Upper Silesia, died in 1257 at Cracow. A third native saint of Silesia was a relative of Hyacinth, Bronislawa, who became a Premonstratensian in 1217 and passed forty years in the practice of severe penances. Besides the monastery of Leubus the Cistercians had monasteries also at Kamenz (1248), Heinrichau (1228), Rauden (1252), Himmelwitz (1280), and Grüssau (1292). The wealthiest convent was the Abbey of Trebnitz for Cistercian nuns founded by St. Hedwig who was buried there. Celebrated monasteries of the Augustinians were the one on the Sande at Breslau, which was founded at Gorkau about 1146 and was transferred to Breslau about 1148, and that at Sagan, established in 1217 at Naumburg on the Bober and transferred to Sagan in 1284. There were also a large number of houses belonging to the Premonstratensians, Franciscans, and orders of knights, as the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of the Cross, Knights Templar. Up to the middle of the fourteenth century forty-five monasteries for men and fourteen for women had been established. The ruling family, the Piasts, repeatedly divided their inheritance so that in the fourteenth century Silesia contained no less than eighteen principalities. This made it all the easier for the Bishop of Breslau as Prince of Neisse and Duke of Grottkau to become the most important of the ruling princes. Silesia came under the suzerainty of the kings of Bohemia in 1327-29. As Bohemia was controlled by Germany the change was more favourable for colonization than if it had fallen to Poland. Silesia suffered terribly during the Hussite Wars (1420-37). The Hussites repeatedly undertook marauding expeditions, and hardly any city except Breslau escaped the havoc they wrought. About forty cities were laid in ashes. The clergy were burnt or put to death in other ways; the nobility grew poor; the peasants became serfs; the fields lay uncultivated; the "golden" Diocese of Breslau became a diocese of "filth". In 1469 Silesia came under the suzerainty of Hungary. However, as in 1526 Hungary, with Silesia, and Bohemia became at the same time possessions of the Habsburgs, from this time the province was once more regarded as a dependency of Bohemia. The Reformation made rapid progress in Silesia. For the causes of this see BRESLAU, THE PRINCEBISHOPRIC OF. In the same article also the course of the Reformation and that of the counter-Reformation are fully treated. A large share of the credit for the restoration and firm establishment of Catholicism is due to the Jesuits, who during the years 1622-98 established in Silesia nine large colleges, each with a gymnasium, four residences, and two missions, and brought under their control all the higher schools of the country. This control endured, as Frederick the Great continued his protection of the Jesuits, even after the suppression of the order, up to 1800. In the seventeenth century Silesia obtained great renown through the two Silesian schools of poetry, the chief of these poets being Martin Opitz, Friedrich von Logau, and Andreas Gryphius. In 1702 the Jesuit college at Breslau was changed into the Leopoldine University (see BRESLAU, UNIVERSITY OF). At the close of the three Silesian wars (1740-2, 1744-5, 1756-63) the greater part of Silesia belonged to Prussia. By this change Catholicism lost the privileged position which it had regained in the counter-Reformation, even though Frederick the Great did not impair the possessions of the Church, as happened later (1810-40). In 1815 the Congress of Vienna enlarged Silesia by the addition of about half of Lausitz (Lusatia). During the decade of the forties the sect of "German Catholics" developed from Silesia as the starting-point; this sect was founded at Laurahütte in Upper Silesia by the exchaplain, John Ronge. Finally a brief mention should here be made of the enormous economic de

velopment of the province in the last fifty years, especially in the mining of coal, the mining and working of metals, and the manufacture of chemicals and machines. In Upper Silesia especially manufactures have advanced with American rapidity. Ecclesiastically the entire province belongs to the Prince Bishopric of Breslau with the following exceptions: the commissariat of Katscher, which consists of the Archipresbyterates of Katscher, Hultschin, and Leobschütz with 44 parishes and 130,944 Catholics, and belongs to the Archdiocese of Olmütz; the county of Glatz, which has 51 parishes and 146,673 Catholics, and belongs to the Archdiocese of Prague.

