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# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Avatār

From volume 2 of the work.
An Anglicized form of the Sanskrit, avatara, "descent", from the root tr, "pass" (cf. Latin in-trare), and the preposition ava, "down".
The word is used, in a technical sense, in the Hindu re!igion to denote the descent upon earth of a portion of the essence of a god, which then assumes some coarser material form, be it animal, monster, or man. Such descents are ascribed in the mythology of Hinduism to various gods, but those ascribed to Vishnu are by far the most important. They are believed to have taken place at different ages of the world, and to have consisted of different proportions of the essence of Vishnu. Their number is variously stated, ranging from ten to twenty-eight, finally becoming indefinitely numerous. Any remarkable man is liable to be regarded as a more or less perfect avatar of Vishnu, and the consequence one of the worst features of Hinduism--has been the offering of divine homage to men, especially the founders of religious sects and their successors.
The ten most famous avatars are:
The importance of this theory of avatars to Hinduism is the way in which it has contributed to the wonderful adaptability of that religion. In the Buddha avatar the fact is particularly patent, but, in the Rama and Krsna avatars also, we clearly have the adoption into Hinduism of the cults of these heroes. It is a mere guess that similar compromises with some totemistic forms of religion are to be seen in the Fish, Boar, and Tortoise avatars, and the same might be said of an attempt to see in the Man-lion and Dwarf avatars, traces of the aboriginal religions. The resemblance of these avatars to the doctrine of the Incarnation is most superficial, and as the theory of the avatars has a sufficient basis in Hindu philosophy, several points of contact with the earlier mythology, it is unnecessay to suppose with Weber (Indische Studien, II, 169) that it is the result of an imitation of this dogma.
GEORGE MELVILLE BOLLING
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Ave Maris Stella

From volume 2 of the work.
(Hail, thou Star of Ocean.)
The first verse of an unrhymed, accentual hymn, of seven stropes of four lines each, assigned in Roman Breviary to Vespers in the Common office, the Office of Saturdays, and the Little Office (as well as for Feasts) of the Blessed Virgin. It has been ascribed wrongly to St. Bernard, but antedates him, being found in a St. Gall manuscript of the ninth century; and also, without sufficient authority, to St. Venantius Fortunatus (d. 609). Its frequent occurence in the Divine Office made it most popular in the Middle Ages, many other hymns being founded upon it.
H.T. HENRY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Autocephali

From volume 2 of the work.
(Gr., αὐτοκέφαλοι, independent).
A designation in early Christian times of certain bishops who were subject to no patriarch or metropolitan, but depended directly on the triennial provincial synod or on the Apostolic See. In case of heresy, e.g., or other grave offenses, they could only be judged by these tribunals. Such were the bishops of Cyprus (cf. Council of Ephesus, Act. VII; Trullan Council, can. 39), the Bishops of Iberia and Armenia as late as the time of Photius, those of Britain before the coming of St. Augustine, and for a while those of Ravenna. The extension of the patriarchal authority diminished their number. Quite similar were certain Oriental bishops in the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, who were subject directly to the patriarch of the civil (imperial) diocese to which belonged, and who owed no obedience to their immediate metropolitans; they were not unlike the modern "exempt" bishops immediately subject to the Apostolic See. The most ancient list of them is given in the ninth-century "Notitia" of Leo the Wise, where they are entitled archbishops and metropolitans, though they had no suffragans. Occasionally priests were called "autocephali", e.g. the clergy of a patriarchal diocese. (See Soz., Hist. Eccl., VI, 21, and Eus., Hist. Eccl., V, 23, with the note of Valesius, also BISHOP, EXEMPTION, RAVENNA.)
NEHER, in Kirchenlex., I, 1733; THOMASSIN, De Vet. et nov. ecc discipl., I, 3, c. 41, n. 17; PHILLIPS, Kirchenrecht, VII, 440; LAURENTIUS, Inst. Jur. Eccl. (Freiburg, 1905), # 214.
THOMAS J. SHAHAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Leonard of Limousin

