Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/381

 SULPITIUS

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SUMM£

dence, and wa-s renowned ;ia an eloquent lawyer. His marriage with the daughter of a wealthy consular family seemed to seal his earthly happiness. His wife, however, Wiis snatclied awaj' by a premature death and shortly after 391) Se\erus renounced his brilliant career and followed his frientl I'aulinus into monastic retirement, 'riirough this sudilen change of life he incurred his father's displeasure, hut was encouraged in his determination by his mother-in-law. He be- came a personal friend and enthusia.'itic disciple of St. Martin and lived near i::iu/c. at Toiilciusc luid Luz in Soul hern I'raTice. I lis iinlni;i( h.n lo llu' prii'sl- hood is vouched for by (leiiua-lms, Idit no (Iclails nt his priestly actix'ity have reached us. According to the same (iennadius he was caught in the toils of Pelagianisni towards the close of his life and, upon discovering his error, subjected himself to lifelong silence in expiation of his imprudence in speech.

The following works are undoubtedly genume: (1) "The Chronicle"; (2) "Life of St. Martin"; OS) two dialogues, formerly divided into three; (4) three letters. "The Chronicle" (" Chronicorum Libri duo" or "Historia sacra") extends from the creation of the world to a. d. 400, but omits the historical events recorded m the New-Testament writings. It was published in or after 403 and has been pre- served in a single eleventh-century manuscript. It is a source of primarj- importance for the history of Priscillianism and contains' considerable informa- tion respect ing the Arian controversy. More iiojiular during the Middle Ages was his "Life of St. Martin", as were also the dialogues and letters which relate to the same subject. The biography was written during the lifetime of the saint, but was published only after his death. Like the dialogues, it abounds in miracu- lous events. Beside the above-mentioned three letters, seven others have been attributed to Severiis. These are rejected as spurious by some critics, wliilst the genuineness of the first two is adniilicd. rlL'lilly it would seem, by others. The "VVorlil ( 'lnoniclc" of the so-called Sulpicius Scvcrus has ncitlung to do with the subject of this biography; it was written in Spain in the sixth century. Sulpicius Severus has been rightly styled the Christian Sallust; his diction, notably in the "Chronicle", is elegant and reminds the reader of the classical age.

His worksi arc to be found in P. L., XX. or. 2tS: lairr edition by Halm in C'orpu.t script, eccl, lat., I (\'i imi, lsi",i,i, Iii:HN.\v8, Uber die Chronik des Sulpicius Secerus d'.. -hn, 1 sM, IUrden- HEWER, tr. SlUH.lN, PafrofoBM (St. Louis. I'ms!, l,.l ,, l; Hknnett in Did. Christ. Biog., 3. v. Seterus (IS). N. A. WebEU.

Sulpitius. — Two bishops of Bourges bore this name. ( 1 ) The first, St. Sulpitius the Severe, wrongly identified with Suli)icius .">everus, the historian of St. Martin, wa,s raised lo llie .see in .584. He was, says St. Gregory of Tours, a man of high birth, one of the first senators of Gaul, of great oratorical talent, and expert in the art of poetical rhythms. The See of Bourges having become vacant with the death of Remigius, several candidates offered gifts to King Gontran to secure the assistance of his favour. But the latter rejected all these simoniacal gifts to f.avour the election of Sulpitius. He was elected, given Holy orders, and consecrated bishop. Sliorlly afterwards he held a council in Auvergne, to adjust the di.spute which had arisen between two of his suffragans. In- nocent ius, Bisho]) of Rodez, and llnsicinus, Bisliop of Caliors, with regard to parishes for which they con- tended. The council decided that the Bishop of Cahors should retain the contested p.arishes, which the Bishop of Hodez had not proved that he or his pred- eces.sors h:i,d long posscss<>d. Sulpitius jussisted at a Council of M:"u-on in ."iS,'); hi- died in .")',)!, his fc;isl being inserted in the Roman .Martyrology on 29 January.

