Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/686

 MAP 635 MAPHRIAN

Bulla morale cattolica" (1819), a defence of Catholicism siastical digaity goes back certainly to the seventh

against the attacks of Sismondi; the ''Storia dellaCo- century and perhaps to the closing years of the sixth,

lonna infame ** (1840), an historical appendix to his ro- When the theological school of the Persians at Ede^a

mance; the dialogue "Dell' Invenxione (1845);andan had been closed, first by Nonnus, successor of Ibas

essajr on the unity of the Italian language (1868). (457), and definitivel^r oy the Monophysite, CVrus

In his private life, Manzoni was under every aspect (489), Nestorianism triiunphed in the Empire of the

most aamirable and exemplary; as a public character, Sassanides. The few Persian Monophysitcs, like Xen-

hc is the noblest figure in the Italian literature of the aias (Philoxenus) of Tahal, were forced to go into

nineteenth century." exile. Xenaias became Bishop of Mabug (Hierop-

.xm9P^\^A^^J? ^<^r»o2}** ed. ScHEHiLLo AND Sfoma. olis). lu Pcrsla, the town of Tagrit alone did not

(Milan, 1905. etc.); Opere tnedtte o rare at AleMondro Maruoni, aAfXT^ ^U^ Tx«<»«ro;ii*.» waI:^*;^*^. i* u^^-,^^ fK^ «.^nf ..» ^f

ed. BoKOHi (Milak. 1883-1808); Sfoma. Seritti pottumi di fdopt the prevailmg lebgion; it became the centre of

i4/Mmn<fyt)jlfonAmi (Milan. 1000); Bovoui,, Carteagio fra Ale»- the Monophysite missions at the Commencement of

aandro Manzoni e Antonio ^ojwntnt (Milan, 1001); Pmna. the sixth Century. The energetic James Barad£eus

i&f JJStSSriJSTFtoS i^rs^'^'^n'i^^i 5ri**°«' f?' % fep^ f tXp Ahudenuneh who

onni di AletMondro Manzoni (new ed., Milan. 1894): Pbtkoo- died a martyr m 575. But the efforts of the monk Ma-

?^\\ IS^^^^"^^^ ^'* «^«»to<» ««% .<<«« edizioni dd l8B5j ruthas Were to be crowned with greater success. At

i^^S^^ISSS cniiiSTi^r* ^^ ««« *™^ ^^^ ^^e monastery <5 Mar Mattai (near

Edmund G. Gakdner. Nineveh), at another from Tagrit itself, he under-

^ took fruitful missionary work among the Arabs and

Map (sometimeB wrongly written Mapis), Walter, throughout the valley of the Tigris. He relied on the

Aichdeaoon of Oxford, d. at, or in the vicinity of, influence of Chosroes IPs physician, Gabriel de Shig-

Herefoid, o. 1140; d. between 1208 and 1210. Be- ^' ^^^ ^^^^ completely won the confidence of the

longing by birth to the Welsh Marches, he was in all Christian queen, Shirin.

probability Welsh by extraction, though the two Ian- J^^m time to time the Persian armies, which in- guages tlupough which he has be(^ome known in litera- vaded the Koman territories so often at this period, ture are memeval church Latin, and the soHjalled would bring back a multitude of captives, Byaan- Norman-French spoken at the Court of Henry II of *>n®8, Egyptians, Euphratesians or Edessans, mostly England as well as in the law courts of that age and Jacobites. So in 628-9 it was ludged suitable to countiy. At the age of fourteen Walter went to oi^nize the Monophysite Church in Persia. The the University of Paris where he studied until 1160 Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, Athanasius the Chan- under Girard la Pucelle. In 1162 he was at the Court cellpr, saw that it would be necessary to grant the of England. Henry made him a clerk of his household, Syrians in the Persian Empire a large ecclesiastical which implies that Map had received, or was about to autonomy. In fact one of the most serious objecticms receive, Holy orders. After this the road to other raised by the Nestorians against the Monoph^ites preferments was open to him. He was ^e King's rei>- was that the latter obeyed a spiritual head residing in resentativeattheThirdLateran Council (1179), where Byxantine territory and that they were therefore he waa appointed to dispute with the Waldensians. inclined to become the subjects of the Emperor of He held various benefices and at last, in 1197, he was Constantinople. Hence the Monophysites were fre- made Archdeacon of Oxford. An unsuccessful effort Quently denounced at the Court of Seleucia as con- to obtain the See of Hereford brou^t him into con- spirators favouring the Romans. The Sassanides tact with St. Hush, Bishop of Lincoln. would then become incensed and persecute the Jacob-

