curious and the studious; but at length a rumor spreads, that Abelard is exploring the way to some novel view on the subject of the Most Holy Trinity. Wherefore is hardly clear, but about the same time the monks drive him away from the place of refuge he had gained. He betakes himself to a cell, and thither his. pupils follow him. "I betook myself to a certain cell," he says, "wishing to give myself to the schools, as was my custom. Thither so great a multitude of scholars flocked, that there was neither room to house them, nor fruits of the earth to feed them," such was the enthusiasm of the student, such the attraction of the teacher, when knowledge was advertised freely, and its market opened.

Next he is in Champagne, in a delightful solitude near Nogent in the diocese of Troyes. Here the same phenomenon presents itself, which is so frequent in his history. "When the scholars knew it," he says, they began to crowd thither from all parts; and, leaving other cities and strongholds, they were content to dwell in the wilderness. For spacious houses they framed for themselves small tabernacles, and for delicate food they put up with wild herbs. Secretly did they whisper among themselves: "Behold, the whole world is gone out a ter him!" When, however, my Oratory could not hold even a moderate portion of them, then they were forced to enlarge it, and to build it up with wood and stone." He called the place his Paraclete, because it had been his consolation.

I do not know why I need follow his life further. I have said enough to illustrate the course of one, who may be called the founder, or at least the first great name, of the Parisian Schools. After the events I have mentioned he is found in Lower Britanny; then, being about forty-eight years of age, in the Abbey of St. Gildas; then with St. Geneviève again. He had to sustain the fiery eloquence of a Saint, directed against his novelties; he had to present himself before two Councils; he had to burn the book which had given offense to pious ears. His last two years were spent at Cluny on his way to Rome. The home of the weary, the hospital of the sick, the school of the erring, the tribunal of the penitent, is the city of St. Peter. He did not reach it; but he is said to have retracted what had given scandal in his writings, and to have made an edifying end. He died at the age of sixty-two, in the year 1142.

In reviewing his career, the career of so great an intellect so miserably thrown away, we are reminded of the famous words of the dying scholar and jurist: "Heu, vitam perdidi, operosè nihil ageudo."

JOHN ROSCELLINUS.

To the names of William of Champaux and of Peter Abelard, as founders of schools of general philosopical discussion, outside of clerical purposes and attendance, in which the University of Paris had its origin, is usually added that of John Roscellinus, a canon of Campiègne, whose doctrine that general terms or ideas had no corresponding reality either in or out of the mind, gave rise to the school of the nomal'sts, and to the opposite, of the realists, and to the discussions in which both William, and Abelard took different sides, and illustrated their dialectic skill. The application of this principle to the theological opinions generally held, subjected Roscellinus to a summons before a council, and the necessity of abjuring his opinion as an error. In this controversy Anselm of Canterbury published his 'de fide Trinitas.'

ST. DOMINIC AND THE DOMINICANS.

MEMOIR.

DOMINIC GUSMAN, founder of the Order of Friars-Preachers or Predicants (praedicatores), was born in 1170, in the pontificate of Alexander III., at his father's Castle of Carargo, in Old Castile. His father, Don Felix Gusman, was remarkable not simply for his high birth, but for his saintly life, and the religious character he impressed on his family, all the members of which were distinguished for service to the poor and the altar. From the age of seven, Dominic lived with his uncle, a priest of Gumich di Izan, a town near his father's castle, where he grew up in learning to recite the divine office, and serving at mass and little devotional offices of the Church. At the age of fourteen, he went to the University of Palencia, then the most celebrated school in Spain, where he spent ten years in the studies of the place, including theology, distinguished for the whole period by the rigid austerity of his morals. Among the traditions of his student life, he is represented, at the time of great scarcity in Palencia, to have sold his costly manuscript books, and distributed the avails among the poor, and to a family in great distress on account of the captivity of an only son, he offered himself as a ransom, if he could be exchanged. At the age of twentyfive, he received the habit of the Canons Regular in the diocesan Church of Osma, whose Bishop, Martin de Bezan, had converted the canons of his cathedral into canons regular, who lived in community for stricter ecclesiastical discipline. Of this community he was soon chosen sub-prior, in which position he gave a beautiful example of an humble, studious, and laborious priest-life.

