OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bairāgi

​Bairāgi.— The Bairāgis are a class of religious mendicants, who roam about all over India, and are for the most part recruited from North Indian castes. They are followers of Rāmānand, who founded the order at the end of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century. According to common tradition, the schism of Rāmānand originated in resentment of an affront ​offered him by his fellow disciples, and sanctioned by his teacher. It is said that he had spent some time in travelling through various parts of India, after which he returned to the math, or residence of his superior. His brethren objected to him that in the course of his peregrinations it was impossible he could have observed that privacy in his meals, which is a vital observance of the Rāmānuja sect; and, as Rāghavānand admitted the validity of the objection, Rāmānand was condemned to feed in a place apart from the rest of the disciples. He was highly incensed at the order, and retired from the society altogether, establishing a schism of his own*
The name Bairāgi is derived from the Sanskrit vairāgya (vi+rāg), denoting without desire or passion, and indicates an ascetic, who has subdued his passions, and liberated himself from worldly desires. The Bairāgis are sometimes called Bāvāji or Sādhu.
The Bairāgis are Vaishnavites, and bear the Tengalai Vaishnava mark (nāmam), made with sandal-paste or gōpi, on the forehead. Bairāgis with a Vadagalai mark are very rare. The Bairāgis wear necklaces of tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) beads or lotus (Nelumbium speciosum) seeds. Every Bairāgi cooks his food within a space cleansed with cow-dung water by himself or his disciple, and will not leave the space until he has finished his meal. The Bairāgis are not particular about screening the space from the public gaze. They partake of one meal daily, in the afternoon, and are abstainers from flesh dietary. They live mainly on alms obtained in the bazars, or in choultries (rest-houses for travellers). They generally carry with them one or two ​brass vessels for cooking purposes, a sālagrāma stone and a conch-shell for worship, and a chillum (pipe) for smoking ganja (Indian hemp) or opium. They are, as a rule, naked except for a small piece of cloth tied round the waist and passed between the thighs. Some wear more elaborate body-clothing, and a turban. They generally allow the beard to grow, and the hair of the head is long and matted, with sometimes a long tail of yak or human hair tied in a knot on the top of the head. Those who go about nearly naked smear ashes all over their bodies. When engaged in begging, some go through the streets, uttering aloud the name of some God. Others go from house to house, or remain at a particular spot, where people are expected to give them alms.
BAIRĀGIS.
Hanumān."
The Bairāgis have a guru or priest, whom they call Mahant. Some visit the celebrated temple near Tirupati and pay their respects to the Mahant thereof.
* ↑ * H. H. Wilson, Essays and Lectures, chiefly on the Religion of the Hindus,1862.
* ↑ * Hindu Castes and Sects.
* ↑ * The Mystics, Ascetics, and Saints of India, 1903.
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Baita Kammara

​Baita Kammara.—The name, meaning outside blacksmiths, applied to Kamsala blacksmiths, who occupy a lowly position, and work in the open air or outside a village.†
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Baidya

​Baidya.— See Vaidyan.
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Baisya

​Baisya.—A sub-division of Koronos of Ganjam.
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Balanollu

​Balanollu.—Balanollu and Badranollu are names of gōtras of Gānigas, the members of which may not cut Erythroxylon monogynum.
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bahusāgara

​Bahusāgara (many seas). — Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a synonym of Rangāri. The Rangāris are tailors and dyers, and the signification of the name is not clear.
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bainēdu

​Bainēdu.— The Bainēdu, or Bainēdi, as they are called in the Census Report, 1901, are the musicians and barbers of the Mālas and Mādigas. At the peddadinamu death ceremony of the Gamallas, a Māla Bainēdu takes part in the recitation of the story of Ankamma, and in making the designs (muggu) on the ground.
# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bakta

​Bakta.—*See Bagata.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Ulrich of Zell