From volume 9 of the work.
Nothing absolutely certain is known of his history, as his earliest "Life", written in the eleventh century, has no historical value whatever. According to this extraordinary legend, Leonard belonged to a noble Frankish family of the time of King Clovis, and St. Remy of Reims was his godfather. After having secured from the king the release of a great number of prisoners, and refused episcopal honours which Clovis offered him, he entered a monastery at Micy near Orleans. Later he went to Aquitaine and there preached the Gospel. Having obtained, through prayer, a safe delivery for the Queen of the Franks in her confinement, he received as a gift from the king a domain at Noblac, near Limoges, where he founded a monastery. The veneration of this saint is as widely known as his history is obscure and uncertain. It is true that there is no trace of it before the eleventh century, but from that time it spread everywhere, and little by little churches were dedicated to him, not only in France, but in all Western Europe, especially in England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, more particularly in Bavaria, and also in Bohemia, Poland, and other countries. Pilgrims, among them kings, princes, and high dignitaries of the Church, flocked to Noblac (now St. Leonard). Numerous miracles are attributed to him, and in one small town alone, Inchenhofen, Bavaria, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, there are records of about 4000 favours granted through his intercession. The saint wrought the delivery of captives, women in confinement, those possessed of an evil spirit, people and beasts afflicted with diseases. At the end of the eleventh century his name had already become renowned among the Crusaders captured by the Mussulmans. He is generally represented holding chains in his hands. His feast day is celebrated on 6 November.
PONCELET in Acta SS., November, III, 139-209; see also CHEVALIER, Bio-Bibl., s.v.
A. Poncelet.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Leonidas

From volume 9 of the work.
(Or LEONIDES.)
The Roman Martyrology records several feast days of martyrs of this name in different countries. Under date of 28 January there is a martyr called Leonides, a native of the Thebaid, whose death with several companions is supposed to have occurred during the Diocletian persecution (Acta SS., January, II, 832). Another Leonides appears on 2 September, in a long list of martyrs headed by a St. Diomedes. Together with a St. Eleutherius, a Leonides is honoured on 8 August. From other sources we know of a St. Leonidas, Bishop of Athens, who lived about the sixth century, and whose feast is celebrated on 15 April ("Acta SS.", April, II, 378; "Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca", 2nd ed., 137). Still another martyr of the name is honoured on 16 April, with Callistus, Charysius, and other companions (Acta SS., April, II, 402). The best known of them all, however, is St. Leonides of Alexandria, father of the great Origen. From Eusebius (Hist. Eccles., VI, 1, 2) we learn that he died a martyr during the persecution under Septimius Severus in 202. He was condemned to death by the prefect of Egypt, Lactus, and beheaded. His property was confiscated. Leonides carefully cultivated the brilliant intellect of his son Origen from the latter's childhood, and imparted to him the knowledge of Holy Scripture. The feast of St. Leonidas of Alexandria is celebrated on 22 April.
J.P. KIRSCH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Lidwina

From volume 9 of the work.
Born at Schiedam, Holland, 18 April 1380; died 14 April, 1433. Her father, Peter by name, came of a noble family while her mother Petronella, born at Kethel, Holland, was a poor country girl. Both were poor. Very early in her life St. Lidwina was drawn towards the Mother of God and prayed a great deal before the miraculous image of Our Lady of Schiedam. During the winter of the year of 1395, Lidwina went skating with her friends, one of whom caused her to fall upon some ice with such violence that she broke a rib in her right side. This was the beginning of her martyrdom. No medical skill availed to cure her. Gangrene appeared in the wound caused by the fall and spread over her entire body. For years she lay in pain which seemed to increase constantly. Some looked on her with suspicion, as being under the influence of the evil spirit. Her pastor, Andries, brought her an unconsecrated host, but the saint distinguished it at once. But God rewarded her with a wonderful gift of prayer and also with visions. Numerous miracles took place at her bed-side. The celebrated preacher and seer, Wermbold of Roskoop, visited her after previously beholding her in spirit. The pious Arnold of Schoonhoven treated her as a friend. Hendrik Mande wrote for her consolation a pious tract in Dutch. When Joannes Busch brought this to her, he asked her what she thought of Hendrik Mande's visions, and she answered that they came from God. In a vision she was shown a rose-bush with the words, "When this shall be in bloom, your suffering will be at an end." In the spring of the year 1433, she exclaimed, "I see the rose-bush in full bloom!" From her fifteenth to her fifty-third year, she suffered every imaginable pain; she was one sore from head to foot and was greatly emaciated. On the morning of Easter-day, 1433, she was in deep contemplation and beheld, in a vision, Christ coming towards her to administer the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. She died in the odour of great sanctity. At once her grave became a place of pilgrimage, and as early as 1434 a chapel was built over it. Joannes Brugmann and Thomas à Kempis related the history of her life, and veneration of her on the part of the people increased unceasingly. In 1615 her relics were conveyed to Brussels, but in 1871 they were returned to Schiedam. On 14 March, 1890, Leo XIII put the official sanction of the Church upon that veneration which had existed for centuries.
COUDURIER, Vie de la bienheureuse Lidwine (Paris, 1862); RIBADENEIRA, La vie de s. Lidwine, vierge (Valenciennes, 1615); THOMAS À KEMPIS, Vita Lidewigis virginis in Opera Omnia, iv (Freiburg, 1905); HUYSMANS, Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam (Paris, 1901).
P. Albers.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Loman

