[1] A certain Peter (_Doc. Doat._, 22, p. 98) declared that could he
but get hold of the false and perfidious God of the Catholics who
created a thousand men in order to save a single one and damn all the
rest, he would break him to pieces and tear him asunder with his
nails and spit in his face.
[2] Here we have a doctrine of metempsychosis which seems of Indian
origin (see ASCETICISM). But Julius Caesar (_de B.G._ vi. 13) attests
this belief among the ancient Druids of Gaul.
[3] The Abbe Guiraud remarks that in refusing to take oaths the
Cathars "contraried the social principles on which the constitutions
of all states repose," and congratulates himself that society is not
yet so thoroughly "laicized" as to have given up oaths in the most
important acts of social life.
[4] Cf. S. Gregorii _Ep._ ix. 12 (26): "Mos apostolorum fuit ut ad
ipsam solummodo orationem oblationis hostiam consecrarent." ("The
custom of the apostles was to use no other prayer but the Lord's in
consecrating the host of the offering.")
[5] Cf. Duchesne, _Origines_, ed. 1898, p. 177.
CATHAY, the name by which China (q.v.) was known to medieval Europe and
is still occasionally referred to in poetry, as in Tennyson's "Better
fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." It is derived from
Khitai, or Khitat, the name which was properly that of the kingdom
established by the Khitan conquerors in the northern provinces of China
about A.D. 907, which after the fall of this dynasty in 1125 remained
attached to their former territory, and was subsequently applied by the
nations of Central Asia to the whole of China. Thus "Kitai" is still the
Russian name for China. The name penetrated to Europe in the 13th
century with the fame of the conquests of Jenghiz Khan. After the
discovery of southern China by European navigators Cathay was
erroneously believed to be a country to the north of China, and it was
the desire to reach it that sent the English adventurers of the 16th
century in search of the north-east passage.
CATHCART, SIR GEORGE (1794-1854), English soldier, third son of the 1st
Earl Cathcart, was born in London on the 12th of May 1794. He was
educated at Eton and Edinburgh University. In 1810 he entered the army,
and two years later accompanied his father to Russia as aide-de-camp.
With him he joined the Russian headquarters in March 1813; and he was
present at all the great battles of that year in Germany, and of the
following year in France, and also at the taking of Paris. The fruits of
his careful observation and critical study of these operations appeared
in the _Commentaries_ on the war in Russia and Germany 1812-1813, a
plain soldier-like history, which he published in 1850. After the peace
of 1814 he accompanied his father to the congress of Vienna. He was
present at Quatre Bras and at Waterloo, as an aide-de-camp to the duke
of Wellington, and remained on the staff till the army of occupation
quitted France. Reappointed almost immediately, he accompanied the duke
to the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle and Verona, and in 1826 to Prussia.
Promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1826, he was placed on half-pay in 1834.
He was recalled to active service in 1838, and sent as commander of the
King's Dragoon Guards to Canada, where he played an important part in
suppressing the rebellion and pacifying the country. In 1844 he returned
to England, and two years later was appointed deputy-lieutenant of the
Tower, a post which he held up to the time of his promotion to
major-general in 1851. In March 1852 he succeeded Sir Harry Smith as
governor and commander-in-chief at the Cape, and brought the Kaffir war,
then in progress, to a successful conclusion. He promulgated the first
constitution of Cape Colony, and conducted operations against the
Basuto. Cathcart was made a K.C.B. and received the thanks of both
Houses for his services (1853). In December 1853 he was made
adjutant-general of the army, but never entered upon his duties, being
sent out to the Crimean War as soon as he arrived in England. He was
even given a dormant commission entitling him to the chief command in
case of accident to Lord Raglan, and the highest hopes were fixed on him
as a scientific and experienced soldier. But these hopes were not to be
fulfilled; for he fell at the battle of Inkerman (November 5, 1854). His
remains, with those of other officers, were buried on Cathcart's Hill.
Sir George Cathcart married in 1824 Lady Georgiana Greville, who
survived him, and by whom he had a family.
See _Colburn's United Service Magazine_, January 1855; _Correspondence
of the Hon. Sir George Cathcart relative to Kaffraria_ (1856); A.W.
Kinglake's _Invasion of the Crimea_, vol. v.
CATHCART, WILLIAM SCHAW CATHCART, 1ST EARL (1755-1843), English soldier
and diplomatist, was born at Petersham on the 17th of September 1755,
and educated at Eton. In 1771 he went to St Petersburg, where his
father, Charles, 9th Baron Cathcart (1721-1776), a general in the army,
was ambassador. From 1773 to 1777 he studied law, but after succeeding
to the barony in 1776 he obtained a commission in the cavalry.
Proceeding to America in 1777, he had before the close of his first
campaign twice won promotion on the field of battle. In 1778 he further
distinguished himself in outpost work, and at the battle of Monmouth he
commanded an irregular corps, the "British Legion," with conspicuous
success; for a time also he acted as quartermaster-general to the forces
in America. He returned home in 1780, and in February 1781 was made
captain and lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream Guards. He was elected
a representative peer for Scotland in 1788, and in 1792 he became
colonel of the 29th foot. He served with distinction in the campaigns in
the Low Countries, 1793-1795, in the course of which he was promoted
major-general; and in 1801 he was made a lieutenant-general, having in
the meanwhile received the appointments of vice-admiral of Scotland
(1795), privy councillor (1798), and colonel of the 2nd Life Guards
(1797). From 1803 to 1805 Lord Cathcart was commander-in-chief in
Ireland, and in the latter year he was sent by Pitt in command of the
British expedition to Hanover (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS). After the
recall of this expedition Cathcart commanded the forces in Scotland
until 1807, when he was placed in charge of the expedition to
Copenhagen, which surrendered to him on the 6th of September. Four weeks
later he was created Viscount Cathcart of Cathcart and Baron Greenock of
Greenock in the peerage of the United Kingdom, resuming the Scottish
command on his return from the front. On the 1st of January 1812 he was
promoted to the full rank of general, and a few months later he
proceeded to Russia as ambassador and military commissioner. In the
latter capacity he served with the headquarters of the allies throughout
the War of Liberation (1812-1814); his success in the delicate and
difficult task of maintaining harmony and devotion to the common cause
amongst the generals of many nationalities was recognized after the war
by his elevation to the earldom (July 1814). He then went to St
Petersburg, and continued to hold the post of ambassador until 1820,
when he returned to England. He died at his estate near Glasgow on the
16th of June 1843.
