Oppenheimer, Eberhard Carl Friedrich, of Vienna, a convert to Christianity, an enthusiast and chiliast, flourished at Leipsic as tutor of the Hebrew language, and there he probably died after 1750. He wrote, Hodegus Ebrao-rabbinicus, a manual of the He- brew and Rabbinic language (Leipsic, 1731) : — Lied aller Lieder, an exposition of the Song of Songs (ibid. l745 and 1750, but under the title Das Hohelied Saloinonis, oder der allerheiligste Lobgesang). See Jocher, Allge- ineines Gelehrten-Lexikon, iii, 1085, and supplement by Rotermund, v, 1148 (Bremen, 1816); Acta histor.ecclesi- ast. xiv, 777 sq. ; Milller, "IBDH T\'''2, or catalogue of Hebrew works (Amsterdam, 1808), No. 4251. (B. P.)
Opportune, St., a French nun, was born in Nor- mandy, in tlie diocese of Seez, near the opening of the 8th century. Descended from one of the first fam- ilies of Hieraois (now country of Auge), she entered the monastery of Montreuil, of which she soon became the abbess. Already familiar with privations and au- sterities, she redoubled her fervor in retreat. She had a brother called Chrodegand, who was elected bishop of Seez in 756, and was assassinated a few years after by his godson in the borough of Nonant. She died at Montreuil April 22, 770, and her name is inserted in the Roman martj'rology. In 878 Hildebrand, bishop of Seez, brought the body of Sainte Opportune to Moussy- le-Neuf, in the diocese of Meaux, and shortly after trans- ferred it to Paris. The remains of the saint were thrown into the immense receptacle of the catacombs in 1797. Her life was written before 888 by Adelhelme, bishop of Seez. It is found in the Bollandists and in Mabillon. See Acta Sanctorum, April 22; INIabillon, Acta Sanctorum Oi-dinis S. Benedicli, pt. ii, ssec. 3, p. 220; Gallia Christiana, vol. xi; Nicolas Gosset, Vie de Sainte Opportune. — Iloefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxviii, 723.
Opposants. See Jansenists.
Oppression is the spoiling or taking away of men's property by constraint, terror, or force, without ha\-ing any right thereto; working on the ignorance, weakness, or fearfulness of the oppressed. Men are guilty of oppression when they oft'or violence to the bodies, property, or consciences of others; when the}"- crush or overburden others, as the Egyptians did the
Hebrews (Exod. iii, 9). There may be oppression which maligns the character, or studies to vex another, yet does not affect his life ; as there is much persecu- tion, for conscience' sake, which is not fatal, though distressing. God is the avenger of all oppression (Cal- met).
Ops (Lat. jilenty), a Roman goddess of fertility, re- garded as a daughter of Coelus and Terra, the same as the Rhea of the Greeks, who married Saturn, and be- came mother of Jupiter. She was known among the ancients by the different names of Cybele, Bona Dea, Magna Ulater, Thija, Tellus, Proserpina, and even of Juno and Minerva; and the worship which was paid to these apparently several deities was offered merely to one and the same person, mother of the gods. Ta- tius built her a temple at Rome in common with Ceres. She was generally represented as a matron, with her right hand opened, as if offering assistance to the help- less, and holding a loaf in her left hand. Her festivals were called Opalia, etc. She was the protectress of agriculture. Her abode was the ground, and newly- born children were commended to her care. See Smith, Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v.
Optatus (tcished for"), a Roman Catholic bishop of Milevia, in Asia Minor, is known by his work, still ex- tant, entitled De schismate Donatistarumlibri vii adversus Parmenianum. We possess no information as to his personal history ; even the ancient Church historians who mention him, such as Jerome (De Viris illustribus, cap. 121), Augustine {De Doctrina Christ, lib. ii, cap. 40, num. 61; Contra epist.Parmeniani, cap. 13, num. b; De imitate eccles. cap. 19, num. 50), Fulgentius (Ad Monitmun, lib. ii, cap. 13), Honorius of Autun (De scriptoiib. eccles. cap. 3), speak only of his work. The Roman martj'rology mentions him under the date of June 4, with the sim- ple notice, 3Iilevi in Numidia sancti Optati ejnscopi doc- trina et sanctitate conspicui. According to Jerome, he wrote his work during the reign of Yalentinian I (f 375) and Valens (f 378). This is derived from Optatus's state- ment that the persecution commenced by Diocletian had spread all over Africa for more than sixty j-ears (" ferme ante annos sexaginta et quod excurrit"). Aside from the vagueness of this statement, Jerome's opinion seems contradicted by the fact that Optatus mentions (ii, 2) Siricius as occupying the see of Rome, whence we would suppose his work to have been written between the years 384 and 398. As a writer of the African Church during the period which elapsed from the death of Cyprian to Augustine, his work is the only important one which we now possess. It was written in answer to a work of the Donatist bishop Parmenianus of Car- thage, the same whose letter to the Donatist Tychonius Augustine afterwards opposed in three books. These two works of Parmenianus, now lost, must not be con- founded. That which was attacked by Augustine disputed the views hold by Tychonius concerning the Church ; that opposed by Optatus was a polemic against the Roman Catholic Church. According to Je- rome, Optatus's work contained but six books, and as known at present it has seven, yet Dupin (Praef. num. ii) solved this difficulty by showing that the seventh book consists of four independent fragments, the first three of which, at least, have Optatus for their author, and are additions made by him to the first, second, and^ third books; while the fourth part gives evidence in its style and tendencies of being from another writer, and very badly connected with the other. After the writ- ings of Augustine, this work of Optatus is the most im- portant source we possess for the history of Donatism, for although essentially polemic in its character, and particidarly intended as an answer to Parmenianus, it gives a vast amount of interesting historical informa- tion on the subject. It is also of value for the history of dogmas, as affording a clear and comprehensive view of the position of the North African Church previous to St. Augustine. The central dogma of Optatus is the