Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/334

 ORGANIC

302

ORIENTAL

Organic Articles. See Articles, The Organic.

Oria, Oiocf.se of (Uritana), in the Province of Lecce, Apulia, Italy, suffragan of Taranto. In tlio Middle Ap-s, Oria was a principality that passed to the Borroinci; St. Charles sold it for 40,000 crowns, which he distributed among the poor. Oria was be- sieged by Manfred in 1266. When Brindisi was de- stroyed by the Saracens in the ninth century, its bishops established their see at Oria and called thein- Belves Bishops of Brindisi and Oria, oven after their return to their former capital. It would appear that Oria, in early times, had bishops of its own, be- cause there is a record on a slab in the cathedral, dating from the eighth or ninth century, in which there is mention of a Bishop Theodosius, not one of the bishops of Brindisi. In 979 Bishop Andrew was slain by Porphyrins. In 924 and 977 Oria was sacked by the Mohammedans. The town was erected into an episcopal see in 1591; its first bishop was Vincent Tufo. The diocese has 15 parishes, 120,000 inhab- itants, 9 religious houses of men, and 11 of women. Cappelletti, Le Chiese d' Italia, XXI.

U. Benigni. Oriani, Barnaba, Italian Barnabite and astrono- mer, b. at Carignano, near Milan, 17 July, 1752; d. at Milan, 12 November, 1832. After receiving an elementary education in his native town, he studied at the College of San Alessandro, Milan, where he was educated and supported by the Bamabites. He later joined the BaniaMtcs, and, after studying the human- ities, physical and liiuthcmatical sciences, philosophy, and theology, was ordained priest at the age of twenty- three. Specially interested in astronomy, he was shortly after his ordination (1776) appointed on the staff of the Observatory of Brera in Milan. He be- came assistant astronomer in 1778, and director in 1802. In 1778 he began to publish the dissertations on astronomical subjects which form an important part of the original memoirs appearing in the "Effe- meridi di Milano" during the next fifty-two years. His work soon attracted considerable attention, and in 1785 a notable memoir containing his calculation of the orbit of Uranus and a table of elements for that planet won for him a prominent place among the astronomers of his time. He was admitted to mem- bership in numerous learned societies, and offered the position of professor of astronomy at Palermo, which, however, he did not accept. In the following year he travelled throughout Europe at the expense of the state, visiting the chief observatories. When Napo- leon set up the republic in Lombardy, Oriani refused absolutely to swear hatred towards monarchy; the new government modified the oath of allegiance in his re- gard, retained him in his position at the observatory, and made him president of the commission appointed to regulate the new system of weights and measures. WTien the republic was transformed into the Napo- leonic kingdom, Oriani received the decorations of the Iron Crown and of the Legion of Honour, was made count and senator of the kingdom, and was appointed in company with De Cesaris, to measure the arc of the mendian between the zeniths of Rimini and Rome. He was a devoted friend of the Theatine monk Piazzi, the discoverer of Ceres, and for thirty-seven years co- operated with him in many ways in his astronomical labours. Besides his constant contributions to the Effemendi di Milano", he published a .series of im- portant memoirs on spherical trigonometry (Memorie deir Istituto Italiano, 1806-1(1) and the "Istruzione suelle misure e sui pesi" (.Milan, ls:',l).

Gabba in TiPAl.DO, Ilaliani lUustri, III (Venice, 18.36) 473-81- PoaoESDORKF IlandwHrterhuch zur Gesck. der exaclen Wiasen- tchaflen. II (U-ipziR, 18B.3); Cacciatore and Schiapparelu, C^etpondrnza Aslronamica fra Giuseppe Piazzi e Barnaba Oriani (Milan, 1874). introduction.

Edward C. Phillips. Oriental Church. See Eastern Churches.

Oriental Study and Research. — In the broads est sense of the term, Oriental study comprises the scientific investigation and discussion of all topics — linguist iis, archa'ology, ethnology, etc. — connected with the East, in ]):irticular, the discovery and inter- pretation of Eastern literary and archa'ologic.al re- mains. So vastis thrsuhjccl tliat it has of a necessity been divided into many departments, each of which in turn embraces various specialized branches. Thus the study of the language, customs, philo.sophy, and reli- gion of China and the Far East is in itself a vast though relatively little-explored tield of scientific in- vestigation, white the study of Sanskrit, together with the classic lore of the ancient Hindus, which has cast so much light on our knowledge of the European lan- guages and peoples, forms another great division of Oriental research.

From the religious point of view, however, the greatest and most valuable results have been achieved by the study of the group of languages generally termed Semitic, and through archa:'ological research in the so-called Bible Lands — Assyria and Babylonia, Syria and Palestine, Arabia and the Valley of the Nile. Not only have these studies and explorations cast a great deal of light on the Old-Testament writ- ings but they have, moreover, revealed with consider- able precision and detail the well-nigh forgotten history of empires and civilizations that had flourished for many centuries and passed away even before Greece or Rome had acquired any great political or literary importance. The earliest efforts of European schol- ars in the field of Oriental research were naturally connected with the scientific study of Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. To say nothing of the work done by the rabbis of the medieval period under the influence of Arabic culture in the Jewish colonies of Spain and northern Africa, we find prior to the Reformation the names of Johann Reuchlin (145.5-1.522) and the Dominican Santes Pagninus (1471-1541), pioneers who prepared the way for such scholars as the famous Johann Buxtorf (1564—1629) and his son (1599-1664), both succes.sivcly professors at Basle, and others of the same period. For ulterior developments in the study of Hebrew see article He- brew Language and Literature.

In connexion with the impetus given to Biblical Oriental studies in the sixteenth century, mention should be made of the Complutensian Polyglot pub- lished under the direction of Cardinal Ximenes (14:j6- 1517). It was the first printed edition of the Scrip- tures in the original text accompanied by the principal ancient versions, and antedated by more than a cen- tury the London Polyglot of Brian \\'alton. This great work, which is dedicated to Pope Leo X, com- prises six folio volumes, the last being devoted to a Hebrew lexicon and other scientific apparatus. It was begun in 1502 and finished in 1517, though not published until 1522. In its preparation the cardinal was aided by several Greek and Oriental scholars, among whom were the celebrated Stunica (D. L6pez de Zuniga), Vergara, and three Jewish con- verts. The zeal for Hebrew naturally led to the study of other Semitic languages (Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, etc.), which were eagerly taken up not only as a means of obtaining a more comprehensive knowledge of Hebrew through the newly-introduced methods of comparative philology, but also on account of t h<' liter- ary treasures they contained, which had hitherto remained practically unknown to European scholars. In this broader field the greatest credit is due to the illustrious Maronite family of the Assemani (q. v.). (For the work done by scholars in the study of Syriac see Syriac Language and Literature.)

The first European scholar who turned his atten- tion to Ethiopic was Potken of Cologne, about 1513. A grammar and dictionary were published by Jacob Wemmers, a CarmeUte of Antwerp, in 1638; and in