OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John de Pineda

From volume 12 of the work.
Born in Seville, 1558; died there, 27 Jan., 1637. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1572, taught philosophy and theology five years in Seville and Cordova, and specialized in Scripture, which he taught for eighteen years in Cordova, Seville, and Madrid. He held the posts of Provost of the professed house and rector of the college of Seville. He was consultor to the Spanish Inquisition, and, in this capacity, visited the chief libraries of Spain. The results of his visits was the "Index Prohibitorum Librorum" (1612), which won the appreciation of the Inquisition and of the chief inquisitor, Cardinal Sandoval, Archbishop of Toledo; it was re-edited (1632) for Cardinal Zapata. His learning is evidenced by the nineteen printed works and six manuscripts, chiefly of exegetical subjects, which remain to us of his writings: (1) "Commentariorum in Job libri tredecim" (Madrid, 1597-1601). Each chapter is paraphrased and fully commented upon. These two folios were often re-issued in Madrid, Cologne, Seville, Venice, and Paris. Seven indices served as guides to the student. Both Catholic and Protestant exegetes still praise this colossal storehouse of erudition. The archeology, textual criticism, comparison of various interpretations, use of historical data from profane writers, all show Pineda to have been far ahead of his time in scientific criticism of the Bible; (2) "Prælectio sacra in Cantico Canticorum" (Seville, 1602), issued as a greeting to Cardinal de Guevara, archbishop of Seville, on the occasion of his visit to the Jesuit college there; (3) "Salomon prævius, sive de rebus Salomonis regis libri octo" (fol, pp. 587; Lyons 1609; Mainz, 1613). The life, kingdom, wisdom, wealth, royal buildings, character, and death of Solomon are treated in a scholarly fashion; five indices are added as helps to the student. (4) De C. Plinii loco inter eruditos controverso ex lib. VII. Atque etiam morbus est aliquis per sapientiam mori". Considerable controversy resulted from his interpretation of Pliny (see Sommervogel, infra). (5). "Commentarii in Ecclesiasten, liber unus" (folio, pp. 1224; Seville, 1619), appeared in various editions, as did the commentary on Solomon. The fame he won by his erudition and sanctity is attested in many ways. On a visit to the University of Evora, he was greeted by a Latin speech, and a memorial tablet was set up with the legend, Hic Pineda fuit. What astounds one most in the writings of this exegete of the old school is his vast knowledge, not merely of Latin, but of Greek and Hebrew.
NIEREMBERG, Varones Ilustres de la C. de J. VII (Bilbao, 1891), 195; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliothèque de la C. de J., (Paris, 1895), VI, 796; IX, 772; GILHERME, Menologé de la C. de J. Assistance d'Espagne, I (Paris, 1902, 172.
WALTER DRUM
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John de Taxster

From volume 14 of the work.
​Taxster (Tayster), John de, sometimes erroneously called Taxter or Taxston, was a thirteenth-century chronicler, of whose life nothing is known except that he was professed as a Benedictine at Bury St. Edmund's 20 Nov., 1244. It is probable that he died in or about 1265, when his chronicle ceases. His work, which in the earlier part is compiled from Florence of Worcester, William of Malmesbury, and Ralph de Diceto, begins with the creation of the world. The value of the chronicle arises from Taxster's account of his own times; and his description of contemporary events was subsequently used by Everisden, Oxenedes, and Bartholomew Cotton. This part of his work has accordingly attracted more attention, and his chronicle for the period 1258–1263 has been printed by Luard in his edition of Cotton (Rolls Series). Taxster's chronicle as a whole has never been printed, and exists only in two MSS., one in the British Museum (Cott., Julius, A. 1.), the other in the College of Arms (Arundelian MS., 6). A faulty MS. for the years 1173–1265 was printed in 1849 for the English Historical Society, and passages relating to German affairs have been included by Pertz in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script.", XXVIII.
Liebermann in Pertz, Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., XXVIII Luard, in R. S., loc. cit. (London, 1859); Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue, III (London, 1871); Tout in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.
Edwin Burton.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John of Biclaro

