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building was continued until late into the thirteenth century. It is an example of the Romanesque of the second period resembling the transition period archi- tecture of France. Adjoining the church is a twelfth- century cloister, restored in the sixteenth century. The cathedral possesses a rich collection of ancient jewelled altar-vessels and ornaments. The archives contain a famous collection of very ancient docu- ments, some of which date from the time of the Frankish kings. Inside the cathedral is the parish of St. Odo, and outside are the churches of San Miguel and San Augustln. To the east of the city are sit- uated the citadel, the castle, and the tower of Solsona, which figured prominently in the late civil wars. The first seminary was erected by a Bull of Clement VIII, 13 Augu.st, 1592; the new seminary was built by Bishop Caixal and is one of the finest buildings in the city. The episcopal palace is also striking. There are two hospitals, mihtary and civil, the latter being installed in the former Convent of the Augus- tinians. There is a convent of sisters devoted to Christian education, a foundling and an orphan asy- lum. The cathedral was declared a minor basilica on 9 Dec, 1905. The diminutive republic (6000) is governed by a popularly elected council of ex-members and a syndic or president, elected by the council for life. Its inhabitants are mostly shepherds, and speak Catalan.

Statistics. — The present Bishop of Urgel is Mgr. Juan Bennloch y Vivo, b. at Valencia, Spain, 30 Dec, 1S64 lordained, 25 P"eb., 1888; Vicar-General of Segovia in 1899; named titular Bishop of Hermopolis Major, 12 Dec, 1901, and Apostolic Administrator of Sol- sona, consecrated, 2 Feb., 1902, and transferred to Urgel, 6 Dec, 1906, in succession to Mgr. Juan Jose Lagnarda y Fenollera. There are about 100,000 Cathohcs; 19 archpriests; 600 priests; 395 parishes; 400 churches; 575 chapels. The religious (male) include the Franciscans, Trappists, Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception, and Piarists (with 3 colleges). Among the nuns there are: Carmehtes, Poor Clares, Little Sisters of the Poor, Dominican Tertiaries, Carmelite Sisters of Charity, and Sisters of the Holy Family (with 14 schools)", of the Holy Guardian .\ngcl, and of St. Joseph; there are 3 hospi- tals in care of nuns.

Men-£ndez t Pelato, Helerodozos espahoUs (Madrid, 1897); Fl6rez. Enpafia sdgrada, V (Madrid, 1855); DE la Fcente. Hisl. ectes. de Espafla (Barcelona, 1859); de Bofarull y Broc\, Hist, de Cataluna (Barcelona, 1876); Vidal, L'Andorre (Paris, ISBB); PiFERREH, Cataluna (Barcelona, 1884).

Ram6n Ruiz Amado.

Urim and Thummim (:*r."'1 CIIX). — The sacred lot by means of which the ancient Hebrews were wont to seek manifestations of the Divine will. Two other channels of Divine communication were recognized, viz. dreams and iinijihetical utterance, as we learn from numerous passuiics of the Old Testament. The three forms arc mentioned together in I Kings, xxviii, t). "And he (Saul) consulted the Lord, and he answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by priests (Hebrew, Urim, LXX, S-qkon), nor by prophets." There can be no doubt that in this instance the Douay translation "priests" is wrong, ba.sed on the mistaken rendering " sacerdotex" of the Latin Vulgate. The ety- mological signification of the words, at lca,st as indi- cated l)y the .M.-issoretic jxinctuation, is suflieiently plain. I'rim is derived from TX, "light", or "to give light", and Thummim from E."i, "completeness", "per- fection", or "innocence". In view of these deriva- tions it is surmised by some scholars that the sacred lot may have had a twofold pur[)ose in trial ordeals, viz. Urim serving to bring to light the guilt of the accused person, and Thummim to cstaljlish his innocence. Be that as it may, the relatively few mentions of Urim and Thummim in the (^1<1 Testament leave the preci.se nature and use of the lot a matter of more or less

plausible conjecture, nor is much light derived from the ancient versions in which the term is subject to uncertain and divergent i-enderings. In the xx\-iii chapter of PJxodus ("P") where minute directions are given concerning the priestlv vestments, and in par- ticular concerning the "rational" (probably "pouch" or "breastplate") we read (v. 30): "And thou (Moses) shalt put in the rational of judgment doctrine and truth (Heb. the Urim. and the Thummim), which shall be on Aaron's breiist when he shall go in before the Lord; and he shall bear the judgment of the chil- dren of Israel on his breast in the sight of the Lord always." PVom this it appears that at least towards the close of the Exile, the Urim and Thummim were considered as something distinct from the ephod of the high priest and the gems with which it was adorned. It also shows that they were conceived of as material objects sufficiently small to be inserted in the "ra- tional" or "pouch", the main purpose of which seems to have been to receive them. In Leviticus, viii, 7-8 we read: "He (Moses) vested the high priest with the strait linen garment, girding him with the girdle, and putting on him the violet tunick, and over it he put the ephod, and binding it with the girdle, he fitted it to the rational, on which was doctrine and truth" (Heb. the Urim and the Thummim). Again in Numbers xxvii, 21: "If anything be to be done, Eleazar the priest shall consult the Lord for him" (Heb. "and he [Eleazarj shall invoke upon him the judgment of Urim before the Lord"). These passages add little to our knowledge of the nature and use of the oracle, except perhaps the importance attached to it as a means of Divine communication in the post-Exilic period.

Some of the earlier Old-Testament passages are more instructive. Among these mav be mentioned

I Kings, xiv, 41-2. After the battle "with the Philis- tines during which Jonathan had unwittingly violated the rash oath of his father,Saul,by tasting a little wild honey, the latter consulted the Lord but received no answer. Desiring to ascertain the cause of the Divine displeasure, Saul calls together the people in order that the culprit may be revealed and thus addresses the Lord: "O Lord God of Israel, give a sign, by which we may know, what the meaning is, that thou answerest not thy servant to-day. If this iniquity be in me, or in my son Jonathan, give a proof (Vulgate da osten- sionem=Urim) : or if this iniquity be in thy people, give holiness (V'ulgate da sanctitatem^Thummim). And Jonathan and Saul were taken, and the people es- caped. And Saul said: Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken." The above rendering of the Vulgate is confirmed by the Greek recension of Lucian (see ed. Lagarde), and by the evidently corrupt Massoretic Ihamitn at the end of verse 41. From this and various other passages which it would be too long to discuss here (v. g. Deut. x.xxiii, 8, Heb., I Kings, xiv, 36, I Kings, xxiii, 6-12 etc.) we gather that the Urim and Thummim were a species of sacred oracle manipulated by the priest in consulting the Divine will, and that they were at times used as a kind of Divine ordeal to discover the guilt or innocence of susjjected persons. The lots being two in number, only one question was put at a time, and that in a way admitting of only two alternative an- swers (see I Kings, .xiv, 41-42; ibid., xxiii, 6-12). Many scliolars maintain that in most passages where the expression "consult the Lord" or its equivalent is used, recourse to the Urim and Thummim is imjilied (v. g. Judges, i, 1-2; ibid., xx, 27-2S; 1 Kings, x. 19-22;

II Kings, ii, l.etc). The speculations of later Jewish writers including Philo and Josephus teach us nothing of value concerning the Urim and Thununim. They are often fanciful and extravagant, as is the case with many other topics (.see "Jewish Encyclopedia", s. v.). The only instance in the New Testament of anything resembling the use of the sacred lot as a means to dis-