Labadists

 Laban

 Labarum

 Jean-Baptiste Labat

 Philippe Labbe

 Labour and Labour Legislation

 Moral Aspects of Labour Unions

 Jean de La Bruyère

 Labyrinth

 Stanislas Du Lac

 Lace

 Diocese of Lacedonia

 François d'Aix de la Chaise

 Jean-Baptiste-Henri Dominique Lacordaire

 Diocese of La Crosse

 Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

 James Laderchi

 St. Ladislaus

 René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec

 Laetare Sunday

 Pomponius Laetus

 Marie Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette

 Joseph-François Lafitau

 Louis-François Richer Laflèche

 Jean de La Fontaine

 Nicolas-Joseph Laforêt

 Charles de La Fosse

 Modesto Lafuente y Zamalloa

 Lagania

 Pierre Lagrené

 Jean-François La Harpe

 Jean de La Haye (Jesuit Biblical scholar)

 Jean de La Haye

 Philippe de la Hire

 Diocese of Lahore

 Diocese of Laibach

 Laicization

 James Lainez

 Laity

 Lake Indians

 Charles Lalemant

 Gabriel Lalemant

 Jerome Lalemant

 Jacques-Philippe Lallemant

 Louis Lallemant

 Teresa Lalor

 César-Guillaume La Luzerne

 Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck

 Alphonse de Lamartine

 Paschal Lamb

 Lamb in Early Christian Symbolism

 Peter Lambeck

 St. Lambert

 Lambert Le Bègue

 Lambert of Hersfeld

 Lambert of St-Bertin

 Jacques and Jean de Lamberville

 Louis Lambillotte

 Denis Lambin

 Luigi Lambruschini

 Ven. Joseph Lambton

 Diocese of Lamego

 Félicité Robert de Lamennais

 Jean-Marie-Robert de Lamennais

 Family of Lamoignon

 Johann von Lamont

 Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault de la Moricière

 Wilhelm Lamormaini

 Lampa

 Lamp and Lampadarii

 Lamprecht

 Early Christian Lamps

 Lampsacus

 Lamuel

 Lamus

 Bernard Lamy

 François Lamy

 Thomas Joseph Lamy

 Francesco Lana

 The Holy Lance

 Giovanni Paolo Lancelotti

 Archdiocese of Lanciano and Ortona

 Land-Tenure in the Christian Era

 Pope Lando

 Jean-François-Anne Landriot

 Lanfranc

 Giovanni Lanfranco

 Matthew Lang

 Rudolph von Langen

 Benoit-Marie Langénieux

 Simon Langham

 Langheim

 Ven. Richard Langhorne

 Richard Langley

 Diocese of Langres

 Stephen Langton

 Lanspergius

 Lantern

 Luigi Lanzi

 Laodicea

 Vicariate Apostolic of Laos

 Diocese of La Paz

 Pierre-Simon Laplace

 Lapland and Lapps

 Diocese of La Plata

 Archdiocese of La Plata

 Albert Auguste de Lapparent

 Volume 10

 Victor de Laprade

 Lapsi

 Ven. Luis de Lapuente

 Laranda

 Lares

 Armand de La Richardie

 Diocese of Larino

 Larissa

 Joseph de La Roche Daillon

 The Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

 Henri-Auguste-Georges du Vergier, Comte de la Rochejacquelein

 Diocese of La Rochelle

 Dominique-Jean Larrey

 Charles de Larue

 Charles de La Rue

 La Salette

 Missionaries of La Salette

 René-Robert-Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

 Ernst von Lasaulx

 Constantine Lascaris

 Janus Lascaris

 John Laski

 Baron Joseph Maria Christoph von Lassberg

 Orlandus de Lassus

 Marie Lataste

 Flaminius Annibali de Latera

 Christian Museum of Lateran

 Saint John Lateran

 Lateran Councils

 Ecclesiastical Latin

 Latin Church

 Christian Latin Literature

 Classical Latin Literature in the Church

 Brunetto Latini

 La Trappe

 Pierre-André Latreille

 Latria

 Lauda Sion

 Lauds

 Laura

 Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie

 Diocese of Lausanne and Geneva

 Jean de Lauzon

 Pierre de Lauzon

 Lavabo

 Diocese of Laval

 François de Montmorency Laval

 Jean Parisot de La Valette

 Laval University of Quebec

 Lavant

 Charles-Honoré Laverdière

 Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de Lavérendrye

 Jean-Nicolas Laverlochère

 Charles-Martial-Allemand Lavigerie

 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

 Law

 Canon Law

 Influence of the Church on Civil Law

 Common Law

 Moral Aspect of Divine Law

 International Law

 Natural Law

 Roman Law

 St. Lawrence (2)

