VIGER
426
VIGILIUS
towards British influence. He was accused of per-
sonal ambition, though he acted through loftier mo-
tives — the dread lest responsible government might
be compromised. In a pamphlet, "La crise minis-
terielle" (1844), he rightly defines constitutional
government. He was the first president of the na-
tional society of St. Jean-Baptiste. Fordham Uni-
versity gave him the degree of LL.D. (1853). He
wrote many newspaper articles and several important
poUtical treatises demonstrating England's interest
in maintaining the laws, usages, and education of
Lower Canada. He contributed to the foundation
of the new.spapers "La Minerve" and "L'Aurore des
Canadas". His writings are noted for their logic,
depth, and erudition.
BlBAtJD, he Pantheon canadien (Montreal, 1891); TnHCOTTE, Le Canada SOILS V Union {f^utihec, 1S71); Royal, Viger in Journal de V InslTuction publique (March, 1861); Morqan, Bibliotheca canadensis (Ottawa, 1867).
Lionel Lindsay.
Viger, Jacques, a French-Canadian antiquarian and archaeologist, b. at Montreal, 7 May, 1787; d. 12 Dec, 1858. He studied at the Sulpician college of Montreal. During the war of 1812 he served as captain in the " Voltigeurs" under de Salaberry. He was elected the first Mayor of Montreal (183.3), and strove to improve its sanitary condition. Although he wrote little, his reputation as an archaeologist was universal, and the greatest contemporary historians of France and the United States have drawn from his collection of MSS., the fruit of forty years research. He compiled a chronicle under the title of "Sabre- tache" (28 vols.), wherein he gathered plans, maps, portraits, with valuable notes illustrating many con- tested historical points. He was the founder of the " Historical Society of Montreal". Pius IX honoured him with the knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.
BiBAUD, Le PaTUhion canadien (Montreal, 1891) : Morgan, Bibliotheca canadensis (Ottawa, 1867).
Lionel Lindsay.
Vigevano, Diocese of (Viglevanensis), Lom- bardy, Province of Pavia. The city is a gi-eat agri- cultural centre. As late as the middle of the nine- teenth century, gold was obtained from the Ticino in the neighbourhood, but that industry has since been abandoned. The cathedral was built in 1100, rebuilt in the sixteenth century, and in the seven- teenth by Bishop Caramuel Lobkowitz, 1680, himself an architect, who also contributed to the expense. The Church of S. Pietro Martire was built, with the adjacent Dominican convent, by Filippo M. Visconti in 1445; the convent is now used for government offices and courts. Among the civil edifices is the castle, once a fortress, built by Braniante in 1492, by order of Ludovico il Moro, and now a royal palace.
The earliest notices of Vigevano date from the tenth century, when it was favoured as a residence by King Arduin for the sake of the good hunting in that vicinity. In the next period it was a Ghibelline commune, and was accordingly besieged and taken by the Milanese in 1201 and again in 1275. In 1328 it surrendered to Azzone Visconti, and thereafter shared the pohtical fortunes of ^Iilan. In the last years of the Visconti domination it sustained a siege by Francesco Sforza, himself a native of the city. With the Treaty of Worms (1743) it passed to the King of Sardinia. Blessed ISIatleo Carreiro, O.P., died at Vigevano. Until 1530 the town belonged to the Diocese of Novara and had a collegiate chapter. Francesco Sforza procured tlie erection of the see and provided its revenues. Tlie first bisliop was Cialeazzo Pietra, succeeded by his ne|)hew Maurizio Pietra (1552); both of these promoted the Tridentine reforms, and the work was continued by their suc- cessors. Marsilio Landriani (l.')94) distinguished hims(>lf in various nunciatures and founded a Bar- nabite college for the education of young men. Giorgio
Odescalchi (1610) was a very zealous pastor; the
process of his beatification has been commenced.
Giovanni Caramuel Lobkowitz (1675) was an exam-
ple of pastoral virtue and zeal and the author of
many works, philosophical, theological, ascetical
etc., though his "Theo'ogia fundamentahs" was
censured. Pier Marino Sonnani (1688), a Minorite,
who enlarged the seminary, had to maintain a struggle
against the spread of the doctrines of Miguel Mohnos.
Nicola Saverio Gamboni was intruded into the see by
Napoleon in 1801. The diocese is suffragan of
Vercelli. It contains 75 parishes, 1S0,Q00 souls, 250
secular and regular priests, 1 house of male rehgious,
1 of sisters, and 3 girls' schools. One weekly and
two monthly periodicals are published.
Cappelletti. Le chiese d' Italia, XIV; BiFFlGNANDl, Memorie storxche deUa cittd e contado di Vigemno.
U. Benigni. Vigil. See Eve of a Feast.
Vigilius, Saint, Bishop of Trent, martvT, patron of Trent and of Tyrol, b. c. 353; d. 26 June, 405; feast 26 June. The name of his father was not known (Acta SS., June, VII, 143), though given by some as Theodosius. His mother Maxentia (Acta SS., Apr., Ill, 781) and his brothers Claudian (Acta SS., March, I, 426) and Magorian (Acta SS., March, II, 398) are numbered among the saints. At an early age he came with his parents to Trent (possibly he was born there), and pursued his studies at Athens, becoming noted for his sanctity and learning; here he seems to have formed a friendship with St. John Chrysostom. He went to Rome and thence in 380 returned to Trent, where the people by acclama- tion chose him their bishop. He was consecrated by Valerian, Bishop of Aquileia, or possibly by St. Ambrose of Milan who donated the episcopal insig- nia and showed a paternal solicitude for Vigilius; he urged him (Ep. 29 in P. L., XVI, 982) to strongly oppose marriages with heathens. VigiUus laboured strenuously to convert the Arians in the city of Trent and the many idolaters throughout the diocese. He preached the Gospel in the districts of Brescia and Verona, beyond the confines of his diocese, and there erected some thirty parishes placing his mis- sionary companions as pastors and bishops. Among these were Sts. Sisinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander (Acta SS., May, VII, 37), natives of Cappadocia, whom Vigilius had brought from Milan, and who after a short apostolate were martyred; parts of the rehcs were sent to Milan and others to Constanfi- nople.
Accompanied by his brothers and a priest named Julian, Vigilius then went west of Trent to the Rendena Valley to teach the Gospel to the worshippers of Saturn. At a place, which is now the parish of Rendena, he offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and threw the statue of Saturn into the River Sarka. Enraged at this the idolaters stoned him to death. The body was brought back to Trent and buried in the church built by Vigilius. The acts of his life and martyrdom were immediately sent to Rome. Inno- cent I gave them to the Emperor Honorius as a protection on one of his military expeditions. He seems to have made a formal canonization, for Benedict XIV ("De canonizat. SS.", Prato, 1839, I, ch. iv, no. 12) calls \igilius the first martyr canon- ized by a pope. Eugippius, the successor of Vigilius in the See of Trent, enlarged the cathedral and dedi- cated it to St. Vigilius. In 1386 the right hand was separated from the body and put into a precious reli(iuary. Many churches in Tyrol bear the name of the saint. He is the author of the work, "De Martvrio SS. Sisinnii, Martyrii ct Alexandri", in P. L.; XIII, 549.
Bardenhewer, PaiTology, tr. Shahan (St. Louis, lOOS), 444; Kr6»8, Austria Sancta, I (Vienna, 1910), 8.
Francis Mershman.
