Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/136

 NORTH CAROLINA

110

NORTH CAROLINA

office under every constitution. The preamble to the present Constitution recognizes the dependence of tlic people upon Almighty (iod, and their Kratitude to llini for the existence of their civil, political, and religious liberties. The Legislature is opened uilh prayer. The law reiiuires the observance of Siuiday, and" punishes any disturbance of religious congrega- tions. The following are legal holidays: 1 January; 19 January (Lee's birthday I; 22 February; 12 April (anniversary of Halifax Kesoluiion); 10 May (Con- federate Decoration Day) ; 20 May (anniversary Meck- lenburg Declaration of Independence); 4 July; 1st Monday in September (Labour Day); general elec- tion day in November; Thanksgiving; and Christmas. Neither .Sundays nor holidays are regarded as diet non exeej)! in certain liniilcd cases. Religious bodies may become incorporated either under the general law or by special act . If not specifically incorporated they are reganled as quasi corporations, and may ex- ercise many corporate powers. The Protestant Epis- copal bishop h;us been created a corporation sole by special act of the Legislature. All real and personal property used exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes, as also property whose income is so used, is exempt from taxation. Ministers of the Gospel are exemi)t from jury duty and their private libraries from taxation. The only privileged com- munications recognized are those between lawyers and their clients, anil physicians and their patients. There is no statute allowing this exemption to priests, and therefore they stand as at common law; but there is no recorded instance in which they have ever been asked to reveal the secrets of the confessional.

Marri.\ge and Divorce. — Originally in this colony legally valid marriages could be solemnized only by ministers of the Church of England, of whom there were few, nearly all in the eastern part of the colony. In 1715 this power was conferred upon the governor; in 1741 upon justices of the peace; in 1766 upon minis- ters of the Presbyterian Church, and finally in 1778 upon the ministers of all denominations. The cere- mony can now be performed by an ordained minister of any religious denomination or a justice of the peace; and the peculiar marriage custom of the Friends is recognized as valid. Males under sixteen and females under fourteen are legally incapable of marriage, and all marriages of those related by consanguinity closer than the degree of first cousin, and between whites and negroes or Indians are void. A marriage licence is required, and the Registrar is forbidden by law to issue licences for the marriage of any one under eighteen years of age without written consent of the parent or one standing in loco parentis. Absolute divorce (a vinculo) may be granted for the following causes: pre-existing natural and continued impotence of either party; if they shall have lived separate and apart continuously for ten years, and have no chil- dren; adultery by the wife, or pregnancy at the time of marriage unknown to husband and not by him; continued fornication and adultery by the husband. Either party may remarry, but no alimony is allowed. Divorce a mensa el toro may be granted with alimony for the following causes: if either party shall abandon his or her family, or turn the other out of doors, or shall by cruel and barbarous treatment endanger the life of the other, or shall offer such indignities to the person of the other as to make his or her life intoler- able, or shall become an habitual drunkard. Upon such a divorce parties cannot remarry.

Bequests for charitable purposes must be clearly defined, as the cy-pris doctrine is not recognized; and there must be some one capable of taking the bequest. Whether a bequest for Masses would be specifically enforced by the courts, has not been de- cided; but it is not probable that it would be interfered with, as the courts have never invoked the doctrine of Superstitious Uses. Cemeteries are provided for

" and protected by law. In administering oaths, the party sworn must "lay his hand upon the Holy ICvan- gelists of .Mmighty (Jod"; but those having conscien- tious scruples may appeal to (Iod with uplifted hand; ami "Quakers, Piloravians, Dunkers, and Mennon- ites" may athrm.

Prohibition. — For many years prohibition senti- ment has been growing until it culminated, in 1908, in the passage by the General Assembly of an act mak- ing it unlawful to make or sell any spirituous, vinous, fermented, or malt liquors within the state, except for sacramental purposes, or by a registered pharma- cist on a physician's prescription. Native ciilers may be sold without restriction; and native wines at the place of manufacture in sealed or crated packages containing not less than two and a half gallons each, which must not be opened on the premises. RELiGiona Statistics (From the Census of Religious Bodies, 1906)

Denomination

6%

2 ■%

1

Value of Church Prop.

All denominations

8592

2397

1358

192

54

130

63

179

2141

954

655

258

31

ISO

824,385

235,540

165,503

15,909

2,699

13,637

6,752

17,740

191,760

85.522

60,555

13,890

3,981

10,897

8188

2305

1192

188

47

128

63

173

2065

925

656

261

35

150

$14,053,505 3,056,889

1,266,227

194,315

Congregationalists ....

42,361 151,605

90,525

445,525

Methodist, white

Methodist, co!

Presbyter, and Refer. . . Protestant Episcopal. . Roman Catholic

3,523,354

1,366,238

2,247,923

987,925

375,360

305,258

In the above, the Catholic population was reduced by deducting 15 per cent for children under nine years of age.

North Carolina, Vicariate Apostolic of, was canonically established and separated from the Dio- cese of Charleston, South Carolina by Bull, 3 March, 1868, with James (now Cardinal) Gibbons as first vicar. It comprised the entire state until 1910, when eight counties were attached to Belmont Abbey. The latest statistics, for the entire state, show secular priests, 17; religious, 16; churches, 15; missions, 34; stations, 47; chapels, 5; Catholics, 5870. The Apostolate Com- pany, a corporation of secular priests at Nazareth, maintains a boys' orphanage and industrial school, and publishes "Truth", amonthly periodical. There is a girls' school and sanatorium at Asheville, and hos- pitals at Charlotte (Sisters of Mercy) and Greensboro (Sisters of Charity). There are parochial schools at Asheville, Charlotte, Salisbury, Durham, Newton Grove, Raleigh, and Wilmington. The vicariate is subject to the Propaganda, and its present vicar is the Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.

Belmont Cathedral Abbey. — By Bull of Pius X, 8 June, 1910, the Counties of Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, Rutherford, Polk, Burke, McDowell, and Catawba were cut off from the vicariate to form the diocese of the Cathedral Abbey at Belmont, canonically erected Ijy Mgr Diomede Falconio, Apostolic Delegate in the United States, on IS October, 1910. The vicariate re- mains under the administration of the abbot ordinary at Belmont until a diocese can be formed in the state. Belmont Abbey, situated in Gaston County, was erected into an abbey by Papal Brief dated 19 Decem- ber, 1884, its first abbot being Rt. Rev. Leo Haid. He was born at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 15 July, 1849, ordained priest in 1872, and served as chaplain and profes.sor in St. Vincent's Abbey until 1885. Ap- pointed Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina in 1887, he was consecrated titular Bishop of Messene 1 July,