STONE
303
STONE
4th ed., 1908), and "Durrc Krauter" (1877; 4th ed.,
1908), consist of excerpts from his diaries.
Stolz also wrote a number of pamphlets and bro- chures, some of polemical and some of moral and as- cetical contents, collected under the title of "Kleinig- keiten" (2 collections, 1868 and 1887; 4th ed., 1909). His works were issued in nineteen volumes in Frei- burg (1871-9.5), exclusive of the "Legende" and the [■xplanation of the catechism; a popular edition of his ivorks h;is appeared in twelve volumes (1898-1909). ['"rom his papers were edited an autobiography, 'Nachtgebet mcines Lebens. Nach dem Tode deg V'erfassers lierausgegeben und durch Erinnerungeh an \lban Stolz erganzt von .Jakob Schmitt" (Freiburg, 1885; 2nd ed., 1908), and "Predigten" (ed. Julius Mayer, Freiburg, 1908). Another valuable contribu- ion is the correspondence of Stolz with the convert, hilie Meineke, edited by Mayer under the title "Fii-
- ungund Ftihrung" (Freiburg. 1909). Extracts from
he WTitings of Stolz are given in the works "Edel- iteine aus rcicher Schatzkamnier. Eine .Sammlung ichoner Stellen aus den Schriftcn von Alban ."^tolz. \usgewahlt von Heinrich Wagner" (Freiburg. 190.5; 5rd ed., 1910), and "Bilder zur christkatholischen rdaubens- und Sittenlehre, aus den .Schriften von \lban Stolz. Geistlichen und Lehrern sowie dem ■hristlichen Volke gewidmet von Karl Telch" (Frei- )urg, 1909).
Hagele. Alban Stolz nach autkentischen Quellen (3rd ed., Freiburg, 1SS9). with portrait; Reinfried in Badische Bio- iraphieen, IV (Karlsrulie. 1891), 454-t)I; Hettinger, Aus W(U I. Kirche, II (4th ed.. Freiburg. 1S97). 396-447; S.trER. Die leuere Alban StoU-LUeralur in Literar. Rundschau, nn. 5-6 (1910), loll. 214-20, 263-70.
Friedhich Lauchert.
Stone, Corner or Foundation. — A rite entitled ' De benedictione et impositione Primarii Lapidis pro jcclesia sedificanda" (Of the blessing and laying of the foundation Stone for the building of a church) is pro- ,'ided in the Roman Pontifical. As it a])pears in the lame form in the "Giunta Pontificale" of 1.520, it is irobably at least as old as the time of Patricius Pic- ■olnmini (fifteenth century), and it may in substance to b;ick two centuries farther to the time of Durandus )f Mende (see Catalani, "Pont. Rom.", II, 31). riie rite it.self is simple enough. Before the work of building a church is ^et about the rubric directs that idequate provision should be made for its mainte- lance, also the foundations are to be marked out sub- cct to the approval of the bishop or his delegate, and I wooden cross set up to indicate the place where the iltar is to stand. In the function which ensues the jishop first blesses holy water with the ordinary orms, then sprinkles the place where the cross stands md afterwards the foundation stone. Upon the itone itself he is directed to engrave crosses on each side with a knife, and then he jironounces the foUow- ng pniyer: "Bless, O Lord, this creature of stone creaturnm Ulntn Idjiiili.s] and grant by the invocation }f Thy holy name that all who with a pure mind shall end aid to the building of this church may obtain K)unrlnes.s of body and the healing of their souls, rhnmgh Christ Our Lord, .4men." .After the Litany if the Saints, followed by an appropriate antiphon and Psalm cxxvi, "I'nles.s the Lord build the house" etc.,
- he stone is lowered into its pkice with another prayer
ind again sprinkled with holy water. More anti- ihons and psalms follow, while the bishop once more I'isits and sjirinkles the other fotmdations, dividing
- hem into three sections and ending each little tour
ivith a special prayer. Finally the "Veni Creator ■!piritus" is sung, .and two short prayers. Then the 'iishop. if he deems it opportune, sits dowTi and ex- horts the p(K)ple to contribute to the fabric, after which he dismisses them with his blessing and the proclamation of an indulgence.
