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# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Ceolwulf

From volume 3 of the work.
(CEOLWULPH or CEOLULPH)
Coelwulf, King of Northumbria and monk of Lindisfarne, date and place of birth not known; died at Lindisfarne, 764. His ancestry is thus given by the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle": "Ceolwulf was the son of Cutha, Cutha of Cuthwin, Cuthwin of Leoldwald, Leoldwald of Egwald, Egwald of Aldhelm, Aldhelm of Ocga, Ocga of Ida, Ida of Eoppa." Harpsfeld says that he succeeded Osred on the throne, but most authorities say that he was adopted as heir by Osric in 729. Learned and pious, he lacked the vigour and authority necessary for a ruler. Bede bears witness to his learning and piety in the introductory chapter of his "Ecclesiastical History". He dedicated this work "to the most glorious King Ceolwulph", sent it to him for his approval, and addresses him thus: "I cannot but commend the sincerity and zeal, with which you not only give ear to hear the words of Holy Scripture, but also industriously take care to become acquainted with the actions and sayings of former men of renown."
His unfitness for his duties as king prompted his subjects to seize him and confine him in a monastery in the second year of his reign. He escaped from this confinement and reascended the throne. During his reign he appointed his cousin Egbert to be Bishop of York, and Bede tells us that the ecclesiastical affairs of his kingdom were presided over by the four bishops, Wilfrid, Ethelwald, Acca, and Pecthelm. After a reign of eight years he wearied of "the splendid cares of royalty", and voluntarily resigned to become a monk at Lindisfarne (738). His cousin Eadbert succeeded him. Ranulphus Cestrensis speaks of his retirement to St. Bede's monastery of Jarrow, but all others agree that it was Lindisfarne. He brought to the monastery many treasures and much land, and after his entrance the monks were first allowed to drink wine and beer, contrary to the tradition handed down from St. Aidan, who only allowed them milk or water. Henry of Huntingdon, when entering into detail with regard to his retirement, says he was principally urged to it by reading the writings of Bede on the lives of former kings who had resigned their thrones to enter the monastic state. He was buried in the cathedral of Lindisfarne next to the tomb of St. Cuthbert, and, according to Malmesbury, many miracles were wrought at his tomb. The body was afterwards transferred to the mainland of Northumberland, probably along with St. Cuthbert's, in order to preserve it from desecration at the time of the Danish invasion. His feast day in the calendar is the 15th of January.
BEDE, Eccles. History (ed. (GILES), I, 334, 335, 34O; Acta SS., Jan. 25,I; LINGARD, Hist. of England (London, 1854), I, 71, 72; DIXON AND RAINE'S Fasti Eborac., 94; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ed. GILES), index; RAINE, Hist. of North Durham, 68.
G. E. HIND.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Ceramus

From volume 3 of the work.
A titular see of Asia Minor. Ceramus (or Keramos) was a city of Caria, subject at first to Stratonicea, afterwards autonomous, and one of the chief cities of the Systema Chrysaorikon (Bulletin de corresp. hellén., IX, 468). In Roman times it coined its own money. It is mentioned in the "Notitiæ episcopatuum" until the twelfth or thirteenth century as suffragan to Aphrodisias, or Stauropolis. We know but three bishops: Spudasius, at Ephesus in 431; Maurianus, at Nicæa in 787; and Symeon, at the council which reinstated Photius in 879. Ceramus has preserved its old name, but is now only a small village in the vilayet of Smyrna, on the north shore of Gueuk-Abaa bay (the Keramic Gulf), not far from the sea.
SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog. (London. 1878), s. v. Cerameicus.
S. Pétridès.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Census

