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 BERNARD

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BERNARDINE

tjon of two noblemen whose strife tlireatened a fatal issue. He was interred in the cloister of St. Law- rence. Venerated as a saint from the twelftli cen- tury in many places of Piedmont (.\osta, Novara, Brescia), he "was not canonized mitil 16S1, by In- nocent XI. His feast is celebrated on the loth of

SrRlus VI. 358: DoRSAZ, Vie d. S. Bernard de Menthon (Paris. 1862): Butler. Lire, of the Saints Vl 577-, Uv^ccU Stur. Ital. (1894) .xxxi. 341 sqq.; Aldeguier, \ te de St. Bernard, .\l>6tre des Alpes (Touloiue, lS.jS)

Bakxabas Dieringer.

Bernard of Pavia, a noted canonist, provost of the cathedral chapter of Pavia, and, in 1190. pro- moted to the Bishopric of Faenza, became Bishop of Pa\-ia in 1198; d. IS September. 1213. About 1190 he compiled a work entitled "Breviarium Extra vagantium" to complete and bring down to his own day Gratian's ■' Decretum". Bernard quotes authorities in an abbreviated form; hence the title With the exception of a small fragment of a letter of St. Oregon,' the Great, he took nothmg from Gratian. Later decrees and a few fragments of Roman and German civil law are found in the work The "Breviarium" soon found favour in the University of Bologna, and from the time of Tancred (d. about 123.5) was termed "Compilatio Prima"— the first collection of canon law after Gratian s— while other collections are styled "Compilatio Secunda", "Tertia", etc. ^ ., .u

The "Breviarium" is divided into fave books, the books into 152 titles, the titles into 912 chapters, the chronological order being observed as far as possible. The first book treats of persons who e.xercise ecclesi- a'^tical jurisdiction, the second of civil judicial processes, the third of matters pertaining to clerics and regulars, the fourth of matrimony, the fifth of ecclesiastical crimes and criminal procedure. While no rubrics are prefixed to the books of Bernard, his titles and chapters have their own peculiar in- scriptions. The "Breviarium" was published m a work entitled "Antiqua; CoUectiones Dccretaliumj cum Ant Augustini, Episcopi Ilerdensis, notis" (Lerida, 1576; Paris, 1609); also in the work: "Ant. Augustini Opera" (Lucca, 176.5 ; 4 vols.) Jo- seph Anthony de Riegger, a professor in the I niver- sitv of Prague (d. 1795) published an incomplete edition of the "Breviarium" (Freiburg, 1778) in which he attempted to harmonize Bernards work with the Decretals of Gregorj' IX.

Bernard wrote a "Summa Decretalium, a com- pendium of his "Breviarium", which for a long time constituted the chief text-book of the schools and was edited by Laspeyres (Ratisbon, 1860). Ber- nard's first work was entitled: "Summa de Matn- monio", which was followed by another: "Summa de Electione". Both are short treatises (see Las- pe>Tes, op. cit., 287-323). His last work, begun in Faenza and finished after he became Bishop of Pavia, bears the title. "Casus Decretalium", part of which LaspevTes edited. Bernard also wrote a glossary on his "Breviarium", a hfe of St. Lanfranc, Bishop of Ticino, and commentaries on Ecclesiasticus and the Canticle of Canticles.

Laurin Inlroductw in Corpui Juris Can. (Freiburg, 1888), <)7 sqq ; HuRTER. Nommdator, IV, 191, 192; .5;milics Frei- iunc in Quinque Compilationes Anliquir (Leipzig, 18821, pp. vi

wiii. Andrew B. Meehan.

Bernard Tolomeo, S.uxt, founder of the congre- gation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto. b. at Siena in Tuscany in 1272; d. in 1348. He received at baptism the name of Giovanni, but took that of Bernard out of admiration for the saintly Abbot of Clairvaux. He was educated by his uncle, Cliristo- pher Tolomeo, a Dominican, and desired to enter the religious life, but his father's opposition prevented, and he continued his studies in secular surrounding.s. After a course in philosophy and mathematics he

devoted himself to the study of civil and canon law and of theology. For a time Bernard served in the armies of Rudolph of Hapsburg. After his return to Siena he was appointed by his fellow-citizens to the highest positions in the town government. While thus occupied he was struck with blindness. Having recovered his sight through the intervention of the Blessed Virgin he retired (1313) to a solitary spot about ten miles from Siena, where he led a life of the greatest austerity.

The fame of "his virtues soon attracted many visitors, and Bernard was accused of heresy. He went to A-i-ignon and cleared himself of this charge before Jolm XXII without difficulty. Upon his return he founded the congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto, giving it the Rule of St. Benedict. The purpose of the new religious institute was a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Guido, Bishop of Arezzo, within whose diocese the congre- gation was formed, confirmed its constitutions (1319), and many favours were granted by Popes John XXII, Clement VI (1344), and Gregory XI. Upon the appearance of the pest in the district of Arezzo, Bernard and his monks devoted themselves to the care of the sick withovit any personal ill-effects. After having ruled the religious body he had founded for twenty-seven years Bernard died, at the age of seventy-six. His death was followed by many miracles and the congregation became a nursery of saints. In 1634 the Congregation of Rites declared that the Blessed Bernard Tolomeo was deserving of veneration among the saints. In the Roman Mar- tyrology he is commemorated on 21 August.

CcPER. in Acta SS (1739) Aug. IV. 464-75; MARtcHACX. Vie dti bienheureux Bernard Tolomei (Paris, 1898).

A. FO0RNET.

Bemardin de Picquigny. See Piconio (a Pico-

NIO).

Bemardine of Feltre, Blessed, Friar Minor and missionary, b. at Feltre, Italy, in 1439 and d. at Pavia, 28 September, 1494. He belonged to the noble family of Tomitano and was the eldest of nine children. In 1456 St. James of the Marches preached the Lenten course at Padua, and inspired to enter the Franciscan order, Bernardine was clothed with the habit of the Friars Minor in May of the same year. He completed successfully his studies at Mantua and was ordained priest in 'l463. Cured miraculously of an impediment in his speech, Bernardine began the long and fruitful apostolate which has caused him to be ranked as one of the greatest Franciscan mission:xries of the fifteenth century. Every city of note and every province from Lombardy m the north to Sardinia and the provinces of the south became successively the scene of his missionarj- labours; and the fruits of his apostolate were both marvellous and enduring. Bernardine, however will be best remembered in history in connexion with the monti di pieta of which he was the reorganizer, and. in a certain sense, the founder. The word moti.t which literally means an accumulation of wealth or money, now caUed capital, seems to have been a generic term used in the fifteenth century to signify lendmg- houses in general; and hence the monies pielatis or vwnii di pieta were a species of charitable lendmg- houses not, perhaps, unlike our modern pawnbrokers establishments, but possessing, of course, none ol the sinister features of the latter. As originally instituted the motiti di pieta were intended as a timely and effectual remedy for the evils occasioned bv the usury then practiced by the Jews upon the people of Christian Italy; and Blessed Bernardine s zeal in reorganizing them and in founding them in places where they had not previously existed affords an explanation of the fact that he is generally repre- sented carrying in his hand a monte di pieta, that is, a little green hill composed of three mounds and on