Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/720

 CHEROKEE

646

CHERUBIM

the people of the villages and country places. The sermons of Cheminais were edited by Bretonneau (4 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1690-91 ; 7th ed., Brussels, 1713). They were translated into German (Augsburg, 1739; Pressburg, 178S), Dutch (Rotterdam, 1724), Italian (Venice, 1735). He was also the author of a work called "Sentiments de pi£te" (Paris, 1691, 1693, 1700; Brussels, 1702). A later edition (Toulouse, 1706) contained the "Sentiments of James II, King of Great Britain". This work was translated into German (Cologne. 1723; Vienna, 1786), Dutch (Ant- werp), and Italian (Milan, 1837).

Remargins du feu P. Cheminais sur Veloquence in he Nouveau M.rrure (Feb., 1720). 19; Fellek, Biog. time. I Paris, 1813); De Backer, Bibl. de c. de J., first series (Liege, 1853).

T. J. Campbell.

Cherokee Indians, the largest and most import- ant tribe of Iroquoian stock of the southern section of the United States, and formerly holding the whole southern Alleghany mountain region of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, with consid- able portions of Alabama, Virginia and Kentucky. They now reside in Oklahoma, with the exception of some 1300 souls on reserved lands in Western North Carolina, the descendants of those who remained in t heir old home when the rest of the tribe was removed to the West in 1839. The origin and meaning of the name, which they pronounce Tsaragi or Tsalagi, are unknown. They commonly call themselves Y&nwiya, " real people".

The history of the Cherokees begins with De Soto, who passed within their territory in 1540. In 16S4 they made their first treaty with the English of Caro- lina, with whom thereafter they maintained friendly relations throughout the Colonial period, except in the Yamasee war in 1715-1716, and in a war waged on their own account in 1759-1761. They took sides also with the English against the Americans during the Revolution, but made a treaty of peace with the United States in 1785, although the border fighting went on some years longer. In 1821 Sequoya, a mixed-blood of the tribe, invented a syllabic alphabet for the language which has been an immense factor in their progress toward civilization. In 1827 they adopted a regular form of government modelled upon that of the United States, but after long controversy with the State of Georgia, which claimed jurisdiction over most of their territory not already ceded, a treaty was forced upon them in 1835 by which they bound themselves to remove to their present home in Oklahoma. The removal was accomplished in 1839, and their tribal existence continued under the style of the "Cherokee Nation", until dissolved for Ameri- can citizenship in l!K)(i. As already noted, a small body remained behind in the old home in the East. The tribe at present numbers altogether about 20,000 persons of pure and mixed blood, exclusive of several thousand names carried upon the rolls, but repudiated by the Indians.

The Cherokees were a sedentary and agricultural people, with hunting and fishing as subordinate occu- pat ions. The women were expert potters and basket- (veavers, and the men skilful carvers of stone and wood. They had no central government, each town being independent in its action. They had a system oi even clans, with descent in the female line. In religion they were pantheists, holding in special rever- ence the Sun. Fire and Water. Their great religious ceremony was the Green Corn .lance, a thanskgiving

for the new crops, and their chief athletic amuse- ment was a ball-game which is the original of our lacrosse. They buried their dead in caves or under piles of stones.

The story of a Cherokee mission as early as 1643 inn t l.c regarded as apocryphal. So far as known, the first Christianizing, or" at least civilizing effort among them was undertaken about 1 736 by Christian

Priber, possibly a Jesuit, but more probably a French officer or agent, who established himself among them, learned the language, organized the tribal govern- ment upon a civilized basis, and taught them the principles of Christian morality for some years, until he was seized by the English and eonveyedto Charles- ton, South Carolina, where he died in prison. In 1801 the Moravians began work among the tribe, and were followed by Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Baptists. Catholic mission schools, in whole or part for Cherokees, are now conducted at Vinita, Tulsa, and Muscogee, Indian Territory. The whole tribe may be considered as civilized and Christian, although still retaining much of the old time belief and custom.

Mooney, Myths of (he Cherokee, in Nineteenth Report, Bureau Am. Elhnoloan i Washing. >n. 1900); Adair, Hist, of the Am. Indians (London, 1775); Bartbam, Travels (London, 1792).

Jambs Moonet. Chersonese. See Tiraspol.

Chersonesus, (1) a titular see of Crete. The city stood on a little peninsula of the north-east coast, between Cnossus and Olous, and was the seaport of Lyttos. In the fourth century b. c. it struck coins, and was known for its temple of Britomartis. Its ruins are near the modern village of Khersonisi. Lequien (II, 269) mentions four Greek bishops, from 441 to 780; the see still figures in later ''Notitise Episcopatuum" of the twelfth or thirteenth century. Seven Latin bishops are mentioned by Lequien (III, 915), from 1298 to 1549, of whom the last two, Dio- nysius and Joannes Franciscus Verdura, were present at the Council of Trent. Another bishop of Cher- sonesus was Pietro Coletti, at the beginning of the seventeenth century — a Catholic, but whether of his native Greek Rite or of the Latin is unknown (E. Legrand, "Bibliographic hellenique, 17 e siecle", III, 143). — (2) A titular see of Thrace, and suffragan to Heracleia. The city was situated near Callipolis (Gallipoli) and Agora (Malgara?). One Greek bishop is mentioned in 449 and one Latin in 1527 (Lequien, I, 1128; 111,973).

Corner, Creta Sacra (Venice, 1755); Pashley, Travels in Crete (Cambridge, 1S37). I, 268 sq.; Spratt, Travels and Re- searches in Crete (London, 1S67). I, 104 sq.; Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geogr. (London, 1S7S), I, 507, 508.

S. Petridi';s.

Cherubim. — Angelic beings or symbolic repre- sentations thereof, mentioned frequently in the Old and once in the New Testament.

I. In Philology. — The word cherub (cherubim is the Hebrew masc. plural) is a word borrowed from the As- syrian kirubu, from kardbu, "to be near", hence it means near ones, familiars, personal servants, body- guards, courtiers. It was commonly used of those heavenly spirits, who closely surrounded the Majesty of God and paid Him intimate service. Hence it came to mean as much as "Angelic Spirit". (The change from K of Kardbu, to K. of Kiruli is nothing unusual in Assyrian. The word has been brought into connexion with the Egyptian Xefer by metathesis from Xercf=K-r-bh.) A similar metathesis and play upon sound undoubtedly exists between Kerub ;\mi tiakab, "to ride", and Merkeba, "chariot ". The late Jewish explanation by analogy between Ki rub and Rektib, "a youth ".seems worthless. The word ought to be pro- nounced in English qerub and qervbim, and not with a soft eh.

II. In Art. — Cherub and Cherubim are most fre- quently referred to in the Bible to designate sculp- tured, engraved, anil embroidered li^nr.-s used in the furniture and ornamentation of the Jewish Sanctuary. — (a) According to Exod., xxv, 18-21 therewere placed on the kapporeth, or lid of the Ark, i. e. "the Mercy- Seat ", the figures of two cherubim of wrought ( mass- ive?) gold. (b) According to III Kings, vi. 23 sqq., and II Paralip., iii, 11 sqq., Solomon placed in the