Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/96

 INSURANCE

66

INTELLECT

rior authority, the latter can make the grant itself (see Jus Patronatus).

II. The inslilutio corporalU, also called investilura, or installiitio, is the putting of a titular in effective pos- session of his benefice. Whereas canon law permits a bishop to put himself in possession of his bene- fice (see Enthronization), in the case of minor bene- fices it requires an actual installation by a competent authorit}'. The bishop may punish any one who takes possession of a benefice on his own authority, and the violent occupation of a benefice in possession of another ecclesiastic entails on the guilty party the loss of all right to that benefice. The right of instal- lation formerly belonged to archdeacons, but is now reserved to the bishop, his vicar-general, or his delegate, ordinarily the dean {decayius christianitatis or fora- neus). It is performed with certain symbolical cere- monies, determined by local usage or by diocesan statutes, such, for instance, as a solemn entry into the parish and into the chiu'ch, the handing over of the church keys, a putting in poissession of the high altar of the church, the pulpit, confessional, etc. In some countries there is a double installation: the first by the bishop or vicar-general, either by mere word of mouth, or by some symboUcal ceremony, as, for in- stance, presenting a biretta; the second, which is then a mere ceremony, taking place in the parish and con- sisting in the solemn entry and other formalities de- pendent on local custom. In some places custom has even done away with the inMilutio corporalis properly so called; the rights inherent to the putting in posses- sion are acquired by the new titular to the benefice by a simple visit to his benefice, for instance, to his parish, with the intention of taking possession thereof, provided such visit is made with the authority of the bishop, thus precluding the possiliility of self-investi- ture. When the pope names the titular to a benefice, he always mentions those who are to put the bene- ficiary in possession.

The following are the effects of the institutio cor- poralis: (1) From the moment he is put in possession the beneficiary receives the revenues of his benefice. (2) He enjoys all the rights resulting from the owner- ship and the possession of the benefice, and, in particu- lar, it is from this moment that the time necessary for a prescriptive right to the benefice counts. (3)'The possessor can invoke in his favour the provisions of rules 35 and 36 of the Roman Chancery de annali, and de triennali possessione. This privilege has lost much of its importance since the conferring of bene- fices is now a matter of less dispute than in former times. Formerly, on account of various privileges, and the constant intervention of the Holy See in the collation of benefices, several ecclesiastics were not infrequently named to the same benefice. Should one of them happen to have been in possession of the benefice for a year, it would devolve on the rival claimant to prove that the possessor had no right to the benefice; moreover, the latter was obliged to begin his suit within six months after his nomination to the benefice by the pope, and the trial was to be concluded within a year counting from the day when the actual pos.sessor was cited to the courts (rule 35 of the Chan- cery). These principles are still in force. The trien- nial possession guaranteed the benefice to the actual incumbent in all actions in pclilnrio or in posses- Horio to obtain a benefice brought by any claimant whatsoever (rule .'56 of the Chancery). " (4) The peaceful possession of a benefice entails ipso facto the vacating of anv benefices to which the holder is a titular, but which would be ineonifiatible with the one he holds. (5).Jt is only from the day when bish- op.s and parish pqcsts entiT into possession of their benefices that they can validly assist at marriages celebrated in the diocese or in the parish (Decree " Ne temere", 2 August, 1907). Furthermore, in some diocRses tlie statutes declare invalid any exercise of

the powers of j urisdiction attached to a benefice, before the actual installation in the benefice.

III. The institutio auHorisahilis is nothing but an approbation required for the validity of acts of juris- diction, granted by the bishop to a beneficiary in view of his undertaking the care of souls {cura ani- marum). It is an act of the same nature as the ap- probation which a bishop gives members of a religious order for hearing confessions of persons not subject to their authority, and without which the absolution would be invalid; but there is this difference that in the case of the institutio auctorisabilis the approbation relates to the exercise of the ministerial functions taken as a whole. It is the missio canonica indis- pensable for the validity of acts requiring an actual power of jurisdiction. This institution, which is reserved to the bishop or his vicar-general and to those possessing a quasi-episcopal jurisdiction, is required when the institutio tiiuli collativa belongs to an inferior prelate, a chapter, or a monastery. The institutio tituli collativa given by the bishop himself implies the institutio auctorisabilis, which, therefore, needs not to be given by a special act.

Decretals of Gregory IX, bk. Ill, tit. 7, De institutionibus : Liber Sextjis, bk. Ill, tit. 6, De Institutionibus ; Ferraris, Prompta bibliolheca, s. v. Institutio, IV (Paris, 1861), 701-12; HlNSCHius, System des katholischen Kirchenreckls, II (Berlin, 1878-18S3). 649-57, and III, 3-4: Santi, Prcelectiones iuris canonici. Ill (Ratisbon, 1898), 116-25: Wernz, Jus decreta- lium, II (Rome, 1899), 532-45: Gross, Dos Recht an der Pfriinde (Graz. 1887): Archiv fur kalholisches Kirchenrecht, LXXXVIII (1908), 768-9, and LXXXIX (1909), 75-8, 327-9.

A. Van Hove. Insurance. See Societies, Benevolent.

Intellect (Lat. intelligere — inter and legere — to choose between, to discern; Gr. mOs; Ger. Vernunft, Verstand; Fr. intellect; Ital. intelletto), the faculty of thought. As understood in Catholic philosophical literature it signifies the higher, spiritual, cognitive power of the soul. It is in tliis view awakened to action by sense, but transcends the latter in range. Amongst its functions are attention, conception, judg- ment, reasoning, reflection, and self-consciousness. All these modes of activity exhibit a distinctly supra- sensuous element, and reveal a cognitive faculty of a higher order than is required for mere sense-cognitions. In harmony, therefore, with Catholic usage, we.reserve the terms intellect, intelligence, and intellectual to this higher power and its operations, although many modern psychologists are wont, with much resulting confusion, to extend the application of these terms so as to include sensuous forms of the cognitive process. By thus restricting the use of these terms, the inac- curacy of such phrases as "animal intelligence" is avoided. Before such language may be legitimately employed, it should be shown that the lower animals are endowed with genuinely rational faculties, funda- mentally one in kind with those of man. Catholic philosophers, however they differ on minor points, as a general body have held that intellect is a spiritual faculty depending extrinsically, liut not intrinsically, on the bodily organism. The importance of a right theory of intellect is twofold: on account of its bear- ing on epistemology, or the doctrine of knowledge; and because of its connexion with the question of the spirituality of the soul.

History. — The view that the cognitive powers of the mind, or faculties of knowledge, are of a double order — the one lower, grosser, more intimately depending on bodily organs, the other higher and of a more refined and spiritual nature — appeared very early, though at first confusedly, in (Jreek thought. It was in connexion with cosmological, rather than psy- chological, theories that the difference between sen- suous and rational kno\vle<lge was first emphasized. On the one hand there seems to be constant change, and, on the other hand, permanence in the world that is revealed to us. The question: How is the apparent