(2) Sulpitnis the Pious (or the Debonnaire), b. at Vatan (Diocese of Bourges), of noble parents, before the end of the sixth century, devoted himself

from his youth to good works and the study of Holy Scripture. Austregisilus, Bishop of Bourges, or- dained him cleric of his church, then deacon, and finally made him director of his episcopal school. Clotaire II, King of the Franks, who had heard his merits spoken of, summoned him and made liini chaplain of his armies. But at the death of Bishop Austregisilus (c. (524) he was recalled to Bourges to take his ])la<-e. Sulpitius thenceforth laboured with much zeal and .success to re-establish ecclesiastical disiipliiic, for the relief of the poor and the conver- sion of Ihe .Jews. In 626 he assisted at the Council of C lnli,\- and held several others with the bishops of his province, but nothing of them remains. He intervened with King Dagobert in behalf of his flock, of whom a too heavy tax was exacted. At the re- quest of the same king he consecrated to the See of Cahors his treasurer St. Didier, who was his personal friend, and there are extant three letters which he ad- dressed to him. Towartls the end of his life Sulpitius took a coadjutor, Vulfolnde, and retired to a monas- tery which he had founded near Bourges. There he died 17 Jan., 646, which day several MSS. of the Hieronymian Martyrology indicate as his feast. In his honour the church bearing his name was built in Paris, from which the Society of St. Sulpicc de- rives its own.

(1) Gregorii Tur07ifiisis Opera; Uist. Franc, ed. Arndt and Krhsch, VI, 39; Acta SS., Jan., Ill, 582; Gallia Christiana (Paris, 1873), II, xiv-xvi.

(2) Krusch, Man. Germ. Hist.: Script, rerum merov. (Han- over, 1902), IV; Acta SS., II. 529; Catalogus codirum hagio- graphicorum bibliotheca: Bruxellcjisis (Brussels, 1SS9), II, 7(i; Mabillox, Acta SS. O.S.B. (Paris, 1669), II, 168; Gallia Chris- tiana (Paris, 1S73), II, xvi. AnTOINE DegERT.

Sumatra, Prefecture Apostolic op, erected by a Decree of .30 June, 1911, and entrusted to the Dutch Capuchins. Previously it formed part of the Vicari- ate Apostolic of Batavia (q. v.), which is under the care of th(> Jesuits of llollMnd. The new prefecture conipri.ses Sumatra and the surrounding islands, in- cluding Bangka (area, 488.S .sq. miles; population, 78,000). The Island of Sumatra, refcrretl to as Jabadin by Ptolemy, and visited by Marco Polo in 1292, was discovered by the Portuguese na\igator Siqueira in 1.508, and occupied b}' the Dutch in l.')99. It extends from 95° 16' to 106° 3' E. long., and from 5° 40' N. to 5° 59' S. lat., and has an area of about 181,000 square miles. The natives, of Malax :Ln r.ice, number about 5, .500,000, exclusive of the liltlc known inland tribes. They are indolent and cruel; their religion is a mixture of fetLshism and Mahomnieihin- ism. At the beginning of 1911 the Jesuits had four chief mission centres in Sumatra, — at Medan, Pa- dang, Koata Radja, and Tandjeong-Sakti, — and six- teen minor stations. The .Sisters of Charity of Til- burg (Holland) were established at Padang. There were two mission schools, and 4600 Catholics of whom 3200 were Europeans.

Missiones Catholica: (Uomc, 1907), 263-6; Pius Almamik (Amsterdam, 1912) ; Zondervan, Banka en zijne bcwonera (Amsterdam, 1895); Yzerman, Dwars door Sumatra (Haarlem,

1896). A. A. MacErlean.

Sumnise (Summuls), compendiums of theology, l)hilosophy, and canon law which were used both aa textbooks in the schools and as books of reference during the Middle .-^ges. Some historians of theology cite Origen's irepi apxuv as the first summary of Catholic theology. Others consider that the first in point of time is "De Trinitate" by St. Hilary of Poitiers. Quite recently the distinction has been ac- cordcfl to Radulfus .\rdens, an eleventh-century theo- logian an<l preacher, a nalive of Beaulieu, .author of a comprehensive^ "Speculum Universiile", still in MS. In this wide- sense of the word, however, the encyclopedic treatises of St. Isidore, Rabamis, Maurus etc., entitled "De Etymologiis" or "De Universo " might also be considered to be summaries