His son, CHARLES MURRAY CATHCART, 2nd earl (1783-1859), succeeded to the
title in 1843. He entered the 2nd Life Guards in 1800, and saw active
service under Sir James Craig in the Mediterranean, 1805-1806. In 1807 he
became by courtesy Lord Greenock. He took part in the Walcheren expedition
of 1809 as a major, and as a lieutenant-colonel served at Barossa,
Salamanca and Vittoria. He had already gained staff experience, and he now
served under Graham in Holland, 1814, as quartermaster-general. He was
present at Waterloo, and for his services received the C.B. and several
foreign orders. During the peace he became deeply interested in scientific
pursuits, and a new mineral discovered by him in 1841 was named
Greenockite. His later military services included the chief command in
Canada during a period of grave unrest (1846-1849). He retired from active
service in 1850, becoming a full general just before his death. The title
passed to his son and grandson as 3rd and 4th earls.
CATHCART, a parish situated partly in Renfrewshire and partly in
Lanarkshire, Scotland. The Renfrewshire portion has the larger area
(2387 acres), but the smaller population (7375), the area of the
Lanarkshire portion being 745 acres and the population (1901) 20,983.
The industries include paper-making, dyeing and sandstone quarrying, but
limestone and coal have also been worked. The parish includes the town
of Cathcart (pop. 4808), and the villages of Old and New Cathcart, but
much of it, though outside the city boundaries, is practically
continuous with some of the southern suburbs of Glasgow, with which
there is communication by electric tram and the Caledonian railway's
circular line. The White Cart flows through the parish. In the 12th
century Cathcart became a barony of the Cathcarts, who derived the title
of their lordship (1460) and earldom (1814) from it. On the Queen's
Knowe, a hillock near the ruins of Cathcart Castle, a memorial marks the
spot where Queen Mary watched the progress of the battle of Langside
(1568), the site of which lies within the parish.
CATHEDRAL, more correctly "cathedral church" (_ecclesia cathedralis_),
the church which contains the official "seat" or throne of a
bishop--_cathedra_, one of the Latin names for this, giving us the
adjective "cathedral." The adjective has gradually, for briefness of
speech, assumed the character of a substantive, but though an instance
of this (strictly incorrect) use of the word as a substantive has been
found as far back as 1587, it became common only at the end of the 18th,
or first half of the 19th, century. One of the earliest instances of the
term _ecclesia cathedralis_ is said to occur in the acts of the council
of Tarragona in 516. Another name for a cathedral church is _ecclesia
mater_, indicating that it is the mother church. As being the one
important church, it was also known as _ecclesia major_. This is the
formal expression used by Archbishop Walter Gray of York (1216-1255),
and it is preserved in modern times by the name of "_La Majeure_," by
which the old cathedral church of Marseilles is popularly known. Again,
as the chief house of God, the cathedral church was the _Domus Dei_, and
from this name the German _Domkirche_, or _Dom_, is derived, as also the
Swedish _Domkyrka_, and the Italian _Duomo_.
_History and Organization._--It was early decreed that the _cathedra_ of
a bishop was not to be placed in the church of a village, but only in
that of a city. There was no difficulty as to this on the continent of
Europe, where towns were numerous, and where the cities were the natural
centres from which Christianity was diffused among the people who
inhabited the surrounding districts. In the British islands, however,
the case was different; towns were few, and owing to other causes,
instead of exercising jurisdiction over definite areas or districts,
many of the bishops were bishops of tribes or peoples, as the bishops of
the south Saxons, the west Saxons, the Somersaetas and others. The
_cathedra_ of such a bishop was often migratory, and was at times placed
in one church, and then another, and sometimes in the church of a
village. In 1075 a council was held in London, under the presidency of
Archbishop Lanfranc, which, reciting the decrees of the council of
Sardica held in 347 and that of Laodicea held in 360 on this matter,
ordered the bishop of the south Saxons to remove his see from Selsey to
Chichester; the Wilts and Dorset bishop to remove his _cathedra_ from
Sherborne to Old Sarum, and the Mercian bishop, whose _cathedra_ was
then at Lichfield, to transfer it to Chester. Traces of the tribal and
migratory system may still be noted in the designations of the Irish see
of Meath (where the result has been that there is now no cathedral
church) and Ossory, the cathedral church of which is at Kilkenny. Some
of the Scottish sees were also migratory.
By the canon law the bishop is regarded as the pastor of the cathedral
church, the _parochia_ of which is his diocese. In view of this,
canonists speak of the cathedral church as the one church of the
diocese, and all others are deemed chapels in their relation to it.
Occasionally two churches jointly share the distinction of containing
the bishop's _cathedra_. In such case they are said to be con-cathedral
in relation to each other. Instances of this occurred in England before
the Reformation in the dioceses of Bath and Wells, and of Coventry and
Lichfield. Hence the double titles of those dioceses. In Ireland an
example occurs at Dublin, where Christ Church and St Patrick's are
jointly the cathedral churches of that diocese. In France the bishop of
Couserans (a see suppressed at the Revolution) had two con-cathedral
churches at St Lizier, and the bishop of Sisteron (a see also
suppressed) had a second throne in the church of Forcalquier which is
still called "La Con-cathedrale." Other instances might be named. In the
case of York the collegiate churches of Beverley, Ripon and Southwell
were almost in the same position, but although the archbishop had a
stall in each he had no diocesan _cathedra_ in them, and the chapters
were not united with that of the metropolitical church in the direct
government of the diocese, or the election of the archbishop, nor had
they those other rights which were held to denote the cathedral
character of a church.
Cathedral churches are reckoned as of different degrees of dignity: (1)
the simple cathedral church of a diocesan bishop, (2) the metropolitical
church to which the other diocesan cathedral churches of a province are
suffragan, (3) the primatial church under which are ranged
metropolitical churches and their provinces, (4) patriarchal churches to
which primatial, metropolitical, and simple cathedral churches alike owe
allegiance. The title of "primate" was occasionally conferred on
metropolitans of sees of great dignity or importance, such as
Canterbury, York, Rouen, &c., whose cathedral churches remained simply
metropolitical. Lyons, where the cathedral church is still known as "La
Primatiale," and Lund in Sweden, may be cited as instances of churches
which were really primatial. Lyons had the archbishops of Sens and Paris
and their provincial dioceses subject to it till the Revolution, and
Lund had the archbishop of Upsala and his province subject to it. As
with the title of primate, so also that of "patriarch" has been
conferred on sees such as Venice and Lisbon, the cathedral churches of
which are patriarchal in name alone. The cathedral church of St John
Lateran, the cathedral church of the pope as bishop of Rome and
patriarch of the West, alone in western Europe possesses potentially a
patriarchal character. Its formal designation is "_Patriarchalis
Basilica, Sacrosancta Romana Cathedralis Ecclesia Lateranensis_."
