Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/525

 BENEDICTINE

463

BENEDICTINE

lish congregation and Prior of St. Gregor\''s, Douai. Philip Ellis, b. 1653, d. 1726; Vicar Apostolic of the Western District (1688); transferred to Segni, Italy (1708). Charles Walmesley, b. 1722. d. 1797; Vicar Apostolic of the Western District (1764); a Doctor of the Sorbonne and F. R. S. William Placid Morris, b. 1794, d. 1872; a monk of Downside; Vicar Apos- tolic of Mauritius (18.32). John Bede Folding, b. 1794, d. 1877; a monk of Downside; Vicar Apos- tolic in Australia (1834); first Archbishop of Sydney (1851). WiHiam Bernard Ullathome, b. 1806, d. 1SS9; a monk of Downside; Vicar Apostolic of the Western District (1846); transferred to Birmingham (1850); resigned (1888). Roger Bede Vaughan, b. 1834, d. 1SS3; a monk of Downside; Cathedral Prior of Belmont (1863); coadjutor to Archbishop Folding (1872); succeeded as Archbishop of Sydney (1877). Cardinal Sanfelice (Italy), b. 1834, d. 1897; Archbishop of Naples; formerly Abbot of La Cava. Joseph Pothier (France), b. 1835; inaugu- rator of the Solesmes school of plain-chant; Abbot of Fontanelle (1898). Andre Mocquereau (France), b. 1849; Prior of Solesmes and successor to Dom Pothier as leader of the school. Jolm Cuthbert Hedley, b. 1837; a monk of Ampleforth; consecrated Coadjutor Bishop of Newport (1873); succeeded as Bishop (1881). Benedetto Bonazzi (Italy), b. 1840; Abbot of La Cava (1894); .\rchbishop of Benevento (1902). Domenico Serafini (Italy), b. 1852; Abbot General of the Cassinese Congregation of Primitive Observance (1886); Archbishop of Spoleto (1900). Hildebrand de Hemptinne (Belgium), b. 1849; Abbot Primate of the order; Abbot of Maredsous (1890); nominated Abbot Primate by Leo XIII (1893).

Nuns. — St. Scholastiea. died c. 543; sister to St. Benedict. Among English Benedictine nuns, the most celebrated are: St. Etheldreda, d. 679; .A.bbess of Ely. St. Ethelburga, died c. 670; Abbess of Barking. St. Hilda, d. 680; Abbess of Whitby. St. Werburgh. d. 699; Abbess of Chester. St. Mildred, seventh centurj'; Abbess in Thanet. St. Walburga, d. 779; a nun of Wimbome; .si.ster to Sts. WilUbald and Wmnibald; went to Germany with Sts. Lioba and Thecla to assist St. Boniface c. 740. St. Thecla, eighth centurj'; a nun of Wim- bome; Abbess of Kitzingen; died in Germany. St. Lioba, d. 779; a nun of Wimbome; cousin to St. Boniface; .\bbess of Bischofsheim; died in Germany. Among other Benedictine saints are: St. Hildegard (Germany), b. 1098, d. 1178; Abbess of Mount St. Rupert; St. Gertrude the Great (Germany), d. 1292; Abbess of Eisleben in Saxony (1251). St. Mechtilde, sister to St. Gertrude and mm at Eisleben. St. Frances of Rome, b. 1384, d. 1440; widow; founded order of Oblates (CoUatines) in 1425.

VI. FOUND.VTIONS OrIGIN.\TING FROM OR B.-ISED

UPON THE Benedictine Order. — It has already been shown in the first part of this article how the reaction which followed the many relaxations and mitigations that had crept into the Benedictine Order, produced, from the tenth century onwards, a number of reforms and independent congregations, in each of which a return to the strict letter of St. Benedict's Rule was attempted, with certain varia- tions of ideal ami differences of external organiza- tion. That of Cluny was the first, and it was fol- lowed, from time to time, by others, all of which are dealt with in .separate articles.

St. Chrodegang. — Besides those communities which professedly adhered to the Benedictine Rule in all its strictness, there were others founded for some special work or purpose, which, while not claiming to be Benedictine, took that Rule as the basis upon which to grovmd their own particular legislation. The earliest example of this was instituted by St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, who in the year 760 brought together his cathedral clergy into a kind

of community life and drew up for their guidance a code of rules, based upon that of St. Benedict. These were the first "regular canons", and the idea thus started spread very rapidly to almost every cathedral of France, Germany, and Italy, as well as to some in England. In the latter count"rj% however, it was not an entirely new idea, for we learn from Bede's "Ecclesiastical Historj'" (I, xxvii) that even in St. -Augustine's time some sort of "common hfe" was in vogue amongst the bishops and their clergy. St. Chrodegang's institute and its imitations pre- vailed almost universally in the cathedral and col- legiate churches until ousted by the introduction of the Austin Canons.

Carthusians. — A word must here be said as to the Carthusian Order, which some writers have classed amongst those founded on the Benedictine Rule. This supposition is based chiefly on the fact that they have retained the name of St. Benedict in their Confileor, but this was more probably done out of recognition of that saint's position as the Patriarch of Western Monasticism than from any idea that the order was a fihation from the older body. Con- fusion may also have arisen on account of the founder of the Carthusians, St. Bruno, being mistaken for another of the same name, who was .\bbot of Monte Cassino in the twelfth century and therefore a Bene- dictine.

Independent Benedictine Congregations. — The va- rious reforms, beginning with Cluny in the tenth century and extending to the Olivetans of the four- teenth, have been enumerated in the first part of this article and are described in greater detail in separate articles, imder their respective titles. To these must be added the Order of the Humiliati, founded in the twelfth centurj' by certain nobles of Lombardy who, having rebelled against the Em- peror Henrj' V, were taken captive by him into Germany. There they commenced the practice of works of piety and penance, and were for their "humility" allowed to return to Lombardy. The order was definitely established in 1134 mider the guidance of St. Bernard, who placed it under the Benedictine Rule. It flourished for some centuries and had ninety-four monasteries, but through popularity and prosperity, corruption and irregularities crept in, and after an inefTectual attempt at reformation. Pope Pius V suppressed the order in 1571. Mention must also be made of the more modern Armenian Benedictine congrega- tion (known as Mechitarists), founded by Mechitar de Petro in the eighteenth century, in commimion with the Holy See; this is now reckoned amongst the non-federated congregations of the order. (See

HUMILI.VTI, MECHIT.iRISTS.)

Quasi- Benedictine Foundations. — 1. Mihtary Or- ders. — H61yot enumerates several military orders as having been based upon that of St. Benedict or in some way originating from it. Though founded especially for military objects, as for instance the defence of the holy places at Jerusalem, when not so engaged, these knights lived a kind of a religious life in commanderies or preceptories, established on the estates belonging to their order. They were not in any sense clerics, but they usually took vows of poverty and obedience, and sometimes also of chastity. In some of the Spanish orders, permission to marry was granted in the seventeenth century. The knights practised many of the customarj- monas- tic austerities, such as fasting and silence, and they adopted a religious habit with the tunic shortened somewhat for convenience on horseback. ICach order was governed by a Grand Master who had ju- risdiction over the whole order, and under him were the commanders who ruled over the various houses. The following were the military orders connected with the Benedictine Order, but for fuller details