OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Robert

From volume 13 of the work.
Founder of the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne, b. at Aurilac, Auvergne, about 1000; d. in Auvergne, 1067. On his father's side he belonged to the family of the Counts of Aurilac, who had given birth to St. Géraud. He studied at Brioude near the basilica of St-Julien, in a school open to the nobility of Auvergne by the canons of that city. Having entered their community, and being ordained priest, Robert distinguished himself by his piety, charity, apostolic zeal, eloquent discourses, and the gift of miracles. For about forty years he remained at Cluny in order to live under the rule of his compatriot saint, Abbé Odilo. Brought back by force to Brioude, he started anew for Rome in order to consult the pope on his project. Benedict IX encouraged him to retire with two companions to the wooded plateau south-east of Auvergne. Here he built a hermitage under the name of Chaise-Dieu (Casa Dei). The renown of his virtues having brought him numerous disciples, he was obliged to build a monastery, which he placed under the rule of Saint Benedict (1050). Leo IX erected the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu, which became one of the most flourishing in Christendom. At the death of Robert it numbered 300 monks and had sent multitudes all though the centre of France. Robert also founded a community of women at Lavadieu near Brioude. Through the elevation of Pierre Roger, monk of Chaise-Dieu, to the sovereign pontificate, under the name of Clement VI, the abbey reached the height of its glory. The body of Saint Robert, preserved therein, was burned by the Huguenots during the religious wars. His work was destroyed by the French Revolution, but there remain for the admiration of tourists, the vast church, cloister, tomb of Clement VI, and Clementine Tower. The feast-day of St. Robert is 24 April.
A. FOURNET
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Raphael

From volume 12 of the work.
The name of this archangel (Raphael = "God has healed") does not appear in the Hebrew Scriptures, and in the Septuagint only in the Book of Tobias. Here he first appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of the younger Tobias, calling himself "Azarias the son of the great Ananias". The story of the adventurous journey during which the protective influence of the angel is shown in many ways including the binding "in the desert of upper Egypt" of the demon who had previously slain seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel, is picturesquely related in Tobit 5-11, to which the reader is referred. After the return and the healing of the blindness of the elder Tobias, Azarias makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" (Tob., xii, 15. Cf. Apoc., viii, 2). Of these seven "archangels" which appear in the angelology of post-Exilic Judaism, only three, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, are mentioned in the canonical Scriptures. The others, according to the Book of Enoch (cf. xxi) are Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and Jerahmeel, while from other apocryphal sources we get the variant names Izidkiel, Hanael, and Kepharel instead of the last three in the other list.
Regarding the functions attributed to Raphael we have little more than his declaration to Tobias (Tobit 12) that when the latter was occupied in his works of mercy and charity, he (Raphael) offered his prayer to the Lord, that he was sent by the Lord to heal him of his blindness and to deliver Sara, his son's wife, from the devil. The Jewish category of the archangels is recognized in the New Testament (I Thess., iv, 15; Jude, 9), but only Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name. Many commentators, however, identify Raphael with the "angel of the Lord" mentioned in John 5. This conjecture is base both on the significance of the name and on the healing role attributed to Raphael in the Book of Tobias. The Church assigns the feast of St. Raphael to 24 October. The hymns of the Office recall the healing power of the archangel and his victory over the demon. The lessons of the first Nocturn and the Antiphons of the entire Office are taken from the Book of Tobias, and the lessons of the second and third Nocturns from the works of St. Augustine, viz. for the second Nocturn a sermon on Tobias (sermon I on the fifteenth Sunday), and for the third, a homily on the opening verse of John, v. The Epistle of the Mass is taken from the twelfth chapter of Tobias, and the Gospel from John 5:1-4, referring to the pool called Probatica, where the multitude of the infirm lay awaiting the moving of the water, for "an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved.And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under". Thus the conjecture of the commentators referred to above is confirmed by the official Liturgy of the Church.
Vigouroux, Dict. de la Bible, s. v. Raphael.
James F. Driscoll.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Raymond Nonnatus

