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# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Simeon of Durham

From volume 13 of the work.
(Symeon).
Chronicler, d. 14 Oct., between 1130 and 1138. As a youth he had entered the Benedictine monastery at Jarrow which was removed to Durham in 1074, and he was professed in 1085 or 1086, subsequently attaining the office of precentor. His chief work is the "Historia ecclesiae Dunelmensis", written between 1104 and 1108, giving the history of the bishopric down to 1096. He also wrote "Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum" (from 732 to 1129). The first part down to 957 is based on a northern annalist who made large use of Asser; the next part, to 1119, follows Florence of Worcester; the remainder is an original composition. Simeon's authorship of this work was vindicated by Rudd (in 1732) against Bale and Selden. He wrote some minor works including "Epistola ad Hugonem de archiepiscopis Eboraci," written about 1130, and some letters now lost.
Symeonis Dunelmensis opera omnia, ed. ARNOLD with valuable introduction in Rolls Series (2 vols., London, 1882-5); Symeonis Dunelmensis opera et collectanea, containing everything ever ascribed to him except the Historia ecclesiae Dunelmensis, ed. with introduction by HINDE in Surtees Soc., LI (Durham, 1868); Historical Works of Simeon of Durham, tr. with preface and notes by STEVENSON (London, 1855); HARDY, Descriptive Catalogue of British History (London, 1862- 71); CHEVALIER, Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen age (Paris, 1905), with list of earlier references, s.v. Simon.
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Simeon

From volume 13 of the work.
The second son of Jacob by Lia and patronymic ancestor of the Jewish tribe bearing that name. The original signification of the name is unknown, but the writer of Gen., xxix, 33-35, according to his wont, offers an explanation, deriving the word from shama, "to hear". He quotes Lia as saying: "Because the Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me; and she called his name Simeon" (Gen., xxix, 33). Similar etymologies referring to Levi and Juda are found in the two following verses. In Gen., xxxiv, Simeon appears with his full brother Levi as the avenger of their sister Dina who had been humiliated by Hemor a prince of the Sichemites. By a strange subterfuge all the men of the latter tribe are rendered helpless and are slaughtered by the two irate brothers who then, together with the other sons of the patriarch, plunder the city. This act of violence was blamed by Jacob (Gen., xxxiv, 30) though for a rather selfish reason; his disapproval on more ethical grounds appears in the prophetical blessing of his twelve sons in Gen., xlix, 5 7. Regarding Simeon and Levi Jacob says: "Cursed be their fury because it was stubborn; and their wrath because it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel."
There is a striking contrast between this earlier appreciation of the treacherous and bloody deed and that of the writers of post-Exilic Judaism, who have only words of praise for the action of the two brothers, and even consider them as incited to it by Divine inspiration (see Judith, ix, 2, 3). The same change of ethical sense may be gathered more fully from the un-canonical Book of the Jubilees (xxx) and from a poem in commemoration of the massacre of the Sichemites by Theodotus, a Jewish or Samaritan writer, who lived about 200 B.C. Simeon figures in only one other incident recorded in Genesis. It is in connection with the visit of the sons of Jacob to Egypt to buy corn. Here he is detained by Joseph as a hostage while the others return to Chanaan promising to bring back their younger brother Benjamin (Gen., xlii, 25). According to some commentators he was selected for this purpose because he had been a principal factor in the betrayal of Joseph into the hands of the Madianite merchants. The narrative, however, makes no mention of this, and it is but a conjectural inference from what is otherwise known of Simeon's violent and treacherous character. (See SIMEON, TRIBE OF.)
VON HUMMELAUER, Comment. in Genesim (Commentary on chapters xxix, xxxlv, xlii and xlix); VIGOUROUX, Dict. de la Bible, s.v.
James F. Driscoll.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Simon Langham

