IV. Peculiar Religious Usages. — Like the Bohemians and the Greek Christians, the Maronites administer the sacraments in both kinds, dipping the bread in wine be- fore its distribution. " The host is a small round loaf, unleavened, of the thickness of a finger, and about the size of a crown-piece. On the top is the impression of a seal, which is eaten by the priest, who cuts the re- mainder into small pieces, and putting it into the wine in the cup, administers to each person with a spoon, which serves the whole congregation" (Kelly, Syria and the Holy Land, as compiled from Burckhardt, etc., p. 92). They also keep up public nightly prayers, which are attended by women as well as by men ; have a peculiar commemoration of the dead in the three weeks preceding Lent, and their whole office during Lent is of immense length and peculiar to themselves. Indeed their ritual and liturgy differ in many respects from those of the Latin Church. The mass is recited in the Syriac language, with the exception of the Epis- tle and Gospel, and some prayers, which are recited in Arabic, the only language understood by the people, the Syriac being simply used in the services of the Church and the offices of the priests.
V. Educational Status. — The IMaronite clergy had for- merly lands at Kome, the revenues of which were ap- propriated to keeping up a seminary for the education of young Christians from the Lebanon ; and from this high school came forth some illustrious Romanists, e. g. Gabriel Sionita, Abr. Echellensis, the Assemani, etc. The resources of this appropriation were confiscated by the French during the first revolutionary' war. Since then the court of Rome has granted them a hospitium at Rome, to which they may send several of their youth to receive a gratuitous education. It would seem that this insti- tution might introduce among them jthe ideas and arts of Europe; but the pujiils of this school, limited to an education purely monastic, bring home nothing but the Italian language, which is of no use, and a stock of the- ological learning from which as little advantage can be
derived ; they accordingly soon assimilate with the rest. Nor has a greater change been operated by the three or four missionaries maintained bj^ the French Capuchins at Gazir, Tripoli, and Beirut. Their labors consist in preaching in their church, in instructing children in the Catechism, Thomas a Kempis, and the Psalms, and in teaching them to read and write. Formerly the Jesu- its had two missionaries at their house at Antura, but the Lazarites have now succeeded them in their mis- sion. The most valuable advantage that has resulted from these labors is that the art of writing has become more common among the Maronites, and rendered them, in that country, what the Copts are in Egypt, that is, they are in possession of all the posts of writers, intend- ants, and Jcaiyas among the Turks, and especially of those among their neighbors, the Druses. " But, though the ability to read and write be thus general among the Maronites, it must not be inferred that they are a liter- arj' people. Far from it ; the book-learning of all class- es, both clergy and laitj', can hardly be rated too low. There are native printing-presses at work in some of the monasteries, but the sheets they issue are all of an ecclesiastical kind — chiefly portions of the Scripture or mass-books in Syriac, which fe^v even of the clergy un- derstand, though they repeat them by rote" (Kellv, p. 97).
The American Protestant churches, so ably repre- sented by the Rev. W. M. Thomson and others, have done already a noble work for Syria. The INIaronite, of course, has not been forgotten, and his educational dis- advantages it has been sought to ameliorate by bring- ing the influence of American schools to his very door. Tristram (^Land of Israel [Lond. 1865], p. 22), who cites the opinion of the noted pacha Daud Oghli, writes the following as from the mouth of the illustrious I\Ius- sulman ruler of Mount Lebanon: "He spoke with much warmth and interest of the American mission-schools; and it was gratifying to hear his independent testimony to the importance and solid nature of the work they are carrj'ing on, especialh' among the Maronites, with whom he considered they have met with greater success than with any any other sect."
See Churchill, Mount Lebanon (Lond. 1853, 3 vols. 8vo), iii, chap, v-viii ; id. Druse and Maronite (Lond. 18G4, 8vo) ; Kelly, Syria and the Holy Land, (compiled from Burckhardt and others), chap, viii; Guys, Beyrut et le Liban (Par. 1860); Madden, Turkish Empire, ii, ch. -vi; Ritter, Erdkunde, xvii, 744 ; Robinson, Palestine, ii, 572 ; Comte de Paris, Dumas et le Lihan, p. 75-78 ; Neale, Ilist, Holy East. Ch. (Introd.), i, 153 sq. ; Qo\\\)cr, Sects in Syria (Lond. 1860) ; Schnurrer, De eccl. Sjiurniif. (Tiib. 1810 and 1811); Silbernagl, Verfassung u. gegemcdr- tiger Bestand sammtlicher Kirchen des Orients (Lands- hut, 1805); Ffoulkes, Christendom's Divisions, ii, ch. ix; New-Englander, 1861, p. 32; Westminster Revieiv, 1862 (July).
Marot, Clement, a French poet, known in the the- ological world for his translation of the Psalms into French verse, was born at Chalons m 1495. At an early age he commenced writing poetry, and at the recom- mendation of Francis I became a member of the house- hold of Margaret, duchess of Alen^on. He afterwards accompanied Francis I to Italy, and was wounded and taken prisoner at the Ijattle of Pavia. On his return to France he wrote poetry for Diana of Poitiers, tho king's mistress, who showed him favor; but, having presumed too much upon his familiarity with her, she discarded him, and he was soon after put in prison, through her agency as some have believed, in 1525. ISIargaret pro- cured his release ; and it appears likely that Marot's intercourse with that princess caused him to incline towards the- Reformation, although lie is not known to have openly embraced it. When, in 1533, Gerard Roussel preached in Paris, after the dismissal of the fa- natic Sorbomiist Beda, satirical verses against the Prot- estants were posted on the walls; INIarot answered in the same tone ; and when the persecution broke out, in