FOLENGO
124
FOLIGNO
In the forest of SenefFe the saint and his companions
fell into a trap set by bandits who inhabited that
solitude. They were slain, stripped, and their bodies
concealed. But they were recovered by St. Gertrude,
and when she had taken some relics of the saint his
body was borne to the monastery of Fosses, where it
was buried about 055.
Foillan was one of the numerous Irish travellers who in the course of the seventh century evangelized Bel- gium, bringing thither the liturgy and sacred vessels, founding prosperous monasteries, and sharing consid- erably in the propagation of the Faith in these coun- tries. Owing to the friendship which united him with Erconwald, Mayor of the Palace, and with the mem- bers of Pepin's family, Foillan played a preponderant part in Frankish ecclesiastical history, as shown by his share in the direction of Nivelles and by the founda- tion of the monastery of Fosses. It is not surprising, therefore, that he should be honoured and venerated both at Nivelles and Fosses and to find at Le Rceulx (Belgium) a monastery bearing his name. As late as the twelfth century the veneration in which he was held inspired Philippe Le Harvengt, Abbot of Bonne- Esp^rance, to compose a lengthy biography of the saint. He is the patron of Fosses, near Charleroi. In the Diocese of Namur his feast is celebrated on 31 October, in the Dioceses of Mechlin and Tournai on 5 November.
Additamentum Nivialense de Fuilano, ed. Krusch, in Mon. Germ. Hist,: Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, IV, 449-451; Acla SS., Vitce Foillani, October (ed. Palme), XIII, 383 sqq. An appreciation in Ghesquiere, Acta SS, Belgii (178.5), III, and Capgrave, Nova Legenda Angliw (London, 1516), 149-150; DE Buck, Commentarius proivius in Sanctum. Foillanum, Acta SS. (1883), October, XIII, 370-83, supplem., 922-25; Rous- seau, Vie de S, Feuitlien, eveque et martyr, patron de la viXle de Fosses (Lifege. 1739); Berliere, La plus ancienne vie de Saint Foillan in Revue Benedictine (1892), IX, 137-139; Krusch in Mon, Germ, Hist,: toe, cit„ 423 sqq.; Van der_ Essen, Etude critique et litteraire sur les Vita des saints Merovingiens de Van- cienne Belgique (Louvain, 1907), 149-161; Gougaud, Uceuvre des Scotti dans I Europe continentale in Revue d'Histoire Ecclesi- astique (1908), IX, 27-28; Stokes, Six Months in the Forests of France (London); Baring-Gould, Lives of the Saints, s. v.; Butler, Lives of the Saints; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints. L. VAN DER Essen.
Folengo, Teofilo, Italian poet, better known by his p.se>idonym of Merlin Coccaio or Cocai; b. at Mantua in 1496; d. at the monastery of Santa Croce in Campese in 1544. He received some training at the University of Bologna and then entered the Bene- dictine Order. In 1524 or 1525, either through enmity for his abbot, Ignazio Squareialupi, or because of a temporary impatience of monastic life, he divested himself of the habit and acted for a while as a private tutor. Then repenting of the step taken, he made overtures to his order for his readmission, which was granted in 15.34, only after he had done penance and had cleared himself of certain suspicions of heterodoxy. Three years later he became prior of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Ciambre in Sicily. He returned to the mainland in 1543. Folengo's fame rests chiefly on his " Baldus" which was first printed in 1517 in seven- teen books or Macaronicce, and was reprinted in 1521 with eight additional books. The work, epic in its tendencies, belongs to the category of burlesque com- positions in macaronic verse (that is in a jargon, made up of Latin words mingled with Italian words, given a Latin aspect), which had already been inaugurated by Tifi Odasi in his "Macaronea", and which, in a measure, marks a continuance of the goliardic tradi- tions of the Middle Ages. For the first edition of the "Baldus", Folengo had derived burlesque traits and types of person.ages from the chivalrous romances of Boiardo and Pulci. His second edition reveals, in the greater amplitude of its action, in the improved man- ner of .setting forth comic types, and in its generally better developed feeling for art, the autlun's nailing of the "Orlando Furioso" of Ariosto. However, the poem is a parody not only of the Italian chivalrous
romance but also of the Virgilian epic, and, in its latter
part, of Dante's " Divine Comedy " as well. Further-
more, it is grossly satirical in its treatment of the clergy
and at times borders on the sacrilegious. In view of the
general nature of the work, it is easily intelligible that
it should have appealed to Rabelais, who found in it
the prototype of his Panurge " and his " Gargantua".
