Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/417

ALZOG of the most zealous students of liberal sciences in New Spain in the seventeenth century. More than thirty treatises on various subjects are due to his pen. Astronomy, physics, meteorology, antiquities, metallurgy, were among the topics on which he wrote, but he also devoted serious attention to certain branches of industry. Thus the growing of silk in Mexico was the subject of several of his papers. He wrote a dissertation on the use of ammonia in combating mephitic gases in abandoned mines, and also prepared maps of New Spain (Mexico). He was frequently opposed, even reviled, at home, but the French Academy of Sciences made him a corresponding member, and the viceroys of Mexico and the archbishops entrusted him with sundry scientific missions. In 1768 he began the publication, at Mexico, of a newspaper, the "Diario literario de México". His description of the ruins of Xochicalco is the first notice published of these interesting ruins. He also wrote a commentary upon the work of Clavigero on aboriginal Mexico and the natural history of that country.

Author:Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier.  Alzog,, a Catholic church historian, born 29 June, 1808, at Ohlau in Silesia; died 1 March, 1878, at Freiburg (Breisgau). He was educated at Breslau and Bonn, ordained a priest in 1834, made doctor of theology by the University of Munich in 1835, and appointed professor at Posen in 1836. He defended with ardour the Archbishop of that city, Martin von Dunin, during his persecution by the Prussian government, became vicar-capitular, professor and regens at Hildesheim in 1845, and in 1853 was appointed to the chair of Church History in the University of Freiburg (Breisgau); at the same time he was appointed an ecclesiastical councillor (geistlicher Rat). He was also appointed, at a later date, member of the Vatican preparatory commission for dogmatic questions. In character he was amiable and virtuous. His "Manual of Church History" went through nine editions (1840—72) before his death, and was translated into several foreign languages (Eng. tr. by Pabisch and Byrne, Cincinnati, 1874, et saep.). His "Patrology" went through four editions (1866–84), and his edition of the "Oratio Apologetica" of St. Gregory of Nazianzus reached a second edition. He was also a frequent contributor to various periodicals. He wrote in the first edition of Wetzer and Welte's "Kirchenlexikon" (Freiburg, 1854) the article on the office of the church historian. He also wrote (1857) a Latin treatise on the relation of Greek and Latin studies to Christian theology, and the valuable work: "Die deutschen Plenarien im 15 und zu Anfang des 16 Jahrhunderts" (Freiburg, 1874).

Author:Thomas Joseph Shahan.  Alzon, See.

Ama or, a Semitic term meaning mother, adopted by the Copts and the Greeks as a title of honour applied to religious and ladies of high rank. In Coptic inscriptions, according to Leclercq, it is given to both of these categories of personages. The Greeks seem to have used it generally in the same sense as the Latin abbatissa or abbess. (2) Ama (amula). A vessel in which the wine offered by the people for the Holy Sacrifice was received (Ordo Rom., i, 13). Pope Adrian I (772–795) presented to the Church of St. Adrian ama una (Liber Pont. I, 510).

.  Amadeans, Amadeus. See.

Amadeo (or ),, an Italian architect and sculptor, born near Pavia in 1447; died 27 August, 1522, at Milan. In 1466 he was engaged as a sculptor, with his brother Protasio, at the famous Certosa, near Pavia. He was a follower of the style of Bramantino of Milan, and he represents, like him, the Lombard direction of the Renaissance. He practised cutting deeply into marble, arranging draperies in cartaceous folds, and treating surfaces flatly even when he sculptured figures in high relief. Excepting in these technical points he differed from his associates completely, and so far surpassed them that he may be ranked with the great Tuscan artists of his time, which can be said of hardly any other North-Italian sculptor.

While engaged at the Certosa, he executed the beautiful door leading from the church into the cloister, still known as "the door of Amadeo". It is exquisitely decorated in Bramantesque style, reliefs of angels and foliage surround the door, and in the tympanum is a fine relief of the Virgin and Child. He also produced many marble reliefs for the façades of the tombs in the Certosa. After completing his work in Pavia, Amadeo went to Bergamo to design the tomb of Medea, daughter of the famous condottiere Bartholomeo Colleoni, in the Colleoni chapel. He returned to Pavia in October, 1478. On the death of Guiniforte Solari (1481), Amadeo had been temporarily appointed to succeed him as head architect of the Certosa, and was commissioned to make a fresh design for the façade, with the assistance of Benedetto Briosco, Antonio della Porta, and Stefano di Sesto. But it was not till 1490, when he was confirmed in his office, that he made the design which was accepted, and which was subsequently carried out by him and his successors. It is not known when Amadeo made the Borromeo monuments, formerly in the church of St. Pietro in Gessote, at Milan, and now in the Borromeo chapel at Isola Bella, on Lago Maggiore.

About 1490, after an absence of eight or nine years, Amadeo returned to his post at the Certosa and received the contract for the interior, and also for the duomo of Milan, and, after constructing a clay model of the facade, built it without interruption up to the first corridor. He was joint architect of the Certosa and of the cathedrals of Pavia and Milan, until he undertook to crown the latter with a cupola in Gothic form, which aroused much opposition and criticism. He then resigned his other offices and took up his residence in Milan, where, assisted by his colleague Dolcebuono, he commenced his work, in 1497, according to the accepted model, and carried it up to the octagon. As its solidity was then questioned by Cristoforo Solari and Andrea Fusina, the directors stopped the work (1503). After this defeat he left Milan, with his brother Andrea, and resided at Venice for several years, during which he produced a St. George for a chapel in the church of La Carità, also a statue of Eve. Many vexations weighed heavily