The Irish standard., 1908-02-01
the CARoINAL|1E
What 1t Means to Be a Prince
of the Catholic Church.
Title, Office and Dignity Of
Ecclesiastical Origin.

n hinge, for, as Pope Eugene Nv. SAID
in the fifteenth century, "As the door
of a house revolves on its hinges, so
on the cardinals the door of the Apos-
tolic Sec and OF the whole Church
rests" writes Henry A. Brann. d. D..
Rector Of st. Agnes Church, New
York, in the N. Y. Herald.
This. however, is to be interpreted,
for in earlier times all those who were
attached to the service Of q specified
church, or "incardinated'' to it, were
called Cardinals. The canons of Rev.
of Naples and elsewhere. were called
Cardinals until Pope Plus ". A. d.
1857. abolished their title and restored
1t TO it's present meaning. But even af-
: ter this Pope's prohibition the name
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 re-
strctetl and specific meaning of the
word arc the Senate of the Roman
Church. have tho sole right of elect
ing 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 under
taking.
: In. the first centuries the Popes
were elected by the suffrage of the
local Roman clergy. especially Of the
bishops. who took into consideration
the wishes Of the Roman people. This
was natural, for the Pope is the
Bishop of Rome. for he is the success
sor of ST. Peter by divine appoint
lnent. and for this fact he derives
the right to rule and teach the whole
church as Christ's vicar on earth.
But as this mode Of election even
Itually become the occasion of mobs and
sschisms, and as tho temporal rulers
of Europe intruded into these popular
elections and tried to enslave the
church to the temporal power. as they
,tio still, new and better form Of cleo
ttion. was evolved by able Popes, like
Nicholas II, A. D. 1869, and especially
by Alexander Ill. A. D. 117S. This
Pope excluded the inferior clergy, the
Roman people and the en1perors from
,.clusively to the cardinals in the Third
Council OF Latsran, A. D. 1879. which
5Edecreed with his sanction that the
cardinals alone were to be the elect
dinals present should be necessary for
70 choice. The second General Council
of Lyons. A. ID. 1874, and the General
Council Of Vienna, A. D. 1879, confirm
ed the Lateran decree and supplement
ed it by deoreeing that tho election
Should take place in a conclave.
4 Before the reign Of Pope Sixtus v.
Sixteenth century,. the number of the
cardinals varied. In the time Of Pope
sPaschal H., at tho beginning of the
twelfth century, the number Of them
was 80; but it went down to eight in
the reign Of Nicholas Ill, who died
"A. D. 1890. Paul Nv. fixed tho number
lat 10 as IL "Reminiscences Of the 70 coun-
ssellors who assisted Moses, and of tho
s,72 disciples Of Christ. But Plus Nv,
later had Is cardinals; then Sixtus v.
restored the number to 20, which has
mot been changed since his time. Of
these sir are cardinal bishops. 50 car
tdilal priests, IA cardinal deacons, to
+ each OF whom is assigned the care Of
particular church III Rome and ALL
thority over it. This is called his
a title.
There is a. limit, however, to the
authority Of a. cardinal even in the
church assigned to him as a title in
Rome. Although he may be a bishop
@ or an archdeacon he cannot exercise
Episcopal jurisdiction there. He cam
not for instance. ordain a priest in
church of his title. without special
permission Of tho Pope.
In public functions tho cardinal
e bishops take precedence of the cardi-
nal priests. and tho cardinal priests
prccede the cardinal deacons.
# AS the Cardinalate is tho greatest
dignity in the church except that of
asthe Pope, any cardinal, even though
il he be only a deacon. takes precedence
# Of all bishops and archbishops who are
I. not cardinals. Pope Eugene w.. al
ready mentioned. gives the reason for
5ssthis precedencs: "Oface and dignity
take precedence Of orders just as in the
canon law the archdeacon. by reason
of his jurisdiction. although he may
not be a priest, takes precedence of the
arch priest who is higher in orders.
isAnd even q Vicar General. although
n al ,ove0A I'll