The removal of a bishop's _cathedra_ from a church deprives that church
of its cathedral dignity, although often the name clings in common
speech, as for example at Antwerp, which was deprived of its bishop at
the French Revolution.
The history of the body of clergy attached to the cathedral church is
obscure, and as in each case local considerations affected its
development, all that can be attempted is to give a general outline of
the main features which were more or less common to all. Originally the
bishop and cathedral clergy formed a kind of religious community, which,
in no true sense a monastery, was nevertheless often called a
_monasterium_. The word had not the restricted meaning which it
afterwards acquired. Hence the apparent anomaly that churches like York
and Lincoln, which never had any monks attached to them, have inherited
the name of minster or monastery. In these early communities the clergy
often lived apart in their own dwellings, and were not infrequently
married. In the 8th century, however, Chrodegang, bishop of Metz
(743-766), compiled a code of rules for the clergy of the cathedral
churches, which, though widely accepted in Germany and other parts of
the continent, gained little acceptance in England. According to
Chrodegang's rule the cathedral clergy were to live under a common roof,
occupy a common dormitory and submit to the authority of a special
officer. The rule of Chrodegang was, in fact, a modification of the
Benedictine rule. Gisa, a native of Lorraine, who was bishop of Wells
from 1061 to 1088, introduced it into England, and imposed its
observance on the clergy of his cathedral church, but it was not
followed for long there, or elsewhere in England.
During the two centuries, roughly bounded by the years 900 and 1100, the
cathedral clergy became more definitely organized, and were also divided
into two classes. One was that of a monastic establishment of some
recognized order of monks, very often that of the Benedictines, while
the other class was that of a college of clergy, living in the world,
and bound by no vows, except those of their ordination, but governed by
a code of statutes or canons. Hence the name of "canon" given to them.
In this way arose the distinction between the monastic and secular
cathedral churches. In England the monastic cathedral churches were
Bath, Canterbury, Carlisle, Coventry, Durham, Ely, Norwich, Rochester,
Winchester and Worcester, all of them Benedictine except Carlisle, which
was a church of Augustinians. The secular churches were Chichester,
Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, St Paul's (London), Salisbury,
Wells, York, and the four Welsh cathedral churches. In Ireland all were
secular except Christ Church, Dublin (Augustinian), and Down
(Benedictine), and none, even in their earliest days, were ever, it is
believed, churches of recognized orders of monks, except the two named.
In Scotland St Andrew's was Augustinian, Elgin (or Moray), Glasgow and
Aberdeen were always secular, and ordered on the models of Lincoln and
Salisbury. Brechin had a community of Culdees till 1372, when a secular
chapter was constituted. The cathedral church of Galloway, at Whithorn,
of English foundation, was a church of Praemonstratensians. In Germany,
as in England, many of the cathedral churches were monastic. In Denmark
all seem to have been Benedictine at first, except Borglum, which was
Praemonstratensian till the Reformation. The others were changed to
churches of secular canons. In Sweden, Upsala was originally
Benedictine, but was secularized about 1250, and it was ordered that
each of the cathedral churches of Sweden should have a chapter of at
least fifteen secular canons. In France monastic chapters were very
common, but nearly all the monastic cathedral churches there had been
changed to churches of secular canons before the 17th century. One of
the latest to be so changed was that of Seez, in Normandy, which was
Augustinian till 1547, when Pope Paul III. dispensed the members from
their vows, and constituted them a chapter of secular canons. The
chapter of Senez was monastic till 1647, and others perhaps even later,
but the majority were secularized about the time of the Reformation.
In the case of monastic cathedral churches there were no dignitaries,
the internal government was that of the order to which the chapter
belonged, and all the members kept perpetual residence. The reverse of
this was the case with the secular chapters; the dignities of provost,
dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, &c., soon came into being, for
the regulation and good order of the church and its services, while the
non-residence of the canons, rather than their perpetual residence,
became the rule, and led to their duties being performed by a body of
"vicars," who officiated for them at the services of the church.
Abroad, the earliest head of a secular church seems to have been the
provost (_praepositus, Probst_, &c.), who was charged, not only with the
internal regulation of the church, and oversight of the members of the
chapter and control of the services, but was also the steward or
seneschal of the lands and possessions of the church. The latter often
mainly engaged his attention, to the neglect of his domestic and
ecclesiastical duties, and complaints were soon raised that the provost
was too much mixed in worldly affairs, and was too frequently absent
from his spiritual duties. This led, in many cases, to the institution
of a new officer called the "dean," who had charge of that portion of
the provost's duties which related to the internal discipline of the
chapter and the services of the church. In some cases the office of
provost was abolished, but in others it was continued, the provost, who
was also occasionally archdeacon as well, remaining head of the chapter.
This arrangement was most commonly followed in Germany. In England the
provost was almost unknown. Bishop Gisa introduced a provost as head of
the chapter of Wells, but the office was afterwards subordinated to the
other dignities, and the provost became simply the steward of certain of
the prebendal lands. The provost of the collegiate church of Beverley
was the most notable instance of such an officer in England, but at
Beverley he was an external officer with no authority in the government
of the church, no stall in the choir and no vote in chapter. The provost
of Eton, introduced by Henry VI., occupied a position most nearly
approaching that of a foreign cathedral provost. In Germany and in
Scandinavia, and in a few of the cathedral churches in the south of
France, the provost was the ordinary head of the cathedral chapter, but
the office was not common elsewhere. As regards France, of one hundred
and thirty-six cathedral churches existing at the Revolution,
thirty-eight only, and those either on the borders of Germany or in the
extreme south, had a provost as the head of the chapter. In others the
provost existed as a subordinate officer. There were two provosts at
Autun, and Lyons and Chartres had four each, all as subordinate
officers.
