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 FERDINAND

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FERGUS

the town of Magdeburg, tlie Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony openly espoxised the cause of Gustavus Adolphus. After the utter defeat of Tilly at Breiten- feld (September, 1631), Gustavus Adolphus advanced through Thuringia and Franconia to the Rhine, while the Saxon army invaded Bohemia and occupied its capital, Prague. In 1632, the Swedish King invaded Bavaria. Tilly faced him on the Lech, but was de- feated, and mortally wounded. Gustavus Adolphus was now master of Germany, the League was over- thrown, and the emperor threatened in his hereditary domain. In this crisis Ferdinand induced Wallenstein to raise another army of 40,000 men, and entrusted him with unlimited authority. On 6 November, 1632, a battle was fought at Liitzen near Leipzig, where Gustavus Adolphus was slain, though the Swedish troops remained masters of the battle-field. Wallen- stein was now in a position to continue the war with energy, but after the second half of 1633 he displayed an incomprehensible inactivity. The explanation is that Wallenstein had formed the resolution to betray the emperor, and, with the help of France, to seize Bohemia. His plan miscarried, however, and led to his assassination at Eger on 25 February, 1634. The emperor had no hand in this murder. On 27 August of the same year, the imperial army under the em- peror's eldest son, Ferdinand inflicted so crushing a defeat on the Swedes at Nordlingen that the Protest- ants of south-western Germany turned for help to France. On 30 May, 1636, by the cession of both LTpper and Lower Lausitz, Ferdinand became recon- ciled with Saxony, which became his ally. On 24 September, the combined imperial and Saxon armies were defeated atWittstock by the Swedes under Baner. France now revealed its real policy, and dispatched a powerful army to join the ranks of the emperor's foes. Ferdinand lived to witness the election of his son as German Emperor (22 December, 1636), and his coro- nation as King of Bohemia and Hungary. He died, however, 15 February, 1637, without witnessing the end of this destructive conflict, known as the Thirty Years War. In his will, he expressly provided for the succession of the first-born of his house and the in- divisibility of his hereditary states.

HuRTER, GeRchwhte Kaiser Ferdinands 11. und seiner Zeil (11 vols. Schaffhausen, ISSO-lse-t); Gindelt. Geschichte des dreissigjahrinen Krienes (3 vols., Prague, 1882): Kl.opp. Tilly im dreissigjahrigen Kriege (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1861): Huber, Geschiehte Oeslerreichs (5 vols., Prague and Leipzig, 1S94). IVARL KlAAB.

Ferdinand III, Saint, King of Leon and Castile, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, b. in 1198 near Salamanca; d. at Seville, 30 May, 1252. He was the son of Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and of Beren- garia, the daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile, and sister of Blanche, the mother of St. Louis IX.

In 1217 Ferdinand became King of Castile, which crown his mother renounced in his favour, and in 1230 he succeefled to the crown of Leon, though not without civil strife, since many were opposed to the union of the two kingdoms. He took as his counsellors the wisest men in the Slate, saw to the strict administra- tion of justice, and took the greatest care not to over- burden his subjects with taxation, fearing, as he said, the curse of one poor woman more than ;i whole ;irmy of Sanicens. Following his mother's advice. Ferdi- nand, in 1219. married Beatrice, the daughter of Philip of Swabia, King of Germany, one of the most vir- tuous princesses of her time. God blessed this union with seven children: six princes and one princess. Th(^ highest aims of Fcrdin.'iiid's life were the propaga- tion of the Faith and the lilienition of Spain from the Saracen yoke. Ilciirc liis coritituial wars against the Saracens. He took from them vast territories, Ciran- ada and Alicante aloni^ remaining in their power at the time of his death. In the most important towns he founded bishoprics, re-established Catholic worship

