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# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Benedict VIII

From volume 12 of the work.
Date of birth unknown; d. 9 April, 1024. The first of the Tusculan popes, being the son of Gregory, Count of Tusculum, and Maria, and brother of John XIX, he was, though a layman, imposed on the chair of Peter by force (18 May, 1012). Nevertheless, dislodging a rival, he became a good and strong ruler. On the 14th of February, 1014, he crowned the German king, Henry II, emperor (Thietmar, Chron., VI, 61), and ever kept friendly with him. The peace of Italy was promoted by his subjugating the Crescentii, defeating the Saracens, and allying himself with the Normans, who appeared in its southern parts in his time. Going to Germany, he consecrated the cathedral of Bamberg (Ann. Altahen. Majores, 1020; Chron. Cass., II, 47), visited the monastery of Fulda, and obtained from Henry a charter confirmatory of the donations of Charlemagne and Otho. To restrain the vices of clerical incontinence and simony, he held, with the emperor, an important synod at Pavia (1022 -Labbe, Concilia, IX, 819), and supported the reformation which was being effected by the great monastery of Cluny. To further the interest of peace, he encouraged the "Truce of God" and countenanced the ecclesiastical advancement of Gauzlin, the natural brother of Robert the Pious, King of France. This he did because, though illegitimate, Gauzlin was a good man, and his loyal brother was very desirous of his promotion (cf. life of Gauzlin, in "Neues Archiv.", III). Benedict VIII was one of the many popes who were called upon to intervene in the interminable strife for precedence between the Patriarchs of Grado and of Aquileia (Dandolo, Chron., IX, 2, n. 2). In 1022 he received Ethelnoth of Canterbury "with great worship and very honourably hallowed him archbishop", and reinstated in his position Leofwine, Abbot of Ely (A.S. Chron., 125, 6, R.S.). A friend of St. Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, and one of the few popes of the Middle Ages who was at once powerful at home and great abroad, Benedict VIII has, on seemingly insufficient grounds, been accused of avarice.
The most important source for the history of the first nine popes who bore the name of Benedict is the biographies in the Liber Pontificalis, of which the most useful edition is that of Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1886-92), and the latest that of Mommsen, Gesta Pontif. Roman. (to the end of the reign of Constantine only, Berlin, 1898). Jaffé, Regesta Pont. Rom. (2d ed., Leipzig, 1885), gives a summary of the letters of each pope and tells where they may be read at length. Modern accounts of these popes will be found in any large Church history, or history of the City of Rome. The fullest account in English of most of them is to be read in Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902, passim).
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Benedict V

Date of birth unknown; died 4 July, 965.
Benedict V was elected pope (May, 964) in very critical circumstances. The powerful emperor, Otho I, had forcibly deposed the unworthy John XII, and had replaced him by a nominee of his own who took the title of Leo VIII. But at the first opportunity the Romans expelled Leo, and on the death (14 May, 964) of the lawful pope, John XII, elected the Cardinal-Deacon Benedict (known from his learning as Grammaticus-see Benedict of Soracte, xxxvii). Otho was furious, marched on Rome, seized Benedict, and put an end to his pontificate (23 June, 964. -Liutprand, Hist. Ottonis, xxi; Thietmar, Chron., II, 18). It is more probable that Benedict was degraded by force than that he voluntarily declared himself an intruder. After reinstating Leo, Otho left Rome and carried Benedict with him to Germany. Placed under the care of Adaldag, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, who treated him with great consideration, he was even then acknowledged as pope by some of the German clergy. His remains, first laid to rest in the cathedral at Hamburg, were afterwards translated to Rome (Adam of Bremen, Gesta, II, 10; IV, 39, 40; VI, 53).
The most important source for the history of the first nine popes who bore the name of Benedict is the biographies in the Liber Pontificalis, of which the most useful edition is that of Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1886-92), and the latest that of Mommsen, Gesta Pontif. Roman. (to the end of the reign of Constantine only, Berlin, 1898). Jaffé, Regesta Pont. Rom. (2d ed., Leipzig, 1885), gives a summary of the letters of each pope and tells where they may be read at length. Modern accounts of these popes will be found in any large Church history, or history of the City of Rome. The fullest account in English of most of them is to be read in Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902, passim).
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Benedict VI

