OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jean-Baptiste-Louis-George Seroux d'Agincourt

From volume 13 of the work.
Born at Beauvais, 5 April, 1730; died at Rome, 24 September, 1814. He was a descendant of the counts of Namur. He entered the French cavalry while a young man, but soon resigned in order to devote himself to his family. Louis XV appointed him collector of the taxes. A disciple of Count de Caylus, the archaeologist, in 1777 he visited England, Belgium, Holland, and a part of Germany; in 1778 he went to Italy, where he devoted himself particularly to the study of the Catacombs of Rome. He formed the plan of imitating for Christian art the work which Winkelmann had done for ancient art, and of studying Christian art from its antiquity up to the Renaissance. This task, in which Louis XVI was also interested, was far from being finished at the time of his death. During the Revolution, d'Agincourt's property had been confiscated; however, during the Empire, the sale of his work brought the distinguished archaeologist once more into comfortable circumstances. D'Agincourt lacked Winkelmann's critical acumen. The reproductions published in his "Histoire de l'art" are imperfect and at times even altered. He took the paintings from the walls of the Catacombs and in this way often caused their destruction. His work is entitled: "Histoire de l'art par les monuments, depuis sa décadence au IVme siècle jusqu' à son renouvellement au XVIme" (Paris, 1825).
LECLERQ, Manuel d'archeologie chretienne, I (Paris, 1907), 15 sqq.
R. Maere.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Henri-Hector, Comte d'Estaing

From volume 5 of the work.
Estaing, Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Henri-Hector, Comte d', Marquis de Saillans, a French admiral, b. at the château de Ravel (Auvergne), November 28, 1729; d. at Paris, April 28, 1794. He first served in the army as a colonel of infantry. In 1757, having obtained the rank of brigadier-general, he went to the East Indies, with Lally-Tollendal. Made a prisoner at the siege of Madras (1759), he was set free on parole, entered the service of the French East India Company, and (with two vessels) destroyed the British factories in Sumatra and the Persian Gulf. He was on his way to France, in 1760, when he fell into the hands of the English and was sent to Plymouth. Released a second time, he was appointed lieutenant-general of the navy in 1763, and vice-admiral in 1777.One year later, he left Toulon in command of a fleet of twelve battleships and fourteen frigates with the intention of assisting the struggling American colonies against Great Britain. Unfavorable winds delayed him and so Admiral Howe's fleet escaped his pursuit and d'Estaing took possession of Newport (August 8).A great naval battle was about to take place, when a violent storm arose and dispersed the two fleets. After a short sojourn in Boston harbor, he sailed to the West Indies where he took St. Vincent and Grenada (July 4, 1779) and badly damaged Admiral Byron's fleet. His attempts to retake Savannah, in concert with the Americans, were unsuccessful; a severe wound obliged him to give up the enterprise. On his return to France, in 1780, he fell into disfavor at the court. Three years later, however, he was placed at the head of the Franco-Spanish fleet assembled before Cadiz, but peace was signed and no operations took place. He was then made a grandee of Spain. When the French Revolution broke out, he favored the new ideas. A member of the Assembly of Notables, he was named commandant of the National Guard at Versailles in 1789, and admiral in 1792. He constantly endeavored to protect the king, and at the trial of Marie Antoinette in 1793 spoke in her favor. He was charged with being a reactionary and was sent to the scaffold, April 28, 1794. In his moments of leisure, he wrote a poem, "Le Rève" (1755), a tragedy, "Les Thermopyles" (1789), and a book on the colonies.
LOUIS N. DELAMARRE
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Metellopolis

From volume 10 of the work.
A titular see of Phrygia Pacatiana, in Asia Minor. The inscriptions make known a Phrygian town named Motella which name is connected with the Phrygian feminine proper name Motalis and the Cilician masculine Motales, as also with Mutalli, or Mutallu, the name of an ancient Hittite king of Northern Commagene. One of these inscriptions was found in the village of Medele, in the vilayet of Broussa, which evidently preserves the ancient name. Motella seems to be the town which Hierocles (Synecdemus, 668, 6) calls Pulcherianopolis; it may be supposed to have been raised to the rank of a bishopric by the Empress Pulcheria (414-53). Shortly before 553, perhaps in 535, Justinian raised Hierapolis to metropolitan rank, and attached to it a certain number of suffragan sees previously dependent on Laodicea. Among these the "Notitiæ Episcopatuum" mention, from the ninth to the twelfth or thirteenth century, this same Motella, which they call Metellopolis, and even once Metallopolis. An inscription informs us of Bishop Michael, in 556; and another, of Bishop Cyriacus, perhaps in 667. At the Council of Nicæa, 787, the see was represented by Eudoxius, a priest and monk. Bishop Michael attended the two councils of Constantinople in 869 and 879.
LE QUIEN, Oriens Christianus, I, 826 (very incomplete); RAMSAY, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, 109, 121, 141, 158, 541.
S. Pétridès
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Messene