Among the lesser works of Folengo are the " Zani- tonella", which parodies both the Virgilian pastoral and the Petrarchian love-lyric; the "Orlandino" (1526), which gives in Italian octaves a burlesque account of the birth and youth of Roland ; the curious "Caos del Triperuno" (1527), which in verse and prose and in mingled Latin, Italian, and Macaronic speech, sets forth allegorically the author's own previ- ous heretical leanings and finally states his confession of faith ; and the "Moschsea", which in three books of Macaronic distichs relates, somewhat after the fash- ion of the "Batrachiomachia", as well as of the chivalrous romances, the victory of the ants over the flies, and preludes the Italian mock-heroic poem of the seventeenth century. After his return to his order, Folengo wrote only religious works, such as the Latin poem "Janus", wherein he expresses his repentance for having written his earlier venturesome composi- tions; the "Palermitana", in Italian Icrza rima; and the " Hagiomachia ", which, in Latin hexameters, de- scribes especially the lives of eighteen saints.
PoRTlOLl, Le opere maccheroniche di Merlin Cocai (Mantua, 1882-1889); Lnzio and Renda in Giomale storico, XIII, XIV, XXIV; Renda, Studi Folenghiani (Florence, 1899); Schnee- gans, GeKchichte der grotesken Satire (Strasburg, 1894); Fla- MlNl, // Cinquecento, extensive bibliography on pp. 544 sqq.
J. D. M. FoED. Foley, John S. See Detroit, Diocese of.
Foley, Patrick. See Kildare and Leighlin, Diocese of.
Foligno, Angela de. See Angela of Foligno.
Foligno, Diocese of (Fulginatensis), in the prov- ince of Perugia, Italy, immediately subject to the Holy See. The city, situated on the river Topino, was founded on the site of the ancient Christian cemetery surrounding the basilica of San Feliciano, outside the ancient city of Fulginium, which, after the battle on the Esinus (295 b. c), was annexed to Rome. The splendour of the ancient city is attested by numerous ruins of temples, aqueducts, circuses, etc. In the municipal museum of Foligno is a large collection of household utensils of the Roman and Umbrian pe- riods. Mention must also be made of the Foligno " Hercules ", a famous statue now in the Louvre at Paris. After the Lombard invasion (565) the city formed part of the Duchy of Spoleto, with which, in the eighth century, it came into the possession of the Holy See. During the thirteenth century it was Ghibelline, but in 1305 the Guelphs under Nello Trinci expelled the Ghibellines with their leader Cor- rado Anastasi ; thenceforth until 1439 the Trinci gov- erned the city as the pope's vicars. In 1420 their rule was extended to Assisi, Spello, Bevagna, Nocera, Trevi, Giano, and Montefalco.
Art and literature flourished vigorously at Foligno. Evidence of this may still be seen in the 'Trinci palace, with its magnificent halls decorated by Ottaviano Nelli, Gentile da Fabriano, and others. Better pre- served is the chapel, on the ceiling of which is pictured the life of the Blessed Virgin; in the adjoining room the story of Romulus and Remus is depicted. An- other room is called "The Hall of Astronomy"; the largest is "The Hall of the Giants", so called from its immense portraits of personages of Biblical and Ro- man history. This splemlid edifice has unfortunately Ijeen disgracefully neglected and now serves as a court of justice, prison, etc. At the court of the Trinci, es- pecially Nicole"*, were many tlistinguished poets, e. g. Mastro Paolo da I'oligno, Fra Tommasuccio da No-
