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1715). The Protestant Bishop Ernest Augustus (1715-21) was succeeded by Clemens August of Bavaria, Elector of Cologne (1721-61). The last bislio]). Prince Frederick of England (17(11-1803), later Duke of York, was, until his majority (1783), under the guardianship of his father, George III of England.

In 1803 the see, the chapter, the convents, and the Catholic charitable institutions were finally secular- ized. The territory of the see passed to Prussia in 1806, to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, to France in 1810, and again to Hanover in 1814. Klemens von Gruben, titular Bishop of Paros, was made vicar Apostolic, and as such cared for the spiritual interests of the Catholic population. Under Leo XII the Bull "Impensa Romanorum Pontificum" (2t) March, 1824) re-established the See of Osnabriick as an exempt see, i. e., immediately subject to Rome. This Bull, recognized by the civil authority, promised that, for the present, the Bishop of Hildesheim would be also Bishop of Osnabriick, but had to be repre- sented at Osnabruck by a vicar-general and an auxiliary bishop, and this lasted for thirty years. Klemens von Gruben was succeeded by the auxiliary bishop Karl Anton von Liipke, also administrator of the North German Missions. After his death new negotiations led to the endowment of an independent see. Pius IX, with the consent of King George V of Hanover, appointed Paulus Melchers of Mtinster, bishop, 3 August, 1857. In 1866 the territory of the diocese passed, with Hanover, to Prussia; Melchers became Archbishop of Cologne, and was succeeded in 1866 by Johannes Heinrich Beckmann (1866-78), who was succeeded by Bernard Hoting (1882-98) after a vacancy of four years owing to the Kultur- kampf (q. v.). The present bishop (1911), Hubert Voss, was appointed 12 .-Vpril, 1899.

MosER, OsTuihr/f ;. h' I,' rlnckte (Osnabriick, 1768), also in MosER'scolleet.a i. . N \ I-VIII (Berlin, 1843) ; Sandhoff, AntistiiumOsruii'r : : j rcgesfa (2 parts. Miinster, 1785) ;

F. E. Stuve, i?» .'',,, './^r, „ ,/ (leschichte des Hochstift& und des FUratentuma Osnabriick (Osnabruck, 1789); C. STiiVE, Gesch. des HochsH/ts Osnabriick (Jena and Osnabruck, 1853, 1872, 1882), three pts. ; MEtTRER, Das Bislum Osnabriick (Munster, 1856); MoLLER, Gesch. der WeihbiscMfe von Osnabriick (Lingen, 1887); Oanabriicker Urkundenbuch, ed. by Phillips and Bar (4 vols., Osnabruck, 1892-1902); Jostes, Die Kaiser- und Konigsurkunden des OsnabrUcker Landes (Munster, 1899); OsnabrUcker Geschichts- guellen (Osnabriick, 1891 — ) : Sopp, Die Entwicklung der Landes- herrlichkeil im FUrstenlum Osnabriick (Idstcin. 1902) ; HOFFMEYER, Gesch. der Stadt und des Regierungsbezirks Osnabruck (Osnabriick, 1904); Jaeger, Die Schola Carolina Osnabrugensis (Osnabriick, 1904); numerous papers in Zeitschrifl fiir vaterldndische Gesch. vnd .Miertumskunde (Munster 1838 — ) ; and in Mitteilungen des Vereins far Geschichie und Landeskunde von Osnabriick (33 vols., Osnabriick. to 1909); Elenchus cleri diaceseos Osnabrugrnsis pro 1910 (Osnabriick, 1910) ; Wi'RM, Fuhrer von Osnabruck (2nd ed.,

1906). Joseph Lins.

O sola magnarum urbium. See Quicumque Christum qu.^ritis.

Osrhoene. See Abgar; Edessa.

