S

Sa (SAA), MANOEL DE, a Portuguese theologian and exegete, b. at Villa do Conde (Province Entre-Minhoe-Douro), 1530; d. at Arona (Italy), 30 Dec., 1596. He distinguished himself as a student at the University of Coimbra, and at the age of fifteen joined the Society of Jesus. He soon afterwards taught philosophy, first at Coimbra, and next at Gandia, where he also acted as tutor to St. Francis Borgia, then Duke of Gandia. In 1557, he became one of the early professors of the Roman College, and commented for two years on the prophecies of Osee and the "Summa" of St. Thomas. Exhausted by his labours, he discontinued his lectures, and visited the houses of the Society in Tuscany. Restored to health, he returned to the Roman College, where he filled the chair of exegesis, and found time to give missions in various places, preaching with an eloquence truly apostolic. His reputation for scholarship induced Pius V to appoint him as a member of the commission in charge of preparing the authentic edition of the Septuagint. This did not prevent him from continuing his apostolic labours and from founding several houses of his order in Upper Italy. After residing for a time at Genoa, he withdrew to the professed house of Arona (Diocese of Milan), where he died. His exegetical works are: "Scholia in Quatuor Evangelia" (Antwerp, 1596), and "Notationes in totam Scripturam Sacram' (Antwerp, 1598), both of which passed through several editions. However short, Sa's annotations clearly set forth the literal sense of Holy Writ, and bespeak a solid erudition, despite a few inaccuracies which have been sharply rebuked by Protestant critics. His theological treatise entitled "Aphorismi Confessariorum ex Doctorum sententiis collecti" (Venice, 1595), however remarkable, was censured in 1603, apparently because the Master of the Sacred Palace treated some of its maxims as contrary to opinions commonly received among theologians, but it was later corrected and has recently been removed from the Roman Index (1900). Sa's life of John of Texeda, the Capuchin confessor of St. Francis of Borgia, when Duke of Gandia, has not been published.

DE BACKER, Biblioth. des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus (Liège, 1853); HURTER, Nomenclator (Innsbruck, 1907).

FRANCIS E. GIGOT.

Saavedra Remírez de Baquedano, ANGEL DE, Spanish poet and statesman, b. at Cordova, 10 March, 1791; d. at Madrid, 22 June, 1865. He was the second son of Juan Martín de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas, and succeeded to the title upon the death without issue of his elder brother in 1834. At eleven he entered the Seminario de Nobles at Madrid but left at sixteen to join the army. From 1808 to 1813 he took an active part in the Spanish War of Independence. From 1813 to 1820 he lived quietly in Seville, devoting his time to literary pursuits, and from 1820 to 1823 he distinguished himself as a member of the Cortes. He sided with the revolutionary party, and as a result, when Ferdinand VII came into power, he was forced to flee, escaping with difficulty to Gibraltar. From there he proceeded to London, and later to Malta where he remained five years during which he continued his literary activities, and then went to live in France. Upon the death of Ferdinand VII, he was able to return to Spain (1834). In 1836, he became minister of the interior in the cabinet headed by Isturiz, and in 1844 he was sent

as ambassador to Naples where he remained until 1850. Besides being a poet of great merit, Saavedra had considerable skill as a painter, and during his exile in France, earned a living for himself and family by conducting a school for painting and by selling his pictures. But it is as a poet that he is best known. He published his first volume of "Poesias" in 1813 and in 1814, two tragedies, "Aliatur" and "El Duque de Aquitania". Only the first was presented. The works which place him in the front rank of Spanish poets are "El moro expósito", a narrative poem breathing a spirit of patriotism (1834), and the tragedy "Don Alvaro" (1835), presented with great success in Madrid and considered his best work. A complete edition of his works was published (5 vols., Madrid, 1854), under the title "Obras Completas", and in 1885 a complete edition with illustrations appeared at Barcelona in two volumes. DE BENA in La Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, II (Madrid, 1848); CANETE, Autores dramáticos contemporáneos, I (Madrid, 1881). VENTURA FUENTES.

