Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/532

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464

GERACE


464


GERAMB


time, all the events being named in the year in which they happened. The text is continually interrupted by long tables of dates, so that Krumbacher describes it as being " rather a great historical list [GeschichtMa- belle] with added explanations, than a universal his- tory" (Byzantinisehe Litteratur, 2nd ed., Munich, 1897, 340). The author has taken most trouble over the Bible history, the chronology of the life of Christ and the New Testament. For later times he is con- tent with a compilation from Eusebius (Church His- tory and Canon) and one or two other historians (the Alexandrines Panodorusand Annianus especially; see Gelzer, op. cit. infra). He took trouble to secure good manuscripts of the Septuagint and did some respect- able work as a critic in collating them. He also quotes Greek Fathers — Gregory Nazianzen and Chrys- ostom especially. His interest is always directed in the first place to questions of chronology. The " Ex- tract of Chronology" has merit. Krumbacher counts it as the best work of its kind in Byzantine literature (op. cit., 341). That the author thinks the Septua- gint more authentic than the Hebrew text — of which he could read nothing at all — is a harmless and inevit- able weakness in a Greek monk. Georgius Syncel- lus's chronicle was continued by his friend Theophanes Confessor {Qeocpdvris o/j.o'XoyrjTri?). Anastasius Bibli- othecari us composed a "Historia tripartita" in Latin, from the chronicle of Syncellus, Theophanes, and Nicephorus the Patriarch (806-815). This work, written between 873 and 875 (Anastasius was papal librarian), spread Syncellus's chronological ideas in the West also. In the East his fame was gradually over- shadowed by that of Theophanes.

GoAR publi.shed the ec/i7io pnnceps; Georgiimonachi . . . Sijn- ceili ckronographia et NicephoH PatriarchcE Constantinopolis bre- viarium chronographicum (Paris, 1652). Dindorf reprinted Goar's edition (2 vols., Bonn, 1S29). Teubner, at Leipzig, announces a new one in liis Scriptores sacri et profani series, that was to be edited by Gelzer (d. 1906) and Keichhardt. Gei^ EER, Sexlus Julius Africanus (1SS5), 11, I, 176-249. Further literature in Krumbacher, Byzantinisehe LilteratuT (2nd ed., Munich, 1S97), 339-342.

Adrian Fortescue.

Gerace, Diocese of (Hieracensis), in the prov- ince of Rcggio in Calabria (Southern Italy), on a lofty site overlooking the Ionian Sea, not far from Cape Spartivento. The city probably owes its origin, or at least its importance, to the ruin of the town of Locri Epizephyrii, one of the earliest Greek colonies in Lower Italy, founded by the Ozolian Locrians (684- 680 B. c.) and endowed with a code of laws by Zaleu- cus. Through its advanced civilization and its trade Locri Epizephyrii was brought into prominence. It suffered much during the wars of Dionysius the Younger and of Pyrrhus, and in the Second Punic War, when it passed into the hands of the Romans, re- taining, however, the ancient constitution of Zaleucus. Its decay dates from this period. Before its total ruin, Locri Epizephyrii had a bishop of its own; but in 709, under Bishop Gregory, the see was transferred to Gerace.

The name Gerace is probably derived from Saint Cj'riaca, whose church was destroyed by the Saracens in 915. They captured the town in 986, but in 1059 it fell into the hands of the Normans. Until 1467 the Greek Rite was in use at Gerace, and such had probably been the custom from the beginning. As early as the thirteenth century efforts were made to introduce the Latin Rite, which accounts for the schism between Latins and Greeks about 1250-1253. The latter de- manded as bishop the monk Bartenulfo, a Greek, whereas Innocent IV, in 1253, appointed Marco Leone. In 1467, Bishop Atanasio Calceofilo introduced the Latin Rite. Among bishops of note are: Barlaam II (1342), Abbot of San Salvatore at Constantinople, and ambassador from the Emperor Andronicus to Bene- dict XII, apropos of the union of the two Churches. Barlaam at one time had opposed the idea, but later


