Rostagno, Francisco Gurico, a minister of the Waldensian Church, was born in the year 1838 in the village of Prali, in the mountains of The Valleys. Deli- cate health prevented his going to school till he was about fifteen years of age ; but, being a diligent student, he soon acquired the necessary, requirements to make him a useful minister of the (iospel. Being thoroughly' acquainted with the Italian language and literature, he wrote many articles for tlie Revista Cristiana, his last being on the " Religion of Alessandro Manzoni." In the year 1866 he was ordained for the Waldensian min- istrj', and a year afterwards he was put in charge of the small congregations of Verona and Mantua, where he labored until 1872. He was then called to Leghorn; and at this important and ilifficult post he not only sup- plied the spiritual wants of his own coreligionists, but also arranged to give a course of addresses especially to Jews
upon the subject of the need of the Messiah — "What say the Scriptures about His Coming?" "Jesus of Naz- areth Borne Testimony to in the Old Testament, in the Prophecies, and the Types." But soon he was removed from his earthly post, and died in January', 1874. See Jewish Intelligencer, 1874, p. 85 stj. (B. I'.)
RosTweyde, Heribert, a Dutch .Jesuit and histo- rian, was born at Utrecht, Jan. 22, 1569. At the age of twenty he entered the Society of Jesus, taught philoso- phy at Douai and Antwerp, and finally gave his whole time to the study of ecclesiastical antiquities, exploring the libraries of all Belgium to gain information on the subject. Rosweyde died at Antwerp, Oct. 5, 1629. His works are numerous, and were all published at Antwerp. Among them are. Fasti Sanctorum (1607) : — Vita Pa- trum (1615): — Historia Ecclesiastica (1623): — VittB Sanctarum Virginum (1626). See Foppens, Bibl. Belgi- ca; Dupin, Bibl. des Auteurs Ecclesiastiques. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
RosAwitha, a nun of Gandersheim, in Brunswick, Germany, who lived at the close of the 10th century, and is noteworthy because of certain poetical composi- tions from her pen which have come down to our time. They are written in rhymed hexameters, and include panegyrics on the Virgin, St. Gangolf, St. Dionysius, St. Agnes, the Ascensio Domini, etc. She also wrote Chris- tian comedies in prose, after the manner of Terence, in which she celebrated the victory of heavenly over flesh- ly love, and of Christian martyrdom over heathen pas- sion, and two historical poems in hexameter — one of which rehearses the history of her convent, and the oth- er that of the emperor Otho I {Carmen de Gestis Ottonis I Imperatoris). The latter possesses some historical in- terest, though based on the statements of the friends of Otho and showing marks of her ignorance of the world. It contains much fine description, and is written in su- perior language. Its form approaches that of the Latin epos, particularly of Virgil. The Carmen de Primordiis Ccenobii Gander sheimensis includes the family history of the house of Saxony, and thus becomes somewhat im- portant to general German history.
Roswitha's works were first published by Conrad Cel- tes (Nuremb. 1501, fol.). Pertz, Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, iv, 306-335, contains the two historical poems and a life of Roswitha. A complete edition was given bj' Dr. Barrach, of the Germanisches Museum ( 1857 ). See Gfrrirer, Kirchengesch. HI, iii, 1357; Contzen, Geschicht- schreiber d. sdchsischen Kaiserzeit (Regensburg and Augsburg, 1837), p. 109 sq. ; Giesebrecht, Gesch. d, deutsch. Kaiserzeit, i, 742. — Herzog, Real - Encyklop. s. V.
Roszel, Stephen Asbury, son of the following, was born in Georgetown, D. C, Feb. 18,1811. At the age of seventeen he had made himself acquainted with the whole course of English and classical literature re- quired for graduation from the best colleges. His con- version took place in his sixteenth year, and about the same time he became associated with his brother in a classical school in Baltimore. He studied law and was admitted to the Baltimore bar, but soon decided to give up the profession. He acted for several years as princi- pal of the grammar-school of Dickinson College, and in 1838 was admitted to the Baltimore Conference on tri- al. He dissolved his connection with the institution in 1839, sustained a superinimerary relation for a 3'ear, and then resumed active work. He was elected in 1848 a delegate to the General Conference held at Pittsburgh, Pa., and was for eight years secretary of his own con- ference. He died in Alexandria, Va., Feb. 20, 1852, See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1852, ]). 10.
Roszel, Stephen G.,a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Loudon Countj', Va., April 8, 1770. He was converted at the age of sixteen, and soon after united with the Church. He entered the travelling connection in 1789, although, for some reason, his name is not found on the minutes until the
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following year, when he appears among those who re- main on trial. He served the Church as preacher in charge, presiding elder, as agent for Dickinson College, and in the General Conference, until his death, which took place at Leesburg, Va., May 14, 1841. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer, Pidjrit, vii, 179; Minutes of Annu- al Conferences. 1842.
Roszfeld (in Latin, Rosinus), Johann, a German anti(iiiary, was born at Eisenach in lool. He studied at Jena, and in 1579 became sub-director of the gymna- sium at liatisbon, but after a few years he gave up this position to enter the evangelical ministry, and preach- ed at Naumburg, in Saxony, until his death by the plague, Oct. 5, 1626. His principal works are: Antiqui- iutum Roinanai'um Corpus Absolutissimum (Basle, 1583 ; Lyons, 1585) : — Exempla Pietatis Illustris (Jena, 1602). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generule, s. v.