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 POPISH

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POPULAR

On papal elections: Phillips, op. cit.; Hinschius, op. cit.; Thomasbin. Vetus et nova ecclesim disciplina (Lyons, 1706) : ScHEFFER-BoiCHORST, Die Neuordnung der Papstwahl durch Nicolaus // (Strasburg. 1879). On the chronology of the popes: Duchesne. Liber pontif. (Paris, 1892) ; Gams, Series episcoporum (Ratisbon, 1S73).

G. H. Joyce. Popish Plot. See Oates's Plot.

Poppo, Saint, abbot, b. 977; d. at Marchiennes, 25 January, 1048. He belonged to a noble family of Flanders; his parents were Tizekinus and Adalwif. About the year 1000 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two others of his countrymen. Soon after this he also went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was about to marry a lady of noble family, when an impressive experience led him to seek another mode of life. As he was journeying late at night a flame burst forth over his head and his lance radiated a brilliant light. He believed this to be an illumination of the Holy Spirit, and soon after, 100.5, he entered the monastery of St. Thierry at Reims. About 1008 Abbot Richard of St. Vannes at Verdun, who was a zealous reformer of monasteries in the spirit of the reform of Cluny, took Poppo with him to his monastery. Richard made Poppo prior of St. Vaast d' Arras, in the Diocese of Cambrai, about 1013. Here Poppo proved himself to be the right man for the position, reclaimed the lands of the monastery from the rapacious vassals, and secured the posses- sion of the monastery by deeds. Before 1016 he was a])pointed to the same position at Vasloges (Beloacum, Beaulieu) in the Diocese of Verdun. In 1020 the Em- peror Henry II, who had become acquainted with Poppo in 1016, made him abbot of the royal Abbeys of Stablo (in Lower Lorraine, now Belgium) and Mal- medy. Richard was very unwilling to lose him. Poppo also received in 1023 the Abbey of St. Maximin at Trier, and his importance became still greater dur- ing the reign of Conrad II. From St. Maximin the Cluniac reform now found its way into the German monasteries. The emperor placed one royal monas- tery after another under Poppo's control or super- vision, as Limburg an der Hardt, Echternach, St. Gislen, Weissenburg, St. Gall, Hersfeld, Waulsort, and Hostiores. In the third decade of the century Poppo gave these positions as abbot to his pupils. The bish- ops and laymen who had founded monasteries placed a scries of other monasteries under his care, as St. Laurence at Liege, St. Vincent at Metz, St. Eucharius at Trier, Hohorst, Brauweiler, St. Vaast, Marchi- ennes, etc. However, the Cluniac reform had at the time no permanent success in Germany, because the monks were accustomed to a more independent and individual way of action and raised opposition. After 1038 the German court no longer supported the reform.

Personally Poppo practised the most severe asceti- cism. He had no interest in literary affairs, and also lacked the powers of organization and centralization. Neither was he particularly promi- nent in politics, and in the reign of Henry III he was no longer a person of importance. Death overtook him while he was on a journey on behalf of his efforts at monastic reform. His funeral took place in the liresence of a great concourse of jieople at Stablo.

Ladewig, Poppo von Stablo urid :lir Kl'il'm/nrm unter den tr:<ten Sntifrn (Berlin. 1883) ; Sackitk. /)„ ( 7„„,„,-, ,i»fr, II (Hall«, 1891), 174-79.244-61,292-96; Haimk. K,r,)i,„,,,KrhichleDeulsch- lands, 3rcl and 4th eds.. Ill (Leipzig, I'JUti), 499-514.

Klemens Loffler.

Popular Devotions. — Devotion, in the language of ascotical writers, denotes a certain ardour of affec- tion in the things of God, and even without any quali- fying prefix it generally implies that this ardour is of a sensible character. On the other hand, by the term "devotions" in the plural, or "popular devotions", we commonly understand those external practices of piety

by which the devotion of the faithful finds life and ex- pression. The efficacy of these practices in eliciting feel- ings of devotion is derived from four principal sources, either (1) by the strong appeal which they make to man's emotional instincts, or (2) by the simpHcity of form which puts them within the reach of all, or (3) by the stimulus of association with many others in the same good work, or (4) by their derivation from the example of pious persons who are venerated for their holiness. No doubt other reasons besides these might be found why this or that exercise brings with it a cer- tain spiritual unction which stimulates and comforts the soul in the practice of virtue, but the points just mentioned are the most noteworthy, and in the more familiar of our popular devotions all these four influ- ences will be found united.

Historically speaking, our best known devotions have nearly all originated from the imitation of some practice peculiar to the religious orders or to a specially privileged class, and consequently owe most of their vogue to the fourth of the influences just mentioned. The Rosary, for instance, is admitted by all to have been known in its earliest form as "Our Lady's Psal- ter". At a time when the recitation of the whole hundred and fifty Psalms was a practice inculcated upon the religious orders and upon persons of educa- tion, simpler folk, unable to read, or wanting the neces- sary leisure, recited instead of the Psalms a hundred and fifty P:itor nosters or supplied their place more expeditiously still by a hundred and fifty Hail Marys said as .salutations of Our Lady. The Rosary is thus a miniature Psalter. Again, at a time when the most ardent desires of Christendom centred in the Holy Land, and when lovers of the Crucified gladly faced all hardships in the attempt to visit the scenes of the Saviour's Passion, those unable to accomplish such a journey strove to find an equivalent by following Christ's footsteps to Calvary at least in spirit. The exercise of the Stations of the Cross thus formed a miniature pilgrimage. Similarly, the wearing of a scapular or a girdle was a form of investiture for peo- ple living in the world, by which they might put on the livery of a particular religious institute; in other words, it was a miniature habit. Or again, those who coveted the merits attaching to the recitation of the day and night hours of the clergy and the monks supplied their place by various miniature Offices of devotion, of which the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin and the Hours of the Passion were the most familiar.

Even devotions which at first sight suggest nothing of imitation prove on closer scrutiny to be illustrations of the same principle. The triple Hail Mary of the Angelus probably owes its actual form to the Tres preces said by the monastic orders at Prime and Com- plin as far back as the eleventh century, while our familiar Benediotion of the Blessed Sacrament has almost certainly developed out of an imitation of the musical rendering of the antiphons of Our Lady, notably the Salve Regina, which to the popular taste were the most attractive feature of the monastic office. To classify these practices of piety, and especially those others which concern the observance of special times and seasons, for example, the consecration of the month of May to Our Lady, or of the month of June to the Sacred Heart, is not easy; for the pious in- genuity of the faithful is fertile in new devices, and it is diflScult to decide what degree of acceptance war- rants us in regarding a new devotion as legitimately established. The dedication of May and June just referred to, and that of November to the Holy Souls, is recognized everywhere, but there is far less una- nimity about the consecration of October, for example, to the honour of the Guardian Angels. This devotion is no doubt indicated in many prayer books, but it has been in a measure obscured of late years by the special papal commendation of the Rosary in October, while