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 CONGRESS

251

CONGRUISM

tember, 1900, and the second at Melbourne in October, 1901. The first congress followed immediately after fill' dedication of St. Mary's cathedral, Sydney, on 9 S. ptember, 1900, at which Cardinal Moran presided, .iiiil three archbishops, eight bishops, two hundred pi lists, with the Governors of New South Wales, I .t'H'i'nsland, New Guinea, and a great congregation of ilii' laity were present. The congress received its ira- pi'tns from Rome, as affording Catholics an oppor- tunity to manifest their faith and devotion at the close III' the nineteenth century; to make non-Catholics un- ■ li I stand more about their religion; to answer calum- iiirs such as were made current in the Dreyfus ca.se; III 1 1 rge a reform of divorce laws ; and to promote 1) rinonious relations between capital and lalrour. In • pilling the congress Cardinal Moran spoke on "The

I itholic Church in the Nineteenth Century", using 1 1 1 1 ' I irogrcss of Catholicism in the United States as
 * iii iUustration. The sessions of the congress, which

l:isti-d a week, were held in the cathedral and the

I I ipirs treated included social questions. Catholic apol- nuitics, education, science, and sacred art, ethnology ,ii:ii .statistics, history and the Catholic missions.

The second congress met in C!athedral Hall, Mel- I. Ill line, 24 to 31 October, 1904, the Most Rev. Thom:is .) I'arr, Archbishop of Melbourne, presiding, and the uithering was made one of the details of the local rr|il>ration of the golden jubilee of the proclamation nl the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Its ill li'^ates included bisliops, priests, and laymen not Hilly from all the States of the Commonwealth, but ,iNii from New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific. Ihr topics discussed in the various sections were Miiiian and religious: Education, History, and Mis- Mi ms. Charitable Organizations, Social Questions, S II red Art, Science, Christian Woman, Medical Ques- iiiiiis, and the Catholic Newspaper. Perhaps the must practical outcome of the gathering was the es- t.ililishmeiit of the Catholic Truth Society of Australia.

S^iuvrnir \'olumr nf Ihr Crntrnninl Crlcbrnlinn and CatlinUc I. ;..ss {Dilroit, 1SS9); Brnzifjcfs Cnlhnlic Family Almanac N i" York. 1894); Calhalic Xews (New York); Freeman's J'nnnl (Sydney); Advocate (Melbourne), contemporaneous til'-: Proceedings of the Second Australasian Catholic Congress iMilliourne, 1894).

Thomas F. Meeh.*.n.

Congress o£ Vienne. See Vienne, Congress of.

Congrua (i. e. Congrua Pobtio), a canonical term to -ii'signate the lowest sum proper for the yearly in- t lie of a cleric. It is sometimes used in the same ~i ISO as competency (q. v.). Owing to the many I li iigea to which a benefice is liable, it became neces- sary for the ecclesiastical authority to decree that first and foremost the proper sustenance of the holder of the benefice should he provided for, and that a mini- mum revenue should be determined, below which his income was not to fall. This was all the more neces- sary in cases where benefices had been incorporated with monasteries or collegiate churches. Very often the curate of such incorporated benefices received only one-sixteenth of the revenue. To remedy this abuse a number of ordinances were passed which reserved to the person having cure of souls a decent subsist- ence. The Council of Trent (Scss. XXI, c. iv, do Ref.) leaves the determination of the congrua to the judgment of the lii.sho]). This sum must, of cour.se, vary with the fluctuation of values at different times. It must not be .so parsimoniously fixed as to provide for the bencficiarj- the mere necessaries of life. To be a proper income in accordance with the dignity of his state, it .should likewi.se be sufficient to enable him to dispense moderate hospitality and alm.sgiving and supply himsi'lf with books, etc. Tlie Council of Trent did not dclermine the amount of the congrua. It BUggestcil, however, that about one-third of the rev- enue of the benefice should be assigned to the vicar. When the benefice can not furnish a propcrsustenance,

it is the duty of the bishop to see that several bene- fices be united or that the deficit be made up from other sources, as tithes, collections, etc. If these means fail, the benefice must be suppressed. It is to be noted that in determining the congrua the bishop can not take into consideration emoluments that are uncertain, such as offerings at funerals or marriages, or Mass stipends ; nor what the vicar might earn by his labour; nor what he receives from his patrimony; for these are not fruits of the benefice. When the congrua has been fixed for a certain benefice, it is always presumed to be sufficient, unless it be proved to have been lessened. Hence, if the beneficiary de- clare the congrua to be insufficient, especially when it has sufficed for his predecessors, the burden of proof rests on him. If the congrua had been sufficient at the time a pension was reserved to another from the fruits of the benefice and later became insufficient, the amount necessary to provide proper sustenance must be taken from the pension, for those who have cure of souls are to be jireferrcd to pensioners. Even a curate who is removable and a temporary vicar are to have a congrua assigned to them. Although, in speaking of the congrua, authors generally limit the question to the inferior clergy, yet all rectors of churches, hence also bishops, are entitled to it. The Council of Trent (Sess. XXIV, cap. xiii) declared that a cathedral church whose revenue did not exceed one thousand scndi (about one thousand dollars) should not be bur- dened with pensions or reservations. The bishop is entitled to an income that will allow him to live ac- cording to his dignity. If he have a coadjutor, the ordinary must provide a congrua for him. In many European countries, where church property has passed into the possession of the State, the civil laws have determined the congrua of the clergy more or less liberally. Such laws are yet in force in Austria and Germany, and until the end of 1905 existed in France. The salary for rectors of churches in the llnited States, fixed by plenary or diocesan synods, has nothing in common with the canonical congrua.

Ferraris, Bibliotheca Canonica (Rome, 18S6), II; Martini. Zur Conorua-Frane in (Esterreiek (Graz, 1883); Andre-Wag- ner, Diet, du Droit Can. (Paris, 1901); Vering, Lehrbuch dcs kath. orient, und prot. Kirchcnreehts (Freiburg, 1893). 424, 647, 793; BncHBEBGEB, Kirchl. Handlex. (Munich, 1908), s. v.

William H. W. Fanning.

Congruismfcofi^rMrt, suitable, adapted) is the t«rm by which theologians denote a theory according to which the efficacy of efficacious grace (see Grace) is due, at least in part, to the fact that the grace is given in cir- cumstances favourable to its operation, i. e. " congru- ous" in that sense. The distinction between gratia congrua and gratia incongrua is found in St. Augustine where he speaks of the elect as congruenter vocati (Ad Simplicianum, Bk. I, Q. ii, no. 1.3). The system known as Congruism was developed by eminent Jesuit theologians at the close of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. All Molinists re- gard actual grace as being really identified with super- natural action, actual grace of will, technically called inspiration, being an act of will. This act invariably begins necessarily, and may become free at a certain point in its duration ; so, however, that, should it be- come free, there will be no complete break in the indi- viduality, but only a modification of the action; the original necessary motion continuing in a modified form after the point where freedom commences has been reached. An actual grace of will which is merely sufficient never gets beyond this point. Wienever the motion does get beyond and become free, it is called an efficacious grace; the term being applied, not merely to the second stage of the action, wherein it Is free, but e\en to the first stage, wherein it was neces- sary, with a tendency, however, to continue after the crucial point where freedom begins. This tendency to continue as a free act is found in the grace which re-