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 PLEGMUND

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PLENARY

Orient, to glean from sanctuary to sanctuary the primitive traditions of the human race". The future Cardinal Lavigerie wrote to him, "You are one of the men whom I most respect and admire." Although the "ffiuvre des cercles catholiques ouvriers", founded in 1870 by the Comte de Mun and the Marquis de la Tour du Pin, held on the subject of the State's intervention in the labour system very differ- ent ideas from those of Le Play, the marquis claimed Le Play as one of his masters, because of the latter's attacks on Rousseau's theory of the original goodness of man and on the juridical and social ideas of the men of the French Revolution.

Le Pl.\y, \'oyages en Europe: extraits de sa correspondance (Paris, 1899): Aubcrtin, Frederic Le Play (Paris, 1906); De Ctirzo.s', Frederic Le Play (Poitiers. 1899); De Ribbe, Le Play (Paris. 1906); Dimier, Les maUres de la conlre revolulion au 19" siecle (Paris, 1907); Files du centenaire de Le Play et XXV' congres de la sociiti internationale d'economie sociale (Paris, 1907); Bau- NARD, Lafoi et ses victoires, II (Paris, 1884), chapter on Le Play's religious attitude.

Georges Goyau.

Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 2 Aug., 914. He was a ^Mercian, and spent his early life near Chester as a hermit on an island called after him Pleg- mundham (the present Plemstall). His reputation for piety and learning caused King Alfred to summon him to court, where he helped the king in his literary work. In 890 he was chosen Archbishop of Canter- bury and went to Rome to receive the pallium from Pope Formosus. When the acts and ordinations of Formosus were condemned in 897 and the condemna- tion was confirmed in 90.5, the position of Plegmund became questionable, and in 908 he paid a second visit to Rome, probably to obtain confirmation by Ser- gius III of his acts as archbishop, and to arrange a subdivision of the West Saxon episcopate. This was carried out the following year, when Plegmund conse- crated seven bishops on one day, five for \\'essex and two others. He died in extreme old age and was buried in his cathedral at Canterbury.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ann. 890, 891 and 923, gives the last- named year as the date of his death, which is certainly wrong, and confounds him with .Archbishop .^thelhelm in Rolls Series (1S61); William of Malmesbcrt, Gesta Ponlificum in R. S. (1870); Idem, Gesta Regum in R. 5. (1887-89); Gervase of Canterburt, Historical Worf:s in R. S. (1879-80); Kemble, Codex Diplomalicus ^vi Saxonici (London, 1839—48); Stcbbs, Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum (Oxford, 1858); Hardy, Descriplice Catalogue (Lon- don, 1862-71); Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (London, 1860-84); Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum (London, 1885-93): Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Nobles, and Kings (Cambridge, 1S99); Henfret, Guide to Study of English Coins (London, 1885).

Edwin Burton.

Plenaxium, a book of formulae and texts. Plena- rium or Plenarius (Liber) is any book that contains completely all matters pertaining to one subject other- wise found scattered in several books. Thus, in the life of Bishop Aldrich (Baluze, "Miscell.", I, iii, 29) we read of a Plenariuni, or Bre\-iarium, which seems to be a book of church rents (Binterim, "Denkwurdig- keiten", IV, i, 239). The entire mortuarj* office, Ves- pers, Matins, Lauds, and Mass, is called Plenarium. A complete copy of the four Gospels was called an "Evangeliarium plenarium". Under this heading we might cla.ss the " Book of Gospels"at Lichfield Cathe- dral, and the "Book of Gospels" given by Athelstan to Christ church in Canterbury, now in the library of Lambeth Palace (Rock, "Church of our Fathers", I, 122). Some Plenaria gave all the writings of the New Testament, others those parts of the Sacred Scriptures that were commonly read in the Divine service and bore the name "Lectionarium plenarium" (Becker, "Catal. bibl. ant.", 188.5, 28, no. 237; 68, no. 650, 659). When priests in their missionary labours began to be scattered singly in different places, and when, in consequence, co-celebration of the Sacred Mysteries was rendered impossible, and private Masses became more frequent, the complete Missal or "Missale ple-

narium" came into use. Early vestiges of it may be found in the ninth century, and in the eleventh or twelfth century the "Missale plenarium" was found everywhere and contained all necessary prayers for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, which until then had to be taken from difTerent books, the "Sacramen- tary", "Lectionary", "Evangelistary", "Antipho- nary", and "Gradual" (Zaccaria, "Bibl. rit.", I [Rome, 1876], 50). In Germany the name Plenarium denoted a popular book, giving the German transla- tion of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and festivals of the entire year together with a short expo- sition and instruction. Later editions add also the Introit, Gradual etc., of the Masses. The last book of the kind bearing the title Plenarium was printed in 1.522 at Basle.

\lzog. Die deutschen Plenarien im lo. und zu anfang des 16. jh. (Freiburg, 1874), and the commentaries on the work in Theol. Quartalschrift (1874), 690, and Hisl.-poHt. Blatter (1876). 17.

Francis Mershman.

Plenaxy Council, a canonical term applied to various kinds of ecclesiastical synods. The word itself, derived from the Latin plenarium (complete or full), indicates that the council to which the term is applied (eonciUum plenarium, concilium plenum) rep- resents the whole number of bi.shops of some given territorj'. Whatever is complete in itself is plenary. The oecumenical councils or synods of the Universal Church are called plenary councils by St. Augustine (C. ilia, xi, Dist. 12). as they form a complete repre- sentation of the entire Church. Thus also, in eccle- siastical documents, provincial councils are denomi- nated plenarj-, because all the bishops of a certain ecclesiastical pro\'ince were represented. Later usage has restricted the term plenary to those councils which are presided over by a delegate of the Apostolic Sec, who has received special power for that purpose, and which are attended by all the metropolitans and bishops of some commonwealth, empire, or kingdom, or by their dulj' accredited representatives. Such plenarj- synods are frequently called national coun- cils, and this latter term has always been in common use among the Enghsh, Italian, French, and other peoples.

I. Plenarj- councils, in the sense of national sj-nods. are included under the term particular councils as opposed to universal councils. They are of the same nature as provincial councils, with the accidental difference that several ecclesiastical provinces are represented in national or plenary synods. Provincial councils, strictly so-called, date from the fourth centurj-, when the metropoUtical authority had be- come fully developed. But synods, approaching nearer to the modern signification of a plenarj- coun- cil, are to be recognized in the sj-nodical assemblies of bishops under primatial, exarchal, or patriarchal authority, recorded from the fourth and fifth cen- turies, and possiblj- earUer. Such were, apparentlj-, the sj-nods held in Asia Minor at Iconium and Syn- nada in the third centurj-, concerning the re-baptism of heretics; such were, certainlj-, the councils held later in the northern part of Latin Africa, presided over bj- the Archbishop of Carthage, Primate of Africa. These latter councils were officially desig- nated plenarj' councils (Concilium Plenariuin totius Afric(F). Their beginnings are without doubt to be referred, at least, to the fourth, and possiblj- to the thirtl centurj-. Synods of a somewhat similar nature (though approaching nearer to the idea of a general council) were the Council of Aries in Gaul in 314 (at which were present the Bishops of London, York, and Caerleon), and the Council of Sardica in 343 (whose canons were frequently cited as Nicene canons). To these we might add the Greek Council in TruUo (692). The popes were accustomed in former ages to hold synods w-hich were designated Councils of the Apostolic See. They might be denominated,