THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Bibliography: Krusch's introduction in MGH, ut sup.; KL, iv. 1576-77.
FLORUS: Deacon of Lyons; b. in the vicinity of Lyons (according to others, in Spain) in the latter part of the eighth century; d. at Lyons about 860. He was probably educated in Lyons, but despite his reputation for learning, never rose above the rank of deacon, or, according to some accounts, of subdeacon, the capacity in which he officiated under the archbishops Agobard (816-840) Amolo (S41-S52). and Remigius. He was a firm advocate of the independence of the clergy and the autonomy of the Church of Gaul, so that he appears as a modest opponent of Amalarius, especially in his De divina psalmodia, although his defense of the ancient liturgy was not completed until Agobard, after his return from exile, wrote his De correctione Antiphonarii. In his De electionibus episcoporum, he advocated the canonical choice of bishops, and when Moduin, the bishop of Autun, inspected the diocese of Lyons at the command of the emperor Louis the Pious in 834, Florus assailed him both in prose and verse, moved not only by his affection for Agobard, but also by his devotion to the independence of his diocese and Moduin's attachment to Louis. In the dogmatic controversies of his time he was an opponent of Paschasius Radbertus (q.v.), teaching that the only participation in the body and blood of Christ is that of faith, and accordingly calling the bread the mystical body of the Lord. He set forth his views in his Expositio misses, a work written previous to 834 and consisting for the most part of excerpts from Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome, and others. He also took part in the controversy on predestination in his Sermo de prcedestinatione, while the Adversus cujusdam errores de prcedestinatione, written in the name of the Church of Lyons against Johannes Scotus Erigena, also seems to have been composed by him. Among his other works special mention may be made of his commentary on the Pauline Epistles, his revision of the M artyrologium of Bede, and of his hymns, in all of which he shows wide reading and much skill in composition.
Bibliography: The Carmina, ed. E. Diimmler, are in MGH, Poet" Lai. cevi Caroli, ii (1884), 507-566; part of his productions are in J. Mabillon, Vetera atialccta, i. 388 sqq., Paris, 1723; Bouquet, Recueil, vi. 262-263, vii. 301-304; MPL, cxix. Two poems are printed for the first time by F. Patetta in Atti of the Academy of Turin, xxvii (1891- 1892), 123-129. Consult: ASB, June, vi., pp. xiii.-xvi.; J. C. F. Bahr, Geschichte der romischen Literatur im karolingischen Zeitalter, pp- 108-109, 447-453, Carlsruhe, 1840; E. Diimmler, in NA, iv (1879), 296-301, 516, 581, 630; A Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, ii. 268-272, Leipsic, 1880; Wattenbach, DQG, i (1885), 58, 199, 263, i (1893), 60, 211, 280.
FLORUS, GESSIUS: Last Roman procurator of Judea (64-66 a.d.), successor of Albinus, He was a native of Clazomense (on the south side ot the Bay of Smyrna) and obtained ins office through the friendship oi his wife, Cleopatra, with the empress, Poppira. His cruelty, tyranny, and shameless corruption surpassed that of all his predecessors and led to the final revolt of the Jews, which cost, them their national independence. Suetonius (Vespasian, i v.) says he perished in the revolt, but
Josephus (Life, vi.) says merely " he was beaten, and many of those with him fell."
Bibliography: Josephus, Ant. XVIII., i. 6, XX., xi. 1- War, II., xiv. 2, 4, xv. 1, 2, xvi. 1; Tacitus, Hist., v. 10- H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, iii. 445-446, 450 sqq ' Leipsic, 1888; Schiirer, Geschichte, i. 585, 601 sqq Ene' transl., I., ii. 190-191, 208 sqq.
FLUE (FLUEHE),NIKOLAUS VON (DER), commonly known as "Brother Klaus": Swiss hermit; b. at Flueii (Fliihli, 12 m. s. of Lucerne), in the canton of Unterwalden, Mar. 21, 1417; d. in his hermit's cell at the Ranft, in the ravine of the Melchaa, below Flueli, Mar. 21, 1487 He descended from a distinguished family, and at first devoted himself to the management of his inherited property. He also served his country well, both in the army and in civil life. In 1462 he appeared in Stans as representative of Obwalden (the western part of Unterwalden) in settling a dispute between the monastery of Engelberg and the church of Stans. He married in 1450, and was the father of five sons and five daughters when he resolved in 1467 to renounce his worldly life. He left his home and passed over the Jura Mountains until he came to the region of Liestal; but a vision and the counsel of a peasant induced him to return to Obwalden. At first he settled in the mountains nearMelchthal, but later approached more closely to his home and settled in the Ranft, a desolate place in the mountains, about a quarter of an hour from the home of his family. The congregation of Sachseln built him a small cell and beside it a chapel. In 1482 Brother Klaus founded here partly from his own property a chaplaincy and sacristy. But he did not always remain in his isolation; he wandered about in the neighborhood, and undertook pilgrimages to Einsiedeln and Engelberg. He went about barefooted and bareheaded, his only garment a long gown of coarse gray wool. He renounced all comforts of life, sleeping on the floor of his cell and eating hardly any food. Owing to his severe fasts, people thought that he lived without other food than the sacramental elements and his wide-spread fame originated undoubtedly in this belief. Prominent visitors from afar came to his remote cell, among them Johann Geiler of Kaiscrsberg, the famous Strasburg preacher, in 1472; the Saxon nobleman Hans von Waldheim, councilor of Halle in 1474; and Albrecht von Bonstetten, dean of Einsiedeln in 1478, who, in 1479, recorded his impressions in a book. People came in such crowds that the famous hermit had to ask the authorities of Obwalden for relief. They were attracted by the miraculous halo of the reputed saint, but also by his earnest admonitions and his striking utterances, which exhibit knowledge of life and intelligent observation.
The hermit obtained his greatest fame by his successful arbitration in the dissensions of the confederate states of Switzerland, which threatened to bring on a civil war. In 1477 five cities, Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Solothurn, and Freiburg formed a league to protect themselves against the tumultuous gatherings of rural communities. But In, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Zug, the seats of those insurrectionary gatherings, protested against the ad-