doctrine of the immaculate conception was not adopted by any eminent theologian of this century.17 The authority of the celebrated Thomas Aquinas18 seemed to have overthrown it for

annunciatio.) In the 13th century, however, throughout, only the celebration of the conception, not of the immaculate conception, is mentioned: cf. Thomae Summa P. iii. qu. 27. art. 2. below note 18. Durandi rationale divin. offic. lib. vii. c. 7: Quidam etiam faciunt quintum festum s. de. conceptione b. Mariae, dicentes, quod, sicut celebratur de morte Sanctorum non propter mortem, sed quia tunc recepti sunt in nuptiis aeternis, similiter potest celebrari festum de conceptione, non quia sit concepta, quia in peccato est concepta, sed quia mater Domini est concepta asserentes, hoc fuisse revelatum cuidam Abbati in naufragio constituto. Quod tamen non est authenticum, unde non est approbandum, cum concepta fuerit in peccato, seu per concubitum maris et foeminae.

17 Not even by the Franciscans: Antonius Paduanus Sermo in feriam quintam in passione (Francisci Assis. et Antonii opp. ed. J. de la Haye. Lugd. 1653. fol. p. 122) reckons the Holy Virgin (as Bernard does above, note 14) for one of those, qui fuerunt santificati in utero. Alexander Hales. P. iii. qu. 10. membr. 2. art. 1 necesse fuit, quod b. Virgo in generatione sua contraheret peccatum a parentibus; but art. 4: Virgo ante nativitatem suam et post infusionem animae in suo corpore fuit sanctificata in utero matris suae. Bonaventura in lib. iii. dist. iii. Pars i. enquires art. 1. first de sanctificatione Virginis quantum ad congruentiam temporis, and decides, qu. 1., Quod caro b. Virginis ante animationem non fuit sanctificata. Qu. 2. Quidam dicere volunt, in anima gloriosae Virginis gratiam sanctificationis praevenisse maculam peccati originalis. Teneamus secundum quod communis opinio tenet, Virginis sanctificationem fuisse post originalis peccati contractionem. Qu. 3: pro indubitanti habet hoc Ecclesia, videlicet quod b. Virgo fuerit in utero sanctificata.- Si autem quaeratur, qua die vel hora sanctificata fuerit, hoc ignoratur: tamen probabiliter creditur, quod cito post infusionem animae fuerit facta infusio gratiae. Then art. ii. de virtutis efficacia; first qu. 1., B. virgo Maria per sanctificationis gratiam copiosam immunis fuit ab omni culpa actuali, tam mortali quam veniali. Qu. 2: In prima sanctificatione fuit fomes concupiscentiae in Virgine consopitus, in secunda (Luc. i. 35) extinctus. et eradicatus. Qu. 3. A massa peccati liberata fuit virgo Maria in prima sanctificatione, liberata etiam fuit in secunda, sed in prima fuit conformis aliis sanctificatis (viz. Jeremiah, John the Baptist) in secunda vero facta est conformis filio, quem genuit. Thus Albertus Magnus in Sent. lib. iii. dist. 3.

18 Thomas Summa theol. P. iii. qu. 27. art. 1: De sanctificatione b. Mariae, quod scilicet fuerit sanctificata in utero, nihil in Scriptura canonica traditur, quae etiam nec de ejus nativitate mentionem facit. Sicut tamen (Pseudo-) Augustinus in sermone de assumptione ipsius Virginis rationabiliter argumentatur, quod cum corpore sit assumpta in caelum, quod tamen Scriptura non tradit, ita etiam rationabiliter

ever, when Duns Scotus, on this point also opposing the Dominican, first of all the Schoolmen, and so but timidly,19 took

