Canon, Eoolesiabtioal (leaycay, rule, see the foregoing article, § i), a term used in various senses, as fi^ows :
CANON, a clerical title.
1. The roll or church register in which, in the an- cient Church, the names of the clergy were written was called the ccmon ; and the clergy were hence called canomci (Bingham, Orig. Ecd, bk. i, ch. v, § 10). In Cyril (JPraf, Caiech, n. 8), the presence of the dergy is expressed by the words Kovovuuav wapovola. See also Cajsovicm,
2. Cathedral Canons, — Chrodegangus, bishop of Metz, about A.D. 755, gave a common doister-life law to his clergy, and thus originated the proper vita canomca, as attached to a cathedral church. (See Chaptbb.) Originally canons were only priests or inferior ecclesiastics who Hved in community, resid- ing near the cathedral church to assist the bishop, de- pending entirely on his will, supported by the reve-
CANON XAW
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nnes of ihe bishopric, and Uring in the same faonse, as his coonaellors or domestics. Thej even inherited his movables till A.D. 817, when this was prohibited by the ConncQ of Aix-la-ChapeHe. By degrees these commmiities of priests, shaking off their dependence, formed separate bodies, of which the bishops were still the head. In the tenth century there were oommnnl- ties of the same kind, established even in cities where there were no bishops : these were called collegiates, as the terms " college" and " congregation" were used indifferently. Under the second race of French kings the canonical life spread over the country, and each cathedral had its chapter distinct from the rest of the clergy (Farrar, s. v.). Benedict XIII (1889) endeav- ored to secure a general adoption of the rule of Augus- tine by the canons, which gave rise to the distinction between canom regulcar (i. e. those who follow that rule) and canont tecular (those who do not). See Cahoks, Rboulab. As demoralization increased, the canon- ries were filled by younger sons of nobles, without or- dination, for the sake of the revenues. The eapeetan- ciet (q. V.) of ca&onries became objects of tn^c, as advowsons (q. v.) now are in the English Church. The Reformation abolished most of the chapters and canonries in Germany : a few remain at Brandenburg, Mersebnrg, Naumburg, and Meissen.
In the Church of England, cammt or prebendariei are clergymen who receive a stipend for the perform- ance of divine service in a cathedral or collegiate church. See Chapter ; Dean.
CANON OF THE MASS (canon Mistat), a part of the mass or communion service of the Churdi of Rome. The office of the mass is divided into three parts : (1) from tlie introit to the prefitce ; (2) which contains tke canon, from the Sanctut to the time of communion ; and (8) the thanksgiving. The second is considered the ettential part, being that which contains the con- secration of ^e elements. The Greeks call it Ava^ pd, probably because of the exhortation of the priest at the commencement to the people, gunutn corda. In the Roman liturgy the canon begins at the words Te igkur, etc In the Roman Church the form of the canon remains the same at every mass. It is some- times, by ancient writers, called the actio. It is also known by the name tecrtta^ or aecretum, because the priest is ordered to say it in a low voice ; and, accord- ing to Goar, the same practice is observed in the East. (See Cone, Trideni. sees. 22, can. 9.)— Martene, De ant, JUt, i, 144 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet, s. v. ; Procter On Com- mon Prayer, 819. See Mass.
CANON LAW, Canons op Discipline, Canons AND Decebtals OP RoMB. The canons or rules of discipline of the Romish Church form a body of law which has been accumulating for centuries. They are made up of the so-called Apostolical Canons, of decrees of councils, and of decrees and rules promulgated by the popes. The different collections of these are, 1. For ihe early ages, the so-called ** Apostolical Canons," the Greek ** Collections" in the Codex Canonum; 2. For the Middle Age, up to Gratian's time, a number of col- lections ; 8. From the twelfth century onward, the de- cretals of Gratian, of Gregory IX, and Bonifkce VIII, the Clementines, the Eztravagants, and the Corpus JmiiCanomcL
I. Eairiff Aga,—^,) Canons Apostolical, a col- lection of canons Qn number seventy-six or eighty- five, according to the different methods of division), not to be attributed, as the name implies, to the apostles. Beveridge, in his Codex Can, Ecd. Prim,, seeks to show thfl^ these canons are the synodal rules and reg- ulations made in councils anterior to the Council ^ Nicsa, in which view Petrus de Marca, Dupin, and others agree. Daill6 (J)e Peeudepigrcqilut Apottolicii) considers them the work of the fifth century. That they are not of apostolical origin is very clear from the use in them of terms and mention of ceremonies quite unknown in the apostolic age, as well as from
tiie fket tiiat they were never even cited under the name of apostolical before the Council of Ephesna, it indeed, we ought not, as some think, to read in tiie acts of that council, instead of "the canons of the apostles," *'the canons of the Cidiers." Previously to this s^rnod they are dted as Canones Patrwn, Oammet antiqiu or ecdaiatticL Bellarmine and Baronios claim apostolical authority for only the first fifty canons. Pope Gelasius {Dittmet, xv, can. Samcta Rowutmd) plainhr declares, Liber Canomtm Apottolorum apocnjphm ett; but the authenticity of the passage is donbteid. It b the opllnion of Beveridge (Ood, Canomtm Eceke, Primi tiwB, Lond. 1678) that the Apost. Canons were enacted in different synods about the dose of the second cen- tury and beginning of the third ; and that the collect tion was made soon after, but since that time interpo- lated ; and tliat the compiler of the collection cannot be ascertained. Dr. Schaff sums up the whole case in the following judicious passages : ^ The contents of the so-called Apostolical Canons are borrowed partly from the Scriptures, especially the Pastoral Epistles, partly from tradition, and partly ftt>m th^ decrees of early councils at Antioch, Neo-Cesarea, Nice, Laodicea, etc (but probably not Cl^pcedon, 451). They are there- fore evidently of gradual growth, and were collected dther after the middle of the fourth century or not till the latter part of the fifth, by some unknown hand, probably also in Syria. They are designed to ftimish a complete system of discipline for the dergy. Of the laity tiiey say scarody a word. The eighty-fifth and last canon settles the canon of the Scripture, but reck- ons among the New Testament books two epistles of Clement and the genuine bodes of the pseudo-Apos- tolic Constitutions. The Greek Church, at the Tral- lan C ouncil of 692, adopted the whole collection of eighty-five canons as authentic and binding, and Jdm of Damascus even placed it on a paralld with the epis- tles of the apostle Paul, thus showing that he had no sense of the infinite superiority of the inspired writ- ings. The Latin Church rejected it at fir0^ but sub- sequently dedded for the smaller collection of fifty canon9, which Dionydus Exiguus, about the year 500, translated from a Greek manuscript*' — Schaff, Ckartk Hittorjf, vol. i, § 114.