Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/503

 BENEDICTBEURN

441

BENEDICTI

with jealousy, and point to it as the exemplar ac- cording to which they are endeavouring to model their lives, is in itself the strongest proof that they are still imbued with its spirit, though recognizing its latitude of application and its adaptability to various conditions.

M0NTAI.EMBKRT, Monks of the West (Tr.. Ix>ndon. 1896). IV; ToSTi. Sauit Benedict, tr. Woods (London. 1896); Doyle, The Teaching of St. Benedict (London, 1887); Dudden, Gregory the Great (London. 1905); Bitler Lausiac History of Palla- dius. Introd., XIX in Cambridge Texts and Studies (Cam- bridge, 1898); Idem, The Teit of St. Benedicts Rule, in Dou-n- jride Reiiew, XVIII. 223; and in Journal of Theol. Studies, III, 458: Besse, Le Maine Benedictin (Ligug^, 1898); H.aeftex, Disquisitiemes Monusticv (.Antwerp. 1044); Schmidt. Regula jS(!. Benc'licti (Ilatisbon. 1880. 1892); Wolfflin. Btntdicti Regula Mmiachorum (Leipzig. 1895); Tr.iube, Teitgeschichte der Ryjula S. Benedicti (Munich. 1898).

C0MMENTARIE.S, — Warnefrid (Monte Cassino, 1880); Mege (Pans. UiS7); xMarticne (Paris, 1690), also in P. L., LXVl; ■Calmet (Paris. 1734); Mabillon. Prefaces to Acta Sanctorum ■0. S. B. (Venice, 1733).

English Translations of Rule. — Axontmous (Rams- .gate. 1872; Rome, 1895); Doyle, ed. (London. 1875); Ver- heyen (Atchison, Kansas, 1906); Hunter-Blair (Fort Augustus, Scotland, 1906).

G. CypRi.\N Alston.

Benedictbeurn. Abbey op, situated in the Bava- rian Alps, about thirty miles south of Munich. It was formerly in the Diocese of Augsburg, but some wTiters, including Mabillonj have WTongly des- cribed it as having been in that of Freising. The name has been variously spelt as Beuren, Beuern, Buron, Beweren, Baiern, Bej-rn, etc., but that given ^bove is the officially accepted spelling at the present time. Tradition, as well as manuscripts datmg as far back as the tenth century, ascribe its foundation, in the year 740, to three "brothers of noble birth, •named Lanfrid, Wulfram, and Eliland, acting under the influence of St. Boniface, who was then preaching the Faith in Bavaria. The three founders, each in turn, ruled the monastery, which in 955 (or 973 according to some authorities) was destroyed by the Huns, who then ravaged the countrj-. Restored in 969 by Wolfold, a secular priest, it continued as a college of regular clerg}^, or canons, until 1031. Through the influence of the Emperor Henry III, the Benedictine rule was re\'ived there in 1031 by Abbot Ellinger and eleven monks from the neigh- bouring Abbey of Tegernsee.

Under the next abbot, Gothelm, the famous monastic school was established. The abbey also became a great place of pilgrimage and the scene of many miracles, by reason of the relics of St. Anas- tasia which were brought thither in 1053. Through- out the Middle .\ges it continued to flourish as a home of learning and piety. Many privileges were granted by different popes, and several of the emperors honoured it with their favour and their \'isits. The Abbots Ortolph II (1271-84) and Henry III (12S4- 89) were made Princes of the Empire by Rudolph of Hapsburg. The abbey was four times burnt down, \dz: in 1248, 1377, 1378, and 1490, and as often rebuilt. In 1611 its numbers were depleted by a plague which carried off many of the monks, and it also suffered during the Swedish invasion under Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years' War in the seventeenth century. In 1803 the abbey was suppressed by the Government and the monks, thirty-four in number, dispersed. The conventual buildings became successively a barracks, a military hospital, and a stud-house. In 1901 Freiherr von Kramer-Klett, the restorer of several Bavarian mon- asteries, offered five and one-half million marks for the property, but was met by a demand for twelve millions, which he refused.

