Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/392

 OTTO

360

OUR LADT

Germany, along tlio Lower Rhine and in the Nether- lands. It first appeared in print in 1470, probably by Pfistcr in Bamberg. A modernizeil eclition, "Die Krone der Aeltesten", was made in \S'Mi at Landshut as a tenth volume of "Leitstern auf der Bahn dca Heils".

AUg. deulsche Biogr., XXIV, 741, and XXV, 794; Hubter, NomenclatoT, II (1900), 72r,.

Francis Mershman.

Otto of St. Blasien, ehronieler, b. abovit the middle of the twelfth century; d. 23 July, 122,3, at .St. Blasien in the Black Forest, Baden. Nothing is known of the events of his life. It is probable that in his later days he became abbot of the renowned Benedictine monastery of St. Blasien. He is known as the WTiter who continued the chronicles of Otto of Freising, like whom he possessed a great talent for presenting a clear survey of events. His language was lofty, and followed the model of the ancient classics. Like many of his contemporaries, he liked to apply the fixed formulas of Justinian to the German emperors, probably on the assumption, then wide- spread, that the Holy Roman Empire was only the con- tinuation of the Roman Empire of the Ca?sars. His chronicles, written in the form of annals, "Ad librum VII chronici Ottonis Frisingensis episcopi continuata; historian appendix sive Continuatio Sanblasiana", embrace the period from 1146 to 1209, that is, the period from Conrad III to the murder of Philip of Swabia. Since he was distant in time from the facts he narrates, his accounts are wholly objective, even though he makes no concealment of his prejudice in favour of the Hohcnstaufen, who in 1218 received the bailiwick of St. Blasien from the dukes of Ziihringen. Yet, after Otto IV of Wittelsbaeh was recognized as German emperor, he writes of him in the same objective way as of his predecessors. Nevertheless, without any apparent cause, the narrative breaks off at the coronation of Otto IV. Perhaps the chron- icler shrank from describing the bloody party con- flicts of the times. His chief sources were the " Gesta Friderici" and perhaps Alsatian chronicles. On the whole his statements may be trusted. It is only when he has to resort to oral reports that he becomes unre- liable; this is especially the case in his chronology, though he is not to be reproached with intentional misrepresentation of facts for this reason. His chroni- cles were pubhshed by R. Wilmans in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script." (XX, pp. 304-34); they were trans- lated into German by Horst Kohl in " Geschichtschrei- ber der deutschen Vorzeit" (12 century, vol. VIII, Leipzig, 1881, 2nd ed., 1894).

PoTTHAST. Bibl. hisl. medii a-ui, II (Berlin, 1896), 884 sq.; Thoile, Die Chronik d. Otto von St. B. krilisch untersucht (Leipzig, 1877): W \TrzsB.\CH, Deiitschlanda Geschichtsquelten, II (Berlin, 1894), 284 sq.

Patricius Schlager.

Ouen, St. (Owen; Dadon, Lat. Audoenus), Arch- bishop of Rouen, b. at Sancy, near Soissons about 609 ; d. at Clichy-la-Garenne, near Paris, 24 Aug., 683. His father, Autharius, and his mother, Aiga, belonged to the Gallo-Roman race. Shortly after Ouen's birth they came to Ussy-sur-Marne, where he spent his child- hood, with which tradition connects a series of mar- vellous events. Being afterwards sent to the Abbey of St. M(5dard he received an education which caused him to be welcomed at the court of Clothaire II a short time previous to the death of that prince. The latter's successor, Dagobert I, made him his referen- dary or chancellor and profiled greatly by his talents and learning. He charged him with important mis- sions and, it is believed, with compiling the Salic Law. St. Ouen found at the royal court Eloi (Eligius), an- other holy person, whose life was very similar to his own, and with whom he was united in close friend- ship. Both of them, despite the disorders of the Frankish king, served him faithfully. But when

Dagobert was dead they considered themselves re- leased from all secular duties, and leaving the court they devotee! thcm.sclves in seclusion to the theologi- (^al studies which attrai'ted them.

