COCHIN
79
CO-CONSECRATORS
Cochin China. See French Indo-China.
Cochlaeus, Johann (properly Dobeneck), sur- nameii Cochl.eus (from cochlea, a snail shell) after his birthplace Wendelstein, near .Schwabach, humanist and Catholic controversialist, b. 1479; d. 11 Jan., 1552, in Breslau. His early education he received at the house of his uncle, Hirspeck. About 1500 he be- gan his humanistic studies under Grienniger at Nu- remberg. From 1504 he pursued his studies at Co- logne and there relations sprang up between Cochla-us and the champions of humanism. In 1510 he ob- tained the rectorate in the Latin school of St, Law- rence in Nuremberg, where the "Quadri\'ium Gram- matices" (1511 and repeatedly afterwards) and the "Tetrachordum Musices" appeared. At Nuremberg he became an intimate friend of Pirkheimer. With the latter's three nephews he went to Bologna to con- tinue his humanistic and legal studies. His main ob- ject, however, was to pursue a course of theology, in which he obtained his doctorate in 1517, and then by the advice of Pirkheimer went to Rome. There, under the influence of the Oratorio del Divino Amore, Coch- laeus turned his attention to the cultivation of a religious life. Ordained at Rome, he went to Frankfort, and after some hesitation, arising no doubt from consid- eration for his friends, he entered the arena as the op- ponent of the Lutheran movement. His first works were "De L'troque Sacerdotio" (1520) and several smaller writings published in rapid succession. In 1521 he met the nuncio Aleander at Worms and worked untiringly to bring about the reconciliation of Luther. During the following years he wrote tracts against Luther's principal theses on the doctrine of justifica- tion, on the freedom of the will, and on the teaching of the Church (especially the important work, "De Gratia Sacramentorum", 1522; "De Baptismo parvulorum", 1523; "A Commentary on 154 Articles"; etc.). Lu- ther, to the vexation of Cochlteus wrote in answer only a single work, " Adversus Armatum Virura Cocleum".
After a short sojourn at Rome Cochkeus accom- panied Compeggio to the negotiations at Nuremberg and Ratisbon. The Lutheran movement and the Peasants' War drove him to Cologne in 1525. From there he wrote against the rebellion and Luther, its real author. In 1526 he received a canonry at Jlay- ence and accompanied Cadinal Albrecht of Branden- burg to the Diet of Speyer. After Emser's death Cochla>us took his place as secretary to Duke George of Saxony, whom he defended against an attack of Luther based on the false charge of an alliance be- tween the Catholic princes at Breslau (cf . The Affair of Otto V. Pack). Conjointly with Duke George he la- boured strenuously in 15-30 to refute the Augsburg Confession, and later directed against Melanchthon, its author, his bitter "Philippics". Because of a pamphlet against Henrj' VIII of England he was transferred in 1535 to a canonrj' in Meissen. After the duke's death, owing to the advance of the Reform- ation, his further stay in Saxony became quite impos- sible. For the time being he found a refuge as canon first at Breslau and later at Eichstatt. With indomi- table ardour he published pamphlet after pamphlet against Luther and Melanchthon, against Zwingli, Butzer, BuUinger Cordatus, Ossiander, etc. Almost all of these publications, however, were written in haste and bad temper, without the necessary revision and theological thoroughness, consequently they pro- duced no effect on the masses. His greatest work against Luther is his strictly historical " Comment aria de Actis et Scriptis M. Luther" (extending to his death), an armourj' of Catholic polemics for aU siic- ceeding time. Forced to resign his benefice at Eich- statt in 1548, Cochlajus remained for a short time in Mayence to edit a work of Abbot Conrad Braun. In 1549, however, he returned to Breslau where he died shortlj' after. Naturally of a quiet and studious dis-
position he was drawn into the arena of polemics by
the religious schism. There he developed a produc-
ti\'ity and zeal unparalleled by any other Catholic theo-
logian of his time. He did not, however, possess the
other requisites for success in the same degree. Among
his two hundred and two publications (catalogued in
Spahn, p. 341 sq.) are to be found, besides tracts bear-
ing on the topics of the day, also editions of ecclesias-
tical writers and historical publications. Among these
latter the work "Historia; Hussitarura XII Libri"
(1549) is of great value even to-day because of the
authorities used therein.
De W'eldige-Kremer, De Joannis Cochlcei Vili'i et Scripti-t (Miiiister. 1S65): Otto, Johannes Coehlaus {BresKau, 1874); Gess, Johannes Cochloeus (Berlin, 1S9S); SrHLECHT, IV Coch- Iceusbncfc in Hislor. Jahrbuch XX (1899), 768 sq.
Joseph Sauer.
Co-consecrators are the bishops who assist the presiding bishop in the act of consecrating a new bishop. It is a very strict rule of the Church that there should be two such assistant bishops, or three bishops in all — though an exception is made for mis- sionary countries where it is practically impossible to bring so many bishops together, the Holy See there allowing two priests to act as assistants to the conse- crator. The part assigned by the Roman Pontifical in its present form to the assistant bishops is, after helping to place the book of the Gospels on the shoul- ders of the elect, to join the consecrator in laying hands on his head, and in saying over him the words Accipe Spuilum Sanctum. But it is the consecrator alone who, with extended hands, says the Eucharistic prayer, which constitutes the "essential form" of the rite. In the Oriental rites, I'niat and schismatic, no words of any kind are assigned to the assistant bish- ops; this was also the case with the ancient Western rites, the words Accipe Spirilum Sanctum being a late medieval addition.
Hi.sTORY OF THE UsAGE. — In the earliest times the ideal was to assemble as many bishops as possible for the election and consecration of a new bishop, and it be- came the rule that the comprovincials at least should participate under the presidency of the metropolitan or primate. But this was found impracticable in a matter of such frequency ; so in the Council of Nica'a we find it enacted that "a bishop ought to be chosen by all the bishops of his province, but if that is impossible because of some urgent necessity, or because of the length of the journey, let three bishops at least assemble and pro- ceed to the consecration, having the written permis- sion of the absent" (can. iv). There was, indeed, one exception, which is referred to in the letter of Pope Siricius to the African bishops (386), "That a single bishop, unless he be the Bishop of Rome, must not ordain a bishop". This exception has long since been discontinued, but it bears witness to the reason forwhich the intervention of several bishops was ordinarily re- quired, a reason expressly stated by St. Isidore (about 601) in his "De Eccles. Off." (Bk. II, ch. v, no. 11 in P. L., LXXXIII, 785): "[The custom] that a bishop should not be ordained by one bishop, but by all the comprovincial bishops, is known to have been insti- tuted on account of heresies, and in order that the tyrannical authority of one person should not attempt anything contrary to the faith of the Church." Such a consitleration was not applicable to the ca.sc of the Bishop of Rome. In these provisions of the earliei councils the conditions of the time were presupposed. Gradually other conditions supervened, and the right of apjiointing to the episcopate was reserved to the metropolitans in the case of simple bishops, and to the Holy See in the case of metropolitans, and finally in all cases to the Holy See. But the practice of requir- ing at least three Ijishops for the consecration cere- mony, though no longerneeded for its ancient purpose, has ahvays been retained as befitting the solemnity of the occasion.