From volume 3 of the work.
A canonical term variously defined by different writers. Zitelli (Appar. Jur. Eccl.) calls it a real obligation or annual tribute imposed on a pious institute by the bishop and payable to himself or others. Aicher (par. 79) says that it is an offering to be made by a benefice in sign of subjection, or for some exemption or other right conceded to it. Laurentius (III, p. 70) defines it as the obligation of an annual payment in money or kind perpetually imposed upon a benefice. Ferraris (s.v.) considers census as a right of receiving an annual payment from something which is fruitful and on which it is founded. He insists that the census is not the thing itself or the property which affords the tribute, but the right of drawing the annual tribute from it. Other authorities, however, as Von Scherer, seem to consider census to be the property itself or its equivalent in money, viewed as giving to some one a right to draw revenue from it.
Census canonically considered must be distinguished from pensio. The latter is the right which a superior concedes to a person of receiving a portion of the revenues of a benefice in the possession of a third party. Later canonists sometimes use the words census and pensio as practically synonymous. A census is called ancient of it is imposed on its benefice at its very foundation and has been approved by the bishop. It is called new if it is placed upon a benefice already erected. According to a canon of the third Council of the Lateran (1179) no one but the pope can impose on a benefice a new census, or increase an ancient one. A census is said to be reservative when a person transfers the property to another, keeping only the right to an annual revenue for himself. It is named consignative when he sells or consigns to another the right to an annual pension from something of which he himself retains the dominion. Such consignative census is reducible to a species of buying and selling, and is treated as such in the decrees of Martin V and Callistus III embodied in the Corpus Juris Canonici.
The imposing of a census upon a benefice is considered as equivalent to dismemberment or division, inasmuch as it diminishes the revenues. If the census be perpetual it is looked on as a species of alienation of church property and as such falls under the ecclesiastical laws governing such alienation. Generally the census is imposed by the patron of a new benefice retaining the right to a part of its revenues, or by a bishop requiring that a portion of the income of a church which he incorporates with a monastery be paid to himself, or the census may take the form of a tribute paid to a mother church by one of its daughter establishments which has become independent. The "Liber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ," edited by Fabre and Duschesne (Paris, 1889 sqq.), not only throws light on the subject at issue, but also affords an explanation of many historical events of the Middle Ages.
Laurentius, Institutione Jur. Eccl. (Freiburg, 1903); Ferraris, Bibliotheca (Rome, 1886); Aichner, Compendium Jur. Eccl. (Brixen, 1895).
WILLIAM H.W. FANNING
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Cerasus

From volume 3 of the work.
A titular see of Pontus Polemoniacus in Asia Minor. Cerasus is remembered for the sojourn of Xenophon and his Ten Thousand on their famous retreat. It seems to have stood in the valley at a short distance from the modern city. The latter was founded by Pharnaces, after whom it was called Pharnacia; but owing to the abundance of cherry-trees in the country, it was soon named Cerasus like the old town, and this appellation has remained. It was from Cerasus that Pompey imported the first cherry-trees to Rome, whence they afterwards spread through all Europe. The city is mentioned by Pliny and Greek geographers, but does not appear to have been very important. It was a suffragan of Neocæsarea (Niksar); in the eleventh century it became a metropolis, and was still extant at the end of the fifteenth century, but by the seventeenth the see was suppressed. From the fifth to the twelfth century Lequien (II, 513) mentions nine titulars; his list might be increased. The Turkish Kerassoun, or Ghiresson, is a port on the Black Sea, and the chief town of a caza in the vilayet of Trebizond; it has about 10,000 inhabitants (5000 Greeks, 1000 Armenians, and a few Catholics, visited from time to time by Capuchins from Trebizond). The climate is mild. The town is surrounded by a large forest of hazel- and cherry-trees, the latter being still very numerous. There are ruins of ancient walls, of an amphitheatre, a fortress, and of Byzantine churches.
CUINET, Turquie d'Asie, I. 64-78; PAPAMICHALOPOULOS, A Tour in Pontus (Greek; Athens, 1903), 256-282; SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr. (London, 1878), I, 590.
S. VAILHÉ.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Censer

