ATTO
62
ATTRIBUTES
was a blot, so that disappeared. It all ended in Attiret
becoming altogether Chinese in his tastes and liis
methods, so that he no longer painted like a Euro-
pean. He made portraits of all the distinguished court-
personages, but most of liis work was done on glass
or silk and represented trees, and fruits, and fishes,
and animals, etc. When, however, the emperor had
beaten back the Tatars, he ordered the battles to
be painted. Four Jesuit brothers, among whom was
Attiret, made sixteen tableaux, which were engraved
in France in 1774. When the collection arrived from
France, however, Attiret was dead. The emperor
manifested great concern at his loss, bore the ex-
penses of the obsequies, and sent a special representa-
tive to show his sorrow at the tomb. Attiret is
credited with at least 200 portraits.
C.VRAYON, Biog. particulieres. 1485; .-VJIIOT, Bibliothcque Nat (Paris); Sohmervogel, Bibl. de la c. de J.; LeUres Edificantes (ed. 1780), XXII, 490. 528; (ed. 1843), III. 786, 795; XXVII; Stocklein. Welt Bott. XXXIX. n. 679; Beaumont. Acct. of the Emperor of China's Garden (London. 1762); North China Herald, 3 Nov. 1860; Predi hislorigius, 1856. 437, 461, 485; Journal des savants, June, 1771.
T. J. C.43IPBELL.
Atto, a faithful follower of Gregory VH in his con- flict with the simoniac clergy, b. probably at Milan, made Cardinal of San Marco, assisted (1079) at the retractation of Berengarius in the Roman synod of that year, and signed the decrees of the synod of 1081. He may have been Bishop of Prieneste. Cardinal Mai published under his name (SS. Vet. nova coll., VI, 2, 60 sqq.), from a Vatican manu- script, a "Breviarium Canonum", or miscellaneous collection of moral and canonical decrees, genuine and forged, from Pope Clement I to Gregory the Great. It deals particularly with clerical rights and duties, ecclesiastical acts, the administration of the sacraments, censures, jurisdiction, etc. Other cardi- nals of the name are mentioned in the anonymous (eighteenth-century) "Diatriba de Attonibus" pub- lished by Cardinal Mai (op. cit.; cf. P.L., CXXXIV, 902).
Bruck in Kirchenlex, I, 1566, 1567.
Thomas J. Shahan.
Atto of Pistoia, b. at Badajoz in Spain, 1070; d. 22 May, 1155. He became Abbot of Vallombrosa (Tuscany) in 1105, and in 1135 was made Bishop of Pistoia. He wrote lives of St. John Gualbert and of St. Bernard of Vallombrosa, Bishop of Parma. In 1145 he transferred to Pistoia certain relics of St. James of Compostella. His correspondence on that occasion is found in Ughelli, "Italia Sacra", VII, 296.
GiRiCD, Bibl. Sacr., II, 420; Potth.^st, Bibl. Hist. Med. .£vi il 1185; Chevalier, Repertoire (Bw-Bibl.). I. 362. Thomas J. Sh.\han.
Atto of Vercelli, a learned theologian and canonist of the tenth centurv, son of the Viscount Aldegarius, and Bishop of Vercelli (924-961). In 933 he became Grand Chancellor of Lothaire II, King of France, and obtained from the royal gratitude donations and privileges for his see of Vercelli (Ughelli, Italia Sacra, IV, 769). Several of his writings were first published by the Benedictine D'.\chery (1655-77) in his " Spicile- gium" VIII, 1-137; 2d ed., 1723, I, 401-442, e. g. '■ Epistola-, Libellus de pressuris ecclesiasticis ", and '■Canones rursus statutaque Vercellensis ecclesia> ". A complete edition was executed by Baronzo del Signore, in two folio volumes f\ercelli, 1768; P. L., CXXXIV, 27-834), inclusive of his lengthy commen- tary on the Epistles of St. Paul. In 1832 Cardinal Mai published eighteen sermons of Atto, and his curious " Polypticum ", or " Perpendiculum ", an abridgment of moral philosophy, "written in a mysterious and enigmatic way ". In his history of early medieval lit- erature Ebert transfers to some Spaniard the author- ship of this work, but Hauck defends the traditional view (Realencyk. f. prot. Theol., II, 214). His ■' Can-
ones " are in great part a compilation of earlier ec-
clesiastical legislation, including the False Decretals.