Saba and Sabeans.-This Saba (Sheba) must not be confounded with Saba (Seba) in Ethiopia of Is., xliii, 3; xlv, 14. It lies in the Southern Arabian

Jôf about 200 miles north-west of Aden. The Sabeans are mentioned in the Bible as a distant

people (Joel, iii, 8), famous traders (Ez., xxvii, 22–3; xxxviii, 13; Job, vi, 19), who exported gold (Is., lx, 6; Ps., lxxii, 15 (R. V.); Ez., xxxviii, 13), precious stones (Ez., xxvii, 22), perfumes (Jer., vi, 20), incense (Is., lx, 6), and perhaps slaves (Joel, ibid.), and practised brigandage. The genealogies of Genesis connect them now with Dadan, as sons of Regma (x, 7; cf. I Par., i, 9) and of Jecsan (xxv, 3; cf. I Par., i, 32), now with Asarmoth (Hadhramôt), as sons of Jecsan (x, 26-8, cf., I Par., i, 20-22). These details point to two Sabas, one in the south contiguous to Hadhramôt, another in the north near Taima (Job, i, 15; vi, 19) and El 'Ela (cf. "Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions" etc., June, 1910); but which was the original home of the Sabeans, cannot yet be decided. Hommel indeed places it in the north, near Idumean Dedan, and identifies it with AribiYareb (whose queens figure in Assyrian inscriptions), with the Saba, whose queen visited Solomon (III Kings, x), which is probably mentioned as tributary to Theglathphalasar III (745-27 B. c.), and whose ruler, Ithamara, paid tribute to Sargon in 715 B. c. Thence (according to Glaser) the Sabeans moved south in the eighth or ninth century and established their kingdom on the ruins of the Minæan power. This theory is plausible and solves the difficulty of III Kings, x; but the identification of Saba with Aribi-Yareb is arbitrary, and all present evidence disproves the existence of kings in Saba till much later. Sargon, who lavishes the title of King on his tributaries, refuses it to Ithamara, the Yethamara of Sabean inscriptions, and these inscriptions point to a long period of rule by Mukarribs (priestkings), ten of whose names have been preserved.

Their capital was Çirwah. Authorities agree in dating their rule from the beginning of the tenth century B. C., and in making the advent of the kings contemporaneous with the destruction of the Minæan kingdom. Here agreement ceases. Glaser, e. g. dates the Sabean kings from 820, Müller from 750,

them by calling personally on Emperor Anastasius at Constantinople in 511 and on Justinian in 531. His authorship of "Typicon S. Saba" (Venice, 1545), a regulation for Divine worship throughout the year, as well as his authorship of a monastic rule bearing the same title (Kurtz in "Byzant. Zeitschrift”, III, Leipzig, 1894, 167-70), is doubtful. After him was named the Basilica of St. Sabas with its former monastery on the Aventine at Rome. His feast is on 5 December. Other saints of this name are: St. Sabbas, a Goth, martyred 12 April, 372, by being drowned in the Musæus, a tributary of the Danube; St. Sabbas, also a Goth, martyred with about seventy others at Rome, under Aurelian; St. Julianus Sabbas, a hermit near Edessa, d. about 380; St. Sabbas the Younger, a Basilian abbot, d. 6 Feb., 990 or 991, at the monastery of St. Cæsarius in Rome; St. Sabbas, Archbishop of Servia, d. at Trnawa, 14 January, 1237.

A Life in Greek by CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS was edited by COTELIER in Eccl. Grace Monum., III (Paris, 1686), 220-376, and by PONJALOVSKIJ together with an Old-Slavonian version (St. Petersburg, 1890); another old Life in Greek was edited by KOIKLYDES (Jerusalem, 1905). MICHAEL OTT.

