Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/276

 OLIVER

244

OUVETANS

Ducoudray, Caubert, Clorc, et de Bpn(j>) were placed in a chapel in the Rue de Sevres, where the pious faith- ful still continue to invoke them, and numberless graces have been attributed to their intercession.

Clair. Pierre Olirnint prfire de la C. de J. (Paris. 1878); DE PoNLEVoY. Acies de la captivili et de la mart des PP. Olivaint, Du- coudray etc. (Paris, 187.S): Olivaint, Journal de «es retraites an' nuelles (2 vols., Paris, 1872).

Pierre Suau.

Oliver, George, b. at Newington in Surrey in 1781 ; d. at Exeter in 1801. After studying for some years at the Sedgley Park School, he entered Stony- hurst in 1796, went through the full training, and taught "humanities" for five years. Having been ordained priest in 1806, he was sent the following year to the mission formerly belonging to the Jesuits at Exeter, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was not,however, himself a Jesuit ; for during his Stony- hurst days the Society had no canonical existence in England, and although the members of the community kept the rule of St. Ignatius so far as was compatible with their circumstances, in the hope of a future re- storation of the Society, they continued to rank as secular priests. When the restoration of the Society took place, Oliver did not join it, but lived and died a secular priest. As a student of archa;ology he ac- quired considerable fame, and although some of his conclusions are not accepted at the present day, yet considering the limited sources of knowledge which were a\'ailable when he lived, his researches show both industry and judgment. Most of his work had a local bearing. He became a well-known authority on the history and antiquities of Devonshire, about which he wrote several standard works.

The one which is best known to Catholics in general is his Collections containing numerous biographicaljio- tices of CathoUcs, both clergy and laity, in the West of England. On the re-establishment of the hierarchy, when the Plymouth Chapter was erected (1852), Oli- ver was nominated as provost. He had already re- tired from active work, but continued to reside in his old house until his death. Among his works are: "The Monasteries of Devon" (1820); "History of E.xeter" (1821); "Ecclesiastical'Aiitiquities of Devon" (1828, 2nd edition, much changed, 1839); "Collec- tions S.J." (1838); "A View of Devonshire in 1630" (1845); "Monasticon Dicecesis Exoniensis" (1846); "Collections illustrating the history of the Catho- lic Religion" etc. (1857); "Lives of the Bishops of Exeter" (1861); numerous pamphlets and smaller works. See Brushfield's Bibliography of his works, of which the frontispiece is a portrait of George Oliver.

Foley, Records S. J.; Husenbeth, Hist, of Sedgley Park (London. 1856); Idem, Life of Milner (Winchester, 1839); obitu- ary notices in The Tablet^ Gentleman's Magazine, etc.

Bernard Ward.

Olivet, Mount (Lat. Monsolivertus), occurring also in the English Bibles as the Mount of Olives {Mons Olivarum), is the name applied to "the hill that is over against Jerusalem" (III Kings, xi, 7), that is, "on the e;ist side of the city" (Ezech.. xi, 23), beyond the torrent Cedron (II Kings, xv, 23, 30), "a sabbath day's journey" from the city (Acts, i, 12). The pas- sages of the books of the Kings show the high an- tiquity of the name, undoubterlly suggested by the groves of olive trees which flourished there, traces of which still remain. In the Middle Ages it was called by Arabic writers: Tur ez-Zeitun, Tur ZeitA, or Jebol Tur Zeitun, of which the modern name, Jebel et-Tur. appears to be an abbreviation. Mt. Olivet is not so much a hill as a range of hills separated by low depressions. The range includes, from N. to S., the Ras el-Musharlf (Scoptis; 2686 ft. above the sea- level), Ras el-Madbase (2690 ft.) and Ra,s et-Telacah (266.3 ft.); south of the latter, between the old and the new road from Jerusalem to Jericho, is the Jebel et- fur, or Mt. Olivet proper, rising in three summits

called by Christians, respectively: the Men of Galilee (Karem e§-Sdyyail, "the vineyard of the hunter", 2732 ft.), the Ascension (on which the village Kafr et- Tur is built), and the Prophets, a spur of the preceding (Iwing its name to the old rock-tombs known as the 'I'ombs of the Prophets; south-west of the new road to Jericho, the range tenninates in the Jebol Batn el- Hawa, callc'd by Christians the Mount of Offence, tradition locating there Solomon's idolatrous shrines (IV Kings, xxiii, 13).

