Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/510

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LUXXXriL


467


LUZEUIL


hernia. They endeavoured to compensate for this in a measure by raising Luxemburg to a duchy, but could not prevent part of it from crumbling away and the whofe (1444) falling to Burgimdy by conquest. From the House of Valois, which became extinct on the death of Charles the Bold, in 1477, the country passed to Austria, and was subject to the Spanish Habsburgs (155^1714); then to the German Habsburgs (1714- 95), and finally to the French (until 1814). The last rule was attended with pernicious results, e^secially as regards religion and morals, the brutalities of the French to the Chmt;h and her servants left sad memories. Even the worship of the goddess of rea- s(Hi prevailed for a time in place of the Catholic re- ligion.

After the overthrow of Napoleon, better times be- gan for Luxemburg. The Congress of Vienna decided that as an appendage of the newly created Kingdom of the Netherlands with the rank of grand duchy^ it should become a part of the German Confederation. The Belgian revolution of 1830 soon exercised a momen- tous influence on the territorial stability of the country. The entire western (Walloon) part (larger in extent, but more sparsely populated and less fertile than the remainder) was separated from the German Confeder- ation and annexed to the new Belgian Kin^om. The King of Holland established a regency m the part which remained to him (only under personal union) and in 1842 as Lord of Luxemburg joined the German Zollverein, Until 1866 the country enjoyed quiet aiid increasing prosperity. The garrisoning of the city and castle of Luxemburg by Prussian &ooi>8 for the first time introduced Protestants into the grand duchy. After the Prussian victories in Bohemia (1866) and the foundation of the North German Con- federation, Luxemburg was drawn into the political whirlpool. Napoleon III thought of annexing the little country and the King of Holland declared him- self ready to discuss the matter. Even Bismarck favoured the plan. But when the German nation de- clared unanimously against it, and the danger of a Franco-German war became imminent, i& great powers interfered and regulated the "LuxembuiK Question" at a conference assembled in London, which decreed that the fortress of Luxemburg should be abandoned and dismantled and the ** country declared neutral and under the protection of Europe ". Lux- emburg, however, remained a member of the German Zollverein. On the death of William III of Holland, Luxemburg passed, as the result of a family agree- ment made by the two Nassovian houses in 1783, to the Nassau Walram branch. The old Duke of Nas- sau, Adolf, who had l)ecn deposed in 1866 by Prussia, assume<l the regency on 23 iNovember, 1890, as grand duke. It has l)een settled in detail that in case his son and successor leaves no male heir, the crown will descend to the eldest daughter.

PiKKNNB, Bibliooraphie de VhiM. de Bdgimte . . . ju^fli*tn I8S0 (Ghent, 1902) ; Moliniek, Lea source* de VhisUnre de France (Paris, 1901 aqq.); 8oh6tteh, Geach. dea Ltixemburger Landea (Luxemburg, 1882); Glaxsknkk, Le orand-duchi de Lwcetn-


quantenoAre _

1892); VAN nuK Eltz, Aua Luxemburga V ergangenheit und (iegenwaH (Trior, 1891); Himly, Hiat. de La Jummiion territoriale, dea ekUa de V Europe cerUrale (Paris, 1894); Lavishk and Ram- baud, Hiatoire ginertUe, X (Paris. 189S), 334, 367; Klrin- CLAUSK, Hiatoire de Bourifogne (Paris, 1909); Kuppcrt, Lea Utia et reglementa aur Vorganiaation polUiguet jttdiciaire tt {Mdminia- Iraiive du Grand-Duchii de Luxembottrg (LuxemburR, 1885); Bertholet, HiM. eccl'8. et civile du duchf dt L. (Luxembuig, 1741-3); Peters in Kirchenlex., s. v.; HKBiiE.NB-KoHLSCHiiiiyr, Protest. TaachenhucJi (Leipsig, 1905); Makciial, La ttculjuture et lea chefa^ctuvre de Vorfi-vrerie belgea (Bmsoels, 1895); Beis- 8KL, Geach. der Marienveraehrung in Deutachland wdhrtnd dea MiUelaltera (Freiburg. 1909); Kefter, Kath. Lit. Kal. CEmea, 1910); Ders. Handhuch der kath, Preaae (EBsen, 1910): Klkff- NER-WoKER, Der Bonifaiiu'*verein (Paden>om, 1899): Eyschbn, Staatarecht dea Groaaherxogthuma 1*. in Handhuch dea i'§. RediU (Freiburg. 1890). ^

Plus WlTXMAim..


