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 CONCUBINAGE

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CONCUBINAGE

western part of Kansas, U. S. A. It is bounded on the west by Colorado; on the north, by Nebraska; east, by the east linos of Washington, Riley, Geary, Dick- inson; on the south, by the south lines of Dickinson, Saline, Ellsworth, Russell, Ellis, Trego, Gove, Logan, and Wallace Counties. Area, 26,685 sq. m.

In 1886 the Diocese of Leavenworth, Kansas, was divided into three new sees, Leavenworth, Wichita, and Concordia. On 9 August, 1887, the Rev. Richard Scannell of Nashville, Tennessee, was nominated first Bishop of Concordia; and governed the see until 30 January, 1891, when he was transferred to Omaha. The Bishop of Wichita, Kansas, then became adihin- istrafor of Concordia, and it was not until 1897 that a bishop was again appointed in the ])erson of the Rev. T. J. Butler of Chicago, who died in Rome, how- ever, 17 July, 1897, before receiving episcopal consecration. On 21 September, 1898, the Very Rev. John F. Cunningham, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Leavenworth, was consecrated in that city, Bishop of Concordia. Born in 1842, in the County Kerry, Ireland, he made his studies at St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kansas, and at St. Francis' Seminary, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was ordained priest at Leavenworth. 8 August, 1865. After his consecration he devoted himself to the multiplication of schools and institutions of learning and cliarity. The cathe- (kal of Concordia, a stone structure of Gothic archi- tecture, dedicated in 1902, took the place of a modest little church erected by the Rev. Louis Mollier in 1874.

In 1884 a boarding-school for young ladies under the supervision of the Sisters of St. Joseph was estab- lished near the cathedral. It has since moved to the imposing edifice known as the Nazareth Academy. It is the mother-house and novitiate of these sisters, who have branch houses, missions, and schools in Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska, Michigan, and Missouri. The old academy has been turned into a hospital. The Capucliin Fathers, who settled early in the west- ern part of the diocese in and about Victoria, have built many churches and schools and have monas- teries at Hays City, Munjor, and Victoria. They have also worked efficiently among the Russian immi- grants of that portion of the diocese, aided by the Sisters of St. Agnes.

From 1898 to 1907 45 churches and 20 schools were built, exclusive of the opening of many new missions and stations. There are 51 secular and 15 religious priests, attending 91 churches, 30 stations, and 4 chapels. The children in the parochial schools num- ber about 2482. Two academies, at Concordia and Abilene, have about 135 pupils. The Catholic popu- lation of the chocese is 26,125.

A. T. Ennis.

Concubinage, at the present day, the state, more or less permanent, of a man and woman living to- gether in illicit intercourse. In its strict sense it is used of those unions only in which the man and the woman are free from any obligation arising from a vow, the state of matrimony or Holy orders, or the fact of relationship or affinity; it is immaterial whether the parties ilwell together or not, the repeti- tion or continuance of illicit relations between the same persons being the essential element. However, the meaning conveyed by the term has not always been the same; in the Old Testament, for instance, a legitimate spouse, if of an inferior social grade, or a bondwoman, is often given the appellation of concu- bine, not to call in question the validity of her mar- riage, but to indicate that she did not share in her hus- band's rank or property nor in the administration of the household to the same extent as the principal wife. From Genesis, xxi, 9-14, we see that her dis- missal and that of her children was permissible. But in those Scriptural times, when polygamy was per- mitted or at least tolerated, such a concubine was not

the only marriage partner. Thus Lia and Rachel, the first two spouses of Jacob, had the full social standing of wives, while Bala and Zelpha, both bondwomen, were his concubines, married for the purpose of bearing children for Rachel and Lia (Gen., xxx, 3, 9, 13). Here, therefore, the main difference between the state of legitimate marriage properly so called and that of legitimate concubinage is to be fovmd in the disparity of rank which cliaractcrized the latter.

The meaning of the term in Roman law, and conse- quently in early ecclcsitistical records and writings, was much the same; a concubine was a quasi- wife, recognized by law if there was no legal wife. She was usually of a lower social grade than her husband, and her children, though not considered the equals of those of the legal wife (uxor) were nevertheless termed natural (naturalcs) to distinguish them from spurious offsprings (spurii). For this legitimate concubinage the Roman law did not require the intention of the two parties to remain together until death as man and wife; the Lcr Julia and the Papia Popprm allowing both temporary and penuanent concubinage. The former was always condemned as immoral by the Church, who excluded from the ranks of her catechu- mens all who adopted this mode of living, unless they abandoned their illicit temporal, or converted it into lawful permanent, wedlock. Permanent concubinage, though it lacked the ordinary legal forms and was not recognized by the civil law as a legal marriage, had in it no element of immorality. It was a real marriage, including the intention and consent of both parties to form a lifelong union. This the Church allowed from the beginning, while Pope Callistus I broke through the barrier of state law, and raised to the dignity of Christian marriage permanent imions between slave and free, and even those between slave and slave {conlxiheTnium).

The Council of Toledo, held in 400, in its seventeenth canon legislates as follows for laymen (for ecclesi- astical regulations on this head with regard to clerics see Celib.^cy): after pronouncing sentence of excom- munication against any who in addition to a wife keep a concubine, it says: "But if a man has no wife, but a concubine instead of a wife, let him not be re- fused communion; only let him be content to be united with one woman, whether wife or concubine" (Can. "Is qui", dist. xxxiv; Mansi, III, col. 1001). The refractory are to be excommunicated until such time as they shall obey and do penance.

A^■ith thedestruction of the Roman Empire and the consequent decline of knowledge of the Roman law, its institution of legitimate concubinage fell into dis- use, and concubinage came more and more to have only the modern significance, that of a permanent illicit union, and as such was variously proceeded against by the Church. The clandestine marriages which gradually came to be tolerated in the Middle Ages, as they lacked the formality of a public sanction by the Church, can be considered as a species of legiti- mate concubinage. The Council of Trent (1545- 1563), Sess. XXIV. chap, i, not only renewed the old ecclesiastical penalties again.st concubinage, but added fresh ones, also forbade and rendered null and void all clandestine unions, thus forever doing away with even the appearance of legitimate concubinage. From that time the modern invidious idea of the term alone obtains. The decrees of Trent, however, were in force only in countries strictly Catholic ; the new marriage law (Ne temere) of Pius"X (1908) extends the prohibi- tion against clandestine marriages to Catholics the world over.

Noi.niv. Summa theologim mornlis: r!e scilo (6th ed., Inns- bruck, 1906); Diet, de droit cammiifiir, f. v. Cancubxnagt (Paris. 1901); Canones et Dccrcta ConciXii Tndmlini. ed. RirnTER (T-eipzig, 1853) ; Wandinoeb in Kirchenlex. (2nd ad., Freiburg. 1891); DolhaqaRay jn Diet, df Ihul. calh. dans, 1906). „ . -,

U. A. Gaynok,