Piga, Mi ii in s, an Eastern prelate, flourished in the second half of the L6th century. He was in 1591 exarch of the Church of ( 'niistaut inople. and shortly af- ter that time was chosen to till the (hair of St. Mark's. As patriarch of Alexandria. Piga distinguished himself by great devotion to ecclesiastical studies, and as the author of one or two controversial writings for the Sla- vonic Church, which was exposed to the intrusion of Romanism.
Pigenat, Francois, a French preacher of the Jesu- itic order, was born at Aut mi near the close of the loth century. He early became a member of the Society ol Jesus, and at 1 '.iris w as one of t lie most zealous preach- ers of the League. In September, loss, he was. in a somewhat quaint maimer, elected curate of St. Nicolas des champs. Legeay having been expelled by his par- ishioners as suspected of Huguenotism. Henry III said on that occasion thai " Parisians win- kings and popes, and if you onlj let them have their own way, thej will soon dispose of the whole spiritual and temporal power of the realm." In January, 1589, Pigenat preached at Paris the funeral sermon of the duke and cardinal of Guise, assassinated at Blois by order of the king, and gave them the title of martyrs. Pigenat took a con- spicuous part in all the absurd and obscene processions of the time. He organized one in his own parish, where over a thousand persons, of both sexes and everj age,
were marched half naked, the curate hiuis ill ha\ ing
only a while robe to cover him. He was om of the first to si gn the deposition of Henry HI, and became a member ol the council of Quarante. He was by bis
friends claimed to be inspired, but royalist writers call him "a troublesome liar, false prophet, promoter of
every kind of crime, who receives from the Spanish
court numbers of doubloons lor his vociferating in the (hair and in the public thoroughfares." Alter the murder of Henry III, Pigenat transferred his ani- mosity to Henn rV, declaring that "it was not in the power of God thai the Bearnais should be converted,
that the pope could not ahsolve him and put him on the throne, and that it he did he would he excommuni- cated himself." Pigenat did not live to see Henry IV make in- entrance into Paris. He died in L590. Ac-
PIGEON
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P1GKEAU
Cbrding to L'Estoile, he was not destitute of talent and imagination.
His brother, Odon Pigenat, provincial of the Jesuits and one of the Seize, was also a chief of the League. He died at Bourges of an attack of frenzy.
A third member of the same family, Jean Pigenat, lived at the same time. He left Aveuglement des Poli- tiques, Heretiques, et Maheustres, etc. (Paris, 1592, 8vo). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, xl, '205.
Pigeon is the rendering — but only in connection with the epithet "young" — of two very different Heb. and one Gr. word: HSI"1) yondh, -rripicrTipa, a general name for any member of the dove family ('; dove" ev- erywhere, except in the Mosaic enactment, Lev. i, 14 ; y, 7, 11 ; xii, 6, 8; xiv, 22. 30: xv, 14, 29; Numb, vi, 10 ; Luke ii, 24) ; but in Gen. xv, 9, bv.Z, gozdl, the young of any bird, perhaps there correctly of the dove, although in Deut. xxxii the " young" of the eagle is meant. The Biblical passages in which the pigeon is mentioned may be classified as follows:
1. Pigeons or doves were the only birds used for sac- rifices (comp. already Gen. xv, 9), in particular young- pigeons (MS'T^rt "i33. pulli columbini) and turtle-doves, which were sacrificed, sometimes with other offerings (Lev. xii, 6, in purifying women after childbed), some- times alone as free-will offerings made by fire (Lev. i, 14) ; or were prescribed in the purifications from lepro- sy (Lev. xiv, 22), from personal uncleanness (Lev. xv, 14); that of Nazarites (Numb, vi, 10), and of women after menstruation (Lev. xv, 29). But in two cases, where poverty interfered with more costly sacrifices, these were substituted (Lev. v, 7 sq. ; xii, 8. Comp. Luke ii, 24). Such offerings of birds were also made by the poor in Egypt. (See Pausan. x, 32, 9. Comp. Engel, Cyprus, ii, 184 sq.) For the purpose of provid- ing these sacrifices, dealers in pigeons used to sit in the neighborhood of the Temple (Matt, xxi, 12; Mark xi, 15; John ii, 14, 16); and the raising of doves was from an early day a pursuit peculiar to the Jews (Isa. lx, 8. Comp. Rosenmuller, Morgenl. vi, 283), although there were also many wild pigeons in Palestine (Ezek. vii, 16. Comp. Schubert, iii, 250), which built their nests in clefts of the rocks (Jer. xlviii, 28; Cant, ii, 14; Rob- inson, ii, 433), or at least sought a refuge there when chased (Psa. xi, 1. Comp. Iliad, xxi, 493 sq. ; Quint. Smyrn. xii, 12 sq.). See Schwebel, Be columbarum cultu (Onold. 1767); Wemsdorf, Be columb. sacra Sy- rorum (Helmst. 1761).
2. The flight of the pigeon was employed by the poet as a figure for swiftness (Psa. lv, 7; Hosea xi, 11. Comp. Soph. (Ed. Col. 1081; Eurip. Bacch. 1090; Rob- inson, ii, 484), and is so understood by many interpre- ters in several passages of the New Testament (Matt. iii, 16 ; Mark i, 10 ; John i, 32) in which the Holy Spir- it's descent is spoken of, but this may be doubted. The figure is carried out still further by Isaiah (lx, 8), and it is true that the pigeon surpasses in swiftness and di- rectness of flight many birds of its size, without, how- ever, being remarkable in this respect (Virg. JEn. v, 213 sq. ; Plin. x, 52). The cause of this may be found in its long wings (Rechstein, Naturgesch. iv, 2), by means of which it often escapes the birds which would prey upon it (Plin. x, 52; Phsedr. i, 323; .Elian. Ani- mal iii, 45). In songs of love, the eyes of the beloved, as expressive of attachment and of innocence, are com- pared with those of the dove, or, as some say, with little doves (Cant, i, 15 ; iv, 1). And in Cant, v, 12 it is said, •' His eyes are like doves over brooks of water, bathed in milk, resting in fulness ,-" a very beautiful description of the swimming apple of the eye. (The explanation of these words by Umbreit and Dopke is in better taste than that of Rosenmiiller.) The voice of the dove is represented by the poets as a sigh, an expression of sor- row (Wrt, Isa. xxviii, 14; lix, 11 ; Nah. ii, 8. Cump. Ezek. vii, 16 ; Theocr. vii, 141 ; Virg. Eclog. i, 59 ; Mar-