SPIRITO SANTO
224
SPIRITUAL
VioUet, "Le spiritisme dans ses rapports avec la
folie", Paris, 1908). More serious still is the danger
of moral perversion. If to practise or encourage
deception of any sort is reprehensible, the evil is cer-
tainly greater when fraud is resorted to in the inquiry
concerning the future life. But apart from anv inten-
tion to deceive, the methods employed would under-
mine the foundations of moralitj-, either by producing
a disintegration of personality or by inviting the in-
vasion of an extraneous intelligence. It may be that
the medium "yields, perhaps, innocently at first to
the promptings of an impulse which may come to him
as from a higher power, or that he is moved by an
instinctive compulsion to aid in the development of
his automatic romance — in any case, if he continues
to abet and encourage this automatic prompting, it is
not likely that he can long retain both honesty and
sanity unimpaired. The man who looks on at his
hand doing a thing, but acquits himself of responsi-
bility for the thing done, can hardly claim to be con-
sidered as a moral agent ; and the step is short to
instigating and repeating a like action in the future,
without the excuse of an overmastering impulse . . .
To attend the seances of a professional medium is per-
haps at worst to countenance a swindle; to watch the
gradual development of innocent automatism into
physical mediumship may be to assist at a process of
moral degeneration" (Podmore, "Modern Spiritual-
ism", II, 326 sqq.).
Action of the Chcrch. — As Spiriti.sm has been closely allied with the practices of "animal magnet- ism" and hypnotism, these several classes of phenom- ena have also been treated under the same general head in the discussions of theologians and in the decis- ions of ecclesiastical authority. The Congregation of the Inquisition, 2.5 June, 1S40, decreed: "Where all error, sorcery and invocation of the demon, implicit or explicit, is excluded, the mere use of physical means which are otherwise lawful, is not morally forbidden, provided it does not aim at unla^vful or evil results. But the application of purely physical principles and means to things or effects that are really supernatural, in order to explain these on physical gi-ounds, is nothing else than unlawful and heretical deception". This decision was reiterated on 28 July, 1847, and a further decree was issued on 30 July, 1856, which, after mentioning discourses about religion, evocation of departed spirits and "other superstitious practices" of Spiritism, exhorts the bishops to put forth every effort for the suppression of these abuses "in order that the flock of the Lord may be protected against the enemy, the deposit of faith safeguarded, and the faithful preserved from moral corruption." The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866), while making due allowance for fraudulent practice in Spiritism, declares that some at least of the manifesta- tions are to be ascribed to Satanic intervention, and warns the faithful against lending any sujjport to Spiritism or even, out of curiosity, attending seances (Decreta, nn. 33-41). The council points out, in particular, the anti-Chri.stian character of Spiritistic teachings concerning religion, and characterizes them as an attempt to revive paganism and magic. A decree of the Holy Office, 30 March, 1898, condemns Spiritistic practices, even though intercourse with the demon be excluded and com"Mini<'ation sought with good spirits only. In all these documents the dis- tinction is clearly drawn between legitimate scientific investigation an<l sujx'rstitious abuses. What the Church condemns in Sjnritism is sui)crstition with its evil consequences for religion and morality. (Cf. Perrone, "De virtutereligionis", Turin, 1867; Noldin, "Summa Theol. Moralis", Inn.sbruck,1904, II).
Works by Catholic authors are marked with an asterisk. Capron. Modern Spiritualism: Us Facts and Fanaticisms (Bos- ton, 18.55) — the movement in America: Podmork, Modern Spiritualism (London, 1902) — historical survey: Idem, Studies in Ptychical Research (New York, 1S97) ; Idem, The Naturaliaatim
of the SupematuTol (New York, 1908); * Brownson, The Spirit-
Rapper (Boston, 1854) in IX of Worl-s (Detroit, 1884); * Wieser.
Der Spiritismus u. das Chri;l,'i,li,„m ilimsbruck. 1S81); * W.