From volume 9 of the work.
Bishop of Trim in Ireland, nephew of St. Patrick, was remarkable as being the first placed over an Irish see by the Apostle of Ireland. This was in the year 433. St. Loman had converted both Fortchern, the Prince of Trim (grandson of Laeghaire, King of Meath), and his father Foidilmid, and was given Trim for an episcopal see. Some say that he was a bishop before he came to Ireland, but this seems unlikely, as he would not accept a gift of Trim unless St. Patrick came to ratify it, and it is expressly stated in the "Tripartite Life", as also by Tirechan, that he was only a simple priest, but consecrated by St. Patrick for Trim. St. Loman did not long survive his promotion to the episcopate, and after a brief visit to his brother Broccaid at Emlach Ech in Connacht, he resigned his see to his princely convert Fortchern, with the permission of St. Patrick. Fortchern, however, through humility only ruled for three days after the death of St. Loman, and then ceded his office to Cathlaid, another British pilgrim. St. Loman is not to be confounded with St. Loman of Loch Gill, County Sligo, but he is said to have founded Port Loman in County Westmeath.
W. H. Grattan-Flood.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Leocadia

From volume 9 of the work.
Virgin and martyr, d. 9 December, probably 304, in the Diocletian persecution. The last great persecution gave the Church in Spain a succession of martyrs, who from 303 until 305 suffered death for the Christian Faith. In the historical martyrologies of the ninth century, St. Leocadia of Toledo is honoured among these martyrs on 9 December. Her name is not mentioned by Prudentius in his hymn on the Spanish Martyrs, but in very early times there was a church dedicated to her at Toledo. In the first half of the seventh century this church was mentioned as the meeting-place of the Fourth Synod of Toledo in 633, as well as of the fifth in 636, and the sixth in 638 (Concil. Toletanum IV, mentions the "basilica beatissimae et sanctae Confessoris Leocadiae"; Mansi, "Concil. Coll.", X, 615). Long before that date, therefore, Leocadia must have been publicly honoured as a martyr. The basilica in question was evidently erected over her grave. There is no doubt of the historical fact of her martyrdom, whilst the date of 9 December for her annual commemoration obviously rests on the tradition of the Church of Toledo. More recently compiled Acts relate that Leocadia was filled with a desire for martyrdom through the story of the martyrdom of St. Eulalia. By order of the governor, Decianus, who is described in the martyrology as the most furious persecutor of the Christians in Spain, she was seized and cruelly tortured in order to make her apostatize, but she remained steadfast and was sent back to prison, where she died from the effects of the torture. A church was built over her grave, besides which two others at Toledo are dedicated to her. She is the patroness of the diocese, and 9 December is still given as her feast in the Roman Martyrology. She is represented with a tower, to signify that she died in prison.
FLOREZ, Espana Sagrada, VI, 315-17; LA FUENTE, Historia eclesiastica de Espana, 2nd ed., I (Madrid, 1873), 335-7; SURIUS, Vita Sanctorum, 9 December, XII, 199; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 9 December.
J.P. KIRSCH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pierre-Charles-François Dupin

