CELESTINES
20
CENTRE
provided an ideal for them to strive after. In 1264
Urban IV confirmed the order, and gave to it the
Rule of St. Benedict. It was again confirmed by
Gregory X in 1274. Celestine himself confirmed the
constitutions drawn up by Abbot Humphrey, and
also granted many privileges to his order. Among
other things he ordered the general chapter to be
held every year, thus departing from the Decrees of
the Fourth Lateran Council. The administration of
the order was carried on .somewhat after the pattern of
Cluny, that is all monasteries were subject to the
Abbey of the Holy Ghost at Sulmona, and these
dependent houses were divided into provinces. The
ruling body of the congregation or, as it was called,
"The Definitorium", was chosen as follows: all the
Ijriors of the province and a delegate from each house
elected the provincial and five definitors, the pro-
vincial and the five definitors chose the priors of the
various houses. The Celestines had 96 houses in
Italy, 21 in France, and a few, most of which unfor-
tunately joined the Reformers, in Germany. The
order became extinct in the eighteenth century.
The choir dress of the monks was a black cowl and
hood; the working habit consisted of a white tunic
with a black scapular and hood, the lay brothers wore
a brown habit with the badge of the order — a cross
with the letter "S" entwined round the foot — em-
broidered on the scapular.
Beurrier, Histoire du vwnastkre de Parin (1634) ; Constilw Hones. . . Cffie.srtnorum (1.590); Constituliones . . . CaleslinOTum
- franco-gaUiccE (Paris. 1670)
- Heimbucher, Orden u.
Kongregaii
I (Paderborn, 1907).
Paul Brookfield.
Celestines, the name given to certain extreme
"Spiritual" Franciscans of the Marches, because
they were taken by Celestine V under his special
protection. These Franciscan Celestines are not to
be confounded with the Order of Celestine hermits, a
branch of the Benedictine Order, which the same
pope founded about 1254 before his accession to the
papacy. It was in the autumn of 1294 that Pietro
da Macerata, Pietro da Fossombrone, and some other
"Spiritual" Franciscans who had lately returned
from Armenia made their way to the Papal Curia,
then at Aquila, and obtained from Celestine V leave
to live as hermits under the Rule of St. Francis, but as
a separate fraternity and without dependence upon
the superiors of the Minorite Order. They were to
obey Celestine V and, under him, Pietro da Macerata,
who changed his name to Liberate, while his compan-
ion Pietro da Fossombrone took the name of Angelo
Clareno, by which he is better known (see Angelo
Clareno da Cingoli). Liberate, when placed at
the head of the new fraternity, was given full power
by the pope to receive new members. Celestine,
moreover, appointed Cardinal Nicholas Orsini, pro-
tector of the Pauperes Heremitcc Domini Coeleslini
(Poor hermits of the Lord Celestine), as Liberato,
Angelo, and their followers were called, and he
charged the abbot of his own order of (Benedictine)
Celestines to put some hermitages at their disposal.
The statues of the new foundation were somewhat
peculiar. Strictly speaking, these "Poor Hermits"
could not be callcil either Celestines or Minorites for
they did not depi'tid upon the authority of either order
and, althouKh ])r<)fi-ssinf; the Rule of the Friars Minor,
they lived in licnnitagcs Uk<' the Celestines.
After the "^rcat reiumciation" of Pope Celestine (13 Dec, 1294) the Poor Honnits lost their protector, and his successor Boniface VTII revoked and nullified in 129.5 all the lonccssions made in their favour by Celestine iml<'ss the same were approved anew by him.self. Thereupon Liberato, Angelo, and some others — for not all of llieir followers seem to have accomp.anied them — betook themselves to the Island of Trixoma in the Gulf of Corinth and later to Thos.saly. .\fter many vicissitudes they returned to
Italy in 1303 and attempted a vindication of their
rights. In 1307 liberato died and Angelo became
the head of the fraternity, which was suppressed by
John XXII in 1317. The subsequent history of the
"Poor hermits of the Lord Celestine" is merged in
that of the FraticeUi (see Fraticelli; Friars
Minor; Spirituals).
HoLZAPFEL, Manuale hisloricB Ord. Frai. Minorum (Freiburg, 1909), 45 sqq. ; Ren£, Histoire des s-pirituels dans I'ordre de S. Francois (Paris, 1909). iv-vi; Tocco, Sludii francescani (Suplea, 1909), XI: / Fraticelli o poveri eremite di Celestine secondo i nuovi documenti, 239-310.
Paschal Robinson.
Centre (Centre Party), The. — This name is given to a pohtical party in the German Reichstag and to a number of parties in the diets of the various states of the German Empire. The oldest party which bears this name is that in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies (Abgeordnetenhaus) ; the Centre Party of the German Reichstag was formed on 21 March, 1871 . From the beginning both these parties have stood in close relation to each other, since both parliaments have their seats in Berlin and a number of the mem- bers usually belong to both assembhes, and finally because, Prussia being the leading state of the Ger- man Empire, the leading statesmen of the German Empire are also Prussian ministers and the govern- mental policies of both parliaments are in their funda- mental principles the same. A predecessor of both parties is found in the Catholic Party in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, which in 1859 had adopted the name of the " Party of the Centre " . In view of the hos- tile attitude of the Prussian Government towards the Church (the Raumer Decrees) this party was formed in 1852 for the defence of the freedom guaranteed in the Constitution and of the independence of the Church. Under the guidance of distinguished leaders (e. g. the brothers Reichensperger, Hermann von Mallinckrodt, Bishop von Ketteler, etc.), the party proved of vast service to the Catholic cause, but the denominational principle on which it rested was found too narrow and unsuitable for a parliamentary party in a constitutional state. The Catholic Party, which at its height never numbered more than fifty mem- bers, voluntarily dissolved, and after 1867 its last members allied themselves with others of the regular political parties.
Meanwhile Liberalism had secured an outspoken parliamentary representation in Prussia and other German states. As a counterpoise to the anti- Cathohc Liberals a new party was needed. The more immediate cause of the formation of the present Centre were the attacks on the monasteries at Moabite (Berlin, 1869), the anti-Catholic measures proposed in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies by the well-known professor of public law Gneist in con- nexion with these attacks, and the fierce attacks made on the Church and the pope which followed the Vatican Council and the declaration of papal infal- hbiUty. On 11 June, 1870, Peter Reichensperger in the columns of the "Kolnische Volkszeitung" called upon Catholics to unite by drawing up a common programme for the elections then approaching. The cardinal point of this programme, Reichensperger maintained, was the maintenance of the independence of the Church in the arrangement and administration of its affairs (especially with regard to the formation and development of religious associations), which was guaranteed by the Prussian Constitution. A con- vention of the Catholic societies of the Rhine Prov- inces and Westph.alia declared its entire adhesion to these i)ropos;ds, but proposed that the societies should work sinuiltaneously for the removal of social griev- ances and the jjromotion of all the intercuts of the labouring classes by .sound Christian legislation. The Soester Prngrnmni' oi 28 October, 1S7(), sketched in clear and conci.se terms a comprehensive imigramme. On 13 December, 1S70, the eve of the opening of the
