Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/139

 RODRIGUES

109

ROE

Jesuits, Trappists, Peres Blancs, Premonstratensians, Fathers of Picpus, Sulpicians, Clerics of St. Victor, and many congregations of teaching brothers. This diocese furnishes more missionaries than any other in France. Of the numerous congregations for women which had their origin there, the principal are: affiliations of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sales, known as the Union, teaching orders founded in 1672, 1698, 1739, 1790, with mother-houses at St-Geniez, d'Olt, Bozouls, Lavernhe, Auzits; the Sisters of St. Joseph, founded in 1682 for teaching and district nursing, with mother-house at Marcillac, and other sisters of the same name, united in 1822, 1824, 1856, with mother-houses at Milhau, Villecomtal, Salles- la-Source; the Sisters of the Holy Family, a teaching and nursing order, founded in 1816 by Emilie de Rodat, with mother-house at Villefranche and many convents throughout the diocese; the Minim Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary founded in 1844 by Mile. Chauchard, with mother-house at Cruejouls, for the care of the sick and children of the working classes; two branches of Dominican Sisters, teaching orders, founded in 1843 and 1849 with mother-houses at Gramond and Bor-et-Bar; the Sisters of the Union of Ste-Foy, teaching and nursing nuns, founded in 1682 with mother-house at Rodez. At the close of the nineteenth century the religious congregations of the diocese had charge of 75 nurseries; 1 institute for the deaf and dumb; 3 orphanages for boys; 13 orphanages for girls; 2 houses of rescue; 2 houses of mercy; 1 economic bakery; 83 houses of religious women devoted to the care of the sick in their own homes; 3 hospitals. At tlie end of 1909 the diocese had a population of 377,299. .")1 jxirishes, 617 auxiliary parishes, 287 curacies, and 1200 priests.

Gallia Christiana, Nova (1715), I, 195-234; InstTumenla. 49-55. 203; Duchesne, Pastes Episcopaux, II, 39-41; Sicard, Ruthena Christiana, ed. Maison.^be in Mimoirea de la sociHe des lettres, sciences et arts de VAveyron, XIV (Rodez, 1893), 331-447; Bour- RET, Documents sur les origines chrHiennes de Rouergue. Saint Martial (Rodez, 1902); SERVifeRES, Les Saints du Rouergue (Rodez, 1872); Idem, Histoire de I'Eglise du Rouergue (Rodez, 1875); BouiLLET and SERVifcRES, Sainte Foy viirge et martyre (Rodez, 1900) ; Grimaldi, Les Benifices du Diochse de Rodez avant la Rivolution de 178!> (Rodez, 1906); DB Marlavaone, Histoire de la cathedrale de Rodez (Rodez, 1876); Bousquet, Tableau chronologique et biograph. des cardinaux, archeviques et iviques ori- ginaires du Rouergue (Rodez, 1850); Calmet, L'ahbaye de Vabres et son irection en ^vtchk in Ann. de St. Louis des FrauQais (1898).

Georges Goyau.

Rodrigues Ferreira, Alexandre, a Brazilian natural scientist and explorer, b. at Bahia in 1756; d. at Lisbon in 1815. He was sent to Portugal for his training and there studied at the University of Coimbra. After taking his degrees, he taught nat- ural history subjects for a time at liis Alma Mater, until in 1778 he was called to Lisbon to work in the Museo da Ajuda. He devoted his time for the next five years to cataloguing the various specimens con- tained in the museum, and to the writing of learned monographs and reports. As a result of his efforts he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences at Lisbon. The Portuguese Government empowered him to engineer a journey of exploration for scientific purposes in the interior of his native land. He entered upon this expedition in 1783 and spent nine years in it. First examining the Island of Alarajo, since important for the produc- tion of rubber, he crossed to the mainland, and followed the course of the Amazon and its tributaries, studying the natives, their languages and customs, and the fauna and flora of a vast region. On account of the energy and skill with which he conducted his investigations he became known as the Brazilian Humboldt. From 1793 until his death he was in Lisbon, acting as Director of the Gabinete de His- toria Natural and of the Jardim Botanico. Most of the records of his Brazilian explorations seem to have passed from view. J. D. M. Ford.

Rodriguez, Alonso, b. at Valladolid, Spain, 1526; d. at Seville 21 February, 1616. When twenty years of age he entered the Society of Jesus, and after com- pleting his studies taught moral theology for twelve years at the College of Monterey, and subsequently filled the posts of master of novices for twelve more years, of rector for seventeen years, and of spiritual father at Cordova for eleven years. As master of novices he had under his charge Francis Suarcz, the celebrated theologian. Alonso's characteristics in these offices were care, diligence, and charity. He was a religious of great piety and candour, hating all pride and ostentation. It was said of him by those who were personally acquainted with him, that his character and virtues were accurately depicted in "The Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection",. published at Seville, 1609. This work is based on the material which he collected for his spiritual exliorta- tions to his brethren, and published at the request of his superiors. Although the book thus written was primarily intended for the use of his religious brethren, yet he destined it also for the profit and edification of other religious and of laymen in the world. Of set purpose it avoids the loftier flights of mysticism and all abstruse speculation. It is a book of practical instructions on all the virtues which go to make up the perfect Christian life, whether lived in the cloister or in the world. It became popular at once, and it is as much used to-day by all classes of Christians as it was when it first became known. More than twenty-five editions of the original Spanish have been issued, be- sides extracts and abridgments. More than sixty edi- tions have appeared in French in seven different translations, twenty in Italian, at least ten in German, and eight in Latin. An English translation from the French by Fr. Antony Hoskins, S.J., was printed at St. Omer in 1612. The best known English transla- tion, often reprinted, is that which first appeared in London, 1697, from the French of Abb6 Regnier dea Marais. P. O. Shea issued in New York an edition adapted to general use in 1878. The book has been translated into nearly all the European languages and into many of tho.se of the East. No other work of the author was published. Gilmary Shea left a translation of the work which has never been published,

Cordara, Historiij; Socielatis Jcku: Pars Sexta, I (Rome, 17.50); De Guilhermy, Menologe de la C. de J., Assistance d'Espagne, I (Paris, 1902), 321; a short life is prefixed to the English trans- lation of The Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection (Dub- lin, 1861); Sommervooel, Bibl. de la C. de J., VI (Paris, 1895).

T. Slater.

Rodriguez, Joao (Giram, Girao, Giron, Roiz), missionary and author, b. at Alcochete in the Dio- cese of Lisbon in 1558; d. in Japan in 1633. He entered the Society of Jesus on 16 December, 1576, and in 1583 began his missionary labours in Japan. His work was facilitated by his winning the esteem of the Emperor Taicosama. He studied the Japanese language ardently, and is particularly known for his efforts to make it accessible to the Western nations. His Japanese grammar ranks among the important linguistic productions of the Jesuit missionaries. Published at Nagasaki in 1604 under the title "Arte da lingoa de Japam", it appeared in 1624 in an abridged form at Macao: "Arte breve da lingoa japoa"; from the manuscript of this abridgement preserved in the National Library in Paris, the Asiatic Society prepared a French edition of the work : "Elements de la grammaire japonaise par le P. Rodriguez" (Paris, 1825). Rodriguez compiled also a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary (Nagasaki, 1603), later adapted to the French by Pages (Paris, 1862).

R^musat, in Nouv. melanges asiat., I (Paris, 1829), 354-57; Gansen, in Buchberger's Handlexikon, a. v.

N. A. Weber.

Roe, Bartholomew (Venerable Alban), English Benedictine martyr, b. in Suffolk, 1583; executed at