THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
OLGA, SAINT: Russian grand-duchess. She came of a poor family, but became the wife of Grand Duke Igor of Kief, and governed the country with great success during the minority of her son Sviatoslav. In 952 she went to Constantinople, embraced Christianity, and was baptized by the Patriarch Theophilaktes, assuming the name of Helena in honor of the mother of Constantine. After her return to Kief, she is said to have labored for Christianity, though without any palpable effect. Her day of commemoration is July 11 (new style, 21).
Bibliography: L. E. Castremonte, Hist, de V introduction du Christianisme sur le continent Russe, et la vie de S. Olga, Paris, 1879.
OLIER, o"lye', JEAN JACQUES: Founder of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris and a leader in the spiritual life of France in the seventeenth century; b. in Paris Sept. 20, 1608; d. there Apr. 2, 1657. He studied theology at the Sorbonne and attended the discourses of St. Vincent de Paul at Sain1>Lazare on the duties of the clerical state. His intercourse with Vincent determined the direction of his life, and gave him the mystical tendency visible in his writings. Deciding to devote himself to the education of the clergy, he began his work at Vaugirard in Jan., 1642. The next year he became cure" of Saint-Sulpice, and erected a new church and a seminary. His activity in the cure of souls was widely renowned; he founded associations for the care of the sick, the poor, and orphans. In 1652 he resigned his parochial charge in order to devote himself exclusively to the work of the seminary. He was able before long to provide for the establishment of similar institutions in various cities of France, and even as far away as Montreal, and established the Congregation of Saint-Sulpice to insure the perpetuation of his work. Among his works, few in number and principally of a devotional character, should be mentioned his Catechisme chrHien ■pour la vie interieure (Louvain, 1686). The Seminary was later detached from the parish of the same name, and had a number of strong directors who trained an excellent class of priests. Fenelon spent five years here. (C. Pfender.)
Bibliography: His (Euvres computes were published by Migne in Paris, 1857. Biographies are by Nagot, Paris, 1818; De Bretonvilliers, 2 vols., Paris, 1841; E. H. Thompson, London, 1861 (based on a work by the Abbe Faillon); an anonymous Vie appeared in Lille, 1861; the subject is treated in F. J. Holzwarth, Handbiicher fiir das priesterliche Leben, vol. v., Leipsic, 1860. Consult further: H. J. Icard, Doctrine de M. Olier, Paris, 1889; idem, Explication de quelques passages de Memoires de M. Olier, ib. 1892.
OLIN, STEPHEN: Methodist divine; b. at Leicester, Vt., Mar. 2, 1797; d. at Middle'town, Conn., Aug. 16, 1851. He was graduated from Middlebury College in 1820; entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and, after several appointments, was professor of English literature in the University of Georgia, 1827-34; president of Randolph Macon College, Virginia, 1834- 1837; and president of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., from 1842 till his death. From 1837 to 1841 he traveled in Europe, Egypt, and Palestine, the fruits of which journey were, Travels
in Egypt, Arabia Petrcea, and the Holy Land (New York, 1843) ; and Greece and the Golden Horn (New York, 1854). His Works, consisting of sermons, sketches, lectures, and addresses, appeared (2 vols., New York, 1852).
Bibliography: Life and Letters of Stephen Olin, 2 vols., New York, 1853 (ed. his wife).
OLIVE TREE. See Fkuit Trees in the Old Testament.
OLIVERS, THOMAS: Wesleyan preacher and hymn-writer; b. at Tregynon, in Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1725; d. at London Mar., 1799. Illiterate and profligate as a youth, he was converted under Whitefield's preaching, became in 1753 one of Wesley's most active preachers, and was his supervisor of the press in 1775-88, doing much work in the Calvinistic-Arminian controversy. He wrote A Descriptive and Plaintive Elegy on the Death of the Late Reverend John Wesley (London, 1791); and in 1791 four hymns, whereof " The God of Abraham praise " (Nottingham, n.d.) is generally allowed to be one of the noblest odes in the language. Bibliography: A biographical sketch by J. Kirk is in an
edition of Olivers' Hymns and an Elegy, London, 1868;
and an autobiography is in T. Jackson's Lives of Early
Methodist Preachers, vol. i., ib. 1837; cf. DNB, xlii. 156;
Julian, Hymnology, p. 867; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns,
pp. 520-521, New York, 1886.
OLIVES, MOUNT OF, OLIVET: A mountain range east of Jerusalem, the modern Jabal al-Tur. For the topography and description see Jerusalem, I.
Olivet is first mentioned in the Bible in connection with David's flight from Absalom (II Sam. xv. 30). It was the scene of the worship of Chemosh and Molech (qq.v.), set up by Solomon (I Kings xi. 7), destroyed by Josiah (II Kings xxiii. 13, 14); thence, also, the people, by order of Ezra, got the branches for the feast of tabernacles (Neh. viii. 15). The allusions to it in the New Testament are more numerous. It is thus described by P. Schaff {Through Bible Lands, p. 272, New York, 1878) : " It is very prominent in the closing scenes of our Savior's ministry. In Bethany, on the eastern slope of Olivet, he had his most intimate friends — Lazarus, Martha, and Mary — and performed his last and greatest miracle (Luke x. 38-42; John xi.). From Mount Olivet he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke xix. 29-38) . Here he spent the nights intervening between the entry and his passion, and returned every morning to teach in the temple (Luke xxi. 37). Descending from this mountain, he wept over the ungrateful city, and foretold her fearful doom (Luke xix. 41-44; cf. ver. 37). To it he repaired on the night of his betrayal (John xviii. 1); from it he ascended to heaven to take possession of his throne (Luke xxiv. 50; Acts i. 12). " Gethsemane was upon the hither slope of Olivet; and so upon the same mountain pressed the feet of Jesus when in the depths of his humiliation and in the heights of his triumph."
Tradition wrongly puts the ascension upon the so-called " Mount of Ascension "; indeed, our Lord's footstep is shown in the Mohammedan mosque which now covers the spot. There Helena, the mother of Constantine, built (325) a basilica; and