Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/749

 SEEKERS

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state of life, a "Mirror for Princes", as such works came to be called at a much later period. Sedulius's work shows, among other remarkable traits, a deep moral feeling, a realization of the fact that the mis- sion of the State is neither purely economic on the one hand nor exclusively ecclesiastical, on the other. The question of the relations between Church and State had, indeed, been raised, and Sedulius, it need hardly be said, does not hesitate to affirm the rights of the Church and defend them. He is not on the side of those who, seeing in Charlemagne the ideal of a pontiff and ruler in one person, were in favour of the idea that the prince should in fact be supreme in matters religious. On the contrary, he is in favour of a division of temporal and spiritual .powers and re- quires of the prince a careful observance of the Church's rights and privileges. The description of the qualifications of the queen (pp. 34 sq. in Hell- mann's ed.) is not only Christian in feeling and tone, but also humanistic, in the best sense of the word. The commentary on the "Isagoge" is remarkable because it seems to exhibit a knowledge of the Greek text of that work, although in the ninth century and for at least three t-enturies after the ninth, the "Isagoge" was known in Western Europe in the Latin version only. Not the least interesting of the writings of Sedulius are his letters, some of which are published in the "Neues Archiv", II, 188, and IV, 315. In them are narrated the vicissitudes of the Irish exiles on the Continent, and an insight is given into the attitude observed towards those exiles by the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, as well ae by the people.

Hellman.v, Sedulius Scolus (Munich, 1906) ; Cath. Univ. Bul- letin (April, 1898, and July, 1907).

William Turner.

Seekers, an obscure Puritan sect which arose in England in the middle of the sev(^nt(>eiith century. They represented an Antinomiaii tendency among some of the Indepenflents, and jirofessed to be seek- ing for the true Church, Sc^ripture, Ministry, and Sac- raments. In his contemporary account Richard Bax- ter says of them: "They taught that our .scripture was uncertain; that present miracles are necessary to faith; that our ministry is null and without authority, and our worship and ordinances unnecessary or vain, the Church, ministry, scripture and ordinances being lost, for which they are now seeking. " He adds the ab- surd statement: "I quickly found that the Papists principally hatched and actuated this sect, and that a considerable number that were of this profession were some Papists and some infidels" (Life and Times, 76). According to Baxter, they amalgamated with the Van- ists. Weingarten considers that they held Millen- arian views. Probably the name denotes a school of thought rather than a definitely-organized body.

Baxter, Reliquia; Baxterianct (London, IfiflO); Weingarten, Die Revolulionskirchen Englands (Leipzig, 1868).

Edwin Burton.

Seelos, Francis X., b. at Fussen, Bavaria, 11 January, 1819; d. at New Orleans, La., 4 Oct., 1867. When a child, asked by his mother what he intended to be, he pointed to the picture of his patron, St. Francis Xavier, and said: "I'm going to be another St. Francis." He pursued his studies in Augsburg and Munich, and entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, offering himself for the Amer- ican mission; he arrived in America on 17 April, 1843. The following year, 16 May, 1844, he made his religious profession at the Redemptorist novitiate, Baltimore, and seven months later he was ordained by Arch- bishop Eccleston of Baltimore. He was assigned to St. James's, Baltimore. In May, 1845, he was sent to Pittsburg, where he had as superior Ven. John Neuniann. In 1851 Father Seelos was appointed superior of the Pittsburg community, where he

Francis X. Seelos, C.SS.R.

laboured untiringly for nine years. His confessional was constantly besieged by crowds of people of every description and class. It was said by many that he could read their very souls. From Pittsburg, he was transferred to St. Alphonsus's, Baltimore, where he felldangerouslyill. On his recovery he was appointed prefect (spiritual director) of the professed stu- dents, and he suc- ceeded in winning the love and es- teem of all who were privileged to be under his spirit- ual guidance. In 1860 his name was proposed for the vacant See of Pittsburg, but humbly refused the honour. The year 1S2 found him again at mis- sion work. In 1866 he was sum- moned to Detroit, and in September of the same year to New Orleans, Louisiana. The cause of his beatification is in progress.

ZiMMER, Leben des P. F. X. Seelos (New York, 1887); Beck, Die Redemptoristen in Pittsburg (Pittsburg, 1889) ; History of the Redemptorists in Annapolis (Ilchester, 1904); Benedetti, Album Servorum Dei, C. SS. R. (Rome, 1903) ; Shea, History of the Cath- olic Church in the United States, I (New York, 1908).

Cornelius J. Warren.

Seerth, a Chaldean see, appears to have succeeded the See of Arzon in the same province, several of the Nestorian bishops of which in the fifth and sixth centuries are known (Chabot, "Synodicon orientale", 666), as are also a large number of Jacobite bishops (Revue de I'Orient Chretien, VI, 192). The diocese began to have Catholic titulars in the time of Julius III. Seerth is now the chief town of a sandjak in the vilayet of Bitlis, containing 15,000 inhabitants. It has fine orchards and vineyards, is an industrial cen- tre containing much gypsum, and manufacturing arms and printed calico. The Dominicans have a mission there; the Catholic bishop, Mgr Addai Scher, is well known by his editions of Syriac texts. Amer- ican Protestants have schools supported by their missionary societies. The diocese contains 3000 faithful, 20 priests, 24 churches or chapels, 43 sta- tions, and 3 primary schools.

Revue de I'Orient Chretien, I, 447; Cuinet, La Turquie d' Asie, II, .596-605; Missiones catholicce (Rome, 1907), 813

S. Vailhe.

Seez, Diocese of (Sagium), embraces the Depart- ment of Orne. Re-established by the Concordat of 1802, which, by adding to it some parishes of the dioceses of Bayeux, Lisieux, Le Mans, and Chartres, and by cutting off some districts formerly included in it, made it exactly coextensive with the department. It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Rouen. Mgr. Duchesne is of opinion that for the period anterior to 900 no reliance can be placed on the episcopal catalogue of Seez, which we know by certain compila- tions of the sixth century. This catalogue mentions Sigisbald and Saint Latuinus (Lain or Latuin) as the first two bishops of the see. Saint Landry, martyr, would be the third. Some historians say that Sigis- bald lived about 451, and Landry about 480; others, relying on a later tradition, assign Saint Latuinus to the first century and make him a missionary sent by Saint Clement. The fiist Bishop of Seez historically