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 CHURCH

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CHURCH

spiritual. Even when the jurisdiction of the Church involves the use of temporal means and affects tem- poral interests, it does not detract from the due authority of the State. If difficulties arise, they arise, not by the necessity of the case, but from some extrinsic reason. In the course of history, occasions have doubtless arisen, when ecclesiastical authorities have grasped at power which by right belonged to the State, and, more often still, when the State has endeavoured to arrogate to itself spiritual jurisdic- tion. This, however, does not show the system to be at fault, but merely that human perversity can abuse it. So far, indeed, is it from being true that the Church's claims render government impossible, thai the contrary is the case. By determining the just limits of liberty of conscience, they are a defence to the State. Where the authority of the Church is not recognized, any enthusiast may elevate the vaga- ries of his own caprice into a Divine command, and may claim to reject the authority of the civil ruler on the plea that he must obey God and not man. The history of John of Leyden and of many another self-styled prophet will afford examples in point. The Church bids her members see in the civil power "the minister of God", and 'never justifies disobe- dience, except in those rare cases when the State openly violates the natural or the revealed law. (See Civil Allegiance.)

Among the writings of the Fathers, the following are the

principal works which bear on the doctrine of the Church:

St. Iren.f.i -s. Adv. Hareses in P. (7., VII; Tertullian, De

Pnesarvptionibus in P. I... II; St. Cyprian, De Unitale Eccle-

\it in P. L.. IV ; St. Optatus, De Schismate Donalislarum in

P It., XI; St. Augustine, Contra Donatistas. Contra Epistnlas

Parmeniani, Contra Litteras Peliliani in P. L.. XLIII; St.

Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium in P. L., L. — Of the

theologians who in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

defended the Catholic Church against the Reformers may be

ined: Stapleton, Principiorum Fidei Doctrinalium

Iratio (1574; Paris. 1620); Bellarmine, Dispulationes

I ".76; Prague, 1721); StJAREZ, Defensio

I 'atholvxB advcrsus Anulicanee Secta; Errores (1613; Paris.

1So9). -"-Among more recent writers: Muhkay, De Ecclesia

Dublin, 1S66I; Franzeun, Dc iVr/ww (Home, 1S87); Pal- mif.ri, De Romano Pontifice (Prato, 1891); Doi.linc-.er. The
 * . ' l,/e of the Church (tr. London. lSfifii; H.nisz. i

Ipalogy (tr. Dublin, 1892). — The following F.nglish works may also be noticed: Wiseman, Lectures on the Church; New- ham, Development of Christian Doctrine; Idem. Diflic Anglicans; Mathew, ed., EccUsia (London, 1907). In special re- lation to recent rationalist criticism regarding the primitive Church and its organization, maybe noted: Batiffol, Etudes d histoireet debt theologie positive (Paris, 1906); important arti- cles by MgT. Batiffol will also he found in the Bulletin dcHttirature I f«;./efor 1904, 190o, 1906. and in the Irish Theological Quarterly for 1906 and 1907; De Smedt in the I, lions historiquet (lsss, 1S91). vols. XUV. CL; Butler in The D 1893, 1897), vols. (Will, CXXI. The

following works are by Anglican divines of various schools of thought: Palmer, Treatise on the Church hi:. Coke, / ,, Mundi (London, 1S90); Idem. The Church and the Ministry

London, L889); Hour, The Christian Ecclesia (London, 1897); l.loiiTFooT. the dissertation entitled The Christum 1' in his Commentary on Epistle to Philippians (London. 1881); i;o in Hastings. Did. of Bible, s. v. Church. Amongst rationalist critics may be mentioned: Harnack, History of Dogma (tr. London, J904); Idem, What is Christianity/ (tr.