The normal constitution of the chapter of a secular cathedral church
comprised four dignitaries (there might be more), in addition to the
canons. The dean (_decanus_) seems to have derived his designation from
the Benedictine dean who had ten monks under his charge. The dean, as
already noted, came into existence to supply the place of the provost in
the internal management of the church and chapter. In England the dean
was the head of all the secular cathedral churches, and was originally
elected by the chapter and confirmed in office by the bishop. He is
president of the chapter, and in church has charge of the due
performance of the services, taking specified portions of them by
statute on the principal festivals. He sits in the chief stall in the
choir, which is usually the first on the right hand on entering the
choir at the west. Next to the dean (as a rule) is the precentor
(_primicerius, cantor_, &c.), whose special duty is that of regulating
the musical portion of the services. He presides in the dean's absence,
and occupies the corresponding stall on the left side, although there
are exceptions to this rule, where, as at St Paul's, the archdeacon of
the cathedral city ranks second and occupies what is usually the
precentor's stall. The third dignitary is the chancellor (_scholasticus,
ecolatre, capiscol, magistral_, &c.), who must not be confounded with
the chancellor of the diocese. The chancellor of the cathedral church is
charged with the oversight of its schools, ought to read divinity
lectures, and superintend the lections in the choir and correct slovenly
readers. He is often the secretary and librarian of the chapter. In the
absence of the dean and precentor he is president of the chapter. The
easternmost stall, on the dean's side of the choir, is usually assigned
to him. The fourth dignitary is the treasurer (_custos, sacrista,
cheficier_). He is guardian of the fabric, and of all the furniture and
ornaments of the church, and his duty was to provide bread and wine for
the eucharist, and candles and incense, and he regulated such matters as
the ringing of the bells. The treasurer's stall is opposite to that of
the chancellor. These four dignitaries, occupying the four corner stalls
in the choir, are called in many of the statutes the "_quatuor majores
personae_" of the church. In many cathedral churches there were
additional dignitaries, as the praelector, subdean, vice-chancellor,
succentor-canonicorum, and others, who came into existence to supply the
places of the other absent dignitaries, for non-residence was the fatal
blot of the secular churches, and in this they contrasted very badly
with the monastic churches, where all the members were in continuous
residence. Besides the dignitaries there were the ordinary canons, each
of whom, as a rule, held a separate prebend or endowment, besides
receiving his share of the common funds of the church. For the most part
the canons also speedily became non-resident, and this led to the
distinction of residentiary and non-residentiary canons, till in most
churches the number of resident canons became definitely limited in
number, and the non-residentiary canons, who no longer shared in the
common funds, became generally known as prebendaries only, although by
their non-residence they did not forfeit their position as canons, and
retained their votes in chapter like the others. This system of
non-residence led also to the institution of vicars choral, each canon
having his own vicar, who sat in his stall in his absence, and when the
canon was present, in the stall immediately below, on the second form.
The vicars had no place or vote in chapter, and, though irremovable
except for offences, were the servants of their absent canons whose
stalls they occupied, and whose duties they performed. Abroad they were
often called demi-prebendaries, and they formed the _bas choeur_ of the
French churches. As time went on the vicars were themselves often
incorporated as a kind of lesser chapter, or college, under the
supervision of the dean and chapter.
There was no distinction between the monastic cathedral chapters and
those of the secular canons, in their relation to the bishop or diocese.
In both cases the chapter was the bishop's _consilium_ which he was
bound to consult on all important matters and without doing so he could
not act. Thus, a judicial decision of a bishop needed the confirmation
of the chapter before it could be enforced. He could not change the
service books, or "use" of the church or diocese, without capitular
consent, and there are many episcopal acts, such as the appointment of a
diocesan chancellor, or vicar general, which still need confirmation by
the chapter, but the older theory of the chapter as the bishop's council
in ruling the diocese has become a thing of the past, not in England
only, but on the continent also. In its corporate capacity the chapter
takes charge _sede vacante_ of a diocese. In England, however (except as
regards Salisbury and Durham), this custom has never obtained, the two
archbishops having, from time immemorial, taken charge of the vacant
dioceses in their respective provinces. When, however, either of the
sees of Canterbury or York is vacant, the chapters of those churches
take charge, not only of the diocese, but of the province as well, and
incidentally, therefore, of any of the dioceses of the province which
may be vacant at the same time.
All the English monastic cathedral chapters were dissolved by Henry
VIII., and, except Bath and Coventry, were refounded by him as churches
of secular chapters, with a dean as the head, and a certain number of
canons ranging from twelve at Canterbury and Durham to four at Carlisle,
and with certain subordinate officers as minor canons, gospellers,
epistolers, &c. The precentorship in these churches of the "New
Foundation," as they are called, is not, as in the secular churches of
the "Old Foundation," a dignity, but is merely an office held by one of
the minor canons.
English cathedral churches, at the present day, may be classed under
four heads: (1) the old secular cathedral churches of the "Old
Foundation," enumerated in the earlier part of this article; (2) the
churches of the "New Foundation" of Henry VIII., which are the monastic
churches already specified, with the exception of Bath and Coventry; (3)
the cathedral churches of bishoprics founded by Henry VIII., viz.
Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough (the constitution
of the chapters of which corresponds to those of the New Foundation);
(4) modern cathedral churches of sees founded since 1836, viz. (a)
Manchester, Ripon and Southwell, formerly collegiate churches of secular
canons; (b) St Albans and Southwark, originally monastic churches; (c)
Truro, Newcastle and Wakefield, formerly parish churches, (d) Birmingham
and Liverpool, originally district churches. The ruined cathedral church
of the diocese of Sodor (i.e. the Southern Isles) and Man, at Peel in
the latter island, appears never to have had a chapter of clergy
attached to it.
AUTHORITIES.--Frances, _De ecclesiis cathredralibus_ (Venice, 1698);
Bordenave, _L'Estat des eglises cathedrales_ (Paris, 1643); Van Espen,
_Supplement III._, cap. 5; Hericourt, _Les Loix ecclesiastiques de
France_ (Paris, 1756); _La France ecclesiastique_ (Paris, 1790);
Daugaard, _Om de Danske Klostre i Middelalderen_ (Copenhagen, 1830);
Hinschius, _Das Kirchenrecht der Katholiken u. Protestanten in
Deutschland_, ii. (Berlin, 1878); Walcott, _Cathedralia_ (London,
1865); Freeman, _Cathedral Church of Wells_ (London, 1870); Benson,
_The Cathedral_ (London, 1878); Bradshaw and Wordsworth, _Lincoln
Cathedral Statutes_ (Camb., 1894). (T. M. F.)
_Architecture._--From the architectural point of view there is no
special treatment as regards dimensions or style for a cathedral other
than that required for a church or abbey, as there are cases when the
former are comparatively small buildings (like the old cathedral at
Athens), and some parish churches and abbeys are larger than many
cathedrals. In recent times, indeed, some English abbeys or minsters,
such as those of Ripon, Manchester, St Albans and Southwell, partly on
account of their dimensions, have been raised to the rank of cathedrals,
in consequence of the demand for additional sees; others, such as those
of Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Chester and Peterborough, became
cathedrals only on the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.
