THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
orden, Munich, 1891; Comtesse Flavigny, Ste. Brigitte de Suede, Paris, 1S92; A. Brinkmann, Den hellige Birgitta, Copenhagen, 1893.
For the order consult: Rerum Suevicarum script, medii am, ed. E. M. Fant, I, i, 1818 sqq., Upsala, 1818; History of the Eng. Brigittine Nuns, Plymouth, 1886; Gesammelte Nachrichten iiber die einst bestandenen Kloster vom Orden der heiligen Birgitta, Munich, 1888; Binder, ut sup., and Geschichte der bayrischen Birgitten-Kloster, ib. 1896; Helyot, Ordres monastigues, ii, 146 sqq., Currier, Religious Orders, pp. 185-187; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, i, 440, 505—510.
BRIDGETT, THOMAS EDWARD: English Roman Catholic; b. at Derby (35 m. n.n.e. of Birmingham), Derbyshire, Jan. 20, 1829; d. at Clapham (a suburb of London) Feb. 17, 1899. His parents were Baptists, but in 1845 he was baptized into the Church of England. Two years later he matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge, but just before taking his degree in 1850 he refused to take the oath of supremacy and was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He then studied for six years on the Continent, and was ordained priest in 1856, after having joined the Redemptorist Order. His life-work lay in the mission field to which his order is particularly devoted, and in 1868 he established the Confraternity of the Holy Family connected with the Redemptorist church at Limerick, Ireland. In addition to his activity as a missioner, he wrote The Ritual of the New Testament (London, 1873); Our Lady's Dowry, or, how England Gained and Lost that Title (1875); The Discipline of Drink (1876 j; History of the Holy Eucharist in Great Britain (2 vols., 1881); Life of Blessed John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (1888); The True Story of the Catholic Hierarchy Deposed by Queen Elisabeth (in collaboration with T. F Knox; 1889); Blunders and Forgeries : Historical Essays (1890); The Life and IVritings of Sir Thomas More (1891); and Sonnets and Epigrams on Sacred Subjects (1898). He likewise edited a number of works, of which the most important were Bishop T. Watson's Sermons on the Sacraments (London, 1876); R. Johnson's The Suppliant of the Holy Ghost (1878); Cardinal W. Allen's Souls Departed (1886); The Wit and Wisdom of Blessed Thomas More (1892); Lyra Hieratica : Poems on the Priesthood (1896); Poems on England's Reunion with Christendom (1896); and Characteristics from the Writings of Xicholas Cardinal Wiseman (1898).
BRIDGEWATER TREATISES: A series of books written in accordance with the will of Francis Henry, eighth earl of Bridgewater (d. Feb. 11, 1X29), who left eight thousand pounds to the Royal Society, to be paid to one or several authors, selected by the president, for writing a treatise " On the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation." The following eight authors were selected, and their treatises published (12 vols., London, 1833-36): (1) Thomas Chalmers, The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man ; (2) John Kidd, The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man; (3) William Whewell, Astronomy and General Physics considered with Reference to Natural Theology ; (4) Charles Bell, The Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing
Design ; (5) Peter Mark Roget, Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with Reference to Natural Theology ; (6) William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy considered with Reference to Natural Theology ; (7) William Kirby, The Habits and Instincts of Animals with Reference to Natural Theology ; (8) William Prout, Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion considered with Reference to Natural Theology.
BRIDGMAN, ELIJAH COLEMAN: Congregational foreign missionary; b. at Belchertown, Mass., Apr. 22, 1801; d. in Shanghai, China, Nov. 2, 1861. He was graduated at Amherst College in 1826 and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1829 and that year on October 14 sailed for Canton under the appointment of the American Board. He arrived there on Feb. 25, 1830, and lived there till 1847, when he removed to Shanghai to supervise the translation of the Bible. In 1832 he began, as a labor of love, the valuable monthly The Chinese Repository and was its editor till 1851. In 1841 he brought out his Chinese chrestomathy. In 1844 he was one of the two secretaries of legation to Hon. Caleb Cushing when on his special mission to China and rendered important services. In February, 1852, he left Shanghai for a visit to America, arrived there June 16; on his return he left New York on October 12, and arrived at Shanghai on May 3, 1853.
Bibliography: E. G. Bridgman, Life of E. C. Bridgman, New York, 1864.
BRIEFS, BULLS, AND BULLARIA: Written mandates of the pope, differing in form, the bull being more solemn than the brief; bullaria are collections of both kinds of documents. At first the Roman bishops sealed documents with a ring, but from the end of the sixth century seal-boxes or seal-forms (bulla;), usually of lead, began to be attached to all public documents, whereas for the others the signet stamped in wax by the ring was used. Since the thirteenth century it has borne the same device, the apostle Peter casting a net into the sea (Matt, iv, 18, 19), whence it is known as the " ring of the fisherman " (annulus piscatoris, q.v.). The oldest bulla; have on one side the name of the pope, on the other the word Papa. The present form has on the obverse the heads of Peter and Paul with the distinguishing inscription S. P. A. — S. P K. (i.e., Sanctus Petrus or Paulus Apostolus, Sanctus Petrus or Paulus Episcopus); on the reverse, the name of the pope with his number. The string by which they are attached is of red and yellow silk or hemp. From designating the seal, the word bulla passed to the document itself.
The bull is written upon strong parchment; the brief on thin parchment or paper. Instead of having the seal attached to it, it is issued sub annulo piscatoris, which to-day is only a stamp on the paper. Both begin in an invariable form with the name of the pope and a salutation. In the brief the number is added to the name, in the bull the title Episcopus semis scrvorum Dei takes the place of the number. At the close of the brief