II. AUSTRIAN SILESIA.-Austrian Silesia is that part of Silesia which remained an Austrian possession after 1763. It is a crownland with an area of 1987 square miles and a population of 727,000 persons. Of its population 84-73 per cent are Catholics; 14 per cent are Protestants; 44.69 per cent are Germans; 33-31 per cent Poles; 22-05 per cent Czechs. As in Prussian Silesia, agriculture, mining, and manufactures are in a very flourishing condition. The districts of Teschen and Neisse belong to the Prince Bishopric of Breslau, those of Troppau and Jägerndorf to the Archdiocese of Olmütz.

Scriptores rerum Silesiacarum, I-XVI (Breslau, 1835-97); GRÜNHAGEN, Gesch. Schlesiens, I-II (Gotha, 1884-86); MORCoder diplomaticus Silesiæ, I-XXV (Breslau, 1857-1909); GENBESSER, Geschichte von Schlesien (4th ed., Breslau, 1908); CHRZASZCZ, Kirchengesch. Schlesiens (Breslau, 1908); PETER, Das Herzogtum Schlesien (Vienna, 1884); SLÁMA, OesterreichischSchlesien (Prague, 1887). KLEMENS LÖFFLER.

Silesius, ANGELUS. See ANGELUS SILESIUS.

Siletz Indians, the collective designation for the rapidly dwindling remnant of some thirty small tribes, representing five linguistic stocks-Salishan, Yakonan, Kusan, Takelman, and Athapascan-formerly holding the whole coast country of Oregon from within a few miles of the Columbia southward to the California border, extending inland to the main divide of the coast range, together with all the waters of Rogue River. Several of the tribes originally within the range of this territory are now entirely extinct. The others, all on the verge of extinction, are now gathered upon the Siletz Reservation, Lincoln County, Northwest Oregon, with the exception of perhaps seventy on the adjoining Grande Ronde reservation to the east. The principal tribes from north to south were the Tillamook (Sal.), Alsea, Siuslaw (Yak.), Coos, Coquille (Kus.), Takelma or Upper Rogue River (Tak.), Six, Joshua, Tututini, Mackanotni, Shastacosta, Chetco (Ath.). The Athapascan and Takelman tribes were commonly designated collectively as Rogue River Indians.

Before the beginning of the era of disturbance the Indians of the territory in question may have numbered 15,000 souls. In 1782-83 a great smallpox epidemic, which swept the whole Columbian region, reduced the population by more than one-third. The advent of trading vessels in the Columbia, dating from 1788, introduced disease and dissipation which poisoned the blood of all the tribes, leading to their rapid and hopeless decline. A visitation of fever and measles about 1823-25 wiped out whole tribes, and by 1850 probably not 6000 survived. In that year gold was discovered in the Rogue River country, resulting in an invasion of miners and the consequent "Rogue River Wars", lasting almost continuously for six years, 1850-56. In these wars the southern tribes of the Oregon coast probably lost over 1000 killed outright and more than that number through wounds, exposure, and starvation due to the destruction of their villages and food stores. On their final subjugation they were removed by military force to the "Coast Reservation", which had been established under various treaties within the same period, and to which sev

eral tribes had already peaceably removed. The Coast Reservation originally extended some ninety miles along the coast, but by the throwing open of the central portion in 1865 was divided into two, the present Siletz agency in the north, and the Alsea subagency in the south. In 1876 the latter was abandoned, the Indians being concentrated upon Siletz Reservation, to which about the same time were gathered also several vagrant remnant bands farther up the coast.

On 1 Sept., 1857, the Coast Tribe Indians were officially reported to number: Siletz Reservation, 2049; Alsea, 690; refugee hostiles in mountains, about 250; remnant bands north of Siletz, 251; total, about 3240. Degraded, impoverished, and diseased, their condition could not easily be lower, and their superintendent states his conviction that any expectation of their ultimate civilization or Christianization was hopeless. "They have acquired all the vices of the white man, without any of his virtues; and while the last fifteen years have witnessed the most frightful diminution in their numbers, their deterioration, morally, physically, and intellectually has been equally rapid. Starvation, disease, and bad whiskey combined is rapidly decimating their numbers, and will soon relieve the government of their charge.'

