TENCIN
505
TENCIN
human nature after baptismal regeneration, and even
though the soul is in the state of sanctifying grace
(cf. Rom., viii, 1). Concupiscence becomes sinful
only when freely yielded to; when resisted with God's
help, it is an occasion of merit. Together with in-
ward concupiscence, and outward creatures, which
may be the occasion of sin (I John ii, 1.5 sqq.), the
chief cause of temptation is Satan, "the tempter"
(Matt., iv, 3), bent on man's eternal ruin (Eph., vi,
10 sqq.). In the Lord's Praj-er, the clause "Lead us
not into temptation" is an humble and trusting pe-
tition for God's help to enable us to overcome tempta-
tion when His Fatherly Providence allows us to ex-
perience the allurements of evil. Prayer and watch-
fulness are the chief weapons against temptation
(Mark, xiv, 3,S; etc.). God does not allow man to be
tempted beyond his strength (I Cor., x, 13).
Like Adam, Christ, the second Adam, endured temptation only from without, inasmuch as His hu- man nature was free from all concupisc"nce; hut un- like Adam, He withstood the assaults of the Tempter on all points, thereby affording His mystical mem- bers a perfect model of resistance to their spiritual enemy, and a permanent source of victorious help (Heb., iv, 15-16). In our first three Gospels (Matt., iv, 1-11; Mark, i, 12-13; Luke, iv, 1-13), the nar- rative of Oirist's temptation is placed in immediate connexion with His baptism on the one hand, and with the beginning of His public ministry on the other. The reason of this is clear. The Synoptists naturally regard the baptism of Christ as the external designation of Jesus from above for His Messianic work to be pursued under the guidance of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Him on this occasion; and they no less naturally regard Christ's sojourn in the desert where He was tempted, as His own immediate prepa- ration for that great work under the guidance of the same Holy Spirit. As our first three Gospels agree concerning the time to which they assign the tempta- tion of Christ, so they are at one in ascribing the same general place to its occurrence, viz. "the desert", whereby they no doubt mean the Wilderness of Ju- dea, where Jesus would indeed be, as St. Mark says: "with beasts". From St. Mark (i, 13)— with whom compare St. Luke iv, 2 — we learn that Jesus Christ was temptefl during the forty days which He spent in the desert (cf. St. Augustine, "Harmony of the Evan- gehsts", II, xvi), so that the three onsets given in rletail by St. Matthew and St. Luke are apparently the three final assaults of Satan against Christ. The first of these as.saults is directly connected in both St. Matthew and St. Luke with the prolonged fast of Jesus in the wilderness. The Tempter suggested to Jesus that He should use His miraculous power to re- lieve His hunger, by changing into bread the loaf-hke flints of the desert. The two other assaults are given in a different order, St. Matthew adliering probably to the order of time, and St. T,uke to that of place. The spot pointed out by tradition asthe summit from which Satan offered to Jesus dominion over all earthly kingdoms is the "Quarantania", a limestone peak on the road from Jeru.salem to Jericho. As re- gards the Temple's pinnacle from which the Tempter badi' Jesus ea.-^t Himself down, it was not the top of the House of Yahweh, but prob.ably the roof of Solo- mon's portico from which, at a later date, St. James was actually hurled to the pavement below (Euse- bius, "Ilist. eccl.", IV, xiii).
According to St. Luke (iv, 13), after having .'sub- jected CInist to all kinds of temptations, — the Messi- anic import of which is uniloul)ted,~ -Satan withdrew, awaiting a favourable opportunity like that which fol- lowed Christ's prolonged fa.st in the de.sert. The later conflict thus alludi'd to is no other than that of Christ's Pa.-;sion (cf. Luke, xxii, .'i3; .John, xiv, 30). The ministry of angils to Jesus, in connexion with His temptation, is mentioned in Mark, i, 13. Satan's
exact manner of appearance to Jesus is not stated by
the Evangelists. Despite the difficulties urged,
chiefly by non-Catholic scholars, against the histori-
cal character of the three temptations of Jesus, as
recorded by St. Matthew and St. Luke, it is plain
that these sacred writers intended to describe an
actual and visible approach of SataTi, to clironicle an
actual shifting of places, etc., and that the traditional
view, which maintains the objective nature of Christ's
temptations, is the only one meeting all the require-
ments of the Gosiiel narrative.
