Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/138

ACQUAVIVA place, and was carried on with some interruptions for nearly nine years, without either party drawing any decision from the Church, the contestants being ultimately ordered to discontinue the discussion. It was Acquaviva who ordered the scheme of Jesuit studies, known as the "Ratio Studiorum", to be drawn up which, with some modifications, has been followed to the present day. Six of the most learned and experienced scholars of the Society were summoned to Rome, who laid out the entire plan of studies, beginning with theology, philosophy and their cognate branches, and going down to the smallest details of grammar. When finished, it was sent to the different Provinces for suggestions, but was not imposed until 1592, and then with the proviso that the Society would determine what change was to be to made, which was done in the General Congregation of 1593.

The period of his generalship was the most notable in the history of the Society for the men it produced, and the work it accomplished. The names of Suarez, Toletus, Bellarmine, Maldontus, Clavius, Lessius, Ripalda, Ricci, Parsons, Southwell, Campion, Aloysius Gonzaga, and a host of others are identified with it. Royal and pontifical missions to France, Russia, Poland, Constantinople, and Japan were entrusted to men like Possevin, and Bellarmine, and Vallignani. Houses were multiplied all over the world with an astonishing rapidity. The colleges were educating some of the most brilliant statesmen, princes, and warriors of Europe. The Reductions of Paraguay were organized; the heroic work of the missions of Canada were begun; South America was being traversed in all directions; China had been penetrated, and the Jesuits were the emperor's official astronomers; martyrs in great numbers were sacrificing their lives in England, America, India, Japan, and elsewhere; and the great struggle organized by Canisius and Nadal to check the Reformation in Germany had been brought to a successful conclusion. The guiding spirit of all these great achievements, and many more besides, was Claudius Acquaviva. He died at the age of seventy-one, 31 January, 1615. Jouvency says the longer he lived the more glorious the Society became; and Cordarius speaks of his election as an inspiration. Besides the "Ratio Studiorum," of which he is substantially the author, as it was under his initiative and supervision that the plan was conceived and carried out, we have also the "Directorium Exercitiorum Spiritualium S.P.N. Ignatii," or "Guide to the Spiritual Exercises" which was also suggested and revised by him. This work has been inserted in the "Corpus Instituti S.J." More directly his are the "Industriæ ad Curandos Aninme Morbos." As General, he wrote many encyclical letters, and he is author of nearly all the "Ordinationes Generalium" which were printed in 1595, with the Approbation of the Fifth General Congregation. Many other documents and letters, relating chiefly to matters of government, are still extant.

2em

Acquaviva, See

Acqui, a diocese suffragan of Turin, Italy, which contains ninety-three towns in the Province of Alexandria, twenty-three in the Province of Genoa, and one in the Province of Cuneo. The first indubitable Bishop of Acqui is Ditarius. A tablet found in 1753 in the church of St. Peter, informs us that Ditarius, the bishop, died on the 25th of January, 488, in the Consulate of Dinamias and Syphidius. Popular tradition gives Deusdedit, Andreas Severus Maximus, and, earliest of all, Majorinus, as bishops prior to him. Calculating the time that these bishops, Roman certainly in name, governed this see, Majorinus probably lived either at the end of the fourth, or in the beginning of the fifth, century. It is very probable that the diocese of Acqui was erected at the end of the fourth century, about the same time, it would appear, as the dioceses of Novara, Turin, Ivrea, Aosta and perhaps, Asti and Alba. Presupposing the fact that the erection of dioceses in the provinces of the Roman Empire, after Constantine, was not done without previous agreement between the Church and the emperors, it is safe to say that the most propitious time for such organization in Northern Italy was the seven years of the reign of Honorius (395–402), when a complete reorganization of the Provinces of Northern Italy and Southern Gaul was effected. Other arguments could be advanced to confirm the existence and episcopate of St. Majorinus. The name was very common in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. St. Augustine (De Hær., I, 69) speaks of two bishops of this name; two others appear as signers of the Letter of the Synod of Carthage to Pope Innocent the First (401–417) against Pelagius (Ep. St. Aug., II, 90). Veneration was offered to the saint from time immemorial by the church in Acqui, shown by his statues and relics. This veneration, however, has ceased since a decree of the Congregation of Rites (8 April, 1628) prohibited the veneration of saints whose sanctity had not been declared by the Holy See. In the list of the bishops of Acqui, St. Guido (1034–70) is worthy of note. He was of the Counts of Acquasana under whose government the cathedral was erected, and is the patron saint of Acqui. The bishopric contains 122 parishes; 456 churches, chapels, and oratories; 317 secular priests; 180 seminarians; 42 regular priests; 20 lay-brothers; 75 religious (women); 60 confraternities; 3 boys schools (168 pupils); 4 girls' schools (231 pupils). Population, 18,120.

2em

Acquisition. See.

Acre, in Hebrew 'Acchō, Sept. , in the Books of Mach. , in Greek writers, in Latin writers Ace or Acce, in Assyrian inscriptions Ak-ku-u, in modern Arabic 'Akkā. It is a Syrian seaport on the Mediterranean, in a plain with Mount Carmel on the south, and the mountains of Galilee on the east. Though choked up with sand, it is one of the best harbours on the Syrian coast. The city was built by the Chanaanites, and given to the tribe of Aser (Judges, i, 31), but not conquered (Jos., xix, 24–31). It is mentioned in Mich., i, 10. It was taken by Sennacherib the Assyrian (704–680 ), passed into the power of Tyre, of the Seleucid kings of Syria, and the Romans. At the time of the Macchabees it belonged for a short time to the sanctuary in Jerusalem by gift of Demetrius Soter (I Mach., x, 112, xiii). The Emperor Claudius granted Roman municipal rights to the town; hence it received the name "Colonia Claudii Cæsaris." St. Paul visited its early Christian community (Acts, xxi, 7). The city was taken by the Moslems 638, by the Crusaders  1104, again by the Moslems  1187, by the Crusaders again  1191 and finally by the Moslems  1291.