Date of birth unknown; d. August, 974 (see Ricobaldi of Ferrara, Compil. Chron., in Rer. Ital. SS. IX). Benedict, Cardinal-Deacon of St. Theodore, a Roman and the son of Hildebrand, was elected as the successor of John XIII, who died 6 September, 972; but the necessity of waiting for the ratification of the Emperor Otho delayed his consecration till 19 January, 973. Nothing is known of his deeds, except that he confirmed the privileges of some churches and monasteries. The most striking event of his pontificate is the tragic close. He was seized and thrown into the Castle of Sant' Angelo by a faction of the nobility headed by Crescentius and the Deacon Boniface VII. There, after a confinement of less than two months, he was strangled by their orders, to prevent his release by Sicco, an imperial envoy, sent to Rome by Otho II.
The most important source for the history of the first nine popes who bore the name of Benedict is the biographies in the Liber Pontificalis, of which the most useful edition is that of Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1886-92), and the latest that of Mommsen, Gesta Pontif. Roman. (to the end of the reign of Constantine only, Berlin, 1898). Jaffé, Regesta Pont. Rom. (2d ed., Leipzig, 1885), gives a summary of the letters of each pope and tells where they may be read at length. Modern accounts of these popes will be found in any large Church history, or history of the City of Rome. The fullest account in English of most of them is to be read in Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902, passim).
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Benedict X

The bearer of this name was an antipope in the days of Nicholas II, 1056-61.
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Constantia

From volume 4 of the work.
A titular see of Arabia and suffragan of Bostra. It figures in Hierocles' "Synecdemus" about 533, in the "Notitiæ episcopatuum" of Anastasius I, Patriarch of Antioch, in the sixth century, and in Georgius Cyprius' "Descriptio orbis Romani" in the beginning of the seventh century. Two bishops only are known: Chilon, present at Constantinople in 381 (Mansi, Coll. Con., III, 569; Lequien, II, 865, says wrongly at Nicæa in 325), and Solemus at Chalcedon in 451 (Mansi, VII, 168). Eubel mentions (I, 211) three Latin bishops of Constantia in Ph nicia during the fourteenth century; this city is otherwise unknown and may be our Arabian see. Waddington (Inscriptions grecques et latines . . . Syrie, 575) has identified with much likelihood Constantia with Brâk, north of Ledja, in Trachonitis. Brâk had a special era, and inscriptions prove that it had been embellished by Constantine, whence it took its name Constantia (also Constantine, or Constantiana). The ruins are rather important. There have recently settled on this site some Circassian immigrants. Constantia in Arabia is not to be confounded with Constantia, a suffragan see of Amida in Mesopotamia; Constantia, or Tella, a renowned Jacobite bishopric whose ruins are at Viran-Shehir, half-way between Mardin and Edessa; nor with Constantia, or Salamis, metropolis of Cyprus.
Revue biblique (1898), VII, 96-100, 283-285.
S. VAILHÉ
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Constantine Africanus

From volume 4 of the work.
A medieval medical writer and teacher; born c. 1015; died c. 1087. His name, Africanus, comes from the place of his nativity, Carthage in Africa. Early in life he devoted himself to the study of medicine, and as was the custom of the times made distant journeys, some of which brought him into the Far East. He became familiar with the Oriental languages and studied Arabian literature very deeply. His studies in Arabian medicine taught him many things unknown to his Western contemporaries. On his return to Cartage this led to great jealousy on the part of his professional brethren and to so much unpleasantness, for he is even said to have been accused of practicing magic, that he gladly accepted the position of secretary of the Emperor Constantine Monomachus in Reggio, a small town near Byzantium. While in Salerno Constantine became a professor of medicine and attracted widespread attention. He remained but a few years in this position, however, and gave up his honors and his worldly goods to become a Benedictine in the monastery of Monte Cassino. He was received with open arms by the Abbot Desiderius, one of the most learned men o the time, who afterwards became Pope Victor III. Nearly twenty years of Constantine's life were spent at Monte Cassino. He occupied himself with the writing of books, being stimulated thereto by Desiderius who was his most intimate friend. His best-known work is the so-called "Liber Pantegni", which is really a translation of the "Khitaab el Maleki" of Ali Ben el-Abbas. This book he dedicated to Desiderius. He also wrote some original works, but it has been found so difficult to separate what is undoubtedly genuine from what came to be attributed to him in time, that there is no certainty as to his original contributions to medicine. With Constantine begins the second epoch of the Salernitan School of Medicine, especially notable for its translation of all the great writes on medicine, Greek as well as Arabian, and for original work of a high order. Many of the distinguished professors of the twelfth century at Salerno were proud to proclaim Constantine as their master. Of the Many editions of his works the chief is that of Basle (in fol., 1536).
JAMES J. WALSH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Constantine Lascaris

