OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Confession

From volume 4 of the work.
(Lat. confessio).
Originally used to designate the burial-place of a confessor or martyr (known also as a memoria or martyrion), this term gradually came to have a variety of applications: the altar erected over the grave; the underground cubiculum which contained the tomb; the high altar of the basilica erected over the confession; later on in the Middle Ages the basilica itself (Joan. Bar., De invent. s. Sabini); and finally the new resting-place to which the remains of a martyr had been transferred (Ruinart, II, 35). In case of translation the relics of a martyr were deposited in a crypt below the high altar, or in a hollow space beneath the altar, behind a transenna or pierced marble screen such as were used in the catacombs. Thus the tomb was left accessible to the faithful who wished to touch the shrine with cloths brandea) to be venerated in their turn as "relics". In the Roman church of St. Clemente the urn containing the remains of St. Clement and St. Ignatius of Antioch is visible behind such a transenna. Later still the term confession was adopted for the hollow reliquary in an altar (Ordo Rom. de dedic. altaris). The oil from the numerous lamps kept lighted in a confession was considered as a relic. Among the most famous subterranean confessions of Rome are those in the churches of S. Martino al Monti; S. Lorenzo fuori le Mure, containing the bodies of St. Laurence and St. Stephen; S. Prassede containing the bodies of the two sisters Sts. Praxedes and Pudentiana. The most celebrated confession is that of St. Peter. Over the tomb of the Apostle Pope St. Anacletus built a memoria, which Constantine when building his basilica replaced with the Confession of St. Peter. Behind the brass statues of Sts. Peter and Paul is the niche over the grated floor which covers the tomb. In this niche is the gold coffer, the work of Benvenuto Cellini which contains the palliums to be sent to archbishops de corpore b. Petri according to the Constitution "Rerum ecclesiasticarum" of Benedict XIV (12 Aug., 1748). All through the Middle Ages the palliums after being blessed were let down through the grating on to the tomb of the Apostle, where they remained for a whole night (Phillips, Kirchenrecht, V, 624, n. 61). During the restoration of the present basilica in 1594 the floor gave way, revealing the tomb of St. Peter and on it the golden cross weighing 150 pounds placed there by Constantine, and inscribed with his own and his mother's names.
F.M. RUDGE
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Grant

From volume 6 of the work.
First Bishop of Southwark; b. at Ligny-les-Aires, Arras, France, 25 Nov., 1816; d. at Rome, 1 June, 1870. He was the son of Bernard Grant, an Irishman who enlisted in the British army, became sergeant, and finally purchased a commission. His mother, Ann MacGowan, was also Irish by birth. In January, 1829, he was sent to Ushaw College, where he studied until 1836, when he went to the English College at Rome. There he was ordained priest, 28 Nov., 1841, was created doctor of divinity and appointed as secretary to Cardinal Acton, a position in which he acquired a thorough knowledge of canon law, and an intimate acquaintance with the method of conducting ecclesiastical affairs at Rome. In October, 1844, at the early age of twenty-eight, he became rector of the English College, and was made agent for the English bishops. In this capacity he was of great assistance to Dr. Ullathorne, who was then negotiating for the restoration of the English hierarchy. He also translated for Propaganda all English documents relating to the matter, and furnished the materials for the historical preface to the Decree of 1850. A year later, he was appointed to the new Diocese of Southwark, and was consecrated bishop on 6 July, 1851. Though he came to England almost as a stranger, he soon won the confidence of Catholics and others. As the Government was shy of transacting business directly with Cardinal Wiseman, many negotiations were carried on by Dr. Grant, who was specially successful in obtaining from the Government the appointment of military and naval chaplains, as well as prison chaplains.
To the newly appointed hierarchy he was, as Bishop Ullathorne testified, most useful: "His acuteness of learning, readiness of resource and knowledge of the forms of ecclesiastical business made him invaluable to our joint counsels at home, whether in synods or in our yearly episcopal meetings; and his obligingness, his untiring spirit of work, and the expedition and accuracy with which he struck off documents in Latin, Italian, or English, naturally brought the greater part of such work on his shoulders." In the administration of his diocese he proved equal to the task of organization, which was necessary in an age of rapid expansion, while the remarkable sanctity of his private life led to his being generally regarded as a saint, and caused Pius IX, when he learned of his death, to exclaim "Another saint in heaven!" The virtues of charity and humility in particular were practised by him in an heroic degree. The last years of his life were spent in great suffering, caused by cancer, and when he set out to attend the Vatican Council at Rome in 1870, he knew that he would not return. He was appointed member of the Congregation for the Oriental Rites and the Apostolic Missions, but was too ill to take an active part in the proceedings. After death his body was brought back to England for burial. His works were a translation of the "Hidden Treasure" of Blessed Leonard of Port Maurice (Edinburgh, 1855), and "Meditations of the Sisters of Mercy before Renewal of Vows" (London, 1874)
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Griffiths