They contain, also, certain provisions of his own and
are of value for the study of contemporary ecclesiasti-
cal life and manners in Northern Italy. He is some-
times known as Atto II; an earlier homonymous
bishop of Vercelli flourished about the middle of the
eighth century.
ScHDLTZ. .4(toi'on VerceK (Gottingen, 1887); Verschaffel in Diet, de thiol, cath., I, 2222, 2223; Tiraboschi, Star. lett. Ital. U806). Ill, Pt. I. 219-22 ; Chevalier, Rep. des sources hist.: Bio-bibliogr.; I, 363.
Thom.^s J. Sh.\hax.
Attracta (oh Araght), S.\int, a contemporary of St. Patrick from whom she received tlie veil. She is known as the foundress of several churches in the counties of Galway and Sligo, Ireland. Colgan's ac- count of her life is "based on that A^-ritten by Augustine Magraidin in the last years of the fourteenth century, and abounds in improbable statements. However, the fact of St. Attracta receiving the veil from St. Patrick is corroborated by Tirechan, in the "Book of Armagh ", as is evident from the following passage in the "Documenta de S. Patricio" (ed. Edmund Hogan, S.J.): "Et ecclesiam posuit in cella Adrachtfe, filiae Talain, et ipsa accepit pallium de manu Patricii." A native of the County Sligo, she resolved to devote herself to God, but being opposed by her parents, fled to South Connacht and made her first foundation at Drumconnell, near Boyle, County Roscommon, whence she removed to Greagraighe, or Coolavin, County Sligo. At Killaraght, St. At- tracta established a hospice for travellers, which existed as late as 1539. Her fame was so great that numerous places were named after her, e. g. Killa- raght (Cill Attracta), Toberaraght, Cloghan Araght, etc., and a large village which grew up around her oratory at Killaraght in Coolavin. Colgan gives an account of the Cross of St. Attracta which was famed during the Middle Ages, and of which the O'Mochain family were hereditarj' keepers. A striking con- firmation of the existence of this relic in the early years of the fifteenth century is afforded by an entry in the "Calendar of Papal Letters" (VI, 451), from which we learn that in 1413 the cross and cup of St. Attracta (Crux ac Cuach Aracht) were then venerated in the church of Killaraght, in the Diocese of Achonry. By an Indult of 28 July, 1864, Pius IX authorized the Office and Mass of St. Attracta, which had lapsed into desuetude, to be again celebrated in the Irish Church. The feast of St. Attracta, on 11 August, is given special honour in the Diocese of Achonry, of which she is the patroness. The prayers and proper lessons for her Office were drawn up by Cardinal Aloran.
Grattin Flood, Irish Saints: Acta SS. (1658). 2 Feb., 296- 297- Bibl Hagiogr. Lot. (1901). 1156; CoLGAN, Acta SS. Hibem. (1645), I, 277-282; O'Hanlon, Lives of Insh Samts, VIII (11 Aug.).
W. H. Grattan Flood.
Attributes, Divine. — In order to form a more systematic idea of God, and. as far as possible, to unfold the miplications of the truth, God is All- Perfect, this infinite Perfection is viewed, successively, under various aspects, each of which is treated as a separate perfection and characteristic inherent to the Divine Substance, or Essence. A certain group of these, of paramount import, is called the Divine Attributes.
I. Knowledge of God Mediate and Synthetic. —Our natural knowledge of God is acquired by discursive reasoning upon the data of sense and introspection, "For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; His eternal power also, and Divinity" (St. Paul, Romans, i, 20). Created things, by the properties and activi- ties of their natures, manifest, as m a glass, darkly.
