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 PHILIPPOPOLIS

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PHILIP

been natives of Philippopolis, though other towns of Thrace are frequently given as their native place. In 344 was held at Philippopolis the conciliabulum of the Eusebians, which brought together 76 bishops sep- arated from their colleagues of Sardica, or Sofia, and adversaries of St. Athanasius and his friends. Among its most celebrated ancient metropolitans is Silvanus, who asked the Patriarch Proclus to transfer him to Troas on account of the severity of the climate, and whose name was inserted by Baronius in the Roman Martyrology for 2 December. Philippopolis, which from the fifth century at the latest was the ecclesias- tical metropolis of Thracia Secunda and dependent on the Patriarchate of Constantinople, had three suffragan bishoprics in the middle of the seventh cen- tury (Gelzer, "Ungedruckte . . . Texte der Notitice episcopatuum", 542); in the tenth century it had ten (ibid., 577); towards the end of the fifteenth century it had none (ibid.). The Greek metropolitan see has continued to exist, in spite of the occupation of the Bulgarians. The latter, however, have erected there an orthodox metropolitan see of their own. Though generally held by the Byzantines Philippopolis was often captured by other peoples — Huns, Avars, Slavs, Bulgarians, and the Franks who retained it from 1204 til! 1235. It was taken by the Turks in 1370 and finally came under the sway of the Bulgarians in 1885. By transporting thither on several occasions Armenian and Syrian colonists, the Byzantines made it an ad- vanced fortress to oppose the Bulgarians; unfortu- nately these colonists were nearly aU Monophysites and especially Paulicians, so the city became the great centre of Manichaeism in the Middle Ages. These heretics converted by the Capuchins in the seven- teenth century have become fervent Catholics of the Latin rite. The city called Plovdif in Bulgarian con- tains at present 47,000 inhabitants, of whom about 4000 are Catholics. The Greeks and Turks are fairly numerous; the Catholic parish is in charge of secular priests; there is a seminary, which however has only from 20 to 25 students. The Assumptionists, who number about 30, have had since 1884 a college with a commercial department, attended by 250 pupils; the primary school for boys was established in 1863 by the Assumptionist Sisters; the Sisters of St. Joseph have a boarding-school and a primary school for girls; the Sisters of Charity of Agram have an hospital.

Le Quien. Oricns. christ., I, 1155-62; Tsoukalab, Description historico-geographique de Veparchie de Philippopolis (Vienna, 1851), in Greek: MiJLLEB. Ptolemai Geographia, I (Paris), 483; JiREcEK, Das FUrslenthum Bulgarien (Prague, 1891), 378-87; Dupuy-Peyotj, La Bulgarie aux Bulgares (Paris, 1896), 142-8, 291-8; Reme franco-bulgare (1910), 10-18.

S. Vaile6.

Philippopolis, titular see in Arabia, suffragan of Bostra. Its bishop, Hormisdas, was present at the Council of Chaleedon in 451 (Le Quien, "Oriens chris- tianus", II, 861). An inscription makes known an- other bishop, Basil, in 553 ("Echos d'Orient", XII, 1909, 103). Philippopohs figures as a see in the "No- titiEB Episcopatuum" in the sixth century (op. cit., X, 1907, 145). There were also several titular bishops in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Eubel, "Hier- archia catholica medii a!vi", II, 238; III, 291). The ancient name of this place is unknown. The Emperor Philip (244-9) founded this town and gave it his name (Aurelius Victor, "De Csesar. ", 28). Thenceforth it grew very rapidly as evidenced by the fine ruins, re- mains of the colonnades of a temple and colossal baths, discovered on its site at Shohba in the Hauran.

Waddington, Inscriptions grecqucs et latines recueillies en Grhce et en Asie Mineure, 490-3; Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis romani, 204; Revue biblique, VII (1898), 601-3; Echos d'Orient, II (1899), 175.

S. Vailh*.

Philip Romolo Neri, Saint, Apostle of Rome, b. at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; d. 27 May, 1595.

Phihp's family originally came from Castelfranco but had lived for many generations in Florence, where not a few of its members had practised the learned profes- sions, and therefore took rank with the Tuscan nobil- ity. Among these was Philip's own father, Francesco Neri, who eked out an insufficient private fortune with what he earned as a notary. A circumstance which had no small influence on the life of the saint was Francesco's friendship with the Dominicans; for it was from the friars of S. Marco, amid the memories of Savonarola, that Philip received many of his early religious impressions. Besides a younger brother, who died in early childhood, Phihp had two younger sisters, Caterina and Elisabetta. It was with them that "the good Pippo", as he soon began to be called, committed his only known fault. He gave a slight push to Caterina, because she kept interrupting him and Elisabetta, while they were reciting psalms to- gether, a practice of which, as a boy, he was remarkably fond. One incident of his childhood is dear to his early biographers as the first visible intervention of Provi- dence on his behalf, and perhaps dearer still to his modern disciples, because it reveals the human charac- teristics of a boy amid the supernatural graces of a saint. When about eight years old he was left alone in a courtyard to amuse himself; seeing a donkey laden with fruit, he jumped on its back; the beast bolted, and both tumbled into a deep cellar. His parents hastened to the spot and extricated the child, not dead, as they feared, but entirely un- injured.

From the first it was evident that Philip's career would run on no conventional lines; when shown his family pedigree he tore it up, and the burning of his father's house left him unconcerned. Having studied the humanities under the best scholars of a scholarly generation, at the age of sixteen he was sent to help his father's cousin in business at S. Germane, near Monte Cassino. He applied himself with diligence, and his kinsman soon determined to make him his heir. But he would often withdraw for praj'er to a little mountain chapel belonging to the Benedictines of Monte Cassino, built above the harbour of Gaeta in a cleft of rock which tradition says was among those rent at the hour of Our Lord's death. It was here that his vocation became definite: he was called to be the Apostle of Rome. In 1533 he arrived in Rome without any money. He had not informed his father of the step he was taking, and he had deliberately cut himself off from his kinsman's patronage. He was, however, at once befriended by Galeotto Caccia, a Florentine resident, who gave him a room in his house and an allowance of flour, in return for which he undertook the education of his two sons. For seventeen years Philip lived as a layman in Rome, probably without thinking of becoming a priest. It was perhaps while tutor to the boys, that he wrote most of the poetry which he composed both in Latin and in Italian. Before his death he burned all his writings, and only a few of his sonnets have come down to us. He spent some three years, beginning about 1535, in the study of philosophy at the Sapienza, and of theology in the school of the Augustinians. When he considered that he had learnt enough, he sold his books, and gave the price to the poor. Though he never again made study his regular occupation, whenever he was called upon to cast aside his habitual reticence, he would surprise the most learned with the depth and clearness of his the- ological knowledge.

He now devoted himself entirely to the sanctifica- tion of his own soul and the good of his neighbour. His active apostolate began with solitary and unob- trusive visits to the hospitals. Next he induced others to accompany him. Then he began to frequent the shops, warehouses, banks, and public places of Rome, melting the hearts of those whom he chanced to meet,