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 AZEVEDO

167

AZOR

State of New York, 1877; "Literary and Scientific Habits of Tliought", before the International Con- gress of Education, 1884; "Aristotle and the Christian Church", before the Concord School of Pliiloso- phy, 1885; "Church and State", before the Farm- ington School of Philosophy, 1890; "Religion in Education", before the New York State Teachers' Association, 1891; "Educational Epochs", before the Catholic Summer School, 1893. At the time of his death, he was engaged in preparing a "History of Education" for the International Education Series.

His first work as an independent author appeared in 1874, with the title, "An Essay Contributing to a Philosophy of Literature" (seventh edition, 1899). It is an excellent key both to his method of study and to the plan of presentation to which he con- sistently adhered in subsequent works and addresses. Renan and Emerson had attempted to make litera- ture a substitute for religion in cultured circles; with characteristic insight and modesty, Brother Azarias proves in this essay that literature draws its life and excellence from religion. He divides the book into three parts: Facts and Principles, Theory, and Practice. In the first he discusses the nature, origin, and function of literature, examines its rela- tion to language and architecture, and formulates the law of literary epochs. He then presents the salient features of the pre-Reformation ages, and argues that the Elizabethan era of letters was the fruit of the seeds of Catholicism that had been planted and nurtured in early Britain. After contrasting ancient and modern literature, he examines the principles of those philosophic systems that ha\-e most influenced modern thought. In the light of these results he studies the literary artist, the morality which is binding on him, and the canons that should guide him in his work. The book is of great value in giving the student correct principles of orientation.

"The Development of Old English Thought " (third edition, 1903) appeared in 1879 as the first part of a projected course in English literature, which, how- ever, was never completed. The author begins with sketching the "continental homestead" of the Eng- lish; he then contrasts the Celt and Teuton, ex- amines the pagan traditions on which Christian literature was engrafted, and concludes with charm- ing pen pictures of Hilda, Caedraon, Benedict Biscop, and the Venerable Bede. The period covered is the first thousand years of the Christian era.

"Aristotle and the Christian Church" (London and New York, 1888) sets forth the attitude of the Catholic Church towards Aristotelean philosophy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, shows the difference in spirit between the Stagirite and the Schoolmen, and accounts in part for this by tracing the growing influence of Aristotle in the West and in the East until the two streams of thought converged to swell the tide of Scholasticism. This essay was commended by Cardinal Manning.

" Books and Reading" (seventh edition. New York, 1904) was originally a reprint of two lectures deliv- ered before the Cathedral Library Reading Circle of New York City, 1889. The later editions of the work, while more developed and extended than the first, yet suffer from two disadvantages, the omission of an index and of suggestive courses of reading and study. The book attempts to make'literature in general, and Catholic literature in particular, a living force for those even who have not received the benefits of higher education.

"Phases of Thought and Criticism" (1892) is an interesting study of the spiritual sense and its culture. In developing his thesis. Brother Azarias draws a striking contrast first between Newman and Emerson as typical thinkers, and then between the "habits of thought engendered by literary pursuits and those begotten of scientific studies." The fol-

lowing chapters are concerned with the spiritual sense of three great masterpieces, "The Imitation of Christ", the "Divina Commedia ", and the "In Memoriam ", each of which, to quote his own words, "expresses a distinct phase of thought, and is the outcome of a distinct social and intellectual force". This volume is among the most admired of his writ- ings for thought, style, and method.

Of his minor works the most charming is "Mary, Queen of May", which was written for the "Ave Maria ". It exhales the faith and trust of a devout client, and reveals those finer qualities of head and heart which bound Brother Azarias so firmly to his order and won him so many friends. After his death many of his contributions to reviews were gathered and published in three volumes, viz. "Essays Edu- cational ", "Essays Philosophical", and "Essays Miscellaneous" (1896). The first of these includes the lectures delivered at the Catholic Summer School, just before his death; the second reprints as its most notable paper the lecture on "Aristotle and the Christian Church", adding thereto the "Nature and Synthetic Principle of Philosophy ", the "Symbolism of the Cosmos", "Psychological Aspects of Educa- tion ", and "Ethical Aspects of the Papal Encyclical on Capital and Labor ". The best papers in the third volume are " Religion in Education", "Our Catholic School System ", and "Church and State"; of the remaining numbers two are literary in subject, and the third is also found in "Phases of Thought and Criticism ".

Smith, Brother Amrias (New York, 1897): Addresses and Letters read at the Memorial Meetinff in Honor of Brother Azarias (Washington, 1S94); H.^rdy, Educational Review (December, 1893); The Rosary (October. 1893); Henry, Brother Azarias — Threnody, Am. Cath. Q., January, 1894; Stedman- HuTCHiNsoN, Library of American Literature.

Brother Chrysostom.

Azevedo, Ignatius, Blessed. See Ign.\tius.

Azevedo, Luiz de, Ethiopia missionary and scholar, b., according to the more probable narration of Franco (Imogem da Vertude em o Noviciado de Coimbra, 359-61), at Carrazedo Montenegro, in the Diocese of Braga, Portugal, in 1573; d. in Ethiopia in 1634. He became a Jesuit in 1588, and sailed for the Indies in 1592. In 1605 he began his mis- sionary labours in Ethiopia, where he remained until his death. Azevedo was called tlie Apostle of the Agaus, and is justly reckoned among the most illus- trious of the Doctors of the Church of Ethiopia, to which he reclaimed many schismatics. He trans- lated into Chaldaic the commentaries of Father Tole- tus on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, and those of Francis Ribera on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews; the "Canonical Hours", the "Of- fice of the Blessed Virgin Mary", and other works. He is the author of a grammar of the Ethiopic lan- guage, and translated into the same tongue the New Testament, a Portuguese catechism, instructions on the Apostles' Creed, and other books of the same nature.

SoMMERVOGEL, Biblioih., VIII, 73; Tellez, Hist. Gen. da Ethiopia; Ai,ta, 266, 515, 527; Veyg.\, Relaciin Geral., 46. Joseph M. Woods.

Azor, Juan, b. at Lorca, pro%-ince of Murcia, Southern Spain, in 1535; entered the Society of Jesus, IS March, 1559; d. in Rome, 19 February, 1603. He was professor of philosophy and later of theology, both dogmatic and moral, at Piacenza, Alcala,and Rome, and was a memberof the first com- mittee appointed by the Father CJeneral Acquaviva to draw up the famous " Ratio Studiorum ". Father Azor was a man of wide and solid learning, deeply versed in Greek, Hebrew, and history, as well as in his more special branch of theological science. His chief title to general remembrance rests on his classi- cal work on moral theology, in three folio volumes: " Institutionum Moralium, in quibus universal quses-