COUSTOU
455
COUTANCES
tensive preface of 150 pages Coustant explains the
origin, meaning and extent of the papal primacy and
critically examines the existing collections of canons
and papal letters. The letters of each pope are pre-
ceded by a historical introduction and furnished with
copiotis notes, while the spurious letters are collected
in the appendix. Coustant had gathered a large
anioimt of material for succeeding volumes, but ho
dieil the same year in which the first volume was pub-
lislieti. Simon Mopinot, who had assisted Coustant
in the preparation of the first volume, was entrusted
with the continuation of the work, but he also died
(11 October, 1724) before another volume was ready
for publication. About twi^lve years later, Ursin
Diirand imdertook to continue the work; in his case
the Jansenistic disorders in which he became involved
prevented the publication of the material he had pre-
pared. Finally the French Revolution and the disso-
lution of the JIaurist Congregation gave the death-
blow to the great undertaking. A new edition of
Coustant's volume was brought out by Schonemann
(Gottingen, 1790); a continuation, based chiefly on
Coustant's manuscripts anil containing the papal let-
ters from 461-521, was published by Thiel (Brauns-
berg, 1S67). There are extant in the Bibliotheque
Rationale at Paris fourteen large folio volimies con-
taining the material gathered by Coustant and his
Benedictine continuators. Constant also took part
in the controversy occasioned by Mabillon's "De Re
Diplomatica" between the Jesuit Germon and the
Muurist Benedictines. In two able treatises he de-
fends himself and his confreres against Germon who
dis|pute<l the genuineness of some sources used in the
15eni'dictine edition of the works of St. Hilary and St.
Augustine.
Tassin, Histoire Hltcraire de In conpn'tjation de Saint-Maur (Brussels, 1770), 417 sqq.; Pkz, liibliolheca Benediclino- Mauriana (Augsburg, 1716), 345 sqq.; Le Cekp, BMiolhique historwue et critique des autcurs de la congr. de Saint-Maur (The Hague. 1726), 62 sqa.; Mopinot in Journal des snmntx (Paris, January. 1722); Herbst in Theologisc/w Quarlalschnft (Tubingen, 1833). 438 sqq.; Sdralek, ibid. (1880), 222 sqq.; Kerker in Kirchenlex.. s. v.; Kukula in Wiener Sitzungs- berichte (1890, 1893, 1898); Vai.enti, Los Benedictinos de S. Maura (Palma de Mallorca, 1S99), 199; Hurtek, Xomenclator, II, 1103 sqq.
Michael Ott.
Coustou, XicoLAS, French sculptor, b. at Lyons, 9 January, 1658; d. at Paris, 1 May, 1733. He was the son of a wood-carver, from whom he received his first instruction in art. At the age of eighteen he went to Paris, and studied tmder the tutorship of his uncle, the sculptor Coysevox. On the occasion of Colbert's last visit to the Royal Academy, Coustou received from his hands the gold medal for sculpture (Colbert prize), which enabled him to go to Rome as a pensioner from 16S3 to KiSO. Here he applied him- self especially to the study of Michelangelo and Algardi, hoping to unite in his own work the strength of the one and the grace of the other. On his return he settled in Paris, and showed his independence Ijy declining to submit to the decrees of tlie ruling school of sculpture. The design made by him for a public monument being refused, he appealed directly to the king, who decided in his favour and awarded him the commission. Nicolas was joined by his younger brother Guillaume, also a sculptor, whom he admitted to a share in his labours, so that it is not always easy to ascribe particular works definitely to one or the other. In 1720 Nicolas was appointed rector of the academy of painting and sculjjture and held his post until his death, shortly before which he was also made chancellor of the academy. Coysevox and the Cous- tous formed a school in French sculpture and were distinguished by grace, naturalness and truth to life. Many of the works of Nicolas were destroyed in the furj- of the Revolution, but a number still remain. Chief among them are the " Union of the Seine and Mame"; the "Huntsman Resting" (called in French
"Berger Chasseur"); "Daphne Pursued by Apollo".
All of these are now in the garden of the Tuileries;
further, the statues of Julius Cajsar and Louis XV in
the Louvre, and the " Descent From the Cross" in the
choir of Notre-Dame, Paris, one of his best efforts.
There are also statues by C'oustou at Versailles and
Marly. A good terra-cotta bust of him by his brother
Guillaume is in the Louvre.
LuBKE, History of Sculpture, tr. Bunnett (London. 1878); Marquand and Frothingham, History of Sculpture (New York, 1886); Dilke, French Architects and Sculptors of the X VIII Century (London, 1900).
M. L. Handley.
Coutances, Diocese of (Constantiensis), com- prises the entire department of La Manche and is a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Rouen. It was enlarged in 1802 by the addition of the former Diocese of A\Tanches and of two archdeaconries from the Diocese of Bayeux; since 1854 its bishops have held the title of Bishop of Coutances and .\vranches.
Diocese of Coutances. — The catalogue of the
bishops of Coutances, as it w^as made out about the
end of the eleventh century, gives as the first bishops
St. Ereptiolus and St. Exuperatus (fourth century).
Leontianus, the first bishop historically known,
attended the Council of Orleans in 511. Coutances
counted among its prelates Saint L6 (Lauto), promi-
nent in the great councils of the middle of the si.xth
century; St. Rumpharius, apostle of Barfleur (d.
about 586); St. Fremond (Frodomundus), who,
assisted by Thierry III, founded a monastery and a
church in honour of the Blessed Virgin in 079 at Ham,
near Valognes; Blessed Geoffroy de Montbray (1049-
109.3), friend of William the Con(|ueror, whose
episcopate was signalized by the buikling of the
catheclral of Coutances, to which purpose he devoted
large sums of money that he had gathered in Apulia,
and also by the founding of the Benedictine Abbeys
of Lessay, Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, and Montebourg,
and of the canonries of Cherbourg; Hugues de
Morville (1202-1238), organizer of charities in the
diocese and founder in 1209 of the celebrated Hotel-
Dieu of Coutances; Philibert de Mont jevi ( 1 424-1 439),
who presided over the deputation of theologians sent
by the Council of Basle to the Bohemians and Mora-
vians in order to reconcile them to the Church, and
Giuliano della Rovere (147(>-1478), afterwards pojje
under the name of ,Iulius II. The account book of
Thonuis Marest, cure of Saint^Nicoias of Coutances
(1397-1433), is very interesting for the history of
social life during the Hundred Years' War. The
Huguenots took possession of the city in 1562, but
were banished in 1575. Through the efforts of the
Venerable P(>re F.udes the cathedral of Coutances
was the first church in the world to have aa altar
dedicated to the Sacred Heart.
