Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/75

 MATTEO 53

coniiiiR to G. Milanesi (in his edition of Vasari, 11, Florenrc. 1S7H, p. 493, note 3), the main portion of this paintint; is still to be seen in the church, while the lateral portions have been removed to the sacristy. Some other Madonnas of his deserve particular men- tion: one in the Palazzo Tolomei at Siena; the Virgin and Infant Jesus painted, in 1484, for the city palace of Siena, on a pilaster in the hall decorated by Spinello Aretino; in the duomo of Pienza, a Virgin and Child enthronetl between St. Matthew and St. Catherine, St. Bartholomew and St. Luke. On the lunette Matteo painted the Flagellation, and on the predella three me- dallions — " Ecce Homo", the Virgin, and an Evan- gelist. The signature reads: " Opus Mathei Johannis de Senis". As decoration for the pavement of the cathedral of Siena, he designed three subjects: "The Sibyl of Samos", "The Deliverance of Bethulia", and "The Massacre of the Innocents".

In 1477 he painted his " Madoima della Neve" (Our Lady of the Snow), for the church under that invoca- tion' at Siena. On comparing this with the Servite Madonna of 1470, it is seen to surpass the earlier work in beauty of t\'pes, symmetry of proportions, and colour-tone. The St. Barbara, a composition made for the church of San Domenico at Siena, is also a remark- able work : two angels are gracefully laying a crown on the saint's head, while others, accompanied by St. Mary Magdalen and St. Catherine of Alexandria and playing musical instruments, surround her. When Matteo treats subjects involving lively action, he lases a great deal of his power. The incidental scenes are combined in a confused way, the expression of feeling is forced, and degenerates into grimace, and the gene- ral result is affected and caricature-like.

Crowe and Cavai.caselle, A New History of Painting in Itahj, III (London. 1866). iii, Sl-86; LtJBKE, Geschichte der ilalienischen Malerei, I. 387; Buhckhardt and Bode, Le Cice- rone, Ft. tr. Gerard, II (Paris. 1892), 569.

Gaston Soktais.

Matteo of Aquasparta, a celebrated Italian Fran- ciscan, b. at A(|uasparta in the Diocese of Todi, Umbria, about 1235; d. at Rome, 29 October, 1302. He was a member of the Bentivenghi family, to which Cardinal Bentivenga (d. 1290), also a Franciscan, be- longed. Matteo entered the Franciscan Order at Todi, took the degree of Master of Theology at Paris, and taught also for a time at Bologna. The Franciscan, John Peckliam, having become Archbishop of Canter- bury in 1279, Matteo was in 1280 made Peckliam's successor as Lector sacri Palatii apostolici, i. e. he was appointed reader (teacher) of theology to the papal Curia. In 1287 the chapter held at Montpellier elected him general in succession to Arlotto of Prato. When Girolamo Masci (of Ascoli), who had previously been general of the Franciscan Order, became pope as Nicho- las IV, 15 Feb., 1288, he created Matteo cardinal of the title of San Lorenzo in Damaso in May of that year. After this Matteo was made Cardinal Bishop of Porto, and pcenitentiarius maior (Grand Penitentiary). He still, however, retained the direction of the order until thechapterof 1289. Matteohad summoned this chap- ter to meet at Assisi, but Nicholas IV caused it to be held in his presence at Rieti; here Raj-mond Gaufredi, a native of Provence, was elected general. As general of the order Matteo maintained a moderate, middle course ; among other things he reorganized the studies pursued in the order. In the quarrel between Boniface VIII and the Colonna, from 1297 onwards, he stronglv supported the pope, both in official memo- rials and ill pulilic sermons. Boniface VIII appointed him, both in 1297 and 1300, to an important embassy to Lonibardy, the Romagna, and to Florence, where the Blacks (iVert) and the Whites {Bianchi), that is, the Guelphs and GhilwUines, were violently at issue with each other. In 1301 Matteo returned to Florence, following Charles of Valois, but neither peace nor reconciliation was brought about. The Blacks hnally

MATTER

obtained the upper hand, and the chiefs of the Ghibel- line party were obliged to go into exile; among these was the poet Dante. In a famous passage; of the "Divina Commedia" (Paradiso, XII. 124-2), Dante certainly speaks as an extreme Ghibelline against Matteo of Aquasparta. Matteo, however, hatl died before this. He was buried in the Franciscan cliurch of Ara Coeli, where his monument is still to be seen.

