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805 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Faushism
ii.), in defense of a poor lunatic who was burned at Geneva for blasphemies against the Trinity in 1632, has been called his best piece of writing. Ferry was an eloquent preacher, a man of learning, and had great influence among both Protestants and Roman Catholics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. M. Baird, Huguenot& and We-Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, i. 359-385, New York; Liehten-
berger, ESR, iv. 717. FESCH, JOSEPH: French cardinal, half-brother of Laetitia, mother of Napoleon I.; b. at Ajaccio, Corsica, Jan. 3, 1763; d. at Rome May 13, 183^. He studied at the seminary in Aix and became a priest before 1789. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he took service in the army, and in 1796 was Napoleon's commissary of war in Italy. When Napoleon was made consul he returned to the Church, and became archbishop of Lyons in 1802. The following year he was made a cardinal and sent to Rome as French ambassador. In 1804 he successfully negotiated for the coronation of the emperor by the pope at Paris, and in 1805 he was made Grand Almoner of France, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and a member of the Senate. Although until now he had been ready to further the interests of his illustrious nephew, he had no intention of completely surrendering his rights =s cardinal. The result was a break with Napoleon; and in May, 1806, Fesch was recalled from Rome. In 1809 he declined the archbishop ric of Paris, a peace-offering from Napoleon, and also declined to declare Napoleon's divorce of the same year valid. As president of the National Ecclesiastical Council at Paris in 1811 he led the opposition. Accordingly, the council was dis solved, and Fesch fell into complete disgrace. He retired to Lyons, and in 1814 to a nunnery he had established at Gravina, Italy. After Napoleon's return from Elba he was made a member of the House of Peers. On the restoration of the Bour bons he withdrew to Rome, leaving his bishopric in the hands of a vicar for twenty-four years. In 1856 Ajaccio, his native city, erected a monument to his memory. (C. PFENDER.) B133LIOGRAPHY: Lyonnet, Le Cardinal PeeeA, 2 vole., Lyons,
Fetishism (Portuguese feitigo, "charm, talisman ") is a form of worship regarded as in itself superhumanly powerful in directing or assisting to the attainment of some desired end. The use of the word as denoting a religious cult goes back to C. de Brosses, Du eulte des dietw ftfiches (Paris, 1760), who rightly supposed that certain customs of the Africans constituted a form of primitive religion. The Portuguese term is the name given to the beads, medals, and crucifixes carried by IV.-20
sailors, and supposed by them to afford protection when in danger and was applied to the fetishes of the Africans by these same sailors,
i. The from whom De Brosses obtained it. Word and in more modern treatises on religion Its Employ- the term has been used very loosely.
ment. Comte (Philosophic pOSitive, Paris, 1830-·12) made fetishism equivalent to animism. Lippert' (Die Religionen der eurO pdischen Culturvolker, Berlin, 1881) meant by it the embodiment of departed' spirits in some tangi ble or visible object. Miss Mngaley and Mr. Nas sau cover by it practically the whole of African religious life, though Miss Yingaley recognizes the looseness of her own usage. A delimitation of the term is necessary to abolish the confusion which has developed in its use. The Neto English Dic tionary defines a fetish as " differing from an idol in that it is worshiped in its own character, not as the symbol, image, or occasional residence of a deity." Mr. Lang describes fetishism as " the worship of odds and ends," a description which admirably hits off the fortuitous selection of a fetish and the apparent lack of intrinsic worthfulnew. in the object chosen. Schultze regards it as " a religious worship of material objects," a definition which would suit many phases of animism. And Waits defines a fetish as "an object of religious veneration, wherein the material and the spirit within it are regarded as one, the two being inseparable."The difficulties of the subject and the resulting confusion are due to two circumstances, its affinities and connections with animism on the one side and with magic oil the other. In fetishism there is the same anthropomorphic conception of material objects as in animism; the most passive objects may be regarded as having volition and power to accomplish some end. A fetish is often used as the materials of magic are used and for similar purposes. But another cause of confusion is the fact that no distinction is made between a primitive and a developed variety. s. Primary Primitive fetishism is suggested by and Second- Mr. Lang's description. The original
ary Fet- fetish is an adventitious find of which ishism. care is taken, to which success in an undertaking is ascribed; and subsequent worship is accorded. The classic example is that of a Bushman who on leaving his but to transact some important business, trod on a stone which caused him some pain. He at once picked up the stone, regarding it as a fetish which had obtruded itself upon his notice for the purpose of forwarding his undertaking. His object was accomplished, and he thereafter paid the stone due homage. The adventitious meeting of this object at the moment of the inception of an enterprise was to the African an indication of its fetishistic character, and his success in the work proved for him its potency in that particular direction. Almost as classic is the case of the anchor cast up on the West African coast. A native broke off a fluke in order to utilize the iron, and soon after died. The natives thereafter on passing the spot always paid reverence to the anchof and frequently employed it as a destructive agent.