CROWN
540
CROWN
As soon as there was a formal break with the Church,
and the pretended reform movement produced only-
anarchy in religion and morals, he turned his back on
it without giving a thought to the hatred of his friends
of earlier days. In a letter dated 1532 to Duke Al-
brecht he states his religious views clearly: "with the
help of God he intends to remain in communion with
the Church and allow all innovations to pass over like
a disagreeable smoke ' '. Crotus appears to have spent
the last years of his life entirely at Halle, but nothing
positive is known on the subject. Most probably Georg
Witzel urged him at different times to write again in
defence of the Church, and he seems, indeed, to have
made an effort to do this. But afterwards we hear
that the position, "unworthy of a man", in which he
was placed, did not permit him to take up his pen
on behalf of religion. It is not entirely certain
whether his canonry or his character of official in
the service of Cardinal Albrecht laid these limi-
tations on him. Yet he apparently had an im-
portant influence on the writings of others as, e. g.
on those of Witzel. Crotus himself, as a Humanist of
strong intellectual tastes, preferred above all the quiet
of his study. It may be that the revolutionary tu-
mult in religious and social life took from him both
the desire and the strength to use the pen which had
formerly so unmercifully scourged the weaknesses of
his opponents. He seems, however, to have influenced
the religious demeanour of his master, Cardinal Al-
brecht, in the cardinal's later years. The last scanty
information concerning Crotus reaches to the year
1539; his death occurred, if not in this year, certainly
not much later.
Kamfschvute, DieUniversitat Erfurt in ihremVerhiiltnis zu dcvi Humanismus und der Reformation (Trier, 1858-60). I, 197 sqq.; II. 43 sqq.; Idem, De Joanno Croto Rubiano (Bonn, 1862); R.iss, Die Convertiten seit der Reformation (Freiburg, 1866), I, 95-122; KiNERT, Crotus Rubiamis: Ein Beitrag zur Gesch. des Humanis- mus in Thiiringen in Zeitschrift fiir Gesch. und Altertumskunde Thiiringens, new ser., IV, 1-75; Redlich, Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg und das neue Stift zu Halle (Mainz, 1900), 55-69; Welte in Kirchenlex,, III, 1206 sqq.; Knod, Deutsche Studenten in Bologna (Berlin, 1899), 463 sqq. JoSEPH S.\UER.
Crown, Franciscan (or Seraphic Rosary) , a rosary consisting of seven decades in commemoration of the seven joys of the Blessed Virgin (the Annunciation, Visitation, Birth of Our Lord, Adoration of the Magi, Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the Resur- rection of Our Lord, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and her Coronation in heaven), in use among the members of the three orders of St. Francis. The Franciscan Crown dates back to the year 1422. Wadding tells us that a young novice who had that year been received into the Franciscan Order had, previous to his reception, been accustomed to adorn a statue of the Blessed Virgin with a wreath of fresh and beautiful flowers as a mark of his piety and devotion. Not being able to continue this practice in the noviti- ate, he decided to return to the world. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him and prevented him from carry- ing out his purpose. She then instructed him how, by reciting daily a rosary of seven decades in honour of her seven joys, he might weave a crown that would be more pleasing to her than the material wreath of flowers he had been wont to place on her statue. From that time the practice of reciting the crown of the seven joys became general in the order. The man- ner of reciting the Franciscan Rosary is as follows: The Apostles' Creed, the Our F'ather, and three Hail Marys having been said as usual, the mystery to be meditated upon is introduced after the word Jesus of the first Hail Mary of each decade, thus: "Jesus, whom thou didst joyfully conceive", "Jesus, whom thou didst joyfully carry to Elizabeth", and so on for the remaining five decades, which are given in most manuais of I<'rancisean devotion. At the end of the seventh dooadi' two Hail Marys are added to complete the lunnber of years (72) that the Blessed Virgin is eaid to have lived on earth. There are other ways of
reciting the Crown but the one given seems to be in
more general use. The plenary Indulgence attached
to the recitation of the Franciscan Crow'n, and applica-
ble to the dead, may be gained as often as the crown is
recited. It is not required that the beads be blessed,
or in fact that beads be used at all, since the Indul-
gence is not attached to the material rosary, but to the
recitation of the prayers as such. In 1905 Pope Pius
X, in response to the petition of the Procurator Gen-
eral of the Friars Minor, enriched the Franciscan
Crown with several new Indulgences that may be
gained by all the faithful. Those who assist at a pub-
lic recitation of the Franciscan Crown participate in all
the Indulgences attached to the Seraphic Rosary that
are gained by the members of the Franciscan Order.
