disappearance of this valuable masoretic work induced man\' distinguished scholars to believe in its entire loss; for Lebrecht says, in his introductory notes to his edi- tion of Kimchi's Lexicon, p. xlix (Berlin, 1847), " Sed postquam tota argumentorum ejus summa in Masoram magnam bibliorum rabbinorum transiit, ipse liber peri- isse videtur." The same opinion was held by the late Dr. Fiirst, who, in the introduction to his Concordance, expressly states that the masoretic work Oclah seems to be lost for us. Dr. Derenbourg, however, while pre- paring the catalogue of Hebrew MSS. in the Imperial Library at Paris, had the good fortune to discover an independent " Great Masorah," commencing with the words Oclah ve-Ocluh (Bibliotheque Imperiale, .4«e«V« Fonds Ilebreu, No. 56 ; Ben-Chananja, 1862, No. 7, p. 57 sq.). Shortly after Dr. Frensdorff, who for years has been engaged in masoretic researches, heard of this discovery (January, 1859); in 1862 he went to Paris, copied the MS., and published it, with learned annota- tions, under the title Dus Buch Oclah ve-Oclah (Maso- rah) llerausgegeben, iibersetzt und mit erldutermlen An- merkungen versehen (Hanover. 1864, 4to). The whole is divided into 374 sections, treating on the most ditferent subjects, which will be best illustrated by two examples, quoted at random. Thus sec. 261, p. 142, gives eleven words which are preceded by nPX, and which in this construction occur only once. Sec. 82, p. 88, gives an alphabetical list of words written in the Hebrew Penta- teuch with majuscular letters. After this discovery at Paris it was thought that it was the original Oclah ve- Oclah, which had been lost for nearly three centuries, and that it was the same which Levita made the basis of his masoretic labors. Even Dr. Frensdorff, starting from the false hypothesis that there was only one redac- tion of the Oclah ve-Oclah, and that his was the unique cop3' which had survived the ravages of time, was led to this presumption, which, however, is now proved to be incorrect by the discovery of another and much larger redaction of the Oclah ve-Oclah than that pub- lished by Dr. Frensdorff. The jMS. is in the library of the University of Halle (Y. b. 10), and a description of it by the late Prof. Hupfeld has been given in the Zeit- schrift der deutschen morgenldndischen Gesellschaft, xxi, 201-220 (Leips. 1867). See Ginsburg, Jacob ben-Chajim ihn-Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible (Lond. 1867); Kimchi, Liber radicum (ed. Biesenthal and Leb- recht), p. 26; Geiger, Jiidische Zeitschrift fiir Wissen- schaft und Leben, p. 104 sq. (Breslau, 1864-5) ; Frankol, Monutsschrift fiir Geschichte und Wissenschuft des Ju- denthums, p."31-37, 75-80, 269-277, 313-318 (ibid. 1865); Ocluh ve-Ocluh, ed. Frensdorff, p. iii sq. (B. P.)
O'Connor, Charles, a learned Irish Roman Cath- olic divine, who for many years was a resident in the family of the duke of Buckingham at Stowe as chaplain to the duchess and librarian to the duke, is the author of Columbanus's Letters (2 vols.), a Narrative of the most interesting Events in Modern Lrish History, and a collection of the ancient Irish chronicles ; his studies having been chiefly directed to the elucidation of the history and antiquities of Ireland. He died in 1828 at Balinagar, the seat of his brother, the O'Connor Don. See AUibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v.
Oc'ran (Heb. Okrau', '"j"^"^, afflicted; Sept. 'Ex- pdi>), the father of Pagiel, which latter was the chief man of the tribe of Asher about the time of the exode (Numb, i, 13; ii, 27; vii, 72; x, 26). B.C. ante 1658.
Octagonal Chapels or Churches occur only at Stony IMidiUeton, Wisby, ]\Iilan. Perugia, Ravenna, Hierapolis, and the modern St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, London. There was formerly one at Ayot St. Peter's. The form is mentioned by Eusebius at xVntioch in the case of a church built by Constantine, and was a mod- ification of the ])rinciple of the round church. There is an octagonal porch at St. Mary's Rcdcliffe, and a cham- ber in modern times called the Baptistery, but really
OCTAVA INFANTIUM
295
ODAL
connected with the water system, at Canterbury Cathe- dral. See Walcott, Sacred A rchceoloyy (Load. 1868), p. 407, 408.
Octava Infantium {vighth [day] of the hahes) was a frequent designation of the first Sunday after Easter, so called in reference to the newly baptized as born of God.— Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s. v. ; Siegel, Christ- liche Alterthumer, i, 208 sq. ; Kiddle, Christian Antiqui- ties, p. 677.
Octave is, in the ecclesiastical calendar, the period intervening between any of the higher festivals and the eighth day therefrom. The whole of this interval was formerly observed with great solemnity ; and the Church of England has retained the notion by directing that the "preface" proper to Christmas-day, Easter-day, As- cension-day, and Whit-Sunday shall be used for the seven days immediately following each of these festi- vals; except that in the latter case (Whit- Sunday), that preface is to be used for six days only, because the eighth day from it is Trinity Sunday, which has a pref- ace pecidiar to itself. Sparrow, on the Common Prayer, says, because our whole life is the revolution of seven days, the eighth or octave signifies eternity, and this was the mystical reason why octaves were'annexed to festivals. Dii Cange says, because our Lord rose on the eighth day (including Sunday to Sunday), the octave of the feast was the day on which the whole solemnity closed. — Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s. v. ; Riddle, Christian An- tiquities, p. 677, 683.