THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
San er PS re ee
separate building) where the sacred vestments and the like were kept, and where the clergy robed for divine services. Since, however, meetings were often held there by those of the parishioners concerned with the business of the parish, the word came to be applied to the body entrusted with the temporal affairs of the parish, even when meeting in some place which had no connection with the church property. The laws governing the duties and rights of vestries differ much in England and America, on account of the far closer relation between Church and State in England, though it is only in connection with the Anglican communion that the vestry, properly speaking, exists.
In England a distinction is drawn between general and special vestries, the former including all rated for poor relief, even though not living within the parish bounds, while the special vestry is a smaller body chosen from the general vestry, and corresponds to the American connotation of the term. The duties of the English vestry are to elect church-wardens, to nominate proper persons for appointment as overseers of the poor, to adminster the parish property, and frequently to levy taxes for and superintend the performance of paving and lighting the parish, and they are also empowered, in ease an old burying-ground be deemed inadequate or dangerous to health, to make provision for the acquisition of a new one.
In the United States the constituency and duties of the vestry vary considerably; in some dioceses it is not even required that vestrymen be communicants. In general the vestry consists of the incumbent of the parish as presiding officer, two wardens, and a number of vestrymen. Their duties are concerned almost exclusively with the administration of the finances of the parish, and the rector (or other incumbent, as vicar, priest-in-charge, and the like) can make no disbursements or enter into any contracts involving the parish finances without their approval. They are bound to pay the incumbent the salary agreed upon, and it is out of their power to remove an incumbent after he has been duly accepted. On the other hand, the choice of a new incumbent, when the rectorate has fallen vacant, is practically under the control of the vestry, subject to the approval of the bishop of the diocese, who, either in person or through a bishop or priest appointed by him, is the actual institutor of the new incumbent. At the institution of a new incumbent, according to the American Office of Institution, the two wardens (or two vestrymen appointed by them) stand on the right and left of the altar, the senior warden holding the keys of the church, which, after the reading of the bishop’s letter of institution, he gives to the new incumbent with the words: ‘ In the name and behalf of Parish [or Church] I do receive and acknowledge you, the Rev. A. B., as Priest and Rector of the same; and in token thereof, give into your hands the keys of this Church.”
In case an incumbent fails to meet with the approval of the vestry and parish, complaint is to be lodged with the bishop of the diocese; but if the vestry can not themselves remove their incumbent, neither can he resign his charge without their con-
sent. During the absence of the incumbent the vestry have power to engage substitutes, and they are also empowered to elect the parish delegates to the diocesan conventions, while legally they are responsible for all the finances of the parish and for its debts, and must at any time show their minutes and other records and accounts to the bishop or any other person authorized to see them. BrsuiograpHy: Birlgham, Origines, VIIL., vii. 7; 8. Wilberforce, Hist. of the Protestant Episcopal Church, London, 1856; M. Hoffmann, Ritual Law of the Church, London, 1872; H. M. Baum, Rights and Duties of . . . Vestrymen in the American Church, Philadelphia, 1879; B. H. Paddock, in Journal of the General Convention, 1883, Appendix x.; DCA, ii, 2013-14.
VETTER, fet’ter, PAUL: German Roman Catholic; b. at Oberdettingen (a village near Biberach, 23 m. s.s.w. of Ulm), Wirttemberg, July 14, 1850; d. at Tiibingen Sept. 21, 1906. He was educated at the University of Tibingen (Ph.D., 1872), and, after being lecturer at the Wilhelmstift in Tubingen and parish priest at Weiler, near Rothenburg, was in charge of the courses in Old-Testament exegesis in the Roman Catholic faculty of the University of Tiibingen (1890-93), being professor of the same subject there after 1893. He wrote Chosroe Magni explicatio precum misse e lingua Armeniaca in Latinam versa (Freiburg, 1880); Der apokryphe dritte Korintherbrief (Tiibingen, 1894); and Metrik des Buches Job (Freiburg, 1897).
VEUSTER, vi-sté’, JOSEPH DE (better known as FATHER DAMIEN): Roman Catholic; b. at Tremeloo (16 m. n.e. of Brussels), Belgium; d. on the island of Molokai, Hawaii, Apr. 5, 1888. He became a novice of the order of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary in 1858 and was admitted in 1860. In 1863 he was sent as its missionary to Hawaii and was there ordained a priest in 1864. He served on the islands of Hawaii and Molokai, and when the government segregated the lepers on the latter island he chose to live in the leper settlement, and acted not only as priest but as nurse, and in these services displayed both courage and devotion. He began this life in 1873 and remained immune to the disease until 1888, when he contracted it and soon died of it. Bistiocgrapyy: Auguste Pamphile de Veuster, Life and
Letters of Father Damien, the Apostle of the Lepers. Edited
with Introduction by his Brother, Father Pamphile, Lon-
don, 1889; E. Clifford, Father Damien, 1889; Frances E.
Cooke, The Story of Father Damien, 1889; Eugtne Hubert,
Hommage national au Pére Damien, Le Pére Damien,
Vapétre belge des lépreux de Molokai, Louvain, 1889; Pau-
line Craven (Mme. A. Craven), Le Pére Damien, Paris,
1890, 5th ed., 1899; R. Butaye, Leven van Pader Dami-
aan, Brugge, 1890; H. H. Lauscher, Pater Damiaan. Naar
het Fransch vertaald, met notas des Vertalers, Diest, 1890;
R. L. Stevenson, Father Damien, an open Letter to the Rev.
Dr. Hyde of Honolulu, Sydney, 1890, London, 1890; Pater
Damien, der Held von Molokai, Freiburg, 1891, 2d ed.,
1899; H. F., Pater Damiaan, de Apostel der Melaatschen,
Ghent, 1895; C. W. Stoddard, Father Damien, the Martyr
of Molokai, San Francisco 1901; Pére Tauvel, Father
Damien, translated from the French, London, new ed., 1904;
Miss M. Quinlan, Damien of Molokai, London, 1909.
VIATICUM: Holy Communion administered to those in immediate danger of death, the term mean-
ing literally “‘ provision for a journey,” and translating the Greek ephodion. In early times it was