Sabbatarians, Sabbatarianism (Heb. rest). -The name, as appears from its origin, denotes those individuals or parties who are distinguished by some peculiar opinion or practice in regard to the observance of the Sabbath or day of rest. In the first place it is applied to those rigorists who apparently confound the Christian Sunday with the Jewish Sabbath and, not content with the prohibition of servile work, will not allow many ordinary and innocent occupations on the Sunday. This form of Sabbatarianism has chiefly prevailed among Scottish and English Protestants and was at one time very common. Of late years it has sensibly declined; and there is now a tendency towards the opposite extreme of laxity in observing the law of Sunday rest. These Sabbatarians never formed a distinct sect; but were merely a party of rigorists scattered among many and various Protestant denominations. At the same time it is not only in their name that they have something in common with the distinctive sects of Sabbatarians properly so-called, for their initial error in neglecting the distinction between the Christian weekly festival and the Jewish Sabbath is likewise the starting-point of the Sabbatarian sects; and these carry their mistaken principle to its logical conclusion. This logical development of judaizing Sabbatarianism is curiously illustrated in the history of a sect of Sabbatarian Socinians founded in Transylvania in Hungary towards the end of the sixteenth century. Their first principle, which led them to separate from the rest of the Unitarian body, was their belief that the day of rest must be observed with the Jews on the seventh day of the week and not on the Christian Sunday. And as we learn from Schrödl the greater part of this particular Sabbatarian sect joined the orthodox Jews in 1874, thus carrying out in practice the judaizing principle of their founders. Although there does not seem to be any immediate or obvious connexion between the observance of the seventh day and the rejection of infant baptism, these two errors in doctrine and discipline are often found together. Thus Sabbatarianism made many recruits among the Mennonite Anabaptists in Holland and among the English Baptists who, much as they differ on other points of doctrine, agree in the rejection of pædobaptism. And it is presumably a result of this contact with Anabaptism that Sabbatarianism is also found in association with fanatical views on political or social questions. The most conspicuous of English Sabbatarian Baptists was Francis Bampfield (d. 1683), brother of a Devonshire baronet and originally a clergyman of the English Church. He was the author of several works and ministered to a congregation of

Sabbatarian Baptists in London. He suffered imprisonment for his heterodoxy and eventually died in Newgate. In America the Baptists who profess Sabbatarianism are known as Seventh-Day Baptists.

But if the greater number of Sabbatarians have come from the Baptists, the most amazing of them was at one time associated with the Wesleyan Methodists. This was the prophetess Joanna Southcott (1750-1814), like Bampfield a native of Devonshire, who composed many spiritual poems and prophetical writings, and became the mother of a sect of Sabbatarians, also known as Southcottians or Joannas. Modern Englishmen who are apt to smile at medieval credulity can scarcely find in Catholic countries in the "darkest" days of ignorance any instance of a more amazing credulity than that of Joanna Southcott's disciples, who confidently awaited the birth of the promised Messiah whom the prophetess of sixtyfour was to bring into the world. They gave practical proof of their faith by preparing a costly cradle. Nor did they abandon all hope when the poor deluded woman died of the disease which had given a false appearance of pregnancy. The sect survived for many years; and when in 1874 her tombstone was shattered by an accidental explosion, the supposed portent re-enkindled the faith of her followers.

The American sect of Seventh-Day Adventists may be added to the list of Sabbatarian communities, among which their large numbers should give them a conspicuous place. To these may be added the Jewish sect of Sabbatarians, though these derive their name not from the Sabbath, but from their founder, Sabbatian Zebi or Zevi (1626-76). His teaching was not concerned with any special observance of the Sabbath, but as a form of false Messianism it may be compared with the mission of Joanna Southcott. The two stories show some strange points of resemblance especially in the invincible credulity of the disciples of the pretended Jewish Messiah and of the deluded Devonshire prophetess. (See bibliography of ADVENTISTS.)

