Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/520

 PROMOTIO

454

PROOF

realization of the fulfilment. Through lack of the co-operation no less than from lack of faith have the Divine promises often proved of no avail in the Old Testament as well as in the New (see Grace).

CoRNELT. Comment, in Epistolam ad Romanos in Cursjis Script. Sac. (Paris, Lethielleux. 1896). 203, 467-95: Fouard, Saint Paul and His Missions (New York, 1894); Toussaint, Eptlrcjs de S. Paul I (Paris, 1910), 216 sqq.: Sandat, Epistle to the Romans (New York, 1903), 6, 18, 109 sqq.

James F. Driscoll. Fromotio per Saltum. See Orders, Holy.

Promotor Fidei (Promoter of the Faith), an official of the Roman Congregation of Rites. The office was created bj- Clement XI, 7 .\pril, 1708. In earlier times the work now undertaken by the Promotor Fidei was entrusted to the Promotor Fis- calis or some consistorial advocate. The Promotor Fidei is also an official of the Congregation of Indul- gences and Sacred Relics, but his main duty is per- formed in the processes of beatification and canoniza- tion, which are conducted by the Congregation of Rites. It is the special care of the Promoter of the Faith to prevent any rash decisions concerning mir- acles or virtues of the candidates for the honours of the altar. All documents of beat ification and canonization processes must be submitted to his examination, and the difficulties and doubts he raises over the virtues and miracles are laid before the congregation and must be satisfactorily answered before any further steps can be taken in the processes. It is his duty to suggest natural explanations for alleged miracles, and even to bring forward human and selfish motives for deeds that have been accounted heroic virtues. For the examination of witnesses outside of Rome, the promoter formulates the questions and he has the power to appoint sub-promoters to assist him. All the processes for beatification and canonization must be submitted to the promoter imder pain of nullity. Owing to his peculiar duty of antagonizing the proofs put forward on behalf of persons proposed for saintly honours, the Promoter of the Faith is commonly re- ferred to, half jocoselv, as the devil's advocate.

Hilling, Procedure at 'the Roman Curia (New York, 1907); Baart, The Roman Court (New York, 1895).

William H. W. Fanning.

Promulgation (Lat. promulgare, to make known, to post in pubhc).

I. Promulg.\tion in General. — This is the act by which the legislative power makes legislative enact- ments known to the authorities entrusted with their execution and to the subjects bound to observe them. Philosophically it is a matter of dispute whether pro- mulgation is of the essence of a law. It seems indis- putable that the essential element of a law is the will of the legislator, but it is clear that the legislator should make known his will and intention in one way or another. This manifestation is the promulgation of the law, which is not necessarily distinct from the very elaboration of the law, provided that this takes place by external acts — such as the vote of a legisla- tive assembly or by royal sanction. Such is the prac- tice observed in England and in most of the states of the American Union, but, as it was thought too severe, the legislation of various countries requires the pro- mulgation of laws by a special formal act, through which the texi of the law is made known to the com- munity, e. g. by publication of this text in an official journal or bulletin of the Government. Previous to this publication the law does not take effect. The promulgation of a law must not be confounded with its publication, the object of the first being to make known the will of the legislator, of the second to spread the knowledge of legislative enactments among subjects bound to observe them.

II. Promulgation in Canon Law. — The Church has long exacted the promulgation of a law by a special act of the authorities; "Leges instituuntur quum pro-

mulgantur", a law is not really a law until it has been made known, says Gratian (Decretum Gratiani, pt. I, c. 3, dist. VII). However, no special form is pre- scribed for acts of ecclesiastical authorities inferior to the pope, even synodal decrees being considered suffi- ciently promulgated by being read in the synod. The Constitution " Promulgandi " of Pius X (29 Septem- ber, 1908) determined the ordinary method of pro- mulgating pontifical laws, namely by the insertion of the text of the law in the ".Acta .\postoUcs Sedis" (the official publication of the Holy See), after this insertion has been ordered by the secretary or the supreme authority of the congregation or the office through the medium of which the pope has passed the law. .\ regulation of .5 .January, 1910, di\ndes the official bulletin of the Holy See into two parts: in the first or official part, should be inserted all docu- ments requiring promulgation to have the force of law; the second merely serves to illustrate and sup- plement the first (.\ct a Apost. Sedis, 1910, p. 37). How- ever, the pope explicitly reserves the right to deter- mine in exceptional cases another method of promulga- tion. Prior to this law two systems had been chiefly in use in the Church — provincial promulgation, until the end of the thirteenth century, and Roman pro- mulgation. During the first period promulgation often took place in the different ecclesiastical prov- inces either through special envoys or through the bishops. Nevertheless it is also a fact that laws binding in one province were also binding in others. During the second period the custom, which be- came exclusive during the fifteenth century, devel- oped of having the new laws read and posted up by cursores at Rome only, at the doors of the great basilicas, the Palazzo Cancellaria, the Campo de' fiori, and sometimes at the Capitol. The value of this means of promulgation was disinited in modern times; .some claimed that the Church had admitted the arrangements of Novels 1x\t and cxvi of Justinian, which required pro\nncial promulgation for some laws; others maintained that in theory publication at Rome was sufficient, but that the popes did not wish to bind the faithful before the laws were made known to them by the bishops; while others appealed to ancient cus- toms, to which the pope should conform. This last theory, made use of by the GalUcans and Febronian- ists, furnished the State with a pretext for preventing the promulgation of laws which it did not like. A special method of promulgation was also introduced with the ex-press or tacit consent of the Holy See for the decrees of congregations; they were published at the secretariate of the dicasteries from which they emanated.

Zaccaria, De varia cedes, prmsertim laiincc in promulgandis sacris constituiionibus disciplina in De rebus ad historiam atque antiquitates ecclesiee pertinentibus dissertationcs latiruc, II (Ful- ginia, 1781), xi; Bonx, De principiis juris canonici (Paris, 1852), 196 sq.; BouQriLLON, Theol. moral, fundamentalis (Brussels, 1890), 270 sq.; Creagh, The Promulgation of Pontifical Law in Cath. Unir. Bull.. XV (Washington, 1909), 23 sq.; Simiee, La promulgation des lois ecctes. in Revue augustinienne, XV (Louvain,

1909), 154 sq. A. Van Hove.

Pro Nuncio. See Ntjncio.

Proof, the establishment of a disputed or contro- verted matter by lawful means or arguments. Proof is the result of e\-idence; evidence is the medium of proof. There is no proof without e\ndence, but there may be evidence without proof. Proof is judicial, if offered in court; otherwise it is extra-judicial. Proof is perfect, or complete, when it produces full con- viction, and enables the judge without further in- vestigation to pronounce sentence: imperfect, or in- complete, if it begets probability only. Canonists enumerate six kinds of perfect proof; the unshaken de- position of two witnesses, who are above all suspicion; a public document, or other instrument having the force of a public document, as, for instance, a certified copy of a public instrument; conclusive presumption