Schneider, Der neuer.e GVi..,' ,;.•,/» i l';i.kTborn. 18S5); Car-
penter, Mesmerism, Spirilwil /n. ./c- i \. w York, 1889); A. R.
Wallace, Miracles and Mo'i')r> .\fur,iunU^m (London, 1897);
- ScRBLED, Spiritualisme et spirttisme (Paris. 1S9S); Idem,
Spirites el mediums (Paris. 1901); FLorHXOY, Des Indes a la planete Mars (Paris, 1900) ; * Gutberlet. Der Kampf um die Seele, II (2nd ed., Mainz, 1903); Hyslop. Eniom.is ../ Psychical ffesrarr/i (Boston, 1906); Ma.xweli, /,fs ;l^,■■ . > ,! ,. : (Paris. 1906); Bennett, Spiritual ism (X. « \ 1 ': , >..!(-
msG-TO^. The Physical Pheuoini, in of S pint >,: • l-T;
Morselli, Psicologia e spirilismo (Turin. \'«'^' 1 -\: l i^", ir. Keknedv. After Death — What? (Boston. ISnnPi; ' Hkssmer m Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, LXII (1902), I.XIV (1903;, LXXVII
(19U9)- Edward A. Pace.
Spirito Santo, Diocese op (Spiritt.s Sancti), suffragan of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, es- tablished in 1896. Its jurisdiction comprises the State of Espirito Santo, United States of Brazil, South America, with twenty-eight municipalities and a Catholic population in 1911 of 202,000 inhabi- tants, 20 secular priests and 1.5 friars. Of Catholic educational institutions there are, in the city of Vic- toria, the capital of the state and seat of the bishop, a gymnasia or college of secondary instruction directed by secular priests and having the same privileges as a federal school; and the Collegio daslrmas de Caridade, for girls, under the direction of the Sisters of Charity. At Victoria are also located the "Hosjjital da Mis- ericordia", in which five Sisters of Charity serve as nurses, and the Santa Casa de Misericordia, a chari- table institution founded in 1545, and by decree of 1 June, 1606, it was accorded the same privileges of the Santa Casa de Mi.sericordia of Lisbon; an important annex of this institution is the Orphanato Santa Ijuzia, an orphan asylum. There are also twelve Catholic associations in Victoria. In other cities and towns of the diocese there are also various Catholic schools, charitable institutions, etc. The present bi.shop is the Rt. Rev. Fernando de Sousa Monteiro, b. 22 Sept., 1866, raised to the see 1 March, 1902. (See Brazil.)
Julian Mobeno-Lacalle.
Spirits, Discernment of. See Discernment op Spirits.
Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, a short work composed by St. Ignatius of Loyola and written originally in Spanish.
The Text. — The autograph MS. of this "Spiritual Exercises" has unfortunately been lost. WTiat is at present called the "autograph" is only a quarto copy made by a secretary but containing corrections in the author's handwriting. It is now reproduced by pho- totypy (Rome, 1908). Two Latin translations were made during t he lif et ime of St . Ignat ius. There now n - main: (1) the ancient Latin translation, aittiqua vcrsi,) lalina, a literal version probably made by the saint ; (2) a free translation by Father Frusius, more elegant and more in accordance with the style of the period, and generally called the "Vulsate". The anliqua versio is dated by the copyist "Rome, 9 July, 1541 ": the \'ulgate version is later than 1.541, but earlier th:ui 1,548, when the two versions were together iiresentcd to Paul III for approval. The pope ai)pointctl tliiic examiners, who praised both versions warmly. The \'iilgate, more carefully executed from a liternr\ point of view, was only chosen for i)rinting, and w:is published at Rome on 11 September, 1.548, under the simple title: "Exercitia spirituaHa". This prin- crps edition Wius also multiplied by phototypy (Paris, 1910). Besides the.se two Latin transl:i- tions there exist two others. One is the still un- published text left by Bl. Peter Faber to the Car- thusians of Cologne before 1546; it holds a middle place between the literal version and the Vulgate. The second is a new literal translation by Father Roothaan, twenty-first general of the Society of Jeeus,
