RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Brewer Bridget
of Clement VII and destroyed images of the Virgin. Notwithstanding this, he was charged by the Cordeliers before the Parliament of Paris with being in sympathy with the Lutherans (Mar., 1525- Oct., 1526), whereupon a commission ordered that Lefevre's translations be burned, and forbade evangelical preaching. The preachers accordingly fled to Strasburg, although Briconnet himself was acquitted. Taking advantage of the absence of Francis I, who was held captive in Madrid, the Cordeliers renewed their charges, and two of the new preachers, Jacobus Pauvan and Matthteus Saunier, were convicted of heresy by the Sorbonne and burned at the stake. Briconnet wrote a letter of submission to the Parliament, and Francis quashed the case. His works were as follows: Synodalis oratio (Paris, 1520); Synodalis oratio (1552); and a correspondence with Margaret of Navarre, some of which, with other fragments, is contained in Genin, Lettres de Marguerite d'Angou- Icme (1841) and Nouvelles lettres de la reine de Navarre (1842), and Herminjard, Correspondance des reformateurs (Geneva, 1878).
G. Bonet-Maury.
Bibliography: G. Bretonneau, Histoire genealogique de la maison des Briconnet, Paris, 1620; M. T. C. Duplessis, Histoire del'figlisede Meaux, ib. 1731; V. Duruy, Histoire de France, i, 575 sqq., ib. 1856; A. L. Herminjard, Correspondance des reformateurs, vol. i, ib. 1878; E. and 6. Haag, La France protestante, ed. H. L. Bordier, ib. 1877 sqq.; Lichtenberger, ESR, ii, 423-429; S. Berger, in Bulletin de la societe du protestantisme frangais, 1895.
BRICTINANS (Brittinans, Brittinians, so named from S. Blasius de Brictinis, a desolate region not far from Fano in Umbria): An Italian hermitsociety founded during the pontificate of Gregory IX, who confirmed it in 1234 by an edict, enjoining upon the members the most rigorous asceticism, especially as to fasting and the total abstinence from flesh in any form between Sept. 14 and Easter of every year. Innocent IV sought, apparently with success, to merge them, as well as the anchorite orders of the Williamites and John-Bonites (qq.v.), in the new order of the Augustinians (q.v.). A bull of Alexander IV, however, dated in 1260 (Potthast, Regesta, no. 17,915), assures them the right of independent existence. O. ZocKLERf.
BRIDAINE (BRYDAINE), JACQUES: French Roman Catholic preacher; b. at Chusclan (15 m. iui.w. of Avignon), Department of Gard, Mar. 21, I'Ol; d. at Roquemaure, near Avignon, Dec. 22, 1767. He studied at the Jesuit College and the Mission Seminary of St. Charles de la Croix in Avignon; visited as a missionary preacher or evangelist nearly every city and village of France, producing a profound impression by his somber and vehement sermons. He almost always preached extemporaneously, appealed to the emotions of his hearers, and sought to terrify them. He prepared a volume of Cantiques spirituels (Montpellier, 1748), which has passed through fifty editions. Certain works have been published from his manuscripts, including Lectures et meditations (Avignon, 1821); Mglement de vie pour une pieuse demoiselle (1821); and five volumes of sermons (1823). Bl1804>GRAPHr: Abbe Carron, Le Modele des pretres, Paris,
BRIDEL, bri"del', PHILIPPE LOUIS JUSTIN:
Swiss Protestant; b.at Lausanne Nov. 27,1852. He was educated at the Academy (now the University) of his native city and in the theological faculty of the Free Church of the same institution, being graduated from the former in 1870 and from the latter in 1876. He also studied at the University of Gottingen, and after the completion of his education held successive pastorates in the Canton of Vaud (1875-78), Paris (1879-87), and Lausanne (1887-94). Since 1894 he has been professor of philosophy and the history of theology in the theological faculty of the Free Church at Lausanne. He has been associate editor of the Revue de thcologie et de philosophie since 1895 and of the Liberte chretienne since 1898. In theology he is, to a certain extent, a follower of C. Secr6tan and A. R. Vinet, and has written La Philosophie de la religion d'Immanuel Kant (Lausanne, 1876); La Palestine illustree (4 vols., 1888-91); Roger Hollard, pasteur a Paris (1902); and Charles Renouvier et la philosophie (1905) .
BRIDGE, WILLIAM: Puritan; b. in Cambridgeshire about 1600; d. at Clapham, near London, Mar. 12, 1670. He was a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and, as rector at Norwich, was silenced by Bishop Wren for non-conformity (1637), and excommunicated; he remained in Norwich, however, till the writ de excommunicato capiendo came out against him, when he fled to Holland and became pastor of the English Church at Rotterdam, succeeding Hugh Peters and associated with Jeremiah Burroughs; he returned to England in 1642 and was a member of the Westminster Assembly; was minister at Great Yarmouth till ejected in 1662, and spent the rest of his life at Clapham. He was an Independent (Congregationalist) and Calvinist, a learned man, and had a library rich in the Fathers and schoolmen. His collected works in three volumes were published at London, 1649, and, with memorial, in five volumes, 1845.
BRIDGET (Brigit, Brigida, Bride), SAINT, OF KILDARE: Patron saint of Ireland; b. at Fochart (Faugher, 2 m. n. of Dundalk), Leinster, c. 453; d. at Kildare (30 m. w.s.w. of Dublin) Feb. 1, 523. She was the daughter of a certain Dubhthach and his bondmaid or concubine named Brotsech. At the age of fourteen she received the veil in Meath from the hand of Bishop Machille (Mel), and during a long life won renown for piety and benevolence, and as a founder of monasteries. Her first and most important foundation was Kildare (cill dara, so named from a large oak under which her cell was first placed), which was followed by Breagh in Meath, Hay in Connaught, Cliagh in Munster, and others. She was buried at Kildare, where the nuns of her monastery (the " fire-house ") kept the so-called " St. Bridget's fire " continually burning in her honor till 1220, when the bishop of the time ordered it extinguished to make an end of the many superstitions connected with it. Thus far the notices of her life are well authenticated; but in very early times legend began to associate marvels of the wildest sort with her name — a tend-
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