Page:The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789-1907, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.pdf/696

666 who, during at least twenty years, shall have filled ecclesiastical positions remunerated by the state shall receive an annual pension for life equal to half of their salaries.

The pensions granted by the two preceding paragraphs shall not exceed 1,500 francs.

In case of the decease of the recipients, these pensions shall be reversionary, up to the extent of half of their amount, in favor of the widow and the minor orphans left by the deceased and, up to the extent of a quarter, in favor of the widow without minor children. When the orphans attain their majority, their pensions shall cease ipso facto.

The ministers of religion at present salaried by the state, who shall not be in the conditions above mentioned, shall receive, during four years dating from the suppression of the budget of religions, an allowance equal to the whole of their salaries for the first year, two-thirds for the second year, half for the third, a third for the fourth.

Moreover, in the communes of less than 1,000 inhabitants and for the ministers of religion who shall continue to fulfill their functions there, the duration of each of the four periods indicated above shall be doubled.

The departments and the communes may, under the same conditions as the state, grant to the ministers of religion at present salaried by them, pensions or allowances established upon the same basis and for an equal duration.

Reserve is made of the rights acquired in the matter of pensions by the application of the preceding legislation, as well as the relief granted to the former ministers of the various religions or to their families.

The law of June 27, 1885, relative to the personnel of the suppressed faculties of catholic theology, is applicable to the professors, chargés de cours, masters of conferences and students of the faculties of protestant theology.

The pensions and allowances provided for above shall be non-transferrable and exempt from distraint under the same conditions as civil pensions. They shall cease ipso facto in case of condemnation to an afflictive or infamous penalty or in case of condemnation for one of the offences provided for in articles 34 and 35 of the present law.

The right to obtain or to enjoy a pension or allowance shall be suspended by the circumstances which cause the loss of the quality of Frenchman, during the period of the loss of that quality.