot. I. c. 6). " Down with the Athe-
ists " (oTpe Toits aOeovs) was a mob-cry against
the Christians (Euseb. ff. E. iv. 15, § 6).
2. From the time that Christians were first
recognised as a sect, they were contemptuously
called Nazarenes (Acts xxiv. 5 ; Epiphanius,
Haeres. 29, c. 1 ; Jerome on Isaiah XLIX. ;
Prudentius, Peristeph. ii. 25). This no doubt at
first designated the supposed origin of the Lord
and the disciples from Nazareth; but the variety
of ways in which the word is written (NofapT7i'oi,
HaQapaioi, 'Na^wpaiot, NafTjparoi, 'Na(ipa7oi}
seems to show that in later times various senses
were attached to it. It was also, perhaps, some-
times used to designate a sect of Judaizing
Christians, rather than the whole body of the
church.
3. The name Galilaei was one which the phi-
losophic emperor Julian (Epid. 7) endeavoured
to fix upon the Christians (see Gregory Na-
zianz., Orat. iii. p. 81 ; Socrates, II. E, iii.
12), meaning, no doubt, to express the con-
tempt of a cultivated man for a sect which arose
in a despised district of Palestine, among shep-
herds and fishermen. His last words were, ac-
cording to Theodoret (H. E. iii. 21), vecfKijKos,
Ta\t\a7e, " Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilaean ! "
Cyril of Alexandria (c. Julian, iii. p. 39) sets
himself to show that the name " Galilaean," if
it implied roughness and want of culture, was
no more ajiplicable to Christians than to Julian
2 U
658
FALDESTOLIUM
and his friends (Gibbon's Borne, ch. 23; iii. 1G2,
cd. Smith).
4. Graecus, Graeculus. It was probably with
reference to the falseness and want of principle
attributed to the Greeks, in the days of the em-
]'ire, that Christians came to be called " Greeks,"
that is, impostors. The Chi-istian in the streets
was saluted with the cry, 6 TpatKhs eViOeTTjs
(.lerome, Epist. 10, ad Furan.). If his tunic was
not white, he was " impostor et Graecus " {Ih.
Epist. 19, ad MarcelL). The recognising a Chris-
tian by the want of the " tunica alba," perhaps
indicates a time when the ALB had become with
them almost 'wholly a ministerial dress.
5. Sybitlists was an appellation given to Chris-
tians by Celsus (Origen c. Cels. bk. v. p. 272,
Spencer). The early Christians did in fact pay
great respect to the Sibylline books (TertuUian,
ad Nationes, ii. 12), and discovered in them clear
prophecies of Christ. Celsus accused them of
having interpolated these books.
6. From peculiarities, or supposed peculiai-i-
ties, of their woi-ship, they were called cross-
worshippers, (rravpSKarpai, or Crucicolae, a re-
proach as old as the days of St. Paul, often
repeated (Tertul. Apol. 16 and Ad Nat. i. 7, 12%
and fi-om which they were not slow to vindicate
themselves (Minucius Fel. Oct. 29). Whether
Christians in general, or a sect of them, were
called ovpavoKarpai, Coelicolae, sky-worship-
pers, seems somewhat doubtful ; and the same
may be said of Hypsistarii. That they were
called Sun-worshippers and Ass-vcorshippers is
certain. [Asinarii ; Calumnies against Chris-
tians.]
7. The miracles of the early church procured
Christians the reputation of being Magicians.
[Magic] Hence Suetonius (^Nero, c. 16) calls
Christians " gens hominum superstitionis male-
ficae," a set devoted to the black art. The stead-
fast endurance of torture was often thought ,
the effect of some charm. Asclepiades (Pru- '
dentius, Peristeph. xii. 868), ascribed to magic
the endurance of Eomanus the martyr; and
St. Ambrose (Serm. 90, in Agnen) mentions
that the crowd shrieked against her, "Tolle
■magam ! tolle maleficam ! "
8. Several nick-names were given by the hea-
then to the Christians in consequence of their
inexplicable endurance of martyrdom. They
were fiioOdvaToi, as dying violent deaths, often,
as it seemed, little better than suicides. They
were Paraholani {irapa^oKauoi) and Dcsperati,
as freely risking their lives. They were Sar-
mentitii, from the faggots (sarmenta) which con-
sumed them ; and Semiaxii, from the stake
(semiaxis) to which they were bound. (Tertull.
Apol. 50). They were Cinerarii, from the re-
spect which they paid to the ashes of their
martyrs.
(Bingham's Antiq. i. ii. ; Augusti's Handhuch
der Christl. Archdol. ii. i.) [C]
FALDESTOLIUM, or FALDISTOEIUM.
The first form of this word points to its true
etymology and signification. It is connected
with the German falden, "to fold," and stuhl,
"a chair," and indicates a folding-chair, 'sella
plicatilis," answering to our modern " camp-
stool" (Muratori, torn. iii. p. 646, not. 18). A
false etymology, often given, " fandistolium
Quasi fandi locus " is at variance with its use.
FAMILY
and would better apply to a pulpit. Faldistoriuw,
originally employed for any portable seat, be
came limited in ecclesiastical use to a low arai-
less folding-chair, in which a bishop or mitred
abbot sat at the altar after his enthronisation,
or on other solemn occasions, ofJered himself to
the gaze of the people in his full official attire.
According to Maori (s. v.) it was also placed at the
epistle corner of the altar for the bishop, when
celebrating in a church in which he had no juris-
diction, or if a superior dignitary was present
(Maori, Hierulex. s. v. ; Ducauge, s. v. ; Augusti,
Ildbch. der Christ. Arch. iii. 556). [E.^ V.]
FALSE WITNESS. [Perjury.]
FAMILY. The influence of the Christian
religion upon the customs and habits of family
life was very considerable, even from the first":
although it did not aim at making any abrupt or
sudden changes, except in those things which
were necessarily sinful.
The great Christian doctrines which so power-
fully afiect the feelings, hopes, and whole inner
life of those who heartily receive them, led at
once to the renunciation of idolatry in all its
forms, and of the excesses and licentiousnesses
then so common and so little thought of; and in-
culcated new principles of thought and action,
which operated more or less powerfully in everv
direction. But the ordinary usages of domestic
life, which were not directly connected with
the religious and moral obliquities of the old
polytheism, were apparently left untouched bv
any positive interference or command. Chris-
tiaility proved itself the salt of the earth bv
gradually interpenetrating the surrounding mass
of pagan civilisation, and not by shrinking from
all contact with it.
The elevation of the female sex was one of the
most conspicuous of the indirect results which
rapidly followed the reception of the new reli-
gion. The position of women among the Jews,
and the manner in which Jesus had received them
as his disciples and friends, must have taught the
apostles, if they needed any such teaching, what
place women were entitled to hold in the social
economy of the church. And accordingly,
wherever Christ was proclaimed, women were
invited and welcomed into the Christian commu-
nities, and were admitted equally with men to all
Christian privileges. Hence in a Christian
family the wife and mother held an honourable
place ; and the conjugal union, the source of all
other family relationships, being thus honoured,
communicated a happy influence throughout the
household. i
Another result, only less important than the i
former, was the amelioration, and, in the course I
of time, the abolition of slavery. Apostolic I
Christianity did not endeavour to remove this '
nefarious but inveterate evil by any direct or
violent denunciation, which, if successful, would \i
have rudely upset the existing framework of '
society, and would have proved as ruinous to the
slave, as it would have seemed to be unjust to '
the master ; but it distinctly taught the equality
of all men in Christian privilege and religious
])osition ; — -it taught most emphatically the duty j
of caring for others ; — it taught the master that
he had a Lord over him who was no respecter of i
persons, and the slave that he was Christ's
freedman. And thus slavery in ii Christian
FAMILY
laniily was i-elievcd from some of its most gall- ;
iug burdens. This happy change, however, it
must be remembered, depended entirely upon the
personal feeling and will' of the master; for
slavery was not legally and publicly alleviated
to any great extent, until the time of Justinian,
who did much to promote its extinction, after
which it was gradually discontinued or changed
to serfdom (Milman, Hist. Christ, iii. 343, and
Latin Christ, i. 391 ; and Slavery in this
work). In the mean time Christians in general
did not think it wrong to have bondmen in their
service (Clem. Alex. J-'aedag. iii. 12).
But besides particular results of this nature,
Christianity to some extent changed the general
habits of men, and tended to make them more
domestic and less public in their feelings and
pursuits. More especially, while Christians were
small communities separate and distinct from the
general mass of the population, they felt it neces-
sary to withdraw themselves in some degree
from public affiiirs ; they were less frequent in
their attendance on courts of law ; they could
not, without scruples and repugnance, be present
at many of the ordinary amusements and popular
festivities, mixed up as they were with the
idolatry and some of the worst moral abomina-
tions of paganism. Thus they were thrown back
more upon the society of each other, and upon
their own family life. And although afterwards,
when the new religion became dominant, and
was at length the religion of the people, the
objections to public life greatly disappeared, the
family life with its attractions and its virtues
continued to maintain a wholesome influence,
which has indeed' never since been lost, (See
Milman, Hist. Christ, iii. 134.)
But to look more closely at the family life of
Christianity, it must be observed that the abne-
gation of idolatry caused a displacement of the
household and hearth gods — the Penates and
Lares of the Romans, — together with all family
rites which savoured of idol worship, and a sub-
stitution of Christian observances in their stead.
And as it seems to have been the custom of reli-
gious Romans to offer their prayers the first
thing in the morning, in the Lararium, or house-
hold shrine (Lampridius, Alex. Sever. 29. 31) ;
so family prayer, in which the different members
of a Christian household joined, appears to have
had its place from the beginning of the new
religion. Such united prayer seems to be alluded
to in the remark, " that your prayers be not
hindered " (1 Pet. iii. 7). And Clement of
Alexandria, at the end of the second century,
testifies to the same thing when, commenting on
the words, "where two or three are gathered
together in my name," he says* that the three
mean a husband, a wife, and a child (^iivSpa, Koi
yuualKa, kuI riKvov rovs rpus Ae'-yei, Stromat.
iii. 10). And the same author speaks expressly
of " prayer and j-eading of the Scriptures (eux^
Ka\ avdyvcoffis) in Christian families QFaedag. ii.
194).
It is evident from the words of Tertul'.ian (ad
Uxorem, ii. 4) and subsequently of Cyprian {De
Lapsis, c. 26) that Christians were in the habit
of taking home portions of the eucharistic bread,
and eating a small piece of it every morning, as
an act of devotion [Eulogiae, p. 629].
The practice also of making the sign of the
cross upon the forehead, to which at a later
FAMILY
659
pcrioil so much efficacy was superstitiously
ascribed, had become before the beginning of the
third century a perpetually repeated ceremony
in Christian families, being used " on getting up
and going to bed, on putting on their clothes or
their shoes, on walking out or sitting down, at
table or at the bath ;" in short in every act or
movement of the day (see Tertullian de Cor. Mil.
§ 3). This little symbolical action may in the
early times have been a useful memento to
Christians in the midst of so many things of a
contrary tendency, however much, like some
other practices once innocent and salutary, it
was subsequently used in the service of formalism
and error. And the same desire of being con-
stantly reminded of their Christian position led
them to adorn their goblets with the figure of a
shepherd carrying a lamb, and their seal-rings
with a dove, an anchor, and other similar
devices. (Neander, Hist. Christ, p. 399.)
Besides these there were other domestic
observances which from time to time interested
the piety as well as the natural affections of
Christian households, especially those which
were connected with the ba])tism of children,
marriages, and funerals, more particularly noticed
in separate articles [Baptism, Children, Mar-
riage, Burial]. Christians cherished the me-
mory of departed relatives as those with whom
they trusted to be reunited in rest and glory,
and not unfrequently held family banquets over
their remains in a room provided for that pur-
pose [Cella Memoriae].
But besides those festivals which were exclu-
sively Christian, there were some celebrations of
an older date, in which, as they were not mixed
up with any idolatrous rites. Christian families
might unite with their pagan neighbours, and
which they might retain for their own use.
Even Tertullian, who was so strict in forbidding
all semblance of participation in idol worship,
saw no objection to Christians joining in the
domestic ceremony of " putting on the toga
virilis," which corresponded with our " coming
of age," or to their being present at weddings, oi
the " naming of children " (Nominalia or Dies
lustrici ; Tertul. de Idolol. 16).
As the facility of divorce was a primary prin-
ciple of corruption in Roman social and family
life ; so Christianity, having invested marriage
with a religious sanctity, and not allowing
divorcement under any circumstances, except
those mentioned by Christ himself, drew more
closely together not only the husband and wife,
but all other members of the family.
The relationship between parents and children
was greatly influenced for good. The barbarous
practice of infanticide, which prevailed among
the Greeks and Romans, was immediately dis-
continued. Under the old Roman law parents
might at any time put their children to death,
or sell them as slaves ; but this severity was at
once voluntarily softened in Christian families ;
and the power was afterwards taken away by
Christian emperors; who further directed that
in cases of great poverty, when parents might
be tempted to sell their children, relief might
be given them out of the j)ublic revenues, thus
affording an example of an incipient poor-law
{Cod. Theod. vi. 27, in Bingham, XVi. ix. 1).
Parental authority, however, and family ties
were strongly upheld. Cliildren were not al-
660
FAMILY
lowed to mnrrv without the consent of their
parents (Tertul. (It/ Uxor. ii. 9), and, under the
Christian eiiiperors, in the case of daughters thus
marrviug, tlie most dreadful punishments were
ordoreil to be indicted on all who were consenting
jiarties to the marriage (Cod. Theinl. ix. 24).
The education oftheir children assumed a new
iiitt-rest with Christian parents, but at the same
time caused them new anxieties and cares; since
in "I)ringing them up in the nurture and ad-
lUduition of the Lonl," it was needful, more
especially in the earlier times, to guard them
from the evil iullucnces in the midst of which
they lived, — from the contact of idolatry all
around them, — from the contagion of companions
on every side. Further dirticulties too presented
themselves in connection with the future occu-
pation of their children, inasmuch as many em-
ployments open to others were closed against
them. For a Christian hail to avoid all the
numerous trades and arts which were connected
with idols and idol-woi-ship, together with some
olfices of civil and military life.
While children were young their superin-
tendance and education engaged especially the
mother's care and vigilance ; but besides this
and other strictly domestic duties, it was usual
for Christian women to devote a j)ortion oftheir
time to doing good beyond their own homes ;
and Tertullian shows that in his days it was ex-
pected, as a matter of course, that they would
attend on the sick, go round to the houses of the
]»)or, relieve the neeily, and visit imprisoned
martyrs (Tertul. ad Uxor. ii. 4).
One source of uneasiness was, it must be con-
fessed, introduced into the household in Christian
times, which had not existed previously. After
the institution of monastic onlers, a hiishnnJ, .1
wife, or a child might dcsue to adopt the "re-
ligious" lite, even without the consent of those
who had a claim upon their services and society.
Where the persons interested consented, as in
the cases of Ammon and his wife (Socrates, //. E.
iv. 23; Palladius, Hist. Launac. c. 8), and of
Martianus and Maxima (Victor Uticensis [or
Vitensis], De I'crsec. Vandal, i. 5), no harm was
done; but in ni.iny csises monastic fanaticism dis-
turbed the peace of households and sundered
thoir members. It is evident from the references
to the matter (for instance) by Paulinas {Epxst.
14, (7(/ Celant.) and Augustine {Epist. 45 [al.
127], Armentario et Fauliwie; Epist. 199 [al.
2G2], ad Ecdiciam), that in the 4th century the
question of the relative claims of domestic duty
and ascetic lite was felt to be a pressing one.
Basil the Great in the Larger Rule (Qu. 12)
directs that a married person offering to enter a
monastery should be questioned as to the con-
sent of the other party; yet he thinks that the
precept about hating father, mother, wife, or
children to be Christ's disciple (Luke xiv. 2G)
applies to this case ; and in another place (Epist.
4o, ad Moiuichwn Lapsum) he certainly mentions
a man's declining domestic cares and the society
of his yoke-fellow, for an ascetic life, without
the smallest censure. Jerome (Epist. 14, ad
Heliod.) expresses similar views. The feeling of
the church on this subject was distinctly pro-
nounced in the 6th century, for the legislation
of Justinian (Codex, lib. i. tit. 3, Be Episc. et
Cler. leg. 53) allowed married persons to desert
their yoke-fellows for " religion " with impunity,
FAMILY
ami to reclaim their own fortunes. So in the
case of children. The council of Gangra in the
4fh century (c. !•>) anafheinatized children -
especially children of Christians — who should
withdraw from their jiarents on pretence of re-
ligion (dfoatfiflas) and refuse them due honour.
So liasil (Re;]. Miij. qu. 15) enjoined that chil-
dren should not be received into monasteries un-
less offered by their jmreuts, if the parents were
alive. But here again the legislation of Jusfini ui
(u. s. le^. 55) betrays the presence of a feeling
that "religion" might override domestic obliga-
tions, in that it forbids parents to restrain their
children from l»ecoming monks or clerics, or to
disinherit them for that cause alone. And this
feeling, in spite of the not unfre(|uent protests
of jurists, was very prevalent from that time
onward. t)n the other hand, the power of parents
to devote their children to "religion" became
in time almost absolute ; they who had been
devoted by their j)arents were as much bound as
those who had entered of their own accord in
mature age (Cone. Tulet. IV. c. 49, a.D. 633;
see OiiLAii).
In our view of the family life of Christians,
their use of music and singing must not be un-
noticed. Among the Greeks esjiccially, and to
some extent among the Romans also, their songs
occupied a conspicuous place in their social life.
These, however, from their generally expressing
and encouraging some of the worst evils of the
old religions, could not be used in the Christian
family circle. But the want was rapidly sup-
jilied. Christian songs and hymns were soon
comjiosed and extensively niultij>lied ; and these
became an abundant source of recreation to all
the members of the household, while at meal
times, and in all family or friendly unions, they
thus expressed their habitual faith, and hope,
and joy.
Before Christianity became the prevailing and
established religion, families were in continual
danger of being molested by popular violence,
and of being utterly broken up in times of legal-
ised persecution. But besides these dangers and
troubles there were sometimes others hardly
less painful within the family itself, when only
a part of the household had become Christians.
The antagonism and consequent discomfort, if
not positive misery, must then have been almost
perpetual; and the difficulty of maintaining re-
ligious faithfulness, without losing family affec-
tion or breaking family ties, must have been
very great. Jesus himself had warned his dis-
ciples beforehand that " a man's foes might be
those of his own household ;" and that his re-
ligion, in such cases, might bring "not peace but
a sword." St. Paul, while desirous that this
difference of religion should not actually separate
a husband and wife, admitted that it would and
must sometimes have this effect. Tertullian (ad
Uxor. ii. 4) describes in detail the sort of hin-
drances, opposition, and ridicule, which a Chris-
tian woman must expect if she married a hus-
band who was aa unbeliever ; and how impos-
sible she would find it to fulfil in peace, if she
could fulfil at all, her Christian duties, — even if
nothing worse occurred. But in times of perse-
cution, or of any strong excitement of antichris-
tian feeling, it was not merely difficulties and
discomforts that had to be encountered. The
strongest words of Christ were then often liter-
FAMILY— THE HOLY
ally realisal, when the most powerful natural
aftections were shattered, and Christians were
betrayed and denounced by their nearest rela-
tives and given up to the persecutor's sword.
See an early instance of this in Justin Martyr,
Apol. li. 2. [G. A. J.]
FAMILY— THE HOLY. The subject which
bears this title in modern art is generally a
group consisting of the Virgin Mother bearing
the Sacred Infant, of St. Joseph, and frequently
of the younger St. John Baptist, and occasionally
of St. Elizabeth. It is frequently treated in an
academic or purely artistic spirit, and chosen
mainly for the sake of opposing the age of St.
Elizabeth or maturity of St. Joseph, to the high
ideal of feminine, infantine, or youthful beauty
in the Blessed Virgin, the infant or St. John.
As a complete and isolated group of this kind
the subject is hardly ever treated in art of the
earliest Christian age, unless the three Oranti
FASTING
661
given by Martigny (from Bosio Homa Sott. p.
279 ; see woodcut) are to be considered as re-
presenting it. He is inclined to think so, though
Bosio, Aringhi, and Bottari consider the group
as an ordinary Christian family in the attitude
of prayer, and though the boy is more decidedly
in that attitude than either the father or the
mother. He mentions another lately discovered,
but also somewhat conjectural monument, in
the cemetery of St. Priscilla, and says that the
subject occurs on sarcophagi of the South of
France, naming one in the museum of Aries,
Mo. 26, where St. Joseph leads the Saviour by
the hand to the Virgin Mother, probably repre-
senting Luke ii. 48, " Son, why hast thou thus
dealt with us?" [R. St. J. T.]
FAMILY TOMBS. [Catacombs, p. 300 ;
Cella Memoriae; Cemetery.]
FAN. [Flabellum.]
• FANATICI. From their frequenting Fana,
shrines of heathen deities, all heathen were
sometimes called " f;inatici " ; thus Clovis be-
fore his conversion, is said {Gesta Beg. Franc.
c. 10), to have been " fanaticus et paganus." In
a special sense, priests of idol -temples were
" fanatici " (Iso Magister on Prudeutius, quoted
by Ducange, s.v.) ; and those who professed to
prophesy by the aid of the demon attached to
the place [Exorcism; and see Jerome on Isaiah,
e. 6, and Augustine on Psalm 40]; these were
condemned with others who practised such evil
arts (Code, lib. is. tit. 16, 1. 4; Macri, Hierolex.
s. V. ; Bingham's Ant. xvi. v. 4). [C]
FANDILA, presbyter, martyr at Cordova;
commemorated June 13 (^Mart. Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
FANON. (1.) A head-dress worn by the
pope when he celebrated mass pontifically. It
is described by Giampini ( Vet. Mon. i. 239) and
Macri (^Hierolex. s. v.) as a veil variegated, like
the Mosaic ephod, with four colours, symbolising
the four elements, put over the head after the
pope was vested with the alb, and tied round the
neck, forming a kind of hood, the tiara or other
head-dress being put on above it. The lower
part was concealed by the planeta (Bona, Eer.
Liturg. 1. 24. 15). Giampini gives the annexed
figure from a small brass statue on the doors of
the oratory of St. John Baptist at the Lateran.
At the Pedilavium the " Caerimoniale Romanum "
directs that the pope should wear the fanon
alone without the mitre.
(2.) The napkin or handkerchief, mappula,
sudarium, used by the priest during the celebra-
tion of the mass to wipe away perspiration ft-om
the face, &c. (Bona, Jier. Liturg. i. 24. 5 ; Rab.
Maur. de Inst. Cler. i. 18 ; August!, Handbch.
der Christ. Arch. iii. 504). [Facitergium.]
(3.) In later times the white linen cloth in
which the laity made their oblations at the altar.
" Popiilus dat oblationes suas, id est panem et
vinum, et oiFerunt cum fanonibus candidis," Ordo
liornanus ; " cum fanonibus offerunt," Amalar.
de offic. Miss. ; Martene, de Feci. rit. lib. i. c. 4,
§ 6 ; Augusti, u. s. ii. 649. The word is some-
times erroneously spelt " fanones."
(4.) A still later use of the word is for the
church banners," vexilla Ecclesiastica," employed
in processions. This is perhaps not earlier than
the French and German writers of the 11th cen-
tury (Augusti, M. s. iii. 348, 355).
(5.) The strings or lappets of the mitre (Wil-
lemin. Monuments ine'dits. pis. 68, 76, 90) [E. V.]
FAEA, virgin, of Meaux ; " Natalis " Dec. 7
(^Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FARO, bishop, and confessor at Meaux ; com-
memorated Oct. 28 {_Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FAST OF CHEIST IN THE DESERT,
THE, is commemorated in the Aethiopic Calen-
dar on Feb. 4 (Daniel's Codex, iv. 252). [C]
FASTING (vriffTela, jejunium, ahstinentid).
Fasting was total or partial abstinence from food
for a certain period ; it also signified abstinence
from pleasure, or from the celebration of birthdays
or marriages or church festivals ; and it had the
further spiritual signification of abstinence from
662
FASTING
sin. See the passages collected in Gunning (Zeni
Fast, pp. 130-150) on the spiritual meaning of
fasting.
1. The stated fasts of the Western church
were these :
(i.) The great nnte-paschal Fast of Lent
(Quadra icsiina).
(ii.) The fasts of the first, fourth, .seventh, and
tenth months, called also Ember Fasts, oj- the
fasts of the four seasons {jejunia quatuor tcm-
porum).
(iii.) The weekly fasts of the Stations, Wed-
nesday and Friday (^feria quarta et sexta, stationes,
semJjejunia, rerpas Koi irapatr/ceuT)).
(iv.) The Rogations Q-ogationcs, Utaniae).
(v.) The Vigils or Eves of holy days (jpemoc-
tationes, pervigilia).
2. The Greek church kept in addition to Lent
three fasts of a week each : 1st the Fast of
the Holy Apostles, immediately after Pentecost
[Apostles' Festivals and Fasts] ; 2nd the
Fast of the Holy Mother of God {Sanctue
Leiparae) in August; 3rd the Fast of the
Nativity (Suicer Thesaurus s. v. vqaTi'ia ; Neale
Introduction to Eastern Church, p. 731). Some
have supposed (Morinus de Penit., Appendix,
p. 124) that the Fast Sanctae Deiparae at one
])eriod lasted forty days, and began oi'iginally on
6th of July and afterwards on 1st of August,
and that the Fast of the Nativity was also one
of forty days, and began on 15th of November.
3. Other fasts had only a local or partial
observance. The council of Eliberis (c. 23) in-
troduced into Spain fasts of superposition (jeju-
niorum superpositiones) for every month in the
year except July and August. It does not appear
on what days of the month they were kept, but
their name implies that they were something
over and above the usual fasting days. Bingham
(^Antiq. xxi. 11 § 5) quotes from Philastrius the
mention of a fast of three days before Epiphany.
In the Dialogue of Egbert of York (Haddan and
Stubbs' Councils and Eccl. Documents, vol. iii.
J). 413) there is the appointment, in addition to
the Ember fasts, of a period of twelve days before
the Nativity to be spent in fastings, watchings,
prayers, and alms; on which twelve days not
only were the clergy but laity also, with their
wives and households, exhorted to resort to their
confessors. The seventeenth council of Toledo
A.D. 694 (c. 6) orders litany-fasts (esomolo-
geses) to be kept every month in the Spanish
and Gallic churches to supplicate " for the safety
of the sovereign, for the preservation of the
people, and the pardon of their sins, and the
expulsion of the devil from the hearts of the
i;iithful." The fasts to be observed throughout
the year in the \vestern monasteries are given in
detail by the second council of Tours (A.D. 567,
c. 17): " From Easter to Pentecost let dinner be
served to the brothers every day except on Ro-
gation-days; after Pentecost let them fast an
entire week ; thence till the 1st of August let
all, except those who are suffering from illness,
fast three days a week, second, fourth, and
sixth days. In August because the Missa Sanc-
torum is daily celebrated, let them eat their
dinner ; through the whole of September, Octo-
ber, and November, fast three days a week, and
in December every day till the Nativity. And
because between the Nativity and the Epiphany
all days are festivals, with the exception of the |
FASTING
three when private litanies are to be said, they
shall eat their dinner ; and from Epiphany to
Lent {-Asi three days a week."
4. Special fasting was occasionally ordered or
advised in a diocese by the bishop, as Tertullian
(de Jejun. c. 13), after he became a Montanist
unwillingly bears witness. It was also one of
the means used for preparing for the recejition
of a sacred ordinance. Fasting before Holy Com-
munion, if not invariable, had become a common
practice in the 4th century [Communion]. Fast-
ing before baptism can be traced to a much
earlier date. Justin Martyr (Apolog. i. 61)
mentions among the customs of the Christian
church that candidates "are taught to pray
fasting, we fasting and praying with them." Ter-
tullian (de Bapt. c. 20) exhorts those who are
about to receive baptism to pray with frequent
prayers and fastings. And the fourth council of
Carthage, A.D. 398 (c. 85), appoints abstinence
from wine and meat among the preparations for
baptism (Apost. Constt. vii. 22). The only
authority which Martene (de Bit. viii. 4) dis-
covers for the practice of fasting before ordination
is from Leo, who (-£■/>. ad Diosc.) with reference
to ordinations taking place on Sunday, speaks of
the Saturday's fast continuing both for candidates
and bishop till the ordination was over. No
notice of fasting before confirmation is to be
found before the 13th century (Martene de Fdt.
iv. 1).
5. Penitential Fasting. — For the first 500
years fasting does not appear to have been
imposed as a special penance, or to have taken
place of other penitential exercises; but in all
ages, so long as penitential discipline was in
force, a penitent was required to abstain from
delicacies of food as from all other bodily grati-
fications during his period of punishment. Ter-
tullian (de Penit. c. 9) defines a true exomologesis
to consist, among other duties, in " the use of
simple things for meat and drink, and in cherish-
ing prayer by fasts." Pacian (Paraen. ad Penit.
c. 19) makes his penitent, when invited to a
feast, reply, " These things belong to the happy,
but as for me I have sinned against the Lord."
In the 6th century fasting began to be inflicted
as a special and separate mode of penance. One
of the canons of the council of Agde, A.D. 506
(c. 60), appoints to those who lapse into heresy,
in place of the longer term of penitence allotted
by the early church, a fast of two years, to be
kept on the third day of the week without any
break ; if at least that is the meaning of the
rather obscure language of the canon (ut bienuio
tertio sine relaxatione jejunent). The penance
of fasting is found in the early British penitential
canons attributed to Gildas ; and in the Peni-
tential of Theodore sentences of a fast of so many
days or weeks, or even years, are verv common
(Penitential I. viii. 3,4, 8, 9; xii. 8 "; xiv. 9),
and no less so in the Penitential of Bede (iii. 5;
vii. 11), and in that of Egbert (iv. 6 ; v. 3 ; xiii.
4). The crimes for which these sentences were
inflicted in these early English penitential books
are such as could exist only among a people just
emerging from heathenism. In the Penitential
of Theodore (II. xiv. i.) is found the first notice
of the appointment of three regular fasts of forty
days in the year (tria legitima quadragesima),
forty days before Easter, forty days before the
Nativity, and forty days after Pentecost. The
PASTING
Rule of Chrodegang (c. 32) with reference to the
same observance, orders confessions to be made
at each of these three annual quadragesimal fasts.
And the Capitularies of Charles the Great (vi.
18-i) repeat in identical words the injunction of
Theodore on the three quadragesimal fasts, and
add that " although some of them lack canonical
authority, yet it is well for all of us together to
observe this custom in accordance with the
practice of the people and of our forefathers."
These fasts were probably first appointed as
appropriate penitential seasons fur the perform-
ance of long periods of penance ; afterwards, as
may be inferred from the canon in the Capitu-
laries, they came into partial use with the people
at large. There is no evidence that they existed
earlier than the 7th century, for the councils
prior to Theodore which are strict in ordering
the people to keep Lent (e.g. Cone. Agath. c. 12 ;
4 Gone. AurcUan. c. 2), contain no hint of there
being more than one such season in the year ;
and the canon of the second council of Tours
which enumerates the fasts of the monks, and
approaches nearer the time of Theodore, evidently
recognises no Pentecostal Quadragesima, for it
orders monks, whose self-denial would be more
severe than that of the rest of the church, to f;ist
only three days a week from Pentecost till
August. Hence it is probable that Theodore
introduced these as penitential tasts into the
Western church from the East, for in the Greek
Penitential of .Joannes Jejunator two fasts of
forty days in addition to Lent are imposed upon
penitents, the former of which was called the
Quadragesima of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the
latter the Quadragesima of St. Philip. One of
the councils of the Carlovingian kings, about
A.D. 821 {Cone, apud villain Theodonis cc. 2-5)
held for the purpose of devising means for the pro-
tection of the clergy, inflicts five quadragesimal
fasts on any one slandering or wounding a sub-
deacon, six on the slanderer of a deacon, twelve
of a priest, and a lifelong fiist on the slanderer of
a bishop. Even after absolution, a penitent was
sometimes ordered to fast one day a week for the
remainder of his life— a sentence opposed to the
earlier practice, by which admission to commu-
nion was a sign of the forgiveness of all past
offences.
The penitential fasts were observed with
various degrees of severity. In the East the
Penitential of Joannes Jejunator allows penitents
on the second, fourth, and sixth days of the week
to eat oil and beans with oil, but orders them to
abstain from cheese, eggs, flesh, and fish ; on the
third and fifth days eat everything freely except
flesh; and on the first and seventh days use
wine and flesh as if under no punishment. In
the Anglo-Saxon church Egbert (^Penitential iv.
1,5) directs penitents to fast three days each
week, without specifying the days, from wine,
mead (medo), and flesh, till the evening, and eat
only dry food ; and also keep three quadragesimal
fasts in the year on dry food, two days a week
till the evening, and three days till three
o'clock. Burchard {Deeret. xix. 9, 10) referring
to this direction from the Penitential, states the
following to have been the manner in which a
fast of two years on bread and water was kept.
"For first year fast three days in each week,
second, fourth, and sixth, on b .ead and water ;
and three days, third, fifth, and seventh, abstain
FASTING
063
from wine, mead (medo), beer flavoured with
honey (mellita cervisia) flesh and blood, cheese,
eggs, and rich fish of various sorts, and eat only
small fish if they are to be got, but if not, fish
of one kind only, and beans, and herbs, and
apples, and drink beer." This list makes no
mention of Lent, because it is assumed to be
spent entirely on bread and water. " The next
year the penitent should fast two days, second
and fourth, till the evening, and then refresh
himself with dry food, i.e. bread and dry cooked
beans, or apples, or raw herbs; let him select
one of these three, and drink beer sparingly ; on
the sixth day let him fast on bread and water."
In some cases no additional time of abstinence
was imposed, but only a greater rigour during
the ordinary ecclesiastical fasts. A very old
sacramentary, assigned by Morinus to the 8th cen-
tury, directs the actual incarceration of a penitent
through Lent ; " Take him in the morning of
the first day of Lent and cover him with ashes,
and pray for him, and shut him up till the
Thursday of Holy Week (feria quinta in coena.
Domini), and on the Thursday of Holy Week he
may come forth from the place in which he has
performed his penance." A Gothic codex from
the monastery of Remigius of Rheims, dating
probably from the next century, also orders
imprisonment through Lent, but instead of the
whole body of the penitent being covered with
ashes, directs that a few should be sprinkled on
his head, and that they should be blessed. This
severity was relaxed before the lOth century,
and penitents were assigned a parish or district ■
in which to confine themselves through Lent.
But both incarceration and confinement within
bounds were deviations from an older practice of
shutting up a penitent in a monastery (1 Cone.
Matiseon. cc. 5, 8).
6. Exemptions from Fasting. — A superstitious
abstinence from flesh and wine on pretence of
keeping a stricter fast was forbidden. The
Apostolical Cations (cc. 52, 53) direct that if any
of the clergy abstain from marriage, flesh, or
wine, not for exercise, but abhorrence, forgetting
that God made all things very good, they shall
be deposed (Cone. Ancyr. c. 14 ; Cone. Gangr. c.
2). The first council of Braga, a.d. 563 (c. 14),
orders, under pain of excommunication, clergy
who have been in the habit of abstaining from
meat, to eat vegetables boiled with meat, in
order to avoid the suspicion of being infected
with the Priscillian heresy.
Fasting was strictly forbidden on all Sundays
throughout the year in every part of the church.
The reason of this prohibition was that fasting
was held inconsistent with the observance of so
high a festival. [Lord's Day.]
The observance of Saturday was, as is well
known, one of the points in dispute between
the Eastern and Western churches. In the East
it was always observed as a festival, with the
exception of the Paschal Vigil, the Great Sabbath,
in which Christ lay in the grave, which was
kept as a fast both in East and West (^Apost.
Constt. ii. 59 ; v. 15, 20 ; vii. 23 ; viii. 33 ; Cone.
Laod. cc. 49, 51 ; Cone, in Trull, c. 55). [Sab-
bath.]
It was not customary to fast on any festivals,
nor consequently to hold festivals during seasons
of fasting. The council of Laodicea, a.d. 320
(c. 51), forbids the celebration of festivals of
664
FASTING
martyrs in Lent, but orders them to be kept on
Saturdays and Sundays. Another canon (c. 52)
forbids the celebration of marriages or birthdays
in Lent. The Greek church held no festival
through Lent except the Annunciation, a festival
which the tenth council of Toledo, A.D. 656 (c. 1),
oi'dered to be held eight days before Christmas.
[Mary the Virgin, Festivals of.] The
church at Milan held no missa sanctorum what-
ever throughout Lent.
The non-observance of a fast was permitted in
the case of weakness or sickness {Apost. Can. 68,
2 Co7ic. Turon. c. 17). To these grounds of
excuse the eighth council of Toledo, A.D. 653 (c. 9),
adds old age or strong necessity. The council of
Eliberis (c. 23) had allowed the Spanish churches
to omit the monthly fasts in the sultry heat of
July and August.
7. Planner of Fasting. — A fast day in the early
church was kept by a literal abstinence from
food till the evening, and then a simple meal was
eaten. Ambrose (do Elia et Jejun. c. 10) speaks
of the fast during Lent continuing through the
whole day ; and Chrysostom (^Hom. 6 in Gen.
p. 60; Hum. 8 in Gen. p. 79) rebukes the folly
of those who abstain all day from food and do not
abstain from sin. There was no restriction upon
the kind of food eaten at the evening meal,
provided only it was partaken of sparingly.
Many, no doubt, refused meat or wine during
the greater fasts', and contented themselves with
bread and water, Xerophagia (Tertullian de Jejun.
c. 11); but that there was no settled rule, and
that the choice of diet was left very much to
individual discretion is evident from the account
given by Socrates (//. E. v. 22) of the variety of
the observances of the Western church ; " some
abstain from every sort of creature that has life ;
others eat fish only of living creatures; others
eat birds as well as fish, because, according to
the Mosaic account of the creation, they too
sprung from the water; others abstain from
fruit covered with a hard shell, and from eggs;
some eat dry bread only, others not even that ;
others again when they have fasted till three
o'clock eat varieties of food." The Greek
church kept Lent very strictly, eating neither
fish, nor eggs, nor milk, nor oil ; but on the
other fasts, except on the fourth and sixth days,
these were allowed. The great Sabbath fast of
the Paschal Vigil was sustained not only till the
evening, but till cockcrowing on Easter morning
{Apost. Const. V. 18). But the other appointed
seasons were kept with less rigour than that of
Lent, and the fiist, instead of continuing till the
evening meal, was broken at the ninth hour
(three o'clock), the hour on which our Lord
expired on the cross. This was the hour at
which the fast of the Stations ceased (Epiphanius
Expos. Fid. c. 22). And the English council of
Clovesho, A.D. 747 (c. 16), orders the Rogations
to be kept till three o'clock. The food which
was thus saved by abridging the number of
meals it was considered a pious act to bestow
upon the poor (Origen, Horn. 10. in Levit. ; Leo,
Serm. 3 de Jejun. Pentecost. ; Chrysol. Serm.
8 de Jejun.). Another practice mentioned by
Tertullian (de Orat. c. 18) was refraining from
the kiss of peace while a fast lasted. A change
of dress during fasting was confined chiefly to
penitents [Penitence], although Tertullian
{Apolog. c. 40), if his language is not merely
FASTING
rhetorical, speaks of pious Christians in contrast
with heathen self-indulgence, " being dried up
with fiisting and prostrating themselves in sack-
cloth and ashes." And at a much later date the
council of Mayence, A.D. 813 (c. 33), orders the
greater Litany to be observed for three days by
all Christians, " not riding nor clothed in rich
garments, but barefoot and clothed in sackcloth
and ashes." [G. M.]
8. Fast after Communion. — St. Chrysostom,
on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, speaks
as follows : " Before receiving thou fastest, that
thou mayest by any means appear worthy oi
the communion. But when thou hast received,
it being thy duty to persevere in self-control,
thou undoest all. Not that sobriety before this
and afterwards are of equal importance. For it
is our duty, indeed, to exercise self-control at
both times, but especially after receiving the
Bridegroom ; before this indeed that thou mayest
be worthy to partake ; but afterwards that thou
mayest not be found unworthy of that of which
thou hast partaken. What ! Ought we to fast
after partaking ? I do not say so, nor do I use
constraint. For indeed this also is good, but I
am not enforcing it, only advising you not to be
self-indulgent to excess" {Horn, xxvii. ad c. xi.
v. 27.) We should infer from this passage that
the hearers of St. Chrysostom neither had them-
selves, nor knew of, any custom of abstaining
from ordinary food, for however short a time,
after receiving the Holy Communion. Nor have
we any evidence that his advice led to the for-
mation of such a habit in the members of the
Greek or Oriental churches. In the West, on
the other hand, we meet with occasional notices
of the practice from the 6th century downwards ;
and it is probable that it survived, as the pious
custom of a few, to the 14th, or even later. A
canon of the council of Macon held in 585 con-
tains the earliest reference, if the writer mistake
not, to this post-communion fast. We give the
decree in full : " Whatever relics of the sacrifices
shall be left over in the sacrarium after the
mass is finished, let innocent children be brought
to the church on Wednesday or Friday by him
whose business it is, and, let them, being enjoined
a fast, receive the said relics sprinkled with
wine" (Can. 6; Labb. Cone. torn. v. coL 982).
Among the Forged Decretals is an epistle pur-
porting to be written by Clement of Rome to
St. James the Lord's brother. The greater part
of this epistle appears to have been composed in
the 8th century, and in that earlier portion we
find a direction to this effect, viz. that the re-
mainder of the consecrated elements " is not to
be kept till the morning, but is by the care of
the clerks to be consumed with fear and trem-
bling. But they who consume the remainder of
the Lord's body, which has been left in the
sacrarium, are not to assemble forthwith to
partake of common food, nor to presume to mix
food with the holy portion .... If therefore
the Lord's portion be given to them at an early
hour, let the ministei-s who have consumed it fast
till the sixth ; and if they have received it at
the third or the fourth, let them fast till even-
ing " {Praecepjta S. Petri, inter 0pp. S. Leonis, ed.
Bailer, tom. iii. p. 674). There is a law of
Charlemagne, A.D. 809, with this heading,
"Touching those ,vho have communicated, that
they wait three hours, on account of the mixing
FATHER
of the food." The decree itself says "two or
three hours" {Capitularia Begum Franconum,
torn. i. col. 1213. Similarly col. 1224). Regino
{De Eccl. Discipl. lib. 1. c. cxcv.) at the begin-
ning of the 10th century, and Gratian {Deer. P.
iii. Dist. ii. c. xxiii.) in the 12th give the passage
from pseudo-Clement as above quoted. It was
therefore well known during the latter part of
the Mi<ldle Ages. In the loth century we find
it cited from Gratian Iby Thomas Aquinas, who
acivnowledges the principle, while he declares the
rule obsolete {Summa Tlieol. P. iii. Qu. Ixxx. Art.
viii. ad 6w). There is, however, as we have already
intimated, some reason to think that the practice
which Aquinas evidently considered altogether
gone by was yet observed by some long after his
time. In England John de Burgo, a.d. 1385,
refers to our subject in this manner : " After
taking the eucharist it is meet for reverence
thereof to abstain for some time from food, but
not very long. For preparation by abstinence
and devotion is more required before receiving
the eucharist than after. For the sacrament has
its effect at the reception itself, and therefore
actual devotion is required then ; but after the
reception habitual devotion suffices " (^Pupilla
Oculi, P. iv. c. viii. ad lit. H.). It is also thus
mentioned by Duranti, who was murdered by
the partisans of the League in 1589, " Not only
ought men to be fasting when about to sacrifice
and communicate, but they ought also in honour
of the sacrament to abstain from all food some
time after " (De Hit. Eccl. L. ii. e. vii. § 6.)
[W. E. S.]
FATHER {Pater). 1. A name rhetorically
given to the priests of any religion (Arnobius,
Adv. Gent. lib. 4, c. 19).
2. Commonly applied to Christian bishops.
Epiphanius {Hacres. Adv. Aerian. n. 4) says that
the reason of the title is that by their right of
ordaining they beget fathers to the church.
Jerome {Ep. b2, ad Theoph. ed. Migue) says that
bishops are content with their own honour, for
they know that they are fathers and not lords.
Augustine {Cumin, in Ps. 44) says that the
church itself calls them fathers. Chrysostom
{Horn. 3, ad Pop. Antioch.') speaks of looking to
the bishop's throne and not seeing the father
upon it. The decrees of the council of Nice are
usually cited as those of the 318 fathers (/. Cone.
Nic. Proem. ; I. Cone. Constantin. c. 1).
3. To a godfather. In the life of Epiphanius
it is said that one Lucian became his father in
holy baptism {Epiph. Vita, n. 8). So Ruffinus
{in Hieron. Tnvect. c. 1) says that the same
person was his instructor in the creed and his
father.
4. It is said that Charles Martel sent his son
Pepin to Luitprand, king of the Lombards, who
cut his hair according to custom, " juxta morem,"
and thus became his father, " ei pater effectus
est " (Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Longobard. vi. 53).
5. To the priest by whom baptism was ad-
ministered. Avitus of Vienne {Horn, de liogat.),
says that Mamertus was both his predecessor
and his spiritual father by baptism, "spiritalis
a baptismo pater." So (Theodori Cantuar. J'oeni-
tentiale, II. iv. 8) it is stated that one father is
sufficient to administer ba])tism, " in catechumeno
et confirmatione et baptismo uuus potest esse
pater."
FEBRONIA
665
6. To a confessor. One of the Benedictine
rules provided that no monk should become a
spiritual father without the consent of the
abbot {Peg. Tarnat. a.d. circa 570 ; Aligue's
I'atrol. t. 06, coll. 977).
7. The title "father of fothers" was some-
times assigned to eminent bishops. In one place
it is given to the apostle Paul {Qmest. ad Ortho-
dox, c. 119, apud Justin Mart. 0pp.). Athana-
sius {ad Solitar. Vit. Agent, c. 1) speaks of
Hosius as being by universal consent called the
father of bishops. Gregory Nazianzen {Orat. 19 ;
De Funeb. Patr. § 44) says that his father was
called the father of all the bishops {apxupias).
Gregory the Great {Epist. vi.) addresses Lupus
of Troyes, as " father of fathers, bishop of
bishops." In a letter from the African bishops
which was read at the 1st Lateran council, at
the close of the epistle, Theodore, bishop of Rome,
is styled " father of fathers." In a letter read
at the 6th council of Constantinople (Act 13),
Sergius is addressed in the same manner. At the
2nd council of Nice, A.D. 787 (Act 6), Gregory
Nyssen is said to have been called "father of
fathers " by universal consent,
8. The head of a monastery was naturally
called Pater by Latins, as Abbas by Orientals ;
thus Augustine {De Mor. Eccl. Gath. i. 31)
speaks of the respect to be paid by the Decani to
the one " quern Patrem appellant ;" and Gregory
the Great {Dial. i. 1 ; cf. ii. 3 ; iii. 23) speaks
of one who was " Pater " in a monastery over
200 monks. [P. 0.]
FAUSTA. [EviLASius.]
FAUSTINUS. (1) Martyr at Brescia ; com-
memorated with Jovita, virgin, Feb. 15 {Mart.
Usuardi), Feb, 16 {Mart. Hieron.).
(2) Martyr at Rome with Simpliciiis, his
brother, and Beatrix, his sister, in the time of
Diocletian ; commemorated July 29 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal.
Allatii et Frontonis).
(3) Martyr at Milan in the time ofAurelius
Commodus; commemorated Aug. 7 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FAUSTUS. (1) [Felix (5).]
(2) Martyr at Rome with Bonus the pres-
byter, Maurus, and seven others ; commemorated
Aug. 1 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Holy Father, a.d. 368 ; commemorated
Aug. 3 {Cal. Byzant.).
(4) Martyr at Milan ; commemorated Aug. 7
{Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(5) Saint, at Antioch; commemorated with
Timotheus, Sept. 8 {Mart. Usuardi, Hieron.).
(6) Martyr at Cordova with Januarius and
Martialis ; commemorated Sept. 28 {Mart. Bom.
Vet., Adonis) ; "Passio " Oct. 13 {Mart. Usuardi).
(7) Deacon and martyr; commemorated Nov.
19 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi) ; with Eusebius
{Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(8) [Dius (2).] [W. F. G.]
FEASTS OF CHARITY. [Agapai;.]
FEBRONIA. (1) With Marina, virgins; com-
memorated Sept. 24 {C(d. Armen.).
(2) Martyr at Nisibis, A.D. 286; commcinorati-d
June 25 {Cal. Byzant.). [\V. F. (?.]
666
FEET, WASHING OF
FEET, WASHING OF. [Baptism, §§ 34,
67 ; Maundy Thursday.]
FEILIRE, THE, of Aengus the Culdek.
The word Feilire, derived from " feil " the Irish
equivalent of vigilia, is applied to the metrical
festology composed by Aengus the Culdee about
the year 780. It is the most ancient of five
martyrologies belonging to Ireland. The others
are (1.) The martyrology of Tamhlacht, which
must have been written after 845. (2.) That of
Maelmuire ua Gorman, dating from between
1156-1173. (3.) The Saltair na Raun, which,
however, contains only four Gaelic entries ; and
(4.) The Kalendar of the Drummond Missal,
published in Bishop Forbes' Kalendars of the
Scottish saints.
Of the personal history of Aengus we know
that he was educated in Cluain Ednach in
Queen's County, and travelling into Munster
founded Disert Aengusa in co. Limerick. At the
time of the expedition of king Aedh Oirdnidhe
against Leinster in 799 he was residing at Dis-
ert Bethec near Monasterevin. Latterly he went
to abbot Maelruain at Tamhlacht, when he from
humility concealed his gifts, and passing himself
as a serving man was entrusted with the charge of
the mill and kiln, till at last his learning was
discovered by accident.
The Feilire consists of three parts. 1. Five
quatrains invoking a blessing on the poet and
his work. 2. A preface of 220 quatrains ; and
3. The festology itself in 365 quatrains for
every day in the year (O'Curi-y, Earhi Eccl.
MSS. of Ireland, pp. 359-371. [A. P. F.]
FELICIANUS. (1) Martyr at Rome with
Fortunatus, Firmus, and Candidus ; commemor-
ated Feb. 2 (^Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Rome with Primus under Dio-
cletian and Maximian ; commemorated June 9
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cat.
Altatii et Frontonis, Sacramentariuin Gregorii).
(3) [Victor (10).]
(4) Martyr in Lucania with Jacinctus, Qui-
ritus, and Lucius; commemorated Oct. 29 {Mart.
Hieron., Usuardi).
(5) [ExsuPERius (3).] [W. F. G.]
FELICISSIMA, virgin, martyr at Falari
with (iracilianus ; " Passio " Aug. 12 {Mart.
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FELICISSIMUS. (1) [Heraclius (3).]
(2) [Felix (14).]
(3) [SixTus (2).]
(4) Martyr in Africa, with Rogatianus, the
presbyter, under Decius and Valerian ; comme-
morated Oct. 26 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usu-
ardi).
(5) Saint, of Perugia in Tuscany ; " Natalis "
Nov. 24 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FELICITAS. (1) Martyr at Tuburbo (at
Carthage, Bede) with Perpetua, Revocatus, Sa-
turninus, and Secundolus, under Severus ; com-
memorated March 7 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron.,
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. Bucher.').
(2) Martyr under Antoninus ; commemorated
Nov. 23 {Mart. Ro,n. Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FELICULA. (1) Martyr at Rome with
FELIX
Vitalis and Zeno ; commemorated Feb. 14 {Mart.
Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Virgin, martyr at Rome ; commemorated
June 13 {Mart. Bom. V&t., Bedae, Adonis, Usu-
ardi). [W. F. G.]
FELIX. (1) Saint, at Heraclea ; comme-
morated with Januarius, Jan. 7 {Mart. Hieron.,
Usuardi).
(2) Presbyter, confesso» at Nola in Campania ;
commemorated Jan. 14 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron.,
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. Carth.').
(3) [Dativus (1).]
(4) [Hilary (2).]
(5) Martyr at Caesaraugusta with seventeen
others: Apodemus, Cassianus, Cecilianus, Evotus,
Faustus, Fronto, Januarius, Julius, Lupercus,
Matutinus, Martialis, Optatus, Primitivus, Pub-
lius, Quintilianus, Successus, Urbanus ; comme-
morated April 16 {Mart. Usuardi), Ajjril 15
{Mart. Adonis).
(6) Saint, of Alexandria ; commemorated with
Arator, presbyter, Fortunus, Silvius, and Vita-
lis, April 21 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(7) Presbytei-, martyr at Valence in France
with Fortunatus and Achilleus, deacons; com-
memorated April 23 {Ib.^.
(8) Bishop, martyr at Spoletum under Maxi-
mian ; commemorated May 18 {Mart. Usuardi).
(9) Martyr in Istria with Zoellius, Servilius,
Silvanus, and Diodes ; commemorated May 24
{lb.).
(10) Saint, in Sardinia ; commemorated with
Aemilius, Priamus, Lucianus, May 28 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(11) The pope, martyr at Rome under the
emperor Claudius; commemorated May 30 {Mart.
Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(12) Martyr in Aquileia with Fortunatus
under Diocletian and Maxmiian ; " Passio " June
11 {lb.).
(13) Presbyter, martyr in Tuscany; comme-
morated June 23 {Mart. Usuardi).
(14) Martyr in Campania with Aristo, Cre-
scentianus, Eutychianus, Felicissimus, Justus,
Martia, Symphorosa, Urbanus, and Vitalis ; com-
memorated July 2 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(15) Son of Felicitas (2), martyr in the time
of Antoninus ; commemorated with his six bro-
thers, Alexander, Januarius, Martialis, Philip,
Silvanus, Vitalis, July 10 {Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(16) Martyr in Africa; commemorated with
Januarius, Marinus, and Nabor, July 10 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(17) [SCILLITA.]
(18) The pope, martyr at Rome under Con-
stantius Augustus; commemorated July 29
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Usuardi); "Passio"
Nov. 10 ; deposition Nov. 17 {Mart. Adonis).
(19) Martyr at Gerona in Spain ; commemo-
rated Aug. 1 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(20) Martyr at Rome with Aprilis, Martialis,
Saturninus, and their companions; commemo-
rated Aug. 22 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(21) [Georgius (4).]
FEMORALIA
(22) Presbyter, martyr :it Rome with AJauctus
under Diocletian and Maximian ; commemorated
Aug. 30 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usu-
ardi, Cal. Allatii et Frontonis).
(23) Bishop of Tubzoca, martyr at Veuusia in
Apulia in the time of Diocletian, with Audactus
and Januarius, presbyters, Fortunatiauus and
Septiminus, readers ; commemorated Aug. 30
{MaH. Bedae), Oct. 24 (^Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(24) Bishop, martyr in Africa with Neme-
sianus and Lucius, bishops; also with Dativus,
Felix, Jader, Litteus, Polianus, and Victor, under
Decius and Valerian; commemorated Sept. 10
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(25) [Felix (24).]
(26) Martyr at Nuceria with Constantia, under
Nero ; commemorated Sept. 19 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi).
(27) Martyr at Autun, with Andochius, pres-
byter, and Tyrsus, deacon, under the emperor
Aurelian ; commemorated Sept. 24 {Mart. Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(28) Bishop, martyr in Africa with Cyprian
and 497G others, under Hunnericus ; commemo-
rated Oct. 12 {Mart. Rom. Vel., Adonis, Usu-
ardi).
(29) [EusEBius (8).]
(30) Martyr at Toniza in Africa ; commemo-
rated Nov. 6 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(31) Bishop, martyr at Nola in Campania with
thirty others; commemorated Nov. 15 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FEMORALIA or FEMINALIA. These
are drawers or breeches covering the thighs and
loins, as the derivation implies. (See Isidore
Hispal. Etf/m. xix. 22.) They were an essential
part of the dress of the Levitical priesthood
(Ex. xxviii. 42, 43), and as such are often re-
ferred to by the fathers (see e. g. Jerome, Fpist.
G4, ad Fahiolam ; i. 360, ed. Vallarsi), many of
whom are delighted to find a symbolical meaning
in this as in other vestments.
The injunction as to the wearing of breeches
during divine service is repeated in sundry
monastic rules. Thus the Rule of Fructuosus,
bishop of Bracara, when settling the dress to
be worn by monks, permits the use of femoralia
to all, but " maxime his qui ministerio impli-
cantur altaris " {Regula S. Fruduosi, c. 45 : in
Holstenius, Codex Regularum, part 2, p. 139, ed.
Paris, 1G63; cf. Grimlaici Solitariorum Regula,
c. 49 ; op. cit. p. 341). For general rules as to
this and other articles of monastic dress see
Magistri Regula, c. 81 {o}}- cit. p. 257). The
Rule of St. Benedict enjoins that monks who
were going on a journey should borrow femoralia
from the Vestiai-ium, and on their return should
restore them thither washed: — "femoralia, ii
(jui diriguntur in via, de Vestiario accipiant, qui
revertentes lota ibi restituant " (c. 55 ; p. 117, ed.
Venice, 1723). For further references, see Du-
cange's Glossariwn, s. vv., and Menard's note to
the Ccmcordia Reaularum (Ratrol. ciii. 1235).
[K. S.]
FENCING-MASTEKS. [(.iLAUiAXOiis ; La-
NlbTAE.]
FEKIA
Ob,
FERETRUM, a bier on which the corpse,
after washing, was placed and carried to burial
[Burial of the Dead]. It was as a rule made
of wood, in which Ambrose (m Luc. vii. 14) sees
a mystical allusion to the resurrection, drawn
from the miracle at Nain (Durant. de Ritih. lib.
i. c. 23). The /errfrwm of Constantine the Great
appears to have been of gold, like his cotfin
(Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. iv. c. 66). The bier was
covered with a pall, more or less costly, accord-
ing to the rank of the deceased. Tliat of Con-
stantine Avas of purple {aKovpyiKri a\ovpyiSi).
That of Blesilla, the daughter of Paula, was of
cloth of gold, against which Jerome remonstrated
vehemently as an unchristian extravagance
(Hieron. Fp. 25). Coustantine's bier was sur-
rounded with a circle of lights burning in golden
candlesticks (Euseb. ii. s.). The bier was carried J
to the grave sometimes by relations or near |
friends, sometimes by officials designated to that
duty {Copiatae, decani, lecticarii), and in the case '
of persons of high dignity or sanctity by bishops '
and nobles, e.g., Basil by his clergy (Greg. Mag.
Oriit. XX.), his sister Macriua by Gregory Nyssen,
and other clergy (Gi-eg. Nys. Vit. Macr. tom. ii.
p. 201) ; Paula, by the bishops of Palestine, i
"cervicem feretro subjicientibus " (Hieron. Ep.
27). [E. v.]
FERIA. The proper sense of this word is
that of a holyday, of a festival viewed in the 1
aspect of a day of freedom from worldly business. 1
It is in this meaning that we find the word in
classical Latin, though here it occurs exclusivelv !
in the plural. Besides this, however, the word
has been used in a special sense in the Christian
church from very early times to denote the days
of the week, feria secunda, tertia, &c., for Mon-
day, Tuesday, &c.
The origin of this system of notation cannot
be stated with absolute certainty. It is explained
by Ducange {Glossarium, s. v.) as arising from
the fact that the week following Easter Day was
appointed by the emperor Constantine to be ob-
served as one continuous festival, and that origi-
nally the year began with Easter. Hence the
Monday, Tuesday, &c., of Easter Week would be
respectively secunda feria, tertia feria, &c., and
in this way, following the example of the first
week of the year, the names passed to all other
Mondays, kc, of the year. The great objection
to this view, which seems to have found many
supporters (see e.g. Pelliccia, De Christ ianae Fc- i
clesiae politia, i. 277, ed. Colon. 1829), is that |
long before the time of Constantine we find Ter- j
tullian speaking of Wednesday and Friday as
qmirta and sexta feria {de jejunio adv. Psychicos,
0. 2).
It seems more reasonable to explain the phrase
as being akin to and probaldy derived from the
Jewish system of notation under which such an
expression as e.g. f) /ui'o tUv ffafifiaToiv (Mark
xvi. 2 ; Acts xx. 7, and often in the New Testa-
ment) means the "first day of the week." Tiiis i
extension of the word Sabbath, which, besides the
instances adducible from the New Testament,
occurs also in tlie Targums (see e. g. Esther ii. 9),
is merely a natural transference of a word from
its primary meaning of the point of time, as it
were, to express the periods marked out by such
IKiiuts; and an exact [larallel is found in tlic
Hebrew ChH, wiiicli is primarily the new
668
FERIALES
moon, and hence the month, or period between
two new moons. The real feria then being Sun-
day, the other days of the week are reckoned as
in the above instances with reference to this. On
this view see Heinichen on Eusebius, Hist. Eccles.
(vol. iii. p. 87). The explanation given by Du-
randus (Jiationule divAnoruin officiorimi,\n. 1. 11)
deserves to be quoted, though of course not ad-
missible as a solution — " vocantur ergo feriae a
ieriando, quia tuto tempore a vitiis feriari, id est
vacare, debemus, non quod sit a necessariis vitae
operibus feriandum."
With the seventh day of the week the name
Sahbatum was so closely associated that it was
nearly always used instead of septima feria,
though Ducange (s. u.) gives an example of this
last phrase. In like manner, the first day of the
week, from its association with the Resurrection,
became " the Lord's Day " from apostolic times,
and thus though the phrase prima feria does now
and then occur (see e. g. in one of the spurious
sermons once attributed to Augustine, Patrol.
xxxix. 2005), Dominica is the regular word for
Sunday in ancient liturgies. The days, however,
from Monday to Friday inclusive are habitually
designated as secunda ferii, &c., of which pi-actice
an examination of, e. g., the Gregorian Sacra-
mentary will furnish abundant examples. A
good illustration, showing how completely the
word feria had passed into this new sense, is fur-
nished by the use of the phrase feriae legitimae
m the Libri Poeniteiitiales of Theodore of Tarsus
and of Bede, as when for some offence a special
fast is enjoined " praeter legitimas ferias " (see
e. g. Patrol, xcix. 968), that is, in addition to
those days of the week which were fasts under
all circumstances.
For furthei remarks on this subject see Du-
cange's Glossarium, (s. v.), and Augusti's Hand-
buck der christlichen Archdologie, i. 467 sqq.
[R. S.]
FERIALES (i.e. Libri) were books contain-
ing a record of the festivals of the martyrs.
Thus Chromatius and Heliodorus, writing to
Jerome (Hieron. Epist.), beg him to search for
the Feriales from the archives of Eusebius of
Caesarea, as a guide to the feast-days of the
martyrs [Calendar: Martyrologt] (Ducange,
s. v.). [C]
FERMENTUM. I. The earliest Ordo Ro-
manus extant, which is supposed to represent
the ritual of Eome in the age of Gregory the
Gi'eat, a.d. 590, orders a portion of reserved
eucharist (Sancta) to be brought into the church
before the celebration by a subdeacon, to be de-
livered by him to the archdeacon after the canon,
and to be put into the chalice by the latter,
saying, " The Peace of the Lord be with you
alway." {Ord. E. I. nn. 8, 17, 18, in Mus. Ital.
torn. ii. pp. 8, 12, 13). The bishop of Rome is
supposed to be present, and to celebrate. • The
particle thus used was called Ferinentum, the
leaven, n. 22, p. 16. If the pope was not pre-
sent, " a particle of the leaven, which had been
consecrated by the apostolical, was brought by
the oblationary subdeacon, and given to the arch-
deacon ; but he handed it to the bishop, who,
signing it thrice, and saying, ' The Peace, &c.,'
put it into the chalice." The reason of the
name Fermcntum is now obvious. Leaven is
dough reserved from one baking to be mixed
FERMENTUM
with that prepared for another, and may be
said to make the bread of both one. The eucha-
ristic leaven connected successive celebrations
with each other in the same mannei', and was
at the same time a token of union between con-
gregations locally separated from each other.
If we may trust to the Liber Pontificalis, the
custom of sending the Fermentum to the several
churches in Rome originated with Melchiades.
A.D. 311. The same authority tells us that
Siricius, A.D. 385, " ordained that no presbyter
should celebrate masses through the whole
week unless he received a certified (declaratum),
consecrated (portion) from the bishop of the
place appointed (for a station), which is called
the leaven" (Anast. Biblioth. de Vitis Pont.
Earn. nn. 32, 39, pp. 12, 22). The custom is
noticed at some length in a letter ascribed to
Innocent I., A.D. 402, but apparently composed
by a later and inferior writer. From this docu-
ment we learn that the pope " sent the leaven
per titulos," i.e. the churches within the city
only (those without being in the suburbicarian
dioceses), and that it was done on Sundays,
" that the presbyters who on that day could
not meet him (in worship) on account of the
people committed to them, might not, above all
on that day, feel themselves cut off from com-
munion with him " (Innoc. Ep. ad Decent, in
Cigheri, V. PP. Theolog. Univ. torn. iv. p. 178).
The writer had been asked by another bishop,
if it was proper to send the Fermentum about
through a diocese («'. e. beyond the walls of an
episcopal city). The question shows that the
practice had spread. In the writings of Gregory
of Tours, A.D. 573, we meet with a story which
proves incidentally that it was not unknown in
France. We are told of a certain deacon, in a
town in Auvergne, who, " when the time to
offer the sacrifice was come, having taken the
tower in which was kept the mystery of the
Lord's Body, began to carry it to the door (of
the church), and entered the temple to place it
on the altar," &c. (Mirac. L. I. cap. 86).
Before the custom became obsolete, its observ-
ance was, it appears, reduced by authority to a
few days in the year. For in an ancient gloss
on the letter ascribed to Innocent, found by
Mabillon in the library of St. Emmeran at Ratis-
boh, the following statement occurs : " Touch-
ing the leaven, which he mentions, it is the
custom of the Romans that a portion be re-
served from the mass which is sung on Maundy
Thursday and the Easter-Eve, and on the holy
day of Easter, and at Pentecost, and on the
holy day of the Lord's Nativity, throughout
the year ; and that of the said mass there be
put into the chalice, everywhere at the stations,
if the pope himself be not present, when he
says. The Peace, &c. . . . and this is called Fer-
mentum. Nevertheless, oh Easter-Eve, no pres-
byter in the baptismal churches communicates
any one before there be sent to him of that very
same holy thing which the Lord Pope hath
offered " (Mabillon, Itin. German. Descript. p.
65; Hamb. 1717). The rite was observed at
Rome under the second Ordo Bomanus, now ex-
tant (pp. 43, 9), which is probably at least a
century later than the first. Amalarius, who
wrote about the year 827, cites some words that
relate to it from Ordo //. § 12 (p. 49) ; but there
can be little doubt that he understood them of
FERREOLUS
the " commixture " of a particle of tlie newly-
consecrated oblate (De Eccles. Off. lib. iii. c. 31).
II. There was another use of the reserved
element, somewhat similar to the above, at the
ordination of bishops and priests. The earliest
notice occurs in a very ancient Roman directory,
and refers (as indeed all the strictly Roman
documents do; to bishops only. The pope at the
communion which followed the consecration,
gave a whole oblate' to the newly-made bishop,
of which he took a part at the time, but " re-
served the rest of it to serve for communions for
forty. days" (Orrfo T'///. p. 89). The practice
may have spread from Rome, but it was at one
time so widely observed that we are compelled
to assign its origin to a very early though not
primitive date. In the opinion of Morinus {Dc
Sacr. Ordin. P. III. Exerc. VIII. c. ii. § iv.), it
sprang up in Italy in the 8th century. Fulbert,
bishop of Chartres, who was born in the 10th cen-
tury, asserts that it was observed by all the bishops
of his province at the ordination of presbyters,
and he believed it to be universal (^Ep. IT. ad
Einard. apud Martene, de Ant. Eccl. Hit. L. I.
c. viii. Art. IX. n. xx.). Rubrics prescribing it
at the consecration of bishops are found in old
pontificals of Concha, in Spain (Martene, u. s.
Art. X. n. xxi.) ; of Saltzburg {fbid. Art. XI.
Ord. VIII.) ; of Toulouse, Rouen, Rheims (Mo-
rinus, de Sacr. Ord. P. II. p. 281 ; and F. III. p.
130), and the Latin church of Constantinople
(Mart. u. s. Ordo XIV. note at end), where the
term was forty days ; and of Mayence (Morinus,
P. II. p. 278), where it was thirty. The pon-
tificals of Compifegne (Mart. u. s. Ord, VII.) and
of Saltzburg (Ibid. Ord. IX.) testify to the cus-
tom at the ordination of priests, the former fix-
ing forty days for them, and the latter only
seven. In the pontifical of the Latin church of
Apamea in Syria, the pope, who is supposed to
consecrate, is directed to give a " whole Host "
to the new bishop, but its use is not mentioned.
Afterwards, however, it is said that " for forty
days from the day of his consecration he ought,
if possible, to sing mass daily for the people com-
mitted to him." (Mart. u. s. Ord. XIV.). This
evidently indicates the original purpose, and
makes it highly probable that wherever in the
west we find an order that the newly ordained
shall celebrate for forty days (and this was a
common rule : see Morinus, P. III. Exerc. VIII.
c. ii. § vii. p. 132), there had also existed in con-
nection with it the custom of reserving for those
celebrations from the communion at the ordina-
tion.
Mabillon (Comm. in Ord. Eom.-^. xxxix.) states
expressly that the particles of the reserved oblate
were put day by day into the chalice by the
newly-made bishop or priest, as in the rite be-
fore described. This is more than probable ;
but it is right to mention that he gives no refe-
lence, and that no direct evidence of the fiict
has come within the knowledge of the present
writer. [W. E. S.]
FERREOLUS. (1) Presbyter, martyr at
Besan(;on with Ferrutio, the deacon ; comme-
morated June 16 {Mart. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Vienna; commemorated Sept.
18 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FERRUTIO. [Ferrkolus.]
FESTIVAL
669
FERTUM is "the oblation which is bronsht
to the altar, and sacrificed by the priest" (Du-
cange, s. v. quoting Isidore and Papias); i. e. the
element of bread offered on the altar and conse-
crated. [-(j_-|
FERULA. [Xartiikx ; Pastoral Staff.]
FESTIVAL (eoprVj, fcstum, dies fest'ts). The
history of the first rise of festivals in the Chris-
tian church is a subject involved in much
obscurity. During the first few vears, while
the essentially Jewish character of the church
continued, the Jewish yearlv festivals were
doubtlessly observed, especially the Passover and
Pentecost, which later events had raised to a far
higher pitch of dignity. The Sabbath also con-
tinued to be observed, and with it the first day
of each week became a lesser Easter day.
As time went on, the Jewish element in the
church became proportionately diminished, with
the breach between it and the Gentile part con-
tinually widening. Indeed the tone of the
language used by Christian writers in the 2nd
century, with reference to the Jewish nation, is
on the whole one of undisguised hostility. It is
obvious therefore that the tendency would be
from the nature of the case to reject such Jewish
festivals as had not in some sort been made
Christian, and thus, e.g., though some have seen
in Christmas a higher form of the feast of the
Dedication, it may be considered that the inheri-
tance of the younger from thq older church,
so for as festivals are concerned, consists of the
ennobled Passover and Pentecost. The "first
day of the week " was no doubt a Christian
festival from the earliest times. Up to the end
of the 2nd century, we have no evidence of
the existence of any other festival than these
three. Gradually,' however, from a belief in the
lessons of good derivable from a celebration of
great events in the history of our faith, and
perhaps too from the analogy of the numerous
festivals of the older religions, fresh commemora-
tions arose, the earliest being that of the Epiphany,
from which afterwards arose the celebration
of Christmas as a separate festival. The exact
time of the first rise of these, and of the connec-
tion between the two, is uncertain ; reference
may be made to the separate articles. [Christ-
mas, Epiphany.] The time, too, from Easter to
Pentecost came to be viewed as one long festal
season, and in this period a special distinction
began to be attached to Ascension-day, in the
Si'd or more probably in the 4th century. To-
gether with these festivals and similar ones
which were gradually added {e.g. those of the
Presentation and Annunciation in the 6th
century), all commemorative of the great events
in the foundation of the faith, we find also
festivals of another kind, the celebration of the
anniversary of a martyr's death, viewed as his
natal day into the better life. These would be
at first confined more or less to special churches,
but would subsequently obtain in many cases a
general observance. Thus by the end of the
4th century we find a wide-spread observance of
festivals of e.g., St. Stephen, SS. Peter and Paul,
and the Maccabees. The festival of St. John the
Baptist, which at an early period became one of
great importance (see e.g. the canon of the council
of Agde, cited below), is not however of the above
class, being a commemoration of the actual birth-
670
FESTIVAL
day, as one intimately associated with that of the
Saviour Himself.
We find, however, considerable diversity of
feeling in the primitive church on the subject of
festivals. On the one hand, it was most justly
felt that a festival, as being a cessation from the
world's everyday cares and pleasures, should
claim regard as a special means of help for the
soul in its heavenward way ; on the other hand,
it was urged with equal truth, that when the
shadows of Judaism had. become the realities
of Christianity, to lay any special stress on the
observance of times and seasons was at any rate
to incur the danger of losing sight of the reason
why festivals were established at all, and the
rather that in Christianity every day was in a
new sense consecrated to God. It was the dis-
regard of one or other of these two co-ordinate
truths to which must be attributed much of the
false ideas that have been held on the subject of
festivals. Protests on the second point were
deemed necessary by our Lord Himself (Matt,
xii. 8 ; Mark ii. 27), and by St. Paul (Romans
xiv. 5,6; Gal. iv. 9-11; Col. ii. 16). In like
manner too, Origen {contra Celsum viii. 22)
urges that the Christian who dwells on the
thought of Christ our Passover, and of the gift
of the Holy Ghost, is every day keeping an
Easter and a Pentecostal feast. Similar remarks
are found also in Chrysostom {Horn. i. de S.
Fentecoste, c. i. ; vol. ii. 458, ed. Montfaucon :
cf. Horn. XV. in 1 Cor. c. 3 ; vol. x. 128). These
passages, however, are not to be viewed as objec-
tions brought against the celebration of festivals,
but rather as answers to those who sawinthem but
a relic of Judaism. TertuUian, in very sweep-
ing language, condemns the practice of holding
festivals altogether on this ground, — " Horum
igitur tempora observantes et dies et menses
et annos, galaticamur. Plane, si judaicarum
caerimouiaruin, si legalium sollemnitatum ob-
servantes sumus. . . ." and asks why in the
face of St. Paul's language as to times and
seasons, Easter is celebrated, and why the period
from thence to Whitsunday is spent as one long
season of rejoicing (dejejunio adv. Fsychicos, c. 14).
Jerome, on the other hand, while endorsing such
views as those which we have referred to as
held by Origen and Chrysostom, proceeds further
to maintain the definite advantages arising
from the observance of festivals {Comm. in Gal.
iv. 10 ; vol. vii. 456, ed. Vallarsi : cf. Socrates,
Jlist. Eccles. V. 22).
We shall now briefly notice the chief points in
which a festival was specially distinguished in
Its observance from ordinary days. (1) The essential
idea of a Christian festival was obviously such
as to make ordinary festivities, other than those
of a religious character, unseemly at such times ;
and thus numerous imperial edicts were promul-
gated from time to time, prohibiting public
games, etc. on Christian holy days (Eusebius,
Vita Constant ini iv. 18, 23 : Sozomen, Hist.
Eccles. i. 8 : Cud. Theodos. lib. xv. tit. 5, 11. 2,
o ; vol. iv. pp. 350, 353, ed. Gothofredus : Cod.
Justin, lib. iii. tit. 12, 1. 11 ; p. 208, ed. Gotho-
fredus). Of the two references to the Theodosian
Code, the former enjoins that " Nullus Solis die
populo spectaculum praebeat ;" the latter specifies
Sundays, Christmas, the Epiphany, Easter, and
the anniversary of apostolic martyrdoms as the
days to which the prohibition extended, " . . . .
FESTIVAL
omni theatrorum atque Circensium voluptate
]ier universao urbes earundem populis denegata.'"
(2) In like manner all legal business had to be
suspended. {Cod. Theodos'. lib. ii. tit. 8, 11. 1, 2 ;
vol. i. pp. 118, 121: Cod.-Justin. lib. iii. tit. 12,
11. 7, 11 ; pp. 207, 208). A special exemption
was allowed in the case of emancipation or manu-
mission {Cod. Theodos. lib. ii. tit. 8, 1. 1 ; siijjra).
(3) The celebi-ation of public worship was of
course a necessary concomitant of a festival.
The council of Eliberis [305 A.D.] condemns the
man who on three consecutive Sundays was
absent from the church (can. 21 ; Labbe i. 973).
The council of Agde (506 A.D.) while sanctioning
generally the practice of communicating in
private chapels, forbids it elsewhere than in the
public assembly on the more important festivals.
These are specified in another canon of the same
council as Easter, Christmas, the Epiphany,
Ascension-day, Pentecost, the Nativity of St.
John the Baptist, " vel si qui maxirai dies in
festivitatibus habentur." (cann. 18, 21 ; Labbe
iv. 1386 : cf. Concil. Aurel. iv. [541 A.D.] can.
3; Labbe v. 382). (4) Fasting was a thing
utterly foreign to the idea of such days ; indeed
it was a distinguishing mark of sundry heretics
to turn the festivals into seasons of fasting. The
so called Apostolic Canons censure those who
would fast on the Lord's day or the Sabbath
{i.e. Saturday, which, it will be i-emembered, was
regarded in the East as a day of distinctly festal
character), and orders that any of the clergy who
does so shall be deposed {Ka6aipeio-6ic, can. 65,
al. 66, Labbe i. 40) ; and a previous canon
(52 al. 51) had spoken of a bishop, priest or
deacon, who abstained from flesh and wine on
a festival as " a cause of scandal to many." (See
also TertuUian, de Corona Militis c. 3; Cincil.
Gangrense [circa 324 A.D.] can. 18; Labbe ii.
424 ; Concil. Carth-uj. iv. [398 A.D.] can. 64 ;
Labbe ii. 12t)5). On these days in earlier times
were held Agapae [Agapae], a custom which
was afterwards changed into the plan of the
richer members of a Christian community feeding
the poorer (cf. e.g., TertuUian, Apol. c. 39). (5)
Among minor but significant ways of distinguish-
ing a festival it may be added that at such times
it was usual to offer prayer standing, not kneel-
ing ; " die dominico nefas . . . . de geniculis
adorare. Eadem immunitate a die Paschae in
Peutecosten usque gaudemus " (TertuUian, de
Corona Militis c. 3). Irenaeus, in referring to
the same practice, speaks of this absence of kneel-
ing as figurative of the resurrection {Frag.
7 ; vol. i. p. 828, ed-. Stieren : cf. Justin Martyr,
Quaest. et Eesp. ad Orthodoxos 115: Jerome
Dialogus contra Luciferianos c. 8; vol. ii. 180:
Epiphanius Expos. Fidel c. 22 ; vol. i. 1105, ed.
Petavius : Isidore de Eccl. Off. i. 33 : Eabanus
Maurus de Inst. Cler. ii. 42. See also Concil.
Nicaenuni i. [325 A.D.] can. 20 ; Labbe ii. 37 :
also Dr. Pusey's note to the Oxford translation
of Ephrem Syrus, pp. 417 sqq.).
Festivals may be divided into ordinary and
extraordinary {feriae statutae, indictne), accord-
ing as they came in regular course in the
Christian year, or were specially appointed in
consequence of some particular event. Tlie
former may again be divided into immoveable and
moveable {feriae immobilcs, mobiles^, according as
they did or did not fall on the same day in every
year ; those in the latter division obviously con-
FESTOTI
sisting of such as depended on Easter, the time of
which, depending on the Jewish or lunar calendar,
to which the Paschal festival originally belonged,
varies with reference to its place in the Julian
or solar year [Eastkr]. It follows that the num-
ber of Sundays between Christmas and Easter,
and again between Easter and Christmas, is vari-
able. Besides the obvious divisions of feriae
majores, minores, there is further that into
feriae integrae, intercisae, according as the festival
lasted for the whole or part of a day. Such
divisions as those made by the Roman church
of festum simplex, duplex, semiduplex, to say
nothing of further subdivisions (principale du-
plex, majus duplex, etc.), fall quite beyond our
period. (For information concerning them see
Ducange's Glossarium, s. v. Fedum). On the
subject of the repeated commemorations of the
more important festivals, see Octave, and for
the preliminary preparation for festivals, see
Vigil.
Among the literature on the subject of Chris-
tian festivals may be mentioned the following :—
Hospinianus, Festa Christianorum ; Tiguri,
1593. Dresser, de festis diebus Christianornm,
Judaeorum et Ethnicorum liber, qiw origo, causa
ritus et usus eorum exponitur. Lipsiae, 1594-.
Gi-&t&QY,de festis Christianorum, Ingolstadt, 1612.
Gueti, Heortologia. Parisiis, 1657. Larabertini,
Commentavii dm de Jesti Christi matrisque ejus
Festis et de Missae Sacrificio. Patavii, 1752.
Augusti, die Feste der alten Christen. Leipzig,
1817. Ullmann, Vergleiehende Zusammsnstetlang
des Chribtlichen Fedcyclus mit Vorchristlichen
Festen, als Anhang zu Greuzcr's Symbolik. Leipzig,
1821. Nickel, Die heiligen Zeiten und Feste
tiach ihrer Geschichte und Feier in der Katholi-
schen Kirche. Mainz, 1825-38. P)interim,
Denkwiirdigkeiten der Christ- Katholischen Kirche
(vol. V. part 1, pp. 119 sqq.) Mainz, 1825-38.
Staudenmaier, Der Geist des Christenthums,
dargestellt in den heiligen Zeiten, heiligen Hand-
limqen und der heiligen Kunst. Mainz, 1838.
[R. S.]
FESTUM. [Festival.]
FESTUS. (1) [Januarius (10).]
(3) Saint in Tuscany; commemorated with
Joannes, Dec
nis, Usuardi).
(^3Iart. Rum. Vet., Hieron., Ado-
[W. F. G.]
FIDEI ADVOCATUS. [Advocatus; De-
fensor.]
FIDEJUSSOEES. [Sponsor.]
FIDELES. [Faithful.]
FIDELIUM MISSA. [Missa.]
FIDELIUM OEATIO. [Lord's Prayer.]
FIDES. (1) [Sophia.]
(2) Virgin, martyr at Agen ; commemorated
Oct. 6 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
FILIOLA (Spanish, Hijuela), a name giveu
m the Mozarabic liturgy to the Veil of the
chalice. One of the rubrics relating to the
oblation of the elements is : " [The Priest] places
the chalice on the altar, and takes the Filiola,
and without blessing it puts it on the chalice."
(Mabillon, De Litimj. Gall. p. 42 ; Neale, Eastern
Church, introd. 439). [C]
FIR-TEEE (OR PINE) (>71
FILLET, THE BAPTISMAL. [Baptism,
p. 163; Chrismal.]
FINCHALE, COUNCIL OF (Jimhallcnse
Concilium), held a.d. 798 or 9, at Finchale, near
Durham, and presided over by Eanbald, arch-
bishop of York, in which, after the faith of the
first five general councils had been rehearsed
from a book, a declaration of adhesion to them
was reiterated in the words of archbishop Theo-
dore, and the council of Hatfield, a.d. 680 (see c.
of H.), and other regulations for the good of the
church in Northumbria and elsewhere, and for
the keeping of Easter, wei-e passed (Haddan and
Stubbs, Councils iii. 527). [E. S. Ff.]
FINES (mulcta, emenda, iinTifiia). Mulcta
signified a fine paid by way of penalty to the
judge : emenda, satisfaction made to the injured
party. On the variations from this usage, see
Du Cange, s. v. Emenda. Fines are found in
the records of the early English church among
the penalties inflicted for ecclesiastical offences.
The laws of Ethelbert of Kent, a.d. 597-604
(c. i.) require the following compensation to be
made for injuries ; " to the property of God and
the church twelve fold, a bishop's property
eleven fold, a priest's property nine fold, a
deacon's six fold, a clerk's property three fold."
The laws of Ine, king of Wessex, a.d. 690 (c. 2),
order a man to have his child baptized within
thirty days, "if it be not so, let him make
'bot' with thirty shillings, but if it die with-
out baptism, let him make 'bot' for it with all
that he has ;" (c. 3) a lord to pay thirty shillings
who compels his ' theouman' to work on Sunday, a
freeman working without his lord's command to
pay sixty shillings ; and (c. 13) any one committing
perjury before a bishop to pay one hundred and
twenty shillings. In the laws of Wihtred of
Kent, A.d. 696, it is decreed (c. 9) that if an
' esne ' do work contrary to his lord's command
from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday, he
must make a ' bot ' of eighty shillings. The
Penitential of Egbert (vii. 4) directs an offender
for certain crimes either to do penance or pay a
fine to the church, or divide money among the
poor; and elsewhere (xiii. 11) allows a fine to
take the place of foisting ; but this latter instance
is rather of the nature of a Redemption than a
direct penance. (Haddan and Stubbs, Councils
and Feci. Documents, vol. iii. pp. 42, 214, 233.)
[G. M.]
FINTANUS, presbyter, and confessor in Ire-
land ; commemorated Feb. 17 {Mart. Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
FIR-TEEE OR PINE. See Aringhi, vol.
ii. p. 632-3. " Praeter cupressum, et pinns
quoque et myrtus pro mortis symbolo, etc.
Et pinus quidem, quia semel excisa nunquam
reviviscit et repullulascit." These are rather
general or human reasons for choice of the pine
as an emblem of death, than as conveying any
specially Christian thought. See Herodotus vi.
37, on the threat of Croesus to the people of Lamp-
sacus. But the fir, or some tree much resembling
it, accompanies the figure of the Good Shepherd,
Aringhi, ii. 293, from the cemetery of St. Pris-
cilla. Also at pp. 75 and 25; and it is certainly
intended to be represented among the trees
which surround the same form in vol. i. 577. The
latter jiainting is from the Callixtine, and is
672
FIRE, KINDLING OF
certainly an adaptation from the common fresco-
subjects of Orpiieus. The shepherd bears the
syrinx or reeds, but sits in a half-reclining posi-
tion, as Orpheus with the lyre ; and various trees
are surrounding him. This association of the fir
or pine with the Good Shepherd, and of both
with Orpheus, would account for the introduc-
tion of different species of " trees of the wood,"
the fir being also characteristic of the mountains
or wilderness in which the lost sheep is found.
Herzog thinks it was placed on Christian graves
(as well as others), as an evergreen tree, and
therefore a symbol of immortality; which is by
no means unlikely. [R. St. J. T.]
FIRE, KINDLING OF. In the first Ordo
Roinanus (c. 32, p. 21 ; cf p. 31), among the
ceremonies of Maundy Thursday, the following
13 mentioned. At the ninth hour fire is pro-
duced by a flint and steel sufficient to light a
candle, which ought to be placed on a reed ; a
lamp lighted from this is kept unextinguished
in the church until Easter eve, to light the
Paschal taper, which is to be blessed on that day.
The directions of pope Zacharias (Epist. 12, ad
Bonif.) are different. He says, that the tradi-
tion of the Romish church was, that on Maundy
Thursday, three lamps of more than usual
capacity were set alight in some hidden spot in
the church, with oil sufficient to last till Easter
eve, and that from these on the latter day the
Iiaptismal tapers were to be lighted. " But," he
continues, " as to the crystals which you mention
we have no tradition." The latter words seem
to prove incontestably that the custom men-
tioned in the Ordo Rom. I., of striking fire from
flint or "crystal," was not introduced at Rome
in the time of Zacharias (t752), when it was
already practised in some churches — probably in
Gaul or Germany — known to Bonitace. Pope
Leo IV., however (1855), recognises it as an
established custom to produce fresh fire on Easter
eve, saying (ZTo/n. l)e Cura Past. c. 7), "in
sabbato paschae extincto veteri novus ignis bene-
dicatur et per populum dividatur." Amalarius
{De Ord. Antiph. c. 44) says that he learned
from Theodorus, archdeacon of Rome, that no
lamps or tapers were used in the Roman church
on Good Friday, but that on that day new fire is
kmdled, the flame from which is preserved until
the nocturnal office. Compare Martene, Hit.
Ant. IV. xxiii. 6.
For the kindling of tapers on Candlemas Day,
see Mary the Virgin, Festivals of. [C]
FIRE, ORDEAL OF. [Ordeal.]
FIRMAMENT. The male figure observed
beneath the feet of our Lord, in representations
FIRST FRUITS
of the dispute with the doctors (see Bottari,
tav. XV., Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, and wood-
cut No. 1) is said to be intended for Uranus, or
the firmament of heaven. It is always holding a
veil or cloth above its head, which appears to
symbolize the stretching out of the heavens like a
curtain, Ps. civ. 2 ; Is. xl. 22 ; and more parti-
cularly Ps. xviii. 9, of "the darkness under
God's feet."
In another instance, from a tomb in the Vati-
can (Bottari, tav. xxxiii., woodcut No. 2), a
feminine bust is snown holding a floating drapery
over its head, which seems inflated by the wind.
The figure above seems to walk firmly over it.
On the significance of this, see Buonarruoti,
Vetri, p. 7; Bottari, i. p. 41 ; Visconti, M.F.C.
torn. iv. pi. 418. Garrucci (Hagiogli/pta, p. 92,
note 1) does not assent to the common belief that
this represents the firmament. (Martignv, Diet,
des Antiq. Cliret., s. v. Cicl). [R. St. J. T.]
PIRMATUS, deacon ; deposition at Auxerre,
Oct. 5 {Mart. Hieron., LTsuardi). [W. F. G.]
FIRMINUS. (1) Bishop, martyr at Amiens ;
commemorated Sept. 25 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Bishop, confessor at Uzetia ; commemo-
rated Oct. 11 {ib.). [W. F. G.]
FIRMUS. [Felicianus (1).]
FIRST FRUITS (Primitiae, of animals or
men, irpwrSTOKa ; of raw produce, TrpwToyevv^-
fiara ; of prepared produce, airapxcd. Aug.
Quaest. in Num. xviii.). Compare Fruits, Of-
FERIXG OF.
Tlie custom of dedicating first fruits to God
obtained early in the church (Orig. c. Ceh. viii.
33, 34). Irenaeus thinks that Christ enjoined
them when he took bi-ead and wine at the last
supper {Haer. iv. 32), and that they ought to
be paid (Oportet, ib. 34). Origen says their pay-
ment is becoming and expedient, and refusal is
unworthy and impious, yet he distinctly states
that the Levitical law of first fruits is not bind-
ng in the letter upon the Christian church.
(Num. xviii. Horn. xi.). But as the idea grew
hat the clergy had succeeded to the position
and to the rights of the Levites, first fruits were
considered obligatory, to withhold them was to
defraud God ; they are more incumbent upon
Christians than Jews, for Christ bids his followers
to sell all they have, and also to exceed the
FISH
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ; the
priest whom they support will bring a blessing
on the house by his prayers, the offerer by his
spirit of thankfulness. (Jerome in Ezek. xliv. ; in
Mai. iii. ; Greg. Naz. Epist. 80, Orat. 15. Apost.
Const, ii. 25.) Yet, though the payment was so
vigoi'ously pressed, we find in Cassiau (CoUat.
xxi. 1 seq.) that abbot John regards first fruits as
voluntary gifts, while Theonas says he has not
even heard the reason for paying them before.
The council of Friuli (A.D. 791, can. 14), quotes
Malachi iii. as conclusive proof of the obligation
of first fruits.
Most stress is laid upon paying first fruits of
the corn-floor and the wine-press, but the Aposto-
lic Constitutions mention others and regulate
their distribution. First fruits of the corn-floor
and wine-press, of sheep and oxen, of bread and
honey, of wine in cask, are to be paid for the
support of the priests, but of clothing, money,
and other possessions for the orphan and widow
(^Const. vii. 30). The bishop alone has the right
to receive and apportion first fruits (ii. 25).
At first they were broiTght with the other
oblations at the celebration of the eucharist.
This was found inconvenient, and it was ordered
FISH
673
tural or anagrammatic meaning is perhaps the
most popular at the present day. In Matt. xiii.
47-49 ; Luke v. 4-10 ; it is used in the parable
of the net for the members of the church ; and
our Lord there assigns it its significance ; His
parabolic use of it is frequently imitated in early
Christian art, where the fishes in the church's
net, or caught by the hook of the fisher, corres-
pond exactly to the lambs of the fold, or to the
doves, which also represent the foithful on many
Christian tombs and vaultings (see s. vv.) But
the anagrammatic use of the word IX0TC ap-
pears to have been very early. It was derived,
as all know, from the initials of the word ;
'ItjctoSs Xpicnhs @iov Xihs 'SiOT7)p. This appears
to be in the mind of St. Clement of Alexandria
(Paedaij. iii. c. 11, p. 106), and to have been so
well understood in his time as to have required no
explanation, since he recommends the use of the
symbol on seals and rings, without giving an
explanation of its import. The other devices he
commends are the dove, ship, lyre, and anchor.
At so early a period as the middle of the 2nd
! century, and under the continual dangers of
j persecution, the use of such a symbol ior the
1 person of the Lord was perfectiv natural, as it
(Canon. Ap. 4) that they should not be brought
to the altar, but to the bishop and presbyters,
who would distribute to the deacons and other
clerics. The church of Africa (Cod. Can. Afr.
37), made an exception in favour of honey and
milk, which were needed as accompaniments of
the sacrament of baptism.
The payment of first fruits was accompanied
by a special formula (Jerome on Ezek. xlv.) ;
lo, I have brought to thee first fruits of the pro-
duce of the earth, which thou hast given me, O
Lord. The priest replied with the blessing
written in Deut. xxviii. 3. A special form of
thanksgiving is found in Apost. Const, viii. 40.
The amount of first fruits was not fixed by the
Levitical law, but left to the liberality of the
worshipper. Tradition handed down one-sixtieth
as the minimum, those who were more religious
gave one-fortieth, the rest something between.
(Jerome on Ezek. xlv.; Cassian Coll. xxi. 3). [J. S.]
FISH. [See Eucharist in Christian Art,
p. 625.]
The Fish is a symbol of almost universal occur-
rence in the painting and sculpture of the primi-
tive church. Like the Dove or the Lamb it is
used in more than one sense; and its non-scrip-
CHRIST. ANT.
I would attract no notice from the outer world ;
and in the same manner, with even more obvious
reasons, the form of the cross was frequently
I disguised up to the time of Constantine. [See
Cross.] But see also Tertullian (De Baptismo,
c. 1) " Nos pisciculi secundum Ix&vv nostrum
in aqui nascimur." Also Jerome ad Bonosum,
Ep. 43, " B. tanquam IxBvos filius aquosa petit."
[Baptism, p. 171.] But the mystic senses as-
signed to the emblem by various fathers often
seem to the modern mind somewhat gratuitous
and ill-founded. They strain their imaginations,
apparently, to find reasons in the nature of things
for a devoutly ingenious arrangement of initial
letters ; and seem to assume that there must be
real analogy between the Divine Lord and the
fish, because the initials of the name and titles of
the one made the Greek name of the other. The
pleasure derived from the anagram, or the facility
it may have given for concealing Christian
doctrine from the heathen, seem occasionally to
have overcome the thought that the Lord Him-
self used the fish as an emblem of His people
only, not of Himself — of the sheep, not the
Shepherd. Aringhi dwells more naturally on the
Scriptural meaning, and the various examples
he gives (vol. ii. p. 684; ii. p. 620; also that
2 X
674
FISH
from the inscription made in Stilicho's consulship
A.D. 400, vol. i. p. 19) all speak of. the fish in
the Scriptural sense as a type of the disciple.
The lamp in Aringhi (ii. 620 ; see woodcut) has the
monogram ou the handle, and the two fishes on
the central part. He also refers to the dolphin
as king of fishes, speaking of its reported love
for its offspring ; with reference to the tomb of
Baleria or Valeria Latobia, now in the Vatican.
Martigny states that because Christ is man, He
therefore is a fish of His own net, and gives
prophetic significance, following Aringhi, to the
story of Tobias and the fish which delivered
Sara from the power of the evil spirit. This
he literally accepts, and follows the various
attempted connexions of the anagram with the
fish of the last repast at the sea of Galilee ; and
sees in them the sacramental representatives of
the body of our Lord, quoting St. Augustine,
{Tract cxxiii. in Joann. xvi.) and Bede's observa-
tion on the same passage, Piscis assus, Christus
est passus. These analogies are difficult to follow,
especially when we consider the Scriptural use
of the emblem from the Lord's own mouth.
The fish as the believer, (Ambrose, iv. in Luc.
V. " pisces qui hanc euavigant vitam ") is more
frequently represented on the hook of the gospel
fisherman, than in the net of the church. [See
Fisherman.} Bread and fish are the universal
viands of the representations of earlier Agapae,
as frequently in the Callixtine catacomb. The
genuineness of some at least of these paintings is
generally allowed, and Dr. Theodore Mommsen
mentions in particular an Agape with bread and
fish, in the vault named after Domitilla, the
grand-daughter of Vespasian, on the Ardeatine
way and near the ancient church of SS. Nereus
and Achilles. In this painting so impartial and
accurate an observer has full confidence, as coeval
with the vault ; though he thinks the case in-
complete for the vault itself being so early as
95 B.C. ; and observes that the painting of this
subject, as of those of Daniel, Noah, and the
Good Shepherd, is less excellent than that of the
vine in the vaultings of the original chamber of
Domitilla without the catacomb, which is quite
like a work of the Augustan age.
The use of this emblem is connected by
Martigny with the " disciplina arcani " of the
early church. There can be little doubt that
reverent mystery was observed as to the eu-
charist, and that in ages of persecution, till Con-
stantino's time, no public use of the cross was
made, as a sign of the person of the Lord. Till
then, the fish-anagram was perhaps in special
and prevailing use, and it may have yielded its
place from that time to the cross, the sign of
full confession of Jesus Christ. For the secret
discipline after the time of Constantino seems to
have consisted mainly in the gradual nature of
the instructions given to catechumens, and the
fact that for a time the chief doctrines of the
faith were not brought before them.
[R. St. J. T.]
The tesserae given to tlie newly-baptized were
frequently in the form of the symbolical fish, as
pledges or tokens of the rights conferred in bap-
tisnr(Allegranza, Opusc. Enid. p. 107). Of this
kind is jirobably the bronze fish given by Cos-
tadoni {Del Pesce, iv. 22\ inscribed with the
word CojCAIC. See woodcut.
FISHERMAN
Boldetti {Os^ervazioni, p. 516) discovered m
the catacombs three glass' fishes, with a number
inscribed upon each ; thus, x. xx. xxv. The pui--
pose of the numbers is altogether uncertain.
The custom of decorating baptisteries with
fish has a similar origin. In the ruins of an
ancient baptistery near the church of St. Prisca
at Rome, two beautiful mosaics representing fish
were discovered, which are now in the Kircher
museum (Luiji, Dissert, i. 83). See Baptism,
p. 171. [C]
FISHERIMAN. Our Lord or His disciples
are frequently represented as the fishers of men
in ancient art, St. Clement of Alexandria uses
the simile for both. Hijmn to the Saviour, v.
24 sqq. ; Paedagoj. iii. 106. See also Aringhi, ii.
620. Martigny gives an example (see cut No. 1.)
from an article by Costadoui, Delpesce (vol. 41,
p. 247, in the collection of Calogera, Venice,
1738-1787), representing a man clothed in the
skin of a fish, bearing a sporta or basket,' which
may, as Polidori supposes, represent the divine
or apostolic fisher, or the fish of the church's
net. The net is more rarely represented than
the hook and line, but St. Peter is represented
casting the net, in an ancient ivory in Mamachi
{Costumi i. prefaz. p. 1). The net of St. Peter,
with the Lord fishing with the line, is a device
of the papal signets. In the Callixtine cata-
comb (De Rossi, IX0TC tab. ii. n. 4) the fisher-
man is drawing forth a huge fish from the
waters which flow from the rock in Horeb (see
cut No. 2). See also Bottari, tav. xlii., and a cor-
nelian given by Costadoni, Pesce tav. xxx., on a
small glass cup given by Garrucci {Vetri, vi. 10),
a figure in tunic and pallium (supposed to re-
present the Lord) holds in his hand a large fish
FISHERMAN'S RING
as if just drawu from the sea (cut No. 3). At
St. Zenone in Verona, the patron saint is thus
represented, and this sub-
ject, with those of Abra-
ham's sacrifice, Noah's ark,
and others, on the bronze
doors and marble front of
that most important church,
are specially valuable as
connecting the earlier Lom-
bard carvings with the most
ancient and scriptural sub-
jects of primitive church-
work. This symbol, like the Vine, is adopted
from Pagan decoration, which of course proves
its antiquity. [R. St. J. T.]
FISHERMAN'S RING. [Rixg.]
FISTULA (called also calamus, canna, can-
nula, siphon, aruiido, pipa, pugillaris). A tube,
usually of gold or silvei-, by suction through
which it was formerly customary to receive the
wine in communicating. The ancient Ordo Ro-
manus thus explains its use: " Diaconus tenens
calicem et fislulam stet ante episcopum, usque-
dum ex sanguine Christi quantum voluerit su-
mat ; et sic calicem et fistulam subdiacono com-
mendet." Among other instances, five silver-
gilt fistulae ad communicandum are enumerated
among the sacramental vessels of the church of
Mayence ; and at a later date, pope Victor III.
left to the monastery of Monte Casino, " fistulam
auream cum angulo, et fistulas argenteas duas."
Pope Adrian I. is said by Auastasius to have
oft'ereil " calicem majorem fundatum cum siphone
pensautem libras xxx." ; and the ancient Carthu-
sian statutes recite that the Order has no oi-na-
ments of gold or silver in its churches, " praeter
calicem, et calamum, quo Sanguis Domini
sumitur."
The adoption of the fistula doubtless arose
from caution, lest any drop from the chalice
should be spilt, or any other irreverence occur
in communicating. This seems intimated by
the rule of the Cistercian Order (Z«6. Us. Ord.
Cist. cap. 53), which says that the fistula is not
necessary in Missa solennis, when the ministers
alone communicate ; but that when more com-
municate it should be used. Gregory of Tours
{Hist. Franc, iii. 31) states that it was the cus-
tom of the Arians to communicate by drinking
from the chalice, as if the use of the fistula was
for that reason preferred by the orthodox.
The fistula has fallen into disuse since the
practice of communicating in one kind has pre-
vailed. It is, however, still retained in solemn
papal celebrations for the communion of the
pope. The senior cardinal bishop purifies the
tube (calamum aureum Papae) with wine, and,
after kissing it, places it in the chalice, which
he delivers into the right hand of the pope, who
communicates by suction. Cardinal Bona states
that the fistula was used in his time in the Bene-
dictine monastery of the congregation of St.
Maur, in France, where also the assistants com-
municated in both kinds.
The fistula does not appear to have been
adopted in the Eastern church, which made use
of a spoon for communicating. [See Voigt,
Historia fistulae Eucharisticae ; Krazer, Lit. pp.
20.1-5 ; Bona, Rer. Lit. ; Martene, De ant. rit.
Lib. iv. ; Catalan!, Caerem. &c.] [H. J. H.]
FLABELLUM
675
FLABELLUM (pnriStoi', pnris). Among
the evidences of the Eastern origin of the Chris-
tian religion is the use of fans, fiabella, during
the celebration of the Eucharist. Having its
birthplace and earliest home in a climate teem-
ing with insect life, where food exposed uncovered
is instantly blackened and polluted by swarms
of files, it was natural that the bread and wine
of its sacramental feast should be guarded fi-om
defilement by the customary precautions. The
flabelluin, or muscariit,in, having been once intro-
duced among the fui-niture of the altar for
necessary uses, in process of time became one
of its regular ornaments, and was thus trans-
ferred to the more temperate climates of the
West, where its original purpose was almost
forgotten.
The earliest notice of the flabellurn as a litur-
gical ornament is in the Apostolical Constitutions
(viii. 12), which direct that after the oblation,
before and during the prayer of consecration,
two deacons are to stand, one on either side of
the altar, holding a fan made of thin membrane
(parchment), or of peacock feathers, or of fine
linen, and quietly drive away the flies and
toher small insects, that they may not strike
against the vessels. In the liturgies also of St.
Chrysostom and St. Basil, the deacons are
directed to tan the holy oblations during the
prayer of consecration. This fanning, according
to Germanus {Contemp. rer. Eccl. p. 157), who,
though a late authority (a.D. 1222), may be
taken as an evidence of earlier usage, ceased
with the Lord's Prayer, and was not resumed.
Early writei's furnish many notices of the use of
the flabellurn as an essential part of the liturgical
ceremonial. Cyril of Scythopolis, in his Life of
St. Euthymius, § 78 (c. A.D. 550), describes
Domitian standing at the right side of the holy
table, while St. Euthymius was celebrating, with
the mystical fan (ji^ra ttjs fxucrriKris ^tTriSos)
just before the Trisagion. Moschus also {Prat.
Spirit. § 196) when narrating how some shepherd
boys near Apamea were imitating the celebration
of the Eucharist in childish sport," is careful to
mention that two of the children stood on either
side of the celebrant, vibrating their handker-
chiefs like fans (to7s <paKwKiois [fasciolis] e'ppi-
TTi^of). The life of Nicetas (ap. Surium, April
3) describes St. Athanasius assisting at the
divine mysteries, " ministerii flabellurn tenens
erat enim diaconus." Among the ornaments of
the church of Alexandria specified in the in-
ventory given. Chronic. Alexand. A.D. 624 (ap.
Menard, ad Sacr. Gregor. p. 319) are rijjLia
piiriSia.
As the deacons were the officers appointed to
wave the fan over the sacred oblations, the de-
livery of the flabellurn, or ^nriStov, constitutes a
part of many of the Oriental forms for the ordi-
nation to the diaconate. Thus Eucholog. p. 253,
after the aipdpiov or stole has been given and placed
on the left shoulder, the holy fan {aywv piiri-
Siov), is put into the deacon's hands, and he is
placed "at the side of the holy table to fan; "
and again, p. 251, the deacon is directed to take
the (itiridiov, and" stand at the right side of the
table, and wave it over the holy things {piiri^ei
» We may compare with this the well known story of
St. Athanasius acting the Ijoy -bishop and baptising hie
conipaniun'j on the shore at Alexandria.
(iTO
FLABELLUM
indvca twv ayloiv) (cf. Martene, de Ritih. Eccl.
ii. 525). Martene gives similar examples from
the ordination of the Maronite deacons (de Bit.
ii. 545), chorepisoopi (" dia-
coni tenentes flabella," ib.
p. 554), and patriarchs
(ih. 559) ; as well as of the
Jacobite deacons (ib. 579,
580). Renaudot (ii. 80)
asserts that though men-
tioned in the ordination ser-
vices, the ptTTiSiof does not
appear in the Syrian litur-
gies. A flabellum, formed
of a silver disk, was used
in the Armenian church, as
it still is. Neale (Eastern
Ch. p. 396) remarks that
the use of the flabellum
was much more frequent
among the Armenians than
in the Greek church.
The flabellum in ordinary-
use in the Greek church
represented a cherub or
seraph, with six wings, in
These wings were by pre-
ference made of peacocks' feathers, originally
on account of their beauty, subsequently with
allusion to Is. vi. 2.
No. 2. Armenian Doaron, with Flabellum. From Martigny.
mystical reference to the living creatures of
the Apocalypse (Rev. iv. 6, 8). Goar (Enchol.
p. 137) gives the annexed .^gure of a Greek
FLABELLUM
by the six wings surrounding the tace (Bona,
Rer. Liturg. lib. i. c. 25, § 6). The fl,abella of the
Armenians and Maronites were formed of discs
of silver or brass, surrounded with little bells.
The figure (No. 2) given by Martigny from Le
Brun (vol. v. p. 58) represents an Armenian
flabellum (No. 1), consisting of an angelic head
affixed to the end of a handle, the fan formed
th Flabellum. From BoldetU.
deacon with his /afte/fem. We give also similar
examples from the Book of Kells (No. 3) and the
Gospels of Treves (No. 4), derived from West-
No. 6. Deacon with Flabellum. From MS.
Barberini Library.
wood's Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS. pi. 53, No. 7,
and pi. 20 (see also p. 153).
FLABELLUM
Although there is no mention of the flahellum
in the Ordo Ronianus, or Latin ritual books,
there is no doubt that it was used by the West-
ern church at an early time. This is evidenced
by a story given by Moschus {^Prat. Spiritual.
§ 150) of a deacon who had falsely accused his
FLABELLUM
G77
bishop, being removed from the altar when he
was holding the fun in the presence of pope
Agapetus, a.d. 535, because 'he hindered the de-
scent of the Holy Spirit on the gifts. An earlier
example is furnished by a gilded glass found in
the catacombs, representing a deacon fanning
the infant Saviour, seated on the knees of His
Virgin Mother (Boldetti, Osservazioni, p. 202),
ment attached to a handle. Bona, u. s., cites
also the ancient Cluniac Consuetudinal, and that
of St. Benignus of Dijon, together with a Ponti-
hcal Ceremonial of the time of Nicholas V. c.
1447. The ilabellum often appears in inven-
tories of church furniture. In that taken at
St. Riquier, near Abbeville, in 831, mention is
made of a "flabeljum argeuteum ad muscas a
sacnficiis abigendas." Other later exami>les,
mcluding some from our own country, will be
found in Mr. Albert Way's paper on the Flabellum
{Archaeol. Joum. v. 203), sufficiently establish-
mg Its use in the churches of the West, where
it could be scarcely regarded as requisite as i-e-
garded its original intention. We may cite also
a letter of St. Hildebert of Tours, c. 1098 (Ejj.
2, 71), accompanying the present of a flabel-
lum made to a friend, in which the writer ex-
pounds its mystical signification ; the flies repre-
senting the temptations of the devil to be driven
away by the Catholic faith.
The flabeUum appears to have gradually
fallen into disuse in the Western church, and
to have almost entirely ceased by the 14th
century. At the present day, the only relic of
the usage is in the magnificent fans of peacocks'
feathers, carried by the attendants of the pope
in solemn processions on certain great festivals.
Though the original intention of the flabeUuin
was one of simple utilit}-, various mystical mean-
ings collected round it. Reference has been already
made to the idea that these feather fans typified
the cherubim and seraphim surrounding the
heavenly throne, ai ^iiriSes els rvnou fieri rwv
Xfpov^ifj. (German, it. s. p. 1G3), to. ptiriSia Kal
oi SiaKovot ificpaivovai to, f^airrepvya '2,fpa<p]fi
Kai tV "ri!/ -rroKvojxf/iaricv XtpovlBlp. f/xcpepeiav
(lb. p. 169). Germanus also holds, according to
Neale (Eastern Ch. p. .396), that the vibration
'f-<T?r^r7x
Ko. 8. The Jlonza Flalwllam. From ' Archaeological Journal."
of which we give a woodcut (No. 5). The an-
nexed engraving (No. 6), showing a deacon vi-
brating his fan during the celebration of the
eucharist, is from a miniature in the Barberini
Library (Martigny, de V usage du flabellum). In
the next illustration (No. 7) from an illumina-
tion in a MS. in the Public Library at Rouen, a
bishop is seen bowing his head in the act of ele-
vating the wafer, over which the attendant dea-
con waves a flahellum, apparently made of parch-
of the flabella typifies the tremor aud astonish-
ment of the angels at our Lord's Pa.ssion. We
find the same iciea in a passage from the monk
Job, given by Photius (cod. ccxxii. lib. v. c. 25),
who also states that another purpose of the vi-
bration of the flal)cUa was the raising of the mind
from the material elements of the eucharist, and
fixing them on the spirituaf realities.
Two flabella are still preserved, that of Thcn-
delinda of the latter part of the fifth century, in
678
FLABELLUM
the treasury of the Cathedral of Monza, and
that of the Abbey of Tournus, now in tlie Mu-
seum of the Hotel de Cluny, assigned by Du Som-
merard to the ninth. The former (No. 8) is con-
structed like a modern lady's fan, only circular,
formed of purple vellum, illuminated with gold
and silver, with an inscription round the upper
edge on either side, describing its purpose,
which was evidently domestic and not liturgical.
The fon is contained in a wooden case, witli silver
ornaments, probably a reconstruction on the ori-
ginal plan (W. Burges, Archaeol. Journ. xiv. pp.
17-19). The Tournus fan was liturgical (No. 9).
It is described by Du Sommerard, Arts du Moyen
Age (ii. 195, iii. 251, v. 231), and figured in his
Atlas (ch. xiv. pi. 4), and Album (ix. se'rie, p. 17).
It is circular when fully expanded, and is orna-
mented with the figures of fourteen saints, in two
concentric zones on either side. On one side
are represented four female saints, the Blessed
Virgin with Our Lord in her arms, St. Lucy,
St. Agnes, and St. Cecilia, in one zone, and St.
Peter, St. Paul, and St. Andrew, in the second ;
on the other side, the two zones contain male
figures alone, St. ILfurice, St. Denys, St. Phili-
bert, St Hilary, and St. Martin, with a " .Judex,"
and a " Levita." Latin hexameters and penta-
FLAGELLATION
meters are inscribed on three concentric bands on
the tan, describing its use and us oblation in
honour of God and St. Philibert. The relics of
this saint, who died in 684, were translated to
the Abbey of Tournus, where he was held in
especial honour. The verses are very curious.
We give one of the three series. It will be
observed that some words have been misplaced
by the painter to the confusion of the metre : —
"Sunt duo quae modicum confert estate flabellum
Infestas atigit muscas et mitigat estum,
Et sine dat tedio gustare manus ciborum. (sic)
Propterea calidum qui vult transire per annum,
Et tutas cupit ab atris existere muscis (sic)
Omni se studeat estate muniri flabello (sic)
Hoc quoque flabellum tranquillas excitat auras
Estus cum favet (fervet >) ventum facit atque serenmri
Fugat et obscenas importtmasque volucres."
The handle is of ivory, measuring about 2 tee'-
in length ; round the pommel is inscribed the
maker's name, " -\- Johel me scae fecit in honore
JIariae." When shut up it goes into a case orna-
mented with ivories, representing subjects from
\'irgil's Eclogues.
The making of fans of palm leaves, both for
ecclesiastical and domestic purposes, employed
the leisure of the Syrian solitaries. St. Ful-
gentius, bishop of Ruspiurn, while still an ancho-
rite, is recorded to have made fans for the use
of the altar {ap. Surium, ad Jan. 1). The fans
sent by Marcella to the Roman ladies, for which
she is thanked by St. Jerome (lib. i. Epist. 41),
were for ordinary not religious use.
(Martigny, de I'usage du flabellum ; Bingham,
viii. 6, § 21, XV. 3, § 6 ; Bona, Ber. Liturg. i.
25, § 6 ; Martene, II. cc. ; Augusti, Christl. Ar-
chdol. iii. 536 sq. ; Archaeol. Journ. v. 200, xiv.
17.) [E. v.]
FLAGELLATION (Flagellatio). Flogging
was a punishment inflicted on certain orders of
the clergy, on monks, nuns, serfs, and slaves ;
but all orders of the clergy were forbidden
(Apost. Can. 28) themselves to strike an offender
either for correction or in self-defence. Augustine
is a witness (^Ep. 159 ad Marcell.) that this mode
of discipline was employed not only by school-
masters and parents, but by bishops in their
courts. In the church of Mount Nitria(Palladius,
Higt. Lausiac. c. 6, quoted by Bingham) three
whips were kept hanging up ; one for chastising
offending monks, another for robbers, and the
third for strangers who misconducted themselves.
The council of Agde, A.D. 506 (c. 38), orders
monks who will not listen to admonition to be
corrected with stripes, and (c. 41) the secular
clergy who are guilty of drunkenness to be
flogged. The 1st council of Macon (c. 8) sen-
tences any of the junior clergy who summon
an ecclesiastic before a lay tribunal to receive
"forty stripes, save one" {Cone. Venet. c. 6;
Cone. Epaonens. c. 15). The rule of Isidore of
Seville (c. 17) directs that minors snail not
be excommunicated but be beaten. The higher
orders of the clergy are exempted from the
degradation of personal chastisement by the 4th
council of Braga, A.D. 675 (c. 6). The laws of
Ine king of Wessex, A. d. 690 (Haddan and
Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Documents, vol. iii.
p. 214) grant a pardon from his scourging to any
one who takes refuge in a church. [G. M.]
FLAMEN
FLAMEN. Bishops are supposed by Dii-
cange (s. v.) to be called by the old ethnic title
oi flamen in the second, third, and fourth canons
of the council of Elvira. But the " flamines "
there mentioned are almost certainly priests of
heathen deities, who are warned against relap-
sing into their former practices after conversion
(Bingham, Aniiq. XVI. iv. 8). [C]
FLAMINA. A name occasionally used for
the banners borne in a procession. Thus Wolf-
hard, in the life of St. Walpurgis (iii. 11, in Acta
SS. Feb. 25) speaks of crosses and " signifera
flamina," being borne in a procession (Ducange,
s. v.). [C]
FLATTEKY. [CArxATORES.]
FLAVIANA, virgin ; deposition at Auxerre,
Oct. 5 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi). _ [W. F. G.]
FLAVIANUS, martyr; "Passio" Jan. 30
{Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FLAVIUS, martyr at Nicomedia with Augus-
tus and Augustinus ; " Passio " May 7 {Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FLENTES. [Penitence.]
FLORA, with Maria, virgins ; martyrs at
Cordova; commemorated Kov. 24 {Mart. Usu-
ardi). [W. F. G.]
FLOEENTIA, martyr at Agde with Mo-
destus and Tiberius, in the time of Diocletian ;
commemorated Nov. 10 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
FLOKENTINUS. [Hilary (6).]
FLORENTIUS. (1) Martyr at Carthage
witii Catuliuus, the deacon, Januarius, Julia, and
Justa ; commemorated July 15 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) Presbyter, confessor in Poitou ; comme-
morated Sept. 22 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Martyr with Cassius and many others ;
commemorated Oct. 10 (j6.).
(4) Bishop of Orange ; commemorated Oct.
17 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(5) Jlartyr at Trichateau in France ; comme-
morated Oct. 27 (t/,.). [W. F. G.]
FLOEIANUS, martyr in Austria; comme-
morated May 4 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
FLOEUS. (1) Martyr ; commemorated with
Laurus, Aug. 18 {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) [Demetrius (3).] [W. F. G.]
FLOWEES. 1. Use of natural flowers.— 'V\i&
early Christians rejected the ancient heathen
custom of strewing the graves of the dead with
flowers and wreaths. This is clear from the testi-
mony of Minucius Felix, V!'ho{Octav. 12, § 6 ; cf.
38, §3), makes the heathen Caecilius reproach the
Christians with refusing wreaths even to sepul-
chres. But they had adopted the practice in the
4th century ; thus St. Ambrose {De ohitaValenti-
niani, c. 5H) says, as of a lawful custom, "I will
not sprinkle his tomb with flowers, but with the
sweet scent of Christ's Spirit ; let others sprinkle
basketfuls of lilies ; our lily is Christ ;" and
Jerome {Epist. 20, ad I'ainmacluuni) says, " other
husbands strew over the tombs of their wives
violets, roses, lilies, and purple flowers, and
FLOWEES
679
soothe their grief of heart by these kind offices."
So also Prudentius has an allusion to it {Cathe-
merin. hymn x., circa cxequias Defuiictorum,
177-8).
" Nos tecta fovebimus ossa
Violis tt fronde frequenti."
And the same writer again (Peristeph. ix.
201, ft'.) exhorts the votaries of St. Eulalia on her
festival (Dec. 10), to pluck such flowers as the
genial winter yielded — the violet and the crocus
— to heap their baskets, while he (the poet)
would bring his garlands of verse, woven in
dactylic strain ; " thus should we venerate the
relics, and the altar set above the relics."
In course of time the churches, many of which
in their origin were but memorials or vast
sepulchres of martyrs, came to be adorned
with garlands of leaves and flowers. The
basilica of Paulinus at Nola, for instance, appears
to have been ornamented in this manner.
Jerome {Epist. ad Heliodoruiri) notes it as especi-
ally praiseworthy iu Nepotianus, that he had
decorated both basilicas and memorial churches
of martyrs (basilicas ecclesiae et rnartyrum con-
ciliabula), with various flowers and foliage and
vine - leaves, mentioning distinctly the two
classes of churches, those which were built over
the remains of martyrs, and those which were not.
St. Augustine mentions {De Civ. Dei, xxii. 8) a
blind woman bringing flowers to the tomb of
St. Stephen, when the relics were translated.
Venantius Fortunatus, in a poem addressed to
St. Rhadegund {Cannina, viii. 9), gives a some-
what more detailed description of the floral
decoration of a church for Easter. In spring-
time (he says) when the Lord overcame heU,
vegetation springs more freshly. Then do men
decorate the door-posts and desks with flowers ;
women fill their laps with roses, these too for the
temples. The altars are covered with wreaths ;
the gold of the crocus is blended with the purple
of the violet ; white is relieved with scarlet. So
rich are the flowers that they surpass gems in
colour, frankincense in odour. Gregory of
Tours {De Glor. Mart. c. 50) tells us that the
basilica of Severinus was decorated with lilies ;
and further {u. s. c. 91), that at Menda, in
Sjjain, three trees were planted befoi-e the altar
of St. Eulalia, the flowe]-s of which, being carried
to the sick, had often wrought miracles. He
also informs us {De Gloria Confess. 31) tliat St.
Severus used to gather lilies and other flowers to
decorate the walls of his church.
At Whitsuntide a profusion of flowers was
(in some places) showered down from some
elevated spot to the floor of the church, to sym-
bolize the outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit
(Martene, De Hit. Ant. IV. xxviii. 17).
2. Sculptured or painted flouers.— 'The word
" pai-adise " (meaning garden) having been used
in the church from an early period to designate
the future abode of the blessed, the custom
would easily and naturally arise of ornamenting
with flowers, the cemeteries and crypts contam-
ing the venerated remains of martyrs, and even
the humble graves of the faithful. Here accord-
ingly we find flowers lavished in every direction,
and in every device, in wreaths, in bunches, in
crowns, in vases, in baskets. In the cemetery
of St. Agnes we trace a beautiful idea from the
antique in the decoration of the entrance to the
680
FOLIATI
first chamber — little winged genu carrying on
their shoulders small baskets filled with flowers,
to be strewed on the graves of the saints who
repose within (Bottari, Scultnre e Pitture, tav.
cxxxix.). In the churches of Rome and Ravenna
the mosaics of the apse usually represent the
delights of paradise ; there we find figures of
our Lord with the Virgin and other saints upon
a groundwork of grass and flowers (Ciampini,
Vet. monim. I. tab. xlvi. et passim). The
bottoms of ancient glass cups have been found
embellished with the same subjects treated in
tlie same manner [Glass, Christian].
A flower rising out of a crown placed between
St. Peter and St. Paul in the place where the
monogram generally appears has been thought
to be a symbol of the Lord. An example may
be seen on a gilt vase (Buonarruoti. Frammenti
di Yetro, xvi. 1).
(Jlartene, De ML Ant. lib. iii. c. 10, § 13 ;
Binterim's Denkwiirdigkeiten, iv. 1, 130 ; Mar-
tigny, Dictionnaire, s. v. Flcurs). [C]
FOLIATI. [Shoe.]
FONT, BAPTISMAL. In the article Bap-
tistery, full particulars have been given of the
building or chamber set apart for the admini-
stration of the sacrament of baptism. It remains
now to speak of the cistern or vessel for contain-
ing the water. This was known under different
names ; the general Greek appellation being koK-
vfj-^itdpa, the Latin, piscina. Other names were
K6yx'']-t ii'n-ov6fios, lavacnim, natatorium (Du-
cange, Constantinopol. Christ, lib, iii. e. 81, p. 73).
The material in the Western church was, as
a rule, stone ; frequently porphyiy, or other
rich marbles. It was permitted by the council
of Lerida, a.d. 524, that if the presbyter could
not procure a stone font, he might provide
liimself with a " vas conveniens ad baptizandi
otficium " of any material (Labbe, Concil. iv.
1615), which was to be reserved for that sacra-
ment alone (Leo. IV. de Cum Pastoral.; Labbe,
Concil. viii. 37). In the Eastei-n church the
• font was usually of metal or wood, and seldom
or never possessed any beauty. (Neale, Eastern
Church, i. 214.)
The usual form of the font was octagonal,
with a mystical reference to the eighth day, as
the day of our Lord's resurrection, and of re-
generation by the Spirit (cf. Ambros. Epist. 20,
44). This explanation of the octagonal form is
given in the following lines attributed to St.
Ambrose, first published by Gruter, Thes. Inscr.
p. 1160, descriptive of the baptistery of the
church of St. Thecla, in which Alypius and his
companions were baptized by him", Easter, a.d.
387.
"Octachorum sanctos templum consurgit in usus,
Octagonus Kons est munere dignus eo. •
Il(iC numero decuit sacri Baptismatis aulam
Surgere qua populis vera salus rediit.
Luce resurgentis C'hristi qui claustra resolvit
Mortis et a tumulis suscipit exanimes,
Confessosque reos maculoso crimine solvens
Fontis puriflui diluit irriguo."
The piscina is sometimes found of a circular
form, and is occasionally, though very rarely (as
^---''--'a) hexagonal (cf. Baptistery, wood-
FOXT, BENEDICTION OF
shape of a cross in Spain. The form of a
sepulchre is stated to have been sometimes
adopted, in allusion to the Christian's burial with
Christ in baptism (Rom. iv. 4).
The piscina usually formed a basin in the
centre of the baptistery, rather beneath the level
of the pavement, surrounded with a low wall.
It was entered by an ascent and descent of steps.
According to Isidore Hispal. (Orig. xv. 4 ; de Div.
Off. ii. 24) the normal number was seven ; three
in descent to symbolize the triple renunciation of
the world, the flesh, and the devil ; three in
ascent to symbolize the confession of the Trinity,
and a seventh, " septimus . . . qui et quartus"
at the summit of the enclosins wall, for the
at Aqui
cut, J). 175).
Mart^jr. lib. i.
Gregory of Tours (cfe Glor.
c. 23), speaks of a font in the
officiating minister to stand on. But the rule
concerning the number was not invariable. At
Nocera, the number of steps is five, two in
ascent, and three in descent. The descent into
the piscina of St. John Lateran is by four steps.
We find frequent references in the fathers to
the catechumens going down into the font for
immersion, e.g. Cyril, Myst. ii. § 4; "ye were
led to the pool of Divine baptism .... and
descended three times into the water, and as-
cended again;" Id. Myst. iii. § 1. "After you
had come, up from the pool of the sacred
streams"; Ambrose, de Sacr. lib. i. c. 2. "Ve-
nisti ad fontem, ingressus es." The most detailed
description of a baptismal font, is that given in
the life of St. Sylvester, in the Bibl. Pap. of the
so-called Anastasius (§ 37). This font is said to
have been presented by Constantine the Great
to the church of the Lateran, in which he is
falsely recorded to have been baptized himself.
The description is at any rate of value as indi-
cating the decoration and arrangements of an
early font. The cistern is stated to have been of
porphyry, overlaid v.'ithin and without with
silver. In the middle of the font were two
pillars of porphyry, carrying a golden dish, in
which the Paschal lamp burnt, fed with balsam,
and with an asbestos wick. A lamb of pure gold
on the brim of the basin, and seven silver stags,
in allusion to Ps. xlii. 1, poured out water ; on
either side of the lamb were silver statues of
Christ, and the Baptist. The font erected by St.
Innocent at the church of SS. Gervasius and
Protasius, c. 410, was also ornamented with a
silver stag, pouring out water (Anastas, § 57).
Over the fonts, doves of silver or gold were
sometimes suspended, in allusion to the circum-
stances of Christ's baptism. [E. V.]
PONT, BENEDICTION OF. In the 4th
century, the ceremony of blessing the water to
be used in baptism was already regarded as of
high antiquity. Basil the Great, says expressly
{De Spiritu S. c. 27), that the benediction of the
baptismal water was one of the rites which the
church had received from ecclesiastical tradition,
not directly from Scripture; i.e. it was then of
immemorial usage. The principal traces of it
in the remains of early literature are the fol-
lowing. '
The passage sometimes cited from the Ignatian
letter to the Ephesians (c. 18), that Christ was
baptized to purify the water, is very far from
proving that any special benediction of the water
took place at the time of baptism. Nor is it by
any means certain that the heretics mentioned
by Irenaeu.s (//neres. i. 21, § 4), who poured oil
FONT, BENEDICTION OF
and water over the head of those whom they
baptized, did so as imitating the consecration of
the water by pouring iu chrism, as practised by
the orthodox. But when Tertullian {de Baptismo,
c. 4), after speaking of the aboriginal consecra-
tion of the element of water at creation by the
Spirit of God, goes on to say, "Therefore all
waters acquire the blessing of consecration (sacra-
mentum sanctiticationis) from their primaeval
jirerogative, God being invoked (invocato Deo),"
he probably alludes to a special invocation of the
Holy Spirit upon the water which took place
before baptism. Some years later, Cyprian {Epist.
70, c. 1) says that the water for baptism should
first be cleansed and sanctified by the priest. So
bishop Sedatus of Thuburbum {Sententiae Episc.
n. 18, in Cyprian's Worl's), speaks of baptismal
water consecrated by the prayer of the priest
(aqua sacerdotis prece in ecclesia consecrata).
The Arabic canons of Hippolytus (can. 19, p. 75, j
quoted by Probst, p. 77), direct the candidates
for baptism to stand by the font of pure water
made ready by benediction. Cyril of Jerusalem
{Gatech. iii, 3) saj-s that simple water, having
uttered over it the invocation of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, acquires a power of holiness
(Jt,yL6T7)Tos). Aji'ibrose (X'e Us qui initiantur, c.
5) mentions exorcism, benediction, invocation of
the Holy Trinity, and prayers. We have here,
perhaps, the earliest distinct mention of the
exorcism of the baptismal water. An example
of the fomi of exorcism may be seen in Baptism,
§ 30, p. 158.
With regard to the form of benediction, we
have already seen that Tertullian speaks of an
invocation ov«r the water. Probably the earliest
form extant, which cannot be assumed with
certainty to be older than the beginning of the
4th century, is that of the Apostolical Constitu
tions (vii. 43), in which the priest, after a recita-
tion of the mercies of God analogous to the
Preface of the eucharistic office, proceeds,
" Look down from heaven, and sanctify this
water, and grant grace and power that he who
is baptized according to the command of Thy
Christ, may with Him be crucified and die and
be buried and rise again to the adoption which is
in Him, by dying unto sin, but living unto
righteousness." Compare Dionysius Areop. Hier-
urch. Eccl. c. 2.
Another ceremony, the pouring in of chrism,
generally so as to form a cross on the surface of
the water, was probably of later introduction,
though it is found at least as early as the 6th
century [Baptism, p. 159]. Gregory of Tours
{De Gloria Mart. i. 23) after a curious descrip-
tion of the miraculous filling of certain fonts in
Spain, proceeds to say that the water was sancti-
fied by exorcism and sprinkled over with chrism ;
a passage which proves that in the time of
Gregory (t594), the pouring in of chrism was
regarded as a matter of course. And it may be
mentioned in illustration, that according to Flo-
doard's description of the baptism of Clovis
{Eist. Ecmens. Eccl. i.l3), it was after the
benediction of the font that chrism was found
wanting, and supplied by the advent of the
miraculous Ampulla; on receiving which, St.
Remi sprinkled the font with chrism (chris-
mate fontem conspersit).
In Mabillon's Vetus Missale GalUcamim (c. 25,
p. 362), we find exhortation, prayer, exorcism
FOOTPRINTS
681
of the water, preface, benediction of the font,
another preface (called Contestatio Fo)itis);
then the rubric, "Postea facis tres cruces de
chrisma." In the Galilean Sacramcntary printed
by Martene (I. i. 18, ordo 3) from a MS. at
Bobbio, a somewhat more explicit description is
given of the making of the cross on the water
with chrism, " Deinde in fonte chrisma decur-
rente signum f facis." And again (Martene,
u. s. ordo 10), the priest " accipieus vas anreum
cum chrismate fundit chrisma in fonte in
modum crucis, et expandit aquae cum manu
sua." It may be observed that iu the Missale
Aethiopicum quoted by Biuterim (I. i. 86), where
the threefold infusion of oil in the form of a
cross is described, it is expressly stated to be
unconsecrated oil (oleum non bene<iictum).
The description in Amalarius {De Eccl. Off. i.
25) corresponds generally with that of these
sacranientaries. Amalarius expressly mentions
insufflation as one of the rites in Exorcism [see
that word]. After the expulsion of the evil
spirit by exorcism, he simply says, " munitur
aqua crucis siguaculo," not distinctly mentioning
the pouring in of chrism in the form of a cross.
In the Gregorian Sacramentary (pp. 71-73) is
mentioned another rite, that of plunging tapers
into the water to be consecrated. Two lighted
tapers are carried before the bishop to the font ;
after the benediction, tlie aforesaid two tapers
are plunged into the font, and the bishop " in- j
sufflates " on the water three times. After this \
the chrism is poured into the font, and the
children are baptized. This dipping of the taper
into the font is represented in the accompanying
woodcut, from a Pontifical of the 9th century
[compare the cut on p. 159], where however
only one taper is given. The ceremony mentioned
by Amalarius {De Eccl. Off. i. 25) of plunging
the tapers of the neophytes [Baptism, p. 162,
§ 59) into the font, seems to be distinct from this.
(Martene. De Bit. Ant. ; Binterim's Denk- \
Kiirdigkeitcn ; Probst, Sakramentc u. Sakramcn-
talien.) [C]
FOOTPRINTS ON sepulchral slabs, and
seal rings. Sepulchral slabs have been found
in the catacombs and elsewhere, incised with foot-
prints." The two feet as a rule point the same ,
» The white marble slab preserved in the church of St. I
Sebastian outside Rome, said to have been bnjught from
the chapel of" Domine quo vadis," bearing the prints of
two feet, piously bolieved to be those of our Blessed Lord,
when met by St. Peter coming to be crucified a second j
time, in the city from \\ hich his apostle was floeing, is j
probably nothing more than a sepuUhral stone of ihc |
kind described above, round which the exquisitely beau- j
tiful legend, found first in Ambrose, has crystallized, it
G82
FOOTPKINTS
way, though sometimes, but rarely, they are
turned iu opposite directions (Fabretti, Inscripf.
Antiq. p. 47'2). A slab in the Kircherian Museum,
given by Lupi {Epitaph. Sever. Martt/r. p. 68),
bears two pairs of footprints pointed contrary
ways, as of a person going and returning (fig. 1).
Some of these slabs are certainly Christian,
though the fact in other cases is uncertain. A
slab given by Boldetti (c. vii. p. 419), inscribed
with^IANOTPIA EN 0 {Januaria in Deo) at
one end, bears the sole of a foot, with IN DEO
incised upon it, at the other. Ferret gives a
slab erected by a Christian husband to his wife,
with a pair of footprints incised on it, not bare,
as is customary, but shod in shoes or sandals
{Gatacomhes, vol. v. pi. 26, No. 53). Sometimes
but more rarely we find a single foot seen in
profile (76. pi. 52, No. 37).
The signification of this mark is much con-
troverted! Boldetti (p. 507) and others regard
the footprint as the symbol of possession, de-
noting that the burial-place had been purchased
by the individual as his own. This view is
based on the false etymology of " possessio,"
quasi '■^ pedis positio," given by Paulus {Dig. 41,
tit. 2, § 1), and probably needs no refutation.
The idea of Pelliccia (de Christ. Eccl. Polit. iii.
225) and Cavedoni {Rajguagl. di monum. dell' Art.
Crist, p. 40) that a sense of their loss and a deep
regret and affection for the departed was thus
indicated, is a mere romantic fancy. More may
be said for Lupi's view {u. s. p. 69), that as
such emblems were sometimes dedicated as votive
offerings by travellers on their return from a
journey, they were intended on a Christian slab
to indicate a holy tliankfulness for the safe com-
pletion of the earthly pilgrimage of the departed.
Another more prosaic, but by no means improb-
able, interpretation, especially ofa single foot, is
that found in Thomassinus (de Donariis, c. 7) and
Fabretti (Inscript. c. vi. p. 467), quoted by Lupi
(m. s.), that it was a thank-offering for recovery
from gout or other disease affecting the foot.
should be remarked that the basilica of St. S;'bastian
was eected over one of the chief Christian cemeteries,
that irom which the name cataconib has been trans-
ferred to the rest, so that the presence of such a memo-
rial slab is easily accounted for. In the church of St.
Radegund .at Poitiers a weU defined footmark in the
stone supposed to indicate the spot where our Saviour
appeared to that Siiint, prubably has a similar origin.
The Roman remains at Poitiers are numerous. The
footprints shown as our Lord's in the cliurch of the
Ascension on i he Jlount of Olives men tiuncd by Augus-
tine (jn Joann. I/oin. xlvii. 4; Jerome de locis Hebraic;
Beda de nom. Inc. in Act. Apost.) are stated by Stanley
{S. & p. p. 452) to be "nothing but a simple cavity in
the rock with no more resemblance to a human foot than
to anything else."
FORMA
The same emblem is frequently found on seal
rings. The sole of the foot bears sometimes the
name of the owner, e.g., fortvnivs (Boldetti,
p. 506 ; Perret, vol. iv. pi. xi. No. 4) ; JVSTVS
(Aringhi, ii. 698 ; Agincourt, &M^^)i. pi. viii. JCo.
23), from the catacomb of St. Agnes; some-
times a Christian motto or device, e. g., spks
IN DEO (fig. 2) (Perret, M. s.. No. 5), and the mono-
gram of Christ {lb. No. 6). In an example
given by Perret (vol. iv. p. xxiii. No. 21), we
see the stamp of such a seal bearing the sole
Fig. 2. Seal-Riny from the Kircherian Museum. From Peiret.
of a foot, with PAVLI incised on it, five times
repeated on the mortar in which a gilt glass
had been embedded, in the catacomb of St.
sixtus. [e; v.]
FORGERY is a particular case of the offence
called Falsuin.
Falsuin is any perversion or corruption of
truth done with malice (dolo malo) to the pre-
judice of another. It may be committed either
by word, as in the case of perjury ; by act, as in
the case of coining base money ; or by writing,
as in the case of forgery. In the case of the
latter, the crime of faleum is equally committed
whether a man has written a document which is
not what it professes to be, or forged a seal or a
signature, or erased or destroyed the whole or a
portion of a document maliciously to the preju-
dice of another. Fulsum was punished under
the empire by deportation, or even (in extreme
cases) by death {Codex Thcod. lib. ix. tit. 19, II.
1 et 2). The special precautions taken by the
authorities of the church against the forgery of
ecclesiastical documents seem to belong to a later
period than that with which we are concerned ;
but no doubt the fcdsarius, like other offenders
against the laws of truth and justice, incurred
ecclesiastical censures. (Ferraris, Bibliotheca
Prompta, s. v. Falsum ; Bingham's Antiq. XVi.
xii. 14.) [C]
FORMA. An impression or representation,
as (for instance) the stamp on coins, whether
effigy or mark.
(1.) It is used for the impression ofa seal ; and
it seems highly probable that literae formatao
[Commendatory Letters, Dimissory Letters],
derived their name from the fact that seals were
appended to them. Sirmond quotes a Vatican <
gloss which interprets the term " formata epi-
stola " bv "sigillata," and the Greek interpreter
of the 23rd canon of the Codex Eccl. Afric. [3
Carth. c. 28], renders " formatam " by reTvirai-
ixiv-qv, clearly in the sense of " sealed." The
second council of Chalons (c. 41), testifies to the
FORMARIUS
fiict that seals were appended to such docu-
ments.
And not only is the word formata used abso-
lutely for a sealed official document, but forma
came to be used in the same sense. Thus Capi-
tolinus describes Antoninus as consulting his
friends before he drew up authoritative docu-
ments (formas) ; and the word is similarly used
by Christian writers (Ducange, s. vv. Forma,
Formatae).
(2.) From the same use of the word Forma
for an effigy or stamp, it arises that the word
Formata designates the formed or stamped bread
used in the Holy Eucharist. The Ordo Iionuiuus
in the rite for the consecration of a bishop has
the following ; '■ cum autem venerit ad com-
municandum Dominus Pontifex porrigit ei for-
matam atque sacratam oblationem integram."
Menard takes this to mean an " epistola for-
mata;" but it seems in the highest degree
improbable that the consecrator would present
an official document to the newly- ordained
bishop at the moment of communicating, and
Ducange (s. v. Formata) has shown that the
word is elsewhere used "to designate the eucha-
ristic bread.
(3.) The word Forma is also used to designate
the seats or stalls used by clerks or monks when
saying their offices in choir. The gloss on the
rule of St. Benedict' (De Sxipellect.) explains
Forma as " sella arcuata, Qpdvos." The desk
in front of such a stall, on which its occupant
might lean, seems to be sometimes called for-
mula (^Sitpplex Lib. Monach. Fukl. Car. ilagno,
c 5, in Migne's Patrol, cv. p. 419 ; compare
Gregory of Tours, Be Glor. Confess, c. 92 ; Hist.
Franc, viii. 31). [C]
FORMAEIUS, the person in a monastery
who was especially appointed to promote the
spiritual welfare of the brethren, and to be a
model of life to them, " qui in bonis sit forma "
{Begula S. Ferreoli, c. 17); an elder brother
fitted to benefit the souls of the monks, who
should studiously devote himself to watching
over them (^Fieg. S. Benedicti, c. 58). The corre-
sponding person in a monastery of women was
called Formaria {Reg. S. Caesarii ad Virgines,
c. 37 ; Ducange, s. v.). [C]
FORMATA. [Forma.]
FORNICATION {Fomicatio, iropviia) is de-
fined to be " copula carnalis soluti cum soluta";
a sin committed by two persons, male and female,
who are not connected by blood within the prohi-
bited degrees of kindred, and are neither married
nor contracted. This is in substance, Augustine's
definition {Quaest. in Deuteron. n. 37). The older
definitions of fornication seem to refer almost
entirely to the freedom of the woman from the
marriage bond, without regard to the condition
of the man [Adultery]. Thus Basil {ad Amphi-
loch. c. 21) regards the sin of a married man
with an unmarried woman as simple -KOpveia, not
/ioix^'a; and Gregory of Nyssa {Fpist. Canonica)
defines fornication to be a gratification of lust
which takes place without wronging another ;
which words Balsamon (in loco) explains to mean,
intercourse with a woman who is not married
(riopj/eia Aeyerai v; X'^P'^ aSiKi'a? erepou yx/|is,
ijyovv T) Tvphs iKivdepau avSphi yvvaiKo). To the
same effect Theophylact (on St. Matt. v. 32) says
that fornication is committed with a woman not
FORTUNATUS
683
under marriage bond (els a.iro\t\vfjLeui]v). Am-
brose, however, lays down the wider and truer
principle, "nee viro licet quod mulieri Don licet;
eadem a viro quae ab uxore debetur castimonia "
{De Patriarch, i. 4). Concubinage, the continued
cohabitation of an unmarried man with an un-
married woman, is a special case of fornication.
The word fomicatio is also used to designate
all kinds of sexual sin and unnatural crime ; see,
for instance, 'i\\eoiov(i's, Penitential, I. ii. Foi'ni-
cation in this wider sense is commonly called
luxury by later canonists.
It was one of the first cai'es of the apostolic
church to repress this evil held so venial among
the Gentiles (Acts xv. 20 ; 1 Cor. vi. 18 ; Eph.
v. 3, 5) ; nor were the rulers of the church in
later times less anxious to put down all forms
of uncleanness. Basil {ad Ampliil. c. 22) lays
down the rule, that men practising concubinage
after seduction should be excluded from com-
munion for four years, in the first of which
they are to be excluded from the prayers,
and weep at the door of the church ; in the
second to be i-eceived as hearers ; in the third to
penitence {els fi-eravoiav) ; in the fourth to attend
divine sei-vice with the congregation, abstaining
from the offering; and then to be admitted to
communion of the good {KOivoiviav rod ayaBov).
In the case of concubinage, the great bishop
evidently feels that the times will not bear due
severity. He holds {ad Amph. c. 26) that it
is best that persons living together in fornica-
tion should be separated ; but if they persist in
living together, " let them be warned of the
penalty of fornication ; but let them not be
meddled with {a.(biea6(jiaav'), lest a worse thing
come upon them." So previously (c. 21) he
acknowledges the difficulty of treating certain
cases, and confesses that custom is too strong
to be contended against. For fornicators in
general he enjoins (76. c. 59) seven years'
exclusion from the sacraments ; two among the
Flentes, two among the AuJicntes, two among
the Substrati, and one among the Consistentes
[Penitexce].
The treatment of sins of uncleanness occupies
a large, perhaps an undue space in later Peniten-
tials; as {e.g.) in those of Theodore (I. ii.), Bede,
(c. 3), Egbert (cc. 2 and 4), Halitgar (i. 10, 17),
and others.
Periods of penance are prescribed, varying
according to the condition of the offender, and
the nature of the offence. The offence of a cleric
was naturally more heinous than that of a simple
lay person, and might be punished by degrada-
tion, as well as by the same kind of penalties as
those inflicted on the laity. And it is evident
from the repeated denunciations of such sins by
bishops and councils, and the elaborate provision
made to separate the clergy and the monks from
the society of women, that the celibate clergy
were only too liable to fall into the sin of iucon
tinence (Thomassin, Vetus et Nova Feci. Biscip.
I. ii. 61, §5 8-12). [C.J
FORTUNATIANUS. [Fklix (23).]
FORTUNATUS. (1) Martyr at Smyrna
with Revocatus and Vitaiis; commemorated Jan.
9 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi)..
(2) [Felicianus (1).]
(3) [l-'ELix (7).]
684
FORTUNUS
(4) [Felix (12).]
(5) Martyr in Africa ; commemorated with
Crescentianiis and Lucianus, June 13 {Mart.
Bedae).
(6) [Hermagoras.]
(7) Bishop at Todi ; " Natalis " Oct. 14 {Mart.
Usuardi).
(8) Saint, of Rome ; commemorated Oct. 15
(.7..). [W. F. G.]
FORTUNUS. [Felix (6).]
FORUM. [JORISDICTIOX.]
FOSSARII or FOSSORES. The grave-
diggers or sextons of early Christian antiquity
were known by these designations. [Copiatae ;
Decanus.]
Padre Marchi has drawn a very definite picture
of guilds o{ fossores, organized under special re-
gulations, attached to each of the tituli of Rome,
and acting under the directions of the bishops
and presbyters. (Ilonum. Primit. pp. 87-91.)
But the evidence he adduces is of the slightest
texture; and the good father probably did not
intend his description to be regarded as more
than a pleasing hypothesis.
The term fossor is of frequent occurrence in
the inscriptions of the catacombs. Marchi, p. 91,
gives several epitaphs o{ fossores. Boldetti, i. 1.5.
gives the following from St. Callistus : " Sergius
et Junius Fossores || B. N. M. in pace bisom."
But the most common appearance of the term
is in the later epitaphs, which testify to the
purcliase of graves from individuals of this class.
The burial of the departed was probably at first
a work of Christian charity, performed without
fee or rewai'd by their surviving brethren.
Afterwards, when the church had become more
uunierous, it was carried out at the public ex-
pense under the special care of the presbyters of
the tituii of Rome. When Christianity became
the established religion, the fossores evidently
established a kind of property in the catacombs,
which authorized them to sell graves either to
living persons for their own burial, or to the
friends of the deceased. This state of things
seems to have had a wide-spread but transient
existence. The examples are almost innumerable
in which the purchase of graves of the fossores
is plainly stated in the epitaph. No trace of such
bargains appears before the latter years of the
4th century, nor later than the first quarter of
the 5th century. According to De Rossi {E. S.
i. p. 216), the last known mention of fossores is
a.d. 426. As examples of these bargains, belong-
ing to the time when interment had become the
private enterprise of the fossores, and Christian
burial had been degraded into a trade, we may
refer to the instances already given under
Catacombs. The eager craving after sepulture
in the proximity of the holy dead, to which some
of these epitaphs bear witness, has been the
cause of the destruction of many paintings of
high interest. The fossores could not afford to
have a taste either archaeological or artistic, and
pierced the painted walls to make new highly-
priced loculi, as recklessly as the exquisite
carved work of so many of our cathedrals has
been cut away for ' the erection of tasteless
monuments.
The fossor at his work appears frequently in
FOUNDLINGS
the frescoes of the catacombs. (Bosio, pp. 305,
335, 339, 373 ; Aringhi, ii. pp. 23, 63, 67, 101.)
Bottari, torn. ii. tav. 118, gives two pictures
from the catacomb of Marcellinus and Peter.
One represents a young man, his beard closely
shaven, in a short tunic, girt round his waist,
his legs and feet bare, excavating the rock with
his pick, a lamp hanging by his side. The other
depicts an older man in a long tunic, not at
work, holding a lamp affixed to a long handle
ending in a sharp point, and a little below on the
shaft a hook for suspension.
The most carious and interesting of these re-
presentations is that of a fossor named Diogenes,
from the cemetery of Callistus (see woodcut).
^
He wears a tunic marked with gammadia on its
hem, carries a pick over his right shoulder, and a
lamp in his left hand, and is surrounded by a
heap of levers, picks, and other tools employed
in his work. Above is the inscription : " Dio-
genes Fossor in pace depositus Octabu Kalendas
Octobris." (Boldetti, lib. i. cap. 15 ; Bottari, torn,
ii. p. 126, tav. 99.) A fossor's pick has been dis-
covered by De Rossi in the cemetery of Callistus,
much oxidised, but still recognizable. (Mai'tigny,
Diet, des Antiq. Chret. p. 281.) [E. V.]
FOUNDATION. [Exdowme:mt ; Property
OF THE Church.]
FOUNDER. [Patron.]
FOUNDLINGS {Alumni). Compare Ex-
posing OF Infants.
From an early period the church provided
Orphanages [see the word] for the reception of
children left destitute by the death or desertion
of their parents. But, independently of such
institutions, it also maintained a large number
by appeals to individual charity, and exhorted
the faithful to feed and shelter the innocent
creatures in their own houses. The number of
these alumni. " nurslings," was large ; the rescue
of a deserted infant being considered as an act
specially inspired by Christian charity. The
word alumnus consequently occurs much oftener
in Christian than in pagan inscriptions. Some-
times we find the adopting parents raising a
tomb to their alumnus (Perret, Catacombcs, v.
xlvi. 13). In the cemetery of Pontianus the
name of a young person departed is inscribed
upon a circular ivory tablet thus : emerinvs H
viCTORiNAE II ALviiNAE SVAE (Fabretti, fn-
FOUNTAIN OR WELL
script. Antiq. iii. 331). In other instances the
titulus is a token of the child's gratitude to his
benefactors, whom he calls father and mother
(Ferret, xlii. 4). Felicissimvs Alvmnvs in the
following inscription expresses the happiness of
the adopted son under the care of his tutelary
parents.
ANTONIVS DISCOLIVS FILIVS ET BIBIVS
FELICISSIMVS ALVMNVS VALERIE CRESTENI
MATRI BIDVE ANNORVM XIII. IXTERIANTOS.
De Rossi (Tnscript. Christ, i. 46) gives the
epitaph of an alumnus of the date A.D. 340.
Le Blaut (Inscr. Chrtft. de la Gaule), mentions an
inscription at Treves to the memory of an
alumna who survived only one month and a few
days. Infants were genei-ally exposed at the
doors of churches (Cone. Aries II. can. 51, A.D.
451).
A person wishing to adopt an exposed child
was required to place in the hands of the
minister of the church near which it was found
a written statement giving the sex of the child
with the time and place of its discovery, in order
that it might be restored to its. parents if they
wished to reclaim it. If no such claim were put
forward within ten days after its exposure, the
child belonged by right to those who had given
it shelter (Mal-tigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chr^t., s. v.
Enfants Trouve's). [C]
FOUNTAIN OR WELL. [See Rock, and
Evangelists, Representations of.] Our Lord
IS i-epresented (in Bottari, tav. xvi. ; Buonarotti,
Vctri, tav. vi. et passim) as the Source of the
Gospel and Fons Pietatis, from under whose feet
flow the four Rivers of Paradise. [See Four
Rivers.] In the Lateran [Cross, p. 496] and
other baptismal crosses the Holy Dove is the
fount or source from which the sacred rivers
flow. The well springing in the wilderness is
rather a Hebrew, Arab, or universally Eastern
image, than a specially Christian one. In some
early baptisms of our Lord, as that in the ancient
baptistery of Ravenna, the river-god or presiding
deity of the source of Jordan is introduced. For
the fountain or stream flowing from the Rock of
Moses, and fishes therein. [See Fisherman.]
[R. St. J. T.]
FOUNTAINS AT THE ENTRANCE OF
CHURCHES. The natural symbolism which
required external purity in the worshippers, as
an index of the cleanness of heart necessary for
approaching God with acceptance, dictated the
erection of fountains or cisterns of water in the
atria, or forecourts of the primitive churches, for
the people to wash their hands, feet, and faces,
before they entered the sacred building. Such a
fountain was known by different designations,
Kp'i]vn (Euseb. H.E. X. 4 ; Chrys. Ho,n. 57, Ed.
Savil.), <ppiap (Socr. H.E. ii. 38), ipidXi) (Paul.
Silentiar. ii. vers. 177), en^drris (Theophants),
Ko\vfi0e7ov (Eucholog.), Cantharus (Paul. Nolan.
Ep. xiii. sxxii.), Nymphaeum (Anastas. § 69).
The earliest notice we have of this arrangement
is in Eusebius' description of the church erected
by Paulintis at Tyre (Euseb. H.E. x. 4). He
speaks of " fountains " being placed as " syjnbols
of purification " in the centre of the cloistered
atrium, affording means of cleansing to those
who were going into the church. A similar
basin was erected by Paulinus of Nola, in the
FOUNTAINS AT CHURCHES 685
atrium of the basilica of St. Felix, its purpose
bemg expressed by the following verses over
one of the arches of the ojjposite cloister—
" Sancta nitons famults intc rlult atria lynipbis
Cantharus, Intrantumque nianns lavut amne mlnistro."
Paul. Nolan. Ep. 32 ad Sever
This "cantharus" wa.s protected by a bra/en
canopy, or turret of lattice work —
"Quem cancellato t/?git aerea culnilne turrls."
Faulin. Poem. 28 (iVat. x.)
Other brazen basins supi)lied from the same source
stood in different parts of the forecourt, as well
as a row of marble basins, conchac, at the
entrance of the church (ib.).
Paulinus also describes a " cantharus " in the
atrium of the basilica of St. Peter at Rome (Ep.
13, p. 73), " ministra manibus et oris nostris
fluenta ructantem." This was covered by a
dome or thohts, of brass, supported on lour
columns, typifying the fountain of living water
flowing from the four gospels, the foundation of
the evangelical faith. This cantharus and its
quadriportlcus were adorned with marbles and
mosaic by Symmachus, c. 500, who also erected
another external fountain below the steps of the
atrium for the convenience of the people throng-
ing thither "ad usum necessitatis humauae "
(Anastas. de Vit. Pont. § 79). Another was
placed by Leo III. c. 800, outside'the silver gates
of the same basilica {ib. § 360). The popes vied
with one another in the magnificence of these
fountains. Leo the Great, c. 450, placed a very
remarkable one in the atrium of the basilica of
St. Paul, on the Ostian way, for the supply of
which he recovered a long-lost spring, as re-
corded in the verses of Ennodius.
" Perdiderat laticum longaeva inciiria cursus
Quos tibi nunc pleno cantharus ore vomit.
Provida pastori.s per totum cura Leonis
Haec ovibus Christi larga fluenta dedit."
Eiinod. Cai-m. 149, ed. Sirmond.
Anastasius also describes a " nymphaeum "
erected by Hilarus, c. 465, in the triporticus of
the oratory of St Cross, adorned with columns of
vast size, and pillars of porphyry from apertures
in which the water flowed into a porphyry basin
(Anastas. u. s. § 69). Ennodius also (ri. s.) speaks
of the water of the baptistery of St. Stephen
coming through the columns, "per columnas."
In other cases the water issued from a statue
in the centre, sometimes of. grotesque form, or
from lions' mouths, from which arrangement the
basin erected by Justinian in front of St. Sophia
at Constantinople was called Xtovrdptov (l>u-
cange, Constantinop. Christ, lib. iii. c. 22).
This fountain was made of jasper, with inciseil
crosses. There were other smaller basins in the
cloisters for the lustrations of the people (Du-
cange, m. s.). A cantharus discovered at Con-
stantinople bore the palindrome given byGruter
{[nsoript. p. 1046).
NI^ON ANOMHMA MH MONAN OYIN.
These fountains were usually suiipiied with
water from running springs, as that at St. Paul's
already mentioned. Where springs were absent,
the supply came from rain water tanks, as at
the basilica of St. Felix at Nola (Paul. Nolan.
I'oem. 27 {Nat. ix.) v. 463, sq.).
Such fountains were solemnly consecrated and
C86
FOUE KIVERS, THE
blessed on the annual recurrence of the vigil of
the Epiphany (identified in primitive times with
the day of our Lord's baptism,
when the element of water
was hallowed, Chrys. Homil.
in Bapt. Christ, vol. ii. p. 369,
Montf.), or of the festival
itself (Ducange, u. s.). The
office is given in the Eucho-
logiou.
We find frequent reference
in the early fathei-s to this
custom of washing the hands
and face before entering the
church, e. g. Teriull. de Orat.
c. 11 ; Chrysost. Homil. 51,
ia Matt. ; in Joann. 72 ;
Homil. 3, in Ephes. ; in Psalm.
140, ad Pop. Ant. 36, &c. Of.
also Baronius, ad ann. 57, No.
106-110. [Holy Water.]
The accompanying woodcut
from one of the mosaics of
.Vitaie, g^ Vitalis at Ravenna, re-
presenting the dedication of
that church b}^ Justinian and Theodora, gives
a contemporary picture of one of these foun-
tains. [E. v.]
FOUK RIVERS, THE. In ancient art our
Loi-d is frequently represented, either in person
or under the figure of a lamb, standing upon a
hillock from whence issue four streams of water.
(See woodcut.) These are supposed by many
to signify the four rivers of Eden, which went
forth to water the earth (Gen. ii. 10); others
(Cyprian, Up. 73, § 10, ad Juhaian. ; Bede,
Expos, in Gen. II. ; Theodoret, In Psalm.
XL V. ; Ambrose, Be Paradiso, c. 3) discern
in them the four gospels, flowing from the
source of eternal life to spread throughout the
world the riches and the life-giving powers
From MartlgTiy.
of the doctrine of Christ. St. Ambrose again
(k. s.) is of opinion that the four rivers are
emblems of the four cardinal virtues. The
lour first oecumenical councils, so often by
early writers placed on a par with the gos-
pels themselves, are, sometimes compared to the
four rivers of Paradise. Jesse, bishop of Amiens
in the eighth century, in writing to his clergy,
thus illustrates the veneration due to these
» This fountain is incorrtctly rspresented at p. 406.
FRACTION
august assemblies (Longueval, Hist, de I'Egl.
Gallicane, tom. v. p. 144).
In several sarcophagi of ancient Gaul, we find
two stags quenching their thirst at these streams;
these are supposed to represent Christians par-
taking in the gospels and the eucharist of the
" well of water springing up into everlasting
life." [Cross, p. 496.] The two stags are occa-
sionally found in mosaics, in that of the ancient
Vatican for example (Ciampini, De Sacr. Aedif.
tab. xiii.).
However we explain it, this subject was ex-
tremely popular in the primitive church ; we find
it repeated over and over again in the catacombs,
either in frescoes or in the sculptured ornaments
of sarcophagi, and sometimes on the bottoms of
glass cups, which have been discovered therein. It
appears also in the mosaics of some basilicas, for
instance, in that which is described by Paulinas
{Epist. 32, ad Sever.), and in that mentioned
by Florus, deacon of Lyons (Mabillon, Analecta,
p. 416, ed. Paris. See also Ciampini, Vet. Mon.
ii. tab. xxxvii. xlvi. xlix. Hi., &c.). To illus-
trate this passage of Paulinus, «
" Petram superstat ipse Petra Ecclesiae
De qua sonori quatuor fontes meant,"
Rosweid refers to the mosaic of St. John Lateran,
and the sarcophagus of Probus and Proba, as re-
presented by Bosio. We are informed by Spon
{Eeclierches curicuses, p. 34) that the four rivers
of Paradise in human form, with their names be-
neath, are represented in mosaic on the pave-
ment of Rheims Cathedral (Martigny, Diet, des
Antiq. Chre't.). [C]
FRACTION. The rite of breaking the bread in
the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is technically
so called. There are three kinds of fractions,
which are in use at the present time ; though
but one of them is essential to the sacrament,
and can bo traced with certainty to the infancy
of the church. The three are, (1) a fraction
illustrative of the words of institution, and
therefore a direct imitation of our Lord's action,
(2) purely symbolical fractions after the conse-
cration has been completed, (3) the necessary
fraction for the distribution of the bread among
the communicants.
(1) The first of these has a place in the English
office, the celebrant being ordered to " break the
bread " while he utters the words, " He brake
it." Nothing could be more natural than that
in reciting the words of institution, the priest
should " suit the action to the word," and break
the bread as " He brake it." It is very probable,
therefore, that this was a common, if not the
universal, practice, in what we may call the first
ritual period. Traces of it are found both in the
East and West. In the Coptic liturgy of St.
Basil, the celebrant is ordered at those words
to " break the oblation into three parts ;" but he
is at once to reunite them, "so that they be in a
manner as not divided." (Renaudot, Liturg.
Orient, i. p. 15.) They are put together again with
a view to a later and purely symbolical fraction.
There is but one extant Latin missal, which is
reported to contain an order for the actual fraction
at this time, viz., that of Rheims, of the middle of
the 16th century, in which the following rubric
occurs, " Dicens /regit frangit modicum." (De
Vert, Explication des Ceremonies de I'Eglise, tom.
i. p. 262.) In our own country the missals of
FRACTION .
Siirum and York to the last ordered the celebrant
to " touch the host," while a manuscript Manual
in the possession of the Rev. W. J. Blew goes
further, and prescribes "the sign of a fraction."
The frequency of the latter custom in England
may be liicewise inferred from its condemnation
by John de Bui-go, a.d. 1385 (Pupil/a Oculi,
pars iv. cap. x.), and its prohibition in the
JIanual authorised by Cardinal Pole in the reign
of Mary. The foregoing facts are mentioned
because they appear to support the antecedent
probability that the fraction, which is now
peculiar to the English and Coptic liturgies, was
once general. The reason for giving it up need
not be sought for. When the bread was once
broken, it would not be possible for the priest to
perform the subsequent symbolical fraction,
introduced at a later period, with the same con-
venience and effect.
(2) From an early period we find other cere-
monial fractions, more or less elaborate, em-
ployed, the evident intention of which was to
develope and enforce the devotional allusion to
our Lord's sutferings on the cross. No frac-
tion of any kind is mentioned in St. Cyril's
account of the liturgy of Jerusalem (Cate-
chesis Mystag. v. cc. 17, 18), nor in the Cle-
mentine liturgy, which exhibits the ritual and
worship of the 3rd or -tth centuiy. [Aposto-
lical Constitutions.] In that of St. Mark,
which from its long disuse has undergone less
change than any other which was ever in actual
use, the fraction for distribution is alone men-
tioned (Renaudot, torn. i. p. 1G2). In St.
James, which is still used at stated times, and
has been much altered in the course of ages, the
celebrant " breaks the bread, and holds half in
his right hand, half in his left, and dips that in
the right in the cup, saying, ' the union of the
all-holy body and the precious blood of our Lord
and God and Saviour Jesus 'Christ.' " (Assemani,
torn. V. p. 54-.) In the Office of Prothesis in the
common Greek liturgy, there is a preparation of
the bread by the aid of a knife (\6yxv), accom
panied by symbolical allusions. [Prothesis.]
After the Sancta Sanctis, which follows close
upon the Consecration, " The priest dividing it
('the holy loaf) into four parts with care and
reverence says ' The Lamb of God, the Son of the
Father, is dismembered and divided, &c.' Then
he takes the uppermost part of the holy loaf
(which is stamped with the letters ic, for 'It;-
rrovs), and holds it in his hand, and the deacon
pointing with his orarion to the holy cup, says,
Fill, Master, the holy cup. And the priest says,
The fulness of faith of the Holy Ghost. And 'he
makes the sign of the cross and casts it into the
holy cup " {Euchologium, Goar, pp. 60, 81, 175).
These rites, though not perhaps in their present
form precisely, must have been in use before the
separation of the Nestorians and Eutychians
from the church ; but whether they were known
to St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, the alleged re-
modellers of the Greek liturgy, it is impossible
to say. On the first part of the foregoing
ceremony, Symeon of Thessalonica, the mys-
tical expositor of that rite, observes, " He
divides the bread into four parts, and these he
arranges in the form of a cross, and in this
he beiiolds Jesus crucified." JJe Templo cfr.
printed in Goar, p. 228. In the Coptic liturgies
the rite is still more elaborate. There is first a
FRACTION
(187
special prayer, Prooemium atite fractionem, prece-
ding it ; which is in fact an act of thanksgiving,
and is called a Benediction in the office itself.
After crossing both the bread and the cup witli a
finger dijjped in the latter, he says u " Prayer of
Fraction." Later on, in preparation for the com-
munion, " he divides the body into three parts, as
ho had done before at the words lie brake it ;"
but this time transversely to the former fractures.
The piece from the middle of the Corban is the
largest, and from this he takes a small piece
(Ts'jodicon, or in the Greek Ale,\andriau liturgies
SirouSi/cdz/, corruptions of AfairoriKSv, the Lord's
body), which he sets aside. The larger piece
from which it is taken is put in the middle of
the paten, and the other eight are placed about it
so as to form a cross. The allusion to the
Passion is thus expressed by an act rather than
by words. The priest next breaks up, in pre-
scribed order, all but the large piece in the
middle, and " collects about that the holy body
which he has broken." The Is'iodicon is put
into the cup ; a rite corresponding to the Com-
mixtio of the West. The fraction now described,
into which a devout priest could evidently infuse
great solemnity is common to the three Coptic
liturgies; which fact implies that the former
fraction at the words Jle brake it is so also ;
although it is only prescribed in that of St.
Basil. (See Renaud. tom. i. pp. 19-23; and
Gabriel's Bitualii, ibid. p. 258.) Whether the
same ceremonies were observed in the Greek
liturgies of Egypt cannot be decided, owing to
the brevity of the rubrics and the absence of
commentaries ; but the Coptic of St. Basil carrie.s
us up to a period earlier than the conquest of
Amrou in the 7th century. The i-ubrics of the
Ethiopic liturgy do not prescribe any fraction,
but as it was derived from the Coptic, and
retains the Coptic Oratio Fractionis, we may
infer that it had a solemn fraction similar to
that which we have described.
In the Syrian rite the priest (in a short office
of Prothesis) "divides the bread into as many
pieces as may be necessary, censes them, and
sets them on the altar, saying. He was led like a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep, etc."
(Renaudot, tom. i. p. 3.) After the consecration
he breaks a small piece off with the words,
"Thou art Christ our God, who on the top of
Golgotha in Jerusalem wast pierced in Thy side
for us, etc.," or something conveying the same
allusion, (^fbid. pp. 22, 40, etc.) Before the com-
munion he dips this particle (pearl) "into the
chalice and signs the rest with it crosswise, say-
ing. The Blood of the Lord is sprinkled on His
Body, in the Name of the Father," etc. The
pearl thus used is then put into the chalice with
a prayer alluding to the union of the Godhead
and Manhood in Christ (Renaudot, tom. ii. pp.
3, 41). Another symbolical action, viz. that of
touching the body in the paten with the
moistened pearl, is not marked in the rubrics.
It is done in allusion to the piercing of our
Lord's side with a spear (Barsalibi, ibid. p. 111).
Among the Nestorians the consecrated oblate is
broken into two parts. One of these is laid on
the paten, and with the other the priest crosses
the cup. He then dips the latter to the nii.ldle
in the cup, and "signs with it the body which is
in the paten." Both signs are made with
appropriate words. He then unites the two
688
FRACTION
pieces of the oblate ; and it is here that we find
the passion symbolized, the wounded and bleed-
ing body of our blessed Lord being evidently
represented by the broken and wine-stained bread.
He further with his right thumb crosses the
oblate " so as to make a slight crack in it, where
It has been dipped in the blood, and puts a part
of it into the chalice in the form of a cross."
(Renaud. torn. ii. p. -594.) The Armenian cele-
brant breaks the oblate into two parts oyer the
chalice, saying, " The fulness of the Holy Ghost.
Then dividing one part into three he casts them
into the chalice of the blood in the form of a
cross " (Le Brun, Explication de la Messe, Diss. x.
Art. XX.).
There are no directions for any fraction in the
early Roman sacramentaries, nor for the com-
mixture which now follows the symbolical
fraction ; but in the first Ordo Bonumus, a
directory of worship of the 8th century, if not
earlier, we find the following method prescribed.
The bishop (for a pontifical celebration is de-
scribed) " breaks an oblate on the right side, and
leaves on the altar the piece (particulam) which
he breaks off." It is explained that this is done
" in order that the altar be not without sacri-
fice," while the mass is performed, a piece (fer-
mentum) reserved from a former celebration,
.nnd placed on the altar before the service began,
having just before been put into the chalice.
This is the only fraction before that for dis-
tribution, and there is nothing to give it a
symbolical character (Ordo Rom. i. § 19, p. 13).
There appears to have been no symbolical or
merely ritual fraction in the primitive liturgy
of Milan, although for "many ages" an oblate
has been broken before the Lord's Prayer, with
the words, " Thy Body is broken, 0 Christ," etc.
(Muratori, Litun/ia Bom. Vet. Diss. c. x. torn. i.
col. 134). An anthem, called Confractorium, is
sung during this fraction, but with no special
reference to the Passion (Pamelii Liturgicon,
tom. i. p. 304). There is some evidence of a
symbolical fraction in the Galilean church before
its liturgy was tyrannically suppressed by
Adrian I. and. Charlemagne. In an exposition of
the old Galilean liturgy written by Germanus
bishop of Paris, A.D. 555, or one of his disciples,
we read, " The confraction and commixture of
the body of the Lord was set forth of old by the
holy fathers " (Mai'tene de Ant. Eccl. Bit. i.
c. iv. ; Art. xii. Ord. i.). The sacramentaries are
without rubrics ; but several of the prayers,
post secreta, which were said immediately after
the fraction, refer expressly to the sufferings of
the cross. Thus, for example, in the Missale
Gothicum in the Post Secreta for Christmas :
" We believe, 0 Lord, Thy Advent ; we com-
memorate Thy Passion. For Thy Body was
broken (confractum) in the remission of our sins ;
Thy holy Blood was shed for the price of our
redemption" (Mabillon, Liturgia Gallicana,
p. 192). In the semi-Oriental ritual of Gothic
Spain and Gallia Narbonensis, the priest broke
the oblate in halves and divided one-half into
five parts, the other into four. He then formed
a cross with seven of them, putting five in a line
to make the stem, and one on each side of the
second from the top to make the arms. Each
piece had a name given it. The uppermost in
the stem was called Corporatio (i.e. Incarnation).
Tlien followed in order Nativitas, Circumcisio,
- FRACTION
Apparitio (Epiphany), Passio. The piece which
formed the left arm of the cross (taken from the
spectator) was called Mors; that on the right
Besurrectio. The two remaining pieces Gloria
and Regnum were placed in the paten below
Besurrectio in a line with it. .See the illustra-
tion below. Thus the whole course of our Lord's
being, acting, and suffering in the flesh, with the
fruits of it, was in a manner represented {Mis-
sttle Mixtum dictum Mozarahes, ed. Leslie, pp.
5, 6, 230-1).
Circumcisio I (Jloria
I '
i j
I Apparitio Regniira
I
In some of the ancient liturgies the fraction
now described took place before, and in some,
after the Lord's Prayer which followed, or more
properly closed, the prayer of consecration. In
the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian St. Mark it
comes after. In the Galilean {Litnrg. Gall.
p. 192), the Milanese, Mozarabic, Coptic, and
apparently in all the Syrian liturgies (Renaudot,
tom. ii. pp. 22, 38, 131, 138, etc.) it comes
before. To these we may add the Ethiopic, but,
in that liturgy, as in our own, the Lord's Prayer
is said after the communion (Renaud. tom. i.
p. 518).
(3) The earliest notices of, or allusions to, a
fraction refer only to the necessary division of
the bread for distribution among the commu-
nicants. St. Augustine : " That which is on the
Lord's Table ... is blessed and hallowed, and
broken small (comminuitur) for distribution "
{Epist. cxlix. ad Paidin. § 16). Clement of
Alexandria: "Some having divided the eucharist
according to custom, permit every one of the
people to take his own share " (Strom/ita, L. i.
c. i. ■§ 5). Pseudo- Dionysius : " Having exposed
to view the bread that was covered and undivided,
and divided it into many parts, and having
divided the oneness of the cup unto all, he sym.bol-
ically multiplies and distributes unity." Again :
"Bringing into sight the covered gifts, and
dividing their oneness into many parts ... he
makes those who partake to have communion
(with each other) in them" (De Eccles. Hier-
nrch. c. iii. § iii. nn. 12, 1.3). In the liturgy of
St. Mark, in immediate preparation for the
FRACTION
communion, " the priest breaks the bread, and
says, Praise ye God iu [i.e. Psalm cl. as iu the
Septuagint]. The priest divides the bread, say-
ing to tliose present [i.e. to the deacons, &c.
who assist]. The Lord shall bless and minister
with you," &c. Then, after a few versicles
entirely free from any mystical allusion, he
communicates. In St. James the later Greek
rite of putting the bread into the chalice has
been adopted. " When he distributes a single
portion into each chalice, he says, A holy por-
tion of Christ, full of grace and truth, of the
Father and the Holy Ghost, to whom fee glory,
&c. Then he begins to divide [i.e. the bread
in the chalices with a spoon], and to say, The
Lord is my Shepherd," &c. (Ps. x.xiii.). In the
common Greek rite, a second part of the pre-
pared loaf which is stamped XC (for XpiffrSs) is
divided for the communion of the priest and his
assistants, who receive the elements separately.
The other two (marked NI and KA ; see Elk-
MENTS, p. 603) are also divided according to the
number of the other communicants, and put into
the chalice. As intinction began to appear in
Spain in the 7th century (see Can. ii. Cone.
Braccar. Labb. tom. vi. col. 563), the method of
fraction now described as attendant on it was
probabl)' in use among the Greeks so early as the
6th. In the 4th and 5th we find Cyril of Jeru-
salem, Basil, Chrysostom, and Cyril of Alexan-
dria, still recognizing the practice of receiving
in the hand (see Scudamore's Notitia Eucharis-
tica, p. 632, and Communion, Holy, p. 416),
■vrhich is incompatible with intinction. We
have already described the last fraction in the
Coptic liturgy. The rubrics do not specify any
further preparation for the communion. Nor are
those of the Ethiopic, Armenian, or Syriac more
explicit. The last named liturgy, however, may
receive illustratiim from the Nestorian, in which
" another fraction of the same Host into lesser
particles fur the distribution of the communion"
is expressly ordered, though no method is pre-
scribed (Renaudot, tom. ii. pp. 595, 611).
In the West the Mozarabic priest preparing
for the communion put the "particle" called
Eegnum into the chalice, received himself that
called Gloria., and if any others received must, it
is presumed, have used the remainder for their
communion, breaking them up as the number of
communicants might require. We saj presumed,
for the present rubrics, which recognize but one
Host, divided as before described, direct him
afterwards to consume all the particles in order.
The tract of Eldefousus, printed by JMabillon iu
an appendix to his dissertation JJe Feme Eucha-
ristico {Analecta Vetera, p. 549), prescribes the
use of several Hosts, the number varying with
the festival or season. We have no information
respecting the early practice of the Galilean and
Italian churches. In an Ordo Eommius which
probably carries us up to the 7th century, and
certainly to the 8th, the last fraction is thus de-
scribed. The bishop of Rome, it should be said,
is the chief officiant. "Then the acolytes go
behind the bishops about the altar ; the rest go
down to the presbyters ; that they may break
the Hosts [which were then small loaves]. A
paten goes before near the throne, two regionary
subdeacons carrying it to the deacons, that they
may break. But they look on the face of the
pontiff that he may give the signal to break.
CHRIST. ANT.
FRANKFORT, COUNCIL OF G89
And when he has given it by a motion of the
head, having again saluted the pontiff, they
break them" {Ordd. L'oiii. i. ii. iii. pp. 14, 49,
59)- [W. E. S.]
FRANKFORT, COUNCIL OF (Franco-
fordiense concilium), held at Frankfort, A.D. 794,
"by favour of God, authority of the pope, and
command of Charlemagne, who was present and
attended by all the bishops of the kingdom of
France and Italy, with the province of Aquif aine "
(300 in number, according to later writers), as
we read in the first of the fifty-six canons
ascribed to it. From the same canon we learn
that the first thing discussed in it was the heresy
of the Sj)ani.sh prelates Felix and Elipand, since
called Adoptionism, which was condemned ; and
from the second canon that a decree of a recent
synod of the Greeks, visiting all with anathema
who would not worship and serve the images
of the saints as they would the Trinity, was
repudiated as well as condemned. This is" about
all we know of what passed at Frankfort ; at
any rate we have no direct authentic record
extant of its proceedings beyond its canons. And
of these the second has been made a subject of
hot controversy both in ancient and modern
times. Contemporaries aver that bishops Theo-
phylact and Stephen (without naming their sees)
represented pope Adrian at Frankfort, and that
the council repudiated there was that " falsely
called the 7th." In the modern heading to this
council, on the other hand, it is asserted that
" the acts of the 2nd Kicene council respecting
images were confirmed there." There are four
dogmatic epistles printed in the collections of
councils as having emanated from Franktbrt.
(1) A letter from pope Adrian to the bishops of
Spain. (2) Another from the bishops of Italy
against Elipand. This is better known as " the
sacrosyllabus " of Pauliniis of Aquileia, but it is
said to have been published at Frankfort, and
sent by order of the council into Spain. (3) A
third is from the bishops of France and Germany
to the bishops of Spain. (4) A fourth from
Charlemagne to Elipand and the rest of the
Spanish bishops. In this the three preceding are
stated to have been sent by him after holding a
council, and conferring with the pope on the
subject of which they treat, without however
naming Frankfort. Still, after reading the 1st
canon of Frankfort, we may not doul t their
having been brought out there. As little can we
doubt another work having been brought out
there also, for the light it throws upon canon 2.
The title given originally to this work was "the
capitulary respecting images;" but it is in four
books, now known as the "Caroline." It has
been ascribed to Alcuin, Angilbert, and Augil-
ramn in turn ; it is ascribed to Alcuin still
{Bihl. Bcr. Germ. tom. vi. 220). What it says
of itself (7Vac/.) is, that it was jointly composed
by Charlemagne and his prelates in refutation
of two councils "held in the parts of Bithynia"
(both calling themselves the screnth) ; one icono-
clastic (that of Constantinople, A.D. 754), the
other in favour of images (the 2nd Nicene,
A.D. 787), and within three years of this last (or
four years before it was brought out). But,
in reality, there was no need of refuting the
first of ihem, as this had been already done by
the last (Art. Gone. Nic. ii.). The last aloncj
690
FRATEK, FEATERNITAS
therefore, now stood for refutation. " De cujus
destrudione," says Hincmar (m causa Ilinc. L. c.
