An interesting personage appears in connection with the University of Beirut: William Gifford Palgrave. It is true that one period of his amazing career humiliated his former associates, but as it is a matter of history it must needs be told.
He was the son of an eminent English Protestant lawyer, Sir Francis Palgrave, and had Jewish blood in his veins. He was born in 1826, and after a brilliant course of studies at Oxford began his romantic career as a traveller. He went first to India and was an officer of Sepoys in the British army. While there, he became a Catholic, and afterwards presented himself at the novitiate of Negapatam as an applicant for admission. Unfortunately his request was granted, and forthwith he changed his name to Michael Cohen, as he said to conceal his identity. This was a most amazing mask; for Palgrave would have escaped notice, whereas everyone would immediately ask, who is this Jesuit Jew? How he was admitted is a mystery, especially as he proclaimed his race so openly.
After his novitiate he was sent to Rome to begin his theology — another mystery. Why was he not compelled to study philosophy first like everyone else? Then he insisted that Rome did not agree with his health, and he was transferred to Beirut to which he betook himself, not in the ordinary steamer, but in a sailing vessel filled with Mussulmans. On the way, he picked up Arabic. Inside of a year, namely in 1854, he was made a priest and given charge of the men's sodality which he charmed by his facility in the use of the native tongue; in the meantime he made many adventurous journeys to the interior to convert the natives, butfailed every time. In 1860 he was sent to France for his third year of probation under the famous Father Fouillot, whom he fascinated by his scheme of entering Arabia Petrea as its apostle. He succeeded in getting Louis Napoleon to give him 10,000 francs on the plea that he would thus carry out the scheme of the Chevalier Lascaris whom Napoleon Bonaparte had sent to the East.
At Rome, he found the Father General quite cold to the proposition, and when he had the audacity to ask Propaganda for permission to say Mass in Arabic, he was told: "Convert your Arabs first and then we shall see about the Mass." The brother who was to go with him fell ill, and the General then insisted that he should not attempt the journey without a priest as companion; whereupon Palgrave persuaded the Greek Bishop of Zahlé to ordain one of the lay professors of the college, after a few days' instruction in moral theology. Fortunately this improvised priest turned out well, and he became His Beatitude Mgr. Geraigri, patriarch of the Greek Melchites.
In 1862 the travellers set out by way of Gaza in Palestine, Palgrave as a physician, the other as his assistant. They covered the entire Arabian peninsula and were back again in Beirut at the end of fourteen months. Palgrave had made no converts, and was himself a changed man. Even his sodalists remarked it. What had happened no one ever knew. In 1864 he was sent to Maria-Laach in Germany, where the saintly Father Behrens wrestled with him in vain for a while, but he left the Society and passed over to Protestantism, securing meanwhile an appointment as Prussian consul at Mossul. In the following year he published an account of his travels and the book was a European sensation. In it he made no secret of his having been a member of the Society, which he says was"so celebrated in the annals of courageous and devoted philanthropy. The many years I spent in the East were the happiest of my life." In 1884 he was British consul at Montevideo and remained there till 1888 when he died.
For twenty years he seemed never to have been ashamed of his apostasy, but three or four years before his death the grace of God found him. The change was noticed on his return from a trip to England. He had become a Catholic again. He went to Mass and received Holy Communion. Although a government official, he refused to go to the Protestant Church even for the queen's jubilee, in spite of the excitement caused by his absence. He died of leprosy. A Jesuit attended him in his last sickness, and he was buried with all the rites of the Church. These details are taken from a recent publication by Father Jullien, S. J., entitled "Nouvelle mission de la Compagnie de Jésus en Syrie" (II, iii.)
The great difficulty that confronts educators of youth in our times, is state control. In the United States it has not yet gone to extremes, but every now and then one can detect tendencies in that direction. Meantime the Society has developed satisfactorily along educational lines. According to the report of October 10, 1916 (Woodstock Letters, V 45), there were 16,438 students in its American colleges and universities. Of these 13,301 were day scholars and 3,137 boarders. There were 3,943 in the college departments, 10,502 in the high schools and 1,416 in the preparatory. Besides all this, there were commercial and special sections numbering 737. The total increase over the preceding year was 523.
The Maryland-New York provinces had 1,848 students of law, 341 of medicine, 127 of dentistry, 122 of pharmacy. Missouri had 786 students of law,643 of medicine, 776 of dentistry, 245 of pharmacy, 126 of engineering, 530 of finance, 240 of sociology, 425 of music, 43 of journalism, and 61 in the nurse's training school. New Orleans had a law school of 81 and California one of 232 students.
It is sometimes urged as an objection to Catholic colleges that they give only a Classical education, and are thus not keeping pace with the world outside. To show that the objection has no foundation in fact, it would be sufficient to enter any Jesuit college which is at all on its feet, and see the extensive and fully equipped chemical and physical laboratories, the seismic plants and in some cases the valuable museums of natural history which they possess. If it were otherwise, they would be false to all their traditions; for the Society has always been conspicuous for its achievements in the natural sciences. It has produced not only great mathematicians and astronomers, but explorers, cosmographers, ethnologists, and archæologists. Thus, for instance, there would have been absolutely no knowledge of the aborigines of North America, their customs, their manner of life, their food, their dress, their superstitions, their dances, their games, their language had it not been for the minute details sent by the missionaries of the old and new Society to their superiors. In every country where they have been, they have charted the territories over which they journeyed or in which they have labored, described their natural features, catalogued their fauna and flora, enriched the pharmacopeia of the world with drugs, foodstuffs and plants, and have located the salts and minerals and mines.
That this is not idle boasting may be seen at a glance in Sommervogel's "Bibliothèque des écrivains." Thus the names of publications on mathematics fill twenty-eight columns of the huge folio pages. Thenfollow other long lists on hydrostatics and hydraulics, navigation, military science; surveying; hydrography and gnomics; physics, chemistry and seismology call for thirty columns; medical sciences; zoology, botany, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, rural economy and agriculture require eight. Then there are two columns on the black art. The fine arts including painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, music, equitation, printing and mnemonics take from column 927 to 940.
According to this catalogue, the new Society has already on its lists one hundred and sixty-four writers on subjects pertaining to the natural sciences: physics, chemistry, mineralogy, zoology, botany, paleontology, geography, meteorology, astronomy, etc. The names of living writers are not recorded. Nor does this number include the writers who published their works during the Suppression, as de Mailla, who in 1785 issued in thirteen volumes a history of China with plans and maps, the outcome of an official survey of the country — a work entrusted by the emperor to the Jesuits. Father de Mailla was made a mandarin for his share of the work.
The extraordinary work on the zoology of China by the French Jesuit, Pierre Heude, might be adduced as an illustration of similar work in later times. He began his studies in boyhood as a botanist, but abandoned that branch of science when he went to the East. While laboring as a missionary there for thirty years he devoted every moment of his spare time to zoology.
He first travelled along all the rivers of Middle and Eastern China to classify the fresh-water molluscs of those regions. On this subject alone he published ten illustrated volumes between 1876 and 1885. His treatise "Les Mollusques terrestres de la vallée du Fleuve Bleu" is today the authority on that subject.He then directed his attention particularly to the systematic and geographical propagation of Eastern Asiatic species of mammals, as well as to a comparative morphology of classes and family groups, according to tooth and skeleton formations. His fitness for the work was furthered by his extremely keen eye, his accurate memory, and the enormous wealth of material which he had accumulated, partly in the course of his early travels and partly in later expeditions, which carried him in all directions. These expeditions covered chiefly the eight years from 1892 to 1900. They took him to the Philippines which he visited three times; to Singapore, Batavia, the Celebes, the Moluccas, New Guinea, Japan, Vladivostock, Cochin-China, Cambodia, Siam, and Tongking. He carried on his work with absolute independence of method. He contented himself with the facts before him and sought little assistance from authorities; nor did he fear to deduce theoretical conclusions from his own observations which flatly contradicted other authorities. He continued his scientific work until shortly before his death which occurred at Zikawei on January 3, 1902. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, VII, 308.)
