Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/784

This page needs to be proofread.

MABTXHIQUE


731


MARTIN


Siena, 1283; died either in the same place or at Avi- enon in 1344 or 1349. This artist is now declared to have been a direct pupil of Duccio, whom he surpassed in the decorative quality of his work. Vasari states that he was a pupil of Giotto, but this statement is re- futed by an examination of Simone's works, and also by all the evidence which has been gathered regarding the Sienese school. The earliest of Simone's authentic works is his ereat fresco in Siena of the enthroned Vir- gin and Child, painted originally in 1315, and restored by the master himself in 1321, after it had suffered damage from damp. In 1320 he painted an altar- piece for the church of St. Catherine at Pisa, which has now been taken to pieces, and although the greater part is in the Academy at Pisa, two other portions are m other buildings in the same city. In the following year he was at Orvieto, painting an altar-piece for the church of San Dominico which is now preserved in the museum of that city, and then he returned to Siena, where he was busily engaged in 1328 on his splendid portrait of Fogliano, painted in honour of that gen- eral's capture of Montomassi. A little later on we hear of him at Assisi, where he painted a wonderful series of works relating to the life of St. Martin, adorn- ing the chapel of St. Martin in the church of San Fran- cesco. The latter part of his life was passed in Avi- gnon in the service of the papal court tnen resident in that place, and there he decorated various portions of the cathedral and several chapels and rooms in the papal palace. It was in Avignon that he met Pet- rarch, and there painted the portrait, so famous in later years, of Madonna Laura.

He is said to have painted a portrait at Avignon of Petrarch himself, commissioned by Pandolfo Ma- latesta, but if he did this, it was during an earlier visit to Avignon, and respecting it we have not much information. We are only certain concerning his second visit to the place, after Ixiing called by Pope Clement VI. The exact date of his funeral is proved by certain Sienese records as 4 August, 1344, but the record is not sufficiently clear as to whether his body was transported from Avignon to Siena for burial, or whether ne actually died in Siena. There are several of his works in the city of his birth, one at the Louvre, one in Berlin, an excecKiingly fine one at Antwerp, and a remarkable signed and dated picture at Liverpool. In the museum at Altenburg there is one of his works, and there are at least three in private collections in America. The portrait of Petrarch at- tributed to him was sold in 1867 at the Poniatowski sale, and at the same sale there was sold a pKjrtrait of Laura, which was undoubtedly his work.

See special manuscript material Kathcred up in Siena by- Lucy Ollcott; Vasari, Le Vile dei Pittori^ Milancsi edition (Florence, 1878, 1885); Yalle, LcUere Senesi (Rome, 1782), and other works by the same author.

George Charles Williamson.

Martiniquei Diocese op (Sancti Petri et Arcis Galuce.) Martinique is one of the French Lesser Antilles, 380 so. miles in area; it. was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493, and colonized by the French about 1625; it was in the hands of the English from 1762 to 1783, was again occupied by them in 1794, 1802, 1809, 1815, and again became French ter- ritory in 1818. The name Martinique comes from the Carib word Madinima. On Good Friday, 1640, Pdres Bouton and Hempteau, Jesuits, set out for Martinique, where they fomided the celebrated Jesuit mission. Pdres Ceubergeon and Gueimu, Jesuits, were slain there in 1654 by the revolting Caribs. The ' ' M^moire concernant la Mission des Pdres de la Compagnie de J^sus dans Ics lies f ran^aises de T Amdrique " addressed in 1707 by P^re Combaid to P^re Tamburini, General of the Jesuits, and published in 1907 by Pdre Roche- monteix, contains mo\nng details concerning the catechetical instrtiction pf the negro slaves by the Jesuit'^. In 1753 IVr^' dc La valet te was named supe-


rior general and Prefect Apostolic of the Mission of Martmique; his business transactions were later the cause of very violent attacks on the Society. P^re Rochemonteix has proved that FiSre de Lavalette acted thus without the knowledge of even his fellow- missionaries of Martinique or of his superiors at Paris and Rome; that when at length, in 1759 and 17(50, the missionaries accused him of taking part in forbidden traffic they had no written proofs, and that the supe- riors were not certain until 1762, after the investigation of P^re de La Marche, when P6re de Lavalette was de- posed, silenced, and sent back to Europe. When in 1848 the Second Republic suppressed slavery in the colonies the prefect Apostolic, (jastelli, in a public ad- dress hailed the new epoch as an "era of light and evangelical regeneration ' ' .

The Diocese of Martinique is suffragan of the Arch- diocese of Bordeaux, was created 27 Sept., 1850. and by a law of 20 July, and a decree of 18 December, 1850. At first the see was fixed at Fort de France, was trans- ferred to St. Pierre on 12 Sept., 1853, and the bishop took the title of Bishop of St. Pierre and Fort de France. Bishop I^e Ilerpeur (1851-1858) organized the pilgrimage of Notre Dame de la D^livrande. Bishop Fa va (1872-1879) founded in 1872 a religious weeldy bulletin, which later became the daily **Le Bien Public". Martinique was crueUy tried, 8 May, 1902, by the eruption of Mt. Pel^, which had long been considered an extinct volcano. This eruption completely destroyed the town of St. Pierre. The island suffered also from the cyclone of 8 August, 1903, and the earthcjuakes of 1906. After the catastrophe of 1902 the episcopal residence was again transferred to Fort de France. The Diocese of Slartinique con- tains 170,000 inhabitants and 46 priests. There are in the diocese Fathers of the Holy Ghost, Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny and of St. Paul of Chart res, hospital and teaching sisters. The Congregation of the Daughters of Notre Dame de la D^livrande had its origin in the diocese. The present bishop, Mgr de Cormont, was born at Paris, France, 29 March, 1847, chosen as bishop 14 December, 1899, in succession to Mgr Carmen^, who resigned.

AvBE, La Martinique (Paris, 1882): Rochemgntkix, An/oine Lavalette a la Martinique (Paris, 1907); Hess. La Catastrophe de la Martinimu, Notes (Tun reporter (Paris, 1902); Lacroix, La Montagne PeUe H see Eruptions (Paris, 1904); L'ipiscopat fran- cais aux xix* mtde (Paris. 1907), 339-344.

Georqes Goyau.

Martm of Bra^a (Bracara; or, op Dumio), Saint, bishop and ecclesiastical writer: b. about 520 in Pan- nonia; d. in 580 at Braga in Portugal. He made a pilgrimage to Palestine, where he be^me a monk and naet some Spanish pilgrims whose narrations indu(^ him to come to Galicia (Northwestern Spain) with the purpose of converting the Suevi, some of whom were st ill half pagans and others Arians. He arrived in Spain in 550, founded various monasteries, among them that of Dumio, of which he became aboot and afterwards bishop. At the Synod of Braga, in May, 561, he signed as Bishop of Dumio. Later he became Archbishop of Braga and, as such, presided over the second Council of Braga in 572. He was successful in converting the Arian Galicians and rooting out the last remnants of paganism among them. He is vener- ated as a saint, nis feast day being 20 March. His great learning and piety are attested by Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc, V, xxxviii), who styles him full of virtue (plenua virtiUibus) and second to none of his con- temporaries in learning ("in tantum se litteris imbuif ut nulli secundus sui temporis haberetur '*).

His writings consist chiefly of moral, litur^cal, and ascetical treatises. The l)est known of his moral treatises, "Formula vit» honest®'* or "De differen- tiis quatuor virtutum '*, as St. Isidore of Seville (De viris illostribus xxxv) entitles it, is an exposition of Christian life chiefly for laymen, from tb« standpoint