From volume 8 of the work.
(Johannes Biclariensis.)
Chronicler, born in Portugal, probably about the middle of the sixth century; died after 621. He was educated at Constantinople , where he devoted at least seven years to the study of Latin and Greek. When he returned an attempt was made to force him to join the State Church, then Arian in character. As he stanchly resisted, he was banished by King Leovigild to Barcelona. After Leovigild's death in 586, John founded the Benedictine monastery of Biclaro, the site of which has not yet been exactly determined, and presided over it as abbot for several years, until he was appointed Bishop of Gerona (the bishop known as "Johannes Gerundensis" seems to have been an early successor of the chronicler). John took part in the synod of Saragossa (592), of Barcelona (599), and of Egara (614). His chronicle reaches to the year 590, and is a continuation (from 567) of the chronicle of Victor of Tunnuna, in Africa (Chronicon continuans Victorem Tunnunensem). It was edited by H. Canisius (Ingolstadt, 1600), by Scaliger in "Thesaurus Temporum" (Leyden, 1606), and in Migne, P. L., LXXII (1849). The best edition, with copious prolegomena, is by Mommsen in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. ant.", XI (1893), 211-220. This chronicle is the most complete and reliable authority on the stormy period of Leovigild's reign, and on the Visigothic conversion from Germanizing Arianism to Romanizing Catholicism. The narrative is religiously impartial, despite the preceding bitter religious conflicts during which the writer himself had to suffer.
Görres, Johannes von Biclaro in Theologische Studien und Kritiken, LXVIII (1895), 103-135; Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, I (Leipzig, 18930, 83.)
PATRICIUS SCHLAGER
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John de Montmirail

From volume 10 of the work.
(MONTE-MIRABILI)
Son of Andrew, Lord of Montmirail and Ferté-Gaucher, and Hildiarde d'Oisy, born in 1165; died 29 Sept., 1217. He was trained in piety by his mother, and well instructed in the secular sciences. Whilst young he embraced a military career, and was presented at the Royal Court, where he formed a lasting friendship with Philip Augustus, later King of France. The dissipations of court life led him to neglect the training of his youth; even his marriage with a most estimable lady, Helvide de Dampierre, failed to effect a change for the better. However, in his thirtieth year he met Jobert, Prior of St-Etienne de Montmirail, whose words of counsel proved sufficient to cause his conversion; and he turned to God with generosity and fidelity. He built an hospital for the sick of all kinds, but the objects of his predilection were the lepers, and those hopelessly afflicted. He loved the poor as brothers, and provided for them. He was severe on himself, wearing a coarse hair-shirt, passing frequently entire nights in prayer. Not satisfied with a life of holiness in the world, nor with that of a recluse, which he tried for a while, he entered the Cistercian monastery of Longpont, after having distributed amongst the poor all his possessions not needed by his wife and family; and he gave himself wholly to prayer and penance, so much so that he had to be reprimanded for going to excess. He had to bear every kind of insult from his former friends; even members of his own family abused him for having abandoned honour and wealth for poverty and subjection. But none of these things could weaken the fervor with which he sought perfection. Innumerable miracles were wrought at his tomb, and attract pilgrims even to the present day. Leo XIII granted a special office in his honour for the Diocese of Soissons.
Ménologe Cistercien (Saint-Brieuc, 1898); CHALEMOT, Series SS. . . . Ord. Cist. (Paris, 1670); SARTORIUS, Cistercium Bis-Tertium (Prague, 1700); Acta SS., Sept., VIII, 186 sqq.; MANRIQUE, Annales Cistercienses, IV (Lyons, 1659).
EDMOND M. OBRECHT.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John of Cornwall

