CHATEAUBRIAND
640
CHATEAUBRIAND
coat — during the active part of his functions in the
Mass, it probably had something to do with the
inconvenience caused by the medieval chasuble in
impeding the free use of the arms.
Of the chasuble as now in common usage in the Western Church two principal types appear, which may for convenience be called the Roman and the French. The Roman is about 46 inches deep at the back and 30 inches wide. It is ornamented with orphreys forming a pillar behind and a tall cross in front, while the aperture for the neck is long and tapers downwards. The French type, also common in Germany and in a more debased form in Spain, is less ample and often artificially stiffened. It has a cross on the back and a pillar in front. In medieval chasubles these orphrey crosses often assume a Y form, and the crosses themselves seem really to have originated less from any symbolical purpose than from sartorial reasons connected with the cut and adjustment.
Like the other sacred vestments the chasuble, before use, requires to be blessed by a priest who has faculties for that purpose. When assumed in vesting for Mass, the act is accompanied with a prayer which speaks of the chasuble as the "yoke of Christ". But another symbolism is indicated by the form attached to the bestowal of the chasuble in the ordination services: "Receive", says the bishop, "the priestly vestment, by which is signified charity."
Bravn, Die liturgischeGeuandung (Freiburg. 1907), pp. 149- 239; Rohault de Fleury, La Messe (Paris, lxsfi) , VII; Bock. Geschichte tier liturgiichen Gewander (Bonn. 1856-71), II— III- Thauiofer, Liturgik (Freiburg. 1S83), I; De Vert. Explica- tion des ceremonies de Vegliie (Paris, 1706-8); Rock, Church of Our Fathers (London, 1903). II; Barbier de Montault, Let r^.sMmt.s' el les usages ceil, siustu/tics (Paris, 1901), II; Van der Stappen, Sacra Liturgia (Mechlin, 1902), IV. 1"4-1S8- Thurston, in The Month (Dec. lSUSl, and in The Tablet (Dec. 28, 1907); Hefele, Beitrage (Tubingen, 1864), II, 150-223.
Herbert Thurston.
Chateaubriand, Francois -Rene de, French writer, b. at Saint-Malo, Brittany, 4 September, 1768; d. at Paris, 4 July, 1848. He studied at Dol, then at Rennes, and later at Dinan. Although at first des- tined for the navy, for a while he believed himself called to the ecclesiastical life, but finally, in 1786, obtained a commission as lieutenant in the regiment of Navarre, then quartered at Cambrai. Meanwhile the young officer spent much of his time in Paris, whiiv his brother and one of his sisters resided. Upon the fall of the monarchy, he embarked at Saint-Malo for America, 8 April, 1791. The Ameri- can wilderness was indeed a revelation to his poetic mind, and furnished it with an inexhaustible supply of imagery. However, when King Louis XVI was arrested at Varennes, Chateaubriand believed it his duty to place his sword at the service of imperilled royalty and, returning to France, landed there 2 January, 1792. He married, emigrated, joined the army of Conde, was wounded and left for dead during the expedition against Thionville, and succeeded in escaping to England in 1793. Here he lived in Lon- don in the most abject misery, being unable to return to France until 1S00, and even then only under an assumed name.
"Le genie du Christianisme" (Paris, 1S02) soon afterwards made him famous, and Bonaparte ap- pointed bim secretary of the embassy at Rome and then minister at ValaiS, Switzerland, a post which he resigned even before occupying it. Admitted to the I'Yeneli Academy to fill the vacancy caused! >v thedea I h of Marie-Joseph Chenier, he refused, despite the en- treaties of Napoleon, to withhold his opinion on the revolutionary ideas of his predecessor, and this re- tarded his reception until after the fall of t lie Empire, he was plunged into party strife. Mis political life has been divided into three distinct parts: (1) the purely Royalist period up to 1824; (2) the
VOIs-Renfj de Chateaubriand
Liberal period from 1824 to 1830; (3) the period of
Royalism and ideal Republicanism between 1830 and
the time of his death. Appointed Minister of State
after Waterloo, he eloquently and energetically op-
posed the Decazes ministry (1S16-1S20), became
ambassador successively in Berlin and in London,
plenipotentiary to the Congress of Verona, and finally
.Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Villele ministry.
In 1824 the king
dismissed him for
the haughtiness of
character that had
rendered him in-
tolerable to his
colleagues. Cha-
teaubriand from
that time on waged
a merciless war for
Liberal principles
against all the
ministerial depart-
ments, sparing not
even royalty itself.
Made ambassador
to Rome in 1828,
he resigned upon
Polignac's acces-
sion to office next
year, and when, in
1830, Louis-Phi-
lippe ascended the
throne, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new regime. This was the end of his active polit- ical career.
Chief among the writings of Chateaubriand are the "Essai historique, politique et moral sur les revolu- tions anciennes et modernes " (London, 1797); "Atala" (Paris, 1801), an episode from "Le genie du Chris- tianisme" (Paris, 1802, 5 vols., 8vo); "Rene", which, like Atala", belonged to "Le genie du Christianisme", and was published separately by the author in 1807 — a morbid romance exhibiting a pic- ture of fatal melancholy and foolish dreams; "Les martyrs" (Paris, 1809), a prose poem intended to prove by example the superiority of Christianity over Paganism as a source of poetic inspiration. With a literary scrupulosity, rare indeed in those days, Chateaubriand made a point of visiting the places which he was to describe in the last-named work. In fact it was this tour that brought forth the " Itin6- raire de Paris a Jerusalem" (Paris, 1811), a delightful ami accurate book of travels. After that there ap- peared a series of political works: "De Buonaparte et des Bourbons" (Paris, 1814), a famous brochure said by Louis XVIII to have been worth a whole army to the Restoration; "De la monarchie selon la charte" (Paris, 1S16), a brochure which deprived the author of both the title and income of Minister of State; "De la restauration et de la monarchie elective" (Paris, 1831), in which Chateaubriand made the fol- lowing profession of faith: "I am Bourbon as a matter of honour, royalist according to reason and conviction, and republican by taste and character"; "Etudes, ou discours historiques" (Paris. 1831, 4 vols., Svo), a work replete with original views ami not wanting in erudition. Writings in which the author's own personality figures are his " Voyage en Amerique" (Paris. 1SJ7) and his great posthumous work, "Les memoires d'outre-tombe" (Paris, 1849- 1S.50, 12 vols, in l.Nmo), a vast panorama of the events which made up his life or with which be was ideni ilied.
In the perusal of this long series of works one easily discovers the author's diversified talent. Chateau- briand's style is marvellously varied. In his prose poems, such as " Les martyrs", or his romances, like "Atala", or his poetic descriptions, such as occur in
