RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Annihilationism Annunciation
ANNIVERSARIUS (sc. dies), ANNI VERSARIUM : A day or service in memory of a deceased person. From the second century it was usual in Christian congregations to celebrate the death-days of their martyrs with divine service as they recurred annually. Families also used to commemorate their departed members on their death-days. From this custom arose the festivals of the martyrs and saints, as also those anniversaries for departed members of the congregations which are still held in the Roman Catholic Church, and consist in masses and alms provided for by special endowments.
ANNO: Archbishop of Cologne; b. probably 1010; d. at Cologne Dec. 4, 1075. He came of a noble Swabian family, received his education at Bamberg, and, through the favor of Emperor Henry III., attained the dignities of dean of Goslar and archbishop of Cologne (1056). After the death of Henry III. (1056) and the accession of his infant son, Henry IV., under the regency of his mother Agnes of Poitou, Anno exercised considerable influence at court, and took part in the contest which broke out between the empire and Rome. The lack of capacity for the duties of government revealed by the queen-regent led to the formation of a conspiracy in 1062, under the leadership of Anno, who in the same year made himself master of the young king's person and thereby became virtual ruler of the empire. Desire for personal aggrandizement restrained him from making use of his power for the interests of Germany in the quarrel with the papacy, which now entered upon an acute phase. Upon the death of Pope Nicholas II. (1061) the party hostile to German influence, under the leadership of Hildebrand, had chosen as his successor Anselm of Lucca, who assumed the title of Alexander II. In opposition the imperial party had raised to the papal office Cadalus of Parma under the name of Honorius II. A synod at Augsburg, summoned in 1062 to decide on the conflicting claims of the two candidates, rendered a temporary decision in favor of Alexander II.; and two years later a second synod, at Mantua, made formal acknowledgment of Alexander's rights. Anno, who was in complete control at Augsburg, was actuated in this course, so seemingly hostile to the welfare of the empire, by the desire to preserve in his hands the balance of power between the papal and imperial forces and thus to secure for himself the role of arbiter between the two. When the council of Mantua assembled, however, his influence had undergone serious diminution and he was unable to prevent the confirmation of the Italian pope. A strong rival for power now appeared in the person of Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen (see Adalbert of Hamburg-Bremen), with whom Anno was compelled to share his authority over the young king (1063). Two years later the archbishop of Cologne found himself almost entirely superseded.
The fall of Adalbert in 1066 brought Anno once more to the front for a brief time, but he never again exercised the authority he had formerly possessed. The last years of his life were embittered by quarrels with Rome, by a rising of the
citizens of Cologne which he suppressed with extreme severity, and by charges of treasonable correspondence with William I. of England, for which there seems to have been little foundation. There was not wanting in the worldly prelate a certain ascetic austerity which the misfortunes of his later years tended to accentuate, giving him a posthumous reputation of great holiness, and in 1183 he was canonized. (Carl Mirbt.)
Bibliography: Sources for biography are: Vita sancti Annonis, by a monk of Siegburg (c. 1100), in MGH, Script., xi. (1854) 465-514 and in MPL, cxliii.; Vita minor sancti Annonis by another monk (c. 1186), ed. F. W E. Roth in NA, xii. (1887) 209-215; a poem by an unknown author ed. J. Kehrein, Frankfort, 1865. Consult T. Lindner, Anno 11. der Heilige, Leipsic, 1869; E. Steindorff, Jahrbiicher des deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich III., 2 vols., ib. 1874-81; W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, vol. iii., ib. 1890; G. Meyer von Knonau, Jahrbilcher dcs deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich IV., 2 vols., ib. 1890-94; Wattenbach, DGQ, ii. 107-109, 137, 140, 146, 183; Hauck, KD, vol. iii.
ANNOTATED BIBLES. See Bibles, Annotated.
ANNULUS PISCATORIS, an'yu-lus pis-ka-to'ris: The official ring worn by the popes. Every Roman Catholic bishop wears a ring, which symbolizes that he is wedded to his diocese. This custom dates from very early times, and is mentioned by Isidore of Seville, who calls the ring signum pontificalis honoris. The ring worn by a pope is engraved with a representation of St. Peter fishing — whence its special name — and with the title of the pontiff. From the fifteenth century papal briefs have been sealed with this ring, and are accordingly said to be given " under the seal of the fisherman." At the present time, instead of this seal, an imprint of the same device in red ink is more commonly used. The ring is given to the newly elected pontiff in the conclave by the cardinal camerlingo, and is broken on the death of the pope.
ANNUNCIATION, FEAST OF THE: A festival celebrated in the Greek, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches on Mar. 25, in commemoration of the beginning of the incarnation (Luke i. 26-38). Though Augustine mentions the date of the event as nine months before Christmas, the earliest indisputable evidence for the celebration of the feast is furnished by Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople, who died before the middle of the fifth century. The probable date of its origin is about the end of the fourth century. The Council of Toledo (656) ordered its observance on Dec. 18, objecting to its celebration in the mournful season of Lent; and the church of Milan kept it on the fourth Sunday in Advent; but the Roman date finally prevailed throughout the West. The ancient Roman year having commenced with March, on the twentyfifth of which month the vernal equinox fell in the Julian calendar, it was natural for Christian countries to date their years from the feast which commemorated the initial step in the work of redemption; in some parts of England and the United States this date is still the legal term from which leases, etc. are reckoned.
ANNUNCIATION, ORDERS OF THE (ANNUN- CIADES): Five Roman Catholic congregations, two for men and three for women, have their name from the annunciation to the Virgin Mary (Luke i.
Annus Anselm