Albers in his "Liber Sæcularis" maintains that "in the cultivation of the natural sciences, the restored Society won greater fame than the old," and that "a glance at the men whom the Italian provinces alone have produced would be sufficient to convince the doubter." Angelo Secchi, of course, stands out most prominently, and a little later Father Barello, who with the Barnabite Denza established the Meteorological Observatory of Malta. Giambattista Pianciani was regarded with the greatest veneration in Rome because of his vast erudition as a scientist, as were Caraffa, Mancini and Foligni for their knowledge ofmathematics. Marchi was the man who trained the illustrious de Rossi, as an archæologist, and also the Jesuit Raffaele Garrucci whose "Monumenta delle arte cristiane primitive nella metropoli del Cristianesimo" laid the foundations of the new study of archæology. The writings of Father Gondi and Francis Tongiorgi have also contributed much to advancement in those fields of knowledge.
Faustino Arévalo was one of the exiles from Spain at the time of the Suppression. He was born at Campanario in Estremadura in 1747, and entered the Society in 1761. Six years afterwards he was deported to Italy by Charles III. In Rome he won the esteem and confidence of Cardinal Lorenzano, who proved to be his Mæcenas by bearing the expense of Arévalo's learned publications. He was held in high honor in Rome, and was appointed to various offices of trust, among them that of pontifical hymnographer and theologian of the penitenziaria, thus succeeding the illustrious Muzzarelli. When the Society was restored, he returned to Spain and was made provincial of Castile. One of his works was the "Hymnodia hispanica," a restoration of ancient Spanish hymns to their original metrical, musical and grammatical perfection. This publication was much esteemed by Cardinal Mai and Dom Guéranger. It was accompanied by a curious dissertation on the Breviary of Cardinal Quignonez. He also edited the poems of Prudentius and Dracontius and those of a fifth century Christian of Roman Africa. Besides this, he has to his credit four volumes of Jouvancy's "Gospel History," the works of Sedulius and St. Isidore and a Gothic Missal. He stands in the forefront of Spanish patristic scholars, and has shed great lustre on the Church of Spain by his vast learning, fine literarytaste and patriotic devotion to the Christian writers of his fatherland.
The founder of the science of archæology, according to Hurter, was Stefano Antonio Morcelli. He was a member of the old Society and re-entered it when it was restored. Even before the Suppression, which occurred twenty years after his entrance, he had established an archæological section in the Kircher Museum of Rome. When he found himself homeless, in consequence of the publication of the Brief of Clement XIV, he was made the librarian of Cardinal Albani. He refused the Archbishopric of Ragusa and continued his literary labors in Rome. His first publication was "The Style of Inscriptions." In the town of Chiari, his birthplace, to which he afterwards withdrew, he founded an institution for the education of girls, reformed the entire school system, devoted his splendid library to public use, and restored many buildings and churches. Meantime his reputation as master of epigraphic style increased and he was placed in a class of his own above all competitors. Besides his many works on his special subject, he gave to the world five volumes of sermons and ascetic treatises. When the Society was re-established he again took his place in its ranks, and died in Brescia in 1822 at the age of eighty-four. Hurter classifies him as also a historian and geographer.
Nor was Morcelli an exception. Fathers Arthur Martin and Charles Cahier are still of great authority as archæologists, chiefly for their monograph in which, as government officials, they described the Cathedral of Bourges; and likewise for their "Mélanges archéologiques," in which the sacred vessels, enamels and other treasures of Aix-la-Chapelle and of Cologne are discussed. They also wrote on the antique ivoriesof Bamberg, Ratisbon, Munich and London; on the Byzantine and Arabian weavings; and on the paintings and the mysterious bas-reliefs of the Roman and Carlovingian periods. Their works appeared between 1841 and 1848.
A very famous Jesuit archæologist died only a few years ago, and the French government which had just expelled the Jesuits erected a monument at Poitiers to perpetuate his memory. He was Father Camille de la Croix. He was a scion of the old Flemish nobility and was born in the Château Saint-Aubert, near Tournai in Belgium, but he passed nearly all his life in France, and hence Frenchmen considered him as one of their own. He got his first schooling in Brugelette, and, when that college was given up, went with his old masters to France. In 1877 we find him mentioned in the catalogue as a teacher and writer of music. Three years later, the French provinces had been dispersed by the government, and he was then docketed as an archæologist at the former Jesuit college of Poitiers.
De la Croix's success as a discoverer was marvellous. Near Poitiers he found vast Roman baths, five acres in extent, whose existence had never even been suspected. There were tombs of Christian martyrs; a wonderful crypt dating from the beginning of the Christian era; a temple dedicated to Mercury, with its sacred wells, votive vases etc. At Sauxay, nineteen miles from Poitiers, he unearthed the ruins of an entire Roman colony; a veritable Pompeii with its temple of Apollo, its theatres, its palaces, its baths etc. He had the same success at Nantes, Saint-Philibert, and Berthouville; — the French government supplying him with the necessary funds. The "Gaulois" said of him that "in his first ten years he discovered more monuments than would have made twenty archæologists famous." Meantime he lived in a wooden cabin, on the banks of the Clain, and there he died at the age of eighty, on April 14, 1900; and there also the French government built his monument. At the dedication, all the scientific men of the country were present, and the King of Belgium sent a representative.
Although the well-known François Moigno severed his connection with the Society, it was only after he had achieved greatness while yet in its ranks. He entered the novitiate on September 2, 1822, when he was eighteen years of age. He made his theological studies at Montrouge, and in his spare moments devoted himself to the study of the natural sciences. At the outbreak of the Revolution of 1830, he went with his brethren to Brieg in Switzerland, where he took up the study of languages, chiefly Hebrew and Arabic. When the troubles subsided in France he was appointed professor of mathematics in Paris at the Rue des Postes, and became widely known as a man of unusual attainments. He was on intimate terms with Cauchy, Arago, Ampère and others. He was engaged on one of his best known works: "Leçons de calcul différentiel et de calcul intégral" and had already published the first volume when he left the Society. He had been a Jesuit for twenty-one years. He was then made chaplain of Louis-le-Grand, one of the famous colleges owned by the Jesuits before the Suppression, and became the scientific editor of "La Presse" in 1850; of "Le Pays" in 1851, and in the following year, founded the well-known scientific journal "Cosmos," followed by "Les Mondes" in 1862, editing meanwhile "Les Actualités scientifiques." As a matter of fact, it was the Society that had formed him and enabled him to publish his greatest works.
The German, Father Ludwig Dressel, who was for many years the director of the Polytechnic in Quito, iswell-known for his treatises on geology, chemistry and physics. Kramers, in Holland, is the author of three volumes on chemistry. In entomology, Father Erich Wasmann is among the masters of today, and has written a series of works which have elicited the applause of the scientific world, especially his "Die moderne Biologie und die Entwicklungstheorie." (Modern Biology and the Theory of Evolution.) The writings of Bolsius on biology won for him a membership in the scientific societies of Russia, Belgium, Italy and Holland.
