Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/70

 MATHIEU

48

MATHUSALA

country during the years 1846-47. During those years, tlic Apostle of Temperance showed himself ■ "more than ever the Apostle of Charity. In Cork he organized societies for collecting and distributing food supplies. He stopped the huilcliiig of his own church, and gave the funds in charity. He spent £(iO(l (JiidlHt) a month in relief. an<l used his influence in England and America to obtain food and money. Ireland lost 2.000.000 inhabitants during those two years. All organization was broken up, and the total abstinence movement received a severe blow. In 1847 Father Mathew was placed first on the list for the vacant Bishopric of Cork, but Rome did not confirm the choice of the clergy. In the early part of 1849, in response to earnest invitations, he set sail for America. He visited New York, Boston, New Orleans, Washing- ton, Charlestown, Mobile, and many other cities, and secured more than 500,000 disciples. After a stay of two and a half >ears he returned to Ireland in Dec, 1851. Men of all creeds and politics have borne im- portant testimony to the wonderful progress and the beneficial ctTccts of the movement he inaugurated. It is estiimited that he gave the total abstinence pledge to 7,000,000 people, and everyone admits that in a short time he accomplished a great moral revolution. O'Connell characterized it as "a mighty miracle", and often declared that he would never have ventured to hold his Repeal "monster meetings" were it not that he had the teetotalers "for his policemen".

His remains rest beneath the cross in "Father Mathew's Cemetery" at Queenstown. On 10 Oct., 1864, a fine bronze statue by Foley was erected to his memory in Cork, and during his centenary year a marble statue was erected in O'Connell Street, Dublin. The influence of Father Mathew's movement is still felt in many a country and especially in his own. In 1905 the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland assem- bled at Maynooth unanimously decided to request the Capuchin Fathers to preach a Temperance Crusade throughout the country. In carrv'ing out this work their efforts have been crowned with singular success. The Father Mathew Memorial Hall, Dublin, is a centre of social, educative, and temperance work, and is modelled on the Temperance Institute, founded and maintained by the Apostle of Temperance himself. The Father Mathew Hall, Cork, is doing similar work. The Dublin Hall publishes a monthly magazine called "The Father Mathew Record", which has a wide cir- culation. A special organization called "The Young Irish Crusaders" was founded in Jan., 1909, and its membership is already over 100,000.

Freeman's Journal (Dublin); The Nation (Dublin), contem- porary files; Maguire, Life of Fr. Mathew: A Biography (Lon- don. 1863); Hall, Retrospect of a Long Life, I (London, 18S3), 482-520; Mathew, Father Matheu: His Life and Times (Lon- don, Paris, and Melbourne. '890); Thomas, Fr. Theobald Ma- thew — summarised Life (Cork, 1902); McCarthy. The Story of an Irishman (London. 1904), .31^3; O'Kelly, Beatha an Alhar Tioboid Maitiu (Dublin, 1907), with English introduction by Augustlne; T'itl.^-s, Father Mathew (hondon, 1908).

Father Augustine.

Mathieu, Franvois-Desike, bishop and cardinal, b. 27 May, 1839; d. 26 October, 1908. Bom of hum- ble family at Einville, Department of Meurthe and Moselle, France, he made his studies in the diocesan school and the seminan,- of the Diocese of Nancy, and was ordained priest in 1S63. He was engaged succes- sively as professor in the school {petit scminaire) of Pont-i-Mousson, chaplain to the Dominicanesses at Nancy (1879), and parish priest of Saint-Martin at Pont-a-Mousson (1890). Meanwhile, he had won the Degree of Doctor of Letters with a Latin and a French thesis, the latter being honoured with a prize from the French Academy for two years. On 3 January, 1893, he was nominated to the Bishopric of Angers, was pre- conized on 19 January, and consecrated on 20 March. He succeeded Mgr Freppel, one of the most remarkable bishops of his time, and set himself to maintain all his

Francois-Desire Cardinal Mathieu

predecessor's good works. To these he addeil the work of facilitating the education of poor children destined for the priesthood. He inaugurated the same pious enterprise in the Diocese of Toidouse, to which he was transferred three years later (30 May, lS9(i) liy a formal order of Leo XIII. In his new -see he laboured, in accordance with the views of this pon- tiff, to rally Catholics to the French Government. With this aim he wrote the " Devoir des catholiques", an episcopal charge which attracted wide attention and earned for him the pope's congratulations. In addition he was summoned to Rome to be a car- dinal at the curia (19 June, 1899). Having resigned the See of Toulouse (14 December, 1899), his activ- ities were thence- forward absorbed in the work of the Roman congrega- tions and some diplomatic negoti- ations which have remained secret. Nevertheless, he found leisure to write on the Con- cordat of 1801 and the Conclave of 1903. In 1907 he was admitted to the French Academy with a discourse which attracted much notice. Death came to him unexpectedly next year in London, whither he had gone to assist at the Eucharistic Congress. Under a somewhat common- place exterior he had a rich and acti\e nature, an mquiring and open mind, a fine and well-cultivated intelligence which did credit to the Sacred College and the French clergy. His works include: "De Joannis abbatis Gorziensis vita" (Nancy, 187S); "L'Ancien Regime dans la Province de Lorraine ct Barrois" (Paris, 1871; 3rded., 1907); "Le Concordat de 1801" (Paris, 1903); "Les derniers jours de L^on XIII et le conclave de 1903" (Paris, 1904); a new edition of his works began to appear in Paris, July, 1910.

La Semaine catholique de Toulouse (1896, 190S); Maison- NEUVE, Eloge de Son Eminence le cardinal Mathieu in Recucil de f Academic des J euz floraux (Toulouse, 1910).

Antoine Degert.

Mathusala, one of the Hebrew patriarchs, men- tioned in the Ijook of Genesis (v). The word is given as Mathusale in I Par., i, 3, and Luke, iii, 37; and in the Revised Version as Methuselah. Etymologists differ with regard to the signification of the name. Holzinger gives "man of the javelin" as the more likely meaning; Hommel and many with him think that it means "man of Selah", Selah being derived from a Babylonian word, given as a title to the god. Sin; while Professor Sayee attributes the name to a Babylonian word which is not understood. The au- thor of Genesis traces the patriarch's descent through his father Henoch to Seth. a son of ,\dam and Eve. At the time of his .son's liirth Henoch was sixty-five years of age. When Mathusala had reached the great age of one hundred and eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech. Following this he lived the re- markable term of seven hundred and eighty-two years, which makes his age at his death nine huiidrcfl and si.xty-nine years. It follows thus that his death oc- curred in the year of the Deluge. There is no record of any other human being having lived as long as this, for which reason the name, Mathusala, has become a synonym for longevity.