CAPUCHIN
325
CAPUCHIN
Yet the friars obtained leave from the Coptic Patri-
arch of Alexandria to preach in the churches of the
Copts, and the pope even granted them permission
to celebrate Mass in the same churches. Father
Agathange's influence with the Copts was such that
he persuaded the Coptic patriarch to appoint for the
Copts in Abyssinia a bishop who would live in peace
with the Catholics. In 1637 Father Agathange, to-
gether with Father Cassian de Nantes, entered Abys-
sinia, but owing to the treachery of a German Lu-
theran they were at once seized and imprisoned, and
the following year suffered martyrdom . The Capuchin
mission in Abyssinia was thus brought swiftly to a
close, but only to be renewed in later years. Towards
the end of the last century the friars were again es-
tablished in the dominions of the Negus, chiefly
through the exertions of the celebrated Capuchin
missionary afterwards known as Cardinal Massaia.
He has left a record of his experiences in his book, "I
miei t rentacinque anni nell' altaEtiopia" (Rome and
Milan, 1S95).
Towards the middle of the seventeenth century the friars established missions in India at Surat, Pegu, Golconda, and Madras, and a little later at Pondi- cherry. The story of their Indian missions is much the same as elsewhere; they established schools, wrote books in the vernacular of the country, held public conferences with the learned heathen, and found their chief obstacle in the European traders — in this case, the Portuguese. At the present, day the missions in India are amongst the most important in the order: the Archdiocese of Agra (the premier diocese in India), the Dioceses of Lahore and Allahabad, and t he Prefecture of Rajputana, are entirely served by Capuchins. They still carry on their work in Asia Minor, where the}' have a flourishing missionary seminary at Smyrna. Other present-day missions are in Central and South America, in Arabia and Son aliland, in the Seychelles, Philippines, and Caro- line Islands, in Abyssinia and Mesopotamia; whilst in Europe they carry on missionary work in Constan- tinople and Bulgaria. In 1906 eight hundred and fifty-five friars of the reform were engaged in foreign missionary labour.
The reform has produced few writers of the first order in literature or scholarship, though the " Bib- liotheca Scriptorum Ord. Min. Cap." (Genoa, 16S0; Venice, 17-17) gives the names of a great number of writers and a goodly list of works, many of them of no mean merit. But most of their writings are con- nected with their apostolic labours — books of ser- mons, devotional treatises, and works dealing with the history of the missions. In this hist department they have produced several valuable works, such as Cavazzi's treatise on the Congo, Dionigi Carli's book on the customs, rites, and religion of the people of Africa, Merolla da Sorrento's account of the Congo and South Africa, and Cardinal Massaia's work on Abyssinia. In the seventeenth century the French
tins were noted for their studies of Oriental languages, and in view of the present revival of the Celtic tongues, it may be recalled that a Breton
bin, < iregorius de Rostrenen, published in 1732 "Dictionarium Gallo-Celticum, seu < lallo-Aremori- nim" (Rennes, 1732) and "Grammatica cum Syn- ta\i Gallo-Celtica, seu < lallo-Aremorica " (Rennes,
1738). In Scriptural exegesis Bernardine a Piconio
has a deservedly high name as the author of the "Triplex expositio" (1706), whilst in the sixteenth century Francis Titelmann, who left the theological chair of Louvain to put on the habit of St. Francis, gained European repute by his treatises on Scripture ami his controversy with Erasmus. Amongst devo- tional writings, the works of Gaetano da Bergamo, published in the first half of the eighteenth century, nave an enduring value: his treatise on humility and his meditations on the Passion have both been trans-
lated into English. Benedict Canfield's treatise "On
the Holy Will of God" has an enduring place in as-
cetical literature. Amongst modern theologians of
merit a place must be given to Albert of Bulsano; and
as an authority on canon law the Belgian Capuchin
Piatus is much esteemed. In the late revival of
Franciscan historical studies, Pere Edouard d'Alencon
has issued new editions of the "Sacrum Commer-
cium" (Rome, 1900), and the legends of Thomas of
Celano (Rome, 1906). Amongst the chroniclers of
the order the first place must be given to Boverius, a
man of great learning not only as an historian, but as
a controversial writer of the sixteenth century. In
1640 Carolus de Arembergh published at Cologne
"Flores Seraphici", a voluminous work concerning
the noted members of the order.
But the Capuchin friars have at all times been men of action rather than students, and the enormous in- fluence they possessed in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries was due to their extensive labours as home and foreign missionaries and to the univer- sality of their genius in dealing with the spiritual needs of the people. Amongst the special marks of favour shown them by the Holy See must be men- tioned their custody of the Holy House of Loreto, given to them in 1608, and the fact that since 1596 they have had the privilege of supplying the Apostolic preacher at the Roman Court. Pope Urban VIII was a special patron of the order. His friendship with the friars was in part due to the fact that his brother, Antonio Barberini, afterwards Cardinal of Sant' Onofrio, w : as a member of the order. This pope built for them the famous convent of the Barberini in Rome, the architect of which was himself a Capuchin Friar, Fra Michaele da Bergamo: and the ww church attached to the convent was the first church in Rome to be dedicated in honour of the Immaculate Concep- tion of the Blessed Virgin. The convent was opened with great solemnity on 15 April. 1631, and Urban VIII signalized the event by appointing Fra Michaele architect of the Apostolic Palace. The convent was thi> headquarters of the order until a few years ago, when the minister general and his curia were expelled by the Italian Government, which now uses the greater part of the convent as a barracks, leaving only a few friars to take care of the church. We may here take note that the reform has given many cardinals and bishops to the Church; sixteen of iis members have been canonized or beatified, and tie 1 cause of others is in process at Rome with a view to canonization.
That the friars came in for much of the abuse levelled against the Church and especially against the religious orders, in the si vent een I h and eighteenth centuries, only testifies to their influence and zeal. Except the Jesuits, no religious order has, perhaps, been more vilely lampooned. In France, during the seventeenth century, book after book appeared de- faming the friars; one of these was translated into English and published in London in 1671 under the title of "The Monk's Hood pull'd off, or the Capuchin Fryar described".
III. The Reform ru English-speaking Coun- tries. — It was in 1599 that the first friars of the reform came to England. These were Father Bene- dict Canfield, an Englishman, and Father ( Ihrysostom, a Scotchman. Benedict < 'anfield was of Puritan par- entage, but had embraced the Catholic Faith whilst yet a student. As a friar he was reputed a powerful preacher, and was a writer of note. But he had
hardly landed in England when he and his companion w< re seized and imprisoned. He was released at the end of three years and expelled the kingdom. Amo other friars who came t,, England about this time were Father Archangel, "tie Scotch Capuchin", who became the subject of a popular Italian biography, written by the Papal Legate Rinuccini, in which, however, the author's imagination played freely
