The Fathers:—Clement of Alexandria, Pædagogus, III, vi, P.G., VIII, 603–607; ID., Stromata, II, xviii, in P.G., VIII, 1015–39; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, XV, 26, in P.G., XXXIII, 907; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IX, viii, in P.G., XX, 818, 819; Basil, Sermo de Eleemosynâ, in P.G., XXXI, 1154–67; Gregory Naz., De Amore Pauperum, in P.G., XXXV, 858–910; Chrysostom, De Eleemosynâ, in P.G., XXI, 291–300; Tertullian, Apologeticus, xxxix, in P.L., I, 531–539; St. Augustine, Sermo 35, 41, 42, 60, 85, 86, in P.L., XXXVIII, 251 sq.; St. Gregory I, Moralia, XXI, xix, in P.L., LXXVI, 206–208. The doctrine of the Fathers concerning this matter is exposed by Guignebert, Tertullian (Paris, 1901); Scaramelli, Directorium Aseticum, IV, 339-356 (tr., London, 1897); Balmes, Protestantism and Catholicity Compared (Baltimore, 1851), 184 sqq.; Cuthbert, Catholic Ideals in Social Life (New York, 1904), 106 sqq.; Gaume, Catechism of Perseverance (tr., New York, 1890), II, 600 sqq.; Ireland, The Church and Modern Society (Chicago, 1897); Schaff, History of the Christian Church, II, 374, 375; Uhlhorn, Christian Charity in the Ancient Church (New York, 1883); Warner, American Charities (New York, 1894); Loch, Charity Organization (London, 1893); Potter, The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain (London, 1888); Crafts, Practical Christian Sociology (New York, 1896); The Charities Review (New York, March, 1892; Feb., 1895; Jan., 1896; July and Aug., 1897; Oct., 1898); Proceedings of National Conferences of Charities and Corrections; Reports of St. Vincent de Paul Conferences; Beugnet in Vig., Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1893), I, col. 1244–53, s.v. Aumône; Many in Dict. de théol. Cath. (Paris, 1893), fascicule IX, 2561 sqq., s. v. Aumône; Ozanam, Vie de Fred. Ozanam (Paris, 1882), iv, v; Lefebure, L'organization de la charité privée en France (Paris, 1900); Id., Paris charitable et prévoyant (Paris, 1900); du Camp, La charité privée à Paris (Paris, 1888); St. Thomas, Summa Theol., II-II, QQ., xxx–xxxiii; St. Alphonsus Liguori, Theol. Mor., III, tr. iii, dub. 3, no. 30 sq.; Suarez, De Charitate, Disp. vii; Billuart, Summa St. Thomæ, tract. De charitate, Diss. v; Sporer, Theol. Mor. (Venice, 1716), I, tr. iii, vi, sect. 2; Laymann, Theol. Mor. (Padua, 1733), I, lib. V, tr. iii, vi; Müller, Theol. Mor. (Vienna, 1899), lib. II, tr. i, 30 sq.; Lehmkuhl, Theol. Mor. (Spec.) (Freiburg, 1898), I, lib. II, ii, no. 605 sq.; Bouquillon, Inst. Theol. Mor. Specialis (Bruges, 1890), lib. III, no. 493 sq.; Ballerini, Opus Theologicum Morale (Prato, 1899), II, tr. v, sect. 3, dub. 3.
Almshouse. See Monasteries, Suppression of; Poor Laws.
Alnoth, Saint, hermit and martyr; died c. 700. We know very little of St. Alnoth. Neither does he appear to possess any proper day. He is mentioned in Jocelyn's life of St. Werburg as a pious neatherd at Weedon who bore with great patience the ill-treatment of the bailiff placed over him, and who afterwards became a hermit in a very lonely spot, where he was eventually murdered by two robbers. On this ground he was honoured as a martyr; and there was some concourse of pilgrims to his tomb at Stowe near Bugbrook in Northamptonshire.
Acta SS., 27 February. III; Stanton, Menology (London, 1892), 505; Baring-Gould, Lives of Saints (London, 1804), II, 448.
