Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/811

 TISSOT

741

TITHES

snv. The North Italian Painters of the Renaissance (New York,

1W)7).

Louis Gillet.

Tissot, James (Joseph-Jacques), French draughts- man and painter, b. at Nantes, 15 Oct., 1836; d. at Huillon, Department of Doubs, 3 Aug., 1902. He studied at Paris at the Academy of Fine Arts and in tlie atehers of Ingres and Flandrin. During this inriod of his career he became well acquainted with I he darker side of the moral and political life of the rity. The first paintings that he exhibited at the ,-alon attracted great attention, especially the one picturing the meeting of Faust and Gretchen, now in the Luxemburg Museum. When the Commune came into power Tissot fled to England for fear of coming into conflict with the Government on account of the political intrigues of his brother. In England he gained a reputation as a portrait and genre painter. Tissot, however, was more of an illustrator than a painter, as is shown in the brilliant series of water- colours, "La femme a Paris", in which in careful, cor- rect work done with much dash he lashed the follies of modern Parisian life. Later he issued a similar series of aquarelles on high life in London. The picture of the former of these series entitled "La ferame qui chante dans I'eglise" obliged him to go repeatedly to church during the service, and this suggested to him the concept ion of the picture, "Christ .\]ipears to Con- sole two Unfortunates in a Ruin". With this last- mentioned work a new epoch began in the life of the painter and, in the course of time, of the man. The figure of Christ had so attracted him that he was never afterwards able to put it out of his mind. He went to Palestine where he spent a year in the most careful geographical and ethnographical studies. After this he spent ten years in preparing the large number of aquarelles that compose his "Life of Christ". The absolutely modern conception of this work shows a complete break with the past. The work was entitled "La vie de notre Seigneur Jesus- Christ, 86.5 compositions d'aprcs Ics quatres evangiles, avec des notes et des dessins explicativs, par James Tissot" (Tours, 1896). The price was high, .5(X)0 francs for the edition on Japanese paper, and 1.500 francs for that on vellum. A cheaper popular edi- tion in English was issued later. Tissot also designed a series of illustrations for the Old Testament, which, however, are not as fine as the earlier ones. The aquarelles on the New Testament have been called "a revolution in rehgious art".

Beda Kleinschmidt.

Tithes (.Vnglo-Saxon, leotha, a tenth), generally de- fined as "the tenth part of the increase arising from the profits of land and stock, allotted to the cicrgj' for their support or devoted to religious or charitable uses". A more radical definition is "the tenth part of all fruits and profits justly acquired, owed to God in recognition of his supreme dominion over man, and to be paid to the ministers of the church". The cus- tom of giving tithes reaches back into unknown an- tiquity. It is mentioned in Gen., xiv, without any- thing to indicate that it was somethmg newly insti- tuted. Just .-us .\braham is there represented a.s offer- ing tithes of the spoils of the enemy to the royal priest, Melchisedech, so in Gen., xxviii, Jacob is recorded as giving a tithe of all his possessions to the Lord. Under the Mosaic Law the payment of tithes was made ob- ligatory. The Hebrews are commanded to offer to God the tenth part of the produce of the fields, of the fruits of the trees, and of the firstborn of oxen and of sheep (Lev., xxvii, 30; Deut., xiv, 22). In Deuteron- omy there is mention not only of an annual tithe, but also of a full tithe to be paid once everj' three years. While it wa-s to God Him.self that the tithes had to be paid, yet we read (Num., xviii, 21) that Me transfers them to His sacred ministers: "I have given to the

sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession, for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the taber- nacle of the covenant." In paymg the tithe, the Hebrews divided the annual harvest into ten parts, one of which was given to the Levites after the first- fruits had been subtracted. This was partitioned by them among the priests. The remainder of the har- vest was then divided into ten new parts, and a sec- ond tithe was carried by the head of the household to the sanctuary to serve as a sacred feast for his family and the Levites.

If the journey to the temple was unusually long, money could be substituted for the otfering in kind. At the triennial tithe, a third decimation wa.'; made and a tenth part was consumed at home by the house- holder with his family, the Levites, strangers, and the poor. This triennial year was called the year of tithes (Deut., xxvi, 12). As the tithes were the main support of the priests, it was later ordained that the offerings should be stored in the temple (II Par., xxxi, 11). It is to be noted that the custom of paying sacred tithes was not peculiar to the Israelites, but common to all ancient peoples. In Lydia a tithe of cattle was offered to the gods; the Arabians paid a tithe of incense to the god Sabis; and the Carthagin- ians brought tithes to Melkarth, the god of Tyre. The explanation of why the tenth part should have been chosen among so many different peoples is said to be (apart from a common primitive revelation) that mystical signification of the number ten, viz., that it signifies totality, for it contains all the numbers that make up the numerical .system, and indeed all imagin- able series of numbers, and so it represents all kinds of property, which is a gift of God. All species of prop- erty were consequently reckoned in decades, and by consecrating one of these parts to God, the proprietor recognized the Source of his goods. However, the payment of tithes was also a civil custom. They were payable t« the Hebrew kings and to the rulers of Babylon, and they are mentioncfl among the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and later the Mohammedans.

In the Christian Church, as those who serve the altar should live by the altar (I Cor., ix, 13), provision of some kind had necessarily to be made for the sacred ministers. In the beginning this was supplied by the spontaneous offerings of the faithful. In the course of time, however, as the Church ex-panded and various institutions arose, it became necessary to make laws which would insure the proper and permanent support of the clergv". The payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law, and early writers speak of it as a divine ortlinance and an obligation of conscience. The earliest positive legislation on the subject seems to be contained in the letter of the bishops assembled at Tours in .567 and the canons of the Council of Macon in .58.5. In course of time, we find the paj'ment of tithes made obligator}' by ecclesiastical enactments in all the cimntries of chri.stendom. The Church looked on this payment as "of divine law, since tithes were instituted not by man but by the Lord Himself" (C. 14, X de decim. Ill, 30). As regards the civil power, the Christian Roman emperors granted the right to churches of retaining a portion of the produce of certain lands, but the earliest instance of the en- forcement of the payment of ecclesiastical tithes by civil law is to be found in the capitularies of Charle- magne, at the end of the eighth centurj-. English law ver>' early recognized the tithe, as in the reigns of Athelst.an, Edgar, and Canute before the Norman Conquest. In English statute l.iw jiroiier, however, the first mention of tithes is to be found in the Statute of Westminster of 128.5. Tithes are of three kinds: predial, or that derived from the annual crops; mixed, or what arises from things nourished by the l.and, as cattle, milk, cheese, wool; and personal, or the result of industry or occupation. Predial tithes were gen- erally calied great tithes, and mixed and personal