Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/550

 CRIMONT

490

CRISPINA

before the sin. Silence alone is not sufficient evidence of the acceptance of the jiromise. The adultery to which the promise is attached must be formal and known by both. If Titus should corrupt a woman who believed him to be free, he could marry her after his wife's death, even if he attempted marriage with her during his wife's life, provided she were unaware of his marriage.

Affected ignorance, certainly, and, most probably, crass ignorance does not excuse from the sin or its penalties. The adultery must be consummated, but it is not required that the promise united to the sin should be absolute, nor, most probably, that it should be sincere, because the impediment does not depend upon the value of the promise, which is essentially null, and because a fictitious promise, if apparently true, is natiu-ally inductive to the sin; and this the Church, by establishing such an impediment, strives to prevent as far as possible. In regard to the im- pediment, it is indifferent whether the promise precede or follow the adultery, if both occur during the mar- riage. If the promise were made diu-ing the life of a first spouse, and the adultery were committed during the life of a second, the impediment would be doubt- ful. It is well to note that a promise of two persons to marry after the death of a legitimate spouse is recog- nized" as criminal and null, even if confirmed by oath and made without any thought of adultery.

One murdering a spouse to marry another cannot contract marriage with this other (1) when there was co-operation in the murder for the purpose of this marriage, (2) when, without co-operation in the mur- der, adultery was committed by them, and the murder committed for the sole purpose of their contracting marriage. Thus, if the homicide is apart from adul- tery, both must concur in this murder. If the adultery occurs with the homicide, it suffices that one of the guilty should take part in the murder. In both cases, one at least must intend to marry the other. That the aduliery and homicide, apart or joined, form a du-i- ment impediment certain conditions are necessary: (1) the homicide must take place; an attempt to kill or the infliction of a wound not mortal would not entail it ; (2) the homicide must be of the spouse of one of those who wish to be married ; so, when the homi- cide is apart from the adultery, both must be accom- plices by a physical or moral action which influences the murder, either by a command or previous ap- proval. Approval of the event after its occurrence does not suffice, as also if the former command or ap- proval had been recalled. The intention of marriage need not have been mentioned, where there was co- operation in the homicide. In the public ecclesiasti- cal court credence is not given to the murderer of a spouse, who may deny the intention of marrying one with whom adulterous intercourse was held. This impediment holds if only one of the parties is a Chris- tian. The Church claims the right to legislate for her children in their relations with infidels. The impedi- ment is incurred even if not knowTi. The Church may dispense from it, as the impediment is established by her authority. In the case of public homicide, how- ever, whether due to only one or both of the parties, the pope never dispenses (Laurentius, no. 659).

Crime, from a canonical stand[3oint, at times carries with it its own legal punishment, at others it awaits the decision of a court. Thus we have seen its effect in cavLsing an impediment to marriage. For certain crimes determined by ecclesiastical law, the "right of patronage" may be lost to the guilty party or, in some cases, to his'heirs; cecU'siastical benefices may also he lost to the holder when guilty of a crime deter- mined in the law. llomieide, fornication, or adul- tery, hciwcvcr, would not necessarily (lci)rive a cleric of his beiielicc, dii^uity, or otiici', though he maj; be deposed by his superior in punishment of these or simi- lar crimes" Unless the law is e.\i)licit in determining

such privation as resulting from the fact, a legal in- vestigation is required for the punishment. (See I.MPEDLMENTs; Adultery; Homicide; Murder.)

Benedict XIV, Bullarium. I. 9. cxiii (Prato, 1S39-46); Cr-Usson, Manuale Jur. Can. (8th ed., Poitiers, 1892), III, II, art. xiv; Wagner, Diet, de droit canon. (Paris, 1901), s. v.; Feije, De imped, et disp, matr. (4th ed., Louvain, 1893); Ros-sET, De Sacramento matrimonii (St. Jean de Maurienne, 1S95), III; Heiner, Grundriss des katholisehen Eherechta (Mvinster, 1905), l.^l sqq. — For the history of this impediment see Freisen, Geschichte de.s kanonischen Eherechts bis zum Verfall der Glosscnlileratur (Tubingen. 1888), 615 sqq.; Esmein, Le mnriage en droit canonique (Paris, 1891). I, 384 sqq. and passim.

R. L. BURTSELL.

Crimont, Joseph R. See Alaska.

Crisium, Diocese op (Grsco-Slavonic Rite), in Croatia. — Crisium is the Latin name of a little town some miles north-east of Agram (Zagreb), on the Glagovnitza. Its Croatian name is Krizevac (pro- nounced KrizheraU); Slavic, Kriz; Hungarian, Ko- ros; German, Kreuz. It has 4,000 inhabitants; trade of cattle, wood, and wine.

About the year IGOO numerous Serbs emigrated from Servia and Bosnia to Croatia, where they found coreligionists, known to historians since the four- teenth century as Wallacbians. The emigrants soon took the same name. Some of them were converted to Catholicism through the elTorts of Dimitrovich, Latin Bishop of Agram, who granted their leader, the ' monk .Simeon ^'ratania, the monasterj' of St. Michael on Mount Marzha, near Ivanitz. In 1611 Simeon was appointed bishop of all the Catholic Serbs; he re- mained a staunch friend of Rome, as did his successors and their flock, in spite of defections caused by the schismatic Ser\-ian propaganda and conflicts with the Bishops of Agram. They bore the title " Episcopus Platiecensis ' ' from Plata>a in Boeot ia, while the govern- ment called their see "Episcopatus Svidnicensis ", a name that has not yet been e.xplained satisfactorily. In 1671 Bishop Paul Zorcic accepted for himself and his successors the position of vicar-general of the Bishop of Agram for the Catholics of the Slavonic Rite. It was not until 16 June, 1777, that Pius VI re-estab- lished the Uniat diocese with the title "Episcopatus Crisiensis". Since then its bishops have resided at Krizevac; as stated above, they first resided at Moimt Marzha, but after 1690 had no settled abode, on ac- count of the persecutions caused by the schismatic Serbs.

The list of the bishops is given by Nilles in his "Symbols? ", p. Ixxxiii (index), 765-69. The Grjcco- Slavonic Uniat Diocese of Krizevac, suffragan of the Latin Archbishop of Agram, includes to-day 20,700 Catholics, in 2.3 Ser\-ian and Ruthenian parishes sit uated in Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and the county of Bacs-Bodrog in Hungarj-. The languages spoken are Croatian, Ruthenian, and Hungarian; the liturgi- cal language is of course Slavonic. There are 2? secular priests, 30 churches, 22 with a resident priest and 2 chapels. The schismatics number 225,000 there are also in this territory 17,000 Calvinists, 'i'l Lutherans, and 7,000 Jews.

Nilles, Symbol(F ad ilhistrandam kistoriam ecclesics orienfali (Innsbruck, 1885), 703-775; LAP.\9irH, Karlovac. Poriest vtjrslopis grada i okolice (Agram, 1879); Missiones Catholicc (Rome. 1907). 796.

S. Vailhe

Crispina, Saint, a martyr of .\frica who suffere( during the Diocletian pensecution; b. at Thagara i the Province of Africa; d. by beheading at Thebest in Numidia, 5 December, 301. Crispina belonged t .1 distinguished family and was a wealthy matron wit children At tlu' time of the persecution .she w:i brought before the procon.sul .Vnulinus; on luiii ordered to sacrifice to the gods she declared she lioi cured only one God. Her head was .shaved at tl command of the judge, and .she was exposed to jmM mockerj', but she remained steadfast in the Faith an