See the copious treatment of the andent catechume- nate by Bingham, Origines Ecdesksy ch. x ; and Gole- man. Ancient ChrisHaniiy, ch. vii, sec. vi, § 7. See also Siegel, Alterthumer, i, 864 sq. ; Pfjumer, De CaieckMrne- nis, AntiqwB Ecdesia (Frankfort et Gotha, 1688, 4to); Farrar, Ecdesiam Dictionary, s. v. ; Buck, Theoi, Lie- tionary, s. v. ; Neander, Church Hilary, i,' 805 ; and the article Arc am Disciplixa.
Catena (a cAom), in Biblical criticism, is an ex- position of a portion of the Scriptures, formed of col- lections from various authors. Thus we have Catena of the Greek fathers by Procopius, by Olympiodoms, and by Nicephorus, on several books of the Old Testa- ment. Poole's Synopsis may be regarded as a catena of modem interpretations of the Bible. The ancient catenas seem to have originated in the short scholia, or glosses, which it was customary in manuscripts of the Scriptures to introduce in the margin. These, by degrees, were expanded, and passages frtym the homi- lies or sermons of the fathers were added. The most celebrated catena is the catena aurena of Thomas Aqui- nas, which was translated at Oxford under the super- intendence of Mr. J. H. Newman. The subsequent conduct of Mr. Newman has led those who were will- ing to attach some authority to that work to examine it carefolly, and the result has been the detection that Thomas Aquinas has sometimes modified the quota- tions he has made from the fothers ; and the whole, as a commentary, is inferior to th6 commentaries of mod- em theologiims (Farrar, Eccl, Did, s. v. ; Hook, Ch, Dictionary, s. v.).
The application of this name to works of this sort has been attributed to Thomas Aquinas in consequence of the above collection on the four Gospels ; but that it is of later invention appears from the foct that the older editions of this work bear the title of glosea om»- ^MMMi, according to what was the customaiy phraseolo- gy of the time, and that Thomas himself, in his dedL cation to Pope Urban lY , calls his work confmua e7po> dtio. The early names for these among the Greeks were iinToiJuu ipfttivHuiv, wvaytayal l^riyrfantw, ox^ Xuz iticb ha^piitv IpfitivHuiVf etc., which are more Justly descriptive of their contents than the later najnes xp<^^ Ki^aXma and attpoL These catenje an
CATERPILLAR
155
CATHARI
of fifibrent kinds. '* Sometimet the words of the ft^ then firom whom they were compiled are presented in t mutilated state, and not as they were originally writ- ten. Sometimes the bore exposition is given, without the reasons by which it is sapported. Sometimes we find Uiat the opinions of different writers are confoond- ed, that being assigned to one which properly belongs to another. By far the greater number appear to have been hastily and negligently made, with so many omisnons, corruptions, and errors that they cannot be relied on" (Davidson, Hermmeut, p. 156). All are not alike in the method of their arrangement, nor are all eqaaUr skilfdlly or neatly arranged. They vary, also, according as the writers from whom they are drawn were attached to the grammatical, the allegorical, or the dogmatic principle of interpretation; and some- times tiie compiler's own inclination in this respect gives a character to his work. The use of these cate- ne is, nevertheless, considerable, as they preserve to us many fhigments of Aquila and the other versions of the Hexapla ; as they contain extracts tram the works of interpreters otherwise unknown to us, and as they occasionidly supply various readings.
The number of these catenie is considerable ; many yet remain in HS. Of tlioee that have been printed may be mentioned : Catena Gr, Patrum in bcatum Jch^ eoUeetore NicetOy ed. Pat Junius (London, 1687, fol.) ; Sfmbolarum in Mattheewn tomus prior exhibena CcUenam Gr, Ptitnan xxi, edit. P. Possinus (Tolos. 1646, fol.); £jftMi. tommg alter quo ctmiinetw Catena PP, Gr, xxx, mterpret Balth. Corderius (Tolos. 1647, fol.); Caiena Gr, PP, m Evang. §ec, Marcum collect atque interp. P. Poesinus, etc. (Rom. 1673, foL); Catena hv Gr. PP. m Lhcom, qwB simul Evangg, introducit eapHcatio- rvm, hc9 et iatinitate donata, etc. a B. Corderio, Antw. 1628, fbl.) ; CcUena PP, Gr, m Joannem ex antiqidss. Or. coSce in iMcem^ ed. a B. Corderio (Antw. 1680, fol.) ; Caieaa Gr, PP. in Nov. Test. ed. J. A. Cramer (Oxon. 1844, 8 vols. 8vo). To this class belong also the com- mentaries of Theophylact, Eutbymius Zigabonus, (Ecu- menius, Andreas, Arethas, Bede, Aquinas, etc.
The introduction of this class of commentaries has been assigned to Olympiodoms by Wolf and others, but this cannot be substantiated; still less can the opinion of those who would ascribe it to Procopius Gaza. It is probable that the practice of compiling from^he great teachers of the Church grow up gradu- ally in the later and less enlightened ages, partly ttom a feeling of veneration fbr these earlier and brighter laminaries, partly fhmi inability to furnish anything original on the books of Scripture. It was a season of nl^t, when those who sought after truth felt that even reflected lights were a great blessing (see Simon, Hi$t, CriL de» prmc, Commentateurt de N, T, c. 80, Ittigius de hibHotkeeis et catenit patrum [Lips. 1708] ; Fabricius, BibL Gr. vii, p. 728; J. CWolfius, Exercitatio in cat, PP. Gr, reprinted in Cramer's Catena in N, Test, i ; Noeseelt, De Cat. PP. Gr. in N, T, lOpusc. Ui, 825 sq.]; Crsmer's PrafaHo to his edition of the Catene).— Kit- to, Cydopadiay s, v. See Commkktart.