THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Liberius took no part in the Synod of Ariminum, 359. Several years elapse without note of him in public life. In 363, however, he put forth a brief (Epist. ad catholicos episcopos Italice) dispensing pardon to all those who repented of Later Life ; their action at Ariminum and re- Achieve- nounced Arian doctrine. These terms ments. indeed were not agreeable to a more austere school of ecclesiastics, even at Rome; and the resultant opposition led to cleavages which were anything but salutary (see Hilarius; and Lucifer of Calaris). In 366, as the representative of orthodoxy, the pope accorded fraternal reception to the envoys of the Macedonians (see Macedonius and the Macedonian Sect) of Asia Minor, on the ground of subscription to the Nicene Creed; and returned greetings of peace to those who had authorized their errand (Epist. ad universos Orientis orthodoxos episcopos). After the death of Felix (Xov. 22, 365), Liberius readmitted the clerics of his party to their former stations. His death (Sept. 24, 366) nevertheless gave the signal for fierce factional conflicts, accompanied by horrible bloodshed (see Ursinus). According to the Liber pontificalis, Liberius was laid to rest in the Cemetery of Priscilla, along the Via Salaria. It is hardly probable that the poem of eulogy discovered by De Rossi, on the subject of an unnamed bishop, refers to Liberius (De Rossi, in Bulletino di Archeologia Cristiana, 4th ser., vol. ii., 1883, pp. 5- 59); but rather to Martin I. (cf. Funk, Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen, i. 391-420, Paderborn, 1887). Liberius created a lasting memorial for himself at Rome by founding the Basilica Liberiana (Santa Maria Maggiore), which, even to-day, is important historically in the office for Christ's nativity and the season of Advent (cf. H. Usener, Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, i. 266-293, Bonn, 1889.) It was probably here in the year 354 that the birth of Christ was celebrated for the first time on Dec. 25. So late as the preceding year Liberius had consecrated Marcellina, sister of Ambrose, as a nun on Jan. 6, still observed as the day of the nativity. The pope's address delivered on this occasion was preserved by Ambrose in a free transcript (De virgine, iii. 1 sqq.). In the Martyr ologium Hieronymianum Liberius is celebrated on September 23; but his name does not appear in the Martyr ologium Romanum. Ever since the sixth century his reputation has suffered distortion through apocryphal tradition, exhibiting him in league with Constantius as a bloody persecutor of the true faith; while Felix is portrayed as a holy martyr (cf. J. J. I. von Dollinger: Die Papstfabeln des Mittelalters, ed. Friedrich, pp. 126-145, Munich, 1890; Eng. transl., of first ed., Fables Respecting the Popes of the Middle Ages, New York, 1872). G. Kruger.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. pp. cxx.cxxvii., ccl. 207-210, Paris, 1886, ed. Mommsen in MGH, Gest. pont. Rom., i (1898), 77-79; Jaffe\ Regesta, i. 32-35; B. Jungmann, Dissertationes selectee, ii. 31-33, Regensburg, 1881; J. Langen, Geschichte der rbmischen Kirche, i. 460-494, Bonn, 1881; G. Kruger, Lucifer von Calaris, pp. 12 sqq., Leipsic, 1886; H. M. Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism, pp. 192 sqq., Cambridge. 1900; C. de Feis, Storia di Liberio papa e dello scisma dei Seminariani, Rome, 1894; F. Gregorovius, Hist, of the City of Rome, i. 108-109, London, 1894; T. Mommsen, in Deutsche Zeit-
schrift. fur Geschichte und Wissenschaft, i (1897), 167-179- Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, i. 647 sqq., 681 sqq., Eng! transl., i. 199 sqq.; Bower, Popes, i. 59-82; Milman Latin Christianity, i. 102-108. Very recently the genuineness of the four letters of Liberius has been maintained bv L. Duchesne, in Melanges d'histoire et d' archeologie xxviii (1908), 31-78, and opposed by A. Wilmart, in Revue Binidictine, xxiv (1907), 293-317, and by F. Savio, Nuovi Studi svlla questione di Papa Liberio, Rome, 1909.
LIBERMANN, JACOB. See Holy Ghost, Orders and Congregations of the, II., 6.
LIBERTINES: A word used in various senses.
1. The members of a Jewish synagogue at Jerusalem mentioned in Acts vi. 9. They probably possessed a synagogue of their own, though some have held that they worshiped with the Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asiatics, or at least with the two first named. The meaning of the name is not entirely certain. As there is no certain record of an (African) city or district from which they could take their name, it seems probable that the word denotes " freedmen " (Lat. libertini), meaning the descendants of Jews taken captive to Rome by Pompey, and there later released because their stubborn adherence to their national customs rendered them useless as slaves. While the majority of these freedmen remained in Rome and settled in the regio Transtiberina (Suetonius, Tiberius, xxxvi.; Tacitus, Annales, ii. 85), others seemed to have returned to Jerusalem and to have formed a synagogue where the name of Libertines, or Roman freedmen, lingered.
(F. Sieffert.)
2. A political party led by Ami Perrin, hence known also as Perrinists, which opposed Calvin in his efforts to reform the morals of Geneva. Before the Reformation they had striven for the liberty of the city against the Roman Catholic bishop and the duke of Savoy, and under the rule of Calvin they especially opposed the excommunication by the consistory of those deemed by it unworthy to partake of the Lord's Supper. They also contended against the admission of French refugees as burghers of the city, and in May, 1555, endeavored in vain to lead a violent protest against the influence of these refugees and the French preachers. Some of the leaders fled, others were sentenced to death, and thus the party was completely disrupted. Their significance is in their attitude as liberals opposed to the strict Calvinistic Puritans.
E. Choisy.
3. A pantheistic antinomian party which flourished about the time of the Reformation. It appeared first in the Netherlands and from there spread into France. Its roots may perhaps reach into the soil of the Brethren of the Free Spirit (see Free Spirit, Brethren of the), a sect which had not entirely died out, and there may have been connections also with the Anabaptists [i.e., with such pantheistic antipedobaptists as David Joris, q.v. — A. h. n.]. The adherents gave themselves the name " Spirituals "; "Libertines " being the title given by the opponents of the party. The founder appears to have been named Coppin, who preached at Lille about 1529, whence his teaching was carried into the French-speaking part of the country, and thence into France by a certain Quintin, by Antoine Poc-