The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-09-23

privately II the CnllQ is In danger or
death and there is no priest at hand
to give it baptism. 1t is the bounden
duty of every Catholic to confer pri-
vate baptism in case of need. In the
present instance the mistake was not
in comforting the baptism, but in fail
ing to notify the priest that the child
had already been privately baptized
In that case, if the priest was certain
that the baptism given the child pri-
vately was valid, he would not re-
baptize. If he had doubts about the
validity of the private baptism he
would re-baptize under condition,
as it is said, that is, he would
add to the usual form of baptism the
words, eff you are not baptized, bap-
tie thee" etc. Nothing can be done
now to remedy the mistake made in
this case.
When, how, and by whom was the
Sabbath Day changed from Saturday
to Sunday?
Saturday, the Sabbath day, was the
weekly day of rest observed among the
Jewish people in commemoration of
the fact that God Himself, having fin
ished the work of creation in six days,
rested on the seventh, blessing it and
sanctifying it. Our Lord did not
change the Sabbath during His earthly
life but He exposed the hypocrisy of
those who performed certain kinds of
work on that day and condemned Him
for laboring for the welfare of man
kind. According to Him, 'tthe Sabbath
is made for man, not man for the
Sabbath" Now if the ministers of the
temple broke the Sabbath law and its
service and were blameless how much
more might the disciples of our Lord
do that in His service.
The precept of observing the Sab
bath was completely done away with
in the early Christian Church and in
its stead Sunday, the first day of the
ton of Christs resurrection from the
dead. This change took place in. Apos-
tolic times. In the Apocalypse the
first day of the week is called "the
Lords Day." and elsewhere, we learn
that on the first day of the week the
disciples came together to break
bread" This and other Scriptural ref
erences show that Sunday had begun
to be observed in Apostolic times, and
the teachings of the Fathers show
that there is no question that the first
day of the week was set aside for
worship and especially for the celebra-
ton of the Holy Eucharist from the
earliest days.
Since that time, therefore, Sunday
has been observed among Christians
as a day of prayer and worship-one
on which they are to abstain as far
as possible from servile work.
1. What is a patriarch? What are
his duties, color, insignia, title, ETC.?
2. What is the difference between a
Dean, Archdeacon and Vicar Gen.
eraI? 8. What is general absoIu-
ton? How and when is it given? a.
Why does Bishop wash his hands
three times during his Mass?
l. A patriarch is a prelate who
holds the highest place in the hier-
archy of jurisdiction with the excep-
ton of the Pope himself. The title
came into use in its present sense
about the fifth century. 1t is given
to prelate who exercises jurisdic-
ton over Metropolitans or Archbish-
ops as they do over their suffragan
Bishops. Apart from Rome, the most
ancient patriarchal Sees are Alexan-
dria and Antioch. Later on those of
Constantinople and Jerusalem were
established. In the western Church
there are three minor patriarchs, the
Patriarch of the Indies who is the
prelate of highest rank in the Church
of Spain, the Patriarch of Lisbon and
the Patriarch of Venice. Their duties,
titles, ETC., are the same as those of
Archbishops. 2. The title, dean, origi-
mated in monastic orders. The Dean
was the one who presided over ten
others to see that they did their work
and followed the rule. This custom
found it's way gradually among the
diocesan clergy. The Deans possessed
certain powers defined in canon law.
In this country deans exercise merely
nominal supervision over the priests
who reside in their deanery. They
preside at deanery conferences under
the direction of the Bishop of the
diocese. The term, Archdeacon, is
not now in use among the Catholic
clergy. It is met with, however, among
Anglicans and it carries some sort of
special Jurisdiction. Formerly in the
Catholic Church the Archdeacon exer-
cised certain amount of jurisdiction
in the diocese. In general way it
may be said that the Vicar General
exercises in a diocese much the same
power as was formerly given to those
who held the Office of Archdeacon. A
Vicar General Is priest selected by
the Bishop of the diocese to act in
his stead in certain matters of juris.