VERTOT
378
VESALinS
pate, and he was consecrated at Negaunee, Michigan,
14 Sept., 1879. The greatness of his mind and heart
are reflected in the
management o f
his diocese and in
untold charities.
Rezek, History of Ike Diocese of Sault Ste Marie and Marquette (Houghton, Michigan, 1906); Diocesan Ar- chives (Marquette).
Antoinb Iv.^n Rezek.
Vertot, Rene-
AuBERT, Sieur de, French historian, b. at Benetot, Nor- mandy, 25 Nov., 1655; d. in Paris, 15 June, 1735. He was for some time a pupil of t li e Jesuit Fathers, then went to the
John Vertin
From a photograph
seminary at Rouen, which he left at the end of two
years to enter the Capuchin Order. His health was
here greatly impaired by his austerities, and his
family, alarmed, obtained permission for him to join
the Premonstratensian Canons. He was afterwards
appointed pastor to several small parishes in Nor-
mandy. In 1690,
at the suggestion
of Fontenelle and
the Abb6 de Saint-
Pierre, he wrote
hi.s "Histoire de la
c (3 n j u r a t i o n de
Portugal". The
l^ooli was received
wit h favour, and in
1095 appeared the
"Histoire des
revolutions de
Su(\le". In 1703
\'iTtot was made
a member of the
"Academie des
inscript ions".
Besides contribu-
tions to the "Me-
moires" of the
Academie and
other minor works,
he wrote the "Revolutions romaines" (1719) and
"Histoire des chevahers hospitaliers de Saint-Jean
de Jerusalem". It is related, in connexion with
the latter, that in answer to an offer of additional
data, he said, "Mon siege est fait", — "My siege is
finished", a phrase misconstrued by some of his
critics and interpreted as an expression ofVertot's
utter disregard for historical accuracy. The truth
seems to be that he simply wished to get rid of an in-
truder who was trying to force upon him documents
whose authenticity was very doubtful. On the other
hand it must be aclcnowledged that Vertot 's talent as
an historian is more of a literary than of a critical
character.
Vii-LEMAIN, Tableau du huitikmc sie.cle; Renodard, Catalogue d'un amateur, IV; d'Oltvet, Hist, de V Acadtmie fraw^aise.
Pierre J. Marique.
Veruela, a celebrated Cistercian monastery and churcli dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. It is situated five miles north-west of Borja, Saragossa, Spain. The monastery and church, forming one edifice, were founded in lllG by Pedro de Atari's, to whom the Blessed Virgin ai)peared, and whom she directed in the discovery of a hidden statue of herself. The statue
was placed in the monastery chapel, where it is still
venerated. Pedro de Atares did not Uve to see the
completion of the buildings, whose construction took
more than twenty years, but before his death he was
enrolled among the Cistercians, who were dwelling
in the partly-finished cloister. The most famous
abbots of Veruela were Fernando de Arag6n (1498-
1577) and Lope Marco (d. 1560). The former was
nominated abbot by Charles V in 1537, and two years
later became Archbishop of Saragossa; V. la Fuente
calls him one of the most eminent Spanish clergymen
of the sixteenth century (Espana Sagrada, L, 223) . He
was succeeded by Lope Marco who, as his epitaph tells
us, raised the monastery "ex terreo marmoreum. ex
angusto aniplum". But his grotesque Renaissance
addition of the living apartments did not improve the
Gothic church and cloister. The chapter house at
the southern side of the cloister, an exact representa-
tion of the Westminster cloister, is Byzantine. The
great buildings, including church, monastery, house,
and cloister, constructed at different times and in
different styles, surrounded by a wall that dates
back to feudal times, present an imposing and beauti-
ful appearance. Antonio Jo.se Rodriguez, styled by
Menendez y Pelayo "one of the most remarkable
cultivators of medical moral studies" (Ciencia espa-
iSola, III, 440), lived at Veruela and died within its
walls in 1777. Gustavo Becquer, the Spanish poet,
made Veruela his abode while the religious were
prevented from living there. From 1835 to 1877
the buildings were in the hands of seculars, and from
this date down to the present day they have been
occupied by the Jesuits, who, assisted by the Duchess
of Villahermosa, a descendant of Pedro de Atares,
restored the church and monastery. Of the Jesuits
who lived at Veruela Padre Costa was theologian to
the Vatican Council; L. I.Fiter revived the "Congre-
gaciones Marianas" in Spain; Antonio Rota, now
secretary of the Society of Jesus, was the rector of
Veruela when in 1888 the image of the Blessed Virgin
was solemnly crowned.
The fact of the apparition is attested by Abarca. Zurita, and Argensol-\ in their Anales de Aragdn. Piferrer, Nohiliario de los rcinos y senorios de Espafia, IV; Yepes, Crdnica de San Benito, VII (Valladolid, 1621), 370; de Zaragoza, Teatro hist, de las ii/lesiafi del reino de Aragdn, IV. 74; Definitiones congregationis cistcrcieusis corona: Aragonum (Valladolid, 1790): de UzT.utR6z. Cronologta de las imdgenes aparecidas de N. Sefiora en Aragdn (Saragossa, 1644); Torre, Resefia hist, de N. S. de Veruela (Bar- celona, 1881); NoxELL, La santa duquesa (Madrid, 1S92); Qr.i- DRADO, AragSn in EspaHa, sus monumentos y artes (Barcelona, 1886); there is at present in the archives of Veruela an extensive collection of documents gathered by Fixer who began to write a complete history of Veruela. There is also a MS. Breris hist, regalis monasterii Berolce, ab ejus /undatione qucc fuit anno 1146 usque ad annum 1 738.
AViLLiAM Furlong.
Vesalius (Wesahus), Andreas, the reorganizer of the study of anatomy, b. at Brussels, 31 Dec, 1514; d. in a Greek city on his journey home from Jerusalem in 1564. He was descended from a German family of physicians called Witing (Wytinck), which came from Wesel on the Rhine, and was the son of Andreas Vesalius, court-apothecary to the Emperor Charles V. As a boy he showed great interest in the dissec- tion of animals. After pursuing his early studies at Louvain, he went about 1533 to the University of Paris, where Johannes Quinterus of Andernach and Jacobus Sylvius taught medicine. At the university Vesalius gave his attention largely to anatomy, especially that of the bones which he found in ceme- teries and at the place of execution. He dissected entire animals, and gained in this way so much knowledge that at the request of his teachers and fellow-students he publicly dissected a corpse and explained its parts. In 1536 he returned to Louvain and made a public dissection there, the first in eigh- teen years. He also published a more accurate Latin translation of the ninth book of Almansor of Rhazes. In 1537 he went to Venice, thence to
