PATROLOGT
560
PATRON
"Delle parole di San Paolo: In quo omnes peccave-
runt" (Rome, 1870). His Latin is classic, but only the
earnest Biblical student apiireciates the immense eru-
dition of his heavily bunleiied sentences. No one has
better stated the rules of sane interpretation and illus-
trated those rules in practice. His master-work on
intcr]>retation has gone through many editions. The
Gospel conunentaries are meant especially to refute
the rationalistic errors of the time.
HnRTER in Kirchenleiikon, a. v.; Sommervoqel, Bibliolhique de la C. de J., VI, 360-69; Civilld CaUolica, 11th series, VI, 4B1.
Walter Drum.
Patrology, the study of the writings of the Fa- thers of the Church, has more commonly been known in England as "patristics", or, more commonly still, as "patristic study". Some writers, chiefly in Ger- many, have distinguished between patrologia and patristica: Fessler, for instance, defines patrologia as the science which provides all that is necessary for the us- ing of the works of the Fathers, dealing, therefore, with their authority, the criteria for judging their genuineness, the difficulties to be met ^\'ith in them, and the rules for their use. But Fessler's own "In- stitutiones Patrologiie" has a larger range, as ha\-e similar works entitled Patrologies, of which the most serviceable is that of Bardenhewer (tr. Shahan, Frei- burg, 1908). On the other hand, Fessler describes patrisHca as that theological science by which all that concerns faith, morals, or discipUne in the writings of the Fathers is collected and sorted. Lastly, the lives and works of the Fathers are described by another science: literary history. These distinctions are not much observed, nor do they seem very necessary; they are nothing else than aspects of patristic study as it forms part of fundamental theology, of positive theology, and of literary history. Another meaning of the word patrologia has come to it from the title of the great collections of the complete works of the Fathers pubhshed by the Abb6 Migne (q. v.), "Patro- logia Latina", 221 vols., and " Patrologia Graeca", 161 vols.
For bibliography see Fathers of the Church.
John Chapman.
Patronage of Our Lady, Feast of the. — It was first permitted by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 6 May, 1679, for all the provinces of Spain, in memory of the victories obtained over the Saracens, heretics, and other enemies from the sixth centurv to the reign of Philip IV. Benedict XII ordered it to be kept in the Papal States on the third Sunday of November. To other places it is granted, on request, for some Sunday in November, to be designated by the ordinary. The Office is taken entirely from the Common of the Blessed Virgin, and the Mass is the "Salve sancta parens". In many places the feast of the Patronage is held with an additional title of Queen of All Saints, of Mercy, Mother of Graces. The Greeks have no feast of this kind, but the Ruthenians, followed by all the Slavs of the Greek Rite, have a feast, called "Patrocinii sanctissimEe DomiuEe" etc., or Pokrov Bogorodicy, on 1 October, which, however, would seem to correspond more with our Feast of the Scapular.
XiLLEs. Kalendarium Manuale. II, 532; Benedict XIV De feslit, II. §§173, 174; Mabti.nov, Precis historiques (1858), July.
Francis Mershman.
Patronage of St. Joseph, Feast op the. See Joseph, Saint.
Patron and Patronage.— I. By the right of pat- ronage {iui patronatvs) is understood a determinate sum of rights and oblig.ations entailed upon a definite person, the patron, especially in connexion with the assignment and administration of a benefice; not in virtue of his hierarchical position, but by the legally regulated grant of the Church, out of. gratitude
towards her benefactor. Inasmuch as the rights of the
patron pertain to the spiritual order, the right of
patronage is designated in the decretals as ins spiri-
luali anncxum, and is therefore subject to ecclesiastical
legislation and jurisdiction. Since, however, the ques-
tion of property rights is also involved, a far-reaching
influence is wielded to-day by civil laws and civil
courts in matters pertaining to patronage.
II. In the Oriental Church the founder of a church was permitted to nominate an administrator for the temporal goods and indicate to the bishop a cleric suitable for appointment (L. 46, C. de episc. I, 3. Nov. LVII, c. 2). In the Western Church the Synod of Orange (441) granted such a right of presentation to a bishop who had built a church in another diocese (c. i, C. XVI, q. 5) and the Synod of Toledo (655) gave a layman this privilege for each church erected by him (c. 32, C. XVI, q. 7). But the founder had no proprie- tary rights (c. 31, C. XVI, q. 7). In the countries occupied by the Germanic tribes, on the basis of the individual temple and church rights found in their national laws, the builder of a church, the feudal lord, or the administrator possessed full right of disposal over the church founded or possessed bj' him, as his own church (ecclesia propria) and over the ecclesiastics appointed by him, whom he could dismiss at pleasure. To ob\'iate the drawbacks connected with this, the appointment and dismissal of ecclesiastics at least formally was made subject to the consent of the bishop (c. 37, C. XVI, q. 7). In the course of the Conflict of Investitures, however, the private right over churches was abolished, although to the lord of the estate, as patron, was conceded the right as ius spiriluali an- nexum of presenting a cleric to the bishop {ius prce- sentandi) on the occasion of a vacancy in the church (c. 13, C. XVI, q. 7; C. 5, 16, X de iure patronatus, III, .38).
III. The right of patronage may be: personal {ius patronatus personate) or real {reale); spiritual (eccle- siasticiim; clericale), or lay {laicale), or mixed (mixtum); hereditarj' {hcereditarium) , or restricted to the family, or even to a definite person {fannliare; personalissi- mian); individual {singularc) or shared {ius compa- tronatus); complete {plenum) or diminished {minu^ plenum). A personal right of patronage is peculiar to a person as such, while a real right of patronage be- longs to one in possession for the time being of some- thing with which a patronage is connected, provided of course that he is qualified for the possession of the right of patronage. A spiritual patronage is one be- longing to the incumbent of an ecclesiastical office, or established by the foundation ef a church or a benefice out of ecclesiastical funds, or instituted by a layman and later presented to the Church. Thus the patron- ages in possession of secularized bishoprics, monas- teries, and ecclesiastical foundations are regarded as spiritual. A lay patronage is established when an ecclesiastical office is endowed by anyone out of pri- vate means. A patronage is mixed when held in common by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical office and a layman.
IV. Any church benefice, with the exception of the papacy, the cardinalate, the episcopate, and the prela- tures of cathedral, collegiate, and monastic churches, may be the object of the right of patronage. All per- sons and corporate bodies may be subject to the right of patronage. But persons, besides being capable of exercising the right, must be members of the Church. Thus heathens, Jews, heretics, schismatics, and apos- tates are ineligible for any sort of patronage, even real. Nevertheless in Germany and Austria it has become customary as a result of the Peace of Westphalia, for Protestants to possess the rights of patronage over Catholic, and Catholics over Protestant church offices. In modern concordats Rome has repeatedly granted the right of patronage to Protestant princes. Entirely inehgible for pjatronage are the excommunicati vitandi
