Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
Spanish poet and playwright, b. at Madrid, 10 March, 1760; at Paris, 21 June, 1828. He is usually known as the younger Moratín, and was the son of Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (1737-80), a lawyer and professor of poetry at the Imperial College, also a playwright. The elder Moratín had devoted himself to attempting to reform the Spanish drama and had written several plays after the style of Racine and Corneille. In 1762 he had published his "Desengano aI Teatro Español" in which he criticized the old drama and especially "Auto Sacramental" which still flourished. So succesful was this work, that three years later the exhibition of "Autos" was forbidden by royal edict. All his works were "La Petimetra"; "Guzmán el Bueno" and, probably the best known, "Hormesinda", a tragedy. Knowing by his own experience how precarious was literature as a means of livelihood, the elder Moratín apprenticed his son to a jeweller, thinking in this way to develop his son's artistic skill. While serving as apprentice, young Leandro won two prizes offered by the Academy, one in 1779 with an epic ballad entitled "La toma de Granada", and the other in 1782 with "La lección poética", a satire upon the popular poets of the day. These brought him to the notice of the statesman and author Jovellanos, through whose influence Moratín was appointed secretary to Count Cabarrus upon the latter's special mission to France in 1787. During the year that he spent in Paris he improved the opportunity to study the French drama and formed friendships with men of !etters, both of which circumstances aided materially in the artistic development of the young poet. Returning to Spain in 1789, Moratín set out to continue the work begun by his father of reforming the Spanish drama upon the French classical model. He secured the patronage of Manuel Godoy, prime minister and favourite of Charles IV, through whose influence he was able in 1790 to stage the first of his plays, "El Viejo y la Niña", a comedy in three acts and in verse. This was followed in 1792 by "La Comedia nueva" or "El Café" in two acts and in prose. In the same year Godoy gave him the means for foreign travel and his journey through France, England, the Low Countries, Germany, and Italy completed his education. His text play "El Barón" was produced in 1803, followed in 1804 by "La Mojigata" (The female hypocrite), a weak imitation of Molière's "Tartuffe". An unsuccessful attempt was made to suppress this last piece on religious grounds by means of the Inquisition. Moratín's crowning triumph came in 1806 when the second of his prose comedies and his best work "El Si de las Niñas" was produced. Performed before crowded houses night after night, it ran through several editions in one year, and was translated into several foreign languages. In 1808, upon the fall of his friend Godoy, Moratín was compelled to flee from Spain, but returned shortly afterward to accept from Joseph Bonaparte the post of royal librarian, a lack of patriotism which lost him the friendship of loyal Spaniads, so that when the Spaniards returned to power Moratín was compelled to pass the rest of his days in exile, principally in Paris where he died. In addition to the works mentioned, Moratín made a rather poor translation of Hamlet, and translated and adapted to Spanish stage Molière's "Ecole des Maris" and "Le Médecin Malgré Lui" under the titles respectively of "La Escuela de los Maridos" and "El Médico á Palos". During his exile he wrote a history of Spanish drama entitled "Origines del Teatro Español". In his work, Moratín shows originality, he skilfully describes the manners of his time and is clever in his dialogue. He adheres to the French unities, but introduces certain peculiarities of the Spanish stage, dividing his plays into three acts and using the short romance verse. He was unquestionably the best dramatic writer Spain had produced since the famous ones of the Siglo de oro. The "Biblioteca de Autores Españoles", Vol. II, contains the plays of both the elder and the younger Moratín.
TICKNOR, History of Spanish literature (Boston, 1866); FITZ-MAURICE-KELLY, A History of Spanish Literature (New York, 1906); FEDERICO, Historia de la literatura y del arte dramatico en Espana, tr. from German of MEIER (Madrid, 1885-87).
VENTURA FUENTES