visitant

& 8. [Latin visit ans, pr. par. of visito to visit (q. v.).] A. As adj.: Acting the part of a visitor; paying a visit. "He knew the rocks which angels haunt On the mountains visitant ." Words worth: Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle. B. As subst.: One who visits; one who goes or comes to visit or see another; a visitor; one who is a guest in the house of another. "The great visitant approach'd." Milton : P. L., xi. 225. viş-i-tā-tion, s . [Fr., from Lat. visitationem , acc us. of visitatio , from visit at us , pa. par. of visito =to visit (q. v.).] I. Ordinary Language: *1. The act of visiting or of paying a visit; a visit. "To pay Bohemia the visitation ." Shakesp.: Winter's Tale , i. 1. 2. Specifically, a formal or official visit paid periodically by a superior, inspecting, or superintending officer, or other duly qualified authority, to a corporation, college, church, or the like, for the purpose of examining into the manner in which the busine of the corporation or body is carried on how its laws and regulations are observed, and the like. "Will you submit,' said the bishop, 'to our visit a tion?"-Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. viii. *3. The object of a visit. "O flowers, My early visitation and my last." Milton: P. L. , xi. 275. 4. A special dispensation or judgment sent from heaven; a communication of divine favor or goodne , but more usually of divine indignation and retribution; divine chastisement or affliction; re. tributive affliction or trouble. "What will ye do in the day of visitation , and in the Jesolation which shall come from far?"- Isaiah x. 3. II. Technically : 1. Anglican Church : An annual a embly, chiefly of clergy and churchwardens, called together at one or more convenient centers for the purpose of admitting churchwardens elect to office, of receiving presentments, and of officially reviewing the condition of parishes, and of the diocese or archdeaconry, in a charge by the bishop or archdeacon, founded on answers to the inquiries of the bishop to the clergy, and of the archdeacon to churchwardens, and frequently embodying digests of recent Acts of Parliament bearing on subjects of interest to the Church. The archdeacon holds his visitation annually, but delivers no charge when the bishop is "on visitation;" the bishop, for the most part, triennially. These a emblies are always very largely attended by the clergy, and much more by churchwardens than was the case a few years since. 2. Intern at. Law : The act of a naval commander who visits or enters on board a ve el belonging to another state, for the purpose of ascertaining her character and object, but without claiming or exercising the right of search. The right of per forming this act is called the Right of Visit, or Right of Visitation. (1) Order of the Visitation : An Order of nuns, founded at Annecy, in 1610, under the direction of St. Francis de Sales, then Bishop of Geneva, by St. Jane Frances de Chantal. As the object of the IMG:content-0545.png:[blocks in formation] fied form of the rule of St. Augustine, included few corporal austerities. At first there was no inclosure, so that the nuns could visit the sick in their own homes; but the rule of inclosure was adopted in 1618. (2) Right of Visitation : Intern at. Law: [VISITATION, ΙΙ. 2.] (3) Visitation of the Sick: Eccles.: An office of the Anglican Church for the comfort and consolation of sick persons. It is founded on the offices of ancient liturgies, omitting the formal proce ion of the priest and his clerks to the house of the sick, the saying of the Penitential Psalms, and the anointing with oil. With these exceptions, it is substantially the same as Extreme Unction (q.v.). The form for anointing was inserted in the Prayer Book of 1549, but was omitted in tha of 1552. (4) Visitation of the Virgin Mary: Eccles.: A festival, celebrated on July 2, instituted in the middle of the fourteenth century by Pope Urban, to commemorate the Virgin's visit (Luke i. 39-56) to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.