 St. Lawrence (1)

 St. Lawrence Justinian

 St. Lawrence O'Toole

 Lay Abbot

 Lay Brothers

 Lay Communion

 Lay Confession

 Paul Laymann

 Lay Tithes

 Lazarus

 Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem

 St. Lazarus of Bethany

 Diocese of Lead

 The League

 German (Catholic) League

 League of the Cross

 St. Leander of Seville

 Diocese of Leavenworth

 Lebanon

 Lebedus

 Edmond-Frederic Le Blant

 Charles Lebrun

 St. Lebwin

 Emile-Paul-Constant-Ange Le Camus

 Etienne Le Camus

 Joseph Le Caron

 Diocese of Lecce

 François Leclerc du Tremblay

 Chrestien Leclercq

 Lecoy de La Marche

 Claude Le Coz

 Lectern

 Lectionary

 Lector

 Miecislas Halka Ledochowski

 Diocese of Leeds

 Camille Lefebvre

 Family of Lefèvre

 Jacques Le Fèvre

 Guy Lefèvre de la Boderie

 Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples

 Legacies

 Legate

 Literary or Profane Legends

 Legends of the Saints

 Diocese of Leghorn

 Legio

 Oliver Legipont

 Legists

 Legitimation

 Charles Le Gobien

 Louis Legrand

 Ven. Louise de Marillac Le Gras

 Arthur-Marie Le Hir

 Abbey of Lehnin

 The System of Leibniz

 Ven. Richard Leigh

 Leipzig

 University of Leipzig

 Diocese of Leitmeritz

 Jean Lejeune

 Jacques Lelong

 Louis-Joseph Le Loutre

 Diocese of Le Mans

 Lemberg

 Henry Lemcke

 François Le Mercier

 Jacques Lemercier

 Thomas de Lemos

 Le Moyne

 Simon Le Moyne

 Pierre-Charles L'Enfant

 Adam Franz Lennig

 Charles Lenormant

 François Lenormant

 Denis-Nicolas Le Nourry

 Lent

 Publius Lentulus

 Pope St. Leo I (the Great)

 Pope St. Leo II

 Pope St. Leo III

 Pope St. Leo IV

 Pope Leo V

 Pope Leo VI

 Pope Leo VII

 Pope Leo VIII

 Pope St. Leo IX

 Pope Leo X

 Pope Leo XI

 Pope Leo XII

 Pope Leo XIII

 Brother Leo

 St. Leocadia

 St. Leodegar

 Leo Diaconus

 Diocese and Civil Province of Leon

 Diocese of León

 Luis de León

 Leonard of Chios

 St. Leonard of Limousin

 St. Leonard of Port Maurice

 St. Leonidas

 St. Leontius

 Leontius Byzantinus

 Leontopolis

 Lepanto

 Leprosy

 Leptis Magna

 Diocese of Le Puy

 Michel Le Quien

 Diocese of Lérida

 Abbey of Lérins

 Leros

 Alain-René Le Sage

 Lesbi

 Marc Lescarbot

 Pierre Lescot

 Diocese of Lesina

 John Leslie

 Leonard Lessius

 Lessons in the Liturgy

 Louis-Henri de Lestrange

 François Eustache Lesueur

 Lete

 Charles-Maurice Le Tellier

 Michel Le Tellier (1)

