VISITATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY, FEAST
OF THE. See Mary, Moruer or Jesus Curist, III.
VITALIAN, vai-té/li-an: Pope 657-672. He was born at Segni, and on July 30, 657, was enthroned as the successor of Eugenius I. He announced his accession to the Emperor Constans II., thus signalizing the resumption of friendly ecclesiastical relations between Rome and Constantinople; the emperor in return confirmed the privileges of the Roman church. Vitalian was unsuccessful, on the other hand, in his attempt to assert jurisdiction over Maurus, bishop of Ravenna, whom he cited to appear at Rome, only to meet with refusal. Vitalian thereupon deposed Maurus, who in his turn pronounced the ban on the pope. Vitalian seems to have been influential in England, where Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, actively promoted the interests of Rome and sought to secure uniformity with the Roman Church. Vitalian died Jan. 27, 672. (A. Haucr.)
BrstiograpHuy: The letters are in MPL, Ixxxvii. 999 saq. Consult Liber pontificalis, ed. T. Mommsen in MGH, Gest. pont. Rom., i (1898), 186-189; Bede, Hist. eccl., iv. 1; Jaffé, Regesta, i. 235-237; Agnellus, Vite pontificum Ravennatum, chaps. 110 sqq., Modena, 1708, also in MGH, Script. rer. Langob. (1878), pp. 349 sqq.; Mann, Popes, ii. 1-17; J. Langen, Geschichte der rimischen Kirche, ii. 539, Bonn, 1885; Bower, Popes, i. 459-466; Platina, Popes, i. 156-158; Milman, Latin Christianity, li, 281-282; KL, xii. 1015-18; DCB, iv. 1161-63.
VITALIS, ORDERICUS. See OrpDERICUS VITALIS. VITICULTURE. See Wine, HEsrRew.
VITRINGA, vi-trin’Ha, CAMPEGIUS: Dutch Reformed, Old-Testament scholar; b. at Leeuwarden, Frisia, May 16, 1659; d. at Franeker Mar. 31, 1722. He was educated at the universities of Franeker (1675-78) and Leyden (1678-79), and in 1681 became professor of oriental languages at the
former university. Two years later he succeeded his teacher Marck in the theological faculty, and in 1693 the professorship of church history was also added to his duties; at considerable financial sacrifice he remained at Franeker until his death, declining repeated invitations to Utrecht. Theologically he was a child of his communion, ardently devoted to the doctrine of absolute predestination, and his views of the Scriptures and their inspiration were in accord with post-Reformation orthodoxy. In textual criticism, on the other hand, his attitude was more free. His importance as an exegete lies especially in the care and accuracy with which he applied the entire exegetical apparatus to determine the true meaning of his text, with due regard also for its historical background.
The chief work of Vitringa, and that on which his fame rests, was his commentary on Isaiah (2 vols., Leeuwarden, 1714-20), which forms the basis for the commentaries of J. E. Leigh (6 vols., Brunswick, 1726-34), J. J. Rambach (ed. E. F. Neubauer, Ziillichau, 1741), and A. F. Biisching (2 vols., Halle, 1749-51). Vitringa planned a similar work on Zechariah, but did not live to complete it, though the prolegomena and the commentary as far as Zech. iv. 6 were edited by H. Venema (Leeuwarden, 1734). The same scholar edited also Vitringa’s posthumous Commentarius ad canticum Mosis Deut. xxxii. (Haarlem, 1734). On the New Testament Vitringa wrote Anakrists Apocalypsios Joannis apostoli. (Franeker, 1705), in which prophecy is applied to polemics against the Roman Catholic Church. His Latin lectures on the interpretation of the parables were edited in Dutch, with his cooperation, by J. d’Outrein under the title Verklaeringe van de evangelische parabolen, etc. (Amsterdam, 1715); in this work the personages of the parables are made to apply to historical figures. Lectures by him formed the basis of the Dutch exegesis of Galatians and Titus (Franeker, 1728) and of the first eight chapters of Romans (1729). His Observationum sacrarum libri sex (Franeker, 1683-1708) were chiefly exegetical in character, and based on public disputations.
In the department of Biblical history and archeology Vitringa wrote his Archisynagogus observationibus novis illustratus (Franeker, 1685), in which he sought to trace the names and functions of the officers in the primitive Church to the Jewish synagogue. He thus became involved in a controversy with Rhenferd, in the course of which he composed his De decem viris otiosis (Franeker, 1687). Another controversy gave rise to his Anleidinge tot het rechte verstand van den tempel, die de prophet Hzechiel gezien en beschreeven heeft (2 vols., Franeker, 1687), in which he maintained that Ezekiel’s temple corresponded exactly to Solomon’s, and was perfectly copied by Zerubbabel and Herod; while to the criticisms of the younger Cocceius he replied in his Rechte verstand van den tempel Ezechiels verdeedigt en bevestigt (Haarlem, 1693). The chief work of Vitringa, next to his commentary on Isaiah, was his De synagoga vetere libri tres (Franeker, 1694; Eng. transl., The Synagogue and the Church, London, 1842), in which he amply atoned for the deficiencies of his earlier Archisynagogus. He also