The library and archives contained many priceless manuscripts and charters. Ziegelbauer (Hist. Lit. Ord. S.B..I,543) printed a catalogue of the hbrary, dated 1250, in which more than one hundred and fifty books and MSS. are enumerated, Mabillon, who

■\nsited the abbey in 16S3, and Bernard Fez, librarian of Melk, who was there in 1717, have both left on record their testimony as to the great value of the codices there preserved. At the suppression the library comprised 40,000 volumes. A number of these were incorporated ^ith the Court Library and the remainder left to be disposed of by the subsequent occupants of the abbey.

Amongst the illustrious men produced by Benedict- beurn the foUon-ing deserve mention: Gothelm, abbot 1032-62; founded the monastic school in 1033. Gotschalk, who translated the relics of St. Anastasia to Beurn in 1053; the first historian of the abbey (" Bre\'iarium Gotschalki" in Mon. Germ. Hist., IX, 221). Dom Simon Speer, martjT; tortured and put to death by the Swedes for refusing to surrender the goods of the abbey, 1632. Magnus, abbot 1707-40; resuscitated the school, 1711. Uom Carolus Meichel- beck, "the Li\-j' of Bavaria", b. 1669; took the habit, 1687 and was librarian and archivist from 1690 till his death in 1734. He taught philosophy and theol- ogy and WTOte various historical works, including the " Historj- of the Diocese of Freising", the "Chioii- icon Benedicto-Buranum ", and the "Annals of the Bavarian Congregation".

Various charters, etc.. in Monumenta Boica (Munich); Yepes, Chronicon Generals O.S.B. (Yrache. 1609), III, 87; Mabillon, Annates O.S.B. (Paris. 1703-39). ed. 1735. II, 114; Meichelbeck, Chronieon Benedicto-buranum (Benedictbeurn, 1752); Keen, Collectio Scriplorum (Ulm, 1755); Pertz, Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script. (Hanover, 1851), IX, 210; Vox Hefner. Leistungen des Klosters Benediktbeuem, in Oberbaierisches Archil', III. 337: Rettberg. Deutschl. Kirchengesch.. II. 165: Daffner. Gesch. des Klosters Benediktbeuren (Jlunich. 1893); ScHLEGMANN. Gesch. der Siikularisation im rechtsrheinischen Bayem (Regensburg, 1903-05).

G. Ctpriax Alston.

Benedict Biscop. S.\int, an English monastic fomider, b. of a noble Anglo-Saxon family, c. 628; d. 12 Januarj'. 690. He spent his youth at the court of the Northumbrian King Oswj'. When twenty- five years old, he made the first of his five pilgrimages to Rome. On his return to England, Benedict in- troduced, wherever he could, the religious rites as he saw them practised in Rome. Soon afterwards he made a second pilgrimage to Rome, stopping on his return at Lerins, in 666. to take the religious habit. When, two years later, he returned to Rome, Pope Vitalian sent him and the monk Adrian as ad- visers with Theodore, the newly appointed Arch- bishop of Canterburj'. On their arrival in England, Theodore appointed Benedict .\bbot of St. Peter's at Canterbury. After two years, in 671, he resigned (iiis office and made another pilgrimage to Rome. During this and liis two succeeding pilgrimages to the city of the -Apostles he collected numerous relics, books, and paintings for the monasteries of \^'earmouth and Jarrow. the former of which he founded in 674, the latter in 682. He also engaged Abbot John, Arch-cantor of St. Peter's in Rome, to teach Roman chant at these monasteries. Benedict was the first to introduce into England the building of stone churches and the art of making glass win- dows. His festival is observed on 12 February.

MoNTALEMBERT. Monks of the West (Boston), II. 493; Hope, Conversion of the Teutonic Race (London). I, 400; Stanton. .A. Menology of England and Wales (London, 1892); Allies, Hist, of the Church in England (London. 1892). I. 59; Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B.. sac. II. His biography in Latin by St. Bede is published in P. L., XCIV, 711-734.

Michael Ott.

Benedicti, .Jean, a Franciscan theologian of the sixteenth century belonging to the Observantine Province of Tours and Poitiers. He became in time secretary of the order and in this capacity accom- panied the minister-general, Christopher a Capite Fontium, throughout the whole of Europe in the latter's canonical visitation of Franciscan houses. Afterwards he was made commissarj'-general of the French and visitor of many Italian Provinces, and in