 Nicolas Letourneux

 Ecclesiastical Letters

 Leubus

 Leuce

 Michael Levadoux

 Louis Levau

 Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier

 Levites

 Leviticus

 Lex

 Juan Bautista de Lezana

 Michel de L'Hospital

 Libel

 Libellatici, Libelli

 Liberalism

 Libera Me

 Libera Nos

 Matteo Liberatore

 Liberatus of Carthage

 Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum

 Liberia

 Pope Liberius

 Ven. Francis Mary Paul Libermann

 Liber Pontificalis

 Liber Septimus

 Liber Sextus Decretalium

 Libraries

 Ancient Diocese of Lichfield

 St. Lidwina

 Ernst Maria Lieber

 Moriz Lieber

 Bruno Franz Leopold Liebermann

 Diocese of Liège

 Liesborn

 The Master of Liesborn

 Liessies

 Life

 Methodius I

 Ligamen

 Lights

 Ligugé

 Lilienfeld

 Aloisius Lilius

 Lille

 Lillooet Indians

 Archdiocese of Lima

 Limbo

 Pol de Limbourg

 Diocese of Limburg

 Diocese of Limerick

 Diocese of Limoges

 Limyra

 Thomas Linacre

 Archdiocese of Linares

 Diocese of Lincoln

 Diocese of Lincoln (Ancient)

 William Damasus Lindanus

 Justin Timotheus Balthasar, Freiherr von Linde

 Wilhelm Lindemann

 Ancient Diocese and Monastery of Lindisfarne

 Abbey of Lindores

 Anne Line

 John Lingard

 Linoe

 Pope St. Linus

 Diocese of Linz

 Lippe

 Filippino Lippi

 Filippo Lippi

 Luigi Lippomano

 Lipsanotheca

 Justus Lipsius

 Patriarchate of Lisbon

 Diocese of Lismore

 School of Lismore

 Thomas Lister

 Franz Liszt

 Litany

 Litany of Loreto

 Litany of the Holy Name

 Litany of the Saints

 Lithuania

 Litta

 Little Office of Our Lady

 Diocese of Little Rock

 Paul-Maximilien-Emile Littré

 Liturgical Books

 Liturgical Chant

 Liturgy

 Liutprand of Cremona

 Diocese of Liverpool

 Livias

 Llancarvan

 Diocese of Llandaff

 Llanthony Priory

 Ven. John Lloyd

 Garcia de Loaisa

 Vicariate Apostolic of Loango

 Loaves of Proposition

 Benedictine Abbey of Lobbes

 Ann Lobera

 Loccum

 Lochleven

 Stephan Lochner

 Loci Theologici

 Matthew Locke

 William Lockhart

 Ven. John Lockwood

 Diocese of Lodi

 Logia Jesu

 Logic

 The Logos

 Johann Lohel

 Tobias Lohner

 Diocese of Loja

 Lollards

 St. Loman

 Peter Lombard (1)

 Lombardy

 Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne

 London

 Diocese of London (Ontario)

 James Longstreet

 Félix Lope de Vega Carpio

 Francisco Lopez-Caro

 The Lord's Prayer

 Lorea

 Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana

 Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti

 St. Lorenzo da Brindisi

 Lorette

 Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross

 Claude de Lorrain

 Lorraine

 Lorsch Abbey

 Loryma

 Karl August Lossen

 Lot

 Lottery

 Antonio Lotti

 Lorenzo Lotto

 Loucheux

 St. Louis IX

 Louis XI

 Louis XIV

 Bl. Louis Allemand

 St. Louis Bertrand

 Sister Louise

 Louisiana

 St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

 Ven. Louis of Casoria

 Louis of Granada

 St. Louis of Toulouse

 Diocese of Louisville

 Brothers of Our Lady of Lourdes

 Notre-Dame de Lourdes

 University of Louvain

 Love (Theological Virtue)

