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 CONFORMISTS

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COKFUCIAMISM

Offices, wliose Missals, having been proved to have existed for more than 200 years, are still allowed. These three forms are quite short, and contain only one "mei culpa"; the Dominicans invoke, besides the Blessed Virgin, St. Dominic. Moreover, some other orders have the privilege of adding the name of their founder after that of St. Paul (the Francis- cans for instance), and the local patron is inserted at the same place in a few local uses. Otherwise the Confiteor must always be said exactly as it is in the Roman Missal (S. R. C, 13 February, 1666, Benedict XIV, De SS. Missa; Sacr., II, iii, 11, 12).

Use of the Confiteor. — The prayer is said some- times as a double form of mutual confession, first by the celebrant to the people and then by the people to him, and sometimes only once, as a single form. As a double form it is used: (1) as part of the introduc- tory prayers of Mass said before the priest goes up to the altar, after the Psalm "Judica me" (Ritus cele- brandi. III, 7-9); (2) in the public recital of the Di- vine Office as part of the Preces at Prime (so that it is omitted on doubles and in octaves), and always in the begimiing of Complin (Ruhr. Gen. Brev., XV, 2, and XVIII, 1). As a single form it occurs: (1) during Mass, a second time, if anyone receives Holy Com- munion besides the celebrant; (2) when Holy Com- munion is given outside of Mass (Rituale Rom., Tit. I, ch. ii, 1); (3) before the administration of extreme unction (when it may be said in Latin or in the vul- gar tongue. — Rituale Rom., Tit. V, ch. ii, 6); (4) be- fore the .\postolic blessing is given to a dying person (ibid., Tit. V, ch. vi, 6); (5) the Ritual further directs that penitents should begin their confession by saying the Confiteor either in Latin or in their own language, or at least begin with these words: "Confiteor Deo omnipotenti et tibi pater" (Tit. Ill, ch. i, 14); (G) lastly the "Caeremoniale Episcoporum " ordains that when a bishop sings high Mass, the deacon should sing the Confiteor after the sermon ; the preacher then reads out the Indulgence given by the bishop, and the bishop adds a modified form of the Misereatur (in which he again invokes the saints named in the Con- fiteor), the Indulgentiam, and finally his blessing. This is the normal ceremony for the publication of In- dulgences (Ca;r. Episc, I, ch. xxii, 4; II, ch. xx.xix, 1 4).

Kite op the Confiteoh. — The form of words is too wi-ll known to need quotation. When it is u.sed as a double form, the celebrant first makes his confession, using the words vobis jratres and vos fralres, the serv- ers or ministers say the Misereatur in the singular ilui, pecciitis tuis), and then make their confession ad- dressed to the priest (tibi pater, te pater). He says the Misereatur in the plural {M isereatur vestri, etc.), and finally, making the sign of the cross, adds the short prayer Indulgentiam. Both the Misereatur and the Indulgentiam are answered with "Amen". When used as a single form the priest's confession is left out, the deacon, or server, says the Confiteor (tihi pater, etc.), the celebrant responds with the Misereatur and Indulgentiam. A person saying the prayer alone (for instance, in the private recital of the Divine Office) says the Confiteor leaving out the clauses tibi pater or vobis fratres, etc., altogether, and changes the answer to Mixereulur nostri and peccatis nostris. Before Communion at high Ma.ss and before the promulga- tion of Indulgences the ( 'onfiteor is sung by tlic dc^icoii to the tone given in tlu- "CaTemoniale Episco|inrunr' (II, ch. xxxix, 1). The Misereatur and Indulgentiam arc never sung.

Homan Miiisal, Breviary, Rilual. drremoniate Episcoporum, loc. cit.; Mabillon. Museum llaltcum (Paris, 1689). loc. cit.; Bo.NA, Rerum Lilurgicarum Libri Duo (Rome, 1671). Bk. II, ch. ii, pp. 288-292; Benedict XIV. De SS. .Missa Sacriticio, Bk. II. ch. iii. 4-11; Gihk. Das heilige Messopfer (Freiburg im Br, 1897), II. 834, pp. 326-334, tr. The Holy Sacrifice ol the MaSB (St. I.ouia, 1902). ADRIAN FoRTESCUE.

Oonlormists. See Dissenters.

Confraternity (Lat. conjraternilas, conjratria), or sodality, a vokmtary association of the faithful, es- tablished and guided by competent ecclesiastical au- thority for the promotion of special works of Christian charity or piety. The name is sometimes applied to pious unions (see Associations, Pious), but the latter differ from confraternities inasmuch as they need not be canonically erected and they regard rather the good of the neighbour than the personal sanctification of the members. Confraternities are divided into those properly so called and those to which the name has been extended. Both are erected by canonical authority, but the former have a more precise organi- zation, with rights and duties regulated by ecclesias- tical law, and their members often wear a peculiar costume and recite the Office in common. When a confraternity has received the authority to aggregate to itself sodalities erected in other localities and to communicate its advantages to them, it is called an archconfraternity (q. v.).

Pious associations of laymen existed in very an- cient times at Constantinople and Alexandria. In France, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the laws of the Carlovingians mention confraternities and guilds. But the first confraternity in the modern and proper sense of the word is said to have been founded at Paris by Bishop Odo who died in 1208. It was under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Various other congregations, as of the Gonfalon, of the Holy Trinity, of the Scapular, etc., were founded between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. From the latter century onwards, these pious associations have multiplied greatly. Indulgences are communicated to confraternities either directly by the pope or through the bishops, unless the association be aggregated to an archconfraternity (it may not be aggregated to more than one) through which it participates in the latter's privileges. If the aggregation be not made according to the prescribed formula, the Indulgences are not communicated. The directors of confraternities are appointed or approved by the bishop, or in the churches of regulars by the regular superior. Only after such appointment can the director apply the In- dulgences to the objects which he blesses, and he can- not subdelegate this power without special faculty. The reception of members must be carried out by the appointed person. The observance of the rules is not binding in conscience nor docs their neglect deprive a person of membership, though in the latter case the Indulgences would not be obtained. The loss of all its members for a short time does not dissolve a confra- ternity, and by the reception of new members the In- dulgences may again be gained. The dissolution, translation, and visitation of confraternities belong to the ordinary. The canon law governing these associ- ations is found in the Constitution of Clement VIII (7 Dec, 1604) with some modification made later by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences.

Laurentius, Institntiancs Juris Ecdt-siastici (Freiburg, 1903); Beringer. Lrs Imlulamas (Fr. tr., Pari.s, 190.'>); Bouix, De Episcopo (Paris, 1SS9), II.

William H. W. Fanning.

Confucianism — By Confucianism is meant the com- plex system of moral, social, political, and religious teaching built up by Confvicius on the ancient Chinese traditions, and perpetuated as the State religion down to the present day. Confucianism aims at making not siMi|iiy the man of virtue, but the man of learning and of good manners. The perfect man must com- bine the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman. Confucianism is a religion without positive revelation, with a minimum of dogmatic teaching, whose popular worship is centred in offerings to the dead, in which the notion of duty is e.xtended beyond the sphere of morals proper so as to embrace almost every detail of daily life.

I. The Teacher, Confucius. — The chief exponent