From volume 12 of the work.
(In Spanish SAN RAMON).
Born 1200 or 1204 at Portello in the Diocese of Urgel in Catalonia; died at Cardona, 31 August, 1240. His feast is celebrated on 31 August. He is pictured in the habit of his order surrounded by ransomed slaves, with a padlock on his lips. He was taken from the womb of his mother after her death, hence his name. Of noble but poor family, he showed early traits of piety and great talent. His father ordered him to tend a farm, but later gave him permission to take the habit with the Mercedarians at Barcelona, at the hands of the founder, St. Peter Nolasco. Raymond made such progress in the religious life that he was soon considered worthy to succeed his master in the office of ransomer. He was sent to Algiers and liberated many captives. When money failed he gave himself as a hostage. He was zealous in teaching the Christian religion and made many converts, which embittered the Mohammedan authorities. Raymond was subjected to all kinds of indignities and cruelty, was made to run the gauntlet, and was at last sentenced to impalement. The hope of a greater sum of money as ransom caused the governor to commute the sentence into imprisonment. To prevent him from preaching for Christ, his lips were pierced with a red-hot iron and closed with a padlock. After his arrival in Spain, in 1239, he was made a cardinal by Gregory IX. In the next year he was called to Rome by the pope, but came only as far as Cardona, about six miles from Barcelona, where he died. His body was brought to the chapel of St. Nicholas near his old farm. In 1657 his name was placed in the Roman martyrology by Alexander VII. He is invoked by women in labour and by persons falsely accused. The appendix to the Roman ritual gives a formula for the blessing of water, in his honour, to be used by the sick, and another of candles.
BUTLER, Lives of the Saints; STADLER, Heiligenlexicon; GAMS, Kirchengesch. von Spanien, III; Acta SS., VI, 729.
FRANCIS MERSHMAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Rimbert

From volume 13 of the work.
Archbishop of Bremen-Hamburg, died at Bremen 11 June, 888. It is uncertain whether he was a Fleming or a Norman. He was educated at the monastery of Turholt near Brügge in Flanders. There St. Ansgar, first Archbishop of Hamburg, became acquainted with him, and later made him his constant companion When Ansgar died on 2 February, 865, Rimbert was chosen his successor. Pope Nicholas I sent him the pallium in December, 865. As Ansgar's missionary system was based on a connection with the Benedictine Order, Rimbert became, shortly after his consecration, a monk at Corvey, and subsequently made missionary journeys to West Friesland, Denmark, and Sweden, but concerning these unfortunately we have no detailed information. In 884 he succeeded in putting to flight the Norman marauders on the coast of Friesland; in remembrance of this incident he was later held in special veneration in Friesland. Among his episcopal achievements the foundation of a monastery in Bücken near Bremen and his care for the poor and sick are especially emphasized. Historians are indebted to him for a biography of St. Ansgar, which is distinguished by valuable historical information and a faithful character sketch. On the other hand, the biography of Rimbert himself, written by a monk of Corvey, is, while very edifying, poor in actual information; hence we know so little of his life.
Klemens Löffler.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Rita of Cascia

From volume 13 of the work.
Born at Rocca Porena in the Diocese of Spoleto, 1386; died at the Augustinian convent of Cascia, 1456. Feast, 22 May. Represented as holding roses, or roses and figs, and sometimes with a wound in her forehead.
According to the "Life" (Acta SS., May, V, 224) written at the time of her beatification by the Augustinian, Jacob Carelicci, from two older biographies, she was the daughter of parents advanced in years and distinguished for charity which merited them the surname of "Peacemakers of Jesus Christ". Rita's great desire was to become a nun, but, in obedience to the will of her parents, she, at the age of twelve, married a man extremely cruel and ill-tempered. For eighteen years she was a model wife and mother. When her husband was murdered she tried in vain to dissuade her twin sons from attempting to take revenge; she appealed to Heaven to prevent such a crime on their part, and they were taken away by death, reconciled to God. She applied for admission to the Augustinian convent at Cascia, but, being a widow, was refused. By continued entreaties, and, as is related, by Divine intervention, she gained admission, received the habit of the order and in due time her profession. As a religious she was an example for all, excelled in mortifications, and was widely known for the efficacy of her prayers.
Urban VIII, in 1637, permitted her Mass and Office. On account of the many miracles reported to have been wrought at her intercession she received in Spain the title of La Santa de los impossibiles. She was solemnly canonized 24 May, 1900.
FRANCIS MERSHMAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Raymond of Penafort

