THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
to live in his faith. He went to Basel and then to Strasburg, where he assumed the professorship of Hebrew, and addressed a statement to his fellow believers in Lucca (De fuga in persecutione). He taught for four years in Strasburg, till 1547, then at Oxford; but after the accession of Mary Tudor to the throne, he accepted an invitation to return to Strasburg. Meanwhile his wife had died at Oxford. When news of this reached Strasburg, Vermigli was involved in conflict over the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper with Westphal (q.v.). Moreover, he had already left Strasburg for Zurich, where he lived, beside Ochino, as the most highly esteemed member of the Italian congregation. Vermigli further took part in the dogmatic conflicts of the age in a pronouncement on Stancaro’s doctrine as to the merit of Christ, and against Bibliander’s lax doctrine of free will (1560). He also controverted the doctrine of Ubiquity (q.v.), much in favor with Lutherans, in his Dialogus de utraque natura in Christo. He took prominent part in the conference at Poissy, 1561, and brought with him to Zurich a note of acknowledgment from Catherine de’ Medici. K. Benratu.
BrsiioGrapHy: Works, other than those named in the text, worth noting are his T’ractatio de sacra Eucharistia and Disputatio de eodem sacramento, London, 1549, Eng. transl., A Discourse or Traictise of Petur Martyr Vermill, 1562; and his commentaries on Romans, 1561, and on several books of the Old Testament. A worthy memorial is the ed. of Vermigli’s Loct communes by Masson, London, 1576, and elsewhere often, Eng. transl., The Common Places . . . of Peter Martyr, London, 1583. Consult further: N. Taillepied, Hist. des vies .. . de . . . Pierre Martyr, Douay, 1580 (Roman Catholic); the Oratio by Simler, Zurich, 1562; F. C. Schlosser, Leben des... P.M. Vermigli, Heidelberg, 1807; C. Schmidt, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Elberfeld, 1858; Cambridge Modern History, ii. 302, 390 sqq., 477, 502-503, 508, New York, 1904; KL, xii. 789-793.
VERNON, AMBROSE WHITE: Congregationalist; b. in New York City Oct. 13, 1870. He was educated at Princeton (B.A., 1891), Union Theological Seminary (1894), and the universities of Berlin, Halle, and Gottingen (1894-96). He was pastor of the First Congregational churches at Hiawatha, Kan. (1896-99), and East Orange, N. J. (1899-1904); pastor of Church of Christ, Dartmouth College, N. H.; professor of Biblical literature in the same college (1904-07); and professor of practical theology in Yale Divinity School (1907-09). Since 1909 he has been pastor of Harvard Church, Brookline, Mass. He has written The Religious Value of the Old Testament (New York, 1907), and has edited the series Modern Religious Problems (1909), Songs for the Chapel (in collaboration with C. H. Morse, 1909), and Hymns of the Kingdom of God (in collaboration with H. 8. Coffin, 1910).
VERONA, PETER OF. See Peter Marryr.
VERONICA, ve-ren’i-ca or ver’’ro-ni’ca: The traditional name of a pious woman of Jerusalem, who, according to the legend in its most common form, when Christ passed by her on his way to Golgotha, took off her head-cloth, and handed it to him in order that he might wipe the blood and sweat from his face; and, when he returned the cloth, his features had become impressed upon it (see Jusus Curist, Picrures anD Imacus or, III.,
1, § 2). A modification of the legend identifies Veronica (or rather Berenice, according to Johannes of Malala, in Chronographia, x. 306-308; in CSHB) with the woman ‘‘ diseased with an issue of blood ”’
(Matt. ix. 20-22). Another represents her as sprung
from royal blood, a grand-daughter of Herod the
Great, evidently confounding her with Berenice,
the niece of Herodias. The manner in which the
portrait was brought to Rome is generally represented as follows: the Emperor Tiberius was sick; and, having heard of the wondrous cures wrought by the portrait, he sent for Veronica. She obeyed the call, and went to Rome, and, as soon as the emperor had touched the cloth, he was cured.
Veronica remained in Rome, and, when she died,
bequeathed the relic to Clement, the successor of
Peter. In the beginning of the eighth century, Pope
John VII. asserted that the Church of St. Maria
Maggiore was in possession of the miraculous por-
trait; but it was shown only to kings and princes,
and only under special conditions. Both Milan, however, and Jaen in Spain, claim to have the genuine head-cloth of Veronica. It is worth noticing that in the thirteenth century (Gervasius of Tilburg,
Otia imperialia, xxv.; Matthew of Paris, on the
year 1216), it was not the possessor of the cloth,
but the cloth itself which was called ‘‘ Veronica,” this being based on the word-play vera icon, ‘‘ the
true picture.” Most probably the legend is a
growth; first came the story, which is even likely—
Christ may well have received this kindness from a
pitying bystander; then the legend that the cloth
had upon it the ‘true picture” of Christ’s face; then the name of this became the name of the person giving it.