Under the headings NAVE, AISLE, CHOIR, APSE, CHEVET, and LADY-CHAPEL,
the principal arrangements of the plan of a cathedral are dealt with,
and its architectural features, such as TOWER and SPIRE, PORCH,
TRIFORIUM, CLERESTORY and VAULT, are separately defined; while in the
article ARCHITECTURE the evolution of the various styles in England,
France, Germany, Italy and Spain, is set forth. It is only necessary
here to deal with the development of the eastern end of English and
foreign cathedrals, as it was in those that the greatest changes from
the middle of the 11th century to the close of the 16th century took
place.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Plan of Canterbury Cathedral.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Plan of Salisbury Cathedral.]
The earliest extended development of the eastern end of the cathedral is
that which was first set out in Edward the Confessor's church at
Westminster, probably borrowed from the ancient church of St Martin at
Tours; in this church, dating probably from the 10th century, two new
elements are found, (1) the carrying of the choir aisle round a circular
apse so as to provide a processional aisle round the eastern end of the
church, and (2) five apsidal chapels, constituting the germ of the
chevet, which transformed the eastern terminations of the French
cathedrals in the 12th and 13th centuries. It is only within recent
times that the foundations of the early church at Tours with its choir
aisle and chapels have been traced under the existing church. In Edward
the Confessor's church (1050) there were probably only three chapels and
a processional aisle; in the next example at Gloucester (1089) were also
three chapels, two of which, on the north and south sides of the aisle,
still remain; the same is found in Canterbury (1096-1107) and Norwich
(1089-1119), the eastern chapel in all three cases having been taken
down to make way for the Lady-chapel in Gloucester and Norwich, and for
the Trinity chapel in Canterbury cathedral (fig. 1). The semicircular
aisle is said to have existed in the Anglo-Norman cathedral of
Winchester, but the eastern end being square, two chapels were arranged
filling the north and south ends, and an apsidal chapel projecting
beyond the east wall. This semicircular processional aisle with chevet
chapels was the favourite type of plan in the Anglo-Norman cathedrals,
and was followed up to about the middle of the 12th century, when the
English builders in some cases returned to the square east end instead
of the semicircular apsidal termination. The earliest example of this
exists in Romsey Abbey (c. 1130), where the processional path crosses
behind the presbytery, there being eastern apsidal chapels in the axis
of the presbytery aisle and a central rectangular chapel beyond. A
similar arrangement is found in Hereford cathedral, and exists in
Winchester, Salisbury (fig. 2), Durham, St Albans, Exeter, Ely, Wells
and Peterborough, except that in all those cases (except Wells) the
eastern chapels are square ended; in Wells cathedral the most eastern
chapel (the Lady-chapel) has a polygonal termination; in Durham (fig.
3), the eastern chapels are all in one line, constituting the chapel of
the nine altars, which was probably borrowed from the eastern end of
Fountains Abbey. It should be noted that in some of the above the
original design has been transformed in rebuilding; thus in St Albans,
Durham, York and Exeter cathedrals, there was no eastern ambulatory but
three parallel apses, in some cases rectangular externally. In
Southwell, Rochester, Ely and Chester, there was no processional path or
ambulatory round the east end; in Carlisle no eastern chapels; and in
Oxford only one central apse. In Ely cathedral (fig. 4) the great
central tower built by the first Norman abbot (1082-1094) fell down in
1321, carrying with it portions of the adjoining bays of the nave,
transept and choir; instead of attempting to rebuild the tower, Alan of
Walsingham conceived the idea of obtaining a much larger area in the
centre of the cathedral, and instead of rebuilding the piers of the
tower he took as the base of his design a central octagonal space, the
width of which was equal to that of nave and aisles, with wide arches to
nave, transepts and choir, and smaller arches across the octagonal
sides; from shafts in the eight pier angles, ribs in wood project
forward and carry a smaller octagon on which the lantern rests.
Internally the effect of this central octagon is of great beauty and
originality, and it is the only instance of such a feature in English
Gothic architecture. (See ARCHITECTURE, Plate VIII., fig. 82.)
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Plan of Durham Cathedral.]
The earliest example of the chevet is probably to be found in the church
of St Martin at Tours; this was followed by others at Tournus,
Clermont-Ferrand, Auxerre, Chartres, Le Mans and other churches built
during the great church-building period of the 11th century. In the
still greater movement in the 12th century, when the episcopacy,
supported by the emancipated communes, undertook the erection of
cathedrals of greater dimensions and the reconstruction of others, in
some cases they utilized the old foundations, as in Chartres (fig. 5),
Coutances and Auxerre cathedrals, while in others (as at Le Mans) they
extended the eastern termination, much in the same way as in many of the
early examples in England, with this important difference, that when the
apsidal east end was given up (about the middle of the 12th century) in
favour of the square east end in England, the French, on the other hand,
developed it by doubling the choir aisles and adding to the number of
extra chapels; thus in Canterbury, Norwich and Gloucester, there were
only three apsidal chapels in the chevet, whereas in Noyon (1150),
Soissons (1190), Reims (1212), Tours, Seez, Bayeux (1230), Clermont
(1275), Senlis, Limoges, Albi and Narbonne cathedrals there were five;
in Amiens, Le Mans and Beauvais, there were seven apsidal chapels, and
in Chartres cathedral nine. Double aisles round the choir, of which
there are no examples in England, are found in the cathedrals of Paris,
Bourges and Le Mans; the cathedral of Sens (fig. 6) (1144-1168)
possesses one feature which is almost unique, viz. the coupled columns
of the alternate bays of nave and choir and of the apse; and these were
introduced into the chapel of the Trinity in Canterbury cathedral,
probably from the designs of William of Sens, by his successor William
the Englishman. The square east end found no favour in France--Laon,
Poiters and Dol being the only cathedral examples; and of the triapsal
arrangement, viz. with apses in the axes of the choir aisle and a
central apse, the only example is that of the cathedral of Autun. The
immense development given to the eastern limb of the French cathedrals
was sometimes obtained at the expense of the nave, so that,
notwithstanding the much greater dimensions compared with English
examples, in the latter the naves are much longer and consist of more
bays than those in France.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Plan of Ely Cathedral.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Plan of Chartres Cathedral.]
In one of the French cathedrals, Bourges, there is no transept; on the
other hand there are many examples in which this part of the church is
emphasized by having aisles on each side, as at Laon, Soissons,
Chartres, Reims, Amiens, Rouen and Clermont cathedrals. Transept aisles
in England are found in Ely, York, Wells and Winchester cathedrals, in
the last being carried round the south and north ends of the transept;
aisles on the east side of the transept only, in some cases probably for
additional altars, exist in Durham, Salisbury, Lichfield, Peterborough
and Ripon cathedrals; and on the north side only in Hereford cathedral.
