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 PROPAGANDA

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PROPAGANDA

from the beginning or because it was never consum- mated. The procedure in such cases is as simple as it is practical: Propaganda having been appealed to by one party, directs the local episcopal court to hold a canonical trial and to report its results to the congregation, it being understood that both parties, defendant and plaintiff, may protect themselves by legal counsel at their own expense. UTien the con- gregation has received the record of the local court, it transmits the same to a consultor with a request for his opinion on the objective status of the ques- tion at issue (pro rei veritale). If the opinion be in favour of the nullitj' or of the non-consummation of the marriage, then the record, together with the opinion of the consultor, is sent on to a second con- sultor (pro vinculi defensione), whose duty it is to set forth the grounds, more or less conclusive, that can be adduced in favoiu' of the validity, or con- summation, of the marriage, and therefore of its indissolubility. The local record and the opinions of the consultors (ponenza) are then printed in as many copies as there are cardinal-judges in the con- gregation. This printed ponenza is sent to each of these cardinals (the printed document is held to be secret, being looked on as manuscript) that they may examine the matter. One of them (cardinale po- nenie) is selected to summarize the entire case, and to him are finally turned over the local record and the opinions of the consultors, with the obliga- tion of reporting on the case at the next General Congregation. At this meeting, the cardinals, after mature discussion, pronounce judgment. Their decision is immediately submitted to the pope, who ratifies it, if he sees fit, and orders the proper decree to be issued.

It should be added that all these proceedings are absolutely without expense to the litigants (gratis quocumque litulo), i. e. no one is ever called on for any payment to the congregation because or on ac- count of any favour or decision. Thus, the wealth- iest Catholic in America, Great Britain, Holland, or Germany, who has brought a matrimonial case before Propaganda, pays literally nothing, whatever the judgment may be. There are no chancery expenses, and nothing is collected even for the printing of the diocesan records, consultors' opinions, etc. This fact shows how absvu-d are certain calumnies uttered against the Holy See, especially in connexion with matrimonial cases, as though the annulment of a marriage could be procured at Rome by the use of money. Were such the purpose of the Roman Curia, it would not exempt the richest countries of the world — those precisely in which it is easiest for per- sons of opulence to institute legal proceedings — from any expense, great or small, direct or indirect.

VI. In'cidental Fe.\tures. — Propaganda for- merly possessed a valuable museum, the Museo Bor- giano (situated in the palace), so called because it was given by Cardinal Stefano Borgia, who was general prefect early in the eighteenth century. It once contained precious Oriental codices, es- pecially Sahidic (Coptic of the Thebaid) now preserved with other Coptic codices in the Vatican Li- brary, for the greater convenience of students. It pos- sesses at the present time an important cabinet of medals and many ethnological curiosities sent as gifts by missionaries in far distant lands, and scattered through the Palace of Propaganda are many valuable paintings of the old masters. Propaganda also conducted, until within recent years, the famous Polyglot printing press whence, for some centuries, issued liturgical and catechetical books, printed in a multitude of alphabets. Among its most note- worthy curios is a Japanese alphabet in wooden blocks, one of the first seen in Europe. The Prop- aganda Press is.sued, among other publications, an official statistical annual of the missions conducted

by the congregation (Missiones Cathohcse cura S. Congreg. de Propaganda Fide descriptae), as well as the "Collectanea", a serial record of pontifical acts relating to the business of the congregation. In 1884 the Itahan Government Uquidated the real estate of Propaganda, leaving it onh- its palace, the neigh- bouring MignanelU palace for the use of its schools, its printing press, and two villas used as summer resorts for the students of the Urban College.

One of the customs of Propaganda, worthy of special mention, is the gift of a fan to all employees at the beginning of the summer. This custom ap- pears to have arisen in the early days, when fans were sent from China by the missionaries. It is cus- tomary for the Urban College to hold, at Epiphany, a solemn ''Accademia Polyglotta", to symbohze the world-wide unity of the Catholic Church. At this accademia the Propaganda students recite poems in their respective mother tongues. Invited guests always find it verj' interesting to listen to this medley of the strangest languages and dialects. Another custom of the Urban College is that every graduate student (alumno), wherever he may be in the pursuit of his ministry, is bound to write every year a letter to the cardinal prefect, to let him know how the writer's work is progressing and how he fares himself. The cardinal answers immediately, in a letter of paternal encouragement and counsel. By tliis means there ia maintained a bond of affection and of mutual good- will between the "great mother" — as the "Prop- agandists", or the alumni of Propaganda, designate the congregation — and her most distant sons.

The names of many distinguished persons appear in the records of Propaganda, notably in the catalogue of its cardinals, prelates, and officials. Among the cardinal prefects entitled to special mention are the following: Giuseppe Sagripanti (d. 1727), a meri- torious reformer of Roman judicial procedure; the very learned Barnabite Sigismondo Gerdil (d. 1802); Stefano Borgia, patron of Oriental studies, protector of the savant Zoega (d. 1804); Ercole Consalvi (d. 1824), the great diplomatist, Secretarj' of State to Pius VII, at whose death he was made prefect gen- eral of Propaganda b}' Leo XII; Mauro CappeUari, later Gregory XVI, who was prefect general from 1826 to his election as pope (1831). Among the General Secretaries (who usually become cardinals) the fol- lowing are particularly worthy of special mention: Domenico Passionei, created cardinal in 1738; Xicold Fortiguerra, a distinguished man of letters (d. 1739); the erudite Angelo Mai, secretary from 1833 to 1838. The fist of missionaries sent forth by Propaganda has been long and glorious, containing the names of many martjTs. The protomartyr of Propaganda is St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a German Capuchin missionary in Grisons, Switzerland. The Cahinists killed him in the village of Sercis, 24 April, 1622. He was canonized by Benedict XIV in 1746. Propaganda holds at all times a grateful memory of the Discalced Carmelites. It was they who vigorously urged the Holy See to found the congregation, foremost among them being Domenico di Gesil e Maria, general of the order. In the original act of its foundation he appears as a member. Tommaso da Gesil, another CarmeUte, opportunely published in 1613, at Antwerp, a Latin work on the obhgation of preaching the Gospel to all nations.

Many authors have treated of Propaganda verj' inaccurately, and have confused the ancient and recent systems of adminis- tration. The most rehable of the earUer writers are: De Luca, II Cardinale Pratico: CoHNEUrs. Informazioni intomo al Cardinalalo (Rome. 1653); Beter and Menzel, Breve com- pendium hist. S. Congr. de Prop. Fide (Konigsberg, 1721); Pollard, Le.s ministres eccUsiastiques du S. Sitge (Lyons, 1878); Lega, Praleciiones in textum juris canonici (Rome, 1898); .Anon., La Propaganda e la conrersione de' suoi beni imnwhili (Rome. 1884): Humphrey, Urbs et Orbis (London. 1899), 380- 3«0. Cf. also Meyer. Die Propaganda, ihre Provitizen und ihr Recht; Bangen, Die rimische Curie (MOnster, 1854) ; Peipeb in