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ehlefly to the study of the works of Aristotle. On his
return to Paris he displayed considerable activity as
professor in the college of Cardinal Lemoine. Amone
his disciples were the Protestant reformer Farel and
the later bishops Bri9onnet, Roussel, D'Arande, Pon-
cher. In 1507 he was invited to the monastery of
St. Germain-de&-Pr63 near Paris, by the abbot Bri-
^onnet. Here he resided till 1520, assiduously study-
ing the Bible. The first-fruit of his labours was his
•^salterium Quint uplex, gallicum, romanum, hebrai-
cum, vetus, conciliatum" (Paris, 1509). In 1517 and
1519 he published at Paris two critical essays on Mary
Magdalen, "De Maria Magdalena" and "De tribus et
unica Magdalena disceptatio secunda ". In these writ-
ings he endeavoured to prove that Mary, sister of
Lasarus, Mary Magdalen, and the penitent w^oman
who anointed Christ's feet (Luke, vii, 37) were three
distinct persons. This opinion, new at the time, gave
rise to a violent controversy; refutations by No6l
B^er, syndic of the University of Paris, and John
Fisheri the martyr-Bishop of Rochester, appeared;
they were followed by the condemnation by the Sor-
bonne in 1521. The preceding year, Lcfdvre had left
Paris for Meaux, where his friend, Bri^onnet, now
bishop of this city, was to appoint him his vicar-gen-
eral in 1523. He continued his bibilical studies, pub-
lishing the " 0)mmentarii initiatorii in f^uatuor Evan-
gelia' (Paris, 1522); a French translation of the New
Testament (Paris, 1523), and of the Psalms (Paris,
1525); an explanation of the Sunday Epistles and
Gospels (Meaux, 1525). As these works contained
some erroneous views and revealed the author's s>Tn-
pathies for the doctrines of the so-called reformers,
they again brought him into conflict with the Sor-
bonne. His commentary on the Gospels was con-
denmed in 1523, and only the timely interposition of
the king shielded him temporarily from f urtner moles-
tation. But during the captivity of Francis I, which
followed the battle of Pa via (February, 1525), further
proceedings were instituted against Ijcfdvre for his
novel doctrines and he sought safety in flight. After
the king's release, he was recalled from exile and
appointed librarian in the royal castle of Blois
(1526). Here he worked at his translation cf the
Old Testament, which appeared at Antwerp in 1528.
In 1531, he accompanieii Marguerite, Queen of Na-
varre, to N^rac, where he spent the last years of his
life. Leffevre was a strong advocate of ecclesiatical
reforms but did not deem a separation from the Cath-
olic Church, of which he always remained a member,
necessary for the attainment of this end. Among his
non-biblical writings the following may be mentioned:
"Theologia vivificans, Dionysii coelestis hierar-
chia, Ignatii XV epistolse, Polycarpi epistoiro"
(Paris, 1498); "Opera complura St^ Hilarii episcopi"
(Paris, 1510); "Liber trium virorum Hermai, Ugue-
tini et Roberti triumque spiritualium virginum Hilde-
gardis, Elizabethae et Mechtildis" (Paris, 1513).
Grap« Jacobus Faber Stanulenvia in Zeitach. fQr Hist. Theol. (1852), 3-88. 166-237: Barnaud, J. Lefivre d'Etaples (Cahora, iOOO); Pboosdiq, /. Lefcvre cTEtaples, voorgangcr van Calvijn, (Leydfen, 1906); Bairo, The Rise of the HuguenotSt I (Nemr York, 1907), 67-98.
N. A. Weber.
A pious bequest differs likewise from a '* donatio xnor>
tis causa", which is a contract^ whereas the bequest is
made by a unilateral act. It is distinguished, nnally,
from a foundation, which can be made during life as
well as by provision in a will, and which always im-
poses on the favoured establishment obligationSi
either perpetual or of fairly long duration. A legacy
may be but is not necessarily a foundation.
n. Right op the Church to Receive Legacies. — Natural law, no less than Divine, ordains that the will of the faithful, bequeathing part of their wealth to the Church should be respected (Instruction of Propa^ ganda, 1807, in "Collectanea S.C. de P. F.", I, Rome, 1907, n. 689) . The Church was established by God as a necessary and perfect society, since its object is to lead men to their last end, consequently, it can uphold its right to acquire all the means necessary to realize the object for which God instituted it. Being an ex« temal and visible society, it must be able to dispose of temporal goods for the needs of Divine service, the support of its ministers, the propagation of the Faith, the care of the poor, etc. Therefore, it may acciuire these goods by all legitimate means, and ainong these means are included pious bequests or legacies. Nat- ural right demands that the goods of parents dying intestate should pass to their children, and in many cases it is a duty for parents to leave part of their patr- rimony to their children; canon law recognizes and ap» proves of this duty. But there is no serious reason for depriving parents of the right to dispose by will, for a pious purpose, of those goods that are at their free dis- posal as long as they are alive. While profitable to the Church, pious bequests are not less so to the do- nors " for the salvation of their souls", in the words of the usual testamentary formula of the Middle Ages (Foumier, "Lcs officialit^s au moyen ^ge'*, Paris, 1880, p. 87). The Council of Trent (Sess. XX\^, Deer, de Purgatorio) declares that pious founda- tions are a means of relieving the sufferings of purgatory. The First Provincial Council of Halifax applies to pious bequests those words of the Gospel: "Make unto you friends of the Mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings*' (Luke xvi, 9; "Collectio La- censis'*. III, Freiburg, 1875, 746). Pious bequests are a means by which generous souls can continue, after their decease, their jgood works, and provide for the future of the institutions that they have founded or enriched. Those who have omitted during life to fulfill the precept of charity can find therein a way of repairing their negligence ("First Provincial Council of Westminster", 1852, XXV, II; "Collectio La- censis". III, 942). Those, finally, who, owing to daily cares and anxieties, found it impossible to be oountiful during life, may yet, if only at the hour of death, co- operate in the relief of the unfortunate, and assure their neighbour the spiritual advantages of Divine
service.
Legacies (Lat. Legato). — ^I. Definition. — In its
most restricted sense, by a pious legacy or bequest
Qeaatum pium) is understood, the assignmg, by a last
will, of a particular thing forming j^art of an estate, to
a church or an ecclesiastical institution. It differs
from a testament in favour of pious works {testament
turn ad pias catisas) in this, that in a testament the
favoured institution is made the true heir of the testa-
tor, continuing as it were his person. Moreover, a
testament deals with the whole property, the patri-
mony of the testator. It results from this that a
rns legacy or l)cqu^ need not necessarily be made
the body of a will; it can be inserted in a co<licil.
III. History. — ^The charity of the first Cliristians
led them to despoil themselves while alive of their su-
perfluous goods; consequently, mention is rarely made
of pious legacies before the time of Constantino.
After that emperor's conversion they became more
prominent, especially after the law of the year 321
allowed churches to receive all kinds of l^acies, and
granted them the "factio testamenti passiva'*, i. e.
the right of being made heirs (Theodosian Code, XVI,
II, lit. iv). Authors are not agreed on the import of a
law of Theodosius dated June, 390, forbidding deacon-
esses, who were ^-idows and had children, to dispose of
their goods in favour of churches or the poor (ibid.
XX vii). Many authors consider it an important re-
striction of the right recognized by Constantine as be-
longing to the churches (Foumeret, "I^es biens d'E-
elise apres les 4dits de pacification; Ressources dont
I'Eglise diaposa pour rcconstruire son patrimoine".
Paris, 1902, p. 84). Others see in it only a means of
