Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/695

 RABBULAS

619

RABELAIS

in the Targum of Onkelos and the Greek version of Aquila, acquired prominence later on, seemingly owing to the influence of Arabic learning, especially among the Qaraites. The Sodh first found favour among the Essenes and the Zealots, but attained its full development only in the Kabbalistic system of the thirteenth century. If the tree should be judged by its fruits, the vagaries of the Kabbala, the last term of the natural evolution of the Hagada, make evident the falsity of the principles underlying the method of Rabbinical exegesis.

Briggs. General Inlroduction to the Study of Holy Scripture (Edinburgh, 1899); Edersheim, Life atid Times of Jesus, the Messiah; Etheridge, Jerusalem and Tiberias, Sora and Cordova (1856): Mielziner. Inlroduction to the Talmud (Cincinnati, 1894); Chi.^rini, Le Talmud de Bahylone, I (Leipzig, 1831) ; L.\grange, Le Messianinme chez les Juifs (Paris. 1909) ; St.vpfer. Les idees religieuses en Palestine d Vipoque de J.-C. (Paris, 1878) : Idem, La Palestine au temps de Jesus Christ (Paris, s. d.) ; Wogue, Histoire de la Bible (Paris, 1881) ; B.icher. Die Agada der Tan- naiten, I (2nd ed., 1909) ; 11, 1890; Idem, Die Agada der Palds- tinischen Amorder, I (1892); II (1896); III (1899); Idem, Die Agada der Babylonischen Amorder (1878); H.\rsR.\Ta, Die Zeit Christi (Heidelberg. 1868-72) ; Schurer. Gesch. des Judischen Volkes im ZeitaUer Jesii Christi, II (Leipzig), 4; Weber, System, der AUsynagogalen Paldstinischen Theologie (Leipzig. 1880); Hill. De Hebrxorum Rabbinis seu Magistris (Jena. 1746); Wahner, Antiquitates Ebraorum (Gottingen, 1743).

Charles L. Souvay.

Rabbulas, Bishop op Edessa, in the later years of his life one of the foremost opponents of Nestorian- ism, w;is the son of a heathen priest and a Christian mother. He was converted by Eusebius, Bishop of Chalcis (his native town), and Acacius, Bishop of Aleppo. After his conversion he became a monk. For a time he was a devoted admirer of Theodore of Mopsuestia, but there was some quarrel, the details of which are not known, and Theodore publicly re- buked him at a synod. In 412 he was appointed Bishop of Edessa and died in 43.5. According to the anonymous panegjTist who wrote his Life, he from the first took a decided stand against Nestorius and denounced the heresiarch to his face. At the Council of Ephesus, however, he was on the side of John of Antioch, and his name is found among the subscrip- tions to two letters (Labbe, I, p. 1532 and p. 1.557) in which St. Cyril's doctrine is denounced as heretical. But a few months later he realized that St. Cyril was in the right, and became his most uncompromising ally against Nestorianism. His task was not an easy one, for his diocese, owing chiefly to the prestige of Theodore of Mopsuestia, was a stronghold of Nestor- ianism. The zeal with which Rabbulas endeavoured to suppress Theodore's writings was unfairly attrib- uted by Ibas, in his letters to Maris, to personal rancour against the memory of the deceased (Ibas' letter was read at the Council of Chalcedon and may be found in Labbe, Hardouin, Mansi, or Hefele). Most of the surviving works of Rabbulas were pub- lished by Overbeck, "S. Ephrajmi Syri, Rabula; Episc. Edesseni, Balteei aliorumque opera selecta" (Oxford, 1865). Rabbulas' Syriac translation of St. CjtU's "De Fide Recta" was first published by Philip Pusey (Oxford, 1877). Most of the writings of Rabbulas were translated into German by Bickell in Thalhofer's ''Bibliothek der Kirchenvater". According to Burk- itt, "St. Ephraim's quotations from the Gospel" (Cambridge Texts and Studies, VII, 2) and "Evan- gelion Da Mephareshe" (Cambridge, 1901), Rabbulas was the author of the Peshitto. The chief authority for his Life Ls an anonymous panegjTic composed soon after his death by a cleric of Edessa. This was published by Overbeck and translated by Bickell.

Dm-AL. La lilt, syrinque (Pari.'i. 1899), 161-2; Barden- hewer, tr. Shahan, Patrology (St. Louis, 1908), 395-6; Venables in Diet. Christ. Biog., s, v.

F. J. Bacchus.

Rabelais, Francois. — The life of this celebrated Frciic-li writer is full of obscurities. He was born at Chinon in Touraine in 14.S3, 1490, or 1495. Ac-

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cording to some, his father was an apothecary, ac- cording to others a publican or inn-keeper. He began his studies with the Benedictines and finished them with the Franciscans near Angers. He be- came a Franciscan in the convent of Gontenay-le- Comte, where he remained fifteen years and received Holy orders. But the spirit of his order not being favourable to the studies then esteemed by the Re- naissance and for which he himself displayed great aptitude, he left the convent. Through the mediation of Bishop Geoff'roy d'Estissac he secured pardon from Clement VII, who authorized him to enter the Bene- dictine abbej' of Maillezais. In 1630 he was at Montpellier as a me year professor of anatomy at Lyons and head phj-- sician at the hos- pital of Pont-du- Rhone. At Lyons he was much in the society of Do- let and Marot, and became the father of a child who died young. In 1534 Cardinal du Bellay brought him to Rome as a physician, and in 1536 he obtained from Paul III an indult which ab- solved him from his infractions of conventual disci- pUne and allowed him to practise medicine. The next year he re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Montpellier. In 1540 the pope permitted him to abandon the conventual life and to join the canons of St-Maur-les-Fosses. He took ad- vantage of this to resume his wandering life. In 1541 he was at Turin as physician to the governor, Guillaume du Bellay. Perhaps through fear of prosecution which his works might draw upon him he went in 1546 to practise medicine at Metz, where he was in the pay of the city, but Cardinal du Bellay, being again sent to Rome, induced him to go thither. Du Bellay returned to France at the beginning of 1450 and secured for him the benefices of St-Martin de-Meudon and St-Christophe-du-Jambet, both of which he resigned two years later, after having, it is said, fulfilled his duties with regularity and seri- ousness. He died most probably at Paris either, as is generally thought, in 1553, or in 1559. State- ments regarding his last moments are contradictory. According to some he died as a free-thinker and jester, sajnug, "Draw the curtain, the farce is played out", accortUng to others his end was Christian and edifying.

Rabelais wrote various works, including almanacs, but he was chiefly known for the celebrated romance entitled, "La Vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel". This work comprises four books which appeared from 1532 (or 1533) to 1552; a fifth, the most daring in its ideas, appeared after the death of its author (1562- 64) ; it is not certain that it is his. This history of giants is a chaos wherein are found learning, elo- quence, coarse humour, and extravagances. It is im- possible to analyse it.

Rabelais was a revolutionary who attacked all the past. Scholasticism, the monks; his religion is .scarcely more than that of a spiritual-minded pagan. Less bold in political matters, he cared little for liberty: his ideal was a tyrant who lo\es peace. His strange

Portrait of Francois Rabelais

Frontispiece to an early edition

of his works