Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/534

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CEFALIT


476


CEILLIER


by venerable olive-trees and crossed by an old bridge. Below the bridge, the valley presents the first traces of a torrent bed. It narrows gradually and sinks more rapidly, leaving to the east the church of the Tomb of the Blessed Virgin, and next, Gethsemani. A thousand feet from the old bridge, the valley is merely a deep gulley across which another bridge is thrown, and on the banks of which are, to the right, Mohammedan tombs, and to the left, the sepulchres of Josaphat, Absalom, St. James, and the Jewish cemetery. About a thousand feet farther, there is in a cave, on the right bank, the Fountain of the Virgin, and higher up, on the left, the village of Siloe. Some- what farther down, the Tyropoeon valley falls from the right into the Cedron, which now expands down to the Valley of Hinnom. Here, the Cedron is about 200 yards wide, and has on its left the Mount of Of- fence. Shortly after the junction of the Valley of Hinnom with the Cedron, there is Job's well, to the south of which Sir C. Warren found, in 1868-1869, the shaft of a great rock-cut aqueduct.

On leaving the Holy City, the Valley of the Cedron runs its winding and gradually precipitous course through the Wilderness of Judea to the north-western shore of the Dead Sea. The Cedron is perfectly dry during the summer and most of the winter. North of Jerusalem, it bears the name of Wddi al-Jos (Valley of Nuts) ; between the city and the Mount of Olives, it is known as Wddi Sitti Mariam (Valley of St. Mary), or again as the Valley of Josaphat (cf. Joel, iii, 2, 12); after leaving Jerusalem, it is called Wddi en-N&T (Valley of Fire), and also Wddi er-Rahib (Valley of the Monks). Its whole length is some 20 miles in a straight line, and its descent nearly 4000 feet. Its bed east of Jerusalem is now about 40 feet higher than in ancient times. The Cedron is first mentioned in Holy Scripture in connexion with David's flight from Absalom, during which he crossed it [II K. (A. V. II Samuel) xv, 23]: and next, in connexion with the prohibition to Semei against his ever crossing it [III K. (A. V. I K.) ii, 37]. It was at the torrent Cedron that King Asa burnt the filthy idol of his mother [III K., xv, 13; II Par. (A. V. II Chron.) xv, 16]. It was into it that Ezechias and Josias cast all the impurities which had polluted the House of the Lord (cf. II Par., xxix, 16; xxx, 14; IV K., xxiii, 4, 6, 12). The torrent Cedron is last mentioned in the O. T. in Jer., xxxi, 40, apparently as part of the common cemetery of Jerusalem. In the N. T. it is spoken of only once, in connexion with Christ's going forth over it to Gethsemani (John, xviii, 1). In the present day it is the desired resting-place of both Jews and Mussulmans, and the supposed scene of the Last Judgment.

Robi.n'son, Biblical Researches in Palestine US56), I; Mislin, Les Saints tivres (3ded., 1S76), II; Palestine Exploration Fund, Jerusalem; Buhl, Geog. des alien Palastina.

Francis E. Gigot.

Cefalu (Cephalcedium), Diocese op (Cephalu- dexsis). — The city of the same name in the province of Palermo, in Sicily (Italy), is situated nearly in the centre of the northern coast of the island. Destroyed by the inhabitants of Messina, it was reconstructed about 1130 by King Roger I of Sicily. Its first bishop was Nicetas who, in 869, assisted a1 the Eighth General Council held .it Constantinople for the trial of Photius. When Roger I rebuilt the city. Tocelmo was bishop. Among its bishops were: Arduino II, suffered exile twice on account of his opposition to Frederic II; Nicold (1352) died in the prison ofCastel trio; and Fra Francesco of the ducal house of i d L 587), founder of the first seminary opened in Sicily. The cathedral was built by Roger Land, t hough often restored, is a tine monument of Norman architecture. Tin- adjoining cloister, still kept in its primitive state, is remarkable for graceful columns adorned with sculptures and arabesques. The dio-


cese is a suffragan of Palermo, it has 22 parishes, 300 secular clergy, 265 churches, chapels, and oratories,




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160,320 inhabitants, and 24 houses of religious (women).

Cappelletti, Le chiese d'ltalia (Venice, 1S44), XXI, 540; Annuario ecclesiaatico (1907), 386-87.

U. Benigni.

Ceillier, Remi, patrologist, b. at Bar-le-Duc, 14 May, 168S; d. at Flavigny, 26 May, 1763. He received his early education in the Jesuit College at Bar-le-Duc. After completing the course of humanities and rhet- oric, he entered (1705) the monastery of Moyen- Moutier in the Vosges, belonging to the Benedictine congregation of St-Vannes and St-Hydulphe. Later he was appointed professor in the same monastery, a position which he held for six years. In 1716 he was made dean of Moyen-Moutier, in 1718 prior of the monastery of Saint Jacques de Neufehateau, in 1724 assistant to Dom Charles de Vassimont at the priory of Flavigny-sur-Moselle, and on the latter's death in 1733 prior of that monastery. Under his wise ad- ministration this monastery flourished materially, spiritually, and intellectually. His first great work, prepared while he was professor at Moyen-Moutier, was an " Apologie de la morale des Peres, contre les in- justes accusations du sieur Jean Barbeyrac, profes- seur en droit et en histoire a Lausanne " (Paris, 1718). In this work a long dissertation of 40 pages is devoted to establishing the authority of the Fathers of the Church; afterwards the author follows step by step the arguments of Barbeyrac, and defends individu- ally those Fathers whom he had attacked — Athena- goras, Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, and others. The success of this work led Ceillier to undertake another, similar in character, but wider in scope, and dealing with all the sacred and ecclesiastical writings. The nature of the work can best be judged from its title, " Histoire generate des auteurs sacres et eccle- siastiquesqui contient leur vie, le catalogue, la critique, le jugement, la chronologic, l'analyse et le denom- brement des different es editions de leurs ouvrages; ce qu'ils renferment de plus intdressant sur le dogme, sur la morale, et sur la discipline de l'Eglise; l'histoire des conciles tant generaux que particuliers et les actes choisis lies martyrs". The first volume appeared in 17'Jti, the others at various intervals, the 23d and last being published after the death of the author. The work contains an historical account of the sacred and ecclesiastical authors, lists, analyses, and critical appreciations of their writings, together with selected quotations; it was incomplete when the author died. It ends with the writings of William of Auvergne in the middle of the thirteenth century. It has passed through several editions; the latest is that of Abbe Bauzon, 17 vols, in Ito with t wo volumes of indexes (Paris, 1860-1S69). The preparation of a