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 CROSIER

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CROSIER

are minutely described in his Irish life. His feast is celebrated on 30 March, though, through a miscon- ception, his Acts are given by the Bollandists under date of 1 Januarj'.

CoLGAN, Acta SS'. Hib. (Louvain, 1645); Butler. Lives of the Saints; Ada Sanctorum, Jan. I and III; Todd and Reeves. Martyrolagu of Donegal (Dublin. 18641; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints (Dublin, 1875). HI; Knox, yolcs on the Diaceses of Tuam (1904); Whitley Stokes, Anecdota Oxonicn. (1890).

II. Saint Cronan, Abbot-Bishop and Patronof Roscrea, a see afterwards incorporated in that of Kil- laloe, Ireland: b. in the territory of Ely O'Carroll; d. 28 April, 640. After spending his youth in Con- nacht, he returned to his native district about the year 610 and founded the Abbey of Roscrea, where he established a famous school. Previously he settled at a place known as Seem ros or Loch Cre, a wooded morass far from the haunts of men; in fact, it was utterly wild, so much so, that St. Cronan abandoned it and moved to the wood of Cre, that is Ros cre. County Tipperarj'. Like those of so many other Irish saints the Acts of St. Cronan abound in miracles. The most surprising, perhaps, is the legend as to the transcribing of the Four Gospels by one cf his monks, named Dimma. It appears that Dimma could only undertake one day's task, from sunrise to sunset. St. Cronan, however, bade him write, and then Dimma set to work, never ceasing till he had finished the Four Gospels, the sun continuing to shine for the space of forty days and forty nights — the scribe him- self being unconscious that the work had occupied more than a day. Whatever may be thought of this legend, it is certain that a magnificent Evangelis- tarium, known as the " Book of Dimma", was for cen- turies preserved in St. Cronan's Abbey at Roscrea, and is now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The scribe, Dimma MacNathi, signs his name at the conclusion of each of the Gospels, and he has been identified with Dimma, subsequently Bishop of Con- nor, who is mentioned with St. Cronan in the letter of Pope John IV in 640, in regard to Pelagianism in Ire- land, but this identification cannot be sustained. The case containing the " Book of Dimma" was richly gilt by order of O'Carroll, Lord of Ely, in the twelfth cen- tury. Notwithstanding the conflicting statements arising from the number of contemporary Irish saints bearing the name of Cronan, it is more than probable that St. Cronan of Roscrea, as les Petits Bollandistes say, lived as late as the year 640, and his death oc- curred on 28 April of that year. His feast is cele- brated on 28 April and as such is included in all the Irish calendars, as also in the Kalendar of Drummond.

.Ida SS., III. 2,S .\pril: Bi tlkk. Ltr.s of the Saints, IV; O'IIanlon. lAr.s of thr In..h > ■ Umi Ini. 1875), IV; GlL- DKiiT \alioiiol Mnnii.^cripl.^ ,■: I l--!; ies I'ctils Bol-

hn-Iixtrs (Paris. ISSOi, V; I.i ;, / - nislicat History of Ireland (Dublin. 1.S2!)), Ill; Hi > i i, I. hand's Ancient Schools and Scholars (4th ed., Dublin, 19021.

A number of other saints of this name find a place in Irish calendars. The three most important arc St. Cronan Mochua, of Clashmore (10 February); St. Cronan, .Xhbot of Clonmacnoise (18 July); and St. Cronan, Abbot of Moville (7 Sept.). Another saint fref|uently tpioted as of this name is really St. Cuaran (Cuaranus Sapiens), whose feast occurs on 9 February. There is also a St. Cronan Mochua of Sliabh Eibhlem (4 May).

W. H. Grattan-Flood.

Crosier (or Pastoral Staff), The, is an ecclesi- astical ornament which is conferred on bishops at their consecration and on mitred abbots at their investiture, and which is UK(>d by these prelates in performing cer- tain solemn functions. It is sometimes stated that archbishops do not use the crosier. This is not so, the truth being that in addition to the pastoral staff they have also the right to have the archiepiscopal cross borne before them within the territory of their juris-

diction. According to present-day usage the Roman pontiff does not use the crosier. That tnis practice is a departure from primitive discipline is now thor- oughly established, for in the early representations of the popes found on tablets, coins, and other monu- ments, the crosier is to be seen (Kraus, Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, II, 500). But in the eleventh cen- tury this cutsom must have disap- peared, since Inno- cent III (d. 1216) intimates that it no longer prevailed (Epistola ad Patr. Const.). As a rea- son why the pope does not use a crosier symbolists allege the giving by St. Peter of his staff to one of his dis- ciples in order to raise a dead com- panion to life. The pastoral staff will here be treated un- der: (l)thesymbo- lism of the crosier; (2) its origin and antiquity; (3) early forms and subse- quent artistic de- velopment.

(1) Symbolitm. — The crosier is a symbol of author- ity and j urisdiction. This idea is clearly expressed in the words of the Roman Pontifical with which the staff is presented to the bishop elect: "Ac- cipe baculum pas- toralis officii ; et sis in corrigendis vitiis pie saeviens, judicium sine ira tenens, in fovendis virtutibus auditorum animos mulcens, in tranquillitate sev- eritatis censuram non deserens" (Pont. Rom., 77). It is then, as Durandus (Rationale Divin. Off., Ill, xv) says, borne by prelates to signify their authority to correct vices, stimulate piety, administer pimish- ment, and thus rule and govern with a gentle- ness that is tempered with severity. The same author goes on to say that, as the rod of Mosea was the seal and emblem of his Divine commis- sion as well as the instrument of the miracles he wrought, so is the episcopal staff the sjTiibol of that doctrinal and discipUnary power of bishops in vir- tue of which they may sustain the weak and faltering, confirm the wavering in faith, and lead back the erring ones into the true fold. Barbo.>ia (Pastoralis Sollicitu- flinis, etc.. Tit. I, ch. v) alluding to the i>rcv:ilent form of the staff, says that the end is .sharp and pointed wherewith to prick and goad the slotlifiil. the middle is straight to signify righteous rule, while the head is bent or crooked in order to draw in anil attract souls to the ways of God. Bona (Rerum liturgic, I, xxiv) says the crosier is to bishops what the sceptre is to kings. In deference to this symbolism Ijishops always carry the crosier with the crook turned outwards, while inferior prelates hold it with the head reversed. Moreover, the crosiers of abbots are not so large as episcopal crosiers, and are covered with a veil when the bishop is present.