From volume 3 of the work.
A vessel suspended by chains, and used for burning incense at solemn Mass, Vespers, Benediction, processions, and other important offices of the Church. It is now commonly called a thurible. In its prevailing shape the censer consists of a cup, or bowl, which rests on a firm base and is provided with a hollow movable pan for holding ignited charcoal, a lid or covering, and four chains about three feet in length, three of which unite the bowl to a circular disc, while the fourth is used for raising the lid, to which one end is attached, the other passing through a hole in the disc and terminating in a small ring. To carry the censer the chains are grasped in the hand just under the disc, care being taken to keep the base elevated to a height of six or eight inches from the ground and to swing it gently to and fro in order that the current of air thus created may cause the fire to burn the fragrant gums or incense which is placed on it whenever the censer is being used. The censer played an important part in the ancient religious worship both of the Jews and Pagans. It is no wonder, then, that its employment in Christian ceremonies goes back to the very earliest times. Its primitive form, however, was quite different from what it is now, being something like a vase with a perforated cover to emit the perfumed odours. Later on chains were added for greater convenience in manipulation. These vessels in the Middle Ages were often made of gold and silver and enriched with numerous details of most elaborate ornamentation. In the archives or inventories of many Continental and English cathedrals (such as St. John Lateran, Trier, Louvain, Lincoln, and York Minster) minute descriptions are given of some ancient specimens in the possession of these churches.
BONA, De Rebus Liturgicis (Turin, 1747), I, xxv; DUGDALE, Monasticum Anglicanum (London, 1682), passim; PUGIN, Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament (London, 1868), s.v. Censer; O'LOAN, Ceremonies of Ecclesiastical Functions (Dublin, 1893), 27; LEVASSEUR, Manuel Liturgique (Paris, 1890), I, 275; VAN DER STAPPEN, De Celebratione Missæ (Mechlin, 1892), X, 92.
Patrick Morrisroe.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Marcin Bielski

From volume 2 of the work.
(Or Wolski)
A Polish chronicler, b. of noble parentage on the patrimonial estate of Biala (whence the family name), in the province of Sieradz, Poland, in 1495; d. there, 1575; the name Wolski is derived from his estate at Wola. One of two Polish writers, of the same name, he was the first to use the Polish language, hence his designation as the father of Polish prose. He was educated in the University of Cracow, founded by Casimir the Great in 1364, and spent some time with the military governor of that city. He served in the army in the wars against the Wallachians and Tatars, and participated in the battle Obertyn (Galicia), 1531. He ranks among Poland's most prolific writers, and the development of historical studies in that country is due to his extensive writings. He is the author of numerous works: "Zywoty Filosofow" (Lives of the Philosophers, 1535); "Kronika Swiata" (Universal Chronicle, 1550-64), from the earliest time down to his day, divided into six periods, was the first important universal history published in the national idiom, and the first attempt at a comprehensive history of Poland, from 550 to 1580; in the second edition (1554) there is a reference to America; after the author's death the work was continued, rearranged, and brought down to the year 1597, under the title of "Kronika Polska" (Chronicle of Poland) by his son Joachim (b. 1540; d. 1599), secretary to King Sigismund III; "Sprawa Rycerskiego", a treatise on military art (1569), according to a Greek science of warfare, in eight parts, contains valuable data about the Polish army, and kindred subjects. After the demise of Bielski several satirical poems were published: "Seym Majowy", (The May Diet, 1590), descriptive of the degradation of Hungary, and an appeal to his countrymen to emulate a higher standard of life: "Seym Niewiesci", (Woman's Council, 1586-95), analytical of the then existing political conditions in Poland: "Sen Maiowy" (Dream of a Hermit, 1586); "Komedia Justina y Konstanciey" (Comedy of Justinian and Constantia, 1557).
Estreicher, Polish bibliography (1800-70); Bohomolec, Collection of Histories (Warsaw, 1764); Idem, Martin Bielski (Warsaw, 1764); Sobieszczanski, Chronicle of Poland (Warsaw, 1851); Sibeneycher, Chronicle of Poland (Cracow, 1597); Turowski, Chronicle of Poland (Cracow, 1855-62).
JOSEPH SMOLINSKI
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Marco Girolamo Vida

