Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/827

* CHUB. 7: summit of an eminence, and are separated from the rest of the town by walls and battlements, closed by double gates. In the same quarter stands the old cathedral, called the Chvirch of Saint Lucius, a Byzantine edifice, founded in the Eishth Century, and containin,!; interestinc; paint- ings by Diirer and Holbein. The episcopal pal- ace, in the Renaissance style. dis[)lays two old lioman towers and has rich archives and library. In the lower city are the town hall, with fine painted windows, the Khoetian antiquarian mu- seum, the cantonal library, and two theological seminaries. Clr.ir was formerl' an important trade centre on the road from t4erman.v to Italy before the construction of the Saint Gotthard Railroad. It flourishes still, owing to throngs of tourists, and to the traffic in wine, fruit, and agricultural products. Population, in 1900, 11,700. The town was settled by the Romans, who named it Curia Rha-tonun. and from the Fifth Century it was an episcopal see. It was ruled by its bishops down to about the close of the Middle Ages. It entered the Confederation in I49S. CHURCH (AS. circc, Ger. Kirchc. from Gk. KvpiaKSy, Iniritihoti, church, from xiJpios, Ici/rios, lord I. The word has the same double meaning as its Gr;eco-Latin equivalent, ecclesia ; it signifies both the ecclesiastical body of believers and the building for worship. Brii.DiXG. There were at first, among the Christians, no separate buildings for worship. The faithful met in the large room of a private house during the First and possibly the whole of the Second Ccntuiy, The gatherings at the cemeteries to celebrate the anniversaries of the deaths of martyrs probably gave rise to the earliest special buildings for services, in chapels connected ivith the cemeteries outside the city walls, often built also at the entrance to the catacombs. The catacomb chapels were also used as churches. In the Third Century there were separate churches of considerable size. Then and during the two succeeding centuries there were two main classes of churches: cemeterial churches outside the walls, consecrated to mar- tyrs: parish churches inside the walls, for more regular worship. Then came two further dis- tinctions : ( 1 ) the episcopal church or cathedral, at which the bishop had his seat, among the parish churches; (2) the conventual church, at- tached to a monastery or nunnery, also called an abbey church. There were occasions when a church belonged to both of these classes, for ex- ample, if the cathedral, as was usually the case in England, was a monastic foundation. A sub-class of the episcopal is the metropolitan chiirch, that of the archbishop or patriarch of a diocese: still higher was the pontifical church — like the Lat- eran basilica. A sub-class of the conventual church is a priory, belonging to a monastery gov- erned only by a prior. A numerous class of churches is formed of the rural or country churches, in charge of the country curate. Pala- tine churches and chapels belong to imperial, royal, or private palaces and castles. The strict definition of a church is an eccle- siastical building for worship in which full ser- vice can be performed and the sacraments admin- i istered; in this it differ? from oratories and i chapels, where only prayers can be offered and the sacraments cannot be given, except occasion- ally, as on the patron saint's day. There was >7 CHURCH. always a certain ceremony required for the con- secrating and licensing of a church. The most fanu)us early instance was that of the basilica at Tyre early in the reign of Constant inc. when Kiiscbius pronounced his celebrated oration bcfori? a great assemblage of bishops and the court and people. Media'val chronicles arc full of descrip- tions of the nuigniticent reunions and festivals on such occasions. Often the popes were present with the college of cardinals at the consecration of cathedrals or large monastic churches. In every case the bishops of the neighboring dio- ceses gathered. No church could be built and opened without being consecrated by the local bishop or his representative. Xo early written fornudas of consecration have survived, but there Tenth and the Thirteenth centuries, which show the development of an elaborate symbolism. The consecration was often recorded in a special in- scription, with the names of the attending bishops. A church consists of two essential parts: the nave, for the congregation, and the suiiclintrij, for the clergy-. As distinguished from pagan metlidds of W(n-ship. the mass of believers was gathered within, not kept outside the place of worship. In fact, the aflapw, which were the original form of the Christian gathei-ing, had so slight a liturgy as not to call for sepai-atioil of clergy and people. The Third and Fcmrth centuries, however, w ith the development of Church organ- ization and liturgy', witnessed the enrichment of church architecture. The semicircle of the apse (q.A-. ) held the presbyters and bisho|)s; and in front of it was placed the altar; beyond the altar, the choir (q.v. ) held the readers and singers, separated from the bod.r of the chvirch. or nave (q.v.), by a parapet, which inclosed the pulpits or ambones (one or two). The nave itself was at first generally single, the men being placed in front and the women behind; but very soon the form of the basilica with its side-aisles separated by columns was adopted, and the men were placed in one aisle, the women in the other, in order of rank and condition. In the Orient, however, the separation of the sexes, which was always con- sidered necessary, was made even more effective by constructing galleries (q,v,) over the side- aisles, in which the women were placed. The use of martyrs' relics, soon required by Church regu- lations in every church, led to the construction of a shrine to contain them in or beneath the altar (q.v.). This shrine, called the confession (q.v.), developed, between the Sixth and Kighth cen- turies, into a monumental crypt (q.v. ), sometimes filling the entire space beneath the church. Init more often only under the choir, whose ])avement was thus raised above the level of the nave. This arrang€'meut, almost universal in monastic and other R<mianesquc churches, went out of fashion in the Gothic cathedrals. Churches ere often oriented, that is to say, were placed so that the apse faced the east {ex oriente lux) while the facade faced west. This was a part of Christian symbolism which bears a curious analogy- to Old Testament ((iarden of Eden) and ancient Oriental ideas, especially sun- worship. Over the door of the church was often an inscription such as "I am the Door," etc. The world was left outside. The wheel of fortune so often represented on the facade figured the vicis- situdes of carnal life. Inside was the spiritual
 * ue a number d.itiug from the period between the