The first meteorological society, the "Palatina," was founded by Father Johann Hemmer in 1780, and it is noteworthy that nearly all its contributors were members of the various religious orders of Austria-Hungary, Italy and France. Its scope was not restricted to the study of meteors, for it accepted papers on ethnology, linguistics, etc. Hence we find Father Dobrizhoffer writing to it from Paraguay, Joseph Lafitaux from Canada, Johann Hanxleden, the Sanscrit scholar from Hindostan, and Lorenzo Hervás. Hanxleden and his colleague Roth were the pioneers in Sanscrit. The former was the first European to write a Sanscrit grammar and to compile a Malabar-Sanscrit-Portuguese dictionary. Hervás was one of the Jesuits expelled from Mexico, and after the Suppression was made prefect of the Quirinal Library by Pius VII. While there, he worked in conjunction with several of his former brethren in the compilation and composition of scientific works, mostly of an ethnological character. He also wrote a number of educational works for deaf mutes.
The Observatory of Stonyhurst dates back to 1838-39, when a building consisting of an octagonal centerpiece with four abutting structures was erected in the middle of the garden. But it was not until 1845that a 4-inch Jones equatorial was mounted in its dome. Meteorological observations were begun as early as 1844, and magnetic in 1856 by Father Weld. In 1867 an 8-inch equatorial was set up. The chief workers were Fathers Stephen Perry, Walter Sidgreaves and Aloysius Cortie. All three were members of the Royal Astronomical Society and were frequently chosen to fill official positions. Father Perry achieved special prominence. He was the director from 1860 to 1862, and again from 1868 till his death in 1889. He was a member of more scientific expeditions than any other living astronomer. He was at Cadiz for the solar eclipse in 1870; he was sent as astronomer royal in 1874 for the transit of Venus to Kerguelen or Desolation Island, and for another observation to Madagascar in 1882. In 1886 he observed a total eclipse at Carriacou in the West Indies. For the eclipse of 1887 he was sent to Russia, and for that of 1889 to Cayenne. On the latter expedition he was attacked by a pestilential fever and died on board the warship "Comus" off Georgetown, Demerara, after receiving the last sacraments from a French Abbé resident in Georgetown. Father Perry was buried there in the cathedral cemetery. His death was that of a saint, and a touching account of it has been left by his assistant, a Jesuit lay-brother.
Father Perry's prominence in the scientific world may be judged by the honors bestowed upon him. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Council; also a member and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and, shortly before he died, he had been proposed as Vice-President. At the time of his death he held the post of President of the Liverpool Astronomical Society. He was a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, a member of the Physical Society of London, and an associate of thePapal Academy of the Nuovi Lincei, the oldest scientific society in Europe. He belonged also to the Societé Géographique of Antwerp, and had received the degree of Doctor of Sciencehonoris causafrom the Royal University of Ireland. For several years before his death, he served on the committee of the council on education, as well as on the committee for comparing and reducing magnetic observations, for which work he had been appointed by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a body of which he was a life-member. In 1887 and 1889 he attended at Paris the meetings of the Astrographic Congress for the photographic charting of the heavens.
In the "Monthly Notices" of the Royal Astronomical Society (L, iv) the following resolution appears on the occasion of his death: "The Council having heard with the deepest regret of the death of the Rev. S. J. Perry while on the Society's expedition to observe the total eclipse at the Salut Islands, desire to put on record their sense of the great loss which astronomy has suffered by the death of so enthusiastic and capable an observer, and to offer to his relations and to his colleagues at Stonyhurst the expression of their sincere sympathy and condolence on this sad event." The list of his scientific papers covers twelve pages of his biography. Father Cortie, his associate in the Stonyhurst Observatory, says of him: "His death was glorious, for he died a victim to his sense of duty and his zeal for science. Truly he may lay claim to the title of 'martyr of science,' and a part of the story of the eclipse of December 22, 1889, will be the account of how Father Perry was carried from a sick bed to take his last observation."
Besides the Observatories in Granada and Oña the Spanish Jesuits have another near Tortosa. The main object of the latter is the study of terrestrialmagnetism, seismology, meteorology, study of the sun, etc. It has five separate buildings and a valuable periodical regularly published by the observers.
The Zo-se Observatory near Zikawei in China is in charge of the French Fathers. The Observatory is about 80 feet in length. It has a library of 20,000 volumes with numerous and valuable Chinese manuscripts. They have another station in Madagascar, which is 4,600 feet above sea-level, and consequently higher by 100 metres than the Lick Observatory in California. When the Jesuits were expelled from Madagascar, the Observatory was demolished by the natives who thought it was a fortress. It was rebuilt later at the expense of the French government and the director, Father Colin, was made a corresponding Member of the French Academy. In 1890, 1895, 1898 and 1899 the observers were honored by their home government with purses of considerable value, one being of 6,000 and another of 3,000 francs.
There are other observatories at Calcutta, Rhodesia, Feldkirch, Louvain, Oudenbosch (Holland), Puebla (Mexico), Havana, Woodstock and other Jesuit colleges in the United States; these are attracting notice principally by their seismographical reports. The most conspicuous of all these North American observatories is that of Georgetown which was founded in 1842-43, about the same time as the Naval Observatory. It was built under the direction of Father Curley, whose determination of the longitude of Washington in conjunction with Sir G. B. Airy, the Astronomer Royal of Greenwich, England, was made by observing a series of transits of the moon, and was later shown by the electric telegraph to have been correct to within the tenth of a second. Fathers De Vico, Sestini and Secchi labored at Georgetown.Secchi's "Researches in Electrical Rheometry" was published in 1852 by the Smithsonian Institute. It was his first literary contribution to science. Sestini's drawings of the sun spots were published by the Naval Observatory. In 1889 Father Hagen, then the director, published his "Atlas stellarum variabilium." In 1890 Father Fargis solved the question of "the personal equation" in astronomical observations by his invention of the Photochronograph. It had been attempted by Father Braun in Kalocsa (Hungary) and by Repsola in Königsberg, but both failed. Professors Pickering and Bigelow in the United States had also given it up, but Father Fargis solved the difficulty by a fixed photographic plate and a narrow metal tongue attached to the armature of an electric magnet. It has proved satisfactory in every test.
In Sommervogel's "Bibliothèque" the list of the astronomical works written by Secchi covers nineteen pages quarto, in double columns. He was equally active in physics and meteorology and his large meteorograph described in Ganot's "Physics" merited for him the Grand Prix (100,000 francs) and the Cross of the Legion of Honor at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. It was conferred upon him by the hand of the Emperor Napoleon, in the presence of the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the Kings of Prussia and Belgium. The Emperor of Brazil sent him a golden rose as a token of appreciation.
The "Atlas stellarum variabilium" by Father Johann Hagen is according to "Popular Astronomy" (n. 81, p. 50) the most important event in the star world. Ernst Harturg (V. J. S., vol. 35) says: "It will without doubt become in time an indispensable requisite of the library of every observatory just as the Bonn maps have become." Father Hagen has also won distinction in the mathematical world by his"Synopsis der höheren Mathematik," in four volumes quarto.
The seismological department of Georgetown, under Father Francis A. Tondorf, has attained an especial prominence in the United States. Its equipment is of the latest perfection, and its earthquake reports are those most commonly quoted in the daily press of America.
