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 BOLSEC

643

BOLZANO

ticians, and Clotilda Tambroni (1758-1817), professor of Greek.

During the Napoleonic wars, the university suf- fered considerably: chairs were suppressed, and the existence of the entire university was often en- dangered. The popes, in particular Leo XII, came to its assistance, reorganized the faculties, and pro- vided generously for the continuation of scientific work. Their control, however, ceased when the Papal States were merged in the present Kingdom of Italy.

The university now comprises the faculties of philosophy and letters, mathematics and science, law, and medicine, ■nnth schools of pharmacy, agri- culture, and engineering. The professors and in- structors number 190; the students, 1800. The library, founded in 1605 by Aldrovandi, contains 250,000 volumes. One of the most important in- stitutes connected with the university is the Academy of Science, established in 1690 by the generous Count Marsigli, and reorganized by Pius VIII in 1829.

Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1895), I; Kirkpatrick, The Octocentenary Festival of the University of Bologna (Edinburgh, 1899); Savignt, The University of Bologna in the Middle Ages in Amer. Jour, of Education (1871); Sarti, De Claris archigymnasii Bononi- ensis professortbits (Bologna, 17fi9); Id., new ed. by Albicinius (ibid., 1888); Cassani, DeW Antico Studio di Bologna e sua origine (ibid., 1888); Malagola, Monografie Storiche sullo Studio Bolognese (ibid., 1888); Fitting, Die Anfiinge der Rechtsschula zu Bologna (Berlin and Leipzig, 1888): Moroni, Dizionario, LXXXIV; Chevalier, Topo-Bibliographie. s. v.

E. A. Pace.

Bolsec, Jerome-Hfrmes, a theologian and phy- sician, b. probably at Paris, date unknown; d. at Lyons c. 1584. He became a Carmelite monk at Paris. A sermon which he preached there aroused misgivings in ecclesiastical circles regarding the soundness of his ideas, and Bolsec left Paris. Hav- ing separated from the Catholic Church about 1545 he took refuge at the Court of Ren^e, Duchess of Ferrara, who was favourably disposed towards per- sons holding Protestant views. Here he married, and began the study of medicine, about 1550 settling as a physician at Veigy, near Geneva. A theological controversy with Calvin, whose doctrine of predesti- nation he deemed an absurdity, soon ensued. In 1551, at one of the religious conferences or public discussions, then held at Geneva every Friday, he interrupted the orator of the day, Jean de Saint Andr6, who was speaking on predestination, and ar- gued against him. As the triumph of his ideas would have meant the ruin of Calvin's influence in the Swiss city, Bolsec was arrested, and through the influi-nce of the reformer banished forever from Geneva (1551). In 1555 he was also driven from Thonon, in the Ber- nese territory, whither he had retired. He went to Paris and sought admission into the ministry of the Reformed Church. But his opinions were not found sufficiently orthodox, from a Reformed point of view, for one wishing to hold such a position. He was asked for a declaration of faith, but refused. He went to Lausanne (c. 1563), but as the signing of the Con- fession of Bern was made a condition of his residence here, he preferred to return to France. Shortly after this, he recanted his errors, was reconciled with the Catholic Church, and published biographies of the two Genevan reformers, Calvin and Beza (1519- 1605). These works are violent in tone, and find little favour with Protestant writers. Their histori- cal statements cannot always be relied on. They are "Histoire de la vie, des mceurs . . . de Jean Cal- vin" (Lyons and Paris, 1577; published in Latin at Cologne in 1580; German tr. 1581); " Histoire de la vie et des moeurs de Th. de Bdze" (Paris, 1582). The life of Calvin was edited by L. F. Chastel in 1875 with extracts from the life of Beza.

Fritz in Kirchenler.; Schaff. Hifttiry of the Chriittinn Church (New York. 190:j), VII, 614-021; Wai.kkh, John Cnlvin (New York. 1900), I10-I19, 315-320. N. A. Weber.

Bolsena. See Orvieto.

Bolsena, Miracle of. Sec Orvieto.

Bolton, Edmund, historian, antiquary, and poet, born c. 1575; died c. 1633. The genuine loyalty to the Catholic Faith which seems to ha\'e marked the career of this eccentric and unfortunate genius is indicated by the second name which appears in a signature of his preserved in Harleian MS. 6521 at the British Museum — "Edmmidus Maria Boltonus".

The same MS. furnishes us with a clue to sundry details of his life. He seems to have been born of Catholic parents in Leicestershire, and must have been of good family and position, for he claims tO' have continued "many years on his ovm charge a free commoner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge", and after going to London to study law to have lived there "in the best and choicest company of gentle- men". There can be no doubt that there was a strong Catholic element among the lawyers of the Inner Temple (Richard Southwell, the father of the- martyr, might be named as one example among many), and the tone of the drama and much of the lighter literature of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period shows that the Bohemian society into which Bolton and his fellows were thrown was often pronouncedly papist. But while many who for a while were Romanizers, like his friend Ben Jonson, ultimately fell away, Bolton, much to his credit, remained stanch to his principles. Of his ability and zeal in the pursuit of knowledge there can be no question. He was the friend of Cotton and Camden, whose antiquarian researches he shared,, and as a writer of verses he was associated with Sidney, Spenser, Raleigh, and others in the publica- tion of "England's Helicon". Many influential friends, including for example the Duke, then Mar- quess, of Buckingham, tried to help him in his pe- cuniary embarrassments, but there seems no doubt that his Catholicism stood in the way of his making a living by literature. For instance, a life of King Henry II which he had prepared for an edition of Speed's "Chronicle", then in course of publication, was rejected on account of the too favourable aspect in which he had depicted St. Thomas of Canterbury. It seems, however, that through Buckingham's in- fluence he obtained some small post about the court of James I, and in 1617 he proposed to the king some scheme for a royal academy or college of letters which was to be associated with the Order of the Garter, and which was destined in the mind of its designer to convert Windsor Castle into a sort of English Olympus. James I gave some encourage- ment to the scheme, but died before it was carried into execution. With the accession of Charles I, Bolton seems to have fallen on evil days. "The last years of his life were mostly spent either in the Fleet or in the Marshalsea as a prisoner for debt, to which no doubt the fines he incurred as a "recusant con- vict" largely contributed. The exact date of his death is unknown. Besides his contributions in English verse to "England's Helicon" Bolton wrote a certain amount of Latin poetry. He is best re- membered, however, as the author of "The Elements of Armories", a curious heraldic dialogue published anonymously in 1610, and of "Nero Ca'sar, or Mon- archic depraved", a book of Roman history dealing in part with the earliest notices of Britain. A transla- tion of the "Histories" of Florus which he also pub- lished is signed "Philanactophil" (i. e. friend of the king's friend). Bolton's "Hypercritica", a useful work of literary criticism, was published long after his death.

Cooper in Diet. Nat. Biog., V, 325; Gillow. Bibl. Diet. Eng. Catholic; 1, 257-259; Archaologia, xxxii, 132-149.

Herbert Thurston. Bolzano, Bernhard, Austrian mathematician