OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Prothonotary Apostolic

From volume 12 of the work.
A member of the highest college of prelates in the Roman Curia, and also of the honorary prelates on whom the pope has conferred this title and its special privileges. In later antiquity there were in Rome seven regional notaries, who, on the further development of the papal administration and the accompanying increase of the notaries, remained the supreme palace notaries of the papal chancery (notarii apostolici or protonotarii). In the Middle Ages the prothonotaries were very high papal officials, and were often raised directly from this office to the cardinalate. Sixtus V (1585-90) increased their number to twelve. Their importance gradually diminished, and at the time of the French Revolution the office had almost entirely disappeared. On 8 February, 1838, Gregory XVI re-established the college of real prothonotaries with seven members called "protonotarii de numero participantium", because they shared in the revenues.
Since the sixteenth century the popes had also appointed honorary prothonotaries, who enjoyed the same privileges as the seven real members of the college; and titular prothonotaries, who held a corresponding position in the administration of the episcopal ordinariate or in the collegiate chapter. By the Motu Proprio "Inter multiplices" of 21 February, 1905, Pius X exactly defined the position of the prothonotaries.
These are divided into four classes:
(members of the college of prelates), who exercise their office in connection with the acts of consistories and canonizations, have a representative in the Congregation of the Propaganda, and, according to the reorganization of the Curia by the Constitution "Sapienti consilio" of 29 June, 1908, sign the papal Bulls instead of the earlier abbreviators (q.v.). They enjoy the use of pontificals and numerous privileges, and may also, after examining the candidates, name annually a fixed number of doctors of theology and of canon law;
a dignity to which only the canons of the three Roman patriarchal churches (the Lateran, St. Peter's, and St. Mary Major), and of cathedral chapters outside of Rome to which the privilege has been granted, can be raised;
who are appointed by the pope and have the same external insignia as the real prothonotaries;
See the bibliography of PRELATE.
J.P. KIRSCH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Protocol

From volume 12 of the work.
The formula used at the beginning of public acts drawn up by notaries, e.g., mention of the reign, time, place, etc. (Justinian, "Novels", 43); also, the compact register in which notaries register the acts drawn up by them, in order of date; finally, the first draft of these acts (called minutes, because they are wntten in small characters), which remain in care of the notary, and from which a copy or transcript (said to be engrossed, because wntten in larger characters) is made, and sent to the interested parties. In tribunals where the registrars have retained the name notary, the protocol is the register in which records of the proceedings are preserved and the office in which the originals of these documents are kept (cf. Regulation of the Rota, 4 August, 1910, art. 2). Public acts, official records, ought to be either the originals (engrossed) or authentic copies, i.e., certified to be faithful copies of the original preserved in the protocol, the notary who transcribes the document witnessing on the copy itself that it is exact; this is what is known as fides instrumentorum, or trustworthiness of the documents.
DU CANGE, Glossarium, s. v. Protocollum; the canonical writers on the title De fide instrumentorum, II, tit. xxii.
A. BOUDINHON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Provost

