STIPEND
296
STIPEND
feet imitation. Moreover, no explanation has been
offered of three circumstances presented by the stig-
mata of the saints: (1) Phj'sicians do not succeed in
curing these wounds with remedies. (2) On the other
hand, unlike natural wounds of a certain duration,
those of stigmatics do not give forth a fetid odour.
To this there is known but one exception: St. Rita
of Cassia had received on her brow a supernatural
wound produced by a thorn detached from the crown
of the crucifLx. Though this emitted an unbearable
odour, there was never any suppuration or morbid
alteration of the tissues. (3) Sometimes these wounds
give forth perfumes, for example those of Juana of the
Cross, Franciscan prioress of Toledo, and Bl. Lucy
of Narni. To sum up, there is only one means of
proving scientifically that the imagination, that is
auto-suggestion, may produce stigmata: instead of
hypotheses, analogous facts in the natural order must
be produced, namely wounds produced apart from a
religious idea. This has not been done.
With regard to the flow of blood it has been ob- jected that there have been bloody sweats, but Dr. Lefebvre, professor of medicine at Louvain, has re- plied that such eases as have been examined by physicians were not due to a moral cause, but to a specific malady. Moreover, it has often been proved by the microscope that the red liquid which oozes forth is not blood; its colour is due to a particular substance, and it does not proceed from a wound, but is due, like sweat, to adilatationof theporesof theskin. But it may be otjjected that we unduly minimize the power of the imagination, since, joined to an emotion, it can produce sweat; and as the mere idea of having an acid bon-bon in the mouth produces abundant saliva, so, too, the nerves acted upon by the imagina- tion might produce the emission of a liquid, and this liquid might be bloqd. The answer is that in the in- stances mentioned there are glands (sudoriparous and salivary) which in the normal state emit a special liquid, and it is easy to understand that the imagina- tion may bring about this secretion; but the nerves adjacent to the skin do not terminate in a gland emit- ting blood, and without such an organ they are powerless to produce the effects in question. What has been said of the stigmatic wounds applies also to the sufferings. There is not a single experimental proof that imagination could produce them, espe- cially in violent forms.
Another ex-planation of these phenomena is that the patients produce the wounds either fraudulently or during attacks of somnambulism, unconsciously. But physicians have always taken measures to avoid these sources of error, proceeding with great strictness, particularly in modern times. Sometimes the patient has been watched night and day, sometimes the limbs have been enveloped in sealed bandages. M. Pierre Janet placed on one foot of a stigmatic a copper shoe with a window in it through which the development of the wound might be watched, while it was impossible for anyone to touch it (op. cit. supra).
Imbebt, La stigmaiisation (Paris. 1894); Lefebvre, Louise Lateau, itude medicate (Louvain, 1873): Ribet, La mystique (Paris, 1899); Poulain, Des grdces d'oraison (Paris, 1911)-, tr. The Graces of Interior Prayer (London, 1910); Bor^, Les stig- matisies du Tyrol (Paris, 1846); ScHMEQER, Vie de Catherine Emmerich (French tr., Paris, 1868).
Aug. Poulain.
Stipend [Lat. sHpendium, a tax, import, tribute; in military use, pay, salary; contraction for stipipen- dium, from slips, a gift, donation, alms (given in small coin), and pendere, to weigh out), a fixed pay, salary; retribution for work done; the income of an ecclesias- tical living. In canon law stipend is a general desig- nation of means of support (suatenlalio congnin or rnn- grua) provided for the (clergy. In the early ages of the Church no special provision was made for the maintenance of the clergy. St. Paul, the tent-maker, set the example (I Cor., iv, 12) of earning his own
livelihood. In imitation of him many clerics worked
at some craft or followed some profession, living by
the labour of their own hands. Even in the fifth and
sLxth centm'ies there were bishops, priests, and dea-
cons, who in keeping with the advice of the Fourth
Council of Carthage (a. 398, cann. 52, 53) supported
themselves by their own labour. Early legislation
(Canon. Apost., can. 6), which forbade the clergy to
take up certain occupations and professions, is an in-
dication that clerics sought to maintain themselves.
Many of the laity, however, even from the beginning,
were quick to follow the instructions of Cluist and his
Apostles (Matt., x, 10; Luke, x, 7; I Cor., ix, 13; I
Tim., V, 17-18), founded on the practice in vogue
among the Jews (Lev., xxvii, 30 sq.; Num., xviii, 23
sq.; etc.), who gave tithes of all their goods and pro-
duce for the sustenance of priests and levitcs. Thus
did the laity provide for the bodily welfare of the clergy
in return for the spiritual gifts received through their
ministry. Later the payment of tithes was frequently
insisted on by St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and others
(Thomassin, "Vet. et nov. eccl. disc," III, II, xii, xiv).
The Synods of Tours (560) and Macon (586) strenu-
ously exhorted the faithful to pay the tithes ordained
by God. Charlemagne made their payment obligatory
on his subjects bv a royal ordinance of 779, the re-
quirements of which he himself faithfully observed.
The obligation of giving tithes has long since ceased
almost universally, but the faithful, of course, must
contribute to the proper support of sacred ministers.
The voluntary offerings of the people made on Sundays and other occasions were also intended in part for the maintenance of clerics, that they might not be compelled to engage in pursuits which might ill become the ecclesiastical state or withdraw the clergy from their spiritual work. In most countries the offerings of the laity still constitute the chief sup- port of the clergy. A quasi-contract obtains between the parish on the one hand and the clergy who min- ister to its wants on the other. Pastor and assistants are engaged in the work of the parish and receive in return a definite salary from the income or revenues of the parish. These revenues are derived from pew- rental, offerings, collections, subscriptions, and what- ever other sources of income the parish may possess. Clerics engaged in teaching or other work not parochial are supported in much the same way, obtaining a salary from the inst itution by which they are employed. The salary (congrua) of pastors and assistants should be a fixed sum, such as will suffice for their necessities. The amount paid will depend on various circum- stances of time, place, persons, income of the parish, and duties of the incumbent. The Council of Trent (Sess. XXIV, c. 13, de ref.) directs bishops to arrange the congrua in the most convenient way. Salaries of pastors in the United States are determined in dio- cesan synods or otherwise with the advice of the dio- cesan consultors (Cone. Plen. Bait. Ill, n. 273). Stole fees (jura stote), or perquisites received on the occasion of the administration of the sacraments or sacramentals, are not in the nature of stipends. \t times, nevertheless, by diocesan regulations, they form a portion of the salary of pastor and assistants.
In regard to .so-called state aid of the clergy, the State began indirectly to help the clergy in the time of Constantine, who gave a legal existence to churches as corporate bodies, permitting thcra to receive dona- tions and legacies and to hold the same in perpetuity (Cod. Theod., XVI, 2, 4). He ordered contributions of grain to be given annually to the clergy out of the public granaries. He contributed large sums from his own resources for the support of the clergy in .\frica, and exempted the Church from imposts in an edict imposing a general tax (Cod. Theod., XI, i, 1). Direct support of the clwgy by the State is of compara- tively motlern origin, having developed since the Ref- ormation. It obtains particularly in Catholic coun-