From volume 15 of the work.
(Wulderic; called also of Cluny, and of Ratisbon), born at Ratisbon, at the beginning of 1029; died at Zell, probably on 10 July, 1093. Feast, 14 July (10). Two lives of him are extant: the first, written anonymously c. 1109 by a monk of Zell at the request of Adalbert, a recluse near Ratisbon; the other, also anonymous, written between 1109 and 1130. Particulars of his life are also contained in his writings. His parents, pious and rich, were Bernhold and Bucca, niece of Bishop Gebhard II. Ulrich probably received his education at St. Emmeram, but in 1044 he was called to the court of his godfather, Henry IV, and acted as page to the Empress Agnes. Ordained deacon by his uncle Nidger, Bishop of Freising, he was made archdeacon of the cathedral. On his return from a journey to Rome he distributed his posessions to the poor, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and, after another short visit to Rome, entered the Abbey of Cluny in 1061, during the reign of St. Hugo. Here he soon excelled in piety and diligence, made his profession, was ordained priest and appointed confessor to the convent at Mareigny in the Diocese of Autun, and prior of the community of men in the same place. Here he lost an eye and was obliged to return to Cluny.
He was then named prior at Peterlingen (Payerne) in the Diocese of Lausanne, but on account of troubles caused by Bishop Burchard von Oltingen, a partisan of Henry IV, Ulrich again went to Cluny, where he acted as adviser to his abbot. A nobleman had donated to Cluny some property at Grüningen near Breisach, and Ulrich was sent to inspect the place and eventually to lay the foundation of a monastery. Not finding the locality suitable, he with his monks in 1087 retired to Zell (Sell, Sella, Villmarszelle) in the Black Forest, where the report of his virtues soon brought him many disciples. He enjoyed the esteem of Blessed Gebhard III, Bishop of Basle, who frequently visited him. In 1090 he established a convent for nuns at Bolesweiler (now Bollschweil), about a mile from Zell. God granted him the gift of miracles. The last two years of his life he was blind. He was buried in the cloister, but three years later his body was brought into the church. His feast was celebrated for the first time 14 July, 1139.
His life of Hermann von Zähringen, Margrave of Baden, later a monk of Cluny, is also lost. His "Consuetudines cluniacenses" (in P.L., CXLIX, 657) were composed at the request of William, Abbot of Hirschau, in three books. The first two, written between 1079 and 1082, treat of liturgy and the education of novices; the third, written not later than 1087, speaks of the government of monasteries.
FRANCIS MERSHMAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Ultan of Ardbraccan

From volume 15 of the work.
Ultan of Ardbraccan, Saint, Ireland, was the maternal uncle of St. Brigid, and collected a life of that great Irish saint for his pupil, St. Brogan Cloen of Rostuirc, in Ossory. There seems to be some difficulty in his chronology inasmuch as the assumption of his relation to St. Brigid must involve an extraordinary longevity, namely 180 years, because his death is not chronicled till 657. Windisch, however, explains away the seeming inconsistency. The Irish Annals describe St. Ultan as of the royal race of O'Connor, and he succeeded St. Breccan as Abbot-Bishop of Ardbraccan about the year 570. From O'Clery's "Irish Calendar" we learn that he educated and fed thousands of poor students from all parts of Ireland. Of his literary powers there are several specimens, among others, lives of St. Patrick and St. Brigid. His exquisite Latin hymn of the latter saint, commencing "Christus in nostra insula", is incorporated in the Solesmes Chant books. He was also an accomplished illuminator of books. The exact year of his death is uncertain, the various annalists giving 653, 656, 657, and 662, but probably we are safe in following the "Annals of Ulster", wherein his obit is recorded under the year 657. He died on September 4, on which day his feast has always been celebrated. St. Ultan's Well is still at Ardbraccan.
COLGAN, Acta Sanct. Hib. (Louvain, 1645); Cogan, Diocese of Mealh (Dublin. 1862); Healy, Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars (4th ed., Dublin, 1902); Hyde, Lit. Hist, of Ireland (new ed., London. 1901).
W. H. Grattan-Flood
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Valentine

