U5GSR
131
uazmcAnoM
have a right to identify the pre- and post-Christian
popular religious tales; the legend is not Christian,
only Christianized. But where then He its ultimate
sources? In many cases it lias obviously the same
origin as the myth, when it refers the incomprehensi-
ble to religious heroes. Anti(iuity traced back sources,
whose natural elements it did not understand, to the
heroes; such was also the case with many legends of
the saints, although others should rather be regarded
as outgrowths of the genuine history of the saints.
Etymwogy also has often led to the promotion of
legends; thus, Christopher becomes the actual Christ-
carrier. Again, there must be taken into consideration
the inexhaustible imagination of the conunon people;
merely because the people expected help, or punish-
ment, in certain situations, the fulfilment of such ex-
pectations was soon related. And, finally, general
axioms of experience (as in Pantschatantra; or, in the
case of the Talmud and Christianity, merely sentences
and figures of speech from the Holy Scripture are
clothed in the garb of narrative.
Dblbhate, Les U-gendes hagiographiquea (Brussels, 1905), tr. CRAWfORD. Legeruh of the Saintx (London and New York, laasy, QGitTKnt Legtnden^Sludifn iCologne^ 1906); Idem, X>ie cHriatL Legende dea AbtTidlandea (Heidelberg, 1910).
Heinrich GCnter.
Leger, Saint. See Leodegaji.
Leghorn. Diocese of (Liburnensis), suffragan of Pisa. Leghorn (Ital. Ldvorno), in Tuscany, is the capital of the smallest of the provinces of Italy. The city is situated on marshy ground, and is in conse- quence intersected by many canals, hence it has Ixjcn called ** Little Venice". A larger canal puts it in communication with Pisa. It has two ports, the old, or Medici, port, and the new port constructed in 1854. In former times leghorn was the most important port in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; even now it is out- ranked only by Genoa and Naples. Among its nu- merous teaching establishments are a naval academy, and an observatory erected in 1881. The public u- brary is important, and the prehistoric museum con- tains man>r Etruscan and Iloman antiquities. The town likewise possesses a gallery of paintings, and its archives have an historical mterest. Among the more important industries are shipbuilding, iron- works, and trade in alabaster and coral. The cathe- dral dates from the sixteenth century; there are also churches belonging to the Greek, the Maronite, and the Armenian Rites. The svnagogue (1603) is second only to that at Amsterdam. The royal palace was erected by Cosimo I. Of note also are the Torre del Marzocco, now used as a signal station, and the Torre della Meloria, near which, in 1241, the Pisans sur- priaed and defeated the Genoese fleet on its way to Home with the French bishops who were going to the council summoned against Frederick II. Among the andents Leghorn was known as Portua Libwmi, and was of small importance until the sixteenth century. It belonged to the Pisans, and was captured from them hj the Genoese. In 1421 the Florentines bought it for 100,(X)0 florins, and thus Leghorn came to TO the main outlet for Florentine commerce, to the detriment of Pisa, which from that time began to wane. The Medici family took great interest in the
Prosperity of this stronghold; Alessandro de' Medici uilt the old fortress; Cosmo I, under the supervision of Vasari, built a breakwater and a new canal. But the real author of its fatness was Ferdinand I, who called Leghorn ** his mistress ". To increase its popu- lation he showered his favours on it and on those who went to Uve there, and made it a town of refuse for men from every nation, so that there flocked to it not only outlaws from all over Italy, but even Greeks, Jews, and Moors driven out of Spain. Exiled English Catholics found a ho/ne there. Cosmo II erected a monument to Ferdinand, the work of Giovanni dell' Opera. Ow- ing to the bombardment (by the English in 1651 , and
by the 1" rench in 1671) of the Dutch fleet stationed in
the harbour, Ferdinand II caused Leghorn to be de-
clared a neutral port by international treaty (1601).
This neutrality was violated for the first time in 1796
by Bonaparte, whose idea of a ** Continental blockado "
did immense damage to the commerce of the town.
In 184S Leghorn was the hotl>ed of the Tuscan revolu-
tion.
The episcopal see was created hy Pius VII in 1806. Its first bishop was Filippo Canucci. The diocese lias 32 parishes with 170,000 souls. The number of reli- gious houses for men is 9, and for women, 12. It has 3 educational institutions for boys, and 7 for girls.
Repetti, Ditxonario Geografico ecc. dclla Toacana (Florence* 1835); Tarqioni-Tometti and Boufti, Lihunn civitaa (Ix>g- horn, 190C). U. BeniGNI.
Legio, titular see of Palestina Secunda, sufTragan of Scythopohs. It figures for the first time in a Latin episcopal notitiay tkiting probably from the eleventh century, where it is given under the name of Legionumf between the Bishoprics of Dioca'sarea and Capitolias rTobler and Mohnier, "Itinera Hierosolymitana'*, I, Geneva, 1880, 343). If, however, we consult the Greek " Notitiae Episcopatuum", of which the Latin is only a translation, we fmd in that place, not Legio, but Maximianopolis ("Byzant. Zeitschr.'*, I, Leipzig, 1892, 253, 256). The See of Leeio is, therefore, iden- tical with Maximianopolis; in tiie Middle Ages both cities were identified, being near neighbours, though really distinct places in the same see. Ix»gio is now Ledjun, well known in the Bible and in history under the name of Mageddo. S. Vailh^:.
Legipont, Guver, Benedictine, bibliographer, b. at Soiron, Limburg, 2 Dec., 1G9S; d. at Trier, 16 Jan., 1758. Having received his early education from the Franciscans at Verviers. he proceeded for higher studies to Cologne, where ne entered the abbey of Great St. Martin, received the priest hoo<l on 22 May, 1723, and the degree of Licentiate in 1728. His life was practically a succession of jounirj's to the numer- ous libniries, which he was commissioned to examine and put in order. Though zealous in the sacred ministry, he had little opportunity of exercising it; nor did he devote much time to teaching, though he was instrumental in promoting the higher studies in his order by the erection of a Benedictine college in the University of Heidelberg. Most of his writing remain unedited, but among the printed works his
edition of Ma^oald Zicgclbauer's "Ilistoria rei litter-
ariiB ord. Sti. Benedicti" (1754 — ), *'Monasticum
same also in Spanish, Valencia, 1759) nave lasting
value Allg! Deuiach. Bwg., XVIII, 126.
Benedict Zimmerman.
Legists, teachers of civil or Roman law, who, be- sides expounding sources, explaining terms, eluci- dating texts, summarizing the contents of chapters, etc., illustrated by cases, real or imaginary, the nu- merous questions and distinctions arising out of the 'Corpus Juris" enactments of the ancient Roman code. From the twelfth centurv, when a fresh im- pulse was given to legal researches, the terms legist and decretist — the latter applied, in the narrower sense, to the interpreter of ecclesiastical law and commen- tator on the canonical texts — have been carefully distinguished.
P. J, MacAuley.
Legitimation (Lat. legUimatio), the canonical term for the act by which the irregularity contracted bj being bom out of lawful wedlock is removed (see Ir- RRouLARiTv). Legitimation consequently presup-
