Holy Land. See Palestine.
Holy League. I. The name given to an offensive and defensive alliance contracted between the party of the Guises in France, king Philip II of Spain, the pope, the monks, and the French Parliament, in consequence of the edict of toleration of ]May 14, 1576. The object of the league was the overthro^v of the Huguenot party in France, and of its chief, king Henry III, whom one of the Guises was to succeed on the throne. Duke Il-enry of Guise (simiamed Lc Balafre) v.-as the head of the league. In order to avoid the danger, Henry joined the anti-Protestant movement himself, and was thus led to renew the persecutions against the Huguenots. The war commenced in 1577, but soon ended by the peace of Bergerac. When the duke of Alen^on died in 1584, leaving Henry of Navarre, a Protestant, heir presump- tive to the throne, the league sprung again into exist- ence under the influence of the adherents of the Guises, the strict Roman Catholic members of the Parliament, the fanatical clergv, and the ultra conservative party. The states, especially the sixteen districts of Paris (whence the association also took the name of Ligue des Seize), took an active part in it. A treaty was finally concluded with Spain, and signed at the castle of Join- ville Jan. 3, 1585, to prevent the accession of Henry of Navarre to the throne. The contracting parties also pledged themselves to the total uprooting of Protestant- ism in France and the Netherlanels. The results of the league soon became manifest in the intolerant edict of Nemours in 1585, and led in 1587 to the war, known as the war of the three Henrys. (See France, vol. iii, p. 042.) Henry III having caused Henry of Guise to be murdered at Blois in 1588, his brother, the duke of May- enne, became chief of the league. Henry III was in turn murdered near Paris in 1589, and the war continued until the abjuration of Henry IV in 1588. The pope having absolved him, the members of the league grad- ually joined the royal standard, and the party ceased to exist. See JMignet, Hist.de la Ligue (Par. 1829, 5 vols.) ; Labitte, De la Democratie chez les Predicateurs de la Ligue (Paris, 1841) ; Riddle, Persec. of Popery, i, 309 sq. ;
HOLY MORTAR
311
HOLY WATER
De Felice, Hist, of rrotestantism in France (Lond. 1853, 12rao) ; Ranke, Ilisioi-y of Papacy (see Index) ; Wright, Ilist. of France, i, 680 sq. ; Poujoiilat, Nouv. Coll. de Me- moirespour servir a Vhist. de France (Paris, 1839, 4to, 1st series, iv, 1 sq.) : Pierer, Universal-Lexikon, x, 374. See Guise, House of; Huguenots.
II. Holy League of Nuremberg, Liga Sancta, contracted July 10, 1538, by the emperor Charles V, the 'archbishops of Mayence and Salzburg, dukes William and Louis of Bavaria, George of Saxony, Erich and Henry of Brunswick, for the defence of the Roman Cath- olic faith against the league of Smalcald (q. v.). The treaty was concluded for eleven years. The armies of the contracting parties were to be divide'd into two parts, respectively commanded by duke Louis of Bavaria and duke Henry of Brunswick. The truce of April 19, 1539, rendered, however, these combinations unnecessary. — Leo, Unicersalgesch.nl, 157 sq. ; Hardwick, C/»/?t/« Jlis- tory durin;/ the liefunnadon, p. 63 sq. ; Kurtz, Ch. Hist. from the Reform, p. 83 ; Pierer, Universal-Lex. x, 374.
Holy Mortar is the " mortar used in cementing al- tar stones, and made Avitli holy water."' — Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop, p. 314.
Holy Mother. See Mary, Virgin.
Holy Mountain. SeeHERMON; Sinai; Ziox.
Holy Night, the night before Holy Day, is the first Sunday in Lent. " By Theodulph's Chapters, the previous week Avas employed in shriving penitents." — Walcott, Sacred Archceoloyy, p. 313.
Holy Office. See Ministry; Inquisition.
Eloly of Holies. See Tabernacle ; Temple.
Holy Oil, a name applied in the 4th century to oil brought to Europe from Jerusalem. "It was carried in cotton within little phials, and distributed to the faith- ful at a time when relics were sparingly distributed." In Gregory of Tours's time, oil blessed at saints' tombs was very general, and in St. Gregory's day oil taken from lamps which burned before the graves of martyrs in the Catacombs was called " holy oil." " Several of these phi- als, which Gregory the Great gave to queen Theodolin- da, are preserved at INIonza." — ^^'alcott, Saci-ed A rchceol. p. 313, 314. See Ajipulla ; Chrism.
Holy Orders. See Ordination.
Holy Phial or Sainte Ampovile, Order of, the name of an old order of knighthood in France, which •was composed of four persons, of the very first families in the province of Champagne, and were styled Barons de la Sainte A mjwide. At the coronation of the French kings they were hostages to the dean, priors, and chap- ter of Rheims until the return of the holy phial in which the coronation oil was kept, and which, according to the legend, was brought from heaven by the Holy Ghost under the form of a dove, and put into the hands of St. Remy at the coronation of Clovis, an enormous crowd having prevented the messenger from bringing in time that which had already been prepared. The knights of this order were only knights while the holy phial was used at the coronation service. They wore as a badge a cross of gold enamelled white, cantoned with four fleur-de-lis. and on the cross a dove descending with a phial in its beak, and a right hand receiving it. — Cham- bers, Cyclop. V, 393,