Precipiano, Humbert William, Count of, a Spanish prelate of French birth, was a native of Besan- con, where he was born in 1626. He came from an an- cient family, originally from Genoa. He was canon at Besancon, counsellor-clerk at the Parliament of Dole, and abbe of Bellevaux in 1649. In 1661 he was elected high-dean of the chapter, but the validity of his elec- tion was contested by the Holy See. He found a com- pensation in the confidence of king Philip IV of Spain. In 1667 he was delegated by the states of Burgundys with his brother Prosper-Ambroise, to the Diet of Rat- isbon. The talents which he displayed on that occasion were rewarded five years later by his nomination to the dignity of supreme counsellor of Charles II for the af- fairs of Burgundy and the Netherlands. His nomina- tion to the episcopal see of Bruges in 1682, whence he passed in 1689 to the archiepiscopal see of Mechlin, was the reward of his devotion to Don Juan of Austria. His zeal for the consolidation of the ultramontane doctrines was so great that he imagined a formulary more exact- ing than that of Alexander VII. Two decrees of the Inquisition (Jan. 28 and Feb. 6, 1694) condemned the new formulary. The prelate refused to submit to the decrees. Innocent XII enjoined all bishops of Belgium to abandon those quarrels, which had already lasted too long, and which the fanaticism of Precipiano endeav- ored to revive. In 1696 he recommended, somewhat harshly, a little more moderation to the archbishop of Mechlin. The great blot in Precipiano's life is his con- sent to the Jesuits for the arrest of Quesnel (q. v.). May 30, 1703, at Marines. The cities of Bruges. Besancon, Brussels, Mechlin, and the abbey of Pellevaux are in possession of monuments of the magnificence and piety of this prelate. He died at Brussels June 9, 1711. See
PRECISIANS
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PREDESTINATION
. du \%me Steele, vol. i ; Calindrier eccles. aim. 1".")7: Fuller, Did. Hist. s.v.— Hoefer, Nouo. Biog, Ge-
- -. V.
Precisians, one of the names given to the Puritans, or those who, abouf the time of the Commonwealth, evinced by their conduct that they were in earnest on the subject of religion. They were called precist be- condemned Bwearing, plays, gaming, drink- i i ing, and other worldly recreations on the
i well as the time-serving, careless, and
corrupt religion which was then in fashion.
Precist (from the Latin precista) is the name of a candidate who applies, by means of the prima pieces, for a vacant spiritual prebend. See Prebend.
Preconization (i. e. publication, from prceco, "a herald"). The appointments to all higher offi© - of the Church, especially episcopal and arcbiepiscopal sees, whether they be made by canonical election or by nom- ination, are subject as causa majores to the pa firmation. This confirmation, according to the resolu- tions of the Council of Trent, and the closer directions given by pope Gregory XIV in 1591, is preceded by a double examination, called informatm process and de- finitivi process. The latter is gone through with at Rome by the congregation of cardinals established by Mm ns V pro erectione ecclesiarum it pntrisiioiilnis u/>i>- slolicis; the cardinal protector of the nation in which lintment is to be made acts as referent, and is assisted by three ether cardinals. The opinion, written by the protector, and signed by the three assessors, is brought immediately before the " S. Congregatio Con- Bistorialis," where it is prepared for the consistory in which the confirmation is to take place. In one of the
ensuing secret < sistories the cardinal referent repeats
his complete account of the matter, whereupon all the cardinal- present give their vote as to the worthiness of the elected or nominated bishop. If the majority pronounces in his favor, the pope passes, in the same as- sembly, his solemn confirmation in the customary for- mula. This declaration of the pope is called praco- nisatio ; it is posted ad valvos < eclesice, and a deed of it, "the bull of preconization," or confirmation, is sent to the confirmed nominee. In Prance, where the pro- motion of an ecclesiastic to a bishopric is by nomination of the king, the person nominated, after receiving his warrant from the crown, is furnished with three letters —one from the king to the pope, another to the cardinal protector of France at Rome, and the third to his maj- esty's ambassador at the pope's court. When this is done, a certificate of the life and behavior of the person nominated is given in to the pope's nuncio. He like- wise makes professi if his faith, and gives in a sched- ule of the c lit ion of the bishopric to which be is nom- inated. The letters being transmitted to Rome, the cardinal protector declares in the first consistory that at the next consistorial meeting he intends to propose Mich a person lor such a Bee, which declaration is called . See Bishop. (J. II. w.)
Predestinatians. A sect which arose in Gaul shortly after the time when the Pelagian and s. mi- Pelagian disputes commenced. They held that God not only predestinated the wicked to eternal punish- ment, but also to the guilt and transgression for which they are punished; and that thus all the good and had i men are determined from eternity by a divine d ii\«d by an invincible necessity. In the 9th century the tenets of this sect were revived by Gotts- chalk, a German, whose follower- were termed Pre- destinatians. They taught what ( lot ischalk himself termed a double predestination that is, a predestina- tion of some from all eternity to everlasting life, and of others to everlasting death. On promulgating this doctrine in Italy, Gottschalk was charged by Rabanus Maurus with heresy, and thereupon hastened to Ger- many to vindicate his principle-. A council accord- ingly assembled at .Mem/ in A.D. 848, when Maurus