François de Bonnivard, a Frenchman who offended Charles III of Savoy, and was imprisoned by him for six years in the Castle of Chillon on the Lake of Geneva. Prisoner of the Vatican. Pope Pius IX was so called by his adherents after Rome became the seat of the Italian Government in 1870. Privas, Massacre of. A massacre of Huguenots at the taking of Privas by Louis XIII in 1629. Privilege of the Clan Macduff. In ancient times any person within the ninth degree of kinship with the Chief of the Macduffs who had been guilty of unpremeditated homicide could, if he reached in safety Macduff’s Cross in Fife, escape the death penalty, and go free on payment of a fine. This privilege is said to have been granted by Malcolm Canmore (1057-93.) Professio Fidei. A profession of the Catholic Faith, issued by the Council of Trent in 1545, as a counterblast to the Protestant Confession of Augsburg. Its acceptance was made obligatory on every aspirant to a degree throughout the German Universities. Promissory Oaths Act. An Act passed in 1868, consolidating and amending the various Acts dealing with the oath of allegiance and abjuration. It provides a Parliamentary, an official and a judicial oath, of a nature that can be taken by Roman Catholics and Jews, ending with the formula “So help me, God.” The wording of the Parliamentary oath came into special prominence in 1880-5, in the course of Mr. Bradlaugh’s attempts to take his seat in the House of Commons. Pronunciamiento. In Spain and Spanish America a proclamation issued by a military leader, backed by his troops, against the existing Government. Propaganda, College of the. The Congregatio de Propaganda Fide is a council of ecclesiastics, founded by Gregory XV in 1622, to superintend the diffusion of the Catholic Faith in distant lands. The Council has at present control of all foreign missions and of a college at Rome for the training of missionaries. Protestant Duke. James, Duke of Monmouth, the natural son of Charles II, who, though brought up as a Catholic, afterwards adopted the Protestant faith, was so called by his supporters. Protestant Hero. The name given by the English people to Frederick the Great of Prussia. Protestant League. A league of the Protestant Princes of Germany, formed in 1651, to maintain their territorial rights and uphold the Peace of Westphalia. Protestant Union. A league of Protestants formed at a Congress held at Ahausen, in Anspach, in 1608, in consequence of the course pursued by the Emperor and the Catholic Princes in the Troubles of Donauwörth. Its object was mutual defence, and its leading members were the Elector Palatine, Christian of Anhalt, and John Frederick of Würtemberg. It was afterwards joined by fifteen Imperial cities. Provisions of Oxford.