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 BASSIANUS

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BASTON

Bulls or Decrees against the new Reform. Bassi preached through the whole of Italy and part of Germany. He died at Venice, in the midst of his labours, and was buried in the Church of the Ob- servants of that city in the presence of a vast con- course of people attracted by his reputation as a saint. The following eulogy by Arthur du Monstier is read in the Franciscan Martyrologium under the 3d of August : "There died at Venice, Blessed Matthew, confessor, founder of the congregation of Capuchins. His continual fastings, vigils and prayers, his most high poverty and ardent zeal for souls, lastly his extraordinary holiness and the gift of miracles made his memory glorious ' '.

Jo.\N. DE Terranova, Chronica de origine fratrum capucin- orum s. Francisri. in Acta SS.. VIII, 4 Maii. 281-289; de LisBON.VE. Chronica dos Menores (Lisbon, 1615); Bovehids, Annates Capucinorum (Lyons. 1632); Wadding, Anjial^s Minorum (Lyons. 1647); BuUarium Capucinorum (Rome); Chronica hiitorico-legalis seraphici Ordinis FF. Min. (Naples, 1650). I. 258; da Ce-sinale, Storia delle Missione dei Cappuc- cini (Paris, 1867); Patrem. Tableau syrwptigue de fhistoire de toutl'Ordre seraphique (Paris, 1879); AnalectaOrd. Min. Capuc.; Palomes, Des Frcres mineurs et de leurs denominations (Pal- ermo, 1901); DE Pavie, L'Aquitaine seraphique (Vanves, 1905), ni, xi, 183.

F. Candide.

Bassianus, Bishop of Ephesus (444-448). As a priest of Ephesus the charities of Bassianus so won the affection of the people that his bishop, Mennon, aroused to jealousy, sought his removal by promoting him to the Bishopric of Evaza. Bassianus repudiated the consecration to which he was \aolently forced to submit, an attitude approved by Mennon's successor, Basil. On the latter's death (444) Bassianus suc- ceeded him and though popular enthusiasm disre- garded canonical procedure his election was confirmed by Theodosius II and reluctantly by Proclus, Patri- arch of Constantinople. Bassianus reigned undis- turbed for four years. At the Easter celebration in 448 he was seized by a mob and imprisoned. The emperor was importuned to remove him, and the case was referred to Pope Leo I and the Bishops of Const ant inople, Alexandria , and Ant ioch , who declared the election invalid. Stephen, whom Bassianus called the ringleader of his opponents, was elected in his stead. The Council of Chalcedon on 29 Octo- ber, 451, considered the plea of Bassianus for rein- statement and was disposed to favour him, but owing to the complex irregularities of the case it was deemed advisable to declare the see vacant. Bassianus and Stephen were retired on a pension with episcopal dignity. During the process Stephen cited Pope Leo's letter deposing Bassianus, a document unfor- tunately lost.

Hardouin. Acta ConcU. (Paris. 1714). II, 546-558; Tille- MOXT. Memoires (Venice, 17221, XV, 460-465, 690-692, 895- 896; Hefele, ConcUieniiPsch. (Freiburg. 1875), II. 491-497; tr. (Edinburgh, 1883). III. 370-376; Venables in Diet. Christ, fling., I, 298.

John B. Peterson.

Bastiat, Claude-Frederic, a French economist, b. at Mugron, a small city in the Department of Landes, 29 June, 1801; d. at Rome, 24 December, 1850. He was the son of Pierre Bastiat, whose father had founded at Bayonne a business house that prospered in consequence of the franchise granted this port by the Treaty of Versailles, but ceased to flourish under the prohibitory regime of the Empire. The widely different effects of these two economic systems upon the fortunes of his family undoubtedly gave rise to Bastiat's free-trade opin- ions. Left an orphan at the age of nine, he was brought up by his paternal grandfather and, after pursuing his studies at St. Sever and Soreze, entered the business founded by his grandfather and then conducted by his uncle at Bayonne. Returning to .Mugron in 1825, he inherited an extensive estate through the death of his grandfather, and subse- (juently devoted himself to farming. After the

