At first the mitre was by special favor conferred on certain bishops ; gradually it became the common right of every bishop to wear the mitre, and later its use was also permitted by special privilege to certain abbots, to provosts of some distinguished cathedral chapters, and to a few other dignitaries. (Compare Walcott, A rchoe- '^^ogy, p. 383 sq. ; Binterim, Denkwiirdigkeiten devKirche, i, pt. ii, p. 348).
In some of the Lutheran churches (as in Sweden) the mitre is worn ; but in the Church of England, since the Reformation, the mitre is no longer a part of the episcopal costume ; it is simply placed over the shield of an archbishop or bishop instead of a crest. The mi- tre of a bishop has its lower rim surrounded with a fillet of gold ; but the archbishops of Canterbury and York are in the practice of encircling theirs with a ducal coronet, a usage of late date and doubtful propriety. The bishop of Durham surrounds his mitre with an earl's coronet, in consequence of being titular count pal- atine of Durham and earl of Sedburgh. Before the custom was introduced of bishops impaling the insignia of their sees with their family arms, they sometimes differenced their paternal coat by the addition of a mitre.
Mittarelli, Nicolas-Jacques (also known as Jean- Benoit), an Italian theologian and bibliographer, and a learned historian, was born at Venice Sept. 2, 1707. At an early age he entered the order of the Camaklules, and prosecuted his. theological studies at Florence and
MITYLENE
388
MIXED MULTITUDE
at Rome, where he secured the friendship of the cardi- nal Kezzonico, subsequently Clement XIV. Appointed to the professorship of philosophy, and afterwards to that of theology, in tlje convent of Saint-lMicliel, at Murano, near Venice, Mittarelli banished from his teach- ing the scholastic method, and all the idle questions to which it gives rise. Nine years later he was sent to Treviso as confessor to the monastcrj' of Saint-l'arisio; here he was occupied in arranging the archives of that ■ house, acquired a taste for ecclesiastical antiquities, and gave idmself to researches in this direction. His nom- ination in 1747 to the office of chancellor of his order .gave him the opportunity of visiting the libraries and arcliives of a great number of convents. lie then con- ceived the idea of writing a history of his congregation. The renown which this well-executed enterprise gained for him caused his election iu 17G0 as abbot of the con- vent of Saint-JIichcl at Murano. and in 17()5 as general of his order. In 1770 he resumed tlie government of the monastery of Saint-Michel, which lie k('|)t until his death. He died Aug. 14, 1777. Emluwi'd with a pro- digious memory and a nice critical sense. Mittarelli ac- quired a thorough knowledge of Italian ecclesiastical history. To all the virtues he united an exemplary modesty, which many times caused him to refuse the honors offered liim. From his pen we have Memoi-ie della vida di S.Parisio, Wionaco Canuddulese e del momis- tero de SS.-difitina e Parisio di Treviso (Venice, 1748, 8vo) : — Meino7-ie del monastero della S.- I'riniiii di Fa- enza (Faenza, 1749, 8vo): — Annalea ('<ni;(iUhilri,.-'(.t. qui- hus plitra iiiseruntur turn cceleras lUdicd-innutiKtifas res, turn kisioi-ium ecclesiasdcani remqiie diplomuticam illus- trantia (Venice, 1755-1773, 9 vols, fol.) ; this important work, drawn up after the model of the A iinules ordinis S.-Benedicti of Mabillon, extends to the year 1764 : — Ad Scriptores rerum Italicarum CI. Muratorii accessio- nes kislorice Faventince (Yenice, 1771, fol.) -.—De Littera- fiira Faventinorum (Venice, 1775, fol.): — Bibliotkeca codicum mdnuscriptorum monasferii S.-Michaelis de Mu- riano Venetiiiritm, cum appendice librorum impressorum scecidi XV (Venice, 1769, fol.). See Fabroni, ]'if(e Ilalo- riim ; Tipaldo, Biogr.degli Ituliani illustri, x, 140; Jage- mann, Mngazin der italidnischen Literatur, vol. iv ; Ilir- sching, llistor. liter. Ilandbuch. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Ge- nertde, s. v.
Mityle'nS (M(ryXi}i'?;, Acts xx. 14; written also ^fi/tik'iir, Mi'TiXijt'i], which is the older and more ac- curate form [see Tzcliucke, (id Mil. II, ii, 484J ; of un- certain etymology), the capital of the isle of Lesbos (Ptolemy, iv, 2, 29), in the yEgiean Sea, about seven and a half miles from the opposite point on the coast of Asia Minor. It was a well-built town, with two harbors, but unwholesomely situated ( Vitruvius, ])e A rchitect. i, 6), It was the native place of Pittacus, Theophanes, Theo- phrastus, Sappho, Alcaeus, and Diophanes, and was lib- erally supplied with literary advantages (Strabo, xiii, 617; Scnec. Ilelr. ix ; Pliny, v, 'S7 ; comp. Veil. Paten, ii, 18). The town was celebrated for the beauty of its buildings (•' .Alitylene pulohra," Horace, Epist. 1,'xi, 17 ; see Cicero, Ridl. ii, IC). It had the privileges of a free city (Pliny, .V. //. v, :59). The apostle Paul touched at Mitylene overnight between Assos and Chios, during his third apostolical journey, on the way from Corinth to Jud;ca (.\cts XX, 14). It may be gathered from the cir- cumstances of this voyage that the wind was blowing from the N.W.; and it is worth while to notice that in the harbor or in the roadstead of Jlitylene the ship
Coiu of Mitjiene. (In the British Museum.)
would be sheltered from that wind. Moreover, it ap- pears that Paid was there at the time of dark moon, and this was a sulKcient reason for passing the night there before going through the intricate passages to the south- ward (see Conybeare and llowson's Life nf St. Paul, ii, 210). It does not appear that any Christian Church was established at this place in the apostolic age. No mention is made of it in ecclesiastical history until a late period; and in the 2d century heathenism was so rife in ^litylene that a man was annually sacrificed to Dionysus. In the 5th, 6th, 7ih, and 8th centuries, however, we find bishops of Mitylene present at several councils (^lagdeburg, Jlist, Eccles. Cetd. ii, 195; v, 6; vi, 6 ; vii, 4, 258, 254 ; viii, G). Mitylene still exists, under the designation of Metelin, and has given its name, in the form of Mglilni, to the whole island ; but it is now a place of no importance (Tournefort, Trar. ii, 1 15 ; Oli- vier, Voyage, ii, 93 ; Sonnini, Travels in Greece, p. 366), The town contains alx)ut 700 (Jreek houses, and 400 Turkish ; its streets are narrow and filthy (Turner, Tour in the Lecimt, iii, 299). See, generally, Pauly's Pealen- cyklop. V, 372 sq. ; Anthon's Class. Diet. s. v. ; Smith's Diet, of Class. Geography, s. v. ; Jl'Culloch's Gazetteer, s. V.