Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/443

 CORPORAL

387

CORPORATION

jeas expressed in this passage are found in an aiithen- ic letter of St. Isidore of Pelusiuni (Ep. i, l'2'.i) and gaininthe''Expositio"of St.Germanusof I'arisin the ixth century 1 1'. I.., LXXII, 93). Indeed they histed hrougli tlie Middle Ages, as the verses attributed to lUdebert (P. L., CLXXI, 1194) sufficiently show:— Ara crucis, tvimulique calix, lapidisque patena, Sindonis officivun Candida byssus habet. It is quite probable that in the early centuries only ne linen cloth was used which served both for altar- loth and cor(>oral, this being of large size and doubleil ack to cover the chalice. Much doubt must be felt s to the original use of certain cloths of figured linen 1 the treasury of Monza which Barbier de Montault
 * >ught to identify as corporals. The corporal was de-

jriiied as palla corporalis, or relamen dominicw menscc, T oprrlorium dominici corporis, etc.; and it seems enerally to have been of linen, though we hear of Itar-cloths of silk (Greg, of Tours, "Hist. Franc", 'II. 'J2: X, Ifi), or of purple (.Paulus Silentiarius, De.scr. S. Sophia"", p. 758; a coloured miniature in le tenth-century Benedictional of St. .Ethelwold also old (Chrysostom in Matt., Horn. 1). In some of lese cases it seems difficult to decide whether altar- loth or corporal is meant. However, there is no oubt that a clear distinction had established itself in arlovingian times or even earlier. Thus, in the mth century, Regino of Primi (De Disc. Eccl., cap. Kviii) quotes a council of Reims as having decreed that the corporal [corpornle] ujion which the Holy acrifice was offered must be of the finest and purest nen without ailmixture of any other fibre, because 'ur Saviiiur'.s Bmly was wrapped not in silk, but in can linen ". He a tlds th.at the corporal was never to ■main on the altar, but was to be put in the Missal iacrnmenlorum libra] or shut up with the chalice and aten in some clean receptacle. And when it was ashed, it was to be washed first of all by a priest, eacon, or subdeacon in the church itself, in a place r a ves.sel specially reserved for this, because it had een impregnated with the Body and Blood of Our ord. Afterwards it might be sent to the laundry ad treated like other linen. The suggestion as to eeping the corporal between the leaves of the Missal interesting because it shows that it cannot, even in le tenth century, have always been of that extrava- int size which might be inferred from the description I the "Second Roman Ordo"(cap.ix),where the deacon nd an as,jistant deacon are represented as folding it p between them. Still it was big enough at this eriod to allow of its being bent back to cover the lalicp, and thus .serve the purpose of our present pall, his is done? by the Carthusians to this day, who use o pall and have no proper elevation of the chalice. s regards the size of the corporal, .some change may ave taken place when it ceased to be usual for the eople to bring loaves to the altar, for there was no kger need of a large cloth to fold back over them hd cover them. Anyway, it is in the eleventh and fvelfth centuries that the practice of doubling the [irporal over the chalice gave place to a new plan of 'ing a second (folded) corporal to cover the mouth the chalice when required. The question is debated some detail in one of the letters of St. ,\nsclm. who lite approves of the arrangement (P. L., CLVIII, '"); and a hundred years later we find Pope Inno- nt III stating, "there are two kinds of palls or cor- rals, a.s they are called [ihi/ilcx rsl pnllii qwc (licitur prpornle] one which the deacon spreads out upon the (tar, the other which he places folded upon the liouth of the chalice" (De Sacrif. MLssiP, II, ,56). The Iwential unity of the pall and the corporal is further hown by the fact that the special blessing which both (alls and corporals nmst always receive before use lesigiiates the two as "linteamen ad tegendum invol- (endumque Corpus et tfanguiucu D. N. J. C", i, e.
 * eins to show a purple altar-covering), or of cloth-of-

to cover and enfold the Body and Blood of Christ. This special blessing for corporals and palls is alluded to even in the Celtic liturgical documents of the sev- enth century, and the actual form now prescribed by the modern Roman Pontifical is found almost in the same words in the Spanish " Liber Ordinum" of about the same early date.

According to existing liturgical rules, the corporal must not be ornamented with embroidery, and must be made entirely of pure white linen, though there seem to have been many medieval exceptions to this law. It is not to be left to lie open upon the altar, but when not in use is to be folded and put away in a burse, or " corporas-case ", as it was commonly called in pre-Reformation England. Upon these burses much ornamentation is lavished, and this has been the case since medieval times, as many existing examples survive to show. The corporal is now usu- ally folded twice in length and twice in breadth, so that when folded it still forms a small square. At an earlier period, when it was larger and was used to cover the chalice as well, it was commonly folded four times in length and thrice in breadth. This practice is still followed by some of the older religious orders. The corporal and pall have to pass through a triple washing at the hands of a priest, or at least a sub- deacon, before they may be sent to a laundry. Also, when they are in use they may not be handled by any but the clergy, or sacristans to whom special permis- sion is given.

Streber in Kirchcnlexikon. Ill, 1105-1107; Thalhofer, LituTQik. I. 777-781; V.an der Stappen, Sacra Liturgia (Mech- lin. 19021. in, 102-110; GlHR, The Mass, tr. (Freiburg, 1902). I't'il -'III; l'\HHiKR DE Montault, Le Mobilier Ecclesixistique; I; .1.' II I LEURT, La Messe (Paris, 1S8S), VI, 197-204;

/' ' ' ) ntiq., ?. V. Corporal; Atchlev in ,-S/. PauVs

!■'-■' I' ■ >■. Iransactionx (1900). IV, 156-160; Barbier de Montaii.t in Bulletin Monumental (1S82), SSS-B.TO.

Hehbert Thurston. Corporal Works of Mercy. See Mercy.

Corporation (Lat. corpus, a body), an association recognized by civil law and regarded in all ordinary transactions as an individual. It is an artificial per- son. Ch.cf .lustier Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United ."states of .\inerica, in the course of a formal judicial utterance, thus defined the term corporation: "A corporation is an artificial lieing, invisible, intan- gible, and existing only in contemplation of law. Be- ing the mere creatiu'e of law, it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it, either expressly or as incidental to its very existence. These are such as are supposed best cal- culated to effect the object for which it was created. Among the most important are immortality, and, if the expression may be allowed, individuality; prop- erties by which a perpetual succession of many per- sons are considered as the same, and may act as a single individual. They enable a corporation to manage its own affairs, and to hold property without the jierplex- ing intricacies, the hazardous and endless necessity of perpetual conveyances for the purpose of transmit- ting it from hand to hand. It is chiefly for the pur- jiose of clothing bodies of men, in succession, with i|ualitirs and capacities, that corporations were in- vented, and are in use. By the.se means, a perpetual sueeession of individuals are capable of acting for the promotion of the particular object, like one immortal being."

Chancellor Kent of New York, one of the most famous jurists of modern times, defines a corporation as "a franchi.se possessed by one or more individuals, who subsist, as a body politic, vmder a speci;il denom- ination, and are vested, by the policy of the law, with the cap:icity of pej-|>Ptual succession, .and of acting in .se\fral respects, however numerous the associations may be, as a single individual. The object of the institution i.s to enable the members to act by one united will, and to continue their joint