the multitude, and so won their good will that they
asked for his deliverance. Viret, especially, the
chief orator of the Calvinists, wanted to have a
public discussion with him to convert him. Auger
was con.sequently sent to prison for the night, but
the Catholics rescued him before the conference
took place. We find him afterwards in Lyons, during
a pestilence, devoting himself to the plague-
stricken. When the pest had ceased, in consequence
of a vow he made, the authorities, in gratitude,
established a college of the Society to which Auger
asked, much to their astonishment, that the children
of the Calvinists might be admitted. His whole
life was one of constant activity, preaching and
administering the responsible offices of Provincial,
Rector, etc. that were entrusted to him. He was
present in at least two battles, and was remarkable
for his influence over the soldiers. He was finally
made confessor of King Henry IH, the first Jesuit
to have that troublesome charge put upon him.
The difficulty of his position was increased by the
fact that the League was just then being formed by
the Catholic succession. Its principles and methods
were thought to trench on the royal prerogative:
but Sixtus V was in favour of it. Several Jesuits,
notably the Provincial, Mattiieu, who was deposed
by Acquaviva, were its stanch upholders. Auger's
position was intolerable. Loyal to the king, he
was detested by the leagiers, who at Lyons, the city
that he had saved, threatened to throw him into the
Rhone. They compromised by expelling him from
the city. The general commanded him to relin-
quish the post of confessor, but the king secured
the pope's order for him to stay. Finally, Auger
prevailed on the monarch to release him, and he
withdrew to Como in Italy, where he died. Shortly
afterwards Henry was assassinated. Like Canisius
in Germany, Auger published a Catechism for France.
It appeared at first in Latin, and later he published
it in Greek. He wrote a work on the Blessed Eu-
charist, instructions for soldiers, translations, some
literary compositions, and also drew up the statutes
for congregations, especially one in which the king
was interested, called the Congregation of Penitents.
There is a letter by him called "Spiritual Sugar",
though he did not give it that title. He had written
an address to the people of Toulouse to console them
in the distress brought on by the calamities of the
civil war. It so took the popular fancy that the
authorities of the city published it under this curious
caption.
Cretin EAU-JoLY, Histoire de la c. de J., II; Sommervogel. Bibliotheque de la c. de J., I, 632: Varones ilustres, V.
T. J. C.MPBELL.
Augilæ, or Augila, a titular see of Cyrenaica in Northern Africa. It was situated in an oasis in the Libyan desert which is still one of the chief stations (Audjelah, Aoudjila) on the caravan route from Cairo to Fezzan. Its forests of date-palms were famous in the time of Herodotus (IV, 172); they still crown the three small hills that rise out of an unbroken desert of red sand which in the near vicinity is strongly impregnated with salts of soda. The Moslem population is now about 10,000 and is gov- erned by an official of the Bey of Tripoli who draws from the oasis an annual revenue of $12,000.
Lequien, Oriens Christ. (1740), II, 635-638; Smith, Diet, of Greek and Roman Geogr., I, 337; St. John, Adventures in the Libyan Desert (London, 1861), 128, 133. Thomas J. Shahan.
Augsburg, Confession op. See Confessions of Faith, Photest.^nt.
Augsburg. Diocese op, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Muiiicli-Freising. embracing the entire government district of Swabia and Neuburg, the western part of the government district of Upper Bavaria, and a small part of the government district of Central Franconia.
I. History. (1) Early Period. — The present city of Augsburg appears in Strabo as Damasia, a strong- hold of the Licatii; in 14 b. c. it became a Roman colony known as Augusta Vindelicorum, received the rights of a city from Hadrian and soon became of great importance as an arsenal and the point of junc- tion of several important trade routes. The begin- nings of Christianity within the limits of the present diocese are shrouded in obscurity; its teachings were probably brought thither by soldiers or mercliants. According to the acts of the martyrdom of St. Afra, w^ho with her handmaids suffered at the stake for Christ, there existed in Augsburg, early in the foirth century, a Christian community under Bishop Nar- cissus; St. Dionysius, uncle of St. Afra, is mentioned as his successor.
(2) Medieval Period. — Nothing authentic is known about the history of the Augsburg Church during the centuries immediately succeeding, but it survived the collapse of Roman power in Germany and the tur- bulence of the gicat migrations. It is true that two catalogues of the Bishops of Augsburg, dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, mention se-eral bishops of this primitive period, but the first whose record has received indubitable historical corrobora- tion is St. Wikterp (or Wichpert) w'ho was bishoj) about 739 or 768. He took part in several synods convened by St. Boniface in (jermany; in company with St. Magnus, he founded the monastery of Fiis- sen; and with St. Boniface he dedicated the monas- tery at Benediktbeuren. I'nder either St. Wikterp or his successor, Tazzo (or Tozzo), about whom little is known, many monasteries were established, e. g. Wessobrunn, Ellwangen, Polling, Ottobeuren. At this time, also, the .see, hitherto sufTragan to the Patri- archate of Aquileia, was placed among the suffragan sees of the newly founded Archdiocese of Mainz (746). St. Sintpert (c. 810), hitherto .bbot of the monastery of Murbach, and a relative of Charlemagne, reno-
