Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/179

 DOWDALL

145

DOWER

Holy Eucharist for the use of the sick was, certainly since early medieval times, effected in many parts of Europe by means of a vessel in the form of a dove, suspended by chains to the baldachino and thus hung above the altar. Mention may be made here of the (two) doves occasionally represented in the Roman catacombs as drinking from a Eucharistic chalice (Schnyder, "Die Darstellungen des eucharist. Kelches auf altchr. Grabinschriften", in "Stromation ArchiEologicon", Rome, 1900, 97-118). The idea of tlie Eucharistic vessel was probably taken from the dove-like receptacle used at an early period in the baptisteries and often suspended above the fonts. These vessels were usually ma<le of gold or silver. This was no doubt always the case if the vessel was designed to be the immediate holder of the Blessed Sacrament, since the principle that no base material ought to be used for this purpose is early and general. But when, as seems generally to have been the case in later times, the dove was only the outer vessel en- shrining the pyx which itself contained the Blessed Sacrament, it came about that any material might be used which was itself suitable antl dignified. Slabil- lon (Iter Ital., 217) tells us that he saw one at the monastery of Bobbie made of gilded leather, and one is shown to this day in the church of San Nazario at Milan which is enamelled on the outside and silver gilt within. The exact time at which such vessels first came into use is disputed, but it was certainly at some early date. Tertullian (C. Valentinian. cap. iii) speaks of the Church as columbce domus, the house of the dove, and his words are sometimes quoted as exhibiting the use of such vessels in the third century. The reference, however, is clearly to the Holy Spirit. In the life of St. Basil, attributed to St. Amphilo- chius, is perhaps the earliest clear mention of the Eucharistic dove. "Cum panem divisisset in tres partes . . tertiam positam super columbam auream. desuper sacrum altare suspendit" (When he had divided the bread into three pieces . . the third part placed in a golden dove, he suspended etc, Vita Bas , P G., XXXIX). St Chrysostom's expression concerning the Holy Eucharist, convestitum Spiritu Sancto, clothed with the Holy Spirit (Hom. xiii, ad pop. Antioch.), is generally taken to allude to this practice of reserving the Holy Eucharist in a dove, the emblem of the Holy Spirit. The same idea is ex- pressed by Sedulius (Epist. xii) in the verses, " Sanc- tusque columba; Spiritus in specie Christum vestivit honore" — " And the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove has robed Christ in honour".

The general, and certainly the earliest custom, both East and West, was to suspend the dove from the ciborium or baldachino. At a later period in some parts of the West, especially in Rome, a custom grew up of placing a tower of precious material upon the altar, and enclosing the dove with the Blessed Sacra- ment within this tower. Thus, in the " Liber Ponti- ficalis" which contains ample records of the principal gifts made to the great basilicas in the fourth and suc- ceeding centuries, we never find that the dove was presented without the tower as its complement. Thus in the life of Pope Hilary it is said that he pre- sented to the baptistery at the Lateran turrem argen- team. . . et columbam auream. In the life of St. Sylvester (ibid.) Constantine is said to have given to the Vatican Basilica pateram. . . cum turre el colum- ba. Innocent I (ibid.) gave to another church turrem argenteam cum columba.

Armellini, Lezioni di Arckeolonia Cristiarui (Rome, 1898): Martigny, Diet, des antiq. chret. (Paris, 1889); Tvrwhitt and Vf.nableb in Did. of Christ. Antiq.. s. v.; Kaufmann, Manuule di archeoloffia crisliana (Rome, 1908), 280 and passim.

Arthur S. Barnes.

Dowdall, George, Archbishop of Armagh, b. at Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, in 1487; d. at London, 15 August, 155S. He entered the Order of v.— 10

Crutched Friars, and was the last prior of their monas- tery at Ardee. On the suppression of the monastery by Henry VIII, in- 15.39, he received a pension of £20 a year. After the death of Primate Cromer, four years later, he was appointed to the See of Armagh by the king, but his appointment was not recognized by the pope. Dowdall acknowledged Henry VIII as su- preme head of the Church on earth, and denounced the real primate, Robert Wauchope, to the Government. Though a schismatic, he nevertheless vigorously op- posed the introduction of Protestantism into Ireland in the following reign and became the leader of the Catholic party. His opposition proving fruitless, he withdrew from public life in disgust and shortly after- wards retired to the Continent. On the death of Pri- mate Wauchope, Dowdall, having renounced the schism, was appointed in 1553 by the pope to the very see of which he had been the schismatical archbishop. Ruling during nearly all the reign of Queen Mary,_he exerted himself to repair the ravages to religion wrought in the preceding reigns. He held an impor- tant synod in Drogheda in 1554 in which decrees were passed against priests who had presumed to marry.

Stoaht, ed. Coleman, History of Armagh, 142 sqq.; Ware, ed. Harris, Bishops, I, 91; Cal. Doc. Ireland 1500-73, 115; Con- sistorial .Archives, Code-K C; Brady, Episcopal Succession, s. v. Ireland, 217.

Ambrose Colemak.

Dowdall, James, martyr, date of birth unknown; executed for his faith at Exeter, England, 20 Septem- ber, 1600. He was a merchant of Drogheda, Ireland, though several authorities, including Challoner, de- scribe him as a native of Wexford. Further con- fusion is added by reason of the fact that another contemporary, James Dowdall, died a confessor. According to Rothe, however, the martyr belonged to Drogheda, and traded with England and the Conti- nent. In the summer of 1598, when returning fron> France, his ship was driven by stress of weather onte the coast of Devonshire, and he was arrested by William Bourchier, Earl of Bath, who had him imder examination. Dowdall publicly avowed that he re- jected the queen's supremacy, and only recognized that of the Roman pontiff. The earl forwarded the examination to Sir Robert Cecil, and had Dowdall committed to Exeter jail. Whilst in prison he was tortured and put to the rack, but continued unchanged in his fidelity to the ancient faith. On IS June, 1599, the Earl of Bath wrote to Sir Robert Cecil for instruc- tions in regard to James Dowdall, who had been de- tained in prison almost a year. Accordingly he was tried at the Exeter assizes, and was ordered to be hanged, drawTi, and quartered. His name is included in the Apostolic Process of the Irish Martyrs whose cause is at present (190S) before the Congregation of Sacred Rites.

Rothe, Analecta (Cologne, 1617-1619), Cardinal Moran ed. (Dublin, 1884): Bruodin, Propugnaculum Cath. Veritatis (Prasue, 1669); Murphy, Our Martyrs (Dublin, 1896); Calen- dar of the MSS. of the Marquis of Salisbury (London, 1902).

W. H. Grattan-Flood.

Dower (Lat. doariuin; Fr. flounire), a provision for support during life accorded by law to a wife surviv- ing her husband. Being for the widow and being ac- corded by law, dower differs essentially from a con- ventional marriage portion such as the dns of the old Roman law, the French dot, or the English dowry. Dower is thought to have been suggested by the mar- riage gift which Tacitus found to be usual among the Germans. This gift he terms dos, but contrasts it with the dos of the Roman law, which was a gift on the part of the wife to the husband, while in Germany the gift was made by the husband to the wife (La- rousse. Grand dictionnaire universel, Paris, 1870, s. v. Douaire). There was indeed in the Roman law what was termed donatio propter nuptias, a gift from the family of the husband, but thi>i was only re-