From volume 12 of the work.
(Lat., prœpositus; Fr., prévôt; Ger., Probst)
Anciently (St. Jerome, "Ep.", II, xiv: Ad Rusticum monach.) every chapter (q. v.) had an archpriest and an archdeacon. The former officiated in the absence of the bishop and had general supervision of the choir, while the latter was the head of the chapter and administered its temporal affairs. Later the archpriest was called decanus (dean) and the archdeacon prœpositus (provost). At present the chief dignity of a chapter is usually styled dean, though in some countries, as in England, the term provost is applied to him. The provost, by whatever name he may be known, is appointed by the Holy See in accordance with the fourth rule of the Roman Chancery. It is his duty to see that all capitular statutes are observed. To be authentic, all acts of the chapter, in addition to the seal of the chapter, require his signature. Extraordinary meetings of the chapter are convened by him, generally, however, on written request of a majority of the chapter, and with the consent of the bishop. He presides in chapter at the election of a vicar capitular, who within eight days of the death of the bishop is to be chosen as the administrator of the vacant see. He conducts the ceremonies at the installation (q. v.) of canons-elect, investing them with the capitular insignia, assigning them places in choir, etc. In choir, the first place after the bishop belongs to him. In the absence of the bishop, or in case the see is vacant, the provost conducts episcopal ceremonial functions, while he takes precedence of all, even of the vicar capitular. He must be present, however, personally, not being allowed a substitute. When the bishop pontificates, the provost is assistant priest. It is his office to administer Viaticum to the bishop, and to conduct the bishop's obsequies.
TAUNTON, The Law of the Church (London, 1906); FERRARIS, Bibliotheca canonica (Roman ed., 1888-96), s. v.
ANDREW B. MEEHAN.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Prudentius

From volume 12 of the work.
(GALINDO)
A Bishop of Troyes, born in Spain; died at Troyes on 6 April, 861; celebrated opponent of Hincmar in the controversy on predestination. He left Spain in his youth, probably on account of the Saracen persecution, and came to the Frankish Empire where he changed his native name Galindo into Prudentius. He was educated at the Palatine school, and became Bishop of Troyes shortly before 847. In the controversy on predestination between Gottschalc of Orbais, Archbishop Hincmar of Reims, and Bishop Pardulus of Laon, he opposed Hincmar in an epistle addressed to him. In this epistle, which was written about 849, he defends against Hincmar a double predestination, viz, one for reward, the other for punishment, not, however, for sin. He further upholds that Christ died only for those who are actually saved. The same opinion he defends in his "De prædestinatione contra Johannem Scotum", which he wrote in 851 at the instance of Archbishop Wenilo of Sens who had sent him nineteen articles of Eriugena's work on predestination for refutation. Still it appears that at the synod of Quierzy, he subscribed to four articles of Hincmar which admit only one predestination, perhaps out of reverence for the archbishop, or out of fear of King Charles the Bald. In his "Epistola tractoria ad Wenilonem", written about 856, he again upholds his former opinion and makes his approval of the ordination of the new bishop Æneas of Paris depend on the latter's subscription to four articles favouring a double predestination. Of great historical value is his continuation of the "Annales Bertiniani" from 835-61, in which he presents a reliable history of that period of the Western Frankish Empire. He is also the author of "Vita Sanctæ Mauræ Virginis" (Acta SS. Sept. VI, 275-8) and some poems. At Troyes his feast is celebrated on 6 April as that of a saint, though the Bollandists do not recognize his cult (Acta SS. Apr. I, 531). His works, with the exception of his poems, are printed in P. L., CXV, 971-1458; his poems in Mon. Germ. Poetæ Lat., II, 679 sq.
GIRGENSOHN, Prudentius und die Bertinianischen Annalene (Riga, 1875); FREYSTEDT, Ueber den Prädestinationsstreit in Zeitschrift für wissenschaftl. Theologie (1893), 315 sq., 447 sq.; BREYER, Les vies de St. Prudence Evéque de Troyes, et de St. Maura, vierge (Troyes, 1725); MIDDELDORFF, De Prudentio et theologia Prudentiana commentatio in Zeitschrift für histor. Theol., II (1832), 127-190.
MICHAEL OTT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Kirkwall