From volume 15 of the work.
Italian Humanist, b. at Cremona about 1490; d. in 1566. He came to Rome under Julius II; a priest and canon regular, he presented, in the rather lax Court, the greatest example of severity of morals. The Humanists were called upon to produce a great Christian epic. Vida undertook it, and in order that he might work at it Leo X gave him the priory of St. Sylvester at Frascati. The work, the "Christias", was not finished until after the death of Leo X (Cremona, 1535). The subject goes beyond the life of Christ and is in reality the establishment of Christianity, for Vida accords much space at the end of his poem to the spread of the Gospel. There is no mythological element in the six cantos; hence the unity of tone is more perfect than in Sannazaro's "De partu Virginis". Vida was also the author of short poems, such as "De Bombyce", "De ludo scaccorum" (on chess), and of a second serious and extensive work, "De arte poetica", written before 1520 (published in 1527). This didactic poem is interesting as an expression of the ideas of Humanism concerning poetry and because of its great influence. Vida dealt only with the ancients and their imitators, wholly neglecting writers in the vernacular. The general conception of his "Ars poetica" is inspired by Quintilian. The writer takes the future poet almost at the cradle, and describes the education and care which he should receive. He instructs him in invention, composition, and especially style, emphasizing particularly the harmony of the verse and defining imitative harmony, examples of which, taken from Virgil, have passed into classical teaching, e.g. "ruit Oceano nox, procumbit-humi bos, conuolsum remis rostrisque stridentibus aequor". While Boileau exaggerates the difficulties of poetry and multiplies the duties of the poet, Vida undertakes to cultivate a taste for poetry and to remove the obstacles from the poet's path. In consequence of his plan Vida treats only of poetry in general. To him the model and prince of poets was Virgil, while he depreciates Homer, criticising his prolixity, repetition, and low style. He was the source of arguments later made use of in France by the partisans of the moderns; Vida was the first to assert that the word "ass" used by Homer did not belong to the noble style. He carried prejudice so far as to congratulate the Latin language for being ignorant of compound words so frequent in Greek. Vida's own style is elegant, clear, harmonious, and ordinarily simple. He was warm in admiration, especially in his eulogies of Virgil, but he is verbose, and if by chance he imitates Horace he dilutes him. The poem is now of interest only as a manifestation of Classicism in modern literature.
SANDYS, Hist. of Classical Scholarship, II (Cambridge, 1908), 117, 133; VISSAC, De Marci Hieronymi Vidae poeticorum libris tribus (Paris, 1862), a thesis.
PAUL LEJAY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Marcus

From volume 9 of the work.
The name of three leading Gnostics.
I. The founder of the Marcosians (q.v.) and elder contemporary of St. Irenaeus, who, c. A.D. 175, in his refutation addresses him as one apparently still living (Adv. Haer., I, xi, 3, where the "clarus magister" is Marcus, not Epiphanes; and I, xiii, 21). Irenaeus, from whom St. Epiphanius (Haer., xxxiv) and St. Hippolytus (Haer., VI, xxxix-lv) quote, makes Marcus, a disciple of Valentius (q.v.), with whom Marcus's aeonology mainly agrees. St. Jerome (Ep. 75, 3) makes him a follower of Basilides (q.v.), confusing him no doubt with Marcus of Memphis. Clement of Alexandria, himself infected with Gnosticism, actually uses Marcus number system though without acknowledgement (Strom, VI, xvi). Marcus first taught in Asia Minor and possibly later in the West also. His immoralities and juggling tricks (colouring the contents of the cup and increasing the quantity) are described by Iraenus and Hippolytus. (For his system see MARCOSIANS.)
II. One of the two defenders of Marcionism in Adamantius's Dialogue "De Recta in Deum fide", the other is called Megethius; but whether these are fictitious or real personages is uncertain. Marcus's dualism is more absolute than that of Marcion himself: the demiurgus is the absolute evil principle. He inclines further towards Apelles, accepting salvation neither for the body nor the psyche but only for the pneuma.
III. A Manichean Gnostic, a native of Memphis, who introduced dualistic doctrines into Spain about the middle of the fourth century. His precise activity was unknown even to Sulpicius Severus (Hist. Sacr., II, xliv), c. A.D. 400, who only knows that he had two hearers or disciples: Agape, a wealthy matron, and the orator Elpidius, who became the instructors of Priscillian ("ab his Priscillianus est institutus") when still a layman. Elpidius and Priscillian were both condemned by the Council of Saragossa, but Elpidius did not share Priscillian's tragic fate in A.D. 385.
J.P. ARENDZEN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Marco Battaglini