Important in their own sphere are the books "Astronomisches aus Babylon" by Fathers Joseph Epping and Johann Nepomuk Strassmaier, and "Die babylonische Mondrechnung" by Epping. F. K. Ginzel (in V. J. S., vol. 35.) expresses the following opinion of them: "It is well known that the investigations made by the Jesuit Father Epping, in conjunction with the Assyriologist Father Strassmaier, upon many Babylonian astronomical bricks have had as a consequence that the scientific level upon which the history of astronomy had formerly placed the Babylonians must be taken considerably higher. Epping's investigations now receive a very valuable extension through the labor of Father Kugler of Valkenburg, Holland. From the communications received concerning Kugler's work the importance of his book to the history of astronomy may be inferred."
"Die Gravitations-Constante" (Vienna, 1896), by Father Carl Braun of Mariaschein, Bohemia, represents about eight years of patient work, and according to Poynting (Proc. of the Royal Soc. Inst, of Great Britain, XVI, 2) "bears internal evidence of great care and accuracy. He obtained almost exactly the same result as Professor Boys with regard to the earth's mean density. Father Braun carried on his work far from the usual mechanical laboratory facilities and had to make much of the apparatus himself. His patience and persistence command our highest admiration."
With regard to the "Kosmogonie vom Standpunkte christlicher Wissenschaft," by Father Braun, Dr. Foster says: (V. J. S., vol. 25) "this problem, mighty in every aspect, is treated from all points of view with clearness and impressiveness. One could hardly find at this time in any other book all the essential features of a theory of the sun collected together in such a directive manner."
Perhaps the famous phrase of St. Ignatius,Quam sordet tellus quum cælum aspicio, had something to do with the Society's passion for astronomy. "How sordid the earth is when I look at the sky." His sons have been looking at the sky from the beginning not only spiritually but through telescopes, and many of them have become famous as astronomers. This is all the more notable, because star-gazing was only a secondary object with them. They were first of all priests and scientific men afterwards. As early as 1591 Father Perrerin, in his "Divinatio astrologica," denounced astrology as a superstition although his Protestant friend, the great Kepler, did not admit the distinction between it and astronomy. The book of Perrerin's went through five editions. Father de Angelis published in 1604 five volumes entitled "In astrologos conjectores" (Against astrological guessers). As late as 1676, the work was still in demand, for illustrious personages like Rudolph II, Wallenstein, Gustavus Adolphus, Catherine de' Medici and even Luther and Melanchthon with a host of others were continually having their horoscopes taken.
Another eminent worker was Father Riccioli, of whom we read: "If you want to know the ancient follies on this point consult Riccioli." (Littrois in "Wunder des Himmels," 1886, 604.) The implication might be that Riccioli approved of them, but the reverse is the case, for, as Thomas Aquinas furnishes a list ofevery actual and almost every possible theological and philosophical error, but after each addsvidetur quod non, which he follows up by a refutation, so does Riccioli in his Astrology. He was a genius. He became a Jesuit when he was sixteen, and for years never thought of telescopes. He taught poetry, philosophy and theology at Parma and Bologna, and took up astronomy only when his superiors assigned him to that study. Being an Italian, he did not like Copernicus or Kepler. They were from the Protestant North and had refused to accept the Gregorian Calendar. He admitted, indeed, that the Copernican system was the most beautiful, the most simple, the best conceived, but not solid, so he made one of his own, but did not adhere to it tenaciously.
Appreciating the deficiencies of the astronomy of the ancients, he composed the famous "Almagestum novum," which placed the whole science on a new basis. Beginning by the measurement of the earth, he produced, though he made mistakes, the first meteorolog-system. His lunar observations revealed 600 spots on the moon, which is fifty more than had been found by Hevelius. His collaborator, Grimaldi, the greatest mathematician of his age, made the maps. His remarks on libration fill an entire volume, and the writer in the "Biographie universelle" gives him the credit of experimenting on the oscillations of the pendulum before Galileo. His health was always poor, but he worked like a giant. His "Almagestum" consists of 1500 folio pages, and is described as a treasure of astronomical erudition. Lalande quotes from it continually. His "Astronomia reformata" is in two volumes folio, and he has twelve folio volumes on geography and hydrography. Its learning is astounding. Thus, for instance, in the second part of his "Chronologia" there is a list of the principal events from the creationto the year 1688, along with the names of kings, patriarchs, nations, heresies, councils, and great personages, which was really collateral matter.
What the Jesuit astronomers accomplished in China from the time of Ricci down to Hallerstein in 1774 has been continued there to the present day. The first government observatory in Europe was erected in the University of Vienna, then in the hands of the Jesuits. There were others at Vilna, Schwetzingen and Mannheim. Twelve other private ones had been built in the various European colleges of the Society. The establishment of these observatories was providential, for when the Society was suppressed they afforded occupation and support to a great number of dispersed Jesuits, who remained in charge of them during their forty years of homelessness and kept alive the old spirit of the Order in its affection for that particular study. As in the old Society this work is still a matter of private enterprise. As far as we are aware there is only one observatory where a government assists, the Observatory of Manila, in which the employees are salaried by the United States government. The equipment itself, however, was provided by the Jesuits, who reduced their living expenses to the minimum in order to build the house and buy the instruments.
On the other hand, the number of actual Jesuit observatories in the strict sense of the term already rivals that of the old Society. The Roman establishment which had been made famous by Scheiner, Gottignes, Asclepi, Borgondius, Maire and Boscovich was continued during the Suppression by the secular priest Calandrelli. In 1824 Leo XII restored it to the Society, and Father Dumouchel took charge of it with De Vico as an assistant. The latter's reputation was European. He was known as the Comet Chaser, for he had discovered eight of them. The well-knownfive and a half years periodic comet bears his name. He succeeded Dumouchel as director in 1840, and was holding that office when the Revolution of 1848 drove the Jesuits from Rome. He was received with great enthusiasm in France by Arago, and in England he was offered the directorship of the Observatory of Madras but he preferred to go to Georgetown in the United States. Being called to London on business, he died there on November 15, 1848, at the age of 43. Herschel wrote his obituary in the "Notices of the Astronomical Society."
Secchi had gone with De Vico to Georgetown, but was recalled to Rome in 1849 by Pius IX, and given charge of the observatory. He was born at Reggio in 1818, and, after studying in the Jesuit college there, entered the Society at the age of sixteen. He began as a tutor in physics and continued at that work when he went to Georgetown. Astronomy had as yet not appealed to him, but in Washington he met the famous hydrographer, meteorologist and astronomer, Maury, and a deep affection sprang up between them, and Secchi dedicated one of his books to his American friend. His appointment to the Roman Observatory in 1859 was due to the recommendation of De Vico, and in two years his brilliant success as an observer attracted the attention of the scientific world. He began by a revision of Struve's "Catalogue of Double Stars," which necessitated seven years' strenuous work, and he was able to verify 10,000 of the entries. Meantime he was studying the physical condition of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the four great moons of Jupiter. In 1852 the moon became the special object of his investigations, and his micrometrical map of the great crater was so exact that the Royal Society of London had numerous photographs made of it. In 1859 he published his great work "Il quadro fisico del sistemasolare secondo il piu recenti osservazioni." The study of the sun spots was his favorite task, and his expedition to Spain in 1860 to observe the total eclipse established the fact that the red protuberances around the edge of the eclipsed sun were real features of the sun itself and not optical illuminations or illuminated mountains of the moon. He began the "Sun Records" in Rome, and they are kept up till this day. No other observatory has anything like them. All this, with his inventions, and the study of the spectroscope, heliospectroscope and telespectroscope, besides the mass of scientific results which he arrived at, has put him in the very first rank of astronomers. He was equally conspicuous as a meteorologist and a physicist. When the Piedmontese took Rome, Secchi was offered the rank of senator and the superintendency of all the observatories of Italy if he would leave the Society. Of course he scoffed at the proposal; but his authority in Italy was so great that the invaders did not dare to expel him from his observatory. He died in 1878.
