Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-09

IA Merry del Val, papal sec
rotary of state, another cardinal
for the United States will be ap-
pointed before the close of anoth-
er year, and possibly at the next
consistory, shortly before Easter.
In view of this statement, the
following article by the Rev. DR..
Brann, rector of St. Agnes
church, and an authority in such
matters, is of timely interest:
z5TESSIHAT is cardinal? The
INgkTE y name is derived from the
KHM Latin word "cordo,"
hinge, for, as Pope Eugene
AAAl ". said in the fifteenth
century, LAS the door of a
house revolves on its
hinges, so on the cardinals the door OF
the Apostolic See and Of the whole
church rests This, however, is to be
interpreted, for in earlier times all
those who were attached to the service
of a specified church, or "incardinated'
to it, were called cardinals. The can
ons of Ravenna, Compostella, In Span'
of Milan, of Naples and elsewhere, were
called cardinals until Pope Plus ", A.
stricted it to its present meaning. But
even after this popes prohibition the
nam9 was applied to some OF the
priests serving in some of the churches
of France. The title, office and dignity
are therefore of ecclesiastical origin.
The cardinals in the present restrict
ed and specific -neaning of the word
are the senate of the Roman church,
have the solo right of electing the pope,
and the special duty of helping him IN
the government of the whole church,
although they are by no means his
sole helpers nor his sole advisers in
that arduous undertaking.
In the first centuries the popes were
elected by the suffrage of the local
Roman clergy, especially of the bishops,
who took into ., nsideratiOn the wishes
of the Roman people. This was natural,
for the pope is the bishop OF Rome,
and must be the bishop of Rome, for he
is the successor of st. Peter by divine
appointment, and from this fact he de-
riyes the right to rule ana teach the
whole church as Christ's vicar on earth.
But as this mode of election eventually
became the occasion of mobs and
schisms. and as the temporal rulers of
Europe intruded into these popular
elections and tried to enslave the
church to the temporal power, as they
do still, a new and better form of cleo
Nicholas H., A. D. 1859, and especially
by Alexander Ill, A. d. 117S This
pore excluded the inferior clergy, the
Roman people and the emperors from
the papal election and reserved it ex-
clusively to the cardinals in the Third
Council of Lateran, A. ID. 1l79, which
decreed with his sanction that the car
dinals alone were to be the electors.
and that two-thirds of the cardinals
present should be necessary for a
choice. The second general council of
LYONS. A, d. 1874 and the general coun-
ell of Vienna, A. d. 1872 confirmed the
Iateran decree and supplemented it by
decreeing that the election snould take
place in a conclaVe.
BEFORE the reign of Pope Sixtus V.
(sixteenth century, the number of the
cardinals varied. In the time of Pope
Paschal IL, at the beginning of the
twelfth century, the number of them
was ninety; but it went down to eighty
in the reign of Nicholas III, who died
A. d. 1880. Paul ". fixed the number
at seventy as a "reminiscences of the
seventy-two counsellors who assisted
Moses, and of the seventytwo disciples
of Christ. But Plus ". later had sew
enty-six cardinals; then Sixtus V. re-
stored the number to seventy, which
has not been changed since his time.
OF these six are cardinal bishops, fifty
cardinal priests, fourteen cardinal
deacons. to each of whom is assigned
the care of particular church in Rome
and authority over it. This is called
his title.
There is a limit however. to the au-
thority of a cardinal even in the church
assigned to him al a title in Rome. AL
though he may be bishop or an arch
bishop, he cannot exercise eplScopal
jurisdiction there. lie canno- for in
stance, ordain a priest in >hurch of
his title without special p' mission Of
the pope.
In public functions the cardinal bish-
Dps take precedence of the cardinal
priests, and the ardinal priests precede
the cardinal deacons.
AS the cardinalate is the greatest
dignity in the church except that of the
pope, any cardinal, even though he be
only a deacon, takes precedence of all
bishops and archbishops who are not
Hardinals. Pope Eugene w, already
S.,ontioned, gives the reason for this
precedence: "Office and dignity take
precedence of orders Just as in the can
on law the archdeacoa, by reason of
his( jurisdiction, al Tough he may not
be Ia priest takes precedence of the
arcnpriest who is a higher in orders.
And even vicar general although
only simple cleric, precedes all others
in the choir"
lIle ulSlHCtlOn between orders ana
jurisdiction makes the illustration cas-
lily understood. / cleric who is not
even a subdeacon, and who, conse-
quently. canot say mass, may have,
and frequently has had, jurisdiction
over priests, bishops and archbishops.
In the council of Lyons. A. d. 1915, the
cardinals all sat in higher row of
seats than the archbishops. and in the
second council OF Lyons the cardinals
outranked the patriarchs of Constan-
tinople and of Antioch.
The cardinals residing in Rome are
Usually the heads of the different de-
partments or congregations of church
administration. each having under him
a corps of trained theologians, phiios-
ophers, liturgists or other experts and
specialists, as the case may require
Sometimes several cardinals are in the
service of the same department. They
are busy and hard worked men. Their
special dress is a red cassoek, a red
skull cap or a hat, and the red mantle
so familiar to us in paintings or in
special portraits. However. cardinals