Appleton, Nathaniel, D.D., an eminent Con= gregational minister, was born at Ipswich, Mass., Dec. 9, 1693, graduated at Harvard in 1712, ordained at Cambridge in 1717, in which year he was also elected a fellow of Harvard, which 54 years afterward confer- red upon him the second degree it had ever granted of Doctor of Divinity, Increase Mather, 80 years be- fore, being the first admitted to that honor. He took a colleague in 1783, and died in 1784. He published a number of occasional sermons. — Sprague, Annuls, i, 301.
Approbation of books, the act by which books were recommended or declared harmless by persons authorized to judge of them. The Council of Trent (sess. 4) forbids, on penalty of excommunication, the publication of books without the approbation of the bishop of the diocese. In England the right of appro- bation formerly belonged to those who were appointed to grant licenses and imprimaturs. By an act of Charles II, long since expired, books were subjected to a licenser in England, and the practice itself ceased with the introduction of the principles of the Revolu- tion of 1688. See Index.
Appropriation, in the canon law, is the setting apart of an ecclesiastical benefice to the peculiar and permanent use of some religious body. Appropria- tions sprung originally from the monastic orders, who purchased all the advowsons within their reach, and then appropriated the larger proportion of the pro- ceeds of such benefices to the use of their own cor- porations, which they contended were not only insti- tutions for pious purposes, but religious bodies ; leav- ing the small remainder for the support of the incum- bent. The appropriations now annexed to bishoprics, prebends, etc., in England, had all of them the above origin, if traced to their source ; and at one period similar appropriations were made to religious houses, nunneries, and certain military orders, which were re- garded as spiritual corporations. — Blackstone, vol. i.
Apries. See Hophka.
Apron stands in one passage of the Auth. Vers, for the Heb. mi 3 P. (chagorah' ' , a girdle, as usually), the fig-leaf bands which our first parents made to hide their shame (Gen. iii, 7) ; also for the Greek ffifiuciv- Sriov (Acts xix, 12), a term borrowed from the Lat. semicinctium, i. e. half-girdle or belt covering half the person, an article of apparel worn by artisans and servants. See Attire ; Napkin.
Apse or Apsis (aipig, Lat. absis, prob. for ilipic, a juncture or vaulted arch), is a term used by ecclesi- astical writers to designate (1.) that part of the in- terior of ancient churches where the bishop and cleivy had their seats. The form of the apsis was hemi- spherical, and it consisted of two parts : one, the choir or presbytery; the other, the sanctuary. The choir always terminated toward the cast in a semicircle, round which were the seats of the clergy, having in the middle the throne of the bishop or superior, which was raised above the others. The term came into
Church with Apse at Dalmery.
APTHORP
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AQUILA
use in the 8th century to denote the deepest recess behind the altar in the Eastern Churches. ('2.) It was also commonly used for the bishop's throne, call- ed apsis gradata, being raised by means of steps. (3.) The word at other times denotes the case in which the relics of saints were kept, which was round or arched at the top, and commonly placed on the altar : it was usually of wood, sometimes also of gold and sil- ver, and occasionally beautifully sculptured. (4.) In later church architecture, it is used to denote any semicircular or polygonal termination of the choir, or other portion of a church. — Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. viii, ch. iii; Lenoir, Architect. Monast. (Paris, 1852).
Aptliorp, East, D.D., a minister of the Church of England, was born at Boston in 1733, died in Eng- land in 1816. Having been educated at Cambridge, he was settled as missionary at Cambridge, Mass. in 17G1. Four years after he returned to England, and was appointed to the vicarage of Croydon, afterward receiving high dignities in the Church, and even an offer of the bishopric of Kildare. About 1793 he re- tired to Cambridge, where he spent the remaining years of his life. Dr. Apthorp published a Letter on the Prevalence of Christianity before its civil Establish- ment, with Observations on a late History of the Decline of the Roman Empire (Lond. 1778) ; Discourses on Prophecy (2 vols. 1786); and several other writings, chiefly sermons, which show him to have been a man of vigorous intellect and sound scholarship. — Sprague, Annals, v, 174 ; Gentleman's Magazine, 1816.
Aquarii, a sect of the third century, so called because they refused to offer any thing but water at the Eucharist, and pretended to consecrate with water only. Also in Africa the name was given to some who, during times of persecution, forbore to use wine at the Eucharist in the morning, lest the smell should discover them. Epiphanius calls them Encratites, and Theodoret (De fab. hver. i, 20) Tatian- ites. — Epiphanius, Jlcereses, xlvi ; Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. xv, ch. ii, § 7.
Aquaviva, Claudio, the fourth general of the Jesuits, was born Sept. 14, 1543, joined the Jesuits in 1568, and was elected, in 1581, their general. The order considerably gained, under his administration, in influence and extension. He wrote Epistoliv A' 1 7, and Industrial ad curandos animal morbos (Ven. 1606). He also ordered and superintended the compilation of the " ratio studiorum,, and the " directorium exercitorum St. Ignatii," which have ever since been regarded as standard works of the order. See Jesuits.