From volume 5 of the work.
Known as BARON CHARLES DUPIN.
A French mathematician and economist, b. at Varzy, Nièvre, 6 October, 1784; d. at Paris, 18 January, 1873. At the age of twenty-three he entered the Ecole polytechnique, and after three years of successful studies under the famous Monge, he received the degree of naval engineer. He then served in that capacity in the navy and showed so much ability that he was later appointed inspector-general of the navy. In 1813 he published a pamphlet, "Développement de géométrie pour faire suite à la géométrie pratique de Monge" (Paris, 1813, containing many new and brilliant theories, the most important of which were one relating to the indicatrix of curved surfaces and another on orthogonal surfaces. He was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1818. The next year Dupin received a professorship at the Conservatoire des arts et metiers; during this period he wrote various pamphlets on scientific topics, such as: "Applications de géométrie et de mécanique à la marine" (Paris, 1822); "Diverses lecons sur l'industrie, le commerce, la marine" (Paris, 1825), and also numerous memoirs for the Academy of Sciences, which were highly spoken of. Notwithstanding his brilliant prospects as a mathematician, he soon preferred to devote himself to political economy. His "Voyages en Grande Bretagne de 1816 a 1819 (6 vols., Paris, 1820-1824), which were the result of a personal inquiry into the commerce and industry of England placed him in the foremost rank of statisticians. In his "Carte de la France eclairee" (Paris, 1824), he was the first to use different colours to show the development of education in various parts of France. Charles X gave him the title of baron in 1824. Dupin gradually turned to politics and for forty years was a member of legislative assemblies. Under the Restoration, in spite of the honour bestowed upon him by the Bourbons, he sided with the Liberals and took his seat at the Left of the Chamber; under the Monarchy of July, he sat with the Centre, and finally with the Right, under the Republic of 1848. He rallied to the Second Empire and was appointed senator by Napoleon III. In his political career he showed himself a man of ability, of great industry and activity, and never failed to assert his Catholic convictions. Although a less brilliant man than his brother the Elder Dupin, he may have a more lasting reputation on account of his discoveries in geometry.
ANONYMOUS, Notice historique sur le baron Charles Dupin (Paris, 1857); Les Mondes (Paris, 1873), XXX, 135; Revue des questions historiques (1881), IX, 517-500.
LOUIS N. DELAMARRE
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pier Paolo Vergerio, the Elder

From volume 15 of the work.
Humanist, statesman, and canonist, b. at Capodistria, 23 July, 1370; d. at Budapest, 8 July, 1444 or 1445. He studied rhetoric at Padua, canon law at Florence (1387- 89) and at Bologna (1389-90); taught logic at Padua and Florence, and was tutor of the princes of Carrara at their court at Padua. After 1406 we find him at Rome as secretary to Innocent VII and Gregory XII. Later he became canon of Ravenna and took part in the Council of Constance in 1414. The next year he was one of the fifteen delegates who accompanied the Emperor Sigismund to Perpignan, where an endeavour was made to induce Benedict XIII to renounce his claims. From 1417 to his death he was secretary to the Emperor Sigismund. In July, 1420, he was the chief orator of the Catholic party at the Hussite disputation at Prague. Though never married and probably in minor orders, he was not a priest. The following of his works have been printed: "Pro redintegranda uniendaque Ecclesia", edited with introduction and notes by Combi in "Archivio storico per Trieste, l'Istria ed il Trentino" (Rome, 1882), 351-74; "Historia rincipum Carrariensium ad annum circiter MXXXLV", edited by Muratori, "Rerum ital. Script.", XVI, 113-184; "Vita Petrarcae", edited by Tommassini in "Petrarca redivivus", (Padua, 1701); "De ingenuis moribus ac liberalibus studiis" (Venice, 1472). His letters, 146 in number, were edited by Luciani (Venice, 1887). There are still in manuscript: a Latin version of Arrian's "Gesta Alexandri Magni"; a Life of Seneca; a panegyric on St. Jerome; a few comedies, satires, and other poems.
BISCHOFF, Studien zu P. P. Vergerio dem Aeltern (Berlin, 1909); KOPP, Pietro Paolo Vergerio der erste humanistische Padagog (Lucerne, 1894); BADUBER, P. P. Vergerio il seniore (Capodistria, 1866); WOODWARD, Vittorino da Feltro and other Humanist Educators (Cambridge, 1897); JACHINO, Del pedagogista Pier Paolo Vergerio (Florence, 1894); BUSCHBELL, Reformation und Inquisition in Italien und die Mite des 16. Jahrhunderts (Paderborn, 1910), 103-54.
MICHAEL OTT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pierius

