FORGET, Jacques. - Theologian and Arabist, b. at Chiny (Belgium) on 6 Jan. 1852, d. at Héverle-les-Louvain on 19 July 1933.
A disciple of Lamy at Louvain, he began with La vie et les oeuvres d'Aphaïates (Louvain 1882). After a journey to the East, he became in 1885 professor of Arabic at the University of Louvain and shortly afterwards of fundamental theology. He held these chairs for 50 years, earning universal esteem for his learning as much as for his modesty. He published: Synaxarium Alexandrinum (4 vols., Louvain 1905-26). He was director of the Arabic section of the Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium, published by the University of Louvain.
MONUMENTS. — The present cathedral of SS. Croce and Valcinno dates from the 12th century; previously the church of the Most Holy Trinity, rebuilt in 1782, seems to have been the cathedral of F. S. Croce was restored in 1417; visited by Pope Martin V (1418); Bishop Alessandro Numa, having completed the works, consecrated it dedicating it to S. Croce and S. Valcinno. The present form is a reconstruction of 1841 by the architect Giulio Zambianchi, in neoclassical style with a pronaos. Inside, some chapels are the object of popular devotion; that of S. Valcinno, where the relics of the martyr are kept; that of the Madonna della Ferita and that of the Madonna del Fuoco, the most venerated in F. following the miraculous episode of 4 Feb. 1428, in which the image remained unscathed in a fire.
The church of S. Mercuriale, a 12th-century construction, has undergone many restorations which have largely altered its lines; particular mention should be made of the restoration of 1786. In the lunette above the portal, a fine bas-relief of the 12th or 13th century, representing the Magi, is attributed to Fuccio Fiorentino. The slender Romanesque bell tower of 1180, by the Forlì artist Francesco di Deddo Aleotti, was built on the occasion of the translation of the body of S. Mercuriale, under Bishop Alessandro (1176).
S. Biagio in S. Gerolamo, of the 15th century, was restored in 1590. The monumental family temple of the Ordelaffi family formerly housed (before its destruction in 1944) notable works of art inside, among which: The Concession by Guido Reni and The Miracle of S. James the Greater by Melozzo. In the church of S. Pellegrino the body of Pellegrino Lazzosi, Servite, is venerated; he is the co-patron of the city, one of the saints claimed by the diocese of F., together with the Blessed Marcellino Ammanni, Dominican, and the Blessed Giacomo Salomoni, also a Dominican.
The native city of Melozzo degli Ambrosi possesses a rich picture gallery, founded in 1838. Notable also are the archives: Archivio comunale (G. Mazzatini, Gli archivi della storia d'Italia, I (1899-1905), p. 41); Archivio capitolare, with a precious collection of parchments from the 14th century (A. Pasini, L'Archivio capitolare di F., in La Romagna (1923), p. 547; 1924, p. 346).