and Bologna and travelling through the chief Italian cities. After taking his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Bologna, he devoted himself entirely to Latin literature. Returning to Germany in 1593 in feebler health, he found a patron in Johann Matthäus Wacke von Wackenfels, also a convert, and chancellor to the Bishop of Breslau, Andreas von Jerin. In 1595 he became a Catholic, and, about the same time, Rector of the Breslau Gymnasium. He died a few weeks later. Before his death appeared Animadversiones in Q. Curtium (Frankfurt, 1594) and Plautinæ divinationes et interpretationes (Frankfurt, 1595). A posthumous work is Notæ in Taciti opera, in Panegyricos veteres. Lipsius spoke of him as a "pearl of Germany", and Ritschl, as having a "remarkable critical faculty."
Binder in Kirchenlex.; Räss, Convertiten.
Aci-Reale (Jaca Regalis), The Diocese of, in the island of Sicily; includes fourteen communes in the civil province of Catania, immediately subject to Rome. It was created by Gregory XVI, in 1844, though no bishop was appointed until 1872. The episcopal city is picturesquely situated at the foot of Mt. Etna, amid rich gardens of oranges and almonds. There are 18 parishes, 305 churches, 330 secular priests, 70 regulars, and 150,219 inhabitants. Its first bishop was Monsignor Gerlando Maria Genuardi, of the Oratory.
Cappelletti, Le chiese d'Italia (Venice, 1866), XXI, 569; Gams, Series episcoporum ecclesiæ catholicæ (Ratisbon, 1873), 955; Vigo, Notizie storiche della citta d'Acireale (Palermo, 1836); Pirri, Sicilia Sacra (Palermo, 1733), continued by Marzo-Ferro (ibid., 1860). For the controversy concerning the cultus of St. Expedite, see Civilta Cattolica, 2, and 16 Dec. 1905, also Analecta Bolland, (1906), I.
Ackermann, Leopold, a Catholic professor of exegesis, b. in Vienna, 17 November, 1771; d. in the same city, 9 September, 1831. He entered the canons regular of St. Augustine, taking, in religion, the name of Peter Fourrier. He taught Oriental languages and archæology, and in 1806 became professor of exegesis of the Old Testament in the University of Vienna, succeeding Jahn there. He filled this chair for twenty-five years with success. Two works of his, "Introductio in libros Veteris Fœderis usibus academicis accomodata" (Vienna, 1825) and "Archæologia biblica" (Vienna, 1826), have new and corrected editions by Jahn, third and fourth respectively. The latter was reprinted by Migne (Cursus Scripturæ Sacræ, II, 1840, col. 823–1068). He also wrote "Prophetæ Minores perpetua annotatione illustrata" (Vienna, 1830), in which he gives nothing new but collects whatever is best in older works, and supplies philological observations upon it. He reproduces the original Hebrew text and comments on it, briefly but excellently.
Seback, P.F. Ackermann, biographische Skizze (Vienna, 1832); Vigoroux in Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1895), I, 149, 150.
Acmonia, A titular see of Phrygia Pacatiana, in Asia Minor, now known as Ahat-Keui. It is mentioned by Cicero (Pro Flacco, 15) and was a point on the road between Dorylæum and Philadelphia.
Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr. (London, 1878), I, 21; Mas Latrie, Trésor de chronologie, etc. (Paris, 1887), 1979.
Acœmetæ (Greek ἀκοίμηται, from privative ἀ and κοιμᾶν, to rest). Sometimes, an appellation common to all Eastern ascetics known by the rigour of their vigils; but usually, the name of a special order of Greek or Basilian monks devoting themselves to prayer and praise without intermission, day and night. That order was founded, about the year 400, by a certain Alexander, a man of noble birth, who fled from the court of Byzantium to the desert, both from love of solitude and fear of episcopal honours. When he returned to Constantinople, there to establish the laus perennis, he brought with him the experience of a first foundation on the Euphrates and three hundred monks. The enterprise, however, proved difficult, owing to the hostility of Patriarch Nestorius and Emperor Theodosius. Driven from the monastery of St. Mennas which he had reared in the city, and thrown with his monks on the hospitality of St. Hypathius, Abbot of Rufiniana, he finally succeeded in building at the mouth of the Black Sea the monastery of Gomon, where he died, about 440. His successor, Abbot John, founded on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, opposite Sostenium or Istenia, the Irenaion, always referred to in ancient documents as the "great monastery" or motherhouse of the Acœmetæ. Under the third abbot, St. Marcellus, when the hostility of Patriarch and Emperor had somewhat subsided, Studius, a former Consul, founded in the city the famous "Studium" which later, chiefly under Abbot Theodore (759–826), became a centre of learning as well as piety, and brought to a culmination the glory of the order. On the other hand, the very glamour of the new "Studites" gradually cast into the shade the old Acœmetæ. The feature that distinguished the Acœmetæ from the other Basilian monks was the uninterrupted service of God. Their monasteries, which numbered hundreds of inmates and sometimes went into the thousand, were distributed in national groups, Latins, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians; and each group into as many choirs as the membership permitted and the service required: With them the divine office was the literal carrying out of Psalm cxviii, 164: "Seven times a day have I given praise to Thee," consisting as it did of seven hours: ὀρθρινόν, τρίτη, ἐκτη, ἐνάτη, λυχνικόν, πρωθύπνιον, μεσονύκτιον, which through St. Benedict of Nursia passed into the Western Church under the equivalent names of prime, tierce, sext, none, vespers, compline, matins (nocturns) and lauds. The influence of the Acœmetæ on Christian life was considerable. The splendour of their religious services largely contributed to shape the liturgy. Their idea of the laus perennis and similar institutions, passed into the Western Church with St. Maurice of Agaune and St. Denys. Our modern perpetual adoration is a remnant of it. Even before the time of the Studites, the copying of manuscripts was in honour among the Acœmetæ, and the library of the "Great Monastery," consulted even by the Roman Pontiffs, is the first mentioned by the historians of Byzantium. The Acœmetæ took a prominent part—and always in the sense of orthodoxy—in the Christological discussions raised by Nestorius and Eutyches, and later, in the controversies of the Icons. They proved strong supporters of the Apostolic See in the schism of Acacius, as did the Studites in that of Photius. The only flaw which marred the purity of their doctrine and their loyalty to Rome, occurred in the sixth century, when, the better to combat the Eutychian tendencies of the Scythian monks, they themselves fell into the Nestorian error and had to be excommunicated by Pope John II. But it was the error of a few (quibusdam paucis monachis, says a contemporary document), and it could not seriously detract from the praise given their order by the Roman Synod of 484: "Thanks to your true piety towards God, to your zeal ever on the watch, and to a special gift of the Holy Ghost, you discern the just from the impious, the faithful from the miscreants, the Catholics from the heretics."
Helyot, Histoire des ordres monastiques (Paris, 1714); Heimbucher, Orden u. Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1896); Marin, Les moines de Constantinople—De Studio, Cœnobio Constantinopolitano (Paris, 1897); Gardner, Theodore of Studium (London, 1905).
Acolouthia (from the Greek ἀκολουθέω, to follow)