From volume 10 of the work.
A titular see, suffragan to Corinth, in Achaia. Under this name at least, the city dates only from the fourth century B.C. When Epaminondas had crushed the Spartans at Leuctra, he recalled the scattered Messenians and caused them to build, on the slopes of Mount Ithome, a new capital which they called Messene (370 B.C.). The fortified walls surrounding this city were over five and a half miles in length, and were accounted the best in Greece. The portion of them which still remains justifies this reputation. Christianity early took root there, though only a few of its bishops are known (Le Quien, "Oriens christianus", II, 195-98). At the beginning of the tenth century the "Notitia episcopatuum" of Leo the Wise gives Messene as an independent archbishopric (Gelzer, "Ungedruckte . . . Texte der Notitiæ episcopatuum", 551); and the same is true for the beginning of the fourteenth century (op. cit., 612). As this diocese does not figure in the "Notitia" of the fifteenth century, it may be assumed that it had then ceased to exist. The little village of Mavromati, with a population of 600, the capital of the Deme of Ithome, now stands upon the ruins of ancient Messene.
LEAKE, Morea, I, 336; MURE, Tour in Greece, II, 264; CURTIUS, Peloponnesos, II, 138; SMITH, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, II, 338-340.
S. VAILHÉ
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of La Serena

From volume 13 of the work.
(De Serena, Serenopolitana).
Embracing Atacama and Coquimbo provinces (Chile), suffragan of Santiago, erected 1 July, 1840. The boundaries of the diocese were definitively established on 26 March, 1844; on 5 June, 1844, the first bishop, José Agustín de la Sierra, was installed. Mgr. Jara, fifth bishop, was appointed on 31 August, 1909. The diocesan territory exceeds 60,000 square miles, with a population (Catholic) of about 250,000. There are 64 secular, 35 regular priests; 30 parishes; 145 churches and chapels. The town of La Serena, with about 20,000 inhabitants, has 20 churches (including an imposing cathedral, erected 1844-60); boasts a seminary with 160 students; affords good educational facilities -- an orphan asylum, lazaretto, and foundling home. Sisters of Mercy, of the Good Shepherd, and of the Congregation of Piepus are active.
P. J. MacAuley.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of Larino

From volume 9 of the work.
Larino (Larinum), Diocese of, in the province of Campobasso, Southern Italy. Larinum was a city of the Frentani (a Samnite tribe) and a Roman municipium. The present city is a mile from the site of the ancient Larinum, destroyed by war and epidemic, and is first mentioned as an episcopal see in 668. Noteworthy among the bishops were Giovanni Leone (1440), a distinguished canonist and theologian; Fra Giacomo de' Petruzzi, a saintly a renowned philosopher; Belisario Baldovino (1555), present at the Council of Trent, founder of the seminary and episcopal palace; the Oratian Gian Tommaso Eustachi (1612), famous for his sanctity; Carlo M. Pianetti (1706), who restored the cathedral, with its beautiful marble façade; Gian Andrea Tri (1726), historian of Larino. The diocese is a suffragan of Benevento, and has 21 parishes with 79,000 souls, 3 religious houses of men and 1 of women, and 1 school for girls.
Cappelletti, Le chiese d'Italia, XIX (Venice, 1867); Tria, Storia civile ed ecclesiastiche di Larino (Rome, 1744).
U. Benigni.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of Lacedonia

