VITORIA
490
VITUS
is a precious relic of the twelfth century. A new
cathedral, which will be larger than that of Burgos, is
now (1912) being built through the zeal of the bishop,
D. Jose Cadena y Eleta. The crypt was opened in
1911. Other notable churches of Vitoria are San
Vicente and San Miguel, which were the churches of
Gazteiz in the time of Sancho the Wise. The
Church of San Miguel is built on the site of an ancient
Roman temple and contains a statue of the Blessed
Virgin called La Blanca, from the whiteness of the
stone of which it is made. The parish church of
San Pedro contains some curious tombs. The con-
vent of the Dominicans was founded by St. Dominie
on the site of the house of Sancho the Strong of
Navarre. It has since served for a barracks and a
mihtary hospital. The convent of San Francisco,
founded in 1214, is also a barracks for infantry and
cavalry. Adrian of Utrecht was living in the famous
"Casa del Cordon" when he received the news of his
elevation to the papacy.
The conciliar seminary was inaugurated in 1880 under the patronage of St. Prudentius and St. Igna- tius. It was enlarged by Bishop Mariano de Miguel y G6mez. The seminary of Aguirre was founded in 1853. During the civil wars it was used for a military storehouse. The secondary school has a good build- ing surrounded by the gardens of La Florida. The hospital occupies the old seminary building of San Prudencio which was founded in the seventeenth century by Bishop Salvatierra of Segorbe and Ciudad- Rodrigo, a native of Vitoria. Oil ate is situated in this diocese. Its university dates from about the middle of the sixteenth century, having been founded by Rodrigo de Mercado y Zuazola, Bishop of Majorca and Avila. Paul III, in 1.540, issued a Bull to estab- hsh a collegia mayor and imiversity under the invoca- tion of the Holy Spirit. Diu'ing the first civil war this institution was transferred to Vitoria, and then suppressed. Some years later it was reopened as an independent institution, but was afterwards again closed. D. Carlos de Borb6n gave his protection to the university while he was in power in the Basque Provinces during the last Carlist war. The Loyola House, which formerly belonged to the Diocese of Pamplona, now belongs to Vitoria.
De la Fuente, Hist, de kis Universidades en Esp., II (Madrid, 1885) ; PiRALA, Provincias Vascongadas in Esp, sua monumentos y artes (Barcelona, 1885).
Ram6n Ruiz Amado.
Vitoria, Francisco. See Francis of Vittoria.
Vittorino da Feltre (Vittorino de' Rambal- DONi), humanist educator, b. at Feltre, 1397; d. at Mantua, 1446. He was the son of Bruto de' Ram- baldoni, a notary, but is best known by the surname of Feltre. Vittorino entered the University of Padua in 1396, attended the courses of Gasparino da Barzizza and Giovanni da Ravenna in grammar and Latin letters, and studied philosophy and perhaps theol- ogy. As a student he supported himself by tutoring. After obtaining the doctorate he studied mathematics under Pelacani da Parma, serving meanwhile as a famulus in the professor's household. Soon his fame as a teacher of mathematics surpassed his master's. He spent eighteen months studying Greek under Guarino da Verona, his fellow-student at the University of Padua, and then the best Greek scholar in Italy. Afterw.ards Vittorino opened a private school at Padua, and in 1422, upon the resignation of Barzizza, obtained the chair of rhetoric in the uni- versity. After about a year, either being disgusted with the immorahty of the city or unable to control his students, he resigned his chair and went to Venice, where he again organized a school. In that year, 1423, he was invited by Gian Francesco Gon- zaga, Marquis of Mantua, to imdertake the education of his children. Vittorino accepted the invitation
with the agreement that he could conduct a school at
the Court and receive other students; and he estab-
lished at Mantua the school with which his name is
most famiharly associated.
A villa, formerly the recreation hall of the Gon- zaghi, was transformed by him into an ideal school- house. Because of its pleasant surroundings and the spirit that prevailed therein, it was called the "Casa Jocosa" or " Pleasant House". All the scholars were boarders and Vittorino endeavoured to make the school as pleasant and enjoyable as the ideal home. Children of the leading families of Mantua, sons of other humanists Uke Filelfo, Guarino, and Poggio, and poor children were admitted to the classes. The instruction given was of the new Humanistic type but Christian in character and spirit. It was not merely a literary training, but embraced the physical and moralrequirements of a Uberal education. Letters (Latin and Greek), arithmetic, geometry, algebra, logic, dialectics, ethics, astronomy, history, music, and eloquence were all taught there, and frequently by special masters. The pupils were directed also in some form of physical e.xercise, chosen usually according to their needs, but, at times, accord- ing to their tastes. There were some general exer- cises which were obligatory in aU kinds of weather. Vittorino taught here as elsewhere by example, and participated in the field games.
He was an exemplary Catholic layman and as a teacher strove to cultivate in his pupils all the virtues becoming the Christian gentleman. Every day had its regular religious exercises at which, like morning prayer and Mass, all assisted. He was a frequent com- municant, and desired his students to approach the Sacraments every month. He did not overlook the individual, but he attained his success in overcoming faults and building up character by private direction and exhortation. His punishments were intended as remedies and were not administered immediately upon the discovery of an offence. His great educa- tional service was to adjust the new Humanistic studies to a system of teaching and to show how they could be taught without compromising the principles of Christianity. He insisted on pleasant surround- ings, made study attractive, and, by attention to individuals, more profitable. He developed a novel method of physical training, respecting the needs of the various pupils. He eminently succeeded with the education of Cecilia Gonzaga, who became one of the most cultured women of her time and ended her life as a nun. Vittorino has left us no written accounts of his work, nor any educational treatises. For an account of the famous humanists and scholars, statesmen, and prelates whom he prepared for their career, see Rosmini, op. cit., infra, IV.
RosMlNl. Idea deir ottimo precettore nella Vila e disciplina di Vittorino da Feltre (Milan, 1845) ; Woodward. Vittorino da Feltre and other Humanist Educators (Cambridge. 1897); Rosleb in BiU. derkath. Pddagogik, VII (Freiburg, 1S94). 101-24; VUlo- rino da Feltre, a Prince of Teachers (New York, 1908), written by a Sister of Notre Dame; McCormick, Two Medieval Catholic Edu- cators, I: Vittorinoda Feltre in Cath. Vniv. Bull., XII,4;SrMOND8, Renaissance in Italy (.Revival of Learning) (New York, 1888); TiRADOscHi, Storia della lett. ilal.. VI (Florence, 1S09) ; Vcspa.siano DA BliiTlcci, Vitcdi uumini illusiri ddsecM X V, II (Bologna. 1893).
Patrick J. McCormick.
Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia, S.iints, according to the legend, martyrs under Diocle- tian; feast, 15 June. The earliest testimony for their veneration is offered by the "Martyrologium Hier- onymianum" (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 78: "In Sicilia, Viti, Modesti et Crescent i:r"). The fact that the note is in the three most ini))ortant manuscripts proves that it was also in the common exemplar of these, which appeared in the fifth century. The same Martyrologium has under the same day another Vitus at the head of a hst of nine martyrs, with the state- ment of the place, " In Lucania", that is, in the Roman province of that name in Southern Italy between the