St. Ouen, who in 034 foundeil (lie Alibcy of Habais, was ordained priest by Dieudoniie, Hislmp of Milcon. Some time later his virtues and greal ability marked him out for the archiepiscopal See of Houen, left va- cant by the ilcath of St. Romain. Elected in 639 he was consecrated at Rouen, 21 May, 640, with his friend St. Eloi, who became Bishop of Moyon. The Diocese of Rouen, in which there were still barbarian districts from which paganism had not disappeared, was transformed under the administration of St. Ouen who caused the worship of false gods to cease, founded numerous monasteries, and developed theo- logical studies. Occasionally the statesman reap- peared in St. Ouen. For instance he upheld Ebroin the mayor of the palace in his strife against the aris- tocracy. After Ebroin's death, at the invitation of Thierry I he went to Cologne and succeeded in re- storing peace between Neustria and Austrasia. Shortly after he was att.-'.cked by the illness to which he succumbed. His body, which was brought to Rouen and interred in the Abbey of St. Pierre which thenceforth assumed his name, was translated several times, in 842, 918, and finally in 1860. St. Ouen, who survived St. Eloi, wrote the life of his friend. This biography, which is one of the most authentic histori- cal monuments of the seventh century, contains a store of valuable information regarding the moral and reli- gious situation of that time. It was published for the first time by Dom Luc d'Achery in vol. V of his "Spicilegium".

Ceillier. Ilial. gin. des aul. cacr. el eccUs.. XVII (Paris, 1750), 687-89; Cheruel in Rev. de Rouen. II (1836), 251-64, I; (1837), 21-36; Hist. Litt. de la France (Paris, 1735-8), III, 623-28; IV, 74; LANOVirs; .'i.';. Frnnciie cancell. (1634), 24-79; Petit, His- toire de S. Ow i 'lN>ii. n, ^. d.); Reich, Ueber Audoens Lebensbe- schreibd.b.th I' 1 1 ,lle, 1872) ; Vac.indard, iVn/ancede S.

Ouen in Pr,. '/.h,™ (Rouen, 1896-97), 129-53; Idem,

S. Ouen ,i".w ' "' ' .' ^'/„jf in Revue des questions historiguea, XIX (Pari.^,. 1.>'.ini. .:)-..i).

L£oN Clognet. Our Father. See Lord's Prayer.

Our Lady, Help of Christians, Feast of. — The invocation Auxilium Chrislianorum (Help of Chris- tians) originated in the sixteenth century. In 1576 Bernardino Cirillo, archpriest of Loreto, published at Macerreta two litanies of the Bl. Virgin, which, he contended, were used at Loreto: one a form which is entirely different from our present text, and another form (" Alia; litaniiE B. M . V.") identical wit h the litany of Loreto, approved by Clement VIII in 1601, and now used throughout the entire Church. This second form contains the invocation A uxilium ChrisHanorum. Possibly the warriors, who returning from Lepanto (7 Oct., 1571) visited the sanctuary of Loreto, saluted the Holy Virgin there for the first time with this new title ; it is more probable, however, that it is only a vari- ation of the older invocation Advocata Chrislianorum, found in a litany of 1524. Torsellini (1597) and the Roman Breviary (24 May, Appendix) say that Pius V inserted the invocation in the litany of Loreto after the battle of Lepanto; but the form of the litany in which it is first found was unknown at Rome at the time of Pius V (see Litany op Loreto; Schuetz, "Gesch. des Rosenkranzgebetes", Paderborn, 1909, 243 sq.).

The feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, was in- stituted by Pius VII. By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a prisoner for three years at Savona, and then at Fontainebleau. In January, 1814, after the battle of Leipzig, he was brought back to Savona and set free, 17 March, on the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, the Patroness of Savona. The journey to Rome was a veritable triumphal march. The pontiff, attributing the victory