Mensa Dei (the Lord's tahle\ a term which has im- mediate reference to the Lord's Supper. The opposition between the expressions, " table of the Lord" and "table of diemoiis" (see 1 Cor. xi), at once marks it out as a ta- ble set apart for sacred purposes. See Altar ; Table.
Menses Papales is the technical term for one form (if jiajial investiture claimed by the incumbent of St.retcr's eliair. in ease the vacancy occurs within certain >taiiil nmnths. The present rules of theKoman chaniil nn tlii> jHiint are: '■CupiensSanctissimusDom- inus Xostrr panpcribLS clericis et aliis benemeritis per- sonis providere omnia beneficia ecdesiastica cum cura et sine cura, siecularia et quorumvis ordinum regularia qualitercumque qualiticata, et ubicumque existentia in singulis Januarii, Februarii, Aprilis, Mali, Julii, August!, Octobris, et Novembris mensibus, usque ad sua; volun- tatis beneplacitum extra Komanam curiam, alias, quam per resiguationem quocumcpie modo vacatura, ad col- lationem, provisionem, prtesentationem, elcctionem, et quamvis aliam dispositionem quorumcunque collatorum et collatrieium swcularium et quorumvis ordinum rcgu- larium (non autem S. I!. E. cardinalium, aut aliorum sub concordatis inter sedem apostolicam et quoscunque alios initis, et per cos qui ilia acceptare et observare ddnK - rant accei)tatis, quic lajdere non intendit, compreluiisu- rum) quoniodolibet pertinentia dispositioni sua; gene- raliter reservavit," etc. It is to be remarked that the term allcrmitira tneimtim is sometimes used to designate the papal months, although they do not really have the same meaning. In the case of patriarchs, archbishops, or bishops, residing in their dioceses, the papal months are reduced from eight to six, the pope retaining only the uneven months (January, March, ]\Iay, July, Sep- tember, November).
The papal months originated in the 12th centurj-. The reason was a desire of the popes to secure ben- efices to worthy but destitute members of the clergy. At first this was done by recommendations (p)-eces)\ when this did not succeed, a real command was issued (inandatiim de p?-ovi(lenil(i). Gratian's decretal of 1].")1 contains no such mandate, as they originated shortly af- terwards. One exami)lc of them, of the times of Inno- cent 11. is L,ri\ (II I,y Peter, aI)l)ot of Cluny, in his Epistol. lib. ii. ( |.. .;.; :;."j i(|uoted in (ionzales Tellez, cap. 37, x, De r<. <,;■;/,/;.<. i. :;. Xo. 4) ; another from Adrian IV (1 154- 1159),opist. 13 (Wilrdtwein, .S'»6,s-/<//'» d;j,/,„„a/in( [Ilei- delb. 1774], torn, iv, p. ix) ; Mansi. ( '.-//. , //.- ( •,ii„-ili<,nim. xxi, 805. If these mandates were not nbeyed. it was then the practice to issue succcssi\-ely lit(r(e. monitoriw, prwceptoriw. and execuloricv. The mamhiin de prori- dendo came afterwards to be issued not only for actually vacant benefices, but also in advance (e. 10, x, De le- scriptis, i,3: "Si qua [prwbenda] tunc in eorum vaca- ' ret ccclesia vel proxima vacaturam"). The Council j of Lateran of 1179, however, forbade to present to or | even to promise benefices before they were vacant (c. 2, XjZ'e concess. prceb. non vucatis, iii, 8), and this defence I
I was renewed by Innocent III, Honorius III, and Boni- face Vlir; the practice was, however, justified on the I ground that the promise did not specify any particular I benefice. The churches often resisted these papal en- [ croachments (see liiehter, Lehrbiich d. Kirchenrechls, j ij 148; Thomassin,lV^/A- «c nova ecchi>i(e disciplinu, pt. I ii, lib. i, cap. xliii, xliv), but their protestations were dis- regarded imtil, in the Coimcil of Costnitz (1418), pope Martin V declared: "Ultra reservationes juris dua; par- tes sint in dispositione Papie, et tertia pars remaneat iii dispositione Ordinariorum ; ita, quod duo prima cedant Papa; et tertium Ordinario, ita, quod per quamcumque aliam rese^^■ationem aut pra;rogativas non minuatur" (Van der Ilardt, Concilium Conshintiense, i, 1022 sq.). In France this was understood, in 1425, to give the pope eight months, the bishops four. Hy the Concordat of Vienna, in 1448, the pope was to have the disposal of vacant benefices during the six uneven months, and the bishops during the six others. The text of the con- cordat further states : " De cieteris dignitatibus et bene- ficiis quibuscunque, sa-cularibus et regularibus vacaturis, ultra reservationes jam dictas, majoribus dignitatibus post pontificales in cathcdralibus et jirincipalibus in col- legiatis exceptis, de quibus jure ordinario provideatur per illos inferiores, ad quos alias pertinet ; idem sanctis- simus dominus . . . non impediet, quo minus de illis, cum vacabunt de mensibus Februarii . . . libere di.spo- natur per illos, ad quos coUatio, provisio.praesentatio, elec- tio aut alia quievis dispositio pertincbit . . . ." Tliis seems evidenth' to signify that the other dignities are excepted from the alkrnaliva mevsium ; but from the first this was understood to take the appointment to such dignities out of the allernativa to confer it on the pope. That the first was the true interpretation is ap- parent from its being the view taken by Martin V in the Council of Costnitz, whose tenor was more favorable even than that of the Concordat of Vienna to the papal cause. The later interpretation, liowever, was asserted by Pius II.
Vacancies occurring in consc(iucnce of a simple resig- nation, or of an exchange of benefices, are excepted from the altcrnutiva nunsiiim (.Schliir, iJe reservutione bene- jii icnim tt dir/nitatnm <.r (jiialitale racatioiiis per resig- niitiniidn [Francf. ad M. 1777, 4to |), as also benelices im- (Icr lay patronage (Fcrvarh, Dibliolheca Canoinca, s. y. Peneficiuni, art. xi, note 18-20) ; most curacies, and other subordinate offices, are also excepted (Heddcrich, Diss, de ])arocliiis in Germania, etc. [Bonn, 1780, 4to], vol. i; Koch, Snncdo prarjmaticu (Jermanorum illusirata [Ar- gcntorati, 1789, 4to], p. 228, note G4).