From volume 8 of the work.
Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England, b. at Langham in Rutland; d. at Avignon, France, 22 July, 1376. Nothing is known of his early life, but in 1346 he was already a Benedictine monk of Westminster Abbey, representing his house in the triennial chapter. In April, 1349, he was made prior, and in May he became abbot. In this office he proved very successful, ruling well and carrying out many works, including the completion of the cloisters. He became treasurer of England on 21 Nov., 1360, and Bishop of Ely on 10 Jan., 1362. Before consecration he was also elected Bishop of London, but he refused this see, preferringEly. On 19 Feb., 1363, he received the great seal as chancellor, and he was the first to speak in English when opening Parliament. He was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury on 24 July, 1366, and received the pallium from the pope on 4 Nov., having previously resigned the chancellorship. As archbishop he was vigilant against false doctrine, condemned certain propositions taught at Oxford, removed one Wycliffe-not the well-known heretic of that name-from the headship of Canterbury Hall, and censured the demagogue-priest, John Ball. Blessed Urban V created him Cardinal of St. Sixtus, 27 Sept., 1368. His acceptance of this dignity without the king's leave offended Edward III, who seized the Canterbury revenues on the plea that Langham had by his act forfeited the see. Langham resigned the archbishopric on 27 Nov., and early in 1369 joined the Pope at Avignon, being succeeded at Canterbury by Whittlesey. Subsequently he regained the king's favor, but did not return to his native country, though he held several English preferments in succession, such as the archdeaconries of Wells and Taunton. Gregory XI made him Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina in July, 1373, and in the following year the monks at Canterbury again elected him as archbishop. The pope refused to confirm this, alleging that he could not spare the cardinal from Avignon. When the Curia was about to return to Rome in 1376, Langham obtained permission to go back to England, but he died before he could carry out this intention. Three years after his death, his remains were translated from Avignon to Westminster Abbey to which he had bequeathed his residuary estate. He was an upright man, and an able, if stern, ruler.
WALSINGHAM, Historia Anglicana, Rolls Series (London, 1863-4); MURIMUTH, Continuatio Chronicorum, Rolls Series (London, 1889); HOOK, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (London, 1860-1884); WILLIAMS, Lives of the English Cardinals (London, 1868); KINGSFORD in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v.
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. William of Maleval

From volume 15 of the work.
(or ST. WILLIAM THE GREAT).
Died 10 February, 1157; beatified in 1202. His life, written by his disciple Albert, who lived with him during his last year at Maleval, has been lost. The life by Theodobald, or Thibault, given by the Bollandists is unreliable, having been interpolated with the lives of at least two other Williams. After a number of chapters in which he is confused with St. William of Gellone, Duke of Aquitaine, we are told that he went to Rome, where he had an interview with Eugene III, who ordered him to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in penance for his sins. Though Theodobald's account of his interview with the pope does not carry conviction, the fact of this visit and his subsequent pilgrimage to Jerusalem is supported by excerpts from the older life, which are preserved by responsories and antiphons in his Office. He seems to have remained at Jerusalem for one or two years, not nine as Theodobald relates. About 1153 he returned to Italy and led a hermit's life in a wood near Pisa, then on Monte Pruno, and finally in 1155 in the desert valley of Stabulum Rodis, later known as Maleval, in the territory of Siena and Bishopric of Grosseto, where he was joined by Albert.
Acta SS., II Feb., 435-91.
Raymund Webster.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. William of Paris

From volume 15 of the work.
Abbot of Eskill in Denmark, born 1105; died 1202. He was born of a noble French family, and became a secular canon at Ste Geneviève-du-Mond and, after Suger's reform, a canon regular. He was sub-prior of the monastery when Bishop Absalom of Lund, who had heard reports of William's sanctity, sent Saxo Grammaticus to Paris to request his assistance in restoring religious discipline in his diocese. The saint acceded to his request, becoming Abbot of Eskill, where he succeeded in bringing back the religious to the primitive observance of their rule. He was canonized on 12 February, 1224, his feast being observed on 6 April.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. William of Gellone