argumentari possumus, quod fuerit sanctificata in utero. Art. 2: Sanctificatio b. Virginis non potest intelligi ante ejus animationem, duplici ratione. Primo quidem, quia sanctificatio, de qua loquimur, non est nisi emundatio a peccato originali.-Culpa autem non potest emundari, nisi per gratiam, cujus subjectum est sola creatura rationalis. Et ideo ante infusionem animae rationalis b. Virgo sanctificata non fuit. Secundo quia cum sola creatura rationalis sit susceptiva culpae, ante infusionem animae rationalis proles concepta non est culpae obnoxia. Et sic quocumque modo ante animationem b. Virgo sanctificata fuisset, numquam incurrisset maculam originalis culpae, et ita non indiguisset redemptione et salute, quae est per Christum.-Hoc autem inconveniens est, quod Christus non sit salvator omnium hominùm.— Si numquam anima b. Virginis fuisset contagio originalis peccati inquinata, hoc derogaret dignitati Christi, secundum quam est universalis omnium salvator.-Licet Romana Ecclesia conceptionem b. Virginis non celebret, tolerat tamen consuetudinem aliquarum Ecclesiarum illud festum celebrantium. Unde talis celebritas non est totaliter reprobanda. Nec tamen per hoc, quod festum conceptionis celebratur, datur intelligi, quod in sua conceptione fuerit sancta: sed quia, quo tempore sanctificata fuerit, ignoratur, celebratur festum sanctificationis ejus potius quam conceptionis in die conceptionis ipsius. Art. 3. Videtur dicendum, quod per sanctificationem in utero non fuerit sublatus b. Virgini fomes secundum essentiam, sed remanserit ligatus. -Postmodum vero in ipsa conceptione carnis Christi, in qua primo debuit refulgere peccati immunitas; credendum est, quod ex prole redundaverit in matrem, totaliter fomite subtracto. Art. 4: Simpliciter fatendum est, quod beata Virgo nullum actuale peccatum commisit, nec mortale, nec veniale, ut sic in ea impleatur, quod dicitur Cant. iv. 7: Tota pulchra es amica mea, et macula non est in te.

19 Duns Scotus in Sent. lib. iii. dist. 3. qu. 1. § 9: Deus potuit facere, quod ipsa nunquam fuisset in peccato originali; potuit etiam fecisse, ut tantum in uno instanti esset in peccato; potuit etiam facere, ut per tempus aliquod esset in peccato, et in ultimo illius temporis purgaretur. Quod autem horum trium, quae ostensa sunt esse possibilia, factum sit, Deus novit: si auctoritati Ecclesiae, vel auctoritati Scripturae non repugnet, videtur probabile, quod excellentius, attribuere Mariae. More decisive but still short is 1. c. dist. 18 qu. 1. § 13: b. Virgo mater Dei nunquam fuit inimica actualiter ratione peccati actualis, nec ratione originalis (fuisset tamen, nisi fuisset praeservata.) In after times it was commonly reported among the Franciscans (Wadding ann. Minorum. ann. 1304 no. 34, Bulaei hist. Univ. Paris. iv. 71), that Duns Scotus afterwards defended the doctrine of the immaculate conception against 200 Dominicans in a public disputation at Paris, and thereby induced the University to decree, ne ad ullos gradus scholasticos admitteretur ullus, qui prius non juraret, se defensurum b. Virginem a noxa originaria, to which it added votum de celebranda quotannis

the immaculate conception under his protection.

Thus this

doctrine, not indeed immediately, but in the course of the fourteenth century, together with the whole system of Scotistic Divinity, was adopted as the doctrine of the Franciscans.

$ 79.

FESTIVALS.

The two most important festivals which were introduced in this period, have been already treated of. The feast of the conception of the Virgin in § 78 and Corpus Christi in § 77. It is however characteristic of this age, that from the 12th century, the clergy began to connect the old heathenish license of the month of December1 with the festivals of the Church, and under

festivitate immaculatae conceptionis. But the earliest vouchers for this are the Franciscans Bernardinus de Bustis (about 1480) and Pelbartus Temestarius (about 1500); and the first of these in his Mariale places that decree in the year 1333: In the acts of the University there is no trace of it to be found. The Gallic nation in the University of Paris first decreed in the year 1380, quod a modo celebraretur festum conceptionis gloriosae V. M. eodem modo, quo et alia festa solent celebrari (Bulaeus 1. c. p. 964): and it was not till 1387 that the University declared the immaculate conception to be a sententia probabilis (see below, Part iii. § 117. note 7), cf. d'Argentré collectio judiciorum de novis erroribus T. i. p. 335.-It appears especially strange to the later Franciscans that their Doctor subtilis is so short on this head; accordingly they consider that his principal works on this subject must have been lost. E. g. Hugo Cavellus in vita Scoti cap. ult. prefixt to his

Quaestiones.