In Rouen cathedral, east of the transept aisles, there are apsidal
chapels, which with the three chapels in the chevet make up the usual
number. The cathedral of Poitiers has been referred to as an example of
a square east end, but a sort of compromise has been made by the
provision of three segmental apses, and there are no windows in the east
front; the most remarkable divergence from the usual design is found
here in the absence of any triforium or clerestory, owing to the fact
that the vault of the aisles is nearly as high as that of the nave, so
that it constitutes an example of what in Germany (where there are many)
are called _Hallen Kirchen_; the light being obtained through the aisle
windows only gives a gloomy effect to the nave. Another departure from
the usual plan is that found in Albi cathedral (1350), in which there
are no aisles, their place being taken by chapels between the buttresses
which were required to resist the thrust of the nave vault, the widest
in France. The cathedral is built in brick and externally has the
appearance of a fortress. In the cathedrals of the south-west of France,
where the naves are covered with a series of domes--as at Cahors,
Angouleme and St Front de Perigueux--the immense piers required to carry
them made it necessary to dispense with aisles. The cathedral of
Angouleme (fig. 7) consists of a nave covered with three domes, a
transept of great length with lofty towers over the north and south
ends, and an apsidal choir with four chevet chapels. In St Front de
Perigueux (1150), based on St Mark's at Venice, the plan consists of
nave, transept and choir, all of equal dimensions, each of them, as well
as the crossing, vaulted over with a dome, while originally there was a
simple apsidal choir.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Plan of Sens Cathedral.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Plan of Angouleme Cathedral.]
Returning now to the great cathedrals in the north of France, we give an
illustration (fig. 8) of Amiens cathedral (from Viollet le Duc's
_Dictionnaire raisonne_) which shows the disposition of a cathedral,
with its nave-arches, triforium, clerestory windows and vault, the
flying buttresses which were required to carry the thrust of the vault
to the outer buttresses which flanked the aisle walls, and the lofty
pinnacles which surmounted them. In this case there was no triforium
gallery, owing to the greater height given to the aisles. In Notre Dame
at Paris the triforium was nearly as high as the aisles; in large towns
this feature gave increased accommodation for the congregation,
especially on the occasion of great fetes, and it is found in Noyon,
Laon, Senlis and Soissons cathedrals, built in the latter part of the
12th century; later it was omitted, and a narrow passage in the
thickness of the wall only represented the triforium; at a still later
period the aisles were covered with a stone pavement of slight fall so
as to allow of loftier clerestory windows.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Perspective of Amiens Cathedral.]
The cathedrals in Spain follow on the same lines as those in France. The
cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is virtually a copy of St Sernin at
Toulouse, consisting of nave and aisles, transepts and aisles, and a
choir with chevet of five chapels; at Leon there is a chevet with five
apsidal chapels, and at Toledo an east end with double aisles round the
apse with originally seven small apsidal chapels, two of them rebuilt at
a very late period. At Leon, Barcelona and Toledo the processional
passage round the apse with apsidal chapels recalls the French
disposition, there being a double aisle around the latter, but in Leon
and Toledo cathedrals the east end is masked externally by other
buildings, so that the beauty of the chevet is entirely lost. At Avila
and Salamanca (old cathedral) the triapsal arrangement is adopted, and
the same is found in the German cathedrals, with one important
exception, the cathedral of Cologne, which was based on that of Amiens,
the comparative height of the former, however, being so exaggerated that
scale has been lost, and externally it has the appearance of an
overgrown monster.
Under the headings VAULT, FLYING BUTTRESS, PINNACLE, CLERESTORY and
TRIFORIUM, definitions are given of these chief components of a
cathedral or church; but as their design varies materially in almost
every example, without a very large number of drawings it would be
impossible to treat them more in detail. The perspective view, taken
from Viollet le Duc's dictionary, of the interior of the nave of
Amiens cathedral illustrates the principal features, viz. the vault
(in this case quadripartite, with flying buttresses and pinnacle), the
triforium (in this case limited to a narrow passage in the thickness
of the wall), and the nave-arches, with the side aisles, beneath the
windows of which is the decorative arcade. (R. P. S.)
CATHELINEAU, JACQUES (1759-1793), French Vendean chieftain during the
Revolution, was born at Tin-en-Manges, in the country now forming the
department of Maine-et-Loire. He became well known in the country of
Anjou, over which he travelled as a pedlar and dealer in contraband
goods. His physical strength and his great piety gave him considerable
ascendancy over the peasants, who surnamed him "the saint of Anjou." In
the first years of the Revolution, Cathelineau listened to the
exhortations of Catholic priests and royalist _emigres_, and joined the
insurrection provoked by them against the revolutionary government.
Collecting a band of peasants and smugglers, he took the chateau of
Gallais, where he captured a cannon, christened by the Vendeans the
"Missionary"; he then took the towns of Chemille, Cholet, Vihiers and
Chalonnes (March 1793). His companions committed atrocities which
brought upon them terrible reprisals on the part of the Republicans.
Meanwhile Cathelineau's troops increased, and he combined with the other
Vendean chiefs, such as N. Stofflet and Gigot d'Elbee, taking the towns
of Beaupreau, Fontenay and Saumur. The first successes of the Vendeans
were due to the fact that the Republicans had not expected an
insurrection. When the resistance to the insurgents became more serious,
differences arose among their leaders. To avoid these rivalries, it is
thought that Cathelineau was named generalissimo of the rebels, though
his authority over the undisciplined troops was not increased by the new
office. In 1793 all the Royalist forces tried to capture Nantes.
Cathelineau entered the town in spite of the resistance of General
J.B.C. Canclaux, but he was killed, and the Vendean army broke up.
Numerous relatives of Cathelineau also perished in the war of La Vendee.
His grandson, Henri de Cathelineau, figured in the war of 1870 between
France and Germany (see also VENDEE; CHOUANS).
See C. Port, _Vie de J. Cathelineau_ (1882); "La Legende de
Cathelineau" in the review _La Revolution francaise_, vol. xxiv.; _Les
Origines de la Vendee_ (Paris, 1888, 2 vols.); _Dictionnaire
historique de Maine-et-Loire_; Cretineau-Joly, _Histoire de la Vendee
militaire_, Th. Muret, _Vie populaire de Cathelineau_ (1845).