In 1201, Dominic accompanied Don Diego de Azevedo (who was the first prior of the new cathedral community of Osma, and who succeeded to the see on the death of Bishop Martin) to Denmark, to negotiate a marriage between the eldest son of Alfonso VIII, and a princess of that kingdom. On his way, or about this time, he became interested in the Albigensian controversy, which had assumed formidable dimensions; and before his return to Spain, he accompanied his bishop to Rome, who desired to obtain permission to resign his see, and devote himself as apostolic missionary among the Caman Tartars, who were then ravaging Hungary and the surrounding country. The special object of the Bishop's visit was not

gained, and the friends returned to Osma, stopping awhile at the celebrated Abbey of Citeaux, which the fame of Bernard had made illustrious throughout Europe. Not being allowed to remain there, both Diego and Dominic assumed the habit of the Order, and solicited the companionship of several of the brethren, from whom they might learn the rule and manner of life. With these companions they journeyed on towards Spain, stopping at Montpellior, where they found a commission appointed by Innocent III. to take active measures for the suppression of the Albigensian heresy. The legates were all eminent in ecclesiastical position, and lived in conformity with their rank. The mission was not accomplishing its object, and, in a conference, Bishop Diego, whose opinion was asked, advised the abandonment, at once, of all equipage and outward pomps, and to meet their opponents on the footing of apostolic poverty and zeal for souls. Setting himself the example, the Bishop and his companions dismissed all their attendants, and, retaining only the means of celebrating the Divine Office, and books to confute their opponents, they dispersed through the country about Montpellier, reconciling great numbers who had become estranged to the Church. In this campaign, Brother Dominic, who had laid aside the title of subprior, and was only the attendant of his superior, distinguished himself by his zeal and successful controversy. But the points in dispute had lost their simple religious character, and got mixed up with political and local considerations, and passed into the field of civil

war.

One of the fruits of Brother Dominic's labors in this Albigensian controversy, was the establishment at Prouille, a small village near Montréal, at the foot of the Pyrenees, of a monastery, under the charge of a few holy women, who had been converted by his preaching, of whom Guillemette de Fanjeaux, a daughter of a noble Catholic family, was made superior, Dominic himself receiving from the Archbishop of Narbonne, the title of Prior, in December, 1206. The rule which the convent received devoted the sisters, who soon numbered one hundred, to education and manual labor. This was the mother-house of not less than twelve other foundations, and reckoned among its prioresses several of the royal house of Bourbon.

About the year 1213, Dominic instituted the celebrated devotion of the Rosary, in which, with the frequent repetition of the Angelical Salutation, are gathered together, under fifteen heads, all the history of the life of Christ.

Soon after the surrender of Toulouse (in 1215), the founder of this celebrated order, with six companions, presented themselves at the door of a celebrated doctor of theology, in that city, named Alexander, by whose instructions they desired to profit before they attempted to preach the Gospel of Christ to the faithful and the heretical of that neighborhood. They wore the white serge tunic, covered with a linen surplice, and over

that a black mantle of the Canons-Regular of St. Augustine. The institute of which Dominic had formed the plan, was expressly designed for the purpose of teaching and preaching, and hence the culture of sacred science formed one of its primary and essential duties. For this purpose he established his followers with a learned doctor, then quite famous for his instruction, and the defence of truth by learned controversy, and repaired himself to Rome, to lay his plan before the Pope, Innocent III., then presiding over the Fourth Lateran Council. That council had allready formally recognized the existing necessity of sound religious instruction among all classes of people, and of theological science among the clergy, and had decreed that the bishops in each diocese should choose associate with persons themselves capable of preaching and instructing the people, and assign to all cathedral and conventual churches certain learned men, to assist in sacred doctrine, and in administering the sacraments. The plan of this order, expressly designed to teach and cultivate sacred science, was confirmed by the Pope; and, in 1216, the founder was named Master of the Sacred Palace, which office became hereditary with the Friar-Preachers, as the chosen theologians of the Church.