Clerke says of him: "The effective founders of stellar photography were Father Secchi, the eminent Jesuit astronomer of the Collegio Romano, and Dr. Huggins with whom the late Professor Mullen was associated. The work of each was happily made to supplement that of the other. With less perfect appliances, the Roman astronomer sought to render his work extensive rather than precise; whereas, at Upper Tulse Hill, searching accuracy over a narrower gauge was aimed at and attained. To Father Secchi is due the merit of having executed the first spectroscope view of the heavens. Above 4000 stars were all passed in review by him and classified according to the varying qualities of their light. His provisional establishment (1863-7) of four types of stellar spectrahas proved a genuine aid to knowledge, through the facilities afforded by it for the arrangement and comparison of rapidly accumulating facts. Moreover it is scarcely doubtful that these spectral distinctions correspond to differences in physical conditions of a marked kind."
"I saw the great man," said one who was in the audience of the splendid hall of the Cancelleria, "when he was giving a course on the solar spectrum. The vast auditorium was crowded with a brilliant throng in which you could see cardinals, archbishops, monsignori and laymen, all representing the highest religious, diplomatic and scientific circles. Though an Italian, Secchi spoke in French that was absolutely perfect. Everyone was enthralled, but what captivated me was the gentleness and even deference with which he spoke to the men who were adjusting the screens. He almost seemed to be their servant and I could not help saying to myself, 'Oh! I love you.' I saw him later in the street. It was in the turbulent days of the Italian occupation. He was walking alone; his head slightly bowed. Suddenly the cry was heard: 'Death to the Jesuits!' and an excited mob was seen rushing towards him. He stood still; grasped the stout stick in his hand, glared at them; and they fled. I never saw anything like it. I loved him before. I adored him now." In brief, Secchi was a great man in the eyes of the world, but he was a greater religious. Indeed it is said that when his superiors told him to apply himself to mathematics he burst into tears. He wanted to be a missionary. He was such, while being at the same time one of the most distinguished men in the scientific world.
The Manila Observatory in the Philippines, strictly speaking, began its meteorological service in 1865,though observations had been made many years previously. In 1881 it was officially approved by the Spanish government and in 1901 by that of the United States. The meteorological importance and efficiency of the Manila Observatory overshadows its astronomical, for the reason that it is situated in the eastern typhoon path. Astronomy, however, is by no means neglected. From 1880 up to the present time it has rendered very valuable services to the world. First, the official time was given to the city of Manila and, after the American occupation, it was extended to all the telegraph stations throughout the islands. Secondly, about one hundred ship chronometers are annually compared and rated at the Observatory free of charge.
In 1894 Father José Algué began to complete the astronomical equipment and erected a new building at the cost of $40,000, equipping it with instruments of the latest and best type. Three years later he was given charge of the whole establishment, and is now rendering immense and indispensable service to the shipping interests of the Far East by his weather predictions. His barocyclonometer is carried on every ship in those waters. In 1900 he was sent to Washington by the United States government to supervise the printing of his immense work entitled "El Archipiélago Filipino," and he gave later to the World's Fair at St. Louis one of its remarkable exhibits, — a relief map covering a great expanse on the ground and representing every island, river, bay, cape, peninsula, volcano, village and city of the Archipelago. Previous to his appointment in Manila Father Algué had worked for several years in the Georgetown Observatory.
In the matter of the theological teaching it will suffice to note that the Collegium Germanicum was given back to the Society in 1829 and entrusted to Father AloysiusLandes as rector. The German government for some time forbade German students to attend its classes, but in 1848 there were 251 on the roster. Since it opened its doors to the present day, it has given to the Church 4 cardinals, 4 archbishops, 11 bishops, 3 coadjutor bishops, 1 vicar Apostolic, besides a number of distinguished professors, canons and priests.
A very notable recognition of the Society in the field of education was given by Pius IX, when he confided to it the government of the college known as the Pium Latinum. The distinguished ecclesiastic who suggested it was the Apostolic prothonotary, José Ignacio Eyzaguirre, a Chilian by birth. The college was founded in 1858 to prepare a body of learned priests for the various countries of South America. In 1908 at its golden jubilee it could show a record not only of distinguished priests but of a cardinal, Joachim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, and of 30 bishops, though it began with only 15 students. The house that first sheltered them was extremely small, but the Pope saw to it that they had a larger establishment. While urging the bishops of Latin America to support it liberally — for having been Apostolic delegate in Chili no one knew better than he the urgent necessity of such a school — he himself was lavish in his gifts of money, books, vestments, etc. In 1867 a part of the old Jesuit novitiate was purchased from the Government, and although in 1870 the Jesuits were expelled from Rome those in the Pio Latino were not disturbed. In 1884 a new site was found near the Vatican and on the banks of the Tiber where there is now a splendid college with a capacity of 400 students. In 1905 Cardinal Vives y Tuto published an Apostolic Constitution which gave the title "Pontifical" to the college and confided theeducationin perpetuumto the Society. This Constitution had been asked for by the Latin American Bishops during the Council, it was promised by Leo XIII, and finally realized by Pius X. When formally handed over to the Jesuits there were 104 alumni present. The trust was accepted in the name of Father General by Father Caterini, provincial of the Roman province.
Grammars and Lexicons of every tongue — Dramas — Histories of Literature — Cartography — Sinology — Egyptology — Sanscrit — Catholic Encyclopedia — Catalogues of Jesuit Writers — Acta Sanctorum — Jesuit Relations — Nomenclator — Periodicals — Philosophy — Dogmatic, Moral and Ascetic Theology — Canon Law — Exegesis.
Grammars and Lexicons of every tongue — Dramas — Histories of Literature — Cartography — Sinology — Egyptology — Sanscrit — Catholic Encyclopedia — Catalogues of Jesuit Writers — Acta Sanctorum — Jesuit Relations — Nomenclator — Periodicals — Philosophy — Dogmatic, Moral and Ascetic Theology — Canon Law — Exegesis.
The literary activity of the Society has always been very great, not only in theological, philosophical and scientific fields, but also in those that are specifically designated as pertaining to thebelles lettres. Thus, under the heading "Linguistics," in Sommervogel's "Bibliotheca" we find treatises on philology, the origin of language, grammatical theories, a pentaglottic vocabulary, a lexicon of twenty-four languages, the first language, etc. Then come the Classics. Under "Greek," there are two huge pages with the names of various grammars; besides dictionaries, exercises and collections of old Greek authors. Under "Latin," we find four pages of grammars and lexicons; some of the latter giving the equivalents in Portuguese, Tamul, Chinese, French, Polish, Brazilian, Bohemian, Syrian, Armenian and Japanese. After that we have: "Elegances," "Roots," "Ancient and Modern Latin," "Anthologies," "Pronunciations," "Medullas" etc. Six pages are devoted to grammars and dictionaries of European languages, not only the ordinary ones but also Basque, Bohemian, Celtic, Croat, Illyrian, Wend, Provençal, Russian and Turkish. The Asiatic languages follow next in order: Annamite, Siamese, Arabian, Armenian, Georgian, Chinese, Cochinese, Hebrew, Hindustanee, Japanese, Persian, Sanscritand Syrian; with two columns of Angolese, Caffre, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Kabyle and Malgache grammars. The Malgache all bear the dates of the late nineteenth century, and there is an Esquimaux Grammar by Father Barnum dated 1901.
