RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Rosmini-Serbati Rosweyde
der neueren Philosophie, Vienna, 1884; idem, Die italienische Philosophie des 19. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1884; E. Avogadro, La Filosofia delV Abbate Antonio Rosmini esaminata, Napoli, 1885; F. H. Reusch, Index der verbotenen Biicher, ii. 1139 sqq., Bonn, 1885; F. X. Kraus, in Deutsche Rundschau, 1888; P. Montagnani, Rosmini, San Tommaso, e la Logica, Bologna, 1890; G. Vidari, Rosmini e Spencer, Milan, 1890; F. de Sarlo, La Logica di A. Rosmini, Rome, 1893 ; idem, Le Basi della Psicologia e della Biologia secondo il Rosmini, ib. 1893; H. C. Sheldon, in Papers of the American Society of Church History, first series, viii. 41-66, New York, 1897; G. Gentile, Rosmini e Gioberti, Pisa, 1898; C. Calzi, Rosmini nella presente Quistione sociale, Turin, 1899.
On the order: Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, iii. 522.
ROSS, JOHN: Presbyterian missionary to China; h. at Easter Rarichie, Nigg (138 m. n. of Glasgow), Scotland, Aug. 6, 1842. He received his education at the village school at Nigg, through private instruction, at Glasgow University, and at the United Presbyterian Theological Hall, Edinburgh; and has been a missionary in Manchuria since 1872, during recent years serving also as principal of the Theological Hall for Manchuria. In 1873 he visited the Korean Gate, at that time the only place where Koreans could come into contact with foreigners, and he became in this way a pioneer in the work of introducing Protestant Christianity into the Korean peninsula. He states his theological position as follows: "Mankind, being alienated from the unselfish goodness which is the character of God, has brought loss and misery unlimited upon itself. God being the All-loving as he is the All-righteous, it is reasonable that he should by abnormal means reveal this his character to his handiwork man, such revelation being beyond the normal. Jesus in his life, by word and deed culminating in the cross, revealed the fact that God pities man, desires his salvation from the state of alienation, and pleads with the alienated to become reconciled and thus eradicate the cause of his misery. By this reconciliation and imitation of the unselfish good-doing of God, the reign of peace for which Jesus came will be established on earth." By his writings he has contributed to the success of missions, enabling later comers to the field to acquire through his works acquaintance with the languages of the parts adjacent to Manchuria. Of his works mention may be made of: Mandarin Primer (Shanghai, 1876); C or ean Primer (1877); History of Corea, Ancient and Modern (Paisley, 1879) ; The Manchus, or the Reigning Dynasty of China (1880) ; Old Wang, the First Chinese Evangelist in Manchuria (London, 1889); Mission Methods in Manchuria (1903); and The Original Religion of China (Edinburgh, 1909). He also translated the New Testament into Korean (Mukden, 1882-84); and was a member of the committee to provide a commentary on the Bible in Chinese, in connection with which he furnished the parts on Isaiah i.-xxxix., Job, the latter half of Matthew, and James.
ROSSI, rSs'si, GIOVANNI BATTISTA DE: Roman Catholic archeologist; b. at Rome Feb. 23, 1822; d. there Sept. 20, 1894. He was educated at the Collegium Romanum. Under the impulse from the Jesuit Marchi he devoted himself to archeology, particularly the catacombs, laying the foundation
of his work by collecting antiquities in Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and England. In this department he became the chief by universal acknowledgment and the founder of Christian archeology. In 1854 he became one of the collaborators of the Inscriptiones urbis Roma Latino; for the Berlin Academy of Sciences, Corpus inscriptorum, vol. vi (Berlin, 1863 and after). In the Spicilegium Solesmense of J. B. Pitra were published De christians monumentis ichthun exhibentibus, vol. iii (Paris, 1855), and De christianis titulis Carthaginiensibus (1858). His great work, which he began in 1843, was Inscriptiones christians urbis Romas septimo saculo antiquiores (vols. i. and ii., Rome, 1861- 1888). This was followed by the Roma sotteranea Christiana (3 vols., 1864-77; Eng. adaptation, London, 1869), leaving the materials for vol. iv. almost complete. He made the Bulletino di archwlogia sacra, which he issued quarterly, 1863-94, a treasure store of material from the excavations of catacombs and archeology in general. He succeeded, during forty years, in investigating the most important cemeteries, relocating most of the martyrs' tombs, and bringing them to light. From 1872- 1894, he published the Musaici cristiani with its chromo-lithographic plates (Spithoever ed., Rome, 1872-1900). For fifty years secretary at the Vatican, he published with copious notes Index codicum latinorum Bibliothecm Vaticanm, vols, x.-xiii (1886, and after), treating over 2,600 codices; and, with other scholars, issued the CEuvres completes de Bartolomeo Borghesi (9 vols., 1862, and after). Rossi was professor at the University at Rome and after 1851 a member of the Accademia pontificia di archseologia, and before his death its president. He promoted a common bond between Roman Catholic and other archeologists, and passed the influence of his spirit to a school of successors. Bibliography: F. B. Leitner, Leben des . . Johannes Baptista de Rossi, Regensburg, 1899. A valuable periodical literature is indicated in Richardson, Encyclopaedia, p. 958.
ROSWEYDE, ros-vai'de, HERIBERT: Jesuit hagiographer, originator of the idea afterward carried out by Bolland and his associates in the Acta Sanctorum Bollandistarum (see Bolland, Jan, Bollandists); b. at Utrecht Jan. 21, 1570; d. at Antwerp Oct. 4, 1629. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1588, and was ordained priest in 1598. He was professor of rhetoric at Brussels, 1592-95, of philosophy 1598-1600, and of controversial theology 1605-07, then for four years head of the colleges of Courtray and Antwerp. From about 1614 he devoted himself with increasing exclusiveness to historical studies, especially the lives of the saints, for which the Belgian abbeys offered a vast mass of manuscript material. He formed the plan of a comprehensive collection of such lives which should surpass the existing ones in extent and critical accuracy; but official duties and the controversies in which he became engaged with Scaliger, Casaubon, and others took up too much of his time for him to do more than begin the vast labor. He published the Martyrologium parvum Romanum which he had discovered, together with that of Ado (Antwerp, 1613) ; the first edition of the Windesheim Chronicle
Roswitha Rothe