Up to 1875 governmental provisions for moral or educational betterment was either lacking or entirely inadequate, and the only light in the darkness was afforded by the visits at long intervals of the devoted pioneer missionary, Father A. J. Croquette, of the neighbouring Grande Ronde Reservation, who continued his ministry to both reservations for a period of nearly forty years. Protestant work was begun under Methodist auspices about 1872, but no building was erected until about twenty years later. Each is now represented by a regular mission, the Catholic denomination being in charge of the Jesuits. The majority of the Indians are accounted as Christians, having abandoned the old Indian dress and custom, besides almost universally using the English language. There is also a flourishing government school. Notwithstanding that the Indians are reported as "above the average" in civilization and comfortable condition, there is a steady and rapid decrease, due to the old blood taint which manifests itself chiefly in tuberculosis, and points to their speedy extinction. The approximate 3240 assigned to the reservation in 1857 had dwindled to approximately 1015 in 1880; 480 in 1900; and 430 in 1910, including mixed bloods. The work of assigning them to individual land allotments, begun in 1887, was finally concluded in 1902.

The various tribes differed but little in habit of life. Their houses were of cedar boards, rectangular and semi-subterranean for greater warmth. Rush mats upon the earth floor served for beds. Fish formed their chief subsistence, supplemented by acorns, camas root, berries, wild game, and grasshoppers; tobacco was the only plant cultivated. They had dug-out canoes, and were expert basketmakers. Their chief weapon was the bow, and protective body armour of raw hide was sometimes worn. The ordinary dress of the man was of deer skin, and the woman, a short skirt of cedar bark fibre. Hats were worn by both sexes. Head flattening was not practised, but tattooing was frequent. The dentalium shell was their most prized ornament and standard of value. Polygamy was common. The dead were generally buried in the ground, and the property distributed among the relatives. The government was simple and democratic, but captives and their children were held as slaves. There were no clans, and descent was paternal. Each linguistic group had its own myths and culture hero, or transformer, who prepared the world for human habitation. Among the Alsea these sacred myths could be told during only one month of the year. Among

the principal ceremonies were the acorn festival and the girls' puberty dance.

BANCROFT, Hist. Oregon (2 vols., San Francisco, 1856-58); BOAS, Traditions of the Tillamook Indians in Jour. Am. Polklore, XI (Boston, 1898); Bur. Cath. Ind. Missions, annual reports of director (Washington); COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, annual reports (Washington); DORSEY, Indians of Siletz Reservation in American Anthropologist, II (Washington, 1888); IDEM, Gentile System of the Siletz Tribes in Jour. Am. Folklore, III (Boston, 1890); FARRAND, Notes on the Alsea Indians in Am. Anthropologist, new series, III (New York, 1901); HALE, Ethnology and Philology, forming vol. VI of Wilkes Rept. U. S. Exploring Expedition (Philadelphia, 1846); Lewis and Clark Expedition, original journals, ed. THWAITES (8 vols., New York, 1904-05); SAPIR, Notes on the Takelma Indians in Am. Anth., IX (Lancaster, 1907); IDEM, Religious Ideas of the Takelma Indians in Jour. Am. Folklore (Boston, 1907); IDEM, Takelma Texts, Univ. of Penn. Mus. Anthrop. Pubs. (Philadelphia, 19091; IDEM, The Takelma Language in Boss, Handbook Am. Ind. Langs., Bull. 40, part 2 (Bur. Am. Ethnology, Washington, 1912). JAMES MOONEY.

