VAVASSEUR
317
VECCHIETTA
received a licence from the College of Physicians of
London to practise for two years. His house was
"by the common school house" in the city of York;
there Mass was said in 1570. In 1572 he wjis accused
of having entertained Blessed Edmund Campion.
In Nov., 1571, after lie had been confined to his own
house in the city of York for nearly nine months, he
was pent into solitary confinement in Hull Castle.
Grimlal describe him as "sophistical, disdainful, and
illuding arguments with irrision, when he was not
able to solute the same by learning", and adds that
"his great anchor-hold was in urging the literal sense
of hoc est corpus meum, thereby to prove transub-
stantiation". By June, 1579, he was back again in
his house, where Mass was again said. Later on he
was in the Gatehouse, Westminster, from which he
was released on submitting to acknowledge the royal
supremacy in religious matters; but he was again im-
prisoned as a recusant in Hull Castle, York, where he
died. His wife, Dorothy, died in the New Counter,
Ousebridge, York, 26 Oct., 1587.
STKVH2. <mnmer. I (Oxford, 1840), 290; Idem, Parker. II (()xt.>rd, lsin,167; Idem, Grindal (Oxford, 1821), 273, 53.'j; Calh. /fee. Sac. Publ. (London. 1905). II. 219; V, 193; Foley, Kec. Eng. Prov. S. J.. Ill (London, 1877), 235-9, 809; Dasent, Acts of the Prity Council, XII (London, 1890-1907). 108; Calendar S. P. Dam. 1681-90 (London, 1865), 145; Calendar S. P. Dom. Add. 1566-79 (London, 1871). 224, 369; Munk. Royal College of Phy- sicians, I (London, 187S), 56,
John B. Wainewright.
Vavasseur, Fr,\N50IS, humanist and contro- versialist, b. at Paray-le-IVIonial, 8 Dec, 1(305; d. at Paris, 10 Dec, 11)81. He entered the Society of Jesus, 25 Oct., 1621, taught humanities and rhetoric for seven years, then positive theology and .'Scripture at Bourges, and later at Paris. His first work was a paraplirase of the Book of Job in Latin hexameters (1(1:17), resunied and accompanied by a commentary in 1(179. Hi' published also "Theurgicon" (1644), on the miracles of Christ, "Elegiarum liber" (16.56), "De ludicra diotione" (16.56); took an active part in the .Jansenistic controversy ("Cornelius Jansenius Iprensis .suspeetus", Paris, 16.50), and defended himself against the charge of having written pam- phlets concerning the Calaghan affair (De libello sup- |)Osititio dissertatio, 16.5.3). In this last writing he iefined accurately the style of the Port-Royal writers before the "Provinciales", a monotonous, colourless, unrelieved style, burdened with complicated periods. He wrote a sharp and learned criticism of the "Epi- ^rammatum delectus" of Port-Royal (16.59), "De ?pigrammate liber et epigr;unmatum libri tres" (1669), showing delicate and .^olid knowledge of Catul- lus, Martial, and the Greek anthology. He was sensitive on this subject and took i.ssue with his •onfrere Rapin, who had practically declared that no modern had written a good epigram (Remarques sur les nouvelles r6flexions du R. P. Rapin Jesuite, touch- mt la podtifiue, 1675). De Lamoignon, Rapin's protector, had Vava-sseur's pamphlet suppressed. 'P6re Vavasseur was a learned man, one of those iritical and severe minds which find something to bite
- ven in good works, and which let nothing pass"
[Sainte-Beuve, "Port-Royal", III, .528). His other ^forks include sermons, a commentary on Osee, and a lissertat ion on the be.auty of Christ. All his writings xere collected by Jean le Clerc (.Vmsterdam, 1709). (lis Latin writings had appeared previously in Paris
- 168
- 5).
SOMMERVOOEL. Bibl. de la compagnie de Jfsus. VIII (Paris, 1898). 499; Sainte-Beuve, Port-Royal, III. 49, 28, 025.
Paul Lejay.
