ROMAN
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ROMAN
cure of souls and the administration of the sacra-
ments."
In parochial ministrations, then, regulars are sub- ject in all things to episcopal supervision, visitation, jurisdiction, and correction. If engaged in parochial work, religious are obliged to assist at conferences of the clergy as well as at diocesan synods. "We declare", says the constitution, "that all rectors of missions are bound by their office to attend the con- ferences of the clergy; and moreover we ordain and command that vicars also and other religious en- joying ordinary missionary faculties, Hving in resi- dences and small missions, do the same." The Council of Trent prescribes that all having the cure of souls be present at diocesan synods. The con- stitution says in regard to this question: Let the Council of Trent be observed. Another point of controversy related to appeals from synodal decrees. Regulars are not denied this right. Their appeal from the ordinary's interpretation of synodal statutes in matters pertaining to common law has a devolutive effect only; in matters pertaining to regulars as such, owing to their exemption, an appeal begets a sus- pensive effect. The bishop's right to divide parishes, even though under the management of regulars, is maintained, providing the formalities prescribed in law be observed. The opinion of the rector of the mission to be divided must be sought; while a bishop is not free to divide a mission in charge of religious without consulting their superior. An appeal, dev- olutive in character, to the Holy See, should the case require it, is granted from the bi-shop's de- cision to divide a parish or mission. The ordinary is free to follow his own judgment in appointing rec- tors of new missions, even when formed from parishes in charge of regulars. The claim of regulars to pref- erence in these appointments is thus denied. It is unlawful for religious to establish new monasteries, churches, colleges, or schools without the previous consent of the ordinary and of the Apostolic See. Similar permission is required to convert existing institutions to other purposes, except where such change, affecting merely the domestic arrangements or discipline of regulars themselves, is not contrary to the conditions of the foundation. The bishop may exercise the right of canonical visitation in re- gard to churches and parochial or elementary schools, though they be in cliarge of regulars. Tliis right does not extend to ('enieteries or institutions for the use of religious only; nor to colleges in which religious, according to their rule, devote thcMuselves to the education of youth. The temporal affairs of a parish or mission are determined by a decree of Propaganda, published 19 April, 1869. All goods given to parishes or missions must be accounted for according to diocesan statutes; not, however, dona- tions made to regulars for themselves. It is the duty of the ordinary to see that parochial goods are devoted to the purposes designated by the donors. Inven- tories (Propaganda, 10 May, 1867) will distinguish paro(!hial belongings from those of regulars. These regulations of former decrees are embodied in "Ro- manes Pontifices".
The conatitution may be found in Cone. Plen. Bait. Ill, pp. 212 sq.; Ada Apos. Sedis, II, pp. 254 sq., where it is officially republished. For the English controversy see Snead-Cox, Life of Cardinal Vaughan (London, 1910), xiv; Taunton, The Law of the Church, s. v. Regulars.
Andrew B. Meehan.
Roman Patriaxchate. See Patriarch and Pa- triarchate.
Roman Rite {ritus romanus), The, is the manner of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice, administering Sacra- ments, reciting the Divine Office, and performing other ecclesiastical functions (blessings, all kinds of Sacra- mentals, etc.) as used in the city and Diocese of Rome. The Roman Rite is the most wide-spread in Christen-
dom. That it has advantages possessed by no other,
the most archaic antiquity, unequalled dignity,
beauty, and the practical convenience of being com-
paratively short in its services will not be denied by
any one who knows it and the other ancient liturgies.
But it was not the consideration of these advantages
that led to its extensive use; it was the exalted po-
sition of the see that used it. The Roman Rite was
adopted throughout the West because the local
bishops, sometimes kings or emperors, felt that they
could not do better than use the rite of the chief
bishop of all, at Rome And this imitation of Roman
liturgical practice brought about in the West the
application of the principle (long admitted in the
East) that rite should follow patriarchate. Apart
from his universal primacy, the pope has always been
unquestioned Patriarch of the West. It was then the
right and normal thing that the West should use his
liturgy. The irregular and anomalous incident of
liturgical history is not that the Roman Rite has been
used, practically exclusively, in the West since
about the tenth or eleventh century, but that before
that there were other rites in the pope's patriarchate.
Not the disappearance but the existence and long
toleration of the Galilean and Spanish rites is the
difficulty (see Rites). Like all others, the Roman
Rite bears clear marks of its local origin. Wherever
it may be used, it is still Roman in the local sense,
obviously composed for u.se in Rome. Our Missal
marks the Roman stations, contains the Roman
saints in the Canon (see Canon of the Mass), hon-
ours with special solemnity the Roman martyrs and
popes. Our feasts are constantly anniversaries of
local Roman events, of the dedication of Roman
churches (All Saints, St. Michael, S. Maria ad Nives,
etc.). The Collect for Sts. Peter and Paul (29 June)
supposes that it is said at Rome (the Church which
"received the beginnings of her Faith" from these
saints is that of Rome), and so on continually. This
is quite right and fitting; it agrees with all liturgical
history. No rite has ever been composed consciously
for general use. In the East there are still stronger
examples of the same thing. The Orthodox all over
the world use a rite full of local allusions to the city
of Constantinople.
The Roman Rite evolved out of the (presumed) universal, but quite fluid, rite of the first three cen- turies during the (liturgically) almost unknown time from the fourth to the sixth. In the sixth we have it fully developed in the Leonine, later in the Gelasian, Sacnunciitiiries. How and exactly when the specifi- ctilly Roman qualities were formed during that time will, no doubt, always be a matter of conjecture (see Liturgy; Mass, Liturgy of the). At first its use was very restrained. It was followed only in the Roman province. North Italy was Galilean, the South, Byzantine, but Africa was always closely akin to Rome liturgically. From the eighth century grad- ually the Roman usage began its career of conquest in the West. By the twelfth century at latest it was used wherever Latin obtained, having displaced all others except at Milan and in retreating parts of Spain. That has been its position ever since. As the rite of the Latin Church it is used exclusively in the Latin Patriarchate, with three small exceptions at Milan, Toledo, and in the still Byzantine churches of South- ern Italy, Sicily, and Corsica. During the Middle Ages it developed into a vast number of dorived rites, differing from the pure form only in unimportant de- tails and in exuberant additions. Most of these were abolished by the decree of Pius V in 1570 (see Mass, Liturgy of the). Meanwhile, the Roman Rite had itself been affected by, and had received additions from, the Galilean and Spani.sh uses it displaced. The Roman Rite is now used by every one who is subject to the pope's patriarchal jurisdiction (with the three exceptions noted above) ; that is, it is used in Western
