oRosins
322
ORPHANS
distinguished himself in the Civil War aa a staff-officer
in the enpncer corps, wa,«i made colonel of the 140th
rPKimcnt of New York Volunteers, with which com-
nianii he i);irtirii):ile(l in the battles of Fredericksburg
and Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg while leading
his men in defence of Little Round Top, in the very
crisis of the battle he caught up the colours, and,
mounting a rock to urge on his men, was struck and
fell dead. The Comte de Paris in his "Histoire de la
guerre civile en Amdrique" (VI, iv, 379) says this was
one of the most striking and dramatic episodes of the
battle. His widow became a Religious of the Sacred
Heart and one of the successful educators in their
New York convents.
CcLLUM, Biog. Register of Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy (Boston, 1891); O'Hanlon, Irish American History of the U. S.. II (New York, 1906), SOO; Fitzgerald, Ire- land and Her People, II (Chicago, 1910); Nat. Cyclopedia Am. Biog., 8. V,
Thomas F. Meehan.
Orosius, Paulus, historian and Christian apologist ; b. probablv at Bracara, now Braga, in Portugal, be- tween SSO'and 390, the dates of birth and death not being precisely known. His first name has been known only since the eighth century. Having early conse- crated himself to the service of God, he was ordained, and went to Africa in 413 or 414. The reason for his leaving his native country is not known; he tells us onlj' that he left his fatherland "sine voluntate, sine necessitate, sine consensu" (Commonitorium, i). He repaired to St. Augustine, at Hippo, to question him as to certain points of doctrine, concerning the soul and its origin, attacked by the Priscillianists. In 414 he prepared for St. Augustine a "Commoni- torium de errore Priscillianistarum et Origenistarum " (P. L.. XXXI, 1211-16; also, ed. Scheijss, in "Priscil- liani quiE supersunt", in "Corpus script, eccl. lat.", Vienna, 1889, XVIII, 149 sqq.) to which St. Augustine replied with his "Ad Orosium contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas". In order to become better ac- quainted with these questions concerning the soul and its origin, Orosius, with a hearty recommendation from St. Augustine (Epist. clxvi), went to Palestine, to St. Jerome. Pelagius was then trying to spread his false doctrines in Palestine, and Orosius aided St. Jerome and others in their struggle against this heresy. In 415 Bishop John of Jerusalem, who was inclined to the teaching of Origen and influenced by Pelagius, summoned the presbyters of his church to a council at Jerusalem. At this council Orosius sharply'attacked the teachings of Pelagius. But, as Pelagius declared that he believed it impossible for man to become per- fect and avoid sin without God's assistance, John did not condemn him, but decided that his opponents should state their arguments before Pope Innocent. In consequence of his opposition to Pelagius, Orosius was drawn into dis.sensions with Bishop John, who accused him of having maintained that it is not pos- sible for man to avoid sin, even with God's grace. In answer to this charge, Orosius wrote his " Liber apolo- geticus contra Pelagium de Arbitrii libertate" (P. L., XXXI, 1173-1212, and ed. Zangemeister, "Orosii opera" in ' 'Corpus script, eccl. lat.", V, Vienna, 1882), in which he gives a detailed account of the Council of 41.5 at Jerusalem, and a clear, correct treatment of the two principal questions against Pelagius: the capa- bility of man's free will, and Christian perfection in doing God's will here on earth.
In the spring of 416 Orosius left Palestine, to return to Augustine in Africa, and thence home. He brought a letter from St. Jerome (Epist. cxxxiv) to St. Augustine, as well as writings of the two Gallic bishops. Hero and Lazarus, who were in Palestine BtruggUng against Pelagianism (cf. St. Augustine, Epist. clxx\'). He also brought from Jerusalem the then recently discovered relics of the Protomartyr Stephen and a Latin letter from Lucian, who
had discovered them (Gennadius, "De Viris Illustr.",
xxxi, xlvi, xlvii, ed. Czapla, Miinster, 1898, 87-
89, 104). After a short stay with Augustine
at Hippo, Orosius began his journey home, but,
on reaching Minorca, and hearing of the wars and
devastations of the Vandals in Spain, he returned
to Africa. The relics of St. Stephen, which he
left in Minorca, became the object of a great
veneration, which spread into Gaul and Spain. On
the conversion of Jews through these relics, cf. Sev-
erus, "De virtutibus ad conversionem Juda'orum in
Minoricensi Insula factis", P. L., XLl, 821-32.
Orosius went back to Africa and at St. Augustine's
suggestion wrote the first Christian Universal His-
tory: "Historiarum ad versus paganos libri septem"
(P. L., XXXI, 663-1174; ed. Zangemeister, in "Cor-
pus script, eccl. lat.", V, Vienna, 1882), thought to be
a supplement to the "Civitas Dei", especially the
third book, in which St. Augustine proves that the
Roman Empire suffered as many calamities before
as after Christianity was received, combating the
pagan argument, that the abandonment of their
deities had led to calamity. St. Augustine wished
to have this proof developed in a special work through
the whole period of human history, and this Orosius
did, reviewing the history of all the known peoples
of antiquity, with the fundamental idea that God
determines the destinies of nations. According to his
view, two chief empires had governed the world:
Babylon in the East, and Rome in the West. Rome
received the heritage of Babylon through the inter-
mediate Macedonian and Carthaginian Empires.
Thus he holds that there were four Kro:it empires in
history — a view widely accepted in the Middle Ages.
The first book briefly describes the globe, and traces
its history from the Deluge to the founding of Rome;
the second gives the history of Rome to the sack of
the city by the Gauls, that of Persia to Cyrus, and of
Greece to the Battle of Cunaxa; the third deals chiefly
with the Macedonian Empire under Alexander and
his successors, as well as the contemporary Roman
history; the fourth brings the history of Rome to the
destruction of Carthage; the last three books treat
Roman history alone, from the destruction of Car-
thage to the author's own time. The work, completed
in 418, shows signs of haste. Besides Holy Scripture
and the chronicle of Eusebius revised by St. Jerome,
Livy, Eutropius, Caesar, Suetonius, Florus, and Justin
are used as sources. In pursuance of the apologetic
aim, all the calamities suffered by the various peoples
are described. Though superficial and fragmentary,
the work is valuable; it contains contemporary in-
formation on the period after a. d. 378. It was used
largely during the Middle Ages as a compendium, and
nearly 200 manuscript copies are still extant. .\Ifreii'
the Great translated it into Anglo-Saxon (ed. H. Sweet,
London, 1843).
DE MoERNER, De Orosii vita eiusque historiarum libris 7 adv. paganos (Berlin, 1844): M^jean, Paul Orose el son apologclique centre les paiens (.Strasburg. 1882); Ebert, Allg. Geschichte der Literalur des Mittelallers im Abendland, I (Leipzig, 1889), 337-44; Bardenhewer, Patrology, tr. Shahan (St. Louis, 1908); Pott- bast, Bibl. historica medii am, II (Berlin, 1896), 882-3.
J. P. KiRSCH.
Orphans and Orphanages. — The death of one or both parents makes the child of the very poor a ward of the community. The obligation of support is im- posed upon parents or grandparents by nearly every system of laws; but there is no such obligation upon any other relative. Natural sympathy, however, and wiilingness to bear a distributed burden for the com- mon good, rather than to enforce an individual one, contribute to the acceptance of the care of orphans as a public duty. In Biblical times the fatherless, the stranger, and the widow shared the excess fruits of the harvest (Deut., xxiv, 21). The people were told God "is the father of orphans" (Ps. Ixvii, 6) and
