OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Salamenes of Capersana

Salamanes (2), a solitary of Capersana, a village on the right bank of the Euphrates, who shut himself up in a cell on the opposite bank, having neither door nor window. Once a year he dug himself out, obtained food for the next year, and returned, having spoken with none. His diocesan, desiring to confer orders on so distinguished an ascetic, had the cell wall broken down and laid his hands upon him, Salamanes neither consenting nor dissenting. With equal passiveness he allowed himself to be transferred to another cell across the river by the inhabitants of the village, and to be taken back again by his former neighbours (Theod. Hist. Relig. c. xix.).
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Samson, a Welsh saint

Samson (1) (Sampson), Welsh saint, bp. of Dôl. His legend is obscured by the admixture of several traditions. The materials for his Life are of their kind very abundant.
Taking the Life in Lib. Land. as a type of the British tradition as distinguished from the Gallican, Samson was son of Amwn Ddu, prince of Armorica in the 5th cent. Born in Glamorganshire, educated by St. Illtyd at Llantwit Major, ordained deacon and priest by St. Dubricius, he became for three and a half years abbat of St. Peirio or Piro's monastery on an island near Llantwit; some say at Llantwit. Afterwards he lived in a desert near the Severn, was consecrated by St. Dubricius and others to the episcopate, though, according to the common Celtic custom, without reference to a specific see, and in course of time proceeded to Armorica, where he became the deliverer of the captive prince Judual, and died at Dôl (Lib. Land. 305). Thus far, and excluding the miraculous elements, the tradition is generally consistent and complete, though some Welsh traditions bring him back to die at Llantwit. To this are added several fictions, probably of the 12th cent., traceable to Geoffrey of Monmouth and to Girald. Cambr. The monumental inscribed stones to SS. Illtyd and Samson found in the churchyard of Llantwit Major cannot be of this early date; the Samson there mentioned must have lived in the 9th cent., and the lettering would agree with that date. Haddan and Stubbs, Counc. i. 626–628; Rees, Welsh SS. 181, 255).
[J.G.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Sabina, Poppaea

Sabina (1), Poppaea, empress, 2nd wife of Nero. Like certain members of the Flavian family, it is very highly probable, though not absolutely certain, that Poppaea was a Christian. She was almost certainly a Jewish proselyte, as the language of Josephus, Θεοσεβὴς γὰρ ἦν (Ant. xx. 8, 11) almost implies. The fact that her body was embalmed and not burnt after the Roman custom (Tac. Ann. xvi. 6) has been urged to shew that she had embraced a foreign religion. Certainly at least twice (Jos. l.c., and Vita, 3) she exerted her influence with Nero in favour of the Jews (see Lightfoot, Philipp. 5 note). It has even been conjectured that it was through her that the Christians and not Jews were selected as the victims to suffer for the burning of Rome. A romantic theory was put forward by M. Latour St. Ybars of a rivalry between the Jewish Poppaea and Acte the former
mistress of Nero, who, on the strength of a passage in St. Chrysostom (Hom. in Acta xlvi. in Migne, Patr. Gk. lx. 325), is conjectured to have been a Christian. Schiller, Gesch. d. röm. Kaiserreichs unter Nero, 436 n., and Aubé, Hist. des persec. 421 n. For the general history of Poppaea see Merivale, c. liii.
[F.D.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Sabinus, bp. of Heraclea

Sabinus (10), bp. of Heraclea in Thrace, and a leader of the party and sect of Macedonius. He was the author of a collection of the Acts of the councils of the church from the council of Nicaea to his own time, which was much used by Socrates in his Eccl. Hist., who speaks of it as untrustworthy, because Sabinus was an unscrupulous partisan, and omitted, and even wilfully altered, facts and statements adverse to his views and interests (cf. Socr. op. cit. i. 8; ii. 15). Socrates shews how Sabinus tries to disparage the fathers of Nicaea in the face of the contrary evidence of Eusebius, and makes no mention whatever of Macedonius, lest he should have to describe his evil deeds. Baronius (ad ann. 325, xxxix., ad ann. 344, iii. etc.) speaks strongly of Sabinus's unscrupulous handling of history, calls him "homo mendacissimus," and suggests that Sozomen gives a garbled account of the election of Athanasius, "ex officina Sabini." Cave (Hist. Lit. i. 411) fixes the date at which Sabinus flourished as c. 425.
[G.W.D.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Salvius, bp. of Membrasa

