24 



CANON LAW CANONIZATION. 



of Dionysius the Little acquired almost the autho- 

 rity of law*. Equal authority also, was allowed to 

 the collection of rations ascribed to Isidore, bi-.|i<i|i 

 of Seville, which appeared in the ninth century. 

 Tliis famous collection is falsely attributed to Isidore, 

 and abounds in spurious interjwlations. It was en- 

 titled the Isidorian Code, and is said to have been 

 brought from Spain. The object of the interpola- 

 tions of the Pteudo-hidore was probably to give an 

 historical basis to a system grown up out of observ- 

 ance, which transferred many of the former rights of 

 the metropolitans to the pope. After the lOtli cen- 

 tury, the custom which had before prevailed, of col- 

 lecting chronologically the ordinances of the church, 

 and studying them from the sources, was given up, 

 and systematical compendiums of ecclesiastical law 

 began to be drawn from these canons. In these 

 compendiums, it is true, literal extracts of the canons 

 were retained, but often mutilated, and separated 

 from their proper connexion. The most important 

 of these compendiums is that of the Benedictine 

 Gratian, of Chiusi, which he finished in 1151, in the 

 convent of St Felix, at Bologna. Gratian treated 

 the subjects of the canon law according to a system 

 which he had formed himself, and under each division 

 laid down principles, which he established by quota- 

 tions from the original decrees. By means of these 

 authorities, with aaditions of his own, he extended his 

 principles further, and endeavoured to reconcile ap- 

 parent contradictions in the law, or, where they could 

 not be reconciled, to determine which part was bind- 

 ing. Hence the title of his work Concordantia Dis- 

 cordantium Canonum. He divides the whole subject 

 into three parts : in the first, he begins with a general 

 essay on law, particularly ecclesiastical law, and treats 

 of the officers of the church, their character, rights, 

 duties, consecration, and share in the government of 

 the church : the second part contains the system of 

 the powers of the church, particularly of its jurisdic- 

 tion and judicial processes : the third part embraces 

 the rules respecting religious rites, the liturgy, the 

 sacraments, c. This new collection met with great 

 success. Within 10 years after its appearance, the 

 universities of Bologna and Paris had their professors 

 of canon law, who taught from Gratian's work ; and 

 within a short time, it superseded all former chrono- 

 logical collections. As the civil law acquired au- 

 thority in so many countries from the circumstance 

 that it was taught in the universities, so the Decre- 

 tum Gratiani, in the same way, became a code, and 

 with more reason, since it expounded a law really 

 existing ; and what Gratian had added was, to a cer- 

 tain degree, considered as commentary. Any direct 

 co-operation of the popes hi elevating the Decretum 

 Gratiani to the authority of a code has never been 

 proved. This Decretum, however, is only the first 

 part of the present Corpus Juris Canonici. After the 

 appearance of the Decretum, new decrees of councils 

 and new decretals were promulgated, which several 

 authors collected into appendices. All these new 

 collections pope Gregory IX. ordered to be put hi 

 order, which was done by the Dominican Raymond, 

 of Pennaforte. The work was divided into five books. 

 This authentic collection was finished in 1234, and 

 sent to the universities of Bologna and Paris. It 

 bears the name of Decretales Gregorii Noni, and has 

 the authority of law. The later decretals and de- 

 crees of councils were collected by Boniface VIII., 

 and published as the sixth book (Liber Sextus) of the 

 Gregorian Decretals, in 1298. They have also the 

 authority of laws. Pope Clement V. published, in 

 1313, a collection of his decrees, mostly issued at the 

 council held at Vienne in France : they are also a 

 part of -the Corpus Juris Canonici. About the year 

 1340, the decretals of John XXII were published ; 



they are called Extravagantes Jchannis XXII. ; and, 

 at a later period, the subsequent decretals, to the 

 time of Sextus IV., who died in 1484, railed Ejctra 

 vagantes Communes, appeared. These Extravagantet 

 liave not altogether the authority of law. Under 

 pope Pius IV., a commission of 35 persons (the cor- 

 rectores Romani) was appointed to revise the Decre- 

 tum Gratiani. The labour was continued under Pius 

 V.,and completed under Gregory XIII., and sanc- 

 tioned by a bull of July 1, 1580. The later bulls 

 have the force of law, if they concern a subject on 

 which the pope lias an unquestionable right to legis- 

 late, or as far as the secular government arcejiK 

 them. The canon law, excepting some of its regu- 

 lations, is in force in Germany, even in civil cases. 

 Luther, it is well known, burned a copy of the canon 

 law at Wittemberg, but the Protestant courts have 

 continued to apply it, except where it disagrees with 

 Protestant principles. The canons, even those of 

 the general councils, which respect the discipline of 

 the church, have no authority in the Gallican church, 

 unless it is proved tliat they have been admitted as 

 laws of the kingdom. 



The celebrated declaration of the clergy of France, 

 of 1682, is a series of very important canons. They 

 are to be considered as rules of the Gallican church 

 and laws of the kingdom. Many Catholics are willing 

 to admit that there exist arbitrary canons in the ec- 

 clesiastical codes, as much as unconstitutional laws 

 in civil governments. In this country, when the Ca- 

 tholic faith prevailed in it, there existed, besides the 

 general canon law, the legatine and provincial con- 

 stitutions ; the former being laws enacted in national 

 synods, held under the cardinals Otho and Othobon, 

 legates from pope Gregory IX. and Clement IV., 

 about the years 1220 and 1268; the latter being 

 decrees of various provincial synods, under several 

 archbishops of Canterbury. The authority of the 

 canon law in England, since the reformation, depends 

 upon the statute 25th Henry VIII., according to 

 which the ecclesiastical laws were to be revised by 

 the king and a commission of nobles and clergymen, 

 and such as were not repugnant to the laws of the 

 realm and the king's prerogative were to remain in 

 force till so revised. This revision was never made. 

 There are four species of courts in England, in which 

 the canon law, as well as the civil, is, under different 

 restrictions, permitted to be used: 1. the courts of 

 the archbishops and bishops, and their derivative offi- 

 cers, usually called, in the English law, courts Chris- 

 tian (curies Christianitatis) , or ecclesiastical courts; 

 2. the military courts ; 3. the courts of admiralty ; 

 4. the courts of the two universities. The reception 

 of these laws in general, and the different degrees of 

 their reception in these courts, are grounded entirely 

 upon custom, corroborated, in the case of the univer- 

 sities, by acts of parliament. The courts of common 

 law have a superintendence over these courts. An 

 appeal lies from all of them to the king. 



CANONICAL BOOKS. See Canon and Apo- 

 cryphal. 



CANONICAL HOURS are certain stated tunes 

 of the day, devoted, more especially by the Roman 

 church, to the offices of prayer and devotion, as ma- 

 tins, lauds, sixth, ninth, vespers. In England, the 

 canonical hours are from 8 to 12 in the forenoon, 

 before or after which marriage cannot be legally per- 

 formed in any parish church. 



CANONIZATION; a ceremony in the Roman 

 church, by which deceased persons are declared 

 saints. Alexander 1 1 1., in 1170, pronounced it an 

 exclusive privilege of the papal chair. This cere- 

 mony is one of the most solemn in the Roman church. 

 The pope institutes a formal investigation of the 

 qualifications of the deceased person recommended 



