PRETAS
562
PREVOST
of the world into the Church; (8) when they form
apologies for that in some which they c lemn in oth-
i Inn. professing to believe in the doctrines of the Gospel, they live licentiously; (10) when they create, magnify, and pervert their troubles; (11) when they arraign the conduct of God as unkind and unjust. See Walker, Sermons, vol. i. ser. 3; South, Sermons, vol vii. ser. 10, 11, 12; Tillotson, Sermons, Ber. 1 17; Saurin, Sermons, vol. i. Ber. ll : Goodwin, On the Aggravations of Sin; Fuller, Works; Paley, Sermons; Bishop Hop- kins, On (hi Nature, Danger, and Cure of Presumptuous Sins.— Buck, Theol. Dict.s.v.
Pretas, sprites or hobgoblins among the Buddhists ii, < eylon. They are believed to inhabit a bell called Lokantarika. In appearance they are extremely at- tenuated, like a dry leaf. There arc some pretas that haunt the places mar which they once lived as men; they an- also found in the Buburbs of cities, and in places where four ways meet. Their bodies arc repre- sented as being twelve miles high, and they have very large nails. On the top of the head there is a mouth about the size of a needle's eye. They continually think with sorrow on their fate, from not having acquired merit in former births; they are now tormented with- out ceasing by hunger and thirst, and have not the pow- er of obtaining merit.
Preternatural stands generally for supernatural, because we suppose that that which isprceter naturam is also supra naturam. Vet the former stands sometimes for unnatural, prater naturam being the synonym of contra naturam. Neither prceternaturale nor supernaturale, or, as some say, supranaturale, is a good Latin word. They are, at least, not to be found in the classics.
Pretextatus, St., a Gallic prelate of the 6th cen- tury, occupied towards 555 the metropolitan see of Rouen, and was godfather to Merovee, the second sou ofChil- peric. Towards 576 I'.runchaut. the widow of Sigebert, was exiled to Rouen by Chilperic, who was under the influence of Fredegonde. Merovee, who was in that city, fell violently in love with the charms of the queen of Australia, his aunt, and Pretextatus was induced to grant a dispensation tor their union, and married them. At this intelligence Chilperic repaired to Rouen, trans- ported with wrath, ami ordered the bishop to he arrest- ed. A council assembled at Paris in 577, and in spite of the exertions of Gregory of 'lours, w ho ventured alone to defend him. Pretextatus was deposed by the vote of forty-lour prelates. He was banished to the
island of Jersey, where he devoted his time to prayer
and study. In the meantime a creature ofFre*deg le,
the ( Jaul Melantius. was established in i lie episcopal see of Rouen. Alter the murder of Chilperic September, 584, a deputation of the clergy and people of Rouen re- paired to Jersey to request Pretextatus to resume the administration of his diocese. On the 5th of May an
assembly of Frankish noblemen, held at Rouen, pro- nounced his rehabilitation. Fredegonde, who lived in a kind of retirement at Louviers, went often to Rouen; she found herself frequently face to face with the bishop,
whom she accused of not showing her much deference. In her wounded pride she once let escape some threat- ening allusions to the pasl : Pretextatus improve, i the occasion to exhort her to repentance and reformation. The enraged queen avenged herself in a manner worthy
of her past life. She. .Melantius. ami an archdeacon of the cathedral, gave two hundred gold dollars to one of
if the domain of the church, and promised him his own emancipation and that of his wife ami children, for the murder of Pretextatus. On Easter -Sunday, while in prayer al the fool of the altar, he was stabbed, and died an hour afterwards in a chamber contiguous to the church, whither a few of the faithful had carried him. and where Fredegonde, in the company of the dukes Beppolen and Ansowald, enjoyed the spectacle of his last moments. April 14,586. Pretextatus had at- tended the third Council of Paris in 557, the second
Council of Tours in 566, and the second Council of Macon in 585. During his exile he composed some writings, which have not reached us. His name is in- Bcribed in the Martyrologium under the date of the 24th of February, although he did not shed his blood for the faith. See Gallia Christiana, t.xi; Pommeraye, Hist, des Archer eques de Rouen; Fisquet, Frana Pontificals (not published), I loefer, Vouv. . s. v.
Preti, Mattia, called // Calabrese, a painter of the
Neapolitan bc! 1. was horn in 1613 at Taverna, in Cala-
bria. His brother Gregorio, about whom very little is known, who was honored in his life-time W ith the title of prince of the Academy of St. Luke, was M at tia's first master; subsequently he studied with Lanfranc and Guerino. Preti took from Caravaggio those dark and violent hues which impair the charm of his compositions. He delighted in retracing martyrdoms, murders, and other scenes of desolation. He painted with prodigious rapidity: a contemporary says that t,. Bee him handle the brush one would have thought that he was drum- ming. He painted the frescos ot the church of Carmine in Modena, which arc in a very good state of preserva- tion. In Hi.'>7 he returned to Rome, but was compelled to flee, having killed one of his rivals. At Naples, again, whither he repaired, he killed a soldier who had stopped him on some forbidden ground, ami was ordered for his punishment to paint the patron saints of Naples on the doors of the city. From Naples he went to .Malta, where his works were rewarded with the title of knight and the commandery of Syracuse. In his last years he worked only, hut with unremitting diligence, for the poor. lie died at .Malta in 1699. Hi- works are met with in great number in Italy. The Louvre has his Martyrdom <>/ si. Andrew, St. Paul, and St. Anthony thi Hermit; the Museum ot' Dresden the Martyrdom if St. Bartholomew, the Incredulity "/si. Thomas, and the Deliverana of St. Peter; the Pinakothek of Munich a Repenting Magdalen; the Museum of Vienna an Incre- dulity Hi's/. Thomas, etc. See Spooner, Biog. I/i.</. of i In ihii Arts, s. v. (J.H.W.)