Meanwhile Dominic had not yet returned to Rome to submit his constitutions to the Sovereign Pontiff for the approbation he had promised, when the latter (Innocent III. still) had occasion to write to him. Having sent for his secretary, he said to him, "Sit down and write as follows: To Brother Dominic and his companions.'" And then, pausing a moment, he said, “No, do not style him so, but write, 'To Brother Dominic and those who preach along with him in the district of Toulouse.' And, reflecting again, he said, " Address him thus: To Master Dominic and the Brothers-Preachers.""

Finally, on the 22d December, in the year of our Lord 1216, the day after the feast of St. Thomas, the order of Friars-Preachers was approved of at Rome, in the Palace of St. Sabina, by Honorius III., in two bulls, the shorter of which runs thus:

Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our dear son, Brother Dominic, Prior of St. Romanus of Toulouse, and his brethren, who have made, or shall make, profession of the regular life, greeting and apostolical benediction. We, considering that the brethren of your order shall be the champions of the faith and true light of the world, confirm your order, with all its lands and possessions, actual and to come; and we take under our government and protection the order itself, its possessions and rights. Given at Rome, near St. Sabina, 11 Kal. of January, in the first year of our Pontificate.

Five years afterward Dominic died, the 6th of August, 1221, leaving his order distributed into eight provinces, containing in all sixty houses. He was fifty-one years of age at his death.

The general aim, novitiate, and functions of the order established by Dominic, are thus set forth by Father Lacordaire, in his Memorial to the French People, in 1839, demanding, in the name of civil liberty for the sons and daughters of France, the choice of a religious life, the liberty of devoting themselves to chastity, poverty, and labor, for their own salvation, and the good of their fellow-men.

THE BROTHERS-PREACHERS, OR DOMINICANS.

The order established by St. Dominic is not a monastic order, but one which combines the strength of the religious life with the energy of ex, ternal action,—the apostleship with personal sanctification. The salva: tion of souls is its prime object, instruction its chief means of action. "Go, and teach," said Christ to His Apostles; "Go, and teach," repeated Dominic. A year of spiritual novitiate is imposed on his disciples, and nine years of philosophical and theological studies are required to fit them for appearing worthily in the pulpit or the chairs of the universities. But, although preaching and the functions of the doctor are their especial favorites, yet no work useful to the neighbor is foreign to their vocation. In the order of St. Dominic, as in the Roman Republic, the well-being of the people is the supreme law. For this reason, excepting the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the necessary bond of every religious community, the rules of the order do not in themselves oblige under pain of sin, and the superiors have the constant right of dispensing with them, in order that the yoke of the religious life may nowise interfere with the liberty of doing good.

A single head, under the title of master-general, governs the entire order, which is distributed into provinces. Each province, composed of several convents, has at its head a prior-provincial, and each convent a prior-conventual. The prior-conventual is elected by the brethren of the convent, subject to the approbation of the prior-provincial. The prior-provincial is elected by the priors-conventual of the province, assisted by a deputy from each convent, and his election must be confirmed by the master-general. The master-general is elected by the priors-1 rovincial, assisted by two deputies from each province Thus the freedom of election is modified by the necessity of the confirmations, and the authority of the hierarchy is controlled by the feelom of elec tion. We remark, also, a similar composition between the principle of unity, so necessary to power, and the principle of multiplicity, so necessary on other grounds, for the chapter-general, which meets every three years, is meant as a counterpoise to the authority of the mastergeneral, just as the provincial chapter, meeting every two years, is intended to balance that of the prior-provincial. And, in fine, this authority, restricted as it is by election and the chapter, is committed to the same hands for a very limited period, except in the case of the mastergeneral, who formerly held office during life, but is now elected for six years. Such is the constitution which a Christian of the thirteenth cen tury gave to other Christians; and, indeed, all our modern charters, compared to this, will appear strongly despotic, Myriads of men, scattered over the entire earth, have lived under this law for six hundred years, peaceful and united, the freest, the most laborious, and the most obedient of mortals.

The question remained, how the brethren should provide for their sup port; and here again the genius of Dominic displayed itself in full. If he consulted the existing religious orders, he saw them in possession of