From volume 9 of the work.
Lascaris, Constantine, Greek scholar from Constantinople; b. 1434; d. at Messina in 1501. Made a prisoner by the Turks on the fall of Constantinople, he probably stayed the greater part of seven years in Corfu; he made a visit to Rhodes where he acquired some manuscripts; finally came to Italy and settled at Milan as a copyist of manuscripts. His work on the eight parts of speech presented to Princess Hippolyta Sforza procured from her father a request to teach the princess Greek. Lascaris followd the princess to Naples when she married Alfonso II (1465). The following year he left for Greece, but the vessel stopping at Messina, he was urged to stay there, consented, and died there after many years, bequeathing to the city his seventy-six manuscripts. They remained at Messina until 1679, and were then moved first to Palermo and later to Spain, where they are now in the National Library of Madrid. Constantine Lascaris was above all a tutor and a transcriber of manuscripts. One of his pupils was the future Cardinal Bembo. His industry as a copyist was soon superseded by the art of printing. He was himself the author of the first book printed in Greek, a small grammer (Milan, 1476) entitled "Erotemata".
Legrand, Bibliographie hellénique, I (Paris, 1884), lxxi; Iriarte, Bibliothecæ Matritensis codices græci (1769); Graux, Essai sur les origines du fond grec de l'Escurial (Paris, 1880); Rapport sur une mission en Espagne in Archives des missions, 3d ser.. V, i (Paris, 1877), 124; Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, II (Cambridge, 1908), 77; Sabbadini, Le scoperte dei codice latini e greci net secoli XIV e XV (Florence, 1905), 67.
Paul Lejay.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Conservator

From volume 4 of the work.
(From Lat. conservare)
A Conservator is a judge delegated by the pope to defend certain privileged classes of persons - as universities, religious orders, chapters, the poor - from manifest or notorious injury or violence, without recourse to a judicial process. Conservators were appointed as early as the thirteenth century. Innocent IV presupposes their existence in the decree (c. 15, de off. et pot. jud., del. I, 14, in VIº) from which we first learn their power. Owing to abuses and complaints the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, c. v, de ref.) limited their jurisdiction, but new controversies, often recurring, caused Clement VIII, Gregory XV, and Innocent X to define their privileges more precisely. Troubles continuing to arise, especially concerning the conservators of religious orders, Clement XIII (23 April, 1762) decreed that in missionary countries such officials should no longer be chosen, but that all controversies should be referred to the Holy See. From that time forth conservators fell into practical desuetude. According to law, these officials were to be chosen from among the prelates or dignitaries of cathedral and collegiate churches; later from the synodal judges. When a conservator had been chosen by regulars he could not be removed for five years without cause. He had no jurisdiction in cases that required juridical examination. While he took cognizance of all complaints against regulars, he had no authority to receive those of the regulars against others unless they were notorious. In the latter case the conservator decided the question summarily. He could punish with ecclesiastical penalties even high church dignitaries who interfered with his duties. His power was limited, however, to the one diocese in which be had been elected, nor could the same conservator have power in several dioceses.
ANDRÉ-WAGNER, Dict. de droit can. (3d ed., Paris, 1901), I; WERNZ. Jus Decretalium (Rome, 1899), II; BOUIX, De Jure Regular. (3d ed., Paris, 1883), II.
WILLIAM H. W. FANNING.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Constantine, Baron von Schäzler