20), "non modicum volumen, quod in palatio
adolescentulus legi, ab eodem imperatore Eomara
est per quosdam episcopos missum " — and then
follows a reference to c. 28 of the fourth book,
which identifies it at once. Further, not only
was it sent to Rome, but it elicited a formal
reply from the pope, as pope, vindicating in detail
th.e teaching of the 2nd Nicene council which he
had confirmed himself (Mansi siii. 759 and seq.).
In this work it is the 2nd Nicene council accord-
ingly which is attacked all through : the creed of
Pelagius the heretic (St. Aug. Op. x. App. pt. ii.
Ed. Bon.) is paraded in the opening c. of the 3rd
book as St. Jerome's, and called "the tradition
of the Catholic faith In its integrity," in oppo-
sition to that of the 2nd Nicene council, which
is attacked further on for wanting the " Filioque "
clause (c. 8): while c. 17 of the same book un-
ravels the statement of canon 2 of this council,
by shewing that what is condemned there as
having been decreed by the 2nd Nicene council
under anathema, was no more than the informal
utterance of one of the bishops who spoke there,
named Constantinus. If the pope then was
really represented at Frankfort by his legates,
they must have left after the condemnation of
Adoptionism, or, at all events, before this canon
was framed. Most of the other canons, indeed,
are couched in a style of their own, " Statutum,"
or "definitum est a Domino Rege, et a sanctS
synodo." The 33rd canon runs thus : "Ut Catho-
lica fides sanctae Trinitatis, et oratio Dominica,
et symbolum fidei omnibvis praedicetur et
tradatur." It has been assumed that what was
meant here by "Catholica fides" is the Atha-
nasian Creed. But it would seem, rathei", from
the two verbs which follow, that as by the
Lord's Prayer and Creed are meant what had to
be " dcUvered" so by the " Catholic faith " is
meant merely what had to be ^^ preached."
Besides, this phrase was applied to so many
things then (Ffoulkes' Ath. C. Append, p. 32 and
seq.), that its actual meaning cannot be assumed
where the context is not explicit. The 55th is
remarkable as shewing how Angilramn had been
employed. " Dixit Dominus rex . . . se a sede
apostolici . . . licentiam habuisse, ut Angilram-
num archiepiscopum in suo palatio assidue
haberet, propter utilitates ecclesiasticas." Now
the only work extant with which his name is
associated, is a collection of canons said to have
been given by him to the pope, or received from
the pope when he was at Rome, containing indis-
putable germs of the false Decretals. In the
next canon Alcuin is commended to the fellow-
ship and prayers of the council. There is a
strong family likeness, in conclusion, between
this council and .that of Paris, A.D. 825, which
should not be overlooked by anybody wishing to
form a just notion of either (Mansi xiii. 859 and
863 and seq.). [E. S. Ff.]
FRATER, FRATERNITAS. 1. The name
Frater was applied among themselves to all
Christians [Faithful]. tertuUian {Apolog. c.
39) says that those who recognise one God as
their tather, and have drunk of one Spirit, are
called brethren. Jerome (De Perpet. Virg. c.
15) says that all Christians are called brothers.
The Pseudo Clemcus {Epnst. ad Jacob. Proem.)
FRESCO
speaks of the priests and deacons, and all the
other brethren. Hence the title i^/'aie/')i/ias was
commonly applied to all the members of the
church, or of a pai'ticular church, regarded col-
lectively ; as by TertuUian (Apolog. c. 39 ; and
perhaps De Virg. Vel. c. 14), and Cyprian (Epist.
51, c. 1) where " fraternitas " is equivalent to
" clerus et plebs."
Frater and Fraternitas, in this sense, are fre-
quently found in inscriptions. Thus, in an Alge-
rian inscription (Reinier, Ins. de I'Alge'rie, No.
4025), a church is designated ecclesia fratrvm.
In a Greek epitaph copied by Marini {Arval.
Prefaz. p. xx.), from the Olivieri collection at
Pesaro, the body of the faithful is addressed with
the salutation, "peace to the brethren,'' EIPHNHN
EXETE AAEA*OI. Another (Muratori, Ihesaur.
t. iv. p. siDCCCXxiv. 9) is dedicated by "the
brethren " (fratres reddiderunt) to Alexander,
their brother. Another (Brunati. p. 108) appeals
to the "good brothers" (fratres boni). In
another, from the cemetery of Priscilla, "the
brethren " bid farewell to Leontius.
Some proper names appear to have arisen from
this idea of brotherhood. As that of Adelphius,
which is found on a marble in the museum of
Lyons (Boissieu, p. 597, Ixi.). (Martigny, Diction-
tudre des Antiq. Chre't. ; Kvt.FraterniU).
2. Persons of the same official body styled
each other Fratres; thus, not only does Cyprian
speak of fellow-bishops as Fratres, but he ad-
dresses presbyters and deacons by the same title
(e.g. Epist. 16). When in the same epistle (c. 2),
he says, that " fraternitas nostra " has been
deceived by certain persons, it seems doubtful
whether he means the body of bishops, or the
members of the church in general. Hosius {Cone.
Sardic. c. 8) speaks of a fellow-bishop as " frater
et coepiscopus." From this official use of the
word " Frater," it arose that the membei's of a
council speak of themselves as " concilium frater-
nitatis " (/. Cone. Lugd. c. 6), i. e. of the epis-
copal brotherhood. So I. Syn. Bom. c. 2 ; IV.
ini.'\ Syn. Bom. c. 1.
3. A monastic order is emphatically a brother-
hood (fraternitas), and its members Fratres, or
Fratres Spirituales (Fructuosi Regula, cc. 4 and
8). See Brotherhood, Monastery. [P. 0.]
FRATERNUS, bishop and confessor at
Auxerre ; commemorated Sept. 29 {Mart. Usu-
ardi) ; deposition Sept. 29 (Mart. Hieron.).
[W. F. G.]
FRESCO. The object of this article is to
furnish a brief historical sketch of the rise and
progress of pictorial decoration in the religious
buildings of the early Christians. Embellishments
in mosaic will be treated of in a separate article,
but all other wall decorations will be included,
not those only strictly comprehended under the
title fresco,'' i. e. when the colours are mixed
a The word fresco is by a popular error commonlj' used
for all kinds of wall-painting. Accurately speaking it Is
restricted to that which the word indicates, painting on
/res/(Ji/-?aid plaster, executed while the wall is still damp,
in water colours and pigments not liable to be injured by
the lime. Dry fresco is painting on old plaster wetted
afresh. Distemper (a tempera') is on a dry wail with
opaque colours, made up with some viscous medium,
size, white of egg, milk, or gum, diluted or " tempered "
with water. Encaustk painting is painting with wax as
a vehicle, the coloursi being burnt in afterwards.
FRESCO
with water simply, and applied to fresh plaster
while wet. This was the ordiuary mode of
colouring walls among the wealthier Romans;
but the care aiid skill it required, and the tedious
processes necessary for preparing the walls for
the colours, forbade its use where economy was
an object. In the better-class houses at Pom-
peii, Rome, and elsewhere, the wall-decorations
are executed in fresco ; but the greater part of
the paintings in ordinary dwellings are in dis-
temper of various degrees of excellence. We
are at present deficient in accurate information
as to the exact process employed in the paintings
of the catacombs ; but considering the general
absence of wealth among the primitive Chris-
tians, it is probable that the less expensive me-
thod would be adopted. Whenever paintings
were repainted or touched up, the plaster being
dr}-, the distemper process must have been ne-
cessarily employed. That encaustic painting in
wax was also employed in early religious pic-
tures is certain from the references in the fathers
to that process. Chrysostom and Basil {Contra
Sahellian. p. 805) in the East, and Paulinas in the
West, may be cited. The latter speaks of " ima-
gines ceris liquentibus pictas " {Ep. xxx. § 6),
while Chrysostom more than once refers to K7)p6-
X^'i'os ypa(pri. Hermogenes, the African painter,
is reproached by the vehement Tertullian as
being "bis felsarius, et cauterio et stilo" {Adc.
Hermog. c. 1). The fact is that Christian art
followed the technical rules of the period, and
adopted whatever processes were in use among
the artists of the day, and were most suited to
the particular work in hand, whether fresco,
tempera, or encaustic.
• Nor was it only in the processes adopted but
also in the character of the pictorial decorations
themselves that the early Christians conformed
to the practice of the age in which they lived.
Indeed, it could not be otherwise. As has been
remarked with perfect truth by Raoul Rochette,
'• un art ne s'improvise pas." A school of paint-
ing is the result of a long previous train of edu-
cation, and cannot spring into existence in a
moment " fully formed, like Minerva from the
brain of Jupiter" (Northcote, Eom. Sott. p. 198).
There was nothing exceptional about Christian
art. It was no more than the continuation of
the art Christianity found already existing as
the exponent of the ideas of the age, with such
modifications as its purer faith and higher mo-
rality rendered necessary. The artists employed
were not necessarily Christian ; indeed, in most
cases, especially in the earliest times, they would
probably be pagans, working in the style and
depicting the subjects to which they were ac-
customed, only restricted by the watchful care
of their employers that no devices were intro-
duced which could offend the moral tone of
Christians. In the earliest examples there is
absolutely nothing distinctive of the religion
professed. " At first," writes Mr. Burgon {Let-
ters from Rome, p. 250), " they even used many
of the same devices for mural decoration as the
pagans had used, always excepting anything that
was immoral or idolatrous; introducing, how-
ever, every here and there, as the ideas occurred
to them, something more significant of their own
creed, until by-aud-by the whole was exclu-
sively Christian." The deep-rooted aversion of
the early Christians to all sculptured or pictorial
FRESCO
691
representations, natural in a community that had
sprung from the bosom of the Jewish churcli,
for a considerable period forbade all attempts to
depict the person of the Saviour or the events
of either Testament, and limited the efTorts of
Christian art to the simple naturalism of the
decorations already common, or the arabesques
in which the fancy of tlie artists loved to indulge.
The earliest Christian frescoes with which we
are acquainted present the same subjects from
pastoral life and the vintage, tlie trellised vines
and bunches of grapes, the bright-plumaged birds
and ])ainted butterflies, the winged genii and
gracefully draped female figures, with which we
are familiar in the wall-decoratious of the Roman
baths and the houses of Pompeii. By degrees
the natural instinct for the beautiful asserted
itself, and the desire to make the eye a channel
for the reception of the truths of revelation led
to the introduction of symbolic representations,
which, without attempting directly to depict
sacred things, conveyed to the initiated the ex-
pression of the truths believed by them. The
actual change in the character of the subjects
represented was at first inconsiderable. The
vine laden with clusters became a recognised
symbol of Christ " the True Vine " and the " much-
fruit," by which Christians, as " branches,"
were called to glorify the Father. The pastoral
subjects, especially those in which the Shepherd
was the principal figure, at once led the miud of
the worshipper to the contemplation of Christ
the " Good Shepherd." To the devout imagina-
tion a Fish represented at once the Saviour Him-
self, the anagrammatic 1X0T2, and the human
object of His salvation, the Christian deriving
his life from the waters of baptism (cf. TertuU.
de Baptism, c. i.), while the Fisherman spoke of
Him who by the Gospel-hook takes men for life,
not for death." [Fisii ; Fisherman.] Not only
were these natural emblems made to breathe a
Christian spirit by the infusion of a new element
of life, but even directly mythological personages
were pressed into the service of the church.
Orpheus captivating the wild beasts by the sound
of his lyre was adopted as a symbol of Christ
subduing the savage passions of men by the
melody of the gospel, and Ulysses deaf to the
alluring voices of the sirens represented the be-
liever triumphing over the seductions of worldly
and sensual pleasure (Martigny, Diet, de.^ Ant.
Chret. pp. 447, 643; De' Rossi, Bullet ino, 18t)3,
p. 35). The hold which the old forms still niaiu-
tained long after the ideas of which they were
the exponents had passed away, is seen in the
combination with Scriptural scenes of those
personifications of Nature under the human form
so frequent in pagan times, which lasted even
down to a late date. In the delineation of the
ascension of Elijah, one of the most frequently
repeated subjects of early Christian art, the
Jordan is represented as a river god, with his urn.
b This image is beautifully developed in the grand
Orphic hymn attributid to Cl.'ment of Ale.Nuiidrla, thus
nobly rendered by Dr. W. L. Alexander {Ante Xiceiit
Fathers, vol. i. p. 344) :—
" Fisher of men whom Thou to life dost bring;
From evil sea of sin,
And from the billowy sUifr,
(iathoring pure fishes In
Caught with sweet bail nf life."
•2 Y 2
692
FRESCO
Thus also "a movintain is occasionally repre
sented by a mountain god, a city by a goddes;
with a mural crown, uight by a female figure
with a tor.ch and star-bespangled robe, &c,"
(Kugler, Handbook of Fainting, part i. p. 9).
So slow and timid was the commencement of
Christian art. The profane abuse of sculptui-e and
painting which had associated these foi-ms of art
with idolatry and licentiousness formed an almost
insuperable barrier to its recognition as the hand-
maid of religion. The earlier fathers viewed all
sculptural or pictorial representations with sus-
picion if not decided disapprobation. The stern
Tertullian, transferring the prohibitions of the
Old Testament to the New, absolutely condemned
all representations of religious objects, and re-
proached Hermogenes as vehemently for painting
as for his defence of second marriages : " pingit
illicite, nubit assidue, legem Dei in libidinem
defendit, in artem contemnit" (Tertull. adv.
Hermog. c. i. ; De Idulolatr. c. 5 ; cf. Neander,
Antignosticus, Bohn's tr. pp. 225, 451). We find
similar but milder condemnations of the pictorial
art in Clement Alex. ( Protrept. c. 4) and Origen
{cont. Cels. lib. iv. c. 31). Sacred art being thus
frowned on it was only by gradual and cautious
steps that symbolism gave way to direct historical
representation, the events selected to be depicted
being, at first, themselves symbolical of those
great gospel facts which a deep-seated reverence
as yet forbade them to portray. The persons
and incidents of the Old Testament included
within the limited cycle in which Christian art
originally moved had all a typical or allegorical
reference to the leading doctrines of Christianity,
and reminded the devout worshipper of the Sa-
crifice, Resurrection, and Redemption of Christ.
This will be apparent from the cycles of 0. T.
subjects given in the latter part of this article.
It was something that in spite of the profane
and licentious associations of pictorial art, and
the aversion of some of its most influential
teachers, painting should have secured admission
thus far into the service of Christianity. But it
was still halting at the threshold, and timidly
shrinking from the province of its greatest tri-
umphs, so long as it was restricted to allegory.
It could only accomplish its object in elevating
the mind, and connecting beautiful and ennobling
ideas with the external facts on which the faith
is founded, when it adequately depicted the Person
of the Saviour and chief events of His saving life.
Referring to the article Jesus Christ for fuller
details of the pictorial history of the Redeemer,
and of the slow degrees with which the pious
horri;r of any direct delineation of His outward
form was broken down (of the persistence of
which feeling the notorious decree of the council
of Elvira,^ a.d. 305, forbidding, the depicting of
the objects of worship and adoration on the
walls of churches is a remarkable evidence), it
will be enough here to say that portrait-like re-
presentations of our Blessed Lord are found
among the early wall-paintings in the Roman
cataci.mibs, and that a limited number of events
from His life on earth, belonging to a strictly-
defiutd cycle, are of constant occurrence in the
same localities. It deserves notice that this
e •' Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod
colltur et adoratur inparietibus depingatur " (Cone. Illib.
can, 30 ; Labbe, Cmcil. vol. i. p. 974).
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cycle does not include any representations of the
history of the Passion or Crucifixion. A feeling
of awful reverence forbade any attempt to por-
tray the atoning death of Christ in any but a
symbolical or allegorical form. "The catacombs
of Rome . . . offer no instance of a crucifixion,
nor does any allusion to such a subject of art
occur in any early writer " (Milman, m. s. p. 398).
The most ancient instance known does not date
earlier than the 8th century (Munter, Sinnbilder,
p. 77). Beyond the domain of sacred allegory
and Scriptural painting. Christian art busied
itself in the representation of saintly personages
and of the martyrdoms, the memory of which
was still so vivid in the church. It is difficult
to point to indubitably early examples of the first
class, and all traces of the latter class have
perished. That representations of holy persons
were not unfrequent in the time of St. Augustine
is certain from his reference to wall-paintings of
St. Peter and St. Paul as commonly existing,
" pluribus locis . . . pictos " {de Gunsens. Evang.
i. 10). But the paintings of St. Cornelius and St.
Cyprian, in the crypt of Cornelius, in theCallistine
catacomb, are in the style of the 8th century, while
the Orante called St. Cecilia by De' Rossi, in the
crypt bearing her name, is of the 9th ; and the
figure of St. Urban, in the same crypt, "can hardly
have been executed before the 10th or 11th"
(Northcote, u. s. p. 159). The paintings of saints
in the catacombs of Naples may be assigned to an
earlier period : some belonging to the 5th, others
to the 8th century. Although all representa-
tions of martyrdoms have perished, there is no
doubt that such existed. Prudentius (c. 405)
speaks of a picture of the martyrdom of St. Cas-
sianus, of which he says expressly, " Historiam
pictura refert " (Peristeph. Hymn. ix. v. 5), and
he elaborately describes the paintings of the mar-
tyrdom of St. Hippolytus, which embellished the
walls of the chapel in which the body of the
saint had been deposited {Peristeph. Hymn. xi. v.
141 sq.). Paulinus of Nola also at the commence-
ment of the 5th century, decorated a chapel
erected by him with martyrs (Poem, xxviii. v.
20, 21). At a still earlier period we have the
testimony of St. Gregory Nyssen as to the pre-
valence of this practice in the Eastern church.
He describes the piartyrdom of St. Theodore as
painted on the walls of a church dedicated to
that saint, " The fiery furnace, the death of the
athlete of Christ . . . the painter had expressed
by colours as in a book . . . The dumb walls
speak and edify" {Orat. in Theod. torn., iii. p.
579).d
Early Christian paintings may be conveniently
treated of under three divisions, Roman, Byzan-
tine, and Lombardic.
I. Eoman. — All the earlier Christian buildings
above ground having yielded to time and human
violence, the catacombs are the only source of
examples of primitive Christian art. In them,
as has been already remarked, the earliest ex-
amples offer nothing exclusively Christian, and
differ hardly at all from the contemporaneous
pagan decorations. Agincourt long since called
attention to this fact in his great work {UHistoire
de I' Art par les Monumens), proving by compara-
tive representations in successive plates {Peinture,
d See Pusey, Note to TerttiUian's Apology, Lib. of the
Fathers, vol. x. p. 100 sq.
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pl. V. vi.), that the first Christian sepulchral
chambers were arranged and decorated after
heathen models. The artists probably adhered
to the old faith ; and even if this were not so,
they were only accustomed to work in one style,
and could not extemporize a new one. In some of
the most ancient chapels of the catacombs it has
been truly said that "you are not certain
whether you are looking on a pagan or a Chris-
tian work. There is the same geometrical divi-
sion of the roof, the same general arrangement
of the subjects, the same fabulous animals, the
same graceful curves, the same foliage, fruit,
flowers, and birds in both" (Burgou, Letters
from Home, p. 250; Northcote, it. s. p. 190).
Agincourt could discover no difference in style,"
except, perhaps, what was not unnatural, greater
signs of hurry, and coarser execution. It is only
the occuri-ence of the figure of the Good
Shepherd, which usually occupies the central
position, or some Scriptural subject, such as
Jonah or Daniel, or some Christian symbol, that
clears up the doubt as to the religion of the art
we are studying. The entire absence of all
FRESCO
693
No. 1. Painting on Ceiling. From the Cemetery of St. Domitilla.
gloomy associations in connection with death
deserves remark. The cheerful symbolical
decorations which adorn the sepulchral chambers
— the graceful vine, the clustering grapes, the
birds and bright landscapes — bespeak a faith
which nerved its possessors to meet the most
terrible sufferings with calmness and even with
delight, as the path to never-ending joys, and to
view death as the door to eternal life, the true
birthday of the soul. Every thing that meets
the eye excites pleasurable emotions, and indi-
cates a heart full of peace and happiness.
As an example of Christian mural decorations
of the very earliest period we may instance the
Cat(Xcomb of Domitilla on the Appian way (see p.
314). This catacomb is attributed to Flavia Domi-
tilla, a near relative of the emperor Domitian —
perhaps his niece, the daughter of his sister who
bore the same name. She was the wife of Flavius
Clemens, the cousin of Domitian, and his colleague
in the consulship a.d. 95, who was accused of
"atheism," by which we are almost certainly to
understand Christianity, and put to death by
the emperor. Domitilla was banished on the
same charge to the island of I'ontia {Divtionan,
of Uinstian Biography, Domitilla). In this
bunal-place, therefore, we have work of the end
ot the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century.
Ihe frescoes which oinament the walls and ceil-
ings of the sepulchral chambers and their rece.s.ses
or cubicula are clearly contemporaneous with
the origmal building, and are, especially in the
No. 2. Spring. From the Cemetery of SS. Nereoa and Achillir m.
subordinate embellis'nments, of rare beauty.
There is a vaulted root; over which a vine
trails with all the freedom of nature, laden with
clusters, at which birds are pecking, while winged
boys are gathering or pressing out the grapes,
of which no decorative artist of the Augus-
tan age need be ashamed (Mommsen, Contemn
Eev. May 1871, p. 170). The annexed wood-
cut (No. 1) gives a faint idea of its exquisite
grace and beauty. Traces of landscapes also still
exist here, which are of rare occurrence in later
Christian burial vaults. In the portion of this
catacomb known by the names of St. Domitilla's
chamberlains, St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, a
painted cubiculum exhibits representations of the
four seasons, which are very curious. They are
represented as female figures, with small butter-
fly wings attached to their .shoulders. We give
woodcuts of Spring and Autumn (Nos. 2," 3).
No. 3. Aulumn. From the Omctery of SS. Nercua nnd Aclillleiii
The latter has an attendant genius emptying out
a cornucopia of fruit. There is an entire absence
of anything distinctively Christian in these deco-
rations, which reproduce the wall-paintings of
the best period of Greco-Roman art. On the
walls, however, we find the usual allegorical and
Scriptural subjects — the Good Shepherd, the
694
FRESCO
Fisherman, an Agape, Daniel iu the Lions' Den,
&C.''
Another equally beautiful specimen of the
vine ornamentation is exhibited on the vault of
a square chamber of the cemetery of Praetextatus,
otherwise known as that of St. Urban, beneath
the church of the same name, lying to the east
of the Via Appia, near the circus of Maxentius.
This burial-p'ace belongs to the earliest period,
and the character of the decorations corresponds
with heathen art of the 2nd century, and is not
at all inferior to the best works of the age.
The accompanying woodcut (No. 4) gives an
imperfect notion of the elaborate beauty of the
design. The vault of the chamber is divided
into four bands, each containing a continuous
wreath of foliage and flowers, among which are
nests, and the birds visiting their young. The
highest wreath is of laurel or bay, a symbol of
victory, indicative of the Christian triumph.
Immediately round the arch of the arcosolium is
a band of reapers cutting down corn and binding
up the sheaves. The plafond of the recess origi-
nally bore the Good Shepherd with a sheep upon
his shoulders ; but the desijrn has been almost
r^^^^-
X
^''>^ '^ .
'"'-'i.-^^^^s^^ -
destroyed by the excavation of later loculi. The
paintings are small and exquisitely beautiful,
even in their present state of decay. The family
to whom this burial-place belonged was evidently
one of considerable wealth and dignity. But the
specimens already adduced seem to have been
surpassed by the great vine of the Callistine
catacomb (Bottari, vol. ii. tav. 15), the "antique
style of beauty " of which is noticed by Kilgler.
A stem of a vine encircles each side of the arch
of an arcosolium with its graceful spirals, lovely
little naked boys standing on its branches and
plucking the clusters. The soffit of the arch is
similarly decorated with vintage scenes. The
wall of the recess presents what is commonly,
but erroneously, designated the Dispute idth the
Doctors. Christ, represented as a beardless
young man seated on a curule chair, holds a
scroll in his left hand and turns towards a
number of hearers, probably intended for his
" The vei-y early date of these decorations is acknow-
ledgcd by Le Normant, who considers some of the
paintings in St. Domitilla's cemetery to be -of the same
style as those in the well known pyrami'Jal tomb of Caius
Sextius, B.C. 32.
FRESCO
apostles, some of whom are seated and others
standing (woodcut No. 5).
The general arrangement of the mural deco-
rations of the sepulchral chambers or cubicula of
the Roman catacombs is remarkably uniform. The
arch-headed tomb recesses or arcosolia, which
occupy three sides of the square chambers, have
the back wall, the soffits of the arches, and the wall
above them painted, in the earlier examples with
mere ornamental arabesques, in the later with
subjects drawn from the narrow Scriptural or
symbolical cycle to which reference has already
been made. The ceilings are even more richly
decorated, the subjects being usually depicted in
panels distributed round a central picture, which
most commonly exhibits a representation of the
Saviour under a typical form. The general
appearance of these cubiciikr, and the distribution
of the paintings, is shown in the accompanying
illustration from the cubiculum of the Ocean in
the catacomb of St. Callistus (No. 6). The
paintings are early — probably of the 3rd century
— representing trellis work overgrown with
flowers, peacocks and other birds, and winged
genii. In the centre of the vault is the head of
Ocean, giving its name to the chamber. The
ornamentation of an early ceiling is exhibited in
woodcut No. 7, representing the roof of the
chapel of St. Callistus. The central panel con-
tains Christ under the typical form of Orpheus.
Four of the eight circumscribing panels contain
Biblical subjects — (1) Moses smiting the Rock ;
(2) Daniel in the Lions' Den ; (3) The Raising
of Lazarus ; (4) David armed with his Sling.
The intermediate panels represent pastoral sub-
jects— two of sheep, two of cattle. Another-
chamber, depicted by De' Rossi (vol. i. pi. 10),
called that of Orpheus, is quite Pompeian in
character. The ceiling is a beautiful Avork of
art. Orpheus is seen in the centre, surrounded
by heads of genii with dishevelled and flowing
hair, and supported by eight oblong panels, two
containing the Good Shepherd, two female orantes,
and the remaining four winged genii bearing
crooks, floating lightly in the air. The panelled
walls are embellished with a rich profusion of
arabesques, combining doves, peacocks, and other
birds, dolphins, and sea monsters, the only un-
mistakably Christian emblem being the lamb
bearing the eucharistic bread.
The style of these earliest efforts of Christian
art has been unduly depreciated. They are cha-
racterized by Lord Lindsay (^Hist. of Christ. Art,
vol. i. p. 39) as "poor productions," where "the
meagreness of invention is only equalled by the
feebleness of execution," " inferior, generally
speaking, to the worst specimens of contemporary
heathen art." Such a verdict evidences but
slender acquaintance with the paintings which are
the subjects of his criticism. The earlier Christian
frescoes, as we have seen, are quite on a level
with the best specimens of pagan art of the time,
and the rapid decadence manifested in the later
examples belongs not to Christian art alone but
to art in general. The judgment of Kugler is
far more favourable. He speaks of the "grandeur
of arrangement " exhibited by the earliest paint-
ings, and admires the "peculiar solemnity and
dignity of style" which characterize them,
though he acknowledges that these excellencies
are "accompanied by cei'tain technical defi-
ciencies," chiefly such as naturally arose from
FRESCO
FRESCO
605
S'H;=SsSi;SS?=S^^^
Painting, vol. i. p. o, uotc). The arti.sts bulilly I tcuie was tlii-own over the (losh portions of the
stained the rough-coated walls with light water- figure, the shadows l)eiiig worked in in broad
colours of a lively tint, and rapidly defined the | masses with a deeper tint of the same warm line.
696 FRESCO
The details were almost entirely left to the ima-
gination of the beholder. The draperies were
coloured in the primary keys, indicating a tole-
lable acquaintance with the laws of hai'mony.
The general effect of these simple processes is
pronounced by the same critics to be good. The
•'attitudes are not without grandeur, nor the
masses of light and shade without breadth, nor
the drapery without simplicity." The artists
were evidently capable of much better things.
With the lapse of time and the general decay
of artistic power in Rome, corresponding to the
universal deterioration of taste and genius which
characterized the later days of the empire, we
notice a very sensible decline in the decorations
of the catacombs. The design becomes increas-
FKESCO
another and always unlike nature " (Northcote,
u. s. p. 197). In foct, as Dean Milman has
truly remarked (Lat. Chi'ist. vi. 605), the
characteristic of Chiistian painting was not
art but worship, and its highest aim was tc
awaken religious emotion and suggest religious
thought. Thus imitation took the place of in-
vention, and imagination was crushed by prece-
dent. The gradual decadence of the art may be
clearly traced in the chronological series given
in Agincourt's plates {Feinture, pi. v.-xii.). The
excellence of design, freedom of drawing, and
harmony of colouring which mark the earlier
frescoes gradually disappear as we advance. We
find •proofs of declension at the end of the 3rd
century (PI. viii.). The drawing is not bad, but
No. 7. Ceiling of the Cabiculu
ingly rude and clumsy, and the execution shows
greater carelessness and neglect of detail. The
figures are ill-proportioned — sometimes square
and short, at others inordinately elongated. The
free play of the earlier designs is succeeded by a
lifeless rigidity. This mechanical stiffness was
fostered by the narrowness of the cycle of Scrip-
tural subjects represented, and the unimaginative
sameness of the mode of representation. Each
subject had received a well-defined traditional
type, consecrated by repetition, from which it
was deemed irreverence to deviate. Thus Chris-
tian art became "almost hieratic in its character,
as in ancient Egypt or modern Greece, so fixed
and immovable were its types; always like one
there is no movement and little expression, and
the treatment is monotonous. In the two succeed-
ing centuries the deterioration proceeds, though
tlie decline is not so rapid as might have been
anticipated. Classic forms continued till the
end of the 5th and first half of the 6th centuries.
Cavalcaselle instances as an example of the art
of this period a chapel in the catacomb of St.
Peter and St. Marcellinus (otherwise called St.
Helena). The vault is decorated with a large
figure of Christ seated in a curule chair, in the
act of benediction. The head is very fine and
pure. Below, above the tomb, are figures of St.
Peter and St. Marcellinus and two others ranged
on either side of the Holy Lamb standing on a
FRESCO
rock, whence issue the four rivers of Paradise.
The frames are long and attenuated, the heads
small, the hands and feet defective in drawing.
Another typical example is the colossal head of
Christ in the act of benediction, from the ceme-
tery of St. Pontianus. For the first time the
jewelled nimbus bears the Greek cross. The
Saviour is of imposing aspect, but conventional.
The execution is hasty, and the decline marked.
It probably belongs to the 7th century, but is
assigned by Mavtigny to Hadrian 1. 772-775.
The celebrated paintings which decorate the well
or baptistery, the jewelled cross, and the Baptism
of Christ are" described in the articles Baptistery,
p. 174; and Catacombs, p. 313. These pic-
tures, in their present state, are probably restora-
tions of the originals, coarsely painted over an
older underlying picture at the time of the repair
of the catacomb by Hadrian I. (cf. Tyrwhitt, Art
Teaching of Primitive Church, p. 173). These
FRESCO
<!97
duces the original painting, and that any argu-
ments founded upon such uncertain data must be
precarious. The words of Mr. St. John Tyrwhitt,
with regard to a particular instance, may be
applied to a large number of these frescoes, " the
workmanship is so grossly rude and careless,
that one is led to suspect that ancient retouchings
have taken place at some time in the bathos of
art; and the addition of the coarsest outlines,
both on the lighted and shaded side of the objects,
seems to show that the origiual painting hud
nearly vanished from the wall when some well-
meaning and totally-ignorant restorer made an
attempt at securing its meaning'' {Art Teaching,
&c.. p. 130). The fact of these restorations has
been lately made patent to those who have no
opportunity cf examining the originals by the
invaluable series of photographs taken in the
catacombs by the magnesium light, which we
owe to the unwearied zeal and munificent libe-
PCT^n
No. S. CeiUng of the Vestibnle of the Catacombs of Naples. From liull.
restorations may be taken as examples of the
retouchings and repaintings of earlier originals
which prevailed so extensively when the cata-
combs became the objects of religious visits, and
which render it so difficult accurately to de-
termine the date of any particular picture. In
the catacombs at Naples which have not been
so much cared for, and are less tampered with,
by modern restorers, the wall-pictures may be
seen in several instances peeling off, disclosing
successive strata one behind another, ^nei-e is
no reason to question the good faith ot the
original restorers, who probably followed the
outlines of the decaying subjects as far as they
could make them out, and only supplied forms and
details when the original had quite disappeared.
But it must always be borne in mind, in examin-
ing the frescoes of the catacombs, that we are in
all probability looking at a work of the 8th or
even a later century, which only partially repro-
rality of iMr. J. H. Parker,
touches and hard outlines
The ruile later
loucires aiiu uuivi *yuiii>»^ -- -^ maii>
clearly to be traced over the original painting.
It is needless to pursue the melancholy history
of the decline of religious art any further. The
power of drawing grew feebler and feebler, all
sense of beauty of form perished, proportion
was disregarded, the colouring became crude
and inharmonious, until, with the close of the
8th century, a period of darkness set in, when
Christian art was lost in the Western world
and oulv dragged on an unnatural and mechanical
"existence in Vhe traditional Byzantine art of the
East. .
The remarkable series of frescoes which em-
bellish the catacombs of Naples must not b.-
passed ovei;. Thev have, however, been so iully
described in a previous article CCataoomh-s
p 316) that it is needless to enlarge upon them
here The chief authorities for these paintings
698
FRESCO
are the plates of Bellermann's work (Hambtirg,
1839). The greater part there given are no
longer visible. The vault of the vestibule is
painted in the Pompeian style, and probably by
pagan artists, some of the subjects being dis-
tinctly heathen. It belongs to the first half-
century of the Christian era (No. 8). The vault
has been subsequently plastered over, and a
second set of subjects of the 8th century painted
over it. But the new coat did not adhere well,
and has fallen off to a large extent, exhibiting
the first painting below it. There is also
a good painting of a peacock, with vases
and flowers, belonging to the first period.
Among the paintings that decorate the chapels
we may call attention to one presenting full-
length figures of St. Paul with a scroll, and St.
Laurence with his crown of martyrdom in his
hand. They are not nimbed, and are assigned
by Mr. J. H. Parker to the 5th century (No. 9).
Half-lengths of St. Desiderius and St. Agutius,
in another recess, deserve notice as exemplifying
the bad drawing of the 8th century. The faces
are elongated, the sockets of the eyes exaggerated
in size, the hands enormous and clumsy, and the
whole displays a barbaric ignorance of form and
blindness to beauty.
Naples,
II. Byzantine. — Up to the commencement of
the 7th century there was no decided difference
between Eastern and Western art. Wherever
Roman civilization extended Christian art was
essentially the same. It was not till the middle
of the 7th century that the distinction between
Roman and Byzantine art began to arise. Tliat
was the epoch of the greatest decadence of art in
the West, crushed by the Lonlbard invasion, while
in the East, under the emperor Justinian, a new
and vigorous intellectual life was rapidly deve-
loping itself and manifesting its energy, as else-
where, in the domain of art. This new influence
rapidly made itself felt through the civilized
world. The style of art universally prevailing
in the latter part of the 7th and the 8th cen-
turies and onward was that which, as dis-
tinguished from the Roman school, is known by
the title of Byzantine (Kugler, Handbook of
Fainting, i. p. 47). The characteristic mental
differences of the West and the East were
reflected in their artistic works. The con-
templative prevailed in the productions of the
Byzantine art schools, as the practical did in
those of Rome. The idea of dramatic historical
painting was alien to the Byzantine genius.
Even the movements of life were distasteful.
Calm, motionless figures offered themselves to
the devotion of the worshippers in dignified
FRESCO j
rejiose. Ease stiffened into j'lgidity, tradition
usurped the place of invention, the study of '
nature was laid aside, and the artist followed a
strictly prescribed type which allowed no scope
for the play of the imagination, and ended in a
system of mere mechanical copying, where, in i
Kugler's words (u. s. p. 56), "the capacity of I
the artist was only regulated by the number and
quality of the tracings which he had been able
to procure from the works of his predecessors."
A fuller discussion of Byzantine art and the
chief examples remaining, must be reserved for :
the article treating on mosaic decorations
(Mosaics). Byzantine frescoes of the 6th, 7th, j
and 8th centuries, it is believed do not exist; J
though, ft-om the permanence of the traditional ;
type, and the strict adherence to artistic rules,
there is no doubt that later compositions enable
us to realise their character with great accuracy. !
We have no account of catacomb paintings in
the East, though it is possible that such are only i
awaiting more thoi'ough research. One such '
was not long since discovered at Alexandria, and \
is described by De' Rossi (Bitlletino, Novemb. -
1864; Agost. 1865), and Northcote (Ro7n. Sott. ]
p. 221). It contains a liturgical painting, appa- j
rently representing the participation in the 1
eucharist, together with the miracle at Cana •
and the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, ■
with Greek inscriptions over. But it belongs to '
a period antei-ior to the development of Byzan-j .
tine art, and differs little, if at all, from the •
paintings of the Roman catacombs.
III. Lomhardic. — The relics of the new style of
art consequent on the Lombard invasion in the
6th and 7th centui'ies are very scanty, and quite
insufficient to furnish data for determining its i
character with any minuteness. It is probable,
however, that the " naturalism and insistence on i
fact, the vigorous imagination of truth and wild i
play of fancy in fiction, the delight in action,
motion, and contest, the taste for hunting and ,
battle, the irresistible or unresisted taste for
the humorous grotesque," described so vividly '
by Mr. Ruskin(i7o?!eso/ Venice, vol. i. append. 8),
as characterizing their more lasting works in i
architecture and sculpture, were exhibited in i
their pictorial efforts, in which, with all their ;
]-udeness and total license of style, there lay, as ]
Kugler remarks (p. 45), "a germ of freedom from :
which, later, a new school of development was to ,
spring." The historical subjects which Queen ,
Theodelinda caused to be painted on the walls of
her palace at Monza, at the beginning of the 7th i
century, have unhappily perished, if, indeed,
they were frescoes and not mosaics.
Some account is given by Von Rumohr {Ital.
Forschung. vol. i. p. 193, Berl. 1827) of the
examples of the Lombardic style still existing in
the remains of the frescoes in the tribune of the I
subterranean church at Assisi, and in the crypt j
of SS. Nazaro e Celso at Verona. The former |
are placed by him in the 8th century. The.
lights are laid on in impasto, an art subsequently- |
lost. The frescoes at Verona are very similar in.
design and execution. Several Biblical scenes arei
there rudely painted on a coarse white ground.
IV. Cycles of Scriptural Subjects. — Attention ,
has been already drawn to the remarkable fact
that out of the almost infinite wealth of his-
torical subjects in the Old and New Testa- i
ments suitable for pictorial representation, by '
FRESCO
which important doctrines are set forth or !
holy lessons imparted, a comparatively small I
number were selected, and that the limits thus
laid down were scarcely ever transgressed by
the artists. Nor were these, generally speak-
ing, precisely the subjects that we should have
a priori expected to have been the object of ex-
clusive preference. Many of the most striking
events of the 0. T., and the most characteristic
incidents of the life of Christ are entirely passed
over, while some which appear to us subordinate
are repeated times without number. The ex-
planation of this procedure is to be sought in the
principle of tj'pical parallelism which guided the
chui'ch from the first in her choice of subjects
for deliiieation. Her leading idea was to veil
the great facts of Redemption " under the parallel
and typical events of the patriarchal and Jewish
dispensation — admitting no direct representations
from gospel history but such as illustrated the
kingly office of the Saviour and the miracles by
which He prefigured the illumination of the
spirit and the resurrection of the body" (Lord
Liadsay, Christian Art, vol. i. p. 48). It fol-
lowed therefore that even these events were not
treated so much as facts of history, to be por-
trayed with any idea of reproducing the incident
as it may be conceived to have occurred, but as
types in which the spiritual meaning was pre-
dominant. Consequently, not the choice of the
subject alone but the mode of treating it was
matter to be regulated by authority. Nothing
bevond the minor details and the mode of exe-
cution was left to the artist. The church dic-
tated what should be painted and how. "The
symbolical system of this hieratic cycle," says De'
Kossi, "is established beyond all dispute, not
only by the choice and arrangement of subjects,
but also by the mode of representing them."
" Christ's resurrection, with that of the church in
His Person, is the theme on which in their pecu-
liar language the artists of the catacombs seem
never weary of expatiating " (Lord Lindsay, n. s.
p. .51), and representing to the eyes and hearts
of the beholders under every varied form of
symbol, type, and allegory. The earliest allusion |
FRESCO
699
every sarcophagus of the early Christian church.
The same events, with the others belonging to
this cycle, are continually referred to in the
writings of the early fathers, who thus evi-
denced the hold they had taken of the popular
mind, as familar illustrations of the truths of
revelation.
We may select one or two of the subjects of
most frequent recurrence in early Christian art
to illustrate what has been said as to the ad-
herence to a traditional type, even when quite
at variance with all historical prohabilitv. No
subject meets us more constantly than Xoah in
No. 10. Noah in the Ark.
the ark receiving the dove with the olive-branch,
in evident allusion to the sacrament of baptism
and salvation in the rhm< li (1 I'.t. iii. ;-.l). But
with slight modificatious nt' detail the type never
varies. As in the illustration given above (No.
10), the ark is always a small square box with
an open lid, out of which a man many sizes too
large for his receptacle appears, and welcomes
back the dove. Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac is
of perpetual recurrence.*' Both are usually clad
in tunics. In an example from the cemetery of
Priscilla, Abraham wears highpriesfly robes.
/r
.^
T.
SM-^-m^ _ I b. i-^J:_-®s
to a cycle of this kind, not, it is true, containing
any reference to pictorial representation, occurs
in the Apostolical Constitutions (lib. v. c. 7).
Some of the Scriptural events there spoken of as
types or pledges of the resurrection of man, viz.
the deliverance of Jonah from the whale's belly,
the preservation of the three children in the
fiery furnace, and of Daniel in the lions' den,
from the 0. T., and the cure of the man sick of
the palsy, and of the blind man on whose eyes
Christ laid clay, the feeding of the five thousand,
•the miracle of Cana, and the raising of Lazarus,
are those which meet us perpetually painted in
almost every cuhi ulnm, and carved on almost
The ram is a frequent accessory. The his-
tory of Jonah, the type of His work, death,
and resurrection, chosen by Christ himself,
in its three scenes, when once seen will be
universally recognised, from the sameness of
the form of the sea-monster and the details of
the picture. In our illustration (No. 11) all
these typical events are combined into one
picture. Daniel in the lions' den, infinitely re-
peated, adheres on the whole to the same form
and arrangement. One given by Perret repre-
f Angustino speaks of the sacrifice of Isaac, " tot locia
pictum" {('mil.' h'liUft. lib. x.\ii. c. 72).
rOO
FRESCO
sents him as wearing the Phrygian cap, which |
also usually distinguishes his companions the
three children in the furnace, another of the
most commonly occurring types of deliverance
(No. 12). The permanence of one type sanctioned
by ecclesiastical tradition exhibited in these and
almost every other Scriptural represeatation in
these early paintings, anticipates the authorita-
tive statement of the church made some centuries
later in the iconoclastic controversy, " Non est
imaginum structura picturarum inventio, sed
ecclesiae catholicae probata legislatio et traditio"
(Cone. Nic. ii. art. vi., Labbe Concil. vol. vii. p.
831).
The same restriction to one cycle and adhe-
rence to one authorised pictorial form are seen
in the frescoes from the N. T. (See Jesus
Christ.)
The following may be accepted as a tolerably
complete account of the cycle of the 0. T. subjects
found in the catacombs. We have only included
those which had received a fixed traditional
form, and were constantly repeated, excluding
those only occurring once or twice : — B
I. (1) The Fall, with Adam, Eve, the tree, and
the serpent. (2) The Offering of Cain and Abel.
(3) Noah receiving the Dove. (4) The Sacrifice
of Isaac. (5) Moses removing his Shoes. (6)
Moses striking the Rock. (7) David with his
Sling. (8) Elijah's Translation. (9) The Three
Children in the Fiery Furnace. (10) Daniel in
the Lions' Den. (11) Jonah (a) Swallowed by
the Whale ; (6) Disgorged ; (c) Reposing under
his Booth. (12) Job on the Dunghill ; to which
may be added, though of much rarer occurrence,
(13) Tobias with the Fish, and (14) Susanna and
the Elders.
The New Testament cycle, under the same
restriction, is as follows : —
II. (1) The Adoration of the Magi. (2) The
Miracle at Cana. (3) Christ and the Woman of
Samaria. (4) The Healing of the Paralytic, the
man carrying his bed. (5) The Healing of the
Blind Man. (6) The Cure of the Woman with
8 The most detailed description of Ihe members of these
Scriptural cycles, with references to the localities In
which they may be sought for, is supplied by the Danish
bishop Dr. Fred. Munter, in his work of learned research,
Sinnbilder und Kanstcorstdlungen der alter Chnsten,
Altona, 1825.
FRESCO
the Issue of Blood. (7) The Multiplication of
the Loaves and Fishes. (8) The Raising of La- \
zarus. (9) Zacchaeus. (10) The Triumphal
Entry into Jerusalem. (11) Christ before)
Pilate, the latter washing his hands. (12);
Christ and the Apostles on the Shore of the'
Sea of Galilee, after the Resurrection, with!
bread and fish. To these may be added, though
not strictly belonging to the cycle, (13) the.
Annunciation (Bottari, tav. 176), (14) Our Lord's'
Baptism, in the catacomb of St. Pontianus, and i
(15) the Five Wise Virgins, from St, Agnes;
(Perret, ii. 42).
We must not omit to mention the frescoes j
representing the Agape whu:h so frequently meet j
us. In many of these there is nothing dis- 1
tinctively Christian, and Mr. Tyrwhitt remarks
(in the close resemblance between the Agape of'
the catacombs of St. Domitilla, and St. Callistus, i
and the confessedly heathen banquet of the seven .
priests in the Gnostic catacomb. That of which j
we give a woodcut (No. 13), from the catacomb;
of SS. Marcellinus and Peter, already described j
(p. 312), presents nothing by which we can de- j
termine whether the feast depicted had a reli- ;
gious character or not. In others, however, the i
decussated loaves, the bread and fish in seven ;
baskets, and the seven persons, in evident allu-:
sion to the interview between Christ and sev£n,,
of his disciples at the sea of Galilee, evidence the i
Christian origin and purpose of the painting. ^
We have already lamented the entire absence,
of all examples of religious paintings derived i
from churches or basilicas, owing to the destruc-
tion of the buildings themselves, or of the decay.:
or removal of the pictures. This want however,
is in some degree compensated for by contem-i
poraneous lists of the subjects represented, and
to some extent of the manner in which they
were depicted, for which we are indebted to St.j
Ambrose and St. Paulinus of Nola. \
In the latter half of the 4th century the Ara-
brosian basilica at Milan was decorated with a
cycle of 21 Scriptural paintings, all but four
of which represented 0. T. subjects. They are
described in the " Disticha ad picturas sacras in\
Basilica Ambrosiana," given in the '^InniSinceridi'.
Sanf Amhrogio" published by Biraghi (Milano,!
1862). The subjects are (1) Noah and the Dove;
(2) Abraham beholding the Stars. (3) Abra-ri
ham entertaining the Angels. (4) The Sacrificej
of Isaac. (5) The Meeting of Isaac and Rebeccajj
(6) Jacob craftily obtaining the Birthright. (7)i
Jacob and the Speckled and Ring-straked Flockfs.
(8) Joseph's Coat shown to Jacob by his Sons,;
FRESCO
(9) Joseph sold by his Brethren. (10) Joseph
and Potiphar's Wife. (11) Joseph's Dreams.
(12) Absalom caught by his Hair. (13) Jonah
swallowed by the Great Fish. (14) The Wolf
lying down with the Kid. (15) Jeremiah's
Prophetical Commission. (16) The Ascension
of Elijah. (17) Daniel in the Lions' Den. (18)
The Annunciation. (19) Zacchaeus in the Syca-
more Tree. (20) The Transfiguration. (21)
St. John reclining on Christ's Breast. This
cyc-le is remarkable as including several subjects
seldom or never occurring in existing remains.
Subjects (1), (4), (13), (16), and (17) are among
the most frequent, but all the rest are found
most rarely, while of the majority it would be
difficult to name an example.
The most detailed accounts of the decoration
of a church with Scriptural paintings are those
given by Paulinus of Nola in the early years of
the 5th century, when describing the basilica
erected by him in honour of St. Felix (^Poem.
xxvii.). We here find the first direct enunciation
of the principle set forth by Joannes Damascenus
(^Orat. I. de Irnagin. vol. i. p. 314), and con-
stantly repeated since, that "pictures are the
books of the unlearned." The festival of St.
Felix, which occurred in the winter, gathered
together an immense concourse of country folk,
who thought to do honour to the tomb of the
saint by passing the night in feasting, too usually
resulting in a gross debauch :
" male credula sanctos
Perfusis halante mero gaudere sepulchris."
(76. V. 565.)
In the hope of beguiling the gross minds of
these illiterate peasants from the sensual de-
lights which were their chief attractions, and
awakening purer thoughts and holier aspirations
by the examples of the holy personages there
depicted, and at the same time with the view of
imparting to them some knowledge of the chief
facts of sacred history, and at any rate of leaving
them less leisure for their coarser pleasures,
Paulinus adopted the somewhat unusual expedient
(raro more) of embellishing the portico of the new
basilica with a series of Scriptural paintings. They
occupied either the ceiling or the upper portion of
the wall, only to be seen with up-turned face
and head thrown back {ib. vv. 511-513), The
series embraced subjects from the Pentateuch,
Joshua, and Ruth. Those particularised by Pau-
linus (i.6. vv. 515-535, 607-635) are the Creation
of Man, Abraham's Departure from Ur, the
Angels received by Lot, Lot's Wife, the Sacrilice
of Isaac, Isaac opening the Wells, Jacob's Dream,
Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, the Crossing of
Jordan, Naomi and her Daughters-in-law, and
the Passage of the Red Sea. The titles of the
various pictures were written over them :
" ut litera monstret
Quod raanus explicuit." — (Jb. 584)
The description of the last two subjects indicates,
as Dean Milman remarks {Hist, of Christianity,
vol. iii. p. 399 note), if it was drawn from the
picture itself, considerable talent on the painter's
part for composition and landscape as well as for
the drawing of figures. Not content with these
pictorial embellishments of his new basilica,
Paulinus decorated the old basilica of St. Felix
in a similar manner, selecting subjects from the
FRIULI, COUNCIL OF
701
New Testament, that thus "that which was new
might be an ornament to the old, and the old to
the now." These occupied a lower position, and
could be viewed " lumine recto '' (^Poem. xxviii.
vv. 167-179). Three narrow chapels (celiac)
opening out of the atrium, exhibited examples of
male and female virtue. One was painted with
the history of Job and Tobit ; another with those
of Esther and Judith. That in the centre com-
memorated martyrs of both sexes (ib. vv, 15-27).
The paintings in the apse of the basilica at Fondi
are also described by Paulinus in a letter to his
friend Severus (Ep. xxxii. 17). The subjects
were of the same nature as many still extant in
the apses of basilicas ; a crowned cross standing
in the flowery meads of Paradise, and the Holy
Lamb anointed by the Dove and crowned by the
Father, with the sheep and goats on either hand.
These may have been worked in mosaic.
There is abundant evidence that the walls of
civil and domestic buildings were also decorated
with paintings, sometimes secular, sometimes re-
ligious. Those of the palace of Queen Theode-
linda at Monza have been already referred to.
Sidonius ApoUinaris describes the villa of his
friend Pontius Leontius at Bourg, at the conflu-
ence of the Dordogne and Gai-onne, as profusely
ornamented witli wall-paintings, one series repre-
senting the Mithridatic campaign of Lucullus,
another the early history of the Jewish nation,
" recutitorum primordia Judaeorum." Sidonius
expresses his astonishment at the lustre and
durability of the colours (Sid. Apoll. Carm. xxii.).
We learn from Ernandus Nigellus (lib. iv.) that
the whole Scripture history was painted on the
walls of Charlemagne's palace at Ingelheim. It
is needless to say all these have perished.
Authorities. — Alt, Heiligenbilder ; Bellermann,
Katakomheii zu Neapel ; Bingham, Origines, bk.
viii. c. 8 ; Boldetti, Osservazioni ; Bosio, Eoma
Sotterranea ; Bottari, Sculture e pitture ; Ciam-
pini, Vetera Monwmenta; Kugler, Handbook of
Painting ; Lindsay, Lord, Sketches of Christian
Art ; Munter, Sinnbilder ; Northcote and Brown-
low, Roma Sotterranea ; Parker, J. H., Photo- '
graphs ; Perret, Les Gatacombes de Boine ; Piper,
Mijthol. u. Sgmbol. der Christiich. Kimst ; Raoul
Rochette, Tableau des Gatacombes ; Discours; Rio,
Art Chre'tienne ; Rossi, De', Roma Sotterranea;
Seroux d'Agincourt, L'Histoire de I' Art par les
monumens ; Tyrwhitt, Art Teaching of the Primi-
tive Church. [E. v.]
FRIDAY, GOOD. [Good Friday.]
FRIULI, COUNCIL OF (Forojuliense con-
cilium), held at Friuli, A.D. 796, not 791, as Pagi
shews (Mansi xiii. 854) under Paulinus, patriarch
of Aquileia, whose letter to Charlemagne, for-
merly misconnected with the synod of Altino,
A.D. 802 (ibid. p. 827), assigns three causes for
its meeting: (1) the orthodox faith; (2) eccle-
siastical discipline, and (3) recent outrages, pro-
bably by the Huns. The first of these is explained
in his speech, which is an elaborate apology for
the reception into the Western creed of the
"Filioque," which Charlemagne had attacked,
and the pope vindicated, the 2nd Nicene council
two years before for not having in theirs : Pau-
linus himself endeavouring to prove both right
The i-esemblance between parts of this speech
and the Athanasian creed has been remarked
and is very close. Besides which it is observable
702
FRUITS, OFFERING OF
that all priests are required to commit to memory
the entire exposition of " the Catholic faith,"
with which he concludes : while, for everybody
else, the learning by heart of the Creed and
the Lord's Prayer is prescribed. Of the canons,
the 1st threatens simony; the 2nd drunken-
ness ; the 4th and oth deprecate secular employ-
ments and amusements for the clergy. By
the 10th divorced couples are forbidden to
remarry till one of the two dies ; and by the
loth all are inhibited from working on Sundays
and holidays (Mansi xiii. 830 and Seq.).
[E. S. Ff.]
FRUITS, OFFERING AND BENEDIC-
TION OF. I. The Eastern Bite.— In the so-
called Apostolical Constitutiims (vii. 29) the duty
is inculcated of giving to the priests the first-
fruits of the press and of the floor, of honey,
grapes, shell-fruits, &c., and the firstlings of the
flock and herd, that the stores of the giver and
the produce of his land may be blessed (euAo-
y7)0cii<nv). As this precept or exhortation comes
in the midst of others relating to the Holy Com-
munion, we might, perhaps, infer from it alone
tliat in the East those things were offered and
blessed during the celebration of that sacrament.
They were at least brought to the altar, and at
that time ; for the third (or, as in some editions,
the second) apostolical canon forbids anything
but ears of new corn and grapes in their seasons,
oil for the lamps, and frankincense, to be
" brought to the altar at the time of the holy
sacrifice." At a later period they certainly were
blessed during the liturgy; for the council in
Trullo (a.D. 691) found that in some churches
the grapes brought to the altar were "joined to
the unbloody sacrifice of the oblation, and both
distributed together to the people ; " whereupon
it decreed that "the priests should bless the
grape separately" {Can. xxviii.). In book viii.
c. xl. of the Constitutions is a thanksgiving for
first-fruits offered. In the book it follows the
" morning laying on of hands ; " but as it comes
after the dismissal, it is clearly independent of
that. It might, for aught that appears, be used,
when occasion required, at the celebration or any
other service. It begins thus, " We give Thee
thanks, 0 Loi-d Almighty, Creator and Provider
of all things, through Thine only begotten Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, not as we ought, but as
we can, for the first-fruits offered unto Thee."
The whole form, which is rather long, is a
thanksgiving in this strain. Later forms, though
apparently of very great antiquity, are conceived
in a different spirit, and appropriately entitled,
" Prayers on behalf of those who offer first-
fruits " (^Euchologion, pp. 655, 656, ed. Goar).
They are, with one exception, rather petitions
for a benefit, than ascriptions of praise. They
ai-e used at the benediction of " grapes, figs,
pomegranates, olives, apples, peaches, plums."
Grapes, if ripe, were blessed in the Greek church
on the 6th of August {Euchologion, p. 695).
II. The Western Eite. — One proof of the great
antiquity of the benediction of grapes is that it
took place in the West (as a rule) on the 6th
of August, as well as among the Greeks (Sacram.
Gregor. in Lit. Bom. Vet. ; Muratori, torn. ii. col.
109). The earliest extant forms are in the Ge-
lasian sacramentary. the substance of which is
at least as old as" the fifth century. There,
FRUITS, OFFERING OF
among the Orationes et Preoes for Ascension
Day, we find this rubric and prayer : " Then a :
little before the end of the canon thou shalfc
bless the new fruits (fruges novas). The Bene-
diction follows : Bless, 0 Lord, these new fruits ;
of the bean, which Thou, O Lord, hast vouch-,
safed to ripen, &c., in the name of our Lord \
Jesus Christ ; by whom Thou, 0 Lord, dost' \
alway create all these good things, &c. FinisU \
the Canon" (Muratori, tom. i. col. 588). Else^ !
where, in the same sacramentary, the prayer '
occurs again slightly altered, and with the alter-
natives, "grape or bean" (^Ihid. col. 746). • It is'
here followed by another benediction of first-
fruits of any kind (primitias creaturae Tuae), .!
and by a " Benediction of Apples." From some
MSS. of the later Gregorian sacramentary, we
learn that apples were blessed on the viii." KaU
Aug., i.e., on St. James' Day (Martene, De Antiq, ,
Eccl. Bit. L. iv. c. xxxiii. § xi.). The prayer from"'
which we have quoted above is preserved in the
last-named sacramentary as a Benedictio Uvae
(Muratori, tom. ii. col. 109). The oldest MS. of
the Gelasian does not reach beyond the eighth'
century, nor that of the Gregorian beyond the
ninth ; but we have proof that the custom was
known in the West before the eighth century, ■
and therefore that the recognition of it in the '
Roman sacramentaries was not an interpolation ,'
of that period. The prayer above cited from the
Gelasian occurs with the title, Benedictio omni
(sic) creaurae (sic) Fomorum, in the manuscript
Galilean sacramentary, written in the seventh i
century, if not earlier, found by Mabillon in the i
monastery at Bobio, in Italy, and probably
carried thither from Luxeuil by its founder, St.
Columbanus, A.D. 613, or by one of his followers |
(see the Musaeum Itulicmn, tom. i. p. 390 ; or '
Muratori, u. s. tom. ii. col. 959). In the Lee- I
tionary of Luxeuil, another happy discovery of j
Mabillon, we find the Eucharistic lessons Ad \
Missain de novos Fructus (sic). The prophecy is
taken from Joel ii. 21—27 ; the epistle from ;
1 Cor. ix. 7-15 ; and the gospel from St. John, i
vi. 49-52 (De Liturgid Gallicand, p. 161). From I
this coming after the Legenda of the Passion of i
St. John the Baptist, Sept. 24 (Liturg. Gall, j
p. 458), and from the internal evidence of the
lessons, we infer that it is the benediction of the J
new corn for which provision is here made. The :
rite was probably carried by our countryman '
Boniface (Winfred), A.D. 723, with the common
Roman offices, to his converts in Germany ; for
we find the Gelasian benedictions of fruit, &c., •
with certain others, among the Monumenta
Veteris Liturgiae Alemannicae, published by Ger-i •
bert (Part I. p. 307). A very brief example )
peculiar to this collection may be given : — ; .]
" Bless, 0 Lord, this fruit of new trees, that j
they who use thereof may be sanctified ; through, .
&c." It is interesting to add that similar bene- i
dictions were practised ill our own country. In -]
the pontifical of Egbert, who became archbishop
of York in 732, are the six following formn- '
laries: — (i.) Benedictio ad omnia quie volueris ;
(ii.) Benedictio ad Fruges novas ; (iii.) Benedictio
Pcmiorum; (^y.) Alia ; (v.) Benedictio Fanis novi;
(vi.) Alia. There is, of course, no mention of ,
grapes, nor is the Gelasian prayer that we have \
cited given with any other application. Of the i
above, ii. and v. are not in the Roman sacra- j
mentaries. The last runs thus: "Bless, 0 Lord, -]
FRONTAL
this creature of bread, as Thou didst bless the
live loaves in the wilderness, that all who taste
thereof may receive health both of body and of
.soul ; through, &c." (Pontificale Ecgberhti, p.
115; ed. Surtees Society, 1854).
It will be perceived that in the West, as well
as East, the offering of first-fruits as a token of
gratitude to the Giver of All soon degenerated
into a mode of asking for a blessing on the con-
sumption of His gifts. It should be understood,
also, that both in the East and West the first-
fruits brought to be blessed were left for the use
of the priests. " It is becoming and expedient,"
says Origen, a.d. 230, "that the first-fruits be
offered also to the priests of the Gospel." " For
if one believed that the fruits of the earth were
given to him by God, he would surely know how
to honour God from His gifts and benefits by
giving thereof to the priests " (Horn. xi. in Num.
§ 2, torn. X. pp. 105, 106 ; ed. Lommatzsch).
Similarly St. Jerome, commenting on Ezekiel
xliv. 30 : " The first-fruits of our foods are
offered to the priests ; that we may taste nothing
of the new fruits, before the priest has tasted
them. For we do this, that the priest may lay
up a blessing and our offering in his house ; or
that the Lord may bless our houses at his
prayer."
We have already quoted a rubric from the
Gelasian saci-amentary, which orders that the
benediction of fruits shall take place " a little
befoi-e the end of the canon." The prayer was in-
serted immediately after the words, " not weigh-
ing our merits, but pardoning our offences " (now
in our first Post-Communiou Collect"), and im-
mediately before the concluding clause, " through
Jesus Christ our Lord." This clause (altered in
this manner, " in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ ") was thus made to close the benediction.
After it the priest added, " Per quem haec omnia,
Domine, semper bona creas, sanctificas, vivificas,
benedicis et praestas nobis. Per ipsum," &c.
These words are now a permanent part of the
canon ; but they do not seem to belong to it.
The words, " haec omnia " cannot with any pro-
priety be applied to the eucharistic elements
alone. Hence some ritualists, as e. g. Grancolas
(^Aticiennes Liturgies, p. 657), and De Vert (ix-
plic. des Ce'remon. "torn. iv. Remarque xxx.), &c.,
suppose that this doxology was at first only used
when other things were offered to be blessed, and
formed no part of the service of the mass. Le
Brun (Explication, p. iv. art. xvi.). Bona (i?er.
Lit. 1. 2, c. xiv. § v.), D'Achery (Spicil. torn. iv.
Praef.), and others, maintain that it was a con-
stant part of the liturgy, but that when there
was a benediction of fruits, it applied to them
ns well as to the elements. [W. E. S.]
FRONTAL {Frontalis or Frontak) is defined
by Lindwood to be " apparatus pendens in fronte
altaris, qui alias dicitur Pato." [Altar-cloths;
Antependium.] The word is not uncommon in
ancient documents. Thus, for instance, a chai'ter
of Chindasuintha, king of the Goths, of the year
.645 A.D. (quoted by Ducange, s. v.) runs : " of-
ferimus . . . vestimenta altaris omnia ad ple-
num, sive frontalia, sive principalia . . ." A
later charter, quoted by the same authority,
speaks of " quatuor/z'oMte^c's de serico." [C]
-FRONTO. (1) Abbot, martyr at Alexandria :
FUGITIVES
703
commemorated April 14 {3Jart. Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) [Felix (5).]
(3) Bishop at Petragoricas ; commemorated
Oct. 25 (^Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FRUCTUOSA. [DONATUS (8).]
FRUCTUOSUS, bishop, martyr at Tarra-
gona with Augurius and Eulogius, deacons, in
the time of Gallienus; commemorated Jan. 21
(3Iart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
FRUCTUS MEDII TEMPORIS. [Va-
cancy.]
FRUMENTIUS. (1) Martyr in Africa with
Victoriauus and another Frumentius, under Hun-
nericus ; commemorated March 23 (Mart. Horn.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) or Salama ; commemorated Maskarram 23
= Sept. 20 (^Cal. Ethiop.) [Salama]. [W.F. G.]
FUGITIVES (from a monastery). Monastic
codes shew that their framers had to guard on
the one hand against a leniency which might
encourage desertion on the part of monks tired
of their seclusion and eager for the world, and
on the other against a severity which might close
the door too fast against deserters wishing to be
readmitted. The rule of Benedict, as always,
is very lenient on this point. A monk who escapes
from a monastery, like one who is expelled, is
to be received again if he vows amendment, even
after three desertions (^Reg. Ben. c. 29, cf. Eeg.
Cuj. ad Virg. c. 21), but only into the lowest
grade (^Reg. Ben. ib. cf. Reg. Fac/iom. c. 79, Reg.
Fruct. c. 20, Reg. Cuj. ib.). Some commenta-
to¥s, indeed, take this rule as implying, that
the abbat may readmit even after a fourth de-
sertion, though the culprit has no right to
require it (Martene, Reg. Comment, in loc). But
later commentators {e.g. Menard, Haeften) in-
terpret it more strictly (Martene, Reg. Comm.
ib.) The first council of Orleans, A.D. 511, cen-
sures abbats lenient to fugitive monks, or who
receive monks from other monasteries (Cone.
Aurel. i. c. 19). The second council of Tours,
A.D. 567, allows fugitives to be re-admitted on
doing penance.
In the same spirit of wise tolerance Benedict
is silent as to the steps to be taken to brine
back the fugitive, apparently judging it best to
leave him alone, if without any desire to return
(Mart. Reg. Comm. ib.). But Ferreolus pre-
scribes that the fugitive is to be recalled (Leg.
Ferr. c. 20), and Fructuosus forbids him to be
admitted into another monastery ; and orders
him to be brought back, by force if necessary,
as a criminal, with hands tied behind his back
(Reg. Fruct. c. 20). It was enacted by Justi-
nian that a monk returning to the secular life
should be degraded by the bishop and governor
of the province from his civil position, and be
sent back with his worldly goods to his monas-
tery ; if he deserted again, he was to be
drafted into the army (Novell. 123). A similar
decree was passed by the seventh council of
Toledo, A.D. 646 (Cone. Tolet. c. 5). The second
council of Constantinople, A.D. 553, sentenced an
abbat who should be I'emiss in seeking to bring
back the stray sheep into the monastic fold to
.le|irivation.
Lat.
very severe against fugi-
704
FULGENTIUS
tives. The Cistercian rule forbids tTie reception
even into the lowest rank of a monk who has
deserted twice, or has stayed away more than
eleven days. The renegade is in any case to
wear a distinctive dress, as badge of his disgrace,
and to be excluded from the choir ; the abbat
who fails to enforce this rule is to do penance.
The original statutes of the Carthusians unfrock
the renegade ; the modern compel him to re-
sume the dress of his order. The Augustinian
rule tempers severity with mercy. The rene-
gade is to live outside the monastery itself, but
under the care of the bishop, and the abbat is
to shew kindness to him, if penitent (Mart. Beg.
Cmim. in loc. cit.). [1. G. S.]
FULGENTIUS, bishop in Africa ; comme-
morated Jan. 1 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usu-
ardi). [W. F. G.]
FUNEEAL. [Burial of the Dead ; Obse-
quies.]
FUNEEAL-FEAST. [Catacombs, p. 312;
Cella Memoriae.]
FUNEEAL-SEEMOXS (Epitaphia, \6yoi
iTriTa.(ptoi). Christians followed the old custom
of many of the heathen nations, of holding an
oration over the remains of famous men departed
[Burial of the Dead, p. 253]. To say no-
thing of the discourses — triumphal rather than
sorrowing — delivered overthe remains of martyrs,
Gregory of Nyssa held funeral orations on the
death of the empresses Pulcheria and Placilla, and
of bishop Meletius. On the death of Constantine
the Great, several bishops celebrated his praises,
conspicuous among whom was Eusebius of
Caesarea. Gregory of Nazianzus exercised his
pathetic eloquence over the bier of his brother
Caesarius, of his father and his sister, and over
that of Basil the Great ; Ambi'ose preached on
the death of his brother Satyrus, of Valentinian,
and of Theodosius." The tone of these orations
is, for the most, eulogistic of the " famous men "
through whom " the Lord hath wrought great
glory " (Ecclus. xliv. 1, 2).
Jerome {Epist. ad Heliod. c. 1) says that the
old custom was for sons to .speak the funeral
orations over parents. He alludes here probably
to a pagan custom, of which there are many
examples (Kirchmann, De Fun. Eom. lib. ii. c.
18) ; but Christianity also (as we have seen)
furnishes examples of a similar practice. Nor
wei-e the clergy the only orators in such cases ;
Constantine himself did not disdain to pronounce
a funeral oration on one of his court, in which,
says Eusebius ( Vica Const, iv. 55) he spoke of
the immortality of the soul, of the blessings of
the righteous, and the misery of the wicked.
Funeral sermons were not always delivered at
the time of the burial, though some — as several
of Gregory Nazianzen's — contain indications that
they were so delivered. Eusebius ( Vita Const.
iv. 71) gives us to understand that the funeral
orations over Constantine A-ere delivered while
the remains of the departed lay in state on a
lofty bier [Feretrum]. Ambrose evidently de-
livered his sermon over Satyrus (see § 78) while
the body was yet waiting "to be carried to the
grave. His oration on Valentinian, on the con-
FUSCOLUS
trary, was delivered two months (see Opera, ii. '
1170, ed. Beued.), that on Theodosius forty days,
after the death of the person commemorated.
The death of bishop Meletius was the occasion of ;
sermons everywhere (Theodoret, H.E. v. 8) ;
that of Gregory of Nyssa was ]jrobably delivered ,
on the day when the remains of Meletius, brought I
from Constantinople, were received at Autioch. ■
That of Chrysostom on the same bishop, was de- j
livered on the fifth anniversary of his death. ;
The oration of Gregory Nazianzen on Basil was
delivered over his tomb on the first anniversary .
of his death, in the presence (it is said) of 150 '
bishops. '
When the sermon took place at the time of a ;
commemorative service for the dead, it probably '
took place at the point in the liturgy where the
sermon was ordinarily introduced. The Pseudo-
Dionysius {Hierarch. Eccl. c. 7) speaks of the j
funeral-sermon being delivered after the catechu- ■.
mens had departed, but while the penitents j
remained. The eulogy of Hilary of Aries on i
Honoratus (quoted by Binterim, Vi. iii. 442), :
which proves incidentally that the ccrpse was '.
carried uncovered, and that the people pressed
round to kiss the foce, or the coifin of the i
illustrious dead — was probably delivered at the ,
end of some office. The orations over the remains i
of Constantine wei'e clearly delivered after the ]
funeral service (Euseb. u. s. iv. 71 ; Binterim's
Denkwiirdigkeiten, vi. iii. 435, ff.). [C]
FUENACE. InBottari(clxxxvi. 6)thethree '
Hebrew brethren are represented standing in ;
something like a kiln or smelting furnace (see ;
woodcut) ; also cxcv. and perhaps csliii. Ixi. ; •
also in Parker's photographs from the catacomb ,
of St. Marcellinus. The furnace is literally in- 1
sisted on, in a way which, as it appears to the '
» AVfi might almost include in funeral orations Jerome's
r.pitaphium Keiioliani, though it is in form a letter to
Heliodorus.
author, may possiljly have been adopted from one j
of the ustrina (or ae) used for cremation in Rome, j
One of these, or its remains or traces, the author ]
believes he saw in Pompeii, Christmas 1859. See "•■
Murray's Handbook for South Itah^, p. 327.
'[R-St. J. T.] -
FUESEAS, bishop, confessor at Peronne; I
commemorated Jan. 16 (Mart. LTsuardi). j
[W. F. G.] *
■ FUSCIANUS, martyr at Amiens ; comme- !
morated Dec. 11 (Jfa/f. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.] ,
FUSCOLUS. (1) Bishop, martyr at Orleans;
commemorated Feb. 2 {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) [DONATIAKUS (2).] [W. F. G.]
GABALUM
GALLERIES
((16
G
GABALUM, COUNCIL OF (Gabilitanim
concilium), at which the wife of the count of
Auvergne was condemned for adultery, says Sir
H. Nicolas (Chron. p. 222), a.d. 690. Gabalum,
where it was held, was not for from Mende, on
the river Lot {Gall. Christ, i. 83). [E. S. Ff.]
GABATHA or GABATA. A name of pen-
sile lamps suspended in churches. The word is of
uncertain orthography and etymology. We find
the forms Grabata, Gavata, and Carata, which last
points to the derivation given by Isidore His-
palensis (Eti/mol. lib. xx. c. 4) from cavus
*' hollow." The original meaning of the word is
" a dish " or " bowl ; " in which sense it is used
by Maj-tial {Epigr. vii. 47 ; xi. 32), and of which
the Glossary of Ducange furnishes abundant ex-
amples. From its shape it came to be employed
for a lamp, which is its most usual ecclesiastical
signification. The annexed woodcut from Macri
Gabbatba, from Macri.
shows one of two bowl-shaped gahnthac preserved
in the pontifical chapel of the Lateran, in which
in his time a wax light was always burning
before the sacrament. Gabathne frequently occur
in the catalogues of papal gifts to the churches
of Rome contained in Anastasius. Thus Leo III.
(A.D. 795-816) gave to the basilica of St. Peter's
15 gabathae of purest gold set with gems, to
hang on the screen {perguli) before the altar
(§ 382), and 6 of silver with an appended cross
to hang before the Arch of Triumph, 3 on each
side (§ 389). These gabathae were of different
metals, gold, silver, brass, and electnim. They
were frequently embossed {anaglypha § 392,
&c.), or decorated in bas-relief (interrasiles), and
ornamented with lilies {liliatae) heads of gry-
phons (§ 366) or lions (as in the woodcut), or
even fashioned in the form of that animal " in
modum leonis." Like the coronae used for light-
ing, they very often had crosses attached to
them {signochristae, § 418, &c.). The epithet
filoparcs is frequently applied to gabathae in
Anastasius, and would seem, from a comparison
with the expression pari filo (Lucr. ii. 341), to
signify of equal size or thickness. The epithet
saxicae or saxiscae is interpreted by Ducange to
mean of Saxon workmanship; but this interpre-
tation is precarious. [E. V.]
GABINIUS. (1) Presbyter, and martyr at
Rome in the time of Diocletian ; commemorated
Feb. 19 (Mart. Rom. Vet:. Adonis, Usnardi).
(2) Mai-tyr in Sardinia with Crispolus. under
Adrian; commemorated May 30 (/"6.). [VV. F.G.]
CHRIST, ANT.
GABRA. (1) Mantis Kodus (i.e. servant of
the Holy Spirit), saint of Ethiopia; commemo-
rated Magabit 5 = March 1 (Cal. Etiiiop.).
(2) Maskal (i.e. servant of the Cross), king of
the Ethiopians ; commemorated Hedar30=Nov.
26 {Gal.hthiop.). [W. F. G.]
GABRIEL, IN ART. [Anoels.]
GABRIEL, the archangel ; commemorated
March 26 and July 13 (Cal. Byznnt.) ; Magabit
30 = March 26, Senne 13 = June 7, Taxas 19 =
Dec. 15 {Cal. Ethiop.); also with John, July 12
((7a/. Georg.), and with Michael and All Angels,
Nov. 8 (Cal. Armen.). [W. F. G.]
GAIANA, and companions, virgin-martyrs ;
commemorated June 4 (Cal. Armen.) [W. F. G.]
GAIUS, saint at Bologna ; commemorated
with Aggeus and Hermes, Jan. 4 (Mart. Usu-
ardi). See Caius. [VV. F. G.]
GALACTION. [Epistejie.]
GALATA, martyr at Blilitana in Armenia,
with Aristonicus, Caius, Expeditus, Hermogenes,
Rufus ; commemorated April 19 (Mart. Bom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GALILAEI. [Faithful.]
GALILEE. [Narthex.]
GALNABIS (also Galnape, Galnapes [Isid.
Hispal. Etym. xix. 25], Gaunape'). This is a kind
of rough blanket or rug, forming part of the
furniture of a monk's couch, which according to
the Rule of St. Isidore is to include " storea et
stragulum, pellesque ianatae duae, galnabis
quoque et facistergium, geminusque ad caput
pulvillus" (Regula S. Isidori, c. 14; in Hols-
tenius. Codex Regularum, part 2, p. 127, ed.
Paris, 1663). Similarly the Rule of Fructuosus,
bishop of Bracara in Spain, speaks of " calnabes
yillatus" (c. 4; op. cit. part 2, p. 139). The
galnabis was apparently used sometimes as an
article of personal dress, for in the testament
of Caesarius, bishop of Aries, we read " simul
cum casula villosa et tunica vel galnape, quod
melius dimisero " (Patrol. Ixvii. 1140).
The etymology of the word is doubtful : we
may perhaps connect it with the word gaun^cm,
used by Varro, and possibly also with the Greek
yawcLKris, KavvdKrjs, which is defined by Hesychius
(under the latter spelling) ffrpwfxaTa, 4 fTrj-
fi6Kaia erfpo/naWrj. Another derivation has
been suggested, connecting the word with galba-
num, and making it descriptive of the colour,
but this is very improbable. For further refer-
ences, see Ducange's Glossarium s. v. [R. S.]
GALLERIES. The only galleries known in
early ecclesiastical architecture were construe- '
tional integral parts of the building, not additions
to it. In this they corresponded to the triforia
of mediaeval churches, which in their original
idea were galleries for the reception of worship-
pers or auditors, for which purpose they are
still used in Germany, and where they exist in
Italy (e.g. St. Ambrogio at Milan), and to some
extent in England. The first Christian churches
in the West were either basilicas, or buildings
erected on the basilican plan, and they naturally
retained the upper gallery, running entirely
round the building above the principal cobmnade,
2 v.
706
fJALLERIES
for the accommodation of spectators, men on one
side and women on the other, which we know
to have formed an essential portion of the basi-
lican arrangement (Vitruv. v. 1). Like them
the church galleries were reached by an outside
staircase, and were protected towards the nave
by a low wall or balustrade (pluteiis). The
only Roman basilican churches that exhibit this
arrangement r.re those of St. Agnes (tig. 1),
GALLERIES
Sophia, (or SS. Sergius and Basilius,) erected by
Justinian (fig. 3), also exhibits a gallery or upper
story running all round it. In the churches, in
what is commonly known as the Byzantine style,
of which St. Sophia is the most magnificent
example, the side gallery played a very impor-
tant part. There is a good example in the
church of St. Vitale, at Ravenna (see woodcut,
p. 376).
Its usual designation was gi/naeconitis, from
being the place where the women were accom-
modated. It was also called the catechumcnium,
because the women assembled there to listen to
instruction (Leo. Novell. 73, apud Ducange Con-
stantinopol. Christ.), or simply " the upper cham-
bers,"'uTrepiiJa (Paul. Silent, i. 256). These gal-
leries ran along the side of the trapeza or nave,
sometimes quite up to the sanctuary or bema. The
Pseudo-Amphilochius records that St. Basil,
I having detected a woman making signs to the
deacon attending upon him at the altar, gave
orders that curtains should be hung over the
gallery to prevent such indecorum.
The women's galleries at St. Sophia are of
vast size (tig, 4), ranged to the north an 1 south
<*#"
4
-4J —
-rL._L^L, I
Section uf St MiuLele, Pail
St. Laurence, in its more ancient portion, and
the church of the Quattro Santi Coronati, on the
Coelian. A similar upper gallery occurs also in
the Laterau baptistery of Constantine. The
passion for mosaic pictures of sacred subjects
led to the abolition of th's gallery in the basilican
churches, the space it should have occupied being
devoted to pictorial representations, as at St
Maria Maggiore, St. Paul's, and the old St
Peter's, at Rome (see illustrations on pages
370, 371), and S. Apollinare in Classe, and St
Apollinare Nuovo, at Ravenna. But it leap-
peared in the early Lombard churches, as at
S. Ambrogio at Milan, and S. Michele at Pa\ia
(fig. 2), where there are well developed trifciial
galleries. But the arrangement never took loot
in Italy, and was soon lost.
In the East, when the " dromic " or basilican
form was adopted, it carried with it the uppei
gallery above the side aisles. Of this we have
an example in the church of St. John at Con-
stantinople (A.D. 463), illustrated in Salzenburg's
*ork. The domical church of the lesser Santa
of the central area, occupying the upper story of ]
the transeptal space. Each gallery is supported j
by four monolithic columns of Egyptian granite, i
an 1 is itbclf t iced b} in arcide of six smaller \
pillars. The galleries are vaulted and paved
with marble, and protected towards the church
by a low marble wall, four feet high, shaped
GALLERIES
GALLEEIES
r07
like a desk, on which, according to Paul the i of the cupola. On the same level as the women's
Sileutiaiy, the women reposed their arms. I galleries, further east, were two large vaulted
"Ei/fla (cAieeio-ae. apartments to the right and left of the hema, in
epyoTToious ayxuifa:; e7rj)pei<rai'To yvvai.Ki';. — i. 263. | one of which the empress had her position with
These galleries were approached by external I her ladies at the time of divine service. In the
staircases contained in the immense buttresses | Eastern church the women's gallery by degrees
2 Z 2
708 GALLICAN COUNCILS
became disused, the narthex serving its purpose.
(Ducange, Constant inopol. Christ, lib. iii. c. 38-40 ;
Willis, %-ch. of the Middle Ages, p. 109, sqq. ;
Neale, Eastern Church, art. i. ; Evag. Hist. Ecd.
lib. iv. c. 31 ; Paul. Silentiar. i. 256-263 ; ii. 125.)
[E. v.]
GALLICAN COUNCILS; councils known
to have been celebrated in France, but at some
place unknown.
1. A.D. 355. At Poitiers or Toulouse possi-
bly: where St. Hilary, writing to the Easterns
A.D. 360, says he five years before then with
the bishops of France withdrew from the
communion of the Arian bishops Ursacius and
Valens, and of Saturninus of Aries, who had
espoused their cause. The opening chapters
of his work addressed to Constantius are
thought, in short, to have emanated from this
council (Mansi, iii. 251).
2. A.D. 376. At least there seems a reference
to one such in a law of that year, dated Treves,
in B. xvi. tit. ii. § 23, of the Theodosian code ;
but it is not known where or for what object
(Mansi, iii. 499).
3. A.D. 444, in which Hilary of Aries pre-
sided, and Chelidonius of Besangon, where this
council may have met therefore, was accused of
being husband of a widow and deposed. On
appealing however to St. Leo he was restored ;
as having been condemned on a false charge.
Both their letter to him and his answer are
preserved among his epistles (£jp. xcix. and cii. ;
comp. Mansi, vii. 873).
4. A.D. 678, at some place unknown : when
St. Leodegar or Leger bishop of Autun was
degraded as having been accessory to the death
of king Childeric 11. five years before (Sirmond,
Cone. Gall. i. 510 ; comp. Mansi, xi. 173 and
1095).
5. A.D. 678 or 679, against the Monothelites :
as appears from the reference made to it by the
Galilean bishops subscribing to the Roman synod
under pope Agatho, preserved in the 4th act of
the 6th council (Mansi, xi. 175 and 306), but
they do not say where.
6. A.D. 796, at Toui-s possibly, where Joseph,
bishop of Mans and a suffragan of Tours, was
deposed for cruelty (Mansi, xiii. 991).
7. Three more councils may be grouped under
this head, usually called councils of Auvergue,
but this name is misleading, as it means the town
formerly so called, not the province. When,
however, the town changed its name to Clermont,
councils held there subsequently were styled by
its new name, while the earlier retained its old.
We may save confusion, therefore, by classing
them under Galilean. Of these the first met 8th
November, A.D. 535, in the second year of king
Theodebert, and passed sixteen canons, to which
fifteen bishops, headed by Honoratus, metropolitan
of Bourges, subscribed : his suffragan of Auvergne
subscribing second. Their canons deprecate lay
influences in the appointment of bishops, and
lay interference between bishops and clergy. No
furniture belonging to the church may be used
for private funerals or marriages. The appoint-
ment of Jews as judges, and marriages between
Jews and Christians are denounced. Presbyters
and deacons marrying are to be deposed. In a
collective note to king Theodebert, the bishops
entreat that neither the clergy, nor others.
GAMING-TABLE j
living in his dominions may be robbed of their
rightful possessions, and in their fifth canon they ;
declare all spoliations of church property null
and void, and the spoilers excommunicate, where-
ever it occurs. Several other canons are given :
to this council by Burchard (Mansi, viii. 859- j
67).
The second, A.D. 549, was attended by ten
bishops, but only to receive the canons passed
at the 5th council of Orleans (Mansi, ix. 141-4). \
The third, a.d. 588, was occupied solely \vith
a dispute between the bishops of Rodes and \
Cahors (Mansi, ix. 973). [E. S. Ff.]
GALLICANUS, martyr at Alexandria iinder
Julian : commemorated June 25 (^Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GALLICIA COUNCIL OF, held a.d. 447
or 448, in the province of that name in Spain on |
the north-west against the Priscillianists : in
consequence perhaps of the letter of St. Leo to
Turribius, bishop of Asturia, who had appealed
to him for advice {Ep. xv. ; comp. Mansi, vi.
491) ; but is that letter genuine ? [E. S. Ff.]
GALLUS, presbyter and confessor in Ger-
many: commemorated Feb. 20 {Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W.F.G.] ;
GAMALIEL, invention of his relics at Jeru-
salem, Aug. 3 (Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usu- '
ardi). [W.F.G.]
GAMING. [Dice.] j
GAMING-TABLE {Tabula lusoria, nAiv- \
eiof). Besides the natural feeling which led the
survivors to place in the tombs articles dear to j
the deceased in his lifetime, the comparison of ]
the life of man to a game of chance was a fami-
liar thought to the ancients. We may trace it
through all their literature, whether Greek or j
Roman (see Raoul-Rochette, Mem. de I'Acadifm. |
des inscript. tom. xiii. p. 634). Hence astragali
and dice occur more frequently in the Greek and
Roman tombs of the Campagna than playthings i
of any other description, though the amuse- |
ments of every age and condition are there |
represented. The dice (tali, tesserae,) are usually
made of ivory, occasionally of bone; the dice-
box (fritillus, turricula) is generally of ivory, i
and the gaming-table marble. \
Five of these gaming-tables have come down j
to our times with inscriptions which leave no i
doubt of their use. It is a curious circumstance i
that in several Christian cemeteries in Rome
sepulchral niches have been found closed witX <
^VICTV^I
<^ lvdere/
Olebate^
ORiLocvi5
these marble gaming-tables, as occasionally with
other incised marbles. One of the tables taken
from the cemetery of BasiUa may be seen m the
Kircher museum, and was first described by Lupi
{Dissert, irunuper
invent. Severae epitaph, p. 57
tab. ix. n. 6). An engraving
of it is given above.
GAMMADIA
The inscription, which was turned inside the
tomb, is easily read : viCTVS Lebate |1 lvdere
NESCIS II DA LVSORI LOCV ||.
Boldetti (Osservazioni, p. 449) gives ^ second
from the cemetery of St.
Agnes bearing the following
inscription : domine frater
II ILARIS SEJIPER || LVDERE
TABVLA II — ; also a dice-box
found elsewhere, used for the
same game. The interior of
the box is here shewn, di-
vided into three sections as
a security against fraud in
throwing ; two dice are lying
at the bottom.
A third table of the same
kind from the Capponi museum is reproduced in
Muratori's collection (i. DCLXI. 3), and bears
an inscription almost identical with the fore-
going : SEMPER IN HANC || TABVLA HILARE ||
LVDAMVS AMici || , The fourth table, from the
cemetery of Calixtus, is given by Marangoni
{Acta S. Vtctorini in append, p. 140). The
words of the inscription, though evidently re-
lating to play, are difficult of interpretation.
Of the remaining table the place of discovery
is uncertain. Cardinal Passionei {Inscr. Ant.
appendix, p. 176) transcribes a gaming-table
inscription which Raoul-Rochette quotes as an
additional example, but it appears more likely
to be that of the Kircher museum incorrectly
copied.
These having all been discovered in Christian
sepulchres, it seems natural to suppose that they
were in use amongst Christians. Nothing in
the gaming-tables themselves, nor in their in-
scriptions militates against such a supposition ;
and in fact it is well known that the business of
making dice, and articles of a similar nature,
was one followed by Christians. Boldetti, for in-
stance, gives (p. 416) a Christian sepulchral in-
scription over an artifex artis tessalarie,
who is generally considered to have been a maker
of dice. (Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chret., s. v.
" Jeu, Tables de.") See Dice. [C]
GAMMADIA (yafi/xaSia, or yaufxaria). A
cruciform ornament, embroidered on the borders
or woven into the texture of ecclesiastical vest-
ments, both in the West and East. It takes its
name from being composed of four capital gammas
(f") placed back to back, thus forming a voided
I |_ Greek cross. The gammas were also some-
_ _ times placed face to face, so as to consti-
' ' tute a hollow square, in the centre of
which a cross was inscribed. Vestments so
decorated were known by the name of poly-
p- -^ stauria {iroKvcnavpLa). St. Nicholas and
I '+ I St. Basil are depicted in robes (thus semee
^ of crosses) in the illustrations to Ducange
{Gloss. Graec. fig. vii.). Balsamon assigns, among
other marks of the patriarchal dignity, the
" robe distinguished by gammas," 5ia yafifxaToiv
(TTixapiov {de Patriarch, p. 446). These crosses
were peculiar to the white eucharistic vest-
ments, those of a purple colour being destitute
of them (Ducange, s. v. iroKvffravpiov). In the
Western church the word gammadia is of fre-
quent occurrence in the later papal biographies
in Anastasius, in the lists of ofteriugs made to
the basilicas and churches, e.g., Leo III., among
GANGRA (Council of)
709
gifts to the church of St. Susanna, gave a purple
vestment, " habentem in medio crucem de chry-
soclavo , , . atque gammadias in ipsa veste
chrysoclavas quatuor " (§ 366), and Leo IV. to
the church of St. Mary at Anagni, " vestem . . .
cum gammadiis auro textis " (§ 536). These
gammadia were of gold, others were of silver
(§ o97), or of Tyrian velvet (§ 462), (cf. Goar,
Eucholog. p. 315, col. 2). ISiot gammas alone
but other letters also are frequently seen em-
broidered on the borders of the robes of the
sacred personages represented in early Christian
mosaics and frescoes, especially H. I. T. X. The
precise meaning of these marks has not been
satisfactorily determined (cf. Bosio. Bom. Sott.
c. xxxviii. p. 638). [Letters on Vestments.]
[E. v.]
GANGRA (Council of), for which widely
dill'erent dates have been assigned; some placing
it before that of Nicaea, some not long after ;
others indefinitely, between it and that of
Antioch, a.d. 341 (see the notes of Valesius and
Reading on Soc. ii. 43, and Mansi, ii. 1095) : all
which discrepancies may be traced to the fact
that one of the Latin versions of the synodical
letter addressed by the assembled bishops to their
colleagues in Armenia contains the name of
Hosius of Corduba amongst the former. But
the episcopate of Hosius, as Cave shews {Hist.
Lit. i. v.), extends over a period of seventy years,
ending with a.d. 361 : accordingly Pagi finds it
possible to place this council as late as A.D. 358
and admit Hosius to have been there, on his way
back to Spain. And this was unquestionably
the year of the council, as we shall see from
other considerations, so that the absence of his
name in the Greek heading of the letter need
not be pressed. His presence was always coveted
by the Easterns ; but as his name occurs among
the last on the list, we may assume that he
attended in no other capacity than that of a
simple bishop. The object of holding the council
is stated in its synodical epistle to have been to
condemn the errors of Eustathius — otherwise
written Eustasius or Eustachius — and his fol-
lowers; and him Socrates and Sozomen are
doubtless correct in making identical with
Eustathius bishop of Sebaste in Armenia Minor
— else why should the bishops of either Armenia
have been addressed on the subject ? The father
of bishop Eustathius was Eulalius bishop of
Caesarea, or rather Neo-Caesarea, in Poutus, and
it was at a council held there under his own
father this same year, according to Pagi, that he
was first deposed. Sozomen indeed seems to say
that he had been already condemned as a pres-
byter by his father ; if so, this would account
for the severity of the new sentence passed upon
him, particularly had he been propagating his
errors as bishop in his father's see. Then, on
his resisting this sentence, as there seems fair
reason for supposing he would, his father would
naturally have recourse to the provincial synod,
which we may assume to have met on this
occasion at Gangra, as the first bishop on the
list is Eusebius, clearly the metropolitan of
Caesarea in Cappadocia, whom St. Basil suc-
ceeded, and in whose jurisdiction Gangra lay,
while the name of Eulalius occurs further on.
Dius (probably Dianius, the predecessor of
Eusebius, is intended) whom the Libelhis sijiwd-
710
GANGRA (Council of)
icus asserts to have presided, is not found in
either version. Gangra therefore was held to
confirm what had passed at Neo-Caesarea respect-
ing Eustathius. The similarity of names seems
to have led Sozomen to assert that he was first
deposed b}' Eiisebius of Constantinople, who died
as far back as A.D. 342 : and Socrates, who says
m one place (ii. 43) that the synod of Gangra
was subsequent to the Constantinopolitan synod
of A.D. 360, contradicts himself in the very next
chapter by telling us that Meletius succeeded
Eustathius at Sebaste, and then either as bishop
of Sebaste or Beroea— it does not much matter
which — attended the council of Seleucia, which
we know met A.D. 359, and in so doing fixes the
true date of the synod of Gangra, namely, mid-
way between it and that of Neo-Caesarea the
year before. These places were not remote
from each other ; and it would appear that
there had been synods held at Antioch, that, for
instance, of A.D. 358 under Eudoxius, and at
Melitine in Armenia, unfavourable to Eustathius,
whose judgments he had set at nought equally
with that of Neo-Caesarea. Hence the greater
solemnity with which that of Gangra was con-
vened, far enhanced however by the weight
which has attached to it ever since ; Pope Sym-
machus in a Roman synod A.D. 504 going so far
as to say that its canons had been framed by
apostolic authority, meaning that of his see— in
other words, that his predecessors had received
and approved them (Pagi ad Baron. A.D. 319, n.
v.). Of these there are twenty in number, and
almost all in condemnation of the errors ascribed
to Eustathius and his followers in the synodical
letter before mentioned, " forbidding to marry,
commanding to abstain from meats," and so
forth. Their reception by Rome lends additional
interest to canon 4, which says : " Should any
separate himself from a presbyter that has
married— as though it were not right to partake
of the oblation when he is celebrant — let him be
anathema." And the epilogue, reckoned iu some
collections as a 21st canon, is worth tran-
scribing, not only for "the admirable temper
and good sense" which distinguishes it, as Mr.
Johnson remarks {Vade Mecum, ii. 86), but
because it may well be thought to account for
their having been incorporated into the code of
the universal church. The rulings of fifteen, or,
if Hosius was there, sixteen bishops only, must
have owed their place there to some great in-
trinsic excellence. " We commit these canons
to writing," so they terminate, " not as if we
would Gilt oft' those who exercise themselves in
works ofSeverity and mortification in the church
of God according to the Scriptures : but those,
who under pretence of such exercise, do insult
those who live in a more plain and simple man-
ner, and would bring iu innovations contrary to
the Scriptures and the canons of the church.
We therefore admire virginity, if attended with
humility and a regard for continence, if accom-
])anied with true piety and gravity, and a retreat
from worldly business, with a modest humbK'
temper. But at the sime time we honour
honest marriage, nor do we despise riches when
employed in good works and in doing justice.
We commend a plain and coarse habit, without
art or gaudiness, and have an aversion to all
luxurious ostentation of apparel. We honour
the houses of God, and aifectionatelv embrace
GATES OF CHURCHES
the assemblies made therein as Holy and bene-
ficial ; not as if we confined religion within those
houses, but as having a respect to every place
that is built to the name of the Lord, and
approve of the church assemblies as being ibr
the public good ; and pronounce a beatitude upon
signal acts of charity done to our brethren, as
being done to the poor of the church according
to tradition ; and to say all in a word, we can-
not but wish that all things may be done in the
church according to the traditions of Holy
Scripture and the apostles." [E. S. Ff ]
GARLANDS. [Baptism, p. 164; Crown,
p. 511; Flowers.]
GARDEN OF EDEN, Represented by
trees in various bas-reliefs of the Fall of Man,
as on the tomb of Junius Bassus (Bottari,
tav. XV. &c. &c.). A most ancient MS. picture
of the Garden of Eden occurs in the Vienna MS.
of the Book of Genesis which is given by D'Agin-
court. Professor Westwood has shown the pre-
sent writer an extraordinary representation of
the Fall of Man, from a Greek MS. of the Old
Testament now in the Vatican of the 7th or 8th
century, where the garden is much dwelt on.
There is a quadruped serpent or dragon looking
up at the tree of knowledge. These pictures
were brought to this country in facsimile by
bishop Forbes. [R. St. J. T.j
GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. During
the first four centuries and a half at least the
subject of our Lord's passion seems to have been
approached, but not entered upon — as by repre-
sentations of the betrayal, the scene before
Pilate, &c. In No. 90 of Professor Westwood's
ivory carvings, he is brought before Pilate and
Herod together, or perhaps Annas and Caiaphas.
This is a part of the great casket of the Biblio-
teca Quiriniana at Brescia, and is referred to the
5th or 6th century, to the period immediately
preceding that of the Rabula MS. when the cruci-
fixion began to be represented (see Crucifix).
The Garden of Gethsemane is one of the earliest
of these approaches to actual delineation of our
Lord's sufferings. The MS. Gospel of St. Augus-
tine, very possibly made use of by the bishop
himself, contains a most interesting picture of
the betrayal in the garden, which is represented
not only by trees, but by a curious serpentine
representation of the brook Kedron, bursting out
of a rock like the Barada at Ain Flfi, or the
Jordan at Tell-el-Khady. This subject is carved
on the casket of the Brescian library (Westwood,
ivory casts. No. 90), dating from the oth or 6th
century.
Indications of a garden occur in various Greek
representations of the crucifixion combined with
the resurrection. .See crucifixion in the Eahula
MS. in Assemani, Bibli, Laurent. Catalogus, where
olivertrees are certainly intended.
I#later MSS. it occurs in the Bible of Alcuin,
and in a MS. given by count Bastard, which
belonged to Drogon, grandson of Charlemagne.
[R. St. J. T.]
GATES OF CHURCHES. Our Lord's de-
signation of Himself as " the Door " of His
church (John x. 7, 9) impressed a deep religious
signification in the minds of the early Christians
on the entrances to their sacred buildings, which
they evidenced by the care displayed in their
construction and the richness of their ornamenta-
GATES OF CHURCHES
tion. As a rule the actual gates (valvae) of
churches were of wood of the most excellent and
durable kind. The doors of the basilica of St.
Paul at Konae were, until its destruction by fire
in 1823, of wood, roughly chiselled, and were
reported to have been brought from Constantin-
ople. The doors of the church of St. Sabina on
the Aventine are of cypress wood, carved in re-
lief with subjects from the Old and New Testa-
ments. They are of great antiquity, though
J\lamachi, the annalist of the Dominican order,
gives them too early a date in placing them
before the 7th century. The church of the
monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai re-
tains the ancient richly-carved doors of cypress
wood erected by the emperor Justinian, stated
by Mr. Curzon to be as perfect as when first set
up (Neale, ILSt. of East. Ch. Introd. p. 258).
Doors of wood were very commonly overlaid
with plates of the precious metals and inlaid
with ivory (Hieron. Ep. ad Demetr. viii.), for
the purpose of decoration. These plates were
frequently richly sculptured with scriptural
subjects in relief. Thus Paulinus of Nola speaks
of " aurea limiua " {Poem. xiv. 98), and com-
mends the piety of those who covered the doors
of the church of St. Felix with metal plates—
" Saiictaque praeQxis obducant limina lamnis."
iPoem. xviii. 34).
The papal memoirs of Anastasius supply re-
peated references to this mode ef ornamentation
[Doors, § 3, p. 574.] The " portae argenteae "
of St. Peter's are often mentioned. These were
overlaid by pope Hadrian (a.d. 772-795) with
silver-gilt plates embossed with the efiio-y of our
Lord and others (Anastas. § 332). Pope Hilary
(a.d. 461-467) erected silver gates at the Con-
fcssio of the basilica of Holy Cross, and gates of
bronze inlaid with silver at the oratory of St.
John Lateran (lb. §69). This last is an early
example of those doors of bronze of which we
have in later times so many magnificent ex-
amples, bearing representations of Biblical events
in high relief, which reached their artistic climax
in the western doors of the cathedral of Pisa and
those of the baptistery, "le porte del Paradise "
at Florence. We hava another early example in
the gates of the " eso-narthex " of St. Sophia.
These are of bronze exquisitely embossed with
floriated crosses set in doorcases of marble. The
great central doorway has above it an image of
Christ in the act of giving benediction to a
kneeling emperor with the virgin and St. John
the Baptist on either hand. The chief entrance
of the cathedral of Novgorod has bronze doors of
very early date. They are described by Adelung
{die Aorsun'sdieii Thiircn zu Kowgorod) as 11 feet
high by 3 feet bread, divided into 24' compart-
ments containing scriptural reliefs.
Church doors were often furnished with in-
scriptions either upon or above them. These
included texts of Scripture, doxologies, prayers,
pious aphorisms, &c. Paulinus of Nola {Ep.
xxxii. § 12) gives the following inscription placed
by him over the principal entrance of the basi-
lica of St. Felix :—
GELASIUS
711
" Cerne coronatam Domini super atria Christi
Stare cruccni dure spoudentem celsa labori
I'raemia. Telle crucem qui vis auferre coronam."
The door of the outer basilica, which was en-
tered through a garden or orchard, he also tells
us, has these inscriptions on the outer face : —
" Coelestes intrate vias per amoena vireta
Christicolae : ei laetis decet hue ingreseus ab hortis
Unde sacrum meritis datur exiius iu paradisum."
And this on the inner : —
" Quisquis ab aede Dei perfectis ordine votis
Egrederis, remea corpore, corde mane."
Church doors were also often inscribed with
the names of the builders and the date of the
building. j-E_ v.]
GATIANUS, bishop and confessor in Tou-
commemorated Dec. 18 {Mart Adonis
[W. F. G.] '
GAUDENTIA, virgin, saint at Rome ; com-
memorated Aug. 30 [Mart. Hieron., Usuardi)
[W. F. G.]
GAUGERICUS, bishop and confessor at
Cambray (1619 a.d.); commemorated Aug. 11
{Mart. Hieron., Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GAZA in Palestine (Council of), a.d. 541,
to which Pelagius the first pope of that name,
"a deacon and envoy from Rome, came by
rame ;
Usuardi).
" Pax tibi sit quicumque Dei penetralia airisti
I'ectore pacifieo candidus ingrederls."
Above the entrance, he informs us, was a crov
cross with these lines : —
then
order of the Emperor Justinian, with letters
ordering the deposition of Paul bishop of Alex-
andria, which was accordingly carried out
(Mansi, ix. 706). [£. g. pf/i
GAZOPHYLACIUM. The treasury or
storehouse attached to a church, for the recep-
tion of the offerings of the fliithful, made either
in bread and wine, or in money, for the service
of the altar, the sustentation of the ministers,
or distribution among the poor (Possid. Vit. S.
Augustin. c. 24). These oblations were depo-
sited in the gazophylacium either after having
been offered on the altar, or until enquiry had
been made by the deacons whether the offerers
were orthodox and persons of good life, that the
table of the Lord might not be profaned by the
gifts of the unholy (Binius in Can. iv. Aposf.
Labbe i. 53). By the 93rd canon of the fourth
council of Carthage, A.D. 399, the j-eception
before enquiry even into " the gazophylacium or
sacrarium" (the modern sacristy) was forbidden.
Chrysostom {Homil. 22 de Eleemos.) speaks of
treasuries iu the churches, to yaCopvXaKia to.
ivravQa Kft/neva ; Augustine appears to recognize
their existence " quid est gazophylacium ? Area
Dei ubi colligebantur ea quae ad indigentiam
servorum Dei mittebantur" {Homil. in Ps. 63);
and Possidius in his life of that father {u. s.)
records his having warned his hearers, as Am-
brose had also done, of the neglect of the
"gazophylacium and secretarium, from which
the necessaries for the altar are brought into the
church." Cyprian refers to the place of offer'ino-
as corbona {de Op. et Eleemos. c. 5), and Paulinus
of Nola, as mcnsa, which he complains stood too
often for sight rather than use, " visui tantum
non Usui " {Scrm. de Gazophijl. Ep. 34). [E. V.]
GELASIUS, martyr at Rome with Aquili-
nus, Donatus, Geminus, Magnus; commemorated
Feb. 4 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
712
GEMELLIONES
GEMELLIONES. Among the vessels to
be borne before the pope in the great Easter
procession are mentioned (Ordo Rom. I. c. 3)
" gemelliones argentei." The purpose of these
is uncertain, but it seems probable that (like the
" urceola argentea " mentioned elsewhere) they
were water-vessels (Binterim's Benkwurdijkeiteri,
iv. i. 184). [C]
GEMINIANUS, martyr at Rome with
Lucia under Diocletian; commemorated Sept. 16
(Mart. Eom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
GEMINUS. (1) Martyr in Africa with
A'luilinus, Eugenius, Martianus, Quintus, Theo-
dotus, Tripho ; commemorated Jan. 4 {Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) [Gelasius.] [W. F. G.]
GEMS were employed in very early times
for a great variety of ecclesiastical purposes,
some articles being made wholly of stones more
or less precious, and others being decorated
therewith. Thus Chalici:s and other sacred ves-
sels were occasionally made of precious stones,
but more frequently ornamented with them; and
little crystal Fish, probably used as hospitable
emblems, have been found in the catacombs of
Rome. The walls, the Altars, the Altar-
cloths, the service-books [Liturgical Books],
and other furniture of churches were from the
fourth century onward often ornamented with
gold, silver, and precious stones, as were also
Crosses and the Crowns and diadems of Christian
sovereigns. In the following article, however,
account will be taken of such gems only as are
engraved, and these were mostly used as orna-
mental or signet rings, more rarely for other
purposes.
The following passage of Clemens Alexandrinus
{Paedig. iii. 11, p. 246d) is the locus classicm
relating to Christian signet gems : — " A man
should not wear the ring on the finger joint, for
this is efleminate, but upon the little finger, as
low down as possible; for the hand will thus be
most free for action, and the seal least likely to
slip off, as being guarded by the larger joint.
But let our signet devices be a dove or a fish, or
a ship coursing against the sky, or a musical
lyre, which Polycrates employed, or a ship's
anchor, which was the seal of Seleucus, or if it
be a fisherman, it will remind us of an apostle
and of boys saved from water." Subjects de-
rived from heathen mythology or representa-
tions of weapons and drinking vessels he con-
demns as unfit for Christians. A little before he
allows Christians only one ring as a signet,
saying that all other rings should be eschewed :
a wife also may have a gold signet ring for the
safe keeping of her husband's goods.
The number of engi-aved stones which can be
securely referred to the early Christian centu-
ries is not very considerable, but their rarity has
perhaps been somewhat exaggerated."
"Intagli representing purely Christian subjects are of
the rarest
occurrence, that is i
of indu-
bitable antiquity" (King, Antique Gems, p. 352, London,
1860). Some that have been published are now known
to be false (Martigiiy, Diet. p. 39). The Chri.-tian gems
twilling Greek inscriptions have been published by
Iviicboff ill BGckh's Corp. Inscr. Grace, n. 9077-9109.
GEMS
The principal subjects of extant works of this
kind, including all those mentioned by Clement,
are as follows ; various specimens of each type
are described at length, others more briefly.
(i.) Christ as the Good Shepherd. — This type,
though not mentioned by Clement, deserves to
hold the first place, being so often found in very
early Christian works of art of different kinds.
Mr. Fortnum, who observes that forgeries of
this subject are frequent, describes and figures
a red jasper in his own possession (purchased at
Rome) in its original octagonal bronze setting :
the shepherd is standing on his left leg, the
right leg being bent ; he supports himself by a
staff in his hand, and holds out a branch (per-
haps of olive, as a symbol of peace) to two sheep
at his feet. Behind him is an olive (?) tree.
Christian work of the third or fourth century
(Archaeological Journal, xxvi. 141 [1869] ; xxviii.
27.5 [1871]). The British Museum has seven
intagli in which the Good Shepherd bears a
lamb on his shoulders. In one of them (a tiny
onyx) he stands between two fish, or rather per-
haps between a fish and a palm-l3ranch ; in two
others (red and brown jaspers) he holds a staff,
having a dog at his feet, which looks up at him, a
tree being behind ; in a fourth (cornelian) are two
dogs at his feet, looking up, and an obscure and
barbarous legend, which has been read ESIVKEV
(Hertz, Cat. n. 2344; King, Ancient Gems, p.
353), " in which the name of Jesus appears to be
intended, together with some other appellation
or title," perhaps Lord(Kvpie) Jesus (King, Gnos-
tics, p. 142), or Jesu% Son of God (lESSV VE
TEV, Greek in Latin letters and barbarised) ; an-
other of the same type (niccolo) has no legend :
the sixth has only the shepherd bearing the
lamb, but is inscribed IH. XP. (plasma); in
the seventh (red jasper) he is accompanied bv
sheep and a dove on a tree. One in the Bib-
liothfeque Impe'riale, in niccolo, set in a silver
Among them are several which may be referred with
little or no doubt to a period later than that with whicli
we are concerned ; and as nothing is said about the pro-
bable antiquity of almost all of ihem, it has been neces-
sary to employ the work with some caution. Possibly
the books referred to under ihe particular gems may give
some information upon this point. In the British Mu-
seum are contained upwards of twenty early Christian
gems seen by the writer, and there may probably at this
time (1874) be more. In various private collections in
this country (as of Messrs. Fortnum, King, and Lewis)
are contained a fair number of others. The Bibliotheque
Imperiale at Paris contained, in 1858, only eight purely
Christian engraved stones, excluding Byzantine camei
(Chabouiller, Catal. pp. 191, 282, who says ihat Christian
intagli are " d'une grande rarete"). About fifty casts of
Christian gems have been received from Signor Saulini,
Via Babiiino, Rome, some of which are in the Vatican,
others in the Museo Vettori, now acquired for the Vatican ;
but the general absence of indication either of the collection
or the kind of stone employed greatly detracts from their
value: fourteen of them give the Good Shepherd, eight
have an anchor (with or without accompaniments), three
have a boat or ship, five bear a dove, others have fi^h
(written in Greek, or depicted), the chrisma, or the Cross-
Others which are of large size, exhibiting the Cnicifi.xion,
or the figure of Christ or the Virgin, are probably later
than 800 A.D. Among some casts from gems in Rome,
received from Signor Odelli of Rome, are a lew which
are evidently Chr'stian, the mo-t remarkable being an in-
taglio representing the raising of Lazarus in a style of
art like that which we have in the catacumbs, where the
same subject is represented.
The Good Shepherd (King).
GEMS
ring, has the Good Shepherd as before bearing
a sheep on his shoulders, with two other sheep
at his feet (Chabouillet, Cat. p. 282, n. 2166).
Another example, in red jasper, represents
the sk<ipherd still as before, having two dogs,
or rather perhaps having
one dog and one sheep,
at his feet and a star
and crescent in the field,
with retrograde legend
lAHN, perhaps for Jah
is his name. This fine
gem is considered by Jlr.
King, who possesses it,
to be a work of about
the end of the second
century. He considers
'■ the Sun and Moon con-
joined " as " emblems of
the Divine presence" {Precious Stones, pp. 160,
431); they may, however, be indications of
astral genii, and if so, the gem may be the work
of a Christian Gnostic. " The most interesting
of all examples of this type," however, he ob-
serves {Ant. Gems and Ri7igs, vol. ii. p. 30,
London, 1872), " occurs on a large cornelian
brought recently from the North of India (Col.
Pearse), on which the Good Shepherd stands,
bearing his lost and found lamb across his
shoulders, surrounded by the mystic letters
I.X.e.Y.C, the reverse engraved with XPICTE
CcoZE KAPniANON AEnOTE (sic) : ' 0 Christ,
save Carpianus for ever.' This is cut in exactly
the same coarse lettering and similarly arranged
in consecutive lines as the Gnostic legends of
the fourth century." Three others are men-
tioned in Bockh's Corp. Inscr. Graec. One
(n. 9084) figured by Perret {Catac. de Borne,
iv. t. xvi. n. 12), whei-e the shepherd bears a
lamb accompanied by a dove and branch, and
by an anchor and fishes, with legend 1X0TC; an-
other (n. 9098), figured by Paciaudi {De Bain.
Christ, on the title-page) in a square hematite,
having on one side the Good Shepherd with
two crosses, and a legend on the other, seemingly
meant for 'Kydduiva /3ot)07j ; and a third (n.
9107), figured by Le Blant {Bull, de I'Athcn.
Franc;. Feb. 1856, t. 1, n. 10), on plasma, where
the Good Shepherd is accompanied by the legend
AOTKI[OT], the owner of the gem. There are
several other gems on which this subject is re-
presented slightly differing from the preceding.
(See note at the beginning.)
(ii.) The following five types are mentioned by
Clement; of which Christ
as the J'isk occurs per-
haps more frequently
than any other. The
examples here given may
suffice, but the enumera-
tion might be extended.
One on some burnt stone,
figured by Mr. King, is of
good early work, repre-
senting some large-headed fish, and reads hou-
strophedon HA EIC | SX HI, i. e. Jesus Christ
is one God (El); see his ingenious remarks in
Ant. Gems and Bings, ii. 27. A similar fish, ac-
companied by a crook and palm branch is on a sard
preserved in the British Mu.seum, which also con-
tains the following intagli : A fish on which rests a
r-ross; a dove on cat'h limb IHCOTC above and
GEMS
713
rUh. (King.)
btdow, in a broken cornelian : •> a fish upon which
is a dove, a sprig behind her ; to the left is the
chrisma ( ^j to the right the owner's name,
RVFI, in cornelian : also
a fish well engraved,
in an emerald set in a
massive gold ring of
angular form ; on the
opposite side, a dove
seated on a branch
between the letters
AE I Ml I LIA, cut on
the bezel itself. An
intaglio, the stone is
not particularised, in
theKircherian Museum
at Rome bears the en-
graving IX0TC MT
" ai'ound an anchor in
the loop between its lower arms, which are
recurved, and upon the stem of which a fish is
placed " {Archaeol. Journ.
xxviii. 288 [1871]). A sard
published by Le Blant has
a representation of a fish,
with IX0TC (retrograde)
below it : the Copenhagen
Museum possesses a gem
having the same type and
legend, but written in the
usual way : and the legend
only, the X being converted
into the chrisma, is found on a gem in the Vati-
can (Bockh, nos. 9083, 9085, 9086). The
legend IX0TC inclosed in a wreath is inscribed
on a cornelian in the British Museum. A sard,
figured by Ficoroni {Gemm. litt. t. xi.), has
IX0TC only. A very curious ancient gem,
which is best mentioned in this place, is figured
by Martigny {Diet. p. 546). It represents an
Fish, Dove, and Chrisma,
inscribed RVFI. (Brit.
Moaenm.)
Episcopal Chair. (Martigny.)
episcopal chair with legend IXT0 (for IX0TC)
inscribed upon it, besides a monogram on either
side, as being the chair of Christ, in which the
bishop sits. The same chalcedony is figured by
Passeri, who has a dissertation upon it {Thes.
Gemm. Astrif. iii. 221), and is now, having under-
gone various fortunes, in the Berlin Museum
(Bockh, n. 9080).
Other. gems which are of this type, but with-
out any suggestive adjuncts, are either known
or suspected to be Christian. Mr. King {Gnostics,
pi. V. n. 3) figures a fish neatly engraved on a nic-
b Badly figured liy Perret, u. s. n. 26, and misdescribed
in F5ui-kli, C. J. G. 9089.
714
GEMS
colo, bearing the owner's name, T. ACI. AGLAVS,
"whom he regards as a Christian. The Czielli Col-
lection (Robinson's Catal. n. 293 [277]<=) had an
intaglio of bloodstone in its original bronze
setting, bearing a dolphin, which is considered
to be "probably early Christian;" and Signor
Castellani possesses a fine amethyst cameo''
about Ij inch by % presumed to be Christian,
from one side of which, the more convex, a fish
of the form of a carp projects boldly, the
other side bearing the name of the possessor,
VALERIAS, in incised letters. But the most
interesting example of this kind is the epis-
copal ring of Arnulphus, consecrated bishop
of Metz in A.D. 614, now preserved in the cathe-
dral treasury ; it is set with " an opaque milk-
white cornelian," about half an inch in diameter,
representing a fish whose head appears above the
containing basket, on either side of whieh is a
smaller fish : the work is presumed to be earlier
than the fourth century. This is regarded by
Cav. de Rossi as a curious illustration of a, pas-
sage in Tertullian {De Bapt. c. 1) : " Kos pisci-
culi secundum Piscem nostrum in aquis nasci-
mur, nee nisi in aquis permanendo salvi sumus"
(Pitra, Spicil. Solesm. tom. iii. p. 578, tab. iii.
n. 4. Paris, 1855. Waterton in Arch. Journ. xx.
237 [1863]; Fortnum, iWc/. xxviii. 274 [1871];
Harriott, Test, of Catac. p. 123 [with a figure],
I.ond. 1870). This type occurs also in subordina-
tion to that of the anchor, about to be mentioned.
Besides the gems of the fish type here enume-
rated, the writer is acquainted with the casts of
some others, and would also direct the reader to
Didron, C'irist. Icon. p. 345 (Millington's transl.
in Bohn's Scieiit. Li'ir.)-, Perret, u. s. ; Martigny,
Diet. s. V. '• Poisson "; and Fortnum, Arch. Joiirn.
xxviii. 274, for further information and refer-
ences. " De Rossi alone " [in his De Christ,
moniim. IX0TN exhib. in Spicil. Solesm. iii. 555,
576, 577 ; see Pitra's Auct. 578, Paris, 1855],
says the last-named author, " describes about
thirty genuine gems
OH which the fish
and variations of the
word 1X0T-2 occur.
Some others have
since been found. . . .
It is moreover," he
tells us, " more fre-
quently forged than
perhaps any other."
A remarkable sard
intaglio, in the pos-
session of the writer,
may be mentioned as
a kind of postscript.
The device is a fan-
tastic compound animal, a gryllus of the common
type, being probably Roman work of the second
or third century. Some Christian possessor has
written the word IX0TC about it, in order, it
"= The number in the brackets is that of the sale cata-
loKiie (compiled from Mr. Robinson's privately printed
catalogue), London, 1861.
d A drawing has been sent by the Rev. C. W. .Jones.
With the exception of late Byzantine woiks Chrisiian
i-aiuei are very rare. Signor Saulini sends a cast of a
cam"0 (?) gem, stone not specified, of a still largjr size,
representing two similar fishes, looking opposite ways,
the lower inverted ; it is also figured by Perret, u. s.
GE5IS
would seem, to christianize such a heathen
production. See IX0TC.
(iii.) Anchor. — The anchor, originally as Cle-
ment observes, the signet of Seleucus (see Eckhel,
Doct. Num. Vet. iii. 212), and frequently oc-
curring on the coins of the Seleucidae, whence it
passed over to the Jewish money, was frequently
employed as a gem type by the Christians, and
so much the more readily from its resemblance
to the cross ; whence the motto. Crux mea an-
chora. This type occurs both in connection with
the preceding and also independently of it. Of
the former sort the British Museum coatains
the four following examples, all probably of
Christian w'ork : anchor
between two fish, around it
the letters APF, in black
jasper; another with dol-
phin twisted round it, like
the modern Aldine device,
about it the preceptive
legend EniTTXANOT
(Lay hold) in red jasper ;
anchor between two fishes,
in niccolo ; another be-
tween two branches and
two fishes, on whose arms
two doves are seated, in
chalcedony. But the fol-
lowing are more important and unquestionably
Christian. A sai'J figured by Miinter {Antiq.
Abhandl. 1816, p. 57, t. i, n. 3), of an octa-
gonal form, gives an anchor with tw^o fishes and
the legend IHCOT (Bockh, n. 9090). The Berlin
Museum has recently acquired a gem bearing an
anchor and a sheep and the legend IX0TC : upon
1X0TC and Anchor. (Martigny.)
the anchor sits a dove with an olive branch in
its mouth (Bockh, n. 9081). Passeri {Thes.
Gemm. Adrif. iii. 278) figures a ring cameo in
the Vettori Museum, inscribed IHCOTC above,
XPEICTOS below, having between the words an
anchor, with a fish hanging from each end of
the stock. An opal in the same museum, figured
by Martigny (Diet. p. 545), has on one side a cru-
ciform anchor, on the other, enclosed in an orna-
mented border, the legend IX0TC written kiovti-
Sov. The Berlin Museum has a red jasper
having the word IX0rc and the letters MX,
perhaps the owner's initials, disposed around an
anchor (Bockh, n. 9079). But the anchor has
also other accompanying symbols. Thus an-
other gem in the same museum (Bockh, n. 9082)
has around the figure of an anchor the boustro-
phedon legend IH | SX (Jes'ds Christ), and also
the accompanying symbols of a tree, a sheep,
doves, a palm, and a human hand. (For others
see above under the Good Shepherd.) There are
also gems, presumed to be Christian, of which
casts have been received from Signor Saulini, in
which tlie anchor is figured by itself alone.
GEMS
(iv.) Dove. — This t3'pe, usually symbolical of
the Holy Spirit, has been already mentioned as
, occurring on gems in conjunction with other
Christian types. Besides these, Passeri (Thes.
Gemm. Astrif. iii. 235) describes and figures,
after Mamachi, a gem in which occurs the dove
on a palm branch, a star aboye, and the chrisma
(>p:) on the left. The Bntish Museum has a
garnet with the same device, but no chrisma;
and also a portion of a cornelian ring, on the flat
bezel of which is engraved a dove holding a
branch, considered by Mr.Fortnum to be Christian
work of the second or third century {Arch.Journ.
1869, p. 140). A sapphire in the same collection
bears the same device. The French collection con-
tains a cornelian, the work of which appears to be
of the sixth century, on which is engraved a dove,
a palm, and a crown, with a monogram of
Veranus (?), in style resembling those of the
Ostrogothic kings of Italy (Chabouillet, Catal.
n. 2167). The dove occurs also on Christian
gems found in Rome or preserved in the Roman
collections, in most cases accompanied by the
chrisma (Saulini, Ferret). A pale sard * intaglio
in the possession of Mr. Ready has two rudely-
engraved doves with a cross between them.
" One of the prettiest devices of the class
that has come to my knowledge," says Mr. King
(^Ant. Gems and Rings, vol. ii. p. 26, note),
" shews the dove with olive twig in beak,
perched upon a wheat-sheaf, apt emblem of the
GEMS
•16
;af. (K:,rg.)
Church, having for supporters a lion and serpent.
It pictorially embodies the precept to be wise as
serpents and harmless as doves. (In possession
of F. Taylor.)" The British Museum, in tine, has
a gem of large size and late work, reading in
minuscule letters avaffTacri. + tov dr]fiov ; below
the legend is a sheaf of corn, and two doves
with olive branches below, indicating that the in-
gathering of the harvest of souls will be in peace.
Other examples are named by Martigny, m. s.
(v.) Fisherman. — The type alludes to the
Saviour and the apostles as fishers of men. It is
rarely found on Christian gems, but we have a
few examples. M. de Belloc, in his work en-
titled La Vierge au Poisson de Raphael (Lyon,
1833), figures an engraved cornelian, which he
considers to be Christian, upon which is a fisher-
man holding a basket in one hand, and in the
other a line from which a fish is suspended ; the
word IX0T2 is written near the fish (Didron,
Christian. Iconogr. pp. 345, 364 in Bohn's Illustr.
Libr.). This would seem to be a different gem
from a cornelian mentioned by Vallarsi in his notes
on St. Jerome (i. 18), of the same type with the
same inscription (Didron, u. s. p. 349); Martigny
speaks of it as excellent in workmanship and
probably of great antiquity : he regards the
fisherman as the Saviour (Diet. p. 518 ; Garrucci,
* [This proves to be a paste, and belongs to glass.
Hagiogl. p. 111). A sard intaglio, regarded by
Mr. King as " purely Christian," in his own
collection is figured in his Gnostics, pi. x. n. 7 ;
it gives two winged figures, probably Cupids, in a
boat, one fishing, the other steering ; " the mast
witli the yard, -making a true cross, forms a
significant and conspicuous feature in the design "
(p. 224). Its Christianity, however, seems
rather questionable.^
(vi.) JBoat or Ship. — These occur on Christian
gems, as being typical of the church, and then
sometimes resting on a fish, or of the voyage
of the soul to the harbour of eternal rest.
Mr. Fortnum describes and figures a fragment
of a ring of dark green jasper, probably of the
second or third century, purchased in Rome, on
the bezel of which is engraved a boat bearing a
bird and a branch, probably a cock and palm
branch. The boat is supposed to be the church,
and the victory of the soul over the world to be
indicated by the other types^ (Arch. Jour. 1869,
p. 140). Aleander {Nav. Ecdes. Ref. Symh. p. 13,
Rom. 1626) figures a rfng-stone ;? and Ficoroni
gives another {Gemme Antiq. p. 105, t. xi. 8), on
which the ship seems to rest on a fish. A ring
figured by cardinal Borgia (X)e CruceVelit. p. 213)
is set with an antique jasper intaglio, the subject
of which is a ship, having six rowers on one side,
which, supplying the corre- _
spending six on the other, would
represent the twelve apostles ;
there is also a pilot, or helms-
man, and the name IHCOT in-
scribed on the reverse (Fort-
num in Arch. Journ. 1871, pp.
274, 275; Mart. Diet. p. 432).
A cornelian in the British Mu-
,. , v \ I- I.- -1 (lintisU Museum.)
seum (mtaglio) has a ship with
mast and yard-arm in the form of a cross, bear-
ing also a cross at the prow. A fine black jasper
intaglio, in the possession of Rev. S. S. Lewis,
shows a boat with a
Greek cross in the
centre. A cornelian,
belonging to count
Marcolini, an impres-
sion of which is pub-
lished by Lippert (iii.
361), bears a trireme
with the labarum, on
which is the chrisma
and two palm trees ;
the prow is in the
form of a bird's head ;
the vessel enters into
^•t, and the sea is marked by a fish : in the
field are two stars and the unexplained letters
Eiv^f, RA. ; below, VGBP. (Raspe's Cat. of Tassie's
Engraved Gems, n. 2715). Other gems, whose
e The gem reproduced by Martigny (?t. s.) from Costa-
dimi, showing a fish in human form holding a ba.-.ket,
which Polidori interprets to ba the Saviour, is rather, to
judge by the figure, an Assyrian or Ribylonian gem, re-
presenting Dagon (see Smith's Diet, of the Bible, vol. i.
p. 381).
f With this may be compared an antique paste in the
Hertz Collection (No. 2525), having a ship with cock-
shaped prow, rowed by four benches of .sailors; a butter-
fly above. The allusion to the inmiortality of the soul
can hardly be doubted, but the emblem is pagan rather
tliim Cluistian.
8 Tliis gem is more fully described below, ij xii.
716
GEMS
impressions have been sent from Rome, bear a
boat with the chrisma, or the chrisma accom-
panied by a palm above. A sard (intaglio) with
the same type is set in a ring in the Naples
Museum (Arch. Journ. 1871, p. 280).
It will now be seen that we have examples of
all the types mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus,
the lyre' only excepted, occurring on gems which
are either certainly known or reasonably pre-
sumed to be Christian. This type also occurs,
but it is uncertain whether any gem on which
it is found is to be considered of Christian work,
(vii.) Lyre. — Employed probably as the type
of harmony and concord. The only example
known to Martiguy (Des Anneaux chez les pre-
miers Chretiens, Macon, 1858) which he could
regard as Christian is one in the Royal Library
of Turin, of very indiBerent work, in a style like
many Christian gems, figured by Perret, Cata-
cornbes (vol. iv. pi. xvi. n. 60). Nor can he add
another in his Dictionary of Christian Antiquities,
written seven years later (p. 40).''
The following types are not mentioned by
Clemens ; the first three of them have been
already indicated in connection with those gems
which have been described ; but they occur on
other gems also.
(viii.) Falni. — ^This symbol of victory, among
Pagans, Jews, and Christians, occurs frequently
on engraved stones and metal rings, and it is
sometimes difficult to decide whether a given
engraving is to be considered Pagan or Christian
(Arch. Journ. 1871, pp. 275, 276, 280, 282). It
has already been noticed that the palm occurs
as an accessory type on some of the Christian
gems above described ; it occurs also in other
combinations. On a cornelian in the British
_ Museum a hand holds a palm
branch erect, the chrisma is
above and MNHMONETE
below. In the same museum
is a cornelian, presumably of
Christian work, on which is
a palm branch placed verti-
cally, inclosed in a wreath of
laurel: on opposite sides of the
branch are the proper names
ZcoTIKOC and TEPTVAAA,
who may possibly have been
martyrs. A sard in the Rev. C' W. King's
collection bears a palm branch placed horizon-
tally, and below it the acclamation (probably
Christian), SVLE VIVE (letters partly in-
verted). The palm branch occurs also by
itself or accompanied by inscriptions on various
other gems and rings, which are reasonably
supposed or suspected to be of Christian work,
which is distinguished, in Mr. Waterton's
opinion, by the rude manner of the representa-
tion, more truly figuring the natural object
^ Among those bearing this type described by Ra>pe
(U.S. Nos. 3032-3044), or contained in the Hertz Collec-
tion (Nos. 1094-1097), there is not one which can safely
be pronounced to be Christian, but there are two antique
pastes in the latter (Nos. 1094, 1095) in which the sides of
the lyre are formed of dolphins or fishes. The sounding-
board of one of these has the form of a sleeping animal.
The original, as it would seem, of this, a plasma intaglio.
Is in the collection of the Rev. S. S. Lewis. The occur-
rence of fish in this connection suggests that the gems
may be Christian, but as the dolphin is connected with
Apollo the inference is hazardous.
GEMS
(Arch. Journ. 1871, p. 276). For some of these
see King's Cat. of Leake's Gems in Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge, p. 9. Fortnum in Arch.
Journ. 1869, p. 142; and 1871, p. 276.
(ix.) Cross. — This type, in connection with
the dove, or in a disguised form as yard and
mast, has been more than once described above.
But it occurs on other gems without disguise.'
A Greek cross in conjunction with a lion, sup-
j)osed to allude to the church of St. Mark at
Alexandria, occurs on an onyx intaglio in the
possession of Mr. Fortnum (Arch. Journ. 1869,
p. 147). An iron ring, set with a cornelian in-
taglio (burnt), is contained in the British
Museum ; the device is a cross, accompanied by
some animal very rudely engraved (Fortnum,
Arch. Journ. 1869, p. 146). Beger (T/tes. Palat.)
figures a gem, having a tall Latin cross, from the
arms of which hang two fishes.^ Garrucci (Nu-
mism. Costantin. p. 261, (at the end of his Vetri
Ornati, Rom. 1864) mentions other gems with the
cross type, three of which are in the possession ot
M. Van den Berghe. Mr. Fortnum describes a
massive gold ring in the Castellani collection,
embossed with figures of doves in the shoulders,
which is set with a garnet, on the face of which
is engraved a draped figure seated between two
Greek crosses potent (Arch. Journ. 1871, p. 281).
It is now in the British Museum, and seems late
work. The Museum has also a burnt cornelian
inscribed TATPINOC, where a female holds a
cross. A gem is figured by Garrucci (Hagio-
fllijpta, praef. p. v.), where a Greek cross is pre-
fixed to the acclamation Vivas in (Deo, sc),
Martigny, in fine, observes that on several gems
(one is figured by Perret, vol. iv. pi. xvi. n. 74),
some of which appear to be considerably older
than Constantine, we have engraved representa-
tions of the cross ' (Diet. p. 185). See also § xvii.
(x.) Chrisma, or Monogram of Christ. — This
emblem (sB \ which is thought by high autho-
rities to be earlier than Constantine (Mart.
iJict. p. 416), is found either by itself or in
various combinations upon a considerable number
of gems, and somewhat varying in form. A fine
spherical sapphire, "where thepreciousness of the
material attests the rank, perhaps patriarchal, of
' De Corte {Syntag. de Annulis, p. 125, Antv. 1706)
thinks that Eusebius (Demonstr. Evangel, vi. 25) speaks
of an universal custom of Christians wearing the life-
giving sign (i. e. the cross) on their rings, " Salutari signo
pro annuli nota utentes." This is taken from the Latin
version of F. Viger: the Greek, however, has <T<f)paytSi
Xpiofiei'ots ; and the allusion seems rather to belong lo
the practice of signing themselves with the cross.
k Referred to by King (Gnostics, p. 142).
1 It may perhaps just be worth mentioning here that
certain large pieces of crystal bearing the figure of the
cross may be as early as the period embraced in the pre-
sent work. Douglas (Naen. Brit. t. xx. f. 11) figures a
crystal exhumed in 1758 in a barrow near Lowestoft
along with coins of Avitus (a.d. 456) and other money
of the Ix)wer Empire, now in the Ashmulean Museum at
Oxford. It Is a boat-shaped piece (1 X 1^ in.), on which is
engraved in intaglio a Latin cross potent. It may pro-
bably be of the Saxon period, and it looks as if it might
once have been inserted in a liturgical book cover or ia
the lid of a box. But it is not easy to speak of the dates
of these crystals and other stones, some of which, en-
graved or plain, have been also found jn Ireland (Val-
laucey. Coll. de Beb. Hibern. vol. iv. pi 11. n. 13; Wilde,
Cat. of Mus. of Ray. Irish Acad. pp. 127, 128). Most of
them appear to have been amulets.
GEMS
the possessor " (King, Antique Gems and Rings,
ii. 28), in the British Museum gives the mono-
gram, having a straight line at right angles to
the P on its summit ( 3^ ), which forms a
Tau, allusive to the cross. This is also the case
with a crystal signet ring, " anuulus vetustis-
simus," formerly in cardinal Barberini's museum
(its resting-place being now unknown, Fortnum,
in Arch. Journ. 1871, p. 272), figured by De Corte
{Suntag. de Ann. p. 120), where a serpent, pecked
by two cocks, entwines itself about the base of
the Tau : on either side of the upper pai-t are
the letters A and co, and the stone is also in-
scribed beneath the bezel with the word SALVS.
Mr. Fortnum has a ring of excellent workman-
ship, purchased at Athens, of massive gold, set
with an onyx intaglio bearing the chrisma, " the
P being crossed with the third stroke " (^Arch.
Joiirw. 1869, p. 142). Mr. King (Gnostics, p. 142)
mentions a ring cut out of crystal, bearing the
chrisma alone, on the face of an oblong tablet,
said to have been found in Provence. The same
author (L c. p. 141) mentions an elegant device
given in Gorl. Dactyl. 211, where the sacred
monogram, cut on the face of a solid crystal
ring, rests upon the head of a Cupid (or angel?)
on each side of whom stands a dove. This style
he considers to have been derived ft-om the
Sassanian stone rings. Passeri (Thes. Gemm.
Astrif. vol. ii. p. 220, t. cc.) figures a gem on
which the chrisma is surmounted by a star, the
X being formed by two branches of palm. This
symbol is also sometimes accompanied by inscrip-
tions both Greek and Latin. Martigny {Diet.
p. 418) mentions a cornelian given by Macarius
(Hieroglypta, p. 235, ed. Gar.), inscribed with the
word IX0TC, the X being combined with a P to
express the chrisma ; possibly the same gem as
that described above under § ii. The Berlin
Museum has a heliotrope in which the chrisma
is accompanied by a fruit-bearing tree and the
following inscription : iiriKaAov/xai 'iTjcrovf Xpei-
ffThu NaCapv^" Uarepa . . . (Bockh, n. 9094 ;
the fragment is here given in part only and in
minuscules). The Bri-
tish Museum contains a
cornelian bearing the
acclamation, Devsdedit
VIVAS IN Df.o, to the
right of which is the
chrisma, and to the left
a small wreath. Mr.
King figures a gem in
the Vernon Collection
(Antique Gems and Rings,
ii. 28, 37) where the
chrisma of a not quite
usual form appears in
the middle of an olive-
garland, with the name
of the possessor, *OIBEIcoN, Phoebion (like
Hephasstion, from Hephaestus), of which the
work is unusually fine. The sacred monogram
nnder various foi-ms is found, as Mr. Fortnum
observes (Arch. Journ. 1871, p. 271), "more fre-
quently than any other on Christian rings. . . .
We find it alone and accompanied by almost
ail the other emblems, with inscriptions and
monograms." "
GEMS
717
■n Various Impressions of gems bearing the chrisma,
which are more or leas similar to those described above.
(xi.) Animals. — It has been already noticed
that " a lion," which Mr. Fortnum connects with
St. Mark, occurs on an onyx accompanied by a
Greek cross. Ennodius, bishop of Pavia about
511, has an epigram, De annulo Firminae, from
which we learn that it bore a lion :
" Gestandiis manibus saevit leo."
Whether the lion was intended to have any
Christian significance is uncertain. The phenix
occurs on an engraved stone in conjunction with
the palm, a combination which occurs on other
monuments which are indubitably Christian,
Perret (vol. iv. pi. xvi. 68; Martigny, Diet.
p. 534). In the British Museum are more than
one gem bearing sheep, from the collection ot
the abbe' Hamilton, of Rome, which are pre-
sumed to be Christian. On one are two sheep,
on each side a dolphin ; on another are two
sheep and palm branches. It might not be
difficult to increase the enumeration of these
ambiguous types ; but they are scarcely worthy
of a more extended notice."
Before proceeding further we may observe that
the British Museum contains a large pale sard
in which the pastor, the chrisma, dove and
branch, fish, dolphin, ship, and various adjuncts
are combined ; another, of smaller size, in two
compartments, has the pastor, dove, anchor,
fishes, with other figures and animals ; they were
formerly in the Hamilton Collection, and are
figured (with several others from the same col-
lection, which is now in the British Museum) by
rcrret (iv. pi. xvi. figs. 5, 8).
The following subjects appear to have been
introduced upon gems at a later period than the
types already mentioned."
have been sent from Rome by Signer Saulini : on one the
X is formed of two fishes, one holding a wreath (crown of
tliorns ?) the other having a dove on its tail ; palm on
either side of the monogram.
" Mr. King (Antique Oems and Rings, ii. p. 2S) men-
tions that the frog, whose body pas-ses through so many
stages, was employed for a Christian signet as an emblem
of the Resurrection ; he does not however refer to any
authority for this. In Raspe's Catalogue of Tassie's '^'ems
(No. 13,355) is a gem bearing a frog -.vith a palm and a
83rpent; these adjuncts rather suggest that the work
may be Christian. See Glass.
<• The first place would be due to representations of
God the Father, if such really existed in the period em-
braced in this work, abhorrent as such images may appear
to many. Mr. King (Antique Gems and Kings, ii. 32)
mentions "a large niccolo in an antique massy gold ring,
engraved with the Heavenly Father enthroned amidst the
twelve parriarchs, the work carefully finished and well
drawn." This gem, which he saw in the possession of
the late Mr. Forrest, appeared to him to date from the
times of the Western Empire. But there seems to be
some error here. " During the first centuries of Christi-
anity," says Didron (Christian Jcor,ogr. p. 201, Engl.
trans.), " even as late as the I2th century, no portraits of
God the Father are to be seen." The hand seems to have
been the only permitted symbol. Either, therefore, the
work is likely to be later than the 12th century, or (more
probably) the interpretation of the group is erroneous.
One might snspect the Saviour and the apostles to be
inti»nded. Upon a cornelian formirly in the possession
of Dr. Nott, the Saviour Is represented on a column, with
extended arms, having six figures on each side, in the
exergue a sheep : in the field and exergue EHCO (sic, for
IHCOTC) XPECTOC It is obvious that these are
the twelve apostles, hut the Jewish and Gentile churches,
as symbolised by them, are most probably intended. See
} xiii. and Glass. (A cast sent from Rome by Signer
Saulini.)
718
GEMS
(xii.) The Saviour. — In the earlier gems the
Saviour appears only in the form of emblems,
as the Good Shepherd and the Fish, and (more
rarely) as the Fisherman ; but from about the
fourth century onwards the representations
become more realistic. Le Blant has a sardonyx,
bearing a dead Christ, with the inscription,
SALVS RESTITVTA, ascribed to the fourth
century (Martigny, Bes anneaux chez les prem.
Chret. p. 36). An ancient onyx, figured by Perret
(iv. pi. xvi. 85), exhibits the Saviour reaching
out his hand to St. Peter as he is about to sink
in the waves; their names (in an abbreviated
form) are written near them in Greek charac-
ters : IHC. riET. ; the boat is seen tossed by a
storm, a fish just below (Mart. Diet. p. 539. See
also Aleander, u. s. ; Mamachi, Orig. et Antiq.
Christ, t. iv. p. 260, ed. Matr., and Garrucci in
Macarius, Hagioghipta, p. 237). A green jasper
intaglio in the British Museum, considered by
Mr. King to belong most probably to the date of
the Western empire, exhibits Christ's entry into
Jerusalem, the Saviour being accompanied by
three figures, one bearing a palm {Gnost. p. 140).
When the coffin of bishop Agilbert, of Paris
(seventh century) "was opened, De Saussay, who
was present, saw on his finger a gold ring with
a jewel, on which was a likeness of our Lord and
St. Jerome (Marriott, Vestiar. Christ, p. 222,
London, 1868). A cameo in agate, probably
early mediaeval Italian work of uncertain date,
repi-esents the Saviour teaching the three
favoured disciples, one by his side, the others
fronting him ; two angels behind : the disciples
are bearded, the Saviour beardless ; in the Bibl.
Imperiale (Chabouillet, n. 294; King, Antique
Gems and Rings, ii. 35, 36). With the excep-
tion of Byzantine cameos, and of one or two gems
presumed to be Gnostic, " no ancient portraits
of the Saviour exist on gems " (King's Gnostics,
p. 137).P Among the earlier Byzantine camei
is to be mentioned a fine oval plaque of lapis-
lazuli, probably the gift of the emperor Hera-
clius to king Dagobert (a.d. 628-638), which
remained in the Treasury of St. Denys for a
thousand years : on one side was the bust of the
Saviour, on the other that of his mother (King,
Handbook, p. 104; id. in Arch. Journ. 1870,
p. 185).
The French collection contains several Byzan-
tine camei bearing portraits of Christ. Some
of these on amethyst and jasper, with legend,
\C. XC. (i-e- 'Iv^ovs XpiarSs), represent Him
with a cruciform nimbus, in a long robe, holding
the gospels in the left hand, and giving the
benediction with the right (Chabouillet, Cat.
nos. 258-260). These remind us of the coins
of Justinian II. (a.d. 685-711), and may perhaps
V For the Emerald Yenncle of the Vatican (now lost),
said to preserve a true likeness of the Saviour, executed
by command of Tiberius, which Bajazet II. gave to pope
Innocent VIII. about, a.d. 1 188, see C. W. King in Arch.
Journ. 1870, pp. 181-190, and A. Way in Irch. Journ.
18(2, pp. 109-119. The gem was probably a plasma of
the p»rly Byzantine school. Paintings copied from the
Vernicle in the 16th century exist ; and also engravings
piofessedly copies of the same gem. from which photo-
graphs have been made which are now everywhere in
circulation. But thti engraving is in fact a mere repro-
duction of the Saviour's head in Raphael's cartoon of tlie
Miraculous Draught of Fishes, which, however, may have
been influenced by these paintings.
GEMS
be earlier than a.d. 800. So much can hardly
be said of a large bloodstone in the British
Museum, which i-epresents the bust of the
Saviour in high relief; the style rather re-
sembles that of the age of John Zimisces (tenth
century), (King's Gnostics, p. 141). A chalcedony
in the same museum, representing the Saviour,
half-length, holding a book, and in the act of
blessing (IfgXg inches) appears to be earlier.
(xiii.) Christ as the Lamb of God. — Garrucci
(in Macar. Hag. pp. 222, 244 ; Martigny, Diet.
p. 226, with figure) has published an annular
engraved stone, representing the Lamb of God
surrounded by a nimbus which includes the
chrisma, standing on a column, the symbol of
The Lamb of God. Garrucci.)
the church ; twelve gems (Rev. xxi.) on it repre
sent the twelve apostles ; at the base of the
column on either side are two lambs, the Jewish
and Gentile believers, looking up at Him : around
is the acclamation, lANVARI VIVAS. For the
same subject see Glass.
(xiv.) The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.
— The British Museum has a small sardonyx
cameo of black and white strata (from the Hertz
collection, n. 1825), of very neat Byzantine work,
and possibly of very high antiquity,' represent-
ing the Annunciation. The Virgin stands in-
clined towards the winij;ed Cupid-like angel:
above is the legend, O XAIPETICMOC, and" the
names of the figures, TABPIHA and MP. ©T.
(/XTJTTjp 6eov, i.e. mother of God) are written near
them. The British Museum, the Hertz collec-
tion (n. 1824), and the Paris collection (Cha-
bouillet, nos. 262, 263), have other larger camei
on sardonyx (an inch or more wide), representing
the same subject, bearing the barbarous legend,
XAIPE (or XEPE), KEXAPITOMENH (or KAI-
XAPITOMENH), O KC. META COT (Luke i. 28).
The second of these is referred to " the oldest
Christian period"' (Hertz, Catalogue, p. 125);
q Mr. King (^Ant. Gems and Rings, il. 31) thinks that
it may probably date as far back as Constantine's reign.
Put it may be doubted whether the title, /oitjtijp Beov,
goes so far back. See Pearson, On the Creed, Art. III.
With regard to the style of the gem itself, the writer
is inchned to put It considerably later than the fourth
century.
r This gem passed into the Uzielli Collection (Robin-
son's Cat. No. 1119 [646, a.]), where it is called " Byzan-
tine Greek work of uncertain period."
GEMS
the others are considered by Chabouillet to be
of the fifth century. Perhaps they may be
rather regarded as early mediaeval (see King's
Handbook, p. 111).
(xv.) The Virgin and Child. — An intaglio in the
British Museum, green jaspei-, of veiy rude work-
manship, " executed with the peculiar technique
of Gnostic work," and, if this be admitted, ap-
parently about the fourth century^ (see King,
Antique Gems and Rings, ii. 31), represents the
Virgin and Child seated, with an angel on each
side, two others hovering overhead. The Ma-
donna and child in her arms (both with nimbus),
accompanied by their names, |ci xc. and Mp.
©T., is represented on a Byzantine cameo of red
jasper, in the Paris collection (Chabouillet,
n. 265). A similar one on bloodstone {X-f^ x IjL
inches) is in the British Museum. These may
perhaps be early mediaeval.
In the Uzielli collection (n. 284 [300]) was an
intaglio on cornelian (§ by I of an inch), with the
Virgin and Child, with XAIPE and MP. 0T.,
which Mr. J. C. Robinson calls " Byzantine or
mediaeval Greek work of uncertain date." A
gem, published by Oderico, gives the Virgin and
Child with legend, MP. 0T. H nHPH, i.e. the
image of the Madonna in the church of the Foun-
tain, erected at Constantinople by Justinian, but
<his gem may be of much later date (Bockh,
C. I. G. u. 9109). It is probable that this
general type would be engraved on Byzantine
gems during a great part of the middle ages,
from the sixth or seventh* century onwards.
(xvi.) Saints or persons unknown. — Bosio and
Mamachi (Bei costuini dei primit. Grid. Prefaz.)
figure a cornelian, on
which are engraved the
heads of St. Peter and St.
Paul (Mart. Diet. pp. 40,
539). A red jasper inta-
glio, a graceful new year's
gift, exhibits a female
saint, perhaps St. Agnes,
kneeling before an execu-
tionei-, who is about to
cut otF her head with a
great razorlike sword ; be-
fore her a dove holds a
branch ; above is the
chrisma, to declare the presence of her Redeemer
in the hour of trial ; in the field are the letters
AN FT (Annum norum felicem tibi): good work,
probably about the age of Constantine ' (King,
Am. Gems, pp. 352, 353, figured).
A cameo in the British Museum, cut in a
beautiful sardonyx, possibly as early as the
fourth century," gives a full-length figure of
St. John the Baptist with his name (King,
Antique Gems and Rings, ii. 31). The same
saint is represented on a cornelian, published by
Vettori (pars ii. c. ix.). The Berlin Museum has
a black jasper intaglio, reading EIC 0EOC, and
having rudely engraved upon it a female with
» In this case also it seems possible that the date may
be much later.
t In his latest worlt {Antique Gems and Fings, ii. 33)
Mr. King thinks that it " can hardly be placed lower than
the age of Thoodosiiis, whose best coins it certainly re-
sembles both in style and workmanship."
» It seems, however, that it may, with at least equal
probability, be assiKUcd to about the tenth century.
GEMS
19
hiinds uplifted in prayer (Bockh, C. I. G. n.
9103). The British Museum has a Virgin, half-
length, with circular nimbus, and uplifted hands,
a cameo on bloodstone, with the legend MP. 0T. ;
which may perhaps be early medieval. Besides
these examples still existing, we have the fol-
lowing literary notices of rings bearing similar
types being worn by bishops and others.
St. Chrysostom tells us that in his time many
Christians of Antioch wore in their rings the
likeness of St. Meletius (who died A.D. 381), and
impressed it on fheir seals (//om. de S. Melet.
t. ii. p. 519, ed. Venet. 1734). St. Augustine,
writing to bishop Victorinus, says that his
epistle is sealed " annulo qui exprimit faciem
hominis attendentis in latus " I JEpist. 59 [217]).
Ebregislaus, bishop of Meaux in 660, wore in his
ring an intaglio representing St. Paul, the first
hermit, on his knees before a crucifix, and above
his head the crow, by which he was miraculously
fed (Annal. S. Benedict, t. i. p. 456 ; Waterton in
Arch. Journ. 1863, p. 225).^^
To the above should perhaps be added a By-
zantine cameo, nearly two inches in diameter,
of streaked jasper, representing St. John the
Evangelist, with the nimbus, seated, and holding
the gospel in his hand. In the field O A (6
ayios) U> O ©EOAOrOC ; in the Biblioth&que
Imperiale (Chabouillet, Cat. n. 266). This gem
may possibly fall within our period, and is
classed near to some that probably do so ; but
the difficulty of fixing the particular age of
medieval Byzantine camei is almost insuperable.
The greater part of them, in Mr. King's skilled
judgment, belong to the age of the Comneni
{Ant. Gems and Rings, i. 307).
(xvii.) Imperial or Roijal Personages with
Christian Accessories. — The art of cameo-en-
graving, which had f;illen into complete abey-
ance from the time of Septimius Severus, who
has bequeathed to posterity many fine camei-
portraits of himself and his f;imily, sprang into
a new but short life under Constantine. Camei
portraits of himself and his sons, "admirable for
the material, and by no means despicable for
the execution," are found in various private
and public collections, on sardonyx stones of
large, sometimes very large, dimensions (King,
Ant. Gems and Rings, i. 304). One fine gem, at
least, marks the change of the imperial religion ;
it is not however exactly a cameo, but a solid
» A sardonyx, published by F. Vettori, has on the ob-
verse a portrait of the Virgin with the usual letters
MP. ©Y., and on the reverse a cross with contracted
legend KEB. (fur KOpie Po-qOei), AEOTI AECnOT.,
i.e. 0 Lord! help Lord Leo! Conjecturally referred to
Leo (the Wise'! a.b. 8f<6-911, but without sufficient rea-
son; it is just possible that the gem may have been exe-
cuted within the period embraced in this work. See
Bockh, C. /. G. n. 9100. A very interesting gem is in-
serted in a silver plate (gilt) of the age of Justinian: tlie
great martyr (/xeyoAo^iaprvs) Demetrius is invoked as a
mediator with God (necriTeucrof Trpbs Bern) to aid Justi-
nian, •' king of the Romans upon earth," and in the midst
of the plate, just above a picture of St. Demetrius, "opere
tesselato," is " amethystus insculpta, more carneolae facie
imberbi." This may probably be meant for Demetrius
also, but as Jc" "xC (.I<'sus Christ) NIKA (riKa) occurs
higher up, it is not very clear whether it may not be a
portrait of the Saviour. The inscription is given at length
in Bilckh's C.I.O. n. 8012, from Marini's paners, pub-
lish'd by Mai. {Script. Vet. .Xov. Coll. v. 30, no figures.)
-20
GEMS
bust. An agate, measuring nearly four inches, in
the Bibliotheque Imperiale, shows his bust with
the paludamentum and cuirass, on the hitter is a
cross. His head is naked, and his eyes are raised
to heaven, as on some of his coins. Formerly
the ornament of the extremity of the choir-stafl'
(15th-century work) in La Sainte-Chapelle.
Chabouillet, Cat. n. 287, who refers to Morand's
Hist, de la Saiide ChapeUe du Palais, (p. 56) for
a figure of the gem incorporated with the baton.)
Besides this noble piece we have several others
also, but of inferior execution.
Passeri describes and figures a gem, preserved
at Venice, representing a horseman spearing a
dragon with a long lance terminating in a cross
above : he regards it as a representation of a
Christian emperor, conquering his enemies with
the cross ; a star, an emblem of Divine provi-
dence, in his judgment, is seen above (T/ies.
Gemm. Astrif. t. 2, pp. 289-297). This inter-
pretation is somewhat confirmed by the types
of certain coins of the fourth century, to which
age this coin may probably be assigned.
The Mertens-Schauffhaussen collection pos-
sessed an agate intaglio, which passed into the
Leturcq cabinet, exhibiting a full-faced bust of
the emperor Mauritius, wearing the imperial
crown of the lower empire, and holding a globe,
on which rests a Greek cross inscribed, D. N.
MAVRITIVS P. P. A. Supposed to be a work
of the sixth century, Leturcq, Catal. n. 210.>'
The Leturcq collection contained also a green
jasper intaglio, giving full-faced portraits of Con-
stans IL (crowned) and of his son Constantine IV.
(Pogonatus), both bearded, with a Greek cross
between their busts, having a scoi'pion engraved
on the back in the rude style of the so-called
Gnostic gems (n. 211). The same collection in
fine had an agate intaglio bearing busts of Leo IV,
and his son Constantine VI. (Flavins), inscribed,
p. N. LEO ET CONSTANTINVS P. P. A., both
full-faced and crowned, and holding between
them a double-handled cross (n. 212). These
rare portraits of the Byzantine Caesars, of the
sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, appear to be
in the same general style as those which appear
on their money (see Sabatier, Monn. Byz. pi.
xxiv. xxxiv. xli.).
There is one more gem of this class, which
falls a few years later than the chronological
limits of this work, but which ought hardly to
be passed over here in consequence of its extreme
interest in helping to fix the limits of gem-
engraving in the West before the age of the
Renaissance. The magnificent gold cross of king
Lotharius, said to be of about the date 823, now
preserved in the treasury of the cathedral of Aix-
la-Chapelle, is remarkable for the variety of
gems, rubies, sapphires, amethysts, and emeralds
with which its surfoce is studded. At the in-
tersection of the arms is inserted a very fine
onyx cameo of Augustus, probably a contem-
porary work, and just below this an oval intaglio
of rock crystal, of Prankish work and of very
tolerable execution, two inches long and an inch
and a half wide, giving the bust of Lotharius,
y Mr. King, however, has some doubt about its genuine-
ness {Antique Gems, pp. 163, 164). The Lelurcq Cibinel
was sold by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, in
1874, the accompanying catalogue by the owner being
in French and English.
GEMS
" his head covered with a close-fitting helmet,
with a slightly-projecting frontlet, like those of
the latest Roman period ; around the bnst is the
legend, in well-formed Roman letters, + XPE
ADIVVA HLOTHARIVM REG." (figured in
Cahier et Martin, Mel. d'Arch. vol. i. pi. xxxi. ;
King's A7it. Gems, p. 305 ; King's Handbook of
Engraved Gems, p. 116).
There still remain to be considered some an-
cient gems bearing manifest traces of Christianity,
which may be separately classed, viz., the Gnostic
and the Sassan-ian.
Gnostic Gems. — A Gnostic origin has been
hesitatingly assigned to one or two gems already
mentioned, and a great number of gems called
Gnostic have been described in Chabouillet's
Catalogue. (See also Abrasax in the Dic-
tionary OF Christian Biographv.) Of these,
a considerable number bear the word ABPA-
CAE, more rarely (in the Greek) ABPAHAC, (vari-
ously written in Latin) ; and this in itself, in
the judgment of some, proves a Gnostic origin.
Assuming that Basilides, a Christian Gnostic of
the second century, be the inventor of the word,'
as St. Jerome evidently thought and as several
other Christian writers appear to intimate (see
the authorities collected by Jablonski, Opusc.
t. iv. pp. 82-86, and Bellermann, Ueber die
Gemmen der Alten mit dem Abraxas-Bildc, Erst
Stiick, pp. ] 0-28), the numerous stones on which
the word is written must either be looked on as
Gnostic or else as derived through Gnosticism to
other forms of faith or superstition. The latter
view seems on the whole to be the more probable ;
for there is no doubt that the word, as trans-
formed into the magical Abracadabra, passed
over to the pagans, and was even employed in
Christian times until quite lately as a charm
against various forms of disease (Passeri, De
gemm. Basilid. in 'I'hes. Gemm. Astrif. vol. ii.
p. 236, sqq. ; King in Arch. Journ. 1869, p. 33;
Halliwell, Diet, of Archaic Words, s. v. Abraca-
dabra). We have Abraxas occurring in connec-
tion with the names, lAfl (Jehovah), CABAo)©,
AAcdNAI, and with the titles or i-epresentations
of Harpocrates, Mithras, Mercury, &c. (see Pas-
seri, H. s. &c.), but in no single instance known
to the writer, though very possibly such may
exist," does this word occur on any engraved
stone in any connection which can be safely
counted upon as Christian. These stones con-
.sequently, as well as all others which have been
called Gnostic, but shew no manifest sign of
Christianity are passed over in this article.
Very few of them, if any, can be fixed to any
particular Gnostic sect or to Gnosticism gene-
^ Some, as Mosheim (De Reb. Christ, ante Constant.
p. 350) have thought that the word is probably older than
Basilides: on what grounds we know not. This matter
deserves a searching examination.
a A very few monuments, which must needs be
Christian, bear the word ABPACAH. A large ivory
ring, found at Aries, bears the monogram of Christ be-
tween A and il (as it appears on the coins of ConstantiusII.
&c. of the fourth century), but accompanied by the title
ABPACAH, "a sufficient proof of the identity of the two
personages in the estimation of its owner" (King's jln-
liqiie Gems, p. 358). A copper amulet found at Keff
(Sicca Venerea), which Is very distinctly Christian, con-
tains the same word apparently, but in a cui lujit forii)
(,PAXC.4.CA). See Inscriptions.
GEMS
rally;" by much the greater part appear to
have been charms. The following very scanty
list, however, of unmistakeably Christian gems
may be with some reason looked on as Gnostic : —
(1.) A portrait of Christ, beardless, to the |
right ; XPICTOT above,
a fish underneath. Figured
by Raoul-Rochette (Tableau
des Cataconthes de Borne,
frontispiece, Paris, 1853)
who regards it as Gnostic
(p. 265) from the original
in the possession of the
marquis de Fortia d'Urban,
formerly in the Lajard
collection. The stone is
white chalcedony, the form
is oval ; ascribed to the second or third century
(JIart. Diet. p. 40).
(2.) Another portrait with the same types and
legend, on a truncated cone of white chalcedony,
in the Bibliotheque Impe'riale (Chabouillet, n.
1334). This gem, probably of Eastern fabric,
is considered to be not later than the middle of
the fourth century, and "presents the combina-
tion of the ancient Oriental form and of Greek
decoration in the same monument" (King,
Gnostics, p. 143). Figured by Ferret, u. s. n.
47 ; very similar to the preceding.
Epiphanius makes it a charge against the
Carpocratians that they kept painted portraits
and images in gold and silver, and other mate-
rials, which they pretended to be portraits of
Jesus {Ilaeres. c. 27, § 6). These gems, therefore,
may probably be the work of some Gnostic sect."^
GEMS
721
b The seven vowels, the " Music of the Spheres " occur
frequently on this class of stones, and are also mentioned
in the lately discovered Gnostic work entitled Pistis,
Sophia ; but their veneration or magical use can hardly
be regarded as exclusively Marcosian or Gnostic (see
Walsh, £ssay on Aiicient Coins, Medals, and Gems, pp.
48-51; King's Gnostics, p. 93; King in Arch. Journ.
186-*, pp. 105-107). From the names of the angels men-
tioned Matter {Hist. Crit. du Gnost. Pi. p. 16, t. 1. E. 9)
thinks that a gem which he figures after Chifflet (fig. 24)
may belong to the sect of the Ophites. One of the very
few gems which really appear to savour of the Gnostic
philosophy is a sard, of which an impression has been
sent by the Rev. W. T. T. Drake ; reading o Sia iravTojv
rou;. ai9t)p, Trvp, wvevfj.a. e\ioeiv, eAtoeiv ; i. e. Elohini ;
there was also an inscription round the edge which has
been a good deal broken : in the field are monograms or
mystic characters. The letters may be of the third or
fourth century.
If indeed we could with Bellermann (Gemmen nit
dem Abraxas- Bilde, iii. pp. 11, 12) interpret the letters
CEMEC EIAAM (misread by him) occurring on gems with
the ABP.^CAH legend or figure, to mean. This is the Mes-
siah of God, n^ rfC^'O nT> t^^ number of Gnostic gems
might be increased considerably ; but in truth the words
signify in Hebrew Eternal Sun (Matter, u.s, pp. 17,29,
t. i. F. 5 ; King, Gnostics, p. 76).
<: The numerous portraits of the Saviour which existed
in St. Augustine's time differed much from each other :
so that his face " innumerabilinm cogitationum diversi-
tate variatur et fingitur, quae tamen una erat, quaecum-
que erat " (Aug. De Trinit. viii. 4). A portrait quite dif-
ferent from the above is rudely engraved, apparently by
a much later hand, on the back of a tiny ancient cornelian
in the possession of M. Forget, which bears on the other
side a fif-h only : it is figured by Le Blant, Inscr. Chrt.
de la Gaule, vol. i. p. 371. The realistic representation is
here, as in both the preceding gems, combined with the
symbol.
CHRIST. ANT.
(3.) The sun between two stars, EICVVC.
XPECTV/. rABPlE[A.] ANANIA. AME[N.] in
two lines (Passeri, Thes. Gemm. Astrif. ii. p. 277,
who does not name the stone). The names of
angels, as planetary or astral genii, were in-
voked by the Ophites, and probably by other
Gnostic sects ; Gabriel presided over the serpent
(King, Gnostics, p. 88). This gem (n. 155 in
the Cappello Museum), which is doubtless
magical, may well have been produced by some
Christian Gnostic, perhaps of the fourth century,
when similar barbarous orthography occurs.
(4.) Four-winged deity, standing on a circle
formed by a serpent, holding two sceptres ; legend
obliterated. R The chrisma in the midst o»
a circle formed by a serpent biting its tail.
Hematite, in the Biblioth&que Impe'riale (Cha-
bouillet, u. 2178). The figui-e is a good deal
similar to one on another gem, bearing the in-
scription ABPAHAC (Chabouillet, n. 2176);
the reverse shows it to be the work of a Chris-
tian, perhaps of a later Basilidian.
(5.) lao (Jehovah) under the form of a four-
winged mummy, which has the heads of a jackal,
a vulture, and a hawk ; in the field three stars,
legend effaced ; below on a cartouche, lAXi. R.
Trophy between a monogram made up of I and
N (possibly for Jesus of Nazareth) and the
chrisma ; at the base of the trophy is another
chrisma. In the Bibliothfeque Impe'riale ; ser-
pentine (Chabouillet, n. 2220).
Chabouillet regards the trophy as a figure of
the cross triumphant, and thinks the gem belongs
to one of the Gnostic sects, who especially re-
vered the Saviour.
Later Persian and Sassanian Gems. — This is a
class of engraved stones, ' which may best be
treated separately as being of a different
form, conical or hemispherical, to those already
named ; and bearing legends, when legends are
present, in the Pehlevi character. The following
meagre list consists wholly of intagli ; those in
the French collection are thought by Chabouillet
to be earlier than the middle of the fourth cen-
tury ; but some appear to be later.
(1.) 2he Sacrifice of Abraham. — The patriarch
holds the knife to slay his son lying on an altar
(shaped like a Persian fire-altar); he turns back,
and sees the angel pointing out the ram ; striped
sardony.x. Bibl. Impe'riale (Chabouillet, n. 1330).
Another gem, of which Mr. King sends an im-
pression, represents an aged Jew, in the field
a child : whether this be the same subject or
not, is uncertain.
(2.) The Visitation of the Ftr^w.— St. Elizabeth
722 GEMS
and the Virgin standing, joining hands ; star
and crescent (sun and moon) between them :
Pehlevi legend, characters connected ; cornelian ;
French collection (Chabouillet, n. 1332). Same
subject probably, but without legend ; long cross
between the figures ; sard (King, Antique Gems
and Bings, ii. p. 45, pi. iv. n. 13). The latter
gem is supposed by Mr. King, its owner, to be
'' the signet of some Nestorian Christian."
(3.) The Virgin and Child.— The Virgin Mary
seated, holding the infant Saviour: Pehlevi le-
gend ; garnet ; Bibliothfeque Impe'riale (Ohabou-
filet, n."l331). The cursive form of the Pehlevi
character indicates a late age, i.e. that it is
probably of Nestorian -work (King, Handbook,
p. 103).
(4.) The Fish. — Fish placed in the middle of
the Christian monogram, which is formed of the
letters IX (Jesus Christ). Annular seal ; cor-
nelian ; same collection (Chabouillet, n. 1333).
(5.) T/ie Cross. — An elegant cross patee, en-
graved on a seal, accompanied by a Pehlevi
legend in the latest character (E. Thomas, Notes
on Sassanian mint-marks and Gems, with a figure ;
King, Gnostics, p. 144).
Before bringing this account of Christian gems
to a close, it remains to be mentioned that some
of them bear inscriptions only, both Greek and
Latin, and these may better be named here than
under the article Inscriptions.
(1.) Greek Inscriptions. — A red jasper in the
British Museum, in an antique gold setting of
corded wire, is inscribed, 0EOC ©EOT TIOC
THPEI, i.e. 0 God, Son of God, guard me ! A
gem, figured by Ficoroni, has XPICTOY, sc.
Sov\os (Bockh, C. I. G. n. 9091). On a sar-
donvx, published by Le Blant, we read —
XPEICTOC IHCOTC MET EMOT, i.e. Jesus
Christ be with me! (Td. n. 9096). A broken
gem in the Copenhagen Museum, reads more
at length to the same effect (Id. 9095). An
inscription on a gem published by Quaranta, at
Naples, whose date, though imcertain, may be sus-
pected to be late, very possibly later than the
period embraced by this work, reads, inCH*
CTNnAPACTA0HTI | EMOI KAI TOIC EP-
rOIC I MOT KAI AOC MOI XAPIN, i.e. 0
Joseph, aid me and my works, and grant me grace!
(rd. 9099). A few other unimportant gems bear
inscriptions, sometimes in raised letters, which
may probably be Christian, such as MAPIA
ZHCAIC nOAAOIC ETECIN, and the like (see
Bockh, nos. 9104-9106).
(2.) Latin Inscriptions. — The acclamation
VIVAS IN DEO occurs (varied) on several
engraved stones, figured by Ficoroni (Gcmm.
Ant. Lit. tabb. vii. xi. ; Martigny, Diet. p. 8) ;
we have also MAXSENTI VIVAS TVIS F.
(for cum tuis feliciter). (Perret, vol. iv. t. xvi.
n. 58 ; Martigny, u. s.y On a cameo sard found
ui a Christian grave we read ROXANE D
(didcis), B (bene), QVESQVAS (quiescas), (Buon-
arotti, Vetr. Cimit. p. 170, t. 24). Occasionally
the inscription is figured in metal ro>md the
stone, as in a gold ring inscribed VIVAS IN DEO
ASBOLI, found in the Soane, the stone »f which
is lost ; supposed to be of the third or fourth
■' This gem bears three heads, doubtless those of
Maxentius and his family: it does not strictly fall
within this section, but is placed here to accompany the
•jtlier similar acclamations.
GEMS
century (Le Blant, Inscr. Chr^t. de la Gaule.
torn. i. p. 64, pi. n. 6). It was not uncommon
from the sixth century onwards for signet rings,
both in stone and metal, to be marked with the
owner's name in monogram. Avitus, bishop of
Vienne, had such a signet in iron : and a red
jasper of the Lower empire, in the Bosanquet
collection, reads, ANTONINVS, in monogram,
which may not improbably be Christian (King,
Handbook, p. 107). One of the earliest episcopal
gems extant is probably one which was found at
Villaverde in Spain, set in a bronze ring, inscribed
FEBRVARiVS | EPiSCOPVS (the stone is not
specified); it may in all likelihood be referred
to the Visigothic period (Hiibner, Inscr. Hispan.
Christ, n. 205). The series may fitly close with
a red cameo gem, preserved in the public library
at Madrid, reading in three lines, the text of
Joh. xix. 36. OS NON COMINVESIS ES (sic)
EO. (Hubner, u. s. n. 208).
The preceding enumeration, though profess-
edly incomplete, is more full, it is believed,
than any hitherto published ; the great rarity
of Christian gems renders an apology for a de-
tailed catalogue unnecessary. A few words in
conclusion on the materials and the style of art
and uses of these gems. The most usual material
is the sard, of which the cornelian ° is only an
inferior form, and the allied stones, the onyx,
sardonyx, and chalcedony ; next to these in point
of number may be placed other kindred stones,
the jaspers, whether red, green, or black. Some-
times the stone is heliotrope (or bloodstone),
niccolo, ci-ystal, amethyst, plasma, emerald, opal,
lapis lazuli, serpentine, and, very rarely, sapphire.
Garnet is occasionally found, a stone in which
the Sassanian gem-engravings are often formed,
and among these we have a Christian example.
The hematite is especially the material on which
the syncretistic designs, commonly called Gnostic,
are engraved ; and one of the few Christian gems
of that class in this enumeration is of that
material.
In engravings which range in all likelihood
from the second to the ninth century '' (and some
of those here mentioned, being of uncertain
date, may be later even than that), we must
expect that there will be a considerable amount
of variation in the style and excellence of the
workmanship. When the work is fine, the fact
has been recorded, if known to the writer. Much
more commonly the work is mediocre. " The
^ These are not well distinguished in the preceding
enumeration ; the nomenclature here adopted is that of
the author who names the gem ; and this remark must be
extended to the other stones mentioned. For much in-
formation in a small space on the materials of gems
Prof. Story Maskelyne's Introduction to the Marlborough
Gems (pp. xxvii.-xxxvi. 1870), may be consulted ; as well
as Mr. King's elaborate work on Frecious Stones and
Gems, London, 1865.
f It is but rarely that anything save the work of the
stone itself supplies date for conjecturing its age. How-
ever the fine emerald bearing a fish, described above,
is enclosed in an hexagonal gold setting, which Mr. King
calls " a pattern announcing for date the early years of
the third century" {Antique Gems and Rings, ii. 29).
De Rossi admits the great difBiulty of fixing the age of
Christian gems, but thinks that a good many of those
which bear the fish (type or legend) and anchor are of
the fourth and fifth centuries, none being later (in Pitra's
Spicil. Solesm. iii. 555, 556).
GENERALIS
art exhibited in early Christian gems is almost
invariably of a low order," observes Mr. Fort-
num ; " they were for the most part the pro-
duction of a period of decadence. The greater
number have been cut by means of the wheel.
Hence arises an additional difficulty in distin-
guishing the genuine from the false. Their
rude workmanship is easy to copy with the same
instrument as that with which they were cut ;
antique stones are abundant at hand, and Roman
artists are apt and facile in imitation " (^Arch.
Jouni. 1871, p. 292).
By much the greater part of the gems men-
tioned were used for finger-rings, those in intaglio
being also employed as seals. Others, however,
especially the Gnostic, were amulets, and carried
about the person, suspended or otherwise, as
charms. The larger camei, of the Byzantine
period, appear to have been made for the purpose
of decorating church plate or other ecclesiastical
objects. (Martigny, Des anneaux chez les pre-
miers Chretiens et de I'anneau episcopal en par-
ticulier, Macon, 1858; Fortnum in Arch. Journ.
1869 and 1871 ; Early Christian Finger-rings;
and King, Antique Gems and Eings, vol. ii. pp.
24-37 {Early Christian Glyptic Art), Lond. 1872,
as well as his earlier books referred to above. ^
Much information also is to be gleaned from
various catalogues of gems and other books,
to which reference is made in the above works
and in this paper.) [C. B.]
GENERALIS. [Victor (14).]
GENEROSA. [Scillita.]
GENEROSUS. [Scillita.]
GENESIUS. (1) Martyr at Rome in the
time of Diocletian; commemorated Aug. 25
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi) ; Aug. 24
{Mart. Hieron., Cal. Allatii et Frontonis).
(2) Martyr, of Aries (circa a.d. 303) ; comme-
morated Aug. 25 {Mart. Hieron., Bom. Vet., Ado-
nis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GENETHLIA. [Calendar; Festival.]
GENETHLIACI, says Augustine, who con-
demns all such arts {Dc Doc. Christ, ii. 21),
were so called on account of their founding their
predictions on the planets which ruled a man's
birthday {yev46\ta) ; a more common name was
Mathematici [Astrologers ; Divination]. He
again refers,. in the Confessions (iv. 3; vii. 6),
to the folly and impiety of supposing that a
man's vices were attributable to the fact that
the planets Venus, Mars, or Saturn presided over
his birth. The passage relating to this matter
given in the Decree of Gratian (causa 26, qu.
4, c. 1 ) as from Augustine, is in fact from
Rabaiius Maurus I)e Mag. Praestig., and was
by him compiled mainly from Augustine and
Isidore. In another passage of Augustine
{Conff. iv. 3, quoted in Decret. can. 26. qu. 2,
c. 8) Gratian seems to have read " planetarios "
for the " pianos " of recent editions. All augurs,
aruspices, mathematici, and otlier impostors of
that kind were condemned by a law of Con-
B To the last-named author the writer is deeply in-
dobted for impressions of several gems and for tlie loan of
his b;'autiful plates for the present article: they are
drawn, like all the others (when not copied from other
books), to twice the diameter of the originals.
GENUFLEXION
723
stantius, a.d. 357 {Code, lib. v. ; De Maleficis et
Mathematicis, in Van Espen, Jus Ecclesiasticum,
p. iii. tit. iv. cc. 12-14). [C]
GENIUS OF THE EMPEROR. In the
early centuries of the church, one of the tests
by which Christians were detected was, to re-
quire them to make oath " by the genius or the
fortune of the emperor ; " an oath which the
Christians, however willing to pray for kings,
constantly refused as savouring of idolatry.
Thus Polycarp (Euseb. H. E. iv. 15, § 18) was
required to swear by the fortune {tvxv) of
Caesar. And Saturninus {Acta Martt. Scillit.
c. 1, in Ruinart, p. 86, 2nd ed.) adjui'ed Speratus,
one of the martyrs of Scillita, " tantum jura
per genium regis nostri ; " to which he replied
" Ego imperatoris mundi genium nescio."
Minucius Felix {Octavius, c. 29) reprobates
the deification of the emperor, and the heathen
practice of swearing by his " genius " or " dae-
mon ; " and Tertullian {Apol. c. 32) says that,
although Christians did not swear by the genius
of the Caesars, they swore by a more august
oath, " per salutem eorum." We do not, says
Origen (c. Celsum, bk. 8, p. 421, Spencer), swear
by the emperor's fortune {rvxnv ^aaiXews), any
more than by other reputed deities ; for (as
some at least think) they who swear by his
fortune swear by his daemon, and Christians
would die rather than take such an oath (Bing-
ham's Antiquities, xvi. vii. 7). , [C]
GENII. [Fresco, p. 693.]
GENOFEVA or GENOVEFA, virgin-
saint, of Paris (f circa 514 A.D.); commemorated
Jan. 3 {Mart. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi) ; transla-
tion Oct. 28 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GENTILLY, COUNCIL OF {Gentiliacense
Concilium), held A.D. 767, at Gentilly, near
Paris, but authentic records of its proceedings
are wanting. Annalists of the next age say that
it W3S assembled by Pepin to consider a twofold
question that had arisen between the Eastern
and Western churches respecting the Trinity and
the images of the saints {Pertz, i. 144). Quite
possibly the iconoclastic council of Constanti-
nople, A.D. 754, may have been discussed there,
but there is no proof that the dispute between
the two churches on the procession of the Holy
Ghost had commenced as yet. The letter of
pope Paul to Pepin (Mansi, xii. 614) is much too
vague to be relied on, and what embassies are
recorded to have come from the east in his reign
are still less to the purpose {Ibid. p. 677 ; comp.
Pagi, ad Baron. A.D. 766, n. 3). [E. S. Ff.]
GENUFLECTENTES. [Penitents.]
GENUFLEXION, PROSTRATION, ETC.
The early Christians used five different postures
in their worship. They stood upright, or with
the head and back bent forward, they knelt on
both knees, and they prostrated themselves at
length {prostrato omni corpore in terra ; said of
penitents at their reconciliation. Sacrum. Gelas.
lib. i. nn. xvi. xxxviii. in Ziturg. Pom. Vet. Mu-
rat. tom. i. coll. 504, 550).
Standing had been the more common posture
in prayer among the Jews (Neh. ix. 2-4 ; St.
Matt. vi. 5; St. Luke xviii. 11, 13); but they
knelt (2 Chron. vi. 13 ; Dan. vi. 10 ; Ezra ix. 5")
and prostrated themselves also (Num. xiv. 5;
3 A 2
'24
GENUFLEXION
Josh. V. 14; 1 Kings xviii. 39, &c.) ; and the first
converts to the gospel imported their former
customs into the church. Thus Stephen knelt
in his last prayer (Acts vii. 60) ; St. Peter knelt
when he besought God for the life of Dorcas (ix.
40) ; St. Paul, when at Ephesus he prayed for
the elders (xx. 36); the brethren at Tyre and
their wives and children knelt with him on
the shore, when he left them to go to Jerusalem
(xxi. 5). In the language of the same apostle,
" bowing tlie knee " to God is synonymous with
" praying " to him (Eph. iii. 14). The Christian
knelt in prayer more than the unconverted
Jew ; and this was natural, for the gi-eater know-
ledge of God produced a stronger sense of un-
worthiness, and thus led to more marked and
frequent expressions of humility in drawing nigh
to him. "The bending of the knees is as a token
of penitence and sorrow " (Cassian. Coll. xxi. c.
XX. p. 795). This was the recognized principle,
and it ruled the occasions on which the posture
was employed. " The knee," says St. Ambrose,
" is made flexible, by which, beyond other mem-
bers, the otfence of the Lord is mitigated, wrath
appeased, grace called forth " {Hcxaeincron, lib.
vi. c. ix. n. 74).