From volume 7 of the work.
Born in London, 2 June, 1791; died 19 August, 1847; the first and only Vicar Apostolic of the London District educated wholly in England. At the age of thirteen he was sent to St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, where he went through the whole course, and was ordained priest in 1814. Four years later he was chosen as president, at the early age of twenty-seven. He ruled the college with remarkable success for fifteen years, at the end of which time he was appointed coadjutor to Bishop Bramston, Vicar Apostolic of the London District. He was consecrated as Bishop of Olena at St. Edmund's College, 28 October, 1833. Within three years Bishop Bramston died, and Bishop Griffiths succeeded him.
It was a time when great activities, which reached their full development later under Cardinal Wiseman, were already beginning to show themselves. The agitation for a regular hierarchy became more and more pronounced and as a preliminary measure, in 1840, the four ecclesiastical "districts" into which England had been divided since the reign of James II were subdivided to form eight, Dr. Griffiths retaining the new London District. Soon after this, the Oxford conversions began: before Dr. Griffiths died, Newman had been a Catholic nearly two years, and many others had followed him into the Church. There was also a revival of Christian art, due to the enthusiasm of Pugin, while the immigration of the Irish, in consequence of the potato famine, necessitated the opening of many new missions. At the same time the growth of the British colonies, many of which had been tin lately ruled as part of the London District, brought him into contact with the government. In all these different spheres Dr. Griffiths discharged his duties with great practical ability; but it was thought that he would not have the breadth of view or experience necessary for initiating the new hierarchy, and according to bishop Ullathorne, this was the reason why its establishment was postponed. He bears witness, however, to the esteem in which Dr. Griffiths was held, and when the latter died, somewhat unexpectedly, in 1847 Ullathorne himself preached the funeral sermon. The body of the deceased prelate was laid temporarily in the vaults of Moorfields Church; but two years later it was removed to St. Edmund's College, where a new chapel by Pugin was in course of erection, and a special chantry was built to receive the body of Dr. Griffiths, to whose initiative the chapel was due. An oil painting of Dr. Griffiths is at Archbishop's House, Westminster; another, more modern, at St. Edmund's College.
COOPER in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v; GILLOW, Bib. Dict., Eng. Cath. s. v., WARD, History of St. Edmund's College (London, 1893); BRADY, Annals of the Cath. Hierarchy; E. Price in Dolman's Magazine, VI, Cox in Cath. Directory for 1848.
BERNARD WARD
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Hussey

