THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
by the prospect, held out hopes of an agreement which should allow Thomas to return to England and resume his place. But both parties were really still holding to their former ground, and the desire for a reconciliation was only apparent. Both, however, seem for the moment to have believed in its possibility; and the contrast was all the sharper when it became evident that the old irreconcilable opposition was still there. Henry, incited by his partizans, refused to restore the ecclesiastical property which he had seized, and Thomas prepared to issue the pope's sentence against the despoilers of the Church and the bishops who had abetted them. It had been already sent to England for promulgation when he himself landed at Sandwich on Dec. 3, 1170, and two days later entered Canterbury.
The tension was now too great to be endured, and the catastrophe which relieved it was not long in coming. A passionate word of the angry king was taken as authority by four knights, who immediately plotted the murder of the archbishop, and
accomplished it in his own cathedral Becket As- on Dec. 29. The crime brought its sassinated. own revenge. Becket was revered by
the faithful throughout Europe as a martyr, and canonized by Alexander in 1173; while on July 12 of the following year Henry humbled himself to do public penance at the tomb of his enemy, which remained one of the most popular places of pilgrimage in England until it was destroyed at the Reformation (see Canterbury).
(Carl Mirbt.)
Bibliography: The sources for a life were collected by J. C. Pvobertson in Materials for the Hist, of Thomas Becket, 8 vols., in Rolls Series, London, 1875-85 (contains all the known contemporary lives, others of later date, the Epistles, and other material); cf. the Vita, epistolce et reliquiae, ed. J. A. Giles in PEA, 8 vols., Oxford, 1845-46, and J. A. Giles, Life and Letters of Thomas a Becket, 2 vols., London, 1846. For later discussions and lives consult: 11. Cournier, L'Archeveque de Cantorbery, 2 vols., Paris, 1S45; J. C. Robertson, Becket, London, 1859; W F. Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, ii, 354-507, ib. 1862; E. A. Freeman, in Historical Essays, series 2, ib. 1880; idem, in Contemporary Review, Mar.-Apr., 1878; J. A. Froude, Life and Times of Becket, in Short Studies, vol. iv, ib. 1883; idem, in Nineteenth Century, ii (1877) 15-27, 217-229, 389-410, 669-691; C. P. Stanley, Historical Memorials of Canterbury, pp. 59-125, 189-302, London, 18S3; W. H. Hutton, St. Thomas of Canterbury, ib. 1889 (from contemporary lives); J. Morris, Life and Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, ib. 1891 (Roman Catholic, deals with monasteries and churches associated with Becket); II. Schmitz, Die politischen Ideen des Thomas Becket, Crefeld, 1893; E. A. Abbott, St. Thomas of Canterbury: his Death and Miracles, 2 vols., London, 1898 (traverses the earlier accounts in a critical examination); DNB, Ivi, 165-173.
BECKWITH, CBARLES MINNIGERODE :
Protestant Episcopal bishop of Alabama; b. in Prince George Co., Va., June 3, 1851. He studied at the University of Georgia (B.A., 1873), was master of the Sewanee Grammar School, University of the South (Sewanee, Tenn.), 1873-79, and was graduated from Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., in 1881. He was ordered deacon and advanced to the priesthood in the same year, and was rector of St. Luke's, Atlanta, Ga. (1881-86), Christ Church, Houston, Tex. (1880-02), and
Trinity, Galveston, Tex. (1892-1902). In 1002 he was consecrated fourth bishop of Alabama. He has written The Trinity Course of Church Instruction (New York, 1898) and The Teacher's Companion to the Trinity Course (1901).
BECKWITH, CLARENCE AUGUSTINE: Congregationalist; b. at Charlemont, Mass., July 21, 1849. He studied at Olivet College, Olivet, Mich. (B.A., 1874), Yale Divinity School (1874-76), and Bangor Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1877. He became pastor of the First Congregational Church, Brewer, Me., in 1877, of the South Evangelical Congregational Church, West Roxbury, Mass., in 1882, professor of Christian theology at Bangor Theological Seminary in 1892, and professor of systematic theology at Chicago Theological Seminary in 1905. He holds that " the realities of the Christian religion and the facts of Christian experience which we share with Christians of all ages are to be interpreted by us in terms of modern thought." He has written Realities of Christian Theology (New York, 1906).
BECKX, PIERRE JEAN: General of the Jesuits; b. at Sichem (33 m. s.e. of Antwerp) Feb. 8, 1795; d. at Rome Mar. 4, 1887 He entered the Society of Jesus at Hildesheim in 1819, and was professed in 1830. He was active as a pastor at Hamburg, Hildesheim, and Brunswick, and in 1826 was stationed at Kothen as the confessor of the newly converted duke and duchess of Anhalt-Kothen. From 1830 to 1848 he was in Vienna, where he exercised much influence, especially over Metternich, and was made procurator of the Society of Jesus in that country in 1847; when his Order was expelled from Austria in 1848, he was appointed rector of the University of Louvain. Four years later, however, the Jesuits were readmitted to Austria, largely through his unceasing activity, and in 1852 he returned to Vienna as provincial of the Society. In the following year he was elected general, and held this office until 1883, when, on account of his advancing years, the vicar-general Antoine M. Anderledy was appointed to assist him. In the following year Beckx resigned the generalship in favor of Anderledy. The successful fortunes of the Jesuits during the attacks upon them both in Austria and Germany were due in great part to his ability and tact, and in his administration the numbers of the Society were almost doubled. He was the founder and editor of the famous Civilta Cattolica, and also wrote the anonymous Der Monat Maria (Vienna, 1838; Eng. transl. by Mrs. Edward Hazeland, London, 1884).
Bibliography: A. M. Verstraeten, Leven van den hoogeerwaarden Pater Petrus Beckx, Antwerp, 1889.
BEDE or BMBA (called " the Venerable "): The first great English scholar; b. in Northumbria (according to tradition, at Monkton, Durham, 5 m. e. of Newcastle) 672 or 673; d. at the monastery of Jarrow (6 m. e. of Newcastle) May 25, 735. Almost all that is known of his life is contained in a notice added by himself to his Historia ecclesiastica (v, 24), which states that he was placed in the monastery at Wearmouth at the age of seven, that he became