Before we proceed it should be explained that
the early church made no distinction in language
between '' kneeling " and " prostration." It is
evident that men did not kneel upright, but
threw themselves more or less forward, so that
the posture might have either name. Some-
times indeed they so supported themselves by
putting their hands or arms on the ground, that
" kneeling" was a position of rest compared with
standing. Thus Cassian complains that some
western monks, when prostrate on the ground,
"often wished that same bowing of the limbs
(which he expressly calls genu flectere) to be
prolonged, not so much for the sake of prayer
as of refreshment" {Instit. lib. ii. c. 7). The
same inference may be drawn from the fact that
the third class of public penitents were indifl'e-
rently called kneelers or prostrators, were said
either 'y6vu K\iveiv, genu flectere, or {nroTziTrTeiv, se
snbsternere. Thus in a canon made at Neocaesarea
in Pontus about A.D. 314, we read, can. v., " Let
a catechumen .... who has f;\llen into sin, if he
be a kneeler (^6^ K\ivoov), become a hearer."
Similarly the eighty-second canon of the so-called
fourth council of Carthage held in 398 : " Let
penitents (the prostrators were especially so
called) kneel even on days of relaxation." But
the same class were far more frequently described
as prostrators. For example, in the eleventh
canon of Nicaea, A.D. 325, it is decreed that cer-
tain offenders "shall be prostrators (uTroTreffoCf-
Toi) for seven years." (Compare can. xii. ; Cone.
Ancyr. cann. iv. v. &c. ; Greg. Thaum. viii. ix. ;
Basil, ad Amphiloch. Ivi. Ivii. &c. ; and many
others.) A more direct piece of evidence comes
from the 7th century, Pseudo-Dionysius {De
Ecvles. Hiemrch. c. v. "sed. iii. § 2, torn. i. p. 364)
says that " the approach to the Divine altar and
the prostration (of candidates for holy orders)
intimates to all who are admitted to priestly
functions that they must entirely submit their
personal life to God, from whom their consecration
comes," &c. ; whereupon his scholiast Maximus,
A.D. 645, explains "prostration" to mean "kneel-
ing" (p. 375). So in the West, as late as the
9th century, in the same canon, " fixis in terram
GENUFLEXION
genibus " and " humiliter in terram prosterni "
{Cunc. Turon. A.D. 813, can. 37) are employed
to describe the same posture. Other indications
of similar usage will be observed in some passages
below.
Kneeling or prostration was probably the
general posture of the early Christians in prayer
not i-egulated by public authority. Thus Cle-
mens Romanus, in a general exhortation, "Let
us fall down before the Lord, and beseech Him
with tears," &c. {Epist. i. nd Cor. c. 48). When
St. Ignatius prayed for the churches before his
martyrdom, it was " cum genuflexione omnium
fratrum " (Marti/riuin S. Ign. c. yi.). Hermas
represents himself, before his first vision, " kneel-
ing down and beginning to pray to God and con-
fess his sins" (lib. i. vis. i. § 1). Hegesippus,
A.D. 170, relates that St. James the Just " useil
to enter the temple alone, and to be found lying
on his knees {Kiiutvos iirl toTs y6va(TLy' (Euseb.
Hist. Eccl. lib. 11. c. xxiii.). He adds that his
knees from continual kneeling became callous
like those of a camel. When Eusebius relates
the story of the Melitine legion in the Mar-
comannic war, about 174, he says of the Christian
soldiers, "They put their knees on the ground,
as our custom is in prayer" {Ibid. lib. v. c. v.).
Tertullian, having referred to the same event
some sixteen years after its occurrence, asks,
" When have not even droughts been driven
away by our kneelings and fastings ? " (Ad
Sca/mlain, c. iv.). We read in the Life of St.
Cyprian, by Pontius his deacon, that on his way
to death he " knelt on the earth, and prostrated
himself in prayer to God" (Vita 0pp. praefixa).
Eusebius tells us that Constantine the Great
used " at stated times every day, shutting him-
self up in secret closets of his palace, there to
converse alone with God, and falling on his knees
to ask importunately for the things whereof he
had need " ( Vita Constant, lib. iv. c. xxii.). In
liis last illness, " kneeling on the ground, he was
a suppliant to God," &c. (fbid. c. Ixi.). Gregory
Nazianzen, speaking of his sister's habits of devo-
tion, mentions " the bowing of her knees become
callous, and as it were grown to the ground"
(Orat. viii. § 13. Compare St. Jerome in Episf.
ad Marcellain de AscUd). Augustine, relating a
miraculous answer to prayer in the healing of
a sick person, says, " While we were fixing our
knees and laying ourselves on the ground (terrae
incumbentibus) in the usual manner, he flung
himself forward, as if thrown heavily down by
some one pushing him, and began to pray," &c.
(De Civ. Dei, lib. xxii. c. viii. § 2). Elsewhere
the same father, speaking of private prayer,
says, " They who pray do with the members
of their body that which befits suppliants, when
they fix their knees, stretch forth their hands, or
even pi-ostrate themselves on the ground" (De
Curd pro Mortuis, c. v.). Only in this last passage,
it will be observed, are kneeling and prostration
distinguished from each other.
But the early Christians knelt or prostrated
themselves as each chose, in the stated common
worship of the church also. Thus Arnobius :—
" To Him (i. e. Christ) we all by custom prostrate
ourselves : Him with united (collatis) prayers we
adore " (Adv. Gent. lib. i. c. 27). Ejjiphanius :
" The church commands us to send up prayers
to God without ceasing, with all frequency, and
earnest supplications, and kneeling on the ap-
GENUFLEXION
pointed days, by night and in the day, and in
some places they celebrate synaxes even on the
sabbath," &c. (De Fide, § 24). St. Jerome says
that it is according to " ecclesiastical custom to
bend the knee to Christ" (Conim. in Isai. c. xlv.
V. 23). St. Chrysostom {Horn, xviii. in 2 Cor.
viii. 24), of the celebration of the Holy Commu-
nion : — " Again, after we have shut out from the
sacred precincts those who cannot partake of the
Holy Table, there must be another kind of prayer,
and we all in like manner lie on the floor {Sfioiccs
iir' fSdrpous KeiiuLfda), and all in like manner rise
up." We understand this better on a reference
to the liturgy in the so-called Apostolical Con-
stitutions. There we find (lib. viii. c. ix. Coteler.
tom. i. p. 396) that the " first prayer of the
faithful " was said by all kneeling, the deacon
<rying out, " Let us, the faithful, all kneel."
During the rest of the liturgy all stood.
At other times of service the rule was for all
to kneel in prayer, except on Sundays and be-
tween Easter and Whitsuntide. Few customs
are more frequently mentioned by early writers,
and none perhaps more frequently said to be de-
rived from the age of the apostles. The earliest
witness is Ireuaeus, in a fragment of his work on
Easter preserved in the " Questions and Answers
to the Orthodox," Quaest. 115, ascribed to Justin
Martyr. Irenaeus traced it to the apostles. In
answer to a question respecting the reason and
origin of the custom, the latter writer says,
" Since it behoved us always to' remember both
our own fall into sins and the grace of our Christ
through which we have arisen from the fall,
therefore our kneeling on the six days is a sign
of our fall into sins, but our not kneeling on the
Lord's day is a sign of the rising again, through
which, by the grace of Christ, we have been
delivered from our sins and from death, their
due, now itself put to death." Jbid. Other wit-
nesses are Tertullian, speaking both of Sunday
and the paschal season (^De Cor. Mil. c. iii. ;
similarly, Be Drat. c. xxiii.) ; Peter of Alex-
andria, A.D. 301, can. xv. of Sunday only. The
council of Nicaea, 325, both of Sunday and the
days of Pentecost, can. xx. ; St. Hilary, also of
the " Week of Weeks " and the Lord's day both
(Prolog, in Psalm. § 12), who refers it to the
apostles. His expression is, "No one worships
with his body prostrated on the ground." Epi-
phanius, also of both (De Fide, § 22). St. Basil,
of both, as an apostolical tradition (De Spiritu
Sancto, c. Ixvi., al. xxvii.). St. Jerome, likewise
of both (Dial, contr. Luciferianos, c. iv.) ; and
again, of the fifty days, in Prooem. in Ep. ad
Fph., " We neither bend the knee nor bow our-
selves to the ground." St. Augustine, after
giving the Scriptural reason, says, " On this
account both are fasts relaxed [during the
paschal quinquagesima] and we pray standing,
which is a sign of the resurrection, whence also
the same is observed at the altar on all Lord's
days." (^Ep. Iv. ad Januar. c. xv. n. 28. Compare
c. XVII. n. 32.) From St. Maximus of Turin,
A.D. 422, we learn the same facts and the reason
(Horn. iii. De Pentec). Cassian, A.D. 424, men-
tions the restriction on kneeling at those times
(Instit. lib. ii. c. xviii. ; Cotlat. xxi. c. xx.). In
the collection of canons put forth by Martin, a
I'annonian by birth, but bishop of Bracara in
Spain, A.D. 560, the saffie prohibition occurs,
borrowed from a Greek or oriental source (can.
GENUFLEXION
725
Ivii.) His words are, "non prostrati, nee humi-
liati." The 90th canon of the Trullan council,
held at Constantinople in 691, forbids kneeling
" from the evening entrance of the priests to the
altar on Saturday until the next evening on the
Lord's day." The council does not mention the
longer period, and its object seems to have been
merely to settle the hours at which the obser-
vance should begin and end.
From the fact that the 20th canon of Nicaea
is not found in the abridgement of canons by
Ruffinus (Hist. Eccl. lib. x. c. v.), nor in an
ancient codex supposed to be the authorised col-
lection of the church of Rome, Quesnel (Diss.
xii., at the end of St. Leo's Wor/is, c. v.) supposed
that the custom of not kneeling on Sunday, &c.
was never received at Rome. See Routh, Opus-
cula, tom. ii. p. 444, or Eeliquiae Sacrae, tom. iv.
p. 75, ed. 2. We find, however, that the prohi-
bition was enforced in the dominions of the
Prankish princes after they had imposed the
Roman office on their subjects. Those times
were excepted from the general order for kneel-
ing at prayer made by the third council of Tours,
A.D. 813, can. 37. It was forbidden by a capitu-
lary of Louis the Godly, A.D. 817 (Capit. Peg.
Franc, tom. ii. col. 586, cap. Ii.) during "the
Pentecost week." Rabanus Maurus, also, at
Mentz, A.D. 847, says, as if vouching for a present
fact, " On those days the knees are not bent in
prayer." " On the Lord's day we pray standing "
(De Instit. Cler. lib. ii. cc. 41-2). It is very
improbable, therefore, that the custom was not
known and obsei-ved at Rome.
In all the ancient liturgies except the Roman,
if, indeed, that be an exception (see Scudamore's
Notitia Eucharistica, p. 579), the bishop gave a
blessing before the communion. In all but the
Clementine this was preceded by a monition from
the deacon: e.g., in St. James and St. Basil,
" Let us bow down our heads unto the Lord ; "
in St. Chrysostom, " Bow down your heads unto
the Lord" (Liturg. PP., pp. 32, 66, 102); in
St. Mark, " Bow your heads to Jesus Christ "
(Renaud. tom. i. p. 160); in the Mozarabic,
" Humiliate vos benedictioni " (ilissale, Leslie,
pp. 6, 246); in a Roman Ordo, early, but of un-
certain date, "Humiliate vos ad benedictionem "
(Ord. vi. § 11, Mus. Hal. tom. ii. p. 75). Several
liturgies had a benediction after the communion
also, for which the people bowed themselves.
In some, indeed, the deacon here repeated his
direction. See St. James (Lit. PP. p. 39) ; the
Greek Alexandrine of St. Basil and of St. Cyril
(Renaud. tom. i. pp. 85, 125). In Egypt, for this
reason, benedictions wei'e usually called " Prayers
of Inclination," or " Of Bowing the Head " (Re-
naud. u. s. pp. 35, 36, 50, 77, &c.). The same
gesture, similarly bidden by the deacon, was em-
ployed in other parts of the service. See St.
James, u. s. p. 9, and Renaud. u. s. pp. 77, 79,
105, &c. In particular, the catechumens bowed
while the prayer proper to them was said before
their dismissal. Thus the deacon, in St. Basil
and in St. Chrysostom : " Ye catechumens, bow
down your heads unto the Lord " (Lit. PP., pp.
48, 87). The Malabar : ' Incline your heads for
the laying on of hands, and receive the blessing "
(Hist. Eccl. Malah. Raulin, p. 304).
Two sermons of Caesarius, bishop of Aries,
A.D. 602, illustrate our subject, as regards the
habits of the people, in a graphic manner : — " I
726 GEOGRAPHY, ECCLESIASTICAL
intreat and admonish you, dearest brethien, that (
as often as prayer is said by the clergy at the
altai', or prayer is bidden by the deacon, ye faith-
fully bow, not your hearts only, but your bodies
also ; for when'l often, as I ought, and heedfully
take notice, as the deacon cries, 'Let us bend our
knees,' I see the greater part standing like up-
right columns." " Let it not be grievous to
him, who from some weakness cannot bend his
knees, either to bow his back or incline his head."
Again: "In like manner I admonish you of this,
dearest brethren, that as often as the deacon
shall proclaim that ye ought to bow yourselves
for the benediction, ye faithfully incline both
bodies and heads ; because the benediction,
though given to you through man, is yet not
given from man." {Serm. Caes. Ixxxv. §§ 1, 5 ;
Sim. Ixxxiv. §§ 1, 2.)
The priest himself often inclined his head
during the prayers. (See St. James, t<. s. pp. 7,
13, 17, &c., and St. Mark, u. s. pp. 150, 153.)
Many observances of this kind are lost to us
from the want of rubrics in the ancient liturgies,
or from their incompleteness. This is especially
the case with those of the West ; but there is one
Ordo of the age of Charlemagne in which the
priest is directed to say the prayer In spiritu
Immilitatis " bowed before the altar." (Martene,
De Ant. Eccl. Bit. lib. i. c. iv. art. xii. ord. v.).
We might here also cite the Mozarabic and
Milanese missals, if the antiquity of their rubrics
were not generally uncertain.
From pseudo-Dionysius we learn that while
bishops and priests at their ordination knelt on
both knees, deacons knelt on one only (De Keel.
Hier. c. V. § ii. tom. i. p. 36-1). [W. E. S.J
GEOGRAPHY, ECCLESIASTICAL. [No-
TITIA.]
GEORGIUS. (1) Chozebita, Holy Father,
A.D. 820 ; commemorated with Aemilianus, Jan.
8 {Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Of Malaeum, Holy Father, (saec. V. vi.) ;
commemorated April 4 (lb.).
(3) Bishop of Mitylene (f circa 816), Holy Fa-
ther; commemorated April 7 (/6-)-
(4) Deacon, niartyr at Cordova with Aurelius,
Felix, Nathalia, and Liliosa, A.D. 852 ; commemo-
rated Aug. 27 {Mart. Usuardi).
(5) Miya\ofji.dprvp Koi rpoTraiocpSpos, A.D.
296 ; commemorated April 23 (Ca/. Byzant.) ;
" Xatale," April 23 (Mart. Bedae) ; the dedica-
tion (iyKaiuia) of his church in Lydia is comme-
morated on Nov. 3 (Cal. Byzant.). »
(6) De monte Atho ; commemorated June 27
(Cal. Gcorg.).
(7) Victoriosus ; commemorated Sept. 28 (Cal.
Armen.). . [W. F. G.]
GERASIMUS, Holy Father, 6 iv 'lopUvij,
in the time of Constantine Pogonatus ; comme-
morated March 4 (Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
GEREON, martyr with 318 others at Co-
logne under Maximian; commemorated Oct. 10
(Mart. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GERMANIOA CONCILIA, councils cele-
brated in Germany, but at places unknown.
1. A.D. 743, probably, being the first of five
^aid to have met under St. Boniface by his
biographer, but great obscurity hangs over their
date, number, and canons, to say the least.
GERONA, COUNCIL OF
Mansi really settles nothing (xii. 355 and seq.),
and the Oxford editors of Wilkins still less (iii.
382, note). Again, in the preface to this
council it is Carloman, mayor of the palace who
speaks, and its seven canons, besides running in
his name form the first of his capitularies
(Mansi, ih. 366, and App. 104). Certainly,
the first of them constituting Boniface arch-
bishop over the bishops of his dominions cannot
have been deci-eed but by him. True, there is a
letter from Boniface to pope Zachary requesting
leave for holding a synod of this kind, which
was at once given (Mansi, ib. 312-19), and in
another, purporting to be from Boniface to arch-
bishop Cuthbert (Haddan and Stubbs, Councils,
iii. 376), three sets of canons are quoted as
having been decreed by the writer, of which
these form the second. Still, even so, when and
where were the other two sets passed ? What
Mansi prints (xii. 383) as " statutes of St. Bom-
face " in one place, were probably the work of a
later hand, as he says in another (ib. 362).
2. A.D. 745, at Mayence possibly, where Alde-
bert and Clement were pronounced heretics, and
Gervilion of Mayence deposed to be succeeded by
Boniface (Mansi, ib. 371).
3. A.D. 747, at which the first four general
councils were ordered to be received. Possibly
the tenth of the letters of pope Zachai-y may
relate to this (Mansi, ih. 409 and 342).
4. A.D. 759, at which Othmar, abbot of
St. Gall, was unjustly condemned (Mansi, ib.
660). [E. S. Ff.]
GERMANICUS, martyr at Smyrna under
Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius ; comme-
morated Jan. 19 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usu-
ardi). [W. F. G.]
GERMANUS. (l) Bishop of Paris and
confessor (t576 A.D.) ; commemorated May 28
(Mart. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi) ; translation (de-
position, Ado) July 25 (Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Bishop of Auxerre and confessor; " tran-
situs" commemorated July 31 [Mart. Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi) ; Aug. 1 (Mart. Bedae) ; trans-
lation (natalis, Ado) Oct. 1 (Mart. Usuardi).
(3) [DONATIANTJS (2).]
(4) Martyr in Spain with Servandus ; com-
memorated Oct. 23 (Mart. Bam. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(5) Martyr at Caesarea in Cappadocia, with
Caesarius, Theophilus, and Vitalis, under Decius :
commemorated Nov. 3 ( 76.).
(6) Of Constantinople, a.d. 730 ; commemo-
rated May 12 (Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
GERONA, COUNCIL OF (Gerundense con-
cilium), held A.D. 517, at Gerona in Catalonia,
and passed ten canons on discipline, to which
seven of the ten bishops present at the synod of
Tarragona the year before subscribed. By the
first the order laid down for celebrating mass and
saying the psalter and ministering in general
throughout the province of Tarragona is to be
that of the metropolitan church. By the last
the Lord's prayer is to be said on all days after
matins and vespers by the priest. By the
second and third rogation days are to be kept
with abstinence twice a year : viz., the three last
days of Whitsun week, and the first three days in
November ; or, one of them being a Sunday, the
GERONTIUS
three last days of the week following (Mansi
viii. 547 and seq.). re_ g_ yf-i '
GERONTIUS, bishop ofSevilla la Vieja in
Spain (saec. I.) ; commemorated Aug. 25 (Mart
Usuardi). [-W_ p_ (j-j
GEETRUDIS, virgin, martyr in Ireland;
commemorated March 17 (Mart. Bedae, Adonis,
Usuardi). [-W_ jr_ Q j
GERUNDENSE CONCILIUM. [Gekona,
Council of.]
GERVASIUS, martyr at Milan with Prota-
sius. Ills brother, under Nero; commemorated
June 19 (Mart. Bedae, Hieron., Gal. Carthag.,
CaL et Sacrament. Frontonis, Mart. Adonis. Usu-
ardi); also with Nazarius, and Celsus, June 19
(Mart. Horn. Vet.), and Oct. 14 (Gal. B,/zant.).
[W.Y. G.]
GERVASIUS AND PROTASIUS, SS.,
IN Art. The basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan
was dedicated by him, June 19th 387, to these
martyrs, whose bones he transferred to it. The
name of the church has, however, been derived
by posterity from that of its founder. The
author may refer to the personal testimony of
Father Ambrose St. John of the Oratory, as to
a late discovery of bones in the Basilica of St.
Ambrose, which seems strongly to confirm the
tradition of the burial of actually martyred
persons among its foundations.*
St. Gervasius appears repeatedly in the
paintings of the Ambrosian basilica, especially
m the great mosaic of the apse (Sommerard,
Album des Arts, pi. xix. 9 serie). St. Protasius
is with him, as in other parts of the church.
This mosaic cannot be later than the 9th century,
and may probably be of the same date as that in
the great church of St. Apollinaris in Classe at
Ravenna, 7th century. (See Ciampini Vet.Momi-
meiita, torn. ii. pi. xxv. No. 11, and p. 95 in text.)
Two portrait medallions of these saints are to
be seen in the church of St. Vitale in the same
■c'ty- [R. St. J. T.]
GETULIUS, martyr at Rome with Aman-
tius, Cerealis, and Primitivus, in the time of
Adrian (circa 124 a.d.) ; " passio," June 10
(Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GIDEON or GEDEON, the prophet ; com-
memorated with Joshua, Sept. 1 (Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.T
GIFTS. [Arrhae ; Elements, p. 600.]
GILBERTUS, "in territorio Parisiacensi,
vico Christoilo ;" commemorated with A<Joadus,
and innumerable others of both sexes, June 24
(Mart. Usuardi). ^^ ^_ q i
GILDARDUS, bishop of Rouen (fpost 508);
" natalis " June 8 (Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GILDING. A frequent mode of decorating
the interiors of churches was by gilding. The
earliest reference we have to it "is in the letter
of the emperor Constantine to Macarius, bishop
of Jerusalem, relating to the church of the Holy
Sepulchre, which he was about to have built,
consulting him, among other points, as to the
GIRDLE
727
« bee note, p. 433, J. H. Newman's Historical Sketches,
Pickering. 1872. A letter of the greatest interest, wliich
seems to leave little room for doubt as to the authenticity
vo martyrs.
of the bodies of St. Amljiose and th(
character of the ceiling he wished to have con-
structed. The emperor evidently inclined to a
ceiling divided into panels (AaKwvapia, laqwata),
masmuch as it could be decorated with o-old
(Luseb. Vit. Gonst. iii. c. 32). This plan was
earned out on the most magnificent scale, and,
" by means of compartments, stretched its vast
expanse over the whole basilica, covered throuo-h-
oitt with resplendent gold, so as to make the
whole temple dazzling as with a blaze of light "
S, • *^- ^^- The beams of the roof of the basilica
ot St. Paul at Rome were originally, a.d. 386
covered with gold-leaf. '
"Bracteolas irabibus siiljlevit. ut omnis aurulenta
Lux esset intiis. ceu jubar sub ortu."
(Petron. Fassio Beat. Apost.)
The church built by St. Paulinus at Nola had
also a panelled ceiling, "alto et lacunato cul-
mine (Paulin. Epist. xxxii. 12), but gildincr
IS not expressly mentioned. References to thes?
ceilings of gilded panelling are frequent in
Jerome, who speaks of " the laquearla and roofs
gleaming with gold," "the gilded ceilings," and
the like, with some expression of regret that so
much that might have been devoted to Christ's
poor was lavished on architectural decoration
(Hieron. lib. ii. in Zach. viii. ; Epist. ii. ad Nepot. ■
Epid. viii. ad Dcmetriad.). From the last-quoted
passage we learn that the capitals of the pillars
were also gilt, and that the altars were orna-
mented with gold and jewels. In the more mag-
nificent churches erected in Justinian's reio-n,
the altars were often of silver plated with gold!
Ihe altar given by Pulcheria, a.d. 414, to the
church at Constantinople was elaboratelv con- '
structed of gold and precious stones (Boz'. H. E.
ix. 1). This was surpassed by the altar given
by Justinian to St. Sophia, which was all of gold
resplendent with gems (Ducange, Gonstantinop.
Christ, lib. iii. p. 47). The altar at St. Ambrogio,
at Milan, made a.d. 835, is covered with plates
of gold and silver, with subjects in high relief
[Altar, p. 64]. The domes which crowned the
early churches in the East were often gilt ex-
ternally. (Bingham, Orig. Eccl. Vlil. viii. 5;
Neale, Eastern Ghurch, Introd. p. 182.) [E. V.]
GIRDLE ((iiivr]; halteus, cingulum, zona).
Among nations who wore long flowing robes, it
is obvious that the use of the girdle would be
necessary for convenience in walking, or in active
work. This very way, however, of using the
girdle would cause it to be more or less hidden
by the dress : and thus we are a priori prepared
for the fact that, while in the early Christian
centuries we continually meet with the girdle
used as a matter of practical convenience, it
is not till the eighth century that we find it
recognized as an ecclesiastical vestment strictly
so called. The use of it in these earlier times
seems not unfrequently to have carried with it
the idea of an imitation of the ancient Jewish
prophets, and thus to have been worn by those
who followed a monastic life, and those who
professed, in reality or in seeming, to imitate
their austerities. We find, for example, pope
Celestinus I. (ob. 432 a.d.) finding fault with
those who, by affecting this style of dress
C'amicti pallio et lumhos praecincti "), seemed
to claim for themselves a sanctity of life not
rightly theirs (Epid. 4 ad Episr. Viam ,i
Narb. c. 2; Patrol. 1. -131). Salviauus (ol,
28
GIKDLE
circa 495 A.D.) refers to the same idea, in the
words addressed to an unworthy monk, "licet
fidem cingulo afferas " {Adv. avaritiam iv. 5 ;
Patrol, liii. 232). See also Basil {Epist. 45 ad
monachum lapsmn ; Patrol. Gr. xxxii. 366). To
take an instance of a different type, Fulgentius
(ob. 533 A.D.) on his elevation to the see of
Ruspe, is said in his biography (formerly attri-
buted to Ferrandus Diaconus) to have retained
the girdle with the rest of the monastic habit —
" pelliceo cingulo tanquam monachus utebatur "
(c. 37 ; Patrol. Ixv. 136). The Pule of St.
Benedict forbad the laying aside of the monastic
girdle even at night; for the monks were to
sleep " vestiti . . . et cincti cingulis aut funibus "
(Eegula S. Benedicti, c. 22 : see also Eegula S.
Donati, c. 65).
It may further be remarked that the girdle
was commonly worn as an ornament by so-
vereigns and nobles. Thus, in a homily once
assigned to Chrysostom, but now generally be-
lieved to be a work of the sixth century, the
girdle is spoken of as an ordinary ornament of
kings, and with this royal use of it is compared the
girdle of our Lord {Horn, de Una Legislatore, c. 3 ;
vol. vi. 409, ed. Montfaucon). It will readily
be seen how important a bearing the above facts
have on the main general question, to which we
can only refer thus in passing, as to whether
the dress of the early Christian ministry was
derived from that of the Levitical priesthood.
In this last, it will be remembered, the girdle
was a very important element.
It has been said that it was not till the 8th
century that v/e meet with the girdle as an eccle-
siastical vestment in the strict sense of the
word. It is true that we do meet with references
to it at an earlier period, as to that worn by
Gregory the Great, which later generations are
said by his biographer to have regarded as a
precious relic ( Joannis Diaconi Vita S. Greg.
Magni, iv. 80 ; Patrol. Ixxv. 228). Still, it must
be remembered, the use of an article of dress by
ecclesiastics is a totally different thing from their
use of it because they are ecclesiastics ; and for
instances of this latter we must pass on to
a later period.
Perhaps the earliest reference of this kind is
one by Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople
(ob. 740 A.D.), in his description of the various
priestly vestments (Jlistoria Ecclesiastica et
Mystica Conteinplatio ; Patrol. Gr. xcviii. 394),
in which he also alludes to the napkin attached
to the girdle worn by deacons (jh iyxeiptou rb
i-rvl TTjs ^liuri?). Rabanus Maurus, in his trea-
tise de Institutione Clericorum (i. 17 ; Patrol.
cvii. 306), a work probably written about the
year 819 A.D., refers to the girdle as one of the
regular Christian vestments, and dwells on the
symbolism of it at some length. A curious in-
junction, for which a curious reason is given, as
to the wearing of the girdle, is found in one of
the so-called Arabic canons of the council of
Nicaea, edited by Abraham Ecchelensis (can. 66 ;
Labbe ii. 335). According to this, the clergy
are forbidden to wear a girdle during divine
service.
In earlier times the girdle was often doubt-
lessly richly adorned: the reference we have
already given to its regal use is illustrative of
this, and we may further cite Chrysostom (ffom.
in Fsal. 48 ; vol. v. 521), where, inveighing
GLADIATORS
against various articles of luxury in dress, he
speaks of golden girdles. Apparently, too, this
state of things prevailed after the girdle became
a recognized ecclesiastical vestment, the exces-
sive ornamentation being, it would seem, viewed
as a secular element in the ecclesiastical dress.
Thus we find Durandus (ob. 1296 A.D.) speaking
of the clergy in the time of the emperor Louis
I., the son of Charlemagne, as laying aside
" Cingula auro texta, exquisitas vestes, et alia
secularia ornamenta " {^Rationale Div. Off. iii. 1).
A further illustration of this is furnished by the
will of Riculfus, bishop of Helena (ob. 915 A.D.),
in which he bequeaths, among other precious
articles, " zonas quinque, una cum auro et gem-
mis pretiosis, et alias quattuor cum auro " (^Patrol.
cxxxii. 468).
Later liturgical writers [e. g. Honorius Augus-
todunensis (^Geinma Animae, i. 206 ; Patrol.
clxxii. 606), Innocent iii. (de Sacro Altaris mys-
terio, i. 52 ; Patrol, ccxvii. 793), and Durandus
(Eat. Div. Off. iii. 4)] speak further of an under
girdle ( subcingulum, subcinctorium, succincto-
rium), and generally as a vestment peculiar to
bishops. So in the ancient mass given by
Menard (Greg. S-icr. col. 249) from the Cd.
Eatoldi, the bishop puts on both a cingulum and
a balteus, the former perhaps the unseen and
simple primitive girdle, the latter the elaborate
ornament of later times. This subject, however,
falls beyond our limits ; reference may be made
to Bona de Eebus Liturg. i. 24. 15.
A brief remark may be made in passing as to
the special significance of the girdle in reference
to the bestowal or deprivation of office. Thus
Gregory the Great congratulates a friend " prae-
fecturae vos suscepisse cingula " (Epist. x. 37 ;
Patrol. Ixxvii. 1094). Atto, bishop of Ver-
cellae (ob. circa 960 A.D.), writing to one bishop
Azo, orders that a man who should contract a
marriage within the prohibited degrees " cinguli
sui patiatur amissionem " {Epist. 5 ; Patrol.
cxxxiv. 107). Similar i-eferences are often
found in the Theodosian code, and elsewhere
(see e.g. Cod. Theodos. lib. viii. tit. i. 1. 11 ; lib.
X. tit. 26, 1. 1), in a way that often suggests the
belt of knighthood of later times.
For further references to the subject of the
girdle in its different aspects, see Ducange's
Glossarium s. vv. ; Marriott's Vestiarium Chris-
tianum, p. 213, etc. ; Hefele, Die Uturgischen
Gewdnder, pp. 178 sqq. ; Bock, Geschichte der
Uturgischen Gewdnder des Miiteldlters, ii. pp. 50
sqq. [R. S.]
GLADIATOES. A passion for gladiatorial
combats had a strong hold upon the popular
mind of pagan Rome; and under the empire
magnificent amphitheatres were built for such
exhibitions, and others of an almost equally
barbarous nature, which seem to have presented
a peculiarly fascinating attraction both to men
and women in those times.
Augustine mentions a case in which even a
Christian, having been induced to be present at
one of these exhibitions, and having kept his eyes
closed for a time — on opening them, at a sudden
outcry which he heard, instead of being shocked
or disgusted at the siglit, was hurried along with
the spirit of the assembled people — was over-
come with a wild and savage delight at beholding
the scene of bloodshed and death, and carried
GLADIATORS
away with him an inextinguishable desire to j
witness the same spectacles again (August.
Conf. vi. 8).
Some pagan moralists expressed more or less
strongly their disapprobation of the gladiatorial
shows, as being inhuman and demoralizing
(Seneca, Ep. vii. and Pliny, Ep. iv. 22); but
they were too popular to be checked by such
remonstrances ; and nothing efiectual was done
to stop them until they were opposed and finally
suppressed by the intervention of Christian prin-
ciples and Christian heroism.
The church expressed its abhorrence of these
barbarous games as soon as it came in contact
with them, not only by discountenancing attend-
ance at them, but by refusing to admit gladiators
to Christian baptism (see Constit. Apostol. viii.
32). In this canon, charioteers, racers, and many
others, are included in the same condemnation ;
probably because the public exhibitions in which
they took a part were more or less connected
with idolatry. And for the same reason such
persons, if they had already been received into
the church, were to be punished by excommuni-
cation (Concil. Arelat. i. 4).
The first imperial edict prohibiting the exhi-
bition of gladiators was issued by Constantine in
A.D. 325, just after the council of Nice had been
convened {Cod. Theod. xv. 12, 1). Forty years
later Valentinian forbade that any Christian
criminals should be condemned to fight as gladi-
ators ; and in A.D. 367 he included in a similar
exemption those who had been in the imperial
service about the court (Palatini) {Cod. Theod.
■ix. 40, 8 and 11).
Honorius, at the end of this century, ordered
that no slave, who had been a gladiator, should
I)e taken into the service of a senator (Cod. Theod.
XV. 12, 3).
All these edicts resulted from the operation of
Christian principles and feelings, and they show
the rise and growth of a more civilized opinion,
which these imperial utterances also helped to
promote ; but they produced little or no direct
effect in putting a stop to such exhibitions.
The decree of Constantine seems to have ap-
plied only to the province of Phoenicia — to the
prefect of which it was addressed ; or, at any
rate, it very soon became a dead letter; for a
few years later Libanius alludes to gladiatorial
shows as still regularly exhibited in Syria
(Libanius, de vita sua, 3). And although they
were never seen in Constantinople — where a
passion for chariot races seems to have supplied
their place — yet at Rome and in the Western
empire they continued unrestricted, except by
some trifling regulations. Even Theodosius the
Great, though in some things very submissive to
church authorities, compelled his Sarmatian
prisoners to fight as gladiators ; for which he
was applauded by Symmachus, as having imi-
tated approved examples of older times, and
having made those minister to the pleasure of
the people, who had previously been their dread
(Symmachus, 7i}j. x. 61).
Thus these sanguinary games held their place
among the popular amusements, and afforded
their savage gratification to the multitude until
their suppression was at last effected by the
courage and self-devotion of an individual
Christian.
In the year 404, while a show of gladiators
GLASS
729
was being exhibited at Rome in honour of the
victories of Stilicho, an Asiatic monk named
Telemachus, who had come to Rome for the
purpose of endeavouring to stop this barbarous
practice, rushed into the amphitheatre, and
strove to separate the combatants. The spec-
tators— enraged at his attempt to deprive them
of their favourite amusement — stoned him to
death. But a deep impression was produced.
Telemachus was justly honoured as a martyr,
and the emperor Honorius — taking advantage of
the feeling which had been evoked — effectually
put a stop to gladiatorial combats, which were
never exhibited again (Theodoret, ff. E. v. 26).
[G. A. J.]
GLASS, (i.) Window glass. — The use of glass
in windows in Roman times was much more
common than was formerly supposed, and ex-
amples of such glass have been met with not
only in Pompeii, but in our own country in
various places. It was also used by Christians
in early times, though perhaps not very com-
monly, for the windows of their churches, and then
it was sometimes coloured. Thus Prudentius,
speaking of the Basilica of St. Paul, built by
Constantine, says : "In the arched window ran
(panes of) wonderfully variegated glass : it shone
like a meadow decked with spring flowers." "
Glass, probably of the church destroyed A.D. 420,
has been lately found at Treves (Archaeol. xl. 194).
Venantius Fortunatus {circa 560) thus speaks
(lib. ii. poem. 11) of the windows of the church
in Paris :
" Prima caplt radios vltreis oculata fenestris ;
Artificisque mauu clausit in arce diem."
From Gaul artists in glass were first introduced
into Britain (a.d. 676) by Benedict Biscop
for the church windows at Weremouth in Dur-
ham, " ad cancellandas ecclesiae porticuumque et
coenaculorum ejus fenestras" (Bed. Vit. S. Bene-
dict. § 5). Other early examples may be seen
in Ducange, s. v. Vitreae, and Bentham's Hist.
and Antiq. of Ely, p. 21 (ed. 2). Pope Leo III.
{circa 795) adorned the windows of the apse of
the basilica of the Lateran with glass of several
colours, " ex vitro diversis coloribus " (Anastasius
Vitae Pontiff, p. 208, C. ed. Murat.) ; and this,
as some think, " is the earliest instance of the
kind that can be cited with confidence" (Winston,
Anc. Glass Paint., p.-2 ; Fleury, H. E. xlvi. 20).
Painted glass belongs apparently to an age
a little later than the present work embraces.
" It is a fact," says M. Labarte, " acknowledged
by all archaeologists, that we do not now know
any painted glass to which can be assigned with
certainty an earlier date than that of the 11th
century " '' {Handbook, p. 69). The invention
itself, however, may perhaps have been somewhat
earlier.*
» " Turn camnros hyalo Inslgni varle cucurrit arcus.
Sic prata vemis floribus renident."
Peristeph. xii. 53, 54.
The above interpretation, which is substantially that of
Emeric David and Labarte, seems much preferable to that
which makes hyalo mean mosaics (Labarte, Handbook of
Arts of Middle Ages, c. il. p. 66, Engl, trans.).
b Two e.\amples only, belonging to this centnry, are
figured by M. Lasteyrie in his great work, Histuire de la
Feintmr sur Yerre.
c The art is described with many details by the monk
Theophilus, whose age is unfortunately uncertain. Les.-im;
730
GLASS
(ii.) Olass «esse?s.— These were used by the I
Christians as well as by the heathen for inter-
ment with the dead, and the so-called lacryma-
tories which are really unguent bottles, have been
found'in the catacombs of Rome (Serous d'Agin-
court, Hist, de V Art par ses Monum. t. viii.-f, 21,
"Sculpture"), and elsewhere, as Todi, Villeja,
and Sardinia : the vessels are of various kinds,
and are sometimes ornamented with letters and
sometimes with palm-branches (De Rossi, Bull.
Arch. Crist. 1864, p. 89). Perret figures a long
drinking-glass, copied here, ornamented with
palms (incised), from the catacombs; at the
bottom is some red substance : see below. The
Slade Collection, recently acquired by the British
Museum, contains a vessel of the same general
form, of white glass, found at Cologne, probably
of the 4th or 5th century, with incised figures
of Adam and Eve, and of Moses striking the rock.
Glass incised Cup. (Ferret.)
The Sloane Collection in the same museum has
a plain glass beaker from the catacombs em-
bedded in the original plaster : likewise a glass
ampulla marked with a cross and on each side,
also from the catacombs. At the bottom of some
of these small vessels has been found a dark
crust, and it has been made a question whether
this is the sediment of the blood of the martyr
buried there or of some other substance. There
are even some vessels inscribed SANGVIS, or
SANG, or SA (Aringhi, Roin. Siiht. t. i. p. 499) ;
but De Rossi, Garrucci, and Martigny {Diet.
p. 592 q. r.) are agreed that they are forgeries.
These, however, do not necessarily prove that
the substance found in genuine glass vessels is
never in any case blood ; and according to Mar-
tigny, the chemical researches of Broglia in 1845,
supposed that he wrote in the 9th century ; if this were
so, the invention may have been before 800 ; but It is
now generally admitted that his age must be later: La-
barte thinks that he probably lived in the 12th century.
His Diversarum artium Schedula does not speak of the
art of glass as being a new invention. See Labarte u. s.
pp. 48-51.
GLASS
and others, have shewn that at the bottom of
glass vessels found in Christian tombs at Milan
blood is still to be recognised. Without im-
pugning the honesty or the correctness of these
researches, although as regards the latter it
would be satisfactory if some confirmatory
evidence should be discovered, it is allowable to
suppose that the usual unguents (or perhaps
wine) may have been contained in other of these
vessels. The early Christians also employed
glass as one of the materials for chalices. "^ See
Chalice. Their most remarkable glass vessels,
however, are those which have figures in gold leaf
inside their flat bases ; and these have hitherto
been found almost exclusively in the Roman
catacombs, and are generally considered to have
been made in Rome alone. Of these some (about
thirty) are in the British Museum, a smaller
number in Paris, a few others in various Italian
museums and in private continental and English
collections, more particularly that of Mr. Wil-
shere ; from which last the South Kensington
Loan Court, and the Leeds Art Exhibition in
1868, having been largely enriched, these curious
relics have become tolerably fomiliar to many of
our countrymen. It is, however, in the Kirche-
rian Museum and in that of the Propaganda, and
above all, in the Vatican at Rome, tliat the
greatest number are preserved. From these
various sources, and from the works of Aringhi,
Buonarotti, Boldetti, &c.. Padre Garrucci drew
up his great work on the subject, entitled letri
ornati di figure in oro, fol. with 42 plates, com-
prising figures of about 320 specimens,* many,
however, being quite fragmentary and of little
value. The first edition appeared in Rome in
1858, the second (much enlarged) in 1864. As
nearly all that is known of them is contained in
this one work, which has been also used in illus-
tration of various articles in this Dictionary,
a somewhat slight notice may suffice for this
place. The greater part of these glasses are
manifestly the bottoms of drinking cups (the
inscriptions on many of them implying as much),
some iew have been plates. " Their peculiarity,"
say Messrs. Northcote and Brownlow, " consists
in a design having been executed in gold leaf on
the flat bottom of the cup, in such a manner as
that the figures and letters should be seen from
the inside. . . . The gold leaf was protected by a
plate of glass which was welded by fire, so as to
form one solid mass with the cup. These cups,
like the other articles found in the catacombs,
were stuck into the still soft cement of the
newly closed grave ; and the double glass bottom
imbedded in the plaster has resisted the action
of time, while the thinner portion of the cup,
exposed to accident and decay by standing out
from the plaster, has in almo.st every instance
perished. Boldetti informs us that he found two
or three cups entire, and his representation of
one of them is given in Padre Garrucci's work,
t. xxxix. 7% T*" " {Roma Sottcrranea, p. 276).
d The far-famed Sacro Catino of Genoa, taken by the
Crusaders atCaesarea in 1101, made of glass (not, as for-
merly supposed, of a single emerald) has been fabled to be
the dish used at the Saviour's Last Supper; but although
it is undoubtedly very ancient, its history is quite un-
known. Some account of it is given in Murray's Martd-
book of Northern Italy, under " Genoa."
e About twenty others are described only ; the genuine-
ness of some of tbem is suspected.
GLASS
The cup, whose figure is referred to, is a species
of cylix. with two small handles (their bases being
recurved) at the sides, without a stem : upon its
flat bottom are two three-quarter-length figures
in a medallion, inscribed PETRVS, PAVLVS,
the two apostles who, above all persons, are
by far the most frequently represented in the
glass of the catacombs. Garrucci figures a frag-
ment of another vessel with channelled ribs,
whith must have been nearly of the shape of our
tumblers (t. xxxviii. f. 9, b). He thinks that
others must have been in the form of a half-egg
{Pref. p. vii.). Many of the medallions found in
the catacombs are of very small size, little more
than an inch in diameter ; these were long sup-
posed to be centres of the bottoms of small
drinking-cups, but the discovery in 1864 and
1866 of two flat gilded glass plates at Cologne
(both broken) has revealed their real character.
GLASS
731
On one of these plates, found near the church of
St. Severinus,f about 10 inches in diameter, made
of clear glass, were "inserted, while in a state
of fusion, a number of small medallions of green
glass exactly similar to those found in Rome,
and which together form a series of scriptural
subjects.? These medallions being of double glass
f "The patyia found near the church of St. Ursula
differs from the other discovered two years before, in
having the subjects depicted in gold and colours on the
surface of the glass instead of being within medallions of
double glass. The drawing is also of a better style of
art. It is now in the Slade Collection " (Brownlow and
Northcote, U.S. pp. 211, 294 ; figured in Catalogue of Slade
Collection, p. 50). The subjects represented on this glass
are Moses at the Red Sea, Jonah, Daniel in the lions' den.
the three children in the fiery furnace, the sacrifice of
Isaac, the Nativity, and the healing of the man sick of
the palsy.
g A figure of the two fragments of this plate is Riven
hy Messrs. Brownlow and Nortlicote, v.s. p. 2H0. They
have resisted the ravages of time and accidents,
which have destroyed the more thin and fragile
glass of the patena. I)e Rossi has seen in the
plaster of loculi in the catacombs the impression
of large plates of this description, which have
probably perished in the attempt to detach them
from the cement" (Brownlow and Northcote,
u. s. p. 291).
The cups, whose bottoms (or parts of them)
now remain, were of various dimensions ; the
largest hitherto found have medallions of about
five inches in diameter, others are about half
that size : around the painted part there was a
margin of plain glass. Sometimes, but very
rarely as it would seem, the side of the cup as
well as the bottom was ornamented with figures
in gold leaf. Garrucci figures one fragment of
such a side which is preserved in the Kircherian
Museum h (t. xxxix. f. 9). The figures on the
gold leaf were rendered more distinct by edging
the outlines and other parts with dark lines;
and other colours as green, white, and red of
various tints were sparingly introduced : also
on the outside of the glass bottoms various
colours are found, especially azure, also green,
violet, mdigo, and crimson (Garrucci, Fref.
p. ^ ii.).i
The subjects represented on these glasses may
now be considered. A few of them are taken
fiom the classical mythology or represent secu-
lai subjects, whether games or trades, and these
ma} probably not have been the works of Chris-
tnn artists at all.'' It is indeed an unexplained
contam twenty medallions. Eight of these have only
a star in the centre. Three others appear to have the
three children in the Babylonian furnace, one figure in
e ich medallion. Four others have the history of Jonah
111 as many parts; — in the ship; under the gourd; swal-
lowed by the whale; and vomited out by the same.
Another gives Adam and Eve, the serpent round the tree
being between them. The interpretation of the others is
less certain. One has a figure holding a rod, which is
supposed to be the Saviour; probably another medallion
contained Lazarus. It is in the possession of Mr. Pepys of
Cnlogne. See De Rossi, Bull. Arch. Crist. 1864, pp. 89-91,
and a beautiful figure in gold and colour.
h He observes : " e I'unico esempio di figura dipinta in-
torno al corpo di una tazza e non sul fondo . . . . Rappre-
senta poi I'estremo lembo di un pallio orlato di una
striscia di porpora, e notato ancora del segno I in color di
porpora " p. 82.
i The figures in Garrucci's work are uncoloured, at least
no coloured copy has been seen by the writer. In Messrs.
Brownlow and Nortbcote's work, so often laid under
contribution, are two beautiful plates (xvii. and xviii.)
shewing the pale bluish culour of the glass and the pen-
cilling of the gold leaf with deep green. Martigny gives
examples of the use of colour in the following specimens,
figured by Perret, vol. iv. Purple in bands on the dra-
pery (pi. xxxiii. 114) : green in the sea-waves (xxix. 16):
flesh-colour in the face of the Saviour (xxxiii. 102).
Silver is occasionally used for white garmeuis and the
bandages of a corpse (Lazarus). In other cases we have
gold or silver figures on an azure ground (Diet. p. 279).
k Garrucci and Wiseman consider this art to have been
exercised by the Christians alone ; but this is both prima
facie improbable and does not very well accord with the
existence of pagan types on some specimens " such as no
Christian artist of the early ages would ever have thought
of depicting," being wholly incapable of any Christian
adaptation. See Brownlow and Northcote, ti. s. p. 278.
It must be confessed, however, thatOarrucci (pref. p. xiv.)
is able to refer to a silver casket bearing Christian em-
blems and also a triton and a nereid ; as well as to Sidonius
732
GLASS
difficulty how such glasses as represent Hercules,
Minerva, Serapis, and the like should have been
found in Christian catacombs at all ; if indeed it
be certain that they were found there.' It is
beside the present purpose to say more of these."
The greater part of the designs, however, are
connected with the Jewish or Christian religion ;
and, as has been already seen in part, subjects
from the Old and New Testaments are sometimes
grouped together on the same glass. A descrip-
tion of two perfect bottoms of cups, forming in
each case a circular medallion, will show the
mode of treatment.
(1) A bust draped in the centre, enclosed in a
circle with legend ZESES {Live! i.e. enjoy life!).
Around, without distinction into compartments,
but with leaves and pellets interspersed, are :
Jesus turning the water into wine ; Tobit and
the fish ; Jesus ordering the man sick of the
palsy to carry his bed ; Jesus present with the
Three Children in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace
(Garrucci, t. i. f. 1).
(2) Two busts (a man and his wife ?) draped
in the centre, enclosed in a circle as before, with
legend PIE ZESES (Drink! live!). Around, in
the same style as before, are the following sub-
ApoUinaris and Ennodius for e.\ample8 of the same kind
of thing: yet wiihout dwelling on the fact that the mo-
nument no less than the authors very possilily belongs to
a period when paganism had no longer any vigorous life
(Vlsconti, Opere Varie, t. 1, p. 212, thiuks it is of the
fourth or fifth century, the latter, to judge from the
monument itself, which now reposes in the British
iMus^euni, seems at least as probable as the former), and
might therefore, as now, afford subjects for Christian
artists, yet the paganism on these glasses is more seriously
pronounced : e.fif. t. x.xxv. 1, " In nomine HerculisAcher-
oniini (wrongly written Acerontino) . , . felices bibatis."
See also t. xxxv. 8.
1 Messrs. Brownlow and Northcote observe of the
Vatican Collection of Christian Antiquities, that but very
rarely has any account of the locality iu which they have
been discovered been preserved. It is to be suspected
that some glasses with pagan subjects are from unknown
localities, and have been assumed to come from Christian
catacombs where so many works of this fabric have been
discovered.
" They are figured in Garrucci, t. xxxiii.-xxxvi., and
are briefly noticed in Brownlow and Northcote. u. s.
p. 279.
GLASS
jects : Christ foretelling redemption to Adam
and Eve ; the sacrifice of Isaac ; Moses striking
the rock ; Jesus telling the sick man to carry his
bed ; Jesus raising Lazarus (id. t. i. f. 3).
More usually, however, a single subject occu-
pies the bottom of the glass. Thus we have on
one (t. vi. f. 1) Christ as the Good Shepherd bear-
The Good Shepherd. (Qamicci.)
ing a lamb on his shoulders, with a sheep and tree
on each side, all enclosed in a circle ; and the
Greek legend enclosed in another circle outside,
POT*E niE ZHCAIC META TcuN CoiN
nANTojN BOIT (for BIOY ?), i.e. Brink, Bufus,
may you enjoy life with all yours ! long life to
you! On another glass (t. vi. f. 9) occurs the
same subject treated a little differently, with
the nearly equivalent Latin legend: Digxitas
AMICORVM VIV'AS CV3I TVIS FELICITER, i.e. Here's
to our worthy friends ! may you live happily with
all yours ! Dijnitas amicorum, a frequently re-
curring acclamation on these glasses, is thought
to be equivalent to diijni ainici, the form in
Christ raming Water into Wine. (Garrucci.)
which a Eoman host drank his friends' health.
On another (t. vi. f. 7), "bearing the same subject
enclosed in a square, we have the legend : Bibas
(doubtless for vivas) in pace Dei concordi, a
double border of dentels being enclosed in another
outside square. On another, Christ is repre-
sented at full length in the midst of seven water-
GLASS
pots (for the six of the Gospel are invariably
changed into seven, probably from a symbolical
feeling, and with a. secret reference to the
eucharist), surrounded by the legend Digxitas
AMICORUM VIVAS IM (sic) PACE DeI ZeSES :
where vivas may either be taken for bibas, or
(which seems better) zeses may fee regarded as
a superfluous repetition of vivas (t. vii. f. 2).
It will now probably be thought suflicient to
indicate briefly the subjects from the Old Testa-
ment including the Apocrypha and from the
New, whicli can be recognised with certaintj- or
probability upon these glasses, excluding those
on the Cologne fragments. They are all con-
tained in the first eight plates of Garrucci's
worli, but are here set down nearly in their
Biblical order. Adam and Eve; Noah in the
Ark ; Sacrifice of Isaac ; Joseph in the pit (?) ;
Moses striking the rock ; Moses lifting up the
brazen serpent (?) ; the candlestick and other
instruments of Mosaic worship ; the Spies bear-
ing the grapes of Canaan ; Joshua commanding
the Sun to stand still (?) ; Jonah's history (in
several parts) ; the Three Children in Nebu-
chadnezzar's furnace ; Daniel and the lions ;
Daniel desti'oying the Dragon ; Susannah and
the Elders (?) ; Tobit and the Fish.
The Wise Men offering gifts (?) ; Christ turn-
ing water into wine ; Christ healing the sick of
the palsy ; Christ multiplying the seven loaves ;
Christ raising Lazarus ; Christ as the Good
Shepherd.
The chrisma or monogram of Christ is also of
frequent occurrence, sometimes in connection
with Saints, sometimes interposed between a
husband and wife, sometimes between a and a>
(taw. i. vii. si. xiv. xvii. xx. xxv. xxvi. xxix.
xxxix.).
The only representation of the Crucifixion
(t. xl. 1) is considered to be false.
" The Blessed Virgin is represented sometimes
alone, with her name (MARIA) over her head,
praying betv/een two olive-trees, sometimes with
the apostles Peter and Paul on either side of her ;
sometimes accompanied by the virgin martyr
St. Agnes " (Brownlow and Northcote, u. s.
p. 280). The apostles most frequently repre-
sented (on more than seventy glasses) are St.
Peter and St. Paul, their names being added ;
sometimes singly, more often conjointly. " The
two apostles are represented side by side, some-
times standing, sometimes seated. In some in-
stan<;es Christ is represented in the air ....
holding over the head of each a crown of vic-
tory ; or in other instances a single crown is
suspended between the two, as if to show that
in their death they were not divided. This
crown becomes sometimes a circle surrounding
the labarum or chrisma, which is often sup-
ported on a pillar, thus symbolising 'the pillar
and ground of the truth ' " (Brownlow and
Northcote, m. s. p. 285)." We have also single
GLASS
733
" These learned writers try to persuade themselves
that these glasses give us real portraits of the apostles,
"excepting a few which are of veiy inferior execution."
They rely principally on their resemblance to a bronze
medal said to have been found in the cemetery of Domi-
tilla, now in the Vatican, of which they give a beautiful
figure (pi. xvll), and which they say " has every appear-
ance of having been executed in the time of the Flavian
emperors, when Grecian art still flourished in Rome."
He Rossi, who also figures this medal {Bull. Arch. Crist.
examples of the names of John, Thomas, Philip,
and Jude, most probably the apostles ; and two
or three other names which occur in the New
Testament, are also found : Lucas, Silvanus, Timo-
theus, Stephen (written Istephanus) ; these are
probably the same persons whose names are men-
tioned in the New Testament. (For the glasses
on which these names occur, see Garrucci's Index,
p. 109.)
There are, besides the persons mentioned in
Scripture, a good many others which are of note
in ecclesiastical history. St. Agnes occurs more
than a dozen times, St. Laurence seven times,
and St. Hippolytus four times ; the following
among others occur less frequently, St. Cal-
listus, St. Cyprian, and St. Marcellinus, the last
of whom was martyred under Diocletian, a.d. 304
(see Garrucci's Lulex, as above). Besides these,
many other proper names, probably of the pos-
sessors, occur either along with their miniatures
or without them (see Garrucci's Index, as before).
There is nothing which deserves to be called a real
portrait in any of these representations, which
are mostly, perhaps all, executed in the debased
style of the 4th century ; and as the saints have
no emblems attached their figures have biit little
interest. We have also on these glasses scenes
of domestic Christian life — married life, and
family life. The occurrence of the chrisma
makes their Christian character certain : where
this or the name of Christ or God does not occur,
it is rash to say anything definite (Garrucci,
taw. xxvi. -xxxix.).
A few more words may suffice for the inscrip-
tions. The acclamations, of which several speci-
mens have been given, are mostly of a convivial
character, and either in Greek (rarel}'), or in
Latin (most usually), or in a mixture of the
two (not unfrequently) : " none of them at all
favour the supposition that they were used as
chalices. Other acclamations, as ViVATiS in Deo;
and Martvra Epeciete vivatis, express good
wishes to the married couple (id. t. xxvi. 11, 12^
On a very few of the glasses we have, as it ap-
pears, invocations of saints or legends which
acknowledge their patronage. Thus a broken
fragment has PETRVS PROTEG. ; whether any
letters followed, it is impossible to say : the
word may either be protegit or protegat or even
protege {id. t. x. f. 1). Another fine but meagre
fragment exhibits the Saviour (apparently) with
the chrisma and the a and a, bearing a Latin
cross with legend, .. ..\^¥. {Salviane, or some
other proper name) vivas in Cr[isto et] Lav-
RENTio {id. t. XX. f. 1). Another {n. s. f. 2), which
is also broken, but slightly, has ViTO (or perhaps
Victor) [viv]as in nomine Lavreti (for Lau-
renti). The inscription PETRVS, written in two
instances against Moses striking the rock {id. t. x.
Nov. 1864), thinks It is of the second or third century.
NotwiiJistanding these high but somewhat discordant
authorities, the wnter ventures to express his own strong
suspicion that the style of the medal bespeaks the age of
the Renaissance ; it is most probably of the 15th century
or thereabouts.
» We give here two or three of this mixed character:
CvM Tvis FELiciTF.K ZESES (Garr. t. xii. 1) ; Dignitas
AJlICOI£VM riE ZK8KS CVM TVIS OMNIBVS BIBK ET PRO-
piNA (t. xii. 2). (Both the above glasses have figures of
Peter and Paul, with their names added.) On the same
plate are other examples of bilingual redundancy : such
as— Vivas pib zesks, vivas cvm tvis zfses.
734
GLASS
f. 9; Brownlow and Northcote, n. s. pi. xvii. 2,
and p. 287), is also of some theological import-
ance as indicating that Peter was then looked
upon as the Moses of the new Israel of God, as
Prudentius speaks. The honour, however, ap-
pears to be divided between Peter and Paul on
another glass, unfortunately mutilated. Christ
stands on a hill between Peter and Paul. Above
is the common legend PIE Z[ESES] : below are
the words lERVSALE . lORDANES . BECLE
(for Bethlehem, C = © ?). Peter is here the apostle
of the Jews, Paul of the Gentiles, who first wor-
shipped the Saviour at Bethlehem. Below are
sheep adoring the Lamb on a hill between them,
symbolising both churches (Garrucci, t. x. f. 8.)
The orthogi-aphy of the legends is sometimes
barbarous.P Thus Jesus is written ZESVX
(viii. 5); Zesvs (vii. 17), &c. Christvs is
spelt Cristvs (viii. 5, xii. 1, &c.) ; Timothevs
becomes TniOTEVS (xvii. 2) ; Hippolytvs, Epo-
LiTVS (xix. 7), or Ippoltvs (sxv. 5) ; Cyprianvs,
Cripranvs (xx. 6); Svcixvs, Tzvcinvs (xxviii.
6); Severe, Sebere (xxix. 5); Philippvs,
FiLPVS (xxv. 6). We have also Bibas for Vivas
(vi. 7); ViBATis for.ViVATis(xxix. 4); Im pace
for In Pace (vii. 2, xv. 3); PIE for niE
The Adoration of the Fbv
(i. 3, &c.) ; PiEZ for Uiris (xxvi. 10). There are
a few other instances of similar orthogi'aphic
changes, to say nothing of such blunders as
Digntias for DiGNiTAS, and Critsvs for Cristvs
(Christus) (Garr. p. 53).
The dates of the:fe works are defined to some ex-
tent by their subjects. On one of them (xxxiii. 5)
a heap of money is depicted, among which we re-
cognise the coins of Caracalla and one of the Faus-
tinas. On another, as has been said, occurs the
name of Marcellinus, probably the bishop of
Rome, martyred A.D. 30-t.i The martyrdom of
St. Agnes, who is so often represented, probably
took place about the same time. The appear-
ance of the dress, arrangement of the hair, and
of the general art and orthography induces Gar-
rucci {Pref. p. ix.) to consider them all anterior
to Theodosius (A.D. 380). De Rossi attempts a
p Garrucci lays stress on this orthography for fixing
the date : " questa maniera di scrittura cos'i costante rin-
via al secolo quarto" (pref. p. ix.). He appears to con-
sider that these glasses all belong to that century.
'1 'the martyrdoms of Vincfiitius and of Genesius,
whose names similarly occur, also to.k dace under Dio-
cletian (Garrucci, pief. pp. viii. ix.).
GLASS
more precise limitation, and thinks that they
range from the middle of the 3rd to the be-
ginning of the 4th century (Brownlow and
Northcote, u. s. p. 279). We shall probably be not
far wrong in saying that few or none of them are
much earlier or later than the 4th century ."■ The
art of the coins of that century, as well as of the
MS. illuminations which are assigned to about
the same age, strongly remind us of these glasses,
more especially of those on which the chrisma
is depicted.* The execution of some glasses is
indeed better than that of others, and occasion-
ally reaches considerable excellence ; but to speak
generally, they belong to a period m which taste
and vigour and correctness of drawing have sen-
sibly declined. They possess, however, apart from
their main subjects, much interest as showing the
styles of borders and other ornamentations then
prevalent, besides giving costume and a variety
of domestic objects.'
With regard to the uses of these glasses a con-
sideration of the types, coupled with the inscrip-
tions, will lead us to secure conclusions. Even
if it were well established " that in Tertullian's
"• Mr. Marriott (^Testim. of the Catacombs, p. 16), after
observing that " these glasses, with few exceptions, belong
to a period of veiy degraded art,' considers that " there
are very strong reasons of a technical Ijind, in reference to
the use of the nimbus, for assigning many of them to the
5th, if not to the 6th century." But if these glasses were
found in the catacombs, it is hardly possible to place any
of them later than the first quarter of the 5th century:
after the year 410 no inscriptions occur in the catacombs,
and they have become rarer and rarer from the beginning
of the last quarter of the 4th century. See Insckiptions.
It Is true that •' Popes Syinmachus Vigilius and John III.
did their best to repair the damage which had been done
in the catacombs by the Lomliards and others" in re-
storing the inscriptions of Pope Damasus, but they would
scarcely have replaced the glass vessels which had been
stuck into the cement which closed the graves. See
Brownlow and Northcote, u.s. p. 170.
8 The chrisma with the a and w (xxxix. 1) is identical
in treatment with the same types upon tlie coins of Con-
stantius II., Magnentius, and Decentius. And this mono-
gram, whenever it occurs, with scarcely an exception (see,
however, xvii. 7, where the general style and art differ
also), is of the same form (J^) that is usual on the coins
of the fourth century: another form fQ^ is said to
occur on a coin of Licinius jun. (Garrucci, Numism. Con-
stanlin. p. 102; appendix to his Vetri Ornati) .
t Martigny observes that those of the best work (in-
stancing the Good Shepherd, Garr. vii. 1, reproduced here,
which is perbapithe best executed of all and the oldest)
have Greek legends, being probably the work of Greek
artists (Diet. p. 279).
" Is it altogether certain that calices are chalices for
the communion? St. Ambrose speaks of those "qui
calices ad sepulcra martyrum deferunt atque ilUc in
vexperam bibuvt " (De obtest, et. sacr. potant.). If not, it
may then well be that TertuUian Is alluding to some
such glasses as these : but scarcely any which remain to
us can be so early as a.d. 200. Chrysostom (Homil. in
iS. Melet.) says that the portrait of Meletius was de-
picted Iv cKirwaaa-i koX (j>i.a\ais ; such vessels may pos-
sibly have been similar to those of which we have speci-
mens; if so, the art will probably be Asiatic as well as
European. We have indeed a bottom of a small glass
vessel which simply reads Mf.liti (for Meleti probably)
DVLCis AKI5IA (.xxxviii. 4) : yet this can hardly be the
same person ; it may be a present from a parent to a
child, or the like. The remark of Cardinal Wiseman
appears to be well founded, that " not a single author,
certainly not a single profane author, mentions the
GLASS
time the Good Shepherd was depicted on chalices,
possibly glass chalices (" procedant ipsae picturae
calicum vestrorum, si vel in illis perlucebit inter-
pretatio," De pudicit. c. 7 ; see also c. 10), there
is certainly nothing in these glasses bearing that
type or any other type, which would bear out
the conclusion that they were chalices for the
communion." They were at once sacred and con-
vivial, and must therefore have been used in
meetings which were both one and the other.
Such wei'B the agapae, such were the commemo-
rations of martyrs, such were Christian mar-
riages. On all such occasions, and perhaps others,
these glasses were used ; more especially, it may
be, in the commemorations of St. Peter and St.
Paul (so often represented thereon), which were
" observed as a general holiday in Rome during
the fourth century, very much as Christmas now
is among ourselves" (Brownlow and Northcote,
M. s. p. 283). In a well-known passage of St.
Augustine {Confess, vi. 2), he mentions that his
mother Monica never took more than one cup
(^pocillum) to the commemoration of the various
martyrs — implying that some took more ; pei--
haps bearing effigies of the particular martyrs to
be commemorated.
With regard to the plates, large fragments of
which have been found at Cologne and smaller
ones at Rome, as well as impressions in mortar
of entire plates at the latter place, the most
obvious and natural interpretation of them would
be that they were made use of in the same fes-
tivities as those in which the glass cups were
employed. Monica, at Milan, as her son informs
us, " brought to the commemorations of the
Saints, as was the custom in Africa, pulse and
bread and wine " {Confess, vi. 2). We may then
reasonably suppose that these plates were for the
purpose of holding the bread or other solid food
used in the same commemorations as those in
which wine was drunk. A different view, how-
ever, as was perhaps to be expected, is taken of
them by those who (like Messrs. Brownlow and
Northcote) think that " it is quite possible that
some of our glasses may be fragments of chalices"
(m. s. p. 293). Anastasius in the Vitae Pontif.
s. V. Zephyrinus, says " that he made it a consti-
tution of the church, that ministers should carry
glass patens (patenae vitrea:') into the church in
front of the priests, while the bishop celebrated
mass with the priests standing before him, and
that in this manner . . . the priest should re-
ceive the bread to administer it to the people."
Messrs. Brownlow and Northcote, commenting on
this passage, say (m. s. p. 29o) : " The fragments
of the two large patenae discovered at Cologne,
correspond exactly to the kind of glass here men-
tioned. The scriptural subjects and the absence
of any allusions to secular feasting " there are no
inscriptions at all on these glasses " accord well
with so sacred a purpose, and we may therefore
fairly presume that those other smaller glasses"
found in Rome, "of which we have also spoken,
may also be remains of the patenae used to
GLASS
735
existence of this art" {Lecture, p. 7). The most that
can be said is that Te-tiiUian and Chrysostom may pos-
sibly allude to it. I'he passage quoted by Garrucci from
tlio monk Tlieophilus {Din. Art. Sdied. c. 13), who pro-
bably lived about the 12ih century, refers to a different
mode of di'coration, as he himself observes (prcf. p. vi.).
• AsBoldetti and varions oihershave thoiiglit. Their
arguments are discussed by Ciarrucci (pref. pp. x.-.\iii )
convey the Blessed Sacrament from the pope's
altar to the parish churches of Rome. Padre
Garrucci thinks this not improbable, although
he does not admit that any of our catacomb
glasses ever formed portions of eucharistic cha-
lices." The reader must be left to form his own
opinion, but the subjects on the patenae being
much the same as those on the bottoms of the
cups, it seems to be by far the most probable
supposition, that the purpose of the plates and
of the cups was one and the same, whatever that
purpose was. (Garrucci, Vetri ornati di figure in
oro, Roma, 1858 and 1864 (ed. 2), fol. 42 plates :
the preface contains an account of the literature
of the subject, pp. xvii. xviii. and a discussion
of the date and use of these vessels ; De Rossi,
Bull. Arch. Crist, for 1864 and 18G6; Brownlow
and Northcote, Jioma Sotterranea, c. vii. 1869.
Wiseman (Card.), Lecture delivered in Dublin,
1858, published by M. Walsh, Dublin, 1859 ; cer-
tainly not revised by the Cardinal himself, but
giving a fair view of the subject in a short
space.)
(iii.) Glass pastes. — Another use of glass
among Christian as well as other artists was to
make imitations or copies of gems therein. A
few such have come down to our times. A paste
in imitation of red jasper, published by Le Blant,
which exhibits a Pastor Bonus of the usual tvpe,
with the legend AOTAOC XPICTOT, may serve
as an example (Bockh, C. /. G. n. 9093). Other
gem pastes in imitation of niccolo and garnet
exhibit varieties of the chrisma (British Museum,
Castellani Collection). Of more importance are
the following. A Nativity, in green glass, pub-
lished by Venuti (Acad, di Cortona, t. vii. p. 45),
and described and figured by Martigny (Diet. p.
431), which is ascribed to the 6th century ; it
is a semicircular plaque, bearing the words H
TENNHCIC above, and a defaced legend below:
the Magi adore the Saviour, at whom an ox and
an ass are gazing: Mary is lying on a bed, and
Joseph is seated in meditation. The Vettori Mu-
seum, now in the Vatican, has a large oval plaque
of coloured glass (Vettori, Num. Aer. expl. p. 37 ;
Martigny, Diet. p. 431, with a figure), which
seems to be early medieval ; it is also a Nativity :
the infant Saviour has a cruciform nimbus ; two
oxen look at him in the manger ; Joseph and
Mary are seated near him ; the moon and the
star of the Magi are in the field. (A cast sent
from Rome ; the British Museum has three other
examples cast from the same mould ; one is red,
in imitation of jasper ; the others are of deep
colour.) See Nativity. A large glass plaque
of the same general form, but less regular (If
by 2^ inches), now, it is believed, in the Vatican,
of uncertain date, represents a dead saint pros-
trate ; in the centre a semiaureole resting upon
her, including the Virgin with cruciform nimbus
and Child without any nimbus, a glorified head
with circular nimbus (Joseph ?) near the Virgin's
knees, lu xc in field : outside the aureole on
both sides saints and angels (both with circular
nimbus) in the act of adoration : perhaps early
medieval. (A cast sent from Rome.) We have
also glass pastes nearly an inch in diameter
which are supposed to have been pendants for
necklaces, and are considered to go back to the
early Christian centuries : one in green glass
shews two Israelites contemplating the brasen
serpent ; another, a red paste, lias tlie Saviour
736
GLEBE
0 M N
1 B V s
blessing the twelve apostles ; a third, probabl}'
Christian, has a frog, which was sometimes taken
as a symbol of the Resurrection, being found on a
Christian lamp, accompanied by a cross and the
inscription, EFto EIMI ANACTACIC (Chabou-
illet, nos. 3474, 3475, 3453). M. Le Blant has
a small oblong glass plaque, which he acquired
in Rome, which was once, he thinks, part of an an-
cient Christian necklace ; it bears
in golden characters the word
in two lines, enclosed in a paral-
lelogram and a crenulated outer
^ margin. He regards it as a
'• concise expression of the charity which should
unite all men " (^Insc. Chr^t. de la Gaule, vol. i.
p. 43, with a figure). The British Museum
and the French Collection contain various other
Christian works in this material, some of
which are more or Jess similar to those which
have been already described, or to the Byzantine
camei named under Gems ; but as they are of
uncertain date (perhaps none of them being
earlier than the 9th century^' while some may
probably be much later) they need hardly be
mentioned here.
(iv.) Mosaics. — Glass, in fine, was employed
from very early times in the construction of
mosaics. The cubes were sometimes coloured ;
sometimes, in the ages of the Lower Empire,
underlaid with a ground of gold or silver leaf,
" by this means shedding over the large works of
the artists in mosaic a splendour before un-
known " (Labarte, u. s. p. 94). See Mosaics.
[C. B.]
GLEBE. The word Gleha is used for a farm
or estate in the Theodosian Codex (^Leg. 72; De
Decurion.') ; but the technical sense in which
it is used by English writers, to designate certain
lands belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice, is
later than our period. See Endowment, Pro-
perty OF THE Church. [C]
GLORIA. [Nimbus.]
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. There is con-
siderable difficulty in tracing out the history of
this hymn, because at one period both it and the
Sanctus were entitled indiscriminately Hymnus
Angolicm. In later years the latter is called
Hymnus Seraphicus ; whilst the title Hymnus
Angclicus or Ht/mnus Angelorum is confined to
the former. The hymn is found in various
forms.
1. We have simply the words of St. Luke, ii.
14. This is of course the primitive form, every-
thing that has been added to it having been
composed,— as the 4th council of Toledo (a.d.
633, Mansi, x. 623) reminds us, — by the
ecclesiastical doctors. For this reason the coun-
cil would not allow any expanded form to be
sung in the churches. In this short form the
words were recited by the priest, according to
the liturgy of St. James, when the priest
" sealed " the gifts. (Daniel, Codex Liturgicus,
iv. 103.) The same simple form may be seen
elsewhere : and is continued to this day in the
y A bust of the Saviour (to be compared with the
earlier Byzantine coins) on a circular plaque of blue glass
(li inch in diameter) brought from Constantinople, now
in the Slade Collection ; aud a paste polychrome rosette,
inscribed BENEDICAT NOS IJ^ (ChabouiUet, n. 3478)
may probably not be later than that century. !
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
morning service of the Horology (p. 35, ed.
Venice, 1870).
2. The seventh book of the Apostolic Constitu-
tions, c. 47, contains an enlarged form of the
hymn, — without any introduction in the oldest
manuscript; but two, of the 14th and 16th cen-
tury respectively, entitle the chapter " Morning
Prayer." (Lagarde, p. 229.) . This version has u
peculiar reading: "We worship Thee through
the great High Priest, Thee who art one God, un-
begotten, alone, inapproachable." We read too
" 0 Lord, only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and
Holy Spirit." The hymn ends " Thou only art '
holy. Thou only art Lord, Jesus Christ, to the
glory of God the Father. Amen."
3. The treatise which is ascribed to Athana-
sius " de Virginitate " (Migne, xxviii. 251) is un-
doubtedly spurious, but it gives some insight
into the life of a Greek virgin, within our chro-
nological limits. In § 20 (Migne, ut sup. 275)
we read " In the morning, say the Psalm 0 God,
my God, early will I seek Thee (Psalm Ixii.).
At dawn, the 'Benedicite' and Glory to God ia
the Highest, and the rest." This is the reading
of the Basle and English MSS. But others pro-
ceed with the first three clauses : " We hymn
Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, and the
rest." As this difference of the text may be due
to a late interpolation, we are left in uncertainty
as to the words of the hymn when this treatise
was composed. (Mr. Palmer, Orig. Liturg. ii. 158
does not note the doubts regarding this passage.)
4. The famous Codex Alexandrinus in the
British Museum, of the close of the 5th century,
puts some of our doubts at rest. This manu-
script, after the psalms, contains the thirteen
canticles of the Greek church : i. the song of
Moses in Exodus ; ii. ditto in Deuteronomy ; iii.
the prayer of Hannah ; iv. prayer of Isaiah
(xxvi. 9-20): v. prayer of Jonah; vi. of Habak-
kuk; vii. of Hezekiah (Isaiah, xxxviii.); viii. of
Manasseh ; ix. prayer of the three children
{^vK6yr]Tos, Daniel iii. 26) : x. hymn of the three
children (our Benedicite) entitled " Hymn of our
fathers ; " xi. prayer of Mary, the Mother of
God; sii. ofSymeon; xiii. ofZachariah (compare
Canticles). These conclude with the Gloria in
Excelsis in Greek, the hymn being entitled
vixvos kw&ivSs. This version has been often
printed, as by Usher, in his tract De symbolo
Romano : Bunsen, Analecta ante-Nicaena, iii. 86 ;
Dr. Campion, Interleaved Prayer Book, 1873, p.
321. It differs slightly from the version of the
Apostolic Constitutions, and proceeds with words
which distinctively mark it as a morning hymn,
some of which words have passed into our Te
Deum. It is thus found in the beautiful Zurich
psalter reprinted by Tischendorf in his Monu-
menta Sacra, and in other great psalters ; and,
in a form very nearly resembling this, it is used
in the Greek communion to this day (Horology,
lit snp>. pp. 69, 70).
5. A Latin translation of this Greek version of
the " Gloria in Excelsis," adapted for evening
prayer, is contained in the book of hymns of the
ancient Irish church, which once belonged to
Archbishop Usher, and which has been edited for
the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society by
Dr. Todd (part ii. p. 179). In the famous Bangor
antiphonary discovered at Milan by Muratori,
and reprinted imperfectly by him in his Anecdotn
torn. iv. pp. 121, &c. (see Migne, torn. 72) we
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
find at the very end " ad vesperum et ad matu- I
tinum : Gloria in Escelsis Deo et in terra pax &c."
but Muratori unhappily did not copy it out.
Thus we are ignorant of the text. However, the
hymn given by Thomasius (Psalterium cum
canticis, Rom. 1697, p. 760, or Oper. torn. iii. p.
613) as the Hymnus Angelicus of the Ambrosian
breviary, is another and independent translation
of the Greek form of the hymn. It was directed
to be used daily at matins.
6. Thus it seems clear that when the well
known Latin form of the hymn was inserted in
the Latin psjilters, it was used in the daily or
weekly hour services of the clergy. We have
additional evidence of this in the rule of Caesa-
rius, c. xxi. and in that of Aurelian. It is
there ordered to be used at matins on Sundays.
7. This Latin form Bunsen considered to have
been as old as Hilary of Poictiers, to whom
indeed Alcuin ascribed the additions to the scrip-
ture words. The Roman Catholic ritualists are
not satisfied with the testimony of Alcuin, and
seem to consider that the hymn in the modern
Latin form is of more recent origin. Yet it is
found in this form in a very interesting manu-
script in the British Museum — Royal 2 A xx. —
which is of the eighth century : in the famous
Codex Bohiensis, from which Mabillon extracted
the " Sacramentarium Gallicanum " {Museum
Italicum, i. 273 ; jMuratori, Liturg. Rom. Vet. ii.
776 ; or Migne, 72, p. 455) : m the so-called
Mozarabic liturgy ascribed to St. Isidore (see
Migne, 85, p. 531) and in a form very slightly
different in the Gothic breviary (Migne, 86, p.
886).
8. The first introduction of the " Gloria in
Excelsis " into the Eucharistic service has been
ascribed to Telesphorus, but no confidence can be
placed in the 'tradition. The sacramentary of
Gregory directed that a bishop might use the
" Gloria in Excelsis " on all Sundays and festi-
vals : a presbyter only at Easter. This rule
continued long in the Roman church, and con-
stituted one point of difl'erence between the
Roman and Galilean churches, in the latter of
which no such difl'erence between bishop and
presbyter had been observed. Etherius and
Beatus shew that in Spain they always sang it
on Sundays and festivals ; but they quote only
the scriptural words, and if we bear in mind the
decree of Toledo, we may suppose that only
these words were used (the Mozarabic liturgy
shews many marks of interpolations). In the
liturgies the hymn was generally sung at the
commencement of the service : but Mr. Palmer
notes that in the Galilean sacramentary (see
above) it was used amongst the thanksgivings
after communion.
9. The absence of the hymn from St. Ger-
manus's account of the Galilean liturgy has been
noted. He says that the words at the end of the
gospel, "Glory be to Thee 0 Lord," were uttered
in imitation (?) of the angels' words " Glory to
God in the highest " (clamantibus clericis Gloria
tibi Domine in specie angelorum qui nascente
Domino Gloria in excelsis pastoribus apparenti-
bus cecinerunt. Migne, 72, p. 91). St. Germa-
nus died about the year 585 or 587. This
seems to give a superior limit to its introduction
into the eucharistic service.
10. It is worthy of notice that whilst the
Alexandrine manuscript has in the text of St.
CHRIST. ANT.
GOD THE FATHER
737
Luke evSoKias (the reading of X* B* D) yet in
the morning hymn it as well as all the other
copies of the hymn read €u5o/cia. [C. A. S.]
GLORIA PATRI. [Doxology.]
GLOVES. (xfipoe^Tj: Chirotheca, Gantus,
Gu-antus, Vantits, Wantus, Wanto.) It would
seem that gloves in the strict sense of the word
were unknown to the early Greeks and Romans.
(See on this point Casaubon's Animadv. in Athe-
naeum, xii. 2.) That they were in use, how-
ever, among the ancient Persians appears from
Xenophon {Cyropaedia, viii. 8. 17). The Euro-
pean custom of wearing them seems to have
originated with the German nations, as the
Teutonic origin of the common Latin word for
them clearly shews : and although, as an eccle-
siastical vestment, properly so called, gloves do
not appear till the 12th century (the first extant
mention of them in that character being in
Honorius Augustodunensis, ob. circa 1152 A.D.),
they had been used for centuries as articles of
practical convenience. Thus we find them men-
tioned in the life of St. Columbanus, by Jonas
Bobbiensis (formerly included among the works
of Bede) — " teguraenta manuum quae Galli
wantos vocant " ( Vita S. Columhani, c. 25 ;
Patrol. Ixxxvii. 1026). In the above instance,
the gloves are spoken of as used " ad operam
laboris," but sometimes they were obviously of
a costly nature, for in the will of Riculfus,
bishop of Helena (ob. 915 a.d.), in a long list of
valuable articles, he mentions "annulum aureum
unum cum gemmis pretiosis et vuantos paria
unum " {Patrol, cxxxii. 468).
The employment of a glove in connection with
the granting or bequeathing of land, is a custom
which hardly falls within our present limits :
an example may, however, be given. (See
Notgeri Leodiensis [ob. 1008 A.D.] Vita S. Hadi-
lini, c. 10; Patrol, cxxxix. 1146: also Martene,
Anecd. i. 57.) For further early references to
the subject of gloves, see Ducange's Glossarium.
s. vv. [R- S.]
GLYCERIA, martyr A.v. 141 ; commemo-
rated May 13 {Cal. Byzant.}. [W. F. G.]
GNOSTIC. [Faithful.]
GOAR, presbyter and confessor at Treves
(saec. VI.) ; " natalis " July 6 {Mart. Pom. Vet.,
Usuardi) ; deposition July 6 {Mart. Adonis).
[W. F.G.]
GOD THE J'ATHER, Representations
OF.* For the first four centuries, at least, no
attempt was made at representing the actual
Presence of the First Person of the Trinity. It
was indicated invariably by the symbolic hand
proceeding from a cloud. Martigny quotes the
words of St. Augustine {Epiist. cxlviii. 4), "Quum
audimus manus, operationem intelligere debe-
mus," from which it would seem that the great
father saw a tendency to anthropomorphic mis-
application of the words hand and eye, or ear
of God, as they are frequently used in the Old
Testament. The distinction between analogy
and similitude has been so often neglected, that
bodily parts as well as passions (liiie those of
auger, repentance, &c.) are often attributed to
» Most representations of the Divine presence have
thoir proper place under the word Trinity.
3 B
738
GODFATHERS
the incorporeal and infinite being. This has
been repeatedly noticed, as (e. g.) by Drs. Whately
and Mansel. St. Augustine's expressions show
that he was thoroughly awake to the miscon-
ception, and consequent irreverence, involved in
the forgetful use of such terms as the Divine
hand or eye for the Divine power or know-
ledge. " Quidquid," he says, " dum ista cogitas,
corporeae similitudinis occurrerit, abige, abnue,
nega, respue, fuge."
The symbolic hand appears in Christian repre-
sentations of several subjects from the Old Testa-
ment, principally connected with events in the
lives of Abraham and Moses. The two are found
corresponding to each other in Bottari (Sculture c
Pitt, sagre, vol. i. tav. 27 ; also i. tav. 89). Moses
is receiving the book of the law in ii. tav. 128.
Klsewhere Abraham is alone (vol. ii. tav. 59,
and i. tav. 33, from the Callixtine catacomb).
In vol. iii. 37 (from cemetery of St. Agnes), the
Deity appears to be represented in human form,
rie is delivering to Adam and Eve respectively
the ears of corn and the lamb, as tokens of the
labours of their fallen state, and their sentence
to " delve and spin." See also Buonaruotti, p. 1.
Cardinal Bosio, and latterly M. Perret (vol. i. .57
pi.), give a copy of a painting of Moses striking
the rock, and also in the act of loosening the
shoe from his foot. Ciampini's plates ( Fei. Jfo?i.
t. ii. pp. 81, tav. xxiv. also taw. xvi. and xx.
tav. xvii. D.) are important illustrations of this
symbol, more especially those of the mosaic of
the Transfiguration in St. ApoUinaris in Classe,
and of the Sacrifice of Isaac in St. Vitale. The
author does not find the hand as representing
tlie First Person of the Trinity in pictures of the
baptism of our Loi'd ; but it probably occurs in
tliat connexion.
The hand proceeding ft-om clouds appears in
the Sacramentary written for Drogon bishop of
Metz, and son of Charlemagne, above the Canon
of the Mass.
The Creator is represented in the MS. of Al-
cuin. See Westv/ood's Palaeographia Sacra.
[R. St. J. T.]
GODFATHERS. [Sponsors.]
GOLDEN NUMBER. [Easter.]
GOOD FRIDAY. The anniversary of
Christ's Passion and Death was from very early
times observed with great solemnity by the
church. It was known by various names, ^/ie'po
ToC aravpov, atarripia, or to auTJipia ; Tratrxa
(TTaupdcrtixov, in contrast to Tracrxa avacrTacnixov,
Easter Day ; or, adopting the Jewish designation
(Joh. xix. 14, 31, 42), irapaaKevri, either alone,
or with the adjectives fxeydXy}, or 071a : in the
Latin church Farasceue, Feria Sexta in Para-
scene {Antipkonar. Gregor.), Sexta Feria Major,
in Hierusalem (^Sacramentar. Gregor.'). The day
was observed as a strict fast, which was conti-
nued by those who could endure it to beyond
midnight on the following day (Apost. Constit.
V. 18). The fourth council of Toledo, A.D. 633,
severely condemned those who ended their fast
on this day at 3 p.m. and then indulged in
feasting, and ordered that all save the very
young and the very old and the sick should ab-
stain from all food till after the services of the
day were concluded. All who refused obedience
to this rule were denied a participation in the
GOOD FRIDAY
Paschal Eucharist (can. viii. ; Labbc, Cuncil. v.
1707). Not food alone, but the use of oil and
the bath were forbidden by a canon of Gangra
(Xomoca)wn, can. 434, apud Coteler. Feci.
Graec. Monum. i. 138) with the indignant apo-
strophe, 'O XpKTTos if Tif ffTavp^ Ka\ (TV iv r<p
^aAaveicp ; In process of time the day came to
be distinguished by a peculiar ritual and cus-
toms marking the solemn character of the day.
The bells were silent from the midnight of Wed-
nesday {Ordo Roman, apud Muratori, ii. 714).
The kiss of peace was prohibited (Tert. de Orat.
18). The altar was stript of its ornaments, and
even of its covering. The processions were without
chanting {Sacram. Gelas. Muratori i. 559). The
lamps and candles were gradually extinguished
during matins (Ordo Roman. M.S.). A long
series of intercessory collects was used. A cross
was erected in front of the altar, blessed, and
adored (Sacram. Gelas. u. s.). There was no
consecration of the Lord's Supper, but the re-
served eucharist of the previous day was par-
taken of by the faithful.
This communion subsequently received the
name of " the Mass of the Presanctified," Missa
Praesanctificatorum, but incorrectly, the term
Missa usually implying consecration. Thus
Amalarius states that on Good Friday " the mass
is not celebrated " (de Feci. Offic. iv. 20 ; Rab.
Maur. de Tnstit. Cler. ii. 37 ; pseudo-Alcuin,
Hittorp col. 251). The reason of this prohibi-
tion of celebration is evident. The eucharist
being the highest Chi-istian feast, was deemed
out of harmony with the penitential character
of the day, for " how," says Balsamon (Bevereg.
Pandect. 1. 219), "can one mourn and rejoice at
the same time?" As early as the council of
Laodicea, c. A.D. 365, this prohibition was ex-
tended to the whole of Lent, wifh the exception
of Saturdays and Sundays (can. 49 ; Labbe Concil.
i. 1506). In the letter to Decentius ascribed to
Innocent I. c. A.D. 402, btit probably not to be
placed so early, the restriction is limited to
Good Friday and Easter Eve, on which days the
tradition of the church was that the sacraments
were not to be celebrated at all; "istobiduo
sacramenta penitus non celebrari " (Labbe Concil.
ii. 1246). At this period there was no com-
munion of any kind on Good Friday. How early
the natural desire to receive the sficrament of
the Lord's Body and Blood on the day when it
was oftered for us on the ci-oss, led to the reser-
vation of the previously consecrated elements for
the purpose of communion, we have no certain
knowledge. It is evident from a decree of the 4th
council of Toledo, A.D. 633, that in the first half of
the seventh century, there was no celebration of
the Lord's Supper on Good Friday in Spain. At
that time it was a wide-spread custom, which
the council condemned, to keep the doors of the
churches closed on Good Friday, so that there
was no divine service, nor any preaching of the
Passion to the people. The council ordained that
the Lord's death should be preached on that day,
and that the people should pray for the pardon
of their sins, that so they might be better fitted
to celebrate the resurrection and partake of the
eucharist at Easter (can. viii. Labbe Concil. v.
1707). We learn also from the acts of the
16th council, held sixty years later, A.D. 693,
that on that day " the altars were stript and
no one was permitted to celebrate mass " (/?>. vi.
GOOD FRIDAY
1355). In the Gi-oek church the custom of
communicating in the previously consecrated
elements was established before the middle of
the seventh century, for we find it mentioned
as a general practice during the whole of Lent,
in the acts of the Trullan (or Quinisext)
council A.D. 692 (can. 52, Labbe vi. 1165). It
first appears in the West in the Begula Magistri,
a monastic rule compiled probably in the seventh
centur}^, printed by Brockie {Codex Eegul. I. ii.
p. 209). It was established in Rome before the
end of the eighth century, when the i-itual of
Good Friday is prescribed in the Ordo Romanus
(Muratori Liturg. Rom. Vet. ii. 995). The observ-
ance of Good Friday commenced at midnight, when
all rose for service. Nine Psalms were said with
their responsions, these were followed by three
lections from the Lamentations, commencing
Lam. ii. 8, " Cogitavit Dominus dissipare ;" three
from the Tractatus of St. Augustine on Psalm
63, and three from the Epistle to the Hebrews,
beginning c. iv. 11, "Festinemus ergo &c."
Mattins then followed, during which the lights
in the church were gradually extinguished,
beginning at the entrance, until by the end of
the third nocturn only the seven lamps burning
at the altar were left alight. These were also
put out, one by one, alternately right and left at
the commencement of each Psalm, the middle
lamp, the last left burning, being extinguished at
the gospel. At the third hour all the presbyters
and clergy of the city assembled in expectation
of the pontiff. On his arrival the subdeacon
commenced the lection from Hosea v. 15, " Haec
Jicit Dominus Deus ; in tribulatione sua, &c.,"
and then was sung as an antiphon Hab. iii. 1-3,
" Doniine audivi, &c." After some prayers said
by the pontiff, and the second lection, Exod. xii. 1,
" In diebus illis dixit Dominus ad Moysen et
Aaron, &c.," Ps. xci. or cxl. was sung, and the
Passion according to St. John was recited by the
deacon. This over, two deacons stript the altar
of the white linen cloth, previously put on
" sub evangelio," in a stealthy manner,
" in modum furantis." The pontiff came
before the altar and recited a series of eighteen
prayers, a portion of which form the basis of the
Good Friday collects of the church of England.
The first and last collect stand alone. The other
sixteen are in pairs. Before each pair the deacon
warned the people to kneel and after it to rise.
" Adnuntiat diaconus flectamus genua ; iterum
dicit levate." These collects are — (1) for the
peace and unity of the church ; (2) for perse-
verance in the faith ; (3) for the pope and chief
bishop (antistes) ; (4) for the bishops of their
diocese ; (5) for all bishops, priests, deacons, sub-
deacons, &c. ; (6) for all oi-ders of men in the
holy church ; (7) for the emperor ; (8) for the
Koman empire ; (9) (10) for catechumens; (11)
against sickness, famine, pestilence, and other
evils; (12) for all in trouble; (13) (14) for
hnipfcs and schismatics; (15) (16) for Jews;
(17) (18) for pagans and idolaters. A direction
is given that the prayers for the Jews are not to
be said kneeling. The collects are given in the
Sacramentary of Gregory, as printed by Pamelius,
and in that of Gelasius, as well as in the old
Galilean missal. This last contains the direction
to the celebrant " eadem die non salutat («'. e.
does not say pax vobiscurn), nee psallet." Those
collects finished, all were to leave the church
GOODS, COMMUNITY OF 739 j
in silence : the presbyters going to perform the
same service in their own churches. !
" Adoration of the cross succeeds." The '
cross is placed a little distance in front of the I
altar, supported on either side by acolytes. A I
kneeling stool being placed in front, the pontiff '
kneels, and adores and kisses the cross, followed !
by the clergy and people in order. The Ambro- j
sian missal given by Pamelius contains four \
prayers for the ceremony : " Oratio super ^
crucem;" " Benedictio crucis ;" "Oratio ad |
crucem adorandam ;" " Oratio post adoratam
crucem." In the Antiphonarium of Gregory also
given by Pamelius we have an "Antiphon ad
crucem adorandam." The adoration of the cross
was followed by the communion of the pre- |
sanctified. "Two presbyters enter the sacristy |
or other place in which the Body of the Lord
which remained from the previous day was placed, j
and put it in a paten, and let a subdeacon hold j
before them a chalice with unconsecrated wine, 1
and another the paten with the Body of the i
Lord. One presbyter takes the jmten, the other i
the chalice, and they carry and set them on the
stript altar" (Ord. Bom. u. s.). The cross is |
meanwhile, saluted by the laity, while the J
hymn Ucce lignum Cnicis is sung, and Ps. cxix.
recited. The salutation of the cross being com-
pleted, the Lord's Prayer is recited, " and when
they have said Amen the pontiff takes of
the holy thing, and puts it into the chalice
saying nothing (nihil dicens), and all communi-
cate cum silentio." The rubrics of the Gelasian
Sacramentary agree in the main with the Ordo,
except that they speak of the reservation of the
Blood as well as of the Body of the Loi-d, and
direct that the reserved sacrament be brought
out of the sacristy and set on the altar by
deacons instead of presbyters. The adoration of ,
the cross by the clergy succeeds the placing of
the consecrated elements on the altar, and is
followed by the actual communion (Muratori n.s.
i. 559, sq.) It merits notice that all early
authorities prescribe a general communion on ,]
Good Friday, " all communicate silently." This I
custom had entirely ceased in Rome at the j
beginning of the 9th century (Amalar. de Eccl. '
Off. i. 15), and though it lingered for a long time
in some parts, it gradually died out in the West,
and at the present day in the Roman church no
one but the celebrant communicates on Good
Friday. The pontiff pronounces peace to them |
" in the name of the Father, &c." The people j
answer, " and with thy spirit." " After a little
space each says his vespers privately, and so they
go to table " (Muratori ii. 995-996). [E. V.] {
GOODS, COMMUNITY OF. The idea
that all pi'operty should belong to a community
and not to individuals may be traced to a very
high antiquity. The Pythagorean society is
commonly supposed to have been constituted on \
the basis of a community of goods, though ])ro-
bably only those who had reached the highest
grade of the initiated renounced all private
possessions (Ritter and Preller, Hist. Phil.,f. 58). j
Plato, also, in his imaginary Republic, condemns
the institution of private property in the '
strongest manner, as the source of all greed and
meanness ; he therefore allows it only to the
third and lowest class of his citizens — those who
are by nature qualified to seek onlv low and
3 B 2 i
740 GOODS, COMMUNITY OF
material ends in life, and are consequently-
excluded from all share in the government of
the state. The two higher classes are to live
wholly for the state, a condition — the philosopher
holds — incompatible with the possession of
private property (Politia, iv., p. 421 C if. ;
Leges, v. p. 739 b.).
To turn from heathen to Jewish social insti-
tutions, Josephus tells us {Bellum Jud. ii. 8,
§ 3) of the Essenes, that each member on
entrance threw his goods into the common stock,
so that there was found among them neither
poverty nor riches. In like manner the Thera-
peutae on Lake Moeris had all things in common.
It was while the Therapeutae and Essenes
were still flourishing communities that the
gospel of Christ was first proclaimed. And here,
too, we read of the earlier church of Jerusalem,
that they "had all things common" (Acts ii.
44) — a passage which has often served fanatical
sects as a justification of their communism. And
yet it is clear fi-om the book of the Acts itself
that property made over to the community
was of the nature of a voluntary gift; those
who entered the church were not deprived of
the right to possess property (Aets v. 4) ;
Ananias was not punished for failing to con-
tribute the whole of his property, but for fraud
and lying in pretending to give the whole while
he only gave part.
In the apostolic age generally it is past all
controversy that nothing like a community of
goods existed in the church. The churches are
evidently contemplated as containing the same
variety of wealth and station as ordinary society ;
contributions are made of freewill ; the rich are
charged to " be rich in good works, ready to
distribute, willing to communicate;" the cheer-
ful giver is commended (2 Cor. ix. 7 ; 1 Tim. vi.
17, 18). The disturbed state of the Thessalonians,
and their unwillingness to labour while they
expected the immediate advent of Christ, had
(so far as appears) no connexion with any com-
munistic views. Nor does the testimony of the
next age favour the idea that the earliest
Christian society was communistic. The writer
of the Epistle to Diognetus (c. 5) speaks of a
" common table," and no more. ' Tertullian, in-
deed (Apolog. c. 39), says, in so many words,
that Christians had all things in common except
their wives (omnia indiscreta sunt apud nos
praeter uxores) ; but it is evident that this is
nothing more than a characteristically violent
expression for their mutual love and charity ;
for in the very same chapter he states expressly,
that the contributions of the brethren to the
common fund were wholly voluntary (modicam
unusquisque stipem menstrua die, vel quum
velit, et si modo velit, et si modo possit, apponit).
Lactantius (Epit. Div. Institt. c. 38) especially
condemns communism as one of the cardinal
vices of Plato's Republic, which he would hardly
have done if he had supposed the same principle
to have animated the first society of believers.
The interpretation of Acts ii. 44 as relating to
an absolute community of goods seems in fact to
have taken its rise from Chrysostom {Horn. xi.
m Acta App.^. Some writers in modern times
have seen in this supposed communism of the
early Christians at Jerusalem an indication of an
Kssene iuriuence. (See against this view Von
Wegnern, in Illgen's Ziitschrift xi. 2. p. 1 ff.).
C40SPEL, THE LITURGICAL
As, however, within the church so strong an
expression was given to the duty of mutual love
and succour, and of the brotherhood of man in
Christ, it could scarcely fail but that here and
there enthusiastic sects would exaggerate and
develope these principles into absolute renun-
ciation of property. This was in fact the ease.
During the ecclesiastical troubles in Africa in
the 4th century, the Donatists were never weary
of reproaching their orthodox opponents with
the wealth and power which they derived from
their connexion with the state. Some of their
own adherents, in consequence of these denun-
ciations, renounced private possessions altogether
■ — -a renunciation which led to vagabondage and
mendicancy rather than to holiness. These
CiRCUMCELLiONS — as they came to be called —
became the nucleus of a band of discontented
peasants and runaway slaves, whose excesses at
last required the forcible interference of the
government to put them down. And other sects
also rejected the idea of property ; the Apotactici
or Apostolici, as they arrogantly called them-
selves (says St. Augustine, De Haeres. c. 40),
admitted none into their community who lived
with wives or possessed private property (res
proprias habentes) ; and, a common characteristic
of heresy, denied salvation to all outside their
own sect. The Eustathians also, who were con-
demned at the council of Gangra about the year
370 {Cone. Gangr. Praef.) held that those who
did not give up their private wealth were beyond
all hope of salvation. The laws of the empire
imposed upon Apotactici the same penalties that
were laid upon other heretics, except the con-
fiscation of goods ; they could not be deprived of
that which they had already renounced {Codex
Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 5, de Hneret. 11. 7 et 11).
When Pachomius (f 348) first drew together
into one body [Coexobium] a number of an-
chorites and wandering mendicants at Tabeunae
in Upper Egypt, he instituted a system of
organized labour and common participation in
the fruits of labour. Stewards [Oeconomus]
managed the property of the society for the
benefit of the whole, and distributed the excess
of income to the poor and needy of the neigh-
bourhood. St. Basil, St. Benedict, and other
founders of monastic orders, enjoined the same
rflle of individual poverty on the members of
their societies, and so there arose throughout
Christendom, in East and West, religious societies
of celibates organized on communistic principles
[MoNASTiciSJi]. From the 8th century onward
the secular clergy also, who lived the canonical
life, adopted, to some extent, the principle of
community of goods [Canonici]. [C]
GORDIANUS. (1) [EpiMAcnus (1).]
(2) Martyr with Macrinus and Valerianus at
Nyon; commemorated Sept. 17 {Mart. Usuardi,
Hieron.). [W. F. G.]
GORDIAS, martyr, circa 320 A.d. ; comme-
morated Jan. 3 {Gal.thjzant.). [W. F. G.]
GORGONIUS. [DoROTHEus (3).]
GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL. I. In-
troduction.— Among the Jews, certainly from the
time of the Maccabees, and probably before, one
lesson from the Pentateuch and another from the
" Prophets " {i. e. from some of the later histo-
rical books, and from those more properly called
GOSPEL, THE LITUEGICAL
prophetical) were read in the synagogues every
sabbath day. Fifty-four portions from the Pen-
tateuch (called Paraschioth), and as many from
the "Prophets" (Haphtoroth), were appointed
for this purpose. As the Jews intercalated a
mouth every second or third year, this number
was required. When there were not fifty-four
sabbaths in a year, they read two of the shorter
lessons together, once or twice in the year, as
might be necessary ; so that the whole of both
selections was read through annually. The
Paraschioth are generally very long, some ex-
tending over four or five chapters ; but the
Haphtoroth are as a rule short, often only a
part of one chapter. Tables of both may be
seen in Home's Introduction to the Scriptures, pt.
iii. ch. i. sect. iv. The foregoing facts will enable
the reader to judge how far the first Christians
were indebted to the traditions of the synagogue
for the practice of reading Holy Scripture iu
their synaxis, and for the method of reading it.
At all events we may be certain that the Old
Testament, so long the only known repository of
the " oracles of God," and still acknowledged to
be " able to make men wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus " (2 Tim.
iii. 15), would be no more neglected in their
common exercises of religion than it was in their
private study. At the same time it was in-
evitable that, when the New Testament came to
be written, lessons from that should be read
either in addition to or instead of those from the
Old. There was, however, a short period during
which the Old Testament only would be read in
Christian assemblies, viz. before the events of
the Gospel were committed to writing ; and
there is in the most ancient liturgy, that of St.
James, a rubric, evidently genuine, which ap-
pears to have been framed during this interval.
" Then the sacred oracles of the Old Covenant
and of the Prophets are read at great length (5i-
eJoSiKaJToTo, some understand " consecutively,"
but the Jewish precedent favours the former
reading) ; and the incarnation of the Son of God,
and His sufferings, His resurrection from the dead,
and ascension into heaven, and, again, His second
coming with glory, are set forth." As Mr.
Trolhjpe points out ( The Greek Liturc/i/ of St.
James, p. 42), we have here the Old Testament
■ read, but the great events of the Gospel related
to the people as if not yet in writing.
n. Eridence of uie. — Justin Martyr, a.d. 140,
describing the celebration of the Eucharist, says,
" The commentaries of the apostles and the
writings of the prophets are read as time per-
mits " (Apol. i. c. 67). A lesson from the gospels
was without doubt included under the former
head. St. Cyprian, A.D. 250, speaks of a con-
fessor whom he had ordained lector, as " reading
the p)-ecepts and the gospel of the Lord " from
the stand (pulpitum) (£/). xxxix.). Eusebius,
A.D. 315, says that St. Peter authorised the use
of the gospel of St. Mark "in the churches."
For this he refei's to the Hypotyposes of Clemens
of Alexandria (not of Rome, as Bona and others)
and to Papias ; but elsewhere he cites both pas-
sages, and neither of them contains the words
" in the churches." What he says, therefore,
does not, as many have imagined, prove from
Papias the custom of the apostolic church, but
is only a proof of the practice of his own age, in
tlie light of which he read those earlier writers
GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL 741
(see Hist. Ecd. lib. ii. c. xv.; and compare lib. vi.
c. xiv., lib. iii. c. xxxix.). Cyril of Jerusalem,
A.D. 350, speats vaguely of the " reading of
Scripture" (Pme/. in Catech. §§ iii. iv.) ; nor
are any of his catechetical homilies on lessons
from the gospel. Optatus, A.D. 368, addressing
the Donatist clergy, says, " Ye begin with the
lessons of the Lord, and ye expand your ex-
positions to our injury ; ye bring forth the
gospel, and make a reproach against an absent
brother " (De Schism. Donat. lib. iv. c. v.). The
so-called Constitutions of the Apostles put an
order into their mouths, which begins thus :
" After the reading of the law and the prophets
and our epistles, and the acts and the gospels,
let " &c. (lib. viii. c. v. Cotel. tom. i. p. 392).
Pseudo-Dionysius tells us that in the liturgy,
after the Psalms, "follows the reading of the
tablets of holy writ by the ministers " {De
Eccles. Hierarch. c. iii. ' § ii. tom. i. p. 284).
These tablets are explained by Maximus the
scholiast on Dionysius, A.D. 645, to be the Old
and New Testament {Ibid. p. 305). St. Chry-
sostom frequently gave notice of the text on
which he proposed to preach some days before ;
but in one homily he says, " On one day of the
week, or on the sabbath (Saturday), at least, let
each take in his hands, and, sitting at home, read
that section {irtpiKotrriv) of the gospels which is
going to be read among you" {Horn. xi. in St.Joh.
Ev. § 1). This implies that they knew what the
lesson from the gospels would be ; and therefore
that a table of such lessons was drawn up and
accessible to all. St. Augustine, in Africa, often
preached on the gospel. Thus one of his ser-
mons begins, "The chapter of the holy gospel
which we heard, when it was just now read,"
&c. {Serin. Iv. § 1). Another : " We heard, when
the gospel was read," &c. {Serm. Ixii. § 1). The
council of Laodicaea, probably about 365, has a
canon ordering the " gospels to be read with
other scriptures on the sabbath " (Can. xvi.).
The omission of the gospel on Saturday had
without doubt been merely a local custom. A
council of Orange, A.D. 441, can. xviii., ordered
that thenceforward the gospel should be read to
the catechumens, as well as the faithful, in all
the churches of the province. That of Valen-
cia, A.D. 524, ordered that " the most holy gospels
be read in the mass of the catechumens before
the illation of the gifts, in the order of lessons
after the apostle," i.e. the epistle (Can. i.).
In France, 554, a constitution of Childebert
mentions the gospels, prophets, and apostle, as
read from the altar {Capit. Reg. Eranc. ed.
Baluz. tom. i. col. 7). Germanus of Paris,
A.D. 555, in his exposition of the liturgy, simi-
larly recognises the prophecy, apostle, and gospel
(printed by Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Sit. lib. i. c.
iv. art. xii.). Gregory of Tours, A.D. 573, tells a
story of certain clerks in the days of Childebert,
who " having laid the three books, j. e. of the
prophecy, the apostle, and the gospels on the
altar," prayed for an augury from the passages
at which they should open, each " having made
an agreement among themselves that every one
should read at mass that which he first opened
on in the book " {Hist. Franc, lib. iv. c. xvi.).
This implies that in Gaul at least the les-
sons were still left to the choice of those who
were to read them. In the next century, how-
ever, the Galilean church had a lectionary, a
742 GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL
copy of which, nearly complete, in Merovingian
characters, was found by Mabillon in the monas-
tery at Luxeuil. It provides a gospel for every
mass (Liturg. Oall. lib. ii. pp. 97-173). Luxeuil
is in the province of Besan^on ; but the eucha-
ristic lessons (of which the gospel is always one)
in the Sacramentary found at Bobio, which' is
believed to be of the use of that province, and is
certainly of about the same age as the lectionary,
differ nevertheless from those in that book.
From this we may perhaps infer that although
the lessons were then generally fixed, every
bishop was at liberty to make his own selection.
There is another ancient lectionary, ascribed to
St. Jerome, and known as the Liber Comitis, or
Comes Hieronymi ; but from internal evidence
shown to be the work of a Galilean compiler in
the 8th century. This has been printed from
two MSS., one of which provides three lessons
for above two hundred days and occasions ; the
other for the most part only two ; but the gospel
is never omitted in either. The shorter recen-
sion may be seen in the Bitinlis SS. Patruin of
Pamelius, tom. ii. pp. 1-6 L The longer is
printed by Baluze in the Capitularia Begum
Francorum, tom. ii. coll. 1309-13.51.
III. Provision for use. — In the West, generally,
a gospel has been always provided for every
Sunday and for other holy days. The number
of gospels (and other lessons) in the Liber Comitis
already mentioned suggests that at one time
there was a partial attempt to assign proper
lessons to every day in the yeai-. However this
may be, the Roman use retained them for every
day in Lent, and the Mozarabic for every Wed-
nesday and Friday (except the first) during that
season (see Missale Mixtum, Leslie, pp. 89-154).
There was no such provision in the Galilean
Sacramentary found at Bobio (see Murat. Liturg.
Horn. Vet. tom. ii. coll. 815-835, or Mus. Ital.
tom. i. pp. 301-319), nor, so far as we can judge
in the Lectionary of Luxeuil (Mabillon, Liturg.
Gall. p. 124). Eight leaves are missing in this
MS. between Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday,
but they could hardly have contained more than
the Sunday lessons. The ancient Irish Sacra-
mentary, of which but one copy exists in manu-
script, probably of the 6th century, is singular
in the West in having but one gospel and epistle
for the whole year, the former being the sixth
chapter of St. John, the latter the eleventh
chapter of St. Paul's first Epistle to the
Corinthians. See O'Connor's Append, to vol. i.
of the Catal. of the MSS. at Stowe, p. 45. The
fact is also attested by Dr. Todd (see Pref. to the
Liber. Eccl. do B. Terrenani de Arbuthnott,
p. xxiv.).
In the West the gospels appear to have been
chosen without any reference to their place in
the books of the New Testament. But, in the
Greek church, those four books have been
divided into lessons {rfjLT)fxaTa, ix4f>r}, nepiKonds,
avayvcaffnara, avaypcoaas); so that they may
be read through in order, only interrupted when
a festival with its proper lesson intervenes (Leo
AUatius, De Libr. Eccl. Gr. Diss. i. p. 35). It
is probably in accordance with this arrangement
that the canon of Laodicaea, already cited, does
not order lessons from the gospels, or sections,
or portions, or the like, to be read on Saturday
with other scriptures, but i/ieg-osy^e^s themselves,
i.c. the four books so called. From this it may
GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL
be inferred that the Greek method was the
normal practice of the whole Eastern church
before the separation of the Nestorians and
Monophysites. There was an exception, how-
ever, at one period, whether beginning before or
after that separation, in the church of Malabar,
the ancient liturgy of which presents but one
epistle and gospel for every celebration — the
former composed from 2 Cor. v. 1-10, and Heb.
iv. 12, 13; the latter taken from St. John v.
vv. 19-29. As neither have any special refe-
rence to the Euchai'ist, it may be inferred that
the peculiarity was, unlike that of the Irish
missal, unintentional, and resulting, probably,
from the destruction of sacred books in a season
of persecution, and from the ignorance that
followed it.
IV. The Book of the Gospels. — The book which
contained the four gospels as divided for eucha-
ristic use was called by the Greeks EvayydKiov.
The oldest writer cited as using the word in this
specific sense is Palladius, A.D. 400 : " He brings
the ' gospel ' to him and exacts the oath." (^Hist.
Lausiac. c. 86.) Another proof of the antiquity
of the usage is the fact that the Nestoi-ians,
who were cut off from the church in the 5th
century, retain the term Euanghelion in this
limited sense to the present day (Badger's Nesto-
rians, V. ii. p. 19). The book is similarly called
" the gospel" in the liturgy of St. Mark (Renaud,
tom. i. p. 136) and others.
V. By whom read. — In Africa the eucharistic
gospel was read by those of the order of readers
in the 3rd century (see Cypr. Ep. xxxix. and Ep.
xxxviii.). It was generally, however, assigned
to a higher order : " After these {i. e. the other
lessons), let a deacon or presbyter read the gos-
pels " (Comtit. Apostol. lib. ii. c. Ivii.). Sozomen,
A.D. 440, tells us that among the Alexandrians
the " archdeacon alone read that sacred book (of
the gospels) ; but among others the deacons, and
in many churches the priests only" {Hist. Eccl.
lib. vii. c. xix.). He adds that " on high days
bishops read it, as at Constantinople, on the first
day of the paschal feast." The liturgies of St.
Mark (Renaud. tom. i. p. 138), St. Basil, and St.
Chrysostom (Goar, pp. 161 and 69) give this
office to the deacon. This was also the common
p.ractice in the West. Thus St. Jerome says to
Sabinian, " Thou wast wont to read the gospel
as a deacon " (^Ep. xciii.). St. Isidore of Seville,
writing about the year 610, is a witness to the
same practice (Z>e Eccl. Off. lib. ii. c. 8). We
observe it also in the most ancient " Ordines
Romani" {Mus. Ital. tom. ii. pp. 10, 46); and it
became the rule throughout Europe, when a
deacon was present.
VI. Where read. — The gospel was perhaps
generally read from a stand called Ambo ("A/i-
/Sftjt') or Pulpitum even in the earliest ages. It
certainly was so when the celebrant himself did
not read it. Thus St. Cyprian, as before quoted,
spealvs of Celerinus, the reader, as officiating
" on a pulpit, i. e. on the tribunal of the church,"
and generally of confessors raised to that order
as " coming to the pulpit after the stocks "
{Epp. xxxviii., xxxix.). The Ordo Romanus in
use in the 8th century orders the gospel to be
read from the higher step of the ambo, the epistle
having been read from a lower (fird. ii. nn. 7, 8).
In some churches there was a separate ambo for
the gospel. An example occurred in the church
GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL
of St. Clement at Roine, where also the gospel
ambc was a " little higher and more ornate "
(Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Bit. lib. i. c. iv. art. iv.
n. iii.). This became to some extent a rule
(Scudimore, Kotitia Eucharistica, p. 222). We
hear cf the ambo in the East also. Thus Sozo-
men, speaking of a tomb over which a church
had been built, says that it was "near the ambo,
that is to say, the rostrum {&rifia) of the readers"
{Hist. Eccl. lib. ix. c. ii.). The same historian tells
us thit St. Chrysostom, that he might be better
heard, used to preach at Constantinople " sitting
on the rostrum o{ the readers " (lib. v. c. v.), and
Socrates, referring to a particular occasion,
speaks of him as " seated on the ambo, from
which he was wont also before that to preach in
order to be heard" {Hist. Eccl. lib. vi. c. v.).
The council in Trullo, A.D. 691, forbade any who
had not received the proper benediction to
" proclaim the words of God to the people on
the cnnbo" (can. xxxiii.). In the liturgy of St.
Chrysostom, the deacon who reads the gospel
"stands' elevated on the ambo or in the appointed
place " (Goar, p. 69).
VII. Head towai-ds the South. — It was an
early, but we think not primitive, custom in the
West for the gospeller to " stand facing the south,
where the men were wont to assemble" {Ord.
Horn. ii. c. 8). Amalarius, an early commentator
on the Ordo Romanus, suggests that this was
because the men were supposed to receive the
gospel first, and to teach it to their wives at home
(1 Cor. xiv. 35). See his Ecloga, n. xv. ilus. Ital.
tom. ii. p. 553. It is probable, however, that a
different custom prevailed at the same time in
France, or very soon after. For in the latter
part of the 9th century Eemigius of Auxerre
tells us that " the Levite (deacon), when about
to pronounce the words of the gospel, turns his
face towards the north," as defying Satan, who
was supposed (from Isai. xiv. 13) to dwell there
{De Celeb. Missae, ad. calc. Lihri Pseudo-Alcuini,
de Div. Off. Hittorp, col. 280).
VIII. Attendant rites. — From a very early
period the reading of the gospel was attended
with circumstances of solemnity. In the Greek
church it has for many ages been brought into
the church out of the chapel of Prothesis in a
rite known as the Little Entrance, the bringing
in of the gifts being the Great Entrance. While
the choir is singing the Glory at the end of the
third antiphon the priest and deacon, after bow-
ing thrice before the altar, go out for the book
of the gospels. They return into the church,
the deacon carrying the gospel, preceded by
lights, and welomed by a special anthem. After
a circuit of some length on the north side of the
church they stop at the holy doors, where the
jiriest says, secretly, the " Prayer of the En-
trance." The deacon then asks for, and the priest
gives, a " blessing on the Entrance," troparia
being sung meanwhile. When they are ended,
the deacon shows the gospel to the people, say-
ing, " Wisdom. Stand up." They then enter
the bema, and the book is laid on the holy table
till required for use {Euchologiiun, Goar, pp. 67,
124, 160). This is found in the older liturgy of
St. Ba.sil, as well as that of St. Chrysostom, but
it is impossible to say how much of it was prac-
tised in the age of those great bishops. There
is no trace of th-? Little Entrance in the liturgy
of Jerusalem, from which that of Caesarea (St.
GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL 743
Basil) was derived, nor in the Nestorian litur-
gies, which came from an independent source
before the 5th century. On the other hand,
there is a simpler form of the rite in the
Armenian liturgy, which was borrowed from
Caesarea in the time of St. Basil, and influenced
in its subsequent growth by the residence of
St. Chrysostom in Armenia, where he died
(Le Brun, Diss, sur les Liturgies, x, artt. iv.
xiii.). We observe, also, an elaborate render-
ing of the same rite in liturgies that can
hardly have been indebted to those of the Greek
church after the 6th century at least. "As the
book of the gospels," remarks Renaudot, " is
carried to the ambo with great ceremony among
the Copts, so it is certain that it is in like man-
ner done among the Syrians; and they received
it from the Greeks " (torn. ii. p. 69). For the
Coptic Entrance see tom. i. p. 210. A short
rubric in the liturgy of St. Mark tells us when
the Entrance takes place ; but it is not described
(Renaud. tom. i. p. 136).
Another proof of the antiquity of the Little
Entrance is found in its resemblance to a cere-
mony practised at Rome in certain pontifical
masses of the 7th and 8th centuries. The gospel
was brought in a case or casket from the basilica
of St. John Lateran to the regionary church in
which the celebration took place by an acolyte
in attendance on the bishop, but under the care
of the archdeacon. It was made ready by the
reader at the door of the Secretarium, while the
bishop was within preparing for the service.
The acolyte then carried it " into the presbytery
to before the altar," preceded by a subdeacon,
who then took it from him, and " with his own
hands placed it with honour upon the altar "
{Ord. Bom. i. §§ 3, 4, 5 ; ii. 2, 4, 5).
As an example of the ritual when the gospel
was to be read, we may, for the East, cite St.
Mark : " The deacon, when about to read the
gospel, says, ' Bless, sir.' The priest, 'The Lord
bless and strengthen, and make us hearers of His
holy gospel, who is God blessed now and ever,
and for ever, Amen.' The deacon, ' Stand, let
us hear the holy gospel.' The priest, ' Peace be
to all.' The people, '■ AnA. to thy spirit.' Then
the deacon reads the gospel" — (Renaud. tom. i.
p. 138). At Rome, in the pontifical masses
before mentioned, the deacon having received a
blessing from the bishop, "The Lord be in thy
heart and on thy lips," after kissing the gospels,
took the book off the altar, and went towards
the ambo, preceded by two subdeacons— one with
incense— and followed by a third. There tlie
acolytes made a passage for the preceding sub-
deacons and the deacon. The latter then rested
his book on the left arm of the subdeacon with-
out a censer, who opened it at the place already
marked. The deacon then, with his finger in
the place, went up to that stage of the ambo
from which he was to read, the two subdeacons
going to stand before the steps by which he
would descend. The gospel ended, the bishop
savs, " Peace be to thee," and " The Lord be
with you." Resp., " And with thy spirit." As
the deacon came down, the subdeacon who had
opened the book took it from him, and handed it
to the third subdeacon who had followed. He,
holding it on his planeta, before his breast, offers
it to be kissed by all engaged in the rite, and
then puts it into the case or casket hefore
744 GOSPEL, THE LITURGICAL
mentioned, held ready by the acolyte who had
brought it into the church (^Ord. Horn. i. §11).
An Ordo, somewhat later, but not lower than the
8th century, tells us that "the candles were ex-
tinguished in their place after the gospel was
read" {Ord. ii. § 9). The custom of lighting
candles at the reading of the gospel came from
the East, where it prevailed in the 4th century.
" Through all the churches of the East," says
St. Jerome, " when the gospel is to be read, lights
are burned, though the sun be already shining "
{Contra Vigilant. §7). St. Isidore of Seville, in
a work written in 636, says that "acolytes in
Greek are called ceroferarii in Latin, from their
bearing wax candles when the gospel is to be
read," &c. {Etyynol. lib. vii. c. xii. § 29). This
is probably the earliest notice in the West,
though the first Ordo Romanus belongs almost
certainly to the same century. The symbolism
of the lights needs no explanation (see St. John
i. 9 ; viii. 12).
IX. Heard standing. — It was probably from
the very first the custom for the people to hear
the gospel standing, out of reverence. Thus the
Apodolical Constitutions, lib. ii. c. Ivii. : " When
the gospel is being read, let all the presbyters
and the deacons and all the people stand with
great quietness." Philostorgius, a.d. 425, says
that Theophilus the Indian, when visiting his
native country, about the year 345, found that
the people " performed the hearing of the gospel
lessons sitting, and had some other practices
which the Divine law did not sanction " {Hist.
Eccl. lib. iii. § 5). His language shows how im-
portant the rite was considered. Isidore of Pelu-
sium, 412, says, in the same spirit, "When the
True Shepherd becomes present through the
opening of the adorable gospels, the bishop both
rises and lays aside the habit (the wixo<p6piov)
which he wears symbolical of Him " {Ep. cxxxvi.
Hermino Comiti). In accordance with this,
Sozomen {Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. xix.) tells us that
there was "a strange custom among the Alex-
andrians, for, when the gospels were read, the
bishop did not stand up, which," he adds, " I
have neither known nor heard of among others."
The same rule prevailed in the West. Ama-
larius, writing about 827, says: "During the
celebration of these, ». e. the lesson (epistle) and
the prophecy, we are wont to sit, after the cus-
tom of the ancients." Then, when he speaks of
the gospel: "Up to this time we sit; now we
must rise at the words of the gospel " {Be Eccl.
Off. lib. iii. cc. 11, 18). At the same time all
turned to the East, and laid down the staff on
which, at that period, they commonly leaned,
" nor was there crown or other covering on their
heads" {Ord. Bom. ii. § 8 ; Amal. u.s. c. 18).
X. The Doxologies. — The doxology now com-
mon after the announcement of the gospel is-
mentioned by writers within our period. Thus
Heterius and Beatus, in Spain, A.D. 785 : " The
deacon commands all to be silent, and says, ' The
lesson of the holy gospel according to Matthew.'
All the people answer, ' Glory be to Thee, 0 Lord ' "
{Ado. Elipnnd. lib. i. c. Ixvi.). Compare the
Mozarabic Missal (Leslie, pp. 2, 45, &c.). Ama-
larius only recommends it. After advising the
people to pray for a profitable hearing, he
adds: "Let him who is not quick to take in
the words of the gospel, at least say, ' Glory,' "
&c. (lib. iii. c. 18). The practice probably
GOSPEL, THE LITUEGICAL
came through Spain, like several other rites,
from the East. In the homily De Circa, asa'ibed
incorrectly to St. Chrysostom, we read, " When
the deacon is about to open the gospel, ve all
fix our eyes on him and keep silence ; but when
he begins the course of reading, we forthwith
stand up, and respond, 'Glory be to Thee, O
Lord'" {0pp. St. Chrys. tom. viii. p. 723, ed.
Gaume). Compare the liturgies of St. Basil and
St. Chrysostom (Goar, pp. 161 and 69). The use
of this form was probably not very extensive
before the 6th century, or we should have found
it in all the Nestorian and Eutychian rites. The
liturgy of Malabar (Nestorian), however, doe*
give " Glory to Christ the Lord " {Hist. Eccl.
Malah. Raulin, p. 306); the Ethiopic, "Glory
be to Thee alvvay, O Christ, our Lord and God,"
&c. (Kenaud. tom. i. p. 510) ; and the Armenian,
" Glory be to Thee, 0 Lord, our God " (Neale's
Eastern Church, Introd. p. 414).
There is no very eai'ly evidence of a doxology
after the gospel. The liturgy of Malabar repeats
that given above. The Ethiopic has, " The che-
rubim and seraphim send glory up to Thee."
The Armenian, like the Malabar, has the same
after as before. There was none in the early
Roman liturgy, and Jmoi seems to have been the
common response in the middle ages {Notitia
Eucharistica, p. 228).
XI. In what language read. — As the first con-
verts to the gospel spoke Greek, all the liturgies
were originally in that language. It is not
known when Latin was adopted in the services
at Rome, but the church there had been founded
more than a century and a half before it pro-
duced a single Latin writer. It was, therefore,
natural that Greek should be occasionally and
partially used in the services after the general
use of Latin had begun. In particular the
eucharistic lessons were on certain days read in
both languages. The chief evidence of this is
the tact that it continued as a traditionary cus-
tom throughout the middle ages (see Notitia
Euch. p. 207) ; but we also find some early testi-
mony to the usage. Thus Amalarius : " Six
lessons were read by the ancient Romans [on the
Saturdays of the Ember weeks] in Greek and
Latin (which custom is kept up at Constan-
tinople to this day), for two reasons, if I mistake
not ; the one, because there were Greeks present,
to whom Latin was not known ; the other, be-
cause both people were of one mind " {De Eccl,
Off. lib. ii. c. 1). This statement obtains col-
lateral support from the earliest Ordo Romanus,
in which the four lessons used at the general
baptism on Easter Eve are ordered to be read in
Grenk and Latin (§ 40). Nicholas I., A.D. 858,
writing to the emperor Michael, confirms the
statement of Amalarius as to the practice at
Constantinople. He affirms that " daily, or any
how, on the principal feasts," the church there
was'" reported to recite the apostolic and evan-
gelic lessons in that language (the Latin) first,
and afterwards pronounce the very same lessons
in Greek, for the sake of the Greeks " {Ep. viii.,
Labb. Cone. tom. viii. col. 298). When John VIII.,
in the same century, gave permission for the
celebration of the Holy Communion in the
Sclavonic tongue, he made this proviso, that,
" to show it greater honour, the gospel should
be read in Latin, and afterwards published in
Sclavonic in the ears of the people who did not
GOSPELLER
understand Latin ; as appears to be done in some
churches " (^Ep. ccxlvii. ; Labb. Cone. torn. ix.
col. 177). In the churches of Syria the gospel
and epistle are still read both in the old Syriac
and in the better understood Arabic (Renaud.
torn. ii. p. 69) ; and in Egypt in both Coptic and
Arabic (Renaud. torn. i. pp. 5-8). When they
were first read in Ai-abic we do not know ; but
it was probably before the 9 th century, as both
countries were conquered and overrun by the
Arabs in the former half of the 7th.
XII. From the 6th century downward we
meet with repeated instances of a custom of
inclosing the gospels in cases, covers, or caskets,
adorned with gems and the precious metals.
The first Ordo Romanus, in giving directions for
the pontifical mass, to which we have referred
above, orders, that on festivals the keeper of the
vestry at St. John's Lateran shall give out " a
larger chalice and paten, and larger gospels
under his seal, noting the number of the gems
that they be not lost" (§ 3). Childebert I.,
A.D. 531, is said by Gregory of Tours to have
returned from an expedition into Spain, bringing
with him, among other spoils, "sixty chalices,
fifteen patens, twenty cases for the gospels
(evangeliorum capsas), all adorned with pure
gold and precious gevas" (^Hist. Franc, lib. iii.
c. X.). The same writer tells us that one of the
emperors of Rome caused to be made for the
church at Lyons " a case for inclosing the holy
gospels and a paten and chalice of pure gold
and precious stones " (De Glor. Confess, cap.
Ixiii.). Gregory the Great gave to the king of
the Lombards " a lectionary (lectionem) of the
holy gospel inclosed in a Persian case (theca) "
{Epp. lib. xii. Ep. vii. ad Theodel.) [VV. E. S.]
GOSPELLER. [Gospel, § V. p. 742.]
GOSPELS, BOOK OF. [Liturgical
Books: Gospel, § IV. p. 742.]
GOSPELS IN ART. [See Four Rivers,
Evangelists.] The sources of the four rivers,
represented continually on the sarcophagi (Bot-
tari, Smlture e Fitture, tav. xvi. and passim)
have doubtless reference to the four gospels, as
well as to the streams which watered the garden
of Eden. See also the woodcut of the Lateran
Cross s. v. Cross.
Rolls of the gospels, or other sacred books
are often repi-esented on glasses and cups (Buo-
naruotti, Vetri, tav. ii. viii. 1, xiv. 2). A case
containing the gospels is represented in the
chapel of Galla Placidia at Ravenna (see Ciam-
pini, Vet. Man. I. Ixvii.). They are generally
rolls, sometimes with umbilici and capsae. In
Buonaruotti, Frammenti di vast antichi, tav.
viii. 1, the rolls of the four gospels surround a
representation of the miracle of the seven loaves,
with probable reference to Matt. iv. 4, " Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
The portraits or symbolic representations of
the Evangelists very commonly bear the gospels
from the earliest date : indeed the symbol of four
scrolls or books, placed in the four angles of a
Greek cross, are asserted by Mrs. Jameson to be
the earliest type of the Four Evangelists, and
must certainly be among the earliest. In the
baptistery at Ravenna (Ciampini, V. M. I. p.
234), there is a mosaic of the four gosjiols
GRACE AT MEALS
745
This
resting on four tables, each with its title,
dates from A.D. 451.
The figures of apostles, passim in ancient me-
diaeval and modern art, bear rolls or volumes in
their hands ; but Martiguy remarks very inge-
niously and thoughtfully, that in the earliest
examples of apostles the volume must bo con-
t.idered to be that of the Law and the Prophets,
to which and to whom they referred all men in
their preaching, even from the day of Pentecost.
In one instance a picture at the bottom of a cup
representing an adoration of the Magi (Buona-
ruotti ix. 3) the book of the gospels is placed near
one of the three, in token of their being the first,
with the shepherds, to bear the good tidings of
the Saviour of Mankind.
A symbol of the gospel, and of the evangelists,
of the highest antiquity (indeed, as Mr. Hemans
thinks, of the Constantinian period) is the paint-
ing of four jewelled books at the juncture of the
arms of a large cross, also jewelled, on the vault
of a hall belonging to the Thermae of Trajan ;
consecrated for Christian worship by pope
Sylvester in the time of Constantine, and still
serving as a crypt-chapel below the church of
SS. Martino e Silvestro on the Esquiline Hill.
[R. St. J. T.]
GRACE AT MEALS. The Jews were
wont to give thanks at table, one of the com-
pany saying the prayer " in the plural number,
Let us bless, &c.," and the rest answering Amea
(Beracoth cap. vii. ; Lightfoot Home Hehr. in St.
Matt. XV. 36). When our Lord was about to
feed the multitudes He took the loaves and fishes,
and "blessed" (St. Matt. xiv. 19; St. Mark vi.
41; St. Luke ix. 16) or "gave thanks" (St.
Matt. XV. 36 ; St. Mark viii. 6 ; St. John vi. 11)
before He distributed them. This was in accord-
ance with the Jewish custom, which thus, with
the sanction of our Lord's example, passed into
His church. St. Chrysostom, commenting on
Matt. xiv. 19-21, says that He then "taught us
that we should not touch a table before giving
thanks to Him who provides this food " (^Hom.
xlix.). In commenting on the account of the
Last Supper, he refers to the " Grace " said
after meat also : — " He gave thanks before
distributing to the disciples, that we may give
thanks too. He gave thanks and sang hymns
after distributing, that 'we may do the same
thing " (//i St. Matt. xxvi. 30 ; Boryi. Ixxxii.).
That this was the general practice of the early
Christians is pi'oved by many testimonies. St.
Paul, to whatever else he may allude beside,
certainly recognizes it in 1 Tim. iv. 3-5. Meats,
he there teaches, were " created to be received
with thanksgiving of them which believe and
know the truth." Clemens of Alexandria, A.D.
192, both owns the principle, and vouches for
the observance. " As it is meet that before tak-
ing food we bless the Maker of all these things,
so also does it become us, when drinking, to
smg psalms unto Him ; forasmuch as we are
partaking of His creatures " (Paedag. lib. ii.
c. iv. § 44 ; see also § 77). Of the model Chris-
tian, he says, " His sacrifices are prayers and
praises, and the reading of Scripture before the
banqueting ; psalms and hymns after it " (^Strom.
lib. vii. c. vii. § 49). Again : " Referring the
reverent enjoyment of all things to God, he ever
ofiers to the giver of all things the first-fruits
of meat and drink and anointing oil. vieldintr
746
GRACE AT MEALS
thanks," &c. {Tbid. § 36). Tertullian, writing
probably in 202 : " We do not recline (at an
entertainment) before prayer be first tasted
. . . After water for the hands and lights, each,
as he is able, is called out to sing to God from
the Holy Scriptures, or from his own mind. In
like manner prayer puts an end to the feast"
{Liber AjmI. adv. Gcntes, c. xxxix.). St. Cyprian,
writing in 246 : " Nor let the banqueting hour
be void of heavenly grace. Let the temperate
entertainment resound with psalms, and do ye
each undertake this wonted duty according to the
strength of your memory or excellence of voice "
(Ad Donat. sub fin.). St. Basil, A.D. .370 : " Let
pi-ayers be said before taking food in meet ac-
knowledgment of the gifts of God, both of those
which He is now giving and of those which He
has put in store for the future. Let prayers be
said after food containing a return of thanks for
the things given, and request for those pro-
mised " (Fp. ii. ad Greg. Naz. § 6). Sozomen,
A.D. 440, says of the younger Theodosius, that he
would eat nothing "before he had blessed the
Creator of all things " {Hist. Eccks. Orat. ad
Imp. libro i. praefixa).
Examples remain of the early Graces, both of
the East and West. E.g. the Apostolical Con-
stitutions (lib. vii. c. 49) furnish the following
Eiixh f "■' apicTTCfj, Prayer at the midday meal :
" Blessed art Thou, 0 Lord, who feedest me from
my youth up, who givest food to all flesh. Fill
our hearts with joy and gladness ; that always
having a sufficiency we may abound unto every
good work, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through
whom be glory and honour and power unto Thee,
world without end. Amen" {Patres Apostol.Cotel.
torn. i. p. 385). This prayer (slightly varied) is
also given to be said after meals in the treatise
l>e Virginitate ascribed (most improbably) to St.
Athanasius. The writer first gives it and then
proceeds as follows : " And when thou art seated
at table and hast begun to break the bread,
having thrice sealed it with the sign of the
cross, thus give thanks, ' Wo give thanks unto
Thee, our Father, for Thy holy resurrection [i. e.
wrought and to be wrought in us, if the reading
be correct]; for through Thy Son Jesus Christ
hast Thou made it known unto us ; and as this
bread upon this table was in separate grains, and
being gathered together became one thing, so
let Thy church be gathered together from the
ends of the earth into Thy kingdom ; for Thine
is the power and the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.' And this prayer thou oughtest to say
when thou breakest bread and desirest to eat ;
but when thou dost set it on the table and sittest
down, say Our Father all through. But the
prayer above written (Blessed art Thou, 0 God
[Lord, Const. Apost,"]} we say after we have made
our meal and have risen from table" (§§ 12, 13,
inter Athanas. 0pp.). A short paraphrase, as it
appears, of an Eastern Grace at meals may also
be seen in the anonymous commentary (probably
of the sixth century) on the Book of Job printed
with the works of Origen (lib. iii.).
The following examples fi-om the Gelasian
Sacramentary are probably the most ancient
Graces of the Latin church now extant : Prayers
before Ment. (1) "Refresh us, 0 Lord, with Thy
gift.s, and sustain us with the bounty of Thy
riches ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
(2) ','Let us be refreshed, 0 Lord, from Thy
GRADUAL
grants and gifts, and satiated with Thy blessing;
through, &c." (3) " Protect us, 0 Lord our
God, and afford needful sustenance to our frailty ;
through, &c." (4) " Bless, 0 Lord, Thy gifts,
which of Thy bounty we are about to take ;
through, &c." (5) " 0 God, who dost alway
invite us to spiritual delights, give a blessing on
Thy gifts; that we may attain to a sanctified
reception of those things which are to be eaten
in Thy name; through, &c." (6) "May Thy
gifts, 0 Lord, refresh us, and Thy grace console us ;
through, &c." Prayers after Meals. — (1) "Satis-
fied, 0 Lord, with the gifts of Thy riches, we
give Thee thanks for these things which we
receive from Thy bounty, beseeching Thy mercy
that that which was needful for our bodies may
not be burdensome to our minds ; through, &c."
(2) " We have been satisfied, 0 Lord, with Thy
grants and gifts. Replenish us with Thy mercy.
Thou who art blessed ; who with the Father and
Holy Ghost livest and reiguest Goa for ever and
ever. Amen." Muratori, Liturgia Rom. Vetus,
torn. i. col. 745. Compare the Benedictio ad
Mensam, and Benedictio post Mensam levatam in
the Galilean Sacramentary of the 7th century
found at Bobio {Ibid. tom. ii. col. 959).
[W. E. S.]
GRACILIANUS. [Feltcissima.]
GRADO, COUNCIL OF {Gradense con-
cilium), held A.D. 579 at Grado for the transfer
thither of the see of Aquileia, supposing its acts
genuine, but Istria was at this time out of com-
munion with Rome for not accepting the 5th
council, and the part assigned to Elias, bishop of
Aquileia, throughout is suspicious. A legate
from Rome at his instance exhibited a letter as
from pope Pelagius II. to him authorising this
change, which was accordingly confirmed. Then
he requested that the definition of the 4th
council might be recited, which was also done.
In the subscriptions which follow his own comes
first, after him that of the legate, nineteen
bishops or their representatives follow, and last
of all twelve presbyters in their own names.
Mansi regards it as a forgery (ix. 927).
[E. S. Ff.]
GRADUAL {Besponsorium Graduale or Gra-
dale ; or simply Besponsorium or Besponsum ;
or Graduale. In mediaeval English Grayl
spelt variously.) — I. This was an anthem sung
after the epistle in most of the Latin churches.
Originally, it seems that a whole psalm was
sung, at least in Africa, as we gather from seve-
ral allusions in the Sermons of St. Augustine.
Thus in one he says, " To this belongs that which
the apostolic lesson (Col. iii. 9) before the can-
ticle of the psalm presignified, saying ' Put oft',
&c.' " {Serm. xxxii. c. iv.). " We have heard
the apostle, we have heard the psalm, we have
heard the gospel" {Serm. clxv. c. i.). Again : —
" We have heard the first lesson of the apostle,
'This is a faithful saying, c&c' (1 Tim. i. 15)
Then we sang a psalm, mutually ex-
horting one another, saying with one voice,
one heart, ' 0 come, let us worship,' &c.
(Ps. xcv. 6 ). After these the gospel lesson
showed us the cleansing of the ten lepers "
{Serm. clxxvi. c. i.). In his Betractations (lib.
ii. c. xi.) St. Augustine speaks of a custom which
began at Carthage in his time of "saying hymns
at the altar from the Book of Psalms, either
GEAUUAL
before the oblation or when that which had
been offered was being distributed to the people."
The hymn before the oblation has been under-
stood by some to be the psalm before the gospel ;
but a hymn sung before the catechumens left
would hardly have been called by so- precise a
writer as Augustine a hymn before the oblation.
He must rather have meant the offertory which
immediately preceded the offering of the ele-
ments. Nor was the Gradual sung at the altar,
but, as we shall see, from the lector's ambo. We
infer, therefore, that the psalm after the epistle
was a custom of the chui'ch before the age of
St. Augustine. Gennadius of Marseilles, a.d.
495, tells us thpt Musaeus, a presbyter of that
city, A.D. 458, at the request of his bishop,
selected " from the Holy Scriptures lessons suit-
able to the feast-days of the whole year, and
besides, responsory chapters of psalms adapted
to the seasons and lessons " (De Viris Illust. c.
l.xxix.). Another witness is Gregory of Tours,
who relates that on a certain occasion in the
year 585, his deacon "who had said the re-
sponsory at the masses before day " was ordered
by king Guntram to sing before him, and that
afterwards all the priests present sang a respon-
sory psalm, each with one of his clerks (^Hist.
Franc. L. viii. § iii.). The Antiphonary ascribed
to Gregory I. must have undergone changes
down to the 11th or 12th century, if it was not
originally compiled then. It contains Graduals
(there called Respousories) for use throughout
the year ; but from our uncertainty about their
age, we need only state the fact. It was printed
by Pamelius (Liturgicon, torn. ii. p. 62), and by
Thomasius at Rome in 1683. The earliest Ordo
Romanus extant, which describes a pontifical mass
of the 7th century, fully recognizes the use of
the Gradual : " After he (the subdeacon) has read
(the epistle) the cantor ascends [the steps of the
ambo ] with the cantatory, and says the Re-
sponse " (§ 10 ; Mus. Hal. torn. ii. p. 9). Again :
"With regard to the Gradual Responsory, it is
[in Lent] sung to the end by him who begins it,
and the verse in like manner" (§ 26, p. 18).
Compare Ordo ii. § 7. Amalarius (Prol. in Lib.
de Ord. Antiph. Hittorp. col. 504) explains the
term 'cantatory.' "That which we call the
Gradual (^Gradale) they (the Romans), call Canta-
torium ; which in some churches among them is
still, according to the old custom, comprised in
one volume." It was, in fact, a book containing
all the Graduals for the year.
II. Strictly only the first verse of the anthem
was called the Gradual. The rest was technically
called the " verse." The mode of singing it was
not everywhere the same ; but Amalarius de-
scribes at some length how this was done at
Rome, whence, he assui-es us (^De Eccles. Off.
L. iii. c. 11 ; De Ord. Ant. U.S.), the Gradual was
derived to other churches : — " The precentor in
the first row sings the Responsory to the end.
The succentors respond (i.e. sing the Responsory)
in like manner. The precentor then sings the
verse. The verse being ended, the succentors a
second time begin the Responsory from the first
word, and continue it to the end. Then the
precentor sings, ' Glory be to the Father and to
the Son and to the Holy Ghost.' This being
ended, the succentors take up the Responsory
about the middle, and continue it to the end.
Lastly the precentor begins the Responsory from
GRADUAL
747
the first word and continues it to the end.
Which being over the succentors for the third
time repeat the Responsory from the beginning
and continue it to the end." Amalarius also
tells us that " the Gloria was not sung with
Responsories from the first" {De Ord. Antiph.
c. 18); fi-om which we infer with probability
that they were in use before that doxology was
composed.
IH. The mode of singing adopted for the Gra-
dual, in which one sang alone for a while and
many resjwnded was probably in use from the
very infancy of the church. In the Apostolical
Constitutions the apostles are made to direct
that at the celebration of the holy eucharist
one of the deacons shall " chant the hymns of
David, and the people subchant the ends of the
verses" (L. ii. c. Ivii.). When St. Athanasius
(a.d. 356) found his church surrounded by more
than 5000 soldiers, and a violent crowd of Ari-
ans, he placed himself on his throne and " di-
rected the deacon to read a psalm, and the
people to respond, ' For His mercy endureth for
ever'" {Apol. de Fugd sua, § 24). Eusebius,
too, citing Philo's account of certain " Ascetae "
in Egypt, among other of their customs which
he declares to belong to the Christians, mentions
that one would " chant a psalm in measured
strains, the rest listening in silence, but singing
the last parts of the hymns together "' (Euseb.
Hist. L. II. c. xvii.). Whether those ascetics
were Jews or Christians the narrative of Philo
shows that the practice must have been known
to the Jewish converts of the 1st century, and
may even then have been adopted by them.
IV. From Easter Eve to the Saturday in
Whitsun week inclusively the Gradual was fol-
lowed, and at last supplanted by the Alleluia.
This had been long known in the West and used,
though not prescribed, on public occasions of
religious joy. At Rome it was only sung on
Easter day, as Sozomen informs us (^Hist. Eccl.
lib. vii. cap. xix.), and his statement is copied by
Cassiodorius {Hist. Eccl. Tripart. L. xiii. c. xxxix.),
who lived at Rome, A.D. 514. Their authority,
however, can only prove the tact for an age
before their own ; for Gregory I. affirms that it '
was introduced at Rome in masses by St. Jerome
(who had learnt it at Jerusalem) in the time of
Damasus, A.D. 384 {Epist. lib. vii.; Ep. Ixiv.).
This, of course, refers to its use between Easter
and Pentecost ; as Gregory himself extended it
" beyond the time of Pentecost " (JJnd.). In
the Antiphonary ascribed to him it is only
omitted between Septuagesima Sunday and
Easter (Pamel. Liturg. torn. ii. pp. 81-110).
Amalarius (u.s. cap. 13) speaks of it as "sung
on feast days."
V. The Tract was another anthem sometimes
sung after the epistle. Originally it was always
from the Book of Psalms; and like the Gradual
was a remnant and evidence of their early use
in celebrations as a part of Holy Scripture.
The Tract and Gradual differed at first, in all
probability, only in being sung differently; or
in other words the Tract was nothing more than
the Gradual as it was chanted in seasons of
humiliation. It is for this reason that wo treat
of them together. Very soon, however, a Tract
was often sung after the Gradual; or, as if
would, we presume, be then viewed, a third
verse was added to tlie anthem, which was suuir
748
GKADUAL
tractim; i.e. continuously by the cantor witliout
any assistance from the choir. Although the
language is obscure, we may perhaps infer that
they were sometimes sung together under the
first Ordo Eomanus. " If it shall be the time
for the Alleluia to be said, well ; but if for the
Tract, well again; but if not let the response
(Gradual) only be sung" (§ 10). The Tract is
never used without a responsory in the so-called
Gregorian Antiphonary. Though properly
penitential (Amalarius De Eccl. Off. lib. ii. c. 3),
the Tract was not always of a mournful cha-
racter. "Sometimes," says Amalarius, "the
Tract expresses tribulation, sometimes joy "
{Ibid. lib. iii. c. 13). It was sung from the
same place as the Gradual (^Ord. Eom. /. § 10;
//. § 7), and at first by the same cantor (JJrd. I.
§ 7) ; but later on by another (Orrf. II F. § 9). The
origin of the name, from cantus tractus, a sustained
unbroken chant, appears certain. Honorius of
Autun, A.D. 1130, is the earliest extant authority
for it {Gemma Animae, lib. i. c. 96) ; but it is
approved by all the best ritualists.
The mode of chanting the Tract was probably
borrowed from the early monks, who sang the
psalms by turns, one at a time. Thus Cassian,
A.D. 424, " One rises to sing psalms unto the
Lord before the company " {Be Coenob. Instit.
lib. ii. c. v.). " They divide the aforesaid num-
ber of twelve psalms in such a manner that if
two brethren be present, they sing six each ; if
three, four ; if four, three " {Ibid. c. xi. ; see
also c. xii.). St. Jerome has an allusion to it
when, writing to a monk {Ep. xiv. ad Rustic.
Moil.), he reminds him of the obligation to rise
before sleep would naturally leave him and
" say a psalm in his turn."
VI. The Gradual and Tract were sung from
the same step of the ambo from which the
epistle was read. According to the second Ordo
Komanus (§ 7), the Epistoler " went up on to
the ambo to read, but not on to its upper step
(or stage, gradual), which only he who read the
gospel was wont to ascend. After he had read
the cantor ascended with the cantorium ( = can-
tatorium) .... not to a higher place ; but he
stood in the same place as the reader." It was
foj- this reason that the anthem was called
Gradual: it was the chant from the step of the
ambo. This explanation of the term is given by
Rabanus Maurus, A.D. 847, and is accepted by
Bona, Le Bruu, Gerbert, Martene, and perhaps
all the great writers on ritual.
VII. The fact that the Gradual and Tract were
both sung from the lesson desk, and that by a
single cantor, detached thither, like the readers,
from the choir, seems to indicate their common
origin in that extended use of the Book of Psalms
with the rest of Holy Scripture which we know
to have prevailed during the first ages. Both
arrangements were appropriate and natural if
the psalms were said in some sort as a lesson ; but
inappropriate as well as inconvenient for a mere
anthem. The sense of this at length led to the
Gradual being sung by the cantor in his usual
place. Amalarius, indeed, exhibits the cantor as
a teacher and preacher no less than those who
read the other Scriptures. " By the office of the
cantor we may understand that of a prophet
.... By the responsory we may understand the
preaching of the New Testament .... The cantor
discharges the functions of a faithful preacher,"
GREETING-HOUSE
&c. {De Eocl. Off. 1. iii. cap. 11). This was, we
presume, the traditional view. It is suggested
by St. Augustine'smanner of referring (see above)
to the psalms which in his day formed part of
the eucharistic service in Roman Africa, as well
as to the epistles and gospels. The same thought
underlies the mystical comment of Pseudo-Dio-
nysius. The psalms sung, according to him, put
the soul into harmony with things divine, and
then those things which have been mystically
shadowed forth in them are plainly and fully
taught in the -lessons from the other parts of
Holy writ {De Eccl. Hier. c. iii. n. iii. § 5).
Psalms are to this day sung before the gospel in
the Coptic rite (Kenaud. tom. i. pp. 7, 210). In
the Armenian " a suitable psalm is recited " im-
mediately before the first eucharistic lesson
(the prophecy) is read (Le Brun, Diss. x. art.
xiv.). In the Milanese a Psalmellus (Pamelii
Liturgicon, tom. i. p. 295), and in the Mozarabic
an anthem headed Psallendo (Leslie, Miss. Moz.
pp. 1, 222), in Lent a Tractus {ibid. pp. 98, 101,
&c.) is sung between the prophecy and the
epistle. In these psalms or anthems we find
the evident remains, akin to the Roman Gradual
and Tract, of the psalmody which accompanied
the reading of the other Scriptures in the primi-
tive church. There was also, we may mention
in conclusion, a substitute for it left in the Old
Galilean liturgy in the Hymn of Zacharias,
often called the prophecy, which was sung be-
fore the Old Testament Lesson ( S, Germani
Expos. Breo. in Martene De Ant. Eccl. Hit. 1.
i. c. iv. art. xii. ord. i. ; Mabill. Liturg. Gall. 1.
ii. pp. 251, 322, &c.), and in the Song of the
Three Children ( Germanus, m. s. ; Mabill. ibid.
p. 107) which was sung between the epistle and
gospel. [W. E. S.]
GEANATAEIUS, in a monastery, one of
the four deputies or assistants of the house-
steward (" sufiTraganei cellerario," quaintly styled
"■solatia cellej'arii" in the old Benedictine rule),
the receiver of the yearly corn-harvest of the
monastery, and keeper of the granary (Mart.
Beg. Bened. Conim. c. 31) and of the farm stock
(Isidor. Reg. c. 19). In some monasteries his
office was to provide all household necessaries
(Ducange Gloss, j.at. s. v.). The word is also
spelt " granarius " or " granetarius." [I. G. S.]
GRATA. [Photinus.]
GRATIAS DEO. [Deo Gratias.]
GRAVES. [Arcosolium : Area ; Bisomus ;
Catacombs; Cemetery; Cella Memoriae;
Churchyard.]
GREAT WEEK. [Holy Week.]
GREEK, USED IN SERVICES. [Creed,
§ 17 ; Gospel, § XI. p. 744.]
(JREEN THURSDAY. [Maundy Thurs-
day.]
GREETING. [Salutation.]
GREETING, THE ANGELICAL. [Hail,
Mary.]
GREETING - HOUSE, a reception-room
(ao-Trao-Ti'/cos oIkos, receptorium, salutatorium,
salle d'entre'e, parloir) next to the proaula or
proaulium (Ducange Gloss. L'd. s. v. saluta-
torium). In the narrative of the fiinious inter-
view between Ambro.se and Thcodosius, the
GREGORIAN MUSIC
bishop is described as sitting in his reception-
room before going to the church (Theodoret,
Ecc. Hist. V. 18), and Gregory the Great speaks
of a bishop as proceeding from his reception-
room to church (Greg. M. Ep. iv. 54). Bingham
corrects the opinion of Scaliger that the place
spoken of by Theodoret was a part of the bishop's
palace used for entertaining strangers, and pro-
nounces it " a place adjoining the church "
(" exedra ecclesiae adjuncta," Ducange, v. s.) for
the bishop " to receive the salutations of the
people " coming for his " blessing," or on " busi-
ness " (Bingh. Orig. Eccle's. viii. vii. 8 ; cf.
Vales. Annotat. in Theodoret. 1. c). It is re-
corded of St. Martin of Tours that he sat on a
three-legged stool in a room of this kind, in pre-
ference to using the bishop's throne which was
there (Sulp. Sev. Vit. S. Mart.); and that on his
visitations he spent night and day in this room
(Sulp. Sev. Ep. 1). In this "salutatorium " the
rule of the convent was read over to candidates
for admission {Beg. Aurel. ad Virgines, c. 1). The
nuns, and even the abbess, were foi'bidden to see
any stranger here alone {Eeg. Donnt. ad Virg. c. 57 ;
Beg. Caesarii ad Virg. c. 35) ; and by the council
of Macon, A.D. 581, bishops, priests, and deacons,
as well as laymen, were prohibited from entering
the reception-room of a nunnery, Jews especially
being excluded {Cojic. Matiscon. c. 2).a On the
same principle, women, even nuns, were excluded
from the bishop's "salutatorium"(Ducange, s. v.}.
In a Benedictine monastery this chamber was
usually on the east side of the quadrangle, be-
tween the chapter-house and the south transept
of the church (Whitaker's Hist, of Whdley,
p. 124, 4th ed. 1874).
A room of this kind was used, according to
Mabillon, for robing, for hearing causes, for
synods, for keeping relics in, and sometimes for
temporary residence (Mabill. Ann. Bened. Saec.
iv. i. p. 370, cited by Ducange Gloss. Eat. v. s. ;
cf. Sulp. Sev. Ep. i.). According to Menard,
there was a similar room for the use of the
priests (Bened. Anian. Concord. Regul. v. 25: cf.
Sulp. Sev. Dial. II. i.).
This receiving-room, or audience-chamber,
seems identical with the " sacrarium," or vestry,
where the vessels for use in church were kept
(Ducange Gloss. Lat. s. v.) See Diaconicum,
Gazophylacium. [I. G. S.]
GREGORIAN MUSIC. [Music]
GREGORY. (1) Bishop of Nyssa in Cappa-
docia(t 390 A.D.); commemorated March 9(J/a»-<.
Bom. Vet., Adonis) ; Jan. 10 {Cal. Byzant.) ; Hedar
2i) = Nov. 22 {Cal. Ethiop.); deposition March 9
{Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Magnus, the pope, "apostolus Anglorum"
(t 604 A.D.); commemorated with Innocent I.,
March 12 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi) ; deposition March 12 {Mart. Bedae).
(3) Bishop and confessor of Eliberis (Elvira)
(saec. IV.); commemorated April 24 {Mart.
Usuardi).
(4) Theologus, bishop of Nazianzus and of
Constantinople (f 389 a.d.); commemorated Jan.
GRIFFIN
■49
» The reading in the text, "extra salutatorium," ob-
viously wrong, is corrected by Labbe in the margin to
" infra." The " oratorium " here mentioned and in the
quoted above from the Rule of Donatus, is
another place.
25 {Cal. Byzant., Mart. Bedae) ; May 9 {Mart.
Bom.Vet.,Moms, Usuardi); X\i^.Z{Cdl.Armen.).
(5) Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neo-Caesarea
and martyr (j circa 270 a.d.) ; commemorated
July 3 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usu-
ardi); July 27 {Cal. Armen.); Nov. 17 {Mart.
Bedae, Cal. Byzant.); Hedar 21 = Nov 17 (Cal
Ethiop.).
(6) The Illuminator, bishop and patriarch of
Greater Armenia in the time of Diocletian
(t 325-330 A.D.), Uponaprvs; commemorated
^Q'pt.ZO {Cal. Byzant.); March 23 (Ca/. Armen.,
Cal. Georg.) ; Maskarram 19 = Sept. 16 {Cal.
Ethiop.); invention of his relics, Oct. lA {Cal.
Ai-men.).
(7) Bishop of Agrigentum ; commemorated
Nov. 23 {Cal. Byzant.).
(8) Bishop of Auxerre ; commemorated Dec.
19 {Mart. Usuardi).
(9) Presbyter and martyr at Spoletum in
Tuscany, in the time of Diocletian and Maxi-
mum; commemorated Dec. 24 {Mart. Born. Vet.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(10) Ab Shandzai ; commemorated Oct. 5
{Cal. Georg.). [VV. F. G.]
GRIFFIN. See « Cherub " in Dictioxary
OF THE Bible, vol. i. pp. 300 sqq. ; and Buskin's
Modern Bainters, vol. iii. p. 112.
The connexion between the various symbolisms
of Cherub and Griffin in Biblical and Northern
tradition is strengthened by the etvmological
resemblance of the words. There is certainly a
great likeness between the names ypiiir (with x
afformative) and 3-n3. Both are titles of the
most ancient existing symbols of Divine om-
nipotence and omniscience; as it cannot be
doubted that the sphinxes of Egypt and winged
bulls or lions of Assyria conveyed kindred ideas
to the hieratic, or indeed the popular mind. It
would seem that all the chief races of men have
been taught to set forth such mysterious forms ;
as this composite idea is so nearly universal.
Some figure of this kind must have been the
popular shape of the cherub or gryps known to
the children of Israel : and the fact that it was
a permitted and prescribed image, taken toge-
ther with the command to make the brazen
serpent, forms a very large portion of the sub-
structure of iconodulist arguments. See Johannes
Damascenus Be Imaginib'is, Orat. ii. Such in-
stances of griffin forms as appear in the earliest
Christian decoration seem to the writer to be
in all probability merely ornamental ; as, in
fact, unmeaning adaptations of Gentile patterns.
See, however, Guenebault, Dictionmiire Icoho-
graphique, s. v. " Griffon." The use of the sym-
bolic griffin by the Lombard race, however,
dates from well within our period ; though the
great Veronese works so frequently mentioned
by Professor Ruskin are probably as late as the
nth century. Those of the duomo of Verona
and the church of San Zenone deserve especial
mention.
That the griffin is the Gothic-Christictn repre-
sentation of the cherub, the " Mighty one," or
the "Carved Image" of Hebrew sculpture,
seems highly probable, further, from the follow-
ing connexion of ideas in different ages.
The glorified forms of living creatures and of
750
GROTESQUE
wheels in the great opening vision of Ezekiel have
necessarily been always connected with those of
the Zia, the Beasts of the Apocalypse [See Evan-
gelists, p. 633]. The latter, as representing
the writers of the four gospels, are an universal
symbol after the 5th century. It did not escape
the eye of Professor Ruskin that the marble
wheel by the side of his Veronese griffin is an
indisputable reference on the part of the un-
known Lombard artist to the first chapter of
Ezekiel (Ezek. 1. 21): "When those (Living
Creatures) went, these went : and when those
stood, these stood, and when those were lifted
up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up
over against them : for the spirit of the Living
Creatures was in the wheels." And this is fully
confirmed (w-ere that necessary) by Dr. Hay-
man's researches in the Dictionary of the
Bible. But the wheels appear in a more an-
cient work by a great and mystical genius
whose name and date alone remain to us, the
monk Rabula, scribe and illustrator of the
great Florentine MS., A.D. 586 (See Assemani's
Catalogue of the Laurentian Lihrary). A wood-
cut of this is given in this work, p. 85. It
represents the Ascension ; our Lord is borne up
by two ministering angels on a chariot of cloud,
under which appear the heads of the Four Crea-
tures : the flaming wheels are on each side, with
two other angels, who are apparently receiving
His garments, the vesture of His flesh. The
sun and moon are in the upper corners of the
picture; which is one of the most important
works in Christian art as a specimen of imagin-
ative symbolism of the highest character, and
also as a gi'aphic illustration of the connexion
between Hebrew and Christian vision, or Apoca-
lypse of the Unseen. And to this the Veronese
griffin and its wheel, and the whole Christian
usage of that composite form as a symbol, really
refers. " The winged shape becomes one of the
acknowledged symbols of Divine power : and in
its unity of lion and eagle, the workman of the
middle ages always meant to set forth the unity
of the human and Divine natures. In this unity
it bears up the pillars of the church, set for ever
as the corner stone."
In its merely ornamental use it is derived
simply from Heathen or Gentile art and litera-
ture. [R. St. J. T.]
GROTESQUE. We have the authority of
Prof. Mommsen for assigning the word Kpvinco
as the original derivation of this adjective, formed,
probably, immediately from grot or grotto, a
cavern or subterranean recess, and therefore
connected in its use, as a word of Renais-
sance origin, with ideas of Pan, the Satyrs, and
other cavern-haunting figures, combining noble
with ignoble form. The very numerous and
various meanings of the word all point to the
idea of novel contrast ; either between the noble
and ignoble, or less noble, or of the beautiful with
the less beautiful. In Christian art, moreover,
both of earlier and later date, a large number of
works may be called grotesque in the general or
popular sense of the word, because they are very
singular in their appearance. This may arise in
one or in two ways, or be caused by one or both
of two conditions: either by the difficulty of
the subject, or the archaic style of the workmen,
or by a mixture of originality of mind and im-
GROTESQUE
perfect skill in craft. Many heathen grotesques
of the earlier empire, as those of Pompeii, the
Baths of Hadrian, and the newly-discovered
frescoes of the Doria Pamphili Villa (see Pai-ker,
Antiquities of Borne, and appendix by the present
writer) are extremely beautiful and perfect in
workmanship, and come under the first or second
classes mentioned, where the less pleasing form
is contrasted with the more beautiful ; this is
the principle also of much cinque-cento gro-
tesque. Early Christian work of this kind is
not unfrequent in the catacombs, as in the
" Seasons " of the catacombs of SS. Domitilla
and Nereus, in many of the mosaic orna-
ments of St. Constantia and the other Graeco-
Roman churches. The employment of actual
ugliness for surprise or contrast seems to be a
characteristic of the art of the Northern races,
found in Italy only in the earlier work of the
Lombard race, and then always distinguishable
in its manner from that of the French or Ger-
mans. Excepting the carvings of St. Ambrogio
at Milan, and the churches of St. Michele at
Pavia and Lucca, this species of grotesque is not
part of our period; but the most characteristic
and important of all these buildings, St. Zenone
at Verona, cannot be altogether omitted. It
seems as well to classify the various meanings
of the Grotesque as follows, according to the
examples found in various places and periods.
1. Grotesque, where more elaborate or serious
representations are contrasted with easier and less
important work by the same hand, as in orna-
mental borders round pictures, fillings-up of
vaultings or surfaces round figures, &c. This
embraces all the earlier grotesque of ornament,
as in the frescoes of Hadrian's villa, or the Doria
Pamphili columbarium.
2. Grotesque where the importance of the
subject, and the workman's real interest in it,
are for a time played with ; he being led to do
so by the natural exuberance of his fancy, by
temporary fatigue of mind, or other causes — this
includes the Lombard work.
3. Grotesque where either the imperfection of
the workman's hand, or the inexpressible nature
of his subject, render his work extraordinary in
appearance, and obviously imperfect and unequal.
This applies to the productions of all times and
places where thoughtful and energetic man have
laboured. Among its greatest and most cha-
racteristic examples are the Triumph of Deatli
by Orgagna at Pisa, and the Last Judgment of
Torcello ; its most quaint and absurd appearance
may be in the strange Ostrogothic mosaic in the
sacristy of St. Giovanni Evangelista at Ravenna ;
or see Count Bastard's Peintures des MSS. passim ;
but this description of grotesqueness applies to
almost all the Byzantine apses and arches of
triumph where the spiritual world is depicted,
and indeed to all Byzantine work in as far as it
attempts naturalist representation, unless it be
in the single pictures of birds, found in MSS.,
and occasionally in mosaic, as at St. Vitale at
Ravenna.
Few of the works of the catacombs have any
pretence to beauty. The birds and vine orna-
ment of the tomb of Domitilla (perhaps the
earliest Christian sepulchre, which is known by
dated bricks to be certainly not later than Ha-
drian, and is very probably the actual grave of
a granddaughter of Vespasian) are of the same
GROTESQUE
date as the tomb, which is anterior to the cata-
comb. These, with some remains of the paint-
ings in the catacon-ib, and the 2nd century paint-
ings of the catacomb of St. Praetextatus, are
beautiful examples of playful naturalistic orna-
ment, probably the work of heathen hands,
under Christian direction, and taken in the
Christian sense. They are mentioned here,
rather as parallel works to the beautiful secular-
Roman grotesques, than as true grotesques
themselves. They are symbolic in the strict
sense (see J. H. Parker's Photographs and Anti-
quities of Rome, and art. ' Symbolism ' in this
Dictionary).
The grotesqueness of the early mosaics is of
the same nature as that of the forms and figures
in the best glass-painting. In both, the advan-
tages of light and shade, correct drawing and
perspective, are sacrificed entirely to colour and
graphic force of impression. To express the
plainest meaning in the brightest and most gem-
like colour is the whole object of the artist. Of
course in the works from the 5th to the 8th
century, down to the bathos of Graeco-Roman art,
the rigid strangeness of the mosaics may have
much to do with the incapacity of the work-
men. Nevertheless the gift of colour is seldom
wanting ; and this, together with the painful
asceticism of faces and forms in these works,
points to an Eastern element in the minds and
education of these artists. The great Medici MS.
of Rabula is perhaps the central example of the
genius and originality of design and graphic
power, possessed by some of the unknown ascetics
of Syria and the East. The mosaic of the Trans-
figuration at Mount Sinai, of the age of Justi-
nian and many of those in Rome, as the apses of
SS. Cosmas and Damianus, of St. Venantius,
and above all St. Prassede, are instances giving
evidence of necessarily imperfect treatment of a
transcendent subject. Those of Ravenna have
been already mentioneil ; but their workmanship
greatly excels that of the Roman mosaics, and
their quaintness strikes one less than their
beauty.
The Lombard invasion of Italy dates 568 A.D.,
and it is in the earliest work of this extraor-
dinary race that the Christian grotesque, pro-
perly speaking, may be said to arise. The best
account of some of its examples, in Pavia, Lucca
and Verona, is to be found in Appendix 8. of
Ruskin's Stones of Venice, vol. i. p. 360-65,
accompanied by excellent descriptive plates, and
comparisons between the Lombard subjects and
workmanship in St. Michele and St. Zenone,
and the Byzantine masonry and carvings of
St. Mark's at Venice. Invention and restless
energv are the characteristics of the new and
strong barbarian race ; graceful conventionalism
and exact workmanship, with innate but some-
what languid sense of beauty, belong to the
Greek workmen. Neither of them can ever be
undervalued by any one who is interested in the
bearings of art on history; for there can be no
doubt, that as the Lombard churches are the
fii-st outbreak of the inventive and graphic
spirit which grew into the great Pisan and Flo-
rentine schools of painting and sculpture, so the
Romano-Greek or Eastern influence, generally
called Byzantine, extended over all the Christian
world of the early mediaeval ages. To trace the
Christian grotesque northward and westward
GROTESQUE
751
through early MSS., bas-reliefs, and church deco-
ration would be to write a history of Christian
art in the dark ages. One of the first accom-
plishments of the denizens of a convent would
of course be calligraphy, and to multiply Evan-
geliaria and missals was a part even of the
earliest missionary work.
On the edge of every wave
of progress made by the
Faith, the convents arose
first of all things, and the
monks at once employed
themselves on copies of tiie
Holy Scriptures. Now it
cannot be doubted, that a
Schola Graeca, a regular
set of artists working ac-
cording to Greek traditions
of subject and treatment in
art, existed in Rome from
the 6th century, if not be-
fore, and received a great
accession of strength in
the 8th during the Icono-
clastic struggle in Constan-
tinople, when many eccle-
siastical artists must have
withdrawn thence to Rome.
There in fact, as elsewhere,
the first faint revival of
Christian art took place entirely in churches
and convents, and under what are called By-
zantine forms. Whether Byzantinism be con-
sidered as the last embers of Graeco-Roman
art, kept alive by Christianity for the Northern
races, or as the first sparks of a new ligh:
feebly struggling for existence through all the
centuries from the 6th to the 11th, there is no
doubt that the characteristics of Bvzantinism
No. 2. Carlovinfn.in, 8th ccntnry. (Bastard
— many of them characteristics of weakness, no
doubt — prevailed in Christian ornamental work
of all kinds, and were grotesque in all the senses
of the word. The beautifully illustrated works
of Prof. Westwood on Saxon, Irish and Northern
MSS. in particular, are of the highest value in
this connection, and are in fact almost the only
works generally accessible in this country, which
illustrate the connection between the Eastern an<l
English churches through the Irish, by way of
lona and Lindisfarne (see Miniature).
The splendid works of D'Agincourt and Count
Bastard are the best authority and sources of
information on the Soutlicrn Grotesque in minia-
752
GUARDIANS
ture carving withia the limits of our period,
and the art of photography is now bringing the
remains of the ancient Lombard chtirches within
reach of most persons interested in them. De-
scriptions fail in great measure without illustra-
tion, and few pictures or drawings are really
trustworthy for details of ornamental work (see
Stones of Venice, App. vol. i. ubi sup.). Mr.
Ruskin has secured many valuable records by
his own pencil and those of his trusted workmen.
Didron's Annales Archeologiques contain much
excellent illustration ; and a parallel work of
equal value is still, we believe, carried on in
Germanv. called the Jahrhuch des Vereins von
Alterthums-freundeninRheinlande. Mr. Parker's
photographs and Roman Antiquities above men-
Ni). 3. Medicus Sapiens. (Bastard, vol. i.)
tioned, are of great value to the historical student
of art or of archaeology. The Northern Teutonic
grotesque of actual sport of mind, ultra-natu-
ralism, and caricature extends far beyond the
limits of our period. But the term grotesque
is generally applied to so many things within
it, that some early specimens of Gothic humour
seem necessary for the purposes bf this Dic-
tionary ; and three selections from Count Bas-
tard's work are accordingly given. No. 1 is a
Merovingian initial letter ; No. 2 Carlovingian
of the 8th century ; and No. 3 is the initial
portrait of a monk-physician in a lettrcs-a-jour
MS. of the 8th century of the medical works of
Orbaces, Alexander of fralles,and Dioscorides. All
will be found in colour in Count Bastard's first
volume, with innumerable others. [R. St. J. T.]
GUARDIANS. The duties and liabilities of
guardians as defined by the old Roman laws,
were but slightly aft'ected by the Christian
religion [See DiCT. OF Greek and Rom. Antiq.
s. V. Tutor].
The principal church regulation, which con-
cerned them, arose from the generally admitted
maxim, that the clergy ought not to be entangled
in secular affairs. Hence a guardian was not
allowed to be ordained to any ecclesiastical func-
tion, until after the expiration of his guardian-
ship. i^Concil. Carthag. I. c. 9, A..D. 348.) For the
same reason none of the clergy were allowed to
be appointed guardians ; and those who nomi-
nated any of them to such an office were liable to
church censures. Thus Cyprian mentions the
case of a person named Geminius Victor, who
having by his will appointed a presbyter as
GYROVAGl
guardian to his children, had his name struck
out of the DiPTYCHS, so tliat no prayer or obla-
tion should be offered for him. (Cyprian Ep.
66, ad Clerum Furnit.)
Under the old Roman law a guardian was
forbidden to marry his ward, or to give her in
marriage to his son, except by special license
fj-om the emperor (Cod. Justin, v. 6).
But Constantine altered this restriction, so far
as to allow such marriages, provided that the
ward was of age, and that her guardian had
offered her no injury in her minority, in which
case he was to be banished and his goods confis-
cated. iCod. Theod. ix. 8.) [G. A. J.]
GUBA on the Euphrates (Council of),
A.D. 585, a meeting of the Monophysites of
Antioch under their patriarch Peter the younger,
to enquire into the opinions of an archimandrite
named John, and Probus, a sophist, his friend,
and- ending in their condemnation (Mansi, ix.
965-8). [E. S. Ff.]
GUDDENE, martyr at Carthage, a.d. 203 ;
commemorated July 18 (Mart, Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
GURIAS, martyr of Edessa, a.d. 288 ; com-
memorated with Abibas and Samonas, Nov. 15
(Cal. Byzant., Cal. Armen.). [W. F. G.]
GUTHBERTUS. [Cuthbert.]
GYNAECONITIS. [Galleries.]
GYROVAGl, vagabond monks, reprobated
by monastic writers. Benedict, in the very
commencement of his rule, excludes them from
consideration, as unworthy of the name of monks
(Bened. Reg. c. 1). He pronounces them worse
even than the " sarabaitae," or " remoboth "
(Hieron. Ep. 22 ad Eustuch. c. 34), who, though
living together by twos and threes, without rule or
discipline, at any rate were stationary, and built
themselves cells ; whereas the " gyrovagi " were
always roving from one monastery to another.
After staying three or four days in one monas-
tery, they would start again for another ; for
after a few days' rest it was usual for strangers
to be subjected to the discipline of the monas-
tery, to the same fare, labour, &c., as the in-
mates (Martene Reg. Comm. ad loc. cit.); always
endeavouring to ascertain where in the neigh-
bourhood they would be most likely to find
comfortable quarters (Reg. Magist. c. 2 ; cf.
Isidor. Pelus. I. Ep. 41, Joann. Climac. Seal. Grad.
27). Martene (v.s.) and Menard (Bened. Anian.
Concord. Regul. iii. ii.) identify these "gyrovagi'^
with the " circumcelliones," or " circelliones."
[v. Circumcelliones.] They were of import-
ance enough to be condemned in one of the canons
of the Trullan council, A.D. 691, and are there
described as wandering about in black robes and
with unshorn hair : they are to be chased away
into the desert, unless they will consent to enter
a monastery, to have their hair trimmed, and in
other ways to submit to discipline (Cone. Qui-
nisextum c. 42). Bingham (Origin. Eccles. vii.
ii. 12) and Hospinian (de Orig. Monach. ii. i.)
merelv repeat what is contained in the rule of
Benedict. P- f'- S.]
HABAKKUK
H
HABAKKUK, the prophet ; commemorated
Ginbot 24 = May 19, and Hedar 3 = 0ct. 30 {Cal.
Ethiop.); also Dec. 2 {Cal. Byzanf). See also
Abacuc. [W. F. G.]
HABIT, THE MONASTIC. ^Habitus
monasticus, <rxvi^a /xovaSiKhv or fxovax^KSv). A
distinctive uniform was no part of monachism
originally. Only it was required of monks that
their dress and general appearance should indi-
cate "gravity and a contempt of the world"
(Bingh. Orig. Eccles. vir. iii. 6). Hair worn
long was an effeminacy (August, de Op. Mon. c.
31. Hieron. Ep. 22, ad Eustoch. c. 28, cf.
Epiphan. adv. Haeres. Ixxx. 7), the head shaven
all over was too like the priests of Isis (Hieron.
Comm. in Ezek. c. 44. Ambros. Ep. 58 ad Sabhi.).
In popular estimation persons abstaining from
the use of silken apparel were often called
monks (Hieron. Ep. 23 ad IfarcelL). The same
writer defines the dress of a monk merelv as
" cheap and shabby " {Ep. 4 ad Bustic, Ep. 13
ad Paulin.). And the dress of a nun as " sombre "
in tint, and "coarse" in texture {Ep. 23 ad
MarcelL). He warns the enthusiasts of asceti-
cism against the eccentricity in dress, which was
sometimes a mere pretence of austerity, a lono-
untrimmed beard, bare feet, a black cloak"^
chains on the wrists (^^;. 22 ad Eustoch. c. 28,
cf. Pallad. Hist. Laus. c. 52). So Cassian pro-
tests against monks wearing wooden crosses on
their shoulders (ColL viii. 3). Hair closely cut,
and the cloak (pallium), usually worn by Greek
philosophers and lecturers, were at first badges
of a monk in Western Christendom ; but even
these were not peculiar *to him. The cloak was
often worn by other Christians, exposing them
to the vulgar reproach of being " Greeks " and
" impostors " (Bingh. Oriq. Eccles. I. ii. 4), and
any one appearing in public with pale face, short
hair, and a cloak, was liable to be hooted and
jeered at by the unbelieving populace as a monk
(Salv. de Gubemat. viii. 4).
Cassian is more precise on a monk's costume,
and devotes to it the first book of his Institutes.
But he allows that the sort of dress suitable for
a monk in Egypt or Ethiopia may be very
unsuitable elsewhere, and he condemns sack-
cloth, or rather, a stuff made of goats' hair or
camels' hair (cilicina vestis) worn outside as too
conspicuous. He speaks in detail of the various
parts of a menk's dress ; the IIOOD (cucullus),
which is to remind the monk to be as a little
child in simplicity; the sleeveless tunic (COLO-
BIUM), in Egypt made of linen, which reminds
him of self-mortification ; the girdle or waist-
band (cingulum), to remind him to have his " loins
girded " as a " good soldier of Christ ;" the cape
over the shoulders (mafors, palliolum); the
sheepskin or goatskin round the waist and thighs
(melotes, pera, penula) ; and for the feet the
sandals (caligae), only to be worn as an oc-
casional luxury, never during the divine seiTice
(Cassian Instit. i. cc. 1-10 cf, Kuffin. Hist. Mon.
c. 3).
Benedict characteristically passes over this
item in the monastic discipline very quickly ;
summing up his directions about it in one of the
last chapters of his rule ; and discreetly leaving
CHRIST. ANT.
HAGGAI
753
questions of colour and material, as indifferent
to be decided by climate and other circumstances.'
He lays down the general principle, that there
are to be no superfluities, adding, that a tunic
and nood, or, for outdoor work, assort of cape to
protect the shoulders (scapulare), instead of the
hood, ought to suffice generally ; two suits of
each being allowed for each monk, and some
suits of rather better quality being kept for
monks on their peregrinations. The worn out
articles of dress are to be restored to the keeper
ot the wardrobe, for the poor. Benedict, how-
ever, ' to avoid disputes " appends a short list,
corresponding very nearly to Cassian's, of thino-^
necessary for a monk, all which are to be
supplied to the brethren, at the discretion of the
abbat, and none of them to be the propertv or
peculiare " of any one. The only addition to
the Egyptian costume is that of socks (pedules)
tor the winter; the Benedictine "bracile"
apparently corresponding with " cingulum," and
the "scapulare" with "palliolum." Benedict
allows trowsers [femoralia] on a journey, and
on some other occasions; underclothing' he is
silent about; consequently commentators and
the usages of particular monasteries differ on this
point. To the list of clothing Benedict adds, as
part of a monk's equipment, a knife (cultellus)
a pen (graphium), a needle (acus) a handkerchief
or handcloth (mappula), and tablets for writing
on (tabulae). He specifies also as necessaries
for the night, a mattress (matta), a coverlet
(sagum), a blanket (laena), and a pillow (c^^pi-
tale) (Bened. Beg. c. 55). Martene quotes
Hildemarus for the traditional custom, by which
each monk was provided with a small jar of
soap for himself and of grease for liis shoes
{Beq. Bened. Ccnnment. ad loc).