 Low Church

 Low Sunday

 Lübeck

 Diocese of Lublin

 Giovanni Battista de Luca

 Frederick Lucas

 Archdiocese of Lucca

 Diocese of Lucera

 Lucerne

 Lucian of Antioch

 John Lucic

 Lucifer

 Lucifer of Cagliari

 Crypt of Lucina

 Pope St. Lucius I

 Pope Lucius II

 Pope Lucius III

 Diocese of Luçon

 St. Lucy

 St. Ludger

 St. Ludmilla

 Ludolph of Saxony

 Ludovicus a S. Carolo

 Karl Lueger

 Diocese of Lugo

 Francisco de Lugo

 John de Lugo

 Diocese of Lugos

 Bernardino Luini

 Gospel of Saint Luke

 Lulé Indians

 Jean-Baptiste Lully

 Lumen Christi

 Luminare

 Lummi Indians

 Gottfried Lumper

 Pedro de Luna

 Lund

 Lunette

 Diocese of Luni-Sarzana-Brugnato

 Lupus

 Christian Lupus

 Ottmar Luscinius

 Jean-Baptiste-Alphonse Lusignan

 Melchior Lussy

 Lust

 Martin Luther

 Lutheranism

 Aloys Lütolf

 Diocese of Lutzk, Zhitomir, and Kamenetz

 Luxemburg

 Abbey of Luxeuil

 Lycopolis

 Lydda

 John Lydgate

 Lying

 John Lynch

 William Lyndwood

 Archdiocese of Lyons

 Councils of Lyons

 First Council of Lyons (1245)

 Second Council of Lyons (1274)

 Lyrba

 Lysias

 Lystra

Diocese of Liège


(The Diocese of Liège; canonical name LEODIENSIS).

Liège (VICUS LEUDICUS; LEODIUM; LEGIA) is now [1910] the capital of a Belgian province of the same name.

The first capital of this diocese was Tongres, northeast of Liège; its territory originally belonged to the Diocese of Trier, then to Cologne; but after the first half of the fourth century Tongres received autonomous organization. The boundaries were those of the Civitas Tungrorum, and they remained unchanged until 1559. These boundaries were, on the north, the Diocese of Utrecht; east, that of Cologne; south, the Dioceses of Trier and Reims; west, that of Cambrai. Thus Tongres extended from France, in the neighbourhood of Chimay, to Stavelot, Aachen, Gladbach, and Venlo, and from the banks of the Semois as far as Eeckeren, near Antwerp, to the middle of the Isle of Tholen and beyond Moerdyck, so that it included both Latin and Germanic populations. In 1559, its 1636 parishes were grouped in eight archdeaconries, and twenty-eight councils, chrétientés, or deaneries.

Some trace the bishops of Tongres to the first century, but the first Bishop was St. Servais, installed in 344 or 345 assisted at the Council of Rimini (359-60), and died in 384 (?). The invasion of 406 shattered the diocese, and its restoration required a long time. The conversion of the Franks began under Falco (first half of the sixth century) and continued under Sts. Domitian, Monulphus, and Gondulphus (sixth and seventh centuries). St. Monulphus built over the tomb of St. Servais a sumptuous church, near which his successors often resided. During the whole of the seventh century the bishops had to struggle against paganism. St. Amandus (647-50) abandoned the episcopal chair in discouragement, and built monasteries. St. Remaculus (650-60) did the same. St. Theodard (660-69), died a martyr.

St. Lambert (669-705?) completed the conversion of the pagans; probably about 705 he was murdered at Vicus Leudicus, for his defence of church property against the avarice of the neighbouring lords, and he was popularly regarded as a martyr. His successor, St. Hubert, built, to enshrine his relics, a basilica which became the true nucleus of the city, and near which the residence of the bishops was fixed.

Those bishops, nevertheless, continued to use the style of Bishop of the Church of Tongres, or Bishop of Tongres and of Liège. Agilbert (768-84), and Gerbald (785-810) were both placed in the see by Charlemagne. Hartgar built the first episcopal palace. Bishop Franco, who defeated the Normans, is celebrated by the Irish poet Sedulius. Stephen (908-20), Richaire (920-45), Hugh (945-47), Farabert (947-58) and Rathier were promoted from the cloister. To Stephen, a writer and composer, the Church is indebted for the feast and the Office of the Blessed Trinity. Rathier absorbed all the learning of his time. Heraclius, who occupied the see in 959, built four new parish churches, a monastery, and two collegiate churches, he inaugurated in his diocese an era of great artistic activity.

