Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/232

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LESTaANOE


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LESTRAliaE


Gospels — ^the high-priestly prayer in John, xvii, and the Passion according to St. John. The exorcism has three Gospels (about driving out devils). In the Pontifical, a Gospel (Luke, ix) is appointed to be read at the openine of 83mod8, before the Veni Creator, and another one (Luke, x) is given for the end of the bless- ing of bells. In some countries (Germany and Aus- tria) it is the custom to sing the beginning of each Gospel during the Corpus Cnristi procession at the altars of repose, before the benediction.

All the Eastern rites in the same way have lessons of various kinds as part of the canonical hours. They constantly use psalms as lessons; that is to say. the whole text of a psalm is read straight through by a reader, as we read our lessons. The choral part of the Office consists chiefly of verses, responses, and ex- clamations of various kinds (the Byzantine SHchera, Troparta, KorUakiay etc., etc.,) that are not taken from the Bible, but are composed by various hymn- writers. In the Byzantine Office three lessons, gener- ally from the Old Test££ment (called irapoifdai) , are read by a lector towards the end of the hesperinos, soon after the singing of the ^(os l\ap6v. In the Or- ihras the priest ree^is the Gospel of the day shortly be- fore the Canon is sung. In the Canon at the end of the sixth ode a lesson called avva^dpioyf describing the life of the saint, or containing reflections on the feast or occasion, is read. If several feasts concur the var- ious synaiaria follow each other (see Fortescue, "Canon dans le rite byzantin", in Caorol, "Diction- naire d'arch^ologie"). The day-hours have no les- sons, except that many troparta throughout the Office describe the mystery that is celebrated and give in- formation to the hearers in a way that makes them often venr like what we should call short lessons. Lessons, Epistles, and Gospels are read at many spe- cial services; thus the *' Blessing of the Waters" on the Epiphany has three lessons from Isaias, an Epistle (I Cor., X, 1-4), and a Gospel (Mark, i, 9-11). The Byzantine synararia and menologia are described by Leo Allatius (De libris eccl. Graec, I, xv).

DncHESNB, Orioinea du ndte chrHien (Paris. 1808); Gihr, Da* heUioe Mesaopfer, II (Freiburg. 1897). $40. pp. 400-08; BciasEL, EnUUhung der Perikopen des rdmiachen Measbuchea (Fn&buTK, 1907); Baitmer, Geachichte dea Breviera (Freibure, 1895); BxTirFOL, Hiatoire du Br&viaire Romain (Paris, 1896); Danibu Codez Liturgicua, I (Leipzig, 1847); Probst. Liturffie dea IV. Jahrhundarta (Munster. 1893); Idem, Die a It eaten rom- iachen SakramerUarien und Ordinea (MUnster, 1802); Maltzew. Die Nachiwaehe, oder Abend und MorgenffottradienH der Orth. Kath, Kirehe dea Morgenlandea (Berlin. 1802).

Adrian Fortescue.

Lastnuige, Louis-Henri de (in religion, Dom Augustine), b. in 1754, in the Chiiteau de Colombier- le-Vieux, Ard^che, France; d. at Lyons, 16 July, 1827. He was the fourteenth child of Loui8-C6sar de Les- trange, oflScer in the household of King Louis XV, and Jeanne-Perrette de Lalor, daughter of an Irish gentleman who had followed James II, King of Eng- land, to France in 1688. He was ordained priest in 1778, and was attached to the parish of Saint-^ulpice. In 1780, Mgr de Pompignan, Archbishop of Vienne, in Dauphin^y chose him for his vicai^general, with the ulterior determination of having him as his coadjutor with the right of future succession. This prospect of being made bishop alarmed the Abb^ de Lestrange. and in the same year he severed all the ties that bound him to the world, and entered the celebrated monas- tery of La Trappe. He was master of the novices in that monastery, when a decree of the National As- sembly, dated 4 December, 1790, suppressed the re- ligious orders in France. Dom Augustine with twenty-four religious left for Switzerland, where the Senate of Fribourg authorize<l them to take up their residence in Val-Sainte, an ancient Carthusian mon- astery about fifteen miles from the city of Fribourg. From Val-Sainte, Dom Augustine estal)lished foun- dations at Santa Susana« in Aragon, Spain, at Mont Biac in Piedmont, Italy, at Westmallo, Belgium, and


