Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/33

 BRUNFORTE

II

BRUNN

naturally a man of will and a fighter. The most interesting feature of his apology is his attempt to show how much the positivism of Auguste Comic was akin to Catholicism. He endeavoured to prove that modern thought contained in itself, without

■cting it. the seed of Catholicism. (See " Stir les chemins de la eroyance. Premiere 6tape, 1. 'utili- sation du positivisme.") On one occasion, in the course of a discussion with a Socialist, he went so far as to infer the identity of the social aspirations

itholicism and the aspirations ot the Socialists for a general reform of the world.

Pellissier. Li mnurirn.rit litteriiire eimlemjinrnin (1901);

Hatzfeld, Les critiques litleraires du XIX' eiecU (1894); I 'mi ;.: in Annates politigues el litUraires (16 December, 190ti); De Yogi e in Revue des Deux Mondea (1 .January, 19071; Petit de Jullevili.e, Ilist.nr. ,1, !,, Imuju, el de In ire imni;iiise; American Review of Reviews (1S97), XV, 69.

Louis N. Delamarre.

Brunforte, Ugouno, Friar Minor and chronicler, born c. 1262; died c. 1348. His father Rinaldo, Lord

of Sarnano in the Marches, belonged to an ancient and noble family of French origin, from which sprang the famous Countess Matilda. Ugolino entered the Order of Friars Minor at the age of sixteen ami served his novitiate at the convent of Roccabruna, but passed most of his life at the convent of Santa Maria in Monte Giorgio, whence he is often called Ugolino of Monte Giorgio. In 1295 lie was chosen Bishop of Abruzzi (Teramo) under Celestine V, but before his consecration the pope had resigned and Boniface VIII who suspected Ugolino as belonging to the Zelanti annulled the appointment (see Bull "In Suprema? Dignitatis Specula" in "Bullarium Francis.", IV, 376 Nearly tiny years later he was elected provin- cial of Macerata. Most scholars arc now agreed on fixing upon Ugolino a- the author of the " Fioretti " i of St. Francis" in their original

form. For recent research has revealed that this classic collection of narratives, which forms one of the most delightful productions of the Middle Ages, or rather the fifty-three chapters which form the true texl of the" Fioretti " (for the four appendixes are ad- ditions of later compilers) were translated into Italian by an unknown fourteenth-century friar from a larger Latin work attributed to Ugolino. Although this Latin original has not come down to us, we have in the "Actus B. Francisci et Sociorum Ejus", edited by Paul Sabatier in "Collection d'Etudes" (Paris, 1902. IV), an approximation to it which may he con- sidered on the whole as representing the original of the " Fioretti ". That Ugolino was the principal com- piler of the "Actus" seems certain; how far he may lie considered the sole author of the " Fioretti " of the primitive "Actus Fioretti " is not so clear. His labour which consisted chiefly in gathering the flowers for his bouquet from written and oral local tradition appears to have been completed before 1328.

i-lNG. Script, ord. \hn (1650 . 179; Si, mom \. Sup-

plementum (1806). addenda 727; Luxgi DA Fabbiano, Dm-

in- istorica intorno aW -Hi (FabriaBO,

1883); ' anU Pravincia

Ptcena (Quaracchi, 1886, 232 sqq.j Manzom. Finn if i _'n.l e<l.,

B v tick. Floretum S. I

(Paris. 1902), preface; Milium, Primordi Glorwri deW ardme

Castelplanio, 1903i. VI; Arnold, The

Ion, 1904 : Pace, L'autore del

XIX, fasc. II; Van

Obtbot in Annal. Botland., XXI. 443 Bqq.

Paschal Robinson.

Bruni, Leoxardo. an eminent Italian humanist, b. of poor and humble parents at Arezzo, the birth- place of Petrarch, in 1369; d. at Florence. (I March. 1444. He is also culled Aretino from the city of his birth. Beginning at lir-t the atudj of law, he later, under the patronage of SalutatO and the in-

fluence of the Greek scholar Chrysoloras, turned

his attention to the study of the classics. In L40S he obtained through his friend Poggio the post of

Apostolic secretary under Pope Innocent VII. He remained at Rome for several years, continuing as ary under Popes Gregory XII and Alexander V. In 1410 he was elected Chancellor of the Republic of Florence, hut resigned the office aftera few months, returning to the papal court, as secretary under John XXIII. whom he afterwards accompanied to the ( louncil of Constance. On the deposition of that pope in 141.5, Bruni returned to Florence, where he spent the remaining years of his life.

Here he wrote his chief work, a Latin history of Florence, "Historiarum Fdorentinarum Libri XII" (Strasburg, 1610). In recognition of this great work the State conferred upon him the rights of citizen- ship and exempted the author and his children from taxation. In 1427 through the favour of tin' Medici he was again appointed state chancellor, a post which he held until his death. During these seven- teen years he performed many valuable services to the State. Bruni contributed greatly to the re- vival of Greek and Latin learning in Italy in the fifteenth century and was foremost among the scholars of the Christian Renaissance. He, more than any other man. made the treasures of the Hellenic world accessible to the Latin scholar through his literal translations into Latin of the works of Greek authors. Among these may be mentioned his translations of Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch, Demosthe- nes, and ^Eschines. These were considered models of pure Latinity.

His original works include: "Commentarius Rerum Suo Tempore Gestarum"; "De Romse Origine"; "De Bello Italico adversus Gothos"; and ten volumes of letters, "Epistolse Familiar es", which, written in elegant Latin, are very valuable for the literary history of the fifteenth century. He was also the author of biographies in Italian of Dante and Pe- trarch and wrote in Latin the lives of Cicero and Aristotle. So widespread was the admiration for Brum's talents that foreigners came from all parts to see him. The great esteem in which he was held by the Florentines was shown by the extraordinary public honours accorded him at his death. His corpse was clad in dark silk, and on his breast was laid a copy of his "History of Florence". In the presence of many foreign ambassadors and the court of Pope Eugenius, Manetti pronounced the funeral oration and placed the crown of laurel upon his head. He was then buried at the expense of the State in the Cemetery of Santa Croce, where his resting-place is marked by a monument executed by Rosseflino.

Symonds, Renaissance in Italy (New v'erk. 1900). II; The h'liiriiln; 1. 1, nutria; Yon.], I)u II iiiicrbeUbung ties dassischen Alterthums I Berlin, 1SS93); the most complete ed. of Bruni a \viirk> is that of Mehus (Florence, 1731 ).

Edmund Burke.

Brunn, Diocese of, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Olmtitz, embracing the south-western part of Moravia, an area of 3S25 sq. m., and containing, ac- cording to the "Catalogus cleri Diceceseos Brunen- eis 1007", about 1,051,654 inhabitants, 1,000,607 of whom are Catholics.

I. History. — The erection of the Diocese of Brunn was due to Empress Maria Theresa. The

territory pi I. ■ :.. i ._-.-. I i i

very early period to the Diocese of Olmutz. To obviate the difficulties arising from the administra- tion of such a vast territory. Maria Theresa in 1 773 entered into negotiations with Pope Clement XIV. Olmutz was to be raised to the rank of an arch- bishopric and two newly created bishoprics! — Brunn and Troppau — assigned it as suffragans. Eventually, however, only one wis treated. By a papal Bull of Pius VI, dated 5 December, 1777, Olmtitz was made an archbishopric and Brunn erected into an episcopal see. i ite chapter of the

provostship of Sts. Peter and Paul which had been