SEXTON
748
SHAKESPEARE
people (cf. Cabrol, "Etude sur la Peregrinatio",
Paris, 1895, 45-46). The number of psalms is not
stated. In the sixth century the Rule of St. Benedict
gives the detailed composition of this Office. We
quote it here because it is almost the same as the
Roman Liturgy; either the latter borrowed from
St. Benedict, or St. Benedict was inspired by the
Roman usage. Se.xt, like Terce and None, was
comiJO.sed at nio.st of three psalms, of which the choice
was fixeil, the Deus in adjutorium, a hjTim, a lesson
(cai)itulum), a versicle, the Kyrie Eleison, and the
customary concluding prayer and dismissal (xvii,
cf. xviii).
In the Roman liturgy Sext is also composed of the Deus in adjutorium, a hJ^nn, tlaree portions of Ps. cx\'iii, the lesson, the short response, the versicle, and the prayer. In the Greek Church Sext is composed like the other lesser hours of two parts; the first includes Pss. liii, liv, xc, with invitatory, tropes, and conclusion. The second, of Mesarion which is very similar to the first, consists of Pss. Iv, Ivi, and Ixix. In the modern ^Vlozarabie Office Sext consists only of Ps. liii, tliree "octonaries" of Ps. cxviii, two lessons, the h>nnn, the supplication, the capitulum, the Pater Noster, and the benediction.
Beside the authors mentioned in the course of the article see DrcHESN-E, Christian Worxhip (London, 1904), 448, 449, 450, 492; Bona, De divina psalmodia, viii, de sexta ; Smith. Did. of Christ. ArUiq.. s. v. OM<^e, The Divine; Neale and Littledale, Comment, on the Psalms, I, 7, .32, 34, etc.; Batiffol, Hist, du breviaire romain, 3rd. ed. (Paris, 1911), 19-21.
Fernaxd Cabrol.
Sexton (Old English Sexestein, sextein, through the French sacri.'itain from Lat. sacrisla), one who guards the church edifice, its treasures, vestments, etc., and as an inferior minister attends to burials, bell-ringings and similar offices about a church. In ancient times, the duties of the modern sexton, who is generally a layman, were part of the functions of the clerical order of ostiariatus. The clerics called ostiarii had the keys of the church committed to them and were re- sponsible for the guardianship of the sacred edifice, the holy vessels, books, and vestments. They opened the church and summoned the faithful to the Divine Mysteries. Others of them were specially de- puted to guard the bodies and shrines of the martyrs. According to the Council of Trent (Sess. XXIII, cap. xvii, De Ref.), the sexton or sacristan should be a cleric, but it allowed him to be a married man, pro- vided he received the tonsure and wore the clerical dre.ss. By custom, however, these conditions have ceased to be efTective, and at present the office is usu- ally held by a layman. In many cathedral churches, e. g. in Austria and Germany, the title of .sacristan or cnstos is still held by a priest, who is genenilly one of the dignitaries of the cathedral chapter, and has su-
Eervision of the fabric of the cathedral and of the uildings that serve for the residences of canons and parochial vicars. This official has special charge of the cure of souls and sees also to the solemnizing of the great church festivals. He generally has an assistant, whose particular duty it is to watch over the perform- ance of the Divine service in choir. According to a de- cision of the Roman Rota, the sacristan of a cathedral church should always be in priest's orders. In Rome the offiw; of sacristan in the Apostolic palace is always committwl to a member of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, by a Decree of Pope; Alexander VI. The sacristan of the conclave for the; (ilection of a new pope has all the privileges of the conclavists.
Ferrarih, Bibl. canonica, VII (Rome, 1891), 8. v., Sacrigla.
William H. W. Fanning.
SeychelleB Islands. See Port Victoria, Dio- cese OF.
Sezze. See Terracina, Sezze and Piperno, Diocehe of.
