PREBEND
371
PRECEDENCE
But La PeyrSre's proofs are not solid. (1) Scrip-
ture itself points out that the creation of man in
Gen., i, 26 sqq., is identical with that mentioned in
Gen., ii, 7, for according to Gen., ii, 5, "there was not
a man to till the earth"; according to Gen., ii, 20,
"for Adam there was not found a helper like him-
self"; according to iii, 20, "Adam called the name of
his wife Eve; because she was the mother of all the
living". Scripture, therefore, knows of no men
created before Adam. (2) The appeal to the inci-
dents in the history of Cain loses its force, if we re-
member that they happened about 130 years after
Adam had been driven from Paradise: at that time,
the progeny of Adam must have amounted to several
thousand souls, so that Cain's fear and flight and his
building of a primitive city are easily explained. (3)
The difficulty arising from Cain's marriage was satis-
factorily explained by St. Augustine ("De civit.
dei", XV, xvi; cf. Epiphanius, "Ha;r.", xxxix, 6),
who points out that necessity compelled the im-
mediate offspring of Adam and Eve to marry even
their sisters. (4) The context renders La Peyrere's
explanation of Rom., v, 12-14, impossible. If the
law mentioned in the passage refers to the law given
to Adam in Paradise, and not to the Mosaic Law, the
phrase "but death reigned from Adam unto Moses"
is meaningless, and the whole force of the Apostle's
argument is destroyed. (.5) Finally, La Peyrere's
appeal to the traditions of the Kabbalists, Chaldeans
etc., has been investigated and found wanting by
R. Simon ("Lettres choisies", II, Amsterdam, 1730,
ii, xx^-ii). It is, therefore, not astonishing that La
Peyrere's Preadamism proved to be a nine days'
wonder and did not survive its author. The theory
was strongly opposed from the beginning by such
scholars as Alaresius, Hoornbeek, and Voetius on the
part of the Reformed Church, and by the Lutheran
theologians Calovius, Quenstedt, and Hollazius.
The author himself renounced his error, and became
a Catholic, and a member of the Oratory. In more
recent times a political or social Preadamism has
been introduced by Dominic M'Causland ("Adam and
the Adamite, or the Harmony of Scripture and
Ethnology", London, 1864) and Reginald Stuart
Poole ("The Genesis of the Earth and of Man",
London, 1.S60), who follow the ethnological views of
euch authorities as Morton, Nott, GUddon, and
Agassiz. They maintain that Adam is the pro-
genitor of the Caucasian race, while the other races
descend from Preadamite ancestry, having either
a common or various parentage. The pro-slavery
sentiment prevalent in certain parts of America in-
directly supported such Preadamite theories. But
their truth must be judged in the light of what has
been said about scientific and Scriptural Preadamism.
Natalis Alexander, Hist, eccles., I (Bingen, 1785), 103 sqq., diss, iii, De Adam et Eva. .\3 to Scriptural Preadamism, see the various dogmatic treatises on Creation (Pesch, Palmieri, Perroke etc.), where they treat of the unity of the human race. For scientific Preadamism see Gla. Repertorium der kathol. theol. Literatur, I, i (Paderborn, 1895), 218 sqq.; for Preadamism in the strictsense: Recsch, Bibet u. Natur (4th ed.. Bonn, 1876), 437; Rauch, Einheit des Menschengeschlechtes (Augsburg, 1873): Hettinger, .A-pologie. II, i (4th ed., Freiburg, 1S72), 221-304; WiNCHELL, Preadamites, or a Demonatralian of Existence of Men before Adam (Chicago, 1880).
A. J. Maas.
Prebend, the right of a member of a chapter to his share in the revenues of the cathedral; also the share to which he is entitled; in general, any portion of the cathedral revenues set aside for the support, of the clergy attached to it (semi-prebends) even for those who are not members of the chapter. They are regarded as benefices (q. v.) and governed by the same laws. (See Chapter.)
Precaria (Preces, prayers) is a contract granting to a pptitoner the use and usufruct of a revenue-bear- ing ecclesiastical property for a specified time, or dur-
ing the life of the grantee, and principally for services
rendered the Church. This contract (tit. XIV, lib.
Ill of the Decretals) is based on the "precarium" of
the Roman Law (De precario, XLIII, xxvi); it
differed from it inasmuch as the "precarium" could
have for its object either moveable or fixed goods
and was revocable at the pleasure of the proprietor.
Both contracts left to the owner the proprietorship of
the goods. This contract, beside depriving the
Church of its revenues, threatened the extinction of
her proprietary rights, especially when she was com-
pelled to grant the precaria, at royal request, or
rather order (precaria verba regis). The Council of
Meaux (82.5) prescribed for this reason the renewal of
these concessions every five years. It ceased at the
death of the grantee, or at the expiration of the allot-
ted period, after which it could be revoked at the
desire of the grantor.
See Franks; Laicization; Property, Ecclesiastical; also the canonists on De Precario, lib. Ill, tit. xiv.
A. BOUDINHON.
Precedence (Lat. prcecedere, to go before another) signifies the right to enjoy a prerogative of honour before other persons; e. g. to have the most dis- tinguished place in a procession, a ceremony, or an assembly, to have the right to express an opinion, cast a vote, or append a signature before others, to perform the most honourable offices. Questions of precedence sometimes give rise to controversies. In both ci\-il and ecclesiastical legislation they are regulated by laws and rules. In canon law the general rule is that precedence is determined by rank in the hierarchy both of juris- diction and of order. Where rank is equal it is deter- mined by priority of foundation : Qui prior esl tempore, potior est jure (Regula juris 54, in VI°). With regard to colleges (collegia), precedence is determined by the quality of the person to whom the college is attached. The order of precedence is regulated as follows: the pope always takes first rank, after him come cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, exempt bishops, suffragan bishops, titular bishops, and prelates nullius. In these categories priority of ordination and promo- tion determines precedence, among bishops or arch- bishops the date of their first promotion to the epis- copal or archiepiscopal dignity. Custom or privilege may derogate from this rule. A Decree of Propaganda (15 Aug., 18.58) grants to the Archbishop of Baltimore the right of precedence in the LInited States (Collectio Lacensis, III, 572). In their own diocese bishops have precedence before strange bishops and arch- bishops, but not before their own metropolitan. Metropolitan chapters have precedence before cathe- dral chapters, and the latter before collegiate chapters. The secular clergy according to the importance of their office or the date of their ordination precede the regu- lar clergy. Canons regular take the first place among the regular clergy, then come clerics regular, the monastic orders, and the mendicant orders. Among the mendicants the Dominicans take first place out- side of processions; in processions, the acquired right of precedence or that appertaining to priority of estab- lishment in a town must be respected. This last rule applies also to confraternities, but in processions of the Blessed Sacrament the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament has precedence. The Third Orders have precedence of cor^fraternities. Questions of precedence at funerals have given rise to numerous decisions of the Congregation of Rites (see "Decreta S. S. Rituum Congregationis", Rome, 1901, V, Index generalis, V° Prcecedentia) . The provisory solution of questions of precedence in processions arising between regulars belongs to the diocesan bishoji. The Con- gregation of Rites decides concerning those with re- gard to liturgical ceremonies; the Congregatio Ca^re- monialis regulates the precedence of the papal court.
Ferraris. Prompta Bibliatkecn (Paris, 1861), V Prmcedentia, VI, 559 sq.; HlNSCHlcs, System d. kath. Kirchenrechta, II (Berlin,