The tongues of most of the North and South American Indians are represented; the dictionaries of the South American Indians were all written by the Fathers of the old Society.
The books devoted to the study of eloquence are appalling in their number. They are in all languages and on all sorts of subjects, sacred and profane. There are panegyrics, funeral orations, coronation speeches, eulogies, episcopal consecrations, royal progresses, patriotic discourses, but only occasionally does the eye catch a modern date in the formidable list of sixty-three folio pages.
Latin poetry claims fifty-seven pages for the titles of compositions or studies. Poetry in the modern languages is much more modest and requires only as many columns as the ancients demanded pages. The English list is very brief; the Italian very long; and while the ancient Jesuits seemed to have little fear of breaking forth into verse, the modern worshippers of the Muse, except when they utter their thoughts in Malgache, or Chouana or Tagale or Japanese, are very cautious.
Pious people perhaps may be scandalized to hear that the Jesuits of the old Society wrote a great deal for the theatres; it was not, however, for the theatres of the world, but for the theatres of their colleges. Hence in the chapter entitled "Theatre," after a number of treatises on "The Restriction of Comedies," "Théatre des Grecs," "Liturgical Drama," "Reflections on the Danger of Shows," "The mind of St. Paul, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis de Sales on Plays;"etc., we come face to face with the titles of plays that crowd and blacken by their close print no less than ten huge folio pages. They are contributed by the Jesuits of all countries. Germany especially was very prolific in this kind of literature, claiming as many as four pages of titles; England furnishes only seven dramas in all, three of which are modern. Three of the ancient plays had for their author no less a personage than the Blessed Edmund Campion. They were entitled "The Sacrifice of Isaac," "The Tragedy of King Saul," while Southwell credits him with "Nectar et Ambrosia," which was acted before the emperor. All these were written in 1575, when he was professor of rhetoric in Bohemia.
Belgium has a long list to its credit, and among the dramatists appears the very eminent Ignace Carbonelle, but only as the author of the text of a Cantata for the jubilee of Pius IX in 1877. In France occurs the name of Arsène Cahours, who wrote many tragedies and even a vaudeville, which he called "L'enterrement du Père Simon, le brocanteur." Longhaye's well-known college plays are on the list.
There are many oratorios, but it is feared that the timid will be scandalized to hear that an entire column is required for the names of the authors ofballets. One of the writers is no less a personage than the distinguished historian Jouvancy. The ballets are interludes; there was no impropriety in these dances, however, for no female characters appeared, and the college boys for whom they were written had to do all the dancing themselves.
"Many of these dramas," says Father Schwickerath quoting Janssen, "were exhibited with all possible splendor, as for instance those given at La Flèche in 1614 before Louis XIII and his court. But it seems that nowhere was greater pomp displayed than atMunich where the court liberally contributed to make the performances especially brilliant. In 1574 the tragedy 'Constantine' was played on two successive days, and the whole city was beautifully decorated. More than one thousand actors took part in the play. Constantine entered the city in a triumphal chariot surrounded by four hundred horsemen in glittering armor. At the performance of 'Esther' in 1577, the most splendid costumes and gems were furnished from the treasury of the Duke; and at the banquet of King Assuerus one hundred precious dishes of gold and silver were used."
Those old Jesuits seemed to be carrying out the famous order of La Mancha's Knight when the ordinary stage was too small: "Then build a house or act it on the plain;" or as a recent writer declares "Like Richard Wagner in our days, the Jesuits aimed at and succeeded in uniting all the arts within the compass of the drama. The effect of such plays was like those of the Oberammergau Passion Play, ravishing, overpowering. Even people ignorant of the Latin tongue were captivated by these representations and the concourse of people was usually very great. In 1565 'Judith' was acted before the court in Munich and then repeated in the public square. Even the surrounding walls and roofs of the houses were covered with eager spectators. In 1560 the comedy 'Euripus' was given in the courtyard of the college at Prague before a crowd of more than eight thousand people. It had to be repeated three times and was asked for again and again."
The early German parsons denounced these dramas as devices for propagating idolatry, but on the other hand a very capable critic Karl von Reinhardstottner says: "In the first century of their history the Jesuits did great work in this line. They performed dramasfull of power and grandeur, and though their dramatic productions did not equal the fine lyrics of the Jesuit poets Balde and Sarbiewski, still in the dramas of Fabricius, Agricola and others, there is unmistakable poetic spirit and noble seriousness. How could the enormous success of their performances be otherwise explained? And who could doubt for a moment that by their dramas they rendered great service to their century; that they advanced culture, and preserved taste for the theatre and its subsidiary arts? It would be sheer ingratitude to undervalue what they effected by their dramas."
Goethe was present at a play given in 1786 at Ratisbon. It was during the Suppression, but happily the Jesuit traditions had been maintained in the college. He has left his impressions in writing: "This public performance has convinced me anew of the cleverness of the Jesuits. They rejected nothing that could be of any conceivable service to them, and they knew how to wield their weapons with devotion and dexterity. This is not cleverness of the merely abstract order; it is a real fruition of the thing itself; an absorbing interest which springs from the practical uses of life. Just as this great spiritual society had its organ-builders, its sculptors, its gilders so there seem to be some who by nature and inclination take to the drama; and as their churches are distinguished by a pleasing pomp, so these prudent men have seized on the sensibility of the world by a decent theatre." (Italien Reise, Goethe Werke, Cotta's Ed. 1840 XXIII p. 3-4.)
Tiraboschi began his literary work when a young professor in Modena by editing the Latin-Italian dictionary of Monza, but he made so many corrections that it was practically a new work. Subsequently he was appointed librarian at Milan, and by means of the documents he discovered, wrote a "History ofthe Humiliati," which filled up a gap in the annals of the Church. While librarian in the ducal library at Modena, he began his monumental work on the "Storia della letteratura italiana." This history extends from Etruscan times to 1700, and required eleven years of constant labor to complete it.
Hurter tells us "Michael Cosmas Petrus Denis was a most celebrated bibliographer, whose almost innumerable works must be placed in the category of humanistic literature." He entered the Society in Upper Austria on October 17, 1747, and taught rhetoric for twelve years in the Theresian College for Nobles, where he won some renown by his poetry. At the time of the Suppression of the Society, to which he ever remained grateful and attached, he was given charge of the Garelli Library and devoted himself to the study of literature and bibliography. His public lectures attracted immense throngs from far and near. He was promoted to be royal counsellor by Emperor Leopold and was made custodian of the Imperial Library. By that time he was a European celebrity. De Backer in his "Bibliotheca" mentions ninety-three of his publications. Hurter classifies as the most important the "Denkmale der christlichen Glauben-und Sittenlehre." His poems which he signed "Sined," which was Denis spelled backward, won him the name of Bard of the Danube, and helped considerably to promote the study of German in Austria. He was one of a group of poets whose chief aim was to arouse German patriotism. Ossian was their ideal and inspiration, and Denis translated the Gaelic poet into German (1768-69), and in addition he published two volumes of poems just one year before the Suppression. Naturally these patriotic effusions in verse by a Jesuit attracted considerable attention. Denis died in Vienna on 20 September, 1800.
Father Baumgartner has won a high place in the domain of letters by his large work entitled "History of the Literature of the Entire World." Besides this he has to his credit three volumes on "Goethe," another on "Longfellow;" a fifth on "Vondel," a sixth entitled "Ausflüge in das Land der Seein" and a seventh called "Island und die Faröer."
Of Father Faustino Arévalo, the distinguished hymnographer and patrologist, we have spoken above.
