MELO
169
MELOZZO
holy apostles and martyrs, with many books" (Bede,
"Hist. Eccl.", Ij 29).
The consecration of Mellitiis as bishop by Augustine took place soon after his arrival in England, and his first missionary efforts were among the Ivist Siixons. Their king was Sabert, nephew to Ethcllierl , King of Kent, and by his support Mellitus was able to estab- lish his see in London, the East Saxon capital, and build there the church of St. Paul. On the death of Sabert his sons, who had refused Christianity, gave permission to their people to worship idols once more. Moreover, on seeing Mellitus celebrating Mass one day, the young princes demanded that he should give them also the white bread which he had been wont to give their father. When the saint answered them that this was impossible until they had received Christian baptism, he was banished from the kingdom. Melli- tus went to Kent, where similar difficulties had ensued upon the death of Ethelbert, and thence retired to Gaul about the year 616.
After an absence of about a year, Mellitus was re- called to Kent by Laurentius, Augustine's successor in the See of Canterbury. Matters had improved in that kingdom owing to the conversion of the new king Ead- bald, but Mellitus was never able to regain possession of his own See of London. In 619 Laurentius died, and Mellitus was chosen archbishop in his stead. He ap)- pears never to have received the pallium, though he re- tained the see for five years — a fact which may ac- count for his not consecrating any bishops. During this time he suffered constantly from ill-health. He consecrated a church to the Blessed Mother of God in the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul at Canterbury, and legend attributes to him the foundation of the Ab- bey of St. Peter at Westminster, but this is almost cer- tainly incorrect. Among the many miracles recorded of him is the quelling of a great fire at Canterbury which threatened to destroy the entire city. The saint, although too ill to move, had himself carried to the spot where the fire was raging and, in answer to his prayer, a strong wind arose which bore the flames southwards away from the city. Mellitus was buried in the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, afterwards St. Augustine's, Canterbury. Some relics of the saint were preserved in London in 1298. The most rehable account of his life is that given by Bede in " Hist. EecL", I, 29, 30; II, 3-7. Elmham in his "Historia Monasterii S. Augustini Cantuar.", edited by Hard- wick, gives many additional details, but the authen- ticity of these is more than questionable. His feast is observed on April 24.
Bede, Hist. Eccl. I, xxix, x.xx; II, iii-vii, in P. L., XCV; Acta SS.. April, III, 280; Babonius, Ann. Eccl. (Rome, 1599). ad an. 624; Capgrave, Nova legenda Anglice (Loadon, 1516), 228; Haddon .mo Stdbbs, Councils and Eccl. Documents relating to Great Britain. Ill (Oxford, 1871), 62-71; ll\RD\-. Descriptive catalogue of MSS. relating to the history of Great Britain and Ireland. I (Rolls Series, London, 1862), i, 219-220; Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Bened. (Paris, 1669), II, 90-94; Stanton, Menology of England and Wales (London, 1887), 178; Chal- LONER, Britannia Sancta, I (London, 1745), 255-258.
G. RoGEE HnDLESTON.
Melo, Diocese of, in Uruguay. It was decided in 1897 to erect two sees suffragan to Montevideo, one of which was to be Melo, but, owing to political causes, no appointments have been made as yet. How- ever, negotiations for a renewal of diplomatic re- lations between the Republic and the Holy See are now in progress, and as the recognition of the new dioceses by the State Ls a condition of their resumption, this probably will be shortly accorded. The Diocese of Melo is to embrace the north-eastern part of Uru- guay and so will include, in part or in whole, the De- partments of Cerro Largo, Riviera, Tacuarembo, and Treinta y Tres. This region has an area of about 19,600 square miles; the population, practically all Catholic, barely numbers 14.5,000 (1906). The dis- trict is very fertile, but there is little agriculture,
most of the inhabitants, a large and the most impor-
tant element of whom are Brazilians, being engaged in
cattle breeding. The town of Melo, founded in 1796,
is the capital of Cerro Largo and contains about 7000
persons. It is situated near the Tacumari River about
315 miles north of Montevideo, It has a fine church
and also a pretty chapel of our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
Artigas (2500 inhabitants) lies 60 miles north of Melo,
on the Brazilian frontier. San Fructuoso, the capi-
tal of Tacuarembo, has about 3000 inhabitants. The
other centres of population are little more than hamlets.
Handbook of Uruguay. Bur. of the Amer. Rep. (Washington, 1892); Bryssel, La ripublique orientate de I' Uruguay (1889); Pub- lications of the Direccidn de estadtslica general (Montevideo); MnLHALL, Handbook of the River Plate Republics (London. 1895).
A. A. MacErlean.
Melos, a titular see, suffragan of Naxos in the Cy- elades. The name seems to have been derived from a Phoenician navigator, M)5Xos, though others ascribe it to its rounded or apple shape, MiiXoK. The island lias had different names: Zephyria, Memblis, Mimallis, Si- phis, Acyton, Byblis, etc. Tiie Phoenicians seem to have been the first to colonize the island; then came the Dorians from Laconia in the twelfth century B. c. This Dorian colony lasted for seven hundred years, when the Athenians, jealous of their fidelity to the Spartans, took possession of the island in 416 b. c. All the men were massacred and replaced by five hundred Athenian colonists ; the women and children were car- ried captive to Attica. Later on, when these children were grown, they returned to occupy the island. Melos then passed under the domination of the Macedonians, then under that of the Romans, and finally under that of the Byzantines, who retained possession of it until 1207, when Marco Sanudo annexed it to the Italian Duchy of Naxos. In 1537 it was taken by the corsair Barbarossa and joined to the Ottoman Empire. The island continued to prosper, serving as a market and even as a refuge to the corsairs of the West, especially the French; it was so until the eighteenth century, when it began to decline because of a volcano which aro.se in the vicinity. From 20,000 inhabitants the population decreased to about 2000 ; miited to Greece in 1827 the island now contains 5000 souls. The chief town, called Plaka, possesses a very fine harbour; nearby are the ruins of ancient Melos, with a ceme- tery, two citadels, a temple of Dionysius, a necrop- olis, and a theatre. Near the theatre was found in 1820 the celebrated Venus of Melos, now at the Mu- seum of the Louvre at Paris, the work of a sculptor of Antioch on the Meander, in the second century b. c. The earliest known Bishop of Melos, Eutychius, as- sisted at the Sixth (Ecumenical Council in 681. Le Quien (Oriens Christianus, I, 945) mentions a number of Greek titulars, especially at the beginning of the six- teenth century, after the expulsion of the Venetians. The Greek diocese was a suffragan of Rhodes. A very long list of the Latin residential or titular bishops is found in Le Quien, op. cit., Ill, 1055-58, and in Eubel, "Hierarchia Catholica medii a!vi", Munich, I, 355; II, 211. Melos had Latin bishops until 1700, in which year John Anthony de Camillis died. The see was then joined to that of Naxos until 1830, when the island was made a part of the Diocese of Santorin. The Bishop of Santorin now ministers to the few Catholics who live there.
Smith, Diet. Greek and Roman Geog., II (London, 1870), a. v.: Lacroix, lies de la Grece (Paris, 1858), 473-78.
S. Vailhe.
Melozzo da Forli, an Italian painter of the Ura- brian School, b. at Forli, 1438; d. there 1494. Lanzi's suggestion that Melozzo studied under Ansuino da Forli appears to rest on no foundation. Little is known of this Ansuino, save the slight part he took in the frescoes of the Ereraitani Chapel at Padua, which were finished prior to 1460: He would thus have brought to his pupil the teachings of Mantegna, but it