Mt. (jlivct has been the scene of many famous events of Biblical history. In David's time there was there a holy place dedicated to Vahweh; its exact lo- cation is not known; but it was near the road to the Jordan, possibly on the summit of the Karem e^-^ay- yad (II Kings, xv, 32). The site of the village of Bahurim (II Kings, iii, 16) lay no doubt on the same road. We have already mentioned the tradition pointing to the Jebel Batn el-Hawa as the place where Solomon erected his idolatrous shrines destroyed by Josias (III Kings, xi, 7; IV Kings, xxiii, 13); this iden- tification is supported by the Targum which suggests in IV Kings, xxiii, 13, the reading nn'i'?;" IH, "Mount of Oil", a good synonym of Mt. Olivet, instead of the traditional P'n'i'Tin ^n, "Mount of Offence", found nowhere else. Accordingly the idolatrous sanctuaries were on the south side of Mt. Olivet proper. Finally we learn from the Jewish rabbis that the Mount of Oil was the traditional place for sacrificing the red heifer (Num., xix.; cf. Maimon., "Treat, of the red heifer", iii, 1). But to Christians especially is Mt. Olivet a most hallowed place, because it was, during the last days of Our Lord's public hfe, the preferred resort of the Saviour. In connexion therewith several spots are singled out in the Gospels: Bethania, the home of Lazarus and of Simon the Leper (Mark, xiv, 3; Matt., xxvi, 6); Bethphage, whence started the triumphal procession to Jerusalem (Matt., xxi, 1), identified with some probability by Federlin with the ruins called Habalat el-Amira or Kehf Abu Layan; the site of the Franciscan Chapel of Bethphage, about 1 mile west of El-Azariyeh, is not well chosen ; the place where the fig-tree cursed by our Lord stood (Matt., xxi, 18-22; Mark, xi, 12-14; 20-21); the spot where Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke, xix, 41); the site where He prophesied the destruction of the Temple, the ruin of the city and the end of the world (Matt., xxiv, 1 sqq.); the Garden of Gethsemani; lastly the place where the Lord imparted His farewell blessing to the Apostles and ascended into heaven (Luke, xxiv, 50-51). All these spots the piety of Christian ages has, with more or less success, endeavoured to locate and to consecrate by erecting sanctuaries thereon.

Thomson, The Land and the Book, I (London. 1881), 415 sqq.; Warren, Mount of Olives in Hastings, Diet, of the Bible, s. v. ; Federlin, Quelques localiUs anciennes situies sur la Montagne des Oliviers in La Terre Sainte, 15 Jan., 1901, pp. 21 sqq.; Heidet in ViGOUROCX, Diet, de la Bible, 8. v. Oliviers (Mont des); Lievin db Hamme, Guide-indicateur de la Terre Sainte (Jerusalem, 1887); Nectbader, La geographic du Talmud (Paris, 1868).

Charles L. Sodvay.

Olivetans, a branch of the white monks of the Benedictine Order, founded in 1319. It owed its origin to the ascetic fervour of Giovanni Tolomei (St. Bernard Ptolomei), a gentleman of Siena and pro- fessor of philosophy. He is said to have vowed him- self to religion in gratitude for the recovery of his eye- sight through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. In fulfilment of this vow he left his home (1313) and went into the wilderness, to forsake the world and give him.self to God. Two companions of his, Am- brogio Piccolomini and Patricio Patrici, Sienese senators, accompanied him. They settled on a bit of land belonging to Tolomei. It was a mountain top, exactly suited to the eremitical life. Here they de- voted themselves to austerities. Apparently they were somewhat aggressive in their asceticism ; for, six