Salvius (3), Donatist bp. of Membrasa (Medjez el Bab), one of the 12 ordainers of
Maximian. He is mentioned as one who practised rebaptism (Aug. Parm. iii. 22). Refusing to return to the party of Primian, he was displaced, and Restitutus appointed in his stead. Salvius believed that his opponents could not take advantage of the laws against heretics without implicating themselves in its operation (Aug. c. Cresc. iv. 57, 58, 60, 82; Ep. 108. 14; En. Ps. 57. 18; Cod. Theodos. xvi. 5, 22, 25, 26). The action appears to have been brought during the proconsulate of Herodes, a.d. 394, but not to have been decided until that of Seranus, a.d. 398. When the judgment was published, the people of Membresa, by whom Salvius, now an old man, was greatly beloved, appear to have supported him in opposition to the edict; but the people of Abitina, a neighbouring town, took upon themselves, without any official sanction, to execute it, and having attacked Salvius, maltreated him cruelly and ignominiously. Whether this attack caused the death of Salvius we know not, nor do we hear of him again, but his case is often quoted by Augustine when retorting on the Donatists their charge against the Catholics of persecution.
[H.W.P.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Romanus, hymn-writer

Romanus (9), St., a celebrated hymn writer of the Eastern church, who is said to have written more than 1,000 hymns, of the kind called κοντάκια, a form which he probably invented. It perhaps derives its some what disputed name from the legend as to its origin, found in the Synaxasion of St. Romanus's day (Menaea, Oct. 1), which says that the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, and commanded him to eat a roll (κοντάκιον) which she gave him, and that, obeying, he found himself endowed with the power of composing hymns. If he was the first who wrote κοντάκια, it is an argument in favour of placing him (as do Pitra and the Bollandists) in the reign of Anastasius I. (491–518) rather than of Anastasius II. (713–719).
[H.A.W.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Rufinus, a Roman presbyter

Rufinus (4), a Roman presbyter at the end of 4th cent.; an admirer of Jerome he espoused his cause in the Origenistic controversy and against Rufinus of Aquileia. Eusebius of Cremona, sent by Jerome to Rome in 398, reported the kindness of Rufinus, who wrote to Jerome to ask an explanation of the judgment of Solomon. This Jerome gives him, making the false and true mothers to be the Synagogue and the Church. Jerome speaks of him with gratitude and respect, hoping he may not only publicly defend him, but in private judge him favourably (Ep.74, ed. Vall.).
[W.H.F.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Sabbatius, bp. of Constantinople

Sabbatius (2), ordained by Marcianus as Novatianist bp. of Constantinople, seceded, before 380, from the main body of that sect, with two others, Theoctistes and Macarius, maintaining that Easter ought to be celebrated on the same day and in the same manner as by the Jews. He also complained that unworthy persons were admitted to the Novatianist communion, thus finding the same fault with the Novatianists that they did with the church. He became bishop of a small sect, called after him Sabbatiani, whose baptism was recognized in the 7th canon of the 2nd general council. Sozomen (H. E. vii. 18) gives a long account of his secession.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Rufinus, the Syrian

Rufinus (5), a friend of Jerome; known as the Syrian, to distinguish him from (3) and (4), both his contemporaries. He was one of the company of Italians settled at Bethlehem with Jerome; and in 390 was sent by him to Rome and Milan in the cause of their friend Claudius, who was accused of a capital offence (Hieron. Ep. lxxxi. 2; cont. Ruf. iii. 24).
This Rufinus is doubtless the one mentioned by Celestius (Aug. de Pecc. Orig. c. 3 ) as having been known by him at the house of Pammachius at Rome and having asserted there
that sin was not inherited. Marius Mercator says that it was this Rufinus who instilled into the mind of Pelagius the views known as Pelagian (Mar. Merc. Lib. Subnotationum in Verba Juliani, c. 2).
[W.H.F.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/S

