Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/536

 PROPERTY

470

PROPERTY

occasion of scandal. In particular any refusal of the sacraments to the sick and dj'ing on the ground of a neglect to contribute to the support of the mission is severely condemned. So also are certain unseemly methods of soliciting alms, as for example when the priest quits the altar during the celebration of Mass to go round the church to make the collection himself or when promises of Masses and other spiritual favours in return for contributions are conspicuously made in the advertisement sheets of public journals or when the names of particular singers are placarded as soloists in the music performed at liturgical func- tions (cf. Laurentius,«" Juris eccles. inst.", 640). In the past certain definite forms of alms were recognized as the ordinary sources through w-hich the possessions of the Church were acquired. A word may be said upon some of the more noteworthy of these.

(1) Firstfruits. — The oiTering of firstfruits which we meet in the Old Testament (Ex., xxiii, 16; xxxiv, 22; Deut., xx\'i, 1-11) seems to have been taken over as a traditional means of contributing to the support of the pastors of the Church by the early Christians. It is mentioned in the "Didache", the "Didascalia", "ApostoUc Constitutions", etc., but though for a while it was customary to make some similar contributions in kind at the Offertory of the Mass (a late mention may be found in the Council of Trullo in Mansi, "Concilia", XI, 9.56) still the prac- tice gradually fell into disuse or took some other form, e. g. that of tithes, more particularly perhaps the "small tithes", sometimes kiown as "altalage".

(2) Tithes. — This also was an Old-Testament or- dinance (see Deut., xiv, 22-7) which many believe to have been identical in origin with firstfruits. Like the latter due, tithes were probably taken over by the early Christian Church at least in some districts, e. g. SjTia. The}' are mentioned in the "Didascalia" and the "Apostolic Constitutions", but there is very little to show that the payment was at first re- garded as of strict obligation. Still less can we be certain that there was continuity between the usage referred to in the Eastern Church of the fourth cen- tury and the institution which, as already mentioned above, we find described bv the Council of Macon in 585. (See Tithes.)

(3) Dues, rather ill-defined and still imper- fectly understood, which were known to the Anglo- Saxons as "church-shot". We meet them first in the laws of King Ine in 693, but they continued through- out all the Anglo-Saxon period and later. This is commonly considered to have been a contribution not paid according to the wealth and quality of the person paying it, but according to the value of the house in which he was living in the winter and iden- tical with the see dues {cathedraticum) of a later age (see Kemble, "Saxons in England", II, 559 sq.). Other dues equally difficult to identify with exact- ness were the "light-shot" and the "soul-shot". Thus we find among the canons passed at E>iisham in 1009 such an ordinance as the following: "Let God's rights be paid every year duly and carefully, i. e. plough-alms 15 nights after Easter, tithe of young by Pentecost and of all fruits of the earth by All Hallows Mass (Nov. 1). And the Rome-fee by Peter's Mass (Aug. 1). And the Church-shot at St." Martins Mass (Nov. 11) and light -shot thrice a year, and it is most just that the men pay the soul-shot at the open grave."

(4) Funeral Dues. — The last-mentioned contri- bution of "soul-shot", the precise signification of which is imperfectly understood, is tj-pical of a form of offering which at many different epochs has been a recognized source of income to the Church. Even if we look upon the pavments to certain clerks pre- scribed by Justinian (Novel., lix) as a fee for a ma- terial service rendered, rather than an offering to the Church, still from the time of the Council of Braga

(can. xxi in Mansi, IX, 779) in 563, such money con- tributions though quite voluntary were constantly made in connexion with funerals. In medieval Eng- land the mortuary in the case of a person of knightly dignity commonly took the form of his war-horse with all its trappings. The horse was led up the church at the Offertory and presented at the altar rails. No doubt it was afterwards sold or redeemed for a money paj-ment.

(5) Ordiimtion Dues and other Offerings in con- nexion unth the Sacrameitts. — Just as it is recognized that Mass stipends, supposing the conditions to be observed which custom and ecclesiastical authority prescribe, may be accepted without simony, so at almost all periods of the Church's history offerings have been made in connexion with the administration of the sacraments. One of the commonest of these was the payment made to a bishop by the newly- ordained at the time of ordination. Though in the end prohibited by the Council of Trent (Sess. XXI, de ref., cap. i), such offerings had been customary from quite early ages. In some localities a payment was made at the time of the annual confession, but the dangers of abuse in this case were obvious and many sj-nods condemned the practice. Less difficulty was felt in the case of baptism and matrimony and the exaction of such dues from those who can afford it may almost be described as general in the Church.

(6) Investments and Latided Property. — But the most substantial source of revenue, and one that in \'iew of the precarious nature of all other offerings may be considered as necessary to the Church's well-being, is land, or in more modern times invest- ments bearing interest. Even before the toleration edict of Milan (313), it is clear from the restitu-

■ tion there spoken of that the Chm-ch must have owned considerable landed possessions, and from that time forward donations and legacies of property yielding annual revenues naturally multiplied. As already pointed out, the Church's right to receive such donations whether by mil or i7iter fives was re- peatedly acknowledged and confirmed. In medieval England it was usual by way of symbolical investiture, by which possession was given to the Church, to lay some material object upon the altar, for example a book, or parchment deed, or a ring, or most frequently of all a knife. This knife was often broken by the donor before it was laid upon the altar (see Reichel, "Church and Church Endowments" in "Transactions of the Devonshire Association", XXXIX, 1907, 377-81).

The modern exponents of the canon law, basing their teaching on the pronouncements of the Holy See and the decrees of provincial synods, lay great stress upon the principle that the offerings of the faithful are to be expended according to the intention of the donors. They also insist that where that in- tention is not clearly made known certain reasonable presumptions must be followed; for example in mis- sionary centres where a church has not yet been built and organized donations are presumed to be made in view of the ultimate erection of such a church. So again money given at the Offertory in any quasi- parochial church, or collected by the faithful from house to house is not to be considered as a personal gift to the priest in charge but as intended for the sup- port of the mis.sion. Certain difficult questions which arise with regard to such contributions of the faithful in places where parochial duties are under- taken by the religious orders are legislated for in the Constitution "Romanos pontifices" (q. v.) of Leo XIII, 8 May, 1881.

Foundations. — By these are understood a transfer- ence of property to the Church or to some particular ecclesiastical institutein view of some service or work to be done cither perpetually or for a long t ime. They are not valid until they are formally accepted, and for