From volume 15 of the work.
Born 755; died 28 May, c. 812; was the second count of Toulouse, having attained that dignity in 790. He is by some writers also given the title of Duke of Aquitaine. This saint is the hero of the ninth-century "Roman de Guillame au court nez", but the story of his life is told in a more reliable form by the anonymous author of the biography which was written soon after the saint's death, or before the eleventh century according to Mabillon, or during the eleventh century according to the Bollandist Henschen. His father's name was Theoderic, his mother's Aldana, and he was in some way connected with the family of Charles the Great, at whose court he was present as a youth. The great emperor employed him against the Saracen invaders from Spain, whom he defeated at Orange. In 804 he founded a Benedictine monastery, since called S. Guilhem le Desert, in the valley of Gellone, near Lodeve in the Diocese of Maguelonne, and subjected it to the famous St. Benedict of Aniane, whose monastery was close at hand. Two years later (806) he himself became a monk at Gellone, where he remained until his death. his testament, granting certain property to Gellone, and another subjecting that monastery to the Abbot of Aniane, are given by mabillon. His feast is on 28 May, the day of his death.
MABILLON, Acta SS. O.S.B. saec. IV, I (Venice, 1735), 67-86; Acta SS., VI May, 154-72.
Raymund Webster.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. William of Perth

From volume 15 of the work.
(Or ST. WILLIAM OF ROCHESTER).
Martyr, born at Perth; died about 1201. Practically all that is known of this martyr comes from the "Nova legenda Anglie", and that is little. In youth he had been somewhat wild, but on reaching manhood he devoted himself wholly to the service of God. A baker by trade, he was accustomed to set aside every tenth loaf for the poor. He went to Mass daily, and one morning, before it was light, found on the threshold of the church an abandoned child, whom he adopted and to whom he taught his trade. Later he took a vow to visit the Holy Places, and, having received the consecrated wallet and staff, set out with his adopted son, whose name is given as "Cockermay Doucri", which is said to be Scots for "David the Foundling". They stayed three days at Rochester, and purposed to proceed next day to Canterbury, but instead David wilfully misled his benefactor and, with robbery in view, felled him with a blow on the head and cut his throat. The body was discovered by a mad woman, who plaited a garland of flowers and placed it first on the head of the corpse and then her own, whereupon the madness left her. On learning her tale the monks of Rochester carried the body to the cathedral and there buried it. In 1256 the Bishop of Rochester, Lawrence de S. Martino, obtained the canonization of St. William by Pope Innocent IV. A beginning was at once made with his shrine, which was situated in the northeast transept, and attracted crowds of pilgrims. At the same time a small chapel was built at the place of the murder, which was thereafter called Palmersdene. Remains of this chapel are still to be seen near the present St. William's Hospital, on the road leading by Horsted Farm to Maidstone. On 18 and 19 February, 1300, King Edward I gave two donations of seven shillings to the shrine. On 29 November, 1399, Pope Boniface IX granted an indulgence to those who visited and gave alms to the shrine on certain specified days. St. William is represented in a wall-painting, which was discovered in 1883 in Frindsbury church, near Rochester, which is supposed to have been painted about 1256-1266. His feast was kept on 23 May.
Acta SS., XVII, 268; HORSTMANN, Nova legenda Anglie, II (Oxford, 1901), 457; Archaeologia Cantiana (London, 1858-), III, 108; V, 144; XV, 331; XVI, 225; XVIII, 200; XXIII, passim; XXVII, 97; BLISS AND TWEMLOW, Calendar of Papal Letters, V (London, 1904), 256-7; BRIDGETT in The Month (London, 1891); STANTON, Menology of England and Wales (London, 1887-92), 228, 648; CHALLONER, Britannia Sancta, I (London, 1745), 312.
John B. Wainewright.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Winnoc

