THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the desired absolution was soon given to the king, thus accomplishing what had been impossible for the entire French episcopate.
The Oratorians were confirmed by the pope in 1575 and again in 1612. All members were equal, the brethren even having legislative and judicial power over the superior. Government was by majority vote, and the members of the community were secular priests, bound by no vows, The Italian retaining their own property, and at Oratory, liberty to withdraw at any time. They paid a certain amount monthly for the maintenance of their house, receiving only roomrent free. Nevertheless, their " Institution " contained many strict rules, such as a triweekly scourging in memory of the scourging borne by Christ for man (see Flagellation; Flagellants); and the problems and cases of conscience considered at meals were designed especially for confessors. On the other hand, St. Philip wished his followers to restrict themselves to prayer, the administration of the sacrament, and preaching. He permitted the establishment of daughter houses unwillingly, but such institutions, once founded, were placed more or less under the jurisdiction of their respective bishops, so that the Oratorians have no general, no convention of delegates, and no central organization. The oratories of Naples and Milan were founded by Tarucci in 1586, almost contemporary with those at San Severino, Fermo, and Palermo, and these were quickly followed by others. Some years before his death, St. Philip resigned his place as superior to Baronius, though until his death he remained active as a confessor and in pastoral care, filled with the deepest humility to the last. In 1622 he was canonized. Among the distinguished members of the order which he founded were Baronius and Reynaldus (d. 1671), the brothers Thomas and Francis Bozius (d. 1610 and 1635; the former the first to declare that Luther committed suicide and to recount the terrible deaths of (Ecolampadius, Butzer, Calvin, and others in his De signis ecclesim, Cologne, 1593), Antonius Gallonius (d. 1615; the author of the De sanctorum martyrum cruciatibus, Rome, 1594, and frequently), Giovanni Marciano, Andrea Gallandi (q.v.; the editor of the celebrated Bibliotheca veterum patrum, 14 vols., Venice, 1765 sqq.), and Cardinal Capecelatro (q.v.). The English Oratorians established in 1849 included F. W. Faber (q.v.) and Cardinal J. H. Newman (q.v.).
A French oratory resembling the one founded by St. Philip was established at Paris in 1611 by Pierre de Berulle, who was born 1575, and died at Paris Oct., 1629. Ordained to the priesthood in 1599 and created cardinal by Urban VIII. in The French 1627, he designed his order primarily Oratory, to hear confessions and to give religious instruction. The French Oratorians were required to render to their respective bishops the same obedience as that given by the Jesuits to the pope, and the exaction of any monastic vow was expressly forbidden. Of Berulle's successors the first two (Condren (1629-41) and Bourgoing (1641-62) contributed most, both to extend the congregation and to develop it. It was far more centralized than the Italian branch and
had both a convention of delegates and a general, who later received coadjutors. It gained the enmity of the Jesuits, however, and later, after Jansen had invited Oratorians to settle in the Spanish Netherlands to teach strict Augustinian doctrines of sin and grace, became involved in the fortunes of Jansenism, besides being suspected of Cartesianism. Nevertheless, in 1760 the congregation possessed seventy-three houses, fifty-eight in France, eleven in Holland, two in Venaissin (a papal district in Provence), one in Savoy, and one in Liege, some of these being seminaries and others colleges (both in contradistinction to the Italian organization). So deeply did the French Oratorians resist the absolutism of Church and State in the eighteenth century, that at the outbreak of the Revolution some of them united with the nobler advocates of the upheaval. During the first half of the nineteenth century the congregation was in abeyance, but with the beginning of the second half it revived under the leadership of Petetot (d. 1887) and commenced to make progress toward its former standard of learning, its success being evinced by such Oratorians as Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry (q.v.) and H. de Valroger. The English Oratorians, already mentioned above, received many accessions from the Tractarian movement, and as early as 1850 had a house in each of the cities of Liverpool, London, and Birmingham. Here their organization favored their increase, being more in harmony with English traditions than the majority of Roman Catholic orders. They have materially aided the progress of Roman Catholicism in England, in part by their publication of the records of the Roman Catholic martyrs under the Tudors. (O. ZocKLERf.)
Bibliography: The Vitce by A. Gallonio (Ital., Rome, 1600, 1818; Lat., Mainz, 1602; Germ., Mainz, 1611) and G. Barnabei (Rome, 1622, 1703) are in ASB, May, vi. 460 sqq. Other lives are by: P. J. Bacci, Rome, 1622, 1837, Germ, transl., Regensburg, 1859; P. Guerin, Lyons, 1852; N. P. S. Wiseman, London, 1856; A. Capecelatro, 2 vols., Milan, 1884, Eng. transl., 2 vols., London, 1894; G. M. Zampini, Turin, 1884; C. Massini, Milan, 1894; Comtesse D'Estienne d'Orves, Paris, 1900; A. F. von Pechmann, Freiburg, 1900; F. Bazet, Albi, 1902; and Antrobus, St. Louis, 1903; and in KL, ix. 213 sqq.
On the congregation consult: Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, iii. 413-424; I. Marciano, M emorie istoriche della C ongreg . dell' Oratorio, 5 vols., Naples, 1693-1703; C. A. de Villaroso, Memorie degli scrittori Filippini, 2 vols., ib. 1837-42; A. Perraud, L'Oratoire de France, Paris, 1865; J. de la Pasardiere, L'Oratoire de St. Philippe de Neri, Draguignan, 1880.
NERO: Roman emperor from 54 to 68 a.d.; b. at Antium (38 m. s. of Rome) Dec. 15, 37; d. near Rome June 9, 68. His name is associated with the first great persecution of the Christians known to history, and immediately connected with the conflagration which swept over Rome for six days and nights, beginning with the night of July 19, 64. These events fall in the darkest period of Nero's life; and though it is uncertain how well founded were the popular suspicions and the direct accusations of Roman historians that he deliberately caused the fire, there is much evidence, such as his policy for rebuilding and beautifying the city, for believing them. At all events, the conflagration was atoned for by the blood of the Christians to avert the suspicions of the people from himself, after