Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/438

AMBROSIAN 394 AMBROSIAN description, although of the present-day building, is an accurate one of the original, as no alterations have ever been permitted; een the floor of plain tiles, with four tables (one in each corner) and a cen- tral brazier, is left as the Cardinal arranged it. A plain Ionic portico, on the cornice of which are the words BIBLIOTHECA AMBEOSIANA, gives access to a single luill, on the ground floor, seventy-four feet long by twenty-nine feet broad. The walls are lined with "bookcases about thirteen feet high, sep- arated, not by columns, but by flat pilasters, and protected by wire worli of an unusually large mesh, said to be original. At eacli corner of the hall is a staircase, leading to a gallery, two feet and six inches wide. The cases in this gallery are about eight feet and six inches high. Above them again is a frieze consisting of a series of portraits of saints in oblong frames. The roof is a barrel-vault, ornamented with plaster-work. Light is admitted through two enor- mous semicircular windows at each end of the room. A splendid view of the interior, together with a ground-plan, may be seen in Clark's "The Care of Books" (p. 271). The arrangement of books was consideretl remarkable at that time, for a contem- porary writer says of it, " the room is not blocked ith desks to which the books are tied with iron chains after the fashion of the libraries which are common in monasteries, but it is surrounded with lofty shelves on which the books are sorted according to size" [Gli Instituti Scientifioi etc. di Milano (Milan, 1880) p. 123, note]. The library was open not merely to members of the college, which was part of the endowment, but also to citizens of Milan and to all strangers who came to study there; the severest penalties awaited those who stole a volume, or even touched it witii soiled hands, and only the Pope himself could absolve them from such crimes (Boscha, " De origine et statu bibl. Ambros. ", 19; ap. Grae-ius, "Thes. ant. et hist. Itaha;", IX, Part VI; see also the Bull of Paul V, dated 7 July, 1608, approving the foundation and reliearsing the statutes, in " Magnum BuUariura Ronianum", Turin, 1S67, XI, 511). The story of the gathering of the equipment of this splendid li- brary is most interestingly set forth by the writers cited. A digest will be found in the " CathoUc University Bulletin", I, 567. Cardinal Borromeo first applied to his friends, popes, cardinals, princes, priests, and religious, who responded generously. The Benedictines sent a great number of ancient manuscripts. The Cister- cians gave a code.x on Egyptian papyrus, containing the "Jewish Antiquities" of Josephus. Count Galeazzo Arconati offered the autograph works of Leonardo da Vinci, which King James I of England could not purchase for 3,000 golden crowns. The Cardinal sent agents abroad tliroughout Europe and the East. In 1607 his secretary, Grazio Maria Grazi, was exploring the cities of Italy, a most notable pur- chase being that of the Pinelli Library bought at Naples for 3,400 pieces of gold and filling .seventy cases. Other agents gathered treasures in Germany, Belgium, and France, bringing back an ample store of books and manuscripts. They were again dis- patclied by the Cardinal to Germany and to Venice, wliilc anotlier agent was sent to Spain where he was forlunale in making splendid purchases. Three dillcrent agents were sent by Canlinal liorromeo to the Eiust, one of them a converted ralibi. By means of these agents the treasures of the library were vastly increased, Clialdean books, Bibles, treatises of astron- omy and mathematics, manuscripts in Turkish, Persian, Armenian, and Abyssinian being acquired; these were collected liy a great expenditure of money, one of the agents liaving spent in the service of the Cardinal more money than any monarcli had ever uiveii for such an enterprise. This particular agent underwent many grave dangers in his quest, and finally died of the pest in Aleppo. Though the Ambrosian Library could not rival the Vatican, nor the Laurentiana at Florence, nor the Marciana at Venice, it enjoyed a greater popularity than those ever possessed, because it was thrown open to all students without distinction, a rare and un- heard of thing at that date. It was practically the first library to offer facilities for reading or notetak- ing. The Cardinal's liberahty earned the applause of the learned men of his day, and his example was soon followed in the Bodleian at Oxford, the Angelica at Rome, and later on in the Mazarine and the Biblio- theque Royale at Paris. In 1865 a monument was erected to Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, who died 30 Sept., 1631. The monument stands before the gates of the Ambrosian Library as a lasting eviiience of the city's gratitude to this great patron of arts and letters. It bears the following simple bvit heartfelt in,scription: " AL CABDINAL FEDERICO BORKOMEO I SUOI CONCITTADINI MDCCCLXV ". On one side of the pedestal is the phrase from Manzoni's "I Promessi Sposi": "He was one of those men rare in every age, who employed extraordinary in- telhgence, the resources of an opulent condition, the advantages of privileged stations, and an unflineliing will in the searcli and practice of higher and better tilings". On the otiicr side are the words: "He conceived the plan of the Ambrosian Library, which he built at great expense, and organized in 1609 with an equal activity and prudence". Opicelli, Monumenta bioliothecm Ambrosianw (Milan, 1618); BoscH.E, De origine el statu bihliotheaz AmbrosiaiKF libri V in quibus de bibliothecw conditore, conservatoribua et collegti Ambrosiani doctoribus, ut de illustribus pictoribiis, aliisque artificibus, et denique de Teditibus ejusdem bihliotheca- agitur (v. in Thesauro andqidt. et hislor. Italim, IX, 6); Mabillon, Museum Italicum, I, 11-14; Tiraboschi, Storia delta tiHeratura Italiana, Tom. VIII, lib. i; Clark, The Care of Books (Cam- bridge University Press, 1901). Joseph H. McMahon. Ambrosian Liturgy and Rite, the liturgy and Rite of the Church of Milan, which derives its name from St. Amlirose, Bisliop of Milan (374-397). I. History. — There is no direct evidence that the Rite was in any way the composition of St. Ambrose, but liis name has been associated with it since the eighth century at least, and it is not improbable that in his day it took not indeed a final form, for it has been subject to various revisions from time to time, but a form which included the principal character- istics which distinguish it from other rites. It is to be remembered that St. Ambrose succeeded the Arian Auxentius, during whose long episcopate, 355 to 374, it would seem probable that Arian modifica- tions may have been introduced, though on that point we have no information, into a rite the period of whose original composition is unknown. If, iis would necessarily happen, St. Ambrose expunged these hypothetical unortliodoxies and issued cor- rected service books, this alone would suffice to at- tach his name to it. We Icnow from St. Augustine (Confess., IX, vii) and Paulinus the Deacon (Vita S. Ambros., § 13) that St. Ambrose introduced inno- vations, not indeed into the Mass, but into what would seem to be the Divine Office, at the time of his contest with the Empress Justina for the Portian Basilica (on the site of San Vittore al Corpo), which she claimed for the Arians. St. Ambrose filled the church with Catliolics and kept them there niglit and day until the peril wjis past. And he arranged Psalms and liymns for tlicm to sing, as St. Augustine says, "secunchnn morcni orientalium partium ne popu- lus mseroris tiedio contabesreret" (after tlic manner of the Orientals, lest the people should languisli in cheer- less monotony); and of this Panlimis the Deacon says; "Hoc in tempore prinium antiphona?, hymni. et vigiliu! in ecclosia Mediolanensi celcbrari cceperunt