Siloe (SILOAH, SILOAM; from, i. e. to conduct or send, connected with a canal; hence the interpretation, Thy koλuμßýlpav Toû Ziwán [ő épμnveveraι ATEOтaλuévos], John, ix, 7; also in Sept., Josephus, and Tacitus Ziwáu, being changed to for euphony sake or under the influence of), a pool in the Tyropoan Valley, just outside the south wall of Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ gave sight to the man born blind (John, ix, 1-7). Thanks to the excavations of Mr. Bliss and others, the identification of the present pool with the Siloe of Isaias (viii, 6) and John (ix, 7) is beyond all doubt. Near the traditional pool (birket Silwan), Mr. Bliss found in 1896 the ruins of an ancient basin, 75 ft. north and south by 78 ft. east and west and 18 ft. deep, on the north side of which was a church with a nave. The pool connects with "the upper source of the waters of Gihon" (II Par., xxxii, 30) by a subterranean conduit (IV Kings, xviii, 17), called "the king's aqueduct" ( 2, II Esd., ii, 14), 600 yards long, the fall of which is so slight that the water runs very gently; hence Isaias (viii, 6) compares the House of David to "the waters of Siloe, that go with silence". In 1880 the excavations of the German Palestinian Society uncovered in the Siloe pool near the outflow of the canal an inscription, which is, excepting the Mesa stone, the oldest specimen of Hebrew writing, probably of the seventh century B.C. The tower "in Siloé" (Luke, xiii, 4) was probably a part of the near-by city wall, as Mr. Bliss's excavations show that the pool had given its name to the whole vicinity; hence "the gate of the fountain" (II Esd., ii, 14).

BLISS, Excavations of Jerusalem, 1894-7 (London, 1898), 132-210; Zeitschr., des deutschen Palästina-vereins (Leipzig), XXII, 61 sqq.; IV, 102 sqg., 250 sqq.; V, 725; Pal. Explor. Fund, Quarterly Statement (London, 1882), 122 sq., 16 sq., 178 sq.; (ibid., 1883), 210 sqq.; Revue biblique (Paris, 1897), 299306; HEIDET in VIGOUROUX, Dict. de la Bible, s. v. Siloć; MomMERT, Siloah, etc. (Leipzig, 1908): WARREN AND CONDER, Survey of Western Palestine, II (London, 1884), 343-71.

NICHOLAS REAGAN.

Silveira, GONÇALO DA, VENERABLE, pioneer missionary of South Africa, b. 23 Feb., 1526, at Almeirim, about forty miles from Lisbon; martyred 16 March, 1561. He was the tenth child of Dom Luis da Silveira, first count of Sortelha, and Dona Beatrice Coutinho, daughter of Dom Fernando Coutinho, Marshal of the Kingdom of Portugal. Losing his parents in infancy, he was brought up by his sister Philippa de Vilhena and her husband the Marquis of Tavora. He was educated by the Franciscans of the monastery of Santa Margarida until 1542 when he went to finish his studies in the University of Coimbra, but he had been there little more than a year when he was received into the Society of Jesus by Fr. Miron, rector of the Jesuit college at Coimbra. At the dawn of the Christian Renaissance, when St. Ignatius, St. Philip, and St. Teresa were founding their institutes, even then Gonçalo was recognized as a youth of more than ordinary promise. Fr. Gonçalo was appointed pro

vincial of India in 1555. The appointment was approved by St. Ignatius a few months before his death. Fr. Gonçalo's term of government in India lasted three years. He proved a worthy successor of St. Francis Xavier, who had left India in 1549, and his apostolic labours and those of the hundred Jesuits under him, were crowned with much success, yet he was not considered the perfect model of a superior. He used to say that God had given him the great grace of unsuitability for government-apparently a certain want of tact in dealing with human weakness. The new provincial Fr. Antonio de Quadros sent him to the unexplored mission field of south-east Africa. Landing at Sofala on 11 March, 1560, Fr. Gonçalo proceeded to Otongwe near Cape Corrientes. There, during his stay of seven weeks, he instructed and baptized the Makaranga chief, Gamba and about 450 natives of his kraal. Towards the end of the year he started up the Zambesi on his expedition to the capital of the Monomotapa (q. v.) which appears to have been the N'Pande kraal, close by the M'Zingesi river, a southern tributary of the Zambesi. He arrived there on 26 December, 1560, and remained until his death. During this interval he baptized the chief and a large number of his subjects. Meanwhile some Arabs from Mozambique, instigated by one of their priests, began to spread calumnies against the missionaries, and Fr. Silveira was strangled in his hut by order of the chief. The expedition sent to avenge his death never reached its destination, while his apostolate came to an abrupt end from a want of missionaries to carry on his work.

