SOLARI
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SOLARI
Gobain, who, through love of solitude, retired to a
desert place near the Oise and was slain there; St.
Chagnoaldus, afterwards Bishop of Laon, who wished
to die in his monastery; St. Humbert, first abbot
of Maroilles in Hainaut. The abbey adopted the
Rule of St. Benedict. It was reformed in 961 by
Blessed Malcaleine, a Scotchman, abbot of St.
Michael at Thierache, and in 1643 by the Bene-
dictines of St. Maur. Among the abbots of St.
Vincent were: St. Gerard (close of the eleventh
century), who wrote the history of St. Adelard, abbot
of Corbie; Jean de Nouelles (d. 1396), who wrote
a history of the world, and began the cartulary of his
monastery. The Abbey of St. John at Laon was
founded about 650 by St. Salaberga, who built
seven churches there; she was its first abbess; St.
Austruda (d. 688) succeeded her. In 1128 the
abbey became a Benedictine monastery. The Abbey
of Nogent sous Coucy was founded in 1076 by
Alb^ric, lord of Coucy. Among its abbots were St.
Geoffroy (end of eleventh century) and the historian
Guibert de Nogent, who died in 1124 and whose
autobiography "De Vita Sua" is one of the most
interesting documents of the century. Under the
title "Gesta Dei per Francos" he wTote an account
of the First Crusade. The Abbey of Cuissy in the Dio-
cese of Laon was founded in 1116 by Blessed Lucas de
Roucy, dean of Laon, and followed the rule of Premon-
stratensians. In the Diocese of Soissons the Premon-
Btratensians had the abbeys: Chartreuve, Valsery, St.
Yved de Braine, Villers Cotterets, Val Secret, Vau-
chr^tien, Lieurestaur^. (See Phbmontrb, Abbey of.)
The portion of the ancient Diocese of Noyon within the jurisdiction of the present Diocese of Soissons includes the town, St-Quentin (Augusta Ver- manduorum), where St-Quentin was martyred under Diocletian. It was the chief town of a diocese until 532, when St. Medard, the titular, removed the see to N^oyon. Abbot Fuhade built the Church of St- Quentin in the eighth century, and Pope Stephen II blessed it (816). From the time of Charles Martel until 771, and again from 844 the abbots of St- Quentin were laymen and counts of Vermandois. During the Middle Ages a distinct type of religious architecture sprang up in the region of Soissons; Eugene Lefe\Te Pontalis has recently brought out a work dealing with its artistic affiliations. After investigation Canon Bouxin concludes that the cathe- dral of Laon, as it exists, is not the one consecrated in 1114 and visited by Innocent II in 1132; that was the restored ancient Romanesque building; the present one was built 1150-1225. Louis d'Outremer (936), Robert the Pious (996), Philip I (1059) were anointed in Notre Dame de Laon; in the twelfth century Hermann, Abbot of St. Martin's of Tournai, wrote a volume on the miracles of Notre Dame of Laon. The Hotel-Dieu of Laon, once kno\vii as Hotellerie Notre Dame, was founded in 1019 by the Laon chapter. The Hotel-Dieu of Chateau Thierry was founded in 1304 by Jeanne, wife of Philip the Fair.
Besides the saints already mentioned, the following are specially honoured as connected with the re- ligious history of the diocese: St. Montanus, hermit, who foretold the birth of St. Remi (fifth century); St. Marculfus, Abbot of Nanteuil (sixth century) in the Diocese of Coutances, whose relics, transferred to Corbeny in the Diocese of Laon, were visited by the kings of France who. after their anointing at Reims, were wont to go to the tomb of St. .Marculfus to cure the king's evil (see Rbim.s, Archdiocese op); St. Sigrada, mother of St. Leod.agarius, exiled by EbroTn to the monastery of Notre Dame at Soissons (seventh century); St. Hunegundis, a mm from the moiuis- tery of Homblic^res (d. c. 690); St. Grimonia, an Irishwoman martyred at I^a Chapelle (date uncer- tain); St. Boetianus (Bosan), husband of St. Sala-
berga, and St. Balduinus, martjT, his son (seventh
century); St. Voel, or Vodoalus, hermit (d. c. 720).
