Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/46

 MASSA

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MASSACHUSETTS

ENRINO, Dm hi. Messopfer (Einsiodcln. 1880); Bosinqer, Dos unblutite Opfer dcs \euen Bundes (Solothum, 1890); Sauter, Da.1 hi. Me.^sopfer (3rd ed.. Paderbom, 1910); Lohmann, Daa Op/er di-s \euen Bundes (L'nd ed., Pndcrbom, 1909); also the various text-books of dogmatic theology, e.g. Pksch, Prwlcc- lioncs doffmal., \'l (3rd ed., Freiburg, 1908); Pohle. Dogmatik, III (4th ed., Paderbora, 1910). See also bibliography under

Edcharist. J. Pohle.

Massa Candida. — I'lulcr the dato 24 AuKiist, the "M;irtyr>)lf;iuin Koiuanum" records tlii.s ciniuncm- oration: " At Cartliasf, of three luiiulrc<l holy martyrs in the time of N'alcriaii and (ialliemis. Among other torments, the governor, ordering a hmekihi to be hghted and hve eoids vitli incense to be .set near by, said to tliese confessors of tlie l''aith: ' Choose whether you will olTer incense to Jupiter or be thrown down into the lime.' And they, armed with faith, con- fessing Christ, the Son of God, with one swift impulse hurled themselves into the fire, where, in the fumes of the burning lime, they were reduced to a powder. Hence this liand of blessed ones in white raiment have been lielil worthy of the name, WhileMass." Thedate of this event may be placed between A. D. 253, when Gallienus was associated with his father in the imperial office, and a. d. 260, when Valerian was entrapped and made prisoner by Sapor, King of Persia. As to the exact place, St. .4ugustine [Ser. cccvi (al. cxii), 2] calls these martyrs the "White Mass of Utiea", indicating that there they were specially commemorated. Utica was only 25 miles from the city of Carthage, which was the capital of a thickly populated district, and the three hundred may have been brought from Utica to be judged by the procurator (Galerius Maximus).

The fame of the Massa Candida has been perpetuated chiefly through two early references to them: that of St. .\ugustine, and that of the poet Prudentius (q. v.). The latter, in the thirteenth hymn of his irtpl an^ivuv collection, has a dozen lines describing "the pit dug in the midst of the plain, filled nearly to the briin with lime that emitted choking vapours", how the " stones vomit fire, and the snowy dust burns. " After telling how they faced this ordeal, he concludes: " Whiteness [candor] possesses their bodies; purity [candor] bears their minds [or, souls] to heaven. Hence it [the "head- long swarm" to w-hich the poet has referred in a preceding line] has merited to be forever called the Massa Candida." Both St. Augustine and Pruden- tius were at the height of their activity before the end of the fourth century. Moreover, St. Augustine was a native and a resident of this same Province of Africa, while Prudentius was a Spaniard. It is natu- ral to suppose that the glorious tale of the three hun- dred of Carthage had become familiar to both writers through a fresh and vivid tradition — no older than the traditions of the Revolutionary War now are in, say. New England. It is not even probable that either of them originated the metaphor under which the mar- tyrs of the limekiln have been known to later genera- tions: the name Massa Candida had, most likely, been long in use among the faithful of Africa and Spain. As Christians, they would have been reminded of Apoc., vii, 1.'5 and 14, by every commemoration of a martyr- dom; as Romans — at least in language and habit of thought — they were aware that candidates {candidati) for office were said to have been so called in Republi- can Rome from the custom of whitening the toga with chalk or lime (calx) when canvassing for votes. Given the .Apocalyptic image and the Latin etymology [can- dor — candidus — candidatus; cf. in the "Te Deum", " Candidatus martyrum exercitus"), it was almost in- evitable that this united body of witnesses for Christ, together winning their heavenly white raiment in the incandescent lime, which reduced their bodies to a homogeneous mass, should, by the peculiar form of their agony, have suggested this name to the African and Spanish Christians.