From volume 15 of the work.
Abbot or Prior or Wormhoult, died 716 or 717. Three lives of this saint are extant: the best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of St. Bertin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earlier. St. Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist de Smedt shows that he was more probably of British origin. He came to Flanders, to the Monastery of St. Sithiu, then ruled by St. Bertin, with three companions, and was soon afterwards sent to found at Wormhoult, a dependent cell or priory (not an abbey, as it is generally called). It is not known what rule, Columbanian or Benedictine, was followed at this time in the two monasteries. When enfeebled by old age, St. Winnoc is said to have received supernatural assistance in the task of grinding corn for his brethren and the poor; a monk who, out of curiosity, came to see how the old man did so much work, was stuck blind, but healed by the saint's intercession. Many other miracles followed his death, which occurred 6 November, 716 or 717. We only know the year from fourteenth-century tradition. The popularity of St. Winnoc's cultus is attested by the frequent insertion of his name in liturgical documents and the numerous translations of his remains, which have been preserved at Bergues-St-Winnoc to the present day. His feast is kept on 6 November, that of his translation on 18 September; a third, the Exaltation of St. Winnoc, was formerly kept on 20 February.
Acta SS., II Nov., 253; Acta SS. O.S.B., III, i; 291; Acta SS. Belgii, VI, 383; SURIUS, Vitae SS., VI, 127; BENNETT in Dict. Christ. Biog., s. v. Winnocus; GUERIN, Petits Bollandistes, XIII, 232.
Raymund Webster.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. William of Ebelholt

From volume 15 of the work.
(Also called WILLIAM OF PARIS and WILLIAM OF THE PARACLETE.)
Died on Easter Sunday, 1203, and was buried at Ebelholt. He was educated by his uncle Hugh, forty-second Abbot of St-Germain-des-Pres at Paris; and having been ordained subdeacon received a canonry in the Church of Ste-Geneviève-du-Mont. His exemplary life did not commend him to his fellow canons, who tried to rid themselves of his presence, and even prevented by slander his ordination to the diaconate by the Bishop of Paris. William obtained this order from the Bishop of Senlis by his uncle's intercession, and was soon afterwards presented by the canons to the little priory of Epinay. In 1148, by order of Pope Eugene III, the secular canons of Ste-Geneviève were replaced by canons regular from the Parisian monastery of St. Victor, whose prior, Odo, was made abbot of Ste-Genevieve. William soon afterwards joined the new community and was made sub-prior. In this position he showed great zeal for the religious life, and on one occasion opposed the entry of a new prior who had obtained his position irregularly; for this he was punished by Abbot Garin, successor of Odo, but his action was finally supported by Pope Alexander III.
In 1161 Absalom, Bishop of Roskilde, Denmark, sent to Paris the provost of his cathedral to obtain canons regular for the reform of the monastery of St. Thomas of Eskilsöe. In 1165 William journeyed to Denmark with three companions, and became abbot of that house. In spite of difficulties arising from poverty and opposition on the part of the community he reformed the monastery and in 1178 transferred it to Ebelholt, or the Paraclete, in Zeeland. He was entrusted with important business by Absalom, now Archbishop of Lund, and intervened in the case of Philip Augustus of France who was attempting to repudiate his wife Ingelborg, sister of Cnut of Denmark. The genealogy of the Danish kings which he drew up on this occasion to disprove the alleged impediment of consanguinity and two books of his letters, some of which deal with this affair, have come down to us, and together with an account of probable authenticity of the invention of the relics of Ste-Geneviève in 1161 and a few charters relating to his monastery may be found in P.L., CCIX. An account of his miracles is given in the "Vita" written by one of his younger disciples. He was canonized by Honorius III in 1224. His feast is commemorated on 18 June.
For the Vita and other sources of William's Life see LANGEBEK, Script. rer. dan. (9 vols., Copenhagen, 1772-1878), reprinted in P. L., CCIX; PAPERBROCH, Vita, with commentary, in Acta SS., I April, 625 sqq.; LAGER, Ep. XL in P. L., CLXXXVI.
Raymund Webster.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Lewis Brittain