1 Cf. Saturnalia, Sigillaria, Kalendae Januarii, on the heathen celebrations of the latter day, see Isidorus Hisp. vol. i. Part 2, § 125, note 12, Bonifacius vol. ii. Part 1. § 4. note 13, Faustini Episc. sermo de Kal. Jan. in the Act. SS. Jan. i. 3. Atto jun. Episc. Vercellensis (about 950) serm. in festo octavae Domini (in Maji scriptt. vett. nova collectio VI. ii. 13): quidam falsi Christiani tanti diei solemnitatem sacrilega commixtione perturbant, ita ut divina officia in Ecclesiis videantur celebrare, et variis maleficiis domi non desinant inservire. From this germ the festum stultorum was developed. However the 16th Lat. Canon of the Conc. Constantinop. oecum. viii. ann. 869 must by no means be connected with the festum stultorum, as du Fresne s. v. Kalendae thinks it should be. For the ridiculous mockery of ecclesiastical ceremonies there mentioned with detestation, was only

cover of it to throw wanton ridicule on holy things. True many

the result of the folly of the Emperor Michael III. (857-867), which Constantinus Porphyrogen. in Basilio no. 21, Continuator Theophanis lib. iv. no. 38, Symeon Logotheta in Michaele no. 18, record. This was a single act, and an act of hostility against the Church. An analogous custom in early times may be discovered in that which Georgius Cedrenus in histor. compend. ed. Paris. p. 639 relates of Theophylact Patriarch of Constantinople in the 10th century: epyov èkeivov kaì Tò νῦν κρατοῦν ἔθος, ἐν ταῖς λαμπραῖς καὶ δημοτελέσιν ἑορταῖς ὑβρίζεσθαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων μνήμας διὰ λογισμάτων ἀπρεπῶν καὶ γελώτων καὶ παραφόρων κραυγῶν, τελουμένων τῶν θείων ὕμνων. And afterwards: τὰς Σατανικὰς ὀρχήσεις καὶ τὰς ἀσήμους κραυγὰς καὶ τὰ ἐκ τριόδων καὶ χαμαιτυπείων ἠρανισμένα ᾄσματα τελεῖσθαι ἐδίδαξεν.

2 The first to mention this is Jo. Beleth in Explicat. divin. offic. cap. 70, de iis festivitatibus, quae Christi Nativitatem proxime sequuntur: Debent ergo vesperae Natalis primo integre celebrari, ac postea conveniunt diaconi quasi in tripudio, cantantque Magnificat cum Antiphona de s. Stephano,-et universum officium crastinum celebrant Diaconi, quod Stephanus fuerit Diaconus. Sic eodem modo omne officium perficient sacerdotes ipso die b. Joannis, quia hic sacerdos fuerit, et pueri in ipso festo Innocentum, quia Innocentes pro Christo occisi sunt. Cap. 72: Festum Hypodiaconorum, quod vocamus stultorum, a quibusdam perficitur in circumcisione a quibusdam vero in Epiphania, vel in ejus octavis. Fiunt autem quatuor tripudia post nativitatem Domini in Ecclesia, Levitarum scilicet, Sacerdotum, Puerorum i. e. minorum aetate et ordine, et Hypodiaconorum, qui ordo incertus est. Unde fit, ut ille quandoque annumeretur inter sacros ordines, quandoque non, quod expresse ex eo intelligitur, quod certum tempus non habeat, et officio celebretur confuso. Durantis repeats the contents of these two chapters in his Rationale Divin. offic. lib. vii. c. 42 in fine.) Cap. 120 Restat,-ut-agamus-de quadam libertate Decembris, quae hoc tempore in quibusdam locis observatur. Sunt nempe nonnullae Ecclesiae, in quibus usitatum est, ut vel etiam Epis copi vel Archiepiscopi in coenobiis cum suis ludant subditis, ita ut etiam sese ad lusum pilae demittant. Atque haec quidem libertas ideo dicta est Decembrica, quod olim apud ethnicos moris fuerit, ut hoc mense servi et ancillae et pastores velut quandam libertate donarentur, fierentque cum dominis suis pari conditione, communia festa agentes post collectionem messium. Quanquam vero magnae Ecclesiae, ut est Remensis, hanc ludendi consuetudinem observent, videtur tamen laudabilius esse non ludere. Most remarkable for wanton mockery of ecclesiastical institutions are the festum innocentum, (in the monastic schools a child-abbot, in the cathedral schools a child-bishop was chosen, in Mayence this festive custom has been continued down to modern times. cf. F. A. Dürr comm. hist. de Episcopo Puerorum vulgo vom Schulbischof. Mogunt. 1755. 4. E. Meyer's Gesch. d. Hamburgischen Schul-und Unterrichtswesens im Mittelalter, Hamburg 1843), and the festum hypodiaconorum (cf. du Tiliot mémoi