From volume 15 of the work.
At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury's time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine. The name seems to have been taken from a small church dedicated to the saint which was in the immediate neighbourhood. Of both these St. Valentines some sort of Acta are preserved but they are of relatively late date and of no historical value. Of the third St. Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions nothing further is known.
The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer's "Parliament of Foules" we read:
   For this was on Seynt Valentyne's day Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice. Perhaps the earliest to be found is in the 34th and 35th "Ballades" of the bilingual poet, John Gower, written in French; but Lydgate and Clauvowe supply other examples. Those who chose each other under these circumstances seem to have been called by each other their Valentines. In the "Paston Letters", Dame Elizabeth Brews writes thus about a match she hopes to make for her daughter (we modernize the spelling), addressing the favoured suitor:
   And, cousin mine, upon Monday is St. Valentine's day and every bird chooseth himself a mate, and if it like you to come on Thursday night, and make provision that you may abide till then, I trust to God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.
Shortly after the young lady herself wrote a letter to the same man addressing it "Unto my rightwell beloved Valentine, John Paston Esquire". The custom of choosing and sending valentines has of late years fallen into comparative desuetude.
Herbert Thurston.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Victorinus

From volume 15 of the work.
An ecclesiastical writer who flourished about 270, and who suffered martyrdom probably in 303, under Diocletian.
He was bishop of the City of Pettau (Petabium, Poetovio), on the Drave, in Styria (Austria); hence his surname of Petravionensis or sometimes Pictaviensis, e.g. in the Roman Martyrology, where he is registered under 2 November, which long caused it to be thought that he belonged to the Diocese of Poitiers (France). Until the seventeenth century he was likewise confounded with the Latin rhetorician, Victorinus After. According to St. Jerome, who gives him an honourable place in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers, Victorinus composed commentaries on various books of Holy Scripture, such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaias, Ezechiel, Habacuc, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, St. Matthew, and the Apocalypse, besides treatises against the heresies of his time.
All his works have disappeared save extracts from his commentaries on Genesis and the Apocalypse, if indeed these texts are really a remnant of his works, concerning which opinions differ. These latter with a critical annotation are published in Migne's P.L., V (1844) 301-44. It is certainly incorrect to regard him as the author of two poems, "De Jesu Christo" and "De Pascha", which are included in the collection of Fabricius. Born on the confines of the Eastern and Western Empires, Victorinus spoke Greek better than Latin, which explains why, in St. Jerome's opinion, his works written in the latter tongue were more remarkable for their matter than for their style. Like many of his contemporaries he shared the errors of the Millenarians, and for this reason his works were ranked with the apocrypha by Pope Gelasius.
BARONIUS, Ann. (1589), 303, 126-7; CAVE, Script. eccles. hist. litt., I (1741), 147-51; CEILLIER, Hist. des aut. sacr., III (1732), 245-48; FABRICIUS, Bib. lat. med. aev., VI (1746), 822-23; HARNACK, Chron. altchristl. litt., II (Leipzig, 1904), 426-32; HIERONYMUS, De vir. ill., 74; Act. SS. Boll., Nov. 1 (1887), 432-43; LAUNOY, De Victorino episc. et mart. dissert. (Paris, 1664); PRILESZKY, Act. et Script. SS. Corn. Firmil., Pont. et Victorini suo ord. digesta Cassoviae (1765): TILLEMONT, Mem. pour serv. d l'hist. eccles., V (1698), 311-2, 707-9.
LEON CLUGNET
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Ursus

From volume 15 of the work.
Patron of the principal church of Solothurn (Soleure) in Switzerland, honoured from very early times, as a martyr of the Theban Legion, and recorded in the Roman Martyrology, with St. Victor, on 30 September. Relics of him are shown in many churches of Switzerland, and since the twelfth century the baptismal name Ursus is very common in the neighbourhood of Solothurn. The legend, by St. Eucher of Lyons (Acta SS., Sept. VIII, 461), classed by Delehaye ("Legends of the Saints," New York, 1907, p. 120) among the historical romances, says that Ursus, after many cruel torments suffered for his constancy in refusing to sacrifice to the idols, was beheaded c. 286 under the Emperor Maximian Herculeus and the Governor Hyrtacus. Between the years 473 and 500 the body of St. Victor was brought to Geneva by the Burgundian Queen Theudesinde; it is probably that about the same time a church was built over the remains of St. Ursus. In 1519 the old coffin was found and the event was commemorated at Solothurn and Bern. The Roman urn containing the relics bears the inscription:
   Conditus hoc sanctus
   Tumulo Thebaidus Ursus. (Buried in this tomb is the holy Ursus the Theban.)
FRANCIS MERSHMAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Veronica