From volume 2 of the work.
Born near Chester, England, 1744; died at Hartpury Court, 1827. His parents were Protestants, but at the age of sixteen Thomas became a Catholic. Shortly after his conversion he went to Picardy to pursue his studies, and later joined the Dominicans at Bornheim, where he made his profession 22 October, 1767. His studies were continued at Louvain, and subsequently he taught with marked success at Bornheim, where he was made regent of studies. In 1790 the doctor's cap, with title of Master of Sacred Theology, was conferred on him. The same year he was transferred to Brussels where he became director of the exiled English Dominican nuns, an office he held for thirty-seven years. In 1794, when the French army was expected at Brussels Father Brittain conducted the sisters to Bornheim whence, joined by eighteen Dominican fathers, they were conducted by an American captain to England. Father Brittain secured a foundation for the sisters at Hartpury Court near Gloucester. On 3 May, 1814, he was elected provincial of the Dominicans, and during his four Years of office gained the respect and confidence of his brethren. He is the author of the following works: "Rudiments of English Grammar" (London, 1790), considered authoritative in its day and highly recommended by Walker, the lexicographer; "Principles of the Christian religion and Catholic Faith Investigated" (London, 1790); "Collection of Poems Occasionally Written" (Cheltenham, 1822); "The Divinity of Jesus Christ and beauties of His Gospels" (London, 1822); some unpublished manuscripts are the archives of the English province.
GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. of Eng. Cath., s.v.; PALMER, The Life of Cardinal Howard (London, 1867).
JOHN T. MCNICHOLAS
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Lieber

From volume 9 of the work.
​Lieber, Thomas. See Erastus and Erastianism.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Thomas Lister

From volume 9 of the work.
(alias Thomas Butler)
Jesuit writer, b. in Lancashire, about 1559; d. in England, probably before 1628; was the son of Christopher Lister, of Midhope, Yorks. He entered Douai College, 1576. Having occasion to return to England, he was seized and imprisoned. He, however, obtained his release, and in 1579 was received into the English College, Rome. There, three years later, he joined the Society of Jesus in February, 1582-3. He graduated in Divinity at Pont-à-Mousson in 1592. In 1596 he went on to the English mission, but was arrested in 1598 and endured a long incarceration. Just at this point difficulties had broken out among the English clergy, owing to the refusal of certain among them to recognize the authority of the newly appointed archpriest, Dr. George Blackwell. Lister was consulted by one of the priests as to the conduct of those who refused obedience. While a man of both piety and ability, he was unfortunately lacking in judgment; and his reply took the form of a small treatise entitled "Adversus factiosos in ecclesia", in which their conduct was vigorously censured. They are declared to have ipso facto have fallen into schism, and to have incurred excommunication and irregularity. It is doubtful whether this tractate was published; but it was widely circulated in manuscript, and aroused the deepest resentment. It certainly served not a little to fan the flames of the unhappy dispute. To the request of the clergy that he would prohibit it, Blackwell replied curtly (April, 1957): "Your request is that we should call in the treatise against your schism; and this is unreasonable, because the medicine ought not to be removed until the sore be thoroughly cured. If it grieve you, I am not grieved thereat." His conduct in regard to Lister's tract formed the first of the six grounds on which was based the "Appeal of thirty-three clergymen", against his administration. The appellants obtained a favourable hearing at Rome. Lister's tract was suppressed by papal Brief (May, 1601), and Blackwell rebuked for his unreasonable conduct. Lister seems to have resided continuously in England. His death probably occurred shortly before 1628. The treatise "Adversus factiosos" is incorporated into Christopher Bagshaw's "Relatio compendium turbarum"; a portion of it is printed in Law's work cited below.
DODD, ed. TIERNEY, Church History of England, III (London, 1840); cxxxiii, sqq.; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s. v.; LAW, Historical Sketch of Conflicts between Jesuits and Seculars in the Reign of Elizabeth (London, 1889), appendix D; MORRIS, The Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, related by themselves, I (London, 1872).
G. H. Joyce.