Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/581

 BUGMinOAT 5i

spiritual topics witLout becoming tireuomti b a task of rare difiiaulty; few men, indeed, could stand the test so well as Father Magnien. In the adrninistration of hia office there was nothing narrow or harah. He had & keen knowledge of conditions in this country. He used to Bay at the close of his life " I have trusted very much aod been sometimes deceived; but I know that had I trusted leas I would have been stiii oftener de-

Thia generous and wise sentiment cbaracteriies the

' ■'"" °ala the secret of hia influence.

loved and revered. He had strong affections; he had also strong dislikes, but not so uncontrollable as to lead him into an injustice. His personality con- tributed, in no small degree, to the growth and prosperity of St. Mary'aSeminary. Under his ad- ministration St. Austin's College was founded at the Catholic Uni-

ington, for the recruiting of American voca- tions to St. Sul- pice. His abilities as a churchman and a theologian were conspicuously revealed at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore.

Throughout his life, bis wise counsel was frequently sought and highly valued by many members of the hierarchy, and he waa a father to many of the clei^. He frequently preached retreats to the clergy; during the retreat at St. Louis in 1S97, he was seized with an Attack of a disease from which he had sulTered for years. SomemonthaJsterhe went to Paris tor special treatment, where he underwent a veiy dangerous operation, and returned to his post at Baltimore. Hia health, however, was never entirely regained and after two or three ycara began to fail markedly, and in the summer of 1902 he resigned bis burden. The good be wrought in the Church in America can never be told. In my love and veneration for his memory, I may be permitted to add that he was to me, for more than a quarter of a century, a moat affectionate, devoted, and faithful friend, and a wise and able counsel-

lor.

F01.BT, Very Rrv. Alphonae L. MoonU (Nsw York,M(in;h. 1«13), pp. SI4-822i

day oC the funeral; 'L7Magnitnia Tht CalholicSv^

Jambs Cardinal Gibbons.

giiam Marict, the " Gospel of Mary ". In the Roman reviary it is entitled (Vespers for Sunday) Caniicum B.M.V. (Canticle of the Bleaaed Virgin Mary). The "Magnificat", "Benedictua" (Canticle of Zachary — Luke i, 68-73), and "Nunc Dimittia" (Canticle of Simeon — Luke, ii, 29-32) are alao styled " evangelica] eanticles", as they are found in the Gospel (Evan- ^itim) of St. Luke. FoaM AND Content. — Commentators divide it into

14 KiaNiriUT

three or four atansas, of which easily accessible 31us-

tratioQS may be found In McEviUy, "Exposition of the Gospel of St. Luke" (triple division; verses 46-49, BO- SS, 54-55) ; in Maas, " Life of Jesus Christ " (also triple, but slightly different: vv. 4ft-50, 51-53, 54-55); and in SchaFF and Riddle. "Popular Commentai? on the New Testament" (division into foiu' stan- ■as: vv. 46-48, 49-50, 51-52. 53-55). The Magnifi- cat is in many places very aimilar in thought and phrase to the Canticle of Anna (I Kings, ii, 1-10), and to various psalms (sxxiii, 3-4; xxxiv, 9; cxxivii, 6; Luc, 19;cxxv, 2-3;cx, 9;xcvii, l;cxvii, 16;x3utii, 10; cxii,7;mxiii. ll;xovii,3;cxxxi, 11). Similarities are found with Hab., iU, 18; Mai., iii, 12; Job, v, 11; Js., xli, 8, and xlix, 3; Gen., xvii, 19. Steeped thus ia Scriptural thought and phrascoli^y, summing up in its mspired ecataay the economy of God with His Choeen People, indicating the fulfilment of the olden prophecy and prophesying anew until the end of time, the Magnificat is the crown of the Old Testament singir^i the la^t canticle of the Old and the tirat of the New Testament. It was uttered (or, not improbably, chanted) by the Blessed Virgin, when she viait«d her cousin EUzabeth under the circumstances narrated by St. Luke In tile finit chapter of hia Goapel. It ia an ecstasy of praise for the inestimable favour bestowed by God on the Virgin, for the mercies shown to Israel, and for the fulfilment of the promiaes made to Abra- ham and to the patriarchs. Only four points of exegesia will be noted here. Some commentators dis- tinguiah the meaning of "soul" (or "intellect") and "spirit" (or "will") in the first two veraea; but, in view of Hebrew usage, probably both worda mean the aame thing, " the aoul with all itAfacuItlea", In v. 48, "humility" probably means the "low estate" or "lowliness", ratner than the virtue of humility. The second half of v. 48 utters a prophecy which has been fulfilled ever since, and which adds to the over- whelming reasons for rejecting the Elizabethan au- thorship of the canticle. Finally the first half of v. 55 (-4b he spoke to our father^t) ia probably parcnthet-

Maiuan AoTHOHsmp. — The past decade lias wit- ncBsed a discussion of the autborsliip of the Mag' nificat, based on the fact that three ancient codices (Vercellcnais, Veronensis, Rhedigerianus) have; "Et ait Elisabeth: Magnificat anima mea", etc. (And Eliiabethsaid; My aoul doth magnify, eto.); and also on some very alight patriatic use of the variant read- ing. Hamack in Berliner Sitzungsberichte " (17 May, 1900), S.'iS^Se, announced his view of the Eliza- bethan authorahip, contending that the original reading is neither "Mary" nor "Eliiabeth", but merely "sne" (said). About two years previously, Durand hadcriticized, in the "Revue Biblique", the argument of Jacobs for a probable ascription to Elizabeth. Dom Morin had called attention (''Revue Biblique", 1897) to the words of Nicetas (Niceta) of Remeslana, in a Vatican MS. of his "De psalmodiae bono": "Cum Helisabeth Dominum anima nostra magnificat " (With Elizabeth our aoul doth magnify the Lord). The works of Nicetas have been edited recently by Burn, and give (De psalmodla bono, ix, xi) evidence of Nioetas's view (see note 4, p. 79, ibid.). In the intro- duction to Bum's volume, Burkitt rejects the reading " Et ait Eliaabeth " as wholly untenable In view of the contradictory testimony of TertuUian and of all the Greek and Syriac texts, but contends for the original reading "she" (said) and for the Elizabethan author- ship. He is answered by the Anglican Bishop of Salis- burv, who supports the probability of nn original reading " she ", but rejecla the ascription to Elliateth (pp. clv-clviii). The witness of the codices and of the Fathers is practically unanimous for the Vulgate read- ing: "Etait Maria "; but, apart from thia, the attribu- tion of the Magnificat to Elizabeth would, in St .Luke's cont«;(t, be highly abnormal. Long before the recent