* Sabas, a Gothic martyr
* Sabas, St
* Sabbatius, bp. of Constantinople
* Sabellianism, or Patripassianism
* Sabellius, heretic
* Sabina, Poppaea
* Sabinus, bp. of Heraclea
* Salamenes of Capersana
* Salvianus, priest of Marseilles
* Salvina
* Salvius, bp. of Membrasa
* Salvius, bishop of Alby
* Samson, a Welsh saint
* Sarbelius, a Edessan martyr
* Saturninus
* Saturninus, bishop of Toulouse
* Saturninus, bishop of Arles
* Scapula, proconsul of Africa
* Scillitan Martyrs
* Sebastianus, martyr at Rome
* Secundinus, a poet
* Secundus, a Gnostic
* Secundus, bp. of Tigisis
* Sedulius, 5th-cent. poet
* Senochus, St
* Senuti, an anchorite
* Serapion, bp. of Antioch
* Serapion, penitent of Alexandria
* Serapion, surnamed Scholasticus
* Serapion, surnamed Sindonites
* Serapion, solitary of Scete
* Serapion, bp. of Heraclea
* Serenus, a solitary
* Serenus, bp. of Marseilles
* Sergius, saint and martyr
* Sergius, a Monophysite priest
* Severianus, bp. of Gabala
* Severinus, monk of Noricum
* Severus, L. Septimius
* Severus, Aurelius Alexander
* Severus (3) and Severians
* Severus Sanctus
* Severus Sulpicius, an historian
* Severus, bp. of Mileum
* Severus, bp. of Monorca
* Severus, patriarch of Antioch
* Severus, patriarch of Aquileia
* Sidonius Apollinaris, St
* Sigebert I
* Sigismundus, St
* Silvania
* Silvanus, bishop of Gaza
* Silvanus, bishop of Emesa
* Silvanus, bishop of Cirta
* Silvanus, bishop of Tarsus
* Silvanus, solitary of Sinai
* SiIvanus, bishop of Calahorra
* Silverius, bishop of Rome
* Silvester, bishop of Rome
* Sylvia, bp. of Jerusalem
* Simeon (1)
* Simeon Stylites
* Simon Magus
* Simplicianus, St., bp. of Milan
* Simplicius, bp. of Rome
* Siricius, bp. of Rome
* Sirmium, Stonemasons of
* Sisinnius, bp. of Novatianists
* Sixtus I., bp. of Rome
* Sixtus II., bp. of Rome
* Sixtus III., bp. of Rome
* Socrates, a historian
* Sophronius, ecclesiastical writer
* Sophronius, bishop of Tella
* Soter, bp. of Rome
* Sozomen, author of a history
* Spyridon, bp. of Trimithus
* Stagirus, friend of Chrysostom
* Stephanus I., bp. of Rome
* Stephanus, bp. of Ephesus
* Stephanus I., patriarch of Antioch
* Stratonice, martyr at Cyzicum
* Sylvia, sister of Flavius Rufinus
* Symmachus, author O.T. in Greek
* Symmachus Q. Aurelius
* Symmachus, bp. of Rome
* Symphorianus, martyr
* Synesius, bp. of Ptolemais
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Sabas, St

Sabas, (6), St., abbat in Palestine and founder of the laura of St. Sabas; born in 439, near Caesarea in Cappadocia. When 8 years old he entered a neighbouring monastery, and at 18 went a pilgrimage to the holy places at Jerusalem, where he entered the monastery of St. Passarion. At 30 he established himself as an anchorite in a cavern in the desert. Several persons joining him, he laid the foundations of his monastery on a rock on the Kidron river, where it still remains. (Cf. Murray's Handbook for Syria, p. 229.) He was ordained priest by Sallustius, patriarch of Constantinople, in 491. Several Armenians united themselves soon after to this community, which led to Sabas ordaining that the first part of Holy Communion should be said in Armenian, but the actual words of consecration in Greek. In 493 the monastery had increased so much that he built another at a short distance. He was sent as an ambassador to Constantinople in a.d. 511, by the patriarch ELIAS, to counteract the influence of Severus and the Monophysites with the emperor Anastasius; and again by Peter, patriarch of Jerusalem, in 531, to ask from the emperor remission of the taxes due by Palestine and help to rebuild the churches ruined by invasion. He died Dec. 5, 531, aged 91 years. His Life was written by Cyril of Scythopolis. [CYRILLUS (13).] Copious extracts from it are in Ceillier, xi. 274–277, and Fleury, H. E. lib. vii. §§ 30–32. The whole Life is in Coteler, Monument. t. iii.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Sabas, a Gothic martyr

Sabas (2), a Gothic martyr under Athanaric, king of the Goths towards the end of 4th cent. His Acts seem genuine, and contain many interesting details of Gothic life in the lands bordering on the Danube. Thus village life, with its head men and communal responsibility, appears in c. ii. After various tortures he was drowned in the Musaeus, which flows into the Danube. The Acts are in the form of an epistle from the Gothic church to that of Cappadocia, whither Soranus, who was "dux Scythiae," had sent his relics (Ruinart. Acta Sincera, p. 670; AA. SS. Boll. Apr. ii. 88; Ceill. iv. 278; C. A. A. Scott, Ulfilas, Apostle of the Goths, 1885, p. 80). The topography of the region where he suffered is exhaustively treated in the Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akad. 1881–1882, t. xcix. pp. 437–492, by Prof. Tomaschek, of Graz University.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Sabellius, heretic

