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of Manicheism,* "this being," says the modest continuator of Echard, "the most impious, the most detestable, the most dangerous, the most abominable of all heresies, for ecclesiastical censures were weapons of no avail against men who acknowledged not the church."

It is said that the Bulgarians, seeing that all the Manicheans suffered death, immediately conceived an inclination for their religion, and thought it the best, since it was the most persecuted one: but this, for Bulgarians, would be extraordinarily acute.

At that time, the great schism broke out more violently than ever between the Greek church, under the patriarch Photius, and the Latin church, under pope Nicholas I. The Bulgarians took part with the Greek church; and from that time, probably, it was that they were treated in the west as heretics, with the addition of that fine epithet, which has clung to them to the present day.

In 871, the emperor Basil sent them a preacher, named Peter of Sicily, to save them from the heresy of Manicheism; and it is added, that they no sooner heard him than they turned Manicheans. It is not very surprising that the Bulgarians, who drank out of the skulls of their enemies, were not extraordinary theologians any more than Peter of Sicily.

It is singular that these barbarians, who could neither write nor read, should have been regarded as very knowing heretics, with whom it was dangerous to dispute. They certainly had other things to think of than controversy, since they carried on a sanguinary war against the emperors of Constantinople for four successive centuries, and even besieged the capital of the empire.

At the commencement of the thirteenth century, the emperor Alexis, wishing to make himself recognised by the Bulgarians, their king Joannic replied, that he would never be his vassal. Pope Innocent III. was careful to seize this opportunity of attaching the kingdom of Bulgaria to himself: he sent a legate to Joannic,

* Histoire Romaine-a pretended translation from Lawrence Echard, tom. ii. p. 240.

to anoint him king; and pretended that he had conferred the kingdom upon him, and that he could never more hold it but from the holy see.

This was the most violent period of the crusades. The indignant Bulgarians entered into alliance with the Turks, declared war against the pope and his crusaders, took the pretended emperor Baldwin prisoner, had his head cut off, and made a bowl of his skull, after the manner of Krom. This was quite enough tỏ make the Bulgarians abhorred by all Europe. It was no longer necessary to call them Manicheans, a name which was at that time given to every class of heretics: for Manichean, Patarin, and Vaudois, were the same thing. These terms were lavished upon whosoever would not submit to the Roman church.

BULL.

A QUADRUPED, armed with horns, having cloven feet, strong legs, a slow pace, a thick body, a hard skin, a tail not quite so long as that of the horse, with some long hairs at the end. Its blood has been looked upon as a poison, but it is no more so than that of other animals; and the ancients, who wrote that Themistocles and others poisoned themselves with bull's blood, were false both to nature and to history. Lucian, who reproaches Jupiter with having placed the bull's horns above his eyes, reproaches him unjustly; for the eye of a bull being large, round, and open, he sees very well where he strikes; and if his eyes had been placed higher than his horns, he could not have seen the grass which he crops.

Phalaris's bull, or the Brazen Bull, was a bull of cast metal, found in Sicily, and supposed to have been used by Phalaris to enclose and burn such as he chose to punish; a very unlikely species of cruelty.

The bulls of Medea guarded the Golden Fleece. The bull of Marathon was tamed by Hercules. Then there were the bull which carried off Europa, the bull of Mithras, and the bull of Osiris.

There are the Bull, a sign of the zodiac; and the Bull's Eye, a star of the first magnitude.

And lastly, there are bull-fights, common in Spain.

BULL (PAPAL).

THIS word designates the bull, or seal of gold, silver, wax, or lead, attached to any instrument or charter. The lead hanging to the rescripts despatched in the Roman court, bears on one side the head of St. Peter on the right, and that of St. Paul on the left; and, on the reverse, the name of the reigning pope, with the year of his pontificate. The bull is written on parchment. In the greeting, the pope takes no title but that of "Servant of the Servants of God," according to the holy words of Jesus to his disciples--" Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.'

Some heretics assert that, by this formula, humble in appearance, the popes mean to express a sort of feudal system, of which God is chief; whose high vassals, Peter and Paul, are represented by their servant the pontiff; while the lesser vassals are all secular princes, whether emperors, kings, or dukes.