Laxity of monastic discipline soon began to
provoke fresh enactments about dress, sometimes
more stringent and more minute than at first
(e.g. Beg. Isidor. c. 14, Beg. Mag. c. 81). Coun-
cils re-enact, and reformers protest. The council of
Agde, A.D. 506, and the 4th council of Toledo,
A.D. 633, repeat the canon of the 4th council of
Carthage A.D. 398, "ne clerici comam nutriaut "
(Cone. Agath. c. 20 ; Cone. iv. Toletan. c. 40 ;
Cone. iv. Carthag. c. 44). Ferreolus, in southern
Gaul, A.D. 558, repeats the old edict against
superfluities, and forbids his monks to use per-
fumes, or wear linen next the skin (Ferreol.
Beg. cc. 14, 31, 32). In Spain, Fructuosus of
Braga, A.D. 656, insists on uniformity of apparel.
Irregularity about dress seems with monks, as
in a regiment, to have been an accompaniment
of demoralisation. (See, further, Menard Cone.
Begul. Ixii. ; Alteserr. Asceticon. v. ; Middendorj).
Origin. Ascet. Sylva. xiii.)
The Greek Euchologion gives an office for the
assumption of the ordinary habit of a monk
(aKoAovdta tov fiiKpov cxvuarus), and another
for assuming the greater or " angelic " habit
distinctive of those ascetics who were thought
to have attained the perfection of monastic fife
(d/f. TOV /xfydXov Kal ayytKiKov (Tx^/xotos). See
Daniel's Codex Lit. iv, 659 ff. [See Novice.]
[I. G. S.]
HAEEEDIPETAE. [Captatores.]
HAGGAI, the prophet; commemorated Tak-
sas 20 = Dec. 16 (CaLEMcp., Cat. By^ant.).
■[W. F. G.]
3 C
754
HAGIOSIDEEON
HAGIOSIDERON. One of the substitutes
for BELLS still used in the East is the Hagiosi-
deron (rb ffiSrtpovv, Kpovfffjia) [see Semantron].
These usually consist of an iron plate, curved
like the tire of a wheel, which is struck with a
hammer, and produces a sound not unlike that
of a gong. They are occasionally made of brass.
The illustration is taken from Dr. Neale's work
(Neale's Eastern Church, Int. 217, 225 ; Daniel's
Codex Lit. W. 199). [C]
HAIL MARY or AVE MAEIA. An ad-
dress and prayer commonly made to St. Mary the
Virgin in the unreformed Western churches.
What it is, and icJien used. — It consists of two
parts : 1. The words used by the angel Gabriel
in saluting St. Mary, as rendered by the Vulgate,
slightly altered by the addition of St. Mary's
name, " Hail Mary, full of grace ; the Lord is
with thee ;" followed by the words of Eliza-
beth, " Blessed art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb." 2. A prayer,
subsequently added to the salutation, " Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death."
This formula is ordered by the breviary of
pope Pius V. to be used daily, after the recita-
tion of compline, and before the recitation of
each of the other canonical hours, i.e., matins,
prime, terce, sext, nones, and vespers. It is also
commanded, on the same authority, to be used
before the recitation of the " Office of the Blessed
Virgin," and before each of the hours in the
" Little Office." It is also used nine times every
day in what is called the " Angelus." It is also
used sixty-three times in the devotion called the
" Crown of the Virgin," and one hundred and
fifty times in the " Rosary of the Virgin." It
also occurs in many of the public offices, and is
used before sermons, and it most commonly
forms a part of the special devotions appointed
by bishops for obtaining indulgences.
Its date. — Cardinal Baronius and Cardinal
Bona have used an expression which, while not
committing them to a declaration of fact, or a
statement of their own belief, has yet led sub-
sequent writers (see Gaume, loc. inf. cit.) to claim
their authority for the assertion, that the second,
or precatory, part of the Ave Maria was adopted
in, or immediately after, the council of Ephesus,
at the beginning of the 5th century. "At that
time," says Baronius (foe. inf. cit.), " the an-
gelical salutation is believed to have received that
addition, ' Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for
us, &c.,' which came to be constantly repeated
by the faithful." " The angelical salutation,"
says Bona (loc. inf. cit.), " is believed to have re-
ceived this addition in the great council of Ephe-
sus." It is quite certain that the two cardinals
and their followers have ante-dated this part of
the Ave Maria by more than a thousand years.
The first, or Scriptural, part, consisting of the
words of the angel and of Elizabeth, is older by
some five hundred years than the second, or pre-
catory, part, which has been attached to it, and
the first part did not become used as a formula
HAIL MARY
until the end of the 11th century. The earliest
injunction authorising its being taught together
with the previously existing formulas of the Creed
and the Lord's Prayer, is found in the Constitutions
of Odo, who became bishop of Paris in the year
1196. The Benedictines of St. Stephen of Caen,
in 1706, maintained the following thesis: "The
angelical salutation began to be in use in the
12th century, but these words 'Holy Mary,
Mother of God, pi-ay for us, &c.,' seem to have
been added a long time afterwards, in the 16th
century : " a thesis which was denounced by the
then bishop of Bayeux as scandalous, but was
defended and maintained against him by Pere
Massuet. The earliest known use of the first, or
scriptural, part, is in the Liber Antiphonianus,
attributed by John the Deacon to St. Gregory
the Great, and generally published with his
works. If St. Gregory is the author of the
Liber Antijihonianns, and if the antiphon in
which these words occur (p. 657, Ed. inf. cit.)
is not a later insertion (the same words in the
previous page are undoubtedly a modern in-
sertion), the angelical salutation, as found in the
Bible, was used as early as the beginning of the
7th century; not, however, as a formula of
devotion, but as we might use an anthem on one
day of the year. This passage from St. Gi-egory
is the only thing which brings the Ave Maria
within the chronological limits assigned to this
Dictionary, for it is allowed (see Mabillon, loc.
inf. cit.) that similar words in the so-called
liturgy of St. James the Less are of late intro-
duction there.
~ The addition of the second, or precatory, part
of the Ave Maria, is stated by Pelbertus to have
been made in consequence of a direct injunction
of St. Mary, who appeared to a pious woman,
and gave her instructions to that effect. The
use of it sprang up in the loth century, and is
first authorised in pope Pius Vth's breviary, in
the year 1568.
The " Crown of the Virgin " consists of sixty-
three recitations of the Ave Maria, one for each
year that St. Mary was supposed to have lived,
with the recitation of the Lord's Prayer after
every tenth Ave Maria. Its institution is attri-
buted by some to Peter the Hermit. It appears
to have sprung up and spread in the 12th and
13th centuries.
The " Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin"
consists of one hundred and fifty Ave Marias,
after the number of the Psalms of David, to-
gether with fifteen Pater Nosters, distributed at
equal intervals among the Ave Marias. Its in-
stitution is attributed by some to St. Dominic,
and to the year 1210.
The " Angelus " consists of three recitations
of the Ave Maria at the sound of the Angelus
bell in the morning, three at midday, and three
at night. On each occasion the first Ave Maria
is to be preceded by the sentence, " The angel of
the Lord announced to Mary, and she conceived oi
the Holy Ghost ;" the second, by " Behold the
handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according
unto thy word ; " the third, by " The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us." The Angelus
appears to have been originated in the year
1287, by Buonvicino da Riva, of Milan, of the
order of the Humiliati, who began the practice
of ringing a bell at the recitation of the Ave
Maria. In 1318 John XXII. gave an indulgence
HAIR, WEAEING OF
of ten days for saying an Ave Maria to the sound
of a bell rung at night. In 1458, Calixtus III.
gave three years and one hundi'ed and twenty days'
indulgence for reciting the Ave Maria and the
Fater Noster three times a day. In 1518, Leo
X. ordered that the Angelas bell should be rung
three times a day, and he gave 500 days' in-
dulgence for saying the Angelus morning, mid-
day, and evening. Finally, Benedict XIII. and
Benedict XIV. gave a plenary indulgence, to be
obtained once a month, to all who recited it
three times daily.
The dates, therefore, are as follow : —
The earliest known use (in the form of an
antiphon, or anthem) of the Scriptural
words, afterwards adopted as the first part
of the Ave Maria — the 7th century.
The earliest known use of the same part as a
formula — the 11th century.
The earliest authoritative recommendation of
the said formula — the 12th century.
The Crown of the Virgin — the 12th century.
The Rosary or Psalter of the Virgin— the 13th
century.
The Angelus — the 14th century.
The earliest known use of the prayer which
forms the second part of the Ave Maria —
the 15th century.
The earliest authoritative recommendation
and injunction of the same — the 16th
century.
Authorities and References. — Breviarium Ro-
manum Pii V. Pont. M. jussu editum ; Baro-
nius, Annal. Eccles. ad ann. 431, torn. vii. p. 404,
num. 179, Lucae, 1741 ; Bona, Divinae Psal-
modiae, c. 16, § 2, p. 497, Antverpiae, 1694;
Gaume, Catechismo di Perseveranza, vol. iii. p.
506, Milan, 1859; Marchantius, Hortus Pas-
torurn, tract iv. Lugd., 1672 ; BoUandus, Acta
Sanctorum, Mar. 25, Aug. 4, pp. 539, 422, Ant-
verpiae, 1668, 1733 ; S. Gregorii Magni Oijera,
tom. iii. p. 657, ed. Ben. Venet. 1744 ; Hospi-
nianus, De Festis, p. 69, Genevae, 1674; Mabillon,
Praefationes in Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti; Praefatio in SaecL v. p. 439, Venet., 1740;
Migne, Summa aurea de Laudibus Virginis, tom.
iv., Liturgia Mariana : Be cultu publico ab Ec-
clesia B. Marine exhi'nto : Dissertationes iv. v. vi.
vii. auctore J. C. Trombelli, p. 209, Parisiis,
1862 ; Zaccaria, Bissertazioni varie Italiane, Dis-
sertazione vi. tom. ii. p. 242, Romae, 1780 ;
Enciclopedia deW Ecclesiastico, s. v. "Ave Maria,"
Napoli, 1843. [F. M.j
HAIE, WEARING OF. The regulations
of the ancient church on this subject may be
divide 1 into three distinct classes, as relating —
i. to the clergy; ii. to penitents; iii. to be-
lievers in general.
1. The hair in ancient times appears to have
been sometimes worn at great length. Thus
Eusebius {H. E. ii. 23), speaking of James the
Apostle, notes that a razor never came upon
his head. But shortened hair appears to
have been considered a mark of distinction
between the heathen philosopher and the
Christian teacher. Thus Gregory Nazianzen
{Orat. 28) says of Maximus, that he brought no
qualification to the pastoral office except that of
shortening his hair, which, before that time, he
had worn disgracefully long. It is also recorded
of one Theotimus, bishop of Scythia, that he
HAIR, WEARING OF
755
still retained the long hair which he had worn
when a student, in token that, in becoming a
bishop, he had not abandoned philosophy (Soz.
H. E. vii. 26). But this liberty was restricted
by various decrees of councils. The fourth
council of Carthage, A.D. 398 (c. 44), provides
that the clergy shall neither permit their hair
nor beards to grow. Another reading of this
decree is, that they were neither to let their hair
grow nor shave their beards. The first synod of
St. Patrick, A.D. 456 (c. 6), provides that the
hair of the clergy should be shorn according
to the Roman fashion, and (c. 10) that any
who allow their hair to grow, should be ex-
cluded from the church. The council of Agde,
A.D. 506 (c. 20), ordains that clergy who retain
long hair, shall have it shortened, even against
their will, by the archdeacon. The first council
of Barcelona, A.D. 540 (c. 3), provides that no
clergyman shall let his hair grow nor shave his
beard. The first council of Braga, A.D. 563 (c.
11), provides that lectors shall not have love-
locks (granos), hanging down, after the heathen
fashion. The second council of Braga, A.D. 572
(c. 66), decrees that the clergy ought not to
discharge their sacred functions with long hair,
but with closely-cut hair and open ears. The
fourth council of Toledo, A.D. 633 (c. 41),
denounces certain lectors in Gallieia, who,
while retaining a small tonsure, allowed the
lower portion of the hair to grow. The council
in TruUo, a.d. 692 {Cone. Quinisex. c. 21),
ordains that clergy who have been deprived of
their office, should, on their repentance, be shorn
after the fashion of the clergy ; if they refused
this, their hair was to be left long, in token of
their preference of a worldly life. At a council
held at Rome, A.D. 721 (c. 17), anathema was
pronounced against any of the clergy who should
allow his hair to grow. The same was repeated
at another Roman council, held A.D. 743 (c. 8).
These decrees, however, appear to have been
difficult of enforcement. Heretical sects espe-
cially appear to have been fond of adopting
eccentric fashions of wearing the hair and beard
as badges and tokens of their opinions. Epi-
phanius {Haeres. in Massil. n. 6, 7) denounces
certain heretical monks, dwelling in Mesopo-
tamia, in monasteries which he calls " Mandras,"
who were in the habit of shaving the beard and
letting the hair grow, and contends that such
practices are contrary to the apostolic injunc-
tions. Jerome {Conan. in Ezek. c, 44) says that
the clergy should neither have their heads
closely shaven, like the priests of Isis and Sera-
pis, nor let their hair grow to an extravagant
length, like barbarians and soldiers, but that
■the hair should be worn just so long as to cover
the head. In another place {Epist. 18, al. 22,
ad Eustoch.), he denounces cei'tain monks who
indulged in beards like goats and ringlets like
women. In his ' Life of Hilarion,' he commends
the saint for cutting his hair once a year, at
Easter. Augustine {Be Op. Mon. c. 31) speaks
of certain monks who, fearing lest they might
lose reverence by their shorn heads, '' ne vilior
habeatur tonsa sanctitas," allowed their hair to
grow, in order to suggest to those who saw
them a .resemblance to Samuel and the elder
prophets. Against these he quotes the saying of
the apostle, that in Christ the veil shall be
taken away (2 Cor. iii. 14). Gregory the Great
3 C 2
"56
HAIR, WEARING OF
{Pastoral, p. 2, c. 7) says that priests ai-e rightly
torbiJilen either to shave their heads, or to let
their hair grow long. The hair on the head of
a priest, is to be kejjt so long that it may cover
the skin, and cut so close that it may not inter-
fere with the eyes. The practice seems to have
been, to wear the hair short and the beard long.
Sidonius Apollinaris {Epist. iv. 24) speaks of
one Maximus Palatinus, a clergyman, as wearing
liis hair short and his beard long. Gregory the
Great is described as wearing a beai'd of the old
fashion and of moderate size, a large round
tonsure, and his hair neatly curled, " intorto,"
and hanging to the middle of his ears (Joann.
Diac. Vita Greg. Max. c. 4, c. 83). Bede {Eccl.
Hist. 1. 4, c. 14), describing a vision of SS. Peter
and Paul, says that the one was shaven (at-
tonsus), as a clergyman, the other wore his
beard long. For other particulars regarding the
hair of the clergy, see Tonsure.
ii. Closely-cut hair was always enjoined on
penitents, as a condition of their reception into
the church. The council of Agde (c. 15) pro-
vides that no penitents shall be received unless
they have parted with their hair, " comas depo-
suerint." The first council of Barcelona (c. 6)
speaks of the shaven heads of male penitents.
The third council of Toledo (c. 12) provides that
the first step to the admission of a male penitent,
shall be to shave his head. So Optatus {Contra
Donatist. 1. 23) finds foult with the Donatists
for having shaven the heads of certain priests
whom they had admitted to penance. With
regard to women, Ambrose {Ad Virg. Laps.
c. 8) speaks of cutting off the hair, which by
vain glory had tempted to the sin of luxury;
but Jerome, in describing the repentance of
Fabiola {Ep. 30, al. 84, ad Ocean.), speaks of her
dishevelled hair. But before their restoration, pe-
nitents and excommunicated persons were obliged
to let the hair and beard grow. Thus a certain
Ursicinus, bishop of Cahors, being excommuni-
cated, was forbidden to cut either his hair or
his beard (Greg. Turon. Hist. Franc. 1. 8, n. 20).
In general, neglected hair appears to have been
a sign of mourning. Chrysostom {Serm. 3, on
Job) says that many in time of mourning let
the hair grow, whereas Job shore his. The
reason being, that where the hair is honoured, it
is a sign of mourning to cut it short, but where
it is worn short, it is a sign of mourning to let
it grow. Baronius {Annales, a.d. 631, n. 4)
speaks of a certain bishop, named Lupus, exiled
by Clothaire, who came mourning to the king with
long dishevelled locks, and the king, in token of
forgiveness, commanded his hair to be shorn.
iii. The laity were sometimes recognised as
usually wearing their hair long. The council in
Trullo {Cone. Quinisext. c. 21) ordains that de-
linquent and impenitent clergy should wear their
hair long, as the laity. Yet immoderately
lengthened hair appears to have been considered
a token of effeminacy and luxuriousness. When
the emperor Heraclius succeeded to the throne,
his hair was immediately cut short (Baronius,
Annul. A.D. GIG, n. 5). Many attempts were
therefore made to restrain the liberty of the
laity, in this respect, within due bounds, founded
partly on a sense of what was decent and
becoming, partly on the principle that it is not
right either for men or women to obliterate the
characteristics of their sex. The council in
HAIR-CLOTH
Trullo (c. 96) asserts that it is inconsistent with
the baptismal profession, that baptised men
should wear their hair in cunningly woven
plaits or tresses, and orders that such as would
not obey this admonition, should be excommuni-
cated. The council, of Gangra (c. 17) anatlie-
matizes any women who, through pretended
asceticism, should cut close the hair which was
given to them as a token of subjection. The
decree was confirmed by the emperor Theodosius,
with the addition that any bishop who should
admit such women into the church, should be
deprived of his office (Soz. H. E. vii. 26). In
the Apostolic Constitutions (i. 3), the followers
of Christ are ordered not to promote the growth
of their hair, but rather to restrain and shorten
it. Men are forbidden to wear ringlets, or to
use ointments, or in any way to imitate the
adornments in use among women. They are also
forbidden to collect their hair into a knot or
crown, Troiilv e<s Uv '6 iffTi aTraraXiov, or to
indulge in tresses, either artfully dishevelled or
carefully arranged, ^ airoxv/J-a ^ ix€fj.fpi<Tix4vr\v,
or to curl and crisp it, or dye it yellow. They
are also forbidden to shave the beard, as if
thereby obliterating the peculiar distinction, rriv
fxopip'nv, of manhood. Clemens Alexandrinus
{Paedagog. ii. c. 8) speaks of the folly committed
by aged women in dyeing their hair ; and {Tb.
iii. 3) reprehends the folly of which some men
were guilty, in eradicating the hair, apparently
not only from their beards, but from all pfirts of
their bodies, with pitch plaisters. He also (/'».
iii. 11) gives full directions for the arrangement
of the hair. The hair of men is to be cut close,
unless it is crisp and curly, ovXas. Long curls
and love-locks are strictly forbidden, as effemi-
nate and unseemly. The hair is not to be al-
lowed to grow over the eyes, and a closely-
cropped head is alleged not only to be becoming
a grave man, but to render the brain less liable
to injury, by accustoming it to endure heat and
cold. The beard is to be allowed to grow, since
an ample beard becomes the male sex ; if cut at
all, the chin must not be left quite bare. The
moustache may be clipped with scissors, so that
it may not be dirtied in eating, but not shorn
with a razor. Women are to wear the hair
modestly arranged upon the neck, and fastened
with a hair pin. The habit of wearing false
hair is strongly denounced, since, it is said, in
such cases, when the priest, in bestowing his
benediction, lays his hand upon the head, the
blessing does not reach the wearer of the hair,
but rests upon the person to whom the hair
belongs. ■ [P. 0.]
HAIR-CLOTH {Cilicium). The rough hair-
cloth for which Cilicia was anciently famous
was used in several ways, both as an actual
instrument, and as a symbol, of mortification.
1. The hair-shirt has frequently been worn,
as is well known, as a means of mortifying the
flesh without ostentation. Thus Jerome {Epi-
taph. Nepot. c. 9) says that some other may
narrate how the young Nepotianus, when in the
imperial service, wore hair-cloth under his
chlamys and fine linen. And Paulinus Petricor-
diensis {Vita S.Martini, ii. p. 1019 D, Migne)
says of the monks of St. Martin :
" Multis Testis erat setis contexta cameli."
So in Hucbald-'s Life of St. Rictrudis, who died
HALLELUJAH
about A.D. G88 (c. 9, in Mabillon's Acta SS.
Bened. Saec. ii.), we read that the saint wore an
inner garment of hair-cloth (esophorio amioitur
cilicino). One of the saints who bore the name
of Theodore was distinguished as rpix^vas from
his constant habit of wearing a hair-shirt (Macri
Ilierolex. s. y. Trichinas).
Monks frequently used the hair-shirt. Cassian,
however {Listit, i. 1) does not consider it suit-
able for their ordinary garb, both as savouring
of over-righteousness and as hindering labour
[Habit, the Monastic]. In his time — Cassian
died about A.D. 430 — few monks seem to have
used it ; in after times we find it constantly
used, at any rate by those who claimed superior
sanctity. On the whole subject, see 0. Zockler,
Krit. Geschichte der Askesc, p. 82 [Frankf.-a.-
M. 1863].
2. Of the symbolic uses of hair-cloth the
following are the principal : — The candidates for
baptism anciently came to the preliminary ex-
amination [Scrutinium] with bare feet, and
standing on hair-cloth (Augustine, De Sijmb. ad
Catech. ii. 1; compare iv. 1). Penitents in the
ceremonies of Ash Wednesday were clothed with
a hair-cloth, as well as sprinkled with ashes
(Martene, Hit. Ant. IV. c. xvii.; Ordd. 7, 16,
etc.). The altar was sometimes covered with
hair-cloth in times of affliction {lb. III. iii. 2).
The dying were covered with a hair-cloth
blessed by the priest (76. I. vii. 4, Ordo 19).
The bodies of the dead were sometimes wrapped
in hair-cloth ; as, for instance, that of Bernard
of Hildesheim {Life, c. 43 ; in Surius, Nov. 20).
Charles the Great was buried in the hair-shirt
which he had worn in life {Life by the monk or
Angouleme, c. 24 ; quoted by Martene, III. xii.
13). In an ancient form for the reception ot
penitents on Maundy Thursday, given by Mar-
tene (IV. xxii. § ii. Ordo 6) from a Sarum missal,
a banner of hair-cloth (vexillum cilicinum) is
directed to be borne in the procession to the
church. [C]
HALLELUJAH. [Alleluia.]
HAND, THE, is used as symbolic of the
manifested presence of the First Person of the
Holy Trinity, GoD the Father.
The declining skill of the earliest Christian
woi-kmen, and their utter technical incapacity
after the time of Constautine, appears in the
strongest light in their attempts to delineate
the extremities of the human figure. Mar-
tiguv remarks that the hands of the martyrs
presenting or receiving their crowns in heaven,
are covered or concealed in token of adoration ;
but this applies only to the left hand. The
comparative skill, or want of skill, with which
these parts of the body are treated, might
possibly be a test of ancient work in the cata-
combs, could paintings be discovered of very
ancient date, and thoroughly ascertained authen-
ticity without modern retouch.
The hand representing God occurs in the
great Transfiguration of St. Apollinaris in Classe
at Rarenna (Martigny, p. 639, s. v. Transfigu-
ration). Also in a carving of the same sub-
ject on the Ivory Casket of the Library at
Brescia ( Westwood, Fictile Ivory Casts, 94, p. 37,
catalogue). [Pv. St. .). T.]
HANDS, IMPOSITION OF. [Imposition
OF Hands.]
HANDS, THE LIFTING OF 757
HANDS, THE LIFTING OF IN
PRAYER. I. The strict oijservance of this cus-
tom, and the importance attached to it among
the early Christians, will hardly be understood,
unless we take into consideration the habits and
opinions of their Jewish and heathen forefathers.
It was a rite that had descended to them from
both. Among the children of Israel it accom-
panied acts of praise as well as prayer. Witness
the Book of Psalms :— " Thus will I bless Thee
while I live : I will lift up my hands in Thy
name " (Ps. Ixiii. 4) ; " Lift up your hands iij
holiness, and bless the Lord " (Ps. cxxxiv. 2).
Before Ezra read the law to the people after
their return from Babylon, he " blessed the
Lord, the great God, and all the people answered
Amen, Amen, with lifting up of their hands"
(Neh. viii. 6 ; compare 1 Hsdr. ix. 47). In prayer
the gesture was so universal that to pray and to
lift up the hands were almost convertible terms.
Thus in Lamentations, " Lift up thy hands to-
wards Him for the life of thy young children "
(Ch. ii. 19). Again in Psalm xxviii. 2: "Hear
the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto
Thee ; when I lift up my hands toward Thy
holy oracle." When Heliodorus came to take
away the treasures in the temple, the inhabi-
tants of Jerusalem " all holding their hands to-
ward heaven, made supplication " (2 Mace. iii.
20; comp. xiv. 34; Ps. cxli. 2; Is. i. 15; 1
Esdr. viii. 73; Ecclus. Ii. 19). This gesture in
prayer was without doubt so highly valued
among the Jews, partly in consequence of the
victory obtained over the Amalekites, while the
hands of Moses were held up (Exod. xTii. 11);
but it was nevertheless " not of Moses, but of
the fiithers." We might infer this from the
mariner in which the story is related ; but more
conclusively from the fact that the same rite
prevailed among the Gentiles. " All we ot
human kind," says Aristotle, " stretch forth our
hands to heaven, when we pray " {De Mundo, c.
vi. comp. Hom. //. viii. 347 ; Virg. Aen. iii. 176 ;
X. 667). Minutius Felix proves that it was
still common among the heathen in the 3rd
century, " I hear the common people, when they
stretch their hands towards heaven, say nothing
but God " ( Octavins, c. 5).
II. A practice thus universal and of such anti-
quity, could not iiiil to have a place in the re-
ceived ritual of the first Christians. It is more
than once recognized in the New Testament
itself; as when St. Paul says, " 1 will therefore
that men pray everywhere lifting up holy
hands" (1 Tim."ii. 8). Clemens of Alexandria,
A.D. 192, is an early witness to the continued
observance of the rite. After defining prayer
to be "converse with God," he proceeds to
say that therefore, as if reaching up to Him,
we "raise the head and lift the hands to-
wards heaven " {Strom, vii. c. vii. § 40). Ter-
tullian, his contemporary : — " Worshipping with
modesty and humility we the more commend
our prayers to God, not even lifting up our
hands too high, but with self-restraint and be-
comingly" (Be Orat. c. xiii.). Again: "Wo
Christians, looking upwards, with hands out-
spread, because free from guilt ; with head bare,
because we are not ashamed ; lastly, without a
remembrancer [of the names of the gods], be-
cause wc pray from the heart " {Apol. c. xxx.).
Origen, A.D. 230, says that among the many
758 HANDS, THE LIFTING OF
gestures of the body, we ought without doubt
in prayer to prefer " the stretching forth of the
hands and the lifting up of the eyes " {De Orat.
c. 31) ; and that when the devout man prays he
" stretches forth his soul towards God, beyond
his hands, as it were, and his mind further than
his eyes" (Ibid.). According to Eusebius, Con-
stantine had himself represented on coins and in
pictures " looking up to heaven, and stretching
forth his hands like one praying" (Vita Con-
stant. 1. iv. c. XV.). See the epitaph of Petronia,
under TOMB.
III. The hands when thus lifted up were
often, and perhaps generally, so extended on
either side as to make the figure of a cross with
the body. See the boy in the group on p. 661.
" We " (Christians), says Tertnllian (in contrast
with the Jews), " not only lift up our hands, but
spread them out too, and disposing them after
the mode of the Lord's Passion and praying, (so)
confess Chi-ist " (Be Orat. c. xi.). In allusion to
this he says elsewhere, " The very attitude of a
Christian at prayer is prepared for every inflic-
tion " (Apol. c. XXX.). Asterius Amasenus, A. D.
401 : " The erect attitude of prayer, in which
one holds the hands outstretched, by its figure
represents the passion of the cross " (Horn, de
Iharis. et Publ, in Photii Biblioth. cod. 271).
St. Maximus of Turin : " We are taught to pi-ay
with uplifted hands that by the very gesture of
3ur members we may confess Christ " (De Cruce ;
Horn, de Pass. ii.). St. Ambrose, when dying,
"prayed with hands spread in the form of a
cross " ( Vita, a Paulino consci-. § 47). Pruden-
tius, describing the death by fire of certain
martyrs, relates that, when their bonds were
burnt, they lifted up the hands thus set free
" to the Fathei- in the form of a cross " (J)e
Coron. Hymn vi. 1. 107). Many Christian
writers believed that this was the manner in
which the hands of Moses were held up during
the battle with the Amalekites, and that the
victory was thus granted to the cross. See
Ep. Baivutb. c. xii. ; Justin M. Dialog, cum Tryph.
cc. 91, 111 : Tertull. Adv. Jud. c. x. ; Cyprian
Adv. Jud. ]. ii. c. xxi. ; Maximus Taur. u. s.
Gregory Nazianzen : — " They held up the hands
of Moses that Amalek might be subdued by the
cross so long before shadowed forth and figured "
(Orat. xii. § 2 ; Sim. Carinina, lib. ii. § 1, c. 1).
IV. At baptism the early Christians lifted the
hand as in defiance of Satan. Thus Cyril of
Jerusalem, addi-essing the newly-baptized :
" Standing with your face to the West, ye heard
yourselves commanded to stretch forth the hand
and renounce Satan as present" (Catech.
Mysiag. I. c. ii.). Pseudo-Dionysius describes
the same thing ; but from him we learn further
that after the candidate had thrice renounced
Satan, the priest " turned him towards the East,
and commanded him to look up to heaven, and
lifting up (avaTeivavTo) his hand to enter into
compact with Christ " (Eccl. Hierarch. cap. ii.
§ 6 ; comp. c. iii. § 5). St. Basil, when exhorting
catechumens not to defer their baptism, appears
to allude to this second lifting of the hands:
"Why dost thou wait until baptism becomes the
gift of a fever to thee, when thou wilt not be
able to utter the salutary words . . . nor to lift
up thy hands to heaven, nor to stand up on thy
feet?" (Horn. xiii. Exhort, ad S. Baptism. § 3).
The office of the modern Greek church (Euchol.
HANDS, WASHING OF
Goar, p. 338) still witnesses to the lifting up of
the hands at the renunciation ; but they are now-
held down when the desire to take service under
Christ is professed. The reader will observe
that the. authorities now cited all belong to the
East. There is no evidence, so far as the present
writer knows, to show that the custom before us
prevailed in the West also. [W. E. S.]
HANDS, WASHING OF. I. In the law ot
Moses (Exod. xxx. 18-21) it was ordained that
" between the tabernacle of the congregation and
the altar " there should stand a brazen laver full
of water, at which the priests were to " wash
their hands and their feet " before they entered.
When the temple was built, this laver was re-
placed by the " molten sea," " for the priests to
wash in " (2 Chron. iv. 2, 6). Again, when murder
had been committed by an unknown person, the
declaration of innocence made by the elders of
the nearest city was associated with a ceremonial
washing of the hands (Deut. xxi. 6). These two
provisions of the law would, it is conceived, be
quite sufficient of themselves to create among
those subject to it a general custom of washing
the hands before drawing near to God in the
more solemn acts of worship and religion. That
such a rite prevailed and was held to be of a
highly sacred character may be inferred from
more than one allusion in the Book of Psalms.
" I will wash mine hands in innocency ; so will I
compass Thine altar " (Psalm xxvi. 6) ; "■ Verily
I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed
my hands in innocency" (Ixxiii. 13). The
metaphor of " clean hands " to denote righteous-
ness could not have come into such frequent use
(Job ix. 30 ; xvii. 9 ; xxxi. 7 ; Ps. xviii. 20, 24 ;
xxiv. 4), if there had been no familiar rite of
washing the hands befw'e entering into God's
presence. To give an example of later usage,
Josephus tells us that the seventy-two who
translated the Old Testament into Greek at the
instance of Ptolemy were wont each morning to
" wash their hands and purify themselves,"
before they entered on their sacred task (Antiq.
b. xii. ch. ii. § 13). It is most probable, how-
ever, that the custom before us was much
older than tlie law of Moses, for it appears to
have been general among the heathen at an
early period. Thus Hesiod gives a warning
" never with unwashed hands to pour out the
black wine at morn to Zeus or the other im-
mortals" (Opera et Dies, line 722). He also
forbids the passage of a stream on foot before
washing the hands in it with prayer (ibid. 1.
735). According to some ancient authorities
temples were called delubra from deluo, because
they generally had fountains, or pools so called,
attached to them for the use of those who
entered (Servius ad Virg. Aen. ii. 225). Nor
was the kindred rite before mentioned unknown
to the heathen. Pilate " took water and washed
his hands before the multitude," when he ])ro-
tested his innocence of the blood of Christ
(St. Matt, xxvii. 24). Compare Virg. Aen. ii. 719.
Generally, indeed, " it was a custom with the
ancients, after the killing of a man or other
slaughters, to wash the hands with water to
remove the pollution" (Scholiast, in Sophocl.
Ajac. 1. 664, vol. i. p. 80 ; Lond. 1758).
II. A rite thus familiar to all classes of the
early converts, and so patient of a Christian
HANDS, WASHING OF
adaptation, was certain to be retained in some
form or other. To facilitate its observance there
was in the atrium of many churches a foun-
tain or reservoir of water resembling those
with which the temples had been furnished.
Thus Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, at the beginning of
the 4th century, in an open space before a church
which he built in that city, caused to be made
" fountains opposite the temple, which by their
plentiful flow of water aftbrded the means of
cleansing to those who passed out of the sacred
precincts into the interior " (Euseb. Hist. EccL
1. X. c. 4). In the West, Paulinus of Nola,
A.D. 393, gives a poetical description of a basin
(cantharus) in the court of a church built by
him. " With its ministering stream," he says,
" it washes the hands of those who enter " (ad
Sever. Ep. xxxii. § 15). From the same writer
we learn that there was a cantharus in the
atrium of the basilica of St. Peter at Rome,
which "spouted streams that ministered to the
hands and faces " of the worshippers {ad Pam-
mach. Ep. xiii. § 13). St. Chrysostom says, " It
is the custom for fountains to be placed in the
courts of houses of prayer, that they who are
going to pray to God may first wash their
hands, and so lift them up in prayer " {Horn, de
Div. N. T. loc. n. xxv. on 2 Cor. iv. 13). Socrates
tells us that in a riot at Constantinople in the
reign of Constantius " the court of the church
(of Acacius the martyr) was filled with blood,
and the well therein overflowed with blood "
{Hist. Ecd. 1. ii. c. 38).
in. Frequent allusions to the practice for
which public provision was thus made occur in
Christian writers. For example, Tertullian,
A.D. 192 : " What is the sense of entering on
prayer with the hands, indeed, washed, but the
spirit unclean?" {De Orat. c. xi.). This is said
of all prayer, private as well as public. With
regard to private prayer in the morning, the
Apostolical Constitutions give the following direc-
tion : " Let every one of the faithful, man or
woman, when they rise from sleep in the morn-
ing, before doing work, having washed [not
bathed the whole body, but vi\pa.fxevui, having
washed parts of it, especially the hands] pray "
(lib. viii. c. 32). St. Chrysostom in the follow-
ing passage is speaking of public worship in
general : " I see a custom of this sort prevailing
among the many, viz., that they study how they
may come (into church) with clean clothes, and
how they may wash their hands, but consider
not how they may present a clean soul to God.
And I do not say this to prevent your washing
hands or face, but because I wish you to wash,
as is befitting, not with water only, but with the
virtues correlative to the water" {Horn. li. in
St. JIatth. Ev. c. XV. 17-20).
More frequently it is spoken of as part of the
preparation for Holy Communion. For example,
St. Chrysostom : " Tell me, wouldst thou choose
to draw near to the sacrifice with unwasheu
hands ? I think not ; but thou wouldst rather
not draw near at all than with filthy hands.
Wouldst thou, then, while thus careful in the
little matter, draw near having a filthy soul ?"
{Horn. iii. in Ep. ad Eph. c. i. 20-23). Similarly
in the West, Caesarius of Aries, A.D. 502 : "All
the men, when they intend to approach the
altar, wash their hands, and all the women use
fair linen cloths on which to receive the body of
HANGINGS
759
Christ ... As the men wash their hands with
water, so let them wash their souls witti alms,"
&c. (Serm, ccxxix. § 5 in App. iv. ad 0pp.
S. August.). Again: "If we are ashamed and
afraid to touch the eucharist with filthy hands,
much more ought we to be afraid to receive the
same eucharist in a polluted soul " {Serm. ccxcii.
§ 6 ; ibid.).
IV. The celebrant and his assistants washed
their hands between the dismissal of the cate-
chumens and the offering of the gifts. Thus in
the Apostolical Constitutions ; " Let one subdeacon
give water to the priests for washing their
hands, a symbol of the purity of souls consecrated
to God " (lib. viii. c. 11). Cyril of Jerusalem :
" Ye saw the deacon who gave to the priest and
to the elders surrounding the altar of God
(water) to wash (their hands, vl\]ia<TBai) . . .
The washing of the hands is a symbol of guilt-
lessness of sins " {Catech. Mijstag. v. § 1).
Pseudo-Dionysius : " Standing before the most
holy symbols the high priest {i.e. the bishop)
washes his hands with the venerable order of the
priests " {De Eccl. Hierarch. cap. iii. sect. 3,
§ 10 ; sim. sect. ii.). We find the same rite in the
West. Thus in one of the Questions out of the
Old and New Testaments, probably compiled by
Hilary the deacon, A.D. 354, it is implied that
at Rome the deacons did not " pour water on the
priest's hands, as " (adds the writer) " we see in
all the churches " (Qu. ci. On the Arrogance of the
Eoman Levites in App. iii. ad Opp, Aug.). We
may remark, in passing, that the Clementine
liturgy, as above quoted, assigns the office to a
subdeacon. In the earliest Ordo Eomanus ex-
tant, probably of the 7th century, it is oi'dered
that, after the reception of the gifts, the bishop
" return to his seat and wash his hands," and
that " the archdeacon standing before the altar
wash his hands, when the receiving (of the obla-
tions) is completed " {Ord. i. § 14 ; Mus. Ital.
tom. ii. p. 11 ; compare Ord. ii. § 9, p. 47).
Since the clergy, as well as the people, washed
their hands before they entered the church, it
may be asked, how they came to do so a second
time ? Ancient writers give only a symbolical
reason, but it is not probable that the custom
originated in that. The words of the Ordo
Romanus suggest that the hands might be soiled
by the oblations, which at that time were large
and various in kind. They certainly were
washed immediately after these were taken from
the offerers, and before the celebrant proceeded
to offer the elements selected out of them for
consecration. Another reason which might
make it necessary is suggested by Sala {Nota (1)
in Bona, Her. Lit. 1. ii. c. ix. § 6), viz., that a
little time before the bishop and priests had
laid their hands on the heads of the catechumens
and penitents. The washing of the hands, or
rather fingers, by the celebrant after his com-
munion, now ordered in the church of Rome,
was not practised for more than a thousand
years after Christ. [W. E. S.]
HANGINGS. Some few notices may be
added to those already given under curtains.
The curtains which closed the doors of the
chancel screen in later times often bore the
pictorial representation of .some saint or angelic
being. At the present day St. Michael is often
represented upon them as prohibiting all access
760
HARE
to the bema (Neale, Eastern Ch. 1.195). It
was ou the curtain of the hema of the church at
Anablatha that St. Epiphanius saw the painted
figure which gave him so much offence, and
caused him to tear the curtain, and desire that it
should be replaced by one of a single colour
(Epiphan. Epist. adJoann. p. 319). The censure
passed by Asterius of Amasia on the excessive
luxury displayed in the textile fabrics of his day
proves that at the end of the fourth century re-
presentations of sacred facts were woven in the
stuffs in ordinary use for hangings, and even for
dresses. The same author also describes the
painted hangings of the sepulchre of St. Euphe-
mia at Chalcedon representing the martyrdom of
that saint (Aster. Amas. Homil. de Divit. et
Lazaro ; Enarrat. in martyr. Euphem.). Paulinus
of Nola is another authority on the decoration
of these vela with pictorial designs : —
"Vela coloratis textum fucata flguris."
A velum concealing the altar from the gaze
of the laity is mentioned in the office for the
dedication of a church in the Sacramentary of
Gregory. When the bishop, having brought the
relics which were to be deposited within it,
had arrived at the altar, he was to be concealed
from the sight of the people by a veil, before
he proceeded to anoint the four corners with
the chrism (extenso velo inter clerum et popu-
lum, Muratori, ii. -181). An offering of hangings
vela was made to the church of St. Peter's by a
lady of rank named Rusticiana, which were
carried to their destination by the whole body
of the clergy chanting a litany (Greg. Magn.
Epist. ix. 38). The supposititious Second Epistle
of Clement to James the Lord's brother, "de
sacratis vestibus et vasis," gives minute direc-
tions for the washing of the altar cloths and
other vestments of the church by the deacons
and other ministers of the church, in vessels
specially set apart for the purpose, near the
sacristy. The door-keepers are also enjoined to
take care that no one thoughtlessly wiped his
hands ou the curtain of the door, and to remind
those who were guilty of such irreverence that
" the veil of the Lord's Temple is holy " (Labbe,
Concil. i. 99). Gregory of Tours informs us that
on the conversion of Clovis, solemn processions
were instituted in the streets, which were
shaded with painted veils, while the churches
were adorned with white curtains (Greg. Turon.
Hist. Franc, ii. 31). According to Hefele (Bei-
trage znr Archdologie, ii. 252), tapestry curtains
were employed to protect the apertures of
windows in churches before the general intro-
duction of glazing. [E. V.]
HARE. The boy who represents Spring
among the Four Seasons fi-equently carries a
hare in his hand. The idea of speed in the
Christian course was associated with it. It is
sometimes connected with the horse (Ferret v.
Ivii.) or with the palm (Boldetti, 506). Its
presence in Christian decoration seems to be con-
nected with the Roman taste for ornamenting
their rooms with domestic, agricultural, or hunt-
ing subjects. Many places of assembly, no doubt,
contained pictures by Pagan hands in the earliest
days ; and the ingenuity of Christian preachers
would in all probability make use of them for
type and metaphor ; and so the animal or other
object would become a recognized and customary
HATFIELD, COUNCIL OF
subject of Christian ornament, acquiring a sym-
bolical meaning. In such examples as the vine
or shepherd, that meaning of course existed
before; and the distmction between scriptural
and all other symbols is on the whole sufficiently
well-marked in early work. [K. St. J. T.]
HARIOLL [Astrology; Divinatiox.]
HARLOTS. Compare Fornication. The
maintaining and harbouring of harlots was
severely punished by the laws of the empire ; a
man who permitted his house to become a place
of assignation for improper purposes was punished
as'an adulterer (Pandect, lib. xlviii. tit. 5, 1. 8);
if a man discovered his wife to be a procuress, it
was a valid ground of divorce (Codex Theod.
lib. iii. tit. 16, 1. 1); careful provision was made
against fathers or masters prostituting their
children or slaves (Codex Just. lib. xi. tit. 40,
1. 6). Socrates (H. E. v. 18) commends Theo-
dosius the Great for demolishing the houses of
ill fame in Rome. Theodosius the younger per-
formed the same service for Constantinople,
enacting that keepers of infamous houses should
be publicly whipped and expelled the city, while
their slaves were set at liberty (Theodos. Novel.
18, de Lenonihxis). All these laws were confirmed
by. Justinian (Aore^. 14) who also increased the
severity of the punishments.
The church, as was natural, visited prostitu-
tion with the severest censure. Baptism was
denied to harlots (irSpvas) and to those who
-maintained them (iropvo^offKovs). (Constt. Apost.
viii. 32). The council of Elvira, A.D. 305, ordains
that if a parent, or any Christian whatever,
exercise the trade of a procurer, forasmuch as
they set to sale the person of another, or rather
their own, they shall not be admitted to com-
munion, no, not at their last hour ; and the same
penalty is denounced (c. 70) by the same council
against a wife who prostitutes herself with her
husband's connivance. [C]
HATFIELD, COUNCIL OF (Haethfel-
thense, or Jledtfeldense, Concilium), 17 Sept.
A.D. 680, at Bishop's Hatfield in Hertfordshire,
attended by all the bishops of Britain, Theo-
dore, archbishop of Canterbury, presiding, held
for making a declaration against Eutychian-
ism and Monothelism. Pope Agatho wished
that Theodore should have attended his council
of 125 bishops at Rome, March 27 of the same
year, preliminarily to the 6th general council, and
had sent John, precentor of his church of St.
Peter, with the acts of the Lateran council
under pope Martin I., A.D. 649, against Mono-
thelism, to invite him thither. But Theodore,
being either unable to leave for other reasons, or
unwilling to come from knowing that Wilfrid,
bishop of York, whose case had caused so much
strife, was already there, collected this council
instead, and despatched a copy of its synodical
letter to Rome by John, where it was read with
great satisfaction, and probably before the 6th
council, which met Nov. 7, had commenced.
Bede. who was about eight years old when this
synod took place, gives three different extracts
from its letter, in substance as follows : — -
1. The bishops declare that " they have set
forth the right and orthodox faith, as delivered
by our Lord to His disciples, and handed down
in the symbol of the holy fathers, and by all the
sacred and universal synods, and by the whole
HAWKING
body of approved doctors of the Catholic church.
Following whom, they also confess the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity in Unity,
consubstantial, and the Unity in Trinity, one
God in three consubstantial Persons of equal
honour and glory."
2. They " receive the five general councils,"
mentioning each by name.
3. " Likewise the synod of Rome, A.D. 649,
under Martin I.," after which they say : " We
receive and glorify our Lord Jesus, as they
glorified Him, neither adding nor subtracting
anything. We anathematise from the heart all
they anathematised, and receive all they re-
ceived: glorifying God the Father without be-
ginning, and His only begotten Son, born of the
Father before all worlds, and the Holy Spirit
proceeding ineffably from the Father and the Son,
according to the preaching of the above-named
holy apostles and prophets and doctors, to all
which we have subscribed, who with archbishop
Theodore have expounded the Catholic faith."
This assertion of procession from the Son as well
as the Father, which is not found in any docu-
ment received by the 6th council, may seem to
indicate that the interpolated form of the creed
had got into Britain by then ; but it may be
explained in another way. We are told in
another place by Bede, that when Theodore was
consecrated at Rome by Vitalian, it was ex-
pressly stipulated that abbot Adrian should ac-
company him into England : " Et, ut ei doctrinae
cooperator existens, diligenter attenderet, nequid
ille contrariusii veritati fidei, Graecorum more, in
ccclesiam cui praesset, introduceret " {E. H. iv.
1). Adrian remained in that capacity till his
death, A.D. 710, and Theodore commenced work,
" per omnia comitante et coopcrante Adriano "
((6. c. 2). Now Adrian was a foreigner, as well
as Theodore. He was a learned African, and
Africa was the country that boasted of the
clearest authorities as yet, for procession from
the Son as well as the Father, in SS. Austin and
Fulgentius. In conclusion, Bede tells us that
John the precentor also took part in this synod,
and was flocked to by the whole country for
instruction in the Roman chant (Mansi, xi. 175-
80 : Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 141-51).
[E. S. Ff.]
HAWKING. [Hunting.]
HEAD, COVERING OP THE. Christian
men in ancient days prayed with uncovered
head, according to the apostolic injunction
(1 Cor. xi. 4, 5). Chrysostom's comment on the
passage shows clearly that this was the practice
of his own time, as well as of the apostolic age.
Tertullian (.4710;. c. 30) says that Christian men
jirayed with bare head, as having no need to
conceal a blush, insinuating that the heathen
might well blush for some of the prayers which
they uttered ; and Cyprian may perhaps be al-
luding to the same custom, when he says (De
Lapsis, c. 2) that the head of a Christian was
uncontaminated by the head-covering of the
heathen sacrificer. On the other hand, as both
the apostolic precept and the custom of the East
made it indecent for women to be seen with un-
covered head, the women of the Oriental and
African churches covered their heads not only in
the congregation, but generally when they ap-
peared in public. The breaking in upon this
HEATHEN, THE
761
custom led Tertullian to write his treatise Be
Virginibus Velandis, in which he contends that
not only matrons, but maidens — who had been
allowed a somewhat greater licence — should
cover their heads effectually. He is especially
severe (c. 17) on those who wore a simple band
or fillet, which did not cover the top of the
head ; or laid a mere slip of linen on the top of
the head, which did not reach even to the ears ;
he insists that the veil or head-covering should
at any rate come down to meet the top of the
dress ; the whole space which would be covered
by the hair if it were let down should be covered
by the veil ; and he holds up for admiration and
imitation the Arab women, who so covered the
head and face as to leave only one eye visible.
Contrary to Roman practice, they preferred to
see rather than to be seen. But most of all does
he inveigh against those women who, even when
psalms are said and the name of God named,
continued uncovered, or with veils thrown back
(retectae perseverant) ; who even in prayer fan-
cied themselves covered with a strip of lace or
fringe on the top of the head. But Tertullian's
rigorous views were not those of the Church at
large ; as a general rule Christian women have
worn the head-dresses of their country and
station, and have covered their heads in the
place of assembly. Men, to speak generally,
have alwa3's prayed with uncovered head. Yet
about the 8th century the Ordo liomanus II.
(c. 8, p. 46) says that at the reading of the
Gospel neither crown nor any other covering is
kept on the head, an expression which seems to
imply that during the saying of some portions
of the office crowns or other coverings were
retained.
2. With regard to the head-covering of clerics,
the Gregorian Sacramentarg (p. 38) lays down
the rule, that no cleric stands in the church at
any time with covered head, unless he have an
infirmity. In spite, however, of the generality
of the expression " ullo tempore," the meaning of
the sentence is probably limited by the words
which stand at the head of the rubric, " per
totam Quadragesimam." That some kind of
ceremonial head-dress was worn by bishops and
priests from the 4th century onward seems
certain. See Infula, Mitre.
3. For the head-covering of monks, see Cu-
CULLA, Hood. [C]
HEAD OF ALL CHURCHES. The empeior
Justinian in a rescript {Codex, lib. 1, tit. 2, 1. 24)
gives to the patriarchal church of Constantinople
the title of " Head of all the Churches " — " Con-
tantinopolitana ecclesia omnium aliarum est
caput." See Patriarch ; Pope. [C]
HEARERS. [AuDiENTEs; Catechumens;
Doctor.]
HEATHEN, THE, in relation to the Church.
1. The duty of praying for the heathen was
amply recognized by the early Christians. Thus
in the Ignatian letter to the Ephesians (c. 10)
we find the exhortation, "pray also without
ceasing for the rest of mankind ; for there is in
them a hope of repentance, that they may attain
to God." St. Augustine {Epist. 211, ad Vita/em,
c. 2) declares that one, who did not believe that
the seed of faith was sown in the heart by God,
must needs mock at the woi'ds of the priest at
the altar exhorting the people to pray for un-
762
HEATHEN, THE
believers, that God may turn them to the faith.
And agaia (/>e Dono Persev. c. 22, § 63) he asks,
" When was not prayer made in the Church for
unbelievers and for its enemies, that they might
believe?" Prosper {De Vocat. Gentium, i. 12)
tells us that " the Church prays to God every-
where, not only for the holy and those already
regenerate in Christ, but also for all unbelievers
and enemies of the cross of Christ, for all wor-
shippers of idols. . . . And what does she ask
for them, but that leaving their errors they may
be converted to God ?" Such prayers occur in
the liturgies ; in that of St. Mark, for instance,
we have (Renaudot, Litt. Orient, i. 153), "Turn
back those who have gone astray, enlighten those
who are in darkness." So the Clementine
(Constt. Apost. viii. 15): "We beseech Thee on
behalf of those who hate us and persecute us for
Thy Name's sake, for those outside the Church
and in error, that Thou mayest turn them to
good and soften their hearts." In the West, the
conversion of the heathen was an especial subject
of prayer — as it is still in the English church —
on Good Friday. Thus, in the Gelasian Sacra-
mentary (i. 41; Migne's Patrol. Ixxiv. 1105 B)
the deacon, after bidding prayer for heretics,
schismatics, and Jews, proceeds, " Let us pray
also for the pagans, that Almighty God may take
away the wickedness from their hearts, and that
forsaking their idols they may turn to the true
God and His only Son Jesus Christ." So in the
Gregorian (p. 64), the prayers to be used on the
Wednesday and Friday in Holy Week include
one for the pagans.*
2. While it is clear that heathen were care-
fully excluded from the Christian mysteries, it is
equally clear that from the earliest times they
were admitted to that part of Christian worship
which consisted mainly of instruction. St. Paul
(1 Cor. xiv. 23) evidently contemplates the pos-
sibility of heathen entering the place where
preaching took place, whether it were in the
shape of an utterance in " tongues," or prophesy-
ing. At the end of the 2nd century, all portions
of divine worship were not open to all alike ;
for Tertullian (De Praescript. c. 41) reproaches
certain heretics with their want of order and
discipline, in that not only catechumens were
admitted to the same privileges as the faithful,
but even heathen, if they chanced to enter the
place, had equal access ; so did the heretics cast
their mock-pearls before swine. In this it is
implied that the orthodox were more careful of
their treasure. [Disciplixa Arcani.] The
words of Origen (c. Celsum, iii. p. 142, Spencer),
where, speaking of the care bestowed upon cate-
chumens, he says that Christians had in view to
prevent persons of evil life from coming to their
common assembly (eirl rhv Kotuhv avrSiv avkKo-
yov), seem to imply that some kind of scrutiny
took place before men were admitted to any
Christian assembly whatever ; for he contrasts
the Cynic practice of receiving all comers to their
harangues with that of the Christians, and the
word (TvWoyos does not appear to be taken (like
avva^is) in the limited sense of " the Eucharistic
mystery." However this may be, it is certain
that at the end of the 4th century the African
canons (/F. Cone. Carth. c. 84) specially provide
» For the substance of this paragraph the
indebted to the Kev. W. E. Scudamore.
HEATHEN, THE
that the bishop is not to hinder any one, whether
heathen, heretic, or Jew, from entering the
church and hearing the word of God, as far as
the dismissal of the catechumens (usque ad
missam catech.) ; and a later Council {Cone.
Valletanum, c. 1 ; A.D. 524) orders the Gospel to
be read after the Epistle, before the bringing in
of the gifts [Entrance, § 2] or the dismissal of
catechumens,'' in order that not ouly catechu-
mens and penitents, but all who belong to the
contrary part (e diverso sunt) may hear the
wholesome precepts of the Lord Jesus or the
sermon of the bishop (sacerdotis) ; for many had
been drawn to the faith by the preaching of the
prelates (pontificum). The liberty which was
granted to heathen does not seem in all cases to
have been allowed to heretics {Cone. Lewd. c. 6).
The liturgies themselves contain evidence that
heathen were permitted to be present during the
introductory portion of the Eucharistic office.
In the Clementine, for instance (Conslt. Apostt.
viii. 12), the deacon proclaims before the offer-
tory, " Let no one of the catechumens, no one
of the hearers, no one of the unbelievers (rcSr
anrio-Tojc), no one of the heterodox [be present] ;"
from which it appears that heathens had not
been excluded during the whole of the pre-
vious service.
3. It does not appear that the infant children
of heathen parents, remaining in the heathen
family, were in ancient times ever baptized. It
would have been held a profanation of the sacra-
ment to baptize those who were likely to be
brought up as pagans. But baptism was not
refused to children of heathen slaves brought to
baptism by their owners, who could of course
ensure them Christian nurture ; and orphans and
foundlings — the latter at any rate almost always
the offspring of heathen — were frequently pre-
sented for baptism by the virgins or others who
had taken charge of them (Augustine, Epist. 23,
ad Bonifac. ; compare Pseudo-Ambros. de Vocat.
Gent. ii. 18). We may probably discover in this
presentation of infants for baptism by persons
other than their parents the origin of Sponsors.
When the time came that Paganism was pro-
scribed and Christianity enjoined, special care
was taken that whole families should be brought
within the pale of Christianity, and that the
head of a household should not undergo baptism
pro forma, while the household remained heathen.
" As for those who are not yet baptized," says
the Code of Justinian (lib. i. tit. ii. de Paganis,
1. 10), "let them, with wives and children and
all their households, betake themselves to the
holy churches; and let them provide that their
inf;ints (parvuli) be baptized without delay ; but
let the older children (majores) before baptism
be instructed in the Scriptures according to the
canons. But if any, with a view to entering the
public service, or to acquiring an office or a pro-
perty, go through a form of baptism (fingant
baptizari) and leave in their error their children,
wives, and others who belong to and depend upon
them; they are to be punished by confiscation oi
goods and other penalties, and excluded from the
public service." The special case of the Samari-
tans is provided for by another law {Novel. 144,
c. 2) ; adults were to pass through two years'
b This is given from the text of Bruns (Canones, ii. 25)
some texts have "in missa" for "vol mi.-^sam."
HEAVEN
instruction and probation, wliile children not
capable of instruction in the doctrines of the
faith were to be admitted to baptism at once.
Both these laws were included by Photius in his
Nomocanon (tit. iv. c. 4, p. 907) [CODEX
Canonum, p. 400].
4. It does not appear that the Church in the
earliest times had special organizations for the
conversion of the heathen. It was of course the
duty of the bishops and clergy of any church to
endeavour to bring over to the faith those pagans
who dwelt about them, and men were raised up
from time to time who went forth into lands
entirely heathen. The monastic orders, in par-
ticular, especially that of St. Columba, were
constantly active in propagating the faith of
Christ [Monasticism]. The lives of the great
missionaries will be found in the Dictionary of
Christian Biography.
It is worth observing, that in the Coronation-
oflice given by Menard with the Gregorian
Sacramentary {Ad Eeginam benedicendam, pp.
263, 264) the conversion of heathen nations is
regarded as especially the work of a queen.
After putting on the ring, the consecrating
bishop prays that the queen on the point of
being crowned " may be enabled to call barbarous
nations to the knowledge of the truth."
5. The social intercourse of heathen and
Christian, while paganism was still a flourishing
system, was rendered difficult by two circum-
stances ; the prevalence of more or less idolatrous
practices in the flimily life of heathens — liba-
tions, feasts on sacrificial meats, songs implying
the recognition of pagan deities, and the like ;
and afterwards hj the horror and hati'ed with
which the heathen came to regard the votaries of
what they thought an " ill-omened superstition,"
destructive of the greatness of the empire.
[Family; Idolatry.]
Christians who feasted with the heathen in a
spot appropriated to heathen festivities, even if
for fear of defilement they took with them their
own food and ate no other, were sentenced to a
two-years' penance among the Substrati [Peni-
tence]. (Cone. Ancijr. c. 7 ; a.d. 314.)
6. Until Christianity had developed a litera-
ture of its own, those Christians who studied
literature at all, beyond the limits of Scripture,
of course studied pagan literature ; but at the
end of the 4th century we find the peremptory
prohibition {TV. Cone. Carth. c. 16), "that the
bishop should not read the books of the gentiles."
It is not to be supposed however that this precept
was literally and universally observed ; the vast
pagan learning (for instance) of Jerome and
Augustine is matter of notoriety, and it is not to
be supposed that it was wholly acquired before
they entered the Christian ministry. Jerome,
indeed {Epist. 10 [al. 70] ad Magnum), e.xpressly
defends Christian writers against the charge that
they were ignorant of pagan writings, and points
with pride to the long series of writers who had
defended Christianity with weapons drawn from
the pagan armoury. See further under Pro-
hibited Books. [C]
HEAVEN. [See Firmament.] The veiled
figure on the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
(Bottari, tav. xv. and elsewhere a female head,
id. tav. xxxiii.) is always held to represent
the firmament of heaven. Considering the word
HEBDOMADARIUS
763
as denoting the future spiritual state of happiness
in the presence of God, we can hardly pass over
the symbolic representations of the Lord in
glory which seem from the 6th century to have
been the accustomed decorations of Byzantine
churches. The choir and apse of a church from
that date were constantly made to symbolize
heaven and earth : the churches triumphant and
militant, the new heaven of glory, and the re-
newed earth of the soul regenerated in baptism.
The churches of SS. Cosmas and Damianus,
St. Venantius, and especially of St. Prassede, at
Rome, may be taken as types of the Byzantine
treatment of this great subject. In the former
Our Lord stands on the firmament of clouds, a
figure of indescribable grandeur. He is not only
come to His sanctuary, and present with a con-
gregation of the church, but he is also and at
the same moment in heaven, apart from time,
with the church triumphant. Accordingly, here,
and in St. Prassede, the apse, and the upper part
of the arch of triumph in advance of it, represent
Him in glory with His own ; saints and martyrs,
in white robes on gold ground, casting their
crowns before Him. But at their feet flows the
mystic Jordan, the river of baptism into His
death, and also the river of death, the Lethe of
life and death. It separates the glorified church
in heaven from the sheep of the fold below, who
are yet militant on earth.
Parallel representations of the adoration of
saints and martyrs in glory are, of course, uni-
versal from the 6th century; the great proces-
sions at St. ApoUinare Nuova, in Ravenna, will be
remembered as belonging to the time of Jus-
tinian. The Last Judgment of Torcello has its
side of accepted souls (see s. v.). [R. St. J. T.]
HEBDOMADARIUS. The word signifies a
weekly officer, and was applied in monasteries to
those monks who served, a week in rotation, the
office of cook or reader during refection. In
Egypt and theThebaid it was customary in the 5th
century for all the monks in turn to act as cooks,
and Cassian traces the custom to the monasteries
in the East (Cass. Instit. iv. 19, cf. Hieron.
Beg. Pachom. Prol. Ep. 22 ad Eustoch. c. 35).
But see Cass. Instit. iv. 22. Similarly Benedict
ordered that none should be excused from this
duty except on the score of health or urgent
occupations, intending thus to promote a fellow-
ship of brotherly feeling; but with his usual
consideration, he allowed those who might be
unskilful in this sort of work to have assistants
(Bened. Reg. c. 35).
By the rule called of Magister each " decad "
or " decuria " (ten monks) under its two deans
(praepositi), was to hold this office for five
weeks together, two of the number in turn with
one dean being told off each week for the kitchen,
and the rest under the other dean working in
the field {Reg. Mag. c. 17). Even abbats,
though not unfrequently of illustrious birth,
were not always exempt. By the rule of Fer-
reolus, written in the south of France during
the 6th century, the abbat was to be cook on
three great festivals in the year, at Christmas,
at .Pentecost, and on the Founder's Day {Reg.
Ferreol. c. 38). It is recorded of Benediotus
Aniansis the compiler of the Concordia Regu-
laruin, that he would be intent on literary work
while at work in the kitchen ( Vita Belied. Anian.
764
HEBDOMADARIUS
c. 14). By the rule of Caesarius, bishop of
Aries in the 6th century, abbats and priors were
excused altogether.
In some monasteries it was part of the duty
of the hebdomadarii to prepare the dinner-table,
and to act as waiters. Benedict indeed, dis-
tinguishes the " Septimanarii coquinae " from
the " servitores " (Bened. Beg. cc. 35, 38) ; but
the rule of Isidorus, bishop of Seville, in the 7th
century, combines the offices (Isid. Reg. c. 11);
and in the rule of " Magister " the cooks or their
assistants are ordered not only to wait at table,
but to carry water, chop wood, clean shoes, wash
towels, dust the mats in the oratory, and per-
form various other menial tasks (Av^. Mag. c.
19). In the same rule it is provided, that if the
weekly officers are negligent in having the table
ready for the refection, the abbat himself is to
put them to the blush by doing it himself
publicly {lb. c. 23). In the Cluniac and Cis-
tercian monasteries the hebdomadarii were
waiters as well as cooks (Marten. Eeg. Bened.
Comm. ad loc. cit.).
The week of the hebdomadarii commenced on
Sunday by a solemn form of admission in the
oratory after " matins " {Seg. Bened. c. 35), or
after "prime" {Beg. Mag. c. 19); the monks
going out of office, as well as those just coming
in, entreating the prayers of their brethren, and
the blessing of their abbat. On the Saturday
those, whose term of office was over, were to
deliver up to the " cellarer " for the use of their
successors all the utensils &c. under their charge
in perfect order (Beg. Bened. v. s. Reg. Mag. v. s.).
It was an old custom, symbolic of humility and
brotherly love, for the hebdomadarii, closing
and commencing their week, to wash the feet of
their brethren, during which operation silence
was to be kept, or psalms chanted (Cassian.
Instit. iv. 19. Bened. Reg. v. s.). By the rule
of " Magister," they were to set about preparing
the refection three hours before the hour fixed
for it ; immediately after " nones " if, as was
usual, the dinner was at midday, immediately
after " sext " for a dinner at three in the after-
noon {Beg. Mag. v. s.). The refection was to be
served on the stroke {Beg. Bened. v. s.) ; for any
inpunctuality they were to be mulcted of the
ration of bread or a part of it for certain days
{[•eg. Mag. c. 19) ; the Concordia Begulanira
quotes an anonymous rule (not the " Regula
Cujusdam," usually ascribed to Columbanus)
sentencing hebdomadarii guilty of any trivial
irregularity to twenty-five strokes of the open
hand {Beg. Cujusd. c. 12), just as Cassian
cautions them against losing even a pea (Cass.
Instit. iv. 20). Benedict wisely arranged that
the cooks should have some refreshment, a piece
of bread and a small cup of beer, (panem ac
singulos biberes) an hour befoi'e the refection, on
ordinary days ; on festivals they were to wait
till after the midday mass (Bened. Beg. v. s.).
Various reasons are supposed by commentators
for the latter part of this injunction (Martene
Beij. Comm. ad loc).
The " lector hebdomadarius " or reader aloud
during refection held office, like the " coqui,"
for a week ; but Benedict ordered that only
those brethren should be readers, whose reading
was likely to edify (Bened. Beg. c. 38). On the
Sunday commencing Ids week of office the
reader was thrice to repeat in the oratory the
HEGIRA
" Doniine, aperi os meum," and before beginning
to I'ead was to ask the prayers of his hearers,
lest he should be elated with pride (/''.). Not a
word was to be spoken during the lection even
by way of asking a question on what was being
read; unless the prior (or abbat), should think
right to interpose an explanation or exhortation ;
the monks were to help another to anything
wanted without a word {lb.). The reader was
to have a little bread and wine (for so "mix-
turn " is to be understood, according to Martene,
and not as wine and water), just before reading,
for fear of taintness or exhaustion; he was to
dine with the other hebdomadarii after the public
meal {lb.). The passages for reading were chosen
by the abbat either from the Holy Scriptures or
from lives of saints. Cassian derives the custom
of reading aloud at refection from Cappadocia
(Cass. Instit. iv. 19). [See also, Alteser. Asceticun
ix. 10]. [I. G. 8.]
HECATONTAECHAE. The council in
TruUo (c. 61) condemns to six years' excom-
munication those who resort to " the so called
hecatontarchae, or such-like persons" {rols
Xeyo/xepois iKoroi'TapX"'^ ^ ''""''' toiovtois) with
the view of learning from them what they may
choose to reveal. The title of " hecatontarches,"
is said by Balsamon (quoted by Van Espon, iii.
415) to be equivalent to. " Primicerius ;" and to
have been conferred on certain old men who gave
themselves out to be possessed of supernatural
knowledge and deceived the simple. Gothofred
(quoted "by Bingham, Antiq. XVI. v. 6) thinks
that these hecatontarchae are to be identified
with the " centenarii " of the Theodosian Code
(iib. xvi. tit. 10, 1. 20), who were officers of
certain corporations or companies for managing
idolatrous pomps and ceremonies, and frequently
claimed the power of divination. [Divin'ATION ;
Soothsayers.] [C]
HEDFELDENSE CONCILIUM. [Hat-
field, Council of.]
HEDISTIUS, martyr at Ravenna (saec. iv.) ;
commemorated Oct. 12 {Mart. Bom. Fe^., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HEGESIPPUS, historian, " Vicinus Aposto-
licorum temporum " (fcirca 180 A.D.) ; comme-
morated April 7 {Mart. Hieron., Bom. Vet.,
Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
J, c C ~3
HEGIRA OR HIJRAH (s;.;^ \)- The
era commonly used by the Mohammedan his-
torians is that of the Hijrah, or flight of
Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. The epoch
is the first day of the first month, Moharrem, of
the year in which this took place (not the day
itself, which was about sixty-seven days later).
The epoch fell, according to the best Arabian
authors and astronomers, cited in Ideler {Hand-
buch, ii. 483), on Thursday, July 15, A.D. 622 ; but
according to civil usage and the phase of tlie
moon, a day later. This discrepancy has to be
noted. We shall take as the epoch July 16, A.D.
622, or 5335 Julian Period, with interval days
from Christian era [Era], 227,014.
In Mohammedan authors the year is a lunar
year of 30 and 29 days alternately, having 354
days. In intercalary years, of which there are
11 in every 30 years, via., those marked * in
HEGUMENOS
Table I., the last mouth has one more day. In
.1 complete C3'cle of 30 years there ai'e 10,631
days.
To convert a Mohammedan Date into Old
Style. — Find the number of cycles by dividing
the Mohammedan year-date less 1 by.30. Let Q
be the quotient, K the remainder. Multiply Q
by 10,631, to which add the number of days
corresponding to R in Table I. and the number
of days corresponding to the months and days in
Table II., and also 227,014, the interval days from
the Christian era. The number of days divided
bv 1461 will give the number of quadriennia
A.D., and table in Era § 5, p. 623, widl suffice to
find the residual year and day of year.
Add 1 for the current year.
To convert an 0. S. Date into Mohammedan. —
Convert into days from Christian era, by same
rule as in Era, § 5. Subtract 227,014; divide
remainder by 10,631. Let quotient be Q and
remainder R. To 30 X Q add the number of
years corresponding to the number of days in
Table I. next less than R, and with those over
iiud the months and days in Table 11.
Add 1 for the current year.
Table I.
HEMIPHORION
r65
Years.
Days.
Years
Days.
Years
Days.
1
354
11
3898
21*
7442
2*
709
12
4252
22
7796
3
1063
13*
4607
23
8150
4
1417
14
4961
24*
8505
5*
1772
15
5315
25
8859
6
2126
16*
5670
26*
9214
7*
2481
17
6024
27
9568
8
2835
18*
6379
28
9922
9
3189
19
6733
29*
10277
10*
3544
20
V0«7
30
10631
Table II.
Months. Days.
Months. Days.
9 266
Observe that two Mohammedan years may
begin in the same Julian year. This happens
every 33 or 34 years.
It may be worth noting that the Persian era
of Yezdegird commenced June 16, 632, teu vears
later. [L."H.]
HEGUMENOS. (^Hyovtievos) The Hegu-
menos of a monastery in the Greek church cor-
responds to the Latin Abbat (see that word).
He was also termed archimandrite. But, ac-
cording to Helyot {Hist, des Ordr. Monast. Diss.
Prelim, c. 11), the term archimandrite passed
in time from the superior of a monastery
to the superior-general, originally called the
exarch, whose office it was to "visit" all the
monasteries in a province. Any monastery so
desirous at its foundation was exempted from
the bishop's jurisdiction and jilaced under the
sole authority of the patriarch ; and the supe-
rior general of these monasteries was a grand
archimandrite (cf. Thomass. Disc. Eccles. I. iii.
23). The words Hegumene ('Hyou/ieVjj), Hegu-
meneion {'■HyovfjL(Vilov'), and Hegumeneia ('H-you-
Heveia) (all from the classical term for the head-
' ship of a confederacy) signify abbess, monastery
(or abbafs rooms), and office of abbat. (Suic.
Thes. Eccles. s. v.) [I. G. S.]
HEILETON. [KiLETON.]
HELENA. (1) Mother of Constantine the
Great (fcirca 328 a.d.) ; commemorated Aug. 18
{Mart. Usuardi); Maskarram 18 = Sept. 15 (^Cal.
Zthiop.). See also Constantine.
(2) Virgin-saint of Auxerre : " Natalis " May
22 {3fa)-t. Usuardi) ; translation and deposition
May 22 (^Blart. Adonis, in Appendice).
[W. F. G.]
HELIAS, presbyter and martyr at Cordova
with Isidorus and Paulus, monks ; commemorated
April 17 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HELIMENAS, or HELYMAS, presbyter
of Babylonia, and martyr at Cordula, under
Decius, with Chrysotelus and Parmenius, pres-
byters, and the deacons Lucas and Mucins (or
Lucius and Mucas); commemorated April 22
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
HELIODORUS, martyr in Africa with Ve-
nustus and seventy-five others ; commemorated
May 6 {Mart. Usuardi). [\V. F. G.]
HELIOLATRAE. [Faithful.]
HELISAEUS, HELIZAEUS, or ELISHA,
the prophet; commemorated June 14 {Mart,
h'om. Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi). See also
Elisha. [W. F. G.]
HELL. A frequent subject of mediaeval
Christian art in the sense of the appointed place
or state of future jiuuishmont ; but the writer
is not aware of any such representation of un-
questionable date and authenticity within the
first eight centuries, unless the judgment-
mosaic of Torcello may be considered an ex-
ception, which is very doubtful. See Last
Judgment. The Book of Kells, and Saxon and
Irish MSS. contain numerous dragons, and even
grotesque devils ; but they certainly seem to
have more to do with the prevailing taste for
lacertine or serpentine ornament, and general
melancholy or ferocity of mind, than with any
doctrinal idea of evil spirits. The regular
Inferno begins with the early Florentine revival,
in the baptistery of St. Giovanni. [K. St. J. T.]
HELLADIUS, lepofidprvs ; commemorated
May 28 {Cal.Byzant.). \\\. F. G.]
HELPIDIUS, bishop and confessor at Lyons ;
commemorated Sept. 2 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
HEMIPHOEION {vixtcpSptov), seemingly
some kind of upper garment, worn by men and
women. Epiphanius {Haeresis €9, § 3) describes
Arius as wearing a colobion (see the word) and
a hemiphorion; the latter probably over the
former, which was a close tunic. And Palladius
{Hist. Lausiaca, p. 148) says that the younger
Melania gave her silken hemiphoria to make
'^ Ka\v/j.iJ.aTaTo7s Oi/triacrTTjpiofj," hangings for the
sanctuary, or altar-cloths, whichever it may be.
Hesychius and Suidas write the word r\jj.L(pdpLov,
connecting it with <\)a.pos (a shawl or wrapper),
and translating it "dimidium vestis," "dimi-
diata vestis." It was probably therefore one oi
the many forms of the pallium, smaller than
that commonly worn. (Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v.).
[C]
766 IIEOTHINA
HEOTHINA (ra icoeivu). The Heoihimn is
an anthem sung in the Greek office of lauds (t^
opdpov), and occurs after the alvoi: (i.e. on ordi-
nary days, Pss. cxlviii., cxlix., cl., on Sundays
and important festivals, a short equivalent) ; and
certain versicles called Stidwi and short anthems
called Stichera which follow them, and is placed
between the clauses of the doxology, "glory,
&c." (5rf|a), and " both now, «S:c. " {koX vvv).''
The Heothinou varies with the musical tone of
the week : there being one to each tone ; and
they are found in the Paracletice, or book con-
taining the various antiphons or troparia,
arranged according to the different tones. The
form of the Heothinon is that of any other Greek
antiphon.
(2.) TO kudivh. (fvayy4\ia). These are Gospels
relating to the Resurrection, one of which is
read on Sundays in the Greek office of lauds.
They are eleven in number. [H. J. H.]
HERACLEAS. (1) Patriarch of Alexandria,
A.D. 246 ; commemorated July 14 (Mart. Usu-
ardi); Taksas 8 = Dec. 4 (Cal. Ethiop.).
(2) Martyr in Thrace with Euticus and
Plautus; commemorated Sept. 29 {Mart. Usu-
ardi). [W. F. G.]
HERACLIDES, martyr at Alexandria with
Heros, Plutarehus, Potamiena, Serenus, and
three others; commemorated June 28 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HEEACLIUS. (1) Bishop and confessor at
Sens (fcirca 522 A.D.) ; commemorated June 8
{Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Saint, of Nyon ; commemorated with
Paulus Aquilinus, and two others, May 17 {Tb.)
(3) Martyr at Tuder in Tuscany, with Feli-
cissimus and Paulinus ; commemorated May 26
{Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HERASTUS, or ERASTUS, bishop of Phi-
lippi, and martyr ; commemorated July 26
{Mart. Usuardi, Ado de Festiv. SS. Apostolorum).
[W. F. G.]
HERCULANUS. (1) Saint, of Rome : " Na-
talis " Sept. 5 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) Soldier, saint at Lyons ; commemorated
Sept. 25 {Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Bishop, martyr at Perugia; commemorated
Nov. 7 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
HERESY, considered as a delictum, or offence
against the law of the church.
The Greek word alpeais imports (1) a choosing
(Lev. xxii. 18, LXX. ; 1 Maccab. viii. 30) ; (2) that
which is chosen, especially an opinion which one
chooses to hold, as ojpeVeis diroAeias (2 Pet. ii.
1) ; used by ecclesiastical writers for opinions
deviating from the true Christian faith ; (3) a
body of men holding a particular opinion, as
(e. g.) those holding particular opinions in phi-
losophy (Diog. Laert. i. 13 etc.). In the New
Testament it is used of the Sadducees (Acts v.
17), the Pharisees (76. xv. 5, and perhaps xxvi.
5), of the Christian community {lb. xxiv. 5, 14 ;
» The Greek form of doxology after the Psalms does, not
contain the clause "Sicut erat in prlncipio " (CJoar
Eiichol. notae in I.aud. Off.).
HERESY
xxviii. 22). So Constantine (Euseb. ff. E. x. 5,
§§ 21, 22)_ speaks of the church as ^ a'lpecns v
/cafloAiK-J), T] aytccTaTT) a'lpeais. We are con-
cerned with the term mainly in the second ot
these significations.
The word was used by the early fathers with
a good deal of latitude to designate systems
which adopted, or professed to adopt, any
Christian element whatever (Burton, Bampton
Lect. p. 12); so the Trullan council (c. 95)
applies the word " heretic " alike to those who
were, and to those who were not, reckoned
Christians ; but it is generally applied to those
who, holding the leading truths of the faith,
deviate in some point or points.
To define heresy is, as St. Augustine says {De
Haeret. Praef), "altogether impossible, or at
any rate most difficult;" and when first asked
to write a book on heresy himself, he illustrated
the diflSculty by pointing out {Ep. 222, ad Quod-
vult.) that Philastrius bishop of Brescia, in his
book of heresies, enumerated 28 which had
originated among the Jews before Christ, and
128 afterwards, but that Epiphanius of Cyprus
discovered only 80 altogether. But he is careful
to note {Epist. 43) that, whatever be the
definition, it is not the mere falseness of an
opinion, but the spirit in which it is held, that
constitutes heresy ; they who do not defend a
wrong opinion in an obstinate temper (pertinaci
animositate), especially they who are in error
mainly by the accident of birth, are not to be
reckoned heretics. With which accords the
common definition, that heresy is " pertinax
defensio dogmatis ecclesiae universalis judicio
condemnati." See Decretiun Grat. Cau. xxiv.
qu. iii. c. 29 ff". The law of the emperor Arcadius,
dated A.D. 395, and given m the Codex Theod.
(XVI. V. 28), is the first legislative definition.
" Qui vel levi argumento a judicio catholicae
religionis et ti-amite detecti fuerint deviare,"
which is modified by another expression of the
same Arcadius {Code, L. 13, De Paganis), "qui
a Catholicae Religionis dogmate deviare con-
tendunt," where the word " contendunt " is held
to refer to the same pertinacity in maintaining
an opinion on which Augustine dwells (Van
Espen, pt. iii. tit. iv. c. 22 ff'.). Van Espen con-
siders this, if not an absolutely accurate descrip-
tion, to be that which has governed the sub-
sequent practice of the church. He maintains
its soundness as a definition, because on the one
hand it allows ^o deviation whatever from the
Catholic creed, and on the other tolerates a
reasonable latitude of speculation by taking no
cognizance of constructive heresy. To con-
stitute the canonical offence the heresy must
consist — i., in a departure, not from the implied
belief of Christianity, but from that which the
church through her creeds and canons has
declared to be a matter of faith ; ii., the error
must be persistent and wilful, and, as Augustine
points out {De Civ. Dei, xviii. 51), after admo-
nition; iii., it must not only be suspected but
detected and adjudicated upon. (Van Espen,
Jus Ecd. III. iv. 2 ; Field, Of t/w Church, iii.
cc. 3, 4).
2. i. The cognizance of heresy was vested in
the bishops separately, as well as collectively.
It belongs exclusively to the spiritual office,
says Ambrose {Ep. 21), addressing the emperor^
Valentinian, to decide on matters of doctrine.
HERESY
The episcopate was held to be one, where the
faith was concerned, and each bishop was charged
with maintaining it, although for practical con-
venience his government extended only over a
single diocese. This jurisdiction granted to the
bishop in matters of faith appears from the
power possessed by him in the ante-Nicene
church of varying the expressions of the creed
ia use in his diocese, in order to meet prevailing
heresies ; provided, of course, that the fun-
damental unity of the faith was unimpaired ;
instances of such variations are given in Bing-
ham, Antiq. II. vi. 3. The reference to the
belief of individual bishops as a standard of
doctrine is further evidence in the same direction.
Thus Theodosius in a rescript quoted in Sozomen
(^H. E. vii. 4) exhorts his subjects to keep the
faith delivered by St. Peter, and by Damasus of
Rome, and Peter of Alexandria. Other references
of the kind are collected in Gothofred's com-
mentary on Codex Theod. xvi. 1, de fide Catholica.
It was an exercise of this authority by Gelasius
bishop of Rome, A.D. 492-6, condemning in a
decretal epistle the writings of Faustus the
Semi-pelagian archbishop of'Riez, which gave
rise to the first Roman catalogue of forbidden
books. After the empire became Christian,
attempts were made by some of the emperors to
arrogate to themselves this spiritual jurisdiction
of the bishops. The first instance of the kind,
unless the laws of Theodosius on heretics ai-e to
be regarded as such, is that of the usurper
Basiliscus, emperor of the East, 475-7, who
issued an encyclic letter condemning the council
of Chalcedon, and laying down definitions of
faith. An example followed with more success
by Justinian, whose edicts on doctrine as well as
discipline obtained acceptance by being pro-
mulgated through the patriarchs, metropolitans,
and bishops. The ecclesiastical legislation of
Charlemagne also trenched upon the same pre-
rogative ; discussion was permitted in the synods
summoned by him, but the emperor reserved the
decision to himself, and issued the decrees in his
own name. But no ecclesiastical authority
superseded that of the bishops till A.D. 1204,
when two Cistercian abbots were sent by
Innocent III. to the south of France to inves-
tigate the Albigensian heresy; and in 1231
Gregory IX. Issued a commission to the Domini-
cans to constitute a special court of heresy ; this
was the beginning of the Inquisition. (V'an Espen,
Jus. Eccl. I. xxii. 3.)
ii. The general power of each bishop to defend
the faith was restricted, in dealing with an
individual heretic, to his own diocese. If the
accused was one of the clergy, the bishop was
required in the African church to take neigh-
bouring bishops to sit with him (1 Cone. Carthag.
c. ] 1 ; 2 Cone. Carthag. c. 10) ; but this rule
was not confined to accusations of heresy. With
the bishop in some instances sat the presbyters — •
whether or not this privilege was universally
conceded to them. The synod of Antioch, A.D.
264, which condemned Paul of Samosata, con-
tained presbyters (Euseb. H. E. vii. 28). So the
first condemnation of Arius was not pronounced
by Alexander bishop of Alexandria, A.D. 319, till
he had summoned the presbytery and some other
bishops to hear the charge (Epiphan. Ilaet: 69, c.
3). And the accusation against Pelagius was first
liearl before John, bishop of Jerusalem, and a
HERESY
767
synod of his presbyters, A.D. 415. If objection
was made to the decision of the bishop, an appeal
lay to a larger council, either of the province, or
finally of the whole church ; instances of which are
too notorious to need citing. A bishop charged with
heresy could be tried only by a synod of bishops.
The officer charged with the preliminary inves-
tigation is designated by one of the laws of
Justinian {Novel. 137, c. 5). " If any clergyman
is accused in point of faith, if he is a bishop he
shall be examined before his metropolitan, but
if he is a metropolitan then before the patriarch."
3. The penalties attached to heresy were both
ecclesiastical and civil.
i. By ecclesiastical law an obstinate heretic
was excommunicated, and if he continued con-
tumacious, his exclusion from church-member-
ship was made more rigorous. The 6th canon
of the council of Laodicea forbids those who
continue in their heresy to enter the house of
God. But this exclusion could not have been
universal, for the 4th council of Carthage,
A.D. 398 (c. 84) distinctly prohibits the bishop
from preventing Gentiles, Jews, or heretics from
being present in church during the Missa Cate-
chumenorum ; and the council of Valentia, A.D.
524 (c. i.) orders the gospel to be read before
the oblations, so that heretics, among others,
may have an opportunity of hearing [cf.
Heathen]. Another stigma affixed to heretics
was the rejection of their evidence in any
ecclesiastical court against a Catholic. The
Apostolical Canons (c. 74) say expressly that the
evidence of a heretic shall not be received against
a bishop. The 129th canon of the African code
also mentions heretics among other infamous
persons whose testimony was inadmissible
1^4 Cone. Carthag. c. 96). The so-called 6th
canon of the council of Constantinople, A.D. 381,
guards this disability from abuse by confining
it exclusively to ecclesiastical causes ; if a heretic
had a civil cause of complaint against a bishop,
the council allowed him his remedy ; but the
Justinian code deprived him even of this.
Another class of penal enactments was directed
to the protection of the orthodox from the
infection of heresy. One of the Apostolical
Canons (c. 45) forbids, under pain of suspension,
any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, to pray with
heretics, or permit them to officiate ; another
(c. 63) inhibits either clergy or laity from wor-
shipping in a synagogue of heretics. The council
of Laodicea (c. 9) would not permit Catholics
to frequent the cemeteries or celebrations of
so-called martyrdoms of heretics, nor (c. 33)
tolerate any devotions with them. The 4th
council of Carthage, A.D. 398 (c. 71), pronounces
the assemblies of heretics to be not churches but
conventicles; and (c. 72) prohibits both praying
and singing psalms with them. The Spanish
council of Lerida, A.D. 523 (c. 13), rejects the
oblation of any who has presented his children
for baptism by a heretic ; this must mean, not
in a case of necessity, where it would be admitted,
but deliberately. (Bingham, Antiq. XVI. i. 4).
Social intercourse with heretics was also pro-
hibited. "A clergyman must avoid both the
entertainments and the society of heretics "
(4 Cone. Carthag. c. 70 ; 1 Cone. Tolet. c. 15 ;
1 Cone. Turon.c. 8; Cone. Venct. c. 3). Augustine
relates (Confess, iii. 11) that while he was n
Mauichaean his mother would not sit at (he
768
HERESY
same table with him. The council of Laodicea
(c. 32) forbids Christians to receive the EulOGIAE
of heretics, and also (cc. 10, 31) to intermarry
with them. This last prohibition appears to
have been universally enforced (Co)ic. Eliber.
c. IG; Cone, in Trull, c. 72). The laws of the
church are not so strict as the civil edicts after-
wards became in prohibiting the study of here-
tical books ; there is one canon (4 Cone. Carthag.
c. 16) which forbids a bishop to read heathen
authors under any circumstances, and heretical
ones unless time or necessity require.
"li. The civil proceedings against heretics began
with some edicts of Constantine against the
Donatists, A.D. 316 ; but a much more extensive
series of laws was enacted by Theodosius the
Great with a view to put an end to the divisions
of the church arising from the controversies of
the 4th century, and to enforce uniformity of
lielief by legal penalties. The first of these was
passed immediately after the general council of
Constantinople, A.D. 381, and between ' that
]ieriod and A.D. 394, fifteen other such edicts
were published. A further law was enacted by
Honorius, A.D. 408, and others in the East by
Arcadius and the younger Theodosius, and others
again by Justinian, A.D. 529. The laws are
chiefly contained in book xvi. tit. v. de Haereticis
of the Theodosiau Code, although a few are to
be found under other titles. Here it will be
sufficient to give a bare abstract of the most
severe of them. Heretics were deprived of all
offices of profit or dignity in the state; they
could neither receive nor bequeath property ; no
civil contract with them was binding ; they were
fined, banished, subjected to corporal punishments,
and even sentenced to death. Other laws were
designed to prevent the propagation of heresy.
iN'o heretical assemblies might be held, nor con-
venticles built, nor clergy ordained ; their books
were to be burnt and their children disinherited.
These edicts were not directed against all heretics
indiscriminately, but against various sects which
were held to be most dangerous to faith or
morals. From the account of Sozomen (//. E,
vii. 12), they were intended to strike terror
rather than to be executed ; but heretics were
always exposed to them, and, in one conspicuous
instance, the most severe penalty, that of death,
was inflicted on Priscillian and some of his
adherents ; the first example in the church of
any one being put to death for his opinions.
4. i. The admission of heretics to the church
is closely involved with the controversies of the
4th century on the validity of heretical baptism
[Baptism, Iteration of, p. 172]. Their bear-
ing on the reconciliation of heretics, and the
further question of the relation in which the
practice of anointing converts from heresy
stands towards the rite of confirmation, are
discussed in Morinus (de Poenit. ix. 7-11).
This article is concerned only with any rites or
terms of admission which indicate the course of
canonical discipline. The council of Eliberis
(c. 22) appoints ten years' penance to those who
had deserted the faith and afterwards returned,
with a proviso that if they had lapsed in infancy
they should be received back without delay.
Later councils {Cone. Agath. c. 60 ; Cone. Epaon.
c. 29) deprecating this severity, reduce the term
to two years, on condition that the penitent
fasts three days a week and comes frequently to
HERESY
church. Longer penalties were exacted from
those who had submitted to re-baptism among
the heretics, the earlier practice in this too being
more severe ; the 1st council of Valence, A.D. 374
(c. 3), denies communion to them till the hour
of death, that of Lerida, A.D. 523 (c. 9), only for
nine years. In this, however, as in other points
of discipline, much was left to the discretion of
the bishop {Cone. Agath. c. 60; 4 Cone. Aurel.
c. 8). In general the practice of the church,
which is involved in some obscurity, appears to
have been to admit converts without any actual
penance, submitting them however to some out-
ward form or ceremonial of penitence {suh imagine
poenitentiae, Innocent : Ep. 18, ad Alexan. c. 3).
A letter of Gregory the Great {Epist. ix. 61, ad
Quirin.) directs that those who had once been
baptized in the name of the Trinity should
be received by imposition of hands, which was
the Western use, or by unction, which was that
of the East, or by a profession of faith.
Of these forms of reconciliation that by impo-
sition of hands was the earliest. It is spoken of
by Eusebius {H. E. vii. 2) as a practice wliich
was ancient in the time of Stephen, bishop of
Rome, A.D. 253-7 ; Cyprian also calls it tlie
ancient custom in his time (Ep. 71 ad Quintum).
It was prevailing in the time of Innocent (Epp.
2 ad Metric, c. 8, 22 ad Epis. Macedon. cc. 4,
5) ; it was known to Augustine (de Bapt. c.
Eonat. iii. 11, ibid. vi. 15), and was the subject
of the decrees of various councils (1 Cone. Arclat.
c. 8 ; Cone. Xicaen. c. 8). By a canonical epistle
of Siricius, bishop of Rome, A.D. 384-98, heretics
were to be admitted by imposition, together with
invocation of the Spirit. But the statement of
Gregory that imposition of hands was the Western
custom, and unction the Eastern, is only partially
correct. Unction was in use in both the Spanish
and the Gallic churches (1 Cone. Arausic. c. 1 ;
Cone. Epaon. c. 16), and it is likely that when
Gregory wrote he was referring only to the
principal church of the West, that of Rome
(Martene dc Eit. iii. 6).
ii. In the 4th century, converts from some
heresies were received into the church by unction,
with formal renunciation of their errors (Cone.
Laod. c. 7 ; 1 Cone. Constant, c. 7). The Trullan
council, following the 1st of Constantinople, de-
scribes the manner of admission ; " We receive
Arians, Macedonians, Novatians, Quartodecimans,
and Apollinarians, when they give in written
forms of belief (At^^XXovs ; for instances of this
practice see Soc. i/. E. iv. 12, Soz. E. E. iii. 22),
and anathematize every heresy not according
with the mind of the holy and apostolic church;
sealing (that is, anointing) them with the holy
ointment on the forehead, and eyes, and nostrils,
and mouth, and "ears ; and as we seal them, we
say, 'The seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost.'"
The Arabic version of the Nicene canons (c. 31,
Hardouin, vol. i. p. 468) has another form of
admission. ■ " If any one is converted to the
orthodox faith he must be received into the
church by the hands of the bishop or presbyter,
who ought to instruct him to anathematize all
who oppose the orthodox faith and contradict
the apostolic church. He ought also to anathe-
matize Arius and his hei-esy, and openly and
sincerely profess the faith. Afterthis the bishop
or priest whose office it is, shall receive him and
anoint him with the unction of Chrism, and sign
HERESY
him three times while anointing him, and pray-
ing over him in the prayer of Dionysius the
Areopagite, and prayer shall be made earnestly
to God for him, and then he may be received."
With regard to other heresies, the canon of the
Trullan council already cited proceeds to make
the following provisions. "About the Pauli-
anists the Catholic church defines, that they are
to be baptized anew ; but as to the Eunomians,
who baptize with one immersion, the Montanists
.... and the Sabellians .... and all the
other heresies . . . . ; all who will come over
to orthodoxy from these we receive as converts
from paganism {ws"EWrivas); and the first day
we make them Christians, the second catechu-
mens, and on the third day we exorcise them,
after breathing thrice on the forehead and ears
[Exorcism] ; and so we go on to catechise them,
and cause them to tarry in the church and listen
to the Scriptures ; and then we baptize them.
And the Manichaeans, and the Valentinians, and
the Marciouites, and those who come ft-om such-
like heresies must give in libelli, and anathema-
tize their own heresy, and Nestorius and Euty-
ches, and Dioscorus and Severus, and the other
ringleaders of such-like heresies, and those who
hold their own and the other aforenamed here-
sies; and so they may be admitted to Holy
Communion."
iii. In the case of those who came into the
orthodox faith from the heresies of Nestorius and
Eutyches, the church appears to have been satisfied
with a solemn profession of faith by the convert.
This is frequently insisted upon by Leo {Epp. i.
6 ; vi. 2 ; xiv. xxvii. 4). The 2nd council of
Seville, A.D. 618, received in this form at its
twelfth sitting an heretical Syrian bishop. The
bishop made a solemn statement of his errors and
of the truth, and confirmed it with an oath. In
later periods an oath became an indispensable
part of the ceremonial. A Roman synod under
Leo III., A.D. 799, required a certain bishop
Felix not only to abjure his heresy and write out
a form of faith, but also to swear over the holy
mysteries to observe his orthodox profession ; he
was then required to place it over the body of
St. Peter, and swear he would never dare repeat
his heretical opinions. Cotelerius (Apost. Const.,
V. 13, note) prints part of an ancient Eastern
ritual containing a form of renunciation of the
Armenian heresy, which concludes with the fol-
lowing imprecation : " If I make this profession
with hypocrisy, or return to my heresy openly
or secretly, may all calamities overtake me, the
dread of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi, and in
the world to come may I be anathema and cata-
thema, and may my soul be sent to Satan and
his devils."
iv. The form of admission in use in the East in
the 8th century is given by Morinus (de Poenit.
ix. 9) from a very ancient Greek Euchologion.
Those to be received must fast ten or fifteen
days, and prostrate themselves in prayer morning
and evening like the Catechumens ; they may then
be thought worthy of the orthodox faith and be
initiated. The priest is to bring each into the
baptistery, and say to him, " Curse N. and his
doctrines, and those who agree with him, for I
renounce him and every heretical doctrine, and I
believe in the holy and consubstantial Trinity."
And the priest shall say to the convert three
times, " Dost thou believe in the- holy and con-
CHRIST. ANT.
HERMES
709
substantial Trinity ?" and the convert shall i-eply
"I do." He shall then kneel, and the priest
shall lay his hand upon his head and pray as
follows .... After which he shall anoint him
with oil with the same form as if he were a
neophyte, and say this prayer . . . The convert
may then communicate, and he must be instructed
not to eat flesh seven days, nor wash his face,
but, as the baptized do, persevere for seven days,
and on the 8th day wash and be dismissed.
The following example of a prayer used for
those who were reconciled, after having been
rebaptized by heretics, is from a ritual found at
Toulouse, at Rheims, and in Sicily: "God who
restorest man, made after thine own image, to
that which Thou hast created, look down in
mercy ui)on this Thy servant, and whatever
ignorance and heretical perverseness has ci'ept into
him, do Thou in Thy pity and goodness pardon,
so that any wickedness which he has committed
through the fraud of the devil or the- iniquity of
the Arian falsehood, may not be laid to his
charge, but that having been transformed by
Thy mercy, and having received the communion
of Thy truth at the sacred altars, he may be
restored a member of the catholic church."
Heresy as a canonical offence is dealt with by
Van Espen {Jus Ecd. Pars iii. tit. iv. c. 2).
The admission of heretics to the ch urch is a very
complicated subject, owing to the endless varieties
of heretical sects. See Martene {de Bit. iii. 6),
Morinus {de Poenit. ix. 7-11), Suicer (s. v. alpe-
TLKos), and Bingham {Antiq. XIX. ii.). A list of
the early and mediaeval writers on heresy is
given in the preface to Burton's Bampton lectures
on Heresies of the Apostolic Age. [G. M.]
HERETICAL BAPTISM. [Baptism, Iter-
ation' OF, p. 172.]
HERMAGORAS, bishop and martyr under
Nero at Aquileia, with Fortunatus his arch-
deacon ; commemorated July 12 {Mart. Bom.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HERMAS, saint (supposed bishop of Phi-
lippi); commemorated May 9 {Mart. Usuardi,
Ado de Festiv. Apostolorum). [W. F. G.]
HERMEAS, of Comana, iepofj.a.pTvs under
Antoninus ; commemorated May 31 {Cal. Bij-
zant.). [W.F.G.]
HERMELANDUS, abbot in Antron, an
island of the Loire (fcirca 720 A.D.) ; comme-
morated March 25 {Mart. Usuardi). [\V. F. G.]
HERMELLUS, martyr at Constantinople;
commemorated Aug. 3 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HERMENEGILDUS, son of Leovigildus,
king of the Goths, martyr in Spain (1586 A.D.);
commemorated April 13 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
HERMENEUTAE. [Interpreter.]
HERMES. (1) [Gaius.]
(2) Saint at Marseilles; commemorated with
Adrianus, March 1 {Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(3) One of the seventy ; commemorated with
Agabus, Asyncritus, Herodion, Phlegon, Rufus,
April 8 {Cal. Bijzant.).
(4) Martyr at Rome (A.D. 116); commemorated
Aug. 28 {Mart. Bedae, Usuardi).
3 D
770 HERMITS
(5) [EusEBius (7).]
(6) Exorcista, saint of Retiaria; commemo-
rated Dec. 31 (Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HERMITS. Some mediaeval writers on
monasticism define hermits (eremitae) as soli-
taries in cells, and anchorites (anachoretae) as
solitaries without any fixed dwelling place ;
more correctly anchorites are solitaries who
have passed a time of probation as coenobites, and
hermits those who enter on the solitary life
without this preparation (Martene, Req. Comm.
Bened. c. 1 ; Isid. De Div. Off. ii. 15). Generally
the word " eremite " includes all solitary ascetics
of one sort or another ; other designations of
them in early ecclesiastical writers are adKTjTai,
acTKriTai, jxavd^ovTis, (pi\66eot, (piAoaocpovpres,
KaTfipy/xiuoi, viri Dei, renunciantes, contiuentes,
cellulani, iuclusi, reclusi, monachi, &c. ; and,
later, religiosi. The words /xovaxhs apd
IxovoLffTTipiov were soon transferred from the
hermit in his solitary cell to the coenobite in his
community.
The asceticism of the desert was among
Christians the first step towards the asceticism
of the cloister. It was prompted by a passionate
longing to fly from the world to escape not
merely the fury of the Decian or Diocletian per-
secutions, but the contaminations of surrounding
heathenism. It commended itself to devout
Christians by reasons, which, however specious,
really contradict and cancel each other, for it
seemed at once a refuge from spiritual dangers,
and a bolder challenge to the powers of darkness
to do their worst ; at once a safer, quieter life
than the perilous conflict day by day with an
evil world, and, in another aspect, a life of
sterner self-denial. In the pages of its pane-
gyrists the solitary life presents itself now in
one and now in the other of these irreconcileable
phases, according to the mood or temperament of
the writer. It may be replied, that, far from
being either more heroic or more free from
da-nger, it is neither.
Until about the middle of the 3rd century the
more austere Christians were only distinguished
by such epithets as oi (nrovZaioi or oi
iKXeKTSrepot, without withdrawing from the
society of their fellows (c. g. Euseb. H. E. vi. 11 ;
Clem. Alex. Homil. " Quis Dives ? " n. 36).
About that time, Antony and Ammon in Egypt,
and Paul in the Thebaid led the way to the
desert ; and their example soon found a crowd of
imitators (Socr. //. E. iv. 23 ; Soz. E. E. i. 13,
14; Hier. Ep. 22, ad Eustoch.). In Syria
Hilarion, in Armenia Eustathius, bishop of
Sebaste, in Cappadocia Basil urged on the move-
ment. It spread quickly through Pontus, Illyri-
cum, and Thrace westwards ; and the personal
prestige of Athanasius, an exile from his see,
helped to make it popular in Italy at Rome
(Niceph. H. E. ix. 16; Aug. dc Op. Mon. c. 23 ;
Hier. Ep. 16 ; Epitaph. Marcel.'). But the soli-
tary life never found so many votaries in Europe,
as in Egypt and in the East ; partly because of
the comparative inclemency of the climate, and
the proportionate need of more appliances to
support life, partly of the more practical cha-
racter of the West.
The institution of Lauras was the connecting
link between the hermitage and the monastery
in the later and more ordinary use of that word
HERMITS
Pachomius at Tabenna in Upper Egypt had
already begun to organise a community of her-
mits, by arranging that three should occupy
one cell, and that all who were near enough
should meet together for the dailv meal (Soz.
//. E. iii. 14 ; Pallad. Hist. Laus.). ' The monks
of Mons Nitrius, too, near the Lake Mareotis,
though many of them in separate cells (oiK'^juara
fxovax'ixa (nropaSrtv, ra KeWla, Soz. //. E. vi. 31)
had refectories for common use, chapels in their
midst for common worship on Saturdays, Sun-
days and holy days, certain presbyters appointed
to officiate in these, and certain lay officers,
(oeconomi) elected' by the older hermits to pro-
vide for their temporal wants, such as they were,
and to transmit their scanty alms (diaconia)
derived chiefly from the sale of the rush mats
which they wove (Cass. Inst. v. 26, 40; Coll.
iii. 1 ; X. 2 ; xviii. 5 ; xxi. 9). In the Thebaid a
hermit named Joannes presided over a large
number of hermits (Soz. R. E. vi. 28, 29). One
of the first " Lauras," or irregular clusters of
hermits dwelling close together, was at Pharan
near the Dead Sea in the 4th century; another
was founded near Jerusalem in the next century
by Sabas a hermit from Cappadocia, under the
patronage of Euthymius.
The early ecclesiastical histories teem with the
almost suicidal austerities of the more celebrated
hermits. Not content with imposing on them-
selves the burden hard to be borne of a lifelong
loneliness — for even without any vow of con-
tinuance it was very rarely that a hermit re-
turned to the companionship of his fellows — and
of a silence not to be broken even by prayer,
they vied with one another in devising self-
tortures; wandering about, almost naked, like
wild beasts; barely supporting life by a little
bread and water, or a few herbs ; only allowing
their macerated frames three or four hours sleep
in the twenty-four, and those on the bare rock
or in some narrow cell where it was impossible
to straighten the limbs ; counting cleanliness a
luxury and a sin ; maiming themselves, some-
times with their own hands, to escape being
made bishops by force ; and shunning a moment's
intercourse even with those naturally dearest
(Cass. Inst. v. 26, 40; Coll. ii. 6, 17; Socr.
II. E. iv. 23 ; Soz. II. E. vi. 29, 34 ; cf Rosweyd
Vitae Pair. pass.). It was only in the decline of
this enthusiasm that hermits began to take up
their abode near cities. The " father of hermits "
used to compare a hermit near a town to a fish
out of water (Soz. H. E. i. 13).
Usually the hermit's abode was in a cave, or
in a small hut which his own hands had rudely
put together (Evagr. H. E. i. 21); but some,
like the " possessed with evil spirits " in Gadara
mentioned in the New Testament, had their
dwellings in tombs (Theodoret. Fhiloth. c. 12);
hence they were called fiffiopnai, and the keeper
or superintendent of these tombs the iJLe)xopo<\)vKal
(Altes. Ascetic, i. 7). Others roved about inces-
santly, to avoid the visits of the curious, like the
" gyrovagi " in having no fixed abode, but unlike
them in keeping always alone (Snip. Sev. Di(d.
do Mon. i. 9), and in feeding only on the wild
herbs which they gathered [see Bosci]. Others,
the "Stylitae," aspiring to yet more utter isola-
» Hospinianus wrongly speaks of the presbyten as thus
elected {De Orig. Monach.).
HERMITS
tiou, phmteJ themselves on the summit of solitary
columns. Of these the most famous were the
Simeon, who in Syria during the 5th century is
said to have lived ferty-oue years on a tall pillar
the top of which was barely three feet in
diameter (Evagr. H. E. i. 13; ii. 9 : Theodoret,
Philoth. c. 26); his namesake who followed his
example in the 6th century (Evagr. H. E. vi.
22) ; and a Daniel, who chose for the scene of his
austerities a less dreary neighbourhood, a suburb
of Constantinople (Theodor. Lect. H. E. i. 32).
Other "stvlitae" are mentioned by Joannes
Moschus {Prat. cc. 27, 28, 57, 129). This pecu-
liar form of eremitism was very unusual in
Europe. A monk near Treves in the 6th century
tried the experiment on the top of a column
rising from the summit of a clift'; but by order
of the bishop soon relinquished the attempt on
account of the rigour of the climate (Greg. Turon.
Hist. viii. 16).
The reverence with which hermits were
popularly regarded led to their aid being fre-
quently invoked when controversies were raging.
Thus in the close of the 4th century Antony, who
IS also said to have more than once broken the
spell of his seclusion in order to go and plead the
cause of some poor client at Alexandria (Soz.
H. E. i. 13), being appealed to in the Arian con-
flict not only addressed a letter to the emperor,
but made a visit in person to Alexandria on
behalf of Athanasius (Soz. H. E. ii. 31 ; Hieron.
Ep. 33, ad Castruc). The hermit Aphraates
boldly confronted the emperor Valens, as did
Daniel, the later of the two pillar-hermits of
that name, the emperor Basiliscus (Theodoret,
H. E. iv. 23 ; Theod. Lect. Collectan. i. 32, 33).
The great Theodosius consulted the hei-mit
Joannes (Soz. H.E. vii. 22). The hermits
near Antioch interceded with good effect when
the magistrates of that city were about to
execute the cruel orders of the exasperated
emperor (Chrys. Homil. ad Ant. xvii.). But
not rarely the unreasoning zeal of the her-
mits provoked great tumults ; and sometimes in
a misguided impulse of indiscriminating pity they
endeavoured by force to liberate criminals con-
demned by the law. Nor were their sympathies
always on the side of the orthodox. When
Theophilus of Alexandria denounced the error of
the Anthropomorphitae, almost all the Saitic
monks were fiercely incensed against him as an
atheist " in their simplicity " as Cassian adds,
(Cass. Coll. X. 2).
On the comparative excellency of the eremitic
or of the coenobitic life there has been much dif-
ference of opinion among writers who extol
asceticism ; the same writer inclining now to the
solitary life, and now to the life in a community,
as he views the question from one side or
another. Sozomen calls the eremitic life the
" peak of philosophy " (//. E. vi. 31). Chrysostom
and Basil speak to the same effect (Chrys. Ep. 1 ;
Bas. Ep. ad Chilon.). But Basil in the rule for
• monks ascribed to him commends the coenobitic
life, as more truly unselfish, more rich in oppor-
tunities both for helping and for being helped
(Eeg. c. 7) ; and so speaks his friend, Gregory of
Nazianza {Orat. 21). Jerome, with al! his love
of austerity, cautions his friend and pupil against
the dangers of solitude (Ep. 4, ad Rustic).
Augustine praises hermits ; and yet allows that
coenobites have a more unquestion.able title to
HERMITS
•71
veneration (De 31or. Eccl. c. 31). Cassian often
speaks of hermits as having climbed to the summit
of excellence (e.g. Inst. v. 36 ; Coll. xviii. 4) ;
at other times he deprecates the solitary life as
not good for all, and as beyond the reach of
many ; and he relates how a devout monk gave
up the attempt in despair, and returned to his
brother monks {Coll. xix. 2, 3; xxiv. 8).
It was from the first very earnestly enjoined
by the leaders of asceticism, that none should
venture on so great an enterprise as the solitary
life, without undergoing probation as a coenobite
(Hieron. Ep. 4 ad Must. ; Cass. Tnst. v. 4. 36 ;
Coll. xviii. 4; Joan. Clim. Scala, iv. 27). Bene-
dict compares the hermit to a champion ad-
vancing in front of the army for single combat
with the foe, and therefore insists on his proving
himself and his armour beforehand {Reg. c. 1).
Councils repeatedly enforce this probationary dis-
cipline {Cone. Yenet. A.D. 465, c. 7 ; Cone. Tolet.
iv. A.D. 633, c. 63; vii. a.d. 646, c. 5; Cone.
Trull. A.D. 692, cc. 41, 42). The permission of the
abbat was required (Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. 5), some-
times, also, the consent of the brethren (Martene,
Comm. in Reg. Ben. c. 1) and, sometimes of the
bishop {Cone. Franco/. A.D. 794, c. 12). The
length of this period of probation varied (Mart.)-.s.
cf. Isi'd. De Div. Off. ii. 15). Even those who
most admired the hermit-life fenced it round
with prohibitions as a risk not lightly to be
encountered.
The civil authorities were naturally jealous of
this subtraction of so many citizens from the
duties of public life. Theodosius ordered all
those who evaded their public responsibilities on
pretence of asceticism to be deprived of their
civil rights unless they returned to claim them
{Cod. Theodos. xii. ; Tit. 1 ; Lex 63); and it
was forbidden for slaves to be admitted into a
monastery without their masters' leave {Cone.
Chale. A.D. 451, Act xv. c. 4). In Western
Europe Charles the Great decreed that all her-
mits infesting towns and cities for alms should
either return to their hermitages or be shut up in
monasteries. By the law of the Eastern church
a bishop who became a hermit was ipso facto
deprived of his office.
It was not unusual, particularly in the
monasteries of Provence and Languedoc, for one
of the brethren most advanced in asceticism to
be immured in a separate cell, sometimes under-
ground, always within the precincts, as an inter-
cessor for the monastery (Menard, Observ. Crit.
in Bened. Anian. Cod. Begul. ii.). After a solemn
religious ceremony the devotee, thus buried
alive by his own consent, was left, with no other
apparel than what he was wearing, to end his
days alone. The doorway was walled up, or the
door nailed to and sealed with the bishop's ring,
whose consent, as well as that of the abbat and
chapter, was requisite. Only a little aperture
was left, not such as to allow the inmate to see
or be seen, for letting down provisions to him
(Menard, %i. s.). These " inclusi " are not to be
confounded with the aged or sickly monks,
allowed separate cells because of their infirmities
(Cass. Inst. ii. 12; Co7ic. Agath. c. 38). [See
Hesychastae.] The rule "for solitaries" of
Grimlaicus, probably a monk in or near Metz
about the end of the 9th century, seems in-
tended not for a separate order, but for these
"inclusi" generally (Bened. Anian. m. s.). It
3 D 2
772
KERMOGENES
IS a characteristic- difference between Asiatic
and European asceticism, that the eremites, or
desert monks of the east find their western
counterpart in solitaries within the precincts of
the community.
As mi^ht be expected for obvious reasons there
have been few female hermits. Gregory of
Tours, mentions a nun of the convent of Ste.
Croix. Poitiers, who retired to a hermitage by
permission of the abbess Radeguuda (Hist. vi.
29). Usually these female solitaries had their
cells in close"^ contiguity to the wall of a church
or of a monastery (Martene, v. s.).
[See further Rosweydii Vitae Patnim, Ant-
verpiae, 1628 ; Hospinianus De Monachis, Tigur.
1609 ; Middendorpii Orujinum Anachoretarum
Sylva, Col. Agripp. 1615 ; Anton. Dadin. Alte-
serrae Asrcticon, Par. 1674 ; Bingham's Origines
Ecclesiasticae (Bli:. vii.) Lond. 1840. See also
Asceticism in this Dictionary, Antony (St.) &c.
in the Dictionary of'Christian Biography.]
[I- G. S.]
HEEMOGENES. (1) [Peter (6).]
(2) [CxALATA.]
(3) [EvoDius (1).]
(4) [EvoDUS.]
(5) [EOGRAPIU'S.]
(6) [DoNATUS (10).] [W. F. G.]
HERMOGEATES. [Heemolaus.]
HERMOLAUS, presbyter of Nicomedia,
UpoixdpTvs, a.d. 304 ; commemorated with the
brothers Hernempus and Hermogrates, July 27
(3[art. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi); and July
23 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.I
HERMYLUS, martyr with Stratonicus ;
(+315 a.d.) commemorated Jan. 13 (^Cal. By-
lant.). [W.F.G.]
HERNEMPUS. [Hermolaus.]
HERODION. [Hermes (3).]
HERON, or HEROS. (1) Bishop of An-
tioch, successor to Ignatius : " Natalis," Oct. 17
(Mart. Adonis, Usuai-di).
(2) [Dioscorus (?.).]
(3) [Heraclides.]
HERTFOED, COUNCIL OF {Herutfordiae
roncilium). Held at Hertford A.D. 673, Sept. 24;
all the bishops of the Anglo-Saxon church then
living, except Wini, the simoniacal bishop of
London, being present in person or by deputy
(Haddan and Stubbs' Councils and Documents, iii.
121, note). Archbishop Theodore, who had
summoned them, recited ten canons from a book,
in all probability the collection of Dionysius
Exiguus from their being all found there, to
which all subscribed (76. ; comp. Mansi xi. 127).
[E. S. Ff.]
HERUDFORDENSE CONCILIUM.
[Hertford, Council of.]
HESYCHASTAE CH(rvxaffTal). Etymo-
logically a term equivalent to " quietists." It
was applied to those members of a monastery
who were allowed to have separate cells within
the precincts that their meditations might be un-
interrupted. (Bing. Or-ig. Eccles. VII. ii. 14;
Menard on Bened. Anian. Concord. Regul. c. 29 ;
of. Justinian Novell. 5, 33.) Riddle, however.
HIEMANTES
(Chr. Antiq. VII. vii.), takes it as a designation of
monks bound to silence ; and Suicer (Thes.
Eccles.} as meaning anchorites, although the
passage which he quotes from Balsamon (ad
Cone. A7c. II. A.D. 787) distinguishes Hesy-
chasteria from " monasteria " and the cells of
" anachoretae." In the 14th century it was
applied to the mystics of Mount Athos (Herzog
lieal-Encyklop. s. v.). [I. G. S.]
HESYCHIUS, ESICHIUS or ESICIUS.
(1) Bishop and confessor at Circesium (saec. i.) ;
commemorated with Euphrasius, Indalecius, Se-
cundus, Tesiphon, and Torquatus, May 15 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Mesia ; commemorated June 15
(Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HETAEETAE (kraiplaC) were originally
political clubs; but the word came to signify
any association of men for objects not recognized
by the law. Thus Trajan (Plinii Epist. x. 34
[al. 43]) was unwilling to sanction a company
(collegium) of firemen at Nicomedia. because he
had found that in that district such companies
were liable to degenerate into hetaeriae ; and it
was as hetaeriae that the assemblies of the
Christians became objects of suspicion to the
state (/&. X. 96 [al. 97], § 7), and so persecuted
(Augusti, Handbuch, i. 40). [C]
HETEEODOXY. [Heresy.]
HEXAPSALMUS (kimaKixoi). By thii
name are denoted six unvarying Psalms, which
are said daily in the Greek office of lauds (t^
opOpov). They are Pss. iii., xxxvii. (xxxviii.),
Ixii. (Ixiii.), Ixxxvii. (Ixxxviii.), cii. (ciii.), cxlii.
(cxliii.) They occur near the beginning of the
office; and are introduced by the clause "Glory
to God in the Highest, and on earth peace,
good will among men," and by the verse " Thou
shalt open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall
show thy praise." After the first three Psalms
are said the priest comes out from the bema, and
while the last three are being said, recites the
twelve morning jwayers (ras eooBtvas evxdi)
secretly before the icon of our Lord. They are
concluded with three Alleluias; and three
Reverences. [H. J. H.]
HEZEKIAH, the king of Judah; commemo-
rated Nahasse 4=-- July 28 (^Cal. Ethiop.).
[W. F. G.]
HIBERNICA CONCILIA. [Irelaxd,
Councils of.]
HIEMANTES. The word x^'MfCfo-^"'
means primarily " to be storm-tossed " (Acts
xxvii. 18). Thence, by a natural metaphor, it
passed on to the tempest of the soul. Thus
Chrysostom (Horn. liii. in Matt.) says that the
mind of a man who has many artificial wants is
storm-tossed (x^iix-dQeadai). Compare James
i. 6.
The seventeenth canon of the council of An-
cyra (a.d. 314) orders those who have committed
unnatural crimes, or who are or have been
lepers, to be placed at public prayer ^among the
storm-tossed or storm-beaten (ets rohs xciftaCo-
ixivovs evx^a-Oai). This is rendered in the
" Versio Prisca," " cum eis qui tempestatem
patiuntur orare ;" by Dionysius Exiguus, " inter
eos orare qui spiritu periclitantur immnndo;
HIERAPOLIS, COUNCILS OF
by Isidorus Mercator, "qui tempestate jactantur,
qui a nobis energumeni appellantur [jd. furiosi
sive energumeni intelliguntur]," To the same
effect Martin of Braga (Collect. Can., c. 81),
" inter daemoniosos orare." Tlie use of the word
in the Clementine liturgy (Constt. Apost. viii. 12,
§ 20) — irapaKaKov^iv (re uTrep twv x^'/UafojueVcDi'
virh Tov aWoTpLov — makes it almost certain that
the xf 'M^CoV^^"' or Hiemantes are identical with
the Energumeni or Demoniacs, who had a special
place assigned them outside the church proper,
whether in the porch or in the open air.
(Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. Xei/tofo^ai; Van
Jlspen, Jus Eccl iii. 132 ; ed. Colon. 1777). [C]
HIERAPOLIS, COUNCILS OF. (1) a.d.
173, of twenty-six bishops, under its bishop, Apol-
linarius, against the errors of Montanus, which
gave rise to a sect called from the province in
which it originated, and in which Hierapolis was
situated, "Cataphryges" (Mansi, i. 691-4). Euse-
bius has preserved extracts from a work written
by Apollinarius himself against them (v. 16).
(2) A.D. 44.3, undri- Stephen, its metropolitan,
when Sabinianus was ordained Bishop of Perrhe
instead of Athanasius, deposed at Antioch under
Domnus the year before. Later, Athanasius was
restored by Dioscorus of Alexandria. But the
Council of Chalcedoa, Oct. 31, A.D. 451, deciding
for the moment in favour of Sabinianus, referred
the final adjudication of the question to Maximus,
bishop of Antioch, and a synod to be held by him
within eight months to enquire into the charges
brought against Athanasius. Should they not have
been made good by then, he was to regain his see,
and Sabinianus to be allowed a pension. (Mansi,
vi. 465-6 ; and then vii. 313-58.) [E. S. Ff.]
HIERARCHY. 1. The word Up<i.pxr)s de-
notes properly a stewai-d or president of sacred
rites (Bockh, Inscrip. i. 749). By Christian
writers it is occasionally used to designate a
BISHOP (p. 210). Thus Maximus, commenting
on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of the Pseudo-
Dionysius, says, " KaAeTu elwOiv iepdpxas tovs
iiriaKOTTovs," he commonly calls the bishops
hierarchs (Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v.). Hence the
word lepapxia came to designate the order of
bishops. Bingham, however (Ant. III. i. 6),
considers the hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius to
include bishops, priests, and deacons, quoting
Hallier's Defensio Ilierarch. Eccl. (lib. i. c. 3 ;
lib. iii. sec. ii. cc. 1 and 2).
2. In a wider sense, the word Hierarchy is
taken to include the whole series of the orders
of ministry in the Christian church. See
Bishop, Orders. [C]
HIERATEION. [Bema.]
HIEREMIAS. (1) [Jeremiah.]
(2) [Peter (9).]
(3) [Emilianus (4).]
HIERIUS, presbyter at Alexandria in the
time of the emperor Philip ; conmiemorated Nov.
4 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HIERON YMUS. (1) Presbyter (t420 a.d.) ;
deposition at Betiilehem Judah, Sept. 30 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) With Anthemius, commemorated Sept. 26
(Ca/. Armen.-). [W. F. G.]
HIEROSOLYMITANA CONCILIA.
[Jerusalem, Councils of.]
HIRMOS
773
HIEROTHEUS, bishop of Athens ; comme-
morated Oct. 4 {Cat. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
HIERURGIA. [Liturgy.]
HILARIA. (1) [EuMEXiA.]
(2) Wife of Claudius, the tribune ; martyr
with Claudius and their two sons, Jason and
Maurus, and seventy soldiers, under Numerian ;
commemorated Dec. 3 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HILARINUS, monk at Ostia, martyr under
Julian: " Passio," July 16 (Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HILARION. (1) The younger (d ptSs), A.d.
845 ; commemorated March 28 and June 6 (Cal.
Byzant.).
(2) The Great (t ixiyoLs), Holy Father, a.d.
333 ; commemorated Oct. 21 (Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. Byzant.).
(3) Commemorated Nov. 19 (Cal. Gcorg.').
[W. F. G.]
HILARIUS, or HILARY. (1) Bishop of
Poitiers and confessor (t369 A.D.); commemo-
rated Jan. 13 (Mart. Rom. T'e^, Adonis, Usuardi);
deposition Jan. 13 (Mart. Bedae, Hieron.).
(2) Bishop of Aquileia (t285 A.D.); martyr
with Tatian the deacon, Felix, Largus, and Diony-
sius; commemorated March 16 (Mart. Usuardi).
(3) Bishop of Aries and confessor (1449 A.D.) ;
commemorated May 5 (Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(4) Martyr with Proclus, A.D. 106 ; comme-
morated July 12 (Cal. Byzant.).
(5) The pope (t-^67 A.D.) ; commemorated
Sept. 10 (Mart. Usuardi).
(6) Martyr with Florentinus at Semur ; com-
memorated Sept. 27 (Mart. Usuardi).
(7) Bishop and confessor in Gavalis [Gevaudan
in Languedoc] ; commemorated Oct. 25 (Mart.
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HIPPO, COUNCIL OF. [African
Councils.]
HIPPOLYTUS, Piomanus, martyr at An-
tioch, Upofxaprvs, A.D. 269 : " Passio," Jan. 30
(Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi, Cil. By-
zant.) ; Revelatio corporis, Jakabit 6 = Jan. 31
(Cal. Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
HIRELING. The flight of the hireling from
the wolf, as contrasted with the form of our
Lord standing in the door of the sheepfold pre-
pared to defend His flock, is beautifully carved
on the Brescian casket, 5th or 6th century.
(Westwood, Fictile Ivory Casts, p. 36, no. 93. )
[K. St. J. T.]
HIRMOLOGION. An office book in the
Greek church consisting mainly of a collection of
the Hirmoi ; but containing also a few other
forms. [H. J. H.]
HIRjSIOS (ilpix6s). The Canons, which form
so important a part of the Greek offices, are
divided into nine odes, or practically into eight,
as the second is always omitted. Eaclr ode con-
sists of a varying number (three, four or five are
the numbers most frequently found) of troparia,
or short rhythmical strophes, each formed on the
model of one which precedes the ode ; and which
is called the Jlirmos. The Hirmos is usually
independent of the ode, though containing a refer-
774 HISPALENSIA CONCILIA
ence to the subject matter of it ; sometimes
however the first troparion of an Ode is called the
Hirmos. It is distinguished by inverted commas
(" ") in the office books. Sometimes the first
words alone of a Hirmos are given, and it is not
unfrequently placed at the end of the ode to
which it belongs. The name is considered to be
derived from the Hirmos drawing the Troparia
after its model ; i.e. into the same rhythmical
arrangement. [H. J. H.]
HISPALENSIA CONCILIA. [Seville,
Councils of.]
HISPANUM CONCILIUM. Held, a.d.
793, at some place in Spain, under Elipand, arch-
bishop of Toledo ; from whom the document
criticised in the letters despatched to Spain from
Frankfort emanated (Mansi, xiii. SST; comp.
8G5 and sqq.). [E. S. Ff.]
HOLIDAYS. [Festivals.]
HOLY! HOLY! HOLY! [Sanctus.]
HOLY OF HOLIES. In instituting a
])arallel between the arrangements of the Jewish
Temple and that of a Christian church, the
Bema or sanctuary of the church, containing
the altar, was naturally held to correspond with
the Holy of Holies of the Temple (jh ayiov tSiv
ayiaiv), and was frequently called by that name.
But with the Nestorians the "Holy of Holies"
IS not the sanctuary, but a small recess at the
east end, into which not even the priest enters,
containing nothing but a cross (Neale, Eastern
C/iU)-ch, pp. 177, 189, quoting Etherege, Syrian
ChurcJu'S, p. 109). [C]
HOLY BREAD, [e^ulogiae.]
HOLY OIL. [Oil, Holy.]
HOLY PLACES. I. By this phrase were
understood, in the first three or four centuries
after Christ, chiefly, if not exclusively, the
scenes of our Lord's nativity, death, resurrection,
and ascension. Of these, therefore, we will
speak fii-st. In 212, Alexander, the friend of
Origen, " made a journey to Jerusalem, for the
sake of prayer and investigation of the places "
(t&jj/ TOTTtov IffToplas, Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. vi.
c. 11). St. Jerome (Z)e Vir. Illustr. cap. Ixii.)
says that he was drawn thither " desiderio sancto-
rum locorum." If this was the motive, and there
is no good reason to doubt it, Alexander is the
first on record whom religious feeling drew to
those hallowed spots. Origen himself seems to
have carried with him to the Holy Land more
of the spirit of a learned and devotxt traveller of
our own day. He was in Palestine in 216 on a
rather short visit. In 231, he began a residence
of some duration at Caesarea, in that country,
and, after an absence of uncertain length, in 238
he opened a catechetical school there. He must,
therefore, have known the Holy Land well, and
his writings show it ; but it is instructive to
observe how he uses his knowledge. In one
passage, as a critic, he expresses his conviction
that " Bethabara," not " Bethany," ought to be
the reading in St. John i. 28, " as he had been
in the places, on a search after the footsteps of
Jesus and his di.sciples, and the prophets " {Com-
ment, in Ev. Joann. torn. vi. § 24). In another
work, writing against an unbeliever, about 247,
HOLY PLACES
he alleges the cave of Bethlehem as a piece of
evidence. If any one desire further proof than
Scripture affords of our Lord's birth in that
place, " the cave is shown where He was born,
and the manger in which He was swaddled ; and
that which is shown is widely spoken of in those
places, even among aliens from the faith, viz.,
that Jesus, who is worshipped and reverenced by
the Christians, was born in that cave "(Cwiim
Celsum, 1. i. §51). From the writings of Origen,
we should not infer that either he himself had
visited, or that it was the custom of his day to
visit, the holy places for the express purpose of
stimulating devotion, or under the notion that
prayer in them was more acceptable to God
than when made elsewhere. The spirit which
animated the pilgrims of a later age, had not yet
been awakened. Its awakening was probably
much delayed by the attempts of the heathen to
obscure the locality of events sacred to the
Christian. Thus, in the time of Hadrian, a vast
mound of earth was raised over the spot where
our Lord was buried and rose again, and a
temple dedicated to Venus was built on it
(Euseb. Vita Constantini, 1. iii. c. 26 ; Hieron.
Ep. xlix. ad Paidin.),
The first great impulse given to the veneration
of the holy places, came from Helena, the mother
of Constantine, who, in the year 326, when
nearly 80 years of age, travelled to Jerusalem,
that she might so " pay the debt of pious feeling
to God the king of all," for the elevation of her
son, and the general prosperity of her family.
After due reverence done to the footsteps of the
Saviour, she " left a fruit of her piety to pos-
terity " in two churches which she built, "one
at the cave of the nativity, the other on the
mount of the ascension " (Euseb. u. s. cc. 42,
43). On the site of the burial, Constantine,
after his mother's visit, first caused an oratory
to be built, and later sent directions to Macarius,
the bishop, for the erection of a magnificent
church {Ibid. cc. 25-40). To this period, and
perhaps to Constantine and Helena, we may pro-
bably refer two " very small oratories," one
built on Mount Calvary, the site of the passion,
the other on the spot where our Lord's body
was said to have been embalmed and the cross
found, which the Latins, when they took Jeru-
salem, inclosed within the same wall with the
Holy Sepulchre (Gulielmi Tyrii, Hist. Heruin
Transmar. lib. viii. c. 3). They were only a
stone's throw from each other (Tillemont, note
iv. snr Ste. He'lene); and hence the church of
the Resurrection, or Holy Sepulchre, was often
spoken of as on Golgotha (Cyrill. Hieros. Cat. i.
§ 1 ; xiii. § 12 ; xvi. § 2). Very soon after the
recovery of these important sites we find them
noticed in the Itinerarium of a Christian tra-
veller from Bordeaux, who visited Jerusalem in
333. He saw the " crypt where His body was
placed and rose again on the third day " ( Vet.
Hum. Itineraria, p. 594, Amstel. 1735), and "the
little hill Golgotha where the Lord was cruci-
fied " (p. 593). He also went to " Bethlehem,
where the Lord Jesus Christ was born. There,"
he adds, " a basilica was built by the command
of Constantine " (p. 598).
II. From this time, the holy places were
visited by believers of every rank and almost
every age. Some of the more wealthy settled
at Jerusalem, and by their alms assisted, and
HOLY PLACES
pei-haps attracted, many of the poorer. The
city grew rapidly in population and prosperity ;
and soon, as an almost necessary consequence,
became as notorious for crime and profligacy,
as it was famous for its religious monuments.
About the year 380, Gregory of Nyssa was called
thitlier by the affairs of the church, and received
impressions which it will be well to put before
the reader in his own words. In an epistle,
written not long after, he tells his friend that
he learned there what it was to keep holy day
to God, " both in beholding the saving symbols
of God the giver of our life, and in meeting with
souls in which like signs of the grace of God are
spiritually contemplated; so that he believes
Bethlehem, Golgotha, the Mount of Olives, and
the Resurrection to be verily in the heart of him
who has God" {Ep. ad Eustathiam, &c., p. 16,
ed. Casaub.). The latter thought in this sen-
tence then carries him away, and he seems,
probably out of tenderness to the devout women
to whom he wrote, to avoid further reference to
the holy places. Some years afterwards, how-
ever, he wrote a tract, in the form of a letter to
some unknown friend, in which he earnestly dis-
suaded from visiting Jerusalem on religious
grounds. He begins by denying that it is any
part of a Christian's duty " to visit the places in
Jerusalem in which the symbols of our Lord's
sojourn in the flesh are to be seen," and then
proceeds as follows : " Why, then, is there such
zeal about that which neither makes a man
blessed, nor fit for the kingdom ? Let the man
of sense consider. If it were a profitable thing
to be done, not even so would it be a thing
good to be zealously affected by the perfect.
But since, when the thing is thoroughly looked
into, it is found even to inflict injury on the
souls of those who have entered on a strict
course of life, it is not worthy of that great zeal,
but rather to be greatly shunned." He next
enlarges on the danger to the morals and repu-
tation of all, but especially women, in their
travels through the luxurious and profligate
cities of the East ; and then proceeds to ask,
" What will one gain by being in those places ?
— As if the Lord were still in bodily presence in
them, but departed from us, or as if the Holy
Ghost were overflowing abundantly at Jerusalem,
but were unable to come over to us." So far
from this being the case, he declares that city to
be in the lowest stage of moral degradation.
"There is no species of impurity that is not
dared therein. Flagitious actions and adulteries
and thefts, idolatries and witchcrafts, and envy-
ings and murders; and this last evil, above
others, is common in that place, so that nowhere
else is there such a readiness to commit murder
as in those places " (De Euntibus Hierosolynw,
pp. 6-13, ed. Petr. Molinaei). Speaking for
himself, he adds, " We confessed that Christ who
appeared (there) is true God, before we were at
the place ; nor afterwards was our faith either
lessened or increased. And we knew the incarna-
tion through the Virgin before we wont to Beth-
lehem, and believed the resurrection from the
dead before we saw the monument of it, and
acknowledged the ascension into heaven to be
true, apart from our seeing the mount of Olives.
This is the only benefit from our journey, that
we know, by comparison, our own parts to be
much more holy than foreign. Wherefore, yo
HOLY PLACES
775
that fear the Lord, praise Him in those places in
which ye are " {Ibid. p. 14). St. Jerome, who
lived at Bethlehem, sometimes speaks very much
in the same strain. At other times he en-
courages and praises those who visited the holy
places, especially if their intention was to dwell
in retirement near them. This is easily under-
stood. The multitude would be injured by fami-
liarity with the memorials of Christ's life on
earth ; while the few might through them be
brought into closer spiritual communion with
Him. It may well be doubted, too, whether he
would have encouraged any one to stay at Jeru-
salem, except under the protection of the mo-
nastic life ; and even that he was far from
thinking altogether safe in such a city. Writing,
in 393 or thereabouts, to Paulinus, afterwards
bishop of Nola, St. Jerome says, " Not the having
been at Jerusalem, but having lived well there
is to be praised .... The court of heaven is
equally open from Jerusalem and Britain. The
kingdom of God is within you. Anthony, and
all the swarms of monks of Egypt and Mesopo-
tamia, of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Armenia, saw
not Jerusalem ; and the gate of Paradise is open
to them without (a knowledge of) this city.
The blessed Hilarion, though he was a native of
Palestine, and lived in Palestine, only saw Jeru-
salem on a single day ; that he might not appera-
to despise the holy places on account of their
nearness, nor, on the other hand, to confine God
to place." He warns Paulinus not to " think
anything wanting to his faith, because he had
not seen Jerusalem "...." If the places of the
cross and of the resurrection were not in a city
of very great resort, in which there is a court, a
military station, in which there are harlots,
players, buffoons, and all things that are usual
in other cities ; or if it were frequented by
crowds of monks alone, an abode of this kind
would in truth be one that should be sought for
by all monks ; but as things are, it is the height
of folly to renounce the world, to give up one's
country, to forsake cities, to profess oneself a
monk, and then to live among greater crowds,
with greater danger than you would in your
own country " {Epist. xlix.). Nevertheless,
when Desiderius. and his sister had resolved to
visit Jerusalem, he wrote (about 396) to en-
courage them, begging them to visit him and
Paula " on occasion of the holy places." " At
least," he adds, " if our society shall be un-
pleasing, it is ah act of faith (or perhaps, " a
part of your vow," pars fidei est) to have wor-
shipped where the feet of the Lord have stood,
and to have seen, as it were, the recent traces of
His nativity, and cross and passion " {Epist.
xlviii.). In the same spirit he invites Marcella
(about 389) to Bethlehem {Epist. xlv.) ; and
bids Rusticus (a.d. 408) seek peace of mind at
Jerusalem. " Thou art a wanderer in thy own
country ; — or rather not in thy country, for
thou hast lost thy country. That is before thee
in the venerable places of the refjurrection, the
cross, and the cradle of the Lord the Saviour"
(Epist. xc). In the famous epistle of Paula
and Eustochium (about 389) to Marcella, every
inducement is held out to her to join them at
Bethlehem ; the number, eminence, and holiness
of those who visited the holy places from every
part of the world, the psalms of praise in every
tongue continually ascending from thcni, the
776
HOLY PLACES
high religious interest of the places themselves,
and, in particular, the great piety of the inhabi-
tants of Bethleliem and its neighbourhood; but
the truth is not lost sight of, that men might be
as holy and devout elsewhere : '• We do not say
this to deny that the kingdom of God is within
us, and that there are holy men in other coun-
tries, too," &c. {Inter Epp. Hieron. ep. xliv.).
III. Before the middle of this century (about
347), it was reported throughout the Christian
world (see Cyrill. Hier. Catech. iv. § 7 ; x. § 9 ;
xiii. § 2) that the very cross on which our
Saviour died had been discovered, and was ex-
hibited at Jerusalem. According to Cyril, who
was bishop of Jerusalem from 350 to 386, the
discovery took jdace in the time of Constantine
(Epist. ad Constantium, § 2). As he died in 337,
and not a word is said of the cross or its dis-
covery by the traveller from Gaul, already cited,
who was at Jerusalem in 333, the story must
have arisen and the exhibition of the supposed
relic must have begun some time between those
years. Later writers (as Ambrose, de Ohitu
'Theodosii, §§ 43-47 ; Paulinus, Ep. xxxi. § 5 ;
Ruffinus, Hist. Eccl. 1. i. c. 7 ; Sulpicius, and
later on Theodoret, Socrates, Sozomen, &c.) as-
sert that it was found by Helena, the mother of
Constantine ; but that princess died five years
before the anonymous Gaul visited Jerusalem ;
and even if we had not his negative testimony,
the silence of Cyril with regard to Helena, and
the silence on the whole subject of Eusebius, who,
in his panegyric on Constantine, written in 337,
has zealously heaped together whatever could
tend to his honour, or his mother's, throw just
doubt on her connection with the discovery, even
if that be true [Cross, Finding of, p. 593]. It
is painful to suspect that the cross exhibited was
not authentic, but when we find that by the
middle of the 6th century (See Greg. Turon.
Mirac. 1. i. c. 7), if not long before, the lance,
reed, sponge, crown of thorns, &c., used at the
Passion were all exhibited, and reverenced with
equal confidence, we surely have (not to mention
certain difficulties in the story itself) some
excuse for hesitating to affirm that the cross
shown at Jerusalem in the 4th century and
downw-ard, was that upon which our Saviour
died. It was believed, however, and our business
is chiefly with the consequence of that belief.
" Prostrate before the cross," says Jerome,
speaking of Paula's first visit to Jerusalem,
" she worshipped, as if she saw the Lord hang-
ing thereon " {Ep. Ixxxvi. ad Eustoch.). Paula
herself refers to it, when urging Marcella to
join her in Palestine : " When will that day be
on which it will be permitted us to enter the
cave of the Saviour ; to weep with sister, to
weep with mother, in the sepulchre of the Lord ;
then to kiss (lambere) the wood of the cross;
and on the Mount of Olives to be lifted up in
desire and mind with the ascending Lord?"
This will, perhaps, sufficiently illustrate the
importance of the alleged discovery, as a means
of attracting pilgrims to Jerusalem. From
Paulinus we learn that the cross was only exhi-
bited " to be adored by the people " on Good
Friday ; but that sometimes it was shown to
'• very religious " persons, who had travelled
thither on purpose to see it {Ep. xxxii. §6).
IV. From one cause or another, then, the
resort to the holy places in Palestine continued
HOLY PLACES
and increased. E.g. Cassian, A.D. 424, speaks
incidentally of some monks who, while he was
at Bethlehem, had "come together at the holy
places from parts of Egypt orationis causa " {De
Coenoh. Tnstit. 1. iv. c. 31). Eudocia, the wife of
Theodosius, bound herself by a vow to visit Jeru-
salem, if she should live to see her daughter
married, which, with the consent of her husband,
she fulfilled in the year 438 (Socr. Hist. Eccl.
1. vii. c. 47). Palladius, a Galatian by birth,
who had spent many years in Palestine, writing
in 421, tells us that Melania the elder showed
hospitality to pious persons going to visit the
holy places from Persia, Britain, and almost
every part of the world {Hist. Lausiaca, c. 118).
Gregory of Tours mentions a Briton who, in his
time, came to Tours on his way to Jerusalem
{Hist. Franc. 1. v. c. 22). Towards the end of
the 7th century, Arculfus, a bishop of Gaul,
" went to Jerusalem for the sake of the holy
places," and being afterwards a guest of Adam-
nan, abbot of lona, gave him an account of them.
The latter put it in writing, and his work is
still extant {Acta Bened. saec. iii. p. ii. See
Bede, Hist. Eccl Angl. 1. v. cc. 15-17).
V. From the middle of the 4th century, or
thereabouts, some other places had been ac-
quiring such a character for holiness, as the
scene of a martyr's triumph or the shrine of his
relics, that they were visited by pilgrims from a
distance, and even received the conventional title
of Loca Sancta. Thus Rome was famous for the
martyrdoms of St. Peter and St. Paul. St.
Chrysostom, alluding to the chain with which
St. Paul was bound, says, " I would be in those
places, for the bonds are said to be there still.
. . . . I would see those bonds, at which devils
are afraid and tremble, but which angels rever-
ence " {Horn. viii. in Ep. ad hpli. c. iv. 1). But
with him such a pilgrimage would have been
only yv/j.vaaia wphs diofff^naf ; for he more
than once tells his hearers that they need not
cross the sea, for God will hear them equally
where they are. " Let us each, man and woman
[remaining here at Antioch], both when gather-
ing in chui-ch and staying in our houses, call
very earnestly on God, and He will certainly
answer our prayers" {ffom. de Statuis, iii. §5;
cf. Horn. i. in Ep. ad Fhilem. c. i. 1-3). And he
claims a similar sanctity for Antioch, in which
city he then lived, a.d. 388, as having been the
" tabernacle of the apostles, the dwelling-place
of the righteous" {Ihid. §3). St. Augustine,
A.D. 404, sent two persons, who accused each
other of crime to a " holy place," viz. the shrine
of St. Felix, at Nola, in the hope that "the
more terrible workings of God " there " might
drive the guilty one to confession, by punish-
ment (divinely inflicted) or by fear " {Ep. Ixxviii.
§ 3). He asks, " Is not Africa full of the bodies
of holy martyrs ? And yet," he adds, " we do
not know that such things are done anywhere
here " {Ibid.). Nevertheless, in the last book of
the Cify of God, which was written about the
beginning of the year 427, he records many
wonders as wrought in Africa, within the few
years previous, at the Memoriae of St. Stephen
and other martyrs {De Civ. Dei, 1. xxii. c. 8).
Prudentius, himself a native of Spain, A.D. 405,
celebrating the praise of two martyrs, who
suffered at Calahorra in that country, says that
the dwellers in that city " frequented the sands
HOLY SPIRIT
stained with their sacred blood, beseeching with
voice, vows, gift ; that foreigners, too, and the
inhabitants of the whole earth came thither,"
and that " no one there, in his supplication,
multiplied pure prayers in vain." The poet
affirms that many miracles were wrought there
by the power of the martyrs, and that Christ
conferred that blessing on the town, when He
gave their bodies to its keeping {De Coronis,
Hymn I.). We must remember that the writer
is a poet, but hardly more could have been said
of a popular shrine in the 9th century.
VI. Probably not very long after the time of
these writers, a custom began of sending peni-
tents to various shrines (ad limina sanctorum),
partly as a penance, and partly that they might
more effectually obtain the intercession of the
martyr of the place. Most writers, following
Morinus (^De Sacrain. Poenit. 1. vii. c. 15), have
supposed that this form of penance was not in
use till the 7th century ; but a passage in one of
the Homilies of Caesarius of Aries (a.d. 502;,
first printed by Baluzius in 1669, implies that
it was known in France, at least, before the close
of the 5th : — " Frequenting the thresholds of
the saints, they (penitents) would ask for aid
against their own sins, and, persevering in fast-
ings and prayers, or in almsgiving, would strive
rather to punish than to nourish, or add to,
those sins " {Horn. iii. p. 23). The great evils to
which this practice would soon lead are obvious,
and we need only, in conclusion, cite a canon of
the council of Chalons-sur-Saone, A.D. 813, by
which Charlemagne and his advisers sought to
restrain them : — " A great mistake is made by
some, who unadvisedly travel to Rome or Tours
(to the shrine of St. Martin), and some other
places, under pretext of prayer. There are
presbyters, and deacons, and others of the clergy,
who, living carelessly, think that they are purged
from their sins and entitled to discharge their
ministry, if they reach the aforesaid places.
There are also laymen who think that they sin,
or have sinned, with impunity, because they
frequent these places for prayer." Some of the
powerful, it adds, under pretext of a journey
to Rome or Tours " for the sake of prayer or
visiting the holy places," oppressed the poor by
their exactions, while many of the poor made
such pilgrimages an occasion of begging with
more success : some falsely pretending to be on
their way to the holy places, others going there
in the belief that they would be " cleansed from
sins by the mere sight " of them (can. xlv. Cone.
Cabll. II.). [W. E. S.]
HOLY SPIRIT. The dove is the invariable
and exclusive symbol which expresses special
manifestation of the presence of the Third Person
of the Trinity, and the article under that word
will be found to contain some information as to
the use of the symbol in this its highest sense.
Luke iii. 22, Matt. iii. 16, Mark i. 10. The bap-
tistery of St. Pontianus, in the catacomb of that
name (Aringhi ii. 275), contains one of the
earliest of these paintings of the Holy Dove,
referable to the early 7th century; but the
Lateran cross is reputed to be of the period im-
mediately succeeding Constautine, and is a yet
more striking example. [See DovE, p. 576.]
[R. St. J.T.]
pOLY TABliE. [Altar.]
HOLY WATER 777
HOLY THINGS. [Ecclesiasticae Res.]
HOLY THURSDAY. [Ascension Day.]
HOLY WATER. I. The use of lustra!
water in the Christian church appears to have
had a manifold origin.
(1) At an early period we find FOUNTAINS, or
basins, supplied with fresh water, near the priji-
cipal doors of churches, especially in the East,
that they who entered might wash their hands
at least [see Hands, washing of], before they
worshipped. There can be no doubt that the
ritual use of water under the name of holy
water (aqua benedicta, ayiatr^o's, vhuTu tv-
\oylas, &c.) arose in a great measure from the
undue importance which naturally attached
itself to this custom, as ignorance and supersti-
tion began to prevail amid the troubles of the
Western empire.
(2) Again, under the Mosaic law a person
legally unclean was not restored to social inter-
course, and to communion in prayer and saci-ifice,
until he had been sprinkled with the water of
separation, and had " washed his clothes and
bathed himself in water " (Numb. xis. ; compare
Ezekiel xxxvi. 25).
(3) The courts of heathen temples were com-
monly provided with water for purification ; but
it is probable that as a belief in the gods declined
through the influence of Christianity, many
would neglect to use it as they entered. Hence,
we may suppose, the custom for a priest to
sprinkle them at the door, lest any should
present themselves unpurified. An instance is
mentioned by Sozomen. When Julian was about
to enter a temple in Gaul, a " priest holding
green boughs wet with water sprinkled those
who went in after the Grecian manner " (Hint.
Eccl. 1. vi. c. 6). This bore such a resemblance
to the later rite of Christians as to mislead one
transcriber of the work of Sozomen, and induce
him to substitute ''EKK\7}aia(TTiKS>, Ecclesiastical,
for 'EWrji/iKi^, Grecian (^Annot. Vales, in loco,
p. 109).
(4) We may add that the notion of a lustra-
tion by water prevailed also among the earliest
heretics. Some of the Gnostics threw oil and
water on the head of the dying to make them
invisible to the powers of darkness (Iren. Haeres.
1. i. 0. 2, § 5). The Ebionites immersed them-
selves in water daily (Epiphan. Haer. xxx. § 16).
The founder of the sect is said by Epiphanius to
have been wont to plunge into the nearest water,
salt or fresh, if by chance he met one of the
other sex {ibid. § 2).
II. Many miracles are said to have been
wrought by means of water, and to this also we
attribute a certain influence in giving both
authority and shape to the superstitions which
arose with regard to holy water. Count Joseph
in the time of Constautine the Great, sprinkled
an insane person with water over which he had
made the sign of the cross, and his reason was
restored (Epiphan. u. s. § 10). We are told that
by the same means he dispersed the enchant-
ments by which the Jews sought to hinder the
erection of a church at Tiberias {ibid. § 12). An
evil spirit who hindered the destruction of the
temple of Jupiter at Apamea, A.D. 385, was,
according to Theodoret, driven away by the use
of water which the bishop had blessed with the
sign of the cross {Hist. E<-d. 1. v. c. 21 ; Cassiod.
778
HOLY WATER
Hist. Tripart. 1. ix. c. 34). Gregory of Tours
describes a certain recluse named Eusitius (a.D.
532), in the diocese of Limoges, as so gifted with
power to cure those afflicted with quartan fever,
that by " giving them water to drink merely
blessed (by him), he restored them forthwith to
health " (Be Glor. Confess, c. 82). Water from
a well dug by St. Martin " gave health to many
sick," and in particular cured a brother of
St. Yriez, who was dying of fever (Z)e Mir.
S. Martini, 1. ii. c. 39) ; and many were in like
manner said to have been healed by the waters of
a spring at Brioude, in Auvergne, in which the
head of the martyr Julian (A.D. 304) had been
washed (Mmc. 1. ii. c. 3 ; see also cc. 25, 26,
and the Liber de Passione 8. Juliani). The
same author relates how a certain bishop " sent
water that had been blessed to a house " in which
many had died of fever, and how, " when it was
sprinkled on the walls, all sickness was forthwith
driven away " ( Vitae Patrum, c. iv. § 3).
III. The tendency to ascribe virtue to water
blessed by the priest, was without doubt greatly
promoted by a superstition with regard to
baptism, and by the use sometimes made of the
water employed at it. St. Augustine, writing
in 408, says that some persons in his day brought
their children to be baptized not for the sake of
any spiritual benefit, but " because they thought
that they would by this remedy retain or recover
their bodily health " (^Ep. xcviii. § 5, ad Bonif.
Com.). In the last book of the Citij of God,
written about the year 427, the same father tells
us of two persons who were at their baptism
suddenly and entirely cured of very serious
maladies of long continuance (lib. xxii. c. 8,
§§ 4, 5). It was but a shoi-t step from belief in
such miracles to suppose that the water used at
a baptism might have virtue available for the
benefit of others than those who were baptized
in it. It would be often tested, and several
alleged results of the trial are on record. At
Osset, near Seville, was a font in the form of a
cross, which, according to Gregory of Tours, was
every year miraculously filled with water for the
Easter baptisms. From this font, after it had
been duly exorcised and sprinkled with chrism,
every one " carried away a vessel full for the
safety of his house, and with a view to protect
his fields and vineyards by that most wholesome
aspersion " (^Mirac. 1. i. c. 24 ; see also Hist.
Franc. 1. vi. c. 43). A mother put on the mouth
of her daughter, who was dumb from birth,
•' water which she had sometime taken from the
fonts blessed " (by St. Martin), and she became
capable of speech (De Mirac. S..Mart. 1. ii, c. 38).
In the East, even in the time of St. Chry-
sostom, the water fi'om the baptisms at the
Epiphany was carefully kept throughout the
year, and believed to remain without putrefac-
tion. "This is the day on which Christ was
baptized, and hallowed the element of water.
Wherefore at midnight on this feast, all draw of
the waters and store them up at home, because
on this day the waters were consecrated. And a
manifest miracle takes place, in that the nature
of those waters is not corrupted by length of
time " (De Bapt. Christi, § 2). In the West two
centuries or so later we find a similar reservation,
practised at Rome at least, but, as might be
expected, with a more definite purpose. There,
after the consecration of the water on Easter
HOLY WATER
eve, " The whole people, whoever wished, took a
blessing (henedictioneiyi ; compare the use of
a.yia(Tix6s) in their vessels of the water itself,
before the children were baptized in it, to
sprinkle about their houses, and vineyards, and
fields, and fruits " (^Ordo Pom. i. § 42 ; JIusae.
Ital. torn. ii. p. 26). It will be observed that
the water was now considered holy for this
purpose after being blessed, and before any one
had been baptized in that font. It was an easy
transition from this stage of practice and belief
to the benediction of water without any reference
to baptism, which should nevertheless have the
same power of protecting and benefitting house,
field, and person, that was ascribed to water
taken from the baptismal font.
IV. The earliest example of an independent
benediction of water for the above-mentioned
uses occurs in the so-called Apostolical Constitu-
tions, but there can be no doubt of its being one
of the corrupt additions made to the original re-
cension probably in the 5th century. " Let the
bishop bless water and oil. If he is not present
let the presbyter bless it, in the presence of the
deacon. But if the bishop be there, let the
presbyter and deacon assist. And let him say
thus : * Lord of Sabaoth, God of hosts, creator of
the waters and giver of the oil . . . who hast
given water for drink and cleansing, and oil to
cheer the face . . . Thyself now by Christ
sanctify this water and the oil . . . and give it
virtue imparting health, expelling diseases, put-
ting to flight devils, scattering every evil design,
through Christ," &c. (lib. viii. c. 29). From
Balsamon we learn that holy water was " made "
in the Greek church at the beginning of every
lunar month. The observance of any festival at
the new moon was forbidden by the council of
Constantinople, A.D. 691 ; and he regarded this
rite as in some manner a substitute for that relic
of heathenism. " Owing to this decree of the
canon, the feast of the new moon has ceased from
time beyond memory, and instead of it, by the
grace of God, propitiatory prayers to God and
benedictions (ayiaaixoi) by the faithful people
have place at the beginning of every month, and
we are anointed with the waters of blessing, not
of strife" (Comm. in Can. Ixv.).
In the West the earliest mention of holy
water not blessed for baptism, occurs in one of
the Forged Decretals, asci-ibed to Alexander I.,
A.D. 109, but composed probably about 830. It
is certain, however, that these fictitious orders,
put forth in the names of early bishops of Rome,
did not, except possibly in a very few cases,
create the practices which they pretended to
regulate. The rite existed before, at least in
some locality familiar to the author of the fraud.
The following decree, therefore, is witness, we
may assume, to a custom already of some stand-
ing. " We bless water sprinkled with salt, that
all being therewith besprinkled may be sanctified
and purified. Which also we command to be
done by all priests " (Gratian, p. iii. De Cons.
d. iii. c. 20). In the same century Leo IV.,
A.D. 847, in a charge to his clergy, says, " Every
Lord's day before mass bless water wherewith
the people may be sprinkled, and for this have
a proper vessel " (^Conc. Labb. torn. viii. col. 37).
The same order occurs in three similar " synodal
charges " of about the same period, which have
been printed by Baluze (App. ad lib. Reginonis
HOLY WEEK
de Eccl. Discipl. pp. 503, 6, 9). In a " visitation
article " of the 9th century, it is asked whether
the presbyter blesses water, as directed, every
Sunday (/6;c?. p. 10). Hincmar of Rheims, the
contemporary of Leo, after directions similar to
his, adds a permission that all who wish may
carry some of the water home " in their own
clean vessels, and sprinkle it over their dwellings,
and fields, and vineyards, over their cattle also,
and their provender, and likewise over their own
meat and drink " (cap. v. Cone. Labb. torn. viii.
col. 570).
We have argued in effect that the prevalence
of a custom in the 9th century implies that it
was, to say the least, not unknown in the 8th.
In the present case we have a direct proof beside.
In the Pontifical of Egbert (p. 34 ; Surtees
Society, 1853), who was archbishop of York from
732 to 766, are forms of prayer for exorcising
and blessing the water to be used in the conse-
cration of a church. Referring to the Gelasian
Sacramentary (Liturgia Bom. Vet. Murat. tom. i.
col. 738), we find the same forms to be used over
water for the purification of any house, the
exorcism only being adapted by Egbert to the
occasion. The same benediction occurs in the
Gregorian Sacramentary, and an abbreviated
form of the same previous exorcism (Jbid.
tom. ii. col. 225). As it is almost certain that
Egbert borrowed his formulae from a Roman
source, we infer that the office for making holy
water was in the Roman Sacramentaries a century
before the practice was enjoined, as we have
seen, by Leo IV. It should be mentioned that
the headings of these prayers speak only of water
" to be sprinkled in a house," and they were
obviously drawn up with reference to that only
(Murat. tom. i. col. 738) ; but as they are
followed closely (as in the modern Rituale) by
benedictions of new fruits, &c. {Ibid. col. 742 ;
tom. ii. col. 231), and no other express benediction
of water is prescribed (except in the Gelasian, for
the dispersion of thunder), we may perhaps infer
that water once blessed for one purpose was con-
sidered available for general use. In all the offices
to which reference has been made, the salt which
is to be mixed with the water is itself previously
exorcised and blessed. [W. E. S.]
HOLY WEEK [Easter Eve, Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday]. The week imme-
diately preceding the great festival of Easter,
commencing with Palm Sunday, and including
the anniversaries of the institution of the Lord's
Supper, the Passion, and Resurrection of Christ was
observed with peculiar solemnity from tjie early
ages of the church (Chrysost. Horn. xxx. in Genes. ;
Horn, in Ps. cxlv.). It was designated by various
names — ej35o^as /xeyaXri, ayia, or tcov ayiaiv ;
Hehdoimts major, sanita, the former being the
earlier title in the Western church {^Jissal.
Ainbros. apud Pamel. p. 339) authentica (ibid.)
ultima (i. e. of Lent) (Ambros. Epist. 33). From
the restriction as to food then enjoined it was
called 1/35. ^rjpocpayias (Epijih. Naer. Ixx. 12)
Hebdomas Xcrophwjiae : as commemorating our
Lord's sufferings, e;35. rOiv ayioiv TrdOaiu; ri/xepai
iradrjfj.a.Twv, a-ravpuKTifjiai ; Hebd. poenosa, luc-
ticos'j, nigra, lamcntationum: from the cessation of
business, 1/35. &TrpaKTos, Hcbd. muta : and as
ushering in the Paschal absolution, ffebdoiu'is
Indulgentiae.
HOLY WEEK
779
The observance of Holy Week belongs to very
early, if not to primitive, antiquity. As the
historian Socrates has justly remarked (^H. E.
V. 22), no commemorative seasons were appointed
by the apostles, or found any place in the ritual
of the apostolic church. But as Easter naturally
succeeded to the commemoration of the de-
liverance of the children of Israel from Egypt, so
the anniversary of the passion took the place
of that of the slaying of the paschal lamb, while
the sanctity of these holy days was gradually
extended to the whole week preceding Easter,
which therefore assumed a special character in
the Christian year. The observance of Holy
Week is accordingly closely connected with that
of Easter, and is probably but little later in its
origin. The earliest notice of Holy Week, which
speaks of it as universally accepted, is in the
Apostolical Constitutions, which represent the
Eastern custom towards the end of the 3rd
century. About the same time, c. 260, Diony-
sius of Alexandria also mentions it as of uni-
versal observance. If we may accept as genuine
the ordinance of Constantine the Great given
by Scaliger (de Emendat. Temp. p. 776) and
Beveridge (Pandect, ii. 163) the sanctity of
this week as well as of the succeeding one was
consulted by enforced abstinence from public
business at the beginning of the fourth century.
The whole week was, as far as possible, kept
as a strict fast, from midnight on Palm Sunday
till cockcrow on Easter Day.
By the Apostolical Constitutions (v. 18, 19),
abstinence from wine and flesh was commanded,
and the diet restricted to bread, and salt, and
vegetables, with water as a beverage. Total
abstinence was enjoined on Friday and Saturday,
or at least on Saturday " when the bridegroom
shall have been taken from them," while on
the other days of the week no food was to be
eaten till 3 p.m. or the evening, according to
ability. The fast was observed in this manner in
the time of Dionysius of Alexandria (c. A.D. 260),
who in his canonical epistle speaks of some who
fasted through the whole six days (fjjuepos ira.(ras
vtrtpTideaaiv &airoi SiaTeAovvTes}, others, two,
three, or four days, according to power of
physical endurance ; while some kept no fast at
all, and others faring delicately during the first
four days sought to make up for their self-in-
dulgence by excessive strictness on Friday and
Saturday (Dionys. Alex. Ep. Canon., Routh. Peliq.
Sacr. iii. 229). Epiphanius describes the practice
in his days almost in the same words (uTreprifle-
fievoL SieT(\ow} ; some, he adds, ate every two
days, others every evening (Epiphan. Haeres.
xxix. 5; Expos. Fid. 22). Tertullian speaks of
the continuous fasts of this week in the phrases
jejunia conjungere, Sabbatum contimiare jejuniis
Parasceves. (Tertull. de Patient. 13 ; de Jejun.
14.) Epiphanius in another place describes the
bodily mortifications practised this week, such as
sleeping on the ground, strict continence, watch-
ings, xerophagy, &c , and charges the Ariaus
with passing the time in jollity and merriment
(Epiph. Haeres. Ixxv. 3). Sozomen {II. E. i. 11)
relates an anecdote of Spyridon, bishop of Trimy-
thus in Cyprus, illustrating the habit of con-
tinuous fasting, iirKniydirrfiv tV viiardav, at
this season. All work was as far as possible
laid aside, and business, private and public,
suspended during the week. From the time of
780
HOLY WEEK
Theodosius (a.d. 389) actions at law ceased, aud
the doors of the courts were closed for seven
days before and after Easter {Cud. Tlieodos.
lib. ii. tit. viii. ; De Per. leg. ii. [see Gothofred's
Commentary, vol. i. p. 124] ; Cod. Justin, lib. iii.
tit. xii. ; do Per. legg. vii. viii. ; August. Serm.
xix. ; Ed. Bened. vol. i. p. 741). Those in prison
for debt and other oftences, with the exception
of those guilty of more heinous crimes, were
ordered to be released by a law of Valentinian's,
A.D. 367, the earliest of the kind, according to
Gothofred Comment, vol. ii. p. 273 {Cod. Thcodos.
lib. ix. tit. xxxviii. ; de Indulg. Crim. legg. iii, iv. ;
Ambros. Epist. 33 ; Chrysost, u. s.). Slaves were
manumitted, and there was a general cessation
from labour during this and the following week,
not only to afford the servants rest but also
opportunity of instruction in the elements of
the faith {Apost. Constit. viii. 33 ; Greg. Nyssen.
Ilmn. III. de llcmrr. torn. iii. p. 420; Cod.
Justin, lib. iii. tit. xii. ; de Per. leg. viii.). The
week was also distinguished by liberal alms-
giving (Chrysost. u. s.).
The observance of the week may be said to
nave commenced with the preceding Saturday,
when, with reference to John xii. 1-9, the church
commemorated the raising of Lazarus — an event
assigned erroneously by Epiphanius to that day
(Epiphan. Eomil. eh ra jSai'o torn. ii. pp. 152,
153 ; Neale Eastern Ch. ii. 747). The Galilean
liturgies commemorated this miracle the next
day (Palm Sunday), known therefore as Dominica
Lazari, iis appears from the collects of the
Miss'de GaUicum Veins, and the Sacram. Galli-
cauum (Muratori ii. 718, 834). On the Saturday
the pope was accustomed to give special alms
at St. Peter's, in allusion to Christ's words
spoken that day (Mar. xiv. 7). {Comes Hieronymi
apud Pamel. ii. 21 ; Sacram. Gregor. ib. 244.)
The Sunday next before Easter, the first day
of Holy Week, was distinguished by many difler-
ent names. The earliest and most constant,
indicating the great event of the day, being Falm
Sundaij ; /cupia/CTj, eofir^ twv ^aiiav ; t) ^aio<p6pos
eopTTj ; Dominica Pahnarum, or in Palmis,
Plorum, or Pamorum, or Osanna. A later
appellation derived from the same event was
Pascha jlorum, or floridum. From the Easter
absolution which followed it was known as
Dominica indulgentiae ; and with reference to the
great Paschal baptism, Pascha petitum, or
competentium {Ordo Eomanus), while the mass
was styled Missa in Symboli traditions, because
on this day, or according to fhe Ambrosian rite
the day before {Miss. Ambros. apud Pamel. i.
336) the creed was recited to the competentes,
or candidates for baptism, to be learnt by Easter
eve, as was ordained by the 13th canon of the
council of Agde, A.D. 506 (Labbe, Concil. iv.
1385; cf. Isid. de Eccl. Off. i. 27. ii. 21). The
works of Augustine aud other fathers contain
sermons delivered on this and the following days
to the competentes in exposition of the creed
(Aug. Serm. de Temp. 113-135). Palm Sunday
was also called capitilavium because on that day
the heads of the catechumens were washed in
preparation for baptism and confirmation (Raban.
De Inst. Clcr. c. 35).
The ceremony of the benediction of the palm
branches, or other branches that were substituted
for them, especially olive boughs, appears in the
Sacramcntary of Gregory, where it has a special
HOMICIDE
collect (Pamel. ii. 245). The jubilant processions
which have long formed so characteristic a part
of the ritual of Palm Sunday in the East as in
the West, are mentioned by Gregory Nyssen (I. c.)
and were introduced almost universally by the
end of the 7th century (Augusti Hdbch. der \
Christ. Arch. iii. 338). ;
Each day in this Holy Week was one of special i
sanctity, designated ueydXi) Sivrdpa, ixeydXri
TpiTT], &c. (Bevereg. Pandect, ii. 163), the
observances gradually rising in solemnity to
the Thursday in Coend Domini [Maondy Thurs-
day], and the Friday, Passio J'omini [Good \
Friday]. The history of our Lord's Passion was I
recited on successive days, beginning with that I
by St. JIatthew on Palm Sunday, and closing
with that by St. John on Good Friday. [E. V.]
HOMICIDE {Homicidium, (p6vos). Murder
was regarded by the church as one of the gravest
crimes. It is joined by Cyprian {de Pat. c. 9)
with adultery and fraud, by Pacian {Paraen. ad i
Poenit. c. 9) vvith fornication and idolatry, by !
Augustine {de Fid. et Op. c. 19) also with forni- I
cation and idolatry, as one of the three mortal
sins which were always to be visited with i
excommunication. By the laws of the Christian
emperors murderers were expressly excepted
from the general pardons granted to criminals on
occasions of great festivals {Cod. Theod. IX.
xxxviii. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8), and were refused the
right of appeal {ibid. XI. xxxvi. 1). In some j
dioceses the peace of the church was denied for
ever to wilful murderers (Tert. de Pudicit. c. 12,
Gregor. Thaumat. Can. Ep. c. 7, Comp. Cyprian ,
Ep. 65 ad Anton, on the practice of some of his ,
predecessors with reference to the other great
crime of adultery). But in general a murderer |
was re-admitted to the church after a long term
of exclusion. By a decree of the council of ■
Ancyra a.d. 314, c. 22, this term was lifelong ; j
by Gregory of Nyssa {Ep. ad Letoi.) it was • i
fixed at twenty-seven years; by Basil {ad
Amphil. c. 56) at twenty. In the Penitential cf ;
Theodore (I. iv. 1), a murder committed to ^
revenge a relation, was punished by seven or ten i
years' penance ; but if restitution was made to j
the next of kin, half the term was remitted. If ,
one layman slew another {ibid. c. 4), he must
either relinquish arms or do penance seven years,
three of them without wine and flesh ; but {ibid. ,
c. 5) if a monk or one of the inferior clergy was ■
slain, the slayer must either relinquish arms and
serve God the remainder of his life, or do penance !.
seven years, as the bishop should direct ; if a j
presbyter or bishop was the victim, the matter j
was to be brought before the kiug (Bed. Poeni- "
tent. iv. 1-8, Egbert Poenitent. iv. 10, 11). In
the Dialogue of Egbert (Haddan and Stubbs
Councils and Eccl. Doc. iii. 403), there is some
variety in the penalty; a layman who slew a j
bishop was to pay the fine and submit to the
term of penance a council should appoint, if he j
slew a priest the fine was to be eighty shekels ; i
if a deacon, sixty ; if a monk, forty. The eccle-
siastical law in these instances being in accord- j
ance with the well-known system of early j
English jurisprudence, which allowed homicide !
and every variety of personal injury to be j
expiated by money payments. See the laws oi I
Ethelbert, between A.D. 597, and 604, on the •
payments to be made for murders (cc. 5-7, 13).
HOMICIDE
and for injuries to tlie person (cc. 33-72). The
laws of Ine of Wessex A.D. 690 (c. 76), contain
the provision that if a man slew another's god-
son or godfather, he must pay '' hot " (tine to
justice), as well as " wer " (recompence to
kindred) ; and that if the slain was a bishop's
son {i.e. confirmation son), only half the payment
was to be exacted. For a full account of the
laws on injuries to the person, see Turner
Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. pp. 436-447, ed. 1852.
Murder joined with other great crimes was
more severely punished. One who used magical
arts to slay another, thereby adding idolatry to
murder, was deuied communion even at the last
(^Conc. Eliher. c. 6). The same sentence was
decreed against a woman who added murder to
adultery by slaying the offspring which she had
conceived in the absence of her hiisband (Jhid. c.
63). and the council of Lerida A.D. 523, more
than two centuries after that of Eliberis, when
the terms of penance had become much easier,
assigned (c. 2) a lifelong exclusion to any who
used sorcery to get rid of the offspring of
adultery. In an English Penitential code
(Theodor. Poeaitent. I. vii. 1) the punishment of
homicide combined with adultery, was seclusion
in a monastery for life. The parricide or the
slayer of any near blood relation was, by the
civil law {Cod. Tlieod. IX. xv. 1), in imitation of
the old Roman custom, to be sewn in a sack
with serpents and thrown into the water ; and if
this were generally executed there would be
no opportunity for the early church to attach
any special stigma to the crime. In England a
woman who slew her son, was to do penance
fifteen years, with no relaxation except on the
Lord's day (Theodor. Poenitent. I. xiv. 25). The
parricide or fratricide was assigned by some
seven years, by others fourteen, of which half
were to be passed in exile (Egbert Poenitent.
iv. 10).
The modern distinction between murder and
manslaughter was not invariably observed. In
the council of Ancyra A.D. 314 (cc. 22-23)
a shorter term is imposed upon involuntary than
upon wilful homicide. But in the canonical
epistle of Gregory of Nyssa involuntary homicide
is explained to mean that which occurs through
simple accident; but homicide which is the
result of passion, is treated as if it were wilful
murder, even if deliberation and intention, which
constitute the legal crime of murder, are absent.
The distinction however appears in the Peni-
tential of Theodore, where it is decreed (I. iv. 7)
that if a man kills another by accident, he shall
do penance one year ; if in a passion, three
years ; if over the wine cup, four years ; if in
strife, ten. Homicide committed at the com-
mand of a master or in war was to be subject
{ibid. I. iv. ■ 6) to forty days' penance. The
chastisement of a slave with such severity that
he died, which was a crime on the borderland of
manslaughter and murder, was not dealt with so
severely as wilful homicide {Cone. Eliber. c. 5,
Cone. Epaon. c. 34).
Causing abortion in any stage of conception,
or taking or even administering drugs for that
purpose, was treated as a form of murder, and a
long period of penance was allotted to it (Tert.
Apolog. c. 9 ; Basil ad Amphiloc. cc. 2, 8 ; Cone.
Ancyr. c. 21 ; Cone. Herd. c. 2 ; Cone, in Trull.
c. 91). But that there was some laxity of
HOMII.Y
781
opinion on the crime, appears from one of the
English Penitentials (Bed. Poenitent. iv. 12),
which excludes from communion for a longer
term a woman who procured abortion in order
to conceal her shame, than one who did so
because she was too poor to maintain her child.
Closely allied to this crime was the EXPOSING
OF INFANTS. [See that head.]
Anger and strife as tending to murder (Matt.
V. 22) wei-e brought under discipline. In the
African church {Stat. Eccl. Anti}. c. 93, ed.
Bruns) the oblations of those who were at
enmity with their brethren were received neither
at the altar nor in the common treasury, and
they were consequently excluded from com-
munion. A similar decree pi'evailed in the
Gallic church (2 Cone. Arelat. c. 50), those who
broke out into open strife were to be removed
from all church assemblies till they were recon-
ciled. The discipline of the English church was
more in accordance with the practice of the
Anglo-Saxon law. He who wounded another in
strife was to pay him a recompence, and hel))
to support him till he had recovered, and do
half a year's penance ; if he was unable to sup-
port him, the penance was to extend to a whole
year (Bed. Poenitent. iv. 9). [G. JI.]
HOMILY AND HOMILIAEIUM. The
word ofiiAia designates generally " intercourse,"
implying the interchange of thought and feeling
by words. In a special sense, it is used for the
instruction which a philosopher gave his pupils
in familiar conversation (Xenophon, Mem. I. ii.
6 and 15). In this sense of "familiar instruc-
tion" it passed into Christian usage. Thus
St. Luke uses the word o/xiAriaas of the same
address which he had previously described by
the word SiaXeyofj.ei'os (Acts xk. 9, 11). Com-
pare Euseb. ir.E. vi. 19, § 17. Photius {Bib-
lioth. no. 174, 4, in Suicer's Thes. s. v.) notices
that the discourses of Chrysostom were properly
called bfiiXiat, rather than \6yoi, as being
simple, inartificial, popular addresses, in a style
rather conversational than formal, while a \6yos
was constructed according to the rules of art,
and with a certain dignity and elevation or
style. Similarly the French Confe'rence. The
council of Ancyra (c. 1) A.D. 314, forbidding
presbyters who have sacrificed to idols irpos<pipfiu
f) o/xiKelv ^ o\oos AeiT0vpye7v seems to use the
word o/iiAejc as the common technical ex-
pression for the address of the presbyter in the
liturgy.
Probably the earliest extant addresses com-
monly called Homilies are those of Origen, who
(if he himself applied the term to his discourses)
no doubt took it from the schools of philosophy.
The word seemingly did not pass into common
use in Latin before the fifth century; for Victor
Vitensis {Persec. Vandal, i. 3, p. 10, Ruinart),
writing towards the end of that century, speaks
of Augustine's popular addresses, "quos Gi-aeci
hoinilias vocant," as if "homilia" were still to
some extent strange to his Latin readers.
Augustine had himself made a similar ex-
planation of the word {On Ps. 118 [119], Pref ;
Epist. 2, ad Quodvultdeurn). And he also sup-
plies abundant evidence that these homilies were
intentionally careless and colloquial in style. So
long as all are instructed (he says), let us not
fear the critics {Serm. 37, c. 10, p, 187); let
782
HOMILY
not word-catchers ask whether it is Latin, but
Christians whether it is true (Serm. 299, p.
1213); it is better that the preacher should be
barbarous, and his hearers understand, than the
preacher scholarly and the people lacking (0??,
Ps. 36. Scrm. 3, p. 285); it is better that
critics should blame, than that the people should
miss the meaning {On Ps. 138, p. 1545).
See further on preaching, and its place in the
liturgy, under Sermon.
At a comparatively early period we find that
the custom arose of delivering the sermons of
others in churches where the priest was, for
some reason, unable to preach. Mr. Scudamore
(p. 290) gives the following instances: —
Augustine {De Doct. Chr. iv. 62) thinks it
well that those who have a good delivery, but
no power of composition, should adopt the
sermons of others. Isidore of Pelusium (a.D.
412) wrote a homily to be delivered by his
friend Dorotheus, which was declaimed with
much applause {Episi. iii. 382). Cyril of Alex-
andria is said by Geunadius {De Vir. Illust. c.
67 in Fabricii Biblwth. Eccl. p. 27) to have com-
posed many homilies, which (he adds) are com-
mitted to memory by the Greek bishops for
delivery. The same author relates (m. s. c. 67,
p. 31) that Salvian of Marseilles made many
homilies for bishops. Some of the Dictlones
Sacrae of Ennodius. bishop of Ticino (a.d. 511)
are manifestly written to be preached by some
other than the writer, and two of them bear the
titles: "Sent to Honoratus, bishop of Novara,
at the dedication of the basilica of the Apostles,"
and "Given to Stephanus . . to be pronounced
by Maxiraus the bishop." The second council
of Vaison, A.D. 529, licenses all presbyters to
preach in their districts, and provides (c. 2)
that, in case the presbyter, from sickness, is
unable to preach, homilies of the Holy Fathers
should be recited by the deacons [Deacon, p.
529]. Caesarius of Aries (t 542) is said (Life
by Cyprian, c. 31 ; in Acta SS. Ben. i. 645) to
have composed homilies, which the bishops in
the Frank territory, the Gauls, Italy, or Spain,
to whom he sent them, might cause to be
preached in their churches. To read the
sermons of others seems indeed to have been a
recocrnised practice in the Gallican church.
Thus Germauus of Paris {Expositio Brevis, in
Migne's Patrol. Ixxu. 91) says, that the homilies
of the saints which are read after the Gospel, are
to be taken merely as preaching, that the pastor
01- doctor of the church may explain in popular
language to the people what has been delivered
in the Prophecy, Epistle, or Gospel.
This constant habit of using the sermons of
others led in process of time to the formation of
collections of liomilies, of which those who were
unable or unwilling to compose sermons might
avail themselves. Bede's Homilme de Tempore
are said to have been much used in this way.
This collection contains 33 homilies for the
summer half of the year, 15 for the winter; 22
for Lent ; 32 for the Saints' Days of the summer
half, 16 for those of the winter half; and
various Sermones ad Populum. Probably several,
other collections were in circulation before the
end of the eighth century. See Mabillon, Acta
SS. Bened. iii. pt. 1, p. 556 flf. But in the time of
Charles the Great all the homiliaries in common
use in the Fiankish kingdom were found to
HOMILY
labour under great defects ; the homilies which
they contained were in many cases written by 1
men of no authority, and they were full of
errors both of style and matter. The king, ;
therefore, commissioned Paul Warnefrid, the j
well-known historian of the Lombards, to draw j
up a collection of homilies from the Fathers i
which should be free from these feults. This J
task he accomplished before the end of the '
eighth century, probably not later than a.d.
780; for Charles, in the recommendation pre- ;
fixed to the book, does not style himself Im-
perator. In this preface (Mabillon's Analect.
Vet. p. 75, ed. 1723) the king states that in
gratitude to God for the protection which He ;
had given him in war and peace, he had set
himself to prom.ote the welfare of the church '•
and the advancement of knowledge; he i-efers to |
the eftbrts which he had made to secui-e a
correct text of the Scriptures [Canonical
Books], and then proceeds to recommend the
homiliarium for adoption in the Gallican churches,
which his father Pepin had already furnished
with chants after the Roman model (Romanae
traditionis cantibus). In this collection" the j
discourses are arranged according to the series i
of Sundays and Festivals ; that form of the i
Vulgate text is adopted in quotations from
Scripture which had been in common use since \
the days of Gregory the Great. '
In the year 813 the council of Rheims (c. 15) i
enjoined the bishops to preach sermons of theHoly
Fathers in the dialect of their several dioceses,
so that all might understand, and in the same
year the third council of Tours (c. 17) ordered
that every bishop should have homilies prepared |
containing needful admonitions for the use of
those under them, and that each should en- '
deavour to translate the said homilies cleai-ly
into the rustic-Roman or the Teutonic tongue,
so that all might more easily understand the J
things spoken. To the same effect the council j
of Mayence (c. 2), in the year 847. I
The collection of Aelfric (generally supposed :
to be the archbishop of York, 1023-1051) does i
not fall within our period ; but it was probably \
the successor of various other collections of j
English homilies, some of which may have
existed before the time of Charles.
John Beleth (a.d. 1162) calls the Book of i
Homilies (Div. Off. Expl. c. 60) the Homelio- . |
nariiis, and mentions a Sermologus separately J
among the books which a church ought to have.
