SIRACH
26
SIRICIUS
was animism, dominated by the yulumi or priests, but
with few great ceremonies. As among all savages,
disease and death were commonly ascribed to evil
spirits or witchcraft. Polygamy was universal, the
women being frequently obtained by raids upon other
tribes. Among their barbarous customs were the
eating of prisoners of war, and sometimes of deceased
parents, the kiUing of the helpless and of deformed
children and twins, and a sort of circumcision of
young girls at about the age of twelve years. A part
of the Sipibo still roam the forests, but the majority
are now civilized and employed as boatmen, rubber-
gatherers, or labourers along the river. In common
with all the tribes of the region their numbers are
steadily decreasing. See also Setebo Indians.
Consult particularly: R.mmo.sdi, El Peru, II and III, Hist, de la Geografia del Peru. bks. i and ii (Lima, 1876-79), Raimondi de- rives much of his information from a MS. histor>' of the Fran- ciscan missions, by Fernando Rodriguez, 1774, preserved in the convent at Lima: Idem, Provincia Litoral de Loreto (Lima, 1862), condensed tr. by Boll^rt in Anthropolonical Review (Lon- don, May, 1863): Bhinton, American Race (New York, 1891); Castelnau, Expedition dans les parties centrales de VAmerigue du Sud, IV (Paris, 1891); Ebebh.abdt, Indians of Peru in Smilh- aon. Miscet. Colls., quarterly issue, V (Washington, 1909), 2; Herndon, Exploration of the Amazon (Washington, 1854); Or- dinaire, Les Sauvages du Perou in Revite d'Ethnographie. VI (Paris, 18S7) ; Smyth and Lowe, Journey from Lima to Pard (Lon- don, 1836).
James Mooney. Sirach. See Ecclesiasticus.
Siricius, Saint, Pope (384-99), b. about 334; d.
26 November, 399. Siricius was a native of Rome; his father's name was Tiburtius. Siricius entered the service of the Church at an early age and, according to the testimony of the inscription on his grave, was lector and then deacon of the Roman Church during the pontificate of Liberius (352-66). After the death of Damasus, Siricius was unanimously elected his successor (December, 384) and consecrated bishop probably on 17 December. Ursinus, who had been a rival to Damasus (366), was ahve and still main- tained his claims. However, the Emperor Valentinian III, in a letter to Pinian (23 Feb., 3S.5), gave his consent to the election that had been held and praised the piety of the newly-elected bishop; consequently no difficulties arose. Immediately upon his eleva- tion Siricius had occasion to assert his primacy over the universal Church. A letter, in which questions were asked on fifteen different points concerning bap- tism, penance, church discipUne, and the celibacy of the clergy, came to Rome addressed to Pope Da- masus by Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, Spain. Siri- cius answered this letter on 10 February, 385, and gav'e the decisions as to the matters in question, ex- ercising with full consciousness his supreme power of authority in the Church (Constant, "Epist. Rom. Pont.", 625 sq.). This letter of Siricius is of special importance because it is the oldest completely pre- served papal decretal (edict for the authoritative de- cision of questions of discipline and canon law). It is, however, certain that before this earlier popes had also issued such decretals, for Siricius himself in his let- ter mentions "general decrees" of Liberius that the latter had sent to the provinces; but these earlier ones have not been preserved. At the same time the pope directed Himerius to make known his decrees to the neighbouring provinces, so that they should also be observed there. This pope had very much at heart the maintenance of Church discipline and the obser- vance of canons by the clergy and laity. A Roman synod of 6 January, 386, at which eighty bishops were present, reaffirmed in nine canons the laws of the Church on various points of discipline (consecration of bishops, cclil)acy, etc.). The decisions of (he coun- cil were r,omiiiiMilc;tlc(l by Ihr pope lo the bisliops of North Africa :ui(l probably in tli<' same in.-mncr to others who had not altc-iidi'il Ihi' synod, with the com- mand to a<tt in acM'oiilaiicc with them. .Vnothi'r letter which was sent to v;u-ious churches dealt with the elec-
tion of worthy bishops and priests. A synodal letter
to the Galilean bishops, ascribed by Coustant and
others to Siricius, is assigned to Pope Innocent I by
other historians (P. L., XIII, 1179 sq.). In all his
decrees the pope speaks with the consciousness of his
supreme ecclesiastical authority and of his pastoral
care over all the churches.
Siricius was also obliged to take a stand against heretical mo\-ements. A Roman monk Jovinian came forward as an opponent of fasts, good works, and the higher merit of celibate life. He found some ad- herents among the monks and nuns of Rome. About 390-392 the pope held a synod at Rome, at which Jovinian and eight of his followers were condemned and excluded from communion with the Church. The decision was sent to St. Ambrose, the great Bishop of Milan and a friend of Siricius. Ambrose now held a synod of the bishops of upper Italy which, as the letter says, in agreement with his de- cision also condemned the heretics. Other heretics including Bishop Bonosus of Sardica (390), who was also accused of errors in the dogma of the Trinity, maintained the false doctrine that Mary was not always a virgin. Siricius and Ambrose opposed Bonosus and his adherents and refuted their false views. The pope then left further proceedings against Bonosus to the Bishop of Thessalonica and the other Illyrian bishops. Like his predecessor Damasus, Siricius also took part in the Priscillian controversy; he sharply condemned the episcopal accusers of PrisciOian, who had brought the matter before the secular court and had prevailed upon the usurper Maximus to condemn to death and execute Priscillian and some of his followers. Maximus sought to justify his action by sending to the pope the proceedings in the case. Siricius, however, excom- municated Bishop Felix of Trier who supported Ithacius, the accuser of Priscillian, and in whose city the execution had taken place. The pope addressed a letter to the Spanish bishops in which he stated the conditions under which the converted PrisciUianswere to be restored to communion with the Church.
According to the life in the "Liber Pontificahs" (ed. Duchesne, I, 216), Siricius also took severe measures against the Manichieans at Rome. How- ever, as Duchesne remarks (loc. cit., notes) it can- not be assumed from the writings of the converted Augustine, who was a Manichaean when he went to Rome (383), that Siricius took any particular steps against them, yet Augustine would certainly have commented on this if such had been the case. The mention in the "Liber Pontificalis" belongs properly to the Ufe of Pope Leo I. Neither is it probable, as Langen thinks (Gesch. der rom. Kirche, I, 633), that Priscillians are to be understood by this mention of Manicha;ans, although probably Priscillians were at times called Manicha'ans in the wTitings of that age. The western emperors, including Honorius and Valentinian III, issued laws against the Mani- chaeans, whom they declared to be political offenders, and took severe action against the members of this sect (Codex Theodosian, XVI, V, various laws). In the East Siricius interposed to settle the Meletian schism at Antioch; this schism had continued not- withstanding the death in 381 of Meletius at the Council of Constantinople. The followers of Mele- tius elected Flavian as his successor, while the ad- herents of Bishop Paulinus, after the death of this bishop (3SS), elected Evagrius. Evagritis died in 392 and through Flavian's management no successor was elected. By the mediation of St. John Chrysos- tom and Theophilus of .\lexandria an embiissy, led by Bishop Aracius of Bcnea, w;vs sent to Rome to persuade Siricius to recognize Flavian and to re- admit him to communion with the Church.
At Rome the name of Siricius is particularly con- nected with the basilica over the grave of St. Paul
