### AUBUSSON, PIERRE d'
Cardinal. Born in 1423, died at Rhodes in 1503. He soon joined the Order of Knights of Rhodes and rose through its ranks to become Grand Master in 1476. He demonstrated his great valor when, after Venice’s agreement with the Turk (1478), he remained alone to defend Rhodes and all Christian Europe from the Muslim threat. He took every possible measure to protect the island, gathered the knights for its defense, and when Rhodes was attacked in 1480 by formidable enemy forces, he succeeded, through epic struggle, in driving them back into the sea.
After the sultan’s death the following year and the ensuing struggle for succession among his sons, Bayezid and Jem (Djem), Aubusson welcomed the latter, who had been defeated, with a broad safe-conduct and promise of protection, hoping to use this to restrain Bayezid from further offensive actions and to attempt to wrest Greece and the Archipelago from him at an opportune moment. For greater security, Jem was transferred to France, still under the Order’s custody (1482). To advance his political designs, Innocent VIII wished to have Jem in Rome, and in exchange Aubusson received the cardinal’s hat in March 1489. Alexander VI then took custody of Jem for himself, and Aubusson could not oppose this. Charles VIII, entering Rome in 1494, demanded Jem’s surrender, and the latter died shortly afterward, not without suspicion of poisoning.
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### A.U.C.A.M. (ASSOCIATIO UNIVERSITARIA CATHOLICA ADIUVANS MISSIONES)
Founded at Leuven in 1925 by professors and students under the initiative of the Jesuit Fr. Charles, with the aim of engaging educated laypeople in both the theoretical and practical aspects of the missionary problem. Soon, centers and committees sprang up in nearly every city of Belgium and beyond, making the A.U.C.A.M. “the strongest and most flourishing student organization in support of missions” (*Guida delle missioni*, p. 519).
Its activities grew increasingly important, giving rise to broader and socially significant institutions. These included the Medical Foundation of the University of Leuven in the Congo, with hospitals at Kisanu (1926) and Katana (1930), which also operated a school for the training of indigenous graduate medical assistants; the agricultural centers at Kisanu (1932) and Kampondo (1938) for the training of assistants, lecturers, and agricultural advisors; and the *Foyer Social indigène* at Elisabethville (1933) for the formation of healthy families in healthy environments. The A.U.C.A.M. held two congresses (1930, 1935) with special reference to the race problem; indeed, it founded an association for mutual understanding among races, whose main activity consisted in placing students from Asia and Africa in Catholic families. The A.U.C.A.M. also has its own periodicals: the *Carnets de l’A.* began in 1926 and from 1931 took the title *Revue de l’A.*, now a quarterly; *Réponse*, begun in 1946, aims to keep the committees united with their members.
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