From volume 15 of the work.
In several regions of Christendom there is honored under this name a pious matron of Jerusalem who, during the Passion of Christ, as one of the holy women who accompanied Him to Calvary, offered Him a towel on which he left the imprint of His face. She went to Rome, bringing with her this image of Christ, which was long exposed to public veneration. To her likewise are traced other relics of the Blessed Virgin venerated in several churches of the West. The belief in the existence of authentic images of Christ is connected with the old legend of Abgar of Edessa and the apocryphal writing known as the "Mors Pilati". To distinguish at Rome the oldest and best known of these images it was called vera icon (true image), which ordinary language soon made veronica. It is thus designated in several medieval texts mentioned by the Bollandists (e.g. an old Missal of Augsburg has a Mass "De S. Veronica seu Vultus Domini"), and Matthew of Westminster speaks of the imprint of the image of the Savior which is called Veronica: "Effigies Domenici vultus quae Veronica nuncupatur". By degrees, popular imagination mistook this word for the name of a person and attached thereto several legends which vary according to the country.
These pious traditions cannot be documented, but there is no reason why the belief that such an act of compassion did occur should not find expression in the veneration paid to one called Veronica, even though the name has found no place in the Hieronymian Martyrology or the oldest historical Martyrologies, and St. Charles Borromeo excluded the Office of St. Veronica from the Milan Missal where it had been introduced. The Roman Martyrology also records at Milan St. Veronica de Binasco, the Order of St. Augustine, on 13 January, and St. Veronica Giuliani on 9 July. Acta SS. Bolland., Feb. I (Paris, 1863); Maury, Lettres sur l'etymologie du nom de Veronique, apotre de l'Aquitaine (Toulouse, 1877); Bourrieres, Saint Amadour et Sainte Veronique (Cahors, 1894); Palme, Die deutchen Veronicalegenden des XII Jahrh. (Prague, 1892)
Antoine Degert.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Vicelinus

From volume 15 of the work.
Bishop of Oldenburg, apostle of Holstein, b. at Hameln about 1086; d. 12 Dec., 1154. Orphaned at an early age, he received his primary education at Hameln. He left secretly for Paderborn, where he enjoyed the home and instructions of Hartmann, and soon surpassed his companions and assisted in the management of the cathedral school. He was called to Bremen to act as teacher and principal of the school, and was offered a canonry by Archbishop Frederic. In 1122 he went to Laon in France to complete his studies (Hauck, "Kirchengesch. Deutschl.", Leipzig, 1903, IV, 600); this is doubted by Schirren (Beitrage zur Kritik alterer holst. Geschichte, 1876, 38). On his return he was ordained priest by St. Norbert of Magdeburg. Archbishop Adalben sent him among the Wends, and in the fall of 1126 Henry, Prince of the Obotrites, gave him a church in Lubeck. At the death of Henry (22 March, 1127) Vicelinus returned to Bremen, and was appointed pastor at Wippenthorp. This gave him an opportunity to work among the Holstians and neighbouring Slavs. His preaching gathered crowds of eager listeners, and many priests aided him in founding the monastery of Neumunster, according to the Rule of St. Augustine, which was liberally endowed by the archbishop. Wars among the tribes in 1137 caused the missionaries to abandon their labours for two years. Vicelinus sent two priests to Lubeck, but with little success. At his suggestion King Lothair intended to build a fortress and monastery at Segeburg, but death prevented him. Some years later Vicelinus established a house at Hogersdorf. In 1149 he was made Bishop of Oldenburg, where he did much for the spiritual and temporal welfare of his diocese. In 1152 he was struck by paralysis and lingered amid much suffering for two years. His body was transferred to Bordesholm in 1332, and buried before the main altar. In 1874 the small Catholic parish at Hameln had his picture engraved on a new bell. He is usually represented with a church resting on his left arm; his feast is celebrated on 12 Dec.
KREUSCH, Kirchengesch. Der Wendenlande (Paderborn, 1902), 35; STRUNCK, Leben der Heiligen Westfalens, I (Munster, 1863), 123; HELMODI, Chron. Slav.; Bibl. Hag. Lat., II, 1236.
FRANCIS MERSHMAN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Johann Nepomuk von Nussbaum

