stitution has been since enriched by large sums donated to it by the nephews of Matthew Vassar, and to the endowing of memorial chairs, aiding the Literary and Scientific institute attached to the college, to Vassar Brothers' Hospital and to the Home for Aged Men in Poughkeepsie.
Vatican (vat't-kan), he residence of the pope and the seat of the great library, museums and collections of art, ancient and modern, which constitute one of the chief attactions of Rome for all visitors. Although the earlier popes had a residence in the Vatican, it is probable that no part of the present edifice is older than the pontificate of Nicholas V, who in the i5th century began the plan of improvement and embellishment of the Vatican which has made it the noblest of princely residences. Alexander VI, Julius II and, above all, Leo X pursued the same plan; and nearly all the succeeding popes have had some share in the enlarging of the building. Amid all the difficulties, financial and political, of his pontificate Pius IX made numerous improvements to the palace, the most striking being the great stair by which it is approached from the colonnade of St. Peter's. The building with its garden and appurtenances is said to cover a space equal to the whole area of the city of Turin, such as it was 30 years ago, with its 130,000 inhabitants. It contains several thousand separate rooms or apartments, some of them of unrivaled beauty and elegance. Among these may be specially mentioned the chapel of San Lorenzo, the Pauline chapel, the Sistine chapel, decorated in frescoes from the brush of Michael Angelo, the galleries and halls decorated by Raphael, Giulio Romano and their scholars, the magnificent library, the galleries of antiquities, Christian and pagan, and of paintings, statuary, bronzes, medals, vases and other objects of art.
Vatican, Council of the, the great ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church in 1869-70, at which the doctrine of papal infallibility was formally promulgated. This council, composed of Roman Catholic prelates — some 750 in number — from all parts of the world, convened in the Vatican palace on Dec. 8, 1869, and closed its deliberations on Oct. 20, 1870, when this dogma was adopted by a practically unanimous vote. As formulated at the council, it contains the following propositions: (1) That a proper primacy or jurisdiction over the whole church was conferred on St. Peter directly, and not mediately through any delegation authorized by the church as a whole; (2) that this primacy rests by divine institution in the line of Roman pontiffs as St. Peter's successors; (3) that the pope's jurisdiction is immediate in all churches, all other bishops being merely his curates and deputies; so that not only on questions of faith and morals, but on questions of discipline and order the entire church, both priests and laymen, are bound to submit to his authority; (4) that it is unlawful to appeal from the pope to an ecumenical council as a higher authority; (5) that the pope, when he speaks officially and defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the universal church, is infallible, and his utterances are not to be modified or changed.
Vaudois (vo'dwd' ). See Walden'ses.
Vaughan (vawn or vau'un), Herbert, Cardinal, English Roman Catholic prelate and the successor of Cardinal Manning as archbishop of Westminster, was born at Gloucester, England, April 15, 1832, and received his education at Stonyhurst College and at Rome. He was ordained a priest at Lucca in i8s4, and returning to England he joined the Oblates of St. Charles at Bays-water. He then became vice-president of St. Edmund's College near Ware, and in 1869 founded and became president of St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary College, Middlesex, and three years later accompanied to Maryland a detachment of priests on a special mission to the colored people of the United States. In 1872 he was consecrated to the bishopric of Salford, and 20 years later was transferred to the see of Westminster. In 1893 he was created a cardinal of Rome, and two years later he laid the foundation stone of Westminster (R. C.) Cathedral, a vast and stately edifice in the Byzantine style, erected in London. In 1897 the cardinal took part in the celebration by the Roman Catholics of England of the 13th centenary of the landing of St. Augustine in Britain.
Vault, an arched roof, usually constructed of stone or brickwork. The simplest kind of vault is the semicircular arch extending from one end of an apartment to the other. Ordinary bridges are an example of this style of vaulting, which was commonly used by the Romans, who also built vaults with groins, that is, vaults intersecting one another. The Egyptians are also said to have been acquainted with vaulting; but the earliest remains of ancient vaults of any magnitude are among the Romans. The Roman vaults, when groined, were usually constructed with carefully cut stone, so as to prevent the angle from chipping; but the medieval architects had not the costly materials or skill of the Romans at command; so they formed only the groins of dressed stone, and filled in the vault with more common material. This led to the groins becoming a prominent feature in medieval architecture, moldings and carvings being used for ornamentation. In modern architecture vaults and arches are gradually being superseded by the use of iron constructions, both for roofs and for supporting floors, bridges etc.
