8. The lower Church courts in the Gerwsan and Bb- formed Dutch churches in America are also called am- sistories. — Herzog, Real-EncyUop. iii, 180 ; Wetxer a. Welte, jrtrcAe»-Z.«a;tibon,ii, 822; Constitution of As Bt- formed Dutch Church, ch. ii, art. iL
Consociation. See Cokobeoatiosalhts.
Consolamentom. See Cathabi.
Console (Lat. eonsoHdoL), a bracket to saf^rt cor- nices, figures, busts, etc
Constance, CoimciL or (CondBws^ ConitanA- ense), a synod assembled by pope John XXIII, hi sc- cordance with the writ of the emperoi: Sigismnnd, and which sat twm 1414 to 1418. One of its processed ob. jects was to put an end to the schism wluch had listed for thirty years, and which was caused by the seren] claimants of the papacy. At this time, besides Jobs (Balthasar Cossa), two others claimed the title of popr^ viz., Pedro of Luna, a native of Catalonia, who stried himself Benedict XIII, and Angelo Corrario, a Tene- tian, who assumed the name of Gregory XII. An- other object of the councU was to take cognisance of the so-called heresies of Huss and Wickliffe. Tbe council was convoked to meet at Constance on the fes- tival of All Saints, A.D. 1414, and so great was tbe infinx of persons, that it was reckoned that not lesi
CONSTANT
487
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than thirty thousand hors^BS were brought to Con- {tanoe, wldch may give some idea of the enormotis soncoorse of people. It is stated that, during the ses- uon, the emperor, the pope, twenty princes, one hun- dred and forty counts, more than twenty cardinals, seven patriarchs, twen^ archbishops, ninetj-one bish- ops, six hundred other clerical dignitaries, and about four thousand priests, were present at this celebrated assembly. The pretended heresies of WicUiffe and Huss were here condemned, and the latter, notwith- standing the assurances of safety giyen him by the emperor, was burnt, July 6, 1415 [see Huss], and his friend and companion, Jerome of Prague, met with the same fate May 80, 1416 [see Jbbomb]. The three popes were formally deposed, and Martin V was legally chosen to the chair of St. Peter ; but, instead of fur- thering the emperor's wishes for a reformation in the affiiirs of the Church, he thwarted his plans, and noth- ing was done till the Council of Basle (q. t.). At this council the question was very warmly agitated wheth- er the authority of an oscumenical council is greater than that of a pope or not? Grerson proved that in certain cases the Church, or, which is the same thing, an oecumenical council, can assemble without the com- mand or consent of the pope, even supposing him to have been canonically elected, and to live respectably. These peculiar cases he states to be, " 1. If the pope, being accused, and brought into a position requiring the opinion of the Church, reftise to convoke a council for the purpose. 2. When important matters concern- ing the government of the Church are in agitation, re- quiring to be set at rest by an oecumenical councU, which, nevertheless, the pope refuses to convoke." The sources of information as to this council are am- ple : among them are Van der Hardt, Magnum acumen- icum ContkmUente Concilium (ed. Bohnstedt, Berlin, 1742, 6 vols, fol.); Chastenet, Nouv, Hist, du ConcUe de Constance (Paris, 1718, 4to) ; L'Enfant, Hitt, du Cone, de Constance (Amst. 1727, fol.) ; the same translated (Loud. 1780, 2 vols. 4to). See Landon, Manual of QmnciU, 160 sq. ; Ease, Ch. fiist, 277, 291, 848; Mos- heun, Ch, Hist, ii, 426 sq. ; Wessenberg, Die grotsen Kirckenversamml, vol. ii ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen- Lex, ij, M9 ; Herzog, Real-Encyld, iii, 144.
CoDBtant, Behjamin, a distinguished French poli- tician of the liberal school, was bom at Lausanne 1767 ; educated in England and Germany. He entered pub- lic life in 1799 ; was banished by Napoleon hi 1801 ; took office un4^r Napoleon on Ids return from Elba, 1814 ; became a popular representative under Charles X; and died Dec. 8, 1830. He wrote largely in poli- tics; but it Is our place only to mention his treatise De la Religion consideree dam sa source, ses/ormet et K» dkveloppemenU (Paris, 1824-81, 6 vols. 8vo), and a posthumous work, Du Polgtheitme romcdn considers dans see rapports avec lapkUosophie et la religion Chri- o«we (Paris, 1888, 2 voU. 8vo).
Constantine the Gbbat (CoNSTANmnrs, Cai- ns Flavius Yalbbius Aubblius), son of the emperor Coustantius Chlorus and of his wife Helena, was bom A.D. 272 or 274 (see Helena) at Naissus (now Nissa) >A nijricum, or, according to other traditions, in Brit- ain. He first distinguished himself by his military talents under Diocletian, in that monarch's &mous Egyptian expedition, 296 ; subsequently he served BQder Galerius in the Persian war. In 806 the two vnperors, Diocletian and Maximian, abdicated, and were succeeded by Constantius Chlorus and Galerius. ^lerius, who could not endure the brilliant and ener- ! getic genius of Constantine, took every means of ex- posing him to tianger, and it is believed that this was ^ period when he acquired that mixture of reserve, <^iung, and wisdom which was so conspicuous in his conduct in after years. At last Constantine fled to his father, who ruled in the West, and joined him at Boulogne Just as he was setting out on an expedition i
Ancient Efilgiea of Gonstaiitine and hia wife Fauata.