Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/754

 S^GUR

686

SEGUR

blessed the first stone and, with Gil de Hontaff6n as master, began the works of the western side at the spot called Puerta del Perd6n (the Gate of Pardon). Hontan6n was succeeded, after six years, b}' his overseer, Garcia CubiUas. On 14 August, 1558, the new church was consecrated, and the mortal remains of Pedro, son of Enrique II, as well as of many pre- lates, were transferred to it. Not until the entry of Anne of Austria, bride-elect of Philip II, in 1570, were the ruins of the old cathedral razed, so as to clear the way to the castle. In August, 1563, Rod- rigo Gil laid the foundations of the main choir. In 1615 the tower, burned do'mi the year before, was constructed under the dhection of Juan de Magaguren. The barroque stone portal of the north transept was designed in 1620 by Pedro de Brizuela. Francisco de Campo Agiiero and Francisco Viadero executed the sacristy, the sanctuary, the archivium, and the chapter house. The brilliant windows which give its character to this cathedral are the work of Fran- cisco Herrainz. The style of the structure is pure Gothic, with tliree naves and lateral chapels. It was consecrated in 1768, and its floor was flagged between 1789 and 1792. The retable, executed by Sabbatini in 1768, at the expense of Carlos III, is out of harmony with the style of the magnificent church. Among the chapels, the last one on the Gospel side, with the "Xuestra Seiiora de Piedad" of Juan Juni of Valladolid, merits special notice. In the chapel through which access is gained to the cloister is the "Cristo del Con.suelo", as well as the tombs of Bishops Raimundo de Losana and Diego de Covarrubias.

Segovia has some very old parish churches, which, \vith their square Romanesque towers, were certainly built before the end of the thirteenth century. A celebrated one is that of San Miguel; its Gothic struc- ture collapsed in 1532, and the rebuilding of it in its present form was completed in 1558. It contains the tomb of the famous Andres Laguna, physician to Julius III and to Charles V. San Est6ban, oppo- site the bishop's palace, has the most beautiful Byzantine tower in Spain. In San Juan de los Cabal- leros (St. John of the Knights) repose the remains of Diego de Colmenares, the historian of Segovia, who was pari.sh priest of that church. The parish churches of San Gil and San Bias dispute between them the honour of having been the original cathedral. The former was rebuilt in the thirteenth century by Bishop Raimundo de Losana. They are both in ruins. King Juan I instituted in the cathedral of Segovia an order of knighthood, that of the Holy Spirit (1390).

The city po.s.ses.ses a famous Roman aqueduct, probably built by Trajan; in the Plaza del Azoguejo its arches are 92 feet in height; it is 3000 (Spanish) feet in length, and has one hundred and seventy arches, thirty-six of which were reconstructed by Juan de Escobedo, a Hieronymite friar (1484- 1489). The castle (alcdzar) of Segovia, which Alfonso VI caused to be built in 1075, is a remarkable struc- ture. It has a lofty rectangular tower, known as that of Don Juan II, and several other round ones surmounted with high conical roofs. In it Carlos III establi.shed the Artillery Academy which remained there until 1862, when a conflagration occurred which compelled its removal to the old Franciscan convent. The seminary, founded by Bishop Antonio Marcos de Llanes (1791), is under the invocation of Sts. Frutos and Ildefonso. In this diocese is the roj'al estate of San Ildefonso, or La Granja, the summer residence of the kings of Spain, built by Philip V on the site of an ancient hermitage dedicated to S. Ildefonso and an estate (granja) granted by the Catholic monarchs to the Hieronymites of Parral. Part of the royal estate, too, is forme<l by the colle-

f'ate church founded by Philip V and restored by emando Vll.

In addition to authors cited in the body of this article, see also: Fl6rez, EspaAa Sagrada, VIII (Madrid, 1849); Ccadkado, Segoria in EspaAa, sua monumentos (Barcelona, 18S4); Madoz, Dice, geogr., XIV (Madrid, 1849); Gebh.vrdt, Hist. gen. de Esp. (Barcelona).

Ram6n Ruiz Amado.

Segur, Louis Gaston de, prelate and French apologist, b. 15 April, 1820, in Paris; d. 9 June, 1881, in the same city. He was descended on his paternal side from the Marquis of S6gur — Marshal of France and Minister of Louis XVI, who occupied this posi- tion during the participation of France in the war of emancipation of the United States — from the Comte de Segur, companion of Lafaj^ette in America, and on his maternal side was descended from the Russian Count Rostopchine who burned Moscow in 1812 to WTest it from Napoleon. After his humanities, from a comparative indifference to religion he experienced a remarkable fervour ; entering the diplomatic service, he was made attache to the Embassy at Rome in 1842, but the following year he left this post and even gave up painting, for which he had excellent taste and much talent, to enter the Seminary of Saint- Sulpice and to prepare himself for the priesthood, to which he was ordained in 1847. Thenceforth he dedicated himself to the evangelization of the people in Paris; the children, the poor, the imprisoned sol- diers to whom he was the volunteer and gratuitous chaplain, occupied his ministry until he was appointed to be auditor of the Rota for France at Rome. He remained in this position for four years, honoured with the affectionate esteem of Pius IX and with the friendship of many personages of the pontifical and diplomatic Court. He united with his judicial functions some political negotiations which Napoleon III had confided to him, and also ministrations to the French soldiers in the garrison at Rome. Attacked with blindness, he was obliged to resign from his duties in 1856; he returned to Paris with the honours and privileges of the episcopate, the title and reality of which his infirmity prevented him from receiv- ing. His life was devoted to his official duties and to religious works. The chief among these was the patronage of young apprentices, the union of workingmen's societies, ecclesiastical vocations and seminaries, military chaplaincies, and the evangeliza- tion of the suburbs of Paris. To each of these works he gave unstintedly his time, his care, his preaching, his money, and that of others, of whom he asked it without false pride. Among his undertakings, and one which most occupied him, was the work connected with the St. Francis de Sales Association, for the de- fence and preservation of the Faith. After founding this devotion he established it in forty dioceses of France in less than a year after its foundation (1859), and was able also to gather and distribute 30,000 francs in alms. Mgr de S(5gur worked incessantly for its development. When he died it numbered 1,900,000 associates, collected annually 800,000 francs, and extended its activities and benefits to France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and even to Canada.

Besides his apostolate and ministry he was also engaged in writing. In 1851 he published in a modest form "R6ponses aux objections les plus rdpandues contre la religion " ; it met with considerable success. At the time of his death 700,000 copies had been sold in France and Belgium without counting the many editions in Italian, German, English, Spanish, and even in the Hindu language. After his affliction with blindness his works multiplied noticeably; some were destined to make known or defend Catholic ideas concerning questions which occupied public attention; others to extend or to confirm his apos- tolate of preaching in forming souls to piety or to the interior life. To the first category belong among others the " Causer ies sur le protestantisme" (1898); "le Pape" (1860); "le Denier de Saint Pierre"