tin i'lm .1 rtS, s. v.
Pisant. Loi i-. a French savant, was born in 1646 at Sassetot, near Fecamp. Admitted in 1667 into the Congregation of the Benedictines of Saint-Maur, he ad- ministered with the rank of superior several abbeys, and retired to that of Saint-Ouen. He died May .".. [726, at Rouen. He wrote, Sentiments d'ura '
t, i,i. i 1711. L2 and Traiti historique <t dogmatiqui
,/,.< pit ptions ecclesiastiques (Luxemb.
171.'.. ho , a work w hi. h failed to meet the approbation
of hi> congregation.— Hoefer, Nouv, /:/■",'. Generate, si, B80.
Piscator, Johannes, a German theologian of the Reformation age, i- note l for hi- [earning and piety. He was horn at Strasburg March 27, 1546. Hi was from hi- youth up a lover of study, ami was soon dis- tinguished for his learning. While engaged in the stmly of logic, he anxiously sought to reconcile and unite Aristotle and his commentator Peter Ramus
(t\. v.i ; and when, after the completion of his univer- sity studies at Strasburg and Tubingen, he became professor at the university of his native town, he made this the special subject of some of his lectures, though the department of divinity was his field. Sir- pected of Zwinglianism, he found his position uncom- fortable, and accepted a professorship at lb idelberg in 1574. But here also the severely Lutheran ti gave him disquiet, and alter a short stay at N« usta.lt in 1578 he went to Nevers, France, u here, however, he was not Buffered to remain quietly. and in 1584 he finally re- moved to Herborn as conrector of the Academy, where? he taught with so much success that many students flocked thither from Germany, France, Poland, and other northern countries, ||,. was very diligent, and scarcely allowed himself sufficient time for sleep, lie wrote extensively, translating the whole Bible with -reat faithfulness into the German, and making a logical and theological analysis of the greater part i llerhorn. lCifJ :<. o vols. It.'-. lM cd. 1604 6; 3d ed 1624; abridged ed. Berne, 1681; Dinsburg, 1684 . He also published several valuable commentaries on the < ild
and New Testaments (1613 58), and many dogmatic and polemic writings, of which those on the Supper, Predestination, Heidelberg Catechism, Justifica- tion, and the reply to Hunnius, l>< Sacrann serve in em ion. Most peculiar were the views of Pisca- tor on the active obedience of ( Ihrist, which he held not to In- imputed, hut that which Christ for himself owed to God. See Satisfaction. Piscator died in 1625. See Steubing, in Zeitschriftf. kistor. Theol. 1841, iv, 198 sq.; Schrbckh, Kirch ngesch. s. d. !.'</. v, 358 sq.; Gi Dogmatik, i. 163, 383, 122; Tholuck. /'</.-• alcademische Leben des 17/../ Jahrh. pt. ii. p. 304; Hagenbach, Kir- chengesch. vol. v; Bossuet, Variations, vol. ii ; Buchanan, Justification (see Index). (J. H.W.)
Pischon, FniKiiitK it ACGTJSTI s. a minister of the German Evangelical Church, and pastor in Berlin, died Dec. 31, 187)7. He published, Du hoh Wichtigkeit der Uebersetzung der heil. Schrijl durch Mm tin Luther (Berlin, 1834):— Ton der Hulfe, welch dii Frauen der Aufnahnu des gottlichen Wortes /, i.<>, n konnen (ibid. 1836): — Predigten (ibid. 1837):— Vortragi ■ ih His, 'In in, ,1 schweizerisch Reformation (ibid. 1846 : Die Augsburgisch < ',,nf, .<.<!, <n u. ,.', r /:, rlim r Kirch ntag (ibid. 1853): Di* Taufnamen. Eim WeihnachHga.be (ibid. 1857, etc.). He also edited the Monatsschrift fur ,li, unirte evangelisch Kirche,va connection with Flte- ster. donas, and Sydow. See Zuchhold, Bibliotheca The- ologica, ii, 899, 997 sq. I B. P.)
Piscina (Lat. - a reservoir of water), originally the
reservoir and filter connected with the aqueducts of Rome, hut applied in ecclesiastical language t<> a water- drain formerly placed near an altar in a church, is a small niche, or jfenestella, containing the piscina, or la- vacrum, basin. It consists < f a shallow stone basin, or sink, with a hole in the bottom, to carry oil' w hatever is poured int.. ii. It is fixed at a convenient height above
lie llo,,r. and was used to receive the wat.r in which lh. priest washed his bands, as will as that with which
the chalice was rinsed at the time oi the celebration of
the mass. || is usually annexed to the consessus or seats of l he priests in the ancient churches, for I he most
pan similarly decorated, and sometimes appearing as an
additional c parlmenl. It is sometimes also found
alone in the southern walls of chancels and aisles, some- times in the eastern walls on the right, and there are one or two instances in which ii occurs on the left.
When two . hail in Is occur in it, one was tO reo he the water in which the priest had washed his hands, the
other thai in whi.h he had rinsed the chalice. Du- cange limits the piscina, as ii is restricted above, to the lavacrum. By Bingham it is received in a more en- larged meaning. "The font," says that author, " by the Greek writers i~ commonh called Ko\vfi(3r]Spa, and by the Latins piscina, for which Latter name Optatus affords
PISCINA
231
PISE
iliPWllijji
^
Ciowmarsh, c. 1150.
Warmi
li-.'it.
.1 mystical reason. He says it was called piscina in al- lusion to our Saviour's technical name i\ii'c, which was an acrostic composed of the initial letters of our Saviour's several titles, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour." See Fish : Font. In many instances, particularly in those of Early English and early Decorated date, there are two basins and drains, and occasionally three; within the niche there is also often found a wooden or stone shelf, which served the purpose of a credence-table, to receive certain of the sacred vessels that were used in the ser- vice of the mass, previous to their being required at the altar; sometimes there is room at the bottom of the niche for these to stand at the side of the basin. In England the piscina is almost invariably on the south side of the altar, and usually in the south wall (though sometimes in the eastern), but in Normandy it is not uncommon to find it on the north side, when the situa- tion of the altar is such as to render that more conven- ient than the south. No piscinas are known to exist in England of earlier date than the middle of the 12th century, and of that age they are extremely rare; of the 13th and succeeding centuries, down to the period of the Reformation, they are very abundant, and are to be found (or at least traces of them) in the chancel of most churches that have not been rebuilt, and very frequently at the eastern ends of the aisles of the nave also : their