Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/442

 ELIGinS

386

ELISEUS

conspicuous for his fairness and consideration for his colleagues. He was also the author of " Observations sur les diff^rentes formations dans le systeme des Vosges", Paris, 1S29; "Memoires pour servir a une description g^ologique de la France" (with Du- fr^noy), 4 vols., Paris, 1830-38; "Recherches sur quelques-unes des revolutions de la surface du globe", Paris, 1S34; "Explications de la carte geologique de la France", Paris, Part I, 1S41; Part II-IV, 1848- 78 (with Dufrenoy).

DE^^LLE. Coup-d'(sil historique sur la gfologie et sur tes travaux d'Elie de Beaumont (Paris, 187S); Bertra.nd. Kloges Acadcmiques (Paris, 1S90). 77-103; vonZittel, History of Geol- ogy and Paleontology (London, 1901).

H. M. Brock.

Eligius (Fr. Eloi), S.uxt, Bishop of Noyon- Tournai, b. at C'haptelat near Limoges, France, c. 590, of Roman parents, Eucherius and Terrigia; d. at Noyon, 1 December, 660. His lather, recognizing un- usual talent in his son, sent him to the noted goldsmith Abbo, master of the mint at Limoges. Later Eligius went to Xeustria, where he worked under Babo, the royal treasurer, on whose recommendation Clotaire II commissioned him to make a throne of gold adorned with precious stones. His honesty in this so pleased the king that he appointed him master of the mint at Marseilles, besides taking him into his household. After the death of Clotaire (629), Dagobert appointed his father's friend his chief coimcillor. The fame of Eligius spread rapidly, and ambassadors first paid their respects to him before going to the king. His success in inducing the Breton King, Judicail, to submit to Prankish authority (63(5-37) increased his influence. Eligius took advantage of this to obtain alms for the poor and to ransom Roman, Gallic, Breton, Saxon, and Moorish captives, who were arriving daily at Marseil- les. He founded se\-eral monasteries, and with the king's consent sent his servants through towns and villages to take down the bodies of malefactors who had been executed, and give them decent burial. Eligius was a source of edification at court, where he and his friend Dado (Audoenus) lived according to the Irish monastic rule, introduced into Gaul Ijy St. Columbanus. Eligius introduced this rule, either en- tirely or in part, into the monastery of Solignac which he founded in 632, and into the convent at Paris where three hundred virgins were under the guidance of the Abbess Aurea. He also built the basilica of St. Paul, and restored that of St. Martial in Paris. He erected several fine churches in honour of the relics of St. Martin of Tours, the national saint of the Pranks, and St. Denis, who was chosen patron saint by the king. On the death of Dagobert (6.39), Queen Xanfhilde took the reins of government, and Eligius and Dado left the court and entered the priesthood. On the death of Acarius, Bishop of Noyon-Tournai, 13 May, 640, Eligius was made lais successor with the unani- mous approbation of clergj' and people. The inhabi- tants of his diocese were pagans for the most part. He undertook the conversion of the Flemings, Antwerp- ians, Frisians, Suevi, and the barliarian tribes along the coast. In 654 he approved the famous privilege granted to the .\bbey of Saint-Denis. Paris, exempting it from the jurisdiction of the ordinary. In his own episcopal city of Xoyon he liuilt and endowed a raon- asterj' for \'irgins. After the finding of the body of St. Qvientin, Bishop Eligius erected in his honour a church to which was joined a monastery under the Irish rule. He also discovered the bodies of St. Piatus and companions, and in 654 removed the remains of St. Fursey, the celebrated Irish missionary (d. 650). Eligius was buried at Xoyon. There is in existence a sermon wTitten by Eligius, in which he combats the pagan practices of his time, a homily on the last judg- ment, also a letter written in 645. in which he begs for the prayers of Bishop Desiderius of t'ahors. The four- teen other homilies attributed to him are of doubtful

authenticity. His homihes have been edited by Ivrusch in "Mon. Germ. Hist." (loc. cit. infra).

