Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/488

 CATANZARO

430

CATECHUMEN

fate of Sicily. The city has suffered much from the eruptions of Etna. Most of its old monuments are buried under the lava. According to legend the Faith was first preached there by St. Beryllus, an immediate Disciple of Christ. During the persecu- tion of Decius the virgin St. Agatha suffered mar- tyrdom. At the same period or a little later the Bishop of Catania was St. Events mentioned in the acts of the martyrs of Leontini (303). This same year is marked by the martyrdom of the Deacon Eu- plius and others. Domninus, Bishop of Catania, was present at the Council of Ephesus (431); another bishop, Fortunatus, was twice sent with Ennodius by Pope Hormisdas to Emperor Anastasius I to effect the union of the Eastern Churches with Rome (514, 516). Bishops Leo and Junius appear in the corre- spondence of St. Gregory the Great. In 730 Bishop Jacobus suffered martyrdom for his defence of images. Another bishop, St. Leo II, was known as a wonder- worker (thaumaturgus). Bishop Euthymius was at first an adherent of Photius, but in the Eighth Gen-

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eral Council approved the restoration of Ignatius as patriarch. Among other bishops of Catania may be noted, Giuliano della Rovere, later pope under the name of Julius II. The cathedral was destroyed by the earthquake of 22 January, 1693, in which thou- sands of people met their death. The church del San Carcere contains beautiful sculptures of the eleventh century and a fine painting of St. Agatha by Bernardino Negro. The church of San Nicolo possesses fine paintings and a magnificent organ of 2916 pipes, built under Abbot Donato del Piano. The adjoining Benedictine monastery is famous for its cloister, library, and rich collection of paint- ings. In the ninth century, while still a Greek city, Catania became suffragan to Monreale. In 1860 it was made an archiepiscopal sec, immediately sub- ject to the Holy See. The archdiocese contains 295,- 300 inhabitants, with 43 parishes, 16 religious houses of men and 17 of women, and 47 educational in- stitutions.

The University of Catania was founded by Pope EugeniusIVin 1444 with the co-operation of Alfonso, King of Aragon and Sicily. The papal Bull of erec- tion, besides establishing the usual faculties on the model of Bologna, authorized the teaching of Greek and Latin. Funds for the endowment were provided by the municipality of Catania and by royal grants. The privileges of the university were confirmed in 1458 and 1494. It comprises at present the Faculties of Law, Medicine, Natural Sciences, Philosophy and Letters, with 105 professors and 1 100 students. The library, founded in 1755 by the Benedictine abbot, Vito A :o, contains 120,000 volumes,

Cappkixktti, Lrchirsct Italia (Venire, lxll). XXI, 633-42: Ferrara, st,, rut ill Catania sino alia line del aecolo XVIII tibia., 1829); Ann. eccl. (Home, 1907), s. v.

U. Benioni.

Catanzaro (Catacium), Diocese of, suffragan of Reggio. Catanzaro is the capital of the province of Calabria, Italy. The date of the erection of the see is uncertain; it may have been 1122, when Callistus II transferred to Catanzaro the See of Taverna. The diocese has a population of 85,000, with 48 parishes, 97 churches and chapels, 1 1 6 secular and 4 regular priests, 1 religious house of men, and 5 of women.

Cappeiaetti, Le chiese d'ltalia (Venice, 1844), XXI, 181; Vincenzo Amato, Mcmorie storiette di Catanzaro (Nantes, 1670).

U. Benigni.

Cataphrygians. See Montanists.

Catechetics. See Doctrine, Christian.

Catechisms. See Doctrine, Christian.

Catechumen, in the early Church, was the name applied to one who had not yet been initiated into the sacred mysteries, but was undergoing a course of prep- aration for that purpose. The word occurs in Gal., vi. 6: "Let him that is instructed in the word [6 KaTTixoifiefos, in qui catechizatur] communicate to him that instructeth him [rip Kar-qxavvTi., ex qui catechizat] in all good things". Other parts of the verb Kar-nx^" occur in I Cor., xiv, 19; Luke, i, 4; Acts, xviii, 24.

I. — As the acceptance of Christianity involved be- lief in a body of doctrine and the observance of the Divine law I " teach, make disciples, scholars of them " " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you", Matt., xxviii, 20), it is clear that some sort of preliminary instruction must always have been given to the converts. In Apostolic times this would vary according as these were Jews or pagans, and was naturally simple in character and short in duration. When, however, the churches came to be organized, the instruction and probation would be longer and more elaborate. Thus, as early as the date of the Epistle to the Galatians (56-57?) we meet with the mention of catechist and catechu- men; but we cannot infer from this that the full regulations were already in force. It was rather the danger of apostasy, or even betrayal in time of perse- cution which gave rise to special precautions as to admission into the Church. To avert this danger a careful intellectual and moral preparation was need- ed: intellectual, to guard against the arguments of the pagan philosophers; moral, to give strength against the torments of the persecutors. This is the "trial of faith, more precious than gold which is tried by the fire" of which St. Peter speaks (I Pet. i, 7). Hence we find in St. Justin's first Apology (c. Ixi, P. G., VI, 420), distinct reference to the twofold preparation and also to the more elaborate rites of initiation: "Those who are persuaded and believe in the truth of our teachings [SiSaaKofiem] and sayings undertake to live accordingly; they are taught to ask, with fasting, the remission of their sins; we also praying and fasting with them. Then they are led by us to a place where there is water, and they are regenerated in the same way as we have been regenerated" etc. By the end of the second century we find the catechumenate in force in all its main lines. Tertullian reproaches the heretics with disregarding it; among them, he says, "one does not know which is the catechumen and which the faithful, all alike come [to the Mysteries], all hear the same discourses, and say the same prayers" (quis catechumenus, quis fidelis incertum est; pariter ml, tint, pariter audiunt, pariter orant); "Cate- chumens are initiated before they are instructed" (ante sunt perfecti catechumeni quam edocti. — " De Prsescr.", xli, P. L., II, 56). A little later we read of Origeo being in charge of the catechetical school (toO ttjs KaTnxrfo-eus SiSaa-Ka\dov) at Alexandria (Fusel).. Hist., Feel., VI, iii). It is not necessary to quote further authorities for the third and fourth centuries, the age in which the catechumenate flourished in its full form. During the years of persecution the ne- cessity of the institution was realized, and in the