From volume 7 of the work.
Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, b. at Ballybogan, Co. Meath, in 1746; d. at Tramore, Co. Waterford, 11 July, 1803. At an early age he was sent to the Irish College of Salamanca, and after completing his studies joined the Trappists. His ability was such, however, that he was requested by the pope to take orders, was associated for a time with the court of the King of Spain, and soon became prominent in Madrid. In or abort 1767 he was appointed chaplain to the Spanish embassy in London, and rector of the chapel attached to it. He made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, and other famous people, and was regarded by them as one of the ablest and best informed men of his time. In March, 1792, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. When the war between England and America broke out, the Spanish ambassador was obliged to leave London, Spain as well as France having taken sides against England, and Dr. Hussey was entrusted with Spanish affairs, and was thus brought into direct contact with George III, as well as with Pitt and other ministers. He was sent to Madrid to endeavour to detach Spain from the American cause, but without success. In Madrid he met Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, who, though jealous of him, speaks highly of his ability, incorruptibility, and courage, and declares that he would have headed a revolution to overthrow the English Church in Ireland. He took up the catholic cause earnestly and was deputed by the English Catholics to go to Rome to lay their position before the pope, but the Spanish embassy would not grant him leave of absence. George III, Pitt, and the Duke of Portland entrusted him with a mission to the Irish soldiers and militia in Ireland who were disaffected, but when he heard their story, he pleaded in their behalf much to the distaste of the Irish executive. Portland induced him to stay in Ireland to assist in the foundation of Maynooth College, and in 1795 he was appointed its first president. He was shortly after made Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. In 1797 he issued a pastoral to his clergy, strongly resenting Government interference in ecclesiastical discipline. This protest gave great offence to the ministers. He was received by the pope in March, 1798, and is said, but upon slight evidence, to have been a party to the Concordat between Pius VII and Napoleon. Lecky describes him as "the ablest English-speaking bishop of his time".
Maynooth Calendar (1883-84); HEALY, Maynooth College (1895), 161-83; Memoirs of Richard Cumberland (1807); PLOWDEN, Historical Review (1803); BUTLER, English Catholics (1822); BOSWELL, Life of Johnson (1835); VIII; Cornwallis Correspondence (1859); Burkes's Correspondence (1844); BRADY, Episcopcl Succession (1876); LECKEY, History of England; RYLAND, History of Waterford (1824); Castlereagh Correspondence, III. (The notice in Dict. Nat. Biog. is somewhat inaccurate.)
D.J. O'DONOGHUE
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Joseph Talbot

From volume 14 of the work.
Born 14 February, 1727; died at Hotwells, near Bristol, 24 April, 1795. Brother of the fourteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, and of Bishop James Talbot, he was sent to Twyford School, and thence to Douai (1739). In 1745-46, together with his brother James, he made the grand tour under the tutelage of Alban Butler. He returned to Douai to study theology; and after ordination he spent some time with Alban Butler at Norwich. In 1754 he was placed at Brockhampton. On the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, Talbot was named President of the College of St. Omer's by the committee of the Parliament of Paris (August, 1762), a post which he accepted only after much hesitation and with great reluctance. He was consecrated to the titular See of Acon (March, 1766) as coadjutor to Bishop Hornyold, whom he succeeded in the government of the Midland District (26 December, 1778). His rule fell in a time of transition, when the desire and prospect of relief from the Penal Laws led many prominent Catholics to adopt a policy of excessive compromise, the period of the Catholic Committees and the Cisalpine Club, for the difficulties of which his peaceful character was but ill-adapted. Although he joined the three other vicars Apostolic in condemning the proposed oath in 1789, he hesitated to promulgate the condemnation in his district, and in the second condemnation which the other vicars Apostolic published in 1791 he thought it neither expedient nor justifiable to concur. The explanation of this action is to be found in his conviction that peace and concord could only be restored to the distracted Catholics by means of mutual concession and charity, a sentiment which almost all his letters manifest. Certainly the most memorable, as also the most permanent, act of his administration was his invitation to Dr. John Bew (November, 1793) to take charge of the mission of Oscott and to undertake there the training of students for the priesthood, whereby was made the beginning of Oscott College. Deeply characteristic of the man is his only recorded literary publication, a small treatise on "Almsgiving" which he translated from the French. He was buried in the vault under Trenchard Street church; in 1906 his remains were removed to Downside Abbey.
Brady, Episcopal Succession (London, 1877); Kirk, Biographies of English Catholics (London, 1909); Ward, Dawn of Catholic Revival in England (2 vols., London, 1909); Idem, History of St. Edmund's College (London, 1893); Burton, Life of Bishop Challoner (2 vols., London, 1909); Amherst, History of Catholic Emancipation (London, 1886); Idem, History of Oscott in Oscotian; Knox, Douai Diaries.
J. L. Whitfield.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Kilby Smith

