Obedience (Ecclesiastical), in canon law, means the duty by which the various gradations in ecclesiastical organization are held subject, in all things consistent with the law of God or of the Church, to the several superiors ])laced immediately above them, re- spectively, in the hierarchical scale. Thus priests and inferior clergy owe canonical obedience to the bishop, and priests are botnid thereto by a solemn promise ad- ministered at ordination. The bishop primitively took a similar oath to the metropolitan ; but by the modern law the jurisdiction of the metropolitan is confined to the occasions of his holding a visitation or presiding in the provincial synod. Bishops, by the present law of the Roman Catholic Church, take an oath of obedience to the pope. This obedience, however, is strictly limit- ed by the canons, and is only held to bind in things consistent with the divine and natural law.
In ecclesiastical history the word obedience has a special signification, and is applied to the several parties in the Chtu-ch who during the great Western schism (q. V.) adhered to the rival popes. Thus we read of the " Roman obedience," which included all who recog- nised the pope chosen at Rome, and the "Avignon obe- dience," which meant the supporters of the Avignon pope. So, again, historians speak of " the obedience of (iregory XII," and "the obedience of Benedict XIII," etc.
Applied to the monastic institute, obedience means the voluntary submission which all members of religious or- ders vow, at their religious profession, to their immediate
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superiors, of whatever grade in the order, as well as to the superior general, and still more to tlie rules and con- stitutions of the order. This forms, in all orders, one of the essential vows. It is, however, expressly confined to lawful things ; and although it is held that a superior can command certain things under pain of sin, yet Ko- man Catholics repudiate tl>e notion that the command of a superior can render lawful, much less good, a thing which is of its own nature or by the law of God sinful or bad.
The word " obedience" is in this connection used also to designate a place or office, with the estate and profits belonging to it, in a monastery, subordinate to the abbot, and corresponding to a dignity in a cathedral or collegiate church. In V222 the incumbents were re- quired to render half-yearly or quarterly accounts, as well as the greater prelates, abbots, and priors. The obedientiares were usually the subprior, precentor, cel- larer, sacristan, chamberlain, kitchener, infirmarer, keep- er of annals, hosteler, almoner, pitanciar, lumberer, and master of the lady chapel. But the obediences varied according to the size of the monastery ; sometimes the gardener, fruiterer, or keeper of the orchard was included.
The word is also sometimes given to the written pre- cept or other formal instrument by which a superior in a religious order communicates to one of his subjects any special precept or instructions — as, for example, to undertake a certain office, to proceed upon a particular mission, to relinquish a certain appointment, etc. The instruction, or the instrument containing it, is called an "obedience," because it is held to bind in virtue of relig- ious obedience. See ^^'alcott, Sacred A rch(Eolagy, s. v. ; Chambers, Ci/clop. s. v.
O'Beirne, Thomas Lewis, D.D., an Irish prelate of some note, was born in the County of Longford in 1747. He enjoyed excellent educational advantages, and after taking holy orders rapidly rose to positions of trust in the Church. In 1775 he accompanied lord Howe to this country as chaplain. In 170G he was elevated to the episcopate and given the see of Ossory ; in 1798 he was transferred to that of Meath. He died in 1822. "As a preacher. Dr. O'Beirne ranked in the first class. His ser- mons seldom related to the thorny points of controver- sial theology. He was generally satisfied with expa- tiating on the grand and essential doctrines of Chris- tianity, and his diction was perspicuous, animated, and nervous. He was occasionally sublime, frequently pa- thetic, always intelligible" {Annual Biorjr. vol. vii). The bishop published, besides three volumes of his ser- mons (1709, 1813, 1821), a poem on the Crucifixion (1775, 4to), several political pamphlets, and a comedy. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Authors, voL ii, s. V.
ObeLsance (a frequent rendering o^'nu^,shacliah', in Ilithpael, to how one's self in reverence). In 1 Kings i, 10, when Bathsheba presented herself to David, it is said, '• And Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance unto the king; and the king said, What wouldest thou?" In India, " When a husband goes on a journey, or when he returns," Roberts says, "his wife on seeing him puts her hands together, and presents them to him as an act of obeisance. When she has an important request to make, she does the same thing; and it is surprising to see the weakness of him who pretends to be the stronger vessel, for, under such circumstances, she will gain almost anything she wants. Hence the force of tiieir popular proverb, ' The woman who regularly makes obeisance to her husband, can make it rain whenever she pleases.' When Bathsheba made her obeisance to the king, he asked, ' What wouldest thou ?' but the Hebrew has this, ' What to thee ?' This accords with the idiom of the Tamul language. Thus it will be asked of a person who stands with his hands presented to a great man, ' To thee what ?' If speaking of a third person, 'To him what?' or, literall}', 'Him to what?' See Attituue; Bowing; Couktesy; Salutation, VII.— S