Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/175

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137

FORLI


137


FORM


lished by many newspapers in 1905, authorized the marriage of priests in South America, but no one placed any credence in it. (See Bt'LLs and Briefs.) All canonical commentaries on the title De crimine falsi; Decret.. lib. V, tit. XX; Eitravag. of John XXII and com- mentar.v: Ferraris, Prompta Bihliothera, s. v. Falsum; all commentaries on the Constitution Aposlolicm Sedis, especially Pennachi, t. I, appendix VIII, p. 293.

A. BoUDINHON.

Forli, Diocese of (Fouoliviensis), in the province of Romagna (Central Italy), suffragan of Ravenna. The city of Forli, the ancient Forum Livii, is situated between the rivers Ronco and Montone, and was founded in 206 B.C. by the consul M.Livius Salinator; destroyed SS b. c. during the civil war of Marius and Sulla; and rebuilt by the pr^tor Livius Clodius. During the seventh and eighth centuries it was often seized by the Lombards (005, 728, 742), until its in- corporation with the Papal States in 757. In the medieval struggle between the papacy and the em- pire it was Ghibelline. On the downfall of the Hohenstaufen, Siraone Mestaguerra had himself pro- claimed Lord of Forli (1257). He was succeeded by Maghinardo Pagano, Uguccione della Faggiuola (1297), and others, until in 1302 the Ordelaffi came into power. More than once this family sought to escape from the overlordship of the Holy See, and was therefore several times expelled, e. g. in 1327-29 and again in 1359-1375 (Gil d'Albornoz). Forli was seized in 1488 by Visconti and in 1499 by Ca?sar Bor- gia, after whose death it v/as again directly subject to the pope. In 1708 it was sacked by the Austrians.

St. Mercurialis is venerated as the first bishop, and is said to belong to the Apostolic Age; it is cer- tain, however, that he is identical with the Mer- curialis present at the Council of Rimini in 359. The Christian religion, however, must have been introduced, and a see established, much earlier. Among the illustrious bishops the following may be enumerated; Ales.sandro (1160), who built the epis- copal palace; Fra Bartolomeo da Sanzetto (1351), compelled to flee by Francesco degli Ordelaffi; Gio- vanni Capparelli (1427), banished by Antonio degli Ordelaffi ; L^uigi Pirano (1437), who took an active part in the Council of Ferrara. The following were natives of Forli: Blessed Jacopo Salomonio (d. 1314), a Do- minican ; Blessed Pellegrino Laziosi (d. 1345), a Servite ; Blessed Marcolino Amanni (d. 1397), a Dominican. The Cathedral of Santa Croce existed as early as 562; in 1419 Martin V ordered restorations that were com- pleted in 1475; and it was again enlarged in 1841. A noteworthy part of the cathedral is the chapel of the Madonna del Fuoco ; the sacred image contained there was formerly in a private house, where it remained unharmed during a fire. Also worthy of mention are: the church of San Mercuriale, with its celebrated bell- tower, the work of Francesco Deddi (1428); San Biagio, with frescoes by Melozzo da Forli and Palme- giani, and an "Immaculate Conception" by Guido Reni; Santa Maria dei servi (built by Blessed Pelle- grino, buried there), with frescoes of the school of Giotto. The seminary has a rich collection of 500 Aldine first editions and of pictures. Near Forli is the shrine of Santa Maria delle Grazie of Forno. The dio- cese has 01 parishes, 60,000 inhabitants, 3 male and 6 female educational institutions, 4 religious houses of men, and 7 of women, and a weekly Catholic paper.

Cappelletti, Le Chiese cC Italia (Venice, 1844). II, 307-67; Marchebi. Compendium histoT. celeberrimiB civitatis Forliviensis (Forli 1678); Rosetti, V ite degli uomini illustri ForlivesHFoM, 1858-61).

U. Benigni.

Form (Lat. forma; Gr. eUos, /lop^ri, i} Kara. t4>'\67oi' Olio-fa, t6 tI fjv eTrai; .\ristotle). — The original meaning of the term jorm, both in Greek and Latin, was and is that in common use — elSos (derived from el^oi, root fiS, an obsolete form from which comes the second


aorist Mov, I see, akin to Latin video), being trans- lated, that which is seen, shape, etc., with secondary meanings derived from this, as form, sort, particular, kind, nature. It is also used by Plato to express kind, both as genus and species. From the primary and common signification given above, an easy tran- sition is made to that in which it comes to signify the intrinsic determinant of quantity, from which figure or shape results, and thence to the further peripatetic and scholastic usage as the intrinsic determinant of anything that is determinable. Thus the term is em- ployed even in such expressions as " form of contract", "form of worship", and as theological form, "form of words" (the theological statement of dogmatic truth); sacramental form (see below). In its more strict philosophical usage, however, it is limited to its signi- fication of the intrinsic principle of existence in any determinate essence. This covers form, whether acci- dental or substantial. But there is a further extended use of the term form, derived from the fact that in all its previous significations it stands for the intrinsic con- stitutive element of the species, accidental or substan- tial, in sensible entities. Hence, all species or nature, whether in itself material or existent as immaterial, is called a form, though not, in the strict meaning of the term, a formal principle. In this manner, it is not un- usual to speak of the angelic form, or even of the form of God, as signifying the nature, or essence, of the angel or of God. Hence, form is sometimes also used as a synonjTn of essence and nature. Thus also the form, or formal cause of Aristotle's theory of causality, is identified with the essence (t6 t( ^v ehai), as the form is that in virtue of which the essence, even of ma- terial and composite entities, is precisely what it is. This point will be further considered in the paragraph treating of the development of the idea of form.

The various kinds of form recognized in philosophy include the following, of which brief definitions are given. Substantial form, in material entities, is that which determines or actuates materia prima (see Mat- ter) to a specific substantial nature or essence, as the form of hydrogen, a rose, horse, or man. It is defined by Aristotle as the first entelechy of a physical body (DeAnima,II,i), and may be of such a nature that it is merely the determinant of matter (corporeal substan- tial form), or it may exceed, as it were, the potentiality of the determined matter (spiritual or subsistent form). Accidental form is that which determines a substance to one or other of the accidental modes as quantified, qualified, relationed, etc. (see Category). As the existence of an " accident " is a secondary one, consists ing in an inexistence of inherence, an e.xistent sub- stance, as subject of inherence, is always connoted. A separated form is one which exists apart from the matter it actuates. No accidental form can thus ex- ist, nor can corporeal substantial forms. The sep- arated form is that of man — the human soul. Inher- ent form is an accidental form modifying or determin- ing substance. The term is employed to emphasize the distinction of accidental from substantial forms. These latter do not inhere in matter, but are co-princi- ples with it in the constitution of material substances. Forms of knowledge, according to Kant, are forms of (1) intuition (space and time), and (2) thought (the twelve categories in which all judgments are condi- tioned: unity, plurality, totality; reality, negation, limitation; substantiality, causality, relation; possi- bility, existence, necessity). They are all a priori and under them, as content, fall all our intuitions and judgments. The logical system of Kant is generally known as "formal" logic, from this connexion. So also that of Herbart, whose logical treatment of thought consists in the isolation of the content from its psychological and metaphysical implications. The point is related to the whole subject of epistemology (q. v.). The attempt to ascertain the nature, extent, and validity of knowledge was made by Kant through