From volume 13 of the work.
Theologian, b. at Ratisbon, 7 May, 1827; d. at Interlaken, 9 September, 1880. By birth and training a Protestant, he was a pupil at the Protestant gymnasium St. Anna of Ratisbon; took the philosophical course at the University of Erlangen in 1844-45; then studied law at Munich, 1845-47, and at Heidelberg, 1847-48. After this he decided to enter military life and became a Bavarian officer; in 1850, however, he left the army, received the degree of Doctor of Laws at Erlangen, and took up the practice of law. He entered the Catholic Church at Brussels on 10 October, 1850, and began the study of theology. At Louvain in 1851 he entered the Society of Jesus; after completing the studies he was ordained priest at Liege on 11 September, 1856; in 1857 he left the Society and went on with his studies at Munich where in 1859 he took the degree of Doctor of Theology. In 1861 he became a tutor m the seminary at Osnabruck; in 1862 privatdozent in the history of dogma at Freiburg; in 1866 archiepiscopal councillor. During the Vatican Council (1869-70) he was at Rome as theologian to Bishop Fessler; in 1873 he settled at Rome; in 1874 he was made a domestic prelate and was employed as consultor to various congregations. Shortly before his death he re-entered the Society of Jesus. Schäzler's acuteness and learning made him one of the most prominent representatives of Thomism. He was the author of the following works: "Die Lehre von der Wirksamkeit der Sakramente ex opere operato in ihrer Entwicklung innerhalb der Scholastik und ihrer Bedeutung für die christliche Heilslehre dargestellt" (Munich, 1860); "Natur und Uebernatur. Das Dogma von der Gnade und die theologische Frage der Gegenwart. Eine Kritik der Kuhn'schen Theologie" (Mainz, 1865); "Neue Untersuchungen über das Dogma von der Gnade und das Wesen des christlichen Glaubens" (Mainz, 1867) (these last two works belong to the controversy that Schäzler carried on with Johannes von Kuhn, q. v.); "Das Dogma von der Menschenwerdung Gottes, im Geiste hes hl Thomas dargestellt" (Freiburg, 1870); "Die päpstliche Unfehlbarkeit aus dem Wesen der Kirche bewiesen. Eine Erklärung der ersten dogmatischen Constitution des vaticanischen Conncils über die Kirche Christi" (Freiburg, 1870); "Divus Thomas Doctor angelicus contra Liberalismum invictus veritatis catholicae assertor" (Rome, 1874); "Introductio in s. theologiam dogmaticam ad mentem D. Thomae Aquinatis", a posthumous work ed. by Thomas Esser (Ratisbon, 1882); "Die Bedeutung der Dogmengeschichte vom katholischen Standpunkt aus erortert", ed. Thomas Esser (Ratisbon, 1884).
BRUCK, Geschichte der kathol. Kirche in Deutschland im XIX. Jahrhundert, III (Mainz, 1896), 329-31; HURTER, Nomenclator, III (1895), 1226 sq.; Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, XXX, 649-51.
FRIEDRICH LAUCHERT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Constantino Brumidi

From volume 3 of the work.
An Italian-American historical painter, celebrated for his fresco work in the Capitol at Washington, b. at Rome, 1805; d. at Washington, 19 February, 1880. His father was a native of Greece and his mother a Roman. He showed his talent for fresco painting at an early age and painted in several Roman palaces, among them being that of Prince Torlonia. Under Gregory XVI he worked for three years in the Vatican. The occupation of Rome by the French in 1849 apparently decided Brumidi to emigrate, and he sailed for the United States, where he became naturalized in 1852. Taking up his residence in New York City the artist painted a number of portraits. Subsequently he undertook more important works, the principal being a fresco of the Crucifixion in St. Stephen's Church, for which he also executed a "Martyrdom of St. Stephen" and an "Assumption of the Virgin". In 1854 Brumidi went to the city of Mexico, where he painted in the cathedral as allegorical representation of the Holy Trinity. On his way back to New York he stopped at Washington and visited the Capitol. Impressed with the opportunity for decoration presented by its vast interior wall spaces, he offered his services for that purpose to Quartermaster-General Meigs. This offer was accepted, and about the same time he was commissioned as a captain of cavalry. His first art work in the Capitol was in the room of the House Cornmittee on Agriculture. At first he received eight dollars a day, which Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War of the United States, caused to be increased to ten dollars. His work attracting much favourable attention, he was given further commisssons, and gradually settled into the position of a Government painter. His chief work in Washington was done in the rotunda of the Capitol and included the apotheosis of Washington in the dome, as well as other allegories, and scenes from American history. His work in the rotunda was left unfinished at his death, but he had decorated many other of the building. In the Catholic Cathedral of Philadelphia he pictured St. Peter and St. Paul. Brumidi was a capable, if conventional painter, and his black and white modelling in the work at Washington, in imitation of bas-relief, is strikingly effective.
AUGUSTUS VAN CLEEF
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Sénanque