(For the casuistry of the self-destruction of the Massa Candida, see Suicide.)

Heroenrother, Kirchengench.^ French tr. Belet, I (Paris. 1901); Moroni, Dizionario ili Erudizione Storico-Eccles., XLIl (Venice, 1847). 190.

E. Macpherson.

Massa Carrara, DiofESEO!''(MAHSENsi.s), in Central Italy (LuniKi:ina;ind (i:irfaKnana). The city is located on the Frigido, in a district rich in various mines but especially famous for its pure white marble, which the Romans preferred to those of Paros and Pentelicus. Massa Carrara is the " Mansio ad Taberna Frigida" of the "Tabula Peutingeriana". In the ninth century it belonged to the bishops of Luni, and was confirmed to them by Otto I and by Frederick Barbarossa, though really at that time subject to the Malaspina, counts of Lunigiana. It passed from Lucca to Pisa, was held by the Visconti and the Fieschi, again by Lucca, and was later a free commune under the pro- tectorate of Florence. In 1434, it took the marquis Antonio Alberico Malaspina for its lord; in 1548 the marquisate passed to the House of Cybo, through the marriage of Lorenzo of that name with Riccarda Malaspina. In 1568, Carrara became a principality, and in 1664 a duchy. The most famous prince of the house of Cybo was Alberico I, who endowed his httle state with a model code of laws. The daughter of Alderamo, the last of the Cybos, married Rinaldo Ercole d'Este, and by this marriage the duchy became united with that of Modena; in 1806 it was given to Elisa Bacciochi, and in 1814 to Maria Beatrice, daugh- ter of Rinaldo Ercole, at whose death the duchy returned to Modena. The name of t'arrara comes from Carraria, a stone quarry. An academy of sculpture founded by Duchess Maria Teresa (1741) has its seat at Carrara in the old but magnificent ducal palace. The fine cathedral dates from 1300. Carrara is the birthplace of the sculptors Tacca, Baratta, Finelli, and Tenerani, and of the statesman Pellegrino Rossi. The see was created in 1822 at the instance of Duchess Maria Beatrice, and its first bishop was Francesco Maria Zappi; it was then suffragan of Pisa, but since 1855 has been suffragan of Modena. The sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Quercioli, founded in 1832, is in the Diocese of Carrara. The latter has 213 parishes, 155,400 inhabitants, one religious house of men, seven of women, and four educational institutes for male students, and as many for girls.

Cappelletti, Le Chiese d' Italia. XV (Venice. 1S57); Far- betti. Ragionamento storico intorno alia citih di Modena; Viani, Memorie della famiglia Cybo.

U. Benigni.

Massachusetts, one of the thirteen original United States of .\merica. The Commonwealth of Massachu- setts covers part of the territory originally granted to the Plymouth Company of England. It grew out of the consolidation (in 1692) of the two original colonies, Plymouth and Massachu-setts Bay. The settlement at Plymouth began with the landing of the Pilgrims, 22 December, 1620; the Colony of Ma.ssacliusetts Hay was established under John Endicott at Salem in 1628. The royal province created by this consolidation in- cluded also the Di.strict of Maine and so remained until the present State of Maine was set off from Massachusetts by Congress, 3 March, 1820. No au- thentic and complete survey of the State of Massa- chusetts exists, but it is generally believed to include an area of about 8040 square miles, with a population of rather more than three millions. Of this number 1,373,752 are Catholics, distributed among the three Dioceses of Boston (the Archdiocese), Fall River, and Springfield, which are the actual ecclesiastical divi- sions of the state. Classified by nationalities, this Catholic population comprises more than 7000 Ger- mans, 50,000 Portuguese, 100,000 Italians, 150,000 French Canadians, 10,000 Lithuanians, 3000 Syrians, 25,000 Poles, 1000 Negroes, 81 Chine-se, .3000 Bravas, the remainder — more than 1,000,000 — being princi- pally Irish or of Irish parentage.