recognized his error, and Clement VI bestowed on him the See of Gerace. He taught Greek to Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others, and was thus one of the first of the Italian humanists. Bishop Ottaviano Pasqua (1574) wrote a history of the diocese. Another bishop, tiiovanni Maria BcUetti (1625), wrote " Disquisitiones Clericales"; Giuseppe Maria Pellicano (1818) rebuilt the cathedral, destroyed by an earthquake in 1783. Gerace is a suffragan of Reggio; it has 69 parishes, and 132,300 souls; 1 religious house for men, and 3 for women.

C.tppELLETTi, he Chiese cC Italia (1S70), XXI. 165-71.

U. Benigni.

Gerald, Saint, BLshop of Mayo, an Enghsh monk, date of birth unknown; d. 13 March, 731; followed St. Colman, after the Synod of Whitby (664), to Ireland, and settled at Innisboffin, in 668. Dissen- sions arose, after a time, between the Irish and the English monks, and St. Cohnan decided to found a separate monastery for the thirty English brethren. Thus arose the Abbey of Mayo {Magh Eo, the yew plain), known as "Mayo of the Saxons", with St. Gerald as first abbot, in 670. St. Bede writes: "This monastery is to this day (731) occupied by English monks . . . and contains an exemplary body who are gathered there from England, and live by the labour of their own hands (after the man- ner of the early Fathers), under a rule and a canon- ical abbot, leading chaste and single Uves." Although St. Gerald was a comparatively young man, he proved a wise ruler, and governed Mayo until 697, when, it is said, he resigned in favour of St. Adamnan. Some authors hold that St. Adamnan celebrated the Roman Easter at Mayo, in 703, and then went to Skreen, in Hy Fiachrach, and that after his departure the monks prevailed on St. Gerald to resume the abbacy. The Saxon saint continued to govern the Abbey and Dio- cese of Mayo till his death. His feast is celebrated on 13 March. Mayo, though merged in Tuain for a time, remained a separate see until 1579.

CoLGAN, Acta Sanct. Hib. (Louvain, 1645), 13 March; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints (Dublin, s. d.), III. 13 March; Healy, Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum (4th ed., Dublin, 1902); Knox, Notes on the Diocese of Tuam (Dublin, 1904); Bede, Eccl. Hist, of England, ed. Plummer (London, 1907); Grattan-Flood, The Diocese and Abbey of Mayo in Ir. Eccl. Record, June, 1907.

W. H. Grattan-Flood.

Geraldton, Diocese op (Geraldtonensis), in Australia, established in 1898, comprises the territory lying between the southern boimdary of the Kimber- ley district and a line running eastward from the Indian Ocean along the 30th parallel of south latitude until it reaches the 120th degree of longitude, whence it follows the 29th degree of latitude to the south Australian border. It is a suffragan of Adelaide. There are 28 churches in the diocese, attended by 10 secular and 4 regular priests; 5 boarding and 12 pri- mary schools with 747 pupils in charge of 51 sisters. The Presentation nuns, who made a foundation from Ireland in 1890, have 28 sisters in 6 communities; Dominican nuns from Dunedin, New Zealand, arrived in 1899, and have 4 communities with 24 sisters. The first bishop of the see, Right Rev. William Bernard Kelly, was consecrated 14 August, 1898. The Bishop of Geraldton also has jurisdiction over the Vicariate of Kimberley.

Australian Catholic Directory (Sydney, 1909); The Sower (Geraldton, 1908).

Thomas F. Meehan.

Geramb, Baron Ferdinand de, in religion, Brother Mary Joseph, Abbot and procurator-general of La Trappe, came of a noble and ancient family in Him- gary; b. in Lyons, 14 Jan., 1772; d. at Rome,'l5 March, 1848. Some historians wrongfully call in question both the place and date of his birth, as also his noble