Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/568

LEFT CHRISTMAS 494 CHROMATICS Catholic Church proved a bar to her re- sumption of the crown, and she was com- pelled to return to Rome in 1668, where she died in 1689. CHRISTMAS, the festival of the Nativity of Christ observed by the Christian Church yearly on the 25th of December. Augustine considered the fes- tivals, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, As- cension Day, and Whitsuntide, as the only festivals which had an Apostolic origin and the sanction of a general coun- cil. Christmas he deemed to be of later origin and lesser authority. When the first efforts were made to fix the period of the year when the advent took place, there were, as we learn from Clement of Alexandria, advocates for the 20th of May and for the 20th or 21st of April. The Oriental Christians generally were of opinion that both the birth and bap- tism of Jesus took place on the 6th of January. Julian I., Bishop of Rome from A. D. 337-352, contended for the 25th of December, a view to which the Eastern Church ultimately came round, while the Church of the West adopted from their brethren in the East the view that the baptism was on the 6th of January. When the festival was at length placed in December, it afforded a substitute to the various nations who had observed a festival of rejoicing that the shortest day of the year had passed, besides spanning over the great interval between Whitsun- tide of one year and Good Friday of the next. Coming to the Roman Christian converts, in lieu of the saturnalia, to which they had been accustomed while yet they were heathens, its purity became sullied almost at the first by revelry which had crept into it from this source. Similarly the Yule log, the mistletoe, etc., among English-speaking peoples, are relics of Druidism. See Christian Era. CHRISTMAS ISLAND, a British island in the Pacific in 1° 57' N. lat., and 157° 27' W. long., with some guano de- posits. It was discovered by Cook, Decem- ber, 1777. Another Christmas Island, an- nexed to Great Britain in 1888, lies about 250 miles S. W. of Java (11° S., 105° 30' E.), is 6 miles long by 4 broad, partly volcanic, partly coralline in structure, with rich phosphate deposits (worked since 1897). There is a third Christmas Island off Cape Breton. CHRISTMAS-ROSE, a plant, Helle- bonis niger, order Ranunciddcese, so called from its flowering at Christmas; also called Christmas flower. CHRISTOLOQY, that branch of the study of divinity which deals directly with the doctrine of the person of Christ. CHRISTOPHE, HENRI, a King of Haiti, was an African slave; born in Grenada, West Indies, in 1767, he re- ceived his freedom as a reward of faith- ful service. On the outbreak of the ne- gro insurrection in 1801, he became one of its leaders, and attracted by his ener- gy and ability the attention of Tous- saint rOuverture, who conferred upon him a divisional military command. After the deposition of Toussaint, Christophe served under his successor, Dessalines, and waged a war of increasing ferocity against the French, who, in 1803, were compelled to evacuate the island. In 1811, Christophe obtained undisputed possession of a portion of the island with the title of King of Haiti. His reign was that of a sanguinary despot, occa- sioning ultimately a successful revolt of his black subjects, whereupon he com- mitted suicide in 1820. CHRISTOPHER, ST., a Christian martyr who is supposed to have lived in the 3d century a. D. He was a native either of Syria or Palestine, and is be- lieved to have suffered martyrdom by de- capitation in the reign of the Roman Em- peror Decius. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates his festival on July 25. CHRISTOPHER'S, ST. (commonly called St. Kitt's), a British island in the West Indies, one of the Leeward Islands, 23 miles in length, and in general about 5 in breadth; area, 68 square miles. The principal products are sugar, cotton, and rum. The interior consists of many rug- ged pi'ecipices and bai'ren mountains. Of these the loftiest is Mount Misery (evi- dently an extinguished volcano), 4,100 feet high. The chief town, a seaport with open roadstead, is Basse-Terre (pop. about 8,500). The island has a legislature of its own, with an executive subordinate to the governor of the Lee- ward Islands, resident in Antigua. It was discovered by Columbus in 1493 and colonized by the English in 1623. Pop. about 30,000. CHRIST'S COLLEGE, a college in Cambridge, England, founded in 1506. It has about 200 undergraduates, 15 fel- lowships, and 30 scholarships. CHRISTY, HOWARD CHANDLER, an American illustrator; born in Morgan CO., O., Jan. 10, 1873. He achieved a repu- tation as an illustrator in newspaper and magazines. He was with the Rough Riders in Cuba and saw fighting before Santiago. He received medals at the Paris Exposition, the Chicago Exposition, and the National Academy of Design. CHROMATICS, the science of colors; that part of optics which treats of the