MEIGNAN
147
MEILLEUR
sent by Abbot. William of Hirsau, and the Benedictine
rule was introduced. It is probable that when the
reform was effected the convent for women was sup-
pressed. In 1097-98 the abbey was rebuilt by Count
Ulrich of Bregenz, its secular administrator and pro-
tector. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
the abbey acquired much landed property; up to the
middle of the sixteenth century it had the right of
patronage for sixty-five parishes. In the era of the
Reformation the abbey was a strong support of the old
Faith in Vorarlberg. In particular Ulrich Motz,
afterwards abbot, exerted much influence in Bregen-
zerwald (a mountainous district of northern Vorarl-
berg) by preaching with great energy against the
spread of religious innovationo while he was provost
of Lingenau (1515-3.3). During the Thirty Years War
the abbey suffered from the devastation wrought by
the Swedes, from the c|uartering upon it of soldiers,
and from forced contributions; it was also robbed of
nearly all its revenues. Nevertheless, it often offered
a free refuge to religious expelled from Germany and
Switzerland. At a later date it was once more in a
very flourishing condition; in 17.38 the church was
completely rebuilt, and in 1774-81 the monastic build-
ings were also entirely reconstructed. The existence
of Mehrerau was threatened, as was that of other re-
ligious foundations, by the attacks upon monasteries in
the reign of the Emperor Joseph II. However, Abbot
Benedict was able to obtain the withdrawal of the
decree of suppression, although it had already been
signed. The Peace of Presburg (1805) gave Vorarl-
berg, and with it the abbey, to Bavaria, which in April,
1806, took an inventory of the abbey. In reply to the
last attempt to save the abbey, namely the offer to
turn it into a training-school for male teachers, the
State declared in August, 1806, that on 1 September
the monastic organization would be dissolved and the
monks would have to leave the abbey. The valuable
library was scattered, part of it was burnt. The
forest and agricultural lands belonging to the monas-
tery were taken by the State; in February, 1807, the
church was closed, and the other buildings were sold at
auction. In 1808-09 the church was taken down and
the material used to build the harbour of Landau.
When the district came again under the rule of Aus-
tria, the monastic buildings were used for various pur-
poses. In 18.53 they were bought from the last owner,
along with some pieces of land connected with them,
by the abbot of the Cistercian Abbey of Wettingen in
Switzerland (see Wettingen). This monastery had
been forcibly suppressed by the Canton of Aargau in
1841, and for thirteen years the abbot had been seeking
a new home ; on 18 October, 1854, the Cistercian Abbey
of Wettingen-Mehrerau was formally opened. In the
same year a monastery school was started. In 1859
a new Romanesque church was built; its greatest orna-
ment is the monument to Cardinal Hergenrother (d.
1890), who is buried there. About the middle of the
last century, during the fifties and sixties, the build-
ings were gradually enlarged. In 1910 besides the
abbot (from 1902 Eugene Notz) the abbey had 32
priests ; including those that had been connected with
the abbey but were at that date engaged in work out^
side, 64 priests; in addition there were 5 clerics, .30 lay
brothers, and 4 novices. The monastery has a house
of studies, and a college, in which some 200 pupils
are taught by the monks of the abbey. The periodi-
cal "Cistercienserchronik", edited by Father Gregor
Muller, has been issued since 1889.
Bergmann, Nekrologium Augi(E majoHs Brigantinm Ord. S. Benedicti (Vienna, 185.3); Brunner, Ein Benediktinrrbuch (Wurzburg, 1880), 10-18; Idem, Ein Cistercienserbuch (Wurz- burg, 1881), 453-97, gives an account of Wettingen-llehrcrau ; Cistercienserchronik (1904). 289-31.3; Lindner, Album Augim Brigantince {I90i) ; Sc?tematismus von Brizen (1910).
Joseph Lins.