It Ls required, however, that beads be used and that
they be blessed by a priest having the proper faculties.
A translation of the pontifical Brief is given in "St.
Anthony's Almanac" for 1909.
Wadding, Annates Minorum, X, 61: XVI, 62; Mocchegi- ANl, Colteclio Indulgentiarum (Ciuaracchi, 1897). 317-326: and Jurisprudentia Ecclesiastica (Quaracchi, 1905), III, 516^519.
Stephen M. Donovan.
Crowning of Images. See Images.
Crown of Thorns. — Although Our Saviour's Crown of Thorns is mentioned by three Evangelists and is often alluded to by the early Christian Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others, there are comparatively few writers of the first si.x centuries who speak of it as a relic known to be still in existence and venerated by the faithful. It is remarkable that St. Jerome, who expatiates upon the Cross, the Title, and the Nails discovered by St. Helen (Tobler, Itinera Hierosolym., II, 3G), says nothing either of the Lance or of the Crown of Thorns, and the silence of Andreas of Crete in the eighth century is even more surprising. Still there are some exceptions. St. Paulinus of Nola, writing after 409, refers to "the thorns with which Our Saviour was crowned" as relics held in honour along with the Cross to which He was nailed and the pillar at which He was scourged (Ep. ad Macar. in Migne, P. L., LXI, 407). Cassiodorus (c. 570), when commenting on Ps. Ixx.xvi, speaks of the Crown of Thorns among the other relics which are the glory of the earthly Jeru- salem. " There ' ', he says, " we may behold the thorny crown, which was only set upon the head of Our Re- deemer in order that all the thorns of the world might be gathered together and broken " (Migne, P. L., LXX, 621). When Gregory of Tours ("De gloria mart." in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Scrip. Merov.", I, 492) avers that the thorns in the Crown still looked green, a freshness which was miraculously renewed each day, he does not much strengthen the historical testimony for the au- thenticity of the relic, but the "Breviarius", and the "Itinerary" of Antoninus of Piacenza, both of the sixth century, clearly state that the Crown of Thorns, was at that period shown in the church upon Mount Sion (Geyer, Itinera Hierosolpnitana, 154 and 174). From these fragments of evidence and others of later date — the "Pilgrimage" of the monk Bernard shows that the relic was still at Mount Sion in 870 — it is cer- tain that what p\irported to be the Crown of Thorns was venerated at Jerusalem for several hundred years.
If we may adopt the conclusions of M. de Mi^ly, the whole Crown was only transferred to Byzantium about 1()()3, although it seems that smaller ]iortions must have been presented to the Eastern emperors at an earlier date. In ;\ny ca'io ,Iuv:tinian, who died in .'>(i5, is stated to have gi^('^ a thnin to, St. (Jcrmanus, Bishop Is. of Paris, which wa^ li.im ]ui-.i'TV('d at Saint-Ciermain- , des-Pr(5s, while the lanprcss Irene, in 79S or S02, sent (^liarlemagne .several thorns which were deposited by him at Aachen. Eight of these are known to have been there at the con.secr;ition of the basilica of .\achen by Pope Leo III, and the subsequent history of several of them can be traced without difliculty. Four were given to Saiut-Corneilleof Compiegnc in 877 by Charles
