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Cassino gradually declined again, and was never regain- ed. Among those who inhabited it are yet to be men- tioned bishop Bruno of Segni (abbot 1107-11), cardinal tJiovanni Gaetano. afterwards pope Gelasius II, and es- pecially the learned Tctrus Diaconus. In 1239 the em- peror Frederick II dispersed the monks, and occupied the convent with his soldiers. Urban IV then ajipointed the wise and learned Bernard Ayglerius of Lyons abbot and reformer of the convent. He succeeded in regaining some of its lost possessions, and in subjecting the monks to the discijiline, for which purpose he coinix)sed the ;Speailtim Monachorum (A^enice, 1505), and a comment- ary on the rule of St. Benedict. Bernard died April 3, 1282. In 1294 pope Celestinc V made an attempt to change the rule into that of the Celestines, and with that view appointed the Celestine Angelarius abbot of Monte Cassino; but Boniface YIII gave up the attempt. A bull of John XXII made the church of Monte Cassino a cathedral, the abbot bishop, and the monks cathedral canons. Still the order continued to siidi, and in 1359 there remained but a few monks living in huts built on the ruins of their convent. Pope Urban V sought to re- vive an interest in the convent, bocamo himself its ab- bot, invited the assistance of the otlicr PxMRMlictine con- vents, had well-disciplined KonodiL-tincs imported from two other convents, and finally in 1370 ai)i)ointed An- dreas de Faenza, a Benedictine of the Camaldula, abbot of Monte Cassino. But the political troubles which were then agitating Italy, and particularly Naples, pre- vented prosperity in the convent, and pope Julius II in- corporated it witli the Benedictine convent of St. Justina. The services which have been rendered to science by the convent of Monte Cassino arc related by Dora Luigi Tosti in his Storia della Badia di Monte-Cassino, divisa in libri nove ed illustraid di note et documenti (Naples, 1842-43, 3 vols.). He concludes with the words: "At present there are some twenty monks dwelling in the vast convent, attending with praiseworthy diligence to the singing of psalms and their devotions ; they take much trouble in educating a school of fifteen boys, who wear the monks' garb, and they direct the seminary of the diocese of Cassino, containing some sixty pupils. They occupy themselves besides in publishing old works contained in the archives of the convent," — Herzog, Retd-Eiicyklop. ix, 765. See also Tosti's A rchivi Ciisi- nese (Naples, 1847) ; Maclear, J list. Christian Missions, p. 172. See Moxastei4Y. (J. N. P.)
Monte Catino, Axtomo, an Italian philosopher, was born at Ferrarain 153C. Of noble extraction, ho studied different sciences in his own country, and be- came professor of jihilosophy. He was particularly es- teemed by duke Alfonso II, who chose him for his sec- retary, and sent him as ambassador to the court of France, and to that of Pome. According to IMuratori, he repaid the family of his benefactor with ingratitude, and was the principal instrument in the overthrow of the duchy of Ferrara by the Holy See. He died at Fer- rara in 1599. Monte Catino is the author of .1 listolelis Politicorum lib. Hi (I'errara, 1587-97, 3 vols, fol.); this Latin version is accompanied by a commentary, which Naude does not esteem very highly; and the second volume, which apiicared in 1784, contains also the lie- jvihlic and the Luws of Plato, as well as some frag- ments:— In octaviini libnun PhysiccB Aristofelis Com- mmtarius (Ferrara, 1591, fol.) : — In prinuim jxirtem lib. Hi AHstotdis de Animii. Francesco Patrizi has dedi- cated to JMonte Catino one of the volumes of his Disnis- siones Peripaleticer, and he has left a magnificent eulogy of the virtues of this philoso|)her. See Bayle, Diet. Cri- tique, s. V. ; Nan<le, Bibliofp: I'nf!/, vol. xxvii ; Ag. Su- jierbi, A pporalo dt'f/li Uomini illiistri di Feirara; Mu- ratori, Antichitn Ksfeim, pt. ii, c. 14; Tiraboschi, »'?^)?-tV/ della Letter. Iltil. vol. vii, pt. i. — Iloefcr, Xoiti: Bio//. Ge- nerate, s. v.
Monte Corvino, John de (chiefly known on ac- count of his wonderful missionary labors in the East), a
native of France, was bom in 1247. By papal authori- ty Monte Corvino visited India in 1291, and thence jiro- ceeded to China, where he was kindly received by the emperor Kublai Khan, who permitted him to build a church at Peking, then called Cambalu. In spite of the opjHisitiou he met, not only from Pagans, but also from Nestorians, he seems to have been so successful that as a result of eleven years' labor he baptized nearly GOOO persons and gathered 150 children, whom he taught (ireck and Latin, and for whom he composed sundry ile- votional works. He also translated into the Tartar lan- guage all f)f the N. T. and Psalms. The success which attended his labors caused Clement V to constitute him archbishop of Peking in 1307, and seven bishops were sent to him as suffragans. His death occurred in 1330, and scarcely forty years passed before the results of his life-work were almost annihilated by the Ming dynasty, which ex])elled his successors. See Williams, Middle Kiiif/dom (see Index in vol. ii) ; Newcomb, Cyclop, of Mlssio,<s. (II.W.T.)
Monte OlivetO, a rich and famous abbey in It- aly, is the most noted place of this order. The Order of the Holv Sacrament, also known as the Congregation of the Body of Jesus Christ, united with the ( )liveten- ses in 1582. See P.runel, I/ist. du Clerye seculicr et reg- ulier (Amst. 1710, 18mo), ii, 288, 291,