» It was commonly attributed in the Middle Ages to
Alcuiii, and bears in the Cologne edition of 153n the fol- j
lowing title : " Homiliae sen mavis sermones sive con- ]
clones ad populum praestautissiniorum ecclesiae doctorum '
Hieroiiymi Augustini Ambrosii Gregorii Origcnis Chry- ;
sostomi Bedae etc. in huiic ordinem digestae per Al- '
chuiiium levitam idqne Injungente ei Carole Mag. Rom.
Imp. cui a secretis fuiU" Possibly the mistake arose
from the fact that Alcuin revised the so-called Comes
Hieronymi [I>f,ctionahv] ; or he may have revised the
work of Warnefrid. See on this point MabiUon {Ann. :
O. S. Ben. ii. 328) and Rivet (Hist. Lit. de la France.
iv. 337). The Editio Princeps is that of Speyer, 1482. !
The author of the ancient Life of Alcuin (Mabillon, ]
Acta SS. Ben. Saec. iv. pt. i. p. 158) says that Alcuin |
collected two volumes of Homilies from the works of the '
Fathers. If be did— which is scarcely probable when
Warnefrid's collection had just been authorised— the
work is lost.
HONEY AM) MILK
Durandus uses {Ratimiale, vi. i. §§ 28, 32) the
form Hmniliarius [i.e. Liber] as well as Hwnelio-
narius.
(Binterim's Denkwurdigkeiten, iv. 3.340 ff. ;
Wetzer and Welte's liirchenlexicon, v. 307 ;
Scudamore's Ncititia Euchm-istica, 290 AT. ; Ranke
iu Studien und Kritikm, 1855, ij. p. 387 ff.) [C]
HONEY AND MILK. L The giving of
honey and milk to a person newly baptised, as a
symbol of the nourishment of the renewed soul,
has already been mentioned rBAPTiSM, S 66.
p. 164]. ^ '
2. Among the thmgs enumerated by the
Apostolical Canons (c. 3), which the bishop is
forbidden to bring to the altar [or sanctuary],
are honey and milk. The 24th canon of the
third council of Carthage also excludes honey
and milk from the offerings on the altar, in that
It forbids anything to be placed upon it but
bread and wine mixed with water. But the
27th of the African canons, repeating this, adds:
"Primitiae vero, seu mel et lac quod uno die
solemnissimo in infantum mysterio solet offerri,
quamvis in altari offerantur, suam tamen habeant
propriam benedictionem, ut a sacramento Po-
minici Corporis et sanguinis distinguantur ; nee
amplius in primitiis offeratur quam de uvis et
frumentis." It is evident from this, that at the
time when these canons wei'e drawn up, the
custom had arisen of placing on the altar the
honey and milk for the neophytes at Easter, and
(apparently) of consecrating them with the
bread and wine. It is this latter practice which
is here forbidden ; the honey and milk are to
have a benediction of their own, but not that
given to the eucharistic elements. At the end
of the seventh century the placing of honey and
milk on the altar was wholly forbidden (Cone, in
Trullo, c. 57 ; cf. c. 28).
(Bingham, Ant. XV. ii. 3 ; Van Espen, Jus
Eccl. iii. 329, 414; ed. Colon. 1777.) [C]
HONOR. 1. The word is used specially of
ecclesiastical dignities or orders. Thus Optatus
of Milevis (c. Donat. ii. 24) says, speaking of the
attempts of the Donatists to annul the orders of
Catholic priests, "quid prodest quod vivi sunt
homines et occisi sunt honores a vobis?"* So
Augustine, Adv. Epist. Farmen. ii. 11; and
Cottc. Arelat. IV. cc. 1 and 2. In Charles the
Great's Capitularies (v. 8), " honorabilis persona "
is used apparently to distinguish one in major
orders from " ecclesiastici viri " who were only
in minor orders (Ducange, s. v.).
2. The second council of Braga, A.D. 572, lays
down (c. 2) that no bishop making a visitation
of his diocese should take anything from the
churches besides the customary honorarium to
the see (praeter honorem cathedrae suae) of two
solidi. We may perhaps discern here the germ
of the later use, according to which "honor"
means a benefice. [C.]
HONOR ATUS. (1) Bishop of Aries (t429
A.D.); commemoi-ated Jan. 16 (Mart. Adonis,
Usuardi).
(2) [Demetrius (3).]
HOOD
183
[W. F. G.]
HOOD (kOVKOvWiOV, KOVKUvKlOV, KOVKOVWa,
KairovrQov, &vai KafxaKavxv j Cdpitium, caputium,
» Dupin reads, " quia viviint homines, et honore a vobis
cccisi sunt ?"
cucullus, cuculla, cucullio, capa, cappa). Gar-
ments intended for outdoor wear were very
frequently provided with a hood as a protection
for the head against rain or cold, which might
be drawn forward when need required, or might
be allowed to fall back upon the shoulders.
This would of course be ordinarily, but not
necessarily, attached to the dress. The lacenia,
for example, was generally furnished with a
hood or cowl (see e.g. Martial xiv. 132, 139 ; and
cf. Juvenal vi. 117, 330 ; viii. 145) ; so also was
the caracalla, which was introduced into Rome
from Gaul, and from which the emperor Aurelius
Antoninus derives the name by which he is
ordinarily known. Jerome refers to it by way
of illustration in his description of the ephod of
the Jewish high-priest, "in modum caracal-
larum, sed absque cucullis" {Epist. 64 ad
Fabiolam, § 15; vol. i. 364, ed. Vallarsi), where
the last words imply what was the ordinary
fashion of it. A hood was also the appendage of
the cubula, which Isidore {de Origin, six. 24)
describes as vestis cucultata ; of the colobion (see
e.g. Honorius Augustodunensis, Gemma Animae,
i. 211; Patrol, clxxii. 607), and of the cope
(see e.g. Durandus, Bat. Div. Off. iii. 1. 13, who
speaking of the symbolism associated with the
pluviale, or cappa, adds " habet etiam caputium,
quod est supernum gaudium "). As regards the
last of these, we may take this opportunity of
remarking that Isidore (de Origin, xix. 31) uses
the word cappa distinctly in the sense of hood,
" cappa . . . quia capitis ornamentum est." As
an example of this more restricted meaning of
the word, we may cite a remark in a letter of
Paulus Diaconus, in the name of abbot Theo-
demar, to Charlemagne as to the dress of the
monks of Monte Cassino, " illud autem vestimen-
tum, quod a Gallicanis monachis cuculla dicitur,
et nos capam vocamus . . ." (Pauli Diac.
Epist. i.; Fatrol. xcv. 1587). He had just be-
fore remarked that the word cuculla with them
meant the same dress " quam alio nomine casu-
1am vocamus." A latei instance is found in the
records of a council of Metz (a.D. 888), which
enjoins the use of the capa (in the sense of hood)
to monks and forbids it to laymen (can. 6,
Labb. ix. 414). An earlier council, that of Aix-
la-Chapelle (a.D. 816), had restricted the use of
the cuculla to monks, excluding other ecclesiastics
(can. 125, Labb. viii. 1395). It may be added
here that the congi-ess of Galilean abbots and
monks, held at the same place in the following
year, carefully fixed the size of the cowl, " men-
sura cucullae duobus consistat cubitis " (cap. 21 ;
op. cit. 1508). With reference to the foregoing
prohibitions, it may be mentioned that the
Theodosian code had expressly permitted to
slaves, with certain exceptions, the use of the
bi/rrus and cucullus (Cod. Theodos. lib. xiv.
tit. 10, 1. 1).
The most prominent instance of the use of the
hood is to be found in that of the monastic cowl,
which is frequently referred to in various Rules,
and which formed a special part of the monkish
dress at least as early as the time of Jerome.
The hermit Hilarion was, according to this
father, buried " in tunica cilicind et cuculla "
(Vita S. Hilar, cc. 44, 46; vol. ii. 39, 40, ed.
Vallarsi). We meet with several allusions '.o
the cuculla in Jerome's translation of the Rule of
I the Eoyptian Pachomius (see e.g. cc. 81, 01, 99;
784
HOPE
op. cit. 67, sqq.). Thus the monks in this
system were to have two cowls, which were to
bear tokens indicative of the particular monas-
tery, and without his cowl and " pellicula " no
monk was to appear at divine service or at meals.
The Rule of St. Benedict allowed to each monk,
in the case of dwellers in temperate climates, a
frock and hood {cuculla), the latter to be " in
hyeme villosa, in aestate pura aut vetusta "
(/,<?(/. S. Beneil. c. 55 ; in Holstenius, Codex Regu-
Inrum, pt. ii. p. 32 ; ed. Paris, 1663). The same
distinction between hoods for summer and winter
wear is also found in the Rule of St. Fructuosus
(c. 4 ; op. cit. p. 139), which allows a couple to
each monk, " villata et simplex." The Eegula
Magistri lays down a wholesome provision as to
the hoods and frocks of the monks who dis-
charged the weekly office of cook (c. 81 ; op. cit.
p. 257). The word cuculla passed from Latin
into Greek, where it appears as kovkovWiov, etc.
Thus, for example, it is mentioned in connection
with the monastic dress by Sozomen {Hist.
Eccles. iii. 14. where he remarks on the Egyptian
monks), Pseudo-Athanasius (cle Virginitatc, c. 11 ;
vol. ii. 116, ed. Moutfaucon), and by Germanus,
patriarch of Constantinople (ob. 740, A.D.), who
also appeal's to allude to the cross on the cowl,
still worn by bishops and aTavpu<popoL in the Greek
church {Historia Ecclesiastica et Mystica Con
teinplatio ; Patrol. Gr. xcviii. 396). The name
6.101 Kan7]\avxi-ov (variously spelled) is given to
the hood which covers the under headdress (Karai
Kufiv^avxiov) worn by a Greek patriarch who
has been a member of a monastic order (see
Ducange's Glossarium Grace, s.v. Ka/xfAavKiov).
An illustration of this may be seen in Gear's
Euchologvm (p. 156 ; cf. also p. 518), where the
patriarch Bekkus is thus figured. This name,
however, belongs to a date subsequent to our
period.
We may briefly refer in passing to the hood
worn after baptism, which is spoken of in con-
nection with the white baptismal robe, but as
distinct from it (see e.g. Theodulf, bishop of
Orleans [ob. 821 A.D.], de Ordine Baptism!, c. 16 ;
Patrol, cv. 234 : Jesse Ambianensis [ob. 836
A.D.], Epist. de Baptismo, ib. 790 : Rabanus
JIaurus, de List. Cler. i. 29 ; Patrol, cvii. 313).
We may perhaps further refer to an epistle of
Gregory the Great, who blames one Peter, a Jew,
for having on the day after his baptism entered
a synagogue and placed there, among other
things, " birrum album,'quo de fonte resurgens
indutus fuerat " {Epist. lib. ix. ep. 6 ; vol. iii.
930, ed. Bened.). For further remarks on this
species of hood, reference may be made to Mar-
tene, de Antiquis Ecclesiae Bitihus, i. 54, ed.
Venice, 1783 ; Ducange's Glossarium Graec. s.v.
KovKovAKa ; Gear's Euchologion, p. 366. [R. S.]
HOPE. [Sophia.]
HOEOLOGIUM (wpo\6yiou). An office
book of the Greek church, containing the daily
hours of prayer, and certain other forms, and
which therefore corresponds in a general manner,
though with important differences, to the Latin
breviary.
The contents of the Great Horologium
(wpo\6yiou rh fxiya) which is the fullest form,
as described in the edition published at Venice
1856, and approved by the oecumenical patriarch,
HORTULANUS
are arranged in three generic parts {rp'^a jfuiKA
fifpTj) as follows :
1. The office for the day and night hours of
the church from matins to compline (airb rod
jxeaovvKTiKov tens rov a;ro5eiWou).
This part therefore corresponds in the main to
the " Psalterium cum Ordinario Officii de Tem-
pore " of the Latin breviary.
2. The variable antiphons and hymns, by
whatever name they are distinguished, taken
from the Menology (which answers to the Roman
Martyrology) and from the other office books
which contain the variable portions of the office ;
and whatever is sung in it on Sundays, festivals,
and ordinary days.
This part therefore corresponds in some
measure to the " Proprium de Tempore " of the
Latin breviary.
3. Various short offices (anoXovdiai), prayers,
and canons; independent of the/iOM/-s; and for
occasional use. Into the details of these it is
unnecessary to enter ; and would be impossible
without considerable explanation.
This part therefore may be compared to the
collection of short offices and forms of prayer
which are found at the end of the Latin bre-
viary ; though the offices contained in it are for
the most part different from and more numerous
than those in the breviary.
The Horohgion is often prefaced by the
calendar of the Menology, which begins with
September ; sometimes (as in a copy I possess,
printed at Venice 1523) by "the gospel" ac-
cording to St. John: i.e. the introduction, and
four last chapters : and sometimes (as in another
copy in my possession, printed at Venice 1775
•' con Licenza de' Superiori "), by the Athauasian
creed in Greek, of course without the words
which imply the double procession. [H. J. H.]
HORRES, martyr at Nicaea with Arabia,
Marcus, Nimpodora, Theodora, Theusetas ; com-
memorated March 13 {Mart. Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HORSE. The horse is represented attending
on the Orpheus shepherd [Fresco, p. 696]. As
a servant or companion of mankind, he occurs
frequently in representations of the Magi(Bottari,
tav. cxxxiii. &c.). Two horses act as cros.s-bearers
(tav. iii.) ; and horses of course occur in the
numerous representations of the translation of
Elijah which are found on sarcophagi and else-
where. The horses of Egypt are commemorated
in representations of Pharaoh and the Red Sea
(Aringhi, vol. i. p. 331), where a mounted horse-
man accompanies the chariots. In Bottari (tav.
clx.) there are two quadrigae, with horses deco-
rated with palm-branches or plumes. Martigny
states in this connexion that the horse symbol
has been very frequently found in the graves
of martyrs, quoting the titulus of the youth
Florens (Lupi, Dissert, elett. i. p. 258), and the
horses loose and grazing in the tribune of the
cemetery of Basilla (Bianchini Not. ad Anast.
Prolegomena, t. iii.). [R. St. J. T.]
HORSE-RACING. [Charioteers.]
HORTULANUS, the gardener of the monas-
tery. The rule of Benedict provided certain
deputies (solatia) to assist the cellarer (celler-
arius) in the larger monasteries. These were,
usually, a farm bailiff (granatarius), a butler
HOSANNA
(custos panis et vini), and a gardener (hortulanus)
(Beg. Boned, c. 31 ; cf. Bened. Anian. Concord.
ReguL Ixxi. 17). [I. G. S.]
HOSANNA (or Osanna). This word, adopted
from the salutation of the populace at Christ's
entry into Jerusalem, occurs in the Mass at the
end of the Sanctus, which ends thus : " Hosauna
in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine
Domini. Hosanna in excelsis." The same words
are found in the Greek form of the Sanctus,
called iiTiviKios uixvos ; 'as given in the liturgies
of SS. Basil, Chrysostom, &c.
The word also frequently occurs in the anti-
l)hons and other parts of the service for Palm
Sunday as given in the Latin Processionals, as
for instance in the hymn at the Procession :
" Israel es tu Rex, Davidis et inclyta proles,
Nomine qui in Domini, Rex benedicte, venis :
Gloria laus et honor tibi sit, Rex Christe Redemptor,
Cut puerile decus prompsit Osanna pium."
[H. J. H.]
HOSEA, the prophet ; commemorated Jaka-
bit 27 = Feb. 21 (Ca/. Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
HOSPITALARIUS. [Hospitium.]
HOSPITALITY. Hospitality, or a friendly
reception and entertainment of strangers, was a
Christian virtue strongly inculcated in the New
Testament, and practised most liberally by the
early Christians, until long after the apostolic
times.
The feeling of Christian union and sympathy
was so strong, that every Christian was ready to
receive another as a friend and brother, although
]ireviously unknown : a circumstance which ex-
cited the astonishment, and even the hatred and
misrepresentations of pagan opponents (Tertul.
Apol. 39 ; Lucian, de mort. perig. 13). And one
of the means by which Julian hoped to restore
the old Roman paganism was an imitation of this
Christian liberality. In a letter of his, addressed
to Arsaces a chief priest of Galatia, the emperor
urges him to take great care of strangers, and to
establish houses for their reception (levoSoxeta)
[Hospitals] in every city, after the example of
the Christians (Sozomeu, v. 16).
All Christian families in the earlier times
considered it their duty to exercise this hospi-
tality, and Tertullian mentions it as one great
objection to a Christian woman marrying a
pagan, that she would not be able to entertain
any Christian strangers in her house (Tertul. ad
Ux. ii. 4).
But presbyters, and afterwards bishops, were
specially expected to excel in this virtue. Thus
Jerome extols the liberal hospitality of the young
presbyter Nepotian {Epit. Nepotiani c. 10). And
Chrysostom mentions it as a high praise of
Flavian, bishop of Antioch, that his house was
always open to strangers and travellers, where
they received so kind and generous an entertain-
ment, that it might be doubted whether it ought
not to have been called the travellers' home,
instead of his (Chrys. m Genes, i. 4).
Monasteries also were distinguished by their
ready hospitality to Christians coming from dis-
tant parts [HospitiumJ. Palladius (ffistoria Lau-
siaca, c. 6) describes the hospital or guest-house
(levoSoxeioi/) which adjoined the church of the
Nitrian monks, in which pilgrims might stay, if
they chose, two or three years ; the first week a
CHRIST. ANT.
HOSPITALS
78^
guest was not required to work ; if he stayed
longer, he must work in the garden, the bake-
house, or the kitchen ; or if he was a person of
too much consideration for menial labour, the
monks would give him a book to read. In our
monastery, says Jerome, hospitality is our delight.
We receive with a joyful welcome all who come
to us, with the exception of heretics (Jer.
adi\ Ruff. iii.). In the Rule of Benedict
of Aniane, drawn up at the end of the eighth
century, particular directions are given for
the reception and entertainment of the poor
and of strangers. They were first to join in
prayer with the monks ; they then received the
kiss of peace ; water was brought for their hands
and feet ; and in their subsequent entertainment
the strict monastic rules of fasting were to be
relaxed in honour of the guests. There was a
distinct kitchen for the strangers' use, with
officers to superintend it, so that the regular
order of the monastery might not be disturbed
{Comor. Beg. S. Benedict. § 60, de hospitibus
suscipiendis). This relaxation of strict ascetic^
rules on occasion of hospitality to strangers is
also mentioned with approbation by Cassiau
(Collat. i. 26, and xxi. 14, &c.). The council of
Aix in 816 (ii. c. 28), desired a place to be pre-
pared at the gate of a monastery where all
comers might be received.
The openhanded hospitality of Christians natu-
rally led sometimes to the practice of deceit and
imposture on the part of applicants; and to
guard against the admission of pretenders, or
otherwise unworthy and dangerous persons, it
became customary for letters of recommendation
[Commendatory Letters] to be required.
Christians going into a foreign country, or to
any place where they were not known, com-
monly took with them such letters from their
bishop, or some other well-known Christian ;
which letters were, if necessary, to be ex-
amined, on their presentation, by the deacons of
the place (Constit. Apostol. ii. 58).
In the earlier times Christians received
strangers into their own homes ; but at a later
period, when such hospitality became incon-
venient, and hardly sufficient for what was
needed, houses were specially built or prepared
for the reception of strangers {^evooox^'ia)-
These were established in places where travellers
were most likely to resort, or where Christian
strangers were commonly most numerous, such
as along the lines of travel taken by pilgrim;.,
when the practice of making pilgrimages to holy
places had become usual.
At these houses Christian travellers were
entertained according to their need, and were
sent forward on their way in peace.
A singular remnant of this ancient hospitality
still remains at St. Cross near Winchester, where
any one who applies at the porter's lodge re-
ceives gratuitously a glass of beer and a slice of
bread. [G. A. J.]
HOSPITALS. 1. General account of Hospi-
tals.— The remarkable outflowing of benevolence
and sympathy with others, which marked the
very commencement of Christianity, led imme-
diately to a care for the poor, especially in times
of sickness and distress.
From the earliest times the funds of the church
were ai)|ilied to tlip uiaiiitenanco of widows
3 E
786
HOSPITALS
and orphans, sick and poor, prisoners and so-
journers (Justin Martyr, Apol. I. c. 67). It
was the special duty of the deacons and dea-
conesses to attend to the sick at their own
houses {Constit. Apost. iii. 19, and Epiphan.
Fidei Expos. 21). But all Christians, particu-
larly the women who had the most leisure for
this purpose, considered it incumbent on them
to visit and relieve the sick poor (^Epist. ad
Zen. et Seven, c. 17, in Justin Martyi-'s Works,
p. 416 ; TertuU. ad Uxor. ii. 4). And this they
did without being deterred by any fear of infec-
tion in the case of plagues or other contagious
diseases; of which a notable example, among
many others, was seen in the heroic conduct
of the Christians at Alexandria during the great
plague there in the time of the emperor Gal-
iienus (a.d. 260-268). See the account given in
Eusebius (^Hist. Eccles. viii. 22).
Public hospitals for the reception of the sick,
the needy, and the stranger, began to be erected
as soon as Christianity, being freed from per-
secution, could display its natural tendencies
without danger or restriction. Houses were set
apart for the reception of travellers or sojourners
(ieroSoxei'a), for. the poor (TTTO>xoTpo<piiOL), for
orphans {opcpavoTpoipfla), for foundlings {^pecpo-
Tpo(pi7a), and for the aged {yepuuTOKOfj.f'ia), as
well as for the sick {vo(roKo/j.e7a). [Hospitality,
Exposing of Children, Foundlings.] Several
of these objects were often combined in one esta-
blishment, so that it is most convenient to treat
of them under one head.
Epiphanius (ITaeres. 75, c. 1) mentions that
Aerius, afterwards known as a heretic, about
the middle of the 4th century was made by the
bishop Eustathius superintendent of the hospital
(lefoSoxei'oi', says Epiphanius, called in Pontus
irraixoTpopelov) at Sebaste in Pontus. It does
not appear that the hospital was then first esta-
blished, and Epiphanius mentions it as a common
custom for bishops of the church to provide for
the maimed and infirm by setting up such esta-
blishments.
The most complete hospital of which we have
any account in antiquity was built by Basil the
Great, soon after his accession to the see, near
Caesarea in Pontus. St. Basil, defending himself
from the charge of seeking to gain undue in-
fluence, which had been brought against him
before the j)refect of the place, says (Epist. 94
[al. o72] ad Helium), " Whom do we injure, in
building lodgings (KaTaycoyta) for the strangers
who stay with us in passing through, and for
those who need attendance (flepoTreias) in conse-
quence of infirmity ? What, in supplying neces-
sary comfort fbr these persons, nurses, medical
attendants, means of conveying them (ra
vuroct>6pa),^ and persons to take charge of them
in removal (^rovs irapavennovTas)? And these
things must of necessity carry with them handi-
crafts, both such as are required for sustenance
and such as conduce to decorum, and these again
require workshops." He also {Epist. 142 [al. 374])
begs an official of the empire to exempt his poor-
house from state taxation, and speaks (Epist. 143
[al. 428]) of its being managed by a chorepiscopus.
St. Basil's hospital is thus spoken of by Gregory of
Nazianzus (who had himself seen it) in his pane-
gyric on the saint {Orat. 20, p. 359, ed. Colon.
" Compare Xenoph. Cyrnp.vi, 2, 34.-
HOSPITALS
1690). " Go forth a little from the city, and
behold the new city, the treasure-house of godli-
ness .... in which the superfluities of wealth
— nay, even things not superfluous — have been
laid up in store at his exhortation ; ... in
which disease is investigated ((piXoaocpelTai) and
sympathy proved . . . We have no longer to
look on the fearful and pitiable sight of men like
corpses before death, with the greater part of
their limbs dead [from leprosy], driven from
cities, from dwellings, from public places, from
water-courses . . . Basil it was more than any
one who persuaded those who are men not to
scorn men, nor to dishonour Christ the head of
all by their inhumanity towards human beings."
From this it appears that at least a portion of
St. Basil's hospital was for lepers. Sozomen,
again (ff. E. vi. 34) speaks of Prapidius having
been principal of this " Basiliad, that most
famous lodging for the poor founded by Basil,
from whom it received the appellation which it
still retains." Of St. Chrysostom, too, Palladius
( Vita Chrys. p. 19, ed. Montfaucon) relates that
he diverted the superfluous expenses of his see to
the maintenance of the hospital {voaoKOfj.€wv),
and that as the need increased he founded several,
over which he set two presbyters of high cha-
racter ; he engaged further physicians and cooks,
and kind unmarried attendants to work under
them. St. Chrysostom himself (^ow. 66 [al. 67]
in Matt.) pointing triumphantly to the large-
handed bounty of the church, says, " consider
how many widows, how many virgins, the church
sustains day by day ; the number on the roll is
not less than three thousand [in Constantinople].
And she provides also for those who are in dis-
tress in the guest-house ; for those who are
maimed in body ; and yet her substance is not
diminished." It is evident that a regular system
of providing for the poor in connexion with the
church was organised in the middle of the fifth
century ; for the council of Chalcedon (c. 3)
especially recognises the care of widows and
orphans, and the needy generally as one of the
justifications for a cleric's engaging in secular
affairs (koo-ixikoI StotK^ffeis), if he does it at the
command of his bishop.
The emperor Julian recognised the importance
of institutions such as those of St. Basil ; " these
impious Galilaeans," says he (Fragment, p. 305,
quoted by Rheinwald) " give themselves to this
kind of humanity ; as men allure children with a
cake, so they, starting from what they call love
and entertaining and serving of tables, bring in
converts to their impiety ; " and again he bids
Arsacius (Epist. 'id, U.S.), " establish abundance of
hospitals in every city, that our kindness may be
enjoyed by strangers, not only of our own people,
but of others who are in need."
Placilla, the wife of Theodosius the Great,
devoted herself much to the care of the sick.
She cared, says Theodoret (Eist. Eccl. v. 19), for
! those who were maimed and injured, not devolv-
ing the charge of them on subordinates, but
attending to them personally, going into the
places where they were received (ras rovrwv
Karayaiy&s) and supplying their several wants.
So also, making the round of the hospitals
(leviivas) of the churches, she attended on those
who were confined to bed, herself handling the
pots and tasting the broth, bringing bowls,
breaking bread, and offering mouthfi.Is, washing
HOSPITALS
cups, and performing other services which are
generally done by domestics.
Samson of Constantinople received the name of
" Xenodochus " from his devotion to the care of
hospitals and asylums, and is said to have per-
suaded the emperor Justinian to give up his own
palace for the purposes of a xenodochion (see the
Byzantine Menaea, June 27). Procopius how-
ever {Dc Aedif. Just. i. 2) gives a somewhat
diflferent account of the matter. There was, he
says, a hospital for the sick and infirm, built in
former years by the pious care of one Samson, of
which there were in Justinian's time some re-
mains in a ruinous condition. This the emperor
restored, decorated, and amplified in the most
liberal manner. He increased, says Procopius,
both the number of wards (oIklUoju, domuncu-
larum) and the annual revenue. Whether by the
expression oiKiZiwv we are to understand detached
buildings, or rooms, is doubtful ; if the former,
Justinian's hospital, like that of Basil previously
described, would resemble a little town, a place
of many buildings within a wall. Justiuian fur-
ther built, in concert with Theodora, two other
hospitals (J^evwvas). Of the empress Eudocia it
is related ( Vita Euthymii, c. 16, in Acta SS.
January, vol. ii. p. si?) that she built many
churches, gerontocomia, ptochotrophia, and mon-
asteries. She is said also to have prepared food
for the sick with her own hands.
It is not necessary to go through the long list
of pious foundations for the benefit of the sick
which we meet with in the history of the church.
But it may be mentioned as an instance of the
general recognition of the duty of pi'oviding for
sick and infirm brethren, that by the so-called
Arabic canons of Nicaea the bishop was expressly
bound, in virtue of his oflSce, to institute hos-
pitals. Canon 70 (Hardouin, Concilia, i. 475)
prescribes, that in every city a place should be
set apart for strangers, sick, and poor, which
should be called a senodochium ; and that the
bishop should select one of the monks of the
desert, himself a foreigner, far from home and
family, and a man of integrity, to take charge of
the hospital, to procure for it beds and whatever
may be necessary for the sick and poor ; and that
if the property of the hospital be inadequate, he
should make a collection from the Christians,
according to their several means, and with this
provision sustain the brethren who are strangers,
poor, or sick, as each may have need.
Most of these instances belong to the Eastern
church ; but the Western church was not behind
in the good work. Paulinus of Nola has left us
{Poem. XX. 114) a brief description of the hospital
which he himself built, which appears to have
been rather for the reception of the poor and old
than of the sick, as such :
" Dispositl trino per longa aedilia Oietu
Obstrepuere sencs, inopum miserabile vulgus,
Et socio canae residentes agmine matres."
This description suggests long wards, provided
with " sedilia " — perhaps " berths," or divans
running along the wall — in which the inmates
were separated into three classes — poor, old
men, and old women.
Jerome, in a letter to Pammachius {Epist. 66
[al. 26], c. 11, written, according to Vallarsi,
A.D. 387) speaks of a xenodochium which the
latter had built in the Portus I'lCimanus, of
HOSPITALS
787
which he (Jerome) had just heard. This was
probably attended to by Pammachius himself
and the monks for whom he had provided a con-
vent in the neighbourhood. Jerome himself
founded a hospital for the reception of the sick
and the stranger in Bethlehem ; finding his
means insufficient to finish it, he sent his brother
Paulinianus (m. s. c. 14) to sell his remaining pro-
perty in his native country, to provide money for
its completion. Fabiola, the friend of Jerome, also
founded a hospital at Kome. Having been
obliged to obtain a divorce from her first husband
on account of his intolerable profligacy, she
married another before his death. On becoming
a widow she learned that according to church
law, of which she had been previously ignorant
(" nee evangelii vigorem noverat," says Jerome
Ep. 77 [al. 30], c. 3), it was unlawful for her
to have married again during her first husband's
life, however justly she had separated from him.
Upon this she submitted to a humiliating pen-
ance ; and afterwards devoted all her property
to charitable purposes, and among other good
works built a hospital, where she ministered to
the sick with her own hands {ib. c. 6).
Jerome remarks that Fabiola was the first
person who founded a hospital (prima omnium
voaoKOfxelov instituit). But this perhaps only
means the first hospital in Rome or Italy. And
the fact that Jerome uses the Greek word
voaoKofjLelov, and not the Latin valetudinarium,
tends to confirm the account which points to the
Eastern church as the first to exhibit such acts
of benevolence.
Rome itself had an ancient fame for its care of
the sick and poor (Prudentius, Peristeph. ii.
140 fF.). Its hospitals were frequently the ob-
jects of the munificence of the popes. Anastasius
{Vitae Pontt. 134 a, ed. Muratori) tells us of
Pelagius II. (578-590), that he caused his own
house to be made a refuge for the poor and
aged (ptochium pauperum et senum). His suc-
cessor, Gregory the Great {Dialogus, iii. 35,
p. 243) seems to say that he had taken Amantius
from his own dwelling to pass some days in the
infirmary ; and John the Deacon relates of him
that he set over the several hospitals careful and
conscientious men, who had to submit their
accounts to himself, that the beneficence of the
people towards those institutions might not be
checked by mismanagement of the funds. He
also provided Probus with money to build a
xenodochium on a large scale at Jerusalem, and
supported it by an annual subvention ( Vita
Greg. ii. 7). Other hospitals in Rome of an
early date are known to us at least by name.
Pope Sj-mmachus (498-514) is said by Ado
(Ckronicon, in Migne's Patrol, cxxiii. 106 b) to
have founded or restored three hospitals (pau-
peribus habitacula) known by the names of St.
Peter, St. Paul, and St. Laurence respectively.
Stephen HI. (752-757) is said by Anastasius
{Vitae Pontiff, p. 165, C. D.) to have restored four
xeuodochia and founded two others, which were
placed in the charge of the regionary deacons of
St.' Maria and St. Silvester ; and Adrian L
(772-795, ib. p. 190, D) to have founded three
DiACONiAE (see the word) " foris portam Beati
Apostolorum Principis."
Nor was it only in Home that such institutions
were found. In Gaul they existed at any rate
before the deatli of St. Reiiii (t532), if we mav
3 E 2
788
HOSPITALS
true* Flodoard. The saint is made {Hist. Bc-
mens. i. 18) to entreat his successors to preserve
inviolate his statutes for the management of his
poor-houses (ptochia), coenobia, martyria, dia-
coniae and xenodochia, as he had done those of his
predecessors — an expression which implies that
some at least of these foundations existed before
St. Remi came to the see of Reims before 496.
The fifth council of Orleans, a.d. 549, places (c.
13) the property of xenodochia on the same foot-
ing, with regard to alienation, as that of churches
and monasteries ; and (c. 15) makes special pro-
vision for the magnificent hospital which, under
the influence of its bishop Sacerdos, Childebert
with his queen Ultragotha had founded in Lyons,
forbidding the bishop of that city to merge any
of its property in that of his church, or to dimi-
nish its privileges in any way, and enjoining him
to take care that active and God-fearing super-
intendents (praepositi) be always appointed, and
that the care of the sick and the entertainment
of strangers be always maintained according to
the statutes.
We do not trace the existence of hospitals in
the African fathers or councils. In Victor's
account of the Vandal persecution (i. 8), we find
that Deogratias bishop of. Carthage, A.D. 455,
turned two churches into hospitals for the re-
ception of the wretched captives who were poured
on the African shores from Italy ; but this was
a temporary expedient, such as has often been
adopted in times of calamity. But we are not
to suppose that the sick of the African church
were ill-cared for ; the houses of the bishops, the
clergy and the monks often served for the recep-
tion of the sick. Augustine (Possidius, Vita
Aug. cc. 22, 23) exercised constant care for the
sick and poor, and (^Regnla ad Servos Dei, c. 5)
gives directions to monks as to their reception
and treatment of the sick and infirm ; directions
in which he seems to contemplate the case not
only of feeble members of the monastic body, but
of sick persons brought in from without.
In the Teutonic countries, we have of course
no accounts of hospitals of so early a date as
those which have been mentioned in Italy and
Gaul. Chrodegang, however (^Heguki, c. 45, in
Migue's Patrol. 89, 1076), recommends that a
guest-room (hospitale) should be formed in a
suitable ])lace, convenient for the brothers to
visit ; and desires the brothers of his Rule, even
if they cannot maintain a hospital at other
times, at least in Lent to wash the feet of the
])oor in a hospital or guest-room. The famous
Alcuin at a somewhat later date also warned the
bishops of the great necessity there was for form-
ing hospitals, and probably also directed the at-
tention of his patron Charles the Great to the
same subject. To Eanbald, as soon as he entered
on his see, Alcuin wrote urging him to establish
" xenodochia, id est, hospitalia " (^Epist. 56, ad
Eanb., Ale. 0pp. i. 65) in which the poor and the
strangers might be received. In accordance with
the Rule of Chrodegang and the wish of Alcuin,
the synod of Aix, in the year 816, ordered (c. 28)
that every ecclesiastical foundation, whether ca-
nonical or monastic, should provide accommoda-
tion for the poor, the sick, the widows, and the
strangers. The poor-house was to be placed near
the church, and a priest was to be its superin-;
tendent ; the infirmary was to be within the con-
vent, as wore also the wards for the widows and
HOSPITALS
! poor maidens, though probably in a building sepa-
1 rate from that which contained the cells of the
canons or monks (^Conc. Germ. i. 539). The
I Frankish Capitularies also take order for the
maintenance of the poor and sick. Thus it is
ordered (i. c. 70, a.d. 789) that " hospites, pere-
I grini et pauperes " have the due entertainment
in various places to which they are entitled by
the canons ; a passage in which " peregrini " are
probably monks from other houses, "hospites" are
lay guests. And again (ii. c. 29) they bring xeno-
dochia, ptochotrophia, nosocomia, orphanotro-
phia, gerontocomia, and brephotrophia under the
same law as churches and monasteries with re-
gard to the non-alienation of their pi-operty.
The establishment of many of the hospitals
which existed in the northei-n countries in the
8th and 9th centuries is due to the Irish mis-
sionaries, who cared for the bodies as well as the
souls of the people among whom they preached.
Hence they received the name of " Hospitalia
Scotorum," ^ an expression found both in the
canons of Meaux (C. Meldense, c. 40), and in the
petition of the bishops of the provinces of Reims,
and Rouen to Lewis the Pious (c. 10, Baluze, Capit.
Franc.u. 111). These hospitals were cbsely con-
nected with the monasteries founded by the same
missionaries. Gretser {Ad Vit. S. Willlhaldi,
lib. i. observ. 19 ; Grets. Opera, x. 778) enume-
rates some of the hospitals of their foundation.
2. Administration of Hospitals. — In the first
instance, the hospitals, like other institutions of
the chufch, were under the immediate super-
intendence of the bishops. In many cases, as we
have seen, they were founded by the bishops
themselves from the funds placed at tbeir dis-
posal by the church, and so the oversight of
them naturally fell to the founder and his suc-
cessors. And even when endowed by private
persons, such foundation was regarded as of the
nature of alms, and so given into the hands of
those who were, directly or indirectly, the
universal almoners. The property of hospitals was
regarded (as has been shewn above) by kings and
rulers as being of the same kind as the property
of the church. And the attendants on the sick
were, at least in very many cases, drawn from
the neighbouring monasteries or houses of canons.
When the duty was laid upon bishops of pro-
viding, so far as in them lay, food and clothing
for those who in consequence of infirmity were
uuable to earn their own living {Cone. Aurel. I.
c. 16), it naturally followed that they super-
intended and directed the establishments for at-
taining this end.
It must however have been from the first
impossible for a much-occupied bishop to give
personal attention to all the details of a large
hospital, and therefore other clerics were em-
ployed under him on this behalf. We have seen
already that Aerius was a hospital-superintendent
under his bishop Eustathius ; and as early as
the council of Chalcedon, a.d. 451, we find the
clerics attached to the poor-houses {rSiv Trraixe'-
oir) placed on the same footing aS those of the
monasteries and martyr-churches, and admonished
to obey their bishops according to the tradition
of the fathers (c. 8), a passage which probably
indicates that they had been disposed to assert
!> It mu>t be borne in mind ttiat by " Scoti " at this
period we are to uiulerstaiid natives of Ireland.
HOSPITALS
too great independence. The legislation of Jus-
tinian provided carefully for the due administra-
tion of hospitals. Thus {Codex, 1. 42, § 9, De
Episcopis et Clericis) it is provided that prefects
of hospitals (of whatever kind) shall be appointed
according to the judgment and with the approval
of the bishop of the place ; and again {lb. 1. 46,
§ 3) bishops are enjoined not to administer the
hospitals within their dioceses personally, but
to appoint superintendents, and to act themselves
as visitors and auditors, in case of need removing
the officials. The same law desires that men be
appointed to such offices who have before their
eyes the fear of God and of the dreadful day of
judgment. The same code (1. 28) makes the
bishop of the diocese the executor of a will
containing a bequest for pious uses, where no
executor has been named in the will itself; and
desires him (1. 49) in cases where the testator
has not designated special objects of his bounty,
to apply the bequest to the benefit of the hospital
of the city, or to the poorest hospital, where there
were more than one. In deciding the question,
which is poorest, he is to take counsel with his
clergy. But in case there be no hospital (xenon)
iu the city, then the oeconomus or the bishop is
to take the bequest, and apply it for the benefit
of the poor. In case the bishop is negligent in
discharging this duty, then the metropolitan of
the province or the archbishop of the diocese
[see Diocese] may enquire into the matter and
compel the bishop to act. Or (1. 46, § 6) any
inhabitant of the city interested in the matter
may compel the carrying out of the will.
That in the time of Gregory the Great the
xenodochia were under the jurisdiction of the
bishop is clear from several passages in his
letters. Thus {Epist. iv. 27) he desires Janua-
rius, bishop of Cagliari, to take care that the
xenodochi render their accounts to him ; and
begs him not to let the hospitals fall to decay
by his neglect ; and he desires that men of jiroved
integrity may be appointed prefects of xenodo-
chia, atid these only ecclesiastics (religiosi), who
cannot be harassed by lay tribunals. To those
whom he himself had appointed prefects of dia-
coniae or xenodochia he gave full power over the
funds, expressly exempting them from rendering
an account to any one (Joan. Diaconus, Vita Greg.
ii. c. 51).
The bishops of the provinces of Reims and
Kouen, in their petition to Lewis the Piovis, son
of Charles the Great, beg that the rectors of
monasteries and xenodochia be made subject to
the authority of their bishops (c. 10, in Baluze
Capit. Franc, ii. 111).
3. Dedication. — Martigny (referring to Werns-
dorf De Columbae Simulacris) says that hospitals
were in ancient times commonly dedicated to the
Holy Spirit, which was represented under the
form of a dove, either on the fa9ade, or on some
other conspicuous part of the building. The
principal "hospital in Rome bears this designation,
and has borne it from a very remote period
(Fantucci, Tratt. di tutte le opere pie neW alma
citta di Boma, c. 1, quoted by Martigny).
(Thomassin, Vetus et Nova Eccl. Disciplina,
P. I. lib. ii. c. 89 ; Van Espen, Jus Ecclesiasticum,
P. II. sec. iv. tit. 6 ; Binterim, Denkwiirdigkeiten,
Bd. VI. Th. iii. p. 32 fF. ; Rheinwald, Kirchliche
Archdoloqie, § 41, p. 103 ff. ; Martigny, Diet, des
Antiq. C'hre't. s. v. Hopjltaux.) [G. A. J. and C]
HOSPITIUM 789
HOSPITIUM (also Hospitale). One of the
characteristics, perhaps the most commend-
able, of monasticism, was its unvarying hos-
pitality to all comers. None were to be re-
fused admission ; all were to be made welcome
(Bened. Reg. c. 53) ; especially monks, clergy,
poor, and foreigners (Heg. Fachom. c. 51 ;
Isidor. Feg. c. 23 ; Mart, ad Bened. £eg. c. 53).
No questions were to be asked {Feg. Fair. c. 4)
unless by the abbat's order {Feg. Taniat. c. 7.)
Even passing wayfarers were to be pressed to eat
before going on ; if they could not wait for the
usual hour, the dinner was to be served three
hours sooner than usual ; or, if they could not
stay even so long, they were to have their meal
separately {Feg. Mag. c. 72). Everything was
1 to be done in courtesy, and for the comfort of
the guests. The prior (or some others of the
brethren), was to meet them, and, after a few
I words of prayer by way of salutation, as well as by
way of precaution against any Satanic illusion,
' was to give and receive the kiss of peace ; on then-
arriving and departing he was to make obeisance
to them, as recognising in them a visit from the
Saviour (Bened. Feg. c. 53). He was to lead
them straightway on arrival to the oratory or
sacristy, (usually in Benedictine monasteries
close to the entrance-gate), and after praying
together (cf. Feg. Paelwm. c. 51) awhile, was to
sit with them, reading aloud, first some holy
book (lex divina), the Scriptures especially
j (Mart. loc. cit.), and then, these primary duties
attended to, conversing amicably (" Omnis
humanitas praebenda," Bened. Feg. v. s.) The
abbat himself was to bring water, this was to be
done at bedtime, and the footsore were to be
rubbed with oil, according to the rule (c. 10) of
Fructuosus, and with certain brethren in rotar
tion (so Martene understands " omnis congre-
gatio ") was to wash the feet of all without
distinction, repeating a verse of the Psalms
(Bened. Reg. v. s.). In compliment to the
guests, the prior, though not the other monks,
was excused from observing a fast day, unless one
of special obligation {ib.). If sick or delicate,
some dainties (" pulmentaria ") were to be pro-
vided for them (Fruct. Feg. c. 10). Nor were
the guests to leave the monastery empty-handed ;
for the journey, the best that the monastery
could afford was to be supplied as a parting gift
(viaticum).
In the annals of the monastery of Micy (Mici-
anum), it is recorded in praise of an abbat in the
6th century, that, though the monastery was then
very poor, its guests were always regaled with
wine, without being allowed to see that the
brethren were drinking only water (Mab.
A. A. 0. S. B. I. ad fin.). Caesarius of Aries is
similarly extolled by his biographer for keeping
open house as abbat ( Vit. Qo.es. Arelat. i. 37, ap.
Mab. ib.).
Such hospitality was sure to be largely used
in days when travelling was so difficult and so
dangerous. Benedict wisely provides for a con-
stant influx of strangers (" nunquam desunt
monasterio," Feg. c. 53). Nowhere indeed in
his rule is its tenderness and forethought more
remarkable than about the reception of guests.
In some of these arrangements he had been anti-
cipated. Cassian speaks of one of the older
monks being stationed by the abbat, with the
advice of the seniors, near the entrance of tlie
790
HOSPITIUM
monastery, to receive strangers as they arrived
(Cass. Instit. iv. 7). Benedict placed them
under the general supervision of the cellarer, or
house-steward {Beg. c. 31), and his deputies. Sub-
sequently, a distinct officer was created, the
" hospitalarius," corresponding to the eastern
" IfvoSdxos " (Mart, ad loc. cit. Alteserr. As-
ceticon, ix. 9 ; Du Cange, s. v v.), whose duties,
however, did not extend to the refectory. One
of the brethren, selected as a specially God-
fearing man (" Cujus animam timor dei habeat ")
was appointed by Benedict to look after the
guests' dormitory (" cella hospitum ") (Bened.
Jieg. c. 53) (usually on the east side of the Bene-
dictine quadrangle, over the " hospitium " ") ;
and two others were told off annually for the
guests' kitchen, which adjoined the abbat's
kitchen (usually on the south side of the quad-
rangle " with a window between (Mart. ud. loc.') ;
these officials were to have extra assistance, as
occasion required (26.). Every precaution was
taken, lest the influx of strangers should either
disturb the placidity of the " house of God " (Jb.),
or lead to the propagation of silly rumours about
it {ib.). Their sitting-room, dormitory, and
kitchen were all to be separate from those of the
monks (ib. of. c. 56). None of the monks, unless
expressly ordered, might exchange even in passing
a word with a guest, except to ask a blessing
(i6. cf. Reg. Mac. c. 8). Nor were the guests to
be trusted to themselves without supervision.
Care was to be taken that the monks' wallets
were not left about in the guests' dormitory ; and
two of the monks, whose turn it was to help in
the kitchen and otherwise for the week (" heb-
domadarii "), were to keep close to the guests
night and day (Reg. Mag. c. 79). It is not clear
whether Benedict intended the guests to be
entertained in the refectory at a separate table
with the abbat, or with him in a separate table
(Bened. Beg. c. 56); Martene thinks in the re-
fectory (Beg. Comment, ad loc. cit. ; cf. Gone.
Aquisgr. c. 27). The abbat on these occa-
sions might invite a few of the brethren to his
table, leaving the charge of the rest to the prior,
and might make some addition to the ordinary
fare (Bened. Reg. c. 56 ; Mart, ad I.e. ; Mab. Ann.
0. S. B. V. xiii.). It was strictly forbidden by
the council of Saragossa, A.D. 691, for lay 'persons
to be lodged in the quadrangle of the monastery
(" intra claustra "), even with the abbat's special
permission, lest contact with them should
demoralise the brethren or give rise to scandals ;
they were to be lodged in a separate house
within the precincts (intra septa) (Cone. Caesar-
august. A.D. 691 ; cf. Mab. Ann. 0. S. B. xviii.
XV.)
Benedict orders, that monks coming from
another country (peregrini) may, if orderly, pro-
long their stay in the monastery {Beg. 0. 61) for
one, two, or even three years (Mart. Reg. Com-
ment. 1. c.) ; and that any suggestions which
they make for its better management are to be
welcomed as providential (Bened. Reg. ib.). They
are then either to be dismissed kindly
(" honeste ") or formally admitted, not, however,
unless^ they bring commendatory letters from
their former abbat, or otherwise give proof of his
consent. Once admitted, they may be promoted
without delay at the abbat's discretion, to places
" Whitaker'b Uislory of Whalley, 4th ed. 1874, p. 121
HOST
of authority ; as may clergy similarly admitted
{ib.). Laymen, willing to stay on, are either to
take the vow, or to make themselves useful to the
monastery in some sort of work in return for
board and lodging ( Reg. Mag. c. 79).
It was part of the discipline of candidates for
the novitiate to wait on the guests in their sit-
ting-room (" cella hospitum," or " hospitium "),
according to the rule of Benedict, for some days
{Reg. c. 58), or, according to some later rules,
for three months (Isid. Reg. c. 5 ; Fruct. Reg. c.
21 ; Menard ad Bened. Anian. Concord. Regul.
Ixii.) [see Novice].
History shows how the simple and frugal hos-
pitality enjoined by Benedict and monastic law-
makers degenerated in time into luxury and dis-
play, burdensome to the revenues of the monas-
teries, demoralising to their inmates, and one of
the proximate causes of their fall, [I. G. S.]
HOST, from the Latin Hostia, a victim. It
was applied to sacrifices, or offerings of various
kinds in the ecclesiastical language of the West.
E.g. in the Vulgate version of Rom. xii. 1, we
have " Ut exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam "
(E. V. sacrifice) " viventem, sanctam, Deo placen-
tem, rationabile obsequium vestrum : " and
similarly in the Missale Gothicum, the people are
bid to pray that God " may cleanse the hearts of
all the offerers unto {i.e. that they may become)
a sacrifice (hostiam) of sanctification, reason-
able and well-pleasing unto Himself" {Liturg.
Gall, ed Mabill. p. 237). In the Vulgate of
Phil. iv. 18, it is used of almsgiving, "Hostiam
acceptam, placentem Deo." Christ, the one true
victim, is called hostia, as in Eph. v. 2, " Tra-
didit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et hos-
tiam." Similarly Heb. x. 12 : " Unam pro nobis
offerens hostiam." Compare Heb. ix. 26. This
is frequent in the old Latin liturgies. Thus in
the Gothic Missal, " Suppliant to Thee who wast
slain a victim (hostia) for the salvation of the
world, we pray, &c." {Lit. Gall. p. 235) ; and
"Whom Thou didst will to be delivered up a
sacrifice (hostiam) for us " {ibid. p. 257 ; comp.
p. 198). In the following example the church
commemorates and pleads that sacrifice :— " We
offer unto thee, 0 God, an immaculate victim
(hostiam), whom the maternal womb brought
forth without defilement to virginity " {Missale
Mozar. Leslie, p. 39). As the thank-offering
(Eucharist) of the Mosaic law had been called
hostia laudis (Ps. cxvi. 17), or hostia gratiarum
(Lev. vi. 13), so was the Christian thank-ofl'er-
ing, the sacramental commemoration of the death
of Christ. E.g. "Receive we beseech thee, 0
Lord, the sacrifice (hostiam) of propitiation and
praise, and these oblations of Thy servants"
{Miss. Goth. u. s. p. 253).
As the word properly expresses a concrete
notion, it would readily pass from the last mean-
ing to attach itself to the material symbols
offered in the rite. In the Missale Gothicum, in
a prayer said after the consecration, we read,
" We offer unto thee, 0 Lord, this immaculate
host, reasonable host, unbloody host, this holy
bread and salutary cup" {u. s. p. 298). The
following example is from the Mozarabic Missal :
— "This host of bread and wine, which have
been placed on Thy altar by me unworthy"
(Leslie, p. 445). It will be observed that in
these extracts the bread and wine (after conse-
HOST, THE ADORATION OF
ciation) are together called the host. Even in
the 11th century Anselm affirmed correctly,
" One host in bread and wine. . . . They call both
together by one name, oblation or host" {Ad
Walerannum, c. 2). Long before this, however,
it was sometimes restrained to the bread alone,
as in the three earliest Ordines Rotnani, which
range from the 7th to the 9th century: — "The
acolytes (carrying the consecrated bread) go
down to the presbyters that they may break the
hosts " (Musaeum Ital. tom. ii. pp. 13, 49, 59).
In these ancient directories the unconsecrated
loaves are always, and the consecrated more fi'e-
quently, called by the older name of " oblates."
When the phrase " immaculate host " was in-
troduced into the Roman Missal towards the
11th century (Le Brun, Explic. de la Messe,
P. iii. art. 6) from that of Spain, the mistake
was made of applying it to the unconsecrated
bread. See Scudamore's Notitia Eucharistica,
p. 370. [W. E. S.]
HOST, THE ADORATION OF. In the
modern church of Rome, the worship of latrii,
i.e. such worship as is due to God, is paid to the
consecrated symbol of our Lord's body in the
eucharist, under sanction of the dogma, that
the bread is, in all but appearance and other
" accidents," converted into that body, and that
His human soul and His divinity, being united
to His body, are therefore in that which has
become His body ; so that whole Christ, God
and man, is in it, and in every particle of it
(Catech. Trident, p. ii. de Euch. cc. 33, 35). Of
such adoration of the host the church knew
nothing, and could know nothing, before the
opinions which at last shaped themselves into
that dogma had taken possession of the minds of
men. But the Latin word adoratio, and the
Greek irpoaKvvnffis, like the old English worship,
have a great latitude of meaning, and are ap-
plied to the simplest outward tokens of respect,
no less than to that highest homage of the body,
soul, and spirit, which is due to God alone. For
example, in Gen. xxxvii. 7, 9, where the English
has "did obeisance," the Septuagint gives vpocre-
Kvvi](rav and TrpocreKvvovv ; the Latin Vulgate,
adorarc. Exod. xi. 8 : Eng. " Thy servants ....
shall bow down to me " ; Sept. TrpoffKwriaovffi
fif ; Vulg. adorabunt me. See Scudamore's
Notitia Eucharistica, p. 844. In this lower
sense, we find the word " adoration," and its
equivalents, employed within the period which
it is our part to illustrate, to denote the expres-
sion of reverence to the bread and wine, which
are the sacramental body and blood of Christ.
With this previous eiplanation, we give, in chro-
nological order, a catena of passages, which will
exhibit sufficiently, as we hope, both the feelings
of reverence which the early Christians had for
the sacred symbols, and the manner in which
they expressed it by words, or gesture, or care-
ful handling, and the like. Among these are
several which have often been mistakenly ad-
duced as affording testimony to the antiquity of
the Roman worship of the host.
Tertullian, A.D. 192, " We are distressed, if
any of our cup, or even' bread, be cast on the
ground " {De Cor. Mil. c. iii.). The context
shows that the allusion is to a religious rite.
Origen, A.D. 230 : " Ye who are wont to be
present at the Divine Mysteries, know how.
HOST, THE ADORATION OF 791
when ye take the body of the Lord, ye keep it
with all care and reverence, lest any particle
fall therefrom, lest aught of the consecrated
gift be spilled. For ye believe, and rightly
believe, yourselves to be guilty, if aught fall
therefrom through negligence. But if ye use,
and justly use, so great care about the keeping
of His body, how do ye think it involves less
guilt to have been careless about the word of God,
than to have been careless about His body ?"{Nom.
in Exod. xiii. § 3). St. Cyril of Jerusalem, A.D.
350 : " When thou drawest near, do not draw
near with hands expanded or fingers wide apart ;
but making thy left hand a throne for thy right,
as about to receive a king, and making the palm
hollow, receive the body of Christ, answering
Ame7i. Partake, therefore, having heedfully
sanctified thine eyes with the touch of the holy
body, taking care that thou drop nought of it.
Then, after the communion of the body
of Christ, approach thou also to the cup of His
blood, not stretching forth thy hands ; but with
head bowed, and with gesture of adoration (irpoff-
Kvf-fiaeeas) and reverence, saying Amen, be thou
sanctified, partaking also of the blood of Christ.
And while the moisture is still on thy lips,
touching them with thy hands, sanctify both eyes
and forehead, and the other organs of sense "
{Catech. Myst. v. §§ 18, 19). Pseudo-Dionysius,
who may have written as early as 362, in a
highly i-hetorical passage, makes the following
apostrophe to the sacrament : " But, 0 most
divine and sacred celebration (jeXirr) ; in the
Latin translation, Sacramentum), do thou, un-
folding the enigmatic wrappings that with
symbols enshroud thee, manifest thyself to us in
clear light, and fill our mental vision with the
only and unshrouded light " {De Eccl. Hier.
cap. iii. n. iii. § 2). Owing to the word TeAenij
(celebration of mysteries) having been rendered by
Sacramentum, this passage has been often brought
forward as an address to " the Sacrament ;" i.e.
to the consecrated host (Bellarm. Disput. tom.
iii. 1. iv. c. 29 compared with 1. ii. c. 3). Had
the word been capable of that meaning, it would
still have been only an apostrophe, not an
example of adoration directed to the sacred
element. Gorgonia, the sister of Gregory Nazi-
anzen, A.D. 370, is said by him, in a dangerous
illness, to have "prostrated herself before the
altar, and called with a loud voice upon Him
who is honoured thereon" {Orat. viii. § 18).
This has been understood ( Bellarm. u. s. )
to mean that she worshipped the host on the
altar ; which for several centuries after that
time was not reserved there. St. Gregory him-
self goes on to tell us that " she mingled with
her tears whatever her hand had treasured of
the antitypes of the precious body and blood."
St. Ambrose, A.D. 374, commenting on the words
of the 98th Psalm, adorate scabellum pedum Ejus,
considers that " by the footstool the earth is
meant, and by the earth, the flesh of Christ,
which to this day we adore in the mysteries, and
which the apostles adored in the Lord Jesus"
{De Spir. S. lib. iii. c. 11, n. 79). Here it is
implied that a reverence is due to the conse-
crated earthly elements, not equal to that which
is due to Christ Himself, but in such proportion
to it, more or less, as our loyal resjiect for the
insignia of royalty has to that which we enter-
tain for the person of the king himself. St.
792 HOST, THE ADORATION OF
Augustine, a.d. 396, explains the same passage
at greater length, but does not lead us to a
different view of the adoration intended : " He
took earth of the earth; for flesh is of the earth,
and He took flesh of the flesh of Mary. And
because He walked here in the flesh itself, and
gave His flesh itself to be eaten by us unto sal-
vation, but no one eats that flesh unless he has
first adored, we have found out how such a foot-
stool of God may be adoi'ed, and how we not
only do not sin by adoring, but sin by not
adoring " (^Enarr. in Ps. xcviii. § 9). Com-
menting on Ps. xxi. 29 (Lat. 30), the same
father says : the rich of the earth " have them-
selves been brought to the table of Christ, and
take of His body and blood ; but they only
worship, — are not also satisfied, because they do
not imitate " {Ep. cxl. ad Honoratum, cxxvii.
§ 66 ; Sim. Enarr. i. in Ps. xxi. v. 30). Here,
however, it is doubtful whether the writer had
at all in view the reverence paid to the sacra-
mental body. He rather, perhaps, is thinking of
communion as accompanied by prayer, and as
the crowning act of the eucharist, or thanks-
giving. The following words of St. Chrysostom,
A.D. 398, have been supposed (Bellarni. u. s.) to
refer to the adoration of the eucharist : " Are
thy garments filthy, and it concerns thee not ?
But are they clean ? Then recline (^avdireffai,
rendered improperly adorate) and partake "
{Horn. iii. in Ep. ad Eph. c. i. vv. 20-23 ; often
quoted from the cento known as Horn. Ixi. ad
Antioch.). Again, a worship of the elements
has been inferred (Bell. u. s.) from this sentence:
"This table is in the place of the manger, and
here also will the body of the Lord lie ; not,
indeed, as then, wrapped in swaddling-clothes,
but clothed all around with the Holy Ghost.
The initiated understand. And the Magi then
did nothing but adore; but we will permit thee
botli to receive, and having received to return
hdinc, IfthtKi draw near with a clean conscience "
{/>!' /:<''[. J'/iilogono, § 3). Other passages, to
which contruversialists refer, in the works of St.
Chrysostom (as Horn. Ixxxiii. in St. Matt. ; xxiv.
in Ep. i. ad Cur. &c.), only exalt the sacrament,
do not speak of any adoration. Theodoret, A.D.
423 : " The mystic symbols do not, after the
consecration, pass out of their own nature ; for
they remain in their former substance, and form,
and appearance, and are visible and palpable, as
they were before ; but they are mentally per-
ceived as what they have become, and are
believed to be, and are adored as being what
they are believed to be " (JDialog. ii. torn. iv.
p. 85). Here tlic worship of latria cannot pos-
sibly be intended, because the' author, in the
same sentence, teaches that the "creatures ot'
bread and wine " are, after consecration, broad
and wine still. It may be remarked also, that
although many, or perhaps all,, of the foregoing
extracts may be seen quoted in favour of the
modern cultus of the host, there is not one that
is really to the purpose. Nor is it until the 7th
century, an age in which the outward observ-
ances of religion multiplied rapidly, that we find
any definite gesture of respect to the host men-
tioned. It was the custom at Rome then to
reserve a portion of the eucharist [see Fkr-
mentum], to be put into the chalice at the next
ce'icbi-ation. The earliest Ordo Romanus (§ 8.
Muiac. Itnl. torn. ii. p. S) directs that when this
HOURS OF PRAYER
is brought out for use, " the bishop or deacon
salute the holy things {sanctd) with an inclina-
tion of the head." In Ordo II., which is a
revision of the first, and perhaps a century later,
the bishop, "his head bowed toward the altar,
first adores the holy things," &c. (§ 4, p. 43).
See also the Ecloga of Amalarius, who comments
on this Ordo (§ 6, p. 550). The significance of
the action, may be estimated by the similar
respect paid in some churches to the goffjjel, e.g.
" The priests and bishops standing by uncover
their heads, lay down their sticks, and worship
the gospel by an inclination of the head " {Fitu-
alis Gabriel, Renaud. torn. i. p. 211). The last
passage to which we shall call attention, occurs
in the Acts of the council of Constantinople, A.D.
754 : " As that which He took of us is only the
matter of human substance, perfect in all things,
without expressing the proper form of a person,
that no addition of person may take place m the
Godhead, so also did He command the image,
chosen matter, to wit the substance of bread, to
be offered, not, however, fashioned after the form
of man, lest idolatry should be brought in "
(in Act. vi. Cone. Nic. ii. Labb. tom. vii. col. 448).
It is evident that the adoration of the host,
in its modern sense, could not have been known
when this was written.
As elevation is often supposed to imply adora-
tion, it should be mentioned that there was no
elevation of the consecrated elements in the West
before the twelfth century ; and that the so-
called elevation of the East was merely a " show-
ing of the gifts," designed to second the invitation
to communicate conveyed by the proclamation,
" Holy things for the holy " (see Notitia Eucha-
rtstica, pp. 546, 595). [W. E. S.]
HOURS OF PRAYER. I. This phrase
was inlierited from the elder church. "Peter
and John went up together into the temple at
the Hour of Prayer, being the ninth hour "
(Acts iii. 1). At first the observance of the
hours was of devotion only, but it was after-
wards made obligatory by canon on the clergy
and monks, and they began to be called
Canonical Hours. The earliest use of this ex-
pression is found, we think, in the rule of St.
Benedict (c. 67 ; in Holstenii Codex Regidaruin,
P. ii.) ; but it does not appear to have been very
common within the period of which we treat.
It occurs in the Reijida of St. Isidore of Seville
who died in 636 (cap. 7 ; Hoist, u . s.). St. Eloy,
A.D. 640, employs it : " To whom should it be
said that ' men ought always to pray and not to
faint ' (St. Luke xviii. 1), if not to him who daily
at tl- • Canonical Hours, according to the rite of
I'cch i.istical tradition, praises and beseeches the
I.oi-d without ceasing in the accustomed psalmody
and prayers " {Horn. xi. in Biblloth. PP. tom.
xii.). Bede in our own country (a.d. 701), in his
commentary on those words of St. Luke, copies
this sentence from St. Eloy. The "Canonical
Hours " are mentioned in the excerptions of
Ecgbriht, a.d. 740 (can. 28 ; Johnson's Engl.
Canons), and in the canons of Cuthbert, 747 (c.
15 ; ibid.).
II. What is meant hy an Hour. — By an hour
was understood a twelfth part of the natural
day, reckoned from sunrise to sunset, of what-
ever length it might be. Upon the use of this
natural measure of time bv the Jews is founded
HOUES OF PRAYER
that saying of our Lord: "Are there not twelve
hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he
stumbleth not ; because he seeth the light of
this world" (St. John xi. 9). The Eomans are
said to have adopted this division of the day
about B.C. 291. Martial refers to it as in use
among them, when he tells a friend that he
might read his book in less than an hour, and
that not one of summer's length {Epigr. lib. xii.
n. 1, ad Priscum). In the Fseudolus of Plautus
an " hour in winter " is said to be " shortest "
(Act V. sc. 2, 1. 11). The Greeks had learnt
this method in the 6th century before Christ,
when the sun-dial became known to them pro-
bably through Anaximander (see Diogenes Laert.
lib. 1. c. 7); and they retained it during their
subjection to the Roman empire. Thus iu the
Sentences ascribed to Secundus of Athens in the
time of Hadrian, a day is defined to be "the
space given to toil, the course of twelve hours "
{^ent. 4). As the time of labour varied, so
must the hours have been longer or shorter. It
IS employed beyond our period by Cassianus
Bassus, A.D. 940, as when he tells the tiller of
the land at what hour the moon sets and rises
on each day of the month {Geoponica lib. i. c. 7).
St. Augustine speaks as if he knew of no other,
"The hour in winter, compai-ed with the hour
in summer, is the shorter" {De Vera Itelig. c.
.\liii. § 80). Hence we infer that the natural
day and hour were also employed by the church
in his day. Amalarius at the close of our period
uses the same division of time with express
reference to the Hours of Prayer ; prefacing his
account of them thus: "The people properly
call the presence of the sun above the earth the
complete day. From this definition it may be
understood that a day of twelve hours ought to
begin at the rising and end at the setting of the
sun " {De Ordine Antiphonarii, c. 6 ; see also cc.
16, 70). By the first hour, then, we are to
understand that twelfth part of the natural day
which began at sunrise ; by the sixth that which
ended when the sun crossed the meridian; the
twelfth that which immediately preceded the
sunset.
The day and the night were further divided
into four equal parts. Each quarter of the day
consisting of three hours was named after the
last hour in it. Thus the first quarter, con-
taining the first, second, and third hour, was
called the third hour (Tertia, Terce), that is to
say, by the "third hour" we often have to
understand the whole interval between sunrise
and the beginning of the fourth (smaller) hour.
Similarly Sext is the space of the three hours
that follow, viz. the fourth, the fifth, and the
sixth, ending at noon, or twelve o'clock. None
embraces the seventh, eighth and ninth hours ;
and the last, called Duodecima, contains the
tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, ending at sunset.
This is satisfactorily shown by Fraucolinus {De
Temporihus Horar. Canon, c. xxi. ; Romae, 1571).
Hence St. Benedict {Regula, c. 48) was free to
direct that from Easter to the Kalends of October
None should be said " in the middle of the eighth
hour," and that from the latter time to Ash-
Wednesday " Terce should be performed at the
second hour."
III. The Prayers called Hours, cfc— By the
Hours of Prayer and the Canonical Hours wej'e
iilso understood the devotions themselves, con-
HOURS OF PRAYER
7it3
sisting for the most part of psalms and prayers, '
which were used at the stated times more pro- j
perly so called. Equivalents in this secondary
sense within the first eight centuries were
Ofticium Divinum, or Otficia Divina (see e. g. i
Beued. Regula, cc. 8, 43; Isidore of Seville, i)e .'
Ecd. Off. lib. i. c. 19), Cursus {so. Divinus)
(Oreg. Turon. de Gloria Mart. lib. i. c. 11 ; Hist. \
Franc. 1. viii. c. 15 ; ix. c. 6, &c.) ; Cursus eccle- !
siastici (Greg. Tur. Hist. Franc. 1. x. c. 31 ; n. \
19); Missa {Cone. Agath. a.d. 506, cap. 30; '
Cassian. De Cuenob. Instit. L. ii. c. 7) ; and so
Missa nocturna (Cass. m. s. 1. ii. c. 13), Vigiliarum
Missa (ibid. 1. iii. c. 8), &c. ; Missa Canonica
{ibid. 0. 5) (though it may be doubted whether 1
in Cassian's time the thought of dismissal was
entirely absent when that word was used) ;
Orationes Canouicae (ibid. 1. ii. c. 12). We find
used also the more general terms Diurna Cele-
britas, Solemnitas, Agenda, or, from the staple
of the devotions used, Psalmodia. The word i
synaxis (assembling) employed by the Egyptian, '
Syrian, and Grecian monks, conveyed to the j
mind alike the notion of the times at which and I
of the purpose for which they assembled (ibid.
lib. ii. c. 10 ; C'ollat. viii. c. 16, &c.). It was
often thus used in the West, but at first needed
explanation. Hence in the rule of St. Columban,
abbot of Luxeuil in Burgundy, and afterwards of
Bobio in Italy from 589 to 615, we read, "con- j
cerniug the synaxis, that is, the course of psalms ]
and the canonical method of prayers " (cap. 7,
Hoist. M. s. sim. Regula Donati, c. 75, Hoist. P. ''
iii.). In England the following example occurs
in 740, " These seven synaxes we ought daily to '
offer to God with great concern for ourselves
and for all Christian people" (Excerptions of
Ecgbriht, c. 28). It was Latinised by Collecta,
as in the version of the rule of Pachomius (ad '
calc. 0pp. Cassiani), and by St. Jerome, who says
"Alleluia was sung, by which sign they were
called to collect " (Epitaph. Paulae, Ep. Ixxxvi.).
By the Greeks the daily course was also called
the canon, because it was the prescribed rule or
norm of prayer. Thus Antiochus, A.D. 614,
" Our canon is called Psalmody " (Horn. CV.
Auct. Gr. Lat. Biblioth. PP. torn. i.). Compare ^
John Moschus, A.D. 630, Liinonarion, c. 40.
There is perhaps a much earlier instance in St.
Basil, A.D. 370, "Every one keeps his proper j
canon " i. e. observes the prayers assigned to him J
(Regulae Breviores, Resp. ad Qu. 147). St.
Benedict gave to the daily offices of his monks
the expressive name of Opus Dei, God's Work
(Regula, co. 43, 44, «&c.), a title soon adopted by
others (Caesarii Regula ad Man. c. 19, Hoist.
P. ii. ; Aureliani Regula, c. 29, ibid. &c.). It
was used conventionally as a complete equivalent 1
to Officium Divinum ; e. g. Opus Dei, celebratur, j
expletur (Reg. Bened. cc. 44, 52) ; dicitur,
canitur (Regula, SS. Pauli et Stephani, cc. 8, ,
11, Hoist. P. ii.). Opus Divinum is also found ■
as in Benedict (Regula, c. 19), Cassiodorius,
A.D. 562 (De Instit. Div. Litt. c. 30), &c. Obse-
quium Divinum also occurs at the beginning
of the 9th century (Cone. Aquisgr., a.d. 816, I
cap. 131). This use of obsequium, service, may
be traced to the Vulgate. See St. John xvi. 2 ; '
Rom. ix. 4; xii. 1 ; xy. 31 ; Phil. ii. 17, 30.
IV. The several Hours of Prayer and their
various Names. — Three hours of jirayer, the
third, the sixth, and the ninth wore observed liy
794
HOURS OF PRAYER
the Jews. " E%'ening and morning and at noon
will I pray," was the resolve of David (Ps. Iv.
17). Daniel " kneeled upon his knees three
times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before
his God" (Dan. vi. 10). Two of these hours
were determined by the times of the daily sacri-
fices (Joshua ben Levi in Lightfoot, Hor. Hehr.
in Act. Apost. iii. 1), which were otFered " in
the morning and about the ninth hour" (Josephus,
Antiq. L. xiv. c. 4. § 3). The force of St. Peter's
argument in Acts ii. 15, "These are not drunken
as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of
the day," depends on the fact familiar to his
hearers that the Jews generally did not break
their fast (See Grotius and others in loc.) before
the mo]-ning sacrifice and prayer. This there-
fore was about the third hour. We are expressly
told that "the hour of prayer" at which Peter
and John went up to the temple was the " ninth
hour" (Acts iii. 1). At the ninth hour Cor-
nelius, a proselyte of the gate, " prayed in his
house " (Acts x. 30). St. Peter " went up upon
the house-top to pray about the sixth hour"
(^ihid. V. 9). " We read," says Ardo Smaragdus,
and he may speak for many, " that the third,
sixth, and ninth hours were observed by the
ajjostles" {Comm. in S. Bened. Hegulam, c. 16).
The three hours of the apostolic church were
transmitted to the succeeding ages. Tertullian,
A.D. 192, speaks of " those common hours which
mark the divisions of the day, the third, sixth,
and ninth, whicli we may observe in Scripture
to be more solemn than the rest " {De Orat.
c. 25. See De Jejun. adv. Psychicos, c. 10).
Clemens Alex., A.D. 192, "If some assign stated
hours to prayer, as the third, sixth, and ninth,
the man of knowledge prays to God throughout
his whole life " (IStrom. 1. vii. c. 7, § 40).
" There are three times," observes St. Jerome,
" in which the knees are to be bent to God.
Ecclesiastical tradition understands the third,
the sixth, and the ninth hour" ((7omm. in Dan,
c. vi. V. 10).
In the 3rd century, however, we begin to hear
of five stated times of prayer. St. Cyprian,
A.D. 252, after citing the Scriptui-al examples
given above, goes on to say, " But beside the
hours observed of old, both the durations and
sacraments of prayer have increased for us now.
For we ought to pray in the morning
Also when the sun withdraws and the day fails,
we must by a necessary obligation pray again "
{De Orat. Dom. sub fin.). St. Basil in Cappadocia
speaks of these hours of prayer as necessary and
suitable for monks; the morning, the third
hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the evening
(Ecgulae fusius Tract. Resp. ad Qu. 37, §§ 3-5).
The morning office now introduced is called by
Cyprian (u. s .) matutina oratio; matutinae
oratioues by Aurelian {Regula c. 28) ; by Cassian
matutina solemnitas {De Coenob. Inst. lib. iii.
c. 3). By others it was called laudes matutinae,
from the use in it of the three last psalms,
which were called emphatically by the Latins
" laudes," and by the Greeks aivoi. Hence the
later common appellation of lauds. From this
the office also took the name of matutinae (Greg.
Turon. Hist. Franc. L. ii. c. 23 : Vit. Fair. c. 4,
&c. ; Ferreoli Betjula, c. 13 in Holsten. P. ii. ;
Guidonis Jicg. c. 39 in Hergot, Vet. Discipl. Mon.
Par. 1726). It was also called matutinum
sacrificium, as by Fructuosus {Reg. c. 3 ; Holsten.
HOURS OF PRAYER
M. s. and matutinum officium ; Isidor. Reg. c. 7 ;
Cone. Bracar. a.d. 560, can. i.) ; whence also
simply matutinum (Isid. ibid.). Matutinale offi-
cium is also found ( Vita S. Joann. Gorz. in Acta
38. Ben., saec. v. p. 392) and matutinus (sc. cur-
sus) {Regula Magistri, c. 34, Holsten.); also matu-
tinarius (Caesarii Reg. c. 21), and matutinarii
canonici (Aurel. Ord. post Reg.). But the most
common name w.as matutini, from the psalmi,
which formed the chief part of the office. This
was employed by Benedict {Rcgula, cc. 12, 13,
&c.) and was naturally adopted by many in the
same age (Pseud. -Aug. Reg. § i ; Caes. Reg.
c. 21 ; Aurel. Ord. u. s. &c.).
Among the Greeks this office is called by St.
Basil {Rcgulae fus. Tr. u. s.) rh opOpov, the office
of dawn, a name which it retains to this day ;
by St. Epiphanius, a.d. 368, " morning {etcdivoi)
hynms and morning prayers " (De Fide, c. 23) ;
in the so-called Apostolical Constitutions the
" prayers of dawn " (lib. viii. c. 34), and the
" thanksgiving at dawn " (c. 38).
The evening office was generally called vespera
in the West (Bened. Reg. c. 41 ; Isidor. Hisp. de
JSccl. Off. lib. i. c. 20), and vespertinum officium
(Isid. Reg. c. 7). St. Ambrose {De Virginibus,
lib. iii. c. 4, § 18) calls it the "hour of incense"
in allusion to the Jewish rite (Exod. xxx. 8 ;
Ps. cxli. 2 ; St. Luke i. 10). It was sometimes
called lucernarium, as in a comment on the
119th Psalm ascribed (incorrectly, we think) to
St. Jerome. "We (monks) pray at the third
hour. We pray at the sixth hour ; at the ninth.
We make the Lucernarium. We rise in the
middle of the night. Finally we pray at cock-
crow " (ad fin. Breviar. in Psalm. See also
Regul. Tarnat. c. 9, in Hoist. P. ii.). Another
form was Lucernarii, as in Regula Magistri,
(c. 36, Hoist. M. s.). In Spain, as we shall see,
the Lnceruarium was only considered the first
part of vespers. Vespers were also called the
twelfth (hour), as in the Regula Magistri (c. 34).
" Prime ought to be said in the same manner as
Twelfth, which is called vespers." The 2nd
council of Tours, A.D. 567, says, " The statutes
of the fathers have prescrihied that . . . twelve
psalms be said at the Twelfth with Alleluia,
which moreover they learnt from the showing
of an angel " (can. 18). A i-eference to Cassian
{De Coenob. Inst. L. ii. c. 5), who tells the story,
proves that the Twelfth is here an equivalent to
solemnitas vespertina. Compare the Ordincs at
the end of the Regulae of St. Aurelian in Holsten.
P. ii. pp. 110, 112; P. iii. pp. 69, 72. St.
Columban does not use the words vespers and
completorium in his rule, but (c. 7) orders a
certain service to be said " ad initium noctis." It
appears more probable that this refers to vespers,
the older office which must certainly have been
said in his monastery, though Menard and others
think that compline in meant. In the Greek
church, as partially in the Latin, the lighting
of the lamps gave the office its common name rb
AuxvitSy, though it is also called more properly
rh iffirepivov (Goar in Euchologio, p. 30). In
the Apostolical Constitutions (lib. viii.) the whole
office is called rh eo-yrepivSv (c. 35). It begins
with a Psalm (the 140th) called iirtXvxytos ;
prayers are then said for the catechumens, euer-
gumens, &c. These are then dismissed, and the
faithful say a prayer and thanksgiving by them-
selves, both of which are qualified by the title
HOURS OP PRAYER
(iriKvxvios (cc. 36, 37). At the council of Con-
stantinople A.D. 536, on one occasion the patriarch
announced rh \vxvik6v on Saturday evening in
the oratory of St. Mary (Act V. Labb. Cone. torn.
V. col. 212). The council held there in 691 (m
Trullo) ordered that there should be no kneeling
from Saturday evening until Sunday evening, "on
which they again knelt " eV toD \vxviKcji (can. 90).
St. Jerome at Bethlehem mentions at least six
houi-s as kept by the religious women whom he
advised : " There is no one who knows not the
third, the sixth, the ninth hour, the dawn also
and the evening .... In the night we should
rise twice or thrice" (Ad Eustoch. Ep. .xviii.).
To Demetrias he says, " Beside the order of the
Psalms and prayer, which thing is to be always
practised by thee at the third hour, the sixth,
the ninth, at even, midnight, and morning,
settle at how many hours thou shouldst learn the
Holy Scripture," &c. {Epist. xcvii.). Of Paula
and her community he says, " They sang the
psalter in due course at the morning hour, at the
third, the sixth, the ninth, at even, at midnight"
(Ad Eustoch. Epitaph. Faulae, Ep. Ixxxvi.), and
he advised that one preparing for that mode of
life be trained " to rise in the night for prayers
and psalms, to sing hymns in the morning, to
stand in the field like a good soldier of Jesus
Christ at the third, sixth, and ninth hour . . . .
and to render the evening sacrifice when the
lamp is lighted" (Ad Laetam, Ep. Ivii.). The
author of the Apostolical Constitutions says,
" Make prayers at sunrise, at the third hour, the
sixth, the ninth, at evening, and at the cock-
crow " (i. e. evidently at midnight) (lib. viii.
c. 34).
The ordinary night office of the monasteries is
called by Cassian solemnitas nocturna (Instit.
lib. ii. c. 4), and nocturni psalmi et orationes
(ibid. c. 13); by Pseudo-Augustine (Begula,
App. i. ad 0pp.) and others nocturnae orationes ;
whence simply nocturnae, as in the rule of
S. Ferreol, c. 13. Nocturni (sc. psalmi as in
Bened. Begula, c. 15; Aurelian Ordo Eegulae
affix. ; Begula Magistri, c. 33 ; &c.) was common.
It was also called Nocturnum Officium (Beg.
Mag. u. s.) ; Officium Vigiliae (Isidori Begula,
c. 7); and apparently the word vigiliae itself
conveyed the notion of the service used in the
nightly vigil (Benedicti Begula, c. 9 ; Isid. Beg.
c. 7 ; &c.). The Greek name for the nocturna]
office is ij.ea-ovvKTiK6v ( Orc/o Philothei in Euchol.
Goar, p. 7 ; Typicon Sabae. c. 5 ; see Leo Alla-
tius. Be Lihr. Eccl. Grace. Diss. i. p. 65).
In the 4th century there appears a desire to
conform the rule of prayer to the standard
which was supposed to be set up in the ll9th
Psalm, " Seven times a day do I praise thee "
(v. 164). St. Ambrose, A.D. 374, asks, "If
the prophet says. Seven times, &c., who was
taken up with the affairs of a kingdom, what
ought we to do, who read, Watch and pray, that
ye enter not into temptation i Certainly solemn
prayers are to be offered with giving of thanks
when we rise from sleep, when we go forth,
when we prepare to take food, when we have
taken it, and at the hour of incense (St. Luke,
ii. 10), lastly when we go to bed" (De Virgi-
nibus, lib. iii. c. 4, n. 18; Comm. in Luc. Ev.
lib. vii. § 88). If such were to be the practice
in private life, it would be felt, how much more
signally should monks observe the Psalmist's
HOURS OF PRAYER
795
rule? The argument had weight even with
those who understood, as St. Augustine (Serm.
xxxi. in Ps. cxviii. § 4) and St. Hilary (Tract, in
Ps. e%ind. lib. xxi. § 4) did, the Scriptural use of
that number. Because it is " universitatis indi-
cium," therefore (argues the former) " the
church with reason has praised God for His
righteous judgments seven times a day." Cassian,
A.D. 424, claims for his monastery, the founda-
tion of Paula at Bethlehem, the honour of having
settled the rule. This was by the addition of a
matin office, afterwards called prime, between
the matin lauds and teres. The lauds were
"said in the monasteries after a short interval of
time when the nocturn psalms and prayers were
over ;" i.e. shortly before sunrise, while the new
matin office, or prime, was said after it. We are
not told when it was introduced, but in Cassian's
time, though of Eastern origin, it was observed
" chiefly in the regions of the West " (De Coenob.
Instit. 1. iii. c. iv.). Nevertheless there is no
mention of prime in the rules of St. Caesarius
(bishop of Aries, A.D. 506) for monks and nuns
on week days, and only in one MS. of the latter
is it prescribed for Sundays (Martene, De Ant.
Monach. Bit. 1. i. c. iv. n. 2) ; nor does he men-
tion it in his homilies, though he entreats the
devout to rise early in Lent for vigils, and before
all things to assemble for " terce, sext, none "
(Horn. cxi. § 2, in App. 0pp. Aug.). He assumes
of course that they would be present at matins
and evensong ; and in the duties proper to litany
days we find him including attendance at church
at "the six hours" (Horn, clxxv. § 3). Some
sixty years later Cassiodorus omits prime in his
enumeration of the seven hours observed by the
monks (Expos, in Ps. cxviii. v. 164). Nor is it
recognised by St. Isidore of Seville a century
later either in his rule (Holstenii Codex Begid.
Monast. p. ii.), or in his work De Officiis. In the
latter (lib. i. c. 23) he even quotes what Cassian
says of prime as if it referred to the older matin
lauds, thus showing ignorance of the institution
of another matin office. It was however already
known in France, being ordered (and that as if
already known) in the rule of Aurelian, a suc-
cessor of Caesarius at Aries, A.D. 555 (Ordo
Begulae affix. Hoist. P. ii. p. Ill ; P. iii. p. 71).
Before the middle of the 7th century it had
found its way into Spain ; for it is mentioned in
the rule of Fructuosus (Holsten. P. ii. ; Begula,
c. 2) the founder of the Complutensian monas-
tery and many others, who died in 675. It had
been introduced in Italy, and an office for it
prescribed by St. Benedict, A.D. 530 (Hoist, u. s.
Begula, c. 17). It appears also in two other
Western rules of unknown authorship and coun-
try ; one (Pseudo-Aug. u. s.) of the 6th century,
and the other (Begula Magistri, c. 35, Holsten.
P. ii.) belonging to the 7th. It was without
doubt largely owing to Benedict and his fol-
lowers that it now became universal in the
Latin church.
The use of seven offices for the day and night,
and where prime was adoj)ted, of seven for the
day alone, was attained in the 6th century by
erecting the last brief prayers said before going
to bed into a formal and common service under
the name of Cotnpline. St. Ambrose, as already
quoted, probably referred to private prayer only ;
but St. Chrysostom, though the Greek monks
dill not adopt any set service answering to the
^96
HOURS OF PRAYER
Western Compline, appears to speak of hymns
sung together when he describes the life of
monks in his day. He says that they rise at
cockci-ow for psalmody and prayer, going to rest
again a little before light, that after completing
the morning prayers and hymns they turn to the
reading of the Scriptures, . . . then obsei've the
third, sixth, and ninth hours, and the evening
prayers, and, dividing the day into four parts,
honour God in each part by psalmody and
prayer ; . . . and after sitting (at table) a short
time, closing all with hymns, take their rest
{Horn. xiv. in 1 Tim. § 4). St. Basil again, re-
ferring to the custom of monks: — "When the
day is ended, thanksgiving for the things that
have been supplied to us and been prosperously
ordered, and confession of omissions voluntary or
otherwise, &c., are made (i.e. in the evening
office) . . . and again, at the beginning of the
night, prayer (atTTjo-is), that our rest may be
undisturbed and free from illusions " (Reg. Fus,
Tract. Resp. ad Q. 37, § 5). John Climacus, a.d.
564, in his Liber ad Pastorem,ssLys that a certain
abbot when vespers were over would order one
monk to say ten psalms (psalmorum odaria), an-
other thirty, a third a hundred, before they went
to sleep. The present writer has observed no
trace in the East within our period to secure any
such last act of devotion by appointing a form of
prayer for constant use ; but in the Latin church
the rule of St. Benedict, A.D. 530 (cc. 16, 17),
speaks of Compline as if it were already as well
known as Terce or Sext. He does not claim to
introduce it; nor does he ofler any explanation.
At the same time, his adoption of the new hour
would cause it to be widely received. Cassio-
dorus, who probably borrowed from St. Benedict
(see Caret's I)isse>-t. appended to the Life in
Cassiod. 0pp.), in his commentary on the 119th
Psalm, written about 560, remarks on the words,
" Seven times a day," &c. (v. 164), " If we desire
to understand this number literally, it signifies
the seven times at which the pious devotion of
the monks solaces itself; i.e. at matins, terce,
sext, none, lucernaria (vespers), completoria, noc-
turns."
The word completorium has been said to refer
rather in its origin to the completion of the
ordinary acts of daily life (Amalarius De Eccl.
Off. lib. iv. c. 8 ; De Online Antiph. c. 7) than to
the completion of the daily round of devotion.
This is the name of most frequent occurrence,
owing evidently to its adoption by St. Benedict
(cc. 16, 17); but completa is also found as in the
Ordines of Aurelian (Hoist. P. ii. p. 112: P. iii.
p. 72), and in the work of Isidore De Eccl. Off.
(lib. i. c. 21); though in his rule (c. 7) comple-
torium is used. A corrupt reading in the 2nd
canon of Merida, A.D. 666, which orders that
vespers be said on feasts prius quam sonum has
led to the conjecture that in Spain compline was
sometimes called somnum. No name is given to
the office by Fructuosus of Braga, 656, who ap-
pears however to refer to compline when in his
rule (c. 2) he says, " In the night season there-
fore the first hour of the night is to be celebrated
with six prayers, &c." After describing the
office, he speaks of the manner in which the
monks shall retire to rest. When the Greeks at
length prescribed a constant form answering to
the Latin completorium, they called it aTr6hinTvov
because it followed the last meal of the day.
HOURS OF PRAYER
Perhaps the earliest authority is the Typicon
ascribed to St. Sabas, who died in the 6th cen-
tury, but which cannot in its present form be
earlier than the 11th.
In some monasteries a ninth office was said,
called Lucernaritlm. There was from an early
period a pious custom of praying when lamps
were lighted in the evening, an action so marked
among the old Romans as to give name to that
part of the day (prima fax, or prima lumina).
" It seemed good to our fathers," says St. Basil,
" not to receive in silence the gift of the evening
light, but to give thanks as soon as it appeared.
But who was the author of those words of thanks-
giving at the lighting of lamps we are unable to
tell. The people, however, utter the ancient
saying, and by no one have they ever been
thought guilty of impiety, who say, ' We praise
the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit of God ' "
(De Spir. Sanct. c. Ixxiii.). In the Mozarabic
Breviary are the following directions for the
performance of this rite : — "A commencement is
made by the invocation of Jescts Christ (the
Lord's Prayer preceding it, ' Lord, have mercy,
Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy; Our
Father ' being said in a low voice) in a loud
voice, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, light witii
peace ;' that is, the light oflered. Those who
stand round respond ' Thanks be to God.' And
the presbyter says, ' The Lord be with you
always.' £esp. ' And with thy spirit.' And the
order of vespers whether it be a festival or not,
follows in this manner. This may be illus-
trated from other Spanish sources. E.g. the rule
of St. Isidore says, " In the evening offices, fii'st
the lucernarium, then two psalms, one responsory
and lauds, a hymn and prayer are to be said "
(cap. 7). The lucernarium is here considered
the first part of vespers. The second canon of
the council of Merida, 666, mentions that vespers
were said "after the offering of the light." In
the East the 140th Psalm, called the psalm at
the lighting (iiri\vxv^os) was said before vespers
(Compare Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 35, with
lib. ii. c. 59). St. Jerome at Bethlehem :— " Let
her be trained to offer the evening sacrifice when
the lamp is lighted " (^Ad Lactan. Epist. Ivii.).
Socrates says that " in Greece and at Jerusalem,
and in Thessaly they say the prayers at the
lighting of lamps very much in the same manner
as the Novatians at Constantinople" (Eccl. Hist.
lib. V. c. 22). Naturally, vespers which followed
these prayers came to be called in some churches
by the name of lucernarium, which appeared to
be the first part of it ; but sometimes the lucer-
narium was enlarged into a distinct office, said
some little time before vespers. Thus the rule
falsely ascribed to St. Augustine (0pp. App. i.),
after prescribing the psalm for matins, prime,
&c., says, " Let the same thing be observed at
vespers and compline ; but at lucernarium let
there be the (proper) psalm, one responsory,
three antiphons, three lessons." So in the rules
of Aurelian : — " At lucernarium let there be said
in the first place at all seasons, both on festivals
and ordinary days, a psalm in monotone (direct-
aneus), then two antiphons. In the third place
let there be said with Alleluia, one day the
hymn Deus, qui certis legibus ; another Dens
creator omnium, and a little chaj)ter. At- Twelfth
(vespers) eighteen psalms, an antiphon and
hymn, a lesson and little chapter. When ye are
HOURS OF rRAYER
about to take your rest, let compline be saiil in
the school in which ye remain " (lie;jula ad Mon.
Hoist. P. ii. ; Sim. ad Virg. ibid. P. iii.). Here a
distinction is clearly made between the lucevn-
arium and vespers. They are distinct offices. It
is probable, however, from the paucity ot' such
notices, that the former was treated as a separate
service on the same footing with the ancient
hours only in a very few communities.
V. Grounds of Observance. — For Matins, rea-
sons- of natural piety were often urged, as by
St. Basil, "That the first motions of the soul
and mind may be dedicated to God, and we admit
nothing else into our mind before we have
rejoiced in the thought of God " (i?e/. Fus. Tr.
Eesp. ad Q. 37, § 3) ; and in the Apostolical Con-
stitutions (lib. viii. c. 34), "To give thanks
because the Lord, causing the night to pass away
and the day to come on, hath given us light."
There was the Scriptural reason too, "That
the resurrection of the Lord, which took place
in the morning, may be celebrated by prayer "
(Cyprian, De Or. Dom. u. s.). Similarly, Isid.
Hispal. De Eccl. Off. 1. i. c. 22 ; Cone. Aquisgr.
cap. 130.
There was a practical reason for the institution
of Prime, as well as the ground of religious sen-
timent, to which we have already had occasion
to refer. It was found that the long interval
between the matin lauds and terce was often
spent in comparative idleness and sloth. The
new office was therefore introduced to prevent
this (Cassian, Coenob. Inst. 1. iii. c. 4). With
this statement compare the provision of a
Western rule : " After morning prayers let it
not be lawful to return to sleep ; but when
matins are finished let prime be said forthwith.
Then let all employ themselves in reading to the
third hour" (Aurel. Reg. ad Monach. c. 28).
The third, sixth, and ninth hours, which were
observed earlier than any other, were thought
to have been selected in honour of the Holy
Trinity. Thus St. Cyprian—" We find that the
three children with Daniel, strong in faith and
conquerors in captivity, observed the third, sixth,
and ninth hours for 'a sacrament of the Trinity,
which was to be manifested in the last time ;
for the first hour coming to the third exhibits
the full number of a Trinity, and again the
fourth proceeding to the sixth declai-es another
Trinity, and when the ninth is completed by
three hours from the seventh a perfect Trinity
(i. e. a Trinity of Trinities) is numbered " {De
Orat. Dom. sub fin.). Similarly Isid. Hispal. De
Eccl. Off. lib. i. c. 19 ; Concil. Aquisgr. a.d.
816, c. 126. The significance of these hours
taken separately will be shown below.
Terce, as we have seen, was the continuation
of a Jewish custom, as were Sext and None. But
there were Christian reasons of great weight for
retaining it. " The Holy Ghost," says Cyprian,
" descended on the disciples at the third hour "
{De Or. Dom. u. s. ; Sim. Basil, u. s. ; Resp. ad
Q. 37; Hieron. Comm. in Dan. vi. 10; Isid.
Hisp. u. s. &c.).
Another ground alleged was that " at that
hour the Lord received sentence from Pilate "
{('0713. Apost. 1. viii. c. 34). St. Mark xv. 2.5
refers the crucifixion to the third hour, i. e. to
the third of the twelve hours between sunrise
and sunset ; but if the condemnation took ])lace
between that and simrise, it was also correct I v
HOURS OF PRAYER 797
said ill ecclesiastical language to have been at
the third hour. So John xix. 14, reckoning
apparently from midnight, places the condemna-
tion at " about the sixth hour," which brings it
down to the third hour understood of the larger
space of time, and reckoned from sunrise.
With reference to Sext, it was observed that
St. Peter "at the sixth hour went up to the
house-top, and was both by sign and by the voice
of God warning him, instructed to admit all to
the grace of salvation " (Cypr. u. s. comp. Hieron.
u. s.). Another and more important reason was
that "The Lord was crucified at the sixth hour"
(Cypr. M. s. Sim. Constit. Apost. u. s. Isid. Hispal.
u. s. Cone. Aquisgr. u. s.), a statement, which if
taken to the letter, can only be reconciled with
that of St. Mark, by supposing the " sixth hour "
to cover the fourth, fifth, and sixth of the smaller
hours. If however it means no more than that
our Lord hung on the cross at that hour, it needs
no explanation.
None was said to be observed because " Peter
and John went up to the temple at the ninth
hour of prayer " (St. Basil, m. s. ; St. Jerome,
M. s.) ; but more than all because "at the ninth
hour Christ washed away our sins with His
blood " (Cypr. Constit. Apost. &c. as before).
The pious sentiment which dictated the prayers
developed in some religious houses into a dis-
tinct office, called lucernarinm, came before us
while we traced the oi-igin of that rite.
Evensong was especially an office of thanks-
giving. St. Basil — " Is the day ended ? Thank
Him who hath given us the sun to minister to
the works of the day" {Horn, in Mart. Jidittam,
§ 2). "In the evening giving thanks that God
has given us the night for a season of rest from
the labours of the day" {Const. Apost. m. s.).
Another thought is connected with it by St.
Cyprian : — " Because Christ is the true sun and
the true day, when, at the departure of tiie sun
and day of the world, we pray and beseech that
the light may come on us again, we are praying
for the coming of Christ, who will give the
grace of everlasting light " {De Orat. Dom. u. s.).
A third gi'ound of this observance is suggested
by Cassian, viz., that the eucharist was " de-
livered to the apostles by the Lord the Saviour
in the evening" {Instit. 1. iii. c. 3; so Isidore,
De Eccl. Off. 1. i. c. 20; Cone. Aquisgr. c. 127);
and with this was associated the completion of
the passion on the following day towards the
evening, and about the time of the evening
sacrifice (Isid. &c. u. s.).
For Compline there was the strong natural
reason, often alleged for private prayer before
going to sleep at night, as e. g. in a tract doubt-
fully ascribed to St. Chi'ysostom : — " With what
hope wilt thou come to the season of night;
with what dreams dost thou expect to converse,
if thou hast not walled thyself round with
prayers, but goest to sleep unpi'otccted ?" {Dc
Precat.^ Or. I. sub fin.). The zeal of David
(Ps. oxxxii. 3-5) was held up as a model : —
"This thing ought powerfully to admonish us
that, if we wish to be ' a place for the Lord '
and desire to be accounted His tabernacle and
temple, we should follow the examples of the
saints, lest that which is read should be said of
us, ' They have slept their sleep, and none of the
men of might have found their hands'" (Isid.
M. s. 1. !.'<•. 21; so Cnnc. Aquisgr. c. 128;
798
HOURS OF PRAYER
Raban. u. s. 1. ii. c. 7). "Every one," says
Amalarius (Z>e Eccl. Off. 1. iv. c. 8), " who has
even a little sense, knows how many dangers
may assail a man from without when sleeping
more than when waking. This office is in some
sort analogous to that commendation, by which
a man commends himself to God, when he is
passing away from this world. Sleep is the
image of death," &c.
Nocturns originated in the pious custom of
prayer when one woke in the night. Tertullian
says of the meals of Christians, "They are so
filled as they who remember that even in the
night God is to be worshipped by them " (AjJol.
c. 39). St. Cyprian : — " There can be no loss
from the darkness of night to those who pray ;
for there is day even in the night to the sons of
light " (/)e Orat. Dom. sub fin.). Clemens of
Alexandria (Paedag. 1. ii. c. 9, § 79) :— " Often in
the night should we rise from bed and bless God ;
for happy are they who watch unto Him, thus
making themselves like the angels whom we call
watchers " (Dan. iv. 13, &c.). " Without this
prayer" (i.e. prayer expressed in words), says
Origen, "we shall not pass the season of the
night in a fit manner" (De Orat. c. 12). He
refers to David (Ps. cxix. 62). and St. Paul and
Silas (Acts xvi. 25). St. Cyril of Jerusalem
asks, " When is our mind more intent on
psalmody and prayer? Is it not in the night?
When do we most frequently come to the re-
membrance of our sins ? Is it not in the night ?"
(Catech. ix. § 4). St. Ambrose cites the example
of Christ :— " The Lord Himself passed the night
in prayer, that by His own example He might
invite thee to pray " (Expos, in Ps. cxviii. v. 62 ;
Serm. viii. § 45). Elsewhere he says: — "In thy
chamber itself I would have psalms by frequent
alternation interwoven with the Lord's Prayer,
either when thou hast waked up or before sleep
bedews the body, that sleep may find thee at the
very entrance on rest free from care of worldly
things and meditating on divine " (De Virginibus,
lib. iii. c. iv. § 19). "David every night watered
his couch with tears ; he rose also in the middle
of the night that he might confess to God, and
dost thou think that the whole night is to be
assigned to sleep ? Then is the Lord to be the
more entreated by thee ; then is protection to be
(more) sought, fault to be (more) guarded against
when there appears to be secrecy, and then above
all, when darkness is round about me and walls
cover me, must I reflect that God beholds all
hidden things " (in Ps. cxviii. Expos. Serm. vii.
§ 31). The example of our Lord was urged : —
" The day is not enough for prayer. We must
rise in the night and at midnight. The Lord
Himself passed the night in prayer; that He
might invite thee to pray by His own example "
(ibid. Serm. viii. § 45). St. Hilary, after dwell-
ing on the words of David, adds, " The mind is
not to be released by the dangerous idleness of
wakefulness in the night, but to be employed in
prayers, in pleadings, in confessions of sins ; that
when occasion is most given to the vices of the
body, then above all those vices may be subdued
by the remembrance of the divine law " ( Tract
in Ps. cxviii. lit. vii. § 6). To these motives St.
Basil adds, " Let the night supply other grounds
of prayer. When thou lookest into the sky and
gazest on the beauty of the stars," &c. (Horn, in
Mart. .Julitf. § 3).
HOURS OF PRAYER
VI. The Times of the Offices. — For Nocturns
some rose at cockcrow, as prescribed in the Apo-
stolical Constitutions (lib. viii. 34). So St. Chry-
sostom : — " As soon as the cock crows the prefect
is standing by (the sleeping monk), and strikes
him as he lies lightly with his foot, and so wakes
all straightway" (Horn. xiv. in 1 Tim. § 4). St.
Columban's rule says the "middle " of the night
(c. 7) ; and in Gregory of Tours one speaks of
himself as rising "about midnight ad redden-
dum cursum " (ffist. Franc, lib. viii. c. 15). St.
Benedict orders his monks to rise for vigils " at
the eighth hour of the night in winter ; i.e. from
the Kalends of November to Easter," but during
the rest of the year the time of vigils was to be
regulated by that of matins, which it was to
precede by a " very short interval " (Peg. cap. 8).
Another rule, of the 7th century, orders nocturns
to be said before cockcrow in winter, and after it
in summer, when it was to be " soon " followed
by matins (Regula Magistri, c. 33). In Spain
the severe rule of St. Fructuosus prescribed two
or three offices for the night according to the
season, one " before midnight," and a second " at
midnight," throughout the year, and in winter
a third " after midnight " (Reg. cap. 3) ; thus
carrying out to the letter the exhortation of St.
Jerome to Eustochium, " You should rise twice
or thrice in the night " (Epist. xviii.).
From the tmion of nocturns with matins, of
which we have seen the beginning, the double
office was at a later period called indifferently,
nocturns or matins, or lauds.
Matins, properly so-called, were said in the
morning watch, or fourth watch of the night ;
that is to say, at any part of that space of three
natural houi-s which preceded sunrise. They
were to be over by dawn : Post matutinum
tempus sequitur diluculum (Amal. de Ord. An-
tiph. c. 5). St. Benedict ordered matins to be
said " when the light began " (Reg. c. 8). If it
surprised them at nocturns, the latter were to be
shortened (c. 11). So early as the beginning of
the 5th century, matins (solemnitas matutina)
were " wont to be celebrated in the monasteries
of Gaul a short interval of time after the night
psalms and prayers were finished " (Cassian,
Instit. lib. iii. c. 4).
Prime was said in the first natural hour after
sunrise. This appears from Cassian's account of
its origin. The monks were to be allowed to
rest after matins, " usque ad solis ortum," and
were then to rise for the new office (Instit. u. s.).
And so, four centuries later, Amalarius:— " We
begin the first of the day from the rising of the
sun " (De Ord. Ant. c. 6) ; and Rabanus fixes it
" at the beginning of the day when the sun first
appears from the east" (De Instit. Cler. lib. ii.
c. 3).
Terce might originally be said at any part of
the three hours which began at sunrise (see
before § ii.) ; but after the institution of prime
it could only be said during the two last. It
was not in practice always confined to the last ;
for in the rule of an unknown author, formerly
ascribed to St. Jerome, it is expressly provided
that on fast-days, terce, sext, and none, be each
said an hour earlier than usual (cap. 34 ; inter
0pp. S. Hieron. tom. v. ed. Ben.). See also the
rule of St. Benedict, as cited in § ii.
As the lamps were lighted in preparation for
evening prayer, the iMcernarium, as a merely
HOUSE
preliminary act of devotion would be said imme-
diately before that ; and it was in fact as we
have seen, often considei-ed an actual part of the
office. Where it became a distinct service, there
would, we presume, be an interval of some length
before vespers began ; but we have no informa-
tion on the subject.
" It becomes evening when the sun sets " (St.
Aug. in Ps. xxix. v. 6, Enarr. ii.). Nevertheless
vespers were more generally said in the hour
before sunset. This is why the office was called
Duodecima (see before § iv.). " We celebrate the
evening synaxis," observes Amalarius, '' about
the 12th hour, which hour is about the end of
the day " {De Vrd. Antiph. c. 6) ; " most fre-
quently before sunset " {ibid. c. 70 ; comp. c. 16 ;
Isid. Hisp. de Eccl. Off. lib. i. c. 20; Raban.
Maur. De Instit. Cleri, lib. ii. c. 7). Benedict,
in fact, made a rule, which must have influenced
the custom greatly, that vespers should be said
at all seasons while it was yet daylight ; and
that in Lent, when refection followed vespers,
they should be said at such an early hour that
the meal might be over before the light failed
{Beg. cap. 41). Another authority says, " Ves-
pers ought to be said while the rays of the sun
are still declining." " In summer, on account of
the short nights, let lucernaria (here vespers)
be begun while the sun is still high " {Regula
Magistri, c. 34).
The history of compline has shown the pi-oper
time of saying, viz. before retiring to rest ; and
this was the time observed by the monks within
uur period. Thus a MS. of the Regula of pseudo-
Augustine, now 1200 yeai-s old : — " After this
{i.e. after certain lessons read at night) let the
usual psalms be said before sleep " (Note of
Bened. editors, App. i. 0pp. Aug.). St. Isidore :
— " Compline being ended, the brethren, as the
custom is, having wished each other good night
before sleeping, must keep still with all heed and
silence until they rise for vigils " {Reg. c. 7).
St. Fructuosus, after prescribing the office of
" the first hour of the night," orders his monks
to bid each other good-night and retire to their
dormitories {Reg. i. c. 2). Another rule forbids
the monks to speak, eat, drink, or do any work
after compline {Regula Magistri, c. 30). Ama-
larius {Be Eccl. Off. lib. iv. c. 8) tells us that
compline was said in the conticinium ; i.e. in the
third part of the night, reckoning from sunset,
when it was divided, as by the Romans, into
seven.
When vespers were said earlier compline was
put earlier too, and one writer at the close of
our period gives it the name of Duodecima
(Smaragdus, Comment, in S. Ben. Reg. c. 16). It
had already taken possession of the hour so long
occupied by vespers. At length it became the
common opinion that it ought to be said at the
twelfth hour (Francolinus, u. s. cap. 18).
For a description of the several offices, see
Office, the Divine. [W. E. S.]
HOUSE. In Aringhi, i. p. 522, ii. 658, are
woodcuts of houses from ancient tombs [TOMBJ.
This, perhaps, refers to the grave as the
house of the dead, an idea or expression inherited
from heathenism (Ho]-ace Carm. i. iv. 19, and Bol-
detti, p. 463 ; even Domus Aeterna, Ferret v. pi.
36, X. 110), or to the deserted house of the soul,
the buried body (2 Cor. v. i.), " For wo know that
HUESCA, COUNCIL OF
799
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis-
solved, we have a building of God," &c. In one
of the plates from Aringhi above referred to
(ii. 658) there is a house of the grave, with a
small mummy of Lazarus; laid up alone (de-
positus or repositus) to abide the resurrection.
The houses of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, repre-
senting the Jewish and Gentile churches, occur
frequently in ancient paintings and mosaics.
[Bethlehem.] How far the word Beth, as part
of Bethlehem (" house of bread "), may be con-
nected with the Christian import of this symbol,
is hard to say. [R. St. J. T.]
HOUSE OF CLERGY. [Manse.]
HOUSE OF PRAYER. [Church ; Ora-
tory.]
HRIPSIMA, and companions, virgin-martyrs
under Tiridates ; commemorated June 3 {Cat.
Armen.). [W. F. G.]
HUBERT (HucBERTUS), bishop and confes-
sor (1727 A.D.) ; commemorated May 30 {Mart.
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
HUCKSTERS. The mind of the church
has of course always been against all unprin-
cipled gain in traffic, even when permitted by
law and custom. Adulterators or fraudulent
dealers (/caTrijAoi) are enumerated {Apost. Constt.
iv. 6, § 2) among those whose oblations are not
to be received.'' And again {Ih. viii. 32, §5)
the (coTTTjAoy is classed with the stage-players
and dancers, among those who must abandon
their profession before they can be admitted to
the church. Lactantius {Div. Inst. V. c. 16)
emphatically rejects the doctrine of Carneades,
that the seller is not bound to declare the
faults of the article which he has for sale, and
insists that the Christian conscience requires
perfect frankness and openness in such a matter.
In the same spirit St. Augustine {Tract. 41 in
Joan.) puts fraud on the same level as fornica-
tion and theft, and gives high praise {De Trin.
xiii. 3) to one who, in buying a book, declined to
overreach the seller, who was ignorant of its
value. So, too, Hilary (on Ps. cxix. [cxviii.
Vulg.] 139) enumerates cheating (falsitates)
among the things which make our bodies a den
of thieves. In short, all kinds of unprincipled
dealers {paSLOvpyoi) and sorcerers, all who give
short weight or measure {(uyoKpovcrTai Kal SoKo-
ixerpat) are condemned {Apost. Const, iv. 0, § 1 ).
Tertullian {De hlolol. c. 11; cf. Epiphanius,
Expos, Fid. c. 24) and some others regard with
disfavour all gain derived from mere buying and
selling of goods, considering the labour of the
hands the proper means of earning a living.
But Leo the Great {Epist. 92, ad Rustic, c. 9)
reasonably distinguishes between honest and un-
principled gain (quaestus honestus aut turpis) ;
the culpability or innocence of gain (he holds)
depends upon its character; there is no harm
in profit not derived from fraudulent practice.
Compare Commerce.
(Bingham's Antiq. XVI. xii. 17). [C]
HUESCA, COUNCIL OF {Oscense c), at
the town so called in the north of Arragon, in
Spain, A.D. 598, or the thirteenth year of king
» The word does not seem to be used here in the llmltoJ
sense of the Latin C'aiipn, a tavern-keeper.
800
HUMERALE
Reccai-ed. No further particulars are preserved
of it, than that it provided for the holding of a
synod every year in each diocese, to inquire into
the morals of the monks and clergy, and pre-
scribe rules for their conduct (Mansi, x. 479-82).
[E. S. Ff.]
HUMERALE. [Amice.]
HUNTING. Field-sports have been under
the censure of the church from an early period,
and in the many canons relating to them there is
very little trace of any disposition to relax the
severity of absolute prohibition, or to allow ex-
ceptional cases in which they might he necessary
or desirable.
By the 55th canon of the council of Agde
(C Agathense), A.d. 544, bishops and presbyters
are forhidden to keep hawks and hounds for the
chase under penalty of three months' excommu-
nigation in the case of bishops, and of two
months' in the case of priests, and of one in the
case of deacons. The same abstinence is enjoined
on bishops, presbyters and deacons, under the
same penalty by the 4th canon of the council of
Epaon. By the 3rd canon of the council of Sois-
sons, not only bishops, presbyters and deacons,
but all ecclesiastical persons (clerici) are forbid-
den to hunt with hounds or to take out hawks.
In the 8th canon of the third council of Tours,
priests are cautioned against the hunting of birds
and wild animals, and the second council of
Chalons (c. 9) addresses a similar warning against
devoting their time to "hounds, hawks, and
falcons," to laity as well as to clergy. It seems
that certain bishops kept dogs under the pretence
that they were necessary for the defence of their
houses; but they are reminded by the 13th
canon of the second council of Macron, A.D. 585,
that not " barks but hymns, not bites but good
works " are the proper protection of a bishop's
house, which ought to welcome and not i-epel
men, and certainly not subject any who came for
the relief of their sorrows to the risk of being
torn by dogs.
Among prohibitions against the same pur-
suits, issued by individuals, is to be found a letter
of Boniface, bishop of Mayence {Epist. 105),
probably written on the authority of pope
Zachary, forbidding " huntings and excursions
with dogs through the woods, and the keeping of
hawks and falcons;" and the same prohibition is
repeated, totidem verbis, in the 2nd canon of the
council of Liptine, a.d. 743, over which Bonifoce
presided. In the Liber Poenitentialis of pope
Gregory III. one year's penance is decreed against
one in minor orders (clericus), two years'
against a deacon, and three years' against a priest,
for hunting.
Ferreolus, bishop of Uzes, in his Rule (about
A.D. 558), forbids his monks to hunt and hawk
on the ground that such pursuits dissipate the
mind ; he allows them however to set dogs at
the wild animals which waste their ci'ops, but
only that they may " drive them away, not that
they may catch them." Jonas, bishop of
Orleans, A.D. 821-844, {de Institut. laic. ii. 23,
quoted by Thomassin), vents his indignation
against the nobles for spending so much money
on hawks and hounds instead of on the poor ;
and is even more fierce against them for the
hardships and cruelties which for the sake of
their sport they inflicted on the poor. The
HYDROMANTIA
frequent recurrence of these prohibitions and
the number of years over which they extend,
show how rooted was the taste for field-sports
among the Teutonic clergy ; and the language
of some of the canons indicates that these sports
sometimes became as oppressive as the Forest
Laws of the Middle Ages.
Looking on, or being present at the hunting,
or baiting, or fighting of wild animals in the
amphitheatre is just as sti-ictly forbidden. The
council in Trullo {Quiniscxtum), can. 51, orders
both laity and clergy to avoid " the spectacles of
huntings," on pain of excommunication, and
hunting is so frequently mentioned in connection
with games, dances, and dramatic performances,
that it must be concluded that the sports of the
amphitheatre are intended. The Codex Ecd.
Ajricanae (c. 61) entreats the emperors to put
an end to spectacles on great festivals, such as
the octave of Easter, and begs that no Christian
may be compelled to attend them. By the
council of Mayence (addit. 3, c. 27) it is ordered
that if any ecclesiastical person attend any
spectacle he is liable to three years' suspension.
By the 3rd council of Tours and the second
council of ChEilons, quoted above, the condemna-
tion of h unting is coupled with that of theatrical
spectacles, so that to look at a spectacle of hunt-
ing in the amphitheatre would be by the same
act to commit two offences against the canon.
The 8th canon of the council of Friuli {Foroju-
liense) issued a canon against the worldly pomps
and vanities in vogue, in which " huntings " are
mentioned with other amusements manifestly
scenic.
Theodosius the younger abolished contests
between men and brutes in the circus on the
ground that " cruel sights made him shudder "
(Socrates, Jf.E. vii. 22).
(Thomassin, Vet. et Nova Ecclesiae Disciplina,
III. iii. cc. 42, 43.) [E. C. H.]
HYACINTHUS, or JACINCTUS. (I)
Martyr at Rome with Amantius, Irenaeus, and
Zoticus; commemorated Feb. 10 (^Mart. Rwm.
Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr at Rome ; commemorated July 26
{Mart. Horn. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Martyr with Alexander and Tiburtius, in
the Sabine district; commemorated Sept. 9
{Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(4) Martyr at Rome with Protus under Gal-
lienus; commemorated Sept. 11 (Mart. Fom.Vct.,
Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. Bucher., Frontonis,
Sacramentarium Gregorii).
(5) Martyr at Caesarea, A.D. 108 ; commemo-
rated July 3 {Cal. Byzant.).
(6) Of Am,astris in Paphlagonia, martyr;
ommemorated July 18 {Cal. Bijzant.).
[W. F. G.]
HYDROMANTIA. The Dccretum Gratiani
(cau. 26, qu. 5, c. 14, § 3) has the following in
the enumeration of magic arts which are con-
demned : — " Hydromantici ab aqua dicti ; est
enim Hydromantia in aquae inspectione umbras
daemonum evocare, et imagineas ludificationes
eorum videre, ibique ab eis aliqua audire, ui)i
adhibito sanguine etiam inferos perhibentur
suscitare." The chapter from which this is
exti-acted is taken wholly from Rabanus De
HYDROMYSTA
Magorum Praestigiis, which is again a compila-
tion from Augustine and Isidore of Seville. The
passage of Augustine on which the account of
Hydromantia is mainly founded is De Civ. Dei,
vii. 35, and is to this eft'ect ; that Numa, having
no real divine inspiration, was compelled to
practise hydromancy, so as to see in water
images, or rather folse semblances (ludifica-
tiones), of the gods, and learn from them what
he was lo ordain with regard to the sacra of his
people ; and from this use of water for divining
purposes (says Varro) Numa gained the reputa-
tion of having consulted the uymph Egeria.
It is evident (as indeed Augustine says) tJiat
this hydromancy was a form of necromancy.
What was its exact nature is not apparent, but
it was probably similar to the divining by
means of a mirroi-, or of a dark fluid poured
into the palm of the hand, which is frequently
mentioned in accounts of magic. [C]
HYDROMYSTA (iSpoixiffTV^), the person
who had the care of the holy water in a church,
and sprinkled with it those who entered (Sy-
nesius, ' Epist. 121, quoted in Macri Hkrolex.
s. v.). C^'-]
HYMN (the Cherubic). A hymn so called
from the reference to the cherubim which it
contains, which occurs in the chief eastern
liturgies shortly after the dismissal of the cate-
chumens, and immediately preceding the " great
entrance" {i.e. that of the elements). It is
found in the same position in the liturgies of St.
James, St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, and St. Mark ;
and also in the Armenian, in which however it is
only sung on special occasions, other hymns
being appointed in its place on other days. It is
not found in the " heretical liturgies ; " which,
inasmuch as these underwent less alteration than
the orthodox, is an argument against the anti-
quity of the hymn. Cedreuus (Dupin Bibl. des
Aut. Eccles. lime Siecle) a Greek monk who
flourished towards the middle of the 11th
centurv, and who wrote " annals " from the
creation of the world down to the reign of Isaac
Comnenus, says that Justinian first ordered it to
be sung in the churches ; and it appears to have
been composed about that time. Its object is
described as being to excite the minds of the
faithful to a devout attention to the mysteries
about to be celebrated. While it is being sung,
the priest says secretly a prayer called "the
praj-er of the cherubic hymn." The words of
the hymn are : ol ra xepov^L/j. jxvaTtKus
elKoi/l(oi-Tes, Kal t&j ^iooiroiw TpiaSi rhv rpiffa-
yLov vfjivov a5ovT(s, itaffav ti'iV ^iuniKriv airo-
6d>/j.f6a /j-epifivav. ws rhv ^acriXia t<2v oKwv
vnoSf^duEvin rats ayyiAiKois aopdroos Sopv<pe-
ponivov Tctjfcni'. 'A\\7]\ovta. [H. J. H.]
HYMNARIUM. The book containing the
hvmns sung in the services of the church. Geu-
nadius {De Script. EccLcAd) says that Paulinas
of Nola composed " Sacrameutarium et Hymna-
rium;" see Gavanti, Thes. Sacr. Rituum, ii. 115.
Pelliccia {PoUtia, i. 159) gives Canfionalii, Libri
Chorales, as common designations of such books,
but supplies no instances of their use. [C]
HYMNISTA, a singer of hymns in the
church. Tims Prudentius (i. 118):
"Stati nunc hymnistae pro receptis parvulis,"
where the irregularity of the metre is not
CHRIST. ANT.
HYMNS
801
perhaps a sufficient reason for arbitrary cor-
rection (Macri Hierolex. s. v.). Obbar, however,
reads,
" .State nunc, hymnite matres pro receptis parvulis."
[C]
HYMNOLOGIA {hixvoXoyia) seems to be
equivalent to the service chanted at the Hours.
Thus Gregory of Tours {Hist. Rem. c. 25) says
that St. Remi with the brothers, " horarum
laudes persolvebat hymnologiarum," meaning
(seemingly) that he observed the course set
down in the Hymnologies, the term being used
so as to include psalms, canticles, autiphons, etc.
Macro {Hierolex. s. v.) supposes that Dionysius,
the Pseudo-Areopagite {Hicrarch. Eccl. ii'i. 2),
when he speaks of t) Ka6o\tK}i vfivoKoyla
having been uttered as a confession {irpoofjioXo-
yi]Qei<T7]s) before the elements wei'e placed on
the altar, meant the Creed. This is of course
possible, and Pachymeres {Paraphr. in loco)
seems to have taken it so ; for they had, he
says, even then, uddri/JLO. ri koI ffvixfidd-nna
iriaTscDs [Creed]. [C]
HYMNS. In the following article no at-
tempt will be made to deal with the literary
or theological history of Christian hymnody.
All that can be^ere undertaken is to give a
sketch of what is known respecting the litur-
gical use of hymns within the limits to which
this work is restricted. Much of the difficulty
connected with the subject arises from our un-
certainty as to how much was covered by the
word vfivo? in early Christian writers. Almost
everything sung, or rhythmically recited, which
was not one of the Davidic Psalms, was called a
hymn, or said to be " hymned." Even as late as
the middle of the ninth century, Walafrid
Strabo {De Rebus Eccl. c. 25) warns us that
by "hymns" he does not mean merely such
metrical hymns as those of Hilary, Ambrose,
Prudentius, or Bede, but such other acts of
praise as are offered in fitting words and with
musical sounds. He adds that still in some
churches there were no metrical hymns, but
that in all " generales hymni, id est laudes,"
were in use. The well-known passage of St.
Augustine {Enarr. in Ps. Ixxii.), which was for
centuries the formal definition of a hymn in
every ritual writer, gives us the same rule. A
hymn might or might not be in verse; but it
w'as always something meant to be sung, and
sung as an act of divine woi-ship. So Gregory
Naziauzen defines a hymn as alvos efj.fxe\r)s.
Further, Christian writers gradually learned to
use the term in contradistinction to the Psalm
of the Old Dispensation ; though both words
were for a time interchangeable.
It is obvious that from the very first. Gentile
disciples must have sought and found some
further expression for the praise of God than
the translation of Hebrew Psalms, or of the
canticles from the Hebrew jjrophets, could
afford. But at what period Christian songs of
praise first found their place in common worshij),
it is impossible to say. None can tell iu what
words Paul and Silas '^ vfivovv tov Qedv" in
prison (Acts xvi. 25); nor can we say with
certainty that the rhythmic i)assages iu the
Epistles (e. g. Eph. v. 14; 1 Tim. iii. 16, vi. 15,
l(j ; 2 'I'im. ii. 11-lH) are (niotatioiis from
.3 1'
802
HYMNS
hymns, though this has been frequently main-
tained. The parallel passages, again, Eph. v.
19, 20, and Col. iii. 16, 17, though evidently
pointing to some form of Christian song, yet
appear to connect these with social and festive
gatherings rather than with worship. Probably
they bore the same relation to the forms used in
public worship which the Spiritual Songs of
Luther, the " Ghostly Psalms " of Coverdale, or
the early Wesleyan hymns, did to the existing
forms of service in their day; and it may be
that, like some of the first and last of these,
they were subsequently adopted into divine
service. This we know to have been the case
at a later period with the (pcvs iKapov referred
to by St. Basil {De Sp. Smicto, c. 29) as being
(in his time) of ancient use ; it is still, as is well
known, a part of the daily office of the Greek
church. If this hymn were really the work of
Athenagenes (t 169), it would doubtless be the
earliest hymn now in use ; but a reference to
the passage in St. Basil will show that he did
not believe Athenagenes to be the author. This
hymn, with the early form of the Gloria in
ExcKLSis, the latter being given as the morning
hymn of the church in the Apostolical Consti-
tutions (vii. 48 Coteler.), probably represent in
their rhythmic but unmetrical structure many
early Christian hymns now lost. Of the ex-
istence of such hymns, from the time of Pliny's
well-known letter to Trajan {Epist. 97), we
have abundant evidence. The " hymning to
God the giver of all good things," by the Roman
Christians after the martyrdom of Ignatius
{Mart. S. Ign. vii.), may have been a burst of
extemporaneous thanksgiving ; but early in the
following century a Roman writer cited by
Eusebius (//. E. v. 28) tells us how i|/aA/iol 5e
'6aoi kolI 6ii5ai a^e\(pijiv air" apxfis vwh iriffTwv
ypa(pi'i(rai, rhu \6yov rov Qeov rhv Xpiffrbv
ii/xvovai 6eo\oyovvTes ; and again ihe Clementine
Epitome De gestis Petri, § 152, refers to UpS>v
iifivicv ivx^" ^s a part of worship. Of Alexan-
dria, again, Origen testifies (c. Celsum, viii. c. 67)
vfivovs yap fh p.6uov rhv eVi Trcicrt Xeyofiev Qehv
Kal rhv fxovoyfvri auTOv @ehv \6yov [al. t. k. a.
Xoyov KoX ®i6v\. (Cf. also Fragm. in Ps. 148.)
Again, an early tradition reported by Socrates
{H. E. vi. 8) attributes to Ignatius the intro-
duction of autiphonal singing at Antioch, as the
result of a vision of the angelic worship which
was revealed to him [Antiphon]. The monks
of the Syrian deserts, in the time of Sozomen
(//. E. vi. 33, 2) continued in prayers and hymns
according to the rule of the church (deaixov
T7)s iKK\T)(TLas), The poiut to which all these
allusions tend is the very early use of hymns
both in the East and West. Of the East, indeed,
we can speak more positively. The Epistle of
the second council of Antioch (a.D. 269) to the
bishops of Rome and Alexandria, against Paul
of Samosata, makes it one of the charges against
him, that he had "put a stop to the psalms that
wiM-e sung to our Loi-d Jesus Christ, as being
innovations, the work of men of later times;"
while, to the horror of every one, he had ap-
pointed women to say psalms on Easter Day in
his own honour (et's favrhi/) [Euseb. H. E. vii.
30]. This last expression may simply refer to
his position on a throne of unusual height and
dignity in the church ; and it is not unlikely
that Paul sought to confine the singing strictly
HYMNS
to Jewish psalmody. Another inference de-
ducible from this passage is that metrical
hymns were as yet unknown in Antioch. It is
a disputed point whether metre was used in
divine service before the fourth century ; but
probabilities are against its use. If used at all,
it must have been in Greek hymns, for reasons
which will presently appear. No metrical
hymns are now used in the Orthodox Eastern
church, but all its ecclesiastical verse since the
eighth century has been simply rhythmic and
accentual, like the earliest Latin sequences; but
it is impossible to say whether for a time metrical
hymns found their way into Greek offices. The
so-called "earliest Christian hymn," the epilogue
of Clement of Alexandria to his TlaiSayojyds, is
not, except in a loose modern sense, a hymn at
all. The same may be said of the sacred verses
of Gregory Nazianzen ; . those of Sophronius
approach nearer to the hymnic form, but it is
unlikely that his Anacreontic verse could have
found its way into divine service.
The fourth century, however, saw a great
impulse given to the liturgical use of hymns
successively in Syria, Constantinople, and the
West, under the influence of three eminent men,
and with the same object, the enlisting popular
feeling on the side of orthodoxy in times of
fierce controversy. The earliest of these move-
ments was that of Ephraim at Edessa. Greek
metres and music were introduced into Syriac
either by Bardaisan [see Bardesanes in DiCT.
OF Chr. Biogr.], or (more probably) by his
son Harmonius, whose hymns Ephraim found
to be so popular, that he felt anxious to
counteract their influence by the substitu-
tion of orthodox hymns which might be sung
to the same tunes. According to the Syriac
life of St. Ephraim (quoted by Augusti), he
trained choirs of virgins to sing to these tunes
hymns which he proceeded to write on the
Kativity, Baptism, Fasting, Passion and Resur-
rection and Ascension of our Lord, and on other
divine mysteries ; to which he added others on
the martyrs, on penitence, and on the departed.
The young women of this association attended
divine service on the festivals of our Lord, and
of martyrs, and on Sundays ; Ephraim himself
standing in the midst, and leading them (cf.
Sozomen, ff. E. iv. 16 ; Theodoret, iv. 29). From
that time forward metrical hymnody became a
fixed element in the worship of the Syriac-
speaking churches, and has filled a very large
place not only in their daily offices, but in the
Eucharistic, and indeed in all others. It is
not so easy to understand precisely what was
effected in Constantinople under Chrysostom ;
because we do not know what singing was
already in use in the churches there. Theodoret
{H. E. ii. 24) attributes the introduction of anti-
phonal singing into Constantinople to two priests
under Constantine, named Flavian and Diodorus.
In most ritual matters Constantinople followed
the lead of Antioch ; and this custom may have
beeu an imitation of what was already in use
there. We cannot doubt, however, that tfie device
of Chrysostom for silencing or outbidding the
Ariaus, as related by Sozomen {H. E. viii. 8, 1-5),
led to a much freer and more abundant use of
hymns in divine service. The Arians had been
expelled by Theodosius from the churches of the
city ; but their numbers were still very great,
HYMNS
and they had places of assembly outside the
walls. On Saturdays and Sundays they as-
sembled in crowds in the open spaces of the city,
singing Arian hymns and antiphons, and went
in procession, with these hymns, to their
churches. Chrysostom determined to organize
rival processions of the orthodox. The empress
Eudocia entered into the scheme, and a eunuch
of the imperial household was instructed to
furnish the necessary materials for the ceremonial,
at her expense. It is curious to find that these
included not merely crosses and torches, but
also hymns ; so imimportant did the words sung
appear to Chrysostom in reference to the end in
view. But whether the hymns were good or
bad, the midnight processions popularised their
use ; and from the night offices of the church
they seem to have passed into other hours. The
midnight singing of the " Golden Canon " of St.
John Damascene, so graphically described by
Neale (Hymns of Eastern Ch. p. 35), which
forms so marked and picturesque a feature of
the Greek Easter, is doubtless the true historical
representation of Chrysostom's nocturnal pro-
cessionals (cf Socrates, vi. 8 ; Cassiodorus, Bisf.
Trip. X. 8 ; Nicephorus, viii. 8, 9). It was not,
however, according to Neale (u. s. p. 13), till the
period of the Iconoclastic controversy (A.D. 726-
820) that Greek hymnology reached its full de-
velopment. Its great names are Andrew of
Crete (660-732), John Damascene (t 780), Cos-
mas the melodist (t 760), Theophanes (759-
818), Theodore of the Studium (t 826), and
Methodius (t 836). How marvellous its de-
velopment was may be gathered from the fact
alleged by Neale that out of the five thousand
quarto pages, which he computes to be the con-
tents of the whole body of Greek office-books, at
least four thousand are poetry. For a full and
elaborate account of the structure and contents
of a Greek canon, or group of odes, which forms
the staple of the morning office, the reader is
referred to the articles Canon (p. 277) and Ode.
The other subsidiary forms of hymn are ex-
plained in the same volume.
By a singular coincidence the establishment of
hymnody as a constant element of divine service
in the West, had been brought about, a few
years before, by similar disputes between Arians
and Catholics. The facts are related by Augus-
tine, who, with his mother Monica, was at
Milan at the time (Conf. IX. vii.), as well as
more briefly by Paulinus, St. Ambrose's deacon
( Vita S. Amb. p. 80 ; ed. Bened. Paris, 1632). St.
Ambrose, in consequence of his refusal to give
up to the empress Justina one of the basilicas
of Milan for Ai-ian worship at Eastei-, A.D. 385,
had incurred her resentment. In the following
year sentence of exile was passed upon him. He
refused to obey ; and the population, who were
devoted to him, guarded the gates of his house,
and kept watch night and day in his church, to
defend him from capture by the imperial troops.
This company of perpetual watchers Ambrose
organized into a band of perpetual worshippers.
A course of offices, psalmody, prayer, and
hymns, was established, and once established,
became a permanent institution [HOURS OF
Prayer]. Augustine expressly says that this
was an imitation of the Eastern custom ; by
which he probably means the course of daily and
nightly psalmody and prayer — the practice of
HYMNS 803
Oriental ascetics, both Jewish (cf. Philo dc Vita
contempl'itim, c. x. [ii. 48+, Mangey] quoted by
Euseb. H. E. ii. 17) and Christian.
But it is especially to these services organized
by St. Ambrose, as all subsequent writers agree,
that we of the Western churches owe the incor-
poration into our offices of metrical hymnody
(cf Isidore of Seville, de Ecd. Off. i. 6 ; Wala-
frid Strabo, de Rehus Ecd. xxv. &c. and Pau-
linus, 1. c). Unlike Chrysostom, Ambrose was
able to supply his congregations with words, and
himself to set them to music (see Ajihrosian
Music, and Koch, Kirchenlied, vol. i. pp. 61, sqq.).
Of the metrical hymns which are undoubtedly his,
Biraghi (Fnni Siw-eri di Sant' Amhrogio) enu-
merates eighteen, Koch twenty-one. But Milan
became a school of Ambrosian hymnody, which
has left its mark upon the v.-hole of the West.
Ninety-two hymns of this school are given by
Daniel {Thes. Hymn. vol. i.). Yet, though
Ambrose is the true founder of metrical
hymnody in the West, it is possible that hymns
were already in use elsewhere. Hilary of
Poictiers is sometimes spoken of as the first to
introduce them ; he certainly was a hymn
writer, and his hymn " Lucis largitor optime
(al. splendide)," sent from his exile in Phrygia,
as early as A.D. 358, to his daughter Abra,
found its way into church use. Pseudo-Alcuin
(de Div. Off. § 10) attributes to him the com-
pletion, in its present Western form, of the
" Gloria in Excelsis," and it is at least possible
that he may have introduced other innovations,
especially as some of his hymns (notably a well-
known Lenten one, "Jesu quadragenariae)."
though common in Germany and England, were
not in use in Italy. The work of St. Gregory
the Great is not, as a hymnographer, distinct
from that of St. Ambrose; he introduced no
new species of hymn, nor, it would appear, any
new use for hymns; his ritual and liturgical
work lay in other directions, though he made
many important contributions to the now
rapidly increasing stock of metrical hymns.
But the progress of hymnody for the next four
centuries will be .best illustrated by a table of
the sources from which the leading Breviary
hymns have been derived. In the subjoined
list, the numbers in the first column are from
Daniel, who, without attempting perfect ac-
curacy, arranges under the name of each author
the hymns traditionally assigned to him ; those
in the second column from Koch, who has en-
deavoured to assign to each author the hymns
known to be his, but has not consulted so wide
a range of breviaries as Daniel : —
Hymns assigned to . . . . P. K.
Hilary of Poicticis (f 368) 7 2
J Janmsus . . . . . . 2 1
Ambrose and the Am- } j,,^
brosiaii school ( ' "
Augustine (incorrectly) . 1 —
Sedilliiis 2 2 or 3
Prud-ntius .. ..!•'> 1" (.centos)
Ennodius .. .... IK —
Elpis 1 —
Venantius Fortiinutus . . 7 7
Gregory the (ireat .. " 13
Jsidor.' of Seville (636) .. 2 (?)
y lavius of Chalons (5S0) — 1
Cyrilla 1 -
luigoniiis of Toledo (. , j
(H(l6-658) <
IUl.>foiisiis(6.=.8-6t)0) ( _ Sum.'
.Julinn (6H()-6<>(0 ^ "
:\ V 2
804
Hymns assisned to
HYMNS
Paulus Diaconus
Alcuin
Charlemagne
11 11 (several doubtful)
2 Several.
— Several.
{V. cent. 19
vi. cent. 12
vii. c nt. 7
viii. cent. 2
The use of Ambrosian aud othei' hymus of
Italian origin was much e.xteuded by the esta-
blishment of the monastic orders, each with its
own set of offices for the hours. Benedict
especially is '>.\pressly mentioned by Walafrid
Strabo as having inserted in his offices many
Ambrosian hymns. Other countries began, as
the above lists will show, to produce hymno-
graphers of their own, especially Spain, of
whose rich store of hymns the Mozarabic Bre-
viary is an evidence. There are signs, however,
that this influx of hymus did not everywhere
meet with favour. The complaint made by the
orthodox against heretics that they had inno-
vated, could now be turned against themselves
(Ambrose, Ep. 873, 72) ; and among Catholics
there were some who doubted, like the Genevan
reformers later, whether it were right to use in
worship any but the words of Scripture. Others,
as time went on, became accustomed to the Am-
brosian hymns, but hesitated to receive fresh
oner,. At the .second council of Tours (567-8),
by canon 23, the admission of other hymns of
merit, in addition to the Ambrosiaos was form-
ally sanctioned. At Toledo, again, complaints
were made that some still rejected the hymns
of Hilary and Ambrose, as not scriptural (Wala-
frid Strabo, 1. c). At length, on Dec. 5, 633, at
the fourth council of Toledo, under the presidency
of Isidore, a canon (c. 13) was passed threatening
with excommunication all in France or Spain
who opposed the use of hymns in divine service.
Yet, as we have seen, there were still some
churches, even in the ninth century, which did
not admit metrical hymns into their offices.
Two points remain to be noticed — the metre
of Latiu hymns, and the offices to which they
were restricted.
Ambrose found in the Iambic Dimeter (our
present L. M.) a metre admirably adapted to the
concise and solemn language of his hymns, and
equally well fitted for singing. This accordingly
has been the normal metre of Latin hymnology,
down to the invention of sequences. But it
was by no means used in strict conformity to
classical models ; accent and quantity, it must
be confessed, were both at times disregarded.
Some attempts were made, however, at other
metres. Among the so-called Ambrosian hymns
appears one on St. John Baptist, in four-line
stanzas of Alcaic Hendecasyllables —
^__ |___|_^^
" Almi prophetae ] progeni | es pia,"
and four others, one for fair weather, one for
rain, and two in time of war, in a peculiar form
of the lesser Asclepiad, with spondee instead of
dactyl in the last place.
|_^_|_||_^^1_^
"Obdu.\ere polum nubila coeli.'
The poems of Prudentius, not being originally
intended for church song, supply other irregu-
larities, as Iambic Trimeter —
"0 Nazareiie, lux Bitlileui, V( rbum Patiis,"
HYPACOE
and the Anacreontic (Iamb. Dim. Catal.)—
" Cultor Dei memento."
The fine cento from his " Da puer plectj-uin,"
beginning —
" Corde natus ex Parentis ante mundi exordium,''
first introduced into church song the Trochaic
Tetrameter Catalecticus of Greek tragedy, which
has been so great and permanent a gain. He
has also a hymn in stanzas of four Sapphic lines
(without the final Adonius) —
" Inventor riitili dux bone luminis."
Two centos from Fortunatus —
" Crux benedicta nitet, dominus qua carne pependit,"
and the well-known "Salve festa dies," are the
earliest instances of elegiac verse in church
song. It is to be noted that both were pro-
cessionals. St. Gregory the Great wrote Sapphic
hymns for the hours —
" Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes,"
and
" Ecce jam noctis tenuatur umbra,"
and thenceforth their use was not infrequent.
A few other irregularities may be mentioned,
but they are unimportant.
The use of hymns till now was threefold :
(1) as processionals; (2) in the canonical hours;
(3) at certain special offices, such as the Bene-
diction of Paschal tapers, &c. As yet no metrical
hymns were used in any part of the Eucharistic
office. Walafrid Strabo mentions, however, that
Paulinus " Patriarcha Forojuliensis " (Paulinus
of Aquileia) had frequently, especially in private
masses, introduced hymns either of his own or
of others, " circa immolationem sacramentorum "
{i.e. at the Illation or Preface following the
Sunum corda). He adds that so great a man
would not have done this without authority or
reason. It is possible, therefore, that there
were other instances of the interpolation of
hymns into the Mass. One such is known to
us, the verses attributed by Daniel to Eugenius
of Toledo—
" Sar.cti venite, corpus Christ! suniite,"
sung as a Communio, or Antiphona ad ucccdentcs,
befoi-e the reception of the elements; Neale
{Chr. Eemcmh-ancer, Oct. 1853) assigns this to
the seventh or eighth century. These excep-
tional uses were foreshadowings of the great
outburst of sequences in the beginning of the
tenth century, which was destined to add so
much to the splendour and variety of Latin
hymnody.
[Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, vol. i.-v.,
Leipsic, 1855-6. Mone, Hymni Latini Medii
Aevi, Freiburg, 1853. Koch, Geschichte des
Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs der Christlichen
(4 vols.) vol. i. (part i. treats of hymns of the
first eight centuries), Stuttgart, 1856. He gives
ample lists of authorities on special points.
Augusti, De hymnis Syrorum sacris, Wratislaw,
1841. Neale, Hymns of the Eastern Church,
London, 1863. Mediaeval Hymns and Se-
quences, 1863. Biraghi, Lmi Sinceri e Carmi di
Sunt' Ambrogio, Milan, 1862. Ebert, Geschichte
der Christlich-Lateinischen Literatur, Leipsic,
1874.]
HYPACOE {uTTCLKori). Certain rhythmic
compositions, or hymns, which follow upon and
echo (as it were) the sense of that which pre-
HYPAPANTE
ceded, are called vwaKoai, because they depend
upon (viraKovovffi) that which has gone before, as
a servant on a master. This is the explanation
of Coresi. Goar, however (quoted in Daniel's
Codex, iv. 723), prefers the explanation, that
such hymns relate some wonderful work of God,
by listening to which the church may be edified.
iS'either explanation is perhaps quite satisfactory,
but the latter can scarcely be considered to give
any reason at all why these hymns should be
called Hypacoae more than many other parts of
the office. [C.]
HYPAPANTE (often written Hypante), a
name given to the festival of the Purification of
the Virgin Mary, from her meeting {inraTravrr])
with Simeon and Anna in the Temple. [Mary
THE Virgin, Festivals of.] [C.]
HYPATIUS, bishop of Gangra in Eaphla-
gonia, dav/xarovpyos ; commemorated March 31
iCal. Byzant.). ^. [W. F. G.]
HYPOCAUSTORIUM, a room warmed by
a hypocaust, or furnace under the floor. Thus
Thiadildis, abbess of Freckenhorst, in Westphalia,
is said to have built in her monastery " refec-
torium hiemale et aestivale, hypocaustorium,
dormitorium, cellarium, domum arearum, etc."
( Vita 8. Thiad. c. 7, in Acta Sanctorum, 30
January, App. vol. ii.). [C]
HYPOPSALISIA {vn6^a\ixa), a particular
manner of chanting the Psalms. The Apostolical
Constitutions (ii. 57, § 5) give the direction,
" after every two lections let some other chant
(v^aAAeVo)) the hymns of David, and let the
people chant responsive (uTroil/aAAeVct)) the ends
of the verses." Such a replication of the body
of the congregation to the voice of the single
chanter was called i/Tro'4'aA/ta. Compare Anti-
PHON (Bingham's Ant. XIV. i. 12). [C]
IX0TC. (Compare Fish, p. 673.) The fish is
found in an allegoric or symbolic sense in the
ancient remains of almost every nation. Among
the Assyrian fragments discovered by Mr.
Layard, for instance, are frequent instances of
monsters partly formed of fish. See, as examples,
Monuments of' Nineveh, pi. 39, 67 B, 68, 71, 72,
&c. The gem figured on p. 674 of this work, in
which a man appears covered with the skin of
a fish, is probably a representation of this kind
of monster, rather than of the Apostolic fisher-
man. The coins of Tyre and Phoenicia, mari-
time nations, show on their coins fish, or monsters
ending in fish. The same object is found on
Kgyptian monuments, though much more spa-
ringly, for the fish was an abomination to the
Egyptians (Clemens Alex. Strom, vii. 6 ; p. 850,
Potter; compare v. 7, p. 670). Nor is the
symbolic fish wanting in the remains of the
Jndo-Germanic races (Sir W. .Tones in Asiatic
Mesearches, i. p. 230 ; Ann. de Philowphie Chre't.
v. p. 430). The dolphin in particular is con-
tinually represented in art and lauded by the
l)oets ; and we not unfrequently meet with
allusions to a mysterious fish, the /caAAix^us,
from the presence of which all noxious things
fled away : 'Ei' tois koI KaAMx^vs ivwvvfxos,
Upbs ix^vs (Oppian. Ilalicut, i. 185).
ixerc
805
When we find it in Christian symbolism, the
question arises, whether the fish, like so many
other symbols and formulae, was adopted by the
early Christians from the already existing art ?
Looking at the general character of early Chris-
tian art, considering its constant adoption even
of symbols and representations obviously pagan,
it would seem probable that a special sense was
given to an already existing mode of representa-
tion. And this particular symbolism seems to
have been determined by the- discovery of the
acrostic ixOvs, from which the fish, many times
mentioned in the gospels, received a mystic
significance.
It is quite uncertain when it was first observed
that the word Ix&vs is formed of the initials of
the sentence 'Ir/croDs Xpiffrhs Qeov TT.os Scor^p.
We may perhaps assume, that whenever the
fish was recognised as the symbol of the Lord,
it was in consequence of the acrostic meaning
having been discovered, and, if this was the case,
it must have been recognised from the very
earliest days of Christianity. The Clavis attri-
buted to Melito of Sardis, which, if genuine,
belongs to the middle of the second century,
lays it down that Piscis = Christus (c. iv. § xi. ;'
Spicil. Solesm. ii. 173); but the date and cha-
racter of that work, although Dom Pitra seems
to entertain no doubts, cannot be considered as
beyond question. The Sibylline verses give (lib.
viii. 217-250) the famous acrostic on the letters
of the sentence 'Irjaovs Xpno-rhs Qtov Tibs
ScoT^p, aravpSs. At the time when this was
written, the mystic meaning of IxOvs was clearly
recognised, but the date of the verses is by no
means certain. Clement of Alexandria (Pacdig.
iii. 11, § 59; see Gems, p. 712) numbers the
fish among Christian symbols, but does not state
its special significance; elsewhere (Strom, vi. 11,
§ 94) he I'egards the "five barley loaves and
two small fishes " as typical of the preparatory
discipline of Jews and Gentiles. In Clement's
contemporary Tertullian we arrive at firmer
ground ; he writes (Z)e Baptismo, c. i.) " Nos
pisciculi, secundum IX0TN nostrum, in aqua
nascimur." Here we have both the primary
and the secondary application of the fish-symbol.
First, the Fish is Christ, and that clearly as
IX0TC, showing that Tertullian had the acrostic
in his mind ; secondly, they who are born of
Christ are in their turn "smaller fishes," .a
symbolism which also took a firm hold on the
mind of the early Church, and is often alluded
to [Fisherman, p. 674] ; thirdly, a fresh signi-
ficance is added to the conception of the believer
as the fish, inasmuch as it is through the water
of baptism that they are born from above. It
is to be observed that Tertullian gives no exjila-
tion of the IX0TC which would be intelligible
to the uninitiated ; the symbol, whether written
or pictured, was jiart of the secret language of
the early Church. This reticence was probably
maintained during the centuries of persecution ;
but when the need of concealment ceased, we
find the true significance of the symbol pro-
claimed. Thus, the writer of the work l>e pro-
mission, et benedict. Dei, attributed to Prosper of
Aquitaine (ii. 39), seems to give ])ositive testi-
mony on this point. " IX0TN, latine ])iscem,
sacris litteris majores nostri interpretati sunt,
hoc ex sibyllinis versibus oolligentes." Augus-
tine, too, speaking of the Sibyl, says (/A' ciiit
806
1X0TC
Dei, xviii. 23), '"If you join the first letters of
the five Greek words 'Itjo-oSs, Xpiff-rhs, ©eoC,
Tibs, ScoTTjp, you will have IX0TC, fish, iu
which word Christ is mysteriously designated.
Compare Optatus c. Donatist. iii. 2. And when
the Empire became Christian, and it was no longer
necessary for Christians to conceal the great
object of their faith under a symbol, its use
began to decline. De Rossi, the highest autho-
rity on such a matter, assures us that at Rome,
at least, it is scai'cely ever found in cemeteries
formed after the age of Coustantine, but is
almost confined to the catacombs, and to the
most ancient portions of these. It was, he
believes, growing obsolete in the 4th century,
and was scarcely ever used merely as a symbol,
whether at Rome or in the provinces, in the 5th.
The symbolic fish, indeed, is found on an ambo in
the church of St. John and St. Paul at Ravenna,
which is shown by an inscription to be of the
year 597 ; and the IX0YC is found on the large
cross in the apse of St. ApoUinaris in Classe,
near the same city, which Ciampini » {Vet.
Mownn. ii. 79, ed. 2) maintains to be a work of
the year 567. These, however, are rather in-
stances of the use of ancient symbols by an
artist for decorative purposes, than of the con-
tinued use of the symbol, as such. When the
symbols occur in inscriptions, where mere orna-
ment is evidently not intended, we may be sure
that they are still used as a sign for believers.
In representations of scenes from the gospels, or
from hagiology, fish are of course found in all
ages of Christian ai't.
Although the IX0TC was originally an acros-
tic, there is only one ancient inscription known
in which it actually appears as such. In all
other cases it stands separate, at the beginning
or end of an inscription, or both ; generally it is
written horizontally in the ordinary manner,
but sometimes vertically (Fabretti, Inscript.
Exjil. p. 329 ; compare GKMS. p. 714). It would
indeed be impossiljle to arrange IX0TC as an
acrostic in a Latin inscription, and all the IX0TC
monuments which have come down to us are
Latin, with the one exception just referred to.
This famous slab was found in the year 1839,
beneath the surface, in an ancient cemetery ''
near Autun, and was first published by Dom
(now Cardinal) Pitra (^Annales de Phil. Chret. 2«
se'r. t. xix. p. 195). Since that time a consider-
able literature has gathered round it. It is a
sepulchral inscription over one Pectorius, son of
Aschandius. It is imperfect, but as to the re-
storation of the first six lines there is no very
great difference of opinion among palaeogi-aphers
and scholars. Mr. W. B. Marriott {Testimony,
p. 118) gives the inscription thus :
'IX^i^os o[ypavlov a-y^^iov yivos rjTOpi (T^fivw
XfJijffe Xa^wv [_^wr]v] a/u^pOTOV iv ^poreois
Qfo-Treaiwi' vSaTcof Ti]U (Ti]v, (pi\€, 6d\ireo
4,0X7)1'
« Ciampitii misreads the 1X0YC; but Goii {Diptych, iii.
291) gives the correct reading.
*> It is noteworthy that this cemetery is locally
called, not cimetiere, but polyandrc, i. e. iroKvdvSpi.ov — a
curious relic of the time when Greelt was spolcen at
Autun. Proliably this was the very name used in the
timp of Gregory of Tours, who, in his ignorance of Greek,
took It for a Gallic word (De. (llorid Confess, c. 73, quoted
by Marriott, Tistimoni/, p. 127).
IX0TC
"TSatnc aevdois ttAovtoSStov (Toc^frjy,
SoiT^pos 8' ayiwv fxeXtTiSfa Aa/ijSorc Pp&criv,
"EaOie -Kivdoiv 'ix^vv ey^" TaAajUais.
IX^i^' X^ "Z"" AiXai'eo Se'triroTa
or _ > . . . . TTjp (re Aixafo.ue (peas rh 6a-
vSyruv.
'A(Txai'S7e irdrep, tZ '/xi^ KexapKriUeve OvfJ-ai
ffvv fj.' o'lffiu iixolaiv
I . . . fxvijfffo lleKTopiov.
For (ai-fiv we should perhaps read irrjyfiv
The word XP^^'^ ^^Y ^^ taken either for exp^jcre,
or for xpV"'' ^^ Xtrafoyue for AiTafo/ioi in
the latter part of the inscription. Tltvacifv is
for ireivdoii'. The hiatus in the last line but one
may perhaps be filled by the words (tvu fx.7]rp\
yAvKfpfi Kol a.5i\<p€io7(riv i^oiaiu (Franz), or
something equivalent ; and the last may perhaps
run '\x6vv iSiiiv viov fMviifffo XleKTopiov. Mr.
Marriott translates the whole as follows : —
"Ofispring of the heavenly Ichthus, see that a
heart of holy reverence be thine, now that from
The Autun Insoript
divine waters thou hast received, while yet
among mortals, a fount of life that is to immor-
tality. Quicken thy soul, beloved one, with the ,
ever-flowing waters of wealth-giving wisdom, ;
and receive the honey-sweet food of the Saviour j
of the saints. Eat with a longing hungei-, |
holding Ichthus in thy hands. |
To Ichthus ... come nigh unto me, my i
Lord [and] Saviour [be Thou my guide] I entreat |
Thee, Thou light of them for whom the hour of :
death is past.
Aschandius, my Father, dear unto mine heart,
and thou [sweet mother and all] that are mine J
. . . remember Pectorius." I
The first portion seems to be an admonition to ]
the Christian passer-by who reads it ; the second j
a prayer of the deceased himself; the third an ^
address to his parents and friends. (
This inscription has been referred to very '
various dates, from the end of the 2nd century
(Pitra) to the end of the 6th (Rossignol). Pro- j
bably the judgment of Messrs. Franks and C. T. ,
Newton, of the British Museum (in Marriott's
For the tracing from which this engraving was made
writer is indebted to I'ruf. Churchill IS.ibingtoD.
IX0TC
Testimony, etc. p. 133), who assign it to the
4th or 5th century, is not far from the trutli.
With this agrees the decision of Kirchoif, the
editor of the fourth volume of the Corpus In-
scriptionum Graecarum, which contains this in-
scription (No. 9890).
Mr. Marriott (u. s. p. 141) conjectures that
the space at the lower corner of the marble, to
the spectator's right, was occupied by a sculp-
tui-ed fish, whether alone or in combination with
some other symbol.
Costadoni (i.x. 35) gives a gem (no. xi. in his
plate) engraved with two fishes, with this in-
scription in three lines : IX || CwTHP |1 0V :
evidently the IX0TC, differing from the form
common elsewhere in having CoiTHP written
at full length, instead of being separated by its
initial letter like the other words of the acrostic.
The CwTHP is probably placed between the IX
and the 0V because that shape of the inscription
best suits the space.
Of seventy-five sculptured^slabs containing
the symbol which De Rossi has examined, not
more than eight contain the lx0vs alone, and
only twenty — of which four are fragments of
slabs which may have contained other symbols —
the sculptured fish alone ; the rest give also
other symbols. Seventeen join with the fish
the dove and olive-branch ; a conjunction which
seems clearly equivalent to Spiritus in pace in
Christo ; or — if the olive-branch be omitted —
Spiritus in Christo. Spiritus tuus in pace is a
common form of acclamation in Christian epi-
taphs. Twenty-three add the anchor to the fish,
whether separate of intertwined ; a conjunction
also extremely common on gems [p. 714]. As
the Anchor [p. 81] unquestionably symbolizes
Hope, we may read these symbols Spes in Christo,
one of the most common of Christian sepulchral
formulae. A sepulchral slab from the cata-
combs, now in the Kircher Museum, exhibits an
anchor between two fishes, with the inscription
IX0YC ZcoNTojN. (See further under GEMS, p.
713). Of the fish swimming in the water and
supporting a ship on its back, clearly signifying
that Christ bears up the church, De Rossi has
seen three mstances.
There remains the conjunction of loaves and
fishes. That these in some instances simply
form part of a representation of the Lord's
miracle of the loaves is clear from the fact that
in at least one of De Rossi's Monumenta (No. 71,
from the cemetery of St. Hermes, now in the
Kircher Museum) there are five loaves and two
fishes ; but there can be no doubt that the fishes
and loaves conjoined were intended to convey
the further meaning that Christ is the Bread of
Life, and that with special reference to the
Eucharist [Canister, p. 264; Eucharist in
Art, p. 625]. This is well illustrated by the
Autun inscription, given above, where, according
to the most probable restoration, the fish is
spoken of as in the hands. We can scarcely
doubt that these words refer to the receiving of
Christ in the Eucharist. So when Augustine
{Confess, xiii. 23, § 34), after mentioning the
sacrament of baptism, goes on to speak of that
other "solemnitas ... in qua ille piscis ex-
hibetur quem levatum de profundo terra pia
comedit," he undoubtedly refers to the sacra-
ment of the Eucharist. It ought however to
be noticed, that some at least of the paintings
ICOXOSTASIS
807
commonly supposed to be Eucharistic are in-
tended rather to represent the heavenly mar-
riage-supper which Christ makes for his faithful
ones (Polidori, Dei conviii effigiati a simbolo ne'
monumenti Crist iani. Milano, 1844).
Ample information on this curious subject
may be found in Costadoni, Sopra il Pesce come
simbolo di Gesu Christo presso (jli antichiCristiani,
in Calogiera's collection, vol. xli. p. 247 ff. ; in
J. B. De Rossi's treatise, De Christianis Monu-
montis IX0YN exhibentibus, and in Pitra's De
Pisce Allegorico et Symbolico, both in Pitra's
Spicilegium Solesmense, vol. iii. ; and in the late
Mr. Wharton Marriott's Essay on the Autun In-
scription, in his Testimony of the Catacombs, p.
115 ff. (London, 1870). [C]
ICONIUM, COUNCIL OF. The date gene-
rally assigned to it is a.d. 378 (Mansi, iii. 505-10),
this being the year in which St. Basil died ; and
Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, who presided,
speaking of him as having been expected there,
but kept away by severe illness. St. Basil him-
self (Ep. ccii. al. ccxcvi.) had asked to have it
put off in the hope that his health might imjjrove.
But it may be doubted whether this is not the
meeting of which he speaks in a subsequent letter
(ccxvi. al. cclxxii.), when illness equallv com-
pelled him to return home. Mansi thiiiks his
words here prove that he actually was at this
meeting : they may mean no more than that he
had commenced his journey with that intention,
but after he had got as far as Neo-Caesarea, which
he may have gone to first, he was taken ill and
had to return. This, according to Mansi, took
place a.d. 375; and the question is, whether
Amphilochius must necessarily be supposed to
have been speaking of a later illness. To make
up for his absence, his treatise on the Holy Spirit
was read there, to attest his sentiments on the
subject of which it treats, says Amphilochius :
in all probability, therefore, this council had to
do with the followers of Macedonius. [E. S. Ff.]
ICONOSTASIS. In the ecclesiology of the
Eastern church this designation is given to the
screen or partition wall, tabulatum, which cuts otf
the bema or sacrarium from the Suleas and the
choir. From its general similarity in form to
the chancel screens of Western churches, the
iconostasis is often identified with them. This,
however, is based on an erroneous idea. The
screen of western ecclesiology separates the nave,
the place of the laity, from the choir, the place
of the clergy. The iconostasis, on the other
hand, invested with far greater dignity and
importance, has its position further eastward,
and corresponds in locality to the altar i-ails.
Thus it divides the choir, or place of the clergy,
into two parts, separating " the holiest of all,"
containing the holy table and the place for the
celebrant and his assistants, from the " holy
place," on either side of which are arranged the
stalls for the clergy. The iconostasis in its
original construction was a comparatively light
and open screen, the KijKAiSes, SpvcpaKra, or
cancelli of primitive times, very much resembling
the ordinary type of western chancel screens.
The present arrangement, by which it has been
converted into a close partition with curtained
doors, entirely concealing the holy mysteries
from those who stand outside it, cannot be carried
hiirhcr than the 8th ccnturv, ami in its existiiio
808
ICONOSTASIS
development is probably later still. The name
clKOudcTTaats is derived from the icons (^eiKdves)
or sacred pictures painted on it.
These screens in the larger and more dignified
churches were of the richest materials attainable,
and were adorned with all the resources of art. The
elaborate description given by Paul the Silentiary,
enables us to realize the form and character of
that in St. Sophia, as rebuilt by Justinian, in the
middle of the 6th century. The material was
silver. It consisted of a epx-os, or p.-u-titii;n.
ICONOSTASIS
described as being of ivory, tortoise-shell, and
silver.
According to Goar, the iconostasis owes its pre-
sent close form to a reaction against the icono-
clastic fury of the 8th century, as aftbrding a
more ample space for the exhibition of sacred
pictures. His words are, " Reticula ilia lignea "
(the wooden trellis work, such as that in
Faulinus' church at Tyre) " mutavit Ecclesia
Orientalis in tabulata solida a tempore quo
iciinuclastaruni furore turbata plures et frequen-
Iconostasis at Tepekermann ; 'rom Fergi
formed by a stylobate, ornamented with ara-
besque flower work. On this stood pairs of
twisted columns, twelve in number, surmounted
by an architrave of chased metal. The spaces
between the columns were filled in with panels,
bearing in oval medallions the icons of Our Lord,
the Blessed V'irgin, the apostles and prophets.
In the centre, above the " holy doors," the inter-
twined monogram of Justinian and Theodora was
to be seen, surmounted by the crucifix in an ovaJ
panel (Paul Silentiar. part ii. v. 265, sq.)
The Church of the Apostles, erected by Con-
stantine at Constantinople, had its screen ot gilt
tiores sanctorum imagines ibi depictas esse
voluit" (Eucholog. p. 18). Early examples of
the solid iconostasis are hard to find. The par-
tition has been invariably removed by the Turks
in the churches converted by them into mosques,
so that not a single instance appears in the
churches of the Holy Land, and of Central Syria,
drawn by De Vogue, nor in those given in
Texier and Pullan's Byzantine Architecture, or in
Hiibsch's Altchristliche Kirclie. The earliest ex-
ample known to Dr. Neale is that in the Arian
crypt church, at Tepekermann, in the Crimea,
which he thinks " may be referred to about a.d.
copper (Euseb. Vit. Const, iv. 59). They were
often of brass, or bronze. In that rebuilt by
Faulinus, at Tyre, the screen was a trellis work
of wood of the most slender and graceful work-
manship (Euseb. H. E. x. 4, § 14). That of St.
Peter in the Palace, built by Basil the Mace-
donian (k.v>. 867-886), was of marble (Theophan.
Ceram. Homil. Iv.). The screen in the convent
church of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, is
.S50," of which a woodcut is annexed. This is not
a close screen, but consists of four pillars standing
on a solid stylobate, the panels of which are
ornamented with boldly incised crosses. The
columns reach to the roof of the cave. The
openings between them may have been probably
closed with curtains (Neale, Hist, of East. Church,
vol. i. p. 19o). According to Guenebault {Diet.
(les Moniuncns, Art. Iconostase^, one of the most
ICONOSTASIS
ancient examples of a closed screen known is also
in a cave church, the Grotto of the Apocalypse,
at Patmos. From the woodcut given, taken
from Calmet {Diet, de la Bible), it will be seen to
be a plain boarded partition, reaching, in two
divisions, from the floor to the spring of the
vault, and very much resembling a Jacobean
chancel screen in England. It has a central
arched door, and two arched windows on either
side, surrounded with arabesque work, and
closed with curtains. The upper division ex-
hibits an icon of Our Lord to the right, and of
the Blessed Virgin to the left, with the crucifix
abcve.
According to the normal arrangement, an icono-
stasis had three doorways, that to the right hand
leading to the diaconicon ; that to the left to the
ICONOSTASIUM
809
the present day. The iconosiasis, according to
Dr. Neale, is " now generally made of wood ; what
would be the pierced part in a western rood
screen being panelled and painted. In Attica
they are found of plain deal." (Neale, tc. s. ;
Texier and Pullan's Byzantine Architecture, p. 62.)
The iconostasis in the churches of Russia is
always a feature of considerable magnificence,
which, from its size and elaborate decoration, is
the object that first attracts attention on enter-
ing, being rather an architectural feature of the
edifice than a mere piece of church furniture.
It is very possible that more complete acquaint-
ance with the ecclesiology of Russia will bring
to light earlier examples of the iconostasis than
those hitherto known. The annexed example
from a church near Kostroma, in Eastern Russia,
prolhesis, through which the "Great Entrance"
was made. The central doorway, ayiai Qvpai,
always the largest, and most highly decorated
with carvings, opened on to the bema. It was
protected in the lower part by two gates, about
the height of a man, meeting in the middle, the
upper portion, as well as the two side doorways,
being closed with curtains [Curtains, Hang-
ings]. On the right of the holy doors was in-
variably the icon of Our Blessed Lord ; on the
left that of His Virgin mother. On the panels
on either side, and on those above, other icons
were depicted, according to the taste or devotion
of the founders of the church, and to the saints
under whose invocation it was plactd. This ar-
rangement remnins on the whole unchanged to
given l)y Jlr. Fergusson in his Ilistoi-y of
Ai-chitecture, is not of very early date, but is
pronounced by him to be " a favourable specimen
of its class." [E. V.]
ICONOSTASIUM, flKuvoaTaawv, m the
Greek church, a moveable stand for the suspen-
sion of icones or sacred pictures. Such a piece of
church furniture is mentioned by Codinus (de Off.
Aul. Constantinop. c. vi. § 2), when describing
the imperial ceremonial of Christmas Day.
After mattins the canonarchs brought out the
iconostasium, and set it in its place, with an ana-
logium, or reading desk, bearing a copy of the
gospels in front of it. On it they suspended an
icon of the nativitv, and throe or four others
810
IDIOMELA
The empei'or on entering the church kissed the
icons, and again on leaving. Ducange, s. v.
identifies the iconostaslum generally with a small
domestic chapel, or oratory, and considers that
that described by Codinus was a portable
shrine. Gretser is more correct in defining it as
" omne illud in quo stant, vel ex quo pendent
sacrae imagines." Goar strangely interprets it
of a carved picture frame. [E. V.]
IDIOMELA (i. e. a-TixVpa lSi6iJ.(\a). These
are Stichera or Strophes, which have no hirmos
{elpfios), the rhythm of which they follow, but
which are independent as to rhythm. They are
usually said at lauds and at vespers on days of
special observance. At lauds one only is said as
a rule, though not invariably, as in the Holy
week when there are several, after the (ttIxoi fol-
lowing the ahoi (i.e. Pss.,148, 149, 150). At
vespers we find sometimes one only, as on certain
week-days in Lent. Sometimes several, four or
fiv^e being the usual number; and occasionally
more, e. g. nine on St. John-Baptist's day, and of
these one or more is often repeated. The tone
to which they are said is specified, and the name
of the author is often given. Their character is
that of other troparia used in the Greek oflSces ;
but they are often, though not invariably, longer
than others. Idiomela are also used in other
offices, e. g. in the office for the burial of a priest.
[H. J. H.]
IDIOTA ('l5iu)Tr)5-). 1. An illiterate person,
as contrasted with a " clerk." Thus, Gregory
the Great (Epist. ix. 9) speaking of the use of
|iictures from sacred history, says that pictures
are the bible of the uneducated — "quod legen-
tibus scriptura, hoc idiotis praestat pictura cer-
nentibus." Bede {Epist. ad Egbert. ; Migne's
Patrol, xciv. 659 C) wishes the idiotae — that is,
he explains, those who have no knowledge of
any tongue but their own — to learn by heart
the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer in
their own tongue. In the Middle Ages, when
an educated man was almost of course in holy
orders, the word " idiota " came to mean simply
a layman.
2. The word Idiotae was also used to desig-
nate those who attached themselves to some
convent as helpers, without being regular mem-
bers of the brotherhood, i. e. lay-brothers [Cox-
VERSi] (Ducange, Gloss. Lat. s. v.). [C]
IDLENESS. [MexVdicancy.]
IDOLATEY {Tdololatria, eiSwKoKarpeia).
The object of this article is to describe the laws
of the ancient church relating to idolatry, or
any rites or customs connected with it. The
treatment of Christians who went back alto-
gether to heathenism, belongs to Apostasy ; of
those who succumbed for a time under pressure
of persecution, to Lapsed.
Few canons directed against idolatry appear
in the councils, until Christianity had become
the dominant religion in the different countries
of Europe. The first law which interfered
with the free exercise of Paganism, was an
edict of Constautine, A. D. 319, against private
sacrifices {Cod. Tlieod. IX. xvi. 1, 2), but it is
questionable whether this was issued solely
in the interest of Christianity. Later laws
were undoubtedly levelled against idolatry.
In A.D. 324, Constantine forbade (Euseb. Vit.
IDOLATRY
Const, ii. 45) the erection of images of the 1
gods, or (ibid. iv. 16) of his own statue in !
the temples; he (ibid. ii. 44-5) prohibited all
state sacrifices, and (ibid. iii. 54—8) shut up ^
many of the temples, converted others into i
churches, and destroyed some which had been
the scene of immoral rites. Laws of Constantius
forbade (Cod. Theod. XVI. x. 4, 6) all sacrifices ;
whatever on pam of death; but it does not ;
appear that the ])enalty was ever exacted. But
that which is considered to have given the death-
blow to Paganism, is a comprehensive law of
Theodosius, A.D. 392 (Cod. Theod. XVI. x. 12); j
sacrifice and divination were declared treason- |
able and punishable with death ; the use of lights,
incense, garlands, and libations, was to involve
the forfeiture of house or land where they were
used ; and all who entered heathen temples were j
to be fined. But that Pagan rites lingered after
this appears, among other proofs, from a petition
addressed to the emperor by a Carthaginian
council (A.D. 399), requesting him to destroy
some rural temples, and forbicf certain idolatrous
banquets, which were held on Saints-Days, and
which the Christians were compelled to attend
(Cod. Eccl. Afric. cc. 58-60). And two centuries ;
later Gregory has occasion (Epp. iv. 23-6) to '
rebuke some landowners in the remote parts of (
Italy, who suffered their peasants to continue in !
heathenism; and in a letter (Epist. ix. 65) to
the bishop of Cagliari, he recommends that if
the rustics will not listen to preaching, they
shall be fined, imprisoned, or chastised. On ;
the disappearance of Paganism, see Robertson, j
Church Hist. iii. 5. i
2. Local Edicts. — In the Gallic church, a
fragmentary letter ot Childebert, A.D. 554 (Har-
douin. Cone. iii. 334), commands all landlords
who have images or idols on their estates, to
remove them, and assist the priests in destroying
them. The worship of sacred trees or groves" or j
stones or fountains, is frequently forbidden, and |
the bishops are admonished to be more zealous ;
in checking it (2 Cone. Arelat. c. 23; 2 Cone.
Turon, c. 22 ; Cone. Francoford. c. 43). A
Prankish council presided over by Boniface, A.D. j
742 (Cone. German, c. 5, in Hartzheim's Cone. \
i. 49) prohibits incantations and auguries, and ;
sacrifices which were offered to martyrs in place
of the old Pagan deities ; other councils forbid ;
the " sacrilegious fire-burnings which are called i
Nedfrates" ^ (Cone. Liptin. c. 4 ; Cone. Suess. c. 6). j
Appended to the council of Liptina (probably '
Lestines, Hartzheim, i. 51), A.D. 743, is a curious ;
list of forbidden Pagan superstitions. It contains
mention of the widespread worship of sacred
trees and stones ; of sacrificing to saints ; of ^
various omens and charms, such as observing
tempests, horns, and snails, and the brain and
dung of animals, and fire on the hearth ; or '
superstitions connected with the state of the ]
moon, particularly women hoping to attract men
» On the Teutonic religion of worshipping in groves,
see Milman, Lat. Christ, iii. 2. The most recent and
satisfactory investigation into the history and meaning
of sacred stones will be found in Fergusson's Bude Stone
Mtmumeiits.
^ On the derivation and meaning of need-fire, see Du-
cange, s. v. Nedfri. It appears to have been a supersti-
tious practice in certain parts of Germany of striking fire
from dty wood on the eve of St. John [John, St., Fire
OFl.
IDOLATRY .
by lunar fnfluences. Compare a similar super-
stition in England, where people are warned
against trusting to cries and -sorceries during
an eclipse of the moon (Egbert. Penit. viii. 3).
An edict of Charlemagne issued after the con-
quest of the Saxons, A.D. 785, contains some
severe enactments against the heathen practices
of the vanquished (^de Paitihus Saxon.' in Baluze's
Capitularia, i. 250). Death is to be the penalty
of (c. 4) ostentatiously and defiantly eating meat
in Lent ; of (c. 6) burning a witch because of sup-
posed cannibalism, and then superstitiously eating
her flesh ; of (c. 7) burning a dead body and col-
lecting the ashes ; the bodies of the dead (c. 22)
are to be buried in cemeteries and not in the Saxon
tumuli. A more merciful clause (c. 14) contains
a singular provision that if any one who has ex-
posed himself todeath by such crimes, shall confess
his offence to the priest, and be willing to do
penance, the extreme penalty may be remitted
on the testimony of the priest. This capitulary
was to some extent repealed by a more lenient
one, A.D. 797, which, according to the general
practice of the Teutonic races, allowed a money
payment to compound for the capital offence.
The Spanish councils contain evidence of the
lingering of the old heathenism at the end of the
7th century, and that even the clergy were not
free from complicity with it. The 3rd council of
Toledo, A.D. 589 (c. 16), complains that the
" sacrilege of idolatry " was prevalent through
both Spain and Gaul, and declares that the
bishops and priests neglecting to assist in its
extirpation shall be excommunicated. The 12th
council, A.D. 681 (c. 11), threatens death to
slaves worshipping idols or stones or fountains or
trees, or lighting torches ; but if their masters
will be answerable for their abstaining from such
rites for the future, the extreme sentence may
be commuted to a flogging or to being shackled
with iron : if the masters decline such responsi-
bility, they lose all rights over the slaves, and
are themselves subject to excommunication.
The same practices are enumerated by the 16th
council, A.D. 693, and the bishop or priest who
is negligent in searching them out, is sentenced
(c. 2 j to a year's penance ; and further, any one who
puts obstacles in the way of priest or officer is
to be put under anathema, and if a noble, pay
3 pounds of gold to the treasury, if low born,
receive 100 stripes, have his head shorn, and
forfeit half his property.
In England, Gregory had given directions to
Augustine {Epist. xi. 76) that heathen idols were
to be destroyed, but the temples preserved, that
the fabric should be sprinkled with holy water,
that altars should be constructed in them and
relics deposited, and so the building be converted
to the worship of God on spots already consecrated
in the popular imagination ; even the sacrifices
of oxen were to continue, but transferred to
Saints Days. Gregory defends this policy on the
ground that he who aspires to the highest
place, must be content to ascend step by step,
and not at one bound. The English Penitentials
disclose the idolatrous customs which seem to
have had the most tenacious hold on the people.
Those who sacrifice to devils on slight occasions
are to do penance for a year, on great occasions
for ten (Theod. Penitent. I. xv. 1 ; Egbert. Peni-
tent, iv. 12). Any woman who places her
dauiihter on the roof of a house, or in an oven,
IDOLATRY
811
to cure her of a fever, is sentenced to seven years
(Theod. Pen. I. xv. 2; Egbert. Pen. viii. 2).
Burning grain in any house where a dead body
has been deposited, as a charm to protect the
survivors, is punished by five years (Theod. Pen.
1. XV. 3). The witches who invoke storms are
to be penitents seven vears (Egbert. Pen. iv. 14).
In the laws of Wihtred of Kent, A.D. 696 (c. 12),
it is decreed that if a husband without his wife's
knowledge makes an offering to a devil, he shall
be liable in all his substance ; and if they both
agree, they shall both be liable ; but that if a
" theow " makes the offering, he (c. 13) shall
make a " bot " of six shillings or his hide. There
are intimations that ecclesiastical law extended
to other practices which, though not connected
with religion, were regarded as badges of idola-
try. The Legatine Synod held in A.D. 787 (Haddan
and Stubbs, Councils and Ecd. Documents, iii.
458), in its report to Adrian I., complains (c. 19)
that the people dress after the manner of the
heathen ; that they follow the heathen custom of
mutilating their horses by clipping their tails
and splitting their nostrils and joining their
ears ; and also that they eat horse-flesh, which
no Christian does in the East (Orientalibus, Italy
and Germany). In the previous century the
eating of horse-flesh, though not prohibited was
regarded with disfavour (Theod. Penitent. II. xi.
4). A prohibition against heathen dress is also
found in the ancient Welsh code of the 7th
century {Canones Wullici, c. 61). " If any
Catholic let his hair grow long after the manner
of the heathen, he shall be expelled Christian
Society."
3. Idolatrous offices or customs. — The council
of Elvira, A.D. 305 (c. 4), orders Flamens who
wish to become Christians to undergo two years'
additional probation as catechumens; if after
baptism they wear the sacrificial garland (c. 55),
to do penance two years ; if they provide a
public spectacle (munus) (c. 3), to be denied
communion till death ; and if they sacrifice
(c. 2), to be excommunicated for ever. The
same council requires a Duumvir to separate
himself from the church during his year of
office. See also Actors, Gladiators. The
grounds of such prohibitions are stated by
Tertullian {de Spectac. c. 12). The same father
condemns {de Upectac. cc. 20-22) the actors in
each of the four sorts of shows.
The social festivities of the heathen were not
regarded with the same suspicion. Tertullian
{de Idolol. c. 16) sees no harm in a Christian
being present at the solemnity of assuming the
toga virilis, or of espousals or nuptials, or of
giving a name to a child. But this toleration
was not extended to festivities of a less innocent
character. [Heathen, § 5, p. 763.] The super-
stitious lighting of torches and burning of lamps
is forbidden both in the 4th and 7th centuries
(Cone. Eliber. c. 37 ; Cone, in Trull, c. 65).
Another canon of Elvira (c. 34) prohibits the
burning of wax candles in the cemeteries lest
the spirits of the saints should be disturbed ; a
reference probably to the idolatrous practices
associated with lighting lamps on heathen fes-
tivals (Tert. Apolog. c. 35; de Idolol. c. 15).
The irregularities attending the observance
of the feast of the Kalends of January (the
new year) form the subject of one of Chi-yso-
stoiii's Homilies {in. Kalend. f. i. ]>. 697, ed.
81 2 IDOLATRY
Bened.), from which it appears that Christians
set up lamps iu the market place, and adorned
their doors with garlands, and gave themselves
up to excess and made divinations of their
future. " You will prosper," says Chrysostom,
" in the coming year, not if you make yourself
drunk on the new moon, but if you do what God
approves " (Tert. de fdolol. c. 14 ; Ambrose, Serm.
17 ; Gone. Autiss. c. 1 ;. Cone, in Trull, c. 62).
The 2nd council of Tours, a.d. 567, states (c. 17)
that it was a custom in the church to have
special Litanies on the three days of the Kalends
of January, as a protest against the heathen
licentiousness [Circumcision]. The observance
of the heathen festivals lingered long after
heathenism itself was extinct ; at the end of
ihe 7th century the Trullan council (c. 62)
after denouncing the Kalends, declares that the
church will excommunicate any who keep the
solemnities of the Bota (Vota), or the Brumalia
(the winter feast), or the 1st of March ; and
forbids the heathenish customs of those festivals,
the public dancing of women, the interchange of
dress between men and women, wearing comic
or satyric or tragic masks, calling on the name
of Bacchus and simulating a Bacchic frenzy
while treading the grapes.
Making gain from idolatiy was considered
idolatrous. No artisan might assist in making
an idol. "Canst thou," says Tertullian (de
fdolol. c. 6), " preach the true God, who makest
ftilse ones? '1 make them,' says one, 'but I
worship them not.' Verily thou dost worship
them, and that not with the spirit of any worth-
less savour of sacrifice, but with thine own ;
not at the cost of the life of a beast, but of thine
own." Similarly he exposes {ibid. c. 8) the
sophistries of those who made their livelihood
by building or adorning heathen shrines ; and
{ibid. cc. 5, 6, 8, 11, 17) the dealers iu victims
and incense, and the guardians of the temples
and the collectors of their revenues. A landlord
who reckoned in his accounts any property of an
idol, was subject to five years' separation {Cone.
Eliber. c. 40) ; a man or woman lending vest-
ments to decorate idolatrous pomp, to thi'ee
{ibid. c. 57).
The rule which was to govern Christians in
eating food, which might have been previously
offered to an idol, is laid down by St. Paul
(1 Cor. X. 25, 30). A great part of the animals
used in the sacrifices was frequently sold by the
priests, and afterwards retailed in the public
shambles. This the Christians were at liberty
to eat. But any attendance at a temple for the
sake of the sacrifice was strictly prohibited {Cone.
