Volume 2

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899?]

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

34/1016 (page 1086)

$MANSUETUS (1) Bishop of Milan ; comme- morated Feb. 19 (Boll. Acta SS. Feb. iii. 135). (2) Martyr; commemorated Feb. 28 (Hieron. Mart.). (3) Bishop and confessor at Toul; commemo- rated Sept. 3 (Boll. Acta SS. Sept. i. 615). (4) Bishop; commemorated in Africa Nov. 28 ( Vet. Rom. Mart.). (5) Martyr with ten others; commemorated at Alexandria Dec. 30 (IJsuard. Mart.; Bed. Mart. Auct.). [C. H.] MANTIUS, martyr in Lusitania 5th century ; commemorated May 21 (Boll. Acta SS. May, V. 31). [C. H.] MANUAEUS, bishop of Bayeux, cii*c. a.d. 480; commemorated May 28 (Florus, ap. Bed. Mart.; Boll. Acta SS. May, vi. 767). [C. H.] MANUAL LABOUR. It appears to have been contemplated by the earlier councils that the clergy should, in part at least, maintain them- selves by the work of their hands. The Apo- stolical Constitutions (11. 63) exhort the younger clergy to provide for their own necessities by the work of their own hands, while not neglecting the work of the ministry. Some of us, it is added, are fishermen, some tentmakers, some husband- men, for no worshipper of God should be idle. The fourth council of Carthage {Statut. Eccles. Anti.ua., cc. 51, 52) enjoins that all clergy, how- ever learned, should provide themselves with food and clothing by some handicraft (artificiolo) or agricultural labour, yet so as not to neglect their proper duties; and (c. 53) that all clergy who were sufficiently strong in body should be in- structed both in some handicraft and in letters. These canons are evidently referred to by the second Council of Tours, a.d. 567 (c. 10), where it is laid down, with somewhat curious reasoning, that there could be no justification for any of the clergy who employed a woman not belonging to the house (extraneam mulierem) for the alleged purpose of making his clothes, since there was a general order that they should procure both food and clothing by their own industry, and as the work of their own hands. Thomassin ( Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Discip. iii. 3 ; c. 8, §§ 2-5) thinks that these canons were permissive rather than obligatory, and only applied to the inferior clergy, noting the fact that St. Paul is the only one of the apostles who is said to have worked with his own hands. Thus the first council of Orleans, A.D. 511 (c. 5), provides that certain lands and revenues which Clovis had given to the church should be employed in re- pairing churches in the redemption of captives, and in paying the stipends (alimoniis) of the priests and poor’, while the clergy (clerici) or, as another reading is, the clergy of lower degree (juuioris officii) (see Bruns, Canones., ii. 162) should be compelled to help in the labour of the church (ad adjutorium ecclesiastic! operis con- stringantur), probably on the lands so given. Among ecclesiastical writers manual labour is evidently considered honourable and meritorious for the clergy, and in some cases habitually resorted to, but never enjoined as a positive obligation. Epiphanius {Hteres. 80 ; nn. 5, 6) says that many clergy, while they might live by the altar, prefer from excess of zeal (abundantii quadam virtutis) to support themselves by the work of their own hands ; and (^Haeres. 70, n. 2) speaks of a certain sect named Audiani, in whose fellowship bishops, presbyters, and all clergy lived by their own toil. The very mention of such a fact seemingly proved that this was out of the common course. Chrysostom {ffom. 45, on Acts) speaks of four different grades of excel- lence set before the clergy, the second of which consists in labouring for their own food, the third is also labouring to assist the poor. Augustine (^de Op. Monach. c. 29) asserts that the professional labours of the bishops and^clergy are sufficiently onerous to exempt them from the obligation of toiling with their hands. Many instances, however, are to be found in which the most zealous attention to spiritual duties was combined with hard and habitual work at a trade or on a farm. Socrates (^H. E. i. 12) says that Spiridon, bishop of Cyprus, was originally a shepherd, and through his great humility con- tinued to feed his flock even after being made a bishop. Sozomen (^H. E. vii. 28) speaks of one Zeno, bishop of Maiuma, who provided for his own wants, and for the poor of his flock, by weaving linen. Gennadius of Marseilles (jle Scriptor. Eccl. c. 69) says that Hilary of Arles toiled with his own Ixands, not only for his own support, but that he might be able to help the poor. From Gregory the Gi*eat {Dialog, iii. 1) we learn that Paulinus of Nola was an excellent gardener, and (^Dialog, iii. 12) that one Severus, a priest of great sanctity, was occupied on a cer- tain occasion in pruning his vines. Gregory of Tours, in his Life of Nicetius (c. 8), says that when a bishop he continued to live among his servants, and work on his farm. It would be easy to multiply examples of this kind, they all point the same way ; the very fact of their being recorded seems to shew that they must be con- sidered as instances of exceptional excellence, which was held in honour and esteem, but not illustrative of the general practice, or of con- duct which was reckoned obligatory upon either bishops or clergy. Hincmar of Rheims indeed, A.D. 845, appears to have endeavoured to make some measure of manual labour compulsory in his diocese, since (Capit. ad Fresbyteros, c. 9, opp. i. p. 712) he orders all his clergy to go out fasting to work on their farms ; but the general sense of the church in this matter appears to be repre- sented by the words of Epiphanius, already quoted, that those who serve the altar have a right to live by the altar. [P. 0.] MANUEL (1) Martyr under the Bulgarians at Debeltus, a.d. 812; commemorated Jan. 22 (^Cal. Byzant.; Basil. Menol.; Boll. Acta SS.; Jan. ii. 441). (2) Martyr with Theodosius; commemorated March 27 (Basil. Jfeno/.j. (3) A Persian martyr with two brothers at Constantinople, A.D. 362 ; commemorated June 17 (Ca/. Byzant. ; Boll. Acta SS. June, iii. 290; Daniel, Cod. Liturg. iv. 261; Basil. Menol.). [C. H.] MANUMISSION. [Slavery.] MANUS MORTUA. [Mortmain.] MAPHRIAN (“Fruit-bearing”). In the 6th century Jacobus Zanzalus, bishop of Edessa,$