complement to the l ks D< Bellis. Justinian and
Theodora are here painted in the darkest colors, Pro- copius says thai he wrote il because in bis firs! work he could not, through fear of torture and death, speak
Of living persons as they deserved. Some grossly ob- scene passages concerning Theodora, who was evidently a very bad woman, have been expunged in m- -i edi- tions. There seems little doubt that Procopins is the
author ol the work. The Paris edition of Procopins.
already quoted, is enriched with copious historical notes, prefaces, and an index. The works of Procopins, with valuable notes, are included in the Bonn edition of the Byzantine historians (1833 38, 3 vols. 8vo), which is. of course, the best. See Eabricius, BibL Grrnco, vii, 655 sq.; Hanke, £>< Seriptor. Byz. p. 145 sq. ; Tueffel, in Schmidt's Allgem. Zeitschrift fur Gesch. \ iii. 38 79; Herzog. Real- Eneyklop. s, v.; Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Biog. and Mythol. >. v.; Piper. Won. TheoL § 204 ; Dahn, Procopius v. Casarea I I'.' rl, 1865).
Procopius of Gaza, a very respectable Greek sophist of the 6th century, an 1 the lir-t who suffered martyrdom in Palestine, under the reign of Diocletian. The precise time of his birth or death is not recorded. He wrote commentaries on tin < ictoteuch < ed. ' '. < !lau- ser. Tigur. 1555, fob), the books of Kings, the Chroni- ' Meursius, Lugd. Pat. 1620, tto), [saiah (ed. J. • iurterius, Paris. 1580, fol. I, etc.. and opened among the Greeks the list ol the Catenic writer-. See ofosheim, Eccles. Hist. (Index in vol. in i; Alzog, Patrologie, § 76.
Procopius, Fiiedrich P., a Roman < Jatholic mo- nastic noted especially tor bis valuable contributions to Christian song, was born in the year 1 tins, of Protestant parents, at Templin. in Brandenburg. At a very early a^e he joined the Roman Catholic Church, and when eighteen years old he entered the Order of the Capu- chins of the Austro-Bohemian province. Having com- pleted his studies, be vi-ited mai:.\ cities as a preacher and missionary. He soon became known as a famous pulpit orator, but more so by bis poetical productions. which gave him the name of "Catholic Meistersingi r." Procopius died at Linz in 1680. lie wrote. Der Gross- Wund* rthatigen MutU r Gottes .!/"« ta< Hulff Lob-Gesang Passow, 1659) i Hertzen-Freud und Seelen- Trost (ibid. 1660,1661): Marialt Concianotorium rythmo-melodi- ntin (2d ed. Salzburg, 1667), a collection of sermons on St. .Mary : Tiiemale Dominicali primum (ibid. 1676), sermons for the Christian year: CatechismaU (ibid. 11174). Cump. Bernardus a Bononia, Bibliotheca Script. Capucinorum, p. 217-219; Bruhl, GeschichU <l> r Litera- tur des KathoL Deutschlands, p. 20 sip: Kehrein, Ge- schichte >l< r KathoL KanzeJberedsamkeU der Deutschen (Regensburg, 1843), vol. i, § 36 ; Schletterer, Uebersicht- liche Darstellung der Geschichti da- ldrchlichen Dicht- ung u.geistlichen Musik (Nordlingen, 1866), p. 217 sip: and the notice of the latter work in Ilauck's Theolog. Jakresbericht, ii, 1866, p. 191 sq. (B. P.)
Procopovitsch. See Prokopovttch.
Procrastination, the postponement of a matter from one day to another; according to the maxim of the lazy and of the men of pleasure. " Seria in crasti- iium (diem or tempus)." Generally, in such case-, time wears on. and things are not done, at least not in the right time or in the right way: "Cras. eras et semper eras, et sic dilabitur eetas." The system of procrastina- tion, therefore, is to be commended in no respect: but least of all in moral, or. better, religious matters. Ev- ery day lost in our moral amendment is an irreparable loss, a los> for eternity, as reformation becomes the more difficult the more it is delayed.
Proctor (formed by a contraction from the Latin procurator) designates an officer commissioned to take care of another person's cause in ecclesiastical courts, in the stead of the parly whom he represents. It corre- spond- to attorney or solicitor in the other courts. In the Church of Pome there are extra-proctors, a class who settle in the name of another a legal business of no litigious character; a more accurate tide is ninn- datary. The title of proctor ha- been preserved only in some kinds of procurations concerning ecclesiastical affairs. These proctors may act instead of. I. Bride and bridegroom for the conclusion of the betrothal. For not only the acts which prepan the betrothal {trada- tus sponsalitii), and the suit ( pactum >/< im iiu<li.< spon- salibus"), which, after its acceptation, take- the lawful nature of a betrothal, but the betrothal itself, or the actual contract about the future matrimony, can be per- formed by the parties either in person ,,r by procura- tion {sponsalia per procuratorem). Only the proctor must have special power- for the iclusion of a prom- ise of marriage with a determined person [fr.84, Dig. hi Hit. Rupt. x\iii. 2). 2. Either party at t hi marriage- act Usi lf[ matrimonium pi r procurator! m). Should the
powers given to the mandatary have been recall. id be- fore the copulation, the marriage -act would be void. even ii the proctor al that time bad no knowledge of
PROCTOR
623
PROCURATOR
the revocation. The mandatary must be present in person, and cannot be represented by a substitute (Se'xt. c. 9, Be Procur. i, 19); and the bride and bridegroom thus united must afterwards give their consent in per- son. These dispositions of canon law are preserved in the Austrian and Bavarian legislation. Protestant matrimonial law rejects marriage by procuration, but admits an exception in favor of royal persons. 3. God- fathers and godmothers, in baptisms or confirmation, may, if sick or otherwise prevented, choose third per- sons for their representatives at the holy ceremony (procurator patrini). As, according to the decision of the Council of Trent, the person to be baptized must have a godfather and a godmother (unus et una), each of the parties can make choice of a substitute, either male or female, but both mandataries cannot belong to the same sex. The real godfather, not his representa- tive, contracts in this case the cognatio spiritualis, and the prohibition of marriage founded on it (Duclar. S. Congr. Cone. Trid. May 16, 1630, Aug. 23 and Sept. 1, 1721). 4. Absent electors, if they can sufficiently jus- tify their absence, and are prepared to swear to it (c. 42, § 1, x, De Elect, i, 6), cannot declare their vote by writ- ing, but may give their mandate to a colleague. Eccle- siastics are prohibited from being proctors in strictly sec- ular affairs. In the English ecclesiastical constitution, proctors are those clergymen who are chosen in each diocese to represent their brethren in convocation.