FRIGENTO
307
FRINGES
of the Free Spirit. On his part, Tauler opposed the
false mysticism of the Fraticelli and the schismatical
tendencies of Louis of Bavaria. But the glory of the
"Gottesfreunde" soon came to an end. A lay mem-
ber of the association, Rulman Merswin, through
either ignorance or fraud, brought the whole group of
German mystics into disrepute. The doctrine of his
alleged guide and master in the spiritual life — the
mysterious layman of the Oberland (Der Gottesfreund
vom Oberland), the "Friend of God" par eicellence,
to whom Merswin, in his posthumous work " Das Buch
von den neun Felsen", ascribes revelations, prophe-
cies of impending chastisements, and a divine mission
to purify the Church — was diametrically opposed to
that of Suso, Tauler, and the others. Denifle has
proved conclusively that Merswin's great unknown is
a myth, but, as the " Great Friend of God " had pre-
viously been regarded as the reformer of the hierarchy
and a precursor of Luther, the reclu.se of the Oberland
(Alsace) was much lauded and often quoted by those
Protestant writers who asserted that true German
mysticism was incompatible with Roman supremacy,
scholastic theology, etc. After Rulman Merswin's
death, Nicholas of Basle became the leader of the
pseudo-Friends of God, but was eventually condemned
as a Beghard and burned at Vienna in 1409. Another
prominent member of this sect, his disciple Martin of
Mainz, had suffered a like punishment sixteen years
before in Cologne, for submitting unreservedly to a lay-
man and maintaining several heretical propositions.
From the beginning of the fifteenth century, the
" Friends of God ", whether orthodox or heterodox, dis-
appear from the pages of history. (See T.\tiLER, John ;
Henry Suso, Bl.; Nichol.vs of Basle; Mysticism.)
Hergenrother-Kirsch. Kirchengesch. (Freiburg, 1904), II, 790 sqq.; Denifle in Zeitschrift f. deutsches Altertum (ISSO- 1881); Idem, Das Buch von der geistlichen Armuth (Munich, 1S87); Ehrle in Stimmm mis Maria-Laach (1881), XXI, 38, 252; Greith. Die deutsche Mystik im Predigerorden (Freiburg, 1861); Das Buch von den neun Felsen von R. Merswin (Leipzig, 1859); Jdndt, Les amis de Dieu au XIV' siede (Paris, 1879); Idem, Rulman Merswin et Vami de Dieu de V Oberland (Paris, 1890); Bevan, Three Friends of God: Records from the lives of John Tauler, Nicholas of Basle, and Henry of Suso (London, 1887); BoHRlNGER, Die deutschen Mystiker (2nd ed., Zurich, 1877); Tauler, Predigten (Leipzig. 1498. and Cologne. 1543); SuRlus, Latin Paraphrase of same (Cologne. 1548); Die deutschen Hchriften des seligen Heinrich Sense, ed. Denifle (Munich. 1880). On Rulman Merswin, in particular, see.SxRAUCH in the Realencyklopadie far prot. Theol., XVII. 203; Bihlmeyer in Buchberger's Kirchl. Handlex., s. v. Gottesfreunde and Mersu-in.
Reginald Walsh.
Frigento. See Avellino, Diocese of.
