Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/728

 ILLINOIS

658

ILLINOIS

066; Baptists, 152,870; Presbyterians, 115,602; Disciples of Christ, 105,008; German Evangelists, 59,973; Congregationalists, 54,875; Christian Scien- tists, 5675; Unitarians, 2339; Quakers, 2343; others, 162,922. The total number of church organizations (parishes, etc.) in Illinois in 1906 was 9374; church edifices, 8626; value, .$66,222,514; debt, $6,317,979.

Law and Religion. — Freedom of worship is guaran- teed by the Constitution of 1870. It is provided by the criminal code that: "Whoever disturbs the peace and good order of society by labor (works of neces- sity and charity excepted) or by amusement or diver- sion on Sunday, or whoever shall be guilty of noise, riot or amusement on Sunday, whereby the peace of any family may be disturbed, shall be fined not to exceed .?25". In the administration of oaths in legal matters the person swearing uplifts his hand and swears by the ever-living God but is not compelled to lay the hand on or kiss the Gospels. Where a person has conscientious scruples against taking an oath he may make his solemn affirmation or declaration. There is no provision in the Criminal Code of Illinois against blasphemy and profanity; but one guilty of blasphemy and profanity may be charged with dis- orderly conduct and fined not to exceed S200. Both houses of the Legislature according to custom are opened with prayer. Christmas Day and New Year's Day are legal holidays ; but Good Friday is not. The clergy are exempt from jury service, but not from military service. Custom, however, exempts them from military service.

Seal of Confession. — There is no statute in Illinois making confessions to a priest pri\'ileged communi- cations. The common law is therefore in force. Green- leaf in liis standard work on Evidence I -XIII, p. 248, states what this common-law rule is: "In the common law of evidence there is no distinction be- tween clergymen and laymen; but all confessions, and other matters not confided to legal counsel, must be disclosed when required for the purpose of justice. Neither penitential confe.ssions, made to the minister or to members of the party's own Church, nor secrets confided to a Roman Catholic priest in the course of confession, are regarded as privileged communica- tions". While this is and has been the law in Illinois there is no instance where the courts have forced a priest to divulge the secrets of the confessional. No priest would divulge them and no court in Illinois would hold him for contempt in refusing to answer.

Church Property. — Churches may be incorporated under the General Corporation .\ct of 1872 and its amendments; l)ut in the .\rchdiocese of Chicago '' the Catholic Bishop of Chicago" is a corporation sole and acts by the archbishop or in his absence liy the auxili- ary, or in case of death by the administrator. This cor]5oration exists under a special statute. In this corporation sole is vested the title to all diocesan property and this has been most conducive to the growth of the Church. In other dioceses of the state the title to church property is vested in the bishop. Lender section 3, article ix, of the constitution prop- erty vised exclusively for school, religious, cemetery, and charitable purposes may be exempted from ta.Kation; but such taxation must be by general law. By the Revised .\ct, property used exclusively for church purposes has been exempted; but property used for parochial school purposes has not been ex- empted. No attempt, however, has been made to collect taxes for such schools.

Marriage and Divorce. — Marriages. — Marriages between cousins of the first degree or closer relations are prohibited. Insane persons and idiots are not capable of contracting marriage. Male persons over the age of seventeen years and females over the age of fourteen years may contract and be joined in marriaee. Marriages may be celebrated, either by a minister of the Gospel in regular standing in the church or society

to which he belongs, by a judge of any court of record, by a justice of the peace, by any superintendent of any public institution for the education of the deaf and dumb, or if the parties or either of them are Quakers they may be lawfully married in a certain manner as pointed out by the statute. All persons belonging to any religious society, church, or de- nomination may celebrate their marriage according to the rules and principles of such religious society, church, or denomination. Persons intending to be joined in marriage must before their marriage obtain a licence from the county clerk of the county where such marriage is to take place. For the purpose of ascertaining the age of the parties, and the legality of the contemplated marriage, the county clerk may, and he always does, request the affidavit of either of the parties, or other witnesses. When a minor is an applicant for a marriage licence, or if any applicant is desirous of obtaining a licence to marry a minor, and the parent or guardian of such minor is not present to give his or her consent, then such consent may be in writing, and must be attested by two witnesses. The county clerk would incur a heavy penalty if he issued a licence for the marriage of a male under the age of twenty-one, or of a female under eighteen, without the consent of parent or guardian.

The person authorized to marry any couple must, within thirty days after the solemnization of the marriage, make a certificate thereof, and return the same together with the licence, if any have been issued, to the clerk of the county in which the marriage took place. The county clerk must make a registry thereof in a book kept for that purpose in his office, a registry containing the Christian names and surnames of the parties, the time of their marriage and the name of the person certifying the same; he also endorses on such certificate the time when the same is registered, gives it a number and preserves the same. If the clerk fail to register the marriage certificate within thirty days after the same is returned to him for that purpose (his fees therefor being paid), or if any minister, judge, justice of the peace, or other authorized person shall celebrate a marriage without a licence having been first obtained therefor, as provided by law, or shall fail to make and return to the county clerk such certificate in the time and manner provided by law, he shall forfeit and pay .SIOO. Common law mar- riages were recognized in Illinois until recently, when by statute the rule was changed because of the num- ber of fraudulent acts of parties claiming the benefit of these meretricious relations.

Divorce. — The grounds for divorce are impotency, wife or husband living at time of such marriage, adultery, desertion without reasonable cause for the space of two years, habitual drunkenness for the space of two years, attempted poisoning or other means showing malice, extreme and repeated cruelty, conviction of felony or other infamous crime. The party asking the ilivorce must be a resident of the state one year before the filing of the bill, unless the offence complained of was committed within the state, or whilst one or both of the parties resided in the state. Divorce in no way affects the legitimacy of the children of such marriage, except in cases where the marriage is declared void on the ground of a prior marriage. The proceedings must be had in the county where the complainant resides, but process may lie directed to any county in the state. The process, practice, and proceedings are the same as in other cases in chancery, and service may be had by publication. When the defendant appears and denies the charges in the complainant's bill of complaint, either p;jrty has the right to have the case tried by a jury; but jury trials are rarely asked for. When the bill if taken as confessed, the court proceeds to hear the C3use by examination of witnesses in open court. Where no answer is put in by the defendant a trans-