Monseigneur {iny lord), a French title, once ap- plied to saints, and subsequently to princes, nobles, cer- tain high dignitaries of the Church, and other titled personages, is now only given to prelates. The Italian monsignore has a similar signification. Monsignore. See Monseigneur. Monster. See Sea-monster. Monstrance. See Monstrantia. Monstrantia (Monstruji, Ostensorium) is a vesi»el usetl for tlie preserving of relics, and particularly for the consecrated host {sanctissimum, venerubile, eucha- ristia), and in which they are presented to the adoration of the people. When, in the 13th century, the doctrine of transubstantiation was established by the Church, the elevation of the host followed, as also its special exhi- bition, for instance, in the procession of Corpus-Christi Day (q. v.). For that purpose the host (q. v.) was placed on a curved surface (lunula), and introduced in a trans- parent vessel (inonstranfia, in qua sub vitro crystallino cruor inclusus [Du Fresne, Glossar. s. h. v.]). This case (^phylactei-ium, arcula) is enlarged by the addition of rays, forming an image of the sun, or the like, and pro- vided with a stand. It is placed on the altar. Thus the monstrantia becomes a movable shrme for the sac- rament (Jahei-naculum gestatorium), generally made of costly material, and richly deco- rated. " At first," says Walcott {Sacred, Archceology, p. 390), " it took the shape of an ordina- ry reliquary, but at length was made like a tower of crystal, of cylindrical form, and mounted on a foot like that of a chalice, and covered by a spire-like can- opy, with Hying buttresses. In- side the cylinder was a crescent held by an angel, in which the host was set: in some cases the cylinder was replaced by a quar- terfoil, or was surrounded by a foliage like a jesse-tree, and at a Monstrance. later date, by the sun, a lumi-
nous disk, with rays alternately straight and wavy, set upon a stand. Upon the vessel itself the Doom was often represented, and relics were placed in it. The monstrance did not become common tiU the 15th, and is probably not earlier than the 14th centurj'. It bore different forms : (1) a little tower, jewelled, and hav- ing aijertures of glass or crj'stal ; (2) the figure of a saint, or the Holy Lamb, with St. John the Baptist pointing to it ; (3) a cross ; (4) a crj'stal lantern, or tube, mounted on a pedestal of precious metal, and covered with a canopy in the 15th century; (5) a sun, with rays, containing in the centre a kind of pyx (this is found as early as the IGth century)." The ecclesiastical laws now regulate its construction. The statutes of the archbishopric of Prague of 1605, tit. xviii, command, for instance, " Mon- strantia ad exponendam vel in processionibus deferendam hostiam magnam, si non ex auro, aut argento, saltern ex aurichalco bene aurato refulgeat, et velo vel peplo con- gruo ornata sit." The monstrantia is a sacred vessel, and not to be touched by an unconsecrated person; hence any one who stole it was to be burned to death. The high altar is always provided with a monstrantia, and often the side altars also. All evangelical churches have rejected the prayer De venerahile of the Romish Church, and Luther declared, " It is insulting and dis- honoring to the holy sacrament to carry it about, and to make it an instrument of idle idolatry." See also Her- zog, Real-EncyUopddie, ix, 757.
Montagioli, Cassiodoro, a learned Italian eccle- siastic, was born at Modena Feb. 5, 1698 ; entered the Benedictine Order in 1717, and successively filled sev- eral prominent offices in the order. He gave himself largely to the study of philosophy. His principal works are, Esercizi di celesti affetti, tratti dal libro de' Salmi (Rome, 1742) : — Trattato practico della carita Ci-istiana in quanta e amor verso Bio (Bologna, 1751, and Venice, 1761) : — Enchiridio evangelico (Mod. 1755) : — Mani- era facile di meditare coti frufto le massime Cristiane (Bologna, 1759, 2 vols.) : — Detti pratiche e ricoi-di di S. Andrea AveUino (Venice, 1771) : — Parabole del figliuol di Bio (Plaisance, 1772) : — II divine sermone net monte (Rome, 1779).
Montagnuoli, Giovanni Domenico, an Italian theologian, was born at Batignano (territory of Sienna) in the first half of the 17th century. As a Dominican monk, he was distinguished for his austere piety, as weU as for his attachment to the doctrine of St. Thom- as. He was the author of Befensiones philosophicce an- gelicas Thomisticce (Venice, 1609, foL). This work, en- larged and revised, appeared again under the same title at Naples in 1610). See fichard et Quetif, Script. Ord. Prtedicat. ii, 337. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Montagu, Walter, a Roman Catholic divine of note, was born at London in 1004. He was the son of Sir Henry Montagu, who afterwards became earl of Manchester. After being educated at Sidney College, Cambridge, he travelled abroad, and became a convert to Romanism, though opposed by his nearest friends. On returning to his native land, he attracted the atten- tion and secured the favor of his queen, who appointed him her confessor. She also honored him by sending him on a confidential mission to Rome, where he met with a gracious reception by pope Urban VIII. The breaking out of the Civil War clouded his prosperity, and in 1643 he was imprisoned in the Tower, where he remained confined for several years. As soon as he was released he retired into France, where he became abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Nanteuil. He afterwards obtained the rich abbey of St. Martin's, near Pontoise, where he remained until the Restoration, when the queen -mother of England appointed him master of St. Catharine's Hospital, a position occupied by him till his death at Paris in 1677. As an author, the chief works of his pen are, The Shepherd's Paradise, a pas- toral comedy possessing some merit, though ridiculed severely by Sir John Suckling in his " Sessions of the