The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-07-08

for the maintenance of law and order, and in a
short time local legislative body called into
existence fashioned after the manner In which the
monks held "a Chapter of their order.
In the feudal times they Opposed their credit to
the tyranny of the mobility. The people sought
them as Judges saying it was better to be governed
by the abbots crozier than the monarchs scepter'
Goblet.
As time went on new laws and regulations were
made, and soon men engaged craftsmen and
merchants formed organizations for the govern
ment and development of their various interests.
These creations were called guilds. They were not
only bound to the promotion of the material wei
fare of the members, but they also deeply re-
igious. Each guild had its patron saint. Soon
these guilds not only built and owned their own
meeting halls but had accumulated vast of
money to be loaned to the needy, and to be used
also in the caretaking of their superanuuated mem
bers. 1t was the custom to give marriage portions
to the daughters of the men who were members of
the guild, and last. but not least, were set
apart for the maintenance of religion Masses
were said by the priests, the request of the guild,
for the welfare of the living and the repose of the
dead. On stated occasions the guild went III sol
emn procession to the church of their patron saint
to attend Mass, and such occasions the vestments
used by the priests and the sacred vessels the
altar were the offerings of love and devotion be-
slowed by the guild These guilds were composed
of the masters iourneymen and apprentices. The
rules and regulations to wages, hours OF labor
and terms of apprenticeship were enacted by the
joint vote of the masters and journeymen.
The fear of want was removed from their lives
and men exercised great and devotion In pos
sessing a thorough knowledge of the trades over
which their guild had control.
When man served apprentice he usual
ly had to journey other places to how crafts
men performed their work, and from this custom
the term ''journeyman" mason, carpenter
etc
All over Europe today there exist monuments
telling the story how well the men labored, how
thoroughly they understood their trades in the days
of yore. The men worked not for the taskmasters,
but gave the best that was in them of brain and
Drawn in the building of temples dedicated to the
living God. Today the best we can do is to imi-
tate their work; cannot equal 1t. Their work
was not drudgery. It was another form of prayer
Little wonder that there was so much expression
and completeness to their work. For instance,
the gates of cypress which Adrian III had erected
in st. Peters, were in good State of preservation
500 years afterward. The Basilica of St. Paul was
rooted with cedar of Libanus, and was the oldest
Church in the world. The ceilings of St. Mary
Major st. Clement and ST. Mary in Trastevere are
wrought with such skill and magnifcence that they
would defy modern art. In the church of the
astery of ST. Cluny there before the great altar
candelabra of prodigious magnitude of cyprus
beryls. Over the entrance to the choir, in the
ter of the structure, there vast crucfx, with
images of Blessed Lady and st. John The
Gothic altar and shrine of st. Mominic in the
Church of the Dominicians at Bologna vas carved
by Nicholas of Piso in 1900. The sculpture of the
front of the Cathedral of St. Lawrence at Genoa
is enough draw tears, awful and piteous is the
presentation of the martyrs passion. The figures
representing the Eight Beautitudes in the Church
of st. Anthony at Parma unexcelled in that par
ticular art."-Digby's Ages of Faith. The making
of tapestry devolved into art, specimens still in
existence depict scenes colorings etc, true to
ture
Soon these guilds became great power in the
cities and towns all over continental Europe. They
formed the municipal government in such places.
The oath of office of the mayor administered in
the Guildha it being the seat of government. A
remnant of the old time system is still in vogue in
London, when the Lord Mayor of London takes his
seat the grand procession winding up in the Guild
hall.
(To be Continued)