Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/757

 DEFINITORS

677

DEGRADATION

Koriietimes fulfilled by others. In some decanal or rural chapters the title given to the definitor is cham- l«rlain or treasurer.

I.AUHENTius, Instituliancs Jur. Ecd. (Freiburg, 1903). Cor- r>it> Juris Canonici, c. 4, X, I, 24 (c. xiii, Cone, Ticin.. an. 850).

William II. W. F,\nning.

Definitors (in Religious Orders), generally sppaking, the governing council of an order. Bergier ■ li scribes them as those chosen to represent the order III t;eneral or provincial chapters, but this is not alto- yrther correct, for the usage varies in different riiers. With the Dominicans all who are sent to rrprp.sent the provinces in ageneral chapter are defini- I'Ts ; amongst the Cluniac monks there existed a simi- I If regulation (though normally in the Benedictine I inlcr definitors have no place"). On the other hand, III the Franciscan Order, definitors are elected by the Liriicral and provincial chapters to assist the general or provincial superiors in the government of the order mill a similar rule exists amongst the Carmelites and

I 111' Hermits of St. Augustine. But in this case it ^MMild seera that the definitors form a sort of execu-

I I vo committee of the chapter, since they are subject to I III' legislative enactments of the chapter. Definitors, -: rii'tly so called, have a decisive vote in congregation ''lually with the general or provincial superior; in ill is they differ from mere consultors such as exist in s"iiif' orders and in the Society of Jesus. Nor may the ^I'lioral or provincial superior act in matters of greater iiiiiTnent without taking the vote of the definitors. A 'li'fiiiitor, however, has the right to vote only when I'T'sent in congregation. When called to give his iipiiiion in congregation he is bound in conscience to si lak candidly according to his own judgment, even if Im' knows his opinion to be contrary to that of the nlluT definitors, and if he fails to do so in matters of LiiMvity, he is held to sin gravely. Yet when the vote is taken, he is bound to sign the declaration of the iiiiijority, though he has the right to insist upon a iinniirity report. In some orders, e. g. the Capuchin, till' junior definitor gives his opinion first, that he

III !v not be influenced by the seniors; but in other I'l'l'TS the senior speaks first. Again, in some orders till- local superiors are appointed by the definitors; in I'lliers they are elected by the local community. riiiis, amongst the Franciscans, the provincial supe- rior is selected by the provincial chapter, subject to I "iifirmation by the minister general and his defini- tors, whereas the superiors of houses are appointed

' f-tly by the provincial definitors: whilst amongst Dominicans all local superiors are elected by the I communitv- " rus, Praltcliones Juris Rcgularis (Toumai, 1890).
 * iuGiER. Diclionnaire de thfologie (Toulouse. 1819), II;

Father Cuthbert.

Deformity. See Irregularity.

Deger, Ern.st, historical painter, b. in Bockenem, Hanover, 1.") April, 1809; d. in Diisseldorf, 27 Jan., 1S8.5. Little is known concerning his early life. In 1828 he went to the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts to begin the study of art under Professor Wach, and was there so impressed by pictures of the Diisseldorf School that lie placed himself under Schadow, the di- rector of the Diisseldorf Academy. Deger, says Dr. Banz, "lived in religion, had a profound conviction of thr nobility of his art, and painted what he felt, be- lieved and hoped," lie was only twenty-one when his "Pieta" brought him fame, and thenceforth he de- voted himself to religious painting. In 1837 he went to Italy with Ittenbach and the Miiller brothers to study the frescoes by the old masters in Florence and Rome. Overbeck, leader of (he German pre-Raphael- ites and head of the "Xazarene School", gave advice and encouragement to the.»e young zealots, and Deger especially gained much from contact with this master. Deger was intrusted with the most important frescoes

in the church of St. ApoUinaris (Remagen), and, fully equipped after his four years' study, he returned from Rome in 1S43 and began the work. In eight years he finished a noble seriee of paintings, representing the events in the life of Christ; these ApoUinaris frescoes, the most remarkable protluctions of the " Nazarites", mark the zenith of the German school of religious painting, called by Cardinal Wiseman "the restorer of Christian taste throughout all Europe."

In 1851 Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, commissioned Deger to paint twelve scenes in the chapel of the castle of Stolzenfcls (Coblenz), and for this Deger chose .subjects illustrating the redemption of mankind. When this monumental work was fin- ished, Deger settled permanently in Diisseldorf, com- nienced again to paint in oil, and spent the rest of his life on easel pictures, chiefly Madonnas. Of these the most beautiful are the idyllic "Madonna 'mid the Green" and the inspiring "Regina Coeli". He fre- quently visited Munich where he painted a "Virgin and Child" and an "Ascension" for the Maximilia- neuin of that city. In 18.57 and 1859 two of his nota- ble canvases, both religious subjects, were hung in the Paris Salon. Deger was made professor in the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, a member of the Berlin Acad- emy of Fine Arts, and, in 1869, professor in the Diissel- dorf Academy of Fine Arts. His style was vigorous, direct, and simple; his handling careful and precise; his drawing and power of characterization masterful; and his colour rich and harmonious. Deger exerted a powerful influence in ridding Gennan art of its ba- roque element and in stimulating its votaries to poetry, loftiness, and profound conviction. Two of his nota- ble works are "Adam and Eve", in the Raczynski Gallery, Berlin, and the "Virgin and Child", in St. Andrew's Chapel, Diisseldorf.

Atkinson, School of Modern. Art in Germany (London); Banz, ErvM Deger, the Religious Painterin Benziger's Magazine (New York. Sept,, 1907); von Konigswinter, Diisscldorfcr Kiinstlor (Leipzig, 1854); Wiegman, Die Kunslakademie zu Diisseldorf (Dusseldorf, 1856).

Leigh Hunt.

Degradation (Lat. degradatio), a canonical penalty by which an ecclesiastic is entirely and perpetually de- prived of all office, benefice, dignity, and power con- ferred on him by ordination; and by a special cere- mony is reduced to the state of a layman, losing the privileges of the clerical state and being given over to the secular arm. Degradation, however, cannot de- prive an ecclesiastic of the character conferred in or- dination, nor does it dispense him from the law of celi- bacy and the recitation of the Breviary. Degradation is twofold: verbal, i. e. the mere sentence of degrada- tion ; and real or actual, i. c. the execution of that sen- tence. They are not two di.stinct penalties, but parts of the same cantmical punishment. Degradation is a perpetual pimishment,and the clergyman so punished has never any right to release from it. It differs from deposition in so far as it dejirives, and always totally, of all power of orders and juri.sdiction and also of the privileges of the ecclesiastical slate, thus in all things subjecting the delinquent to civil authority. While a bishop, even before his con.secration, can inflict deposi- tion or pronounce a .sentence of verbal degradation and can reinstate those so punished, it is only a consecrated bishop who can inflict actual degradation, and only the Holy See which can reinstate ecclesiastics .actually degr.aded.

Solemn degradation owes its origin to the military practice of thus expelling soldiers from the army; the Clnirch a<lopted this institution in order to remove grievously delinquent clerics from the ecclesiastical order. The first mention of clerical degradation is found in the eighty-third Novel of Justinian; sub- ,sequently it was adopted with its external solemnities by early medieval councils as a repressive measure against heretics. It did not originally differ from de-