FILIAL
72
FILICAJA
Francesco Filelfc
Boloras, whose daughter he afterwards married, and
he was received with great favour by the Emperor
John Palseologus, by whom he was employed on sev-
eral important diplomatic missions. In 1427, receiving
an invitation to the chair of eloquence at Venice,
FileLfo returned there with a great collection of Greek
books. The following year he was called to Bologna,
and in 1429 to Florence, where he was received with
the gre:itest enthusiasm. During his five years' resi-
dence there he engaged in numerous quarrels with the
Florentine scholars and incurred the hatred of the
Medici, so that in 1434 he was forced to leave the city.
He went to Siena and later to Milan, where he was
welcomed by Filippo Maria Visconti, who showered
honours upon
him. Some years
later, after Milan
had been forcibly
entered by PVan-
cesco Sforza, Fil-
elfo wrote a his-
tory of Sforza's
life in a Latin epic
poem of sixteen
books, called the
"Sforziad". In
1474 he left Milan
to accept a pro-
fessorship at
P>ome, where, ow-
ing to a disagree-
ment with Sixtus
IV, he did not re-
main long. He
went back to
Milan, but left
there in 1481 to
teach Greek at
Florence, having
long before become reconciled with the Medici. He
died in poverty only a fortnight after his arrival.
The Florentines buried hira in the church of the An-
nunziata. Filelfo was the most restless of all the hu-
manists, as is indicated by the number of places at
which he taught. He was a man of indefatigable
activity, but arrogant, rapacious, fond of luxury,
and always ready to assail his literary rivals. His
writings include numerous letters (last ed. by Le-
grand, Paris, 1892), speeches (Paris, 1515), and
satires (Venice, 1502); besides many scattered pieces
in prose, published under the title "Convivia Mediola-
nensia", and a great many Latin translations from the
Greek. In both these languages he wrote with equal
fluency.
Symonds, Renaissance in Italy (New York, 1900), II: The Revival of Learning; Rosmint, Vila di Fr. Filelfo (3 vols., Milan, 1S08); Voigt, Die Wiederbelebimg des classischen Aller- Ihuma (Berlin, 1893). I; Sandv3. Hilary of Classical Scholar- ship (Cambridge, 1908). I. 55-57.
Edmdnd Burke.
Filial Church (Lat. fdialis, from filia, daughter), a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. As this dependence on the mother church may be of various degrees, the term filial church has naturally more than one signification as to minor details. Ordinarily, a filial church Ls a parish church which has been consti- tuted by the dismemberment of an older parish. Its rector is really a parish priest, having all the ei5.sential rights of such a dignity, but still bound to defer in cer- tain accidental matters to the pastor of the mother church. The marks of deference required are not so fixed that local custom may not change them. Such marks are: obtaining the baptismal water from the mother church, making a moderate offering of money (fixed l)y the bishop) to the parish priest of the mother church annually, and occasionally during the year
assisting with his parishioners ui a body at services in
the older church. In some places this last includes a
procession and the presentation of a wax. candle. If
the filial church has been endowed from the revenues of
the mother church, the parish priest of the latter has
the right of presentation when a pastor for the depen-
tlent church is to be appointed.
This term is also applied to churches established within the limits of an extensive parish, without any dismemberment of the parochial territory. The pas- tor of such a filial church is really only a curate or assistant of the parish priest of the mother church, and he is removable at will, except in cases where he has a benefice. The parish priest may retain to himself the right of performing baptism, assisting at marriages and similar offices in the filial church, or he may ordain that such functions be performed only in the parish church, restricting the services in the filial church to Mass and Vespers. In practice, however, the curates of such filial churches act as parish priests for their districts, although by canon law the dependence upon the pastor of the mother church remains of obligation, though all outward manifestation of subjection has ceased.
In the union of two parishes in the manner called "union by subjection", the less important of the parish churches may sink into a condition scarcely distmguishable from that of a filial church and be comprehended under this term. In other words, the parish priest may govern such a church by giving it over to one of his assistants. It is true that the sub- jected church does not lose its parochial rights, yet its dependence on the parish priest of another church and its administration by a vicar has led to its being in- cluded loosely under the designation filial church. Historically, this term has also been applied to those churches, often in different countries, founded by other and greater churches. In this sense the great patri- archal Sees of Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Constantinople established many filial churches which retained a special dependence upon the church found- ing them. The term Mother Church, however, as ap- plied to Rome, has a special significance as indicating its headship of all the churches.
AicHNER, Compendium Juris Ecel. (Brixen, 1895); Ferra- ris, Bibliolheca Canonica (Rome, 1886), III, s. v. Dismembra- tio; Laurentius, Institutiones Juris Canonici (Freiburg, 1903).
William H. W. Fanning.
Filicaja, Vincenzo da, lyric poet; b. at Florence, 30 Dec, 1642; d. there 24 Sept., 1707. At Pisa he was trained for the legal profession, which he later pur- sued, but during his academic career he devoted no little attention to philosophy, literature, and music. Returning to Florence, he was made a member of the Accademia della Crusca and of the Arcadia, and en- joyed the patronage of the illustrious convert to the Catholic faith, C'hristina, ex-Queen of Sweden, who with her purse helped to lighten his family burdens. A lawyer and magistrate of integrity, he never at^ tained to wealth. His probity and ability, however, were acknowledged by those in power, and he was appointed to several public offices of great trust. Thus, already a senator by the nomination of Grand Duke Cosmo III, he was chosen governor of Volterra in 1696, and of Pisa in 1700, and then was given the important post of Segretario delle Tratte at Florence. An ardent Catholic, he not infrequently gives expres- sion to his religious feeling in his lyrics, which, even though they may not entitle him to rank among the greatest of Italian poets, will always attract attention because of their relative freedom from the literary vices of the time, the bombast, the exaggerations and obscurity of Marinism. Notable among his composi- tions are the odes or canzoni, which deal with the raising of the siege of Vienna by John Sobieski, when in 16S.J it was beleaguered by the Turks, and the son- nets in which he bewails the woes of Italy whose beauty
