ROLLS
119
ROLLIN
Doctor of Theology. Rolf us did much for practical
Catholic pedagogics, especially in southern Germany,
by the work which he edited in conjunction with
Adolf Pfister, " Real-Encyclopadie des Erziehungs-
und Unterrichtswesens nach katholischen Principien"
(4 vols., Mainz, 1863-66; 2nd ed., 1872-74). A fifth
volume ("Erganzungsband", 1884) was issued by
Rolfus alone; a new edition is in course of prepara-
tion. Another influential publication was the "Siid-
deutsches katholisches Schulwochenblatt", which he
edited, also jointly with Pfister, from 1861 to 1867.
Of his other literary works, the following may be
mentioned: "Der Grund des katholischen Glaubens"
(Mainz, 1862); "Leitfaden der allgemeinen Welt-
geschichte" (Freiburg, 1870; 4th ed., 1896); "Die
Glaubens- und Sittenlehre der katholischen Kirche"
(Einsiedeln, 1875; frequently re-edited), jointly with
F. J. Brandle; "Kirchengeschichtliches in chrono-
logischer Reihenfolge von der Zeit des letzten Vatican-
ischen Concils bis auf unsere Tage" (2 vols., Mainz,
1877-82; 3rd vol. by Sickinger, 1882); "Geschichte
des Reiches Gottes auf Erden" (Freiburg, 1878-80;
3rd ed., 1894-95j; " Katholischer Hau.skatechismus "
(Einsiedeln, 1891-92). In addition to the works men-
tioned, he also wrote a large number of pedagogic,
political, apologetic, and polemical brochures, ascetic
treatises, and works for the young.
Keller, Festschrift zum fiinfzigjahrigen Priesterjubilaum des hochw. Herrn Pfarrers u. Geistl. Rats Dr. Hermann Rolfus (Frei- burg im Br., 1894), with portrait; Knecht in Badische Bio- graphien, V (Heidelberg, 1906), 670 sq.
Friedrich Lauchert.
Rolle de Hampole, Richard, .solitary and writer, b. at Thornton, Yorksliire, about 1300; d. at Ham- pole, 29 Sept., 1349. The date 1290, sometimes as- signed for his birth-year, is too early, as in a work written after 1326 he alludes to himself as "juven- culus" and "puer", words applicable to a man of under thirty, but not to one over that age. He showed such promise as a school-boy, while living with his father William Rolle, that Thomas de Neville, Archdeacon of Durham, undertook to de- fray the cost of his education at Oxford. At the age of nineteen he left the university to devote himself to a hfe of perfection, not desiring to enter any reli- gious order, but with the intention of becoming a hermit. At first he dwelt in a wood near his home, but fearing his family would put him under restraint, he fled from Thornton and wandered about till he was recognized by John de Dalton, who had been his fellow student at Oxford, and who now provided him with a cell and the necessaries for a hermit's life. At Dalton he made great progress in the spiritual life as described by himself in his treati.se "De incendio amoris". He spent from three to four years in the purgative and illuminative way and then attained contemplation, pa.ssing through three phases which he describes as color, canor, dulcor. Tlaey appeared successively, but once attained they remained with him continually, though he did not feel them all alike or all at the same time. Sometimes the color prevailed; sometimes the canor, but the dulcor ac- companied both. The condition was such, he says, "that I did not think anything like it or anything so holy could be received in this life". After this he wandered from place to place, at one time visiting the anchoress. Dame Margaret Kyrkby, at Anderby, and obtaining from God her cure. Finally he settled at Hampole near the Cistercian nunnery, and there he spent the rest of his life. After his death his tomb was celebrated for miracles, and preparations for his canonization, including the composition of a mass and office in his honour, were made; but the cause was never prosecuted. His writings were extremely popular throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and very many MSS. copies of his works are still extant in English libraries. His writings
show he was much influenced by the teaching of St.
Edmund of Canterbury in the "Speculum Ecclesiae".
