the three whom the Bishop, after public competition, shall have found more worthy than the others. "XXVI. The revenues of those parishes of which the congrua is not sufficient at the present time, and for the place where they are situated, will as soon as possible be increased, and the Catholic parish priests of the Oriental rite will be cared for in the same way as those who practise the Latin form of worship. But this arrangement does not extend to those livings which are under a clerical or lay patronage canonically acquired, the patrons of such livings having to bear the expenses of the same. If the patrons do not completely fulfil the obligations ordained by the canonical laws, and particularly if the incumbent has to receive his salary from the religious fund, provision will be made with due consideration of the circumstances." Every one acquainted with the laws regarding benefices in England will understand the wisdom of the provision which requires canonical institution to livings in Austria. "XXVII. As the right to the enjoyment of Church property springs from canonical institution, all those persons who may be appointed to or presented with larger or smaller livings will only be able to administer to any property annexed to the same by virtue of the canonical institution. When possession is taken of the cathedrals and of the property attached to them, the conditions of the canonical statutes, and in particular of those prescribed in the Roman Pontifical and Ceremonial, will be strictly observed, and all other usage and custom set aside." The next paragraph will tend to counteract some of the worst points in the Josephine legislation. It allows communities to be formed, with the consent of the bishops, of orders not already existing in Austria; and thus the restrictions which have prevented so much good, and have checked so many vocations, will be removed. The Ven. Juvenal Ancina, of the Oratory, Bishop of Saluzzo, the intimate friend of St. Francis de Sales, said that the Church allowed a variety of orders, because of the endless variety of characters and dispositions, which they were to draw to perfection. To accomplish their holy work they must be under their own superiors, and the latter must have free communication with all the houses subject to their authority. Where the civil power has interfered with this freedom, inferiors have lost the spirit of dependence upon their spiritual head, and have been able to perpetuate neglect of religious observance through the influence of the bureaucracy, which was more willing to sympathize with the subjects of the state, than with their superiors living at a distance, and easily found means to stay the operation of the most salutary ordinances. "XXVIII. Regulars who, according to the statutes of their order, are subjected to general superiors residing at the Holy See, will be governed by the same, according to those statutes, but without prejudice to the rights which are granted to the Bishops by the canons, and particularly by the Council of Trent. The abovementioned general-superiors shall freely communicate with their subjects on all matters connected with their office, and have the free right of visitation. Further, all religious shall, and that without impediment, observe the rules of the order, institution, or congregation to which they belong, and they shall, according to the directions of the Holy See, admit applicants to make their novitiate and to take the vows. The foregoing, in as far as it is applicable to them, is valid for nuns. The Archbishops and Bishops shall have the power to introduce, according to the canonical laws, clerical orders and congregations of both sexes into their dioceses, but they will have to consult the Imperial Government on the subject." The five following clauses secure (a) the right of the Church to acquire property, which the state is to consider sacred; (b) the administration of it; (c) the use to be made of the two funds, styled of religion and education; (d) the transfer of the revenue of vacant benefices in Hungary and other states hitherto held by the crown to the Religious Fund. Lastly, it is provided that where tithes are no longer paid, they shall not be claimed, and that the ecclesiastics entitled to receive them shall be indemnified by government, but with the proviso that the stock granted in lieu of tithes shall be held on the same valid title on which the tithe rested. "XXIX. The Church shall be entitled to acquire new possessions in every legal way, and the property which it now possesses or may in future acquire shall be inviolable. Neither older nor more recent Ecclesiastical foundations can be done away with or united without the consent of the Holy See, but this without prejudice to the powers granted to the Bishops by the Holy Council of Trent. "XXX. The administration of the estates of the Church will be cared for by the persons appointed by the canons; but, in consideration of the assistance which His Majesty gives, and will continue to give to the Church out of the public treasury, those estates shall neither be sold nor burdened to any considerable amount, unless the Holy See and His Majesty the Emperor, or those persons whom they may appoint, shall have given their consent. "XXXI. The estates which form the funds denominated of religion and education are, ab origine, the property of the Church, and will be managed in the name of the Church, but the Bishops shall have the proper superintendence over them, according to the agreement to be made between the Papal Chair and His Majesty. The revenues of the religious fund will, until that fund has, by means of a convention between the Apostolic Chair and His Imperial Majesty, been divided into fixed ecclesiastical dotations (in stabiles et ecclesiasticas dotationes), be expended for the performance of divine service, for ecclesiastical buildings, seminaries, and for everything connected with the Church. In order to supply any deficiency His Majesty will, as he has hitherto done, generously give his assistance-nay, if the time allow it, he will even give greater assistance. The revenues of the educational fund will be expended exclusively for Catholic institutions and according to the pious will of the founders. "XXXII. The