Caesarius of Aries required the laity in the diocese to sing proses and antiphons in church — some in Greek and some in Latin— aloud like the clergy, in order to introduce among the people a love of psalmody and hymns. These compositions, called prosce, are in rhyme, but ignore the law of measure and quantity established by the ancient Greeks and Romans. As they were sung after the Gradual or Iutroits, they were likewise called Sequatio (q. v.). The use of prosing began near the close of the 9th century. Notker, abbot of St. Gall, cir.- 880, composed and favored the use of proses, but cer- tainly did not invent them. He says that he found one in an antiphonar brought from a Benedictine abbey near Rome, which had been burned by the Normans in 841. Pope Nicholas first authorized their use. Proses in the Middle Ages were written in the vulgar tongue for the edification of the people. These proses, having become exceedingly numerous, and in some places even ridiculous, were retrenched by the Council of Cologne in 1536, and of Rheims in 1564. The four proses used since the time of Pius V are Victimce Paschali Laudes, for Easter; Yeni Creator Spiritus, appointed by pope Innocent III, at Whitsuntide; Lavda Sion Salvatorem, for Corpus Christi Day, written either by Bonaventura or St. Thomas Aquinas; and the Dies Irce, Dies Ilia, used in the commemorations of the dead, and attributed to Thomas de Cellano, or Salerno, a Franciscan, cir. 1230, cardinal Ursin (who died 1204), cardinal D'Aqua- sporta (who died 1302), Humbert, general of the Do- minicans (who died 1277), Augustus Buzellensis, or Bonaventura. The Stabat Mater Dolorosa, written by pope Innocent III, or Giacomo da Toda, a Minorite, in the 14th century, is a prose. Possibly the chants used by St. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, sitting on the bridge of Malmesbury, to win the attention of the pass- ers-by, were of the nature of proses. In the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries rhythmical chants were sung at the end of a banquet which the pope gave to his clergy. At Sens, Lyons, Paris, and Rouen proses were in fre- quent use (unlike the Roman custom), but they were mere rhapsodies, as we have in one instance preserved to us "Alle — necnon et perenne celeste — luia." After the prose, the Mass-book Is removed from the Epistle to the Gospel side, to represent the translation of au- thority from the Aaronitish to the apostolical priest- hood.— Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, s. v.; Burney, Hist, of Music, s. v.
Proselyte (Trpoo))\vToc, one who has joined a new faith) occurs only in the A. V. of the New Test. | Matt, xxiii. 15; Acts ii, 10; vi, 5; xiii, 43); but the Greek word is occasionally used in the Sept. (1 Chron. xxii, 22. etc.) as a rendering of the Heb. "13, ger (a stranger, as usually rendered; sometimes Gracized in the Sept. ytuopac [Exod. ii, 19] from the Aramaic form K*li*S). (The following article is based upon Plumtre's synopsis [in Smith's Diet, of the Bible] of Leyrer's treatment of the subject in Herzog's Real- Encyllopadie, with addi- tions from other sources.) See Alien.
I. Historical Development of this Class.— The exist- ence, through all stages of the history of the Israelites, of a body of men, not of the same race, but holding the same faith and adopting the same ritual, is a fact which, from its very nature, requires to be dealt with historically.
1. During the Patriarchal Age. — The position of the family of Israel as a distinct nation, with a special re- ligious character, appears at a very early period to have exercised a power of attraction over neighboring races. The slaves and soldiers of the tribe of which Abraham was the head (Gen. xvii, 27), who were included with him in the covenant of circumcision, can hardly perhaps be classed as proselytes in the later sense. The case of the Shechemites, however (ch. xxxiv), presents a more distinct instance. The converts were swayed partly by passion, partly by interest. The sons of Ja- cob then, as afterwards, required circumcision as an in-
PROSELYTE
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PKOSELYTE
dispensable condition | icxxiv,] 1 ». This, and apparently this only, was required of proselytes in the pre-Mosaic period.
2. From th Exodus <<• tin: Monarchy. — Tin- life ol Is- rael under the law, from the very lirst. presupposes and provides for the incorporation of men of other races. The "mixed multitude'' of Exod. xii, 38 implies the ! proselytes more or less complete. Etisrec- n ill.' earliest rules for the celebration of the Passover (xii, 19). The "stranger" of this ami other law- in the A.V. answers to the word which distinctly means "proselyte," ami is bo translated in the Sept., ami the prominence of the class may be estimated by the frequency with which the word recurs: nine times in Exodus, twenty in Leviticus, eleven in Numbers, nine- teen in Deuteronomy. The laws clearly point t<> the position ofa convert. The "stranger' is bound by the law of the Sabbath (xx, 10: xxiii, 12; Dent, v, 14). Circumcision is the condition of any fellowship with him (Exod. xii. 18 ; Niimh. i\. 11). lie is t.» he pres- ent at the Passover (Exod. xii. 19), the Feast of Weeks (Dent, xvi, 11). the Feast of Tabernacles (ver. 14), the Da\ of Atonement (Lev. xvi, 29). The laws of pro- hibited marriages (xviii, 26) ami abstinence from blood (xvii, 10) are binding upon him. He is liable to the same punishment for Molech-worship (xx. 2) and for blasphemy (xxiv, 16); may claim the same, right I of asylum as the Israelites in the cities of refuge (Numb, xxxv, 1">; Josh, xx, 9). On the other side he is subjected to some drawbacks. He cannot hold land (Lev. xix, 10). lie has no jus connubii with the de- scendants of Aaron (xxi, 14). His condition is as- sumed to he. for the most part, one of poverty (xxiii, 22), often of servitude (Dent, xxix, 1 1). For this rea- son he is placed under the special protection of the law (x, 18). He is to share in the right of gleaning (Lev. xix. Id), is placed in the same category as the father- less and the widow (Dent, xxiv, 17, 19; xxvi. 12; xxvii, 19 i, is joined with the Levite as entitled to the tithe of every third year's produce (xiv, 29; xxvi, 12). Anion- i he proselytes of this period the Kenites (q. v.),