Eliber. c. 59). The council of Ancyra, A.D. 314
(c. 7), forbids any one to eat in a place conse-
crated to idolatry, even if he took his own food.
But by the direction of Leo {Ejj. ad Xioet.), a
captive among the barbarians who from hunger
or terror eat idol food, was to be leniently dealt
with. Directions with regard to eating food
offered to idols appear frequently in subsequent
councils ; it is the same as eating carrion, and
exposes the ofl'ender to excommunication (4 Cone.
Aurel. c. 20) ; offering food to the dead on the
festival of St. Peter, and after receiving the
body of Christ going home and eating meat
consecrated to devils, incurs a like penalty
(2 Cone. Tiiron. c. 22) ; other superstitions
w:th food are to be reprimanded {Cone. Reinen.
ILLITERATE CLERGY
c. 14) ; not even the sign of the cross will
purify an idol offering (Gregory II. Cm. Epist.
c. 6). • " " [G. M.]
IGNATIUS. (1) Bishop of Antioch, Upo-
fidpTVi, martyr under Trajan (a.d. 109) ; com-
memorated Feb. 1 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi); translation to Antioch, Dec. 17 {lb.),
and Jan. 29 {Cal. Byzant.); "Natale," Dec. 17
{Mart. Bedae) ; also commemorated Dec. 16
{Cal. Armen.); Dec. 20 {Cal. Byzant.); Hamle 7
= July 1, andTaksas 24 = Dec. 20 {Cal. Ethiop.).
(2) Martyr in Africa with Celerinus, deacon
and confessor, Laurentinus, and Celerina ; com-
memorated Feb. 3 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ILERDENSE CONCILIUM. [Lerida,
Council of.]
ILLATION. This in the Mozarabic liturgy
is the equivalent to the Prefaec (Praefatio) of
the Roman and Ambrosian liturgies. In the
Galilean liturgy the corresponding prayer is
called Immolatio or Contestatio. The Mozarabic
Illation is usually much longer than the Roman
Prefaee, and varies with each mass. It begins
with the words " Dignum et justum est," and
leads up to the Sanctiis. [v. Preface. ]
[H. J. H.]
ILLIBERITANUM CONCILIUM. [El-
vira, Council of.]
ILLITERATE CLERGY. Pope Hilary
(a.d. 461—468) decreed that an illiterate person
(litterarum ignarus) incurred irregularity, i. e.,
disqualification for holy orders. And this rule
was repeated, under varying phrases, by a
council at Rome during his pontificate and
by Pope Gelasius afterwards. But the stan-
dard of knowledge required does not appear to
have been exactly defined. We learn from
St. Augustine {Epist. 76), that the same rule
applied to monks who were candidates for
orders. In the time of Gregory the Great (a.d.
590-604) it was sufficient to be able to read.
But the offices were repeated, it seems, to a con-
siderable extent memoriter, especially by the
clergy of the lower grades. He ordered the
deacons from country cures to be examined as to
how many psalms they could say by heart.
Thus, too, the Second Council of Orleans (a.d.
545), iu its 15th canon, forbids the ordination as
priest or deacon of any man who could neither
read nor repeat the Baptismal office. And the
First of Macon (a.d. 581) ordered the clergy to
fast every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from
Martinmas to Christmas, and to employ these
days in learning the canons. The Council of
Narbonne (A.D. 589) even tried to enforce learn-
ing by suggesting that a cleric, obstinately illi-
terate, had no right to his share of the eccle-
siastical revenues, and should be sent to a
monastery, since he could not edify the people
{Can. 10).
We find much the same state of things in
Spain. The Fourth Council of Toledo {eirca A.D.
630) describes ignorance as the '-mother of all
other errors," and ordei's that a bishop when he
ordained a parish priest, should give him an
office book to use {Canons 25, 26). It is implied
that he would be able to read this.
Respecting the Eastern Church our informa-
tion is much less precise. Justinian {Novell.
ILLUMINATION
vi. c. 5) forbad the advaaciug to any grade of
the ministry those who were unable to read.
During great part of the 8th century the Ico-
noclastic controversy was raging, and destroyed
almost entirely, says Balsamon, the habit of
study among the Catholics. Therefore the
Seventh General Council at Nicaea, in A.D. 7^7
ordered in its 2nd canon that no bishop should
be consecrated who could not repeat the psalter ;
and who was not well acquainted with the
gospels, the epistles of St. Paul, the whole
scriptures, and the canons : a very considerable
requirement for the time.
With the accession of Charlemagne a move-
ment upwards began. In many capitularies
of that sovereign, stringent regulations against
ignorance in the clergy were laid down (for
details see Thomassin, p. ii. lib. i. cc. 90, 96
passiui). These details, by the moderation of
the standard set up, serve to show the existing
lack of knowledge. Even these it was impos-
sible to enforce with any strictness. Lupus,
Abbot of Ferrara, writing during this reign to
Hincmar, apologises for a bishop, who was un-
able to teach his flock otherwise than by his
good example, because of his ignorance. And
Agobard, in a letter to Bernai-d of Vienne,
concludes that ignorance in parish priests would
do even more harm than an evil life. Charle-
magne himself, lamenting this prevailing igno-
rauce, writes to Alcuin : " Oh, that I had twelve
clerks as learned and as perfectly taught in all
wisdom, as Jerome and Augustine were ! " Al-
cuin's reply is worth recording : " The Creator
of heaven and earth had only two such, and you
wish to have twelve ! " The complaint of the
English Alfred, reported by Asser, is well known,
that " from the Humber to the Thames there
were very few priests who understood the liturgy
in their mother tongue, or who could translate
the easiest piece of Latin ; and that from the
Thames to the sea, the ecclesiastics were still
more ignorant" {De Reb. Gest. Alfred, apud
Camden, Anglica, p. 25). We must not suppose,
however, that there were no exceptions. Bede,
Alcuin, John Scotus Erigena, and Hincmar, are
proofs to the contrary. But this sudden blaze
of learning was a good deal adventitious, rested on
the personal influence of Charlemagne, and died
out again after his decease (Muratori, Antiqui-
tates ; Thomassin, Vetus et Nova Eccl. Disciplina,
Pars II. lib. i. ; Maitland, Dark Ages). [S. J. E.]
ILLUMINATION. [Mixiature.]
ILLYEIAN COUNCIL {Illyricum or Illyri-
cianum Concilium according to Cave). Held in
Illyria, but it is not agreed in what year: Pagi
contending for A.D. 373, others for 375, Cave for
367, and older authorities for 365. Pagi says
it had been preceded by the second (he should
have said rather the third) of the Roman councils
under pope Damasus, in conformity with whose
letter to the bishops of Illyria, a letter, asserting
the consubstantiality of the three Persons in
the Trinity, was now addressed by them to the
bishops of Asia Minor. This view is at least
countenanced by the letters themselves; and it
must be allowed that the letter of Valeutinian,
Valens, and Gratian to the bishops of Asia Minor
expresses the declaration of the lUyrian bishops
on this occasion (Mansi, iii. 386-94 ; and 455-68.
Com]). Roman Councils, 19).
IMAGES
813
Three more councils are given under this
heading. 1. A.D. 415, according to Sir H. Kicolas
{Ghron. of Hist. 217), at which Peregrine was
appointed bishop of Patras.
2. A.D. 515, according to Mansi (Sir H. Nicolas
A.D. 516, as Illyriense) when the bishop of Thessa-
lonica having joined Timothy of Constantinople,
forty bishops, whose metropolitan he was, re-
nounced his communion, and declared for com-
municating with pope Hormisdas (Mansi, viii.
538).
3. A.D. 550, according to Mansi, in defence of
the three chapters (ix. 147). [E. S. Ff.]
IMAGES. I. From the time of the Macca-
bees the second commandment was generallv
understood by the Jews to forbid not only the
worship of the likeness of any living thing, but
even the making of it. It is probable that thev
were led to this view by their abhorrence of the
acts of Antiochus Epiphanes, and his agents.
Among other outrages these had set up " chapels
of idols " in the cities of Judah (1 Mace. i. 47),
and even " sought to paint the likeness of their
images " in the book of the law (Ibid. iii. 48).
Hence Josephus (Anti/j. viii. c. 7, § 5) condemns
Solomon for making the twelve oxen on which
the molten sea was set in the temple (1 Kings
vii. 25 ; comp. 29), and the lions that were
about his throne {Ibid. c. x. 19, 20), though no
degree of reverence was paid to either of them,
in the days of Herod the Great a sedition was
nearly caused in Jerusalem by his exhibition of
trophies, such as the Romans display after their
victories, the Jews supposing that the armour
was put on the effigy of a man. Thev declared
that they would never '• endure images of men
in the city, for it was not their country's
custom " (Jos. Antiq. xv. c. 8, §§1, 2). In the
same spirit a band of zealots destroyed a golden
eagle which Herod had put over the great gate
of the temple (Be Bella Jud. i. c. 33, ^§ 2, 3).
When Vitellius was marching through Judaea
to meet Aretas, the inhabitants entreated him
to take another route on account of the figures
which they observed on his standards {Antiq.
xviii. c. 6, § 3). Origen, A.D. 230, even asserts
of the Jews in general that " there was no
maker of images among their citizens ; neither
painter nor sculptor was in their state " {C.
Cels. iv. § 31).
It appears, then, that most of the Jewish con-
verts would enter the church thoroughly imbued
with a dislike to all images ; and it is probable
that many of the heathen would be similarly
affected towards them out of mere horror at the
idolatry which they had forsaken. There were
some also of the latter who, even before their
conversion, were prepared by the higher tradi-
tions of philosophy to renounce the use of images
in connection with religion. Pythagoras, we
are told, forbade his disciples to " wear rings
or to engrave images of gods on them " (Clem.
Alex. Strom, v. c. 5, § 28). Zeno, the founder
of the Stoic school, maintained that men " ought
not to make temples or images" {fbid. c. 11,
§ 77). It was a tradition among the Romans
that Numa had " forbidden them the use of any
image of God in the likeness of man or in the
form of any animal, and that there was among
them previously no image of (lod either paintec'
or fictile; but 'tb.it tor the first 17o v.-nr- wliei:
814
IMAGES
they built temples and set up chapels they made
no images in any shape, on the ground that it
was an unholy thing to liken the better to the
worse, and impossible to reach God otherwise
than with the mind " (Plutarch in A^'uma, c.
viii.). Varro, in a passage preserved by St.
Augustine (Civ. Dei, iv. c. 31), also affirms that
for the period specified, the Romans " worshipped
the gods without an image (simulachro)." He
thought that if the law had continued, " the
gods would have been more purely worshipped ;"
and after referring to the example of the Jews,
he adds that " they who first set up images of
the gods for the people relieved their states
(civitatibus, but probably civibus, their fellow-
citizens), from a fear, and involved them in an
error " (0pp. Van-. Fragmenta, p. 46 ; Amstel.
1623).
II. That many of the early Christians adopted
the Jewish interpretation of the second com-
mandment is evident. Tertullian, a.d. 192, even
thought it wrong to make such masks as actors
wore ; for, if God forbade the likeness of any
thing, " how much more of His own image ? "
{De Sped. c. 23). He thought painting a sin in
Hermogenes (Adv. Herm. c. 1); and he teaches
that "the law of. God, in order to eradicate the
material of idolatry, proclaims, Thou shalt not
rtuike an idol; adding also. Nor the likeness of
any thing . . . Over the whole world hath it
forbidden such arts to the servants of God " {De
fdololatr. c. iv.). Clemens Alex., A.D. 192, appears
1,0 hold the same rigid view : " It has been
manifestly forbidden us to practise deceptive
art ; for, saith the prophet. Thou shalt not
make the likeness of any thing that is in heaven
or in the earth below." (Frotrept. c. iv. § 62.)
Origen says that painting and sculpture were
disallowed among the Jews, lest the effect on
senseless men should be to " draw the eyes of
the soul oft' God on to the earth " (C. Cels. iv.
§ 31) ; a reason, which, if valid, ought to debar
Christians from the exercise of them also.
III. All held that representations of God, even
of the Second Person as man, were unlawful.
Thus Clemens Al. : " It were ridiculous, as the
philosophers themselves say, for man, who is the
toy of God (Plato, de Legibus, vii. § 10) to make
God, and for God to be made of sportive art,"
&c. (Strom., vii. c. 5, § 28). Origen: "The
statues and ornaments that become God are not
made by handicraft artisans, but are those
wrought by the word of God and formed within
us, the virtues (to wit) which are imitations of
the first-born of every creature " ( C. Cels. viii.
§ 17). Minutius Felix, a.d. 220: "What
image should I make of God, when, if you think
aright, man is himself the image of God " (Octav.
c. 9). Lactantius, a.d. 303 : " An image of God,
whose spirit and power being diff'used every-
where, can from nowhere be absent, must be
always superfluous " (fnstit. ii. c. 2 ; see also the
Epit. c. 25). Arnobius, a.d. 303, after ridicu-
ling the images of the heathen, says, "So far
are we from attributing corporeal features to
God, that we even fear to ascribe to so great a
being the ornaments of minds, and the virtues
themselves in which excellence has been hardly
ascribed to a few. For who would say that God
was brave, constant," &c. (Adv. Gent. iii.).
Kusebius, the historian, in a letter to Constan-
tia Augusta (the daughter of Constantino and
IMAGES
wife of Caesar Gallus), who died in 354 : " Since
thou hast written about some image, it seems of
Christ, wishing the said image to be sent to thee
by us, what, and of what kind, is this image
which thou callest that of Christ ? . . . Has this
Scripture alone escaped thee, in which God by
law forbids to make the likeness of any thing in
heaven, or on the earth beneath ? Hast thou
ever seen such a thing in a church thyself, or
heard of it from another ? Have not such things
been banished throughout the whole world, and
driven far off' out of the churches ; and has it
been proclaimed to us alone among all men that
it is not lawful to do such a thing?" (Epist.
put together from fragments by Boivin, in note
to Niceph. Gregoras; Hist. Byzant. torn. ii. p.
130, ed. Bonn). Eusebius proceeds to say he had
taken from a woman two pictures of persons
dressed like philosophers, which she called por-
traits of Christ and St. Paul, "lest," he adds,
" we should seem to carry our God about in a
representation like idolaters." St. Augustine
writing in 393: "It is not to be thought that
God the Father is circumscribed by human form
. . . It is unlawful to set up such an image to
God in a Christian temple. Much more is it
wicked to set it up in the heart where the
temple of God truly is " (De Fide et Symbolo,
c. 7 ; comp. in Fs. cxiii. ; Enarr. Serm. ii. § 1,
&c.). Asterius of Amasea, A.D. 401 : " Do not
depict Christ. For the one humiliation of the
Incarnation sufficeth Him, which He took on
Himself by choice for our sake. But bear and
carry about the incorporeal Word mentally, in
thy soul " (Horn, in Div. et Lazar. Auctar. Graec.
Combef. tom. exeg. col. 5). A writer quoted as
Epiphanius Cyprius (the famous bishop of Con-
stantia) by the council of Constantinople in
754 : " Remember, dear children, not to bring
images into churches, nor into the cemeteries of
the saints ; but have God ever in your hearts
through remembrance of Him ; nor indeed into a
common house " (Act. vi. Cone. Nic. ii.). Even in
the 8th century there were no representations of
God the Father, but unhappily not always from
principle. " Why," says Gregory II. in 726, " do
we not represent and paint the Father of the
Lord Jesus Christ ? Because we do not know
what He is, and it is impossible to represent and
paint the nature of God. But if we had seen
and known Him, as we have His Son, then should )
we have been able to represent and paint Him '
also, that you might call His image too an idol " |
(Fp. I. ad Leon. Labb. Cone. tom. vii. col. 13).
John Damascene in the East at the same period,
A.D. 728, who is equally vehement on the general ,
question, says to the same effect : " We should ;
indeed be in error if we made an image of the '
invisible God " (Orat. de Sacris Imag. ii. § 5). •
After the period in which all painting was
condemned, it is not so common to find passages, •
which forbid pictures of saints, or deny that the I
church used them. There are such, however ; ;
although, as we shall see, such pictures were '
then looked on only as lessons in history. For ■
example, St. John Chrysostom, a.d. 398 : " We 1
enjoy the presence of the saints through their J
writings, having images not of their bodies but «
of their souls. For the things said by them are j
images of their souls " (Act. vi. Con£. Aic. ii. ; sini. j
Amphilochiusoflconium, &'c?.). An author whom ;
the council of Constantinople already mentioned, j
IMAGES
cites under the name of Theodotus of Ancyra :
" Concerning them he teaches thus, that we have
not been taught by tradition to form the like-
nesses of the saints in images out of material
colours ; but we have learnt, through those
things which are written of them, to copy their
virtues, which are, as it were, living images of
them " (Labb. Cone. tom. vii. col. 492).
IV. There was a consensus against the loorsMp
of images, in every sense of the words irpoffKvvrjais
and adoratio. At first this extended to material
representations of the cross. " We neither wor-
ship crosses," says Minutius, " nor wish to do
so" (^Octav. c. 9). With regard to images of our
Lord and the saints, the evidence is ample. Thus
Irenaeus, A.D. 167, condemns the error of some
Gnostics, who crowned images painted in colours,
and of other materials, which they asserted to
be likenesses of our Lord {Adv. Haer. i. c. 25,
§ 6). Epiphanius who repeats this {Haer. xxvii.
§ 6) says that some of the images were of gold
and silver, and that they "^et them up and
worshipped them." (See also Aug. De Haer. n.
7.) Origen : " We do not honour statues, that
as far as in us lies we may avoid tailing into the
notion that the statues are other gods " (C. Cels.
vii. § 66). The council of Eliberis, about the
year 305, decreed " that pictures ought not to
be in a church, lest that which is worshipped
and adored be painted on walls " (Can. sxxvi.).
St. Augustine : " Who worships an image (simu-
lachrum) or prays looking on it, that is not so
affected as to fancy that he is heard by it, as to
hope that what he desires is granted him by
it ? . . . Against this affection, by which human
and carnal weakness can be easily ensnared, the
Scripture of God sings [as a nurse waking
infants] things very familiar, by which to stir
memory, and to rouse, as it were, the minds of
men asleep in custom of their bodies. The
images of the heathen, it says, are silver and
gold " {Enarr. in Ps. cxiii. Senn. ii. § 5). Else-
where, when he dwells on the feeling excited by
images, he speaks also of its contagious nature :
" Who doubts the idols being destitute of all
sense ? Yet when they are set in their places,
exalted for honour, so that they may be atten-
tively regarded by those who pray and sacrifice,
then through the very resemblance of living
limbs and senses, though senseless and lifeless
themselves, they affect weak minds, so that they
seem to live and breathe ; especially when there
is besides the veneration of a multitude, by
whom a worship so great is paid to them " {Ad
Dcogr. Ep. cii. quaest. 3, § 18). It is undeni-
able that the objection here urged is as appli-
cable to the image of a Christian saint as to
that of a heathen god. Other testimonies will
occur in the following sections.
V. The figures first used among Christians in
any reference to their faith were merely symbo-
lical. The earliest was the momentary sign of
the cross made by the hand. " At every journey
and movement," says Tertullian, "at every
coming in and going out, at the putting on of
our clothes and shoes, at baths, at meals, at
lighting of candles, at going to bed, at sitting
down, whatever occupation employs us, we wear
our forehead with the sign " {De Cor. MIL c.
iii. ; compare Ad Uxor. ii. 5 ; S. Cyrill. Hier.
Cat. iv. c. 10 : xiii. cc. 11, 18, and others). The
first permanent representation of the cross is
IMAGES
81i
probably that set up at Rome beside the statue
of Constantine after the defeat of Maxentius in I
312 (Euseb. Hist. Ecd. ix. 9) ; but Eusebius tells 1
us also that " the symbol of the salutary passion
composed of various and precious stones was set
up " by Constantine in a room in his palace {De
Yit. Const, iii. 49). The same prince had the
arms of his soldiers marked with a cross (Sozom.
Hist. EccL i. 8). Julian the emperor, A.D. 361, '
says to Christians in reproach : " Ye worship
the wood of the cross, making shadowy figures I
of it on the forehead, and painting it at the
entrance of your houses." St. Cyril of Alex- j
andria in his reply justifies the practice of paint- i
ing " the sign of the precious cross " (Lib. VI. ad •!
calc. 0pp. Jul. 194). From St. Jerome we learn
that the sign of the cross was made in the 4th
century, as it is now, in witness to written
documents {Comm. in Ezek. ix. 4). St. Chry-
sostom : "This shines at the sacred table, at the
ordination of priests, and again with the body of
Christ at the mystic supper. It may be seen j
everywhere displayed, in houses, in market- |
places, in deserts, on roads, on mountains, in |
groves, on hills, on ships and islands in the sea,
on beds, on dresses, on arms, on couches," &c.
{Contra Judae. et Gentil. § 9). Severian, AD. ■
401, calls the cross " the image of the immortal
king " {Horn, de Cruce, inter 0pp. St. Chrys. ed. i
Saville, v. 899). Paulinus of Nola, writing in
403, speaks of " the ensign of the cross," sur-
mounted with the crown of thorns, painted on
the walls of his churches at ^"ola and Fundi
{Ep. xxxii. ad Sever. §§ 12-17). Nilus, A.D. 44(i, !
recommends Olympiodorus, who was about to
erect a martyrium, to " set the figure of a single
cross in the sacrarium on the east of the most
sacred precincts ; for by one saving cross is man-
kind completely saved " {Ep. iv. 61).
Tertullian is the first witness to the use of
other symbolical figures : " VVe may begin from
the parables in which is the lost sheep sought
by its owner, and brought home on his shoulders.
Let the very pictures of your chalices stand forth "
(as witnesses). "The Good Shepherd whom |
thou paintest on the chalice " {De Fudic. 7, 10). j
Clemens Alex. {Paedag. iii. 11, §59) mentions '
several devices which he considered permissible
on seals. [Gems, p. 712.] " Symbols of the Good
Shepherd " were placed by Constantine in the
fora of Constantinople (Euseb. Vita Const, iii.
49). A mosaic in the church built by Paulinus
at Nola represented Christ by a lamb, the Spirit ,
by a dove, while "the voice of the Father '
thunders from the sky "("This is My beloved ]
Son " [Matt. iii. 17], being probably in letters). j
The Apostles [p. 107] were figured by twelve
doves round a cross, and the church was seen ,
set on a rock from which issued four streams,
the doctrines of the four Evangelists {Ep. Pau-
lini xxxii. § 10). At Fundi the picture of a
shepherd separating the goats from the sheep
suggested the Day of Judgment {/bid. § 17).
VI. (1) When religious art advanced from j
symbolism to portraiture, its works of the new I
type were at first, perhaps in every instance,
partly historical and partly ideal. There was,
for example, in the cemetery of St. Priscilla at ;
Rome, a picture of the Virgin and Child, accom- ,
panied by the figure of a man, whose dress and
action (he is pointing to a star) are so clearly
suggestive of a sviiihiilii\\l lueaninL; that he is
816
IMAGES
supposed by De Rossi to represent the prophets
who foretold the coming of Christ (Marriott's
Vestiarium Christianurn, p. 234, and pi. x.). Other
pictures belonging to this period of transition,
being apparently of the 5th century, show our
Lord blessing a child, or raising Lazarus, but
with " the rod of His power " (Ps. ex. 2) in His
hand (Aringhi, Eoma Subterr. ii. 33, 37, &c. ;
De Rossi, Boma Soterr. ii. tav. 14, 24). In one of
the same class and probably of the same age, our
Lord appears with an open book in His hand,
and an Apostle and rolls of writing on either
side (Aringhi, ii. 91 ; Marriott, pi. xii.). The
rolls evidently represent the Old and New Testa-
ments ; and the Apostles are probably St. Peter,
the great converter of the Jews, and St. Paul,
whose chief mission was to the Gentiles. The
thought conveyed is that Christ is the great
teacher. He '' opened the Scriptures " to the
Apostles, that they might instruct the world.
Works of this twofold character are frequent
after the strictly historical treatment of religious
subjects had quite established itself. See ex-
amples in Aringhi, ii. 83, 88, 129, &c.
(2) We come now to pictorial images, which
were, so far as appears, of a purely historical
character. St. Augustine writing about the year
400, says of some misbelievers who had forged
epistles as from our Lord to SS. Peter and Paul,
that he supposed those Apostles " occurred to
them because they saw them painted together
with Him in many places " {De Consensu Evang.
i. X. n. 16). He speaks also of the offermg of Isaac
as a " noble deed sung by so many tongues,
painted in so many places" (C. Faust, xxii. 73).
A painting on this subject is described by St.
Gregory of Nyssa : " I have often seen the image
of his suffering in a picture, and passed the sight
not without tears, so vividly did the art of the
painter bring the story before the eyes " (De
Deit. Fil. et Sp. Orat. ; compare Greg. II., Ep.
I. ad Leon. Labb. Cone. vii. 16). It was a
favourite subject, because it symbolised the
death of Christ, which as yet men did not
venture to represent directly. St. Gregory tells
us also that the martyrdom of Theodore in all
its circumstances was depicted on the walls of a
church built to his memory {?Jncom. Theodori).
The people of Antioch in the time of St. Chry-
sostom had the figure of St. Meletius "in the
besils of rings, on stamps, on bowls, on the walls
of chambers, and everywhere" (Chrysost. in St.
Melet. § 1). Paulinus,-in a poem written about
the year 402, describes several scenes from the
Old Testament, which he had caused to be painted
in his church at Nola. He owns that it was an
unusual thing {raro rnore,\\\xe 544), and explains
his reason for it at length. It was an experi-
ment by which he hoped to interest and instruct
the rude converts of that neighbourhood, and
especially to keep them from the excesses which
prevailed among them, when they assembled in
great numbers on the festivals {Poana xxvii.
De S. Pel. Kat. carm. 9). Pictures of Paulinus
himself and St. Martin had been placed by Sul-
picius Severus in the baptistery of his church
at Primuliac, near Beziers. Paulinus, hearing
of this, sent him some verses to be set over them,
in which he describes St. Martin as an example of
holiness to the newly baptized, and himself of
penitence {Ep. xxxii. §§2,3). From Asterius
we iearn that at the beginning of the 5th cen-
IMAGES
tury some persons had subjects from the New
Testament, as Christ and the Apostles and
miracles wrought by them, embroidered on their
dress, a practice which he strongly condemns
{De Div. et Laz. u. s.). The same writer de-
scribes at length the martyrdom of St. Euphemia
as painted in a church {u. s. col. 207). Pruden-
tius, A.D. 405, saw in the Forum Cornelianum
at Rome a picture of the martyrdom of St. Cas-
sianus, a schoolmaster, whom his pupils at the
command of the heathen magistrate had stabbed
to death with their stijli {De Coronis, Hymn. ix.
9). He also describes a picture on the tomb of
Hippolytus, in which that martyr was repre-
sented being torn asunder by horses {Ibid. x.
126). Heraclides of Nyssa, A.D. 440, wrote two
epistles against the Messalianites, in the latter
of which was a " testimony to the antiquity of
the venerable images " {ukSvwu, the Greek paint-
ings) (Photius, Biblioth. cod. i.). We have reason
to think that the custom of placing in churches
the portraits, either painted, or in mosaic, of the
patriarchs or other eminent men, was becoming
common about this time. St. Nilus advised
Olympiodorus " to fill the holy temple on all
sides with stories from the Old and New Testa-
ment by the hand of the finest painter, that
those who did not know letters and were not
able to read the Holy Scriptures might by con-
templating the picture be reminded of the virtue
of those who served God truly," &c. {Epist. iv.
61). An author in Suidas, supposed to be Mal-
chus, A.D. 496, says that in a church at Con-
stantinople there was a mosaic, put up in the
lifetime of Gennadius (a.d. 458 to 471), in which
that patriarch and Acacius, who became his suc-
cessor, were represented with our Lord between
them, and that the clergy set up pictures of
Acacius in the oratories (Suidas in Acacius, i.
76). We find incidentally that the partisans of
Macedonius had portraits of him in their churches
(Theodorus Lector, Excerpt, ii.). Evagrius, A.D.
594, mentions a picture on the ceiling of a
church at Apamia, representing a miracle of
which he had himself been witness when at
school there {Hist. Eccl. iv. 26). Gregory of
Tours, his contemporary, mentions pictures {iro-
nicae) of the apostles and other saints, which
were in an oratory at Arverna {Vitae PP. xii.
§ 2). When Augustine and his companions had
their first interview with Ethelbert in 697, they
came " bearing a silver cross for banner, and an
image of the Lord the Saviour painted on a
board " (Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 25). But the ear-
liest authentic account of pictures in an English
church occurs in Bede's life of Benedict Biscop,
his first abbot, who, in 648, " brought from
Rome paintings of sacred images, to wit, of the
blessed Mary and of the twelve Apostles, besides
representations of the Gospel history, and of the
visions of St, John the Evangelist, and placed
them in his church ; so that all who entered the
church, even those ignorant of letters, whither-
soever they turned their eyes, might contemplate
the ever-lovely countenance of Christ, and of his
saints, though in an image ; or might more
heedfully call to mind the grace of the Lord's
Incarnation " {Hagiogr. sect. i.). In 685 {Ibid.
720) he brought other pictures from Rome,
many of saints and Gospel subjects, as before ;
but some also illustrating the relation of the
Nuw Testament to the Old, as Isaac l)paring tlie
IMAGES
wood beside Christ bearing His cross, the brazen
serpent on the pole by Christ on the cross. Pic-
tures of this character probably abounded in
Rome at this time ; for a great number are men-
tioned as to be seen there by Gregory II. in his
first reply to Leo the emperor, A.D. 726 (Labb.
Cone. vii. 16).
VII. Scarcely had portraits of holy persons
become common, before pictures of fabulous
origin were brought forward, and superstitious
notions and practices began to abound. For
example, Theodoret had heard that the Romans
held Symeou the Stylite in such esteem, as to
"set up small portraits of him in all the en-
trances of their workshops, deriving thence pro-
tection and safety for themselves " (^Hist. Reli-
giosa, c. xxvi.). Theodoras Lector reports that
Kudocia, the Augusta, sent to JUtlcheria (about
A.D. 456) a " likeness of the mother of God
which the Apostle Luke painted " {Exccrpta, i.
prope init.). The same writer relates that a
painter of Constantinople in the time of Gen-
nadius, had "dared to paint the Saviour as
Zeus." For this his arm withered, but was
restored at the prayer of the patriarch. The
historian adds that " the other representation
of the Saviour, with curling short hair, is the
more correct " (^Ibid. i. 554). When Edessa was
besieged by Chosroes, king of Persia, about 544,
the mound erected by him against the walls
was, according to Evagrius {Hi&t. Eccl. iv. 27),
destroyed by fire, the heat and power of which
had been miraculously intensified by water that
had been sprinkled over a picture of Christ
(" the God-made image which the hand of man
wrought not "), sent by himself to Abgarus a
former king of that city. Evagrius finished his
history in 594. It is worthy of note that Fro-
copius (^De Bello Persico, ii. 27), who wrote soon
after the Persian war, and from whom Evagrius
took the rest of his account, does not mention
the miraculous picture. In a later war with
Persia, A.D. 590, another portrait of Christ, said
also to be of divine origin, accompanied the
Roman army, and gave courage to the soldiers
(Theophyl. Simoc. Historiarum ii. 3, 70, ed.
Bekker). At this time imagination readily con-
nected miracles with the icons of the saints.
Thus both Evagrius and Gregory of Tours tell
the story of a Jewish boy at Constantinople,
.who, having with others of his age partaken of
the remains of the Eucharist according to the
custom there, was cast by his enraged father into
a burning furnace. The next day he was found
in it uninjured. Evagrius (m. s. c. 36) merely
says that he declared that " a woman clothed in
purple " had appeared to him and saved him ;
but in the version of Gregory of Tours (J/iVac.
i. 10), "the woman seated in a chair and carry-
ing an infant in her bosom, who was in the
basilic, where he received the bread from the
table, had covered him with her mantle that
the fire might not devour him." Another im-
provement of the same kind in a miraculous
story should be mentioned here. Paulus Warne-
fridi, in his History of the Lombards (ii. 13), re-
lates how the bad ej^es of two persons were healed
by oil from " a lamp set to give light " near the
altar of St. Martin, in a church at Ravenna.
When this story is told in France, as it is in
some of the manuscript copies of Gregory (/-'e
Mirac. S, Martini, i. 15), the lamp stands
CHRIST. ANT.
IMAGES
" under an image of the picture of the blessed
Martin." Such variations appear to indicate the
growth of a feeling which ascribed to the image
a part of the supposed powers of the saint him-
self. Other stories told by Gregory of Tours are
of a picture of Christ, which was said to have
shed blood, when maliciously injured by a Jew
(Mirac. i. 22); and of another at Narbonne,
respecting which our Lord in a vision expressed
His displeasure, because it represented Him on
the cross, not fully clothed, but "girt with a
linen " only (Tb'd. c. 23). Such stories were
quite as common in the East, e.g. Leontius,
bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, A.D. 590, speaks
of the How of blood from images as of frequent
occurrence {Apol. in Act. iv. Co7ic. Ale. ii. Labb.
vii. 240). At Constantinople there was a pic-
ture of our Lord " at which many miracles took
place." This image Gregory II. , writing in 726,
calls without any qualification " the Saviour."
When the emperor Leo ordered it to be de-
stroyed, the otlicer sent to execute the decree
was murdered by women, whom the pope de-
scribes as full of zeal, and honours with a title
{lJ.vpo(p6poi) which antiquity gave to those holy
women who " prepared spices and ointments "
wherewith to embalm the body of Christ {Epist.
ad Leon. A, Labb. Coiic. vii. 19). The murder is
equally approved by the Greek author of the
' Life of Stephen the Younger ' (^Analecta Graeca
Bcned. t. i. p. 415).
It is evident that men who had arrived at
this stage of superstition were ripe for the prac-
tice of direct idolatry. Serenus, a bishop of
Marseilles, contemporary with Gregory of Tours,
found this so rife among his people that he had
the images in his church destroyed. We learn
this fi'om an epistle of Gregory I., who concurred
with him in principle, while he condemned the
deed: " It hath reached our ears some time ago
that your fraternity, seeing certain worshippers
of images, has broken and cast forth the said
images out of the chuj'ch. And indeed we praise
you for being zealous lest aught made by the
hand should be worshipped ; but we think that
you ought not to have broken the said images.
For painting is used in churches, that they who
are ignorant of letters may at least read on the
walls by seeing them what they cannot read
in books " (Epist. vii. 111). "It is one thing to
adore a picture, another to learn by the story of
the picture what ought to be adored ... If any
one wishes to make images by no means forbid
him ; but by all means stop the . worship of
images " (^Epist. ad eund. ix. 9). In both these
epistles now quoted Gregory teaches, and in the
second at great length, that pictures were placed
in churches "o7ily to instruct the minds of the
ignorant " (non ad adorandum, sed ad instnicndas
sohtmmodo mentes nescierdium') \ but elsewhere he
indicates another use which experience has shown
to lead rapidly to direct worship : " We do not
prostrate ourselves before it (' the iinage of our
Saviour ') as before the Godhead ; but we worship
Him whom by help of the image we call to mind
as born, as suffering, or even sitting on His
throne. And while the picture itself, like a
writing, brings the Son of God to our memory,
it either rejoices our mind by the suggestion of
His resurrection, or consoles it by His passion "
{Ep. ad Secnnd. vii. 54). In the Greek church,
however, we find the worship of pictures already
3 G
818
IMAGES
avowed and defended ; as by Leontius, above
mentioned : " I, worshipping the image of God,
do not worship the material wood and colours ;
God forbid ; but laying hold of the lifeless repre-
sentation of Christ, I seem to myself to lay hold
of and to worship Christ through it " (Apol. in
Act. iv. Cone. Nic. ii. Labb. vii. 237). He com-
pares this worship to that which a Jew pays to
the book of the law ; but as he dwells much on
miracles wrought by images, and, like Gregory,
on the emotions which the sight of a cross or
picture ought to raise in the beholder, it is clear
that in practice the worship of them was very
different from the reverence shewn to the law.
Indeed it is very probable that the simple plea
of instruction for the ignorant, however just
when properly applied, was soon so extended as
to cover practices which could not be distin-
guished from idolatry. For as Gieseler notices
{£cel. Mist. per. i. div. i. p. i. § 1) the only reply
to the complaint, "This generation has made
gods of the images," which a fanatical image-
worshipper of the 8th century could offer, was
that by which Gregory I. had defended the
merely didactic use of them ; viz., " You must
teach the unlearned people " {Onit. de Imag.
Adv. Constantinum Cabal, c. 13 ; inter. 0pp. S.
Joann. Damasc).
VIII. By the beginning of the 8th century
the worship of images had become such a scandal
in the East that a Mahometan prince, Izid, or
Jesid, the son of Omar, thought himself justified
in interfering. In 715 he accordingly commanded
all pictures to be removed from the churches of
his dominion (Theophanes, Chronographia ad a. m.
6215). A little later, Leo the Isaurian, who
became emperor in 716, made his hostility to
the practice known. He claimed to be influenced
by a horror of idolatry, and there is no evidence
of any other motive. His sentiments were pro-
bably well-known from the first (Theophan. ad
ann. 6217) ; but we gather from the testimony
of two adversaries (Greg. II. Epist. ad Leon.
I.abb. vii. 9 ; Vita Steph. Jun. u. s. p. 412) that
he had reigned ten years before he ventured on
any overt act. In the year 726 he issued a de-
claration against the worship of images, but did
not command them to be " destroyed, only placed
higher, so that no one might kiss them, and
thus bring discredit on that which was other-
wise worthy of respect" (^Vita Steph. u. s.).
However, about the same time he seems to have
ordered the image already mentioned, to which
miracles were ascribed, to be removed from a
public place in Constantinople. He also wrote
to the bishop of Rome, who quotes his letter
thus : " Thou sayest that the images occupy the
place of idols, and that they who worship them
are idolaters." " Thou hast written, that we
ought not to worship things made by the hand,
nor the likeness of any thing . . . and, inform
me who hath taught by tradition the reverence
and worship of things made by the hand, and I
will confess that it is the law of God" (Epist.
Greg. II. u. s.). In a most insolent and un-
christian reply, the pope dwells much on his
own feelings before a sacred picture (coll. 14,
16) ; but does not meet the complaint that such
objects were abused to idolatry. About the same
time John of Damascus wrote his three " Orations
against those who reject the holy images." In
his demand for adoration he does not go further
IMAGES
than "worshipping and kissing and embracing
the image both with lips and heart ; as the like-
ness of the Incarnate God, or of His mother, or
of the Saints." He says that pictures are the
" books of the unlearned " (Urat. ii. § 10). Leo,
however, persevered. A second letter to the
pope (Labb. u. s. col. 23) bei&g met in the same
spirit as the former, and Germanus of Constanti-
nople proving equally impracticable, in 730 he
ordered all images to be i-emoved out of churches
(Theophan. ad an. 6221). Constantine V., his
son and successor, published another edict against
images in the first year of his reign, 741 ; and
is even said to have exacted an oath from his
subjects that they would not worship them
(Theophan. ad an. 6233 ; Vita Steph. p. 444).
Such images as had been left were now effaced
by scraping or whitewashing the walls ( Vita
Steph. p. 445) ; but merely decorative paintings
of trees, flowers, birds, &c., were allowed. That
the party of the image-worshippers was at this
time strong and numerous, is clear from the fact
that the rebel Artavasdes won many adherents
by declaring himself in their favour, and setting
up icons in the cities. Anastasius the patriarch
went over to him (Cedrenus, Hist. Compend. ii.
4 ; ed. Bonn), and he was recognized by Zacha-
rias of Rome, who dated letters from his assump-
tion of the purple {Ep. iv. v. Labb. vi. 1503-
5). From this time image-worshippers would
naturally be suspected of disloyalty, and would
suffer much in that age of cruelty on the sup-
pression of the revolt in 743. In 754 Constan-
tine convened a general council at Constantinople,
at which 338 bishops (Labb. tom. vii. col. 417)
were present, but none of the great patriarchs.
At this synod it was maintained that the wor-
ship of images was in a great measure due to,
and that in return it fostered, a tendency to
those heresies respecting the nature of Christ
which had been condemned by earlier councils
(ib. coll. 429-453), their characteristics being
either to lower the Divine nature, or to dwell
on the human as apart from it, or to confound
the two. After a careful review of the scrip-
tural and patristic evidence (J,b. coll. 473-504)
the following decree was made :— " Whosoever
shall from this time present dare to make or
worship or set up in a church or private house
or conceal an image (eiK-di/a), if he be a bishop,
presbyter, or deacon, let him be degraded ; if a
monk or layman, let him be anathematized and
punished by the imperial laws, as contrary to
the commandments of God and an enemy to the
doctrine of the Fathers " (ib. col. 508 ; see also
506). At the same time it was forbidden, under
pretence of compliance with this decree, to lay
hands on sacred vessels, vestments, &c., that had
any figure wrought on them, but they might be
recast or made up afresh with licence from the
patriarch or emperor (ih. coll. 510, 511). This
caution was necessary, and only partially effec-
tual. E. g., a fanatical bishop was accused to
the council of having " trampled on the holy
paten of the undefiled mysteries of God, because
it was engraved with the venerable image of
Christ, and of His mother, and of the Precursor"
( Vita Stephani, u. s. p. 480). We read too that
many books containing pictures were burnt or
defaced by the " iconoclasts " (Labb. m. s. coll.
372-377) ; and a general complaint is made by
Germanus of Constantinople that they were not.
IMAGES
content with obeying the order for the removal
of images, but must needs destroy " any symbo-
lical ornament on the ' venerable vessels,' and
' defacing altar-cloths ' embroidered in gold and
purple, would put them up in their own houses,"
&c. (^De Synod, et Haeres. § 42, in Maii Spicil.
Roman, tom. viii. p. 1 ; comp. Vita Steph. p.
445). The decree is said to have been carried
out with great cruelty, but we cannot believe
all the charges brought by his enemies against
Constantine ; as, for example, that the governor
of Natolia, with his approbation, having assem-
bled at Ephesus in 770 all the monks and nuns
of Thrace, gave them the choice of marriage or
the loss of their eyes (Theophanes, ad an. Const.
.30). However this may be, it appears certain
that from the date of the council no images that
could be made the object of worship were per-
mitted in the churches of the East until after the
death of Leo IV. (Chazarus), the son of Constan-
tine, in 780.
In 786 the widow of Leo, Irene, who had been
brought up an image-worshipper, being regent
of the empire in the minority of her son Con-
stantine VI., resolved, in conjunction with her
creature Tarasius the patriarch (785-806), to
make every effort for the restoration of the icons.
A council assembled at Constantinople was dis-
persed by a tumult among the soldiers who were
faithful to the convictions of their former master ;
but it met again the next year (787) at Nicaea.
There were present 375 bishops. Two legates
from Rome attended, and two represented jointly
the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jeru-
salem. In the second session a letter was read,
addressed by Hadrian of Rome to Irene and her
son, in which the pope maintained that a relative
worship was due to images (Labb. tom. vii. col.
113). This had been the teaching of his pre-
decessor Gregory II. in his letter to Leo (ov
AarpfuTiKwi, aWa <tx^''''-kws, ib. col. 13), and
• it appears iu several of the authorities read be-
fore the council (coll. 304, 353, 356, &c.). The
principle was fully accepted by the synod, and
stated in the conclusion at which it arrived, viz.,
that " the venerable and holy images should be
set up in the .same manner as the figure of the
precious and life-giving cross ; both those which
are in colours or tesselated work, and those of
other suitable material, in the holy churches of
God, on sacred vessels and vestments, on walls
and boards, on houses, and by the wayside ; the
images, to wit, of our Lord and God and Saviour
Jesus Christ, and of the one undefiled Lady, the
holy mother of God, and of the honourable
angels, and all saints and holy men. For the
more frequently they are seen in their pictured
resemblance, the more are those who behold
them stirred up to the recollection and love of
their prototypes, and to render to them (the
images) salutation and honorific worship ; not
indeed true supreme worship (A.arpeioi'), accord-
mg to our faith, which is due to the Divine
nature alone, but that, as the pious custom of
the ancients held, an offering of incense and
lights should be made in their honour in the
same manner as to the figure of the precious
and life-giving cross, and to the holy gospels,
and to other sacred ornaments. For the honour
of the image passes on to the original, and he
who worships the image worships in it the per-
son of him who is therein depicted " (Labb. n. s.
IMAGES
819
col. 556). If lights and incense had not been
mentioned, we should hardly have suspected
these words to demand a greater reverence for
images than a devout mind naturally feels for a
copy of the Bible, or indeed for anything that
brings God immediately before it ; but to arrive
at their full significance, we must also take into
consideration the habits of the age, and especi-
ally the arguments and testimonies on which the
decree professed to be founded. Many pictures
were deemed miraculous, and any one, in the
belief of the people, might become so, while
prayers were already addressed directly to the
icons, and many superstitious practices existed
in connection with them without rebuke from
those who framed this decree. In a passage read
with applause at the council from the Limon-
arium of Sophronius or John Moschus (a.D. 630),
worshipping the image of Christ is spoken of as
worshipping Christ, and not to do so as a deadly
sin (Labb. col. 381). Such indeed was the con-
stant language of the iconolaters. He, says
Photius, "who does not worship the image of
Christ, does not worship Christ, though he may
think he worships him " (Epist. lib. ii. n. 102).
In another passage from the Limonarium, also
approved by the council, we are told that a cer-
tain anchorite, when about to visit any holy
place, used to light a candle before a picture o'f
the Virgin with Christ in her arms, and " re-
garding her picture to say to the Lady, ' Holy
Lady, mother of God, seeing I have a long way
to go, a journey of many days, take care of thy
candle and keep it unquenched according to my
intent ; for I depart having thy aid on the way.'
And having said this to the image he departed."
The light burned on till his return (ib. col. 384).
(For the direct address compare Greg. II. ad
Leon. Ep. i. col. 13, and Germanus of Constan-
tinople, ad Tiiom. col. 312.) Other important
facts are recorded in a letter of Michael Balbus
to Ludovicus Pius. " They not only sang psalms
and worshipped them, and asked for help from
the said images," but many, hanging linen cloths
on them, placed their children in them as they
came out of the font, thus making them sponsors ;
and monks receiving the tonsure had the hair
held over them so as to fall into their lap.
" Some of the priests and clerks, scraping the
colours of the images, mixed them with the
oblation and wine, and after the celebration of
masses gave of this oblation to those who" wished
to communicate. Others put the Lord's Body
into the hands of images, from which they caused
those who desired to communicate to receive it.
Some despising the church used the fiat surface
of pictures for altars in common houses and
celebrated the sacred liturgy on them; and
many other like things, unlaw^ful and contrary
to our religion, were done iu churches" (Frnper.
Deo: de Cultu Imag. p. 618, ed. Goldast. Fran-
cof. 1608).
In 797 Constantine VI. was deprived of hi.s
kingdom and sight by the contrivance and com-
mand of his unnatural mother (Cedrenus, tom. ii.
p. 27), v;ho after five years of undivided power
was supplanted by Nicejjhorus. He is said to
have favoured the iconoclasts (Cedr. u. s. p. 49),
but there is no evidence of any action in support
of their cause. His death in battle, July 811,
was in two months followed by that of his sou
and successor Staur.itius, who had been wounded
3 (^ 2
820
IMAGES
at the same time. Michael Rhangabe, who
deposed the dying Stauratius, seems to have
punished with impartial hand both those who
worshipped images and those who broke them.
Leo the Armenian, who deprived him of his
throne in 813, was a decided enemy to image-
worship. He thought that the heathen were
permitted on that account to obtain victories
over the Christians. " I desire," he declared,
" to overthrow them (the images). For observe,
all the emperors who have received and wor-
shipped them have died, some pursued to death,
some falling in battle : and only those who did
not worship them have ended their reigns each
by a natural death, and been buried with
honour," &c. (Ndrratio de Leone Ann. Imp.
auctoris incerti, in 0pp. Theophanis, p. 435, ed.
Paris). The people generally seem to have been
with him ; for he is also reported to have re-
monstrated in this manner with the patriarch
Nicephorus : — " The people are scandalized by
the images, and say that we do ill to worship
them, and that for this reason the heathen lord
it over us. Condescend a little, and use manage-
ment with the people, and let us pare away
trifles. But if you are not willing to do this,
give us the grounds on which you worship them,
for the Scripture is by no means clear on the
point " (Jb. p. 437). In reply Nicephorus merely
asserted the antiquity of the practice. In 815
Leo procured the condemnation of the second
council of Nicaea by another, which he convened
at Constantinople (Labb. tom. vii. col. 1299).
The acts of this council are not e.xtant ; but an
edict of Leo, issued at the time, is probably in
complete accord with its decrees. In that the
emperor alleges the unlawfulness and absurdity
of image-worship, and the duty of removing the
cause of ofience (Michael Monach. in Vita Thco-
dori Stud. c. 63 ; opp. Sirmondi, tom. v.). It is
related of Michael II. (Balbus), a.d. 820, that
" though he was of the heterodox party (an image-
worshipper is speaking) he had nevertheless no
wish to trouble those who did not defer to him,
but allowed every one to do as he chose "(ViYa
Theod. Stud. c. 102). He also recalled those who
had been banished by Leo. He at first contented
himself with forbidding the word "saint" to be
inscribed on images, wherever they might be
(Cedren. tom. ii. p. 110) ; but it is probable that
he afterwards became more severe (Jb. p. 74). A
letter is extant addressed by this emperor and
his son Theophilus to Louis the Godly, in which
he describes the course of action adopted by his
predecessors of like mind : — " By common coun-
sel they caused images to be removed from too
low situations (in churches), and allowed those
set in higher to remain where they were, that
the painting might serve for Scripture, lest
they should be worshipped by the more ignorant
and weak ; but they forbade the lighting of
lamps or burning of incense to them " (Epist.
ad Ludov. apud Goldast. u. s. p. 619). Theo-
philus, on his accession, required strict obedi-
ence to the law, and even forbade the painting
of icons (Theophan. Cuntinuat. lib. iii. c. 10 ;
Cedr. tom. ii. p. 110).
On the death of Theophilus in 842, his widow,
Theodora, who governed for her infant son
Michael III., restored the icons and their wor-
ship, notwithstanding an oath that she would
not do so, exacted by her dying husband (Cedr.
IMAGES
torn. ii. p. 142). The sanction of the church
was obtained through a council held at Constan-
tinople (Labb. tom. vii. col. 1782); and the
triumph of images celebrated by the institution
of an annual feast on the first Sunday in Lent,
thence called by the Greeks rj KvpiaK^ ttjs 6p6o-
So^ias (Philothei Serr,%. in Dom. I. Quadr. in
Gretser's note to Codmus De Offic. c. xv., and
Narrat. de Imiginibus Restit. in Combefis. Auc-
tar. tom. hist. col. 738). From the Typicon of
Sabas, c. 42, we learn that the occasion is marked
by a procession of crosses and pictures, and the
public reading of the decree of Nicaea (Gretser,
u. s.). Opposition, however, was not wholly ex-
tinguished ; for about the year 860 we find Pho-
tius, who had usurped the patriarchate of Con-
stantinople, proposing to Nicholas of Rome that
another general council should be held to com-
plete the suppression of" the heresy of the icono-
machi " ( Vita Ignatii a Niceta conscr. in Labb.
tom. viii. col. 1204). The council met the next
year and pronounced the deposition of Ignatius,
whom Photius had supj^lanted, but its action in
regard to images is not recorded. In 869 an-
other council, convened by the emperor Basil
especially for the condemnation of Photius, de-
nounced the iconoclasts, upheld pictures as use-
ful in the instruction of the people, and declared
that we ought to " worship them with the same
honour as the book of the holy gospels " (can. iii.
Labb. tom. viii. col. 1360). Here the history of
the struggle closes in the East.
IX. The position of the Nestorians and Euty-
chians with respect to images is interesting and
instructive. The former were cut off from the
church in 431, before images of any kind were
common. Their antagonism to the church would
make them keen-sighted to the evil springing up
within her, and naturally lead to their entire
rejection. We find accordingly that " the Nes-
torians have no images or pictures in their
churches, and are very much opposed to the use ,
of them, even as ornaments, or as barely repre-
senting historical facts illustrative of sacred
Scripture " (Badger's Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 132).
The Eutychians, condemned in 451, were a very
small body until the time of Jacob Baradaeus,
who died in 588. They became very numerous,
under the name of Jacobites, in the 7th century,
and when they left the church they carried with
them the custom of image-worship, as it was then
understood and practised. At a later period the
Greeks observing a difference and not knowing that
they had themselves changed, accused the Jaco-
bites of error : " They think it indifferent whethei-
they worship or do not worship them, but if
ever they chance to worship, they do not kiss the
image itself, but touching it with a finger only,
kiss the finger instead" (Demetr. Cyzicen. Z)e
Jacob. Haeres. Max. Biblioth. PP. tom. 814).
One division of the Monophysites, whom some
identify with the Armenians, were called Chat-
zitzarii, from the Armenian Chatzus a cross, be-
cause they reverenced the cross only {ib.). Of
the Armenians Nicon says, " They do not adore
the venerable images, and what is more, their
Catholicus with the rest anathematizes those who
adore them " (De Armen. Rclig. Max. Biblioth.
tom. XXV. p. 328).
X. We turn now to the West. In 767 Pipin
held a council at Gentilly, at which legates from
Rome and Constantinople were present. One
IMAGES
object was to consider the " cultus of images."
The decision was that " images of saints made uj)
(fictas, i.e. mosaics) or painted for the ornament
and beauty of churches might be endured, so
that they were not had for worship, veneration,
and adoration, which idolaters practise " (Con-
stit. [mpcr. Goldast. tom. i. p. 16). The decree
of Xicaea was transmitted by the bishop of Rome
to Charlemagne and others, but the French
church was not even then prepared to accept tlie
worship, though long accustomed to the sight, of
images. In 790 a strong protest appeared in the
famous Libri Carolini or Capitulure Frolixum, a
treatise in four books, expressly directed against
those abuses which the council and the pope had
sanctioned. It is not probable that Charlemagne
composed it himself, but it is written in his
name. The author speaks of king Pipin as his
father (lib. i. c. 6), and of legates sent into
Greece by his father and himself (lib. iii. c. 3) ;
and Hadrian, in his controversial reply, addresses
Charles as the writer (Labb. Cone. tom. vii. coll.
915, 916, 960). A brief quotation will show the
practice of the church in France at that time : —
" We do not banish from the basilics effigies set
up for the commemoration of events, or for orna-
ment, but we restrain a most strange, or rather
most superstitious adoration of them, which we
do not anywhere find to have been instituted by
the apostles, or by apostolical men " (lib. ii. c.
10) '* In the year 792," says Roger Hoveden,
our English annalist, " did Charles the king of
the Franks send a synodal book to Britain, which
had been forwarded to him from Constantinoj)le,
in which book -were found, alas! many unmeet
things and contrary to the true faith ; chiefly
that it had been defined by the unanimous asser-
tion of nearly all the eastern doctors, and not
less than 300 or more bishops, that we ought to
adore images, which the church of God alto-
gether execrates. Against which Albinus (Al-
cuin) wrote an epistle admirably confirmed by
the authority of the Divine Scriptures, and pre-
sented it, with the said book, in the name of our
bishops and princes, to the king" {Chronica
ad ann. 792 ; Sim., Simeon Dunelm. Hist. Reguin.
and Matth. Paris, Chron. Muj. ad eund. ann.) ;
in 794 a council was held at F'rankfort-on-thc-
llaine, "which rejected with contempt and
unanimously condemned the adoration and ser-
vice " which the synod of the Greeks had de-
clared under anathema to be due to " the images
of the saints as to the Divine Trinity " (can. ii.).
Thus the matter rested during the life of Charle-
magne. In 824 Louis the Godly received from
Michael Balbus the epistle to which we have al-
ready referred, and was induced by it to convoke
a synod at Paris in the following year. Having
read the letter of Hadrian to Irene, the bishops
assembled declare, in an address to Louis and
Lothair, that as the pope "justly reproves them
who in those parts rashly presumed to break the
images of the saints, so is he known to have acted
indiscreetly in that he commanded to give them
superstitious worship " (dmstit. Iinper. tom. i.
p. 154). They support their judgments by an
ample catena from the fathers. At this time
Eugenius II. was pope, and a letter is ascribed to
him (the contents of which make the authorship
doubtful) in which, after quoting a letter from
Louis and Lothair to himself, he expresses dis-
approbation of pictures of saints altogether, and
IMAGES
821
even blames tlie Greek emperors Michael and
Theophilus, to whom he writes, for "allowing
any one who chose to have images painted or
chased " ((6. p. 186). Claudius, who became
bishop of Turin in 821, by the choice of the
emperor Louis, finding the basilics of his diocese
full of images superstitiously worshipped, ordered
them to be removed (^Decreta de Cultu [mw]inum,
Goldast. p. 763). He even effaced the painted
figure of the cross. His argument was, " If you
worship a cross because Christ died on one, why
not a manger, because he lay in one, and a ship
because he taught from one ; .... a lamb, be-
cause he is the lamb of God ; but those perverse
dogmatics will devour lambs that have life, and
adore them painted on walls " {ib. p. 767). The
Apology of Claudius was published after the
council of Parrs was held. As he went beyond
that, he was opposed by many who approved of
the acts of the council. Among these was Jonas
the bishop of Orleans, whose work in three books
(^Adversus Claudii Taurinensis Apologetiauni) is
extant, and has preserved to us whatever remains
of that of Claudius. In it he distinctly dis-
allows the worship of images, while protesting
vehemently against the extreme opinions and
high-handed measures of his opponent : — " Per-
mit the images of saints and pictures of holy
works to be painted in churches, not that they
may be adored, but rather that they may lend
to them a certain beauty, and impart to the
senses of the unlearned the history of past
events" (lib. i. sig. c. Colon. 1554). A few years
later, 823, Dungalus, a monk of St. Denys at
Paris, published a violent attack on Claudius.
His work (^Liber Kesponslonuni adv. Claud., &c.)
is printed in the Maxima Biblioth. PP. tom. xiv.
A more able production than either of the above
is the Liber de Ficturis et Imaginihus, written
by Agobard, archbishop of Lyons, probably about
840. This author maintains that " the images
of the apostles and of the Lord Himself were
painted and kept by the ancients rather for love
and remembrance than religious honour or any
veneration after the custom of the Gentiles "
(c. 20) ; and that " none of the ancient catholics
ever thought that they are to be worshipped and
adored " (c. 32). He laments the later practice
as " near to or like the heresy of idolatry or of
the anthropomorphites," and thinks that it was
" rightly decreed by the orthodox fathers (in
the council of Elvira), in order to put down this
kind of superstition, that pictures ought not to
be in churches " (c. 33). This was probably the
last clear note of warning. Walafrid Strabo,
abbot of Reichenau, A.D. 842, gives an uncertain
sound. " We know," he says, " that icons are
not to be adored or worshipped " (colendas), but
he demands for them "seemly and moderate
honours " {De Reh. Eccl. c. 8). Hincmar, arch-
bishop of Rheims, A.D. 845, at the request of his
comprovincials wrote a treatise, now lost, to
explain "in what manner the images of our
Lord and His saints are to be reverenced " (ven-
erandae ; Flodoard. Hist. Eccl. Kemens. lib. iii.
c. 29). His teaching is not further indicated by
our authority; but it may be safely inferred
from his contemptuous language with respect to
the Greek and Roman practice, which he stigma-
tizes as "doll-worship" (puparum cultus), and
from his open rejection of the second couu.il nt
Nicaea (Opusc. Iv. (/(/;,■. Hincmar. Laud. c. xx.~).
822
IMAGINES CLIPEATAE
XI. The " images " of which we have spoken
were all either pictures, like the modern Greek
icons, or mosaics. Some writers, however, to
prove that statuary was not unemployed by the
early church, allege the image of our Lord
which was said to have been set up at Paneas
(Cesarea Philippi or Dan) by the woman whom
He healed of an issue of blood. (See the Hist.
Ecc'. of Eusebius, lib. vii. c. 18 ; Philostorgius, ex
lib. vii. § 3 ; Sozomen, lib. v. c. 21 ; Asterius
Amas. in Photii Bihlioth. cod. 271.) If this were
indeed a statue of our Lord, the solitary act of a
semi-heathen would be no indication of the mind
of the apostolic church. But opposite the prin-
cipal figure was the brazen statue of a woman
in a beseeching attitude, kneeling, and with hands
raised, not behind and furtively touching the
hem of his garment, as in the gospel story. This
suggests that the erection of the group was an
expression of gratitude to some earthly ruler
who had granted a petition. The costliness of
the work creates another difficulty (see St. Luke
viii. 43). Nor can we build anything on the ftict
related by Lampridius that Alexander Severus
had the images of Christ, Abraham, Orpheus,
&c., in his lararium ( Vita Al. Sev. c. 29). It is
possible that in the 9th century there was some
use of statues among Christians ; but we cannot
with Mabillon {Praef. I. in Saec. IV. S. 0. B.
c. 29) think it a certain inference from these
words of Agobard (De Imag. c. 31) : — ■' Who-
ever adores any picture, or molten or moulded
statue, is not giving worship to God, is not
honouring the angels or holy men, but showing
reverence to (their) images " (simulachra).
[W. E. S.]
IMAGINES CLIPEATAE. The Romans
gave this name to the heads painted on the
shields usually hung up in their temples (Buo-
narruoti, Osservaz. sopra ale. medaglioni, p. 9-11).
We find in ancient Christian art a similar mode
of treatment applied to portraits of our Lord.
In some instances the bust of the Saviour is
painted on a circular space in the form of a
shield. This is notably the case in the vaulting
of the chapel in the cemetery of Callixtus
[Jesus Christ], probably the most ancient ex-
ample of a type that became traditional. Cli-
peatao of the Good Shepherd as a standing figure,
are frequently met with in the vaultings of
crypts in the catacombs. In the mosaic of the
great arch of St. Paul without the walls we find
the bust of our Lord in clipeo (Ciampini, Vet. Mon.
tab. Ixviii.). Also in ancient ivory diptychs,
ouch as that of Rambona (Buonarruoti, Vet. p.
262), in which the clipeus is supported by two
winged angels. Another diptych exhibits the
shield or crown carried in a similar manner by
two angels, and bearing in the midst a Greek
cross instead of the figure of the Saviour (Calo-
gera's Eaccolta, vol. xl. p. 295). That this mode
of treatment lasted till the 7th century is
proved by a painting in the roof of the oratory
of St. Felicitas ; there the bust of our Lord
appears in clipeo (Raoul-Rochette, Disc, sur les
types iinit., p. 25). Examples may also be quoted
in later times (Du Cange, Gloss, s. vv. Scutum,
Thoracida).
Many of the sarcophagi found in Roman ceme-
teries exhibit the effigies of a husband and wife
carved within a shield or shell, as in the in-
IMMUNITIES OF THE CLERGY
stance figured below (Bottari's pi. xx.). Some-
times a single figure is thus represented (/(/.
xxxvi. xl. Ixxxix.).
(Martiguy, Diet, des Antiq. Chret. s. v.). [C]
IMIZILUM (also Imizinum, Mizilum, Mi-
CILUM, MrziNUM). This word, variously spelt,
occurs several times in the Vitae Pontijicum of
Anastasius Bibliothecarius. It appears to denote
some material of a silky nature, used for articles
of dress of a costly description. The etymology
of the word is doubtful ; according to one view
it is akin to the Italian ennesino, but Ducauge
{s.v.) rather connects it with camisile (Vitae
Pontijicum, Leo III. p. 418 ; Paschalis I. p. 449 ;
Sergius II. p. 490 ; Nicolaus I. p. 584). [R. S.]
IMMERSION. [Baptism, §49, p. 161.]
IMMUNITIES OF CHURCHES. [Church
(1), p. 365.]
IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES OF
THE CLERGY. Before the time of Constan-
tine the clergy of the Christian church enjoyed
no immunities or privileges. With the conver-
sion of the emperor to the Christian faith, the
ministers of what became the state religion began
to be exempted from burdens borne by other
members of the community, and to have special
Itonours conceded to them. This policy reached
its height in the Middle Ages, when its results
caused a reaction to ensue which is operating at
the present day.
By immunities we understand in the present
article exemptions from ordinary burdens, by
privileges, extraordinary honours, or prerogatives,
whether sanctioned by custom only or by law.
Both immunities and privileges may be best re-
viewed under three heads, as I. Judicial,
II. Pecuniary, III. Official and Social.
I. Judicial. Under this head we have to
distinguish, 1. Rights maintained and confirmed,
2. Immunities allowed, 3. P]-ivileges gi-anted.
1. Eujhts nviintained and confirmed. (1) De-
cisions in matters of faith and in ecclesiastical
causes.- — Christianity had grown up in antagonism
to the imperial power of Rome, and managing its
own affairs under its own officers, unaffected by
any internal interference on the part of the civil
authority. It jealously guarded its independence
when the worldly power exchanged its attitude
of hostility for one of friendship and alliance.
In matters ecclesiastical ecclesiastical authority
continued supreme. This was no immunity or
privilege granted now for the first time as a
IBIM UNITIES AND PKIVILEGES OF THE CLERGY
favour bestowed by a friendly chief magistrate,
but a prescriptive right maintained. The right
was afterwards impaired by servility on one
side, and by the exertion of might on the other ;
for the co-operation of the emperor was found so
useful lor enforcing the acceptance of conciliary
decrees that it was appealed to by contending
factions, and, when appealed to, the civil power
naturally enough took upon itself to decide which
faction it should support and why it should
support it. This led imperceptibly to the civil
power being regarded as having a right to judge
iu things spii'itual as well as in things civil.
But it was rather in its political than in its
judicial character that such claim was made or
admitted. Ecclesiastical causes, strictly so
called, such as trials for heresy, were never
brought before courts taking their authority
from the state. This is evidenced by laws of
successive emperors, of Constantius, a.d. 355
{Cod. Theod. lib. .\vi. tit. 2, leg. 12, tom. vi.
p. 37, ed. Gothofred. Lugd. 1G65), of Valen-
tinian and Gratian, AD. 376 (Ibid. leg. 23, p. 52),
of Arcadius and Honorius, A.D. 399 (Ibid. tit. 11,
leg. i. p. 298). These laws are of the same
tenor, giving the sanction of law to the already
existing custom that in ecclesiastical causes
judgment was given by church officers and not
by the state courts. " On questions of religion,"
says the law of Arcadius and Honorius, " bishops
are to be judges ; other cases must be carried
before the law courts " (l. c).
(2) Trials of ecclesiastical persons for moral
offences. — In addition to offences against the
faith, those offences against morality on the part
of the clergy which were not civil crimes were
by prescription under the cognisance of ecclesi-
astical authority alone. This could not be other-
wise, as acts that were not offences against the
law could not be carried into the law courts.
The bishop was judged by his peers, members
of the other clerical orders by their bishop ;
judgment being in accordance with the canons of
discipline promulgated by the recognized au-
thority of church synods. In the continuance of
this jurisdiction the state simply permitted the
exercise of a right which it found the church
already possessed of.
2. Iminunities allowed. (1) Exemption of the
clergy from the jurisdiction of the secular courts
in respect to minor offences. — Hitherto we have
not arrived at any novel immunity or privilege
granted by the state as a matter of grace. But
soon episcopal jurisdiction over the clergy was
extended from cases of morality to petty crimes,
and at the same time the clergy were withdrawn
from the jurisdiction of the state courts in
respect to those crimes. There was a recognized
distinction, according to the laws of the Roman
empire, between great and petty crimes; the
first were called atrocia delictu, the last levia
delicto. By the impei'ial favour the clergy
became exempted from the jurisdiction of the
secular courts in respect to the levia delicto,
while subject to them, as much as any other
citizens, in cases of grave crime, such as murder,
rebellion, and the like. In the reign of Jus-
tinian, A.D. 539, this exemption was allowed to
apply to monks and nuns as well as to the clergy
(Justin. Novell. 79, 83; Corpus Juris Civilis,
tom. ii. pp. 16(5, 174, ed. Beck, Lipsiae, 1829) ;
and iu the reign of IJeraclius, a.d. 610, it
i2S
appears to have been extended from petty offences
to all criminal cases (Const itutiones /mperatoriie,
ad calc. Cod. Justin.; Const. 3, p. 808, Paris,
1628). When one of the parties was a clergy-
man and the other a layman, the clergyman's
immunity from the jurisdiction of the secular
court did not hold good, except by the consent of
the layman (Valentin. Novell. 12).
(2) Exemption of bishops from being summoned
into court as witnesses. — By Justinian, possibly
by Theodosius, it was enacted that no bishop
should be required to appear at the tribunal of
a secular judge for the purpose of giving his
testimony in any case before the court. The
judge was required to send his officer to take the
bishop's testimony at his own house. The words
of Justinian's law are "Ko judge is to compel
bishops to come to a trial to exhibit their tes-
timony, but he is to send to them some of his
subordinate officers" (Justin. Novell. 123, c. 7 ;
Curpus Juris Civilis, tom. ii. p. 250).
(3) Exemption of bishops from having to take
an oath in giving their testimony. — By the law
of Justinian above quoted it was enacted that the
word of bishops, given on the holy gospels,
should be accepted in place of an oath, an oath
being regarded as derogatory to their holy
character. " That the bishops having the holy
gospels before them may say what they know, as
becomes priests " (Ibid.).
(4) Exemption of bishops and presbyters from
being examined by torture while bearing testimony,
—According to the laws of the Roman empire,
witnesses might be scourged and otherwise
tortured in order to extract from them the
truth (Cod. Justin, lib. ix. tit. 41 ; Corpus Jur.
Civ. p. 323 ; Cod. Theod. lib. xiii. tit. 9, leg. 2,
tom. V. p. 105 ; St. Aug. Serm. ccclv. tom. v.
p. 1572, ed Migne, nl. Be Biversis, iQ ; Synesius,
£p. 58, Op. p. 201 ; Paris, 1631). Theodosius,
with some hesitation and ambiguity, exempted
bishops and presbyters from this liability. His
words are : " Presbyters are to give testimony
without being liable to torture, provided, how-
ever, that they do not pretend what is false.
But the rest of the clergy below them in order
or rank, if they have to give their testimon}% are
to be treated as the laws direct" (Cod. Theod.
lib. xi. tit. 39, leg. 10, tom. iv. p. 331).
3. Judicial privileges. (1) Episcopal coercive
jurisdiction in civil causes. — It had been the
custom of Christians, in accordance with the
injunctions of St. Paul (1 Cor. vi. 4), to settle
their didereuces before one of themselves, instead
of going to the heathen law courts. Very soon,
and very naturally, the office of arbitrator be-
came attacheil to that of bishop, the bishop being
the best qualified person to exercise the judicial
function. We find instances of the exercise of
judicial power in Sidonius Apollinaris (lib. iii.
Ep. 12 ; lib. vi. Ep. 4, Op. p. 160), Synesius
(Ep. 105, Op. p. 247), St. Ambrose (i,>.'lxxxii.
Ad Marcellum, Op. tom. ii. p. 1100 ; Paris, 1690),
St. Augustine (Confess, vi. 3, tom. i. p. 720, ed.
Migne). Down to the time of Constantine
episcopal decisions thus given had not any force
in law. Litigants were bound only by their
free choice or by contract to abide by the
verdicts given. But now coercive jurisdiction
was given to the bishop's court. It was still
necessary for both parties to the suit to consent
to eai'ry it before the bishop, but when it was
824
IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CLERGY
once carried to him his sentence was final, and
was executed by the secular authorities. From
Sozomen's Ecclesiastical IJisiori/ (i. 9, p. 21, Can-
tab. 1720) it would appear that this privilege
was granted by Con.stantine. It is clearly re-
cognized by a law of Arcadius and Honorius
(Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 4, leg. 8, tom. ii. p. 33).
Valentinian III. carefully distinguishes between
religious causes, in which bishops and presbyters
had a prescriptive right to judge, and civil
causes, in which they had no inherent right to
act judicially ; but he recognizes their juris-
diction in the civil causes when the free choice of
the litigants has selected them in preference to
the state judges (Valentin. Novell. 12, ad calc.
Cod. Thecd.'). Thus bishops were made, by
virtue of their office, not only arbiti'ators be-
tween members of their flocks, but also magis-
trates before whom any that pleased might carry
their suits to be by them finally and legally
settled. The burden of judicial business became
so heavy (see St. Augustine, Epistola xxxiii.
Migne, al. 147), that it was devolved upon
presbyters (St. Aug. Epist. ccxiii. Migne, al. 110),
deacons {Concil. Tarracon. can. iv. ; Hard. Con-
di, tom. ii. p. 1042, Paris, 1714), and laymen
(Socrates, Hist. Eccl. vii. 37, p. 321 ; Oxon.
1844) ; whence probably there arose the existing
custom of the bishops appointing lay chan-
cellors to preside in their courts. Episcopal
jurisdiction did not, however, extend to criminal
causes, but was confined to civil questions and
pecuniary suits. Bishops were forbidden by
canon law to interfere with criminal cases (see
Concil, Tarracon. can. iv.).
(2) Episcopal iiitercession. — In pecuniary cases
bishops were magistrates, in criminal cases they
were intercessors. Wherever the arbitrary will
of a despotic sovereign has power over life and
liberty, a right of intercession is sure to become
vested in the ministers of religion, the reason
being that the religious character alone invests
its possessor with so much awe as to enable him
to dare to resist the passionate and capricious
fury of otherwise uncontrolled power. Such a
right begins in the courageous act of some brave
ecclesiastic, and first being recognized by custom,
is afterwards confirmed by law. When, at a
more advanced stage of civilisation, punishments
are calmly meted out by the scales of justice, the
right of intercession necessarily ceases. The pro-
priety of the privilege "is argued in two letters
that passed between Macedonius and St. Augus-
tine (Ep. clii. cliii. Migne, al. 53, 54) ; the
latter, in interceding with the tribune Marcel-
linus for the fanatics called CircumcelUones,
advances very strong claims : " If you do not
listen to a friend who asks, listen to a bishop
who advises; though, as I am speaking to a
Christian, I shall not be too bold if Isay that in
such a case as this you ought to listen to your
bishop that lays his injunction on you, my noble
lord and dear son " (Ep. cxxxiii. Migne, al. 159).
He addresses the proconsul Apringius on the
same occasion in the same strain {Ep. cxxxiv.
Migne, al. 160). Flavian, when the people of
Antioch had raised a futile rebellion against
Theodosius, proceeded to Constantinople. " I am
come," he said to the emperor, " as the deputy of
our common Master, to address this word to your
heart, ' If ye forgive men their trespasses, then
will your heavenly Father also forgive you your
trespasses.'" He returned with a message of !
pardon. Eparchius, a monk who lived in Angou-
leme in the 6th century, exercised so great an
influence over the neighbouring magistrates that
the populace rose and compelled a judge, who [
was about to yield to his intercession, to execute
a robber that had been guilty of murder (Greg. ]
Turon. Hist. Franc, vi. 8, p. 379 ; ed. Migne, |
1849). In the 7th century (a.d. 633) a canon of
the fourth council of Toledo, repeated in the '•
sixth council of Aries (a.d. 813), enjoins on i
bishops the duty of protecting the poor, reprov- ]
ing over-severe judges, and, if necessary, report- |
ing to the king (Cone. Tolet. iv. can. xxxii.; I
Cone. Ai'clat. vi. can. xvii. ; Hard. Concil. tom. iii.
p. 587 ; tom. iv. p. 1005).
Closely connected with the privilege of inter-
cession, were the further privileges of protection
of the weak, of asylum, of censorship of the'
public morals; all of which, like the right of
intercession, are based upon the character belong- \
ing to the minister of religion, not upon the
decision of an arbitrary statute.
(3) Interference in behalf of the weak. — This j
practice, begun at the risk of the bishoj), became )
sanctioned by the laws of the empire. Widows ,
and orphans were counted the especial charge of j
the bishop, and their property was placed under i
his guardianship. St. Ambrose tells his clergy \
that they will do well if through their means
the attacks of the powerful, which the widows
and orphans cannot resist, are beaten back by
the protection of the church. He warns them
not to let the favour of the rich have weight
with them, and reminds them how often he had
himself resisted assault in behalf of the widow, I
and indeed of any one who required his help i
(De Officiis Minist. ii. 29. Op. tom. ii. p. 105).
Justinian legalized the bishop's right of protec- |
tion in Ihe case of prisoners, of children stolen I
from their parents, of lunatics, of foundlings, of |
minors, of oppressed women (God. Justin, lib. i. j
tit. 4, legg. 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 33; tom. ii. '
pp. 35-39). The fifth council of Orleans (a.d.
549), decreed that the archdeacon or other j
church officer should visit the prisons, and see j
that the prisoners were cared for, and further, i
that the bishop should provide them with food i
(Cone. Aurel. v. can. xx. ; Hard. Gone. tom. ii. |
p. 1447). Gregory of Tours describes a good i
bishop as getting justice for the people, helping \
the poor, consoling the widow, and protecting the
minor, as parts of his official duties (Greg.
Turon. iv. 35).
(4) Sanctuary. — Out of the rights of inter-
cession and protection there necessarily grew on
the one side the right of sanctuary, on the other
the right of censure. If the weak and the ;^
accused could look to the bishop for help, they
naturally fled to him when help was needed ; and ;'
if the bishop might advocate the cause of the i
accused and of the suffering, he had to make but I
one step to censuring the judge and the oppressor.
That churches or temples should be places of
asylum is founded on natui'al piety, not on
positive law : and until law is all powerful, it is
necessary that there should be such refuges from
sudden fury. They existed under the Jewish
and the various pagan religions, as well as under
the Christian religion ; and not only Christian
churches, but statues of the emperor and the j
imperial standard originally enjoyed the privi- j
IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CLERGY
825
lege. We find the custom of sanctuary acknow-
ledged and acted on in the time of St. Basil
(Greg. Nazianz. Orat. xx. De Laud. Basil. Op.
torn. ii. p. 353 ; Paris, 1630), St. Chrysostom
(Op. tom. viii. p. 67, ed. Savil), Synesius (Ep.
Iviii. Op. p. 201 ; Paris, 1630). Arcadius abro-
gated it at Eutropius' instance, A.D. 398 {Cod.
Theod. lib. ix. tit. 45, leg. 3, tom. iii. p. 361);
but when Eutropius had himself to claim sanc-
tuary this abrogation was itself abolished (So-
crates Hist. Eccl. vi. 5). Shortly afterwards
Theodosius II. enacted a law extending the pri-
vilege of sanctuary from the interior of the
church to its environs (Coc?. Theod. lib. ix.
tit. 45). The persons who were allowed to take
sanctuary were by no means all classes of crimi-
nals, as afterwards was the cfase through abuse
of the original right. It was intended for the
defeated party in any civil aSray, for slaves that
were in danger of cruel treatment, for debtors,
unless they were debtors to the state ; in gene-
ral, for the innocent, the injured, the oj)pressed,
and any whose criminality was doubtful, and
for whom intercession might seem likely to be
of avail. Such persons, provided they came
unarmed, had protection for thirty days. Slaves
were protected, at first for one day {Cod. Theod.
lib. ix. tit. 45, leg. 5), afterwards till their
masters gave a promise to spare them corporal
punishment {Concil. Ejjaonense, A.D. 517, can.
xxxix. ; Hard. Concil. tom. ii. p. 1051); for
breaking which promise the masters were liable
to suspension from communion {Concil. Aure-
lianense v. A.D. 549, can. xxii. ; Hard. Concil.
tom. ii. p. 1447). Ordinary criminals, as rob-
bers and murderers, were not admitted till later
times, when the privilege of asylum became
incompatible with the due execution of the laws,
and was abrogated with the applause of all
lovers of justice and morality. Charles the
Great, A.D. 779, forbid any subsistence being
supplied to murderers, though by that time they
had made good their right not to be directly
delivered up to justice.
(5) Censorship. — The censorship vested in the
clergy was partly a right founded on the fact
that the church, as a religious body, took
cognisance of immorality within its own body,
and exacted of its members the discipline of
penance ; partly it was a privilege recognized by
law, arising out of the privilege of intercession,
and indeed forming a branch of it. The council
of Aries, A.D. 314, instructed bishops to have a
special oversight of such civil magistrates as
were Christians, and to cut them off from the
church if they acted contrary to her laws
(can. vii. Hard. Concil. tom. i. p. 264). St.
Basil very boldly censui-ed so purely a political
act as that of sepai-ating Cappadocia into two
provinces, A.D. 371, because it threw an increased
burden of taxes on the poor {Ep. ccclxxxix. ad
Martinianum, Op. tom. iii. p. 369 ; Paris, 1638).
St. Gregory Nazianzen declared to rulers and
governors (Sufao'Tai koI &pxovTfs) that the law
of -Christ subjected them to his tribunal (Orai.
xvii. Op. tom. i. p. 271 ; Colon. 1690) ; Synesius
excommunicated Andronicus, president ot Lybia
{Ep. Iviii. Op. p. 201); Orestes' hatred of
Cyril of Alexandria was not only personal, but
also " because the authority of the bishop took
away so much from the power of the king's
officers " (Socrates, Jlist. Ecd. vii. 13, p. 293).
The penance performed by Theodosius I. at the
command of St. Ambrose was a conspicuous ex-
hibition of a censorship exerted by a bishop and
submitted to by an emperor (Sozom. Hist. Eccl.
vii. 25, Op. p. 315 ; Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. v. 17,
Op. p. 215; Cantab. 1720). These episcopal acts
were performed on the principle that every body
spiritual or political has an inherent right of
exercising discipline on its own members, even to
the point of excluding the refractory from its
bosom. But the imperial laws were not slow in
giving further rights of censorship to the clergv.
We have already seen that it was the duty of the
bishop to visit prisoners. The same law (a.D.
409) that imposed upon him this duty gave him
also the right of admonishing the judges. Jus-
tinian required him, further, to report what he
found amiss in the prison, that it might be
corrected {Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 4, legg. 22, 23 ;
Corp. Jur. Civ. tom. ii. p. 35). The same
emperor likewise empowered bishops to uphold
good morals by putting down gaming ( Ibid
leg. 25) ; to see that justice was impartially
administered {Ihid. legg. 21, 31); to resist
tyranny on the part of the chief lay authorities,
and to look after the administration of public
property {Ibid. leg. 26).
These rights passed over from the Byzantine
empire to the Western nations, and no questions
were asked as to whether they were founded in
positive law or in prescription. The third council
of Toledo, A.D. 589, declared bishops to have, by
royal command, the charge of seeing how the
judges treated the people {Cone. Tolet. iii. can.
xviii. ; Hard. Cone. tom. iii. 482). The fourth
council we have already seen requires bishops to
admonish judges, and to report to the king such
judges as disregarded their admonition (can.
xsxii.). The same charge was repeated by the
sixth council of Aries, A.D. 813 (can. xvii.). It
was in France that the mystical signification of
the " two swords " was discovered (by Geoffrev,
abbot of Vendome, A.D. 1095), and in accord-
ance with the principle involved in that inter-
pretation, ecclesiastical authority was freely
exerted over sovereigns. Louis le Debonnaire,
Lothaire, and Charles the Bald, three Carlo-
vingian princes, were deposed by councils of the
Gallican church, while king Robert, Philip I.,
and Philip Augustus, like Henry IV., Henry V.,
and Frederick II. of Germany, suffered Papal ex-
communication. But it was in France too that
the secular authority once more revindicated its
right in the memorable struggle between Phi-
lippe le Bel and Boniface VIlI. at the end of the
13th centifry. A quarter of a century later we
find a conference held before Philippe de Valois
(a.D. 1329), in which the whole question of lay
and spiritual jurisdiction was argued by Pierre
de Cugnieres on behalf of the crown, and by the
archbishop of Sens and the bishop of Autun in
behalf of the church, in which the king's advo-
cate alleged sixty-six excesses of juiisdiction on
the part of the ecclesiastii'al courts. Soon after,
the Appel comme d'abus or Appellatio tanquain ub
abusu was instituted, which admitted a])j)eal
from an ecclesiastical court to the highest civil
authority whenever it could be pleaded that the
ecclesiastical judge had exceeded his powers or
encroached upon temporal jurisdiction. At the
council of Trent this right was a.s.saileJ, but
through the influence of the ambassadors of
820
IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CLERGY
Charles IX. it was maintained, and it continues
stiii in vigour.
II. Pecuniarv". 1. Immunities allowed. (1)
Cens'is Capitum or Poll Tax. — The clergy, their
wives, children, and servants were exempted by
Constantius from paying the poll-tax, which was
levied on all citizens between the ages of 14
and 65, except such as were granted immunity
{Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2, legg. 10, 14). This
was a favour shared by the clergy with the
members of other liberal professions. Valea-
tinian exempts the higher class of painters
(Ficturae jnofessores, si modo ingenui sunt) from
the incidence of the tax {Cod. Theod. lib. xiii.
tit. 4, leg. 4). This immunity is alluded to and
pleaded by Gregory Nazianien {Ep. clix. ad Ain-
philochium, Op. torn. i. p. 873) and by St. Basil
{Ep. cclxxix. adJfo'lcstiiin. Op. torn. iii. p. 272).
(2) Equorum conniii^ urnni <n/teratic or Soldiers'
horses tax; Auriiin tir. nl.imt or Recruit tax. —
The clergy had to pay their property tax {cen-
sus agroruni) and all burdens on land like other
owners and occupiers, but they appear to have
been exempted from any local taxation that
might be imposed for the supply of horses for
the army, or as a substitute for recruits. High-
priests of the old pagan religions seem to have
shared this immunity {Cod. Theod. lib. vii. tit.
13, leg. 22 ; cum Gothofredi comment.).
(3) Trading-tax called Chri/sargyrum from
being paid in gold and silver, and Lustralis col-
latio because collected at the end of each lustrum.
The inferior clergy were permitted to trade
without paying this tax, provided their opera-
tions were confined within moderate bounds (Co<i.
Theod. lib. xiii. tit. 1, legg. 1, 11 ; lib. xvi. tit. 2,
legg. 8, 10, 16, 36). This immunity was abused,
and clerics were forbidden to trade by Valen-
tinian {Cod. Theod. lib. xiii. tit. 1, leg. 16; Va-
lentin. NoL-ell. 12 ad calc. Cod. Theod.). The tax
was abolished by Anastasius (Evagrius, Hist. Eccl.
iii. 39 ; Op. p. 371 ; Cantab. 1720).
(4) Metatuin or Entertainment-inoney. — The
clergy were not compelled to receive the emperor,
the judges, or soldiers ou their circuits or travels.
This immunity their houses shared with those
of senators, Jewish synagogues, and places of
worship {Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 8).
(5) Superindicta or Extraordinary taxes. — The
clergy were exempted from these by Constantius
{Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 8), by Honorius
and Theodosius Junior {ibid. leg. 40), and by
Justinian {Justin. Novell, cxxxi. c. 5).
(6) Ad instructiones reparationesque iiinerum
ct pontiun or Highway rate. — By a law of Ho-
norius and Theodosius Junior, A.D. 412, church
lands were exempted from paying the road-tax ;
but this exemption was withdrawn A.D. 423 by
Theodosius Junior and by Valentinian III., and
it was not regranted.
(7) Cursus publicus, angariae, parangariae,
translatio, evectio, or Conveyance-burden. — Con-
stantius exempted the clergy from the burden
of having to convey corn and other things for
the soldiers and imperial officers {Cod. Theod.
lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 10;, but in the last year of
his reign, A.D. 360, he revoked the concession.
The immunity was restored A.D. 382, and con-
firmed by Honorius A.D. 412 {Cod. Theod. lib.
ii. tit. 16, leg. 15 ; lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 40), but
again revoked by Theodosius Junior and Valen-
tinian. A.D. 440.
(8) Descriptb lucrativorum, denarismus, unciae,
or Municipal tax. — If the property of a member
of a town-council {curia) passed by will to any
one that was not a member of the curia, the new
owner had to pay a tax to the curia amounting
to the sura previously paid by the curialis. But
if the property passed to the church, it was
enacted by Justinian that the tax could not be
demanded {Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 2, leg. 22 ;
Novell, cxxxi. c. 5).
2. Pecuniary Privileges. (1) Legacies. — By a
law of Constantine {Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2,
leg. 4) it was enacted that goods might be be-
queathed to the church, no distinction being made
between real and personal property. This law was
confirmed by Justinian {Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 2,
leg. 13). Moneys or estates left to the church
were administered by the bishop for the general
welfare.
(2) Inheritance. — Constantine settled the pro-
perty of confessors and martyrs dying intestate
and without near relatives, on the church (Eu-
seb, T'7^. Constant, ii. 36; Op. p. 461; Paris,
1659). Theodosius Junior and Valentinian ex-
tended the provision, so as to embrace the case
not only of martyrs and confessors, but of all
clergymen, monks, and nuns {Cod. Theod. lib. v.
tit. 3, leg. 1 ; Cud. Justin, lib. i. tit. 3, leg. 20).
(3) Forfeiture. — Justinian enacted that the
property of clergymen or monks leaving the
clerical or monastic life should be forfeited to
the church or monastery with which they had
been connected {Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 3, leg. 55).
(4) Confiscation. — By laws of Honorius and
Gratian some of the property which had belonged
to the heathen temples {Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit.
10, leg. 20) and that which was owned by heretics
{ibid. tit. 6, leg. 52) was confiscated to the use
of the church.
(5) Imperial largess. — Occasionally large sums
were bestowed by the emperors for the support
of the clergy. Thus Constantine desired his
African Receiver, Ursus, to pay over a vast sum
(Tpio-x'Ai'ous (p6\\eis) to Caecilian, bishop of
Carthage, for him to divide among the clergy of
Africa Mauritania and Numidia, and enabled him
to draw for more (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. x. 6,
p. 722, ed. Burton). On the occasion of an
oecumenical council being summoned, the em-
peror bore the travelling expenses of the bishops.
(6) State allowance. — Constantine passed a law
requiring the prefects of each province to make
an annual grant of corn to the clergy out of the
revenues of the province (Theodoret, Hist. Eccl.
i. 11 ; Sozomen, i/ jsf. /s'cc?. V. 5). This allowance
was discontinued when Julian occupied the throne,
but it was restored on a limited scale after
Julian's death. It is recognized by a law of
Justinian (Cod Justin, lib. i. tit. 2, leg. 12).
Titlies are not to be added to this list, as they
did not origmate in a state grant, but in the
voluntary liberality of individuals, grounded
partly on a belief that tithes were due by divine
right (see St. Hieron. Com. m Mat. iii. Op. tom.
iii. p. 1829, ed. Ben. Paris, 1704 ; St. Aug. Enarr.
in Psal. cxlvi. 8; Op. tom. iv. p. 1911, ed.
Migne), partly on the evident need of some such
provision for the maintenance of the ministers
of religion in modest independence. They became
general in the 4th century, not as a legal impost
but as a voluntary gift (see St. Chrysos. Hoin. iv.
in Ephes. s. f. ; Op. tom. iii. p. 784). They
IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CLERGY
82;
were made compulsory by Charles the Great,
A.D. 778 (see Selden, History of Tithes. Works,
vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 1146).
III. Official and Social. 1. Immunities. —
Public offices not bringing with them their own
salary and emoluments were looked upon, though
honourable in themselves, as burdens, like the
office of high-sherift" of a county among our-
selves. Constantine, on embracing Christianity,
exempted the clergy from the burden of bearing
any offices whatsoever (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. x. 7,
vol. ii. p. 724 ; Cod. Tlieod. lib. xvi. tit. 2, legg.
1, 2, 7). This concession applied to all offices,
whether personal (^fersonalia luunera) or praedial,
i.e. attached to property, whether honourable
(honorcs or curialia munerd) or mean (sordida
■inunera). No change was made by subsequent
laws in respect to personal burdens or mean
offices, but the experience of Constantine taught
him to restrain his first liberality as to the
burdens belonging to property. For it was found
that immunity from bearing office was counted
so great a boon that men of wealth, who had
no purpose of undertaking the ministry of the
Church, solicited and obtained minor ecclesias-
tical posts solely with the fraudulent purpose
of exempting their estates from the services to
which they were liable. Constantine therefore
enacted that no one qualified by his estate to
bear public offices should be allowed " to fly
to the clerical name and miui.stry, and that any
who had done so with a view to declining the
public burdens should nevertheless be compelled
to bear them " {Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 3).
Succeeding emperors modified these laws of Con-
stantine in a manner sometimes more sometimes
less favourable to the clergy, the general tend-
ency of the legislation being to exempt the
estates of the church from civil burdens, but to
preserve the liability of the private property of
the clergy — a liability which they had to fulfil
either by finding substitutes to perform the neces-
sary duties, or by parting with a portion at least
of their lands {God. Theod. lib. xii. tit. 1, legg.
49, 59, 99, 121, 123, 163 ; lib. xvi, tit. 2, legg.
19, 21).
Official and Social Privileges. (1) Free election.
— In the midst of the despotism of the empire the
clergy and laity maintained their old right of
electing, and the clergy their right of being
elected, to the office and dignity of bishop. "Jhose
absolute monarchs respected the freedom of eccle-
siastical elections ; and while they distributed and
resumed the honours of the state and army they
allowed eighteen hundred perpetual magistrates
to receive their important offices from the free
suffrages of the people " (Gibbon, Decline and
Fall, c. XX.). By degrees this right has been
taken away in almost all parts of the church,
partly on the plea that the civil magistrate repre-
sents the laity, partly on the allegation that
endowments and civil urivileges had been granted
by the state, sometimes because it was consi-
dered that the security of the state required
such a precaution, sometimes from apprehension
of the evil consequences expected to arise out of
the excitement of free elections, sometimes owing
to corrupt agreements, termed concordats, made
between the bishop of Rome assuming to represent
ecclesiastical interests and the king or emperor
of a particular country, representing the civil
pow.-r.
(2) Authority of the Uglier over the lower
clergy. — The position of the bishops of the larger
sees was made one of great dignity and im-
portance by the subjection of the clergy and
ecclesiastics of all classes tp their uncontrolled
authority ; and this was not restrained by any
interference on the part of the state. The bishop
of Constantinople presided as lord over 60 pres-
byters, 100 deacons, 40 deaconesses, 90 sub-dea-
cons, 110 readers, 25 chanters, 100 doorkeepers
{Justin. Novell, ciii.), and a guild of 1100 copiatue
or gravediggers. The clergy, under the imme-
diate control of the bishop of Carthage, were
upwards of 500. The paHiholani alone, at Ale.x-
andria, amounted to 600. All these were allowed
by the law as well as by custom to form in
each central city a society which recognized the
bishop as its head with a devotion which was
not equalled by the retainers of any civil officer.
Beyond this immediate circle of adherents a less
defined authority was vested in the metropolitan,
extending over all his suffragan bishops.
(3) liights of rneetini and speech. — Twice every
year each metropolitan was commanded by the
canons, and permitted by the laws, to call to-
gether the synod of his province : occasionally
the emperor assembled the synod of the empire.
At these meetings, as well as in the pulpit, free
speech was allowed by the laws, the doctrine
and discipline of the church were regulated,
ecclesiastical sympathies were strengthened, and
the power of the clergy, by being concentrated,
was increased.
(4) Tokens of respect. — It was the custom for
the laity, not excluding the emperor, to bow the
head to the bishop and to kiss his hand (see in-
stances given in Valesius' note on Theodoret,
Hist. Feci. iv. 6, p. 153, Cantab. 1720; and Sa-
varo's note on Sidonius Apollinaris, viii. 11, p.
532, Paris, 1609). It was usual to address the
bishop by the title of God-beloved or Most-holy
{deo(pi\4(rTaTos, ayicvraTos), and by still stronger
terms of honour, as " Holy Lord and Most Blessed
Pope " — words commonly used by St. Jerome
in writing to St. Augustine. " Fer coronam "
was a common form of beseeching a bishop
(see St. Aug. Ep. xxxiii. al. 157, tom. ii. p.
131, ed. Migne; Sidon. Apollinar. cum comment.
Savan. vii. 8, p. 440). Its meaning is doubtful,
but it is probably equivalent to the phrase
" your honour " (see Bingham, Antiquities, ii.
9,4). Occasionally Hosannahs were sung before
bishops and others eminent for sanctity, but this
practice is condemned by St. Jerome as savouring
of profanity and presumption (St. Hieron. in
Matt. xxi. 15 ; Op. tom. iv. p. 98). The bishop's
seat in his cathedral was called his throne.
There is no doubt that the position of the
chief bishops was one of great dignity, authority,
wealth, and power. Gibbon calculates that the
average income of a bishop amounted to 600/.
a-year (chap. xx.). This does not give an accurate
idea of the status held by them, as the value of
money is constantly changing, and averages are
always deceptive. We may regard the bishops
of the chief cities of the empire as maintaining
a state superior to that of the imperial officers
and lay nobles, while the bishops of lesser sees
were comparatively poor and obscure men,
though enjoying a spiritual equality with their
more prominent brethren. The simple presby-
ter's position was a humble one, at a time when
828
IMPLUVIUM
bishops were comparatively more numerous than
now and parochial endowments did not exist :
the deacon was regarded as little else than one
of the bishop's attendants.
We may note in conclusion how little remains
of all the privileges and the immunities granted
to the clergy by the fervour of the first faith of
a converted world. Their judicial privileges and
immunities exist no longer, except so far as the
coercive power of the bishop's court be regarded
as a shadow of them, though once they were con-
sidered important enough to lead an archbishop
Becket to enter upon a life-and-death struggle
with a Henry II. for their maintenance. Their
pecuniary privileges and immunities exist no
longer, for the grant made in some countries to
the clergy from the national exchequer is rather
a substitute for estates confiscated than a free
gift of love. Their official privileges and immu-
nities exist no longer, unless the permission con-
ceded to bishops to take part in national legis-
lation, and the exemjition of the clergy from
having to serve in the army or on juries, be re-
garded as the equivalents of the honours and
immunities bestowed by the Caesars with so un-
grudging a hand. The apparent tendency of
modern legislation, still affected by a reaction
from mediaeval assumptions, is to approve not
only of the civil power resuming the privileges
that it had bestowed, but of its transferring to
itself those powers of self-government in respect
to doctrine and discipline, which were not granted
to the church as a favour, but were confirmed
to her by Constantine and his successors as hers
by prescription and inherent right.
Codex Theodosianus, cum comment. Gothofredi,
Lugd. 1665. Codex Justinianiis, apud Corpus Juris
Civilis ; ed. Beck. Lipsiae, 1829. Thomassinas,
Vdus et Nova Ecclesiae Disciplina; Lugd. 1706.
Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church,
books ii. V. viii. ; Lond. 1726. Gibbon, Decline and
Fall of the Eoman Empire, chap. xx. ; Neander, His-
tory of the Church, Second Period, Second Section ;
Third Period, Second Section. Gieseler, Text-Book
of Ecclesiastical History, Second Period ; First
and Second Sections. [F. M.]
IMPLUVIUM seems to be sometimes used to
designate the atrium, or court outside the door
of a church, in which there was generally a
basin or some vessel for performing ablutions
[Fouxtain; Holy Water] (Bingham's Antiq.
VIII. iii. 5). [C]
IMPOSITION OF HANDS {Manus impo-
sitio, x^^P^" eTriOfffis, x^'Po^fC'cs, X^^poTovia).
[XfLporovia originally signified election, per suf-
fragia manuum extcnsione data. An election by
the people always in the early church preceded
consecration, so that it is not surprising that
Xii-poTovia soon came to signify the whole
process of making a bishop, of which it pro-
perly denoted only the first stage (Suicer,
Thesaurus, s. v.)].
The origin of this rite is to be looked for in pa-
triarchal times, when it seems to have been a
form simply of solemn benediction. Thus Jacob,
when blessing Ephraim and Manasseh on his death-
bed, laid his hands upon them (Gen. xlviii. 14).
The high priest employed practically the same
gesture as a part of the public ritual (Lev. ix.
22, 23). So the Lord Himself blessed children
(Mark x. 16).
IMPOSITION OF HANDS
It became also a form of setting apart or
designation to important offices, as well secular
as religious, e. g., in the case of Joshua (Num.
xxvii. 18-23; Deut. xxxiv. 9). And in con-
nection with the consecration of priests (Le.v.
viii. 22). Jewish Rabbin were set apart by
imposition of hands until comparatively modern
times. We pass over the use of this ceremony
in the Levitical sacrifices, and also in oaths, as
having no Christian equivalent. Though this
latter somewhat resembles the custom of swear-
ing with the hand laid upon relics, and upon
the volume of the gospels even to modern times.
In the New Testament, we find the laying on
of hands used by our Lord both in blessing and
in healing ; and again He promises to His disci-
ples that they too should lay hands on the sick
and they should recover. The apostles laid their
hands as the outward sign of the bestowal of
the Holy Spirit, both on ordinary Christians
after baptism (Acts viii. 17 ; xix. 6), and on
those set apart for a special office (Acts xiii. 3 ;
and probably 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; and 2 Tim. i. 6) ;
at the time when the Epistle to the Hebrews
was written, the doctrine of the " laying on of
hands " was one of the elements of Christian
teaching (Heb. vi. 1). [Dictionary of the
Bible, vol. iii. p. xcv.]
The imposition of hands is used in the fol-
lowing ceremonies: —
1. In Ordinations to the higher Orders. The
4th council of Carthage hitd canons directing
imposition of hands in the ordination of a bishop,
priest, or deacon (cann. 2, 3, 4). But another .
form was provided for the subdeacon, " quia
manlis impositionem non accipit." Similarly
for the other minor orders (cc. 5-10). See
also Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 16. These were
ax^i.poT6vr]ros vTr^peaia, an inferior ministry,
and the holders insacrati ministri. They were
not allowed to enter the diaconicon, nor handle
the vasa Dominica or sacred vessels (Cone. Aga-
then. c. 66 ; Basil. Ep. Canon, c. 51 ; Bingham,
iii. 1). "Manus impositio docet, eos qui sacris
ordinibus mancipantur, sacras omnes actiones,
quasi sub Deo efficere, utpote quem habeant
operationum suarum in omnibus ducem ac rec-
toreffi " (Pseudo-Dionysius, De Eccles. Hierarch.
c. 5, par. 3).^ "Hac manuum impositione signi-
ficatur illapsus Spiritus Sancti, quem ordinans
precatur dari ordinando : ejusque regimen, di-
rectio et protectio, ut scilicet Spiritus Sanctus
ordinandum quasi raanu sua regat et dirigat "
(Amalarius de Eccles. Offic. lib. i. c. 12).
Deaconesses also received the impositio ma-
nuum; and their ordination is expressly called
both x^^poTOvia and ^eipoSecria in the 15th
canon of Chalcedon. [Ordination.] [S. J. E.]
2. In the restitution of holy ordei's, as in the
original conferring, the imposition of the hands
of the archbishop formed an essential portion of
the rite (Martene, Hit. Ant. 111. ii.).
3. In baptism the laying-on of hands, with unc-
tion, followed in the most ancient times immedi-
ately upon the washing of water [Baptism, § 13,
p. 157] ; nor was the custom obsolete in the West
in the 13th century (Martene, B. A. I. ii. 1 § 3),
while in the East it is practised still. This is how-
ever to be understood, in the West at least, to
refer to baptisms at which the bishop himself was
present, as was generally the case when baptism
took place^-except in cases of extremity — only at
IMPOTENT MAN, CURE OF
certain solemn seasons. When oaptism was fre-
quently celebrated in the absence of a bishop,
while the laying-on of hands and chrismation
on the forehead was a privilege of the epis-
copal order (/?. A. I. ii. 3, § 2), the custom
arose of the baptized being presented to the
bishop at some convenient season separate from
that of baptism. [Confirmation.] The Ara-
bic canons, called Nicene (c 55), desire the
choi-episcopus in his circuits to cause the boys
and girls to be ba'ought to him, that he may sign
them with the cross, pray over them, lay his
liands upon them, and bless them. Bede tells
us that Cuthbert used to journey through his
diocese, laying his hands upon those who had
been baptized, that they might receive the Holy
Ghost ( Vita Cuthherti, c. 29, in Migne's Patrol.
-vciv. 769 d) Ancient authorities, however, give
at least as great prominence to the chrismation
on the forehead which was I'eserved for the
bishop, as to the laying-on of hands. See on
the whole subject Martene, De Hit. Ant. lib. i.
c. ii. ; Binterim, Denkwiirdigkeiten, vol. 1, pt. 1,
p. 206 ff.
4. In the reception of a heretic into the church,
whose baptism was recognised as valid, imposition
of hands -was the form of conferring those gifts
of the Holy Spirit which he could not have re-
ceived in a heretical community [Confirmation,
p. 425 ; Heresy, p. 768].
5. In benedictions the laying-on of hands is
constantly used ; as, in the benediction of an
al)bat {H. A. II. i. 3); of a virgin dedicated to a
religious life {ih. II. iv. 16) ; of a king (i6. II. x.),
as when St. Columba, who was an abbat and not
a bishop, laid his hands on the head of Aidan
and consecrated him as king (Cumineus Albus,
Vita S. Colu7nbae c. 5, in Acta SS. Bcned.
saec. 1).
' 6. In the visitation of the sick the priest and
the faithful who are with him are directed to lay
hands on the sick (Martene, B. A. I. vii. 4, Ordd.
4, 5, 14, etc.), with the prayer that the Lord
would vouchsafe to visit and relieve His servant.
7. In absolution the laying-on of hands accom-
panied the prayer for the remission of the sins
of the penitent (Martene, E. A. I. vi. 3, Ordd.
3, 9, etc.). [C]
IMPOTENT MAN, CURE OF. Guene-
bault mentions (s. v. " Boiteux," p. 164) a fine
bas-relief of the cure of the lame man at the
gate of the Temple, with apparent reference to
Acts iii. 2, as published in Monumcnta crypta-
ruin Vaticani, Angelas de Gabrielis, fol. pi. Ix.f ix.
no. 3. Notice of the universally-treated subject
of the healing of the paralytic man will be found
under the heading Paralytic. [R. St. J. T.]
IMPRISONMENT OF THE CLERGY.
Seclusion of criminous clerks, generally in a
monastery, appears to have been resorted to as
a disciplinary measure as early as the 6th
century. Justinian (Novellae, cxxiii. c. 20)
orders " that if any presbyter or deacon were
convicted of giving false evidence in a civil
cause,' he should be suspended from his function
and confined to a monastery for three years."
Laymen wei-e scourged for this crime. So the
2nd council at Seville (can. 3), in the case of
vagrant clergy: " Desertorem tamen clericum,
cingulo honoris atquo ordinationis suae exutum,
aliquo tempore mouasterio relegari convenit :
IMPROPRIATION
829
sicque postea in ministerio ecclesiastici ordinis
revocari." A similar canon directing deposition
and relegation to a monastery to be inflicted
upon clerks guilty of certain crimes, passed at the
council of Agde (c. 1). A distinction was drawn
by the first council of Macon between the
inferior clergy (junior) and the higher orders
(honoratior). The former were to receive forty
stripes, save one, whilst the latter were im-
prisoned thirty days for the same otfence {Cone.
Matiscon. I. can. 8). Pope Gregory the Great
seems to have laid down {Epp. vii. 50) an intel-
ligible principle : that such crimes as were by
the Mosaic law punished with death, when com-
mitted by clerics, incurred the penalty of deposi-
tion without hope of restoration (desperationem
sacrarum dignitatum). To these he added some
others, fornication, adultery, perjury, and such
like : all these incurred irregularity. Other
offences were expiated by poenitentia in a mo-
nastery for a longer or shorter time (Thomassin,
Vet. et Nova Eccl. Disc. tom. ii. lib. i. c. 59).
Individuals would sometimes segregate them-
selves of their own accord to expiate some fault.
The same Gregory praises {Epp. vii. 12) Satur-
ninus, bishop of Jadera(= Zara), in Dalmatia, for
so doing in order to atone for communicating with
the excommunicated archbishop of Salona {lb.
c. 59). Joannes Defensor, whom Gregory had
sent into Spain to execute a sentence of six
months' relegation to a monastery upon a certain
bishop who had driven an unoffending neighbour
from his see, pronounced the sentence far too
lenient. The same punishment was inflicted
upon certain bishops who had condemned an inno-
cent person. When Gregory imprisoned clerics he
was in the habit of making an annual payment
for their maintenance to the monastery that
received them (Thomassin, u. s. III. lib. ii. c. 29),
but whether derived from the off"ender's bene-
fice, or the property of the pope himself, does
not appear. The tendency was perhaps to bear
more lightly on crimes of the kind mentioned
above; but incontinence was always heavily
punished. Hincmar, and after him Flodoard,
tell the story of Genebald, bishop of Laudunum
(Laon), who for a crime of this kind was con-
demned to seven years' penitence, and even put
into fetters by his metropolitan, Remigius,
bishop of Rheims (Hincmar, Vita S. lleinii).).
And for capital crimes the incarceration was for
life, and included a sentence of perpetual lay-
communion {Cone. Epaun. can. 22).
But during the reign of Charlemagne a some-
what milder rule prevailed. Hincmar, and also
Rabanus, archbishop of Mentz, were inclined to
distinguish between secret crimes, and those which
caused open scandal, and to treat the former
more leniently upon confession and rejientance.
Probably the general declension of morals at that
period forced them to make some abatement from
the rigid rules of a purer age. Accordingly,
canonical punishments were generally lightened
from this time (Thomassin, M.S. tom. ii. lib. i.
c. 60 ; Bingham, bk. xvii. c. 4).
The larger churches had sometimes prisons in
their precincts as well as monasteries [Decania].
[S. J. E.]
IMPROPRIATION is the assignment of
ecclesiastical tithes to a layman, and is to be
distinguished from appropriation, which is the
830
IN PACE
assignment of them to a college or other cor-
poration, some of whose members are in orders.
The practice seems to have sprung up only about
the beginning of the 9th century.
Very soon after the payment of Tithes (see
the article) became general, the alienation of
them by the laity began. Thus a council at
Ingelheim (a.d. 948) in its 8th canon protests
against this new form of robbery: " Ut obla-
tioues fidelium, quatenus altari deferantur, nihil
omnino ad laicalem potestatem, diceute Scripturd,
'Qui altari serviunt, de altario participentur.'"
(So Thomassin, ]'et. et KovaEccl. Discip. III.
lib. i. c. 7, n. 8), who interpi'ets this canon as
referring to tithes. Louis IV. of France, and
the emperor Otho, were present at this council.
To the same effect a council of Metz in its 2nd
canon, quoting Mai. iii. 8-10. It was not un-
common for the lay lords to seize the oppor-
tunity of the vacancy of a bishopric or a parish,
to make these depredations (^Vid. Thomassin,
tom. iii. lib. ii. c. 53, for instances of this).
And we find even that the monks of St. D^nis
had got possession of some tithes (it does not
appear how) and wanted to sell them. This
seems to be a distinct case of appropriation,
and we learn the facts from a letter to them
of Hincmar of Rheims, who protests against
their selling what they ought to restore to the
parish priest.
But any instances we find in these times are
exceptional, and apparently the result of violent
and illegal seizure by laymen of ecclesiastical
dues. As Thomassin observes: "Necdumtunc
in mentem quidquam venisse de decimis infeo-
datis. Involaverant decimas Laici, necdum
pacifice possidebant, necdum obducere potuerant
huic rapiuae vel colorem legitimae possessionis.
Quin identidem commonebantur profani deprae-
datores, ut ecclesiae restituerent, quae jure
retinere non possent " (tom. iii. lib. i. c. 7).
It is in the next and succeeding ages that we
must look for impropriation as a legally recog-
nised condition of ecclesiastical property.
[S. J. E.J
IN PACE. [Inscriptions, p. 854 ff.]
INCENSE. There is no trace of the use of
incense in Christian worship during the first four
centuries. On the contrary, we meet with many
statements in the writings of the early fiithers
which cannot be reconciled with the existence of
such a custom. Thus Athenagoras, A.D. 177 :' —
" The Creator and Father of the universe does
not require blood nor smoke, nor the sweet smell
of flowers and incense " (Legatio, % 13). Ter-
tullian, A.D. 198, comparing certain Christian
customs with heathen, says, " It is true, we buy
no frankincense ; if the Arabians complain of
this, the Sabeans will testify that more of their
merchandise, and that more costly, is lavished
on the burials of Christians, than in burning in-
cense to the gods " (Apol. c. xlii.). " I offer Him
a rich sacrifice . . . not one pennyworth of the
grains of frankincense," &c. {ib. c. xxx.). Cle-
mens of Alexandria, A.D. 192, contrasting the
reasonable service of Christians with that of the
heathen says, that '• the truly holy altar is the
just soul, and the perfume from it holy prayer "
(Strom, lib. vii. c. vi. § 32). "If then they
should say that the great High Priest, the Lord,
ofi'ers to God the incense (6v/xia/ja) of sweet
INCENSE
smell, let them not suppose that the Lord offers
this sacrifice and sweet smell of incense, but let
them understand that He offers on the altar the
acceptable gift of charity and spiritual perfume"
{Paedag. lib. ii. c. 8, § 67). Arnobius, a.d. 298,
says of the use of frankincense among the hea-
then, " It is almost a new thing, nor is the term
of years impossible to be traced since the know-
ledge of it flowed into these parts . . . But if
in the olden times neither men nor gods sought
after the matter of this frankincense, it is proved
that it is vainly and to no purpose offered now "
(Ado, Gentes, lib. vii.). Lactantius, A.D. 303 : —
"It follows that I show what is the true sacri-
fice of God . . . lest any one should think that
either victims, or odours, or precious gifts are
desired by God. . . . This is the true sacrifice,
not that which is bi'ought out of a chest, but
that which is brought out of the heart " (Divhi.
Instit. Epit. c. 2). He also quotes with appro-
bation a saying of the Neo-Platonists, that
" frankincense and other perfumes ought not to
be offered at the sacrifice of God " (Eivin. Instit.
lib. vi. § 25). St. Augustine, 396 :— " We go
not into Arabia to seek for frankincense, nor do
we ransack the packs of the greed)' trader. God
requires of us the sacrifice of praise " (Enarr. in
Fs. xlix. § 21). The above are brief extracts
from passages, often of considerable length, all
bearing on the subject ; and not a single author
makes the least allusion to any Christian rite of
incense, or any reservation from which we could
infer that such a rite existed. Their language
precludes the supposition.
It is probable, however, that incense was very
early employed in Christian places of worship as
a supposed disinfectant, and to counteract unplea-
sant smells ; and that this was the origin of that
ritual use of it, which began in the 6th or possi-
bly the 5th century. Tertullian, who, as we have
seen, denies by implication the ritual use, yet says,
" If the smell of any place offend me, I burn
something of Arabia ; but not," he adds, " with
the same rite, nor the same dress, nor the same
appliance, with which it is done before idols "
(Be Cor. Mil. c. 10). The following is a bene-
diction of incense, used in the days of Charle-
magite and later, in which no other object than
that which Tertullian had in burning it is re-
cognized : — " May the Lord bless this incense to
the extinction of every noxious stench, and kindle
it to the odour of its sweetness " (Martene, Be
Eccl. Ant. Hit. lib. i. c. 4, Art. 12, ordd. 5, 6).
There is no mention of incense in the so-called
liturgy of St. Clement, which is supposed to re-
present the offices of the 4th century ; nor in-
deed in the Apostolical Constitutions with which
it is incorporated. Pseudo-Dionysius (probably
about 520, but possibly somewhat earlier) is the
first who testifies to its use in religious cere-
monial : — " The chief priest (bishop) having
made an end of sacred prayer at the divine altar,
begins the censing with it, and goes over the whole
circuit of the sacred place" (Hierarch. Eccles. c.
iii. sect. 2 ; comp. sect. 3, § 3). A thurible of gold
is said by Evagrius to have been sent by a king
of Persia to a church in Antioch about 594
(Hist. Eccl. lib. vi. c. 21). The most ancient
Ordo Eomanus, which Cave supposes to have
been compiled about 730, and which may belong
to the 7th centu]-y, orders that in pontifical
masses a subdeacon, bearing a golden censer,
INCENSE
shall go before the bishop (of Rome) as he leaves
the secretarium for the choir, and two with
censers before the deacon gospeller as he pi-oceeds
with the gospel to the ambo (§§ 7, 11, in Musae.
Ital. torn. ii.). These rules are also given in the
next revision of the Ordo, which may be a cen-
tury later («6. §§ 4, 8). This latter document
says also, " After the gospel has been read . . .
the thui-ibles are cf'.rried about the altar, and
afterwards taken to the nostrils of persons (hom-
inum), and the smoke is drawn up towards the
face by the hand " (§ 9). This probably origi-
nated in its earlier natural use as a means of
sweetening and (as they thought) purifying the
air; but we see in it the probable origin of the
strictly ritual censing of persons in the West.
In the same Ordo, which" was certainly in use
before Amalarius wrote (about 827), is a direc-
tion that after the oblates and the chalice have
been set on the altar, with a view to their con-
secration, " the incense be put on the altar "
(§ 9). Here we have the probable germ of the
later " censing of the gifts." It is probable,
however, that such ritual practices were for
some lime confined to Rome. We do not observe
any refei'ence to the use of incense in the Galil-
ean Liturgies which were in use down to the
time of Charlemagne, nor is it mentioned by
Germanus of Paris, A.D. 555, in his explanation
of liturgical rites (Martene, u. s. ord. 1), nor by
Isidore of Seville, A.D. 610, in his book on the
offices of the church. We may also infer its
rarity within our period, and the little import-
ance attached to it throughout the 9th century,
from the fact that it is not mentioned by Florus
of Lyons, Rabanus of Mentz, or Walafrid of Rei-
chenau, in works largely devoted to questions of
ritual.
The so-called Missa Ulyrki (Martene, u. s.
ord. 4) preserves the Scriptural symbolism by
directing the priest to say, when the incense is
burnt, " Let my prayer be set forth in Thy
sight as the incense " (Ps. cxli. 2). But in the
same and later ordines [Ordo] it represents
divine influence on the soul, according to the
following explanation of Amalarius : — " The
thurible denotes the body of Christ in which is
fire, to wit, the Holy Spirit, from whom proceeds
a good odour, which everyone of the elect wishes
to snatch towards himself. The same odour is
a token that virtue (bonam operationem) goes
forth out of Christ, which he who wishes to
live passes into his own heart " (^De Eccles.
Offic. lib. iii. c. 18). The reader will observe
the allusion to the mode of inhaling the smoke
above described.
This notice would be imperfect without a re-
ference to certain passages from early writers,
which have led some to suppose that notwith-
standing the authorities above cited, the ritual
use of incense was known in the Christian church
from the beginning. As the earliest testimony
we often see alleged the third apostolical canon,
which forbids that " beside honey and milk, and
new ears of corn and bunches of grapes in their
season [see Fruits, Offering of], anything else
shall be offered on the altar, at the time of the
holy oblation, than oil for the lamp and incense"
(Bever. Pandect, tom. i. p. 2). The Arabic para-
phrase has more generally, "in the time of the
sacraments and prayers " ((''). tom. ii. ; Annnt.
p. 16). It will be seen that this canon does not
INCENSE
831
mention the ritual use of incense, nor can it be
shown that the incense mentioned was designed
for such use. It was without doubt often used
as a perfume, and in the caves and catacombs
in which the first Christians often worshipped,
and in which their dead were frequently buried,
would sometimes be thought almost as necessary
as the lamp-oil, on behalf of which a similar e.\-
ception was made. We must add too that the
whole of the clause above cited looks like a late
addition to the very simple code which is as-
signed, with probability, to the middle of the
3rd century, though the first mention of it occurs
in 394 (Tillemont, Mem. Ecd. tom. ii. p. 76).
Pseudo-Hippolytus, alleged as the bishop of
Portus, 220, but in reality some centuries later :
— " The churches lament, with a great lamenta-
tion, because neither the oblation nor the (rite
of) incense is celebrate " (De Conswnm. Mundi,
c. 34). Here we have nothing more than ima-
gery borrowed from well known rites of the
Mosaic law. The language was probably sug-
gested by that of the following passage in St. Basil,
370, which has been brought forward with the
same object : — " The houses of prayer were cast
down by unholy hands, the altars were over-
thrown, and there was no oblation nor incense,
no place of sacrifice, but fearful sorrow, as a
cloud, was over all" (^Fn Gordium iLirt. Horn,
xix.). St. Basil here is merely in part citing
and partly paraphrasing, with reference to the
church under persecution, what Azarias in the
Song of the Three Children says of the state
of Jerusalem during the captivity (Jiept. Vers.
V. 14), St. Ambrose says, with reference to the
appearance of the angel to Zacharias " on the
right side of the altar of incense "(St. Luke i. 11),
" Would that an angel might stand by us also as
we burn (or rather heap^ adolentibus) the altars "
{Expos. Evang. S. Liic. lib. i. § 28). Incense is
not mentioned here, and " adolere " does not
necessarily imply the use of fire, so that no al-
lusion to incense may have been intended. It is
probable, however, that the thought of incense
was suggested to St. Ambrose by the mention of
" the altar of incense." We therefore further
point out that if he was thinking of material
incense, as used in the Christian church, it must
in his time have been burnt on altars, which no
one asserts ; and, moreover, that St. Ambrose ex-
plains himself by a paraphrase of his own words,
" as we heap the altars, as ice bring the sacrifice."
The incense in his mind was "the sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving." The testament of
St. Ephrem the Syrian, a spurious document of
uncertain date, is also quoted with the same
object : — " I exhort you not to bury me with
sweet spices . . . but to give the fumigation of
sweet-smelling smoke in the house of God . . .
Burn your incense in the house of the Lord to
His praise and honour" (Test. S. E/j/ir. in Surii
Vitae Sanetnrum, Feb. 1). The actual use of
incense during the funeral ceremony appears to
be intended here; but the evidence of a late
forgery is worth nothing. We may add that
there was an obvious natural reason, such as
the first Christians would have recognized with
Tertullian, for burning incense at a funeral ;
and it is probable that the custom of using
it then contributed not a little to the intro-
duction of the j)ractice as a purelv religious
rite. [W. E. S.]
832
mCEST
INCEST {Incestus) is defined by the Decree
of Gratian (causa S6, qu. 1, c. 2, § 4) thus : " In-
cestus est consanguineorum vel affinium abusus,"
where we are of course to understand affinity or
consanguinit)' such as would be an impediment
to matrimony (Van Espen, Jus Eccles. P. iii. tit.
iv. cc. 48, 49).
Christian morality extended the range of " pro-
hibited degrees " within which it was unlawful
to contract matrimony, and consequently the
conception of incest, much beyond that of the
heathen world. The apologists, as Minucius
Felix (Octav. c. 31) and Origen (c. Celsum, V.
p. 248, Spencer) speak with horror of the licence
given to Persians and Egyptians of marrying
persons near in blood ; and Augustine (^De Civi-
tate, XV. 16) insists upon the natural loathing
which men feel at connexions of this kind.
Gothofred (on the Theodosian Code, lib. iii. tit.
12) gives many instances of marriages among
the Romans— as of uncle with niece — which the
feeling of Christendom universally condemns.
[Affinity; Prohibited Degrees.]
Basil the Great {ad Amphilochium, c. 67) holds
incest with a sister to be a crime of the same
degree as murder. He who commits incest with
a half-sister, whether by the father's or the
mother's side, during the time that he continues
in his sin, is to be absolutely excluded from the
church; after he is brought to a sense of his
sin, he is for three years to stand among the
" Flentes " at the door of the church, begging
those who enter to pray for him ; then he is to
pass another seven years among the " Audientes,"
as still unworthy to pray with the rest ; then,
if he show true contrition, and on his earnest
entreaty, he may be admitted for three years
among the "Substrati;" then, if he bring
forth fruits meet for repentance, in the tenth
year he may be admitted to the prayers of the
faithful, but not to offer with thera ; then, after
continuing two years in this state, he may at
last be admitted to holy communion (c. 75).
The same punishment is prescribed for one who
commits incest with a daughter-in-law (c. 76).
He who marries two sisters, though not at the
same time, is subject to the penalties of adultery,
i.e. two years among the Flentes, two among the
Audientes, two among the Substrati, and one
among the Consistentes, before he can be ad-
mitted to communion. And generallv, he who
marries within the prohibited degrees of con-
sanguinity (rrjs aireiprnxivris ffvyyeveias) is liable
to the penalties of adultery (c. 68). The council
of Elvira (Cone. Elib. c. 61), a.d. 305, allotted
to a marriage with a deceased wife's sister the
penalty of fifteen years' excommunication ; that
of Neo-Caesarea (c. 2), A.D. S14, decreed the ex-
communication of a woman who married two
brothers for the whole of her life, except that
in peril of death she might be admitted to com-
munion, on promising to renounce the connexion
if she recovered (Bingham, Antiq. XVI. xi. 3).
The Penitentials, as might be expected, pro-
vide penalties for incest ; those, for instance, of
Theodore, of Bede, and of Egbert assign to dif-
ferent forms of this sin periods of penance vary-
ing from five to fifteen years (Haddan and Stubbs,
Councils and Documents, iii. 179, 328, 420). [C]
INCLINATION. [Genuflexion, p. 725.]
INCLUSI. Monks living in detached cells
INDICTION
within the pi-ecincts of the monastery (" intra
septa ") were termed " inclusi." These were
monks either of long experience or of delicate
health {Cone. Agath. A.D. 506, c. 38). They were
subject to the control of the abbot, but not to
the ordinary rules of the monastery (Martene,
Req. Comm. c. 1 ; Menard, Concord. Bogul. c. 3,
§ 6). See Hermits and Hesychastae.
[I. G. S.]
INDALECIUS. [Hesychius (1).]
INDICTION. From the middle of the
4th century a new note of time begins to appear
in dates ; Tndiction, followed by an ordinal
number, from I. to XV., as a character of the
year, is appended to its customary designation ;
e.g., Coss. M. et N. (or Anno ah Incarnatione — )
Tndictione — . In respect of its origin, "In-
dictio" is a term of the Roman jiscus, meaning
" quidquid in praestatiouem indicitur," notice of
a tax (on real property, Cod. Justin, x. 6, 3),
" assessment," eVive'/xTja-is : thence it came to
denote the year on which the tax was assessed,
beginning 1st September, the epoch of the im-
perial fiscal year. It seems that in the pro-
vinces, after Constantine, if not earlier, the
valuation of property was revised vipon a census
taken at the end of every fifteen years, or three
lustra (Ideler, Bdb. 2. 347 sqq., from Savigny,
iiber die Steuerverfassung unter den Kaisern, in
the Transactions of the Berlin Royal Academy,
1822, 23). From the strict observance of this
fiscal regulation there resulted a marked term
of fifteen years, constantly recurrent, the Circle
of Indictions, ri e koI SeKafVrjpis twv 'ivdiKTtcipwv
(or 'IvS'tKTQiv), which became available for chro-
nological purposes as a "period of revolution"
of fifteen years, each beginning 1st September :
which (except in the Spanish peninsula) con-
tinued to be used as a character of the year
irrespectively of all reference to taxation. The
Indictions (like the " solar cycle " of Sunday
letters, twenty-eight years, and the lunar cycle,
nineteen years, of "Golden Numbers," beside
which this circle has obtained place in chi'ono-
logy) do not form an era : the annexed ordinal
number is reckoned from the epoch of the circle
then current : it is not expressed how many
circles have elapsed since any given point of
time. It is certain that September 1st is the
original epoch of each indiction (St. Ambros.
Epist. ad Episc. per Aemil. 2,256, Indictio cum
Septembri mense incipit ; and de Noc ct Area, c.
17. A Septembri mense annus videtur incipere,
sicxit Indictionum praesentium iistis ostendit).
From any given date of a known year to which
its indiction is added, as e.g., " 3 id. August.
Symmacho et Boetio Coss. [=11 Aug., A.D. 522]
in fine Indictionis XV." (Reines. Inscript. Vet.
978), it results that a circle of indictions began
210 ( = 14x15) years earlier, i.e., A.D. 312. Now
as it is only since Constantine that " Indiction "
makes its appearance as a note of time, and as
with the defeat and death of Maxentius in the
autumn of that year Constantine attained to
undisputed empire, the date, A.D. 312, 1 Sept., is
accepted as the epoch of the first circle of in-
dictions. Hence the technical rule for finding the
indiction of each year. To the ordinal number
of the given year A.D. (beginning with 1 .January)
add 3 : divide the amount by 15 : the remainder
denotes the indiction : if there be no remainder.
INDICTION
the year is Indict. 15. Thus, in respect of the
ubove-cited date, A.d. 5212 (August 11th), the
division of 525 by 15 gives no remainder ; there-
fore Jan. 1st to Aug. 31st of that year lie in In-
diction 15, beginning at 1 Sept. of a.d. 521. The
author of the Paschal Chronicle (probably a man
of Antioch) makes the circle of Indictions begin
much earlier, viz. at the epoch of the Antiochene
era, 1 Gorpiaeus=l Sept. u.c. 705 = B.C. 49; at
which year he notes : " Here begins the first
year of the 15-year circle of indictions, with the
first year of C. Julius Caesar : " and thencefor-
ward he adds to each year its indiction. Twenty-
four complete circles (24x15 = 360) end there-
fore at I Sept. A.D. 312 : and at 01. 273, 1, Cnss.
Constantino III., Licinio III., u.c. 1066, beginning
1 January, A.D. 313, he notes : 'IvSiKTidivaiv
KdiVffravTLViavoiv ivTavQa apX'f] — to be under-
stood as meaning that the first eight months of
that consulship belonged to that first year.
(So, throughout, the Indiction in Chron. Pasch.
is attached, not to the year in which it began,
but to the following year, beginning 1 January,
which contains eight months of it. Comp.
Clinton, F. R. Append. 1 and 2.) Although
there is no trace elsewhere of this eai'lier system
of indictions, it does not follow, in Ideler's judg-
ment (2, 351), that the statement of the Paschal
Chronicle is entirely without foundation. A
fiscal regulation, proceeding by periods of fifteen
years may, he thinks, have obtained in Syria
and other Eastern provinces : and the assumption
would serve to explain the circumstance, else
unaccounted for, that in the reckoning of Antioch,
the year (of the era of the Seleucidae) begins
1 September, not at the old 1 October. Some
later writers, misled by the merely technical
rnle above given, have assumed that the In-
dictions actually had their beginning three years
before the Nativity, i.e. before our A.D. 1, with
the " decree of Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed" (St. Luke iii. 1). So
says Duranti— a writer of the 13th century
{Speculuin Juris, t. 1. pt. 1, p. 281): "Caesar
Aug. decretum proposuit, ut describeretur uni-
versus orbis ; i.e., ut quilibet aestimaret bona sua,
describens orbem stib iributo sibi singulis quin-
decim annis reddendo, quod quidem tempus divisit
per tria lustra," &c. And the rule concerning
three years to be added to the year-date (a.d.)
rests, he adds, on the fact, "quia tot praecesserant
cfe indictione quando Christus natus fuit, vel quia
jyraemissum edictum Caesaris tribus annis prae-
cepit Nativitatem Christi."
It is only in the latter half of the 4th century
that the indictions first appear in dates. St.
Athanasius, in a fragment of his work de
Si/nodis, opp. t. i. pt. 2, p. 737, gives " In-
diction XIV. " with the date (=:A.D. 341) of the
council of Antioch ; but that work was written
towards the close of his life (ob. 371), at which
time this method of dating was in common use.
The earliest clear instance is the date of a decree
of Constantius (Cod. Theod. xii. 12, 2), of the
year 356, or rather (for the text needs correc'
tion) 357. From the earliest years of that cen-
tury the yearly appointment of consuls became
irregular, and from time to time the designation
of the year, instead of Coss. M. et. N., became
post consulatum 3T. et N. There was even an
uncertainty in the numbering of a set of post-
consulate years : for instance, some would de-
CHRIST. AN r.
INDICTION
833
signate the first vacant year anno post consul-
atum M. N. i. ; others, a'fter the old fashion of
numbering, anno ii. (Pagi, Dissert. Ilypat. p.
319 ; Ideler, 2, 345 note). A further source
of uncertainty was the difference of epochs of
the year. But the fifteen-years' circle of indic-
tions once established throughout the empire
provided a correction for all such uncertaintyj
so long as it continued to be understood, that the
year of indiction began on the 1st of September
(preceding the 1st of January of the year found
by the rule above given). And, in fact, this was
the established practice during the greater part
of the period with which we are concerned in this
work. In the Codex Tlieodosimus, indeed, its
learned annotator, Gothofred, finds indications
of four distinct reckonings of the indictions, viz.
the Italica, a.d. 312 ; Orientalis, 313 ; and two
of Afi-ica, 314 and 315. As regards the sup-
posed Orientalis, Cardinal Norris {De Anno et
Epochis Syro-Maced. Dissertat. IV. c. iv. : Opp.
t. ii. col. 422 sqq.) has shown that its epoch i^
the 1st September, a.d. 312. Concerning the
two supposed different African reckonings, see
Ideler {Hdb. 2, 354 sqq. ; Lehrb. p. 409). Apart
from these inferences from the Theodosian Codex,
we find no trace, except here and there in corrupt
texts and negligent dates, of a different reckon-
ing : Dionysius Exiguus knows no other than
that which is expressed by the usual rule (Argu-
menta paschalia, ii.). To trace the history of
the use of the indictions through the different
provinces of the Roman empire would, as Ideler
remarks, require extensive disquisition. In re-
spect of France, Mabillon has shown {de re
diplomat, ii. 24, 26) that this note of time does
not appear in public acts before Charlemagne,
but in acts of councils, and in writers, it is found
earlier. But far down into the middle ages its
use became so general that it is rarely absent
from dates attached to civil or ecclesiastical
documents in Italy, France, Germany (in the
Pyrenaean peninsula it seems never to have been
established). Duranti, writing in the 13th cen-
tury, testifies (M.S.): "Tantae fuit auctoritatis
indictio, ut nullus sine ea fieret contractus, nee
privilegium, nee testamentum, nee alia scriptura
soUennis : et etiam hodie eandem obtinet aucto-
ritatem."
With the desuetude of the Imperial fiscal
regulation, with which the indictions originated,
the original epoch, 1st September, ceased to be
significant — except in the Eastern empire, where
that day was established as the first day of the
year : wherever in the Corpus Historiae Byzan-
tinae the indictions occur, they are those of
1st September, 312. Even in the West, beyond
the limits of our period, they are still occasion-
ally met with : thus, a writing of Gregory VII.,
A.D. 1073, bears the subscription, " Datum
Capuae, Kalend. Sept., incipiente Indictione XII."
But in process of time the indiction, detached
from its original epoch, came to be dated from the
new-yeai-'s day, as received at the time, December
25th, or January 1st, or March 25th. Distinct
from these indictions used by various popes in
their bulls, and by other writers, is one which
has been called " Caesarean," of which the first
notice occurs in Bede, de temp, ratione, c. 46 :
" Incipiunt Indictiones ab viii. Kalend. Octobris,
iliidemque torminantur." This, of which there
is extant no earlier inclii;itioii (but which, so
3 II
834
INDULGENCE
great was the authority of the writer, may have
influenced the practice of the Imperial chancel-
leries), is probably due to an assumption of
Bede, that the old ej)och of the Byzantine year,
September 24th, was accepted by Constantine
as the epoch of the indictions established by
him. [H. B.]
INDULGENCE. (I.) The use of the word
Indulgentia by ecclesiastical writers is derived
from that of the jurisconsults, who employ it to
designate a remission of punishment or of taxes,
especially such a general amnesty as was some-
times proclaimed by an emperor on an extra-
ordinary occasion of rejoicing. Thus the Theo-
dosian Code has a title De Indulgentiis Criminum
(Van Espen, Jus Eccles., P. II. sec. i. tit. 7).
Hence the word passed into ecclesiastical usage
in a double sense. First, it designates remission
of sins, as in what Reticius, bishop of Autun.
according to St. Augustine (c. Julian. 1. 3), ob-
served of baptism as early as the Roman synod
under pope Melchiades, A.D. 313 : " It can escape
nobody that this is the principal indulgence
ivnown to the church, where we lay aside the
whole weight of our hereditary guilt, and cancel
all our former misdeeds committed in ignorance,
and put off the old man with all his innate
wickednesses." In this passage, indulgence
stands immediately for remission of sins, and
that alone. But we are more immediately con-
cerned with it in a second sense, that in which
it designates such a lightening of ecclesiastical
jienalties, in consideration "of the state of the
offender, as St. Paul practised in the case of the
incestuous Corinthian (2 Cor. ii. 6-11). This
question of the advisability of such a relaxation
first comes prominently before us in the case of
those who had " lapsed " or denied Christ to avoid
persecution, and for whom martyrs had in many
cases interceded. St. Cyprian tells us, in his letter
to Antoninus, how it had been discussed and de-
cided by his colleagues in Africa. They held
that the church should not be closed irrevocablj'
to such of the lapsed as were desii'ous of return-
ing to it: nor yet opened indiscriminately till
they had undergone their full penance, and hail
their particular case taken into consideration.
" Et ideo placuit . . . examinatis causis singu-
lorum : libellaticos interim admitti, sacrificatis
in exitu subveniri : quia exomologesis apud in-
feros non est, nee ad penitentiam quis a nobis
compelli potest, si fructus penitentiae subtra-
hatur " (Ep. Hi.). The bishops, he adds, already
made distinctions between other crimes, accord-
ing to their discretion, and therefore might be
left to deal with this similarly. No canons for
regulating penances of any kind had as yet been
passed. . It rested accordingly with the bishops
to use greater or less indulgence in dispensing
them all as they thought fit. It was disputed
by Novatian whether they could remit as well
as biud : and he maintained that only God could
remit. But this was not the doctrine of the
chui-ch. The fifth of the canons of Ancyra, A.D.
314 (Mausi, ii. 516) gives the bishops power to
mitigate {(piAafdpwTeveadai) or to increase the
length of an offender's penitence ; so the twelfth
Nicene canon gives the bishop power to deal
more gently with penitents who have shown
true repentance (Mansi, ii. 673). The merciless
rulings of the Elvirau canons 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 12,
INDULGENCE
13, 17, 19, 63-66, 70-73, and 75, which forbid
certain offenders to be readmitted to commu-
nion even on their death-beds,' were neither
imitated elsewhere nor maintained in Spain
itself (Mansi, ib. 5-19). St. Ambrose, speaking
for the West, says : " Our Lord must have meant
the powers of loosing and binding to be coexten-
sive, or He would not have bestowed both on the
same terms" (Z^e Poen. i. 2). St. Gregory Nyssen
deposes, on behalf of the East, to what "had been
customary : To?s aaOevfarepoLs fytverS ris
Tfapa tS)v Trartpcav (Tvfj,Trepi<t>opd, which is the
Greek equivalent for " indulgentia " (Ep. ad
Letoi. c. 4).
Usually there were four stages or degrees
through which offenders had to pass before )-e-
gainiug communion : (1) weepers, (2) hearers,
(3) kneelers, (4) bystanders ; and usually several
years had to be spent in each. Now the bishop,
according to St. Gregory, might, in proportion to
their conversion, "rescind the period of their
penance ; making it eight, seven, or even five
years instead of nine, in each stage, should their
repentance exceed in depth what it had to fulfil
in length, and compensate, .by its increased zeal,
for the much longer time required in others to
effect their cure " {ib. c. 5).
So matters went on till about the end of the
7th century. The office of Penitentiary pres-'
byter, abolished by Nectarius, patriarch of Con-
stantinople, three centuries earlier, is not sup-
posed to have produced any change, so far as
they were concerned (Soc. v. 19 and Soz. vii. 16).
But they were changed materially when the
system of commutations laid down in the Peni-
tential of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury,
had begun to work : according to which a rigorous
fast of days, weeks, or years, might be redeemed
by saying a proportionable number of psalms, or
by paying a proportionable fine (c. 3-10, in
Migne's Patrol, xcix. 937 sqq.). Several of the
offences stigmatised in the canons of the synod of
Berghamstede, A.D. 697, are dismissed with a
fine (Mansi, xii. Ill sqq.). The synod of Cloves-
hoe, A.D. 747, protests in its 26th and 27th
canons against the neglect of discipline to which
this " new device " and "perilous custom" had
led (ib. 493-96). But the Pt-nitential of Egbert,
archbishop of York, not only re-enacts all the
commutations authorised by Theodore (ib. 433),
but adds to them in a subsequent chapter
(ib. 456), voluntary exile from home and country
being one of the new kind allowed. Similar per-
mission is given in the Penitential of Bede, as it is
called (ib. 519). After this the extension of in-
dulgences to pilgrimages and holy wars was a
pure matter of time ; and these, from the ardour
inspired by both, threw everything else into the
shade. The climax was reached when, to make
them more attractive, it was formally declared
of the one, " iter illud pro omni penitentia repu-
tetur" (Concil. Claromont. c. 2, ap. Mansi, xx.
816), and popularly believed of the other, "pro
stipendio erat indulgentia peccatorum proposita"
(ib. pp. 827 and 890). On this point see Morinus,
De Poenit. x. 22, 1-6, and Bingham, Ant. xviii. 4,
for earlier times. Goar (Euchol. pp. 680-88)
a It is to be observed that the reading "nee in fine," or <
" nee in finem," is changed in some later recensions — as '
In that of Burchard — into " non in'si in fine," so as lo ,
bring it into harmony with the Nicene canon (13) which ',i
forbids such total excommunication. — [Kd.] j
INDULGENCE
attcm]its ill vain to detect affinity between papal
iiKiulgciK'es and the ffvyxa>pox<''p'''ia of tlie Greek
ciiurch (comp. Ducange, Gloss. Or. s. v.).
[E. S. Ff.]
(II.) Indulgences, or relaxations of the strict
letter of the law, are however by no means con-
fined to penitential cases ; such relaxations are
fciund in relation to almost all points of conduct.
The laws of God, whether known by revelation or
by natural light (Augustine, Quaest. 67 in Exod.),
are of course always binding ; but under positive
human enactments cases may and do occur, in
which the rigid enforcement of a law may be a
greater evil to the society concerned than the
suspension of its operation. Hence, in all state*
and societies, either the law-giving power or
some other has exercised the right of suspending
the operation of a law upon occasion. A familiar
instance of such a dispensing power is the com-
mutation by the sovereign of this country of
sentences passed by the judges in the ordinary
course of law. As a law is necessarily rigid,
while the real character of human acts cannot
be rigidly defined, such a dispensing power seems
necessary for the equitable administration of
justice.
And this principle is just as true of the church
us of other societies ; here too we find the strict
letter of the law mitigated by authority in
special cases from an early period. Such in-
dulgences, or concessions to human weakness,
commonly called dispensations, have received
various names — reniissio, venia, dementia, mise-
ratio, dispensatio; (rvyyva>ixT], ffufiiradeia, (piXav-
6po}Tria, olKovofxia (Suicer, 27ies. s. v.) — all im-
plying something of the nature of occasional
indulgence or iTneiKeia in the administration of
a law, the law itself remaining unchanged. A
constant exemption of a person or body corporate
from the operation of a particular law is called
a privilegium. The canonists generally limit the
use of the word dlspensatki to the case in which
a future transgression of a law is permitted.
Thomassin {Eccl. Discip. II. iii. 24, § 14) holds
that in the early ages of the church, when few
or no councils were held, such dispensations were
granted by the bishops; that afterwards, from
the end of the 3rd century, councils decided on
the cases in which some relaxation of the law of
the church was to be allowed ; then, as pro-
vincial councils frequently referred such matters
to the judgment of the see of Rome, that see
gradually claimed and exercised a dispensing
power independent of councils. The twenty-
seventh canon of the (so-called) fourth council
of Carthage supplies a good instance of a dis-
pensing power aj)plied to a canon. The council
I'ecognises the general prohibition of the transla-
tion of bishops from an inferior to a better see
" per ambitiouem," yet goes on to provide that
" if the good of the church requires it," such a
translation may be made on the certificate of
election being produced in the synod itself. Hei'e
a dispensing power seems to be given to the synod ;
for it must be presumed that it was to decide
whether in a particular case " utilitas ecclesiae
fiend um poposcerit." Penitents, digamists, and
husbands of widows were by the general law of
the church incapable of holy orders ; yet pope
Siricius {Ejjtst. 1 ad J/mcrium, c. 15) permits
such persons, ouce ordained, to exercise the func-
tions of their order, though without hope of yru-
INFANT COJIMUNIOX
835
motion to a higher. Pope Innocent I., A.U. 414,
allows (Fjj-ist. 22, c. 5) that the bishops of Mace-
donia might, under circumstances of peculiar
difficulty, admit to the exercise of their functions
those who had been irregularly ordained by Bo-
nosus, a heretic, while he insists strongly on the
general maintenance of the rule which "for once
is violated ; it is only "pro necessitate temporis"
that such relaxations of canonical strictness
can be allowed, and "quod necessitas pro re-
medio invenit, cessante necessitate debet utique
cessare ;" such liberties cannot be permitted
when the church is restored to its normal state
of peace. We have another kind of dispensation
in Gregory the Great's letter to Augustine of
Canterbury {Epist. xi. 64 ; in Haddan and Stubbs,
iii. 21), in which he permits persons who had
married in ignorance within the prohibited de-
grees to be admitted to communion, though the
general law of the church excommunicated such
persons.
Of such a nature were the relaxations of strict
law permitted in the early church ; the nume-
rous dispensations in matrimonial cases, in j)lu-
rality of benefices, and in some other matters,
which were so great a scandal in the mediaeval
church, do not fall within our period ; nor
within the same period had the baneful practice
arisen of granting dispensations for wrongs to be
committed. It was (as Thomassin observes, u. s.
§ 20) "in more recent times, when the discipline
of the church had grown feeble and languid, that
permission was sought for future violation of the
canons, that license was asked and granted for
sinning against sacred rules ; men would fain sin
without I'isk of penalty, and draw even from the
laws themselves cover and authority for their
contempt of the law."
(Thomassin, Vet. et nova Eccl. Discip. P. II.
lib. iii. cc. 24-26 ; Van Espen, Jus Ecclesiasticim,
torn. ii. p. 754 ff. ed. Colon. 1777, /'e Dispens'i-
tionibus ; Walter, Kirchenrecht, § 180; Jacobson,
in Herzog Beal-Eiicycl. iii. 423.) [C]
INDULGENTIAE HEBDOMAS. [Holy
Week.]
INDUS. [DoROXA.]
INFANT BAPTISM. [Baptism, § 95,
p. 169.]
INFANT COMMUNION. The practice of
communicating infants was universal through-
out the period of which we treat. For the east,
where it still flourishes, we have the testimony
of the so-called liturgy of St. Clement, in which
little children (iraiSia) are ordered to receive
immediately after all who have any special
dedication, " and then all the people in order "
{Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 13). Pseudo-Diony-
sius, possibly of the 5th century, but more
probably of the 6th, says that " children who
cannot understand divine things are yet made par-
takers of divine generation, and of the divine com-
munion of the most sacred mysteries " (Dc Eccl.
Hierarch. c. vii. § 1 1). Evagrius, who completed
his Church History in 594, proves the continued
observance of the rite, where he mentions "an
ancient custom" at Constantinople, "when there
remained a good quantity of the holy portions of
the undefiled body of Christ our God, for unor-
rujited bovs from among those who attended the
sell, H.I <if tlw- undorma^ter to be sent for to
o H 2
836
INFANT COMMUNION
consume them " (lib. iv. c. 36). There is a story-
told by John Moschus, A.D. 630, of some children
who imitated among themselves the celebration
of tlie Eucharist, as they had witnessed, and
taken part in it themselves {Pratum Spirit, c.
19fi).
The earliest witness in the Latin church is St.
Cyprian, who writing in 251, relates how the agi-
tation of an infant to whom the cup was offered,
led to the discovery of its having been taken to a
heathen sacrifice (Be Lapsis). He also repre-
sents the children of apostates as able to plead
at the day of judgment, " We have done no-
thing ; nor have we hastened of our own accord
to those profane defilements, forsaking the meat
and cup of the Lord " (ibid.). St. Augustine : —
" They are infants ; but they are made partakers
of His table, that they may have life in them-
selves " (Serm. 174, § 7). " Why is the blood,
which of the likeness of sinful flesh was shed for
the remission of sins, ministered that the little
one (parvulus) may drink, that he may have
lite, unless he hath come to death by a beginning
of sin on the part of some one" (Contra Ju'ia-
num, Op. imperf. 1. ii. c. 30) ? It is evident from
these passages (and see especially to the same
effect, De Peccat. Mer. lib. i. c. xx. § 26 ; c.
xxiv. § 34) that St. Aagustiue considered this
sacrament to be generally necessary to the salva-
tion of infants ; but it is desirable to mention
that some passages often cited from his works,
which appear to imply or maintain that view
are not really to the purpose. He argued against
the Pelagians, that if infiints were not born in
sin, our Lord's words, " Except ye eat the flesh,"
&c. (St. John vi. 53), would not be true in
reference to them : they would have life without
eating of that flesh (see Contra Duas Epp. Pelag.
lib. i. c. xxii. § 40); but then he taught also
that " every oue of the faithful is made a par-
taker of the body and blood of Christ, when he
is made a member of Christ in baptism." This
is carefully shown from his writings by Ful-
gentius, who had been questioned by Ferrandus,
on the hope that might be entertained for a
young man who had died immediately after
baptism (see the note of the Benedictine editors
on Aug. De Pecc. Mer. lib. i. c. 20, § 26). The
same remark must be made on a saying of
Innocent I., A.D. 417 (Ad Putres Syn. Milev. § 5,
Ejo. 182, inter Epp. Aug.), which Augustine
himself interprets of the necessity of Baptism
(Ad Paulin. Ep. 185, c. viii. § 28). See also
Gelasius of Rome, EjAst. 7, ad Episc. per Pi-
cetium. Gennadius of Marseilles, A.D. 495, gives
the following direction with regard to the
reception of some of those who had been baptized
by heretics in schism. " But if they are infants
(parvuli), or so dull as not to take in teaching,
let those who offer them answer for them, after
the manner of one about to be baptized ; and so,
fortified by the laying on of hands and chrism,
let them be admitted to the mysteries of the
Eucharist" (De Eccl. Dogm. c. 22). We call
attention to the word " parvulus " when it is
■used in this connection, because " infans " was
sometimes applied even to the newly-baptized
adult, as being newly born to a higher life. In
585 the council of Macon, in France, in imitation,
as we may suppose, of the Greek custom lately
mentioned, ordered that on Wednesdays and
Fridays innocent (children) should be brought
INFANT COMMUNION
to the church, and there " being commanded to
fast, should receive the remains of the sacri-
fices" (can. 6). The council of Toledo, 675,
found it necessary to reassure anxious minds by
a declaration that the sick who found themselves
unable to swallow the eucharist, and others who
had foiled to swallow it "in time of infancy,"
did not fall under the censure of the.first council
of Toledo (can. 14), against those who having
received did not consume it (can. 11). The
Gelasian Sacramentary (lib. i. n. 75) provides
for the immediate communion of an infant
(infans) baptized in sickness. The earliest extant
copy of the Gregorian has the following rubric
referring to all baptized at Easter. " If the
bishop be present, it is fit that he (infans) be
forthwith confirmed with chrism, and after that,
communicated. And if the bishop be not present,
let him be communicated by the presbyter "
(Liturqia Rom. Vet. Mui-at. tom. ii. col. 158).
It will be observed that previous confirmation
was not an indispensable condition of the first
communion. A MS. Sacramentary of the 8th
century preserved at Gellone and a Rheims ponti-
fical of the same age expressly contemplate the
probability of some of the " infantes " baptized
being nurslings, but make the same provision
for the communion of all (Ordd. 6, 7, 8, in
Mai-tene, De Ant. Eccl. Pit. lib. i. c. 1, art. 18.
Comp. ord. 15). The little children were also
to communicate daily throughout the octave
with the rest of the newly-bapfized. See Ordd.
6, 8, 9.
There is an English canon ascribed to Ecg-
briht, A.D. 740, but probably somewhat later,
which says, " They who can, and know how to
baptize, faithful monks especially, ought always
to have the eucharist with them, though they
travel to places far distant " (Johnson's Engl.
Canons, vol. i. p. 235). Jesse, bishop of Amiens,
A.D. 790, in an epistle on the order of baptism,
says, that " after trine immersion the bishop
should confirm the child (puerum) with chrism
on the forehead, and that finally he should be
confirmed and communicated with the body and
blood of Christ, that he may be a member fif
Christ " (see note to Regino De Eccl. Discipl.
lib. i. c. 69 ; ed. Baluz.). The epistle of Jesse
was written in reply to some questions of Charle-
magne respecting baptism. In the Capitularies
of the latter we find the following law notably
framed in express accordance with the answers
of Jesse and other bishops : — " That the presbyter
have the eucharist ready, that when any one
shall be taken sick, or an infant (parvulus) be
ailing, he may communicate him at once, lest he
die without communion" (Lib. i. c. 155: Sim.
lib. V. c. 57). This is in the collection of Walter
of Orleans (c. 7) ; Regino (u. s.) ; Burchard (lib.
V. c. 10); and Ivo (Deer. P. ii. c. 20).
Infants were during a period of uncertain
length required to be kept without food between
their baptism and communion, when the latter
followed as a part of the day's rites. Thus in
the earliest Oriio Eomanus, supposed by Usher
to be written about the year 730, care is enjoined
that the little ones (parvuli) baptized on Easter
Eve "take no food, nor be suckled, after their
baptism before they communicate of the sacra-
ment of the body of Christ " (§ 46 ; Musae. Ital.
tom. i. p. 28). There are rubrics to this effect
in several ancient orders of baptism, three of
INFANT COMMUNION
which were compiled or copied in the 8th
century (Ordd. 6, 7, 8, in Marten6, u. s. For
later examples, see Ordd. 9, 15). In one copy of
the Gregorian Sacramentary, the rule is thus
relaxed. " They are not forbidde.n to be suckled
before the sacred communion, if it be necessary"
{Inter 0pp. S. Greg. tom. v. col. Ill; Antv.
1615). The prohibition seems to have been
generally omitted from the rubric after the 8th
century ; but the pontifical of the Latin church
of Apamia in Syria, which was written in the
12th, retains it, thougli speaking of contirmation
and communion immediately after baptism only
as "the custom of some churches" (Ord. 15;
IMarteue, u. s.).
Thei-e can be no doubt that infants were at
first communicated in both kinds ; but there
is little clear evidence to that efl'ect. Passages
which speak of their eating the flesh and drink-
ing the blood of Christ are not conclusive. The
council of Toledo before cited, after mentioning
the occasional rejection of one element by the
sick, " because except the draught of the Lord's
cup, they could not swallow the eucharist de-
livered to them," proceeds to the case of othei's
" who do such things in the time of infancy."
The inference appears good that the eucharist
was offered to both in bread as well as wine.
We are however in a good measure left to infer
the practice of the first ages from that of the
later church. Because the cup only is mentioned
in St. Cyprian's story of the infant who had
partaken of a heathen sacrifice, some have
argued that they were communicated in the blood
only. Had it been so, they would hardly have
been permitted to receive in both kinds at a later
period ; as they certainly did, when for a time
the custom of intinction prevailed in the West.
Even in the 12th century, when Paschal IL
suppressed that practice at Clugny, he made an
exception in favour of " infants and persons very
sick who are not able to swallow the bread."
All others were to receive the bread by itself
(Epist. 32; Labb. Concilia, tom." x. col. 656).
In a manuscript Antiphonary that belonged to
an Italian monastery, written about the middle
of the same century, after directions for a
baptism, is the following rubric : "Then follows
the communion, which is ministered under
these words ; ' The body of our Lord Jesus Christ
steeped in His blood, preserve thy soul unto
everlasting life '"(Muratori, A7itiq. Hal. Mediaec.
tom. iv. p. 843). About the same time, how-
ever, we find Radulphus Ardens saying, in a
sermon on Easter Day, " It has been decreed that
it be delivered to children as soon as baptized, at
least in the species of wine ; that they may not
depart without a necessary sacrament" (Zac-
caria, Bihlioth. Bit. tom. ii. p. ii. p. clx.). How
infants were communicated in the one species
then, we may learn from the pontifical of Apamia
already cited. " But children who as yet know
not how to eat or drink are communicated either
with a leaf or with the finger dipped in the blood
of the Lord and put into their mouth, the priest
thus saying, ' The body with the blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ, keep thee unto everlasting
life' " (Martene, M.S.). Robertus Panlulus, a.d.
1 175, in a work De Sacramentis, long ascribed to
Hugo de S. Victore, says, " The said sacrament is
to be ministered with the finger of the priest to
children newly lorn in the species of the blood ;
INFIRMARY (MONASTIC) 837
because such can suck naturally " (Lib. i. c. 20).
As the Greeks and Orientals generally used
intinction before the age of Charlemagne, it is
to be presumed that they communicated infants
in the same manner as adults; i.e., in both kinds
with a spoon. Now " in practice, though the
rule is otherwise, the eucharist is given to
infants under the species of wine alone " (Goar
in Annot. Nihusii ad Allatii Dissert, de A/imd
Fraesanct.ad fin.; AUat. Zlg Occ. et Or. Consent.
col. 1659). The Nestorians, Jacobites, Arme-
nians and Maronites, are said to have fallen into
the same practice (Gabriel Sinaita, ibid. col.
1667). The Greeks use a spoon, but from con-
flicting statements before us (see Martene, u. s.
art. 15, n. 15), we infer that the rest use the
finger or a spoon iudifterently. [W. E. S.]
INFIRMARY (MONASTIC). In his
enumeration of Christian duties Benedict speci-
fies that of visiting the sick (Bened. Big. c. 4) ;
and elsewhere he speaks of it as a duty of pri-
mary and paramount obligation for monks
(" ante omnia et super omnia," c. 36), quoting
the words of Christ, " I was sick, and ye minis-
tered unto Me." Beyond, however, saying, that
the sick are to have a separate part of the
monastery assigned to them (cf. Aurel. Beg. cc.
37, 52 ; Caesar. Beg. c. 30), and a separate
officer in charge of them (cf. Leg. Tarnat. c. 21),
that they are to be allowed meat and the
luxury of baths, if necessary, that they are not
to be exacting (" ne superfiuitate sui fratres con-
tristent "), and that the brethren who wait on
them are not to be impatient, he gives no pre-
cise directions (('&.). Subsequently it was the
special duty of the " infirmarius," the "cellei-a-
rius " (house-stewnrd), and of the abbot himself,
to look after the sick (Martene, Keg. Comm. c. 4 ;
Caesarii Beg. ad Virg. c. 20, Beg. Cujusd. ad
Virgines, c. 15) ; no other monk might visit them
without leave from the abbot or prior (Mart. I.e.).
Everything was to be done for their comfort,
both in body and soul, that they should not
miss the kindly offices of kinsfolk and friends
(cf. Fructuos. Beg. c. 7 ; Hieronym. JEp. 22, ad
Eustoch.) ; and, while the rigour of the monastic
discipline was to be relaxed, whenever necessary,
in their favour, due supervision was to be exer-
cised, lest there should be any abuse of the privi-
leges of the sick-room (JIart. I.e.; cf. Beg. Pachom.
c. 20). The " infirmarius " was to enforce silence
at meals, to check conversation in the sick-room
("mansio infirmorum, intra claustra," Cone.
Aquisgran. A.D. 816, c. 142) at other times, and
to discriminate carefully between real and fic-
titious ailments (Mart. /. c). The sick were, if
possible, to recite the hours daily and to attend
mass at stated times, and if unable to walk to
the chapel, they were to be carried thither in the
arms of their brethren {ib.). The meal in the
sick-room was to be three hours earlier than in
the common refectory {Beg. Mag. c. 28). Tlie
abbot might allow a sej)arate kitchen and " but-
tery " for the use of the sick monks (Aureliau,
Beg. ad Munach. c. 53, Beg. ad Virg. c. 37).
The rule of Caesarius of Aries ordered, that
the abbot was to provide good wine for the
sick, the ordinary wine of the monastery being
often of inferior quality (cf. Mabill. Bisquis. do
Curs. Gallic, vi. 70, 71 ; Mabill. Ann. iii. 8, Du
Cange, Glossar. Lat. s. v.). [1. G. S.]
838
INFORMERS
INFORMERS. {Calumniatores, Delatores.
TertuUian [<idv. Marcion. v. 18] fancifully con-
nects "diabolus " with "delatura.") This class
of men oi'iginated before the Christian ei-a, and
indeed before the establishment of the Roman
empire. [Dict. op Greek and Roman Antiq.
s. V. Delator.'] When persecution arose against
the church, the delatores naturally sought gain,
and probably some credit with the civil autho-
rities, by giving information against those who
practised Christian rites, since the secret assem-
blies of Christians for worship came under the
prohibition of the Lex Julia de Majestate (Tac.
Ann. i. 72, p. 3 ; Merivale, Hist. Borne, c. xliv.).
TertuUian states that Tiberius threatened the
accusers of the Christians — " Caesar . . . com-
minatus pericuhim accusatoribus Christianorum"
(Apol. c. 5), but the story rests only upon his
statement. He also (I. c.) claims M. Aurelius as
a protector of Christians. Titus issued an edict
against delators, forbidding slaves to inform
against their masters or freedmen against their
patrons. Nerva on his accession republished this
edict. "Jewish manners," i. e. probably Chris-
tianity, is specially mentioned as one of the sub-
jects on which informations were forbidden (Dion
Ixviii. 1, quoted by Merivale). In Pliny's well-
known letter to Trajan (x. 96 [al. 97]) we find the
delatores in full work. The Christians who were
brought before him were delated (deferebantur),
arid anjinonymous paper was sent in containing a
list of many Christians or supposed Christians.
Trajan in his answer {ib. 97 [98]), though he for-
bad Christians to be sought out (i. e. by govern-
ment officials), did not attempt to put a stop to
the practice of delation ; those who were informed
against, if they continued in th^r infatuation,
must be punished. See TertnlHan's comment on
this (Apol. c. 2). ,■ Anii in the subsequent per-
secutions a largo paVt of the suffering arose from
unfaithful brethren who betrayed their friends
to the persecutors. It is not wonderful that
during and immediately after the days of perse-
cution the delator was regarded with horror.
Thus the council of Elvira (Cone. Elib. c. 73),
A.D. 305, excommunicated, even on his death-
bed," any delator who had caused the proscrip-
tion or death of the person informed against;
for informing in less important cases, the delator
might be re-admitted to communion after five
years ; or, if a catechumen, he might be ad-
mitted to baptism after five years. The first of
Aries, A.D. 314, reckons among " traditores "
not only those who gave up to the persecutors
the Holy Scriptures and sacred vessels, but also
those who handed in lists of the brethren (nom-
iua fratrum) ; and respecting these the council
decrees, that whoever shall be discovered from
the public records (acta) to have committed such
offences shall be solemnly" degraded from the
clerical order ; but such degradation, if the of-
fender was a bishop, was not to vitiate the
orders of those who might have been ordained
" According to tlie reading " Nee in fine ;" some MS3.
read " non nisi in fine." It seepis probable that " nee in
fine" or "finem" was the original reading, and that it
was altered to bring it into accordance with the decree of
Nicaea (e. 13), which provides that the Holy Communion
is in no ease to be refused to a dying man.
1) " Non verbis nudis ;" another readinpr is " verberibus
tnultis."
INITIAL HYMN
by him. Charges against traditores were not
to be admitted unless they could be proved
from the " acta publica." This decree is
highly interesting, as following immediately
upon a period of persecution, and showing that
the edict of Milan (a.d. 313) had brought about
a great change in Gaul, and that Christians were
admitted to consult the public records of the
recent proceedings against them. The capitu-
laries of the Frank kings (lib. vi. c. 317, in
Baluze, i. 977) cite the 73rd canon of Elvira
with the reading " nee in fine." So lib. vii. c.
205, and Additio Quarta, c. 34, in Baluze, i.
1068, 1202. The same capitularies (vltW. Quarta,
c. 35) enjoin bishops to excommunicate " accu-
satores fratrum ; " and, even after amendment,
not to admit them to holy orders, though they
may be admitted to communion. Any cleric or
layman who brings frivolous charges against his
bishop (calumniator extiterit) is to be reputed a
homicide.
The canon of Elvira is cited in the decree
of Gratian (p. ii. cau. v. quae. 6, c. 6) with the
reading " non nisi in fine." The same decree
(m. s. c. 5) attributes to pope Hadrian I. a
decree, "let the tongue of a delator be cut out
(capuletur), or, on conviction, let his head be
cut off; " a decree probably taken from the civil
legislation, for nearly the same provision is found
in the Theodosian code (lib. x. tit. x. 1. 2), and
precisely the same in the Frank capitularies
(lib. vii. c. 360 ; Bal. i. 1102). [S. J. E.]
INFULA. 1. The infula was in classical
times the band or fillet which bound the brow
of the sacrificing priest and the victim.
" Nee te tua plurima, Panthu
Labentem pietas nee ApoUinls infiila texit."
Virg. Aen. ii. 430.
Servius (on Aeneid. x. 538) tells us that it was
a broad fillet or ribbon, commonly made of red
and white strips. Isidore (L'tyuiol. xix. 30)
describes the infula of the heathen priest in
similar terms. The infula of the victim is men-
tioned in
" stans hostia ad aram
Lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta."
Virg. Georg. iii. 48T.
And the term seems to have been early trans-
ferred to the head-covering of Christian priests.
Hence Prudentius (Peristeph. iv. 79) speaks ot
the " sacerdotum domus infulata " of the Valerii
of Saragossa, when he is evidently speaking of
the " clerus." So Pope Gelasius (Hardouin's
Concilia, ii. 901), wishing to say that a certain
person ought to be rejected from the Christian
priesthood, says that he is " clericalibus infulis
reprobabilis " (Hefele's Beitrlige, ii. 223 flf.).
See Mitre.
2. For infula in the sense of a ministerial
vestment, see Casula, Planeta. [C] .
INGELHEIM, COUNCIL OF (Tngelheim-
ense Concilium'), A.D. 788, at Ingelheim, when
Tassilo, duke of Bavaria, was condemned, but
allowed to enter a monastery. [E. S. Ff.]
INGENUUS, martyr at Alexandria with
Amnion, Theophilus, Ptolomeus, Zeno ; comme-
morated Dec. 20 (Alart. Eom. Vet., Adonis, Usu-
ardi). [W. F. G.]
INITIAL HYMN.— A name for the hymu
which in the Eastern liturgies corresponds to the
INITIAL HYMN
Introit of the Roman mass. In the eastern
liturgies the term Intrwit {^tao^os) is applied to
the two ENTRANCES of the liturgy, the little
entrance {tj /j.iKpa e'tcroSos) i. e. that of the
Book of the Gospels, and the great entrance
(r) fj.iyd\T] etaoSos) i. e. that of the elements.
In the liturgies of St Basil and St. Chrysostom
this hymn takes the form of three antiphons,
called the first, second, and third antiphons, each
of which consists of a f^vr verses called " stichi "
(o-Ti'xoO from the Psalms; each verse of the
first antiphon being followed by the clause " At
the intercession of the Theotocos, save us, 0
Saviour;" each verse of the second and third
by an antiphonal clause of the same nature,
varying with and having reference to the festi-
val. That of the third antiphon is sometimes
one of the troparia of the day. Each antiphon
is followed by an unvarying prayer, called gene-
rally the prayer of the first, second, and third
antiphon," and which are the same in the litur-
gies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom.'^
The first and second antiphons are followed by
" Glory cfcc. (5d|a Ka\ vvv), after which the anti-
phonal response is repeated.
The third antiphon by short hymns or troparia
in rhythmical prose under different names, and
which vary with the day. These antiphons are
considered to symbolise the predictions of the
prophets, foretelling the coming and incarnation
of our Lord.'' As a specimen the three anti-
phons for Easter Day are : — ■
Antiph. I.
Stick. 0 be joyful in God all ye lands. (Ps. Ixvi. 1.)
At the intercession, &c.
Stick. Sing praises unto the honour of His name. (Do.)
At the intercession, &c.
Stick. Say unto God, 0 how wonderful art Thou in Thy
works, (verse 2.)
At the intercession, &c.
Stick. For all the world shall worship Thee, (verse 3.)
At the intercession, &c.
Glory, &c.
At the intercession, &c.
Antiph. II.
Stick. God be merciful unto us. (Ps. Ixvii. 1.)
Save us, 0 Son of God, Thou that art risen from
the dead.
Stick. And show us the li.a;ht of His countenance. (Do.)
Save us, 0 Son of God, &c.
Stick. That Thy way maybe known upon earth, (v. 2 )
Save us, 0 Son of God, &c.
Stick. Ivet the people praise Thee. (v. 3.)
Save us. 0 Son of God, &c.
Glory, &c.
Save us, 0 Son of God, &c.
Antiph. III.
Stick. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered
let them also that hate Him flee before Him.
(Ps. Ixviii. 1.)
Christ is risen from the dead, having trodden
down death by death, and given life to those
that are in the grave.
» There are variations between the two liturgies, as to
whether the prayer of the antiphon sDOuld be said before
or after its antiphon, which it is unnecessary to par-
ticularise.
•> The prayer of the third antiphon is " A Prayer of
St.Ch^y^oslom'■ of the English Prayer-book,
<! Yid. Casali de Vet. Sacr. Ckrist. Hit. cap. .\ci.
INNOCENTS, Fkstivai. of ihe 839
stick. Like as the smoke vanisheth so shalt thou drive
them away .- and like as wax melteth at the
tire. (v. 2.)
Christ is risen, &c.
Stick. So let the ungodly perish at the presence of God,
but let the righteous l)c glad. (vv. 2, 3.)
Christ is risen, &c.
Stick. This is the day which the Lord hath made : we
will rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. cxvlii.2-1.)
Christ is risen, &c.
On Sundays as a rule, in the liturgy of St.
Basil the Typica ^ for the day are said instead of
the first two antijjhons ; and in those of St.
Basil and St. Chrysostom instead of the third
antiphon, the Beatitudes {oi ixaKapt<T/j.ol).
These are the Beatitudes from the Sermon on
the Mount, and are thus said. They are intro-
duced by the clause " Remember us, 0 Lord,
when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." The
first five Beatitudes ai-e then said consecutivelv ;
after the fifth and each following one is inter-
posed a short troyxirion, differing in each case,
and all varying with the day. After the sixth
of these follows " Glory, &c." and then two more
troparia, the latter of which is a Theotocion.'
In the liturgies of St. James and St. Mark
the initial hymn is the same, and unvarying. It
is of the ordinary form of Greek hymns, begin-
ning " Only begotten Son and Word of God," &c.,
and containing prayers for salvation through the
mysteries of the incarnation, which it recites.
[See Antiphon]. [H. J. H.]
INITIATION. [Baptism, §0, p. 156.]
INNOCENT, or INNOCENTIUS. (1)
[Gregory (2).]
(2) Martyr at Sii-mium with Sebastia (or
Sabbatia) and thirty others ; commemorated
July 4 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Martyr with Exsuperius (1). [W. F. G.]
INNOCENTS, Festival of the. {vf^epa
roiv ayiaiv t5' x'^'^S&'J' vijiriwv : festum Inno-
centum [«"?«], Natales Sanctorum Innocentum,
Natale Infantum, Necatio \_AUisio'] Infantum.
The old English Childermas and the German
Kindermcsse may also be noted.)
1. History of festival. — The Holy Innocents of
Bethlehem, the victims of Herod's jealousy of our
Lord, are at an early period commemorated as
martyrs for Christ, of whom indeed they were
in one sense the first (see Irenaeus adv. Haer.
iii. 16. 4; Cyprian, Epist. 56, plehi Thibari con-
sisienti, § 6). Subsequent fathers continually
speak in the same strain, e.g. Gregory of Nazi-
anzum {Senn. 38 in Naticitate, § 18 ; vol. i. 674,
ed. Bened.) ; Chrysostom (Horn. 9 in S. Matt.
vol. vii. 130, ed. Montfaucon) ; Augustine (Ltiar-
ratio in Psal. 47 ; vol. iv. 593, ed. Gaume ; Senn.
199 in Epiphania, § 2, vol. v. 1319 ; Serm. 373 in
Epiph. § 3, vol. v. 2178 ; Serm. 375 in Epiph.
§ 2, vol. v. 2183); Prudentius {Cath. xii. de
Epijih. 125). Augu.stine also distinctly refers
(de lihero ArUtrio, iii. 68, vo' i. 1035) to a com-
memoration of their martyrdom by the church.
Some writers, as Augusti {Uenkwiirdigkeiten ans
der Christlichen Archdoloi/ie, i. 304), Bintorim
(DenkwUrdigkeiten derChrist-Katholischen Kirche,
V. 1. 549) and others, refer to a homily of Origen
<i These terms will be explained In their place.
<= These troparia are given in the Octoeckus.
840 INNOCENTS, Festival of the
as affording evidence on this last point. The
writing in question, however (ffom. 3 de diversis,
vol. ii. p. 282 ; ed. Paris, 1604), is universally
rejected as spurious, and Huet sums up con-
cerning it (Origenis 0pp. vol. iv. 325, ed. De la
Rue) that it is a work originally written in
Latin, and later than the time of Jerome.
The commemoration of the Massacre of the
Innocents was at first combined with the festival
of the Epiphany. Thus the passage of Pruden-
tius above referred to speaks of them in the
hymn on the Epiphany ; Leo, in not a few of his
homilies on the Epiphany, speaks of the Inno-
cents (see e.g. Sermm. 31-33,35, 38: Patrol.
liv. 234 sqq.), as also Fulgentius of Ruspe in a
homily de Epiphania, deque Innocentuin nece et
muneribus magorum (^Patrol. Ixv. 732). Subse-
quently a special day was set apart for the fes-
tival of the Innocents, a day in close proximity
to that on which the Lord's Nativity is celebrated
being chosen ; not that we have any definite
knowledge as to the time when Herod put the
children to death, but from the special associ-
ation between the two events. Hence we find
December 28 in the Western and December 29
in the Eastern church set apart for the com-
memoration of the Innocents. The date of the
origin of the separate festival cannot be very
closely defined. It is however mentioned in the
Calendarium Carthaginense, to whose date we can
approximate from the fact that the latest martyrs
commemorated are those who perished in the
Vandal persecution under Huuneric, 484 a.d.
Here the notice is, " V. Kal. Jan. Sanctorum In-
nocentum, quos Herodes jccidit " (Patrol, xiii.
1228). It may be added that Peter Chrysologiis,
bishop of Ravenna (ob. 450 A.D.), has left among
his sermons, two de Infantium nece, quite apart
from several others on the Epiphany (Sermm.
152, 153; Patrol. Vn. G04). It is needless to
give here a list of later calendai-s and martyr-
ologies, in which the festival of the Innocents
uniformly occurs, but it may be noted that it
subsequently acquired a considerable degree of im-
portance, for in the Pide of Chrodegang, bishop of
Jletz (ob. 766 A.D.), the " festivitas Infantium"
is included among the " solemnitates praecipuae "
(Beg. Chrodeg. c. 74; Patrol. Ix.xxvii. 1009).
2. Liturgical notices. — The earliest of the Ro-
man Sacramentaries, the Leonine, contains two
masses for the festival of the Innocents, which
follow immediately after that for St. John the
Evangelist, and are headed In Natali Innocentuin
(Leouis 0pp. vol. ii. 155, ed. Ballerini). We may
call attention to the curious reference in the
Preface of the second mass to the prophecy of
Jeremiah (xxxi. 15), " Rachel plorans filios suos,
noluit cousolari, quia non sunt," where the
mother's grief is explained as arising not from
the death of her children, but because infants held
worthy of receiving so great a renown were born
not from her line, but from that of Leah. Ele-
ments from the Leonine Sacramentary are found
embodied in the service for the day in the Ge-
lasian (^Patrol. Ixxiv. 1060) and Gregorian Sacra-
mentaries (col. 12, ed. Menard), in the latter
case including a slightly modified form of the
Preface," which also appears in the service for
a The collect in the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacra-
mentaries furnished that of our own ciuirth till 1662,
when it was moditled into its present foim.
INNOCENTS, Festival of the
the day in the Ambrosian liturgy (Pamelius,
Liturgg. Latt. i. 308). In the ancient Roman
church a special degree of mournfulness was
associated with this day, for we find in the Gre-
gorian Liber Aniiphonarius (col. 659, ed. Menard)
the notice that the Gloria in Excelsis and Alle-
luia are not sung, " sed quasi prae tristitia dies
ilia deducitur." Of this we may derive an illus-
tration, though of much later date, from the
Ordo Romanus (x. 26), which remarks that on
this day, except it fell on a Sunday, the Romans
abstain from flesh and fat. See also Amalarius
{de Eccl. Off. i. 41 ; Patrol, cv. 1074), and the
Micrologus (de Eccl. obs. c. 36; Patrol, cli. 1005),
which mentions the further omission on this day
of the le Deum and Ite, missa est. He subjoins as
a reason for the sadness attaching to this day, that
the Innocents, though martyrs for Christ, "non-
dum tamen ad gloriara, sed ad infernalem poenam
discesserunt."
In the ancient lectionary of the Gallican
church, the prophetic lection, epistle, and gospel
were respectively Jer. xxxi. 15-20, Rev. vi. 9-11,
Matt. ii. 1-23 (Mabillon, de Liturgia Gallicana,
lib. ii. p. 112 ; see also the service in the Gotho-
gallic missal, lib. iii. p. 198). In the Mozarabic
liturgy, however, they are respectively Jer. xxxi.
15-20, 2 Cor. i. 2-7, Matt, xviii. 13-15, 1-6,
10, 11 (Missale Mixtun S. Isidori, p. 48, ed.
Leslie).
The Micrologus (supra) refers to the octave of
the festival of the Innocents as generally observed
(" eodem modo ut aliorum Sanctorum celebra-
tur "). It would seem, however, that this is of
comparatively late date as a matter of general
observance, for according to Binterim (Denkw.
v. 1. 552), it is wanting in many calendars of the
9th century. A curious mistake must be men-
tioned here into which several have fallen in
connection with the octave of the festival of the
Innocents. In the Indiculus operum S. Augustini
by Possidius, is an entry " de die octavarum In-
fantium ; duo " (Patrol, xlvi. 16). This has been
taken by Baronius (Marty rologium Eomannm,
Dec. 28 and Jan. 4, not.) and others as showing
the existence of an octave of the festival of the
Innocents in Augustine's time. The two sermons,
however, of Augustine refer to the first Sunday
after Easter, the octave of the day on which the
sacrament of baptism had been received, " hodie
octavae dicuntur infantium, revelanda sunt capita
eorum " (Sermm. 260, 376 ; Patrol, xxxviii. 1201,
1669).
Attention has already been called to the prox-
imity of the festival of the Innocents to that of
the Nativity, in consequence of the association
of the two events commemorated. These two
indeed, with the commemorations on the two
intervening days of Stephen the protomartyr
and John the disciple whom Jesus loved, may
be supposed to form one combined festival, all
centering in the idea of the Incarnation. Thus
we have a homily of Bernard of Clairvaux de
Qiuituor continuis solemnitatibus, scilicet Nativi-
tatis Domini ac Sanctorum Stephani, Johannis et
Innocentium (Patrol, clxxxiii. 129).
The day for the commemoration of the Inno-
cents in the Eastern church is December 29,
but we find in the Armeno-Gregorian calendar
(Neale, Eastern Church, Introd. p. 799) June 10
associated with them : this same calendar being
one of those which gives from what original
INNOCENTS, THE HOLY
cause does not appear, the amazing number of
14,000 foi- the infants slain. This is also the
case with the pictorial Moscow calendar prefixed
by Papebroch to the Acta Sanctorum for May
(vol. i. p. Ixxii.)." Numerous Eastern calendars,
however, do not contain this absurd addition (see
e.g. Ludolf, Fasti Sacri Ecdesiae Alcxandrinae,
p. 16 ; Selden, de Si/nedriis veterum Ebraeorum,
pp. 214,231, ed. Amsterdam, 1679).