Matteo was a very learned philosopher and theolo- gian; he was further a personal pupil of St. Bona ven- ture, whose teaching, in general, he followed, or rather developed. In this respect he was one of what is known as the older Franciscan school, who preferred Augustinianism to the more pronounced Aristotelean- ism of St. Thomas Aquinas. His principal work is the acute " Quffistiones disputatse ", which treats of various subjects. Of this one book appeared at Quaracchi in 1903 (the editing and issue are discontinued for the present), namely :"Qu£Bst.iones disputatte selectre ", in "Bibliotheca Franciscana scholastica medii a>vi", I; the "QuEestiones" are preceded by a "Tractatus de excellentia S. Scripturae" (pp. 1-22), also by a " Sermo de studio S. Scripturje" (pp. 22-36); it is followed by "De processione Spiritus Sancti" (pp. 429-53). Five "Quaestiones de Cognitione" had already been edited in the collection called "De humanae cognitionis ratione aneedota quaedam" (Quaracchi. 1883), 87- 182. The rest of his works, still unedited, are to be found at Assisi and Todi. Among them are: " Commentarius in 4 libros Sententiarum" (auto- graph); " Concordantiae super 4 11. Sententiarum"; "Postilla super liljrum Job"; "Postilla super Psal- terium" (autograph); "In 12 Prophetas Minores"; "In Danielem"; "In Ev. Matthaei"; "In Apocalyp- sim" (autograph); "In Epist. ad Romanos"; "Ser- mones dominicales et feriales" (autograph).

Cf. the editions referred to of the Qucest. disput. (1903), pp. v-xvi, and De Hum. Cognit., pp. xiv-xv; Chronica XXIV Mi- n^str. General 0. Min. in .\nalecta Franciscana, III (Quararchi, 1897), 406-19, 699, 703: Wadding. Scriptores Ord. Min. (Rome. 1650), 252. (1806). 172, (1906), 269-70; Sbahalf.a. Suppl. ad Script. 0. M. (Rome. 1806), 525; Denifle-Chate- L.UN, Chartular. Univ. Paris., II (Paris. 1891). 59; Ehkle in Zeitschri/t fur kathol. Theologie. VII (Innsbruck, 18S3). 46; Grabmann, Die philosophische und theologiscbe Erhenntnislchre des Kardinals Matthaus von Aquasparta (Vienna, 1906); The- ologische Studien der Leo Gesellschaft, Pt. XIV.

Michael Bihl.

Matter (Gr. DXt;; Lat. viateria; Fr. matilre; Ger. ma- terie and stojf). the correlative of Form. See Hylo- morphism; Form.

Taking the term in its widest sense, matter signifies that out of which anything is made or coinposecl. Thus the original meaning of li\v (Homer) is "wood", in the sense of "grove" or "forest"; and hence, deriv- atively, " wood cut down " or timber. The Latin ma- teria, as opposed to lignum (wood used for fuel), has also the meaning of timber for building purposes. In modern languages this word (as signifying raw ma- terial) is used in a similar way. Matter is thus one of the elements of the becoming and continued being of an artificial product. The architect emjiloys tim- ber in the building of his house; the shoemaker fash- ions his shoes from leather. It will be observed that, as an intrinsic element, matter connotes composition, and is most easily studied in a consideration of the na- ture of change. This is treated ei profcsso in the arti- cle on Cau.se (q. v.). It will, however, be neces.sary to touch upon it briefly .again here, since matter can only be rationally treiitc'd in so far as it is a correlate. The present article will therefore be divided into para- graphs giving the scholastic doctrine under the follow- ing heads:— (1) Secondary Matter (in accidental change); (2) Primordial Mattx'r (in substantial change); (3) The Nature of Primordial Matter; (4) Privation; (5) Permanent Matter; (fi) The Unity of Matter; (7) Matter as the Principle of Individuation; (8) The Causality of Matter; (9) Variant Theories.

(1) Secondary Mo«er.— Accepting matter in the ori-