Ossat, Arx.\ud d', French cardinal, diplomat, and writer, b. at Larrocjue-Magnoac (Gascony), 20 July, 1.537; d. at Rome, 13 March, 1604, was the son of a blacksmith. He was sent to the College of Auch as tutor to the sons of a nobleman, then to Paris, where he be- came the pupil and friend of the famous Ramus, whom lie defended in two pamphlets against Charpentier, rector of the university. He next studied law at Bourges under Cujas and became an advocate before the Parliament of Paris, while acting as tutor to Jean de la Barriere, the future reformer of the Feuillants. In 1.572 he joined the hou.sehold of Paul de Foix, Archbishop-elect of Toulouse, whom he accompanied on various embassies and finally to Rome. De Foix dying in 1.584, d'Ossat remained at Rome, supervising the French embassy for a year, and then becoming secretary successively to Louis d'Este and Joyeuse, two cardinal protectors of the interests of France. In 1588 he refused the post of minister of foreign affairs

to Henry III. Driven from Rome by the rupture of diplomatic relations after the murder of Cardinal de Guise (1588), he returned after the death of Henry III (1,589) as the private agent of his widow, Louise de Vaudemont. He used his position to support the cause of Henry IV, whose conversion he prepared the pope to accept. As agent for that prince, co-operat- ing with du Perron, he negotiated the reconciliation with the pope, which took place 19 Sept., 1595. This was the greatest act of d'Ossat's diplomatic career, assuring as it did the definitive triumph of Henry IV over the League, and the restoration of peace and prosperity to France after more than thirty years of civil war. D'Ossat was appointed Bishop of Rennes (1596), cardinal (1.589), and finally Bishop of Bayeux. Remaining at Rome without any well-defined office, he was charged with occasional missions to Venice and Florence (1598), or managed the French embassy in the absence of the ambassador, and was always the enlightened and devoted representative of French in- terests. All the ambassadors of Henry IV had orders to make known to him the business with which they were charged and to be guided by his advice. Villeroy, the minister for foreign affairs, himself consulted him on all matters in anyway connected with Rome. Ossat, through his influence and talents, secured for Henry IV the pope's aid and, when necessary, induced the Holy See to accept, at least, without public protest, such measures as the expulsion of the Jesuits, the non- publication of the Council of Trent, the Edict of Nantes, the Franco-Turkish and Franco-English al- liances, the annulment of Henry IV's marriage with Margaret of Valois, and the conclusion of that be- tween the Due de Bar and Catherine de Bourbon, Henry's sister and a stubborn Calvinist. At the same time d'Ossat used his influence at Rome for the benefit of the historian de Thou, the philosopher Montaigne, and the savant Peiresc. Clement VIII showed his esteem of Ossat by commanding that the cardinal's family should attend his obseijuies with all the assistants at the pontifical throne. D Ossat was buried in the church of St. Louis of the French, where his tomb is still to be seen. Bentivoglio, in his "M<5moires", says of him that never was a man more worthy of the hat because of his religious zeal, the integrity of his morals, and the eminence of his learn- ing.

In the course of his diplomatic career d'Ossat wrote many letters and memoranda. Garnier de Maul^on edited some of them in 1614, when they were printed for the first time; several editions, largely augmented, afterwards appeared, the best being that of Amelot de la Haussaie, in 1708, which contains nearly 400 letters. Since then twenty-one letters have been published by Tamizey de Larroque, and eleven by the writer of this article. These letters formerly served as models for diplomats, owing not only to the importance of the questions which they treat, but especially to the talent for exposition which d'Ossat displays in them. The French Academy inscribed Ossat among the "dead authors who have written our French language most purely". Wiquefort in his "M6moires sur les ambas- sadeurs" finds in them "the clearest and most en- lightened judgment ever displayed by any minister", and Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son that the "sim- I)licity and clearness of Cardinal d'Ossat's letters show how business letters should be written". Besides these letters his published works are: " Arnaldi Ossati in disputationem Jaeobi Carpentarii de methodo " (4°, Paris, 1564) and "Arnaldi Ossati additio ad exposi- tionem de methodo" (Paris, 1564).

D'Arconville, Vie du cardinal d'Ossat (Paris, 1771); Degert, Le cardinal d'Ossat, Mque de Rennes et de Bayeux {1537-1604) (Paris, 1894). AntOINE DegERT.

Ossory, Diocese of (Ossohiensis), in the Prov- ince of Leinster, Ireland, is bounded on the south by