From volume 12 of the work.
Born at Villafranca de Benadis, near Barcelona, in 1175; died at Barcelona, 6 January, 1275. He became professor of canon law in 1195, and taught for fifteen years. He left Spain for Bologna in 1210 to complete his studies in canon law. He occupied a chair of canon law in the university for three years and published a treatise on ecclesiastical legislation which still exists in the Vatican Library.
Raymond was attracted to the Dominican Order by the preaching of Blessed Reginald, prior of the Dominicans of Bologna, and received the habit in the Dominican Convent of Barcelona, whither he had returned from Italy in 1222. At Barcelona he was co-founder with St. Peter Nolasco of the Order of Mercedarians. He also founded institutes at Barcelona and Tunis for the study of Oriental languages, to convert the Moors and Jews.
At the request of his superiors Raymond published the Summa Casuum, of which several editions appeared in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1229 Raymond was appointed theologian and penitentiary to the Cardinal Archbishop of Sabina, John of Abbeville, and was summoned to Rome in 1230 by Gregory IX, who appointed him chaplain and grand penitentiary.
The reputation of the saint for juridical science decided the pope to employ Raymond of Peñafort's talents in re-arranging and codifying the canons of the Church. He had to rewrite and condense decrees that had been multiplying for centuries, and which were contained in some twelve or fourteen collections already existing. We learn from a Bull of Gregory IX to the Universities of Paris and Bologna that many of the decrees in the collections were but repetitions of ones issued before, many contradicted what had been determined in previous decrees, and many on account of their great length led to endless confusion, while others had never been embodied in any collection and were of uncertain authority.
The pope announced the new publication in a Bull directed to the doctors and students of Paris and Bologna in 1231, and commanded that the work of St. Raymond alone should be considered authoritative, and should alone be used in the schools. When Raymond completed his work the pope appointed him Archbishop of Tarragona, but the saint declined the honour. Having edited the Decretals he returned to Spain. He was not allowed to remain long in seclusion, as he was elected General of the Order in 1238; but he resigned two years later. During his tenure of office he published a revised edition of the Dominican Constitutions, and it was at his request that St. Thomas wrote the Summa Contra Gentiles. St. Raymond was canonized by Clement VIII in 1601. His Summa de Poenitentia et Matrimonio is said to be the first work of its kind. His feast is 23 January.
Monumenta Historica Ord. Proed., V, iv; Bullarium Ord. Proed.; PENIA, Vita S. Raymundi; MORTIER, Hist. des Maitres Generaux (Paris, 1903); FINKE, Acta Aragonensia, II (1908), 902-904; QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. Ord. Proed.; BALME, Raymundiana (1901).
Michael M. O'Kane.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jakob Wimpfeling

From volume 15 of the work.
Humanist and theologian, b. at Schlettstadt, Alsace, 25 July 1450; d. there, 17 Nov., 1528. He went to the school at Schlettstadt conducted by Ludwig Dringenberg, and from 1464 was a student at the University of Freiburg (baccalaureus, 1466); later he went to Erfurt and Heidelberg (magister, 1471). He then studied canon law for three years, and finally theology. In 1483 he was cathedral preacher at Speyer. In 1498 Philip, the Elector Palatine, called him to Heidelberg as professor of rhetoric and poetry. From 1513 he lived at Schlettstadt, where a circle of pupils and admirers gathered around him. Differences of opinion caused by the Lutheran doctrine broke up this literary society, and Wimpfeling died lonesome and embittered.
His literary career began with a few publications in which he urged the more frequent holding of synods, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin, and an improvement of the discipline of the clergy. The "Elegantiarum medulla" (1493) is an extract from Valla's books on the elegance of the Latin language. In the "Isidoneus germanicus" (1496) he presented his pedagogical ideals, and opposed Scholasticism. The teaching of grammar should lead to the reading of heathen writers who were not immoral and especially of the Christian writers. He also laid emphasis on learning the practical sciences. His most important work, "Adolescentia" (1500), was intended to supplement "Isidoneus". Here he set forth the ethical side of his pedagogical scheme. The troubles of the Church spring from the bad training of the young; consequently, young people must be trained so as to be well-established in morals. He then discusses the details of twenty laws for young men. He showed himself a fiery patriot in the "Germanic" (1501), which involved him in a feud with Murner. His "Epitome rerum germanicarum" is a short history of the Germans, drawn in some particulars from other historians. In several writings he opposed abuses in the Church. After Luther's excommunication he took part in the attempt to prevail upon the Curia to withdraw the ban. This caused him to be suspected of having written a lampoon on the Curia, "Litancia pro Germania", that was probably composed by Hermann von dem Busche. In 1521 he submitted to the Church, of which he was ever afterwards a loyal son. In 1524 he added to Emser's dialogue against Zwingli's "Canonis missae defensio" a letter to Luther and Zwingli, in which he exhorted them to examine the Scriptures carefully in order to discover for themselves that the Canons of the Mass contains nothing contrary to the doctrines and customs of the early Church. He then retired from the struggle, and was ridiculed by fanatical partisans of Luther as a renegade and a persecutor of heretics. He was one of the best representatives of moderate humanism, one who honestly sought and wanted much that was good, but who generally only half attained his desires.
SCHMIDT, Histoire litteraire de l'Alsace (Paris, 1879), I, 1-187; II, 317- 39; KNEPPER, Jakob Wimpfeling (Freiburg, 1902).
Klemens Löffler.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/James Adams