1. Ion, 1901). and articles in Expositor, vol. V;

H k PCH, i '"ionization of the Early Christian Churches (London, Weibzacker, Apostolic Age (tr. London, 1892); Saba- tier. Religions of Authority and the Religion of the Spirit tr. London, 1906); Lowrie. The Church and its Organization — on Interpretation of Rudolf Sahm'a 't I ondon,

1904). with these may be classed: Loisv. h'Evangile el VEolisc (Paris. 1902).

G. II. JOTCI

Church, States of the. See- States op the Church.

Church and State. See State. Church Father. See Fathers.

Churching of Women, a blessing given by the Church to mothers after recovery from childbirth. Only a Catholic woman who has given birth to a child in legitimate wedlock, provided sin- bas not allowed the child to be baptized outside the Catholic Church, is entitled to it. It is not a precept, but a pious and praiseworthy custom (Rituale Komanum),

dating from the early Christian ages, for a mother to present herself in the Church as soon as she is able to leave her house (St. Charles Borromeo, First Council of Milan), to render thanks to God for her happy delivery, and to obtain by means of the priestly blessing the graces necessary to bring up her child in a Christian manner. The prayers indi- cate that this blessing is intended solely for the benefit of the mother, and hence it is not necessary that she should bring t lie child with her; neverthe- less, in many places the pious and edifying custom prevails of specially dedicating the child to God. For, as the Mother of Christ carried her Child to the Temple to offer Him to the Eternal Father, so a Christian mother is anxious to present her offspring to God and obtain for it the blessing of the Church. This blessing, in the ordinary form, without change or omission, is to be given to the mother, even if her child was still-born, or has died without baptism (Congr. Sac. Rit., 19 May, 1S96).

The churching of women is not a strictly parochial function, yet the Congregation of Sacred Kites (21 November, 1893) decided that a parish priest, if asked to give it, must do so, and if another priest is asked to perform the rite, he may do so in any church or public oratory, provided the superior of said church or oratory be notified. It must be im- parted in a church or in a place in which Mass is celebrated, as the very name "churching" is intended to suggest a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the church, and as the rubrics indicate in the expressions: "de- sires to come to the church", "he conducts her into the church", "she kneels before the altar", etc. Hence the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (No. 246) prohibits the practice of churching in places in which Mass is not celebrated.

The mother, kneeling in the vestibule, or within the church, and carrying a lighted candle, awaits the priest, who, vested in surplice and white stole, sprinkles her with holy water in the form of a cross. Having recited Ps. xxiii, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof", he offers her the left ex- tremity of the stole and leads her into the church, saying: "Enter thou into the temple of God, adore the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary who has given thee fruit fulness of offspring." She advances to one of the altars and kneels before it. whilst the priest, turned towards her, recites a prayer which expresses the object of the blessing, and then, having sprinkled her again with holy water in the form of a cross, dismisses her, saying: "The peace and blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son. and the Holy Ghost, descend upon thee, and remain forever. Amen.''

B\itrFF\i.ors, Commentario ad Ritual Romanum (Venice, 1792); Bernard, /. ■:■..,;,„ /,. uuu.l (Pans,

L893), 11; Kunz, Die liturgischen 1 erri* 'hronten


 * i bon, 1904): Ambercd-h. ( :m l.-.n.

ism;, III, 2; Van der Stappen, Sa Mechlin,

1900), IV.

A. .1. ScHTJIiTE.

Church Maintenance. — The proper support of church edifices and church institutions, as well as of the clergy who minister in them, has always been both .i necessity and a problem. As the Church of Christ is a visible organization, it must embrace a visible priesthood, worship, and temples. These must be maintained. As a consequence, the Church must acquire property both movable and immovable, and this she cannot obtain without a corresponding gen- erosity oil the part of the faithful. To pretend that the Church should be utterly deprived of property,

is ti..t only an error, but also an absurdity. In the

(•lil Dispensation, the Jewish priest! 1 were put in

possession of certain towns all through Israel, and by the Mosaic Law they received a portion of various sacrifices offered in the Temple. The magnificent l< rni ile itself was a gift of the kings of Israel, and its