(Catholic Authors:in m n!.- I with an asterisk). Life of f/irM(.' *CiGOl (KiacniiiiM is'it, |'«).>|; * DiDON (tr. New York, 1.S91): Edeiishkim:\^ v 'in, l--sl); Farrar (Lonfion. 1874);
- FnnvM:i l\>,,m,-. I Mn 1 i; M-imn Or. NVw York. 1sni);
Geikm X. v. ^ ..■! ,sm, , ' ( li.iMM , l;:,ti-li.,n, IsTi;- H"IT7man-n (tr. I, "I .1...,, 1
Ni
st
(Paris, l.sMi. K.jbi;.su.\ ^Loudou, l.vj.s;; tScHttiO (Frtiburg,
187.5):* Sepp AND *HANEBEHo(Ratisbon, 1898-1902); Weiss (tr.
Edinburgh, 1883-4). For Commentaries see bibliographies under
Matthew, Gospel of St.; Mark. Gospel of St.; Luke, Gospel
OF St. For the literary anal.vsis of the Synoptical accounts of
Christ's temptation, see New York Review, Oct.-Nov., 1905.
Francis E. Gigot.
Tencin, Pierre-Gderin de, French statesman and cardinal, b. at Grenoble, 22 August, 1(580; d. at Lyons, 2 March, 1758. After studying with the Oratorians at Gren- oble he entered the Sorbonne, where he bccanu^ prior in 170:2, ami obtained the doc- torate in 170."). He was then appointed Vicar-General of Sens and, in 17'_M, accompanied Car- dinal de Rohan to Rome as his con- clavist, to support the candidacy of Cardinal Con I i (Innocent XIlli. from whom he had obtained a promisi to bestow the pur- ple on the u II- worthy French min- ister Dubois. He remained at Rome as French charge d'affaires until Benedict XIII, with whom he was very influential, consecrated him Arch- bishop of Embrun (26 June, 1724). With the selfish motive of paving his way to higher ecclesi- astical honours, he was overzealous in the persecu- tion of the Jansenists, and, at the provincial synod which he held at Embrun from IC August to 28 September, 1727, he suspended Bishop Jean Soanen of Senez, a prelate eighty years of age, who had appealed against the Bull "Unigenitus". On 22 February, 1739, Tencin was created cardinal, of the title of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. He remained at Rome as French ambassador until 1742, when he took po.sse.ssion of the arrhie])iscop:il Sec of Lyons, to which he had surceedeil on I'.t November, 1740. King Louis XV appointed him minister of .state in Septem- ber, 1742. After the death of the Prime Mini.ster Fleury, to whom he owed much of his political ad- vancement, his influence began to decrease. The death of his profligate sister, Madame Tencin, on 4 Dec, 1749, remo\-ed the grejitest spur f)f his pohtica) ambition, and in 1752 he retired to his See of Lyons. Masson, Madame de Tencin (Paris, 1909), passim; Cardei.la, Memorie storiche de' cardinali delta santa romana ckieaa, VIII (Home, 1794). 290-8; M. R„ MerkwOrJioe Lebensgetichichlc alter Cardinale der Ttim. kalhnl. Kirche die in diesem jelzttaufemten Seculo das Ziillirhe rerlassen hihen, III (Ratisbon, 177a), 2.S2-98. For tlio complete Acta of the Provincial .Synod of Embrun. see Mansi. Collcctio amptisnima, continued by Marti.n and Petit, XXXVII (Paris, 1905), 693, 888. MlCHAEL OtT.