From volume 14 of the work.
Born at Boston, Mass., 23 Sept., 1820; died at New York, 14 Dec., 1887; eldest son of Captain George Smith and Eliza Bicker Walter. Both his paternal and maternal forefathers were active and prominent in the professional life and in the government of New England. His parents moved to Cincinnati in his early childhood, where he was educated in a military school under O. M. Mitchel, the astronomer, and studied law in the office of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. In 1853 he was appointed special agent in the Post Office Department at Washington, and later marshal for the Southern District of Ohio and deputy clerk of Hamilton County. He entered the Union Army, 9 September, 1861, as lieutenant-colonel, and was conspicuous in the Battle of Shiloh, 6 and 7 April, 1862, assuming command of Stuart's Brigade, Sherman's Division, during the second day. As commander of brigade in the 15th and 17th Army Corps, he participated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee, being also for some months on staff duty with General Grant.
Commissioned Brigadier-General of Volunteers, 11 August, 1863, he was assigned on 7 March, 1864, to the command of the detached division of the 17th Army Corps and rendered distinguished service during the Red River Expedition, protecting Admiral Porter's fleet after the disaster of the main army. After the fall of Mobile, he assumed the command of the Department of Southern Alabama and Florida, and then of the Post and District of Maine. He was brevetted Major-General for gallant and meritorious service. In 1866 President Johnson appointed him United States Consul at Panama. After the war he removed to Torresdale, Philadelphia. At the time of his death he was engaged in journalism in New York. On 2 May, 1848, he married Elizabeth Budd, daughter of Dr. William Budd McCullough and Arabella Sanders Piatt, of Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a gifted and devout woman, and through her influence and that of the venerable archbishop Purcell he became a Catholic some years before his death. He was remarkable for his facility of expression, distinguished personal appearance, and courtly bearing. He left five sons and three daughters.
SMITH, Life and Letters of Thomas Kilby Smith (New York, 1898).
WALTER GEORGE SMITH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Omer

From volume 11 of the work.
Born of a distinguished family towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, at Guldendal, Switzerland; died c. 670. the death of his mother, he, with his father, the monastery of Luxeuil in the Diocese of Besançon probably about 615. Under the direction o Eustachius, Omer studied the Scriptures, in which he acquired remarkable proficiency. When King Dagobert requested the appointment of a bishop important city of Terouenne, the capital of the ancient territory of the Morini in Belgic Gaul, he was appointed and consecrated in 637.
Though the Morini had received the Faith from Saints Fuscian and Victoricus, and later Antmund and Adelbert, nearly every vestige of Christianity had disappeared. When Saint Omer entered upon his episcopal duties the Abbot of Luxeuil sent to his asistance several monks, among whom are mentioned Saints Bertin, Mommolin, and Ebertran, and Saint Omer had the satisfaction of seeing the true religion firmly established in a short time. About 654 he founded the Abbey of Saint Peter (now Saint Bertin's) in Sithiu, soon to equal if not surpass the old monastery of Luxeuil for the number of learned and zealous men educated there. Several years later he erected the Church of Our Lady of Sithiu, with a small monastery adjoining, which he turned over to the monks of Saint Bertin. The exact date of his death is unknown, but he is believed to have died about the year 670. The place of his burial is uncertain; most probably he was laid to rest in the church of Our Lady which is now the cathedral of Saint Omer's. His feast is celebrated on 9 September-when and by whom he was to the altar cannot be ascertained.
BOLLANDISTS, Acta S. S., September, III, BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, III (Baltimore), 437-9.
FRANCIS J. O'BOYLE
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Oswald (1)