From volume 8 of the work.
(LAQUEDONIENSIS)
Located in the province of Avellino, Southern Italy. Lacedonia is famous in history for the "conspiracy of the barons" of the Kingdom of Naples against King Ferdinand I, which took shape in the cathedral of Lacedonia (1484).
The episcopal see dates from the eleventh century. The first known bishop is Desiderius, mentioned in 1082, but he is known to have had predecessors. Among the other noteworthy bishops were Fra Guglielmo Neritono (1392); Antonio Dura (1506); Gianfrancesco Carducci (1564); the distinguished mathematician Marco Pedacca 1584); the learned and virtuous Giacomo Candido (1606); Giacomo Giordano (1651), who built the episcopal palace and planned a new cathedral; Benedetto Bartolo, who was seized by the brigands and later redeemed by the Marquess of Carpi; Morea (1684), who suppressed certain festivities of pagan origin celebrated on the vigil of Epiphany, and laid the corner-stone of the new cathedral; Francesco Ubaldo Romanzi (1798), under whom the Diocese of Lacedonia was increased by union with Trevico, a neighbouring diocese subject to the Metropolitan of Benevento, and which dates at least from the tenth century, when a Bishop Benedetto is mentioned (964). Lacedonia has suffered much from earthquakes, especially in 1694 and 1702. The diocese is a suffragan of Conza and Campagna, and has 11 parishes with 28,000 souls, 1 Capuchin monastery, and 1 house of the Daughters of St. Anne.
CAPPELLETTI, Le chiese d' Italia, XX (Venice, 1857).
U. BENIGNI
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Cresconius

From volume 4 of the work.
(Or CRISCONIUS)
A Latin canonist of uncertain date and place, flourished probably in the latter half of the seventh century, though it may have been at the end of the sixth or even in the eighth century. He was probably a bishop of the African Church. We owe to Cresconius a collection of canons, known as "Concordia canonum", inclusive of the Apostolic Canons (see CANONS, APOSTOLIC), nearly all the canons of the fourth and fifth century councils, and many papal decretals from the end of the fourth to the end of the fifth century. The content is taken from the collection of Dionysius Exiguus, but the division into titles (301) is copied from the "breviatio canonum" of Fulgentius Ferrandus, a sixth-century deacon of Carthage. In many manuscripts the text of Cresconius is preceded by an index or table of contents (breviarium) of the titles, first edited in 1588 by Pithou. In its entirety the work was first published by Voellus and Justellus in the appendix (33-112) to their "bibliotheca Juris canonici" (Paris, 1661), and is in P.L., LXXXVIII, 829 sqq. One of its best manuscripts, the tenth-century "Vallicellianus" (Rome), has a note in which Cresconius is declared the author of a metrical account of the "bella et victorias" of the "Patricius" Johannes in Africa over the Saracens. This was formerly interpreted to mean the African victory of the Byzantine "Patricius Johannes" in 697, hence the usual date of Cresconius. Some, however, hold that the poem in question is the "Johannis" of Flavius Cresconius Corippus, a Latin poet of about 550, and on this basis identify him with our canonist, thus placing the latter in the sixth century. Others (with Maassen, p. 810) while admitting that the poem in question can be none other than the "Johannis" of the aforesaid Latin poet (unknown to Fabricius, and first edited by Mazzuchelli, Milan, 1820), maintain that it has been wrongly attributed to our Cresconius, and that it cannot therefore aid in fixing his date. The "Concordia canonum" was much used as a handy manual of ecclesiastical legislation by the churches of Africa and Gaul as late as the tenth century. Few of its manuscripts postdate that period.
JOHN WEBSTER MELODY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Cristóbal de Castillejo

From volume 3 of the work.
Spanish poet, b. in Ciudad Rodrigo (Salamanca), 1491; d. in Vienna, 12 June, 1556. From the age of fifteen he was attached to the person of the younger brother of the Emperor Charles V, the Infante Ferdinand, who subsequently became King of Bohemia and Hungary, and eventually Emperor of Germany. He lived for many years in Austria as secretary to that prince, and late in life took ecclesiastical orders, retiring to a monastery near Vienna where he passed the remainder of his days. Castillego was the champion of the old school of Spanish verse as opposed to the Italian measures recently introduced by Boscan, seconded by Garcilasso de la Vega. He vigorously opposed the innovation, maintaining and demonstrating in his writings that the old metres were amply competent for the expression of all sentiments. When he did use the villancicos, canciones, and other measures of the new school, it was only to attack and ridicule the innovators.
As a poet he was distinguished for purity of language, grace, fluency, and humour, the latter quality abounding in his "Dialogue between Himself and His Pen". He used satire with simplicity and ease, and, at times, freely and boldly. Some of his satires, notable the "Sermon on Love" and the "Dialogue on the Condition of Women", were so offensive to the clergy that the Inquisition prohibited the publication of his poems until they had been expurgated. Among his other works are the fanciful "transformation of a Drunkard into a Mosquito" and a satire addressed "To those who give up the Castillian measures and follow the Italian". His poems are divided into three books devoted to love; conversation and pastime; moral and religious verses. In 1573 a collection of the "Works of Castillejo Expurgated by the Inquisition" was published in Madrid, which was one of the first books printed in that city. The most complete edition is that published by Ramón Fernandez (Madrid, 1792).
VENTURA FUENTES
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Croia