From volume 1 of the work.
​Adams, James, professor of humanities at St. Omers, born in England in 1737; died at Dublin, 6 December, 1802. He became a Jesuit at Watten, 7 September, 1756, and worked on the mission in England. He wrote a translation from the French of "Early Rules for Taking a Likeness", by Bonomaci; and was honoured with the thanks of the Royal Society of London, for a treatise on "English Pronunciation, with appendices on various dialects, and an analytical discussion and vindication of Scotch". He composed also a volume of Roman History, and projected a book on a "Tour through the Hebrides", which was never printed.
Foley, Records of the English Province; Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la c. de J., I, 50.
T. J. Campbell.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/James Ambrose Dominic Aylward

From volume 2 of the work.
Theologian and poet, born at Leeds, 4 April, 1813; died at Hinckley (England), 5 October, 1872. He was educated at the Dominican priory of Hinckley, entered the Order of St. Dominic, was ordained priest in 1836, became provincial in 1850, first Prior of Woodchester in 1854, and provincial a second time in 1866. He composed several pious manuals for the use of his community and "A Novena for the Holy Season of Advent" gathered from the prophecies, anthems, etc., of the Roman Missal and Breviary (Derby, 1849). He reedited (London, 1867) a "Life of Blessed Virgin St. Catherine of Sienna", translated from the Italian by the Dominican Father John Fen (Louvain, 1609), also an English translation of Father Chocarne's "Inner Life of Lacordaire" (Dublin, 1867). His essays "On the Mystical Elements in Religion", and on "Old and Modern Spiritism" were edited posthumously by Cardinal Manning (London, 1874). Father Aylward's principal monument is his translation of Latin hymns, most of which he contributed to "The Catholic Weekly Instructor." In his "Annus Sanctus" (London, 1884) Orbey Shipley has reprinted many of them. He says of Father Aylward that he was "a cultivated and talented priest of varied powers and gifts."
THOMAS J. SHAHAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/James Anderton

From volume 1 of the work.
An English Catholic, b. 1557; d. 1618. He belonged to the well-known Catholic family of Lostock Hall, Lancashire, and inherited extensive estates there from his parents, Christopher and Dorothy Anderton. In 1582 he married Margaret, daughter of Edward Tyldesley of Tyldesley and Morleys, and, following his father's profession of the law, succeeded him in 1592 as Prohonotary of the Duchy Court at Lancaster. Both his mother and wife remained faithful to the Church, but James himself seems to have followed his father's example, and temporized so far as to attach his name to an address (1618) for the "disarming of recusants" and to perform other official duties repugnant to a true Catholic. He died about 1618. Father John Clark, rector of Liège College, in his eulogy of Father Henry Holland, S.J., makes the erroneous statement that James Anderton, under the pseudonym "John Brereley, priest," was the author of a valuable work entitled "The Protestant's Apologie," an assertion that has been accepted generally. It has been shown, however, that the works of "John Brereley, priest," were from the pen of Father Lawrence Anderton, S.J., a nephew of James, who, however, is thought to have sheltered the press with which the work was printed.
GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. of English Catholics.
THOMAS WALSH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jakob Middendorp