revenue of the vacant livings will, in as far as has hitherto been customary, go to the religious fund, and His Majesty, of his own free will, gives to the same the income of the vacant bishoprics and secular abbeys in Hungary and the countries formerly belonging to Hungary, of which His Majesty's illustrious ancestors had been in undisturbed possession for many centuries (per longam sæculorum seriem). In those parts of the empire, where there is no religious fund, a mixed commission will be appointed for each See, which will manage the estates of the diocese and all the livings while vacant. The Holy Father and His Majesty will agree about this matter. "XXXIII. During the recent changes the tithes were abolished by civil laws in many parts of the Austrian territory, and, as it is impossible, respect being had to the peculiar circumstances, to raise them again throughout the whole of the empire, His Holiness, at the request of His Majesty, and in consideration of public peace, which is of the highest importance for religion, permits and determines without prejudice to the rights of the Church, to receive tithes where they still exist; that, instead of tithes in other places, and as an indemnification for the same, the Imperial Government shall assign revenues of real property or Government stock, to all and At the same time, every person who has a right to demand tithes. His Majesty declares that these revenues shall be held on a good title (as if acquired by purchase for a valuable consideration (titulo oneroso); and shall be received by the same right and title upon which the tithes were held." The remaining clauses provide for the faithful execution of the Concordat. "XXXIV. Everything else relative to ecclesiastical persons and affairs which is not mentioned in these articles will be arranged and managed according to the doctrines of the Church and the discipline approved by the Holy See. "XXXV. All the laws, ordinances, and arrangements which have hitherto been in force in Austria and in the separate provinces, and which are in opposition to this solemn convention, are abrogated, and this convention shall henceforth in all the Austrian provinces have the authority of a law of the land. Both parties therefore do, for themselves and their successors, promise faithfully to observe all and everything which is herein agreed to. Should at any future time a difficulty arise, His Holiness and His Imperial Majesty shall enter into friendly communication, in order to remove the same. "XXXVI. The exchange of the ratifications of this convention shall take place within two months from the date of these articles, and, if possible, sooner. "In testimony of which we, the abovementioned Plenipotentiaries, have unto this convention set our hand and seal. "Done at Vienna, on the 18th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, 1855. "MICH. CARD. VIALE PRELA. After reading the text of this treaty, we must be allowed to congratulate the venerable prelates, to whom the task of negotiating it was committed, upon the prudence with which they have steered clear of the difficulties of their undertaking. Those principles of ecclesiastical law and of spiritual right, which the Church cannot alter or renounce, are maintained; whilst every concession which the crown, or the exigencies of the national feeling, could claim, has been made. The young Emperor has not pleaded the vain excuse offered by the Emperor Nicholas, that he could not change the state laws; and has nobly avowed that a religious prince must defend the liberties of the Church. And whilst his own subjects will bless his name, the other children of the Church, spread over every part of the globe, will pray that years of happiness may be added to the life of the emperor, whose filial piety will prolong the years of the saintly Pontiff, by taking away from his paternal heart one of the deepest of the many sorrows which, since his accession to the Chair of St. Peter, he has so patiently and so meekly borne. ART. VII.-1. Traité de la Prédication, a l'usage des Séminaires Par un ancien Superieur de Séminaire. (M. Hamon) Troisieme edition 8vo. Paris, Lecoffre et Cie. 1854. 2. Précis de Rhétorique Sacrée a l'usage des Séminaires. Par J. B. Van Hemel, Chanoine Honoraire d' Amieus, et de Malines, Vicaire Général de son Eminence le Cardinal Sterckk, Archevêque de Malines. 8vo Bruxelles, C. J. Fonteyn, 1855. Α PASSAGE in the preface to one of those works, in which the author, among other reasons for writing, asserts that he could find no manual of sacred eloquence for theological seminaries, may at first sight appear somewhat extravagant to a person having even an ordinary knowledge of ecclesiastical literature. For not only in the French language-so rich in all that the priest requires for the discharge of his duty-but in several others, there are treatises on sacred eloquence, some of them of very ancient date, composed by persons in every way qualified by their genius, their piety, their high station, and by what certainly is not the least recommendation, the eminent success with which they illustrated in their own sermons their rhetorical precepts. There are treatises on the subject by bishops, by founders of religious orders, and by popes. And 'why should it be otherwise? If the Spirit of truth raises up, as occasion requires, the great lights in Scriptural or theological knowledge, and in the laws and the history of the Church, why not expect that from time to time-and especially in days of crisis-some voice of authority should inflame the zeal and direct the energies of the clergy in that great function by which truth originally acquired and still preserves its empire among men? Accordingly, from St. Augustine to St. Liguori, many saints and doctors have written in some form or other, instructions on preaching. The principles expounded by the former at great length, in his 4th book, "De Doctrinâ Christianâ." were promulgated by Pope Gregory the Great-" De Curâ Pastorali," the manual of the clergy during many subsequent centuries. In the revival of the twelfth century, the Dominicans and Franciscans received, from their founders or first generals, treatises or special admonitions on the same subject, and the sermon VOL. XXXIX.-No. LXXVIII. 11 |
