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 FLAVinS

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FLEMING

Chrysostom. The most noted was St. Abraham, bishop in the sixth century, whose life has recently been published (VailhS, "Saint Abraham de Gratia" in "Echos d'Orient", VIII, 290-94). The diocese was still in existence in the twelfth century. Flavi- opolis, now known as Guerede, is a caza situated in the sanjak of Bolou, and the vilayet of Castamouni. Its 4000 inhabitants, are nearly all Mussulmans; there are only 200 Christians, 40 of whom are Armenian Catho- lics. A small river, the Oulou Sou, irrigates the very fertile country. Fruit trees (peach, apricot, and cherry) grow there in great abundance.

Texier, L-Ask Mineiire, 149-151; Cuinet, La Tnrquie d'Asie, IV, r>24-.526: for the coinage of Cratia or Flaviopolis, see Mionnet, II, 420, and Supplement, II, 266.

S. Vailhe. Flavius, JosEPHUs. See Josephus.

FUcliier, Esprit, bishop ; b. at Pernes, France, 1632 ; died at Montpellier, 1710; member of the Academy, and together with Bourdaloue, Bossuet, F6nelon, and Mascaron, one of the greatest sacred orators of his century; his earliest studies were made at Tarascon, under the guidance of his uncle, who was superior of a religious congregation. He himself entered this con- gregation, where he received holy orders, but soon left Jt and went to Paris in 1660. It was not long before he acquired a reputation as a wit and spiritual writer. A Latin poem in honour of Louis XIV first won for him the favour of the Court. He devoted to literature and history the leisure which remained after the fulfilment of his duties as tutor in the household of Cauniartin, Councillor of State, and it was then he wrote his chief historical work, " Memoires sur les grands jours tcnus a, Clermont en 1665". He was tutor to the Dauphin when his preaching began to make him famous. His funeral eulogies in particular won for him more than one comparison with Bossuet. It happened that on a number of occasions he had to treat the same sub- jects as the Bishop of Meaux, for instance the funeral oration of Maria Theresa, and to arouse almost the same sentiments of admiration.

He was received a member of the French Academy in 1673, on the same day as Racine. Having been consecrated bishop in 1685, he left the See of Lavaur for that of Nimes in 1687. During his administration he was remarkable for his great charity and his zeal in converting Protestants, but this did not prevent him from devoting himself to letters and to making the Academy of Nimes, of which he was the director, shine with particular brilliancy. He was less a preacher of the Gospel than a remarkable panegyrist. His ser- mons are as different from those of Bourdaloue as his funeral orations resemble Bossuet's. He was much more an elegant man of letters and fashionable orator than a severe moralist and humble preacher. He de- lighted in ingenious turns of phrase, sonorous words and pretentious periods which have the appearance of seekmg applause and which are hardly in acconl with the spirit of the Gospel. His funeral oration for Tu- renne is in every classical handbook. His oratorical works have been collected under the title of " Oraisons Funebres" (Paris, 1 878), "Sermons", and "Pan^gy- riques". In history he has left an "Histoiredu Car- dinal Ximfinfes" (Paris, 1693), the "Vie de Th^odose le Grand" and "Lettres choisies sur divers sujets". The last edition of the "ffiuvres" of Fldchier is in two volumes (Paris, 1886).

Delacroix, Vie de FIrchier (Paris, 1S65); Memoires de FUchicr (Paris, 1844, 18S6I; Foliolet in Hialoire de la lillcra- ture fmnfaise au 17' siicle (Tours, 188.3); Sainte-Beuve, Intro- duction to the edition of the Memoires; Fabre, Flechier orateur (Paris, 1886); Alzog, Hisloire univeraelle de VEglise (Tournai, 1851).

Louis Lalandb.

Flemael, Behtholet (the name was also spelled Flemali.e and Flamaei,), painter, b. at Lii^ge, Flan- ders, in 1614; d. there in 1675. The son of a glass painter, he was instructed in his art by Trippez and

Douffet successively. He visited Rome in 16.38, was invited by the Duke of Tuscany to P'lorence and em- ployed in decorating one of his galleries; thence he passed to Paris where he carried out some elaborate decorative work at Versailles and painted for the sacristy of the church of the Augustinians his picture of the ' ' Adoration of the Magi ". He returned to Liege in 1647 and executed many paintings for the churches of his native town. In 1670 he was invited to return to Paris, and painted the ceiling of the audience room in the Tuileries. Louis XIV made him a professor of the Royal Academy of Paris. Towards the close of his life he returned to Liege and was elected a lay canon of the church of St. Paul, and painted several works for the prince-bishop of the city. A few years before he died he fell into a state of profound melan- choly and had to be placed under the care of a medical man, in whose house he died. He was a painter of the "grand style", full of inventive genius, but his colouring is pale and weak and his figures somewhat artificial. He is believed to have painted a portrait of Colbert and by some writers is stated to have been a pupil at one time of Jordaens, but this has never been verified.

EvNDEN AND V\N DER WlLUGEN, Vadcrlandsche Schilder- kunst (Haarlem, 1816); James, Dulch School of Painting (Lon- don, 1822); Descamps, La Vie des Peintres Flamands (Paris, 1753); Nagleh. Kunstler Lexikon (Munich, 1838); Rathgeber, Annalen der niederlandischen 7l/a/€rei (Gotha, 1844); Michiels, Histoire de la Peinture Flamande (Brussels, 1845); Kugler, Handbook of Painting (London, 1846).

George Charles Williamson.

Fleming, Patrick, Franciscan friar, b. at Lagan, County Louth, Ireland, 17 April, 1599 ;d. 7 November, 1631. His father was great-grandson of Lord Slane; his mother was daughter of Robert Cusack, a baron of the exchequer and a near relative of Lord Delvin. In 1612, at a time when religious persecution raged in Ireland, young Fleming went to Flanders, and be- came a student, first at Douai, and then at the College of St. Anthony of Padua at Louvain. In 1617 he took the Franciscan habit and a year later made his solemn profession. He then assumed in religion the name of Patrick, Christopher being the name he received at baptism. Five years after his solemn profession he went to Rome with Hugh MacCaghwell, the definitor general of the order, and when he had completed his studies at the College of St. Isiiiore, was ordained priest. From Rome he was sent by his superiors to Louvain and for some years lectured there on philoso- phy. During that time he established a reputation for scholarship and administrative capacity ; and when the Franciscans of the Strict Observance opened a college at Prague in Bohemia, Fleming was appointed its first superior. He was also lecturer in theology. The Thirty Years War was raging at this time, and in 1631 the Elector of Saxony invaded Bohemia and threatened Prague. Fleming, accompanied by a fellow-countryman named Matthew Hoar, fled from the city. On 7 November the fugitives encountered a party of armed Calvinist peasants; and the latter, animated with the fierce fanaticism of the times, fell upon the friars and murdered them. Fleming's body was carried to the monastery of Voticium, four miles distant from the scene of the murder and there buried.

Eminent both in philosophy and theology, he was specially devoted to ecclesiastical history, his tastes in this direction being still further developed by his friendship for his learned countryman Father Hugh Ward. The latter, desirous of writing on early Chris- tian Ireland, asked for Fleming's assistance, which was readily given. Even before Fleming left Louvain for Prague he had amassed considerable materials, and had written a " Life of St. Columba". It was not, however, iiulilished in his lifetime. Tliat and other MSS. fell intii tl\<> hands of ThomasO'Sliecrin, lecturer in theology at the ("oUege of St. Anthony of Padua, who edited and published them at Louvain in 1667.