He wrote to the bishops of Gaul, directing that the bishop of Aries should exercise metro]3oli tan jurisdiction over these provinces,yiennensis, and Prima and Secunda Narbonensis; that he should preside at the consecration of their bishops ; that all clergy travelling abroad should obtain from him litterce formutce, or commendatory let- ters ; and that he should decide ecclesiastical causes, with the exception of those which were important enough to be reserved to the cognizance of the pope himself. These distinctions he declared to rest upon the apostolic foundation of the see ; Trophimus having been despatched from Rome to be the first Ijishop of Aries, and the Christian faith having been diffused from that original source throughout Gaul. See Jarvis, Hist. of Ch. of France, i, 6 sq. ; RidiUe, Hist, of the Papacy.
Pati'ology, a term which properly applies to the doctrinal and ethical sj'stems found in the writings of
tlie Jesuits, and in these latter years, when the Jesuits j the Ciiristian Church fathers ; while Patristics strictly rule with high hand at I{ome, Patrizi has had but little , relates to their life, histor}-, and literary character.
to say that was not carefully weighed, lest it were in- tended in injury to the Society of Jesus. But the pope himsi'lf never wavered in his affection for Patrizi. Pius IX knew him to be an honest man whose counsels were wortli heeding, and to tlie last esteemed his friend the vioar-general. Patrizi died Dec. 17, 1876. Besides the offices above referred to, he was bishop of Porto and Rufinus, prefect of the Congregation of the Episcopal Residence, prefect of the Congregation of Rites, arch- priest of the Maria Majoria, and, besides, dean of the Sacred College. His last years were embittered by the presence of a ^Methodist church just across tlie way from liis vicarial i)alace. A few days before his deatli
The two words, however, are generalh' used inter- changeably. The writings of the ante-Nicene fathers are remarkable for their deference to the teaching of the Scriptures. Their doctrines and exhortations are based upon the New Testament, and fortified by cita- tions from the Gospels and Epistles. This peculiarity aids one in determining how far the New Testament was regarded as of divine authority, and what ap- proach had then been made towards the settlement of the canon. The ante-Nicene fathers agree in their testimony to the reformation wrought by Christianity in private morals and in public manners. Thus Ter- tullian, in his Apology, boldly challenges the enemies
a mutual friend informed the pope that Patrizi avowed ! of Christians to point out any evil in their lives that
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can be fairly ascribed to their religion, and refers with exultation to their domestic purity, their integrity in business, their sobriety and order, and their abound- ing charities, as fruits of the Gospel. Nor are there wanting in the ante-Nicene fathers traces of that spirit of philosophy and of erudition which in their successors shaped the doctrinal germs of the New Tes- tament into elaborate systems of theology, varying according to the influence of Plato and of Aristotle upon the thought of the age, though in general one finds in that period rather the elementary and practi- cal truths that belong to an age of missionary zeal. But though we may not look to the early fathers for classic elegance of stjde or the perfection of rhetorical art, one is charmed with their simple fervor, with their earnestness of purpose, with their unflinching devotion to the cause they had espoused ; and some- thing of roughness, even of violence, may be pardoned in men who lived in stormy times, and spoke and wrote in view of the torture, the block, the arena. We owe to them a living picture of Christianity as a working power in human thought and society at the beginning of its triumphs. See Patristics.
Fatron (Lat. pafromts, from pater, "father") among the Romans originally signified a citizen who had dependents that under the name of clients were attached to him. Before the time of the Laws of the Twelve Tables, the most frequent use of the term ^a- tronus was in opposition to libeitiis, these two words being used to signify persons who stood to one another in the relation of master and manumitted slave. The Roman was not denuded of all right in liis slave when he freed him : a tie remained somewhat like that of parent and child, and the law recognised important obligations on the part of the libertus towards his pa- tron, the neglect of which involved severe punishment. In some cases the patron could claim a right to the whole or part of the property of his freedman. The original idea of a patron apart from the manumitter of slaves continued to exist. A Roman citizen, de- sirous of a protector, might attach himself to a pa- tron, whose client he thenceforward became ; and dis- tinguished Romans were sometimes patrons of depend- ent states or cities, particularly where they had been the means of bringing them into subjection. Thus the Marcelli were patrons of the Sicilians, because Claudius Marcellus had conquered Syracuse and Sic- ily. The patron was the guardian of his client's in- terest, pulilic and private; as his legal adviser, he vindicated his rights before the courts of law. The client was bound, on various occasions, to assist the patron with monej', as bj' paying the costs of his suits, contributing to the marriage portions of his daughters, and defraying in part the expenses incurred in the discharge of public functions. Patron and client were under an obligation never to accuse one another; to violate this law amounted to the crime of treason, and any one was at liberty to slay the offender with im- punity. One obvious eft'ect of the institution of cU- entela was the introduction of an element of union between classes of citizens who were otherwise con- tinuallj' brought into opposition to each other. As the patron was in the habit of appearing in support of his clients in courts of justice, the vioxA patronus ac- quired, in course of time, the signification of advocate, or legal adviser and defender, the client being the party defended ; hence the modern relation between counsel and client.