everywhere, built churches, founded monasteries, and endowed hospitals. The greatest joys of his life were the conquests of Cordova (1236) and Seville (1248). He turned the great mosques of these places into ca- thedrals, dedicating them to the Bles.sed Virgin. He watched over the conduct of his soldiers, confiding more in their virtue than in their valour, fasted strictly himself, wore a rough hairshirt, and often spent his nights in prayer, especially before battles. Amid the tumult of the camp he lived like a religious in the.cloister. The glory of the Church and the hap- piness of his people were the two guiding motives of his life. He founded the University of Salamanca, the Athens of Spain. Ferdinand was buried in the great cathedral of Seville before the image of the Blessed Virgin, clothed, at his own request, in the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis. His body, it is said, re- mains incorrupt. Many miracles took place at his tomb, and Clement X canonized him in 1671. His feast is kept by the Minorites on the 30th of May.

Leo, Lives of Ihe Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis (Taunton, 1SS6), II, 300 sq.; Butler. Lives of the Saints (New York, 1896). II. 444 sq.; Acta SS., May, VII, 2S0 sq., where the Lives b.v his prime minister Roderigo Ximenes. Archbishop of Seville, and Luke of Tuy, as well as the Chronicon S. Ferdinandi are to be found; Wadding, Annates Minorum, VI, 189-221; Nos Saints (Quebec, 1899), 126 sq.; ScnnoDVin Kirchenlex., s. v.; de Ligny, La Viede S. Ferdinand, roi de Castille et de Leon (Paris, 1759); Ferrera, Geschiehte SpanieTUi, Germ. tr. (Halle, 1755).

Ferdinand Heckmann.

Perentino (Ferextinum), Diocese of, in the province of Rome, immediately subject to the Holy See. The town was in antiquity the chief place of the Hernici. Its ancient origin is borne out by the numer- ous remains of its Cyclopean walls, especially near the site of the ancient fortress where the cathedral now stands. In the days of the kings there was strife be- tween Rome and Ferentinum which then belonged to the Volscians. The Consul Furius gave it over to the Hernici, and in 487, a. u. c, it became a Roman town (municipium), and shared thenceforth the fortunes of Rome. Local legend attributes the first preaching of the tiospel in Ferentinum to Sts. Peter and Paul; they are said to have consecrated St. Leo as its first bishop. In the persecution of Diocletian the centurion Am- brose suffered martyrdom (304) at Ferentino; possibly also the martj'rdom of St. Eutychius belongs to that period. In the time of Emperor Constantino the towm had its own bishop; but the first known to us by name is Bassus, present at Roman synods, 487 and 492-493. St. Redemptus (about 570) is mentioned in the " Dialogues" of St. Gregory the Great; and he also refers to a Bishop Boniface. Other known bishops are TrasmondoSognino (1150), who died in prison; LTbaldo (1150), legate of Adrian IV to the princes of Christen- dom in favour of a crusade, later the consecrator of the antipope Victor IV; Giacomo (a. d. 1276), legate of John XXI to Emperor Michael Palseologus; Lan- dolfo Rosso (1297), who rendered good service to Boniface VIII; Francesco Filippesio (1799), legate of Julius II to the Emperor Maximilian.

Ferentino has (1909) 19 parishes and 45,000 souls; 3 boys' and 2 girls' schools; 6 monasteries for men; and 8 convents for women.

rAppELLETTi, Le chiesc d'Italia,VI,391;Ann. Fed. (Home, 1908).

U. Benigni.

Fergus, Saint, d. about 730, known in the Irish martyrologies as St. Fergus Cruithneach, or the Pict. The Breviary of Aberdeen st:ites tliat he had been a bishop for many years in Ireland when he came on a mission to Alba with some p|His(ni priests and other clerics. He settled first nc:ir Stnigc.'itli, in the present parish of Upper Str:ithearn, in I'pper Perth, and erected three churches in (li:it district. The churches of Strageath, Blackford, and Dolpatrick are found there to-day dedicated to St. Patrick. He next