HEENEY
190
HEESWIJE
Das Leben der hi. Hedwig, Herzogin von Schlesien (Breslau,
1843; 2nd ed., 1854); Wolfskron, Die Bilder der Hedwigsle-
gende (V^ienna, 1846); Knoblich, Lehensgeschichte der Landes-
paiTonin Schlesiens, der hi. Hedwig (Breslau, 1860); LucHS,
Ueber die Bilder der Hedwigslegende (Breslau, 1861); Becker.
Die hi. Hedwig. Herzogin von Schlesien und Polen (Freiburg im
Br., 1872); Jungnitz, Die hi. Hedwig (Breslau. 1886): Idem.
Das Breslauer Brevier und Proprium (Breslau, 1893), 24 sqq. :
Bazin. Ste Hedwige. sa vie et ses ceuvres (Paris, 1895); Michael.
Geschichte des detdschen Volkes vom 13. Jahrh. bis zum Ausgang
des Mittelalters, II (Freiburg im Br., 1899). 225 sqq.; Brauns-
BERGER. Riickblick auf das katholische Ordenswesen im 19.
Jahrhundert (Freiburg im Br.. 1901).
J. P. KiRSCH.
Heeney, Cornelius, merchant and philanthropist ; b. in King's County, Ireland, 1754; d. at Brooklyn, U. S. A., 3 May, 1848. After acquiring a practical mer- cantile education in Dublin, he emigrated to America in 1784 and became a fellow employe of the founder of the Astor family in the store of a New York fur dealer. His employer, retiring, left the business to John Jacob Astor and Heeney, and they prospered in it for several years and then separated. Heeney con- tinued in the same line and amassed a considerable fortune. He was a bachelor and used his income in the promotion of religious and charitable works ; St. Peter's church, St. Patrick's and the Catholic Orphan Asylum, New York, were the recipients of generous gifts. He was one of the first Catholics to hold public office in New York, and served five terms in the State Assembly from 1818 to 1822. He retired from busi- ness in 18.37 and went to live in Brookl^Ti, where he had purchased a large farm in what is now one of the best residence sections. Here he continued his charit- able benefactions, and having spent the most of his in- come for so long in good works, he planned to secure the disposition of the whole of his estate for the same purpose. Accordingly it was incorporated by Act of Legislature, 10 May," 1845, as "The Trustees and Associates of the Brooklyn Benevolent Society" with the object of administering the estate for the benefit of the poor and the orphans. The income amounts to about $25,000, and from its incorporation the society has distributed (1909) more than a million dollars.
V. S. Calk. Hist. Soc, Historical Records and Studies (New York, Oct., 1906), IV, pts. I and II; Fordham Monthly (New York, Jan., 1906), 135; Stiles, History of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, 1867-70); U. S. Cath. Hist. Magazine (New York, 1890-91).
Thom.\s F. Meehan.
Heeremann von Zuydwyk, Clemens Arc. Ant., Freiherr vox. Catholic statesman and ^Titer on art, b. 26 .A.ug., 1832, at Surenburg near Riesenbeck, West- phalia; d.23 March, 1903, at Berlin. He studied law at the Universities of Bonn, Heidelberg, and Berlin. In the German capital he took an active part in the organization of a reading circle for Catholic students. For several years he was employed as referendary to the Circuit Court, and later to the Governmental Council of Miinstcr, and in 1S74 was appointed a mem- ber of the Governmental Council of Merseburg. In 1S70 he was chosen a member of the Prussian Diet (Landtag), and in 1S71 of the Reichstag for the dis- trict of ^I^mster-Cosfeld. During the Kulturkampf, towards the end of 1875, he resigned as a government official and devoted liimsclf exclusively to parliamen- tary labours on behalf of the oppressed Church. His efforts were chiefly directed against the Law of 31 May, 1875, which threatened the existence of several charitable orders devoted to the care of the sick, and he secured several important modifications of that law. He was at this time one of the leaders of the Centre Party. From 1879-82 he was second vice- president of the Prussian Landtag, and from 1882 to the time of his death first vice-president of the same body. After the death of Freiherr von Schorlemer- Alst (1889) he was chosen chairman of the Centre Party in the Landtag, and in 1900 retired as its hon- orary president.
