CANON
255
CANON
already mentioned there are usually appointed the
following, in order to secure well-ordered services:
precentor, sacristan, cancellor, succentor, punctator,
hebdomadarian. All these are not necessarily in-
cluded in even- chapter; the actual arrangement is a
matter for local convenience and custom. (Sec Chap-
ter; Vicar Capitular; Canons and Canonesses
Regular.)
5 mods of fFestminst, r ilVC, :,.",. f,9. 73; cf. Coll. Laa Mil,
III. 89S I The.l i London, 1906),
s v Chaptt Bahhosa, lit cat i Ultiblis (Lyons,
1700); I>> HebdT, Praxis capitiilans ll.i.livain, 1S9">>; Bocix,
piivlis (Paris, 1862); Fagnani, Jus canonicum (Rome, 1669); 1 i RHAi is r ompta Biblioth. (Paris 1884), s. v. Capil-
ulum; It'EM. Thcuria et praxis reijiniiii::. ,/;.,., mn. prasertim
(Pa i 1876 . \ i\ Espen, Jus eeel. univ., Pt. I. tit. vii-.xii, De institute m (Cologne, L748), II.
103-60; ReiFFENSTUL, Jus canonicum unircrsum i.Munirh, [702); Zitelu, Apparatus jui i Koine. 1903);
Schneider, lh, h, <■>:. -'ich,n I >■ i in kt 1 1 1 1 U I, ihn Eniwicklung taid rechlliche Si, Hum, im Organismus der Kirch, (Mmi.z. lss.V; II' if. i NuiiTMi it-Hoi lwecx, Lehrbuch <(■ can. Rechis tl-'reiburg. 190S ,323 aqq.; Laukenttos, Inst. jur. eccl. (ibid., 1903), 145 sqq.
David Dunford.
Canon (Gr. Kaviiv, rule, law, guide), in music, the strictest of all contrapuntal forms. It consists in the imitation or repetition of a given melody or theme in its exact melodic progression and in the same rhythmical form by one or more voices, not simultaneously, but one after another, at a half, whole, ortwo, measure distance, on any of its intervals. The word canon was originally applied to the law according to which the various voices were expected to imitate the typical melody (proposta, guida), these imitations not being written out in notes. It was during the great period of the Netherlands School (1150-1550) that the canon as a contrapuntal art- form received its greatest development and perfec- lioii. but it remained for the Roman, or Palestrina, Srli. hi] to give it its most complete application — to make it the vehicle lor the highest ideals. On ac- count of the placidity and repose resulting from its extreme regularity, this form was employed by pre- dilection in tlie finales of compositions for the Ordi- nary of the Mass. There are also instances, however, where the canon form is made use of throughout all the five numbers of the mass. Examples of this will be found in Palestrina's mass, "Ad ccenam Agni providi" (Complete Works. X), and in flic same 1 a five-part mass, " Repleatur os meum laude" (op. cit.. XVII, 17. p. 105).
HAU.ER, Knmpositionslehre (Ratisbon, 1891); Piel, Ilar- ehre (Dusseldorf, 1890).
Joseph Otten.
Canon Penitentiary. See Penitentiary.
Canoness. The assistance of women in the work of the Church goes back tut he earliest times, and their uniting together for community exercises was a nat- ural development of religious worship (Paulowski, De diaconissis comment., Ratisbon, 1866; J. Reville.