Vaz, Joseph, a Goanese priest, Apostle of Cevlon, 1. at Goa, 21 .\pril, 1651; d. at Kandy, 16 Jan., 1711. His parents were Christians of the Konk.ani Urahmin c.a.ste. He learned Portuguese in Sancoale, lis father's village, and Latin in Baulim, his mother's tillage, studied rhetoric at the Jesuit college and phi-
losophy and theology at the College of St. Thomas
Aquinas, Goa, was ordained in 1676, and became a
favourite preacher and confessor. Hearing of the
oppressed state of the Catholics of Ceylon under the
Dutch, Father Vaz desired to go to their rescue, but was
for the time being appointed Superior of the Kanara
Mission, a post which he occupied for three years.
On his return to Goa in 1684 he spent his time preach-
ing in the villages, and joined the < )iatorian,s then re-
cently established in Goa, of which congregation he
was soon made superior. In 16S6 he obtained per-
mission to give up this office and to proceed to Ceylon.
On landing at Jaffna he found a strong Calvinistic
propaganda going on in the island, and the Catholic
religion proscribed antl under persecution. He was
therefore forced to we;ir disguise, and to do his work
in secret. Afterwards, taking up his residence in a
village called Sillale where the CathoUcs were numer-
ous and resolute, he succeeded in reviving the spirit of
the faithful But this aroused afresh the vigilance of
the Dutch, and he was forced to change his quarters
for Putlam, where he worked with great success for a
whole year. He then fixed on Kanily, the capital f>f a
native independent state, as his centre of operations.
Being on his arrival denounced as a Port\igue.se spy,
he was quickly put into prison, where, however, the
Catholics gained access to him, thus enabling him to
continue his good work. In the end he won the fa-
vour of the king, regained his liberty, and began to
extend his operations to other parts of the island.
About 1699 several Oratorians and other priests were sent to help him in his labours. The news of his success having reached Rome, Mgr de Tournon, the papal legate, was directed to enter into communica- tion with him. The legate conceived the idea of erecting Ceylon into a diocese with Father Vaz as first bishop, but thi? latter dissuaded him from this. In his later years Father Vaz had much to suffer from declining health, and in 1710 was uiuible to leave Kandy. The subject of his beat ifii:U ion was fir.st urged upon the consiiler.ation of the Holy See about 1737 by Dom Francisco de V;isconcelli)s, S.J., Bishop of Cochin, who also claimed jurisdiction over Ceylon. The process was begun in tioa, and a number of miracles were registered. But the non-fulfilment of certain essential formalities led Benedict XIV to can- cel the proceedings, with an order, howe\'er, that they should be re-instituted. In South K:ui:ir;i, he is gen- erally known as Venerable Father Joseph Vaz. Klgr Zaleski, Delegate Apostolic of the luist. Indies, wrote of him in 1894, that he has "unfortunately been al- most entirely forgotten. In Europe and even in India, there are still some who remember his name, and in Ceylon, the theatre of his Apostolic labours, his name is still mentioned by the older generation; but the rising generation hardly know what they owe to him. And yet, his is a name that ought to endure for ever".
Do Reoo. VApostolo di Ceylan — P. Giuseppe Vaz delta Con- gregezionc dell' Oratorio di .S. Filippo Neri (Venice, 175:i). tr. Zaleski. Life of Fr. Joseph Vaz (Calcutta, 1890); Mangalore Magazine (1905-09). Two pamphlets on the life of Fattier Vaz have been recently printed with tlie object of reviving hie mem- ory among his countrymen.
Ernest R. Hull.
Vecchietta, Lorenzo di Pietro, painter, sculp- tor, goldsmith, and architect, b. at Castiglione di Val d'Orcia, 1412; d. there, 1480. He is .said to have been the i)upil of Taddeo IJartoh and Giacomo della Querela. In sculi)ture he was influenced largely by Donatello, with whom he came into personal contact; in painting he adhered to the traditions of Siena. His noblest work is at the Ho.spital of Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, to which he gave a chapel dedicated to Our Lady and decorated with painting and sculp- ture by his own hand. The frescoes include an Annunciation, a Nativity, a Last Judgment, all badly damaged, and an allegory of the Ladder with
