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 CEVA

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CHOREPISCOPI

(h) The other diets of the German federal states have no Centre deputies, inasmuch as the states are almost entirely Protestant. In the Kingdom of Sax- ony, however, there is a well-organized Centre Party which devotes attention to the elections to the Reich- stag and the national Diet. Owing to the relatively small number of its adherents in this almost purely Protestant state (95% Protestant), the party cannot secure the election of any candidate of its own; still the votes of its members in individual con- stituencies are decisive in the case of second ballots.

In very recent times (since about 1910) alliances between the councillors of various municipalities and towns, who have been elected on the Centre pro- gramme (or who favour that programme), have developed or been formed immediately into "Com- munal Centre Parties". .A.lmost everywhere in the cities and larger communities of the German federal states and provinces a great prejudice against the Catholic section of the community may be noticed. Apart from the inaction of the Cathohcs, the cause of this injustice may be traced to the plutocratic fran- chise, which almost everywhere places great power in the hands of the few wealthy people, who for the most part hold Liberal views. As the communal franchise gradually becomes more democratic, how- ever, the representation of the Catholics who take their stand on the Centre programme also increases. This increase is indeed accompanied by a growth in the number of Social Democrats, with whom the Lib- erals in very frequent instances ally themselves in opposition to Catholics and the Centre. For the introduction of the principles of the Centre Party into communal administration, the formation of the com- munal representatives who favour the Centre into Communal Centre parties has been effected. Regular unions of the Centre members of the communal bodies in larger areas (counties, provinces, states) have also been formed in many places, e. g. in Bavaria, the Rhine Provinces, Westphalia, and Upper Silesia; these unions bear the name of "Communal Confer- ences of the Centre". In Prussia attempts have also been made to elect adherents of the Centre to county and provincial diets to counteract the decisive in- fluence of the higher state officials, whose views are mostly National Liberal or Free Conservative.

Von KETTELEn, Die Zenlrumsfraktion (Mainz, 1872); Das Zenlrum im Landtag w. Reichstag, von einem rheinischen Juristen (Cologne, 1874} ; Anon., Die Zentrumsfraktion an der Jahrhun- dertwende (Cologne. 1900); SPAHN. Das deutsche Zentrum (Mainz. 1907); Erzberger, Das deutsche Zentrum (Amsterdam. 1910), Eng. tr. (ibid., 1912); Von KrOckemeteh, Zentrum und Katholizismus (.-im.stordam. 1913); Bergbtrasber. S(udi>n zur Vorgesch. der Zentrumspartei (Tubingen, 1910) ; Schnabel. Der Zusammenschluss des poUt. Katholizismus in Deutschland im Jahre 1848 (Heidelberg. 1910); Donner, Die kathol. Fraktion in Preussen 1SSS-S8 (Leipzig, 1909) ; HoEBER, Das Streit urn den Zeiitrumscharakter (Cologne, 1912).

Die Zenstrumspolitik im Reichstag is treated bv Erzbekqer (6 vols., Berlin, 1911); Die Tdtigkeit der Zetitrums/raklian des preuss. Abyeordnetenhauses has been treated since 1904: the sessions 1904-09 (5 vols.) are edited by von Savignt. and the Reports of the later sessions by the Secretariate of the National Committee of the Prussian Centre Party (Berlin); Die Zentrumspolitik auf dem badischen Landtage has been treated since 1905-06 by Schofer (3 vols., Baden-Baden); Eckhard, Die Tdtigkeit der Zentrums- fraktion in Wurttemberg (4 vols.. Stuttgart): .Schroder in .-Im. Calh. Quart. Bee. (1890), 390; (1891), 515.

Hermann Sacheb.

Ceva, Thomas, mathematician, b. at Milan, 21 Dec, 1648; d. there, 23 Feb., 1737. In 1063 he entered the Society of Jesus. He was a prolific WTiter on a variety of subjects, especially mathematics and poetry. He is known to-day only for the theorem in geometry which bears his name. Ceva's Theorem is: three concurrent lines drawn through the vertices of a triangle divide the opposite sides so that the product of the three distance-ratios is equal to unity. Ceva published this important proposition in 167S. It is the dual of the theorem of Monelaus.

Bibliothique de la Compagnie de Jesus, II, 101,^1023.

J. McGlVNET.

Charette de la Contrie, Baron Athanase- Charle,s-Marje, b. at Nantes, 3 Sept., 1832; d. at Basse-Motte (Ille-et-Vilaine), 9 Oct., 1911. His father was a nephew of the famous General Charette who was shot at Nantes, 29 March, 1795, during the rising of the Ven- dee. His mother, Louise, Countess de Vierzon, was the daughter of the Due de Berry and Amy Brown. As the Duchesse de Berry was at that time in hid- ing at Nantes, and Charette's father was being sought by the police, the child's birth was con- cealed ; he was secretly taken from Nantes on 17 Sept. and was registered in the commune of Sainte - Reine as born on 18 Sept. UnwilUng, by reason of his legiti- mist antecedents, to serve in France under Louis PhiUppe, young Charette, in 1846, entered the Mili- tary Academy of Turin; he left in 1848 to avoid serving Piedmont, the revolutionary policy of that kingdom being evident to him. In 1852 the Duke of Modena, the Comte de Chambord's brother-in-law, appointed Charette sub-Ueutenant in an Austrian regi- ment stationed in the duchy. He resigned in 1859 when the French were on the eve of a campaign against Aus- tria. In May, 1860, when two of his brothers, like him eager to fight the Itahan revolutionaries, offered their services to the King of Naples, he went to Rome and placed himself at the service of Pius IX, who had com- missioned Lamoriciere to organize an army for the de- fence of the Papal States. Charette was appointed captain of the first company of the Franco-Belgian Volunteers, known after 1861 as the Pontifical Zou- aves, and was wounded at the battle of Castelfidardo (Sept., I860). After the taking of Rome by the Piedmontese, Charette negotiated with Gambetta for the employment of the French Zouaves in the service of France against Germanj-; he was i^ermitted to or- ganize them as "Volunteers of the West". Wounded at Loigny, Charette was made prisoner; but he es- caped, and on 14 Jan., 1871, the Provisional Govern- ment of France made him a general. He was elected to the National Assembly by the Department of Bouches-du-Rhone, but resigned without taking his seat. Thiers proposed his entering the French army with his Zouaves, but Charette declared his intention of remaining at the pope's disposal. On 15 Aug., 1871, his Zouaves were mustered ovit of the French army. Retiring into private life, Charette passed his last thirty years serving the cause of reUgion and hoping for the restoration of the monarchy. He was, in the nineteenth century, a sujierb tx-jie of the valiant knight, devoted heart and soul to thi' defence of the pope's temporal sovereignty, antl consecrated himself to that cause in the same spirit which actuated the Crus;i(les of the Middle Ages.

Melrvili,?;, Correspandant (10 Dec, 1911).

Georges Gotau. Chorepiscopi (x'>'pfir(into7roi = rural bisliops\ a name originally given in the Eastern Church to bishops whose jurisdiction was confined to rural districts. The earliest ehorepiscopus of whom we have any knowledge was Zoticus, whom Eusebius designates :is bishop of the village Cumana in Phrygia