W. H. KENT.

Sabbath (5, shábbath, cessation, rest; Gr. oáßßaTO; Lat. sabbatum), the seventh day of the week among the Hebrews, the day being counted from sunset to sunset, that is, from Friday evening to Saturday evening.-Prescriptions concerning the Sabbath.-The Sabbath was a day of rest_"sanctified to the Lord" (Ex., xvi, 23; xxxi, 15; Deut., v, 14). All work was forbidden, the prohibition including strangers as well as Israelites, beasts as well as men (Ex., xx, 8-10; xxxi, 13-17; Deut., v, 12-14). The following particular actions are mentioned as forbidden: cooking (Ex., xvi, 23); gathering manna (xvi, 26 sqq.); plowing and reaping (xxxiv, 21); lighting a fire (for cooking, xxxv, 3); gathering wood (Num., xv, 32 sqq.); carrying burdens (Jer., xvii, 21-22); pressing grapes, bringing in sheaves, and loading animals (II Esd., xiii, 15); trading (ibid., 15 sqq.). Travelling, at least with a religious object, was not forbidden, the prohibition of Ex., xvi, 29, referring only to leaving the camp to gather food; it is implied in the institution of holy assemblies (Lev., xxiii, 2-3, Heb. text), and was customary in the time of the kings (IV Kings, iv, 23). At a later period, however, all movement was restricted to a distance of 2000 cubits (between five and six furlongs), or a "sabbath day's journey" (Acts, i, 12). Total abstention from work was prescribed only for the Sabbath and the Day of Atonement; on the other feast-days servile work alone was prohibited (Ex., xii, 16; Lev., xxiii, 7 sqq.). Wilful violation of the Sabbath was punished with death (Ex., xxxi, 14-15; Num., xv, 32–36). The prohibition of work made it necessary to prepare food, and whatever might be needed, the day before the Sabbath, hence known as the day of preparation, or Parasceve (Tapaσkevń;

Matt., xxvii, 62; Mark, xv, 42; etc.). Besides abstention from work, special religious observances were prescribed. (a) The daily sacrifices were doubled, that is two lambs of a year old without blemish were offered up in the morning, and two in the evening, with twice the usual quantity of flour tempered with oil and of the wine of libation (Num., xxviii, 3-10). (b) New loaves of proposition were placed before the Lord (Lev., xxiv, 5; I Par., ix, 32). (c) A sacred assembly was to be held in the sanctuary for solemn worship (Lev., xxiii, 2-3, Heb. text; Ezech., xlvi, 3). We have no details as to what was done by those living at a distance from the sanctuary. Synagogal worship belongs to the post-Exilic period; still it is probably a development of an old custom. In earlier days the people were wont to go to hear the instructions of the Prophets (IV Kings, iv, 23), and it is not unlikely that meetings for edification and prayer were common from the oldest times.

Meaning of the Sabbath.-The Sabbath was the consecration of one day of the weekly period to God as the Author of the universe and of time. The day thus being the Lord's, it required that man should abstain from working for his own ends and interests, since by working he would appropriate the day to himself, and that he should devote his activity to God by special acts of positive worship. After the Sinaitic covenant God stood to Israel in the relation of Lord of that covenant. The Sabbath thereby also became a sign, and its observance an acknowledgment of the pact: "See that thou keep my sabbath: because it is a sign between me and you in your generations: that you may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify you" (Ex., xxxi, 13). But while the Sabbath was primarily a religious day, it had a social and philanthropic side. It was also intended as a day of rest and relaxation, particularly for the slaves (Deut., v, 14). Because of the double character, religious and philanthropic, of the day, two different reasons are given for its observance. The first is taken from God's rest on the seventh day of creation: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it" (Ex., xx, 11; xxxi, 17). This does not mean that the Sabbath was instituted at the Creation, as some commentators have thought, but that the Israelites were to imitate God's example and rest on the day which He had sanctified by His rest. The Sabbath as the sign of the Sinaitic covenant recalled the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. Hence, in the second place, the Israelites are bidden to remember that they were once slaves in Egypt, and should therefore in grateful remembrance of their deliverance rest themselves and allow their bondservants to rest (Deut., v, 14, 15). As a reminder of God's benefits to Israel the Sabbath was to be a day of joy (Is., lviii, 13), and such it was in practice (cf. Osee, ii, 11; Lam., ii, 6). No fasting was done on the Sabbath (Judith, viii, 6), on the contrary the choicest meals were served to which friends were invited (cf. Luke, xiv, 1).