From volume 10 of the work.
Theologian and historian; b. about 1537 at Oldenzaal, or, according to others, at Ootmarsum, Overyssel, Holland; d. at Cologne, 13 Jan., 1611. He calls himself Otmersensis on the title page of his work, "De celebrioribus Academiis". He studied the humanities at the Fragerherren gymnasium of Zwolle, philosophy and jurisprudence at Cologne University, where he became doctor of philosophy and both branches of law, and also licentiate of theology; he also taught peripatetic philosophy at the Montanum gymnasium there. He remained in Westphalia during the troubles in the Archdiocese of Cologne in the time of Archbishop Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, and was professor at various foreign academies; afterwards he returned to Cologne, where he passed the greater part of his life. In 1580 he became dean of St. Maria ad gradus, Cologne, in 1596 dean of St. Andreas, and in 1601 canon of the cathedral chapter. Rector of Cologne University 1580-81 and 1602-04, he was appointed vice-chancellor by the coadjutor, Ferdinand of Bavaria, in 1602. He lies buried in the church of St. Andreas. As an author he was best known by his "De celebrioribus universi orbis Academiis, libri II" (Cologne, 1567, 1572, 1594, and lastly 1602), considerably enlarged, in two volumes, under the title "Academiarum celebrium universi terrarum orbis libri VIII locupletati". He also published : "Officiorum scholasticorum libri duo, quorum prior tam iuventutis quam populi Christiani magistrorum qui divinas et humanas literas publice privatimque docent, munus edisserit, posterior vero praecipua auditorum populique offica complectitur" (Cologne, 1570); "Historiam Aristeae versae per LXX interprets Scripturae sacrae ex MS. codicibus Graecis et Latinis restituit et commentario illustravit" (Cologne, 1603); "Historia monastica, quae religiosae et solitariae vitae originem, progressiones, incrementa et naturam ex scriptura Sacra, ex pontifico et Caesareo jure, ex antiquissimis historiis, ex veterum Patrum et librorum scriptis demonstrat" (Cologne, 1603).
Foppens, Bibliothl. Belgica (Brussels, 1730), 529 sq.; Hartzheim, Biblioth. Coloniensis (Cologne, )1747), 150; Paquot, Memoires pour servir a l'histoire litteraire des dix-sept Provinces des Pays-Bas, III (Louvain, 1770), 26-29; Bianco, Die ehem. Uiv. u. die Gymnasien zu Koln, II, 2nd ed. (Cologne, 1850), 1386 sq.; Allg. Deut. Biog., XXI, 711.
FREDERICH LAUCHERT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Ven. William Spenser

From volume 14 of the work.
English martyr, b. at Ghisburn, Yorkshire; executed at York, 24 September, 1589. His maternal uncle, William Horn, who signed for the Rectory of Cornwell, Oxfordshire, in 1559, sent him in 1573 to Trinity College, Oxford, where he became Fellow in 1579 and M.A. in 1580. There, convinced of the truth of Catholicism, he used his position to influence his pupils in that direction; but he delayed his reconciliation till 1582, when, with four other Trinity men (John Appletree, B.A., already a priest; William Warford, M.A. and Fellow, afterwards a Jesuit; Anthony Shirley, M.A. and Fellow, afterwards a priest; and John Fixer, B.A., afterwards a priest), he embarked from the Isle of Wight, and landed near Cherbourg, arriving at Reims, 2 November. Received into the Church five days later, he was ordained sub-deacon and deacon at Laon by the bishop, Valentine Douglas, 7 April, 1583, and priest at Reims by the Cardinal Archbishop de Guise, 24 September, and was sent on the mission 29 August, 1584. He effected the reconciliation of his parents and his uncle (the latter was living as a Catholic priest in 1593), and afterwards voluntarily immured himself in York Castle to help the prisoners there. He was condemned under 27 Elizabeth, c. 2, merely for being a priest. With him suffered a layman, Robert Hardesty, who had given him shelter.
POLLEN, Acts of the English Martyrs (London, 1891), 273-8; English Martyrs 1584- 1603 (London, 1908), 34, 35; KNOX, Douay Diaries (London, 1878); and, for William Horn, see GEE, Elizabethan Clergy (Oxford, 1898), 119; and Public Record Office, S. P. Dom. Add. Eliz., XXXII, 64.
John B. Wainewright.