(R. A.*)
CATHERINE, SAINT. The Roman hagiology contains the record of six saints
of this name. 1. ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA, Virgin and Martyr, whose
day of commemoration recurs on the 25th of November, and in some places
on the 5th of March. 2. ST CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, a daughter of St
Bridget, who died abbess of Watzen in March 1381, and is commemorated on
the 22nd of that month. 3. ST CATHERINE OF SIENA, 1347-1380, whose
festal day is observed on the 30th of April. 4. ST CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA,
1413-1463, a visionary, abbess of the convent of the Poor Clares in
Bologna, canonized by Pope Benedict XIII., and commemorated throughout
the Franciscan order on the 9th of March. 5. ST CATHERINE OF GENOA,[1]
who belonged to the noble family of Fieschi, was born about 1447, spent
her life and her means in succouring and attending on the sick,
especially in the time of the plague which ravaged Genoa in 1497 and
1501, died in that city in 1510, was beatified by Clement V. in 1675 and
canonized by Clement XII. in 1737; her name was placed in the calendar
on the 22nd of July by Benedict XIV. 6. ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI, of
Florence, daughter of a wealthy merchant prince, was born in 1522,
became a nun in the convent of the Dominicans at Prato in 1536, and died
in 1589. She was famous during her life-time for the weekly ecstasy of
the Passion, during which in a trance she experienced the sufferings of
the Holy Virgin contemplating the Passion of her Son. She was canonized
in 1746 by Benedict XIV., who fixed her festal day on the 13th of
February. In Celtic and English martyrologies (November 25) there is
also commemorated St Catherine Audley (_c._ 1400), a recluse of Ledbury,
Hereford, who was reputed for piety and clairvoyance.
St Catherine, virgin and martyr.
Of two of these saints, St Catherine of Alexandria, _the_ St Catherine
_par excellence_, and St Catherine of Siena, something more must be
said. Of the former history has little or nothing to tell. The Maronite
scholar, Joseph Simon Assemani (1687-1768), first identified her with
the royal and wealthy lady of Alexandria (Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._ viii.
14) who, for refusing the solicitations of the emperor Maximinus, was
deprived of her property and banished. But Rufinus (_Hist. Eccl._ viii.
17) called this lady Dorothea, and the old Catherine legend, as recorded
in the Roman martyrology and by Simeon Metaphrastes, has quite other
features. According to it Catherine was the daughter of King Konetos,
eighteen years old, beautiful and wise. During the persecution under
Maximinus she sought an interview with the emperor, upbraided him for
his cruelties, and adjured him to give up the worship of false gods. The
angry tyrant, unable to refute her arguments himself, sent for pagan
scholars to argue with her, but they were discomfited. Catherine was
then scourged and cast into prison, and the empress was sent to reason
with her; but the dauntless virgin converted not only the empress but
the Roman general and his soldiers who had accompanied her. Maximinus
now ordered her to be broken on the wheel; but the wheel was shattered
by her touch. The headsman's axe proved more fatal, and the martyr's
body was borne by angels to Mount Sinai, where Justinian I. built the
famous monastery in her honour. Another development of the legend is
that in which, having rejected many offers of marriage, she was taken to
heaven in vision and betrothed to Christ by the Virgin Mary.
Of all these marvellous incidents very little, by the universal
admission of Catholic scholars, has survived the test of modern
criticism. That St Catherine actually existed there is, indeed, no
evidence to disprove; and it is possible that some of the elements in
her legend are due to confusion with the story of Hypatia (q.v.), the
neo-platonic philosopher of Alexandria, who was done to death by a
Christian mob. To the men of the middle ages, in any case, St Catherine
was very real; she was ranked with the fourteen most helpful saints in
heaven, and was the constant theme of preachers and of poets. Her
festival was celebrated in many places with the utmost splendour, and in
certain dioceses in France was a holy day of obligation as late as the
beginning of the 17th century. Numberless chapels were dedicated to her,
and in nearly all churches her statue was set up, the saint being
represented with a wheel, her instrument of torture, and sometimes with
a crown and a book. The wheel being her symbol she was the patron saint
of wheelwrights and mechanics; as the confounder of heathen sophistry
she was invoked by theologians, apologists, preachers and philosophers,
and was chosen as the patron saint of the university of Paris; as the
most holy and illustrious of Christian virgins she became the tutelary
saint of nuns and virgins generally. So late as the 16th century,
Bossuet delivered a panegyric upon her, and it was the action of Dom
Deforis, the Benedictine editor of his works, in criticizing the
accuracy of the data on which this was based, that first discredited the
legend. The saint's feast was removed from the Breviary at Paris about
this time, and the devotion to St Catherine has since lost its earlier
popularity. See Leon Clugnet's article in the _Catholic Encyclopaedia_,
vol. iii. (London, 1908).
St Catherine of Siena.
St Catherine of Siena was the youngest of the twenty-five children of
Giacomo di Benincasa, a dyer, and was born, with a twin-sister who did
not survive her birth, on the 25th of March 1347. A highly sensitive and
imaginative child, she very early began to practise asceticism and see
visions, and at the age of seven solemnly dedicated her virginity to
Christ. She was attracted by what she had heard of the desert
anchorites, and in 1363-1364, after much struggle, persuaded her parents
to allow her to take the habit of the Dominican tertiaries. For a while
she led at home the life of a recluse, speaking only to her confessor,
and spending all her time in devotion and spiritual ecstasy. Her innate
humanity and sound sense, however, led her gradually to return to her
place in the family circle, and she began also to seek out and help the
poor and the sick. In 1368 her father died, and she assumed the care of
her mother Lapa. During the following years she became known to an
increasingly wide circle, especially as a peacemaker, and entered into
correspondence with many friends. Her peculiarities excited suspicion,
and charges seem to have been brought against her by some of the
Dominicans to answer which she went to Florence in 1374, soon returning
to Siena to tend the plague-stricken. Here first she met the Dominican
friar, Raimondo of Capua, her confessor and biographer.
The year 1375 found Catherine entering on a wider stage. At the
invitation of Piero Gambacorti, the ruler of the republic of Pisa, she
visited that city and there endeavoured to arouse enthusiasm for the
proposed crusade, urging princes and presidents, commanders and private
citizens alike to join in "the holy passage." To this task was added
that of trying to keep Pisa and Lucca from joining the Tuscan League
against the pope. It was at Pisa, in the church of Santa Cristina, on
the fourth Sunday in Lent (April 1), while rapt in ecstasy after the
communion, that Catherine's greatest traditional glory befell her, viz.
the _stigmata_ or impression on her hands, feet and heart, of the wounds
corresponding with those received by Christ at his crucifixion. The
marks, however, were at her prayer not made visible. There is no need to
doubt the reality of Catherine's exaltation, but it should be remembered
that she and her circle were Dominicans, and that the stigmata of St
Francis of Assisi were considered the crowning glory of the saint, and
hitherto the exclusive boast of the Franciscans. The tendency observable
in many of the austerities and miracles attributed to St Catherine to
outstrip those of other saints, particularly Francis, is especially
remarkable in this marvel of the stigmata, and so acute became the
rivalry between the two orders that Pope Sixtus IV., himself a
Franciscan, issued a decree asserting that St Francis had an exclusive
monopoly of this particular wonder, and making it a censurable offence
to represent St Catherine receiving the stigmata.