Origin of the Sabbath.-The Sabbath is first met with in connexion with the fall of the manna (Ex., xvi, 22 sqq.), but it there appears as an institution already known to the Israelites. The Sinaitic legislation therefore only gave the force of law to an existing custom. The origin of this custom is involved in obscurity. It was not borrowed from the Egyptians, as the week of seven days closing with a day of rest was unknown to them. In recent years a Babylonian origin has been advocated. A lexicographical tablet gives shabattu as the equivalent of ûm núḥ libbi, "day of the appeasement of the heart" (of the gods). Furthermore, a religious calendar of the intercalary month Elul and of the month Marchesvan mentions the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and 19th days, the latter probably because it

was the 49th (7 x 7) day from the beginning of the preceding month, as days on which the king, the magician, and the physician were to abstain from certain acts. The king, for instance, was not to eat food prepared with fire, put on bright garments, ride in a chariot, or exercise acts of authority. These days were, then, days of propitiation, and therefore shabattu days. We have thus periods of seven days the last day of which is marked by abstention from certain actions, and called shabattu, in other words the equivalent of the Sabbath. A Babylonian origin is not in itself improbable, since Chaldea was the original home of the Hebrews, but there is no proof that such is actually the case. The reading shabattu is uncertain, shapattu being at least equally probable. Besides, there is no evidence that these days were called shabattu; the signs so read are found affixed only to the 15th day of the month, where, however, sha patti, "division" of the month, is the more probable reading. These days, moreover, differed entirely from the Sabbath. They were not days of general rest, business being transacted as on other days. The abstention from certain acts had for object to appease the anger of the gods; the days were, therefore, days of penance, not of joy like the Sabbath. Lastly, these days followed the phases of the moon, whereas the Sabbath was independent of them. Since the Sabbath always appears as a weekly feast without connexion with the moon, it cannot be derived, as is done by some writers, from the Babylonian feast of the full moon, or fifteenth day of the month, which, moreover, has only a doubtful claim to the designation shabattu.

Observance of the Sabbath.-Violations of the Sabbath seem to have been rather common before and during the exile (Jer., xvii, 19 sqq., Ezech., xx, 13, 16, 21, 24; xxii, 8; xxiii, 38); hence the Prophets laid great stress on its proper observance (Amos, viii, 5; Is., i, 13;. lviii, 13-14; Jer., loc. cit.; Ezech., xx, 12 sqq.). After the Restoration the day was openly profaned, and Nehemias found some difficulty in stopping the abuse (II Esd., xiii, 15-22). Soon, however, a movement set in towards a meticulous observance which went far beyond what the law contemplated. At the time of the Machabees the faithful Jews allowed themselves to be massacred rather than fight on the Sabbath (I Mach., ii, 35-38); Mathathias and his followers realizing the folly of such a policy decided to defend themselves if attacked on the Sabbath, though they would not assume the offensive (I Mach., ii, 40-41; II Mach., viii, 26). Under the influence of pharisaic rigorism a system of minute and burdensome regulations was elaborated, while the higher purpose of the Sabbath was lost sight of. The Mishna treatise Shabbath enumerates thirty-nine main heads of forbidden actions, each with subdivisions. Among the main heads are such trifling actions as weaving two threads, sewing two stitches, writing two letters, etc. To pluck two ears of wheat was considered as reaping, while to rub them was a species of threshing (cf. Matt., xii, 1-2; Mark, ii, 23-24; Luke, vi, 1-2). To carry an object of the weight of a fig was carrying a burden; hence to carry a bed (John, v, 10) was a gross breach of the Sabbath. It was unlawful to cure on the Sabbath, or to apply a remedy unless life was endangered (cf. Matt., xii, 10 sqq.; Mark, iii, 2 sqq.; Luke, vi, 7 sqq.). This explains why the sick were brought to Christ after sundown (Mark, i, 32). It was even forbidden to use a medicament the preceding day if it produced its effect on the Sabbath. In the time of Christ it was allowed to lift an animal out of a pit (Matt., xii, 11; Luke, xiv, 5), but this was later modified so that it was not permitted to lay hold of it and lift it out, though it might be helped to come out of itself by means of mattresses and cushions. These examples, and they are not the worst, show the narrowness of the system. Some of the rules

were, however, found too burdensome, and a treatise of the Mishna (Erubin) tempers their rigour by subtle devices.