CHADWICK, Life of the Ven. Gonçalo Da Silveira (Roehampton, 1910); THEAL, Records of S. E. Africa, printed for the Government of Cape Colony, VII (1901); WILMOT, Monomotapa (London, 1896).

JAMES KENDAL.

Silverius, SAINT, POFE (536-37), dates of birth and death unknown. He was the son of Pope Hormisdas who had been married before becoming one of the higher clergy. Silverius entered the service of the Church and was subdeacon at Rome when Pope Agapetus died at Constantinople, 22 April, 536. The Empress Theodora, who favoured the Monophysites sought to bring about the election as pope of the Roman deacon Vigilius who was then at Constantinople and had given her the desired guarantees as to the Monophysites. However, Theodatus, King of the Ostrogoths, who wished to prevent the election of a pope connected with Constantinople, forestalled her, and by his influence the subdeacon Silverius was chosen. The election of a subdeacon as Bishop of Rome was unusual. Consequently, it is easy to understand that, as the author of the first part of the life of Silverius in the "Liber pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 210) relates, a strong opposition to it appeared among the clergy. This, however, was suppressed by Theodatus so that, finally, after Silverius had been consecrated bishop (probably on 8 June, 536) all the Roman presbyters gave their consent in writing to his elevation. The assertion made by the author just mentioned that Silverius secured the intervention of Theodatus by payment of money is unwarranted, and is to be explained by the writer's hostile opinion of the pope and the Goths. The author of the second part of the life in the "Liber pontificalis" is favourably inclined to Silverius. The pontificate of this pope belongs to an unsettled, disorderly period and he himself fell a victim to the intrigues of the Byzantine Court.

After Silverius had become pope the Empress Theodora sought to win him for the Monophysites. She desired especially to have him enter into communion with the Monophysite Patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimus, who had been excommunicated and deposed by Agapetus, and with Severus of Antioch. However, the pope committed himself to

nothing and Theodora now resolved to overthrow him and to gain the papal see for Vigilius. Troublous times befell Rome during the struggle that broke out in Italy between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines after the death of Amalasuntha, daughter of Theodoric the Great. The Ostrogothic king, Vitiges, who ascended the throne in August, 536, besieged the city. The churches over the catacombs outside of the city were devastated, the graves of the martyrs in the catacombs themselves were broken open and desecrated. In December, 536, the Byzantine general Belisarius garrisoned Rome and was received by the pope in a friendly and courteous manner. Theodora sought to use Belisarius for the carrying out of her plan to depose Silverius and to put in his place the Roman deacon Vigilius (q. v.), formerly apocrisary at Constantinople, who had now gone to Italy. Antonina, wife of Belisarius, influenced her husband to act as Theodora desired. By means of a forged letter the pope was accused of a treasonable agreement with the Gothic king who was besieging Rome. It was asserted that Silverius had offered the king to leave one of the city gates secretly open so as to permit the Goths to enter. Silverius was consequently arrested in March, 537, roughly stripped of his episcopal dress, given the clothing of a monk and carried off to exile in the East. Vigilius was consecrated Bishop of Rome in his stead.

see.

Silverius was taken to Lycia where he was sent to reside at Patara. The Bishop of Patara very soon discovered that the exiled pope was innocent. He journeyed to Constantinople and was able to lay before the Emperor Justinian such proofs of the innocence of the exile that the emperor wrote to Belisarius commanding a new investigation of the matter. Should it turn out that the letter concerning the alleged plot in favour of the Goths was forged, Silverius should be placed once more in possession of the papal At the same time the emperor allowed Silverius to return to Italy, and the latter soon entered the country, apparently at Naples. However, Vigilius arranged to take charge of his unlawfully deposed predecessor. He evidently acted in agreement with the Empress Theodora and was aided by Antonina, the wife of Belisarius. Silverius was taken to the Island of Palmaria in the Tyrrhenian Sea and kept there in close confinement. Here he died in consequence of the privations and harsh treatment he endured. The year of his death is unknown, but he probably did not live long after reaching Palmaria. He was buried on the island, according to the testimony of the "Liber pontificalis" on 20 June; his remains were never taken from Palmaria. According to the same witness he was invoked after death by the believers who visited his grave. In later times he was venerated as a saint. The earliest proof of this is given by a list of saints of the eleventh century (Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, 1893, 169). The "Martyrologium" of Peter de Natalibus of the fourteenth century also contains his feast, which is recorded in the present Roman Martyrology on 20 June.

