Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/240

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ODIN


208


ODINGTON


and furthered the reform of the Bonociictiiir monas- teries. Under Alplioiiso VI i( sjirt-ad iiilo SjKiin. The rule of St. Benedict was sub.stitiilcil in Cluny for the domestic rule of Lsidore. By brinsinf; the re- formed or newly founded monasteries of Spain into permanent dependence on the n\other-h(nise, Odilo prepared the way for the union of monasteries, wliieh Hugo established for maintaining order and discipline. The number of monasteries increased from thirty- seven to sixty-five, of which five were newly established and twenty-three had followed the reform movement. Some of the monasteries reformed bj' Cluny, reformed others; thus the Abbey of St. Vannes in Lorraine re- formed many on the Franco-German borderland. On account of his services in the reform Odilo was called by Fulbert of Chartres the" Archangel of the Monks", and through his relations with the popes, rulers, and prominent bishops of the time Cluny monasticism was promoted. He journeyed nine times to Italy, and took part in several synods there. John XIX and Benedict IX both offered him the Archbishopric of Lyons but he declined. From 998 he gained influence with the Emperor Otto III. He was on terms of in- timacy with Henry II when the latter, on political grounds, sought to impair the spiritual independence of the German monasteries. For Germany the Cluny policy had no permanent success, as the monks there were more inclined to individualism. Between 1027 and 1040 the relations between the Cluniac monks and the emperor remained unchanged. In 1046 Odilo was present at the coronation of Henry III in Rome. Rob- ert II of France allied himself with the Reform party.

The conclusion of the Peace of God (Treuga Dei), for which Odilo had worked from 1041, was of great eco- nomic importance. During the great famines of that time (particularly 1028-33), he also exercised his active charity and saved thousands from death.

He established All Souls' Day (2 Nov.) in Cluny and its monasteries (probably not in 998 but after 1030), and it was soon adopted in the whole church. Of his writings we have but a few short and unim- portant ones: a life of the holy Empress St. Adelaide (q. V.) to whom he was closely related; a short biogra- phy of his predecessor Mayeul; sermons on feasts of the ecclesiastical year; some hymns and prayers; and a few letters from his extensive correspondence.

Odilo and his confreres interested themselves in the church reform which began about that time. They followed no definite ecclesiastico-political programme, but directed their attacks principally against individ- ual offences such as simony, marriage of the clergy, and the uncanonical marriage of the laity. The Holy See could depend above all on the religious of Cluny when it sought to raise itself from its humiliating posi- tion and undertook the reform of the Church.

He died while on a visitation to the monastery of Souvigny where he was buried and soon venerated as a saint. In 1063 Peter Damien undertook the process of his canonization, and wrote a short life, an abstract from the work of Jotsald, one of Odilo's monks who accompanied him on his travels. In 1793 the relics together with those of Mayeul were burned by the revolutionaries "on the altar of the fatherland". The feast of St. Odilo was formerly 2 January, in Cluny, now it is celebrated on 19 January, and in Switzerland on 6 February.

Ri.NGUOLz. Der hi. Abt. Odilo, in seinem Leben und Wirken (Brunn, 1885); Idem. Kirchenlczikon e. v.; Sackur. Die C'tunia- eenser bis Jur MiUc des 11 Jahrhunderts. I, II (Halle, 1892-94); Jabdet, Saint Odilon, Abbi de Cluny (Lyons, 1898).

Klemens Loffler.

Odin, John Mart, Lazarist missionary, first Bishop of Galveston and second Archbishop of New Orleans, b. 2.5 P'eb., 1801, at Hauteville, Ambierle, France; d. there 2.5 May, 1S70. Theseventhof ten children, like most count ry boys he worked on his father's farm. His piety and love for the poor being looked on as a sign


of priestly vocation, he was sent when nine years of ago to study Latin under his >mcle, cur6 of Nosilly, whose death soon ended this des\dtory teaching. After two years at home, he studied the classics at Roanne and Verricre and was a brilliant student of philosophy at L'Argcntiere and Ahx. He was prompt to answer Bishop Dubourg's appeal for volunteers for the Louisiana mission. Reaching New Orleans in June, 1822, he was sent to the seminary of the Lazarists, The Barrens, 80 miles from St. Loui.s, Mo., to complete his theological studies. There he joined the Lazarists. (Clarke in his lives of deceased bishops of the U. S. erroneously states that he entered at an early age in Paris.) He was ordained priest 4 May, 1824, and to parish duties were added those of teaching. In vacation he preached to the Indians on the Arkansas River, for whose conversion he was most eager. In 1825 he was at times in charge of the seminary, college, and parish. He also gave missions to non-Catholics and to the Indians, until, his health failing, it was de- cided to send him abroad, where he could also gather recruits and funds for the missions. Accompanying Bishop Rosati to the second Council of Baltimore as theologian, he was commissioned by the council to bring its decrees to Rome for approval. Two years were spent abroad in the interest of "his poor Amer- ica". Pastoral work, chiefly at Cape Girardeau, where he opened a school (1838), and missions occupied the next five years. Sent to Texas in 1840 as vice-pre- fect by his provincial visitor, Father Timon, whom the Holy See had made prefect Apostolic of the new re- public, he began the hardest kind of labour among Catholics, many of whom had fallen away amid the disorders accompanying the change of government, and among non-catholics and the fierce Comanche Indians. His gentleness and self-sacrifice wrought wonders. His great work was early recognized and he was nominated to the coadjutorship of Detroit but dechned. A year later he was named titular Bishop of Claudiopolis and Vicar Apostolic of Texas. He was consecrated G March, 1842. He had already suc- ceeded with Father Timon's help in having the Re- public recognize the Church's right to the possessions that were hers under the Mexican government. In 1845 he went to Europe and secured many recruits for his mission. In 1847 Texas was made a diocese and Bishop Odin's see was fixed at Galveston. On the death of Archbishop Blanc of New Orleans, he was promoted to that see 15 February, 1861. Nei- ther his age nor infirmities kept him from a vigilant care of his flock. War had wrought havoc during his time in Texas, the civil war scourged his archdio- cese now. His influence was extraordinary among the Catholic soldiers. Pius IX wrote to him in the South, as to Archbishop Hughes in the North, to use their influence for peace. His Apostolic labours were in- terrupted only by journeys to Europe in the interest of his archdiocese. Despite greatly impaired health he went to the Vatican Council. At Rome he grew so ill that he was granted leave to return to Heaute- ville where he died.

Bony. Vie de Mgr Jean-Marie Odin (Paris, 1896), translated in part in Annals Cong. Miss., 11, III (Emmitsburg, 1895-6); Clarke, Lives o/ deceased Bishops of U. S., II (New York, 1872), 203-40; Deutcher, Life and Times of Rl. Ret). John Timon, I (Buffalo, 1870) ; Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United States, IV, 1892. B. RANDOLPH.

Odington, Walter, English Benedictine, also known as Walter op Evesham, by some writers con- founded with \\'altek of Evnsham, who lived about fifty years earlier, d. not earlier than 13.30. During the first part of his religious life he was stationed at Evesham and later removed to Oxford, where he was engaged in astronomical and mathematical work as early as 131<). He wrote chiefly on scientific subjects; his most valuable work "De Speculatione Musices" was first published in complete form in Coussemaker's