From volume 8 of the work.
(JOHANNES CORNUBIENSIS, JOHANNES DE SANCTO GERMANO).
John of Cornwall lived about 1176. He was the author of a treatise written against the doctrine of Abelard, "Eulogium ad Alexandrum Papam III, quod Christus sit aliquis homo". Scarcely anything is known of his life except the few facts to which he alludes by chance in this work. Though he is claimed by some French writers as a Bas-Breton, it appears certain from the varied forms of his name that he was a native of St. German's in Cornwall. He was a student under Peter Lombard and Robert of Melum at Paris, and subsequently became a teacher himself. From Peter Lombard he seems to have derived the view which that scholar held for a time, that Christ's humanity was but the vesture or garment wherewith the Logos was clothed; but he abandoned this doctrine, which was condemned at the Council of Tours held by Alexander III in 1163, and advocated the orthodox teaching. In support of this he wrote the "Eulogium", though not for many years after the council, since a reference in the preface to William, formerly Archbishop of Sens, as being then Archbishop of Reims, shows that it could not have been written before 1176, in which year the translation took place. It was first published by Martène in the "Thesaurus novus anecdotum" (Paris, 1717), and is reprinted in Migne, P.L., CXCIX. This is the only work which was certainly written by him. The "Apologia de Christi Incarnatione", usually attributed to Hugh of St. Victor, has been assigned to John without sufficient grounds, as also a treatise "Summa qualiter fiat Sacramentum Altaris per virtutem sanctae crucis et de septem canonibus vel ordinibus Missae" (Migne, P.L. CLXXVII). There is at Magdalen College, Oxford, a "Commentarius in Aristotelis libros duo analyticorum posteriorum", which may be his, and the Latin hexameters "Merlini prophetia cum expositione", written at the request of Bishop Warelwast of Exeter, have been ascribed to him by reason of the references to Cornwall it contains. Nothing is known of his death, nor can he be identified with the John of Cornwall who was archdeacon of Worcester in 1197.
PITTS, De ill. Angliae scriptoribus (Paris, 1623); OUDIN, Scriptores eccle. II (Frankfort, 1722), 1223-4, 1529-30; FABRICUS, Bibl. med. aet. IV (1735), 189-91; TANNER, Bibl. Brit. Hib. (London, 1748); WRIGHT, Biographia Britannia Litteraria: Anglo-Norman Period (London, 1846); HARDY, Descriptive Catalogue, II (London, 1865); KINGSFORD in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; GROSS, Sources and Literature of English History (London, 1900).
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John of Fécamp

From volume 8 of the work.
(Also known as JEANNELIN on account of his diminutive stature).
Ascetic writer, b. near Ravenna about the beginning of the eleventh century; d. at Fécamp, Normandy, 22 February, 1079. He studied at Dijon under his compatriot William, Abbot of St. Benignus, whom he had accompanied to France. Under this skilled master John acquired an extensive acquaintance with all the sciences, making a special study of medicine, of which he is reckoned by Bernier among the cleverest exponents trained in the monastic schools of the Middle Ages. When William was commissioned to reform the Abbey of Fécamp and to establish there a colony of Benedictine monks, John again accompanied him and discharged under him the office of prior until 1028. In this year, worn out by his labours in the service of the Church, and seeking a more tranquil refuge for his old age, William appointed John his successor as abbot and retired to Italy. Taking his master for his model, John succeeded in winning an almost equal renown, and, if his authority was exercised with an defending the privileges of his house against every attack. In 1052, on the elevation of Helinard to the archiepiscopal See of Lyons, John was invited to succeed him as Abbot of Dijon. At first he retained also the abbacy of Fécamp, but, finding himself unable to carry the double burden, he resigned this office in 1056. Towards the close of his life he undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, desiring to see before his death the sanctified places towards which his thoughts had so often turned during his meditations. Seized and thrown into prison by the Turks, it was only in 1076 that he could return to France. He then retired to Fécamp.
As Abbot of St. Benignus John had been brought into close relations with Emperor Henry III-after 1038 also King of Burgundy-and with his spouse, Agnes of Poitiers. After Henry's death his widow placed herself entirely under the spiritual guidance of the abbot, and for her John composed a series of ascetical works. These were entitled the "Liber precum variarum", "De divina contemplatio Christique amore", "De superna Hierusalem," "De institutione viduae," "De vita et moribus virginum", "De eleemosynarum dispensatione" (P.L., CXLVII, 147 sqq., 445 sqq.). A good indication of John's value as a writer is afforded by the fact that the "De divina contemplatione" was for a long time regarded as a work of St. Augustine, although it is now certain that it was composed either wholly or partly by John. Some letters dealing with incidents in the life of the cloisters are also collected in P.L. loc. cit., 153 sq.
Hist. lit. de la France, VIII. 48 sqq; Gallia Christ., XI, 206; STREBER in Kirchenlex., s. v. Johannes von Fécamp; Nouvelle biographie generale, XXVI, 531 sqq.
THOMAS KENNEDY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Philomena

