POSTGATE
319
POSTULATION
(in the early Middle Ages he did not turn to the
people this time — "Ordo Rom.", I, n. 21), goes back
to the Epistle side, and says or sings one or more
Post communions, exactly as the collects. At ferial
Ma.ssos in Lent the Oratio super popitlum follows the
last Post communion. The celebrant sings Oremus;
the deacon turning towards the people chants:
Humiliate capita vestra Deo, on do with the cadence
la, do, si, si, do for the last five syllables. Meanwhile,
everyone, including the celebrant, bows the head.
The deacon turns towards the altar and the celebrant
chants the praj'er appointed in the Mass. At low
Mass thecelebrant himself says: humiliate capitavestra
Deo and does not turn towards the people. The
deacon's exclamation apparently was introduced
when this prayer became a specialty of Lent. Du-
randus mentions it (SI, xxviii).
GiHR, D. heilige Messopfer (Freiburg. 1S97). 708-13; Riet- 8CHEL. Lehrbuch d. Liiurgik (Berlin. 1900). 393-4; Le Vavasseur, Manuel de Liturgie (Paris. 1910). I, 313. 473-4: II, 41. 4SS: Rock, Hierurgia, I (London, 1900) ; GlHR, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (St. Loui3, 1908).
Adrian Fortescue.
Postgate, Nicholas, Vent:rable, English martyr, b. at Kirkdale House, Egton, Yorkshire, in 1.596 or 1.597; d. at York, 7 August, 1G79. He entered Douay College, 11 July, 1621, took the college oath, 12 March, 162.3, received minor orders, 25 December, 1624, the subdiaconate, IS December, 1627, the di- aconate, 18 March, 1628, and the priesthood two days later. He was sent to the mission, 29 June, 1630, and laboured in his native country with great benefit to hundreds of souls. Thomas Ward, who later wrote about him, knew him well. He was apprehended by the exciseman Reeves, at the house of ^latthew Lj'th, of Sleights, Little Beck, near Whitby, and was con- demned under 27 Elizabeth, c. 2 for being a priest. His quarters were given to his friends and interred. One of the hands was sent to Douay College. His portable altar-stone is now venerated at Dodding Green, Westmoreland.
Ward. England's Reformation (London, 1747), 200; Chal- loner. Missionary Priests, II, no. 204; Gillow, Bibl. Did, Eng. Calh., a. V.
John B. Wainewright.
Posttilant. — Postulancy is a preliminary stage to the novitiate existing from the institution of monasti- cism.
(1) In the East, the would-be monk had to submit to many rebuffs, and, while he continued to pray for admission, he was discouraged in various ways, the hardships of religious life being exaggerated to test the sincerity of his intentions and the reality of his vocation. From the East this custom passed into the West. Cassian recommends it in his "institutions" (IV, iii), and .St. Beneihct introduced it into his rule: "Let not the newly arrived candidate be admitted too easily, but let care be taken, as the Apo.stle St. John advises, to try the spirits if they be of God: therefore after the aspirant has repeated his request for admis- sion, if for four or five days he seems to bear patiently the rebuffs given him, and the difficulties put in the way of his entrance, and still persists in his attempt, let the door be opened t o him " (c. 58 ) . This period of t rial used to last in the different orders from three to ten days. After this, in the older orders, followed the novitiate of one, two, or three years, which was formerly con- sidered rather as a preparation for, than a first period of the reUgious life. Thus, after his reception, the candidate returned to the world with unlimited leave of absence and liberty to re-enter when he thought fit. In the Customs of St. Victor, xxiv (see Martene, "De antiquis ecclesise ritibus", .\ppendix, p. 265), this prac- tice is mentioned as common to many monasteries; and, although it is not altogether condemned, it is shown to have had many disadvantages, for in this way it was made easy for undesirable persons to place themselves under the protection of the Church.
(2) This system of outside probation has long been
abolished. In most orders, however, the candidate,
when admitted to the religious life, is not allowed at
once to mingle with the other nov-ices, but receives
separately a preliminarj- initiation, more or less pro-
longed as custom maj' require. The time occupied in
this initiation is sometimes, but not always, reckoned
as part of the novitiate.
(3) According to existing law, persons who aspire to the religious life, but have not yet been admitted into any particular order, may be called postulants in the wide sense of the word; such are pupils of an apostolic school, or persons who, having decided to enter the religious state, remain as guests in the monasterj', while waiting for their admission. Postulants, in the strict sense of the word, are those who are taking their first steps in the religious life, without having yet received the habit. Common law forbade regulars to receive as postulants in the wider sense of the word young persons under twenty years of age (see the de- cree of Clement X dated 16 May, 1675), and postu- lant lay-brothers could not be received before the age of nineteen full years (see Clement VIII, "Cum ad regularem", 19 March, 1603; this constitution has not been everywhere carried into effect). No general law compelled religious to observe a period of candi- dature. However, by the recent decree of 1 Jan., 1911, in orders where lay brothers make solemn pro- fession, the general may, in individual cases, allow provincials to receive candidates for the grade of lay brother, after they have completed their seventeenth year; moreover, for valid profession, lay brothers must have made a postulature of two years (or longer, if the Constitutions so require). The same Decree pre- scribes that postulants shall be placed under the direc- tion of a virtuous and experienced father. Nuns under solemn vows (at least in Ital}-) are ordered by the de- cree of the Sacred Congregation to make a retreat of ten days before receiving the habit. The Regula- tions (Norma?) of 1901 require that sisters shall remain as postulants for a period varj'ing from six months to a year. The superior-general may extend the time fixed by the Congregation for not more than three months. The time of the postulant's probation is most con- veniently passed in the novitiate house, but may be spent elsewhere.
For bibliography see Novice.
A. Vermeersch.
Postulation (Lat. postulare, to request), a petition presented to a competent ecclesiastical superior, that he may promote to a certain dignity a person who is not strictly eligible on account of some canonical impediment which is usually dispensable. Such im- pediments are, for example, illegitimate birth, defect of requisite age, or the condition of a person, such as a bishop, even a titular one, or a regular, who cannot accept a new dignity without leave of their ecclesias- tical superior. When a postulation is simultaneous with an election, it is required that the votes be twice the number sufficient if the person were canonically eligible. Occasionally, the Holy See dispenses with the necessity of postulation by granting an indult of eligibility to the person in question, or by empower- ing the electors to proceed to a choice without having recourse to a formal postulation. Postulation is called solemn, when it is addressed to the superior who can dispense with the defect in the candidate. It is called simple, when the superior in question can not dis- pense in the canonical impediment yet his consent is required for the candidate's promotion, such as is the ease with regulars promoted to the episcopal dignity, who need the licence of their religious superior to accept the charge. Postulation is employed only for those who have a dispensable defect, and in thepeti- tionarv' document all impediments must be exnressed under pain of nullity. After a postulation has been
