RESERVED
785
RESIDENCE
possibly marks a change in this regard. On the other
hand numerous decrees of synods and penalties en-
tered in penitential books impose upon parish priests
the duty of reserving the Blessed Sacrament for the
use of the sick and dying, and at the same time of
keeping it reverently and securely while providing
by frequent renewal against any danger of the
corruption of the sacred species. Caskets in the form
of a dove or of a tower, made for the most part of
one of the precious metals, were commonly used
for the purpose, but whether in the early Middle
Ages these Eucharistic vessels were kept over the
altar, or elsewhere in the church, or in the sacristy,
does not clearly appear. After the tenth century
(he commonest usage in England and France seems
to have been to suspend the Blessed Sacrament in a
dove-shaped vessel by a cord over the high altar;
but fixed and locked tabernacles were also known and
indeed prescribed by the regulations of Bishop Quivil
of Exeter at the end of the thirteenth century, though
in England they never came into general use before
the Reformation. In Germany, in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, a custom widely prevailed
of enshrining the Eucharist in a "sacrament house",
often beautifully decorated, separate from the high
altar, but only a short distance away from it, and on
the north, or Gospel, side of the Church. This
custom seems to have originated in the desire to
allow the Blessed Sacrament to be seen by the faith-
ful without exactly contravening the synodal decrees
which forbade any continuous exposition. In the
sacrament house the door was invariably made of
metal lattice work, through which the vessel contain-
ing the sacred species could be discerned at least
obscurely.
In modern times many provisions have been made to ensure reverence and security in the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. With regard to the re- newal of the species, it is laid down that the Eucharist should not be left for longer than a month, while a much less interval is recommended and generally followed in practice. The practice of burning a light before the tabernacle or other receptacle dates from the thirteenth century or earlier, but it was not at first regarded as of strict obligation. In the Greek Church the consecrated loaf is raoLstened with the species of wine and kept as a sort of crumbling paste.
Raible, DeT Tabernakel einst und jetzt (Freiburg, 1908); CoBBLET, Histoire du Sacrement de V Eucharislie (Paris, 1888) ; Bridgett. History of the Blessed Eucharist in Great Britain (London, 1908); Thurston in The Month (1907), 377 and 617.
Herbert Thurston.
Reserved Cases, a term used for sins whose ab- solution is not within the power of every confessor, but is reserved to himself by the superior of the con- fessor, or only specially granted to some other con- fessor by that superior. To reserve a case is then to refuse jurisdiction for the absolution of a certain sin. Christ gave power to the rulers of His Church to make such reservations: "Whose sins you shall retain they are retained" (John, xx, 23). The reser- vation of sins presupposes jurisdiction, and therefore the pope alone can make reservations for the whole Church; bishops can do the same for their dioceses only, and certain regular prelates for their religious subjects. That a sin be reserved it must be mortal, external, and consummated. If a sin be reserved in one diocese, and a penitent, without the intention of evading the law, confess to a priest in another dio- cese where the sin is not reserved, the latter may absolve the reserved sin. Cases are reserved either (a) merely on account of the sin itself, that is with- out censure, or (b) on account of the censures at- tached to it. If a penitent be in ilanger of death, any priest can absolve him, both from reserved cen- sures and reserved sins. In ca.sc of rcser\-ed censures, if he recover, he must later present himself to the one XII.— 50
having special power for reserved censures, unless
the case was simply reserved to the pope. As to
reserved sins, he need not, as a general rule, present
himself again after convalescence. In a case of urgent
necessity, when it is not possible to have recourse to
the proper superior, an ordinary priest may absolve
a penitent, directly from unreserved sins and in-
directly from episcopal reserved cases, but the
penitent must afterwards apply to the person having
power to absolve from the reservation. If there
were also papal reservations, either simple or special,
the absolution is direct, but in case of special reserva-
tions to the pope a relation must be made to the
Holy See that its mandates on the subject may be
obtained. Ignorance of a censure prevents its being
incurred, but moralists dispute whether ignorance of
a reservation, with or without censure, excuses from
its incurrence. If it be a case with censure reserved
to the pope, all agree that ignorance does excuse from
it; if reserved to a bishop, it is controverted. Some
moralists hold that ignorance excuses from all reser-
vations, whether with or without censure. It is
certain, however, that a bishop has authority to
declare that ignorance of a reservation does not
prevent its incurrence in his diocese.
Smith, Elements of Ecclesiastical Law, I (New York, 1895); Taunton, The Law of the Church (London. 1906) ; Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis (Freiburg, 1910); Slater, Mantml of Moral Theology (New York, 1909).
William H. W. Fanning.
Residence, Ecclesiastical, a remaining or abid- ing where one's duties lie or where one's occupation is properly carried on, as the presence of a bishop in his diocese, a rector or incumbent in his benefice, a canon in his cathedral or collegiate church : opposed to non- residence or absence. Residence is intended to guar- antee service or fulfilment of duty. In the canonical import of the term a merely material abiding in a place is not sufficient; vigilance and solicitude must accompany it; a laborious residence alone satisfies the requirements. Residence for this reason differs from domicile, and secondly because the inten- tion of remaining is involved in the definition of domicile. It may be noted that by a fiction of law one who is lawfully absent fulfils the law of residence; while, on the contrary, one unlawfully absent is con- sidered to be present: thus one who leaves his own diocese under censure or precept, or purposely and solely {in fraudem legis) to obtain absolution in a reserved case, is considered present. Residence is binding on clerics holding benefices. Originally this obligation was attached to all benefices, but through universal custom simple benefices or those without the cure of souls do not require personal residence. A canon's presence does not necessarily extend to all hours of the day, while that of a pastor, on the con- trary, is continuous, owing to the numerous, and oft- times sudden, demands for his ministrations. A canon is not obliged ordinarily to dwell in close pro.ximity to his benefice. It suffices that he be able conve- niently to be present at the prescribed hours.
Residence, in connexion with the pastoral office, is inculcated in various canons. The Council of Trent (Sess. XXIII, c. 1, de ref.) says: "Since by Divine precept it is enjoined on all to whom the cure of souls is entrusted to know their own sheep, to offer sacri- fice for them, to feed them by preaching the Divine word, by the administration of the sacraments, and by the example of all good works; likewise to have a fatherly care of the poor and other distressed persons, and to apply themselves to all other pastoral duties; all which offices can not be rendered and fulfilled by those who neither watch over nor arc uilli their own flock, but abandon it, after the maimer of hirelings, the saiTcil synixi adrniniishcs and exhorts such that, mindful of i\\r Divine prec'cpt and made a pattern of the flock, they feed and rule in judgment and truth."
