Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/573

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

BERNARDINES


507


BERNE


commentary on the Apocalypse. Bemardine's writ- ings were first collected and published at Lyons in 1501. De la Haye's edition, "Sti. Bernardini Senensis Ordinis Seraphici Minorum Opera Omnia", issued at Paris and Lyons in 1536, was reprinted there in 1650, and at Venice in 1745. As a result of the petition addressed to the Holy See in 18S2 by the General Chapter of the Friars Minor, requesting that St. BernaRline be declared a Doctor of the Church, a careful inquiry was instituted as to the authenticity of the works attributed to the saint. Some of these are certainly spurious and others are doubtful or interpolated, while not all the saint's genuine works are contained in the editions we pos- sess. A complete and critical edition of St. Ber- nardine's writings is much needed. An excellent selection from his ascetical works was recently issued by Cardinal Vives (Sti. Bernardini Senensis de Dominica Passione, Resurrectione et SS. Nomine Jesu Contemplationes, Rome, 1903).

We are fortunate in possessing several detailed lives of St. Bemardiue written by his contemporaries. Three of these are given in full in the Acta Sanctorum Maji, V, with Comm. Praev. by Henschen. The earli- est by Bemaba^us Senensis, an eyewitness of much he records, was compiled in 1445 shortly after the .saint's death. The second by the celebrated human- ist, Maphajus Vegius, who knew the saint personally, was printed in 1453. The third by Fra Ludovicus Vincentinus of Aquila was issued after the transla- tion of the saint's body in 1472. A fourth contem- Eorary biography by a Friar Minor, hitherto unedited, as lately been printed both by Father Van Or- troy, S.J., in the Anal. BoUand. (XXV, 1906, pp. 304- 389) and by Father Ferdinand M. d'Ardules, O.F.M. (Rome, 1906). The hfe of St. Bernardine written in Italian by his namesake, Bl. Bernardino of Fossa (H. 1503), and mentioned by Sbaraleaand others does not appear to have come down to us. But the lat- tcr's "Chronica Fratrum Minorum Observantite ", ed- ited by Lemmens (Rome, 1902), contains several important references. A valuable account of Ber- nardine's youth is furnished by Leonardus (Benvog- licnti) Senensis, Sienese ambassador to the pope. This work which was edited by Father Van Ortroy in Anal. Holland., XXI (1902), 53-80, was compiled in 1446 at the instance of St. John Capistran. The " Life," of St. Bernardine attributed to St. Jolm himself, and the one transcribed by Surius in his " Vita SS. " (1618). V, 267-281, as well as the tributes to Bernardine of Pius II and St. Antoninus anil the acts of his canonization are found in vol. I of de la Haye's edition of Bernardine's works.

Wadding. Annates, XII. ad ann. 1450, n. I and Srriplores (1650). 57-58; Sbarai.ea, Supplemenlum (1806), 131-134, 725; Amadio Luzzo, Vita di S. Bernardino (Venice, 1744; Rome. 1826; .Siena, 1854; Monza, 1873); Berthadmier. Hist, de S. Bernardin (Paris, 1862); Toussaint, Das Leben des h. Bemardin von Siena (Ratisbon, 1873); Life of St. Bemardirte of Siena (London. 1873); Leo de Clary. lAves of the Saints of the Three Orders of St. Francis ^Taunton, 1886), II. 220-275; Leon, Vie de SI. Bemardin (.VsLnves, 1893); k\.E»fiio, Storiadi S. Bernardino e del siw tempo (Mondovi, 1899); Ronzoni, L'Eloquema di S. Bermirdino (Siena, 1899). Undoubtedly the best modern life of .St. Bernardine is that by Paul Thureau-Dangin of the French Academy; Un prMicateur populaire dans Vltalie de la Renaissance: S. Bernardin de Siine (Paris, 1896). This bril- liant monograph has been translated into Italian (1897), German (1904), and English (1906).

Pasch.\i, Robinson.

