CHURCH MUSIC 



CHURCHWARDENS 



Mfl 



church on the fortieth day after birth (a usage 

 l>a-cd upon Luke, ii. 22); the Latin rite, cuntrari- 

 is exclusively a benediction of the woman, 

 Hint is restricted to sucli its have borne children in 

 wedlock. It is not obligatory, nor included among 

 strictly parochial rights, but only recommended as 

 11 pious and laudable custom. In the Church of 

 Kii-laiid, also, a service for the churching of women, 

 differing little from the medieval rite, finds a place 

 in the Prayer-book. By the lYe>l.\ terian and 

 Indepeinleiit churches of Britain and America it is 

 rejected its having no Scripture warrant. 



Church Music. See ANTHEM, ANTIPHONY, 

 CHANT, CHOIRS AND CHOKAI. SINGING, GREGO- 

 I:I\N TONKS, HYMN, MASS, PLAIN8OMO, SKKVICK. 



Church-rates, in England, a tax or assess- 

 ment laid on the parishioners and occupiers of land 

 within a parish, oy a majority of their own body 

 in \estry assembled, for the purpose of upholding 

 and repairing the fabric of the church and the 

 belfry, the bells, seats, and ornaments, the church- 

 yard fence, and the expenses (other than those of 

 maintaining the minister) incident to the cele- 

 bration of divine service. The parishioners are 

 convened for this purpose by the Churchwardens 

 ( q. v. ). The Chancel ( q. v. ) being regarded as belong- 

 ing j>eculiarly to the clergy, the expense of main- 

 taining it is laid on the rector in receipt of the great 

 tithes, though custom frequently lays this burden 

 also on the parishioners, as in London and elsewhere. 



The church-rate was anciently a charge on 

 parishioners in respect of their lands, according to 

 their area and the stock thereon, but it was a per- 

 sonal, not a real charge ; and every bishop was 

 bound to contribute to the repair of the public 

 'baptismal churches' of his diocese (i.e. churches 

 with public baptisteries annexed to them). The 

 responsibility of the parisliioners for the repair of 

 their parish church is recognised as early as 1018 by 

 a law of King Canute, enacting that ' all folk shall 

 of right help the church-bot,' which was the sum 

 levied for repairs of churches. The care of the 

 fabric of the churcli, and the due administration 

 of its offices, are laid upon the minister and 

 the churchwardens conjointly, and the latter may 

 be proceeded against by citation in the eccle- 

 siastical courts, should they neglect these duties. 

 But there is no legal mode of compelling the 

 parishioners as a body to provide the rate ; and 

 this circumstance has occasioned much difficulty 

 in i m nosing the tax in parishes in which dissent is 

 prevalent, and has led to many churches falling into 

 a partially ruinous condition. The proper criterion 

 for the amount of church-rates is a valuation of 

 the property within the parish, grounded on the 

 rent that a tenant would be willing to pay for it. 

 Glebe land, the possessions of the crown in the 

 actual occupation of the sovereign, and places of 

 public worship, are not liable for church-rates ; 

 tnit there is no other exception as regards immov- 

 able property, and in some parishes custom even 

 extends it to stock-in-trade. It has been often 

 decided in the courts that a retrospective church- 

 rate i.e. a rate for expenses previously incurred 

 cannot IK; validly imposed. Much difficulty has 

 been experienced in recovering the rates imposed 

 by the parish on individuals refusing to pay. 

 Previous to 53 Geo. III. chap. 127, the only mode 

 was by suit in the ecclesiastical court. That 

 statute, however, in all cases under 10, em- 

 powered the justices of the peace of the county 

 where, the church was situated, on complaint of 

 the churchwardens, to inquire into the merits of 

 the case, and order payment. Against the deci- 

 sion of the justices an appeal lies to the quarter- 

 sessions. In 1868 an end was put to all parochial 

 contentions by enacting that no suit or proceeding 



should thereafter be allowed in any court to enforce 

 or compel payment of a church-rate, except where 

 a local act authorised this rate. But except BO 

 far as related to the compulsory payment of thee 

 rates, the churchwardens might, as before, make, 

 assess, receive, and deal with such rates. In each 

 district parish the inhabitant* may treat tin-it 

 own church as if it were their parish church, and 

 make and receive rates for the repair of the same. 

 A I >ody of trustees may now be appointed in each 

 parish to receive contributions for ecclesiastical 

 purposes in the parish. The result of this act of 

 31 and 32 Viet. chap. 109, is thus not to alioli-.li 

 church-rates, but rather to convert them into vol- 

 untary payments ; allowing, as it does, all faithful 

 adherents of the church to contribute, as before, 

 to the repairs of their own churches. But it has 

 been found practically inapplicable, and it - enabling 

 clauses are rarely acted on, so that voluntary con- 

 tributions have in nearly all cases l>een substituted 

 for rates. 



In Scotland the burden of upholding extra-burghal 

 parish churches is imposed on the parish heritors ; 

 and where the parish is partly within burgh and 

 partly in the country, the expense must be borne 

 by heritors and proprietors of nouses, in proportion 

 to their real rent. See SCOTLAND (CHURCH OF); 

 also DISSENTERS, PARISH, HERITOR, FEU, FIARS. 

 In Ireland church-rates were abolished in 1823. 



Churchwardens are the modern represent- 

 atives of the ancient Seniores Ecclesiastics, laymen 

 who were custodians of church goods and ornaments, 

 and agents for ecclesiastical affairs on their tem- 

 poral side, but had no share in church government, 

 nor any right of session in synods. In England 

 they are lay ecclesiastical officers, elected yearly at 

 Easter, sometimes by the parishioners and minister 

 jointly, sometimes by the minister alone, sometimes 

 by the parishioners alone, by the select vestry, by 

 the lora of the manor, or by the outgoing wardens, 

 but most commonly ( and always in the case of flew 

 parishes) the incumbent chooses one and the 

 parishioners the other. They are appointed for the 

 purpose of protecting the edifice and goods of the 

 church, keeping order in the churcli during public 

 worship, seating the parishioners, and executing 

 other parochial functions. They are admitted to 

 their office by the Ordinary, usually the bishop of 

 the diocese, and are his officers, as well as re- 

 presentatives of the lay parishioners. But their 

 office in this respect is only one of observation and 

 report, and they cannot interfere directly with the 

 incumbent, if in their mind violating the laws 

 ecclesiastical, but must simply delate the matter 

 to the bishop by presentment at his visitation. 

 They are also usually appointed as trustees of 

 sequestrated benefices. Certain classes are ineligible 

 for election as churchwardens, such as Jews, minors, 

 aliens, and persons convicted of felony, fraud, or 

 perjury ; ana there are many exempted from serv- 

 ing, though eligible if elected, such as peers, meni- 

 l>ers of parliament, justices, clergymen, Roman 

 Catholic ecclesiastics, dissenting ministers, officers 

 of the army and navy, barristers, solicitors, A.C. 

 They are generally two in number, but the office 

 of churchwarden is a single one, of which each 

 warden holds an undivided moiety, so that they 

 cannot legally act independently of each other. 

 There is no officer in the Roman Catholic Church 

 precisely corresponding to the English church- 

 warden. The closest analogy is found in the 

 trustees of the church fabric fund of the oarish. 

 These are named Mioynill ier ( Lat. nuitricuttiriim) 

 in France, and are three in number, elected by the 

 other members of the parish council, one of them 

 going out of office yearly. They have the charge 

 of the ordinary expenditure of the church, the 

 superintendence of its minor officials, such as the 