The Lollards, realizing the power of his influence,
tampered with his writings, interpolating passages
favouring their errors. To defeat this trickery, the
nuns at Hampole kept genuine copies of his works
at their house. His chief works are "De emenda-
tionevitae" and "De incendio amoris", both written
in Latin, of which English versions by Richard Misyn
(1434-,5) have been published by the Early English
Text Society, 1896; "Contemplacj'ons of the drede
and love of God" and "Remedy against Temp-
tacyons", both printed by Wynkyn de Worde in
1 506 ; and " The Pricke of Conscience " , a poem printed
for the philological Society in 1863. This was his
most popular work and MSS. of it are very common.
They have been collated by Andrese (Berlin, 1888)
and Bulbring (Transactions of Philological Society,
1889-1890). Ten prose treatises found in the
Thornton MS. in Lincoln Cathedral Library were
pubhshed by the Early English Texi, Society, 1866.
"The Form of Perfect Living", "Meditations on the
Passion", and many shorter pieces were edited by
Horstman (London, 1896). Rolle translated many
parts of Scripture into English but only his version
of the Psalms has been printed. His English para-
phra.se of the Psalms and Canticles was published
in 1884 (Clarendon Press, Oxford). This work of
translation is noteworthy in face of the persistent
though discredited Protestant tradition ascribing all
the credit of translating the Scriptures into English
to Wyclif. Latin versions of Rolle's works are very
numerous. They were collected into one edition
(Paris, 1618) and again reprinted in the "Bibliotheca
Patrum Maxima " (Lyons, 1677). Modernized Eng-
lish versions of the Meditations on the Passion have
been published by Mgr. Benson in "A Book of the
Love of Jesus" (London, 1905) and by the present
writer (C. T. S. London, 1906).
Breriarium Eccl. Eboracensis. The lessons in the Officium de S. Ricardo, II, are the chief authority for the events of his life. Perry, Introduction to Rolle's English Prose Treatises (London, 1866); VON Ullm.^n, Sludien zu Richard Rolle de Hampole in englische Studien (Heilbronn, 1877), VII; von Kribel, Hampole- Studien, ibidem, VIII ; Adler, Ueber die Richard Rolle de Hampole zugeschriebene Paraphrase der sieben Busspsalmen (1885) ; Midden- DORFF, Studien Uber Richard Rolle (Magdeburg, 1888) ; Horstman, Richard Rolle of Hampole and his followers (London, 1896) ; Har- vey, Introduction to the Fire of Love, E. E. T. S. (London, 1896); Benson, Short Life of Richard Rolle in A Book of the Love of Jesus (London, 1905); Inge, Studies of English Mystics (London, 1906); Hodgson, The Form of Perfect Living (London, 1910).
Edwin Burton.
RoUin, Charles, b. in Paris, 1661; d. there, 1741. The son of a cutler, intended to follow his father's trade, he was remarkable for the piety with which he served Mass and which secured for him a collegiate scholarship. He studied theology and received the tonsure, but not Holy Orders. He was assistant professor, and then profes.sor of rhetoric at the College de Plessis; of Latin eloquence at the College Royal (1688), and at the age of thirty-three was appointed rector of the university. In 1696 he became principal of the College Beauvais, from which post he was dis- missed in 1722 because of his opposition to the Bull "Unigenitus". He was a member of the Academy of Inscriptions from 1701. His works were written during his retirement. He was nearlj- sixty when he began the "Traite des Etudes", sixty-seven when he undertook his "Histoire Ancienne", seventy-seven when he became engaged on his "Histoire Romaine", which death prevented him from finishing. The "Traite des Etudes" (in 12°, 1726-31) exiilains the method of teaching and studying belles-lettres; it contains ideas which seem hackneyed, but which then were fairly new, e. g. the necessity of studying national history and of making use of school-books wTitten in the vernacular. The "Histoire Ancienne" (1730-38) consists of twelve volumes jo 12°. The "Histoire Ro-
