Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/300

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VALLARSI


260


valliSe-poussin


more deeply, as Diego Alverez, one of its professors, and Avendano, both Dominicans, opposed the doc- trine of Molina. Of all the religious orders the Augus- tinians alone maintained an independent position. Their moderation contributed to dissipate much ill feeling aroused by the discussion. In 1770 certain royal privileges gave rise to heated controversy.

The early days of the university were mostlj- unpre- tentious; it had only seven courses, the deplorable state of the times not permitting anything else. The residence of the Court of VaUadoUd contributed to its development. In the various grants of privileges given by the kings the services rendered by this uni- versity to the Crown are explicitly stated. In the time of Charles V and PhiUp II the rank of a uni- versity was conferred upon it. In the time of Charles III the colleges which had grown up around the uni- versity were dealt their death blow by the ministry of Roda, and since then the university has suffered from the changes, reforms, and systems which the central government of Spain has imposed on all the universities.

De la Fuente. Historia de las Universidades, cotegios y demds establecimientos de Ensenanza en Espaila (1S87); Sangr.\dor Y VlTORES. Hist, de Valladolid; Ortega y Rdbio, Hist, de Valladolid (1881); Floranes, Origenes de las Universidades de Costilla in Revista de la Vniversidad de Madrid, V (April, 1875), n. 4; Anto- iJnez de Burgos, Hist, de Valladolid; AIorejon, Hist, de la me- dicina espanola. TeoDORO RODRIGUEZ.

Vallarsi, Dominic, an Italian priest, b. at Verona, 13 Nov., 1702; d. there, 14 Aug., 1771. He studied with the Jesuits at Verona and after his ele- vation to the priesthood occupied him.self chiefly in archaeological and Patristic studies. In his searches for manuscripts and other antiquities he was aided financially by the City of Verona and its bi.shop, as weU as by Benedict XIV, who gave him a benefice in the Diocese of Vicenza and appointed him reviser for the Oriental languages at the Holy Office. He was also highly respected for his archaeological learning by such men as Muratori, Zeno, Mazzuchelli, and others. His one fault was his great dogmatism in expressing his opinions and his lack of appreciation of the learn- ing of others. His chief work is an edition of St. Jerome: "S. Hieronymi opera omnia post mona- chorum e congregatione S. Mauri recensionem qui- busdam ineditis monumentis aUisque lucubrationibus aucta, notis et observationibus illustrata" (11 vols., Verona, 1734-42; revised and enlarged, Venice, 1766-72, reprinted in P. L., XXII-XXX). Though in many respects an improvement upon the Maurist edition by Martinay and Pouget (Paris, 1693- 1706), it was still very imperfect. In the opinion of ReifTerscheid ("Bibl. Patr. Lat. Itahca", Vienna, 1865, p. 66), Vallarsi in many cases neglected to cor- rect the tex-t of former editions in accordance with the excellent manuscripts that were at his disposal. Vallarsi also assisted Scipio Maffei in his revision of the Maurist edition of St. Hilary (Verona, 1730) and brought out an incomplete edition of the works of Rufinus (Verona, 1745). The second volume, which was to contain the Latin translations of Rufinus, did not appear.

CE.11.1AE.R, Auteurs sacrH et eccUs,,\\l, 710-1: Schoenemann, Bibl. hist, litter, patrum latin., I (Leipzig, 1792), 525 3q.

Michael Ott.

Valle, PiETUO DELLA, Italian traveller in the Ori- ent, b. at Rome, 2 April, 1586; d. there, 21 April, 1652. He belonged to a noble family and received an excel- lent education. As a young man he was a poet, ora- tor, a soldier in the i)apal service, and a member of the Roman Academy of the Umoristi. In 1611 he took part in a campaign against the Barhary States. An unfortunate love-affair was the cause of a pilgrimage, lasting eleven j'ears. On S June, 1614, he started from Venice by sea and went first to Constantinople where he remained a year and learned Ijotli Turkisli and Arabic. On 25 September, 1615, he travelled to


Alexandria, thence to Cairo, and in the spring of 1616 on to Jerusalem. After visiting the Holy Places he continued his journey to Damascus, Aleppo, and Bag- dad. Here he married a Syrian Christian named Maani who accompanied him on his travels during the succeeding years. It was probably on ac- count of his mar- riage that he vis- ited Persia, for the parents of his wife had been robbed by Kurds. In 1618 he was hospitably received in North- ern Persia by the Shah Abbas the Great whom he followed to the capital Ispahan. He acted as media- tor between the shah and the Cliris- tians of Persia. During the next four years he ex- plored Persia; then in October, 1621, he started for Perseopohs and Schiras. He was prevented from continuing his journey as far as India by the war between the Portuguese and Persians. His wife died on 30 December, 1621, and he kept her body with him until his return. In 1622 he took part in the siege of Ormus from which the Portuguese were driven. He then spent two years (1623-24) in India, where his headquarters were Surat and Goa. In 1625 he started on the return journey by way of Muscat, Basra, Aleppo, Cyprus, and Naples, and arrived at Rome, 28 March, 1626. Urban VIII appointed him a papal chamberlain. The rest of Valle's life was fairly peace- ful. His second wife was a Georgian orphan Mariuc- cia, who had accompanied him on his travels. The most important of his works is his account of his travels (Viaggi) in fifty-four friendh' letters (Lettere famighari) addressed to Mario Schipano, a professor of medicine at Naples. They appeared first at Rome in three volumes (1650-53) and were translated later into EngUsh, French, German, and Dutch. The nar- rative is distinguished by learning and keen observa- tion but inclines to creduhty and stories of marvellous occurrences.

The Travels of Pietro delta Valle, cd. Grey (London, 1892); Cl.\MPl, Delia vita e delle opere di Pietro delta Valle (Rome, 1880).

Klemens Loffler.

Vallee-Poussin, CH.^RLES-Lon.s-JosEPH-XAviER DE LA, professor of geology and mineralogj' at the Cathohc University of Louvain (1SC)3), doctor honoris causa of the same university (1876), foreign member of the Acadthnie Royale de Belgique (1885), vice- president of the directing council of the geological map of Belgium (1903), b. at Namur in 1827; d. at Brussels, 1903. De la Vallee Poussin made his humanities at the College Notre- Dame-<le-la-Paix, Namur, studied mathematics at Paris, and for ten years devoted himself to literature and philosophy. He attracted attention by his literary and scientific criticisms in various reviews. Appointed professor in 1863 on the recommendation of Omalius d'Halloy, he was the real creator of the teaching of geology and mineralogy at the University of Louvain. His scientific publications, scattered through numerous reviews from 1876 till 1903, placed him in the fore- most ranks of Belgian geologists and crystallographers. Especially noteworthy wen- his memoirs on the mi- croscopic study of the crystalline rocks of Belgium and