- dans les eoninmnautes eimt. primitives, in Bibl. de l'Ecole des hautes etudes:
- relig. 1. 231 51. Paris. 1890; Goltz, Der
■ lerFrau in den ersten ehrist lichen Jahrhutider-
ten. Leipzig. 1905). Rules were laid down for their
guidance, bul it was left for St. Augustine of Hippo
to draw up the first general rule for such communi-
women. It was written in the year 423 and was addressed to Feliritas, Superioress of the Monas- tery of Hippo, and to Rusticus, the priest whom St. Augustine had appointed to have charge of the nuns (Migne.P. L., XXXIII, 958 65). Towards the close of the eighth century the title of canoness is found for the first time, ami it was given to those communities of women who, while they professed a common life, yet did not earn- nut to its full extent the original Rule of St. Augustine (sanctimoniales quse se eanoni- cas vocant. Council of Chalons, 813, can. 5:'.: see the second book of De Institutione sanctimonialium,
Council of Aachen, 816 or S17, and Hefele, Concilien-
geschichte, IV. 17 sqq.). These canonesses were
practically an imitation of the chapters of canons
regular which had then recently been revived through
the introduction of the "Regula vitas communis" of
St. Chrodegang of Metz. The canonesses took but
two vows, chastity and obedience. Their superiors
were known as abbesses, often held princely rank and
had feudal jurisdiction. The occupations of the
canonesses consisted in the recitation of the Divine
Office, the care of the church vestments, and the edu-
cation of the young, particularly the daughters of the
nobility. The number of these communities multi-
plied very rapidly; but as all who entered did not do
so from a spirit that was entirely religious, there soon
came differences in the observance of the rule, whence
the distinction between regular easinesses and secu-
lar canonesses. (See Ducange. Glossarium med. et
infima> Latinitatis, s.v. Canonic*; Jacques de Vitrv,
Hist. Oecid. II, 31; Bonif. VIII, in Lib. Sext. C. 43,
§ 5 de elect. I, 6; Extrav. Comm. Ill, 9 de relig.
dom.) Some abbeys of these latter stil« exist, a few
Catholic and several Protestant establishments (in
Hanover alone there are seventeen), and many of
them hold large properties. This is explained by the
fact that the secular canonesses were mainly recruited
from noble families, particularly in Germany, and,
when the Reformation passed over the land, gave up
the Catholic Faith. The regular canonesses, for the
most part, follow the Rule of St.. Augustine, but local
circumstances have been the means of introducing
various changes in details. Formerly all houses of a
particular observance were united under pnd gov-
erned by one head. At the present day each convent
is governed by a distinct superioress. The canonesses
regular best known in English speaking countries are
the Canonesses Regular of St. Augustine and the
Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre. They
are strictly enclosed, take the vows of poverty, chas-
tity, and obedience, and are bound to the daily-moral
recitation of the Divine Office.
i onslitutions "f tin- Regular Canonesses of the Order of St. ne (London. 1S79); Dom Hamilton, Chmnich of the English Augustinian Canonesses Regular (London, 1904); Dtjcas, Les chapilres nobles de dames, rech,"'
II, la at . h' ral'l . etc .. 8W I
dans les chapilres nobles de France et des Pays lias (Paris, 1843) ; Helyot, Diet, des ordres religieux (Paris. 1847) I. 7X9- 90: Heoser, in Kirchenlex., II, lS42-4. r i; Van Espev, Jus eccl. I, tit. 33, c. ii; THOMlssix.Vetus ac nova ece. disciplina, I (iii).c. V I > \\ Hi Dl'NFORD.
Canonical Age. See Age, Canonical.
Canonical Choir. See Choir.
Canonical Glosses. See Glosses.
Canonical Hours. See Breviary.
Canonists. See Law.
Canonization. See Beatification and Canoni- zation.
Canon Law. See Law.
Canon of the Mass.— This article will be divided into four sections: !l i Name and place of the Canon; (II) History of the Canon: i II I The texl and rubrics of the Canon; (IV) Mystical interpretations.
I. Name and Place ok thi: Cam .v. Canon (('arum Missn. Cnmni Actinm ■ is the name used in the Roman Missal for the fundamental part of the Mass that comes after the Offertory and before the Com- munion. The old distinction, in all liturgies, is be- tween the Mass of the Catechumens (the litanies, les- sons from the Bible, and collects) and the Mass of the Faithful (the Offertory of the gifts to be consecrated, Consecration prayer, Communion, and dismissal).
t lur Canon is the Consecration prayer, the great
Eucharistic prayer in the Mass of the Faithful. The name Canon (kclvwv) means a norm or rule; and it is