From volume 8 of the work.
A parish, also a royal and parliamentary burgh and chief or county town of Orkney, in the north of Scotland (the name is Scandinavian, "Kirkjuvagr", i.e. "church-bay"). The original church was dedicated to St. Olaf (killed in 1033), and the landward part of the parish is still called St. Ola. The importance of Kirkwall is due, first, to its having long been the residence of the Norse earls of Orkney, who, while nominally under the Kings of Norway, were practically independent; and, second, from its having become the seat of the bishops of Orkney. Magnus, Earl of Orkney, was treacherously killed by his cousin Haco about 1115; and his nephew Ronald undertook, if he recovered possession of the islands from Paul, Haco's son, to build a stone minster at Kirkwall in memory of his uncle Magnus, whose sanctity was said to be attested by miracles soon after his death. Ronald eventually became sole ruler of Orkney, and St. Magnus' church was begun in 1137, and was constituted the cathedral of the See of Orkney, which had been founded in 1102 (as a suffragan of Trondhjem, in Norway), the bishop's seat having been originally at Birsa.
The cathedral was not completed by the founder, but additions were made by successive bishops of Orkney, this fact accounting for the great variety of architecture which it presents. It is one of the two ancient Scottish cathedrals (the other being Glasgow) which have been preserved entire to the present day; and, though not of any great size, remains, both within and without, one of the most striking and impressive churches in the kingdom. Its total length (outside) is 234 feet, width of transepts 101 feet, height of tower 133 feet. The tall steeple surmounting the tower was struck by lightning in 1671. The three bells in the tower are all of pre-Reformation date, though one was recast in 1682. The cathedral escaped destruction in the sixteenth century, owing to the zealous efforts of the bishop; but it fell into decay in succeeding centuries, there being no funds to keep it in repair, until in 1805 and 1845 a certain amount of restoration was done by private benefactors and by the Government. Many ancient tombs of former earls and bishops remain in the cathedral, the choir of which is now used as a Presbyterian place of worship. Only a fragment of the episcopal palace—a tower built by Bishop Reid in 1540—now remains, and the earl's castle has entirely disappeared.
Orkneyinga Saga, ed. DASENT (Rolls Series, 1894), 61-96, 239-301; DRYDEN, Description of Church of St. Magnus at Kirkwall (Kirkwall, 1878); MACKINTOSH, Glimpses of Kirkwall and its people in the olden time (Kirkwall, 1887); Curious incidents from the ancient records of Kirkwall (Kirkwall, 1891); BILLINGS, Baronial and Eccles. Antiq. of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1848-52).
D.O. HUNTER-BLAIR
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John Krämer

From volume 8 of the work.
(Also called INSTITOR, the Latin form of his name).
Born about the end of the fourteenth century, he must have died between 1437 and 1440, as a manuscript of the Carthusian monastery of Memmingen speaks of the gift made to it by Krämer in 1437, and the general chapter of the Carthusian Order held in 1440 mentions his death.
Having entered the charterhouse of Buxheim, in the Diocese of Ausburg, Bavaria (whence he is sometimes called John of Buxheim), he there led the life of a pious and obedient religious. There, also, he wrote sundry works, including two treatises published by D. Pez in his "Bibliotheca ascetica". The first of these entitled "Breviloquium anirni cujuslibet religiosi reformativum"; it consists of two parts. In the first part the author teaches a good religious divers means and practices which he should observe in order to remain a faithful child of the Church, to acquire, on earth, the grace of perfection and, in heaven, ever-lasting happiness. In the second part, by a quaint allegory, he puts the religious on his guard against the faults of monastic life which are represented by twenty birds of prey, the eagle, the vulture, the hawk, the owl, etc., whose characteristics and manners he describes. Though written in a rude, uncultured style, the book was much read in the monasteries of the Middle Ages. The subject of Krämer's second book is sufficiently indicated by its title, "Tractatus exhortativus ad evitandam malam iram". In these two books we find the spirituality peculiar to the Carthusians of the fifteenth century: a rigorous asceticism, relieved somewhat (under the influence of Denis the Carthusian) by a few touches of mystical tenderness. An unpublished treatise, "De Objectionibus bibliae", has also been sometimes attributed to Krämer, but without sufficient warrant.
PEZ, Bibliotheca ascetiva, antiquo-nova VII (Ratisbon, 1723-), 119-388; PETREIUS, Bibliotheca Carthusiana (Cologne, 1609); FABRICIUS, Bibliotheca latina mediae aetatis (Florence, 1898 -) III; PUYOL, L'Auteur du livre de imitatione Christi (Paris, 1899).
Antoine Degert.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John James Scheffmacher

