SERVICES, DoJiESTic. The domestic officers (ser- rilia) of a monastery were the cook, baker, brewer, laundryman, and tailor. At Rochester these were ai>- pointed by the bishop.
Serving Dress or Robe. See Suiiplice.
Serving Tables, one of the parts of the Presby- terian sacramental service. Wliere the Presbyterians have not adopted the Congregational mode of partak- ing of the sacrament, the following is the order: "The table on which the elements are placed, being decently covered, the bread in convenient dishes, and the wine in cups, and the communicants orderh' and gravely sit- ting around the table or in their seats before it, the minister sets the elements apart by prayer and thanks- giving," etc. The whole of the communicants not par- taking at once, it is found necessary to continue the distribution of the elements, with intervals of jisalm-
SERVITES
595
SERVITUDE
singing; (luring which those who have eaten leave the table to give place to a fresh set of communicants. The distribution of the bread and wine and the deliv- ery of an address are what constitutes serving the table. The number of tables varies from four to eight, and each adtlress occupies ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. The minister of the place serves the first table ; the rest are served bj' his assisting brethren,
Servites, or Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an order of monks in the Roman Catholic Church founded (1233) in Florence by seven rich Florentine merchants. Their main object was to propagate de- votion to the Virgin jMary. T'hey lived at first as her- mits, but, becoming a monastic order, adopted the rule of St. Augustine and obtained from pope Martin V the privileges of a mendicant order. The order having become relaxed, it was re-established in 1593 in its orig- inal strictness as "Servites Eremites." This order has produced a large number of distinguished men, among whom may be mentioned father I'aul Sarpi, author of the History of the Council of Trent, and St. Philip Be- nizi (died 1285), one of the apostles of Western Europe in the 13th century. The Servites were extremely popular during the 16th century because of their manj' works of charity. Their dress was a cassock of serge, a cloak, a scapular, and an alms-bag.
There were also female Servites, who were never very numerous, and a large body of Tertiarians (q. v.). The order, in 1870, was divided into twenty-seven prov- inces, the central house being the monastery of the Annunziazione in Florence. They were involved in the decrees suppressing religious orders in Italy and Ger- many. They were introduced into the United States in 1870 by bishop Jlelcher of Green Bay, INIich. There was a similar order founded in Naples in 1243.
Servitor (n'nd'3, meshareth, a minister, as else- where rendered), a personal attendant, but not in a menial capacity (2 Kings iv, 43). See Servant.
Servitude (tTli^). The servants of the Israelites were slaves, and usually foreigners (1 Chron. ii, 34), who yet were required to be circumcised (comp. Gen. xvii, 23, 27). Servants of both sexes were acquired (comp. INIishna, Kiddushin, i, 2 sq.), sometimes as prisoners of war, whose lives were spared (comp. Numb. xxxi,2Gsq.), sometimes by purchase in peace (these were called mik- nath keseph, " purchased," Judith iv, 10', comp. Livy, xli, 6; see Gen. xvil, 23; Exod.xxi,?; xxii,2' Lev.xxv,44; and on their purcliase in Abyssinia now, see Husseggcr, Reis. i, 156). But foreign servants who had escaped could neither be enslaved nor given uji to their masters (Deut. xxiii, 15 sq.). The cliildren of slaves were of course the property of the master (comp. Gen. xvii, 23; Exod. xxi, 4). These were generally considered most faithful (Horace, Ep. ii, 2, 6). At the legal valuation, perhaps an average, thirty silver shekels were given for a servant (Exod. xxi, 32), while a free Israelite was valued at fifty (Lev. xxvii, 3 sq.). On the price of re- markable servants in Egypt under the Ptolemies, see Josephus (.4 nt. xii, 4, 9). A moderate price for a Jewish slave was one hundred and twenty drachms (ibid, xii, 2, 3). An Israelite could become by purchase the prop- erty of another (Exod. xxi, 2; Deut. xv, 12) if he was compelled by poverty to sell himself (Lev, xxv, 39), but he could not, according to the law, be treated as a slave, and m any case he obtamed his freedom again, without ransom, after six years of service, or in the year of jubilee (Exod. xxi, 2 sq.; Lev. xxv, 39, 40 sq.), if he were not ransomed earlier (ver. 48 sq. ). Perhaps the case was different with him who was sold for theft (Exod. xxii, 3). Even this sale was always to an Israel- ite (Josephus, .l?i^xvi, 1, 1), though whether to the in- jured man or to tlic highest bidder is doubtful {ibid, iv, 8, 27). It seems that hard creditors could sell insolvent debtors or their families (2 Kings iv, 1 ; Isa. 1, 1 ; Neh. V, o; Matt, xviii, 25), but perhaps not legally, as some-