Bridaine or Brydane, Jacques, a celebrated French preacher, was born March 21, 1701, at Chuslan (department of the Gard). He first studied at the Jesuits' College at Avignon, and afterward at the Con- gregation of the Missions of Sainte-Croix. His teach- ers soon saw that he gave indications of extraordinary eloquence, and they exercised his talent by causing him to catechise the children. After receiving first orders, he was sent to Aiguemortes to preach during Lent. Finding the people slow in attending church on Ash-Wednesday, he sallied forth in his surplice, ringing a bell ; and no sooner had he gathered a crowd than he commenced to pour upon them the thunders of his eloquence, which soon produced silence, atten- tion, and terror. At that time he had written but three sermons; and he began to extemporise with so great success that he finished his Lent series in that way. He was aft rward sent as a missionary into the Cevennes, Provence, Languedoc, Le Comptat d'Avig- | non, and other provinces. In 1744 he came to Paris, where, by his eloquence, he caused the rich and power- ful to tremble. Cardinal Maury has preserved the fa- mous exordium of this preacher on the subject of eter- nity, in the church of St. Sulpice, before an imposing congregation : " Eh ! savez-vous ce que e'est que Peter- j nite? < "est une pendule dont lc balancier dit et redit, j . ces deux mots seulement, dans le silence des tombeaux, lToujours; Jamais! — Jamais; ToujoursP Et toujours pendant ces effroyables revolutions, un reprou- j ve s'ecrie : ' Quelle heure est UV ct la voix d'une autre miserable lui repond, l'L,eterniti!' " "Do you know what eternity is? It is a pendulum, ever swinging, and, as it vibrates, saying, amid the silence of the tombs, Forever, never; forever, never. And ever, as ! these vibrations keep their ceaseless motion, a wretch- ed voice may be heard from the condemned, What hour is it? and another condemned soul replies, Eternity." But Poujoulat (in his Cardinal Maury, sa vie et ses ceuvres, Paris, 1859) asserts that this famous exordium is not Bridaine's alter all, but that it can be clearly proved to be Maury's own composition! Bridaine died of the stone, Dec. 22, 1707. He has left some ' : Spirituels a Vusage des missions du diocese
tFAlais, which in 1812 had gone through forty-seven editions. The abbe Carron wrote his life under the title /.. Afodek des Pretres (Paris, 1804, 12mo). His Sermons appeared at Avignon (1823, 5 vols. 12mo).
Bridal Crown or "Wreath (n-^u'trwfut). To crown a pair about to be married with a garland of flowers, or even of metals and precious stones, is a very ancient pari of the marriage ceremony, both in pa- ganism and Christendom. The usage was adopted in the early ( 'hureh, but not without opposition. Tertul- lian called it "an idolatrous rite" (J)e ear. mi/it. c. 13-15. See also Justin, Jpul. c. ix). At a later pe- |
riod it became general, and it is spoken of with ap- proval by the fathers of the 4th and 5th centuries. Chry- sostom mentions the ceremony as follows: "-Crowns are therefore put upon their heads as symbols of vic- tory ;" i. e. it was supposed that the betrothed persons had, before nuptials, striven virtuously against all manner of uncleanness (Chrysostom, Horn. IX in 1 Tim.). It appears, therefore, that the honor of crown- ing was not given to fornicators when they married ; nor was the ceremony used in second or third mar- riages, because, though not held to be unlawful, they were not reckoned as honorable as first marriages. " The chaplets were usually made of myrtle, olive, am- aranth, rosemary, and evergreens, intermingled with cypress and vervain. The crown, appropriately so call- ed, was made of olive, myrtle, and rosemary, variegated with flowers, and sometimes with gold and silver, pearls, precious stones, etc. These crowns were constructed in the form of a pyramid or tower. Both the bride and the bridegroom were crowned in this manner, together with the groomsman and the bride-maid. The bride frequently appeared in church thus attired on the day when proclamation of the banns was made. Chap- lets were not worn by the parties in case of second marriage, nor by those who had been guilty of im- propriety before marriage. In the Greek Church the chaplets were imposed by the officiating minister. He placed the nuptial crowns, wThich had been lying on the altar, first upon the head of the bridegroom and then upon that of the bride, saying, ' This servant of the Lord hereby crowns this handmaid of the Lord in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, world without end, Amen.' This cere- mony was followed by prayers, doxologies, and the reading of the Scriptures, particular^ Ephes. v, 20-33, and John ii, 1-11, and the alternate prayers of the priest and the deacon. Upon the eighth day the mar- ried pair present themselves again in the church, when the minister, with appropriate prayer, lays off the nup- tial crown, and dismisses them with a blessing." In the Western Church veils gradually took the place of bridal crowns, though both are sometimes used. In Germany the wreaths are still very generally used. — Coleman, Ancient Christianity, ch. xxiv, § 4; Bing- ham, Oriff. Eccles. bk. xxii, ch. iv, § G; Herzog, Real- Encyk. ii, 34G ; Siegel, Handb. eler Altcrthumer, ii, 13.