From volume 12 of the work.
On 25 May, 1802, during the quest for the graves of Roman martyrs in the Catacomb of Priscilla, a tomb was discovered and opened; as it contained a glass vessel it was assumed to be the grave of a martyr. The view, then erroneously entertained in Rome, that the presence of such vessels (supposed to have contained the martyr's blood) in a grave was a symbol of martyrdom, has been rejected in practice since the investigations of De Rossi (cf. Leclercq in "Dict. d.archéol. chrét. et de liturg.", s.v. Ampoules de sang). The remains found in the above-mentioned tomb were shown to be those of a young maiden, and, as the name Filumena was discovered on the earthenware slabs closing the grave, it was assumed that they were those of a virgin martyr named Philumena. On 8 June, 1805, the relics were translated to the church of Mungano, Diocese of Nola (near Naples), and enshrined under one of its altars. In 1827 Leo XII presented the church with the three earthenware tiles, with the inscription, which may be seen in the church even today. On the basis of alleged revelations to a nun in Naples, and of an entirely fanciful and indefensible explanation of the allegorical paintings, which were found on the slabs beside the inscription, a canon of the church in Mugnano, named Di Lucia, composed a purely fictitious and romantic account of the supposed martyrdom of St. Philomena, who is not mentioned in any of the ancient sources. In consequence of the wonderful favours received in answer to prayer before the relics of the saint at Mugnano, devotion to them spread rapidly, and, after instituting investigations into the question, Gregory XVI appointed a special feast to be held on 9 September, "in honorem s. Philumenae virginis et martyris" (cf. the lessons of this feast in the Roman Breviary). The earthenware plates were fixed in front of the grave as follows: LUMENA PAX TECUM FI. The plates were evidently inserted in the wrong order, and the inscription should doubtless read PAX TECUM FILUMENA. The letters are painted on the plates with red paint, and the inscription belongs to the primitive class of epigraphical memorials in the Catacomb of Priscilla, thus, dating from about the middle or second half of the second century. The disarrangement of the inscription proves that it must have been completed before the plates were put into position, although in the numerous other examples of this kind in the same catacomb the inscription was added only after the grave had been closed. Consequently, since the disarrangement of the plates can scarcely be explained as arising from an error, Marucchi seems justified in concluding that the inscription and plates originally belonged to an earlier grave, and were later employed (now in the wrong order) to close another. Apart from the letters, the plates contain three arrows, either as a decoration or a punctuation, a leaf as decoration, two anchors, and a palm as the well-known Christian symbols. Neither these signs nor the glass vessel discovered in the grave can be regarded as a proof of martyrdom.
J.P. KIRSCH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Pionius

