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 BENGTSSON

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BENGTSSON

jurisconsult, and Arbilius, the grammarian; Popes Felix IV, Victor III (Dauferio), and Gregory VIII (Alberto di Morra) who were natives of Benevento; Cardinal Pietro Morra, Giovanni da Castrocelo, Dio- nisio Lorerio, Nicolo Coscia, Camillo Domenico, Gennaro de Simone, Bartolommeo Pacca, and Carlo Maria Pedicini.

Benevento is tlie seat of an archdiocese, which has as suffragans the Dioceses of Alife, Ariano, Ascoli, and Cerignola, Avellino, Boiano, Bovino, Larino, Lucera, San Severo, Sant' Agata de' Goti, Telese, and Termoli. According to local tradition, the Cliristian Faith was first preached there by St. Potinus, at the command of St. Peter the Apostle. At a later period, during the persecution of Diocletian, we find men- tioned as bishop of this city St. Januarius, who to- gether with Proculus, his deacon, and two laymen, was imprisoned and beheaded at Pozzuoli in 305. His relics are preserved in the Cathedral of Naples, which also contains the remains of St. Agrippinus who was Bishop of Benevento. In 929 Benevento was raised to the dignity of a metropolitan see.

The cathedral, founded at a very early period, was rebuilt in 1692, after being destroyed in the earth- quake of 1688. The interior, divided into five naves, has fifty-four marble columns, which furnish a mag- nificent perspective. Mention should also be made of the two thrones near the high altar, carved about 1311 by a sculptor named Nicola. Of special historical interest is the so-called "altar of peace", erected in memory of the peace concluded at Benevento between Clement VII and Charles V, after the famous sack of Rome (1527). The facade is entirely of a yellowish marble; the great central door is of bronze, of Byzan- tine workmanship, brought from Constantinople in the twelfth century. In the spacious vestibule are the tombs of the Lombard dukes. The bell tower, constructed almost entirely of the fragments of ancient monuments, was begun by Bishop Capo di Ferro (1254). The church of St. Sophia, in form a great rotunda, is also deserving of mention. It dates back to the Lombard epoch, if indeed it is not a pagan temple converted into a church. The cupola is par- ticularly remarkable, being set upon six antique Corinthian columns. The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is held in great veneration; adjoining it is a monastery, the abode first of Benedictines, but since 1450 of monks of the Minor Observance. The statue of the Madonna with the Child in her arms is said to have been brought from Greece by St. Arte- lais, niece of Narses, general of the army of Justinian.

A number of councils were held at Benevento: those of 1059, 1061, and 1087, in the last of which Victor III excommunicated Guibert, the Antipope; that of 1091, in which the excommunication was renewed, acd a number of disciplinary canons formulated; thai of 1108 against lay investitures; those of 1113 and 1117, the latter against the Antipope Burdinus; others in 1119, 1314, 1470, 1545, as recorded by Harduin, in the seventh volume of his collection of the Councils. In the following centuries the Archbishops of Bene- vento frequently held provincial synods. Gian Bat- tista Foppa (1643) ancf Vincenzo Maria Orsini, O. P. (1686), later Pope Benedict XIII, did much to restore and beautify the churches of the city.

Among the bishops famous in the history of the Church of Benevento, passing over some saints of uncertain date, are: St. Marcianus (533), St. Zenoe (543), St. Barbatus (663), who had a golden serpent, an object of idolatrous worship of the Lombards, melted and made into a sacred paten which was pre- served up to the time of the French invasion in 1799; Arnaldo, a Franciscan monk (1533); Gaspare Colonna, generous in the decoration of churches, who, at the time of the Colonna conspiracy against Pope Euge- nius IV, was imprisoned with the others, but quickly released; Giovanni della Casa, a distinguished writer

and Italian orator (1544); Cardinal Giacomo Savelli (1560), founder of the seminary; Cardinal Pompeic Arrigoni (1607); Cardinal Sinibaldo Doria (1731) who suffered much from the intrigues of Nicolo Cos- cia, administrator under the above-mentioned Arch- bishop Orsini. Doria founded a great library, sub- sequently enlarged by Cardinal Francesco Marie Banditi in 1775; Cardinal Domenico Spinucci (1796) Cardinal Camillo Siciliano di Rende (1879).

The Archdiocese of Benevento has a population ol 590,.500 Catholics, with 138 parishes, 460 churchet and chapels, 839 secular priests, 70 priests belonging to religious orders, 350 seminarists, 40 lay brothers and 120 members of female religious orders.

C.^PPELLETTI. Le ckiese d'ltalm (Venice, 1844). III. 9: An nuario Eccl. (Rome, 1907), 292-297; Steffano Borgia Meniorie Storiche della pontificia citta di Benevento ( Rome, 1 7(i3- 69): Meomartini, / Monumenii e le opere d'arte della citta d Benevento (ibid., 1889-92); Barrier de Montault, Le palai; archiep. de Benevent in Revue de I'art Chretien (1875), III, 345- 385; ZiGARELLi, Storie di Beneiento (Naples, 1860).

U. Benign:.

Bengtsson, Jons Oxenstjerna (Joannes Bene- dict!), Archbishop of Upsala, Sweden, b. 1417; d. ir 1467. He was a member of the illustrious Oxenst- jerna family, various representatives of which hac already become prominent in the public life o Sweden. At the time of his appointment to th< archbishopric (1448) Bengtsson was archpriest of th( chapter of Upsala. He asked the Council of Basil for a confirmation of his election, and he had himsel consecrated (30 June, 1448) by his suffragans, th( day after they had crowned Karl Knutsson Bond( as king. On 1 July, Archbishop Bengtsson crownec the queen. The confirmation of his appointment bj Pope Nicholas V did not reach him until the ensuinj year.

The importance of Archbishop Bengtsson ii political rather than ecclesiastical, though his pas- toral visitations show that he was not unmindfu of the spiritual welfare of those under his care In 1457, as Archbishop of Upsala, he received fron the pope the title of Primate of Sweden; the Arch bishops of Lund, however, were permitted to retail tlieir title of Primate of the Churcli of Sweden The life of Archbishop Bengtsson fell in Sweden': most troublous days. By the Union of Calmai (1397) the three kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, while preserving their individua independence, were to be ruled by one king, anc the foreign affairs of all three were to be regulatec as those of a united country. The advantages ol this union were lost sight of on the death of its pro- moter. Queen Margaret (1412). Her successor Erik of Pomerania, by a change of policy, arousec in Sweden a spirit of discontent, which, after suc- cessive revolutions and the election of Karl Knuts- son as viceroy (1438), resulted in the deposing ol Erik. His successor, Christopher of Bavaria, diec in 1448. In Sweden, which was torn by the strif( between the partisans of a national kingdom anc those of a government in union with Denmark anc Norway, the national party elected Karl Knutssor king. A few months later Christian I became King of Denmark, and two years afterwards alsc King of Norway. Meanwhile, dissensions increased in Sweden. As King Karl Knutsson, to escape frorr money troubles, increased taxes and confiscated church property, dissatisfaction spread among clergy and people, and Archbishop Bengt.sson placed himself at the head of the opposition (1457). Enter- ing his cathedral, he laid aside his pontifical insignia took up helmet, breastplate, and sword, and an- nounced his intention not to resume his pontifical robes until Karl Knutsson should be banished from the country. Knutsson was forced to yield and fled to Germany. Thereupon Christian I camt from Denmark and was formally recognized King