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Seven Dolor Seven Sleepers of Rphesus THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG

of an orphan-asylum in Philadelphia, and in 1817 of one in New York, and in the same year was incorporated by the legislature of Maryland. At the time of her death more than twenty communities had charge of free schools, orphanages, boardingschools, and hospitals in a number of states.

BIHLIOGBAPHY: Her Memoir, Letters, and Journal were edited by her grandson, W. 8eton, New York, 1869. Consult further: Memoirs of Mrs. Seton, Written by herself, Elizabethtown, N. J., 1817; C. I. White, Life of Mrs. Seton, 7th ed., New York, 1858; Mme. de Barberey, Vie de Madams Elizabeth Beton, 2 vols., Paris, 1872; Heimbueher, Orden and %onprqpationen, iii. 536.537; %L, mi. 214-215.

SEVEN DOLORS OF THE VIRGIN MARY, FEAST OF THE. See MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST, III.

SEVEN, THE SACRED NUMBER.

Uturgics

The number seven was regarded as sacred by most ancient Oriental peoples and by the Greeks and Romans. Among the Chinese the empire was divided into seven provinces; the emperor made offerings on seven altars to seven chief classes of spirits, was placed in his coffin on the seventh day after death, and was buried in the seventh month.

In India the Rig Veda knows of seven

x. Among Adityas, seven rishis as the progenitors Ancient . of the seven great Brahmanical castes, Non-Hebraic seven divisions of the earth, seven

Peoples. rivers of Hindustan, and seven celestial mountains. The Iranians had seven Amshaspands and certain festivals of seven days each, while the seven gates of Mithra were important in Mithraism. In early Teutonic belief periods of seven days and of seven years were known and the early Celts had numerous sacred Heptads. The number seven occurs constantly in the mythology of the Greeks, while among the Romans the hills of the city of Rome formed a heptad. Still more impor tant was the sanctity of the number seven among the Assyrians and the Babylonians. At a very early period the latter people had a hebdomadal division of the month, they regarded the number of the planets as seven. The designation of the seven days of the week based on this planetary system was apparently unknown to the early Babylonians; nor was the view that the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of each month were dies nefasti so wide-spread in effect on Babylo nian theory and practise as the kindred Sabbath among the Jews. That the sanctity of the number reaches back to the oldest development of religion and culture along the banks of the Euphrates is shown by the seven gates of Hades in the Ishtar legend, the seven Igigi, the frequent representation of groups of seven deities, seven altars, and the like.

In both the Old and the New Testament the number seven is important. Labor on the seventh day is forbidden (Ex. xx. 8-11; Deut. v. 12-15; and see SABBATH); and the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles were seven-day festivals. The consecration of priests lasted seven days; the seventh month was marked by the celebration of the

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Feast of Tabernacles, of the day of atonement, and Rosh ha-Shanah; the sabbatical year was celebrated every seven years, and the year of

a. In the jubilee every seven times seven years. Old Testa- The court of the tabernacle had eight ment. times seven pillars, the candlestick had seven branches, and the sacred ell was seven handbreadths. The number was important in taking oaths, as the verb nishba`, "to swear" (cf. shebha`, "seven"), shows, and was also a factor in matters pertaining to satisfaction and punishment (cf. Gen. iv. 24; Ex. vii. 25; Lev. xxvi. 18 aqq.; Deut. xxviii. 7 sqq.; Prov. 6. 31). It aNo occurred in various ceremonies of purification (Lev. xiv. 51; see DEFILEMENT AND PURIFICATION, CEREMONIAL). In concluding covenants and in expiatory sacizfices this number figured: as in sprinkling the sacrificial blood seven times in sin offerings (Lev. iv. 6, 17, xvi. 14 sqq.), and in sevenfold sacrifices. Seven entered into proverbial expressions of daily life (e.g., Isa. iv. 1, Id. 15, xxx. 26; Jer. xv. 9; Micah v. 5; Prov. vi. 16, ix. 1, xxvi. 16, 25; Psalms xii. 6; Job. v. 19). Heptads are not uncommon in the history of the Jewish people, as the seven sons of Japheth (Gen. x. 2), Saul (II Sam. xmi. 9), Jehoshaphat (II Chron. xxi. 2), Job (Job i. 2), and the mother of the Mac cabees (II Mace. vii.). Jacob served seven years for each of the daughters of Laban (Gen. xxix.) and bowed seven times to Esau (Gen. xxxiii. 4). Phar aoh's dream foreboded seven years of plenty and seven years of famine (Gen. xli.); David was of fered his choice between seven years of famine, three months of exile and peril, or three days of pestilence (II Sam. xxiv.13); and Solomon took seven years to build the temple. For multiples of seven it may be noted that the household of Jacob numbered seventy (Gen. xlvi. 27), there were seventy elders (Num. xi. 24), and seventy sons of Jerubbaal (Judges viii. 30), and allusions are frequent to periods of seventy years (Ps. xc. 10; Isa. xxiii. 15; Jer. xxv. 11, etc.); while the phrase "seventy and sevenfold" occurs in the Song of Lamech (Gen. iv. 24).

In the Gospels and Acts groups of seven persons are mentioned. Christ manifested himself after his resurrection to seven of his disciples (John xxi. 2); seven brothers and their wife figure in

3. In the the quibble of the Sadducees (Mark xii.

New 20 sqq.); there were seven appointed Testament. to office in the church at Jerusalem (Acts vi. 5) and seven sons of Sceva (Acts mix. 14); a multiple of the number is found in the seventy disciples of Jesus in Luke x. 1. Reference is made to periods of seven days in Matt. xvii. 1-2; Acts xx. 6, xxi. 4, 27, xxviii. 14; and seven occurs in proverbial phrases in Matt. xii. 45 (Luke xi. 26), xviii. 21 sqq. (note also the augmentative "seventy times seven"), and Luke viii. 2 (seven devils cast out of Mary Magdalene). Latent hep. tads, like those of the sevenfold designation of the spirit of God in Isa. xi. 2, the seven penitential Psalms, and the seven petitions in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple (I Kings viii. 29-53), occur with relative frequency in the New Testament. To this category belong the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer according to Matthew