Liber pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, I, 290-95; LIBERATUS, Breviarium cause Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum, XXII, in P. L., LXVIII, 1039 sq.; PROCOPIUS, De bello gothico, I, xxv; Acta SS., June, IV, 13-18; JAFFÉ, Regesta pont. rom., I, 2nd ed., 115 sq.; LANGEN, Gesch, der römischen Kirche, II, 341 sqq.; GRISAR, Gesch. Roms u. der Päpste, I, 502-04, and passim; HEFELE, Konziliengesch., II, 2nd ed., 571.

Silvester. See SYLVESTER.

J. P. KIRSCH.

Silvester, FRANCIS (FERRARIENSIS), theologian, b. at Ferrara about 1474; d. at Rennes, 19 Sept., 1526. At the age of fourteen he joined the Dominican Order. In 1516 he was made a master in theology. He was prior first in his native city and then at Bologna, and in the provincial chap ter held at Milan in 1519 he was chosen Vicar

General of the Lombard congregation of his order. Having discharged this office for the alloted term of two years, he became regent of the college at Bologna, where he remained for a considerable time. Later he was appointed by Clement VII vicar-general of his entire order, and on 3 June, 1525, in the general chapter held at Rome, he was elected master general. As general of his order he visited nearly all the convents of Italy, France, and Belgium, restoring everywhere primitive fervour and discipline. He was planning to begin a visitation of the Spanish convents, when a fatal illness carried him away. Albert Leander, his travelling companion, tells us that he was a man of remarkable mental endowments, that nature seemed to have enriched him with all her gifts. Silvester wrote many splendid works, principal among which is his monumental "Commentary on the Summa contra Gentiles of St. Thomas Aquinas" (Paris, 1552). Worthy of special mention are also his explanations of various books of Aristotle. In his "Apologia de convenientia institutorum Romanæ Ecclesiæ cum evangelica libertate" (Rome, 1525), written in a style clear, forceful and elegant, he ably defended the primacy and the organization of the church against Luther. Some have erroneously attributed this work to Silvester Prierias.

QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. Ord. Præd., II, 59 sq.; HURTER, Nomenclator.

CHARLES J. CALLAN.

Sil

Silvia, SAINT, mother of Pope St. Gregory the Great, b. about 515 (525?); d. about 592. There is unfortunately no life of Silvia and a few scanty notices are all that is extant concerning her. Her native place is sometimes given as Sicily, sometimes as Rome. Apparently she was of as distinguished family as her husband, the Roman regionarius, Gordianus. She had, besides Gregory, a second son. via was noted for her great piety, and she gave her sons an excellent education. After the death of her husband she devoted herself entirely to religion in the 'new cell by the gate of blessed Paul" (cella nova juxta portam beati Pauli). Gregory the Great had a mosaic portrait of his parents executed at the monastery of St. Andrew; it is minutely decribed by Johannes Diaconus (P. L., LXXV, 229–30). Silvia was portrayed sitting with the face, in which the wrinkles of age could not extinguish the beauty, in full view; the eyes were large and blue, and the expression was gracious and animated. The veneration of Silvia is of early date. In the ninth century an oratory was erected over her former dwelling, near the Basilica of San Saba. Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605) inserted her name under 3 November in the Roman Martyrology. She is entreated by pregnant women for a safe delivery.

Acta SS., Nov., I, 658-62; WUESCHER-BECCHI, Sulla ricostruzione di tre dipinti descritti da Giovanni Diacono ed esistenti al suo tempo (sec. IX) nel convento di S. Andrea ad clivum Scauri in Nuovo Bulletino di archeologia cristiana, VI (Rome, 1900), 233–51. KLEMENS LÖFFLER.