From volume 13 of the work.
Cistercian monastery and cradle of the modern Cistereians of the Immaculate Conception, situated on the rivulet Sénancole, Diocese of Avignon, was founded, with the concurrence of St. Bernard, by Alfant, Bishop of Cavaillon, and Raymond Berenger II, Count of Provence. The original community came from the Cistercian abbey of Mazan, in 1148, under Peter, their first abbot. In the beginning their poverty was extreme, until the Lords of Simiane became their benefactors, and built, with the assistance of the neighboring nobility, a spacious monastery according to the rule of Cîteaux. The attraction of, St. Bernard's name drew numerous postulants to the new foundation, so that in a short time the community numbered more than one hundred members, enabling them, in 1152, to found the monastery of Chambons, in the Diocese of Viviers. Little by little however, it suffered the fate of so many abbeys of those times, and weakened in fervour and numbers; after it had been governed by thirty regular abbots, It fell in commendam in 1509; having, at that time, not more than a dozen members. When suppressed by the Revolution, 1791, there was but one monk remaining of the whole community.
In 1854 Abbé Barnouin, of the Diocese of Avignon, bought the abbey, which was in a state of perfect preservation, and established a community there. The object of the founder was to institute a medium regime more severe than the common, but less strict than the Reform of La Trappe. After a short time in the Novitiate of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme (Rome), having obtained approbation for his monastery, Abbé Barnouin was professed in 1857, taking the name of "Mary Bernard". A new decree, in 1867, erected the house into a particular congregation affiliated to the Cistercians of the Common Observance, under the title "Congregation of the Cistercians of the Immaculate Conception of N. D. de Sénanque", with a vicar general, elected for six years, at their head. Dom M. Bernard, the founder, first filled this office (1868). After establishing several other subordinate monasteries, he began the restoration of the celebrated Abbey of Lérins, and was authorized to make his residence there. His successors followed him in this, until compelled by the persecutions of 1902, to leave the country, transferring the community to N. D. du Suffrage, Province of Lérida, Spain, where they are now established.
MANRIQUE, Annales Cistercienses (Lyons, 1642-59); JONGELINUS, Notita abbatiarum ordinis cisterciensis (Cologne, 1640); Gallia Christiana, I; BESSE, Abbages et prieures de l'ancienne France (Paris, 1909); MOYNE, L'abbaye de Senanque (Avignon, 1857); L'ile et l'abbaye de Lerins (Lerins, 1895), by a monk of Lerins; MORIS, L'Abbaye de Lerins (Paris, 1909); REDON, Le Revme. Dom Mari Bernard, fondateur et premier vicaire gen. des Cisterciens de Senanque (Lerins, 1904); CAPELLE, Le Pere Jean, Abbe de Fontfroide (Paris, 1903); Catalogus personarum religiosarum s. ordinis cisterciensis (ROME, 1906).
EDMOND M. OBRECHT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Tabæ

From volume 14 of the work.
Titular see in Caria, suffragan of Stauropolis; according to Strabo (XII, 570, 576) it was located in a plain in Phrygia on the boundaries of Caria. Stephanus Byzantius (s. v.) mentions two cities of this name, one in Lydia, the other in Caria. Livy (XXXVIII, 13) says that it was on the frontier of Pisidia towards the coast of the Gulf of Pamphylia. The town in question, however, some coins of which are extant, was one which claimed to have been founded by one Tabus. Others derive its name from tabi, which in Semitic languages means "good", and others from a native word taba, meaning "rock", which seems a probable derivation. In 189 B. C. the consul Gneius Malius Vulso, having defeated the natives who blocked his passage, exacted from Tabæ a fine of 25 talents and 10,000 medimni of wheat. Three bishops of Tabæ are known: Rufinus, present at the Council of Ephesus (431); Severus, at Constantinople (553); Basilius, at Nicæa (787) (Le Quien, "Oriens christ.", I, 905). The "Notitiæ Episcopatuum" continue to mention the see among the suffragans of Stauropolis until the thirteenth century. Tabæ is now the village of Davas which gives its name to a caza of the vilayet of Smyrna; some inscriptions and numerous ancient remains are found.
SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr., s. v.; PAPE-BENSELER, Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen, s. v.; TEXIER, Asie mineure (Paris, 1862), 466.
S. Pétridès.