Luzeuil, Abbey of, situated in the Department of Haute-8a6ne in Franche-Comt<5, in the Diocese of Besan^on. It was founded in 585 by the great Irish monk, St. Columbanus, on the ruins of the Gallo- Roman castle of Luxovium, about eight miles from Aunigray. It was dedicated to St. Peter and soon be- came the most important and flourishing monastery in Gaul. The community was so large, that choir followed choir in the chanting of the Office, and here for the first time was heard the laus perennis, or un- ceasing psalmody, which went on day and night. Whether St. Columbanus gave this monaster}r and others dependent on it an oral or a written rule is un- certain. We know it to have been borrowed mostly from that observed in the great Irish monasteries. But for many reasons this rule was not destined to prevail for long. St. Columbanus had all the force and impetuosity of the ardent Irish temperament, great powers of physical endurance, intellectual and moral strength. He seems to have lacked the discre- tion of St. Benedict. His rule, moreover, did not leg- islate concerning the abbot's election, his relations with his monks, and the appointment of monastic officials with delegated power. For long the two rules were observed together, St. Benedict's supplying what was lacking in the other, but by the end of the eighth century the rule of St. Columbanus had given way to what had then become the great monastic code of the West. Driven into exile by King Thierry and his grandmother Queen Brunehaut, St. Columbanus was succeeded as abbot by St. Eustace whom he had placed oyer the schools oi Luxeuil. During the abbacy of St. Eustace and that of his successor St. Waldebert, these schools grew to great fame. There came to them many of the young nobles of Gaul, and youths from such cities as Autun, Strasburg, and Lyons. They sent forth many who l^ec^me great bishops in Gaul and other parts of Europe, and to Luxeuil is largely due the conversion and renewal of the Bur- gundian empire. It would be difficult to give an ade-

2uate account of the monastic colonization for which lUxeuU was responsible. Among its affiliations were such great houses as Bobbio, between Milan and Genoa, of which St. Columbanus himself became ab- bot, and the monasteries of Saint- Val^ry and Remire- mont. To Luxeuil came such monks as Conon, Ab- bot of L^rins, before setting about the reform of his somewhat degenerated monks, and St. Wandrille and St. Philibert who founded respectively the Abbeys of Fontenelle and Jumi^ges in Normandy, and s|)ent years in studying the rule observed in monasteries which derived their origin from Luxeuil.

In 731 the Vandals in their destructive career of con- quest through western Gaul, took possession of Luxeuil and massacred most of the community. The few survivors rebuilt the abbey, and later, under the government oi the eighteenth abbot, St. Ansegisus, it appeared as if it were about to recover its former great- ness and prosperity. He received the abbey from Louis le D^bonnaire, restored the church and monastic buildings, and reformed discipline. Many were the privile^s and exemptions accorded by popes and sovereigns of France, but as time went on, it had also to contend with much tribulation and misfortune. Such were tlie incursions of the Normans and other savage hordes, which were accompanied by the usual pillage and destruction. But it was not till the fif- teenth century that the worst evil of all came, namely the institution of commendatory Abbots of Luxeml and the sure and swift decline of monastic discipline consequent thereon. But this state of things came to an end in 1634. The commendatory' abbots ceased, and Luxeuil was joined to the reformed congre^tioQ of Saint - Vamie . From the report of the " Commission des R^gulicrs", drawn up in 1768, the community ap- pears to have been numerous and flourishing, and discipUne well kept. At the Ftwwsfe. ^^iN^i«s&i«s5>.'"^3fc