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 CLERICATO

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CLERICIS

Obligations of Clerics.— (1) They must wear a costume suited to their state. While the common canon law does not determine in every detail what the dress of clerics should be, yet many and various prescriptions on the subject are found in the canons, the pontifical constitutions, and the decrees of coun- cils. These ordain that the clerics are not to wear the dress of laymen. They must abstain from gaudy colours, unbecoming their state. The wearing of the soutane or cassock on all occasions, even in public, is prescribed for clerics living in Rome, and bishops may command the same in tlieir dioceses. In nou- Catholic countries, synods generally prescribe that for public use the dress of clerics should be such as to distinguish them from laymen; that is of black or of a sober colour, and that the so-called Roman collar be worn. In private, clergymen are commonly re- quired to wear the soutane. (2) Clerics are forbidden to engage in trade and secular business. In the early ages of the Church, it was allowable to seek necessary sustenance by labour, and this is not forbidden now if the cleric does not receive proper support from ecclesiastical sources. What is specially prohibited is to engage in trade for the sake of gain. The buying and selling, however, which is necessary in the admin- istration of the lands or the goods of a benefice do not fall under the prohibition. Neither is it forbidden to clerics nowadays to place their money ovit at inter- est and receive the increment; for this is equivalent, allowing for modern circumstances, to the economic management of the lands of ecclesiastical benefices. Gambling in stocks, however, remains an illicit form of trade for clergymen (Lehmkuhl, Theol. Mor., II, n. 612.).

(3) There are stringent laws concerning the rela- tions of clerics with persons of the other sex. They must conform to the canons in all that regards allowing females to dwell in their houses. Above all must they avoid associating with those whose moral character causes the least suspicion. (4) Unbecom- ing amusements are also forbidden to them, such as the frequenting of improper plays and spectacles, the visiting of taverns, indulgence in games of chance, carrying of arms, following the chase, etc. When in the above amusements, however, there is no necessary impropriety, lawful custom and .synodal prescriptions may make a participation in them allowable. (5) Clerics are bound to obey their diocesan bishops in all matters determined by the canon law. Various Roman decisions have declared that by his ordinary authority, the bishop cannot oblige clerics to render to him any service not expressed in the canons. While the obligation of obedience is binding on all clerics, it is strengthened for priests by the solemn promise made at ordination, and for all holders of benefices by the canonical oath. The obligation to be subject to the bishop in lawful matters is not, however, a vow.

Loss OP Clerical Privileges. — Although the sacramental character received in Sacred orders may not be obhterated, yet even the higher orders of clergy may be degraded from their dignity and re- duced to what is technically called lay communion. The same holds, of course, likewise for the lower clergy. When, however, a cleric who has received only minor orders or even tonsure, after losing his privileges, has been restored to the clerical state, this restitution, even when solemn, is merely ceremonious and is not considered as a new conferring of tonsure or ininor orders. Even minor clerics are therefore considered to have a stable connexion with the hier- archical order. See Minor Orders; Deacon; Sub- DEAfo.v; Prie,st; Hierarchy; Laity.

V/krnz Jus Dccretnluim (Rome, 18991, II; Ferrarib, "—■npia BiM (Rome, 1886), II; Laurentics, Inst. Jur. Eccl.

(Freiburg, 1903).

William H. W. Fanning.

Clericato, Giovanni, canonist, b. 16.33, at Padua; d. 1717. He was of English descent, and the name is variously written Clericatus, Chericato, Cheri- CATi, and Chiericato, probably from Clark, the original family name. The charity of a pious woman made it possible for him to satisfy his strong incli- nation for study; and, being raised to the priesthood, he came to be considered one of the ablest men of his tinie in matters of ecclesiastical jurisprudence. Cariliiial Barliarigo. whose life he afterwards wrote, made him Vicar-General of the Diocese of Padua. He wrote many works on civil and canon law; his "Decisiones Sacramentales" was published in 1727, and in 1757 in three volumes, and merited the encomiums of Benedict XIV (notific. 32, n. 6). His name is held in honour in Italian ecclesiastical literature.

MoRKRi, Gr. Did. Hist. (Paris. 1759): Sberti. Mrmorie (Padua, 1790): Tihaboscbi, Sloria ddla Lfll. Hat. (Milan,

'S2S). John H. Stapleton.

Clericis Laicos, the initial words of a Bull issued 25 Feb., 1290, by Boniface VIII in response to an earnest appeal of the English and French prelates for protection against the intolerable exactions of the civil power (see Boniface VIII). The decree was in- serted among the papal decretals and is found in Lib. Sextus, III, tit. 23. After a preamble in which the pope complains that the laity are, and have al- ways been, bitterly hostile to the clergy; that, al- though they possess no authority over ecclesiastical persons or property, thej'' impose all sorts of heavy burdens on the clergy and seek to reduce them to servitude; that several prelates and other dignitaries of the Church, more fearful of giving offence to their earthly rulers than to the majesty of God, acquiesce in these abuses, without having obtained authority or permission from the Apostolic See ; he, therefore, wish- ing to put an end to these iniquitous proceedings, with the consent of his cardinals and by Apostolic author- ity, decrees that all prelates or other ecclesiastical su- periors who under whatsoever pretext or colour shall, without authority from the Holy See, pay to laymen any part of their income or of the revenue of the Church ; also all emperors, kings, dukes, counts, etc. who shall exact or receive such payments incur eo ipso the sentence of excommunication from which, except in articulo mortis, no one can absolve them with- out special faculties from the pope; no privileges or dispensations to be of avail against the decree.

The two underlying principles of this Bull, viz. (1) that the clergy should enjoy equally with the laity the right of determining the need and the amount of their subsidies to the Crown, and (2) that the head of the Church ought to be consulted when there was ques- tion of diverting the revenues of the Church to secular purposes, were by no means strange or novel in that age of Magna? Charta^; and outside of France and England it was accepted without a murmur. But what excited the wrath of the two chief culprits, Pliilip (he Fair and Edward I, was that from its fiery tone, from the express mention of sovereigns, and the grave ipso farln penalties attached, they felt that be- hind the decree there stood a new Hildebrand resolved to enforce it to the letter. The Bull has been criti- cized for the imconventional vehemence of its tone, for its exaggerated indictment of the hostile attitude of the laity of all ages towards the clergy, and for its failure to make clear the distinction between the rev- enues of the purely ecclesiastical benefices and the lay fees held by the clergy on feudal tciuire. The un- scrupulous "advisers of Philip the Fair were quick to take advantage of the pope's hasty language and, by forcing him to make explanations, put him on the de- fensive and weakened his prestige.

Fop sources and literature, see Boniface VIII.

James F. Louohlin.