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Page 488

 

THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 488

and 44 parochial schools, principally in the Middle West.

BIHLIOaaa.PHY: On 1: The ConeNuliona were published at Lyons. 1873, and the Statutes cayilulorum oeneralium in the same place, 1907. Consult: Life or venerable Fr. Colin, St. Louis, 1909; Pi!re Colin, Lyons, 1898; Pi!re Colin, ib. 1900; Mangeret, Lea Oripinea de la for eatholique en Nouvelle-Zdande, ib. 1892; C. Egremont, L'Annhe de rtpuse 1900, Paris 1901; Baunard, Un sitele de r6pliae de France, it). 1902; Hervier, Lea Mission& marsatea, ib. 1902; Heimbucher, Orden and %onyrepationen, iii. 339-343.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. See TRACT SOCIETIES, 111., 2.

SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. See MlsaloNs To TEE HEATHEN, B, II., 4, § 4.

SOCIRUS, so-sai'nus, FAUSTUS, SOCINIANS.

L History: As a radical by-product of the Reformation appeared the antitrinitarian movement.

At first it was represented by such-ndividuals as

the Anabaptists Hans Denk, Ludwig

:. Faustus Haetzer, and Jakob Kautz (qq.v.),

Socinus. and by Michael Servetus (q.v.) and

his followers (G. V. Gentile, Georgius

Blandrata; qq.v.), but there was as yet no unity

of organization. To it belonged also Laelius Soci

nus (q.v.); but the founder of the antitrinitarians

as a sect was his nephew, Faustus Socinus (Fausto

Sozzini; b. at Siena 1539; d. at Luclawice, near

Cracow, Mar. 3 ,16004). He was early left an orphan;

and his education was defective. He devoted himself

to the study of law like his relatives, specially

Laelius, by correspondence with whom he derived

anti-Roman religious and theological instruction.

He lav0i at Lyons,.A59-82, and at, Zurich, _1502,

where he was absorbed in the study of the literary

fragments of his uncle, and began his literary ac

tivity with Explicatio primte partia prlrni capitis

Evangelii Johannis (Rakow, 1562), a sort of pro

gram of antitrinitarianism. During 1562_74 he,

decked with honors, hell _ official positions at the

court of Francesco de Medici at Florence, and in

dulged in the diversions of the period. At Basel,

1574-78, he elaborated his, system, originating two

of his most important works: De Jeau Christo

eervatore (Basel, 1594) against the French Reformed

clergyman J. Covet, and De etatu primi hominia

ante lapeum (Rakow, 1610) against F. Pucci of

Florence. He accepted an invitation of Georgina

Blandrata (q.v.) to Transylvania, unsuccessfully

aiding the latter in attempting to dissuade Fran

ciscus Davidis (q.v.) from his non-adorant views.

The theological turmoil, together with the outbreak

of the pest, caused him to leave Transylvania, 1579,

and proceed to Fp1wd, where the name Socinus had

acquired fame from his uncle's two sojourns (1556

and 1558), and where the Unitarian movement was

gaining in political influence. Here (1579-1604) he made an earnest effort to unite the divergent parties into one organization. In Cracow, 1579--83, he endeavored in vain -t loin with the Polish Brethren, a society__of,,Unltarujns, but was hindered,by his refusal to be rebaptized.

_n commont~ie ~nabag~ta'ats,the Unitarians m.,_ strongly objectetd~ a ~ld_illg,.of po tical,office,

resorting to the civil courts, and military service. Theological differences also existed among Arians on the preexistence of Christ, on chiliasm, and the nonadoration of Christ (see DAv1Dls, FRANcrscus, if 4-5); but by disputations in synods, by special discussions, and a number of literary works, Socinus finally succeeded in bringing about harmony and the acceptance of his own views. His idea of baptism (see below) prevailed over the Anabaptist at the Synod of Rakow, 1603. In 1583 he left Cracow from fear of the persecution of King Stephen Bathory and settled at Pawlikowice, a village near Cracow. He returned to Cracow, 1585-87, attending the Synod of Brzesc in ~itl~,ig.158$,. where, by the brilliant success of his theological disputations, he pne_ anently_wufinma bi.tuiluence- over the _ TTnitarians. Several times he was ill-treated; thus, in 1594, by a troop of soldiers, and on Ascension day, 1598, when students of Cracow, incited by Roman priests, threw him out of his sick-bed, carried him half-naked through the streets, and inflicted bloody injuries. Only by the mediation of Martin Vadovita, a professor of the university, did he escape, death-by_drowning. During the assault all the pape;s,_manuscripts,_and books foundzin his

house.-were-burned-on _the.mark~9. He next lived at Luclawice, 1598-1604. His works, exe getical, polemical, and dogmatic, appeared in vols. L-ii., Bibliotheca fratrum Polonorum, edited by his grandson, Andreas Wiszowaty (Irenopolis [Amster dam], 1656 and after); also under the special title, Fauati Socini Senensie opera omnia. The most im portant dogmatic works are, PTwlectiones theologic&e (Rakow, 1609); Christiance relig"is breviwima institutio per interrogationea et reaponsiones, quam catechismum -Igo vocapt (1608); and Fragmentvm catwhismi prioris F. L. S., qui periit in Cracovimsi rem- ejus direptione. Tmme_ 'atel ~t4g,death of So~lnus-appeared , the _ Racovian !Patgchism_ the c '1~1,gf..1~01~. The work of revising the catechism of 1574 was assigned to Socinus and another Unitarian, Statorius. Both worked inde. pendently; the Institutio of Socinus was left unfin ished at his death; and after the death subsequently of Statorius the work was completed on the basis of the manuscripts of Socinus by Valentin Schmalz, Hieronymus Moskorzowaki, and Johann VS1kel (published in Polish, 1605; larger German ed., 1608; in Lat., Catechesis ecclesiarum, ed. and en larged by Moskorzowski and dedicated to James I. of England, and briefly cited as Catechism= Racovien. sis, 1609; another Latin ed. with emendations and additions by Johann Crell and Johann Schlichting, furnished probably by Wiszowaty and Joachim Stegman, Jr., Amsterdam, 1665; with much added matter, 1684; Eng. tranal., by Thomas Rees, London, 1818). ' Until the death of S~w~,jj