Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/829

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753

ARRAS


753


ARSACIDiB


graphique ntr I'anrunne cathidraU d'Arrat (ibid., 1853); CiiEVALicR, Topo-bM. (Paris, 1894-9U). 21'3-220.

Geokoes Goyau.

Arras, Councils ok. In 1025 a council was held at .\rras against certain (Maniclia;an) lieretics who rejected the sacranient.s of the Church. The Catho- lic faith in the Ble.s-sed Eucharist was proclaimed with especial insistence. In 1097, two councils, presided over by Lambert of Arras, dealt with questions concerning monasteries and persons con- secrated to Goil.

M*N»i. Colt. Cone. XIX, 423; XX, 492: Acteadt la proi-incr de Reima (1843); Chevalier, Topo-bM. (Pari.i. 1894-99), 224. Tho.mas J. Sh.vhan.

Arriaga, Pablo Josi:, S.J., b. at Verpara, in Bis- cay, 1564, entered the Society of Jesus m 1579, and in 1585 went to Peru, where he was ordained. In 1588 he was ap|x>inted Rector of the College of San Martfn at Lima, which post he filled thrice in the course of twenty-four years. He visited Europe in 1601, sent to Home by his superiors. Returning in 1604, he became Hector of the College of Arequipa (1612-15). It was during the period from 1604 to 1622 that Father Arriaga became identified with the task of uprooting the survivals of primitive idolatry in Peru, and accompanied one of the earli- est official visitors, Father Fernando de Avcndaflo. He also directed the construction of a college for sons of Indian caciques, and of a house of correction for Indian shamans. In 1620 he completed his " E.\- tirpacion de I'ldolatria en el Peru" (Lima, 1621). The year following he was again sent to Europe on a confidential mission. Embarking at Portobello, the fleet to which his vessel belonged was struck by a fierce tempest. The ship on which lie had em- barked was, with four others, beached and wrecked. After untiring efforts to comfort his fellow-passengers. Father Arrisiga expired at the helm of the vessel, grasping the crucifi.x, which he had been holding up before his companions in misfortune. He deserves special attention as one of the most active promoters and organizers of the search for idolatrous survivals in Peru and of the Christian education of the Indians.

Anello OLrv'A, Hiatoria del Peru y varonta inaimua de la CompaAia de Jeaua; Cai-ancha, Cordni^xi moTcAxzada, I; MENOinuR^, Diccionario hiatdrico-inogTiifico del Peru; Rela- eionea geogr&flcaa: Varonea iiuatrea; Torres Saldamando, Loa Antiffuoa Jeauttaa del Peru.

Ad. F. Bandelier.

Arricivita, Juan, a native of Mexico in the eight- eenth century. Little more is known of his life than that he was Prefect and Commissary of the College of Propaganda Fide, at Quer6taro, in New Spain (Mexico), a zealous and efficient missionary, and a highly esteemed member of the Franciscan Order. He deserves special mention as having been the author of the second volume of the "Clironicles of Quer^taro" (for first part see Espinosa, Isidko Felis), a book that is of inestimable value for the history of missions and colonization of northwestern Mexico, Arizona, and California.

BinisTAlN DE SooZA, Bibliateca hitpano-americann aeten- trioTuU (Mexico, 1816). I; Criinica Senilira u Apoaldltra del coUffio de Propagandd Fide de la Santa Cruz de (Juerftaro, N. B., Seounda parte (Mexico. 1792).

Ad. F. Bandelier.

Arrighettl, Nicola, mathematician, b. at Florence and died there in 16.'?9. He was distinguished as a lUti-mleur, but chiefly as a mathematician and a philosopher. He was one of the most prominent disciples of Galileo, and occupied an illustrious place in the Florentine .\cadcmy and in that of l)clla Crusca. He was one of fhaie who formed the Platonic Academy which was le-rstablished by the Grand Duke Ferdinand and the Prince, afterwards Cardinal, of Tuscanv. Arrighetti pronounced the opening discourse, he undertook to translate the Dialogues of Plato into Tuscan and was so engaged


when he died. He left a great number of MSS. in prose and verse, amon^ which are some Cicalate, or serio-comic compositions in vogue at the time, on such subjects as the tortoise, the cucumber, pickles, etc.

.MlcllACD, Biograph, untf.; Gu^rim, Dictionnaire dea diction' nairea.

T. J. Campdell.

Arrighetti, Nicolo, a professor of natural nhi- losdjihv at Spoleto, Prato, and Sienna, b. at Florence, 17 Murcli, 1709; d. 31 January, 1767. He entered the Society of Jesus. 31 October, 1724. He has left treati.scs on the theory of light, heat, and electricity, and also on the causes of the movement of mercury in the barometer. We have also from him a dis- course known as "II Baron di Van-Esden; ovvero la Hepublica degli Increduli da P. Michel Angelo Mariiii deir Ordine de' Minimi, dall' Idioma Franzese tradotta."

.SoMMKiivoGEl.. liiMivthiiiue de la c. de J., 1,581; Mazzu- CHELLi; Carrara; Deorcuia, Notea bibliog.

T. J. Campbell.

Arrowsmitbi Edmund. See Ed.mund Arrow- smith, Venerable.

Arrubal, Peter. See Grace, Contro\'ersies ox.

Arsacidse. — It was under the Dynasty of the Arsacids who ruled the Persian empire from the year 256 B. c. to a. d. 224, that Christianity found its way into the countries watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris. Nestorian traditions give no verj- accurate information concerning the relations which existed between the Arsacide kings and the Persian Christians. These, according to Mari ibn Sulayman, were excellent, and the churches enjoyed profound peace until the accession of the Sas.sanid, Sapor I. Yet the same annalist, in the paragraph which he devotes to Abraham, one of the early Persian pa- triarchs, speaks of a persecution supposed to have taken place in the latter's lifetime (Mari, 5, cf. Amr ibn Matai, 3; Barhebncus, Chronicum ecclesiasti- cum, 21). He even knows, and other chroniclers repeat the statement, that the persecution in ques- tion was brought to an end by a miracle. The son of the King of Persia, who was epileptic or possessed by a devil, was healed by Abraham. The prince, in order to show his gratitude, gave orders that the Christians should be allowed the free exercise of their religion. L'nfortunately, however, neither Mari, nor any of those who copied his account, gives us the name of the king or of the miraculously cured son. In any case, the storj' as it stands is of no value whatever. To-day, it stands demonstrated that the history of the beginnings of Christianity in Persia, prior to the fourth century, as recorded by the Syrian chroniclers of the Middle Ages, is purely legendary. They had access to no single serious document relating to the Arsacide Dynasty, the mem- ory of which haa been almost wholly blotted out of Persian tradition by the Sassanids. There were, moreover, very few Christians in .\ssyria or in Chal- dea, previous to the third centurj', and even these were not easily discriminated from the Jews. The great Christianizing mission, which began at Edessa and which the Syrians associate with the name of the apostle Alar^, had certainly not spread so far before the fall of the Arsacids. We must, therefore, perforce remain in ignorance of the nature, and even as to the existence, of the relations be- tween the Parthian princes and the Persian Chris- tians. If, however, one cares to form conjectures on the subject, he should recall that these monarchs, foreigners in Persia properly so called through their origin, were very indifferent fire-worshipi>ers. The religious bigotry which later moved the Sassanids to persecute the Christians, cannot, with any prob- ability, be attributed to the Arsacids. We know, in