COGITOSUS
94
COHEN
since his conversion for the Congregation of the Most
Holy Redeemer, left the Oratory, and entered the
Redemptorist novitiate at Saint-Trond, in Belgium.
Having made his profession on 2 February, 1852, he
returned to England and began his long and fruitful
career as a zealous Redemptorist missionary. From
1855 to 1865 he was rector of St. Mary's, Clapham,
and from the latter year till 1882 he held the office of
provincial of the English Redemptorists. These
offices, however, did not prevent him from zealously
labouring with pen and tongue, for, from 1852 to
1872, he was almost constantly engaged in giving
missions and clergy retreats throughout England,
Ireland, and Scotland, and in publishing many asceti-
cal books.
After the death of Dr. Danell, the second Bishop of Southwark, Father Coffin was chosen as his successor, and was consecrated in Rome by Cardinal Howard, in the church of S. Alfonso, 11 June, 1882, taking possession of his see on 27 July. After an illness of several months, borne with great fortitude. Bishop Coffin died at Teignmouth, in the house of the Re- demptorists which he himself had founded when pro- vincial. "Although his name was at no time con- spicuously before the world, his influence had been widely and deeply felt, and few ecclesiastics in Eng- land were held in greater esteem or affection. By the publication of many of the works of St. Alphonsus, by his labours as a preacher and missionary in his younger days, by his numerous retreats, especially to the clergy, and still more by his government of the Prov- ince of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in England, Scotland, and Ireland during nearly twenty years, he performed a quiet, solid and endur- ing work which will be felt for many generations" ("The Tablet", London). Among his publications are the following English translations of the Italian works of St. Alphonsus: "The Glories of Mary" (Lon- don, 18.52, 1868); "The Mysteries of the Faith: The Incarnation" (London, 1854); "The Christian Virtues" (London, 1854); "The Mysteries of the Faith: The Eucharist" (London, 1855); "Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament" (London, 1855); "The Eternal Truths" (London, 1857); "A Devotion in Honour of St. Joseph" (London, 1860); "The Mys- teries of the Faith: The Redemption" (London, 1861); "Hymns and Verses on Spiritual Subjects" (London, 1863). He also published a translation of "The Oratory of the Faithful Soul" by Blosius (Lon- don, 1848), and several pastoral letters.
GiLLOw, Bibl. Diet, of Eng. Calh.. s. v.; The Tablet (London, 11 April, 1885). B. GlTLDNER.
Cogitosus, an Irishman, an author, and a monk of Kildare; the date and place of his birth and of his death are unknown; it is uncertain even in what cen- tury he lived. In the one work which he wrote, his life of St. Brigid, he asks a prayer pro me nepote cul- pabili, from which both Ware and Ussher conclude that he wa.s a nephew of St. Brigid, and, accordingly, he is put down by them among the writers of the sixtli century. But the word nepos may also be applied to one who, like the prodigal, had lived riotously, and it may be, that Cogitosus, recalling some former lapses from virtue, so uses the word of himself. At all events, his editor, Vossius, is quite satisfied that Cogi- tosus was no nephew of St. Brigid, because in two genealogical menologies which Vossius had, in which were enumerated the names of fourteen holy men of that saint's family, the name of Cogitosus is not to be found. Nor did tlie latter live in the sixth centuiy, because he .speaks of a long succe.s.sion of bishops aiid abbe.s.ses at Kildare, .showing tliat Iw writes of a jieriod long after the time of St. Brigid, who died in 525, and of St. Coiileth, who died a few years earlier. Besides this, tlu' description of the church of Kildare belongs to a nuich later time ; and the author calls St. Conleth
an archbishop, a term not usual in the Western Church
until the opening of the nmth century. On the other
hand, he describes Kildare before it was plundered by
the Danes, in 835, and before St. Brigid's remains
were removed to Down. The probabihty therefore is
that he lived and wrote the life of St. Brigid about the
beginning of the ninth century. His work is a pane-
gyric rather than a biography. He gives so few
details of the saint's life that he omits the date and
place of her birth and the date of her death ; nor does
he make mention of any of her contemporaries, if we
except St. Conleth, the first Bishop of Kildare, and
Macaille from whom she received the veil. He gives
the names of her parents, but is careful to conceal the
fact that she was illegitimate, and that her mother
was a slave. On the other hand, he dwells with evi-
dent satisfaction on her piety, her humility, her char-
ity, her zeal for religion, the esteem in which she was
held by all. And he narrates at length the many
miracles she wrought, and tells of the immbers who
came as pilgrims to Kildare, attracted by her fame.
In his anxiety to exalt her he says she had as abbess
authority over all the abbesses of Ireland, although
as a matter of fact she could govern only those who
followed her rule; and his statement that she ap-
pointed the Bishop of Kildare could not, of course,
mean that she conferred any jurisdiction. Cogitosus
writes in fairly good Latin, much better indeed than
might be expected in that age, and his description of
the church of Kildare with its interior decorations is
specially interesting for the history of early Irish art
and architecture.
Lanigan, EccUsiaslical History (Dublin. 1822); Mignk. P. L., LXXII; Healy, Ancient Schools and Scholars (Dublin. 1896); Ware and Harris. Writers of Ireland (Dublin. 1764).
E. A. D 'Alton.
CogoUudo, Diego Lopez de, one of the chief histo- rians of Yucatan. His work, the "Historia de Yuca- tan", which appeared at Madrid in 1688, and was re- printed in 1842 and 1867, is an important work, full of information personally gathered at a time when older sources, written and oral, that have now partly disappeared, were accessible. Cogolludo consulted and used the writings of Bishop Diego de Landa to a considerable extent, hut many of his statements must be taken with cautious criticism. He was a native of Alcala de Henares in Spain, and took the habit of St. Francis at the convent of San Diego, 31 ILarch, 1629. He emigrated to Yucatan, where he became succes- sively lector in theology, guardian, and finally pro- vincial of his order.
Beristain de Souza, Biblioteca hispano-americana (Mexico, 1816-1828- 2nd ed. Amecameca, 1883); SaviEn, Monograph of Authors (New York, 1861); Brasseur de Bourbourg, Rela- tion des ehoses de Yucatan par Diego de Landa (1860); Steph- ens, Incidents of Travel in Yitcaian (New York. i84:i); B.ande- LIER. Notes on the Bibliography of Yucatan and Central America (Proceedings of the Antiquarian Society, Worcester, 1880); Ancona, Historia de Yucatan (.Mt^rida. 1.S75); Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States (New York, 1875).
Ad. F. Bandelier.
Cohen, Hermann, a Discalced Carmelite (Augus- tin-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament, generally known as F.\THER Hermann), b. at Hamburg, Germany, 10 November, 1820; d. at Spandau, 20 Janu.ary, 1871. The son of a Jewish merchant, he devoted himself to music, which he studied under Liszt at Paris, where he joined a brilliant but frivolous circle, to the detri- ment of his morals. One day, in May, 1847, while leading the choir at Benediction in the church of Sainte -Valerie, he felt himself touched by Divine grace, and, after a short sojourn at Ems, resolved to become a Christian. Baptized 28 August, he insti- tuted with De la Bnuillerie the pious practice of the nocturnal adoration; he entered the Carmelite no- vitiate at Broussey, made his profession 7 October, 18.50, ami was orilained priest 19 .\pril of the following year. His fiery eloquence and the stir caused by his
