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ecclesiastical property were severely threatened; unclaimed legacies were allotted to pious uses; the bishops were urged to mutual support; the individual churches were taxed for the support of the papal legate; and ecclesiastics were forbidden to convoke the civil courts against their bishops. The Council of 1279 was concerned with the protection of the rights, privileges, and immunities of the dergj'. Provision was made also for the protection of those who had promised to join the Crusade ordered by Gregory X, but had failed to go. It was also decreed that to hear confessions, besides the permission of his ordinary or bisliop, a monk must also have that of his superior. In the Council of 1282 ten canons were published, among them one urging the people to frequent more regularly the parocliial churches, and to be present in their own parish cliurches at least on Sundays and feast days. The temporalities of the Church and ecclesiastical jurisdiction occupied the attention of the Coimcil of 1327. The seventy- nine canons of the Council of 1337 are renewed from earlier councils, and emphasize the duty of Easter Communion in one's own parish church, and of abstinence on Saturday for beneficed persons and ecclesiastics, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, a practice begun three centuries earlier on the occasion of the Truce of God, but no longer universal. The Council of 1457 was held by Cardinal de Foix, Arch- bishop of Aries and legate of Avignon, a Franciscan. His principal purpose was to promote the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, in the sense of the decla- ration of the Council of Basle. It was forbidden to preach the contrary doctrine. Sixty-four disciplinary decrees were also published, in keeping with the legis- lation of other councils. A similar number of decrees were published in 1497 by a council presided over by Archbishop Francesco Tarpugi (afterwards Cardinal). The sponsors of the newly confirmed, it was decreed, were not obhged to make presents to them or to their parents. Before the relics of the saints two candles were to be kept lighted at all times. Disciplinary measures occupied the attention of the Council of 1509. The Council of 1596 was called for the purpo.se of furthering the observance of the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-63), and for a similar purpose the Council of 1609. The Councils of 1664 and 1725 formulated disciplinary decrees; the latter proclaimed the duty of adhering to the Bull of Clement XI against the " Reflexions morales " of Quesnel. The Council of 1849 published, in ten chapters, a number of decrees concerning faith and disciphne.

M.\.NSI, Coll. Cone. XIX, 929; XX, 533, and passim: Coll. Lacensis Cone, I, 467; IV, 315; Granjet, HUt. du diocese d' Avignon (Avignon, 1S62).

Thojias J. Shahan.

University of Avignon (1303-1792). devel- oped from the already existing schools of the city, was formally constituted in 1303, by a Bull of Boniface VHI. With Boniface, King Charles II of Naples should be considered as one of its first great protectors and benefactors. The faculty of law, both civil and ecclesiastical, existed for some time almost exclusively, and always remained the most important department of the university. Pope John XXIII erected (1413) a faculty of theologj', the students of which were for a long time only few in number. The faculty of arts never acquired great importance; that of medicine developed es- pecially only in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies. The Bishop, since 1475 Archbishop, of Avignon was chancellor of the university. The vice-legate, generally a bishop, represented the civil pow-er (in this case the pojje) and was chiefly a judicial officer, ranking higher than the Primicerius (Rector). The latter was elected by the Doctors of Law, to whom, in 1503, were added four theologians and, in 1784, two Doctors of Mechcine. The pope.

spiritual head and, after 1348, temporal ruler of Avignon, exercised in this double capacity great influence over the affairs of the university. John XXIII granted it (1413) extensive privileges, such a-s special university jurisdiction and exemption | from taxes. Political, geographical, and educational circumstances forced the university, during the later period of its existence, to look to Paris rather than to Rome for favour and protection. It disappeared gradually during the French Revolution, and ceased to exist in 1792.

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Universities of Europe in thf Middle Ages (Oxford. 1895), n, 170-179; Fournier. Les slatuls et priiilcgis des Univ. fnmcaises (Paris. 1890-94), 11. 301-535; Marchand, L'universite d'Avignon aux 17e et 18^ siecles (Paris. 1900); Laval, Cartulaire de Vuniv. d'Avignon (Avig- non. 1884).

N. A. Weber. Ayila (Abula), Diocese of, a suffragan of Val- ladolid in Spain. Its episcopal succession dates at least from the fourth centurj- and claims an Apostolic origin. Suppressed in the course of the ninth, it was re-estaljished early in the twelfth, centurv, after

the expulsion of the Moors, and was a suffragan of M^rida until 1120; then of Compostella until 1857. The Catholic population is 189,926. There are 360 priests, 339 parishes, and about 500 churches and chapils. Avila is historically one of the most important cities in the medieval and modern history of Spain. In the fourth century the arch-heretic Pris- cillian was Bishop of Avila. and in later times many saints had Avila as their home, among them St. Teresa and John of Avila, the "Apostle of Andalusia". It was once one of the most flourishing cities of Spain, but its population has dwindled to 7,000. Its Moor- ish castle and ancient eleventh-century cathedral are monumental relics of the past.

Battandier, .4nn. Pojil. Calh. (Paris, 1905): 216; Pic.\- TOSTE. Tradicionts de Avila (Madrid, _1S80); Gams, Kirchen- grsrhichte Spaniens, I, 150 sqq.; Florez. Espar'ia Sagrada, XIV, 1-36; MuNoz, Bibl. Hi»t. Esparia (1858) 42-4.

Thomas J. Sil^han.