Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/619

 PATRON

561

PATRON

(the cxcommunicaii iolerali are able at least to acquire it), and those who are infamous according to ecclesias- tical or civil law. On the other hand, illegitimates, children, minors, and women may acquire patronages.

V. A right of patronage comes into existence or is originally acquired by foundation, privilege, or pre- scription. Under foundation or fundatio in the broader sense is included the granting of the necessary means for the erection and maintenance of a benefice. Thus, granting that a church is necessary to a bene- fice, three things are requisite: the assignment of land {fundatio in the narrow sense), the erection of the church at one's private expense (adificalio), and the granting of the means necessary for the support of the church and beneficiaries (dolalio). If the same person fulfils all three requirements, he becomes ipso jure patron, unless he waives his claim (c. 25, X de iure patr. Ill, 38). Whence the saying: Paironum faciunt dos, ccdificatio, fundus. Different persons performing these three acts become co-patrons. It is an accepted theory that one who is responsible for only one of the three acts mentioned, the other two conditions being fulfilled in any manner whatsoever, becomes a patron. It is possible to become a patron also through the recedificatio ecclesicc and redotatio beneficii. A second manner in which a patronage may be acquired is through papal privilege. A third is by prescription.

VI. Derivatively, a patronage may be obtained through inheritance ex leslmnento or ex intestato, in which case a patronage may easily become a co-pa- tronage; by presentation, in which a lay patron must have the sanction of the bishop if he desires to transfer his right to another layman, but an ecclesiastic re- quires the permission of the pope to present it to a lay- man, or that of the bishop to give it to another ecclesi- astic (c. un. Extrav. comm. de rebus eccl. non alien. Ill, 4). Furthermore an already existing right of pat- ronage may be acquired by exchange, by purchase, or by prescription. In exchange or purchase of a real patronage the price of the object in question may not be raised in consideration of the patronage; the right of patronage being a ius spiriiuali atinexum, such a thing would be simony. That the ruler of a. country may acquire the right of patronage in any of the three ways mentioned, like any other member of the Church, goes without saying. On the other hand, it would be false to teach, as did the Josephinists and repre- sentatives of the "lUuminati", that the sovereign possesses the right of patronage merely by being ruler of the country, or that he receives the patronage of bishoprics, monasteries, and ecclesiastical foundations through secularization. Yet this question is now gen- erally settled in Germany, Austria, etc. by agreement between the civil Governments on the one hand and the pope or bishops on the other.

VII. The rights involved in patronage are: the right of presentation, honorary rights, utilitarian rights, and the cura beneficii.

(a) The right of presentation {ius prasenlandi), the most important privilege of a patron, consists in this, that in case of a vacancy in the benefice, he inay propose {prasenlare) to the ecclesiastical superiors empowered with the right of collation, the name of a suitable person {persona idonea), the result being that if the one suggested is available at the time of presen- tation, the ecclesiastical superior is bound to bestow on him the office in question. Co-patrons with the right of presentation may take turns, or each may pre- sent a name for himself, or it may be decided by vote. In the case of juridical persons the presentation may be made according to statute, or by turns, or by deci- sion of the majority. The drawing of lots is excluded.

With regard to the one to be presented, in the case of a benefice involving the cure of souls, the ecclesias- tical patron must choose from among the candidates for presentation the one he believes the most suitable, judging from the parish concursus. The lay patron XL— 36

has only to present the name of a candidate who is suitable in his opinion. In case this candidate has not passed the parish concursus, he must undergo an ex- amination before the synodal examiners. In the case of a mixed patronage, the rights of which are exercised in common by an ecclesiastical and a lay patron, the same rule holds as in the case of a lay patronage. Here it is the rule to deal with the mixed patronage, now as a spiritual and again as a lay patronage, ac- cording as it is most pleasing to the patrons. If the prerogatives of the mixed patronage are exercised in turn, however, it is considered as a spiritual or a lay patronage, as suits the nature of the case. The patron cannot present his own name. Co-patrons may, how- ever, present one of their own number. If through no fault of the patron, the name of an ineligible person is presented, he is granted a certain time of grace to make a new presentation. If, however, an ineligible person has been knowingly presented, the spiritual patron loses for the time being the right of presenta- tion, but the lay patron, so long as the first interval allowed for presentation has not expired, may make an after-presentation. Thus the presentation of the spiritual patron is treated more after the manner of the episcopal collation. On that account the spiritual patron is not permitted an after-presentation or a variation in choice, which is permitted the lay patron, after which the bishop has the choice between the sev- eral names presented {ius variandi cumulativum, c. 24, X de iure patr. Ill, 38).

A presentation may be made by word of mouth or in writing. But under penalty of nullity all expres- sions are to be avoided which would imply a bestowal of the office (c. 5, X de iure patr. Ill, 38). A simoni- acal presentation would be invalid. The time allowed for presentation is four months to a lay patron, and six to a spiritual patron; six months is stipulated for a mixed patronage when exercised in common, four or six months when turn is taken (c. 22, X de iure patr. Ill, 38). The interval begins the moment announce- ment is made of the vacancy. For one who through no fault of his own has been hindered in making a pres- entation, the time does not expire at the end of the period mentioned. When his candidate has been un- justly rejected by the bishop, the patron may appeal, or make an after presentation.

(b) The honorary rights {iura honorifica) of the pa- tron are: precedence in procession, a sitting in the church, prayers and intercessions, ecclesiastical men- tions, burial in the church, ecclesiastical mourning, inscriptions, special incensing, the asperges (holy water), ashes, palms, and the Pax.

(c) The utilitarian rights {iii/ra utilia) of the patron consist essentially in this: that in so far as he is a de- scendant of the founder he is entitled to an allowance sufficient for his maintenance from the superfluous funds of the church connected with the patronage, if, through no fault of his own, he has been reduced to such straits as to be unable to support himself, and no one else is under any obligation to assist him (c. 2.5, X de iure patr. Ill, 38). To draw any other material ad- vantages from the church connected with the patron- age, as so frequently happened in the Middle Ages, it is requisite for this condition to have been made at the time of fovmdation with the consent of the bishop, or that it be subsequently stipulated (c. 23, X de iure patr. Ill, 38. C. un. Extrav. comm. de rebus eccl. non alien. Ill, 4).

(d) The right or important duty {iura onerosa) of the patron is, in the first place the crira beneficii, the care to preserve unimpaired the status of the benefice and the conscientious discharge of the obligations con- nected therewith. He must not, however, interfere in the administration of t4ie property of the benefice or the discharge of the spiritual duties on the part of the holder of the benefice. This cura beneficii entitles the patron to have a voice in all changes in the benefice