RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Helvetic Consensus Hemerli
was appointed professor of theology and Hebrew there. He composed grammars of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, wrote on poetics and history, and took part in the dogmatic controversies of his time. He won renown chiefly by his knowledge of Hebrew. On account of his efforts for educational reform, particularly in connection with Wolfgang Rattich (Ratke), he occupies also a worthy position in the history of pedagogy in the seventeenth century. Carl Mirbt.
Bibliography: The early source is J. Winkelmann, Oratio funebris in obitum C. Helvici. Consult: F. W. Strieder, Grundlagen zu einer hessischen Gelehrten- und Schriftstellergeschichte, v. 520-530, Cassel, 1785; ADB, xi. 715-718.
HELVIDIUS: A layman living in Rome at the time of Damasus I. (366-384). Concerning his personality nothing is known, except that he was an imitator of the pagan rhetorician and statesman Symmachus, and a pupil of the Arian Auxentius, bishop of Milan. During the second sojourn of Jerome at Rome, 382-385, Helvidius wrote a tract in which he combated the perpetual virginity of the mother of Jesus. This tract is known only through Jerome's counter-tract, composed prior to 384. From this it appears that Helvidius also opposed the practical deductions made in the monastic circles of Rome from the perpetual virginity of Mary, and sharply antagonized the claims of monasticism to represent a higher ideal of Christian life. Helvidius proceeded upon the assumption that Mary, subsequent to the virgin-birth of Jesus, bore several children in wedlock with Joseph, citing Matt. i. 18, i. 25; Luke ii. 7. Jerome undertook to refute him and at the same time make propaganda for monasticism. Jerome's objections are purely sophistical. He argues that from the expression " before they came together " (Matt. i. 18) it can not be inferred that there was afterward an actual estate of conjugal cohabitation between them, that the expression " firstborn son " (Luke ii. 7), according to Old Testament phraseology, only indicated what " openeth the womb," and by no means referred to younger brothers or sisters of Jesus, and that the brethren of the Lord were not literal brothers, but only cousins. Jerome also advocates the perpetual virginity of Joseph, because the virgin's son was to issue from a virginal marriage. Augustine enumerates the Helvidiani, or followers of Helvidius, in his catalogue of heretics. The views of Helvidius were shared by Bonosus (see Bonosus and the Bonosians). G. Grutzmacher.
Bibliography: The contemporary source of information is Jerome's tract De perpetua virginitate beatas Marias adversus Helvidium, in MPL, xxxiii., Eng. transl. in NPNF, 2d ser., vi. 334 sqq. Other early sources are Augustine, Hair., chap, lxxxiv., in MPL, xlii. ; Gennadius, De vir. ill., chap, xxxii., in MPL, lviii. Consult C. W F. Walch, Historie der Ketzereien, iii. 577-598, Leipsic, 1766; O. Zockler, Hieronymus, pp. 94 sqq., Gotha, 1865; W. Haller, Jovinianus, in TV, xvii (1897), 152 sqq.; DCB, ii. 892; cf. Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, vii. 595, 664, viii. 45, 47.
HELYOT, e"li"o', PIERRE (or HIPPOLYTE;
the latter his monastic name): French Franciscan; b. at Paris 1660; d. there Jan. 5, 1716. At the age of twenty-three he entered the Third Order of St. Francis (Congregation of Picpus), whose most noteworthy author he became. His fame was gained
not so much through his edifying writings, such as his Le Chretien mourant (Paris, 1695), as through his Histoire des ordres monastiques, religieux et militaires et des congregations seculieres de I'un et de Vautre sexe, qui ont ete etablies jusqu'au present (8 vols., Paris, 1714-19); to this he devoted a quarter of a century, and it was completed after his death by Maximilien Bullot, a member of the same order. It went through repeated editions in France (1721, 1792, 1838), and formed the basis of M. L. Badiche's Dictionnaire des ordres religieux, published as part of Migne's Encyclopedic theologique (4 vols., Paris, 1858). It was translated into Italian by Fontana (Lucca, 1737), and into German anonymously (8 vols., Leipsic, 1753-56), and likewise formed the basis of several imitations and abbreviations. Such modern handbooks as J. Fehr's German revision of M. R. A. Henrion's Histoire des ordres religieux (Brussels, 1838) under the title of Geschichte der Monchsorden (2 vols., Tubingen, 1845) or M. Heimbucher's Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche (2 vols., Paderborn, 1896-97) are more or less dependent on Helyot's work, which, despite its occasional lack of critical insight, is a product of laudable diligence. (O. ZocKLERf.)
Bibliography: H. Hurter, Nomenclator literarius recentioris theologies catholicce, ii. 836-837, Innsbruck, 1881; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, i. 22, 370; KL, vi. 1759-60.
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA: English poetess; b. at Liverpool Sept. 25, 1793; d. at Dublin May 16, 1835. She was the daughter of George Browne, a merchant of Liverpool, who removed to North Wales in 1800. She received her education under her mother's care, and early began writing verse, publishing her first volume in 1808. In 1812 she married Captain Alfred Hemans, an Irish gentleman who had served in Spain; but she separated from him in 1818, after the birth of her fifth son, and never saw him again. In 1828 she removed from North Wales to Liverpool, and in 1831 she went to Dublin to live. While lacking in depth, her poetry is marked by a certain pleasing sweetness and naturalness, which is particularly noticeable in some of her best lyrics, e.g., The Graves of a Household, The Treasures of the Deep, and The Homes of England. As a hymn-writer she occupies a subordinate position. Perhaps her best known hymn is Calm on the bosom of thy God. She published some twenty volumes of verse, the most important being The Forest Sanctuary (London, 1825); Records of Women (1828); Songs of the Affections (Edinburgh, 1830); Hymns for Childhood (Dublin, 1834); National Lyrics and Songs for Music (1834); and Scenes and Hymns of Life (Edinburgh, 1834). Her works were edited, with a Memoir by her sister Mrs. Hughes (7 vols., London, 1839), also her Poetical Works, with a Memoir, by W M. Rosetti (ib. 1873).
Bibliography: Besides the Memoirs in the collections, ut sup., consult: H. F. Chorley, Memorials of Mrs. Hemans, 2 vols., London, 1836; idem, The Authors of England, ib. 1838; Mrs. R. Lawrence, The Last Autumn at a Favorite Residence, Liverpool, 1836; DNB, xxv. 382-383; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 509-510.
HEMERLI (not HEMMERLIN), FELIX: Swiss canonist, an advocate of reform in the Church; b.
Hemerli Henderson