Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/569

ANSALONI ANSDELL 537 of Pondicherry forced him to return to France, where he arrived in 1762, without money, but with valuable oriental manuscripts. He was appointed interpreter of oriental languages at the royal library, was admitted to the academy of inscriptions and belles-letters, and in 1771 he published in French the first translation of the Zend-Avesta ever made in an occidental language, with an account of his travels and a life of Zoroaster. ANSALONI, Giordano, a Sicilian Dominican missionary, died by torture at Nagasaki, Japan, Nov. 18, 1634. Hearing that in the Jap- anese islands Christians were persecuted with the utmost barbarity, he went with a Spanish missionary expedition to the Philippine islands, learned the Japanese language in a Chinese and Japanese hospital at Manila, and in 1632 went to Japan, where he spent two years in the disguise of a native priest. He was finally dis- covered and arrested at Nagasaki, where he was tortured to death. Another priest and 69 converts were put to death at the same time. ANSARIES, or Ansarians (Arab. AnseriyeK), also called NOSSAIKIANS, an Arab tribe or sect inhabiting the mountainous district between the northern part of the Lebanon and Antioch, Syria. This range, called the Ansarian moun- tains, is much lower than the Lebanon, not averaging more than 4,000 feet. Limestone is the prevailing rock, and thin oak forests cover almost the whole ridge. The Ansaries are to be found also in Antioch, Saida, Latakieh, and other towns and villages on the coast. Their chiefs live in Bahluleh, Simrin, and Safeta. Of their origin and early history little is known. They endeavor to conceal their doctrines from all foreigners, and only male adults are initi- ated. Among Moslems they, like the Druses, profess Mohammedanism. Their prophet Nos- sair taught that God has appeared 11 times in human form, in Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mo- hammed, Ali, Hakem-bi-amr-Illah, and other imams; that he always encountered opposi- tion and then returned to heaven, where he wrapped himself in a blue mantle, and at length retired to the sun, which is therefore worshipped by the Ansaries. They wait for the appearance of a Mahdi or Messiah, who will t>e the last of the 12 imams in whom the Deity assumes a human form. Like the Yezidis of northern Syria, they allow promis- cuous intercourse of the sexes on certain fes- tivals, and in performing their religious rites they are said to be very licentious. They be- lieve in the migration of souls, which for the faithful is a progressive purification till they become stars ; but those who neglect their re- ligious duties, betray the mysteries, or deny the divinity of Ali, are doomed to transforma- tions into Jews, Christians, Mohammedans, donkeys, dogs, and hogs. They have four de- grees : shamsi, worshippers of the sun ; Tcama- ri, worshippers of the moon ; klesi or kadami, worshippers of women ; and shemali (shemal, north; literally, northerners). They practise circumcision and ablutions, and pray three times a day under the open sky. Their chief religious festival is called the Gha- dir. Their doctrines teach them benevolence, honesty, and patience in adversity, but they are thievish, superstitious, and ignorant, though very hospitable. Each community is governed by a molcaddem, who is almost wholly indepen- dent. They have frequently defended their freedom with great courage against Turkish and Egyptian pashas. During the crusades they were found in all parts of Syria and Mesopo- tamia. The accounts given of this sect by modern travellers vary, and must be received with caution. According to Mme. Audouard (L 1 Orient et ses peuplades, Paris, 1867), they are divided into three parties, considerably dif- fering from each other. The most numerous of them worship a beautiful young woman, who is elected to the dignity of goddess every third year. Among the Ansaries it is usual to reckon the sect of the Kadamisseh, who live east of them in several valleys of the Cadmus mountains. They keep apart, however, from the Ansaries, do not intermarry either with them or any other neighboring sect, and have their own religious customs. Like the Assassins of tha middle ages, they call themselves Ismaelians. ANSCARIUS, or Ansgar (Fr. Anschaire), Saint, the "apostle of the north," born in Picardyin 801, died at Bremen m 864. Educated in the old Benedictine monastery of Corbie, near Amiens, he was early transferred to a new one recently founded at Korvey on the Weser, where he distinguished himself as a teacher. When Harold of Denmark, who had been baptized in Mentz, returned to his country, he took with him as missionaries Anscarius and his colleague Audibert. Success at first attended their efforts, but after a time they, as well as the king, were expelled from the country. Anscarius in 829 penetrated into Sweden, where he obtained from the king, Biorn, permission to preach, and made many converts, returning to his monaste- ry in 831. In the same year Pope Gregory IV. made him archbishop of Hamburg and apostolic legate, and to this appointment the bishopric of Bremen was afterward added. Pope Nicholas I. appointed him his legate to preach the gospel among the Swedes, Danes, and Slavs. He won the favor of King Eric of Jutland, and succeeded in preaching the Christian religion there in 862. In Sweden he reformed many disorders which had grown up among the new Christians. An- scarius was not indeed the first who attempted to propagate the gospel in northern Europe, but he was the first to firmly plant Christian- ity among the Danes and Swedes. ANSDELL, Richard, an English painter, born in Liverpool in 1815. He is known chiefly as a painter of animals and field sports, although occasionally attempting a historical work, such as " The Battle of the Standard." Among his best pictures are a number on Spanish sub- ject's. He has -also worked in conjunction with Creswick, the landscape painter.