The domain of the Church of Liège had been developed by the donations of sovereign princes and the acquisitions of its bishops. Notger (972-l008), by securing for his see the feudal authority of a countship became himself a sovereign prince. This status his successors retained until the French Revolution: and throughout that period of nearly eight centuries the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, with a temporal jurisdiction of less extent than its spiritual, succeeded in maintaining its autonomy, though theoretically attached to the Empire. This virtual independence it owed largely to the ability of its bishops, under whom the Principality of Liège, placed between France and Germany, on several occasions played an important part in international politics. Notger, the founder of this principality, was also the second founder of his episcopal city. He rebuilt the cathedral of St. Lambert and the episcopal palace, finished the collegiate church of St. Paul, begun by Heraclius, facilitated the erection of Sainte-Croix and Saint-Denis, two other collegiate churches, and erected that of St. John the Evangelist. This bishop also strengthened the parochial organization of the city. He was one of the first to spread the observance of All Souls' Day, which he authorized for his diocese. But the most notable characteristic of Notger's administration was the development which, following up the work of Heraclius, he gave to education: thanks to these two bishops and to Wazo, "Liège for more than a century occupied among the nations a position in regard to science which it has never recovered". "The schools of Liège were, in fact, at that time one of the brightest literary foci of the period". Balderic of Looz (1008-18), Walbodon (1018-21), Durandus (1021-25), Reginard (1025-38), Nitard (1038-42), the learned Wazo, and Theoduin (1048-75) valiantly sustained the heritage of Notger. The schools went on forming many brilliant scholars, and gave to the Catholic Church Popes Stephen IX and Nicholas II.

In the reign of Henry of Verdun (1075-91) a tribunal was instituted (tribunal de la paix) to take cognizance of infractions of the Peace of God. Otbert (1091-1119) increased the territory of the principality. He remained faithful to Henry IV, who died as his guest. The violent death of Henry of Namur (1119-21) won for him veneration as a martyr. Alexander of Juliers (1128-34) received at Liège the pope, the emperor, and St. Bernard. The episcopate of Raoul of Zachringen was marked by the preaching of the reformer, Lambert le Bègue, who is credited with founding the béguines. The time at length came when the schools of Liège were to yield to the University of Paris, and the diocese supplied that university with some of its first doctors - William of Saint-Thierry, Gerard of Liège, Godfrey of Fontaines.

Albert of Louvain was elected Bishop of Liège in 1191, but Emperor Henry VI, on the pretext that the election was doubtful, gave the see to Lothair of Hochstadt. Albert's election was confirmed by the pope, and he was consecrated, but was assassinated at Reims, in 1192, by three German knights. It is probable that the emperor was privy to this murder, the victim of which was canonized. In 1195 Albert de Cuyck (1195-1200) formally recognized the franchises of the people of Liège. In the twelfth century the cathedral chapter assumed a position of importance in relation to the bishop, and began to play an important part in history of the principality.

The struggles between the upper and lower classes, in which the prince-bishops frequently intervened, developed through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to culminate, in the fifteenth, with the pillage and destruction of the episcopal city. In the reign of Robert of Thourotte, or of Langres (1240-46), St. Juliana - a religious of Cornillon, Liège - was led by certain visions to the project of having a special feast established in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. After much hesitation, the bishop approved of her idea and caused a special office to be composed, but death prevented his instituting the feast. The completion of the work was reserved for a former prior of the Dominicans of Liège, Hugh of Saint-Cher, who returned to the city as papal legate. Hugh, in 1252, made the feast one of obligation throughout his legatine jurisdiction. John of Troyes, who, after having been archdeacon at Liège, was elected pope as Urban IV, caused an office to be composed by St. Thomas, and extended the observance of the feast of Corpus Christi to the whole Church. Another archdeacon of Liège, becoming pope under the name of Gregory X, deposed the unworthy Henry of Gueldres (1247-74). The Peace of Fexhe, signed in 1316, in the reign of Adolph of La Marck (1313-44), regulated the relations of the prince bishop and his subjects; nevertheless the intestinal discord continued, and the episcopate of Arnould of Hornes (1378-89) was marked by the triumph of the popular party. Louis of Bourbon (1456-82) was placed on the throne by the political machinations of the dukes of Burgundy, who coveted the principality. The destruction of Dinant, in 1466, and of Liège, in 1468, by Charles the Bold, marked the ending of democratic ascendancy.

