PROVINCE
514
PROVINCIAL
ing (I, Q. xxii, a. 2, ad 4 um; cf. Boethius, op. cit., V, ii,
in "P. L.", LXIII, 835). Thus things happen contin-
gently as well as of necessity (I, Q. x.\ii, a. 4), for God
has given to different things different ways of acting,
and His concurrence is given accordingly (I, Q. xxii,
a. 4). Yet all things, whether due to necessan.' causes
or to the free choice of man, are foreseen by God and
preordained in accordance with His all-embracing
purpose. Hence Providence is at once universal, im-
mediate, efficacious, and without \-iolence: imiversal,
because all things are subject to it (I, Q. xxii. a. 2; ciii,
a. 5); immediate, in that though God acts through
secondarj' causes, yet all alike postulate Divine con-
currence and receive their powers of operation from
Him (I, Q. xxii, a. 3; Q. ciii, a. 6); efficacious, in that
all things minister to God's final purpose, a purpose
which cannot be frustrated (Contra Gent., Ill, xciv);
without violence (suaiis), because it violates no natu-
ral law, but rather effects its purpose through these
laws (I, Q. ciii, a. S).
The functions of Providence are threefold. As phj's- ical, it conser\-es what is and concurs with what acts or becomes; as moral, it bestows upon man the natu- ral law, a conscience, sanctions — physical, moral, and social — answers human prayers, and in general gov- erns both the nation and the individual. That God should answer prayer must not be understood as a ■saolation of the order of natural Providence, but rather as the carrying of Providence into effect, "because this verj' arrangement that such a concession be made to such a petitioner, falls under the order of Divine Providence. Therefore to say that we should not pray to gain anj-thing of God. because the order of His Providence is unchangeable, is like saying that we should not walk to get to a place, or eat to support life" (Contra Gent., IH, xcv). The Providence whereby we are enabled to overcome sin and to merit eternal life — supernatural Providence — pertains to another order, and for a discussion of it the reader is referred to Gr.\ce; Predestix.^tion.
St. Thomas" treatment of the problem of evil in rela- tion to Providence is based upon the consideration of the universe as a whole. God wills that His nature should be manifested in the highest possible way, and hence has created things like to Himself not only in that they are good in se, but also in that they are the cause of good in others (I, Q. ciii, a. 4, 6). In other words He has created a universe, not a number of isolated beings. ^Mience it follows, according to St. Thomas, that natural operations tend to what is better for the whole, but not necessarily what is better for each part except in relation to the whole (I, Q. xxii, a. 2, ad 2 um; Q. Iviii, a. 2, ad 3 um; Contra Gent. , III, xciv). Sin and suffering are evils because they are contran,' to the good of the individual and to God's original purpose in regard to the individual, but they are not contrary to the good of the universe, and this good will ultimately be realized by the omnipotent Providence of God.
Butler, Analogy of Religion, ed. Gladstone (Oxford. 1896); Bruce. The ^foral Order of the World (London, 1899) ; Idem. The Providential Orders of the World (Ix>ndon, 1897) ; Lacord.iire, De V Economic de la Riparation in (Eurres, IV (Paris. 1857); Maccosh. The Method of Dirine GorernmeiU (Edinburgh, ISoO); Vacant, Diet. Apol. de la Pot Calh. (Paris and Lyons, 1889) , s. v.
Leslie J. Walker.
Province, Ecclesi.^stical, the name given to an ecclesiastical administrative district under the juris- diction of an archbishop (q. v.). Ecclesiastical pro\'inces first assumed a fixed form in the Eastern Roman Empire. The more important centres (e. g. Antioch for Sj-ria, Ephesus for the Pro%-ince of Asia, Alexandria for Egypt, Rome for Italy), whence Chris- tian missionaries issued to preach the Gospel, were regarded as the mother-churches of the newly- founded Christian communities. From the second half of the second century the bishops of the territories
within the same natural geographical boundaries were
accustomed to assemble on important occasions for
common counsel in synods. From the end of that
centurj' the summons to attend these increasingly
important sjTiods was usually issued by the bishop
of the capital of the state province (eparchy), who also
presided over the assembly, especially in the East.
Important communications were also forwarded to the
bishop of the pro^■incial capital to be brought to the
notice of the other bishops. Thus in the East during
the third century the bishop of the proNancial metrop-
olis came gradually to occupy a certain superior
position, and received the name of metropolitan. At
the Council of Xieaja (325) this position of the metro-
politan was taken for granted, and was made the
basis for conceding to him definite rights over the
other bishops and dioceses of the state province. In
Eastern canon law since the fourth centurj- (cf. also
the STOod of Antioch of 341, can. ix), it was a principle
that every civil pro\-ince was Ukewise a church prov-
ince under the supreme direction of the metropolitan,
i. e. of the bishop of the provincial capital. This
di\"ision into ecclesiastical pro\"inces did not develop
so early in the Western Empire. In North Africa the
first metropolitan appears during the fourth centurj*,
the Bishop of Carthage being recognized as primate
of the dioceses of Northern Africa; metropolitans of
the separate proxinces gradually appear, although the
boimdaries of these prox^nces did not coincide with
the di\-isions of the empire. A similar development
was witnessed in Spain, Gaul, and Italy. The migra-
tion of the nations, however, prevented an equally
stable formation of ecclesiastical pro^"inces in the
Christian West as in the East. It was only after the
fifth century that such gradually developed mostly in
accordance with the ancient divisions of the Roman
Empire. In Italy alone, on account of the central
ecclesiastical position of Rome, this development was
slower. However, at the end of antiquity the exis-
tence of church proWnces as the basis of ecclesiastical
administration was fairly universal in the West. In
the Carlo%ingian period they were reorganized, and
have retained their place till the present day. The
delimitation of church proxnnces is since the Middle
Ages a right reserved to the pope. There have al-
ways been, and are to-day, indixidual dioceses which do
not belong to any pro\"ince, but are directly subject
to the Holy See. For the present boundaries of
ecclesiastical provinces see articles on the various
countries. (See Metropglit.^n.)
Hatch. Growth of Church Institutions (London. 1887); Du- chesne, Origines du culte chritien (4th ed., Paris, 1909, 1 sqq.): LuBECK, Reichseinteilung u. K'irchL Hierarchic des Of:tens bis zum Ausgange des 4- Jahrh. in Kirchengesch. Sludien, V (Munst«r, 1901) : Sieke. Die Entwickelung des Metropolitanwesens im Prank- enreich bis aujf Bonifaz (Marburg, 1899); Wehminhoff, Gcsch. d. Kirchenvcrfassung Deutschlands im Mittelalter, I (Hanover, 1905) ; Phillips, Kirchenrecht, II (Katisbon, 1846).
J. P. KiRSCH.
Provincial, an officer acting under the superior general of a religious order, and exercising a general supervision over all the local superiors in a dix-ision of the order called a proxince. The dixnsion is to a certain extent geographical, and may consist of one or more countries, or of a part of a country only; however, one or more houses of one province may be situated within the territory of another, and the jurisdiction over the religious is personal rather than territorial. The old orders had no provincial supe- riors; even when the monasteries were united to form congregations, the arch-abbot of each congrega- tion was in the position of a superior general whose powers were limited to particular cases, almost like the powers of an archbishop over the dioceses of his suffragans. Provincials are found in the congrega- tions of comparatively recent formation, which be- gan with the mendicant orders. The Holy See hesi- tated for a long time before allowing the di%Tsion of
