Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/132

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COLGAN
100
COLIN

lives of the Irish saints whose feasts occur in the calendar for the months of January, February, and March. The lives of the saints whose feasts occur in the succeeding months were to have been published in the last three volumes of the series. Wadding, in his "Annales Minorum", informs us that the volume dealing with the saints for April, May, and June was in the press at Colgan's death; this seems incorrect, since, if the work had been so far advanced, it would have been published by some one of the many competent colleagues who assisted Colgan.

The second volume of the series, entitled "Trias rhaumaturga", etc., appeared at Louvain in 1647. It deals with the three great national saints of Ire- land, Patrick, Brigid, and Columbcille. In it are contained seven of the ancient lives of St. Patrick, five of St. Columba, and six of St. Brigid. For a long time the "Trias Thaumaturga" was nearly the only source of information on St. Patrick, and even since the Whitley Stokes edition of the "Vita Tripartita" (Rolls Series), Colgan's work cannot be dispensed with. It should be noted that Colgan gives a Latin version of the "Vita Tripartita" which represents a different text from that edited by Stokes; Colgan's manuscript seems to have entirely disappeared. Besides the "Lives" in the "Trias Thaumaturga", there are also contained in this volume many valuable "Appendices", dealing with the ecclesiastical antiquities of Ireland, and critical and topographical notes, which, though not always correct, are of invaluable assistance to the student. In 1655 he published at Antwerp a life of Duns Scotus, in which he undertook to prove that this great Franciscan doctor was born in Ireland, and not in Scotland, as was then frequently asserted. In the "Bibliotheca Franciscana" Colgan is said to have died in 1647, but this is evidently a mistake, as a note in his work on Duns Scotus proves clearly that he was alive in 1655.

Colgan's work on Irish hagiology is of undoubted value. Though unfortunately of very weak constitution, he was a man of great ability and industry, and with a sound critical sense. His knowledge of the Irish language enabled him to turn to good account the vast collection of manuscripts (now unfortunately for the greater part lost) which had been collected at the instigation of Ward, while his acquaintance with the traditions existing among the native Irish of his time, about the various names of persons and places, gave him an advantage over writers of the present day. It must be remembered, however, that Colgan, though a fluent Irish speaker, had not, and from the nature of things could not have, a knowledge of the grammatical forms of Old and Middle Irish. Hence his judgments about the dating of the manuscripts and about the meaning of certain difficult expressions ought not to be put forward as irreversible. In other words, Colgan should be judged by the criteria of his time; from this point of view his work on the ecclesiastical history of Ireland is unequalled. But his opinions are not decisive evidences of truth at the present day, especially when pitted against the views of the most skilled students of Old and Middle Irish grammar and texts. His principal works are: "Acta Sanctorum veteris et majoris Scotije seu Hiberni*, Sanctonmi Insulje, partim ex variis per Europara MS. Codicibus exscripta, partim ex antiquis monumentis et jirobatis Auctoribus eruta et congest;?; omnia Notis et .\ppendicibus illustrata. Tomus primus ciui de Sacris Hibernise Antiquitatibus est tertius, Januariimi, Februarium et Martium com- plectens" (Louvain, 1645); "Triadis Thaumaturgae, seu Divorum Patricii Columba- et Brigidae, trium Veteris et M.ajoris Scotia-, seu Ilibernije, Sanctorum Insuhc, communium I'litrononun Acta, Tomus Se- cundus Sacr.anim ejusdcni Insula- .\ntiiiuitatum" (Louvain, 1647); "Tractatusde Vita, I'atria. Scriptis Johannis Scoti, Doctoris Subtilis" (.Vntwerp, 1655).

Besides these he left in manuscript "De Apostolatu Hibernorura inter exteras Gentes cum Indice Alphabetico de exteris Sanctis" (852 pages); "De Sanctis in Anglia, Britannia Aremorica, in reliqua Gallia, in Belgio" (1068 pages); "De Sanctis in Lotharingia et Burgundia, in Germania ad senestram et dexteram Rheni, in Italia" (920 pages). Some of these in- valuable manuscripts, though eagerly sought for, have not yet been traced (see Gilbert, National MSS. of Ireland, London, 1884; or Doherty, op. cit. below, 81-82).

Wadding-Sbaralea, Scriptores Ordinis Minonivi (ed. Rome. 1S06; Quaracchi, 1908sqq.l; Bibliotheca Vnn-ersa Franciscana (Madrid, 1732); Ware-Harris, Writers of Ireland (Dublin, 1746): Doherty, Inis-Owen and Tirconnell, being some account of Antiquities and Writers of the County of Donegal (Dublin, 1S95), 49-52, 71-106; Hyde, A Literary History of Ireland (New York, 1902).

James MacCaffrey.

Colgan, Joseph. See Madras, Archdiocese of.

Colima, Diocese of (Colimensis).—The city of Colima, the capital of the State of the same name in Mexico, is situated on the Colima River, at an altitude of 1400 feet, and was founded in the year 1522 by Gonzalo de Sandoval. Its population in 1900 was 20,698. The Diocese of Colima was erected by Leo XIII, 11 December, 1881, by the Constitution "Si principum". Before its erection as a diocese, Colima formed part of the .\rchdiocese of Guadalajara (Guadalaxara), of which it is now a suffragan. It includes all the State of Colima and the southern part of the State of Jalisco. The population in 1901 numbered 72,500, many of whom are Indians.

Gerarchia Catt. (Rome, 1908); Konrersations-Lex. (St. Louis, Missouri, 1903), s. v.*

Colin, Frederic-Louis, Superior of the Sulpicians in Canada, b. at Bourges, France, in 1835; d. at Montreal, 27 November, 1902. After pursuing a course of scientific studies he entered the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice at Paris where he was ordained priest in 1859. Transferred to Canada in 1862 he at first took up parochial work; later he became successively professor of theology and director of the higher seminary at Montreal. From 1881 until his death he was superior of the priests of Saint-Sulpice in Canada. Colin distinguished himself both as an orator and as a man of action. Many of his sermons have been printed; among them are one to the papal zouaves returning from Rome (1871), and a funeral oration on Mgr. Bourget (1885). For twenty years Father Colin was the promoter in Montreal of higher education for the clergy and laity. For the clergy he founded the Canadian College at Rome (1885), intended to enable young Canadian priests to pursue a higher course of ecclesiastical studies by attending the Roman universities; besides this he established the seminary of philo.sophy at Montreal (1892).

For the benefit of laymen Colin estabhshed, despite many obstacles, the Laval University. Aided by Ferdinand Brunetiere, on whom he exercised a salutary influence, he advocated the erection of a chair of French literature to be occupied by a lecturer from France, and he liimself defrayed the costs. In this way he quickened interest in the French language ami literature among the intelligent classes of Canada and introduced the "custom of calling on French and Belgian specialists for the higher scientific and commercial instruction of young French-Canadians. To Father Colin is also due the practice of in-viting a preacher from abroad to deliver the Lenten sermons at Notre-Dame of Montreal. His wise ad\-ice was also much sought for by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities.

L'Univers (Paris. 15 Jan., 1903); Brunetiere in Le Gaulois (30 Dec, 1902); Bulletin trimestriel des anciens élèves de Saint-Sulpice (February, 1903); Semaine religieuse de Montreal (6 and 13 Dec, 1902).

A. Fournet.