Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/112

 FIRST-FRUITS

82

FISCAL

First-Friiits.— The practice of consecrating first- fruits to the Deity is not a distinctly Jewish one (cf. IHad, IX, 529; Aristophanes, "Ran.", 1272; Ovid "Metam.", VIII, 273; X, 431; Pliny, "Hist. Nat.", IV, 26; etc.). It seems to have sprung up naturally among agricultural peoples from the belief that the first — hence the best — yield of the earth is due to God as an acknowledgment of His gifts. "God served first ", then the whole crop becomes lawful food. The offering of the first-fruits was, in Israel, regulated by laws enshrined in different parts of the Mosaic Isooks. These laws were, in the course of ages, supplemented by customs preserved later on in the Talmud. Three entire treatises of the latter, "Bfkkiirim", "Terfi- moth", and "Hdllah", besides numerous other pas- sages of both the Mishna and Gemarah, are devoted to the explanation of these customs.

First-fruit offerings are designated in the Law by a threefold name: Bikkurim, Reshtth, and Terflmoth. There remains much uncertainty about the exact im- port of these words, as they seem to have been taken indiscriminately at different epochs. If, however, one considers the texts attentively, he may gather from them a fairly adequate idea of the subject. There was a first-fruit offering connected with the beginning of the harvest. Leviticus, xxiii, 10-14, enacted that a sheaf of ears should be brought to the priest, who, the next day after the Sabbath, was to lift it up before the Lord. A holocaust, a meal-offering, and a libation ac- companied the ceremony; and until it was performed no " bread, or parched corn, or frumenty of the har- vest " should be eaten. Seven weeks later two loaves, made from the new harvest, were to be brought to the sanctuary for a new offering. The Bikkurim con- sisted, it seems, of the first ripened raw fruits; they were taken from wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pome- granates, olives, and honey. The fruits offered were supposed to be the choicest, and w^ere to be fresh, ex- cept in the case of grapes and figs, which might be offered dried by Israelites living far from Jerusalem. No indication is given in Scripture as to how much should be thus brought to the sanctuary. But the custom was gradually introduced of consecrating no less than one-sixtieth and no more than one-fortieth of the crop (Bikk., ii, 2, 3, 4). Occasionally, of course, there were extraordinary offerings, like that of the fruit of a tree the fourth year after it had been planted (Lev., xix, 23-25); one might also, for instance, set apart as a free offering tfie harvest of a whole field.

No time was, at first, specially set apart for the offering; in later ages, however, the feast of Dedication (25 Casleu) was assigned as the limit (Bi'kk., i, 6; Hallah, iv, 10). In the Book of Deuteronomy, xxvi, 1-11, directions are laid down as to the manner in which these offerings should be made. The first- fruits were brought in a basket to the sanctuary and presented to the priest, with an expression of thanks- giving for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the possession of the fertile land of Palestine. A feast, shared by the Levite and the stranger, followed. Whether the fruits offered were consumed in that meal is not certain; Numbers, xviii, 13, seems to intimate that they henceforth belonged to the priest, and Philo and Josephus suppose the same.

Other offerings were made of the prepared fruits, especially oil, wine, and dough (Deut., xviii, 4; Num., XV, 20-21; Lev., ii, 12, 14-16; cf. Ex., xxii, 29, in the Greek), and " the first of the fleece". As in the case of the raw fruits, no quantity was determined; Ezechiel affirms that it was one-sixtieth of the harvest for wheat and barley and one-ono huiidrcdth for oil. They were presented to the sanctuary with ceremonies analogous to tho.se alluded to above, although, unlike the Bik- kurim, they were not offered at the altar, but brought into the store-rooms of the temple. They may be looked upon, therefore, not so much as sacrificial

matter as a tax for the support of the priests. (See

Annates.)

Smith, The Religion of the Semites (2d ed., London, 1907); Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, tr. Black AND Menzies (Edinburgh, 1885), 157-5S; Philo, De festo cophini; It>., Deproemiis saeerdolum; Josepkvs, Ant. Jud., IV, viii, 22: Reland, Antiguitates sacra^: Schijher, Geschichte des jiid. Volkes im Zeit. J. C. (Leipzig, 1898), II, 237-50.

CH.'i.RLES L. SOUVAY.

First Request. See Right of Presentation.

Fiscal Procurator (Lat. Procukator Fiscalis). — The duties of the fiscal procurator consist in pre- venting crime and safeguarding ecclesiastical law. In case of notification or denunciation it is his duty to institute proceedings and to represent the law. His office is comparable to that of the state attorney in criminal cases. The institution of the procuratores regii_ or procureurs du roi (king's procurators) was es- tablished in France during the thirteenth century, and has developed from that time onward; though canon law, previous to that time, had imposed on the bishops the duty of investigating the commission of crimes and instituting the proper judicial proceedings. It is to be noted that formerly canon law admitted the validity of private as well as of public accusa- tion or denunciation. At present custom has brought it about that all criminal proceedings in ecclesias- tical courts are initiated exclusively by the fiscal procurator.

The Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, 11 June, ISSO, called attention to the absolute necessity of the fiscal procurator in every episcopal curia, as a safe- guard for law and justice. The fiscal procurator may be named by the bishop, either permanently, or his term of office may be limited to individual cases (see Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884, no. 299; App., p. 289). This official appears not only in crimi- nal proceedings but also in other ecclesiastical matters. In matrimonial cases, canon law provides for a defen- der of the matrimonial tie whose duty it is to uphold the validity of the marriage, as long as its invalidity has not been proven in two lower ecclesiastical courts. This defender of the matrimonial tie represents both ecclesiastical law and public morality, whose ultimate objects would not be attained if the validity or inval- idity of a marriage were decided in a too easy or infor- mal way. A similar office is that of the defender of the validity of sacred orders and solemn vows. When the validity of either of these acts, and their pertinent obligations, is attacked, it becomes the duty of this official to bring forward whatever arguments may go to establish their binding force. In all these cases the defensor, like the fiscal procurator in criminal pro- cesses, represents the public interests ; the institution of this office was all the more necessary, as it takes cognizance of causes in which both parties frequently display a desire to have the contract nullified. In the processes of beatification and canonization it devolves on the pro7notor fidei to investigate strictly the reasons urged in favour of canonization, and to find out and emphasize all objections which can possibly be urged against it. He is therefore popularly known as the advocatus diaboli, i. e. "devil's lawyer'"'. It is the duty of the promoter fidei, therefore, to take up the negative side in the discussion which has a place amongst the preliminaries to beatification and canonization, and to endeavour, by every legitimate means, to prevent the completion of the process.

Peries, Le Procureur Fiscal ou promoleur (Paris, 1897): Leoa, De Judieits Ecclesiastieis, Bit. I, vol. I, 2nd ed. (Rome, 1905).

Fiscal of the Holy Office.— The Holy Office, i. e. the supreme court in the Catholic Church for all mat- ters that affect its faith or are closely connected with its teaching, has an ojfwi(difs fixcidia, whose duties are similar to those of the fiscal procurator in episcopal courts. The officialis fiscalis is present at all sessions of the Holy Office, when criminal cases are sub judice, and