From volume 11 of the work.
German surgeon, b. at Munich 2 Sept., 1829; d. there 31 Oct., 1890. He made his studies in the University of Munich where he was a pupil of Thiersch and later the clinical assistant of Von Rothmund. He received his doctor's degree in 1853, the subject of his dissertation being "Ueber Cornea Artificialis". The following four years he spent in foreign travel, studying surgery under Nélaton, Chassaignac, and Maisonneuve in Paris, Langenbeck in Berlin, and Textor in Würzburg. In 1857 he became a Privat-docent (with a thesis on the treatment of various conditions of the cornea). In 1860 he was appointed professor of surgery at the University of Munich which office he held for nearly thirty years. His lectures were noted for their practical character. He studied under Spencer Wells in England which enabled him to greatly aid the development of pelvic surgery. Later he learned antisepsis from Lister and was instrumental in introducing it into the surgical clinics of Germany. His best-known work, "Leitfaden zur antiseptischen Wundbehandlung" (Hints for the antiseptic treatment of wounds), went through five editions and was translated into a number of foreign languages. Altogether his publications number almost 100, the best known of which deal with ovariotomy, the transplantation of bone, radical operation for hernia, and phases of the treatment of cancer. During the war of 1871 Nussbaum was consultant surgeon-general to the Bavarian troops. Throughout his life he was a Catholic and died pronouncing the words "Praised be Jesus Christ".
PAGEL, Biograph. Dict. der hervorrag. Aerzte des 19. Jahrh. (Berlin, 1901); IDEM, Biograph. Lex. der hervorrag. Aerzte (Berlin); KNELLER, Das Christentum und die Vertreter der neueren Naturwissenschaft (Freiburg, 1904).
JAMES J. WALSH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Johann Nikolaus Weislinger

From volume 15 of the work.
Polemical writer, born at Puttlingen in German Lorraine, 1691; died at Kappel-Rodeck in Baden, 29 August, 1755. After attending the Jesuit high-school at Strasburg, he became a private tutor in 1711. Form 1713 he studied philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, then took up theology and prepared for ordination as priest under the direction of the Jesuits at Strasburg. Soon after ordination he was appointed parish priest at Waldulm (1726), and in 1730 at Kappel-Rodeck, but in 1750, on account of severe illness, he was obliged to resign his position. He was a prolific controversialist, widely read in the writings of his opponents. He had a keen mind and was quick at repartee in his polemical treatises. His language is often coarse and rough: he sought "in fine modes of speech from Luther's rhetoric", according to his own statement, to outdo the Protestant controversialists. The most celebrated of his writings is "Friss Vogel oder stirb!", which he composed when a student of theology; it appeared at Strasburg, 1723, and was often reprinted. Other polemical writings are: "Huttenus delarvatus" (Constance and Augsburg, 1730); "Hochst billig und grundliche Antwort auf die unbillig und grundlose Klagen" (Augsburg, 1733); "Auserlesene Merkwurdigkeiten von alten und neuen theologischen Marktschreiern" (Strasburg, 738); "Schutz- Schrift des scharf angeklagten, doch aber ganz unschuldig befundenen Luthertums" (Strasburg, 1840-). He issued a new edition of Kaufmann's "Katholisch ist gut sterben" (Strasburg, 1744).
ALZOG in Freiburger Diozesan-Archiv, I (1865), 407-436; PAULUS in Strassburger Diozesanblatt, (1900), 103 sqq., 143 sqq.
PATRICIUS SCHLAGER