In the year 1376, the 29th of Catherine's life, Gregory XI. was living
and holding the papal court at Avignon. He was the last of seven French
popes in succession who had done so, and had perpetuated for
seventy-three years what ecclesiastical writers are fond of terming "the
Babylonian captivity of the church." To put an end to this absenteeism,
and to bring back the papacy to Italy was the cherished and anxious wish
of all good Italians, and especially of all Italian churchmen. Petrarch
had urgently pressed Urban V., Gregory's immediate predecessor, to
accomplish the desired change; and Dante had at an earlier date laboured
to bring about the same object. But these and all the other influences
which Italy had striven to bring to bear on the popes had hitherto
failed to induce them to return. In these circumstances Catherine
determined to try her powers of persuasion and argument, attempting
first by correspondence to reconcile Gregory and the Florentines, who
had been placed under an interdict, and then going in person as the
representative of the latter to Avignon, where she arrived on the 18th
of June. Gregory empowered her to treat for peace, but the Florentine
ambassadors were first tardy and then faithless. Nothing daunted,
Catherine herself besought Gregory, who, indeed, was himself so minded,
to return, and he did so, in September (taking the sea route from
Marseilles to Genoa), though perhaps intending only to make a temporary
stay in Italy. Catherine went home by land and stayed for a month in
Genoa with Madonna Orietta Scotti, a noble lady of that city, at whose
house Gregory had a long colloquy with her, which encouraged him to push
on to Rome. To this year, 1376, belongs the admission to Catherine's
circle of disciples of Stefano di Corrado Maconi, a Sienese noble
distinguished by a character full of charm and purity, and her healing
of the bitter feud between his family and the Tolomei. Another family
quarrel, that of the Salimbeni at Rocca D'Orcia, was ended by her
intervention in 1377. This year also she turned the castle of Belcaro,
which had been given to her, into a monastery.
Meanwhile the returned pope was not having an easy time. Besides
perpetuating the strife with his enemies he was alienating his friends,
and finding it increasingly difficult to pay his mercenaries. He vented
his anger upon Catherine, who reproved him for minding temporal rather
than spiritual things, but in the beginning of 1378 sent her on an
embassy to Florence and especially to the Guelph party. While she was
urging the citizens to make peace with the pope there came the news of
his death. During the troubles that ensued in Florence Catherine nearly
lost her life in a popular tumult, and sorely regretted not winning her
heart's desire, "the red rose of martyrdom." Peace was signed with the
new pope, Urban VI., and Catherine, having thus accomplished her second
great political task, went home again to Siena. Thence on the outbreak
of the schism Urban summoned her to Rome, whither, somewhat reluctantly,
she journeyed with her now large spiritual family in November. Once
arrived she gave herself heartily to Urban's cause, and wore her slender
powers out in restraining his impatient temper, quieting the revolt of
the people of Rome, and trying to win for Urban the support of Europe.
After prolonged and continual suffering she died on the 29th of April
1380.
Catherine of Siena lived on not only in her writings but in her
disciples. During her short course she gathered round her a devoted
company of men and women trained to labour for the reformation of the
individual, the church and the state. Her death naturally broke up the
fellowship, but its members did not cease their activity and kept up
what mutual correspondence was possible. Among them were Fra Raimondo,
who became master-general of the Dominicans, William Flete, an
ascetically-minded Englishman from Cambridge, Stefano Maconi, who
joined the Carthusians and ultimately became prior-general, and the
two secretaries, Neri di Landoccio and Francesco Malavolti. The last
of her band, Tommaso Caffarini, died in 1434, but the work was taken
up, though in other shape, by Savonarola, between Francis of Assisi
and whom Catherine forms the connecting link.
Catherine's works consist of (l) a treatise occupying a
closely-printed quarto volume, which Fra Raimondo describes as "a
dialogue between a soul, which asked four questions of the Lord, and
the same Lord, who made answer and gave instruction in many most
useful truths," (2) letters, and (3) prayers. The dialogue is
entitled, _The Book of Divine Doctrine, given in person by God the
Father, speaking to the mind of the most glorious and holy virgin
Catherine of Siena, and written down as she dictated it in the vulgar
tongue, she being the while entranced, and actually hearing what God
spoke in her_. The work is declared to have been dictated by the saint
in her father's house in Siena, a little before she went to Rome, and
to have been completed on the 13th of October 1378. The book opens
with a passage on the essence of mysticism, the union of the soul with
God in love, and the bulk of it is a compendium of the spiritual
teachings scattered throughout her letters. There is more monologue
than dialogue. The book has a significant place in the history of
Italian literature. "In a language which is singularly poor in
mystical works it stands with the _Divina Commedia_ as one of the two
supreme attempts to express the eternal in the symbolism of a day, to
paint the union of the soul with the supra-sensible while still
imprisoned in the flesh." The prayers (twenty-six in all) are mostly
mystical outpourings repeating the aspirations found in her other
writings. Of more interest are the letters, nearly four hundred in
number, and addressed to kings, popes, cardinals, bishops, conventual
bodies, political corporations and private individuals. Their
historical importance, their spiritual fragrance and their literary
value combine to put their author almost on a level with Petrarch as a
14th century letter-writer. Her language is the purest Tuscan of the
golden age of the Italian vernacular, and with spontaneous eloquence
she passes to and fro between spiritual counsel, domestic advice and
political guidance.
AUTHORITIES.--The sources for the personal life of Catherine of Siena
are (l) the _Vita_ or _Legenda_, Fra Raimondo's biography written
1384-1395, first published in Latin at Cologne, 1553, and widely
translated; (2) the _Processus_, a collection of testimonies and
letters by those of her followers who survived in 1411, and had to
justify the reverence paid to the memory of one yet uncanonized; (3)
the _Supplementum_ to Raimondo's _Vita_, compiled by Tommaso Caffarini
in 1414; (4) the _Legenda abbreviata_, Caffarini's summary of the
_Vita_, translated into beautiful Italian by Stefano Maconi; (5) the
_Letters_, of which the standard edition is that of Girolamo Gigli (2
vols., Siena, 1713, Lucca, 1721). A selection of these has been
published in English by V.D. Scudder (London, 1905). A complete
bibliography is given in E.G. Gardner's _Saint Catherine of Siena_
(London, 1907), a monumental study dealing with the religion, history
and literature of the 14th century in Italy as they centre "in the
work and personality of one of the most wonderful women that have ever
lived."