at Lulworth, England. In 1798 the French troops in- vaded Switzerland, and the Trappists were obliged to leave the countrv. Some of them settled at Kenty. near Cracow; others at Zydichin. in the Diocese of Lusko, and in Podolia. In 1802 Switzerland recalled them, and Dom Augustine took possession once more of Val-Sainte, and in the following year he sent a col- ony to America under Dom Urbain Guillet.

In 1804 Dom Augustine founded the monastery of Cervara in the Republic of Genoa, and Napoleon not only authorized the establishment, but granted it a revenue of 10,000 francs. Moreover he desired that a similar institution be founded on the Alps, at Mont- Gendvre, to serve as a refuge for the soldiers who were to pass to and fro between Italy and France. To se- cure the success of this establishment he granted it an allowance of 24,000 francs. This protection was not, however, of long duration. The Republic of Genoa was united to the empire, and there, as in all the other states under the sway of Napoleon, an oath of fidelity to the empire was exacted from ecclesiastics and religious. The religious of Cervara, acting on the advice of some eminent personages, and of some in- fluential members of the ciergy who assured them that the pope had allowed the oath, took the oath of fidel- ity. Dom Augustine, who had received from Pius VU, then prisoner at Savona, knowledge of the Bull of ex- communication issued against the spoliator of the States of the Holy See, commanded the Prior of Cer- vara to make immediate retractation. The emperor became furious. He caused Dom Augustine to be ar- rested at Bordeaux and thrown into prison. At the same time, by a sweeping decree of 28 July, he sup- pressed all the Trappist monasteries throughout the empire. The prefect of Bordeaux, upon the entreaties of several of Dom Augustine's friends, gave him the limits of the city for his prison. The abbot availed himself of the Uberty thus accorded him to hasten the departure of his religious for America; he himself ob- tained from the police permission to go to Val-Sainte and Mont-Gen^vre, where his presence was required. Pursued again by the emperor, he crossed Germany and arrived at Riga, whence he left for England and America.

Dom Augustine arrived in New York in December, 1813. The Jesuits had just abandoned a building which they had in that city, and which they had used for a classical school. The edifice occupied the place where now stands St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. Dom Augustine purchased the site for the sum of $10,000, and in 1814, on the downfall of Nar poleon, Dom Augustine returned to France and took possession once more of his former monastery of La Trappe. But his trials were not ended. He was ao- cuseu of imposing extraordinary hardships on his re- ligious; he was reproached with his frequent voyages and long absences. The Bishop of S6ez, in whose dio- cese is the monastery of La Trappe, deceived by un- just insinuations, took the part of the detractors and claimed over the monastery the authority of " direct superior". Dom Augustine, to put an end to these disputes with his bishop, abandoned La Trappe, and sought refuge at Bellefontaine, in the Diocese of An- gers. The complaints were carried to Rome and sub- mitted to the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. Dom Augustine was summoned to Rome. He returned justified, and loaded with favours by the pope. Posterity has given Dom Augustine de Les- trange the title of "Saviour of La Trappe". Ilis re- mains repose in the monastery of Iia Trappe in the Diocese of S^z alongside those of Ablx)t de Ranc<5.

RigUmenta de La Trappe et Uaa^ea de la Val-Sainte (2 vo1b», Fribourg, 1794); Odya^e Monaatique^ Dom Auguatin de Lea- (range et lea Trappxatea pendant la Revolution (La Grande- Trappe, 1898); VERrrA.Cftoour. La Trappe et Bellefontaine {Paiia, 1883); Gallardin, Lea Trappiaiea et VOrdre de Citeaux au XIX' aiMe (2 vols., Paris, 1§44); Vie du R. P. Dom Urbain


Guillet (Chape)le>MontUgeon, 1899).


F. M. GiLOAs.