HERMITE
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HERMITE
Hermes' doctrines, in the "Katholik", 1825. But
the controversy became sharp and bitter when Pope
Gregory XVI, in a Brief of 26 September, 1S35, con-
demned the Hermesian system and placed both
"Introductions" as well as the first part of the "Dog-
matik" on the Index. The same fate befell the second
and third parts of the "Dogmatik" in a decree of 7
January, 1836. Prior to the issuing of this condemna-
tion, the Holy See, at the solicitation of several Ger-
man bishops, advised by Windischmann and Binterim
among others, had ordered the most thorough investi-
gation possible. Prominent theologians, such as
Reisach, director of studies in the Propaganda and
later cardinal, and Father Perrone, the Jesuit dog-
matist, were entrusted with the task of examining
Hermesian doctrines. The papal Brief characterized
the theological errors of Hermesianism as "false, rash,
captious, leading to scepticism and indifferentism,
erroneous, scandalous, harmful to Catholic schools,
suljversive of Divine faith, savouring of heresy, and
already condemned by the Church". The decree
expressly designated the doctrinal points in which
Hermes had diverged from the Catholic Church,
namely: on the nature and rule of faith; on Holy
Writ and tradition. Revelation, and the teaching
office of the Church; the nioliva credibilitatis, the
proofs of the existence of God, and the doctrines con-
cerning the nature, holiness, justice, and freedom of
God, and His ultimate purpose in His works ad extra;
on the necessity of grace and its bestowal; on the
reward and punishment of men; on the original state
of our first parents; on original sin and on the powers
of man in the fallen state.
The Hermesians tried to weaken the force of the impression produced by this unexpectetl condemna- tion and to prevent the carrying out of the Brief. In fact, they succeeded in inducing the Prussian Govern- ment to forbid the publication of the Brief, and Hiis- gen. Vicar Capitular of Cologne, enjoined "strict silence" on his clergy in respect to the condemnation, on the pretext that the document had not come to him in the regular course of official procedure, through the Prussian Government. On the contrary, the new Archbishop of Cologne, Clement August von Droste- Vischering, former Vicar-General of Munster, de- manded the submission of the theological professors at Bonn, forbade theological students to attend the lectures of recusant professors, and compelled the clergy, on their appointment, to repudiate the Her- mesian errors in eighteen theses. Although it was not in sympathy with the archbishop's measures, the Prussian Government, on 21 April, 1837, for- bade the theological professors at Bonn, as well as the philosopher Windischmann and the canonist Walter, to take part in any controversy on the subject of Hermesianism. The Bonn professors, Braun and Elvenich, made a last attempt to vindicate the system, journeying to Rome in May, 1837, in order to prevail upon the pope to withdraw the condemnation by emphasizing the (Jansenist) distinclio juris el facti. The repeated personal interviews they had with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Lambruschini, and with the General of the Jesuits, Father Roothan, who had been entrusted with their case, were just as fruitless as was their comprehensive treatise on Hermesianism entitled: "Meletemata theologica", which was handed Isack to them unopened (printed, in Latin, at Leipzig, in 18.39; in German, at Cologne, in 1839, under the title " Theologische Studien"). After their return in April, 1S3S, they both gave a one-sided version of their unsuccessful mission in the monograph "Acta Romana" (printed at Hanover and Leipzig, 1838).
Most of the Hermesians now gave up their cause for lost and submitted, some of them spontaneously, and some at the demand of their bishops. Thanks to the energetic action of Cardinal-Archbishop von Geissel of Cologne in particular, Hermesianism was completely
eradicated, and in 1860 even the most stubborn Her-
mesians, Braun and Achterfeldt, returned to their
allegiance. Since their dismissal from their academic
professorships in 1844, they had for a long time con-
tinued their defence of Hermesianism in their period-
ical and in polemical pamphlets, but they had only a
few followers. The Vatican Council, with special
reference to the doctrines of Hermes (cf. Cone. Coll.
Lac, VII, 166d, lS4bc), in the "Constitutio de fide
catholica", cap. iii, can. v, defined the freedom of the
act of faith and the necessity of grace for faith (see
Denzinger-Bannwart, 1814).
A complete bibliography on Hermes and Hermesianism is furnished in Gla, Repertorium dfr katliolisch-theologischen Lit- eratur, I (Paderbom, 1904), ii, 355-70; Werner, Geschichte der kalholischen Theoloffie (1S89), 405 sqq., 423 sqq. ; Bruck, Geschichte der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland im neumehn- len Jakrhundert, II (1903), 496 sqq.; Reusch in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic, XII, 192 sqq.: Kessel in Kirchenlei., s. v. ; ScHMlD-TscHACKERT in Protestantische Rcatencyklopddie, VII,
750 sqq. Joseph Schtjlte.
Hermite, Ch.\rle.s, b. at Dieuze, Lorraine, 24 December, 1822; d. at Paris, 14 January, 1901 ; one of the greatest mathematicians of the nineteenth century. He studied at the College de Nancy and then, in Paris, at the College Henri IV and at the College Louis-le- Grand. As a boy he read some of the writings of Lagrange on the solution of numerical equations, and of Gauss on the theory of numbers. In 1842, his first original contribution to mathematics, in which he gave a simple proof of the proposition of Abel con- cerning the impossibility of obtaining an algebraic solution for the equation of the fifth degree, was pub- lished in the "Nouvelles Annales de Math^matiques". The same year he entered the Ecole Polytechnique, where he remained as a student but one year. A correspondence with Jacobi, liegun in 1843 and con- tinued in 1844, led to the insertion, in the complete edition of Jacobi's works, of two articles by Hermite, one concerning the extension to Abelian fimctions of one of the theorems of Abel on elliptic functions, and the other concerning the transformation of elliptic functions. In 1848, Hermite returned to the Ecole Polytechnique as rcpiiiteur and examinatcur d'ad- mission. In 1856, through the influence of Cauchy and of a nun who nursed him, he resumed the practice of his religion. On 14 July, of that year, he was elected to fill the vacancy created by the death of Binet in the Academic des Sciences. In 1869, he succeeded Duhamel as professor of mathematics, both at the Ecole Polj-technique, where he remained until 1876, and in the Faculty of Sciences of Paris, which position he occupied until his death. From 1682 to 1873 he was lecturer at the Ecole Normaie Superieure. Upon his seventieth birthday, on the occasion of his jubilee which was celebrated at the Sorbonne under the auspices of an international committee, he was pro- moted grand officer of the Legion of Honour.
As a teacher Hermite was inspiring. His correspon- dence with Stieltjes testifies to the great aid he gave those entering scientific life. His efforts in teaching were directed not towards too rigorous minuteness, but towards exciting admiration for things simple and beautiful. His published courses of lectures have exercised a wide influence. His important original contributions to pure mathematics, published in the leading mathematical journals of the world, dealt chiefly with Abelian and elliptic functions and the theory of numbers. In 18.58 he solved the equation of the fifth degree by elliptic functions; and in 1873 he proved e, the base of the natural system of logarithms, to be transcendent. This last was used by Lindemann to prove (1882) the same for t. The following is a list of his works. "Cours d'analyse de I'Ecole Poly- technique", Paris, 1873; "Cours profess^ a la Faculty des Sciences", edited by Andoyer, 4th ed., Paris, 1891 ; "Correspondance", edited by Baillaud and Bourget, Paris, 1905, 2 vols. The ""(Euvres de Charles Her-