From volume 12 of the work.
A priest and probably head master of the catechetical school at Alexandria conjointly with Achillas, flourished while Theonas was bishop of that city; died at Rome after 309. His skill as an exegetical writer and as a preacher gained for him the appellation, "Origen the Younger". Philip of Side, Photius, and others assert that he was a martyr. However, since St. Jerome assures us that he survived the Diocletian persecution and spent the rest of his life at Rome, the term "martyr" can only mean that he underwent sufferings, not death, for his Faith, The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on 4 November. He wrote a work (biblion) comprising twelve treatises or sermons (logoi), in some of which he repeats the dogmatic errors attributed by some authors to Origen, such as the subordination of the Holy Ghost to the Father and the Son, and the pre-existence of human souls. His known sermons are: one on the Gospel of St. Luke (eis to kata Loukan); an Easter sermon on Osee (eis to pascha kai ton Osee); a sermon on the Mother of God (peri tes theotokou); a few other Easter sermons; and a eulogy on St. Pamphilus, who had been one of his disciples (eis ton bion tou hagiou Pamphilou). Only some fragments of his writings are extant. They were edited by Routh in "Reliquiæ Sacræ", III, 423-35, in P.G., X, 241-6, and, with newly discovered fragments, by Boor in "Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur", V, ii ((Leipzig, 1888), 165-184. For an English translation see Salmond in "Ante-Nicene Fathers" (New York, 1896), 157.
RADFORD, Three Teachers of Alexandria (Cambridge, 1908); BARDENHEWER, Gesch. der altchrist. Lit., II (Freiburg, 1903), 198-203; IDEM, Patrologie, tr. SHAHAN (Freiburg, 1908), 158; HARNACK, Gesch. der altchrist. Lit., I (Leipzig, 1893), 439-44; Acta SS., II Nov., 254-64.
MICHAEL OTT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pierre-Charles L'Enfant

From volume 9 of the work.
L'Enfant, Pierre-Charles, engineer, b. in France, August, 1755; d. near Bladensburg, Maryland, U.S.A., 4 June, 1833. He was educated as an engineer and joined Lafayette as a volunteer to help the revolted American colonists in 1777. Appointed a captain of engineers on 18 Feb., 1778, and brevet major on 2 May, 1783, in Washington's army, he did valiant service during the Revolutionary War. At its close he remodelled the old City Hall in New York for the meeting of the First Congress, and later arranged the Federal Hall in Philadelphia. When the site for the Federal city was finally adopted, he spent much of his time during the year 1791 considering a plan for the new city, which he finally drew up with the title: "Plan of the City, intended for the Permanent Seat of the Government of the United States. Projected agreeable to the direction of the President of the United States in pursuance of an act of Congress passed the sixteenth day of July, MDCCXC, establishing the Permanent Seat on the bank of the Potomac". L'Enfant had a quick temper and an overbearing disposition, and, as he quarrelled with his superiors before his plans could be carried out, President Washington dismissed him from the service on 1 March, 1792. He refused an appropriation offered him for his work on the plan for the Capitol, and also the appointment of professor of engineering at the Military Academy, West Point. During the War of 1812 with England he set to work constructing fortifications near Washington, but again quarrelled with his superior officers, and through pique left the service. He haunted the doors of Congress for years with applications for recompense for his work that were never heeded. Poor and forgotten he spent the rest of his days at the home of his friend, William Dudley Digges, near Bladensburg, Maryland, and his body was buried there. In April, 1909, in accordance with an Act of Congress, the remains of Major L'Enfant were removed from his grace in Maryland, and, after lying in state for a short time in the Capitol at Washington, were reinterred in the National Cemetery at Arlington with the ceremonies of the Church and the military honours due to his rank in the Continental Army.
Varnum, The Seat of Government of the U.S. (Washington, 1854); American Cath. Hist. Researches (Philadelphia, January 1907); Meehan in America (New York, 1 May, 1909); Encycl. Am. Biog., s.v.
Thomas F. Meehan.