In the Middle .\ges this or some analogous rite was not unknown, but the number of Pontificals which
contain anything of the sort ia comparatively small
(Martene, for example, in his "De ritibus" gives no
specimen of the forms used in any such function.)
One of the few that provide such a rite is Archbishop
Chiohele's Pontifical, representing, no doubt, the use
of Sarum in the early fifteenth century. The function
in its details differs considerably from that just de-
scribed. The only feature that is quite identical is
the prayer above quoted, "Benedic, Domine, crea-
turam istani lapidis", for blessing the stone, but it is
supplemented in the English rite by another and
much longer prayer, containing many Scriptural allu-
sions, among the rest, one to the "stone rejected by
the builders". Moreover, in England the stone is
anointed with chrism while a prayer is said which has
reference to this ceremony. Of all this there is no
trace in the Roman type of service.
It is not easy to assign a date to the beginning of this practice of blessing the foundation stone. An interesting fragment of evidence is, however, fur- nished by what is app.arently the inscribed foundation stone of the first church of St. Mark at Venice. (See the paper of F. Douce in "Archicologia", xxvi, 217 sq.) As it is roughly circular in form, between six and seven inches in diameter, and only half an inch thick, we h.ave probably to do with a tablet let into the foundation stone proper. It bears a rudely scratched head (of St. Mark?) and the inscription in ninth-cen- tury characters: eccl. s. marci primam petram posviT DUX 10. PARTici [aco] ; the rest is broken off. The Doge, John Particiaco, dedicated the first Church of St. Mark in a. d. 828. Of course this in- scription does not make reference to any religious ceremony, but, as forms for the dedication of a church were employed much before this date, it seems un- likely that such a function should not have been accompanied by at least some simple form of ecclesi- astical blessing. Moreover, the English liturgist Belethus in the twelfth century was evidently familiar with a rite of this kind. "When the foundations have been dug", he says, "it is necessary that the bishop sprinkle the place with holy water and that he himself, or some priest at his bidding, should lay the first stone of the foundation, which ought to have a cross engraved upon it. And it is absolutely neces- sary that the church should be built towards the east" (Belethus, ii; P. L., CCII, 10). .'similar language is used by Sicardus (P. L., CCXIII, 17 and 20) and Du- randus (Rationale, II, 7) less than a century later.
A question arises connected with the practice (1) of laying money upon the stone as a contribution to the fabric of the church and (2) of enclosing coins within or beneath it as evidence of the date. The former custom might not improbably be traced to the terms of the prayer quoted above, which, in blessing the foundation stone, in particular invokes special fa- vours upon all "who with pure mind lend their aid to the building of this church". It is curious, however, that in the one detailed description which we possess of a pagan ceremony of the same sort, viz., that which preceded the restoration of the Roman Temple of Jupiter upon the Capitol in the time of Vespasian (Tacitus, "Hist.", IV, .5li), we find not only that the foundations were washer! with lustral water, but that attention was especially centred upon the great stone iinqfHS saxum.) which was dragged into its place by magistrates and people together. Moreover, gold and silver in an unwrought and virgin state were scattered upon the foundations. Stranger still, a similar ceremony seems to have iirevailcd in ancient As.syria, where an inscription of Nahopola.ssar (604 B.C.) describes how th;it monarch, in building a temple to Merodach, e;vst gold and silver uixm the foundii- tions (.Schrader, "Keilinschriftliche Hibliothek", III, ii, .5). Further, the ceremoni.al rite of Laying a found- ation stone seems to reach back to the time of Sargon, c. 3800 B. c. (ibid., pp. 85-93). The custom of placing
