Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/622

 PUBLIC

554

PUEBLO

them as a class habitually coupled with "sinners" and the "heathen". The attitude of Christ towards this, as well as other despised classes, was that of an upUfting sympathy. One great reproach cast upon Him by HIs enemies, the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees, was His friendship for, and association with pubhcans and sinners; and consistently with this conduct it pleased Him to choose as one of the twelve Apostles Levi or Matthew the Publican (Matt., ix, 9).

M.U.3, Comment, of Gospel of St. Matthew (New York, 1898); Dietrich, Die rechtliche Natur der Societas pubticanorum (Meis- sen, 18S9) ; Thibault, Les douanes chez les Remains (Paris, ISSS).

Jambs F. Dbiscoll.

Public Honesty (Decexct), a diriment matri- monial impediment consisting in a relationship, which arises from a valid betrothal, or from a marriage ap- proved by the Church but not consummated. Mar- riage between the persons affected by this impediment, as described below, is null; were it possible for them to marry they might be exposed to incontinency, owing particularly to their intimacy and familiar intercourse.

Traces of this impediment are found under another name in Roman law, since according to Modestinus (D. XXIII, ii, 42, De ritu nuptiarum) not only what is lawful, but likewise what is eminently fitting, is to be observed in entering into wedlock. Hence in Roman law affinity arising from a valid marriage, whether consummated or not, constituted a diriment impediment between the affined in all degrees through- out the direct line, and to the second degree (civil method of computing) in the indirect or oblique hne. Moreover, there was a quasi-affinity, which, for the safeguarding of public morals, rendered matrimony null and void: (1) between a man and his stepdaughter or between a woman and her stepson; (2) between a woman and the son or father of her betrothed, and conversely between a man and the daughter or mother of his affianced (D. XXIII, ii, 12 and U); (3) lastly, between persons affined through concubinage (loc. cit., 14; and D. XXXVHI, X, 7).

The Church, imitating tliis legislation, admits an impediment, which, in her estimation, is required by public decency or good morals. In canon law carnal intercourse, licit or otherwise, is the principle of affinity; in Roman law, it is valid marriage, whether consummated or not. Public honesty then coin- cides at times with the affinity of the Romans, at times with their quasi-affinity. The institution of this impediment is sometimes attributed, but wrongly, to Boniface VIII. It doubtless owes its existence not to a positive law, but to custom, and probably dates back to the twelfth century (Berardi, III, diss. II, cap. iii). Canons xi, xiv, xv (Caus. II, Q. ii) in Gratian's Decretum, indicating an earlier existence of this impediment, are apocryphal (Gasparri, "De Matrimonio", n. 801).

According to our present legislation (Trent, Sess. XXIV, cap. iii, De Ref. Matr.) the impediment of public honesty arises from a valid betrothal be- tween the male party to the contract and the blood relatives of the woman in the first degree (mother, daughter, sister), and conversely between the woman and the blood relatives of the man in the same degree (father, son, brother). Once existing, the impediment sUways remains, even though the betrothal is lawfully broken (see Betrothal). It is to be noted that be- trothal, to be valid, must now ("Ne temere" of Pius X) be in writing, signed by the contracting parties and by the ordinary, or a parish priest within his own territory, or two witnesses. If one or the other of the contracting parties is unable to write, an additional witness is required. If the betrothal is conditional, the impediment does not arise till the condition is verified.

Second, this impediment, for a stronger reason, is

begotten by a marriage contract, not perfected by carnal relations — and this, too, though the marriage be invalid, unless the invaliditj' be due to lack of lawful consent. By carnal intercourse pubUc decency gives way to affinity, and, though some deny this, all admit that in a petition for a dispensation it is suffi- cient to express the impediment of affinity, while pub- he decency, if it still e.\ist, is understood.

A civU marriage does not give rise to this impedi- ment (S. C. C, 17 March, 1879), nor does pubUc de- cency beget a second impediment prejudicial to a former betrothal; namely, a betrothal or marriage (unless consummated) with the mother, sister, or daughter of an affianced person does not prohibit the keeping of one's troth to the said person. Since the impediment of public decency is of ecclesiastical origin, it follows that the Church may dispense from it, and that it does not affect unbaptized persons, even though later they become Christians. A dispensa- tion from "Disparity of Worship" includes one in public decency, where the baptized party requires such. Finally it is apparent that this impediment may be multiphed in the same person, as, for instance, if one were to enter into betrothal with several women related by blood in the first degree.

Gasparbi, De Matrimonio (Paris, 1904) ; Slater, A Manual of Moral Theology, II (New York, 1908), 306; and all manuals of canon law,

A. B. Meehan. Public Schools. See Schools. Puebla, Archdiocese of. See Ti-axcala.

Pueblo Indians. — Name: From the Spanish word meaning "village" or "town". A term used collec- tively to designate those Indians of central New Mexico and north-east Arizona, of sedentary and agri- cultural habits and dwelling in permanent communal stone-built or adobe houses, as distinguished from the surrounding tribes of ruder culture and roving habit. The name is strictly a cultural designation, without linguistic or proper tribal significance, although in former times each group of pueblos speaking the same language or dialect appears to have constituted a loose confederacy, or "province" as termed by the Spaniards,

Divisions and Languages: The ancient area of Pueblo culture, as indicated by the numerous prehis- toric ruins, extended from about the Arkansas and Grand rivers, in Colorado and Utali, southward in- definitely into Mexico, and from about central Ari- zona eastward almost across the Texas Panliandle. This area seems to have been giadually narrowed donNTi by pressure of the invading wild tribes from the north and east: Apache, Navaho, I'te, and Comanche — and by the slow drying up of the country, until at the beginning of the historic period in 1540 the Pueblo population centred chiefly on the upper Pecos and Rio Grande and about Zuni in New Mexico, and upon the Hopi mesas in north-east Arizona, The in- habited pueblos at that date probably numbered close to one hundred, with an approximate population not far from 50,000, as against 25 now occupied, with a tot.al population in 1910 of 11,153. This does not in- clude tlie two small Americanized pueblos of Isleta del Sur (Texas) and Sonecii (Mexico), in the immediate neighbourhood of El Paso, which might bring the total up to a few more than 11,200 souls. With the exception of these two, all but the seven Hopi pueblos (including Hano) are in New Mexico, In all, there were represented seven languages of four distinct linguistic stocks, classified as follows: Tanoan Stock:

la. Tewa group ("Teguas province") 1910 a, d.

1 Hano (with Hopi, Arizona). about 125

2 Nambe about 95

3 Pojoaque (recently extinct)

4 San Ildefonso 110