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 OAUDENTIUS

394

GAUDIER

St. Gaiulentius of liis translation of the pseudo-Clenicn- tine "Kecognitions", praises the intellectual gifts of the Bishop of Brescia, saying that even his extempore speaking is worthy of publication and of preservation by posterity. The style of Gaudentius is simple, and his matter is good. His body lies at Brescia in the Church of St. John Baptist, on the site of the Concil- ium Sanctorum. His figure is frequently seen in the altar-pieces of the great Brescian painters, Moretto, Savoldo, and Romanino. The best edition of his works is by Galeardi (Padua, 1720, and in P. L., XX).

The editions are enumerated by Schoenemann, I, who is quoted by Migne; Bossue in Acta SS., 25 Oct.; Tillemont, Memoires, X; Ceillier, Hist, des auteurs ecct. (Paris, 1858-69). X, xii, sq.; Nirschl, Lehrb. der Patrol., II.

John Chapman.

Gaudentius of Brescia (Gaudentius Brixiensis or BoNTEMr.s), theologian of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins; b. at Brescia in 1612; d. at Oriano, 25 March, 1G72; descended from the noble Brescian family of Bontempi; having entered the Capuchin Order, was assigned to the duties of lector of theology. In this capacity he visited the several convents of his own province of Brescia, as well as other houses of study of the different Capuchin provinces of Italy. He was taken suddenly ill at Oriano, and died there while engaged in preaching a course of Lenten ser- mons. His remains were later removed to the Ca- puchin church at Verola, where they now rest. His fame as a theologian rests mainly on his "Palladium Theologicum seu tuta theologia scholastica ad inti- mam mentem d. Bonaventurae Seraph. Doc. cujus eximia; doctrinse rapta; restitimntur, sententia; impug- nata; propugnantur", a work in which elegance of style, depth of thought, and soiuidness of doctrine are admirably coml)ined, and which ranks the author among the foremost exponents of the Franciscan school. Gaudentius's pupil and countryman, Gian- francesco Durantio, undertook the publication of the work after the death of the author; and under the patronage of Louis XIV of France, who subjected the manuscript to the examination of a special commis- sion of doctors of the Sorbonne, it was published at Lyons, in seven folio volumes, in 1676.

Da Forl^, Annali deW Ordine dei Frati Minori Cappuccini (Milan, 1S82-S5). Ill, 188-89; Bernard of Bologna, Bihlio- Iheca Scriplorum Ord. Min. S. Franc. Cap. (Venice, 1797), 109; BoNARl. / conventi ed i Cappuccini Bresciani (Milan, 1891), xxviii, 667; Hurter, Nomenclalor; Eberl in Kirchenlex., s. v. Kapuzinerorden, VII, 131; Scheeben, Dogmatik (Freiburg im Br., 1873), I, 451.

Stephen M. Donovan.

Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, so called from the first word of the Introit at Mass (Gaudcle, i. e. Rejoice). The season of Advent orig- inated as a fast of forty days in preparation for Christ- mas, commencing on the day after the feast of St. Martin (12 November), whence it was often called " St. Martin's Lent "—a name by which it was known as early as the fifth century. The introduction of the Advent fast cannot be placed much earlier, because there is no evidence of Christmas being kept on 2.5 De- cember before the end of the fourth century (Duchesne, "Origines du culte Chretien", Paris, 1SS9), and the preparation for the feast could not have been of earlier date than the feast itself. In the ninth century, the duration of Advent was reduced to four weeks, the first allusion to the shortened season being in a letter of St. Nicholas I (858-867) to the Bulgarians, and by the twelfth century the fast had been rcplaccil liy .-^im- ple abstinence. St. Gregory the Great was the first to draw up an Office for the Advent season, and the Gre- gorian Sacramentary is the earliest to provide Masses for the Sund.ays of .\dvent. In botli Office and Mass provision is made for five Sundays, but by the tenth century four was the usual number, though some churches of France observed five as late as the thir- teentb century. Notwithstanding all these raodifica-

tions, however. Advent still preserved most of the characteristics of a penitential season, which made it a kind of counterpart to Lent, the middle (or third) Sunday corresponding with Laetare or Mid-Lent Sun- day. On it, as on La>tare Sunday, the organ and flowers, forbidden during the rest of the season, were permitted to be used; rose-coloured vestments were allowed instead of purple (or black, as formerly) ; the deacon and subdeacon reassumed the dalmatic and tunicle at the chief Mass, and cardinals wore rose- colour instead of purple. All these distinguishing marks have continued in use, and are the present discipline of the Latin Church. Gaudete Sunday, therefore, makes a break, like La?tare Sunday, about midway through a season which is otherwise of a peni- tential character, and signifies the nearness of the Lord's coming. Of the "stations" kept in Rome on the four Sundays of Advent, that at the Vatican basil- ica is assigned to Gaudete, as being the most important and imposing of the four. In both Office and Mass throughout Advent, continual reference is made to our Lord's second coming, and this is emphasized on the third Sunday by the atlditional signs of gladness per- mitted on that day. Gaudete Sunday is further marked by a new Invitatory, the Church no longer inviting the faithful to adore merely "The Lord who is to come", but calling upon them to worship and hail with joy " The Lord who is now nigh and close at hand ". "The Nocturn lessons from the Prophecy of Isaias describe the Lord's coming and the blessings that will result from it, and the antiphons at Vespers re-echo the same prophetic promises. The joy of expectation is empha- sized by the constant Alleluias, which occur in both Office and Mass throughout the entire season. In the Mass, the Introit "Gaudete in Domino semper "strikes the same note, and gives its name to the day. The Epistle again incites us to rejoicing, and bids us pre- pare to meet the coming Saviour with prayers and supplication and thanksgiving, whilst the Gospel, in the words of St. John Baptist, warns us that the Lamb of God is even now in our midst, though we appear to know Him not. The spirit of the Office and Liturgy all through Advent is one of expectation and preparation for the Christmas feast as well as for the second coming of Christ, and the penitential exercises suitable to that spirit are thus on Gaudete Sunday suspended, as it were, for a while in order to symbolize that joy and gladness in the promised Redemption which should never be absent from the hearts of the faithful.

GuERANGER, U Annce Litvrgique, tr. Shepherd (Dublin, 1867); Batiffoi,, Hist, du Briviaire Romain (Paris, 1893); Martene, De Antiquis Ecclesicp Ritibus (Rouen, 1700): Du- RAND, Rationale Divini Officii (Venice, 1568); Lerosey, Hist, et Symbolisme de la Liturgie (Paris, 1889).

G. Cyprian Alston.

Gaudier, Antoine le, writer on ascetic theology; b. at Chiiteau-Tliierry, France, 7 January, 1572; d. at Paris, 14 April, 1(>22. About the age of twenty he entered the Society of Jesus at Tournay. Later on he was rector at Liege, professor of Holy Scripture at Pont-iVMousson, and of moral theology at La F16che. In these two last-named [losts he was also charged with the spiritual direction of his brethren, and showed such an aptitude for this branch of the minis- try that he was named master of novices and tertians. His appointment to these offices shows that Gaudier, since he died at the age of fifty, must have evinced an early intellectual maturity and an exceptional talent for the guidance of souls. In the discharge of his various functions, he found an opportunity of develop- ing before a domestic audience the principal matter of asceticism, which he elaborated little by little into a complete treatise. The eagerness shown to possess his s|)iritual writings led him at last to publish them. There then appeared successively in Latin: "De sanc- tissinio Christi Jesu aniore opusculum" (Pont-i- Mousson, 1619), translated into English by G. Tickell,