Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/833

 ZOSIMUS

765

ZUCCHETTO

ments to be orthodox, and Zosiimis again wrote to the African bishops defending Pelagius and reproving his accusers, among whom were the Ctallic bishops Hero and Lazarus. Archbishop Aurehus of Carlhtige quicldy called a synod, which sent a letter to Zosimus in which it was proved that the pope had been deceived by the heretics. It his answer Zosimus declared that he had settled nothing definitely, and wished to settle nothing without consulting the Afri- can bishops. After the new- synodal letter of the African council of 1 May, 418, to the pope, and after the steps taken by the Emperor Honorius against the Pelagians, Zosimus recognized the true char- acter of the two heretics. He now issued his "Trae- toria", in which Pelagianisni and its authors were condemned. Thus, finally, the occupant of the Apostolic See at the right moment maintained with all authority the traditional dogma of the Church, and protected the truth of the Church against error.

Shortly after this Zosimus became involved in a dispute with the African bishops in regard to the right of appeal to the Roman See clerics who had been condemned by their bishops. When the priest Apiarius of Sicca had been excommunicated by his bishop on account of his crimes he appealed directly to the pope, without regard to the regular course of appeal in Africa which was exactly prescrilied. The pojje at once accepted the appeal, and sent legates with letters to Africa to investigate the matter. A wiser course would have been to have first referred Apiarius to the ordinary course of appeal in Africa itself. Zosimus next made the further mistake of basing his action on a reputed canon of the Covmcil of Nicisea, which was in reality a canon of the Council of Sardica. In the Roman manuscripts the canons of Sardica followed those of Nicaea immediately, without an independent title, while the African manuscripts contained only the genuine canons of Nicaea, so that the canon appealed to by Zosimus was not contained in the .African copies of the Nicene canons. Thus a serious disagreement arose over this appeal, which continued after the death of Zosimus. Besides the writings of the pope already mentioned, there are extant other letters to the bishops of the Byzantine province in Africa, in regard to a deposed bishop, and to the bishops of Gaul and Spain, in respect to Pris- cillianism and ordination to the different grades of the clergy. The "Liber Pontificahs" attributes to Zosimus a Decree on the wearing of the maniple by deacons and on the dedication of Easter candles in the country parishes; also a Decree forbidding clerics to visit taverns. Zosimus was buried in the sepul- chral Church of St. Laurence in Agro Verano (cf. De Rossi, "Bulletino di arch, christ.". 1881, 91 sqq.).

Liber Punlificnli.i. cd. Duchesne, I, 225; JxFri. keiiesia Rum. Ponl.. 2nd ed., I. -lO s^q.; Ddchesne, Hisl. ancienne de Vtohse, III. 227 aqa.; Idem, Pastes ipiscopaux de Vaneienne Gaule, I (Paris, 1894), 93 sqq.; Grisar, Geschichte Roim und der Papsle im MUtetaUer, I, 28.5 sq.. 288 sq.; Lanoen', Geschichte der r&mischen Kirche, I (Bonn, 1881), 742 sqq.; Hefele, Komiliengeschichle, II, 114 sqq., 120 sqq.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Zosimus, Byzantine historian of the fifth and sixth century; dates of birth and death unknown. Nothing further is known of the circumstances of the life of this %vritcr, to whom we owe a history of the era of the Roman empire up to 410, than that he was a lawyer connected with the treasury at Constan- tinople and wa.s an upholder of Paganism. The era in which he lived is also uncertain. Formerly he wa.s assigned to the first half of the fifth cen- tury, but now it is generally assumed that he was a contemporary of the Emperor Anastasius I (401- 518). There are two chief reasons for this opinion. The later chronographer, Eustathius of Epiphania, who made use of the work of Zo.simus, carries his history up to .50.3; consequently it is inferred that Zosimus must have lived at this period. More weight

i.s attached to another argument drawn from the history of Zosimus itself; this work refers (II, xxxviii) to the suppression of the oppressive tax laid by Chrysargyron in the Byzantine Empire, and this tax was abolished in 501. Therefore the historian was .still at work on his history shortly after .501. Perhaps he is identical with the Sophist Zosimus of Gaza, or Ascalon, mentioned by Suidas in his lexicon; opposed to this view, however, is I hi' fact that Suidas mentions no historical work written by this Sojihist. Zosimus is the author of a history of the Roman emperors ("Historia romana" or "Historia novje") in six books. It begins with Augustus, and sketches briefly the period up to 270 (1, i-xx.xvi) ; from this date the work is more copious and detailed. It closes with the negotiations which preceded the con- quest of Rome in 410. It is evident that the author intended to continue the history, and was prevented from carrying out his purpose by some circumstance, perhaps his death. The work is one of the chief authorities for Roman history of the fourth century, and individual statements concerning the preceding period are also of importance. The work does not lack sensible criticism, and shows the philosophical acuteness of the author. He was a heathen and devoted to the worship of the old Roman gods. He describes, in particular, the gradual decay of the Roman Empire, and attributes this to fact that the Romans had ceased to worship the ancient gods {II, vii). He also adhered to heathen superstitions, i. e. as the influence of the stars on man's Ufe and pagan sooth-sayings. The last editions of the history were edited by Immanuel Becker, in "Corpus script orum historiae Byzantina;" (Bonn, 1837), and by I.udwig Mendelssohn (Leipzig, 1867).

Christ, Gesch. der griechischen Literatur (4th ed.) in Handbuch der klass. AUertumswiss. (Municti, 1905); Hofler, Kritische Bemerkungen Uber den Zosimus in Sitzungsberichi der Wiener Akademie, Phil.-histor. Klasse (1879), 521-65; Jeep, Die Lebenzeit des Zosimus in Rheinisches Museum fiir Philologie (1882), 425 sqq.; Mendelssohn, Ueber die Zeil wann Zosimus leble. loc. cit. (1887), 525 sqq.; ROhi,. Ioc. cit. (1891), 146 sqq.; Ranke, Wellgeschichle, IV, pt. 11 (Leipzig, 1884), 264 sqq.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Zucchetto (zucca, head), the small, round skull- cap of the ecclesiastic. The official name is pileolus; other designations are: herettino, calotte, suhbiretum (because worn under the biretta), suhmilrale (because worn under the mitre), soli-deo. The pope's zuc- chetto is white, that of the cardinals red, even when the cardinal is a member of an order. Cardinals who had been secular priests received the red zuc- chetto and also the red biretta in 1464 from Paul II; the cardinals taken from the regulars were granted both in 1.591. If the newly-.appointed cardinal is at Rome he receives the zucchetto from the Sotlo- guardnroba as he leaves the throne room where he has received the mozetta and biretta from the pope; otherwi.se the zucchetto is brought to him, along with the decree of appointment, by one of the pope's Noble Guard. The pilenlits of the bishops is violet, that of other ecclesiastics, including the prelates, unless a special privilege to wear violet is granted, black. Bishops and cardinals wear it at Ma.ss, except during the Canon; other ecclesiastics may not wear it at Mass without special papal permission. However, according to a decision of the Sacred Con- gregation of Rites (2;i September, 1S,37), a bishop also may not wear it while giving Benediction. It cannot be said positively when the zucchetto became customary, but it was probably not before the thir- teenth century. It appears on the cardinals in the fresco, "St. Francis before Honorius III", painted about 1290 in the upper church of St. Francis at Assisi. It is .seen also under the tiara in the eflig^' on the tomb of Clement VI (d. 1.3,52) at La Ch.ai.se-Dieu. The figures on several tombs of bishops of the fif- teenth century in the Roman churches show the