decrees were passed against this custom :3 still the disorder continued to increase.

res pour servir à l'histoire de la fête des foux. A Lausanne et à Genève 1751. 8. du Fresne s. v. Kalendae.) In Ratisbon the abuse was so great that Innocent IV. in 1249 issued a prohibition against it see Monumenta boica xiii. 214. Gemeiner's Reichstadt Regensburgische Chronik, Regensb. 1800. 4. i. 357. However the grossest extravagances of this nature seem to belong originally to the succeeding period. In many places, for instance in Rouen, an ass-feast was celebrated on Christmas-day: Elsewhere, as in Beauvais, a ceremony of the same kind was kept on the 14th of June, in commemoration of the flight into Egypt. cf. du Fresne s. v. Festum asinorum. Another festival, accompanied with similar extravagances of the clergy, took place in Evreux on the first of May so early as about 1200. Du Tiliot 1. c. p. 26 ss.

3 The first was in the year 1198, by Cardinal Peter, papal Legate, addrest to Odo, Bishop of Paris, and publisht by him (ed. Petrus de Gussanvilla in Append. ad Petri Blesensis opp. and quoted from this in Bibl. Patrum Lugd. xxiv. 1370): didicimus, quod in festo circumcisionis dominicae in eadem ecclesia [Parisiensi tot consueverunt enormitates et opera flagitiosa committi, quod locum sanctum, in quo gloriosa Virgo gratam sibi mansionem elegit (the Church of Notre Dame), non solum foeditate verborum, verum etiam sanguinis effusione plerumque contingit inquinari; at eatenus adinventio tam perniciosae temeritatis invaluit, ut sacratissima dies, in qua mundi Redemptor voluit circumcidi, festum fatuorum nec immerito generaliter consueverit appellari. Thereupon in 1199 followed Odo's directions for a proper celebration of the Circumcision of our Lord, and of the Feast of St Stephen (quoniam festivitas b. Protomartyris Stephani ejusdem fere subjacebat dissolutionis et temeritatis incommodo): and a confirmation of these directions by Petrus Cambius, the next Bishop of Paris, in the year 1208 (both 1. c.) Nevertheless the Council of Paris ann. 1212 Pars iv. c. 16 (in Mansi xxii. 842) found it necessary to enjoin even on the Bishops: A festis vero follorum, ubi baculus accipitur, omnino abstineatur. Idem fortius monachis et monialibus prohibemus. The first sentence is repeated by Robertus Legatus in Conc. Rotomag. ann. 1214 P. iii. c. 16 (Mansi xxii. 920.)-Innocent III. in the year 1210 (Decr. Greg. lib. iii. tit. i. cap. 12): Interdum ludi fiunt in Ecclesiis theatrales, et non solum ad ludibriorum spectacula introducuntur in eis monstra larvarum, verum etiam in aliquibus anni festivitatibus, quae continue natalem Christi sequuntur, diaconi, presbyteri, ac subdiaconi vicissim insaniae suae ludibria exercere praesumunt: per gesticulationum suarum debacchationes obscoenas in conspectu populi decus faciunt clericale vilescere etc. Statuta Eccl. Nivernensis ann. 1246 cap. 3. (Martene thes. anecdot. iv. 1069, Mansi xxiii. 731): Quia in festo stultorum, scil. Innocentium et anni novi, in Ecclesia vestra multa fiunt-inhonesta, sub poena excommunicationis inhibemus districte, ne talia festa irrisoria de caetero facere praesumant. Constitt.