and hermits of the early Church made no vow of
always continuing to live the ascetic life upon which
they'had entered. The rule of St. Pachomius, the
father of the ctenobitical life, allowed the religious
to leave his monastery [Ladeuze, Histoire du
c^nobitisme pakhomien (Louvain, 1898), 285].
But from the fourth century onwards the religious
state became perpetual, and in 38.5 Pope Siricius.
in his letter to Himerius, expresses indignation against
religious men or women who were unfaithful to
their proposUum sanrlitatis (Hardouin, I, 848, 849).
Tlie Council of Chalccdon decreed that the religious
who desired to return to the world should be ex-
communicated, and the Second Council of Aries
called him an apostate (Hardouin, II, 602, 603,
775). Throughout the Middle Ages numerous coun-
cils and papal decretals insisted on this perpetuity
of the religious life, of which Peter Damian was one
of the great champions (Migne, P. L., CXLV, 674-
678). Paul IV, at the time of the Council of Trent,
instituted very strict legislation against apostates
by his Bull Poslquam, dated 20 July, 1558. These
provisions were, however, recalled, two years later,
by Pius IV, in the Constitution, Sedis apoMnlica;, of
3 April, 1560 (Bullarum amplissima coUectio [Rome,
1745], IV, i, 343, and IV, ii, 10).
As the law stands to-day, the canonical penalties
are inflicted only upon apostates in the strict sense,
that is, those professed with solemn vows, with whom
Jesui; scholastics are classed by privilege. Re-
ligious belonging to congregations with only simple
vows, therefore, and those with simple vows in orders
which also take solemn vows, do not incur these
penalties. 1. Apostasy is a grave sin, the absolu-
tion of which the superior may reserve to himself
[Decree " Sanctissimus " of Clement VIII, 26 May,
1593, "Bullarum ampl. coUectio" (Rome, 1756), V,
V, 254] 2. The religious is suspended from the
exercise of all orders which he may have received
during the period of his apostasy, nor is this penalty
removed by his return to his monastery [Decretals of
Gregory IX, V, title 9, vi (Friedberg, II, 792)].
3. He is bound by all the obligations laid on him by
his vows and the constitutions of his order, but if he
has laid aside the religious habit, and if a judicial
sentence has pronounced his deposition, he loses all
the privileges of his order, in particular that of ex-
emption from the jurisdiction of the ordinary and the
right of being supported at the expense of his com-
munity (Council of Trent, Session XXV, de regulari-
bxis, xix). 4. The fact of laying aside the religious
habit involves the penalty of excommunication [III,
tit. 24, ii, of the sixth book of Decretals (Friedberg,
II, 1065)]. 5. In several religious orders apostates
incur the penalty of excommunication, even when
they have not laid aside the religious habit, in virtue
of special privileges granted to the order. 6. The
apostate is bound to return to his monastery as soon
as possible, and the Council of Trent enjoins bishops
to punish religious who shall have left their monas-
teries without the permission of their superiors, as
deserters (Session XXV, de regnlaribus, iv). More-
over, the bishop is bound to take possession of the
Eerson of the apostate monk and to send him back to
is superior [Decree of the Congregation of the Coun-
cil, 21 September, 1624, in "Bullarum amplissima
coUectio" (Rome, 175G), V, v, 24S], In the case of an
apostate nun who leaves a convent enjoying pontifical
cloister, she incurs the exconununication reserved
simplicitcr to the Sovereign PontilT [(."onstitution
Aposlolicie Sedin, n°, 6. See Vermeersch, " De re-
ligiosis institutis et personis" (Rome, 1902), I, 200;
HoUweck, 299; Scherer, II, 838. See also Hehesy,
IniiEci-i-AFirrv, Ct.Kuir, Rklk;ious Oudeks].
