Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/281

 OLYMPUS

249

OMAHA

(called by the sources Secundus or Selencus) was a ' ' Count ' ' of the empire ; one of her ancestors, Ablabius, filled in 331 the consular office, and was also prajtorian prefect of the East. As Olympias was not thirty years of age in 390, she cannot have been born before 361. Her parents died when she was quite young, and left her an immense fortune. In 384 or 385 she married Nebridius, Prefect of Constantinople. St. Gregory Nazianzus, who had left Constantinople in 381, was invited to the wedding, but wrote a letter ex- cusing his absence (Ep. cxciii, in P. G., XXXVII, 313), and sent the bride a poem (P. G., loc. cit., 1542 sqq.). Within a short time Nebridius died, and Olympias was left a childless widow. She steadfastly rejected all new proposals of marriage, determining to devote herself to the service of God and to works of charity. Nectarius, Bishop of Constantinople (381-97), con- secrated her deaconess. On the death of her husband the emperor had appointed the urban prefect adminis- trator of her property, but in 391 (after the war against Maximus) restored her the administration of her large fortune. She built beside the principal church of Constantinople a convent, into which three relatives and a large number of maidens withdrew with her to consecrate themselves to the service of God. When St. John Chrysostom became Bishop of Constantinople (398), he acted as spiritual guide of Olympias and her companions, and, as many unde- serving approached the kind-hearted deaconess for support, he advised her as to the proper manner of utilizing her vast fortune in the service of the poor (Sozomen, "Hist, eccl.", VIII, ix; P. G., LXVII, 1540). Olympias resigned herself wholly toChrysos- tom's direction, and placed at his disposal ample sums for religious and charitable objects. Even to the most distant regions of the empire extended her bene- factions to churches and the poor.

When Chrysostom was e.xiled, Olympias supported him in every possible way, and remained a faithful disciple, refusing to enter into communion with his unlawfully appointed successor. Chrysostom encour- aged and guided her through his letters, of which sev- enteen are e.xtant (P. G., LII, 549 sqq.): these are a beautiful memorial of the noble-hearted, spiritual daughter of the great bishop. Olympias was also exiled, and died a few months after Chrj'sostom. After her death she was venerated as a saint. A biog- raphy dating from the second half of the fifth cen- tury, which gives particulars concerning her from the "Historia Lausiaca" of Palladius and from the "Dia- logus de vita Joh. Chrysostomi", proves the great veneration she enjoycl. During the riot of Constan- tinople in 532 the convent of St. Olympias and the adjacent church were destroyed. Emperor Justinian had it rebuilt, and the prioress, Sergia, transferred thither the remains of the foundress from the ruined church of St. Thomas in Brokhthes, where she had been buried. We possess an account of this transla- tion by Sergia herself. The feast of St. Olympias is celebrated in the Greek Church on 24 July, and in the Roman Church on 17 December.

Vita S. Olympiadis et narralio Sergite de eiusdem translatione in Anal. Boiland. (1896), 400 sqq., (1897), 44 sqq.; Bousquet, Vie d'Olympias la diaconesse in Revue de I'Orient chret. (1900), 225 sqq.; Idem, Recit de Sergia sut Olympias, ibid. (1907), 255 sqq.; Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca, LVI, cd. Butler (Cambridge, 1904) ; Synaxarium Constantinopol., ed. Delahaye, PTOpyloewm ad Acta SS., November (Brussels. 1902), 841-2; Meuhisse, Hist. d'Olym- pias, diaconesse de Constantinople (Metz, 1670) ; Venables in Did. Christ. Biog., a. v. See also the bibliography of John Chrysos- tom, Saint.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Olympus, a titular see of Lycia in Asia Minor. It was one of the chief cities of the "Corpus Lyciacum", and was captured from the pirate, Zenicetas, by Ser- vilius Isauricus who transported to Rome the statues and treasure he had stolen. Its ruins (a theatre, tem- ples, and porticoes) are located south of the vilayet of Koniah, at Dehk-Tash (Pierced Stone), so-called be-

cause of a large rock forming a natural arch. The town was built near Mount Olympus or Phcenicus, which gave forth constant fiery eruptions throughout an- tiquity; the ancients called it Chimoera and depicted it as a monster which had been vanquished by Bellerophon. Several ancient authors knew that this was only a natural phenomenon. (The Turks call it Yanar Tash — Burning Stone.) Several "Notitise Episcopatuum" mention Olympus among the suf- fragan sees of Myra until the thirteenth century. Only four bishops are known, one of whom was St. Methodius (q. v.).

Leake, Asia Minor (London, 1S24), 189; Fellows, Lycia (London, 1847), 212 sq.; Spratt and Forbes, Travels in Lycia, I (London, 1846), 192; Smith, Diet. Greek and Rom. Geoff., a. v.; Le Quien, Oriens Christ., I, 975.

S. PflTRIDfcs.

Omaha, Diocese of (Omahensi.s), embraces all that part of the State of Nebraska north of the southern shore of the South Platte River. Area, 52,996 sq. miles.

Early Missionaries. — The first missionaries in Ne- braska were priests of the Society of Jesus, who, from about 1838, occasionally visited the native In- dians, many of whom received baptism. In 1851 the Holy See cut off from the Diocese of St. Louis all the country north from the south line of Kansas to Canada, and west from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, and erected it into the Vicariate of the Rocky Mountains, with Rt. Rev. John B. Miege, S.J., as first vicar Apostohc (see Leaven- worth). On 6 January, 1857, this vicariate was again divided, and a new vicariate called the Vicariate of Nebraska was erected. Bishop Miege being authorized to govern it until the appointment of a resident vicar Apostolic of Nebraska.

The first residentvicar Apostolicwas the Right Rev. James Miles 0'Gorman,D.D.,b. near Nenagh. Co. Tip- perary, Ireland, 1804, took the Trappist habit at Mount Melleray, Co. Waterford, 1 Nov., 1839, and was ordained priest, 1843. He was one of the band who came to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1849 to establish New Melleray (see Cistercians). In 1859 he was ap- pointed Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska, and on 8 May of the same year was consecrated titular Bishop of Raphanea by Archbishop Kenrick of St. Louis. The vicariate at this time embraced the present State of Nebraska, the Dakotas west of the Missouri River, Wyoming, and Montana east of the Rocky Mountains. On his arrival at Omaha, Bishop O'Gorman found in his vast jurisdiction a Catholic population of some three hundred families of white settlers living along the river counties, and a few thousand Indians, chiefly in Montana. There were in the entire territory, two seculars, and one Jesuit priest in Montana in charge of the native tribes.

During the fifteen years of his episcopate Bishop O'Gorman laboured to provide for the needs of his scattered flock. He placed priests in the more im- portant centres of poiiulation, and in the sixties, priests of the vicariate njinistcri'd Id the Catlmlics of Western Iowa. During his achninistration tli<^ Sis- ters of Mercy were establisliiil at Omaha, the Bene- dictines in Nebraska City, and the Sisters of Charity in Helena, Montana. At his death (4 July, 1874) his jurisdiction contained 19 priests, 20 churches, and a Catholic population of 11,722.

The second vicar Apostolic was the Right Rev. James O'Connor, D.D., b. at Queenstown, Ireland, 10 Sept., 1823. At the age of fifteen he came to America. He was educated at St. Charles's Semi- nary, Philadelphia, and in the Propaganda College, Rome, where he was ordained priest in 1848. The following year he was appointed rector of St. Michael's Seminary, Pittsburgh, and in 1862 rector of St. Charles's Seminary, Overbrook, Pennsylvania. In 1872 he was appointed pastor of St. Dominic's Church,