RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Owen Ozanan
In the civil war the University of Oxford melted its plate to help the Stuarts. Laud was chancellor and Charles I. held court at Oxford. Consequently the parliamentary party was indignant; and, when it took the city (1646), ejected all those who favored the king. Chief among these was John Fell (q.v.), dean of Christ Church and vice-chancellor. To him succeeded Edward Reynolds the Presbyterian (q.v.), and then John Owen the Independent (q.v.) 1652, until 1660, when Reynolds was restored. In 1651 Cromwell was elected chancellor. During the Commonwealth, instruction was given as usual, although there was some confusion; and among the students were John Locke, Robert South, Philip Henry, Daniel Whitby, and Matthew Poole (qq.v.). Walton's Polyglot (see Bibles, Polyglot, IV.) was carried through the press during this period (1654-58), and in it Oxford scholars took a principal part. With the Restoration (1660) the university became as pronouncedly loyal to the monarchy as it had been to the Commonwealth and those who had been ejected were restored. It was insulted by James II. because it refused to countenance his Roman Catholic schemes; yet, under Queen Anne, strong Jacobite sentiment prevailed. In the eighteenth century, Oxford became the starting-point for the most remarkable religious movement in the annals of England: namely, Methodism (see Methodists); for John Wesley (q.v.) was student and fellow there, and " father " of the famous Holy Club, and there also George Whitefield (q.v.) studied. In the nineteenth century Oxford was also a religious center. It will be necessary to name only Edward Pusey, John Henry Newman, and John Keble (qq.v.) to call to mind the Tractarian movement (see Tractahianism) which stirred England so profoundly. A leader in quite a different school of religious thought was Benjamin Jowett (q.v.), master of Balliol, who headed, in a scholarly way, the Broad-church party (see England, Church of, II., § 8).
Several councils or synods have been held at Oxford. Two are of especial interest; one on Nov. 18, 1382, before which Wyclif was summoned to answer for his attack on the doctrine of transubstantiation. The council passed no condemnatory sentence, yet he was debarred from lecturing in the university. The second synod to be mentioned was presided over by Thomas Arundel (q.v.) and was held in 1408. It passed thirteen decrees against the Lollards (q.v.), the followers of Wyclif; of which the third, sixth, and seventh may thus be summarized: Every preacher must adapt his discourse to
the class immediately addressed, so that he may to the clergy speak of the faults of the clergy, and to the laity of the faults of the laity, but not vice versa. No book of Wyclif 's may be read anywhere, unless it has been previously approved. The Bible must no longer appear in an English translation, and the Wyclifite translation must no longer be used.
The see of Oxford (embracing the three counties, Berkshire, Buckingham, and Oxfordshire) was established by Henry VIII. in 1542; and the cathedral was first the church of St. Frideswide which became Christ Church, Oxford, in 1546. Among the eminent bishops of Oxford may be mentioned Henry Compton, John Fell, Thomas Seeker, and Samuel Wilberforce (qq.v.).
Bibliography: Illustrated History of the University of Oxford, its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings, 2 vols., London, 1814; V. A. Huber, Die englischen Universitaten, vols, i.-ii., Cassel, 1839-40, abridged Eng. transl., 2 vols.. The English Universities, London, 1843; G. Smith, A Plea for the Abolition of Tests in the University of Oxford, London, 1863; idem. The Re-organization of the University of Oxford, ib. 1868; J. Parker, Early History of Oxford, 727-1100, Oxford, 1885; G. C. Broderick, History of (Oxford) University, London, 1886; A. Clarke, The Colleges of Oxford; their Hist, and Traditions, London, 1891; P. Dearmer, The Cathedral Church of Oxford, London, 1897; J. Wells, Oxford and its Colleges, London, 1904; G. F. Bridges, The Oxford Reformers and English Church Principles. Their Rise, Trial and Triumph, London, 1908.
OXFORD TRACTS. See Tractarianism.
OZANAM, ANTOINE FREDERIC: Roman Catholic scholar; b. at Milan Apr. 23, 1813; d. at Marseilles Sept. 8, 1853. He studied at Lyons and Paris, and was, in 1841, appointed professor of foreign literature at the Sorbonne. He was a man of piety, learning, and great literary powers. His great aim was to write a counterpart of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and to vindicate the Roman Catholic Church by means of a history of the Christian civilization; but he succeeded in realizing it only in a fragmentary manner: Dante et la philosophic catholique au treizieme siecle (Paris, 1839); Histoire de la civilisation (1845; transl., Hist, of Civilization in the 5th Century, by A. C. Glyn, 2 vols., London, 1868); Etudes germaniques (Paris, 1847-49); and Les Poetes franciscains en Italie (1852). A collected edition of his works in 11 vols, appeared (Paris, 1855-65). Bibliography: His life was written by U. Legeay, Paris, 1854; J. B. H. D. de Lacordaire, ib. 1856; F. X. Karker, Paderborn, 1867; M. de Montrond, 1870; Kathleen O'Meara, Edinburgh, 1876; E. Hardy, Mainz, 1878; A. Ozanam, Paris, 1878; Mme. E. Humbert, ib. 1886; C. Huit, ib. 1888; and J. Laur, ib. 1895.
Pacca
Pachomius Bhuianus