In the course of his active parliamentary career he
took a leading part in the debates on the tariff, in
1879, and on all subjects relating to the interests of the
Church, schools, and fine arts. His acknowledged
ability as an art critic is displayed in the work on " Die
alteste Tafelmalerei Westfalens" (1882). He was also
an active member of the Gorres-GeseUschaft, president
of the Kunstverein of Westphalia, and encouraged the
study of the history and archaeology of his native
country. Above all, he was a devout, practical Cath-
olic. His tact and moderation won the admiration and
respect of men of all political creeds, and although he
was not so fervent an orator as Freiherr von Schor-
lemer, he was a diligent and painstaking worker. One
of his admirers characterizes him as a " refined art
critic, an eminent member of parliament, a former
chairman of the Centre Party, a glorious champion of
the Church, a friend of the religious orders and a self-
sacrificing promoter of Catholic Congresses ". In 1887
he invited a number of friends of art to assemble at
Bonn; one of the immediate results of this meeting
was the establishment of the "Zeitschrift fiir christ-
liche Kunst " (Magazine of Christian Art), still pub-
lished at Diisseldorf.
Frets in Buchberger. Kirchl. Handler. (Munich. 1907); The Messenger. XXXIX (New York, 1903); Hochwart in Alte und neue Weli, V, 38; Zeitschrift fur christl. Kunst (Diisseldorf, 1903).
Alexius Hoffmann.
Heeswijk, a village in the Diocese of Hertogen- bosch (Bois-le-Duc), Holland, in which the dispersed religious of the confiscated Norbertine Abbey of Berne have created a new abbey and college. The present name is the Abbey of Berne at Heeswijk. The Abbey of Berne, two miles southeast of Heusden, on the Maas, aiul about six miles northwest of Bois-le- Duc, was founded in the year of St. Norbert's death, 1134, by Fulcold, Lord of Teisterband, with a colony sent from Marienweerd under Everard, its first abbot. Numerous legends surround its foundation. One is that P'ulcold, when hotly pressed in battle, made a vow to build an abbey, if, by throwing himself into the river Maas, his life might be preserved from the enemy. This prayer ha'.ing been heard, Fulcold converted his castle at Berne into an abbey, and he himself became a lay brother therein. Blessed Fulcold died on 12 April, 1149, on which day his name is recorded in the hagiology of the order. The Abbey of Berne has always been held in high esteem by the counts of Hol- land and the dukes o? Brabant, as is proved by the privileges which they granted to it. It possessed the right of patronage over nine parishes, which were always served by priests from the abbey. In 1534 the abbot obtained the privilege of wearing the mitre. In the second half of the sixteenth century the abbey had much to suffer from the Dutch Calvinists, who plundered and partly destroyed it in 1572 and again in 1579. In 1623 the abbot bought the former con- vent of the Brothers of the Common Life at Bois-le- Duc, but at the capture of this town the religious were expelled and the property was confiscated. In 164,S the last of what the abbey once posses.sed in houses or in land had been confi.soated. But the religious were not di.scouraged, and the abbot obtained a house at Vilvorde, near Brussels, from which he directed the spiritual and temporal interests of his dispersed com- munity. Several of the priests of Berne, though compelled to remain in hiding and always in danger, continued to minister to the spiritual wants of their people, and if some parts of North Brabant and Gelder- land have preserved the Faith, the result may be ascribed to the apostolic exertions of these zealous priests. The future of the community was provided for by the admission of subjects, who made their no- vitiate and continued their studies at Vilvorde or in one of the Belgian abbeys, in this manner the Abbey of Berne has been kept up. while nearly all monas -