Frigolet, .\bbey of. — The monastery of St. Mich- ael was founded, about 960, at Frigolet, by Conrad the Pacific, King of Aries, on one of the numerous hills which lie between Tarascon and Avignon, France. Successively occupied by the Benedictines of Mont- majour, the Augustinians, the Hieronymites, and fin- ally by the Reformed Augustinians, it was, together with all the monasteries in France, suppressed and sold by the French Republic. From that time it changed hands frequently, and was acquired, at length, by Rev. Eilmund Boulbon, who purchased it from Rev. T. Delestrac. Edmund Boulbon, b. 14 January, 1817, entered the Abbey of Our Lady of La Trappe at Briquebec, in 1850. Of a robust faith, and burning with zeal for souls, he wished to lead a more active life. Acting on the advice of his superiors, he left the Trap- pists and undertook the restoration, in France, of the Order of St. Norbert, the constitution of which seemed to be better adapted to his active disposition. On June, feast of St. Norbert, he received the white habit from the hands of Mgr de Gassignies, Bishop of Soissons, at Pr^montre. Pius IX approved the project in an audience which he granted to Father Edmund, 4 December, 1856. With the consent of Mgr de Chalandon, Archbishop of Aix, Father Edmund took possession of Frigolet, and, having admitted several novices, he commenced the community life there. In
honour of Our Lady Conceived without Sin he erected
a magnificent church, which was solemnly consecrated
on 6 Oct., 1866. The monastery was canonically
erected as a priory on 28 August, 1868; and as an
abbey in Sept., 1869, the Right Rev. Edmund Boul-
bon being its first abbot. On 8 Nov., 1880, the abbey
of Frigolet was seized and the religious expelled.
Eventually, however, they were permitted to return.
Abbot Boulbon was spared the miseries of a second
expulsion, for he died 2 March, 1883.
His successor, Paulinus Boniface, named abbot on 10 June, 1883, undid by his bad administration the good work so nobly begun by Abbot Boulbon; but after a canonical visitation by Mgr Gouthe-Soulard, Archbishop of ALx, he was deposed, and the direction of the abbey entrusted to the Rev. Denis Bonnefoy, a prudent and saintly religious. Up to this time, "the Abbey of Frigolet, with the priories founded by it, had formed as it were a separate congregation with an organization of its own, having no connexion with the other abbeys or the general chapter of the order. This state of affairs was remedied by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Ilegulars, dated 17 Sept., 1898; and the congregation of Frigolet was incor- porated with the order. Unfortunately, the Right Rev. Denis Bonnefoy, who was made abbot on 21 March, 1899, died on 20 Sept. of the same year. The religious of Frigolet chose for their abbot Godfrey Madelaine, then prior of the Abbey of Mondaye, Cal- vados, France, the distinguished author of " L'histoire de S. Norbert" and other books. Meanwhile the French Republic had framed new laws against all religious institutions, and on 5 April, 1903, the relig- ious, expelled from their abbey, took refuge in Bel- gium. There, having bought what was left of the former Norbertine Abbey of Leffe near Dinant, they restored it; and continued in the conventual life, in the hope that some day the fathers might be per- mitted to return to France. The Abbey of Frigolet had founded the priories of Conques and Etoile in France, and of .Storrington and Bedworth in Eng- land. It has also sent missionaries to Madagascar. F. M. Geitdens.
Fringes (in Scripture). — This word is used to denote a special kind of trimming, consisting of loose threads of wool, silk, etc., or strips of other suitable material, along the edge of a piece of cloth. The Eng- lish Bible uses it to designate a particular appendage of the Jewish costume. In the Mosaic legislation, which is embodied in the Pentateuch, mention is made of a peculiar ordinance. " The Lord also said to Moses: Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them to make to themselves fringes in the corners of their garments, putting in them ribands of blue: that when they shall see them, they may remember all the commandments of the Lord" (Num., xv, 37-39). " Thou shalt make strings [A. V. and R. V. : fringes] in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak" (Deut., xxii, 12). The description contained in these two passages is anything but clear, at least in the English Bibles; but it may be supplemented by a close reading of the original text, a knowledge of Eastern customs, and the details to be found in the rabbinical literature.
The word " fringes " is here an inaccurate rendering of the Hebrew; "strings" is slightly more exact. The Hebrew word gedilim means literally " twisted cords " ; fffii/i would be best translated by "tassel". It is indeed an ornament of this description, fastened to the four corners of the upper garment, which is the object of the above regulations. This upper garment, the "cloak" of Deut., xxii, 12, seems to have been a large square piece of cloth, resembling the 'aba of the mod- ern bedouin, and worn like the pallium or l/j-inov of the Greeks, the four corners sometimes hanging in front {iirlfi\r}iia), and sometimes one of the corners cast over the left shoulder (irepi/SXij^a). It was very
