Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/455

AMENDE

lian's phrase about the Christian profaning in the amphitheatre the Ups with whidi henad spoken Aincn to greet the All-Holy (De Spect., xxv). But nearly all the Fathers supply illustrations of the practice, notably St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech., v, IS, P. G., XXIII, 1125).

—Finally, we may note that the word Amen occurs not infrequently in early Christian inscriptions, and that it was often introduced into anatheniiis and gnostic s[>ells. Moreover, as the (ireek letters which form Amen according to their numerical values total 99 (=1, =40, =8, =50), this number often appears in inscriptions, especially of Egyptian origin, and a sort of magical efficacy seems to have been attributed to its symbol. It should also be mentioned that the word Amen is still employed in the ritual both of Jews and Mohamme- dans. By far the most satisfactory account of the use of Amen in the early Clirislian centuries is that Riven by Cadhol, tsub verba in his Diet, d'antiq. chret., I. l.'>54-73. The various other BibUcal and theoloccicat tiictionaries treat the matter some- what imperfectly. See, liowever. Kraus, Real-encyclopltdic, 8. v.; ViGOfRoux in DUt. de la Bible, s. v.: ScllMlD in Kireheii- Ur.. s. v.; Hkrzo«-Hauck. Real-encyclopitdie fur prot. Theol. u. Kirrhe under Lituraigrhe Formeln. A useful account is that of TtiALHOFKR, Liturffik (Freiburg, 1SS31, I, 512 snq. Sec also Hogg in Jewith Q. Rev.. IX, l-2f), 189(1, and the Jewish Encyclopedia, s. v. Among the older books, Wkrn- DORF, De .Amen liturffico (Wittonbere. 1779) deser%'es notice, a.s also Lkhruv. /-<j Mease (Paris, 1777), VIII; Vert, Explica- tion des ciri*moniea (Paris, 1720); Hon'a, Rerum liturgicarum (Rome, 1777), III, 275; Georgius, Lilurg. Rom. pontif. (Rome, 17411, HI v, n. 9.

Herbert Thurston. Amende Honorable, an obsolete form of honorary satisfaction, customary in the Church in France as late as the seventeenth century. It was performed at the bidding of the ecclesiastical judge, and within the precinct of his court, though at one time it could be enforced at the church door or in some other pul)- lic place. It was ordinarily inflicted only on con- demned criminals, who appeared stripped to the shirt, barefoot and bareheaded, with candle in hand, and begged pardon of God, the king, and of justice. Andre-Wagner, Diet, de droit can.. 3d. ed., I, 93, 94.

Thomas J. Shah an.

Amerbach, Veit, b. at Wembdingcn in 1503; d. at Ingolstadt, 13 Sejrt., 1.557, humanist, convert from Lutheranism to the Catliolic Church. Educated at Eichstatt and Wittenberg, he taught philosophy, law. Oriental languages, and I.vitheran theology at the latter place, where ho lived in daily intercourse with Luther, Melancthon, and other leaders of the new movement. It was here that he came to recog- nize the novelty and falsity of the Luthenm doctrines, and the truth of the Church's teaching. After much controversial correspondence with Slclancthon, ho left Wittenberg in 1513, and was received, with his wife and children, into the Catholic Clmrch. The Prince Bishop, Maurice von Ilutten, made him profc.s,sor of rhetoric at F.ichstiitt. A year later, he went to Ingolstadt, as professor of philosophy, where he remained until his death. He is counted among the great humanists of his age, and wrote a large number of learned works, such as: "Conimnntaria on Cicero and Horace", the former of whom appears to Ix; his favourite author; ". tiparadoxa ", whence many details of his life and sti:dies are derived, and "Tres Epistohr ", concerning the ecclesiastical con- troversies of the period. DuLLINOCR. Die Rrform/ititin. ihre innere Entxrirtcflttnn und Wtrkunpen (Ralisbon, 1S40). I. 15.')-100; UUs, Die Cmrerli- trn teit der Reformation (Freiburg, 18011). 1. 233-235.

Francis W. Grey.

America, also called the Western Continent or the New World, consists of three main divisions: North America, Central America, and South America. The first of these extends from (about) 70° to 15° north latitude. Central America forms an isthmus running from north-west to south-east, and narrowing to a strip of thirty miles in width at Panama; this isthmus extends from 15° to 8° north latitude, where it connects with the western coast of Soutli America. South America begins in latitude 12° north, terminat- ing in latitude 55° south. Hence North America approximately extends over 3,800 English miles from north to south. South America 4,500, and Central .America constitutes a diagonal running be- tween the two larger masses, from north-west to soutli-east and is appro.ximately a thousand miles in length. .■s the object of this article is to compile the data which will help the reader to appreciate the Christian settlement and civilization of America, we omit liere the geography, geology, and other topics usually treated in general encyclopedias and confine our- selves to the etlmograpliy and colonization of the Americas. The so-called aborigines of America are, with exception of the li^squimaux, generally regarded as belonging to one and the same branch of the human family, physically as well as ethnically. From the physical standpoint they have been classi- fied with the type calknl Jlongohan, but since <loubts have arisen as to tliu existence of such a type, it is safer to state that, anthropologically, the American, and especially the North .Vmerican Indians, resem- ble some of the most easterly .siastic trilx's more clo.sely tlian any other group of the human family. The South .Vmerican Indian is more nearly allied to the northern tlian to any extra-American stock. .s to the E.squimaux, his skull is decidedly of an .Arctic type, corresponding in that respect to Asiatic and even European peoples living inside of the .Xrctie circle. But these generalizations may have to be modified, with the rapid strides anthropologj- is making in the field of detailed anil local investigation, and it will hereafter be advisable to consider the characteristics of every linguistic stock (and even of its subdivisions) by them.selves, allowing for changes wrought in the physical condition by di- versity of environment after long residence. Di.sTRiBUTioM OF Adorigi.nal Pqpulatio.vs. — The distribution of the -Vmerican population at the time of Columbus is, of course, not known from personal observation, but it may be approximately recon- structed from information gathered after .Vmerica began to be visited by Europeans. The Esquimaux held most of the Arctic belt, whereas the so-called Indian swayed the rest of the continent to its south- ernmost extremity. The population was not ne:irly as numerous as has long been thought, even where it was most dense, but there are no materials for even an approximate estimate. The great northern and western plains were not settled, although there are traces of pre-Columbian permanent abodes, or at least of some settlements made during a slow shifting along the streams; tribes prejnng upon the buffalo roamed with that quadruped over the steppes. The north-west, on the Pacific, was more densely inhabited by tribes who subsisted by fisliing (.salmon), limited agriculture, and hunting. This was also the ca.se along the Mississippi (on both banks) and in the timbered basin of the .Vlleghanies, along the .Vtlanlic from the St. Lawrence to Florida, wlierea.s southern Texas was sparsely inhabited, and in parts but temporarily, as the bufTalo led the Indian on its southward wanderings. The aboriginal population of California was not large and hvcd partly on sea-fooil. The great northern plateau of Mexico, with the mountains along the Uio Grantle, was too arid and consequently destitute of means of subsistence, to allow permanent occupation in numbers; but the New Mexican Pueblos formed a group of sedentary inhabitants clustering along the Rio Grande and scattered in the mountains .as far as Arizona, surrounded on all sides by roving Indians,