GEOFFREY
427
GEOFFREY
of comparatively recent introduction, though in some
cases they replace a prostration that was usual, in
ancient times, when the same sacred words were
solemnly uttered (see, for instance, in regard to the
" Et incarnatus", the curious passage in the work of
Radulphus Tongrensis (De can. observ.). The Car-
thusian custom of bending the knee, yet so as not to
touch the ground, is curious; and has interest from
the historical point of view as testifying to the reluc-
tance formerly felt by many to the modern practice of
genuflecting. See also the Decree of the S. Cong, of
Rites (n. 3402) of 7 July, 1S7G, insisting that women
as well as men must genuflect before the Blessed Sacra-
ment. The simple bending of the knee, unlike pros-
tration, cannot be traced to sources outside Christian
worship. Thus, the pagan and classical gesture of
adoration consisted in the standing before the being
or thing to be worshipped, in putting the right hand
to the mouth (ad ora), and in turning the body to the
right. The act of falling down, or prostration, was
introduced in Rome when the Ca?sars brought from
the East the Oriental custom of worshipping the em-
perors in this manner as gods. "Caium Ciesarem
adorari ut deum constituit cum reversus ex Syria non
aliter adire ausus esset quam capite velato circum-
vertensque se, deinde procumbens" (Suet., Vit., ii).
The liturgical rules for genuflecting are now very defi-
nite. (1) All genuflect (bending both knees) when
adoring the Blessed Sacrament unveiled, as at Ex-
positions. (2) All genuflect (bending the right knee
only) when doing reverence to the Blessed Sacrament,
enclosed in the Tabernacle, or lying upon the corporal
during the Mass. Mass-servers are not to genuflect,
save when the Blessed Sacrament is at the altar
where Mass is being said (cf. Wapelhorst, injra). The
same honour is paid to a relic of the True Cross when
exposed for public veneration. (3) The clergy in lit-
urgical functions genuflect on one knee to the cross
over the high altar, and like%vise in passing before the
bishop of the diocese when he presides at a ceremony.
From these genuflexions, however, an officiating
priest, as also all prelates, canons, etc., are dispensed,
bowing of the head and shoulders being substituted
for the genuflexion. (4) On Good Friday, after the
ceremony of the Adoration of the Cross, and until Holy
Saturday, all, clergy and laity alike, genuflect in pass-
ing before the unveiled cross upon the high altar.
Hefele, Hist, des Conciles, I (Paris, 1907), 618; Bona, lie- rum Lilurgicarum tibri duo; Martene, De Antiquis Ecclesite Ritibus (Rouen, 1700-02); Van der Stappen, Sacra Liluraia (Mechlin, 1904): Merati, Commentar. in Gavantum, I, bk. XV, etc.); Thurston in The Month (Oct., 1897); Ephemerides Litur- gical. II, 583; XVI, 82; XIX, 16; Bingham, Ecclesiastical Antiquities, XIII, viii, sect. 3 (London, 1875); Hook, Church Dictionary, 424 sqq. (ed. 1S59); Scudamors in Diet. Christ. Antiq., s. V. (London, 1893); Riddle, Christian Antiquities, IV, i, 4; Warren. Anie-Nicene Church, ch. ii, 17 (London, 1897);LECLERcq, Man. d'Archeol. Chrct. (Paris, 1907); Wapel- horst, Comp. sac. liturg. (New Yorlc, 1904) ; Baltimore Cere- monial. F. Thom.\s Bergh.