St. Eligius is particularly honoured in Flanders, in the province of Antwerp, and at Tournai, Courtrai of Ghent. Bruges, and Douai. During the Middle Ages his relics were the object of special veneration, and were often transferred to other resting-places, thus in 8S1, 1066, 1137, 1255. and 1306. Hels the patron of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and aU workers in metal. Cabmen have also put themselves under his protec- tion. He is generally represented in Christian art in the garb of a bishop, a crosier in his right hand, on the open palm of his left a miniature church of chased gold.

Vita Eligii, ed. Krusch in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script. Rerum Merovingicarum, IV, 2, 635 sqq.; Vita -metrica Eligii in Cata- logus codicum hagiographicorum Bibliothecce regioe Bruxellensis, ed. Boll.\>;dists. I. 470-83: Inventio Sancii Quintini in Ana- lecta Bollandiana, \'III, 429 sqq.; de Likas, Orfevrerie mero- vingienne, les ocuvres de S. Eloi et la verroterie cloisonnee (Arras, 1S64); DE L.\PORTE, Un artiste du 7"^ siecle, Eligius Auri- faber, S. Eloi, patron des ouvriers en mctaux (s. 1.. 1865); Bapst, Tombeau et chdsse de S. Germain, tombeau de Sainte Colombe, tombeau de S. Severin in Revue archeologigue, Bk. Ill (1887); Vareubergh, Saint Eloi in Biographie nationale de Belgique, V, 555-58: Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, I, 296 sqq.; DE Yds. Leven van den heiligen Eligius, met aanteekeningen en bijzonderheden zopcns eijnen alouden eerediensi in Vlaanderen (Bruges, 1900); van* der Essen', Les relations entre les sermons de Saint Cesaire d\i rles et la predication de Saint Eloi in Bulletin bibliographique du musee Beige (1903), VII; Annuaire de VUni- versite de Louvain (1904), 379-90; van der Essen, Etude critique et litteraire sur les Vitce des saints merovingiens de Van- cienne Belgique (Louvain, 1907). 324-36; Parst, Saint Eloi in Les Saijits series (Paris, 1907); de Smet, Analecta Eligiana in Acta SS. Belgii (Brassels, 1785). III. 311-31; Krusch, preface, in Mon. Germ. Hist., loc. cit., 635 sqq.

L. Van der Essen. Elijah. See Elias.

Elined (Alsiedha), Saint, \Trgin and martyr, flourished c. 490. According to Bishop Challoner (Britannia Sancta, London, 1745, II, 59), she was a daughter of Bragan (Brychan), a British prince, after whom the present province of Brecknock is named, and her meraon,- was kept in Wales. Giraldus Cambren- sis, in his " Itinerarium Cambr. " (I, c. ii), the chief au- thority for Elined, speaks of the many churches throughout Wales named after the children of Bragan, and especially of one on the top of a hill, in the region of Brecknock, not far from the castle of Aberhodni, which is called the church of St. Almedha, "who, re- jecting the marriage of an earthly prince, and espous- ing herself to the eternal King, consummated her course by a triumphant martjTdom". Her feast was celebrated 1 August, on which day throngs of pilgrims visited the church, and many miracles were wrought. ■\Villiam of Worcester says that she was biu-ied at Usk. The chiu-ch mentioned by Giraldus was called, says Rees, Slwch chapel. The Bollandists (1 August) ex- press themselves satisfied with the evidence of her cultus. 'This saint is the Luned of the "Mabinogion" (Lady Guest, I, 113-14, II, 164) and the Lynette of Tennyson's "Gareth and LjTiette". She is also sup- posed to be identical with "the Enid of the " Mabino- gion" and Tennyson's " Idylls".

.\LFORD, Annates Ecclesiastici Brifannorum (Li^ge. 1663); Rees. Essay on Welsh Saints (London. 1836); Staxtox, Menol- ogy of Englaiid and Wales (London, 1892).

0. E. Phillips.

Elipandus. See Adoptionism.

Eliseus (Elisha; Heb. Vf^JX, God is salvation), a Prophet of Israel — After leariung, on Moimt Horeb, that Eliseus, the oon of Saphat, had been selected by God as his successor in the prophetic office, Elias set out to make known the Divine will. This he did by ca.sting his mantle overthe shoulders of Eliseus, whom he found "one of them that were ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen". Eliseus delayed only long enough to kill the yoke of oxen, whose flesh he boiled with the very wood of his plough. After he had shared this farewell repast with his father, mother, and