PrivilegiumCanCnis. ( I.) Certain exemptions of the clergy from the State. Sec Pkivili Thai privilege of ecclesiastics which makes a real in- jury to a member of the clergy punishable by excom- munication, this taking place de ipso facto. Aft r s v- eral former canons had established the principle thai Buch real injuries must, after examination, be punished with excommunication (for instance, can. Si quia deirv- ceps,22; I >< presbyterorum, 23, c. 17 ', qu. I),, the heresy of Arnold di Brescia gave occasion to the Council of Rheims, in 1131, t" sanction thai extreme penalty. The canon then decreed, commencing with "Si quis sua- dente diabolo," was made by [nnocenl II. in 1139, a genera] law of the Church; and this is the reason why the privilege mentioned above is called Privilegium canonis. In Gratian's decree this ecclesiastical law is given as can. 29, c. 17. qu. 4. I( contains some further dispositions, for it states that it is applicable also to real injuries perpetrated against monks, and thai absolution, excepl in the dj'ing hour, can only be obtained if the excommunicated person applies for it personally in Rome. This canon has received in the course of time an enlarged interpretation lor some cases and a re- stricted one for others. As a matter of course, the term ''ecclesiastic" includes all those who received the tonsure; but the term " monk" has also a very extensive significa- tion, as it includes every inemher of an order approved by the Church, even the, novice. The law is, more- over, applicable to cases where the dead body of a clergj man ha- been the object of some wanton outrage. On the ..iih-r side, there are cases where a person, though belonging to the clergy, has no share in the ]>ri\ ili ge ; tor instance, the ecclesiastic who is degraded i ill \- w hen he is sentenced to hard labor; the clergyman who dresses in worldly clothes, or persists in a sinful way of life. The canon Si quis suadentt speaks only oi that kind of ,<rr/ injury which consists in "as- sault upon an ecclesiastic," hut. we have, of course, to take a more extensive view of the case: not only lie who strike-, etc.. the clergyman is to be punished by excommunication, hut also the intellectual originator of such an outrage, or he ill wlmse name it is commit- ted, ami who approves of it, or he who. being a wit- ness to it. fails to do what i> in his power to prevent it. -:iry that the delinquent should have acted with the intention of injuring a clergyman; he who, animo injuriandi, strikes another person, ignorant that he is a member of the clergy, is not excommunicated; but he is who strikes a layman whom he mistakes lor a member of the clergy. If the quarrel originated with the ecclesiastic, the law cannot he applied to the person I who is in the case of legitimate defence against him; this is also admitted in favm- of a woman who defends her chastity against the assaults of a clergyman. An exception i- also admitted in favor of the husband, son, father, or brother of a woman found in criminal com er- sation with an ecclesiastic. The rule that absolution must he personally applied for in Rome has been re- stricted in some cases: it is not applicable to women, to monks, and other clerks living in community, when they have assaulted each other, or to sick and ailing persons. A report -cut to Home is sufficient in such
cases. S time-, when the injury is a trifling one
i)e- bishop may -rant a dispensation. In general the modem practice has become milder: it imposes the voyage to Rome as a penance only for in- tinsl t lie offender's own curate or bishop; ab- solution is bi towed on his return by the bishop. — Wetz- er ii. Welte, Kirchen-Lexilcon, s. v.
Prize i .'o,; ■;,,, ■, i Cor. i\. 24) signifies the hon- orary reward bestowed on victors in the public games of i he i, reek-, sueh as a wreath, chaplet, garland, etc., and i- metaphorically used of the rewards ol a future
life: "I press," says the apostle, "towards the mark.
for the prize of the high calling oi < lod in Christ Jesus" (Philip, iii, 14). See Game.
Proast, Jonas, an English divine, flourished in the closing half of the 17th and the early part of the 18th century. He is noted as a controversialist, and wrote, among other things, Letters on Toleration (1690- 91, and since). There is nothing accessible regarding hi- personal history. Leckey {Hist, of Rationalism, ii, 87) is the only writer of note who has considered Proast : neither l.e-lie Stephen (Hist, of English Thought ill tht is//. Century) nor Tulloch (Rational / i/n \*//i Century) mentions him.
Probabilionists are those who oppose the doc- trine of I'rohahilism and assert that man i- obliged, on pain of sinning, always to take the more probable side. The .lau-eiiisi- and the Port^Koyalists are of this class. See Probabilism.
Probabilism. The Roman Catholic Church rec- Ognises no standard of ethics except that of her own construction. Protestants look to the Bible as the source of all doctrines of morality. The Church of Rome accords authority also to tradition, and to the writers of her own communion who have kept within