O'REILLY
295
ORENSE
to assist the famine-stricken peasants. In 1851 he
was associated with Newman and Archbishop Leahy
to report on the projected Catholic University, and, in
1854 he became captain of the Louth Rifles. He
married Miss Ida Jerningham, 3 Aug., 1859. Some
months later he offered his services to Pius IX, against
Garibaldi. Having formed an Irish Brigade, he was
appointed major, under General Pimodan, and fought
gallantly in every engagement until the surrender of
Spoleto, IS Sept., 1860. From 1862 to 1876 he repre-
sented County Longford in the British Parliament,
and was one of those who signed the requisition for
the famous Home Rule Conference under Isaac Butt.
He ably supported Catholic interests, and assisted in
the movement to obtain Catholic chaplains for the
array. He wrote "Sufferings for the Faith in Ire-
land" (London, 1868). He also contributed to the
"Dublin Review" and other periodicals, writing
especially in defence of the Holy See and of Catholic
educational matters. After the death of his wife in
1876, he accepted the position of Assistant Commis-
sioner of Intermediate Education for Ireland in April,
1879, which he filled until his death. He was interred
at Philipstown, not far from his family residence in
Co. Louth.
O'Clery, The Making of Italy (Lontlon. 1898) ; Contemporary newspapers; Conry, The Irish Brigade in Italy (Dublin, 1907); GoQ.\RTY, MS. Memoir (1910).
W. H. Gkattan-Flood.
O'Reilly, Peter J. See Peoria, Diocese of.
Oremus, invitation to pray, said before collects and other short prayers and occuring continually in the Roman Rite. It is used as a single ejaculation in the East (e. g., Nestorian Rite, Brightman, "Eastern Liturgies", Oxford, 1896, 255, etc.; Jacobite, ib., 75, 80, etc.), or the imperative: "Pray" (Coptic, ib., 162), "Stand for prayer" (ib., 158); most commonly, how- ever with a further determination, "Let us pray to the Lord" (toS Kvplov oeriSwfiev, throughout the Byzan- tine Rite), and so on. Mgr Duchesne thinks that the Galilean collects were also introduced bv the word Oremus ("Origines du Culte", Paris, 1898, 103). It is not so in the Mozarabic Rite, where the celebrant uses the word only twice, before the Agios (P. L., LXXXV, 113) a.ru\ Paler Noster (ib., 118). Oremus is said (or sung) in the Roman Rite before all separate collects in the Mass, Office, or on other occasions (but several collects may be joined with one Oremus), before Post-Communions; in the same way, alone, with no prayer following, before the offertory; also before the introduction to the Pater noster and before other short prayers (e. g., Aufer a nobi^) in the form of collects. It appears that the Oremus did not originally apply to the prayer (collect) that now follows it. It is thought that it was once an invitation to private prayer, very likely with further direction as to the object, as now on Good Friday {Oremus pro ecc.lesia sancla Dei, etc.). The deacon then said: Flectamns genua, and all knelt in silent prayer. After a time the people were told to stand up (Levate), and finally the celebrant collected all the petitions in one short sentence said aloud (see Collect). Of all this our Oremus followed at once by the collect would be a fragment.
GlHR, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (St. Louis, 1908), 368, 416, 497.
Adrian Fortescue.
Orense, Diocese of (Auriensis), suffragan of Compostela, includes nearly all of the civil Province of Orense, and part of those of Lugo and Zamora, be- ing bounded on the north by Pontevedra, Lugo, and Leon; on the east by Leon and Zamora; on the south by Portugal ; on the west by Portugal and Pontevedra. Its capital, Oren.se (pop., 14,168), is a very ancient city on the banks of the Mino (Minho), famous since classical antiquity for its hot springs. The See of Or- ense dates from a remote period, certainly before the
fifth century. The First Council of Braga (561) cre-
ated four dioceses, the bishops of which afterwards
signed the acts of the Second Council of Braga below
the Bishop of Orense — an indication that they were of
junior standing. Moreover, the signatures of the Bish-
ops of Tuy and Astorga, two very ancient Churches,
come after that of the Bishop of Orense. According to
Idacius, two bishops, Pastor and Siagrius, were conse-
crated in the convent of Lugo in 433, and one of them
(it is not known which) was a Bishop of Orense.
In 464, the .Suevians, who had invaded Galicia, em- braced Axianism, and only in the time of King Chara- ric (560) were they reconciled to Catholicism. St. Gregory of Tours tells us that the Galicians embraced the Faith with remarkable fervour. The conversion and instruction of both king and people appear to have been completed by St. lilartin of Dumiuni. The names of the bishops of Orense are unkno^^^l until 571, when the diocese was governed by Witimir, a man of noble Suevian lineage, who assisted at the Second Council of Braga. He was an intimate friend of St. Martin of Braga, who dedicated to him as his "most dear father in Christ", his treatise "De ira". In 716 Orense was destroyed by Abdelaziz, son of Muza. In 832 Alfonso II combined the two Dioceses of Orense and Lugo: Orense, nevertheless, appears to have re- tained its titular bishops, for a charter of Alfonso the Chaste is witnessed by Maydo, Bishop of Orense. When Alfonso III (866-910) had reconquered Orense, he gave it to Bishop Sebastian, who had been Bishop of Arcabica in Celtiberia and was succeeded by Cen- seric (844), Sumna (886), and Egila (899), who took part in the consecration of the church of Santiago and in the Council of Oviedo. In the episcopacy of An- surius (915-22) the holy abbot Franquila (906) erected the Benedictine monastery of S. Esteban de Riljas del Sil (St. Stephen on the Sil), where Ansurius him- self and eight of his successors died in the odour of sanctity.
At the end of the tenth century the diocese was laid waste, first by the Northmen (970) and then by Al- manzor, after which it was committed to the care of the Bishop of Lugo until 1071, when, after a vacancy of seventy years, Sancho II appointed Ederonio to the see. Ederonio rebuilt the old cathedral called S. Maria la Madre (1084-89). The most famous bishop of this period was Diego Velasco, whom his epitaph calls "light of the Church and glory of his country ". He as- sisted at a council of Palencia and three councils of Santiago, and, with the assent of Dona Urraca and her son Alfonso, grantetl privileges (fueros) to Orense. He ruled for thirty years and was succeeded by Martin (1132-56) and Pedro Seguln. The latter was confes- sor to Ferdinand II, who granted him the lordship of Orense. Bishop Lorenzo was the jurist whom Tu- dense called the "pattern of the law" {rcgla del tlere- cho) ; he rebuilt the cathedral and the bishop's palace, and constructed the famous bridge of Orense, with its principal arch spanning more than 130 feet. He as- sisted at the Council of Lyons in 1245. Vaflez de No- voa quarrelled with the Franciscans, while he was pre- centor, and burned their convent, which had sheltered one of his enemies, but, having become bishop, he re- built it magnificently. Vasco Perez Marino (1333-43) was distinguished for his devotion to the " Holy Christ of Orense", which he caused to be transferred from Finisterre to Oren.se and built for it a beautiful chapel, modified in subsequent periods. Other distinguished occupants of this see were Cardinal Juan de Torque- mada, a Dominican, who assisted at the Councils of Constance and Ba.slo; Diego de Fonseca (1471-84), who repaired the cathedral; Cardinals Antoniotto Pal- lavicino and Pedro de_Isvalles, and the inquisitor general Fernando Vald^s. Francisco Blanco founded the Hospital of S. Roque, assisted at the Council of Trent, founded the Jesuit colleges at Malaga and Compostela, and endowed that at Monterey. The
