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 COVARRUVIAS

457

COVENANTERS

His religious zenl and ascetical learning endeared him to the latter, who appointed him master of novices one month after his profession, and towards the end of 1861 made him prior of the monastery. As prior, Couturier was so esteemed that on the death of (iueranger he was imaniniously elected Abbot of Saint-Pierre (11 February, 1875). Pius IX appointed him consultor of the Sacred Congregation of the In- dex, and granted him and his successors the pri\Tlege of wearing the cappa magna.

Couturier was a worthj' successor of the great Gudranger. Despite the persecutions of the French Government, which turned the reign of Couturier into a veritable marti,Tdom for the abbot and his com- muiiit}', the monks of Solesmes not only upheld but even enhanced the high prestige for piety and learn- ing which they had gained during the rule of Gueran- ger. Couturier and his monks were forcibly expelled from their monastery by the French Govermnent on 6 November, ISSO, and, having attempted to reoccupy it, they were driven out a second time on 29 March, 1882. During the remainder of Coutiu-ier's life the community lived in three separate houses in the town of Solesmes, using the parochial church as their abbey church. Nevertheless the community continued to flourish. By w-ord and example Abbot Couturier encouraged the numerous learjied WTiters among his monks, and contributed to the spread of the Bene- dictine Order by restoring old and deserted monas- teries and by fostering the foundations made by Gut'ranger. On 2S March, 1876, lie raised the priory of St. Mary Magdalene at Marseilles to the dignity of an abbey; in 1880 he restored and repeopled the monastery of Silos in Spain; in July. 1889, he estab- lished the priory of Saint-Paul at Wisques, in the Diocese of Arras; and on 15 September, 1890, shortly before his death, he reopened the ancient monastery of Glanfeuil in the Diocese of Angers, deserted since the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. His literary labours are confined chiefly to his collabora- tion in the publication of "Les Actes des MartjTs", a French translation of the Acts of the martjTS from the beginning of the Christian Era to our times. The third edition of the work appeared in four volumes (Paris, 1900).

IlnrriN-. Dom CouluricT, abbe de Solesmes (Angers. 1899); Babin in Ifrruc BtnidicUnc. (Maredsous, 1S90), VII, 578-588; Biblingraphie des Bhi^dictins de la congregation de France (Paris, 1906), s. V.

Michael Ott.

Covarruvias (or Covarrubl^s t Letva), Diego, b. in Toledo, Spain, 25 July, 1512; d. in Madrid. 27 Sept., 1577. According to his biography by Sehott (in the Geneva. 1679, edition of Covarruvias), his niatcm.al grandfather was the architect of the Toledo cathedral. His ma.ster in law, both canonical and civil, was the famous Martin Aspilcueta (q. v.), who was wont to glorj- in having such a disciple. At the age of twenty-one, Covarruvias was appointed pro- fessor of canon law- in the ITniversity of Salamanc;i. Later on he was entrusted with the work of reforming that institution, already vener.able for its age, and the legislation which he drew up looking to this end re- mained in effect long after his time. Such was the recognized eminence of his legal science that he was styled the Bartholo of .*<pain. His va.sl legal learning was always set forth with a peculiar beauty of diction and lucidity of .style, says Von Scherer (see below). His geiii\is w.as miiversal, and embraced all the sci- ences subsidiary to, an<i illustrative of, the .science of law. If report be true, the kirge library of Oviedo, where at the age of twenty-six he became professor, did not contain a single volume which he had not richly annotated. In 1519 Covarruvias was desig- njited by Charles V for the archiepiscopal See of San Domingo in the New World, whither, however, he never went. Eleven years later he was made Bishop

of Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain. In this cajiacity he at- tended the Council of Trent, where, according to Ihe statement of his nephew, conjointly with (';Lrdinal Ugo Buoncompagni (afterw'ards Gregory XIII), he was authorized to formulate the famous reform-decrees (De Reformatione) of the council. Pressure of other duties having prevented Cardinal Buoncompagni from doing his part of the work, the task devolved upon C'ovarruvias alone. The text of these far-reach- ing decrees, therefore, formally approved by the coun- cil, we apparently owe to him. (Von Scherer, in Kirchenlexikon, III, 1170, doubts the accuracy of this tradition.) Having returned to Spain, Covarruvias was in 1565 transferred to the See of Segovia. Up to this time his extraordinary talents had been discov- ered in matters more or less scholastic only; they were hereafter to reveal themselves also in practical affairs of state. Appointed in 1572 a member of the Council of Castile, he was two years later raised to the presi- dency of the Council of State. In the discharge of this office he was eminently successful. While president of the Council of State he was nominated by Philip II for the Bishopric of Cuenca, but death prevented hira from assuming the duties of this new see. The prin- cipal work of Covarruvias is his " Variarum resolu- tionum ex jure pontificio regio et csesareo libri IV". He WTote also on testaments, betrothal and marriage, oaths, excommunication, prescription, restitution, etc. Quite distinct in character from his other productions is his numismatic treatise, "Vet- erum nuraismatum collatio cum his quse niodo ex- penduntur", etc. (1594). His complete works have been several times edited, the Antwerp edition (5 vols., 1762) being the best. Among his manuscrijits have been found notes on the Council of Trent, a treatise on punishments (De pcenis) and an historical tract, "Catalogo de los reyes de Espana y de otras cosas", etc.

HuRTER. Nomenclator. I, 38; Anto.nio, Bibl. Hisp. nova (Madrid, 1783), I. 276-79; Schhlte, Gesch. d. Qucllen u. Lit. des can. Rechls (1880), III, 721.

John Webster Melody.

Covenanters, the name given to the subscribers (practically the whole Scottish nation) of the two Covenants, the National Covenant of 1638 and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. Though the Covenants as national bonds ceased with the conquest of Scotland by Cromwell, a number continue<l to up- hold them right through the period following the Restoration, and these too are known as Covenanters. The object of the Covenants was to band the whole na- tion together in defence of its religion against the at- tempts of the king to impose upon it an episcopal system of church government and a new and less anti-Roman liturgy. The struggle that ensued was a struggle for supremacy, viz.: as to w'ho should have the Last word, the King or the Kirk, in decitling the religion of the country. How this struggle arose must first be briefly explained.

The causes of this Protestant conflict between Church and State must be sought in the circumstances of the Scottish Reformation. (For a summary of the history of the Scottish Reformation down to 1601 see ch. ii of Gardiner's " History of England ".) Owing to the fact that Scotland, unlike England, had accepted Protestantism, not at the dictates of her rulers, but in opposition to them, the Reformation was not merely an ecch'siastical revolution, but a rebellion. It wa.s, therefore, jierhaps no mere chance that made the Scot- tish nation, midcr the guidance of John Knox and later of .•Andrew Melville, adopt that form of Protestantism which was, in its tloctrine, farthest removed from Rome, to wlilch their French regt^nts adhered, and which in its theory of church government was the most democratic. Presbyterianism meant the sub- ordination of the State to the Kirk, as Melville plainly told James VI at Cupar in 1596, on the famous occa-