--_Boëthius_.
BOËTHIUS, a famous Roman didactic poet and statesman, was born between
470 and 475, and died about 525. His celebrated "Consolation of
Philosophy" won for him lasting fame.
Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,
And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire.
"Rubáiyát," Stanza lxvii,--_Omar Khayyám_.
OMAR KHAYYÁM, a celebrated Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer,
was born at Nishapur, in 1050 (?), and died there in 1123 (?). His fame
rests on the "Rubáiyát," or "Quatrains,"--four-line stanzas with the
third unrhymed. Fitzgerald's was the first English translation to make
these quatrains widely known.
"Abélard was almost the first who awakened mankind in the ages of
darkness to a sympathy with intellectual excellence ... Abélard
was the first of recorded name, who taught the banks of the Seine
to resound a tale of love; and it was of Eloïse that he sang."
PIERRE ABÉLARD, a famous French scholastic philosopher and theologian,
was born near Nantes, 1079, and died April 21, 1142. His romantic and
tragic love for Héloïse is told in his "Story of My Misfortunes."
Jesu! the very Thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast,
But sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy presence rest.
"Saint Bernard's Hymn,"--_Bernard of Clairvaux_.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ST. BERNARD, a renowned French theologian, church
father, and saint, was born at Fontaines, near Dijon, in 1091, and died
at Clairvaux, January 12, 1153. He wrote five books on "Reflection," and
his famous hymn, "Jesu, the Very Thought of Thee," is popular in the
churches of our day.
"Unless the spirit of wisdom and understanding had been with me
and filled me, I had never been able to construct so long a work
in such a difficult metre."
--_Bernard of Cluny_.
BERNARD OF CLUNY, a famous French monk and poet, who flourished in the
twelfth century, is best known for his noted work, "On Contempts of the
World."
"If St. Francis had been less of a poet, he would have been less
of a saint."
ST. FRANCIS D'ASSISI, a renowned Italian preacher, and poet, founder of
the Franciscan order, was born at Assisi in Umbria, Italy, 1182, and
died October 12, 1226. The most famous of his hymns is the "Canticle of
the Sun."
He who learns the rules of wisdom, without conforming to them in
his life, is like a man who laboured in his fields, but did not
sow.
--_Sadi_.
SADI, one of the greatest of Persian poets, was born at Shiraz, in 1184,
and died in 1291 (?). He wrote: "Bustán," or "The Fruit Garden," and
"Gulistán," or "The Rose Garden," also his "Divan."
The best perfection of a religious man is to do common things in a
perfect manner. A constant fidelity in small things is a great and
heroic virtue.
--_St. Bonaventura_.
SAINT BONAVENTURA, an Italian theologian and scholar of great fame, was
born at Bagnarea, 1221, and died in 1274. His real name was Giovanni di
Fidenza. He wrote: "Life of Saint Francis," "Progress of the Mind
Towards God," etc.
"To an absolute purity of life, St. Thomas added an earnest love
of truth and of labor."
THOMAS AQUINAS, a great mediæval theologian and philosopher, was born at
Aquino in the kingdom of Naples, about 1225, and died at Fossa Nuova,
March 7, 1274. Among his works are: "Sum of Catholic Belief Against the
Heathen," "Exposition of All the Epistles of St. Paul," and his most
famous work, the "Sum of Theology."
No greater grief than to remember days Of joy when misery is at
hand.
"Divine Comedy," Canto V, Line 121,--_Dante_.
DANTE ALIGHIERI, the greatest of Italian poets, was born in Florence
1265, and died in Ravenna, September 14, 1321. He wrote: the "New Life,"
the "Banquet," and the "Divine Comedy."
O, marvelous power of the Divine seed, which overpowers the strong
man armed, softens obdurate hearts, and changes into divine men
those who were brutalized in sin, and removed to an infinite
distance from God.
--_John Wyclif_.
JOHN WYCLIF, a renowned scholar, was born near Richmond, England, about
1324, and died December 31, 1384. His great work was the translation of
the entire Bible into English.
Who that well his warke beginneth,
The rather a good ende he winneth.
"Confessio Amantis,"--_Gower_.
JOHN GOWER, a noted English poet, was born in Kent in 1325 (?), and died
in London in August (or September), 1408. Among his works are: "Voice of
One Crying" (Vox Clamantis), "Mirror of Meditation" (Speculum
Meditantis), and "Lover's Confession" (Confessio Amantis).
Full wise is he that can himselven knowe.
"The Monkes Tale,"--_Geoffrey Chaucer_.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER, the father of English poetry, was born in London (?),
1328 or 1340, and died there October 25, 1400. He wrote: "Troilus and
Cressida," "The Parliament of Fowles," "Boke of the Duchesse," "The
House of Fame," "The Legend of Good Women," and his most famous work,
"Canterbury Tales."
Man proposes, but God disposes.
"Imitation of Christ," Book I, Chap. 19,--_Thomas à Kempis_.
THOMAS À KEMPIS, a renowned German mystic, was born at Kempen, near
Cologne in 1380, and died in 1471. He was the author of the "Imitation
of Christ," which is said to be the most popular book in the world, with
the exception of the Bible.
"The one certain thing about Sir Thomas Malory is, that
he wrote the first and finest romance of chivalry in our
common-tongue,--the 'Morte d'Arthur.'"
SIR THOMAS MALORY, the British author of the renowned "Morte d'Arthur,"
was born about 1430, and died after 1470.
"If Froissart, by his picturesque descriptions, and fertility of
historical _invention_, may be reckoned the Livy of France, she
had her Tacitus in Philippe de Comines."
PHILIPPE DE COMINES, a celebrated French chronicler, was born at
Comines, about 1445, and died at the Château of Argenton, October 17,
1510. His famous "Memoirs" won for him great fame.