Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/495

 CATHEDRA

437

CATHEDRA

against his former coreligionists were powerless against the evil. The Cathari, 40,000 in number, left Bosnia and passed into Herzegovina (1446). The heresy disappeared only after the conquest of these provinces by the Turks in the second half of the fif- teenth century. Several thousand of its members joined the Orthodox Church, while many more em- braced Islam.

III. The Cathari and the Catholic Church. — The Catharist system was a simultaneous attack upon the Catholic Church and the then existing State. The Church was directly assailed in its doctrine and hier- archy. The denial of the value of oaths, and (he suppression, at least in theory, of the right to punish, undermined the basis of the Christian State. But the worst danger was that the triumph of the heretical principles meant the extinction of the human race. This annihilation was the direct consequence of the Catharist doctrine, that all intercourse between the sexes ought to be avoided and that suicide or the Entlura, under certain circumstances, is not only lawful but commendable. The assertion of some writers, like Charles Molinier. that Catholic and Catharist teaching respecting marriage an' identical, is an erroneous interpretation of Catholic doctrine and practice. Among Catholics, the priest is for- bidden to marry, but the faithful can merit eternal happiness in the married state. I'm- the Cathari, no salvation was possible without previous renunciation of marriage. Mr. H. ('. Lea, who cannot be suspected of partiality towards the Catholic Church, writes: "However much we may deprecate the means used for its [Catharism] suppression and commiserate those who suffered for conscience' sake, we cannot but admit that the cause of orthodoxy was in this case the cause of progress and civilization. Had Catharism become dominant, or even had if been allowed to exist on equal terms, its influence could not have failed to prove disastrous." (See Lea, Inquisition, I. 106.)

Edf.rhabd or Bkthune, Antihrtresis, in Bibliolh. Max Pair. XXIV, 1.MY.-S4; St. Bernard. N. rmon, .■ in Cantiru, ,,, /• /. CI. XXXIII. HISS llll_'; Bern I e iihim<, Prartica lin/iusitinms h&relica? pravitatis,ed Dor us (Paris. lss>. ; p,,,\ \- i km s. Vita hanUeorvm, in P. L.. CCIV, 775-92: Moneta, Adv. Catharos ,t \i'uhli7i\ DuRAND,

Thesaurus nor Anecdot. (Pans. 1 7 1 7 i, V; Hem >;i .>> s . o ,

Scrmonrs contra Catharos, in P. L., CVC, 11-98; Fin D Corpus documentorum Inquisitioms harrtu-a prantatis Neer~ landica: (Ghent, 18S9, sqq.); Dollingkk, BeitrQae zur Sekten~ gesch. ilrs M. A. (Munich, 1890); Schmidt, Histoire >f doet de la secte des Cathares (Paris. IM',1 1 l>"! us, /,, : I (Paris, 1879); Lea, Inquisition of the Middl An, (New York, p. .l.i, I, s'.i-.'iis, .-.',:; vs; ii, j!ki :;i;.. :.i;ii sr. -,n.i ,,., i„, ; Tanon, rr.6u7i.7uj- de V inquisition en France (Paris, 1893); Alphandery, Les id&es morales chu U h> u ro/torrs lotm. ou di-but «.'u XIII' sort, (Paris, 19031, 31-99; Guiraud, Questions ,n, i (Pans, 1906), 1-149; Palmikki, /., /(„„„.,/,/, .„ Unsnie- Hcrzio. in Dirt th.ol. rath. (Paris, 190 "ii, II. WVl-My. Va- candard, L'inquisition (Paris, 1907). si 1J3 an. I passim; Davison. Some Forerunners of St. Francis at Assist (s. C. 1907), 10 sqq. Molim.r, JjEglise lr VhUtoiredc France (Paris, 1903), Part I. Ill, 54-77.

N. A. Weber.

Cathedra, (1) the chair or throne (#p6ros) of a bishop in his cathedral church, on which he presides at solemn functions. Originally the bishop's cathe- dra stood in the centre of the apse, flanked on either side, though on a lower plane, by the benches of the assisting priests. A good idea of the arrangement may be had from the catacomb frescoes represent- ing Christ seated on a throne surrounded by the Apostles, whom He is instructing in their future duties, and in the fourth-century mosaic in the apse of St. Pudenziana. The earliest type of bishop's throne consisted of a high-backed arm-chair, rounded at the top, made out of a single block of marble. The stone seats in the Roman catacombs of similar form were probably used by the bishop in the oc- casional services of the subterranean chapels.

Wooden episcopal chairs were in use in Africa. The marble chair supporting the famous statue of St. Hippolytus (third century) is an excellent example of an ancient cathedra; the back has less than half the elevation of the thrones of the fourth and fifth centuries. In several Roman basilicas, e. g. St. Petronilla. St. Balbina, and Sts. Nereusand Achilleus, a niche for the bishop's cathedra was constructed in the wall of the apse, but this arrangement was exceptional. An example of a cathedra with a perforated seat, like-those used in the Roman baths, is preserved at Monte Cassino. The form and decoration of the most ancient of episcopal cathedra? were borrowed from paganism; one side of the chair of St. Hippolytus, however, is engraved with the saint's computation of the paschal cycle from the year 222 to 334. During the early centuries ofChris- tianity it was customary lor the bishop to deliver his sermon or homily while seated in his chair facing the con- gregation, but in the great basilicas oft he ( ionstantin- ian era, as well as subsequently, this arrangement be- came impracti- cable; it would have been ex- tremely difficult in a large church to be heard fro u this location, par- ticularly in a church where t lie alt a r was sur- m ountcd 1 >y a ciboriuni. St, John Chrysostom was accustomed to address his great audience from the better-adapted lector's ambon in front of t he altar. It appears prob- able also that in some instances the episcopal cat nedra was movable, and thus could be placed near the chancel while the bishop addressed the congrega- tion. This inference is suggested by the famous chair of Bishop Maximianus at Ravenna, the back of which, as well as the sides, contains sculptured ornamentation; if the chair was to remain stationary against the wall of the apse, the adornment of the back would have been superfluous. In a church ornamented with an iconostasis, a movable episcopal chair became especially necessary if the bishop wished to preach from his throne, for otherwise he would be almost wholly shut out from \i< » of the congrega- tion. The two most fan.' i ithedne still

preserved are the chair of Maxirni 6 mentioned

above and the chair of St. I'eter. The latter, a movable chair, stood in the time of Ennodius of Pa via

(d. 521), who alludes to it. in the baptistery of St. Peter's. During the pontificate of Alexander VII

(1655-1667) it was encased in the bronze tin-one in

the apse of the new St. Peter's, where it remained invisible till 1867. It was then, on the occasion of the eighteenth centenary of the martyrdom of Sts. Peter and Paul, by order of Pius IX, removed from its bronze enclosure and exposed to the gaze

of the faithful. De Hossi took advantage of the

moment, and gave a description of the .'hair in his "Rulletlino" (1867, 33 Sqq.). The oak framework, in which four large rings are fastened, is regarded as

Ivory Chair op Bishop Maximian (Ravenna, Sixth Century)