(T. B.*)
HOSIUS, or Osius (c. 257-359), bishop of Cordova, was born about A.D. 257, probably at Cordova, although from a passage in Zosimus it has sometimes been conjectured that he was believed by that writer to be a native of Egypt. Elected to the see of Cordova before the end of the 3rd century, he narrowly escaped martyrdom in the persecution of Maximian (303-305). In 305 or 306 he attended the council of Illiberis or Elvira (his name appearing second in the list of those present), and upheld its severe canons concerning such points of discipline as the treatment of the lapsed and clerical marriages. In 313 he appears at the court of Constantine, being expressly mentioned by name in a constitution directed by the emperor to Caecilianus of Carthage in that year. In 323 he was the bearer and possibly the writer of Constantine’s letter to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and Arius his deacon, bidding them cease disturbing the peace of the church; and, on the failure of the negotiations in Egypt, it was doubtless with the active concurrence of Hosius that the council of Nicaea was convened in 325. He certainly took part in its proceedings, and was one of the large number of “confessors” present; that he presided is a very doubtful assertion, as also that he was the principal author of the Nicene Creed. Still he powerfully influenced the judgment of the emperor in favour of the orthodox party. After a period of quiet life in his own diocese, Hosius presided in 343 at the fruitless synod of Sardica, which showed itself so hostile to Arianism; and afterwards he spoke and wrote in favour of Athanasius in such a way as to bring upon himself a sentence of banishment to Sirmium (355). From his exile he wrote to Constantius II. his only extant composition, a letter not unjustly characterized by the great French historian Sebastian Tillemont as displaying gravity, dignity, gentleness, wisdom, generosity and in fact all the qualities of a great soul and a great bishop. Subjected to continual pressure the old man, who was near his hundredth year, was weak enough to sign the formula adopted by the second synod of Sirmium in 357, which involved communion with the Arians but not the condemnation of Athanasius. He was then permitted to return to his diocese, where he died in 359.
See S. Tillemont, Mémoires, vii. 300-321 (1700); Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vol. i.; H. M. Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism (Cambridge, 1882, 2nd ed., 1900); A. W. W. Dale, The Synod of Elvira (London, 1882); and article s.v. in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie (3rd ed., 1900), with bibliography.
HOSIUS, STANISLAUS (1504-1579), Polish cardinal, was born in Cracow on the 5th of May 1504. He studied law at Padua and Bologna, and entering the church became in 1549 bishop of Kulm, in 1551 bishop of Ermland, and in 1561 cardinal. Hosius had Jesuit sympathies and actively opposed the Protestant reformation, going so far as to desire a repetition of the St Bartholomew massacre in Poland. Apart from its being “the property of the Roman Church,” he regarded the Bible as having no more worth than the fables of Aesop. Hosius was not distinguished as a theologian, though he drew up the Confessio fidei christiana catholica adopted by the synod of Piotrkow in 1557. He was, however, supreme as a diplomatist and administrator. Besides carrying through many difficult negotiations, he founded the lyceum of Braunsberg, which became the centre of the Roman Catholic mission among Protestants. He died at Capranica near Rome on the 5th of August 1579.
A collected edition of his works was published at Cologne in 1584. Life by A. Eichhorn (Mainz, 1854), 2 vols.
HOSKINS, JOHN (d. 1664), English miniature painter, the uncle of Samuel Cooper, who received his artistic education in Hoskins’s house. His finest miniatures are at Ham House, Montagu House, Windsor Castle, Amsterdam and in the Pierpont Morgan collection. Vertue stated that Hoskins had a son, and Redgrave added that the son painted a portrait of James II. in 1686 and was paid £10, 5s, although it is not supported by any reference in the State Papers. Some contemporary inscriptions on the miniatures at Ham House record them as the work of “Old Hoskins,” but the fact of the existence of a younger artist of the same name is settled by a miniature in the Pierpont Morgan collection, signed by Hoskins, and bearing an authentic engraved inscription on its contemporary frame to the effect that it represents the duke of Berwick at the age of twenty-nine in 1700. The elder Hoskins was buried on the 22nd of February 1664, in St Paul’s, Covent Garden, and as there is no doubt of the authenticity of this miniature or of the signature upon it, it is evident that he had a son who survived him thirty-six years and whose monogram we find upon this portrait. The frame of it has also the royal coat of arms debruised, the batons of a marshal of France, the collar of the Golden Fleece and the ducal coronet.
(G. C. W.)