Sfondrati, Celestino, Prince-abbot of St. Gall
and cardinal, b. at Milan, 10 January, 1G44; d. at
Rome, 4 September, 169(). He belonged to the noble
Milanese family of the Sfondrati, of which Cardinals
Francesco and Paolo Sfondrati and Pope Gregory
XIV were members. At the age of twelve he was
placed in the school at Rorschach, on the Bodensee,
which was conducted by the Benedictines of St.
Gall, and on 20 April, 1000, he took the Benedictine
habit at St. Gall. When twenty-two years old he
already tauglit philosopliy and theology at Kemjjten,
and, after liis elevation to the priesthood (20 April,
lOOSj, lie became jirofessor and master of novices
at his monastery. From 1679 to 1082 he taught
canon law at the Benedictine University of Salzburg.
In 1082 he returned to St. Gall to take charge of a
small country church near Rorschach for a .short
time, whereupon Abbot Gallus appointed him his
vicar-general. In 1080 Pope Innocent XI created
him Bi.shop of Novara, a dignity which he acceijted
only with reluctance. He was, however, jjrevcnted
form taking pos.session of his see by being elected
Prince-abbot of St. Gall on 17 April, 1687. As abbot
he set an examph; of great piety and mortification
to his monks, and watched carefully over the ob-
servance of monastic discipline; as prince, he ruled
mildly and rendered him.self dear to his people by his
great charity, which he had a .special opjiortunity
to practise during the famine of 1()93. His learning
and piety, as well as his able literary works in defence
of the papal authority against the jjrincijjles of Gal-
licanism, induced Pope Innocent XII to create him
cardinal-priest on 12 December, 1095, with the titular
church of St. Cajcilia in Trastevere. But he had
scarcely reached Rome when his health began to fail.
He died nine months after receiving the purple and
was buried in his titular church. His chief works are:
(1) "Cursus theologicus in gratiam et utilitatem
Fratrum Religiosorum " (10 vols., St. Gall, 1070),
published anonymously; (2) "Disputatio juridica de
lege in praisumptione fundata" (Salzburg, 1081;
2nd ed., Salem, 1718), a moral treatise against Prob-
abilism; (;3) "Regale .sacerdotium Romano Pontifici
assertum" (St. Gall, 1084; 1093; 1749), published
under the pseudonym of Eugenius Lombard us, an
able defence of the papal authority and privileges
against the Four Articles of the Declaration of the
French Clergy (1082); (4) "Cunsus philosophicua
monasterii S. Galli" (3 vols., St. Gall, 1680; 1095); (5)
"Gallia vindicata" (2 vols., St. Gall, 1688; 1702),
another able treatise against Gallicanism, in par-
ticular again.st Maimbourg; (6) "Legatio Marchionis
Lavardini ejusque cum Innocentio XI dissidium"
(1688), a short treatise concerning the right of asylum
(les franchises) of the French ambassadors at Rome;
(7) "Nepoti-smus theologice expensus" (St. Gall,
1692); (8) "Innocentia vindicata" (St. Gall, 1695;
Graz, 1708), an attempt to prove that St. Thomas
held the doctrine of the Immaculate Concei)tion;
(9) "Nodus pra?destinationis ex sac. litteris doctrina-
3ue SS. Augustini et ThomaJ, quantum homini licet, issolutus" (Rome, 1097; Cologne, 1705), a post- humous work against the Jansenists, in which the author expounds the difficult question of grace and predestination in the sen.se of Molina and the Jesuits. It called forth numerous rejoinders but found also many defenders [see Dunand in "Revue du Clerg6 Fran- cais". III (Paris, 1895), 310-20].
Zieoelbaueu, Jlixl. T) ■,^ai-tler, CoUeclaneenhlaiter zur Gesch. der ehem. Ben. Universiiat Satzhurg (Kempten, 1890), 237-4.'>. MiCHAEL OtT.
Shakespeare, The Religion of. — Of both Milton an<l Shaki'spcare it was stated after their deaths, upon Protestant authority, that they had professed Cathol- icism. In Milton's case (though the allegation was made and printed in the lifetime of contemporaries,