Geographical themes appealed to many writers both of the old and the new Society, and also to those of the intervening period. The subjects relate to every part of the world. There is, for instance, "The German Tyrol" by the Italian Bresciani; "The Longitude of Milan" by Lagrange; "The Geography of the Archipelago" by F. X. Liechtlé. This archipelago was the West Indies. His brother Ignatius executed a similar work on the Grecian Islands. He went to Naxos in 1754, and died there in 1795. "Chota-Nagpur" is described in 1883, "Abyssinia" in 1896, and the "Belgian Congo" in 1897. Veiga writes of the "Orinoco" in 1789, and Armand Jean of the "Polynesians" in 1867. There is no end of maps such as "Turkestan and Dzoungaria," "China and Tatary," "The Land of Chanaan," "Paraguay," "Lake Superior," "The Land between the Napo and the Amazons." The famous maps of Mexico by Father Kino have been reproduced by Hubert Bancroft in his "Native Races."
Joseph de Mayoria de Mailla's great work called "Toung-Kian-Kang-mou," which is an abstract of the Chinese annals, was sent to France in 1737, but was not published until 1785. He was the first European to give the world a knowledge of the classic historical works of the Chinese. His work is of great value for the reason that it provides the most importantfoundation for a connected history of China. He sent along with it many very valuable maps and charts — the result of his work in making a cartographical survey of the country; the part assigned to him including the provinces of Ho-nan, Kiang-hinan, Tshe-Kiang, Fo-Kien and the Island of Formosa. As a reward for his labor the emperor made him a mandarin, and when he died at the age of seventy-nine very elaborate obsequies were ordered by imperial decree.
Father Joseph Fischer, a professor at Feldskirch, is known in all the learned societies of the world for his "Die Entdeckungen der Normannen in America" and also for his "Cosmographiæ introductio" of Martin Waldseemüller, on whose map the name "America" first appeared. The maps and studies of old Huronia by Father Jones have been published by the Canadian Government.
John Baptist Belot, who died in 1904, won a reputation as an Orientalist, as did his associate Father Cheiko by his "Chrestomathia Arabica," in five volumes, and also by his Arabic Lexicon. Their fellow-worker Father Lammens is now a professor in the Biblical Institute in Rome. As they lived a considerable time in Syria they have a distinct advantage over other Europeans in this particular study.
Andrew Zottoli is an authority as a sinologist. The misfortune of being exiled from Italy in 1848 gave him the advantage, which he would not otherwise have had, of becoming proficient in Chinese, for he lived fifty-four years in Kiang-nan. Besides his Chinese catechism and grammar, he has published a complete course of Chinese literature in five volumes, and a universal dictionary of the Chinese language in twelve.
To this list may be added what a recent critic called the monumental work of the illustrious Father Beccari, known as "Scriptores rerum ægyptiacarum." Itconsists of sixteen volumes, and includes the entire period of Egyptian history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. In this category, Father Strassmaier represents the Society by his works on Assyriology and cuneiform inscriptions. With him is Father Dahlman whose "Das Mahabharata als Epos und Rechtbuch," "Nirvana," "Buddha," and "Mahabharata Studien" have won universal applause.
Luigi Lanzi, the Italian archæologist, was born at Olmo near Macerata in 1732, and entered the Society in 1749. At its Suppression, the Grand Duke of Tuscany made him the assistant director of the Florentine Museum. He devoted himself to the study of ancient and modern literature, and was made a member of the Arcadians. The deciphering of monuments, chiefly Etruscan, was one of his favorite occupations and resulted in his writing his "Saggio di lingua etrusca" in 1789. Four years later he produced his noted "History of Painting in Italy." His other works included a critical commentary on Hesiod's "Works and Days," with a Latin and an Italian translation in verse; three books of "Inscriptiones et carmina," translations of Catullus, Theocritus and others, besides two ascetic works on St. Joseph and the Sacred Heart respectively. He died in 1810 four years before the Restoration.
Angelo Mai is one of the very attractive figures at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He had studied at the seminary of Bergamo and had as professor, Father Mozzi, a member of the suppressed Society. When the saintly Pignatelli opened the novitiate at Parma in 1799, Mozzi joined him and young Angelo who was then seventeen years old went there as a novice. He was sent to Naples in 1804 to teach humanities, but was obliged to leave when the French occupied the city. He was then summoned to Rome,and ordained a priest. While there, he met two exiled Jesuits from Spain: Monero and Monacho, who besides teaching him Hebrew and Greek, gave him his first instructions in paleography, showing him how to manipulate and decipher palimpsests. In 1813 he was compelled by the order of the duke to return to his native country, and was appointed custodian of the Ambrosian Library at Milan. There he made his first great discoveries of a number of precious manuscripts, which alone sufficed to give him an important place in the learned world. In 1819 at the suggestion of Cardinals Consalvi and Litta, the staunchest friends of the Society, Pius VII appointed him librarian of the Vatican, with the consent of the General.
From all this it is very hard to understand how Mai is generally set down as having left the Society. Albers says so in his "Liber sæcularis," Hurter in his "Nomenclator," as does Sommervogel in his "Bibliotheca," and his name does not appear in Terrien's list of those who died in the Society. In spite of all this, however, the expression "left the Society" seems a somewhat cruel term to apply to one who was evidently without reproach and who was asked for by the Sovereign Pontiff. He was made a cardinal by Gregory XVI, a promotion which his old novice master Father Pignatelli had foretold when Angelo was summoned to be librarian at Milan. He continued his work in the Vatican and gave to the world the unpublished pages of three hundred and fifty ancient authors which he had discovered.
Father Hugo Hurter calls Francesco Zaccaria of the old Society the most industrious worker in the history of literature. This praise might well be applied to himself if it were only for his wonderful "Nomenclator literarius theologiæ catholicæ." It is a catalogue of thenames and works of all Catholic theological writers from the year 1564 up to the year 1894. Nor is it merely a list of names for it gives an epitome of the lives of the authors and an appreciation of their work and their relative merit in the special subject to which they devoted themselves; it thus covers the whole domain of scholastic, positive and moral theology, as well as of patrology, ecclesiastical history and the cognate sciences such as epigraphy, archæology and liturgy. It consists of five volumes with two closely printed columns on each page. The last column in the second volume is numbered 1846. After that come fifty-three pages of indexes and a single page ofcorrigendain that volume alone. It is worth while noting that there are only six errors in all this bewildering mass of matter; there are, besides, three additions, not to the text, but to the index, from which the names of three writers were accidentally omitted.
So condensed is the letterpress that only a dash separates one subject from another. Nevertheless, thanks to the ingenious indexes, both of persons and subjects, the subject sought for can be found immediately. Finally, between the text and the indexes are two marvellous chronological charts. By means of the first, the student can follow year by year the growth of the various branches of theology and know the names of all the authors in each. The second chart takes the different countries of Europe — Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, England, Poland and Hungary — and as you travel down the years in the succeeding centuries you can see what studies were most in favor in different parts of the world and the different stages of their history. Not only that, but a style of type, varying from a large black print, down to a very pale and small impression, gives you the relative prominence of every one of thevast multitude of authors. Such a work will last to the end of time and never lose its value, and how Father Hurter, who was the beloved spiritual father of the University of Innsbruck, whose theological faculty he entered in 1858, and who, besides publishing his unusually attractive theology and editing fifty-eight volumes of the Fathers of the Church, could find time and strength to produce his encyclopedic "Nomenclator" is almost inconceivable.