BrstiogRapHy: ASB, Feb., i. 449-457; W. Grimm, Die Sage vom Ursprung der Christusbilder, Berlin, 1843; Tillemont, Mémoires, i. 471-472; K. Pearson, Die Fronica, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Christusbilder im Mittelalter, Strasburg, 1887; J. Palme, Die deutschen Veronicalegenden des 12, Jahrhunderts, Prague, 1892; E. von Dobschiitz, in TU, iii (1899); idem, Christusbilder, Leipsic, 1899; idem and L. Cust, in Burlington Magazine, Sept., 1904; W. Weale, in Dietsche Warande, new series, iii. 600-616; C. G. N. de Booys, in Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Taalen Letterkunde, vol. xx., 1901; DCB, iv. 1107-08. VESPASIAN, ves-pé/zhi-an, TITUS FLAVIUS:
Roman emperor 69-79. He was born in a little Sa-
bine village of noble family on his mother’s side 9
A.D.; d. there June 23,79. In the confusion and tur-
moil which followed the death of Nero, Vespasian
was proclaimed emperor by the army in Egypt July
1,69. His officers subdued Italy for him, then in the
possession of Vitellius, when he left Titus in charge
of the forces and went to the capital. Although he held high civil offices, his genius lay in the direction of military affairs. Serious in nature, he gave himself to the unreserved performance of his duties. Possessed of a good education, he was a man of order and discipline, and gave the impression of an upright, painstaking, and benevolent man, though tainted with sensuality. He married Flavia Domatilla, who bore him Titus, Domitian, and Flavia
Domatilla. His attitude toward the Christians is
unknown; the statement that he was not pleased
at slaughter and lamented even just punishment
(Suetonius, ‘‘ Vespasian,” chap. xv.) has been con-
strued to mean that he continued to assail Chris-
tianity. Possibly in the attack on the Davidic house (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III., xii.; NPNF, i. 146) some Christians suffered, but the motive was purely political, and no sure records of martyrs exist. His reign was significant in Jewish history, the capture of Jerusalem taking place then through the opera~ tions of Titus. The Christians had earlier left the city (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III., v. 3; NPNF, i. 138) and settled at Pella. (Victor ScHuLtze.)
Brsriocrapuy: Sources are the ‘‘ Lives ”’ of Suetonius (good ed. by M. Nisard, with Fr. transl., Paris, 1883); Dion Cassius, Hist., chap. lxvi.; Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III., v., xii., Eng. transl. in NPNF, 1 ser., vol. i.; Epiphanius, Her., xxxix. 7. Consult in general the works on the history of the period, including those on the Apostolic Age; L. S. Le Nain de Tillemont, Hist. des empereurs, ii. 1 saq., 6 vols., Paris, 1700-38; H. Schiiler, Geschichte der rémischen Kaiserzeit, i. 2, pp. 499 sqq., Gotha, 1883; W. M. Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 256-258 et passim, London, 1893; W. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, iv. 1246-48, ib. 1890 (good for the secular side); DCB, iv. 1116-1117; and the works under PersecuTIoNs OF THE CHRISTIANS.
VESPERS: The principal evening service of the Breviary (q.v.). In signification it was held to correspond to the evening sacrifice of the Old Testament, and also to commemorate the descent from the eross, the interrelation of the canonical hours being given in the mnemonic verses:
“‘Matins bindeth Christ, who purgeth our evil away; Prime sees him spat upon, and terce condemns him to death; Sext him doth crucify, nones pierceth his side; Vespers takes him from the cross, at compline he rests in the tomb.”’ And a third mystic meaning is given vespers by the fact that it is recited about the hour of the day when the Last Supper was celebrated.
Vespers was the first canonical hour to be added to the original three, terce, sext, and nones (Dan. vi. 10; Acts ii. 15, iii. 1, x. 9), which alone were known to Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Cyprian, while vespers and matins were known by the time of Chrysostom. By the time of Jerome there were six hours, three in the day and three in the night. In the course of the fifth century compline, originally recited about nine in the evening, was added, thus making the complete number of seven canonical hours, which later became eight when the first hour was divided into matins (about 3 a.m.) and prime (about 6 a.M.), as is found in the rules of Benedict of Nursia, Columban, Isidore, and the majority of monastic writers of the sixth and seventh centuries. From that time vespers was recited about 6 p.M., which is the present usage in the Roman Catholic Church. Until compline became a distinct hour, twelve psalms were usually sung at vespers, but later this number was reduced to seven, four being sung at vespers and three at compline. Benedict required also the reading of a chapter of the Bible, a responsory, the hymn of St. Ambrose with the versicles, the Magnificat, Kyrie eleison, Lord’s Prayer, and collects.
Many of the older Lutheran liturgies retained matins and vespers, but these all proved unsuccessful. In the nineteenth century, however, many successful efforts were made for the restoration of vespers on Sundays and festivals. [In the Anglican Church the ancient hours of vespers and compline are combined in the service for daily evening prayer