Meignan, Guillaume-Rene, Cardinal Archbishop of Tours, French apologist and Scriptural exegete, b.
at Chauvign^, France, 12 April, 1817; d. at Tours, 20
January, 1896. Having ascertained his vocation to
the priesthood, on the completion of his academic
studies at the Angers hjcie and at Chateau-Gontier, he
studied philosophy in the seminarj- of Le Mans, where
he received the subdiaconate in 1839. From this in-
stitution he passed to the College de Tess6, which be-
longed to the Dioce-se of Le Mans, where, wliile teach-
ing in one of the middle grades, he continued his own
ecclesiastical studies. All through liis career he seems
to have been blessed with the friendship and sympa-
thetic counsel of the most eminent men among the
Catholics of his time and country. The Abbe Bercy,
an Orientalist of some distinction, whose notice he at-
tracted at Le Mans and later at Tesse, advised him to
make Scriptural exegesis his special study. Mgr
Bouvier ordained him priest (14 June, 1S40) and sent
him to Paris for a further course in philosophy under
Victor Cousin. Meignan made the acquaintance of
Ozanam, Montalembert, and others like them, who
urged him to prepare for the special controversial
needs of the day i ly continuing his studies in Ciermany.
Following this advice, he became the pupil at Munich
of such teachers as Gorres (q. v.), Dollinger, and
Windschmann; and when his earlier attraction for
Scriptural studies was thoroughl.y reawakened under
the stimulus of the then fresh Tubingen discussions, he
repaired to Berlin where he attended the lectures of
Neander, Hengstenberg, and Schelling. In, or soon
after May, 1843, Meignan returned to Paris to be num-
bered among the clergy of the archdiocese, but was
soon (1845) obliged to visit Rome for the good of his
health, which had become impaired. He seemed to
recover immediately, and was able to prosecute his
sacred studies so successfully that he won a Doctorate
of Theology at the Sapienza (March, 1846). Here
again he was helped by the friendly interest and ad-
vice of many eminent men. of Perrone and Gerbet, as
well as by the teaching of Passaglia, Patrizzi, and
Theiner. Between this period and 1861, when he be-
came professor of Sacred Scripture at the Sorborme,
he filled various academical positions in the Arch-
diocese of Paris, of which Mgr Darboy made him
vicar-general in 1863. In 1864 he was elevated to
the Bishopric of Chalons, in 1882 transferred to
the See of Arras, and in 1884 to the Archbishopric of
Tours.
By the logic of circumstances he was one of the cliief antagonists of Ernest Renan. In his work he aimed to enlighten the lay mind on current topics of controversy and, while giving a knowledge of the assured results of criticism, to supply his readers with the Christian point of view. His aggressive and tri- umphant career as an apologist began as early as 1856 with the publication of " Les proph^ties messianiques. Le Pentateuque" (Paris). In 1860 appeared "M. Renan et le Cantique des Cantiques" (Paris); in 1863 "M. Renan refute par les rationalistes allemands" (Paris) and "Les Evangiles et la critique au XIXe siecle " (Paris) ; in 1886 " De I'irr^ligion systematique, ses influences actuelles " (Paris); in 1890 "Salomon, son rfegne, sesccrits" (Paris); in 1892 "Les prophetes d'Israel et le Mes.sie, depuis Daniel jusqu'a Jean-Bap- tiste' ' (Paris) . He wrote many other works on kindred topics. His treatment of Messianic prophecy ex- tends far beyond mere verbal exegesis, and includes a critical examination of historical events and condi- tions. Like other great Catholic controversialists of Ms time, he had to suffer adverse criticism; these crit- icisms were finally an.swered by the action of Leo XIII, who raised him to the cardinalate, 15 Dec, 1892.
Boisso.vNOT, Le cardinal Meignan (Paris, 1899).
E. Macpherson.
Meilleur, Jean-Baptlste, a French Canadian phy- sician and educator, b. at Sf^Laurent, P. Q., 9 May, 1796; d. 7 Dec, 1878. He studied the classics at the
