ORIVELLI
509
CROAGH
i ill iintiinlly trll the truth if he have absolutely no
Mtcrrst in lying.
! II what way, now, can these three classes of laws, iu'htly considered, help us to pronounce on the truth of in historic fact? First, if the fact in question present ilisnlutely contradictory and irreconcilable details it niist eWdently be rejected without further examina- io;i. However, it must be clearly proved that there ..rally is such absolute and irreconcilable contradiction between details presented for simultaneous acceptance. it is important, moreover, to ascertain with certainty vhether the contradiction affects the substance of the act, or only accidental circumstances wrongly con- leeted with it in the imagination of the witness, as ■requently happens with popular traditions. In such »se8 it is only details that need to be rejected, pre- jisely as is done when dealing with more or less con- licting testimonies. Physical impossibilitj', i. e. manifest opposition between well known laws of nature ind an historical statement, is also a conclusive argu- nent against the acceptance of such a statement. Ncn-believers to the contrary notwithstanding, the possibility of miraculous intervention never seriously troubles at this point the judgment of Catholic critics. They know quite well when to admit, in a particular case, such a possibility. Nor are these cases very fre- quent. They are also aware that for the acceptance at miracles they must require a far greater amount of evidence than when it is question of purely natural Facts. We have in the Catholic process of canoniza- tion (see Be.\tific.\tion and Canoniz.\tion) an excel- lent example of the manner in which the proof of miracles is handled by the tribunal which Catholics most respect. It may not be superfluous to add that prudence suggests a certain hesitation or reserve when the physical impossibility of a fact is in question. The laws of nature are not all so thorov:ghly under- stood that wo run no danger of confoimding a strange or new fact with one utterly impossible. The treat- ment of moral laws is something more delicate, since they are less absolute in application than physical laws. The mysteries of liberty are even more hidden than tho.«e of material nature. Consequently, before asserting the moral impossibility of a fact it is well to consider attentively whether there be not some cir- cumstance, however trivial, which may have acci- dentally exercised on a given person an influence capable of making him act in a manner opposed to the habitual current of his ideas and sentiments. Such exceptions to moral laws, very rare in the multitude, appear more frequently among individuals. Care must be taken, however, not to admit them without grave reason. It is in support of, or in opposition to a conjecture that the a priori argument is mostly used; frequently enough conjecture is confoimded with it. Iiuieed, it is often through the effort to reproduce mentally what certain persons in given conditions must have clone, that we finally hit on what they did do; the next step is the collection of more precise evi- dence such as may confinn and establish quite satis- factorily the truth that we first saw with the eye of the imagination. We should always remember, however, that mere possibility or non-repugnance must not be considered the equivalent of positive probability, any more than mere ignorance of the causes of a fact is equivalent to its improbability, still less its impossi- bility, when it is sufficiently attested by direct evi- dence. Superficial or pa.ssionate minds are very much exposed to this kind of confusion.
In formulating, as has been done above, the proper rules for the guidance of the mind in it-s search after historical truth, it should be repeated that the mind must bring to this pursuit certain preliminary qu.alities and (lispositions indicated at the beginning of this article, the first and most essential of which is a sin- cere and constant love of truth. Nothing can take the place of this sentiment. It is the rule of rules, the
vital and efficient principle in all the processes of
criticism. Without it they are quite sterile.
De Smedt. Principes dc la critique historimic (Lifege, Paris, 18S4); Bernheim, Lchrbuch drr hixinrisrhcn Mrthodc (Leipzig, 1894): Langlois et Seignobos, Intrndnrlion mix etudes his- toriques (Paris, 1899). Butleh. The Modern Critical and His- torical School, its methods and tendencies. Dublin Review (London, 1898).
Ch. De Smedt.
Crivelli, Carlo, an Italian painter. Little is known of his life, and his b. and d. are usu.ally reckoned by his earliest and latest signed pictures, l4(iS-93. He may have been a pupil of Antonio and Bartolommeo Murano. Crivelli worked entirely in tempera, of which he was a master. He early attained a style of his owTi and his pictures, though sometimes stiff, are decorative and beautiful in colouring. He could not compose, in the modern sense, but was lavish in his treatment of single figures. Architectural features were often introduced by him and life-like fruits and flowers are placed in vivid relief against beautifully finished marljles. Crivelli, it would seem, worked for twenty-two years in cities lying within the Marches of Ancona, especially near Ascoli. He signed himself "Crivellus" and after 1490, when he was knighted by Ferdinand II of Naples, added "miles" to his signa- ture. The cathedral of Ascoli has a "Virgin and Child" dated 1493. ."Vmong his earliest work is the altar-piece of San Silvestro, Massa, signed and dated 1468, while the "Coronation of the Virgin" (1493) in the Oggione Collection, Milan, is probably the latest. The National Gallery, London, has a number of Cri- velli's paintings and the galleries of the Continent are also well supplied. His work is best seen in a half light and at a little distance. His more celebrated pictures are: "Madonna and Child", 1476, altar-piece for San Domenico, Ascoli (National Gallery, London); "The Dead Christ" (National Gallery); "Piet^" (Cathedral, Ascoli); "Madonna and Saints", 1491 (Berlin); "St. Francis of A.ssisi" (Brussels); "Piet3," (Vatican); "Virgin and Saints" (Lateran).
RusnFORTH. Carlo Crivelli (London, 1900): Blanc, Histoire des pcintres dc tons les ccoles (Paris, 1877).
Leigh Hunt.
Croagh Patrick, a mountain looking out on the Atlantic ocean from the southern shore of Clew Bay, in the County Mayo, and called "the Sinai of Ire- land." In pagan times it was known as Cruachan Aigli. It rises in a perfect cone to a height of 2510 feet. The account given below is taken from sources that post-date the saint's death by three to four hundred years. There arc, however, good reasons to beheve that the tra<litions they embody are genuine. St. Patrick was careworn and fatigued when he came to this remote part of the country. He longed to retire for a while to refresh his soul in soli- tude, and for that purpose, on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday in the year 441, he betook himself to the mountain top. Here he spent the days of Lent, chastising his body with fasts, pouring out liis heart to God, and entreating Him with prolonged importunity and with tears that the Faith might never fail in the land of Erin. The "Book of jVrmagh" mentions that God sununoned all the saints of Erin, jiast. present and future, to appear before their Father in the Faith to comfort him with a vision of the teeming harvest his labours would produce, and to join him in blessing their kinsmen and their countrj'. The "Tripartite Life" relates that when Patrick was on Cruachan Aigli in 441, word was brought to him that a new pope ruled the Church in Rome. The new pope was St. Leo the Great, who was consecrated on the 29th of Sept., 440. Patrick, as soon .as he heard it, dispatched one of his disciples named Mimis to bear his filial homage to the Vicar of Christ, to render an account of his labours and his teaching, and to beg a blessing for the infant church in Ireland. The Annals of