Sabellius, heretic, after whom the sect of the Sabellians was called (see preceding art.). The known facts of his history are but few. All 4th-cent. writers follow Basil in saying that he was born in Africa. The scene of Sabellius's activity was Rome, where we find him during the episcopate of pope Zephyrinus, a.d. 198–217. &gt;From the statement of Hippolytus, he was apparently undecided in his views when he came to Rome, or when he first began to put forward his views at Rome, for the silence of Hippolytus about his birthplace suggests that it may have been Rome. In Refut. ix. 6, Hippolytus says that Callistus perverted Sabellius to Monarchian views. Hippolytus argued with him and with Noetus and his followers (ib. iii.). Sabellius, convinced for a time, was again led astray by Callistus. In fact, during the episcopate of Zephyrinus, Callistus, Sabellius and the pope seem to have united in persistently opposing Hippolytus. Soon after his accession Callistus (a.d. 217) excommunicated Sabellius, wishing to gain, as Hippolytus puts it, a reputation for orthodoxy and to screen himself from the attacks of his persistent foe. Sabellius thereupon disappears from the scene. He seems to have written some works, to judge from apparent quotations by Athanasius in his 4th treatise against Arianism.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edmondson, Thomas

​EDMONDSON, THOMAS (1792–1851), inventor, born at Lancaster, 30 June 1792, of a quaker family, was a brother of George Edmondson [q. v.] In his youth he displayed great aptitude for mechanical invention; and his mother, seeing that he could never be kept out of mischief, taught him knitting to keep him quiet and useful. He afterwards became a journeyman cabinet-maker with the firm of Gillows & Co. in Lancaster. While there he made several improvements in cabinet-making implements, and contrived a mechanical arrangement by which a busy housewife could churn the butter and rock the cradle at the same time. Thoroughness in manufacture, completeness in detail, and adaptability to the work required, were points on which he was conscientiously particular. In due course he entered into business; though a Friend he was not successful. He entered into partnership in Carlisle; the firm became bankrupt. He nevertheless paid all his creditors when means came to him. He became a railway clerk at a small station at Milton, afterwards called Brampton, about fourteen miles from Carlisle, on the Newcastle and Carlisle railway. Having to fill up paper tickets for each passenger, he found the writing irksome as well as delaying. It occurred to him in 1837 that the work might be done by a machine, and tickets be printed on one uniform system. When he afterwards showed his family the spot in a Northumberland field where his invention occurred to him, he used to say that it came into his mind complete in its whole scope and all its details. Out of it grew the railway clearing house, which has been of inestimable advantage in saving time and trouble. The checking machine was his invention, as well as the dating press. Blaylock, a Dublin watchmaker, helped to carry out Edmondson's idea. The first machine used at the Dublin office did not require five shillings' worth of repair in five years, and never needed more until the sheer wearing away of the brasswork necessitated replacement. The Manchester and Leeds railway first adopted Edmondson's invention, and employed him at Oldham Road for a time. This machine was subsequently greatly improved, and while the original feature of printing one ticket at once has always been maintained, its general completeness and efficiency have been materially increased by the ingenuity of Mr. James Carson. Edmondson took out a patent, and let it out on profitable terms, ten shillings per mile per annum, a railway thirty miles long paying 15l. a year for a license to print their tickets. He died on 22 June 1851. He worked out his invention with skill and patience, enjoyed its honours with modesty, and dispensed its fruits with generosity.
G. J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edmonstone, Robert

​EDMONSTONE, ROBERT (1794–1834), artist, born at Kelso in 1794, was bound apprentice to a watchmaker. He showed a taste for painting at an early age, came to Edinburgh, where his drawings attracted much attention, was patronised by Baron Hume, and settled in London about 1819. He first exhibited some portraits at the Royal Academy in 1818. After attending Harlow's studio he was admitted to the Royal Academy school, and subsequently travelled in Italy. Between 1824 and 1829 he was painting chiefly portraits in London. In 1830 he exhibited ‘Italian Boys playing at Cards.’ He paid a second visit to Italy in 1831–2, and painted ‘Venetian Carriers’ and the ‘Ceremony of Kissing the Chains of St. Peter,’ which was exhibited at the British Institution in 1833. Fifty-eight pictures by Edmonstone were in all exhibited at the Royal Academy, British Institution, and Suffolk Street exhibitions before 1834. A severe attack of fever at Rome in 1832, combined with overwork, permanently injured his health. He returned to London, but found himself so enfeebled that he went to Kelso, where he died 21 Sept. 1834. His last pictures were ‘The White Mouse,’ exhibited in 1834 at Suffolk Street, and the ‘Children of Sir E. Cust,’ exhibited at the Royal Academy. He was a very successful painter of children, and his portraits were popular; but he was ambitious for fame as a painter of imaginative subjects and as a student of Correggio. He showed great promise.
[Gent. Mag. 1835, i. 213–14; Anderson's Scottish Nation, i. 119; A. Graves's Dict. of Artists; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edmonstone, Archibald