From volume 12 of the work.
Martyred at Smyrna, 12 March, 250. Pionius, with Sabina and Asclepiades, was arrested on 23 February, the anniversary of St. Polycarp's martyrdom. They had passed the previous night in prayer and fasting. Knowing of his impending arrest, Pionius had fastened fetters round the necks of himself and his companions to signify that they were already condemned. People seeing them led off unbound might suppose that they were prepared, like so many other Christians in Smyrna, the bishop included, to sacrifice. Early in the morning, after they had partaken of the Holy Bread and of water, they were conducted to the forum. The place was thronged with Greeks and Jews, for it was a great Sabbath and therefore a general holiday in the city — an indication of the importance of the Jews in Smyrna. Pionius harangued the multitude. He begged the Greeks to remember what Homer had said about not mocking the corpse of an enemy. Let them refrain therefore from mocking those Christians who had apostatized. He then turned to the Jews and quoted Moses and Solomon to the same effect. He ended with a vehement refusal to offer sacrifice. Then followed the usual interrogatories and threats, after which Pionius and his companions were relegated to prison, to await the arrival of the proconsul. Here they found other confessors, among them a Montanist. Many pagans visited them, and Christians who had sacrificed, lamenting their fall. The latter Pionius exhorted to repentance. A further attempt before the arrival of the proconsul was made to force Pionius and his companions into an act of apostasy. They were carried off to a temple where every effort was made to compel them to participate in a sacrifice. On 12 March, Pionius was brought before the proconsul who first tried persuasion and then torture. Both having failed, Pionius was condemned to be burnt alive. He suffered in company with Metrodorus, a Marcionite priest. His feast is kept by the Latins ion 1 Feb.; by the Greeks on 11 March. The true day of his martyrdom, according to the Acts, was 12 March. Eusebius ("H.E.", IV, xv; "Chron.", p. 17, ed. Schoene) places the martyrdom in the reign of Antoninus. His mistake was probably due to the fact that he found the martyrdom of Pionius in a volume containing the Acts of Martyrs of an earlier date. Possibly his MS. lacked the chronological note in our present ones. For the life of Polycarp by Pionius, see Polycarp, Saint. Did Pionius before his martyrdom celebrate with bread and water? We know from St. Cyprian (Ep. 63) that this abuse existed in his time. But note (1) the bread is spoken of as Holy, but not the water; (2) it is unlikely that Pionius would celebrate with only two persons present. It is more likely therefore that we have an account, not of a celebration, but of a private Communion (see Funk, "Abhandlungen", I, 287).
F. J. BACCHUS
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Placidus

From volume 12 of the work.
St. Placidus, disciple of St. Benedict, the son of the patrician Tertullus, was brought as a child to St. Benedict at Sublaqueum (Subiaco) and dedicated to God as provided for in chapter 69 of St. Benedict's Rule. Here too occurred the incident related by St. Gregory (Dialogues, II, vii) of his rescue from drowning when his fellow monk, Maurus, at St. Benedict's order ran across the surface of the lake below the monastery and drew Placidus safely to shore. It appears certain that he accompanied St. Benedict when, about 529, he removed to Monte Cassino, which was said to have been made over to him by the father of Placidus. Of his later life nothing is known, but in an ancient psalterium at Vallombrosa his name is found in the Litany of the Saints placed among the confessors immediately after those of St. Benedict and St. Maurus; the same occurs in Codex CLV at Subiaco, attributed to the ninth century (see Baumer, "Johannes Mabillon", p. 199, n. 2).
There seems now to be no doubt that the "Passio S. Placidi", purporting to be written by one Gordianus, a servant of the saint, on the strength of which he is usually described as abbot and martyr, is really the work of Peter the Deacon, a monk of Monte Cassino in the twelfth century (see Delehaye, op. cit. infra). The writer seems to have begun by confusing St. Placidus with the earlier Placitus, who, with Euticius and thirty companions, was martyred in Sicily under Diocletian, their feast occurring in the earlier martyrologies on 5 October. Having thus made St. Placidus a martyr, he proceeds to account for this by attributing his martyrdom to Saracen invaders from Spain — an utter anachronism in the sixth century but quite a possible blunder if the "Acta" were composed after the Moslem invasions of Sicily. The whole question is discussed by the Bollandists (infra).
Acta SS., III Oct. (Brussels, 1770), 65-147; MABILLON, Acta SS. O.S.B., I (Paris, 1668), 45; IDEM, Annales O.S.B., I (Paris, 1703); IDEM, Iter italicum (Paris, 1687), 125; GREGORY THE GREAT, Dial., II, iii, v, vii, in P. L., LXV, 140, 144, 146; PIRRI, Sicilia sacra (Palermo, 1733), 359, 379, 432, 1128; ABBATISSA, Vita di S. Placido (Messina, 1654); AVO, Vita S. Placidi (Venice, 1583); Compendio della vita di s. Placido (Monte Cassino, 1895); DELEHAYE, Legends of the Saints, tr. CRAWFORD (London, 1907), 72, 106.
G. ROGER HUDLESTON