From volume 4 of the work.
A titular see of Albania. Croia (pronounced Kruya, Albanian, "Spring") stands on the site of Eriboea, a town mentioned by Ptolemy (III, xiii, 13, 41). Georgius Acropolites (lxix) mentions it as a fortress in 1251. A decree of the Venetian senate gave it in 1343 to Marco Barbarigo and his wife. In 1395 it was held by the Castriots (Mas-Latrie, Trésor de chronologie, 1773), and it was the birthplace of the Lion of Albania, the national hero, George Castriota or Scanderbeg (d. 17 Jan., 1468). It was captured by Mohammed II 14 June, 1478, and the whole population was slaughtered together with the Venetian garrison, except the few who embraced Mohammedanism. Since the thirteenth century Croia has been a Latin suffragan of Dyrrachium (Durazzo). Farlati (Illyricum sacrum, VII, 411-432) mentions fourteen bishops from 1286 to 1694 (Gams,( 404; Lequien, III, 955, incomplete); Eubel (I, 224; II, 156) adds four names and corrects some data. Croia is to-day the chief town of a kaimakamlik in the vilayet of Scutari, with about 10,000 inhabitants, all Mussulmans. The Venetian citadel, 1500 feet above the sea, is still preserved together with Turkish guns and bells dating from the days of Skanderbeg. Croia is renowned among the Bektashi dervishes for the tombs of many of their saints.
HOPF, Chroniques gréco-romanes; DEGRAND, Souvenirs de la Haute-Albanie (Paris, 1901), 215-227.
S. Pétridès.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Crescens

From volume 4 of the work.
Crescens, a companion of St. Paul during his second Roman captivity, appears but once in the New Testament, when he is mentioned as having left the Apostle to go into Galatia: "Make haste to come to me quickly", St. Paul writes to Timothy, "for Demas hath left me, loving this world, and is gone to Thessalonica, Crescens into Galatia, Titus into Dalmatia" (II Tim., iv, 8-10). All commentators agree in ranking Crescens with Titus rather than with Demas, and in seeing here, therefore, a reference to a missionary journey into Galatia. This term, in New Testament times, might mean either Gaul or the Roman province of Galatia in Asia Minor, where St. Paul had laboured so much; and here it has been interpreted in either sense. In the other passages where it occurs in the New Testament, however, it denotes Galatia, and most probably it would be so understood here by Timothy, especially as the other regions mentioned are likewise to the east of Rome. Moreover, St. Paul might easily have a reason for sending a disciple to visit his old Churches in Galatia, while there is no proof that he had an active interest in Gaul. Accordingly, the earliest tradition (Apost. Constit., VII, 46) represents Crescens as a bishop of the Churches in Galatia. Later traditions, on the other hand, locate him as Bishop of Vienne in Gaul, also at Mainz on the Rhine. But the earliest traditions of Gaul itself know nothing of this disciple of the Apostle as a founder of their Churches, and the belief seems to have arisen later from the desire of an Apostolic origin. The claims of Vienne have been most strongly urged; but they are based upon the mistaken identification of its first bishop, Crescens, who lived in the third century, with the disciple of St. Paul. As little can be said for Mainz. The reading of certain manuscripts (Sinaiticus, Ephræmi), which have Gallia instead of Galatia, has also been advanced in favour of Gaul; but the traditional reading is supported by the great mass of manuscript evidence. Crescens is mentioned as one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ by the Pseudo-Dorotheus, which has no authority. His martyrdom in Galatia, under Trajan, commemorated on 27 June by the Roman Martyrology, lacks the confirmation of older Martyrologies. The Greek Church honours him on 30 July.
TILLEMONT, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique (Paris, 1701), I,312,584-587; DUCHESNE, Les fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule (Paris, 1894), I, 151-155.
JOHN F. FENLON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza

From volume 9 of the work.
(MARSICENSIS ET POTENTINA)
Suffragan diocese of Salerno. Marsico Nuevo is a city of the province of Potenza in the Basilicata (Southern Italy), and is situated on the Agri. Its origin is obscure, but, after the destruction by the Saracens, of the ancient Grumentum, the town grew in importance, and became under the Normans the seat of a county. It became an episcopal seat, when Bishop Grimaldo of Grumentum established his residence there, retaining, however, his former title. There were bishops of Grumentum as early as the sixth century: it is said that a Saint Laberius or Saverius first preached the Gospel there. Other bishops were Enrico (1131), who finished the cathedral; Blessed Reginaldo of Viperno, a Dominican (1275); Pietro (1329), several times papal legate; the friar Paolo Caselli (1614), who restored the cathedral. In 1818 the diocese was united oeque principaliter to that of Potenza. This city is the capital of a fertile province in the Basilicata, over 2400 feet above the sea — the ancient city of the Lucani was farther down in the valley of La Murata. Potenza was destroyed by Frederick II, and was rebuilt by Bishop Oberto in 1250, to be destroyed again by Charles of Anjou. On 21 December, 1857, it was greatly damaged by an earthquake. The town claims that it was evangelized by Saint Peter; Saint Aruntius and his companions suffered martyrdom there under Maximian. The first known bishop was Amandus (about 500). Other bishops were Saint Gerardo della Porta (1099-1119) — to whom the above-mentioned cathedral, built by Bishop Oberto and restored by Giovanni Andrea Serra (1783-99), is dedicated — and Achille Caracciolo (1616), who founded the seminary. Blessed Bonaventure of Potenza (1654-1711), a Franciscan Conventual priest, was from this city. It is to be noted that, in medieval documents, the Bishop of Marsico and the Bishop of the Marsi are both called Marsicanus, a source of some confusion. The united sees have 21 parishes, 96,500 inhabitants, one religious house of men and three of women.
CAPPELLETTI, Le Chiese d'Italia, XX (Venice, 1857).
U. BENIGNI
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Diocese of Marsi

From volume 9 of the work.
(MARSORUM.)
Diocese in the province of Aquila, Central Italy, with its seat at Pescina. With the exception of Sabina, it is the only diocese that receives its name from a people, and not from a city. The Marsi were a warlike people who lived about Lake Fucino. In 325 B.C. they allied themselves with the Romans, revolted in 309 in favour of the Samnites, but in 304 returned to the Roman alliance. The chief divinity of the Marsi was the goddess Angitia. In the time of the Lombards the territory formed a county subject to the Duchy of Spoleto, and the counts gave several popes to the Church — among them Innocent III. According to legend, the Gospel was preached to the Marsi in Apostolic times by Saint Mark, and Saint Rufinus, their bishop, was martyred about 240. The episcopal see was originally at Santa Savina, but, as this place was isolated and therefore insecure, Gregory XIII permitted, in 1580, the removal of the bishop's residence to Pescina, where the cathedral was completed in 1596. Among the bishops of the diocese was Saint Berardo of the family of the Counts of the Marsi. He was educated at Montecassino, and became pontifical governor of the Campagna. On account of his justice and of his severity in that office, he was imprisoned by Pietro Colonna, but Paschal II made him a cardinal, and bishop of his native town. Other prelates of the Marsi were Bishop Jacopo (1276), during whose government of the diocese dissensions arose between the canons of Santa Savina and those of Celano concerning the right to nominate the bishops; Angelo Maccafani (1445), treasurer general of the Marches; Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi (1533); Matteo Colli (1579), under whom the removal of the bishop's residence to Pescina took place; he was a prisoner for some time in the Castle of Sant'Angelo, but proved his innocence and was liberated; Gian Paolo Caccia (1648), who did much for the public schools; Diego Petra (1664), who restored the seminary, enlarged by Francesco Corradini (1680) and by Nunzio de'Vecchi (1719). The diocese is immediately subject to the Holy See; it has 78 parishes with 146,000 inhabitants, 6 religious houses of men and 9 of women, 2 educational institutes for male students and 5 for girls.
CAPPELLETTI, Chiese d'Italia, XXI, (Venice, 1857).
U. BENIGNI