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 PROPAGANDA

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PROPAGANDA

evidence will be admitted after the judge has closed the case. This general rule is not applied when the validity of a marriage is in question; in criminal cases, in which every opportunity of defence is given the accused; and occasionally in other trials, where further testimony is considered necessary or new evidence has been discovered.

Entry of Evidence. — Evidence must be presented to the judge or other person commissioned to receive it. It must be written down by the clerk in the acts or minutes of the trial : date of presentation of documents is noted on the documents themselves and attested by the signature of the clerk. Evidence in rebuttal, effected by witnesses, documents, or otherwise, must be admitted, the final word in criminal actions being given to the defendant.

Comparison of Proofs. — It belongs to the judge to sift the depositions of witnesses or other proof and to determine the relative value of conflicting evidence. He must consider not merely the respective number of witnesses but their qualifications, intellectual and moral, their knowledge of the facts at issue, and so on. The stronger proof must prevail, and when proof is equally divided, the accused or possessor must be favoured, except in privileged cases (see Examination, Examination of Witnesses).

Decret. Greg. IX, 1. II, tit. 18 sqq.: T.^CNTON. Law of the Church, 3. V. Proof; Droste-Messmek, Canonical Procedure, etc., ii; Santi, Prtrlcctiones Juris Can., 1. II. tit. IS sqq.

Andrew B. Meehan.

Propaganda, Sacred Congregation op. — The Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, whose official title is "sacra Congregatio christiano nomini propagando" is the department of the pontifical ad- ministration charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries. The intrinsic importance of its duties and the extraordinarj' extent of its authority and of the territory under its jurisdiction have caused the cardinal prefect of Propaganda to be known as the "red pope".

I. History. — A. First Period. — Its establishment at Rome in the seventeenth cenfurj' was owing partly to the necessity of communicating with new countries then recently discovered, and partly to the new system of government by congregations adopted during the Counter-Reformation. It is well known that, during this period, the defence and propagation of Catholicism suggested to the Holy See tlie establishment of a complete system of administrative departments, to each of which was assigned some special branch of Catholic interests. The propagation of the Faith was a matter of such vital importance as to demand for its work an entire congregation. The reconquest for the Church of the lands severed from it was not of greater impor- tance than the evangelization of the vast regions then being explored by courageous adventures. America, Africa, the Far East, opened up new lands, new peoples, new conquests; the Church, conscious of her natural mission to evangelize the world, felt obliged to act and to act quickly, especially as Holland and England, while stri\Tng eagerly for commerce and colonial expansion, were also bent upon spreading everywhere the doctrines of Protestantism.

The origin of the Sacred Congregation of Prop- aganda has been variously accounted for; in reality it is the result of slow evolution. It is certain that it passed through two distinct periods, one formative and the other constitutive. The first period is that of the cardinalitial commission de propaganda fiiie (before it had been constituted a definite pontifical department or ministry). This lasted from the time of Gregory XIII (1572-8.5) to 1622, when Gregory XV established the congregation properly so-called. Gregory Xlll instituted a [)riniary commission com- posed of the three cardinals, CaralTa, Medici, and

Santorio, who were especially charged to promote the union with Rome of the Oriental Christians (Slavs, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, and Abyssinians). Their meetings, held under the presidency of Cardinal Santorio, known as the Cardinal of Santa Severina, revealed certain urgent practical needs — e. g. the foundation of foreign seminaries, the printing of catechisms and similar works in many languages. Its efforts were successful among the Ruthenians, the Armenians, SjTians, both Western (as those of the Lebanon) and Eastern (as those of Malabar). After the death of Gregory XIII the rapid succession of four popes in seven years arrested the progress of the commission's work". Clement VHI (1592-1605), a pontiff of large and bold aims, was deeply interested in the commission, and caused its first meeting after his election to be held in his presence. He retained Santorio as its president: weekly meetings were held in that cardinal's palace, and every fifteen days the decisions and recommendations of the commission were referred to the pontiff. To this period belongs a ver\' notable triumph, the union with Rome of the Ruthenian nation (the Little Russia of Poland) called the Union of Brest (1.59S).

B. Second Period.— The death of Clement VIII revealed an essential weakness of the institution. It was a personal commission, depending for its very existence on the energy of its few members. Even- tually the meetings of the three cardinals ceased; at the same time an active propagation of the Catholic Faith was kept up among both Protestants and non- Christians. The practical demise of the commission made evident the necessity of providing for its per- manence. The honour of accomplishing this be- longs to Gregory XV (1621-23). On 6 Jan., 1622, the pope summoned thirteen cardinals and two prel- ates, to whom he announced his intention of con- stituting a permanent and well-organized congrega- tion for the propagation of Cathohcism, and his hearers were appointed members of the congrega- tion. The preliminaries of organization were dili- gently carried on; on 22 June of the same year ap- peared the Bull " Inscrutabili Di%-inje", by which the Sacred Congregation de propaganda fide was in- stituted, composed of thirteen cardinals and two prel- ates, to whom were added a secretary and a con- suitor. Its first presidents were Cardinal Sauli, dean of the Sacred College, and Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of the pope and founder of the Irish College at Rome. On the same day provision was made for the support of the congregation by the Con- stitution "Romanum Decet". It assigned to Prop- aganda the tassa dcW anello (ring -tax) assessed on each newly appointed cardinal (500 gold scudi, later 600 silver scudi). On 14 Dec. of the same year was published the Constitution "Cum Inter Multi- pUces", and on 13 June, 1623, another Constitution, "Cum Nuper", both of which conferred on the congre- gation ample privileges and immunities in order to facilitate and accelerate its labours. WTien the financial management increased in importance, the jiope ordered that each of the thirteen cardinals should direct it in turn; at a later date a single car- dinal was placed at the head of the financial depart- ment. The death of Gregory XV (1624) prevented the founder of the congregation from completing its organization; happily, his successor, L^rban VIII (1623-44), was Cardinal Barberini, one of the orig- inal thirteen members of the congregation.

After the death of Cardinals Sauli and Ludovisi, Urban VIII directed that there should be but one prefect general of the congregation, and nominated to the office his brother. Cardinal .\ntonio Barberini (29 Dec, 1632). At the same time he appointed his nephew, a second Cardinal .\ntonio Barberini, as the auxiliary of the preceding, and later made him his successor. These two open the series of prefects