From volume 2 of the work.
A historian of the councils, b. at Rimini, Italy, 25 March, 1643; d. at Cesena, 19 September, 1717. He studied law at Cesena, both civil and ecclesiastical, and at the age of sixteen he obtained the degree of doctor in both branches. After some years of service in the civil administration of the Papal States, he entered the priesthood, was appointed Bishop of Nocera in Umbria, 1690, and in 1716 was transferred to Cesena. He was greatly esteemed for his learning, and for his generous and frank character. His principal works are: (1) "Il legista filosofo" (Rome, 1680), or the man of law as a philosopher; (2) "Istoria universale di tutti i concilii" (Venice, 1686, 1689, 1696, 1714). The first edition contained the history of only 475 councils; in subsequent editions that of 403 more was added. A valuable supplement was the catalogue of all the ancient and contemporary episcopal sees; (3) "Annali del sacerdozio e dell' imperio intorno all' intero secolo decimo settimo" (Venice, 1701-11; Ancona, 1742), or history of the world during the seventeenth century in the form of annals.
Hurter, Nomenclator, II; Bauer in Kirchenlex., II.
FRANCIS J. SCHAEFER
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Marco D'Oggione

From volume 11 of the work.
Milanese painter, b. at Oggionno near Milan about 1470; d. probably in Milan, 1549. This painter was on of the chief pupils of Leonardo da Vinci, whose works he repeatedly copied. He was a hard-working artist, but his paintings are wanting in vivacity of feeling and purity of drawing, while, in his composition, it has been well said "Intensity of color does duty for intensity of sentiment." He copied the "Last Supper" repeatedly, and one of his best copies is in the possession of the Royal Academy of Arts in England. Of the details of his life we know nothing - not even the date of his important series of frescoes painted for the church of Santa Maria della Pace. His two most notable pictures - one in Brera (representing St. Michael), and the other in the private gallery of the Bonomi family (representing the Madonna) - are signed Marcus. Others of his works are to be seen at Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Turin, the one in Russia being a clever copy of the "Last Supper" by Leonardo. Lanzi gives 1530 as the date of his death, but various writers in Milan say it took place in 1540, and the latest accepted date is the one which we give as 1549. He cannot be regarded as an important artist, or even a very good copyist, but in his pictures the sky and mountains and the distant landscapes are always worthy of consideration, and in these we probably get the painter's best original work.
Lanzi, Storia Pittorica (Bassano, 1509); Agostino Santa Gostini, Descrizione delle Pitture di Milano (Milan, 1671).
GEORGE CHARLES WILLIAMSON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Marcopolis

From volume 9 of the work.
A titular see of Asia Minor, suffragan of Edessa. The native name of this city is not known, but it owes its Greek name to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcopolis is described at the beginning of the seventh century by the geographer George of Cyprus ("Descriptio orbis romani", ed. Gelser, 46), and in the "Notitiæ episcopatuum" of Antioch (sixth century) is alluded to as a see of Osrhoene (Echos d'Orient, X, 145). Two of its early bishops are known: Cyrus, who attended the Council of Ephesus in 431 (Mansi, "Conciliorum collectio", IV, 1269; V. 776, 797) and Caioumas, present at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 (Mansi, "Conc. coll.", VI, 572, 944; VII, 148). Eubel ("Hierarchia catholica medii ævi", Munich, I, 341) mentions four other titulars between 1340 and 1400, and a fifth from 1441 to 1453 (ibid., II, 204). The site of this city has not been found.
S. VAILHÉ.