Holste Or Holstenius

Holste Or Holstenius

Lucas, born at Hamburg in 1596, was educated at the University of Leyden, and ranks as one of the first scholars of his time. Failing to secure a professorship, he traveled through Italy, England, and other countries, and settled at Paris, where he became acquainted with the distinguished Jesuits Dupuy, Peiresc, and other learned men of that order and he finally became a Roman Catholic, in consequence, he said, of his careful study of the works of the fathers, and of his seeking for the principle of unity in the Church; but others think that his conversion was wholly due to his association with the Jesuits, and to his desire to have freer access to the libraries of France and Italy; and some even, among whom is Salmasius (see Moller, Cimbr. Lit. 3, 323), ascribe it to his severe poverty and great ambition. Soon after his conversion his friends introduced him to the pope's nuncio, cardinal Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII, whom he accompanied to Rome in 1527. He lived with the cardinal, and became his librarian. Later, he was promoted canon of St. Peter's, and finally he became librarian of the Vatican and consultore of the Congregation of the Index. He was sent on several missions to Germany; among others, to Innspruck, to receive the abjuration of queen Christina of Sweden. He was also instrumental in effecting the conversion of other distinguished Protestants to Catholicism. Holstenius, even in his eminent positions in the Church of Rome, retained some of the liberal principles imbibed as a Protestant, and they often severely provoked his Romish friends. Thus he advocated earnestly, but in vain, the union of the Greek and Roman churches in 1639, advising liberal action on the part of his own Church. In the Congregation of the Index also, he would never favor any stringency against valuable works of Protestants, and he was even obliged to retire from the council for this reason. In the dispute between the Jansenists and Molinists, he counseled pope Alexander VII against any decision likely to be in favor of the Jesuits, notwithstanding his relation to them. He died at Rome Feb. 2, 1661, leaving his patron, cardinal Barberini, his universal legatee. Holstenius, with much application and a great thirst for knowledge, lacked perseverance. He was apt to desert one branch of study suddenly for another; thus he had collected with great care and much application a vast quantity of scarce books and MSS., but had not progressed sufficiently far in his own works to make them of much value in their unfinished state. Among his published works are the following: Porphyrii liber de Vita Pythagorae, etc. (Rome 1630, 8vo; Cambridge 1655, 8vo), with a Latin version and notes, and a dissertation on the life and writings of Porphyrius, considered a model of learned biography — Demophili, Democratis, et Secundi Veterum Philosophorum Sententice Horales (Rome, 1638, 8vo; Leyden, 1639, 12mo) — Note in Sallustium Philosophum de Diis et Mundo (Rome, 1638, 8vo) — Observationes ad Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica (Leyden, 1641, 8vo) — Arrianus de Venatione, with a Latin version (Par. 1644, 8vo) — Adnotationes in Geographiam Sacrum Caroli a S. Paulo, Italian Antiquam Cluverii, et Thesaurum Geographicum Ortelii (Rome, 1666, 8vo) — Notae et Castigationes Posthumae In Stephani Byzantini De Urbibus, edited by Ryckius: Liber Diurnus Ponticumae Romanorum, a collection of papal acts and decrees. He also wrote a collection of the rules of the earlier monastic orders, published after his death (Rome, 1661; later at Paris; and, lastly, much enlarged, Augsburg, 1759, 6 vols, fol.), which is considered as among the most valuable of his writings; he also edited in his lifetime the Antiquities of Praeneste, by Snares. Many of his Latin letters have also been published in the Collectio Roman aveterum aliquot histor. eccles. monumentorum, etc. See Wilkens, Leben d. gelehrten Lucae Holstenii (Hamb. 1723, 8vo); English Cyclop.; Herzog, Real-Lex. 6, 241 sq.; Mosheim, Ecclesiastes History vol. 3 (see Index); Gieseler, Church Hist. 3, 185, note; Schr Ö ckh, Kirchengeschichte s. d. Reform. 7, 76; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gene. 25, 4 sq.; Dupin, Biblioth. Ecclesiastes (17th century). (J. H. W.)