The Sabbath in the New Testament.-Christ, while observing the Sabbath, set himself in word and act against this absurd rigorism which made man a slave of the day. He reproved the scribes and Pharisees for putting an intolerable burden on men's shoulders (Matt., xxiii, 4), and proclaimed the principle that "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" (Mark, ii, 27). He cured on the Sabbath, and defended His disciples for plucking ears of corn on that day. In His arguments with the Pharisees on this account He showed that the Sabbath is not broken in cases of necessity or by acts of charity (Matt., xii, 3 sqq.; Mark, ii, 25 sqq.; Luke, vi, 3 sqq.; xiv, 5). St. Paul enumerates the Sabbath among the Jewish observances which are not obligatory on Christians (Col., ii, 16; Gal., iv, 9-10; Rom., xiv, 5). The gentile converts held their religious meetings on Sunday (Acts, xx, 7; I Cor., xvi, 2), and with the disappearance of the Jewish Christian churches this day was exclusively observed as the Lord's Day. (See SUNDAY.)

EDERSHEIM, Life and Times of Jesus II (New York, 1897), 52-62, 777 sqq.; SCHÜRER, Hist. of the Jewish People (New York, 1891), see index; PINCHES, Sapattu, the Babylonian Sabbath in Proceed. of Soc. of Bibl. Archæol. (1904), 51-56; LAGRANGE, Relig. sémit. (Paris, 1905), 291-5; DHORME in Rev. bibl. (1908), 462-6; HEHN, Siebenzahl und Sabbath bei den Babyloniern un im A. T. (Leipzig, 1907); IDEM, Der Israelitische Sabbath (Münster, 1909); KEIL, Babel und Bibelfrage (Trier, 1903), 38-44; LOTZ, Quæstiones de histor. sabbati (1883); LESÊTRE in VIGOUROUX, Dict. de la bible, s. v. Sabbat.

F. BECHTEL.

Sabbath Observance. See SUNDAY.

Sabbatical Year (j) (shenáth shábbāthôn), "year of rest"; Sept. navтds ȧvaπavσews; Vulg. annus requietionis), the seventh year, devoted to cessation of agriculture, and holding in the period of seven years a place analogous to that of the Sabbath in the week; also called "year of remission". Three prescriptions were to be observed during the year (Ex., xxiii, 10-11; Lev., xxv, 1-7; Deut., xv, 1-11; xxxi, 10-13). (1) The land was to lie fallow and all agricultural labor was to be suspended. There was to be neither plowing nor sowing, nor were the vines and olives to be attended to. The spontaneous yield was not to be garnered, but was to be left in the fields for common use, and what was not used was to be abandoned to the cattle and wild animals (Ex., xxiii, 10-11; Lev., xxv, 1-7). Of the fruit trees the olive is alone mentioned, because its oil was one of the three great agricultural products; but the law probably applied also to other trees. The law prescribed rest for the land, not for man. Hence work other than agricultural was not forbidden, nor even work in the fields which had no direct connexion with raising crops, such as building walls of enclosure, digging wells, etc.

