Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/195

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FOXTLQXTE


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FOUNDATION


automatic regulator for the feed of the Davy electric arc lamp and thus made electric lighting practicable. The Foucault pendulum was invented to demonstrate visibly the rotation of the earth ; the one exhibited at the Pantheon in Paris, in 1851, was 220 feet long. The gyroscope with its intricate and puzzling movements was another device invented by him to show also the earth's motion around its axis. This gained for him the cross of the Legion of Honour. Foucault currents are heating currents of electricity developed in a disc of metal rotating between the poles of a strong mag- net. He had observed and reported this effect in 1855. As physicist at the observatory he applied himself also to the improvement of large telescopic lenses and re- flectors, devising a method for silvering the surface of a glass reflector. The mercury interrupter used with the induction coil and an excellent form of engine governor are also due to him. Foucault at first ap- peared careless in the performance of his rehgious duties but in later years he was a practical Catholic. A stroke of paralysis put an untimely end to his useful work, just as he was about to enjoy the comforts of a well-equipped laboratory. His contributions to sci- ence are found in the "Comptes rendus", "Proces verbaux de la Soci^tS Philoraathique", and "BibUo- theque d'Instruction populaire". His collected works have been put in order by C. M. Gabriel and published by his mother, " Recueil des Travaux Scientifiques de L6on Foucault" (Paris, 1878).

Putnam's Magazine (New York), October, 1856; Moigno, Les Mondes (Paris, 1S68); Lissajous in Recueil (Paris, 1878); Bertrand, Eloges academiques (Paris, 1890).

William Fox.

Foulque de Neuilly, a popular Crusade preacher; d. March, 1202. At the end of the twelfth century he was cure at the church of Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the Diocese of Paris (now the department of Seine-et- Oise). According to Jacques de Vitry he once led an irregular life, but experienced a sudden conversion. Asharaetl of his ignorance, he went to Paris to study under Pierre, a chanter of Notre-Dame. It was not long before his master noticed his earnestness and had him preach in the church of Saint-Sdverin before a numljer of students. His eloquence was so great that he was thought to be inspired by the Holy Ghost. Large crowds assembled to hear him in the Place Champeaux where he was wont to preach. He was especially severe in his denunciation of usurers and dissolute women. In 1195, according to Rigord, with the assent of the Bishop of Paris, he began to preach in the neighbourhood of Paris, and is soon afterwards met with successively in Normandy, at Lisieux and Caen, later in Burgundy, Picardy, and Flanders. He was credited with power to work miracles, and from every quarter the sick were brought to him, whom he cured by the laying on of hands and by the sign of the cross. After 1198 he preached the Fourth Crusade amid much popular enthusiasm. He declared later that in three years he had given the cross to more than 200,000 persons. According to Jean de Flixecourt, it was Pierre le Chantre who pointed out his ability as a preacher to Innocent III. In November, 1198, the pope conferred upon him the necessary powers, with the right of choosing his assistants among the secu- lar clergy (Historiens de France, XIX, 3{)9). The chief of these were Pierre de Roussi, Eustache, Abbot of Flai, and Herloin, a monk of Saint-Denis. Herloin even led a band of Breton Crusaders as far as Saint- Jean d'Acre. In 1200 many nobles of Northern France had taken the cross. On the nineteenth of March of that year Foulque preached at Liege (Hist, de France, XVIII, 616). After Boniface of Montserrat had been chosen leader of the crusade Foulque gave him the cross at Soissons. In 1201 he assisted at the chapter of Citeaux with Boniface, and entrusted to the Cistercians a portion of the alms he had collected for the Holy Land. These were used to


repair the ramparts of Acre [and Tyre, but he had aroused distrust, and his later success was slight. He returned to Neuilly, where he restored the parish church, which is still in existence. When Foulque died, he was regarded as a saint. He had taken a decisive part in the preparation for the Crusade of 1204.

Lebceuf, Histoire du diocHe de Paris (Paris. 1794), VI; Du Cange. notes in his edition of Villehardouin. Most of the documents concerning Foulque are in Bottquet, Historiens de France, XVIII and XIX; Luch.ure, Innocent III {La Question d'OHent) (Paris, 1907). LouIS Brkhieb.

Foundation (Lat. jundatio; Ger. Stiftung). — An ec- clesiastical foundation is the making over of temporal goods to an ecclesiastical corporation or individual, either by gift during life or by will after death, on the condition of some spiritual work being done either in perpetuity or for a long time. It would be difficult to say exactly when foundations, as distinct from obla- tions or offerings, began to be considered as a normal means of ecclesiastical support. Offerings which were given on the occasion of some ecclesiastical ministra- tion are a distinctive feature of the Apostolic Church. In early Christian times (the first three centuries) these offerings were spontaneous, but in the course of time the Church had to exercise her right to demand support from the faithful. The custom of giving and consecrat- ing the first-fruits [primiticr) to God and the mainten- ance of His ministers appears to have lasted until about the fifth century. Quite ancient also are the decimtF, or tithes (not necessarily a tenth) : a portion of the harvest, or goods, or wealth, offeretl for the same purpose of maintenance of the clergy and for the due preservation of the services of the Church; this also has now almost entirely disappeared (see Tithes). Such popular contributions are often mentioned in early Christian writers, e. g. St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xliii, in Ep. I. ad Cor., ch. xvi; St. Jerome, vol. VI,inc. iiiMalachia;; St. Augustine, "EnarratioinPs.", cxlvi. Under Emperor Constantine the mutual rela- tions of the Church and State were readjusted; the prerogatives of the Church and the sphere of her action were enlarged. Having obtained political recognition, she acquired also the right of accepting donations and legacies, which, as a rule, were set apart by the bishops for the erection and maintenance of hospitals for the sick, orphan asylums, and homes for the aged and those destitute of all other means of support. At a Synod of Orleans (541) it was enacted that if an over- lord wished to have an ecclesiastical district estab- lished on his property he must previously make a com- petent provision in land for the maintenance of the church and of the ecclesiastics who were to serve it. To the voluntary offerings made to the clergy must be added the numerous legacies which the Church began to receive from the converted barbarian peoples from the sixth and seventh centuries on; also, at an earlier date, the contributions of corn and wheat granted annually out of the public granaries by order of Con- stantine. In the West these revenues were usually di- vided into four parts, and allotted respectively to the bishop, the clergy, the poor, and the care of the eccle- siastical buildings. At the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth century the energy dis- played by the clergy in political affairs gave rise to a spirit of public enterprise which manifested itself in the formation of industrial guilds and the creation of charitable institutions, such as orphan asylums, found- ling homes, hospitals, houses for the aged and infirm, hospices, and leper-hospitals, the majority of which were liberally endowed. For an account of this won- derful era of popular generosity, see Thomassin, " Vetus ac nova eccles. disciplina". III, 1-30; and Lallemand, "Hist, de la Charity" (Paris, 1906).

In general, the Church now derives its support mainly from voluntary offerings, civil aid or subsidy, and pious foundations. Foundations for pious uses