Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/724

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DAVIES


646


DAWSON


Bishop of Bangor (see below). According to Ekke- hard (Chronicon, ed., Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., VI, 243), Emperor Henry V received him, was charmed with his virtue and knowledge, and made him one of the itnperial chaplains. With other scholars David accompanied the king on his expedition to Italy in 1100, and was appointed royal historiographer for the occasion. His work in three books is now known only from excerpts of it in later historians, especially in Ekkehard (op. cit. above) and William of Malmes- bury. The latter (Gesta regum Anglorum, in P. L., CLXXIX, 1375) says that David described the expe- dition with partiality for the king. A certain David was consecrated Bishop of Bangor in Wales, 4 April, 1120; according to Malmesbury (loc. cit.) he was none other than the chaplain, David Scotus. As bishop he took part in several English synods, and probably died in 1139, since his successor was then consecrated. But it is not easy to reconcile with the foregoing, the statement of a later historian (Trithemius, Annales Hirsaugienses, I, 349), that David became a monk under St. Macharius in the monastery of St. James in Wiirzburg, as this abbey was not founded until 1140.

Tout in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v. ; F.\briciu8, Bibliotheca Latina (Florence, 1858), 1, 433: Hurter, Nomenclator, (3rd ed. Inns- bruck, 1906), XI. 63.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Davles, William, Venerable, martyr, one of the most illustrious of the priests who suffered under Queen Elizabeth, b. in North Wales, probably at Crois in Yris, Denbighshire, date uncertain; d. at Beau- maris, 27 July, 1593. He studied at Reims, where he arrived 6 April, 1582 just in time to assist at the first Mass of the venerable martyr Nicholas Garlick. He received tonsure and minor orders 23 Sept., 1583, to- gether with seventy-three other English students. Ordained priest in April, 1585, he laboured with won- derful zeal and success in Wales till March, 1591-2, when he was arrested at Holyhead with four students whom he was sending via Ireland to the English Col- lege at Valladolid. He was thrown into a loathsome dungeon in Beaumaris Castle and separated from his companions, having frankly confessed that he was a priest. After a month his sanctity and patience gained him some relaxation of his close confinement and he was able to join the students for an hour in the day, and even to celebrate Mass. By degrees the jailor became so indulgent that they might have es- caped had they so willed. The fame of the priest's sanctity and wisdom brought Catholics from all parts to consult him and Protestant ministers came to dispute with him. At the assizes he and his companions were condemned to death, on which the martyr intoned the "Te Deum", which the others took up. The injustice of the sentence was so apparent that to still the peo- ple's murmurs the judge reprieved the condemned till the queen's pleasure should be known. Sent to Lud- low, to be examined by the Council of the Marches, Father Davies had to submit to fresh assaults by the ministers. Here too he foiled the artifices of his ene- mies who took him to the church under pretext of a disputation, and then began the Protestant service. He at once began to recite the Latin Vespers in a louder voice than the ministers', and afterwards pub- licly exposed the trick of which he had been a victim. From Ludlow he was sent to Bewdley, where he had to share a foul dungeon with felons, and from thence to other prisons, until at last he was sent back to Beau- maris, where, to their mutual consolation, he rejoined his young companions. F'or some six months he lived with them the life of a religious community, dividing the time between prayer and study, "with so much comfort to themselves that they seemed to be rather in heaven than in (jrison". At the summer assizes it was decided that the priest must die as a traitor, though he was offered his life if he would go but once to


church. In spite of the open opposition of the people, who honoured him as a saint, the cruel sentence was carried out and he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Beaumaris. As he put the rope round his neck, the martyr said: "Thy yoke, O Lord, is sweet and Thy burden is light," His cassock stained with his blood was bought by his companions and preserved as a relic. They, though condemned to imprisonment for life, managed in time to escape, and the youngest found his way at last to Valladolid, where he re- counted the whole story to Bishop Yepes, who wrote it in his "Historia particular de la Persecucion en In- glaterra". There is now a chapel in Anglesey built as a memorial to the martyr.

Challoner, Alissianary Priests (London, 1741); Gillow, Bibl. Did. Eng. Cath., II, s. v.; Douay Diaries (London, 1878); Yepes, Hisl. de la Persecucion en Inglaterra; C-\mm, In the Brave Days of Old (London, 1899).

Bede Cajim.

Da'vila Padilla (AgustIn), a native of the City of Mexico, li. 1562; d. 1604. At the age of sixteen he graduated at the LTniversity of Mexico as master of arts and soon after entered the Dominican Order. He held the chairs of philosophy and theology at Puebla and Mexico. He was successively definitor and procurator of the Mexican province of his order and was sent to Rome and Madrid as its representative. In 1601 he was made Bishop of Santo Domingo, where he died. Davila Padilla was not a prolific writer. He left, however, one very important, though unfor- tunately rare, work, the " Historia de la Fundacion y Discurso de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico" (Madrid, 1596; Brussels, 1625). Beristain mentions a third edition of 1634. While not free from mis- takes, it still stands as the foremost chronicle of the Dominican Order and its missions in America up to the end of the sLxteenth century.

Nicolas Antonio, Bibliotheca hispana nova (2d ed., Madrid, 1733-1738); Leon t Pinelo, Epitome de la Biblioteca oriental y occidental (2d ed., Madrid, 1737); Eguiar-a, Biblioteca mexi- cana (Mexico, 1755); Beristain de Souza. Biblioteca hispano- americana (2d ed., Mexico, 1883); Ycazbalceta, Bibliografia mexicana (Mexico, 1886); Diccionari.o universal de Historia y Geogrofia (Mexico); Gil Gonzales DA\nLA, Teatro eclesiastico de la primitiva Iglesia de la^ Indias occidentales (Madrid, 1654).

Ad. F. Bandelier.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. See Vinci.

Davis, James. See Davenport.

Davy, Jacques. See Duperron, Cardinal.

Dawson, .^ne.\s McDonnell, author, b. in Scot- land, 30 July, 1810; d. in Ottawa, Canada, 29 Dec, 1894. He studied at the seminary of Paris and was ordained priest in 1835. Until 1840 he laboured on the mission of Dumfries, Scotland, and subsequently in Edinburgh. Before emigrating to Canada in 1855 he had charge successively of the Counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, during all this time ren- dering valuable service to the cause of the Church. On his arrival in Canada he was given the parish of St. Andrew's, Ottawa, and later became preacher at the cathedral. Father Dawson was a lecturer of re- pute and a frequent contributor to the provincial press. He is the author of "The Temporal Sover- eignty of the Pope" (Ottawa and London, 1860), the first book printed and published in Ottawa; "St. Vin- cent de Paul: .\ Biography" (London, 1865); "Seven Letters together with a Lecture on the Colonies of Great Britain" (Ottawa, 1S70); "The Late Hon. Thojnas D'.\rcy McGee. A Funeral Oration " (Ottawa, 1870) ; "Our Strength and Their Strength: The Northwest Territory and Other Papers, Chief! v Relating to the Do- minion of Canada" (Ottawa, 1870)— the first title heads a refutation of Goldwin Smith's anti-clerical views; under the last comes a series of poems, dis- courses, lectures, critical reviews; "Pius IX and his Tune" (London, 1880). He translated from the French: (1) "Maltre Pierre. Conversations on-Moral-