Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/391

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335

QAIANITES


335


GAL


parochial clergy at the time being insufTicient, he was asked by Archbishop Lincoln, and was permitted by hLs superiors, to take up the work of a curate in St. Paul's Parish. After three years in this capacity he returned to his convent in St. John's Street, where, in the leisure intervals of an ever-active missionary life, he composed the well-known "Sermons and Moral Discourses", on which his literary reputation chiefly rests.

These "Sermons" have gone through several edi- tions (7th ed., Dublin, 1873); they are characterized not so much by exceptional eloquence as by solid learning and genuine piety. Dr. Gahan held the office of prior from 1770 to 1778, and also from 1803 until Ills (liMtli in the following year. In 1783 he was made pniviiicial of his order, an office which he con- tinued ti) hold for some years. In 1786-7 he travelled through Eiigliuid, France, and Italy. About 1783 he made tlie aciiuaintance of Dr. John Butler, Bishop of Cork, who afterwards turned Protest ant on his succes- sion to the title and estates iif Dunboyne. A frciiuent and friendly eorrespondenee took place between these two, and the grief which Dr. Gahan felt for the fall of his friend (1787) was turned into joy when he at- tended Lord Dunboyne on his deathbed, and received him back into the Church (1800). For this, hcnvever, he was to suffer. In spite of Dr. Cialiaii's advice and that of Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, Lord Dun- boyne insisted on willing his County Meath estate to the trustees of Maynooth College, recently founded (1795) by the Irish Parliament. But as the will was disputed, and the issue of its validity, according to the law then in force, depended on whether or not the testator had died " a relapsed Papist", Dr. Gahan was comjielled to appear as a witness, and was asked to reveal the nature of his ministrations to the dying nobleman. He refused, of course, to do so, and after undergoing six painful examinations in the Chancery office ui Dviblin, he was committed to jail at the Trim assizes, 24 Aug., 1802, to which the case had been referred for final judgment, his persistent refusal to testify as to the religion in which Dunboyne had died being ruled by the presiding judge. Lord Kil warden, to constitute contempt of court. This imprisonment, however, lasted only a couple of days, and the re- mainder of Dr. Gahan's useful life was passed in peace in his convent in Dublin, where he died holding the office of prior. As there were no Catholic cemeteries at the time, his remains were laid to rest in the grave- yard attached to St. James's Protestant Church.

Besides the "Sermons" already spoken of, Dr. Gahan published the following works: "A History of the Christian Church"; "The Christian's Guide to Heaven, or complete Manual of Catholic Piety"; "A Short and Plain Exposition of the Catechism"; "Cath- olic Devotion"; "A Short and Easy Method to Discern the True Religion from all the Sects which undeserv- edly assume that name"; "Youth Instructed in the Grounds of the Christian Religion"; "The Devout Communicant" (a revision of Father Baker's original); "The .Spiritual Retreat, translated from the French of Bourdaloue"; "An .\bridgment of the History of the Old and New Testament", i. e. of Reeve's trans- lation from the French of Uoyaniount.

Brenan. Ecclesiaatu-al History of Ireland C2d ed., Dublin, s. d.). p. 642 sqq.; Battehsby, A History of the Abbeys, Con- vents, Churches, etc., of the Order, particularly of the Hermits of St. A ugustine in Ireland, with biographical sketches, etc. (Dublin, 18.58): in the sltetctx of Gahan, Brenan's account is supple- mented and corrected; Gilbert in Diet. Nat, Biog., s. v. (re- produces Brenan's inaccuracies).

P. J. Toner. Gaianites. See Monophysites.

Gaillard, Cl.^ude-Ferdinand, a French engraver and painter; b. at Paris, 7 Jan., 1S34; d. there, 27 Jan., 1887. His early studies were probably with Hopwood and Lecouturier; but his chief master was Cogniet, with whom he began engraving in LS50. In this year,


he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. At first he had to engrave fashion-plates to make money enough to live, but his tletermined application to his art brought him the Prix de Rome for engraving, in 1856. At his first public showing in 1860, his prints were called laboured, soft, and flaccid, more like dry-point etch- ings than burin work, and he was advised to atlhere to the established rules of his art. Gaillard had already chosen a new method, and his work was a "shock, because not done according to the f ormulse that tram- melled engravers of that day . He was such an innovator that in 1863 he was among the "refuses", but in their exhibition his portrait of I3ellini was hailed by Burty as the work of a master, " who engraved with religious care and showed a high classical talent". Gaillard's manner — the new manner — was to engrave with soft, delicate lines, drawn closely together but not crossing, and to render with vaporous delicacy every fold, wrinkle, or mark on the skin with Van Eyck-like care. Henceforth Gaillard was represented by engravings and paintings at every Salon. He is best known by his " L'Homme a I'CEillet", which brought him only $100. This masterpiece was completed in eight days — the face in one.

His admirable portraits of Pius IX and Leo XIII, broad in general efTect although worked with micro- scopic zeal and realism, raised "the insubordinate scholar" to the rank of the most celebrated engraver of his day. Another great plate is the St. Sebastian modelled with delicate touches, and showing studied outline, delicate chiaroscuro, and a marvellous relief. "My aim" he said "is not to charm, but to be true; my art is to say all." His marvellous work led many to suspect he had some secret process or mysterious "tour de main", but it was his penetrating mind and observant eye that seized the .soul beneath tlie human face. Gaillard was decorated in 1876, became officer of the "Legion d'llonneur" in 1SS6, and President of the Societe des Graveurs au Burin in 1886. Just before his death the Government ordered him to en- grave Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa". As a painter Gaillard was accurate, minute and conscientious; yet his small canvases are effect- ive, exhibit great power of characterization, and are large in their "ensemble". He painted the human face as he engraved it — with the precision and exacti- tude of the early Flemings. His catalogued engrav- ings number 80; his "Virgin" after Bellini deserves special mention.

MuTHEH, Modern Painting (New York, 1S<)6), IE, 546: Be- RALni. Lcs Peintres Graveurs dii XIX* Siccle (Paris, 1887), vols. V, VI.

Leigh Hunt.

Gaius, Pope. See Caius and Soter.

Gal, Saint. — Of the ninety-eight bishops who have occupied the see of Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne) the sixteenth and the twenty-third bore the name of Gal, and both are numbered among the twenty-nine bish- ops of this church who arc honoured as saints. The first and most illustrious was bishop from 527 to 551, the second, from 640 to 050. Born of a senatorial family of Auvergne, the first St. Gal early embraced the monastic life, and then became councillor to St. Quint ianus, whom he w.as to succeed in the See of Cler- mont. Thierry I, King of Austrasia, having invaded Auvergne, took Gal prisoner and attached him to the oratory of his palace. He regained his liberty some years later and returned to Clermont. Quintianus having died. Gal was chosen as his successor in 527. As bi.shop he was the intrepid defender of the rights of the Church against Sivigald, the governor appointed by Thierry, am', after Sivigald's tragic death, the pro- tector of ids children from the prince's wrath. The chief event of his episcopate was the Council of Cler- mont in 535. Fifteen prelates of the kingdom of Aus- trasia assisted at it under the presidency of Honoratus, Bi.shop of Bourges. They drew up seventeen canons,