Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/404

 COPENHAGEN

352

COPERNICUS

papatu romano ut prsesis urbi et orbi" were the words used in conferring it (I invest thee with the Roman papacy, that thou rule over the city and the world).

Modern Use. — Under all these different forms the cope has not substantially changed its character or shape. It was a vestment for processions, and one worn by all ranks of the clergy when assisting at a function, but never employed by the priest and his sacred ministers in offering the Holy Sacrifice. At the present day it is still, as the " Caremoniale " directs, worn by cantors on certain festal occasions in the sol- emn Office; but it is also the vestment assigned to the celebrant, whether priest or bishop, in almost all func- tions in which the chasuble is not used, for example in processions, in the greater blessings and consecrations, at solemn Vespers and Lauds, in giving Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, at the absolutions and burial of the dead, at the .\sperges before Mass, etc. At a pontifical high Mass it is worn by the assistant priest who especially attends upon the bishop. As regards colour the cope follows that of the day, and it may be made of any rich or becoming material. Ow- ing to its ample dimensions and unvarying shape, ancient copes are preserved to us in proportionately greater numbers than other vestments and provide the finest specimens of medieval embroidery we pos- sess. Among these the Syon Cope in the South Ken- sington Museum, London, and the Ascoli Cope are re- markable as representing the highest excellence of that specially English thirteenth-century embroidery known as the opus anglicanum. We are also indebted to the use of copes for some magnificent specunens of the jeweller's craft. The brooch or clasp, meant to fasten the cope in front, and variously called 7norse, pectoral, bottone, etc., was an object often in the high- est degree precious and costly. The work which was the foundation of all the fortunes of Benvenuto Cel- lini was the magnificent morse which he made for Pope Clement VIL (See Cellini, Benvenuto.) Some admirable examples of these clasps still survive.

Besides the minor articles wliieh are devoted to this subject in the ecclesiastical encyclopedias and worlcs on archaeology, we may note the exhaustive work of Braun, Die hturgi.iche Gewandung (Freiburg, 1907). 306-35S also the very thorough discussion of Edmund Bishop m Dublin «f^I^ew (.Jan.. isai ), 17-38; and Thalhofer, Liturgik, I, 8S7. For some magnih- cent illustrations of copes, see especially db Iarcy, J^a Broderie. (Angers, 18901, and also Kohault de Fleury, La Messe (Paris, 1889), VIII, 1-17.

Herbert Thurston.

Copenhagen, University of. — It was founded by a Bull which Sixtus IV issuetl 19 June, 1475, at the re- quest of King Christian I. This Bull authorized the primate, the Archbishop of Lund, to establish a uni- versity in any place selected by the king ; and the latter, by letters patent of 4 Oct., 1478, laid the foundation at Copenhagen. The Bishop, Dean, and Provost of Ros- kild and the Dean of Copenhagen were appointed con- servators. The statutes, drawn up by the Archbishop of Lund and promulgated 28 Nov., 1479, followed closely those of Cologne. From Cologne also the new university received its first professors. The most dis- tinguished among these, before the Reformation, was the Cannelite, Povel Helgesen (Paul Helia, q. v.) writer of imijortant controversial and historical works. Both he and Bishop Lage Urne, chancellor of the university, vigorously opposed the advances of Protestantism in Denmark. The university suffered severely during the religious upheaval, but was reorganized under King Christian III by the Lutheran theologian, Johann Bu- genhagen (15.39), called for that purpose from Witten- berg. In the conflagration of 1728 the university buildings were almost totally destroyed, but were at once restored by King ChristianVI (1732). Notable among the professors' during the modern (leriod are HoUierg, Oehlcnschlager, Ra.sk, Madvig, and Oersted. The university comprises at present the faculties of theology, law, medicine, philosophy, and sciences, with

97 professors and about 2000 students. The library- contains 3.50,000 volumes anrl (i500 manuscripts.

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Nicoi-Ars Copernicus

E. A. P.1CE.

Copernicus, Nicolads, latinized form of Niclas KoppEHNiGK, the name of the founder of the helio- centric planetary theory; b. at Thorn, 19 Feb., 1473, d. at Frauenburg, 24 May, 1543, both places being in what is now Prussian territory. Whether the fam- ily came originally from Silesia or from Poland, cer- tain it is that his father Niclas, a merchant, emigrated from Krakow to Thorn, and married the sLster of Lucas Watzelrode, later Prince-Bishop of Ermland. < )f the four children the oldest and youngest, Andreas and N i c o 1 a u s, adopted the cler- ical career, while the older girl be- came a Cistercian nun and Abbess (if C u 1 m, and tlic> younger marrieil. The whole family belonged to the Third Order of St. Dominic. Nic- olaus was hardly ten years old when hisfatherdied. His uncle, Lucas, how- ever, took charge of the children and gave the boys a uni- versity training.

Nicolaus Nicolai de Thorunia was matriculated in Krakow in 1491, where he studied classics, mathe- matics, drawings, and perspective. Professor Blar, who represented astronomy, belonged to the school of Ptolemy. The bishop, himself a former student of Bologna, sent the boys to Italy. In 1497 Nicolaus was enrolled in the LTniversity of Bologna as of (wr- man nationality and a student in canon law. He also studied Greek and became a disciple of Novara. then professor of astronomy. To obtain for iiis nephews the necessary support, the bishop procured their election as canons by the chapter of Frauenburg (1497-1498). In the spring of 1500 the brothers went from Bologna to Rome for the jubilee. According to George Joachim, surnamed "Rheticus" (because a native of Feldkirch, in ancient Rhsetia) anil his friend Achilles Gasser, Copernicus gave astronomical lec- tures in the Eternal City, and it was there that he awoke to his vocation of founding a new astronomy. The brothers obtained from the chapter of Frauen- burg a two years' leave of absence to continue their studies. From 1501 to 1503 Nicolaus was in Padua and Ferrara studying medicine and jurisprudence. In Ferrara he took his degree of Doctor of Canon Law; but no document is found of his graduating in medi- cine. His proficiency in that profession was, how- ever, later evinced by his renown as a physician at the episcopal court of Heilsberg, where his uncle resided. After his university studies Copernicus |>ractised nl(^li- cine for six years (1500-1512) at Heilsberg. 1m iim sought by bishops and princes, but especially In the poor, whom he served gratis. Thereisno docunieni n' show that Copernicus ever received higlier orders. 11 1- medicul [iractice. which was only private, wouM nei speak against him being a priest; and the fact thai in 1537 King Sigismund of Poland put his name on the! list of four candidates for the vacant episcopal seat of