From volume 11 of the work.
Archbishop of York, d. on 29 February, 992. Of Danish parentage, Oswald was brought up by his uncle Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, and instructed by Fridegode. For some time he was dean of the house of the secular canons at Winchester, but led by the desire of a stricter life he entered the Benedictine Monastery of Fleury, where Odo himself had received the monastic habit. He was ordained there and in 959 returned to England betaking himself to his kinsman Oskytel, then Archbishop of York. He took an active part in ecclesiastical affairs at York until St. Dunstan procured his appointment to the See of Worcester. He was consecrated by St. Dunstan in 962. Oswald was an ardent supporter of Dunstan in his efforts to purify the Church from abuses, and aided by King Edgar he carried out his policy of replacing by communities the canons who held monastic possessions. Edgar gave the monasteries of St. Albans, Ely, and Benfleet to Oswald, who established monks at Westbury (983), Pershore (984), at Winchelcumbe (985), and at Worcester, and re-established Ripon. But his most famous foundation was that of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, the church of which was dedicated in 974, and again after an accident in 991. In 972 by the joint action of St. Dunstan and Edgar, Oswald was made Archbishop of York, and journeyed to Rome to receive the pallium from John XIII. He retained, however, with the sanction of the pope, jurisdiction over the diocese of Worcester where he frequently resided in order to foster his monastic reforms (Eadmer, 203). On Edgar's death in 975, his work, hitherto so successful, received a severe check at the hands of Elfhere, King of Mercia, who broke up many communities. Ramsey, however, was spared, owing to the powerful patronage of Ethelwin, Earl of East Anglia. Whilst Archbishop of York, Oswald collected from the ruins of Ripon the relics of the saints, some of which were conveyed to Worcester. He died in the act of washing the feet of the poor, as was his daily custom during Lent, and was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Worcester. Oswald used a gentler policy than his colleague Ethelwold and always refrained from violent measures. He greatly valued and promoted learning amongst the clergy and induced many scholars to come from Fleury. He wrote two treatises and some synodal decrees. His feast is celebrated on 28 February.
Historians of York in Rolls Series, 3 vols.; see Introductions by RAINE. The anonymous and contemporary life of the monk of Ramsey, I, 399-475, and EADMER, Life and Miracles, II, 1-59 (also in P.L., CLIX) are the best authorities; the lives by SENATUS and two others in vol. II are of little value; Acta SS., Feb., III, 752; Acta O.S.B. (Venice, 1733), saec. v, 728; WRIGHT, Biog. Lit., I (London, 1846), 462; TYNEMOUTH and CAPGRAVE, ed. HORSTMAN, II (Oxford, 1901), 252; HUNT, Hist. of the English Church from 597-1066 (London, 1899); IDEM in Dict. of Nat. Biog., s.v.; LINGARD, Anglo-Saxon Church (London, 1845).
S. Anselm Parker.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Othmar

From volume 11 of the work.
(Audomar.)
Died 16 Nov., 759, on the island of Werd in the Rhine, near Echnez, Switzerland. He was of Alemannic descent, received his education in Rhaetia, was ordained priest, and for a time presided over a church of St. Florinus in Rhaetia. This church was probably identical with the one of St. Peter at Remus, where St. Florinus had laboured as a priest and was buried. In 720 Waltram of Thurgau appointed Othmar superior over the cell of St. Gall. He united into a monastery the monks that lived about the cell of St. Gall, according to the rule of St. Columban, and became their first abbot. He added a hospital and a school; during his abbacy the Rule of St. Columban was replaced by that of St. Benedict. When Karlmann renounced his throne in 747, he visited Othmar at St. Gall and gave him a letter to his brother Pepin, recommending Othmar and his monastery to the king's liberality. Othmar personally brought the letter to Pepin, and was kindly received. When the Counts Warin and Ruodhart unjustly tried to gain possession of some property belonging to St. Gall, Othmar fearlessly resisted their demands. Hereupon they captured him while he was on a journey to Constance, and held him prisoner, first at the castle of Bodmann, then on the island of Werd in the Rhine. At the latter place he died, after an imprisonment of six months, and was buried. In 769 his body was transferred to the monastery of St. Gall and in 867 he was solemnly entombed in the new church of St. Othmar at St. Gall. His cult began to spread soon after his death, and now he is, next to St. Maurice and St. Gall, the most popular saint in Switzerland. His feast is celebrated on 16 November. He is represented in art as a Benedictine abbot, generally holding a little barrel in his hand, an allusion to the alleged miracle, that a barrel of St. Othmar never became empty, no matter how much he took from it to give to the poor.
P.L., CXIV, 1029-42; Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., II, 41-47. To this life was added by ISO OF ST. GALL: De miraculis S. Othmari, libri duo, in P.L., CXXI, 779-96, and Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., II, 47-54; BURGENER, Helvetia Sancta, II (Einsiedeln and New York, 1860), 147-51.
MICHAEL OTT