IRVINGITES
174
IRVINGITES
notwithstanding any custom to the contrary. In-
deed, in the early ages of the Church, as soon as
priests were appointed to definite curacies (tituli),
their appointment seems to have been in perpetuity.
The reason for this irremovability of one having cure
of souls is found in the fact that he is required to be
the pastor and shepherd of his flock, to whom his
sheep are known. It is, moreover, to the benefit of
a parish that its administrator realize that he is
secure in his office, as it will inspire him with greater
zeal for the spiritual and temporal improvement of
his charge. In order to extend these benefits to the
United States, it was proposed by the Congregation
of the Propaganda in 1883 that rectors having
cure of souls in that country should be made ca-
nonical parish priests and as such irremovable. The
American bishops, however, did not think the time
ripe as yet for such development, and finally it was
determined that irremovable rectors, who would not,
however, have all the rights of canonical parish
priests, should be constituted instead. The Third
Plenary Council of Baltimore, held in 1884, decreed
that in three years from the promulgation of the
council each bishop was to select, with the advice
of the diocesan consultors, a certain number of the
curacies in his diocese and erect them into quasi-
parishes, whose rectors would be irremovable.
These quasi-pari.shes were to constitute at least one
in ten of all the curacies or missions in the diocese.
The first irremovable rectors might be appointefl by
the ordinary, with the advice of his consultors,
without the formality of an examination, or con-
cursus, but after that only when the prescribed
examination had been undergone. An exception
to the latter rule is made for certain priests whose
learning and ability have been already abundantly
proved. To obtain the right of making the concursus
for an irremovable rectorship, the candidate must
have already exercised the sacred ministry in a
worthy manner for ten years in the diocese, and
demonstrated his capacity for spiritual and temporal
administration as a removable rector or in some
equivalent office. The examiners having approved
all the candidates whom they find worthy of the
position, it devolves upon the bishop to designate
one from among them who is to be made irremovable
rector. Such rectors have quasi-parochial rights and
join with the diocesan consultors in recommending
candidates for the bishopric when it becomes vacant.
In large dioceses, where distance or other causes
would make a special concursus for every irremovable
rectorship very inconvenient, it is allowed to hold a
general examination once a year, and those approved
for their learning at that time are qualified for ap-
pointment to any irremovable rectorship which falls
vacant within the next six years, though the other
requisite qualifications for such office are to be passed
on each time there is question of an appointment.
Irremovable rectors in the United States may be dismissed from their parishes only for very grave crimes, as dismissal is a very grave punishment. The nature of these crimes must also be e.xpressly designated by ecclesiastical law. Dismissal is in- flicted either ipso facto, in which case, however, a declaratory sentence is as a rule necessary, or after a condemnatory sentence following on a trial. The common law of the Church distinguishes those crimes which entail ipso facto dismissal from office from those which require a condemnatory .sentence after canonical trial. The former arc: heresy, falsi- fication of papal <locumcnts, ass.assiiiiilion, bodily attack on cardinal or bishop, jinicuriiig abortion, unnatural vice, simony, (hicUing, usurpation of church property, alienation of the possessions of the parish, irregular ordination or neglecting to receive Sacred orders within a year after appointment to a parish. The latter are: neglect of the prescribed clerical cos-
tume, non-residence in the parish, usury, inebriety,
murder, gambling, perjury, theft and the like, re-
maining obdurately under censure for a year, in-
curring certain irregularities, concubinage. To these
crimes the Third Council of Baltimore (1884) added
other causes for the dismissal of irremovable rectors
in the United States: disobedience to the ordinary
in matters of grave moment, open neglect of the
bishop's mandates concerning parochial schools, re-
peated incurring of debts without permission of the
ordinary and manifest disobedience in payment of
debts, collusion with lay trustees in issuing false
notes in the name of the parish for the benefit of the
rector, fraudulent deception of the ordinary in making
the annual parochial statement concerning matters
of grave import, public and persistent charges against
the morals of the incumbent involving great harm
to the parish. The council adds that if an irremov-
able rector be found incapable of administering his
parish, he is to be asked to resign his charge. If he
refuse, and it be not possible to appoint a vicar with
sufficient revenue for support, the bishop can dismiss
the irremovable rector, but in that case he must pro-
vide a proper pension for him. As to removable
rectors in the United States, they are not left abso-
lutely to the arbitrary will of the ordinary, but are to
be dismissed only for cause, which, however, need
not be one expressed in law nor necessarily as grave
as such. The form of trial to be used in all cases in
the United States is prescribed in the instruction
"Cum Magnopere" (1884).
Missionary Rectors in England. — These incumbents correspond to irremovable rectors in the United States. They have been appointed since 1852 in virtue of a decree of the Propaganda. Their office is perpetual and they have quasi-parochial rights, and they may not be removed except for canonical cause and after judicial investigation. The First Council of Westminster declares (decree xxv, 12) that an assist- ant priest acquires no right to a permanent appoint- ment to the cure of souls owing to his service, but that such appointment to a missionary rectorship is a right reserved.
Smith, Elements of Ecclesiastical Law, I (New York, 1895); TAnNTON, The Law o/the Church (London, 1906), s. v. Irremove- ahle Rector: Aichner, Compendium Juris Ecclesiastici (Brixen, 1895) ; Smith, The New Procedure (New York, 1898).
WiLLi.\M H. W. Fanning.
Irvingites, a religious sect called after Edward Irving (1792-18.34), a deposed Presbyterian minister. They themselves repudiate this name, saying Irving was not their founder but only their "forerunner"; and claim to be the "Catholic Apostolic Church". The sect arose from certain extraordinary "mani- festations of the spirit " — tongues, prophecies, heal- ings, even raising of the dead — which were said to have taken place during Irving's ministry in London, after his deposition. These led some of his followers to band themselves together for the purpose of form- ing a religious body modelled exactly on the lines of the primitive Apostolic Church, as they conceived it. The speciality of their religious belief consists in this: They hold apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors (Ephesians, iv, 11-14) to be abiding ministries in the Church, and that the.se ministries, together with the power and gifts of the Holy Ghost, dispensed and distributed among her members, are necessary for preparing and perfecting the Church for the Second Advent of the Lord; and that the supreme rule in the ("hurch ought to be exercised, as at first, by twelve apostles, not elected anil or- dained by men, but called and sent forth imme- diately by (iod. They are not separated from the Church of the country in which they live. They worship apart, indeed, l)ecausc they believe that they have a special call to do so. They accept the Apos- tles' Creed, and the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds.
