Aquila, author of a Greek version of the O. T., was originally a heathen, born at Sinope, a city of Pontus. Having seen the professors of the Christian religion work many miracles, he became a convert to it, probably on the same ground with Simon Magus. Refusing to quit the practice of magic and judicial as-
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trologv, he was excommunicated by the Christians, on which he went over to the Jewish religion, became a proselyte, and was circumcised. Being admitted into the" school of Rabbi Akiba, he made such great proficiency in Jewish learning that he was deemed well qualified to make a new translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, to take the place of the Sc-p- tuagint. This version he made so strictly literal that Jerome said it was a good dictionary to give the genu- ine meaning of the Hebrew words. He finished and published his work in the twelfth year of the reign of Adrian, A.D. 128. He afterward revised and pub- lished another edition of it. It appears from Iremeus, iii, 24, that the Ebionites used the translation of Aqui- la in order to support their Judaizing tenets. The remains of this translation have been edited by Mont- faucon and others in the "Hexapla" of Origen. — Clarke, Succession of Sac. Lit. i, 44; Cave, Hist. Lit. ann. 128 ; Smith, Diet, of Biog. s. v. See Versions.
Aquila, CAsrAR, one of the Reformers, was born at Augsburg, Aug. 17, 1488. After the ordinary clas- sical training of the gymnasium of his native city, he spent his early manhood in travel and study, chiefly in Italy and Switzerland. After a brief stay as pastor in Berne, and in 1514 in Leipzic, in 1515 he became chap- lain to Franz von Sickingen. In 151G he became pas- tor at Jenga, near Augsburg, and soon after married, and openly professed Lutheran ism. Arrested by or- der of the bishop of Augsburg (Stadion), he was con- demned to death, but during his imprisonment (at Dil- lingen, 1519-20) the queen of Hungary interceded for him, and he was released, but banished. He went at once to Wittenberg, and became A.M. of the Univer sity in 1521. For two years he was tutor to Sickin gen's children. In 1524 he became tutor in Hebrew ployed bv Luther to aid in
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at Wittenberg, and the translation of the Bible. In 1527 he became pas tor at Saalfeldt. In 1547 he wrote violently against the Interim (q. v.), and a price was set upon his head by Charles V. He died Nov. 12, 1560. His life was written by Avenarius, Lebensbeschreibung A ouilen (Mein- ingen, 1710, 8vo) ; Schlege, Leben Aquilce (Leipz. 1737, 4to); and by Gensler, Vita Aquilce (Jena, 1816), who enumerates twenty writings of his. — Herzog, Real-En- cyl-loptidie, s. v. ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, i, 942.
Aquileia, a town in Italy 15 miles northeast of Venice, formerly so important in ecclesiastical mat- ters as to be called a second Borne. (I.) The bishops of Aquileia assumed the patriarchal dignity from the 5th century, and the title was granted by Pope II o- norius I simply to save the appearance of supremacy. Serenas, patriarch of Aquileia in the time of Tope Gregory II, renounced the schism; upon which that pope, while he refused to give him the title of patri- arch, permitted him (A.D. 729) to act as metropolitan over the empire of the Lombards ; but the patriarchs of Aquileia continued to hold that title, which was soon recognised by the court of Rome. The patriarchs of Aquileia had metropolitan authority over the states of Venice, [stria, and the neighboring provinces; and their diocese was of large extent, including besides a great part of Friuli, Carniola, Goritz, and part of Ca- rinthia and Styria. As a great part of the diocese was in the states of Austria, the queen of Hungary claimed the right of nominating alternately with Ven- ice; and such disputes arose from the circumstance that in 1751 tin- patriarchate was suppressed, and the two archbishoprics of Ddine and Goritz erected in its stead. The church, which was the cathedral, is ded- icated in the name ofthe Assumption. Sec De Rubeis,
Moiiiimi iitn irclrsiir Aqni/iji nsis (1740, folA
(II.) Several COUNCILS or synods were held at Aqui- leia: in 381, against Palladius and Secundianus, the Arian bishops | Labbe, ii, 978) ; in 656, against the 5th (Ecumenical council ; in 698, on the " Three I lhapter" question (q. v.) ; at the same time the schism from
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Rome was ended (Labbe, vi); in 791, by Paulinus the metropolitan, fourteen canons were published ; in 1184, against incendiaries and sacrilegious persons (Labbe, x) ; in 1409, by the antipope Gregory XII, who hero excommunicated his rivals Benedict and Alexander V (Labbe, ii, 2012). — Landon, Manual of Councils; Smith, Tables of Church Hist.
Aquinas, St. Thomas, called the Angelical Doc- tor, the most conspicuous of the theological philoso- phers of the Middle Age, was born at Aquino, in the kingdom of Naples, in 1224 or 1226, of a noble family. (In Roman Catholic writers, and generally on the con- tinent of Europe, his name appears as St. Thomas ; but as the name Aquinas is more commonly used by English writers, we place this article under that title.) His parents sent him, when only five years old, to be educated in the monaster}' of Monte Cassino. In 1241 he took the habit of the Dominicans in the mon- astery of the order at Naples without the knowledge of his parents. "His mother, distressed by this act, set out in search of him, seized him on the road, and had him closely confined in the castle of Rocca-sicca. Here he entirely devoted himself to the study of Holy Scripture, and neither tears, nor entreaties, nor threats could persuade him to renounce the step he had taken. In this state of confinement he was kept for two years, when he escaped through a window and fled to Naples, and thence to Rome. In 1244 he went to Cologne, and placed himself under Albert the Great, whom he followed to Paris, and finished his studies under him. In 1248 he taught philosophy, the Holy Scriptures, and the Master of the Sentences at Cologne ; in 1252 he taught at Paris, and in 1255 was made Doctor of Theology in that university, on the same da}' with Bonaventura." He subsequently taught in most of the Italian universities, and at last took up his abode at Naples, where he received a pension from King Charles, and spent the remainder of his life in teach- ing; entirely indifferent about worldly cares and hon- ors, he declined many ecclesiastical dignities, and, among others, the archbishopric of Naples, which was offered to him by Clement IV. "As rector of the uni- versity, during a very active life, and often travelling, he wrote in twenty years the greater part of his works, which treat of a vast variety of subjects. It is said of him that he could dictate compositions on different subjects at the same time. It characterizes his theo- logical speculations that he read daily some edifying books, for, as he expressed it, we should take care that nothing one-sided arise in our speculations. He used to begin his lectures and writings with prayer ; and when in any inquiry he could find no solution, he would fall on his knees and pray for illumination. While the originality and deep philosophy of his lec- tures brought a great multifcde of hearers to him at Paris and Naples, his sermons were so simple that the most uneducated could understand them. King Louis