In addition to the works ulreadv referred to, the older ranonintx may lie ci)n»ulte<l, eHpocinlly ScHMAi.zcinCiiFn ami RKlFFKNHTrKi who in Ihfir ro.n,„entarie» follow the order of the UecrelalK, at Book V, title 0. As modern canoniiit.H no longer treat of apostasy under a special heading, they must be consulted where they refer to orclinations and irregularities, the duties of the clerical state, the obligations of religious, offences and penalties, and, chiefly, when they write con- cerning heresy. See also Ferraris, Biblwtheca Cartonica (Home, 1889), s. v. Apostasia; Beugnet, in Diet, tie theol. cath. (Pans, 1901): Amthor, De Apostasia Liber Stnffulari« (Co- burg, 1833); Fejer, Ju^ Eccleaim Catholicie adrersue Apos- tatas (Pesth. 1847); Schmidt, Der Auslritt aue der Kirche (Leipzig, 1893): Scotus Placentinus, De Obligatione Regu- laris extra reguiarem domum commorantis, de Apoatalis et Fugitivis (Cologne, 1647); Thomasius, De Detertiane Ordinis Ecclesiaatici (Halle, 1707); Schmid. Apostasia vom Ordert- stande {Studien und Mittheilungen aus dem Benediktiner und dem Cislercienser Orden (1886, VII. 29-42). A. Van Hove. Apostle (in Liturgy), the name given by the Greek Church to the Epistle of the Mass, which is invariably of Apostohc origin and never taken, as sometimes h.appens in the Roman Rite, from the Old Testament. It is also the name of the book used in the Greek Church containing the Epistles for each Sunday and feast day of the whole year, and from which the anagnostes (reader) reads the proper Epistle for the day in the celebration of the Mass. As now printed and used in th'"- Orthodox Greek Church in Constantinople and Athens, and in the Greek Catholic Church (as printed by the Con- gregation of the Propaganda at Rome), it contains not only the proper Epistles, but also the proper antiphons and prokeimena for the different days of the Greek ecclesiastical year. (See Epistle.)
Neale, Hist. of the Holy Eastern Church (London, 1850), I, 370; Clugnet Dicl. des noms liturgiques (Paris, 189.5) 19. Andrew J. Shipman.
Apostle Spoons.—A set of thirteen spoons, usually silver, the handles of which are adorned with representations of Our Lord (the Master spoon) and the twelve Apostles. Anciently they were given by sponsors as baptismal gifts to their godchildren, the wealthy giving complete sets, others a smaller number, and a poor person a single spoon. The Apostles are distinguished one from the other by their respective emblems: St. Peter with a key. sometimes a fish; St. Andrew with a saltire cross; .St. James Major with a pilgrim's staff and gourd; St. John with a chalice; St. PhUip with a long staff surmounted with a cross; St. James Minor with a fuller's bat; St. Thomas with a spear; St. Bartholomew with a butcher's knife; St. Matthew with a wallet, sometimes an axe; St. Matthias with a halbert; St. Thaddeus, or Jude, with a carpenter's square; St. Simon with a saw. In some sets St. Paul takes the place of St. Matthias; his emblem is a sword. It is doubtful if these spoons were much in use before 1500; the oldest one known is of the year 1593, and they first appeared .as a lie- quest in the will of one Amy Brent who bequeathed in 1516 "XIII sylver spones of J' hu and the XII Apostells". They are alluded to by the dramatists, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Middleton, Beaumont, and Fletcher. In Henry VIII, Act 5, Scene 3, the King asks Cranmer to be sponsor for the infant Elizabeth; he demurs because he is a poor man, upon which Henry banters him in these words: "Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your spoons." While these apostle spoons were used on the Continent, especially in Germany and Holland, they were never as much in vogue there as in iMiglaiid. Cripps, Old Enuhsh I'liUc (London, 1891); Buck, Old Plate (New York, 1903, 2d ed.): Pollen, Gold and Silver- smith's Work (London, 1878). Caryl Coleman.
Apostles.—Under this title it may be sufficient to .supply brief and essential information, I, on the name "Apostle"; II, on its various meanings; III, on the origin of the Apo.'itolate; IV, on the office of the .postles and the conditions required in them; V, on the authority and the prerogatives of the Apostles;
