Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/401

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BATHURST


349


BATTAGLINI


such as hospitals and monasteries. Tlvrough lier generosity the Abbey of Corbie was founded for men, and the Abbey of Clielles near Paris for women. At about this date the famous Abbeys of Jumieges, Jouarre, and Luxeuil were established, most probably in large part through Bathilde's generosity. Ber- thilde, the first Abbess of Chelles, who is honoured as a saint, came from Jouarre. The queen wished to renounce her position and enter the religious life, but her duties kept her at court. Erchinoald died in 659 and was succeeded by Ebroin. Notwithstanding the ambition of the new mayor of the palace, the queen was able to maintain her authority and to use it for the benefit of the kingdom. After her children were well established in their respective territories, Childe- ric IV in Austrasia and Thierry in Burgundy, she re- turned to her wish for a secluded life and withdrew to her favourite Abbey of Chelles near Paris.

On entering the abbey she laid down the insignia of royalty and desired to be the lowest in rank among the inmates. It was her pleasure to take her position after the novices and to serve the poor and infirm with her own hands. Prayer and manual toil Occupied her time, nor did she wish any allusion made to the grandeur of her past position. In this manner she passed fifteen years of retirement. At the be- ginning of the year 6S0 she had a presentiment of the approach of death and made religious preparation for it. Before her own end, that of Radegonde occurred, a child whom she had held at the baptismal flint and had trained in Christian virtue. She was Ijuried in the Abbey of Chelles and was canonized by Pope Nicholas I. The Roman martyrology places her feast on 26 January; in France it is celebrated

-!0 January.

Acta SS., II; Dubois, Hisioire ecdcsiastiqve de Paris, 198; itiNET, La vie excellente deSainte Bathilde (Paris, 1624); Corb- l.ET, Hagiugrapkie du diocese d'Amienf; (1874); Des Kssarts, Sainte Bathilde in Correspondanl (1873), XXXII. 227-246; Driou, La reine Bathilde (Limoges, 1865); Grecy in Revue archeologigue (1865), XII, 603-610.

A. FOURNET.

Bathurst, Diocese of, situated in New South Wales, Australia, in the ecclesiastical Province of Sydney, comprises the territory immediately west of the Dividing Range; it extends north to the Barwon River, is bounded on the west by the Macquarie River as far up as Warren and thence by a line to the Lachlan River twenty miles below Eauabolong.

History.— Bathurst (population in 1901, 9,223) was founded in 1824. Owing to the hostility of the aboriginals and other causes, population filtered slowly into the rich Bathurst plains till the first paying goldfield was discovered in the district, in 18.51. The first church in Bathurst, says Cardinal Moran, "was nothing better than a bark hut". It was superseded in 1861 by a fine new edifice (now the cathedral), which was erected at a cost of £12,000 by Dean Grant, pastor of Bathurst for nearly twenty years till his death in 1864. In 1S65 Bathurst, then part of the Diocese of Sydney, was made the cathe- dral centre of a new diocese, which extended from the River Murray to Queensland, and from the Blue Mountains to the border of South Australia. That vast and sparsely populated territory was divided at the time into five missions, ministered to by six priests, with, seven small churches and six state-aided Catholic schools, attended by 492 pupils. Its first bishop was the Right Rev. Matthew Quinn, who had taken an active part in organizing the Irish Brigade that fought for the defence of the Papal States in 1860. He was consecrated in Dublin, 14 November, 1865, and reached Bathurst 1 November, 1866, ac- companied by five priests and seven pioneer Sisters of Mercy. Years of toilsome organization followed — lalx)rious visitations; opening new missions and sup- plying them with clergy; church, school, and convent extension; the introduction of the (Australian') Sis-


ters of St. Joseph and the Patrician Brothers; the founding of a Catholic newspaper, the "Record"; the erection of St. Stanislaus' College, in 1873, at a cost of £15,000, and of St. Charles' Ecclesiastical Semi- nary eight years later. Dr. Quinn was a man of great energy, deep piety, cultivated intellect, and, says Cardinal Moran, was one of the "foremost champions of religious education in Australia". At his death, 16 January, 1885, there were in the diocese 28 priests, 56 Catholic schools, 21 convents, 192 nuns, and 5 re- ligious brothers. Dr. Quinn was succeeded by the Right Rev. Joseph Patrick Byrne (consecrated 9 August, 1885). In 1887 the new Diocese of Wil- cannia was formed out of the Bathurst Diocese. At the same time some districts from the Maitland diocese were added to the Bathurst jurisdiction. Dr. Byrne, says Cardinal Moran, "strenuously and successfully carried on the great work of education and rehgion begun by his predecessor", and, hke him, was "a model to his clergy in his unwearying and self-sacrificing toil". St. Stanislaus' College, which from its fomidation had been under the control of secular priests, was in 1888 entrusted to the Vincen- tian Fathers. It is now (1907) one of the foremost educational institutions in Australia, and noted for the work done in its well-equipped physical and chemical laboratories. When pronounced to be stricken by an incurable malady. Dr. Byrne received from his priests and people, on the Epiphany, 1901, a pathetic demonstration of affection, accompanied by a money gift of £2,530. He passed away on the 12th of January, 1901. To him succeeded the Right Rev. John Dunne — builder, missioner, organizer — who was consecrated 8 September, 1901. He is to complete the architecturally fine college of St. Stan- islaus, and under his administration the missionary and scholastic traditions of the diocese are well sus- tained. The efficiency of the Catholic schools is in no small measure due to the system of inspection inaugurated by the Rev. J. J. Brophy, D. D., LL. B. The principal lay benefactors of the diocese are Mr. James Dalton, K.S.G., and Mr. John Meagher, K.S.G. Religious Statistics. — In the diocese theie are:

18 parochial districts; 89 churches; 29 .secular piiests; 7 regular priests; 7 religious brothers; 242 nuns; 1 college; 8 boarding schools for girls; 11 day high schools; 39 primary schools (with 3,496 pupils); 1 orphanage; 4,298 children in Catholic schools; and a Catholic population of about 27,000.

Moran. History of the Catholic Church in Australasia (Syd- ney, s. d.); Hutchinson, Australasian Encyclopcedia (London. 1892); The Australian Handbook (Sydney, 190(3); Australasian Catholic Directory for 1907 (Sydney, 1907); Report of the Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Bathurst for the Year 1806 (Duhho, 1907); Missionea Catholica: (Propaganda, Rome, 1907), 694.

Henry W. Cleary. Batrun, Diocese of. See Gibaii, and B.\trdn. Battaglini, Marco, a historian of the councils, b. at Rimini, Italy, 25 March, 1645; d. at Cesena,

19 September, 1717. He studied law at Cesena, both civil and ecclesiastical, and at the age of six- teen he obtained the degree of doctor in both branches. After some years of service in the civil administration of the Papal States, he entered the priesthood, was appointed Bishop of Nocera in Um- bria, 1690, and in 1716 was transferred to Cesena. He was greatly esteemed for his learning, and for his generous and frank character. His principal works are: (1) "II legista filosofo" (Rome, 1680), or the man of law as a philosopher; (2) " Istoria universale di tutti i concilii" (Venice, 1686, 1689, 1696, 1714). The first edition contained the history of only 475 councils; in subsequent editions that of 403 more was added. A valuable supplement was the cata- logue of all the ancient and contemporary episcopal sees; (3) " Annali del sacerdozio e dell' imperio iii- tomo all' intero secolo decimo settimo " (Venice, 1701-