Erard de la Marck brought a period of restoration; he was an enlightened protector of the arts. He it was who commenced that struggle against the Reformation which his successors maintained after him, and in which Gerard of Groesbeeck (1564-80) was especially distinguished. With the object of assisting in this struggle, Paul IV, by the Bull "Super Universi" (12 May, 1550), created the new bishoprics of the Low Countries. This change was effected largely at the expense of the Diocese of Liège; many of its parishes were taken from it to form the entire Dioceses of Ruremonde, Bois-le-Duc (Hertogenboseh), and Namur, as well as, in part, those of Mechlin and Antwerp. The number of deaneries in the Diocese of Liège was reduced to thirteen.

Most of the bishops in the seventeenth century were foreigners, many of them holding several bishoprics at once. Their frequent absences gave free scope for those feuds of the Chiroux and the Grignoux to which Maximilian llenr of Bavaria (1650-88) put a stop by the Edict of 1681. In the middle of the eighteenth century the ideas of the French encyclopédistes began to be received at Liège; Bishop de Velbruck (1772-84), encouraged their propagation and thus prepared the way for the Revolution, which burst upon the episcopal city on 18 August, 1789, during the reign of Bishop de Hoensbroech (1781-92). At last the territory of the principality was united to France, and thenceforward shared the destines of the other Belgian provinces. The diocese, too, disappeared in the Revolution.

The new diocese, erected 10 April, 1802, included the two Departments of Ourte and Meuse-Inférieure, with certain parishes of the Forest districts. In 1818 it lost a certain number of cantons, ceded to Prussia. After the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands the diocese comprised the Provinces of Liège and Limburg. On 6 May, 1538. Mgr Van Bommel divided the Province of Liège into two deaneries. In 1839 the diocese lost those parishes which were situated in Dutch Limburg. The present Diocese of Liège, suffragan to Mechlin, consists of 670 parishes, grouped in 40 deaneries, and has (1909) a population of 1,152,151, the majority (Walloons) sneaking French; the minority, Flemish or German. Diocesan statistics (1909): deaneries, 40; curacies, 44; succursal parishes, 620; chapels, 30; vicariates paid by the State, 307; annexes, 22. After the Concordat, the diocese was governed by Zaepffel (1802-08); after him, Lejeas, nominated in 1809 by Napoleon, failed to obtain canonical institution, and the diocese was administered successively by the two vicars-capitular, Henrard (1808-14) and Barrett (1814-29). The succeeding bishops have been: Corneille Van Bommel (1829-52), Théodore de Montpellier (1852-79), Victor Joseph Doutreloux (1879-1901). Mgr Martin-Hubert Rutten, the present bishop was instituted in 1901. On account of the Law of Separation, a number of French religious communities have settled in the diocese.

FISEN, Flares ecclesiæ Leodiensis (Lille, 1647); IDEM, Historia ecclesiæ leodiensis (Liège, 1696); FOULLON, Historia leodiensis (Liège, 1735-37); BOUILLE, Histoire de la ville et pays de Liège (Liège, 1725-32); DE GERLACHE, Histoire de Liège depuis César jusqu'à la fin du XVIIIe siècle (Brussels, 1874); DARIS, Histoire du diocèse et de la principauté de Liège, Des origines à 1879 (Liège. 1868-92); PAQUAY, Les oriqines chrétiennes dans le diocèse de Tongres (Tongres, 1909); KURTH, La cité de Liège au moyen âge (Liège, 1910); DEMARTEAU, Liège et les principautés épiscopales de l'Allemagne occidentale (Liège, 1900); Bulletin de l' Institut archéoloqique liègois (Liège, 1852-); Bulletin de la Société d'Art et d'Histoire du diocèse de Liège (Liège, 1881-): Leodium (Liège, 1902-); PIRENNE, Bibliographic de l'histoire de Belgique (Brussels, 1902), after that, in Archives Belges.

JOSEPH BRASSINNE