From volume 13 of the work.
Jesuit theologian b. at Kientzheim, Alsace, 27 April, 1668; d. at Strasburg, 18 August, 1733. He was one of the greatest theologians of his time, an orator of power and influence and the author of valuable works on controversy. By his preaching and writing, he labored for many years for the conversion of the Lutherans and brought a great number of them back to the Church. In 1715 while teaching theology in the Catholic University of Strasburg, he was appointed to the chair of Apologetics, founded in the cathedral of that city by Louis XIV; he was rector of the university (1728-31). His best-known writings are in the form of letters, setting forth with clear, solid arguments those points of Catholic doctrine which long experience had taught him presented the greatest difficulties to Protestants. These letters have been collected in two separate volumes and published under the titles: "Lettres d'un Docteur Allemand", 14th ed. (Strasburg, 1789), "Lettres d'un Théologien", 13th ed. (Strasburg, 1750). Another well-known work of the author is "Controverskatechismus (Cologne, 1723) which was later published under the title, "Licht in den Finsternissen". The oldest known French edition of this work entitled "Catéchisme de Controverse" is dated Strasburg, 1751, though it is not certain whether the book was originally published in French or in German. There is an English translation entitled, "A Controversial Catechism" (Baltimore). A new German edition was published at Strasburg in 1892.
HURTER, Nomencl. lit., V (Innsbruck, 1895), 3; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus, V, VII (Paris, 1896), 727.
F.X. DELANY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John Kemp

From volume 8 of the work.
Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Chancellor of England; b. at Wye, Kent, about 1380; d. at Lambeth, 22 March, 1454. He was the son of Thomas Kemp of Ollantigh, near Ashford, and Beatrice Lewknor, and was educated at Merton College, Oxford. Having become doctor of laws, he practised as an ecclesiastical lawyer with such success that in 1415 he was made dean of the Court of Arches and vicar-general to the Archbishop of Canterburz. King Henry V also utilized his diplomatic talents in several embassies. Appointed Bishop of Rochester by papal provision, 26 June, 1419, he was consecrated in the following December. In 1421 he was translated to Chichester, and eight months later to London, by provision of Martin V. On the death of King Henry V, whom he had served as Chancellor of Normandy, he was made a member of the new council, in which capacity he supported Cardinal Beaufort against Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. In 1426 he was made first Chancellor and then Archbishop of York.
His political differences with Gloucester led to his resigning the chancellorship in 1432, but he continued to be active in public life as a supporter of the peace party, who wished to end the long war with France. In 1433 he was the head of the important but fruitless embassy to the congress of Arras, when a settlement was vainly attempted under the auspices of the papal legates. In 1439 he was created cardinal by Eugene IV, his title being Sancta Balbina. After the deaths of his opponent Gloucester and his friend Beaufort, he set himself to resist the power of the Duke of Suffolk, and in 1450 he was again chancellor. In this capacity he put down the Kentish rebellion, and amid the growing likelihood of civil war remained the mainstay of the king's party against the Yorkists. In 1452 Nicholas V transferred him from York to Canterbury, giving him the pallium on 24 Sept. The same pope made him a cardinal bishop by dividing the See of Porto from that of Santa Rufina and making Kemp bishop of the last-named diocese His last days were agitated by the tumultuous proceedings of the London cltizens, who, supported by the Yorkists, were threatening him with violence, when the end came. He lies buried in Canterbury cathedral. More statesman than bishop, he was accused with reason of neglecting his dioceses, but his private life was distinguished by wisdom, learning and uprightness.
HOOK, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (London, 1860-1884); WILLIAMS, Lives of the English Cardinals (London, 1868); GAIRDNER, Preface to the Paston Letters (London, 1872); TOUT in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v.
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John Jacob Baegert

