COLIN
101
COLISEUM
Colin, Jean-Claude-Marie, a French priest,
founder of the Marists, b. at Saint-Bonnet-le-Troncy,
now in thie Diocese of Lyons, 7 Aug., 1790; d. at Notre-
Dame-de-la-Neyliere (Rhone) 28 Feb., 1875. After
hLs preliminary studies at St-Jodard, AHx, and Ver-
rieres, he entered the Grand-Seminaire de Saint-
Irenee, at Lyons, and was ordained priest in 1816.
The idea of a religious society dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin originated with a group of seminarians at
Saint-Ir^nle. Although the most retiring and mod-
est of the group, Colin became the real founder.
While serving as assistant pastor at Cerdon, then in
the Diocese of Lyons, he drew up provisional rules
which met the warm approval of such men as Bigex,
Bishop of Pignerol, Bonald, Bishop of Puy, Frays-
sinous, minister of ecclesiastical affairs, etc. The
town of Cerdon having passed to the newly reorga-
nized Diocese of Belley, Colin obtained from its bishop,
Mgr. Devie, permission to take a few comjianions and
preach missions in the neglected parts of the diocese.
Their number increased, and in spite of the opposition
of the bishop, who wished to make the society a dioc-
esan congregation, Colin obtained (18-36) from Greg-
ory XVI the canonical approbation of the Society of
Marj' as an order with simple vows. In the same year
Father Colin was chosen superior general.
During the eighteen years of his administration (18.36-1854) Colin showed great activity, organizing the different branches of his society, foimdingin France missionarj' houses and colleges, and above all sending to the various missions of Oceanica, which had been entrusted to the Marists, as many as seventy-four priests and forty-three brothers, several of whom gave up their lives in the attempt to convert the na- tives. In 185-1 he resigned the ofHce of superior general and retired to Notre-Dame-de-la-Neyliere, where he spent the last twenty years of his life revising and completing the constitutions of the Society, im- pressing on them the spirit of the Blessed Virgin, a spirit of humility, self-denial, and unwavering loyalty to the Holy See, of which he was himself a perfect model. Two years before his death he had the joy of seeing the Constitutions of the Society of Mary defin- itively approved by the Holy See, 28 Feb., 1873. The cause of the beatification of Father CoUn is now (1908) before the Congregation of Rites.
Le Tres-Reverend Pi-re Colin (Lyons, 1898); Le Tris-Rivcrend Pcre Colin (Lyons, 1900); Summarium processus ordinarii in causa J. C. M. Colin (Rome, 1905).
J. F. SoLLIER.
Coliseum, The, known as the Flavian Amphithea- tre, commenced a. d. 72 by Vespasian, the first of the Flavian emperors, dedicated by Titus A. D. 80. The great structure ri.ses in four stories, each story exhibiting a different order of architecture; the first Doric, the second Ionic, the third Corinthian, the fourth Composite. The material is the famous trav- ertine. The site was originally a marshy hollow, bounded by the Ca-han, the Oppian, the Velian, and the Palatine Hills, which Nero had transformed into the fish-pond of his Golden House. Its form is that of an eUipse. 790 feet in circumference, its length 620, its width .525, and its height 157 feet. The arena, in which took place the gladiatorial combats (ludi qladi- atorii) and fights with tlie wild beasts, for which the Cohseum was erected, was of wood, covered with sand. Surrounding the arena was a low wall, sur- mounted by a railing high enough to protect the audi- ence from danger of invasion by the furious, non- human contestants. As an additional security against this peril, guards patrolled the passageway between tliis wall and the pntliiim. or marble terrace, on which were the seats of the senators, the members of the sacred colleges, and other privileged .spectators. From the southern side of the jjodiuiu projected the suqgentum. or imperial gallery, for the accommodation of the emperor and his attendants. Next to these
sat the Vestals. Back of the podium twenty tiers of
seats were reserved for the three divisions of the
eqviestrian order; the upper tiers of seats were occu-
pied by the ordinary citizens. Last of all was a
Corinthian colonnade in which the lower orders were
accommodated w-ith standing room only. The Coli-
seum . according to the " Chronographia " of .354, could
contain 87,000 spectators. Professor Huelsen (quoted
by Lanciani), however, has calculated that it will
seat not more than 45,000 people. From the external
cornice projected a circle of pine masts, from which
awnings could readily be suspended over parts of the
audience for the moment exposed to the sun's rays;
the imperial gallery was covered with a special can-
opy. The arena was never shaded. Nothing is
known of the architect of the Coliseum, although an
inscription, afterwards shown to be a forgerj', attrib-
uted its design to a Christian.
The Coliseum int the Middle Ages. — Although seriously damaged by two earthquakes in the fifth century, it is generally held that the Coliseum was practically intact in the eighth century when Bede WTote the well-known lines:
Quandiu stabit coliseus, stabit et Roma;
Quando cadit coliseus, cadet et Roma;
Quando cadet Roma, cadet et mund\is. (Wliile stands the Coliseum. Rome shall stand; when faUs the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall.) Lanciani attributes the col- lapse of the western portion of the shell to the earth- quake of September, 1349, mentioned by Petrarch. Towards the end of the eleventh century it came into the hands of the Frangipani family, with whose palace it was connected by a series of constructions. Dur- ing the temporary eclipse of the nobility in the four- teenth centurj', while the popes resided in Avignon, it became the property of the municipality of Rome (1312). The last shows seen in the Coliseum were given in the early part of the sixth century, one by Eutaricus Cilica, son-in-law of Theodoric, in 519, and a second in 523 by Anicius Maximus. The story of a bull-fight in 1332, in which eighteen youtlis of the Roman nobility are said to have lost their lives, is apocrj-phal (Delehaye, L' Amphitheatre Flavien, 5). In 1386 the municipality presented a third of the Coliseum to the "Compagnia del Salvatore ad .sancta sanctorum" to be used as a hospital, which trans- action is commemorated by a marble bas-relief bust of Our Saviour, between two candles, and the arms of the municipality, above the sixty-third and sLxty- fifth arches. During the next four centuries the enormous mass of stone which had formed the west- ern part of the structure served as a quarry for the Romans. Besides other buildings, four churches were erected in tlie vicinity from this material. One document attests that a single contractor in nine months of the year 1452 carried off 2522 cartloads of travertine from the Coli-seum. This contractor was not the first, however, to utihze the great monument of ancient Rome as a quarry; a Brief of Eugenius IV (1431-47), cited by Lanci.ani, threatens dire penalties against those who would dare remove from the Coli- seum even the smallest stone [rel minimum dicli colisei lapidem). The story of Cardinal Farnese who obtained permission from his uncle, Paul III (15.34- 49), to take from the Coliseum as much stone as he could remove in twelve hours is well known; his emi- nence had 4000 men ready to take advantage of the privilege on the day appointed. But a new tradition, which gradually took hold of the public mind during the seventeenth centurv', put an end to this vandal- ism, and effectually aided in preserving the most im- portant existing monument of imi^erial Rome.
The Coliseum and the Martvu.s. -Pope St. Pius V (1566-72) is said to have recommended persons desirous of obtaining relics to procure some sand from the arena of the Cohseum, which, the pope de-
