PRIMACY
423
PRIMATE
Sacrament as well as frequent communion". The
regular and associated practice of the weekly adora-
tion fosters a spirit of religious brotherhood. Priests
animated by the Eucharistic spirit, impelled by the
Eucharistic instinct, will be stimulated by the example
of the neighbouring clergy and by a sense of spiritual
companionship with a vast unseen array of associates
performing the same acts of homage and devotion in
all parts of the world.
The precise and specific works of the association are the following: (1) to spend each week one full and continuous hour of adoration before the Blessed Sac- rament exposed on the altar or ^•eiled in the taber- nacle; (2) to report monthly to the local director on a prescribed schedule {libetlus) the performance of the above undertaking; (3) to apply once a month the Indulgences attached to the hour of adoration for the benefit of the souls of members who may have died during the previous month; (4) to offer the Holy Sac- rifice once a year for all deceased members of the asso- ciation. Repeated failure to transmit the libellus entails, after due warning, loss of membership.
II. Membership and Prinleges. — The confraternity was originally intended for members of the secular clergy only; but as far back as 1898 the admission of religious has been authorized; and by a conces- sion of the superior general of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament dated 2 Nov., 1902, seminarists in the United States become eligible for admission even before receiving the subdiaconate. The Holy See has favoured the practice of this devotion with numer- ous advantages, notably with the singularly rich indul- gences of "The Station of the Blessed Sacrament" (Beringer, "Les Indulgences", II, 129), and the fac- ulty of granting the indulgence of the Crosier Fathers (of. Beringer, I, 504).
III. Organization. — The organization of the con- fraternity enjoys the merit of simplicity. Ordinary members are grouped under their respective diocesan directors. These are united under a general director for a district or a whole country, while the entire asso- ciation throughout the world is subject to the central direction of the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament at Brussels. For the greater convenience of administra- tion local centres have been established in Austria, Argentina, Canada, Chili, Holland, Italy, Spain, and the United States. The diocesan directors are elected by members with the approval of the ordinary. They officially represent the confraternity in a diocese and maintain its efficiency and regular working. The life and energj' of the members is promoted by periodical assemblies of the respective groups. Conferences of diocesan members are held on the occasion of the clergy retreats and at other convenient times. In the United States, besides these diocesan conferences, con- ventions of several dioceses have been held at Co'i'ing- ton, Kentucky (1894), at Notre Dame, Indiana (1894, 1898), and at Philadelphia (1899). More important gatherings from a large number of dioceses, called con- gresses, have been held at Wa.shington (1893), St. Louis (1901), New York (1904), and Pittsburg (1906). The numerous local congresses held in France form a significant feature of the religious activity of the Church there (cf. "Annales", 1909, pp. 446-9; 1910, p. 1.58). Perhaps the most noteworthy characteristic of the confraternity is the rapidity with which it has spread throughout every portion of the world. Can- ada has a total of two thousand four hundred and fifty members, the United Slates SOl."), while the grand total tor the whole confraternity in March of the year 1911 is one hundred thousand five hundred and sixty- one, of whom twelve are cardinals and two hundred and forty bishops or archbishops. The real value of these figures is checked by the record kept of the in- dividual reports sent in by members of their discharge of the duty of the weekly hour of adoration. Should a member have failed for a year to send in his libellus,
he receives a reminder, which, if ineffective, is followed
by the removal of his name from the register.
IV. Literature. — A number of monthly periodi- cals serve to maintain the fervour and activity of the associates: the "Emmanuel" (six-teenth year; New York); "Annales des Pretres Adorateurs" (twenty- third year; Brussels); "Annales de I'Association des Pretres Adorateurs" (twenty-third year; Brus- sels); "Annali dei Sacerdoti Adoratori" (sixteenth year; Turin); "Anales de los Sacerdotes Adora- dores" (third year; Buenos Aires); " SS. Eucharis- tia" (twentieth year; Bozen), the organ of the league for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland; "Eucharist and Priest" (sixteenth year; Verapoly, Malabar Coast). In addition to these sources of infor- mation and piety, there is much dogmatic and devo- tional literature on the subject of the hour of adoration, such as "The Real Presence", "The Month of our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament", "The Month of Mary", "The Month of St. Joseph", by the Ven- erable Pere Eymard. The late Pere Tesniere pub- lished: "The Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament"; "The Eucharistic Christ"; "The Eucharistic Heart"; "The Mj'steries of the Rosary". The commendable practice has much increased among the members of the confraternity of making the hour of adoration at a time when the faithful are able to take part in it. Pri- vate or solemn exposition is adopted according to cir- cumstances, and for the benefit of the faithful prayers are recited and suitable hymns sung between the in- tervals of meditation. In this connexion the associa- tions, entitled "Agr(>gation du tres saint Sacrement" a.nd "(Euvre de I'Exposition Menseulle du trJs saint Sacrement dans les Paroisses", will be of service.
In addition to the literature mentioned in the article, see Stat- ules of the Eucharistic League (New York); Report of the Nineteenth Eucharistic Congress (Westminster, 1908), 255-266; PomiER, Advantages of the Priests' Eucharistic League, Its Origin and Present Status (paper read at the Montreal Congress) in Emmanuel (Nov., 1910). 279-290.
Henry Parkinson.
Primacy (Lat. primaius, primus, first), the su- preme e])i.scopal jurisdiction of the pope as pastor and governor (jf the Universal Church. (See Pope.)
Prima Primaria. See Sodality.
Prunary School. See Schools.
Primate (Lat. primas, from primus, "first"). — In the Western Church a primate is a bishop possessing superior authority, not only over the bishops of his own province, like the metropolitan, but over several provinces and metropolitans. This does not refer to episcopal powers, which each bishop possesses fully, but to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and organiza- tion, especially in national churches. Primates exist only in the West, and correspond not to the patriarchs but to the exarchs of the East. There is no uniformity in the institution, it has no place in common law; primatial rights are privileges. In their widest ac- ceptation these rights would be: to convoke and pre- side over national councils, to crown the sovereign, to hear appeals from the metropolitan and even episcopal courts, and finally the honorary right of precedence. This organization formerly useful, as it favoured and maintained unity in national churches, has lost its importance and disappeared; first, because national Churches as such no longer exist, and secondly on account of the gradual disciplinary centralization of the Western Churches around the Roman See. Ex- cept in the case of Gran in Hungary, the primatial title is merely honorific. At the solemnities accom- pan\-ing the canonization of the .lapanese martyrs in 1867, no special place was reserved for primates; and in the Vatican Council the precedence of primates was recognized only at the instance of the Prince-Primate of Hungary (Vering, "Kirchenrecht ", 5 133), as some- thing exceptional and not to be considered a preee-
