governmental authority had approved the episcopal verdict, no officer dared to execute the Church decree. The delay only encouraged the opposition ; and when in 1550 a diet was convened to further consider the case, general opinion was so outspokenh' arrayed against the Church that Orzechowski found it an easy task to fan the popular indignation into a terrible liame, and thus unconscio\isly became a most valuable servant to the Reformation cause, though he had himself turned the cold shoulder to it. His bitter attack of Romanism opened the eyes of the people, and soon the bishops who had been so eager to condemn Orzechowski sought for an opportunity to reconcile this able and violent an- tagonist. On Feb. 17, 1552, absolution was granted him, and he thereupon presented to a Roman Catholic synod a declaration of his entire adherence to its tenets, and at the same time resigned his ecclesiastical digni- ties. But as the pope of Rome refused to approve the action of the synod and bishops, Orzechowski broke out anew in invectives against Rome. This time, liowever, his opposition proved no longer as formidable as here- tofore, the golden opportunity for leadership having been lost by him. Those who favored the Reforma- tion cause dared not to trust him after his sudden de- sertion. The Romanists put his writings into the Index Expurf/atorius, and he was declared a servant of Satan. In 1557 he was excommunicated anew, but when, soon after, his wife died — the principal obstacle to reconcili- ation with Rome, as the pope refused to endorse the mar- riage contract — Orzechowski was approached kindly, and in 1559 was finally reconciled to the Church which he had so long and violently and ably attacked. He now directed his hostility to the Protestants, and for many years was Rome's ablest champion in Poland. His writings of this period abound in the same viru- lence and scurrility which characterize his works against Rome. He died in the second hnlf of the IGth centur3% The life of this extraordinary individual is one of the most striking proofs that the highest talent, destitute of principle, is unable to produce anything that is really great or good. The principal cause of popular discon- tent with Rome in Poland, and the principal promoter of Protestant liberty, he betrayed by the fickleness of his character and the versatility of his opinions the high vocation to which his great talents and bold char- acter seemed to entitle him. He might have been the founder of Protestantism in Polaiul. He died an abject slave to popish error and superstition, and left his coun- try in darkness and slavery, instead of securing for it religious and civil freedom. See Krasinski, //w^. of the Ref. in Polancl, i, 179-198, (J. IL W.)
Osai'as ('Q(Ta('«c:,Vulg. omits), a Graicized form (1 Esdr. viii, 48) of' the name Jeshaiaii (Ezra viii, 19),
O Sapiential {0 Wisdom!) These are the open- ing words of the first of a series of anthems, one of which was sung with the Magnificat every evening, in the Churcii of England, before the l\eformation, for the eight days preceding Christmas - eve ; that sung on Dec. 17 beginning "O Sapiential" The series is here given in an English translation :
"Dec. 17. O Sa^nentia ! O Wisdom ! which earnest out of the mouth of the Most High, reachuig fioni one end to the other, mightily and sweetly orrlerin^g all things, come and teach us tlie vvaj' of nnderstandiiisr.
"Dec. IS. O Adonai! O Lord iuid Ruler of the house of Isniel, who appeared to Moses in a flame of tire in the bush, and gavest him the law iu Sinai, come and deliver us with an outstretched arm.
" Dec. 10. O Radix Jesse ! O Root of Jesse, which stand- est for an ensign of the people, at whom kings ^hall shut iheir months, thou to whom ihe Gentiles shall seek, come and deliver us now ; tarry not.
"Dec. '20. O Clavis David! O Key of David, and Scep- tre of the house of Israel, thon that openest, and no man shntteth ; and shuttest, and no nnin openeth; come and bring the prisoner out of the prison-hotis-e, and him that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.
"Dec. 21. O Orievs! O Dav-Spring, brightness of the everlasting light, and Sun of Righteousness, come and enlighten them that sit iu darkness, and iu the shadow of death.
OSBALDISTAN-
464
OSCHOPHORIA
"Dec. 22. O Hex Gentium! O King aud Desire of all nutions, tlion Corner-Stone who hai>t niade both cue, come and save man whom thou formedst from the clay.
"Dec. 23. O Emmanuel! O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, Hope of the Gentiles and their Saviour, corae aud save us, O Lord our God." — Staunton, Kcdes. Did. s. v.
Osbaldistan, Richard, an English prelate of note, was bom near the opening of the 18th century. He was educateil at Oxford, and, even after entering the Church, taught for a while. He was at one time master of Westminster School. While in this position he was found to entertain contempt for high ecclesias- tical authorities (see Perry, Ch. Hist, i, 536, 537), and he was obliged to tiee from the country. Later we find Osbaldistan in the deanery of York, and in 1 747 he was elevated to the bishopric of Carlisle, from which he was transferred to London in 1762. He died in 1764. He published several Sermons (Lond. 1723, 1748, 1752).