BALTIMORE
240
BALTIMORE
supplied for converted heretics who had been pre-
viously validly baptized. (Xo. 4) As a rule children
are not to be confirmed before the age of reason.
(No. 5) The offerings of the faithful are to be di-
%nded into three parts: for the support of the pastor,
the relief of the poor, and the sustentation of the
church. (Xo. 11) The faithful are to be warned that
the absolution of priests not approved by the bishop
is invalid. (Xo. 15) X^one are to be married until
they know the Christian Doctrine. Slaves, however,
need know only the principal truths, if more cannot
be acquired. (Xo. 16) In mixed marriages the non-
Catholic must promise before witnesses to bring up
the offspring of the union as Catholics. (No. 17)
Htoius and prayers in the vernacular are to be en-
couraged at evening services. (No. 20) Catholics
may work on days of obligation owing to the circum-
stances of place, but they must hear Slass if possible.
(No. 23) The rich are to be warned that they sin
grievously if, tlirough their parsimony, pastors can-
not be sustained and multiplied. (No. 24) When
there is question of refusing Christian burial, the
bishop must be consulted beforehand when possible.
The second series of enactments referred to are the articles concerning ecclesiastical discipline sanc- tioned by the common consent of the Archbishop of Baltimore and the other American bishops in ISIO. The main articles are: (Xo. 2) Regulars should not be «nthdrawn from pastoral work with- out the consent of the bishops, if their assistance be deemed a necessity to the existence or prosperity of their missions. (Xo. 3) The Douay version of the Bible is to be used. (Xo. 5) Baptism must be conferred in the church where possible. (X'o. 6) If no sponsor can be obtained, private baptism only is to be administered. (Xo. 9) The faithful are to be warned against improper theatres, dances, and novels. (X'o. 10) Freemasons cannot be achnitted to the sacraments.
Besides ordering the ptiblication of these decrees along with their own sj-nodical enactments, the fathers of the First Provincial Council decreed: (X'o. 1) Priests should labour in any mission assigned to them by the bishops. (Xo. 5) Owing to the abuses of lay trustees all future churches should be con- signed to the bishop when possible. (Xo. 6) Trustees cannot institute or dismiss a pastor. Xo ecclesias- tical patronage exists in this eountrj\ (Xo. 10) Infants of non-Catholics may be baptized if their parents promise to give them a Catholic education, but the sponsor must be a Catholic. (Xo. 20) In administering the sacraments and in the burial ser- vice, Latin and not English must be employed. (Xo. 31) A ceremonial wTitten in English is to be drawn up. (No. 34) Catholic schools should be erected.
At one of the sessions of this council several lawyers (among them R. B. Taney, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the I'nited States) gave advice to the bishops on points of American law con- cerning property rights and ecclesiastical courts. In addition to their decrees, the bishops asked and obtained from Rome permis.sion to use for adults the formula of infant baptism; to consecrate bap)- tismal water with the form approved for the mis- sionaries of Peru, and to extend the time for ful- filling the paschal precept, i. e. from the first Stmday of Lent to Trinity Sunday.
II. The Second Council, held in 1S33. was attended by one archbishop and nine bishops. The main decrees were: (No. 3) A delimitation of the American dioceses. (No. 4) A method of selecting bishops, which a later Council (Prov. VII) modified. (No. 5) Recommending the entrusting to the Jesuits of the Indian missions in the West, as also (No. 6) the missions among former American slaves, repatriated in Liberia, Africa, to the same fathers. (No. 8)
Bishops are exhorted to erect ecclesiastical semi-
naries.
III. The Third Council in 1837 was composed of one archbishop and eight bishops. Its decrees enacted: (No. 4) Ecclesiastical property is to be secured by the best means the civil law affords. (No. 6) Eccle- siastics should not bring ecclesiastical cases before the ci\-il tribunals. (No. 7) Priests are prohibited from soliciting money outside their own parishes. (No. S) Pastors are warned against permitting un- suitable music at Di\-ine worship. (No. 9) The two days following Easter and Pentecost are to be days of obligation no longer. (Xo. 10) Wednesdays in Ad- vent are not to be days of fast and abstinence.
IV. The Fourth Council in 1840 issued decrees signed by one archbishop and twelve bishops as follows: (No. 1) In mixed marriages no sacred rites or vestments are to be used. (No. 5) Temperance societies are recommended to the faithful. (No. 6) Pastors are to see that those frequenting public schools do not use the Protestant version of the Bible or sing sectarian hymns. They must also employ their influence against the introduction of such prac- tices into the public schools. (No. 8) Bishops are to control ecclesiastical property and not permit priests to hold it in their own name. Among those attending this covmcil was the Bishop of Nancy and Toul, France, to whom the fathers granted a right to a decisive vote. A letter of consolation was sent by the council to the persecuted bishops of Poland, and another of thanks to the moderators of the Leopold Institute of Vienna, Austria.
V. In 1843, the Fifth Council was attended by one archbishop and sixteen bishops. Among its enact- ments were: (X'o. 2) LajTnen may not deliver ora- tions in churches. (Xo. 4) It is not expedient that the Tridentine decrees concerning clandestine matri- mony be extended to places where they have not been already promulgated. (Xo. 5) Pastors are to be obliged to observe the law of residence. (No. 6) Priests may not borrow money for church uses with- out wTitten permission of the bishop.
VI. The Sixth Council (one archbishop and twenty- two bishops attending) in 1846, decreed: (X'o. 1) that the Blessed Virgin Marj' conceived without sin is chosen as the patron of the United States. (No. 2) Priests ordained titiito yttissionis may not enter a religious order without permission of their ordinaries. (No. 3) The canons concerning the proclaiming of the banns of matrimony are to be observed. At the request of the fathers, the Holy See sanctioned a formula to be used by the bishops in taking the oath at their consecration.
VII. In 1849 two archbishops and twenty-three bishops held the Seventh Council. The main decrees were: (No. 2) The Holy See is to be informed that the fathers think it opportune to define as a dogma the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (No. 3) A change in the election of bishops is intro- duced. (No. 5) Bishops are not to give an ex^at at the request of a priest miless it be certain that another bishop will receive him. (Xo. 6) Priests are forbidden to assist at the marriages of those who have already had a ceremony performed by a Protestant minister, or who intend to ha^e such ceremony performed. (Xo. 7) A national council should be held in Baltimore in 1850, by Apostolic Authority. The fathers more- over petitioned the Holy See to raise Xew Orleans, Cincinnati, and Xew York to metropolitan dignity and to make a new limitation of the Provinces of Baltimore and St. Louis. They desired likewise that Baltimore should be declared the primatial see of the Republic. The pope granted the first part of the petition, but deferred acting on the question of the primacy.
VIII. The Eighth Council was assembled in 1855. One archbishop and seven bishops or their represen-
