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trine approved by the Faculty". Prades wrote a very long thesis, which the examiners accepted with- out reading. The defence, which took place on 18 November, was very sharp, and the scandal broke out. On 15 December following, the Faculty declared several propositions to be "worthy of blame and censures". On 15 January following, the cen- sure was published. According to Abbe de Prades, the soul is an unknown substance; sensations are the source of our ideas; the origin of civil law is might, from which are derived all notions of just and of unjust, of good and evil; natural law is empiric; revealed religion is only natural religion in its evolu- tion; the chronology of Moses's books is false; the healings operated by Jesus Christ are doubtful miracles, since those operated by Esculapius present the same characteristics. The archbishop of Paris and several bishops approved the censure; after- wards, on the 2 March, Benedict XIV condemned the thesis ; at last the Parliament of Paris issued a decree against the author; further, Stanislas, Duke of Lorraine, incited the Faculty against the Abb6.

The latter found a refuge in Holland, where he pub- lished his "Apology" (1752). It consists of two parts: a third part containing "reflexions upon the Pastoral Letter of the bishop of Montauban and the Pastoral Instruction of the bishop of Auxerre" as written by Diderot. Le Pere Brotier published "the Survey of the Apology of the Abbe de Prades" (1753). The question is whether the Abbe de Prades is not the author of an "Apology of the Abbe de Prades" in verse. LTpon the recommendation of Voltaire and of the Marquis of Argens, the Abb6 became lector to Frederick of Prussia and went to Berlin. Frederick gave him a pension and two canonries, the one at Oppeln, the other at Glogau. From the year 1753, negotiations were entered upon between the Abhl de Prades and the Bishop of Breslau, PhiMp von SchafTgotsch, with a view to a recantation. Frederick himself induced the Abbe to return to "the bosom of the Church". Benedict XIV and the Cardinal of Vencin wrote the formula of recantation which was signed by the Abb§. In 1754, the Faculty of Paris again inscribed the Ahhi. upon the list of bachelors. The Abbe de Prades became the archdeacon of the Chapter of Glogau, and died in that town in 1782.

Besides the works quoted, he left an "Abr^g6 de I'histoire eccl6siastique de Fleury", tr. Berne (Berlin, 1767), II vols., with a violently anti-catholic preface written by Frederick II. This would make us doubt the sincerity of the recantation of the Abbe de Prades. To him is generally ascribed ' ' le Tombeau de la Sorbonne" translated from Latin (1782). According to Querard, he left in manuscript a com- plete translation of Tacitus, which remains unpub- lished. What has become of the manuscript is un- known. It is said also that he worked, before leaving France, at a Treatise on "the Truth of Religion".

Ada. S. Facultatis Paris, circa J. M. de Prades (Paris, 1794); Chiel.\nd. Souvenirs de Berlin (3rd ed., IV, 368); Feret, La FaculU de thlologie de Paris, VI (Paris, 1909). 183-193.

Joseph Dedieu.

Prado, Jerome de, exegete, b. at Baeza in Spain, 1547; d. at Rome, 13 Jan., 1595. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1572; taught literature; and then filled the chair of Scripture at Cordova for six- teen years. His great work is "Tomus primus in Ezechiel" (fol. pp. 360; Rome, 1596). After sixteen years spent on this tome he died at Rome, where he was seeking illustrations for it. He had reached the twenty-sixth chapter. The remainder of Ezechiel was interpreted by John Baptist Villalpando S.J., of Cor- dova, who added two volumes: Of these the second is in two parts: I. "Explanationum Ezechielis prophetse, pars prima, in trcdecim capita sequentia" (fol. pp. 104; Rome, 1604); II. "De postrema EzechieHa prophetae visione" (fol. pp. 655; Rome, 1605). This

second part of the second volume goes into a detailed archaeological study of the Temple. The third volume of this commentary on Ezechiel is entitled "Apparatus urbis ac templi Hierosolymitani" (fol. pp. xvi, 603; Rome, 1604). There are two parts to the volume, and both are the joint work of Prado and Villalpando. Commentaries on Isaias, Zachary, Micheas, the Epistle to the Hebrews, together with a book on Biblical chronology are among the MSS. works left by Prado, several of which are in the National Library of Madrid. The volumes published by Villalpando were dedicated to Phihp II, at whose request and cost the work begun by Prado was brought to a successful completion. These three volumes have always been highly es- teemed for their thorough and scientific study of Jew- ish coins, weights, and measures; likewise for the csje with which the Temple and City of Jerusalem are reconstructed from the very few data then at hand. Cardinal Wiseman found the work of Prado to be "still the great repertory to which every modern scholiast must recur, in explaining the difficulties of the book" (Science and Revealed Religion, II, Lon- don, 1851, 199). The younger Rosenmtiller calls these volumes "a work replete with varied erudition, and most useful to the study of antiquity" ("Ezechielia Vaticinia", I, Leipzig, 1826, 32, in Wiseman, 1. c). Among those whom Prado inspired with his thorough- ness and enthusiasm in the study of the Bible were his pupils John Pineda and Louis de Alcazar.

HtTRTER, Nomenclator, 1 (Innsbruck, 1892), 84; Sommertoobl, Bihliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus, VI, 1149.

Walter Drdm.

Prsalatus NuIIius (i. e. Diceceseos), a prelate who exercises quasi-episcopal jurisdiction in a territory not comprised in any diocese. The origin of such prelates must necessarily be sought in the Apostolic privileges, for only he whose authority is superior to that of bishops can grant an exemption from episcopal jurisdiction. Such exemption, therefore, comes only from the pope. The rights of prelates nullius are quasi-episcopal, and these dignitaries are supposed to have any power that a bishop has, unless it is expressly denied to them by canonical law. When they have not received episcopal consecration, such prelates may not confer sacred orders, but they have the privilege (if they are abbots and priests) of advancing candi- dates to tonsure and minor orders. If not consecrated episcopally, they have not the power to exercise those functions of consecrating oils, etc., which are referred to the episcopal order only analogously. Prelates nullius may take cognizance of matrimonial causes within the same limits as a bishop ; they may dispense from the proclamation of matrimonial banns, grant faculties for hearing confessions and preacliing, re- serve certain cases to themselves, publish indulgences and jubilees, exercise full jurisdiction over the enclo- sure of nuns, and invite any bishop to confirm in their quasi-diocese. These prelates may not, however, without special permission of the Holy See, convoke a synod or institute synodal examiners. Neither may they confer parochial benefices. They are not allowed to grant indulgences, or absolve from the reserved cases and secret irregularities whose absolution is restricted to the pope ordinarily, but allowed to bish- ops by the Council of Trent; nor promote secular clerics to orders, nor grant dimissorial letters for ordi- nation, nor exercise jurisdiction over regulars as Apos- tolic delegates. Prelates nuUiiis are, however, bound to residence, to preach the Word of God, to offer up Mass for their people, to make the ^^sit ad lirnina, and in concurrence with the neighbouring bishop to make a visitation of their quasi-diocese. The only prelate nulliiut in the United States is the Abbot of Maryhelp, Belmont, North Carolina. (See .\bbot.)

Sanqdinetti, Juris Ecclesiaxticie Institutiones (Rome, 1896); Taunton, The Law of the Church (London. 190(i). s. v. Prelates.

William H. W. Fanning.