1817). Desobry and Bachelet Dictionnaire général, (Paris, 1857, 1883); Champlin and Perkins, Cyclopedia of Painters and Painting (New York, 1887); Bryan, Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (London and New York, 1903–5).
Allot, William, a student of the University of Cambridge, retired to Louvain on the accession of Elizabeth (1558), was ordained priest there, but soon returned to England. He was highly esteemed by Mary Queen of Scots, whom he frequently visited in her prison, suffered imprisonment for his faith, and was banished. At Mary's request he was made a canon of St. Quentin in Picardy (France). He died about 1590, and left a work entitled "Thesaurus Bibliorum, omnein ufriusque vitæ antidotum secundum utriusque Instrumenti veritatem et historiam succincte complectens", with which is printed an "Index rerum memorabilium in epistolis et evangeliis per anni circulum" (Antwerp, 1577).
Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of Engl. Catholics, I, 25–26; Dict. of Nat. Biogr., s. v.
Allouez, Claude, one of the most famous of the early Jesuit missionaries and explorers of what is now the western part of the United States, b. in France in 1620; d. in 1689, near the St. John's River, in the present State of Indiana. Shea calls Allouez, "the founder of Catholicity in the West". He was a professor and subsequently a co-labourer of Marquette, and there is a book still extent containing prayers in Illinois and French, in which an ancient note states that it was prepared by Allouez for the use of Marquette. Allouez laboured among the Indians for thirty-two years. He was sixty-nine years old when he died, worn out by his heroic labours. He preached the Gospel to twenty different tribes, and is said to have baptized 10,000 neophytes with his own hand. He took charge of, and put on a firm basis the famous Kaskaskian mission, which death had compelled Marquette to relinquish. None of the missionaries of his time dared more or travelled over a wider territory than Allouez. He even reached the western end of Lake Superior. His life was one alternation of triumphs and defeats. At times he had to prevent the Indians from adoring him as a god; at others they were about to sacrifice him to their deities. It is noteworthy that much of his trouble came from the old Iroquois who had murdered Jogues, Brebeuf, and other Jesuits in the East, and who were now drifting or being driven toward the West. There is an especial distinction to be accorded to Allouez in the fact that he was the first Vicar-General of the United States, the office having been assigned to him by Monsigneur Laval, Bishop of Quebec. His jurisdiction extended over the entire western country, including the French traders as well as the native tribes.
Jesuit Relations; Shea, Catholic Church in Colonial Days; American Biog.; Parkman, La Salle; De Backer, Bibliotheque de la c. de J.
Alma, a Hebrew word signifying a "young woman", unmarried as well as married, and thus distinct from bēthúlah, "a virgin" (see Hebrew Lexicons). The interest that attaches to this word is due to the famous passage of Isaias, vii, 14: "the Alma shall conceive", etc. We can only mention some of the various opinions with regard to the meaning of Alma in this verse. She is said to be, (1) the wife of Achaz; (2) the prophetess mentioned in Is., viii, 3; (3) any young married woman, who on account of the promised victory of Judah, could at some near date call her child Immanuel (God with us); (4) metaphorically, the Chosen People; (5) the Virgin Mother of the Messiah. This last view is the one adopted by St. Matthew, i, 23, and after him by Christian tradition. (See Emmanuel; Messias.)
Condamin, and other Commentaries on Isaias.
Alma Redemptoris Mater (Kindly Mother of the Redeemer), the opening words of one of the four Antiphons sung at Compline and Lauds, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, at various seasons of the year. This particular Antiphon is assigned to that part of the year occurring between the first Vespers of the first Sunday in Advent and Compline of the 2nd of February (on which day it ceases, even if the Feast of the Purification should be transferred from that day). It consists of six hexameter verses in strict prosodial form, followed by versicle, response, and prayer, which vary for the season: until Christmas Eve (first Vespers of the Nativity), V. Angelus Domini etc., R. Et concepit etc., with the prayer Gratiam tuam etc.; thenceforward, V. Post partum etc., R. Dei Genitrix, etc., and the prayer Deus qui salutes æternæ etc. The hexameter verses are credited to Hermannus Contractus, or Hermann "the Cripple" (d. 1054), an interesting biographical notice of whom may be found in Duffield, "Latin Hymn Writers", 149–168. It has been translated into English by Father Caswall (Mother of Christ, hear thou thy people's cry); by Cardinal Newman, in "Tracts for the Times", No. 75 (Kindly Mother of the Redeemer), and J. Wallace (Sweet Mother of Our Saviour blest). Caswall's translation is found in the official "Manual of Prayers" (Baltimore), 76. In the Marquess of Bute's "Breviary; Winter Part", 176 (Maiden! Mother of Him Who redeemed us, thou that abides"), the unrhymed hexameter version is very literal.
The Antiphon must have been very popular in England both before and after its treatment by Chaucer in his "Prioresses Tale", which is based wholly on a legend connected with its recitation by the "Litel Clergeon":
"This litel childe his litel book lerninge,
As he sat in the scole at his prymer,
He Alma redemptoris herde singe,
As children lerned hir antiphoner;
And, as he dorste, he drough hym ner and ner,
And herkned ay the wordes and the note,
Till he the firste vers coude al by rote."
Professor Skeat, in his "Oxford Chaucer", thought that the Alma Redemptoris here was the sequence (cf. Mone, Lateinische Hymnen, II, 200):
Alma Redemptoris mater
Quem de cœlis misit Pater—
but subsequently (cf. Modern Philology, April, 1906, "Chaucer's 'Litel Clergeon'", for an explanation of the error and a good treatment of many questions related to the Antiphon) admitted that the Breviary Antiphon was referred to by Chaucer.
For other hymns or sequences founded on the Antiphon. see Analecta Hymnica XVII, 149 (De S. Maria Salome) and XLVI (Leipzig, 1905), 200, 201, No. 149 (Alma redemptoris Mater, omnium Salus etc.).
Almagro, Diego de, the Elder, date and place of birth not satisfactorily established as yet, generally considered a foundling; came to Panama in 1514 with Pedro Arias de Avila (D'Avila), and soon distinguished himself in military expeditions. When Pizarro, upon the return of Andagoya (1522) from his voyage along the western coast of Colombia, conceived the plan of penetrating farther South, Almagro and Hernando de Luque came to his assistance with funds, and a partnership was formed (1524), leading to a written document executed in 1526, which document both Almagro and Pizarro certified by their marks, neither of them being able to write. Almagro
