Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/299

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ORANGE


267


ORANGE


canonici " and reproduced by Mansi in his collection of councils (VI, 441-3).

Much more important was the second council (held on 3 July, 529), the first in Gaul to publish a decision in matters of faith. The occasion was the dedication of a church built at Orange by Liberius, the pretorian prefect of Narbonensian Gaul. It was attended by four- teen bishops with St. Cassarius of Aries as president, and its deliberations bore on the current errors concerning the doctrine of grace and free will, i. e. Semipelagian- ism. Cajsarius had informed Felix IV (III) of the per- nicious activity of the Semipelagians in Gaul and had applied to him for support. The pope, in response, sent him a series of "Capitula", i. e. propositions or decrees drawn almost in their entirety from the works of St. Augustine and the "Sententiae" of St. Prosper of Aquitaine. These "Capitula" became the basis of the twenty-five Lssued by the Synod of Orange, and these in turn were freely used by the Council of Trent in its condemnation of Luther. The acts of the Synod of Orange contain, after a preamble: (a) eight canons or anathematisms; (b) seventeen merely declaratory propositions (both of these classes are known as "Capitula"); (c) a sort of demonstration of the de- fined doctrine against the objections of the Semipela- gians. The subjects of the "Capitula" are thus logi- cally grouped by Portalie in "Diet. Thcol. Cath." (I, 2526). (1) Causes of the necessity of grace. They are: (a) original sin which cannot be wiped out with- out it (can. ii); (b) the weakness of the will resulting from the fall of man (i) ; (c) the very condition of crea- ture (xi.x). (2) Operation of grace before justifica- tion. It precedes every effort conducive to salvation. From it proceed: (a) prayer (can. iii); (b) the desire of justification (iv); (c) the inception of faith (v); (d) every effort towards faith (vi) ; (e) every salutary act (vii); (f) every preparation to justification (viii, xii); (g) all merit (xviii). (3) Operation of grace in initial justification or baptism. It restores (xiii), justifies (xiv), improves (xv), confers the justice of Christ (.x.xviii). (4) Work of grace after justification in the just. It is necessary for good actions (ix); persever- ance (x); the taking of vows (xi); Christian fortitude (xvii) ; the Ufe of Christ within us (xxiv) ; the love of God (xxv). (5) Universal necessity of grace. This need of grace to do good and avoid evil is expressed in propositions ix, xx, and the variously interpreted prop- osition xxii. In the demonstration which follows the "Capitula" the fathers also reject the doctrine of pre- destination to evil and declare salvation within the reach of all baptized. The acts of the council, which were signed by the bishops, the pretorian prefect Li- berius and seven other distinguished laymen, were for- warded to Rome and approved by Boniface II on 25 January, 531 (see Boniface II). They consequently enjoy oecumenical authority and are printed in Dcn- zinger's "Enchiridion Symbolorum" (10th ed., nos. 174-200).

Mansi, Concilia, VI. 433-52; VIII, 711-34; Maassen, Concilia CEvi merovingici (Hanover, 1S93), 44-54; Hefele-Leclercq, Hi.^- loire des C07icites, II, i, 430-54; II, ii. 1085-1108 (Paris, 1908). The acts of both councils and abundant bibliographical details will be found in the latter work. Hefele, tr.. Ill, 159-64; IV, 152 sq.; Woods, Canons of the Second Council of Orange, ,4. D. 6i9 (London, 18S2). N. A. WebER.

Orange Free State, one of the four provinces of the Union of South Africa, lies between 29° 30' and 30° 40' S. !at., and between 24° 20' and 30° E. long. The Orange and Vaal rivers which separate it from the Cape Province and the Transvaal form respectively its southern and northern boundaries; Natal and Ba- sutoland bound it on the east, and the northern por- tions of the Cape Province on the west. Its name is derived from the Orange River which flows along its southern frontier for over 200 miles. It has an area of 50,392 square miles and a population, according to the census of 1904, of 387,315; of these only 142,679 are


whites, the remainder belonging to the coloured races — mostly Kafirs and Hottentots. The climate is excel- lent. With a mean altitude of from four to five thou- sand feet above sea level and an average yearly rain- fall of only twenty-two inches, it is a country well suited to persons suffering from pulmonary troubles, the air being dry and invigorating and the nights al- ways cool. Being an immense grassy plateau and almost treeless, its scenery is uninteresting (even de- pressing) except on the eastern border where the vast Drakensburg mountain range comes into view. It is mainly a pastoral country, though a portion of it alongside Basutoland contains some of the finest corn lands in Africa. The exports, valued in 1908-09 at 17,800,000 dollars, are principally diamonds, wool, os- trich feathers, and maize; its imports in the same period amounted to 15,000,000 dollars.

The white inh;ibitants are mostly the descendants of the Voortrekkers (or emigrant Dutch farmers) from the old Cape Colony, who in 1836 and subsequent years crossed the Orange River in thousands and set- tled on territories peopled by various Bantu tribes im- til their virtual extermination by Moselekatze and his hordes of Matabile warriors — a short time previously. The "Great Trek", as the migration of these farmers came to be called, brought about an anomalous politi- cal situation. Rather than live under British rule in the Colony, they had abandoned their homes and sought independence in "the wilderness". But the British Government, whilst always claiming them as its subjects and forbidding them to molest the neigh- bouring native tribes, refused to annex the territory to which they had fled. Such a state of things mani- festly could not long endure, and so in 1848 the coun- try between the Orange and Vaal Rivers was offici- ally proclaimed British territory under the title of the "Orange River Sovereignty". The emigrant Boers, headed by a farmer named Andreas Pretorius, strug- gled to retain their independence but were defeated at the battle of Boomplaats b}' the English general. Sir Harry Smith, in August, 1848. The British Govern- ment, finding the newly annexed territory of little value and desiring in view of European complications and the enormous cost of Kafir wars to limit its responsibilities in South Africa, soon determined to re- trocede their country to the Boers; thus, at a conven- tion held in Bloemfontein on 23 February, 1854, Sir George Clark in the name of Queen Victoria renounced British dominion over the Orange River Sovereignty. The Boers thereupon set up a Republic, which, under the name of the Orange Free State, enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity that lasted up to the Anglo- Boer War of 1899-1902. In that struggle the Free Staters, having joined the Transvaallers, shared in their defeat, and their country was annexed to the Briti.sh Empire under the title of the Orange River Colony. For some years the new colony was adminis- tered by a governor and a lieutenant-governor assisted by an executive and a legislative council, but in June, 1907, responsible government was conferred on it with a legislative council of eleven, and a legislative assem- bly of thirtv-eight members.

Since 31 May, 1910, under the title of "The Orange Free State Province of the Union of South Africa", it forms part (together with the Transvaal, Natal, and the Cape of Good Hope) of a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, the first parliament of which was opened at Cape Town on 4 November, 1910. In that parliament the Orange Free State Province is represented by sixteen senators — one-fourth of the en- tire number — and by seventeen members of the House of Assembly (out of a total of 121). Enghsh and Dutch are the official languages. The former is spoken mostly in the tovnis and the latter — or rather a dialect of it known as the Afrikansche Taal — in the country districts. The religion of the great majority of the white inhabitants is Calvinism (Dutch Re-