For further details on the subject of the fes-
tival of the Innocents, reference may be made to
Binterim, Denkuilrdigkeiten der Clirist - Katho-
lischen Kirche, v. 1. 549 ; Augusti, Benkwurdig-
keitenaus der Christ lichen Archaologie, i. 304 sqq. :
Assemani, Kalendarium Ecdesiae Universae, v.
519. [K. S.]
INNOCENTS, THE HOLY, MASSACRE
OF. Represented in the mosaics of Sta. M. Mag-
giore (Ciampini, V.M. I. tab. ii.), and in two
ivories, one of which (from a diptych in the
cathedral of Milan) is given by Martigny (s. v.
see woodcut); also on a sarcophagus at St.
Maximin, south of France {Monuni. de Ste. Made-
leine, t. i. col. 735, 736). Here it is contrasted
with another relief of the Adoration of the ilagi,
INSCRIPTIONS
841
to take into account— (1) The literature of the
subject, which is indeed the only division whicli
can be treated at all comprehensively in an
article like the present. (2) Technical execution.
(3) Symbols. (4) A selection of inscriptions, with
notes on some matters arising out of them.
(5) Their language and style. (6) The modes
of dating them. (7) An enumeration of the ab-
breviations which occur on them.
(i.) Literature of the Suhject.— This matter is
ably treated of by M. De Rossi in the first thirty-
six pages of his preface to the Inscriptiones Chris-
tianae Urbis Roinae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores'^
(Rome, 1857-1861 fol.). The principal facts are
as follows. The earliest collections of Christian
inscriptions of which we have any knowledge
belong to the age of Charles the Great, and were
made, as De Rossi thinks, by scholars of Alcuiu.
The most ancient of these is contained in au
Einsiedeln MS. written in the age of Alcuin :
about a third of the whole collection i's Chris-
tian, sepulchral examples however being wholly
wanting. Various compilations of inscriptions
were also now made, in which many of the
epitaphs written by pope Damasus, among other
Christian authors, were included ; and the small
Ivory Diptych at Milan. From Martigny.
the two pictures occupying two sides of a frieze,
and being divided by the titulus of the deceased.
Martigny also mentions an ivory diptych of this
subject, attributed to the period of Theodosius
the Younger, and published by M. Rigollot {Arts
de Sculjjture au mogen age). [R. St. J. T.]
INSACRATI. [Imposition of Hands, § 1.]
INSCRIPTIONS. In strictness of speech
every inscribed monument falls under this cate-
gory, unless the writing be upon skin or upon
paper ; and accordingly the great collections of
(ireek and Latin inscriptions recently published at
Berlin include every kind of monument which is
inscribed, coins only excepted. These are some-
what arbitrarily but at the same time profit-
ably excluded, as belonging to a special depart-
ment of study. But in common parlance, by
Inscriptions, the larger monuments in stone are
intended, and in the following article compara-
tively little notice will be taken of any others.
In" treating of this vast subject it is proposed
b A still wilder estimate, however, is found in an
Auctariam to the martyrology of Usuardus, which fi.xes
the number at 144,000 (Palrol. cx.xiii. S48), probably -.vilh
reference to Rev. vii. 4.
remaining stone fragments of some of these can
be completed with certainty by their aid. The
collectors of these inscriptions cared little for
their historical value, and commonly omitted all
mention of their age or authors ; they rather
designed them to be models, after which similar
verses might be composed. The others now
remaining in whole or in great part are —
(1) The Palatine MS. of the 11th century
(now in the Vatican), edited by Gruter, Thes.
fnscr., pp. MCLXIII.-MCLXXVII., who has omitted
a few profane epigrams, which are intersiiersed.
None of the Christian inscriptions seem to
be later than the 9th century, and they were
probably collected by some one who visited
Rome and various other places in Italy about the
close of that century. (2) A IMS. of Kloster
Neuburg, about the 11th century, consisting of
Christian inscriptions exclusively, which were
copied from Italian originals about the 8th cen-
" Lo Blant's catalogue of books relating to Cllri^tiaIl
epigraphy, published at the end of his .ifanuel, is a useful
supplement to this, and brings the bibliography down lo
1869. Do Kossi is less careful to notice printed books
than MS. collections, as being better known. After the
jmblication of iMarinl's papers by Mai in 1831 he ceases
altogether.
842
INSCRIPTIONS
tury ; they are almost all historical, many being
by Damasus. (3) A Verdun MS. of the 10th
century, containing thirty-one Roman inscrip-
tions ; a collection independent of either of the
preceding, made in the 8th or 9th century.
" Hae tres antiquissimae syllogae omnes trans
Alpes servatae nobis sunt ; neque quidquam his
simile in Italiae nostrae bibliothecis uspiam
inveui .... Primi ergo veterum inscriptio-
num amatores trausalpini omnes- fuere . . . .
Ab Alcuiniana aetate ad saeculura usque deci-
mum quartum .... antiquis inscriptionibus
colligendis nemo videtur operara navasse " (De
Rossi, M. s. pp. X.* xi.*).
The 15th century saw the revival of epi-
graphic studies, but among the inscriptions col-
lected by Poggio, Signorili, Cyriaco, Feliciani,
Marcanova, Pehem, Schedel, and others, those
which ai-e Christian '" apparent rarae," and are
not separately classed. The earliest collector of
purely Christian inscriptions, who lived in the
cige of the Renaissance, is Pietro Sabini, who in
1495 presented his work, in MS., comprising
those which he had copied in Rome and out of
it, both from the originals and from MSS., to
Charles Vlll., king of France. The MS. has
been found in the library of St. Mark at Venice
by De Rossi, who affirms that some of the in-
scriptions are very valuable, and have been copied
by no other scholar ; many however belong to a
late period. A volume of inscriptions from the
ancient churches of Rome, made by Giovanni
Capoti in 1498, seems to have been of much the
same character. The otlier collectors of inscrip-
tions who lived from this time to the middle of
the 16th, added scarcely anything (vix mediocre
incrementum) to Christian epigraphy. Aldus
Manutius the Younger however applied himself
diligently to the collection of Christian inscrip-
tions among others, and twenty volumes of these
formed by various members of this illilstrious
f imily are preserved in the Vatican, from which
De Rossi has derived no small profit. The most
important of these was compiled in 1566 and
1567, and is entirely filled with inscriptions con-
tained in Christian churches. The whole number
of Christian inscriptions hitherto collected from
all parts, from the 8th to the middle of the 16th
century, excluding those of very recent date, is
considerably less than a thousand ; a great many
of these being contained in MS. only.'' At pre-
sent more than 11,000 Christian inscriptions
earlier than the 7th century are known to have
been found in Rome alone. With the exception
of a few epitaphs by Damasus copied in tombs
of the martyrs by the scholars of Alcuin, no
subterranean inscription had hitherto been <^e-
cyphered. But the discovery of the catacombs
of Rome in 1578 marks a new era in the study.
Ciaccone, L'Heureux or Macarius, Winghius,
Ugone, and somewhat later in time, but first and
foremost in diligence and success, Antonio Bosio,
were among the earliest explorers, and all were
more or less addicted to the study of Christian
'' The Edinburgh Hecieio for 1864, p. 221, goes fo far
as to say that " the results of the whole epoch (of the re-
vival of letters) may be summed up in the single state-
ment, that more than a cenlury had elapsed after the
discovery of printing before a single inscription of the
early Christian centuries had been given to the world."
Various MS. voIuht'S are mentioned by De Rossi (u. s.
pp. .xiv.'-.wii.*) of uhich no notice is taken here.
INSCRIPTIONS
inscriptions. Soon after this time the Christian
inscriptions occupy a distinct place in Gruter's
Corpus Inscriptionum, published in 1616 ; but
besides the Palatine Collection mentioned above,
all the others together reach only about 150,
although many more had been now copied in
Rome by several of his friends. There can be
no doubt that Gruter cared comparatively little
about this class of inscriptions. The extensive
and accurate transcripts of Bosio were trans-
ferred, after his death in 1629, to Severani, who
published the Roma Sotteranea in 1632 ; which
was republished in an enlarged Latin form by
Aringhi, in two folio volumes, in 1650." During
the half century that followed the publication
of Gruter's great work, many scholars collected
additional Christian inscriptions, some of the
most important of which are still in MS. Espe-
cially to be named are those of J. B. Doni (died
1647), preserved in the Marucelli Library at
Florence, " codex inter primaria operis mei sub-
sidia numerandus " (De Rossi) ; of Sirmond (died
1651), in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris
(very valuable, containing many still unpub-
lished), and of Peiresc (died 1637), whose In-
scriptiones Christianae et novae were consulted
at Paris by De Rossi, who speaks of their value,
more especially for the inscriptions of Gaul.
To these should be added the collections of F.
Ptolomeo (made about 1666), preserved in the
public library of Sienna, of which Muratori
made much use, and those of Brutio, in seven-
teen volumes, finished in 1679, preserved in the
Vatican, whose value is scarcely proportional
to their bulk. Between Aringhi (1650) and
FabrettJ, whose folio volume on inscriptions
appeared in 1702, Montfaucon alone (so thinks
De Rossi) can be regarded as having materially
added to the knowledge of Christian epigraphy ;
his MSS. were examined at Paris by De Rossi,
who thence derived some valuable additions to
his Roman inscriptions. It deserves however to
be recorded that William Fleetwood, fellow of
King's College, Cambridge, afterwards bishop of
Ely, published in 1691 an Inscriptionum Antiqua-
rum Sijlloge (Lond. 8vo), in two parts ; the
second part, " Christiana monumenta antiqua
quae hactenus innotuerunt omnia complec-
titur : " these occupy nearly two hundred pages,
and are occasionally accompanied by brief notes.''
Zaccaria several times notices this work contro-
versially or otherwise (^Diss. de Vet. Tnscr. usu,
pp. 326, 327, 370, 382, 384, 388, 399), and it
is frequently quoted by other epigraphists as by
Marini, Le Slant, and De Rossi himself, though he
has not named it in his introduction. Fabretti's
labours are both skilful and accurate; but the
types which the printer made use of were inade-
quate to express the true reading of his inscrip-
tions. Boldetti and Marangoni, who laboured in
concert in the same field as Bosio had done, " are
<! Dr. M'Caul (^Christian Epitaphs, pref. p. iv. note)
observes that these volumes " have a reputation far be-
yond their merits." There is no doubt, he adds, that
some forger of inscriptions imposed both on Severani and
Aringhi. De Rossi promises a detailed account of this j
matter, p. xxvi*. i
<* We can the less afford to pass it over, though it ap- '.
pears to be little else but acompilati-on from other authurs, !
as it is almost the only work on Christian epigraphy ex- .
pressly devoted to the subject, that has appeared in this '
country till quite lately. i
INSCRIPTIONS
made especially memorable by one of those cata-
strophes, which occasionally diversify the monoto-
nous history of student life. They had spent
more than thirty years in the exploration of the
catacombs and other sacred antiquities of Rome.
Boldetti's volume, published in 1720 at Rome
[entitled Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' Santi
Martiri'], comprised a portion of the results;
but by far the greater part still remained in
MS., when in 17o7 an unlucky fire destroyed in
a few hours the fruit of all these years of toil-
some research. The loss, it is melancholy to
.add, was complete and irreparable. Boldetti's
great age precluded all hopes of his being able
to repair his portion of the work. Marangoni
although grievously depressed resumed his
labours with great energy ; but M. De Rossi has
everywhere sought in vain for the results of his
attempted restoration" {Edinhunjh Rev. u. s. p.
222). The destruction of these papers has left a
void which can hardly be supplied ; the chambers
which they explored are now " demolita et hor-
rendum in modum vastata " (De Rossi). Bol-
detti indeed and those whom he employeii to
copy the inscriptions have been proved to be very
inaccurate both as regards the sites of their dis-
covery and the reading of the texts ;•= " ei me
iratissimum esse profiteor," says De Rossi (p.
xxvii.*). Marangoni was much more exact, and
his Appendix ad Acta S. Victorini, Rom. 1740,
4", is a work of considerable value. P. Lupi, a
friend of these scholars, has left, besides various
printed works relating to epigraphy,- a valuable
collection of inscriptions preserved in MS. in the
Vatican at Rome ; and a similar collection by the
celebrated Buonarotti is preserved at Florence.
It became evident that the time had now
arrived when a fresh collection of Christian in-
scriptions should incorporate the previous dis-
coveries of so many scholars. The industrious
Gori projected such a work, in which they should
be so arranged as to illustrate the doctrines, the
ceremonies, the hierarchy and the discipline of
the church. But his other engagements pre-
vented. The MSS. however of his friends
Stosch, Ficoroni and others, containing materials
for the work, are stored up in the Marucelli
Library at Florence, where thoy were consulted
with profit by De Rossi. The task was in some
measure executed by the indefatigable Muratori,
whose Nomis Thesaurus Vetcrum Inscriptionum
published at Milan in 1739 in four folio volumes,
contains, in addition to the profane inscriptions,
a larger number of Christian ones than had ever
yet appeared, being taken both from printed and
from MS. sources: but the work was very un-
critically executed, and his conjectural additions
are not distinguished from the actual readings of
the broken inscriptions. Maft'ei, who has been
called the founder of lapidary criticism, had
undertaken in conjunction with Seguier a great
body of inscriptions, in which there should be a
purely Christian division ; but both these and
various other scholars, who had cherished like
good intentions, bore no fruit to perfection.
It now also again entered into the minds of
more than one divine to turn the extant mass
e De Rossi (under his Inscr. Urb. Rom. n. 17. p. 24)
calls him a man "cujus in id genus apographis excipi-
enrfis imperiiiam et incuriara non ccnteiia, scd millena
exi^mpla teslantur."
INSCRIPTIONS 813
of Christian inscriptions to theological account ;
and with somewhat better success. The learned
Jesuit A. F. Zaccaria contemplated a very exten-
sive work, in which the more interesting Chris-
tian inscriptions should be arranged under the
following heads: (i.) Religio in Deum ; (ii.)
Religio in Sanctos; (iii.) Templa; (iv.) Tem-
plorum ornamenta, vasa sacra, idque genus
caetera; (v.) Dies Festi ; (vi.)Sacramenta ; (vii.)
Hierarchia ecclesiastica ac primo Romani Pon-
tificis; (viii.) Episcopi ; (ix.) Presbyteri ; (x.)
Ordines majores ; (xi.) Ordines minores; (xii.)
Monachi ; (xiii.) Laid ; (xiv.) Laici dignitate
praestantes; (xv.) Artes atque officia minora;
(xvi.) Leges ecclesiasticae (De Rossi, u. s. p.
XXX.*) This magniloquent announcement how-
ever was never carried out ; but a kind of first
fruits were put forth in 1762 in a treatise
entitled De vetenim Christianonim, in rebus
theologicis usu.'' In this work he brings together
with a considerable amount of industry and
learning such inscriptions as bear or seem to
bear upon the doctrines of his church ; " quae non
ultra septimum nostrae aerae saeculum progre-
diuntur, ne haereticis cavillandi detur occasio "
( J/ic'S. Theol. Hiss. p. 325). Martigny however
calls it "un livre mediocre;" and speaks of his
friend and imitator, Danzetta, as having written
" avec moins de succfes encore " ^ {Diet. p. 305).
The bearing of inscriptions upon doctrinal or dis-
ciplinary controversy is "a perfectly legitimate
use of the subject,** and mdeed its true ultimate
end, but one for which from the insufficiency of
the data the time had not [in the 18th century]
fully an'ivod." (Edinburgh Reuev^u. s. p. 224.)
Nor can it be said to have fully arrived now. In
a few years' time it will probably be otherwise.
Zaccaria in his later years encouraged a rising
young scholar, Gaetano Marini, to undertake the
task which he had found to be too much for
himself. Marini set about the work with great
spirit, and from 1765 to 1801 worked at it, not
exclusively indeed, but yet so as never to allow
his labours to be wholly intermitted. An ample
I account of his preparations and of the merits and
' defects of his performances is given by De Rossi
(m. s. pp. xxxi.*-xxxii.*). By help of his
friends in Italy and his own labour he had
amassed about 8600 Christian inscriptions in
Latin, and about 750 in Greek from all parts
of the world, of the first ten centuries. But
these were in a confused, imperfect and uncritical
state. " Marini's labours were interru]ited by
the French Revolution ; and at his death he be-
queathed to the Vatican Library the materials
which he had compiled, and which, having
f Published In the Thesaurus Theolog. Dissertationum
vol. i. pp. 325-396, Venet. 1762, 4to; appan ntly for the
firnt time (see Prw/atio generality Le Blant (in his
Bibliographie) gives 1761 as the date. It lias been re-
published by MIgnc in his Cursus Theolog. completus.
g It would seem from De Rossi's remarks (p. xxxi*)
that his Theolngia Ijipidaria exists only in MS. (In the
Vatican). He gained from it a few unpublished inscrip-
tions which Danzetta had taken from the papers of Ma-
rangoni.
h For the ecclesiastical historian inscriptions of all
periods will of course have ihelr own value; and many of
them yield up a great deal of information and fiirnisli
"Illustrations of almost every branch of Christian litera-
' ture history, and antiquities" {Edinburgh Keuiew.u. s.
p. 231).
844
INSCRIPTIONS
recently been put in order by M. De Rossi are
found to fill no fewer than 31 volumes. Among
these, four volumes had been partially prepared
for publication, of which the first was in a com-
paratively forward state. This is the Inscrip-
tionum Christianarum pars prima, which is
printed in the fifth volume of Mai's Scriptorum
Veterum Nova Collectio, in 1831. And perhaps
it may be said that it is to the incomplete and
unsatisfactory condition of the remaining por-
tion of Marini's papers that we are indebted
for much of the far more critical and scholarly
work of M. De Rossi, entitled Inscriptiones
Urhis Komae Septimo Saeculo antiquiores (Rom.
1857-61, fol. pp. 619+123 proL -1-40 praef.)
This publication was undertaken at the express
solicitation of Cardinal Mai, who finding the
task of preparing for the press the rest of
Marini's materials entirely incompatible with
his other engagements, transferred to his young
and learned friend the undertaking for which
his tastes, his studies, and his genuine love
of the subject pointed him out to Mai as
eminently fitted." (^L'dhibun/h Rev. u. s. pp.
22-1, 225, slightly altered.) The first volume of
this great work, the only one known to the
writer, and perhaps the only one yet published,
contains those Roman inscriptions only whose
precise or approximate date is positively known.'
The number of these is 1126; among which we
have one belonging to the first century, two to the
beginning of the second (all very brief and unim-
portant), and twenty-three to the thii'd ; the
fourth and fifth centuries have between four
and five hundred each, and the sixth century a
little more than two hundred. Fragments and
additional inscriptions contained in the appendices
bring the number up to 1374.
The second part of his work is intended to
include select inscriptions interesting for their
theological and historical worth ; and in the last
place he will include all the remaining inscrip-
tions arranged according to the localities where
they were found ; and also the Jewish inscrip-
tion found in Rome.''
We can afford no more space to notice this
masterly performance, which every one who
desires to become acquainted with Christian
inscriptions must necessarily study ; an interest-
ing account of it, and also of the work following
will be found in the Edinburgh Review for July,
1864.
The impulse given to Christian epigraphy by
De Rossi's great work, and by his other works of
smaller dimensions' has been manifested by the
' He calls them Epitaphia certam temporis notam ex-
Uibentia. Notwithstanding this, the mark of time on the
stone, by reason of its fragmentary condition, often leaves
tlie exact date uncertain. See, for example, n. 986, the
(late of which may be 522 or 485, and n. 999, which may
be of the year 525, 524, 454, or 453.
k Under each inscription mention is made of the place
where it was found, where it has been edited, if at all, or
from what MSS. it has been copied by the editor, if he
have not himself transcribed it. Plates are in most cases
added. If the Inscriptions were more frequently written
out in common minuscules, besides being figured, they
would be more easily read by the non-antiquarian scholar
or student.
1 His Bulletino di Archeologia Cristiana, of which the
tirst vulume (in twelve monthly parts) appeared in 1863
(Roma, tipogratia Salviucci, 4to) is a magazine of most
INSCRIPTIONS
publication of other books relating to the subject,
among which those which comprise the Christian
inscriptions en masse of particular countries hold
the first rank. And among these we must place
at the head the Inscriptions Chre'tieniies de la
Gaule ante'rieures au VII1•"^ Siecle, edited and
annotated by M. Edmond Le Blant, in 2 vols.
4to., Paris, 1856, and 1865, comprising 708 in-
scriptions, nearly all Latin, but a few Greek, and
a few also written in Runes.™ The earliest dated
inscription belongs to the year 334, and the
latest to 695 ; but only four of these are as early
as the 4th century. Of the rest that are dated
about 50 belong to the 5th century, nearly 100
to the 6th, and 13 to the 7th century. A few
which are undated are certainly before the age
of Constantine {Manuel, p. 124).
The same learned author has likewise more
recently, in 1869, written a Manuel d'Epigrapltie
Chre'tienne d'apres les inarhres de la Gaule, ac-
compagne' d'une bibliograpfiie speciale, i.e., a
catalogue of books relating to Christian epi-
graphy generally, Paris, sm. 8vo. pp. 267. Al-
though this valuable" work refers more especially
to Gaulish inscriptions, there is a great deal about
others also ; in particular his enumeration of
formulae (Greek and Latin) which occur in dif-
ferent parts of the Christian world, in Europe,
Asia and Africa, where different provinces have
their own styles of epigraphy, is peculiarly in-
structive (pp. 76-81), and a translation will be
found below. The Christian inscriptions of Spain
have very rec^xitly been edited by one of the
most eminent living epigraphists, Prof. E. HUbner,
of Berlin. His Inscriptiones Hispaniae Chris-
tianae was published at Berlin in 1871, and in-
cludes 209 inscriptions, besides 89 others of the
medieval period comprised in the appendix. Of
the earlier ones two or three only can be referred
to the 4th century ; the others are of the 5th,
6th, 7th and 8th centuries; about half of them
are dated, the earliest being of the year 465, and
the latest being 782. Nearly all are in Latin ; a
very itw only in Greek. A splendid publication
commenced in 1870, entitled Christian Inscrip-
tions in the Irish Language, chiefly collected and
drawn by G. Petrie, LL.D., edited by M. Stokes,
Dublin, printed at the University, 4to. Four
parts have now (1874) been published. Those of
Clonmacnois (above 100 in number) range from
valuable information for inscriptions among other anti-
quities. Other works of his (some unknown to the
writer) on this subject are enumerated by Le Blant in his
Bibliographie at the end of his Manuel d' Epigraphie.
m Both this and Hiibiier's work (see below) give details
for each inscription in the same exact and comprehensive
manner as De Rossi, and are accompanied by numerous
plates. M. Le Blant has subsequently obtained additional
inscriptions from various parts of France and Switzerland,
which will one day, he hopes, form a rich supplement to
his former work (Manuel p. 1).
" It Is notwithstanding to be regretted that so useful
a book was not put together with a little more fulness and
precision : it is divided into nineteen chapters, but nothing
is said either at the beginning of the work or at the head
of each respecting the contents of the chapters; the list
of books placed at the end of the volume scarcely satisfies
the requirements of the bibliographer, as it almost inva-
riably omits the Christian name or initials of the authors
mentioned, and the number of volumes In each work. At
the same time it will be found very helpful without
being by any means complete, particularly as regards
English books.
INSCRIPTIONS
the 7th to the 12th century in a regular series;
and by their help it is hoped that a key to the
approximate date of such works in other parts
of the country as well as in other parts of
the British Islands may be obtained. They
occupy the first part of the work. All the above
works are beautifully illustrated with figures.
There are also other recent books which deal
with the Christian inscriptions of particular re-
gions. Among them are to be named C. Gazzera,
Delle isorizioni cristkme antiche del Pieinonte dis-
corso, Torino, 1850, 4to. (also in Mem. Accad.
di Torino, 1851); J. B. De Rossi, De Christianis
iitulis Ciirthaginiensibus (in Pitra's Spicil. Sotesm.
vol. 4); and (along with the Pagan insci'iptions)
L. Renier, Inscriptions Bomaines de I'Algerie,
Paris, 1858, fol.
The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinai-um, whose
publication is still going forward at Berlin,
includes, with specified exceptions, all Latin
inscriptions, both Pagan and Christian, which
can be placed with certainty or reasonable pro-
bability before 600 A.D. (see pref. to vols. ii.
and iii.). The Christian inscriptions are dis-
tinguished in the indices by a dagger prefixed."
A great number of Welsh inscriptions, the
earliest being probably about the 7th century,
will be found in the numerous volumes of the
Archaeologia Cambreiisis, 1846, sqq. 8vo., mostly
described by the well-known palaeographer
Prof. Westwood. But a conspectus of the whole
of the early Christian inscriptions of Great Britain
and Ireland P will, it is to be hoped, in process
of time be included in Messrs. A. W. Haddan and
W. Stubbs' Councils and Ecclesiastical Docu-
ments relating to Great Britain, of which the
first volume appeared at Oxfoi-d in 1869, 8vo.,
part of the second in 1871, and the third in
1873. The very scanty inscribed Christian re-
mains of the Roman period will be found at
vol. i. pp. 39, 40 ;i vol. ii. p. sxii. (Addenda)
INSCRIPTIONS
845
o It is astonishing how small a numljer of Latin
Christian inscriptions (or, at any rate inscriptions known
to 1)6 Christian) occur in some countries. In vol. iii.
edited by Mommsen, which includes Egj'pt, Asia, Illy,
ricum, and the provinces of European Greece, there are
only about thirty inscriptions which can be counted upon
as Christian out of 6574. Of these several were found toge-
ther at a place in Dalmatia.
p The boolvs where the inscriptions are described and
figured are fully detailed under each inscription in the
same complete manner as in De Rossi's, Le Blant's, and
Hiibner's worlcs already mentioned. It is hardly neces-
sary therefore to say much of any of them here ; many
of tbem are periodicals, others are monographs on parti-
cular classes of monuments, particularly Stuart's Sculp-
tured Stones of Scotland (printed for the Spalding Club,
Edinb. 1856-1867,2 vols, fol.) ; G.Stephen's Old yorthern
Runic Monuments (London and Copenhagen, 2 vols. fol.
1866-186S); Munch's edition of the Chron. ilanniae
(Cbri.-^tian. ISGO). A great number also of topographical
and archaeological works by I^ysotis, Hodgson, Nichols,
C. Roach Smith, Horsley, Borlase, &c. are brought under
contribution.
q The Lincoln inscription is considered by HUbner
(^Inscr. Brit. IM. ii. 191) to be of the 16th century. If
so. perhaps the only Roman Christian inscription which
deserves the name must be struck off. The chrisma,
however, has been found on six or seven monuments of
different kinds (without counting coins), once with the
a and u (Haddan and Stubbs, u. s.). The chrisma occurs
also on a lamp in the Newcastle museum, published by
Hiibuer («. s. p. 240, n. 27), who likewise gives two rings
with the Christian acclamation. " Vivas in ni:i)," foiiiid
and p. 51. To these will perhaps be added a
Roman inscrii)tion found at Sea-mills, near
Bristol, in 1873, seen by the writer, but whether
it be Christian or no "adhuc sub judice lis est."'
The sepulchral Christian inscriptions in Celtic
Britain, A.D. 450-700, mostly in Latin, but one
or two in Welsh, vol. i. pp. 162-169; some few
of the Latin inscriptions being accompanied by
Ogham characters. The same class of inscrip'-
tions in Wales, A.D. 700-1100, vol. i. pp. G25-
633 (Latin); the inscriptions of Scottish and
English Cumbria (A.D. 450-900, vol. ii. pp. 51-
56), some Latin, some (at Ruth well near Dum-
fries, and at Bewcastle in Cumberland) Runic.
The inscribed monuments (very few) in the
Pictish and Scottish kingdoms (ad. 400-900),
partly Latin, partly in Runes and Oghams, are
in vol. ii. pp. 125-132 ; those of the Isle of Man,
nearly all Runes, of Norwegian origin (one may
be Gaelic), and inscribed on crosses, whose date is
not given, will be found in vol. ii. pp. 185-187.
There still remain to follow the Saxon inscrip-
tions of the period of the Heptarchy and the
Monarchy."
A work has yet to be mentioned, which is
perhaps of greater importance to the student
of Christian epigraphy than any which has
been already named, De Rossi's only excepted ;
viz., the Christian inscriptions, which are con-
tained in Bockh's Corjjns Inscriptionum Grae-
carum (vol. iv. fasc. 2, Berlin, 1859, fol., plates).
They are collected and edited by Prof. A. Kirchoff,
the same great epigraphist who has just been
occupied upon the Corpus Inscriptionum Attica-
rum. The Christian inscriptions begin at No.
8606 and terminate at No. 9893, besides a few in
the Addenda ; thus making a total of nearly 1300
inscriptions of all ages and in almost all parts
of the Roman world, down to the fall of the
in England (pp. 234, 235), as well as other rings which
seem to be Christian. The Romano-Christian remains
in Britain are so extremely rare that it seems to be
worth while to make these slight additions to what will
be found in Messrs. Haddan and Stubbs' work. Mr.
Wright's statement (CeW, Roman and Saxon, p. 29S)
that " not a trace of Christianity is found among the innu-
niprable religious and sepulchral monuments of the
Roman period found in Britain," cannot hs i=.ifely contra-
dicted. The Westminster and Bristol monuments nwy
possibly be exceptions. So much can hardly be said of
one or two others which have been suspected to be
Christian. See Dr. M'Caul's remarks on the Chesterholm
stone in the Canadian Journal for 1874.
r See Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. Nov. 1873, pp. 68-71 ;
Archaeolog. Journ. 1874, pp. 41-46 (with figure).
s Until these appear, it may be uselul to indicate some
of the principal sources of information. In addition to
the books already referred to, among which Professor G.
■Stephen's Runic Monuments is the principal, Pepge's
Sylloge and Camden's Britannia, with tlie additions of
Gibson and Gough, may be consulted. Among the
periodicals, the I'orJcshire Archaeological and Topogra-
phical Journal and the I'roceedings of the West Riding
of Yorkshire Geolog. and Polytechnic Society are more
especially to be mentioned, where the Runic and other
early inscriptions of Yorkshire are described by tlie Rev.
D. Haigb and the Rev. J. Fowler. Professor Hflbner
informs the writer that he hopes his Inscriptiones Rri-
tanniiae Christianae will appear In the course of 1875,
which will be analogous in all respects to the hiscr.
Ilisp. Christ. It includes all Latin inscriptions down to
about 800 I'.c. " As there are in Wales some few In
Oghams only, while the rest is in part bilingual, I do
not," ho says, "exclude tho.sc few merely Celtic ones."
846
INSCRIPTIONS
Byzantine empire. To these are to be added
about sixty already included in the earlier parts
of the boolc, which are evidently of Christian
times (" quos Christianae esse aetatis apparet ").
They are divided into three classes, (1) Tituli
operum publicorum et votivi, the first division
of which is arranged chronologically, the second
comprising those whose age is uncertain. Of
the former division there are 175, but none is
earlier than the 4th centurj', a copy of a letter
of St. Athanasius, the only authority for the
Greek text, being perhaps the earliest of all ;
there are only six or seven others which can be
referred to the 4th century. The fifty-eight
which follow these comprise all which are of the
fifth and following centuries, several of them
being in verse, to the death of Charlemagne, of
which number about twelve belong to the age of
Justinian (a.D. 527-565). The most important
of these perhaps is a copy of the paschal canon
of St. Hippolytus, which appears to have been
engraved in the reign of Theodosius ; most of the
othei's are inscriptions on various kinds of build-
ings, such as churches, monasteries, hospitals,
towers, and there are two or three which are in-
vocations of the Virgin and the saints, or prayers
fur the welfare of the persons mentioned.
(2) The second class comprises 156 inscrip-
tions on mosaics, fictile and other vessels, glass,
lamps, triptychs or other wooden tablets, " et
vai-i;:c Mijicl li :tilis sacrae et profanae, ponderum,
si'4ill(a'm!i,.iiiiiiletorum,gemmarum "(Nos. 8953-
yi09!. About seventy of these are on seals
(nearly all lead); a few are as early as the 7th
and 8th centuries. Some of those however on
gems and glass are much earlier, and some
notice has been taken of these in the articles on
those subjects in this Dictionary.
(3) The remaining class contains no less than
783 inscriptions, all se])ulchral, and these are
arranged by the regions in which they are found.
Those which bear dates are comparatively very
few. (a) Egvpt, Nubia, and the rest of Africa
(Nos. 9110-9137); (6) Syria (Nos. 9138-9154);
(c) Asia Minor (Nos. 9i55-9287); (c?) Greece
and lUvricum (Nos. 9288-9449, of which 114 are
from Athens); (e) Sicily and Malta (Nos. 9450-
9540) ; (/) Italv and Sardinia (Nos. 9541-9885) ;
(j/) Gaul and Germany (Nos. 9886-9893).
Various other Greek Christian inscriptions
have been since published ; in particular, it may
be observed that a few have been found in S])ain
and Algeria, countries from which Kirchoff has
not given a single example (Hiibner, m. s. p. v.
praef. ; Renier, u. s. pp. 255, 349).
From what has now been said, it must be appa-
rent how utterly hopeless and impossible it is to
give within the limits of an article in a dic-
tionary a satisfactory account of this immensely
numerous class of Christian antiquities. The
most important aid which such an article can
render must be to indicate the principal sources
of information ; and these, if De Rossi's labours
are carried out, will be very largely increased
in tlie course of a few years.
A little woi'k however has been published
at Toronto in 1869 by the Rev. John M'Caul,
LL.D., in which a judicious selection of a hundred
"Christian epitaphs of the first six centuries"
(Greek and Latin from various parts of the
world, especially from Rome) has been brought
together and ably commented upon. They occupy
INSCRIPTIONS
sixty-eight pages, and an introduction relating i
to the language, names, and dates employed fill
up twenty-eight more. Besides these we have
a brief ))reface pointing out the necessity of
caution in using uncritical books, like those of '
Aringhi and Boldetti, and giving amusing ex- j
amples of forgeries of Christian inscriptions, ''
which have deceived .some learned writers even 1
of the present century. To those who cannot I
give any great amount of attention to the sub-
ject, this little work may be heartily recom- I
mended, as it bears every mark of conscientious j
care and of strict honesty. J
(ii.) Technical Execution and Materials em- " ,
ployed. — The modes of writing employed^ have i
much the same variations as in all ages : the
letters are most commonly engraved with a chisel
below the surface of the stone, and then occasion- ;
ally coloured (red) or gilded; sometimes the letters
are scratched with the point of some instrument, i
a nail or the like (fig. 1); on some gems the
letters are in relief (camei). More rarely the
letters are drawn in paint (vermilion) (fig. 2)
or in gold upon the flat surface of the marble,
or cut in gold leaf (upon glass), or written in
ink upon sepulchral tablets or vases, or in white
l»titlcrr£rP£KluCAOKT"J TOIu)-,
2. Letters (Latin words in Greek characters) painted in vermilion on I
the flat (not inciseJ) surface of the marble ; they are of mixed
forms, tmcial and minuscule. Leaves and points introduced ,
capriciously, ad. 26a. (Home. The faraotis epitapli of St.
colour on frescoes, &c. In the catacombs the \
inscriptions were occasionally, by reason of the
unhappiuess of the times, smeared in charcoal,
in hope that when persecution had passed away, ;
they might be recorded in a more permanent
l.VSgM.TVAM-BV3Ki®«
■PA=J
5SVJ.iT.m£^wi°
«AM€3hf^^^^
3. Words dividea rjiifonnly by points. 7th century. (Ely.)
form. Sometimes also old tombstones of tne
pagans were used over again, and the Christian
inscriptions were written on their backs, or on
their obliterated faces (fig. 5). Points are also
frequently found, .sometimes to distinguish words
(fig. 3), sometimes scattered capriciously (figs.
INSCRIPTIONS
2, 4) ; likewise a variety of other marks, par-
ticularly cordate leaves, common to pagan and
INSCRIPTIONS
S47
^IMILMKlA-H-KAly
KMU/NYMOI/EZH_
XEU-n TH-lA-HMEPAi;'Kr
EreAEnHSEJJ nt'IPKAArNOBeHBP JAY&II%I
Christian inscriptions (figs. 2, 5, 6). Some of
the above remarks are illustrated by the inscri|i-
tions figured above and below, to be more fully
described under Tomb. The reader may see
more on this subject in Martigny's Diet. s. v.
Inscriptions, §§ II., III. ; but it can only be
studied to advantage by examining the plates
in such works as De Rossi's Homi Sotterranea
:,,-Ea. <i HERACLIV5
I WIIVIT IN 5 ArCN/LVM
-AKXvllItA^' «ViI-^-XX ^-^
-m^^^SiC^ KCS-VN !> 51BI ^
iT^iTfflO-SVO-BIMEM.mNrMNP o
DECESlTA'THRysrtBW
5. Inscription written on a scraped portion of a parcophagu'^ pre-
viously used. Brandies, leaves, ami various small marks
introduced between some of the words, a.d. 3S8. (Rome.)
(coloured plates) and Inscr. Urh. Rom., and the
other books named above in which the letters
and accessories are figured. The same remark
must be made of the palaeography. The letters
have the same varieties of form, such as uncial,
minuscule, rustic, and ligated, which are com-
mon to MSS. and monuments of all kinds, and
BETROIJl/lEDISNAE COIV9I QVEVKIT ANKIS
XXLET iECITCVM CONFAEE SVOiAXD V
KAI^'NOB>'P0£ COMSS SRATIAt.T TERETE^VlIf
VBSVS MAPTTVS 3IBI ETINHOCENTI CO
i^MEAKr £2CIT CESQVET IN PACE
6. Marks of different kinds before and after one word only : stroke^
drawn tbrougli two letters to indicate that they htand for words
(m€JM«« and diGi). Regular uncial letters, a.d. 375. (Rome.)
their e.vecution varies from extreme neatness
(figs. 6, 10) and even beauty to e.xtreme ugli-
ness and carelessness (/iYferae rusticae) (figs. 1, 8).
Of the former sort the characters employed by
pope Damasus in the 4th century are the most
remarkable, their apices being ornamented with
little hooks (fig. 7). They are called after him
Damasine letters ; but Philocalus was his artist,
or one of his artists. Thev arc sometimes en-
graved, sometimes painted on the marble. There
are also many Christian inscriptions as well as
others which are not Christian, where letters are
connected by ligatures (litterae ligatae) ; some-
times to that degree that it is no easy matter to
,iHMiiBffllW
decypher them (fig. 9). For some observations
on the fo]-m of letters in certain Christian inscrip-
tions see Le Blant, Manuel, pp. 41, 42; Hubner,
p. l;
p. 116; De Rossi, Bnll. Arch. Crist. 18G3,
(iii.) Symbols. — Of the symbols which are fouml
with some Christian inscri])tions, the principal
are the following : the fish, the anchor, tlie dove,
the Good Shepherd, the clirisma. the o and w, and
the cross in various forms. Those will be found
described under their respective heails (also
noticed under Gems and Mosaics), and they
may bo regarded as either exclusiv<'ly or jirin-
848
INSCRIPTIONS
INSCRIPTIONS
of two hexameters each. A cross at the
beginning and end of the first line.
irlfTTiv ix^^ ^a<Ti\{t)iav ifxwv jueVecoj' ffvv(f>iQov
(Toi, fiaKap v^Lfx.(Sov, rdvS' hphv (KTicra vr]6v,
'lL\\-/ivuiv T(jxivr) Kal ^iiifJ.ovs e|aAaira^ay,
X^i-phs air' ovTiSayris 'lo^tavhs eSvhv &vaKTi,
Render : / constructed with unworthy hand, &c.
This is the earliest Greek inscription relating
to the imperial destruction of pagan temples,
the date of Jovian's act being about A.D. 363.
3. Le Blant, Tnscr. Chre't. de la Gaule, i. 406, ,
n. 369. Preserved in the Hotel de Ville at
Sion in Switzerland.
DEVOTIOSE . VIGENS • vPv'
A VG VST AS . PONTIVS . AEDIS OTf^
RESriTVIT . PRAETOR • '^1
LON(}E . PRAESTANTIVS • ILLIS .
QVAE . PRISCAE . STETERAXT .
TALIS . RESPVBLICA . QVERE .
DN • GRATIANO AVG . IIII ET MER . COS-
PONTIVS ASCLEPIODOTVS VPPDD.
The date of this consulship of Gratian with
Merobaudas is A.D. 377, the earliest date of any
public monument j'et known, bearing the chrisma.
The next earliest is A.D. 390, on a column of
St. Paul's basilica, extra muros, Rome. It is won-
derful that the former church should be spoken
of as old so early as A.D. 377 ; it can hardly be
doubted that it was a Christian or a Christianised
building. Le Blant's observation that this
church-restoration is precisely contemporaneous
with the greatest abundance of Mithraic monu-
ments and those of Cybele is worthy to be
noted. The abbreviations at the end are probably
for vir praepositus praetorio dcdicavit. Tales, i. e.
men like Asclepiodotus. De Rossi, however (Bidl.
di Arch. Crist. 1867, p. 25), who evidently con-
siders Asclejiiodotus to be the author of the
verses, refers tales to aedes (" che li dedico alia
republica "). He takes the building to be " il
palazzo dei presidi imperiali," the chrisma and
devotio notwithstanding.
4. Rasponi, De Basil, et patriarch. Lateran. iii. 7,
Rom. 1656. On the bronze-silvered gates
of the Baptistery of the Lateran, Rome.
IN HONOREM S. lOANNIS BAPTISTAE
HILARVS El'ISCOPVS DEI KAMVLVS OFFERT.
Hilarius was pope from A.D. 462 to 467 ; and
the inscription has the appearance of being con-
temporary. The ancient baptisteries were com-
monly placed under the patronage of St. John
the Baptist ; and both they and the fonts
which they contained were frequently inscribed.
Ciampini gives both kinds of inscriptions from
the Baptistery of the Lateran, which are said to
have been there in the 5th century: but this
edifice has been often remodelled. (See Ciamp.
de Sacr. Edif. c. iii.. Mart. Diet., p. 321 ; Hiibsch,
Arch. Chre't. p. 5, Guerber's French transl. 1866.)
For this class of inscriptions generally see the
posthumous papers of Marini published by Mai,
Script. Vet. Nov. Collect, t. v., pp. 167-177. .
laser. Christ. Hisp. No. 135. Found in a wall of the Benedictine convent of
S. Salvador de Vairao, near Braga in Portugal, on seven stones.
IN IfE DNl PERF I EOTVM I EST TEMPLVM H 1 VNC PER M I AEJSPALLA j W) VOTA I
SVB DIE XIII K I AP ER I DXXIII • REG | NANTE SERE | NISSIMO VE | REMVNDV RK | X.
In niomin^r d{omi)tn perfectum est temphim hunc per Marispalla d{e)o voia
Sub die XII I k{alendas) Apiriles) er(a) DXXIII regnante serenissivM Veremundu Rex,
Spanish Era 523; a.d. 485.
cipally Christian symbols. The palm which is
also found, and that very commonly, is, like the
phoenix, Christianised ; but it occurs also on
pagan and Jewish inscriptions. It must be
sufficient to refer to a table indicating the
symbols on the early Roman and Gaulish sepul-
chral inscriptions (by far the most complete
series), and the observed dates of their intro-
duction and disappearance, given by M. Le Blant
{Manitel, p. 29). For symbols genei-ally see
Raoul Rochette, Tableau des C dacombes de Borne,
pp. 229 sqq., Paris, 1853, and the authors named
at the beginning and end of the book.
(iv.) Select Inscriptions. — These consist of such
examples, arranged chronologically, in prose and
verse, as are connected with churches or their
furniture or adjuncts, and they have mostly
some further interest of their own. No uniform
system of printing has been followed. Sometimes
the mere transcript of the letters seems to be
sufficient ; sometimes the words have been written
out (corrected and at length) below these ; some-
times a translation has been added ; also such
notes as seemed desirable.
1. De Rossi, Bulletino di Arch. Crist. 1864, p. 28 ;
Re'nier, Inscr. Rom. de VAlg. n. 4025.
From Caesarea in Mauretania ; written by
a poet named Asterius (ex ingenio Asteri) to
commemorate the gift of a burial-ground to
the Christians by Evelpius.
AREAM AT (ad) SEPVLCRA CVLTOR VERBI
CONTVLIT
ET CELLAM STRVXIT SVIS CVNCTIS SVMP-
TIBVS
ECLESIAE SANCTAE HAXC RELIQVIT MEMO-
RIAM
SALVETE FRATRES PVRO CORDE ET SIMPLICI
EVEI.PIVS VOS (salutat) SATOS SANCTO Sl'IRlTV
ECLESIA FRATRVVM (sic) HVNC RESTITVIT
TITVLVM. M. A. I. SEVERIANI C. V.
EX ING. ASTERI.
A wreath enclosing ACl is on the left ; a dove
and palm on the right.
M. Renier reads the end of the last line but
one titidum marmorcuin anno primo Severiani,
viri clarissimi. If this be right, as seems very
probable (though De Rossi feels some doubts,
Frol. Jnscr. Urb. Bom. p. xi.), the mode of
dating is A-ery unusual. Other Mauretanian iu-
scriptions are dated by the era of the province,
i.e. 40 A.D. when it was reduced by the Romans
(M'Caul, Christ. Epit. p. 37).
The words ecclesia fratnim indicate the re-
storation of the inscription to be " assai antico "
(De Rossi) ; the original was probably broken
during the tumults against the Christians, A.D.
258-304, as De Rossi thinks; and the restored
marble tablet would seem to have been put up
in the first year of Severianus, probably the
Roman governor of Mauretania. One of the
earliest Christian inscriptions, not being an epi-
taph, which have come down to us in any form.
2. Bockh, C. J. G. 8608. Corcyra (Corfu) in
the porch of a church, written in two lines
5. Hiibner
INSCRIPTIONS
Diction barbarous, as frequently in these
Spanish inscriptions. The chui-ch seems to have
been completed under the auspices of a nun,
named Marispalla : probably the text really is
per Marispallam Deo votam, the last letters
having a stroke above them, which may have
been obliterated or accidentally omitted. The
inscription is interesting as being doubly dated,
both by the Spanish era and by the reign of the
Visigothic king. The Spanish era, whose origin
is uncertain, but which appears to commence
B.C. 38 (see Hiibner, praef. p. vi.), is the era
most commonly used to mark the time of the
Spanish Christian inscriptions : about 100 of
them are thus dated (Hubner, p. 109), the
earliest appears to be a.d. 466, and the latest
A.D. 762. Both the proper names in the in-
scription are Gothic (see Hubner, praef. p. vii.,
who gives several others) ; the remark of M'Caul
(u. s., p. xxi.) that Gothic names are " very
rarely " found in inscriptions does not apply
to Spain.
6. Le Slant, Inscr. Chr^t. cle la Grade, i. 87,
n. 42. Found at Lyons, formerly on the
exterior of the church of St. Romanus, where
Spon saw it in the 17th century ; now lost.
TEMPLI FACTORES FVERANT FEEDALD\^S
ET VXOR MARTVRIS EGREGII QD
CONSl'AT HONORE ROMANI ILLIVS VT
PC BEQVEATVR (sic) SEDE PE . . ENNE.
Date, as Spon believed, of the 5th or 6th cen-
tury. He thus restores and rectifies the lines —
Templi f adores fuerant Fredaldus et uxor,
Martyris egregii quod constat honore Knmani
niius ut precibus recreentur sede perenni.
The motive of the founders is here sufficiently
cleai-ly expressed, that they may enjoy eternal
rest through the prayers of the saint. They do
not, however, actually invoke him.
7. Bockh, C. I. G., n. 8640. On a stone found in
the Peloponnese by S. Alberghatti ; origin-
ally (see 1. 7) erected at Corinth ; now in
the museum at Verona.
+ Ar. MAFIA 0EOTOKE *TAAEON
THN BACIAEIAN TOT
*IAOXICTOT lOTCTINIANOT
KAI TON rNHSIcoC
AOTAETONTA ATTct
BIKTojPHNON -f- CTNTOIC
OIKOTCIN EN KOPIN0" K. 0Ea)N +
Za>NTAC-}-
'A^i'a Mapia 6€ot6k€, (pvXa^ov ttji/ ^affiXeiav
TOv <(>t\ox[,p]i-(TTov 'lovariviavov /cat rhu yvii-
aiois dov\evovTa avT<^ 'BiKTOprivov ffvv rols
oIkovctiv iy KopivOcv K(aTa) 6^hv ^aivTas.
Roll/ Mary, God-bearer (Deipara), guard the Jcing.'lom
of the Christ-loving Justinian and his faithful sercant
Victorinus with them that live godly in Corinth.
Sixth century, between a.d. 527 and 565.
Other and even stronger invocations of saints
occur about this time. In one, too long to quote
at leijgth, Demetrius is invoked by Justinian to
aid him against his enemies, in the capacity of
a mediator with God {S> fjLeya\oiJ.dpTvs Arjuri-
Tpi€ fjieaiTevaov irphs dehv 'iva, K.r.K. n. 8642).
Another inscription, mutilated, fromThera (San-
torin), of uncertain date, not later than the 4th
or 5th century at latest according to Ross,
begins — 0716 Ka\ <po^(pe Mixa'.iA apxayytAe,
CHRIST. ANT.
INSCKIPTIONS
849
^OTjOet T^ SovKcfi (TOV 'npl/xefi (n. 8911). Votive
tablets were also erected to saints ; one from
the cemetery of Cyriace in Rome runs thus :
Petrus et Pancara botum posuent (sic) marture
Felicitati. (Marini, u. s., p. 15.) In another,
found near the baths of Diocletian, Camasius
and Victorius pay their vows (votuni reddunt)
Domnis Sanctis Papro et Mauroleoni tnarturibus
(Id. p. 14).
The expression, /x^Tijp Qfov (Mother of God),
the usual title of the Virgin on the early medi-
eval camei (see Gems) had not yet come into
common use in the Greek church, as appears
from Ephraim, patriarch of Antioch, a contem-
porary of Justinian. See Pearson On the Creed,
Art. III.
8. Sec. Toy. de deux Benedict, p. 234 (quoted by
Martigny, Diet. p. 321). On a silver cha'-
lice given by Remigius, archbishop of
Rheims (died a.d. 533) to his cathedra!
church.
HAVRIAT HINC POPVLVS VITAM L>E SAX-
GVINE SACRO
INIECTO AETERNVS QVEM FVDIT VVr.NEKE
CHRISTVS
REMIGIVS REDDIT DOMINO SVA VOTA SA-
CERDOS.
This is considered by Martigny to be in all
appearance the " ministerial " (sacramental)
chalice given* by St. Remigius himself to the
church of Kheims ; see also Archaeol. Journ.
1846, p. 134. The magnificent chalice of gold
which goes by the name of Remigius, formerly
at Rheims, now in the Paris Library, is of the
12th century (Arch. Journ. u. s.). For other
inscriptions on chalices, see Marini, u. s. p. 197.
9. Le Blant, Inscr. Chret. do la Guide, ii. 348,
n. 574. Engraved on the four scalloped
edges of a square marble altar slab formerly
in the ancient cathedral of Rodez.
DEVSDEDIT E^S INDISNVS FIERI IVSSIT HANC
ARAM.
Deusdedit is supposed to have been bishop of
Rodez about the end of the 6th century : the in-
scription is doubtless a contemporary composition,
but the letters and the sign of contraction .j\. are
suspected of having been restored.
The name Deusdedit occurs also on a gem (see
Gems) ; the form Deusdet is likewise found more
than once in inscriptions (Le Blant, M.S. p. 433);
for similar instances, see iVames below. For the
altars of Christian churches ara (though as old
as Tertullian) is less commonly used than altare,
especially in prose. For other inscriptions on
altars see Marini (11. s. pp. 74-80). This and the
altar at Ham of the 7th century are among the
earliest that are inscribed (Le Blant, n. 91).
10. Camden, Britait. § " Brigantes," ed. 1600 :
" Accepimus crucem hie (at Devvsbury, York-
shire) exstitisse, in qua inscriptum fuit :
PAVIJNVS HlC PRAEDICAVIT ET CELE-
BKAVIT."
Paulinus was bishop of York, A.n. 625-664.
The inscription upon it is among the earliest
that we have in England, which are not sepul-
chral. Fragments of the ancient cross itself,
probably broken at the Reformation, which
Leland," in his ftinerarij, mentions liaviug seen,
bearing the al)0vc iiiscri|)ti(in (toiiip. Heiir. \'lll.).
3 I
850
INSCRIPTIONS
have been built up against the church there.
The miracles of Cana and the multiplication
of five loaves and two fishes were represented
thereon, and a few Latin words of the Gospels in
Runesque characters can still be read. (Figured
and described by the Rev. J. T. Fowler, in a
recent number of the Yorkshire Archaeol. and
Top. Journal.)
The most remarkable cross of the same kind
as the present is that at Ruthwell, near Dum-
fries (then part of Northumbria), with Scrip-
tural and other scenes, and Latin legends from
the Gospels, &c. ; also having extracts from a
poem by Coedman, entitled A Dream of the Holy
Rood, written in Runes, near the edges. It is
between seventeen and eighteen feet high, and
appears to be of the 8th century. For a full
account of it see Stephens, Runio Mon., vol. ii.,
pp. 405-448, with figure.
11. Copy of the dedication stone of Jarrow chapel,
Durham, made in 1863 by the Rev. J. T.
Fowler. Marini, M. s. p. 163 ; Camden,
Brit. 956 (Gibs). Pegge, Sylloge, p. 15,
pi. 1 (in Nich. Bibl. Top. Brit. vol. vi.).
It is now over the nave-arch of the church,
" and may be original " (Fowler, in litt.). The
forms of the letters 0 and C, and their incon-
stancy, quite favour this supposition.
^ n DEDICATIO BASILICAS
y^ SCI PAVLI VIII KL MAI
^*^ ANNO XV EGFRIDl REG
CEOLFRIDI ABB EIVSDEM
Q. ECCLES 1)0 AVCTORE
CONDITORIS ANNO IIIL
The date is a.d. 68ri, determined by the reign
of Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria. One of the
very few early English inscriptions which bear
a date.
The basilica or chapel of the monastery has
been converted into the parish church, some
remaining parts of which " are generally sup-
posed to be of ante-Norman date " (G. G. Scott's
Report). For the history, see Flor. Wigorn.
s. a. 682. Benedict Biscop should rather be
called the founder than Ceolfrith, whom he ap-
pointed as the first abbot.
The above scanty selection must suffice for this
place. More is to be sought in other articles
under Ampulla, Gems, Glass, Lamps, Money,
Mosaics, Seals, and Tombs.
(v.) Language and Style of the Christian
Inscriptions.
A. Orthography, Inflections, and choice of
Wor&.— While some of the Christian inscriptions
are composed with correctness and even with ele-
gance both in prose and verse, there are others
which are written barbarously as respects the
letters, the forms of words, the declensions, the
genders, the conjugations, the syntax, and the
prosody.
It would scarcely fall within the province of
this article to enter into the grammar or rather
non-grammar of the language of the latter sort.
It partakes of the barbarisms with which various
non-Christian inscriptions are more or less dis-
figured,' and which have even found their way
« Martigny (Diet. p. 309) calls them "communs au.x
inscriptions chretiennes et aux romaines," referring to
Hub. Goltzius (Tlies. liei. Ant. $23) and R. Fabretti
{Inscr. Lat. expl.) for further infovmalion. The indices
INSCRIPTIONS
into literature in their most aggravated shapes,
if the Formularies of the monk Marculfus (circa
660 a.d.) can be called literature. In the Greek
Christian inscriptions the frequent and various
changes of vowels and diphthongs are the most
noticeable particularity. Thus Keirai is written
KiT€, or KiTTi, or KTjTT), 'Hfja/cAeios becomes Hpa-
k\7]os or Hpa/cAios, Koiij.7)r7)piov is changed into
Kv/j.erepLOi', TeAfiQideh becomes nXiodets, iraivis
written eroc, vikS. is simply viKa, and the i ad-
script of the dative is generally omitted. The
change of consonants, as Ko\(pos for koKttos,
rav/xacTLa for 6avfA.a.<TLa, yX-qyopn for ypr^yopet,
Koipid} for x<^P'V) J* more rare. There is also an
occasional tendency to abbreviate words, so as to
substitute fivnO-nri for fivqad-nTi, SiaKoov for Sia-
Kovos, &c., or to enlarge them, as koAXittis or
KoXTro(nior K6XTrois. Sometimes Coptic influence
is discernible ; sometimes uncouth late forms as
fji.eyaX6TaTos, make their appearance (Bockh,
passim).
In the Latin the changes are mach more
remarkable." From the selection of inscriptions
(including the notes) given above and under
Tomb, also under Gems and Glass, and from a
few others we obtain such changes as Agustas for
Augustas, eclesia or aeclesia for ecclesia, quere for
quaere, que for quae, hec for haec, hixit or vixsit
or ticxit or visit or bissit or visse for vixit,
posuete, posuent for posuit, posuerunt, hohis for
vohis, botiim for votum, vibi for viii, staviles for
stabilis, provata for probata, omnebas for omnibus,
quesquas, qesquet, and reqviscit, for quiescas,
quiescit, requiescit, spectit for spectat (expectat),
jacit for jacet, annus for annos, hue for hoc, epyta-
fium for epitaphium, marturibus for martyribus,
ozza for ossa, ed for et, es for ex, iyn pace for
in pace, anatema for anathema, chanones for
canones, tinta for tincta, pelem for pellem, meses or
misis for menses, zaconus for diaconus, Istephanus
for Stephanus, slinatarius for linatarius, Zestis for
Jesus, Zenuaria for Januaria, Gerosale for Jeru-
salem, and various other words which contain
barbarous substitutions of consonants and vowels
and also of diphthongs. Again, neuter substan-
tives are sometimes treated as masculines, e. g.
hunc templum, and conversely masculines as
neuters, e. g. hoc tumulum. The regimen of the
cases is frequently violated in the use of preposi-
tions (see below), and also in such expressions as
vixit annis (or even annuls or annorum) and the
like. See more in Martigny, Diet. pp. 309-311 ;
and McCaul, u. s. pp. xii. and xiii. ; the latter
of whom observes : " The student should beware
of regarding what may be new to him in Christian
epitaphs, as peculiar to them. Very many of
the variations from classical usage are to be
found in Pagan inscriptions, and some of them
in authors that are not commonly read."
The actual words also vary little from the
Pagan ones ; requiescit, refrigerat, and even depo-
situs^ (about which Cardinal Wiseman in his
at the end of the volumes of the Corp. Inscr. Latin, now
being published at Berlin, under Bes grammatica, will
be found still more useful. They go far to establish the
truth of Martigny's remark.
" M. Le Blant refers to a work by A. Fuchs, Die
Romanischen Sprachen in ihrem Verhaltnisse zum Latein-
ischen, which the writer has not seen.
» It was not after all so very common in the earliest
Christian times. " La formule depositus — depositio cha-
racterise particulierement les inscriptions des qualrleme
INSCRIPTIONS
Fahiola (p. 145) has written so prettily, as im-
plying a ' precious tiling, intrusted to faitliful,
but temporary keeping ') and some otliers whicli
seem Christian in their tone occur sometimes in
Pagan inscriptions (see M'Caul, u. s. pp. xiv.
4, 29 ; Tertull. De Test. Anim. c. 4, commented
on by Fleetwood, Inscr. Ant., Index, p. 6, who
is deceived, however, in thinking that no Chris-
tians of Tertullian's age " refrigerium mortuis
suis comprecatos esse." See De Monag. c. 10).
And conversely some words and expressions which
are not Christian, find their way occasionally
from Pagan into Christian inscriptions, as duinus
aeterna, jjercipere (bapiisma so. said primarily of
the rites of Mithras and Cybele), contra votum,
Bivus (said of emperors deceased) ; and even oc-
casionally D. 31., or in full Bis Manihus, so usual
at the head of Pagan inscriptions (see Tomb, and
McCaul, M. s. p. 54, and his Index, s. v. Pagan
usages). In fact there is a very small residuum
indeed of mere words, i. e. not necessarily involv-
ing peculiar doctrines or religious distinctions^'
which are exclusively Pagan, or exclusively
Christian.' Dr. McCaul remarks that there is
scarcely one of the designations of the place of
burial used in Christian epitaphs, that is pecu-
liar to them, so far as he remembers, although he
has not observed quadrisomus (locus) in any Pagan
epitaph. Likewise he does not remember
seeing sepultus in any Christian inscription
of the first six centuries, and but rarely in
Pagan ones ; but y^t sepukrum occurs in both
not rarely." Again he says praecedo is charac-
INSCRIPTIONS
851
et clnquifeme siecles, bien qu'on en ait quelques exemples
auterieurs." Martlgny, Diet. p. 319. Neither is the word
univeisal, being very rarely found In Gaul.
y Thus the words resurreclio, resurgo, baptidiatiis,
redemptor, perhaps also sanctinionialis, as well as the
combinations dies judicii, puella Dei (a nun), and per-
haps/amuZits Dei, applied in very many epitaphs to the
pious dead, but in a few other inscriptions to tbe living
(see } iv. n. 4) have no place in Pagan inscriptions, nor
casta as applied to a wife (see De Rossi, n. 151). It
might be thought that Deo aelerno magna, and in
aeternum reimtus would equally be absent; yet both
occur, the former in connexion with goddesses (deabus-
que), the latter in relation to the mysteries of Mithras.
(Mai, Seript. Vet. Nov. Coll. vol. v. p. 3 (note); Le Blant,
Insci: Chret. de la Gaule, vol. ii. p. 72). Christian influ-
ence may be suspected in these instances.
« At the same time it is undeniable that depositus
(z=sepultus) and depositio occur in a very large number
of Christian inscriptions, but only in a very small num-
ber of Pagan ones (Orelli, n. 4555, is a clear example) ;
while elatus, the classical expression for being carried
out to burial, is so rare in Christian inscriptions that De
Rossi can find no parallel to his single example (n. 1192).
1 here may perhaps be some few other instances of the
same sort of each kind.
» Since this sentence was penned, the writer has dis-
covered an example of sepultus in an ancient Christian
epitaph of Mauretania (Rdnler, n. 4026). It Is very
possibly as early as the third century, to which several
Pagan inscriptions in that region certainly belong. 'I'here
is a second example in the same region, a.d. 416 (n. 3675),
and a third, a.d. 389 (n. 3710). We have another instance
occurring in an epitaph of Rimini, a.d. 523 (Do Rossi,
Bull. Arch. Crist. 1864, p. 15). The word is found also in
Christian epitaphs of Spain, dated and und.ited, but per-
haps in no case before the seventh century (HObner.p. x.
and the references). We have in fine in a Pcrugian inscrip-
tion of Roman times (Vermigl. Inscr. Ferug. t. ii. p. 442)
IV. qua (basilica sc.) sepelliri non debet. Cardinal Wise-
man therefore is not strictly accurate in saying (Fabiola,
teristically Christian, while absccdo he thinks
occurs only (and that rarely) in Pagan epitaphs
(m. s. pp. xiv. XV. 53). But who does not see
that any new discovery may U])set the supposed
distinction? There are indeed phrases which
appear to have an exclusively Christian meaning,
such as Beo reddere spiritum sanctum, a/md
Bcum acceptus, decessit or cxivit de saeculo, ahso-
lutus de corpore, receptus ad Beum, arcessitus ah
awjelis, and a few others of the same kin<l.''
(Mart. Bid. p. 315 ; M'Caul, u. s. p. xv.). The
expression, in pace, is derived from the Jewish
epitaphs, and passes over, both as an acclamation
and otherwise, to the Christian inscriptions ; its
occurrence is generally considered to be a certain
l)roof that the monument is not pagan. (See,
however, Monev.) " Dictio ilia In Face Chris-
tiana tota est " (Morcelli, Be Stil. Inscr. Lat. ii.
p. 77; and so Martigny Bict.s.v. "In Pace,"
q. v.).
Upon the whole, it will perhaps be thought
enough to give the following extract from the
Edinburgh liemew relative to the Latinity of the
Christian inscriptions, with the addition of a few
notes.
" The reader at once recognises in the Latinity
of these epitaphs [of Italy and Gaul] "= the germ
of that total change in the government of prepo-
sitions, which is one of the great sources of
distinction between the ancient and the modern
languages of Italy. "^ The old distinction of
government between the ablative and the accu-
sative has evidently begun to disappear. ^Many of
the prepositions are used indiscriminately with
both those cases. Thus we read (De Rossi, Ins.
Urb. Horn. p. 82) that Pelegrinus " lived in
peace cum uxorem suam Silvanam ;" and in an-
other place (p. 108), Agrippina erects a monu-
ment to her " sweetest husband, cum quern vixit
sine lesione animi, annos tres et menses decern."
p. 145) "The word to bury is unknown In Christian
inscriptions." It occurs even at Rome, which he had more
particularly in his eye, in an inscription thought to be of
the third century : eTd<j>r} uSe Euo-€'/3i5 (Bockh, n. 9612).
At the same time, for whatever reason, the word appears
to be decidedly rare. But as it seems to be not much
more common in Pagan inscriptions there is no great
force in the cardinal's remark.
b There are also various expressions relating to light,
as lumen clarum, praemia lucis, lux nova, &c. occurring
in Christian epitaphs which contrast remarkably with
the luce caret, jaceo in tenebris, &c. of the Pagans. See
Jlart. Diet. p. 380. But this is a difference of feeling
rather than of language. There are other similar con-
trasts which we can hardly discuss here. See M'Caul
p. xii. ; Edinb. Rev. u. s. p. 242. But some of the earliest
Christian Inscriptions express no feeUng of any sort. See
De Rossi, nos. 3, 6, 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, all of tlic
first three centuries.
c Much the same remarks may be made of the sepul-
chral Inscriptions of Brltiiiu and of Africa. See ToMn.
d And of France. We have this interesting Inscrip-
tion of Berre, J/aria virgo minister de tempuUi (= tempi 1
=du temple) C«ro«a?€(= Jerusalem), Lc Blant, n. 641, A.
The same author points out various other links of con-
nection between the epigrapblcal Lai In and the French
language. Thus qui, which is invariable for both genders
in Frencli, is twice found on the epitaph of a nun, a.i«.
431. (In an inscription of Piedmont qui in like manner
agrees with Maria. Ganorn, Mem. Ace. Tor. u.s. p. 191.)
In the fifth century we have also santa, which prepares
the way for the modern sainte ; from ispiritus (" que I'lm
entend encore aux ofllccB de villages") comes (f},rit
{Manuel, p. 194).
852
INSCRIPTIONS
A third monument is erected pro caritatem (Le
Blant, Inscr. Chre't. Gaul. vol. i. p. 400). In a
fourth, a mother is entreated to pray for the child
she has left behind, *'■ pro hunc vnum ora subolem "
(De Rossi, p. 133). Conversely, we find de sua
omnia (De Rossi, p. 133) and decessit de saeculum
(p. 103). And although an occasional solecism
of this kind might be explained by the rude and
illiterate character of the individual author of
the inscription, the frequency of the occurrence
clearly indicates the settled tendency of the
popular usage of the prepositions towards the
abolition of all distinction in the government of
cases." We may add that the same confusion of
case is found in the inscriptions of the Jewish
catacombs published by Father Garrucci, among
which we read, on the one hand, cum with the
accusative, as cum virginium (p. 50), and cum
Celerinum (p. 52) ; and on the other, inter with
the ablative, as inter dicaeis.
" It is hardly worth while, perhaps, to advert
to such solecisms as pauperorwn for pauperum
(although it is plain from the recurrence of the
same form in other words, as ommorum for
omnium, that the change is not an accidental
error) ; or to the occasional use of forms rare,
but not entirely unexampled, in classical Latin,
as nectus (Le Blant, p. 15) as the participle of
neco, or utere (De Rossi, p. 233) as the ablative
o( liter, a rare form following the third, instead
of the second declension.' But it is impossible
not to discern a foreshadowing of the modern
idiom of Italy in such words as pulla, and still
more Pitzinnina, which is the direct prototype
of the Italian Piccinina. The same may be said
of the orthography, which, in many cases, points
clearly towards the modern pronunciation. The
form santa for sancta already appears; and the
X, as in sesies for sexies, begins to give place to
the modern s. This tendency goes, however,
beyond individual words, and seems to indicate
certain general principles of usage. We do not
mean those broad characteristics which distin-
guish Italians and foreigners generally from
ourselves, in the sounds of the vowels and diph-
thongs of the ancient languages, although in
all these the interchanges of the characters of
the two languages which the inscriptions fre-
quently exhibit, and the characters employed in
each to represent equivalent sounds of the other.
e Martigny {Diet. p. 320) thinks that if an inscription
has cum or de followed by an accusative, it must he
placed in the fourth or fifth century. This seems very
doubtful. We have certainly inter Sanctis in an inscrip-
tion of 268 A.D., and perhaps cum eum in another of
279 A.D. (see De Rossi, pp. 16, 21). Before this cum so-
dales occurs at Pompeii (C. /. L. iv. n. 221).
f Dr. McCaul notes some very singular instances of
inflection, as the datives JViceni. Agapeni, Leopardeti,
Ircneti (also Jreni), Mercuraneti from Nice, Agape, Leo-
parde, Kirene, Mercurane (Mercuriane) ; also ispeti for
spei ; likewise Victoriaes for rictoriae (u. s. p. xiii. and
18, 19). The same forms, as was to be expected, occur in
Pagan inscriptions. Thus we find Glycerd, Slaplyltni,
&c. in Spain (C. /. L. ii. Index, p. 779). We have also
Januariaes for Januariae, at Pompeii (C /. L. iv.n. 2233),
and several similar examples ; and AmpUataes in Spain
(C. /. L. ii. n. 4975, 60). Professor Hubner, in fine, ob-
serves in a few Christian inscriptions of Spain, Juanni,
Pastori,kc. as the genitives of Joannes, Pastor, &c. (p.
xlii.), and conversely we have Saturnis, Mercuris as the
genitives of Saturnus, Mercurim (De Rossi, nos. 172,
475).
INSCRIPTIONS
are quite decisive against the English usage. We
refer rather to certain peculiarities of Italian
pronunciation, which are regarded as defects
even by the Italians themselves, and which
nevertheless find their counterpart here. One of
these is the well-known coda or additional
vowel sound, which Italian speakers often attach
to words ending with a consonant. Of this there
are numberless examples in De Rossi's volume ;
as posuetc for posuit (p. 18). In like manner we
find a type for the vowel sound prefixed to-
words ; as ispiritus for spiritus, iscribit for scrihit
(p. 228) ; and the actual Italian sound of h {ch
or k) between two vowels, which has long been
the subject of ridicule, is fcSund directly expressed
in these inscriptions, in which michi is one of the
forms of mihi.
" It is amusing too, to meet in the Roman
catacombs, or among the Christians of ancient
Ganl, the prototype of the cockney aspirate and
its contrary. Thus we find upon the one hand
(Le Blant, vol. i. p. 2-3), Ifossa (for ossa), Sordine,
/7octobres, i/eterna ; and upon the other oc for
Aoc (Le Blant, p. 93), ic for Aic, /larus, ora,
Onorius, &c." {Edinh. Rev. 1864, pp. 234-5).
The Index Grammaticus added at the end of
Hiibner's Christian Inscriptions of Spain, gives
a rich harvest of similar barbarisms. Nearly all
the vowels are blundered in one way or
other, and no small number of consonants ; with-
out dwelling on them we have the following :
hunc edificium ; in annibus ; post funere ; in
hunc tumulum requicscit ; cum operarios ver-
nolos : offeret (for oflfert ;) besides other less
heinous sins against inflections. For the Saxon
forms which occur in inscriptions in England the
reader is referred to Stephens' Runic Monuments,
and for the Celtic forms in the Irish inscriptions
to Petrie and Stokes' work thereon (see above).
Examples of bilingual inscriptions (Greek
and Latin) and of Latin inscriptions in Greek
characters, also of double rendering of words
into Runic and Roman characters, as well as
Celtic words in Ogham characters, will be
noticed under Tomb.
B. Proper Names used in Christian Inscriptions.
— For the proper names used in Christian in-
scriptions see careful and interesting notices in
De Rossi, /. U. R. Prol. cxii.-cxiv. ; McCaul, u. s.
pp. xix.-xxi. ; Hubner, u. s. pp. vi. vii., and the
references.
The Edinburgh Reviewer has treated this
matter so well for the Latin inscriptions of Italy,
Gaul, and Africa, taking also some slight notice
of the Greek inscriptions, that his words are set
down with little abridgment. The account has
been supplemented by a few words about the
Spanish, British, and Irish names which occur
in the early Christian inscriptions of those
countries.
" The small proportion of patrician families among the
early Christians will hardly sufBce to explain the rapid
disappearance among them of the use of the three names,
which had hitherto been the peculiar privilege of the
aristocratic class. Not a single inscription after Con-
stantlne presents three names ; and of the ante-Constan-
tinian inscriptions, there are but two [rather, is but one]
in which the three names occur * * * * After Constan-
tine, except Flavius, which continued in partial use,
praenomina may be said entirely to disappear. The old
distinctive Gentile name too, quickly followed. The
inscriptions before Coiistantine .ibcnind with Aurelii
INSCRIPTIONS
Comelii, Claudii, Antoni), &c. * * * * Thus, in the
Aurelian age, we find Aurelius or Aurelia repeated seven
times ; and under Constantius and his sons, Constantinus.
Constantius and Constans, have their turn of popularity.
The Gentile name, however, was quickly displaced by
new forms terminating in ntius as Lactantius, Dignantius,
Crescentius, Leontius ; or in osus, as Bonosus. A favourite
form in the third aud succeeding centuries was some
laudatory epithet, as Benignus, Castus, Grata, Castula.
Often, especially In Africa, in the superlative degree ;
as Dignissimus, Felicissimus, Acceptissima. Sometimes'
similar adjectives appear In the comparative degree, as
Dignior, Nobilior ; and occasionally the abstract quality
itself, as Prudentia, 'A-yaTn;, &c., is found as the name.
The names of the fourth, fifth, and later centuries would
be found on examination to furnish the type, if not the
exact equivalent of most of the fanciful appellatives of the
palmy days of puritanism. We meet, not merely with
simple forms such as Trio-Tt?, e^Tri?, iyiiir-q, Decentia,
Prudentia, Dignitas, Idonitas, (rw^o^eiTj ; S or Renatus,
Redemptus, Refrigerius, Projectus; or the more self-
abasing appellatives, Stercorius or Contumeliosus, but com-
pound names of the true Puritan stamp, such as Deus
Dedit, Servus Dei, Adeodatus, Quod vult Deus * * *
" In a few instances occasion is taken from the name to
introduce into the sentiment of the epitaph some playful
allusion to the etymological import of the name ; and
although this practice is more consonant with the tastes
of the later times, yet the inscriptions of the classic
period, present examples of a similar play upon words,
of whch we may instance the sentence from the very
pretty epitaph of Claudia given by OreUi (vol. i. p. 547).
"HEIG ESC SEPULCRUM HAUD PULCRUM
PULCRAI FEMINAE." [Pulcher was a cognomen of
the gens Claudia.] These allusions in the Christian
epitaphs are commonly very simple. Thus we meet
INFELIX FELICITAS, and INFAUSTQS FELIX.
A monument is erected to Innocentius in recognition of
his innocence, PRO IXNOCENTIA SUA. GLYCO
(vAuVus, sweet) is described as " sweeter than his name."
The sorrowing friends of ANTHUS bemoan his years
" stript of their flowers :" and even in a very tender
poetical epitaph, addressed to the memory of Verus, by
his wife Quintilla (whose grief for his loss proclaims itself
so extreme that it is only the fear of God that restrains her
from following him to the grave, and that she vows to
remain a widow for his sake), room is found, in the midst
of all the writer's passionate expressions of sorrow, for a
pun upon the name of "HIC VERUS, QUI SEMPER
VERA LOCUTUS," t a pun exactly similar to that
contained in the epitaph of the emperor Probus, which
Vopiscus has preserved—" HIC PROBUS IMPERATOR,
ET VERE PROBUS, SITUS EST" (u. «. pp. 235-237).
The proper names which occur on the Christian
inscriptions of Spain (Hiibner, praef. pp. vi. sqq.)
are more varied. The old Roman nomina gen-
til icia are rare, and generally occur alone, as
Aurelius, Julius, Licinia, &c., but with a provin-
cial cognomen occasionally added, such as A.
(Aurelius) Vincentius. We have also numerous
examples of old Roman cognomina, as Avitus,
s A remarkably pretty specimen is given in De Rossi's
noma Sotteranea, vol. i. p. 262, where Faith makes an
epitaph to her sister Hope which runs thus—
PISTE SPEI
SoRoRI DVL
CISSIMAE
FECIT. (Dove.)
But it ought to be remembered that Spes is a name
not unfrequent in Roman Pagan epitaphs, so that the
now famous fragment of the Bristol inscription which
contains it is not on that account presumably Christian :
apart from the symbols, dog, cock, and asp, and the por-
trait (?), it now reads only SPES C. SKNTI (tilla).
■> This Christian epitaph is published by Fabrclti,
iii. 1)30.
INSCRIPTIONS
853
Dexter, Fdix, Crispinus, Camilla. Of the more
modern names are those which are of truly
Latm origin, as Aeternalis, Amator, Asella, Do'-
miuicus, Februarius, Honorius, Sanctus, which
seem to be generally diflused in the provinces
of the empire ; also the following, which appear
to be peculiar to Spain (including of course Por-
tugal;: Bracarius, Cerevella, Cuparius, Gran-
niola, Lilliolus, Salvianella, &c. There are also
many which come from the Greek, as Arcadius
Basiha, Glaucus, Leontius, Macarius, Theodosius,
/enon, &c. Others are still more modern, such'
as Agilo, Ermengond, Froila, Gulfinus, Huniric,
Opi)i]a, Reccisvinthus, Resweutus, Sonuica, Mari-
spalla (fem.), Swinthiliuba (fem.), all which are
probably Gothic; also "Anna Gaudiosa sive
Africa' (n.71) and Maurus, which are of course
bothAfrican; and Bacauda andCamuelates which
appear to be Gaulish. The origin of others, as
Istorna, Locuber, Macona (fem.), Quinigia, Quis-
tricia, and Rexina, is unknown. To these must
be added Scriptural names, as Emmanuel, Jo-
hannes, Maria, Sallomon, Susanna, Thomas, &c. ;
those of the puritanical type mentioned above'
appear to be wanting.
With regard to Great Britain we find (for the
British period) some Latin names, as Viveutius
and Florentius (in Scotland), also Silius, Pauli-
nus, Saturninus, and Carausius (in Wales aud
Cornwall), and some of these forms, as Augus-
tinus and Paulinus, were re-imported from Rome
in Saxon times. But there are also Celtic names
occurring, as Isnioc (in Cornwall), Pascent (or
Pasgen), Cadfan, Cyngen, Pabo, Boduoc (in
Wales), and Drost, Voret, Forcas (Fergus ?) and
others (in Scotland) ; as well as Saxon or Scan-
dinavian names, such as Sinnik (in Scotland),
Herebricht, Hildithriith, Wulfhere, and the like
(in England). A Saxon name is occasionally
Latinised, as Wini into Ovinus. In Ireland the
great mass of the names is Celtic, but occasion-
ally a Latin form is Hibernized, as Columbanus
into Cholumban : very occasionally a Latin form,
as Martinus, survives.
C. Words and Formulae employed in different
ages and places. — The words and phrases relating
to burial and other matters vary a good deal in
different places, and in the same place at difterent
times. M. Le Blant has collected these " for-
mulas d'e'pigraphie chre'tienne " with consider-
able industry ; but a good many additions might
easily be made. He even takes no notice aCaW
of some provinces, e.g. Dalmatia and Pannonia,
which however have some formulae and words
of interest.'
Several of the selected inscriptions (sepulchral
and others) have been chosen partly on account
of the formulae therein contained, and some re-
marks upon them are made in their places.
But it is well observed by Hilbner that until
the Christian inscriptions of all parts of the
world have been collected and edited, it is im-
i E.g. an inscription from Sabaria (Stein an Angar)
speaking of a dead child, has "requiem accepit in Deo
patre nostro, et Christo ejus" {Corp. Inter. Lot. t. iii.
n. 4221, edited by Mommseii). Another (n. 422u) from
the same place begins: " Bonememorle, In Deo viva«.
lodorus Civ. Grace, ex reg. Ladle, q. vix. an. I.,. *r.
(Honaememorius occurs in Gaul, Ix> Blant, iftui. p. 77).
See also n. (;:i99 s(|q. from Duluialla, where we luive
hie in pace jacet, depusilits. &c.
85-t
INSCRIPTIONS
possible to say what formulae are peculiar to
each: those which we consider to be peculiar
may turn out to be universal or common to
many provinces (u. s. p. vii.).^
The following is a translation with slight
omissions and additions ^ and a few tacit cor-
rections, mostly for the Greek, of M. Le Blant's
Manuel d'Epigraphie Chre't. pp. 75-85 (Paris,
1860), omitting the references to his own work
for Gaul and to those of others, as De Rossi
(Rome), Gazzera (Piedmont), Mommsen (kingdom
of Naples), R^nier (Algeria), and (for the Greek)
Bockh. To this has been added (besides some
Roman phrases) a collection of Spanish formulae
derived from Hiibner ; also a notice of the few
formulae which occur in Great Britain and
Ireland.
" That which is true for ancient coins, as also
for the works of architecture, is not less so in that
which concerns the monuments of epigraphy.
In each new place which he visits, the antiquary
sees variations of the formulae, the symbols,
the writing, the disposition, the ornaments of
the marbles. 'I'hough apparently of little im-
portance, these marked differences are worthy of
being studied with care. Arising sometimes from
the difference of the times, as well as from that
of the places, they are able to serve as guides in
the restoration of the texts, to fix the nationality
of personages, the age of the inscriptions, and even
to furnish materials for the history of ideas.
"I must appeal to the patience of the reader
in undertaking to place before him some
features of the localisation of the types and
formulae of Christian epigraphy. Below are
those which seem to me the most remarkable in
different provinces :
Germania Prima :
Mayence : IN HOC TITVLO REQVIESCIT FELI-
CITEK. Worms: TITVLVM POSVIT.
Belgica Prima :
Treves: PRO CARIT ATE, and the like; TITVLVM
POSVIT; HIC lACET; HlC lACET IN PACE;
PATRES (titulum posuerunt).
Belgica Secunda :
Amiens: VBI FECIT NOVEMBER DIES XV, and
the lilce ; DEFVNCTVS EST.
Viennensis :
SVRRECTVRV3 IN XPO, and analogous formulae.
Briord: HVM ANITAS; ABSTVTVS (i.e. astu-
tus, in a good sense). Briord and Vienna : VO-
LVNTAS. Vaifon and Aries: PAX TECVM.
Marseilles ; RECESSIT, retained even when this
word has disappeared in other places from the
epigraphical formulary.
k Dr. M'Caul, usually most accurate, illustrates this
remark by a statement that among the many expressions
for our "here lies" we have "hie jacet {not often),
evddie KeiTai {often")." p. xiii. We may safely say of hie
jacet that it occurs almost everywhere, being found first
in Rome, then in Gaul, Spain, Dalmatia, Algeria, and
Britain, in which last country it is almost the only for-
mula. Nor does there seem to be any reason to think it
rare in any of those countries. M. Le Blant, however,
only notices It under Gaul. The Greek rendering of this,
ev8a&( Kelrai, or KaraKeirai., is also very general, but per-
haps not quite so common : it occurs In Rome, Sicily,
Gaul; In Kgypt, Dalmatia, and Greece; Algeria, and
Cyrene; also in Asia Minor, but not everywhere. In
truth M. Le Blant's is only a sketch partially worked
out, but still very interesting.
1 They are enclosed in brackets.
INSCRIPTIONS
Aquitania Prima:
Coudes: TRANSIIT IN ANNOS.
Narbonensis Prima :
Toulouse: REQVIEVIT IN PACE.
Lugdunensis Prima, Viennensis :
BONAEMEMORIVS (adject.); APTVS (I.e. sympa-
thetic).
Lugdunensis Prima et Secunda, and a good many
other (though not all) parts of Gaul :
BONAE MEMORIAE ; very uncommon at Rome.
Lugdunensis Prima, Germania Prima, Maxima
Sequanorum, Viennensis, Aquitania
Prima :
VIXIT IN PACE.
Lugdunensis Prima et Quarta, Viennensis, Prima
et Secunda Narbonensis :
OBIIT, in common use (though seldom at Rome).
Lugdunensis Prima, Viennensis, Aquitania
Prima :
TRANSIIT ; not common at Rome.
[Lugdunensis Prima, Viennensis :
FAMVLVS DEI (applied in epitaphs to the dead .
See Le Blant, Manuel, pp. 10, 24, and references.]
Spain :
FAMVLVS DEI, orCHRISTI. [Apparently always
similarly applied. See IlUbner, pp. xi. Ill, 112
and references. For the Spanish formulae In gene-
ral, see below.™] This formula does not occur
among those of the catacombs registered by Boslo
and Boldetti.
■" Spain : —
The formula In peace. — IN PACE (in various con-
nections), with REQVIESCIT, REQVIfc-VlT, RECES-
SIT, REQVIESCAT, &c. ; DOMINI, CHRISTL lESV
being sometimes added. See HUbner, u. s. pp. ix. x.
Consecration formulae.— m NOMINE DI (DOMINI .') \
NOSTRI I. C. CONSACRATA EST ECLESIA S. I
STEPHANI PRIMI MARTYRIS ; IN NOMINE DO- j
MINI CONSECRATA ECLESIA S. MARIE; EPI- j
SCOPVS CONSECRAVIT HANG BASELICAM ; IN |
NOMINE DOMINI SACRATA EST ECLESIA ; IX. i
KAL. lANUARII ERA D LXXXX DEDICATA EST .!
HAEC ECCLESIA SCE MARIE ; DEDICATA EST j
HEC BASILICA A PIMENIO'ANTISTITE; DEDI- -'
CAVIT HANC AEDEM DOMINVS BACAVDA '
EPISCOPVS. -!
neliquary formulae. — ISi NOMINE DOMINI HIC i
SVNT RECONDITE RELIQVIE SANCTORVM SER- ;
VANDI, GERMANI, etc. ; RECONDITE SVNT IC i
RELlyVIE DE CRVORE DOMINI, SANCTI BA- ;
BILE, etc. ;
Building formulae.— GEVRlk'^O EPISCVPO (sic) |
ORDINANTE EDIFICATA [est haec ecclesia] ; HAEC j
SANCTA TRIA TABERNACVLA IN GLORIAM i
TRINITATIS (in unitate ?) COHOPERANTIBVS \
SANCTIS AEDIFICATA SVNT AB INLVSTRI \
GVDILIVVA CVM OPERARIOS VERNOLOS ET
SVMPTV PROPRIO; CONSVMATVM OC OPVS '
ERA DCCXX ; FVNDAVIT EAM {sc. aram) ALTIS- !
SIMVS PER EVLALIAM ET FILIVM BIVS ,
PAVLVM MONACHVM ; PERFECTVM EST TEM- ]
PLUM. ':
Votive /ormw^ae.— RECCESVINTHV3 REX OFFE- .
RET (offert) [sc. coroiiam] ; OFFERET MVNVSCV- \
LVM S. STEPHANO THEODOSIVS ABBA. ^
Sepulchral formulae (length of life).— VIXIT TOT 1
ANNOS, or ANNIS ; or ANNORVM TOT ; CVM i
MARITO ANNIS TOT; PLVS MINVS TOT (without ]
annos) ; ANNORVM DIERVMQVE TOT ; QVI IN v
HOC SAECVLO COXPLEVERAT LVSTROS TOT '
INSCRIPTIONS
Gallia Cisalpina :
Como: VIXIT IN HOC SAECVLO ANN03. Como,
Alba, PoUenzo, Nice and the environs : DEPOSl-
TVS SVB DIEM XIV KAL., etc. Como, Milan,
Aquileja, Florence, Bologna, etc. : B.M, at the head
of infcriptions. Turin, Tortona, Milan, Brescia,
Civlta di Friuli, Aquileja: CONTRA VOTVM
P0S71T. Piedmont: HIC REyVLbSCIT IN
SOiMNO PACIS.
Latium :°
Rome, Ostia : LPCVS, at the beginning of the inscrip-
tion. Rome: DEi'OSITVS, very common form, of
which Gaul gives scarcely four examples ; REFRI-
GERIVM, IN REKRIGERIO, REFRIGERET
DEVS (once only in Gaul); LOCVM EMIT, or
COMPARAVIT, a formula which is completely
unknown in Gaul; the mention of a tomb pre-
pared by the living is very rare in Gaul. Ostia :
HIC DORMIT, CVM DEVS PERMISERIT,
QVANDO DEVS VOLVERIT.
Campania :
Naples : IN AVLA REGNI TVI, INDVC EOS IN
CAELESTIA REGNA.
Apuleia :
Mirabella, Eclanum, Fontanarosa, etc. : HIC REQVI-
INSCRIPTIONS
855
AETATIS SVAE XLIIl; DECEDIT E VITA. Some-
times the words ANVS, PVER, VIRGO are introduced.
Formulae of Burial.— DEVOSITIO ; HVIC RVDI
TVMVLO lACENS ; IN HOC LOCO QVIESCENS ;
IN HOC TVMVLO lACET ; HIC RECONDITVM
EST CORPVS; DEPOSITVS IN PACE; IN ISTO
LOCO SEPVLTVS EST ; HIC SITVS EST ; ha^ipMr,
Prayers for the Dead. — DOMINE lESV CHRISTE,
FAMVLE TVE OMNIA PECCATA DIMITTE (a.d.
662) ; PRECATVS, VT PRO TVO PROMISSO ET SVB-
LIBAMINE (sublevamine) MEREAMVR INGREDI
PARADISI lANVE (seemingly offered for the dead, but f
see n. 96) ; YnEP ANAHAYCEnC KAI CfiTHPIAC
THC MAKAPIAC KYPIHC KITOYPAC.
Acclamations.— CniO'Sl VIVAS; LVPICVS VIVIT;
MARCIANE VIVAS LN CHRISTO (said of the living).
Station of the deceased in life. — The public and private
station of the deceased are very rarely mi-ntioned :
and then only extending to VIR INLVSTRIS, CLA-
RISSIMA FEMINA, etc. The usual designations are
FIDSLIS, FIDELIS CHRISTI, FAMVLA or FAMV-
LVS DEI or CHRISTI ; also BAPTIDIATVS (once).
Ecclesiastical station in life. — ABBA ; ANTISTES ;
DEVOTA VIRGO ; PONTIFEX ; VIRGO CHRISTI ;
VOTA DEO.
" The following formulae (from De Rossi's 7. U. R.
vol. i. passim) may be added for Rome up to a.d. 400,
and from BGckh (C. /. G.).
Formulae of deaiA.— OBIIT; DECESSIT; DISCES-
SIT; RECESSIT; DORMIT; DORMIT IN PACE;
MORTVA EST; DEFVNCTA; TE.YEYTA; ETE-
AEYTHCEN; EnAYCATO; nPOAPEI, ETE.VIO0H
(Br.ckh); KOIMATE (/totjairai, id.); EN EIPHNH;
DE SAECVLO RECESSIT, or DECESSIT, or EXIBIT
(exivit): RECESSIT DE HAC LVCE ; IIT AD
DEVM; RECEPTVS AD DEVM ; PRAECESSIT AD
PACEM; EXIVIT IN PACE; QVIESCET IN PACE;
REQVIESCET IN SOMNO PACIS; ABSOLVTVS DE
CORPORE ; SPIRITVS IN LVCE DOMINI SVSCEP-
TVS EST.
Sepulchral Formulae.— UK lACET, EN0AAE KEI-
TAL or KATAKEITAI (BJickh) ; HIC SITVS EST;
HIC DORMIT: HIC POSITA EST; DEPOSITIO;
KATA0ECIC; ETA*H (Bockh); KATETE0H (id.).
Designation of tomb.— I.OCYlaVS; BISOMVS, TRI-
SOMVS, QVADRISOMVS (with l.OCVS expressed or
understood); TOIIOC, CVBICVLVM, AETEKNA
DOMVS.
I ESCIT IN SOMNO PACIS. DEPOSITIO EIVS
HI IDVS .... etc.
Brutium, Campania, Apulia :
B. M (i. e. bonae memoriae) at the head of inscriptl.ms.
Africa :
Sitifis, Cirta, Cesarea, Rusgnnla, etc.: MEMORIA,
at the beginning of the inscription. Sitifis, Orleans-
ville, Arbal, Portus Magnus : PKAECKSSIT.
Hamman bel Hanefia, Hadjar Roum, Portus Mug-
nus: DECESSIT, DJ.SCESS1T. CIrta, Kalama
Carthage, etc.: VIXIT IN PACE. [Caesarea:
IN PACE HIC QViI':SClT; ACCaBlTOUIVM;
SEPVLTVS. Sitifis: HIC lACIT. Cirta: EN-
0AAE KEITE.]
Greece :
Athens: KOIMHTHPION, at the beginuing of the
inscription.
Galatia :
Tschorum, etc. : 0ECIC
Cilicia :
Mopsuestia, Tarsus, Corycns, Selencla: TOnOC. Se-
leucla, Bor. : MNHMA. Mopsuestia, Tarsua ■
MNHMA AIA*£P0N. Selencia: XAMOCOPIN
(xa^ato-ripioO, HAPACTATIKON; In the sense
of sepulchre. Corycus, Eplnoia, Seleucia, 0HKH.
Corycus: CfiMATOQHKH, 0HKH AIA*E-
POYCA.
Syria :
Andrena, Phylea, Schmerrin, Horug, on the gates:
AYTH H HYAH toy KYPIOY. K.T.A.
Palestine :
Jerusalem: MNHMA AIA^EPON; 0HKH AIA-
"l-EPOYCA.
Egypt :
Benka el Assel : EH ArA0n. Thebes : 0 MAKA-
RIOC, applied to the dead ; [0 0EOC ANAIIAYCI
EN CKHNAIC APlnN. Alexandria: MNU-
©HTI THC KOIMHCEnC THC AOYAHC COY.]
Nubia :
Phile: En ArA0n. Kalabscheh : O MAKAPIOC,
applied to the dead; [EN0A KATAKEITE].
Kalabscheh, cemetery of Wady - Gazal : ANA-
HAYCON 0 0EOC THN *YXHN AYTOY EN
KOAHIC (KOA7I-OC5) ABRAAM KAI ICAAK KAI
lAKnB. Colasucia: 0 0EOC TON ITNEYMA-
TON KAI CAPKOC . . . ANAHAYCON THN
^YXHN.
Great Britain :
IC lACET; HIC TVMVLO TACIT; IN OC
TVMVLO lACIT ; A. HIC lACIT B. FILIVS ;
HIC lACIT IN CONGERIES (sic) LAPIDVM ;
A FILIVS B HIG lACIT ; MIC lACENT
SANCTl ET PRAECIPVl SACERDOTES ;
HIC MEMOR lACIT; HIC IN SEPVLCRO
REQVIESCIT; IN MEMORIAM SANCTORVM;
LVCEM TVAM DA DEVS ET REciVIKM; and
(later) ROGO OMNIBVS AMBVLANTIBVS
EXORENl' PRO ANIMA; also (in CeItU) OR
DO (pray for) ; and (in S.xon) BEGUN AFTER
(a memorial to) . . .; GIBIDDADDAER SAVLE
(pray for the soul) ; also name only,
Ireland :
HIC DORMIT (once); name only in Rcnitivo (in
Latin) ; and In Celtic, of which the groat majority
are composed, OR or OROIT DO (pray for) ; OR
or OROIT AR (pray for) ; BENDACHI) FOR
ANMAIMN (a blessing on Iho soul of) ; SAFE!
SAHATTOS ([the stone] of the wise sage) ; also
name only (very frequently).
D. Acclamations. — There is still one point re-
lating to the ])hraseology of Christian inscrip-
tions, on which it may be convenient to x\y h
856
INSCRIPTIONS
little more. Many of those on gems and glass,
and a large number of the epitaphs contain what
are termed acclamations, or short expressions
addressed to, or in behalf of, the living, or to or
in behalf of the dead. Both one and the other
existed for the Pagans, and both one and the
other were adopted with various modifications
by the Christians.
" (1.) To begin with those which concern the
living. The sentiment on the inscription amici
DUM viviMVS viVAMVS (Gruter, p. 609, 3) on
the glass IN nomine hercvlis acerentino
(Acherontini), Felices vivatis (Garrucci, Vetri,
t. XXXV. f 1), and on the gem VIBAS (sic) LVXVRI
HOMO BONE (King's Ant. Gems and Rings, vol. i. p.
.311), was adopted by the Christians in the sense
of living in God ; and they engraved VIVE or
VIVAS IN DEO, and cognate expressions expressive
of hope both for time and for eternity on their
own gems and glass vessels, and occasionally on
a lamp or an amulet. Sometimes a saint is
added, as VIVAS in christo et lavrentio, or
a saint only is expressed, as vivas in nomine
LAVRe(n)ti. Sometimes again a married couple,
or a man and his family, are the subjects of this
kind of good wish. Sometimes, however, the name
of God or Christ was omitted, but a Christian sym-
bol, as a palm or a chrisma, was introduced in
order to insure the Christian significance. The
Christians did not indeed refuse the sense of en-
joying this life, when they wrote pie (tt/s) zeses,
or ZESES only on their glass drinking-cups, which
were employed in sacred festivities, but the
sacred representations which accompanied the
legend would be a witness against any intem-
perate use. A smaller number of acclamations
inscribed on glass, prays that the persons ad-
dressed may live in the peace of God. Thus one
in favor of a married couple : ViVATiS in pace
DEI (Garrucci, Vetri, t. i. f. 3) ; on another we
have BIBAS (vivas) IN PACE DEI (Id. t. vi. f. 7),
or VIVAS IM PACE DEI (Id. t. vii. f. 2).
For the matters here touched on see Gems,
Glass, Lamps, Seals. That this kind of accla-
mation exhorting to live was usually addressed to
the living, is clear upon the face of it : but there
are a few cases where it is less certain, whether
the persons addressed were alive or dead. Thus
it has been made a question whether hilaris
VIVAS CVM TVIS FELICITER SEMPER REFRI-
GERES IN PACE DEI is an acclamation to a living
or dead person: Mai-tigny {Diet. p. 8) relying
principally on the word expressing a desire for
his refreshment, looks on him as dead. Garrucci,
probably with greater reason, interprets: sii
sempre lieto et ti refrigera nella pace di Dio,
cioe con la grazia di lui, shewing that refri-
gerium is not rarely used of living persons
(M. s. p. 126) .
On Christian epitaphs the living are sometimes
addressed by the living, sometimes by the dead.
Of the former are requests to the reader to
pray for the soul of the person buried. These
are very rare for the earlier periods. Dr.
M'Caul says, "I recollect but two examples in
Christian epitaphs of the first six centuries of
the address to the reader for his prayers, so
common in mediaeval times." In the early
mediaeval inscriptions of Great Britain and
Ireland examples will be seen under Tomb. At
other times the readers are saluted by the author
of the inscription, salvete fratres (Renier n.
INSCRIPTIONS •
4025 ; see above), or asked to prav for him (Le '
Blant, n. 619). ' {
The dead person sometimes prays the living
not to meddle with his bones, as precor ego
hilpericvs non avferantvr HINC OZZA MEA (
(Le Blant, n. 207. See similar examples in his "
notes on this inscription and Tomb).
Sometimes the survivors are exhorted not to ,
weep : and the nolite dolere pa?-entes, hoc faciun- (
dum fnit (Mus. Disn. 1. 117, pi. liii.) becomes !
on a Christian epitaph —
" Parcite voa lacrimis, dukis cum conjuge natae,
Viventemque Deo credite flare nefas."
De Eossi, /. U. R. n. 843 (a.d. 472;.
More strange are the epitaphs counted to be
Christian, ij.7\ Xvttov, r^Kvov, ouSeis addva-ros
(Bockn, n. 9589), and flapcri, Tan'o yurjTTjp, ov^ds \
aOdvaros (Id. 9624), both from the Roman cata-
combs. A Jewish epitaph in a Roman cemetery
runs similarly (Id. n. 9917).
(2.) Of acclamations addressed to the dead we
have the following." ,
Vivas or vivatis in deo; this and the j
allied forms VIVE or VIVAS IN christo, domino, |
INTER SANCTIS (SiC, De RosSl, U.S. n. 10, A.D. I
268), IN nomine christi (Marini, p. 455) ; also i
IN NOMINE PETRI (Boldetti, p. 388), the same, J
or nearly so, as those which have just been j
noticed as addressed to the living, recur abun-
dantly on the sepulchral monuments of Rome
and other places (De Rossi, /. U. R. Prol. p. ex ; ;
Le Blant, n. 576 ; Mart. Diet. p. 7, and Tomb).
Nit SIR Vina -^
vimfisiiii©
Epitaph of Aetemalia and Servilia, Sivaux, Fruuce. Tlnjught by
Ou Eoiwi, judging from the style and palaeography, to be earlier
than Conatantina (SuR. Arch. Crist. 18C3, p. 47, whose fig. IB
copied) ; if bo it probably gives the oldest linown example of the
Chrisma, Fifth century, according to Le Blant (n. 676).
Similarly in Greek C7)(rris iv 0e<S (Bockh. n.
9800), ^T)(rais iv Kvpiif {Id. n. 9673). They
proceed on the supposition that the Christian
life is continuous, and that expressions in the
form of good wishes, which primarily belong
to this life, may when their fulfilment is nc
° Of Pagan acclamations addressed in behalf of the
dead we have, among others, the following : Sit libi terra
levis, Ossa tua bene quiescavt. Axe, Vale, Di tibi henefi-
ciant, Xalpe, Soirj o-oi 'Oa-ipi9 to >pvxp'ov vSojp (M'Caul, U.S.
V. xvii.).
INSCRIPTIONS
longer doubtful, be transferred to the life to 1
come.P I
Other forms express to the dead good wishes
for their rest or peace. Thus on a gem, found
in a grave B (bene) QVESQVAS, (quiescas) (see
Gems), and on tombs quesce in pace (Marini, p.
366), CESQUAS BENE IN PACE (Id. p. 385). Nor
can we well take such phrases as PAX tecum (Le
Blant. n. 490, &c.), dp-nvri aoi. (Bockh, n. 9486),
ip'i]Vi (eip'^rTj) <roi iv ovpava> (Id. n. 9844), and
elprtvT] Trao-i, with or without eV dt(^ (Id. nos.
9487-8), as other than good wishes addressed
to the departed, not affirmations of a fait ac-
C07npli, but a confident prayer, or rather a sure
hope, that the state of peace may continue. In
other inscriptions, however, it is evidently re-
garded as already accomplished, e. g., aveTtavcev
'Apia lu ilpi-]vri (Marini, p. 456). Compare eV
eip-/)f77 Trpod-yei (Bockh, n. 9645 and 9632) ; OB-
DORMIVIT IN PACE lESV, QVE3I DILEXIT, OBIIT IN
PACE DEI (Hiibner, M. s. p. x.). The full expres-
sion elprivv ffoi ^rai, PAX VOBISCVjH SIT, also
occurs (Bockh, n. 9710; Le Blant, n. 526).
More interesting are the acclamations which
relate to refrigcrium, which God himself is often
elsewhere invoked to bestow on the departed.
De Rossi notes the occurrence of spiriium tnum
Deus refrigeret,'^ and the like, as occurring in
early Christian epitaphs {Prol. p. ex.). But here
the deceased is addressed, in the hope that he is
in receipt of that refreshment, or as being sure
to receive it. Thus we have the neuter verb
refrigerare, to enjoy a cool repose, in this con-
nection, IN BONO REFRIGERES (Marini, p. 420),
i. e., may you enjoy refreshment in a good place,
by which is intended Paradise, or the bosom of
Abraham ; refrigera CVii spiritv sancto, i.e.,
in thine own holy soul ' (Marangoni, Cose Gent.
p. 460. See Tertull. adv. Marc. lib. iv. c. 34).
More rarely accepta sis in cristo (Marini,
p. 454) is the form which the acclamation
assumes, with which Xpiarhs ixira trov (Bockh,
n. 9697) may be compared, as well as aeterna
TiBi LUX IN christo (Marini, u. s. p. 450), the
last word being expressed by the chrisma. Some
addresses to the dead, however, are congratula-
tory, as BENE VIXSITI {sic), VENE CONSVMASTI
(Marini p. 434), anima tva CVM ivstis {Id.
p. 381), in refrigerio anima tva (Fabretti,
p. 547), where est rather than sit seems to be
understood.
The Greek acclamation Qippi {i.e. edppei) is
sometimes placed at the end of an epitaph
(Bockh, n. 9821) ; and sometimes at the begin-
p The indicatiT?e is likewise found, as in Deo decedit
e vita (Habner, v.s. p. xi.); and both expressions mean
in reality the same thing. The reader, however, may see
Martigny, Diet. s. v. "Purgatoire" for a different view of
the optative formulae.
q The verb is then used transitively. In the Latin
version of St. Irenaeus, refrigerare U the rendering of
<i;/<L7rav<ra<r0ai, and Ducange accordingly iGloss. s. v.)
explains the Latin word by reqaiescere. which is substan-
tially correct. Refrigerium as used by Tertullian and in
the Acclamatims does not mean " a release from pain,
but an enjoyment of positive though imperfect happiness
on the part of the ju>t from the very moment of their
dissolution in that separate abode which Tertullian sup-
poses our Lord to distinguish by the appellation of Abra-
ham's bosom."— Faber, Diff. of Homanism, book i. c. v.
r See De Rossi (m s.). The words occur in this sense
In ihe epitaph of St. Severa at Rome. See Tomb.
INSCRIPTIONS
8c
uing (Id. n. 9789), addressed in each case to the
departed. Another imperative ypriyopfi (wake
up !) in singular contrast to the quiescas above,
is occasionally found at the end of Christian in-
scriptions {Id. 9599, 9570); it may probably
contemplate the return of the Saviour. Ei>noipi
also occurs {Id. 9800).
The Latin classical form Ave, much used by
the Pagans, is found also in a Christian epitapli,
and written ABE (Bockh, n. 9653). We have
also HAVE vale on the same monument (Le
Blant, n. 495).
In the last place are to be noted prayers or
requests to the departed to pray to God for the
survivors.' De Rossi notes that in the earlier
undated inscriptions of the catacombs {i.e., those
before the peace of Constantine), we have pete
pro nobis, pro parentibus, pro conjuge, pro fliis,
pro sorore (Prol. p. ex.). To these Dr. McCaul
adds roga, era pro nobis, but adds at the same
time that there are " comparatively few among
the thousands" of these undated inscriptions,
which contain these prayers, and " that instances
of the mention in stich forms of others than the
members of the family of the deceased are ex-
tremely rare." He has observed only one dated
example, of the year 380 A.D. (De Rossi, n. 288)
which contains any such request; it has the
expression pro hvnc vnvm ORA svbolem
(m. s. p. xviii.). With respect to such accla-
mations of affection as dulcis anima, aninvx
pura et munda, anima innox, puer innocens,
^vxh Ka\T], and the like, they are applied in
Christian inscriptions of various kinds both
to the living and the dead, and need hardly be
dwelt upon in this place (see Garrucci, u. s.
Index, s. v. dulcis anima ; Martigny, Diet. p. 7 ;
Perret, Catac. de Home, t. v. pi. 17 ; Bockh,
n. 9697).
E. Style and Structure. — Such inscriptions as
relate to public works, churches, basilicas, foun-
tains, or to sacred objects and furniture, altars,
chalices, crosses, liturgical book-covers, &c., or to
votive ofterings and the like, need hardly be taken
into the present account. They exist in prose and
verse, both in Greek and in Latin, and are of very
various styles and lengths. A large number of
such are collected by Marini, and edited by Mai
{Script. Vet. Nov. Coll. torn. v. pp. 1-236); to
this work more especially the reader is referred.
Many of them, however, are later than the
period embraced in his work. Very few inscrip-
tions, if any, which belong to this class, go back
before the time of Constantine, so far as the
writer is aware, and can hardly be called nume-
rous till after the close of the 4th century.
With regard, however, to the sepulchral inscrip-
tions the'' case is somewhat different. They can,
to some extent at least, be classified by their
style. But the first thing to be borne in mind
is that inscriptions of one country are no rule
for those cf another. Those of Britain and of
Ireland, for example, are both unlike each other,
and unlike those of Gaul, Spain, and Italy, of
nearly the same period. The Greek inscriptions,
acain, admit for the most part of but little com-
parison with the Latin ones; the Greek and
• The invocation of the Virgin and of saints (see above
} iv.) are scarcely to be accounted acclamations, and arc
better considered separately.
858
INSCRIPTIONS
Latin inscriptions to Dometius, wi-itten on the
same slab, are a good illustration of this (Le
Blant, Insc. Chret. Gaul. n. 613a).
With few exceptions the earlier inscriptions
are characterised by their brevity and simplicity,
while from the 4th century onwards they assume
in some countries, as in Italy, Gaul, and Spain,
a more complex and ornate character. In the
earlier epitaphs, moreover, sometimes occur
traits more or less similar to the pagan epitaphs,
e.g. mention of those who made the tomb, which
by degrees disappear. They also contain a much
greater number of acclamations, most of which
soon vanish completely. In the 4th century
Christian Latin epigraphy began to make a style
of its own, and for the first time we now get at
Rome such opening words as hie requiescit in
pace, or in somno pads, hie quiescit, hie jacet,
hie positus est, &c. ; and new rhetorical phrases,
as mirae innocentiae, sapientiae, sanctitatis, &c.,
begin to make their appearance. It is not
until about this time that any mention of the
secular profession of the deceased occurs in the
Latin inscriptions; and it is not very commonly
mentioned at any time. The chrisma and the
cross, signs of a triumphant faith, now come in
abundantly. The inscriptions of Gaul followed
the style of Rome a good deal, and the same or
similar formulae appear upon them at a some-
what later time. It is in these Roman and
Gaulish inscriptions that changes of style can
best be studied, because they are so numerous,
because so many of them bear dates, and, in fine,
because they have been so admirably edited.
M. De Rossi makes some remarks on the changes
of style in the Roman inscriptions (^Insc. Urb.
Horn., Prolegom., pp. ex.— cxvi.), and will in an-
other volume discuss totam stili epigraphici Chris-
tiani doctrinam. M. Le Blant, in the first fifty-
eight pages of his Manuel, treats of the succes-
sive variations in the Gaulish inscriptions (few
of which, however, are before the age of Cou-
stantine), and also establishes the fact that
blank formulae were in circulation for the
use of stonecutters, where of course the num-
ber of years of the deceased or of the reigning
king could only be expressed by the word
tot or tantus, and that the stonecutter has
sometimes neglected to replace the tantus by
the particular number required. (See Le Blant,
M. s. pp. 69-74.) Similarly in Spain traces
of blank formulae can be recognised (Hubner,
M. s. p. viii.).
By means of a careful study of the phrases
of the dated inscriptions a close approximation
may sometimes be made to the date of an un-
dated one ; great caution, however, is necessary,
as certain expressions held their place for a long
period. (See Le Blant, u. s. pp. 31-33).
(vi.). Dates of Christian Inscriptions.
(a) Christian inscriptions, when dated, most
usually bear the names of consuls, and all the
earliest are thus dated. Sometimes one, more
usually both consuls, are given, the names being
commonly contracted. The abbreviation cos for
consulibus was in use up to the middle of the
3rd century, after which COSS, CONS, and COMSS,
came to be successively adopted : COS is very
seldom found during the 4th century, and almost
never in the 5th or 6th : coss fell into disuse
INSCRIPTIONS
about the first quarter of the 5th century, and
after that cons was used.*
The numerals, to designate a second or third
consulate, are frequently prefixed to cos and the
other abbreviated forms ; but where there is no
ambiguity they are sometimes omitted. A
very strange abbreviation was occasionally used,
though in Christian inscriptions it is exceedingly
rare : the names of the consuls were omit-
ted and the numbers only retained. In an
epitaph from a Christian crypt at Motyca, in
Sicily, to " Euterpe, the companion of the
Muses," her death is fixed to Nov. 27, inraTia
T(Sv Kv [^plaiv'] rh ] Kot rh y' in the consulship of
our Lords for the tenth time and for the third
time, i. e. 360 A.D., when Constantius was in his
tenth consulate, and Julian in his third. (Bockh,
n. 9524.)
Another form of dating was by a post-con-
sulate, J. e. the words POST CONSVLATVM, or the
abbreviations POST cONS, post conss (or from
the middle of the 5th century), P C, and even
POST (or POS) only was placed before the consuls'
names of the year preceding, " when it was not
known who were the consuls of the year, or
when the name of but one was known, or when
it was necessary or expedient not to mention
them" (McCaul, u. s. p. xxvi.). This formula,
which is said to have arisen in the troublesome
times of Maxentius, 307 A.D., rarely appears in
Chi'istian inscriptions till 542 A.D., when the
post-consulate of Basil the younger was taken as
a point of departure for almost the whole empii-e,
and the years post consulatxim Basilii extend up
to xxix. The consulate of Justin in 566 a.d.
gave birth to another era of post-consulates,
which lasted nine years.
There are various other matters connected
with consular dates which are intentionally
passed over here. For the whole subject see
De Rossi (^Tnsc. Urb. Bom. pp. xiii.-liv. ; and for
an epitome of the more important parts, Mc Caul
(w. s. p. xxiii.-xxvii.)."
(6) Other inscriptions are dated by an era,
whether of a province or of a city. Examples of
the former are seen in Spain and Mauretania ; of
the latter in various parts of Asia, where the
eras of Antioch and Bostra (among others) ob-
tained currency. Examples of these will be
found above, and below under Tomb. In all
these parts of the empire Christian inscriptions
were very rarely dated by the consuls, and those
are mostly of the 6th century (De Rossi, u. s,
p. xiii.). For other eras employed in Christian
inscriptions, see De Rossi (u. s. pp. v. vi.).
(c) Dates by Indictions '^ (or cycles of fifteen
years) are not found in Christian inscriptions of
Rome before the beginning of the 6th century.
The earliest seems to be 522 A.D. (De Rossi,
/. U. E. n. 984). In Gaul, however, we find an
' In Diocletian's time CONS, was first used for one
consul, and CONSS. for two consuls ; as well as CS. and
CC. SS. similarly.
" In Christian inscriptions dates taken from the ofTice
of magistrates other than consuls are extremely rare (De
Eossi, u. s. p. xi. See above { iv. n. 1).
» These have been thought to be connected with the
fifteen years of military service and the extraordinary
tribute necessary for their payment from time to time, as
adjusted by Constantine; but their origin is not altoge-
ther certain.
INSCRIPTIONS
inscription dated Ind. XV. Olibrlo juniore cans
(consuls), i. e. 491. a.d. (Le Blant, n. 388). The
indictions themselves (which commence 312 A.D.),
unless accompanied by other notes of time (as
they often are), do not suffice to determine
even approximately the year A.D. For the first
year of each cycle is counted as the first in-
diction, and thus the tenth indiction merely
signifies the tenth year in some undetermined
indiction. See De Rossi (u. s. De Cyclo Indic-
tiorium, pp. xcvii.-ci.)
(o?) For the mode of dating by solar and lunar
cycles, i. e. by the day of the month, the day of
the week, and the day of the moon, as compared
with each other and with the year, the reader
who desires to enter into so difficult a subject
must consult De Rossi (?i. s. pp. Ixx.-xcvii.). See
also Month ; Week,
There are now to be noticed a few eras or
modes of dating which are peculiar to the
Chi-istians.
(e) The era of the martyrs is only used in
Egypt and the adjoining i-egions. A barbarous
Greek inscription (n. 9121 Bockh) dates March 30,
airh fxapTvpoiv ad, i. e. 209 of the Dioclesian era,
which commenced August 29, 284 a.d., and so
corresponding to 494 A.D. This era, invented
and first used by the pagans, was adopted after-
wards by the Christians, who more usually
changed its name (Martigny, Diet. p. 532, and
the references, also Bockh, n. 9134).
(/) Episcopal dates. A Roman epitaph (De
Rossi, /. U. E, n. 139) is dated deposita in pace
SUB Libe[rio ep.], and another (n. 190) has
EECESSIT III NON. IN PACE SVB DaMASO EPISCO.
These are the only examples of the kind known,
and do not prove that epitaphs were then dated
purely and simply by the papal era, but rather
that those who put them up wished to express
their adhesion to the orthodox pontiffs and not
to their opponents Felix and Ursicinus.^
But from the eud of the 4th century it became
common at Rome to date sacred buildings by
inscriptions in which the pope's name occurred ;
thus we have in such connections SALVO SiKiCiO
EPISCOPO (like the Salvis dd. nn. Augustis)
and TEMPORIBVS saxcti Innocentii episcopi,
and the still remaining inscription in the basilica
of St. Sabina :
CVLMEN APOSTOLICVM CVM CAELESTINVS
HABERET
PRfMVS Er IN TOTO FVLGERET EPISCOPVS
ORBE.
(De Rossi, u. s. pp. viii., ix). In the 5th and
following century the custom of dating sacred
buildings by bishops and other ecclesiastics
spread abroad, and at length became very general
throughout Europe; but public monuments of the
provinces of the 4th, 5th, and even 6th and later
centuries are dated by the eras of Mauretania
or of Bostra or Antioch, or by consuls, or by
the reigns of emperors (De Rossi, u. s. p. ix. and
the references). Sometimes, but very rarely,
the exact year of office of the bishop or abbot is
given (De Rossi, u. s. and above, § iv. n. 11).
There are two other eras much employed in
inscriptions soon after the period with which we
are concerned, and which indeed at length almost
INSCRIPTIONS
859
y Martigny (Diet. p. 317) says: " Apres Clevis, Us (Ics
Gaulois) iiiscrivfront quelquefoia sur Ics niarbres I'aiinen
du pontife Rotnain."
superseded the others in common use — the
Dlonysian epoch of the Incarnation,' and the
mundane era, which reckons the Creation at
5508 B.C. [Era.]
(17) Bede brought the former into vogue in
the beginning of the Btli century, and there are
also some early inscriptions dated thereby. De
Rossi affirms that he knows of no inscrijition ot
the first six centuries so dated. There is one of
the year 617 A.D., which records the construction
and consecration of a baptistery, at Bri.'sia, by
Domina nostra Flavia Theodolinda, which is thu.s
dated at the end : vivente domino nostra Adel-
valdo sacrae salutis sacculo CCC CCC xvii (Marini,
n.s. p. 170); besides this there is one at Inter-
amna (Merni), dated AN. s. DCC. xxvii. (Marini,
U.S. p. 157); others just below our period are a
little differently expressed : one is dated AN. IN-
CARNAT. DNI DCCCLVII IND V REGE LOVDOWICO
IMP. AVG. (Marini, u. s. p. 85), and another is
placed ANNO DOMINI DCCC Lxiiii (Marini,
V. s. pp. 1J34, 5). All these are in connection
with the dedication or building of sacred edifices.
(A) An early example' of the mundane era is
furnished by an inscription on a tower at Nicaea
in Bithynia, tTovs ^^ti^, in the year 6316, cor-
responding to 808 A.D. (Bockh, C. I. G. n.
8669). But as it is called " the tower of
Michael, the great king in Christ, emperor,"
some error in the date (as edited) has slipped
in. For Michael I. reigned from 811-813 A.D.,
and Michael II. from ^^820-829 A.D. Possibly
the p is a misreading for 6 : if so, the date is 811
A.D. Another mutilated inscription, relative to
the foundation of an arsenal (tovtov fieya-
xSrarov (sic) a.pai]v6.Kriv) by " Theophilus the
king, son of Michael the king," is doubly dated,
aTrb KTiaeos (sic) K6(rfiov ,^tij.^, airh Si Xptcrrov
(Tovs cdAS', the year 6342 of the mundane era,
corresponding to the year 834 of the Christian
era(/d n. 8680).
(i) There are, in fine, inscriptions dated by the
reigns or by the years of the reigns of the sove-
reigns of the kingdoms which sprung out of the
ruins of the western empii-e. Examples occur
in England, France, Spain, and Italy, (See
above § iv., Nos. 5, 11, and Tomb.)
In like manner, after the consulate came to
an end in 541 a.d., the year of the Byzantine
emperor's reign, was occasionally placed on in-
scriptions as a date. An early example of the
year 592 A.D., in the 11th year of Justinian II.
(in an inscription relating to a church), is given
in Bockh's C. I. G. n. 8651. Another less pre-
cise is dated by the joint reign (842-857 A.D.)
of Theodora. Michael, and Thecla (Bockh, C. 1. G.
n. 8683).
More than one mode of dating often occurs on
the same monument, as by consuls and an indic-
tion conjointly ; by an era and a king conjointly;
• This was devised In 525 A.D. hy Dlonyslus Exigmis, a
Roman abbot. For his purpose, wbicli was neither
literary nor historical, but simply Imd reference to
Easter, see the late Professor Grote in tlio Cambridye
Journal of Classical and Sacred I'hilology, vol. i. pp. 63
69, In a paper entitled 'On the dating of Ancient
History,' whore several subjects hero touched upon aro
discussed.
• Probably there may exist somewhat earlier inscrip-
tions dated by tliia era than those here referred to. " it
began to prevail in the "th century, and appears iu the
Paschal Chronicle" (Grote, u.s. p. 66).
860
INSCRIPTIONS
or by a king and an ecclesiastic conjointly. In
addition to the years the months are often noted ;
these are in general the Roman months.
But the day of the month, whether of the
death or of the burial, is sometimes in the more
ancient inscriptions alone set down. Thus in a^
Roman inscription we have simply Fortunatus
depositus III Kal. Oct. in pace ; and in another,
LaureiUiu (sic) idus lenuras' (sic) decessit, fol-
lowed bv the chrisma (Marini, u. s. pp. 380,
387).
In Egypt, however, the Egyptian months are
set down, either alone (Bockh, n. 9110), or
together with an indiction {id. n. 9111), or with
the era of " the martyrs" {id. 9121), or with an
indiction together with the same era, under its
proper name, " the year of Diocletian" (id. 9134).
The days are added to the months when these
occur : usually computed according to the Roman
kalendar by kalends, ides, and nones ; but the
cyclic inscriptions have the days of the week (die
Beneris, die Saturnis (sic), &c. ; also die Sabbati,
die dominica), the days of the moon, or the
octave of Easter. (See De Rossi, u. s. ; Mc Caul,
u. s. pp. 53-58.) In Egypt the day of the month
is reckoned numerically, as the 21st of Tybi,
the 10th of Phaophi, &c.
We have also examples, though they are not
numerous, of epitaphs dated by saints' days.
One at Briord, of about the 6th or 7th century,
records of " Ricelfus et jugalis sua Guntello"
that " obienmt in die Sci Martini, who probably
himself died Nov. 8, a.d. 397 (Butler's Lives
of Saints, under Nov. 11). M. Le Blant, who
gives this inscription (n. 380), quotes other and
earlier examples from the catacombs ; such as
Natale Susti, Natale Domnes Sitiretis, jMstera die
77utrturo)-um, ante natale Domini Aateri, d. nat.
Sci Hard.
In addition to the day the hour is sometimes
added, and occasionally even the fraction (scru-
pulus) of the hour. See Tomb.
(vii.) Abbreviations used in Christian Inscrip-
tions.— This catalogue might no doubt be en-
larged considerably : it has been taken from
Martigny (Diet. pp. 322-324, omitting, however,
the numerals, L foi quinquaginta, X for decern,
and the like) ; and the writer has made various
additions to it, mostly by help of Hiibner's Index
to his Spanish Inscriptions, p. 115.
A. — Anima, — annos,— ave.
ABBI.— Abbatis.
A. B, M. — Aniinae beaemercnti.
ACOL.— Acolytus.
A.D. — Ante diem,— anima dulcis.
A.D. KAL. — Ante diem calcndas.
A.K. — Ante calendas.
A X. — Annum, — annos, — annis, — ante.
ANS. — Annos, — annis.
AP. or APR. or APL.— Aprilis.
APOS TOR.— Apostolonim.
A.y.T.C. — Anima quiescat in Clirlsto.
b Cardinal Wiseman says of the deceased Christians in
early times that " annual commemoration had to be made
on the very day of their departure, and accurate know-
ledge of this was necessary. Therefore, it alone was
recorded" {Fabiola, p. 147). Even If this be the true
roason (which is very much to be doubted), it remains to
be e.xplained why the day of burial alone is sometimes
recorded. The truth seems to be, that some little inci-
dent which would be sufficient to remind the friends of
the deci/ased, was sometimes regarded as date enough.
INSCRIPTIONS
A.R.T.M.D.— Anima requiescat in manu Dei.
AVG. — Augustus, -August!.
B.— Benemerenti, — bixit (for vixit).
B. AN. V. D. IX.— Vixit annos quinque, dies novem.
BENER.— Veneriae.
B. F. — Bonae feminae.
BIBAT.— Bibatls (fvr vivatis).
B. I. C.-Bibas (for vivas) in Christo.
B. M., or BO. M., or BE. ME., or BO. ME.— Bonae
memoriae.
B. JI. F. — Benemerenti fecit.
BMT. — Benemerenti.
BNM., or BNMR. — Benemerenti, or benemerentibus.
B. Q.— Bene quiescat.
B. Q. I. P. — Bene quiescat in pace.
BVS. v.— Bonus vir.
C. — Consul,— cum.
CAL.— Calendas.
CO.— Consules, — carissimus, or carissima conjux.
CESQ. I. P. — Quiescit, or quiescat in pace.
C. F.— Clarissima femina, — curavit fieri.
CH.— Christus.
C. H. L. S. E. — Corpus hoc loco sepultum (or situm) est.
CL.— Clarus,— clarissimus.
C. L. P. — Cum lacrymis posuerunt.
CL. V. — Clarissimus vir.
C. M. F. — Curavit monumentum fieri.
C. 0. — Conjugi Optimo.
C. 0. B. y. — Cum omnibus bonis quicscas.
COL— Conjugi.
COIVG.— Conjux.
CONL— Conjugi.
CONS. — Consul,— consulibus.
CON T. VOT.— Contra vutum.
COS. — Consul,— consulibus.
COSS. — Consules, —consulibus.
C. P.— Clarissima puella, — curavit poni.
C. Q.— Cum quo, or cum qua.
C. Q. F. — Cum quo fecit (for vixit).
C. R. — Corpus requiestit.
CS.-Cousul.
C. V. A. — Cum vixisset annos.
CVNG.— Conjux.
D.— Dies, — die,— defunctus, — depositus,— doiTnit,—
dulcis.
D. B. BL — Dulcissimae benemerenti.
D. B. Q. — Dulcis, bene quiescas.
D. D. — Dedit,— dedicavit,— dies.
D. D. S. — Decessit de saeculo.
DE. or DEP.— Depositus, -deposlta, — dcpositio.
DK.— Deum.
DEC— Decembris.
DF.— Defunctus,— defuncta.
DL— Dei.
DIAC— Diaconus.
DIEB.— Diebus.
D. III. ID.— Die tertua idus
D. LP.— Dormit, or decessit, or depositus in pace.
D. .VI -Dilsmanibus.
D. M. S.— Diis Manibus sacrum.
DM.— Dormit.
DMS. — Dominus.
D. N., or DD. NN.— Domino nostro, or dominis nostris
(the emperors).
DNL- Domini.
DO.— Deo.
DP. — DPS. — DPT. — Depositus, — depositio.
E.— Est,— et,— ejus,— erexit.
EID. — Eians/or idus.
EPC— EPVS.— EPS.— episcopus.
E.V.— E.Kvoto.
E. VI V. DISC— E vivis discessit.
E.V. TM.— Ex testamento.
F._Fecit,— fui,- filius,— filia,— femina,— feliclter,— fe-
lix,— fidelis,— febniarius.
F. C. — Fieri curavit.
INSCRIPTIONS
FE.— Fecit.
FEBVS.— Februarius.
FF.—Filii,—fratres,— fieri fecit.
F. F. Q.— Filiis filiabusque.
F. K. — Filius caiissimu3, — filia carisslma.
FL.— Filius,— Flavii.
FLAE.— Filiae.
F. P. F.— Filio, or filiae, poni fecit.
FS.— Fossor,— fossoribus,— fratribus.
F. V. F.— Fieri vivus fecit.
F. VI. D. S. E.— Filius sex dierum situs est.
GL.-Gloriosi.
H. —Hora, — hoc,— hie,— haeres.
H. A.~Hoc anno.
H. A. K. —Ave anima carissima.
H. L .S. — Hoc loco situs, or sepultus est.
H. M. — Honesta mulier.
H. M.F. F. — Hoc monumentum fieri fecit.
H R. I. P. — Hie requiescit in pace.
H. S. — Hie situs, or sepultus est.
H.T.F. or P. — Hunc titulum fecerunt, or posuerunt.
I. — In, — idus, — ibi, — illustris, — jacet, — januarius, —
Julius.
TAN. — Januarius, — Jaimarias.
ID. — Idus, — idibus.
I. D. N.— In Dei nomine.
IDNE.— Indictione.
I. H.— Jacet hie.
IH.— Jesus.
IHS.— Jesus
IHV.— Jesu.
IN. B. — In bono, — in benedictione.
IND.— Indictione,— in Deo.
IN. D. N.— In Dei nomine
IN. D. v.— In Deo vivas.
INO.— Ingenio.
INL.— Inlustris.
INN. — Imiocens, — innocuus, — in nomine.
IN. P., or I. P.— In pace.
INPC— In pace.
IN. X.— In Christo.
IN. v^ —In Cbristo.
IN. XPI. N.— In Christi nomine.
I. P. D.— In pace Dei.
ISPA.— Ispalensi.
I.X. — Jesus Christus.
K. — Kalendas, — carus, — carissima.
KAL.— Kalendas.
K. B. M. — Carissimo benemerenti.
K. D., — I., — M., etc.— Calendas decembres,— janu-
arias, — maias, etc.
K. K.— Carissimi.
KL. KLEND.— Calendas.
KRM. — Carissimae, — carissimo.
L.— Locus,— lubens.
L. A. — Libentl animo.
L. F. C. — Liberis fieri curavit.
L. M. — Locus monumenti.
LNA. — Luna.
L. S. — Locus sepulchri.
M- — Memoria, — martyr, — mensis, — menses, — meronti,
— maias, — mater, — merito, — monumentum, —
mamioreum — minus.
MA.— MAR.— MART.— Martyr,— martyrium,— mar-
tias.
MAT.— Mater.
M. B. — Memoriae bonae.
MERI'B.— Merentibus.
MES. — Meses,/o)" menses.
M.M. — Martyres.
M.P., or PP.— Monumentum, (rr memoriam, posuit, or
posuerunt.
MR. F.S.C.— Moerens fecit suae conjugi.
MIIT.— Merenti,— merentibus
MS. — Menses, — mensibus.
INSCRIPTIONS
861
N.— Nonas,— numero,—novembrIs,— nomine,— nostro
NAT.— Natalis,— natule.
NBR.— Novembris.
NME.— Xomine.
NO. or NON.— Nonas.
NON. APR.. - IVL., - SEP.. -OCT.. etc.- Nonas
aprilcs,— Julias,— sept»mbres,—octobre8, etc.
NN.— Nostris,— numeris.
NOV.— Novembris.
NOVE. NOVEBRES.-Novcmbres.
NST.— Nostri.
NVM.— Numerus.
0.— Horas,— optimus.— obitiis,— obiit.
OB.— Obiit.
OB. IN. XPO.— Obiit in CTiristo.
OCT.— Octobris,— octavas.
0. E. B.Q. — Ossa ejus bene quiescant.
0. H. S. S. — Ossa hie sepulta sunt.
OM., or Oil IB.— Omnibus.
OMS.— Omnes.
OP.— Optimus.
0. P. Q. — Ossa placide quiescant.
OSS.-
— post mortem, — piae memoriae.
P. — Pax, — plus, — posuit, — ponendum, — posuerunt, —
pater,— puer.—puella,— per,— post,— pro,— pri.ii.-
plus, — primus, — etc
PA,— Pace,— pater,— etc.
PARTE.- Parentibus.
PC— Pace,— poni curavit.
P. C, or P. CONS.— Post consulatum.
P. F.— Poni fecit.
P. H.— Positus hie.
P.I.— Ponijussit.
PL.— Plus.
P. M.— Plus minui
PONT.— Pontifex,
PONTFC— Pontlfice.
P. P. — Praefectus praetorio.
PP. K.L. — Prope calendas.
PR.— PRB.—PRBR.—PKEB.—PSBR.—PRSB.— Pres-
byter, or presbyteri.
PR., or PRID. K. IVN.— Pridie calendas Junius.
PR. Q. — Posterisque.
PR. N. — Pridie nonas.
PTR.— Posteris.
P. V. — Prudentissimus vir.
P. Z.— Pie zeses (Jor bibas, vivas).
Q. — qui, — quo, — quiesce, — quiescit, — quiescas.
Q. B. AN.— Qui bixit {for visit), annos.
Q. EEC. MEC— Qui fecit {for vixit) mccum.
Q. FV. AP. N.— Qui fuit apud nos.
Q. I. P. — Quifiscat in pace.
Q. M. 0. — Qui mortem obiit.
Q. v.— Qui vixit.
R. — Reeessit, — requiescit, — requiescas, — retro, — refri
gera, — refrigere.
REG. SEC— Regionis secundae.
RF;. — Requiescit, or requiescat, — repositus.
REQ.— Requiescit.
RES.- Requiescit? {Inscr. Hisp. n. 114).
R. I. P. A. — Requiescas in pace animae, or rreessit. ,
RQ.— Requievit.
S. — Suus, — sua, — sibi, — salve, — somno, — sepulcbrutn. —
solve, — situs, — sepultus, — sub.' {Tnsn: Uisp. n. 5(i).
SA.— Sanctissimus ? {Inscr. Ilisp. n. 174).
SAC. — Sacer, — sacerdos.
SAC VG.— Sacra virgo, or eacrata
S BRS.— Septembres.
SC— Sanctus.
SCA.— Sancta.
SCE.— Sanctae.
SCI.— Sancti.
SCIS.— Sanctis.
SCLI.— Saeeuli.
SC. M. — Sanctae memoriae.
.SCLO.— Saeculo.
862
INSINUATIO
SCOR.— Sanctorum.
SCORVM.— Sanctorum.
SD.— Sedit.
S. D. V. ID. IAN.— Sub die quinto idus januarias.
SEP. — September, — septimo.
S. H. L. R. — Sub boo lapide rcquiescit.
S. 1. D. — Spiritus in Deo.
S. L. M. — Solvit lubens merito.
S. M. — Sanctae memoriae.
S. 0. v.— Sine offensa ulla. .
SP. — Sepultus, - Bepulcrum, — spiritus.
SP. F. — Spectabilis femina.
S3.— Sanctorum,— suprascripta.
ST.— Sunt.
S. T. T. C— Sit tibi testis coelum.
T. and TT.— Titulus.
TB.— Tibi.
TIT. P., or PP., or FF.— Titulum posuit, or posuerunt,
or fecerunt.
TM.— Testameutum.
TPA.— Tempora.
TTM.—Testamentum,— titulum.
V. — Vixit, — vixisti, — vivus, — viva, — vivas, — veneme-
renti {/or benemerenti), — votum, — vovit, — vir,—
uxor, — vidua.
V. B.— Vir bonus.
V. C. — Vir clarissimus.
V.F. — Vivus, or viva, fecit.
VG., or VGO.— Virgo.
V. H. — Vir honestus.
V. K. — Vivas carissime.
V. I. AET.— Vive in aetemum, or in aetemo.
V. I. FEB.— Quinto idus februarii.
V. INL.— Vir inlustris (illustris).
VIX.— Vixit.
V. 0. — Vir optiraus.
VOT. VO v.— Votum vovlt.
VR. S.— Vir sanctus.
V. S.— Vir spectabilis.
V. T.— Vita tibi.
VV.CC— Viriclarlssimi
VV. F.— Vive felix.
V. K. — Uxor carissima, — vivas carissime.
X.— Cbristus.
XL— XPI.— Christi.
XO.— XTO.— Christo.
XPC— XS.— Christus.
Z.—Zezea.for vivas,— Zesu,/or Jesn.
[C.B.]
INSINUATIO. The making certain cus-
tomary payments to the bishop on appointment
to a church. See Thomassin {Vet. et Nov. Eccl.
Discip. iii. 1, c. 56). Justinian (Novell. 56, col.
5, tit. 11, § 1) provides that if any of the clergy
make the payments which are called insinua-
tives, " quae vocantur insinuativa," except in the
great church of Constantinople, the bishops who
exact them shall be deprived of their office.
[P. O.J
INSPECTOR. [Bishop, p. 210.]
INSTALLATION. [Bishop, p. 224.]
INSTRUCTION. 1. For the Christian in-
struction of children in general, see Catechu-
men, Children.
2. In a more special sense, the lections from
the Old Testament read to the candidates for
baptism immediately after the benediction of
the taper, and before the benediction of the font,
on Easter Eve, were called " Instructiones bap-
tizandorum." See the Gelasian Sacramentary
(i. c. 43), and the Gregorian (p. 70). Amalarius
{De Eccl. Off. 1. 19) gives mystical reasons why
INSTRUMENTA
the lections should be four in number, which
however is by no means invariably the case.
They are four in the Ordo Eormnus I. (c. 40,
p. 25), but the Gelasian Sacramentary gives
ten and the Gregorian eight. Instruction of
this kind seems to be alluded to in Palladius's
description of the scene which took place when
soldiers burst into John Chrysostom's church
at Constantinople on Easter Eve; "some of the
presbyters," he says ( Vita Chrysost. c. 9) " were
reading Holy Scriptures, others baptizing the
catechumens." So Paschasinus Lilybetauus, in
a letter to Leo the Great (quoted by Martene),
speaks of a case in which, after the accustomed
lections of Easter Eve had been gone through,
the candidates were not baptized, for lack of
water (Martene, Da Bit. Ant. I. i. 13, § 3). As in
the responses of the candidates at Rome both Latin
and Greek were used, so also the lections in baptism
were in ancient times recited in Latin and Greek.
Thus Ordo L'omauus I. (c. 40, p. 25), after
noticing that the reader does not announce the
lection in the usual way, " Lectio libri Genesis,"
but begins at once " In principio," goes on to
say, " First it is read in Greek, and then im-
mediately by another in Latin." The next lection
is read first in Greek and then in Latin ; and so
on. Amalarius (De Eccl. Off. ii. 1) says of this
custom, that lections were recited by the an-
cient Romans in Greek and in Latin, partly be-
cause Greeks were present who did not understand
Latin, and Latins who did not understand Greek ;
partly to show the unanimity of the two peoples.
Anastasius tells us (p. 251, ed. Muratori) that
pope Benedict III. (855-858) caused a volume
to be prepared in which the lessons for Easter
Eve and Pentecost were written out in Greek
and in Latin, whicb volume, in a silver binding
of beautiful workmanship, he oflered to a Ro-
man church. [C]
INSTRUMENTA. By the word instni-
menta we understand vessels, &c. employed in
the sacred ministry; thus, pope Siricius, A.D. 385
(Epist. I. ad Himerium, c. 14), forbidding persons
who had incurred public penance to be ordained,
says, " nulla debent gerendorum sacramentorum
instrumenta suscipere qui dudum fuerunt vasa
vitiorum."
By the words " instrumentorum traditio "
is technically designated the handing to a per-
son on ordination some vessel or instrument
used in his office. Thus, the African statutes
at the end of the 4th century {Cone. Cartli. IV.
c. 5) order the bishop to hand to a subdea-
con on ordination an empty chalice and au
empty paten, and the archdeacon to hand to him
a water vessel with a napkin, because he receives
no imposition of hands. Similarly the acolvte
(c. 6) is to receive from the archdeacon a candle-
stick with taper; the exorcist (c. 7) is to receive
from the hand of the bishop the book of exor-
cisms ; the reader (c. 8) the codex from which
he is to read ; the doorkeeper (c. 9) the keys
of the church.
In these cases it is to be observed that the
" instrumentorum traditio " takes place only in
the case of those ordained to minor orders (in-
sacrati ministri) who received no imposition of
hands.
The fourth council of Toledo, A.D. 633, pro-
vides (c. 28) that a bishop who is restored to
INSUFFLATION
his orders shall receive from the bishops, before
the altar, stole, ring, and staff; a priest, stole
and chasuble ; a deacon, stole and alb ; a sub-
deacon, paten and chalice ; and that those in
other orders shall receive back on restoration
those instruments which they had first received
_on ordination. We see from this that the ap-
propriate vestments were regarded in the 7th
century as the outward sign of the bestowal of
the higher orders. The delivery of the pastoral
staff and ring also forms part of the cere-
mony of the ordination of a bishop in the Pon-
tificals of Gregory the Great and of Egbert
[Bishop, p. 222].
In later times, the handing of the chalice
with wine and the paten with a host to a priest
on ordination came to be regarded as the "matter"
of the sacrament, while the "form" was the
words " Accipe potestatem offerre sacriiicium
Deo missasque celebrare tam pro vivis quam pro
defunctis in nomine Domini." But this opinion
not only has no support in Scripture, but it
seems to have been totally unknown in the
church for at least nine hundred years ; Isidore,
Amalarius, Eabanus, and Walafrid Strabo, know
nothing of it. (Martene, De Bit. Ant. I. viii.
9, § 16.) [C]
INSUFFLATION. [Baptism, § 31, p.
158 ; Exorcism.]
INSULANI. A designation of monks in
Southern France in the 5th century, on account
of the great reputation of the monasteries and
of their schools on the islands near the coast,
especially on the island Lerina (Lerins) (Bino-h.
Grig. Ecd. VII. ii. 14). [I. G. s!]
INTEEGESSION (Tntercessio, ivTev^is). It
does not fall within the scope of the present work
to discuss or to investigate historically the doctrine
of the intercession of the saints, or of the nature
and efficacy of intercessory prayer generally ; the
subject is considered here simply in its relation
to liturgical forms. And here we have to con-
sider (1) the persons whose intercession is asked ;
(2) the objects on behalf of which intercession is
made.
(1.) a. Throughout the Western church a large
portion of the prayers end with a pleading of the
merits of Christ, the great Intercessor ; generally
in the form " per Christum Dominum nostrum."
This is in fact an extension to all prayer of the
principle laid down for the altar-prayers, " cum
altari adsistitur semper ad Patrem dirigatur
oratio" {Cone. Carth. III. c. 23); when the
prayer is addressed to the Father, it is through
the intercession of the Son. This principle is
not adopted in the East, where the prayers, being
addressed to the Triune Deity, generally end with
an ascription of glory ; if with a pleading of
merits, it is of the Virgin Mary or the saints
(Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, i. 373).
6. We may take the words of Cyril of Jeru-
salem (Catech. Myst. V. 9, p. 328) as an authentic
account of the manner in which the intercession
of the saints departed was invoked in the church
of Jerusalem in the middle of the 4th century.
" Then we also commemorate those who have
gone to rest before us (rcoy irpoKiKoiixrifxivwv),
first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs; that
God at their prayers and intercessions (npea-
fieiais) would receive our supplication." It ap-
pears then that in Cyril's time the church asked
INTERCESSION
863
the intercession of jjatriarchs, prophets, apostles,
and martyrs; for the rest of the faithful de-
parted, including "holy fathers and bishops," it
interceded [Canon of the Lituroy, p. 2Gi> • Da--
TYCHS, p. 560]. But it is " beyond all question
that the early church offered the eucharistiu
sacrifice as well for the highest saints, and even
for the blessed Virgin Jlary, as for the common
multitude of the departed, faithful" (Ne.ile,
Eastern Ch. Int. 510). The intercession of saints',
for whom at the same time intercession is made
is asked in the so-called liturgy of St. Chry-
sostom, where we have the following form
(Daniel, Codex Lit. iv. 360) :— "We oflerloThee
also this reasonable service on behalf of (intp)
those who are at rest in the faith, our fore-
fathers, fathers, patriarchs .... and every just
spirit made perfect in the faith; especially our
most holy . . . Lady Mary, Mother of God and
ever Virgin . . . for the holy Prophet, Forerunner,
and Baptist, John ; for the glorious and highlv-
praised Apostles ; for Saint N. whose comm'emo-
ration we are celebrating, and all Thy saints ; at
whose supplications (iKfffioir) look upon us, 0
God. And remember all who have gone to rest
before us in hope of the resurrection to eternal
life." Then follow the diptychs. The Syriac
St. James (Renaudot, Litt. Orientt. ii. 36), after
commemorating holy Fathers, Patriarchs, Pro-
phets, Apostles, St. John Baptist, St. Stephen, the
Virgin, and all Saints, proceeds, " Therefore do we
commemorate them, that when they stand before
Thy throne, they may remember us in our Aveak-
ness and frailty, and offer with us to Thee this
awful and unbloody sacrifice, for the safe-keeping
of those who are living, for the consolation of
the feeble and unworthy, such as ourselves; for
the rest and good memory of those who have
passed away in the true faith, our fathers,
brethren, and masters." Here the saints de-
parted are represented as joining in one great
act of intercession with those on earth, rather
than as interceding for them. These may serve
as examples of the manner of asking the inter-
cession of the saints in the Eastern church.
Of the Western liturgies, Mabillon's Gallican
(Daniel's Codex Lit. i. 75) has, after the oblation
of the unconsecrated elements, " We pray for the
souls of Thy servants, our fathers and former
teachers, Aurelian, Peter, Florentinus . . . and
all our brothers whom Thou hast vouchsafed to
call hence to Thee ; .... for the souls of all
faithful servants and pilgrims deceased in the
peace of the church ; that Thou, 0 Lord our God,
wouldest grant them pardon, and rest eternal :
by the merits and intercession of Thy Saints,
JIary mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Stephen,
Peter, Paul, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas,
Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Simon, Jude,
Matthias, Genesius, Symphorianus, Bandilius,
Victor, Hilary, bishop and confessor, Martin,
bishop and confessor, Caesarius, bishop, vouchsafe
in mercy to hear and grant these petitions, who
livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, God for ever and ever." The Roman has
the following in the Cvmmunicantes of the Canon,
" Claiming fellowship with and venerating the
memory of, first, the glorious ever-virgin Mary.
mother of our God and Lord Jesus Christ ; and
also of Thy blessed apostles and martyrs, Peter
and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James,
Philip, Bartholomew, JIatf hew, Simon, and Thad-
864
INTERCESSION
daeus : Linus, Cletus, Clemens, Xystus, Cornelius,
Cyprian, Laurence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul,
Cosmas and Damian: and all Thy saints : in con-
sideration of whose merits and prayers, grant
that in all things we may be guarded by the
help of Thy protection." The Ambrosian (Daniel
i. 84) has, besides these, the names of ApoUi-
naris, Vitalis, Nazarius and Celsus, Protasius and
Gervasius. [Compare IMAGES, § viii. ; Insckip-
Tioxs, p. 856.]
The rule of the church in St. Augustine's time
drew a broad distinction between martyrs and
other saints ; for that father observes (/« Joann.
Tract. 84), " So at the Table of the Lord we do
not commemorate martyrs in the same way that
we do others who rest in peace, so as to pray
for them, but rather that they may pray for us,
that we may follow in their footsteps;" and
again (Z'e Verb. Apost. 17), " martyrs are re-
cited at the altar of God in that place where
prayer is not made for them ; for the rest of the
dead who are commemorated prayer is made."
It is in accordance with this that the Roman
canon, besides the Virgin and the twelve apostles,
recites as intercessors twelve martyrs. Other
churches however, out of respect to their local
saints, did not (as we see in the Galilean and
the Milanese) draw so rigid a line, and inserted
the names of confessors as well as martyrs. The
martyrs of the Roman canon seem to be all con-
nected with the city or see of Rome. [See Li-
BELLi, Martyrs.]
In the Embolismds of the Lord's Prayer, the
Roman and Ambi-osian liturgies pray for peace
in our days at the intercession of (intercedente)
the Virgin Mary with the apostles Peter and
Paul and Andrew and all the saints (Daniel i.
96). In the benediction of incense, in the Roman
use (Dan. i. 72), the priest prays that God will
bless it, at the intercession (per intercessionem)
of Michael the archangel, who stands at the right
hand of the altar of incense.
(2.) With regard to the objects of intercession,
we may say that Christians have been taught to
make intercession for all things of which they
know that their brethren have need. Such inter-
cessions are scattered over a great variety of
offices or litanies [Litany]. With regard spe-
cially to the intercessions made in the eucharist,
we will take the form of the Greek St. James
(Daniel, iv. 14) as a specimen of the objects re-
cited in the great eucharistic intercession. When
the priest, after consecration, has prayed that
the Body and Blood of Christ may be to the par-
takers for remission of sins, for the strengthen-
ing of the Holy Catholic Church, etc., he pro-
ceeds— " We ofter (■irpo(T(p4poixev} to Thee, Lord,
on behalf of (uVep) " the Holy Places, especially
Sion ; the Holy Catholic Church ; holy fathers,
brethren, bishops ; all cities and countries and
the orthodox who dwell there ; those who are
journeymg; those fathers and brethren who are in
bonds, imprisonment, mines or tortures; the sick
and demoniac ; every Christian soul in trouble ;
those who labour in Christ's name ; for all men,
for peace, and for the dispersion of scandal and
heresy ; for rain and fruitful seasons ; for those
who have adorned the churches or shown pitv
to the poor ; for those who desire to be remem-
bered in our prayers ; those who have offered ;
the celebrant and his deacons; all spirits and
all flesh, from Abel oven to this day, " give them
INTERPRETER
rest in the land of the living, in Thy kingdom,
in the bliss of Paradise, in the bosom of Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob, our holy fathers, whence
sorrow and grief and mourning have fled away ; "
for the forgiveness of sins, " by the grace and
mercy and compassion of Thy only - begotten
Son;" for (vwep) the Gifts, that God may receive
them into His spiritual sanctuary.
Some of the more remarkable peculiarities of
the Intercessions of diflerent churches are noted
under C-ANOX OF THE Liturgy, p. 273. [C]
INTERCESSION, EPISCOPAL. By a
custom which grew up less by any definite enact-
ment than by the general respect attaching to
their office, the bishops came to be looked upon
as protectors of those who were oppressed by the
secular power. The patrimony of widows and
orphans was often placed under the protection
of the churches and bishops (Aug. Ep. 252).
Flavian, bishop of Antioch, interceded success-
fully in A.D. 387 with the Emperor Theodosius,
on behalf of the city, which had been guilty of
a riot. So Theodoret with the Empress Pul-
cheria. Many other instances might be cited.
These interpositions obtained the technical name
of intercessio, and were recognised by the law.
The bishop was expected to visit the public
prisons on Thursday and Friday (Codex Justi-
nian, lib. i. tit. 4). They were charged with a
special oversight of such as held civil office in
their dioceses (Concil. Arel'at. I. c. 56, Cone. Arel.
ii. c. 13, "ut comites judices, seu reliquus popu-
lus obedientes sit episcopo, et invicem consen-
tiant ad justitias faciendas, et munera pro
judicio non recipiant, nee falsos testes, ne per
hoc pervertant judicia justorum," Cone. Gener.
tom. ii. p. 618, ed. Crabbe). The right of sanc-
tuary for fugitives in the churches grew up in the
same period, and was very frequently exercised
(Cod. Theodos. 1. ix. tit. 45, ap. Neander). See
Neale, Introd. to Eastern Church, and essay by
Moultrie in Neale's Ecclesiology, pp. 427-474 ;
Neander's Church History, vol. iii. sect. 2.
[Bishop, p. 237 ; Immunities of Clergy, p. 824.]
[S. J. E.]
INTERCESSORES or INTERVEN
TORES. In the African churches when a see
was vacant the senior bishop appointed one of
his suffragans as guardian or procurator. He
was styled Intercessor or Intervenior. The
fifth council of Carthage made a canon that no
intercessor should remain in this office more than
a year, and that if the vacancy was not then
filled, another should be appointed. Ko inter-
cessor was permitted to be chosen bishop of the
vacant see himself. So also in the Roman pro-
vince, as we learn from the letters of Symma-
chus (Ep. V. c. 9) and Gregory the Great (Ep.
ii. 16); Suicer (^Thesaurus, s. v. /xecriTTis); Bing-
ham (Ant. lib. ii. c. 15, and iv. c. 2). [Bishop,
p. 237.] [S.J.E.]
INTERMENT. [Burial of the Dead.]
INTERPRETER. Epiphanius (Expos. Fid.
n. 21) speaks of interpreters of the languages
employed both in reading the Scriptures and the
sermons, and ranks them among the lower orders
of the clergy, after the exorcists. An instance
of their existence is afforded in the case of Pro-
copius, who is said to have discharged three offices
in the church of Palestine, having been reader,
INTERROGATIO
exoi-cist, and interpreter of the Syrian language.
(Acta Procop. apud Vales. ; note m Eusch. Martyr,
latest. c. 1.) [LiTDRGiCAL Lan^guage.] [P.O.]
INTEREOGATIO (sc. de fide). This is a
questioning a candidate for baptism as to his
belief, before he was baptized, and formed part
of the office of baptism from very early times.
After the Renunciation (Abrenuueiatio) of the
devil by the candidate for baptism, and his
anointing, and before he was baptized he was
questioned as to his faith, and called upon to make
public profession of it. The custom is frequently
alluded to by the fathers. It is sufficient here to
refer: (1) For the custom : to St. Augustine (cfe
Animd et origine ejus, i. 10). " Ideo cum bapti-
zantur («. e. pueri) jam et symbolum reddunt, et
ipsi pro se ad interrogata respondent." (2) For
its object to St. Cyprian {Ep. 70 ad Jannarium de
haptigandis haereticis). " Ipsa interrogatio quae
fit in baptismo testis est veritatis." (3). For its
sibstance, to St. Ambrose (da Mysteriis, v. 28).
*' Descendisti igitur {i. e. in fontem) recordare
quid responderis, quod credas in Patrem, credas
in Filium, credas in Spiritum Sanctum ; " and
more fully de Sacranientis lib. ii. vii. "Inter-
rogatus es : Credis iu Deum Patrem Omnipoten-
tem ? Dixisti : Credo, et mersisti, hoc est,
sepultus es. Iterum interrogatus es ; Credis in
Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, et in cruceni
ejus ? Dixisti : Credo, et mersisti ; ideo et Christo
es consepultus ; qui enim Christo consepelitur,
cum Christo resurgit. Tertio interrogatus es ;
Credis et in Spiritum Sanctum? Dixisti: Credo,
tertio mersisti ; ut multipliccm lapsum supe-
rioris aetatis absolveret trina confessio."
The rite is still retained iu the office of
Baptism in the Roman church, in the same posi-
tion as of old ; and in the Greek church in the
preliminary office of " making a catechumen "
(eis rh TTOiTjcrai KaTiJXov/u.evoi').
The forms of the questions closely resem-
ble the old forms [v. Hit. Bom. de Sacramento
Baptismali, and Euchologion ivxai eU rh Troiri-
crai KaTTixovfievov']. For further details and
patristic references see Martene de Ant. Eccl.
Bit. i. 47. See also Baptism, §15 43, 46, pp.
159, 160; Creed § 4, p. 489; Profession.
[H. J. H.]
INTEESTITIA. These are intervals of time
which according to the regulations of the church
ought to elapse between the reception of one
order and the admission to a superior. Their
object was to exercise a cleric in the functions of
his order, and to test his fitness for promotion to
a highei-. The institution is an old one in the
church. The tenth canon of the council of
Sardica decrees " Habebit autem uniuscujusque
ordinis gradus non minimi scilicet temporis
longitudiuem per quod et fides et morum pro-
bitas et constantia et moderatio possit cognosci."
The duration of these interstices was not deter-
mined at the first, and it has varied much at
different times and places. Zosimus e.g., A.D.
417 {Ep. 1 ad Hesychiuni) proposes the following
rule. " If any one has been designed for eccle-
siastical ministi-ation from his infancy, he is to
remain among the readers till his twentieth year.
If he has devoted himself to the sacred ministry
when grown and of ripe age, provided he has
done so immediately after baptism, he is to be
kept among the readers or exorcists five years.
CIIUIST. ANT.
INTROIT
8Gc
Then he is to spend four years as an acolyte or
subdeacon. Then if deserving he is to be pro-
moted to the diaconate, in which order he is to
remain five years, and, if worthy, promoted to
the priesthood." Another canon prescribes that
a bishop must have been at least four years a
priest. [It must be remembered that in the
early church the age required for conferring
holy orders was more advanced than is tlie case
at present, twenty-five being the ordinary age
for a deacon, and thirty for a priest.]
Gelasius (a.D. 492)" shortened the presented
intervals between the different sacred orders,
and in cases of urgency they were occasionally
altogether dispensed with. ' Of this the most
conspicuous instance is that of St. Ambrose, who
is said to have passed through all the sacred
orders and to have been consecrated bishoj) on
the eighth day after his baptism.
In process of time, as the proper functions
assigned to the several minor orders fell into
disuse, the interstices between them ceased to be
observed, and the modern practice is to confer
the four minor orders simultaneously. The
council of Trent requires a year between the
minor orders and the subdiaco'nate, between the
subdiaconate and the diaconate. and between
the diaconate and the priesthood. Legitimate
exceptions are recognised, and dispensations
under certain conditions allowed ; but two
(major) orders are not to be conferred on the
same day : " Duo sacri ordinos non eadem die,
privilegiis ac indultis .... non obstantibus
quibuscunque" {Co7i. Trent. Sept. xxiii. col. 3;
De I'eform.) [Ordination.] [H. J. H.]
INTERVEXTORES. [Ixtercessores.]
INTROIT. Introilus is the name commonlv
given throughout the Latin church to the an-
them at the beginning ot the eucharistic office.
At Rome it was originally called Antiphona ad
Introitum, as in the earliest editions of the Ordo
Bomanus (i. n. 8, ii. n. 3, iii. n. 8, in Musae.
Ital. torn. ii.). In Ordo Bomanus VI. (n. 2, ib.\
probably a little later than our period, it is first
called introitus simply. Meanwhile in one Ordo
(v. n. o, j6.), we find the name of invitatory
given to it. At Milan it was termed ingressa
(Ambros. Miss. Bitus in Pamelii Bituale SS. PP.
torn. i. p. 293), a word of the .same meaning as
introitus. In Spain (Miss, ilozar. Leslie, j)ji.
18, 55, 64, &c.) and in England (the missals of
Sarum, York, Hereford ; Maskell's Ancient
Liturgy, pp. 20, 21) the introit was called offi-
cium, or officium missae. This arose from a mis-
take. The several masses in the early missals
were headed by the words Ad Missam Oliicium
(Leslie, m. s. pp. 1, 7, 10, &c. ; Missale Sarum,
coll. 1, 18, 27, &c., ed. Forbes), which were the
heading of the whole office, but were supposed
to refer to the introit which followed immediately
without any heading of its own. The antiphon
had this name in all the churches of Normandy,
and in many others (Le Bruu, Kxp'ic. de In Messr.
p. ii. art. 1), and in the missals of the Carthu-
sians, Carmelites, and Dominicans. This extended
use would be a sufficient jiroof of its great
antiquity, were we without the evidence of the
Mozarabic ritual. In the barliarous E.r}H>sitio
Missae, ascribed to Germanus of Paris, A.D. 55.'),
and certainly not much later than iiis time, tlio
introit, as usod in the old (iaili.an lilurs,'v, i>
866
IMTROIT
called praelegere, or antiphona ad praelegendo
{sic), because it preceded the eucharistic lessoiis
i^Expos. printed iu JIartene, Do Ant. EccL Hit.
lib. i. c. iv. art. xii. ord. 1).
Tlie origin of the introit is obscure. At the
earliest period the office began with lessons from
holy Scripture, of which psalms said or sung
formed a part, but this psalmody is in the West
to bo traced in the Gradual and Tract. In
tile Syrian rite a psalm is sung before as well as
after the ei)istle, but this appears to have had
the same origin (^Ordo Communis ; Renaud.
Liturg. Orient, tom. ii. p. 7). The introit is
clearly another rite, and of later introduction.
It seems to have been introduced partly as a
fitting accompaniment of the solemn entrance
(introitus, iugressa) of the celebrant into that
part of the church iu which the altar stood, and
partly ar a means of employing and solemnizing
the minds of the people before the service began.
The name incitatory suggests that the people
were still entering the church while it was being
sung.
The Ordo Romanus in its earliest state, about
730, gives us some suggestive information re-
specting the introit as sung in the churches of
Rome at that time. The bishop having vested is
still in the secretariam, the choir waiting in the
church for an order from him to begin •' the anti-
phon for the entrance" (introitum). On a signal
from him " ut psallant," a subdeacon enters the
church, orders the candles to be lighted, and then
stands with a censer before the dooi- of the secre-
tariam, while one of the leaders of the choir,
who has also been in waiting, carries the order
for the singing to commence. As soon as this is
heard two deacons enter, and each taking a hand
of the bishop lead him into the chur«h, up to the
altar. He is preceded by the subdeacon with
incense, dnd seven acolytes bearing candles. 0n
his way to the altar the Sancta or Fermentum
is brought to him that he may select what is
necessary for the celebration. After private
prayer at the altar, and giving the peace to the
ministers, he stops the singing by giving a
signal for the Gloria Patri {Ord. Rum. I. nn.
7, 8 ; comp. ii. nu. 4, 5, iii. nn. 7, 8, v. n. 5,
vi. n. 3).
The Liber Pontificalis is supposed to ascribe
the introdiiction of the introit to Celestine, a.d.
423, when it tells us that he "ordered the 150
psalms of David to be sung antiphonally before
t'le sacrifice " (Anastas. Biblioth. Vitae Pont. u.
44). The tradition probably refers to the in-
troit, although the next statement shows that
the author connects it with the earlier Gradual.
For he adds :— " This was not done before, only
the epistles of the apostle Paul were recited and
the holy gospel, and so masses wer-e celebrated."
It will be observed that the Ordo cited calls the
introit an antiphon, though it uses the word
psallere. Gregory the Great, A.D. 595, is said
to have compiled the antiphons, selecting proper
lerses from the psalms, and retaining the Gloria,
which was then said, as now, at the end of every
psalm. Some ancient writers, as Amalarius
{De Ecol. Officiis, lib. iii. c. 5), Walafrid Strabo
(Be Rebus Eccl. c. 2-J)„ and Mierologus (De
Eccl. Observ. c. 1), suppose that this selection
was the work of Celestine; but Honorius of
Autun, more in consonance with the words of the
Liber Pontificalis, and with the circumstantial
INTROIT
evidence of the case, says, — " Pope Celestine
ordered psalms to be sung at the introit of the
mass, from which pope Gregory afterwards ar-
ranged and compiled antiphons for the introit of
the mass " (Gemma Aninve, lib. i. c. 87). Alt
the psalms in the antiphonary ascribed to Gre-
gory are taken from the old Italic version, as it
stood before the corrections of St. Jerome, but
this is no proof of an earlier antiquity of the in-
troits than we ascribe to them. For Gregory
himself professed to use the Italic and the Vul-
gate versions of the Bible indifferently (Ep. ad
Leandr. c. 5, in fine ; Expos, in Lib. Job. praef.),
and Jerome's corrected Italic psalter, long called
the Galilean psalter, did not take the place of
the original at Rome until the time of Pius V.
(Bonfi, Rer. Liturg. lib. ii. c. 3, § 4). The fol-
lowing example of the Gregorian introit is for
the first Sunday in Advent : — " Antiph. Ad To,
Domiue, levavi animam meam. Deus mens in
Te confido : non erubescam neque irrideat me
inimicus mens {Vulg. irrideant me iuimici mei)
etenim universi qui Te expectant ( Vtilg. susti-
nent Te) non confundentur (Ps. xxv. 1-3). Psal.
Vias Tuas, Domine, demonstra mihi et semitas
tuas edoce me " (ib. v. 4). Durnndns (Ratioriale,
lib. iv. c. 5, n. 5) tells us that " in some churches
tropes are said for the psalms, according to the
appointment of pope Gi-egory, to represent
greater joy on account of the coming of Christ."
The introit itself had long been thought designed
to "bring back His advent to our mind " (Am-
alar. De Eccl. Off. lib. iii. c. 5) ; but Durandus
is without doubt wrong in ascribing to Gregory
the attempt to emphasize that meaning by the
addition of tropes. We cannot, however, say at
what period subsequent to his they first ap-
peared. They were not like the Greek troparia,
independent of the antiphons in connection with
which they were sung, but were farsings or in-
terpolations in the antiphons of the Gregorian
introit. In the following example the farsing is
in italics. The antiphon is that for the Epiphany :
— '^Ejii, Sion gaude, et laetare aspectu Dei tui.
Eece advenit dominator Dominus; cui matenes
coeli et tcrrae famulantur ; et regnum in mauu
ejus. Ipsi mam.-t Deus (sic) gloria atque jubitatio;
et potestas et imperium " (Pamelii, Rituale, tom.
ii. p. 613 ; com p. p. 73).
Of the Gallican introit we only know that hke
the Roman it was sung before the ofl^cs of the
mass began. " While the clerks are singing
psalms " (psallentibus), says Germanus (u. .■?.),
"the priest comes forth out of the sacraj-ium "
(Ae/-e = secretarium). The council of Agde, a.d.
506, appears to recognize the introit, when il
orders that as in other churches " collects be said
in order by tlie bishops and presbyters after the
antiphons " (cap. oO). The following is the in-
troit (taken from the original Italic version of
Ps. xciii. 1) used in the iMuzaral>ic liturgy on
every Sunday between Whitsunday and Advent,
and again on the Circumcision and the Sundays
before and after the Epiphany : — " Dominui
regnavit ; decorem induit : Alleluia, y. Induit
Dominus fortitudiiiem et praecinxit se. P,
(Presbyter.) Allehiin. f. Gloria et honor Patri:
et Filio : et Spiritui Sancto in saecula saecu-
lorum : Amen. P. Alleluia." It will be seen
that this belongs to the later period, when the
celebrant was at the altar before the choir be-
gan, a rule which has prevailed in the church of
INTROIT
Rome also for many ages. See Sala, Annot. 11,
iu Bona, Ber. Liturg. lib. ii. c. iii. § 1 ; and Lo
Brun, Explication, p. ii. art. 1. The Ambrosiau
iugressa is very simple. The following is for
Christmas Day, from Is. ix. 6, Ital. vers. " Puer
natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, cujus
imjjerium super hamerum ejus, et vocabitur
uomen ejus magni cousilii augelus " (Pamelius,
u. s. torn. i. p. 293). " It is an anthem without
psalm, or Gloria, or repetition " (Le Brun, Diss.
iii. art. 2).
The following hymn is sung in the liturgy of
St. James before the priest enters to the altar.
It is preceded by the rubric, ''Then the deacon
begins to sing in the entrance," which at once
suggests an analogy to the Western introit.
" Only begotten Son and Word of God, who being
immortal didst for our salvation take upon Thee
to be incarnate of the holy Mary, mother of God
and ever Virgin, and didst unchangeably become
man, and wast crucified, O Christ (our) God, and
didst by death trample on death, being one of the
Holy Trinity, glorified together with the Father
and the Holy Ghost, save us" {Liturgiae SS. PP.
p. 6, Bas. 1560). The matter of this hymn proves
it to be later than the. outbreak of the Nestorian
heresy; but its great antiquity is sufficiently
attested by its appearing also in the liturgies of
St. Mark (Renaudot, Liturg. Orient, tom. i. p.
136), in copies, apparently the older, of St. Basil
{Eucholog. Goar, p. 180, and the old Latin xex-
aiou, Liturgiae, sive Ilissae SS. PP. p. 32, Par.
1560), in many copies of St. Chrysostom (Goar,
u. s. pp. 101, 105), and in the Armenian (Neale's
Litrod. to Hist, of East. Church, p. 380). In
St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, however, we have
a nearer approach to, and the probable origin of,
the Western introit, viz., in three antiphons,
composed for common days, of three or four
verses (Rubric iu St. Basil. Goar, p. 180, and
the old Latin, p. 32) of the 92nd, 93rd, and 95th
psalms (as numbered in E. V.). See Goai', pp.
101, 104, 105. While each antiphon is sung, a
prayer is said secretly by the priest ; and it may
be interesting to mention that the " Prayer of
St. Chrysostom," in our daily office, is in the
Greek liturgy (Lit. PP. pp. 45, 81) the " Prayer
of the Third Antiphon." The revisers of our offices
were familiar with it in the translation of St.
Chrysostom by Leo Thuscus, A.D. 1180 (printed
by Hofmeister, in 1540), and in the Greek and
Latin of the editions of Venice, 1528, and Paris,
1537, and introduced it at the end of the litany
in 1544. When the Greek antiphons were first
used is not known. Amalarius, writing about
the year 833, says that he had heard the 95th
psalm sung at Constantinople " iu the church of
St. Sophia" at the beginning of mass " (De Orel.
Antiph. c. 21). The use of the antiphon by the
Nestorians and Jacobites seems to carry us up to
the 5th century, in which they were separated
from the church. On Sundays the Greek church
commonly substituted " typica " (so-called be-
cause they were forms prescribed by the rubrics)
for the first two aniiphons, and the Beatitudes
for the third (Goar, pp. 65-67 ; Liturg. PP. pp.
44, 80-82), with verses (rpoirapia) commemor-
ating the saint of the day (Goar, u s.). The
liturgic typica are from the 103rd and 146th
psalms (Demetrius Ducas, in Lebrun, I>iss. Vf.
art. iv. ; Leo Allatius, Be Lihris Eccl. Diss. L
p. 14). For the third antiphon may also be used
INVESTITURE
8G7
on common days, the third and si.\th canticle
(when thus united called TpiTe/cTrj) of the matin
office (Goar, pp. 67, 124). The typica, we must
add, are not sung on every Simdav. " It should
be known," says the T.,),ivon of Sabas, " that
from New Sunday to the Feast of All Saints (/. <■.
from the octave of Kaster to that of Whitsunday)
the church sings antiphons and not tvpica. We
sing the antiphons likewise in the Twelve Davs
(between Christmas and Epiphany), and on the
memorials of saints which we keep as feasts "
(In Leo Allat. m. s.).
The Syrian rite preserves a fragment of the
93rd psalm and nearly the whole of the 95th, at
the beginning of the service. They are sung
while the veils and the altar are being censed
(Renaudot, tom. ii. pp. 3, 4). In the Nestorian
liturgies, the priest and deacon, standing near the
altar, say, in alternate verses, on common davs,
parts of psalms 15, 150, 117: and proper hyrtins
on Sundays and the greater festivals (Baijger's
Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 215; Raulin. Litun/ia
Malabarica, p. 294; Renaud. tom. ii. p. 584).
In the Armenian, beside the hymn before men-
tioned, there are hymns proper to the day, sung
where the Greek has its antiphons (Le' Brun,
I>is.s. X. art. 12).
Cardinal Bona {Per. Liturg. lib. ii. c. iii. § 1)
suggests that "perhaps Celestine (in adopting
the introit) transferred to the Western churches
a custom which had long flourished in the East-
ern." The great use made, as we have seen,
of the 93rd psalm (Dominus regnavit) in the
introits of Spain, creates a strong suspicion that
Spain was a borrower from the Greeks, in whose
liturgy that psalm was used on all common days
and many Sundays in the year. Hence it is pro-
bable that the introit was, like some other rites,
derived by Rome from the East through Spain.
[W. E. S.]
INVENTION OF THE CROSS. [Cross,
FiXDiXG OF Till:, p. 503.]
INVESTITURE The Latin word Investi-
tura (from vestire, to put into possession; see
Ducange s. v.), is of later date than the
9th century ; nor had the thing signified by
it really commenced by then, in the sense
which concerns us here : the putting ecclesi-
astics in possession of their tem))oralities by a
formal act of the civil power. When Sigebert,
quoted by Gratian {Dist. Ixxiii. c. 22), in enu-
merating the privileges supposed by him to have
been conferred on Charlemagne by Adrian I.,
says of that pope : " Insuper archiepiscopos et
episcopos per singulas provincias ab eo investi-
turam accipere definivit : et nisi a rege laudetur
et investiatur episcopus, a nemine consecretur,"
he is, apart from the doubtfulness of the fact
(on which see De Marca. de Concoi-d. viii. 12),
making the pope depose, not merely to language,
but to customs unknown in his day. LauJulph,
who was contemporary with Sigebert, is bolder
still ; making Adrian the inventor of both. " Qui
primus," as he says of him, " aunulos et virgas
ad investiendum episcopal us Carole doiiavit "
(Hist. 3feiiiol. u.l\); but then he couples an-
other incident with this talc, which explains
its origin. The absence of notice iu the Caro-
line capitularies of any .such custom, an 1 their
ap])areut ignorance of the word itself, seems con-
clusive against the existence of either at tiiat
3 K 2
868
INVITATOEIUM
date : particularly as the word " vestitura " is
of frequent occurrence in them, denoting either
possession, or the payment for it. Of course
there were symbolical forms also then in use for
giving possession, but none peculiar, as yet, to
the clergy ; and the common name for the act of
doing this was " traditio." Hence, probably, the
new word arose from joining the two words, " in
vestitura," in one ; and then understanding it of
the special formality by which the clergy were
put in possession of their temporalities, on this
becoming essential to possession in their case.
That Charlemagne, as well as his predecessors,
appointed bishops of his own choosing occa-
sionally to sees in his dominions, is no more
than had been done by the Greek emperors ages
before, where investiture in its Western accepta-
tion has never been known. Neither the Theo-
dosian Code, nor the Code or Novels of Justinian
exhibit traces of anything approaching to it,
though by the latter limits are prescribed to the
fees for enthronization (Xovel. cxxiii. 3 : see also
Du Cange and Hofman, s. v. ; Sirmond ap. Baluz.
Capitul. ii. 802 ; and Thomassin. Vet. et Aov.
Eccl. Discipl. II. ii. 38). [E. S. Ff.]
INVITATORIUM. In the Gregorian and
Benedictine * offices the psalm " Venite exultemus
Domino " xciv. [E. V. xcv.] is said daily at the
beginning of Nocturns prefaced by an antiphon
which is called the Invitatorium. It is of pre-
cisely the same character as other antiphons to
psalms, and varies with the day, but is said
differently from other antiphons, and repeated
several times during the course of the psalm as
well as at the beginning and end. Thus the
ordinary Sunday invitatory is " Adoremus Domi-
num, qui fecit nos," which is said twice at the
beginning of the psalm, and repeated in whole
or in part iive times during its course, and again
after the Gloria.
On the Epiphany no invitatory was said ; but the
psalmody began, and still begins, with the psalms
of the tirst nocturn with their antiphons [Hodie
lion cantamus Invitatorium, sed absolute inci-
pimus. Eubric ex Antiphonario Vaticano Rom.
Ecd.'^'] and the psalm " Venite " was said with
its own antiphon as the last psalm of the second
nocturn. [Later it was said as the first j)salm of
the third nocturn, and its antiphon repeated
during its course in the ordinary manner of an
invitatory]. Amalarius (lib. iv.'c. 33) and Du-
randus (lib. vi. c. 36) suggest that the reason for
this omission may have been to mark the differ-
ence between the invitation to the faithful to
praise God, and that which Herod gave to the
scribes and doctors to find out where Christ
should be born. More probably it was omitted
[Martene de Hit. lib. iv. c. 14] simply because
the psalm to which it belonged was said in an-
* In the Benedictine Psalter Ps. "Venite" is preceded
by Ps. 3; but its antipUon is called " Antiph. luvita-
^ Amalarius c. xi WTites: "Nostra regio in praesenti
officio [(. e. in die Epip.] solita est unum omittere de con-
suf-to more, id est Invitatorium :"^as if the custom were
local ; but from what he says in the passage referred to in
the text, it would seem that it soon became general.
Some French churches, however, among which were those
of Lyons and Kouen, were in the habit of singing the In-
vitatory on the Epiphany. At Lyons it was sung with
special solemniiy (Martene nt sup.).
ISAAC
other place, though why the psalm should be dis-
placed from its ordinary position is not so clear.
The psalm "Venite" is also known as the
"Invitatory Psalm."
In the Ambrosian psalter, " Venite " is not said
at the beginning of the office, and there is no
antiphon which corresponds to the Gregorian
Invitatorium. [H. J." H.]
INVOCATION. [EpicLEsis.]
IRENAEUS. (1) [Hyacinthcs (1).]
(2) Bishop, martyr at Sirmium under Maxi-
mian; " Passio," March 25 {Mart. Horn. Vet.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) [Thkodorus.]
(4) Martyr at Thessalonica Avith Peregrinus
and Irene; commemorated May 5 {Mart. Bom.
Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(5) Bishop of Lyons, and martyr under Seve-
rus ; commemorated June 28 {Mart. Hieron.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(6) Deacon, martyr with Mustiola, a noble
matron, under the emperor Aurelian ; comme-
morated July 3 (Mart. Usuardi).
(7) Martyr at Rome with Abundius, under
Decius ; commemorated Aug. 26 {Mart. £om.
Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(8) and Phocas ; conmiemornted Oct. 7 {Cal.
Armen.) [W. F. G.]
IRENE. (1) Virgin, martyr at Thessalo-
nica; commemorated April 5 (Mart. Bom. Vet.,
Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(2) Martyr ; commemorated with Agape and
Chionia, April 16 {Cal. Byzaiit.).
(3) [Irenaecs (4).] [W. F, G.]
IRENICA. [EiRENiCA.]
IRELAND, COUNCILS OF { Bibcrnica
concilia). But two such are recorded before
A.D. 800, both held by St. Patrick, according to
Spelman (Cone. p. 49 and seq.), A.D. 450 or 456,
viz. in his 80th or 86th year, assisted by his
coadjutors, Bishops. Auxilius and Iserninus. At
least the 3+ canons passed at the first run in their
joint names. The discipline prescribed in them
indicates very primitive manners. By the 6th
any clerk, from the doorkeeper to the priest
seen abroad without his shirt, and with his
nakedness uncovered, if his hair be not tonsured
in the Roman style, and his wife walk out with
her head unveiled, is to be lightly regarded by
the laity, and excluded from the church. Thirty-
one canons of a similar description are given to
the other counciL But the.se 65 by no means
exhaust the number ascribed to St. Patrick.
Seventeen more from other sources are supplied
by Mansi (vi. 519-22). Another collection of
Irish canons, supposed to be earlier than the 8th
century, may be seen in Dachery's Sfijil. by
Baluze, i. 491 and seq., and a supplement to
them in Martene and Durand, Aiicc. iv. 1-21.
[E. S. Ff ]
IRREGULARITY. [Ordination.]
ISAAC. (1) The patriarch ; commemorated
with Abraham and Jacob, Ter 28 = Jan. 23,
Maskarram 28 = Sept. 25 {Cal. Eihinp.); also at
ISAIAH
intervals of thirty days reckoning from these
dates throughout the year ; also commemorated
alone, Nahasse 24 = Aug. 17 {Cal. Ethiop.).
(2) Armenian patriarch ; commemorated Feb.
9 {Cal. Armen.).
(3) Dalmata, ocrios iraT-ftp, in the time of the
emperor Valens; commemorated May 31 (Cul.
Byzant.).
(4) Monk, martyr at Cordova ; commemorated
June 3 (^Mart. Usuardi).
(5) andMesrop; commemorated June 27 ((7a/.
Armen.).