Silvius, FRANCISCUS. See SYLVIUS. Simeon (), the second son of Jacob by Lia and patronymic ancestor of the Jewish tribe bearing that name. The original signification of the name is unknown, but the writer of Gen., xxix, 33-35, according to his wont, offers an explanation, deriving the word from shama, "to hear". He quotes Lia as saying: "Because the Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me; and she called his name Simeon" (Gen., xxix, 33). Similar etymologies referring to Levi and Juda are found in the two following verses. In Gen., xxxiv, Simeon appears with his full brother Levi as the avenger of their sister Dina who had been humiliated by Hemor a prince of the Sichemites. By a strange subterfuge all the men of the latter tribe are rendered helpless and are slaughtered by the two irate brothers who then, together with the

other sons of the patriarch, plunder the city. This act of violence was blamed by Jacob (Gen., xxxiv, 30), though for a rather selfish reason; his disapproval on more ethical grounds appears in the prophetical blessing of his twelve sons in Gen., xlix, 5-7. Regarding Simeon and Levi Jacob says: "Cursed be their fury, because it was stubborn; and their wrath because it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel."

There is a striking contrast between this earlier appreciation of the treacherous and bloody deed and that of the writers of post-Exilic Judaism, who have only words of praise for the action of the two brothers, and even consider them as incited to it by Divine inspiration (see Judith, ix, 2, 3). The same change of ethical sense may be gathered more fully from the uncanonical Book of the Jubilees (xxx) and from a poem in commemoration of the massacre of the Sichemites by Theodotus, a Jewish or Samaritan writer, who lived about 200 B. C. Simeon figures in only one other incident recorded in Genesis. It is in connexion with the visit of the sons of Jacob to Egypt to buy corn. Here he is detained by Joseph as a hostage while the others return to Chanaan promising to bring back their younger brother Benjamin (Gen., xlii, 25). According to some commentators he was selected for this purpose because he had been a principal factor in the betrayal of Joseph into the hands of the Madianite merchants. The narrative, however, makes no mention of this, and it is but a conjectural inference from what is otherwise known of Simeon's violent and treacherous character. (See SIMEON, TRIBE OF.)

VON HUMMELAUER, Comment. in Genesim (Commentary on chapters xxix, xxxlv, xlii and xlix); VIGOUROUX, Dict. de la Bible, JAMES F. DRISCOLL.

S. V.

Simeon, HOLY, the "just and devout" man of Jerusalem who according to the narrative of St. Luke, greeted the infant Saviour on the occasion of His presentation in the Temple (Luke ii, 25–35). He was one of the pious Jews who were waiting for the "consolation of Israel" and, though advanced in years, he had received a premonition from the Holy Ghost, Who was in him, that he would not die before he had seen the expected Messias. This promise was fulfilled when through guidance of the Spirit he came to the Temple on the day of the Presentation, and taking the Child Jesus in his arms, he uttered the Canticle Nunc dimittis" (q. v.) (Luke, ii, 29-32), and after blessing the Holy Family he prophesied concerning the Child, Who "is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel", and regarding the mother whose "soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed". in the case of other personages mentioned in the New Testament, the name of Simeon has been connected with untrustworthy legends, viz., that he was a rabbi, the son of Hillel and the father of Gamaliel mentioned in Acts, v, 34. These distinguished relationships are hardly compatible with the simple reference of St. Luke to Simeon as "a man in Jerusalem". With like reserve may we look upon the legend of the two sons of Simeon, Charinus, and Leucius, as set forth in the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus.

VIGOUROUX, Dictionnaire de la Bible, s. v.

JAMES F. DRISCOLL.

As

Simeon of Durham (SYMEON), chronicler, d. 14 Oct., between 1130 and 1138. As a youth he had entered the Benedictine monastery at Jarrow which was removed to Durham in 1074, and he was professed in 1085 or 1086, subsequently attaining the office of precentor. His chief work is the "Historia ecclesiæ Dunelmensis", written between 1104 and 1108, giving the history of the bishopric down to 1096. He also wrote "Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum" (from 732 to 1129). The first part down