Geoffrey of Clairvaux, a disciple of St. Bernard, was b. between the years 1115 and 1120, at Auxerre; d. some time after the year 1 1S8, probably at the alibey of Haute Combe, Savoy. At an early age he entered the ranks of the clergy, and followed for some time the course of lectures given by Abclard. In 1 140 St. Ber- nard of Clairvaux came to Paris, and before the as- sembled scholars preached a sermon " Ue conversione ad clericos" (P. L., CLXXXII, 8-32 sqq.), in which he dwelt on the vanities of a life in the world, on the ne- cessity of a sincere conversion, and on the peace to be found in the monastic profession. Geoffrey was so struck by this forcible discourse that, with several others, he followed St. Bernard and joined the monas- tic commimity of Clairvau.x. Soon he won the special confidence of the saintly abbot, became his nolarius, or .secretary, and his permanent companion. In 1 14.5 he accompanied him to Toulouse and other cities of Southern France, where the saint preached against
the Manichtean or Albigensian heresy of a certain
Henry and his partisans. During the years 1146-47
he travelled with St. Bernard through France and
Germany, where the saint aroused the people for a
crusade to the Holy Land. At the council held at
Reims in 1148 he took an active part in the discussion
concerning the errors of Gilbert de la Porree. In 1 159
he was made abbot of the monastery of Igny in the
Diocese of Reims, and in 1162 he became the fourth
Abbot of Clairvaux. Owing to difficulties with the
monks, he was forced to resign in 1 165 ; but in 1 170 he
was appointed to the abbey of Fossa Nuova in the dio-
cese of Terracina, Italy, and in 1176 to that of Haute
Combe, Savoy. In the political events of the time he
had only a small share; thus, in 1167 and 1168, he
took part in the negotiations tending towards the
reconciliation of Alexander III (1159-81) with the
Emperor Frederic Barbarossa (1152-90) and King
Henry II of England (1154-89).
Most of the literary activity of Geoffrey has refer- ence to the life antl work of St. Bernard. Thus, while still nolarius of the saint, he collected the letters of his abbot, variously estimated at 243 or 310 (P. L., CLXXXII, 67 sqq.). He was the chief author of a life of St. Bernard in five books, furnishing materials for the first two books, revising them, and adding three of his own (P. L., CLXXXV, 225 sqq.). He also wrote fragments of a life of St. Bernard, probably used in the first books of the complete hfe (P. L., CLXXXV, 523 sqq.) ; an account of the saint's journey to Tou- loiLse, in a letter to his teacher Archenfredus (P. L., CLXXXV, 410 sqq.); an account of the saint's jour- ney through Germany, the third part of the sixth book of St. Bernard's life in P. L., CLXXXV, 395 sqq. (this description and the parts in the life of St. Ber- nard relating to Germany were edited also by Waitz, inMon.Germ. Hist.: Script., XXVI, 109-20, 133-37); a panegyric delivered in 1163 on the anniversary of St. Bernard's death (in P. L., CLXXXV, 573 sqq.); "Declamationes de colloquio Simonis cumjesu"(in P. L., CLXXXIV, 437 sqq), an ascetical work com- piled from the sermons of St. Bernard; "Libellus contra capitula Gilberti Pictaviensis Episcopi" (in P. L., CLXXXV, 595 sqq.), a refutation of the errors of Gilbert de la Porrge; a letter to Albinus, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, on the same subject (in P. L., CLXXXV, 587 sqq.) ; a life of St. Peter, Archbishop of Tarentaise (1175), published in Acta Sanctorum Boll., May, II, 330 sqq. ; a letter to the above-named Cardinal of Albano, as to whether the water added to the wine in the chalice is changed into the blood of Our Lord (Baronius, Ann. Eccl., ad an. 118S, n. 27); sermons and commentaries on books of Scripture, partly in print and partly manuscript.
HOffer. Der hi. Bernard van Clairvaux (Munster, 1886): Vacandard, Vie de St. Bernard, I (3rd ed., Paris, 1902); Streber in Kirchenlex.,s.v. Gottfried von Clairvaux; Deutsch in Realencyklopddie, s. v. Gottfried von Clairvaux.
Francis J. Schaefer.
Geoffrey of Dunstable, also known as Geof- frey OF GoRiiAM, Abbot of St. Alban's, d. at St. Al- ban's, 26 Feb., 1146. He was a scholar from the province of Maine, then annexed to the Dukedom of Normandy, who was invited by Richard, Abbot of St. Alban's, to become master of the abbey- school. On his arrival, he found that owing to his long delay another had been appointed, whereupon he opened a school at Dunstable. Having borrowed some copes from St. Alban's Abbey for a miracle play to be acted by his scholars, he had the misfortune to lose his house and all its contents by fire on the evening after the performance. To make up to God and the saint for the loss of the copes, he determined to become a monk of St. Alban's Abl)ey. Here he rose to be prior, and finally was elected abbot on the death of Richard, in 1119. He ruled firmly for twenty-six years, and the abbey prospered under his wise admin-