(6) Holy Father, a.d. 368 ; commemorated
Aug. 3 {C'al. Byzant.).
(7) and Joseph; commemorated Sept. 16 (Cal.
Georg.).
(8) King of Ethiopia ; commemorated Tekemt
30 = Oct. 27 (Cal. Ethiop.). [W. F. G.]
(9) The Just, patriarch of Alexandria ; com-
memorated Hedar 9 = Nov. 5 (Cal. Ethiop.).
ISAIAH, the prophet; commemorated Mav 9
(Cal. Byzant.), July 6 (Mart. Bom. Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi), Maskarram 6 = Sept. 3, and
Ter 3 = Dec. 29 (Cal. Ethiop.). [VV. F. G.]
ISAPOSTOLOS. [Apostle.]
ISBODICON. [Fraction.]
ISCHYRION, martyr at Alexandria; com-
memorated Dec. 22 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
ISIDORUS. (1) Bishop of Antioch; " Pas-
sio," Jan. 2 (Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(2) Saint, of Pelusium in Egypt, 'iaioi irarrip
circa 415 A.D. ; commemorated Jan. 15 (Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi), Feb. 4 (Cal. Byzant.).
(3) Bishop of Seville (Hispala) ; deposition at
Seville, April ^ (Mart. Usuardi).
(4) [Helias.]
(5) Martyr at Chios, a.d. 255 ; commemorated
May 15 (J/ari. Adonis, Usuardi, Cal. Byzant.).
(6) [DioscoRUS (3).] [W. F. G.]
ISMAEL, martyr a.d. 362 ; commemorated
June 17 (Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
ISSUE OF BLOOD, CURE OF THE.
This miracle is repeated on many sarcophagi.
Figures on a Sareophagns. (From Marliirny.)
JAMES THE GREATER, ST. 809
See Bottari, taw. six. xxi. xxxiv. xxxix. xli.
Ixxxiv. Ixxxv. Ixxxix. cxxxv. She has been taken
as representing the Gentile church, particularly
by St. Ambrose, lib. ii. in Luc. c. viii. She is of
small stature in the carvings, like the other
subjects of our Lord's miraculous cures. In
Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. vii. 18) mention is made of
a bronze statue of our Lord, or rather of a group
of two figures, which existed at Caesarea Philippi,
Dan (or Baneas at this day), and was said to
have been erected by this woman, who was also
represented as kneeling at His feet. Eusebius
saw the statue himself, but its being meant lor
our Lord seems to have been matter of tradition.
Tovrov rhv avSpidfra (iKiva tov 'Ifjaov <pip(iv
iK^yov. "Ejueii'f 56 koX ds ri/Jias. ws Kal oij/ei
irapaKa^uu eViSTj/irjcra^'Tas (Xurovs rrj TrdKtt.
(See Jesus Christ, Representation's of.)
[R. St. J. T.]
ISTRIAN COUNCIL (rstriense Concilium).
Held by the partisans of the Three Chapters at
some place in Istria, A.D. 591, according to JIansi,
to petition the emperor Maurice in their own be-
half, and that of Severus, bishop of Aquileia, their
metropolitan, who had been forced by the exaicli
into condemning them at Ravenna, and was now
summoned with his suffragans to Rome. Their
remonstrance, to which eight names are affixed,
was successful, and the pope was ordered to leave
them in peace for the present (Mansi, x. 463-7).
[E. S. Ff.]
ITALIAN COUNCILS (Ra'ica ConciliaX
Three councils are given under this heading in
Mansi. 1. A.D. 380, at which Maximus the Cynic,
who had just been deposed at Constantinople, was
heard (iii. 519). 2. A.D. 381, at which St. Ambrose
was present, and whose proceedings are preserveil
in two letters addressed in his name and that of
his colleagues to the emperor Theodosius, in one
of which an attempt to introduce Apollinarian
errors among them is noticed ; and in the other
the claims of Maximus, and the consecration of
Nectarius to the see of Constantinople are dis-
cussed with some anxiety («'). 630-3). 3. A.D.
405, at which the emperor Honorius was peti-
tioned to intervene with his brother Arcadius in
flivour of St. John Chrvsostom (ib. 1162).
[E. S, Ff.J
IVENTIUS, EVANTIUS, or EVENTIUS,
confessor at Pavia; commemorated with Syrus
Sept. 12 (Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
^ [VV. F. G.]
JACINTHUS. (1) [Felicianus (4).]
(2) [HVACINTHUS.]
JACOB, the patriarch; commemorated Na-
hasse 25 = Aug. 18 (Cal. Ethiop.). See also
Isaac. [W. F. G.]
JADER. [Felix (24).]
JAMBLICHUS, one of the seven sleepers of
Ephcsus ; commemoiated Oct. 22 (Cal. Ihjzant.).
I ^ ' [W. F.G.]
JAMES THE GREATER, ST., Legend
and Festival oe.
1. Laiond. — By the name of James tlie
Greaterj the son' of Zcbedce is distinguished
from tli'e other apostle of the same name. flie
870 JAMES THE GREATEE, ST.
epithet would seem to have regard either to
stature or to age, though some, with apparently
less likelihood, would make it refer (1) to pri-
ority ia the call to the apostleship, or (2) to
liigher privileges in intercourse with Christ, or
(3) to the dignity of an earlier martyrdom.
The elder brother of St. John, universally
believed to have been the last survivor of the
apostles, St. James was the first to be called
away, having been beheaded by Herod Agrippa I.,
shortly before the Passover of 44 A.D. Out of a
mass of tradition concerning him, the only point
supported by any adequate evidence is the inci-
dent related by Eusebius (ffist. Eccles. ii. 9) on
the authority of Clement of Alexandria, of the
conversion of St. James's accuser as the apostle
was led away to death. Struck by his steadfast-
ness, he too embraced Christ, and the apostle
and his accuser suffered together.
The stories, however, of St. James's connection
with Spain are deserving of very little credit.
In spite of such plain statements as Acts viii. 1
(very lamely met by Baronius), the apostle is
made to undertake a missionary journey into
Spain after the death of Stephen, returning to
Jerusalem before A.D. 44. The ancient evidence
for such a story is of the weakest. Isidore of
Seville (ob. 636 A. D.) does say {de Ortu et Obifu
Patrum, c. 71 ; Patrol. Ixxxiii. 151), if indeed
the work is his, which is certainly doubtful, that
St. James preached the gospel to the natives of
Spain and the Western regions;" and the same
statement is found in the Collectanea, once
wrongly attributed to Bede {Patrol, sciv. 545).
Mere unsupported statements, however, of so
late a date can amount to very little. It is
worthy of notice too that at a much earlier
period, Innocent I. (ob. 417 A.D.) states that no
church had been founded throughout Italy, Gaul,
or Spain, except by those who owed their autho-
rity directly or indirectly to St. Peter {Ep. 25
ad JDecentium, c. 2 : Patrol, xx. 552). With
every allowance for the desire of a bishop of
Rome to exalt the see of St. Peter, so sweeping a
statement could hardly have been ventured on,
had there been a strongly established tradition
as to St. James's connection with Spain. Am-
brose evidently knew no such legend, for he
speaks of St. Paul's projected journey into Spain
being "quia illicChristus non erat praedicatus "
{(-'omm. ill Ep. ad Pom. xv. 24; Patrol, xvii.
176) ; nor did Jerome, for he mentions St. Paul's
journeys having reaclaed even to Spain, imme-
diately after referring to the apostle's never
building " super alterius fnndamentum, ubi jam
fuerat praedicatum" (Comm. in Amos, v. 8 sqq. ;
vol. vi. 291, ed. Vallarsi). Baronius (notes to
MartyrolO'jium Uommum ; July 25), in sum-
ming up concerning these legends, can only urge
" non esse adeo impossibilia, vel haberi pro
monstro, ut putant aliqiii."
The story of the translation of the apostle's
body into Spain is obviously totally apocryphal.
It is to the etfect that after his body had been
interred at Jerusalem, his disciples removed it
to Iria Flavia, in the far north-west of Spain.
(For an elementary form of the story see the
Martyrologies [July 25] of Usuard and Notker ;
» This writins speak-; of St James as buried " ir. Mar-
mirica" (al. Ca niarica, &c.). a name which does not
seem to have been satisfactorily exjilaiMed.
JAMES THE GREATEli, ST.
Patrol, cxxiv. 295, cxxxi. 1125: those of Bede
and Wandalbert ignore it.) Here it was dis-
covered early in the 9th centur}', and removed
to Compostella (a corruption of Gia-:omo Pustolo,
ad Jwobum Apostohim), a few miles distant, by
order of Alpbonso II., king of Asturias and Leon
(ob. 842 A.D.). For a very full account of these
legends, see Cuper in the Acta Sanctorum (July,
vol. V. pp. 3 sqq.) ; also Mariana, Du adocn'tu
Jacohi Apostoli major is in Hispaniam, in his
Tractatus, Col. Agr. 1609 ; TolrK, Justificwion
historico-criti:a de la venida de Santiago el Mayor
a, Esparia, y de su sepulcro in Compos ela. 51 a-
triti, 1797 ; Arevalus, Isidoriana, c. 61 {Patrol.
Ixxxi. 382 sqq.), and sundry writings in con-
nection with St. James, wrongly attributed to
pope Callixtus II. {Patrol, clxiii. 1370 sqq.).
Strangely, however, in spite of this lack of
evidence, the legend took such root in Spain,
as practically to count there as an article of
fiiith, and thus we find Luther holding it neces-
sary to protest against such a view (Sammtlicke
Schriften, xv. 1864, ed. Walch).
For the wild legends connecting St. "James
with the false teachers Hermogenes and Philetus,
reference may be made to the Ilistoria Apostolicn
•if the pseudo-Abdias, lib. iv., in which, it may
be remarked in passing, there is no allusion
whatever to Spain (Fabricius, Codex Pseudepi-
qraphus JS'ovi Testumenti, vol. ii. p. 516 sqq. ed.
1719).
2. Festival of St. James. — The date when St.
James was first commemorated by a festival
cannot be determined very closely. It is well
known that at first the only apostles who had a
special festival were St. Peter and St. Paul, and
that the others gradually obtained separate com-
memorations afterwards. In the case of St.
James, the notices are such as to point to the
conclusion that the festival was one wliich only
made its way very gradually, and, that the date
at which it had attained general observance was
quite late. We find a mention, it is true, in the
ancient Kalendarium Carthaginense, where for
December 27 is this notice : " vi. Kal. Jan. Sancti
Joannis Baptistae [here probably Evangelistae
should be read] et Jacobi Apostoli, queni He^'odes
occidit '' {Patrol, xiii. 1228). On the other hand,
many ancient Sacramentaries give no indication
of the existence of a festival of St. James. The
Ambrosian (Pamelius, Liturgy. Latt. i. 403) and
Gregorian (col. 115, ed. Menard), as we now
have them, do so, the forms being almost iden-
tical in the two cases; but the Leonine and
Gelasian pass it over. In the ancient Galilean
Liturgy edited by Mabillon, to which we have
referred below, it will be seen that St. James is
commemorated, together with his brother, on
December 27, but in the Galilean Lectionary the
festival is of St. John alone, and in the Jlartyro-
loyium Gellonensc (D'Achery's Spicilegiujn, xiii.
390), the notice is " vi. Kal. Jan. Ordinatio
Episcopatus Jacobi Apostoli fratris Domini et
Adsumptio Sancti Joannis Evangelistae." In
the Gothic Breviary edited by Lorenzana, a form
is provided for a festival of St. James on De-
cember 30 {Patrol. Ixxxvi. 1306), but there is
none in the Mozarabic Missal. The Pontifical of
Egbert, archbishop of York (ob. 766 A.D.) has
no notice of such a festival. Additional evidence
to the same effect may be found in the fact that
the earliest traces of a vigil of a festival of St.
JAMES THE GREATER, ST.
James are of very late date. Binterini (Denki:
V. 1. 401) asserts that the vigil does not occur
at all in calendars before the 10th century.
Even so late, however, as the loth century, the
festival itself does not appear to have attained
universal acceptance ; for in the canons of the
council of Oxford (1222 A. p.) it is not included
iu the list of the chief festivals observed in Eng-
land (can. 8 ; Labbe xi. 274). At the council of
Cognac in France (1256 a.d.) the case is some-
what doubtful, yet taking the context into con-
sideration (cf. can. 19), the words " duodecim
Apostolorum, et maxime Petri et Pauli, Andreae,
Jacobi . . . . " perhaps point to separate fes-
tivals and not to the collective festival of the
apostles '(can. 21 ; Lsbbe xi. 749 : cf. Cone.
Totosanum [1229 a.d.], can. 26, op. cit. 433,
where the probability seems to incline the other
way). We may appeal, however, finally to the
proceedings of the synod of Exeter (1287 A.D.),
where the festivals to be observed are named in
their several months, and where the entry for
July is, "Translationis S. Thomae martyris,
Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae, S. Jacobi Apostoli
majoris "' (can. 23, op. cit. 1288).
Besides this vagueness as to the date of the
orio-in of the festival, the utmost latitude also
pre^vails as to the day wheu it was to be cele-
brated. We have evidence indeed of a kind
which is wanting in the case of every other
apostle, for from Acts xii. 4 we may assume
that St. James was put to death shortly before
the Passover. Still, in the Western church,
perhaps from the wish not to have a celebration
of a martyrdom in Lent and Eastertide, we gene-
rally find St. James's festival on July 25.^ The
calendar of the church of Carthage associates
him as we have seen, with his brother John on
December 27 ; as does also the Gothico-Gallic
Missal, where the heading for the day is " in
Natale Apostolorum Jacobi et»Johannis" (Ma-
billon, de Litiirjia Gallicana, lib. iii. p. 196).
[In the Gothic calendar, however, prefixed to
Lorenzana's edition of the Gothic Breviary, we
find on December 30, "Jacobus frater Joannis
Apostoli et Evangelistae," following the notice
on December 29, "Jacobus, frater Domini,"
Patrol. Ixxxvi. 19.] The same combination too
meets us in the calendar of the Armenian churcn
on December 28 (Neale, Eastern Church, Introd.
p 804), and in that of the Ethiopia church on
September 27 (Ludolf, Fasti Sacri Ecc'esiae
Alexandrinae, p. 5). The calendar of the Byzan-
tine church appoints April 30 for the commemo-
ration of St. James, and so we find in the Greek
■ metrical Ephemerides prefixed by Papebroch to
the Acta Sanctorum for May (vol. i. p. xxv.)
KTe?j/€ fiixo-ipa ip6vov 'laKco^av if -rpiaKdffrri.
In the martyrology given by Cardmal Sirletus,
besides the commVmoration on April 30, there
is also noted on November 15, "Natalis SS.
Baruch et Jacobi, fratris Joannis Theologi (see
Canisius, Thesaurus, vol. iii. pp. 427, 486).
The sprino- period is also recognised m the
Ethiopic and Coptic calendars. In the former,
besides the festival mentioned above, there are
also commemorations on February 4 and April
JAMES THE LESS, ST.
871
b The statement of .ome writers (e. g. Augustl. Denkw.
iii 227) that this particular day !.<; the anniversary of the
translation of the saint's remains to Composlella, is one
whose proof and disproof is equally impossible.
12 of St. James, apparently the son of Zebedee
(Ludolf, pp. 20, 26). The Coptic calendar has
generally a very close affinity with the preceding,
and, like it, has a festival of St. James (defined
as the son of Zebedee) on April 12 ; and also on
February 12 of a James, presumably the present,
and on April 30 of a James, defined as the son of
Zebedee. •=
3. Whether or no it is due to the early date
of this apostle's martyrdom, but little litera- \
ture is directly associated with his name. The '
canonical epistle of James is indeed assigned to |
him in the subscription of a Corbey MS. of tlie i
old Latin version cited by Tischendorf (m loc), i
and also in the passage of Isidore already referred |
to. This theory, however, is exceedingly im- i
probable, and need not be further referred to I
here.
A pretended discovery was made near Granada
in Spain in 1595 A.D. of the remains of two of
St. James's disciples, and with them of eighteen
books on leaden plates, including several by St.
James, which with the others were condemned
by Innocent XI. in 1682 A.D. (Fabricius, Codex 1
Pseudepigraphus Noci Testamenti, i. 352, iii. 725; ;
Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vii. pp. 285, 393).
For further remarks on the subject of the
preceding article reference may be made to
Binterim, Denkwiirdigkeiten dcr Christ-Katho- ;
Uschen Kirche, vol. v. part i. pp. 400 sqq.;
Augusti, Denkwiirdigkeiten aus der Christlicken
ArdmAogie, vol. iii. pp. 237 sqq. ; Tillemont,
Me'moires pour servir a I'histoire Ecclesiastique,
vol. i. pp. 342 sqq., 625 sqq.'ed. Paris, 1693; '
Cajetan Cenni, Dissertat. i. de Ardiq. Eccl. Hisp.
c. 2, Rome, 1741. [K. S.]
JAMES THE LESS, ST., Legend and
Festival of.
1. Legend, ^c— It does not fall within our
present province to discuss the question whether
James, the son of Alphaeus, one of the twelve
apostles, is or is not the same as James, the
Lord's brother, bishop of Jerusalem. The pro-
bability seems to incline in favour of the non-
identity of the two, but there are considerable
difficulties attending either hypothesis ; and the
matter will be found discussed at length in the
Dictionary of the Bible. Of ancient liturgies,
martyrologies and calendars, some identify, \
while others distinguish them; and hence it
may perhaps be most convenient here to collect
together the various notices under either desig-
nation. . I
It may be remarked at the outset that it !
James, the son of Alphaeus, be a different per- J
son from James the Lord's brother, there is |
almo.st a complete lack of tradition as to his
history. The ancient so-called Martyrolognim I
Ilieron'imi speaks of his being martyred in
Persia {Patrol, xxx. 478), and the Greek
metrical Ephemerides, which we have cited be-
low, assert that he was crucified ; but it is im- ,
possible to say what amount of belief is to be
given to either of these statements. James, the
<-■ It should be noticed that sundry slight variations
from Ludolf -s calendar of the ICgj-ptlan chorch occnr la
those given by S Iden (J< Synedviis VVter.im Ebrann-u,<,. ^
UP 210 sqq.; ed. Amsterdam. 1679). Here one cal.ml..r i
gives Feb. 1 1 , the other Feb. 12 ; one April 1 1 . the oth.T
April 12 : and on* (lUe otiior has no entry) has April 19
for April M. -j
872
JAMES THE LESS, ST.
Lord's brother, on the other hand, fills a promi-
nent place in the history of the Acts, he is re-
ferred to by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Gala-
tians in a way that sufficiently indicates his im-
portance, and there can be no doubt that it is
to him we owe the so-called Catholic Epistle of
St. James. Ecclesiastical tradition also tells
much concerning him, and the account of his
martyrdom given by Eusebius {Hist. Eccles. ii.
•23) from Hegesippus is doubtless substantially
correct. It is not, however, necessary to repeat
here what has already been said in the Bible
Dictionary, to which reference may be made.
2. Festival. — The exact date of the rise of a
special festival of St. James, whether as the
son of Alphaeus or as the Lord's brother, is hard
to fix. Like those of most of the apostles, it is
comparatively late. Among the earliest wit-
nesses, we may mention the Martyrologiun
Hieroivpni, the metrical martyrology of Bede,
and the ancient liturgies referred to below. The
first of these, as well as other early Roman
martyrologies, commemorates James, the son of
Alphaeus, on June 22, and also James, the Lord's
brotlier, on March 15, April 25, and December
27. On the last of these there is associated with
the " Assumptio S. Joannis Evangelistae," also
the " Ordinatio episcopatus S. Jacobi fratris
Domini," a combination to which we shall again
refer. There is also in this martyi'ology, as we
now have it, a commemoration of James, not
further defined, but obviously the present, on
May 1. The metrical martyrology of Bede
commemorates St. Philip and St. James together
on May 1, the latter, it will be seen, defined as
the Lord's brother,
" J:icubus Poniini frater pius atque Philippus
Sliritico Maias venerantur honore Calendas."
This has been the genei-al custom throughout
the Western church, and so we find it in the
Gelasian (^Patrol. Ixxiv. 1161), Gregorian (col.
101, ed. Menard) and Ambrosian (Pamelius,
Lit'irgg. Latt. i. 370) liturgies. The reason for
this combination of apostles, and for the choice
of this particular day does not appeal". Schulting
{Bihliotheca Ecclesiastica ii. 130) simply states
that it is because of the translation of the
relics of the two on that day in the Pontificate
of Pelagius I. (ob. 560 A.D.). We are not aware
tliat anything can be adduced in support of
this statement beyond the remark of Anastasius
Bibliothecarius that under Pelagius I., "initiata
est basilica Apostolorum Philippi et Jacobi "
{Vitae Pontificuni ; Pelagius 1. Patrol, csxviii.
614), where we see the two names already asso-
ciated.
It is stated by the Micrologus that this festival
was originally one of all the apostles; there
seems, however, to be no real evidence for the
assertion " ideo etiam invenitur in martyrologiis
sive in Sacramentariis festivitas Sanctorum Ja-
cobi et Philippi et omnium Apostolorum" {Je
Feci. Ohserv. c. 55 ; Patrol, cli. 1017). This is
followed, however, by sundry liturgical writers,
e.g. Honorius Augustodunensis (Gemma Animae
iii. 140 ; Patrol, clxxii. 681), and Durandus (Rat.
Div. Off. vii. 10).
Besides the festival of May 1, the Ambrosian
liturgy also commemorates on Dec. 30 the
" ordinatio B. Jacobi Alphaei Appstoli " (ojo. cit.
309), resembling the already cited notice of the
JAMES THE LESS, ST.
Martyrologium Hieronymi; and we may again
refer to the entry in the Martyrologium Gello-
n/'se quoted in the preceding article. The Gal-
ilean liturgy, published by Mabillon, omits
altogether the festival of St. James, whether
as son of Alphaeus or as brother of the
Lord ; but in the Mozarabic missal we find
a commemoration of " S. Jacobus, frater Do-
mini " on Dec. 29. We may take this oppor-
tunity of adding that the prophetic lection,
epistle and gospel there are respectively Wisdom
xviii. 20-24; i. Tim. i. 18-ii. 8; Luke viii. 23,
27, John xii. 24-26, xiii. 16, 17, 20, xv. 6, 12,
13 {Patrol. Ixxxv. 104). In the Mozarabic Bre-
viary, the form is merely headed " in festo S.
Jacobi Apostoli " (Patrol. Ixxxvi. 136), but there
are numerous references to the martyrdom of
James, the Lord's brother, at Jerusalem.
The Byzantine calendar distinguishes the son
of Alphaeus from the Lord's brother, the former
being commemorated on Oct. 9, the latter on
Oct. 23; and so we find in the Greek metrical
Ephcmerides, published by Papebroch in the
Acta Sanctorum (^lay, vol. i. p. xlviii.), — aixcp'
iydrri 'laKoifios ifl aravpai mavvcrro, and iadKov
aS€\(p60eov TptraTTi ^v\cij e'lKtiSi TrAr^^av. In
the Armenian church, besides the commemora-
tion of the two sons of Zebedee on Dec. 28, there
are also commemorations on August 31 of
"Thomas and .Tames, Apostles," and on Dec. 23
of " James, Apostle " (Neale, Eastern Church ;
Introd. pp. 801, 804). In the calendars of the
Egyptian and Ethiopic churches given in Ludolf's
Fasti Sacri Ecclesiae Alexandrinae, we find that
the former commemorates James, the son of
Alphaeus, on October 2, and James, the Lord's
brother, on October 23, and that they both
commemorate this latter on July 12. Besides
this, the Coptic calendar has on Feb. 12, and the
Ethiopic on Feb. 4, a James, an apostle, not
otherwise specifigd."
It may be remarked here that many of the cus-
toms which still characterize the day on which
the Western church commemorates St. James,
have obviously sprung from lingering heathen
usages. These are, as a rule, connected with the
idea of the return of spring, and thus are in
some sense parallel to those associated with the
festivals of Christmas and St. John the Baptist's
day, which dwell on the idea of the returning
and retreating sun. [Christmas; John thk
Baptist, St., Fire of.]
Thus the gathering of flowers and the adorn-
ing of houses with them on May-day morning
may fairly be connected with the Roman festival
of the Floralia held on the five days following
April 28 ; similar festivals to which were also
held in other places, as the Anthesphoria in
Sicily, etc.
A trace of the ancient sun-worship is still to
be found in one of the customs prevalent on
this day among Celtic peoples, and notably the
Irish and Highland peasantry, viz., the lighting of
great fires in the open air ; and thus the com-
mon Irish name for the day, is La Beal-tinc
(day of Beal's or Baal's fire), and similarly in
Gaelic.
* It may be noted that one of tlie Egyptian calendars,
given by Selden {de. Synedriis Vettrum Ebraeorunu
pp. 21.5, 219 ; ed. Amsterdam, 16^9) puts Feb. H for Ft-b.
l-.i,and ruly 11 for Jidy 12.
JAMES
Customs also with the same central i;Ie^
existed among the ancient Gothic nations (see
Olnus Magnus, Historia de Gentihus Septcntriona-
libus XV. S, p. 503, ed. Rome, 1555).
3. With the name of the person or persons
now before us, more literature is associated than
in the case of the son of Zebedee. Besides the
Canonical Epistle of St. James, there are still
extant the so-called Frotevamielinm Jacobi, the
most respectable of the Apocryphal gospels, and
the so-called liturgy of St. James. It is possi-
ble too that at one time there existed other
])seudonymous writings bearing the name of
St. James, for we find Innocent I. in alluding to
sundry works of this class, mention those which
" sub nomine . ... Jacobi minoris . . . damnanda"
{Ep. 6 ad Exsuperium c. 7, Patrol, xx. 502).
Again, in the records of a council held at Rome
in 494 A.D., under the episcopate of Gelasius, it
is ruled " Evangelium [_aL Evangelia] nomine
Jacobi minoris, Apocryphum" (Patrol, lix. 162.
175, 176). Apocryphal letters to St. James
from St. Peter and St. Clement are prefixed to
the various editions of the Clementine Homilies
(see e.g. Cotelerius, Patres Apost. i. 602, ed.
1700). The Apostolic Constitidions again (viii.
23), cite James, the son of Alphaeus, as giving
rules respecting confessors and vii'gins ; and .some
forms of the text, but apparently not the best,
give (c. XXXV.) rules as to divine service claiming
the authority of James, the Lord's brother.
Besides works already cited, reference may be
made to Biuterim, Denkmirdigkeiten der Christ-
KathoUschen Kirc/ie, vol. v. part i., pp. 365 sqq. ;
Augusti, .Denkiiiirdigkeiten aus der Christlkhen
Archdotogie, vol. iii. pp. 237 sqq. [R. S.]
JAMES. (1) Bishop, offtos -trarrjp Kal o/xo-
\oyy]r-hs — circa 824 A.D. ; commemorated March
•21 ( Cal. Bi/zant.).
(2) Patriarch of Alexandria, fSoO A.d. ; com-
memorated Oct. 8 (Cal. Copt).
(3) Patriarch of Antioch ; commemorated
Tekemt 11=-- Oct. 8 (Cal. Ethiop.).
(4) Martvr of Persia, A.D. 396 ; commemo-
rated Nov. 27 (Cal. Bijzant.).
(5) Presbyter, martyr in Persia under Sapor
with Melicius the bishop, and Acepoimas the
bishop (circa 345 A.D.); commemorated April 22
(Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(6) Of Nisibis, confessor under Maximin ;
commemorated Dec. 14 (Cal. Armen.) ; July 15
(Mart. Pom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(7) Deacon, martyr under Decius apud Lam-
besitanam urbem 'with Marianus the reader;
commemorated April 30 (Mart. Pom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi); May 6 (Cal. Garth.). [W. F. G.]
JANUAEIA. [SciLLiTA, Martyrs of.]
JANUAEIUS. (1) [Feux (1).]
(2) [Felix (5).]
(3) UpoixdpTvs ; commemorated with conijia-
nion martyrs, April 21 (Cal. Bijzant.).
(4) [Felix (15).]
(5) [Felix (16).]
(6) [SciiLiTA, Martyrs of.]
(7) Martyr with Pelagia at Nicopolis, in
Lesser Armenia; commemorated .July 11 (Mart.
Usuardi).
.JKUUSALEM, COUNCILS OF 873
(8) [Floreotius (I).]
(9) [Sixtus (2).]
(10)^ Bishop of Beneventuni, martyr at Najdes
with Festus and Proculus, deacons, Desiderius,
Euticus, and Acutus, under the emperor Dio-
cletian; commemorated Sept. 19 (Mart. Bedae
Usuardi). '
(11) [Faustus (6).]
(12) [Felix (23).]
(13) Saint; commemorated Dec. 2 (Cnl. Ar-
men.). ^\v_ p-Q-j
JASON. (1) [Hilaria (2).]
(2) And Sosipater, apostles; commemorated
April 28 (Cal. Hyzant.). [W. F. G.]
JEEEMIAH. (1) The prophet ; eommemo-
rnted May 1 (Mart. Usuardi, Bedae, Cal. Byzant.);
Sept. 5 (Cal. Copt.)- Aug. 29 (Cal. Armen.);
Gmbot 5 = April 30 (Cal. Ethwp.). [W, F. G.]
(2) [Peter (8).]
(3) [Ejiiliaxus (4).)
JERUSALEM, COUNCILS OF (ILeroso.
Iipnitana ConcUit). (1) a.d. 47, .says Cave (Hist.
Lit. i. 38); Baronius and others, A.D. 51 : the
third, in chronological order, of the meetings
of the Apostles recorded in their Acts, but the
only one deserving the name of a synod. Its
proceedings are described there (c. xv.). A con-
troversy having arisen at Antioch, over which
according to Eusebius (Chron. ad 1.) Euodius had
been appointed bishop as far back as A.D. 43, on
the necessity of circumcising the Gentile con-
verts and obliging them to keep the law of Moses,
it was referred to the Apostles and elders at
Jerusalem for decision, SS. Paul and Barnabas
being sent thither for that purpose. The Apostles
and elders came togethei-, accordingly, to con-
sider of it. St. Peter spoke first, and' gave his
opinion against burdening the disciples with any
such yoke. Then all the multitude— in other
words, the body of believers, or brethren who
were present— listened to the reports given of
the conversion of the Gentiles that had been
achieved on their first expedition as missionaries
into Asia Minor by SS. Paul and Barnabas.
After which St. James, as bishop, doubtless, of
Jerusalem, delivered his " sentence ;" which was
embodied in the synodical letter, addressed in
the name of the Apostles and elders and brethren,
finally, to the brethren of the Gentiles in Antioch,
Syria, and Cilicia, and sent by two principal men
of their own number, in addition to SS. Paul
and Barnabas. On reaching Antioch, the bearers
of this epistle gathered the multitude together
and delivered it, when its contents having been
read caused great joy.
(2) Mansi's reasons for dating this council A.n.
349 seem conclusive (ii. 171, note). Constaiis.
who ruled in the West, threatened his brother
Constantius with hostilities, if St. Athanasius,
in whose favour the Sardican council had pro-
nounced two years before, was not restored to
his see ; and Gregory, his rival, having died in
the early part of this year, his return was allowed.
In his way he stopped at Jerusalem, when a synod
was held under its orthodox bishop, Mnximus,
and a letter des|)atched from it to congratulate
the .\lexandrians on -this act of grace on the p.rt
fil' the omprrors : which Cnnstaus, iiov.cver, dl !
874 JESSE
not live to see carried, out, as he was slain in
Jan. 350. And Maxiinus having held this synod
without leave from his metropolitan, Acacius,
bishop of Caesarea, was ejected by him in another
synod a few months later, to be succeeded by
St. Cyril, then catechist, and a supposed Arian.
(3J A.D. 399. A synod of bishops, met to cele-
brate the feast of the dedication of the church
there, acknowledge the receipt of a synodical
epistle from Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria,
condemning some of the errors of Origen lately
revived in his diocese, and profess their agreement
with it (Mansi, iii. 9S9-9:i).
(4) A.D. 415. What we should call a diocesan
synod : of presbyters, that is, under their bishop,
John. Orosius, the historian, then on a mission
from St. Augustine to St. Jerome, was present
at it, and gives an account of its proceedings.
Pelagius being there, and accused by him of
heresj^, was invited to come in, and put on his
defence. Neither what he said, nor what Orosius
said, were considered altogether unexceptionable
by the bishop, who proposed that letters should
be sent to Pope Innocent of Rome on the subject,
and that all should abide bv what he decreed
(Mansi, iv. 307-12).
(5) A.D. 518, to express its adhesion to the
Constantinopolitan synod of the same year (see
the art.) : its own synodical letter being also
preserved in the subsequent council under
Mennas.
(6) A.D. 536, Sept. 19 : under Peter, its pa-
triarch, on receipt of the acts of the synod of
Constantinople under Mennas, between four and
five months previously, with the edict of the
Emperor Justinian confirming them, and a letter
from Mennas to Peter acquainting him with their
contents (see the article on this council). The
deacon and notary present having recited them,
they were received synudically by Peter, and
subscribed to by forty-eight bishops, with himself
at their head (Mansi, viii 1164-76).
(7) A.D. 553, under its patriarch, Eustochius,
at which the acts of the 5th council were received
and confirmed.
(8) A.D. 634, under Sophronius, on his eleva-
tion as patriarch, to condemn Monothelism,
against which he had contended with so much
ardour as monk previously. The encyclical
epistle sent by him on this occasion to the
bishops of Rome and Constantinople is preserved
in the 11th action of the 6th council where it
was recited (Mansi, x. 649-52). [E. S. Ff.]
JESSE, ab Silcania; commemorated Dec. 2
(Cal.Greg.). [W. K. G.]
JESUS. [Joshua.]
JESUS CHRIST, REPEESENTATIONS
OF. I. The symbolic representations of the
Lord are discussed severally, as under the titles
Fish, 1X0TC, Lamb, Vine- see also Symbolism.
For the pictorial types of the Lord derived from
the Old Testament, see Old Testament ix
Christian Art ; for pagan types used to repre-
sent Him, see Paganism in Christian Art.
For representations on gems, see Gems, §§ xii.
and xiii. p. 718; on the bottoms of cupsj see
Glass, Christian, p. 732. See also Images,
p. 813; and Numismatics. Setting aside such
representations as these, it is to be observed, in
the first instance, that He is represented in the
human form from the earliest times of Christian
JESUS CHRIST, Representations of
art as the Good Shepherd ; and this symbolic pic-
ture, though in no case whatever considei'ed as a
portrait, must have made the idea of representa-
tions of His human form a very familiar one at all
times in the Roman and other Western churches
— and in earlier centuries, in the Byzantine also.
One of the latest, and the most important perhaps
of all these, is the often described Good Shepherd
of the chapel of Galla Placidia at Ravenna, niiddlJ;
fifth century : and one of the earliest ideal por-
traits of our Lord is found in the church of St.
Apollinaris, built a century later within the walls
of that city. In art these two figures mark the
transition from the elder Graeco-Roman ideas and
traditions of art to the later style, properly called
Byzantine. The leading diflerence in feeling and
principle between them will be illustrated in the
course of this article : for the present it may
briefly be thus stated : that in the earlier
illustration of the Lord's Parable of Himself,
the attempt at beauty predominates, and is far
from unsuccessful ; whereas in the Byzantine
picture of St. Apollinare, though considerable
beauty of feature is retained, the tendency to
the ascetic or melancholy ideal of later art,
both Italian and German, is unmistakably visible.
It is perhaps fortunate that the words of St.
Augustine {De Trinitate viii. 4, 5) put it appa-
rently beyond question, that the world cannot
possess now, and did not possess in his time, any
authentic record whatever of the bodily ap-
pearance of Jesus Christ the God-Man on earth.
" Nam et ipsius Dominicae facies Carnis innume-
rabilium cogitationum diversitate variatur et
fingitur; quae tamen una erat, quaecunque erat."
Two centuries before, indeed, St. Irenaeus (contra
Haeres. 1. 25) had spoken, with indignant absence
of comment, of certain Gnostic representations
of Christ, both painted and sculptured, as it
appears. "Quasdam quidem [imagines] quasi
depictas, quasdam autem et de reliqua materia
fabricatas habent, dicentes formam Christi lactam
a Pilato, illo in tempore quo fuit Jesus cum
hominibus. Et has coronant, et proponunt e^is
cum imaginibus mundi philosophorum, videlicet
cum imagine Pythagoi'ae, et Platonis, et Ari-
stotelis." These passages seem conclusive to
the effect that no real portrait of our Lord
existed, or was remembered as existing, in the
2nd century. Indeed as Martigny observes, the
_ controversy (dating from the 2nd century) with
regard to the human comeliness of our Lord's
body visible on earth, makes it perfectly certain,
wej-e proof necessary, that no authentic portrait
of Him ever existed. Augustine acknowledges
without blame the universal tendency of thought'
to picture to itself persons and events by imagina-
tive eff'ort, instancing St. Paul in particular, and
taking it for certain, as it probably may be, that
each of all the innumerable readers of the
epistles will form a different idea of his own
about the author's appearance, though none can
say whose will be nearest the truth.
In his mind then, and indeed in our own, all
ideal or fancy portraits of our Lord, so called,
are merely symbolic of His humanity ; and in
this view, the crucifix itself may be taken as a
synibol only of the fact of His death and the
docti'ine of His sacrifice for man ; however the
word sacrifice be denned or enlarged upon : and
this may certainly make its presence in Christian
churches not onlv allowable but desirable. We
JESUS CHRIST, REPRESENTATIONS OF
may observe on the different relation of the
church to the arts in Augustine's days, when
Christian art of a well marked and distinctive
character existed, from the state of things in the
time of Tertullian, who protests against all
simulacra, likenesses, or representations what-
ever, and, as he well mis^ht in the presence of
the whole Pantheon, considers all images or
likenesses practically the same as idols.*
Human art, however, was adopted by the
church along with human thought and learning.
We cannot tell whether Tertullian knew or cared
for the catacomb-paintings of Rome. Some of
them, as those in the more ancient part of St.
Domitilla, were certainly in existence before his
time ; but he seems, in the presence of the
heathen, to protest against all paintings what-
ever, and the fact that St. Augustine not unwil-
lingly accepts them, is an illustration of a
highly natural change of Christian feeling on
the matter.''
The more ancient usage of representing the
Lord as the Good Shepherd culminates in the
Mosaic of Galla Phcidia's chapel A for higher
antiquity is chmied foi the Lo-longer existing
portrait-heid of Chiist, which Bosio represents,
from a chnpel ot the Calli\tine catacomb.
Head of Christ from the Callixtine catacomb. (Martigny.)
There is a general oi)inion that it may have been
of as early date as the 2nd century: and what
we know 'of it may well induce us to believe
that it was the original of that ideal of our
Lord's countenance which has passed, through
Lionardo da Vinci, into all Christian painting.
Lord Lindsay, however, says that the traditional
Head with which Europe is so familiar, was un-
known in the West till the 4th century, when
the original was sent to Constantia, sister of
Constantine, by Eusebius of Caesarea. It is
therefore of Byzantine or Eastern origin. The
earliest example, he continues, is a supposed 4th
century mosaic, found originally in the Callix-
tine, and now in the Vatican. See Eusebius's
» De hlohM.rid, c. iii.: "Idolum aliquanidiu retro non
erat ;" he says, " sola templa et vacuae aedi-s. At ubi
artifices statuarum et imaginum, et omnis generis s-imu-
lacrorum diabolus seculo intulit (rude illud ncgotium
humanae calamitatis) et nomen de Idolis consecutum
est."
b Tertullian begins his book against Hermogenes with
reproaching him for his profession as a painter : " Pingit
illicite, nubit assidue : legem Dei in libidinem defendit,
in artem contemnit: bis falsarins et cauterio et stylo
(encaustic)," &c. Athenagoras (/.cr^ai. pro Christ, c. 26)
speaks of images or statues in general as portraits of
daemons.
letter in Labbe, Cone. t. vi. col. 49;i bq. This
letter repudiates (rhetorically but with sin-
cerity) any idea of our Lord's real a])pearance,
and from it and the passage in JJUt. Ecc.
(viii. 19) it appears that Eusebius had not seen
any historic portrait which he (or indeed others)
believed on evidence to be a genuine likeness
[Images, § III.]. Others of the same type are re-
peated on sarcophagi, dating from that of Junius
Bassus, A.D. 359 ; see Bottari, tav. xv. xxi.-xxv.
xliii. sliv. ; the latter represents the paiutings
in the catacomb of St. Poutianus, probably re-
newed over older pictures in the time of pop*
Adrian I. (a.d. 772-775). This catacomb also
contains a highly ornamented cross, which i&
evidently intended to represent the person of our
Lord [Cross].
The assertion of the idea that our Lord not
only took upon Him the flesh of mankind, but
the " form of a servant," or slave, all bodily
ugline.ss instead of beauty, is derived from
meditation on the prophetic text (Is. liii. •>),
"He hath no form nor comeliness;" as the
natural thought of His beauty from the Jles-
sianic Psalm (xlv. 3), "Thou art fairer than the
children of men." The former view seems to
have been entertained, or is nowise discouraged by
Justin Martyr, who twice uses the word deiSTjj of
our Lord: meaning evidently to repeat the expres-
sion of Isaiah {Dial, cum Trijph. cc. 85 and 88).
So Clement of Alexandria {Paed. HI. 1) appeals
to the two texts to which we have referred on
the same side. Compare Stromata, ii. 5, § 22 ;
iii. 17, § 103 ; vi. 17, § 151. Tertullian may be
supposed to have thought likewise (Adv. Jvd. c.
14) : " Ne aspectu quidem honestus ;" (De carne
Christi, c. 9) " Adeo nee humanae honestatis-
corpus fuit." He infers from the cruelty of Jews
and soldiers at the crucifixion, that such insults
could not have been ofi'ered to the Lord, had His
person possessed any beauty. So Origen (c. Cels.
vi. 75, p. 327, Spencer), who, however, held that
the Lord could appear in whatever form he
pleased (76. ii. p. 99 f.). A list is given by
Molanus {Hist. Sacramm hmginum, p. 40.^) by
which it appears that St. Jerome {in Matt. is.
9 ; Epist. 65, ad Princip. c. 8), St. Ambrose, St.
Augustine, St. Chrysostom {Horn. 27 [al. 28] in
Matt. p. 328; and on Ps. 44 [45] p. 162), and
Theodoret, followed the text which speaks of
Him as fairest of all men, St. Basil and St. Cyril
of Alexandria ( little to our surprise) taking the
other side. This unedifying controversy belongs
to art rather than to theology. The Oriental,
or Egyptian, or ascetic view of the human body,
would' necessarily have weight on the ill-favoured
side, theologically speaking. And in practical
art, the want of skill, and also of models possess-
ing any degree of earthly good looks, must have
borne 'strongly in the same direction. Beauty
of expression was too subtle a thing for the
hands of the Mosaicists of the 8th and 9th cen-
turies.
There were various reasons why the ideal of
bodily beauty should gradually be lost, up to
the 12th century. It has often been remarked
that as the ascetic life was more and more
severely enforced on the faithful, and the sulVer-
ings of the later Koman world bore more and
more severely on the whole community, the
honour of the bodv of man was lost :md for-
■■otfiMi. In 111.' oarlirr C.dhic davs, stroni;th and
876
JESUS CHRIST, REPRESENTATIONS OF
■ manly beauty must have been associated in the
eyes "of the Monastic Church only with the
ignorance and fierceness of barbarian soldiers.
The Christian assembly on earth, under the
hands of Alario and Genseric, Attila and Alboin,
was utterly hopeless of any good on earth. The
eastern end of a Byzantine or Romanesque
church from the 6th century, begins accordingly
to be adorned as a mystical representation of
heaven, beyond the wilderness of earth, with the
portrait figure of Christ as its centre. The
Lord, whom all seek so piteousiy, shall suddenly
come to His temple ; and the eyes of distressed
congregations are allowed a vision in symbol of
His presence breaking in on the distresses of
later days. One of the earliest examples of
churches thus ornamented is that of SS. Cosmas
and Damianus at Rome. Here the figure of our
Lord coming with clouds and standing on the
firmament, is grand and sublime in the highest
degree, and is perhaps the earliest or greatest
instance of very early date, in which passionate
conception, supported by powerful colour, forces
itself, without any other advantage, into the
foremost ranks of art-creation. The towering
and all commanding form of the Lord must have
seemed to " fill the whole temple ; " with the
symbolic hand of the First Person of the Trinity
above His Head, and the Holy Dove on His
right hand. The mystic Jordan, or River of
Death, is at His feet, and on its other side,
with small rocks and trees to indicate the
wilderness of this world, are the twelve sheep
of His flock, with the houses of Jerusalem and
Bethlehem ; He, Himself, appearing again in the
centre on earth as the Lamb of the elder dispen-
sation. The same idea is similarly treated in
the early 9th century decorations of St. Prassede.
The form of the Lord is tall and spare, not
without grandeur, but markedly ascetic : the
signs of the other Two Persons of the Holy
Trinity are with Him, and He is surrounded
with all the imagery of the Apocalypse ; with
this grand addition, that on the spandrils of the
Arch of Triumph before Him, the twenty-four
elders are inlaid in white and gold mosaic, in the
united act of casting their crowns before Him. He
appears^ below as the Lamb; and the same
symbol is repeated at the top of the Arch of
Triumph, laid on an ornamented altar-table — as
the Paschal Lamb that was slain. The Offering
of the Crowns by the Elders was also represented
on the triumphal arch of S. Paolo fuori le Mura,
and the author of an interesting article on
Portraits of Christ {Quarterly lieo. Oct. 1867)
says it still exists, having been rescued from the
flames in 1823. There were, or still exist,
similar figures, in the Vatican Basilica of
St. Peter {De Sacr. Aedif. xiii. xiv.) in St.
Constantia, (ib. xxxii.) St. Andrew in Bar-
bara (F. M. I. Ixxvi.) St. Agatha Major in
Ravenna (I. xlvi.) and St. Michael of Ravenna
(II. xvii.) kc. The greater part of these mosaics
will be found photographed in the unique collec-
tion of Mr. J. H. Parker, which, in spite of all
the deficiencies of the photographs, gives an idea
of the tessellated work which does not exist
elsewhere. To historians, or students of Chris-
tian art, their importance is, that by the presence
of the sheep of Christ's church, they connect
His Glorified Form with the more ancient cata-
tomb representations of the Good Shepherd.
lu St. Andrea in Barbara, the Lord stands on
the Rock of the Four Rivers, and He is thus
rejiresentod very frequently on the sarcophagi.
See Aringlii, vol. I. p. 280 (Probus and Proba)
and pp. 293, 297. On that of Junius Bassus
(Aringhi I. 277) and elsewhei'e. He is sitting above
a half-veiled figure representing the firmament
or clouds of heaven [Firmamknt].
The figure described above from SS. Cosmas
and Damianus possesses awe and grandeur,
and can disjjense with regularity or sweet-
ness of feature. But the very earliest ideal
portraits certainly possessed this; and it is one
instance of the cheerfulness of spirit which Mr.
Lecky notices in the Primitive Church, that the
remnants of Graeco-Roman skill were devoted to
such works as Bosio's picture (above) must have
been; or the other mentioned by Boldetti {Osser-
vazioni sopra i Cirniteri pp. 21 and 64) as " maes-
tosa figura del Salvatore, come quella dipinta nel
cimitero di Ponziano." The question stands
on and indicates one of those great human
divergences of character and thought, which
determine the lives and conduct of whole
generations: and it will be remembered how
the Mediaeval German or hard-featured ideal
was set forth again.'-.t the Lionardesque ; not
altogether without the countenance of Diirer
and Holbein. On this subject, the last chapter
but one of vol. iv. of Ruskin's Modern Painters,
is worthy of grave attention. There is no
doubt, further, that Protestant asceticism often
resembles that of earlier days, in a certain
suspicion of beauty as carnal and idolatrous.
The Gnostic images of our Lord (see St. Ire-
naeus supra) are also worthy of attention. One
was set up by Marcellina (Aug. de Hasres. vii.),
a follower of Carpocrates, and adored along with
others of St. Paul, Homer, and Pythagoras; and
the eclectic Lararium of Alexander Severus, con-
taining the statues of Christ, of Abraham, Or-
pheus, and Apollonius of Tyana, is mentioned by
Lampridius (/« Alex. Sever urn xxix.). Raoul
Rochette (Discours sur les types imit. p. 21), is
Portrait on Ivory. (Martigny.)
referred to by Martigny for a"pierre basilidi-
enne," which he thinks may give an idea of the
type of portraiture which was in vogue among
that class of sectaries. It is altogether diflferent,
in any case, from that of the Callixtine and other
catacombs; and for further contrast with it, he
gives a woodcut (reproduced above) of that
which he considers, on De Rossi's authoritv,
indisputably the most ancient of all repre-senia-
tions of our Lord. It is taken from a portrait
JESUS CHRIST, REPRE8KNTATI0NS OF
877
the Clii-isti;i
Muse I
on ivory,
Vatican.
The classic tj-pe which insists on personal
beauty, is by far the most common on the
sarcophagi, and all early monuments. Christian
artists in foct seem, as was natural, to have
invested their ideal with comeliness as long as
they had skill to do so. The dress (of course
excepting the Good-Shepherd representations), is
invariably the tunic and pallium, sometimes
ornamented with the stripes or clavi (Ciampini
Vet. Mon. ii. p. 60, i. 184, xlvi.). The idea of
white raiment generally seems to be intended,
though gold, dark imperial blue, and other
colours are used in the mosaics. The white and
glistening raiment of the Transfiguration will
account for this (Ciampini Yet. Mon. ii. tab. xvi.
i. tab. Ixxvii.). Our Lord is generally shod with
sandals, if at all. The cothurnus is given
apparently in Aringhi, vol. i. lib. ii. c. x. pp. 332,
333, and something resembling it is worn by the
Good Shepherd (Aringhi, vol. ii. pp. 63, 67, 75,
79, &c.)
Portraits of our Lord are generally youthful,
as symbolizing His eternal nature, even (Aringhi,
vol. ii. p. 213) when He instructs the apostles
(Bottari, cxL). In the dispute with the doctors
His youth is of course insisted on, but He is not
made small of stature, whereas in pictures of
the miracles, as has been frequently remarked,
His figure greatly exceeds His human companions
in height. This is the case also (Aringhi, i. pp. 307,
313 andjoassjOT), where any dead persons are car-
ved on their tomb as presented before him, as in
many ' bisomatous ' sarcophagi of husband and
wife. A beautiful illustration of this tradi-
tion of early Christian work in later times will be
found in Ruskin's Stones of Venice, vol. iii. p. 78,
where this distinction is used by the artist, with
the detail of the human figures partly hiding
themselves in the folds of the robes of attendant
angels, who are inferior in size to the divine
figure, though of superhuman stature. The Lord
sometimes stands or sits on a sphere (Ciampini,
Vet. Mon. i. 270, tab. vii.), probably to give the
idea of all things being put under his feet. He
is accompanied by attesting angels, or His form
is represented, full length or half-size, on a
medallion supported by angels, as in the diptych
of Rambona, and very frequently in the
mosaics of Rome and Ravenna. These medallions
are sometimes called imagines clipeatae, the
use of them being probably derived from portrait-
images on shields of ancient times. The cross
sometimes represents our Lord thus borne. This
seems to point to the Ascension, and to his glory
as Lord of Hosts or of Sabaoth. It is not our
work to follow the idea into its various develope-
ments in the angelic choirs of the middle ages,
for which we may refer to Lord Lindsay, and
to Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.
But a curious example of transition from the
circular or oval medallion into the Gothic quatre-
foil, containing the figure of our Lord, and sup-
jiorted by angels, still remains in the College-
Hall or Refectory at Worcester, and is certainly
derived from classic or Byzantine antiquity.
Our Lord frequently bears a rod or wand,
especially in representations oi the miracles,
apjiarent'ly as an emblem of his power over
nature, or as the leader of His people in the
wilderness, with a reference to Moses. The roll
or volume very often appears in His hand, as
committed to St. Peter and St. Paul or other
apostles, or when he instructs the disciples.
The full-grown rather than the youthful type
appears in such examples, as in Bottari, clxxvi.
See woodcut reproduced below.
Frequent representations of the Second Person
of the Trinity as present at some transaction
narrated in the Old Testament, or as the anti-
type of some typical event or person. Martii;ny
mentions a glass vessel in Garrucci {Vetri,
xiii. 13), in which He is with Daniel, who is
giving the cakes to the dragon. A more certain
and satisfactory example is in His appearance
with the three holy children in the furnace,
Bottari, xxii. xli. See also Gori {ITies. dtptijch.
t. iii. tab. 8) where He stretches the cross out
over the flames. The representation of the
holy Three appearing to Abraham (Gen. xviii. 2),
in S. Vitale at Ravenna is well-known, and
Ciampini's plate is now supjilemented or super-
The Lord, with book. (Martignj i
seded by the photographs of Mr. Parker and
others. " [Trinity].
We may conclude with the mnemonic lines of
St. Damascus (Carm. vi. Patrolo u Migne, t. xiii. col.
378), of the symbolic or other names and titles
applied to our Lord up to his days.
"Spes, Via, Vita, Salus, Uatio, Sapicntiji, Lumen,
Judex, Porta, Gigas, Rex. Gemma, Propheta, Sacerdos,
Messias, Zebaof, Rabbi, Sponsus, Mediator,
Virga, Columna, Manus, Fetra, Filius Emmanuelque,
Vinea, Pastor, Ovis, Pax, Radix, Vitis, Oliva,
Fons, Paries, Agnus, Vitulus, I.eo, Propitiator,
Verbum, Homo, Rote, Lapis, Domus, omnia Cbrislns
lesus.
[K. St. J. T.]
II. Besides the representations of the Lord
which strictly belong to art, tiiere are others
which have an archaeological rather than an
artistic interest. We have ancient acconnts
(1) of portraits of the Lord produced in the or-
dinary manner ; and (2) of portraits of tlie Lonl
produced miraculously. Some of both kinds are
even believed still to exist.
(1) Ordimiry Jteprcsentatiuiis. — Kusebitis
(H!st. Ercl. vii'. 18) tells us that at Caesareix
I'hilippi ri':incas] there existed a i;r<'Up in bronze
JESUS CHRIST, REPEESENJ ATIONS OF
representing a woman kneeling before a dignified
man, who stretched out his hand benignantly
towards her. This group Eusebius says that he
had himself seen. He adds, that it was long
unkuowD whom this statue represented ; but as
it was observed that a plant of healing virtues
grew at its toot, care was taken at last to
cleanse it, so as to make the inscription legible ;
then it was discovered that the woman cured
of the issue of blood, who lived at Paneas,
had erected the statue in honour of the Saviour.
On this discovery it was at once removed into
the Diaconicum or Sacristy of the church. That
sucli a statue existed seems past all doubt ; as to
its original intention, the opinion of most modern
^archaeologists is, that it had been erected in
honour of Hadrian, or some other who had bene-
ifitted the province, which was represented as a
kneeling woman at the feet of her benefactor.
Similar representations are frequently found on
•coins, especially of the time of Hadrian. Sup-
posing some such expression as " a-coTrjpL," or
" traiTTJpj rod KSafiov " — titles at that time very
frequently given to emperors — to have been
found on the inscription, while the name had
become illegible, the statue would naturally be
referred by the Christians of the fourth century
to the true " Saviour of the World " (Hefele,
Bcdrdge, ii. 257). The emperor Julian, angry
at the respect paid to this statue, caused it to be
thrown down and his own substituted. This is
related by Sozomen (//. E. v. 21), who adds,
that the statue of Julian was soon afterwards
struck by lightning and partly destroyed, while
some fragments of the statue of Christ, which
the heathens had dragged about the street, were
collected by the Christians and restored to the
church. Philostorgius {Hist. Eccl. vii. 3) gives
nearly the same account, except that he says
nothing of any edict of Julian, but attributes the
whole transaction to the pagan inhabitants of
Paneas, and that he gives the more exact detail,
that the head of the statue was preserved. This
however was again lost at a later period. Aste-
rius of Amasea {Cone. Nic. II., Labbe, vii. 210)
gives again a ditferent account, attributing the
destruction of the statue to Maximin, who (he
says) was nevertheless unable to destroy the
fame of the miracle related in the Gospel.
Eusebius also says {H. E. vii. 18) that he had
discovered that, besides this statue, there existed
coloured pictures of Christ (tlKOvas hia. XP'^-
fj-droov 4v yparpaTs^, as well as of the apostles
Paul and Peter.
In the time of the Iconoclastic controversy,
pope Gregory II. asserted in his letter to the
emperor Leo III., about a.d. 727, that portraits
of Christ, of St. James the Lord's brother, of
St. Stephen, and of other martyrs, had been
made in their life-time (Labbe, vii. 12). And it
was probably about this time that the legend
arose that St. Luke had painted portraits of
Christ, of His Mother, and of SS. Peter and
Paul. This story is found in Simeon Meta-
phrastes, in the Menologium of the emperor
Basil, and in the history of Nicephorus Callisti
(ii. 43). At a yet earlier date (about a.d. 518)
Theodorus Lector (fragment in Valesiu.s, p. 551,
ed. Meutz) spoke of a portrait of St. Mary
painted by St. Luke, which was sent by Eudoci'a
to Pulcheria, but said nothing of any picture
of Christ. Such portraits of the Virgin are said
n existence ; one is shown, for
:;hurch of S. Maria Maggiore
even still to be
instance, in the
at Rome.
Kicodemus is sometimes described as a wood-
carver, and an image of Christ of cedar-wood
from his hand is said by Aringhi (Roma Subterr.
lib. iv. c. 47) to have existed at Lucca. Some
have ventured to identify this with a wonder-
working image at Berytus, mentioned in the
])seudo-Athanasian document read before the
second council of Nicaea, a.d. 786 (Labbe vii
217). Leo Diaconus, in thf tenth century, sav3
that his contempoj-ary, the Byzantine emperoi
Nicephorus, placed this statue in the church of
the Saviour at Constantinople ; but neither he
nor the pseudo-Athanasius says anything of its
having been the work of Nicodemus. The legend
attached to the image of Lucca is of course
destitute of every shadow of probability.
Among the likenesses of the Lord reported
once to have existed, we must reckon one said to
have been the work of the Virgin herself,
described in Adamnan's account of Arculf's
visit to the holy places in the seventh century
{De Locis Sanctis, i. 10; in Mabillon's Acta Sb'.
Ben. saec. iii. pt. 2, p. 460). Among the won-
ders of Jerusalem he mentions a napkin, partly
red and partly green, said to have been woven
by the Virgin Mary herself, containing pictures
of the twelve apostles and of the Lord Himself.
(2) Imajes not made vith hands. — Another
class of portraits of Christ are the (lK6vis
ax^ipoiroi-qroi, images of miraculous origin, of
which the most famous are (a) the Abgarus
portrait, (6) the Veronica.
(a) The story of a correspondence between the
Lord and Abgarus of Edessa is found as early as
the time of Eusebius (//. E. i. 13). Evagrius,
in the sixth century* (//. E. iv. 27) speaks also
of a divinely-fashioned likeness {^iKiov deoT^v-
KTOs) which Christ sent to Abgarus on his de-
siring to see him, and which saved Edessa when
it was besieged by Chosroes in the year 540.
This story is alluded to by Gregory II. in
his letter to Leo before referred to, when the
famous picture had already become an object of
pilgrimage. " Send " — he adjures the iconoclastic
emperor — " to that image not made with hands,
and see; to it flock all the peoples of the East,
and pray ; and many such there are made with
hands." His contemporary, John of Damascus
(De Fide Orthod. iv. 16) gives more detail. A
story was current, he says, that Abgarus, king
of Edessa, sent a painter to take a portrait of
the Lord; and that when he was unable to per-
form his task in consequence of the brightness of
His countenance, the Lord himself put his outer
garment (ifj.aTiov) to His own face and impressed
upon it a perfect likeness {a.-KeiK6viafia) of His
countenance, which He sent to Abgarus. Leo
Diaconus. {Hist. iv. 10, in Niebuhr's Scriptt.
ISyzant. xi. 70) adds to this a wonderful story of
a tile having received the impression from this
robe. The tile is also alluded to by Zonaras
{Anna!, xvi. 25). The image on the cloth was
brought to Constantinople in the reign of Con-
stantine Porphyrogennetes, a.d. 944; its transla-
tion is celebrated by the Byzantine church on
August 16, which is a great festival. What
» Hefele states that this is mentioned at a somewhat
earlier date by Moses of Chorene.
JESUS CHRIST, REPRESENTATIONS OF
became of the picture when that city was takeu
by the Turks is not recorded, but jiictures claim-
ing to be this miraculous portrait are found in
Italy. The Genoese lay claim to the possession
of it, and say that it was brought to their city
by Leonardo de Montalto, who presented it to
the Armenian church of St. Bartholomew, where
it is still exhibited once a year. St. Sylvester's
at Rome also claims to possess the original
Abgarus-picture. This is (according to Hefele)
of the Byzantine type, and represents the coun-
tenance of the Lord in the bloom of youthful
power and beauty, with high and open forehead,
clear eyes, long and straight nose, parted hair,
and H thick, auburn, bifurcated beard. Dr.
Ghiakselig contends that the Edessa portrait
furnished the type for the pictures of Christ in
mosaics from the fourth century onward ; before
that time (he believes) no attempt at portraiture
of tlie Lord was made, the early represeatations
in the catacombs being mere symbols or adapta-
tions of pagan types.
(b) The opposite of the calm and beautiful
filce represented in the Abgarus-portrait is the
" Veronica " picture of the suffering Saviour
crowned with thorns. The legend attached to
this picture is, that as the Lord was bending
under the cross on his way to Golgotha, a pious
woman, Veronica, offered Him her veil, or a
Dapkin, to dry the sweat on His face ; an image
of the face remained miraculously impressed on
the cloth. In the Martyrolugy of Usuard, for
instance, (ed. Greven.) we have under March 25,
" V^eronicae sanctae matronae cui Dominus
imaginem faciei suae sudario impressam reliquit."
Gervase of Tilbury (^Otia Impcrudkt, c. 25, in
Leibnitz's Scriptt. Bruns. i. 968), who wrote in
the thirteenth century, speaking of the " figura
Domini quae Veronica dicitur," informs us that
some say that it was brought to Rome by an
unknown person, Veronica ; but the account
given by the most ancient writers is (he pro-
ceeds) that the woman who brought it was
Martha, the sister of Lazarus. From the tradition
of the elders we learn that she had a likeness of
the Lord's countenance painted on panel, which
Volusianus, a friend of Tiberius Caesar, who was
sent by the emperor to Jerusalem to report on
the deeds and miracles of Christ, caused to be
taken away from her, that by means of it Tibe-
rius might be healed of his disease. Martha,
however, it is said, followed the " countenance of
her guest," came to Rome, and at the very first
sight healed Tiberius. Whence it came to pass
(continues the veracious chronicler) that Chris-
tianity was known in Rome before the arrival of
the apostles, and that Tiberius, instead of the
mildest of sheep, became the fiercest of wolves,
raging against the Senate because they refused to
recognise Christ according to his wish — certainly
a remarkable way of accounting for the aberra-
tions of Tiberius's later years.
The Veronica-portrait is said to have been
brought to Rome as early as the year 700 ; in
the year 1011 an altar was dedicated in its
honour, and even to this day it is one of the
relics exhibited in St. Peter's, though only on
extraordinary occasions. It was exhibited on the
8th December, 1854, when Rome was crowded
with bishops assembled to be jjresent at the pro-
mulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Con-
V'eption. On that occasion it was seen by JL
879
. Barbier de Montault, who describes it as fol-
lows {Quarterly liec. No. 240, p. 491) :—
I "The Holy Face is enclosed in a frame of
j silver, partially gilt, and square, of a severe
character, and little adorned. The simplicity of
the bordering gives prominence to the interior of
j the picture, which is protected by a thin plate
of crystal. Unfortunately, by one of tiiose cus-
toms so common in Italy, a slieet of metal covers
the field, and only leaves apparent the figure
j indicating its outline. By this outline one is led
to conjecture flowing hair reaching to the
I shoulders, and a short beard, bifurcated and
small. The other features are so vaguely indi-
cated, or so completely etiaced, that it requires
the liveliest imagination in the world to perceive
traces of eyes or nose. In short, one does not
see the material of the substance because of the
useless intervention of a metal plate, and the
place of the impression exhibits only a blackish
surface, not giving any evidence " of human
features."
For many years the explanation of the name
Veronica given by Mabillon and Papebroch was
generally adopted ; that " Veronica " is simply
an anagram of " vera icon," a true image. Me-
diaeval writers do in fact use the word Veronica
rather to designate the picture itself than as the
name of a woman. Thus Gervase of Tilburv, as
we have seen, speaks of " figura Domini quae
veronica dicitur;" and he afterwards uses the
expression, " Est ergo veronica pictura Domini
vera." But more recently W. Grimm has
maintained a different view. He notices the
fact, that the woman with the issue of blood who
was healed, is said in the gospel of Nicodemus
(c. 7), probably of the fifth century, and by .
John Malalas, a Byzantine historian of the sixth
{Hist. Chron., p. 305, ed. Oxon. 1691), to have
been named Beronice (Bepoi'iKr)) ; and supposes
that the legend of the veil or napkin in question
arose from some confusion of the Paneas statue
with the Abgarus-portrait ; the Veronica-legend
is, he believes, no more than a Latin rival-story
or metamorphosis of the Greek Abgarus-iegend,
with the Veronica introduced from another
source. M. Maury (Croyances ct Lcijendrs)
connects the name BepoviKTi with the Gnostic
feminine symbol r] ZIpoufiKos, but this conjecture
seems rather ingenious than sound.
(3) In the eighth century the iconoclastic
party, seeing the great variety of pictures of
Christ, very naturally asked which tiiey were to
consider the true portrait ; were they to adopt
the Roman type, or the Indian, or the Greek, or
the Egyptian? To this Photius (Epist. 64) replies,
that the difference between these representations
is much the same as the difference between the
gospels circulating in the several countries,
which are written in one character by the
Romans, in another by the Indians, in another
by the Hebrews, in another by the Ethiopians,
and which differ, not only in the forms of letters,
but in the pronunciation and significance of the
words. It' Phcitius's illustration is to be taken
exactly, it seems to im))ly that all the pictures
of which he knew anything represented the .same
face, and were only made to differ by the pecu-
liarities, whether individual or national, of the
painter; and it is probable enough that the
Byzantine type was so far determined in his
fiuie, that 'ail the ])ictures which he had
880 JEWS, AS REPRESENTED
seen might have passed for copies, of various
decjrees of merit, of one original.
(4) The descriptions of the Lord given by John
of Damascus in the eighth century, and by the
supposed Publius Lentulus at a later period, no
doubt had considerable influence on the repre-
sentations of Christ. The former (Epist. ad
Theoph. c. 3), referring to the testimony of still
earlier writers, describes the Lord as having
been somewhat bent even in youth, with meeting
eyebrows, beautiful eyes, large nose, curling
hair, dark beard and tint the colour of wheat,
like His mother. The latter is supposed to
be written to the Senate of Rome by one Publius
Lentulus, a friend of Pontius Pilate. The age of
this document is unknown (see Gabler, dc
avdevriq. Epistolae Fab. Lentuli ad Seiiatu'ii ;
Jena, 1819), but it does not seem to be quoted in
its present form by any earlier wi-iter than
Anselm of Canterbury (f 1109). Another de-
scription of the Lord's person is given by Nice-
phorus Callisti {H. E. i. 40), but this, as it is of
the fourteenth century and does not claim to
rest on earlier authorities, may be passed over.
Literature. — Besides those portions of works
on Christian Art which relate to representations
of the Lord, as Molanus, De sucris I'icturis et
Iinaginibus ; Alt, HeiiigcnUkkr ; Mvinter, Sinn-
bilder wid KuHtsvorstellunijen ; Piper, Mytho-
logie und Symbolik der Christl. Kunst ; v. Wessen-
berg, Die Chrittlichen Bilder ; J. G. Miiller,
BUdliche Darstellnngen in Saiictu iriuin der Go:
Kirchen vom v.-xiv. Jahrhdt ; Lord Lindsay,
Sketches of Christian Art ; St. John Tyrwhitt,
Art Teaching of the Primitive Ch'irch ; we may
mention the following special works: —
1. Un Representations of the Lord in general.
P. E^ Jablonsky, Dissertatio de Origine Imaginum
Christi in Ecclesid, in Opera, iii. 377 ft', ed. te
Water ; J. Reiske, Exercitatt. Hid. de Linaginibus
Jesii Christi; L. Gluckselig, Christusarchdologie ;
Peignot, R€cherchcs sur la Personne de J^sus-
Christ ; Pascal, Recherches e'dijiantes ct curicuses
sur la Personne de N. S. Je'sus Christ ; Mrs. Jameson
and Lady Eastlake, The JListorg of our Lord as
exemplified in Works of Art: T. Heaphy, Ext-
mination into the Antiquitg of the Likenesses of
our Blessed Lord, in Art Journal, New Ser., vol.
vii. (186 1) ; Hefele, Christusbilder, in Beitriige znr
Kirchengesch. Archdol. u. s. w. (Tubingen, 1864);
Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Ghre't. s. v. ' Jesus
Christ ;' [Barinff-Gould], Portraits of Christ, in
Quarterly Review, No. 246 (Oct. 1867), p. 490 ft".
2. On the Lmages not made with h mds. Gretser,
Syntagma de Lmagg. non manu factis, etc., in
Opera, vol. xv., Ratisbon, 1734 If.; Beausobre,
Des Linages de Main Divin£, in Biblioth. Ger-
manique, xviii. 10; W. Grimm, Die Sage vom
Ursprung der Christusbilder.
3. On the Paueas-Statue. Th. Hsisaei Dissertt.
TL de Monumento Paneadensi, Bremen, 1726 ;
also in his Sylloge Dissertt., pt. 2, p. 314. [C]
JEWS AS REPRESENTED ON CHRIS-
TIAN MONUMENTS. The Jews of our
Lord's time appear in various sculptures of
His life and works (Bottari, tav. Ixxxv. et
passim ; Millin, Ilidi de la France, jil. Ixiv.
et passim). They are generally distinguished,
especially iu all subjects connected with the
Wilderness, by wearing a flat cap or beretta,
as in the above jdates from sarcophagi. The Old
JEWS, TREATMENT OF
Testament mosaics of Sta. Maria Maggiore are
without the limits of our work, and Roman dress
and armour prevail in them. The supj)osed arrest
of St. Peter contains some of these figures, but
though Aringhi, Bottari, and Buonarroti are
against him, Martigny is still inclined to think
the group in question intended to represent Moses
attacked by the rebellious people in the Wilder-
ness, when (Exodus xxiv. &c.) they were ready
to stone him. This subject constantly accom-
panies that of the Rock in Horeb, where their
complaints \vere silenced by miracle. Moses or
St. Peter (whichever figure may be intended),
always has his head uncovered in it, and the
other Hebrews wear the flat head covering, short
tunics, cloaks or saga fastened with fibulae, and
sandals (Exod. xii. 11). The cap may have been
a common or distinctive part of Jewish dress.
[R. St. J. T.]
JEWS, TREATMENT OF. Tlie fortunes
of the Jews after the rise of Christianity are
matters of general history. An account of their
relation towards the expanding power of the
church will be found in Mihnan's Llist. of Jews
(iii. 167-203). This article only gives a brief
summary of the ecclesiastical enactments against
connivance with Jewish practices, or against
the Jews themselves. To desert Christianity
for Judaism was Apostasy ; to confound toge-
ther the rites or doctrmes of the two religions
was Heresy ; see Cod. Theod. XVI. v. 43, 44 ;
ibid. XVI. viii. de Judaeis Coeli-olis et Samxiri-
tanis. But in addition to these graver of-
fences, Christians were ordered to hold them-
selves separate from various Jewish customs.
Thus resting on the Sabbath (Saturday) was
denounced {Cone. Laod. c. 29) on the ground of
its being a relic of Judaism ; it was also forbid-
den (J.bid. CO. 37, 38) to receive festival presents,
or unleavened bread, from the Jews, or to share
in their feasts. A similar injunction against
participating in Jewish festivals or fasts appears
in the Apostolic Canons {cc. 69, 70) under pain ot
excommunication, and also in the Trullan
council (c. 11). The council of Eliberis, A.D.
305, initiating the violent hostility against the
Jews which prevailed in Spain up to and
through the time of the Inquisition, forbade (c.
49) any landlord to call upon a Jew to bless his
crops ; and in the next canon prohibited a
Christian from eating with a Jew. This prohi-
bition against sharing food with a Jew, because he
regarded certain meats as unclean, is enacted in
many subsequent Gallic councils {Cone. Venet.
c. 12 ; Cone. Agath. c. 40; Cone. Epaon. c. 15,
3 Cone. Aurel. c. 13 ; 1 Cone. Matiscon. c. 15).
Intermarriage with Jews was guarded against as
strictly as with heathen (1 Coric. Arvern. c. 6 ;
3 Cone. Aurel. c. 13; 3 Gone. Tolet. c. 14 ; 4
Gone. Tolet. c. 63). The dangers which were
supposed to lurk in association with the Jews
are exemplified at length in Chrysostom's 6
Homilies in Judaeos, also in Horn. 23 ad eus qni
prinio Pasch. jejunant, and Hom. 24 ad eos qui
Judaeorum jejunium jejunant (torn. 6 Ed. Savil.).
One of the matters regarded with special jealousy
by the church was the right of the Jews to hold
Christian slaves. By a law of Constantine
(Euseb. Vit. Const, iv. 27), the right had been
considerably restricted ; but the law appears to
have fallen into disuse. The ord council of
JOACHIM
Orleaus a.d. 538 (c. 13) recognises Christian
servitude, but decrees that if a Christian slave
tulles sanctuary because his Jewish master
in'^^erferes with his religion, the slave is not to be
surrendered, but redeemed at a fair valuation.
This decree was repeated and enlarged by subse-
quent councils (4 Cone. Aiirel. c. 30', 31 ; 1 Cone
Mdiscon. c. 15). In Spain the 4th council of
Toledo, A.D. 633 (c. 66) sanctioned the royal
decree which declared it altogether unlawful for
a :i*ivr to hold a Christian in bondage, but the
desire of gain was too strong for both church
and state, for a little later the 10th council,
A.D. 656, complains that even the clergy sold
Christian captives to the Jews. The tre'atment
of the Jews in Spain occupies no inconsiderable
portion of the numerous canons of the synods
held in Toledo in the 7th century. Under the
reign of Recared, the first Gothic king, and
again under Sisebut, the Jews had been subjected
to fierce persecution. The 4th council of Toledo,
A.D. 633, over which Isidore of Seville presided,
gave them some relief, but this leniency was
partial and shortlived. In the 57th canon of
that council it was enacted that no Jew should
be converted by violence ; but the later canons
contain more stringent regulations ; children of
.Jews, who have been baptised, are to be separated
from their parents and placed in monasteries or
in God-fearing families (c. 60) ; the testimony of
Jews is to be rejected (c. 64), because those who
are unfaithful to God cannot be faithful to man;
and (c. 65), they are to be excluded from all
public offices. A few years later all trace of
toleration has disappeared, owing perhaps to the
absence of Isidore, who had died in the interval,
and the civil law which banished Jews from the
kingdom, was ratified by the church (6 Cone.
Tolet. c. 3; 8 C>nc. Tolet. c. 12). The 12th
council, A.D. 681, in response to an exhortation
from the king to extirpate the pest of the Jews,
proscribed (c. 9) in detail each distinctive Jewish
practice. Shortly afterwards the Saracenic
invasion swept over the Peninsula, and the Jews
enjoyed more peace. In France there is no
notice of the Jews earlier than the 6th century.
The 3rd council of Orleans, A.D. 538, contains an
ordinance (c. 30), forbidding Jews to appear in
the streets or hold any intercourse with
Christians for four days, from Maundy Thurs-
day till Easter Monday "(1 Cone. Matiscon. c. 14).
The council of Narbonne, A.D. 589 (c. 9) forbade
Jews to hold religious services at the burial of
their dead, under a fine of six ounces of gold,
a sum which indicates their wealth at that date.
By the 5th council of Paris, A.D. 615 (c. 1.5) no
.lew was to hold any public office which made
Christians subordinate to him, except on con-
dition of being baptised with his whole family
(C'ortc. Eemens. c. 11 ; Cone. Cabil. c. 9). Later,
under Charlemagne, Jews were not only tolerated
but treated with consideration. [G. M.]
JOACHIM, " Avus Christi ;" commemorated
IMiaziah 7 = April 2 (Cal. Armen.); with Anna,
Aug. 27 («(/. Armen.], and Sept. 9 (^Cal. Byzant).
[W. F. G.]
JOANMA, wife of Chuza ; commemorated
May 24 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi) . [W. F. G.]
JOANXICIUS, the Great, Uios ivarhp, a.d.
758 ; commemorated Nov. 4 {Cat. Bi/zntiL).
■ [W. F. G.]
CHRIST. AXT.
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST. 881
JOB, the patriarch ; commemorated May 6
(Cal. BiizatU.); Sept. 5 {C,t. Armen.); May 10
{Mart. Rom. Vet, Adonis, Usuardi). [VV. F. li.] '
JOCUNDIANUS. martvr in Africa; com- I
memorated July 4 {Mart. ' l:om. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F.G.]
JOEL, the prophet; commemorated Tekemt
21= Oct. lii{Cal. Ethiop.); Oct. 19 {Cal. Bu.
zant.); Nov. 19 {Cal. Copt.); July 13 {Marl.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.] i
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., Festivals
and Lkgend of. I
1. Hintori/ of Festivals, (o.) Nativltii of Bap-
tist.—The Festival of St. John the Baptist stands
in remarkable contrast with those of other
saints commemorated by the church, in that
with these it is their death which is celebrated,
as the birth into the better life, whereas here it
IS the actual birthday ; a circumstance only else-
where commemorated in the ca.se of our Blessed 1
Lord Himself, that of the Virgin JIary on Sep- '
tember 8 being of quite later date ; and thus
we find St. Augustine saying {Serm. 287, vol. y.
1692, ed. Gaume) " solos duos natales celebrat
[ecclesia], hujus [i.e. Johannis] et Christi."
There is a very obvious reason to be found for
this exceptional state of things from the close
historical connection between the birth of the
Forei unner and that of the Saviour. This reason
is plainly dwelt on in many ancient liturgies, '
and the Preface in the first mass for the festival
in the Leonine Sacramentary may specially be
noted.
What claims June 24, the day on which this
nativity is celebrated, has to be considered the
actual birthday of St. John, it is of course im-
possible to say definitely. We know from Luke
i. 26, that the Baptist was six mouths older than
our Lord, and therefore the difficulty resolves
itself into the more important matter as to the
correctness of the view which places Christmas
on December 25, a question which will be found
discussed elsewhere'' [Christmas].
Attention has there been called to the coinci-
dence of Christmas Day with the period of the
winter solstice, and the possible reasons under-
lying that coincidence. The festival of the Nati-
vity of St. John will consequently coincide with
the period of the summer solstice, which, like the j
winter solstice, was a time specially observed in '
many of the older heathen religions. From this ]
source many superstitious heathen observances 1
in connection with this day passed into early j
Christianity. One of these, the so-called Fire o.''
St. .lolia the Baptist, will be found touched upon
in the following article : another is reprehended
by Augustine, " Natali Johannis le sol-
lemnitate superstitiosa pagana Christiani ad mare
veniebant et ibi se baptizabant Adjuro
per ipsum, qui iiodie natus est, neino faciat" |
{Serm. 196 in Nat. Bom. vol. y. 1310).'' \
A curious mystical idea was early suggested
by the times on which the two birthdays were
"■ It is true that in the present church year, )jof;iniiiiii;
with Advent, the f'cstivul of the Nativity of tlio Riptist
seems to follow by six months th.it of our Lord; but of ]
course, when, as was originally tlie c;ise, the year beRiin
with Kastor, the natural order of sequence prevailed.
•• This iiructiC'\ as existing among the Atumhieatis, \i
rfrfcrri'd to bulow. j
3 I. '
882
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., Festivals and Leg
kept, in connection with the Baptist's own words
(John iii. 30), " He must increase, but I must
decrease," so that from our Lord's nativity the
days began to lengthen, and from St. John's to
shorten. This idea is found dwelt upon in
Augustine (Scrm. 287, § 4, vol. v. 1692. See also
a sermon formerly attributed to Augustine [Serm.
197 in Append. § 2, ib. 2856], but now referred
to Caesarius of Aries :) and Maximus Taurinensis
{Serm. 4 in Append., Putrol. lix. 850) ; and the
presence of numerous homilies for the festival of
the Baptist among the writings of this father
show at how early a date it was commemorated.
A remark of his may further be added, that it
was kept " majorum traditione " {Senn. 292, § 1,
vol. V. 1717). Consequently with all allowances
for a rhetorical way of speaking, this will carry
back the festival at any rate as far as the middle
of the fourth century. We find it also mentioned
in the ancient Kalendarium Carthaginense, where
the notice is "viii. Kalend. Jul. Sancti Joaunis
Baptistae" (Patrol, xiii. 1221) <;. It is wanting,
however, in the calendar of Bucherius, which is
generally referred to the middle of the fourth
century, and in the list of festivals in the Apo-
stolic Constitutions (viii. 33). These, however,
are mere passing exceptions, for its otherwise
universal presence in ancient liturgies, martyr-
ologies, and calendars, and the numerous homilies
for it in the writings of the fathers (Augustine,
Maximus Taurinensis, etc.) are evidence of the
wide-spi-ead observance and early date of the fes-
tival. The council of Agde (506 A.D.) in ruling
concerning private chapels, includes the Nativity
oi St. John the Baptist among the most important
festivals on which a man was not to forsake his
proper church, the only others specified being
Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, the Ascension, and
Whitsunday {Cone. AgatUense, can. 21 ; Labbe,
iv. 1386).
It may next be remarked that, as might have
been expected from the interdependence of the
dates of the nativities of our Lord and of the
Baptist, the East agrees almost unanimously
with the West as to the particular day on which
the latter is to be commemorated. See e.g. be-
sides the regular Byzantine calendar, the notice
in the (ireek metrical Ephcinerides, published
by Papebroch in the Acta Sanctorum (May, \o\.\.
p. xxxii.), np(JSpo/iOv a-ixcpl Terdprri ei/caSj -yii-
roTo /xrJTTjp ; the curious design in the Moscow
pictorial calendar (ibid.) ; and the calendars of
the Egyptian and Ethiopic churches published
by Ludolf {Fasti Sucri Ecclesiae Alexandrimic,
p. 32). So far as we have observed, the Arme-
nian church, the only church that does not cele-
brate Christmas on December 25, is also the only
one that does not commemorate the Nativity of
the Baptist on June 24, keeping it on Jan. 14
(Neale, Eastern Church, Introd. p. 797).^
We may add a few words here as to the vigil and
octave of the festival. The former is recognized,
■= The other mention in this calendar of St. John the
Biiptist [vi. Kal. Jan. Sancti Joannis Baptistae et Jacobi
Apostoli quern Herodes occidit] is probably due to a
copyist's error, because of the constant association of St.
John the Evangelist with Dec. 27. It has been main-
tained, however, that this is an early African form of the
festival of the Decollation of St. John the Baptist.
d Kor a possible variation from general usage in the
case of the church of lours, see Ungor. Turon. Hist.
rYano. x. 31 (Patrol. Ixxi. 566).
as we have shown below, in the Leonine Sacia-
mentary, though not specified by name as in the
Ambrosian. We need not, however, with Pape-
broch, consider St. Ambrose to have been the first
to institute the vigil. It is also found included
in the later Roman Sacramentaries, the Gelasian
and Gregorian, and its observance throughout
Gaul and Germany is shown by its presence in
ancient martyrologies and calendars of those
countries, e. g. [in one form of] the Mart. Gello-
nense (D'Achery, Spicilcgium, xiii. 424), the
3Iart. Autissii.dorense (Martene, Collectio Ampliss.
vol. vi. 709), and a calendar of the 9th cen-
tury described by Binterim. This writer refers
also to a German Sacramentary published by
Gerbert, where the notice for the day is, " jeju-
nium S. Joaunis Baptistae, una cum Missa pro
more vigiliarum " (Denkw. v. i. 377). It may be
mentioned that the council of Seligenstadt
(1022 A.D.) ordered that all Christians should
abstain from flesh and blood for fourteen days
before the festival of St. John the Baptist (can.
], Labbe ix. 844).
As regards the octave, it would appear that
Papebroch is in error in considering that no
earlier traces of it could be found thau of the
13th or 14th centuries, for Binterim cites several
calendars of the 9th and 10th centuries which
mark it, e.g. the Cal. Frisingense of the 10th
century (Eckhart, Franc. Orient, i. 835). It will
be remembered that this octave has a special
importance of its own, as being the day on which
the Baptist was circumcised and received the
divinely declared name of John, and on which
the speech of Zacharias was miraculously re-
stored.
(^.) Decollation of the Baptist. — Besides the
festival of the Nativity of St. John, there are
other Johannine festivals of comparatively minor
importance, the chief of which is that of the De-
collation, generally commemorated on August 29,"
the chief exception being that the Armenian
church celebrated it on April 13, and the Gal-
ilean church, according to one view, on the
octave of the Nativity of the Baptist, and accord-
ing to another view on September 24.'
This festival, too, must be of comparatively
early date, for we find it in the Gelasian and [in
some forms of] the Gregorian Sacramentaries, to
its presence iu which Bede alludes (Expos, in
Marc. lib. ii. ; Patrol, xcii. 192). Again in the
Eastern church, we may appeal to the Byzantine
and Russian calendars, and reference may be
made to the Moscow pictorial calendar and the
Greek metrical Epheni':rides, the notice in the
latter being, eiKoSi d^4>' ivarri Upo^pAixov rdfiev
avxeva ^i(pos. See also Ludolf's Egyptian and
Ethiopic calendars (p. 1): here, however, there
is a simple commemoration of the Baptist on
August 29, and the festival of the Decollation
on August 30.
With reference to the usage of the Galilean
church alluded to above, the tact that in their
liturgy the festival of the Decollation almost im-
e The Martyrologium Hieronymi (Patrol, xxx. 488),
and a MS. of the Martyrology of Bede {Patrol, xciv.
1025), place it on Aug. 30. So also the Egyptian calen-
dar In Selden (p. 221, ed. Amsterdam, 1679).
f August! {Uenkw. ii. 156) argues that the Decollation
was not originally a distinct festival from that of the
Nativity of the Baptist, but the evidence for this view, il
must be said, is hardly couclusive.
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST, Festivals and Llgknd
mediately followed the Nativity of the Baptist,
induced Papebroch {Acta Sanctorum, June, vol.
V. p. 608) to maintain that the former com-
memoration was probably held there on the
octave of the latter. Mabillon, on the other
hand, appeals to a letter which bears the name
of Augustine, to one Bibianus, a Gallican bishop,
which asserts that the conception and death of
St. John fell on the same day {i.e. Sept. 23 or
24), and further refers to August 29 as the day
'• quando inventum legitur caput dominici prae-
cursoris " (Patrol. Ixxii. 431). This letter, while
obviously spurious, may be taken as evidence as
to ancient Gallican custom, and we find the
same usage, at any rate partially, among the
Goths of Spain. (See Leslie's notes to the Moza-
rabic Missal ; Patrol. Ixxxv. 837.)
Legend. — This will perhaps be the most con-
venient place to give a very brief re'sume of the
legends respecting the body of St. John. This
was said to have been buried at Sebaste, a town
on the site of the earlier Samaria. In the time
of the emperor Julian, the coffin was broken
open, the bones burnt, and the dust scattered
abroad. With this definite statement, it might
have been thought that the history of the relics
was at an end ; but the story runs that the
Cliristians saved some of the remains, which were
sent to Jerusalem, and afterwards to Alexandria
to Athanasius (Rufinus, Hist. Eccles. xi. 28:
Theodoret, Hist. Kecks, iii. 3; vol. iii. 918,
eu. Schulze and Noesselt : Theophanes, Clirono-
graphia, vol. i. 117, ed. Classen); part also were
obtained by Theodoret for his own church of
Cyrus (see his lielig. Hist. vol. iii. 1245). In
order to contain the relics of the Baptist, a
church was some time afterwards (circa 390 a.d.)
built in Alexandria on the site of the temple of
Serapis by the emperor Theodosius, and finished
in the reign of his son Arcadius. Concerning
the Head of the Baptist also there is a long
series of traditions. These are often plainly con-
flicting, and it is to be regretted that a scholar
with Papebroch's great learning should have
wasted time on the attempt to reconcile them.
The Head was said to have been buried in Herod's
palace, where it was first discovered about the
year 330 a.d. and taken into Cilicia. In the
time of the emperor Valens it was moved as far
as a place named Cosilaus, but about 390 a.d.
Theodosius transferred it to Constantinople (Sozo-
men, Hist. Eccles. vii. 21). Besides all this,
however, we read of a finding of the Head at
Emesa in 454 A.D., a discovery which can hardly
harmonize with the preceding, and which was not
improbably due to a growing demand of the age
for relics. However, there is a further story of
another translation of the Head, from Emesa to
Constantinople in 850 A.D., to preserve it from
the Saracens, and here it remained till 1204 A. D.,
when Constantinople was taken by the Latins.
The Head then, or part of it, was brought to
France by one Walo de Sartone, a canon of
Amiens. The further legends given by Pape-
broch, compaied with which the above almost
rises to the dignity of history, we pass over.
We find at a comparatively early period
evidence of the existence of literature on the
subject of the Finding of the Head, for at a
council held at Home in 494 A. D. under the
episcopate of Gelasius, such writings are with
others ordered to be read with caution. (''Scripta
883
de inventione capitis Joaunis Baptistae novella*
quaedam relationes sunt, et nonnulli e:is C'atho-
lici legunt. Sed cum haec ad Catholicoruni
manus jiervenerint, beati Pauli aj.ostoli prae-
cedat sententia, Omnia prolate, qui.d bonum est
tenete." Patrol, lix. 1(31.)
(7.) We are now naturally brought to the
third of the Johannine festivals, tJie Finding of
the Head. It would appear that dirierent
supposed findings are commemorated, and tJiat
this accounts for the various days on which the
commemorations are held. The letter of the
Pseudo-Augustine already quoted names August
29 as the day on which the Head was found,
and in connection with this we may cite one
form of the martyrology of Bede, '"' Passio et
decollatio vel potius mveutio capitis beati
.Joannis Bajitistae .... "{Patrol, xciv. 1025).
That day, however, has ordinarily been re-
served for the Decollation, and Feb. 24, for the
Finding. In that ariangement, generally speak-
ing, Westei-n, Byzantine, Coptic, and Ethiopic
calendars agree: and the Byzantine also com-
memorates another finding on May 25. There
is besides a commemoration of the '' Apparitio
corporis " [ '' inventio ossium " Copt.] in tlie
Ethiopic and Coptic calendars on May 27, and
of the "depositio capitis" on Oct. 27 [26,
Selden] in the latter. The notice for Feb. 24 in
the Greek metrical Ephemerides is elK6ari\i>
■7rpo5p6iJ.oio (pavrt Kapr] afxtpl TerapTTjv.
(8.) The festival of the Conception of t e
Baptist on Sept. 23 [or 24] is also found in the
above calendars, and in many Western martyro-
logies. It is not recognised, however, in the
Armenian calendar. The notice for Sept. 23, in
the Greek metrical Ephemerides, is tlkdSi S«
TpiTTi yaffrijp Aci/Se '7rp6Spofi.oi' ftaoi.
(e.) Besides the two preceding, comparatively
unimportant festivals, we find also a comme-
moration of the imprisonment on Aug. 24
in the Ethiopic calendar (Ludolf, p. 39), and
general commenioratiocs of the Baptist in the
same, on Aug. 29 and April 10 {ib. pp. 1, 25);
and on June 6 and September 5 in the Armenian
calendar (Neale, pp. 799, 801).
2. Liturgical Aotices. — The oldest Roman
Sacramentary, the Leonine, contains no less than
five masses for the festival of the Nativity of the
Baptist. The first of these evidently belongs to
the vigil, for though included with the second
and third under the general heading Aatale S.
Jo. Bapt., still the point is settled by the words
of the preface (also occurring, be it said, in the
Gregorian and Ambrosian liturgies in the
service for the vigil) " . . . . exhibentes so-
lemne jejtinium, quo nati Joannis Baptistae
uatalitia praeveuimus " (Levnis Opera; vol. ii.
28, ed. Balleriui). The fourth and fifth masses,
portions of which ai-e also found in the Gelusiaa
Sacramentary, are headed ad fontem, showing
the use made of the day as a solemn season for
baptism. The Gelasian Sacramentary both has
services for the vigil and Nativity, each with its
own title (Pf(<)0/. Ixxiv. 1165), and also for the
Decollation (dies passionis) of the Baptist (16.
1175): and the same too is the case with the
Ambrosial! (Pamelius, Liturgg. Lalt. i. 392,
420), and the Gregorian Sacramentary (coll.
108, 126; ed. Menard). In this last, while the
first mass is headed in vigilia, the second bears
the title fn prima missa de tuk-te.
3 L 2
884
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., Festivals and Legend of
In the ancient Galilean Lectionary, published
by Mabillon, we find uo mention of a vigil : the
prophetic lection, epistle and gospel, are re-
spectively Isaiah xl. 1-20 ; Acts xiii. 16-47 ;
Luke i. 5-25, 39-47, 56-68, [to the words
Doiainus Dens Israel'], 80. This is immediately
followed by the festival of St. Peter and St.
Paul, and this by the " Passio S. Joannis Bap-
tistae " for which the prophetic lection, epistle
and gospel are respectively Isaiah xliii.1-13, 22,
— xliv. 5; Heb. xi. 33— xii. 7 ; Matt. xiv. 1-14
(de Liturgia Gallieana, lib. ii. pp. 158, 160).
The same too is the case in the Galilean missal,
save that there the festival of St. Peter and St.
Paul is immediately followed by a mass " In
Natale unius Apostoli et Martyris " {Op. cit.
lib. iii. 271, 275). In the Mozarabic missal we
find forms given for the Sunday " pro adventu
S. Johannis," as well as for the festival of the
Nati'dty itself, and for that of the Decollation.
The prophetic lection, epistle and gospel in the
three cases are Isaiah xl. 1-9, Eph. iv. 1-14,
Mark i. 1-8 : Jer. i. 5-10, 17-19 ; Gal. i. ll-'24,
Luke i. 57-70, 80 : Wisdom iv. 7-15, 2 Cor. xii.
2-10, Matt. xiv. 1-15. Sundry variations to
tlie above occurring in ancient lectionaries are
mentioned (in loc.) in the notes to Leslie's edition
of the Mozarabic missal. (Patrol. Ixxxv. 751,
756, 837: and for the Breviary [June 24,
Sept. 24], Patrol. IxxxvL 1129. 1133, 1209.)
3. MisceHnneous Notices. — We have hitherto
spoken of the Baptist solely from the Christian
point of view, we shall now dwell briefly on
some further references. Josephus's account
(Antiq. xviii. 5. 2) is practically the same as
that of the New Testament, but he adds that,
besides other causes, Herod Antipas was more or
less moved to the murder of St. John by poli-
tical reasons, the dread of a revolution. ^
There are, moreover, some curious associations
connecting St. John with some semi-Christian,
or rather non-Christian, religious. The Clemen-
tine Homilies (ii. 23) make Simon Magus to
have been the chief (Trpiros kou SoKi/xciTaTos)
disciple of St. John, who is further described as
a rjixepoPaTrriffTris (see Hegesippus apud Euseb.
Nist. Eccles. iv. 22 ; Justin Martyr Dial, cum
Try ph. c. 80; and esp. Epiphanius, Haer. 17).
We may perhaps, therefore, connect the Hemero-
ft'7'iistae with the so called Mendaeans(or properly
Mandaeans), known also as the Zabians, disciples
of St. John, Christians of St. John. This sect,
which still exists, chiefly near the Tigris, claims
to be the lineal successors of the actual disciples
of St. John, respecting -whom they give some
wild traditions, and whom they regard as supe-
rior to Christ. They totally ignore his behead-
ing, and say that on his death-bed he bid his
disciples to crucify his body, in reference to the
death that should befal his kinsman Jesus. The
body was then preserved in a crystal sarcophagus
at Sjuster in Persia. (Ignatius a Jesu, Narratio
originis, rituum et erroruin Christianorum Jo-
hannis. Romae, 1 652 : Kaempfer, Amoenitates
Exoticae pp. 435-454, Lemgoviae 1712: Norberg,
De religione et lingua Sabaeorum : Petermann
in Herzog's Real-Encycl. s. vv. Mendaer, Zahier :
B As a parallel to this we may mention the story of
Herod the Great's attempt to slay the Infant John from
the fear lest he might hereafter prove the king of Israel
(Frotev. Jacotn, c. 23).
Chwolsohn, Die Ssahier und der Ssabismus pp.
100-138, St. Petersburgh, 1856.) They celebrate i
in August (or April, according to Ignatius a -'
Jesu) an annual festivaL of three days' duration, \
in honour of the Baptist, and an annual festival
in June of five days' duration, when all the sect
receive baptism. (Kaempfer, p. 446.) This
reminds us of Augustine's protest cited above. ;
Their chief sacred book, the Sidra Adem or Book
of Adam, edited by Norberg (Codex Nasaraeus,
liber Adami appelhitus, Hafniae), and recently by
Petermann (Lipsiae, 1867), contains several
references to St. John (see vol. i. 108, vol. ii. 20, '
22, 24, 60 ; ed. Norberg). They also possess a !
" Book of John [the Baptist] " reported to have
been given to their ancestors by John himself;
of which there is a MS. in the BUdiotheque
Nationale at Paris (Norberg de lingua, ^c, p. 4).
Among their most curious superstitions is one in
connection with the baptism of our Lord by St.
John, which accounts for the view they take of
blue as an unholy colour (Kaempfer, p. 447). 1
For a possible connection of the sect of the \
Elxaites with the teaching of St. John, see Hil- i
gent'eld, Novum Testam£ntum exii^a Canonem j
receptum iii. 158. Chwolsohn (Op. c/t p. 112) >
views Elxai as the actual founder of the Men- '
daeans, another point of coincidence. |
Among the Mohammedans, St. John is ac- i
counted as a prophet, and he is mentioned in the ,;
Koran in terms of high respect (Sura iii. 39). j
The passage in Sale's, translation runs, "John, t
who shall bear witness to the word which 1
Cometh from God, an honourable person, chaste, '
and one of the righteous prophets." ■
We must in conclusion only allude in the
briefest terms to a point, which though not i
strictly within our province, must not be abso- ''
lutely passed over, the position of St. John the
Baptist as the patron saint of the Knights Hos-
pitallers of St. John, and his association in some ,
form with the esoteric rites of the order of the
Templars, though probably hei'e there has been \
at times a confusion with St. John the Evangelist. ■
For the possible connection with St. John the :^
Baptist in such rites as the Baphomet, the 1
dissevered head, etc., see Von Hammer, Mys- <
terium Bapjhometis revelatum. Vindobonae, 1818. \
Reference may also be made to Von Wedekind, ;
Das Johannis-Fest in der Frey-Maurerei. Frank-
fort, 1818. ,^
For the matter of the present article, we have
to express considerable obligations to Binterim, ]
Denkwiirdigkeiten der CJirist-Katholischen Kirche, «
vol. v. part 1, pp. 373, sqq. ; 446 sqq. ; Augusti I
Denkwiirdigkeiten aus der Christlichen Archdologie, '■
vol. iii. pp. 152 sqq. Papebroch in Acta Sane- ';
toi-um (July 25). Reference may also be made \
to Paciaudius de Cultu S. Johannis Baptistae. '\
Romae 1755. Wasewitz Turtur Joanneiis. •;
Magdeburg, 1659. [R. S.] .J
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., FIEE OF.
We called attention in the previous article to j
the way in which early Christian writers dwell '.
on the mystical significance of the fact that the
festival of St. John the Baptist coincides with
the period of the summer solstice, and we also
referred in passing to various superstitious rites
and customs, which Christianity evidently inhe-
rited from heathenism. The most prominent ot
these is that which has long been known under j
the name of the Fire of St. Jolin the Baptist, '|
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., FlliE OF
885
which, with numerous attendant customs, is
obviously nothing more than a relic of ancient
sun-worship, connected with that period of the
year when the sun has reached the turning point
of his annual course. This custom of kindling
great fires in the open air on Midsummer's Eve
has been shown to exist (and in not a few places
even to the present day) among almost all Euro-
pean nations, as well as in the East* (see Jac.
Grimm, Deutsche H/ythologie pp. 583 sqq., ed. 2) ;
and it can hardly be rightly viewed unless we
associate it with the universally observed festival
at the winter solstice, the totalis Invicti, when
the sun is, as it "were, born again for the coming
year [CHRisniAS], with that on May-day, the la
Beal-tine of the Irish, when the sun's warmth
has awakened the dormant earth [James the
Less, St., Festival of], and with other similar
instances.
Thus, it will be seen, there is plainly no ori-
ginal connection of St. John the Baptist with
the practice now under consideration. The birth-
day of our Lord having been once fixed, by what-
soever means, at the winter solstice (and there
is certainly no inconsiderable body of evidence
pointing to the conclusion that the well-nigh uni-
versal prevalence of a festival at that time of the
year had much to do with the matter, and that
it is a case of the transference of worship from
the material sun to Christ, the sun of righteous-
ness), then, since there was a difterence of six.
months between the ages of our Lord and of
the Baptist, the birthday of the latter would
naturally be assigned to the summer solstice.
The existing heathen practices, at first strongly
opposed by the church, gradually came to be
tolerated and finally to be recognised ; 'while the
attempt was continually made to associate the
customs of the day with the saint whose festival
had thus happened to coincide with the older
celebration.
A curious view on this subject, which may
just claim a passing notice, is found in Hislop's
Tico Babylons(Y>. 184), which refers the great Mid-
summer festival of many heathenisms primarily
to the Babylonian festival of Tammuz, who is
further identified with Cannes, the Fish-God
mentioned by Berosus (lib. i. p. 48, ed. Richter).
It is there maintained that this name was sug-
gestive of that of Joannes, and thus a Christian
festival grew out of a heathen one, with hardly
a change in the name of the object of the festi-
val. More evidence, however, and less theorizing
is wanted, before such a view can be seriously
entei'tained.
To return now to the main part of our subject ;
— we shall cite, as showing the church's original
point of view in the matter, a passage from one
of the sermons of Augustine fii'st edited by
Frangipane in 1819, where he protests strongly
against this practice of the lighting of fires on
St. John's Eve :— "Cesseut religiones sacrilegio-
rum, cessent studia atque joca vanitatum; non
fiant ilia quae fieri solent, non quaedam jam in
daemonum honorem, sed adhuc tamen secundum
daemonum morem. Hesterno die post vesperam
putrescentibus flammis antiquitus more daemo-
» Nor need this remark be confined to the old world,
for we find the same class of rites prevailiiip; also among
the Peruvians under the dominion of the Iiicas (IVuscott,
t'o.i<2U«sf o^ /'trit, i. pp. 96 sqq. ; lOtli •A.).
niorum tota civitas flagrabat atque putrescebat,
et universam aerem fumus obduxerat " {Senn.
8 de S. Joh. Bapt. § 3; Patrol, xlvi. P9fJ).
Theodoret again (Quaest. in iv, Ecg. [xvi. ;5], //j-
terr. 47, vol. i. 539, ed. Schulze) in referring to
Ahaz's "causing his sons to pass through the
fire," sees in it an underlying rel'erence to a cus-
tom existing in his time, of lighting fires in the
streets, over which men and boys leaped, and
even infants were carried by their mothers.
Theodoret states that this was done once a
year, and though he does not further define the
time, there is a probable rel'erence to the Mid-
summer fire. The Quinisext or Trullan council
(circa 692, a.d.) forbids the lighting of such
fires before houses, etc., and the lea])ing over
them ; and penalties are laid down for all, cleric
or lay, who followed the practice (can. 65, Labbe
vi. 1172). In this last case, however, the periods
are distinctly specified as the times of the new
moon, but the superstition legislated against is
clearly a parallel one ; and, at any rate, Theo-
dore Balsamon (cited by Paciaudius, infra), in his
comments on this canon, makes special mention
of the fires on St. John the Baptist's Eve. One
more such instance may suifice : the German
council, which sat under the authority of St.
Boniface, either at Augsburg or Ratisbon in 742
A.D., forbids " illos sacrilegos ignes, quos Ned-
fratres \_Nodfyr, Niedfyr'] vocant " (can. 5, Labbe
vi. 1535).
We have already referred to the change of
feeling with which such practices were regarded
by the church as time went on, and to the conse-
quent attempt to connect them directly with the
Baptist. As examples of this we may cite Joh.
Beleth (Eat. div. off. c. 137 ; Patrol, ccii. 141),
who wrote about 1170 a.d., and Durandus (Rat.
div. off. vii. 12. 10). In these passages reference is
made to three customs practised at this season, the
lighting of fires (which are described as being made
of " ossa et quaedam alia immunda "), the carry-
ing of firebrands about the fields, and the rolling
of a wheel. After a strange explanation of the
first of these as being a means for driving away
dragons, another reason is given, namely, that it
was done in memory of the burning of the bones
of St. John the Baptist at Sebaste (see last
article). The carrying about of firebrands is
explained as having reference to him who was a
" burning and shining light" (John v. 35) ; while
the rolling of the wheel, which has an obvious
reference to the course of the sun, is made
further to refer to the glory of St. John waning
before Him who was the True Light.
An attempt to disprove the idea of the con-
nection of the Fire of St. John with heathen
rites is made by Paciaudius (de Cultu S. Joh.
Bapt. Antiquitates Christianae, pp. 335 sqq.),
who, however, is mainly combating the idea of
its connection with the Roman I'alilia, a ])oint
urged by Reiske, Zeumer (infra), and otlier
writers. The arguments here, however, thougii
ingenious, rest altogether ou too narrow a foot-
ing.
In addition to works already cited, reference
may also be made to F. C. de Khautz de ritu ignis
in Natali S. Joh. Bapt. acccnsi. Vindob. 1759:
Reiske, Untersuchung des hci den alten Dait>:ch,'i
gcbriinchlichcn hcid'nischen Nordfyrs, ingUirh,
des Oster-uudJohaniiis-tlniers. Frankfort 169(1:
Zeumer. /Hssrrtatio de iqne in festo S. Jo/iamns
886
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., in Art, etc.
accendi solito. Jenae 1 699 : Brand, Popular An-
tbiidties, vol. i. pp. 166 sqq., ed. 1841. [R. S.]
JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST., in Art, etc.
1. Iconography. — We find abundant evidence
that representations of St. John the Baptist were
very frequent in early Christian times. Epipha-
nius {Cone. Nic. 11. Act" vi. ; Labbe, vii. 538) tells
us that those who delighted in " soft clothing "
were rebuked by the Hgure of the Baptist in his
"raiment of camel's hair;" in this garb, indeed,
he is most usually represented, especially in the
Baptism of the Saviour [see Jordan], a subject
of very frequent recurrence in early Christian
art, as for instance, in the well-known painting
in the cemetery of Pontianus, in many mosaics
(Ciampini, Yet. Mon. ii. tab. xxiii.), and on vari-
ous engraved stones and bronze medals (Vettori,
Num. iwr. explic. p. 68 and frontispiece), where
he is shown in the act of pouring water from
a shejl on the Lord's head ; he carries a staff in
his left hand.
Sometimes the Forerunner points with his
SCSIOHA
■NTNIS-BA
4r:M
St. John tbe Baptist. From Pdciandi.
finger to the Messiah, represented in the form
of a lamb, or in person {Condi, in Trull, can.
Ix.xxii.). He has been figured by some artists in
tunic and pallium, as for example on the bottom
of a cup given by Buonarotti ( Vetri, tav. vi.
No. 1), and assigned to St. John the Baptist.
If this assumption be correct, we have here one
of the most ancient representations of this saint,
but many competent judges believe that it is a
representation of St. Paul. Be this as it may,
we find the Baptist clad in a similar manner,
and also nimbused, in a mosaic of the 6th century
(Ciampini, Vet. Mon. tab. xxxi.), in the centre
of an ivory cross of almost the same date (Pa-
ciaudi, De cultw Joan. Bapt. p. 182, see woodcut),
in an ancient diptych figured by Gori {The-
saur. DipUjch. vol. iii. p. 235), and also in bust
upon a chalcedony attributed to the 5th century
(Paciaudi, u. s. p. 189).
In the Menaea of the Greeks the figure of
St. John the Baptist is winged, in allusion to
the passage of Isaiah quoted by St. Mark (i. 2),
and applied by the Lord Himself to the Fore-
runner : " Behold ! I send My Messenger before
Thy Face which shall prepare Thy way before
Thee." His right hand is raised in the act of
exhortation, and in his left he carries a cross,
and a scroll inscribed with these words.
The annunciation of the birth of the Baptist
is depicted in mosaic on the great arch of St.
Maria Maggiore, A.D. 443. The angel is ad-
dressing Zacharias, who stands before the altar
of incense (Ciampini, Vet. Mon. vol. i. tab. xlix.
nn. 1, 2, 3). In the ancient mosaic on the por-
tico of St. John Lateran the head of John the
Baptist is carried in a dish by a lictor, while the
decapitated body remains still kneeling before
the executioner whose sword is still raised.
2. Dedications. — The first church dedicated to
him was probably the basilica built by Constan-
tine, and dedicated to the Forerunner, upon the
Coelian Mount, near the Lateran. It is, however,
not improbable that the name was transferred
to it from the baptistery of Constantine, a short
distance from it, which was dedicated to St.
John.
Anastasius Bibliothecarius states that Con-
stantine built churches dedicated to the same
saint at Ostia and at Albano {in 8. Sylvcst.
§§ 45, 46 ; Migne, cxxvii. 1524 {.), and Du
Cange mentions one at Constantinople (Con-
stantinop. Christ, lib. iv. § 4), of which, however,
we can find no other record. At Naples it is
commonly asserted that a church, dedicated to
St. John the Baptist, was built in that city by
Constantine on the site of the temple of Hadrian,
in fulfilment of a vow made during a violent
storm on his voyage from Sicily. But it
has been proved by Majochi, that this founder
could not have been Constantine the Great,
though he may possibly have been the youngej-
Constantine, son of Constans {De Cath. Neap.
part ii. 3). It appears certain that at Florence
in early times a church was dedicated to St. John
the Baptist, who became the tutelary saint and
protector of the city (Villani, Chroniche, 1. i.
c. 60). St. Benedict dedicated to the Baptist
one of the two oratories which he erected on the
site of the temple of Apollo on Mount Cassino
(Greg. Dialog, ii. 8, in Migne, Ixvi. col. 152 b).
Tradition asserts that at Milan a temple of
Janus was converted into a church, and dedi-
cated as " Sancti Joaniiis ad quatuor facies "
(Castellione, Mediaev. Antiq. pars 1, fasc. 2).
There were at Ravenna in the 6th and 7th
centuries two churches dedicated to this saint,
one of which, called In Marmorario, specially
commemorated his decollation (Rubeus, Hist.
Eaten, ii. and iii.). At Monza, queen Theo-
delinda built a church in honour of St. John the
Baptist, on which she lavished wealthy endow-
ments and precious gifts of every description.
Agilulph, her husband, followed her example
at Turin (Paciaudi u. s. pp. 15 and 16). Paciaudi
enumerates many other churches dedicated to the
Baptist in different places and in later times.
Altars dedicated to him were usually to be found
in the baptisteries ; these were always placed
under his protection, adorned with paintings and
sculptures in which he is the principal figure,
and sometimes enriched with his relics. (Paci-
audi, De Cultu Joann. Bapt. : Martigny, Diet,
des Antiq. Chre't. s. v.). [C]
JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ST., Festival of
887
JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ST., Festi-
val OF.
1. History of Festival. — It is not necessary to
enter here upon a discussion of the various early
legends respecting St. John the Evangelist, which
will be found treated of in the Bible Dictionary,
to which reference may be made. We shall
here merely speak of the festivals of St. John,
and add a notice of the chief pseudonymous
works attributed to him.
We hardly find the festival of St. John stand-
ing out in early times with that prominence
which we should expect in the case of one so
essentially of the chief of the apostles. As we
have already mentioned in the article on the
festival of St. John the Baptist, there is a not
improbable commemoration of the evangelist in
the ancient Calendariuni Carthaginense, if, as
seems reasonable, we assume the word Baptistae
to have been written " per incuriam scribae " for
Evangelistae. The notice is " vi. Kal. Jan. Sancti
Joannis Baptistae, et Jacobi Apostoli, quern
Herodes occidit " {Patrol, .xiii. 1228). On this
assumption then we have a joint commemoration
of the two brothers, the sons of Zebedee ; and
the same combination is also found in the
Gothico-Gallic missal (infra). The Armenian
church commemorates the two brothers together
on Dec. 28 (Neale, Eastern Church ; Introd.
p. 804) ; and the Ethiopic church on Sep. 27
(Ludolf, Fasti Sacri Ecclesiae Alexandrinae,
p. 5).
In the West, however, the name of St. John
alone is ordinarily found associated with Dec. 27,
a day which by its close proximity to Christmas
seems especially appropriate for the commemo-
ration of the beloved disciple, as also those of the
Innocents, the first martyrs for Christ, and of
Stephen the first conscious martyr. This idea is
often dwelt upon by mediaeval writers, some of
whom allude further to a tradition that the
Evangelist died on the day which is now the
festival of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist,
but that his commemoi-ation was transferred to
a day in the octave of Christmas (see e.g.
Durandus, Eat. Die. Off. vii. 42). As we have
implied above, however, there is a lack of recog-
nition of this festival in the writings of the
earlier fathers, scarcely any of whom furnish us
with homilies for the day, even those who have
written them for the festivals of St. Stephen and
the Innocents.
It may be noted here that in many ancient
calendars December 27 is marked not as the
Natale or Nativitas, but as the Assumptio or
Traiisitus of St. John. Thus we find, e.g., in
the ancient so-called Martgrologium Hieronymi
" vi. Kal. Januarii Assumptio S. Joannis Evan-
gelistae apud Ephesum" {Patrol, xxx. 137),
and similarly the Martyrologium Gellunense
(D'Achfery, Spicilegium xiii. 390). This wording
is doubtlessly due to the belief in some of the
curious legends as to the death of this apostle.
Of this we find no trace in the earliest writers ;
thus Polycrates, a near successor of St. John,
simply says eV 'EcpfffCji KeKoiix-nrai (Polycr.
apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iii. 31). Soon, how-
ever, the legendary element showed itself, and as
early as the time of Augustine the story pre-
vailed that the ajjostle had been laid in the tomb
merely in the semblance of death, but that he
really lived was shown by the movements of the
ground where he was laid, and the appearance
as of dust expelled from the grave by the process
of breathing (August. Tractaius 124 in Joannem c.
2 ; vol. iii. 2467, ed. Gaume). Later writers
speak of this dust by the title of manna (see e.g.
Gregor. Turon. dc Gloria Martyrum i. 30, Patrol.
Ixxi. 730 ; Hildebert Turon. Serm. in fcsto S.
Johan., Patrol, clxxi. 726 sqq.). It is this which
a])pears to be specially dwelt on by the Greek
church in their commemoration of" St. John on
May 8 {infra). In some writers the legend
makes St. John live to the end of the world, to
witness with Enoch and Elijah to the truth (see
e.g. Ephraemius Antioch. apud Photium, Biblio-
theca, cod. 229; Patrol. Gr. ciii. 985). Ac-
cording to another form, he died in the ordinary
course of nature, and was immediately raised
from the dead and translated iato paradise (see
e.g. Nicephorus Hist. Eccles. ii. 42). All these
legends have doubtlessly grown from a misun-
derstanding of our Lord's words in John xxi 22.
We may add further that the festival of St.
John " ad portam Latinam " on May 6, which
commemorates the ajiostle's having been thrown
at that place into a cauldron of boiling oil and
escaping unhurt, is often noted as the " Nativitas
(Natalis) ad portam Latinam " {e.g. in the Gre-
gorian Sacramentary and some forms of the
Alartyrologium Hieronymi) the apostle having
there as fully won the martyr's crown as though
no miraculous deliverance had been wrought."
Whatever truth there may be in this story, it is
at any rate as old as the time of Tertullian (see
de Praescript. c. 36 ; cf. Jerome, ado. Jovinian.
i. 26, vol. ii. 280 [where he appeals to Tertullian],
Comm. in Matthaeum xxi. 23, vol. vii. 155).
In later times a church was built near the
Latin gate in memory of this event. It may
reasonably be inferred that it is to this church
that Anastasius Bibliothecarius refers as being
restored by Adrian I. (ob. 795 A.D.), though he
describes it as " ecclesiam beati Johannis Bap-
tistae sitam juxta portam Latinam" {Vitae
Pontificuin, Adrian L; Patrol, cxxviii. 1191).
On this point see further G. M. Crescimbeni,
E'Istoria delta chiesa di S. Giovanni avanti
Porta Latina; Roma, 1716.
In the Greek church St. John is commemorated
on May 8 and September 26, regard being had
on the former day to the mii-acle of the
" manna," and on the latter to his translation.
Thus in the Greek metrical Ephetnerides pub-
lished by Papebroch in the Acta Sanctorum
(May, vol. i., pp. xxvii. xliv.) the notices are
oySodrTj ri\eovcn ^oSarixhv^ BpovtSyovoio, npos
ye debv fiericTTt) ^povrris irals (IkoZi fKTT). The
latter festival is also found in the calendars of
the Ethiopic and Coptic churches = (Ludolf, p. 5),
which also commemorate St. John on December
30, and also his translation on May II (i6. pp.
16, 28).
Before passing on to the next part of our
subject, we may refer briefly to a custom
prevalent in the middle ai;cs of sending to
» Polycrates ((. c.) culls St. .fulm Mn/'"/?, anil tlu>
Gothico-Gallic Missal (in/ca) spralcs of tlie two si.iis ,.I
Zebedee together as mnrlyrs.
b So Ephiacmius {I.e.) t6 ayiov c«ii'oC fivpoi-.
c In one form of the calendar given by Seidell (tie Si/iie-
driis velei-um Kbraemiim, p. 21 '2, el. 167!)), tln' ilaU- is
given us ScptcinliiT 24.
888
JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ST., Festival of
friends on St. John's day presents of wine which
had been previously blessed (Benedictio or Jlau-
stus S. Joannis). The origin of this custom is
not certainly known. Some have viewed it as a
continuation of the old Roman custom of sending
to friends at the beginning of January presents
in honour of Janus. Whether or no there be
any connection between the two customs, it
seems probable that there must be some refer-
ence to the legend of the poisoned wine cup sent
to St. John, who signed it with the cross and
drank it unhurt (see e.g. Isid. Hispal. de ortu
et obilic Patrum c. 72 ; Patrol. Ixxxiii. 151). This
legend has very likely arisen from our Lord's
words (Matt. xx. 23 : cf. also Mark xvi. 18), and
has itself obviously been the source of a common
mediaeval representation of St. John, as holding
a cup round which a serpent is entwined.
2. Liturgical Notices. — In the Leonine Sacra-
mentary we have two masses for the festival of St.
John on December 27 (Leonis 0pp. ii. 153, ed.
Ballerini). There is, however, but one in the
Gelasian Sacramentary {PatrJ. Ixxiv. 1060),
and in the Gregorian, as given by Menard (col.
10); he mentions, however, that two occur in
the Cd. Rittoldi, and in the text of Pamelius, and
also in the Gregorian Antiphonary (i6. col. 659).
We may probably assume that one mass was for
early morning, and another for a later service.
In some forms of the Gregorian Sacramentary is
also a mass for May 6, " Nativitas S. Joannis
ante portam Latinam " («6. col. 87). The Am-
brosian liturgy gives one mass for December 27
(Pamelius, Liturgg. Latt. i. 307).
In the ancient Gallican lectionary published
by Mabillon, Dec. 27 is inscribed in festo 8.
Johannis, but in the Gothico-Gallic missal the
heading is in Natale Apostolorum Jacohi et .lo-
hannis (Mabillon, de Liturgia Gallicanii, lib. ii.
Ill, iii. 196). In the former case the epistle
and gospel assigned for the day (no prophetic
lection is pi-ovided) are Rev. xiv. 1-7, Mark x.
35 ... . (one leaf of the MS. is here torn away).
The Gothico-Gallic missal has also a commemo-
ration of St. John, "ante portam Latinam"''
(ijp. cit. iii. 262).
The Mozarabic liturgy commemorates St. John
alone on Dec. 27 (^Patrol. Ixxxv. 199), the pro-
]>hetic lection, epistle, and gospel being respect-
ively, Wisdom X. 10-18, 1 Thess.' iv. 12-17,
John xxi. 15-24. (For sundry variations from
these, see Leslie's notes to the Mozarabic liturgy
ill loc.) For the service in the Mozarabic bre-
viary, see Patrol. Ixx.xvi. 127.
The so-called Liber Comitis provides for the
festival of December 27 an Old Testament lec-
tion and gospel. Ecclus. xv. 1-6, and John xxi.
19-24 {Patrol, xxx. 489).
3. Apocryphal Literature. — With the name of
St. John is associated a considerable amount of
pseudonymous literature. First among these we
may mention the book de transitu Mariue, first
edited by Tischendorf (^Apocalypses Apocry/jhae,
pp. 70 sqq. ; see also his Prolegomena, pp. xxxiv.
sqq., and Fabricius, Gdex Pseudepigraphus Movi
Testamenti, i. 352, ed. 1719). This was one of
the books condemned by the council at Rome
* This mass occurs between those for the " Finding of
-the Cross " and those for the Rogation days. It contains,
-.however, it must he statfd, no reference to the event
"iid portam Latinam."
under Gelasius in 494 A.D., where it is simply
spoken of as " Liber qui appellatur Transitus,
id est, Assumptio Sanctae Mariae " (^Patrol, lix.
1 62) ; and the false claim to the name of John the
6eo\6yos is referred to by Epiphauius Monachus
(de Vita B. Virginis, c. 1 ; Patrol. Gr. cxx. 188).
Fabricius also refers to another apocryphal docu-
ment found attached to a copy of the above,
vi:6ixvr)ixa. tov Kvfyiov t^ijloiv 'iTjcroC XpiffToO iU
tV a.TroKa6fi\w(nv avrov <Tvyypa<pe7cra (sic} wapa
roC ayioj 6fo\6yov. A passing allusion may be
made here to the Templars' mutilated recension
of the canonical gospel of St. John, published
by Thilo (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti i.
817) as the Codex Evangelii Johannis Parisiis in
sacro Templariorum tahdario asservato, and also
to the Book of St. John, said to have been in use
among the Albigenses, and brought to light by
the Inquisition of Carcasoune (Op. cit. 884).
We may next mention the Apocryphal Acts of
St. John, the Greek text of which was first
edited in Tischendorf's Acta Apostolorum Apo-
crypha (pp. 268 sqq.), and a Syriac version of the
latter part of it in Dr. Wright's Apocryphal Acts.
Any detailed account of this document is out of
place here ; reference may be made to Tischen-
dorf (pp. Ixxiii. sqq.) : it may, however, be
noted that it was known to Eusebius (Hist.
Eccles. iii. 25). A history of St. John at Ephesus,
in a Syriac translation of an unknown Greek
original, has been published by Dr. Wright (Op.
cit.).
There is also an apocryphal Apocalypse of St
John, first edited by Birch in 1804, and subse-
quently by Tischendorf (yipoca/. Apocr. pp. 70 sqq.
cf. pp. xviii. sqq.). Assemani (Bibliotheca Orieii-
talis, iii. part 1, 282) mentions three MSS. of an
Arabic version of this document. Less important
than the above, but claiming a passing notice,
are the Epistle ad Hydropicum quemdam given by
the Pseudo-Prochorus (see Fabricius, i. 926), the
Prayer of St. John, cited from Martene by Fa-
bricius (iii. 334), and the Prophetia de Consum-
mationc Mnndi. said to have been discovered with
a commentary of Caecilius in 1588 A.D., in Gra-
nada (lb. iii. 720). In connection with St. John
may also be mentioned the Historia Apostolica
(lib. V.) of the Pseudo-Abdias (ib. i. 531 sqq.)
and the Passio S. Johannis Evangelistae of Mel-
litus (ib. iii. 604). T\\^' Apostolic Constitutions
(viii. 16) connect with the name of St. John the
regulations as to the ordination of presbyters.
Finally, we may mention the Syro-Jacobite
liturgy of St. John the Evangelist. A Latin
translation of this is given by Renaudot (Liturgg.
Orientalium Collect io, ii. 163," ed. 1847).
In addition to works already cited, reference
may also be made to Tillemont (vl/c7/ioiires pour
servir a V Llistoire Ecclesiastiquc, vol. i. pp. 370
sqq. and notes 17 and 18, ed. 1693) and to Au-
gusti (Denkwiirdigkeiten aus dtr Christlicheii
Archiiulogie, i. 288 sqq., iii. 242 sqq.). [R. S.]
JOHN, ST., THE EVANGELIST, in Art.
From very early times the eagle has been assigned
to St. John as his emblem amoag the four living
creatures which have always been held sym-
bolical of the four Evangelists ; indeed the most
ancient method of representing the beloved dis-
ciple appears to have been by this symbol alone.
[Evangelists.]
I'erhaps the oldest personal representations of
JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ST., in Art
889
him are to be found on two glass cups, whfre he
is figured in bust conversing with St. Peter ;
the names Smox, .Ioiiannks being given (Gar-
rueci, Vetri ornati di fig. in oro, tav. sxiv 4
and 5). In some mosaics of the 6th century we
find him as a young man — all representations
make him young — with long hair; a nimbus
surrounds his head ; he wears the tunic and
]>allium, and carries his Gospel pressed to his
heart. In the church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna
a mosaic of A.D. 5+7, shows the Evangelist
seated, holding the codes of his Gospel open in
his hands ; before him is a small table with a
pen and ink-bottle, and the symbolical eagle
appears above his head. (See woodcut.) Lam-
beci {Bihlioth. Caesar. Vindobon. vol. ii. pars i.
p. 571) gives an illumination from a very early
Greek manuscript in which St. John is repre-
sented seated, dictating his Gospel to a deacon.
We find him standing with a volume in his
hand in a mosaic which dates from the 9th cen-
tury, in the church of St. Maria Novele. This
figui-e and those of three other apostles occupy
four small niches, which are placed two on each
side of a large niche, containing the seated figure
of the Virgin with the infant Jesus on her lap
(Ciampini, T'rf. 3Ion. vol. i. tav. liii.).
In the crypt of St. Urban in Caflarella, at
Rome, we find a somewhat coarse and very curi-
ous painting of the same date, in which St. John
appears with similar surroundings. He stands
on the right of the Virgin and St. Urban on the
left (Perret, vol. i. p. Ixxxiii.).
The attempted martyrdom of St. John before
the Latin Gate is figured in an ancient mosaic on
the portico of St. John Lateran (Ciam p. Z>e -Sac/-.
Aedif. tab. ii. 8). The scene is now very imper-
fectly represented because the mosaic is much
damaged, but the flagellation of the apostle can
still be distinguished, and also the cutting off
of his hair. In the oldest representations of the
Crucifixion, St. John uniformly occupies the posi-
tion he assumes in his own narrative (John xix.
'.'5, 2<j), standing with the Virgin at the foot of
hands in token of grief. He appears thus ia a
fresco in the cemetery of St. Julius (Hottari,
cxcii.) and in the celebrated diptych of Kambona,
figured by Buonarotti ( \'etri Ornati, p. 'JS5).
Over his head are the words, DISSIPULK (sic)
ECCE (mater tua).
An almost identical representation is found
upon the very ancient ivory tablet in the form
of a pax, mentioned by Florentine, taken from
the collegiate church of Civitalis, in the diocese
of Aquileifu St. John stands by the Lord's side
with this inscription : ap. ecce m I'VA (Apostolc
ecce mater tua).
Basilicas were dedicated to St. John the Evan-
gelist in very early times ; among others, we
may mention that of St. John Lateran. The
ancient Vatican had also an altar raised to his
honour by pope Symmachus (Ciamp. Uc Hacr.
Aedif. p. 60, 1 d). (Martigny, Diet, des Antiq.
Chret. s. v.) [C]
JOHN (1) and Gabriel; commemorated July
12 {Cal. Geory.).
(2) and Cyrus, martyrs, 6aufiaTuvpyul, avoip-
yvpot, A.D. 292; commemorated Jan. 31 {Cal.
Byzant.) : their translation, A.D. 400, commemo-
rated June 28 {Cal. Byzant.).
(3) Ab Zedaoni et tredecim patres Syriae ;
commemorated May 7 {Cal. Gcorg.).
(4; Twenty-ninth patriarch of Alexandria,
commemorated Ginbot 4= April 29 {Cal. Ltluop.).
(5) Patriarch of Alexandria, 1577 ; comme-
morated Ter 16 = Jan. 1 1 (16.).
(6) Patriarch of Jerusalem; commemorated
March 9 {Cal. Arinen.).
(7) Patriarch of Alexandria, A.D. 685 ; com-
memorated Ginbot 10 = May 5 {Cal. L'thiop.).
(8) Archbishop of Alexandria, A.D. 615; com-
memorated Nov. 12 {Cal. Byzant.).
(9) (io-tos iraTrjp, 6 <ruyypa<pevs Trjs KXifiaKos,
t A.D. 570; commemorated March 30 {Cal. Byz.)
(10) Patriarch of Constantinople, A.D. 619;
commemorated Sept. 2 {Gal. Byiant.).
(11) Damascenus, ocrios irariip, f A-D- 735 ;
commemorated Dec. 4 {ib.).
(12) Palaeo-laurita, 'offios iraxTjp ; commemo-
rated April 19 {ib.).
(13) Presbyter, deposition in njonast. Reomae-
ensi, Jan. 28 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(14) Saint, Penarensis: commemorated March
19 {ib., Mart. Bom. Vet.).
(15) Eremita, deposition in Egypt, f6d3 A.D. ;
March 27 {ib.)
(16) The pope, martyr at Rome (1626 A.D.) ;
commemorated May 28 {Mart. Usuardi) : depo-
sition. May 28 {Mart. Bedae).
(17) Presbyter, martyr under Julian; com-
memorated June 23 {Mart. Bum. Vet., Adoui>,
Usuardi).
(18) Martvr at Rome witli Paulus ; comme-
morated June 26 {ib.. Mart, llieron., Bedae).
(19) Presbyter, martyr at Rome with Crispiis
under Diocletian; commemorated Aug. 18 (.)/<(/•/.
Adoni.s, Usuardi).
(20) Martyr at Toiui, witii Marcellinus and
his wile M.'mula, Sorapio, and Peter {Mart.
llirroi. , .\dunis, Usuardi).
890
JONAH
(21) Martyr at Nicomedia, under Diocletian ;
commemoi-ated Sept. 7 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(22) Martyr with Adulfus at Cordova ; com-
memoiated Sept. 27 (^Mart. Usuardi).
(23) Martyr in Tuscany ; commemorated with
Festus. Dec. 21 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(24) Calybita, A.D. 460 ; commemorated Jan.
1.5 {Cal. Byzaiit.) [W. F. G.]
JONAH, the prophet ; commemorated Mas-
karram 25 = Sept. 22 {Cal. Ethlop.-). [W. F. G.]
JONILLA, martyr at Langres with Leonidas,
Speusippus, Elasippus, and Melasippus; comme-
morated Jan. 17 (Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
JORDAN, THE RIVER, in Art. The
representations of the river Jordan in earl}'
Christian art, especially those sculptured on
sarcophagi (Bottari, tav. xxix.), are generally
copied, with more or less exactness, from the
river-gods of pagan antiquity. Thus we find
him personified as an old man with a crown
and sceptre of reeds, sometimes leaning upon an
urn from which flows a stream of water. He is
thus represented in the mosaic in the baptistery
of St. John in fonte at Ravenna, with the name
Miisaic at Eaveima. F
Ciiirapim.
lORDANN, written over his head (Ciampini, Yet.
Mon. i. tav. Ixx., see woodcut); also in an illu-
mination in a copy of the Book of Judges, in the
Vatican. The same mythological type appears
again at Ravenna, in a mosaic in the church of
S. Maria in Cosmedin ; in this instance, however,
two horns are substituted for the crown of reeds
on the head of the figure (Id. ibid. II. tav.
xxiii.).
The Jordan, simply as a stream, appears in
some sculptured representations of the translation
of Elijah (Bottari, Sculture, tav. Hi. 2), in a paint-
ing of the baptism of the Lord in the cemetery
of Pontianus, in another fresco in the cemetery of
Callixtus (Bottari, Ixxii.), on a bronze medallion
of the baptism of the Lord with the name of the
river below, iorda (Vettori. Num. Aer. explic.
frontisp.), in some bottoms of cups, where it flows
at the feet of the Saviour (Buonarotti, tav. vi. 1),
and in various mosaics, that of SS. Cosmas and Da-
mian at Rome, for example, with the inscription
JOSEPH, ST.
lORDANES (Ciampini, Vet. Mon. tav. xvi.). Sec
Jesus Christ, p. 876. On some sarcophagi the
Lord appears seated, in the act of teaching, and,
at his feet, a half-length human figure holding
with both hands a piece of cloth, which inflated
by the wind, spreads above his head in the form
of an arch. This has been supposed to be an-
other emblem of the river Jordan (Oavedoni,
Raqguol. crit. p. 50), on the banks of which
sevei-al of the Lord's discourses were delivered.
But see Firmament. (Martigny, Diet, des Antiq.
C/ir^t. s. V. 'Jourdain.') [C]
JOSEPH. (1) Of Thessalonica, offios Tcarhp
Kal buoKoytjrris; commemorated July 13 {Cal.
liyzant.).
(2) Husband of the Virgin Mary; commemo-
rated Hamle 26 = July 20 {Cal. Ethiop.)
(3) Ab Alaverdi; commemoi-ated Sept. 15
{Cal. Georg.).
(4) Patriarch of Alexandria, 1849 A.D. ; com-
memorated Tekemt 23 ^ Oct. 20 {Cal. Ethiop.).
(5) The Just ; commemorated July 20 {Mart.
Rom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
JOSEPH, ST. Early Christian art has left
us no work in which St. Joseph appears alone.
, Jo-'^epli. Carv
ory, from Martigny.
or even as a principal figure. In such subjects
as the Nativity, the Adoration of the Shepherds,
and of the Magi, and the finding of Jesus in the
Temple, he appears only as an accessory ; never
in an exalted, seldom even in a prominent,
position.
He is represented as a middle-aged man, some-
times bald (Bottari, tav. Ixxsvi.), sometimes
with thick hair (Id. Ixxxv. ; Allegranza, Monum.
Sacr. di Milano, tav. iv.) ; he is generally robed
in tunic and pallium, and carries some car-
penter's tool, as the distinctive mark of his
calling (Molanus, de Hist. SS. Imacj. p. 269).
Thus in a diptych in Milan cathedral he is
represented with a saw (Bugati, Memor. di S.
Celso, p. 282), on the sarcophagus of Celsus, also
in Milan, he carries an adze (Bugati, u. s. p.
JOSHUA
242), and wears the everyday costume of an
artisan.
In all these cases St. Joseph retains the un-
obtrusive position assigned to him in the gospel
narratives — always in the background, and ap-
parently full of earnest thought. He appears
absorbed in his duty as the protector of the
Holy Family ; in an attitude of watchful love he
stands behind the Virgin while the Holy Child
sleeps upon her knees; sometimes his hand is
stretched over them in token of protection
(Perret, vol. v. pi. xii.) ; sometimes, seated near
the cradle, he guards the slumbers of the Divine
Infant.
Bandini gives an ancient ivory (/« tahulam
ebuni. in fine ; see woodcut), which shows two
scenes in the life of St. Joseph. Above, the dream;
an angel standing by a bed extends his arm over
the sleeper in the attitude of exhortation. Below,
we have the journey to Bethlehem : an angel
leads the ass on which the Virgin is seated ; her
arm encircles Joseph's neck, and his whole atti-
tude expresses the most reverent affection. (Mar-
tigny. Bid. des Antiq. Chre't. s. v.) [C]
JOSHUA, the son of Nun ; commemorated
Se])t. l{C'al. Byzant.); Senne 25 = June 19 {Cal.
Ethiop.). Also with Gideon. [W. F. G.]
JOURNEYING. All travellers and strangers
were expected to bring Coaihendatory Letters,
i.e. testimonials from their own bishop, and were
then admitted to communicate in the Eucharist.
Persons who had not pi-ovided themselves with
these, might share if they needed it, in the hos-
pitality provided by the churches and religious
houses, but were not admitted to communion.
This was to guard against the admission of ex-
communicated persons. The Apostolical Canons
order that if any person was received without
commendatory letters, and it afterwards ap-
peared that he was excommunicate, both the
receiver and received should be cast out of
communion {Can. xiii.). From an allusion in
the letters of Gregory the Great, we learn that
those who travelled by sea sometimes took the
reserved sacrament in both kinds with them in
the ship, so as not to be deprived of communion.
(Gregor. Dialog. III., c. 36, apud Baron, an. 404).
" Pcregrina Communio," or the Communion of
Strangers, is a well-known phrase in Canons,
but is not well understood (Bingham, xvii. 3 ;
and Communion, Holy, p. 417). From the fifth
century downwards, these rules were of con-
tinual application, in consequence of the in-
creasing practice of going on pilgrimages. [Pil-
grimage.] [S. J. E.]
JOVINIANUS, the reader of Auxerre ; Pas-
fio, May 5 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
JOYINUS, martyr at Rome with Basileus,
under Gallienus and Valerianus ; commemorated
March 2 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis. Usnnrdi).
[W. F. G.]
JO VITA. [Fau.stinus (1).]
JUDAS ISCARIOT. The subjoined wood-
cut is taken from Assemani's Gatalogus ISibl.
Laurentianae, and represents one of the illumi-
nations in the great MS. of Rabula, in that
collection. The subject is very rare in early
Christian art. The Betrayal of our Lord after,
wards became specially popular with painters;
JUDE THE APOSTLE, ST.
891
but is not found that we are aware of (except
■' ly in MSS.) within the limits of our period.
Martigny makes no mention of it, and Gue'ne'-
bault's earliest example is of the 12th century.
[R. St. J. T.]
JUDE THE APOSTLE, ST., Legend and
Festival of.
1. Legend, ^c. — With the name of this apostle
considerable difficulties are associated ; the ques-
tions as to the identity of Jude with Lebbaeus
andThaddaeus, the identity of Jude the apostle
with Judas the Lord's brother, and, on the hypo-
thesis which distinguishes these two last, the
question as to which was the author of the ca-
nonical epistle. As to the first point, in spite of
some curious complications, we can hardly hesi-
tate to assume the identity of the three ; it is
not conceivable that the Evangelists should have
actually varied in the lists of the Twelve. It
is not necessary to enter at length into this
point here, as it will be found discussed in the
Dictionary of the Bible; a few further re-
marks, however, may be made. The most pro-
minent tradition in connection with the name of
this apostle is the mission to .\bgarus, king of
Edessa, to which we shall again refer. The case
is, however, complicated by the fact that some
writers describe this Thaddaeus as the apostle
{e.g. Jerome, Comrn. in Matt. x. 4; vol.vii. ))t. 1,
57, ed. Vallarsi ; and the Acta Thaddaei, infra),
while others {e.g. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. i. 13)
speak of him alone of the Seventy disciples, who
was sent to Edessa by the apostle Thomas. This
last writer introduce's another difficulty by stat-
ing (/. c.) that the name of Thomas was really
Judas.* Yet another element of confusion has
been brought in by those who identify Lebbaeus
with Levi (cf. Origen contra Celswn, i. 02). Any
discussion, however, on these theories is quite
beyond our present province, and wo shall there-
fore assume the identity of Jude, Lebbaeus, and
Thaddaeus ; and in collecting the various notices
of Thaddaeus we shall inchide all as belonging to
the apostle, except those which distinctly refer
to him as one of the Seventy. As to the varying
forms of the tra<litions about Thaddaeus's labours
and death, it is utterly impossible to say how
far they are to be viewed as distinctly contllct-
• In the Syriiic Acts of 'I'homas, publisbcd by Dr
Wright, the name Thomas appears as a mere occasional
n.Milioii to .lu.1.1.-. S,.o also Assfinaiii, Hild. Or. i. 318.
892
JUDE THE APOSTLE, ST., Legend and Festival of
ing legends, and how for they ai-e to be explained
as referring to two different men.
We shall now proceed briefly to glance through
the various legends. The Martyrologium Hicro-
iiipni speaks in its Prologue of St. Simon and
St. Jude having suffered together "in Susia,
civitate magna apud Persidem " (^Patrol, xxx.
451), though in the body of the work the
scene of the martyrdom is simply given as
" alibi " (ib. 495). Tiie Martyrology of Bade
speaks of previous labours of St. Jude in Meso-
potamia (Patrol, xciv. 184): so also the Western
Martyrologies *' generally, see e.g. those of Wand-
albert (Patrol, cxxi. 616) and Usuard (Patrol.
cxxiv\ 630). So also Isidore, who refers to la-
bours in Mesopotamia, Pontus, and Armenia (de
ortu et obitu Patrum, c. 78, Patrol. Ixxsiii. 453)
and Venantius Fortunatus (Carm. viii. 6; Patrol.
lxxxviii.270). Paulinus of Nola does indeed speak
of his labours among the Libyans (Poema xix.
82 ; Patrol. Ixi. 514), but a mere unsupported
statement of this kind need not count for much.<=
The account given by Nicephorus (Hist. Eccles.
ii. 40) varies somewhat, and, as will be seen, we
cannot account for the variation by referring it
to the other Thaddaeus. The apostle is spoken
of as labouring in Judaea, Galilee, Samaria, Idu-
raaea, Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, finally
d'-ing peaceably at Edessa ; on his arrival at
which place he found that Thaddaeus, one of the
Seventy disciples, had been there before him.
The Apocryphal Acts of Thaddaeus (infra) dilfer
again. According to these, Thaddaeus was a
native of Edessa, who was a disciple of St. John
the Baptist before he followed Christ. Abgarus,
king of Edessa, having been healed by a miracu-
lous portrait sent him by our Lord, is visited by
Thaddaeus after the Ascension. The apostle,
after making many converts, journeys to Amis
on the Tigris, and thence to Berytus in Phoenicia
where he apparently dies a natural death.
Syrian traditions almost universally distinguish
Thaddaeus, the apostle of Edessa, from St. Jude ;
though, like Western authorities, they assigu
Mesopotamia to the latter as the sphere of his
labours; the former, however, whom they ordi-
narily name Adai, they maintain to be one of the
Seventy (see Assemani, Bibl. Orient, i. 318; iii.
part 1, 297, 302 ; from which last reference it
appears that practically the only exception to
the general character of the stream of Syrian
tradition is Jesujabus, bishop c(f Nisibis, with
whom Adai is the same as the apostle St. Jude :
— for the history of this Adai, see Op. cit. iii.
part 2, pp. 8-13).
2. Festival. — As in the case of not a few others
of the apostles, there is a lack of evidence for
any early special commemoration of St. Jude;
and its absence from the earlier Sacramentaries,
as well as the foct that hardly any ancient
Homilies'' are extant for such a festival, points
in the same direction. In the West the comme-
*> The Martyrologium Gellonense speaks of St. Jude's
having been buried " in Nerito Arminiae urbe" (D' Achery,
Spicilegium, xiii. 390). This is probably a false reading
for " in Bevyto ;" so Isidore (I. c.) " in Beryto ArmsDiae."
•■ Muratori {not. in loc.) tries to account for the discre-
pancy by supposing Libya to be the place of sepulture,
but not of death, but this is palpably over-refining.
d Among the very few, we may note that of Nicetas
Paphlago (Patrol. Gr. cv. 254); that once attributed to
Bcde '^t'atrol. xciv. 489) is spurious.
moration of St. Jude has been joined with that
of St. Simon on October 28, but this combination
does not occur in Eastern calendars. The reason
for this association of the two names it is im-
possible to ascertain ; it may have been from the
belief that the two apostles were brothers, or
from the tradition of their having suffered mar-
tyrdom on the same day, but as in the parallel
case of St. Philip and St. James it is perfectly
useless to theorize. It may merely be remarked
that as regards the first of these theories, there
is no trace of such a combination of St. Peter
and St. Andrew, and but little of one of St. James
and St. John : as regards the latter, the tradition
can have been by no means a wide-spread one,
inasmuch as only the Western church comme-
morates the two apostles on the same day.
We have already remarked as to the absence
of this festival from the oldest liturgical authori-
ties. Thus we find no trace of it in the Leonine
or Gelasian Sacramentaries, in Mabillon's Gal-
ilean liturgy, in Muratori's Gregorian Sacra-
mentary and in the calendar of Fronto : nor is it
recognized in the Pontifical of Egbert, archbishop
of York (ob. 766 A.D.). It is found, however, in
the Gregorian Sacramentary as edited by Menard
(col. 137), where also a Ni'|.,u-atr mass is pro-
vided for the ^-igil. Thovii;il is , I Imj recognized
with the festival in Menard's (irc^Mirian Anti-
phonary (coL 711), and in the St. Gall MS. of
the Martyrologium Gellonense (D'Achfery, Spici-
legium, xiii. 427). A mass for the festival is given
in the Ambrosiau liturgy, part of which is the
same as that in the Gregorian (Pamelius, Liturgg.
Latt. i. 427); and in the Mozarabic missal,
where, however, it must be noticed that the
greater part of the service is borrowed from
that for another festival, that for St. Peter and
St. Paul (Patrol. Ixxv. 888, where see Leslie's
note : also for the form in the Mozarabic bre-
viary, see Patrol. Ixxxvi. 1236). The Comes
Hieronipni, as published by Pamelius (Liturgg.
Latt. ii. 53) gives an Old Testament lection [or
epistle] and gospel for the vigil and the festival ;
Wisdom iii. 1 sqq., John xv. 1 sqq., and Romans
viii. 28 sqq., John xv. 17 sqq.
Besides the festival of October 28, it may be
noted that some Western calendars give other
commemorations of St. Simon and St. Jude:
tlius the Martyrologium LLieronymi, as given by
D'Achfery from the Corbey MS., adds one on
July 1 (Patrol, xxx. 464), and the Marlyrologitim
Gellonense (D'Achfery, 405) two, on June 29 and
July 1.
In the Eastern church, as we have already said,
St. Jude is commemorated apart from St. Simon,
on June 19. There is also a festival on August
21 of Thaddaeus, whom we should assume to be
the apostle of Edessa viewed as distinct from
St. Jude. Papebroch, however (infra), evidently
refers both to the same St. Jude in his notes to
the Greek metrical Ephemerides published by
him in the Acta Sanctorum (May, vol. i. pp.
xxxii. xl.). The notices here are — tuvta koI
^€KdTri dvr)CTK€i ^iXiifffftv 'louSas, and ^IkoSi
TTpcinr} @aSSa7os ^iStoio airfwrT). In the Arme-
nian calendar we find commemorations of Thad-
daeus on July 20 and of Thaddaeus and Bartho-
lomew on November 30 (Neale, Eastern Church,
Introd. pp. 800, 804). Whether, however, both
of these are to be referred to St. Jude we are
unable to say. We may refer lastly to the ca-
JUDGE
lendars of the Egyptian aud Ethiopic churches
published hy LndoU {Fasti Sacri Ecdesiae Alex-
andrinae). Here we find " Jude, Apostle," com-
memorated by the former church on Jan. 26 and
May 10 (pp. 19, 28); and a commemoration by
both churches of Thaddaeus on June 2G (p. 32),
and of the Translation of the body of Thaddaeus
on July 23 (p. 35). The last two are perhaps to
be referred to Thaddaeus viewed as external
to the Twelve.
3. Whether the apostle St, Jude is to be con-
sidered as the author of the canonical epistle
bearing the name of Jude, we do not discuss
here : reference may be made on this point to the
DiCTIONAUY OF THE BiBLE. But little pseudo-
Dvmous literature is connected with the name
of St. Jude ; an apocryphal gospel bearing the
name of Thaddaeus is mentioned in some forms
of the records of the council held at Rome in
49-i A.D. under the episcopate of Gelasius {Patrol.
lix. 162). It has been suggested, but does not
seem probable, that Tliaddaei is a false reading for
Matthiae. There are also extant Acta Tliaddaei,
of which the Greek text was first published by
Tischendorf {Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, pp.
261 sqq.). In this is contained the letter of Ab-
garus to our Lord in a somewhat different form
fi'om that given by Eusebius. The Apostolic Consti-
tutions (viii. 25) give, in the name of " Lebbaeus,
surnamed Thaddaeus," the regulation as to the
order of widows in the church, and also as to
exorcists. Finally, we may refer for the legend-
ary history to the Historia Apostolica of the
Pseudo-Abdias (lib. vi. ; Fabricius, Codex Pseude-
pigmphus Novi Testamenti,\. 591 sqq., ed. 1719).
In addition to works already cited, see also
Augusti, Denkwilrdigkeiten aiis der Ckristlichen
Archdologie, vol. iii. pp. 206 sqq. Van Hecke
in the Acta Sanctorum (October, vol. xii. pp.
437 sqq.) ; Assemani, Kalcndariuin Kcclesiae Uni-
versae, vi. 432 sqq. [R. S.]
JUDGE. The early ecclesiastical jurisdiction
was exercised without formality or strict adhe-
rence to legal rights and requirements, in a quasi-
paternal manner. [Compare Discipline.] Ko
special training was therefore required for it.
The bishop himself was the usual and •' ordinary "
judge: and appeals from him went to the pro-
vincial synod or to the metropolitan, primate
or patriarch in person. [Appeal; Audientia
Episcopalis; Bishop, p. 236.]
The earliest officer of the bishop occupying in
any sense an independent position was the OECO-
NOMUS or treasurer. This office was often united
with that of the defensor or guardian and advo-
cate of the liberties of the church, who is spoken
of iu the 2nd canon of the council of Chalcedon.
[Advocate of the Chuecii.] Gothofredus (in
Cod. I. iii. 33. 2) says that the defensor became
in time a judo-e in small causes: and his office
is supposed by Ayliffe {Parerg. 160) to have
been the original of the modern official or chan-
cellor. , . , J •
The word " official ", the technical word m
later times (as in the 12th century) for the
officer exercising coercive jurisdiction on behalf
of the bishop or metropolitan, is not used in this
sense in the Code or iu the Novells. The woi-d
indeed often occurs in them, but as the name
of a secular officer. ^ .u i ■
The 9th canon of the council of (halcouon
JULIANUS
893
speaks of arbitrators being chosen with the
bishop's consent to determine civil controversies
between clerks, instead of the bishop.
The greater formality and style of the ecclesi-
astical courts grew up with the increa.se of juris-
diction over civil matters and with the appoint-
ment of "officials" in the 12th century. The
presence of a registrar to make solemn record
of the decrees of the court was first ordered in
the council of Lateran held under Innocent III.
A.D. 1215 ; though it was probably customary to
have a scribe or notary present at the formal
sittings of the courts for some time before this ;
and we actually hear of notaries at the pseudo-
council of Ephesus, A.D. 449. Apparitors or
summoners to the bishop's courts are spoken of
in the Code and Novells, where the fees to be
taken by them are specially regulated.
In what has been said as to the bishop being
the "ordinary" judge, it is not intended to
imply that he decided, at any rate grave cases,
alone, or without the advice and concurrence of
his clergy.
Similarly the metropolitan, even if he did not
convene the whole provincial synod, collected
some of the bishops of the province to assist him
in deciding the causes brought before him. In
some cases the canons or imperial laws speak of
the metropolitan, in others of the synod, as the
proper court.
The jurisdiction of abbots [Abbat] had hardly
grown up during the period of which we are
treating. They had at the utmost a sort of
parental authority subordinate to the bishop.
[Jurisdiction.] [W. G, F, P,]
JULIA. (1) Virgin, martyr in Corsica ;
commemorated May 22 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi),
(2) [Florentius.]
(3) Virgin, martvr at Troves; commemorated
July 21 {Mart. Usuardi).
(4) Martyr in Lusitania with Venerissinia and
Maxima {ib.).
(5) Virgin, martyr at Augusta Eufratesia ;
commemorated Oct. 7 {Mart. Rom. Yet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(6) Virgin, martyr at Emerita (Merida) with
Eulalia; commemorated Dec. 10 {M,irt. Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
JULIANA. (1) Martyr " apud Augustanam
urbem " with Quiriacus, Largio, Crescentianus,
Niramia, and 20 others; commemorated Aug. 12
{Mart. Usuardi).
(2) Virgin, martyr at Cumae, in the time of
Maximinian ; commemorated Feb. 16 {Mart. Rom.
Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Martvr of Nicomedia, A.D. 209; comme-
morated Dec. 21 {Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
JULIANUS. (1) Martyr with Maximinus
and Lucianus {Mart. Usuardi).
(2) and Basilissa, martyrs at Antioch under
Diocletian and Maximian; commemorated Jan,
6 {Mart. Rom. Vet., Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi);
Nov, 25 {Cat. Annen.).
(3) Martyr in Egypt with five others; com-
memoiatod Feb. 16 {Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(4) Martyr in Africa with Publius; coinnie-
moratcd l-'cb. 19 ( .l/.nV. Usuardi).
894
JULITTA
(5) Martyr at Alexandria; commemorated
Feb. 27 (^Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis, Usuardi).
(6) Bishop; deposition at Toledo, llarch G
(^Mart. Usuardi).
(7) [Symphorosa.]
(8) Tarsensis, mart}'! ; commemorated June
21 {Cal. Byzaiit.).
(9) Martyr at Damascus with Sabinus, Maxi-
mus, Macrobius, Cassias, Paula, and 10 others;
commemorated July 20 (^Mart. Adonis, Usuardi).
(10) Martyr at Rome with Peter and 18
others ; commemorated Aug. 7 (^Mart. Rom. Vet.,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(11) Saint in Syria ; commemorated with
Macarius, Aug. 12 {Mart. Roia. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(12) Martyr at Clermont ; commemorated
Aug. 28 (Mart. Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi).
(13) Presbyter, martyr at Terracina with Cae-
sarius the deacon in the time of Claudius ; com-
memorated Nov. 1 (Mart. Horn. Vet., Bedae,
Adonis, Usuardi).
(14) Patriarch of Alexandria, fA.D. 189 ; com-
memorated Magabit 8 = March 4 {Cal. Ethiop.).
[W. F. G.]
JULITTA or JULIETTA, martyr at An-
tioch with her son Cyricus or Cyrillus, a.d. 296 ;
commemorated June 16 (Mart. Horn. Vet.,
Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi) ; Jan. 21 (Cal. Armen.) ■
July 15 (Cal. Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
JULIUS. (1) The pope, martyr under Con-
stantius: commemorated April V2. (^Mart. Bom.
Vet., Bedae, Hieron., Adonis, Usuardi, Cal.
Bucher.).
(2) [Felix (5),]
(3) Senator, martyr at Rome under Commodus ;
commemorated Aug. 19(Jia/-i. Bom. Fef., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(4) Slartyr in Tlirace ; commemorated Dec. 20
{Mart. Hieron., Usuardi).
(5) Martyr in Mesia at Dorostorum ; com-
memorated May 27 {Mart. Bom. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi).
(6) Mart vr with Potamica, civ. Thagord ; com-
memorated Dec. 5 {Mart. Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
JUNCA, COUNCIL OF {Juncense con-
cilium). Of Junca in Africa, a.d. 523 (see
AFPaCAN Councils). A canon attributed to it
by Ferrandus (n. 26) is to the effect that no
bishop may claim anything for himself in a
flock that is not his own (Mansi, viii. 633).
[E. S. Ff.]
JUNIA and Andronieus, apostles, (I!om.
xvi. 7) ; commemorated May 17 {Cal. B'iznnt.).
[\V. F. G.]
JUKISDICTION. Before the time of Con-
stantine the Great such jurisdiction as was ex-
ercised in the church must have been of a purely
spiritual character, and its sanctions must have
been purely spiritual.. Sinners were brought
before the tribunal of the bishop, who judged
and inflicted spiritual censures, and inflicted
them probably without appeal.
Upon the recognition by Constantine of the
church as a collegium licitiun, these spiritual
JURISDICTION
judgments and censures began to have an effect
of which the civil law could take cognizance,
and a civil effect was given to them. They were
also made use of to assist or sometimes even take
the place of the sanctions of the civil law.
In criminal causes where the accused was a
clerk, or in any way specially connected with
the performance of religious observance.s, there
was an early tendency to make the bishop the
judge, first in conjunction with the lay judge
and in time as the sole judge. Judging as a spi-
ritual judge over spiritual persons, a confusion
arose between the sentences which he imposed in
execution of the discipline of the Church, and
those which he imposed as a delegate of the
power of the State and armed with the authority
of a criminal judge. The two matters are so
intertwined, that it will be convenient to discuss
together the jurisdiction in spiritual matters and
that over spiritual persons.
A second fountain of jurisdiction in the courts
of the church was arbitration. Bishops were
encouraged by the Christian Emperors to arbi-
trate on moral grounds between Christians dis-
puting as to matters of right and property, and
the civil law gave a civil force to their judg-
ments. Where clerks were parties, the pro-
priety of a recourse to the tribunal of the bishop
was considered to be greater. Where a clerk
was defendant, his right to escape the annoyance
of appearing before a secular tribunal was paral-
leled to and strengthened by his privilege to be
tried by the bishop when defendant on a criminal
charge. Hence arose jurisdiction between parties
generally.
Lastly, certain special matters of civil litiga-
tion began to be considered, irrespective of the
parties, as being peculiarly fit for the cognizance
of the ecclesiastical judge. Hence arose a juris-
diction over special civil causes.
Jurisdiction in s/nritual matters and over spi-
ritual persons. — We have here first to consider
the difference between the forum internum and
the forum externum. The forum internum was
the tribunal in which the bishop or sometimes
the priest decided on cases of conscience, gave
spiritual directions, and counselled with fatherly
authority penitential discipline. The procedure
and the decision of this tribunal were not, except
in the cases where public penance was required,
necessarily known to any but the penitent and
his judge. The terror of conscience was the only
sanction, and there could be no formal appeal.
But along with this fo7-u)n the church from its
earliest time possessed also a furum externum
(see 1 Cor. v. ; 1 Tim. i. 20). [Penitenck.]
When the gravity of the offence altereii the
relation of the parties and converted the father
into the avenger, or made it necessary to prefer
the public weal of the community to the indi-
vidual welfare, the sentences of deposition or
excommunication were inflicted.
These sentences on clerk or layman were in-
flicted by the bishop. They were or ought to be
recognized by all other bishojjs, and there was
originally no appeal. The so-called Apostolical
Canons, though requiring the imposition of these
sentences in several cases, are silent as to the
procedure by which they were to be inflicted.
The Nicene Canons for the first time pi'ovide a
limited right of appeal.
The 5th canon says that clerics or lay people
JURISDICTION
separated from commucion by their own bishop,
shall be held everywhere to be so separated ; but
that in order that no one should be expelled
from communion through a contentious or harsh
spirit of their bishop, the occasion of their
expulsion shall be inquired into by the j)rovincial
synod, which is to be held for this purpose twice
a year. The decision of the synod is to be final.
It was not till considerably later, when, it does
not exactly appear, that further appeals were
allowed. [Appeal; Indulgp:nce.]
The original discipline of the church had
made all crimes as importing sins the subjects of
the penitential discipline or the forum internum,
and by consequence in the graver and more
public cases, or where penitence was not shown,
of the forum externum. It became however
obviously impossible, as the church tribunals
took a more formal shape and as appeals came to
be allowed, that ordinary criminal ofl'ences
against the laws of the state should be tried in
any fashion by the church courts ; and hence a
division arose, whereby certain offences became
the subject of the almost exclusive jurisdiction
of the church courts, while on other offences
they were not allowed to sit in judgment.
Offences of laymen subject to the jurisdiction
of the church courts were heresy (Van Espen
Jus Eccles. Univ. pars iii. tit. iv. cap. 2, and
the article Heresy), magic (can. 10, cans. 26,
q. 5), blasphemy, to be punished by bishop or
count according to the capitularies of the Frank
kings (lib. vi. cap. 101), and probably cases of
laying violent hands on clerks. It seems that
incest and incontinence were not distinctly
reckoned as offences over which the church had
coercive jurisdiction till late in the 9th or the
10th century, though they were of course sub-
ject to penitential discipline [Fornication;
Harlot; Incest].
Every offence which when committed by a
layman subjected him to the jurisdiction of the
ecclesiastical court, subjected a fortiori a clerk.
But the subjection of clerks to the ecclesi-
astical tribunals was much wider than this. In
A.D. 376 a law of Gratian and Valentinian is
said to have subjected clerks for small offences
or offences of an ecclesiastical nature to their
diocesan synod (L. 23, Cod. Theod. de Episcopis et
Clericis). But a special exception was made of
such offences as gave rise to a criminal action
before the ordinary or extraordinary judges or
the higher officials classed as the Illustrious.
So iu' A.I). 399, Arcadius and Honorius are
said (L. I. Coil. Theod. Be Beligione) to have
ordered causes relating to religion to be tried by
the bishops, but questions which related to the
civil law to be tried according to the law {i.e. by
the lay judges). Rather stronger is an edict
attributed to Valentinian Theodosius and Ar-
cadius (L. 3 Cod. Theud. de Episcop. Jud.) Van
Espen {Jus Eccl. pars iii. tit. iii. cap. i.) cites a
< onstitution of Honorius, A.D. 412 (L. 41, C"d.
Theod. de Episcop. et Cleric.) which would ap-
parently subject the clerk for all offences to the
bishop; but it is held that the words, though
vague and general, do not really refer to other
than ecclesiastical offences.
We come next to Justinian. The Code con-
tains an enumeration of the courts by which
an accused clerk is to be tried as follows : he is
to be tried before his bishop. If the bishop be
JURISDICTIOX
89o
" suspected " there is to be an appeal (or possiblv
an original trial) before the metropolitan. It'
his decision be not satisfactory, an appeal lies to
the provincial synod and thence to the patriarch,
whose judgment (subject to certain peculiar
rights in the patriarch of Constantinople) is to
be final. The law then proceeds as follows :
" As for these proceedings, if they relate to
ecclesiastical matters, we oi-der that they be of
necessity tried only by the most religious bishops
or metropolitans, or by the sacred synods, or by
the most holy patriarchs. But if there is a con-
troversy as to civil matters, though we will
allow those who wish it to bring the question
before the bishops, yet we will not compel them,
since there are civil tribunals. iC they j)refer to
go to them, before which tribunals also criminal
proceedings can be had " (Cod. i. iv. 29).
This law seems to confuse civil and criminal
proceedings, and has a relation to both. The
8ord Novell is more precise. It recites a request
of Menas or Mennas, the patriarch of Constan-
tinople, and proceeds to confer certain privileges
upon clerks. The first relate to civil suits. As
to criminal causes, it enacts that where they
relate to secular matters they shall be tried
before the lay judge ; but before the lay judge
])roceeds to execute the sentence, he shall allow
the bishop to depose or degrade his clerk.
Criminal causes relating to ecclesiisltcal matters
are to be tried by the bishop. The 123rd Novell
effected a further alteration (cap. xxi.) JIaking
the same reservations as to ecclesiastical causes,
it ])rovides that a clerk accused of a secular
criminal offence shall be brought before the
bishop, who if he find him guilty shall depose
him ah honore et gradu, from his office and
order, and send him to the lay judge for secular
punishment ; or he may be brought before the
lay judge first, in which case the lay judge is to
transmit the evidences of his guilt to the bishop,
who is to depose him and send him back to the
lay judge for secular punishment. This Novell
extends to monks, deaconesses, and nuns.
Van Espen {loc. cit.) quotes some canons of
the 6th century as going further in this respect,
and the capitularies of the Frank kings enact
that clerks shall not be judged by lay judges, but
by ecclesiastical ones (lib. i. cap. 38); and that no
one shall presume to accuse a clerk, monk, or
nun before a lay judge (lib. v. cap. 378).
In England it is well known that the distinc-
tion between secular and ecclesiastical courts did
not exist during the Anglo-Saxon rule, the
sheriff and the bishop sitting side by side on the
same bench.
The punishments or censures inflicted by the
episcopal tribunals were at first mere acts of
penance, the discipline retaining its original
penitential character. So early indeed as the
Theodosian Code (L. 21 Be Ilaereticis) a fine of
ten pounds of gold seems to have been imjiosed
on any clerk or bishop who was convicted of
heresy ; but it docs not apjjcar whether this line
was imposed by the ecclesiastical judge or by the
lay judge after sentence by the ecclesiastical
judge. [Fines, p. 671.]
Seclusion in a monastery both for laymen and
more especially for clerks and bishops was an
earlier jtunishment. It seems to be menfionoil
in the Epistles of St. Gregory (lib. 2 Epist. 27. 40),
and in a canonical rule of about the vear 816 as
896
JURISDICTION
a substitute for scourging. [Imprisonment, p.
829.]
The 123rd Novell (cap. -xi.) orders that any
bishop who has been by law expelled from his
see, yet returns to the city, shall be shut up in a
monastery.
Relegation or banishment from the city they
disturbed, or in which the public offence was
committed, seems to have been first used as an
ecclesiastical punishment towards the close of
the period of which we are writing (see -Epist. of
St. Gregory, lib. 9, Ep. 66). It is very doubtful
though whether it was ever exercised in invitiim,
unless it was supported by a special decree of
the civil authority. The bishops of large towns,
particularly Constantinople, were however often
armed with a power of sending back to their
own dioceses clerks disorderly frequenting the
capital.
Scourging, as a means of penitential discipline,
is mentioned by St. Augustine {Epist. 133) and
St. Gregory {Epist. lib. 2, Epist. 52, lib. 9,
Epist. 66) [Corporal Punishment]. It seems
to have been used by bishops with reference to
their younger clerks, and by abbots with refer-
ence to monks. In the canon law (can. 10, cans.
26, q. 5) an epistle of St. Gregory is quoted in
which he orders practisers of magic if they be
slaves to be scourged, if free men, to be secluded
till they are penitent. The 38th of the Apos-
tolical Canons orders that any bishop, priest, or
deacon, who endeavours to make himself feared
bv scourging either sinners or men outside the
Christian community who have done wrong
shall be deposed. St. Paul requires as a qualifi-
cation of a .bishop that he should be "no
striker" (1 Tim. iii. 3): The 123rd Novell
(cap. xi.) forbids the bishop to beat any one with
his hands.
.Besides these corporal punishments, the eccle-
siastical courts continued to administer and inflict
their old censures, now become also of worldly
import, of excommunication and deposition or
degradation.
So clearly was the distinction between these
last censures and matters of internal and
penitential discipline now marked, that St.
Augustine seems to say that bishops cannot pro-
hibit any one from communicating unless the
penitent has confessed his crime or been con-
victed by a secular or an ecclesiastical judge ;
" nos a commuuione prohibere quenquam non pos-
sumus . . . nisi aut sponte confessum, aut in
aliquo sive saeculari sive ecclesiastico judicio
nomijiatum atque convictum " {Serm. 351, § 10 ;
0pp. V. 1359, ed. Bened.). Conformably to this
the 123rd Novell (cap. xi.) forbids the excom-
munication of any one till after a full trial.
It should be said here that monks, who were
originally subject to their bishops like any other
laymen, were made in a special and further
degree subject to them by the council of Chalce-
don at the suggestion of the emperor Marcian
(Van Espen pars III. tit. xii. cap. 1). There
seems to have been no question of their exemp-
tion from episcopal authority till the 6th
century ; and even then the exemptions con-
ferred on them were not exemptions from
jurisdiction, but from despotic invasion of their
internal rights.
The abbot or dean exercised a subordinate
jurisdiction, such as remains now with our
JURISDICTION
deans and chapters; and actual exemption from
their bishop's authority sometimes was conferred
on monasteries. [Exemption of Monasteries.]
The trial of bishops has been reserved for
separate mention.
Jt is first provided for in the Apostolical
Canons (can. 74). This is the more remarkable
as thei-e are no provisions in these canons
regulating the trials of clergy or laity.
This canon provides that a bishop when
accused by credible persons shall be summoned
by other bishops (that is, the other bishops of
the province), to appear before them. If he
appears and confesses, or is convicted, his punish-
ment is to be decreed. If he does not appear, he
is to be summoned a second time personally by
two bishops, and so if necessary a third time,
after which he is to be tried and condemned in
his absence. The 75th canon prevents heretics
from giving evidence against a bishop, and
requires the evidence of two witnesses.
The Nicene Canon (can. 5) as to the appeal of
clerks and laymen to the diocesan synod (quoted
p. 89-i supra) has been held by many, notably by
St. Augustine (see Van Espen, pars III. tit. iii.
cap. 5) to relate also to the trial of bishops.
However this may be, the 6th canon of the
council of Constantinople undoubtedly provides
for the trial of bishops. After refusing the
evidence of heretics, excommunicated persons and
persons accused of crimes, it proceeds to enact
that if any not disqualified person has any
ecclesiastical charge to prefer against a bishop,
he shall bring it before the provincial synod. If
the synod cannot correct the crime, the bishops
thereof shall go before the greater synod of that
" diocese " (diocese is here used in the imperial
sense of a larger province, exarchate or patriar-
chate), but shall not bring their accusation till
they have submitted to undergo a lijje penalty,
if they are found calumniators. The decree is
to be then made by the greater synod, and there
is to be no appeal either to the emperor or to a
general council from it.
The 9th canon of the council of Chalcedou
seems to relate primarily to civil suits. It orders
that any dispute between a clerk and a bishop
(whether his own bishop or not) shall be tried
by the provincial synod. If bishop or clerk have
a dispute with the metropolitan, the trial should
be before the exarch of the diocese or the
emperor.
The 123rd Novell provides (cap. viii.) that
a bishop shall not, whether in a pecuniary (civil)
or criminal cause, be brought against his will
before any- civil or military judge; and (cap.
xxii.) that disputes between bishops, whether
on ecclesiastical or other matters, shall be tried
in the first instance by the metropolitan and his
synod, with an appeal to the patriarch ; while
bishops accused of crimes are to be tried by
the metropolitan (apparently alone), from whom
an appeal lies first to the archbishop (that is
probably the primate or exarch or president of
the greater synod), and thence to the patriarch.
Jurisdiction betireen parties. — In the early days
of the church, when Christians formed a small
and separate society, it was natural and almost
necessary that disputes between them should be
settled by arbitration within their own body, to
avoid the scandals to which references to heathen
judges might give rise. St. Paul expressl)
JURISDICTION
reprobates the practice of " brother going to
law with brother, and that before the unbe-
lievers" (1 Cor. vi. 6).
The arbitrator chosen would naturally be the
bishop, and this appears to have been the case.
After the recognition of the church by Con-
stantine, provision was made for giving a legal
sanction to these ai-bitrations. Constantine
himself is said (Van Espen, pars III. tit. i.
cap. 2) to have allowed litigants to choose the
bishop instead of the lay judge, and to have
ordered effect to be given to the sentence of a
bishop so judging. A constitution of Arcadius
and Honorius is preserved in the Code (1. iv. 7)
allowing litigants to go before the bishop in
civil matters only and as before an arbitrator.
Another constitution of Honorius and Theodo-
sius (Cod. I. iv. 8) orders that the bishop's
judgment shall be binding on all those who
have chosen him as judge, and shall have as
much force as a judgment of the praetorian
prefect, from whom there could be no appeal.
It appears that at this time Jews had the
privilege of trying their disputes if they pleased
before their rabbi or " patriarch."
Valentinian III. allowed the same result to be
obtained by means of a previous formal " com-
promissum " or submission to arbitration.
None of these constitutions, however, in the
least degree compel the resort to the ecclesiastical
tribunal, unless the matter in question be of an
ecclesiastical nature, not even though the de-
fendant be a clerk.
So the emperor Marcian (Cod. I. iii. 25) speaks
of an episcopal audience for clerks who are
sued at law, but gives the plaintiff the power of
choosing the lay tribunal.
The 67th Novell makes provision for the mode
of trial, which is to be summary.
There being the power of resorting to the arbi-
tration of the bishop, the church compelled by
threats of censure every clerk at least to resort
only to the tribunal of the bishop. Among other
canons on this subject may be cited that of the
council of Chalcedon (can. 9) which orders that
any clerk who shall have a dispute with another
clerk shall not go before the secular tribunals,
but shall plead his cause first before his bishop,
or befoi-e such person, with the consent of the
bishop, as both parties shall choose to decide the
question.
The 9th canon of the 3rd council of Carthage
orders that any bishop, priest, deacon, or clerk,
who has a civil matter in dispute, and brings it
before the secular tribunals, shall lose all that
he gains by the sentence of the secular tribunal,
or shall be deprived of his office. There are
also canons of the 4th council of Carthage to
the same effect.
The 79th Novell (cap. i.) gives the fori privi-
legium for the first time. It provides that any
one having a cause with any of the venerable
holy men (the monks) or the holy virgins, or
any women living in nunneries, shall go before
the bishop. The bishop is to send to the monas-
tery and to provide for the appearance of the
defendants before him, either by the intervention
of their abbots or of agents (responsalcs) or
otherwise. He is then to try the cause ; which
is on no account to come before the secular
judges.
The 8ord Novell, which ha^ been already
CHRIST. ANT.
JURISDICTION
897
referred to,* extends the privileges. Any ouc
having a pecuniary cause against a clerk is to
go before the bishop,*" who is to decide summa-
rily without writing. His sentence may, how-
ever, be put in writing. There is to be no
recourse to the civil tribunals ; but the main
object of the Novell is to avoid long delays and
pleadings, rather than to change the tribunal
which is to adjudge.
The 123rd Novell puts the privilege on a firm
basis. Clerks, monks, deaconesses, nuns, and
ascetic women, are to be impleaded before the
bishop. The lay judge is to execute the bishop's
sentence, if thei-e is no appeal. But either of
the parties may appeal within ten days to the
local lay judge. If he decides in accordance
with the bishop's judgment, the decision is
final.
If the lay judge decides contrary to the
bisliop, his sentence may be appealed from in the
regular way of civil suits.
If the bishop delayed to hear or decide on the
cause, the plaintiff might go at once before the lay
judge. This Novell expressly reserves all eccle-
siastical suits for the sole cognizance of the
bishop.
The capitularies of the Frank kings (lib. i.
cap. 28) ordered all disputes between clerks f o
be settled by their bishop, and not by secular
judges: while another capitulary (lib. vi.
cap. 366) recites and enforces an edict, attributed
to Theodosius, declaring that the sentences of
the bishops, however declared, and apparently in
whatever causes, shall be ever held inviolate.
This edict was declared by Charlemagne to be
binding over all parts of his empire.
The object of these laws also seems to have been
to avoid prolixity of pleadings, technicality of pro-
cedure, and long disputes, distracting holy men
from their proper avocations, rather than any
supposed impropriety of secular judges exercising
jurisdiction over clerks.
The constitution of the special court of his
bishop for the clerk or monk, seems to have been
considered by the secular authorities as a privi-
lege given to him, which he miglit waive, the
secular court having always the capacity to
exercise jurisdiction over him, if the pz-ivilejium
fori were not set up. But the canons and
decrees of the councils and synods leave the
clerk no option, forbidding him to sue, or to
abstain from raising his privilege when sued, iu
the lay court.
The secular authorities seem to have retained
nevertheless their view of this exemption as a
privilege and capable of waiver. Gothofrcd
(in Cod. I. iii. 33 and 51) cites a constitution of
the emperor Frederic ( apparently Frederic II. )
strongly denouncing any assertion of jurisdiction
by the lay judge in civil or criminal matters;
but yet allowing the clerk to waive his privilege
and submit to the jurisdiction.
The emperor Alexius Comnenus brought the
matter under the general rule ^^ actor sequitur
fvrum rei" (Constit. Imp. 289, § 11).
Jurisdiction over special civil causes. — This is
mainly the outgrowth of a period later than
that prescribed for this work.
" Supra, p. 895.
*• The text seems to say "arcbbisLin)," but t bis must
be a mistake.
3 M
898
JURISDICTION
The jurisdiction over testamentary causes did
not arise in Western Europe till the 12th
century. It appears to have arisen early in the
12th century in England; not till the end of
the 12th or beginning of the 13th century in
France.
The only indication of testamentary jurisdic-
tion in Eastern or Western Europe during the
period of which we treat, appears in the com-
mission given by the Christian emperors to the
bishops, to take care that the wishes of the dead
should be faithfully performed.
Charlemagne especially intrusted the bishops
with the duty of protecting wards, widows, and
paupers, and of seeing that no wrong was done
to them. This led in time, but not during
our period, to a sort of jurisdiction over all cases
where a member of one of these classes was
concerned. ,
Matrimonial causes, though infringements of
the marriage vow were probably treated of with
other matters of spiritual discipline, did not as
involving formal legal rights or questions of pro-
perty, fall to the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical
tribunals till the 11th century.
Suits relating to ecclesiastical matters are in
many of the Imperial Constitutions mentioned
as unquestionably matters for the bishop's juris-
diction. The term " ecclesiastical matters " is
vague, and probably varied at diiferent times ;
but before the expiry of our period, causes
relating to tithes and offerings were probably
considered as coming within its meaning.
\_Authorities referred to for this article. —
Corpus Juris Civilis, cum notis Gothofredi, ed.
Van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, 1663; Aylift'e, Parer-
gon Juris Canonici Anglicani, ed. London, 1734;
Van Espen, Jus Ecclesiasticum Universum, pars
tertia ; Commentarius in Canones ; ed. Louvaine,
1753 ; Landon, Manual of Councils, 1846 ; Philli-
more, Ecclesiastical Law, 1873.] [W. G. F. P.]
JUVENALIS
JUSTA. (1) [Florentius (1).]
(2) Martyr in Spain, at Seville, with Rufina ;
commemorated July 19 (Mart. Rom.Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
JUSTIN A, virgin, martyr with Cyprian, the
bishop; commemorated Sept. 26 (Mart. Rom.
Vet., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi) ; and Oct. 2 (Cal.
i Byzant.). [W. F. G.]
JUSTINUS. (1) The philosopher, martyr at
Pergamus with Carpus the bishop, Papirius the
deacon, and Agathonica, and many other women ;
commemorated April 13 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Adonis.
Usuardi); June 1 (Cal. Byzant.).
(2) Martyr with companions, A.D. 142 ; com-
memorated June 1 (Cal. Byzant. ; see Daniel's
Codex, iv. 260).
(3) [Symphorosa.]
(4) Martyr in terra Parisiensi ; commemorated
Aug. 1 (Mart. Usuardi).
(5) Presbyter, martyr at Rome under Decius ;
commemorated Sept. 7 (Mart. Ram. Vet., Adonis,
Usuardi). [W. F. G.]
JUSTUS. (1) [Felix (14).]
(2) Martyr in Spain at Complutum [Alcala],
with Pastor his Ijrother under Decius (Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi).
(3) Bishop of Lyons, " Natalis," Sept. 2 (Mart.
Adonis, Usuardi) : translation Oct. 14 (ib.).
(4) Martyr in terra Belvacensi (Beauvais);
commemorated Oct. 18 (Mart. Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
JUVENALIS. (1) Bishop, confessor at Rome
under Adrian ; commemorated May 3 (Mart.
Usuardi).
(2) Martyr on the Island Pontia ; commemo-
rated May 7 (Mart. Rom. Vet., Usuardi).
[W. F. G.]
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON: l-KINTRD r.T WILLIAM CLOWES AKn SOlis, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING GR08S.
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