Alogi (ἀ privative and λογός, "word"; sc. "Deniers of the Word"). St. Irenæus (Adv. Hær., III, ii, 9) makes a brief reference to persons who denied the manifestation of the Paraclete, and refused, in consequence, to admit the Gospel of St. John, wherein it is announced. He gives the party no name. St. Hippolytus combated such an error both in his Syntagma and in a special work entitled "In Defence of the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse." These works are lost, but a good share of their contents is believed to have been preserved by St. Epiphanius. St. Epiphanius (Haer. I.I) gives a long accoimt of the party of heretics who arose after the Cataphrygians, Quartodecimans, and others, and who received neither the Gospel of St. John nor his Apocalypse. He calls them Alogi (deniers of the Word) because, by rejecting the Gospel of St. John, they rejected the Logos which was revealed in that Gospel. Playing on the term, he observes, with a touch of sarcasm, that they are well named, "alogi", i.e. "without reason". These heretics would seem to answer to the description of the obscure persons mentioned by St. Irenæus, and this is in fact the prevalent opinion about them. The Alogi, accordingly, may be described as a party which arose in Asia Minor towards the end of the second century. They doubtless embodied a radical protest against the abuse which the Montanists made of the promised Paraclete, and of the Paraclete's outpourings in visions and prophecies. This would explain why they were led to deny the Gospel of St. John, which foretold the coming of the Holy Spirit, and why again they refused all credit to the Apocalypse, which, with its description of the Heavenly Jerusalem and of the reign of a thousand years, fed the imagination of the enthusiasts of Phrygia. The Alogi attributed these two books to Cerinthus. It is not altogether clear that they denied, in addition, the Godhead of the Son and His eternal generation. St. Epiphanius does, indeed, say that they rejected the Logos preached by St. John, but he is evidently perplexed by their stupidity in attributing to Cerinthus a Gospel which was written against him. For Cerinthus taught that Christ was mere man, whereas John, in this very book, preaches His Godhead. It may, therefore, well be that the Alogi did not reject the doctrine itself but only the Logos form under which the doctrine was presented in the Gospel. And St. Epiphanius seems to imply as much, "for," he says, "they themselves seem to believe as we do." Be this as it may, the interest of scholars attaches not so much to their christology as to the biblical criticism they developed. It was, doubtless, a doctrinal prepossession which impelled them to reject the Gospel of St. John and the Apocalypse. But they endeavoured to maintain their contention by arguments drawn from an examination of the books themselves. The Gospel of St. John contained, they said, what was untrue; according to them it was not in accord with the other Gospels, mixed up the synoptic order of events, and was, moreover, docetic in doctrine. They made still less account of the Apocalypse, which, they claimed, was often unintelligible, not to say puerile and false. Apropos of Apoc. ii, 18, they asserted that there was no Christian church in Thyatira at the time. This anti-Catholic movement has been closely studied, since the Johannine question was broached in the last century, for further light on the position and authority of the Fourth Gospel in the early church.
St. Iren., Adv. Hær., III. ii, 9; Philastrius, Hær., I.X; St. Epiph., Haer., I.I; Körner, De auct. Can. Apoc. Joh. ab Alogis impugnatâ (Leipzig, 1751); Eus., Hist. Eccl., III, 28, I. Drummond, The Character and Authorship of the Fourth Gospel (London, 1903); Rose, Aloges, asiates et romains, in Rev. Biblique, VI, 1897; Zahn, Geschichte des neuteatamenti, Kanons, I, 220–262; Corssen, Monarchianische Prologe zu den vier Evangelium in Texte und Untersuchungen, Vol. XV, No. I (Leipzig. 1896); Harnack, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (3rd ed., 1894–97), tr. History of Dogma (1895–1900). III. 14–20.
Aloysius Gonzaga, Saint, b. in the castle of Castiglione, 9 March, 1568; d. 21 June, 1591. At eight he was placed in the court of Francesco de' Medici in Florence, where he remained for two years, going then to Mantua. At Brescia, when he was twelve, he came under the spiritual guidance of St. Charles Borromeo, and from him received First Communion. In 1581 he went with his father to Spain, and he and his brother were made pages of James, the son of Philip II. While there he formed the resolution of becoming a Jesuit, though he first thought of joining the Discalced Carmelites. He returned to Italy in 1584 after the death of the Infanta, and after much difficulty in securing his father's consent, renounced his heritage in favour of his brother, 2 November, 1585, a proceeding which required the approval of the emperor, as Castiglione was a fief of the empire. He presented himself to Father Claudius Acquaviva, who was then General of the Society, 25 November, 1585. Before the end of his novitiate, he passed a brilliant public act in
