Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/171

 FOREST

U5

FORGERY

"Mantissa Ant-anatomise Jesuitica;" (Innsbruck, 1635; Cologne, 1635), "Grammaticus Proteus, arca- norura Societatis Jesu Da?dalus" (Ingolstadt, 1636), "Appendix ad gramniaticum Proteuni" (Ingolstadt, 1636), attack the enemies of the Society of Jesus; finally, two of his works, written for Catholics, " Dis- putirkunst fur die einfaltigen Catholischen " (Ingol- stadt, 1656) and "Leben Jesu Christi" (Dillingen, 1650-1658), have been re-edited and republished at Wiirzburg (1861) and Ratisbon (1856).

HuRTEK, Xonu-nclator (Innsbruck, 1892), I, 426 sq.; SoM- MERVOGEL, BibUolhc^ue, etc. (Brussels and Paris, 1892), III, 858 sqq.; Bauer in Kirchetilex., s. v.

A. J. Maas.

Forest, John Antony. See San Antonio, Dio- cese OF.

Foresters, Catholic Orders of.- — I. On 30 July, l,S7i», some members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., desiring to have a Catholic fraternal insurance society, organized one on the plan of the Foresters' courts and called it the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. It was so chartered, and its membership was confined to the State of Massachusetts, except in one instance, where a court was formed at Providence, Rhode Islantl. On 1 January, 1909, the official report stated that there were 235 courts organized, with a membership of 27,757. Of the members 9679 were women. The insurance in force on 31 Dec., 1908, was $27,757,000.

II. On 24 May, 1883, a number of Catholics of Chi- cago, Illinois, taking up the plan of this Massachu- setts society, organized on the same lines the Catholic Order of Foresters of Illinois. A flat all-around death assessment of one dollar was adopted, and men of all ages were admitted to membership at the same rate. Later, when courts were established in a number of other States and in Canada, an international conven- tion in 1895 adopted a graded system of assessment insurance. Catholics between eighteen and forty- five years of age are eligible for membership. From the date of organization to 1 June, 1908, it paid out $10,639,936 for death claims, and $2,500,000 in fu- neral and sick benefits. It fiad in April, 1909, 1600 courts and a membership of 136,212 distributed over twenty-sLx States and the Dominion of Canada. The main offices are at Chicago, Illinois. The official or- gan, " The Catholic Forester ", is published at Milwau- kee, Wisconsin. The word Illinois in the original title of the organization was dropped in 1888. as the mem- Ijership had then extended beyond the limits of that State. This society is not affiliated with the Massa- chusetts Catholic Order of Foresters.

III. A. Women's Catholic Order of Foresters was or- ganized in 1892 at Chicago, having for its object be- nevolent co-operation among Catholic women with assessment life-insurance at low rates. It has a membership of 54,350, with courts scattered over many of the States. The main offices are at Chicago.

Thomas F. Meehan.

Forgery, Forger. — If we accept the definition usu- ally given by canonists, forgery (Lat. falsum) differs very slightly from fraud. "Forgery", says Ferraris, who claims that his definition is the usually ac- cepted one, "is a fraudulent interference with, or al- teration of, truth, to the prejudice of a third person". It consists in the deliberate imtruthfulness of an asser- tion, or in the deceitful presentation of an object, and is based on an intention to deceive and to injure while using the externals of honesty. Forgery is truly a falsehood and a fraud, but it is something more. It includes fraudulent misdemeanours in matters regu- lated by the law, and endangering the public peace. These misdemeanours are divided by canon law- writers into three classes — according as the crime is committed by word, by writing, or by deed. The principal crime in each of these classes being false

witness, falsification of public documents, and counter- feiting money. A fourth category consists in making use of such forgerj', and is equivalent to forgery proper. This classification, while slightly superficial, is exact, and presupposes the fundanuMilal nialicc of the crime ini|uestic>n, viz., that it is prejudicial to public security and injurious to the interests of society at large, rather than to those of the individual.

Social order is seriously affected by false witness, which cripples the operation of justice; by the change or alteration of public documents, which hinders a right and proper administration of public affairs, and lastly, by the coining of base money, which hampers trade and commerce. If forgery is committed by public officials in violation of their professional duties, the crime becomes more serious, and more prejudicial to public order. The interests of private individuals, therefore, while not excluded, are secondary when this offence is in question, and it is for this reason that the penalties incurred by forgery, or complicity therein, are independent of the amount of damage it in- flicts on individuals. Oral forgeries, e. g. false oaths, false witness (canonists add the crime of the judge who knowingly pronounces an unjust .sentence), are treated under Trial; Oath; Witne.ss; Judge. On the other hand false coinage does not immediately con- cern ecclesiastical law, though some attention is paid it in the " Corpus Juris Canonici ' ' and in various canon law treatises. John XXII punished false coinage by excommunication (Extrav. " Gradiens", Joan. XXII, de crimine falsi) and compared forgers to alchemists (Extrav. "Spondent", inter comm.). In many dio- ceses this crime was long a reserved sin (e. g. in Naples; " PromptaBibliotheca", s.v.; see Neapolitan edition of Ferraris, s.v. Falsum, n. 35). By such penal measures the ecclesiastical authority merely assisted in suppressing a crime gravely prejudicial to civil wel- fare ; it did not come before it as a crime against eccle- siastical law.

We are here concerned only with forgery prop- erly so-called, i. e. the falsification of public docu- ments and writings, especially Apostolic letters. What is here said of the latter, is also applicable, in due measure, to all public documents emanating from the Roman Curia or episcopal courts. The canonical legisLation on this matter is better understood when we recall that the more usual form of thLs crime, and the source of judicial inquiries and consequent penalties, was the production of absolutely false documents and the alteration of authentic decisions, for the sake of cer- tain advantages, e. g. a benefice, or a favourable verdict.

The forging of documents for purely historical pur- poses, with no intention of influencing administrative or legislative authority, does not fall within our scope. (For an account of several such forgeries see A. Girv, "Manuel de diplomatique", Paris, 1894, II, 801-87, and Wattenbach, " Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen", 9th ed. appendix.) We are concerned only with the falsification of Apostolic Letters, the only form of forg- ery that incurs excommunication ipso faclo specially reserved to the pope. The most serious form of forgery is that committed by a public functionary charged to draw up or authenticate official documents, who vio- lates his professional duties, by the fabrication of false documents, by forging a signature, by fraudulent u.se of an official seal, a stamp, or the like. There is no precise text in canon law punishing these crimes, and canonists always refer to Roman law, especially to the Lex Cornelia "de crimine falsi" (ff. XLVIII). Never- theless in ecclesiastical law they are serious crimes; and instances might be given of officials of the Roman Curia who suffered death for such forgeries. Domen- ico of Viterbo and Francesco Maldente were tried and executed for this crime in 1489. They had forged, among other documents, a Bull avitlmrizing the priests of Norway to celebrate Mass without wine (Benedict XIV, " De Beatif.", II, c. XXXll, n. 2; I'astor, "His-