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 CASULA

417

CATACOMBS

the eighteenth century the very name of casuistry became a synonym for moral laxity — a signification it yet unfortunately retains in the minds of many whose information on the subject is drawn from prejudiced sources. When Jansenistic rigorism seemed to have attained a permanent triumph, especially in France and Spain, relief was obtained through Alphonsus M nia de Liguori (d. 1787), the saintly founder of the Congregation of the .Most Holy Redeemer. By re- calling casuists to the study of their classic authors he restored casuistry itself to the place its importance and dignity demanded. His first publication was the "Medulla Theologize Moralis" of Hermann Busem- baum, S. J., with annotations. In eight successive editions this work was enlarged and improved, until it became a synopsis of casuistical literature. The last edition, entitled "Theologia Moralis", was pub- lished in 1785, and received the approbation of the Holy See in 1803. In 1871 Pius IX proclaimed the saintly author a Doctor of the Church. The after- history of casuistry is one of peace and development along the lines laid down by St. Alphonsus.

Zaccari \. Dissertatio (-in introduction to the Moral Theology of St. Alphonsus); Bouquillon, Theologxa Moralis Fundamcn- talis (Bruges, 1903) ; Hvrtkr, Nomendator Lit., apologetic or ex- pository writers; Hon ax. Clerical Studu 8 (Boston, 1898): Lehm- kuhl, Die katholische Moralthcolotiic und das Studium derselben in Stimmen aus M aria-Loach (1901), 11; Idem. Die Moralthe- oioiji, unddie Kniih ihrer Methode, ibid., 275; Brunetiere, line apologie de la casuistique in Revue des Deux Monde* (Janu- ary, 1885); Mausbach, Die katholische Moral, dire Methoden. Gnmdsatze, una" Aufgaben (2d e.t.. Cologne, 1902); Meven- berg. Die katholische Moral ali A . 3t u I, 1901 1; Hi i.-

LER, 1st die katholische Moral!'., ,,■..,■ .■'.,/ irftig f (Fulda,

1902); Haring, Die Casmstik m d, r \l.,r.dtl„ol„gie in Linzer theologisclt-praktisehe Quartalschrift (1898), 596; Urbany in

rdextkon, II, 2035-44; Dublanchy in Diet.de thiol, cath., especially valuable for its apologetic and bibliographical treat- ment of thesubject; .Joseph Kickahy, Political and Moral Essays (London and New York); Humphrey, Conscience and Law (London. 1896); Slater, A Manual of Moral Theology in Speaking Countries (New York, 1908).

Timothy Brosnahan.

Casula. See ( Ihasuble.

Casus Reservati. See Reserved Cases.

Caswall, Edward, Oratorian and poet, b. 1.5 July, 1814, at Vately, Hampshire, of which place his father, the Rev. R. C. Caswall, was vicar; d. at the Oratory, Birmingham, 2 January, 1878. He was educated at Marlborough (irammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was Hulme exhibitioner. Before leaving Oxford he published, under the pseudonym of Scriblerus Redivivus, "The Art of Pluck", in imitation of Aristotle, a witty satire upon the ways of the careless college student, which still lias a circulation. To the eighth edition, in 1843, he wrote a special preface of regret for certain pas- sages, now excluded, which, at that later date, he had come to regard as irreverent. In 1S38 he was ordained deacon, and in 1839 priest, in the Church of England. In 1840 he became perpetual curate of Stratford-sub-Castle in the diocese of his uncle, Dr. Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury. In 1846 he pub- lished "Sermons on the Seen and the Unseen", a volume of thoughtful discourses marked by the same tender and fervent piety found in his well- known hymns, and by a clear leaning to certain ele- ments of Catholic doctrine. Soon afterwards, hav- ing come under the influence of Cardinal (then Dr.) Newman and the "Tracts for the Times", he resigned his curacy and, in January, 1847, was received into the Church by Cardinal Acton at Rome. In 1849 Caswall's wife, who had also become a Catholic, died suddenly of cholera, and early in 1850 he became an Oratorian. In 1852 he was ordained priest, and lived at the Oratory until his death. He was buried at Rednal, in the private cemetery of the congregation, near the grave of Cardinal Newman. Besides various manuals of devotion, several of which he translated from the French, his principal works are: "Lyra Catholica", a translation III— 27

of all the Breviary and Missal hymns with some others (often reprinted; last edition, London, 1884); "The Masque of Mary and other Poems", original poetry, thoughtful, imaginative, tender, and full of zealous faith, a book which drew from Cardinal Newman, in return, a remarkable poem addressed to the author (reprinted several times; last edition, London, 1887); "The Catholic's Latin Instructor in the principal Church offices and devotions" (fre- quent Iv reprinted; last edition, London, 1897).

Weekly Register. 19 Jan., 1878, p. 38; Guardian, 9 Jan., 1878, p. 41; GlLLOW, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath., s. v.; Cooper in Diet. Nat. liwg.. s. v.; Publisher's Note to The Art of Pluck (1893).

K. M. Warren.

Catacombs, Roman. — This subject will be treated under seven heads: I. Position; II. History; III. Inscriptions: IV. Paintings; V. Sarcophagi; VI. Small objects Found in the Catacombs; VII. Catacombs outside Rome.

I. Position. — The soil on which the city of Rome is built, as well as that of the surrounding district, is of volcanic origin; alluvial deposits are found only on the right bank of the 'liber, on the downward course of the stream, below the Vatican. Wherever the volcanic deposits occur three strata appear, one above the other: the uppermost is the so-called pozzolano, earth from which the Romans, by an admixture of lime, prepared their excellent cement; next is a stratum of tufa, made up half of earth and half of stone; the lowest stratum is composed of stone. From the earliest times die lowest layer was worked as a stone quarry, and, both in the lowest and upper- most strata, irregularly hewn galleries are discovered everywhere, as in the Capitoline Hill and in the suburbs of the city.

It was formerly believed that the early Christians used these galleries as places of burial for their dead. But all the catacombs are laid out in the middle stratum of tufa, from which no building-material was obtained. It is only necessary to compare the ir- regular galleries of the sand-pits and stone-quarries with the narrow straight passages and vertical walls of the catacombs in order to recognize the difference. In some cases an arenaria, or sand-pit, forms the starting-point for the laying out of a catacomb; in other spots the catacombs are connected by a gallery with the arenaria: so that, entrance 1 could be gained into the Christian city of the dead, in times of persecu- tion, without exciting notice. The catacombs are, then fore, entirely of Christian construction. As a rule a stairway leads below the surface to a depth of from thirty-three to forty-nine feet or even more; from this point diverge the galleries, which are from ten to thirteen feet in height, and seldom broader than would be necessary for two grave-diggers, one behind the other, to carry a bier. Side galleries branch off from the main galleries, intersecting other passages. From this level or story steps lead to lower levels where there is a second network of gal- leries; there are catacombs which have three or even four stories, as, for example, the Catacomb of St. Sebastian. The labyrinth of galleries is incalculable. It has been asserted that if placed in a straight line they would extend the length of Italy. Along the passages burial chambers (rubicula) open to the right ami left, also hewn out, of the tufa rock. In the side walls of the galleries horizontal tiers of graves rise from the floor to the ceiling; the number of graves in the Roman catacombs is estimated at two millions. The graves, or locu&i, arc cut out of the rock sides of the gallery, so that the length of the bodies can be judged from the length of the graves. When the body, wrapped in cloths, without i sarcophagus, was laid in the spot excavated for it, the excavation was closed by a marble slab or sometimes by large tiles set in mortar. For the wealthy and for martyrs there were also more imposing graves, known as arcosolia.