Bemardines, The, title of certain sisters of the order of Citeaux who at the end of the sixteenth and in the seventeenth century, made energetic efforts to restore the primitive observance of their rule. They were the Bernardine Recollects (Bernardas Recoleta.s) in Spain; the Bernardines of Divine Providence, the Bernardines of the Precious Blood; and the Bernar- dines of Flines and of Lille, in France and Savoy; and some isolated foundations in Belgium and in Peru. The first reform was due In ihi> \blies.sesoi Las Huel-


gas of Burgos, who towards the end of the sixteenth century, had reformed the Abbeys of Gradefes, Per- ales, and St. Anne of Valladolid, where Jane de Ayala introduced the true spirit of Citeaux. In 1601 St. Anne of Valladolid became the mother-house of the new reform, and in 1606 the constitutions were approved by Paul V. This reform extended as far as the Indies and the Canary Islands.

In 1622 Louise-Theresa-Blanche de Ballon, daugh- ter of Charles-Emmanuel de Ballon, chamberlain of the Duke of Savoy and later ambassador of this prince in France and Spain, began, under the direction of St. Francis of Sales, her near relative, the reform of the monastery of St. Catherine (Savoy). She after- wards went with five sisters to Rumilly and founded the Congregation of Bernardines of Divine Provi- dence. This reform spread into Savoy and France. The constitutions were printed in 1631. In 1634 Mother de Pongonnas, who with four other Cistercian sisters of Grenoble had embraced the reform, having gone to Paris to found a new house, had the constitu- tions reprinted with some changes. Louise de Ballon then had them again printed so as to conform to the first constitutions — an action which caused the separa- tion of the convents of France and Savoy. The con- vents of France formed what is known as the con- gregation "of St. Bernard". Mother Baudet de Beauregard who succeeded Mother de Pongonnasin the government of the monastery of Paris, changed the name from Bernardines of Divine Providence to Ber- nardines of the Precious Blood (1654). Their rules were approved by the Abbot of Prieres, Vicar General of the Strict Observance of Citeaux, and the Prior of St. Germain-des-Pres, as Vicar General of the Cardinal de Bourbon, received the vows of the new commu- nity on the 27th of August of the same year.

The monasteries of the congregation now number (1) Bernardine Recollects, 13; (II) Bernardines founded by Mother de Ballon, 2; (III) Bernardines of Flines, 2; (IV) Bernardines of Lille, 3; (V) Bernar- dines isolated in Belgium and Peru, 6. The houses of France have been closed by the Government. The Bernardines of to-day are engaged in teaching and follow a somewhat modified rule.

The Bernardines of Spain rise every day at tbree o'clock, and on days of great solemnities at two o'clock. For the office they follow the Cistercian Breviary. They fast two days a week from Pentecost to the 14th of September, four days a week from the 14th of September to Easter Sunday, and every day during Advent, Septugesima time, and Lent. Meat is allowed three times a week except during Advent and the nine weeks before Easter Sunday. Their habit consists of a woolen robe and their bed is con- formable to the regulations. They live in com- munity in sickness as well as in health. With the Bernardines of Mother de Ballon this rule is still more mitigated. They rise at five o'clock summer and winter. Silence is kept except during the recreation winch follows dinner and supper. They fast two days a week from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, and on Saturday also during Advent. They abstain from meat on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays of the whole year. M. Gildas.

Berne, the fourth city of Switzerland in population, capital of a canton of the same name which is the second of the Swiss cantons in size and first in popu- lation, and since 1848, capital of the Swiss Confedera- tion, is situated at a point 1,788 feet above the sea level, in Lat. 46° 57' N., and Long. 7° 26' E. The larger part of the city is built on a peninsula that projects into the Aar from its left bank. In the Middle Ages Berne contained over 5,000 inhabitants; in 1764, 13,681; in 1850, 27,558; in 1900, 64,064. Tliis last number includes 60,622 Germans, 3,087 French, 902 Italians, 762 of mixed Romance blood;