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Show i EXPLANATION OF THE PAPALCONCORDAT Which Bonaparte f orced Ipon Pius VII and Which Will Likely Be Abrogated Indcr Present Conditions. (Tri-h V..r!.Li The very strained io!;i; x i ; i i r !..; v. ;i the Holy See and the Frcm-h govern. n.-nr li.r.e drawn attention to the. t 'on-orda -r Irmly whieii for more than a eentury has been lw Viuk 'eii-necting 'eii-necting church jind --t-tte in Fivju-i . '! !;. t'-.mL-s-.govemment i just hoav iryinp o uiili.- i; !r ;fe purpo.-e of limiting the ninni-d 1 1 1 1 i ! r : r .- ( f!;o Holy Father. Recently the bih..- -' L-v-d .i d of Dijon were summoned to apnea r bct'en the hoiy office in Rome on or before July -jo. In-had :' obeying the summons the bi-hou- appealed o. t1,.-French t1,.-French government, whieh ordered tin in m-r ; leaA'e French soil. The very act. of a j."- line- V- - derogatory to the rights of the Holy See. t vj equivalent to a declaration that in matfters ecclesiastical ec-clesiastical the authority of the civil power i paramount para-mount to that of the vicar of Chri-!. Su-pen-den of episcopal functions, followed, by e:-(-ininiiii i-cation. i-cation. may be the penalty meted ur fur Hag- fa-rant fa-rant offense. The Combes government, which isv only t".. glad to haA-e an opportunity of di-p!.iyi! i it anti- j Catholic sentiments, appeal- to ;'ie Ci-neordar in j justification of its encouraging n.sitance To the Holy See. Jt Avill. therefore, be inrere-tinir to give a brief synopsis of that instrument. After the political po-litical and i-ocial deluge, known in hi.-rory as the French revolution, had subsided, it became neee-- 'sory to reconstruct society out of the wreckage left behind. Napoleon recognizing this, undertook to re-establish the relations which had previously existed betAveen church and state. The Concordat was the result of his efforts in this direction. It consisted of seA-enteen articles. The fir-t guaranteed the free exercise of the 'atholic religion ; in France. The next four dealt with the nominations nomina-tions of bishops. After tin; statement that the Holy See in concert with ihe govenuii'-nt. will Arrange Ar-range a new hierarchical fabric for. France ihere follows a declaration that the pope expect that th titulars of the dioceses will acquiesce in the new arranagements, and that "in the interests of thn welfare, the peace and the unity of religion they will make even- sacrifice, even to the relinquish- ! men tof their dioceses. After this exhortation if they refuse this sacrifice- ('refusal, however, which His Holiness does not expect), there will be provided pro-vided neAv titulars for the goAermnent of dioceses." This Avas addressed to some of the bishops who AA-ero, not in touch with the new order of things and who consequently were not acceptable to the first consul. Article fourth, after conferring upon the rir-f, consul the right of nominating the archbishops and bishops for the new dioceses, adds: 'Tlis Holine-is Avill confer the canonical institutions according to the forms existing in relation to France before the change of government." The words Ave have just. 1 quoted had reference to a provision of the eon-' eon-' cordat between the Holy See and France which had been ratified in 1"1.", and Avhich had remained in force down to the French rcAolution. According Accord-ing to this provision the king nominated the archbishops arch-bishops and bishops and the pope confirmed the nominees if after due investigation he found them worthy to be archbishops or bishops. Passing OA-er the other articles, Avhich deal with the form of oath to support the government, each bishop takes at his consecration. Avith the poAvers - of the bishops n.the mattter of appointing pari'h priests, Avith the creation of chapters in cathedrals and the founding of seminaries, we come to articles l'i and 11. which read as follows: "Article l.'l. His Holiness, for the p?ace. welfare wel-fare and happy re-establishment of the Catholic religion, declares that neither he nor his successor j shall molest in any way the purchaser? of con- liscated church property (les aequereurs des bieus j ecclesiastiques aliens), and. consequently, the po session and titles to such property and the revenues appertaining thereto, shall remain incommutable in those having juridical titles thereto. "Article 1-1. The gOA'crnment assures a proper salary to the bishops and past6rs whose dioceses and parishes shall be included .within the rear-ranagement." rear-ranagement." The article 14 is supplementary of article V'. In consideration of the removal by the Holy See. of the cloud resting on all titles to confiscated , church property the French government pledged itself to pay proper salaries to bishops and pastors. This was a contract as binding upon France as is ' the contract the Lnited States enters intoAvit!i eA-ery purchaser of its bonds. Repudiators the terms of the concordat in the mattter of payii ir bishops and priests their salaries would ease as j great a stain upon the honor ot France :is would i be incurred by the United States government if it f repudiated 'the bonded indebtedness of the Lrnited j States. L It is well to keep this fact in mind. The Oath- olie church in France is a benefactor and not a mere beneficiary of the French government. Na- C poleon, in order not to disturb titles to soquesteivd church property, agreed to pay to bishops and I priests a yearly amount of seven million dollars in t the form of salaries from the public funds in lieu of j returning the sequestered property. This bum Avas 1 , less than 1 per cent of the value ot the erdow- meats that had been sequestered. In this connec- P tion it will not be out of place to give the present number of ecclesiastics on the Frencli govern- f ment's payroll and the amount each receives. f There are in France 42,115 officials of the G.ithoiic church whose average salary is less than ;on francs ($180). They are divided into seventeen j f archbishops, Avho get 17,000 francs ($:J,-100) , a If year each; sixty-seven bishops 'at 10,000 i'ranci 1 ! ($2,000); 165 vicar generals receiving from 2,500 f to 4,500 francs ($500 to $900); S5 canons, from 1 I l.t'00 to 2,400 francs ($-520 tt $H0); 31.000 priests, (Contimied on Page Five.) j EXPLANATION Of THE PAPAL C0ND0RDAT (Continued From Page One.) from 900 to 3,300 francs ($iS0 to $2(10), and 70,000 assistant curaters whov receive 4"i0 francs ($5'0V These salaries, which .wore established in ISOi, have not increased in amount since then. It was stipulated