extant. He now became the general favorite of eccle- siastical students, and soon was brought to the notice also of his sovereign, Louis XIV, who sent him on literary missions, as the result of which we have from him Mu- seum Italicum (1689), a kind of antiquarian itinerary of Italy. Besides descriptions of the towns and their at- tractions, it contains valuable dissertations on ecclesias- tical history and paleography; also a very explicit com- mentary on the ritual of tlie various services, or liturgy, anil rites of the Roman Church. (He had previously published De Litui-ffia Gallicana Uhri tres [1685], in which he compares the (iallican with the Mozarabic lit- urgy). Another work of great importance from the pen of Mabillon is the Lettres et Edits sur les Etudes Monas- tiques, containing a curious controversy between the abbe De Kance, the founder of the order of the T/rqjjnsts (q. V.) and the Benedictines. De Kance, in his ascetic enthusiasm, had forbidden his monks all scientific stud- ies, and, indeed, all reading except the Breviary and a few monastic tracts. The rest of the clergy, both secu- lar and regular, took the alarm, and Mabillon was re- quested to defend monastic studies and learning as per- fectly compatible with piety and religious discipline, as the Benedictine order had fully proved. JMabillon promptly complied with the request, and published his Traite in 1691. It was received with great applause, and was at once translated into Latin and other languages. See Range for the reply. His fame spread rapidly, and he was recognised as one of the leading scholars of his day. In 1701 he was chosen member of the Academy of Inscriptions. In 1703 he came before the public with the first volume of his chef-d'anivre, A nnules Ordinis S. Benedkii. Henceibrth, until the day of his death (Dec. 27, 1707), Mabillon faithfully applied himself to the completion of this work, which all critics are agreed is "among the most important works which have been WTitten on the history of the Church" (Dowling). It should certainly be found on the shelves of every real student of Church History. It commences with the }-ear 480 — that of the birth of St. Benedict, — and goes down to 1157 (covering in all 6 vols, folio. jMabillon himself completed vols, i-iv, extending to 1066 ; Mas- suet completed vol. v [published in 17 lo], and Martene vol. vi [published in 1739]; for the different editions, see Ceillier, Hist, des A uteurs sacres, xiv, 498). It con- tains an account of St. Benedict, discusses his rules, and everything in any way pertaining to the order. The work, besides including a somewhat complete history of the secular affairs of the times, contains a minute ac- count of the doctrines, the ceremonies, the controversies of the Church age by age, with a statement of the vrrit- ings of each individual whose life is depicted. Of the manner in which the work is done we will let Dowling {[ntrod. to the Crit. Study of Eccles. History, p. 144 sq.) speak. " His (Mabillon's) unbounded learning, and his penetrating and comprehensive mind, enabled him to discover new truths, and detect and expose inveterate errors. His amiable moderation and unaffected candor introduced into the discussion of ecclesiastical subjects a better tone and spirit. But tliis was not the full extent of the services which he rendered to Church History. The monastic habit could not restrain his mental inde- pendence, nor his religious peculiarities make him feel as a vulgar controversialist. He was the most promi- nent of a new race of scholars, who communicated to the whole subject a different character; who separated it from polemical theology, and assumed as a first principle that its subject-matter was not controversy, but facts. It was a new thing to see a congregation of monks tak- ing a lead in a literary movement; but such was the case. The genius of jMabillon did much to purif>' and ennoble Church History. Excited by his example and prece[)ts, the French Benedictines devoted themselves in an admirable spirit to the cultivation of ecclesiastical learning, and distinguished themselves in the republic of letters by the publication of a number of critical, phil- ological, and antiquarian works connected with such I
studies, not more remarkable for their enidition than for their moderation and candor."
Mabillon, by the intended publication of a treatise, Zic Cultu Sanctorum iynotorum, came near being involved in a hot controversy with the authorities of his Church. The book, whicli aimed to point out some abuses con- cerning the worship of relics, was on the eve of anony- mous publication when it was secured by the Congrega- tion of the Index, and placed among the forljidden ones. He quietly submitted to the exceptions of the authorities, and prejiared a new edition purged from the objection- able passages. In his new preface he sa3's : " Hrec nova editio non temere nee proprio arbitrio a me facta est, sed ad Ejus nutum et imperium, penes quem residet summa prascipiendi auctoritas!" In return for his ready sub- mission he was to be rewarded by the cardinal's liat, but the intended honor came too late to be of any service in Mabillon's terrestrial course. Mabillon wrote also De He Diplomaticd llbri sex, accedunt Commentarius de cnti- quis Reijum Francorum Palatiis : Veteruni Scriptura- rum varia Specimina, etc., a work much esteemed. These and other later works were collected under the title Ouvrayes Posthunies de J. Mabillon et de Thierry Ruinart, Benedictines de la Congregation de St. Maur (Paris, 1724, 3 vols. 4to). A complete list of all his works is given in Herzog, Real-Encyklop.\m, 635. See, besides the authorities already mentioned, Vieuville, Bihl. historique d. A uteurs de la Congregation de S. Maur ; D. Tassin, Hist. Litter, de la Cong, de S. Maur ; C. de Malan, Hist, de Mabillon ; Valery, Corresp. de Mabillon et de Monlfuucon ; Hoefer, Xouv. Biog. Generale, xxxii, 437. (J.H.AV.)