RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Biedermann Billican
and 1884-1902, he was a member of the House of Deputies in 1881-85 and of the Upper House after 1889. His publications include Gesetzgebungsrecht evangelischer Kirchen im Gebiete der Kirchenlehre (Leipsic, 1869) ; Zur Kritik der juristischen Grundbegriffe (2 vols., Gotha, 1877-82); Die konfessionelle Schule in Preussen und ihr Recht (1885); and Juristische Prinzipienlehre (3 vols., Tubingen, 1S94-1905).
BIGELMAIER, bi"gel-mai'er, ANDREAS: German Roman Catholic; b. at Oberhausen (a suburb of Augsburg) Oct. 21, 1873. He was educated at the University of Munich (Th.D., 1899) and was ordained to the priesthood in 1897. From October to November, 1897, he was chaplain at Horzhausen, in 1904 became privat-docent for church history at the University of Munich; in 1906 professor of church history in the Royal Lyceum of Dillingen. Besides numerous contributions to literary and theological periodicals, he has written Die Beteiligungen der Christen am offentlichen Leben in vorkonstantinischer Zeit (Munich, 1902) and Zeno von Verona (1904).
BIGG, CHARLES: Church of England; b. at Manchester Sept. 12, 1840; d. Oxford July 15, 1908. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1862), where he became tutor. He was master in Cheltenham College (1866-71), head master of Brighton College (1871-81), and rector of Fenny Compton, Leamington, 1887-1901, and honorary canon of Worcester from 1889 to 1901, when he was appointed regius professor of ecclesiastical history in Oxford University. He was examining chaplain to the bishops of Worcester (1889-91), Peterborough (1891-96), London (1897-1901), and Man (1903), Bampton lecturer in 1886, and has been canon of Christ Church, Oxford, since 1901. He has edited a number of Greek classics and the " Confessions " of St. Augustine (London, 1896); the Didache (1898); the De Imitatione Christi of Thomas a Kempis (1898); and Law's Serious Call (1899); and has written The Christian Platonists of Alexandria (London, 1886); Neoplatonism (1895); Unity in Diversity (1899); Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude (Edinburgh, 1901); and The Church's Task under the Roman Empire (London, 1905).
EIGNE, bin, MARGUERIN, mar"ge"rah, DE LA: French theologian; b. at Bernieres-le-Patry, in Normandy, 1546 or 1547; d. at Paris 1589. He came of noble Norman parentage; studied at Caen and became rector of the university there; went to Paris, where lie studied theology at the Sorbonne and received the doctorate. To refute the authors of the Magdeburg Centuries in June, 1576, he undertook to give a fuller edition of the writings of the fathers of the Church than had been yet made. For wus work he was appointed canon of the church of cayeux, and some time after professor of the chapter-school; resigned to succeed his uncle, Francois du Pare, who had died, as dean of the church of Mans. In 1576 he was sent as deputy Irom the clergy of Normandy to the States General of Blois. In 1581 he went as canon of Bayeux to the provincial council there, and defended
vigorously his chapter against the usurpation of Bernardin de St. Francois, bishop of Bayeux. The death of the bishop (July 14, 1582) appeared to end the conflict; but the bishop's successor, Mathurin de Savonnieres, eventually forced Bigne to resign. He returned to Paris, where he died the same year. He was a great patristic scholar and an eloquent preacher. G. Bonet-Maury.
Bibliography: His works were: Veterum patrum el antiquorum scriptorum ecclesiasticorum collectio (Paris, 1575-79); Statuta synodalia Parisiensium episcoporum, Galonis cardinalis, Odonis et Wiihelmi; item Petri et Galteri Senonensium archiepiscoporumdecreta primum edita (1578); S. Isidori Hispalensis Opera (1580). Consult: J. Hermant, L'Histoire du diocese de Bayeux, Caen, 1705; P. D. Huet, Les Origines de la ville de Caen, Rouen, 1706; Niceron] Memoires, xxx, 279; J. G. de Chauffepie, Nouveau dictionnaire historique et critique, vol. i, Amsterdam, 1750.
BILLICAN, THEOBALD (Diepold Gernolt or Gerlacher): German theologian; b. at Billigheim (4 m. s.s.w. of Landau), Bavaria, toward the end of the fifteenth century; d. at Marburg Aug. 8, 1554. He took his surname from his birthplace; studied at Heidelberg, where Melanchthon was his fellow student; lectured at Heidelberg; became provost of the college of arts (1520) and had among others Johann Brenz (q.v.) as his pupil. When, in 1518, Luther came to Heidelberg, Billican, Brenz, Schnepff, and Martin Butzer (q.v.) were among his admirers. Billican left Heidelberg in 1522 and went to Weil as preacher. But his sermons against the mediatorship of the Virgin Mary and against purgatory brought about his deposition and he went to Nordlingen (1523), where he remained till 1535. Billican opened there a way for the Reformation and published Von der Mess Gemein Schlussred (1524), in which he sharply rebuked the " fraud " of the mass as a sacrifice for the living and the dead. Billican, who corresponded with Luther, Melanchthon, Rhegius, Brenz, GCcolampadius, and Zwingli, was regarded as a leader of the Evangelical cause in South Germany. But future events showed the instability of his character. In his controversy with Carlstadt, who had come to Nordlingen, he sided with Luther against Carlstadt in the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and stated in his Renovatio ecclesia (1525) that " in the Lord's Supper the flesh and blood of the Lord are present." Induced by Urbanus Rhegius (q.v.) openly to defend the Lutheran doctrine, Billican sent a statement to Rhegius, which the latter published (in mutilated form, as Billican complained) together with his answer Dec. 18, 1525, under the title De verbis comae dominicm et opinionum varietate Theobaldi Billicaniad Urbanum Regium (1526). But while they of Wittenberg were rejoicing over this new ally, Billican changed his views in a letter addressed to Qilcolampadius Jan. 16, 1526; and two months later, in letters addressed to Schleupner at Nuremberg and to Pirkheimer, he expressed still other views. While Billican did not fully agree with Zwingli, he stated that he learned more from the Zwinglians than from the Lutherans, and, adopting in part the views of Carlstadt and CEcolampadius, he pretended to teach the only correct doctrine because he stood between the two parties. His vacillating
Bilney Binterim