that the concordat whose outlines out-lines we have given, sliould be ratified within forty days. Pius VII, who was then pope, signified his acceptance within the given time. But lhe document docu-ment was not promulgated until nine months later. When it did see the light of day it had tacked on to it certain articles eslled """organic articles," which were the handiwork it' the notorious Talleyrand, Talley-rand, ex-bishop of Autun, who had taken a leading pi.rt iu the deliberations of the commission- that Lad formulated the concordat. "The Organic Articles" Ar-ticles" consisted of eight articles. The spirit that breathed through them is mado manifest in the wording of the first two articles, which we give in their entirety: "Article 1. Xo ball, brief, rescript, decue, mandate, provision, signature of provision nor ether documents emanating from the court of Rome, including those relating to personalities, shall be received, printed or otherwise published or circulated unless authorized by the government. "Article 2. Xo individual under the tiiie of nuncio, legate, vicar or commissary apostolic, or acting under any other title of similar functions, shall, without the same government authorization, exercise on French soil or elsewhere any function relating to the affairs of the Gallican church." Another article declared that no decree of any synod outside of France or those of a general council coun-cil should be published in France before -Hie government gov-ernment had examined them and approved of them. There, was another provision that no diocesan synod should be held without the express permission permis-sion of the government. Article G of Talleyrand's "Organic Articles" probably supplies the basis to the Combes' ministry for the portion it has taken in the cases of the bishops of Laval and Dijon. It reads: "Appeal may be taken to the council of state in all cases of abuse on the part of superiors and other ecclesiastical persons. Cases of abuse are the usurpation or excess of authority; contra ven-'tion ven-'tion of the laws and regulations of the republic; infraction of the rules established by the canons received in France; attempts against the liberties, franchises and customs of the Gallican church; or any proceedings in the exercise of religious functions func-tions which may compromise the honor of .citizens .citi-zens .arbitrarily disturb their consciences, or'l. w-er w-er them bv oppression or injury or public scandal." scan-dal." , ; It is hardly necessary to say that Pius VII, did not accept and approve of a plan devised to shackle the church iu France. A century has come and gone since the evil work of Talleyrand was accomplished, but up to tliis moment it has not influenced in-fluenced any one of the successsors of Pius VII. Each of them has firmly withstood every attempt to interfere with the church's mission in France. Pius X is but following in the footsteps of his predecessors in letting it be known that he will not permit any, even the slightest, infringement of the rights of the church. LAW FOR SUPPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN FRANCE. The venom of the law for the suppression of education by religious is pretty well -concentrated in the first three articles appended. Bad as these arc, they had been worse but for the appeal to financial considerations, emphasized by the opposition oppo-sition ,through which the period of grace to the reli gious was extended from five to"ten years, and for the suggestion of loss to French influence abroad, urged by M. Leygues, in deference to which his amendment was acaceptcd, and the novitiates ior missionary teachers spared. 1. Teaching in. every grade and of all kinds is prohibited in France to the congregations. The congregations authorized exclusively for. the work of teaching will be suppressed within a maximum delay of. ten j-ears. The same will apply to congregations con-gregations and establishments which, though authorized au-thorized for several objects, were in fact occupied only in teaching on January 1, 1903,. The congregations con-gregations which have received authorization and those which apply for it for teaching and other objects will only enjoy the benefit of this general or special authorization for educational work abroad as provided for in their statutes. II. Hating from the promulgation of the present law the congregations devoted exclusively to teaching will no longer be able to receive new members, and their noviciates will bo dissolved with the exception of those which, arc established to train teachers for the French schools abroad, in the 'colonies and the countries of the protectorate. The number of the noviciates and of the novices will be limjted to the needs of the establishments provided for in this paragraph. The noviciates will, not be able to receive scholars below 21 years of age. These congregations must within a month of the present promulgation furnish to, the prefect, pre-fect, in duplicate and duly certified, the lists required re-quired by Article 15 of the Law of July 1, 1901. These lists will fix ue varietur the personnel belonging be-longing to each confrregation: thev mav onlv in clude the elder members fully received into the congregation before the promulgation of the present pres-ent law. Every false or incorrect return and every refusal to communicate such lists will be punished pun-ished with penalties provided in paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the Law of July 1, 1901. III. The following will bc closed within the dday of ten years provided in Article I: Every house belonging to a congregation suppressed by the application of paragraphs 2 and C of Article 10; every school or class attached to one of the congregations provided against in paragraph 4 of Article 10, with the exception of educational services serv-ices intended solely for children under their care for whom it would be impossible to go to a public j school either from reasons of health or otherwise. The closing of the houses and the ending of educational edu-cational services will be carried out on the dates fixed, by a decree sent from the ministry of the interior and published in the Journal Offieiel. This decree, after such publication, will be notified by the administrative to the superior of the congregation con-gregation and the head of the house at least a fortnight fort-night before, the end of the Nsehool. year. It will also be published by being posted on the door of the mairie of the communes, where such houses are situated. |
