Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/321

ALDINE survives. The best edition of Aldhelm's works, though very unsatisfactory, is that of Dr. Giles (Oxford, 1844). It has been reprinted in Migne (P.L., LXXXIX, 83 sqq.). Some of his letters have been edited among those of St. Boniface in the "Monumenta Germaniæ" (Epist. Aevi Merovingici, I).

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Aldine Editions. See.

Aldric, Bishop of Le Mans in the time of Louis le Débonnaire, b. c. 800; d. at Le Mans, 7 January, 856. As a youth he lived in the court of Charlemagne, at Aix la Chapelle, as well as in that of his son and successor Louis. By both monarchs he was highly esteemed, but when only twenty-one, he withdrew to Metz and became a priest, only to be recalled to court by Louis, who took him as the guide of his conscience. Nine years after his ordination he was made Bishop of Le Mans, and, besides being conspicuous for the most exalted virtue, was distinguished by his civic spirit in constructing aqueducts, as well as for building churches, restoring monasteries, ran.soming captives, etc. In the civil wars that followed the death of Louis, his fidelity to Charles the Bald resulted in his expulsion from his see, and he withdrew to Rome. Gregory IV reinstated him. With the Bishop of Paris, Erchenrad, he, as a deputy of the Council of Aix la Chapelle, visited Pepin, who was then King of Aquitaine, and persuaded him to cause all the possessions of the Church which had been seized by those of his party to be restored. We find him during his lifetime taking part in the Councils of Paris and Tours. His episcopate lasted twenty-four years.

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Aldrovandi,, Italian naturalist, b. at Bologna, 11 Sept., 1522; d. there 10 Nov., 1607. He was educated in Bologna and Padua, received the degree of doctor of medicine (1553) and was appointed professor of natural history in the University of Bologna. At his instigation, the Senate of that city established a botanical garden of which Aldrovandi was the first director (1568). He was also made Inspector of Pharmacies, a position which brought him into conflict with the apothecaries and physicians. He appealed to Pope Gregory XIII and was sustained (1576). In the interest of science, he travelled extensively, spent a fortune, and gathered rich collections in botany and zoology which became, by his legacy, the nucleus of the Bologna Museum. His herbarium is the first collection deserving the name. In his scientific work he enjoyed the patronage of Popes Gregory XIII, and Sixtus V, and of Cardinal Montalto. He was buried in the church of St. Stephen at Bologna, and his epitaph was written by Cardinal Barberini, afterwards Pope Urban VIII. The published works of Aldrovandi fill fourteen volumes in folio, four of which were printed during his lifetime. The rest were published in various editions between 1599 and 1700 at Bologna, Venice, and Frankfort. These, with Aldrovandi's manuscripts, cover the entire field of natural history, making a vast compilation which, in spite of its prolixity, won the admiration of later naturalists like Cuvier and Buffon.

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Aldus Manutius. See.

Alea,, a French polemical writer of the early years of the nineteenth century, b. in Paris, date unknown; d. 1812. He came from a family of bankers. He published anonymously in 1801 his first book, "L'antidote de l'athéisme", and the following year a new edition appeared, enlarged to two volumes, with its title changed to "La religion triomphante des attentats de l'impiété", and bearing the name of its author. The book was written to refute Sylvien Maréchal's "Dictionnaire des Athées" then lately published, and was so timely, fair, and to the point that it received a cordial welcome. Marechal himself acknowledged his adversary's moderation. Cardinal Gerdil expressed his high appreciation of the work, and Portalis, to whom Alea had dedicated the second edition, was delighted with the book, and subsequently tried to get the author to enter the Council of State but without success. Alea's only other work is "Réflexions contre le divorce", which also appeared in 1802.

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Aleatory Contracts. See ;.

Alegambe, a Jesuit historiographer, b. in Brussels, 22 January, 1592; d. in Rome, 6 September, 1652. After finishing his studies he went to Spain, in the service of the Duke of Osuna, whom he accompanied to Sicily. There he entered the Society of Jesus at Palermo, on 7 September 1613, studied at Rome, taught philosophy and theology at Gratz, Austria, and for several years traveled through the various countries of Europe, as preceptor of the Prince of Eggenberg. He last days were spent in Rome, where he became superior of the house of the Jesuits, and secretary to the General of the Society. He is chiefly known for his "Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu", published in 1642. It was a continuation and enlargement of Father Ribadeneira's Catalogue, which had been brought up to 1608. He wrote also "Heroes et victimæ caritatis Societatis Jesu" and "De Vitâ et Moribus P. Joannis Cardim Luisitani, e Societate Jesu", and "Acta Sanctæ Justaæ virg. et mart., ex variis MSS".

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Alegre,, historian, b. at Vera Cruz, in Mexico, or New Spain, 12 November, 1729; d. at Bologna, 16 August, 1788. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1747, and soon acquired a reputation of unusual learning in everything related to the classics. He occupied a chair at the Jesuit college at Habana and afterwards at Mérida in Yucatan; recalled to Europe in 1767, he settled at Bologna, he died there of apoplexy, He left quite a number of shorter works, mostly translations of classics. Among them are the "Alexandriadas" (1773, Italy), the "Iliad" in Latin (Rome, 1788), "Homeri Batrachiomachia" in Latin (Mexico, 1789), together with fragments of Horace and a good translation into Spanish of the first three cantos of the "Art Poétique" of Boileau. But the work for which he is especially noted is his "History of the Society of Jesus in New Spain" (ed. Bustamente, Mexico, 1841). Although composed at a time when the order was persecuted in Spanish colonies, and often with great rigor, the tone of this most valuable work, indispensable for the study of the colonial history of Mexico and of many of its Indian tribes, is dignified and free from attacks upon Spain and the Spaniards. 