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 CEOLFRID

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CEOLFRID

had charge of the legion's eagle, assisted at the coun- cils of war, and in the absence of a superior officer took command of the legion. The auxiliary cohorts had six or ten centurions according as they consisted of 500 (cohortes quitigenaricc) or 1000 men (cohortes milliariw). These were inferior to the legionary cen- turions. The centurions carried as insignia of their rank a staff made of a vine-branch, with which, on occasion, they chastised their men; whence vitis (vine) was used to designate the centurionship. Or- dinarily they could rise no higher than the rank of primipihis and at the expiration of their term of service they retired into private life. With the grant of land they received and with what they acquired during the wars they were usually well off. The prhnipili often became wealthy enough to gain en- trance into the equestrian order. The post of cen- turion, it should be noted, was not, as a rule, held by men of family, though occasionally a young man of rank aspiring to a higher military career served first as centurion in a legion.

Of the two centurions mentioned in the Gospels only one was a Roman officer. He who asked Our Saviour to cure his servant and whose faith the Sa- viour so highly commended (Matt., viii, 5 sq. ; Luke, vii, 2 sq.), though a Gentile, belonged to the army of Herod Antipas, since Capharnaum lay in this prince's territory. The tetrarch's army was probably organ- ized after the manner of the Roman auxiliary troops. The other, who commanded the detachment of sol- diers at the Crucifixion (Matt., xxvii, 54; Mark, xv, 39, 44, Luke, xxiii, 47), was of course an officer of the imperial cohort stationed at Jerusalem (Acts, xxi, 31). In the Acts two centurions are mentioned by name, Cornelius, centurion of "the Italian band" or cohort, the first Gentile admitted into the Church (Acts, x, 1 sq.), and Julius, centurion of "the band Augusta", who brought St. Paul to Rome (Acts, xxvii, 1, etc.). Others are spoken of in connexion with the Apostle's arrest and transfer to Caesarea (Acts, xxi, 32, xxii, 25, xxiii, 23). Since no legion was stationed in Palestine before the time of Vespasian, these centurions all belonged to auxiliary cohorts. For this reason it is unlikely that either Cornelius or Julius was a member of the patrician family whose name he bore; both were probably the sons of f reed- men. In a number of places in the O. T. centuriones stands in the Vulg. for mXD ,_ IK', sard me'otk ("captains of hundreds"), once [I Sam. (I K.), viii, 12] even for D^ISn '"It?, sari' hamishshim ("captains of fifty"), though here the agreement of the Sept. with the Vulg. would seem to show that the Hebrew text is defective. In several of these places the D. V. has "centurions", but in the others "captains", "cap- tains of" or "over hundreds"; in two cases (Ex., xviii, 21, 25) "rulers of" or "over hundreds". The centuriones of Ex., xviii, 21, 25, Num., xxxi, 14, etc., Deut., i, 15 were both civil and military officers.

Smith, Diet. Gr. and Bom. A nix,. (London, 19011,1,787,790: Mmmmsen, Nomina el Gratlus t'nituritinum, in Ephcmer. Epi- graph. (1S79), 226-245; Miller, Die Rangordnung und das Avancemenl d. Centurionen, in Philologus <1S791, 126-149; Desjardins, in Melanges Grain. (1884), 676-679: M.irqimhdt, R&m, StaatsvcTWaltung (2nd ed.,) 4o0 sq ; Mommsen and Mar- quardt, Manuel des Antiqu. Rum. (Paris, 1891), XI, 65 sq.

F. Bechtbl.

Ceolfrid, Saint, Benedictine monk, Abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow, b. 642, place of birth not known; d. 29 Sept., 716, at. Langres on the frontier of Burgundy. His family belonged to the highest rank of the Anglo-Saxon nobility. The name Ceolfrid is (lie Teutonic form of Geoffrey. At the age of eigh- teen lit' became :i monk in the monastery of Ripon, then ruled over by St. Wilfrid. After ten yerrs of sluilv and preparation he was ordained priest by St. Wilfrid. He soon afterwards visited Canterbury ami spent some time with Botulph, founder and Abbot of Icanhoe, now the town of Boston (Botulph's town)

in Lincolnshire. On his return to Ripon he fulfilled the duties of novice-master, in which capacity he be- came noted for his profound humility and love of menial work. His fame reached the ears of St. Bene- dict Biscop, then in the midst of his great monastic enterprise on the banks of the Wear. He begged him from St. Wilfrid, and soon after reaching Wearmouth Ceolfrid was made prior of the monastery and left in charge during the absence of Benedict on his journeys to Rome. Meeting with difficulties as superior, he went back to Ripon, but was afterwards persuaded to return. From this time he became the constant com- panion of Benedict and accompanied him to Rome on his fifth journey to the Holy City.

About 681 Benedict began the foundation of a sec- ond monastery at Jarrow on the banks of the Tyne about six miles from Wearmouth. Ceolfrid was ap- pointed the first abbot to act as the deputy of Bene- dict, who in reality was abbot of both houses. He took with him seventeen monks from Wearmouth, and from an inscription formerly on the wall of the church we learn that the monastery was completed about 684 or 685. Benedict died 12 January, 690, and directed the brethren to elect Ceolfrid to be his successor. Ceolfrid proved himself a worthy disciple of his master, carefully carrying out the ideals of Benedict. His disciple, the Venerable Bede, has thus described his character and work: "This last [Ceolfrid] was him- self a man of most extraordinary diligence and supe- rior quickness of apprehension; prompt in carrying into effect but prudent in forming designs and un- rivalled in piety . . . During this long administra- tion Ceolfrid brought to a happy conclusion all the admirable plans for promoting piety which his dis- tinguished predecessor had begun. Time also sug- gested and enabled him to carry into execution nu- merous improvements of his own. Amongst a great variety of these, we ought particularly to notice that he considerably augmented the number of private oratories or chapels of ease; added largely to the plate and sacred vestments of the Church, and with an ardour which equalled the past energy of Benedict in founding, he nearly doubled the libraries of both his monasteries. Besides innumerable other literary ac- quisitions he procured three pandects of the new, added to one of the old translations of the Bible which he had brought from Rome. In his latter days, departing again for that city, he took with him as a donative one of these three valued volumes, leaving to his monasteries the other two" (Liber de Yitis Abbat. Wirim, Wilcock tr.).

This volume, which Ceolfrid carried with him on his last journey to Rome, was the famous "Codex Amia- tinus". Until recent years it was thought to have been the work of Servandus, abbot of a monastery mar Alatri in Italy (sixth century). The name of Cassio- dorus has also been connected with this MS., owing to its striking resemblance to his Bible; but Vigouroux concludes that it is absolutely independent of Cassiq- dorus, though the prologue it contains on the divi- sions of the Bible may possibly be of Cassiodorian origin. The famous Catholic antiquarian, De Rossi (lsssi, discovered its true origin. He has conclu- sively proved that it was written at Wearmouth or Jarrow between the years 690 and 716; that it amis one of the three epics of St. Jerome's Vulgate which Bede refers to in the passage quoted abov ; and that Ceol- frid carried it with him on his last journey to Rome to present it to the sovereign pontiff. He died on the journey, but some of his parly reached Home and presented the MS. to the pope. For many years it wa preserved in the Abbey of Monti' Amiato near Siena; it now rests in the" Laurent ian Library at Florence, where it was transferred at the suppression of the abbey in 1786. This Codex gives the oldest text of St. Jerome's Vulgate and has played a most important role in its history; in the publication of the