In the year 1907, the scheme of a Catholic Encyclopedia was launched in New York. The editors chosen were Dr. Charles Herbermann, for more than fifty years professor of Latin and the most distinguished member of the College of the City of New York; Mgr. Thomas Shahan, the rector of the Catholic University at Washington, and later raised to the episcopal dignity; Dr. Edward A. Pace, professor of philosophy in the same university; Dr. Condé Benoist Pallen, a well-known Catholic publicist, and Father John J. Wynne of the Society of Jesus.
The scope of the work is unlike that of other Catholic encyclopedias. It is not exclusively ecclesiastical, for it records all that Catholics have done not only in behalf of charity or morals, but also in the intellectual, and artistic development of mankind. Hence, while covering the whole domain of dogmatic and moral theology, ecclesiastical history and liturgy, it has succeeded in giving its readers information on art, architecture, archæology, literature, history, travel, language, ethnology, etc., such as cannot be found in any other encyclopedia in the English language. Only the most eminent writers have been asked to contribute to it, and hence its articles can be cited as the most recent exposition of the matters discussed. It appeared with amazing rapidity, the whole series of sixteen volumes being completed in nine years. To it isadded an extra volume entitled "The Catholic Encyclopedia and its Makers," which consists of photographs and biographical sketches of all the contributors.
The encyclopedia has proved to be an immense boon to the Church in America. The chief credit of the publication is generally accorded to Father John Wynne, who is a native of New York. It was he who conceived it, secured the board of editors, and, as his distinguished associate, Bishop Shahan, declared with almost affectionate eagerness at a public session of the faculty and students of the ecclesiastical seminary of New York: "it was he who encouraged and sustained the editors by his buoyant optimism in the perilous stages of its elaboration." This information may be helpful abroad to show that the Society in America is doing something for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The apostolic character of the work is further enhanced by the fact that funds are being established in various dioceses to enable each seminarian to become the personal owner of the entire set from the very first moment he begins his studies. The effect of such an arrangement on the ecclesiastical mind of the century is inestimable. It is also being placed by the Knights of Columbus and by rich Catholics in battleships and the United States' military posts, as well as in civic libraries and club houses.
The first catalogue of Jesuit writers was drawn up by Father Ribadeneira in 1602-1608. Schott and Alegambe continued the work in 1643, and Nathaniel Bacon or Southwell, or Sotwel, as he was called on the Continent, published a third in 1676. Nothing more, however, was done in that line by the old Society, and it was not until the twenty-first congregation, at which Father Roothaan presided, that a postulatum was presented asking for the resumption of this valuable work. Something prevented this from being done forthe time being, and it was not until 1853 that the work was undertaken by the two Belgians, Augustine and Aloys de Backer.
Up to 1861 a series of seven issues appeared, but as by that time the number of names had increased to ten thousand, a new arrangement had to be made, and in 1869 the work appeared in three large folios. In 1885, on the death of Augustine de Backer, Charles Sommervogel took up the work. Providentially he was well equipped for the task, for although he had been continually employed at other tasks, sometimes merely as a surveillant in a French college, he had contrived to publish in 1884 a "Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymeset pseudonymes des religieux de la Compagnie de Jésus." He began by recasting all that his predecessors had done, and it was only after four years that he had published the first volume. Others, however, followed in quick succession, and in 1900 the ninth volume appeared. The tenth volume, an index, was unfinished at the time of his death, but has since been completed by Father Bliard. Besides his articles in the "Etudes," he had also put into press a "Table méthodique des Mémoires de Trévoux," in three volumes, a "Bibliotheca Mariana S. J." and a "Moniteur bibliographique de la Compagnie de Jésus." He had intended to publish a revised edition of Carayon's, "Bibliographie historique," but was prevented by death.
As far back as 1658, Pope Alexander VIII did not hesitate to declare that "no literary work had ever been undertaken that was more useful or more glorious" than the "Acta Sanctorum" of Father Bollandus and his associates, nor did the learned Protestants of those days refrain from extolling the scientific spirit in which the work was being conducted. The "Acta," which began in the middle of the seventeenth century and which is still going on, reads like a romance. Theaccount of it by De Smedt tells us how the first writers had only a garret for a library, and were forced to pile their books on the floor; how Cardinal Bellarmine denounced the work as chimerical; how the Carmelites were in a rage because Papebroch denied that Elias was the founder of their order; how the Spanish Inquisition denounced the work and condemned the thirty volumes as heretical, and how finally it reached its present status.
The Bollandists did not immediately feel the blow that struck the rest of the Society of Jesus in 1773. Indeed, the commissioners announced that the government was satisfied with the labors of the Bollandists and was disposed to exercise special consideration in their behalf. In 1778 they removed to the Abbey of Caudenberg in Brussels, and the writers received a small pension. In 1788 three new volumes were published. Meantime Joseph II had succeeded Maria Theresa, and the sky began to darken. On October 16, 1788, the government decided to stop the pension of the writers, and their books and manuscripts which the official inspectors denounced as "trash" were ordered to be sold. After a year, the Fathers made an offer to the Premonstratensian Abbot of Tongerloo to buy the books and manuscripts for what would be equivalent now to about $4,353; the money, however, was to be paid to the Austrian government and not to the owners of the library. Happily the writers found shelter in the monastery with their books and, though the Brabantine Revolution disturbed them for a time, they continued at their work unmolested until 1794, when they issued another volume.
It was fortunate that they had succeeded in putting that volume into print, for that very year the French invaded Belgium and both Premonstratensians and Bollandists were obliged to disperse. Some of thetreasures of the library were hidden in the houses of the peasants, and others were hastily piled into wagons and carried to Westphalia, with the only result that could be anticipated — the loss of an immense amount of most valuable material; a certain number of the books were returned to the abbey, and left there in the dust until 1825. As there was no hope, at that time, of the Bollandists ever being able to resume their work, the monks disposed of most of the library treasure at public auction, and, what was not sold, was given to the Holland government and incorporated in the library of the Hague. The manuscripts were transported to Brussels and deposited in the Burgundian Library. They are still there.
In 1836 a hagiographical society in France under the patronage of Guizot and several bishops proposed to take up the work of the Bollandists and an envoy was sent to purchase the documents from the Belgian government. The proposition evoked a patriotic storm in the little country, and a petition was made to the minister of the interior, de Theux, imploring him to lose no time in securing for his native land the honor of completing the work, and to entrust the task to the Jesuit Fathers, who had begun it and carried it on for two centuries. The result was that on January 29, 1837, the provincial of Belgium appointed four Fathers who were to live at St. Michel in Brussels. The government gave them an annual subsidy of six thousand francs, but this was withdrawn in 1868 by the Liberals and never restored, though the Catholics have been in control since 1884.
There are more than one hundred volumes to the credit of the writers up to the present time, sixty-five of which are huge folios. What they contain may be learned from the most competent of all authorities, Charles de Smedt, the Bollandist director, who wrotethe most complete and scientific account of the Bollandist collection for the Catholic Encyclopedia. It is sufficient to state that in the opinion of the most distinguished and capable scholars in the field, the work of the later Bollandists is in no wise inferior to the work of their illustrious predecessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In reviewing a recent publication of a Bollandist work, the scholarly "American Historical Review" (July, 1920) has this to say: "It is to be hoped that a more widely diffused knowledge of what the Bollandists have been doing for human learning, historical and literary, may bring American aid to fill the gaps in their resources caused by the devastations of war. It is a pleasure to know that the Princeton University Press intends to issue an English translation of Father Delehaye's admirable book, which gives an account of the labors of the Bollandists from 1638 down to the present day."