(2) No crops being reaped during the sabbatical year, the payment of debts would have been a great hardship, if not an impossibility, for many. Hence the creditor was commanded "to withhold his hand" and not to exact a debt from an Israelite, though he might demand it of strangers, who were not bound to abstain from agricultural pursuits (Deut., xv, 1-3, Heb. text). The Talmudists and many after them understand the law to mean the remission of the debt; but modern commentators generally hold that it merely suspended the obligation to pay and debarred the creditor from exacting the debt during the year. The Douay translation "He to whom anything is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again" is incorrect. (3) During the sabbatical year the Law was to be read on the Feast of Tabernacles to all Israel, men, women, and children, as well as to the strangers within XIII.-19

the gates, that they might know, and fear the Lord, and fulfill all the words of the Law (Deut., xxxi, 1013). The law concerning the release of Hebrew slaves in the seventh year (Ex., xxi, 2 sqq.; Deut., xv, 12 sqq.) is wrongly connected by some writers with the sabbatical year. That there was no special connexion between the two is sufficiently shown by the requirement of six years of servitude, the beginning of which was not affixed to any particular year, and by the law prescribing the liberation of Hebrew slaves in the year of jubilee, which immediately followed the seventh sabbatical year (Lev., xxv, 39 sqq.).

Since the sabbatical year was preceded by six sowings and six harvests (Ex., xxiii, 10), it began with autumn, the time of sowing, and probably coincided with the civil year, which began with the month of Tishri (Sept.-Oct.); some commentators, however, think that like the year of jubilee it began on the tenth of the month. The year was not well observed before the Captivity (cf. II Par., xxxvi, 21 and Lev., xxvi, 34, 35, 43). After the return, the people covenanted to let the land lie fallow and to exact no debt in the seventh year (II Esd., x, 31), and thereafter it was regularly kept. The occurrence of a sabbatical year is mentioned in I Mach., vi, 49, 53, and its observance is several times referred to by Josephus (Bell. Jud., I, ii, 4; Ant., XI, viii, 5, 6; XIII, viii, 1; XIV, xvi, 2). The absence of any allusion to the celebration of the sabbatical year in pre-exilic times has led modern critics to assert that it was instituted at the time of the Restoration, or that at least the custom of allowing all fields to lie fallow simultaneously was then introduced. But it is hardly credible that the struggling community would have adopted a custom calculated to have a seriously disturbing effect on economic conditions, and without example among other nations, unless it had the sanction of venerable antiquity. The main object for which the sabbatical year was instituted was, to bring home to the people that the land was the Lord's, and that they were merely His tenants at will (Lev., xxv, 23). In that year He exercised His right of sovereign dominion. Secondarily it was to excite their faith and reliance on God (ibid., 20-22), and to stimulate their faithfulness to His Law (Deut., xxxi, 10-13).

HUMMELAUER, Comm. in Ex. et Lev.; Comm. in Deut.; and other commentaries on the texts cited; SCHÜRER, Hist. of Jewish People (New York, 1891), I, i, 41-43; KEIL, Man. of Bibl. Archæol. (Edinburgh, 1887-88), II, 10-13; ZUCKERMANN, Ueber Sabbathjahrcyklus u. Jobel periode (Breslau, 1857); CASPARI, Die geschichtlichen Sabbatjahre in Studien u. Kritiken (1876), 181-190; LESÊTRE in VIGOUROUX, Dict. d. l. Bib., V, 1302 sqq.; Jewish Encyc., X, 605 sqq.

F. BECHTEL.

Sabbatine Privilege.—The name Sabbatine Privilege is derived from the apocryphal Bull "Sacratissimo uti culmine" of John XXII, 3 March, 1322. In this Bull the pope is made to declare that the Mother of God appeared to him, and most urgently recommended to him the Carmelite Order and its confratres and consorores. The Blessed Virgin asked that John, as Christ's representative on earth, should ratify the indulgences which He had already granted in heaven (a plenary indulgence for the members of the Carmelite Order and a partial indulgence, remitting the third part of the temporal punishment due to their sins, for the members of the confraternity); she herself would graciously descend on the Saturday (Sabbath) after their death and liberate and conduct to heaven all who were in purgatory. Then follow the conditions which the confratres and consorores must fulfill. At the end of the Bull the pope declares: "Istam ergo sanctam Indulgentiam accepto, roboro et in terris confirmo, sicut, propter merita Virginis Matris, gratiose Jesus Christus concessit in cœlis" (This holy indulgence I therefore accept; I confirm and ratify