peror Henry III held, in December, 1046, a council at Sutri, when the three popes were all deposed, and Clement II was elected. See Pope.
Sylvestrians is the name of an order of monks founded by Sylvester Gozzoloni, who was born in 1170 (or 1177) at Osimo, in the Papal States. He was edu- cated at Padua and Bologna, and received a canonry at Osimo, which he renounced about 1217, in order to de- vote himself in solitude to a contemplative life of ascet- icism. Pupils and followers gathered about him, with whom he foimded a monastery in 1231 on Mount Fano, in which the Benedictine rule was adopted, coupled with a vow of rigid poverty. Iimocent IV confirmed the foundation (1247), and the order spread, particularly in Umbria, Tuscany, and Ancona. It was united with that of Vallambrosa in 1G(;2, but again separated from it in 1()81, and was endowed with new constitutions by Alex- ander VIII (1G90), which provided for the celebration of matins at night, for reciprocal and also self-inflicted .flagellations on every Wednesday and Friday in Advent and Lent, and for abstinence from the use of flesh, milk, and eggs on every Friday and every Church festival. A considerable number of convents, of nuns as well as monks, belonged to this order in its flourishing period; but it is now insignificant. Leo XII purposed to dis- solve the order and incorporate its members with other organizations ; but it has, nevertheless, been preserved to our time. An order of female Sylvestrians exists in Perugia. The direction of the order is placed in the hands of a general and a procurator-general, the former being chosen for four and the latter for three years. The habit is composed of a gown, scapulary, cowl, and mantle; its color is dark brown. The general wears violet, and is privileged to bear the pontifcalia (q. v.). — Herzog, Reul-Encyklop. s. v.
Symaethis, in Greek mytholog)', was a Trinacrian nymph, goddess of the river of the like name, beloved of Faun us, to whom she bore Acis.
Symbol (from avv and jia\\(.o,to throw together, i.e. by comparison), an abstract or compendium, a sign or representation of something moral, by the figures or prop- erties of natural things. Hence symbols are of various kinds, as hieroglyphics, types, enigmas, parables, fables, etc. (q. V. severally). See Lancaster, Diet, of Scripture Symbols ; Bicheno, Symbolical Vocabulary, in his Signs of the Times ; Faber, On the Prophecies ; Jones [W.], Works, vol. iv ; Wemyss, Claris Symbolica ; Mills, Sac. Symbology (Edinb. 1853); Fairbairn, Typol. of Script.; Brit, and For. Evan. Rev. 1843, p. 395. See Symbolism.
SYMBOL (Gr. '2vi.t(3o\ov, sign, lolcen^, a title an- ciently given to the Apostles' Creed ( Cvprian, Ep. 76 ; Rufinus, De Symbolo ; Augustine, De Fide et Sym- bolo ; and Hilarj-, De Trin. cap. xii). The ecclesias- tical origin of the term is much disputed, but its most probable meaning was that of a contract, or bond of our faith. ' One reason for the name derives it from a Greek word signifying a throwing or casting together, and alleges that the apostles each contributed an article to form the Creed, putting their joint opinion or counsel iu an abridged shape. The other is the opinion that this Creed was used in times of persecution as a watch- word or mark whereby Christians (like soldiers in the army) were distinguished from all others.
The term symbol, importing an emblem or sensible representation, is also applied in the holy eucharist to the sacred elements, which there set forth the body and blood of Christ.
Symbolical Books. This title designates the public confessions of faith of the different Christian churches or denominations ; in other words, the writ- ings in which an ecclesiastical communion publishes to the world the tenets that bind together its members and distinguish it from other communions of believers or unbelievers. For the idea of a symbol we refer to the article Symbolics.
SYMBOLICAL BOOKS
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SYMBOLICAL BOOKS
The onlv symbol wliich finds universal acceptance in the Church is the AposlU's' Creod. As the Church creed Kcir' tSoy'P'iit is distinguished Irum the Scriptures upon which it is based, but alst), on tlie otiier hand, from the private writings and confessions of the teachers of the Church, however greatly the latter maj' be esteemed. The later symbolical htioks differ from the briefer sym- bolical ./o/»j(/A/x, wliich alone served the purposes of the Church before the Keformation, in being more extensive and detailed, and in constitnting the confessions of par- ticular churches only {xi/mbola paiHcularia), while the great creeds (Apostles', Nicene, Athanasian) have oecu- menical value. Tiie phrase Libri Si/mboiici originated in the Lutheran Church, and was first applied to its own confessional writings when they appeared in the Book of Concord; bnt its use extended, and has long been current in all the churches and sects of Christendom.
Considerable diversity of opinion has existed with reference to the importance and value of symbolical writings. The Church of Rome regards the symbol as the immovable and unchangealtle rule of faith, and therefore as the binding norm of doctrine. This does not, according to Thomas Aquinas (^Sumina Theol. ii, 2, 1,9), detract from the supreme authority of the Script- ures, because the symbol is merely an extract from Scripture. In substance there is but one s\-mbol ; each additional formula is simply an exposition and closer determination of the original creed. Variations are to be understood as different aspects of the truth, assumed in view of the varying ojipositions it has to encounter. The Church is accordingly competent to formulate a new symbol for the exposition of the truth, though not to set aside, or even to alter, the traititional creed (^Thom. Aquinas, ut sup.').