EDGEWORTH
283
EDGEWORTH
taken in 609 by the Persians, soon retaken by Hera-
clius, but captured again by the Arabs in 640. Under
Byzantine rule, as metropolis of Osrhoene, it had
eleven suffragan sees (Echos d'Orient, 1907, 145). Le-
quien (Oriens christ., II, 953 sqq.) mentions thirty-
five Bishops of Edessa; yet his list is incomplete. The
Greek hierarchy seems to have disappeared after the
eleventh century. Of its Jacobite bi.shops twenty-nine
are mentioned by Lequien (II, 1429 sqq.), many others
in the "Revue de I'Orient chretien" (VI, 195), some
in "Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenliindischen Ge-
sellschaft" (1899), 261 sqq. Moreover, Nestorian
bishops are said to have resided at Edessa as early as
the sixth century. The Byzantines often tried to re-
take Edessa, especially under Romanus Lacapenus,
who obtained from the inhabitants the " Holy Man-
dylion", or ancient portrait of Christ, and solemnly
transferred it to Constantinople, 16 August, 944
(Rambaud, Constantin Porphyrog^nete, Paris, 1870,
105 sqq.). For an account of this venerable and fa-
mous image, which was certainly at Edessa in 544, and
of which there is an ancient copy in the Vatican Lib-
rary, brought to the West by the Venetians in 1207, see
Weisliebersdorf, "Christus und Apostelbilder" (Frei-
burg, 1902), and Dobschiitz, "Christusbilder" (Leip-
zig, 1899). (See also Portraits OF Christ.) In 1031
Edessa was given up to the Greeks by its Arab gover-
nor. It was retaken by the Arabs, ami then succes-
sively held by the Greeks, the Seljuk Turks (1087), the
Crusaders (1099), who established there the "county"
of Edessa and kept the city till 1144, when it was
again captured by the Turk Zengui, and most of its
inhabitants were slaughtered together with the Latin
archbishop. These events are known to us chiefly
through the Armenian historian Matthew, who had
been bom at Edessa. Since the twelfth century, the
city has successively belonged to the Sultans of Aleppo,
the Mongols, the Mamelukes, and finally (since 1517)
to the Osmanlis.
Orfa is to-day the chief town of a sanjak in the vila- yet of Aleppo, and has a trade in cotton stuffs, leather, and jewellery. Ruins of its walls and of an Arab castle are yet visible. One of its curiosities is the mosque of Abraham, this patriarch according to a Mussulman legend having been slain at Orfa. The population is about 55,000, of whom 15,000 are Christians (only 800 Catholics). There are 3 Catholic parishes, Syrian, Armenian, and Latin; the Latin par- ish is conducted by Capuchins, who have also a school. Franciscan nuns conduct a school for girls. This mis- sion depends on the Apostolic mission of Mardin. There are also at Orfa a Jacobite and a Gregorian Armenian bishop:
CiiRETOv, Ancient Syriac Documents Relative to the Earliest Eshihlislnwn! uf rhrislmniti/ in Eckssn (I.on.lnn. 1S63); BuR- Klir, r.n!; F,; /, - „ r 7, , , / A , „ ,7 ,, 1 1 ,. . h ■ I . > I , , 1 'Wl 1 ' ; T.ivrn. Hts- h>i .■•.'".' ',•.'/■' .' " . ■ -! I\ 'crsburg
//,
Syruiqiii If ! I- .1 -,, MUM. Ill Ir'ir, !'<■! II i<itn , i.hqi-
eusp rl 1,1' ; '■ ^ ,. ,,'., /„ i„,„n,r, rr,„.,,,l, (I'lin-.
1891); L\Mi. , A 'I' /" /.-.,.,w, .s, ,,■/',,■,.;,-, 7, r.(Min,',/7v/r,sNr
(Lyons, l>sM:; IJi.(am;k. Ijx inmiUrs cioulT€-vur i\>-Ar\s. lS6yi, 294-314); Texier, La ville el les monuments tVEdesse in Revue orientale-americaine (1859), 326-54; Cuinet, La Turquie d'Asie (Pari?, 1892). II, 257-263.
S. Vailhe.
Edgeworth, Henry Essex, better known as I'ABisi; Edgeworth de Firmont, confessor of Louis XVI, and vicar-general of the Diocese of Paris at the height of the French Revolution, b. at Edge- worthstown. County Longford, Ireland, in 1745; d. 22 May, 1807, at Mittau, Russia. His father, the Rev. Robert Edgeworth, Protestant rector of Edge- worthstown, or Mostrim. was a first cousin to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, the father of Maria Edgeworth, the novelist; and his incithcr was a granddaughter of the Protestant Archliishop I'ssher. The Rev. Robert
Edgeworth owned an estate at Firmount, or Fairy-
mount, a few miles distant from Edgeworthstown,
where the elder branch of the Edgeworth family re-
sided. The Edgeworths were of English descent, and
went to Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth. The title,
" Edgeworth de Firmont", by which the abbe was uni-
versally known in France, was derived from Firmount,
the ancestral patrimony of his family. The vicarage
house at Edgeworthstown where he passed his child-
hood is believed to be the same in which Oliver Gold-
smith went to school to the Rev. Patrick Hughes.
The Rev. Robert Edgeworth through conscientious
motives resigned his living, embraced the Catholic
religion, and, find-
ing life at home in-
tolerable under the
penal laws, with
his family (all of
whom became
Catholics) re-
moved to Tou-
louse in France,
where Henry Es-
sex, then four
years of age, re-
ceived his early
training for the ec-
clesiastical state.
Subsequently he
went to the semi-
nary of Trente-
Trois, Paris, at the
suggestion of Bish-
op Moylan of Cork
(at one time a cure
in Paris). After a
course of theology
at the Sorbonne, Henry Essex Edgeworth was ordained
priest and the capital of France became the theatre
of his apostolic labours. The Irish bishops offered
him a mitre in Ireland, an honour which he declined
with his usual humility. On the removal of her
confessor, Madame Elisabeth, sister of the ill-fated
Louis XVl, requested the superior of Les Missions
Etrangtres, where the abbe resided, to recommend her
another and he unhesitatingly selected the Abb^
Edgeworth. The Archbishop of Paris approved of
the choice, and introduced him at court. Thus he
became known to the royal family as a devoted
friend. In their fallen fortunes he stood by them at
the risk of his life, followed the survivors after the
Revolution into exile, and died in their service.
When the Archbishop of Paris was obliged to fly in 1792 in order to save his life, he vested the Abbe Edgeworth with all his powers, making him his grand vicaire, and committed the great diocese to his care. In answer to the urgent entreaties of his friends to seek safety in Ireland or England, at this time, the abb^ replied: "Almighty God has baffled my meas- ures, and ties me to this land of horrors by chains I have not the liberty to shake off. The case is this: The wretched master [the king] charges me not to quit this country, as I am the priest whom he intends to prepare him for death. And should the iniquity of the nation commit this last act of cruelty, I must alsc prepare myself for death, as I am convinced the popu- lar rage will not allow me to survive an hour after the tragic scene ; but I am resigned. Could my life save him I would willingly lay it down, and I should not die in vain" (Letter to Mr. Maflfey, priest in London).
At last, on the 20th of January, 1793, he was sum- moned by the Executive Council to proceed to the Temple prison at the desire of " Louis Capet ", who was condemned to die on the following day. The abb^, having remained in the Temple all night, said Ma.ss in the king's apartment on the morning of the execution, sat beside him in the carriage on the way to the scaf-