From volume 2 of the work.
Missionary and ethnographer, born at Schlettstadt in Alsace, 23 December, 1717; died at Neustadt-on-the-Haardt in the Rhenish Palatinate, 29 September (or December), 1777. Baegert belonged to the Alsatian family from which had come several members of religious orders. He studied philosophy for two years, entered the Society of Jesus at Aschaffenberg, 27 September, 1736, taught the humanities at Mannheim in 1740, studied theology at Molshiem, and after ordination, 14 February, 1749, went to America as a missionary. Lower California was given to him as his field of labor. Here he founded the mission of San Ignacio and worked for seventeen years until the expulsion of the Society in 1767. He embarked at Loretto on the return journey, 3 February, 1768, and after a short stay in a Spanish monastery of the Minorites retired to the Jesuit college at Neustadt-on-the-Haardt, where he ended his days. In 1773 Baegert publish anonymously at Mannheim "Nachrichten von die amerikanisher Halbinsel Californien...mit einen zweifachen Anhang falscher Nachrichten". The publication is distinguished by truthfullness of statement and corrects the over-favorable description of conditions in California which had been given by Father Venegas in his account issued at Madrid in 1751. Father Baegert describes the physical character of Lower California, the customs and language of the natives, and narrates the history of the mission. Owing to the numerous ethnographic observations the work was of value up to the middle of the nineteenth century and an edited translation was issued by the Smithsonian Institution in 1863-64; Vivien de Saint-Martin also wrote a detailed account of the work. The contemporaries of Baegert spoke highly of his talent for poetry and his fine personal qualities.
Reports of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, 1863), 352 sqq.; (1864), 378 sqq.: (1865), 41 sqq.; de Saint-Martin, L'Anne geographique, V, 1866 (Paris, 1867), 233-39; Backer-Sommervogel, Bibliotheque (1890), I, 760, sqq. and (1898), VIII, 1724; Huonder, Deutsche Jesuitenmissionare des XVII. und XVIII. Jahrhunderts in Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, sup. to vol. LXXIV (Freiburg im Br., 1899), 106,; Geny ed., Historia, 1631-1765 in Die Jahrbucher der Jesuiten zu Schlettstadt und Rufach, 1615-1765 (Strausburg, 1896), II, 699 sqq. (contains the most readable personal data).
OTTO HARTIG
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John James Maximilian Oertel

From volume 11 of the work.
Journalist, born at Ansbach, Bavaria, 27 April, 1811; died at Jamaica, New York, 21 August, 1882.
Born a Lutheran, he was sent to the Lutheran University of Erlangen where he studied theology and five years later was ordained a minister. After his ordination he accepted a call to care for his countrymen in the United States, and arrived in New York in October, 1837. The unorthodox opinions of the New York Lutherans displeased him, and he left for Missouri early in 1839. Things were no better there, so he returned to New York. Denominational dissensions weakened his faith, and in 1840 he became a Catholic. An account of his conversion in pamphlet form published 25 March, 1850, had quite a vogue in the controversial literature of the day.
After his conversion he taught German at St. John's College, Fordham; later he edited in Cincinnati the "Wahrheitsfreund", a German Catholic weekly, and in 1846 he left for Baltimore where he founded the weekly "Kirchenzeitung", which, under his editorial direction, was the most prominent German Catholic publication in the United States. In 1851, he moved the paper to New York. In 1869 he published "Altesund Neues". In 1875 Pius IX made him a Knight of St. Gregory in recognition of his service to the Church and Catholic literature.
U. S. CATH. HIST. SOC., Hist. Records and Studies, IV, parts I and II (New York, Oct., 1906); SHEA, The Cath. Church in. the U. S. (New York, 1856); Catholic News (New York, 18 April, 1908).
THOMAS F. MEEHAN