Menot, JMiciir.T.. a French preacher, was born about 1440. He belunu,(d to tlir Order of the Gray Friars, amongwhom lie taui^ht theology for several years. His sermons were of a peculiar make-up — half in barbarous Latin, half in burlesque French, and tilled with coarse jests and trivialities ; he nevertheless gained great reputation, rather for his oddity than anj' display of ability, and his enthusiastic hearers surnamed him " the golden trigend." Menot died at Paris in 1518. The
printer Claude Chevalier collected a certain number of Menot's sermons, which appeared under the title Ser- mones quadragesimales olim Turonis declamuti (Paris, 1519 and 1525, 8vo), very rarely seen at present. See Niceron, Memoires, etc., vol. xxiv ; Diet. Hist. (ed. of 1822), s. V. ; Le Bas, Diet. Encycl. de la France, s. v.
Menoux, Joseph de, a French Jesuit, was born October 14, 1695, at Besan(;on. He belonged to an ec- clesiastical family, and, destined for the Church, he en- tered the Society of Jesus at an early age, studied the classics at different colleges, and apjjlied himself with success to preaching. He obtained the confidence of king Stanislas, who appointed him preacher and supe- rior of the seminary of missions for Lorraine. He is rep- resented as a man of mind, intriguing and serviceable, a useful friend and a dangerous enemy. Voltaire says that he persuaded pope Benedict XIV, the author of some large treatises in folio on the canonization of the saints, that he should translate them into French. He sent several pages of it to him, and obtained a good benefice for his seminary, of which the Benedictines were robbed. Voltaire, who in his secret correspond- ence calls aienoux a false brother, was assured of the protection of the learned Jesuit in all circumstances ; but the alliance established between them was not sin- cere on either side. Menoux was one of the first mem- bers of the Academy of Nancy, and was associated with those of the Arcades of Rome. He wrote : Notions Phi- losophiques des verites fondamentales de la Religion^ ouvrage didactique dhin ordre nouveau (7th edition, re- vised and corrected ; Nancy, 1758, 8vo. This work ap- peared at first under the title of Deji general a I'incre- dulite. " There are few," says Freron, " so methodical, so clear, so precise, so consistent") :— Hemes du Chretien, a Vusage des Missions (Nancj\ 1741, 12mo) -.—Discours prononce en 1753 a la seance publique de la Societe Lit- teraire de Natiri (ibid. 1753, 4to; translated into Italian by order nf pope lienedict XIV) : — Coup d'ceil sus I'arret du I'lir/i nil III ill' Paris concernant I'institut des Jesuites (Avignon, 1761, in two parts, 8vo). Menoux is regarded as the author of this writing, signed by P. Griffet, and he furnished to Cerutti the materials for L'Apologie ge- nerale de Vinstitut des Jesuites. He was a co-laborer in the moral and religious works of Stanislas. See Fre- ron, Annee litteraire, 1753, 1758 ; Dnrival, Desciii^t. de la Lorraine, i, 236 ; J. J. Rousseau, Confessions, bk. viii. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Mensa, Mensal {table), a name anciently given to a church erected over a martyr's grave. See Mar- tyr. Such edifices received this appellation from the distinctive altar or communion table. Thus Augus- tine speaks of a church called mensa Cgjn-iani — Cyp- rian, as he explains, not having eaten there, but having there been offered up. Prior to the Reformation in Scotland, when the revenue of a popish bishopric arose from the annexation of parish churches, those allotted to the bishop himself were caUed mensal churches, as furnishing his table; the other churches being called common, as bishop and chapter had an interest in them. Jfi iisii is used by some writers in the same sense as Miiiii/riiim (q. v.). See Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop, s. v. ; Riddle, Christian Antiquities (Index); Walcott, Sacred Ai-cha'oLa.Y.
Mensa Capitulaiis and Mensa Episcopa-' lis are the technical terms severally given to the table suppo7-t of chapter members and the incumbents of the episcopal office. So long as communistic life prevailed in churches endowed by monastic institutions, the ex- pense for the table was provided for by the common property of the chapter. But in the 10th and 1 1th cen- turies, when canonical life was done away with, and the canons supported their own private establishments, the endowment was reamed by deducting therefrom the amount necessary to delray the expense of the table, and this sum was ajiportioned, and consequently the term (1) mensa capiiularis for that share of the tablfi
MENSA DEI
100
MEX-STEALER
endowment which was to defray the table expenses of the chapter members, and (2) mensa episcopalis for the episcopal share. The chapter's portion was again sub- divided according to the number of members belonging to a chapter, and the proportion of allowance for each particular person was determined by rank. The admin- istration of the capitular property was usually intrusted to the provost, and that of tlie ejiiscopal table estate to an official appointed by the bishop himself (vice-domi- nus) (Carol. M., capit I ao. 802, c. 13 ; Lotliar I, capit ao. 824, c. 8). If any of the capitulary estates were to be sold, a permit of the bishop and all capitularies must be secured (c. 1, 2, 3, 8, x, De his qucefuint a prcelat. iii, 10 ; sext. c. 2, De reb. eccl. non alien, iii, 9). If any of the episcopal estates were to be sold, a permit of the pope had to be asked for (c. 8, x, De reb. eccl. non alien.). In cases where the episcopal chair is endowed with such goods, this regidation remains yet in force. See Wetzer und Welte, Kirckeii-Lexikon, s. v.