They doubtless found this assertion on the famous bull In cœna Domini, which is publicly read at Rome by a cardinal-deacon every year, on Holy Thursday, in the presence of the pope, attended by the rest of the cardinals and bishops. After the ceremony, his holiness casts a lighted torch into the public square, in token of anathema.

This bull is to be found in tom. i. page 714 of the Bullaire, published at Lyons in 1673, and at page 118 of the edition of 1727. The oldest is dated 1536. Paul III. without noticing the origin of the ceremony, here says, that it is an ancient custom of the sovereign pontiffs to publish this excommunication on Holy Thursday, in order to preserve the purity of the Christian religion, and maintain union among the faithful. It contains twenty-four paragraphs, in which the pope excommunicates

* Matthew, chap. xx. v. 27.

1. Heretics, all who favour them, and all who read their books.

2. Pirates, especially such as dare to cruise on the seas belonging to the sovereign pontiff.

3. Those who impose fresh tolls on their lands.

10. Those who, in any way whatsoever, prevent the execution of the apostolical letters, whether they grant pardons or inflict penalties.

11. All lay judges who judge ecclesiastics and bring them before their tribunal, whether that tribunal is called an audience, a chancery, a council, or a parliament.

12. All who have made or published, or shall make or publish, edicts, regulations, or pragmatics, by which the liberties of the church, the rights of the pope, and those of the holy see, shall be injured or curtailed in the least particular, expressly or tacitly.

14. All chancellors, counsellors ordinary or extraordinary, of any king or prince whatsoever, all presidents of chanceries, councils, or parliaments, as also all attorney-generals, who call ecclesiastical causes before them, or prevent the execution of the apostolical letters, even though it be on pretext of preventing some violence.

In the same paragraph, the pope reserves to himself alone the power of absolving the said chancellors, counsellors, attorney-generals, and the rest of the excommunicated; who cannot receive absolution until they have publicly revoked their acts, and have erased them from the records.

20. Lastly, the pope excommunicates all such as shall presume to give absolution to the excommunicated as aforesaid; and, in order that no one may plead ignorance, he orders

21. That this bull be published, and posted on the gate of the basilic of the Prince of the Apostles, and on that of St. John of Lateran.

22. That all patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, by virtue of their holy obedience, shall have this bull solemnly published at least once a year.

24. He declares that whosoever dares to go against the provisions of this bull, must know that he is incur

ring the displeasure of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul.*

The other subsequent bulls, called also In cœna Domini, are only duplicates of the first. For instance, the article 21 of that of Pius V. dated 1567, adds to the paragraph 3 of the one we have quoted, that all princes who lay new impositions on their states, of what nature soever, or increase the old ones, without obtaining permission from the Holy See, are excommunicated ipso facto.

The third bull In cena Domini, of 1610, contains thirty paragraphs, in which Paul V. renews the provi. sions of the two preceding.

The fourth and last bull In cœna Domini which we find in the Bullaire, is dated April 1st, 1627. In it Urban VIII. announces that, after the example of his predecessors, in order inviolably to maintain the integrity of the faith, and public justice and tranquillity, he wields the spiritual sword of ecclesiastical discipline to excommunicate, on the day which is the anniversary of the Supper of our Lord

1. Heretics.

2. Such as appeal from the pope to a future council; and the rest as in the three former.

It is said that the one which is read now, is of a more recent date, and contains some additions.

The History of Naples, by Giannone, shows us what disorders the ecclesiastics stirred up in that kingdom, and what vexations they exercised against the king's subjects, even refusing them absolution and the sacraments, in order to effect the reception of this bull, which has at last been solemnly proscribed there, as well as in Austrian Lombardy, in the states of the empress-queen, in those of the duke of Parma, and elsewhere.t

It is scarcely necessary to remark upon the service done by Voltaire in the exposure of these priestly vagaries, not to scholars who were aware of them, but to the entire population of a country like France.-T.

+ Pope Ganganelli, being informed of the determinations of all catholic princes, and seeing that every people who had been

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