Revolution of 1830 he was appointed justice of the peace at Mugron and, being deeply interested in political economy, gave himself up to it with great earnestne-ss and constituted himself the champion of commercial liberty. In 1S41 he published his first essay "Le fisc et la vigne" and, apprised of the free- trade movement that Cobden was then directing in England, joined forces with him. In 1844, his article, "L'influence des tarifs anglais et fran^ais" in the "Journal des Economistes" opened his way to fame. Then appeared successively: "Sophismes ^conomiques ", "Cobden et la ligue", and several pamphlets, one of which, "Petition des marchands de chandelles", against the sun that interferes with the candle merchants' trade, is a little masterpiece of verve and delicate irony. Elected to the Con- stituent Assembly in 1848, and then to the Legisla- tive Assembly, he became the implacable enemy of socialism, against which he wrote: "Propri^tl et loi", "Capital et rente", "Justice et fraternity", " Protectionisme et communisme", and other trea- tises. In 1849 he published "Harmonies 6cono- miques", which the illness that had already under- mined his health prevented him from finishing.

Bastiat belonged to the Liberal school and enun- ciated its principles on the following lines: "Let men work, trade, learn, form partnerships, act and react upon one another, since according to the decrees of Providence, naught save order, harmony, and progress can spring from their intelligent spon- taneity". (Harmonies, p. 12.) Of a sincere and generous nature he was fitted to understand and defend Catholic truth; but the prejudices in the midst of which he lived kept him aloof from the Faith until the very eve of his death. It was in Rome that his eyes were opened to the light of Catholicism, and Proudhon, his enemy, says that in his last hour Bastiat cried out with Polyeucte: "I see, I know, I believe; I am a Christian". Some time before his death he declared that if God would but grant him a new lease of life he would devote his energy to the development of Christian harmony and political economy, but he did not live to fulfil this vow. Bastiat's complete works were published by Guil- laumin (Paris, 1854, 1872).

Baunard, La Foi et ses victoires (Paris, 1884-1902), II, 107; Perrin, Les doctri-nes economiques depuis un siecle (Paris, 1880). IX, 125; Gardei.le, FridMc Bastiat (discourse at the reopening of the Court of Appeals at Pau, 1879); Passy, Notice biographique sur Frederic Bastiat (Paris, 1855); de FoNTENAY, Notice sur la vie et les ecrits de Frederic Bastiat (introduction to his works); de Molinari, F. Bastiat, in Journal des economistes. XXVII, IS Feb., 1851; Macleod in Diet, of Political Economy.

Stanislas A. Lortie. Baston, Guillaume-Andre-Renb, a French theologian, b. at Rouen, 29 November, 1741; d. at Saint-Laurent, 26 September, 1825. He studied theology at St. Sulpice in Paris and finished his studies at Angers. He was then appointed profes.sor of theology at Rouen. During the Revolution he wrote against the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Having refused to take the oath, he was obliged to go into exile (1792)^ first to London, then to Holland, and finally to Kosfeld in Westphalia. In 1803 he returned to Rouen, where he was appointed vicar- general and dean of the chapter by Archbishop Cambac^res. As a Galilean, he won the favour of Napoleon, who appointed him Bishop of Sfez (1813) and the chapter of the cathedral accepted him as capitular vicar. Pope Pius VII failing to approve of this nomination, the cathedral chapter revoked the nomination (1814), and Baston went into retire- ment at Saint-Laurent near Pont-Audemer, where he died. Baston was the author of numerous works on theology, the most important being "Lectiones theologicie", written while he was professor of theol- ogy, in collaboration with Abb6 Tuvache (10 vols., Rouen, 1818), and he published several polemical