​EDMONSTONE, Sir ARCHIBALD (1795–1871), traveller and miscellaneous writer, eldest son of Sir Charles Edmonstone, second baronet of Duntreath, Stirlingshire, by his first wife Emma, fifth daughter of Richard Wilbraham Bootle of Rode Hall, Cheshire, and sister of Edward Bootle Wilbraham, first Baron Skelmersdale, was born at 32 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, on 12 March 1795, and entered at Eton in 1808. He removed in 1812 to Christ Church, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. on 29 Nov. 1816. In 1819 he went to Egypt, where he visited and explored two of the oases in the great desert, of which he published a most interesting and minute account, with views and plans of the ruined temples and tombs. On the death of his father, 1 April 1821, he succeeded to the baronetcy, and fruitlessly contested his father's constituency, Stirlingshire, 24 May 1821. He died at 34 Wilton Place, Belgrave Square, London, on 13 March 1871. His will was proved, 18 April, under 12,000l. personalty. He married, on 10 Oct. 1832, his cousin-german Emma, third daughter of Randle Wilbraham of Rode Hall, Cheshire, and had issue three daughters, who all died in their infancy. He was the author of: 1. ‘A Journey to Two of the Oases of Upper Egypt,’ 1822. 2. ‘Leonora,’ a tragedy in five acts and in verse, 1832. 3. ‘Tragedies,’ 1837. 4. ‘The Christian Gentleman's Daily Walk,’ 1840, 2nd edit. 1843, 3rd edit. 1850. 5. ‘The Progress of Religion,’ a poem, 1842. 6. ‘Thoughts on the Observance of Lent,’ 1848. 7. ‘A Letter to the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway on the Present Aspect of Church Matters,’ 1850. 8. ‘Meditations in Verse for ​the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year,’ 1853. 9. ‘Devotional Reflections in Verse, arranged in accordance with the Church Calendar,’ 1858. 10. ‘Short Readings on the Collects,’ 1861. 11. ‘Spiritual Communings,’ 1869.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edmonstone, George Frederick

​EDMONSTONE, Sir GEORGE FREDERICK (1813–1864), Indian civilian, fourth son of Neil Benjamin Edmonstone [q. v.], Lord Wellesley's foreign secretary in India, was born in April 1813. His father, who was a director of the East India Company, gave him a nomination to the Indian civil service, and, after passing through Haileybury, Edmonstone proceeded to Bengal in 1831. After acting as assistant-collector at Gorakhpur and Gházipur, he became deputy-collector at Saharanpur in 1837, and at the close of the first Sikh war he was appointed to the important post of commissioner and superintendent of the Cis-Sutlej states. He gave such satisfaction in this office that he was selected in 1856 by Lord Canning to succeed Sir H. M. Elliot as secretary in the foreign, political, and secret department, the same position which his father had filled under Lord Wellesley. His tenure of office was not less important, for during it the Indian mutiny of 1857 broke out and was suppressed. How far Edmonstone influenced Canning can never be satisfactorily ascertained, but he was at least the official mouthpiece of the governor-general, and every important despatch and proclamation, including the most famous one by which the land of Oudh was confiscated, was drawn up and signed by him. In January 1859 Lord Canning appointed him lieutenant-governor of the north-western provinces, with his headquarters at Allahabad, instead of Agra as before the mutiny, and with his government shorn of the divisions of Delhi and Hissar, which were transferred to the Punjab. This was the part of India which, with the exception of Oudh, had suffered most severely during the mutiny, and Edmonstone carried out the principles of Canning in restoring order. His period of office is chiefly marked by the further curtailment of this unwieldy government by the creation of the new government of the central provinces, and by his successful efforts to restore the efficiency of the administration. In 1863 he left India, quite worn out by his exertions, and on his return to England was created a K.C.B. He died on 24 Sept. 1864, at Effingham Hill. His wife, Anne Farly Turner, by whom he had issue, died in 1859.
At the new public school at Haileybury the six houses are named after six distinguished Indian civilians, of whom Edmonstone is one.
H. M. S.