SOUILLAC, ABBEY OF
abbey was founded by ELIGIUS OF NOYON in 655. In 806
St. Bernadette Soubirous.
motherhouse in Nevers. In religion she kept her baptismal
name, Marie Bernarde. Even after the bishop of Tarbes
rendered a favorable judgment on the authenticity of the
apparitions, Bernadette continued to experience much
misunderstanding. Tuberculosis of the bone kept her al-
ways in weak health in the convent, where she performed
the duties of assistant in the sacristy and infirmary. Ber-
nadette was beatified on June 14, 1925, and canonized on
Dec. 8, 1933. The immense popularity of Lourdes as a
pilgrimage center has helped make her one of the most
popular of modern saints (see VISIONS).
Feast: Feb. 18.
Bibliography: H. PETITOT, The True Story of Saint Berna-
dette, tr. a Benedictine of Stanbrook Abbey (Westminster, Md.
1950). R. CRANSTON, The Miracle of Lourdes (New York 1955),
popular. L. VON MATT and F. TROCHU, St. Bernadette: A Pictorial
Biography, tr. H. REES (Chicago 1957).
[T. F. CASEY]
SOUILLAC, ABBEY OF
Former Benedictine monastery of St. Mary, Souillac,
canton and arrondissement of Gourdon (Lot), France, Di-
ocese of Cahors, on the Borrèze River (Latin, Solliacum,
Sordillacum, Sublacum). According to tradition, the
332
it needed restoration by Louis I, the Pious. After the NOR-
MAN invasions, it was reendowed in 927 by Frotard, Vis-
count of Cahors; in 960 it was restored by Gerald of
Saint-Céré, Abbot of AURILLAC. In 1660 Souillac was
united to the Congregation of Saint-Maur (see MAURISTS).
At one time it had over 80 priories and parishes depen-
dent on it. The 12th-century Romanesque abbey church,
which is now a national historical monument, is perfectly
preserved and recalls Saint-Front of Perigueux in size and
Byzantine style. A former portal of the church, now in-
side, is one of the most interesting pieces of southern
French romanesque sculpture.
Bibliography: Gallia Christiana, v.1–13 (Paris 1715–85),
v.14–16 (Paris 1856–65) 1:179–182. L. H. COTTINEAU, Répertoire
topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon
1935–39) 2:3069. M. AUBERT, ‘‘Souillac,’’ Congrès archéologique
de France 90 (1927) 261–270. G. CANY, ‘‘Les Chapiteaux historiés
du choeur de Souillac, Lot,’’ Annales du Midi 62 (1950) 209–214.
G. CANY and M. LABROUSSE, ‘‘L’Église abbatiale de . . . Souillac
. . . ,’’ Bulletin monumental 109 (1951) 389–404.
[J. DE LA C. BOUTON]
SOUL
In its most ordinary present-day usage, the term
‘‘soul’’ (Gr. yucø; Lat. anima), when used alone, refers
to the human soul; to say soul is to mean human soul. If
one intends to speak about other sorts of soul, he uses ex-
pressed qualifiers; e.g., he says plant soul, or animal soul.
There is nonetheless a use of the term ‘‘soul’’ that means
simply a principle of life, or a source of life activities, at
least that of nourishing. According to this usage, soul des-
ignates the mark of a living thing, or what separates the
living from the nonliving; soul in this sense is the concern
of this article.
Early Greek Views. The Greek predecessors of Ar-
istotle fastened on two characteristic marks that distin-
guish what has soul in it from what has not: (1)
movement, and (2) sensation or knowledge; each of these
is traceable to their views on the first principles of things
(see Aristotle, Anim. 403b 25–28). Those who paid spe-
cial attention to movement thought that soul ought to be
identified with the first principle, which is most capable
of originating movement. DEMOCRITUS, e.g., held that
soul is composed of spherical atoms, which because they
are spherical are most suited for motion, and hence are
most in a state of motion. Diogenes’s argument was in
form identical with that of Democritus; but for Diogenes,
air was the element most capable of originating move-
ment, because it is the finest in grain. Anaxagoras’s view,
though obscure in many respects, seems to have been that
soul is the source of movement, without itself being in
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