The place of mdter Map, however, is rather in the i*^- Athanasius moreover knew certain canons

history of profane literature than in ecclesiastical which prescribed that the head of the "Oriental"

history. As a churchman, though his life must have Christians, namely the Persians, was alone entitled

been respectable enough, his conversation can hardly to consecrate '* Oriental " bishops, and he was aware

have tended to edification, and he was the avowed ^at these canons dated back to the very beginning of

enemy of the White Monks. Girakius Cambrensis, J^e Syrian Churches. He decided that the metropol-

his fnend and admirer, states that in his oath as a ^^ans of Tagrit, when ordained by him, would become

king's justice, to do ]ustu» to all men, Map made a dis- autonomous and be sole rulers of the Monophysite

observation, written, regardless of form, on the sug- ^hne which cannot be definitely fixed the title of

^estion of one Geoffrey, to set down his (Map's) say- *'Mafriano".

mgs and doings that had not been committed to "^^ relations of the maphrian and the Jacobite

writing. It is also implied by Map that he wrote at Patriarch of Antioch were, despite several schisms,

the wish of Hennr II, at whose court the work was maintained harmoniously. In 869 it was decided

composed. Besides this woric in Latin, there is good that just as the patriarch consecrated the maphrian so

reason to believe that the earliest prose " Lancelot" the consecration of a new patriarch would be reserved

was based on a French poem of Walter Map (see to the maphrian. Within their own circumscriptions

Legends, Arthur), Lastly^ much of the " Goliardic" the maphrians had often disputes with the metropol-

Latin satire on the clergy of that period has without ^tan of the monastery of Mar Mattai (near Nineveh)

sufficient reason been ascribed to him, the most noted who was jealous of the preponderating influence of

amone that class of writing being the "Confessio Tagrit. In 1089 the churches of that town having

Golise^' from which is taken Uie famous bacchanalian ^^^ destroyed by the Mussulmans, the maphrians

lyric be^ining " Mihi est propositum in tabema mori". abandoned it and settled in Mosul. From a. d. 1155

The chief original sources are the D» nim eurialiwn and Gi- they generally resided at Mar Mattai while retaining

r„Tr^^/i^15."X,ote)e^2^ral£Ji?i„^{i^^ ^ Immediate jurtadiction over Tagrit and Nineveh'!

Idem m Preface to Latin Poemz attributed to Walter Map (Lon- "■^"® ^^7 nu^hnan worthy of bemg specially men- don, 1841); KntoaroKD in Diet, of NaL Bioor., B, y. tioned is the celebrated Gregory Abulfaraflj, sur-

E. Macphebson. named Bar Hebrseus (q. v.) (d. 1286), the most highly . cultured man of his age. There has been preserved a Maplinan.--The Synac word mafriano signifies history bv him of his predecessors. Thb work was one who fnictifies, a consecrator. It is used to desig- continuea by his brother, and later by unscholarly an- nate the prelate who holds the second rank after the nalists, and stops in the fifteenth centurj- (1490). I- or patnarch among the Jacobite Syrians. This ecclc- a long time past the Jacobite Chriat\aja£»^^^5asi^^^^'t