Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/570

 PROTOTYPE

504

PROUT

tent, succeeded to the place of the chorepiscopus. He could ordain lectors; at concelebrations where no bishop is present he presided and said the Ekphoneseis. In the bishop's absence he took his place as president, and had jurisdiction over his fellow-clergy. George Kodinos (fourteenth century) says of the protopope: "he is first in the tribunal [toO /Si^motos, in authority] holding the second place after the pontiff" (De Offi- ciis, I, quoted by Goar, 237).

Distinct from the official of the patriarchal court, though bearing the same title, were the protopopes in the country parishes. They correspond to our rural deaiiS, ha\'ing delegate episcopal jursidiction for minor cases, from which appeal may be made to the bishop. So Theodore Balsamon (twelfth century): "It is for- bidden b}' the canons that there should be bishops in small towns and villages and because of this they or- dain for these, priests who are protopopes and chore- piscopi" (Sj'ntagma, III, 142). There are cases in which a protopope in a remote place has episcopal jurisdiction, but not orders, like some vicars Apos- toUc, or the archpriests in England from 1599 to 1621. In such cases they are distinguished from archpriests and have such officials under them (so the introduc- tion to Nicholas Bulgaris's "Sacred Catechism", Venice, 16S1).

In modern times the Orthodox (and Uniat) title of protopope often means hardly more than a compli- mentary title convej'ing a certain rank and precedence with sometimes a few unimportant rights. Often in a church that has several priests (as we should say a rector and curates) the first (rector) is called proto- pope. In Russia, Bulgaria, Rumania, and Austria the protopopes have authority over a district containing several parishes. They have to visit tliese occa- sionally and represent for the clergy the court, of first instance. In Orthodox Hungary and Transylvania there are protopresbyterates (eparchies), in which the protopope is elected by clergy and people and rules under the bishop. In these cases he may be compared to our rural deans. Such an office is the highest to which a married Orthodox priest may aspire, since bishops are always monks. In Russia the pro- topope (protoierei) sometimes wears the Byzantine mitre and epigonaiion, but not the omophorion or sakkos.

Goar. Euchotogion (Venice, 1730); Bikgh.im, Origines sire antiquilales ecdesiastic(F (London, 1723); MlL-VSCH. Das Kirchen- recht der mOTgentdndischeti Kirche (2ad ed.. Mostar, 1905) ; Knie, Die russisch-schismatische Kirche (Graz. 1S94).

Adrian Fortescue.

Prototype. See Hermeneutics.

Protus and Hyacinth, S.\ints, martjTs during the pcr.secution of Valerian (r57-9). The day of their annual commemoration is mentioned in the " Depositio Mart>TUm" in the chronographia for 354 (Ruinart, "Acta martyrum", ed. Ratisbon, 632) under 11 September. The chronographia also mentions their graves, in the C(rmeterium of Basilla on the Via Salaria, later the Catacomb of St. Hermes. The Itineraries and other early authorities likewise give this place of burial (De Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 176-7). In 1845 Father Marchi discovered the still undisturbed grave of St. Hyacinth in a crj-pt of the above-mentioned catacomb. It was a small square niche in which lay the ashes and pieces of burned bone wrapped in the remains of costly stuffs (Marohi, "Monumenti primiti\'i: I, Architettura della Roma BOtterranea cristina", Rome, 1844, 238 sqq., 264 sqq.). Evidently the saint had been burnt; most probably both martjTs had suffered death by fire. The niche was closed" by a marble slab similar to that used to close a loculus, and bearing the original inscription that confirmed the date in the old ^Iarty^ology:

D P III IDUS SEPTEBR

Y A C I N T H U S

MARTYR

(Buried on 11 September Hyacinthus Martyr). In the same chamber were found fragments of an archi- trave belonging to some later decoration, with the words:

... SEPULCRUM PROTI M(art>Tis). ..

(Grave of the Martyr Protus). Thus both martjTS were buried in the same crj-pt. Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph in honour of the two martyrs, part of which still exists (Ihm, "Damasi epigrammata", 52, 49). In the epitaph Damasus calls Protus and Hyacinth brothers. When Leo IV (847-55) translated the bones of a large number of Roman martyrs to the churches of Rome, the reUcs of these two saints were to be translated also; but, probably on account of the devastation of the burial chamber, only the grave of St. Protus was found. His bones were transferred to San Salvatore on the Palatine. The remains of St. Hyacinth were placed (1849) in the chapel of the Propaganda. Later the tombs of the two saints and a stairway built at the end of the fourth century were discovered and restored.

Alurd, Rome souterraine (2nd ed., Paris, 1S77). 529 sqq.; M.\RrccHl, Les catacombes romaines (2nd ed.. Rome. 1903), 480 sqq.; Nuoto Bull, di arch. cHsl. (1895), 11 sqq.; (1898). 77 sqq.; Bxbliotheca hagiographica latina. II, 1015; DuForRCQ, Les Gesta martyrum romains, I, 222 sq.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Prout, F.iTHER, the name by which the Rev. Francis Sylvester Mahony (O'Mahony), author of "The Belis of Shandon", is generally known, b. at Cork, 31 Dec, 1804; d. in Paris, 18 May, 1866. Edu- cated at Clongowes Wood College, Ireland, and St- Acheul, France (1815-21), he en- tered the Jesuit no\'itiate in Paris in 1821, and in 1S23 was sent to Rome for his course in philos- ophy. In ls2."i he returned to Clongowes as dis- ciplinarian and after a brief stay there, going sub- sequently to Frei- burg and Flor- ence, he left the Society of Jesus and entered the Irish College at Rome as a stu- dent for t he priest - hood. He did not complete his course there, but in 1832 was ordained at Lucca — a step against which practically all his religious superiors had advised him. He returned to his native diocese and for a time served there as priest, being conspicuous for his heroism and devotion as chaplain to the Cork Cholera Hospital during the terrible epi- demic that visited the city at that time. Developing some differences mth his superiors, he went to London in 1834, and almost immediately commenced his liter- ary career, joining "Eraser's Magazine", then under the editorship of his fellow-townsman, Maginn. For three vears he wrote in "Eraser's" (1834-7), then in "Bentley's Magazine", edited by Charles Dickens, and in 1846 was sent by Dickens to Rome as corre- spondent for the "Dailv News". For twelve years he filled that post, then went to Paris (185S) as corre- spondent of the "Globe" and spent the rest of his fife there. After his death his remains were brought to Cork and, after a public funeral, were interred in the family vault in Shandon churchyard. Although for thirty years Mahony did not exercise his priestly

F.\THER Prout (Fr