Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/705

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MURA


641


MURATORI


91); "Etudes sur I'histoire de la peinture et de I'ioono- graphie chr6tiennes " ( 18S2) ; " Etudes iconographiques et aroMologiques surle Moyen-Age" (1888). Among the latter we may mention: "Donatello" (1885); "Le Palais des papes i Avignon" (1886-92); "La Biblio- theque du Vatican au xvi<' siecle " (written in collabora- tion with P. Fabre — 1887) ; "Collections des M^dicis au xv^ siecle" (1887); " Antiquitcs de Rome au xiv®, xv", etxvi^siecles" (1887); "Florence et la Toscane" (1897); "La Tiare Pontificale du viii*^ siecle au xvi" siecle" (1897). In a third series of works he took up the study of the influence of the Italian Renaissance in other European countries, especially France: "La Renaissance en Italie et en France a I'epoque de Charles VIII" (1885); " Le Chateau de Fontainebleau au xvi" siecle" (1886), in which he collaborated with Mohnier. He contemplated extending these studies to the whole of Europe when death interrupted them. In Miintz's writings we should look in vain for a personal view, or for any such system or pliilosophy as gives a work a loftier scope than the merely historical. His cannot compare with the great histories of the Renaissance given us by Taine, Burckhardt, or John Addington Symonds. Still it is a treasury of in- formation. It presents in an easy agreeable form a resumd of what research has discovered and criticism accepted. The complete edition of this History was the first model for that class of de luxe books which, thanks to modern processes of reproduction, have done so much in the last thirty years to spread infor- mation on art and to improve the public taste. After 1878 Miintz was connected with the Ecole des Beaux- Arts, where lie took Taine's place in the chair of es- thetics from 1885 to 1892. He entered the Institute in 1893.

Louis Gillet.

Mura, Saint, b. in Co. Donegal, Ireland, about 550. He was appointed Abbot of Fahan by St. Co- lumba. The monastery was anciently known as Othan Mor, but after the death of our saint was called Fahan M ura. He was highly esteemed by Hugh, Head King of Ireland, whose obit is chronicled in 607. Numerous legends are told of Mura; he wrote many works, including chronicles and a rhymed life of St. Columba, which is quoted in the Martyrology of Donegal. He is regarded as the special patron saint of the O'Neill clan, being sixth in descent from the founder, whose name survives in Innishowen (Inis Eoghan). His death occurred about 645, .and his feast is observed on 12 March. Among his relics still preserved are his crozier {Bachull Mura), now in the National Museum, Dublin, and his bell-shrine, now in the Wallace Collection, London. In the ruined church of St. Mura at Fahan is a beautiful Irish cross, and not far off is St. Mura's Well.

CoLGAN, Acta SS. Hib. (Louvain, 1645) ; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, III (Dublin, s. d.) ; O'Doherty, Derriana (Dub- lin, 1902).

W. H. Grattan-Flood.

Muratori, Luigi Antonio, librarian in Modena, one of the greatest scholars of his time, b. 21 Oct., 1672; d. 23 Jan., 1750. Though he came from a poor family of Vignola in the district of Modena, he received opportunities to devote himself to the higher studies. Having first been instructed by the Jesuits, he studied law, philosophy, and theology at the University of IVIodena, where he plainly showed his extraordinary talents, especially in literature and history. In 1694 he was ordained priest. In 1695 Count Charles Borromeo called him to the college of "Dottori" at the Ambrosian library in Milan, where he immediately started collecting unedited ancient writings of various kinds. His first publication was the "Anecdota latina ex Ambrosiame Bibliotheca; codicibus" (2 vols., Milan, 1697-98), followed by two other volumes (Padua, 1713). Duke Rinaldo I (1700) X.— 41


appointed him archivist and librarian in Modena, which position he held until his death. In 1716 Mu- ratori became, in addition, provost of St. Maria della Pomposa, and conducted this parish with great zeal until 1733. He continued publishing unedited writ- ings, first among which was a volume, "Anecdota grajca" (Padua, 1709). At the same time he culti- vated literature, as is shown by his works, "Della perfetta poesia italiana" (Modena, 1706) and "Ri- flessioni sopra il buon gusto nelle scienze e nelle arti" (Venice, 170S). He even intended to estabhsh some- thing like a general society of Italian literature, and as early as 1703 published for this purpose, under the pseudonym "Lamindo Pritanio", a plan "Primi di- segni della repubhca letteraria d'ltalia". In 1708 a quarrel broke out between the Holy See (aided by the emperor) and the Dukes of Este, over the possession of Co- machio, which involved the sov- ereignty of the district of Ferrara. Muratori sup- ported the claims of his sovereign and of the house of Este against t he pope by means of numerous histor- ical researches, which he later on utilized in the preparation of a great historical work, " Antichita Estensi ed Italiane" (2 vols., Modena: 1st vol., 1717; 2nd vol., 1740). He continued studying the sources for a history of Italy, and as a fruit of his untiring re- searches there appeared the monumental work, "Re- rum italicarum Scriptores ab anno ajra) christianse 500 ad annum 1500". It was pubhshed in twenty- eight folio volumes with the assistance of the "So- ciety Palatina" of Milan (Milan, 1723-51). A new critical edition is now (since 1900) appearing in serial form under the direction of Giosue Carducci and Vit- torio Fiorini in "Citta di Castello". J. Calligaris, J. Filippi, and C. Merkel published " Indices chrono- logici" (Turin, 1885) for the same. At the same time Muratori edited a collection of seventy-five essays on different historical themes, entitled "Antiquitates itahcai medii aevi" (6 vols, fols., Milan, 1738-42), as an elucidation and supplement to his work on the sources. In the third volume of this collection there is found the Muratorian canon (q. v.) which is of the greatest importance for the history of the New Testa- ment canon. In order to render these researches ac- cessible to greater masses of his countrymen, he him- self published a new edition in Italian, " Dissertazioni sopra le Antichita italiane" (3 vols., Milan, 1751). Other important publications of sources are his col- lections of ancient inscriptions ("Novus thesaurus veterum inscriptionum", 4 vols., Milan, 1739-42), the fourth volume containing also the ancient Christian inscriptions; and the edition of the Roman Sacramen- taries ("Liturgiaromanavetus",2vols., Venice, 1748), of value to this day. He wrote a great chronological representation of Italian history ("Annali d' Itaha", 12 vols, quarto, Milan, 1744-49), based upon the numer- ous sources which he published or which otherwise were known. After his death this work was re-edited and continued (Milan, 1753-56 in 17 vols.; new edition in 18 vols., 1818-21).

The great mind of this learned man was not limited to the wide province of history; he was also interested in religious questions, and he published