Among the natives of the diocese may be mentioned:
Pierre Ramus (151.5-72), Racine (1639-99), La
Fontaine (1621-95), Dom Luc d'Achery (1609-85),
Charlevoix (1683-1761), Camille Desmoulins (1760-
1794). The chief pilgrimages are: Notre Dame de
Liesse, a shrine founded in the thirteenth century,
and replaced at the end of the fourteenth century by
the present church; Notre Dame de Paix at Fieulaine,
which dates back to 1660. Before the application
of the Congregations Law (1901), there were in the
Diocese of Soissons Jesuits, Trinitarians, and several
teaching congregations of brothers. Some congre-
gations of women had their origin in the diocese:
the Nursing and Teaching Sisters of the Child Jesus,
with mother-house at Soissons, founded in 1714 by
Madame Brulard de Genlis; the Sisters of Notre
Dame de Bon Secours, a nursing and teaching order,
founded in 1806, with mother-house at Charly;
Sisters of Notre Dame, nursing and teaching order,
with mother-house at St-Erme, founded in 1820 by
the Abb6 Chretien; the Franciscan nuns of the
Sacred Heart, a nursing order founded in 1867, with
mother-house at St-Quentin; the servants of the
Heart of Jesus, of whom there are two branches,
the "Marys" who lead a contemplative life and the
" Marthas" who nurse the sick; they were founded at
Strasburg in 1867 and brought to St-Quentin after
the war of 1870-1.
At the close of the nineteenth century the re- ligious congregations in the diocese had charge of 40 nurseries. 2 deaf and dumb schools, 1 orphanage for boys, 14 for girls, 6 work bureaus, 1 home for the poor, 29 hospitals, 10 district nursing homes, 1 re- treat house, and 1 lunatic asylum. In 1905, when the Concordat was broken, there were in the Diocese of Soissons: 535,583 inhabitants, 39 parishes, 538 auxiliary parishes, and 15 curacies recognized by the State.
Gallia Christiana, nova, IX (1751), 333-88, 506-693, 978-1036; inslrum., 95-146, 187-202, 359-94; Fisquet, France Pontificate: '
Soissons et Laon (Paris, 1866); P^cheur. Anjiales du dioche de Soissons (10 vols., Soissons, 1863-91); Ledouble, Etat relig. ancien et moderne des pays qui forment aujourd'hui le diocese de Soissons (Soissons, 1880); M.\rtin and L.\croix, Histoire de Soissons (2 vols., Soissons, 1837-8); Malleville, Histoire de la ville de Laon et de ses institlUions (2 vols., Laon, 1846); Brochb, Les rapports des iviques avec la commune de Laon in Nauvelle revue historique de droit frauQais et Stranger, XXV (1901) ; Demarst, Armorial des ^Sques de Laon (Paris, 1865) ; Poquet, Notre Dame de Soissons, son hist., ses iglises, ses tombeaux, ses abbesses, ses reliques (2nd ed., Paris, 1855); LefIivre Pontalis, L'architecture religieuse dans I'ancien diocese de Soissons au XI' et au XII' siicle (2 vols.. Paris, 1894-7) ; BotrxiN, La Cathldrale de Laon (Laon, 1892) ; Lecocq, Hist, de la Ville de Saint-Quentin (St-Quentin, 1875).
Georges Goyau.
Solari (SoLARio),afamilyof Milaneseartists,closely |
connected with the cathedral and with the Certosa near Pavia. (1) Guiniforte Solari, b. 1429; d. 1481. He was the son of Giovanni (b. c. 1400; d. 1480), superintendent of the building of the cathedral and of the Certosa. Guiniforte was one of the architects of the Certosa (1465), was employed on the Ospedale Maggiore, and was also one of the architects of the fortified castle of the Sforza family and of several of the churches of Milan. His son Pietro Antonio (d. 1493) worked also for a time on the cathedral; there is proof that in 1476 he was still there. Later he was called to Moscow where he was employed on the rebuilding of the Kremlin. (2) Andrea Solari, painter, b. at Milan about 1465: d. 1515. From 1490 he was a jiupil of Giovanni Bellini at Venice and his early works recall this painter, as for example a Madonna with Saints, painted in 1495 for the Church of ,San Pietro at Murano and now in the Brera at Milan. After his return to Milan he copied the style of Leonardo da Vinci so closely that he was considered the lalter's best pupil. He is very like Leonardo,
